Belonging to the same type as the men whom the first Henry had steadily raised to office and to power as a check upon the turbulent feudal nobility, William was called upon to play a similar part in Ireland as the representative of the royal power among the eager adventurers who had flocked to the land of promise. Hence their bitter complaints against his rule to the king, and the violent criticism of his personal character to which Giraldus gave utterance from the point of view of his kinsmen. Now Professor Tout rejects the statement, in the two lines we have quoted, that William came with the king, and infers from the ‘Gesta’ that Henry had despatched him some time before from Normandy to govern till he came. But there is evidence--though unknown, it would seem, to historians--that throws fresh light upon the question. Mr. Eyton, in his ‘Court and Itinerary’ of the king, could not discover any document belonging to his stay at Pembroke (29th September to 16th October), while waiting to cross to Ireland. It was there, however, on the 7th of October (as the date is, in this case, given) that he granted a charter to the men of Maldon,[346] from which we learn that with him at the time were the earls of Cornwall and Clare (Hertford), Roger Bigod, three of his ‘dapiferi,’ or household officers, William Ruffus, Alvred de St. Martin, and William Fitz Audelin, with two men, Hugh de Gundeville and Robert Fitz Bernard, whom he took with him to Ireland and left there. It is clear then that if William Fitz Audelin and Robert Fitz Bernard met him on landing at Waterford, they can only have preceded him, at most, by a few days. This discovery vindicates the virtual accuracy of the poem. Mr. Eyton’s work, to which I have referred, records (p. 165) another charter of interest for its date. It belongs to Henry’s stay at Wexford, in March, 1172, on his way back to England. As only the first two witnesses were known to Mr. Eyton, a full list may here be appended as illustrating the king’s _entourage_ on this expedition. Testibus; Comite Ricardo filio Gilberti; Willelmo de Braosa; Willelmo de Albin[eio];[347] Reginaldo de Cortenay; Hugone de Gundevilla; Willelmo filio Aldelini dapifero; Hugone de Cresy; Willelmo de Stotevilla; Radulfo de Aya (_sic_); Reginaldo de Pavily; Radulfo de Verdun; Willelmo de Gerpunvilla; Roberto de Ruilli; Apud Wesefordam.[348] Turning now to other subjects, one of the most curious allusions in this poem is that which refers to the practice of tendering a folded glove as a gage for waging one’s law. Maurice de Prendergast is accused of treason in protecting the king of Ossory from the perfidy of his foes: E Morice a sun guant plee, A son seignur lad baille, Quen sa curt ad dressereit De quant quil mespris aueit. Asez lunt replegeez De vassals engleis alosez. So, too, when Robert Fitz Stephen was brought as a traitor before king Henry: