Note 618 — Chapter VIII · THE EARLY YEARS OF WILLIAM THE CONQUEROR.[497] A.D. 1028–1051.
Reading edition
See above, p. 172. William of Poitiers (Giles, Scriptt. Will. Conq. 80; Duchèsne, 179 B) gives him, as might be expected, a splendid panegyric. Among other virtues we read, “Summo studio cœpit ecclesiis Dei patrocinari, caussas impotentium tutari, jura imponere quæ non gravarent, judicia facere quæ nequaquam ab æquitate vel temperantiâ deviarent. Imprimis prohibere cædes, incendia, rapinas. Rebus enim illicitis nimia ubique, ut suprà docuimus, licentia fuit.” See also the later panegyrics on his administration of justice, p. 88, and on his piety in 113, to which I shall have again to refer.