Robert and Eadgar leave England. December 23, 1091. fulfil.[1] We are told in a pointed way that Robert stayed with his brother till nearly the time of Christmas. The matter in dispute, whatever it was, might have been fittingly discussed in the Christmas Assembly; only it might have been hard to find the formula by which the Duke of the Normans was to appeal the King of the English of bad faith before his own Witan. Two days before the feast Robert took ship in Wight, and sailed to Normandy, taking the Ætheling Eadgar with him.[2]
Natural phænomena. Fall of the tower at Winchcombe. October 15, 1091. Either the reign of Rufus was really richer than other times in striking natural phænomena, or else they were specially noticed as signs of the times. About the time of the King's Scottish expedition, the tower of the minster at Winchcombe was smitten by a mighty thunderbolt, and fell in ruins on the body of the church, crushing the most hallowed images in its fall. The Chthonian Zeus had no place in the mythology of the times; but this destruction, which left behind it a thick smoke and an evil smell, was deemed to be the work of the evil one, the signs of whose presence were got rid of only by the most solemn chants and processions.[3] Two days later,
- ↑ See above, p. 143.
- ↑ Chron. Petrib. 1091. "And se eorl Rodbeard her oð Xp̃es mæsse forneah mid þam cynge wunode, and litel soðes þær onmang of heora forewarde onfand; and twam dagon ær þære tide on Wiht scipode and into Normandig fór, and Eadgar æþeling mid him." So Florence; "Rex . . . secum fere usque ad nativitatem Domini comitem retinuit, sed conventionem inter eos factam persolvere noluit. Quod comes graviter ferens, x^o. kal. Januarii die cum clitone Eadgaro Normanniam repetiit."
- ↑ Florence (1091) tells this tale; "Magnus fumus cum nimio fœtore subsecutus, totam ecclesiam replevit, et tamdiu duravit, quoad loci illius monachi cum aqua benedicta et incensu et reliquiis sanctorum, officinas monasterii psalmos decantando circumirent." William of Malmesbury (iv. 323) gives more details, and is better certified as to the cause; "Secutus est odor teterrimus, hominum importabilis naribus. Tandem monachi, felici ausu irrumpentes, benedictæ aquæ aspergine præstigias inimici effugarunt." A modern diplomatist might have said that the prestige of the evil one was lowered.
