ABSTRACT
Norman and Anglo-Norman historians writing in Latin portray traitors as vice-ridden sinners whose political actions are by nature illegitimate, but Gaimar's pragmatic analysis of Godwin's trial provides a more realistic view of Anglo-Norman aristocratic society and political practice. If William of Eu was the only high-status Norman to suffer mutilation, Earl Waltheof of Northampton was the only high-status noble to be executed for treason in the Anglo-Norman period. The influence of social and political solidarities cannot be underestimated in treason cases. Matthew Strickland argues that aristocratic 'pressure groups' comprised of the king's family, friends, and wider social and political milieu played a vital role in sparing aristocratic rebels from the fates that befell their less exalted peers. Orderic Vitalis recognizes the powerful influence of aristocratic communities of interest in his account of the rebellion of 1088 against William Rufus in the Ecclesiastical History.
