She Therefore
Went To King Henry I., And Declared With Assertions More Vindictive
Than True, And Corroborated By An Oath, That Her Son Mahel Was Not
The Son Of Bernard, But Of Another Person With Whom She Had Been
Secretly Connected.
Henry, on account of this oath, or rather
perjury, and swayed more by his inclination than by reason, gave
Away her eldest daughter, whom she owned as the legitimate child of
Bernard, in marriage to Milo Fitz-Walter, {46} constable of
Gloucester, with the honour of Brecheinoc as a portion; and he was
afterwards created earl of Hereford by the empress Matilda, daughter
of the said king. By this wife he had five celebrated warriors;
Roger, Walter, Henry, William, and Mahel; all of whom, by divine
vengeance, or by fatal misfortunes, came to untimely ends; and yet
each of them, except William, succeeded to the paternal inheritance,
but left no issue. Thus this woman (not deviating from the nature
of her sex), in order to satiate her anger and revenge, with the
heavy loss of modesty, and with the disgrace of infamy, by the same
act deprived her son of his patrimony, and herself of honour. Nor
is it wonderful if a woman follows her innate bad disposition: for
it is written in Ecclesiastes, "I have found one good man out of a
thousand, but not one good woman;" and in Ecclesiasticus, "There is
no head above the head of a serpent; and there is no wrath above the
wrath of a woman;" and again, "Small is the wickedness of man
compared to the wickedness of woman." And in the same manner, as we
may gather grapes off thorns, or figs off thistles, Tully,
describing the nature of women, says, "Men, perhaps, for the sake of
some advantage will commit one crime; but woman, to gratify one
inclination, will not scruple to perpetrate all sorts of
wickedness." Thus Juvenal, speaking of women, say,
" - Nihil est audacior illis
Deprensis, iram atque animos a crimine sumunt.
- Mulier saevissima tunc est
Cum stimulos animo pudor admovet.
- colllige, quod vindicta
Nemo magis gaudet quam foemina.
But of the five above-mentioned brothers and sons of earl Milo, the
youngest but one, and the last in the inheritance, was the most
remarkable for his inhumanity; he persecuted David II., bishop of
St. David's, to such a degree, by attacking his possessions, lands,
and vassals, that he was compelled to retire as an exile from the
district of Brecheinoc into England, or to some other parts of his
diocese. Meanwhile, Mahel, being hospitably entertained by Walter
de Clifford, {47} in the castle of Brendlais, {48} the house was by
accident burned down, and he received a mortal blow by a stone
falling from the principal tower on his head: upon which he
instantly dispatched messengers to recal the bishop, and exclaimed
with a lamentable voice, "O, my father and high priest, your saint
has taken most cruel vengeance of me, not waiting the conversion of
a sinner, but hastening his death and overthrow." Having often
repeated similar expressions, and bitterly lamented his situation,
he thus ended his tyranny and life together; the first year of his
government not having elapsed.
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