Note 669 — Chapter XII · THE LATER REIGN OF WILLIAM IN NORMANDY.[159] 1051–1066. (continued 3)
Reading edition
Roman de Rou, 10785;
“E Heraut a par un privé
En Normendie el Duc mandé.”
Eadmer (5) says, “Constrictus igitur Haraldus quemlibet ex vulgo, promissâ mercede illectum, clam ad Comitem Normanniæ dirigit;” but that the messenger was an Englishman appears from his moustache in the Tapestry, plate 3. “Hic venit nuntius ad Wilgelmum Ducem.” William of Malmesbury, ii. 228, gives another turn to the message, of which I shall have to speak elsewhere. One expression is very odd; “Si pecuniis exuenda captivitas esset, libens daret Willelmo Comiti, non semiviro Guidoni.” I do not know the meaning of this strange epithet and spondaic cadence.