Page:The reign of William Rufus and the accession of Henry the First.djvu/289

 *

of the nobles of Normandy, with Count Robert of Meulan among them, and stirred up her husband to many disputes and wars to gratify her fierce passions. At this time some slight which she had received from the lady of Conches had led her to entangle her husband in a bitter feud with his half-brother. Isabel or Elizabeth—the two names are, as usual, given to her indifferently—the wife of Ralph of Toesny, was a daughter of the French house of Montfort, the house of our own Simon. Like her rival, she must now have been long past her youth; but, while Heloise was childless, Isabel was the mother of several children, among them of a son who has already played a part in Norman history. This was that younger Ralph of Toesny who married the daughter of Waltheof and who had taken a part in the present Duke's rebellion against his father. Handsome, eloquent, self-willed, and overbearing, like her rival, Isabel had qualities which gained her somewhat more of personal regard than the Countess of Evreux. She was liberal and pleasant and merry of

quæ in sua sagacitate plus quam oporteret confidebat. Pulcra quidem et facunda erat, et magnitudine corporis pene omnes feminas in comitatu Ebroarum consistentes excellebat, et eximia nobilitate, utpote illustris Guillelmi Nivernensis comitis filia, satis pollebat. Hæc nimirum consilio baronum mariti sui relicto, æstimationem suam præferebat, et ardua nimis secularibus in rebus plerumque arripiebat atque immoderata temptare properabat." Elsewhere (688 A), he says, "Ambæ mulieres quæ talia bella ciebant, loquaces et animosæ, ac forma elegantes erant, suisque maritis imperabant, subditos homines premebant, variisque modis terrebant." When Orderic (576 C), recording Isabel's widowhood and religious profession, speaks of her as "letalis lasciviæ cui nimis in juventute servierat pœnitens," the word need not be taken in the worst sense. He uses (864 A) the same kind of language of Juliana daughter of Henry the First, who, whatever she was as a daughter, seems to have been a very good wife and mother.]
 * [Footnote: aliquantum hebescebat," we read, 'Uxor ejus totum consulatum regebat,