On the same table may be found "La Terre," and "Grandeur et Servitude." In the same hall, the same minstrel, representing in his own person the whole library of the castle, used formerly to relate the shameful tale of Gombert and the two clerks, juggle with knives, and sing of Roland. "I know tales," says one, "I know fabliaux, I can tell fine new _dits_.... I know the fabliau of the 'Denier' ... and that of Gombert and dame Erme.... I know how to play with knives, and with the cord and with the sling, and every fine game in the world. I can sing at will of King Pepin of St. Denis ... of Charlemagne and of Roland, and of Oliver, who fought so well; I know of Ogier and of Aymon."[219] All this literature went over the Channel with the conquerors. Roland came to England, so did Renard, so did Gombert. They contributed to transform the mind of the vanquished race, and the vanquished race contributed to transform the descendants of the victors. FOOTNOTES: [153] Thus com lo Engelond | in to Normandies hond; And the Normans ne couthe speke tho | bot hor owe speche, And speke French as hii dude atom | and hor children dude also teche, So that heiemen of this lond | that of hor blod come Holdeth alle thulke speche | that hii of hom nome; Vor bote a man conne Frenss | me telth of him lute, Ac lowe men holdeth to engliss | and to hor owe speche yute. Ich wene ther ne beth in al the world | contreyes none That ne holdeth to hor owe speche | bote Engelonde one. W. A. Wright, "Metrical Chronicle of Robert of Gloucester" (Rolls), 1887, vol. ii. p. 543. Concerning Robert, see below, p. 122. [154] Letter of the year 1209, by which Gerald sends to King John the second edition of his "Expugnatio Hiberniae"; in "Giraldi Cambrensis Opera" (Rolls), vol. v. p. 410. Further on he speaks of French as of "communi idiomate." [155] "La parleure est plus delitable et plus commune a toutes gens." "Li livres dou Tresor," thirteenth century (a sort of philosophical, historical, scientific, &c., cyclopaedia), ed. Chabaille, Paris, "Documents inedits," 1863, 4to. Dante cherished "the dear and sweet fatherly image" of his master, Brunetto, who recommended to the poet his "Tresor," for, he said, "in this book I still live." "Inferno," canto xv. [156] For the laws, see the "Statutes of the Realm," 1819-28, Record Commission, 11 vols, fol.; for the accounts of the sittings of Parliament, "Rotuli Parliamentorum," London, 1767-77, 6 vols. fol.; for the accounts of lawsuits, the "Year Books," ed. Horwood, Rolls, 1863 ff. [157] Author of a "Chronique de la guerre entre les Anglois et les Escossois," 1173-74, in French verse, ed. R. Howlett: "Chronicles of the reigns of Stephen, Henry II., and Richard I." (Rolls), 1884 ff., vol. iii. p. 203. [158] See below, pp. 122, 123, 130, 214.