Note 32 — Chapter I · YOUTH

Ordericus, ii, p. 253: “Guillelmus autem Normannorum princeps post mortem Herberti iuvenis haereditatem eius obtinuit, et Goisfredus comes Rodberto iuveni cum filia Herberti totum honorem concessit, et hominium debitamque fidelitatem ab illo in praesentia patris apud Alencionem recepit.” Ordericus is the sole authority for this homage; and his account of it is incidental to a brief resumé of the lives of the counts of Maine, and forms no part of his general narrative of William’s conquest of the county in 1063. The date of the homage, therefore, is conjectural. The revolt of the Manceaux took place soon after the death of Count Herbert; and since Geoffrey le Barbu supported the revolt, it seems natural to regard the homage as a final act in the general pacification, and to assign it to 1063. This is the view taken by Latouche (Maine, p. 35) as against Kate Norgate (England under the Angevin Kings, London, 1887, i, p. 217), who places the homage before the revolt.