Note 184 — Chapter II
Reading edition
The appeal to the English is strongly marked in the Chronicle; “Ða þe cyng undergeat ealle þas þing and hwilcne swicdom hi dydon toweard his, þa wearð he on his mode swiðe gedrefed. Sende þa æfter Englisce mannan, and heom fore sæde his neode and gyrnde heora fultumes.” Simeon of Durham gives a free translation quite independent of Florence; “Hoc audito, rex fecit convocare Anglos, et ostendit eis traditionem Normannorum, et rogavit ut sibi auxilio essent.” But the appeal comes out no less strongly in Orderic (666 D); “Lanfrancum archiepiscopum cum suffraganeis præsulibus, et comites, Anglosque naturales convocavit, et conatus adversariorum, ac velle suum expugnandi eos indicavit.” The writ comes from William of Malmesbury, iv. 306; “Ille, videns Normannos pene omnes in una rabie conspiratos, Anglos probos et fortes viros, qui adhuc residui erant, invitatoriis scriptis accersiit.” It is singular that Florence mentions the English only in an incidental way a little later; “Congregato quantum ad præsens poterat Normannorum, sed tamen maxime Anglorum, equestri et pedestri, licet mediocri, exercitu.” Does the precious document spoken of by William of Malmesbury still lurk in any manuscript store?