Master Wace, His Chronicle of the Norman Conquest From the Roman De Rou. Wace
on the battle of Hastings, which is now in the press at Rouen. He succeeded his father, Hugh II. in 1052; and was himself succeeded by his brother Guy, afterwards taken prisoner at the battle of Mortemer, their brother Valeran being killed there. Mr. Stapleton has, in the
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The fords of St. Clement, which have been before noticed. The places next mentioned are Bayeux, Pont-Audemer, Caudebec, and Bans or Baons-le-Comte, near Ivetot.
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BIGOT has been supposed to have its origin in the BY-GOD of a northern tongue; and to have been used as a war cry by early Normans, answering to the later DEX-AIE. Anderson, in his
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The affair at Mortemer, next related, took place in 1054, after the siege and retreat of Arques; which this attack was probably meant to revenge.
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Laon.
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Meulan.
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Ponthieu, and the country of Amiens.
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Beaumont-sur-Oise.
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Guy, count of Ponthieu, successor of the one killed at Arques.
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Eudes, or Odo, fourth son of King Robert.
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Mantes, Touraine, Blois, Orleans, Gâtinais.
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Bourges.
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The country of Evreux, of Rouen and Lisieux, and of Auge, not that of Eu; the latter, being called in Latin Augum, is sometimes confounded with Auge.
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WALTER GIFFARD, who will be further noticed hereafter.
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WILLIAM CRESPIN, son of Gilbert I. and eldest brother of Gilbert II. whom we shall meet at the battle of Hastings. Wace does not mention Roger de Mortemer, who was a prominent leader in this affair, according to Ordericus Vitalis, p. 657; and fell into disgrace with the Duke, on account of the favour shown by him to Raol de Montdidier, one of the French leaders. See note below on Hue de Mortemer.
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The Vexin.
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Mortain, in La Manche.
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The pays d'Hyèmes or Exmes.
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Mortuum-mare in the latin of the day. The chronicle of Normandy and Dumoulin cite the following verses, as popular on the subject of this battle:
But it seems admitted that the battle nevertheless was not at Mortemer-en-Lyons near Ecouys, where the abbey was, but at Mortemer-sur-Eaulne, in the arrondissement of Neufchâtel. Wace's account of the proclamation by the varlet—or herald, as others call him—(William of Jumieges naming him Ralf de Toeny), runs in the original thus:
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We have seen that after the battle of Mortemer, the king of France abandoned Jeffery Martel 'un quens d'Angou,' a deadly enemy to the duke. Wace narrates the feuds between them; and among the rest William's terrible revenge on those who, in defending Alençon, had annoyed him by allusions to his birth, crying out, 'La pel, la pel al parmentier!' These passages of the chronicle we pass over as not material to our present purpose.
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Hyèmes or Exèmes, now in the arrondissement of Argentan.
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The abbey of St. Pierre-sur-Dives was founded before 1040, by Lesceline, wife of William, count d'Eu.
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In the arrondissement of Caen, near the Dives.
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A small river passing near Bayeux to the sea at Bernières.
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The Orne.
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Huet cites this passage in his
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A little south of Varaville, along the Dives.
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Philip I. was, at Henry's death, in 1060, an infant of seven years old. Baldwin, count of Flanders, William's father-in-law, was Philip's guardian; having married Henry's sister. Wace calls her Constance, instead of Adela; but Constance was in fact the name of her mother, king Robert's queen. See Chap. VII.
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The marriage was, it is supposed, in 1053. See the last note to Chapter VI.
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Matilda. The anonymous continuer of Wace's Brut says of her;
He then relates that after the conquest, Matilda revenged herself on this Brictrich-Mau, by seizing him 'a Hanelye, a sun maner,' and carrying him to Winchester, where he died 'par treison.' See, as to this Brictrich, Dugdale,
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Eu.
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The churches of each of these celebrated foundations remain; we shall find William interred in his church; while Matilda's remains rested in the other.
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The 'Truce of God' was introduced in Normandy in 1061. If Wace meant to assert that the institution originated there, it is of course erroneous. It had existed in other countries twenty years before; but the Normans resisted its introduction among them, till enforced by William's authority, as a measure of restraint on their excesses. See Jolimont,
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Saint Ouen.
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Carreau, or carrel—squared, quadrated, or quarried stones, for which the neighbourhood of Caen became celebrated.
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All-Saints.
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This journey took place in 1051, during the exile of Godwin and his sons; see Higden,