Note 334 — Chapter XII · THE LATER REIGN OF WILLIAM IN NORMANDY.[159] 1051–1066.

This feudal scruple, which really seems the only intelligible explanation of William’s conduct in leaving the most important operations to others, comes from William of Malmesbury (u. s.); “Simul quia sciebat Regem Francorum, jampridem, nescio quâ simultate, sibi infensum, ad opem obsesso ferendam adventare; namque prædicandi moderaminis consilio, quamvis justiorem caussam habere videretur, cum eo decernere ferro cavebat, cui et pro sacramento et pro suffragio obnoxius erat.” Henry the Second felt the like scruple at the siege of Toulouse in 1159, but Thomas of London, then the worldly Chancellor, thought otherwise; “Vanâ superstitione et reverentiâ Rex tentus consilio aliorum, super urbem, in quâ esset dominus suus Rex Franciæ, irruere noluit; dicente in contrarium Cancellario, quod personam domini Rex Francorum ibi deposuisset, cò quod supra pacta conventa hostem se ei opposuisset.” (Will. Fil. Steph. p. 200, ed. Giles.)