Page:Dictionary of National Biography volume 48.djvu/356

 (Gallia Christiana, vol. xi. instr. col. 229), was all the while ruling Maine himself. Robert at last felt this as a grievance, and asked his father to make over to him both Maine and Normandy. William refused; a quarrel between Robert and his brothers at Laigle [see ] brought matters to a crisis; Robert tried to seize the citadel of Rouen; William ordered his arrest; he fled, and found shelter in the border castles of Neufchâtel, Sorel, and Raimalast, till a march of William against Raimalast drove him out of Normandy. ‘By God's resurrection! Robin Curthose will be a fine fellow!’ was the mocking comment of his father. ‘Curthose’ and ‘Gambaron’ were nicknames given to Robert on account of his short fat figure. His face was fat too, but not unpleasing; and on a superficial acquaintance there seemed ‘nothing to find fault with’ in the well-favoured, chatty, open-handed youth, with his clear bold voice and ready tongue, his skill and daring in the use of arms, his strength and sureness of aim in drawing the bow, and his shrewd natural intelligence, which made him through life an excellent adviser of others, though he strangely failed to apply it to the management of his own affairs. He found a refuge first with his uncle, the Count of Flanders, and afterwards with another kinsman, Archbishop Udo of Treves. But whatever money they gave him he spent on the young nobles who had stirred him up to rebellion, or in low amusements; and large supplies sent to him secretly by his mother went in the same way. After a year of exile (cf. l. v. c. 10 with l. v. c. 2,, ii. 304–5, 381, note 5 and 390, note 2), Robert, at the end of 1078, obtained leave from King Philip of France to establish himself at Gerberoi, close to the Norman border. Here, at the opening of 1079, William besieged him. After three weeks of skirmishing, Robert, seemingly in a kind of chance-medley, wounded his father in the hand; the king's horse was killed at the same moment, and, according to one account, Robert, on hearing his father's voice and thus recognising him, gave him his own horse and enabled him to escape; an earlier account, however, ascribes this assistance to one of William's English followers. William raised the siege; Robert withdrew to Flanders, but was soon forgiven, and was again acknowledged as heir to Normandy. In the autumn of 1080 William sent him to the king of Scots, to give the latter his choice between submission and war. Robert met Malcolm at Egglesbreth, near Falkirk, and according to one account received his submission; another version says that nothing came of Robert's expedition, save that on his way back he founded a ‘New-castle’ on the Tyne (cf. Hist. Abingdon, Rolls ed. ii. 9–10; . a. 1080). He was with his father at Winchester on one occasion in 1081 ( l. vi. c. 5). Soon afterwards he again became troublesome, and, when rebuked, left his home. He seems to have gone to France and thence to Italy, where he hoped to mend his fortunes by marrying a daughter of the Marquis of Montferrat; but the marriage did not take place. To this second period of Robert's exile, rather than to the first, in which Orderic places them, probably belong his wanderings through southern Gaul, Suabia, and Lorraine. They ended in his return to France, whither ‘his father, when dying, sent Count Alberic to him, that he might receive the duchy of Normandy’ ( l. v. c. 10, ed. Le Prévost, ii. 390; Duchesne's edition has rediens for moriens; see, Norm. Conq. iv. 646 n. 2).

Robert was at Abbeville when the Conqueror died on 9 Sept. 1087. His first act as duke was to set free William's political prisoners; this had been William's own desire, except in the case of Bishop Odo (d. 1097) [q. v.], whom Robert immediately took for his chief councillor. Odo and the barons who resembled him saw at once with what manner of ruler they now had to deal, and they dealt with him accordingly. ‘Thoughtless in the conduct of his own life and the government of his people, wasteful in expenditure, lavish of promises, careless of his plighted word, tender-hearted to suppliants, weak and slack in doing justice upon offenders, light of purpose, over-gracious to all men in conversation, easily talked over, he became despicable in the eyes of the foolish and the froward. He sought to please all men; so to all men he either gave whatever they asked, or promised it, or let them take it.’ ‘Normandy found his mercy cruel, for under him sin against God and man went alike unpunished and unchecked. He seemed to think he owed as much regard to thieves and profligates as his followers owed to himself. If a weeping criminal was brought to him for justice, he would weep with him and set him free. His generosity was of the same stamp as his clemency; he would give any sum for a hawk or a hound, and then provide for his household by despoiling the people of his towns.’ As the Conqueror's eldest son, he had fancied himself secure of the English throne, and was astounded at finding William Rufus seated there by common consent. A party among the Normans in England, however, plotted to get rid of the stern William and reunite