=Source.=--Eadmer, _Historia Novorum in Anglia_, ed. Rule, p. 184.
(Rolls Series.)
Meanwhile the king conquered Normandy in battle, and forthwith notified
the fact to Anselm by the following letter:
“Henry, king of the English, to Anselm, archbishop of Canterbury,
greeting and affection. We make known to your paternity and holiness
that Robert duke of Normandy, with all the forces of knights and
footmen which he could collect by prayer or for hire, on a day named
and agreed on, fought a sharp fight with me at Tenchebrai; and at last
by God’s mercy we defeated him, and that without much loss on our side.
What more should I say? The divine mercy has given into our hands the
duke of Normandy, the count of Moretuil, William Crispin, William de
Ferrers and Robert de Stuteville the elder, and other knights to the
number of four hundred, and ten thousand footmen, and Normandy itself.
The number of those slain by the sword was not great. This victory,
however, I attribute not to my own glory or vanity or strength, but to
the blessing of divine providence. Wherefore, reverend father, humbly
and devoutly I bow the knee to your holiness and beseech you to beseech
the supreme Judge, whose award and pleasure has granted this triumph,
so glorious and so profitable to me, that it may not turn to my loss
and damage, but to the beginning of good works and the service of God,
and to the maintenance and strengthening of the estate of God’s Holy
Church in peace and tranquillity, that henceforth it may persist in
freedom and not be shaken by any shock of battle.”
Many men therefore argued that the king had gained this victory because
of his agreement with Anselm.