The great point he urged upon the nobles whom he enlisted in the cause of the last-named prince, was the fact that they held possessions in both countries, and that it would be much more prudent to hold their lands of one sovereign only. These representations were not without effect; and whilst the newly-crowned king held the festival of Easter, the barons, who had matured their plans, departed to raise the standard of revolt in various parts of the kingdom--Odo, in Kent; William, Bishop of Durham, in Northumberland; Geoffrey of Coutances, in Somerset; Roger Montgomery, in Shropshire; Hugh de Bigod, in Norfolk; and Hugh de Grantmesnil, in Leicester.
The rising which thus took place might have been formidable if the movements of the insurgents had been seconded by energetic action on the part of Robert. That pleasure-loving prince, who had promised to bring over an army from Normandy, once more sacrificed the prospect of a throne to his habitual indolence: and Odo waited in vain for the assistance which was to come across the channel. When at length single ships, with detachments of the invading forces, ventured from the Norman coast, they were intercepted and destroyed by English cruisers. The Norman attempt at invasion was abandoned, and the English insurgents were left to sustain the shock of the king's forces as best they might.
The first attacks of Rufus were directed against his uncle Odo of Bayeux. That fierce and turbulent bishop waited his coming at Pevensey, which he had fortified and garrisoned. This stronghold was taken after a siege of a few weeks, and Odo fell into the hands of Rufus, who set him at liberty, on condition of his taking a solemn oath to deliver up Rochester Castle into the king's possession, and to quit the country immediately afterwards.
[Illustration: DEPARTURE OF BISHOP ODO FROM ROCHESTER. (_See p._ 126.)]
Rochester Castle was held by Eustace, Count of Boulogne, one of the warmest partisans of Robert. When Odo arrived before the gates with the king's escort, and demanded in set form that the keys should be given up, the count took him prisoner with his guards. This was a stratagem by which Odo hoped to escape the accusation of perjury, while he continued his rebellious course of action against the king. As the real commander of the garrison, this truculent bishop sustained for many weeks the attacks of his royal nephew, who, with his united forces of English and Normans, laid siege to the castle. Defied by his own countrymen, the Red King turned for counsel and assistance to the English. He adopted a policy of conciliation towards those nobles of English blood who still retained any influence; he made liberal promises, which afterwards were only partially fulfilled, and he obtained their adherence to his cause. The king proclaimed the old English call to battle, "Let every man who is not a man of nothing,[5] whether he live in burgh or out of burgh, leave his house and come," and many Englishmen flocked to his standard.