Page:The reign of William Rufus and the accession of Henry the First.djvu/628

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authority for the statement which was very soon afloat, that the crown of Jerusalem was offered to Robert and was refused by him. Robert could not have been as Godfrey; but we can believe that his career would have been more honourable in a Syrian than in a Norman dominion. He was at least one of the first to stand on the rescued walls of the Holy City; and in the fight for the newly-won realm against the Fatimite Caliph, it was not merely by cutting down the Saracen standard-bearer with his own hand, but by a display of really skilful tactics, that Robert did much to win the day for Christendom. He then turned his face towards Constantinople and towards Apulia, and we shall meet him again in his own land.

As soon as Robert had set forth for Jerusalem, William took possession of the duchy of Normandy—in modern phrase, he took upon him its administration—without opposition from any side. There was indeed no side, except the side of mere anarchy, from which opposition could come. It was perhaps a little humiliating for a great duchy to be handed over from one prince to another by a personal bargain, like a house or a field. But there

decamped for a while in a manner which did not please his wife.]
 * [Footnote: *mesnil and certain others. See Orderic, 738 D. Stephen of Chartres too