[80] "Fama per Angliam volitabat, quod comes Gloecestræ Robertus, qui erat in Normannia, in proximo partes sororis foret adjuturus, _rege tantummodo ante diffidato_. Nec fides rerum famæ levitatem destituit: celeriter enim post Pentecosten missis a Normanniâ suis regi _more majorum amicitiam et fidem interdixit, homagio etiam abdicato_; rationem præferens quam id juste faceret, quia et rex illicite ad regnum aspiraverat, et omnem fidem sibi juratam neglexerat, ne dicam mentitus fuerat" (_Will. Malms._, 712). So, too, the Continuator of Florence: "Interim facta conjuratione adversus regem per prædictum Brycstowensem comitem et conestabularium Milonem, _abnegata fidelitate quam illi juraverant_, ... Milo constabularius, _regiæ majestati redditis fidei sacramentis_, ad dominum suum, comitem Gloucestrensem, cum grandi manu militum se contulit" (pp. 110, 117). Compare with these passages the extraordinary complaint made against Stephen's conduct in attacking Lincoln without sending a formal "defiance" to his opponents, and the singular treaty, in this reign, between the Earls of Chester and of Leicester, in which the latter was bound not to attack the former, as his lord, without sending him the formal "diffidatio" a clear fortnight beforehand. [81] _Const. Hist._, i. 338, 340. [82] _Norm. Conq._, v. 251. [83] "In a later stage, when the son of his rival was firm on the throne, the doctrine of female succession took root under a king who by the spindle-side sprang from both William and Cerdic, but who by the spear-side had nothing to do with either. Then it was that men began to find out that Stephen had been guilty not only of breaking his oath, but also of defrauding the heir to the crown of her lawful right" (_ibid._, p. 252). [84] "Henrici regis filia, ... vehementer exhilarata utpote regnum sibi juratum ... jam adepta" (_Cont. Flor. Wig._, 130). But the above duplex character of her claim is best brought out in her formal request that the legate should receive her "tanquam regis Henrici filiam et cui omnis Anglia et Normannia jurata esset." [85] "Conventio optimatum et baronum totius Angliæ apud Salesbyriam XIV. kalend. Aprilis facta est, qui in præsentiâ regis Henrici homagium filio suo Willelmo fecerunt, et fidelitatem ei juraverunt" (_Flor. Wig._, ii. 69). [86] "Normanniæ principes, jubente rege, filio suo Willelmo jam tunc xviii. annorum, hominium faciunt, et fidelitatis securitatem sacramentis affirmant" (_Sym. Dun._, ii. 258).