NOTE Q. p. 120. The Revolt of William of Arques

There is a singular difference among our authorities as to the date of the revolt of Count William of Arques. William of Poitiers, Orderic, and William of Malmesbury put it at the point where I have put it in the text. But in William of Jumièges and Wace it comes much earlier, immediately after Duke William’s recovery of Falaise from Thurstan Goz (see vol. ii. p. 206), some years earlier than the battle of Val-ès-dunes. There is no doubt that the later date is the right one. In the narrative of William of Poitiers, the story comes in in what is evidently its natural order, immediately before the French invasion of 1054. The personal action of the Duke himself, now evidently in full maturity, seems inconsistent with the earlier date, as does also the prominent position of Guy-Geoffrey of Poitiers, who in 1044 (see vol. ii. p. 595) was “parvulus.” The story is also fixed to 1053 by the death of Ingelram of Ponthieu and the succession of his brother Guy. See Art de Vérifier les Dates, ii. 752. At the earlier date the elder Ingelram was reigning.

Besides this difference in date, the narratives of William of Poitiers and of Wace differ a good deal in the order of events, though I do not see any further contradiction between the two versions. I have therefore, while forming my narrative mainly on that of William of Poitiers, not scrupled to bring in some touches of detail from Wace which seemed to bear marks of authenticity.

In the order which I have followed, Duke William requires his uncle to surrender his castle, and he himself puts a garrison in it. The garrison then restore the castle to William of Arques, who openly revolts. Duke William hears the news at Valognes, he hastens to Arques, meets a party of loyalists from Rouen, fights a party of the rebels before the gates of the castle, and then blockades it. He then leaves the blockading force under Walter Giffard. King Henry comes to help William of Arques, and he falls into an ambush, where Count Ingelram is slain and Hugh Bardulf taken prisoner. The King retires; the Duke returns; William of Arques surrenders the castle, and the other posts in Normandy held by the French are surrendered also.

The accounts in William of Jumièges and in Wace leave out the occupation of the castle by the Duke and its betrayal to the Count of Arques. They say that the Duke, suspecting his uncle, summoned him to his presence, which summons he declined to obey, and openly rebelled (“Quem Dux à suâ vesaniâ nitens avellere, ad exhibendum sibi obsequium per legatos jussit eum venire. Sed ille hujusmodi legationem habens contemptui, magnâ cum fiduciâ ad resistendum se munivit et armavit.” Will. Gem. vii. 7). Wace transfers the hasty ride from the Côtentin from the first to the second appearance of Duke William before Arques. William of Poitiers again makes William reach Arques with six followers, all the others who had started from Valognes having failed to keep up with his pace. He there meets the reinforcement of three hundred from Rouen. Wace makes him reach Arques absolutely alone (v. 8699);

This is an evident exaggeration, adapted to the new order of events. Had William reached Arques absolutely alone, in the state of things conceived by William of Poitiers, he must have fallen into the hands of his enemies. But, while Wace transposes the two marches of William, Orderic (657 B) rolls the two into one. In his story William’s first appearance comes after King Henry and Count Ingelram have entered the country. He hears of them at Valognes; he sends on a picked force, and then follows himself with his main army. The former (“præcursores mei”) meet Ingelram, and defeat and kill him before William reaches Arques at all. But though I think that Wace has transposed the order of events, I have not scrupled to draw several details of the ride from him, and to accept Valognes as the starting-point. The other writers only mention the Côtentin generally. It is of course possible that Wace may have been thinking of William’s former ride from Valognes (see vol. ii. p. 247), where also the mention of Valognes is peculiar to himself. But, if William was likely to be there at one time, he was likely to be there at another.

The mention of Saint Aubin as the place of the ambush also comes from William of Jumièges, followed by Wace. (I am sorry that, when I was at Arques, I omitted to explore the spot.) I have ventured to connect this mention of Saint Aubin with that which Orderic gives (606 B, C) of Richard of Hugleville’s resistance at Saint Aubin. This comes in a genealogical passage where the campaign of Arques is spoken of only incidentally, and seems to me to be a case of quite independent testimony coinciding.