Note 255 — Chapter II · THE BEGINNINGS OF ANJOU. 843–987.
Reading edition
“Scitote, domine, quod rex illitteratus est asinus coronatus.” Gesta Cons. (Marchegay, Comtes), p. 71. It is curious that John of Salisbury, writing at the court of Henry of Anjou some years before the compilation of the Gesta Consulum, quotes the saying as coming from “literis quas Regem Romanorum ad Francorum regem transmisisse recolo” (Polycraticus, l. iv. c. 6; Giles, vol. iii. p. 237). The proverb was well known in the time of Henry I.; see Will. Malm. Gesta Reg., l. v. c. 390 (Hardy, p. 616).