Note 823 — Chapter VIII · THE EARLY YEARS OF WILLIAM THE CONQUEROR.[497] A.D. 1028–1051. (continued 2)
Reading edition
Gest. Cons. 237. “Fuit vir quidam de Armoricâ Galliâ, nomine Torquatius, genus cujus olim ab Armoricâ jussu Maximi Imperatoris à Britonibus expulsum est. Iste à Britonibus, proprietatem vetusti ac Romani nominis ignorantibus, corrupto vocabulo Tortulfus dictus fuit.” We may be pretty sure that Tortulf, or something like it, of which his son’s name Tertullus seems another and happier Latinization, was the true name. Charles made Torquatius a forester, “illius forestæ quæ Nidus-meruli nuncupatur.” The writer goes on to talk about Senators and Emperors taken from the plough.