453 – Odo’s Rebellion: The Cold War

Welcome to the British History Podcast.

My name is Jamie, and this is episode 453, Odo's Rebellion: The Cold War.

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Primogeniture.

The practice of handing all wealth and power from father to the eldest surviving son had done a lot to consolidate power along single family lines.

But it also created all manner of problems for, well, pretty much everyone else.

I mean, first, there's the question of what do you do with the boys who weren't the eldest?

And in the case of France, and now conquered England, this was occurring within a chivalric society.

So these younger sons were likely to be knights.

And

having a bunch of landless, ambitious, and angry knights riding around had trouble written all over it.

So this culture had to figure out a way to avoid the inevitable calamities that this system system would create for itself.

And surprisingly, France had spent the 11th century coming up with a half-decent solution.

French noblemen were providing their spare sons with endowments of land and the appropriate titles to go along with it.

Now, these younger sons still had to answer to their elder brother, but they had a stake in the game now, because while they might not have the biggest title, they still had authority and wealth.

And this is why William's half-brothers, Robert of Mortain and Bishop Odo, had all of that wealth and power.

And they weren't unusual.

In fact, at this point in Norman history, every count of Vevreux, of O, of Mortaign, of Arc, of Avery, and of Brion was a member of a cadet branch, a bastard, a half-brother, or the direct descendant of someone who was.

This was how business was handled within Normandy.

And this is why Henry was furious when his father basically handed him a watt of cash and showed him the door.

It would have been far more typical to have established Henry as the count of some part of Normandy.

And that was clearly what he was expecting.

It was also what he was denied.

Though, as we've learned, he did use that cash and his relationship with Duke Robert to make himself a count within Normandy.

So good for him.

Now, unfortunately, we don't know exactly when he managed to pull this off.

Orderick doesn't give us a neat monthly chronology.

However, if you piece the evidence together carefully, Henry probably establishes himself as count

sometime during the first year of Robert's ducal reign.

And given Robert's situation within Normandy and how new Norman dukes usually act, I suspect that Henry became count shortly after William's death.

Now,

this act was one of the many acts that Orderic chalked up to Duke Robert's personal weakness.

But honestly, given the culture of Normandy, making Henry into a count was the right and smart thing to do.

It was also something their bastard father really should have done from the outset.

If there's anything to criticize Robert on here, it's that Henry was made a particularly powerful count, as Robert had given his brother a ton of land and authority.

But speaking of things that the bastard should have done and then failed to do, thus creating headaches for Robert, he should have given Robert England as well as Normandy.

I mean, that's kind of how primogeniture works.

And splitting the empire that William had just built between his two sons went against all the norms of, well, Normandy.

It was also creating deep rifts, not just in the royal family, but in Norman society in general.

Warderick tells us that this was so upsetting that they actually had to call a meeting about it.

Nobles, magnates, and other figures of the aristocracy came together to talk about what to do about this situation.

And I'm not just talking about those in Normandy.

He says that this was a, quote, meeting of the great men of both states, end quote.

And that makes sense.

After all, this rift created serious issues for just about everyone.

Even worse, many of these nobles had lands on both sides of the channel, and those that didn't still had friends and family that were across the channel.

William had spent about two decades of his life creating a cross-channel empire, and then he spent about 20 minutes on his deathbed trying to destroy it.

And honestly, given the level of chaos taking place in both domains, with private wars kicking up in Normandy and England looking so dicey that Rufus didn't even dare leave London, well, now really was the best time to get together and chat, because it's not like either of these princes were in a position to put a stop to it.

Now, Orderic wasn't actually in the room when all of this went down.

But his sources might have been.

And he takes their reports and he reconstructs what amounts to a medieval TED talk on the matter of England and Normandy.

Here's what he had to say: quote, We are suddenly involved, they said, in a serious difficulty and threatened with a great diminution of our power and wealth.

Hitherto, we have maintained ourselves with honor under illustrious dukes in the possession of Normandy, which our ancestors who came with Rollo from Denmark 212 years ago gained with their their daring valor.

Afterwards, we crossed the sea with Duke William and subduing the Anglo-Saxons by the might of our arms, seized their lands and wealth, for which we freely shed our blood.

Alas, we are now witness to a great revolution and the sudden overthrow of our power.

What are we to do?

On the death of our old sovereign, he is succeeded by two young princes, and the dominion of England and Normandy is suddenly divided.

How can we conveniently serve two lords so different and so remote from each other?

If we do our duty to Robert, the Duke of Normandy, we shall offend his brother William.

It will follow that we shall forfeit our great revenues and high honors in England.

On the other hand, if we keep our fealty to King William, Duke Robert will take our patrimonial estates in Normandy.

End quote.

And then, I guess there were either a lot of clergy in the room, or Orderic decided to add a little flair of his own, because he goes on and it starts to sound like a Bible study.

Quote: It behooves us to avoid such a separation under these princes, as occurred among the Israelites in the time of Rohaboam and Jeroboam.

Then, one people was divided amongst itself between two rulers, and the law, the temple, and the worship of God being neglected, fell into apostasy.

At length, one part of them were carried captives into Medea by the Assyrians and never returned, and the rest underwent the Babylonian captivity under the Chaldeans.

What happened to the Thebans under the two brothers, Etocyles and Polyneses?

Did not many thousands perish on both sides?

At last, both brothers fell in mutual encounter and left the succession of their inheritance to strangers.

End quote.

So, yeah,

it's not impossible that a room full of illiterate horsebros just happened to be highly versed in specific events described in the Old Testament.

But it's also not very likely, nor is there use of the word behooves.

I'm guessing if you asked Sir Ralph what behooves meant, he'd assume it was something that was being handled by his squire.

Anyway, Orderic continues, quote, It behooves us carefully to consider these and such like instances, and to take prudent precautions so that we may not be ruined by the policy of these youthful princes.

Let us therefore enter into a firm and inviolable league, and having deposed King William or put him to death, as he is the youngest and most arrogant, and we owe him nothing, let us make Duke Robert, who is the elder brother and of a more pliable temper, and to whom we have already sworn fealty during his father's life, sovereign both of England and Normandy, that the union of the two states may be maintained.

End quote.

And this, according to Orderic, was the substance of the meeting.

And while I doubt it was as churchy as our old monk would like us to believe, nor do I suspect they'd be describing men in their 30s as young princes, the outcome is pretty clear and does seem credible.

These rich men wanted to stay rich, and William's kids were a threat to that.

So one of them was going to have to go.

A vote was taken, and they all agreed.

They would install Robert on the throne of England.

When Duke Robert heard that his uncles Odo and Robert of Mortain, along with other major Norman nobles like Robert of Boulem and Eustace of Boulogne, wanted to go get him a crown, he was elated.

I mean, Robert was still pretty mad at Rufus, and you could hardly blame him.

Rufus had spent his entire youth being an obnoxious suck-up to their father while also baldly gunning for Robert's inheritance.

And then to cap it all off, the little bastard actually peed on Robert and all his friends.

And I'm pretty sure Rufus had never apologized for that.

So yeah, Duke Robert was still mad.

And in fact, you can see his anger bleeding into the endowments that Robert was making to the church.

Because we have records where Robert stated that he was making all these donations, quote, for my own salvation and of my father and mother and of my brother Henry, end quote.

Rufus, it seems, could burn in hell.

So, Robert signed on to the plot, and he promised to provide the rebels with whatever support they needed to kick his shitty little brother off the throne.

Upon hearing this, the assembled nobles crossed the channel and, in secret, began their efforts to turn the nobles of England against their king.

And turning these nobles was vital to their chances of success.

You see, when Odo and Robert of Mortain left for England, they weren't accompanied by a vast army of Norman barons.

They only had a small number of supporters who came with them.

Now, this could have been part of the strategy.

They were approaching this as kind of like a covert operation, and large numbers would be likely to attract the attention of Rufus.

And besides, as Odo and Robert of Mortain were the Conqueror's half-brothers, they presumably had all the political clout they'd need.

Or at least they used to.

They were getting older, and the Conqueror was dead.

And Odo had only just been let out of the pokey.

So it's also possible that actually the would-be usurpers crossed the channel with all the supporters that they could muster, and it just wasn't a lot.

Either way, though, they had few people with them when they started sowing the seeds for insurrection.

But no worries, because they had a plan.

Kent would be their main base of operations, but their activities wouldn't be constrained to the southeast.

Instead, each of the rebels would go to their own respective castles, garrison them, and from there, they would reach out to the other nearby nobles and other garrisons and appeal to their sense of loyalty.

Not loyalty to Rufus, of course.

No, loyalty to the cross-channel empire that William had created.

And loyalty to Robert, the proper heir to the throne, as denoted by primogeniture.

According to Malmsbury, the nobles also pointed out that Robert was far more mild and mature as a leader than his younger brother.

Without putting too fine a point on it, they argued that Rufus was a spoiled little brat with a temper.

And if left to his own devices, they argued, Rufus would soon strip them of everything that they had acquired in England.

And so Robert's comparatively mild nature would have been quite attractive to the Norman nobles.

And to be clear, this wasn't just a matter of, oh, he's less likely to freak out and sentence you to death, though, you know, that is also true and also pretty appealing.

There was also the fact that he wasn't as likely to continue the bastard's harsh form of rule.

Under Robert, the barons of England might regain some of their previous liberties and finally be able to wage petty war and steal each other's stuff again.

Which, you know, is pretty awesome if you're a Norman noble.

So overall, this was a solid plan.

Though some of you might have noticed that it was a plan aimed entirely at other Normans.

None of this charm offensive included anything that might appeal to the English.

Odo and his friends were trying to launch a rebellion to seize England, and it appears that they hadn't even considered what the English might think of it.

I'm sure it'll be fine.

Anyway, so for Odo, his charm offensive began in Kent.

The same lands that he had long governed, and also lands that, thanks to his restoration, he was once again governing.

Odo was honestly fantastically wealthy, and his properties were the largest contiguous patch of land held by a rebel noble.

The other rebels were less fortunate and a bit more spread out.

Robert of Montgomery and Robert of Mortain did both hold lands in Sussex, but their lands were also separated by the lands of William of Prius and the lands of William de Warren.

Another rebel, Bishop Bishop Geoffrey of Coutance, was fortifying his castle at Bristol, but that was all the way to the west near the Welsh border, and consequently far from the primary stronghold of Kent.

Essentially, the rebels just had pockets of resistance along the south, but that alone wouldn't be enough.

They needed support.

Now, all the major rebel figures were politically connected, and they had allies that they could call upon.

For example, the Montgomery family's allies even numbered among the Welsh.

The trick, though, was getting those allies to muster an army and fight to trade one Norman king for another.

And it soon became clear that this wasn't going to be as easy as Odo had hoped, even in his own territory of Kent.

You see, not everyone in Kent was down with what Odo had in mind.

And actually, they weren't even down with the idea that Odo was back in England.

It turns out that a few of his own barons had sat on Odo's trial at Penneden Heath, and that meant that the bishop's sudden return was awkward and politically dangerous for them.

Even worse, thanks to Odo's restoration, quite a few Kentish barons now held lands that were subject to Odo, while also holding other lands that remained subject to Archbishop Lanfrank, who, as you recall, was an ally and an advisor to King Rufus.

So, if Odo launched this rebellion against Lanfrank's ally, these nobles would find themselves subject to two warring masters, and they very well could find their lands and properties burned and pillaged by one or both of them.

Honestly, probably both of them.

And remember, one of Odo's main sales pitches here was that they needed to unite under Robert to avoid being subject to two separate masters who were at war with each other.

So Odo's plan for war was essentially promising to inflict the very thing that he claimed that this war would save them from.

It was a strange proposition, but ultimately, Odo wanted to avoid having his duties and lands split between two masters at war.

But he was totally willing to launch a war that would see his subordinates' duties and lands split between him and one of his enemies.

And surprisingly, people weren't exactly lining up to join him.

Meanwhile, the other rebels reached out to their neighbors and made their pitches for rebellion.

And they, like Odo, were finding tough audiences.

And you can totally see why.

They were asking nobles to risk absolutely everything on the hope that Robert would be a better leader than Rufus.

And even if he was, there is also the fact that the last time there was a cross-channel empire, their lands in England were mostly used as a piggy bank for the royal family's Norman affairs.

So for the Anglo-Norman nobles who didn't have lands in Normandy, where was the upside?

And I haven't even gotten to the big problem yet.

The sheriffs.

Now the sheriffs were the king's officers in the field tasked with enforcing the law, but they were also so much more than that.

As historian Frank Barlow notes, the 11th century sheriffs, quote, had custody of the town and castle and controlled the military forces of their bailiwick, end quote.

And I have a note here in the script from Z.

It reads, what the fk is a bailiwick?

Okay,

so in our modern context, if you say something is your bailiwick, you're saying that it's something that's either under your control or it's in your area of interest.

For example, my bailiwick is the expanded universe of Dune.

It's not cool, but it is.

And I've ruined many a party because someone asked me about Leto II.

In the 11th century, though, the bailiwick was a much more constrained concept.

It was the jurisdiction of the bailiff.

So basically, you're talking about a legal district that was subject, in this case, to the sheriff's authority.

So, What he's talking about here is that the sheriff controlled the military forces of their legal jurisdiction.

And unlike the king's army, these guys were local and could be called up really quickly, which meant that the sheriffs were a significant danger for the rebels.

Unless, of course, they sided with the rebels.

Because the sheriffs were a knife that could cut both ways.

If they sided with the rebels, then the scale of this rebellion would explode.

Not only that, but because of the sheriff's tax collecting duties and the fact that a payment was soon due, their defection would also deny the royal coffers of much needed income.

So flipping the sheriffs was probably a major concern for the rebels.

And I suspect that no one really could guess which way they'd lean, because Rufus had made the unusual move of keeping all of his father's sheriffs.

So, would those sheriffs be loyal to the cross-channel empire that was established by the man who initially installed them?

Or would they be loyal to their new king who had made the unusual move of keeping them in their posts and thus might have earned their gratitude?

It was an open question, and it was an important one, because if they all turned rebel, Rufus would find it very difficult to stay in power.

Meanwhile, Robert wasn't sitting on his hands in Normandy.

According to the record out of Fecamp, he immediately set about trying to capture English ships.

And he did it by hiring pirates to do it for him.

Do you remember how Orderic complained that Robert was too free with his cash?

Well, this was one of the ways that he was spending his treasury.

But, like with many of Orderk's complaints, I think it's a bit unfair because there really is a clear benefit to what he was up to here.

After all, if this gambit was successful, Robert would score a dual blow.

First, he'd hit the trade revenue and naval power of England, because remember, a king's naval forces during this time period tended to be nothing more than conscripted merchant vessels.

And it would also provide Robert with the ships that he would need to transport his ducal forces across the channel.

Overall, it was pretty clever, in my opinion.

And while a move like this would also completely give away the game and alert Rufus that Robert was making a move, the fact was that as soon as Odo and friends started recruiting, they had to kind of assume that Rufus knew.

I mean, someone was going to blab.

And given how the recruitment drive was going, you had to assume it was going to be a lot of someones.

And actually, we have indications in the record that things didn't stay secret all that long.

We're told by Simeon of Durham that they hatched their plan in Lent, so starting on March 1st.

And apparently, Bishop William of Durham caught wind of it immediately thereafter.

And given that the bishop had begun his career under Odo and Bayou, I'm guessing he was recruited, or at least they attempted to recruit him.

Because we're told that less than a fortnight after the plot was first hatched, Bishop William rushed to King Rufus and told him every detail of it.

However, if Bishop Nark was expecting Rufus to show him gratitude, or at least let him out of this messy conflict, he was sorely mistaken.

Instead, the king insisted that the bishop ride with him to confront Bishop Odo, Earl Robert de Montgomery, and all the others.

And Bishop William, not really having a choice here, agreed to the king's demands.

And he said that he would definitely ride out immediately with his seven household knights, but he'd also like to send to his castle for more forces, because, you know, seven's not that many.

And then, as soon as no one was looking, the bishop f ⁇ ing bolted.

And it turns out that desertion did not endear the bishop to King Rufus.

Instead, Bishop Snitchenrun was charged with treason, and Rufus immediately seized his properties.

And you can see why he did that.

I mean, just a few minutes earlier, Rufus had a chance to take the rebels by surprise, since presumably they didn't yet suspect that the old bishop was a turncoat.

But as soon as this guy ran for it, that element of surprise was probably lost, or at least he couldn't guarantee that the rebels would be caught unawares.

So Rufus was furious.

And we actually know about this entire affair because we have the records of the bishop's trial, you know, once Rufus and his men got their hands on him later.

And boy, they were mad.

Now, interestingly, interestingly, it's in these records where we learn that by March 12th, London, Dover, and Hastings had launched into a rebellion.

But they were also quickly put down.

But they weren't the only ones popping off.

Do you remember those pirates that Robert had been hiring?

Well, it turns out, they didn't constrain themselves to the channel.

Because here's Orderk.

Quote, Already rapacious freebooters began to pillage the peasants eagerly, anticipating the arrival arrival of Duke Robert, who had determined to follow his precursors with the returning spring, at the head of a large body of troops.

⁇

And all of that suggests that during this initial recruitment period, there were explosions of violence that broke out before everything was in place, and local forces, perhaps under the command of a sheriff or a baron who didn't want to be a rebel, were quickly putting them down.

Consequently, this operation didn't stay secret for long, and the conflict burst into the open sooner than probably anyone expected.

And as a result, both the initial rebellion and the king's response weren't very well organized at this point.

It also appears that there is some degree of plausible deniability, because Rufus didn't immediately move against his uncles or their co-conspirators.

And that actually makes a certain amount of sense.

Right now, all Rufus had to go on was isolated incidents of violence and the word of a bishop who was currently accused of treason and who, after a brief stint of living on the lamb, had now locked himself inside Durham Castle and was refusing to come out, which meant that Bishop Blabbermouth was living in much the same manner as the rebels.

They'd all locked themselves in castles, and while they weren't actively attacking the king, they looked sus as hell nonetheless.

And looking at the various records, despite the difficulties the rebels faced in recruiting, there were quite a few of them.

Though at the same time, they also must have been playing up pretty close to the chest, because each of our scribes leaves out some names.

And only when we take them all together do you get something that approaches a roster.

Now, Pretty much everyone agrees that the major movers and shakers of this rebellion were Rufus' two uncles, Bishop Odo and Count Robert of Mortain,

along with the warlike Bishop Geoffrey of Coutance and the wealthy Roger de Montgomery.

John of Worcester adds that Earl Robert de Mowbray of Northumbria, Bishop William of Durham, the same one who narked and then went on the lamb, and William de Eu, the Baron of Hastings, had also joined the rebellion.

Orderick adds that Robert de Bouleme, Count Eustace of Boulogne, Hugh de Grantsmaniel, who was the Sheriff of Leicestershire and the Governor of Hampshire, Robert of Rithelin, and quote, other knights of distinguished bravery, end quote, joined the rebels' cause.

With Simeon adding that, in the end, the rebellion was joined by, quote, the higher nobles of all England, except Archbishop Lanfrank, end quote.

Worcester, when discussing their power, said that their, quote, vast landed possessions gave them great preponderance in England, end quote.

And as a result of this influence, quote, the number of their comrades in arms and associates in the conspiracy daily increased, end quote.

So that was the general state of affairs.

The rebels, backing Robert, were recruiting, and because of their titles, they governed a huge chunk of England.

But they were also playing it as cool as they could.

making no major offensives.

And by doing this, the rebels ensured that the king had little he can condemn them for other than rumors and suspicions.

You know, it must have been absolutely maddening to watch people openly plot to overthrow the government and seeing that danger grow day by day, all while the government took the position of, well, I guess we just have to let this continue because if we take any action, we might look bad.

Now again, we don't have a precise week-by-week chronology of the actions undertaken by either side.

And our details get murkier during this weird lead up to the fight, where the rebels were looking sketchy, but hadn't actually done anything yet.

But we do have indications that Rufus was aware of what was going on, and it seems like he was doing what he could to try and shore up support by promising to reward his loyal retainers.

And those promises appear to have been extravagant.

For example, do you remember how William de Warren had lands that lay lay between two of the main rebels' territories?

Well, all of a sudden, during this same period, King Rufus decided to create a new earldom.

He called it the Southern Region, or in Old English, Surrey, and he gave that territory to none other than William de Warren.

Now, if he did this early in the year, it was likely an effort to inspire loyalty.

And if it was done later in the year, it was likely a reward for his loyalty.

Loyalty that Rufus had inspired by making promises to reward those who stood with him.

And these were promises that he was also making to the nobles he suspected of being rebels.

Because honestly, those nobles were probably his first stop.

And at least some of them started to listen.

But that wasn't the only thing the king was doing.

He likely also told his troops to be on alert.

and he might have also called up some of his levies and placed them in garrisons, you know, just in case.

But

right now, as far as full-scale armies in the field, we don't see anything like that.

This, it seems, was a Cold War, and it was being fought politically

until it wasn't.

If you have any questions, comments, or concerns, you can reach me at the British History Podcast at gmail.com.

gmail.com.

Thanks for listening.