Note 53 — Chapter III · INDEPENDENT RULE, 1087-95

At the trial of Bishop William of Durham before the curia regis at Salisbury, 2 November 1088, the king refused to allow the bishop to depart from the kingdom unless he gave pledges “quod naves meas, quas sibi inveniam, non detinebit frater meus, vel aliquis suorum, ad dampnum meum.” De Iniusta Vexatione, in Simeon, Opera, i, p. 190. Some color seems to be given to the king’s fears by a statement in Des miracles advenus en l’église de Fécamp: “Adhibuit etiam mari custodes, quos illi piratas vocant, qui naves ab Anglia venientes caperent, captos si redderent, capturam suis usibus manciparent.” Société de l’Histoire de Normandie, Mélanges, 2d series, p. 29.