Note 38 — Chapter II · REBELLION AND EXILE
Reading edition
The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle seems to place the siege at the end of 1079, but this is an error. A.-S. C., a. 1079. The siege took place after Christmas 1078 and in the early weeks of 1079. Ordericus, ii, p. 387. This is made certain by a charter of Philip I in favor of Saint-Quentin of Beauvais, dated “in obsidione … circa Gerborredum, anno … millesimo septuagesimo viiiiⁿᵒ anno vero regni Philippi regis Francorum ixⁿᵒ xᵐᵒ.” Recueil des actes de Philippe Iᵉʳ, roi de France, ed. Maurice Prou (Paris, 1908), no. 94. Freeman, though having this charter in hand, still dates the siege in 1079-80. Norman Conquest, iv, pp. 642-643. But Prou has shown conclusively that Freeman is in error and that the correct date is unquestionably January 1079. Op. cit., p. 242, n. 1.