Note 100 — Chapter II · REBELLION AND EXILE

It is clear that the war grew out of the inevitable antagonism between the interests of the two monarchs, and particularly out of the determination on King William’s part to reassert the Norman claim to the Vexin. Ordericus, iii, pp. 222-225. As to the immediate provocation, Ordericus explains that the Conqueror’s attack upon Mantes was in retaliation for predatory incursions which certain lawless inhabitants of the city had been making across the border into Normandy (ibid., p. 222); William of Malmesbury attributes it to an insulting jest which Philip had made about William’s obesity (G. R., ii, p. 336); while Robert of Torigny ascribes it to the aid which Philip had been giving Robert Curthose against his father (Interpolations de Robert de Torigny, in William of Jumièges, p. 265).