Every once in a while, I come across a story that I think is interesting or funny or just worth telling but that doesn’t fit into my main post. I’ll offer these stories in episodes of From the Cutting Room Floor, available to paid subscribers only.
I wanted to add this story, but I just couldn’t make it fit into the main narrative. But it’s too good not to tell.
When Saint Arnulf told Robert I of Flanders to shape up, it seems to have won the bloody count’s respect. And Robert later had cause to admire Saint Arnulf’s peacemaking abilities. The story goes like this.
William was a Belgian knight. He had taught his son to fight, but his son had gone bad, robbing people and intimidating them. William knew what his son was doing was wrong, but didn’t intervene to stop him.
Then one day William’s son tried to rob a man named Siger. The robbery happened in broad daylight, and Siger and William’s son fought. In the end, Siger killed the robber.
This was the sort of thing that could case a feud, but Saint Arnulf intervened. He spoke to both men. William had loved his son, but knew he was in the wrong. William and Siger were reconciled by Arnulf, and Arnulf prayed for the situation and left.
However, after Arnulf had left, William’s friends began to tell him that he had gone soft. Siger had killed his boy, after all! He should get revenge.