He had no conception of making a bargain or valuing wares, and a trader could unload his goods on him at any price, and a soldier demand any pay. He wished the price of his clothes to be extravagant, and was disdainful of cheapness. One morning, when he was putting on new boots, he asked the chamberlain how much they had cost, and when he replied “Three shillings,” he shouted indignantly and angrily, “Bastard! how long has the king worn boots at that mean price? go and fetch me a pair worth a mark of silver.” He went, and bringing a much cheaper pair falsely said that they had cost as much as the king had commanded. “Ah!” said the king, “those are fit for the royal majesty.” So the chamberlain used afterwards to charge him what he pleased for his clothes, and bought many a thing for his own benefit.
THE REBELLION OF BISHOP ODO (1088).
Source.—William of Malmesbury, De gestis regum Anglorum, ed. Stubbs, vol. ii., p. 360. (Rolls Series.)
At the beginning of Spring the first struggle was against Odo, the king’s uncle, bishop of Bayeux. For when, as I have related, on his release from prison, he had established his nephew Robert in the duchy of Normandy, he came to England and received from the king the earldom of Kent; but seeing how all things in England were administered not according to his will as before (for the control of public affairs had been entrusted to William bishop of Durham), he was smitten with jealousy, and himself deserting the king, he intrigued also with many others, urging that Robert was of an easier disposition and had tempered his youthful excesses with great hardships, and therefore deserved the realm; William, on the other hand, carefully brought up as he was, and overbearing and brutal, as his face itself proved, would set at nought all right and justice; soon they would lose the honours so strenuously won; they would have gained nothing by the father’s death, if the son slew those whom the father had imprisoned. These complaints were first made in secret by him and Roger of Montgomery, and by Geoffrey bishop of Coutances, with his nephew Robert earl of Northumberland; afterwards they interchanged letters and plotted openly. Even William bishop of Durham, the king’s confidant, had joined in their treason; a source of grave concern to the king, it is said, because he at once lost a friend and was deprived of supplies from the distant provinces. Thereupon Odo conveyed booty of all kinds to Rochester, laying waste the king’s demesnes in Kent, and especially the lands of the archbishop, against whom he breathed an undying hatred, since, as he alleged, it was by the archbishop’s advice that his brother had cast him into prison. This charge was true enough, for when the elder William had complained to Lanfranc of his brother’s desertion, Lanfranc said, “Seize and imprison him!” “What!” he replied, “he is a clerk.” To which the archbishop rejoined, with playful wit, “weighing the objection with nice antitheses,” as Persius remarks, “You will not be laying hands on the bishop of Bayeux, you will be committing to prison the earl of Kent.” Bishop Geoffrey, with his nephew, ravaging Bath and Berkeley and part of Wiltshire, gathered his forces at Bristol. Roger of Montgomery, sending his troops with Welshmen from Shrewsbury plundered Worcestershire, and was now threatening Worcester, when the king’s knights who guarded the city, relying on the blessing of bishop Wulstan, to whom the keeping of the castle had been committed, few though they were, put to flight their numerous opponents, wounding and killing many, and taking some prisoners. At the same time Roger Bigod at Norwich and Hugh Grantmesnil at Leicester were ravaging each his own country. In vain, however, did the whole strength of rebellion rage against the king, who lacked neither wisdom nor good fortune. Seeing well-nigh all the Normans leagued together in one wild revolt, he summoned by letters of request such trusty and stout Englishmen as were still left, and complaining to them of his wrongs, bound them in fealty to him by promises of good laws, relief from taxation and the right of free chase. With equal skill he won over Roger of Montgomery, who, concealing his treachery, was riding with him. Taking him aside, he heaped reproaches upon him, saying he would gladly abdicate, if Roger and the others whom his father had left as his guardians thought fit; he failed to understand why they were so outrageous; if they wanted money, they might have what they chose; if an increase of their inheritances, be it so; indeed they might have what they wished. Only they must take care not to imperil the validity of his father’s decision; for if they chose to defy it in his case, they must beware of the precedent in their own case; for he who had made him king had made them earls. Stirred by these words and promises, the chief rebel, after Odo, was the first to fall away. So the king, marching at once against the traitors, stormed his uncle’s castles of Tonbridge and Pevensey, captured Odo in the latter and forced him to swear that he would leave England and give up Rochester. To accomplish the same he sent him in advance with a loyal guard, himself following slowly. Now at that time there was at Rochester almost the whole of the younger nobility of England and Normandy; three sons of earl Roger, the younger Eustace of Boulogne and many others whom I need not specify. The royal guards of the bishop were few and unarmed, for who would suspect treachery in his company? They leapt down before the walls, calling to the townsmen to open the gates; it was the will of the bishop, there with them; it was the command of the king, though absent. But they, seeing that the bishop’s aspect discountenanced the speaker’s words, suddenly opened the gates, rushed out, took horse and carried them all away bound, with the bishop. Reports of the event speedily reached the king, whose reverse stiffened his purpose; smothering his wrath, he summoned his Englishmen, and bade them gather all their countrymen for the siege, unless they would earn the name of “nithing” (that is, worthless). The English, who reckoned nothing more disgraceful than to be branded with this dishonourable term, flocked in multitudes to the king and made his host invincible. The townsmen could no longer avoid submission, realising that a band of men, however noble, however compact, could avail nothing against the king of England. Odo, taken a second time, abjured England for ever; the bishop of Durham of his own will crossed the sea, the king, out of regard for past friendship, suffering him to escape harmless; while the rest were all admitted to fealty.
ROYAL PROCEDURE AGAINST A BISHOP[22] (1087).
Source.—Simeon of Durham, De injusta vexatione Willelmi episcopi primi, ed. Arnold, vol. i., p. 171. (Rolls Series.)
King William the younger disseised[23] the bishop of Durham of his own lands and the lands of his church on 4 March, and caused his men and all his goods to be taken, wherever he could; he also ordered the bishop to be taken, and laid many snares for him; but by God’s will the bishop escaped them, and coming to Durham, sent his messenger to the king with the following letter on the very day on which he entered Durham:
“To his lord, William, king of the English, William bishop of Durham, greeting and loyal service. Know, my lord, that your men of York and Lincoln detain my men under arrest, and have seized my lands, and would have taken me also, if they could; and they say that they have done all these things at your command. I request you, therefore, as my lord, to cause my men and my lands to be restored with my chattels to me, as your liege man, whom you have never appealed[24] of any crime, and who has never stood on his defence before you. If you will appeal me hereafter of any crime, I am ready to justify myself before you in your court at a convenient term, on receipt of a safe conduct. But I earnestly beg you not to treat me so basely and dishonourably, nor to disseise me unjustly, upon the advice of my enemies. For it is not every man who may judge bishops, and for my part, saving always my order, I undertake to offer you complete satisfaction; and if at the present you desire to have my service or the service of my men, I offer you the same at your pleasure.”