Note 896 — Chapter VIII · THE EARLY YEARS OF WILLIAM THE CONQUEROR.[497] A.D. 1028–1051. (continued 3)

For the famous dialogue between Edward the First and the Earl Marshal Roger Bigod, see Walter of Hemingburgh, ii. 121 (ed. Hamilton). Could we suppose that either King or Earl spoke English (doubtless both understood it), one might see in the King’s oath (“Per Deum, Comes, aut ibis aut pendebis”) and the Earl’s retort (“Per idem juramentum, O Rex, nec ibo nec pendebo”) an allusion to the punning derivation of the name Bigod just mentioned.