Page:The reign of William Rufus and the accession of Henry the First.djvu/276

 *



such advantages as Robert had held in his hands after the taking of Saint Cenery. He watched his time; he made his preparations, and was now ready to take the decisive step of crossing the sea himself or sending others to cross it. But even William Rufus in all his pride and self-confidence knew that it did not depend wholly on himself to send either native or adopted Englishmen on such an errand. He had learned enough of English constitutional law not to think of venturing on a foreign war without the constitutional sanction of his kingdom. In a Gemót at Winchester, seemingly the Easter Gemót of the third year of his reign, he laid his schemes before the assembled Witan, and obtained their consent to a war with the Duke of the Normans. If we may trust the one report which we have of his speech, William the Red had as good reasons to give for an invasion of Normandy as his father had once had to give for an invasion of England. He went forth to avenge the wrongs which his brother had done to him, the rebellion which he had stirred up in his kingdom. But he went also from the purest motives of piety and humanity. The prince who had tried to deprive him of his dominions had shown himself utterly unable to rule his own. A cry had come into the ears of him, the Red King, to which, quam successores aliquamdiu tritam consenescere permisere. Ea erat, ut ter in anno cuncti optimates ad curiam convenirent, de necessariis regni tractaturi, simulque visuri regis insigne, quomodo iret gemmato fastigiatus diademate."]