Alençon CHAP. VIII. Lord of Alençon had cursed the Bastard in his cradle.1 We are told also that the citizens both of Alençon and of Domfront disliked the rule of William, on account of the strict justice which he administered and the checks which he put on their marauding practices.2 This complaint sounds rather as if it came from turbulent barons than from burghers; yet it is quite possible that the burghers of a frontier town, especially on a frontier which was very doubtful and ill defined, may have indulged in those breaches of the peace which it was William's greatest praise, both in Normandy and in England, to chastise without mercy. At any rate, the people of Alençon were thoroughly disby Geof loyal to Normandy, and they willingly received the Angevin frey. Count and his garrison.3 William returned the blow of William Geoffrey's hammer in kind. Leaving Alençon for a while to itself, he crossed the frontier, Angevin or Cenomannian as we may choose to call it, and laid siege to Domfront. his exploits On his march he found that treason was not wholly extinguished, even among his own troops. He had gone on a foraging or plundering party with fifty horse; 4 a traitor, a Norman noble, sent word of his whereabout to the defenders of the town, who sent forth, we are told, three hundred horse and seven hundred foot to attack the Duke unexpectedly. It sounds like romance when we read garrisoned marches to Domfront; on the way. 1 See above, p. 186. So William of Malmesbury (iii. 231), "Pronis in perfidiam habitatoribus." 2 Will. Pict. 87. "Deferre haudquaquam volebant dominum sub quo licenter quæstum latrociniis contraherint: quali caussâ fuerant seducti inhabitantes Alentium." He then goes on with one of his panegyrics on William's stern justice. 3 Ib. 86. "Inhabitatores ad se pronos reppererat." Ib. 87. "Ubi approximabatur Danfronto, cum equitibus divertit quinquaginta, acceptum quæ stippendium augerent.” But this curious euphemism for what one would have thought in those days hardly needed apology is explained in the next sentence, "Prædæ autem index castellanis prodidit ipsum quidam ex Normannis majoribus, intimans quò aut cur ierit, et quàm paucis comitatus, atque hunc esse qui mortem fugæ præferret." SIEGE OF DOMFRONT. 283 that William at once charged and overthrew the horseman CHAP. viii. nearest to him, that the rest were seized with a sudden panic and took to flight, that the Duke and his little band chased them to the gates of Domfront, and that William carried off one prisoner with his own hands. Such stories are no doubt greatly exaggerated; the details may often be pure invention; but, as contemporary exaggerations and inventions, they show the kind of merit which Normans then looked for in their rulers, and they show the kind of exploit of which William himself was thought capable. And the perfectly casual mention of the traitor in the Traitors in Norman camp is instructive in another way. We have here no doubt merely an example of what often happened, and the way in which treason is spoken of as an everyday matter sets vividly before us the difficulties with which William, even now after the victory of Valès-dunes, had still to contend at every step.2 the Nor man camp. Domfront. William now laid siege to Domfront. The town was Siege of strong both by its fortifications and by its natural position. The spirit of the citizens was high, and they were further strengthened by the presence of a chosen body of Angevin troops sent by Count Geoffrey. An assault was hopeless where two steep and narrow paths were the only ways by which the fortress could be approached even on foot.3 William surrounded it with four towers, and the Norman army sat down before it. The Duke was foremost in every attack, in every ambush, in every night march to cut off 1 Will. Pict. 87. "Captum suis unum manibus retinuit." 2 Compare, on the chances of treason near William's person, those remarkable expressions of William of Jumièges (vii. 4) which have been already quoted in p. 200. 3 Will. Pict. 87. "Celerem irruptionem situs oppidi denegabat omni robori sive peritiæ; quum scopulorum asperitas pedites etiam deturbaret, præter qui angustis itineribus duobus atque arduis accederent." There is here something of the Norman trust in cavalry; there is a feeling as if a place where horsemen were of no use had some unfairness about it. Ib. "Castella circumponit quatuor." Geoffrey comes to relieve Domfront. CHAP. VIII. the approach of those who sought to bring either messages or provisions to the besieged town. Yet we are told that he found himself so safe in the enemy's country that he often enjoyed the sports of hunting and hawking, for which the neighbouring woods afforded special opportu 1048-1049. nities.2 The siege had continued for some time in this way, and it was now seemingly winter,3 when news was brought that Count Geoffrey was advancing with a large force to the relief of the town. A tale of knight-errantry follows, the main substance of which, coming as it does from a contemporary writer, we have no ground for disbelieving, even though some details may have been heightened to enhance the glory of William. The story is worthy of attention as showing that, amid all the apparent rudeness of the times, some germs of the later follies of chivalry had already begun to show themselves. As the Angevin army Messages approached, William sent a message to Geoffrey by the hands of two of his chosen friends, two youths who had grown up along with him, and who were destined to share example of with him in all his greatest dangers and greatest successes. knightBoth were men who lived to be famous in English errantry. history, Roger of Montgomery, the son-in-law of the terrible Talvas, and William, the son of that Osbern who had lost his life through his faithfulness to his master. These two trusty companions were sent to see Count Geoffrey, and to get from him an explanation of his purpose. Geoffrey told them that, at daybreak the next morning, between William and Geof frey. Early 5 1 Will. Pict. 87. "Aliquando perdius et pernox equitans, vel in abditis occultus explorat, si qui offendantur aut commeatum advectantes, aut in legatione directi, aut pabulatoribus suis insidiantes." 2 Ib. "Est regio illa silvis abundans ferarum feracissimis. Sæpe falconum, sæpissimè accipitrum volatu oblectatur." The distinction between the use of falcons and that of hawks-did William stoop to the sparrow-hawk ?—is worth the notice of those who are versed in the minuter technicalities of animal torture. Ib. "Non loci difficultas, aut sævitia hiemis," &c. 5 See above, p. 198. WILLIAM AND GEOFFREY BEFORE DOMFRONT. 285 he would come and beat up William's quarters before CHAP. VIII. Domfront. There should be no mistake about his person; he would be known by such a dress, such a shield,' such a coloured horse. The Norman messengers answered that he need not trouble himself to come so far as the Norman quarters; he whom he sought would come and visit him nearer home. Duke William would be ready for battle, with such a horse, such a dress, such manner of weapons.2 The Normans appeared the next morning, eager for fight, and their Duke the most eager among them. But no Geoffrey decamps. enemy was there to await them; before the Normans came in sight, the Count of Anjou and his host had decamped. Geoffrey doubtless, like some later generals, retired only for strategical reasons; but the Norman writers can see no nobler motive for his conduct than his being seized with a sudden panic. Here, and throughout the war, the lions 1 Will. Pict. 88. 'Præsignat qualem in prælio equum sit habiturus, quale scutum, qualem vestitum." The device on the shield was therefore still left to the fancy of the wearer. Had the Counts of Anjou already possessed hereditary armorial bearings, the Normans could hardly have needed to be told what kind of shield Geoffrey would carry. 2 Ib. "Illi contra opus non esse respondent instituto eum itinere longiùs fatigari. Nam continuò propter quem vadit adfore. Equum vicissim domini sui præesignant, vestitum, et arma." Here, it may be remarked, is no special mention of the shield; it comes under the general head of "arma." It is almost profanation to compare warfare of this sort with the patriot struggle at Maldon, yet there is in all this something analogous to Brihtnoth's over-chivalry in allowing the Northmen to cross the river. See vol. i. p. 300. But Brihtnoth may after all have had a reason for his conduct. Cf. Herod. v. 118. 3 The reason given by William of Poitiers (u. s.) for the Duke's special zeal is one of the most amazing things that I ever came across. "Omnium acerrimus ipse Dux inurget accelerantes. Tyrannum fortasse absumi desiderabat adolescens piissimus; quod ex omnibus præclaris factis pulcerrimum judicavit Senatus Latinus et Atheniensis." The instances of Tyrannicide collected by Jean Petit (see Hist. Fed. Gov. i. 383) are strange enough, but the idea of William gaining the honours of a Timoleôn by slaying Geoffrey in battle beats them all. • Will. Pict. u. s. "Subitaneo tenore consternatus Gaufredus, adversâ acie necdum conspectâ, profugio salutem suam cum agmine toto committit." CHAP. VIII. stand in need of a painter, or rather their painters suddenly refuse to do their duty. We have no Angevin account of the siege of Domfront to set against our evidently highly coloured Norman picture. William marches town. The whole country now lay open for William to harry; suddenly but he knew better than to waste time and energy on to Alençon, mere useless ravages.1 He determined rather to strike and besieges the another sudden blow. Leaving a force before Domfront, he marched all night, through the enemy's country, along the course of the Mayenne, passing by Mehendin, Pointel, and Saint-Samson.2 He thus suddenly appeared before Alençon with the morning light. A bridge over the Sarthe, strongly fortified with a ditch and a palisade, divided the Norman from the Cenomannian territory.1 This bridge now served as a barrier against a Duke of the Normans attacking his own town from the Cenomannian side. The defenders of the bridge, whether William at Angevins or disaffected Normans, received the Duke Alençon. with the grossest personal insult. They spread out skins and leather jerkins, and beat them, shouting, "Hides, Wace (9601) makes him make a little show of preparation for battle, but he presently yields to the wiser advice of a knight who counsels flight. Wace (9527-9628) puts this whole story later, after the taking of Alençon. He adds a third to the two messengers in William of Poitiers, namely William Fitz-Thierry (9539). Insults offered to 1 Will. Pict. 88. "Novit esse prudentium victoriæ temperare, atque non satis potentem esse qui semet in potestate ulsciscendi continere non possit." William of Jumièges (vii. 18) adds another reason; "Ecce adsunt exploratores, Alencium castrum absque suorum detrimento eum capere posse nuntiantes." This is his first mention of Alençon. 2 Roman de Rou, 9436 et seqq. 3 Will. Gem. u. s. "Totâ nocte equitans diluculo Alencium venit." ' William of Jumièges (u. s.) merely says, "In quodam municipio trans flumen posito." Wace is much fuller (9440 et seqq.); "Alençon est sor Sartre asiz, Iloec devize le païz; Normanz sunt devers li chastel, He then goes on to describe the bridge and its defences. |