Rufus, instead of appearing 'about' 1871, was not published till several years after the Norman Conquest, namely in 1882.
The point on which one has to insist is that instead of withdrawing his rejection of the 'Chronicle', as Mr. Rye alleges,[1] Freeman, on the contrary, denounced it even more vigorously in his William Rufus (1882) than in his Norman Conquest. Mr. Rye contrives to give the opposite impression by first quoting from the former work, though carefully abstaining from giving its date or even its name. He then asserts that 'later on, as will be seen in the following pages, he trims and modifies this opinion very greatly'. This is not only contrary to fact but obviously impossible, as the dates of his works show.[2] In 1885 the late Mr. Chester Waters wrote of the 'Chronicle' that he was 'the first to expose its untrustworthy and unhistorical character',[3] and that he had 'maintained in 1871 that it was not to be relied on', being 'a discredited authority'.[4] Mr. Rye's mental confusion is so absolutely hopeless that he cannot even quote accurately his own 'Chronicle'. For instance, he sets himself 'to tabulate all the important statements made in it', with 'the independent facts which corroborate' each of them. The third of these[5] is 'that the intermediary requesting Edward [sic] to send a message was a merchant called Goscelin, of Winchester'. What the 'Chronicle' does state is that Edward took the initiative by sending this Goscelin to William![6] As to the alleged corroboration of this important statement, Mr. Rye finds it in the Domesday proof that 'there was a Gozelin who held much property in Hants, and a Goscelinus also held in Norfolk'.[7] As to the only 'important' statement, namely
- ↑ p. 37.
- ↑ Freeman's English Towns and Districts was published in 1883, but the address therein, in which he mentions the 'Chronicle' (p. 410), is only, he explains, a reprint of one delivered in 1876. Moreover, he there denounces the 'Chronicle' as 'highly mythical in all points bearing on general history', and dismisses 'the embassies on which Hubert is sent between William and Eadward' as simply one 'among the Norman legends of the Conquest'.
- ↑ Academy, 27 June 1885.
- ↑ I do not commit myself to acceptance of all this writer's statements, as I think his knowledge was overrated. Indeed, he asserted (May 1885), in the same organ, that 'Ralph fitz Hubert de Rie figures in, Domesday as Constable of Nottingham Castle', a statement which I at once denied (Academy, 13 June 1885). Admitting his error, he then alleged that his 'statement was originally taken from' the Colchester 'Chronicle', according to which Ralph's 'brother Adam had charge of the Tower of Norwich after the banishment of Ralph de Waer in 1076' (ibid., 27 June). This was a fresh error; for the 'Chronicle', as Mr. Rye insists, assigns this appointment not to Adam, but to his brother Hubert.
- ↑ p. 38 a.
- ↑ See p. 33 a. 'Eadward', says Freeman, (in the Chronicle) 'sends Goscelin, a merchant of Winchester, … on a message to Duke William.' The 'intermediary' (internuntius) sent in return to Edward was (says the Chronicle) Hubert de Rie.
- ↑ p. 40 b.
