21. #sune . . . frend#: Robert of Gloucester and Hugh, archbishop of
Rouen, were at his death-bed.
22. ‘Corpus eius . . . apud Radingum in monasterio cuius ipse devotus
fundator largusque ditator exstiterat, sepultum est,’ William of
Newbury, 30. #Redinge#, L. Radingia.
23. #wið#: the usual prepositions are against and to, but comp. ‘nalde
na mon mis-don wið oðre,’ OEH i. 15/17, 35/2, and see 48/300 note.
#dær#. Their peace was soon broken, ‘Ferae quoque, quae in tota prius
regione, tanquam in indagine reclusae, cum summa pace reservabantur,
nunc quaquaversum turbari, a quolibet passim dispergi, ab omnibus,
abiecto metu, prosterni,’ Gesta, 4.
27. #blais#: L. _Blēsae_: _ai_ is an English graph for _ei_. Tonic e
free (L. ē) passed through _ei_ to _oi_ in most French dialects, but in
Norman it stopped at the first stage: in the Norman _patois_ of to-day,
L. _me(n)sem_ is meis, mes. Similarly L. Pictavum passed through Peitou
to Poitou in central French, but remained at the first stage for some
time in Anglo-Norman; see 10/179. Stephen was ‘filius comitis
Blesensium’; he was himself ‘comes Boloniensis.’
28. #Willelm curbuil#, Guillelmus Curbuliensis, W. of Corbeil (L.
Corboilum), a canon regular of the Augustinian Order, became archbishop
of Canterbury in 1123, and died 1136. The subject of #halechede# is
lundenisce folc: according to the Gesta (p. 4) they claimed the right to
elect. #mide-wintre dæi#, Christmas Day; the pre-Christian name for the
festival.
30. #ricemen#, powerful men, nobles: comp. 8/99, 19/34, 206/324.
#Balduin de Reduers#, Balduinus de Radvariis; in France, Baudouin de
Réviers (near Caen). An _e_ for Fr. _ie_ is characteristic of
Anglo-Norman. He was created Earl of Devon sometime before June, 1141.
The order of events is here confused. The settlement with David of
Scotland by which Stephen granted the earldoms of Carlisle, Huntingdon
and Doncaster to David’s son, Henry, was made before Easter, 1136; Hugh
Bigod seized Norwich castle in May; Stephen laid siege to Bampton in
June and took Exeter in September; Milo of Beauchamp held Bedford castle
against the king early in 1138. Stephen was much blamed for his clemency
to the rebels at Exeter; see Round, 24.
31. #Execestre# is the spelling of Domesday Book; OE. #Exanceaster#.
Similarly gloucestre 9/133, OE. #Glowecester#; Wincestre 9/140 (contrast
wincæstre 1/13), and Rouecestre 10/149 (contrast rofecæstre 1/14): all
show the Anglo-Norman [ts]. In the two last words the English sound has
prevailed.
35. #forstode#: comp. 10/155. Morris translates availed, as in ‘hu micel
forstent · and hu mære is · seo soþe hreow,’ Be Domes Dæge, 4/55; but
the ME. dictionaries and NED have only hinder, which would answer here.
37. #underfangen#, &c., accepted as ruler, for they thought he would be
exactly like his uncle, and he had still something to give away.
Elsewhere 6/27, 11/187, 197, 207 used of ceremonious welcome.
39. #sotlice#, foolishly, not ‘soothly’ (Norgate). Stephen lavished it
in personal expenditure, payments to mercenaries and subsidies to
discontented barons. ‘Habebat enim . . . rex immensam vim thesaurorum,
quos multis annis rex Henricus avunculus suus aggesserat; aestimabantur
denarii . . . fere ad centum milia libras. Hanc copiam gazarum habenti
auxiliatores deesse non poterant; praesertim cum esset ipse in dando
diffusus et, quod minime principem decet, prodigus,’ Malmesbury, ii.
540; Annales de Wintonia, 50.