Note 133 — Chapter VI · THE LOSS OF NORMANDY
Reading edition
Ordericus, iv, pp. 215, 223-224; Annales de Wintonia, in Annales Monastici, ii, p. 42. The chronology of Ordericus is confused. Abbot Fulk, predecessor of the simoniac Robert, is said to have died at Winchester 3 April 1105. Gallia Christiana, xi, instr., col. 155; Ordericus, iv, p. 19, and n. 2; p. 215, and n. 2. Henry’s destruction of the abbey must, therefore, be referred to 1106, since it would have been impossible for Abbot Robert to have gained possession of the monastery and to have erected a fortress in it while Henry was still in Normandy in the previous summer, the king having returned to England in August. This conclusion is confirmed by the Annals of Winchester: “MCVI. Hoc anno rex in Normanniam duxit exercitum, et veniens ad Sanctum Petrum super Divam, abbatiam redegit in pulverem, et centum homines et eo amplius interfecit.”