âLong live Duke William.â
He stood before the altar in the great Cathedral while Archbishop Mauger, sterner than ever he was in the schoolroom, demanded of him: âWilliam, will you in the name of God and the people of Normandy be a good and true ruler and guard your people from their enemies? Will you maintain truth, punish evil and protect the Holy Church?â
âI will,â said William. âSo help me God.â
âKiss the gospel book,â whispered the Archbishop, and this he did.
Two bishops then came forward and put about his shoulders the ducal cloak of red velvet edged with ermine. It was so heavy it was difficult for him to support it. A golden coronet was placed on his head. It was so big that it fell over his brow; a sword was placed in his hands and thus encumbered he must make his way to the throne.
Seated there, weighed down by these heavy accoutrements he received the oaths of allegiance from the knights and barons.
âSire, I proclaim myself your vassal in word and deed. I swear loyalty to you and to preserve your laws as far as therein lies my power,â pronounced each of them in turn.
Robert looked on triumphantly while this was done and never before had he so delighted in his son.
Thus William became Duke of Normandy; and a few days after the ceremony Robert left with his son for Paris.
At the Court of France
FOR THE FIRST weeks at the Court of France William believed he would never cease to mourn for the past. His father had taken a tender farewell of him â and how different he looked in the garb of a pilgrim! Not Robert the Magnificent at all. The King of France was kind; he had sworn to Robert that he would care for William as he would his own son; but William, recently a Duke who had received the oath of fealty from his vassals, found it hard to accept the fact that he was a vassal of the King of France.
Before he left, his father spoke seriously to him. It had emerged that William was possessed of a hot temper. He would scarcely have been his fatherâs son if he was not. But he must curb it. He must share his possessions. It had also been noted that there was a certain avaricious streak in his nature. All Norman failings. Duke Robert was condemning them now because his mind was occupied with spiritual matters. At one time he would have thought it not such a bad thing that a leader could grow suddenly fierce and that he should regard his possessions with some affection.
Avarice had brought him to this pass. Had he not coveted his brotherâs dukedom? If he had been content to take second place he would not be setting off on a pilgrimage now.
The King of France talked to William on the day his father left and told him that at his Court he would be instructed in the art of chivalry; he would hunt with his falcon; he would have his dogs and horses and he, the King of France, would do all in his power for the son of a man who had befriended him in his hour of need.
So Robert could ride away with a good conscience but William was sick with longing for his home. As a good Norman he must not show his grief but it was there none the less.
There were boys of noble birth to share his games and lessons, but they were French not Norman. Smaller in stature than the Norse giants, William despised them; he found their habits mincing; they ate their meat more daintily than he hadbeen brought up to, and it was soon clear that he was not one of them.
The manner of his instruction was different from that he had received from Osbern de Crépon and his squires in Normandy. The French did not speak their minds with the frankness to which William was accustomed. Knightly instruction, which in Normandy was a matter of martial skill and chivalric behaviour, was in France a part of the religious training.
William, brought up to speak his mind, was scathing in his comments on this.
âWhy,â he said, âyou French make monks of your chevaliers. In
He stood before the altar in the great Cathedral while Archbishop Mauger, sterner than ever he was in the schoolroom, demanded of him: âWilliam, will you in the name of God and the people of Normandy be a good and true ruler and guard your people from their enemies? Will you maintain truth, punish evil and protect the Holy Church?â
âI will,â said William. âSo help me God.â
âKiss the gospel book,â whispered the Archbishop, and this he did.
Two bishops then came forward and put about his shoulders the ducal cloak of red velvet edged with ermine. It was so heavy it was difficult for him to support it. A golden coronet was placed on his head. It was so big that it fell over his brow; a sword was placed in his hands and thus encumbered he must make his way to the throne.
Seated there, weighed down by these heavy accoutrements he received the oaths of allegiance from the knights and barons.
âSire, I proclaim myself your vassal in word and deed. I swear loyalty to you and to preserve your laws as far as therein lies my power,â pronounced each of them in turn.
Robert looked on triumphantly while this was done and never before had he so delighted in his son.
Thus William became Duke of Normandy; and a few days after the ceremony Robert left with his son for Paris.
At the Court of France
FOR THE FIRST weeks at the Court of France William believed he would never cease to mourn for the past. His father had taken a tender farewell of him â and how different he looked in the garb of a pilgrim! Not Robert the Magnificent at all. The King of France was kind; he had sworn to Robert that he would care for William as he would his own son; but William, recently a Duke who had received the oath of fealty from his vassals, found it hard to accept the fact that he was a vassal of the King of France.
Before he left, his father spoke seriously to him. It had emerged that William was possessed of a hot temper. He would scarcely have been his fatherâs son if he was not. But he must curb it. He must share his possessions. It had also been noted that there was a certain avaricious streak in his nature. All Norman failings. Duke Robert was condemning them now because his mind was occupied with spiritual matters. At one time he would have thought it not such a bad thing that a leader could grow suddenly fierce and that he should regard his possessions with some affection.
Avarice had brought him to this pass. Had he not coveted his brotherâs dukedom? If he had been content to take second place he would not be setting off on a pilgrimage now.
The King of France talked to William on the day his father left and told him that at his Court he would be instructed in the art of chivalry; he would hunt with his falcon; he would have his dogs and horses and he, the King of France, would do all in his power for the son of a man who had befriended him in his hour of need.
So Robert could ride away with a good conscience but William was sick with longing for his home. As a good Norman he must not show his grief but it was there none the less.
There were boys of noble birth to share his games and lessons, but they were French not Norman. Smaller in stature than the Norse giants, William despised them; he found their habits mincing; they ate their meat more daintily than he hadbeen brought up to, and it was soon clear that he was not one of them.
The manner of his instruction was different from that he had received from Osbern de Crépon and his squires in Normandy. The French did not speak their minds with the frankness to which William was accustomed. Knightly instruction, which in Normandy was a matter of martial skill and chivalric behaviour, was in France a part of the religious training.
William, brought up to speak his mind, was scathing in his comments on this.
âWhy,â he said, âyou French make monks of your chevaliers. In
Similar Books
