=Source.=--William of Malmesbury, _De gestis regum Anglorum_, ed.
Stubbs, vol. ii., p. 360. (Rolls Series.)
At the beginning of Spring the first struggle was against Odo, the
king’s uncle, bishop of Bayeux. For when, as I have related, on his
release from prison, he had established his nephew Robert in the duchy
of Normandy, he came to England and received from the king the earldom
of Kent; but seeing how all things in England were administered not
according to his will as before (for the control of public affairs
had been entrusted to William bishop of Durham), he was smitten with
jealousy, and himself deserting the king, he intrigued also with
many others, urging that Robert was of an easier disposition and had
tempered his youthful excesses with great hardships, and therefore
deserved the realm; William, on the other hand, carefully brought up as
he was, and overbearing and brutal, as his face itself proved, would
set at nought all right and justice; soon they would lose the honours
so strenuously won; they would have gained nothing by the father’s
death, if the son slew those whom the father had imprisoned. These
complaints were first made in secret by him and Roger of Montgomery,
and by Geoffrey bishop of Coutances, with his nephew Robert earl
of Northumberland; afterwards they interchanged letters and plotted
openly. Even William bishop of Durham, the king’s confidant, had joined
in their treason; a source of grave concern to the king, it is said,
because he at once lost a friend and was deprived of supplies from
the distant provinces. Thereupon Odo conveyed booty of all kinds to
Rochester, laying waste the king’s demesnes in Kent, and especially
the lands of the archbishop, against whom he breathed an undying
hatred, since, as he alleged, it was by the archbishop’s advice that
his brother had cast him into prison. This charge was true enough, for
when the elder William had complained to Lanfranc of his brother’s
desertion, Lanfranc said, “Seize and imprison him!” “What!” he replied,
“he is a clerk.” To which the archbishop rejoined, with playful wit,
“weighing the objection with nice antitheses,” as Persius remarks,
“You will not be laying hands on the bishop of Bayeux, you will be
committing to prison the earl of Kent.” Bishop Geoffrey, with his
nephew, ravaging Bath and Berkeley and part of Wiltshire, gathered
his forces at Bristol. Roger of Montgomery, sending his troops with
Welshmen from Shrewsbury plundered Worcestershire, and was now
threatening Worcester, when the king’s knights who guarded the city,
relying on the blessing of bishop Wulstan, to whom the keeping of
the castle had been committed, few though they were, put to flight
their numerous opponents, wounding and killing many, and taking some
prisoners. At the same time Roger Bigod at Norwich and Hugh Grantmesnil
at Leicester were ravaging each his own country. In vain, however,
did the whole strength of rebellion rage against the king, who lacked
neither wisdom nor good fortune. Seeing well-nigh all the Normans
leagued together in one wild revolt, he summoned by letters of request
such trusty and stout Englishmen as were still left, and complaining
to them of his wrongs, bound them in fealty to him by promises of good
laws, relief from taxation and the right of free chase. With equal
skill he won over Roger of Montgomery, who, concealing his treachery,
was riding with him. Taking him aside, he heaped reproaches upon him,
saying he would gladly abdicate, if Roger and the others whom his
father had left as his guardians thought fit; he failed to understand
why they were so outrageous; if they wanted money, they might have what
they chose; if an increase of their inheritances, be it so; indeed they
might have what they wished. Only they must take care not to imperil
the validity of his father’s decision; for if they chose to defy it in
his case, they must beware of the precedent in their own case; for he
who had made him king had made them earls. Stirred by these words and
promises, the chief rebel, after Odo, was the first to fall away. So
the king, marching at once against the traitors, stormed his uncle’s
castles of Tonbridge and Pevensey, captured Odo in the latter and
forced him to swear that he would leave England and give up Rochester.
To accomplish the same he sent him in advance with a loyal guard,
himself following slowly. Now at that time there was at Rochester
almost the whole of the younger nobility of England and Normandy; three
sons of earl Roger, the younger Eustace of Boulogne and many others
whom I need not specify. The royal guards of the bishop were few and
unarmed, for who would suspect treachery in his company? They leapt
down before the walls, calling to the townsmen to open the gates; it
was the will of the bishop, there with them; it was the command of
the king, though absent. But they, seeing that the bishop’s aspect
discountenanced the speaker’s words, suddenly opened the gates, rushed
out, took horse and carried them all away bound, with the bishop.
Reports of the event speedily reached the king, whose reverse stiffened
his purpose; smothering his wrath, he summoned his Englishmen, and bade
them gather all their countrymen for the siege, unless they would earn
the name of “nithing” (that is, worthless). The English, who reckoned
nothing more disgraceful than to be branded with this dishonourable
term, flocked in multitudes to the king and made his host invincible.
The townsmen could no longer avoid submission, realising that a band of
men, however noble, however compact, could avail nothing against the
king of England. Odo, taken a second time, abjured England for ever;
the bishop of Durham of his own will crossed the sea, the king, out of
regard for past friendship, suffering him to escape harmless; while the
rest were all admitted to fealty.