Note 1319 — Chapter IV · (continued 3)

The vision is recorded by William of Malmesbury in the life of Wulfstan (268), where he says that Bishop Robert was “in curia regis,” and adds that he was “homo sæculi quidem fretus prudentia, sed nulla solutus illecebra.” Florence says that Robert was “in oppido quod Criccelad vocatur.” The inference is that the King was at Cricklade. Cricklade does not appear among the King’s lordships in Wiltshire; but both he (Domesday, 65) and other lords had burgesses there, and there is an entry in 64 b about the third penny, which brought in five pounds yearly.

In the Gesta Pontificum William of Malmesbury does not mention the vision; but he brings Bishop Robert to Worcester to bury Wulfstan without any such call. There is surely something a little heathenish in his description of the bishop’s body lying in “Libitina ante altare.”