Note 1005 — Chapter VII · (continued 2)

The escape of Flambard is oddly recorded by the Chronicler at the end of the year, after he had mentioned all that his escape led to. But he gives the date; “Ðises geares eac se bisceop Rannulf to þam Candelmæssan út of þam Túre on Lunden nihtes oðbærst, þær he on hæftneðe wæs, and to Normandige fór.” Florence (1101) tells us how “Dunholmensis episcopus Rannulfus, post nativitatem Domini, de custodia magna calliditate evasit, mare transiit.” William of Malmesbury (v. 394) gives some details, but the full story comes from Orderic (786). Flambard was to be “custodiendus in vinculis,” a phrase which seems to show that the fetters in this and many other cases were metaphorical.