In England William Rufus was undoubtedly inverted, as
later on were Edward II, James I, and, perhaps, though not in so
conspicuous a degree, William III.[80]
Ordericus Vitalis, who was himself half Norman and half English, says that
the Normans had become very effeminate in his time, and that after the
death of William the Conqueror sodomy was common both in England and
Normandy. Guillaume de Nangis, in his chronicle for about 1120, speaking
of the two sons of Henry and the company of young nobles who went down
with them, in the _White Ship_, states that nearly all were considered to
be sodomists, and Henry of Huntingdon, in his _History_, looked upon the
loss of the _White Ship_ as a judgment of heaven upon sodomy. Anselm, in
writing to Archdeacon William to inform him concerning the recent Council
at London (1102), gives advice as to how to deal with people who have
committed the sin of sodomy, and instructs him not to be too harsh with
those who have not realized its gravity, for hitherto "this sin has been
so public that hardly anyone has blushed for it, and many, therefore, have
plunged into it without realizing its gravity.
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