Page:Dictionary of National Biography volume 48.djvu/359

 the former; and when Raymond left Marra, on 13 Jan. 1099, Robert followed him to Capharda, and thence accompanied him to Cæsarea and Arkah. During the siege (February–May) of Arkah, where the other leaders rejoined them, a question was raised as to the genuineness of the ‘holy lance’ which had been found at Antioch. Robert was among the sceptics. At the siege of Jerusalem (6 June–15 July 1099) his post was on the north side of the city, hard by St. Stephen's church. It is said that Robert, being the only one of the crusaders who was a king's son, received the first offer of the crown of Jerusalem, which he refused, saying that he had never intended to abandon his duchy and, now that his vow was fulfilled, desired to return home. William of Malmesbury and Henry of Huntingdon ascribed his refusal to sloth; and the former held that it ‘aspersed his nobility with an indelible stain.’ But every one of the other leaders in turn appears to have followed his example; all were resolved to leave the perilous honour for Godfrey of Bouillon (cf. l. iv. c. 389;  l. vii. c. 18; Gesta Francorum, c. 130; and, l. vi. c. 33). Robert supported the new sovereign in a dispute with Raymond for the custody of the Tower of David. In the battle with the Egyptians under the emir El-Afdal, between Ascalon and Ramah (12 Aug. 1099), he commanded the central division, began the attack by making a dash at a standard which he saw facing him in the midst of the enemies, and which he knew indicated the post of El-Afdal himself, severely wounded the emir, slew the standard-bearer, and, according to some writers, carried off the standard. It seems, however, to have been really taken by another man, from whom Robert afterwards bought it, that he might offer it at the Holy Sepulchre as a memorial of the victory. Another standard which he won from the infidels in this or some other battle was placed by him, on his return home, in the abbey of Holy Trinity at Caen. A poet of the thirteenth century relates that in this battle Robert slew three Egyptian captains; that the ‘Turks’ fled from him ‘more than a magpie from a falcon;’ and that at last, having ventured too far in pursuit, he found himself alone in their midst, but held them all at bay till, covered with blood, he was rescued by Bohemond and the Count of Flanders (Conquête de Jerusalem, pp. 308–11).

The crusade had brought out all that was best in Robert. The skill in arms and the personal bravery which never had free play in the faction fights of Normandy were displayed in their full brilliancy when he was fighting for Christendom instead of for self; and his conduct throughout the expedition was marked by a straightforwardness and disinterestedness which were somewhat rare among the leaders of the host (, l. ii. c. 16). His private resources were no doubt greater than those of most of the other leaders; it is noted as ‘a marvellous thing’ that, whereas all the other chiefs found themselves horseless at some period of the journey, ‘neither by christian nor by heathen could he ever be brought down from the rank of a knight to that of a foot-soldier;’ he was always ready to share his wealth with his comrades, and, except during his secession to Laodicea, to take his share in their hardships and labours.

The spell which the cross seemed to have cast over him lost its power when he came back to the west. He left Palestine in the autumn of 1099, but did not reach Normandy till September 1100. According to many Italian writers, the famous ‘Regimen Sanitatis Salernitanum’ was composed for him when he passed through Southern Italy on his way home from the crusade. Giannone says this poem was dedicated to Robert, ‘calling him king of England,’ and that he had been wounded in the holy war. In the copies of the ‘Regimen’ now extant the first line runs ‘Anglorum Regi scripsit schola tota Salerni;’ and as the poem can be shown to have existed in the twelfth century, it seems impossible to suppose that the king alluded to is Edward I. That Robert was known in Southern Italy as ‘king of England’ is evident from Peter Diaconus (, vii. 791), who, speaking of about 1117 A.D., says that ‘Rotbertus rex Anglorum’ sent gifts to Monte Cassino, asking the prayers of the monks (of whom Peter was one in the early half of the twelfth century) ‘pro se et pro statu regni sui’ (see also, Antiq. Medii Ævi, iii. 935). While in Italy Robert married Sibyl, daughter of the Count of Conversana. The death of William Rufus, 2 Aug. 1100, freed him from the necessity of redeeming Normandy from pledge; he was ‘blithely received by all men,’ and went with his bride to the Mont St. Michel to give thanks for the success of his pilgrimage. On the eve of his departure in 1096 he had advised Count Elias of Maine to offer his homage to William Rufus; William rejected it, and drove Elias out of Maine, which, however, he won back after William's death, all but the citadel of Le Mans. The Norman garrison which William had left there now sent word to Robert, as William's successor, that they neither