459 – Lashing Out

Welcome to the British History Podcast.

My name is Jamie, and this is episode 459: Lashing Out.

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With Count Henry and Robert of Boulem imprisoned under his tender care, Bishop Odo had free reign to guide the impressionable Duke Robert in whatever direction he wanted.

And he had a direction in mind.

You see, when Odo was forced to march out of Rochester to that special horn song for losers, He knew nothing would ever be the same.

Until that moment, his ambitions to hold power in England were plausible.

They were arguably within reach.

But when Rochester fell, those dreams died.

Every single one of his English estates had been seized.

And now he didn't have any financial interest in England, which means that all of Odo's future, future, all of his power, all of his influence, and all of his wealth were tied intimately to the future of Normandy.

Consequently, Odo suddenly became very interested in securing Normandy's future.

And Normandy was facing some serious challenges.

And, given the nature of Norman nobles, if Normandy was going to weather the coming storm, it would need a firm hand, at least as far as Odo was concerned.

So that firm hand got to work right away.

Now, considering that Henry and Bolem were now branded as traitors to the duchy, and considering that they both held lands which sat as threats to Odo's own lands, you can imagine that the bishop might have had plans to seize their properties as soon as possible.

You know, in order to save Normandy.

And you wouldn't be the only one imagining that.

Back in England, Earl Roger de Montgomery was also imagining it, as he was Balem's father.

When Montgomery received word of his son's imprisonment, he sought leave from King Rufus to cross the channel and secure his Norman estates and fortify his Norman castles as soon as possible.

He recognized a war when it was gaining steam.

It was clearly coming, so he needed to prepare for whatever Bishop Odo Odo had planned next.

King Rufus quickly granted the leave, and in short order, the Earl was on a ship bound for Normandy.

But while de Montgomery was pretty sure that Odo was going to go after his Norman estates, and while I'm pretty sure that Odo wanted to go after those Norman estates,

and while you are probably also pretty sure that Odo would have wanted to go after those same estates, Odo did not, in fact, go after those estates.

At least not immediately.

And I suspect that it's at least partly due to the optics, because they would have been terrible.

Balem hadn't actually done anything.

I mean, the best Odo could say is that there is a rumor that Balem allied with Rufus, which isn't a lot to launch a war on, especially considering that Balem had just fought for Duke Robert's claim on England and actually had been imprisoned by Rufus, his supposed ally, because he had fought so hard in that war.

So if Odo wanted folks to believe that Balem was actually super secretly in cahoots with Rufus, and that this treason ran so deep that every estate he held was forfeit, well, he'd need some serious proof, and I'm guessing that I heard from a guy that Balem was shady wasn't gonna cut it.

But I'm pretty sure he still would have liked to have done it.

And he might have even gone so far as to suggest it.

And the reason why I say that is because Orderic tells us that in this period immediately following the imprisonment of Henry and Balem,

Bishop Odo was kind of a maniac.

This is the time where Orderic compares him to a fire-breathing dragon.

Quote, Bishop Odo of Bayeux, like a fire-breathing dragon that has been vanquished, grew very angry at the king's contempt for him and stirred up a number of troubles in Normandy so that by some means or other, he might contrive to injure his nephew who had banished him in disgrace.

End quote.

So yeah, Odo was absolutely seething after his defeat.

And I suspect that when Rufus insisted on playing the medieval equivalent of the sad trombone as he marched out of Rochester, that didn't help his mood.

But the part of the quote that jumps out to me is that in his rage, he quote, stirred up a number of troubles in Normandy, end quote.

And we all know someone like this, right?

Someone who, when they feel thwarted or embarrassed, lash out at whoever's unlucky enough to be standing nearby.

And I get the sense that Odo was absolutely that guy.

And unfortunately for Normandy, the duchy was what was nearby when Odo was looking for someone to lash out at.

Now, Orderick doesn't give us as many details about this mess as we would like, but he does tell us that Duke Robert was terrified of his uncle's wrath.

However, despite that fear, he also didn't just hand Odo everything that he demanded right away.

In fact, he refused some of his uncle's proposals outright.

Now, unfortunately, Orderk doesn't tell us what those proposals were, but we do know that at some point, Duke Robert was actually drawing a line.

But for other proposals, well, he granted them.

And I'm guessing that one of them involved Henry, who was currently imprisoned at Odo's estate at Bayeux.

Now, unfortunately, our information about Henry's incarceration and punishment is severely lacking.

But I would wager...

that at the top of Odo's wish list was stripping Henry of his title.

And that was a proposal that Duke Robert would have been quite amenable to.

After all, the kid was governing about a third of Normandy at this point, all because he had basically extorted that title out of Robert.

So probably hurt feelings all around on that one.

And sure enough, it does appear that he lost the title of Count at around this point.

And I suspect it was probably at Odo's direct request.

But according to Orderic, Henry wasn't the only one on Odo's shit list.

While we're not told the specifics, it does look like he had quite a roster of alleged traitors and criminals that he wanted the Duke to handle.

And so I've got to imagine that if you were someone living in Normandy and you'd crossed Odo, or annoyed Odo, or merely were in the same town as Odo,

you are probably starting to sweat.

Meanwhile, Earl Roger de Montgomery's ship, along with any forces he brought with him from his English estates, had arrived in Normandy, and they immediately fortified his castles and estates.

And Odo

was

outraged.

How dare this Earl do something so aggressive and completely without cause?

After all, Odo and Duke Robert had been nothing but reasonable, right?

And so, in response to this insulting act of basic preparation, Odo marched right down to Rouen and demanded an audience with the Duke.

Something had to be done about this unprovoked hostility.

And Orderic tells us that Odo rolled right into court and delivered an absolute barn burner of a speech.

He actually gives us the supposed speech.

But the direct translation is really orderick-y, and it also goes on for ages.

So I'm just going to give you the gist in a more modern tone, so that way no one falls asleep.

He basically says, Look, Robert, being a ruler is difficult, and everyone's accepted this burden in their own way.

But in general, a ruler should be gentle with good men and fierce with evil men.

And because God has given you the Duchy of Normandy, it is your responsibility to govern decisively and to lead.

So, uh,

what's going on, my duke?

I mean, we've got monks and widows coming to you begging for your help, informing you that criminals pillage the country and are committing atrocities unabated.

And yet, here you sit doing nothing.

That's not how Alexander the Great would have done it.

Nor King David, Julius Caesar, Hannibal of Carthage, Scipio Africanus, Septimus Severus, and many others.

But you know what?

Let's be honest here.

I can give you plenty of other examples, but it would be a waste of time because I can tell from your vacant expression that you don't have a clue who I'm talking about.

So let's focus on the people that you would know.

Remember your dad, William the Conqueror?

And what about your grandfather and namesake, Robert?

What about those three Richards that came before?

And William Longsword and frickin' Rollo?

You know them, right?

Well, none of them would have sat on their hands while these sort of injustices were taking place.

They would have fought.

So for pity's sake, follow their example and at least try to pretend that you're worthy of the House of Normandy.

Summon an army, march on Le Mans, and secure their obedience.

The magnates and aristocrats will almost certainly bow to your might, and when they do, you should welcome them into your army and reward them for their service.

And as for the foolish nobles who refuse you, we'll take your newly reinforced army and destroy them and lay siege to any castles that aren't immediately handed over to you.

And then, once that's done, let's finally deal with the Montgomery family.

They're completely out of control.

True, they are wealthy, wealthy, incredibly so, but not because of any virtue.

Rather, just because they're utterly shameless.

They break their oaths, they're constantly engaging in evil plots, they seize property from their neighbors through force or through fraud, and that's when they're not imprisoning or outright assassinating their rivals.

And I don't need to tell you any of this.

When your father died and you became the Duke of Normandy, what did Robert of Boulem do?

He drove drove your men out of your castles, didn't he?

That's the kind of behavior that they've been inflicting upon Normandy for generations.

And as a result, they now control the castles of Boulem, Lerson, Assay, Alengon, Domfront, Censenerie, La Roche-Mabille, Marmers, Vignats, and many others.

Their entire line is cursed and needs to be rooted out before it can do any more damage.

But for the first time in decades, Robert, we are in a position to be able to put a stop to all of this.

We've already got their heir in our dungeons.

And if you move boldly right now,

we can get every last God-forsaken member of that family.

And once you're done, no one in Normandy would dare stand against you.

In one campaign, you can establish a new era of peace in the duchy under the careful guidance of her strong and righteous Duke Robert.

Like I said, it was a barn burner.

Though we also need to keep in mind that this little speech is relayed by Orderk.

And Orderic hated Robert.

And so I can't tell you how much of this was actually said by Odo and how much of it was actually Orderic having a shower argument with Robert.

Either way though, Odo here wasn't wrong.

Duke Robert looked weak after he failed to seize England.

He really needed to make a show of strength here, otherwise he could find himself the victim of a rebellion himself.

And the Montgomery Balem family was acting pretty shady, and they had accumulated a dangerous amount of wealth and power.

So going after them wasn't exactly a crazy move.

And that might be why we're also told that that at the conclusion of Odo's speech, the members of court immediately burst into applause and all offered to join the Duke should he decide to pursue this plan of action.

Now, it's very possible that Robert was just as taken by Odo's speech as the members of his court were.

But I should point out that we also have been told that Robert was intimidated by his uncle and was wary to cross him even at the best of times.

So even if he had reservations, I have to imagine that once his own courtiers started cheering in the halls of Rouen, Curt Hose probably felt like he had no choice but to saddle up and ride.

And that is exactly what he did.

In August, Duke Robert marched into the southern marches, and with him were several of his top lieutenants, including William, Count of Evreux, Ralph of Conch, William de Pretuis, and of of course, Bishop Odo.

And naturally, these nobles brought their forces with them, and were told that they were also joined by many other distinguished knights.

And the end result of this was a sizable force with a lot of military experience.

And word of it spread fast.

Consequently, long before the army appeared on the horizon, the people of Le Mans knew exactly what was bearing down upon them.

And so they did the smart thing here.

They rolled out the red carpet and welcomed the lot right on in.

No sense dying in a pointless siege against a monster army.

And they went one step further.

We're told that the clergy and citizenry of Le Mans actually gathered together and cheered as the Duke approached.

And that the major magnates of the region, including quote Geoffrey of Mayenne, Robert the Burgundian, Hellias son of John, and many others, answered the summons ready for the Duke's service, end quote.

in a single march, he got most of the magnates of Maine.

Most.

Not all.

There was a group of rebels who refused to pay homage to Duke Robert, and instead, they had barricaded themselves within the castle of Belon in Maine.

But this was a Norman army.

They knew exactly what to do when someone goes and locks themselves inside a castle.

They marched over there and they besieged it.

And what followed was a fierce battle for control.

But in the end, Robert's men overcame the defenses, but not without taking some number of casualties in the process.

We're not told specifically how many casualties.

All we're told is that there was one casualty of note, a knight named Osmond.

But as for how many low-ranked fighters had lost their lives in the fighting, we don't know.

But with the fall of Boulogne, Duke Robert had secured his control over Maine.

No other garrisons resisted him.

Actually, far from it.

Many of the region's highest-ranked figures had summoned their forces and joined his army.

And so, with his army strengthened by the local might of Maine, Duke Robert continued his march and went straight for the lands of Balem and Montgomery.

And the tone within this region was significantly different.

Encouraged by the presence of Earl de Montgomery, they were already on a war footing.

This landscape bristled with castles, and they were all manned by garrisons who were loyal to the Bolem-Montgomery dynasty.

And when the Ducal army reached the castle of San Cenery, they must have realized this wasn't going to be an easy campaign after all, because these fellas were dug in tight.

Saint-Cenerie was held by Robert of Bolem's garrison, and it was commanded by a knight who was also named Robert, because this is Normandy.

And this is also why you've got a lot of nicknames.

This guy's nickname was Robert Quarrell, which should give you a sense of what kind of person he was.

He was ready for a fight.

He was more than ready.

He was eager.

And as a consequence, rather than quickly bringing the castle down, as they probably hoped when they first began the campaign, instead, Duke Robert and his army found themselves immediately locked into a long, brutal siege.

And nothing they did could breach those damn walls.

They kept on getting pushed back again and again.

And actually, the castle would have remained unbroken were it not for the fact that supplies began to dwindle.

Because it was only once famine had set in that the defenders grew hungry enough that they decided to surrender.

And bringing down a castle in that manner is a very long and very grueling process.

Especially since Earl Montgomery had prepared his garrisons for this event.

So you have to imagine this went on for ages.

But at the end of it, it did fall.

And Duke Robert had a castle and also a whole bunch of prisoners.

Now, he gave the castle to Robert Garoy, and this was actually the nephew of that guy that Mabel Balem had poisoned.

And as for why he gave that castle to him, well, Robert Garoy's father, who was also named Robert Garoy, had governed that castle and actually had died there.

And then the Belemes came along and took it.

So Robert didn't just give this castle to anyone.

He was returning it to the family that had held it, you know, before the Belems went and did what the Balems did best.

Then the Duke decided to pass judgment on the prisoners.

The Castellan, Robert Quarrell, he was sentenced to be blinded.

And the rest of the garrison, they were sentenced to be mutilated.

Now Orderk doesn't specify how they were mutilated, but I'm guessing it involved their hands.

And Orderk says that Duke Robert did this because he was furious.

And while I'm sure you don't do this because you're feeling happy, this sort of brutality also doubles as a terror tactic.

And so when Duke Robert ordered the widespread mutilation, it's quite possible, even likely, that he was doing it because he intended to scare the rest of the garrisons into standing down.

And actually, it worked.

Word of the treatment of the castle of San Ceneri reached the other rebel garrisons of Alingon and Belem, and their castellans began to panic.

Orderk tells us that they actually began to discuss how best to surrender in order to, you know, avoid being mutilated themselves.

And then Orderic adds something, and I'm going to use the direct quote here because it's odd.

He says that after this siege, Robert was, quote, giving way to voluptuousness, end quote.

And as a consequence, he disbanded his army.

Now,

I can't speak to Robert's curves.

Did his hips not lie?

Could he shake it like a Polaroid picture?

Perhaps, but I'm pretty sure that this translation of Orderic was actually using an older definition of the word voluptuous, namely that Robert was turning his attentions to luxury and pleasure.

And maybe?

But if that is what happened, it would be a strange and erratic shift in Robert's focus.

I'm honestly having a hard time imagining the process where you start one week with brutal torture and mutilation, only to disband your army the next week while there was still a rebellion taking place just because you needed to treat yourself to a spa day.

But Order it goes on and he says that in response to that disbanding, Earl Roger de Montgomery sued for peace.

And that is an even weirder set of events.

I mean, if you can intimidate an army by eating chocolates and drinking wine, I think someone would have figured that out by now.

We'd probably have a few more General Dolly Partons than we'd have General Douglas MacArthur's.

So none of this makes any sense.

And I suspect that Orderic either accidentally reversed these two events, or he intentionally reversed them because he wanted to cast the Duke as his favorite type of bad guy.

The decadent, oversexed, dandy boy kind of bad bad guy.

I think the much more likely timeline here is that Earl de Montgomery sued for peace in the aftermath of having his entire garrison mutilated and his castellan blinded.

And then once terms were agreed to, the Duke made peace, freed Robert of Bolem, and disbanded his army.

Now, we're not told what the terms for peace were, but Orderic does tell us that whatever the Earl offered was just a bunch of empty promises.

But empty promises or no, that sequence of events makes much more sense to me than the one that was detailed by Orderic.

And honestly, if Robert's goal was to eliminate major threats to his reign, namely Henry's dominance in Western Normandy, and also the belief that he was a weak duke who wouldn't raise an army to defend his position, well, he could reasonably consider this campaign a win.

Maine had bowed to his supremacy, with only one castle attempting to stand against him, and that castle was brought down.

Similarly, the Montgomery Bolem power block had been forced to seek terms after the fall of one of their castles.

So I wouldn't be surprised if Duke Robert saw this as an unqualified success, and that's why he disbanded his army.

He had proven himself a Norman Duke in the classic style.

He wasn't weak, he was strong, decisive, and brutal.

Unfortunately, the lords of Normandy weren't buying the rebrand.

And Orderic tells us that actually, once freed, Robert of Bolem, who was furious over his imprisonment, grew bitter and vengeful.

And rather than being scared straight, he showed less obedience and fealty to the Duke than he had done before.

We're told that Bolem was openly defiant of his duke's authority and quote, took vengeance daily in every way he could, end quote.

Whoops.

And even worse, it looks like he wasn't alone.

This rolling disaster can even be seen in the archaeological record.

In this layer of French dirt, we can still see the evidence of an eruption of unlicensed castle building during this period.

Meaning, they were building castles they weren't supposed to, which is a direct sign that there were many Norman nobles who saw their new Duke as weak, and they were taking the opportunity to seize power by further fortifying their estates.

And clearly, they weren't wrong because a rebellious atmosphere was building in Normandy, despite the Duke's best efforts to quash it.

And Orderic is absolutely convinced that this was all Robert's fault.

Or at least that he could have avoided this if he wasn't just so damn lazy and fancy.

But I'm not so sure.

I don't think Duke Robert really could have avoided this outcome.

Because what was driving his problems in Normandy was larger than his own behavior.

It was even larger than the general culture of the Norman barons that he was trying to keep in line.

There was one very big problem that was aiming directly at Robert.

King Rufus.

But to understand what was going on there and why all of a sudden a bunch of barons in Normandy had the courage and the cash to start a spree of unlicensed castle building, we're going to need to dig into the archaeology and the construction records of another castle.

This one was in London.

The White Tower.

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Thanks for listening.