Note 1105 — Chapter VII · (continued 3)

So Orderic; I add the stipulation about Robert from William of Malmesbury; “Egregia sane conditione, ut dominus suus integra membrorum salute Normanniam permitteretur abire.” William’s account just here is very confused; but this condition seems to have struck him, and it explains some things which come later. He goes on to make this strange statement; “Porro Scrobesbirienses per Radulfum tum abbatem Sagii, postea Cantuariæ archiepiscopum, regi misere castelli claves, deditionis præsentis indices, futuræ devotionis obsides.” Now Orderic has, as we shall see, a wholly different account of the surrender of Shrewsbury, and Abbot Ralph, a victim of Robert of Bellême (see vol. i. p. 184), is not at all likely to have been in one of his castles. Can it be that William has got hold of the wrong castle and the wrong Ralph? Did Bishop Ralph of Chichester act by any chance as mediator between the King and the garrison of Arundel, a place in his diocese?