Note 79 — Chapter V · FAILURE TO GAIN THE ENGLISH CROWN

We have some definite evidence concerning Robert’s coöperation with King Henry during his sojourn in England. Soon after the treaty of Alton had been concluded Anselm was summoned to appear before the curia regis, and we are told that it was by the advice of Duke Robert and his friends, who hated the archbishop because he had frustrated their plans, that Henry demanded of Anselm that he become his man and consecrate bishops and abbots whom the king had invested, or else quit the realm. Eadmer, pp. 128, 131. On 3 September at Windsor Robert confirmed two charters of donation by King Henry, the one in favor of Herbert, bishop of Norwich, and the other in favor of John, bishop of Bath. W. Farrer, “An Outline Itinerary of King Henry the First,” in E. H. R., xxxiv, pp. 312, 313.

At some time before the battle of Tinchebray (29 September 1106) Bishop John of Bath obtained a separate charter from Robert confirming donations of William Rufus and Henry I. Two Chartularies of the Priory of St. Peter at Bath, ed. William Hunt (London, 1893), i, p. 47, no. 44. The document is undated. It may have been issued during Robert’s sojourn in England in 1101 or during one of his two later visits, late in 1103 (cf. infra, pp. 148-149), or early in 1106 (cf. infra, p. 169); or, indeed, it may have been issued at some other time in Normandy.