footmen most busied in fight, Robert appointed a power of horssemen to
breake in upon the réereward of his enemies; & he himselfe following
after with all his might, chanced among other to haue a conflict with
his owne father, so that thrusting him through the arme with his
lance, he bare him beside his horsse, [Sidenote: The sonne
ouerthroweth the father.] and ouerthrew him to the ground. The king
being falne, called to his men to remount him. Robert perceiuing by
his voice that it was his father, whom he had vnhorssed, spéedilie
alighted, and tooke him vp, asking him forgiuenesse for that fact, and
setting him vp on his owne horsse, brought him out of the prease, and
suffered him to depart in safetie. King William being thus escaped out
of that present danger, and séeing himselfe not able to resist the
puissance of his enimies, [Sidenote: _Simon Dun._] left the field to
his son, hauing lost many of his men which were slaine in battell and
chace, besides a great number that were hurt and wounded, among whom
his second sonne William surnamed Rufus or Red, was one; [Sidenote:
_Matth. Paris._] and therefore (as some write) he bitterlie curssed
his son Robert, by whom he had susteined such iniurie, losse, and
dishonor. [Sidenote: The father and the sonne made friends.] Howbeit,
other write, that for the courtesie which his sonne shewed, in
releeuing and helping him out of danger, when he was cast off his
horsse, he was mooued with such a fatherlie affection, that presentlie
after they were made friends, the father pardoned his sonne all his
former offenses, and therevpon found him euer after more tractable and
obedient than before.

[Sidenote: An. Reg. 14. 1080.] After this battell, king William being
thus accorded with his sonne, [Sidenote: _Simon Dunel._] returned with
him into England, and immediatlie sent him against Malcolme king of
Scotland, who hauing broken the truce in time of the trouble betwixt