But even when the royal fugitives deemed themselves safest were
they in the greatest danger.
Among the attendant knights and nobles of King William's court
was a Saxon knight known as Sir Ordgar, a "thegn,"[1] or baronet,
of Oxfordshire; and because those who change their
opinions--political or otherwise--often prove the most
unrelenting enemies of their former associates, it came to pass
that Sir Ordgar, the Saxon, conceived a strong dislike for these
orphaned descendants of the Saxon kings, and convinced himself
that the best way to secure himself in the good graces of the
Norman King William was to slander and accuse the children of the
Saxon Queen Margaret.
[1] Pronounced thane.
And so that very day, in the great hall, when wine was flowing
and passions were strong, this false knight, raising his glass,
bade them all drink: "Confusion to the enemies of our liege the
king, from the base Philip of France to the baser Edgar the
Atheling and his Scottish brats!"
This was an insult that even the heavy and peace-loving nature of
Edgar the Atheling could not brook. He sprang to his feet and
denounced the charge:
"None here is truer or more leal to you, lord king," he said,
"than am I, Edgar the Atheling, and my charges, your guests.
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