Note 514 — Chapter III

I do not quite understand the story in Henry of Huntingdon (8) about another earl depriving Robert of his wife or bride; “Contigit quemdam alium consulem sponsam ei tam factione quam dolosis viribus arripuisse. Unde in senectute sua mente turbatus et angaria obnubilatus, in tenebras mœroris incidit, nec usque ad mortem se lætum vel hilarem sensit.” Earl Robert’s widow, Elizabeth or Isabel of Crépy or Vermandois, was presently married again to the younger Earl William of Warren. (See Ord. Vit. 686 B, 723 D, 805 D; Will. Gem. viii. 40, 41.) Was there anything irregular or scandalous about the marriage? Count Robert married her in 1096, so that, as he was distinctly old at his death in 1118, she must have been far from young. His children therefore were children of his advanced life, which lessens the difficulty about the child whom his daughter Isabel is said to have borne to King Henry late in his reign. (Will. Gem. viii. 29; cf. 37; and see N. C. vol. v. p. 844.)