Page:The reign of William Rufus and the accession of Henry the First.djvu/229

 CHAPTER III.

THE FIRST WARS OF WILLIAM RUFUS.

1090-1092. There is nothing special to note as to the authorities for this chapter, except that we now begin to make some little use of the Lives of the Bishops of Le Mans in Mabillon's Vetera Analecta, of which we shall have to make much larger use in a later chapter.

Since this chapter was written and partly printed, I have come across a book called "Le Dernier des Ducs Normands. Étude de Critique Historique sur Robert Courte-Heuse; par Gaston le Hardy (Caen, 1880)." It is a gallant apology for Duke Robert, who however, it seems, cannot be set up without a cruel setting down both of Orderic and of King Henry. M. le Hardy believes in the false Ingulf and seems to be an enemy to Italian freedom. He has worked with care at his authorities, and I have to thank him for a few references; but his style of criticism is odd. In p. 47 he argues against the last speech of the Conqueror in Orderic—a speech very open to argument against it on other grounds—because William is there made to confess that he had no right to the English crown. This at least cannot be. "Comment croire que le Conquérant, dont les droits légitimes à la couronne d'Angleterre étaient au moins fondés sur des apparences très-respectables, puisqu'elles décidèrent le Pape à se prononcer en sa faveur, se soit appliqué à les désavouer, et à démentir ainsi toute sa vie." I think more highly both of the intellect and of the conscience of William the Great. I can conceive his being led to repent of his sins, even though the Pope told him that they were no sins. M. le Hardy, like so many of his countrymen, seems unable to understand any English matter, and he seems never to have looked at any English or German book.

I let my estimate of Robert stay where it was. His character is best summed up in the portrait drawn by William of Malmesbury at the end of his fourth book;

"Patria lingua facundus ut sit jocundior nullus; in aliis consiliosus ut nihil excellentius; militiæ peritus ut si quis unquam; pro mollitie tamen animi nunquam regendæ reipublicæ idoneus judicatus."

I think I have throughout done justice to Robert's military skill—it was more than mere daring—and to his gifts as a counsellor of others.

The rest of the year in which Lanfranc died was unmarked by any striking public event, political or military. The causes of evil which had begun to play their part before the Primate's death, which were