Note 28 — Chapter I · YOUTH
Reading edition
Ordericus, ii, pp. 103, 259. William of Poitiers makes no mention of the poisoning. Halphen (Anjou, p. 179) and Latouche (Maine, p. 34, and n. 6) accept the account of Ordericus as true, the latter explaining that William of Poitiers, as a panegyrist, naturally passes over such an act in silence. Freeman, on the other hand, holds the story to be an unsubstantiated rumor, inconsistent with the character of William the Conqueror. Norman Conquest, iii, p. 208.