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Robert, Earl of Moreton, in Normandy - who always carried the
standard of St. Michael before him in battle - was made Earl of
Cornwall by William the Conqueror. He was remarkable for his
valour and for his virtue, for the exercise of his power, and
his benevolence to the priests. This was the Earl of Cornwall
who gave the Mount in Cornwall to the monks of Mont St. Michael
in Normandy. He seized upon the priory of St. Petroc at Bodmin,
and converted all the lands to his own use.
This Earl of Cornwall was an especial friend of William Rufus. It
happened that Robert, the earl, was hunting in the extensive woods
around Bodmin - of which some remains are still to be found in the
Glyn Valley. The chase had been a severe one; a fine old red deer
had baffled the huntsmen, and they were dispersed through the
intricacies of the forest, the Earl of Cornwall being left alone.
He advanced beyond the shades of the woods on to the moors above
them, and he was surprised to see a very large black goat advancing
over the plain. As it approached him, which it did rapidly, he saw
that it bore on its back "King Rufus", all black and naked, and
wounded through in the midst of his breast. Robert abjured the goat,
in the name of the Holy Trinity, to tell what it was he carried so
strangely. He answered, " I am carrying your king to judgment; yea,
that tyrant William Rufus, for I am an evil spirit, and the revenger
of his malice which he bore to the Church of God. It was I that did
cause this slaughter; the protomartyr of England, St. Albyn,
commanding me so to do, who complained to God of him, for his
grievous oppression in this isle of Britain, which he first hallowed."
Having so spoken, the spectre vanished. Robert, the earl, related
the circumstances to his followers, and they shortly after learned
that at that very hour William Rufus had been slain in the New Forest
by the arrow of Walter Tirell.