han his military valor, had contributed to his great successes.
Greedy of fame, impatient of contradiction, without reserve in his
friendships, declared in his enmities, this prince could endure no
control even from his imperious father, and openly aspired to that
independence, to which his temper, as well as some circumstances in
his situation, strongly invited him.[*] When William first received the
submissions of the province of Maine, he had promised the inhabitants
that Robert should be their prince; and before he undertook the
expedition against England, he had, on the application of the French
court, declared him his successor in Normandy, and had obliged the
barons of that duchy to do him homage as their future sovereign. By this
artifice, he had endeavored to appease the jealousy of his neighbors,
as affording them a prospect of separating England from his dominions
on the continent; but when Robert demanded of him the execution of those
engagements, he gave him an absolute refusal, and told him, according to
the homely saying, that he never intended to throw off his clothes
till he went to bed.[**] Robert openly declared his discontent, and was
suspected of secretly instigating the king of France and the earl of
Brittany to the opposition which they made to William, and which had
formerly frustrated his attempts upon the town of Dol. And as the
quarrel still augmented, Robert proceeded to entertain a strong jealousy
of his two surviving brothers, William and Henry, (for Richard
was killed, in hunting, by a stag,) who, by greater submission and
complaisance, had acquired the affections of their father. In this
disposition, on both sides, the greatest trifle sufficed to produce a
rupture between them.

The three princes, residing with their father in the castle of L'Aigle,
in Normandy, were one day engaged in sport together, and after some
mirth and jollity, the two younger took a fancy of throwing over
some water on Robert as he passed through the court on leaving their
apartment;[***] a frolic which he would naturally have regarded as
innocent, had it not been for the suggestions of Alberic de Grentmesnil,
son of that Hugh de Grentmesnil whom William had formerly deprived
of his fortunes, when that baron deserted him during his greatest
difficulties in England. The young man, mindful of the injury, persuaded
the prince that this action was meant as a public affront, which it
behoved him in honor to resent; and