These were Dame Astrida's son, Sir Eric de Centeville, and her
grandson, Osmond; and to their care Duke William of Normandy had
committed his only child, Richard, to be fostered, or brought up. {1}

It was always the custom among the Northmen, that young princes
should thus be put under the care of some trusty vassal, instead of
being brought up at home, and one reason why the Centevilles had been
chosen by Duke William was, that both Sir Eric and his mother spoke
only the old Norwegian tongue, which he wished young Richard to
understand well, whereas, in other parts of the Duchy, the Normans
had forgotten their own tongue, and had taken up what was then called
the Langued'oui, a language between German and Latin, which was the
beginning of French.

On this day, Duke William himself was expected at Bayeux, to pay a
visit to his son before setting out on a journey to settle the
disputes between the Counts of Flanders and Montreuil, and this was
the reason of Fru Astrida's great preparations. No sooner had she
seen the haunch placed upon a spit, which a little boy was to turn
before the fire, than she turned to dress something else, namely, the
young Prince Richard himself, whom she led off to one of the upper
rooms, and there he had full time to talk, while she, great lady
though she was, herself combed smooth his long flowing curls, and
fastened his short scarlet cloth tunic, which just reached to his
knee, leaving his neck, arms, and legs bare. He begged hard to be
allowed to wear a short, beautifully ornamented dagger at his belt,
but this Fru Astrida would not allow.

"You will have enough to do with steel and dagger before your life is
at an end," said she, "without seeking to begin over soon."