Au printemps 1174, Guillaume reçoit la garde du château de Topcliffe¹¹⁷⁷ ; en juillet, il est avec son père un des chefs de l’armée du Yorkshire (voir ch. 12). Le roi Guillaume I^er d’Écosse, avec ses alliés français et mercenaires flamands, assiège Alnwick, tandis que son armée est dispersée, occupée à saccager le pays alentour. ‘Willame d'Estutevile, ki tres bien le aïe’ et les autres capitaines du Yorkshire — Odinel d’Offranville, Renouf de Glanville, Bernard de Bailleul, Guillaume de Vescy — font leur jonction¹¹⁷⁸. Le 13 juillet¹¹⁷⁹, les barons, chacun criant ‘le suen cri’, dont ‘cil d’Estutevile, chevalier hardi’, lancent l’attaque contre le campement écossais. Jordan Fantosme précise qu’il ne rapporte pas ce qu’il a entendu raconter, mais ‘cum celui qu’i fud’, et, dit-il, ‘jo meismes le vi’. Le roi, surpris pendant son repas, promptement armé, se défend vaillamment, mais bientôt un sergent, parvenant à l’approcher, ‘de la lance qu'il tint sun cheval li purfent’. ‘Il ne pot relever’, car ‘entre ses quisses giseit le cheval sur li’. Guillaume le Lion est capturé. Ainsi est expié le ‘pechié des Escoz’ ! Les Flamands sont massacrés. Quant à Roger de Montbray, il ‘s’en est alé fuiant’¹¹⁸⁰...

(T. 1, p. 265-266)


1177. Yorkshire du Nord, d. Hambleton.
1178. Jordan FANTOSME, Ronald C. JOHNSTON (éd.), Jordan Fantosme’s Chronicle, Oxford, 1981, strophes 182-184.
1179. CBP-1, p. 67.
1180. FANTOSME, ibid., 187-197.

In the spring of 1174, William was given custody of Topcliffe Castle¹¹⁷⁷; in July, he was one of the leaders of the Yorkshire army with his father (see ch. 12). King William I of Scotland, with his French allies and Flemish mercenaries, besieged Alnwick, while his army was scattered, busy sacking the surrounding country. "William de Stuteville, who hates him", and the other Yorkshire captains — Odinel d'Offranville, Ranulf de Glanville, Bernard de Bailleul, William de Vescy — joined up¹¹⁷⁸. On 13 July¹¹⁷⁹, the barons, each shouting "his own cry", including "that of Stuteville, bold knight", launched the attack on the Scottish camp. Jordan Fantosme specifies that he was not reporting what he had heard, but "as he who was there", and, he said, "I myself saw it". The king, surprised during his meal, promptly armed, defended himself valiantly, but soon a sergeant, managing to approach him, "slashed his horse with his lance". "He could not get up", because "between his thighs, his horse lay on him". William the Lion was captured. Thus was the "sin of the Scots" expiated! The Flemish were massacred. As for Roger de Mowbray, he "went away, fleeing"¹¹⁸⁰...