Note 44 — Chapter V · FAILURE TO GAIN THE ENGLISH CROWN

A.-S. C., a. 1101: “twelve nights before Lammas”; Henry of Huntingdon, p. 233: “ante kalendas Augusti”; Florence of Worcester, ii, pp. 48-49: “circa ad Vincula S. Petri”; Ordericus, iv, p. 110: “in autumno.” The sources agree that the expedition landed at Portsmouth, though Wace gives the landing place as Porchester. Roman de Rou, ii, p. 439. Freeman explains that Portsmouth is a “vaguer name” referring to the “whole haven,” and that Wace, wishing to be more specific, names Porchester as the exact point within the harbor where the landing took place. William Rufus, ii, p. 406, n. 1. But it seems more likely that Wace’s choice of the word was due to the exigencies of his verse:

The Annales de Wintonia places the number of ships in the invading fleet at two hundred, and record the presence of Ranulf Flambard: “Dux Robertus venit in Angliam cum cc. navibus, et cum eo Radulfus Passeflambere.” Annales Monastici, ii, p. 41.