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II Is To R Y J.- ZZ
OF THE
CONQUEST OF ENGLAND
T H E N OR MAN S:
WITH ITS CAUSES FROM THE EARLIEST PERIOD, AND ITS CON-
SEQUENCES TO THE PRESENT TIME.
TRANSLATED FROM THE FRENCH of
A:"THIERRY.
e g is tº a g º t e º º 'º a tº º ...The folk of Normandie
Among us woneth yet, and shalleth ever moe:
Of Normans beth these bygh men that beth in this land, <
And the low men of Saxons.
Rob FRT of Gioucester’s CHRONICLE.
IN THREE VOLUMES.
WOL. I.
L O N DO N :
PRINTED FOR GEO. B. WHITTAKER,
* AWE-MARIA LANE, -
1825.
IN T R O DU C T I O N.
WHATEveR degree of territorial unity the
great modern states may appear to have at-
tained—whatever may be the community of
manners, language, and public feeling, which
the habit of living under the same government
and in the same stage of civilization may have
introduced among the inhabitants of each of
those states—there is scarcely one of them
which does not even now present living traces
of the diversity of the races of men which
in course of time have come together in
it. This variety shows itself under diffe-
rent aspects, with features more or less
marked. Sometimes it is a complete separa-
tion of idioms, of local traditions, of political
sentiments, and a sort of instinctive enmity,
distinguishing from the great national mass
the population of a few small districts; and
sometimes a mere difference of dialect, or
even of accent, marks, though more feebly,
VOIL. I. al,
ii INTRoDuction.
the limit of the settlements of races of men
once thoroughly distinct, and hostile to each
other. The farther we go back from the
time in which we live, the more definite
these varieties become, and the more clearly
we perceive the existence of several nations
within the geographical circumference which
now bears the name of one only. In place
of what we call provincial patois, we find
complete and regular languages; and that
which appears to us now but as a want of
civilization and a resistance to the progress
of improvement, assumes in past ages the
aspect of original manners and a patriotic
attachment to ancient institutions. Thus,
things which have very little importance in
modern society, are very important in his-
tory. It were falsifying history, to introduce
into it a philosophical contempt for every
departure from the uniformity of existing
civilization, and to consider those nations as
alone worthy of honourable mention, to
whose names the chance of events has at-
tached, for the present and for the future,
the idea of that civilization.
The different populations of the European
INTRODUCTION. iii
continent and islands, have, at different pe-
riods, clashed together, and invaded each
other's territories, never halting in their
progress until natural obstacles, or a more
powerful resistance, occasioned by a greater
concentration of the conquered population,
obliged them to stop. Thus, the popula-
tions conquered at various periods, have been
found lying in a sort of strata, in the different
directions taken by the great national emi-
grations. In this movement of successive
invasions, the most ancient races, reduced to
a small number of families, deserted the
plains and fled into the mountains, where,
though poor, they maintained their indepen-
dence; while their invaders, invaded in
their turn, became serfs of the soil in the
country which they occupied, for want of
meeting with a vacant asylum in impregna-
ble fastnesses. This happened in Gaul, to
the Gallic race, when, after driving the Bas-
ques to the mountains, it was itself pressed
from north to south by the Cambrian or
Celtic race;—in England, to the portion of
that same Cambrian race which did not in-
habit Wales, when the Anglo-Saxons invaded
a 2
iv INTRODUCTION.
the island in the direction of east to west;-
and to the Anglo-Saxons themselves, when
the Normans had landed on their territory in
the year 1066.
The conquest of England by William the
bastard, duke of Normandy, is the last terri-
torial conquest that has taken place in the
western part of Europe. Since then, there
have been none but political conquests, like
those of the Romans, and quite different
from those of the barbarians, who removed
with their families to the invaded territory,
sharing it among themselves, and sparing to
the vanquished their lives only, on condition
of their working and remaining quiet. This
invasion having occurred at a time less re-
mote from our own than that of the Germa-
nic populations which, in the fifth century,
dismembered the Roman empire, the docu-
ments which we possess relative to all the
particulars of it are much more numerous,
and indeed are sufficiently complete to fur-
nish a just idea of what a conquest was in the
middle ages—to show in what manner it was
executed and maintained, what kind of spolia-
tions and sufferings it imposed upon the
INTRoDUCTION. V
conquered, and what were the moral and
physical powers employed by the latter in
re-acting against their invaders. This picture,
drawn in ample detail, and with the proper
colours, must possess an historical interest
more general than may seem to comport with
the bounds of time and place to which the
events it records are limited ; for almost
every nation of Europe has, in its present
existence, something derived from the con-
quests of the middle ages. To those con-
quests most of them owe their geographical
limits, the name which they bear, and, in a
great measure, their internal constitution, that
is, their distribution in orders and classes.
The upper and lower classes which we
now see struggling with each other for sys-
tems of ideas or of government, are, in several
countries, no other than the conquering
nations and the enslaved nations of an earlier
period. Thus the sword of conquest, while
changing the face of Europe, and the dis-
tribution of its inhabitants into distinct na-
tions, has left its original features to each
nation created by the mixture of several
raccs. The race of the invaders, when it
vi INTRODUCTION.
had ceased to be a distinct people, remained
a privileged class. It formed a warlike nobi-
lity, which, to prevent its own extinction,
recruited its ranks from the ambitious, the
adventurous, and the turbulent, among the
lower orders, and held dominion over the
laborious and peaceable mass, until the termi-
nation of the military government resulting
from the conquest. The invaded race, de-
prived of its property in the soil, of com-
mand, and of liberty—living, not by arms,
but by labour—dwelling, not in castles, but
in towns—formed another society, co-existent
with the military society of the conquerors.
Whether it be, that it preserved within
the walls of its towns the relics of Roman
civilization, or that, improving the small
share which it received, it commenced a new
civilization,--that class has risen in proportion
to the decay of the feudal organization of the
nobility sprung from the race of the ancient
conquerors, by natural descent, or by poli-
tical affiliation.
Hitherto, the historians of modern nations,
in relating these great events, have trans-
ported the ideas, the manners, and the poli-
INTRODUCTION. vii
tical state of their own time into times past.
The chroniclers of the feudal period have
introduced into the court of Charlemagne
the barons and the peerage of Philip-Au-
gustus; and have confounded the brutal
government and violent state of things of the
conquest, with the more regular regime and
more settled usages of the feudal establish-
ment. The historians of the monarchical
era, having made themselves, exclusively,
the historians of the prince, have been still
more singular and contracted in their ideas.
They have modelled the Germanic royalty of
the first conquerors of the Roman empire,
and the feudal royalty of the twelfth century,
upon the extensive and powerful royalties of
the seventeenth. Living in a time when
there was but one prince and one court, they
have conveniently ascribed this order of
things to preceding periods. With regard
to the history of France,—the different inva-
sions of Gaul, the numerous populations of
different origins and manners placed upon its
territory, the division of the soil into several
countries because there were several races,
the union, slowly progressive for six hundred
viii INTRODUCTION.
years, of all those countries under one scep-
tre, the territorial and political unity resulting
therefrom, are facts which they have entirely
neglected. The historians which the eigh-
teenth century has produced, have in like
manner been pre-occupied by the philosophy
of their time. Being witnesses to the pro-
gress of the middle classes, and advocates for
them in opposition to the legislation and the
notions of the middle ages, they have not
calmly contemplated nor correctly described
the periods in which those classes hardly
possessed a civil existence. They have
looked upon those facts with the disdainful
eye of right and reason ; which, to effect a
revolution in the public mind and in the
state, is well; but is by no means so well in
writing history. However, this is not to be
wondered at. Whatever mental superiority
a man may possess, he cannot go beyond the
horizon of the age in which he lives: it is that
which gives to history its form and bearing.
But now, it is not allowable to write
history for the sake of a single idea. The
present age requires to be informed of all;
to have the existence of nations at different
INTRODUCTION, ix
periods traced and explained, and to have its
true position, colour and signification given
to each of the ages that are past. This I
have endeavoured to do for the great event
the history of which I have undertaken: I
have consulted none but original texts and
documents, whether in detailing the various
circumstances of the narration, or in pourtray-
ing the characters of the individuals and the
populations to which it relates: I have
taken so amply from these texts, that I flat-
ter myself I have left little worthy of cita-
tion: I have sought, in the national tradi-
tions of the populations least known, and in
old popular poetry, for all that might furnish
a just idea of the state of manners and feel-
ings in those times and places to which I
have carried the reader. In the form and
expression of a recital, I have kept as close
as I could to the language of the old his-
torians, whether they were cotemporary with
the occurrences they relate, or lived soon
after the respective periods; and when I
have been obliged to supply their insuffi-
ciency by more general views, I have sought,
as much as possible, to authorise them by
X INTRODUCTION.
producing the original traits which led me to
them by induction. And I have constantly
preserved the narrative form, in order that
the reader might not have to pass abruptly
from an ancient story to a modern commen-
tary, and that the work might not present
the incongruities which would appear in frag-
ments of chronicles intermixed with disserta-
tions. Besides, I thought that if I attended to
narration rather than to dissertation—even in
illustrating the facts and their general results
—I might be able to give a species of indivi-
duality to the great masses of men; and that
so, the political destiny of nations would afford
somewhat of that humane interest which is
involuntarily inspired by a plain tale of the
fortunes and adventures of an individual.
My purpose, therefore, is to display in the
fullest detail, and with the peculiar colouring
of time and place, the national struggle
which followed the conquest of England by
the Normans settled in Gaul,--to show, as
far as they can be traced in history, the hos-
tile relations of those two nations, violently
united on the same soil, and to follow
them in their long wars and their obstinate
INTIRODUCTION. xi
separation, until, from the mixture or the
connection of their races, their manners,
their wants, and their languages, there have
arisen one only people, one common lan-
guage, one uniform legislation. The stage
on which this great drama has been acted, is,
the island of Britain, Ireland,-and also
France, on account of the relations existing
since the conquest of England, between the
kings descended from the conqueror of
England, and that part of the continent.
They sought to extend their dominion there
by invasion; and brought into action, for or
against their projects, many populations in
Gaul, whose history, too long unknown, will
now be given. In general, I have endea-
voured to draw from the fountain-head the
history of those populations whose only his-
tory is in old documents, known to none but
a few of the studious, or in national chroni-
cles which make no part of European litera-
ture. The cause of the obscurity into which
these populations have sunk, is not that they
have been less worthy to find historians than
the rest : indeed, most of them are remark-
able for an originality of character which
xii INTIRODUCTION.
powerfully distinguishes them from the great
nations with which they have been incorpo-
rated. Their struggle against this incorpora-
tion, effected in spite of them, occasioned a
display of political activity which gave birth
to great events, hitherto falsely attributed to
the ambition of particular men, or to other
personal or accidental causes. In a word,
these novel researches may contribute to
throw light upon a question which is not
without importance in moral science—that
concerning the different varieties of the hu-
man species in Europe, and the great primitive
races from which those varieties have sprung.
In this philosophical point of view, and
apart from the picturesque interest which I
have endeavoured to obtain, I considered
I was doing what was really conducive to
the progress of knowledge, in construing
(if I may use the expression) the history of
the Welsh, of the old Irish, of the Scotch,
whether of the old or the mixed race, of the
Britons and Normans of the continent, and
in particular of the numerous population
which inhabited and still inhabits southern
Gaul, between the Loire, the Rhone, and the
INTRODUCTION. xiii
two seas. Without giving less importance
to the great occurrences which are celebrated
in modern history, I own that I have taken
quite a peculiar interest in the local events
relating to those neglected populations, as if
I had thought myself bound to repair an
unmerited injustice. Though forced to re-
late their particular revolutions in a sum-
mary way, I have done it with a greater
degree of warmth and sympathy, and, I must
acknowledge, with a sort of partiality. Per-
haps an involuntary inclination to think that
force and chance are always in the wrong,
have made me sympathise more warmly with
the different masses of men which the forma-
tion of great states has deprived of their
independence, their national existence, and
even their national name, to which a foreign
one has succeeded. This great movement of
destruction and assimilation was, I know,
inevitable. Violent and unlawful as it was
in its principle, its present result is, the civi-
lization of Europe. Yet he who is fired
with enthusiasm while contemplating that
civilization and the great destinies it is pre-
paring, may be permitted, when looking on
xiv INTRODUCTION.
the past, to lament the destruction of other
civilizations, which might one day have come
to maturity, and have enriched the world,
had not fortune been against them.
It was necessary to give these brief expla-
nations, in order to prevent the reader from
being surprised at finding in this book the
history of a conquest, and indeed of several
conquests, written in a manner quite the re-
verse of that hitherto adopted by modern
historians. All of them, taking a course
which to them has appeared natural, go from
the conquered to the conquerors; they are
more willing to enter the camp of the trium-
phant than that of the fallen; and they re-
present the conquest as completed so soon as
the conqueror has proclaimed himself master;
leaving out of the account, like him, all the
subsequent efforts of resistance which his
sword or his policy has baffled. Thus, in
none of the authors who have treated of
the history of England, do we find any men-
tion of Saxons after the battle of Hastings
and the coronation of William the bastard;
and it was left for a romance-writer, a man
of genius, in these latter times, to reveal to
12
INTRODUCTION. XV
the English people that their forefathers
were not all vanquished in a single battle.
A great people are not so quickly subjugated
as would seem to be intimated by the official
acts of those who govern by the right of
force; and the resurrection of the Greek
nation proves that it is a strange mistake, to
consider the history of kings, or even of con-
quering nations, as that of all the country
over which they hold dominion. Patriotic
regret still lies deep in the breasts of men,
long after all hope for the old cause of the
country has expired. This feeling, when it
has no longer the power to create armies,
still creates bands of partizans, political
brigands in the forests or on the mountains;
and causes such of them as die on the gibbet,
to be venerated as martyrs. Recent works
have informed us that this is the case with
the modern Greek nation*; and I have
found it to be so with the Anglo-Saxon race,
in collecting its history where it had not yet
been sought—in particular facts—in legends
or popular traditions, hitherto deemed un-
* See the discourse prefixed to the collection of the
popular songs of modern Greece by M. Fauriel.
xvi INTRODUCTION.
worthy to be made the foundation of a
serious work and a probable narration. The
resemblance between the condition of the
Greeks under the Turks, and that of the
English race under the Normans—not only
in the leading features of servitude—which
it is easy to conceive, but also in the parti-
cular form assumed by the national spirit
amidst the sufferings resulting from oppres-
sion,-in the moral instincts and supersti-
tious notions to which they give birth, in
the manner of hating those whom there is
the will without the power to conquer, and
of loving those who still contend when the
multitude have bowed their heads,--is a fact
worthy of especial remark; and the compa-
rison may not be wholly unserviceable in the
moral study of man.
The placing in a stronger light the distinc-
tion of the two races in England after the
conquest, does not merely give importance
to facts previously unobserved and neglect-
ed; it gives quite a new aspect and a
new signification to events which are alike
notorious and inaccurately explained. The
long dispute between Henry II. and the
INTRODUCTION. xvii
archbishop Thomas Becket, is one of those
events; and there will be found in this work,
a version of it entirely new, and differing from
that which is most generally received. It is
for want of considering this dispute in its true
light—for want of knowing all the elements
of which the reciprocal hatred of the two ad-
versaries was composed—that philosophical
historians have so strongly taken part against
the weaker and more unfortunate. They have
completely forgotten, as regards this man,
the principles of justice and philanthropy
which they professed. After the lapse of
six centuries, they have persecuted his me-
mory with odium and ridicule: and yet, the
cause of the enemies of Thomas Becket in
the twelfth century has nothing in common
with that of philosophy in the eighteenth.
Henry II. was not a patriotic king, an advo-
cate of religious independence, a systematic
opposer of the papal dominion. It will be
seen that he was actuated by quite other
motives, in his obstinate aversion for this
man, against whom he was the first to solicit
the aid of the Pope. -
If the serious circumstances which attend-
VOL. I. b
xviii INTRODUCTION.
ed the contest between the fifth king of
Norman race and the first archbishop of
English origin, after the conquest, are to be
attributed—more than to any other cause—
to the still surviving hostility between the
conquerors and the conquered, there is
another occurrence, no less important—the
great civil war which broke out in the reigns
of John and Henry III.-which was likewise
a quarrel of races rather than of government.
Its real cause was, the apprehension, whether
well-grounded or not, entertained by the
barons of Norman birth, that they them-
selves should undergo a conquest by foreign-
ers called over to England by the kings, and
be deprived of their territorial property and
dominion, by Poitevins, Aquitanians, and
Provenceaux,−as they themselves, a century
and a half before, had deprived the Saxons.
It was this essential interest, and not the
pure desire of founding political institutions,
that raised up in insurrection against the
kings, the baronage and the chivalry of En-
gland: and if that great aristocratical move-
ment was supported by the popular favour,
it was because the alarm of a second con-
INTRODUCTION, xix
quest, and the indignation at what was to lead
to it, were common to the poor and the rich,
the Saxon and the Norman.
A profound investigation of all the poli-
tical phenomena presented by the conquests
in the middle ages, and an observance of the
share which religion had in them, have led
me to a new mode of considering the pro-
gress of the papal power and of catholic
unity. Hitherto, historians have represented
that power as extending itself by a metaphy-
sical influence alone—as conquering by per-
Suasion : but it is certain that its conquests,
like all others, have been effected by the or-
dinary means—by material means. If the
popes did not go on military expeditions in
person, they were parties to almost all the
great invasions, and shared the spoil with the
conquerors—even with conquerors who were
still pagan. It was the destruction of the
independent churches, effected in Christian
Europe, concurring with that of the free
nations, which gave validity to the title of
Universal, taken by the Roman church long
before such a title was at all suitable to her.
From the fifth to the thirteenth century,
b 2
XX INTRODUCTION.
there was not a single conquest that was not
profitable to the court of Rome as well as to
those who had effected it by the lance and
the sword; and this other feature, hitherto
overlooked, of the history of the middle ages,
has excited in me, with regard to the diffe-
rent national churches which the church of
Rome called heretical or schismatic, the
same kind of interest which I have already
mentioned as relative to the nations them-
selves. Here, again, is another cause for
sympathy, that most of these churches
whose doctrine and practice have been suc-
cessively abolished, professed a Christianity
more pure, more ardent, and above all more
disinterested, than that of the Roman clergy.
In conclusion, I must say a few words on
the plan and composition of this work. It
will be found to contain, as its title an-
nounces, a complete recital of all the particu-
lars relative to the Norman conquest, placed
between two more summary narrations,—one,
of the occurrences which preceded and
paved the way for that conquest,-the other,
of those which have been consequent upon
it. Before bringing forward upon the stage
INTRODUCTION. ×xi
the characters who figure in the great drama
of the conquest, I have endeavoured to
make the reader acquainted with the ground
upon which the different scenes were to be
acted ; for which purpose I have placed him
Sometimes in Great Britain, sometimes on
the continent. I have laid before him the
origin, the internal and external situation, the
first mutual relations, of the population of
England and that of the duchy of Normandy;
and the succession of events by which those
relations were so complicated as necessarily
to become hostile, and lead to a project of
invasion on the part of the latter of these
powers. The success of the Norman invasion,
crowned by the gaining of the battle of Hast-
ings, produced a conquest, the progress, the
consolidation, and the immediate results of
which, form several distinct periods. :
The first period is that of the territorial
invasion. It begins with the victory of
Hastings, on the fourteenth of October in
the year 1066; it embraces the successive
advances of the conquerors, from east to
west, and from south to north; and ends in
the year 1070, when all the centres of resist-
xxii INTRODUCTION.
ance have been destroyed—when all the
powerful men have submitted, or have fled
from the country. The second period, that
of the political invasion, begins where the
former terminates: it comprises the series of
efforts made by the conquerors to disorga-
nize, and (if we may so express it) to dena-
tionalize, the conquered population: it ter-
minates in 1076, by the execution of the last
chief of Saxon race, and the sentence of de-
gradation passed upon the last bishop of
that race. In the third period, the con-
queror labours to subject to a regular order
the violent results of the conquest, and to
convert into legal if not legitimate property,
that which has been taken possession of by
his soldiers. This period is terminated in
1086, by a grand review of all the con-
querors possessing lands; who, renewing
their oath of liege-homage to the king, ap-
pear for the first time as a settled nation,
and no longer as an army in the field. The
fourth is filled with the intestine dissensions
of the conquering nation, and its civil wars,
either for the possession of the conquered
territory, or for the right of dominion over
INTRODUCTION. xxiii
it. This period, longer than all the preced-
ing, is closed in 1152, by the extinction of
all the pretenders to the throne of England,
excepting one only—Henry, son of Geoffroy
count of Anjou and the empress Matilda,
niece to William the conqueror. And in
the fifth period, the Normans of England
and of the continent, having no more inter-
nal quarrels to consume their strength and
activity, set out from their two centres of
action, to conquer and colonize abroad, or
extend their supremacy without changing
their seat of empire. Henry II. and his suc-
cessor Richard I., are the representatives of
this period, which is full of continental wars
and fresh territorial or political conquests.
It terminates in the early part of the thir-
teenth century, with a re-action against the
Anglo-Norman dominion, so violent, that
Normandy itself, the country of the kings,
the nobles, and the military population of En-
gland, is separated by conquest from that coun-
try, to whose conquerors it had given birth.
Corresponding to these different periods,
there are successive changes in the destiny
of the Anglo-Saxon nation: first, it loses its
2
xxiv. INTIRODUCTION.
property in the soil; then, its former poli-
tical and religious organization; then, fa-
voured by the dissensions among its masters,
and attaching itself to the party of the kings,
against the rebelling vassals, it obtains con-
cessions which give it a transitory hope of
recovering its national existence, or again
endeavours, though fruitlessly, to free itself
by force. Finally, overwhelmed by the ex-
tinction of the divisions among the Norman
population, it ceases to play any political
part, loses its national name in the public
documents and in history, and falls into the
condition of an inferior class. Its revolts,
having become extremely rare, are spoken of
by cotemporary writers merely as quarrels be-
tween the poor and the rich: and it is the his-
tory of a commotion of this kind, which hap-
pened in London in the year 1196, and was
conducted by a person evidently of Saxon
birth, which terminates the detailed account
of the facts relating to the conquest.
When the history of the Norman conquest
has been brought to this point, that of the
populations of different races, treated of in
the course of the work, is continued in a
*
INTRODUCTION. XXV
more summary form. The resistance which
they offered to the nations more powerful
than themselves, their defeats, the settling of
the conquerors among them, the revolu-
tions which they have attempted or accom-
plished, the events, whether political or mili-
tary, upon which their influence was exer-
cised, the amalgamation of populations,
languages, and manners, and the precise
period of its operation,-all these I have
endeavoured to place in a clear light. This
last part of the work, in which a distinct
article is devoted to each race of men, be-
gins with the continental populations which
have since become French. Then follow, in
succession, those which are now called En-
glish,_the Welsh, whose national spirit had
such vitality that it has survived the con-
quest of their territory, the Scotch, who
never underwent a conquest of that kind,
and who struggled so energetically against
the political conquest,--the Irish, who had
better have become serfs like the Anglo-
Saxons than have preserved the small share
of independence they retained, at the cost of
peace, welfare, and civilization,-and the
xxvi INTRODUCTION.
population of England, of Norman or Saxon
origin, with whom these national differences
have become a distinction of orders, which
time has gradually weakened.
An error apparently unimportant, but
which, in the relations of modern historians,
has contributed to render this thorough dis-
tinction of races less obvious, is the use of
the English orthography for the names of
the conquering families and their posterity
in the ages following the conquest. I have
carefully restored to all these names their
true Norman shape, disengaging them from
the alterations which time has made in some
of them in vulgar pronunciation, or the in-
correct form which the first compilers of En-
glish chronicles gave to the others. I
thought I should thereby attain a higher
degree of that local colouring which seems
to me to be one of the requisites, not only of
historical interest, but also of historical truth.
I have not applied to any one period the
forms of speech of any other period, whether
previous or subsequent. I have avoided, in
relating the occurrences of the middle ages,
the forms of modern style, and the titles or
INTRODUCTION. xxvii
political denominations of recent date, as
prince, princess, monarch, sovereign, subject,
&c. I have said he or she, when speaking
of a king or a queen, as was said in the mid-
dle ages. In short, I have given to each pe-
riod of time, in the different countries into
which this history has carried me, its origi-
mal character, and even its peculiar names.
This scrupulous attention has led me to
vary the orthography of the Anglo-Saxon
names, so as to give them the form used in
the precise period of time to which the par-
ticular person belongs, and to render obvious
their sound and their primitive composition.
In general, I have had but few alterations
to make in the orthography already used
for these names: but in those which belong
to the Germanic period of the history of
France, I have been obliged to depart con-
siderably from the received mode of spelling.
It will, perhaps, be objected to this change,
that in these cases custom is the law, and
that a writer should be careful not to be-
wilder the public. But it should be remem-
bered that, a hundred and fifty years ago, it
was ‘the custom' in France to write and pro-
xxviii INTRODUCTION.
nounce Tite and Brute, both in history and
on the stage; and that these two names, by
resuming their Roman form, have made that
which was formerly the fashion, completely
ridiculous. Besides, there are not twenty
names, in the Frankish period, respecting
whose orthography modern historians are
agreed. What then is to be done with the
multitude of those about which they dis-
agree, and the still greater multitude of
those which have not yet been exhumed
from the original chronicles, but which soon
will be so, if we may trust the present
inclination of the public mind for histo-
rical study ? In my opinion, there is but
one mode of proceeding—which is, to act as
those have done who in the present age
have renewed physical science. Making no
account of the false principles previously re-
cognized as axioms, and the incorrect nomen-
clatures which constituted the old scientific
language, they have gone direct to truth and
reality, and the public have followed them,
notwithstanding the novelty of their path.
HISTORY,
&c.
-º-
BOOK I.
FROM THE SETTLING OF THE BRITONS TO THE NINTH
CENTURY.
-º-
According to ancient traditions, the island which Book
now bears the name of Great Britain, was ori-
ginally called the country of green hills, after-
Wards the island of honey, and thirdly, the island
of Bryt, or Prydain"; from which last word, la-
tinized, the name of Britain seems to have been
formed. From the remotest antiquity, this island
appeared to those who visited it, to be divided
into two large unequal portions, of which the
rivers Forth and Clyde formed the common boun-
dary. The northern part was called Alben", sig-
nifying region of mountains; the other bore the
* Trioedd ynys Prydain, No. 1. Archaeology of Wales,
p. 57.
* Or Alban, Albyn; in Latin, Albania, Albany.
VOL. I. IB
2
SETTLING OF THE BRITONS
Book name of Kymru in the west, and that of Laegrin
I.
the east and south. These two denominations
were not derived like the former, from the nature
or appearance of the soil; but from the names of
two races of people, distinct from each other, who
conjointly inhabited almost the whole extent of
southern Britain. These were the Kymrys and
the Loegrys", or, according to the Latin ortho-
graphy, the Cambrians and the Loegrians.
The Cambrian nation boasted of the higher
antiquity. They had come in a body from the
eastern extremities of Europe, across the German
Ocean. One part of the emigrants had landed
on the coast of Gaul; the other had chosen the
opposite shore of the strait", and colonised Bri-
tain, which, say the Cambrian traditions", had
until then no other inhabitants than bears and
wild cattle; and where, consequently, the new
colonists established themselves, without oppo-
sition, without war, and without violence', as
the first occupiers of the soil. But this honour-
able pretension can hardly be historically sup-
ported. It is most probable that the Cambrian
* More correctly, Lloegrwys.
* Fretum Gallicum. Fretum morinorum.
* Trioedd ynys Prydain. Archaeology of Wales, p. 57.
* Ibid. No. 5. p. 58.
TO THE NINTH CENTURY.
3
emigrants found men in the island of Britain, BOOK
men of another origin and a different language,
whose country they invaded. This is attested by
many names of places foreign to the Cambrian
tongue; as well as by ruins of an unknown age,
attributed by the vulgar tradition to an extinct
race of hunters, who, instead of dogs, trained
foxes and wild cats to the chace". This primitive
population of Britain was gradually forced upon
the west and north by the successive invasions of
strangers who landed in the east.
A part of the fugitives passed the sea, and
reached the large island, which was called Erin"
by its inhabitants; and spread to the other western
isles, peopled, it is most likely, by men of the same
race and language as the aboriginal Britons. Those
who retreated into the north found an impreg-
nable asylum in the high mountains which stretch
from the banks of the Clyde to the extremities
of the island: and established themselves under
the name of Gaëls or Galls", which name they
still bear. The remains of this dispossessed race,
whose numbers were increased at various times
* Horae Britannicae, II. p. 31. Ibid. p. 327. These ruins are
commonly called Cyltian y Gwyddelad, houses of the Gaëls.
See Lhwyd, Archaeologia Britannica.
"In Latin, Ierne, Inverna, Iernia, Hibernia.
'Or Gadhels, Gwyddils.
I.
B 2
4.
SETTLING OF THE BRITONS
BOOK by emigrations of their brethren of Erin, formed
I.
the population of Albania, or the high lands of
Britain, a population distinct from that of the
plains of the south, and its natural enemy on ac-
count of the hereditary resentments springing
from the memory of the Conquest. The time
at which these movements of population took
place is uncertain ; but it was at a later period
that the men called Loegrians made their descent,
according to the British annals, on the southern
coast of the island".
From the same records it appears, that they
emigrated from the south-west coast of Gaul, and
derived their origin from the same primitive race
as the Cambrians, with whom their language made
it easy for them to communicate. “They settled
in Britain, in amity, tranquillity, and peace,”
says the old tradition'. To make room for these
new-comers, the first colonists, either voluntarily,
or (which is more likely) through compulsion,
spread themselves along the borders of the wes-
tern sea, which thenceforward took exclusively
the name of Cambria, while the Loegrians gave
their own name to the southern and eastern coasts,
over which they were distributed. After the
* Horae Britannicæ, II. p. 292–300. Trioedd, &c. Ar-
chaeology of Wales, II. p. 58.
Trioedd, &c. No. 5. p. 58.
TO TIIE NINTH CENTURY.
5
founding of this second colony, there came a Book
third band of emigrants, sprung from the same
primitive race, and speaking the same language,
or a dialect differing from it but little. They had
formerly inhabited the portion of western Gaul,
included betwixt the Seine and the Loire; and,
like the Loegrians, they obtained lands in Britain,
Without war and without contention. To them
it is that the ancient annals and national poems
especially apply the name of Britons", which in
foreign tongues served to designate in a general
manner all the inhabitants of the island. It is not
precisely known where they established them-
Selves: the most probable opinion is, that it was
to the north of the Cambrians and the Loegrians
on the frontier of the Gaelic population, between
the Friths of Forth and Solway".
These nations of one common origin were vi-
sited, at various times, in a pacific or a hostile
manner, by hordes of strangers. One of these,
from that part of the Gaulish territory now called
Flanders, being compelled by a great inundation
to abandon their native country for ever, came in
Open boats without sails, and landed on the small
isle of Wight, and the neighbouring coast, first
"Brytohn.
II f - * P- f'_1
l Trioctld, &c. No. 5. l". 58.
I.
6
SETTLING OF THE BRITONS
BOOK as welcome guests, and afterwards as invaders".
I.
The Coranians”, a people of the Teutonic race,
coming from a country which the British annals
designate by the name of the land of marshes",
entered the gulf formed by the mouth of the
Humber, and established themselves along the
banks of that river, and on the eastern coast,
thus dividing the Loegrian territory into two
portions. At length, some Roman legions, led
by Julius Caesar, made a descent on the eastern
point of the territory which now bears the name
of Kent. On their landing, they were obstinately
resisted by the Loegrian Britons, entrenched be-
hind their chariots of war; but, through the
treachery of the foreign tribes, and especially of
the Coranian', the Romans soon penetrated into
the interior of the island, and gradually completed
the conquest of the two countries of Loegria and
Cambria. The British annals call them Cesa-
rians", and reckon them amongst the invaders,
whose stay in Britain was only temporary. “Hav-
ing oppressed the island for four hundred years,”
say these annals, “and exacted an annual tribute
55
B. C.
to
400.
" Trioedd, No. 6. Belgae Jul. Caesar de Rebus Gallicis.
P Coriniaidd. In Latin, Coritani.
" Trioedd, &c. Archaeology of Wales, p. 58.
" Ibid. No. 8, p. 58. * Cesariaidd. Ibid.
TO THE NINTH CENTURY.
7
of three thousand pounds of silver, they departed BOOK
for the land of Rome, to repel the invasion of the
black horde, leaving behind them only women
400
and children of tender age, who all became Cam- ...
brians'.”
During this stay of four centuries, the Romans
extended their conquest and dominion over all
the southern part of the island, to the feet of the
mountains which had served the aboriginal popu-
lation as a rampart against the invasion of the
Cambrians. The march of the Romans was ar-
rested on the same spot where that of the former
invaders had stopped; and the Galls remained
free while the yoke of the men of Italy lay heavy
on the ancient conquerors. This people more
than once compelled the Roman eagles to give
way; more than once they repulsed from their
rocks and forests those whom in their national
Songs they called sons of the distant land".
Their ancient aversion to the inhabitants of
South Britain increased amidst the efforts which
they made against the Italian conquerors of the
Southern Britons. The plunder of the Roman
colonies, adorned with sumptuous temples and
palaces, redoubled by its novel allurement, this
national hostility. The men of Alben or Cale-
' Trioedd, &c. No. 8.
" Poems attributed to Ossian,
I
to
410.
8 SETTLING OF THE BRITONS
BOOK donia” passed the Clyde every spring in osier
boats covered with skins; and, by their incursive
warfare, forced the Romans to build at the ex-
tremities of their conquest two immense walls,
defended by towers, and reaching from sea to
sea '. These irruptions, becoming more and more
frequent, acquired for the inhabitants of Albania
a terrible celebrity, under the names of Scots
and Picts, which alone we find employed by the
Latin authors, who seem to have been ignorant of
the name of Galls ".
The first of these two names still belonged to
the inhabitants of the isle of Erin, which in the
Roman tongue was called indifferently Hibernia
or Scotia. The fraternity of the British moun-
taineers with the men of Hibernia, and the fre-
quent emigrations of the people of each country
to the other, led to this community of names. In
Britain, the name of Scots was given to the inha-
bitants of the north-western coast and the great
archipelago; and that of Picts to those who dwelt
in the east, on the borders of the German Ocean.
The respective territories of these two nations,
or distinct branches of the same population,
were separated by the chain of the Grampian
* CALEdoNIA—in British, CALYDDoN–the land of forests.
* Vallum Antonini. Vallum Hadriani, posteå Severi.
* Claudiani Laudes Stilichonis, passim,
+
TO THE NINTH CENTURY.
9
hills, at the foot of which, Gallawg", the great Book
chief of the forests of the north", had fought va-
liantly against the legions of the Empire. The
Scots and the Picts differed greatly in their way
of life: the former, inhabiting the mountains,
Were hunters or wandering shepherds; the latter,
possessing a more even soil, had a more settled
establishment, cultivated the ground, and built
Solid habitations, the ruins of which still bear
their name. When they were not confederated
together for an irruption into the south, the good
understanding between them was sometimes sus-
pended; but whenever an opportunity of assail-
ing the common enemy presented itself, their two
chiefs, of whom one resided at the mouth of the
river Tay, and the other between the lakes of
Argyle, became brothers and joined their stan-
dards. The Britons of the south and the Roman
Colonists, in their terrors or their hatred, never
distinguished the Scots from the Picts'.
After the retreat of the legions recalled for
the defence of Rome herself against the inva-
Sion of the Goths commanded by that famous
freebooter Etel or Attila", the Britons ceased
I.
410
* In Latin, Galgacus. * Calyddon.
* Gildas de Excidio Britanniae, passim.
"Etel, Ethel, Edel, or Adel, signifies, in the German tongues,
*ion, race, or family, and, by patriotic extension, of the good
*ace.
443.
10
SETTLING OF THE BRITONS
Book to acknowledge the power of the foreign admi-
I.
mistrations who ruled their provinces and towns.
The form and even the name of these adminis-
trations perished; and the authority of the an-
cient chiefs of tribes, formerly abolished by the
Romans, rose again in their stead. Ancient ge-
nealogies, preserved in the songs of the poets",
marked for the public choice, the candidates for
the municipal dignity of presidents of cantons or
Jamilies ; for in the language of the ancient Bri-
toms these words were synonymous', and the ties
of kindred formed the basis of their political or-
ganization. Those of the lowest rank among this
people, traced and retained in their memories the
whole line of their descent with the same care
which in other nations, was peculiar to the rich
and great': for it was from his own genealogy
that every Briton, poor as well as rich, held the
charter of his civil state, his right of property in
the canton in which he was born, the soil of which
was occupied by one family, by one clan alone, and
* Bard.
* Penteulo–caput familiae. (Laws of Howell Dda— Cam-
bro-Briton, XI. p. 298.)
* Genealogiam quoque generis sui etiam de populo quilibet
observat, et non solām avos, atavos, sed usque ad sextam vel
septimam et ultrà procul generationem, memoritur et prompte
genus enarrat. (Giraldi Cambrensis Itinerar. Walliae...)
TO THE NINTH CENTURY. II
in which no one lawfully possessed any portion of BOOK
the soil if he was not of the family or clan".
Upon this singular social order, forming in the
government a federation of petty sovereignties
Sometimes elective, sometimes hereditary, the
Britons, freed from the imperial authority, raised
for the first time a high public sovereignty—a
national likeness of this foreign authority: they
created a chief of chiefs', a king of the country,
as their annals declare"; and they made him
elective. This new institution, destined, in all ap-
pearance, to support the better united and there-
fore stronger nation, against invasions from with-
out, became, on the contrary, a source of internal
division, weakness, and speedy subjection to the
foreigner. The ambition of many was inflamed
by the hope of obtaining the supreme authority.
Of the two great populations who shared the south-
ern part of the island, each pretended an exclusive
right to furnish candidates for the royalty of the
land. The seat of this central royalty was in the
country of Loegria, in the ancient municipal town
which the Britons called Lon-din', or the town of
ships. Hence it resulted that men of the Loegrian
* Zosimus, inter Scriptores rerum Gallic. et Franc. I, 586.
' Penteyen. * Trivedd, No. 2, p. 57.
'Llun-dain; in Latin, Londinum.
12
SETTLING OF THE BRITONS
BOOK race attained more easily than others to the dig-
I.
nity of chief of chiefs. The Cambrians, jealous
of this advantage, asserted that the royal au-
thority lawfully belonged to their race alone, as
the most ancient, as that which had hospitably
received the others on the soil of Britain. To jus-
tify this pretension, they traced the establishment
of the power which they were ambitious of exer-
cising to a period far earlier than the Roman
conquests, attributing its institution to one Pry-
dain, son of Aodd, a Cambrian, who had formerly
united the whole island under one monarchical
government, and decreed that this government
should be preserved by his nation, as a privileged
nation, for ever". By what fables the men of the
south and east replied to these fables of the west,
we know not; but the dispute became a deadly one,
and all Britain was involved in civil war by the
quarrels of rivalry. The interference of the ſo-
reign settlers, constant enemies to the two great
branches of the British population, formented their
dissentions and nourished the flames of intestine
war under a succession of chiefs styled national,
but always disowned by a part of the nation ;
while no army was raised, in place of the Roman
" Trioedd ynys Prydain, page 57.
TO THE NINTH CENTURY.
13
legions, to guard the frontiers of the country, and Book
I.
observe the hostile people of Albany.
In the midst of this disorder, the Scots and Picts
forced the passage of the two great walls which
the Romans had built to put a stop to their ir-
ruptions, and other enemies, no less terrible, de-
Vastated the coasts. These were pirates from Ger-
many, who crossed the ocean to plunder and re-
turn ; and who, when the wind blew violently, so
as to compel the large vessels of Roman construc-
tion to retire into their harbours, proceeded in
their fragile barks" at full sail, landing and at-
tacking unawares. Several British tribes made
great efforts separately, and fought some success-
ful battles against the German or Gallic aggres-
Sors. The inhabitants of the southern coasts, who
Communicated frequently with the continent of
Europe, solicited foreign aid; and once or twice,
Roman troops who had come over from Gaul,
doubtless on the condition of being paid for their
Services, fought for the Britons, and assisted them
to repair the walls with towers constructed by
the emperors Adrian and Severus". But the time
* . . . . . cui pelle salum sulcare Britannicum
Ludus, et assuto glaneum mare findere lembo.
(Sidonii Apollinar. Carmina, apud Script.
Rer. Gallic. et Franc. tom. I.)
* Gildae Epist. de Excidio Britanniae.
443
to
448.
14
SETTLING OF THE BRITONS
BOOK soon arrived when the Romans themselves were
I.
driven from Gaul, by three invasions of the bar-
barians, on the south, east, and north, and the
national insurrection of the maritime provinces of
the west P. The soldiers of the empire fell back
upon Italy; and thenceforward the Britons had
no Roman succours to hope for".
At this time, the fatal power of the supreme
chief of Britain, was in the hands of a man named
Guorteyrn', of the Loegrian race, who repeatedly
assembled round him all the chiefs of the British
tribes, in order to take measures in concert with
them for the defence of the country against the
northern invaders. There reigned but little union
in these councils; for, whether deservedly or not,
Guorteyrn had many enemies, particularly among
the men of the west, who would scarcely ever ap-
prove what the Loegrian proposed, The Loegri-
an, by virtue of his royal pre-eminence, with the
advice of several tribes, but without the consent
of the Cambrians (so, at least, they assert”) sud-
416
to
449.
* Totus ille tractus Armoricus, ejectis magistratibus Romanis.
(Zosimi Hist, inter Hist. Rer. Gallic. et Franc. I. 586.)
* Gildae Epist. de Excidio Britanniae.
* Gwrteyrn, according to the Cambrian orthography. The
Anglo-Saxon historians write Wyrtgern or Wortigern, which,
from their manner of pronouncing it, would produce the same
sound.
* Trioedd, &c. in the Cambro-Briton, Vol. II. p. 49, 51. 439.
3
TO THE NINTH CENTURY.
15
denly resolved to introduce into Britain a foreign Book
Soldiery, who, by subsidies in money and portions
of land, should be engaged in the service of the
Britons, to make war upon the Scots and Picts.
About the period when this resolution was taken,
a resolution which its opposers taunted with the
name of cowardice, chance brought to the shores
of Britain three vessels, with German corsairs
Commanded by two brothers named Hengst and
Horsa', who landed in the eastern part of Kent,
On the same point of land where the Roman le-
gions had formerly disembarked.
It appears that the men of the three ships came
at this time to Britain as traders, not as pirates.
Their national appellation was that of Ghetes or
Jutes"; and their nation was leagued with a
§reat mass of people inhabiting the marshy bor-
tlers of the ocean, to the north of the Elbe, and
"alling themselves Savons, or short-sword-men .
Other confederacies of the same kind had already
been formed among the Teutonic hordes, either
'Chronicon Saxonicum, Ed. Gibson, p. 12. The Chronicle
has it Hengest and Horsa. The Saxon g is always hard.
Hengst signifies a stallion; and Horsa or Hros, a horse in
general.
* Gode—tall men. (Wachter's Glossary.)
* Sar, seaw, sachs, a short sword. Hand-sear, a dagger.
*am-sar, a sword. (Gloss. Wachteri.)
449.
16
settling of Tire BRITons
Book the better to resist the Romans, or to act with
I
greater advantage against them on the offensive.
Thus there had appeared successively, the league
of the Germans, or javelin-men, that of the Alle-
mands, or men of every race, and that of the
Franks, or the intrepid". When they arrived on
the coast of Britain, the Saxon chiefs Hengst and
Horsa received from the British king Guorteyrn
a message with the offer of a military engage
ment for themselves and an army of their country-
men. To them there was nothing at all strange
in this proposal, for war was their trade: they
promised a considerable body of troops in ex-
change for the small island of Tanet *, formed on
the coast of Kent by the sea and the two branches
of a river.
Seventeen ships brought the new military co-
lony from the north: they shared their island
amongst them; organized themselves, according
to their custom, under the command of the two
brothers who were the authors of the enterprize :
and received from their hosts, the Britons, every
* Eall, all; mann, man. Ger, her, arms, war. (Ibid.) Frak,
Frek, Frech, Wrek, Vrang, brave, fierce. We find FRAcorus!
Reges on the seals of the first kings of the Franks. The n has
been introduced, euphonia, gratia, as in many other words’
Brechen or Prangen, to shine; Koenig or Koning.
* In British, Danet ; now Thanet.
TO THE NINTH CENTURY.
17
thing necessary for their support. Often did they Book
fight valiantly and faithfully for them, and lift
against the Scots and Picts the standard of the
White horse, a sort of emblem corresponding to
the names of the two chiefs; and often were the
frail javelins of the mountaineers broken by the
heavy battle-axes wielded by the men of Germany'.
These exploits excited great joy in Britain, and
great friendship for the Saxons:—“After over-
throwing our enemies,” says an ancient poet,
“they joined with us in the rejoicings of victory;
and we rivalled one another in giving them wel-
come. But woe to the day when we loved them 1
Woe to Guorteyrn and his cowardly advisers"!”
And indeed, the good understanding between
those who carried on the war, and those for
Whom the war was carried on, was not of long
duration. The former soon demanded more ter-
ritory, more provisions, and more money than
had been stipulated for in the compact, and
threatened to pay themselves by conquest and pil-
lage, if their demands were not satisfied. In aid
of these threats, they invited some fresh bands of
armed men from their own nation to come and join
* Cúm illi pilis et lanceis pugnarent, isti very securibus,
gladiisque largis. (Henrici Huntingdoniensis Historiar. p. 307.)
* Arymes Prydain, a national song of the Britons. (Archaeo-
logy of Wales; and Cambrian Register, for 1796, p. 554.)
VOL. I. C
449
to
455.
18 SETTLING OF THE BRITONS
BOOK them in Britain. They went beyond the limits
fixed by treaty; and, by degrees, a numerous
Germanic population gathered on the coast of
Kent. The Britons, who feared them, yet needed
their assistance, treated with them as with a se-
parate nation. Frequent messages passed between
them, and new conventions were concluded and
violated". At length, the last ties of amity were
broken; the Saxons called in the Picts, against
whom they had themselves been called in ; and, by
favour of this diversion, advanced into the interior
of Britain, driving the British population before
them, or forcing them to submission. The latter
did not yield without great resistance: they once
repulsed the Saxons to the coast, and compelled
them to re-embark; but the Saxons returned with
increased numbers and aggravated fury, possessed
themselves of many miles of country on the right
bank of the Thames, and never afterwards quitted
their conquest. One of the two brothers who
headed them was killed in battle"; the other, from
a commander in the field became the commander
of a province"; and his province or kingdom was
* Arymes Prydain.
* Horsa.
• Guth-Kineg, Wig-Kineg, Folkes-Kineg, Theod-Kineg, Land-
Kineg. (See the Teutonic, Gothic, and Saxon Glossaries of
Wachter, Ihre, and Edward Lye.)
TO THE NINTH CENTURY.
19
Called in Saxon, ICenn-wara-rika", or to speak the BOO
modern language, the Kingdom of Kent.
Twenty-two years after the first disembarkation
of the men of Germany, another Saxon chief,
named Ællaº, brought three vessels to the south
of the territory of Kent; and, driving back the
Britons towards the north and west, established a
Second colony, which took the name of the king-
dom or territory of the South Sarons". Eighteen
years afterwards, one I(erdié', followed by the
most powerful army that had yet crossed the ocean
to seek lands in Britain, made a descent on the
Southern coast, to the west of the South Saxons,
and founded a third kingdom, called that of the
West Saxons". The chiefs who succeeded Ker-
dié, gradually extended their conquest to the bor-
ders of the Severn, the frontier of the Cambrian
population, whom the invaders did not find dis-
bosed to give place to them; on the contrary,
they maintained an obstinate struggle. During
'In the Saxon Chronicle, Cant-mara-rice. The Saxon c
*ounds like k. (Henrici Huntingdoniensis Hist, pages 807–
*11–Bedae Presbyteri Hist, lib. ii. cap. 15.-Welsh Archaeo-
logy, p. 156.)
* Al, ZElla, Eall, all.
" Suth-searna-rica.
'The root of this proper name is unknown.
k West-Searna-rice, or, more shortly, West-Seax.
477.
477
495.
495.
495
to
500,
C 2
20
SETTLING OF THE BRITONS
BOOK this contest, other emigrants made a descent on
the eastern coast, and took possession of the left
bank of the Thames and the great city of Londin
or London: the territory in which they esta-
blished themselves they styled that of the East
Saa.ons'. All these conquests were made solely
at the expence of the Country of Logria and the
race of the Logrian Britons, who had invited the
Saxons to come and dwell amongst them.
From the moment that London was taken, the
kings and generals in chief chosen to make head
against the conquerors, were all of the Cambrian
race. Such was the famous Arthur, who van-
quished the Saxons in several engagements; but,
notwithstanding the services which he rendered
to his countrymen, he, like Guorteyrn, had ene-
mies among them. The fatal title of king caused
him to draw the sword against the Britons almost
as often as against the foreigner; and he was mor-
tally wounded in a battle fought against his own
nephew. He was conveyed to an island formed
by the rivers, near Afallach", now Glastonbury, on
the south of the channel which receives the waters
of the Severn. There he died of his wounds; but
as it was at the time when the West Saxons in-
500
to
542.
542.
' East-Scarna-rice, East-Sear. (Chronicon Saxon, p. 12-
30.)
* Insula Avallonia.
TO THE NINTH CENTURY.
21
Vaded this territory, through the consequent tu- BOOK
mult no one knew exactly the circumstances of
Arthur's death, nor the place of his interment. This
ignorance wrapped his name in a mysterious ce-
lebrity. His re-appearance was expected long
after he was no more; and the want of a great war-
like chief able to overcome the Germans, nourished
the vain hope of one day beholding him again.
This hope was lasting; and for several ages the
bation which had loved Arthur was not discou-
taged from expecting his restoration and return".
The emigration of the inhabitants of the marshes
of the Elbe and the neighbouring islands gave a
desire of emigrating, and taught the way to Bri-
*in to a people situated still further to the east,
"ear the shores of the Baltic, and called Anghels
* Angles". After essaying some petty and par-
*ial invasions of the north-east coast of Britain,
the whole population of the Angles put themselves
* motion, under the conduct of a warrior named
"e", and his twelve sons. Their numerous ves.
* "Quem adhüc verè bruti Britones expeetant venturum. (Gu-
* Neutrigensis, an historian of the 12th century, lib.v.)
*turum expectant expectabuntgue perenné. (Willelmi Bri-
łonis Philippeis, inter Scriptores Rer. Gallic. et Franc. tom. XV.)
*nius, cap. 62. Bedae Presbyt. Historia.
* Engle, Angle, Anglen.
S " Otherwise Ida, Ed, Oed, Ead, fortunate. (Wachter's Glos-
āry.)
542
to
547.
547.
22
SETTLING OF THE BRITONS
BOOK sels made the land between the mouths of the
547
Forth and the Tweed. The better to assure their
success against the Britons of this part of the
country, they entered into an alliance with the
Picts; and these confederate enemies, advancing,
from east to west, struck such terror into the na-
tives, that the captain of the Angles received
from them the surname of the Firebrand". Not-
withstanding his ferocity and his bravery, Ida
found, at the feet of the mountains where the
Clyde has its source, a population who resisted
him. “ The Firebrand came against us;” says &
cotemporary British poet; “he asked with a loud
voice, Will you give me hostages? Are you
ready ? Owen answered, shaking his lance, ‘No:
we will not give thee hostages; we are not ready.'
Then did Urien, the chief of the country, cry out,
* Children of one race, united in one cause, let
us lift our standard on the mountains and rush
down into the plain; let us rush upon the Fire"
brand, and involve, in one carnage, him, his army,
and his auxiliaries'.”
This same Urien, at the head of the Britons of
the north, descendants of the ancient emigrants
from Armorican Gaul, gained several victories
over the confederate invaders; and the Germaſ'
to
559.
. " Flamddwyn. (Archaeology of Wales.)
* Taliesin. (Ibid. p. 58.)
TO THE NINTH CENTURY.
23
chief perished on the banks of the Clyde: but Book
a great and decisive battle between the Picts and
Angles on one side, and the men of the valley of
Clyde, the banks of the Forth, of Deifr and of
Brynich' (that is of the mountainous country
north of the Humber) on the other, was fatal to
the British cause'. Among the slain were many
chiefs wearing the collar of gold, the badge of
high command among the Britons, of whom few
returned to their homes from this combat. “On
their return,” says an old poet, “ they told to
their wives a tale of peace; but in vain, for the
Smell of blood was on their garments".”
The victorious people spread themselves over
all the eastern country, between the Forth and
the Humber. Those of the vanquished to whom
the yoke of the stranger was insupportable, fled
Southward, into the country of the Cambrians,
which had already acquired and still retains the
name of Wales. The German conquerors im-
posed no new names on the northern country;
they preserved the ancient geographical denomi-
nations; and even made use of them to distin-
guish their different colonies, according to the
" Otherwise Bryneich, and Deynir or Dewyr.
‘Aneurin. (Archaeology of Wales, p. 4.)
" Ibid. p. 4—13.
559
tſ)
360.
24
SETTLING OF THE BRITONS
BOOK place of their habitation. For instance, they styled
themselves Men of the north of the Humber',
Men of Deyfr, Men of Brynich, or according to
the Latin orthography, Northumbrians, Deirians,
Bernicians. The name of Angle-land” was given
only to a small part of the eastern coast, where
some of that nation, before the general emigra-
tion, had founded a colony which, though not
very numerous, was capable, through the protec-
tion of the East Saxons, to the north of whom it
was situated", of maintaining itself against the
hostility of the natives.
The ancient population of the Coranians, who
had been established for ages to the south of the
Humber, but whom so long a residence among
the Britons had been insufficient to reconcile with
them, voluntarily joined the Anglo-Saxon in-
vaders, as they had formerly joined the Romans".
Their name as a people disappeared from the
country which they inhabited, but that of their
allies was not substituted: both were lost; and
the country between the Humber and the Thames
560,
* Northan-hymbra-menn. In Latin, Nordanhymbri, North-
wmbri.
* East-Engla-land, East-Englas. In Latin, Orientales An-
gli, Estanglia.
* Gibson’s Chronicon Saxonicum.
* See above, p. 3.
TO THE NINTH CENTURY. 25
was thenceforward called the country of Merk", in BOOK
Latin Mercia, probably from its bordering on the I.
free Britons of the west, of whom it formed the
frontier or march", as it was termed by the Ger-
imans. They were Angles from the territories of
Deiria and Bernicia, or from the eastern coast,
Who founded, under this name, the eighth and
last German colony in Britain". The limits of
the people of the marches' were at first unfixed:
they extended them progressively; towards the
West, at the expence of the Cambrians; and to-
Wards the south, at the expence of the Saxons
themselves, with whom they did not feel so closely
connected by a community of origin as the Saxons
Were with one another 8. *
Of these eight colonies, principalities, states, or
kingdoms, whichever they may be called, none
had any territory on the borders of the western
*ēa, except that of the West Saxons, which, how-
*Ver, did not extend north of the channel of the
Severn. Nearly the whole extent of the western
* Myrcan, Myrcna-rice. (Chron. Saxon.)
* Marc, Merc, Mark, limit. (Wachter's Glossary.)
* There are generally reckoned only seven. There were
first eight, then seven, then six, then again eight, in conse-
"ºnce of different revolutions.
f Myrcna-menn. Mercii.
* Horæ Britannicæ, II. 222, Trivedd, in Archæol, Wallia.
26
SETTLING OF THE BRITONS
BOOK coasts, from the mouth of the Clyde to the Land's
I.
End, remained in the possession of the indigenous
race, and chiefly of the Cambrian Britons. The
irregular form of these coasts, isolated from the
great mass of this hitherto free population, the
tribes in the south beyond the channel of the Se:
vern, and in the north, beyond the Solway Frith'
but betwixt these two opposite points was a long
and compact space of country, though varying in
breadth according to the projection of the coast.
This mountainous and unfruitful territory was the
dwelling-place of the Cambrians"; here they of
fered a safe though poor asylum to emigrants
from every corner of Britain—to men who, say
the old historians, chose rather to lead a life of
hard liberty than to inhabit a fine country under 3
foreign yoke". Others crossed the ocean to find
in Gaul a land which their fathers had peopled at
the same time with Britain, and where there still
were men of their own race and language.
Numbers of British fugitives landed succes’
sively on the westernmost point of Armorica, in
those cantons which, under the Romans, and
even before their conquest, had been called the
450
to
500.
* Gwylt. Wallia. (Taliesin, Archaeology of Wales, p. 95.)
"Miseram cum libertate vitam potius transigere, quâm ho?'
tium subjici dominio. (Johannis Fordun, Scotorum Historiº
p. 648.)
TO THE NINTH CENTURY.
27
territories of the Osismii and Veneti. With the Book
Consent of the ancient inhabitants, who acknow-
ledged them as brethren of the same origin, the
new settlers distributed themselves over the whole
horthern coast, as far as the little river Coesoron,
and southward as far as the territory of the city
of the Veneti, now called Vannes. On this extent
of country they founded a sort of separate state,
comprising all the small places near the coast, but
hot including within its limits the great towns of
Vannes, Nantes, and Rennes. The increase of the
population of this western corner of the country,
and the great number of people of the Celtic *
race and language thus assembled within a narrow
Space, preserved it from the irruption of the Ro-
man tongue, which, under forms more or less
corrupted, was gradually becoming prevalent in
every other part of Gaul. The name of Brittany
Was attached to these coasts, and the names of
the various indigenous populations disappeared;
While the island which had borne this name for so
"many ages, now lost it, and, taking the name of
its conquerors, began to be called the land of the
Saxons and Angles, or in one word, England'.
At the same time when the men of Britain, fly-
* Celti, Kelti, Galati, the name given by the Greeks to the
People of Gaul. -
'Engel-Seaxna-land, Engla-land—by corruption, England.
f
I.
28
SETTLING OF THE BRITONS
BOOK ing before the Anglo-Saxons, established them.’
selves on the point of land which was called the
horn of Gaul", some Saxons expatriated from
Germany came to settle on another point of the
Gaulish coast, further to the north, in the viciº
nity of the town whose ancient name has been
changed into that of Bayeux". At this time, also
the league of the Germanic people, which had for
two centuries been called that of the Franks, or
the intrepid", advanced in several bodies from the
mouths of the Rhine and the Meuse into the cen-
tral provinces of Gaul. On the other side, two
nations of the Teutonic race had already over-
run and become settled inhabitants of all the fine
provinces of the south, between the Loire and
the two seas. The Goths, who took the name of
the West Goths", occupied the country west of
the Rhone, while the Burgundians" held that to
the east. The entrance of these two barbarous
nations had been violent and accompanied by
great ravages; they had forcibly usurped a part of
420
to
500.
410
to
450.
* Cornu-Gallia, the same name with that of the southern
point of Britain.
* Saxones Bajocassini, Otlinga Saxonica. (Rerum Gallic, et
Francic. Scriptores, passim.)
* See above, p. 10.
* West-Gothen. In Latin, Wisigothi.
* Burgunden, Burgundes. (Wachter's Glossary.)
TO THE NINTH CENTURY.
29
the possessions of each native family'; but the Bºok
love of repose had quickly tamed their ferocity’;
they approached the vanquished, and tendered
them the hand of peace and friendship. The
Goths in particular were gained over to the Roman
thanners, which at that time were those of the
civilized inhabitants of Gaul: their laws were
literally copied from those of the Romans; and
they gloried in the arts, and affected the polite-
tless of Rome'.
But the northern invaders, the Franks, filled
the north of Gaul with terror and devastation.
They felt but an access of fury" on beholding
the great cities and colonies of the Romans.
They detested their language, their manners, and
their arts; and delighted to destroy them. Being
Pagans, no religious sympathy tempered their
*avage disposition. Sparing neither sex nor age,
' Tertiam partem agrorum inter se Gothi diviserunt. (Pro-
“pius de Bello Gothico.) Sortes Gothica, hospes Burgundio.
ſ {leges Wisigoth. et Burgund, passim.)
Blandè, mansuete, innocenterque vivunt, non quasi cum
"jectissed cum fratribus. (Paulus Orosius, inter Script. Rer.
*ranc. tom. I.)
'Isidori Chronic. apud Rer. Gallic. Script. in notis ad Sid.
*pollinaris Epist. tom. XVII. lib. 5. Procopius de Bello Go-
thico. Sidon. Apollin. Carmina. Cassiodori Epistola, passim.
. Memores injuriarum quas à Romanis pertulerant. (Rorico-
**, lib. II. apud Scriptor. Rer. Gall, et Franc. tom. III.)
420
to
500.
30
SETTLING OF THE BRITONS
Book (say the ancient historians",) burning the churches
I.
and houses in the towns and in the country, they
gradually advanced southward to invade the whole
land of Gaul; while the Goths and Burgundians,
impelled by like ambition, though gratifying it
less barbarously, sometimes united, sometimes at
war, pushed their conquests in the opposite di-
rection. In the then weak state of the central
provinces still united, though but nominally, with
the Roman empire, and profoundly disgusted with
that empire, (which, to use the words of an an-
cient Gaulish poet, made them bear the weight of
its shadow'), there was every reason to suppose
that the inhabitants of these provinces, incapable
of resisting the conquering nations who pressed
them on three sides, would capitulate with the
least ferocious; in a word, that the whole of Gaul
would submit either to the Goths or the Burgun-
dians, who were Christians like themselves, in
order to escape from the Franks. Such were the
dictates of true policy; but they who ruled the
destinies of Gaul decided otherwise.
These were the bishops, whether of Roman or
Gaulish extraction, to whom the decrees of the
* Gesta Regum Francorum, apud Script. Rer. Gall. et Franc.
tom. XI.
. . . . Portavimus umbram imperii. (Sidonii Apollinariº
Carmen, apud Rer. Gall, Script. tom. I.)
TO THE NINTII CENTURY.
31
emperors had assigned, in the towns and pro- Book
vinces, a great administrative authority”, and who,
taking advantage of the disorder into which the
Roman government was thrown by the invasion
of the barbarians, increased this already exorbi-
tant power. The bishops, who at that time all
took the title of father or pope, were the pleni-
potentiaries from the Gaulish cities both to the
empire which was retiring from, and the Germans
who were approaching to them. They conducted
the diplomatic megociations" as they thought fit;
and whether through habit or through fear, no
one stood forth to contradict them; for their
power was sanctioned by the bloody penal laws
which disgraced the police of the declining em-
pire. *
Children of Rome, and strictly bound by the
imperial ordonnances to acknowledge as their
common patron and head the bishop of the eternal
city", to do nothing without his sanction, to
* Leges Arcadii et Theodosii Junioris.
* Pervos (episcopos) mala foederum currunt, per vos regni
"triusque pacta conditionesque portantur. (Sidonii Apollinaris
*pistola, apud Scriptores rerum Gallic. et Francic. tom. I.)
* Decernimus ne quid tam episcopis Gallicanis quâm aliarum
Provinciarum, liceat sine viri venerabilis papae urbis acternae
*ctoritate tentare; sed illis pro lege sit quidquid sanxit et sanx-
*it (Lex Theodosii et Valentiani, apud Script. Rer. Gall, tom.
* sub anno 449.)
32
SETTLING OF THE BRITONS
BOOK make his decrees their laws, and his policy their
rule, to model their own faith upon his, and so to
contribute by religious unity to the unity of the
empire, the bishops of the Gaulish provinces,
though quite at liberty the moment the imperial
power ceased to bear upon them, continued to
act as before. Through instinct or through cal-
culation, they still laboured, (as one of themselves
expressed it) to retain under the authority of
Rome by the bonds of religious faith those coun-
tries in which the tie of political subjection had
been broken". Their aversion or toleration for the
barbarian emigrants from Germany was measured,
not by the degree of barbarism and ferocity in
the latter, but according to their presumed apti-
tude for receiving Christianity, as it was professed
by the city of Rome, as it had been professed by
the empire. Now, this aptitude was considered
to be much greater in a people who were still
pagans, than in schismatic Christians, knowingly
and willingly separated from the Roman commu-
nion, as were the Goths and Burgundians, who
professed the faith of Christ according to the
• Populos Galliarum quos limes Gothica sortis incluseriº
tencamus ex fide, et sinon teneamus ex foedere. (Sidonii Apok
linaris Epistola, sub anno 474, apud Scriptores rerum Gallie. e!
Francic. tom. I.)
To THE NINTII CENTURY.
33
doctrine of Arius". But the Franks, at that time, Boºk
had no faith, except in their battle-axes and in
the hammer of the god Thor: this was sufficient
to incline the hearts of the Gaulish bishops to-
wards them, and to make all (as an almost cotem-
porary writer expresses it) desire the dominion
of the Franks with a lover's ardour".
The portion of the territory of Gaul occupied
by the Franks, extended from the Rhine to the
Somme. The tribe which had advanced the fur-
thest to the south and west was that of the Sicam-
bri, or sons of Mere-wig', so called from the
name of one of their ancient chiefs, renowned for
his bravery and venerated by the whole people
as a common ancestor". At the head of the de-
scendants of Mere-wig was a young man named
" Chronic. Prosperi Tyronis, sub anno 404; inter Rerum
Gall, et Franc. Scriptores, tom. I.
* Cúm omnes eos amore desiderabili cuperent regnare. Grc-
gor. Turonensis, cap. 23.
* Mere, Moere, Mehre, great, famous. Wig, warrior. Wach-
ter's Glossary.
& Merovicus, a quo Franci, intermisso Sicambrorum voca-
bulo, Merovingi dicti sunt, quasi communis pater ab omnibus
coleretur. Roriconis Historia, and Chronic. Contulacense, apud
Rer. Gall, et Franc. Script. tom. III. In the language of the
Franks, Merewings, the termination ing indicating filiation or
descent.
WOL. I. D.
450 jj -
to
500.
34.
SETTLING OF THE BRITONS
Lot-wig", who was ambitious, avaricious, and
cruel. The Gaulish bishops visited and addressed
their messages to him; and some of them became
very complaisant domestics in his household,
which, in their Roman language, they styled the
royal court". The barbarian was at first but little
sensible to their flatteries, and plundered the
churches and the lands of the clergy as before;
but a precious vessel carried off by the Franks
from the great cathedral of Rheims, attached him
by the ties of interest, and soon by those of
friendship, to a prelate more able or more fortu-
nate than the rest. Under the auspices of Remi-
gius, bishop of Rheims, all events seemed to con-
cur in forwarding the great plan of the priests of
Gaul. First, by a marvellous chance, the pagan
whom it was desired to convert to the Christian
faith, married the only woman professing Chris-
tianity according to the Romish dogmas that was
then to be found among the whole Teutonic race.
BOOK
I.
481.
493.
* More correctly, Hlod-nig. It was the custom of the
Franks and Saxons to aspirate the first syllable of all words
beginning with an l or an r ; hran, for ram, hloaf, for loaf.
This aspiration is represented by the first ch of the Latin word
Chlotovechus. Hlot, Hlod, laut, laud, signifies noted, celebrated.
Wig, warrior. Wachter's Glossary.
' Aula Regia, Vita S. Vedesti, Script. Franc. II. 372.
TO THE NINTH CENTURY.
35
The caresses of the believing wife (as the histo- Bºok
ries of the time express it) softened by degrees
the heart of the unbelieving husband". In a bat-
tle fought against a German people who wished
to follow the Franks into Gaul, and take a part of
their conquest, Lot-wig, whose soldiers were giv-
ing way, invoked the god of Lot-hilde, his wife',
and promised to believe in him on condition of his
gaining the battle. He gained it, and kept his
Word".
The example of the man in power, the pre-
sents of Lot-hilde and the bishops, and perhaps
the attraction of novelty, effected the conversion
of a number of the Frank soldiers, amounting,
say the historians, to three thousand; but they
confess that these wished to be baptized in order
to please their chief, before they knew what bap-
tism was". The ceremony was performed at
Rheims. All which the arts of Rome, destined
* Fidelis infideli conjuncta viro. Chronicon Aimoini, lib.
XIV. inter Rer. Franc. Script. tom. III.
* Hlod-hilde; in Latin, Chlotildis. Hild, held, kild, child,
a young man or woman.
* Epistola Remigii Episcopi ad Chlodowecum regem. Du-
bos, Histoire de l'Établissement de la Monarchic Française, I. 620.
Gregor. Turon. inter Script. Francia, XI.398. Roriconis, lib. II.
Vita Remigii Episcopi, Script. Francic, tom. III. p. 375.
" Roriconis, lib. II. inter Rer. Franc. Script. tom. III.
496.
D 2
36
SETTLING OF THE BRITONS
Book shortly to perish in Gaul, could yet furnish of
I.
brilliancy and splendour, was lavishly employed
in decorating the triumph of the bishops: the
streets were adorned with carpets; blinds of va-
rious colours, stretching from roof to roof, inter-
cepted the glare and heat of the sun, as at the
games of the circus; the pavement was strewed
with flowers; and perfumes rose in abundance.
The bishop of Rheims, in vestments covered with
gold, walked beside the fierce Sicamber, whom he
called his spiritual son. “ Father,” said the lat-
ter", wondering at such pomp, “is this then that
kingdom of heaven to which thou hast promised
to lead me !”
The news of the baptism of the king of the
Franks was carried rapidly by couriers to the
pope of Rome; on which letters of congratula-
tion and friendship were addressed from the Eter-
nal City to the chief who bowed the neck beneath
her yoke"; and he, in return, sent rich presents
as tributes of filial submission to the blessed Peter
the apostle, the new Mars of the new Rome.
From the moment that Lot-wig the Frank de-
clared himself the son and vassal of St. Peter,
* Patrone, est hoc regnum Dei? Vita Remigii, apud Script.
Rer. Fran. III. 377. Gesta Regum Francorum, ibid.
* Mitis depone colla Sicamber. Script. Fran. III. 375.
TO THE NINTII CENTURY. 37
º
his conquests in Gaul proceeded without the effu- BOOK
sion of blood. All the towns of the north-west, "
as far as the Loire and the territory of the emi-
grant Britons, opened their gates to his forces: 497.
the bodies of troops stationed in these places
passed into the service of the barbarian, keeping
among his skin-clad" warriors the arms and en-
signs of the Romans. The limits of the territory
or kingdom of the Franks, were soon extended
towards the south-east; and at the word of his
pious converters, the neophyte marched with hos-
tile arms over the lands conquered by the Bur-
gundians". *
The Burgundians were Arians; that is, they 500.
did not believe that the second person of the
Trinity was a God like the first: but, notwith-
standing this difference of doctrine, they did not
in any way persecute the priests and bishops who
in their towns professed the tenets of Rome. The
bishops, little grateful for this generous toleration,
corresponded with the Franks in order to incite
them to an invasion; or, at least, took advan-
tage of the dread of such an invasion to persuade
* Pellitae turinae. Sidonius Apollinaris.
* Procopius de Francis, apud Script. Rer. Franc. tom. II.
Sigiberti Chronicon, ibid. III. 336. Vita S. Remigii, apud
Script. Franc. III. 379.
38
SETTLING OF THE BRITONS
BOOK the chief of the Burgundians to embrace the Ro-
man faith, which they were pleased to call the
only true, evangelical, and orthodox. This chief,
named Gond-bald”, though a barbarian and their
master, resisted them with great mildness; while
they addressed him in that tone of arrogance,
which the representatives of ancient Rome as-
sumed towards the foreigner, even when he was
the more powerful ; they called him a madman, an
apostate, and a rebel against the law of God'.
“ It is not so,” replied he patiently, “I obey the
law of God; but I will not, like you, believe in
three gods. Besides, if your faith is the best,
why do not your brethren in religion prove it by
preventing the king of the Franks from marching
to destroy us"?”
The entrance of the Franks was the only an-
swer to this embarrassing question. Their pas-
sage was marked by murder and conflagration:
they tore up the vines and fruit-trees; plundered
the convents; carried off the sacred vessels, and
501.
* Gond, Gund, Guth, war, warrior; bald, bold. In Latin,
Gundobaldus.
* Ex collatione episcoporum coråm Gundobaldo rege. In
Append, ad Gregor. Turon, edit. Dom. Ruinart, p. 1328.
" Si vestra fides est vera, quare episcopi vestri non impe-
diunt regem Francorum, &c. Gregor. Turon. Edit. Dom.
Ruinart, p. 1323.
TO THE NINTII CENTURY.
39
destroyed them without scruple. The King of the BOOK
Burgundians, being reduced to extremity, sub-
mitted to the conquerors, who imposed a tribute
on him and all his towns, made him swear to be
their future ally and soldier *, and returned to their
lands behind the Loire with an immense booty.
The orthodox clergy called this sanguinary expe-
dition a pious, illustrious, and holy enterprise for
the true faith’. “Alas!” said the old vanquished
king, “ can the faith dwell with those who covet
the possessions of others and thirst for human
blood * *
The victory of the Franks over the Burgun-
dians placed all the cities on the banks of the
Rhone and the Saône under the power of the Ro-
man Church, and the palace of St. John of Lateran,
which was recovering, piece by piece, the inhe-
ritance of the old Capitol. Ten years afterwards,
under the same auspices, began the war against
the Goths. Lot-wig assembled his warriors round
him in an extensive plain, and said to them, “It
displeases me, that the Goths, who are Arians,
* Miles, homo.
* Pia et verac religionis cultrix. Francorum dominatio. Vita
S. Dalmatii.
* Non est fides ubi est appetentia alieni et sitis sanguinis po-
pulorum. Gregor. Turon. edit. Dom. Ruinart, p. 1323. Itori-
conis, lib. 4. ex: Script. Franc. tom. III.
501
to
507.
507.
40
SETTLING OF THE BRITONS
BOOK occupy the best part of Gaul: let us go, with the
I.
help of God, and drive them away; let us make
their lands subject to us, for they are excellent,
and we shall do well". This proposal was pleas-
ing to the Franks, who expressed their approba-
tion by loud shouts, and joyfully began their
march towards the good lands of the south. The
terror of their approach, say the old historians,
resounded from afar". So disturbed were the
people of the south by this terror, that, in many
places, they fancied they saw dreadful signs and
presages announcing calamity and invasion; at
Toulouse a fountain of blood issued forth in the
middle of the city, and flowed for a whole day .
But, amidst the public consternation, there was a
class of men who reckoned with impatience the
days occupied by the barbarians in their march.
Quintianus, an orthodox bishop of Rhodez,
was detected intriguing for the enemy; and he
was not the only priest who resorted to similar
practices".
* Eam nostris ditionibus subjicianus quià valdé bona est.
Gesta Regum Francor. apud Script. Franc. XI. 553. -
* Terror Francorum resonabat. Gregor. Turon, cap. 23.
* Sanguis erupit in medio Tholosae civitatis, Francorum ad-
veniente regno. Idatii Chronicon, sub anno III. Anthemic. apud
Script. Rer. Franc.
* Vito S. Quintiani, apud Script. Rer. Franc. III. 408.
Gregor. Turon. de Aprunculo Episcopo. Idem, de Theodoro
Proculo ct Dionysio Episcopis. Id. de Volusiano et Vero.
TO THE NINTH CENTURY.
41
The Franks passed the Loire; and at the dis- BOOK
tance of ten miles from the city of Poictiers, a
bloody battle was fought, in which the old inha-
bitants of southern Gaul, the Gallo-Roman peo-
ple of Aquitania and Arvernia, fought along with
the Goths for the defence of their country: but
their cause prevailed not against the axes of the
Sicambri". All-rik", king of the Goths, was slain
in this combat; and the Arvernians lost the prin-
cipal men of their nation, whom, after the man-
ner of the Romans, they styled senators. Those
towns which were not taken by assault, were given
up through the treachery of the priests; and a
greedy and savage multitude spread themselves
over the country to the foot of the Pyrenees,
desolating the fields and dragging the men, cou-
pled together like dogs, behind their baggage-
waggons". Wherever the victorious chief en-
camped, his tent was beset by the orthodox. Ger-
merius, bishop of Toulouse, who remained twenty
days with him, eating every day at his table, re-
* Francisca, seu Francica Securis.
" In Latin, Alaricus. All, Eall, all, entirely; Rik, Ric,
Rich, Reich, manly, strong, brave, and by extension, powerful,
wealthy, rich.
* Captivorum innumerabilis multitudo. Vita S. Eptadii,
apud Script. Franc. tom. III. More canum binos et binos in-
simul copulatos. Vita S. Emicii, Ibid. III. 428.
42
SETTLING OF THE BRITONS
BOOK ceived from him as presents crosses of gold, cha-
lices and patens of silver, gilded crowns and veils
of purple, taken from the Arian churches". Ano-
ther bishop, who could not go himself, but who
wished to have his share of the booty, wrote thus
to the Sicambrian king: “You shine in power ;
you shine in holiness; when you fight, ours is the
triumph".”
Such was the savage dominion which, extend-
ing from the Rhine to the Pyrenees, completely
hemmed in that corner of the western territory
where the Britons had taken refuge. Governors
from among the Franks were established in the
cities of Nantes, Vannes, and Rennes. These
cities paid tribute to the kings of the Franks; but
the Britons refused to pay tribute, and dared to
attempt alone the preservation of their little coun-
try from the common destiny of Gaul. In this
bold enterprise there was so much the more dam-
ger, as their Christianity, like that of the Goths
and Burgundians, differed in some points from
508.
508
to
511.
* Quingentā siclos, et cruces aureas, et calices argenteds,
cum patenis ct tres coronas inauratas, et totidem pallia per araş
ex bysso. Vita S. Germeri: Episcopi Tolosani, ibid. 381.
| Climque pugmatis, vincimus. Epistola Aviti, Viennensis
Episcopi, ex appendice ad Greg. Turon, p. 1822. Vita Eptadii
Episc. apud Script. Franc. tom. III. Itoriconis Historia, ibid.
Vita S. Caesarii Arelatensis Episcopi.
*
TO THE NINTH CENTURY.
43
the dogmas of the Roman Church. Having been Book
Christians for several ages, and perhaps the most
fervent Christians in the world, they had come
into Gaul, accompanied by priests and monks of
greater learning and better information than those
of the isolated canton in which they settled".
They purified the faith, until then very imper-
fect, of the ancient inhabitants of the country:
they even went and preached gratuitously in the
surrounding territories; and, as their missionaries
presented themselves in all places without any
interested view, receiving nothing from any one,
not even food or drink', they were every where
welcome guests. The citizens of Rennes chose an
emigrant Briton for their bishop; and the Britons
themselves instituted bishops in several of the
towns in their new country where there had never
been any before. They formed their religious
establishment as they had formed their civil esta-
blishment, without asking the permission or the
counsel of any foreign power".
The heads of the Church of Brittany held no
intercourse with the prelates of Frank Gaul, nor
did they repair to the councils of the Gauls con-
* Histoire de Bretagne, par Dom Lobineau, Benedictin,
I. 7–13.
' Triveddynys Prydain. Cambrian Biography, p. 85.
* Hist, de Bretagne, par Lobineau, I. 7, 8.
44.
SETTLING OF THE BRITONS
BOOK voked by the rescripts of the Frank kings. This
conduct soon drew upon them the hatred of their
neighbours. The metropolitan of Tours, who
styled himself the spiritual head of the whole
extent of country which the Romans had called
the third Lyonnese province", summoned the
clergy of Lower Brittany, as dwelling within his
ancient province, to acknowledge him as their
archbishop, and to receive his commands. The
Britons did not think that the imperial circum-
scription of the Gaulish territories had created the
least obligation for them to subject their national
church, transplanted by themselves from beyond
the sea, to the authority of a stranger: besides,
they were not accustomed to attach the archiepis-
copal supremacy to the possession of any deter-
mined see, but to decree it to the most worthy
among their bishops. Their religious hierarchy,
vague and varying in conformity with the popu-
lar will, was not rooted in the soil, nor parcelled
out by territorial divisions, like that which the
kings of Byzantium instituted when they made
Christianity an engine of government. The am-
bitious pretensions of the prelate of Tours had,
therefore, no validity in the eyes of the Britons,
who made no account of them : the Gaul excom-
51 I
to
566.
* Lugdunensis Tertia.
TO THE NINTH CENTURY.
45
municated them; but still they gave themselves bºok
no concern, nor could they feel any regret at
being deprived of the communion of foreigners
from whom they had already separated them-
selves".
But the orthodox church of Gaul, irritated by
this resistance, soon made upon them a more
dangerous war. The tribe of Saxons, still pagan,
who were settled near their territory", became
objects of the tender solicitude of the bishops
and priests, who eagerly exerted themselves, not
So much to convert these barbarians to Chris-
tianity as to prevent them from being converted
by the Britons, against whom it was hoped that
they might, in case of necessity, be made to serve
as auxiliaries. “ Watch the Saxons with care;
the insidious Briton is laying snares for them.”
wrote a poet of that day to Felix, bishop of
Nantes". Thanks to the vigilance of Felix and
his colleagues, the Saxons were kept pure from all
friendship with their neighbours the rebels against
the sacerdotal power, and therefore fit to be let
loose like bloodhounds against them. They were
employed on this noble service in an expedition
* Hist. de Bretagne, par Lobineau, p. 8–13.
* See p. 15. -
* Insidiatores removes, vigil arte Britannos. Fortunati Cur-
ºnina. Rerum Gallic. Script, tom. II.
566
to
578.
46
SETTLING OF THE BRITONS
BOOK commanded by the Frank king Hilp-rik"; but
578.
578
to
824.
nearly the whole of them were cut in pieces by
the Britons on the banks of the Vilaine.
More than once did this little people, in punish-
ment of their religious independence, sustain si-
milar attacks from the powerful chiefs of the con-
querors of Gaul. Every year, when the Frank
kings assembled round them in grand council the
captains of their provinces, those who in their
language were called Grafs” and whom the Gauls
styled Counts', the Count of the frontiers of Brit-
tany" was interrogated respecting the religious
faith of the Britons. “They believe not in the
true tenets,” the Frank would reply; “they fol-
low not the straight line ‘’” War, therefore, was
voted against them by unanimous acclamation;
and an army assembled in Germany and the north-
ern part of Gaul marched towards the mouth of
the Loire. Priests and monks quitted their books
and laid aside their gowns, to follow, with swords
in their hands and baldricks on their shoulders,
the soldiers of whom they were the laughing"
* In Latin, Chilpericus. Hilp, Hulf, help, helping; Rik,
strong, powerful. *
* Graf, Grav, Graef, Geref, Gerefa, governor, prefect.
* Comites. --
" Comes Marchiae Britannicae. Britton-Mark-Graf.
* Avia curva petunt. Ermoldi Nigelli Carmen de Hludovic”
imperatore—apud Script. Rer, Franc. VI. 50, et seq.
TO THE NINTH CENTURY.
47
stock". After the first battle that was gained, the BOOK
victor published, from his camp on the rivers
Ellé or Blavet, manifestos’ concerning the ton-
Sures of the clerks and the lives of the monks in
Brittany, enjoining them to follow in future the
rules laid down by the Roman church, which, in
imitation of the Roman empire, took the title of
Universal".
All the differences of opinion and practice be-
tween the Britons of Gaul and the orthodox
church, they had in common with the people of
the same race who continued to inhabit the island
of Britain. The most important point in their
Schism was, their refusing to believe in the origi-
nal degradation of our nature and the irremissible
damnation of infants dying without baptism. The
Britons thought that, to become better, man has
no need of a supernatural grace to come and en-
lighten him gratuitously; but that his own will
and reason, duly exercised, are sufficient to ele-
Vate him to moral good. This doctrine had been
* Cede armis, fräter. Ermoldi Nigelli Carmen, ibid, p. 53.)
* Cúm de conversatione monachorum illarum partium, sive
tonsione interrogassemus. Diploma Hludovici pii imperatoris.
* Catholica. Diploma Hludovici Imperatoris. Histoire de
Bretagne, par Lobineau, pièces justificatives, II. 26. Gregorius
Turonensis, lib. V. inter Script, Franc. II. 250. Ibid, in notă ad
*alcem paginae.
300
to
500.
48
SETTLING OF THE BRITONS
BOOK preached from time immemorial in the poems of
the Celtic bards. A Christian priest born in Bri-
tain, and known by the name of Pelagius, carried
it into the eastern churches, and made himself
famous by his opposition to the Roman dogma
of the guilt of all mankind, ever since the fault
of their first parent. Having been denounced to
the imperial authority as an enemy to the official
belief, he was banished from the Roman world"
by a decree of Honorius and Theodosius, and
sentences of proscription were passed against his
disciples. The inhabitants of the island of Bri-
tain, being already separated from the empire,
escaped these persecutions, and were at liberty to
believe in peace that no man is born a sinner; they
were only visited sometimes by orthodox mis-
sionaries, who strove by simple persuasion to
bring them over to the tenets of the Roman
Church.
At an early period of the Saxon invasion, there
came into Britain two preachers named Lupus
and Germain of Auxerre. These men combated
the Pelagian doctrines, not by logical arguments,
but by texts and quotations. “ How,” said they,
“ can it be maintained that man is born without
394.
394.
to
416.
416
to
500.
* Romano procul orbe fugati, et ab aspectu urbium divers"
rum. Chron. Prosperi Tyronis, inter Script. Rer. Gallic:
tom. I.
To THE NINth century.
49
original guilt, when it is expressly written, I BOOK
was shapen in iniquity, and in sin did my mother
conceive me' 8" This sort of proof was not with-
out its power over some gross intellects; and
Germain d'Auxerre succeeded in restoring in
Britain some degree of what the orthodox called
the honour of divine grace". It must be said, to
the credit of this man, that his preaching to the
Britons was the consequence rather of his own
personal zeal and conviction than of a mission
from the Pontifical authority. He gave proof of
this by marching at the head of his proselytes
against the conquering Saxons, whom he re-
pulsed, to the war-cry of Alleluia! raised by his
whole troop". It was otherwise that the accre-
dited agents of the Universal Church acted to-
wards the Pagans, as the British race themselves
were shortly to find by experience.
At the time when the Anglo-Saxons had just
completed the conquest of the finest part of the
island of Britain, the place of bishop or pope of
Rome was filled by one ably zealous for the in-
crease of the new Roman Empire which was ris-
* Beda, Presbyteri Historia. Henrici Huntingdon. Historia,
p. 329.
* Bed. Presb. Hist. III. 10.
* Victoria alleluiatica. Horac Britannica, II. 126—154.
VOL. I. E.
560
to
595.
50
SETTLING OF THIE BRITONS
BOOK ing under the name of Christ. This man, named
I.
Gregory, laboured successfully to draw closer and
closer round his apostolic see the links of the
sacerdotal hierarchy created by the policy of the
Emperors. The Frank kings, the orthodox chiefs
of still demi-pagan 'armies, were the great allies
of Gregory; and their far-dreaded battle-axes
sanctioned his pontifical decrees. When he thought
fit to impose on the bishops of Gaul new laws of
subordination to himself or the vicars of his
choice, he addressed his ordinance to the glorious
personages Hild-berht and Thiod-berht", charg-
ing them to have it executed by their royal force,
and to punish the refractory". Flatteries, exces-
sive even to absurdity; the epithets of most illus-
trious, most pious, and most christian ; with the
sending of some relics to be worn on the neck in
battle, were the cheap remuneration from the
595.
* Ità christiani sunt isti barbari, ut multos priscae supersti-
tionis ritus observent, humanas hostias atque impia sacrificia
divinationibus adhibentes. Procopius, sub anno 540, inter Script.
Rer. Franc. II. 38.
* In Latin, Childebertus, Theodebertus. Hild, Held, young
man, warrior, hero; berht, breht, briht, bright, brilliant. Thiod.
Diet, a people, a great number, a chief; and by extension,
greatly, much.
* Epistola Gregorii ad Childebertum, apud Script. Rer, Franc.
IV. 16.
TO THE NINTH CENTURY.
51
Roman pontiff for the good offices of the barba- bººk
rian king'.
A similar alliance with the chiefs of the con-
querors of Britain was an early object of Gre-
gory's ambition; and he soon formed the design
of converting the Anglo-Saxons to the Roman
faith, and enrolling them, like the Franks, among
the vassals and lictors of the papal sovereignty.
The poor christian Britons, defeated and dispos-
sessed, disturbed not the plans of the Roman, nor
did they attempt against their pagan enemies any
of those preachings which the Church of Rome
called insidious when they proceeded not from
her; their resentment against foreign usurpation,
and the care of their personal safety, occupying
their whole thoughts, left them neither the will
nor the leisure to contract any tie of fraternity
with their conquerors".
Gregory, therefore, had a clear field for his
operations; and, to prepare his enterprise, he
ordered search to be made in the various slave-
markets, for young men of the Anglo-Saxon race,
* Quae collo suspensae, à malis omnibus vos tueantur. (Epis-
tola Gregor. Papa ad Childebertum, apud Script. Franc. IV.
17.)
* Epistolae Gregorii Papae, passim.
E 2
52
SETTLING OF THE BRITONS
Bºok seventeen or eighteen years old ', of whom his
agents made monks, as others would have made
labourers: their compulsory task was, to learn the
orthodox tenets by rote, so as to become capable
of teaching them in their native tongue. It seems
that most of these missionary heroes were refrac-
tory in the service to which it was wished to train
them; for Gregory, soon relinquishing his whim-
sical expedient, determined to send Romans to
the conquest of the Anglo-Saxon souls. At the
head of this mission was Augustine, who was con-
secrated and entitled beforehand bishop of Eng-
land. His companions followed him with great
zeal as far as the town of Aix"; but, having ar-
rived there, they were frightened at their under-
taking, and wished to retrace their steps. Augus-
time set out alone to ask of Gregory in their name
the favour of being exempted from this perilous
journey, the issue of which, amongst a people of
whose language they were ignorant, was, said he,
nothing less than certain": but the pope would
not consent; “it is now too late,” said he, “ to
recede; you are on the way, and must go".” The
596.
* Gregorii Papa epistola ad Candidum Presbyterum, apud
Script. Rer. Franc. tom. IV.
" Aqua Sextia.
" Opera Gregorii Papae, IV. 55.
* Ibidem.
TO THE NINTH CENTURY.
53
*
missionaries were all monks of a convent attached BOOK
I.
to the Pontifical household, and had sworn obe-
dience; therefore they obeyed. They went first
to Chalons, where dwelt Thiod-rik", the son of
Hild-berht, and king of half the eastern part of
the country conquered by the Franks"; and after-
wards to Metz, where Thiod-berht, another son
of Hild-berht, reigned over the other half".
The Romans presented to these two chiefs let-
ters full of adulation, the grossness of which
proved how mean an opinion the Roman pontiffs
entertained of the intellects of their barbarous
allies, and how highly they rated their vanity.
Gregory knew that the Franks were at war with
their northern neighbours, the Saxons of Ger-
many; and, relying on this fact, did not hesitate
to style the Saxons beyond sea, whom his monks
were going to convert, subjects of the Franks.
“I thought,” wrote he to the two sons of Hild-
berht, “I thought that you must ardently desire
the happy conversion of your subjects to the faith
which yourselves profess, you who are their mas-
ters and their kings; therefore it was, that I de-
termined to send Augustine the bearer of the pre-
* In Latin, Theodoricus. Thiod, greatly; rik, brave, mighty.
* Oster-franken-rike, Ost-rike, Oster-liet, Oster-land. In
Latin, Austrifrancia, Austria, Austrasia, regnum orientale.
* Epistola Gregorii Papae, apud Rer. Franc. Script. tom. IV.
54
SETTLING OF THE BRITONS
BOOK sents, with other servants of God, to labour under
I.
$ 33
your auspices’.
The mission also delivered letters to the grand-
mother of the two young kings, the widow of
Sig-berht', father of Hild-berht, an intriguing
and ambitious woman, who, under the names of
her two sons, governed the half of Gaul. She
was of the Gothic nation, then driven, to make
way for the Franks, beyond the Pyrenees. Before
her marriage she had borne the name of Brune,
which in the German language had the same sig-
nification as in our modern tongues; but the
Frank who made her his wife, wishing, say the
historians, to adorn and lengthen her name, called
her Brune-Hilde, that is, the brown girl". She
was at first an Arian, but became a Roman Catho-
lic. The priests who had re-baptized and in-
structed her, rivalled one another in lauding the
purity of her faith; and declared her a saint
beforehand, notwithstanding the crimes which
she perpetrated each day, crimes almost incredi-
ble in their number and atrocity. “We pray
* Subjectos vestros. . . . . reges et domini. Opera Gre-
gorii Papa, II. 834.
* In Latin, Sigebertus. Sig, Sieg, Sige, victory, victorious ;
berht, bright. sy
" In Latin, Brunichildis. Ad momen ejus ornandum et augen-
dum. Gregor. Turon. inter Script. Iter. Franc. II. 405.
TO TIIL. NINTH CENTURY.
55
you, whose zeal is ardent, whose works are pre- BOOK
I.
cious, and whose soul is strengthened by the fear of
the Almighty,” wrote Gregory to this woman, “to
aid us in a great work. The nation of the Eng-
lish has made known its ardent desire to receive
the faith of Christ, and we wish this desire to be
satisfied’.” The Frank kings and their grand-
mother gave themselves little concern about gra-
tifying this ardent desire of the Anglo-Saxon
people, or reconciling it with the terrors and
repugnance of the missionaries; they, however,
received the mission, and defrayed the whole of
its expences on the way. Near the sea, the chief
of the West-Franks', though at war with his
eastern relatives, received the missionaries no less
graciously than they had done, and permitted
them to take men of the Frank nation as interpre-
ters between them and the Saxons, who spoke
nearly the same language’.
* Anglorum gentem velle fieri christianam. Gregorii Papae
Operum, II. 835. Prona in bonis operibus . . . . in omnipo-
tentis Dei timore, excellentiac vestrae mens firmata est. Ibid. et
Script. Rer. Franc. IV. 18–22.
* Wester-franken-rike, West-rike. In Latin, Westricum—by
corruption, Neptricum or Westria—by corruption, Neustria—
regnum occidentale.
* Naturalis ergo lingua Francorum communicat cum Anglis.
Wilhelmi Malms. Hist. p. 25. Bedae Presbyt. III. 23.
56
SETTLING OF THE BRITONS
By a favourable chance, it happened that one
of the most powerful of the Anglo-Saxon chiefs,
Ethel-berht", king of Kent, had just before mar-
ried a Frank woman of the Catholic religion. The
news of this event raised the courage of Augus-
tine's companions; and they landed with confi-
dence on the same point of the island of Thanet,
which was already famous for the disembarkation
of the ancient Romans, and of the two brothers
who had opened for the Saxons the way to Bri-
tain. The Frank interpreters repaired to Ethel-
berht, to announce the arrival of men who had
come from afar off, to bring him glad tidings, and
the offer of an endless reign, if he would believe
in their words". The Saxon at first gave no posi-
tive answer, only ordering the strangers to stay
in the isle of Thanet until he should have deter-
mined how to act respecting them. It may well
be supposed that the believing wife of the un-
believer * did not remain idle during this interval;
but that every effusion of domestic tenderness
was employed to make the pagan favourable to-
wards the monks of Rome. He consented to hold
|BOOK
* Or CEthel-byrht, CEthel-briht. OEthel, patriotic, noble ;
berht, byrht, bright, brilliant.
* Nuncium ferre optimum, aeterna in coelis gaudia, et regnum
sine fine. Henrici Huntingdoniensis Hist. p. 321.
* Sce above.
TO THE NINTH CENTURY.
57
a conference with them; yet, through some re- BOOK
maining distrust, he could not resolve to receive
them in his house, nor in his royal city, but went
to meet them in their island of Thanet, where
still he would have the interview take place in
the open air, to prevent the execution of any ill
design, in case the strangers had any such against
him". The Romans, with studied pomp, marched
in a file to the place of meeting, preceded by a
silver cross and a picture of Christ. They then
stated the object of their journey, and made
their proposals “.
“ These are fine words and fine promises,” re-
plied the pagan king; “ but, as all this is quite
new to me, I cannot immediately put faith in it,
and abandon the belief which I profess in common
with my whole nation : however, since you have
come so far to communicate to us what you seem
to me to consider as useful and true, I shall not
use you ill, I shall furnish you with lodging and
provisions, and shall leave you to publish your
doctrine and persuade whom you can'."
The monks repaired to the capital town, called
* Ne, si quid maleficac artis habuissent, eum superando deci-
perent. Henrici Huntingdon. Hist. p. 321.
* Ibid.
' Bedae Presbyt. lib. i. cap. 25. Henrici Huntingd. p. 321,
ef seq.
58
SETTLING OF THE BRITONS
BOOK the city of the men of Kent, in Saxon, Kent-
wara-byrig"; and entered it in procession, carry-
ing their cross and their picture, and singing
litanies. They soon had proselytes; a church,
built formerly by the Britons, but abandoned
since the Saxon conquest, served them for the
celebration of the mass: they impressed the ima-
ginations of the people by their great austerities;
they even performed miracles; and the sight of
these prodigies gained them the heart of King
Ethel-berht, who had at first appeared to appre-
hend some sorcery from them.
When the chief of Kent had received baptism,
the new religion became in that province the
road to favour; and many hurried into that road,
although, as the historians say, Ethel-berht would
not compel any one". As a pledge of his faith,
he gave houses to his spiritual fathers, and en-
dowed them with lands: these were, in all coun-
tries, the first remuneration claimed by the Roman
priests, converters of the barbarians: “I entreat
thy greatness and munificence,” said the priest to
the royal proselyte, “to give me a portion of
land, with all its revenues, not for myself, but for
Christ; and to yield it by solemn act of cession;
that, in return, thou mayst acquire a great
596
to
601,
* Or Cant-were-byrig–by corruption, Canterbury.
* Bedae Presbyt. Hist. Henrici Huntingd. p. 321. et seq.
TO THE NINTH CENTURY.
59
number of possessions in this world, and a still BOOK
greater in the next.” To which the king replied,
“I confirm to thee the property, without reserve,
of all the domain attached to my exchequer, in
order that it may be thy country, and that thou
mayst cease to be a stranger amongst us'.”
Augustine took the title of bishop of Kent, as
a conqueror adorns his name with that of the land
he has conquered. The mission extended its la-
bours beyond the limits of the Kentish territory";
and, through the contagion of example, obtained
Some successes among the East-Saxons, whose
chief, named Sig-berht', was a relative of Ethel-
berht. Pope Gregory learned with exceeding joy
that he had vassals in Britain. “ The harvest is
great,” said Augustine in his despatches; “ the
labourers are no longer sufficient".” On the ar-
rival of these tidings, a second band of mission-
aries set out from Rome, with letters of recom-
mendation addressed to the bishops of Gaul, and
a sort of diplomatic mote for Augustine, the great
plenipotentiary of the Roman church in Britain.
The note addressed to Mellitus and Laurentius,
* Vita S. Macculfi Abbatis, apud Script. Rer. Franc. III. 425.
Diplomata in Append, ad Gregor. Turon.
* Kent-mara, or Cant-mare. In Latin, Cantuarii.
* See p. 54, the name of a king of the Franks.
"Bedae Presbyt. Historia, lib. i. cap. 26.
601.
8
60
SETTLING OF THIE BRITONS
Book the heads of the new mission, was couched in
I.
these terms:
“You will tell him” (Augustine) “ that, after
grave and mature deliberations on the affairs of
the English people, I have settled in my mind
several important points. In the first place, care
must be taken not to destroy the temples of the
idols: only the idols must be destroyed; then
holy-water must be made, the temples must be
watered with it, altars must be built, and relics
placed upon them. If these temples be well
built, it is good and useful that they should pass
from the worship of demons to the service of the
true God. So long as these ancient places of
devotion shall exist, the nation will be disposed,
through the force of habit, to repair to them for
the worship of the true God".
“ Secondly,–It is said to be the custom of
the men of this nation, to sacrifice oxen. This
custom must be changed into a christian solem-
nity: and on the days of the dedication of their
temples turned into churches, as well as of the
feasts of the saints whose relics shall be there de-
posited, they shall be allowed, as formerly, to
build their huts of boughs round these same
churches, to assemble there, and to bring their
" Henrici Huntingdon. Historia, p. 323.
TO THE NINTH CENTURY.
61
animals, which shall be killed by them, no longer Book
as offerings to the devil, but as Christian ban-
quets in the name and to the praise of God, to
whom they shall render thanks when they have
satisfied their hunger. By reserving something
for men's outward joy, you will the more easily
lead them to relish internal joy".”
Mellitus and Laurentius delivered to Augustine,
with these instructions, the decoration of the pal-
lium, or pontifical mantle, which, according to the
ceremonials of the Roman church, borrowed from
the Roman empire, was the visible and official
sign of the right of authority over bishops. They
brought, at the same time, the plan of an ecclesias-
tical constitution, prepared before-hand at Rome,
to be applied to the country of the English, in a
measure corresponding with the extension of the
converted territory and the domains of the spiri-
tual conquest. According to this scheme, Augus-
tine was to ordain twelve bishops, and to fix in
the city of London, when it should become Chris-
tian, the metropolitan see, of which all the other
Sees were to be held. In like manner, as soon as
the great northern city, called in Latin Eboracum,
* Henrici Huntingdom. Hist. p. 323. Scriptores Rerum
Franc. IV. p. 30.
62
SETTLING OF THE BRITONS
Book and in Saxon Ever-wic", should have received
601
Christianity, Augustine was to institute a bishop
there, who, in his turn, receiving the pallium,
was to become the metropolitan of twelve others.
This future metropolitan was to depend on Au-
gustine, during the life of the latter; but, under
Augustine's successors, was to hold of Rome alone".
Thus were renewed, under other forms, those
partitions of provinces, conquered or to be con-
quered, which in anterior ages, had so frequently
occupied the senate of the City of the Seven Hills,
The see of the first archbishop of the Saxons was
not established in London, as directed by the
papal instructions; but, either the better to please
the new Christian king of Kent, or to observe
more nearly and be better prepared to combat any
inclination to return to ancient customs, Augus-
time fixed his residence in the city of Canterbury,
and in the very palace of Ethel-berht. Another
Roman missionary was established simply as a
bishop in London, the capital of the East-Saxons;
and a third in Rofes-ketter, now Rochester, be-
tween London and Canterbury.
The metropolitan and his two suffragans had
to
604.
604.
P Or Eofer-wic—by corruption, York.
* Bedae Presbyt. Historia, II, p. 34. Gregorii Papae Epistola',
p. 1163. Horae Britannica, II, p. 259.
TO THE NINTH CENTURY.
63
the reputation of performing miracles. The ru- Book
mour of their prodigious works was soon spread
in Gaul; and Pope Gregory eagerly availed him-
self of this intelligence to revive in the hearts of
the Frank kings the love and fear of Rome'.
But, although he turned the fame of Augustine
to advantage, it was not without jealousy that
Gregory perceived that fame increasing, and his
subaltern agent, (as he himself expressed it)
erected into a rival of the Apostles'. There
exists an ambiguous letter, in which the Pope,
not daring to express all that he thought, seems
to warn Augustine not to forget his rank and his
duty, but modestly to relax in the exercise of his
supernatural powers'. -
“On learning,” says Gregory, “the great won-
ders which it has pleased our God to work by
your hands in the eyes of the nation which he has
chosen, I rejoiced; for external prodigies are
efficacious in inclining souls towards internal
grace: but do yourself take heed that your spirit
does not grow proud and presumptuous; take
heed that what raises you to outward consi-
I.
* Epistolae Gregorii Papa ad Brunichildem, ad Theodoricum,
ad Chlotarium, apud Script. Iter. Franc. IV. p. 30–33.
* Ut apostolorum virtutes, in signis quae exhibet, imitari
Videatur. Epist. Greg. Pap, inter ejus Opera, p. 928.
* Ibid.
604
to
605.
64.
SETTLING OF THE BRITONS
Book deration and honour, does not prove the occa-
I.
sion of your inward fall, through the love of vain-
glory".” These counsels were not without a
motive; the ambitious character of Augustine
had already revealed itself to his patron. Not
satisfied with his dignity of metropolitan among
the English, he had already coveted a more flat-
tering, and at the same time a more lucrative
supremacy over a people who had long been
Christians. In one of his despatches to Rome,
there was this brief and peremptory question:
“How must I act towards the bishops of Gaul
and the bishops of the Britons • ?” “As for the
bishops of Gaul,” returned Gregory, somewhat
startled at the demand, “I have not given, nor do
I give thee any authority over them: the prelate
of Arles has received from me the pallium ; I
cannot deprive him of his dignity : he is the
head and the judge of the Gauls; and it is for-
bidden thee to put the scythe of judgment in
another's field'. But the bishops of the British
" Ne animus in suà praesumptione se elevet, et unde foris per
honorem tollitur, inde per inanem gloriam intus cadat. Beda,
Presbyt. Hist. II. p. 38.
* Qualiter debemus cum Galliarum et Britannorum episcopis
agere? Gregor. Pap. Opera, p. 1158.
* Falcem judicii mittere non potes in alienam segetem.
Gregor, Papae Epistola, inter ejus Opera, p. 1158.
TO THE NINTH CENTURY.
65
race I conſide wholly to thee; teach the ignorant, BOOK
strengthen the weak, and chastise the bad, at thy
pleasure”.”
The enormous difference which the Roman pon-
tiff thought fit to establish between the Gauls,
whom he defended against the pretensions of Au-
gustine, and the Cambrians, whom he abandoned
to him, will be understood when it is recollected
that the Cambrians were schismatics. These un-
fortunate remains of a great nation, enclosed in
one corner of their ancient country, had lost all,
(says one of their old poets") but their name, their
language, and their God. This God was the same
as that of the Romans, one in three persons, the
rewarder and the avenger; but not, as Rome as-
serted, visiting the sins of the father on his pos-
terity; nor, in his blind justice, condemning poor
infants dying at their entrance into life, when
their understandings are yet unborn, before their
eyes have seen or their mouths have spoken. The
Britons had no faith in these things which Rome
asserted to be true, perhaps without herself be-
lieving in them; moreover, they observed in their
forms of worship certain national practices differ-
* Britanniarum autem omnes episcopos tuæ fraternitati com-
mittimus, ut indocti doceantur, infirmi persuasione roborentur,
perversi auctoritate corrigantur, Bedae Hist. II. 27.
* Taliesin. Archaeology of Wales, I. 95.
WOL. I. F
66
SETTLING OF THE BRITONS
Book ing from those of the Romans. Their Easter was
I.
not fixed precisely at the same period; their
monks were not habited, nor the heads of their
priests shaven, in the same manner; and, above
all, their monks were more laborious than the
Catholic rules ordained. No one was received
into the British convents unless he knew some
art or trade"; the religious of each convent were
divided into two bodies, who alternately remained
at home to pray, and went abroad to work". The
Britons had bishops; but they were, during the
greater part of their time, without any fixed see:
they dwelt, like true pastors, sometimes in one
place, sometimes in another; and their archbishop,
chosen by themselves, likewise lived, indifferently,
at Ker-Leon" on the Usk, or at Menew “, now
St. David's. This archbishop, independent of all
foreign authority, neither received nor solicited
the pallium. These were unpardonable offences
in the eyes of those priests of Rome who were so
tolerant towards the pagan sacrifices. This was
sufficient cause for Pope Gregory to acknowledge
* Ars unicuique dabatur, ut ex opere manuum quotidiano sc
posset in victu necessario continere. Vita S. Winwalaei, Preuves
de l'Histoire de Bretagne, II, 25. -
* Horae Britannica, II. 232.
" Or Caer-Lleon.
* Or Mynyn. In Latin, Menevia.
TO THE NINTH CENTURY.
67
none of the British bishops as religious authori- BOOK
ties, but to deliver them up to the tutelage and
correction of his servant Augustine'.
Augustine, by an express message, communi-
cated to the clergy of the vanquished people of
Britain the order to acknowledge him as their so-
vereign archbishop, on pain of incurring the anger
of Rome and the anger of the Saxons. That he
might demonstrate to the Cambrian priests the
legitimacy of his imperious demand, he assigned
them a conference on the banks of the Severn,
the limit between their territory and that of the
conquerors. The meeting was held in the open
air, under a large oak". Augustine required the
Britons to reform their religious practices accord-
ing to the usages of Rome; to be obedient to
him; and to employ themselves, under his direc-
tion, in converting the Anglo-Saxons. In aid of
his studied harangue, he set before them a man
of Saxon birth, who he pretended was blind; and
restored him to sight". But neither the Roman's
* Inter alia innumerabilium scelerum facta. Beda, Presbyt.
Hist. p. 21. Trioedd ynys Prydain, Cambro-Briton, II. 170.
Fora, Britannica, II. 213–232. Ibid. 78–86.
* This tree was long after called Augustine's Oak. In Saxon,
4ugustines ac, Bedae Hist. II. 45.
" Oblatus est quidem de genere Anglorum luce privatus.
Bedae Presbyt. IIist. p. 45, 46.
I.
F 2
68
SETTLING OF THE BRITONS
BOOK eloquence, nor his miracle, had power to terrify
I.
the Cambrians and make them abjure their old
spirit of independence. But Augustine was not
to be discouraged. He appointed a second inter-
view, which was complaisantly attended by seven
British bishops and a great number of religious
men, chiefly from the great monastery of Ban-
gor', situated in North Wales, on the banks of
the Dee.
The proud Roman disdained to rise from his
seat on their approach; and this mark of pride
wounded them at the very first. “We will never
acknowledge,” said those among them who were
appointed to speak, “we will never acknowledge
the pretended rights of Roman ambition, any more
than those of Saxon tyranny. We owe to the
Pope of Rome, as to all Christians, the submis-
sion of fraternal charity; but as for the submis-
sion of obedience, we owe it only to God, and
after God, to our venerable superior the bishop
of Ker-leon on the Usk. Besides, we ask, why
have those who boast of having converted the
Saxons, never reprimanded them for their vio-
lences against us and their usurpations over us"?
Augustine's only answer was, a definitive sum-
605
to
607.
* Or Ban-chor, the great choir, the great church.
* From a Breton manuscript, quoted in the second volume of
the Horae Britannica, p. 267, 268.
TO THE NINTH CENTURY.
69
mons to the Welsh priests to acknowledge him as BOOK
their archbishop, and to assist him in converting
the Germans in Britain. The Welsh replied una-
nimously that they would never be connected by
the ties of friendship with the invaders of their
country, so long as they should not have restored
what they had seized unjustly ; and that, as for
the man who would not rise before them when he
was but their equal, they would never make him
their superior'. “Well!” exclaimed the Roman
in a menacing tone, “if you will not have peace
with brethren, you shall have war with enemies;
since you refuse to teach, with me, the way of
life to the Saxon nation, that nation shall shortly
come to teach you the way of death".”
A short time only had elapsed, when the chief
of an Anglo-Saxon tribe, who still were pagans,
came down from the north country, towards the
very spot where the conference had been held.
The monks of Bangor, remembering Augustine's
threat, quitted their convent in great consterna-
tion, and fled to the army which was assembling
&
| Si modo nobis assurgere noluit, quanto magis, si ei subdi
caperimus, nos pro nihilo contemnet. Bedae Presbyt. Hist,
II. 47.
* Sinationi Anglorum moluissent viam vitae praedicare. Bedae
Presbyt. Hist. II. 47.
607.
70
SETTLING OF THE BRITONS
BOOK under the chief of the Welsh province of Powis.
I.
This army was defeated; and in the rout which
ensued, the pagan conqueror observed a troop of
men singularly habited, without arms, and all
kneeling. He was told that they were the people
of the great monastery, praying for the safety of
their countrymen. “If they are crying to their
God for my enemies,” replied the Saxon, “ then
they fight against me, though without arms";”
and he ordered them all to be massacred, to the
number of two hundred. The monastery of Ban-
gor, the chief of which had spoken in the fatal
interview with Augustine, was utterly destroyed;
“ and thus,” say the ecclesiastical writers, “ the
prediction of the holy pontiff was accomplished,
and the wretches who had disdained the offer of
eternal salvation were chastised".” Several ages
after this sanguinary expedition,there were friends
of the Roman church who blushed for her being
concerned in it, and in several manuscripts falsi-
fied the original historian's account, so as to make
it appear that Augustine was dead at the time of
* Si adversum nos ad Deum suum clamant, profect', et insi,
quamvis arma non ferant, contrà nos pugnant. Ibid.
* Ut temporalis interitàs ultionem sentirent perfidi, quod
oblata sibi perpetuac salutis consilia spreverant. Bedae Presbyt,
Hist. II. 47. -
TO THE NINTH CENTURY.
71
the battle with the Britons and the massacre of BOOK
the monks of Bangor". Augustine was old at
that period; but he lived at least a year after
the military execution which he had predicted ".
On the death of Augustine, Laurentius, likewise
a Roman by birth, became archbishop in his room.
The Romans Mellitus and Justus were bishops,
the one at London and the other at Rochester:
the former had gained over to Christianity Sig-
berht, the relative of Ethel-berht, and king of the
East Saxons. The newly converted chiefs, in
proof of their Christian fervour, raised and deco-
rated altars in honour of Pope Gregory' ; and
conferred honours and dignities on the Roman
priests. But this was not of long duration. The
fervent kings were succeeded by others either in-
different or indisposed towards the new worship.
When the two sons of Sig-berht (familiarly called
Sae-berht), had laid their father in the tomb, they
returned to paganism, which they had quitted to
p Quamvis ipso jām multo ante tempore, ad coelestia regna
translato. Bedae Hist. p. 47. It is the opinion of Goodwin and
Dr. Hammond, that these words have been interpolated. Horae
Britannica, II. 371.
* Completum Augustini praesagium. Bedae Hist. II. 47.
• In medio, altare in honorem B. Gregorii papae dedicatum.
Bedae Hist. p. 47.
608
tC)
616.
72
SETTLING OF THIE BRITONS
BOOK please him, and abolished all the prohibitory laws
* which the late chief had created against the old
national religion; but, as they were of a mild cha-
racter, they did not at first persecute either Bishop
Mellitus, or the small number of true believers
who persisted in listening to him; they would
even go to the Christian church, as a kind of idle
pastime, or, perhaps, through some secret dis-
trust.
One day, when the Roman was administering
to the faithful the communion of the Eucharist,
“Why,” said one of the young chiefs to him,
“ dost thou not offer to us as well as to the rest
this white bread which thou gavest to our father
Saeb ‘’” “If,” answered the bishop, “you would
be washed in the font of Salvation as your father
was washed, you, like him, would have your share
in this holy bread.” “We will not enter the font;
we have no need of it; yet we desire to be re-
freshed by the bread'.” They renewed this whim-
sical demand several times, the Roman constantly
repeating that he could not accede to it. Imput-
* A kind of diminutive form, which the English still make
use of in proper names.
Quare non et nobis panem mitidum porrigis’ Bedae Presbyt.
Hist. II. 51.
* Nolumus fontem illum intrare, quià nec illo opus nos haberc
movimus, sed tamen pane illo refici volumus. Ibid.
5
TO THE NINTII CENTURY. 73
ing his refusal to obstinate ill-will, they became Book
angry. “Since,” said they, “thou wilt not gratify I.
us in so easy a thing, thou shalt go out of our
country".”
He and his companions were driven away from
London and went into Kent, where they found
Laurentius and Justus themselves disgusted with
the indifference and the little love towards them,
shewn by the successor of Ethel-berht. They all
came to the determination of passing over into
Gaul. Mellitus and Justus set out together. 616,
Laurentius, on the point of following them, re-
solved to make one last effort to change the mind
of the king of Kent, on which, it appears, the
Christianity of the country depended. The last
night which he was to pass among the Saxons,
the Roman caused his bed to be prepared in the
church of St. Peter, built at Canterbury by the
old king *. In the morning, he went out of
the church, all beaten, bruised, and covered with
blood; and in that condition, went to Ed-bald”,
the son of Ethel-berht. “Behold,” said he, “what
Peter has done to me for having thought of quit.
* Sinon vis assentire nobis in tam facili causā quam petimus,
non poteris jam in nostră provincià demorari. Bedae Hist.
II. 51.
* Jussit in ecclesiá stratum sibi parari. Ibid.
* Or AEd-bald, Ead-bald. Ed, Ead, fortunate; bald, bold.
74.
SETTLING OF THE BRITONS
Book ting his flock ‘’” The Saxon was struck at this
I.
spectacle; and trembled lest he should himself
incur the vengeance of this Peter, who chastised
his friends so unmercifully. He invited Lauren-
tius to remain, and recalled Justus, and promised
to employ his power in re-converting the apos-
tates. Thanks to the assistance of the temporal
arm, the faith was revived on both banks of the
Thames, never more to be extinguished. Melli-
tus succeeded Laurentius in the archiepiscopal
see ; Justus succeeded Mellitus ; and Ed-bald,
Ring of Kent, who would have driven them all
away, was complimented by the pope of Rome on
the purity of his faith, and the perfection of his
Christian works".”
A few years after these events, a sister of Ed-
bald, named Ethel-burghe", was married to the
pagan chief of the country north of the Humber.
The bride departed from Kent, accompanied by a
priest of Roman birth, named Paulinus, who had
been before anointed archbishop of York, accord-
ing to Pope Gregory's plan, and in the hope
that the faithful wife would win over the infidel
616
to
620.
620,
* Propterea quod Dei gregem esset relicturus. Chron. Saxon.
Ed. Gibson.
* Bedae Hist. II. 51. Henrici Huntingdon. p. 326.
* Or AEthel-byrg. Ethel, noble; burg, burgh, burh, byrg,
berg, security, protector, protectress,
3
TO THE NINTH CENTURY.
75
husband. The king of Northumbria ", named Book
Ed-win", allowed his wife Ethel-burghe to profess
the Christian religion under the auspices of the
man whom she had brought with her, and whose
black eyes and brown visage were objects of
wonder to the fair-haired inhabitants of the
north ". When Ed-win's wife became a mother,
Paulinus gravely announced to the Saxon king,
that he had obtained for her the favour of a
birth without pain, on condition that the child
should be baptized in the name of Christ'. In
the overflow of his paternal joy, the pagan grant-
ed all that his wife desired; but would listen to
no proposal of being baptized himself: he shewed
no displeasure towards the converters, but rea-
soned with and often embarrassed them *.
To produce in him a relish for things celestial,
I.
° Northumbria. In Saxon, Northan-hymbra-land, or North-
humber-land, the country north of the Humber.
* Or Ead-nin. Ed, fortunate; win, beloved, also conquer-
ing,
* Vir longae staturae, paululüm incurvus, nigro capillo, facie
macilentå, maso adunco pertenui, venerabilis simul et terribilis
aspectu. Bedae Hist. p. 66.
* Quod precibus suis obtinueritut regina pareret absºlue do-
lore. Henrici Huntingd. Hist. p. 327.
* Quid ageret discutiebat, vir natură sagacissimus. Ibid.
629.
76
SETTLING OF THE BRITONS
BOOK through the attraction of earthly things, a letter
was sent from Rome by Pope Boniface, addressed
to the glorious Ed-win. “I transmit to you."
wrote the Pontiff, “the benediction of your pro-
tector, the blessed Peter, prince of the apostles,
that is to say, a linen shirt embroidered with
gold, and a mantle of fine Ancona wool".” Ethel-
burghe likewise received, as a proof of Peter's be-
nediction, a gilt ivory comb and a silver mirror'.
These gifts were accepted; but they did not move
the resolution of king Ed-win, whose reflecting
mind could be overcome only by a strong moral
impression".
There was an extraordinary adventure in the
life of the Saxon, the secret of which he thought
he had kept from all men; but it had probably
escaped him in the confidence of the nuptial bed.
In his youth, before he was king, he had been in
great danger from enemies who desired his death.
Having fallen into their hands with but little hope
of deliverance, his heated imagination represented
to him in a dream an unknown person, who, ap-
proaching him gravely, said, “What wouldst thou
promise to him who should be able and willing to
625
628.
" Id est, camisiam unam, Henrici Huntingd. p. 327,
* Idest, pectinem eburneum auratum. Ibid.
* Bedae Hist. II. 58,
TO THE NINTH CENTURY. 77
Save thee ?” “All that shall ever be in my power,” BOOK
answered the Saxon. “Well;” rejoined the un- I.
known, “if he who could save thee were only to
require of thee to live according to his counsels,
wouldst thou follow them 7” Ed-win swore to do
So ; and the apparition, stretching out one hand,
and placing it upon his head, said to him, “When
such a sign shall again appear to thee, remember
this moment and these words'.” By great good-
fortune, Ed-win escaped from his perils; but the
recollection of his dream was profoundly engraven
on his mind.
One day, when he was alone in his apartment,
the door opened, and he saw a figure, moving
slowly and solemnly, like that in the dream, which
approached him, and, without pronouncing a single
word, placed its hand upon his head. This was
Paulinus, to whom the Holy Ghost, (according to
the ecclesiastical historians"; but, according to
all probability, the believing wife of the unbeliev-
ing husband) had revealed the infallible means of
overcoming his obstinacy. The victory was com-
plete: the Saxon, seized with stupor, fell with his
' Cum ergö hoc tibi signum advenerit, memento hujus tempo-
ris et sermonis. Bedae Hist, p. 62. Henric. Huntingd, p.
327.
* Bedae Hist. II. 62.
78
SETTLING OF THE BRITONS
BOOK face to the floor; and the Roman, now become his
I.
master, kindly raised him up. Ed-win promised
to be a Christian ; but, unshaken in his good sense,
he promised for himself only, saying that his sub-
jects would of themselves perceive what they
ought to do". Paulinus requested him to con-
voke the great council which was called together
by the Germanic kings on all important occasions,
and was attended, under the name of ancients", or
wise men", by the magistrates, the great posses-
sors of land, the warriors of high rank, and the
priests of the gods. Ed-win laid before the as-
sembled Sages, the motives of his change of belief;
and, addressing each one of the assembly, asked
what they thought of this (to them) new doc-
trine.
The first who spoke was the chief of the priests.
“My opinion,” said he, “is that our gods have no
power; and it is founded on this: There is not a
man amongst the whole people who has served
them with greater zeal than I have; nevertheless,
I am far from being the richest and most ho-
noured among the people;—therefore my opinion
" Quid eis videretur. Bedae Presbyt. Hist. p. 62.
° Elder-menn, or Ealdor-memn, Seniores.
" Witan, Weisen, Sapientes. The assembly was called Wittena-
gemote, sapientum conventus.
TO THE NINTH CENTURY.
79
is, that our gods have no power".” A chief of the Bºok
Warriors then rose, and spoke as follows:
“Thou mayest recollect, O king, a thing which
Sometimes happens in the days of winter, when
thou art seated at table with thy captains and
thy men-at-arms', when a good fire is blazing,
when it is warm in thy hall, but rains, snows, and
blows without. Then comes a little bird, and
darts across the hall, flying in at one door and out
at the other: the instant of this transit is sweet
to him, for then he feels neither rain nor storm ;
but that instant is fleeting ; the bird is gone in
the twinkling of an eye; and from the winter he
passes to the winter again". Such to me seems
the life of man on this earth; such its duration of
a moment compared with the length of the time
that precedes and follows it. This time is dark
and comfortless to us; tormenting us by the im-
possibility of knowing it. If this new doctrine
can teach us any thing a little clear and certain
respecting it, then it is fit that we follow it'.”
When the other chiefs had spoken, and the
* Unde nil valere Deos probavi. Beda Hist. II. 62.
* Mid. Thinum, Ealdermannum, and Thegnum. Saxon Tran-
slation of Bede's History.
* Of wintra. . . . . . . In winter cometh. . . . . . . Ibid.
' Henrici Huntingdom, Hist, p. 328.
80
SETTLING OF TIIE BRITONS
Book Roman had laid down his tenets, the assembly,
voting as for the sanction of national laws, so-
lemnly renounced the worship of the ancient
gods. But, when the missionary proposed that
they should destroy the images of those gods,
there was not one among the new converts who
felt sufficiently firm in his conviction to brave the
dangers of this profanation, excepting only the
high-priest; who asked the king for arms and a
horse, that he might violate the laws of his order,
which forbade all priests to wear the warlike habit
or mount any animal but a mare". With a sword
at his side, and brandishing a javelin, he galloped
up to the temple; and, in the sight of the whole
people, who thought he had lost his senses, struck
the walls and the images with his lance. A wooden
building was then erected, in which king Ed-win
and a great number of men were baptized”. Pau-
linus, having thus conquered in reality the epis-
copacy of which he had before held only the title,
travelled over the countries of Deiria' and Ber-
" Accepto equo admissario, cum pontifici idolorum non liceret
nisi super equam equitare. Henrici Huntingd. Hist, p. 328.
* Baptisatus in domo ligneå. Scriptores collecti à Selden. II.
1634.
* By corruption, instead of the Cambrian Deynir or Deiff.
See p. 24.
TO THE NINTH CENTURY.
8 |
micia, baptizing in the waters of the Swale and BOOK.
the Glen, such as were eager to obey the decree
of the assembly of the wise’.
The political influence of the great kingdom
of Northumbria, drew to Christianity the popu-
lation of the East Angles, inhabiting the coun-
try south of the Humber and north of the East
Saxons. The Roman bishops of the south had
already preached to these people; but the two re-
ligions were still so equally balanced among them,
that their chief, named Red-wald", had erected
two altars in the same temple, one to Christ and
the other to the Teutonic deities, and prayed to
each alternately, making, perhaps, like one of the
ancient kings of Denmark, sometimes the sign
of the cross, and sometimes that of the hammer of
Thor". Thirty years after the conversion of the
people on the banks of the Humber, a woman of
that country converted the chief of the marches
extending from the Humber to the Thames. The
Anglo-Saxons who kept their ancient worship
the latest, were those of the southern coasts, who
* Wittema-gemote. Henrici Hunting. p. 328.
* Or Raed-meald. Red, word, counsel, counsellor; Wald,
Heald, Walt, powerful, governing.
" Thor, Ther, Thier, the fierce, the strong. Gloss. Wachteri.
Script. Rerum Danicarum coll, a Longebek. Horae Britannica,
II. 287.
VOI,. I. G
628
to
655.
655
to
668.
82
SETTLE N (; OF THIF BRITONS
BOOK did not renounce it until the close of the seventh
668
century".
Eight Roman monks were successively archbi-
shops of Canterbury, before that dignity, insti-
tuted for the Saxons, was held by one of the
Saxon race". The successors of Augustine did
not relinquish the hope of compelling the Cam-
brian clergy to bow to their authority, but conti-
nued to heap summonses and messages upon the
Welsh priests. They even extended their ambi-
tious pretensions to the priests of the island of
Erin, who were as independent as the Britons of
foreign supremacy, and so zealous for the Chris-
tian faith that their country was called the Island
of Saints. But this merit of sanctity was null in the
eyes of the Roman colonists, who had succeeded in
planting themselves on that part of Britain con-
quered by the Anglo-Saxons. It was not Chris-
tianity—it was slavery, which they cherished in
others. To the men of Erin they sent messages full
of pride and bitterness.—“We, deputies from the
apostolic see to the western regions, once foolishly
believed in your island's reputation for sanctity;
but we now know, and can no longer doubt, that
608
to
610.
• Scriptores editi a Seldemo, II. 1634. Henrici Huntingdon.
Hist. p. 328, et seq.
* Berht-wald, or Briht-weald.
TO THE NINTH CENTURY.
83
you are no better than the Britons *. Of this the BOOK
journey of Columban into Gaul, and that of one
Dagammon in Britain, have fully convinced us:
for, amongst other things, this Dagammon, passing
through the places where we dwelt, has refused,
not only to come and eat at our tables, but even
to take his meals in the same house with us'.”
The crimes of the other Hibernian were of a
different nature, and deserve to be related. Co-
lumban, or, more precisely, Columb, had com-
menced his career as a Christian preacher, by
crossing the lakes of North Britain in an open
boat covered with skins, to visit, in the name of
Christ, the savage race of the north-west moun-
taineers". No Christian woman was there, to se-
duce a pagan husband; Columb had no purple-
bordered tunics nor mantles of fine wool to offer
in the name of St. Peter: he was poor, was often
repulsed, and frequently in danger of death". He
founded no bishoprics, nor ever styled himself
bishop ; he only established on a rock of the He-
brides', a school and a convent of men poor and
I.
* Nihil discrepare à Britonibus. Bedae Presbyt. Hist. II. 47.
* Non solām cibum nobiscum, sed in eodem hospitio quo ve-
scebamur, sumere noluit. Bedae Presbyt. Hist. II. 47.
* Gaëls, Gwyddils. See p. 3.
* Horae Britannica, II. 302.
'The island of Hy or Iona.
394
to
416.
G 2
84.
SETTLING OF THE BRITONS
BOOK laborious like himself. After converting by his
I.
609
to
610.
own exertions alone, many of the Scots and Picts,
he repaired with his companions to Gaul, to
preach to the wood-cutters and goat-herds of the
Vosges. The men of Erin stopped at the feet of
the mountains, among the ruins of an ancient vil-
lage, called in Latin Lusuvium, and in the vulgar
tongue Lusen".
This place formed part of the territory of
Thiod-rik, king of the East Franks, who, being
attracted by the public rumour, came to visit the
strangers and request their prayers. Columb, un-
used to address and to manage the powerful,
remonstrated severely with his visitor on his mo-
rals, and the licentious life which he led among de-
bauched women, so that the royal race of the
Franks was no longer propagated except in infa-
mous places'. These reproaches were less dis-
pleasing to the king than to his grandmother, that
same Brune-hilde, in whom Pope Gregory had
discovered inexhaustible treasures of sanctity and
divine grace", and who, to maintain her influence
* Henrici Hunting. Hist. p. 380. Muller—Histoire de la
Confédération Suisse, I. 159. Hora Britannica, p. 302–308.
'Ut regia proles ex lupanaribus videretur emergere. Fre-
degarii Scholastici Chron., inter Script. Rer. Francic. III, 424.
" Epistola Gregorii Papa ad Brunichildem, apud Script.
Franc. IV. 20–34.
TO THIE NINTII CENTURY. 85
over her grandson, dissuaded him from marriage, Bºok
and was careful to furnish him with women of “
pleasure and beautiful slaves. At the instigation of
this orthodox queen, an accusation of heresy in
the first degree was preferred in a council of bi-
shops, against the man who had dared to shew
himself more nice than the Roman Church re-
Specting the morality of barbarous potentates: he
Was condemned by a unanimous sentence, and,
with his companions, banished from Gaul. From
this sentence, perhaps, it was, that the Roman
bishops of Saxon Britain judged that the Chris-
tianity of the inhabitants of Hibernia was of a
suspicious nature, and needed to be purified by
their lessons and reformed by their power".
The same Church which expelled from Gaul Goo
the enemies to the vices of the Frank kings, gave #.
blessed crosses for standards to the Saxon kings,
when they went to exterminate the old Christians
of Britain *. The latter, in their national piety,
charge a part of their disasters on a foreign con-
spiracy, and on monks whom they call unjust *.
In their conviction of this malevolence of the
* Fredegarii Scholast. Chron., Script. Rer. Franc. III. 427.
Hist. de Bretagne, par Dom Lobineau, I. 32.
* Beda Presbyt. Hist. II. 73.
* IIora, Britann. II. 290.
86
SETTLING OF THIE BRITONS
BOOK Roman church towards them, they grew still
firmer in the resolution of rejecting her tenets
and her empire; they chose rather to apply, and
did actually apply, several times to the church of
Constantinople, for counsel in their theological
difficulties. The most renowned of their ancient
sages, who was both a Christian priest and a bard,
cursed in his verses the negligent shepherd who
kept not God's flock from the wolf of Rome ".
But the Romans, thanks to the terror of the
Saxon hatchets, gradually subdued the indepen-
dent spirit of the schismatic churches of Britain.
In the eighth century, a bishop of northern Cam-
bria began to celebrate the festival of Easter on
the days prescribed by the Catholic councils; the
other bishops resisted the innovation; and, on the
rumour of this dispute, the Saxons made an irrup-
tion into the southern provinces, where the oppo-
sition had manifested itself". To avert the evils
of a foreign war and the ravage of his country,
a Welsh chief strove to sanction by his authority
the alteration of the ancient religious customs;
but this attempt irritated the public spirit to
such a degree, that the chief was slain in a revolt.
755.
777.
* Cattawg. Horae Britannicae, II. 277.
* Extracts from Caradoc of Llanearvan, a Welsh historian.
Horae Britannicae, II. 367.
TO THE NINTH CENTURY.
87
This spirit, however, became gradually weaker; Book
and Rome, at length, had vassals in Wales ".
Her Saxon vassals returned, a hundred fold, the
presents they had received from her; and the be-
nedictions of Peter the apostle were payed for by
an annual revenue. The successors of the Öld
pirate chiefs, Hengst, Horsa, Kerdié, AElla, and
Ida, decked in Latin or Greek titles, which the
Roman priests taught them to join to their
names', and, instead of battle-axes, bearing trun-
Cheons with gilded heads, no longer ranked
above all others the exercises of war". Their
ambition was, to have about them, not large bo-
dies of brave men like their fathers, but large con-
Vents of the Benedictine order, the most in favour
with the popes. They often cut their own long
hair, to devote themselves to seclusion; and, if an
active life kept them amidst the affairs of the
World, they accounted the consecration of a mo-
nastery as one of the great days of their reign.
Such an event was celebrated with all the pomp
of a national solemnity “. The chiefs, the bishops,
* Hor. Britan. II. 31.7–320.
* Rex, Imperator, 3aoixetc.
"Exercitiam armorum in secundis ponentes. Willelmus Mal-
"lesburiensis, p. 101.
* Jussit indiceri per totam nationem, omnibus Thanis, Episco-
pis, Comitibus, omnibusque qui Deum diligerent, et coastituit
diem quo monasterium consecraretur. Chron. Saxon. Ed. Gib-
*on, p. 35.
600
to
800.
88
SETTLING OF THE BRITONS
BOOK the warriors, and the sages, were assembled; and
I.
the king, surrounded by his family, sat in the
midst of them. When the newly-built walls had
been washed with holy water, and consecrated
under the names of the blessed Peter and Paul,
the two favourite saints of the orthodox, the
Saxon king rose, and said with a loud voice’:—
“Thanks be to the most high God, that I have
been able to do something in honour of Christ
and his holy apostles. All you who are here pre-
sent, be witnesses and sureties of the donation
made by me to the monks of this place, of the
lands, marshes, ponds and streams hereafter men-
tioned. It is my will that they hold and possess
them entirely and royally ", so that no tax shall be
levied upon them, nor the monastery be subject
to any power on earth, except that of Rome; for it
is there that those among us who cannot go to
Rome, will seek and visit St. Peter. Let those
who succeed me—my sons, my brothers, or who"
soever they may be—preserve this gift inviolate,
as they would share everlasting life—as they would
be saved from everlasting flames. And whoever
shall take any thing from it, may he who stands
at the gate of heaven take from his portion in
heaven: he who shall add any thing to it, may he
656.
7 Chron. Saxon. Ed. Gibson, p. 35.
* Adeo regaliter, adeoque liberê, Ibid.
TO THE NINTH CENTURY.
89
who stands at the gate of heaven add to his BOOK
portion in heaven".” The king then took the
roll of parchment containing the act of donation,
and traced a cross upon it: and after him, his
wife, his sons, his brothers, his sisters, the bishops,
the public officers, and all the personages of high
rank, successively inscribed the same sign, repeat-
ing this formula:—“I confirm it by my mouth and
by the cross of Christ".”
This good understanding between the Anglo-
Saxons and the Church of Rome, or rather the
subjection of the former to the latter, was not of
very long duration. The spell of imagination
grew weaker, and the shame of dependence be-
came gradually felt. While some kings bowed
their heads before the representative of that Peter
who opened and shut the door of heaven", there
were others who openly rejected the yoke of the
foreigner, plausibly disguised under the name of
the Christian faith". In this contest, the priests
of the Saxon race—the spiritual children of the
* Quicumque nostrum munus diminuerit, diminuat ejus partem
coelestis, janitor in regno coelorum. Chron. Saron. Gibson.
p. 35–38.
* Chron. Saxon. Ed. Gibson. p. 35–38.
* Sanctus Petrus cum clave aperiat ei regnum coelorum.
Chron. Saa.on. Ed. Gibson, p. 38.
* Eddici Vita Wilfredi Episcopi, l. 61.
i
* * *
4 f * , ,
. .” , , $
. . . . . .”.”- e, ºw. ...is ºn *...*.3
I.
656
800.
684.
684
950.
90
SETTLING OF THE BRITONS
BOOK Romans—declared at first for Rome"; but after-
I.
wards, borne away by the torrent of national opi-
nion, they aimed at being no longer subject to
the ultramontane church, except in those frater-
nal duties which the British Christians had offered
to render her, and which, in her name, they had
so rudely disdained'. Then did the English be-
come in the eyes of Rome, what the Cambrians
had been ; she was their violent enemy, and
leagued herself with their enemies. She encou-
raged foreign ambition against them, as she had
encouraged their own ambition against the native
population of Britain. She furnished their in-
vaders with the same banners of the cross which
she had given them to display; she promised, in
the name of St. Peter, their goods and their bodies
to whoever would conquer their country; and,
since they had ceased to be her tributary subjects,
she endeavoured to make them slaves to those
who would pay her tribute.
The detail of these posterior events and their
consequences, will occupy the greater part of this
history, devoted, as its title imports, to the recital
of the downfall of the Anglo-Saxon people. But
upon these events it is yet too soon to enter.
950
to
1066.
1066.
* Horae Britannica, II. 329–347.
* See page 69.
TO THE NINTH CENTURY.
91
The reader's imagination must be suffered yet a BOOK
while to dwell on the Germanic race victorious,
and the Celtic race vanquished—on the white flag
of the Saxons and Angles repulsing further and
further to the west the red flag of the Kymrys,
and lowered before no foreign standard . The
Anglo-Saxon limits, continually encroaching on
the west, after being extended northward to the
rivers Forth and Clyde, were narrowed on that
side at the end of the seventh century. The
Scots and Picts, being attacked by Eg-frith ",
king of Northumbria, skilfully drew him into the
defiles of their mountains; defeated him; and,
after their victory, advanced to the south of the
Forth, as far as the river Tweed, on the banks of
which they then fixed the frontier of their ter-
ritory. This limit, which the men of the south
never after removed, has from that day marked
the new line of separation between the two parts
of Britain'. The tribes of the Anglian race inha-
* The national poetry of the Cambrians fantastically desig-
nates these two hostile flags by the names of Red Dragon and
h'hite Dragon.
" Eg, Ecg, lasting, eternal ; frith, frid, fred, fried, peace,
peaceful.
'See page 1. Pictiterram suam cujus partem tenebant Angli,
*cuperaverunt. Bedae, lib, iv. cap. 26. Henrici Huntingd. Hist.
p. 336.
600
to
800.
684.
to
800.
92 SETTLING OF TIIE BRITONS
Book biting the plains between the Forth and the Tweed,
I. were, by this change, incorporated with the po-
pulation of the Scots and Picts, or the Scotch,
which soon became the sole name of this mixed
population, and from which the modern name of
their country was formed.
At the other extremity of Britain, the men of
Cornwall, isolated as they were, long struggled
for independence, supported by the succours which
they occasionally received from the refugees of
Armorica": at last, however, they became tribu-
zzo, tary to the West Saxons. But the men of Wales
never became so. “Never,” say their old poets,
750 “no, never will the Kymrys pay the tribute; they
sº. will combat, even unto death, for the possession
of the lands washed by the Wye'.” And this river
was the final boundary of the Saxon dominion.
The last chief who extended it, was a king of the
Marches, named Offa ". He crossed the Severn,
and the chain of mountains which may be called
the Apennines of South Britain, and had until
then protected the last asylum of the vanquished.
At the distance of nearly fifty miles west from the
mountains, Offa constructed, in place of the na-
* Caradoc of Llanearwan. Horac Britannica, II. 366.
' Arymes Prydain.—Cambrian Register for 1796, p. 554.
* Offa, Offo, Obbo, mild, element. Gloss. Wachter.
TO TIIE NINTII CENTURY.
93
tural boundary, a long rampart with a trench, Book
extending from the course of the Wye to the val-
ley of the Dee". There was established, for ever,
the frontier betwixt the two races who, in unequal
portions, conjointly inhabited all the southern
part of the old island of Prydain, from the Tweed
to the Land's End".
On the north of the channel of the Dee, the
country enclosed by the mountains and the sea,
had, half a century before, been subjugated by
the Angles and depopulated of Ancient Britons.
The fugitives had reached either the great refuge
of Wales, or the angle of mountainous land washed
by the frith of Solway. In this latter region, they
long after preserved a sort of savage liberty, dis-
tinguished from the English race, even in the
English language, by their old name of Cam-
brians; and this name has remained attached to
the country which they made their asylum".
Beyond the plains of Galloway, in the deep vallies
of the Clyde", some small British tribes, which,
favoured by their position, had preserved their
freedom in the midst of the Anglian people, held
" In the Cambrian tongue, Clandh Offa. In English, Offa's
Dyke.
* Henrici Huntingd. Hist. p. 407.
" It is called Cumber-land—in the old Saxon, Cumbra-land.
* Ystrad-Clwyd.
800
to
900.
94.
SETTLING OF THE BRITONS
BOOK out in like manner against the Scots and Picts,
when the latter had conquered all the low lands
of Scotland, to the valley of Annan and the Tweed.
This last remnant of the purely British race had
for their capital and fortress a town built upon a
rock, now called Dumbarton'. Some traces are to
be found of their independent existence so lately
as the tenth century; but from that period they
ceased to be distinguished by their ancient na-
tional name, having either been suddenly annihi-
lated by war, or insensibly confounded with the
mass of the surrounding population.
Thus disappeared from the whole island of Bri-
tain, excepting only the small and barren country
of Wales, the race of the Celts, Cambrians, Loe-
grians, and Britons, properly so called, of whom
part had emigrated directly from the eastern ex-
tremities of Europe, and part had come into Bri-
tain, after a stay, longer or shorter, on the coast
of Gaul’. These feeble remains of a great people
had the glory of keeping possession of their last
corner of territory, against the efforts of an enemy
immensely superior in numbers and resources:
often vanquished, but never subjugated, and
bearing through the course of ages the unshaken
* Or Dun-briton. They called it Alchuyd,
* See p. 2. and following.
8
- TO THF, NINTII CENTURY,
95
Conviction of a mysterious etermity reserved for BOOK
their name and their language. This eternity was
foretold by the hards of the Welsh, from the first
day of their defeat': and whenever, in after
times, a new invader crossed the mountains of
Cambria, after the most complete victories his
captives would repeat to him: “'Tis all in vain;
thou canst destroy neither our name nor our lan-
guage".” Fortune, bravery, and above all, the
nature of the country, formed of rocks, lakes, and
Sands, justified these predictions, which, though
rash ones, are a remarkable evidence of vigorous
imagination in the little people who dared to
make them their national creed. -
It is hardly too much to say, that the ancient
British fed on poetry; for in their political axioms,
which have been handed down to us, the bard, at
Once poet and musician, is placed beside the las-
bourer and the artisan, as one of the three pillars
of social life". Their poets had one great and
almost only theme—their country's destinies, her
misfortunes, and her hopes. The nation, poetical
in its turn, extended the bounds of fiction by
ascribing fantastic meanings to their simplest
* Taliesin.—Archaeology of Wales, I. 95.
" See Book XI. of this History. * *
* Trioedd ynys Prydain, Sect. 2 1. No. I.
t 5
‘96
SETTLING OF THE BRITONS
Book words. The wishes of the bards were received as
*
I
promises, their expectations as prophecies; even
their silence was made expressive. If they sang
not of Arthur's death, it was proof that Arthur
yet lived : if the harper undesignedly sounded
some melancholy air, the minds of his hearers
spontaneously linked with this vague melody the
name of some spot rendered mournfully famous
by the loss of a battle with the foreign conque-
rors”. This life of hopes and recollections gave
charms, in the eyes of the latter Cambrians, to
their country of rocks and morasses: though poor,
they were gay and social ‘, bearing the burden of
distress lightly as some passing inconvenience,
looking forward with unabated confidence to a
great political revolution, by which they should
regain all that they had lost, and (as one of their
bards expresses it) recover the crown of Britain".
Days, years, ages, passed away; but, notwith-
standing the predictions of the bards, the former
country of the Britons returned not to the pos-
session of their descendants. If the foreign
Morfa Rhuddlan, Rhuddlan marsh. See Book IV. of this
History, year 1070.
• Giraldi Cambrensis Itinerarium Wallia, passim.
* Taliesin.-Archaeology of Wales, I, 95. Arymes Prydain,
Ibid. p. 156–159. Myrddhin's Afallenau-Ibid.
To The NINTH CENTURY. :
$97
oppressor was vanquished, it was not by the nation Book
which might claim that victory as a right. He
was subdued by other strangers from beyond the
ocean, who, in their turn, imposed on him the
same hard yoke of conquest which he had him-
self imposed; but neither his defeats nor his
enslavement were of any advantage to the re-
fugees in Wales. The recital of the misfortunes
of the Anglo-Saxon people, subjugated and op-
pressed by a people of different language and
origin, is now to be commenced. That race of
men, therefore, will now claim the interest of the
historian, for it will be the suffering race; in the
same manner as the suffering race of the Britons
has interested him in the preceding pages. This is a
privilege acquired by every nation, by every ge-
neration, of human beings, from the moment that
another generation, having neither the claims of
justice to enforce nor the rights of nature to vin-
dicate against the former, but whom the mad pas-
sion for rule, the thirst of gain, or the caprice of
hate has called to arms, rise and march over the
bodies of men who have never marched over
those of their forefathers. Without being the
less impartial, and without in any degree per-
verting the truth of facts, we may be allowed to
pity the fate, in past ages as well as in the pre-
sent, of men and of nations become victims of
WOL. I. |
98 SETTLING of THE BRIToNs, º&c.
BOOK injustice and violence. This is no more than is
due to equity and humanity; and if the unfortu-
nate are sacred to their contemporaries, they are
equally so to history.
B O O K II.
—sº-
ANGLO-SAXON IIISTORY TO THE MIDI}LE OF THE ELEVENTH
CENTURY.
For more than a century and a half, nearly the
whole of south Britain had borne the English
name, and the word British or Welsh, in the lan-
guage of its Germanic possessors, had signified
serving or tributary"—when some men of an un-
known country, came in three vessels, and landed
at one of the ports on the eastern coast. The
Saxon magistrate of the place", in order to learn
whence they came and what they wanted, went
down to the beach : the strangers allowed him to
approach, and surrounded him; then, suddenly
falling upon him and his escort, they killed them,
* Wealh, a slave, a domestic. Horse-wealh, a groom. Gloss.
"pud Scriptores ed. & Gale. Siservus Waliscus Anglicum homi-
hem occidat. Leges Jua. Chron. Joan. Brompton. p. 767.
* Gereſa—grafin the Frank dialect. See Book I. p. 46.
BOOK
II.
787.
H 2.
100.
ANGLO-SAXON IIISTORY.
BOOK plundered the neighbouring habitations, and has-
tily re-embarked *.
Such was the first appearance in England of the
northern pirates called Danes" or Normans", ac-
cording as they came from the islands of the
Baltic Sea, or from the mountainous coast of
Norway. They descended from the same primi-
tive race with the Anglo-Saxons and the Franks;
and even spoke a language intelligible to these
two nations. But this mark of ancient fraternity
preserved from their hostile incursions neither
Saxon Britain mor Frank Gaul, nor even the an-
cient country of the Franks, the territory beyond
the Rhine, where sounds proceeded from any
human mouth but those of the Germanic idiom.
The conversion of the Teutonic nations of the
south to the Christian religion, had broken every
sort of tie between them and the Teutones of the
north. The man of the north, in the eighth cen-
tury, still gloried in the title of son of Odin', and
treated the Germans who were sons of the Church
as bastards and renegades, making no distinction
, 87
to
839.
* Henrici Huntingd. Hist. p. 343.
* In Latin, Dani. Daenen, Daena, Daemisca.
* In Latin, Normanni. North-menn, North-mathra, men of
the north. This is the ancient national name of the Norwegians.
‘ Othin, Ethen, Woden, Wodan. This word is thought to be
derived from the word Otte, CEtte, Atte, signifying father.
Wachtcr's Glossary.
EIGHTII—NINTH CENTURY.
101
between them and the people they had conquered, BOOK
but whose God they adored. Franks or Gauls,
Long-bards" or Latins—all were alike hateful to
the man who had remained faithful to the ancient
divinities of Germany; all alike were to be plum-
dered or dragged into slavery. A sort of reli-
gious fanaticism and patriotic puritanism, were
thus allied in the souls of the Scandinavians with
their disorderly spirit and insatiable thirst of gain.
They were particularly fond of the blood of the
priests and the gold taken from the churches;
and would lodge their horses in the chapels of the
palaces", when they had wasted with fire and
Sword some canton of the Christian territory.
“We have sung the mass of lances,” they would
Say in derision; “it began at the rising of the
Sun *.”
Favoured by an easterly wind, the Danish and
Norwegian boats with two sails arrived in three
days off the southern coast of Britain'. Thesoldiers
* In Latin, Longo-bardi. Lang-beards, Long-barts, men car-
*ying long partisans. -
* Clerici et monachi crudeliùs damnabantur. Script. Rer.
Worman. 10. Capellä regis equos suos stabulant. Chronicon
Hermanni contracti inter Script. Rer. Franc. tom. IV. p. 246.
'Altoni odda messo. Lódbrog's Quida. Wiresius, p. 456.
Scriptores Rerum Danicarum, tom. I. p. 374. Ibid, tom. IV.
P. 26. Annal. Bertiniani, apud Script. Rer. Francic.
' Triduð, flantibus Euris, vela penduntur. Script. Rer. Dan.
tom. I. p. 236.
II.
787
to
835.
102
ANGLO-SAXON IIISTORY.
Book of a whole fleet generally obeyed one only chief,
II.
whose vessel was distinguished from the rest by
some peculiar ornament. The same chief still com-
manded, when the pirates had disembarked, and
were marching in battalions on foot or on horse-
back. He was saluted by the Germanic title of
king"; but he was king only at sea and in the
combat; for in the festive hour, the beer-horn
passed from hand to hand, without distinction of
first or last. The king of the sea, or the king of
the battle', was everywhere faithfully followed
and always zealously obeyed; for he was always
renowned as the bravest of the brave—as he who
had never slept beneath a roof, nor ever drained
the bowl on a sheltered hearth".
He could govern a vessel as the good horseman
manages his horse, running over the oars while
they were in motion. He would throw three
javelins to the mast-head, and catch them alter-
* Kong, Koning, Kineg, Konig, King, from Ken, learning and
power—the most learned, the most powerful. In Latin, Rear,
Rector, Dua, Ductor, Profectus, Consul, Centurio, signifying a
chief in general. The first of the captains sometimes bore the
title of Konga, Kong, chief of chiefs, king of kings. Ihre.—
Gloss. Saaro-Gothic. -
| Saº-kong, Her-kong, Siaº-konung, Her-konung, Sec-kyng,
Here-Kyng; Or Wig-kong, Wig-kyng, from Wig, warrior, war,
battle.
m Qui sub tigno fuligineo nunquam dormiebat, in regis mari-
timi titulo merità dignus videbatur. Inglinga Saga.
NINTH CENTURY.
103
mately in his hand, without once missing". Equal Book
under such a chief, supporting lightly their vo-
luntary submission, and the weight of their coat
of mail, which they promised themselves would
Soon be changed for an equal weight in gold, the
pirates held their course gaily, as their old songs
express it, along the track of the swans". Often
were their fragile barks wrecked and dispersed
by the north-sea storm—often did the rallying
sign remain unanswered ; but this neither in-
creased the cares nor diminished the confidence of
the survivors, who laughed at the winds and the
waves from which they had escaped unhurt.
“The force of the storm,” they would sing, “ is a
help to the arms of our rowers; the hurricane is in
our service; it carries us the way we would go".”
The first great army of Danish and Norman
corsairs which directed its course towards Eng-
land, landed on the coasts of Cornwall; and the
ancient inhabitants of that country, reduced by
the English to the hard condition of tributaries",
joined the enemies of their conquerors, either in
II.
" Lodbrog's Quida. King Olaf’s Saga-Chron. Sturleson's
Heimskringla.
° Ofer swan rade.
" Maximac tempestatis procella nostris servat remigiis. Abba
*loriacensis.
* See Book I. p. 92.
835.
104.
ANGLO-SAXON IIISTORY.
Book the hope of regaining some small portion of their
II.
838.
838
to
867.
liberty, or simply to gratify the passion of national
revenge. The men of the north were repulsed,
and their allies remained under the yoke; but,
shortly afterwards, other fleets brought the Danes
to the eastern coast in such numbers that mo force
could prevent them from penetrating into the
heart of England. They ascended the great
rivers, until they found a commodious station;
there they quitted their boats, and moored them or
drew them aground; then scattering themselves
over the neighbouring country, they carried off all
the beasts of burden, and, as the chronicles of that
day ' express it, from marines they became horse-
men. They at first confined themselves to plum-
dering and retiring immediately, leaving only
some military posts and small entrenched camps
on the coasts, to cover their speedy return; but
soon, changing their tactics, they settled as mas-
ters of the soil and the inhabitants, driving the
English population of the north-east towards the
south-west, as the latter had formerly driven the
British population from the sea of Gaul to the
opposite sea".
* Wurdon gehorsode. Chron. Saron. Ed. Gibson, p. 142 et
passim.
• Chron. Saw. Ed. Gibson, p. 72. Chron. Wallingford. apud
Script. Rer. Angl. ed. Gale.
NINTH CENTURY.
105
The first Scandinavian colony which planted Bººk
itself in Britain, took lands between the Humber
and the Tyne. Its establishment destroyed the
Anglo-Saxon kingdom of Northumbria; the chiefs
of which being killed or banished, their places
were filled by Danes, while the inhabitants became
serfs and tributaries to the invading army. A
part of this army pursued its conquest towards
the south of England. The resistance of the
Anglo-Saxon people to their pagan invaders, had
the colour at once of patriotism and of religion.
Those who took up arms, communicated together
on the same day, and swore by the sacred host to
die for their country and the faith of Christ'.
The bishops, priests, and monks, marched to
battle, either as chiefs or in the ranks, as volun-
teers".
The Danes, advancing to Nottingham, con-
quered all the eastern part of the Saxon kingdom
of Mercia. They then proceeded over the marches
which divided this kingdom from that of the
East-Angles, besieging the monasteries built on
* Sununo diluculo, auditis divinis officiis, et sumpto sacro
viatico, omnes ad moriendum pro Christi fide patriaeque defen-
Sione contra barbaros processerunt. Ingulfus Croylandensis,
p. 865, 867.
" Quibus praefuit Tolius monachus conversus. Ibid. Di-
ploma Beorredi Regis, apud eundem.
867
to
868.
868.
106
ANGLO-SAXON HISTORY.
BOOK the islands in the fens, killing the monks, breaking
II.
the consecrated vessels, and opening the tombs in
search of treasures”. They took Ed-mond', king
of Estanglia", prisoner; and, tying him to a tree,
made him a mark for their arrows. A Danish
chief, named God-run", was made king in his
stead. The kingdoms of the East and South
Saxons and that of Kent, were destroyed in the
same manner; and soon the territory of the West
Saxons was likewise invaded. Ethel-red", king
of this latter country, was killed in battle. The
assembly of warriors" and sages, convoked ac-
cording to the Saxon custom, chose in his place
his younger brother named Elf-red", in preference
to one of the sons of the late king. Elf-red en-
tered into a close alliance, offensive and defensive,
with Buhr-red", king of Mercia. They fought
870.
871.
871
to
874.
* Ingulf. Croyland. p. 867.
* Or Ead-mund. Ed, ead, happy; mund, guardian, pro-
tector.
* Est-Anglia. The Latin translation of the Saxon East-
Engla-land.
* Or Gut-run. God, Gut, good; run, sentence, maxim,
sacred word.
" Or AEthel-red. Ethel, noble; red, speech, speaker, counsel,
counsellor.
* Thegnas, Thegn, Degen, Degn, sword, swordsman.
* Or ZElf-red, Alf-red. Elf, Ælf, Alf, spirit, genius, fairy,
supernatural being ; red, counsel, counsellor.
* Or Beorh-red. Burh, burg, safety, safe; red, as above.
NINTH CENTURY.
107
together for the preservation of that part of the BOOK
country which yet remained free, and which was
included between the river Mersey and the
Southern sea, as far as the bay of Portsmouth:
but they could not cover so long a frontier;
Mercia, already partly subdued, was soon entirely
subjugated, and its chief expelled by the Danes.
Of all the eight Saxon kings, there now remained
only Elf-red; and of the eight kingdoms, only
that of the West Saxons or West-Sex".
Elf-red was successful in many battles against
the emigrants of Scandinavia; and they would,
perhaps, never have passed his frontier, had he
and his people been thoroughly united : but there
were between the chief and the nation germs
of discord of a very peculiar mature. Elf-red
had studied more things than the best-informed
men of his race had any idea of; he had, when
young, visited all the southern countries of Eu-
rope, had observed their manners, and was ac-
quainted with the learned languages and the
books of antiquity. From his travels and his
labours, the Saxon had drawn much for the cul-
tivation of his own mind; but he had at the same
time, it appears, imbibed a profound contempt
II.
‘ Or West-Seaxna-land, West-Seaxna-rice, West-Seax. In-
gulf. Croyland. p. 167, 169.
874.
874,
to
878.
108
ANGLO-SAXON IIISTORY.
BOOK for understandings less cultivated than his own.
II.
He set but little value on the skill and prudence
of that national council of the wise men, whose
opinion, joined with his own, constituted the law,
allowing himself to believe that his own reason
was better than the public will. Full of the ideas
of absolute power which so often present them-
selves in the books of the Romans, he had a
violent desire of political reforms; and conceived
plans more rational, perhaps, than the Anglo-
Saxon practices, but wanting a sanction in the
eyes of a people who neither wished for nor un-
derstood them. Tradition has vaguely preserved
some harsh and severe traits in Elf-red's govern-
ment, such as several sentences of death arbitra-
rily pronounced against unworthy functionaries
or bad judges", a sort of police not very agreeable
to a nation which thought the life of a free man
of more importance than regularity in public
affairs.
Besides, this rigour of Elf-red towards the great
was not accompanied by good-will towards the
little. He defended them, but he loved them not.
He regarded their supplications as importunities,
and his gate was closed against them. “If.”
says a contemporary, “his aid was sought, either
* Horne.—Mirror for Justices.
NINTH CENTURY.
109
in personal necessities or against the oppression BOOK
II.
of the powerful, he disdained to receive and
hearken to the complaint; he lent no succour to
the weak; he accounted them as nothing".”
So that when, seven years after his election,
this lettered king, become hateful without know-
ing or wishing it, had to repel a formidable attack
made by the Danes on the western country, and
called round his standard the people whom his dis-
dain had offended, he was terrified at finding men
but little disposed to obey him, and even careless
about the common danger. In vain did Elf-red
send through the towns and villages his mes-
senger of war carrying an arrow and a naked
sword; in vain did he publish the old national
proclamation, which no Saxon capable of bearing
arms had ever resisted—“Let every man that is
not worthless, whether in a town or out of a
town, leave his house and come '.” Few men
came; and the king was left almost alone, with
the small number of friends whom he enchanted
* Ille verónoluit eos audire, nec aliquod auxilium impendebat,
sed omnino eos nihili pendebat. Asserius Menevensis, p. 31, 32.
Etheliverdi Historia, p. 847. -
* The Waere, un-nithing of porte and of uppe-land. Chron.
Saxon. Ed. Gibson, p. 195. Nithing, Nidingr, nichtig, nictig ;
in modern English, naughty. Nequam, nihilum. Me effemi-
natum armisque frigidum nihilum, vocasti. Dudonis de Sequen-
tino—Historia Normanorum.
878.
110
ANGLO-SAXON HISTORY.
Book with his learning, and often moved to tears by the
II.
perusal of his writings". The mass of the people
willingly accepted the epithet of worthless men,
the greatest reproach among the Saxons'. They
accepted even the miseries of foreign conquest,
rather than support, by defending, the chief
whom themselves had elected".
Favoured by these dissensions, the enemy ra-
pidly advanced. Elf-red, deserted by his sub-
jects", deserted them in his turn, and fled (says
an old historian) abandoning his warriors, his
chiefs, his ships, his treasures, and his whole
people, to save his life". He sought the woods
and deserts, to conceal himself, at the utmost
limits of the English territory and that of the
Cornish Britoms, near the confluence of the rivers
Tone and Parret, where there was a peninsula
surrounded by swamps. There were but few
in the kingdom who knew what had become of
* Ut audientibus lacrymosus quodammodó suscitaretur motus.
Etheliverdi Historia, p. 847.
| Angli nihil miseriès acstimant quâm hujus modi dedecore
vocabuli notari. Mathaus Parisiensis, Variantes Suppl. p. 10.
" Asser. p. 31. Chron. Saxon. Gibson, p. 48. Wilhelm.
Malmesburiensis, p. 23.
* Despectu suorum. Asser. Menevensis, p. 31. Certo suo-
rum dissidio. Chron. Wallingford.
o His kempen colle forlet, and his heretogen, unde all his
theode. MSS. in the British Museum, Vesp. D. 14.
1
NINTH CENTURY.
111
him". The dominion of the foreigners sermed Bººk
hard to those who could not bear with patience
the excessive exercise of the national power; and
a great number of men embarked on the eastern
coasts, to seek a refuge, either in Gaul, or in the
island of Erin, which the Saxons called Ireland";
the rest submitted to pay tribute to and labour
for the Danes. But it was not long before they
found the evils of the conquest a thousand times
worse than those of Elfred's reign, which in the
moment of suffering had seemed insupportable;
and longed for their former state and the rule of
the haughty king'. - *
Elf-red, too, reflected in his misfortunes, and
meditated on the means of saving his people, if
possible, and regaining their favour. Fortified
in his island against a surprise from the enemy,
by entrenchments of earth and wood, he led the
hard and savage life reserved in every conquered
Country for such of the vanquished as are too
proud for slavery—that of a freebooter in the
woods, morasses, and defiles. At the head of his
friends formed into bands, he plundered the
Danes laden with spoil, and if Danes were want-
" Ubi esset, vel quà devenisset. Asser. Menev.
" Ira-land, Irland. Irorum terra. -- º
* Chron. Saxon. MSS. Asser. Menevensis, p. 30–32.
I 12
ANGLO-SAXO'N HISTORY.
Book ing, the Saxon who obeyed the foreigners and
II.
sºmmemº saluted them as his masters'. Such as were tired
of the foreign yoke, or had been guilty of high”
treason against the strongest, in defending their
property, their wives, or their daughters against
him, came and put themselves under the com’
mand of the unknown chief who disdained to
share the general servitude. After six months of
a petty warfare of stratagems and surprises—of
combats fought in the morning or evening twi-
light—the chief of partizans resolved to declare
himself, to call on the people of the whole
western country, and make an open attack, under
the Anglo-Saxon standard, on the principal camp
of the Danes. This camp was situated at Ethan-
Dun, on the borders of Wilts and Somerset, near
a forest called Sel-wood, or the great wood ‘.
Before giving the decisive signal, Elf-red wished
to observe in person the position of the foreigners.
He entered their camp in the dress of a harper,
and diverted the Danish army with his Saxon
songs, the language of which differed but little
* Nihil enim habebat quo uteretur, misi quod a paganis aut
etiam a christianis qui se paganorum subdiderant dominio, clam
aut palām subtralleret. Asser. p. 30. . -
* Near the town of Frome, the neighbourhood of which is
still called Wood-land. -
NINTH CENTURY.
I 13
from their own". He went from tent to tent; BOOK
and on his return, changing his character and oc-
cupation, he sent messengers through all the sur-
rounding country, and assigned as a place of
meeting for all Saxons who would arm and fight,
a spot called Eg-berht's Stone", on the eastern
skirt of the great wood, a few miles from the fo-
reigners' camp’.
During three successive days, armed men ar-
rived, one by one, or in small bands, at the place
appointed. Every new-comer was saluted by the
name of brother, and welcomed with lively and
tumultuous joy. Some rumours of this agitation
reached the camp of the Danes. They discovered
signs of a great movement around them: but, as
there was not a single traitor, their information
was uncertain; and, not knowing precisely where
the insurrection was to break out, they made no
manoeuvre, but only doubled their outposts. It
was not long, however, before they saw the banner
of the white horse displayed; Elf-red attacked
their redoubts of Ethan-dun on the weakest side,
drove them before him, and (as the Saxon chro-
II.
* Lingua Danorum Anglicanae loquelae vicina est. Script.
Rer. Danicar. t. IV. p. 26.
* Egberhtes-stane.
* Ingulf. Croyland. Wilhelmus Malmesburiensis, p. 48.
WOL. I. I
878.
114.
ANG LO-SAXON HISTORY.
BOOK nicle says), remained master of the field of car-
II.
nage”.
Once dispersed, the Danes never again rallied;
but God-run, their chief, did what those of his
nation often did when in peril; he promised that
if the victors would desist from pursuing him, he
and his men would be baptized, and would retire
to the eastern coasts, to dwell there in peace.
The Saxon chief, who was not strong enough to
carry on the war to the utmost, accepted this
offer; and God-run and the other pagan captains
swore, by a bracelet consecrated to their own
gods", to receive baptism faithfully. Elf-red
served as spiritual father to the Danish chief;
who threw over his coat of mail the white robe
of the neophytes, and departed with the remnant
of his troops for the territory of Est-anglia, from
whence he had come, and which he engaged never
again to quit. The limits of the two populations
were fixedbya definitivetreaty, sworn to (as its pre-
amble sets forth) by Elf-red, king, God-run, king, all
the Anglo-Saxon sages, and all the Danish people".
879.
* Loco funeris dominatus est. Wal-stead. Chron. Sazon.
Gibson.
* On tham halgan beage. Chron. Saw. Gibson, p. 83.
* AElf-red Kyning and Guth-run Kyning, and ealles Angel-
kymores, Witan, and eal seo Theod. the on East-Englum
NINTH CENTURY.
115
These limits were—on the south, the course of the Book
Thames as far as the small river Lea, which falls
into it below London; and on the north and east, the
river Ouse and the great way constructed by the
Britons, and re-constructed by the Romans, which
the Saxons called Woethlinga-street—the road of
the sons of Woethla".
The Danes cantoned in Mercia and the whole
country south and north of the Humber, did not
think themselves bound by the compact between
Elf-red and God-run. Thus the war did not
cease; it was only removed to the northern fron-
tier of the territory of West-Sex. The whole of
this territory, that of the South Saxons or Suth-
Sex", and the country of Kent", unanimously pro-
II.
beoth. Wilkins, Leges Anglo-Saxon. p. 47. In some Latin
acts, Elf-red renders his title of kyning by the word dur.-
“Ego Elfred duz.” Charta sub anno 888. Gloss. Saxonic. Ed.
hye.
* Strata quam filii regis Wethlae straverunt. Rogerii de
Howeden. Annales, p. 432. The word had apparently this
signification; but it is more probable that Watlinge-street was
only the Saxon translation of the British Gwydd-elin-sarn,
signifying Road of the Gaëls (the Irish), which is a very
likely name for a road leading from Dover to the Cheshire
COaSt.
* Or Suth-Seaxna-land, Suth-Scar; by corruption, Sussex.
* Kent-wara-land. In Latin, Cantia.
879
to
883.
I 2
116
ANGLO-SAXON HISTORY.
BOOK claimed Elf-red as their deliverer and king. Not
II.
883
a voice was raised against him; neither in his own
country, where his old unpopularity was effaced
by his new services, nor in the countries which,
before the Danish conquest, had had their parti-
cular kings'. That part of England which the
Danes no longer occupied, was thus united in one
single body, under the same regal authority; and
thus was annihilated the ancient division of the
English people into several nations—into as many
nations as there had been bands of emigrants from
the shores and islands of the ancient country of
the Saxons *. The flood of the Danish invasions
had swept away for ever the lines of fortresses
which had risen on the borders of each kingdom;
and to an isolation sometimes hostile succeeded
the union produced by common misfortunes and
common hopes.
From the moment when the great separation
of England into kingdoms was abolished, the
other territorial divisions assumed an importance
which, until then, had not belonged to them. At
this time it is that we find the historians be-
to
885.
* Huncut redemptorem suscepère multi. Ethelwerdi His-
toria, p. 846.
s Eald-sex, Vetus Saxonia, Anglorum antiqua patria. Chron.
Saron. et Latin, passim.
NINTH CENTURY.
{
11
key
gimming to make mention of skires, scires, BOOK
shires, or fractions of kingdoms", and of hun-
dreds and tens of families'—local circumscriptions
which are as old in England as the establishment
of the English, but which would be but little
remarked, so long as there was above them a
more general political circumscription. The cus-
tom of counting the families as simple units,
and aggregating them in tens and hundreds to
form cantons and districts, was known to all
nations of Teutonic origin; it was to be found
among the Franks in Germany, and even in Gaul".
If this institution plays a conspicuous part in the
laws which bear the name of Alfred, it is not that
he invented it, but that, on the contrary, he found
it rooted in the soil of England, and almost uni-
formly extending over all the countries which he
added without violence to his kingdom of West-
Sex; so that he was necessitated to make it the
principal basis of his system of public order. He
no more instituted the tens and hundreds of
families, and the heads of districts and cantons
called tything-men and hundred-men", than he
* Skaren, Schaeren ; in modern English, to share.
' Hundred, tything.
* Lea Salica. t. 63. Tunchinus, Tunchinium, Dineman,
Zehwinger. Wachter's Glossary.
' Tything-menn. Hundredarii.
II.
118
ANGLO-SAXON HISTORY.
BOOK instituted the judges of shires or counties", or the
II.
mode of trial by sworn witnesses chosen with the
consent of the parties". It was known in Eng-
land before his time, and in other nations even
before there was an English people, that this
is the only mode which free men can receive.
The chief of the West Saxons, now become the
chief of four united Anglo-Saxon nations, ac-
quired, after his second accession, so much cele-
brity for bravery, and especially for wisdom, that
it is difficult to find in history the traces of the
national disfavour under which he once laboured.
Without ceasing to watch for the security of re-
conquered independence, Elf-red found time for
those studies which he continued to love, but
without preferring them to the people whom he
intended to reap the fruit of them. There are
still to be seen some of his pieces in verse and
prose, remarkable for great strength of imagina-
tion and for the pompous figures peculiar to the
ancient Germanic tongues". Elf-red's life was
divided between these labours and war;-not the
vain and culpable war of aggression and con-
quest, but defensive war—the war for country and
" Ealder-menn, Shire-gereſas. Judices et Vice-comites. In-
gulf. Croyland, p. 870.
" Jurati.
* See Sharon Turner's History of the Anglo-Saxons, vol. II.
NINTIH CENTURY.
119
for duty. The oath sworn to him by the Danes BOOK
of Est-anglia, first on the bracelet of Odin, and
afterwards on the cross of Christ, was violated on
the first appearance of a fleet of pirates on the
coast. They hailed the new-comers as brethren
in arms; borne away by the force of old recollec.
tions and national sympathy, they quitted the
fields which they were tilling, and took down from
the smoky beam the iron-bristled club". On
the other side, the Danes of the banks of the
Humber, without violating any compact, moved
towards the south to join, with the men of Est-
anglia, the great sea king Hest-ing", who, say
the poets of the north, making the ocean his
dwelling-place", passed his life in voyaging from
Denmark to the Orkneys, from the Orkneys to
Gaul, from Gaul to Ireland, and from Ireland to
England.
Hest-ing found the English, under king Elf-
red, well prepared to receive him, not as amaster,
but as an enemy. He was defeated in several
battles: one part of his routed army retired
among the Danes of Northumbria; another part
* Morgen-stern.
" Or Hoest-eng, Hast-ing. Hest, Heist, Hast, swift, quick;
eng, ing, jong, jung, young.
* Incolebatgue mare. Ermoldi Nigelli Carmen. Script. Rer.
Danicar, tom. I. p. 400.
II.
885.
893.
89.3
897.
120
ANGLO-SAXON HISTORY.
BOOK mixed with the Danes of the east; those who had
II.
897
to
90 1 º
901.
gained any booty on land or at sea, settled in the
towns and the flat country; while the poorest
refitted their ships, and followed the indefatigable
chief in new expeditions. They passed the strait
of Gaul, and ascended the course of the Seine ".
Hest-ing, from the top of his vessel, rallied his
troops by blowing an ivory horn which hung
from his neck, and which the inhabitants of Gaul
surnamed the thunder'. No sooner were these
fearful sounds heard from afar, than the Gaul-
ish serf quitted the soil of the field to which he
was attached, and fled with his slender stock
of moveables to the depths of the neighbouring
forest; while the noble Frank, seized with the
like terror, drew up the bridges of his castle,
hastened to the keep to prepare his arms, and
ordered the tribute in money which he had
levied on his domain to be buried in the earth".
On the good king Alfred's death, his son Ed-
ward", who had distinguished himself in the war
* Mare transivit et applicuit in ostium Sequamae fluminis.
Asser. Menevensis, p. 72.
* Tuba illi crat eburnea tonitruum nuncupata. Duda de Sto.
Quintino.
" Willelmus Malmesbur. p. 44. Etheliverdi Hist, p. 846.
Ingulf. Croyland. p. 871.
* Or Ead-neard. Ed, happy; ward, guardian.
t
TENTH CENTURY.
121
with Hest-ing, was elected by the Anglo-Saxon BOOK
chiefs and sages *. One of the sons of the elder
brother, Elf-red's predecessor, thought fit to pro-
test against this election, by virtue of his heredi-
tary rights, and in contempt of the rights of the
people. The electors of the English kings an-
swered this insolent and absurd pretension, by
declaring Ethel-wald", the son of Ethel-red, a rebel
to his country, and condemning him to banish-
ment. This man, instead of obeying the sentence
legally pronounced against him, threw himself,
with a few favourers of his ambition, into the
town of Wimborn on the South-west coast, swear-
ing to keep it or to perish ". But he did not keep
his oath; for, on the approach of the army of the
English people, he fled without fighting, and went
among the Danes of Northumbria, where he
became, like them, a pagan and a pirate. They
appointed him chief of the war against his coun-
trymen. The rejected pretender made a pillag-
ing incursion into the territories of those who
would not have him for their king, and was killed
in the ranks of the foreigners whom he was lead-
ing to plunder. King Ed-ward then took the of.
* To kynge gecuron. Chron. Saa.on. Asser. p. 72.
* Or AEthel-weald. Ethel, noble; meald, wald, walt, power-
ful, governing.
* Chron. Saxon. Gibson, p. 100. Henrici Hunting, p. 352.
II.
901
to
905.
905.
122
ANGLO-SAXON HISTORY.
BOOK fensive against the Danes; he reconquered from
II.
them the eastern coasts, from the mouth of the
Thames to the Wash, and shut them in their
northern territory by a line of fortresses erected
beyond the Humber". His successor, Ethel-stan',
passed the Humber, took the city of York, and
forced the colonists of the Scandinavian race to
swear to do whatever he should require". One
chief of the conquered Danes was conducted with
honour to the palace of the Saxon king, and ad-
mitted to his table: but a few days of a peaceful
life were sufficient to weary him. He encountered
the dangers of flight to gain the sea, and put him
selfin a pirate vessel, being as incapable (says the
ancient historian) of living out of the water, as a
fish *.
The Saxon army advanced to the banks of the
Tweed; and Northumbria was added to the domi-
nions of Ethel-stan, who was the first of all the
English kings that reigned over all England. In
the ardour of this conquest, the Anglo-Saxons
913
to
924.
924,
to
927.
927.
927
to
934
* Chron. Saa.on. Gibson, p. 100–109.
* Or AEthelstane, the Saxon superlative of Ethel–noble.
* Chron. Saron. Gibson, p. 109.
* In aquà sicut piscis vivere assuetus. Wilhelm. Malmesb. p.
50. Chron. Saron. Gibson. Ethelnwerdi Hist. p. 847. Script.
Rer. Danicar. Ingulf. Croyl. p. 871.
TENTH CENTURY.
3
12
crossed their ancient northern limit"; and dis- B99%
turbed with an invasion the descendants of the
Scots and Picts, and the tribe of old Britons inha-
biting the valley of the Clyde". An offensive
league was entered into by these different nations,
with the Danes who came from beyond sea to de-
liver their countrymen from the power of the
men of the south. Olf or Olaf", son of Sig-ric',
the last Danish king of Northumbria, was made
general-in-chief of this confederacy, in which the
men of the Baltic were joined by the Danes of
the Orkneys, the Gaels of the Hebrides—armed
with a long two-handed broad-sword which they
called glay-more, or the great sword, the Gaëls
from the feet of the Grampian mountains, and the
Cambrians of Dun-Briton and Galloway"—carry-
ing long slender javelins. The two armies met on
the north of the Humber, at a place called in
Saxon, Brunan-burh, or the town of fountains.
Victory declared for the English; who forced the
confederates to retreat with difficulty to their
ships, their islands, and their mountains. They
II.
* See Book I. p. 91.
* Ibid. p. 93, 94.
* Olf, Ulf, Hulf, succour, succouring.
'Or Sith-ric, Sit-ric, perhaps by corruption. Sig, victorious;
ric, strong, brave, mighty.
* In Latin, Galmidia.
934.
124
ANGLO-SAXON HISTORY.
BOOK named this day the day of the great battle"; and
II.
sung it in national poems, some fragments of
which are still existing:—
“King Ethel-stan—the chief of chiefs—the giver
of collars to the brave, and his brother the illus-
trious Ed-mund, have fought at Brunan-burh
with the edge of the sword. They have cloven
the wall of shields. They have struck down the
warriors of renown—the race of the Scots, and the
men of the ships.
“Olaf has fled, followed by few, and has wept
upon the waves. The stranger, when seated at
his fire-side, surrounded by his family, will not
relate this battle; for in it his kinsmen have fallen,
—from it his friends have not returned. The
chiefs of the north will lament in their councils
that their warriors would play at the game of
carnage with the sons of Ed-ward.
“ King Ethel-stan and his brother Ed-mund
have recovered the land of the Saxons of the west.
They left behind them the raven feeding on the
carcases of the Britons—the black raven with his
pointed beak, and the croaking toad, and the eagle
hungering after white flesh, and the greedy kite,
and the wild wolf of the woods.
' Undé usque ad praesens, bellum praenominatur magnum.
Etheliverdi Historia, p. 848. Wilhelm. Malmes. p. 48–50.
Ingulf. Croyland. p. 37.
TENTH CENTURY.
5
12
“ Never was there greater carnage in this BOOK
island; never did more men perish by the edge of
the sword, since the day when the Saxons and the
Angles came from the east across the ocean,—
when those noble forgers of war came into Britain,
—when they conquered the Welsh" and took
their country".”
Ethel-stan made the Cambrians of the south pay
dearly for the assistance which their brethren of
the north had given to his enemies. He ravaged
the territories of the Welsh; imposed a tax upon
them; and the king of Aber-fraw (as the old acts
express it) paid tribute to the king of London, in
money, oxen, falcons, and hounds". The Britons
of Cornwall were driven from the city of Exeter,
which they then inherited in common with the
English ". This population was forced southward,
beyond the course of the river Tamer, which then
became, and at this day continues to be, the limit
of Cornwall. Ethel-stan boasted in his charters of
having subdued every people foreign to the Saxon
* Wealla, Weallisca, Welsch, is the generic name given by the
Teutones to those of the Celtic or Roman races.
" Chron. Saxon. Ed. Gibson, p. 112–114.
° Lan's of Honell Dda, book III. ch. ii. p. 199.
* Quam id temporis acquo cum Anglis jure habitabant. Wil-
helm. Malmesb. p. 50.
II.
934,
to
987.
126
ANGLO-SAXON HISTORY.
race, inhabiting the island of Britain". To the
Anglo-Danes of Northumbria, he gave a Norwe-
gian for their governor. This was Er-ric son
of Her-ald", an old pirate who turned Christian to
obtain a command. On the day of his baptism,
he swore to keep and defend Northumbria from
the pagans and pirates', and from being a king
of the sea became king of a province (as the
Scandinavians" expressed it). But this too peace-
ful dignity soon grew irksome to him, and he
went back to his ships. After an absence of some
years, he returned to visit the Northumbrians;
who gave him welcome, and re-appointed him
their chief, without the consent of the Saxon king
Ed-red", successor to the son of Ethelstan. Ed-
rid marched against them, and forced them to
abandon Er-ric; who, in his turn, in revenge for
their desertion, came and attacked them along
with five chiefs of corsairs from Denmark, the
BOOK
II.
937.
946.
* Dugdale.—Monasticon Anglic, tom. I. p. 140.
* Vulgû Eric. Er, her, battle, warrior, chief; ric, strong,
mighty.
"Or Har-old; perhaps more correctly Her-hold. Her, war-
like; hold, faithful.
* Contra Danos aliosque piratas tuiturus. Snorre's Heim-
skringla, tom. I. p. 127.
" Theod-kyning, Fylkes-kyning, Folkes-king.
* Happy counsellor. See p. 106, 120.
TENTH CENTURY.
127
Orkneys, and the Hebrides. He fellin the first battle, Bººk
together with the five sea kings, his allies. His II.
death was sung, according to custom, by the Scan-
dinavian poets, who, without taking into their
account the baptism which Er-ric had received
among the English, placed him, in their imagi-
nations, in a paradise quite different from that of
Christ and his saints ".
“I have had a dream,” said the panegyrist of
the pirate; “I found myself at the dawn of day
in the hall of Wal-hall’, preparing all things for
the reception of those slain in battle.
“I awakened the heroes from their sleep; I
persuaded them to rise, and arrange the benches,
and prepare the drinking cups, as for the arrival
of a king.”
“Whence all this bustle?" cries Braggis;
“whence is it that so many are stirring about and
removing the benches " Odin replies, “It is
because Er-ric is coming; I expect him; rise and
go to meet him.”
“But why does his coming please thee more
than that of another king * “Because many are
the places in which his sword has been red with
blood; many are the places which his blood-
stained sword has passed through.”
* Heimskringla, p. 127. Chron. Saxon. Gibson, p. 114.
* Wal-hall signifies palace of the dead.
128
ANGLO-SAXON HISTORY.
BOOK
II.
“Hail to thee, Er-ric' brave warrior, enter;
thou art welcome in this abode. Tell us what
kings accompany thee. How many come with
thee from the combat.”
“Five kings come,” answered Er-ric, “ and I
am the sixth *.”
The land of the Northumbrians, which had
hitherto preserved its ancient name of kingdom,
now lost it, and was divided into several provinces
The country between the Humber and the Tees,
was named the province of York, in Saxon Ever-
wick-shire. The rest of the country, as far as the
Tweed, kept the general name of Northumbria—
Northan-humbra-land: although it was divided
into several minor circumscriptions; as the land
of the Cambrians—Cumbra-land, near the Solway
Frith; the land of the Western mountains—West-
moringa-land; and Northumbria properly so call-
ed, on the borders of the eastern sea, between
the rivers Tyne and Tweed. The Northumbrian
chiefs, under the superior authority of the Anglo-
Saxon kings, preserved the Danish title which
they had borne since the invasion, and continued
to be called Jarls, Erls, or Earls, according to
the Saxon orthography. This is a word whose
signification is doubtful; but which the Scandi-
946
to
955.
* Torfaeus—Hist, Norweg. lib. IV. cap. 10.
TENTH CENTURY.
129
navians applied to every sort of commander, BOOK
whether military or civil, acting as the lieutenant
of the supreme chief, called kyng or ky-ning".
By degrees, the Anglo-Saxons introduced this
title into their territories of the South and west,
and made it the appellation of the chief magis-
trate, to whom was delegated the government of
the great provinces formerly called kingdoms,
with the supremacy over all the local magistrates,
over the prefects of shires—shire-gerefas or shire-
reves, the prefects of towns—port-reves, and the
ancients of the people—elder-memn “. This last
title had been, before that of earl, the generic
name of the great Anglo-Saxon magistracies;
thenceforward it was lowered by one degree, and
extended only to inferior jurisdictions and muni-
cipal dignities.
The great mass of the Danes now become citi-
zens of England, embraced Christianity, that they
might cease to appear foreign and odious to their
Southern conquerors. Several, in consideration of
grants of land, took the title and office of perpe-
tual defenders of the churches which themselves
had burned; others, clothed in the habit of priests,
retained all the violence and ferocity of the rob-
* Erl, in the Saxon language, and in that of the Franks,
means simply, a man, a strong man, a marrior.
" Vulgarly, aldermen.
VOL. I. IQ
II.
130
ANGLO-SAXON HISTORY.
BOOK bers of the sea. An old pirate chief, who at a late
955.
955
period of life had received baptism, became arch-
bishop of Canterbury. He used the pastoral staff
as he had used the battle-axe ; and, as a proof of
his respect for that commandment of God which
ordains purity of morals, he caused the mistress of
a young Saxon king" to be mangled and massacred
before the eyes of her lover, who neither dared to
defend her nor to demand an account of her death
from the old mitred plunderer".
In the revolution which united all England,
from the Tweed to the Land's End, in one and
the same political body, the power of the kings
who had become monarchs increased in strength as
it increased in extent, and became, to each newly-
united people, more oppressive than the ancient
power of their local kings had been. The as-
sociation of the Anglo-Danish and the Anglo-
Saxon provinces, necessarily drew upon the latter
somewhat of the harsh and galling rule which
weighed upon the others, because they were
peopled with foreigners forcibly subjected. The
Same kings exercising their power in the north as
975,
* Ed-wig. -
• Summus pontifex Odo, vir grandaevitatis maturitate fultus
et omnium iniquitatum inflexibilis adversarius. Vita Dunstani
in Collect. Baronii, Chron. Saron. Gibson, p. 114, 115, et
seq.
TENTH CENTURY.
131
conquerors, and in the south simply as national BOOK
chiefs, were soon led to confound these two cha-
racters, and to make but a slight distinction be-
tween the Anglo-Dane and the Anglo-Saxon—the
foreigner and the native—the subject and the free
citizen. These kings conceived an exaggerated
opinion of themselves and their power; they sur-
rounded themselves with a pomp before unknown;
and they ceased to be popular like their prede-
cessors, who, taking the people for their counsel-
lors in all things', found them always ready to do
what they had themselves decreed. Thence arose
new causes of weakness for England. Great as
she thenceforward appeared, under chiefs whose
titles of honour filled several lines", she was in
reality less capable of resisting an external enemy
than when, reduced to a small number of provin-
ces, her national laws bore no other superscription
than I, Elf-red, king of the West Saxons".”
The Danes of England, unwillingly subject to
the kings of the Saxon nation, constantly turned
their eyes towards the sea, hoping that each
breeze would bring them deliverers and chiefs
‘ Raede, Raedegiſan geradnesse. See the preambles of the
Anglo-Saxon laws, in Hickesii Thesaurus Linguarum Septem-
trionalium. *
* Dugdale–Monasticon. Anglican, tom. I. p. 140.
" Ego, Alfredus, Occidentalium Saxonum Rex.
II.
975
to
980,
K 2
132
ANGLO-SAXON IIISTORY.
Book from their ancient country. Nor did they wait
II.
980.
988.
long in vain; for in the reign of Ethel-red son of
Ed-gar', the emigrations of the people of the
north into Britain, which had never entirely
ceased, all at once re-assumed a hostile character.
Seven ships of war came to the coast of Kent, and
plundered the isle of Thanet. Three other ships,
directing their course southward, ravaged the
places about Southampton. Some land forces,
too, invaded the eastern counties. The alarm
was spread as far as London; and Ethel-red as-
sembled the national council, which was formed,
for the most part of priests and parasites, under
a careless and ostentatious chief". The council
prudently resolved that, the Danes being come to
plunder, the best means of persuading them to
depart, was to give them peaceably what they
desired to take. A certain tribute, anciently le-
vied under the name of Danish taa, to pay those
who armed themselves against the Danish and
Norwegian invaders, was converted into a con-
991.
991
to
993.
* Or Ead-gar. Ed, fortunate; gar, ger, her, javelin, arms,
war, warlike.
* Rex pulchre ad dormiendum factus. Wilhelm. Malmsb.
p. 68. Rex imbellis imbecillis, monachum potias quâm militem
actione praetendens. Vita Elfegi—Anglia Sacra, tom. II.
p. 131.
TENTH-ELEVENTH CENTURY. 133
tribution for them'. The amount of the first BOOK
payment was ten thousand pounds, which the II.
pirates received on condition of their going away
from England. They set out, it is true; but they 990.
Soon returned in greater numbers, in order to
obtain a greater sum. Their fleet ascended the
Humber, and laid waste both its banks. The men
of the neighbouring counties ran in arms to meet
them; but, when about to engage, three of their
chiefs, of Danish origin, betrayed them and went
over to the enemy. All the newly-converted
Danes of Northumbria became friends and allies
of the pagans from the Baltic".
The winds of spring soon brought into the
Thames a fleet of eighty vessels, commanded by
two kings, Olaf of Norway and Swen" of Denmark; so,
the second of whom, after receiving baptism, had to
returned to the worship of Odin. The northern 1092.
kings planted the lance on the lands of the Eng-
lish, or threw it into the streams of their rivers,
994.
' Daene-gald, Dane-geold; in Latin Danegeldum. Ex unā-
quaque hyda 12 denarios ad conducendos eos qui piratarum ir-
ruptioni obviarent. Leges Anglo-Saxon–Wilkins.
* Chron. Saxon. Gibson, p. 126. Ingulf. Croyl, p. 890. Jo-
hannis Brompton. p. 877, 879. Eadmeri Novorum Historia, p. 4.
Wilh. Malmesb. p. 68, 69.
" Sven, Sveinn, Sweyn, Snayn, a young man.
134
ANGLO-SAXON IIISTORY.
in sign of dominion". They marched (says an
old historian) escorted by fire and sword, their
ordinary satellites". Ethel-red, whom the con-
sciousness of his unpopularity made fearful of as-
sembling an army", again proposed a sum of money
to the pirates as the price of peace. They de-
manded twenty-four thousand pounds: the Saxon
king paid them; and thought he had gained a
great triumph in becoming sponsor to a Danish
chief, who received in full ceremony in the church
of Winchester, the water in which one of his fel-
lows boasted of having washed himself twenty
times .
The truce of the invaders was far from being
peaceful. They killed men' and violated women
in the places where they were cantoned. The
Saxon inhabitants, to whom the effeminacy of
their king left no means of defending themselves
openly, conspired in secret; and, on the same day
BOOK
II.
1002.
1002
to
1003.
* Conjectá in undas lancea, monumentigratiâ. Script. Rer.
Danic.
* Cum ducibus solitis Marte et Vulcano. Joh. Brompton,
p. 883.
* Formidine meritorum nullum sibi fidelem metuens. Wil-
helm. Malmes. p. 69.
* Monachus Sti. Galli, inter Script. Rer. Franc. p. 134. Johan.
Brompton, p. 879. Gibson, p. 126 et seq.
" Jam post pacem factam uxores et filias vi opprimere prae-
sumpserunt. Mathapi Westmonast. Flores. Hist. p. 301.
ELEVENTH CENTURY.
135
and in the same hour, appointed beforehand, the BOOK
foreigners, being attacked unawares, were massa-
cred, men, women, and children, without distinc-
tion, by their hosts and neighbours'. This ter-
rible act of vengeance, which has been paralleled
in other times by other nations reduced to de-
spair, took place on St. Bride's day, in the year
1003. The massacre did not extend into the
northern and eastern provinces, where the Danes,
were too numerous, both in the towns and in the
country; but most of the new conquerors, the
soldiers of king Swen, and one of his sisters, pe-
rished in it. To revenge their fall, Swen assem-
bled an army more numerous than the first, and
in which (according to an old author) there was
neither a slave, nor a freed man, nor an old man;
but each combatant was free, the son of a free
man, and in the vigour of life". -
This army embarked in high vessels, each
bearing a distinctive sign which designated the
commander. Some had at their prows figures of
lions, bulls, dolphins, or men, of gilt metal; at
II.
* Mulieres cum liberis. Ibid.
" Nullus servus, nullus ex servo libertus. Emma Regina:
4nglorum Encomium, p. 166. Chron. Saxon. Ed. Gibson, p. 127
ct seq.
1004.
136
ANGLO-SAXON HISTORY.
BOOK the mast-heads of others were birds extending
1004
to
1006.
their wings and turning with the wind: the sides
of the ships were painted of different colours, and
shields of polished steel were hung upon them in
rows . The king's ship had the lengthened form
of a serpent, its head advancing to the prow, and
its tail coiled at the stern: hence it was called the
Great Dragon”. At their disembarkation on the
English coast, the Danes, formed into battalions,
displayed a banner of white silk, in the centre of
which was embroidered a raven opening his beak
and spreading his wings”. As they passed along,
they gaily partook of the repast unwillingly pre-
pared for them; and on their departure, paid for
their good cheer by killing the host and burning
the lodging". -
They everywhere carried off the horses; and,
turning horsemen after the manner of their pre-
decessors, marched rapidly across the country,
suddenly presenting themselves when they were
thought to be at a distance, and surprising the
towns and fortified places. In a short time they
* Reginae Emme Encomium, p. 166.
* Snorre's Heimskringla, tom. II. p. 294.
* Corvus hians ore excutiensque alas. Emma Encom. p.
170.
* Reddebant hospiti caedem, hospitio flammam. Henrici Hunt-
ingdon. Hist, p. 360.
ELEVENTH CENTURY.
137
had conquered all the southern counties, from the BOOK
mouth of the Ouse to the bay of Southampton.
Ethel-red and his cowardly advisers decreed levies
of money, constantly increasing in their amount,
to purchase a day's truce from the enemy. Such
of the English as had the good fortune to be still
preserved from the Danish plunderers, escaped
not the royal exactions; and, under one form or
other, the inhabitants of each district were sure to
have every thing taken from them".
While the great men of England were thus
bargaining with the foreigner at the expense of
the poor, there was one man who, though great
and powerful in the country, chose rather to die
than to follow their example. This was the
prelate of Canterbury, named Elf-egº. A prisoner
among the Danes after the siege of the episcopal
city, he remained long in chains without pro-
nouncing a word about his ransom. The Danes
were tired first, and proposed to their captain to
liberate him for three thousand pounds, and his
promise to persuade king Ethel-red to pay them
a quadruple amount. “I have not so much
money,” returned the Saxon archbishop; “I will
take none from any one; nor will I counsel my
* Ingulf. Croyl, p. 890, 891. Wilhelm. Malmsb. p. 68.
* Alf-eg. Elf, genius; eg, ceg, eternal.
II.
138
ANGLO-SAXON IIISTORY.
BOOK chief against the honour of my country".” He
II.
loudly declared that he would accept no present
from any one for his ransom, and forbade his
friends to solicit anything, saying that it would
be treason in him to pay the enemies of England.
The Danes, thirsting more for money than for the
blood of the archbishop, often repeated their
demands. “You urge me in vain,” replied Elf-eg;
“I am not the man to provide Christian flesh
for pagan teeth, nor to give up to your rapacity
what the poor have laid by for their sub-
sistence “.”
The Danes at length lost patience; and one day
when they were intoxicated with wine which
they had received from the south, they had
the prisoner brought into their camp, to the
place where they held their councils of war',
and, in derision, made him go through the mock-
ery of a sentence. When Elf-eg appeared, a
great cry was raised by all the troops, formed in a
circle. “Gold, bishop, gold!—or we will make
1012,
* Me nil contra patriae decus regi suasurum. Vita Elfegi
in Anglia Sacra, tom. II. p. 132.
* Christianorum carnes paganis dentibus conterendas . . . . .
quod paupertas ad vitam paraverat. Ibid. p. 138. Eadmeri
Novor. Historia, p. 4. Ingulf. Croyland. p. 891. Johan.
Brompton, p. 890.
' To heora hustinga. Chron. Saron. p. 142.
ELEVENTH CENTURY.
139
thee play a part that shall render thee famous Bººk
in the world".” The bishop was immoveable.
The Danes, irritated by his constancy, ran to a
heap of bones and horns of oxen, the relics of
their repasts, and showered them from all sides
on the Saxon". Elf-eg soon fell, half dead, and
was dispatched with an axe by one of the pirates
whom he had converted and baptized with his
own hand. The murderers were at first going to
throw the corpse into a neighbouring ditch; but
the Anglo-Saxons, who loved Elf-eg and honoured
him as a martyr, purchased his body with a large
sum of money, and buried it at London'.
King Ethel-red, however, practised without
scruple what the archbishop of Canterbury, at the
peril of his own life, refused to advise. One day,
his tax-gatherers" raised tributes for the Danes;
next day, the Danes presented themselves and
taxed on their own account'; and on their depar-
ture, the royal agents again appeared, and treated
the unfortunate inhabitants worse than before,
calling them traitors and purveyors to the ene-
* Aurum, episcope, aurum ! Vita Elfegi, p. 140.
" Ossibus et boum cornibus. Chron. Saa.. Gibson. p. 142.
'Ibid. p. 142. Johan. Brompton. p. 890, 891.
* Exactores regis. Ingulf. Croyland. p. 890.
' Misit Turkillus, Danicus comes, exactores suos. Ibid. p.
891.
1012
to
1013.
Af
..f
140
ANGLO-SAXON HISTORY.
Book my". The real purveyor to the enemy, Ethel-red,
II.
at length wearied the patience of the people who
had made him king to defend them. Hard as
was the rule of the foreigners, it was found better
to pass at once into their hands, than to go through
a lengthened agony under the Saxon despot be-
fore suffering this at last inevitable fate. Several
of the central counties voluntarily surrendered to
the Danes; Oxford and Winchester soon opened
their gates; and Swen, advancing into the western
country as far as the channel of the Severn, took
the title of king of all England, without a sword
being drawn from the scabbard to give him the lie".
Ethel-red, terrified at the general desertion, fled
into the small isle of Wight; and from thence
crossed the channel into Gaul, to ask an asylum
from his wife's brother, the chief of one of
the western provinces near the mouth of the
Seine ".
In marrying a foreign woman, Ethel-red had
conceived the hope of obtaining some assistance
against the Danes from his wife's powerful re-
latives; but he was deceived in his expectations.
1013.
1002
to
1013.
* Tanquam patriae proditorem et Danorum provisorem.
Ibid.
" Rex plenarius. Fullmae kyning. Chron. Saa.. Gibson.
° Ibid. p. 144. Wilhelm. Malmesb. p. 169. Henrici. Hunting.
p. 362.
ELEVENTH CENTURY.
141
The marriage which was to have procured de- BQQ
fenders for England *, brought across the sea only
place-hunters and ambitious men, craving money
and dignities. The husband of the foreigner had
entrusted these foreigners with the command of
Some towns; and these were the first surren-
dered to the Danes". By a singular coincidence
the chief residing in Gaul, whose alliance the
Saxon king had sought as his aid in the struggle
with the pirates of Scandinavia, was himself of
Scandinavian origin, and descended from ancient
pirates who had invaded the portion of Gaul over
which he reigned. His ancestors, after more than
once ravaging this territory, as the Danes were
ravaging Britain, had founded a colony called
from their own name Normandy, or the land of
the Normans". Normandy was contiguous, OH
the southern side, to the territory of the British
refugees; and on the east, it joined the country
from which it had been dismembered in the
ancient conquest by the Franks, and which the
Franks, after the lapse of five centuries, still
* Ad majorem securitatem regni sui. Johan. Brompt, p.
883.
* Henrici Huntingd. p. 360. Rogerii de Hoved. Annales,
p. 429. r
* Quam Northmanniam Northmanni vocaverunt, eoquëd de
Norwegå egressi essent. Script. Rer. Normannicar, p. 7.
II.
500
to
1003.
142
ANGLO-SAXON HISTORY.
BOOK inhabited distinct from the native Gauls, less in
II.
their manners and their idiom than in their social
condition. Liberty was the birth-right of the
descendants of the victorious people: in the
vulgar tongue of the twelfth century there was
no word to express it but frankese , and to
denote a free man, no other word than frank-
man'.
Neither the single invasion and victory of the
sons of Mere-wig, nor their close alliance with
the orthodox Christian priests and the pope of
Rome", had been sufficient to occasion this lasting
separation of the two peoples, a separation rooted
in the very language of the indigenous race. In
less than three centuries after their arrival in
Gaul, these conquerors had themselves almost
become Gauls: the sons of the warlike Sicambri
inhabited the cities which rose again from their
ashes; and the kings descended from Lot-wig,
as inoffensive towards the conquered as their
forefathers had been terrible, already limited all
their dominion to peaceful progresses in their
600
IO
700.
* In Latin, frankisia, franchisia; in the modern vulgar
tongue, franchise.
* Francus-homo; in the vulgar tongue, frans homes. Sce
the Collection of the Historians of the Franks and Gauls,
passim.
"Sce Book I. page 33 and following.
EIGHTH CENTURY.
143
waggons . Then it was that a second band of BOOK
Germans—Franks from betwixt the Rhine and the
Meuse, free from all mixture with the nations of
the south—Franks who handled the sword, lived
on horseback', and loved to repose only in camps
or in fortified dwellings which themselves were
camps, came down from the north-east towards the
West and south *.
The new invaders treated the degenerate
Franks of Gaul as the latter had treated the
Gauls, and united in the same defeat and dispos-
session the sons of the conquerors and the con-
quered", being particularly careful to annihilate
that portion of liberty which the indolence of the
governing people had allowed the governed to
resume. From the Meuse to the Pyrenees, the
land of the Gauls was parcelled out afresh, the
domains passing for the most part into the hands
of foreign masters, whether they had belonged to
Franks by descent, or to priests whom the Franks
II.
* Plaustro bobus trahentibus vectus. Annales Suldenses,
Script. Franc. tom. II. p. 678.
* Inter Carbonariam sylvam et Mosam fluvium et Fresionum
fines. Annales Metenses, Ibid. p. 677. Assidue exercebatur
equitando, quod illi gentilitium erat. Eginharti Vita Caroli,
apud Script. Rer. Franc. tom. V.
–” Rerum Gallic. et Francic. Script. tom. II. p. 678.
* Spolia ampla suis fidelibus impertitur, Ibid. 679.
700
to
750.
3
144
ANGLO-SAXON HISTORY.
BOOK had portioned, or to Gallo-Roman farmers for
II.
715
to
750.
741.
the Franks and the priests. The conquerors, as
if in derision, permitted the offspring of Mere-
wig to retain for some time the title without
the power of the king"; then, in their assembly
held in an open field, they stripped them of
their royalty and shaved their heads like those
of the Gauls “.
As soon as this new race of barbarians, led
by their great chief Karl", surnamed the forge-
hammer", had overrun the south, plundering,
devastating the cities, and destroying them by
fires, the traces of which are still to be seen on
the arches of the circus at Nismes, there came
from the city of the Seven Hills ambassadors
offering to the Frank captain the friendship of
the holy apostles and the alliance of the holy
church. . By virtue of this alliance, Pippinn', the
* Nomen illi regis inaestimabili pietate reservavit. Script.
Rer. Franc. tom. II. p. 680.
* Depositus et tonsoratus est. Ibid. p. 698. Malint videre
interfectos quâm tonsos. Greg. Turon. Crinigeri, setati, setosi,
setigeri, lok-boren. See Script. Franc. tom. II. and III.
* Or Kerl, a man, a stout man.
* In Latin, Tudites or Martellus. The historians have not
handed down to us this man's name in his own Frank tongue.
* The signification and orthography of this name are doubtful.
According to Wachter's Glossary, pinn, ppin, fan, means a
chief.
NINTH CENTURY.
145
son of Karl, elected king by all the Franks of BOOK
Germany and Gaul, after being carried on a .
shield through his camp, was anointed with oil
consecrated by the hand of the pope of Rome,
who had come into the country of the Franks 4
for the purpose. The pope, breaking the last
ties which bound him to the kings of Byzantium,
heirs to the Caesars, conferred on the German
king the title of Patricius", or sovereign magis-
trate of the Roman city; and in return, the Ger-
man crossed the Alps, conquered towns, and
made presents of them to St. Peter and the pope
of Rome'.
The grandson of Karl, called by the same name
as his grandfather, was, like his father Pippinn,
invited to march into Italy and conquer more
towns for the apostle Peter, whose ambition,
once excited, was not easily allayed. Karl forced
the barriers which closed the passes of the moun-
tains"; drove from Upper Italy the Germanic
race of the Long-bard kings, political rivals of
the Lateran conclave; and, on Easter-day, in
* Ad optimum et Sancto Petro fidelem Dominum Pipinum,
in Franciam veni. Stephani Papa Epistola, apud Reginonis
Prumiacensis Chronicon.
* Script. Rer. Italicar. p. 171.
'Beato Petro obtulit. Anastasius-Biblioth.
* Clusae Alpium, Clausurae.
WOL. I. L
752.
754.
766.
774
to
786.
786
to
800,
146
ANGLO-SAXON HISTORY.
BOOK the year 801, the chief of that conclave placed a
800
to
801.
800
to
814.
golden diadem on his head in the name of the
senate and people of Rome, and saluted him by
the name of Emperor instituted by God, great,
pious, happy, clement, triumphant, and ever august.
Karl carried with him these titles, new to a
German, to the city of Aaken or Aix on the
Meuse, which then became the imperial city of
the West, as Byzantium was that of the East.
The German soldiers called their chief Kaisar';
and his flatterers never afterwards approached
him without bending one knee to the earth".
The recollections linked with a name, whose
splendour was not yet extinct, caused the new
Caesar to be regarded as superior to all kings.
Karl, however, did not rely on the power of this
moral influence alone; but, to help the nations to
feel it more profoundly, passed his life in arms,
going, at the head of his Teutonic bands, through
nearly all the south of Europe, uttering the sounds
of the Teutonic dialect in the ears of the inhabi-
tants of the Mediterranean shores, but never speak-
ing their language, and only deigning sometimes
to change his mother tongue" for the classical
* Or Keysar, Keyser.
* Rerum Francic. Script. tom. V.
" Eginhart, inter Script. Rer. Francie, tom. V.
6
NINTH CENTURY.
147
*.
idiom of the learned and the priests. He esta- Book
blished schools for this latter language, even in
his imperial city of Aix. But in his too much
boasted plans of literary cultivation, he never
thought of the Gauls or of Gaul, which he re-
garded as a foreign country", whence he took
neither generals nor warriors, and which he va-
lued only for the forests where he hunted in
autumn", and the domains the revenues of which
were conveyed every year to his residences be-
yond the Rhine at Munster and Paderborn. If
he sometimes thought of the old Gaulish cities,
it was with a view of carrying off by force good
manufacturers of arms and stuffs, whom he at-
tached as serfs to the soil of his domains".
So long as this first German Caesar lived,
whose sword never rested—this favourite of the
church, for whom, according to the legends, the
angels themselves performed the offices of spies
and guides' in his campaigns; so long as he
° Monachus Sti, Galli, passim. Eginhart. inter Script. Rer.
Franc. tom. V.
P Ibid.
* Diplomata Caroli Magni, apud Script. Rer. Franc. Er-
*moldi Nigelli Carminis de Ludovico Imperatore, lib. I. Ibid.
tom. VI.
* At the passage of the Alps. See Muratori—Script. Rer.
Italicar, tom. II.
L 2
148
ANGLO-SAXON HISTORY.
BOOK marched his vagabond armies from north to
II.
814,
south and from east to west, receiving every-
where from the mouths of the priests the Latin
title of great, which has ever since remained so
oddly affixed to his name’; so long as his sword
was suspended over the nations of the western
continent, these nations remained united, in spite
of themselves, under his dominion, foreign as it
was to all of them except one alone. But they
broke this false union the instant that the con-
queror, in his imperial robes, descended into the
sepulchral vault of his basilisk of Aix. A spon-
814 taneous movement of insurrection against the new
841
to
empire manifested itself among the nations of
different origins and of various manners and lan-
guages, thus forcibly associated. Gaul inclined
to separate from Germany, and Italy to detach
itself from both. Each of these great masses of
men thus put in motion, carried along with them
the portion of the conquering people dwelling
among them as masters of the soil, with Latin
or Germanic titles of power and honour'.
Franks drew the sword against Franks; brothers
* Magnus, Carolus Magnus; in the old language, Calle-
maigne; in modern French, Charlemagne.
* Duces, Comites, Judices, Missi, Proefecti, Praepositi. Grafen,
Mark-grafen, Land-grafen, Tun-grafen, Here-togen, Rachen-
burger, Schappen, Sens-schalken, Maere-schalken, &c.
NINTII CENTURY.
149
against brothers; fathers against Sons. Three BOOK
of the gandsons of Karl surnamed the Great, gave
battle to one another in the centre of Gaul: one
at the head of an army of Gauls and Gallo-
Franks; another with the men of Italy, of
Latin or Teutonic origin; and a third with the
purely Teutonic inhabitants of Germany". The
domestic quarrel of the kings, sprung from the
Frank Caesar, was but a reflection of the quarrel
of the nations, which is the reason that it was so
long and obstinate. The kings made and re-made
twenty different partitions of that empire which
the people wished to dissolve. They exchanged
oaths in the Teutonic and the vulgar Roman
tongue’, and broke them immediately, being
brought back to discord, almost in spite of them-
selves, by the turbulence of the masses, whom no
treaty could satisfy. On one hand, the Franks on
the borders of the Rhine would not relinquish
their ancient privilege of furnishing to the
southern country its counts, its dukes, its chiefs
of provinces and towns; while on the other, the
natives of the south, not satisfied with being
guaranteed by a political separation from the
II.
841.
841
* At Fontenay (Fontanetum) near Auxerre.
* Nithardi Historia, inter Script. Rer. Francic, tom. VI.
843.
150
ANGLO-SAXON IIISTORY.
BOOK annual invasions of new Frank lords', still aspired
II.
to a deliverance from the power and presence of
the men of the Frank race, abiding amongst them
with such privileges that the simple name of man
in the Teutonic language, the word baron”, was a
title of nobility and command.
Thus, when the southern pirates visited Gaul
as they visited England, they found two races
of people, differing in their origin, differing in
their condition, and having different names in
the language of the country, although foreigners
confounded them under the same national de-
nomination. This denomination varied in a very
remarkable manner. The Italians, the English,
and the people of Scandinavia, saw only Franks
in Gaul; they called it France", and the inha-
bitants Frenchmen or French". The Germans,
on the contrary, reserving to themselves the
noble name of Franks, persisted, from the eleventh
century, in seeing no Franks in Gaul, which they
disdainfully called Wallonia, the land of the
838
to
897.
3 Senior, the Latin version of the Teutonic word elder-mann,
alter-mann, was, in the vulgar tongue of the conquered Gauls,
synonymous with dominus, master.
* Bar, barn, bern, bairn, bearm, a man, a male. Wachter's
Glossary. Whence bers, bermez, bernage,
* Franken-land. In Latin, Francia.
* Frenkise.
NINTH CENTURY.
151
Wallons or Welches *. In the heart of Gaul, BO
a still finer distinction was made. The man free
from taxes, who lived in the country, in a forti-
fied house, surrounded by a large domain, the
soil and people of which he ruled as he chose,
took the title of frank-man, which title denoted
at once personal independence and political supe-
riority". Those who, having no seigneurial man-
sions built on the heights, lived indiscriminately,
in the Roman manner, in the towns and hamlets,
derived from that circumstance an especial ap-
pellation, which took the place of their ancient
national name; they were called villains", and
this name given to a frank-man would have been
the highest insult. Every frank-man wore a
sword, and had a horse for the field : the names
of cavalier and warrior were his titles of honour"—
• Wallen-land, Welschen-land. Alamani et casteri Trans-
rhenani populi magis proprié se Francos appellari jubent, et
cos quos nos putamus Francos Galwalas antiquo vocabulo,
quasi Gallos Romanos appellant. Willelm. Malmesb. Historia,
p. 25.
* Vivere, habitare, succedere, more Francorum. Script. Rer.
Francic, tom. VI. VII. VIII.
• In Latin, Villani. The word villa, which the Romans
used only to express a country-house, was employed at an carly
period, in the corrupted Latin tongues, to denote any kind of
inhabited place.
" Miles, Rector, Chevalier.
I º
OK
I
152
ANGLO-SAXON HISTORY.
Book titles refused to the villain, who had neither
II.
horses nor arms, and had not the right to possess
them.
The Danish and Norman pirates made them-
selves masters of the towns and villages of Gaul
at little cost: but the castles and palaces were
fortified against them; the 'rich abbeys were
garrisoned, and the frank-men—the cavaliers—
the barons, would post themselves there to defend
them, while the neighbouring city was in flames,
and the long chain of men and women whom the
Normans were dragging into slavery, passed them
within bow-shot *. In the treaties which the
king of the Frank race made with the robbers
of the north, he would sometimes engage, on his
soul's salvation, to bring back to them such of
their slaves as had escaped, and to raise for them
the war-tax on the villains, clowns, and husband-
men". Placed betwixt the two dangers of being
massacred by the Danes or sold to them by the
rulers of the country, the poor labourers, urged
by frantic bravery, would sometimes throw them-
selves, armed with staves, among the Norman
845
to
897.
866.
866
to
S97.
* Adversus quos mullus rex, mullus dux, nullus defensor
surrexit quieos expugnaret. Hist, de Bretagne, par Dom Lobi-
neau—Pièces Justificatives, tom. III. p. 45.
" Villani, manentes, coloni. Sismondi—Histoire des Français,
tom. III. p. 172. -
NINTII CENTURY.
153
axes: sometimes, to appease the fury of the BOOK
pagan enemy, they would renounce their bap-
tism, and swear, on the body of a horse of
fered in sacrifice, to worship the gods of the
north '.
Many of the peasantry on the western
coast of Gaul had recourse to this latter expe-
dient; many even joined the Danish bands;
and ancient historians assure us that the famous
Hest-ing was the son of a labourer in the vicinity
of Troies". Hest-ing had the satisfaction to see
flying before him those cavaliers armed at all
points—those haughty barons, whom his fathers
had not dared to look in the face. After his
victories, when he was tired of traversing the
world, and wished to repose in the land of his
ancestors, he went to the Frank king of northern
Gaul: “Hearken,” said he to him; “Hest-ing
desires to become one of thy counts; he asks of
thee one of thy good towns.” The king did not
think fit to remind the pirate that he was sprung
from the race which was governed by the counts,
and from which the counts did not proceed; but
he gave him the keys of the city of Chartres, and
allowed him to rank with the sons of the Franks'.
II.
* Script. Rer. Danicar. Coll. Langebek.
* Sismondi—Hist, des Français, tom. III.
' Willelmi Gemcticensis Historia, p. 121,
886
to
897.
897.
154
ANGLO-SAXON HISTORY.
BOOK
II.
890
to
912.
897
912.
Shortly, afterwards, another band of Norman ad-
venturers, led by Rolf", son of Regn-ald", as-
cended the Seine, and cantoned themselves on the
lands bordering on the river. The frank-men de-
puted the new count of Chartres to reconnoitre and
negotiate with this army. “Who are you ?” asked
the aged Hesting. “We are Danes,” answered they;
“we come from Denmark to subdue the land of
the Franks.” “What title, then, does your chief
bear?” “None; we are all equal".” It appears
that the companions of Rolf would accept no pro-
posal for their retreat. They advanced as far as
Rouen, which they took, and made it their for-
tress and the depôt for their plunder. There
was then reigning in Gaul beyond the Loire a
chief of the family of Karl the Great, and called
by the same name, which the Gauls pronounced
Carles or Charles. The race of the Gallo-Franks
still chose their kings from this old family, through
a custom of which most of them began to be
weary. The grandson of Charles felt that it
would soon be with his own race as with that of
* An abbreviation of Rad-holf, counsel and assistance, or
assisting counsellor. - --
* Regn, Rekn, Reke, strong, mighty; ald, halt, hold,
faithful.
* Quo nomine vester senior fungitur ! Responderunt, nullo.
Dudo de Sto. Quintino, p. 76.
TENTH CENTURY.
155
Mere-wig, which his ancestors had degraded. Book
To retard this fatal moment, he bethought him-
self of courting the alliance and support of Rolf
and the pirates encamped about Rouen. He re-
quested a conference with them on the banks of
the Epte; whither the chief of the Normans
repaired with his principal followers : and a treaty
was concluded, by which Charles formally ceded
to the men of the north, as the price of the friend-
ship which they swore to him, the whole of the
country, the towns, and the fortified places, which
they occupied between the river Epte and the
Sea. P. #
The king had a daughter named Ghisela":
he offered her as a wife to the Danish chief; and
Rolf accepted her, finding, says an old historian,
that she was of a suitable height '. Rolf placed
his hands in those of king Charles, as his faithful
servant, his soldier, and count of the territory
the possession of which was confirmed to him:
he swore to preserve to the king his life, his
limbs, and his royal dignity; and, in return, the
P Snorre Sturleson's Heimskringla, tom. I. p. 100. Dudo de
Sto. Quintino, p. 70–83. Guillelm. Putaviensis, p. 192. Script.
Iter. Francic. tom. XI. p. 324, Flodoardi Presbyteri His-
toria.
* Gescll, a companion.
: Staturae proceritate congrua. Dudo de Sto, Quintino, p. 82.
II.
912.
156
ANGLO-SAXON HISTORY.
BOOK king and his Frank counts swore to preserve to
II.
Rolf his life, his limbs, his dignity of count, and
his land". That he might be acknowledged in
the Christian world as the lawful chief of his new
province, the Danish prince received baptism;
and, during the seven days that he wore the white
robe of the catechumens, the priests who in-
structed him, made him each morning give some
portion of land to the churches and saints of the
country. The new territory of Normandy was
measured by the line', and divided amongst all the
Danish captains and soldiers who chose to settle
in it; they became, according to their rank, lords
of the towns and the country"—sovereign pro-
prietors of larger or smaller domains. Newly-
made Christians, foreigners and robbers as they
were, their dominion seemed to the natives to
be milder than the ancient rule of the sons of
the Franks; and many artizans and labourers
emigrated from the lands of the Franks to the
new country of Normandy’.
S12
to
$).50.
• Vitam suam, et membra, et honorem, et terram denominar
tam. Dudo de Sto. Quintino, p. 84.
* Funiculo divisa. Ibid. p. 85.
* Seniores, Domini.
* Advenis gentibus referta . . . . . . . lactabantur homines
securi sub ejus tuitione morantes. Dudo de Sto. Quintino, P.
85, 86.
TENTH CENTURY. 157
The sons of the old companions of Rolf showed BOOK
themselves as eager for territorial conquest as
their fathers had been for plunder, extending
their frontiers to the north and to the south,
sometimes by new treaties with the men of
France, sometimes by force and in spite of them.
They invaded the country of Bayeux, which was ge.
still inhabited by an ancient Saxon tribe, and to
tº - {. i. 933.
preserved its Germanic idiom in the midst of
a country whose language was Roman'. This
conquest was soon followed by that of the penin-
sula of Coutances *, as far as Mount St. Michael;
and from that time Normandy was contiguous
to the territory of the Britons of Gaul, or
Lower Brittany. The Gallo-British people were gas
constantly hated by the Gallo-Franks, against to
whom they had more than once asserted their 950.
national independence, replying to the kings who
demanded tribute for them, “We pay tribute
willingly, but we pay it in iron".” This little
people, in whom the want of real strength had
been supplied by their dauntless spirit, soon
found themselves exposed to a double danger;
; Otlinga Saxonica. Diplom. Caroli Calvi. See Book I.
* Constanciensis.
* Ferrea dona. Ermoldi Nigelli Carmen de Ludovico Impe-
*atore, apud Script. Rer. Franc. tom. VI.
158
ANGLO-SAXON HISTORY.
BOOK for to the attacks of their old enemies of France
II.
912
to
1000.
was joined the formidable hostility of their new
neighbours of Normandy. The latter, active and
artful, left them no repose; after laying waste the
country of the Bretons, they sowed dissensions
among them by their intrigues; and from their
establishment may be dated the progressive de-
cline of Breton independence, until then so glo-
riously maintained".
By favour of the quarrels which arose between
them and the kings of the Frank country, the
Normans encroached on the east, nearly to the
junction of the Seine and the Oise ‘, while on the
south their territory was limited by the little river
Bresle, and on the south-west by the Coesoron.
The inhabitants of this country were all called
Normans by those of France, and by the foreigners
of the south and north, excepting the Danes and
Norwegians, who gave this name, to them an ho-
nourable one, only to that part of the population
which was really of the Norman race and lam-
guage". This, the least numerous portion, acted
towards the mass, whether natives or emigrants
* Hist. de Bretagne par D. Lobineau, tom. II. p. 31–47.
Dudo de Sto. Quintino, p. 92, 93.
* Guillelm. Gemetecensis, Hist. Norman. p. 316.
* Normanni Dacigenae, de patre matreque Dacigená, Dudo
de Sto. Quintino, p. 152.
TENTH CENTURY.
159
from other parts of Gaul, the same part which Book
II.
the descendants of the Franks had acted towards ammº
the descendants of the Gauls. The mere appel-
lation of Norman was, at first, a title of nobility;
it was the sign of liberty and power—of the right
to levy imposts on the villains, the towns-people,
and the serfs of the country". All the Normans,
by name and origin, were equal in civil rights,
though unequal in political or military rank.
None of them were taxed without their own con-
Sent; none were subject to the toll for the car-
riage of their provisions or the navigation of the
rivers; and all enjoyed the privilege of hunting
and fishing, to the exclusion of the villains and
the farmers'.
The latter, forcibly struck by the contrast of
these two existences so widely different, resolved,
a century after the founding of the new state
of which they were the oppressed portion, to
destroy the inequality of the two races, to con-
Quer the rank of Normans, and raise themselves
to it at once, so that the country might contain
but one people, as it bore but one name. To
*Xecute this generous design, secret assemblies
* Servi glebae addicti-Serfs de corps et de bien.
Coloni, cultivators,
1000.
160
ANGLO-SAXON IIISTORY.
BOOK were formed in all the cantons of Normandy *.
II.
The assembly of each canton appointed two de-
puties", who were commissioned to lay their
claims before a great central assembly'. But
no sooner had the rumour of these popular
movements reached the ears of the descendants
of the Danes, than a body of armed men marched
to the place where the great council was sitting,
and dispersed it at the point of the lance. All
the deputies from the cantons were seized, and
their hands and feet were cut off as an example
to the rest. Thus was stifled, by terror, the
great project of deliverance of the peasants of
Normandy. Yielding, for themselves and their
posterity, to a yoke which they were unable
to break, they held no more nocturnal meetings,
but (as the ancient historian expresses it) re-
turned to their ploughs".
When this memorable event occurred, the dif-
ference of language which had at first marked
the separation of the great from the little of Nor-
* Per diversos totius Normaniae comitatus plurima agentes
conventicula. Guill. Gemetec. Hist. l. V. c. 11. p. 249.
"Ab unoquoque coetu duo legati. Ibid.
* Ad mediterraneum conventum. Ibid.
* Concionibus subito omissis, ad aratra sunt reversi. Ibid.
p. 249.
TENTH CENTURY.
161
mandy, had almost ceased to exist; and it was by BOOK
his genealogy that the Dane was distinguished from
the Gaul. Even in the town where the successors
of Rolf resided, where the council of chiefs was
held, where the laws of the country were made, no
other language was spoken at the beginning of the
eleventh century than the native tongue called
Roman or French. The town of Bayeux alone,
where the Danes who established themselves there
found a population whose Saxon idiom bore a con-
siderable affinity to that of the Scandinavians, pre-
served until a later period a language composed
of two Germanic dialects, but still intelligible to
the emigrated Dames'. There the sons of the
chiefs and the rich were sent, to learn to converse
with the men of their ancient country, who some-
times visited them". The men of Denmark and
Norway maintained relations of alliance and affec-
tion with Normandy, so long as they found in its
II.
| Lingua Saxonica. In Capital. Caroli Calvi. See Book I.
Rotomagensis civitas Romanā potius quâm Daniscă utitur elo-
quentiã et Baioensis fruitur frequentitis Daniscă linguà quam
Romaná. Guill. Gemet.
* G - G - Voil qu'il scit à tele escole
que as Dancis sache parler
ci (à Rouen) me savent rien forz romanz
mais a Balues en a tanz
qui ne savent si Dancis mom.
Roman de Rou, par Maistre Wace ou Gace.
VOL. I. M
950
to
1000.
162
ANGLO-SAXON i IIISTORY.
BOOK
II.
1002.
1002
to
1013.
1013
1014.
language the sign of an ancient national fraternity;
but so soon as that sign had entirely disappeared,
the Normans were no longer the natural allies of
the Danes, who even ceased to call them Normans,
and named them French, Romans, or Welches, as
they did the other inhabitants of Gaul".
This revolution seemed already complete, when
Ethel-red king of England married the sister of
the Norman chief Rik-hard", or Richard according
to the Roman pronunciation. It may well be sup-
posed that, but for total separation of the Gallo-
Norman branch from the northern stem, the Sax-
on king would not have conceived the hope of
receiving assistance from the grandson of Rolf
against the Scandinavian pirates. The want of
zeal in the Norman Richard to give aid to his
brother-in-law, arose from no conscientious scru-
ple or moral repugnance, but simply from his
not seeing in this interference any thing favour-
able to his own interest, which he was skilful in
discerning and ardent in pursuing, conformably
with the character which already distinguished
the inhabitants of Normandy.
While Ethel-red was sharing his brother-in-law's
hospitality, the English, subject to the foreigner,
* See Book VI. Francigenac, Romani, Walli.
* Rik, powerful, stout; hard, hart, strong, strongly.
2
ELEventh CENTURY.
I63
regretted, as at the time of Elf-red's flight, the BOOK
loss of their national despot. Swen, whom in the
year 1014 they had allowed to take the title of
king of England, died in the same year, so sud-
denly that there is reason for attributing his
death to some burst of patriotic indignation.
The Danish soldiers cantoned in the towns or
stationed in their ships, chose as his successor his
Son Knut", who was then on a mission to the
country near the Humber, to deposit there the
contributions and the hostages of the southern
English. The latter, encouraged by his absence,
deliberated on sending a messenger to the fugitive
in Normandy, to tell him, in the name of the
Anglo-Saxon people, that they would take him 1014.
again for their king if he would promise to govern
them better for the future ".
In answer to this message, Ethel-red sent over
his son Ed-ward, charging him to Salute in his
name the whole English nation', and to promise
that he would for the future conduct himself like
a faithful king', amend what was displeasing to
the people, and consign to oblivion all which the
* Cnut, Knot, Knyt, a knot. In Latin, Cnuto, Canutus.
* Modò eos rectilis gubernaret. Chron. Sazon. Gibson, p.
145. Heimskringla, p. 10. Matharus Westmon. p. 202.
Gretan ealne his Leodscipe. Chron. Sax. p. 145.
* Iſold, Hlaſord. Ibid.
M 2
164:
ANGLO-SAXON HISTORY.
BQ9K people had done or said against himself. The
II.
amity sworn between the nation and the king
was confirmed on either side by pledges mutually
given'. The assembly of the Anglo-Saxon sages
pronounced against every Dane who should entitle
himself king of England a sentence of perpetual
outlawry"; and Ethel-red resumed his honours.
But it is not exactly known over what extent of
territory he reigned; for the Danish garrisons,
though driven from some towns, kept possession
of many others, and the great city of London
itself remained in their power; perhaps the great
way called Woethling-street had once more become
the line of demarcation betwixt the free and the
conquered country. Knut, dissatisfied with the
portion which the Anglo-Saxons compelled him
to accept, returned in fury, landed near Sand-
wich, and had the hostages, which his father had
received, mutilated on the shore *. This cruelty
was the signal for a war which Ethel-red, faithful
to his late oath, sustained for two years amidst
various successes and reverses. At his death, the
1015.
' Factis pignoribusque. Ibid.
" Utlagede of Engla-land. Ibid. p. 145, Lag signifies at
once, country, state, statute law,-from the verb lagen, to place,
to establish. Utlage signifies a man banished or outlawed.
* Praecisis eorum manibus, eorumque nasis. Chron. Sar.
Gibson, p. 145.
ELEVENTII CENTURY.
5
I6
English chose for their king, not one of his legi- BOOK
timate children, who had been left in Normandy,
but Ed-mund his bastard son, surnamed Iron-
side', who had given proof of his valour in the
battles with the foreigners. Ed-mund retrieved
by his activity the wavering fortunes of the Eng-
lish people; he retook London from the Danes,
and fought five great battles against them ".
After one of these battles, fought on the south-
ern border of the county of Warwick, one of the
Danish captains, named Ulf", having wandered
apart from his followers in their flight, came to a
wood, in which he lost his way. After walking
in vain the whole night, he met, at day-break, a
young peasant with a drove of oxen. Ulf saluted
him, and asked him his name. “I am called God-
win" son of Ulf-noth",” answered the shepherd;
“ and thou, if I mistake not, art of the Danish
army.” The Dane, being thus compelled to con-
ſess, prayed the young man to tell him how far he
* Iren-side, Iron-side. The Danish historians supply this
surname by the word Enn-sterki, the strong.
* Chron. Sar. p. 148–150. Henrici Huntingd. p. 362. Wil-
lelm. Malmesb. p. 72. Math. West. p. 204. Ingulf. Croyl.
p. 892.
* Ulf, wulf, hulf, succour, succouring.
" God, good; nin, dear, well-beloved.
Noth, not, med, nyd, useful, necessary.
II.
10} 6.
166
ANGLO-SAXON HISTORY.
BOOK
II.
might still be from the vessels stationed in the
Severn or the neighbouring rivers, and by what
road it would be possible for him to reach them.
“ Foolish indeed,” replied God-win, “is the Dane
who expects his safety from a Saxon".” Ulf en-
treated the shepherd to leave his cattle and show
him the way, making the promises most likely to
prevail over a poor and simple man. “ The way
is not long,” returned the Saxon ; “ but it would
be dangerous for me to lead thee into it. The
peasants, encouraged by our victory of yesterday,
are armed throughout the country, and would
shew no favour, neither to thee nor to thy guide".”
The chief took a gold ring from his finger and
presented it to the shepherd, who took it, contem-
plated it for a few moments, and then returned
it, saying, “I will take nothing from thee, but I
will try to conduct thee'."
They passed the day in the cottage of God-
win's father; and when night came, and they were
on the point of departing, the old peasant said to
the Dame, “Know that it is my only son who
* Nulli Danorum merità auxilium ab Anglis requiri. Torfari
Historia Norweg. tom. II. p. 37.
* Adebut nec ipsi, nec cuivis alio, nedum itineris duci, spes
evadendi effulgeat, si à rusticis deprehendatur. Ibid.
'Annulum non accepturum operam tamen ei paraturum.
Ibid.
ELEVENTH CENTURY. 167
trusts himself to thy honour; there will be no Book
safety for him amongst his countrymen when he ".
has served thee as a guide; present him, therefore,
to thy king, that he may receive him into his
service ".” Ulf promised to do much more for
God-win; and he kept his word: on their arrival
at the Danish camp, he made the peasant's son sit
in his own tent, on a seat as elevated as his own,
and treated him as his own son". He obtained a
military command for him from king Knut; and
at length, the Saxon shepherd rose to the rank of
governor of a province in the part of England
occupied by the Danes. This man, who from the
keeper of a flock became a political chief in his
country through the power of the foreigner, was
destined to play twice, in the same country, the
part of a destroyer of the foreign supremacy. In
this new character he will shortly appear; and
then, perhaps, the reader will feel some interest
in recollecting the romantic adventure which
caused young God-win to enter the ranks of the
enemies of his native land, there to acquire a re-
nown and an authority without which he could
* Neque enim ei ampliès, apud populares suos tutum . .
ut famulitio ejus inseretur. Torfaei Hist. Normeg. tom. II.
p. 37.
* Filii loco habuit. Ibid.
168
ANGLO-SAXON HISTORY.
Bººk never have rendered to that land such eminent
services.
The victories of the Anglo-Saxons over the
Danish invaders led to an armistice, and a truce
which was solemnly sworn in presence of the two
armies, by the kings Ed-mund and Knut. They
gave to each other the name of brother', and with
common consent made the Thames the limit of
1017, their respective kingdoms. On the death of Ed-
mund, the Danish king passed this limit, which
was to have been inviolable ; and, taking the Eng-
lish by surprise, he, by means of terror and in-
trigues, extended his royalty, almost without a
contest, over the countries of the South and west,
and the English chiefs took the oath of allegiance
to him as king of all England. Knut in return
swore to reign in justice and benevolence, and
touched their hands with his naked hand, in token
of sincerity". But no sooner had the foreigner
been saluted as king of the English, than he began
to proscribe those whom he had promised to love.
The principal chiefs, a great number of those who
in the Saxon language were called half-kings or
| Simul fratres adoptivi. Henrici Huntingd. p. 363. Encom.
Emma, p. 171. Hillelm. Malmesb. p. 72. *
* Accepto pigmore de manu suá nudā. Rogerii de Howeden.
Annales, p. 436.
ELEVENTH CENTURY.
169
Subaltern kings, leaders of armies, ancients of the BOOK
people, rich men, men of war', and in particular
the relations of Ed-mund and Ethel-red, were
banished or delivered over to the executioner.
“Whoever shall bring me the head of one of my
enemies,” the Dane would say when speaking of
them, “will be dearer to me than a brother".”
He had the children of the late king transported
into Scandinavia, in order that they might be as-
sassinated: but the man who had undertaken to
execute this design, suffered them to escape; and
they fled to the south of the country of the Alle-
mands, among the Hungarians, a Sclavonic people,
whose chief gave them welcome".
Among the national magistrates who were then
banished from England, historians mention one
Ed-wig, whom they call Kerla-kyng, the king of
the peasants". This Saxon expression is a proof
that the title of kyng or king, had not then that
one and absolute sense which the moderns attach
to it, but vaguely denoted distinction of com-
Reguli, Sub-reguli, Half-kyningas, Here-togas, Ealder-menn,
Yldestan, Rice-menn, Best-menn, Eadigan, Land-hlaforde,
Thegnas.
* Florent. Wigorn. p. 390, 391.
* Chron. Saxon. Gibson, p. 151. Henrici Huntingd. p. 968.
Math. Westm. p. 206.
* Or Ceorla-kyng, Cheorla-kyng.
II.
170 ANGLO-SAXON HISTORY.
BOOK mander or protector, in various degrees and under
* various forms. The Anglo-Saxon husbandmen or
peasants had their particular king, perhaps be-
cause the king of the whole nation was more espe-
cially the king of the warriors, those who were
rich enough to equip themselves at their own
expence with offensive and defensive arms. To-
wards the interests of the class of the warriors or
theyns", amongst whom his life was passed, the
king of the English must naturally have inclined
the balance of his power. In order, therefore,
that the other class, that of the labourers, the ar-
tizans, and the poor, those who in the Saxon lan-
guage did not bear the title of men of the sword,
but simply that of kerls", might not be entirely
sacrificed to the former, it was necessary that they
should have a representative to plead their cause
and to defend them before the chief of the country,
and sometimes also against that chief before the
great public council. Whether this conjecture
be well founded or not, it is historically demon-
strated that there was not that enormous distance
betwixt the warlike class and that of the Anglo-
P Thegn, degn, deghen, a sword; and, by extension, a man of
the sword, a brave man, a man of courage or virtue.
* The Saxons wrote ceorlas; the Franks Karla, and of this
word made a proper name. Sce page 144.
ELEVENTII CENTURY. 17I
Saxon peasants which existed in Gaul betwixt BOOK
the Frank-men and the farmers to the Franks. *
The proudest of the kings of Saxon England,
those whom the extent of their power and the
majesty which they affected seemed to place in a
sphere inaccessible to the artizan and the poor
farmer, repeatedly received addresses couched in 925
the following terms:– “Most dear , the 1.
whole country of Kent, bishops, magistrates, war-
riors and peasants, give thanks to thee, their well-
beloved chief, for the pains which thou hast taken
for the general peace and the common advantage
of us all, whether rich or poor'.”
The two legitimate sons of Ethel-red, to whom
the assembly of the English chiefs had formerly
preferred the bastard Ed-mund, were still in Nor- ion.
mandy with their mother Emma'. Their uncle,
Count or Duke Richard (for historians give him
either title indifferently) took no measure in their
favour sufficient to engage the Saxon people to
recall them, by rebelling against the Danish
king, who was both their and his enemy. On
" Carissime, Episcopi tui de Kent et omnis Kent-scire, Thaini,
Comites, et Villani, tibi domino suo delectissimo, gratias agunt.
Epistola ad Athelstanum Regem.—Johannes Brompton. p. 850.
* The Saxons, thinking this name not sufficiently conformable
to the genius of their language, called her Elf-giſe or Elf-give,
from elſ, genius; and gif, give, given.
172
ANGLO-SAXON IIISTORY.
BOOK the contrary, he entered into a friendly negoci-
II.
1018.
1008
to
1031.
ation with the enemy of his nephews, and, which
was still more extraordinary, offered him his sister
Emma, their own mother, in marriage. Emma,
flattered by the idea of once more becoming the
wife of a king, consented to marry Knut, leaving
it doubtful, say the old authors, whether her bro-
ther or herself was the most dishonoured". Be-
coming shortly the mother of another son to whom
his father's power promised a fortune quite diffe
rent from that of the sons of Ethel-red, the Nor-
man woman neglected and despised her first-born ;
and they, being kept far from England, gradually
became strangers to their own country, and un-
learned the language and manners of the Saxon
people.
Meanwhile, Knut the Dame studied to make the
English forget his foreign origin; he did not cease
to be a hard master to them, but he strove to give
his conquered power the semblance of a native
despotism. His mother-tongue differed but little
from the Saxon; and he composed verses intelli-
gible to both the races that inhabited England".
* Ignores majori illius dedecore qui dederit, an feminac qua:
consenserit. Will. Malmesb. p. 73.
"Merie sungen the muneches binnen Ely, &c. Ballad of
Knut.—Turner's History of the Anglo-Saxons, tom. III. p. 317.
ELEVENTH CENTURY.
173
The son of an apostate from Christianity”, he BOOK
II.
made himself appear a zealous Christian, was the
friend of the monks, visited relics, and founded
convents. He rebuilt the churches which his fa-
ther and himself had burned when they were ma-
rine robbers’; erected a chapel over the tomb of
Ed-mund the last king of the East-Saxons, whom
the Danes had shot to death with arrows; and, at
the solicitation of the English bishops, caused to
be removed from London to Canterbury the body
of archbishop Elf-eg, who was honoured, like Ed-
mund, with the titles of Saint and martyr, for hav-
ing resisted unto death the invaders of England.
The inhabitants of London having purchased the
remains of Elf-eg, refused to give them up ; but
the son of the pirate took them away by military
force, and had them placed in his royal vessel,
which, like that of his father Swen, was decorated
at the prow with a gilded dragon's head ".
It was not long before the fortunate conqueror
* Mallet.—Histoire du Danemark.
* Cúm terram Angliae progenitores mei diris depraedationibus
Sæpiùs oppressissent. Diplom. Chnuti, apud Ingulf. Croyl.
p. 873.
* Regia navis aureis rostrata draconibus. Vita Elfegi, in An-
glid Sacrá, tom. II. p. 146. Snorre, p. 265. Monastic. Anglic.
tom. I. p. 286. Jo. Brompton, p. 709. Ingulf. Croyl. p. 892.
°uil, Gemeticensis, p. 253. Will. Malmesb. p. 73.
8
174.
ANGLO-SAXON HISTORY.
BOOK of England felt desirous of forming an alliance
with the friend of all conquerors, with him who
poured blessed oil on the heads of the strong to
confer upon them a divine right over the weak".
Knut appeared worthy of the friendship of the
common father of all barbarous potentates.
He obtained it, not without paying for it, but
with other men's goods, with the gold of the
subjugated. Several of the Anglo-Saxon kings,
at the time when England was divided into inde-
pendent sovereignties, had sent annual contribu-
tions to the church of Rome, either to purchase a
better reception for the pilgrims from their respec-
tive countries", or for the maintenance of the
schools where the English went to study, or,
lastly, for the luminaries of the apostles Peter and
Paul “. These contributions were then paid but
irregularly, according to the zeal of the people.
The Danish invasions suspended them; but Knut,
the son of a pagan, surpassing in his bounty to
the Church the most devout of the Saxon kings,
established throughout England a uniform and
perpetual tax, which in the words of his ordi-
nances, was to be raised every year, to the praise
* See p. 146.
* Rom-skat, Rom-skeat, Rom-scot.
* Ad luminaria Petri et Pauli.
ELEVENTII CENTURY.
175
and glory of the God-king, on St. Peter's day". Book
Knut resolved to go and receive thanks in person
II.
for his gifts; and departed for the City of the 1031.
Saints with a great retinue, carrying a wallet at
his back and a long staff in his hand. After his
pilgrimage, when he was about to return into the
north, he addressed the following letter to the
English nation":-
“ Knut, king of England and Denmark, to all
bishops and primates, and to the whole English
People, greeting.—I hereby inform you that I
came to Rome for the redemption of my sins and
the salvation of my kingdoms. I most humbly
render thanks to Almighty God that he has vouch-
Safed me the grace to visit in person once in my
life his most holy apostles Peter and Paul, and all
the saints who have their dwelling-place either
within or without the walls of the Roman city.
! determined on this journey, because I had
learned from the mouths of wise men, that the
*postle Peter has a great power of binding and
"nbinding, and that he holds the key of the
* Rom-feh, id est Roma census quem beato Petro, singulis an-
* reddendum, ad laudem et gloriam Dei regis, nostra larga
*ignitas semper instituit, in festo Sti. Petri reddatur. Leges
Cnuti, apud Jo. Brompton, p. 919.
Torſeus. Hist. Norweg. p. 225. Script. Rer. Danic.
°itmarus, p. 493.
I'76
ANGLO-SAXON HISTORY.
Bººk kingdom of heaven. Therefore it was that I
deemed it good to solicit in an especial manner
his favour and patronage'.
“There has been held here, during the paschal
solemnity, a great assembly of illustrious persons,
viz. Pope John, the emperor Kun-radº, and the
first men of all the nations" from Mount Garganus
to our own sea. All have received me with dis-
tinction, and honoured me with rich presents. I
have received vessels of gold and silver, and stuffs
and garments of great price'. I have conversed
with the emperor and with our lord the Pope, con-
cerning the wants of the people of my kingdoms,
Englishmen as well as Danes. I have endeavoured
to obtain for my people justice and security in
their journies to Rome, and especially that they
may not in future be detained on the road by the
closing of the passes, nor vexed by enormous
tolls". I have also complained to our lord the
Pope of the enormous sums of money hitherto
* Clavigerumque esse regni caelestis, ut ided valde utile dux
. . . . Florentii Wigorn. Hist. p. 620.
* Kun, Kuhn, Chun, bold; red, rad, counsellor.
* Omnes principes gentium. Florent. Wigorn. p. 620.
* Tâm in vasis aureis atque argenteis, quam in palliis et vestiº
bus valdé pretiosis. Florent. Wigorn. p. 620.
* Ne tot clausuris per viam arceantur, nec teloniis, Ibid. P.
620.
ELEVENTH CENTURY.
Mºº
4
17
exacted from my archbishops, when they have re- BOOK
paired to the apostolic see, according to custom,
to receive the pallium; and it has been decided
that this shall not be the case in future'.
“I purpose to return to England this summer,
as soon as the preparations for my embarkation
shall be completed. All you, the bishops and
officers of my kingdom of England, I pray and
command, by the faith which you owe to God
and to me", to take measures that all my debts
to God may be discharged before my return",—
viz. the alms for ploughs, the tithe of animals
brought forth within the year, and the pence due
to St. Peter from every house in the towns and
villages; besides the tithe of the harvest in the
middle of August, and the first of the seed at
Martinmas”. If, at my arrival, which will be
shortly, the whole of these contributions be not
paid, let the royal power be exercised against the
delinquents, to the utmost rigour of the law,
without any mercy".”
The friendship of the church was as advanta-
tageous to the son of Swen as it had formerly
| Decretumque est ně id deinceps fiat. Ibid.
* Per fidem quam Deo et mihi debetis. Flor. Wig. p. 620.
* Omnia debita quae Deo debemus sint soluta. Ibid.
* Quae Anglice Circe-sceat (Kirkc-skat) nominantur. Ibid.
* Districte absºlue veniä. Ibid.
VOL. I. N
II.
178
ANGLO-SAXON HISTORY.
BOOK been to the first and second races of the invaders
II.
1029
of Gaul". Knut became the conqueror of all
the countries of the north as far as the Elbe, as
iès. Karl the Great or Charlemagne had been of those
of the south. He employed the money and arms
of the subjugated English in subjugating the
men of his own race. He dethroned the kings
of Norway and the countries on the Baltic sea,
and entitled himself king and emperor of all the
North, by the grace of Christ the king of kings'.
1035. At his death, the priests whom he enriched, and
whose churches he never visited without placing
some golden gift on each altar, sung in their
well-paid hymns that the nations were in tears for
the death of the great king'. But the first thought
of the northern nations was to dissolve the empire
of Knut, as those of the south had dissolved the
empire of Karl'. The Norwegians expelled the
son of the Danish conqueror, and chose one of
their own nation for their chief, in an assembly
in which the labourers of the country" voted in
* See Book I. p. 36–42.
* Ego Imperator Knuto a Christo rege regum regiminis po-
titus. Diploma Knuti, apud Wilkin's Concilia.
• Emmae Regina: Encomium, p. 174.
* See p. 154.
* Indictis ibi comitiis, postguam eo accesserat magna colono-
rum turba. Saga af Magnusi, Snorre's Heimskringla, tom. III.
6
ELEVENTH CENTURY.
179
immense numbers. As complete a revolution did Book
not take place in England: the Danish power
wore too formidable an aspect for the conquered
at once to break all terms with the conquerors ‘;
they confined themselves to silent and indirect
attacks on the foreign dominion.
The Danish king left three sons, of whom one
only, named Hard-knut', that is, Knut the strong
or hard, was born of his Norman wife Emma ; the
others were the children of a former wife. Knut,
when dying, had expressed a desire that the son
of Emma should succeed him. The expression
of such a wish was usually all-powerful with those
by whom the kings were chosen: but Hard-Knut
was in Denmark; and the Danes of England,
urged to an immediate choice by the necessity of
being strong and united against the discontented
Saxons, took another of the sons of Knut, named
Her-ald ", for their king. This election, though it
was the wish of the majority, had some opposers,
* Praesidia Danorum in Anglià ne Anglici à Danorum do-
minio liberarentur. Script. Rer. Danic. tom. II. p. 207. Tor-
jaci Hist. Norn.cg. tom. II. p. 156–220. Heimskringla, Snorre,
tom. II. p. 213. Script. Rer. Danic. tom. I. p. 159.
* Or Harda-knut, Horda-knut, Hartha-knut.
* Dani Londonienses. Ingulf. Croyl. p. 905. Tha Liths-
men on Lunden. Chron. Sazon. Gibson, p. 154. Her, emi-
ment, chief; ald, hold, faithful. The Saxons write Har-old.
N 2
180
ANGLO-SAXON HISTORY.
BOOK whom the English eagerly joined, in order to
nourish and inflame the domestic quarrel of their
masters. The western provinces, which, during
the whole time of the conquest, were always the
first to rebel and the last to submit, proclaimed
King Hard-knut; while, in London, the Danish
soldiers and sailors proclaimed Her-ald. This
political schism divided England afresh into two
zones separated by the Thames. The north was
for Her-ald, and the south for the son of Emma;
but the struggle which ensued under these two
names was in reality a struggle between the two
great interests of the conquerors, who were all-
powerful north of the Thames, and the conquer-
ed, who were not very weak in the south".
The ancient province of West-Sex, or of the
West Saxons, was then governed, under the
Danish authority, by God-win, the Saxon pea-
sant's son whom Knut had raised from obscurity.
Whether it was that God-win had long meditated
the project of employing for the deliverance of
his nation the power which he had received in
order to keep it in slavery, or that such a desire
was awakened by the present occasion, or that
he had even some personal affection for the be-
loved son of King Knut, united with a secret love
* Guillelm. Pictaviensis, p. 178. Willelin. Malmesb. p. 76.
ELEVENTH CENTURY.
181
for the liberty of his country, he placed himself at Book
the head of the Saxon and Danish partisans of
Hard-knut, and called the late king's widow into
the West. She went thither accompanied by
some Danish troops", and carrying with her a
part of her husband's treasures. God-win took
the office of general-in-chief and protector of the
kingdom, in the name and during the absence of
Emma's son “; and received for Hard-knut the
oaths of fealty of all the population of the south.
This insurrection, ambiguous in its nature, being
in one point of view the struggle of two pre-
tenders, and in another the war of two nations,
did not extend north of the Thames; for there the
mass of the Saxon inhabitants swore allegiance,
like the Dames, to King Her-ald : there was only
some individual resistance; such as that of Ethel-
moth", an Englishman by birth, and archbishop of
Canterbury, who refused to consecrate the king
elected by the foreigners, and to present to him,
with the accustomed ceremony, the staff and
* Mid Huscarlum. Chron. Sazon. Gibson, p. 154.
* Tutorem pupillorum se professus, Reginam Emmam et
regias gazas custodiens. Willelm. Malmesb. p. 76. Godwinus
verö consul dux esset in re militari. Henrici Huntingd. Se
healdest man. Chron. Saxon.
* Ethel, noble; moth, useful.
II.
18
ANGLO-SAXON HISTORY.
Ø
and
BOOK diadem of the Saxon kings". Her-ald was crowned
II.
by his own hand, without the benediction of any
1086. priest; and reviving in himself the old spirit of
his ancestors, conceived a settled hatred against
Christianity. He would choose the time of
prayer, when the people were going to church,
to go out with his dogs and order his table to be
prepared'.
A violent war between the south and the north
of England, between the Saxon and Danish po-
pulations, seemed inevitable. This expectation
caused a sort of panic among those of the Anglo-
Saxon race who inhabited the country on the left
bank of the Thames *; for they knew that the first
blow from the irritated foreigner would fall upon
them, although they had remained quiet. A great
number of families quitted their homes to seek
a safer asylum in the forests and desert places.
Troops of men and women, dragging with them
their children and their moveables, reached the
marshes which extended for more than a hundred
* Encomium Emma, p. 174.
* Dum alii ecclesiam missam audire intrarent. Encomium
Emma, p. 174. Rogerius de Hoved. p. 438. Chron. Sax.
p. 154.
* Solà suspicione belli supervenientis. Ingulf. Croyl. p.
905.
ELEVENTH CENTURY.
183
miles in the four counties of Lincoln, Cambridge, BOOK
Huntingdon, and Northampton". This tract,
which had the appearance of one vast lake
strewed with islands, was inhabited only by
monks, for whom some of the ancient and devout
kings had built great houses, in the midst of the
water, upon piles and earth brought from a dis-
tance'. The poor fugitives cantoned themselves
in the willow woods which covered these fens;
and, as they wanted many of the necessaries of
life and were idle the whole of their time, they
besieged with solicitations or with visits of simple
curiosity the monks of Crowland, Peterborough,
and the other neighbouring abbeys. They went
backwards and forwards incessantly, to ask as-
sistance, advice, or prayers"; and followed the
heels of the monks or the servants of the con-
vents, to implore their pity". The monks, who
would have thought they were displeasing God
by sympathising with human creatures, shut them-
selves up in their cells, and deserted the cloister
and the church, because of the crowds which as-
* Cum suis parvulis ac catallis omnibus mobilibus ad maris-
corum uligines. Ingulf. Croyl. p. 905.
' Willelm. Malmesb. Vitae Pontificum, p. 292.
* Totă die in claustrum irruentes. Ingulf. Croyl. p. 905.
! De suis indigentiis cum blanditiis allicere. Ibid.
184
ANGLO-SAXON HISTORY.
BOOK sembled there". A hermit who lived alone in
II.
1037.
the marshes of Pegeland", was so terrified at sud-
denly finding himself amid the bustle of man-
kind, that he abandoned his hut, and fled to seek
other deserts.
The war so much desired on one side of the
Thames, and so much dreaded on the other, did
not take place; for the absence of Hard-knut was
prolonged; his Danish partisans began to fall off”;
and the Southern English thought that the moment
was not yet arrived for raising their national stand-
ard, as favourers no longer of a Danish pretender,
but as the enemies of all Danes. The Norman
woman whose presence served to give the insur-
rection a less offensive colour in the eyes of the
foreign power, made peace with that power, and
delivered up the treasures of Knut to the rival of
her own son. God-win and the chiefs of the West
Saxons, being forced by her desertion to acknow-
ledge Her-aldas their king, swore obedience to him,
and Hard-knut was forgotten". At the same time,a
curious event happened, the account of which has
" Vix de dormitorio ausi sunt descendere. Ibid.
" Vulfinus anachorita. Ibid.
* Quðd in Danemarciá moras nexuerit. Rogerii de Hoveden
Annales, p. 438.
" Rex plenarius. Full kyng oſer call Engla-land. Chron.
Saron. Gibson.
ELEVENTII CENTURY.
185
been handed down to us enveloped in great BOOK
obscurity. It should appear that a letter was
sent from Emma, who lived in London on good
terms with King Her-ald, to the two sons of
Ethel-red in Normandy; and that in this letter
their mother informed them that the Anglo-
Saxon people seemed disposed to make one of
them king and throw off the Danish yoke; she
therefore invited them to repair secretly to
England, in order to confer with herself and
her friends". Whether this letter was true or
fictitious, the sons of Ethel-red received it with
joy; and the younger of the two, named Elf-red,
with the consent of his brother, embarked with a
troop of Norman and Boulognese" soldiers, which
was contrary to the instructions of Emma, if in-
deed it be true that the invitation came from her".
The young Elf-red landed at Dover, and ad-
Vanced into the country south of the Thames,
which was the least dangerous for him and his
Companions, as the Danish inhabitants were not
Very numerous. God-win went to meet him,
" Rogo unus veström ad me velociter et privaté veniat. En-
comium Emma, p. 174.
" Milites non parvi numeri. Guill. Gemcticensis, p. 271.
* Jo. Brompton, p. 939. Ed. Selden. Encomium Emmae,
p. 175, 176.
186
ANGLO-SAXON IIISTORY.
BOOK perhaps to try what he was capable of, and to
concert with him some plan of deliverance. He
found him surrounded by foreigners, who had
followed him to share that fortune which he was
to owe to the English; and the good dispositions
of the western chief were suddenly changed into
ill-will towards Elf-red. An ancient historian
makes God-win deliver a speech on this occasion
before an assembly of the Saxon chiefs, in which
he represents to them that Elf-red has come
escorted by too many Normans; that he has pro-
mised these Normans possessions in England;
and that they ought not to suffer the introduction
into the country of a race of foreigners, motorious
for their artifice and audacity'. Whether any
such harangue was made or mot, Elf-red was
abandoned by God-win and the Saxons", who,
indeed, had not called him over, nor drawn him
into the peril in which they left him. The
officers of the Danish king, having received infor-
mation of his presence, surprised him with his
Normans in the town of Guildford, while they
were unarmed and distributed in different houses;
* Nimiam Normannorum copiam secum adduxisse, gentem
fortissimam et subdolam inter se instirpare Anglis non securum
esse. Henrici Huntingd. Hist.
* Compatriotarum perfidiá, et maximè Godwini. Ibid.
ELEVENTH CENTURY.
187
and they were all seized and bound, without any Bººk
attempt being made to defend them *.
Of Elf-red's ten companions, nine were be-
headed, one alone having his life granted him.
He himself was carried into the Isle of Ely, in
the heart of the Danish territory, and brought
before judges who condemned him to lose his
eyes, as a violator of the peace of the country.
His mother Emma took no step to save him from
this torture, of which he died. “She abandoned
the orphan,” says an old chronicler’; and other
historians reproach her with having been an ac-
complice in his death *. There is reason to doubt
this latter assertion; but it is a singular circum-
stance, that Emma, being afterwards banished by
King Her-ald's order, did not repair to Normandy,
where her own relations and Ethel-red's second
Son resided, but went to seek a foreign asylum
in Flanders", and from thence addressed the son of 1039.
Knut in Denmark, calling upon him to avenge his
* Rogerii de Hoved. Hist, p. 438. Ethelredus Rievallensis,
Ed. Selden, p. 366. Guill. Pict, p. 178. --
* Invidia deserti orphani. Will. Malmesb. Eluredi casum
Scire nolebat, et Edwardo exuli penitiis nil boni faciebat. Mo-
*ast. Anglic. Dugdale, tom. I. p. 24.
* Quidam dicunt Emmam in necem filii sui Alfredi consen-
Sisse. Jo. Brompton, p. 937.
* Henrici Hunting. p. 364.
188
ANGLO-SAXON HISTORY.
BOOK half-brother, the son of Ethel-red the Saxon,
II.
who, said Emma, had been betrayed by God-win
and assassinated by Her-ald".
God-win's treason was the cry of the Normans,
who, through a blind resentment, accused the
Saxons rather than the Danes of the murder of
their countrymen, the victims of a too hazardous
enterprise. There are, besides, a multitude of
versions of this affair", no one of which is sup-
ported by a sufficient number of testimonies to
be regarded as the only true relation. One of the
historians most worthy of belief commences his
account with these words:– “I am about to tell
what the relaters of news have reported concern-
ing the death of Elf-red";” and at the end of his
narration he adds, “Such is the public rumour,
but I can affirm nothing respecting it".” There
seems, however, to be no doubt of the death in-
flicted on the son of Ethel-red and on several
Norman soldiers who had come in his train. As
for God-win's interview with this young man, and
in particular the premeditated treason of which
many narrators accuse him, they appear to be
" Rogerius de Hoved. p. 438. Henrici Huntingd. p. 364.
* Diversimodè et diversis temporibus. Jo, Brompton, p. 937.
* Quod rumigeruli spargunt. Will. Malmesb. p. 77.
* Hacc quià ſama serit, non omisi; sed, quiã chronica tacet,
pro solida non asserui. Ibid.
ELEVENTH CENTURY.
189
fabulous circumstances added to a real occur- BOOK
rence. How little credit soever these fables may
be entitled to, they are, nevertheless, of great
historical importance on account of the belief
which they obtained, and the ulterior influence
which this ill-founded belief had on the destinies
of the English people.
On the death of Her-ald, the Anglo-Saxons,
who still had not sufficient courage to choose a
king of their own race, concurred with the Danes
in electing the son of Emma and Knut'. The first
public act of Hard-knut, after his accession,
was to disinter the body of Her-ald, and, cut-
ting off the head, to throw the body into the
Thames. It was found by some Danish fisher-
men, who buried it afresh at London, in the
cemetery reserved for those of their nation, who
wished to be distinguished from the English
even in their sepulchres". After this barbarity
Committed towards a dead brother, Hard-knut
made a display of fraternal tenderness by insti-
tuting a judicial inquiry into the death of young
Elf-red. Himself being a Dane, no one of the
Danish race was summoned by his order to ap-
II.
' Anglis et Danis in unam sententiam coeuntibus. Matha’s
Westmonasteriensis Hist. p. 76.
* In caemeterio Danorum. Ingulf. Croyland. p. 905. .
{}
L}
1040.
190
ANGT.O-SAYON HISTORY.
BOOK
II.
‘mºm-
pear before the judges; the Saxons alone were
charged with a crime which could have been pro-
fitable only to their masters. God-win presented
himself, according to the Anglo-Saxon laws, at-
tended by several witnesses, who, like himself,
swore that he had taken no part, directly or indi-
rectly, in the death of Ethel-red's son. This
legal proof did not suffice with the king of foreign
birth; and to render it valid, it was necessary for
the English chief to accompany it with rich pre-
sents, the detail of which, if not fabulous, would
incline us to believe that the Saxon was assisted
by many of his countrymen in purchasing the re-
linquishment of this prosecution, instituted in bad
faith. God-win gave the Danish king a ship
adorned with gilt metal, and carrying eighty sol-
diers with gilded helmets, who bore a Danish axe
on the left shoulder, a javelin in the right hand,
and on each arm a gold bracelet weighing six
ounces". A Saxon bishop, named Lef-win, who
was likewise accused, justified himself, and bought
his discharge in like manner, by presents'.
Hard-knut thirsted more for riches than for
the blood of the vanquished. His avidity sur-
* Apposuit ille fidei juratae exenium . . . . . navem auro
rostratam. Willelm. Malmesb. p. 177.
' Willelm. Malmesb, p. 77.
ELEVENTII CENTURY.
191
passed even that of his forefathers the kings of Book
the sea. He oppressed the English with tributes;
and his tax-gatherers more than once fell victims
to the hatred and despair which they excited.
The citizens of Worcester killed two of them in
the exercise of their odious functions. On hear-
ing of this violence done to the majesty of the
conquerors, Lef-ric", who governed the territory
of the marches, and Sig-ward', who command-
ed in Northumbria, two Danish chiefs, united
their forces, and marched against the rebellious
town, with orders to destroy it by fire and sword:
the inhabitants left their houses in a body; and
fled to one of the islands formed by the Severn,
Where they entrenched themselves, and resisted
until they wearied the assailants, who left them at
liberty to return to their burnt habitations".
Thus the spirit of independence, which the
conqueror denominated revolt, gradually revived
among the descendants of the Saxons and the
Angles. Nor were there wanting sufferings and
insults to awaken their regret for the loss of
“Or Leof-ric. Lef, lieſ, lieu, lieb, dear, well-beloved; rik, ric,
Strong, brave.
'Or Sige-weard. Sig, victorious; mard, guarding, vigilant.
* Willelm. Malmesb. p. 77.
II.
192
ANGLO-SAXON IIISTORY.
Book liberty". The Dane who entitled himself King
II.
of England, was not the only despot ; he was the
chief of a whole people of despots. This superior
people, of whom the English were subjects and
not simple fellow-citizens, did not share their
burthens; on the contrary, they partook of the
produce of the taxes levied by their chief, re-
ceiving sometimes seven, sometimes twenty marks
of silver per man". When the king, in his
military reviews or his excursions of pleasure,
chose to lodge in the house of a Dane, the Dane
was remunerated, sometimes in money, some-
times in cattle which the Saxon peasant had
fattened for the table of his conquerors F. But
the Saxon's dwelling was the Dane's household, in
which the foreigner had food, fire, and bedding,
gratuitously. He occupied the place of honour
as master, and as a spy upon the owners of the
house". The head of the family could not drink
* Pro contemptibus quos Angli à Danis saepiùs receperunt.
Jo. Brompton, p. 984.
* Classiariis suis per singulas naves 20 marcas. Will. Malm.
p. 76. Singulis navium remigibus, 7 marcas. Chron. Saxon.
Gibson, p. 156. 22 Navibus 21,000 librarum. Ibid.
P Danis 2800 lib. ad sumptum hospitii Regis. Henric.
Knighton. p. 2325.
* Magna summa animalium bené crassorum. Ibid.
ELEVENTH CENTURY.
193
without the permission of his guest, nor remain Book
Seated in his presence. The guest insulted his
wife, his daughter, or his servant", at pleasure;
and if any man was so brave as to undertake
to defend or avenge them, that man had no
longer any security. He was tracked and pur-
sued like a wild beast; a price was set on his
head, as on that of the wolves; he became, ac-
Cording to the Anglo-Saxon expression, a wolf-
head"; and nothing was left for him but to fly
to the abode of the wolves, and turn robber in
the forests, as the great king Elf-red had formerly
done against the foreign conquerors and the na-
tives who shamefully slumbered under the foreign
yoke *.
All these long-accumulating miseries at length
produced their fruits, at the death of Hard-knut,
which happened suddenly in the midst of a mar-
riage feast. Before the Danes assembled for the
election of a new king, a great insurrectional
army was formed, under the conduct of a chief
II.
* Et sic defloraverunt uxorcs nostras, et filias, et ancillas
Henric. Knyghton, p. 2325. Jo. Brompton, p. 934.
* Wulf-heofod. This name was given by the Saxons to men
°utlawed for some great crime. Wilkin's Collect. Legum et
Consilior. passim.
* See p. 111, 112.
WOL. I. O
1041.
194.
ANGLO-SAXON HISTORY.
BOOK named Hown". The patriotic exploits of this army
II.
are at the present day as little known as the name
of its chief is obscure; while history has preserved
the memory of the most insignificant actions of
the royal plunderers descended from Swen. God-
win and his son Her-ald, or Har-old according
to the Saxon orthography, raised the standard
this time for the pure independence of the
country, against every Dane, king or pretender,
chief or soldier. The Danes, driven rapidly
northward, and chased from town to town, took
to their ships, and landed with diminished mum-
bers on the shores of their ancient country”.
On their return home, they related a tale of
treason, the romantic circumstances of which may
be found detailed in a manner equally fabulous
in the histories of various nations. They said,
that Har-old, the son of God-win, had invited
the principal of them to a great banquet, to
which the Saxons came armed and attacked them
unawares ".
" Collegerunt magnum exercitum qui Howne-here vocabatur
à quodam Howme qui ductor eorum extiterat. Henric. Knigh-
ton, p. 2325. Honin, hun, chun, kun, kuhn, bold.
* Danos occiderunt, et de partibus Angliae fugaverunt. Hen-
ric. Knighton, p. 2325.
* Fecit insimill congregatis magnum convivium. Script. Rer.
Danic. tom. II. p. 208.
ELEVENTII CENTURY. 195
It was, however, no surprise of this kind, but B00K
an open war, which put an end to the Danish "
dominion in England. God-win and his son, at
the head of the insurgent nation, played the most
distinguished part in this national war. In the
moment of deliverance, the whole care of public
affairs was confided to the son of Ulf-noth the
herdsman, who, by rescuing his country from the
hands of the foreigners, had accomplished the
singular fortune which he commenced by saving
a foreigner and an enemy from the hands of his
countrymen . God-win, had he wished it, might
have been made king of England; very few
suffrages would have been refused him : but
he chose rather to point out to the English people
one who was a stranger to the recent events, who
had no enemies and was envied by none,—one
who was inoffensive to all by his obscurity, and
interesting in the eyes of all from his misfortunes;
this was Ed-ward the second son of Ethel-red, the
man whose brother he was accused of having be-
trayed and brought to an untimely end. At the in-
Stigation of the chief of the West”, a great council,
held at Gillingham, decided that a national mes-
* Regni cura comiti Godwino committitur, donec qui dignus
esset eligeretur in regem. Monast. Angl. tom. I. p. 24.
* Godwini consilio . . . . . Godwini rationibus. JVillelm.
Aſalmesb. p. 80.
O 2
196
ANGLO-SAXON IIISTORY.
Bººk Sage should be sent to Ed-ward in Normandy, to
announce to him that the people had made him
king, on condition of his bringing only a small
number of Normans in his train".
Ed-ward obeyed (says the cotemporary chro-
nicle ‘) and came to England attended by few.
He was proclaimed king; and, according to the
Hebrew rites adopted by the Roman church,
blessed and consecrated by an archbishop in the
great church of Winchester. As he was yet
without a wife, he chose the daughter of the
powerful and popular man to whom he owed his
royalty. Various malevolent reports were cir-
culated respecting this marriage. It was said
by some that Ed-ward, fearing the immense
authority of God-win, became his son-in-law
that he might not have him for an enemy".
Others assert, that before the election of the new
king, God-win had exacted from him, upon his
oath by God and his soul, a promise that he would
marry his daughter". Be this as it may, Ed-ward
104 2.
* Populus universus. Eall folc queas Eadweard to cyng.
Chron. Saron. p. 156. Ita tamen ut paucissimos Normannos
secum adduceret. Henrici Huntingd. p. 365. Henric, Knygh-
ton, p. 2329. r
* Chron. Saa.. Gibson.
* Metuenstantiviri potentiã ladi. Guil. Gemeticensis, p. 271.
* Jura mihi in Deum et animam tuam, te filiam mean accept
ELEVENTH CENTURY.
197
received in marriage a person of good education BOOK
and of great beauty, modesty, and sweetness;
she was called Edith, a familiar diminutive of the
names Ed-swithe or Ethel-swithe'. “I have seen
her many times in my childhood,” says a con-
temporary, “ when I went to visit my father,
who was employed in the king's palace. If she
met me returning from school, she would question
me on my grammar, or my verses, or on logic, in
which she was very skilful; and when she had
drawn me into the labyrinth of some subtle ar-
gument, she never failed to give me three or four
crowns through the hands of her woman, and
send me to take refreshment in the pantry "."
Edith was mild and benevolent to all who ap-
proached her. Those who did not admire the
Somewhat savage pride in the character of her
father and her brother, praised her for not re-
sembling them. We find this poetically ex-
pressed in one of the Latin verses which were
at that time much in vogue:—“Edith sprung
from God-win, like the rose from the thorn".”
turum in conjugem, et ego tibi dabo regnum Angliae. Monast.
4ngl. tom. I. p. 24.
' Sventa, swentha, sninth, smith, a young woman.
* Ad regium penu transmisit, et refectum dimisit. Ingulf.
Croyl. p. 905.
"Sicut spina rosam, genuit Godwinus Eghitam. Ibid.
198
ANGLO-SAXON HISTORY.
On the retreat of the Danish conquerors, the
national laws and usages of the Anglo-Saxons,
which had for so many years lain buried under
the decrees of the foreign police, were brought to
light and put in force again by the simple annihi-
lation of the government of the conquest. These
ancient laws, the work of several kings and as-
semblies of sages, had disappeared since the reigns
of Ethel-red and his son Ed-mund'. When they
were revived in Ed-ward's reign, they were
called by the name of the last chief who had
observed them; and the English people com-
monly said that Ed-ward had restored the good
laws of his father Ethel-red. Ethel-red made no
laws, nor did Ed-ward decree the establishment
of any anterior law ; the ancient legal establish-
ment rose again of itself after thirty years of
forced obedience to a foreign dominion". The
tax of the conquest, which had been levied for
thirty years, under the name of Danish tribute,
by the foreign soldiers and sailors, was in like
manner abolished, not by any gratuitous benevo-
lence on the part of the new king, but because
BOOK
II.
1042
to
1048,
* Leges ab antiquis regibus latas. Willelm. Malmesb. p.
75.
* Sub nomine regis Edwardi jurantur, non quod ille statuerit,
sed quod observaverit. Willelm. Malmesb. p. 75.
ELEVENTH CENTURY. 199
there were no longer any Danes to levy the BOOK
Danish tribute". II.
There were no longer any Dames living in
England as lords and masters; all such were
driven from the country; but the people who
had recovered their freedom did not expel from
their houses the laborious and peaceful men
who, swearing obedience to the common laws,
resigned themselves to a quiet existence as hus-
bandmen or citizens". The Saxon people did
not make reprisals by levying contributions on
them; they did not make their condition worse
than their own. In the eastern, and especially
in the northern territories, the descendants of
the Scandinavians continued to outnumber the
Anglo-Saxons. These were distinguished from
the central and southern provinces by a slight
difference in their idiom and their legal practice",
but they did not manifest the least resistance to
the government of the Saxon king. Equality
brought together and confounded the two for-
* Daene-geld, Daena-geold; or Here-geold, army tax. Chron.
Sax. Gibson.
* Post finitum in Anglià Danorum imperium, reliquiae Thinga
manorum cohortis remanserunt. Script. Rer. Danic. tom. II.
p. 455.
* Myrcna laga, West-seaxna-laga, Daena-laga. See Hickesii
Thesaur. Linguar. Septentrional.
2
200 ANGLO-SAXON IIISTORY.
Bººk merly rival races; and this formidable union
put a stop to the ambitious projects of the fo-
reign invaders, so that no northern king dared
to come with arms in his hands to lay claim to
the inheritance of the son of Knut. These kings
sent messages of peace and friendship to Ed-
ward. “We will leave you,” said they, “to reign
unmolested over your country; and will content
ourselves with those territories which God has
given us to rule".”
But under this outward appearance of pros-
perity and independence, new germs of servitude
and ruin were silently unfolding themselves.
Ed-ward, born of a Norman woman and brought
up from his infancy in Normandy, had returned
almost a stranger to the land of his fathers P:
the language of his youth had been that of a
foreign people; he had grown old among other
men and other manners than the manners and
men of England; his friends, his companions in
pain and pleasure, his nearest relatives, the hus-
band of his sister, were all of the other side of the
water. He had sworn to bring with him only a
small number of Normans; and he brought only
° Snorre's Heimskringia, tom. III. p. 52. Ingulf. Croy?.
p. 897. Jo. Brompton, p. 938.
* Poenè in Gallicum transierat. Ingulf. Croyl, p. 895.
ELEVENTH CENTURY.
01
6)
*
a few : but many came after him; those who had Book
loved him when in exile, or assisted him when
in poverty, eagerly beset his palace". He could
not restrain himself from welcoming them to his
home and his table, nor even from preferring
them to those who were unknown to him, al-
though he held from them his home, his table,
and his title. The irresistible sway of old affec-
tions led him so far astray from the path of pru-
dence, that he conferred the high dignities and
great offices of the country on men born on ano-
ther soil and without any affection for the land of
the English; the national fortresses were placed
in the keeping of military Normans; and Norman
priests were the intimate advisers, the religious
directors and chaplains of the king of England'.
Pretended relations of Ed-ward's passed the
strait in shoals, and were sure to be well re-
ceived. No one who solicited in the Norman”
tongue ever met with a refusal. This language
banished from the palace the national one,
which was an object of ridicule to the foreign
courtiers. The English who would please their
* Qui inopiam exulis pauculis beneficiis levărant. Willelm.
Malmesb. p. 81.
* Attrahens de Normanniä plurimos quos variis dignitatibus
promotos in immensum exaltabat. Ingulf. Croyl, p. 895. Me-
nast. Anglic. tom. I. p. 35.
* Gallicum idioma, Ingulf. Croyl.
II.
202
ANGLO-SAXON HISTORY.
BOOK king, must stammer out their flatteries in this
II.
favourite idiom. The ambitious and the in-
triguing studied it, and spoke it in their houses,
as the only one worthy of a man of honourable
birth"; they changed their long Saxon mantles
for the short cloaks of the Normans; in writing,
they imitated the lengthened form of the Norman
letters; and instead of signing their names to civil
acts, they suspended to them seals of wax in the
Norman manner. Every one of the national cus-
toms, even in the most indifferent things, was
abandoned to the lower orders".
But these orders, who had shed their blood
that England might be free, and were little struck
by the graces of the shortened habit and the
lengthened writing, thought that, under a na-
tional appearance, they found the government of
the foreigner silently reviving. God-win, al-
though he was the most elevated and the first in
dignity after the king, happily remembered his
plebeian origin, and took the part of the people
against the Norman favourites. The son of Ulf-
moth and his four sons, all brave warriors and en-
joying the affection of the people, united in rais-
ing their voices against the Norman influence, as
they had drawn the sword against the Danish
* Tanquam magnum gentilitium. Ingulf. p. 895.
" Propriam consuetudinem in his et in aliis multis erubescere.
Ingulf. Croyl, p. 895.
ELEVENTH CENTURY.
203
conquerors". In that very palace of which his Bººk
daughter and their sister was lady and mistress,
they returned insolence for insolence to the para-
sites and courtiers of Gaul. They turned their
exotic modes into derision, and blamed the weak-
ness of the king who gave them his confidence
and placed the fortunes of the country in their
hands'.
The Normans carefully collected their words,and
envenomed them at leisure; they then exclaimed
in Ed-ward's ears, that God-win and his sons in-
sulted him outrageously, that their arrogance had
mo bounds, and that they discovered an ambition
of reigning in his place, and a design of betray-
ing him". But while these accusations passed
current in the king's palace, a very different judg-
ment was formed in the popular assemblies", on
* Godwinum et natos ejus, magnanimos viros et industrios,
Willelm. Malmesb. p. 81.
7 In familiares ejus et de illius simplicitate solitos nugari.
Ibid.
* Magnä insolentifi et infidelitate in regem egisse, acquas sibi
partes in imperio vindicans, saepe insignes facetias in illum jacu-
lari. Willelm. Malmesb. p. 81.
* Fole-gemote, scire-gemot, a shire meeting. Burh-genot, a
town meeting. Wic-gemot, idem. Husting, council-house.
Hans-hus, a common or public house. Gild-hall, a club. Gild-
scipe, an association. See Hickes. Thesaur. Linguar, Septent., on
the social Institutions afthe Anglo-Saxons.
204
ANGLO-SAXON HISTORY.
Book the character and conduct of the Saxon chief and
II.
his sons. “Is it astonishing,” they would say,
“ that the author and supporter of Edward's reign
is indignant at seeing strangers from a foreign
nation rise above him 2 Yet he never utters a re-
proachful word against the man whom he himself
made king".” The Norman favourites were called
infamous informers and creators of discord and
trouble"; and a long life was wished to the great
chief, the chief magnanimous by sea and land".
Curses were heaped on the fatal marriage of Ethel-
red with a Norman woman, that union contracted
to save the country from a foreign invasion", but
from which there now resulted a new invasion,
a new conquest, under the mask of peace and
friendship.
We find a trace, perhaps indeed the original
expression, of these national maledictions, in a
passage of an ancient historian, in which the sin-
gular turn of idea and the vivacity of the lan-
guage seem to betray the style of the people:—
“The Almighty must have formed at the same
* Nunquam tamen contra regem quem semel fastigaverint
verbum etiam locutos. Willelm. Malmesb. p. 81.
* Delatores, discordiae seminatores. Ibid.
* Comes magnanimus per Angliam, terrá marique. Eadmeri
Hist. Novorum. p. 4.
* Ad tuitionem regni sui. Henrici Huntingd. p. 359.
ELEVENTH CENTURY.
205
time two plans of destruction for the English Book
race, and have been pleased to lay for them a sort
of military ambuscade"; for he let loose the Danes
on one side, and on the other carefully created
and cemented the Norman alliance; so that if, by
chance, we escaped from the open assaults of the
Danes, the unforeseen cunning of the Normans
might still be in readiness to surprise us".”
* Duplicem contritionem proposuit, et quasi militares insidias
adhibuit. Henrici Huntingd. p. 359.
* Utsi à Danorum manifestā fulminatione evaderent, Nor-
mannorum improvisam cautelam certë non evaderent. Ibid.
II.
B O O K III.
-º-
FROM THE ELECTION OF EDWARD TO THE BATTLE OF
HASTINGS,
-->
BOOK AMong those who came from Normandy and
" France to visit king Edward, was one Eustace,
1048, who on the other side of the channel bore
the title of Count of Boulogne. He govern-
ed hereditarily, under the superior authority
of the French kings, the town of Boulogne and
a small territory adjacent to the ocean; and, as
the badge of his dignity as chief of a maritime
county, attached to his helmet, when he armed
for war, two long plumes formed of whalebone *.
Eustace had just married Ed-ward's sister, who
was the widow of another Frenchman named
Gaultier of Mantes". The new brother-in-law of
the Saxon king, with a numerous suite, staid
some time at his court. He found the palace
full of men born in Gaul, like himself, and speak-
ing the Gallic idiom ; so that on his return Eng-
* Guillelm. Brito.—Script. Rer. Francic. tom. XIII. p. 263.
* Walterus Medentinus. Willelm. Malmesb. p. 81.
ELECTION OF EDWARD, &c.
207
land appeared to him like a conquered country, BOOK
where the Normans and the French might ven-
ture to do whatever they pleased. After resting
in the city of Canterbury, Eustace proceeded to-
wards Dover. At the distance of about a mile
from the town, he ordered his escort to halt, dis-
mounted from his travelling palfrey, and mounted
the great charger which one of his men led in the
right hand * : then, putting on his coat of mail, he
made all his attendants do the same; and in this
warlike attire they entered Dover". -
They marched insolently through the town,
marking out the best houses to pass the night in,
and placing themselves there as if by authority.
The inhabitants murmured, and one of them had
the courage to stop on his threshold the French-
man who was proceeding to take up his quar-
ters in his house. The foreigner drew his sword
and wounded the Englishman, who, hastily arm-
ing himself together with his family, attacked
and killed him. On hearing of this, Eustace
and all his troop quitted their lodgings, re-
mounted their horses, and laying siege to the
Englishman's house, they massacred him (says the
* Dextrarius, destrier.
* Chron. Saxon. Gibson, p. 163. Will. Malmesb. p. 81.
208
ELECTION OF EDWARD TO
Book Saxon chronicle) at his own fire-side". They then
III.
traversed the town sword in hand, striking the
men and women, and crushing the children under
their horses' feet'. It was not long before they
met a body of armed citizens; and in the conflict
which shortly ensued, nineteen of the Boulognese
were slain. Eustace fled with the rest of his fol-
lowers; but, not daring to make for the harbour,
and endeavour to embark, he returned towards
Gloucester, where king Edward, with his Norman
favourites, was then holding his court".
Eustace and his companions, say the chronicles,
made their peace with the king". He believed,
on his brother-in-law's word alone, that all the
blame was due to the people of Dover; and, filled
with violent wrath against them, sent with all
speed for God-win, in whose government this
town was comprised. “Go forthwith,” said Ed-
ward to him, “ and chastise by military execu-
tion' those who take up arms against my rela-
tives and disturb the peace of the kingdom.”
God-win, who could not so readily decide in fa-
vour of a foreigner against his fellow-countrymen,
* Binman his agenan heorthe. Chron. Saron. Gibson, p. 163.
* Pueros et infantes suorum pedibus equorum contriverunt.
Roger. de Hoved. Annales, p. 441.
* Chronici Saxon. Fragmentum apud Glossar. Ed. Lye.
"Et rex pacem eis dedit. Chron. Saxon. Frag.
* Mid unfritha. Chron. Saron. Gibson, p. 163.
The BATTLE of IIASTINGs.
209
proposed that, instead of exercising a blind ven- Book
geance upon the whole town, the magistrates
should, according to the forms of law, be sum-
moned to appear before the king and royal judges,
to answer for their conduct. “It is not fit,” said
he to the king, “ that you should condemn with-
out hearing those whom it is your duty to pro-
tect ...”
Edward's anger, inflamed by the clamours of
his favourites, was now turned entirely against
the English chief, who, being accused of dis-
obedience and rebellion, was summoned to ap-
pear before a great council convoked at Glouces-
ter. Godwin at first gave himself but little con-
cern about this accusation, thinking that the
king's passion would subside and the chiefs would
do him justice': but he soon learned that, by
means of the royal influence and the intrigues of
the foreigners, the assembly had been seduced and
would pronounce sentence of banishment upon
him and his sons. The father and the sons re-
Solved to oppose their popularity to these 'ma-
noeuvres, and to make an appeal to the English
people against the foreign courtiers ; although,
* Quos tutari debeas inauditos adjudices. Will. Malmesb.
p. 81.
'Godwino parvi pendente regis furorem ut momentaneum.
Ibid
VOL. I. P
III.
210
ELECTION OF EDWARD TO
BOOK (says the cotemporary chronicle) it was far from
III.
their minds to wish to do any violence to their
national king".
Godwin raised a troop of volunteers in the
country south of the Thames, the whole extent of
which was under his government. Harold, his
eldest son, assembled a number of men along the
eastern coasts, between the Thames and the
Wash; while his second son, named Sweyn, en-
gaged in this patriotic confederation the inha-
bitants of the banks of the Severn and the Welsh
frontiers. These three bodies united near Glou-
cester, and demanded of the king by message, that
Count Eustace and his companions, with several
other Normans and Boulonais who were then in
England, should be given up to national justice.
Edward gave no answer to these requests; but
sent orders to the two great chiefs of the north
and of the central counties, Siward and Leofric",
both Danes by birth, to march toward the south-
west with all the forces they could muster. The
* Licet illis odiosum videretur adversus eorum dominum ge-
nuinum. Kyne Hlaforde. Quicquam moliri. Chron. Sazon.
Gibson, p. 164.
* Or Sig-nard, Lef-ric. The Saxon and Danish proper names
having been at this period more or less corrupted by use, will
henceforward be given in that form (though sometimes incorrect)
in which they appear in the chronicles of the time.
TIHE BATTLE OF HASTINGS. 211
men of Northumbria and the marches, who armed Book
at the summons of the two chiefs, for the defence *
of the royal authority, did so with reluctance;
and Siward and Leofric heard it repeated by their
Soldiers, that those would be deceived who should
rely on their shedding the nation's blood for the
foreign interest, and serving under Edward's name
as instruments for the enemies of England".
Leofric and Siward were sensible to these re-
monstrances. The national distinction between
the Saxons and the Danes had become so faint,
that the old enmity of the two races could not
again be turned to the profit of the enemies of the
people. The chiefs and warriors of the north po-
Sitively refused to fight against the inhabitants of
the south, and proposed an armistice between the
king and Godwin, and that their difference should
be debated before an assembly held in London.
Edward was obliged to yield; Godwin, who did
not desire war for its own sake, willingly con-
Sented; and, says the Saxon chronicle, the peace
of God and a perfect friendship was sworn on
both sides". Such was the formula of the day;
*
* Suggerebant nonnulli quëd id valdé inconsultum crat.
Chron. Saron. Frag. Ed. Lye. Ně ipsicum suis compatriotis
bellum inirent. Rogerii de Hoved. Annales. p. 441.
* Godes grith and fullne freondscipe. Chron. Sacon. Gibson,
D. 164.
P 2
212
ELECTION OF EDWARD TO
BOOK but, on one side at least, these premises wanted
sincerity. The king, profited by the time which
remained to him before the meeting of the as-
sembly, which was fixed for the autumnal equinox,
to increase the strength of his troops; while God-
win retired towards the south-west; and his bands
of volunteers, having neither pay nor quarters,
returned to their families. The king, falsifying
his word, though indirectly, issued during the
interval his proclamation for the raising of an
army both on the north and on the south of the
Thames".
This army (say the chronicles) was the most
numerous that had been seen since the com-
mencement of the new reign'. Edward gave the
command of it to his favourites from the other
side of the channel; and among its principal chiefs
figured a young son of his sister Goda and the
Frenchman Gaultier de Mantes. The king can-
toned his forces in and near London; so that the
national council was opened in the midst of a
camp, under the influence of terror and the royal
Seductions. Godwin and his two sons were sum-
moned by this council, deliberating without any li-
" Bannan ut here. Chron. Sax. Gibson, p. 164. Chron.
Saxon. Frag. Ed. Lye.
* Omnium qui hâc usque fuerint optimum. Chron. Saxon.
Gibson, p 164.
THE BATTLE OF HASTINGS.
213
berty, to relinquish the benefit of the oaths which BOOK
had been sworn upon their hands by the few ar-
med men whom they had remaining", and to ap-
pear without an escort and without arms. They
answered that they were ready to obey the first
of these orders; but that before they repaired to
the assembly alone and without the means of de-
fence, they required hostages to guarantee their
personal safety in entering and coming away'.
They twice repeated this demand, which the mi-
litary parade exhibited in London fully justified";
and they were twice answered by a refusal and a
summons to appear without delay and bring with
them twelve witnesses to affirm their innocence
on oath. They did not come; and the great
council declared them wilfully contumacious,
granting them only five days to quit England
with all their family”. Godwin, his wife Githa
or Edith, and three of his sons, Sweyn, Tostig,
and Gurth, repaired to the eastern coast, and
embarked for Flanders. Harold and his brother
* Servitium militum suorum regi contraderent. Will. Mal-
ºnesb. p. 81.
* Rogabant pacem et obsides quð securi consilium ingrederen-
tur edgue egrederentur. Chron. Saron. Gibson.
" Non posse ad conventiculum factiosorum sinë vadibus et
obsidibus pergere. Will. Malmesb. p. 81.
* Five nihta grith. Chron. Sax. p. 164.
III.
214
ELECTION OF EDWARD TO
BOOK Leofwin went into the west, to Brig-stow, now
III.
Bristol, and passed the Irish sea. Before the ex-
piration of the term of five days, and in contempt
of the decree of the council, the king sent an
armed troop of horsemen in pursuit of them; but
the captain of the troop, a Saxon by birth, neither
overtook, nor had any desire to overtake them".
The possessions of Godwin and his sons were
seized and confiscated. His daughter and their
sister, the king's wife, was stripped of all that she
had in lands, furniture, and money. It was not
fit, said the foreign courtiers ironically, that at
the time when her family were suffering banish-
ment, she herself should sleep on down “. The
weak Edward even went so far as to allow her
to be imprisoned in a cloister with only one fe-
male attendant. The favourites pretended that,
although she shared his bed, she was his wife only
in name; and as he himself did not give the lie to
this ridiculous assertion, the Normans and the
priests raised for him, at very little cost, a reputa-
tion for sanctity*. The days that followed were
104.8
to
1051.
* At illinon potuerunt aut noluerunt. Chron. Sazon. Frag.
Ed. Lye. Chron. Gibson, p. 164. Rog. de Hoved, p. 442.
* Ne Scilicet omnibus suis parentibus patriam suspirantibus
sola sterteret in plumá. Will. Malmesb. p. 82.
* Nuptam rex hac arte tractabat, ut nec thoro emoveret mec
virili more cognosceret. Will. Malmesb. p. 80.
TIIE BATTLE OF IIASTINGS.
215
days of rejoicing and good-fortune for the foreign Book
parasites. Normandy furnished to England more
governors than ever; and the Normans gradually
obtained the same supremacy which the Danes
had formerly acquired by the sword. A monk
of Jumièges, named Robert, became archbishop
of Canterbury; another Norman monk was bishop
of London; Saxon prelates and abbots were re-
moved to make room for Frenchmen and pre-
tended relations of king Edward, through his
mother". The governments of Godwin and his
Sons fell to the share of men bearing foreign
names. One Eudes became chief of the four
counties of Devon, Somerset, Dorset, and Corn-
wall; and the son of Gaultier de Mantes, named
Raulfe, had charge of the county of Hereford
and the posts of defence established against the
Welsh *.
A new guest, and the most considerable of all,
soon arrived from Normandy, to visit king Edward,
and to proceed with a numerous retinue through
the towns and castles of England". This was
* Tunc Sparhafoeus abbas fuit pulsus suo episcopatu. Chron.
Saxon. Gibson, p. 165.
* Rog. de Hoved, p. 442. Will. Malm. p. 80–82. Th.
Rudborne, in Angliá Sacrá, tom. I. p. 291.
“Cum multo militum conventu ad civitates et castella circum
duxit. Ingulf. Croyl, p. 898.
III.
2
216
ELECTION OF EDWARD Tº O.
BOOK William, count or duke of Normandy, and bas-
III.
tard son to Robert the late Duke. Robert had
1024 him by a girl of Falaise, whom he had one day
lºsi. Seen, on his return from the chace, washing linen
in a brook with her companions. The Duke was
Smitten with her beauty; and, wishing to have
her for his mistress, sent (says a chronicler in
Verse") one of his most discreet cavaliers to make
proposals to the family. The father at first re-
ceived such proposals with disdain; but, on re-
flection, he went and consulted one of his brothers,
who was a hermit in the neighbouring forest, and
a man of great reputation for religion'; the reli-
gious man was of opinion that the will of the
powerful man should be done in all things; the
thing was granted (says the old poet,) and the night
and the hour agreed on *. The young woman was
called Arlete, a name corrupted in the Roman
tongue from the ancient Danish name Her-leve".
Duke Robert loved her much, and the child
* Beneit or Benoît de Ste. Maure.
* Ne fust un suen frère un seint hom, qu'il cust de grand re-
ligion . . . . Nouveaux Détails sur l’Histoire de Normandie, p.
430—438.
s Ibid.
* In Latin, Herleva. Her, eminent, eminently; leve, live, lif.
lib, dear.
TIRE BATTLE OF HASTING3.
21%
which he had by her was brought up with as
much care as if he had been the son of a wife'.
Young William was only seven years of age
when his father took it into his head to go in a
pilgrim's habit to Jerusalem, for the remission of
his sins. The Normans wished to detain him, re-
presenting to him that it would not be well for
them to be left without a chief. “By my troth,”
answered Robert, “I will not leave you without
a lord. I have a little bastard, who, if it please
God, will grow bigger: choose him forthwith ;
and, before you all, I will possess him of this
duchy as my successor".” The Normans did
what the Duke proposed, because (says the chro-
nicle) they found it convenient'; they swore fealty
to the child, and placed their hands in his ". But
several chiefs, and in particular the relations of
the former dukes, protested against this election,
saying that a bastard was not worthy to com-
mand the sons of the Danes". The friends of the
bastard made war upon them, and conquered
* Poem by Benoit de Ste. Maure. Rog. de Hoved, p. 442.
* Chron. de Normandie, Nouveaux Détails, p. 100. Recueil
des Historiens de la France et des Gaules, tom. XI. p. 400.
! Ibid.
" Manibus illorum manibus ejus, vice cordis, datis. Dudo
de Sto. Quintino Hist. p. 157.
." Guil. Gemeticensis, p. 268.
BOOK
III.
103 F.
218
ELECTION OF EDWARD TO
BOOK them, with the assistance of the king of France.
III.
William, as he advanced in age, became more
and more dear to his partisans. The day when
he for the first time put on armour and mounted
a war-horse, was a day of rejoicing in Normandy.
He occupied himself with military concerns from
his youth, and made war upon his neighbours of
Brittany and Anjou. He was passionately fond
of fine horses, especially those which bore proper
names to distinguish their genealogy”; and had
them brought (say his contemporaries) from Gas-
cony, Auvergne, and Spain. The young son of
Robert and Arlete was ambitious aad vindictive
to excess. He impoverished his father's family
as much as possible, to enrich his relatives by the
mother's side". He often punished in a sangui-
nary manner the railleries which the dishonour
of his birth drew upon him. One day when he
was attacking the town of Alençon, the besieged
thought proper to shout to him from the walls,
La peau / la peau / d la peau ! at the same time
beating some hides, in allusion to the trade of the
citizen of Falaise who was William's grandfather.
The bastard immediately had the feet and hands
* Qui nominibus propriis vulgö sunt nobilitati. Guillelm.
Putaviensis, p. 181.
" Chronique de Normandie, Nouveaux Détails, p. 246.
THE BATTLE OF HASTINGS. 219
of all the prisoners he had taken cut off and BOOK
thrown by his slingers into the town". III.
As he journeyed through the land of the Eng- 1051.
lish, the Duke of Normandy might have believed
for a moment that he was still in his own territo-
ries. The fleet which he found at Dover, was
commanded by Normans ; and at Canterbury,
Some Norman soldiers composed the garrison of
a fort built on the declivity of a hill". Crowds of
Normans came to salute him in the dress of cap-
tains or prelates. Edward's favourites came to
pay their respects to the chief of their native
country; and, to use the language of that day,
thronged round their natural lord. William ap-
peared in England more like a king than Edward
himself; and it was not long before his ambitious
mind conceived the hope of becoming so without
difficulty, at the death of this man whom he found
a slave to Norman influence. Such thoughts
could not fail to arise in the breast of the son of
Robert : however, according to the testimony of a
contemporary, he kept them perfectly secret; and
never spoke of them to Edward, believing that
things would of themselves take the course most
* Nouveaux Détails sur l’Hist. de Norm. p. 246. Dudo de Sto.
Quintino, p. 76, inter Script. Franc. tom. XI.
" Castellum in Doroberniae clivo. Roger. de Hoved, p. 441.
220
ELECTION OF EDWARD TO
BOOK to the advantage of his ambition’. Nor did Ed-
III.
ward, whether or not he thought of these pro-
jects and the opportunity of one day having his
friend for a successor, converse with him on the
subject during this visit; he only received him
with great tenderness, gave him arms, horses,
hounds, and falcons', and loaded him with all sorts
of presents and assurances of affection. Amid
the recollections of the country where he had
passed his youth, the king of the English suf-
fered himself to forget his own nation; but that
nation could not forget itself, and those who still
retained their love for it, had soon an opportu-
nity of commanding the king's attention".
In the summer of the year 1052, Godwin sailed
from Bruges with several vessels, and landed on
the coast of Kent. He sent secret messengers to
the Saxon garrison of the fort of Hastings, in the
county of Sussex; and other emissaries distributed
themselves over the country, in the south and in
the north. At their solicitation, many of those
who were capable of bearing arms bound them-
selves by oath to the cause of the exiled chief,
promising with one voice (says an old historian)
1052.
* De successione autem regni, spes adhuc aut mentio nulla
facta intereos fuit. Ingulf. Croyl. p. 898.
* Roman de Rou, par Maistre Gace ou Wace.
" Chron. Saxon. Gibson, p. 165.
THE BATTLE OF HASTINGS.
221
to live and die with him *. The news of this BOOK
movement reached the royal fleet, which was
cruising in the Eastern sea, under the orders of
the Normans Eudes and Raulfe. They pursued
Godwin, who, finding himself unequal in force,
gave way before them, and took shelter in the
Pevensey roads, while the enemy's vessels were
interrupted in their chace by a storm. He after-
wards coasted along the eastern shore as far as
the Isle of Wight, where his two sons Harold and
Leofwin, coming from Ireland, rejoined him with
a small army’.
The father and the sons together again began
to correspond with the inhabitants of the southern
counties. Wherever they landed, provisions were
furnished to them, the people bound themselves
by oath to their cause, and hostages were given
them *. All the royal corps of soldiers, all the
ships which they found in the ports, deserted to
them". They sailed for Sandwich, where their
disembarkation took place without any hindrance,
* Omnes uno ore, aut vivere aut mori se paratos esse promi-
serunt. Roger. de Hoved. p. 442.
* Chron. Saron. Gibson, p. 165. Roger. de Hoved. p. 442.
* Dati sunt eis victus et obsides quibuscumque in locis postu-
larent. Chron. Saron. Gibson, p. 167.
* Huscarlos omnes quos obvios invenerunt secum legentes.
*oger, de Hoved, p. 442.
III.
222
ELECTION OF EDWARD TO
BOOK notwithstanding Edward's proclamation, which
III.
ordered every inhabitant to prevent the passage
of the rebellious chief. The king was then in
London, and to that city he called all the war-
riors of the west and north. Few obeyed his
call, and those who did obey it came tardily".
Godwin's vessels were at liberty to ascend the
Thames, and arrived in sight of London, near the
suburb which was then, and is still called Suth-
werk". When the tide was down, they cast an-
chor, and secret emissaries were sent among the
inhabitants of London, who, following the ex-
ample of the inhabitants of the ports, swore that
they would do whatever was wished by the ene-
mies of the foreign influence". The vessels passed
under London bridge without opposition, and
landed a body of troops, which formed on the
bank of the river *.
Before a single bow was drawn, the exiles' sent
a respectful message to king Edward, asking a
revision of the sentence which had been executed
against them. Edward at first refused ; other
* At illinimis tardantes ad tempus non venerunt. Ibid.
• Sath-weorc. Itoger. de Hoved.
* Ut omnes ferð quae volcbat omninó vellent, effecit. Ibid.
p. 442.
* Chron. Saron. Gibson, p. 167.
* Elagati. (Tha Utlaga.) Ibid.
THE BATTLE OF HASTINGS.
223
messengers succeeded; and during these delays, BOOK
it was with difficulty that Godwin could restrain
the irritation of his friends". Edward, on the
other hand, found those who still adhered to his
cause but little disposed to fight against their fel-
low-countrymen". His foreign favourites, who
foresaw that union among the Saxons would be
their ruin, urged the king to give the signal for
battle; but, becoming wise through necessity, he
no longer listened to the Normans, but gave his
consent to whatever should be resolved on by the
English chiefs on both sides, who accordingly as-
sembled under the presidency of Stigand, bishop
of Est-anglia. They decided with one accord
that the king should accept from Godwin and his
Sons the oath of peace, with hostages, offering
them, on his part, equivalent guarantees'.
On the first rumour of this reconciliation, the
courtiers of Normandy and France" mounted
their horses in great haste, and fled in different
directions. Some reached a fortress in the West
commanded by the Norman Osbert, surnamed
* Adebut inse comes suos oºgrè sedaret. Chron. Saw. p. 167.
" Angli pugnare adversus propinquos et compatriotas poené
omnes abhorrebant. Rog. de Hoved. p. 442.
' Dereverunt ut sex obsidibus confirmaretur ex utrāque parte.
Chron. Saron. Gibson, p. 167.
“And tha Frencisce menn. Ibid. p. 167, 168.
224,
BLECTION OF EDWARD TO
Book Pentecôte. Others made all speed to a castle
III.
in the north, also commanded by a Norman. The
Normans, Robert archbishop of Canterbury and
William bishop of London, went out at the eas-
tern gate, followed by armed men of their own
nation, who massacred some of the English in
their flight'. They repaired to the coast, and
embarked in small fishing-boats. The archbishop,
in his trouble and haste, left in England his most
precious effects, and, among other things, the
pallium which he had received from the Roman
church as the ensign of his dignity".
A great council of the wise men was convoked
out of London, and, this time, assembled freely.
All the chiefs and the best men of the country
attended it, say the Saxon chronicles". Godwin
spoke in his own defence, and justified himself
from every accusation before the king and the
people"; his sons justified themselves in the same
manner; their sentence of exile was reversed;
and another sentence unanimously passed, which
'Egressi sunt orientali portă, occiderunt et aliàs confecerunt
multos juvenes. Chron. Sar. p. 167, 168.
* Vili naviculá propere transfretavit, et reliquit pallium suum
in håc terrá. Ibid.
* Tha bestan menn the woeron on thison lande. Chron. Sax.
Gibson, p. 168.
* Et coram universä gente (ealle land-leodan.) Ibid.
THIF BATTLE OF HASTINGS.
225
banished all the Normans from England, as ene- Book
mies to the public peace, favourers of discord, and
calumniators of the English to their king". The
youngest of Godwin's sons, named Ulfmoth after
his grandfather the herdsman of the West, was
placed in Edward's hands together with one of the
Sons of Sweyn, as hostages for the peace mutually
sworn. Borne away, even at this moment, by
his fatal inclination to friendship with the men
beyond the Channel, the king sent them both to
the care of William Duke of Normandy. God-
win's daughter came out of her cloister, and re-
turned to dwell in the palace. All the members
of this popular family resumed their honours, ex-
cepting only Sweyn, who voluntarily renounced
them. He had formerly committed a murder on
the person of a Dane, his relative; and he thought
his conscience would be set at rest by a journey
bare-foot to Jerusalem. He rigorously accom-
plished this painful pilgrimage, but a speedy
death was the consequence of it".
Stigand, the bishop who had presided at the as-
sembly held for the great reconciliation, took the
* Quod statum regni conturbarent, animum regis in provin-
Ciales agitantes. Willelm. Malmesb. p. 82.
" Chronic. Saron. p. 168. Will. Malmes. p. 82. Script.
*ranc. tom. XI. p. 174. Roger. de Howeden, p. 442. Eadmeri
Hist, p. 4.
WOL * I. Q
III.
226
ELECTION OF EDWARD TO
bººk place of the Norman Robert as archbishop of Can-
terbury; and while waiting to obtain from the
Roman church the decoration of the pallium for
himself, he officiated at the pontifical mass in the
pallium which Robert had left at his departure.
The Normans, Hugues and Osbert Pentecôte, gave
up the keys of the castles which they held, and ob-
tained safe conduct out of the kingdom'; but, at
the request of the weak Edward, some infractions
were made in the decree of banishment passed
against every foreigner. Raulfe (the son of Gaul-
tier de Mantes and of the king's sister), Robert,
surnamed the Dragon, and his son-in-law Richard
the son of Scrob; Oufroy, equerry of the pa-
lace, Oufroy, surnamed Jay-foot, and others, for
whom the king had a particular friendship, and
who had not been distinguished for their em-
mity against the popular cause, had the privilege
of living in England and retaining their employ-
ments'. Guillaume, bishop of London, was, some
time afterwards, recalled and reinstated in his
episcopal see; and a Fleming named Herman re-
mained bishop of Wilton. Godwin opposed this
toleration so contrary to the public will with all
* Reddiderunt sua castella. Rog. de Hoved. p. 443.
° Oufridum cognomento Ceokesfoot (al. Ceousfoot) . . . .
et quosdam alios quos plus cæteris rex dilexerat, eique et omni
populo fideles exstiterant. Rog. de Hoved. p. 443.
7
THE BATTLE OF HASTINGS.
227
his might': but his voice did not prevail; for BOOK
there were many whose policy it was to appear
full of complaisance towards the king, perhaps
with the view of succeeding the foreign courtiers
in his favour. Subsequent events proved whether
these men of the court or the austere Godwin ad-
vocated the soundest policy".
It is difficult at this day to ascertain the degree
of Edward's sincerity in his return to the national
interest and his reconciliation with the family of
Godwin. When surrounded by the countrymen
of his ancestors, perhaps he thought himself im-
prisoned; perhaps he believed himself to be a
slave when obeying the wishes of the people who
had chosen him for their king when they were free
to choose another *. His ulterior relations with
the Duke of Normandy, and his private conversa-
tions with the Normans whom he kept about him,
form the secret part of this history. All that the
chronicles of the time say of it is, that an appa-
rent friendship existed between the king and his
father-in-law, and at the same time the name of
Godwin was loudly cursed in Normandy. All the
Normans whom his return had driven from their
* Godwinus comes obstiterat. Ranulphus Higden. p. 281.
" Rog. de Hoved. p. 442, 443. Gervasius Cantuariensis,
p. 1651. Itanulph. Higdeni Polychronicon, p. 281.
* Gecas to cynge. Chron. Saxon. Gibson.
III.
Q 2
228
ELECTION OF EDWARD TO
BOOK posts of profit and honour, all those to whom the
III.
easy and brilliant career of the courtier was now
closed, united in calling Godwin a traitor, an
enemy to his king, and the murderer of young
Alfred 9.
This last charge was the most credited, and
pursued the Saxon patriot to the hour of his
death. One day, when seated at Edward's table,
he suddenly fainted away; and this accident was
the foundation of a romantic and very doubtful
story, although it is repeated by several histo-
rians. They relate that one of the attendants,
while filling a goblet, made a false step and stum-
bled, but saved himself from falling by the help of
his other leg. “Ah!” said Godwin, laughing, to
the king, “the brother came to help his brother.”
“No doubt,” returned Edward, casting a signifi-
cant glance at the Saxon, “the brother has need
of his brother; and would to God that mine
were still living !” “O king,” exclaimed Godwin,
“ wherefore is it that the least remembrance of
thy brother makes thee look with an evil eye on
me. If I contributed, even indirectly, to his mis-
fortune, may the God of heaven cause this mouth-
ful of bread to choke me .” Godwin put the
' Will. Malmesb. p. 80, 81. More correctly, AClfred, or Elf-
red. See book II, p. 106.
* Henrici Huntingd, p. 360. Will, Malmesb. p. 81.
THE BATTLE OF IIASTINGS.
9
2
*
6)
bread into his mouth, say the writers who relate this BQOK
adventure, and was immediately suffocated. The
truth is, that his death was not so sudden; but that,
having fallen from his seat, he was carried out of the
apartment by two of his sons, Tostig and Gurth,
and expired five days after". The accounts of all
these events generally vary, as the writer happens
to have been of Norman or of English birth. “I
constantly see before me,” says an historian who
lived within a century afterwards, “two roads—
two opposite versions; and I wish my readers to
be forewarned of the danger to which I am myself
exposed".”
A short time after the death of Godwin, died
Siward, the chief of Northumbria, who had first
embraced the royal party against Godwin, and af-
terwards voted for peace and the expulsion of the
foreigners. He was a Dame by birth, and the po-
pulation of the same origin which he commanded
had surnamed him the Strong ºf there was shewn
for a long time after a rock of granite which he
* Quintã post häc ſerià vità decessit. Rog. de Hoved. Hist.
P. 443.
* Periclitatur oratio . . . . . lectorem praemonitum velim quðd
hâc quasi ancipitem viam narrationis video, quia veritas factorum
Pendet in dubio. Will. Malmesb. p. 80.
* Sig-vard Digr. Script. Rer. Danic, tom. III. p. 302.
III
230
ELECTION OF EDWARD TO
BOOK had cloven with one stroke of an axe". Being at-
III.
tacked by dysentery, and feeling his end approach,
he said to those about him, “Lift me up, that I
may die standing, and not lying down like a cow.
Put on my coat of mail; cover my head with my
helmet; put my buckler on my left arm, and my
gilded axe in my right hand, that I may expire in
arms “.” Siward left a son called Waltheof, who
was too young to succeed him in the government
of Northumbria; and this post was given to Tostig
the third son of Godwin. Harold, the eldest, suc-
ceeded his father in the command of all the coun-
try south of the Thames: and placed the adminis-
tration of the eastern territories, which he had go-
verned until then, in the hands of Alfgar son of
Leofric'.
Harold now stood first among the brave and
powerful men of England. He compelled the
Welsh, who, encouraged by the bad defence of
the Frenchman Raulfe and his foreign soldiers
cantoned at Hereford", made about this time
several irruptions into England, to retire within
1055.
* Script. Rer. Danic, tom. III. p. 802.
* Henrici Huntingd. p. 366. Ranulph. Higden. Polychron.
p. 281.
* Roger. de Hoved, p. 443. Ingulf. Croyl. p. 898.
* See p. 215.
THE BATTLE OF HASTINGS.
231
their ancient limits. Raulfe shewed but little
vigilance for the preservation of a country
which was not his own ; and if, by virtue of
his authority as chief, he called the Saxons to
arms, it was to train them, against their own in-
clinations, to the tactics of the continent, and
make them fight on horseback, contrary to their
national custom". The English, encumbered with
their accoutrements and deserted by their general,
who fled at the first approach of danger, offered
no resistance to the Welch, so that they invaded
the environs of Hereford, and plundered the town
itself". Harold then came from the south of Eng-
land; drove the Cambrians beyond their frontiers;
and compelled them to swear that they would
never again pass them, and to accept as a law, that
every man of their nation taken in arms on the
eastern side of Offa's entrenchment, should have
his right hand cut off. It appears that the Saxons
raised a parallel entrenchment on their own side;
and that the interval between the two became a
sort of free territory for the traders of both nations.
* Anglos contrà morem in equos pugnare jussit. Rog. de
Hoved. p. 444.
* Sed clim praelium essent commissuri, comes cum suis Fran-
cis et Normannis primus fugam capessit, Rog. de Hoved. P.
444.
BOOK
II.
1063.
232
ELECTION of EDwARD To
BOOK Antiquaries think that they can still discern traces
III.
1064.
of this double line of defence, and, upon the heights
on each side, some remains of ancient fortified
posts established by the Britons on the west and
the English on the east'.
While Harold was thus adding to his renown
and popularity among the Anglo-Saxons of the
south, his brother Tostig was far from gaining the
love of the Anglo-Danes of the north. Tostig,
though a Dane by the mother's side, yet, either
through the instinct of personal despotism, or
through a false national pride, treated those under
him rather as subjects than as citizens voluntarily
united, and made them feel the yoke of a conque-
ror rather than the authority of a chief. He vio-
lated their hereditary customs at pleasure, levied
enormous tributes, and put to death without a
legal sentence those who gave him umbrage".
After several years of oppression, the patience of
the Northumbrians was exhausted; and a troop of
insurgents, led by two men of great note in the
country, suddenly presented themselves at the
gates of York: the chief escaped by flight; but
Wat's Dike. Pennant's Tour in Wales, Rog. de Hoved.
p. 444.
k Sub pacis foedere per insidias occidi praecepit . . . . pro
immunitate tributi quod de totă Northumbriá injustè acceperat'
Roger. de Hoved. p. 446.
THE BATTLE OF HASTINGS.
3.
2
£º
t)
a great number of his officers and ministers, of BOOK
Saxon as well as of Danish origin, were put to III.
death.
The insurgents seized the arms and treasures
of the despot ; then, assembling a national council,
they publicly declared him to be deprived of his
power and outlawed'. They chose as his succes-
sor Morkar, one of the sons of that Alfgar who, on
the death of his father Leofric, had become chief
of all Mercia. The son of Alfgar repaired to
York, took the command of the Northumbrian
army, and drove Tostig towards the south. The
army advanced through the Mercian territory as
far as Northampton, and was joined by many of
the inhabitants of the country. Edwin, the bro-
ther of Morkar, who had a command on the fron-
tiers of Wales, armed in his brother's cause some
troops of his province, as also a body of Cam-
brians, who were engaged by the promise of pay,
and perhaps partly by the desire of gratifying their
national hatred by fighting against Saxons, though
under a Saxon, banner".
On receiving intelligence of this great move-
ment, Edward ordered Harold to march with the
warriors of the south and east to meet the insur-
| Exlegaverunt. Roger. de Hoved. p. 446.
* Multi item Britones (Bryttas) cum co venerunt. Chron.
Sax. Gibson, p. 171. Roger. de Hoved, p. 446.
Ö
234
ELECTION OF EDWARD TO
BOOK gents. Family pride, wounded in the person of a
III.
brother, seemed to combine with the natural aver-
sion of men in power to every energetic act of po-
pular independence, to make Harold an implacable
enemy to the people who had driven away Tostig,
and the chief whom that people had elected. But
the son of Godwin proved himself superior to these
vulgar passions; and before drawing the sword
against his fellow-countrymen, proposed to the
Northumbrians a conference to treat for peace.
They stated their grievances, and the motives of
their insurrection: Harold strove to exculpate his
brother, and promised in his name a better conduct
for the future, if the people would receive him
again; but the men of Northumbria protested
with one voice against any reconciliation with him
who had been their tyrant". “We were born
free,” said they, “and brought up in freedom; a
haughty chief is a thing insupportable to us, for
we have learned from our ancestors to live freemen
or to die".” They charged Harold himself to carry
their answer to the king. Harold, preferring jus-
tice and the tranquillity of the country to the in-
* Omnes unanimi consensu contradixerunt. Roger. de Hoved.
p. 446.
* Se homines liberê natos, liberê educatos, nullius ducis fe-
rociam pati posse, a majoribus didicisse aut libertatem aut mor-
tem. Will. Malmes. p. 88.
THE BATTLE OF HASTINGS.
235
terest of his own brother ", repaired to Edward; BOOK
and when he returned, he himself swore to the
Northumbrians the peace which the king granted
them and which legalised the expulsion of Tostig
and the election of Alfgar's son". Tostig, dissa-
tisfied with king Edward, with his countrymen
who had abandoned him, and especially with his
brother, whom he thought bound to defend his
cause, whether just or unjust, left England with
hatred in his breast, and repaired to the Count of
Flanders, whose daughter he had married.
From the period of England's deliverance from
the Danish dominion, the law of Knut for raising
an annual tribute to St. Peter and the Roman
church, had shared the fate of all the other laws
decreed by the foreigner'. The public adminis-
tration compelled no one to observe it, and Rome
now received from England only the offerings and
voluntary gifts of individual devotion. The an-
cient friendship of the Roman priests for this peo-
ple, too, declined rapidly. Conversations to the
prejudice of them and their chief were held in
mystic style in the halls of St. John of Lateran’.
* Qui magis quietem patriae quâm fratris commodum atten-
deret. Ibid.
* Id cis narravitet manu data confirmavit. Chron. Saw, p. 171,
* See Book II. p. 174.
* Membra mali capitis. Epistola Hildebrandi.
I ()4.2
to
1064.
236
ELECTION OF EDWARD TO
BQOK The English bishops were accused of simony", that
*=º
is, of paying money for their sees, a very singular
reproach in the mouths of the Romans, who were
accustomed to sell every thing". Eldred, arch-
bishop of York, received the first marks of enmity
from this senate clothed in purple, who, like the
sons of Mars, passed judgment on the chiefs of all
nations. He came to the Eternal City to solicit the
pallium, the indispensable ensign of high Catholic
prelacy, as the purple robes transmitted by the
Caesars to the royal vassals of ancient Rome were
the sign of sovereignty. The Roman priests re-
fused the archiepiscopal mantle to Eldred; but a
Saxon chief who accompanied him threatened to
retaliate by procuring the entire prohibition of the
sending of money to the Holy City “: the Romans
yielded; but resentment for this constraint and the
desire of revenge took possession of their hearts.
The Norman, Robert de Jumièges, expelled by
the English people from the archbishopric of Can-
terbury, went to Rome after the banishment of the
foreigners, to complain that a sacred character
had been violated in his person, and to denounce
as a usurper and an intruder Stigand the Saxon,
whom the popular voice had appointed to fill his
1058.
1058
to
1059.
* Vita Pontificum.—Will. Malmesb. lib. III. p. 100.
" Ubi venalitas multim operatur. Ran. Higden. p. 280.
* Willelm. Malmesb.—Vitae Pontificum, lib. III. p. 100.
THE BATTLE OF HIASTINGS.
237.
place. The Roman pontiff and his cardinal priests BOOK
received these complaints with eagerness; they
made it a capital crime in the Saxon prelate to
have invested himself with the pallium which Ro-
bert had left behind him in his flight'; and the
complainant returned into Normandy with papal
letters which declared him to be lawful archbishop
of Canterbury against the will of the people”.
| Stigand, the choice of the people, feeling the
danger of not being recognised at Rome, negoci-
ated during this interval, and requested the pal-
lium from the reigning pope; but, by a chance
which it was impossible to foresee, this request it-
self gave rise to other perplexing embarrassments.
At the moment when it reached the pontifical
court, the papacy was in the hands of a man elected
by the Roman citizens against the wish of the king
of the Germans, who, by virtue of his title of Caesar,
which a former pontiff had conferred on the Frank
Karl", pretended that no sovereign pontiff could
be created without his consent. This pope was
Benedict, the tenth of the name, who, being more
disposed than his predecessor to respect those na-
tional rights which the foreigner attacked in his
* See p. 224. •."
* Cum apostolicis litteris rediens. Ranulphi Higden. p. 280.
Willelm. Malmesb. p. 82.
* See book II. p. 145.
III.
238
ELECTION OF EDWARD TO
BOOK own person, did not refuse the pallium to the Sax-
III.
1 059.
I 0.59
to
1065.
on Stigand; but soon afterwards, an army of Ger-
mans, bringing in their train a pope chosen by
themselves, came to expel Benedict from Rome,
and enthrone his rival, who, without any scruple,
arrayed himself in the pontifical decorations left by
the vanquished pope, degraded him, excommuni-
cated him, and annulled all his acts. Stigand,
therefore, found himself once more without the
pallium, charged before the papal power with
usurpation, and with a fresh and much more se-
rious crime, in having solicited and received the
pallium from a false and excommunicated pope".
The journey from Canterbury to Rome was, in
those times, a painful one; Stigand was not eager
to go and justify himself before the fortunate ri-
val of Benedict X. ; and the old leaven of hatred
against the English people fermented more strong-
ly than ever *. -
Another incident gave to the Romans an oppor-
tunity of associating their hatred with the desire
of revenge excited in many of the Normans by the
pretended treachery of Godwin, and with the am-
bitious projects of Duke William. Lanfranc, a
* Stigandus accēpit pallium a Benedicto anti-papā. Anglia
Sacra, tom. I. p. 791.
* Dr. Potter—Spirit of the Church, vol. V. p. 312 and 314.
Ingulf. Croyland. p. 898.
THE BATTLE OF HASTINGS.
239
monk of Normandy, of Lombard origin, and fa- Book
mous in the Christian world for his writings, at
first suspected of heresy and afterwards devoted
to the defence of the Catholic dogmas, incurred
William's displeasure by blaming the marriage of
the Norman Duke with Mathilde, daughter to Baud-
vin, count of Flanders, and his kinswoman in a de-
gree forbidden by the church. Driven from the
presence of the Norman, of whom he had been the
intimate adviser, the Lombard repaired to Pope
Nicholas at Rome, who refused to recognise and
sanction the union of the married pair. Like an
able courtier to both the rival powers, Lanfranc,
far from complaining of William, respectfully
pleaded with the pontiff the cause of the marriage,
which he would not take upon himself to approve".
By his entreaties and his address, he obtained a
formal dispensation—a signal service, for which his
patron received him into greater intimacy than
before. He became the soul of his councils, and
his plenipotentiary to Rome. The respective pre-
tensions of the Roman priests and of the Norman,
With regard to England, were, it should appear,
from that time, the subject of serious negociations.
An armed invasion was, perhaps, not yet thought
of; but William's relationship to Edward seemed
* Ut ageret produce Normannorum et conjuge ejus. Mabil-
'on,-Annales Benedictini.
III.
240
ELECTION OF EDWARD TO
Bººk one great mean of success, and at the same time
an incontestable title in the eyes of the Roman
priests, who favoured, throughout Europe, the
maxims of hereditary royalty in opposition to the
practice of election".
The usages of the Anglo-Saxons were, on this
point, contrary to the Roman maxims. They would
take a bastardson for their king, when there were
legitimate ones; a brother, when there were sons;
and did not accept the eldest son himself, until
they had compared his merits with those of the
other candidates'. But what were the laws and
customs of foreign nations to the Cisalpines 2 They
were ignorant of and despised those laws. What-
ever they themselves deemed conformable to their
interests, whatever they had traditionally retained
of the customs of the old empire, or learned from
the Hebrew history, was in their opinion the su-
preme law for every people of every race and lan-
guage—the universal and sacred law which every
man ought to acknowledge, on pain of excommu-
nication and war, on pain of death in this world
and in the mext.
The internal peace of England had continued un-
disturbed for two years. The aged Edward's animo-
sity against the sons of Godwin was disappearing
I065.
* Mabillon—Annales Benedictini, tom. IV. p. 58.
* See Book II. p. 121.
TO THE BATTLE OF HASTINGS.
241
for want of nourishment and through the habit of BOOK
living amongst them. Harold, the new chief of
that popular family, fully paid to the king that
respectful and submissive deference of which he
was so jealous. Some ancient accounts say that Ed-
Ward loved him and treated him as his own son *;
but at least he did not feel towards him the kind
of aversion mixed with fear with which Godwin
had inspired him; nor had he any longer a pre-
text for detaining as guarantees against the son
the hostages which he had received from the fa-
ther. It will be remembered that these hostages
had been confided by the suspicious Edward to
the care of the Duke of Normandy. For more
than ten years, they had been in a sort of capti-
vity, far from their country. Towards the close
of the year 1065, Harold, their brother and uncle,
thinking the moment favourable for obtaining
their deliverance, asked the king's permission to
go and claim them in his name and bring them
out of exile. Edward, without evincing any re-
luctance to part with the hostages, was alarmed
at Harold's intention of going himself into Nor-
mandy. “I will not restrain thee,” said he: “ but
if thou depart, it will be without my wish; for
thy journey will certainly bring some misfortune
* Et eum loco ſilii habuit. Snorre, tom. III. p. 143.
VOL. I. R
III.
242
ELECTION OF EDWARD TO
BOOK upon thyself and upon our country. I know
III.
Duke William, and his crafty spirit. He hates
thee, and will grant thee nothing, unless he derive
a great profit from it. The way to make him
give up the hostages would be to send some other
person than thyself".”
The Saxon, brave and full of confidence, did
not act upon this advice; but set out, as if on a
journey of pleasure, with his bird on his hand and
his dogs running before him . He embarked at
one of the ports of Sussex. His two vessels were
carried out of their course by contrary winds, and
driven towards the mouth of the Somme, to that
part of the coast which belonged to Guy, count
of Ponthieu. It was the custom of this maritime
country, as of many others in the middle ages,
that every stranger thrown upon the coast by a
storm, instead of being humanely assisted, should
be imprisoned and have a ransom set upon him.
Harold and his companions were dealt with ac-
cording to this law; after being stripped of the
best part of their baggage, they were shut up by
* Chronique de Normandie—Recueil des Hist. de la France,
tom. XIII. p. 223. Wace, Roman de Rotº-Ibid. Eadmeri
Hist. p. 4.
" Tapisserie de Bayeux.
THE BATTLE OF IIASTINGS. 24.3
the lord of the place in his fortress of Belram, BOOK
now Beaurain, near Montreuil “. III.
To escape a long and wearisome captivity, the
Saxon declared himself to be the bearer of a mes-
sage from the king of England to the duke of
Normandy, and sent to William to request that he
would release him from prison, in order that he
might wait upon him. William did not hesitate
to demand from his neighbour of Ponthieu the
liberty of the captive, at first simply with threats,
and without saying any thing of ransom. The
Count of Ponthieu was deaf to menaces, and
yielded only to the offer of a large sum of money
and a fine tract of land on the river Eamore'.
Harold repaired to Rouen; and the bastard of
Normandy had then the supreme satisfaction of
having near him and in his power the son of the
great enemy of the Normans, one of the chiefs of
that national league which had caused the ba-
nishment from England of the foreign courtiers,
the friends and relatives of William, the sup-
porters of his hopes, and the favourers of his pre-
* Chron. de Normandie—Recueil des Hist. de la France, tom.
XIII. Eadmeri Histor, Novorum, p. 5. Aluredus Beverlacen-
sis, p. 125.
' Chronique de Normandie-Recueil des Hist, de la France,
tom. XIII.
R 2
244.
ELECTION OF EDWARD TO
BOOK tensions to thesovereignty of the English". William
III.
received the Saxon chief with great honours and
an appearance of frankness and cordiality: he told
him that the two hostages were free at his re-
quest, and he might return with them immedi-
ately; but that, as a courteous guest, he ought
not to be in such haste, but to stay at least
for a few days, to see the towns and the amuse-
ments of the country. Harold went from town to
town, and from castle to castle; and took part,
with his young companions, in the military jousts.
Duke William made them knights, that is, mem-
bers of the high Norman military order, a sort of
warlike fratermity, into which every man of wealth
who devoted himself to arms might be introduced
under the auspices of some old member, who, with
due ceremony, presented to him a sword, a bal-
drick plated with silver, and a lance decorated
with a streamer. The Saxon warriors received
from their sponsor in chivalry, presents of fine
arms and horses of great value". William then
proposed that they should try their new spurs
* Fuerunt enim antè inimici ad invicem. Mathaus Parisiensis,
tom. I. p. 1. Henrici Hunting. p. 367.
* Armes et draps lui fit bailler. Wace, Roman de Rou.
Armis militaribus et equis delectissimis. Guill. Pictav. p. 191.
Tapisserie de Bayeur.
THE BATTLE OF HASTINGS, ,
24.5
by following him in an expedition which he was Book
undertaking against his neighbours of Brittany.
The son of Godwin and his friends, foolishly
eager to acquire a renown for courage among the
men of Normandy, displayed for their host, at the
expence of the Britons, a prowess which was one
day to cost them and their country very dear.
During the whole war, Harold and William had
but one tent and one table *. On their return,
they rode side by side, amusing each other on the
way with pleasant stories P. One day, William
turned the conversation upon his early intimacy
with king Edward. “When Edward and I,” said
he to the Saxon, “lived like brothers under the
same roof, he promised that if ever he became
king of England, he would make me heir to his
kingdom. Harold, I wish that thou wouldst assist
me to realize this promise; and be sure that if,
by thy aid, I obtain the kingdom, whatever thou
shalt ask, I will grant it thee".” Harold, though
surprised at this unexpected excess of confidence,
could not refrain from answering by some vague
promises of coalition ; and William resumed in
* Hospitem quasi contubernalem habens. Guill. Pict. p. 191.
* Tales togeder thei told, ilk on a good palfray. Robert
Brüne's Chronicle, p. 68.
* Eadmeri Hist. p. 5. Chronique de Normandie, Guill.
Pictav. p. 191.
III.
240
ELECTION OF EDWARD TO
BOOK these terms:—“Since thou consentest to serve
III.
me, thou must engage to fortify the castle of
Dover, to sink in it a well of fresh water, and to
give it up to my troops; thou must also give me
thy sister, that I may marry her to one of my
chiefs; and thou thyself must marry my daughter
Adela: moreover, I wish thee, at thy departure,
to leave me one of the hostages which thou claim-
est, as a surety for the fulfilment of thy promise;
he shall remain in my keeping; and I will restore
him to thee in England, when I shall arrive there
as king'.” On hearing these words, Harold per-
ceived all his danger, and that into which he
had unconsciously drawn his two young relatives.
To escape from his embarrassment, he complied
in words with all the Norman's demands"; and
he who had twice taken up arms to drive away
the foreigners from his country, promised to de-
liver up to a foreigner the principal fortress in
that same country. He rescrved to himself to
break this unworthy engagement at a future day,
thinking to purchase his safety and repose with a
falsehood. William pressed him no further at that
moment; but he did not long leave the Saxon at
peace on this point.
Chron. de Normandie. Eadmeri IIist. p. 5.
* Sensit Haroldus periculum, nec intellixit quo evadcret. Ibid.
f,
THE BATTLE OF HASTINGS.
24.7
In the town of Avranches, or in that of Bayeux, BOOK
for the testimonies vary with regard to the place,
the Norman Duke convoked a great council of the
chiefs and rich men of Normandy—of all those
superior persons who were called bers or barons,
in the same manner as the great men of the Frank
country'. The day before that fixed for the as-
sembly, William had brought from all the places
round, bones and relics of saints, sufficient to fill
a great chest or cask, which was placed in the hall
of council and covered with cloth of gold ". When
the Duke had taken his seat in the chair of state,
holding a rich sword in his hand, crowned with a
golden wreath, and surrounded by the crowd of
Norman chiefs, amongst whom was the Saxon, a
missal was brought, opened at the Gospel, and
laid upon the cask of relics. William then said,
“Harold, I require thee before this noble assem-
bly, to confirm by oath the promises which thou
hast made me—viz. to assist me in obtaining the
kingdom of England after king Edward's death,
to marry my daughter Adela, and to send me thy
* See Book II. p. 150.
º Tout une cuve en fist emplir
Puis la fist d'une paille covrir
Que Herart ne sout ne ne vist;
Wace, Roman de Rou. Mémoires de l'Académie
des Inscriptions, tom. VIII.
III.
248
ELECTION OF Eſ) WARI) TO
BOOK sister, that I may give her to one of my followers”.
X y?
The Englishman, once more taken by surprise,
and not daring to deny his own words, approach-
ed the missal with a troubled air, laid his hand
upon it, and swore to execute to the utmost of his
power his agreement with the duke, if he lived,
and with God's help. The whole assembly re-
peated, May God be thy help * 1 William imme-
diately made a sign, on which the cloth was re-
moved, and discovered the bones and skeletons
which filled the cask to the brim, and which the
son of Godwin had sworn upon without knowing
it. The Norman historians say that he shuddered
at the sight of this enormous heap". Harold soon
after departed, taking with him his nephew, but
compelled to leave his young brother behind him
in the hands of the Norman. William accompa-
nied him to the sea-side ; and made him fresh
presents, rejoicing that he had, by fraud and sur-
prise, obtained from the man in all England most
capable of frustrating his projects, a public and
solemn oath to serve and assist him *.
When Harold, at his return, presented himself
* Wace. Eadmerus, p. 5. Guill. Pictav. p. 191.
* Plusours dient, que Diex lidont. Wace, Roman de Rou.
* Wace, Mem. de l'Académie des Inscriptions, tom. VIII.
* Guill. Pictav. p. 192. Eadm. Hist, p. 5.
2
THE BATTLE OF HASTINGS.
249
before king Edward, and related all that had Book
passed between Duke William and himself, the
king became pensive, and said to him, “Did I
not forewarn thee that I knew this William, and
that thy journey would bring calamity on thyself
and on our nation. Heaven grant that these mis-
fortunes may not happen during my life"?” These
words and this sadness seemed to prove that Ed-
ward had really, in his youthful and thoughtless,
days made a foolish promise to the foreigner of
a dignity which belonged only to the English
people, who alone had the right of giving and
transferring it. It is not known whether after his
accession he had nourished the ambitious hopes
of William by words; but in default of express
words, his constant friendship for the Norman had,
with the latter, been equivalent to a positive as-
surance, and a sufficient reason for believing that
Edward continued favourable to his views, and
was an accomplice in his ambition.
Whatever secret negociations had taken place
between the duke of Normandy and the Roman
church, they were able from that moment to have
a more fixed basis and a more determinate direc-
tion. An oath sworn upon relics, however ab-
* Nonné dixi tibi me nosse Willelmum ? Eadmeri Hist.
P. 5. Roger. de Hºff p. 449. Aluredus Beverlacensis, p. 126.
III.
250
ELECTION OF EDWARD TO
BOOK surd the oath might be, called down the vengeance
III.
*.
of the Church, if violated; and in that case, accord-
ing to the vulgar opinion of the age, the Church
struck lawfully. Either from a secret feeling of
the dangers with which this ecclesiastical ven-
geance associated with the vengeance and ambi-
tion of the Normans, seemed to threaten England,
or from a vague impression of superstitious
terror, a great dejection of mind overcame the
English nation. Sinister reports were circulated ;
men feared and were alarmed, without any posi-
tive cause for alarm. They raked up old predic-
tions, attributed to saints of former times. One
of them had prophesied misfortunes such as the
Saxons had never suffered since they left the
banks of the Elbe". Another had foretold an in-
vasion by a people of an unknown tongue, and
the subjection of the English people to masters
from beyond the sea". All these visions, which
either had remained until then without credit, or
* Venientes super Anglorum gentem mala qualianon passasunt
exquo venit in Angliam usque ad tempus illud. Joan. Fordun.
Historia, in Collect, XXX. Scriptor. Gale, tom. II. p. 681.
* Imperatum eis à Francià adventurum dominorum, quëd et
eorum excellentiam deprimeret in perpetuum, et honorem sinc
termino restitutionis eventilaret, Henrici Huntingd. p. 359.
Jo, Brompton, p. 909. Dira et diuturma ab exteris gentibus.
Anglia Sacra, tom. II. p. 118.
THE BATTLE OF HASTINGS.
51
Q
º
were forged at the moment, were eagerly re- Book
ceived, and kept the minds of the people in ex-
pectation of some unavoidable calamity.
The life of Edward, who was naturally of a
weak constitution, and had, it should appear, be-
come more sensible to his country's destiny, de-
clined from the period of these events. He could
not disguise to himself that his love for the fo-
reigners was the sole cause of the dangers which
seemed to threaten England; and his gloom
was greater than that of the people. In order
to stifle these thoughts, and perhaps the remorse
which preyed upon his mind, he gave himself
wholly up to the details of religious observances;
he made large donations to the churches and mo-
masteries; and his last hour surprised him in the
midst of these mournful and unprofitable occupa-
tions. On his death-bed, he discoursed inces-
santly on his gloomy presentiments; he had
frightful visions; and in his melancholy extasies,
the menacing passages of the Bible recurred invo-
luntarily and confusedly to his memory. “The
Lord hath bent his bow,” he would exclaim, “the
Lord hath prepared his sword, he waveth and
brandisheth it like a warrior. He will manifest
his wrath by fire and sword “.” These words
* Et ecce Dominus arcum suum tetendit, gladium suum vibra-
vit et paravit . . . . igne simulet gladio puniendi. Ethelredus
Rievallensis, p. 359.
III.
252
ELECTION OF EDWARD TO
BOOK struck terror into those who surrounded the
III.
king's death-bed"; but the archbishop of Can-
terbury, Stigand, could not refrain from Smiling
at and ridiculing those who trembled at the dreams
of a sick old man *. -
Weak as was the mind of the aged Edward, he
had the courage to declare before he died, to the
chiefs who consulted him on the choice of a suc-
cessor, that in his opinion the man most worthy
to reign was, Harold the son of Godwin". In
pronouncing the name of Harold in these circum-
stances, the king shewed himself superior to his
habitual prejudices, superior even to the ambi-
tion of advancing the fortunes of his family; for
there was then in England a grandson of Edmund
Ironside, born in Hungary, where his father had
taken refuge at the time of the Danish proscrip-
tions. This young man, named Edgar, had nei-
ther natural talent nor acquired glory; he had
passed the whole of his childhood in a foreign
* Ther was deol and sorweynou. Robert of Gloster's Chro-
nicle, p. 350. Caeteris timentibus. Will. Malmesb. p. 98.
* Prophetanti delirare submurmurans, ridere maluit. Ethel-
red. Rievall. p. 359. Vetulum accedente morbo nugas delirare.
Will. Malmesb. p. 93.
* Gervasius Tilburiensis, p. 741. Eadmer, p. 5. Roger. de
Hoved. p. 449. Historia Eliensis, p. 505. Florent. Wigorn.
p. 633. Simco Dunelmensis, p. 194.
THE BATTLE OF HASTINGS.
253
country, and could hardly speak the Saxon lan- Book
guage'. Such a candidate could not struggle
for popularity with Harold, the brave, the rich,
the destroyer of the foreign power". Harold was
the man most capable of belying the oath which
he had himself sworn to the foreigner, against his
will; and even if he had not been pointed out
for the choice of the other chiefs by the dying
king, his name must have been in every mouth.
He was elected the next day after the ceremony
of Edward's funeral, and anointed by the same
archbishop Stigand who was disowned by the
Roman church'. The new king was presented,
together with the crown of gold and the gilded
Sceptre, with a large battle-axe, the ancient sym-
bol of the Saxon country". The grandson of the
herdsman Ulfmoth, shewed himself, from the time
of his accession, just, wise, affable, and active for
'Historia Dania, Isaaci Pontani, p. 184. John Speede's
Chronicle, p. 417.
* Erat viribus corporis animique audacià et linguæ facundia,
*multisque probitatibus admirabilis. Orderic. Vitalis, inter Script.
*er. Normannic. p. 492. Moribusingenuum, militia singula-
*m. Gervasius Tilburiensis, p. 745. +
' Tapisserie de Bayeux. Guill. Pictav. Orderic. Vitalis.
* Ibid. And Harold eorl feng to them rice, swa se cing hit
him genthe, and ear men hin thar to gecuron. Chron. Saxon.
Gibson, p. 172.
III.
254,
ELECTION OF EDWARD TO
Book the good of his country, sparing no fatigue (Says
III.
an old historian) on land or sea".
Harold abolished the last traces of the rule of
the Norman favourites. The ancient Saxon sig-
nature replaced in his charters the pendant
seals in the Norman mode, which were in use
during the whole of Edward's reign". The new
king did not, however, drive from the kingdom,
nor from their offices, those Normans who had
been spared, in opposition to the law, through a
sort of condescension towards Edward's old affec-
tions". These foreigners continued in the enjoy-
ment of every civil right; but, instead of being
grateful to the people and the chief who left them
in this enjoyment, they employed themselves in
intriguing at home and abroad for the foreign
pretender. From them it was that Duke William
received the message announcing Edward's death
and the election of Godwin's son. At the mo-
ment when William received this important intel-
ligence, he was in his park near Rouen, with a
new bow and arrows in his hand, which he was
" Pium, humilem, affabilem se exhibens . . . . pro patriæ
defensione ipsemet terrá marique desudare. Roger, de Hoved.
p. 447. Will. Malmesb. p. 73.
* Ducarel's Norman Antiquities, tom. IV.
* See p. 226.
THE BATTLE OF HASTINGS.
5
25
trying". On a sudden, he appeared thoughtful; BOOK
he gave his bow to one of his men, and passing
the Seine, repaired to his hotel at Rouen. He
stopped in the great hall, and walked backwards
and forwards, sitting down and rising up again,
changing his seat and his posture, and unable
to remain still in any place. None of his people
dared to approach him ; all stood apart, looking
at one another in silence". At length an officer
came in, who was admitted more intimately into
William's familiarity. All the attendants pressed
round him to learn the cause of the great agita-
tion which they remarked in the duke. “I know
nothing certain about it,” answered the officer,
“but we shall soon be informed of it.” Then,
advancing alone towards William, “Sire,” said he,
“why should you conceal from us your news?
what will you gain by it? It is commonly report-
ed in the city that the king of England is dead, and
that Harold, breaking his faith with you, has
Seized the kingdom.” “They say true,” answered
the Duke ; “ my chagrin is caused by Edward's
death and the wrong done me by Harold.” “Well,
Sire,” replied the courtier, “do not be angry about
a thing which can be amended: for Edward's
" Chronique de Normandie, Recueil des Hist. de la France,
tom. XIII.
! Ibid.
256
ELECTION OF EDWARD TO
Book death there is no remedy; but for Harold's wrong
III.
there is. Yours is the good right; yours are the
good soldiers. Undertake boldly; that which is
boldly undertaken is half accomplished .”
One of the Saxon race, Harold's own brother,
that Tostig whom the Northumbrians had strip-
ped of his command, and whom Harold, now that
he had become king, would not impose on them
afresh, came from Flanders to exhort William not
to suffer the peaceful reign of what he called his
perjury'. Tostig boasted among the foreigners
of having more influence and power in England
than his brother; and promised beforehand the
certain possession of the country to whosoever
would unite with him for the conquest of it".
William, too prudent to engage in so important
an enterprise merely on the word of an adven-
turer, gave the Saxon some vessels wherewith to
try his strength, but with which, instead of land-
ing in England, Tostig repaired towards the Bal-
tic, to ask other aid, and to arouse against his
country the ambition of the kings of the north.
He had an interview with Swen, king of the
* Chran. de Normandie, Hist. de la France et des Gaules,
tom. XIII. p. 225.
* Ne perjurum suum regnare sineret. Ordericus Vitalis, p.
" Snorre Sturleson, tom. III. p. 147.
493,
THE BATTLE OF HASTINGS,
7
2
5
Dames, his relative by the mother's side, and asked Bººk
his assistance against his brother and his nation;
but the Dane answered this request by a refusal,
harshly expressed. Tostig retired in discontent,
and went to seek elsewhere for some king, whose
sense of justice was less delicate *. He found in
Norway Her-ald or Harold, son of Sigurd, the last
Scandinavian chief, who had led the adventurous
life of the ancient sea-kings, and visited as a pi-
rate the southern countries inhabited by the rich
nations. His ships had passed the straits of Gi-
braltar and cruised in the seas of Sicily. He had
carried off from Constantinople a young girl of
the imperial blood". He was a poet like most of
the northern corsairs, who, in long passages, or
When their course was delayed by a calm, amused
themselves with singing in verse their successes
or their hopes. After his long voyages, in which,
as he himself said, he had gone afar with his ship,
a black vessel filled with warriors’, the dread
of men on land, Harold became by election king
of one half of the Norwegian territories. To gain
this man over to his projects, Tostig accosted
him in flattering terms.-" The whole world
* Torfaeus, Hist. Norweg. tom. II. p. 347–349.
7 Snorre's Heimskringla, tom. III. p. 79.
* Bartholinus, p. 70. Adamus Bremensis.
VOL. I. S
2
ELECTION OF EDWARD TO
58
Book knows,” said he to him, “that there is not in all
III.
the north a warrior equal to thee; thou hast only
to will it, and England is thine".” The Norwe-
gian suffered himself to be convinced; and pro-
mised to put to sea with his great fleet, as soon as
the annual melting of the ice should have un-
bound the ocean".
While waiting the departure of his ally front
Norway, Tostig went to try his fortune on the
northern coasts of England, with a band of adven-
turers assembled in Friesland, Holland, and Flam-
ders. He plundered and laid waste some villages;
but the two great chiefs of the countries border-
ing on the Humber, Morkar and Edwin, sons of
Alfgar, united, and pursuing his vessels, forced
him to seek a retreat on the shores of Scotland".
Meanwhile Harold, the son of Godwin, remaining
quiet in the southern part of England, had a mes-
senger sent to him from Normandy, who address-
ed him in these words: “ William, duke of Nor-
mandy, sends to remind thee of the oath which
thou hast sworn to him with thy mouth and with
* Non esse bellatorem tibi parem. Snorre's Heimskringla,
tom. III. p. 149.
* Ut primūm glaciem verna tempestas dissolvit. Snorre's
Heimskringla, tom. III. p. 149.
* Ibid. p. 150. Roger. de Hoved. p. 448.
THE BATTLE OF HASTINGS.
259
thy hand, upon good and holy relics ".” “It is BOOK
true,” replied the Saxon king, “ that I took an
oath to William ; but I took it under constraint.
I promised what did not belong to me—what I
could not in any way hold; my royalty is not my
own ; I could not lay it down against the will of
the country; nor can I, against the will of the
country, take a foreign wife. As for my sister,
whom the Duke claims that he may marry her to
one of his chiefs, she has died within the year:
would he have me send her corpse ‘’” The Nor-
man ambassador carried this answer; and William
replied by a second message with reproaches, ex-
pressed in mild and moderate terms, for the vio-
lation of the compact concluded between Harold
and himself", entreating the king, if he did not
consent to fulfil all the conditions, at least to per-
form one of them, and take in marriage the young
woman whom he had promised to make his wife.
Harold answered, that he would fulfil none of
them; and as a proof, he married a Saxon woman,
a Sur bons saintuaires. Chron. de Normandie, Hist. de la
France, tom. XIII. p. 229. That he swore mid hys ryght
honde. Robert of Gloster, tom. II. p. 358. Et linguà et manu.
Guill. Pictav. p. 192.
• Eadmeri Hist. p. 5. Roger, de Hoved, p. 449. Math.
Paris. tom. I. p. 2. Ranulph. Higden. p. 28.
* Iterum amică familiaritate mandavit. Eadmeri Hist, p. 5.
III.
S 2
260
ELECTION OF EDWARD TO
Book the sister of Edwin and Morkar. Hostility was
III.
then finally declared. William swore that within
the year he would come to exact all his debt, and
pursue his perjury even in those places where he
thought he stood the safest and the firmestº.
As far as publicity could go in the eleventh
century, the Norman published what he called the
signal bad faith of the Saxon". The general in-
fluence of superstitious ideas prevented the dis-
interested spectators of this dispute from under-
standing the patriotic conduct of Godwin's son
and his scrupulous deference to the will of the
people who had made him king. The opinion of
the mass of men on the continent was for William
against Harold—for the man who had made of
gospels and relics a sort of snare to draw another
into a pit-fall—for theman who demanded the com-
mission of treason, against him who refused to
commit it. The negociations with the Roman
church, begun by Robert de Jumièges and Lan-
franc, proceeded with vigor from the moment
that a deacon of Lisieux carried beyond the Alps
the news of the pretended crime of Harold and
* Se ferro debitum vindicaturum, et illiciturum quê Haroldus
tutiores se pedes habere putaret. Will. Malmesb. p. 97. In-
gulf. Croyl, p. 900. Math. Paris. tom. I. p. 2. Aluredus
Beverlac. p. 128.
* Haroldi injustitia. Eadmer. p. 5.
TO THE BATTLE OF HASTINGS.
261
the whole English nation. The violated oath BOOK
became the basis of a positive alliance between
the Apostolical Church and the Duke of Nor-
mandy'. The Church adjudged England to the
Norman by right of inheritance; and the Norman
engaged to bring back the English to their obe-
dience to Rome, and, like Canute the Dame, to
raise in England an annual tribute for St. Peter.
Four grounds of aggression were to be publicly
alleged : the murder of young Alfred and his Nor-
man companions"; the expulsion of Robert de
Jumièges from the archbishopric of Canterbury';
the old promise made by Edward to William, to
leave him his royalty; and lastly, the oath taken
by Harold. All these points were discussed in
the conclave of Lateran by the Pope and his car-
dinals. The Norman duke affected towards them
the air of a plaintiff, stating his case before judges
recognised by his adversary. But Harold acknow-
ledged no responsibility to this tribunal", nor did
he send any ambassador; being too proud to an-
swer before foreigners for the free decisions of the
* Cúm Guillelmus praeproperä querelà papam consuleret.
Willelm. Malmesb. Ad apostolicum misit. Ibid. p. 100.
* See Book II. p. 187.
" Ran. Higden. p. 285.
* Judicium papae parvipenderet. Willelm. Malmesb. p. 92.
III.
262
ELECTION OF EDWARD TO
BOOK people who had elected him, or having too much
III.
1061.
sense not to perceive that this show of impartial
judgment was nothing more than a vain comedy,
the mask of a confederacy already formed between
the avarice of Rome and the ambition of the
Norman".
Nicholas III. the pope, created by the some-
what uncanonical power of German lances, had
been dead for several years; and Anselm, bishop
of Lucca, reigned in his stead, under the name of
Alexander II. The foreigners had taken no part
in the election of the latter: he was the choice of
the Romans; but it was that of a faction among
them, the faction of the mendicant friars, at the
head of whom was one Hildebrand, a man of am-
bition, skilful in intrigue, and possessing great
strength of will and indefatigable perseverance.
Hildebrand, assisted by the class of priests at once
the poorest and the most despised, had, in spite
of riches, obtained the promotion of his friend.
Men clad in a frock without sleeves, carrying a
bag on their shoulders and a gourd at their left
side", paraded the pope of their choice in triumph,
" Math. Westmonast. p. 285.
* Eorum panniculi crant sine utrāque manică, in sinistro la-
tere pendebat cucurbita, in dextro mantica. Benzo, bishop of
Alba, quoted by Potter, tom. V. p. 47.
THE IBATTLE OF IIASTINGS.
O
26
º
amidst the crowd, who, according to the relation BOOK
of a contemporary, vainly shouted in his ears,
III,
“Go, leper; get thee gone, wallet-carrier P.” Alex- 1029
º * t
ander made most of his partisans princes of the 1.
church, priests, or cardinal brothers; and before
this council it was, that William's complaints
against Harold and the English people were
brought. The chosen of the mendicant friars,
and his court, resolved almost with one accord,
that William of Normandy, being cousin to king
Edward, and consequently his heir, might legiti-
timately entitle himself king of the English, and
take possession of England".
A pontifical diploma, signed with the cross, and
sealed, according to the Roman custom, with a
round leaden seal ', was sent to the Norman duke;
and, in order to give him still more confidence
and security in his invasion, there were sent to him,
along with the bull, a blessed standard and a ring
containing a hair from the head of St. Peter, en-
chased in a diamond of great value. Thus did
a few Italian priests declare a Norman king of
P Vade, leprose; vade, bavose ; vade, perose. Benzo, bishop
of Alba, quoted by Potter, tom. V. p. 47.
* Chronique de Normandie, p. 227.
* In Latin, bulla—whence comes the vulgar name for papal
letters.
1066.
264
ELECTION OF EDWARD TO
BOOK England, without having taken the pains to in-
III.
form themselves of the true signification in the
English language of this title, which they rendered
by that of Rea '. This absurd decision was com-
bated by some voices in the conclave itself; either
through a spirit of opposition to the reigning pope
and his friends, or through a sense of justice and
a feeling of shame: but the majority, with Hilde-
brand at their head, triumphed over these feeble
clamours. The injurious reproaches, cast upon him
on this occasion, had no power to move him; and
at a future day, he even counted these affronts
amongst his services which demanded pay from
William. “Thou art not ignorant,” he afterwards
wrote to him, “ of the pains that I have taken for
the success of thy affairs; nor that, in particular,
I have been branded with infamy by several of
my colleagues. They murmured at seeing me
display such warmth of soul and such zeal in the
cause of homicide *. But, God knows, my inten-
tion was good. I thought thee a friend to the
Holy Church; and I hoped that, by the grace from
on high, thy good will towards the Church would
increase with thy power'.”
* See Book II. p. 102.
* Quă pro re à quibusdam fratribus pacme infamiam pertuli,
submurmurantibus quod ad tanta homicidia perpetranda tanto
THE BATTLE OF HASTINGS.
265
Before the bull, the banner, and the ring arrived Book
in Normandy, William assembled a cabinet-coun-
cil of his most intimate friends, to ask their advice
and assistance. His two brothers by the mother's
side, of whom one was bishop of Bayeux and the
other count of Mortain, with William son of Os-
bert, Seneschal of Normandy—that is, the duke's
lieutenant in the civil administration *, attended
this conference. All were of opinion that a de-
scent must be made upon England, and promised
William to serve him with their persons and pro-
perty, and even to mortgage their inheritances.
“But this is not all,” said they to him; “ you
must ask the aid and counsel of the generality of
the inhabitants of this country; for it is but right
that they, who are to pay the expences, be called
upon to give their consent *.” Then, say the
chronicles, William convoked a great assembly of
favore operam meam impendissem. Epistola Gregorii VII.
apud Script. Rer. Francic. tom. XIV. p. 648.
" Ibid. Guill. Pictav. p. 197. Math. Paris. p. 2.
* Seneschal.—This word, derived from the Frank tongue,
signifies properly a servant, a keeper of flocks, a housekeeper.
The senes-skalch was an office in the household of the Frank
kings; and, after the conquest, became a political dignity in
Gaul.
* Chronique de Normandie, Histoire de la France, tom.
XIII. p. 255. *.
III.
266
ELECTION OF EDWARD TO
BQQK men of all classes in Normandy, of the warriors,
priests, and commercial men possessing the great-
est wealth and consideration. The Duke unfold-
ed to them his project, and solicited their assist-
ance; after which they retired to deliberate, that
their decision might be free and uninfluenced *.
In the debate which ensued, opinion was strong-
ly divided; some thinking it proper to assist the
Duke with ships, provisions, and money, while
others refused every kind of aid, saying that they
had already more debts than they knew how to
pay. This discussion was not without tumult;
and the members of the assembly, having quitted
their seats, gathered together in groups, talking
and gesticulating with great clamour". In the
midst of this disorder, the seneschal of Normandy,
William son of Osbert, raised his voice and said—
“Why dispute in this way ? He is your lord, and
he needs your services; it is your duty to offer
them and mot to wait his request. If you are
backward and he gains his end, by God! he will
remember it. Show, then, that you love him, and
act with a good grace.” “ Doubtless,” exclaimed
those on the opposite side, “he is our lord; but
• Chronique de Normandie Histoire de la France, tom. XIII.
p. 255.
• Chronique de Normandie, Rec. des Hist, de la France, tom,
XIII.
THE BATTLE OF IIASTINGS.
267
is it not sufficient that we pay him his revenue BOOK
punctually 2 We owe him no aid to go beyond
sea. He has burdened us too much already by
his wars: if he fail in his new expedition, our
country is ruined".” After many speeches and re-
plies in various directions, it was decided that the
son of Osbert, who knew the means of each, should
be appointed to make the excuses of the assembly
for the smallness of their offers “.
The Normans all returned to the Duke; and the
son of Osbert spoke as follows: “I do not think
that there are in the world people more zealous
than these. You know the aids which they have
furnished, and the weighty Services they have ren-
dered to you. Well—they now wish to do more;
they purpose to serve you on the other side of the
sea as on this. Go on, and spare them in nothing.
He, who has hitherto furnished you with two good
combatants on horseback, will be at the expence of
double that number".” “No, no ;” cried those
around with one voice, “we did not charge you
with any such answer. It cannot be—it cannot
* Chron. de Normandie, p. 255. Guil. Pictav. p. 98.
* Chron. de Normandie. Henrici Hunting. p. 367. Henric.
A nighton, p. 2342.
* Chron. de Normandie, Rec. des Hist, de France, tom, XIII.
p. 226. Roberti de Monte Appendix ad Sigebertum, Ibid. tom.
XI. p. 168.
III.
268
ELECTION OF EDWARD TO
BOOK be. Whatever he has to perform in his own coun-
III.
try, we will assist him in, as it is our duty to do;
but we are not bound to aid him in conquering the
country of others. Besides, if we were once to
offer him double service and to follow him beyond
the sea, he would make it a custom and a right
for the future, and would use it to oppress our
children. It cannot be—it cannot be.” The
groups of ten, twenty, or thirty, again began to
collect, the tumult became general, and the assem-
bly separated".
William, though surprised and enraged beyond
measure, nevertheless dissimulated his anger, and
had recourse to an artifice which has scarcely ever
failed in its effect, when powerful men have em-
ployed it to overcome popular resistance. Wil-
liam sent for those men separately, whom he had
called together in a body, beginning with the rich-
est and most influential, and begged that they
would come to his aid purely as a favor and a
gratuitous gift, affirming that he had no design
whatever of doing them any wrong in future, or
abusing their liberality to their own prejudice—
even offering to pledge his word for this by giving
* Chronique de Normandie, p. 226.
Moult oissiez court estourmir,
Noises lever, barons frémir.
Wacc, Roman de Rou, Ibid.
THE BATTLE OF HASTINGS.
269
them letters under his great seal'. No one had BOOK
courage to pronounce a refusal singly, in the
face of the chief of the country, in a private inter-
view. What they granted was immediately regis-
tered, and the example of the first determined those
who came after. One subscribed for vessels, another
for men and arms, and another offered to march in
person. The priests gave their money, the mer-
chants their stuffs, and the country people their
provisions *.
The consecrated banner and the bull authoris-
ing the aggression against England, speedily ar-
rived from Rome. The sight of these things ex-
cited double eagerness: every one brought what
he could; and mothers sent their sons to enlist
for the salvation of their souls". William had his
proclamation of war published in the neighbour-
ing countries; and offered good pay and the plun-
der of England to every tall and stout man who
would serve him with spear, sword, or cross-bow'.
A multitude came, by all roads, from far and near
Et teles lettres come ils en vouldroient deviser, illor en fe-
roit. Chron. de Normandie, p. 226.
s Chron. de Normandie, Rec. des Hist. de la France, tom. XIII.
p. 226.
h Ibid.
Proceri corpore, praestantes robore. Will. Malmesb. p. 99.
Anglicae praedae inhiantes. Ord. Wital. p. 494.
III.
270
ELECTION OF EDWARD TO
BOOK —from the north and from the south—from Maine
III.
and from Anjou, from Poitou and from Brittany,
from the French country and from Flanders, from
Aquitaine and from Burgundy, from Piedmont and
from the banks of the Rhine. All the adventurers
by profession, all the outcasts of Europe, came
eagerly and by forced marches. Some were cava-
liers or warlike chiefs, others on foot and merely
servants-at-arms, as they were then called. Some
asked for pay in money; others only for their pas-
sage and all the booty they could take : many
wished for land among the English, a domain, a
castle, or a town ; while others would be content
with some rich Saxon woman in marriage". Every
wish, every project of human covetousness pre-
sented itself. William rejected no one, says the
Norman chronicle, but found room for each one
according to his ability'. He even went so far
as to sell an English bishopric beforehand to one
Remy of Fescamp, for a ship and twenty armed
men".
During the spring and summer, workmen were
employed at all the ports of Normandy, in build-
ing and fitting out vessels; the Smiths and armour-
ers manufactured spears, swords, and coats of mail,
* Chron. de Normandie, Rec. des Hist. de la France, tom. XIII.
' Chron. de Normandie, p. 227.
* Anonym: edit, a Taylor. Orderic. Vitalis, p. 494.
THE BATTLE OF HASTINGS.
271
and porters were continually going backwards and BOOK
forwards, carrying the arms from the manufacto-
ries to the ships". While these preparations were
carrying on with great haste, William repaired to
St. Germain, to Philip king of the French, and,
saluting him with a deferential style which his
ancestors had often omitted when addressing the
kings of the Frank country, said—“You are my
lord: if it please you to assist me, should I with
God's grace obtain my right over England, I pro-
mise to do homage to you for it, as if I held it from
you ".” Philip assembled a council of barons or
frank-men, without which he was not permitted
to decide any public question; and the barons
were of opinion that William ought not in any
way to be assisted in his conquest.—“You know,”
said they to their king, “how few Normans obey
you even now ; and when they possess England, it
will be quite otherwise. Besides, were we to assist
the Duke, it would cost our country a great deal;
and if he were to fail in his enterprise, the English
nation would be our enemy for ever P.
William's request being thus refused, he retired,
dissatisfied with King Philip, and addressed a si-
" Tapisserie de Bayeur.
* Chron. de Normandie, Rec. des Hist. de la France, tom. XIII.
p. 227.
P Ibid.
III.
I I
272
ELECTION OF EDWARD TO
Book milar one to Baudoin, count of Flanders, his bro-
III.
ther-in-law, and met with a similar refusal". The
chief or duke of the Bretons, named Conan, on his
part, sent a message to the duke of Normandy, re-
quiring him, since he was about to be king of Eng-
land, to give up his duchy to the legitimate issue
of Rolf, from whom he said he was himself a des-
cendant by the female side. The man, who made
this imprudent demand, did not long survive it;
and his sudden death by poison was generally, and
in Brittany especially, imputed to William the
bastard. Conan's successor, named Eudes, far
from giving alarm to the Bastard respecting his
right to Normandy, sent two of his sons to serve
him in his war against the English. These two
young Bretons, named Brian and Allan, came to
the gathering of the Norman troops, attended
by a troop of men, who followed them as chiefs of
clans, according to the nature of the Celtic popu-
lations, and entitled them mac-tierns", while the
Normans called them counts. Other rich Bre-
tons of a mixed race and bearing names turned
in the French manner, as Robert de Petry,
Bertrand de Dinam, and Raoul de Gaël, also
* Chron. de Normandie.
* Sons of chiefs. Tiern, a chief; in Welsh, Teyrn. Hist. de
J}retagne, par Dom Lobineau.
§:
The BATTLE of HASTINGs.
273
joined William, as volunteers and soldiers of for-
tune ".
The place of meeting for the vessels and the war-
riors was at the mouth of the Dive, a river that
falls into the sea betwixt the Seine and the Orme.
For a month the winds were contrary, and kept the
Norman fleet in port; after which a south breeze
carried it as far as St. Valery, near Dieppe. There
the bad weather again set in, so that it was neces-
sary to cast anchor and wait for several days.
During this delay, the storm caused several ves-
sels to strike, and their crews perished. This ac-
cident produced agreatsensation among the troops,
fatigued by a prolonged encampment. The sol-
diers passed their idle hours in conversing under
their tents and communicating their reflections on
the dangers of the voyage and the difficulties of
the enterprise'. There had not yet been a battle,
said they, and already many men were dead; they
Calculated and exaggerated the number of bodies
which had been washed ashore. These reports
abated the ardor of the adventurers at first so full
of zeal; and some of them even broke their en-
gagements and withdrew ". To stop the progress
" Histoire de Bretagne, tom. I. p. 97,98. Chron. de Norman-
die, p. 126.
* Per tabernacula mussitabant. Willelm. Malmesb. p. 100.
" Pavida fuga multorum, qui fidem spoponderant. Guil.
Pictav. p. 198.
VOL. I. T
BOOK
III.
-*--sº
274,
ELECTION OF EDWARD TO
Book of this disposition, which would have been fatal
III.
to his projects, William had the dead secretly in-
terred, and added strong liquors to the rations of
provisions". But the want of activity constantly
brought back the same melancholy and discourag-
ing thoughts. “ Foolish,” said the soldiers, mur-
muring, “ very foolish is the man who seeks to
possess himself of another's land; God is offended
at such designs, and shews his displeasure by re-
fusing us a fair wind'.”
Either from conviction and as a last resource, or
to furnish some distraction to the minds of their
followers, the Norman chiefs had the relics of St.
Valery, thepatronsaint of the place, carried through
the camp with great pomp. The whole army be-
gan to pray; and the next night the wind chang-
ed, and the weather was favorable. Four hun-
dred ships with large masts and sails, and more
than a thousand transport-boats, put off from shore
at the same signal. William's vessel led the van,
bearing at the mast-head the banner sent by the
Pope, and a cross upon its flag. Its sails were of
different colours; and the three lions, the Norman
ensign, were painted on them in several places.
* Guil. Pictav. p. 198.
7 Insanire hominem qui vellet alienum solum in jus suum re-
fundere; Deum contra tendere, qui ventum areeret. Willelm.
Malmesb. p. 100.
THE BATTLE OF HASTINGS.
275
At the prow was carried the figure of a child with BOOK
a bended bow and an arrow ready to fly “. This
vessel, being a better sailer than the rest, preceded
them the whole day; and at night, left them far
behind it. In the morning, the Duke sent a sai-
lor to the top of the great mast, to see if the other
vessels were approaching. “I see nothing but
Sea and sky,” said the man; and anchor was imme-
diately cast". William affected to be gay; and,
lest anxiety and fear should seize upon the crew,
he ordered a sumptuous repast to be served up,
with wines strongly spiced". The sailor went up
again; and said that this time he descried four
vessels; and the third time he ascended, he cried
c 97
out, “I see a forest of masts and sails “.
While this great armament was preparing in
Normandy, Harold the Norwegian, faithful to his
engagements with the Saxon Tostig, had assembled
his soldiers, with several hundred vessels of war and
transports. The fleet remained for some time at
anchor; and the Norwegian army, waiting the sig-
* Dr. Strutt's Norman Antiquities, pl. XXXII. Wace. Thom.
Rudborne, in Angliá Sacrá, p. 247. Tapisserie de Bayeux.
* Nihil aliud practer Paelagus et aera. Guil. Pictav. p.199.
* Nec baccho pigmentato carens. Ibid.
* Arborum veliſerarum nemus. Ibid. Chronique de Nor-
"landie, p. 128. Script. Franc. tom. XI. p. 360. Guill. Gemet.
P. 286.
III.
T 2
276
ELECTION OF EDWARD TO
Book mal for departure, encamped on the shore, as the
III.
Normans did on the banks of the Dive. Some
vague impressions of discouragement and disquiet
likewise manifested themselves in it, but under
appearances more gloomy and conformable to the
dreamy imaginations of the people of the north.
Several soldiers believed that they had had pro-
phetic revelations in their sleep. One dreamt that
he saw his companions disembarked on the Eng-
lish coast, and in presence of the English army;
and that before the front of that army rode a wo-
man of gigantic stature, mounted on a wolf: the
wolf held in his jaws a human body dripping with
blood, and when he had devoured it the woman
gave him another". A second soldier dreamt that
the fleet was departing; and that a cloud of ravens,
vultures, and birds of prey came and perched up-
on the masts and yards: on a neighbouring rock
was sitting a female, who held in her hand a naked
sword, looking towards and counting the ships.
“Go,” said she to the birds, “go without fear; you
shall have whereof to eat; you shall have your
33
choice; I go with them “.” It was remarked, not
without terror, that at the moment when Harold
stepped upon his royal sloop, the weight of his
* Snorre's Heimskringla, tom. III. p. 152.
* Ibid. tom. I. p. 152.
THE IRATTLE OF HASTINGS.
77
*
9
body made it sink deeper in the water than it was BOOK
wont to do '.
Notwithstanding these sinister auspices, the ex-
pedition set forward towards the south-west, under
the command of the king and his son Olaf. Before
landing in the island of Britain they slackened sail
at the Orkneys, which were peopled by men of the
Scandinavian race; and were joined by two chiefs
and a bishop of those islands. They then coasted
along the eastern side of Scotland; and there they
met Tostig and his vessels. They sailed together;
and, as they passed along, attacked the port of
Scarborough. Finding the inhabitants disposed
to make an obstinate resistance, they made them-
selves masters of a rock which overlooked the
town : on this they heaped up an enormous pile
of trunks and branches of trees with stubble thrown
between, which they set fire to and rolled down
upon the houses; then, favoured by the conflagra-
tion, they forced the gates, and plundered the
town F. Relieved by this first success from their
superstitious terrors, they gaily doubled the point
of Holderness at the mouth of the Humber, and
sailed up that river.
* Ibid. Torfaeus, Hist. Norneg. tom. II, p. 351.
• Snorre's Heimskringla, tom. II. p. 154. Torfei Hist, tom.
II. p. 351.
III.
278
ELECTION OF EDWARD TO
BOOK
From the Humber they passed into the Ouse,
which falls into it, and runs near York, then the
largest town in all Northumbria. Tostig, who di-
rected the plan of the campaign of the Norwe-
gians, wished above all things to reconquer by
their aid the capital of his former government,
that he might be installed in it as chief. Morkar
his successor, Edwin brother to Morkar, and the
young Waltheof son of Siward, now become chief
of the province of Huntingdon, called to arms the
inhabitants of all the neighbouring country, and
gave battle to the foreigners, to the south of York,
on the banks of the Humber. Conquerors at first,
but afterwards forced to fly, they shut themselves
up in York, where the Norwegians besieged them.
Tostig once more entitled himself chief of the
country; and published proclamations dated from
the camp of the foreigners: some weak men ac-
knowledged him; and a few adventurers answered
his call".
While these things were passing in the north,
the king of the Anglo-Saxons, with all his forces,
was on the southern coast, observing the move-
ments of William, whose invasion, which had been
long expected, had excited great alarm. Harold
* Torfaei Hist. Norweg. tom. II. p. 351. Snorre's Heim-
skring la, tom. III. p. 157.
THIE BATTLE OF HASTINGS.
279
had passed the whole summer on his guard, near Book
the places of disembarkation nearest to Norman-
dy'. The delay of the expedition began to give
rise to the belief that it would not be ready to sail
before winter. Besides, the danger was greater
from the northern enemies, who were already mas-
ters of a part of the English territory, than from
the other enemy, who had not yet set foot in Eng-
land; and the son of Godwin, bold and quick in all
his projects, hoped in the course of a few days to
have driven the Northumbrians away and return-
ed in time to receive the Normans. He set out
on a hasty march at the head of his best troops,
and arrived in the night under the walls of York,
at the moment when the town had just capitulat-
ed for its surrender to the allies of Tostig. The
Norwegians had not yet made their entry; but,
on the word of the inhabitants and their convic-
tion of the impossibility of that word's being re-
tracted, they had broken up their lines, and dis-
missed their soldiers to repose. The inhabitants
on their part, thought only of receiving, the very
next morning, Tostig and the king of the northern
people, who were to hold a great council to regu-
' Haroldus interea promptus ad decernendum, sive navali, sive
terrestri praelio, ad littus maritimum opperiens, Guill. Pictav.
p. 197.
III.
280
ELECTION OF EDWARD TO
Book late the government of the whole province, and
III.
*-->
distribute among the foreigners and the refugees,
the lands of the English rebels against the domi-
nion of the conqueror".
The unforeseen arrival of the Saxon king, who
had marched in such a manner as to avoid the ene-
my's posts, and had met no traitor on the road to
give notice of his approach, changed all these
dispositions. The citizens of York again took up
arms; the gates were shut, and kept so that no one
could quit the town to repair to the Norwegian
camp. The following day was one of those in au-
tumn, on which the sun still shines in all his power.
The portion of the Norwegian army, who left the
camp on the Humber to follow their king towards
York, thinking they had no adversary to encoun-
ter, went without their coats of mail, on account
of the heat, and took with them no other armour
than their helmets and shields. The Norwegians
observed all at once, at some distance from the
town, a great cloud of dust, and beneath this cloud
something glittering like steel in the sun. “What
are these men who are marching towards us?” said
the king to Tostig. “ They cannot be any other,”
replied the Saxon, “ than Englishmen coming to
* Snorre's Heimskringla, tom. III. p. 157. Roger. de Howeden,
p. 448. Henrici Knighton. p. 2341.
THE BATTLE OF HASTINGS.
281
ask pardon and implore our friendship'.” The Book
body of men which was advancing seemed gradu-
ally to increase; it was a numerous army ranged
in order of battle. “The enemy the enemy!”
cried the Norwegians; and detached three horse-
men with orders to the warriors who had been left
at the camp and on board the ships to come with
all diligence. The king displayed his standard,
which he called the ravager of the world"; and
the soldiers ranged themselves in a long but weak
line, bending at the extremities. They kept close
to one another, and their spears were planted
against the ground, with the points inclined to-
wards the enemy; but they all wanted the most
important part of their armour. Harold, the son
of Sigurd, as he rode along the ranks on his black
horse, sung extempore verses, a fragment of which
bas been handed down to us by the historians of
the north. “Let us fight,” said he, “let us march,
though without cuirasses, under the stroke of the
blue steel: our helmets glitter in the sun; they are
enough for the valiant".”
Before the closing of the two armies, twenty
Saxon horsemen, both men and horses covered
' Snorre, tom. III. p. 158, 159.
* Land-eyda, or Land-acde. Snorre, p. 159.
* Snorre's Heimskringla, tom. III. p. 161. Gesta Danorum,
tom, 11. p. 164, 165.
{
III.
282 ELECTION OF EDWARD TO
BOOK with steel, approached the Norwegian limes, and
* one of them cried with a loud voice, “Where is
Tostig, the son of Godwin 7” “He is here,” an-
swered the son of Godwin for himself. “If thou
be Tostig,” resumed the messenger, “thy brother
tells thee by my mouth that he salutes thee, and
offers thee peace, his friendship, and thy former
honors.” “These,” said Tostig, “are fine words,
and very different from the hostilities which I have
experienced for a twelvemonth. But, if I accept
these offers, what will there be for the noble king
Harold, the son of Sigurd 7" “He shall have,”
returned the messenger, “ seven feet of English
ground, and a little more, for he is taller than most
other men ".” “Then,” replied Tostig, “ tell my
brother to prepare for battle; never shall it be said
by any but a liar, that the son of Godwin aban-
doned the son of Sigurd P.”
The battle immediately began ; and, almost in
the first onset, the Norwegian king was shot with
an arrow in the throat. Tostig took the command
of the army; and then Harold sent a second time
to offer him and the Norwegians peace and life".
* Quid ex Anglià ci concessum velit; spatium (nimirām) terrae
septem pedum aut non nihil majus. Snorre's Heimskringla, tom.
III. p. 160.
" Ibid. -
" Pacem et vitam obtulit. Snorre's Heimskringla, tom. III.
p. 161. *
THE BATTLE OF HASTINGS.
283
But they all cried out that they would rather die BOOK
than owe any thing to the Saxons. At this mo-
ment, the men from the ships came up armed with
cuirasses, but fatigued with their march under a
burning sun. Though numerous, they could not
sustain the attack of the English, who had dis-
persed the first line of the combatants, and taken
the royal standard. Tostig was killed, with most
of his chiefs. Harold now, for the third time, of
fered peace to the vanquished, and they accepted
it. Olaf, son to the deceased king, and the chief
and bishop of the Orkneys, returned with twenty-
three ships, after swearing amity with England'.
The country of the English was thus delivered
from a new conquest by the men of the north.
But while these enemies were departing, others
were approaching; and the same breath of wind,
that waved the victorious Saxon banners as in
triumph, also filled the Norman sails and wafted
them towards the coast of Sussex.
By an unfortunate mischance, the vessels which
had been cruising along that coast, had just before
retired for want of provisions . William's troops
landed, without encountering any resistance, at
Pevemsey, near Hastings, on the 28th of Septem-
Snorre, p. 161, 167. Chron. Sar. Frag. Ed. Lyc. Hist.
Danic. Isaac. Pontani, p. 186.
* Victu deficiente. Roger. de Hovcd. p. 448.
III.
284.
ELECTION of EDWARD To
Book ber in the year 1066, three days after Harold's vic-
III.
tory over the Norwegians. The archers landed
first ; they wore short habits, and had their hair
cut close. Next followed the horsemen, wearing
steel head-pieces, tunics, and cuirasses, and armed
with long heavy spears and straight two-edged
swords. After them came the workmen of the
army, pioneers, carpenters, and Smiths, who un-
loaded on the shore, piece by piece, three wooden
castles framed and prepared beforehand. The
Duke was the last that came ashore; and in set-
ting his foot upon the land, he made a false step,
and fell upon his face. A murmur immediately
arose; and some voices cried out, “God preserve
us! This is a bad sign “” But William, rising in-
stantly, said, “Whatisthematter? Whatastonishes
you ? I have grasped this land with my hands;
and, by the splendour of God, how far soever it
may extend, it is mine, it is yours".” This quick
repartee prevented the effect of the bad omen.
The army marched towards Hastings; near that
place the encampment was traced, and the wooden
castles were erected and furnished with provisions,
that they might serve as a retreat in case of ne-
cessity. Bodies of soldiers went over the neigh-
* Mal signe à chi. Wace, Roman de Rou.—Nouveaua. Details,
p. 290.
* Seignour, par la resplendour Dé,
Tout est vostre quanque j a.—1bid.
THE BATTLE OF HASTINGS.
2 &
bouring country, plundering and burning the Book
houses *. The English fled from their dwellings,
concealed their furniture and cattle, and flocked to
the churches and churchyards, which they thought
the most secure asylum from enemies who were
Christians like themselves. But the Normans,
being resolved, as an old narrator expresses it, to
gaingner', made but little account of the sanctity
of places, and respected no asylum “.
Harold was at York, wounded, and resting from
his fatigues, when a messenger came in great
haste, to tell him that William of Normandy had
landed and planted his standard on the Saxon ter-
ritory". He marched towards the south with his
victorious army, publishing, as he passed along,
an order to all his chiefs of counties to put all their
fighting men under arms and lead them towards
London. The militias of the west came without
delay; those of the north were later, on account of
the distance; but there was, nevertheless, reason
* Tapisserie de Bayeur.
* To gain, to get.—Wace, Roman de Rou.
* Chronique de Normandie, Hist. de la France, tom. XIII. p.
228. Guill. Malmesb. p. 100. Henrici Knighton, p. 2341.
Monast. Anglic. tom. I. p. 311.
s ſº tº $ tº that Duc William to Hastinges was yeome, and
his bannere hadde yrerd, and the countrey all ynome. Rob. of
Gloster's Chron. p. 359. Ingulf. Croyl. p. 900. Suppletio
Historia Regni Anglia, MSS. in the British Museum.
III.
286
ELECTION OF EDWARD TO
Book to believe that the king of the English would soon
III.
be surrounded by the whole force of the country.
One of those Normans, in whose favor the law of
banishment passed against them had formerly been
violated, and who now played the part of spies
and secret agents of the invader, sent word to the
Duke to be on his guard, for that in four days the
son of Godwin would have about him a hundred
thousand men". Harold, too quick in his move-
ments, did not wait four days. He could not mas-
ter his eagerness for coming to an engagement with
the foreigners, especially when he learned the ra-
vages of every description which they were com-
mitting round their camp'. The hope of sparing
his countrymen some misery, and perhaps the de-
sire of making an abrupt and unexpected attack
upon the Normans, like that which had already
once procured him the victory, determined him
to march towards Hastings with forces not ex-
ceeding in number one fourth of the invaders".
But William's camp was carefully guarded
* Chron. de Normandie, p. 228. Guil. Pictav. p. 199.
* Quðd propinqua castris Normannorum vastari audicrat.
Guil. Pictav. p. 201.
“ Modico stipatus agnine quadruplo congressus exercitu.
MSS. Abbatia, JWaltham, in the British Museum. Florent. Wi-
gorn. p. 634. Gervas. Tilbur. p. 945. Rog. Hoved. p. 448.
Ingulf. Croyl. p. 900.
THE BATTLE OF HASTINGS.
287
against a surprise, and his posts extended to a con- Book
siderable distance. Bodies of cavalry gave notice,
by their falling back, of the approach of the Sax-
on king, who, they said, appeared to march at a
furious rate *. The Saxon's design of assailing
the enemy unawares, being thus prevented, he was
obliged to moderate his impetuosity. He halted
at the distance of seven miles from the camp of the
Normans, and, all at once changing his tactics, en-
trenched himself, in order to wait for them, be-
hind ditches and palisades. Spies, who spoke the
French language, were sent to the foreign army to
observe its dispositions and its strength; at their
return, they related with astonishment that there
were more priests in William's camp than fighting
men in that of the English. They had taken for
priests all the men of the Norman army who had
their beards shaved and their hair cut; for it was
then the custom of the English to let their hair
and their beards grow. Harold could not help
smiling at this story: “Those whom you have seen
in such numbers,” said he, “are not priests, but
good soldiers, who will make us feel what they
are".” Several of the Saxon captains advised the
king to avoid a battle, and retreat towards Lon-
* Rex furibundus. Guil. Pictav. p. 201.
* Wace, Roman de Rou. Mémoires de l'Academ. des Inscript.
tom. VIII. Math. Paris, tom. I. p. 3.
III.
288
ELECTION OF EDWARD TO
Book don, ravaging the country in his way, in order to
III.
distress the foreigners. “No,” replied Harold,—
“Ravage the country which has been entrusted
to my care!—No—never!—I will rather try the
chances of battle with the few men I have, my
courage, and the goodness of my cause *.”
The Norman Duke, whose character was dia-
metrically opposite, and who, in all circumstances,
neglected no opportunity of placing interest above
personal pride, nor ever brought his strength into
play until his craft had failed, took advantage of
the unfavorable position, in which he beheld his
adversary, to renew his summonses and his de-
mands. A monk, named Hugues Maigrot, came in
William's name, to call upon the Saxon king to do
one of three things—either to resign his royalty in
favor of William, or to refer it to the arbitration
of the Pope to decide which of the two ought to
be king, or to let it be determined by the issue of
a single combat. Harold abruptly replied, “I will
not resign my title, I will not refer it to the Pope,
nor will I accept the single combat".” He was far
from being deficient in bravery ; but he was no
more at liberty to stake the crown which he had
* Parma foi, dit Herault, je me destruirai pas le pays que j'ai
à garder. Chronique de Normandie, Rec. des Hist, de la France,
tom. XIII. p. 229.
" Chronique de Normandie, p. 230. Guil. Pictav. p. 201.
THE BATTLE OF IIASTINGS.
289
received from a whole people in the chance of a Book
duel, than to deposit it in the hands of an Italian
priest. William, not at all ruffled by the Saxon's
refusal, but steadily pursuing the course of his
calculated measures, sent the Norman monk again,
after giving him these instructions,—“ Go and
tell Harold, that if he will keep his former com-
pact with me, I will leave to him all the country
which is beyond the Humber, and will give his
brother Gurth all the lands which Godwin held.
If he still persist in refusing my offers, then thou
shalt tell him, before all his people, that he is a
perjurer and a liar; that he and all who shall sup-
port him are excommunicated by the mouth of the
Pope; and that the bull to that effect is in my
hands'.”
Hugues Maigrot delivered this message in a so-
lemn tone; and the Norman chronicle says that at
the word eaccommunication, the English chiefs look-
ed at one another as if some great danger were im-
pending. One of them then spoke as follows:—
“We must fight, whatever may be the danger to
us; for what we have to consider is not whether
we shall accept and receive a new lord as if our
king were dead; the case is quite otherwise. The
Norman has given our lands to his captains, to his
| Chronique de Normandie, Rec. des Hist, de la France, tom.
XIII. p. 231.
VOL. I. U
III.
290.
ELECTION OF EDWARD TO
Bººk knights, to all his people; the greater part of
whom have already done homage to him for them :
they will all look for their gift, if their duke be-
come our king; and he himself is bound to deliver
up to them our goods, our wives, and our daugh-
ters: all is promised to them beforehand. They
come, not only to ruin us, but to ruin our descen-
dants also, and to take from us the country of our
ancestors. And what shall we do?—whither shall
we go —when we have no longer a country".”
The English promised, by a unanimous oath, to
make neither peace, nor truce, nor treaty with the
invader, but to die, or drive away the Normans'.
The carrying backwards and forwards of these
useless messages occupied a whole day. It was
the eighteenth after the battle fought with the
Norwegiansnear York. Harold's precipitate march
had not permitted any fresh body of troops to join
him at his camp. Edwin and Morkar, the two
great chiefs of the north, were at London or on
the way thither. There came only some volum-
teers, one by one or in small bands, townspeople
armed in haste, or monks who deserted their clois-
ters at the call of their country. Among the lat-
ter arrived Leofric, chief of the abbey of Peterbo-
*- * Chronique de Normandie, Rec. des Hist. de la France, tom.
XIII. p. 231.
! Ibid.
THE BATTLE OF HASTINGS.
291
rough near Ely, a rich monastery, which was em- Book
phatically called the golden city"; and the abbot of III.
the convent of Hida, near Winchester, who likewise
marched in person against the invaders of Eng-
|and, bringing with him twenty armed men raised
at his own expense". The hour of battle seemed
rapidly approaching: Harold's two younger bro-
thers, Gurth and Leofwin, chose their post near
him; the former attempted to persuade him not to
be present at the action, but to go towards Lon-
don for fresh reinforcements while his friends sus-
tained the attack. “Harold,” said the young man,
“ thou canst not deny that, either willingly or by
force, thou tookest an oath to Duke William on
the bodies of the saints. Then why expose thy-
self to the hazards of a battle with a perjury upon
thee ? As for us, who have sworn nothing, justice
is on our side, for we are defending our country.
Let us then fight alone: thou wilt support us if
we give way; if we die, thou wilt avenge us".”
At these touching words from the mouth of a bro-
ther, Harold replied that his duty forbade him to
* Segyldene burh, Chron. Saxon. Gibson.
* De domo suá 12 monachos, et 20 milites pro servitio. Mo-
nastic. Anglican. tom. I. p. 210.
• Fugientes restituere, vel mortuos vindicare. Math. Paris.
tom. I. p. 2. Will. Malmesb. p. 100.
U 2
292
ELECTION OF EDWARD TO
BOOK
III.
gººm--mºmºsº
stand apart while others were risking their lives *.
Too full of confidence in his bravery and the good-
ness of his cause, he disposed his troops for the
fight".
On the ground which afterwards bore, and still
bears the name of Battle', the Anglo-Saxon lines
occupied a long chain of hills, ſortified on all
sides with a rampart of stakes and osier hurdles.
In the night of the 13th of October, William an-
nounced to the Normans that the next day would
be the day of battle. The priests and monks, who
had followed the invading army in great numbers,
being attracted like the soldiers by the hope of
booty", assembled together to offer up prayers
and sing litanies, while the fighting men were pre-
paring their arms and their horses. The adven-
turers employed the time which remained to them
after this first care, in confessing their sins and re-
ceiving the sacrament. In the other army, the
might was passed in quite a different manner; the
” Will. Malmesb. p. 100. Torfaei Hist. Norweg.
" Nimis praeceps et virtute suá praesumens. JWaltham MSS.
* Batayl. Battle, according to the modern orthography.
Orderic, Vital. p. 501. Monastic. Anglican. tom. I. p. 311.
Guil. Pictav. p. 201.
* Gratiã commodi ecclesiae suae cum reliquis se exercitui im-
miscuerat. Monast. Anglic. tom. I. p. 311.
THE BATTLE OF HASTINGS.
293
Saxons diverted themselves with great moise; and BOOK
sung their old national songs, while they emptied
horns of beer and wine round their fires'.
In the morning the Bishop of Bayeux, son of
William's mother by a citizen of Falaise, celebrated
mass in the Norman camp, armed with a hauberk
under his pontifical habit; he then mounted a large
white horse, took a spearin his hand, and drew up
his brigade of horse. The whole army was divided
into three columns of attack. In the first were the
soldiers from the county of Boulogne and from
Ponthieu, with most of those engaged personally
for pay; the second comprised the auxiliaries
from Brittany, Maine, and Poitou ; the third, con-
sisting of the recruits from Normandy, was com-
manded by William in person. At the head of
each division marched several ranks of light-armed
infantry, clad in quilted cassocks, and carrying
upright bows of the height of a man, or cross-bows
of steel. The Duke mounted a Spanish horse,
which a rich Norman had brought him when he
returned from a pilgrimage to St. James of Galli-
cia; and from his neck were suspended the most
venerated of the relics on which Harold had sworn.
The standard blessed by the Pope was carried at
his side by a young man called Toustain Le-
*
* Wace, Roman de Rou. Chronique de Normandic, Recueil des
Ilist. de la France, tom. XIII. p. 231, 232.
III.
294,
ELECTION OF EDWARD TO
BOOK blanc". At the moment when the troops were
III.
about to advance, William, raising his voice, thus
addressed them—
“Remember to fight well, and put all to death;
for if we conquer, we shall all be rich; what I gain,
you will gain; if I conquer, you will conquer; if I
take the land, you will have it. Know, however,
that I am not come here only to obtain my right;
but also to avenge our whole race for the felonies,
perjuries, and treacheries of these English. They
put to death the Danes, men and women, on St.
Bride's night. They decimated the companions
of my kinsman Auvré", and took his life. Come
on, then; and let us, with God's help, chastise them
for all these misdeeds.”
The army was soon within sight of the Saxon
camp, to the north-west of Hastings. The priests
and monks then detached themselves from it, and
ascended a neighbouring height, to pray, and wit-
mess the conflict". A Norman named Taillefer
spurred his horse forward in front, and began the
* Appendit suo collo reliquias. Guil. Pictav. p.201. Roman
de Rou. Chronique de Normandie, p. 231, 232.
* It was thus that the Normans wrote and pronounced the name
of Alfred. Chronique de Normandie, Recueil des Hist. de lo
France, tom. XIII. p. 232. Wace, Roman de Rou.
* . . . . . . . . . . . . pour orer,
Et pour la bataille esgarder. Roman de Rou.
THE BATTLE OF HASTINGS. 295
song of the exploits of Charlemagne and Rolland, BOOK #
famous throughout Gaul. As he sung, he played mi. *
with his sword, throwing it up with force in the
air, and receiving it again in his right hand. The
Normans joined in chorus, or cried, God be our
help ! God be our help * *
As soon as they came within bowshot, the archers
and crossbow-men began to discharge their ar-
rows; but most of the shots were deadened by the
high parapet of the Saxon redoubts. The infan-
try, armed with spears, and the cavalry then ad-
vanced to the entrances of the redoubts and en-
deavoured to force them. The Anglo-Saxons, all
on foot around their standard planted in the
ground, and forming behind their redoubts one
compact and solid mass, received the assailants
with heavy blows of their battle-axes, which, with
a back-stroke, broke their spears and clove their
costs of mail". The Normans, unable either to
penetrate the redoubts or to tear up the pali-
sades, and fatigued with their unsuccessful at-
tack, fell back upon the division commanded by
William. The Duke then commanded all his ar-
chers again to advance, and ordered them not to
shoot point-blank, but to discharge their arrows
* Diex aiel Roman de Rou. Chron. de Normandie, p. 234.
Henrici Huntingd. p. 368. -
* Saevissimas scCurcs. Guil. Pictav. p. 201.
296
ELECTION OF EDWARD TO
BOOK upwards, so that they might descend over the
III.
rampart of the enemy's camp. Many of the Eng-
lish were wounded, chiefly in the face, in conse-
quence of this manoeuvre; Harold himself lost an
eye by an arrow, but he nevertheless continued to
command and to fight. The close attack of the
foot and horse recommenced, to the cry of “Our
Lady! God be our help! God be our help"!”
But the Normans were repulsed at one entrance of
the Saxon camp, as far as a great ravine covered
with grass and brambles, in which, their horses
stumbling, they fell pell-mell, and numbers of them
perished. There was now a momentary panic in
the army of the foreigners; it was rumoured that
William was killed, and at this news they began
to fly. William threw himself before the fugi-
tives, and barred their passage, threatening them,
and striking them with his lance"; them, uncover-
ing his head, “Here I am,” cried he; “look at me;
I am still alive, and with God's help I will con-
quer".”.
The horsemen returned to the redoubts; but, as
before, they could neither force the entrance nor
* Chronique de Normandie. Math. Parisiensis, p. 2, 3.
Monastic. Anglic, tom. I. p. 311. Guil. Pictav. p. 201.
* Verberans aut minans hastá. Guil. Pictav. p. 202.
* Vivo et vincam, opitulante Dco. Ibid. Chronique de Nor-
mandie, p. 234, 235.
THE BATTLE OF HASTINGS.
297
make a breach. The Duke then bethought him- BOOK
self of a stratagem to draw the English out of
their position and their ranks. He ordered a thou-
sand horse to advance and immediately fly'. At
the sight of this feigned rout, the Saxons were
thrown off their guard; and all set off in pursuit,
with their axes suspended from their necks. At
a certain distance, a body of troops posted there
for the purpose joined the fugitives, who then
turned round; and the English surprised in the
midst of their disorder, were assailed on all sides
with spears and swords, which they could not ward
off, both hands being occupied in wielding their
heavy axes'. When they had lost their ranks, the
openings of the redoubts were forced, and horse
and foot entered together; but the combat was still
warmly maintained, pell-mell and hand to hand.
William had his horse killed under him. Harold
and his two brothers fell dead at the foot of their
standard, which was plucked from the ground, and
the flag sent from Rome planted in its stead. The
remains of the English army, without a chief and
without a standard, prolonged the struggle until
it was so dark that the combatants on each side
* Chronique de Normandie, p. 234, 235.
! Ibid.
III.
298
ELECTION OF EDWARD TO .
Book could recognize one another only by their lan-
III.
guage *. - - -
Having, says an old historian, rendered all which
they owed to their country", the remnant of Ha-
rold's companions dispersed, and many remained
lying on the roads, in consequence of their wounds
and the day's fatigue. The Normans, in their ex-
ultation for the victory, leaped their horses over
the bodies of the vanquished'. They passed the
night on the field of battle; and at sunrise, Wil-
liam drew up his troops, and had all the men who
had followed him across the sea called over from
the roll which had been prepared before his depar-
ture from St. Valery. The captains and soldiers
were called over by their names and surnames.
But a great many did not answer"; a great many
who had come with the hope of conquest and
riches, lay dead or dying beside the Saxons. The
fortunate survivors had, as the first profits of their
victory, the spoils of the dead. In turning over
the bodies, there were found thirteen wearing un-
der their arms the monastic habit: these were the
& Ibid. Guill, Pictav. p. 202, 203. Monastic. Anglic. tom. I,
p. 312. Math. Westmonast. p. 224. Eadmer. p. 6.
* Will. Malmesb. p. 202.
'Cursus super jacentes. Guil. Pictav. p. 203.
* Chronique de Normandie, p. 236, 237.
THE BATTLE OF HASTING8.
299
abbot of Hida and his twelve companions; the name BOOK
of their monastery was inscribed in the black book
of the conquerors'.
The mothers, wives, and children of those who
had repaired to the field of battle from the neigh-
bouring country, to die with the king of their
choice, came trembling to bury the bodies strip-
ped by the foreigners. That of Harold was hum-
bly begged of William by two monks of the con-
vent of Waltham, founded by the sons of Godwin.
As they approached the conqueror, they offered
him ten marks of gold for leave to carry away the
remains of him who had been their benefactor.
William granted them his permission. They went
to the heap of dead bodies, and examined them
carefully one after another, but that which they
sought was so much disfigured by wounds that they
could not recognise it. Sorrowful, and despairing
of succeeding in their search by themselves, they
applied to a woman whom Harold, before he was
king, had kept as his mistress, and entreated her
to assist them. She was called Edith, and poe-
tically surnamed the Swan-necked". She consented
* Monast. Anglic. tom. I. p. 210. Guill. Pictav. p. 203.
Will. Malmesb. p. 102.
* Swanes-hals. MSS. Abbatiae Waltham. Jo. Speed's Chro-
nicle, p. 4260.
III.
300
ELECTION OF EDWARD TO
BOOK to follow the two monks, and succeeded better
III.
than they had done, in discovering the corpse of
the man whom she had loved.
These events are all related by the chroniclers
of the English race in a tone of dejection which
it is difficult to transfuse. They call the day of
the battle a day of bitterness—a day of death—a
day stained with the blood of the brave". “Eng-
land, what shall I say of thee?” exclaims the church
historian of Ely; “what shall I say of thee to our
sons?—That thou hast lost thy national king, and
sinkest under the foreigner bathed in the blood of
thy defenders"!” Longafter the day of this fatalcon-
flict, patriotic superstition believed that its bloody
traces were still to be seen on the ground which
had drunk the blood of the warriors of their coun-
try". These traces are said to have been shewn
on the heights to the north-west of Hastings, when
a little rain had moistened the soil. The conque-
ror made a vow to erect on this happy ground
jor him, as he himself expressed it, a convent de-
" Haec congressio, tàm lethalis, tàm amara, tot generosorum
sanguine maculata. Math. Westmonast. p. 224.
° De te quid dicam, quid posteris referam 2 Vae tibi est
Anglia. Hist. Eliensis, p. 516.
" Verum sanguinem quasi recentem exsudat. Guil. Neubri-
gensis Hist. p. 6.
THE BATTLE OF HIASTINGS,
301
dicated to St. Martin, the patron of the soldiers of BOOK
Gaul". Afterwards, when his good-fortune per-
mitted him to fulfil this vow, the great altar of the
monastery was placed on the spot where the Saxon
standard had been torn down, and the circuit of
the building so traced as to enclose all the hill
which the bravest of the English had covered
with their bodies. All the circumjacent land, on
which the different scenes of the battle had been
acted, became the property of this abbey, which,
in the Norman or French language, was called
Battle-Abbey'. A troop of monks, called over
from beyond the Channel, came to take up their
abode in it: they were portioned with the goods
of the Saxons slain in the fight; and with their
prayers for those whose weapons had laid them
low, mingled curses on their memory".
It is said that, when the first stone of the edi-
fice was laid, the architects discovered that there
would certainly be a want of water. This disa-
greeable news was carried to William. “Work,
work away,” replied the Norman bastard; “if God
* Chartae Wilelmi Conquast., apud Monastic. Anglican. tom.
X, p. 310, 312. -
* Cum terra circumquaque adjacente, sicut illa quae milli
coronam tribuit. Charta Willelm. Conquaestoris, inter Not, ad
Eadmer., ed. Selden, p. 165. In Latin, Abbatia de Bello.
* Monastic. Anglic, tom. I. p. 312.
III.
302
ELECTION OF EDWARD, &c.
Book grant me life, there shall be more wine for the
III.
monks of the abbey to drink than there now is
clear water in the best convent in Christendom'.”
* Eidem loco ità prospician, ut magis ei vini abundet copia
quàm aquarum in alià praestanti abbatiã. Monast. Anglic.
Dugdale, tom. I. p. 312.
B O O K IV.
-º-
FROM THE SIEGE OF DOVER TO THE TAKING OF CHESTER.
WHILE the army of the king of the English and Book
that of the foreign invader were in sight of each V.
other, some fresh vessels from Normandy had 1066.
crossed the strait in order to join the great fleet
stationed off Hastings. Their commanders landed
by mistake, several miles to the northward, in a
place called Rumen-ey, now Romney. The people
of the coast received the Normans as enemies; and
a conflict took place, in which the foreigners were
beaten . William was apprised of their defeat
when in the midst of his triumph, and, to prevent
a similar disaster from befalling the rest of the
recruits which he expected from over the channel,
he resolved first of all to secure the possession of
the south-east shores. Instead, therefore, of ad-
* Quos illic errore appulsos fera gens adorta praelio fuderat.
Guill. Pictav. p. 204.
304.
SIEGE OF DOVER TO
BOOK vancing towards London, he marched back to
IV.
Hastings, and remained there for some time, to
try if the presence of the conqueror would not of
itself induce the population of the neighbouring
country to make a voluntary submission. But
mo one came to solicit peace; and the conqueror
recommenced his march, with the remains of his
army, and the fresh troops which had reached him
from Normandy".
He went along the coast, from south to north,
ravaging all in his way “. At Romney, he re-
venged the rout of his soldiers by burning the
houses and murdering the inhabitants. From
Romney he marched to Dover, the strongest place
on the whole coast, and that which he had formerly
endeavoured to make himself master of, without
conflict or danger, by the oath into which he sur-
prised Harold. The fort of Dover, recently finish-
ed by the son of Godwin, amidst better hopes, was
situated on a rock washed by the sea, which was
naturally steep, and had been cut on all sides with
great trouble and labor, so as to make it level
and perpendicular like a wall. The particulars
of the siege by the Normans are unknown. All
* Cúm intellexisset quëd eum adire noluerunt. Chron. Sar.
Frag. Ed. Lye.
* Spoliavit totum istum tractum. Ibid.
THE TAKING OF CHESTER.
305
that we learn from the historians is, that the town BOOK
of Dover was burned; and that, either through
fear or through treason, those who held the for-
tress surrendered ". William passed eight days
at Dover, constructing new walls and defensive
works; then, changing the direction of his route,
he turned aside from the coast, and marched to-
wards the capital.
The Norman army advanced by the great Ro-
man way, called by the English Warthling-street,
which had so often served as a common limit in
the partitions of territory between the Saxons and
the Danes “. This road led from Dover to Lon-
don, through the middle of the province of Kent.
The conquerors traversed a part of it without
finding their passage disputed; but in one place,
where the road approached the Thames, a large
body of armed Saxons suddenly presented them-
selves, commanded by two ecclesiastics, Egel-
sig, abbot of the monastery of St. Augustine at
Canterbury, and Stigand, archbishop of Can-
terbury, the same who had anointed king Ha-
rold'. It is not precisely known what passed in
* Armigeri exercitàs nostri praedae cupidine, ignem injece-
runt. Guill. Pictav. p. 204.
* See Book II. p. 164.
* Chron. Willelmi Thorn, p. 1786.
IV.
X
306
SIEGE OF DOVER TO
BOOK this encounter; whether there was a battle fol-
IV.
* =ºmºmºmº
lowed by a treaty between the two armies, or the
capitulation was concluded without fighting. It
appears, however, that the army of the Kentish
men stipulated for their whole province, which
promised to offer no further resistance to the con-
querors, on condition of its remaining as free after
the conquest as it had been before it *. -
In thus treating for themselves, and separating
their own destiny from that of the nation, the
men of Kent (if, indeed, it be true that they made
such a compact) did that which was more inju-
rious to the common cause than advantageous
for themselves; for there is no act of the time
which proves that the foreigner kept his word with
them and distinguished them from the rest of the
English in his oppressive measures and enact-
ments. Archbishop Stigand, having either taken
part in this deplorable capitulation, or (which,
from his bold and lofty character", is the more
probable conjecture) vainly opposed it, quitted
the province which laid down its arms, and went
to London, where no one had yet thought of a
surrender. The inhabitants of that great town,
* Chron. Will. Thorn. p. 1786.
" Magnanimus enim erat valdé, et inaestimabilis praesump-
tionis. Chron. Gervasii Cantuariensis, p. 1651.
TILE TAKING OF CIHFSTER.
307
and the chiefs assembled in it, had resolved to Book
fight a second battle, which, if well prepared and
well conducted, promised to be more fortunate
than the first '.
But there was wanting a supreme chief, round
whom every force and every will might rally; and
the national council which was to name this chief,
agitated and divided as it was by various in-
trigues and pretensions, was tardy in coming to a
decision. Neither of the brothers of the late king,
men capable of filling his place with honor, had
survived the battle of Hastings. Harold had left
two sons; but they were yet too young and too
little known to the people. It does not appear
that they were then proposed as candidates for
the royalty. The candidates most powerful in
wealth and renown were Edwin and Morkar, the
chiefs of Northumbria and Mercia, brothers-in-
law to Harold. They had the suffrages of all the
men of the north of England; but the citizens of
London, the inhabitants of the south, and some
others, opposed to them young Edgar, nephew to
king Edward, and surnamed Ætheling, or the il-
lustrious, because he was descended from several
kings". This young man, feeble in mind and
* Chron. Sazon. Frag. Ed. Lye.
* Guill. Pictav. p. 205. Will. Malmesb. p. 102.
IV.
X 2
308
SIEGE OF DOVER TO
BOOK without any acquired reputation, had, a year be-
IV.
fore, been unable to counterbalance the popula-
rity of Harold; but he now counterbalanced that
of the sons of Alfgar, and was supported against
them by Stigand himself, and by Eldred arch-
bishop of York'.
Most of the other bishops were neither for Ed-
gar nor for his competitors; but demanded sub-
mission to the man who brought with him the
pope's bull and the standard blessed by St. Peter".
Of these bishops, some acted through a blind scru-
ple of obedience to ecclesiastical power; others
through political cowardice; and others, of fo-
reign origin and gained over beforehand by the
foreign pretender, were only playing the part for
which they had been paid either in money or in
promises. However, they did not prevail: thema-
jority of the national council made choice of a
Saxon; but of him who was the least fit to com-
mand in circumstances of difficulty, the young
nephew of Edward. After much hesitation, which
occasioned a loss of time, then so precious, in use-
less disputes", he was proclaimed king. The di-
' Chron. Saw. Frag. Ed. Lye.
* Episcopos non habebant assertores. Will. Malmesb. p. 102.
Fordun, p. 698.
* De die in diem tardius et deterius. Chron. Sax. Frag. Ed.
Lye.
TIIE TAIKING OF CHESTER.
309
vided minds of the people were not united by his Bººk
accession. Edwin and Morkar, who had promised
to put themselves at the head of the troops as-
sembled in London, retracted their promise, and
retired into their governments of the north, tak-
ing with them the soldiers of those countries, who
were entirely devoted to them. They entertained
the vain hope of defending the northern pro-
vinces separately from the rest of England. Their
departure weakened and discouraged those who
remained in London with the new king; and that
depression of spirit, which is the fruit of civil dis-
cord, succeeded the first ebullition of national
will and enthusiasm excited by the foreign inva-
sion ".
Meanwhile, the Norman troops were approach-
ing at several points; and traversing in various
directions the counties of Surrey, Sussex, and
Hants, plundering and burning the towns and vil-
lages, and butchering the men whether with arms
or without P. Five hundred horse advanced as far
as the southern suburb of London, engaged a body
of Saxons who opposed them, and in their retreat,
burned all the buildings on the right bank of the
° Ità Angliqui, in unam coeuntes sententiam, potuissent pa-
triae reformari ruinam. Will. Malmesb. p. 102.
* Villas cremare hominesque interficere non cessabat. Ibid.
310
SIEGE OF DOVER TO
Book Thames". William, judging from this experiment
IV.
that the citizens had not yet entirely renounced
the intention of defending themselves, instead of
approaching and laying siege to the town, went
towards the west, and passed the Thames at Wal-
lingford, in the province of Berks. He found an
entrenched camp at this place; and left some
troops in it, to intercept any succours that might
come from the western provinces: then directing
his course towards the north-east, he himself en-
camped at Berkhamstead, in the province of Hert-
ford, to interrupt in like manner all communica-
tion between London and the north, and to pre-
vent the return of the sons of Alfgar, in case that
they repented of their defection". By this stra-
tagem, the great Saxon city was invested on all
sides. Numerous foraging parties ravaged its en-
virons and stopped its supplies, without coming
to any decisive engagement. The men of London
more than once fought the Normans; but they
gradually became weary, and were overcome, not
so much by the strength of the enemy, as by the
dread of famine and the disheartening reflection
" Cremantes quidquid aedificiorum citrä flumen invenère.
Guill. Pictav. p. 205. Ordericus Vitalis, p. 503.
* Ibid.
2
TIIE TAIKING OF CHESTER.
311
that they were cut off from all succour'. King Book
Edgar, the archbishops Stigand and Eldred, Wulf-
stan, bishop of Worcester, several other ecclesias-
tics and chiefs of high rank, and the principal ci-
tizens of the place, in obedience to necessity,(says
a cotemporary Saxon chronicle,) went to the Nor-
man camp at Berkhamstead, and, to the misfor-
tune of their country, submitted to the foreigner'.
They took oaths of peace and fidelity to him, gave
him hostages; and the foreigner, in return, pro-
mised them mildness and clemency. He then set
forward towards London ; and, regardless of his
promise, allowed all in the way to be ravaged and
burned".
On the road from Berkhamstead to London,
there was a rich monastery called St. Alban's Ab-
bey, built near the extensive ruins of an ancient
Roman municipal city “. On approaching the
lands of this convent, William observed with sur-
prise large masses of wood felled and disposed so
as to interrupt his passage or render it difficult.
• Videntes demüm se diutius stare non posse. Guillelm.
Gemeticensis, p. 288.
* Se submiserunt propter necessitatem, quod maximum erat
in dammum factum. Chron. Saw. Frag. Ed. Lye.
* Promisit quëd fidus dominus esset, attamen vastaverunt
omne quod pertransibant. Ibid. Roger. de Hoved, p. 450.
* Verulamium.
IV.
312
SIEGE OF DOVER TO
Bººk He caused the abbot of St. Alban's, named Frith-
ric, to be brought before him. “Why,” demanded
the conqueror, “ hast thou cut down thy woods in
this manner * “I have done my duty,” answered
the Saxon monk; “and if all of my order had done
the same, as they might and ought to have done,
perhaps thou wouldst not have penetrated so far
into our country'.” William did not go to Lon-
don; but stopped at the distance of a few miles
from it, and sent forward a strong detachment of
soldiers with instructions to build a fortress for
his residence” in the centre of the town. While
this work was proceeding with rapidity, the Nor-
man council of war were discussing in the camp
near London the means of promptly completing
the conquest so successfully begun *. The fami-
liar friends of William said, that, in order to ren-
der the people of the yet unconquered provinces
less disposed to resistance, the chief of the con-
quest must, previously to any ulterior invasion,
take the title of king of the English". This pro-
posal was, doubtless, the most agreeable to the
7 Chron. Jo. Specd, p. 436.
* Praemisit Londoniam qui munitionem in ipsá construerent
urbe, moraturus interim per vicina. Guill. Pictav. p. 205.
* Consulens comitatos é Normanniä. Ibid.
* Rebellem quemque minus ausurum, facilius conterendum,
Ibid.
THE TAIKING OF CHIESTER.
313
Duke of Normandy; but, with his accustomed cir- BOOK
IV.
cumspection, he feigned indifference to it, and
dissimulated his desire, lest he should appear to
the companions of his fortunes too ambitious of a
dignity which was to raise him above themselves
as well as above the vanquished, and destroy the
sort of equality and military fraternity which ex-
isted in the camp between them and their chief.
William made modest excuses, and requested that
there might at least be a little delay, saying that
he had not come to England to make his own for-
tune, but that of the whole Norman people; more-
over, that if it were God's pleasure that he should
become king, the time for taking the title had not
yet arrived, as there were yet too many men and
too many provinces to be subdued “.
A majority of the captains of Norman birth
was inclined to interpret these hypocritical scru-
ples by the letter, and to decide that the time
to make a king was really not yet arrived: when
one of the chiefs of the auxiliary bands, named
Aimery de Thouars, a Poictouan, who had less
cause to be jealous of William's royalty than the
inhabitants of Normandy, addressed them in a
high tone, saying, in the style of a flatterer and a
* Res adhüc turbidas esse, rebellare nonnullos, Guill. Pictav.
p. 205,
314,
SIEGE OF DOVER TO
hired soldier, “It is an excess of modesty to ask
fighting-men, whether they choose that their lord
shall be a king : soldiers are not called upon to
take part in discussions of this nature: besides
our debates only serve to retard that which we all
wish to see accomplished without any delay".”
Those among the Normans who, after the feigned
excuses of William, would have ventured to be of
the same mind with their duke, were quite of a
contrary opinion as soon as the Poictouan had
spoken, lest they should appear less faithful and
devoted to the common chief. They unanimously
resolved that, before the conquest was pushed
any further, Duke William should cause himself
to be crowned king of England by the small num-
ber of Saxons whom he had succeeded in terrify-
ing and corrupting.
Christmas-day, which was then approaching,
was fixed for the ceremony. The archbishop of
Canterbury, Stigand, who had taken the oath of
peace to the conqueror in his camp at Berkham-
stead, was invited to come and lay his hands upon
him and place the crown on his head, according
to the ancient custom of the church of the wes-
BOOK
IV.
*
1066.
* Ad hujusmodi disceptationem rarö aut nunquam milit
accierunt . . . . . Non est did trahendum nostră deliberatio
quod . . . . . Guill. Pictav. p. 205.
THE TARING OF CHIESTER.
315
term monastery—in Saxon West-mynster, near BOOK
London. Stigand refused to go and give his be-
nediction to a man who was stained with human
blood and an invader of the rights of others". But
Eldred, archbishop of York, being (say the old his-
torians') more circumspect and better advised,
and, comprehending that it was necessary to con-
form to the times, and not to go against the order
of God, who raises up all powers", consented to
perform this office for the menacing foreigner".
The church in the west was prepared and deco-
rated as in former days, when, with the free suf-
frages of the best men of England', the king of
their choice came and presented himself, there to
receive the investment of the power which they
had confided to him. But this previous election,
without which the pretension to royalty could be
no other than a vain mockery—a bitter insult on
the part of the strongest, did not take place in the
• Ille verb cruento viro et alieni juris invasori manus imponere
recusavit. Guill. Neubrigensis Hist. ed. Hearn. p. 3. Jo.
Brompton, p. 961. Eadmeri Hist, p. 6. Chron. Th. Wilkes,
p. 21.
* Vir bonus et prudens. Chron. Walteri Hemingford. p. 457.
* Acutiès intelligens cedendum esse tempori, et divinae nequa-
quàm resistendum ordinationi. Ibid. Guill. Neubrig. p. 3.
* Spirantem adhúc minarum et caedis in populum. Ibid.
' Tha bestan-menn. Chron. Sacon, passim.
IV.
316 SIEGE OF DOVER TO
pook case of the Norman chief. He quitted his camp of
IV. foreigners, and proceeded between their triple files
to the monastery, where his arrival was awaited by
some Saxons who were overcome by their fears,
or at most but affected a calm demeanour and an
air of liberty in their cowardly and servile office.
All the avenues leading to the church, the streets
and openings of the suburb, were lined with horse-
men", who, according to ancient accounts, were
to keep down the rebels and ensure the safety of
those whose ministry called them into the interior
of the temple'. Two hundred and sixty chiefs
of war, the staff of the conquering army, entered
it with their duke ".
When the ceremony opened, Geoffrey bishop
of Coutances asked the Normans, in French, if
they were all of opinion that their general should
take the title of king of the English; and at the
same time, the archbishop of York asked the Eng-
lish, in Saxon, if they would have the Norman for
their king. Such loud acclamations were then
raised in the church, that they resounded beyond
its gates, in the ears of the horsemen who filled
* Cercă monasterium in armis et equis praesidio dispositi.
Guill. Pictav. p. 206.
* Ne quid doli et seditionis oriretur. Orderic. Vital. p. 503.
* Monastic, Anglican.
THE TARING OF CHESTER.
317
the neighbouring streets. They took this con- Bººk
fused noise for a cry of alarm; and, in pursuance
of their secret orders, immediately set fire to the
houses". Many of them galloped towards the
church; and, at the sight of their drawn swords
and the flames of the conflagration, all the atten-
dants, Norman as well as Saxon “, dispersed, the
latter hastening to extinguish the fire, and the
former to plunder during the disorder P. The
ceremony was suspended by this unforeseen tu-
mult; and there remained to finish it only the
Duke, archbishop Eldred, and a few priests of
both nations. These men, every one of them
trembling, received from him whom they called
king, and who trembled like themselves, the oath
to treat the Anglo-Saxon people as well as they
had been treated by the best of the kings whom
they had elected in former times".
From that very day, the city of London had
cause to know the value of such an oath from the
mouth of a conquering foreigner. An enormous
" Flammam aedibus imprudenter injecerunt. Guill. Pictav.
p. 206.
* Multitudo virorum ac mulierum celeriter basilică egressa
est. Orderic. Vital. p. 503.
* Ut in perturbatione sibi praedas diriperent. Ibid.
" Trepidantes super regem vehementer trementem officium
vix peregerunt. Orderic. Vital. p. 508.
| ]
318
SIEGE OF DOVER TO
BOOK war tribute was imposed on the citizens, and their
IV.
hostages were imprisoned". William, who could
not himself sincerely believe that the benediction
of Eldred and the acclamations of a few cowards
had made him a king of England in the lawful
sense of the word, feeling embarrassed in deter-
mining the style of his manifestos, sometimes
falsely called himself king by hereditary succes-
sion, and sometimes, with perfect frankness, king
by the edge of the sword '. But, if he hesitated
in his designations, he did not hesitate in his acts;
he put himself in his proper place by the attitude
of hostility and distrust which he assumed towards
the people. He did not yet venture into the
middle of London, notwithstanding his garrisons
and the indented entrenchments which had been
hastily constructed for him; but went into the
neighbouring country, to wait until his engineers
had given greater solidity to these works, and laid
the foundations of two other forts, to repress
(says a Norman author) the changeable spirit of a
population too numerous and too spirited'.
* Tributum imposuit hominibus valdé sacvum. Chron. Saa.
Frag.
* Ego Willelmus rex hareditario jure factus. In ore gladii
regnum adeptus sum Anglorum. Hickesii Thesaurus Linguarum
Septentrionalium.
* Contrå mobilitatem ingentis et ſeri populi. Guill. Pictav.
p. 208.
THE TAKING OF CHESTER.
319
During the time which the king passed, seven BOOK
miles from London, at a place called Barking, the
two Saxon chiefs, whose fatal retreat had caused
the surrender of the great town, terrified at the
new power which the possession of London and
the title of king gave to the invader, came from
the north to take the same oath to him which the
English chiefs were accustomed to take to their
ancient kings". However, the submission of Ed-
win and Morkar did not bring with it that of the
provinces which they had governed; and the Nor-
man army did not advance to occupy those pro-
vinces, but remained concentrated round London
and on the southern and eastern coasts nearest to
Gaul. It was at that time almost entirely occu-
pied in sharing the spoils of the invaded territory.
Commissions were sent through the whole extent
of country in which the army had left garrisons.
They made an exact inventory of all kinds of pro-
perty, public and private, registering them with
great care and minuteness; for, even in those re-
mote times, the Norman nation, as it has since
been, was lavish of writings, acts, and procès-
verbaua, *.
“Ibi ad obsequium ejus venerunt. Ibid.
* Cúm rex ipse regisque proceres locanova perlustrarunt facta
est inquisitio diligens. Dialogus de Scaccario, in notis ad Math.
Paris.
IV.
320
SIEGE OF DOVER TO
Enquiry was made into the names of all the
English who had died in battle, or who had sur-
vived their defeats, or whom their domestic affairs
had, contrary to their desire, kept from obeying
the call of their country. All the possessions of
these three classes of men, whether in lands, move-
ables, or revenues, were seized ". The children
of the first were declared disinherited for ever.
The second were likewise permanently dispos-
sessed, and (say the Norman authors) they them-
selves were quite sensible that their lives were all
which they ought to expect at the hands of the
enemy”. Lastly, those men who had not taken
part in any battle, were also stripped of every-
thing, for having intended to fight; but, by a Spc-
cial favour and clemency, they were permitted to
hope that, after many years of obedience and de-
votion to the foreign power, not they, but their
children—their children only, might obtain from
the bounty of the new masters some portion of
the paternal inheritance". Such was the law of
BOOK
IV.
* Spes omnis terrarum et fundorum atque redituum praeclusa
est. Dialogus de Scaccario.
* Magnum namque reputabant frui vitae beneficio sub inimicis.
Ibid.
* Cúm tractu temporis devotis obsequiis gratiam dominorum
possedissent, sine spè successionis filiitantum (pro voluntate do-
minorum) possidere coeperunt, Ibid.
THE TARING OF CHESTER.
321 y
the Conquest, according to the unsuspicious tes- Book
timony of one of the sons of the conquerors".
The immense produce of this universal spolia-
tion was the pay of the adventurers who had en-
listed under the standard of the Norman duke.
In the first place, their chief, the new king of the
English, kept as his own share all the treasure of
the ancient kings, the gold plate and ornaments
in the churches, and every thing rare and precious
that could be found in the shops *. William sent
a part of these riches to Pope Alexander, together
with Harold's standard, in return for the blessed
standard which had triumphed at Hastings"; and
all the churches abroad in which psalms had been
Sung and tapers burned for the success of the in-
vasion, received in recompense crosses, vases, or
gold stuffs". When the king and the priests had
taken their share, the soldiers had theirs, accord-
ing to their rank and the conditions of their en-
gagement. Those who, at the camp on the Dive,
had done homage to William for lands which were
then to be conquered, received those of the dis-
* Ricardus Nigellus, Richard Le-noir or Noirot, bishop of
*ly in the twelfth century.
* Guill. Pictav. p. 206.
" Romanæ ecclesia. Sti. Petri pecuniam in auro atque argento
*pliorem quam dictu credibile sit. Ibid.
* Mille ecclesiis Franciae. Ibid.
VoI. I. Y
sº
IV.
322
SIEGE OF DOVER TO
Book possessed English'. The captains had extensive
domains, castles, and whole towns; and the meaner
vassals had smaller portions". Some took their
pay in money; others had stipulated beforehand
for Saxon women; and, says the Norman chro-
nicle, William caused them to take in marriage
noble ladies inheriting large fortunes, whose hus-
bands had been slain in the battle. One alone
amongst all the warriors in the conqueror's train
claimed neither lands, nor gold, nor women ;
and would accept no part of the spoils of the
vanquished: he was named Guilbert son of Ri-
chard. He said that he had accompanied his lord
into England, because such was his duty; that he
was not to be tempted by stolen property, but
would return into Normandy to live on his own
patrimony, which, though small, was lawful, and,
content with his own portion, would take nothing
away from others".
The conqueror passed the last months of the
* Chronique de Normandie, inter Scriptores Francic. tom.
XIII.
s Dona chastels, dona citez,
Dona terres as vavasors. Wace, Roman de Rou.
The word vassal is synonymous with soldier or man-at-arm”
Hardi et noble vassal. Vassaument for bravement.
* De rapină quicquam possidere noluit, suis cententus, alieſ'
respuit. Orderic. Vital. p. 606,
THE TARING OF CHESTER.
323
winter which terminated the year 1066, in making Book
a sort of military progress through such of the
provinces as were them invaded. It is hard to de-
termine with exactness the number of these pro-
vinces, and the extent of country which the fo-
reign troops occupied and ranged in freely. How-
ever, by carefully examining the accounts of con-
temporaries, we find negative proofs at least that
the Normans had not yet penetrated towards the
north-east further than the rivers whose mouths
form the bay of Boston, nor to the south-west be-
yond the hills which bound the province of Dor-
set. The town of Oxford, situated nearly at an
equal distance from these two opposite points, in
a right line between them, had not yet surrender-
ed; but perhaps this ideal frontier had been passed,
either to the north or to the south of Oxford. It
is equally difficult to affirm or to deny it; or to fix
the limit at any precise moment of a constantly ex-
tending invasion.
All that portion of territory occupied in reality
by William's garrisons, and possessed by him other-
wise than nominally and by virtue of his title of
king, was in a short time crowded with citadels
and fortified castles'. All the native population
* Medificaverunt castella passim per hanc regionem, Chron.
Saxon. Fr. Ed. Lye.
IV.
Y 2
324
SIEGE OF DOVER TO
BOOK within it were disarmed, and compelled to swear
IV.
obedience and fidelity to the new chief imposed
on them by the lance and the sword. They swore;
but they did not believe in their hearts that the
foreigner was the lawful king of England; and in
their eyes young Edgar was still the true king,
though deposed and a captive. The monks of
the convent of Peterborough, in the province of
Northampton, gave a remarkable proof of this.
Having lost their abbot Leofric on his return
from the battle of Hastings, they chose their prior
named Brand, to succeed him; and, as it was their
custom to obtain the approbation of the election
of the chiefs of their convent by the chief of the
country, they sent Brand to Edgar. They took
this step (says the chronicle of the monastery) be-
cause all the inhabitants of the country thought
that Edgar would again become king". The ru-
mour of this soon reached the ears of William, and
his anger was raised to the utmost. “From that
day forward,” says the cotemporary narrator,
“every affliction—every evil has fallen upon our
house. May God vouchsafe to take pity on it'ſ"
This prayer of a monk might well, at that time,
* Hujus enim regionis incolae arbitrabantur eum regem fore.
Chron. Sar. Gibson, p. 173.
| God hit gemietse ! Ibid.
THE TAKING OF CHESTER.
325
be the prayer of every Englishman in the conquer- Bººk
ed provinces; for each had an ample portion of
grief and misery: that of the men was indigence
and servitude ; that of the women, insults and
violence more cruel than all beside. Such as were
not taken par mariage, were taken par amours, as
the conquerors expressed it, and were the sport of
the foreign soldiers, the lowest and meanest of
whom was lord and master in the house of the con-
quered. “ Ignoble squires, impure vagabonds,”
say the cotemporary writers, disposed at their
pleasure of young women of the best families,
leaving them to weep and wish for death". Fran-
tic wretches! they wondered at their own acts;
and went mad with pride and astonishment at
finding themselves so powerful, and having ser-
vants with greater wealth than their fathers had
ever possessed". Whatever they had the will, they
believed they had the right, to do: they shed blood
in wantonness; they snatched the last morsel of
bread from the mouths of the unfortunate; they
seized everything—money, goods, and land" . . . ."
* Nobiles puellae despicabilium ludibrio armigerorum pate-
bant, et ab immundis nebulonibus oppressa dedecus suum plo-
rabant. Orderic. Vital. p. 523.
* Unde, sibi tanta potestas emanasset, ut clientes ditiores ha-
berent quâm corum in Neustria fuerant parentes. Ibid.
* A baccis miserorum cibos abstraheates. Will. Malmesb.
326
SIEGE OF DOVER TO
Such was the yoke which the English race suc-
cessively received, as the standard of the three
lions advanced over their fields and was planted
in their towns. But this fate, which was every
where equally hard, assumed various appearances
according to the diversity of places. The towns
suffered in a different manner from the country;
and each town or district had in its grievances
something peculiar to itself. The common stock
of misery was surrounded (if the expression may
be allowed) by that variety of forms, that multi-
plicity of accidents, which human affairs con-
stantly present, and which the historian should
faithfully recount. At Pevemsey, for instance,
(beginning with the first corner of land on which
the foreigner set foot), the Norman soldiers shared
amongst them the houses of the vanquished P. In
other places, the inhabitants themselves were
counted and distributed: in the town of Lewes,
according to a certain authentic register ", King
William took sixty of the townsmen paying an
annual rent of thirty-nine sous; one Asselin had
three townsmen paying a rent of only four sous;
and Guillaume de Caén had two paying two souš
only ;-these are the words of the roll". In the
BOOK
IV.
* Doomesday-book, Vol. I. p. 26.
* Ibid.
* Vitts. de Cahainges, 11 burgenses de 11 sol. Ibid.
6
THE TAKING OF CHESTER,
327
town of Arundel, an Englishman of twelve-pence BOOK
(so says the roll) was reserved for the monks of
St. Martin of Battle".
The city of Dover, half consumed by fire, was
given to Eudes, bishop of Bayeux, who, say the
old acts, could not calculate its exact value, on
account of the devastation'. He distributed the
houses amongst his warriors and followers. Raoul
de Courbespine received three of them together
with a poor woman's field"; Guillaume son of Ge-
offry had also three, together with the old town-
house or common-hall “. Near Colchester, in the
province of Essex, Geoffroy de Mandeville seized
forty manors and forty habitations surrounded
by cultivated lands'; fourteen Saxon proprietors
were dispossessed by Ingelry, and thirty by one
Guillaume : one rich Englishman put himself, for
security, in the power of the Norman Gaultier,
who received him as a tributary”; another En-
* Sès. Martinus, 1 burgensem de 12 den. Ibid.
* Practium ejus non potuit computari, quantúm valebat. Ex-
tracta e D. B. apud Scriptores ed. & Gale, p. 759.
* Doomesday-book, Vol. I. p. 9.
* Witt. Fitz. Ganfredi III, in quibus erat Gihalla burgensium.
Extracta à Gale, p. 759.
* Dugdale's Baronage.
* Submisit se in manu Walterii, pro defensione sui. Doomes-
day-book, Vol. II, p. 36.
328
SIEGE OF DOVER TO
Bººk glishman became a self-de-corps on the soil of his
own field ".
In the province of Suffolk, a Norman chief
appropriated to himself the lands of a Saxon wo-
man named Edith the Fair", perhaps the same
swam-necked Edith who had been mistress to Ha-
rold. The city of Norwich was reserved entire
as the conqueror's private domain : it had paid to
the Saxon kings a tax of thirty livres twenty sols;
but William exacted annually seventy livres, a
valuable horse, a hundred livres for his wife, and
moreover twenty livres for the salary of the officer
who commanded there in his name *. A strong
citadel was built in the heart of this town inha-
bited by the descendants of the ancient Danes; for
the conquerors were fearful of its asking and re-
ceiving succour from the men of Denmark, who
were frequently cruising near the coast". In the
city of Dorchester, which in Edward's time had
contained a hundred and seventy-two houses, there
* Quidam liber homo qui modă effectus est unus de villanis.
Doomesday-book, Vol. I. p. 1.
* Edeva Faira. Ibid. Vol. I. p. 285.
“ Modó reddit LXX lib. pensas regi, et C. solidos degersumá
reginae, et asturconem, et XX libras blancas comiti. Ibid.
Spelmani Gloss.
* Danos in auxilium citiús recipere potest. Guil. Piclav. p.
3.08. *
THE TAKING OF CHESTER.
329
were now only eighty-eight; the rest were a heap Book
of ruins. At Warham, out of a hundred and thir-
teen houses, sixty-two had been likewise destroy-
ed". At Bridport twenty had disappeared in the
same manner; and the misery of the inhabitants
was such, that more than twenty years afterwards
not a single house had been rebuilt'. The Isle of
Wight, near the southern coast, was invaded by
Guillaume son of Osbert–seneschal to the Norman
duke, who added it to his extensive domains in
England, and transmitted it to his son, and after-
wards to the son of his nephew, Baudoin, called
in Normandy Bandoin de Riviers, and in England
Baudoin of the Island".
Near Winchester, in the province of Hants, was
the abbey of Hida, the head of which, accompa-
nied by twelve of his monks and twenty men-at-
arms, had gone to the battle of Hastings and had
not returned". The vengeance with which the
conqueror visited this monastery, was mixed with
a sort of pleasantry: he took from the lands of the
convent twelve times the amount of the ordinary
* Doomesday-book.
* Extracta à Gale, p. 764.
* Insulam Vectam conquisivit. Monast. Anglic, tom. II, p.
905. g
* Sec Book III, p. 299.
IV.
330
SIEGE OF DOVER TO
Book pay of one of his armed men—or, in the language
IV.
of the time, twelve knight's fees, as an atonement
for the crime of the monks who had fought against
him; and a captain's pay, or baron's fee, for the
abbot who had put himself at their head'. Another
fact which may be cited as one of the joyeusetés of
the conquest is, that a female juggler, named Ade-
line, figures on the rolls, made out for the parti-
tion of the same province, as having received fee
and salary from Roger, one of the Norman counts".
In the province of Hertford, an Englishman
had bought back his land by the payment of nine
ounces of gold'; nevertheless, to escape a violent
dispossession, he was obliged to become tributary
to a soldier named Vigot". Three Saxon war-
riors, Thurnot, Waltheof, and Thunnan, associated
together as brethren in arms, possessed a manor
near St. Alban's, which they had received from
the chief of the abbey, on condition of their de-
fending it by the sword, if necessary. They
* Pro abbate baroniam unam, et pro singulis monachis qui
cum abbate in bellum processerant singula feoda militum. Mo-
nast. Anglic. tom. I. p. 210.
* Et Adelina joculatrix una virgulá quam Rog. comes dedit
ei. Doomesday-book, tom. II. p. 38.
'Terram suam emit à W. rege, movem uncias auri, Doomes-
day-book, tom. I. p. 137.
in Ibid.
THE TAKING of CHESTER.
331
faithfully discharged this engagement by resisting BOOK
the Norman invaders; but, being overpowered by
numbers, and compelled to fly, they abandoned
their domain. This domain then fell to the share
of Robert de Toëmes, one of those Norman knights
who, from their bearing a swan upon their escut-
cheons, were called soldiers of the swan". But
Robert and his men soon had to defend their
newly-acquired property against the three Saxons,
who, at the head of a party of their friends, sud-
denly attacked them, and burned their own houses
which the foreigner inhabited : they fought until,
being surrounded by their more numerous ene-
mies, they were taken, and hanged as rebels, ac-
cording to the law of the Conquest".
These facts, taken indiscriminately from among
thousands of others which it would be tedious to
enumerate, are sufficient to give the reader an idea
of the various deplorable scenes which were ex-
hibited at the same time in several of the southern
and eastern provinces of England, while the con-
queror was installing himself in the tower of Lon-
don. This fortress, built at one of the angles of
the city wall, on the eastern side, near the Thames,
received the name of Palatine Tower, taken from
" Abillis famosis militibus qui à cycni nomine intitulabantur.
Math. Paris. Vitae Abbatum Sti. Albani, p. 46.
* Capti perierunt. Ibid.
IV.
332
SIEGE OF DOVER TO
BOOK an old Roman title, which William bore in Nor-
III.
mandy conjointly with that of duke or count. Two
other fortresses, built on the western side, and con-
fided to the care of the Normans Baynard and Gil-
bert Montfichet, took the name of their respec-
tive keepers P. The banner of the three lions was
hoisted on William's donjon, and those of Baynard
and Montfichet were displayed on the two others;
but these captains had both sworn to lower their
own flags and raise that of William, their chief,
their duke, their lord, at his command, given in
anger or without anger, for crime or for no crime,
and supported by great force or by little force—as
the forms of the age are worded ". Before mak-
ing, to the sound of trumpets, their first entry into
their towers, and filling them with their serving-
men, they had placed their hands in those of the
Norman king, and acknowledged themselves to be
his men of faith and service. They had promised
by this oath to suffer as a just and lawful sentence
the decree of dispossession which would be passed
against them, if, at any future time, they ranged
themselves against their lord—if they voluntarily
separated their cause from his cause, their power
from his power, their flag from his flag.
P Castellum Baynardi, Baynard's Castle. Maitland's History
of London.
... 3. Ducange, Notes sur Joinville.
+º 5
THE TAIKING OF CHESTER.
§
38
What they swore to the chief of the Conquest Book
others in like manner swore to them, and others
again took to these others the same oath of fidelity
and homage. Thus the body of the conquerors,
though scattered and distributed over the terri-
tory of the vanquished, was still united by one
great chain of duty, and kept the same order as
on board the transports, or behind the redoubts
at Hastings. The subalterm owed faith and ser-
vice to his military superior; the man who had re-
ceived lands from another, owed him faith and ser-
vice in return. On this condition, those who had
shared the most in the various profits or plunders
of the invasion, gave or lent a part of their super-
fluity in fief to those who had been less fortunate.
The captains gave to the simple men-at-arms, or
the barons to the knights; the men-at-arms gave
to their esquires, or to those who attended them
in battle, whether on horseback or on foot; the
esquires and the servants-at-arms gave to their own
servants'; and generally,the rich gave to the poor:
but the poor soon became rich by the profits of the
Conquest. Thus among those classes of combat-
ants—those orders, thosemilitary ranks which were
• Vasleti; valecti; servientes ad arma. Servientes—in the
vulgar tongue, serjeants.
IV.
334.
SIEGE OF DOVER TO
BOOK distinguished by the language of the time”, there
were great fluctuations; because the chances of
war carried men rapidly from the lowest grades
to the highest.
The man, who had passed the sea with the
quilted cassock and black wooden bow of the foot-
soldier, now appeared, to the astonished eyes of
the new recruits who had come after him, mounted
on a war-horse and bearing the military baldrick.
He, who had crossed the sea a poor knight, soon
liſted his banner (as it was then expressed), and
commanded a company, whose rallying cry was his
own name. The herdsmen of Normandy and the
weavers of Flanders, with a little courage and good
fortune, soon became in England men of conse-
quence—illustrious barons; and their names, ig-
noble and unhonoured on one shore of the strait,
were glorious on the other.
Would you know, says an old roll in the French
language, what are the names of the great men
who came over the sea with the conqueror—with
Guillaume Bâtard a la grande vigueur ‘9 Here are
* Comte, baron, chivaler, comte baron et vavasor. Ancient
Norman poetry.
* Les nons des grantz delà la mer
Kevindrent odle conquerour
William bastard de graunt vigour.
Jo, Brompton. Chron. p. 963.
THE TAKING OF CHESTER,
335
their surnames as we find them written; but with- BOOK
out their Christian names being prefixed, for they
are often wanting and often changed: they are
Mandeville and Dandeville, Oufreville and Dom-
freville, Bouteville and Estouteville, Mohun and
Bohun, Biset and Basset, Malin and Malvoisin, . .
{} e s is a tº e . . The crowd of names that follow
appear in the same arrangement of rude versifica-
tion, so as to assist the memory by the rhyme and
alliteration. Several lists of the same kind, and
disposed with the same art, have been handed down
to the present day, having been formerly found
inscribed on large sheets of vellum in the archives
of the churches, and decorated with the title of
Jivre or livret des conquérans". In one of these
lists, the surnames are seen ranged in groups of
three Bastard, Brassard, Baynard; Bigot,
Bagot, Talbot; Toret, Trivet, Bouet; Lucy, Lacy,
Percy, . . . . . *. Another catalogue of the con-
querors of England, kept for a long time in the
treasury of Battle Abbey, contained names of a sin-
gularly low and fantastic formation, such as Bon-
vilain and Boutevilain, Trousselot and Trousse-
bout, L'Engayne and Longue-épee, Oeil-de-boeuf
"Tous les grants seignors après nommés comme il est escrit
en le livre des conquerors. Lelandi Collectanea, p. 202.
* Hearne, Coll. Script. Angl.
IV.
336
SIEGE OF DOWER TO
BOOK and Front-de-boeuf'. And several authentic act
designate as Norman knights in England one
Guillaume le charretier, one Hugues le tailleur, one
Guillaume le tambour *; and among the surnames
of this knighthood, gathered together from every
corner of Gaul, we find a great number of names
belonging simply to towns and provinces—as St.
Quentin, St. Maur, St. Denis, St. Malo, Tournay,
Verdun, Fismes, Chalons", Chaunes, Etampes,
Rochefort, LaRochelle, Cahors", Champagne, Gas-
cogne. Such were the men who brought into
England the titles of nobleman and gentleman, and,
by force of arms, implanted them for themselves
and their descendants “.
The servants of the Norman man-at-arms—his
lance-bearer, his esquire, were gentlemen; they
were men of consequence and consideration among
those Saxons who had themselves once enjoyed
wealth and distinction, but now crouched beneath
* Collection des Historiens de Normandie, p. 1023.
* Monastic. Anglic. tom. II.
* Become, by corruption, Chaloner.
* Become, by corruption, Rochford, Rokeby, Chanorth, &c.
Other names really French have been disfigured in various ways;
as De la Haye, Hay; De la Zouche, Zouch; Du-Saut-du-Chev-
reau, Sacheverell, &c.
* These two words, now English, are purely of Norman ex-
traction, and have no synonyme in the old English language.
THE TAKING OF CHIESTER.
337
the sword of the foreigner, was expelled from the Book
home of his fathers, and had not where to lay his
head". This natural and general nobility of all
the conquerors increased in the same ratio as
the authority or personal importance of each.
After the nobility of the Norman king, the one
Supreme, came that of the governor of a province,
called in the Norman language comte ; after the
nobility of the comte came that of his lieutenant,
called vice-comte or vicomte ; then came that of
the men-at-arms, according to their ranks and de-
grees—barons, knights, esquires, men of high or
pettyservice, noble in various degrees, but all noble
by right of their common victory and their foreign
birth.
Before marching to the conquest of the north-
ern and western provinces, William, with his ac-
customed foresight, resolved to deposit the booty,
which he had made in the provinces already con-
quered, in a place of safety; and it appeared to
him that his newly-acquired riches would be no-
where more secure than in his own country. Be-
fore he set sail for Normandy, he entrusted the
lieutenancy of his kingly power to his brother
Eudes and William Son of Osbert. With these
IV.
* Non habentes ubi reclinarent caput. Forduni Historia, p.
698.
WOL. I. Z
1067.
338
SIEGE OF DOVER TO
BOOK two viceroys were joined other chiefs of note, to
IV.
aid and advise them—Hugues de Grantmesnil,
Hugues de Montfort, Gaultier Giffard, and Guil-
laume de Garonne *. William went to Pevensey,
wishing to embark at the very place where he had
landed six months before. Several vessels were
in waiting for him, adorned with white sails and
streamers, in token of joy and triumph'. A great
number of English had repaired thither by his
order, to pass the strait with him. Among them
were King Edgar, Archbishop Stigand, Fritheric
abbot of St. Alban's, the two brothers Edwin and
Morkar, and Waltheof son of Siward—who had not
been able to fight at Hastings. These, and many
others whom the conqueror took with him, were
to serve as hostages for the tranquillity of the Eng-
lish during his absence; besides, he hoped that,
when thus deprived of its most powerful and po-
pular chiefs, the mation would have less courage
to rise up against its new masters *.
In the port, where he had for the first time set
his feet on English ground, the conqueror distri-
buted presents of every kind to such of his war-
riors as were about to repass the sea with him, in
* Guill. Pictav. p. 209.
* More veterum albis velis adornatae. Ibid.
* Ut obsides quorum salus . . . . . ut gens tota minis ad
rebellionemvaleret spoliata principibus. Guill. Pictav. p. 209.
6
THE TAKING GF CHTESTER.
339
order (says a Norman writer) that no one of them Book
on his return might have it in his power to say
that he had not gained by the conquest". Wil-
liam, according to the same author, who was his
chaplain and his biographer, carried with him into
Normandy more gold and silver than had ever be-
fore been seen in all Gaul". The monasteries and
the clergy of the churches vied with each other
in entertaining the victor of the English; and,
says the historian, neither monks nor priests went
without their reward". William gave them books
curiously ornamented with gold; and, in particular,
embroidered stuffs, which were displayed in their
churches, where they became the admiration of
travellers'. It appears that in those times em-
broidery in gold with the needle was an art in
which the English women excelled. The naviga-
tion of the country, which was already very exten-
sive, also brought to it many costly articles of mer-
chandise unknown in the north of Gaul". A re-
* Utopimum fructum victoriae secum omnes percepisse gau-
derent. Guill. Pictav. p. 209.
* Quantum ex ditione trium Galliarum colligeretur. Ibid.
* Quam pietatem ipse confestim lucro multiplici recompensa-
vit. Guill. Pictav. p. 211. Q
" Voluptuosum est ea perspectare hospitibus maximis, Ibid.
" Anglicae nationis faeminae multum acu et auri textură, viri
egregiè in omni valent artificio. Inferunt et negotiatores qui
longinquas regiones adeunt. Ibid.
IV.
Z 2
340
SIEGE OF DOVER TO
BOOK lative of the king of France, named Raoul or
IV
Roulfe, came with a numerous train to the court
held by William at the time of the paschal solem-
nity. The French, no less than the Normans, con-
templated with mixed curiosity and surprise the
sculptured vessels of silver and gold brought from
England, and especially the drinking vessels of the
Saxons, made of large buffalo horns and tipped
with metal at the two extremities". They won-
dered at the beauty and the long flowing hair
of the young English who were captives or
hostages in the hands of the Norman *. “ They
remarked,” says the historian, “ these things
and many others equally new to them, in order
that they might relate them in their own coun-
try P.”
While this festival pomp was displayed on one
side of the strait, the insolence of the conquerors
was severely felt by the conquered nation on the
other. The foreign chiefs, who governed the pro-
vinces or commanded the fortresses, emulated one
another in oppressing the natives, of all classes,
by extortion, tyranny, and outrage. Bishop Eudes
" Curiosi hi cum Normannis cernebant vasa aurea et argen-
tea . . . aut cornibus bubalinis. Guill. Pictav. p. 211.
° Crinigeros alumnos plaga aquilonalis . . . . nec enim puel-
Hari venustati cedebant. Ibid.
P Ibid.
THE *TAKING OF CIHESTER.
341
and the son of Osbert, inflated with their new BOOK
power, despised the complaints of the vanquished
and refused them all justice". When their armed
men plundered the houses or violated the women,
they lent them the aid of their authority, and
crushed the unfortunate objects of these injuries,
if they dared to groan aloud'. The excess of the
Norman tyranny drove the English, especially
those of the eastern coast, to attempt a project of
deliverance with foreign assistance. Eustache,
count of Boulogne, the same who in Edward's
reign had caused so much tumult and excited so
much hatred, was at variance and enmity with
William, who kept his son a prisoner. Eustache
was renowned for his military skill; and his an-
cient relationship to king Edward now caused him
to be regarded by the Saxon people, less disdain-
ful in their misfortunes, almost as a natural ally ".
The inhabitants of Kent sent a message to Eus-
tache, and promised to aid him in seizing Dover,
if he would make a descent and assist them against
the Normans. Eustache consented; and, by fa-
* Nimiä cervicositate tumebant et clamores Anglorum despi-
ciebant. Orderic. Vital. p. 507.
* Armigeros suos immodicas praedas et incestos raptus fa-
cientes, vituebantur. Ibid. p. 508.
* Pridem inimicissimus. Guill. Pictav. p. 212. See Book
III. p. 206, and following.
342 SIEGE OF HOOVER TO
Bººk vor of a dark night, landed near Dover roads.
— All the Saxons of the neighbouring country rose
in arms. Eudes de Bayeux and Hugues de Mont-
fort, the two commanders of the town, were gone
beyond the Thames, with a party of their soldiers.
If the siege could have lasted but for two days,
the people of the interior provinces would have
advanced in great numbers and joined the be-
siegers': but Eustache and his men made an ill-
timed attempt to take the castle by surprise; they
met with an unexpected resistance from the Nor-
mans, and were discouraged by this single effort.
A false report of the approach of Eudes, who
was said to be returning with the great body
of his troops, filled them with terror. Eustache
caused a retreat to be sounded; his men ran
in precipitate disorder toward their vessels: and
the Norman garrison, seeing them dispersed,
quitted the town to pursue them; and many of
them, in their flight, fell from the steep rocks on
which Dover is situated. The count was saved
only by the swiftness of his horse; and the Saxon
insurgents reached their homes by circuitous
roads". Such was the issue of the first attempt
• Auction hostium numerus ex ulterioribus accederet, si bi-
duana obsidio fieret. Orderic. Vital. p. 508.
" Angli per diverticula plura evaserunt. Orderic. Vital, p.
508. Guil. Pictaw, p. 212.
THE TAKING OF CHESTER.
343
made in England to overthrow the Norman domi- BOOK
nion. The man of Boulogne was soon afterwards
reconciled to the man of Normandy; and, forget-
ting his allies of a day, courted the wealth and ho-
mors which their enemy had at his disposal”.
In the province of Hereford, beyond the great
chain of mountains which had formerly protected
the independence of the old Britons, and might
still serve as a rampart to that of the Angles, there
dwelt, before the invasion, on lands which he had
received from the munificence of king Edward, a
Norman named Richard son of Scrob. He was
one of those men whom the Saxons excepted in
the sentence of banishment passed in the year
1052, upon all Normans then living in England.
In return for this benefit, the son of Scrob, on
William's disembarkation, became the leader of
the intrigues for the conquest, established a cor-
respondence with the invaders, and put himself at
the head of some bodies of soldiers, natives of Gaul,
who had remained since Edward's reign in the
castles about Hereford. He fortified himself with
them in these castles; and, making frequent sal-
lies, undertook to force the neighbouring towns
and villages to submit to the conquering king:
but (says an old account) the population of the West
* Guill. Pictav. p. 212.
344
SLEGE OF DOVER TG
BOOK refused to submit to the conquest"; and, led by
IV.
young Edric, son of Alfric, rose to repel the attack
of the son of Scrob and his armed men.
The young Saxon chief had the art to interest
in his cause several chiefs of the Welsh tribes,
which until then had been hostile to the inhabi-
tants of England . Thus their terror of the Nor-
mans reconciled for the first time the Cambrians
and the Teutones of Britain, doing that which in
other times the irruption of the Danish pagans had
not been sufficient to do. Supported by the suc-
cours from Wales, Edric acted successfully on the
offensive against the son of Scrob and his soldiers,
whom the chronicles of the times call castellans of
Hereford . Three months after William's depar-
ture from Normandy, he drove them from the ter-
ritory which they occupied, plundered their can-
tonments, and liberated the whole country border-
ing on the river Lugg". To the south of this
tract—on the coasts of the long gulf which receives
the waters of the Severn, and to the north of it,
on the territory adjacent to the mountains, there
* Conquaestui parere. Monast. Anglic. tom. II. p. 221.
* Accitis sibi in auxilium regibus Wallarorum. Florentinus
JPigorn. p. 635.
* Herefordenses castellani. Ibid. Chron. Saron. Frag. Ed.
Lyc.
* Ad pontem amnis Luggc. 1bid.
THE TAKING OF CHESTER.
345
were, at that time, neither military posts establish- BOOK
ed nor fortified castles built or possessed by the
Normans. The conquest (if we may use the ex-
pression) had not yet reached there; its laws did
not reign, its king was not recognized there, any
more than in the whole northern part of England
from the bay of Boston to the Tweed.
On the other side, the enemy's parties traversed
the open country without opposition; but there
were many walled towns which had not yet sur-
rendered; and, even in that part of the country
where the invasion seemed to be accomplished in
all its rigour, the conquerors were not with-
Out alarm, for messengers from those parts
which were still independent were going secretly
from town to town, to rally the friends of the
country, and reanimate their courage, depressed
by the rapidity of their defeat". Some of the men
of greatest influence among the people were daily
disappearing from the eyes of the foreign autho-
rity; those, who, in the first panic, had repaired
to William's camp and taken the oath of peace
and submission to him, received patriotic ad-
dresses, inviting them to break all compact with
the foreigner, and join the cause of the good and
* Regionatim depravis conspirationibus tractant. Guill. Pic-
tav. p. 212.
IV.
346
sIEGE of Dover To
Book brave". One Saxon chief, named Kox", refused
IV.
1067.
to obey the messages to this effect which were sent
to him amicably in the name of ancient inde-
pendence. Irritated by his refusal, the conspira-
tors first conveyed to him orders and afterwards
threats; and, as he persisted in his love for the
conquerors, these threats were put in execution,
and he perished in a tumult, in spite of foreign pro-
tection'. He is celebrated by the Norman his-
torians as a martyr to fidelity—one worthy to be
cited as an example, and whose glory ought to
live from age to age *.
The news of this agitation and these emergetic
proceedings, having reached William in his pro-
vince of Gaul, obliged him to return with precipi-
tation. He embarked at the port of Dieppe on a
cold night in December, and, on his arrival, placed
in the fortresses of Sussex governors chosen in
Normandy from among those in whom he put
* Ut extrancos deserens optimorum hominum suae nationis
voluntatem sequeretur. Guil. Pictav. p. 212.
* Coxo comes. Ibid.
Ut libertatem à proavis traditam defenderet . . . . . Ille
popularium odium perpeti quâm fidei integritatem temerare
maluit. Ibid.
* Morte occidit immerità, et quam deceat propagariut vivat
laus ejus atque per exemplum oriatur. Ibid.
THE TAKING OF CHESTER.
34.7
the greatest trust. He found in London a sensa- Book
tion not loud but deep, which seemed to presage
some decisive movement; and, fearing that in the
day of battle, the three castles, with their towers
full of arms and machines, would prove but a weak
defence against the insurrection of the citizens, he
resolved to prevent or retard the arrival of the fatal
moment, and employ his cunning—that fox-like
cunning which the old historians attribute to him",
in ordertolull that patriotic spirit which he despair-
ed of breaking. He celebrated the festival of Christ-
mas in London with great pomp ; and, assembling
round him many of the Saxon chiefs and bishops,
loaded them with feigned caresses; he shewed af.
fability to all; he gave to all the kiss of welcome";
when they asked, he granted; when they advised,
he listened:—they became the dupes of these ar-
tifices".
After thus gaining over a part of the men of
influence, William turned to the people. A pro-
clamation written in Saxon, and addressed to the
inhabitants of London, was published in the name
of the conqueror, and read aloud in the churches
* Calliditate regis vulpiná. Math. Paris. Vitae Abbat. Sti.
Albani, p. 30.
* Dulciter ad oscula invitabat. Orderic. Vital. p. 509.
* Si quod orabant concedebat, si nunciabant aut suggerebant,
auscultabat; desertores håc arte reducuntur, Ibid.
IV.
348
SIEGE OF DOVER TO
Book and public places of the city. “Be it known to
IV.
all,” said he, “what is my will. It is, that you
should all enjoy your national laws as in the days
of king Edward; that every son should inherit
from his father, after the days of his father; and
that no man should do you any wrong'.” On
this promise, insincere as it was, the agitation in
London subsided; the present relief made the
people less disposed to run the perilous hazard of
a general resistance to the victor. Relieved for
a moment from the conquest—exempted from the
three scourges which the conquest had brought
with it, expropriation, insult, and foreign law, the
men of the great Saxon city separated themselves
from the cause of those who were suffering; and,
calculating merely their own gain and loss, re-
solved to remain qmiet. We know not how long
they enjoyed the new concessions of the foreigner;
but we do know that they allowed him to depart
with impunity from London, with the flower of
his troops, to go and subjugate the yet free pro-
vinces.
The Norman first directed his march toward
the South-west; and, crossing the heights which
separate the provinces of Dorset and Devon, ad-
1068.
tº ſº tº ºf . º and ie will that acle cyld beo his facder irfnome
after his fader daege. Maitland's Hist, of London, p. 28.
THE TARING OF CHESTER.
349
vanced against Exeter". In this city the mother BOOK
of Harold, named Ghithe or Edith, had taken re-
fuge after the fatal battle of Hastings; and had
gathered together the remains of her wealth,
which she devoted to the cause of the country
for which her son had died. The citizens of Exe-
ter were numerous and full of patriotic zeal : co-
temporary history bears this honourable testimony
respecting them—that, whether old or young, they
had a deadly hatred of the invaders from abroad".
They fortified their walls and towers, called in
armed men from all the surrounding country, and
hired as soldiers the foreign navigators who hap-
pened to be in their ports: they also sent messages
to the inhabitants of the other towns, inviting
them to become their confederates “; preparing
their utmost strength against the king of foreign
birth, with whom, until that moment, (say the
chronicles), they had had no dealings whatever".
The approach of the soldiers of the invasion was
m Et tunc profectus estad Deſma-scire. Chron. Saxon. Frag.
Ed. Lye. n
* Infestissimi mortalibus, Gallici generis. Orderic. Wital. p.
510.
• Alias quoque civitates ad conspirandum instigabant. Or-
deric. Vital. p. 510.
* Contra regem alienigenam cum quo anteå de nullo negotio
egerant. Ibid.
*
IV.
350
SIEGE OF DOVER TO
Book made known to the citizens of Exeter from afar,
IV.
by the report of their ravages; for every place
through which they passed was entirely devastat-
ed". They stopped at the distance of four miles;
and from thence William sent to the inhabitants
the imperious order to take the oath of submis-
sion to him. “We will take no oath,” answered
they, “to him who styles himself king, nor will
we receive him within our walls. We will only
consent, if he will receive it, to pay to him as a
tribute the tax which we gave to our kings’.” “I
want subjects,” replied William, “ and it is not my
custom to take them on such conditions’.” The
Norman troops approached : with the advanced
guard there marched a battalion of Englishmen
who had surrendered to the foreigner, through
either treason, stupidity,or misery, and were placed
in front, to sustain the first shock . It is not known
through what intrigue the chiefs and magistrates
of Exeter went to the Norman before the first as-
sault, to give him hostages and sue for peace : but
at their return from the camp of the foreigners,
* Permisit semper vastari omne quod pertransibant. Chron.
Saxon. Frag.
* Neque sacramentum regifaciemus. Orderic. Vital. p. 510.
* Non est mihi moris ad hanc conditionem habere subjectos,
Orderic. Vital. p. 510.
* Primos in ea expeditione Anglos eduxit. Ibid. .
TIIE TAKING OF CHESTER.
351
the spirit of independence had prevailed against Book
the chiefs and the engagement which they had
just entered into ; and, instead of opening their
gates, the citizens fortified them afresh, and lined
their walls with combatants".
William invested the town; and, causing one of
the hostages he had received to be carried within
view of the ramparts, ordered his eyes to be torn
out *. The siege lasted eighteen days; a great
part of the Norman army fell victims to it; the
conqueror received fresh reinforcements, and his
miners sapped the walls: but the obstinacy of the
inhabitants seemed invincible. They would per-
haps have wearied William, if the men who com-
manded them had not a second time proved them-
selves cowards. Some historians relate that the
inhabitants of Exeter repaired to the foreigner's
camp in the garb and posture of suppliants, with
their priests in religious habits carrying the sacred
books and vessels”. The cotemporary Saxon chro-
nicle has only these words, which are mournful
from their very brevity;—“The citizens sur-
" Concives nihilominūs machinantur hostilia quae caeperant.
Ibid.
* Unus ex obsidibus propé portam oculis privatus est. Or-
deric. Vital. p. 510.
7 Ibid.
IV.
352
sIEGE OF Doveſ. To
BOOK rendered the town because their chiefs deceived
IV.
them *.
z 33
A great number of women, escaping the mas-
sacre which followed the surrender of Exeter",
fled with the mother of the last king of the Eng-
lish race to Bath, which was not yet in the enemy's
possession; from thence they reached the western
coast; and, for want of a more direct way, em-
barked there for Flanders. The country around
the city was subdued, though not without resist-
ance; and a fortress to overawe the town was
built, of the ruins of more than a hundred houses,
on a hill of reddish earth, called by the Normans
le mont-rouge". This castle was entrusted to the
care of Baudoin, son of Gilbert Crespin–also called
Gilbert de Brienne, who had for his share as con-
queror, and his salary as viscount, twenty houses
at Exeter, and 150 manors, all in the province of
Devon “.
The Saxon inhabitants of this province had
formed an alliance against the Normans with the
* Illi urbem ei tradiderunt eo quëd Thani cos deceperunt.
Chron. Saw. Frag. Ed. Lye.
* Multorum bonorum virorum uxores. Ibid. -
." Extracta er libro censuali vulgó Doomesday-book, apud
Script. collect, a Gale, p. 765.
* Dugdale's Baronage.
THE TAKING OF CIFESTER.
353
old Britons of Cornwall. After the taking of Exe- BOOK
ter, these two populations, now united after so
long a hostility, were involved in the same ruin,
and the territories of both were shared by the
conquerors. One of the first names, that appear
inscribed on the rolls of this partition is that
of the conqueror's wife, Matilde, daughter of
Baudoin count of Flanders, whom the Nor-
mans called la reine, a title unknown to the En-
glish, who in their language used only the names
of lady or wife". Matilde obtained, as her share
of the conquest, all the lands belonging to a rich
Saxon named Brihtric". This man, according to
old accounts, was not entirely unknown to the
Norman woman; but, during his residence in Flan-
ders as ambassador from king Edward, had incur-
red her implacable resentment by refusing to marry
her. She herself asked the new king to place at
her disposal, with all his possessions, the man who
had disdained her. She gratified her revenge and
her cupidity at once, by appropriating the posses-
sions to herself, and causing the man to be shut
up in the fortress of Winchester'.
* Se hlafdige, se civene. Hlafdige, by suppressing the aspi-
rates, has been converted into la fedye, lardy, and lastly into
lady. Crene, cnecn, cten, properly significs a woman.
• Infrascriptas terras tenuit Brictric, et post Regina Matildis.
Doomesday-look, tom. II. p. 100.
* Cúm eum haberet exosum, tempore opportuno reperto, ipsum
WOL. I. A ti
IV.
354. sIEGE OF DOVER. To
Book It is probable that the conquest and partition
v. of the Somerset and Glocester coasts, immediately
followed this first invasion of the west. There are
facts which prove that they were not conquered
and divided without resistance. According to the
tradition of the country, the monastery at Winch-
comb at that time lost all its possessions, because
the monks of the place, unthinking and ill-advised
(says an old narrator) had taken the side opposed
to king William *. Godric, their abbot, was car-
ried off by the Norman soldiers and imprisoned at
Glocester; and the convent, hateful to the con-
querors, was given into the keeping of Egelwy
chief of the abbey of Evesham, called in the co-
temporary annals Egelwy the circumspect", one of
those men who, according to the same annals,
“ hatching no rebellion for a liberty which was no
more, feared God and the king ordained by God'.”
From the time of the first defeat of the English
nation, Egelwy had sworn sincere fidelity to the
foreigner for whom God had declared himself.
Wintoniam fecit adduci . . . . ejus honorem verb quoad rixit
occupavit. Monast. Anglic. tom. I. p. 154.
g Minus cauté de futuris prospicientes, elegerunt pro viribus
resistere. Ibid. p. 190. -
* CEgelvig, circumspectus abbas. Chron, Sar. Frag.
' Deo servantes fidem et constitutum ab inso venerantes regem.
Orderic. Vital. p. 509.
THE TAKING OF CHESTER.
355
When the conquest came to be extended over the Book
western country, he solicited a share in the expro-
priation of his fellow-countrymen; and, imitating
his friends the conquerors, drove several of the
English from their domains": to others he sold his
interest with the Normans for gold; and when the
Normans had killed them, he inherited their spoils'.
This character and these actions caused him to be
distinguished by William, who loved and honoured
him much ". He governed the rebellious monks
of Winchcomb as the foreigners desired, until a
foreigner mamed Galand came from abroad to dis-
charge the office with still greater rigor.
Thus the domain of English independence gra-
dually became narrower in the west; but the ex-
tensive provinces of the north still afforded the
friends of the country an asylum, a retreat, and a
field for warfare. Thither all those repaired who
were left without lands or kindred—they whose
brothers were slain, or whose daughters had been
ravished—they who (say the annals of the time)
chose rather to lead a life of toil and hardship than
to endure a slavery unknown to their forefathers".
* Monastic. Anglic. tom. II. p. 132.
'Suam eis protectionem contrå Normannds spondebat. Ibid.
* Ibid. tom. I. p. 151.
* Vitam feralem ducere malentes quâm patribus incognitum
subire servitium. Math. Westmonast. p. 115.
IV.
A a 2
356
SIEGE OF DOVER TO
Book They went from forest to forest, and from desert
IV.
to desert, until they reached the last line of for-
tresses built by the foreigner". When they had
crossed this boundary of servitude, they found old
England once more, and embraced one another in
freedom. Repentance soon brought to them those
chiefs who, having been the first to despair of the
common cause, had set the first example of volun-
tary submission". They escaped from the palace
where the conqueror held them captive, under
false appearances of affection, calling them his
great, his particular friends", and availing himself
of their presence at his feasts and courts, as a pre-
text for coercive measures against the people who
did not bow before a king surrounded by their
national chiefs. In this manner Edwin and Mor-
kar set out for the north country; the wishes of
the poor (say the historians of English birth) ac-
companied them in their flight; and such priests
as were faithful to their country, offered up
prayers for them ".
No sooner had the sons of Alfgar reached their
* Loca deserta et memorosa petentes. Math. Westmonast.
* Normannis cessisse penitentes. Ibid. p. 225.
* Tanquam domesticos et speciales amicos. Ibid. Vitae Abbat.
p. 30.
* Clericis et monachis crebra pro illis fiel)at oratio. Orderic.
Vital, p. 511. x
THE TAKING OF CHESTER.
357
ancient governments of Mercia and Northumbria, BOOK
IV.
than great indications of patriotic movements ap-
peared in those two countries, from Oxford to the
banks of the Tweed. No Norman had yet passed
the Humber, and only a few had penetrated into
the heart of Mercia. This latter country commu-
nicated freely, by its north-west frontier, with the
Welsh population, who, forgetting their old causes
of enmity against the sons of the Saxons, now con-
federated with them against the new invaders of
Britain. The report reached the quarters of the
Norman, that the Saxon and Welsh chiefs were
holding a council among the mountains; that
they had, with one accord, resolved to deliver their
island from the yoke of the Gaulish conquerors;
and, to that end, were sending agents and depu-
ties into every corner of the island, to stir up,
openly and secretly, the indignation and courage
of the people”. The great camp of independence
was to be formed beyond the Humber, and the
great city of York was fixed upon as its first bul-
wark". Entrenchments were thrown up behind
the lakes and morasses of the north. A great
* Fit ex consensu omnium pro vindicandā libertate pristina
procax conspiratio, et obnixa contrå Normannos conjuratio. Or-
deric. Vital. p. 511.
' Scditiosi sylvas, paludes, aestuaria, in munimentis habent.
Ibid.
*
wº
3
SIEGE OF DOVER TO
5
8
BOOK number of men had sworn never again to sleep
IV.
under a roof, until the day of victory; and the
Normans, through a sort of spleen, denominated
them savages". Among these was young Edric,
son of Alfric, who had so emergetically supported
the Saxon cause in the province of Hereford.
It cannot now be known how many projects of
deliverance, well or ill conceived, were at this time
formed and destroyed. History scarcely deigns
to mention even a few of the men who preferred
danger to servitude; and the same force, which
frustrated their efforts, almost consigned them to
oblivion. One Norman chronicler alone denounces,
with bitter reproaches, a conspiracy, the object of
which was (as he says) to attack unawares,through-
out England, the Soldiers of the foreign garrisons,
on the first day of the great fast, when, according
to the devotion of the age, they were to go to the
churches as penitents, barefoot and unarmed’.
The writer, while he praises God for the discovery
of this abominable machination, regrets that the
leaders of the plot escaped by flight from the ven-
geance of the great conqueror'. They fled to the
" Nudi quidam eorum a Normannis silvatici cognominabantur.
Ibid.
* In capite Jejunii, nudis vestigils incautos ubique perimerent.
Er Guil. Gemeticensi, Script. Franc. tom. XI, p. 630.
* Magni dcbellatoris. Ibid.
THE TAKING OF CHESTER.
359
northern provinces; and were soon joined by a Bººk
new fugitive, dearer to the Saxons than all the
rest, Edgar, the lawful king of England, according
to the maxims of the time, by the election of the
people and the consecration of the church. He
departed with his mother Agatha, his sisters Mar-
garet and Christina, a chief named Merlsweyn, and
many other good men, as the Saxon chronicle ex-
presses it’. They all passed together the fron-
tier which, since the defeat of the Saxon king
Egfrid by the Scots and Picts, had separated the
country of the English from the ancient Albany".
The invasions of the Danish pirates, which ex-
tended north as well as south of the Tweed, had
not changed this frontier. The only result of the
dominion exercised for some time by the Danes
over the mixed people of Picts, ancient Britons,
and Saxons, inhabiting between the Forth and
Tweed, was the adding to this medley of different
races a fresh mass of Germanic population; and
hence it was that, south of the Forth, especially
towards the east, the prevailing idiom was the
Teutonic language, interspersed with Gothic and
British words, but approaching in its grammatical
forms nearer to the Danish than to the Anglo-
* Godva manna. Chron. Sax. Frag. Ed. Lye.
* See Book I, p. 91, and Book II, p. 123.
360
SIEGE OF DOVER TO
Book Saxon dialect. At the very time when this change
IV.
was gradually operating in the south of Albany,
a revolution in the north, more rapidly accom-
plished, united in one single state the Picts of the
eastern coast and the Scots of the western moun-
tains, until then separate nations, governed by in-
dependent chiefs. This junction was not effected
without some violence; for, although they were
very likely of the same origin, though their lan-
guage differed but little", and they were naturally
inclined to confederate against a common adver-
sary, yet the two nations were rivals in time of
peace.
The Scots, who were hunters on the mountains,
and led a more active life than their neighbours
of the plains, thought themselves the more noble,
and called the others in derision eaters of corn and
bread'. Notwithstanding this apparent contempt
for grain, the chiefs of the Scots were ambitious
of extending over the plains, which produced har-
vests, the power which they exercised in the land
of rocks and lakes. They endeavoured for a long
time to gain their object by force and intrigue;
but the Picts resisted them, until the period when
" The historian Bede, in the eighth century, distinguishes the
idiom of the Picts from that of the Scots.
* Fir na cruinneachd. Jamieson's Popular Songs, Vol. II.
TIIE TAIKING OF CIIESTER.
361
they were weakened by the Danish invasions". BOOK
Kenneth son of Alpin, king of West Albany, seized
the favourable moment, and descended upon the
lands of the Picts to place them under his autho-
rity; the eaters of bread were conquered by the
eaters of flesh, and the greater part of them sub-
mitted to Kenneth. Others of them attempted,
by retiring northward, to preserve to themselves
a king of their own nation and choice “: but they
were unsuccessful; and Kenneth, king of the Scots
or Scotch, became chief of all Albany, which from
that time was called Scotland. The Pictish people
lost their name in uniting with the Scotch; but
it does not appear that this union took place on
unequal conditions, as would doubtless have been
the case had the victors and the vanquished been
of different races. The conquered people had no
slavery, no political degradation to suffer; the
condition of serfs of the soil, the ordinary fruit of
foreign conquests in ancient times, was not intro-
duced in Scotland. In a short time there was
only one people north of the Forth; and it soon be-
game a fruitless task to seek any traces of the
idiom spoken by the Picts in the time of their in-
dependence. The kings of the conquerors, de-
" Forduni Scotorum Historia, p. 660.
* Sub spe resistendi novum ab cis regem creatum sequeban-
tur. Ibid. p. 663.
849
to
1066.
362
SIEGE OF DOVER TO
BOOK serting the country of their birth, came to dwell
among the conquered at Dumferline or at Scone.
Thither they transported the consecrated stone
upon which, according to ancient custom, they
placed themselves, on the day of their inaugura-
tion, to take the oath to the people, and to which
a national superstition attached the destiny of the
Scottish race.
At the time of the Norman invasion of Eng-
land, there remained not the slightest trace of the
ancient separation of the Gaëls of Scotland into
two distinct populations; and the only apparent
distinction was that between the men who spoke
the Gaelic tongue, also called Erse (that is, Irish'),
and those whose idiom was intelligible at once to
the English, to the Danes, and to all the Germans
of the continent. The population the nearest to
England, though called Scotch, bore a greater af.
finity to the people of that country, from their
resemblance of language and community of origin,
than to the Scotch of the Gaelic race, who, joining
with a somewhat savage pride habits of political
independence proceeding from their organization
1066 in clans or separate tribes, were frequently at va-
is. riance with the Teutonic population of the plains
* Yre, Yrse, Yrshe. The Saxon name of the inhabitants of
Ira-land.
THE TAKING OF CHES"I'Elk.
3
36
of the south and with the kings of Scotland. The Book
kings always found the Scotch of the plains dis-
posed to support them in their attempts upon the
liberty of the mountain clans; and thus the in-
stinctive enmity of the two races of men, spring-
ing from their diversity of origin and language,
proved to the advantage of the kingly despo-
tism. This, being more than once experienced
by the successors of Kenneth son of Alpin, excited
in them a great affection for the inhabitants of the
lowlands of Scotland, and in general for men of
English origin: they preferred them to their fellow-
countrymen, to those of the same blood with them-
selves; they favoured, to the utmost of their
power, the Scotch by name at the expence of the
Scotch by birth; and in like manmer, received with
eager good-will all emigrants from England.
It was through this political partiality that Mal-
colm king of Scotland, sirnamed Kenmore', re-
ceived as welcome guests young Edgar, his sisters,
and his friends". He saluted him as the true and
lawful king of the English; and offered him a safe
asylum, and assistance once more to try his for-
tune. To the Saxon chiefs who accompanied the
dispossessed king, he gave commands and domains,
‘ Otherwise Ceanmore, Canmore.
* Forduni Hist. Scotor. p. 411.
IV.
36!.
SIEGE OF DOVER TO
Book which, perhaps, he despotically took from his men
IV.
of the British or Gaelic race ; and as he had not
yet taken a wife, he married Edgar's youngest sis-
ter, named Margaret. Margaret, being unac-
quainted with the language of the Gaels, frequently
stood in need of an interpreter, to speak to the
chiefs of the northern and western tribes; and this
office was performed by king Malcolm, her hus-
band". Malcolm could express himself well in
both idioms; but in a short time after his reign
the kings of Scotland disdained to speak or learn
the language of the old Scots—of the people from
whom they themselves descended, and to whom
the country owed its name. -
The news of the alliance formed betwixt the
Saxons and the king of Scotland, and of the hos-
tile assemblages in the north of England, deter-
mined William not to await an attack, but to act
vigorously on the offensive'. His first feat of
arms in this new expedition was, the siege of the
city of Oxford. The citizens resisted, and insult-
ed the foreigner from their walls; but a part of
the rampart, which had been Sapped by the Nor-
" Anglicam enim linguam aequé ut propriam didicerat. For-
duni Scot. Hist. p. 412. Ellis's Metrical Romances, preface.
* Nuntiatum est regi quod populus ex aquilone se congrega-
verat et volucrat insi resistere si veniret, profectus itaque est.
Chron, Saxon. Frag.
THE TAIKING OF CHIESTER.
365
mans, gave way; and they, entering by assault Bººk
IV.
through the breach, revenged themselves on the
citizens by fire and massacre". Of seven hundred
and twenty houses nearly four hundred were de-
stroyed'. The monks of the convent of St. Fri-
deswide, following the example of those of Hida
and Winchcomb, appeared in arms under their
gowns, to defend their native soil: they were
stripped of all their possessions and driven from
their abode". The town of Warwic was next
taken; then Leicester, which was almost utterly
destroyed"; then Derby, in which a third part of
the houses was demolished". After the siege of
Nottingham, a strong citadel was built there, and
confided to the care of a Norman named Guillaume
Peurel or Peverel. This Guillaume received, as
his share of the conquest, fifty-five manors in the
province of Nottingham; and in the town, the
houses of forty-eight English tradesmen, twelve
warriors, and eight husbandmen". He fixed his
* Civilius ferro flammâque necatis. Math. Paris. p. 4.
' Doomesday-book. *..
" Spoliati bonis suis et sedibus expulsi suis. Monast. An-
glic. tom. I. p. 984. º
" Destructā civitate Leycestria cum castello et ecclesiá, Ibid.
tom. I. p. 312.
" Doomesday-book.
* Villelmus Peurel habet XLVIII dom, mercator. et XII do-
mus equitum et VIII bord, Ibid. tom. II. p. 285.
366
SIEGE OF DOVER TO
BOOK residence in the province of Derby, on an over-
IV.
hanging rock, at the top of which his castle ap-
peared almost suspended in the air, like the nest
of a bird of prey".
From Nottingham the Norman troops marched
eastward upon Lincoln, which they forced to capi-
tulate and give them hostages. A hundred and
sixty-six houses were destroyed to make room for
the fortresses that were built, and the entrench-
ments with which the foreign garrison surrounded
themselves here with greater care and art than
elsewhere"; for in this town, the population of
which was of Danish origin, the conquerors ap-
prehended, as at Norwich, an attack from the
Danes beyond sea". Among the Lincoln hostages
imprisoned in the Norman fortress, as sureties for
the tranquillity of the province, was a young man
named Thurgot, of Danish descent, who succeeded
in bribing his keepers to set him at liberty'. He
went secretly to the port of Grimsby, at the mouth
* This place is now called the Peak; and upon it the ruins of
Peverel's fortress are still to be seen.
* De praedictis vastis mansuris ppt. castellum destructae fu-
erunt CLXVI, reliquae LXXIII vastatae sunt extra metam cas-
telli. Doomesday-book, tom. II. p. 336.
* Guill. Pictav. p. 208.
* In Lincolniensi castro incarceratus fuerat, inter alios Anglo-
rum obsides. Anglia Sacra, tom, I. p. 786.
6
THE TAKING OF CHESTER.
367
of the Humber, to some Norwegian merchants Book
whose ship was ready to sail. Unfortunately, this
vessel had been engaged for the passage of certain
ambassadors whom the conqueror was sending
into the north, to dissuade the kings of those
countries from taking an interest in the cause of
the Saxons and lending them their assistance. The
Norwegians, without hesitation, undertook to save
the young fugitive; and concealed him at the bot-
tom of the ship, so well that the Norman inspec-
tors of the coast, who visited it at the moment of
its departure, perceived nothing of the matter".
The ambassadors embarked; and when the land
had disappeared, the hostage, to their great asto-
mishment, came forth. They wished the sailors to
return, in order, said they, to give up to king
William his fugitive *; but the Norwegians, disre-
garding their remonstrances, sarcastically replied,
“The wind is too fair; the ship goes too well; it
would be a pity to lose the opportunity.” The
dispute at length became so warm on both sides,
that recourse was had to arms; but the strength
was on the side of the sailors, and as the ship ad-
vanced into the open sea the Normans gradually
became quiet”.
"In navi exactores regis scrutinia fecerunt. R. de Hov. p. 465.
* Cum fugitivo regis. Ibid.
* Quantôque magis terrae appropinquabant tantò magis illis se
humiliabant. Ibid.
IV.
368
SIEGE OF DOVER TO
BOOK
IV.
Having departed from Lincoln, which, by a sort
of French euphony ", they called Nicole, the soldiers
of the invasion marched upon York; and, where
the streams whose junction forms the large river
Humber approach each other, they met the con-
federate army of the Anglo-Saxons and Welsh.
There, as at Hastings, by the superiority of their
numbers and their arms, they drove the enemy
from the positions which they in vain defended
foot by foot". A great number of the English
perished; the rest sought a refuge within the
walls of York; but the victors, pursuing them
closely, made a breach and entered the town, put-
ting all to the sword (say the chronicles,) from
the infant to the old man". The remains of the
patriotic army, or (to use the language of the
Norman historians) the army of the factious and
rebellious *, went down the Humber in boats",
and afterwards ascended the rivers to the north,
into the country of the Scotch or the English ter-
ritories bordering on Scotland. This was the ral-
* Charta, apud Monast. Anglican.
* Seditiosi audacià et viribus ſisi . . . . profligati . . .
Guill. Gemet, ap. Script. Iter. Franc. tom. XI. p. 630.
" Tam ferro quâm igne à puero usque ad senem. Guil. Ge-
met. apud Script. Rer. Tranc. tom. XI. p. 630.
* Ibid.
" Per Humbre fluvium navibus effugerunt. Ibid,
THE TAKING OF CHESTER.
369
lying place for those who had been defeated at Book
York. “ Thither,” says an old chronicler, “retired
the noble chiefs Edwin and Morkar, with other
men of great distinction, bishops, clerks, men of
all conditions, Sorrowful at seeing their own cause
the weakest, but not resigning themselves to sla-
very'.”
The conquerors built a citadel in the heart of
the city of York, which thus became a Norman
fortress and the northern bulwark of the conquest.
Its towers, occupied by five hundred men in full
armour, attended by several thousand esquires and
servants-at-arms, threatened the country of the
Northumbrians. The invasion, however, was not
then pursued into that country; and it is even
doubtful whether the province of York was invaded
in its whole breadth, from the ocean to the moun-
tains. Its metropolis, subdued before its terri-
tory, was the advanced post of the Normans, and
a post still dangerous: they laboured night and
day in tracing their lines of defence; forcing the
poor Saxon who had escaped massacre to dig
trenches, and repair for the enemy the ruins
which the enemy had made. Fearing that they
should be besieged in their turn, they collected
* Videntes suam partem inferiorem, et servire renuentes.
Math. Westmon. p. 225.
WOL. I. B. b
IV.
370
SIEGF: OF DOVER TO
Bººk together from all sides and heaped up in their
donjons provisions of every description. At this
time, Eldred archbishop of York, he who had lent
his ministry to the consecration of the foreign
king, came into the desolated city for the celebra-
tion of a religious ceremony'. On his arrival, he
sent to his own lands, situated not far from York,
for provisions for his own use. His domestics,
bringing horses and waggons laden with corn and
other necessaries, were accidentally met at one of
the gates by the viscount or Norman governor of
the town, with a numerous escort. “Who are
you?” asked the Norman; “and to whom are you
carrying these supplies 7" They answered, “We
are the servants of the archbishop, and these things
are for the use of his household ".” The viscount,
caring little about the archbishop and his house-
hold, made a sign to his men-at-arms to take both
horses and waggons to the citadel of York, and
deposit the provisions in the Norman magazines".
When the pontiff, who had been friendly to the
conquest, found himself injured by the conquest,
there arose in his inmost soul an indignation which
* Morabatur in una solemnitate Eboraci, Chron. Wil, Stubbs,
p. 1703.
* Servi, inquiunt, archiepiscopi sumus. Chron. Will. Stubbs,
p. 1703.
* Parvi pendens archiepiscopum et famulos ejus. Ibid.
The TARING OF CHESTER.
3.71
his calm and, above all, prudent spirit, had never Book
felt before. Eldred immediately departed for the
conqueror's quarters; and presented himself be-
fore him in pontifical habits, with his pastoral
staff in his hand'. William rose to offer him, ac-
cording to the custom of the time, the kiss of
peace; but the Saxon prelate kept aloof, and said,
“Hear me, King William. Thou wert a foreigner;
nevertheless, it being the will of God to chastise
our nation, thou obtainedst, at the cost of much
blood, the kingdom of England. I then anointed
thee king; I crowned thee; I blessed thee with
my own hand: but now I curse thee and thy race;
because thou hast deserved it—because thou art
the persecutor of God's church, and the oppressor
of its ministers".”
The Norman king heard the impotent male-
diction of the old priest without concern; and
restrained the indignation of his flatterers, who,
trembling with rage, and half unsheathing their
swords, asked permission to revenge the insolence
of the Saxon'. He allowed Eldred to return in
* Cum baculo pontificali stolă circumdatus. Chron. Will.
Stubbs, p. 1703.
* Audi, inquit, Willelme rex, clim esses alienigena . . . .
nunc autem, quià ita meruisti, pro benedictione maledictionem
tibi impomam. Ibid.
| Frementes minisque et terroribus adversiis eum insurgentes.
Ibid. -
IV.
B b 2
372
SIEGE OF DOVER TO
BOOK peace and safety to his church at York: but this
IV.
adventure filled the archbishop's heart with cha-
grin, and perhaps with remorse for having aided
in the establishment of the foreign dominion".
The dream of personal ambition dispelled by his
first experience of the truth, the conviction that
he himself was exempt neither from the outrages
of the foreigner nor from the public servitude,
threw him into a slow malady which gradually
wasted his strength. A year afterwards, when the
Saxons, having rallied once more, were advancing
to attack the town of York, Eldred's languor and
chagrin were redoubled; and, as if he feared death
less than the presence of the men who had re-
mained faithful to their country, he prayed God
(say the chronicles) to withdraw him from this
world, that he might not behold the total ruin of
his native land and the destruction of his church".
The war was still carried on at the extremities
of England; agitation every where prevailed; and
it was expected that the fugitives of York would
return by land or by sea, to try some new effort.
The wearisomeness of this struggle, without any
* Will. Stubbs, p. 1703. Ex aegritudine animi. Willelm.
Malmesb. Vitae Pontif. p. 27.
* Valdé tristis effectus, precibusque ad Deum effusis, me eccle-
siae suae destructionem nec patriae videret desolationem. Chron.
JWill. Stubbs, p. 1703.
THE TAKING OF CHESTER.
º
º
37
visible term, began from that time to be felt by the BOOK
soldiers and even by the chiefs of the invasion.
Many, thinking themselves rich enough, resolved
to retire from their toils; others found that the
domains of the English were not worth the pains
and labor which they cost them; and others
wished to return to their wives, who importuned
them by numberless messages to return to them
and their children". King William was extremely
alarmed at these dispositions. In order to revive
expiring zeal, he offered more than he had yet given.
He promised to bestow, when the conquest should
be completed, lands, revenues, money and ho-
nors". He caused suspicions to be circulated of
the cowardice of those who asked to retire, and
abandoned their lord when in danger in the midst
of foreigners". Bitter sarcasms were levelled
against the Norman women, who so eagerly re-
called their protectors and the fathers of their
children'. But, in spite of all these manoeuvres,
Hugues de Grantmesnil, count of the province of
Norfolk, his brother-in-law Honfroy de Tilleul,
* Crebris nunciis a viris suis flagitabant, ut citó reverterentur.
Orderic. Vital. p. 512. -
* Terris cum redditibus et magnis potestatibus. Ibid.
* Regem inter exteros laborantem. Ibid.
* Savà libidinis face urebantur . . . . . lasciva, conjuges . . .
Ibid.
#.
*374
SIEGE OF DOVER TO
BOOK keeper of the fort of Hastings, and a great many
others departed, leaving their lands and their men
to go (as William's courtiers said) to put them-
selves in the service of their ladies, and watch over
their honour as husbands at the expence of their
loyalty as warriors'. This departure made a great
impression on the mind of the new king. Fore-
seeing greater difficulties than he had yet expe-
rienced, he sent his wife Matilde into Normandy,
that she might be removed from all danger, and
he might devote himself entirely to the toils and
cares of war'. Nor was it long before new events
justified his uneasiness.
One of Harold's two sons, named Edmund and
Godwin, came from Ireland, whither they had both
fled, either after the battle of Hastings or after the
taking of Exeter, and brought sixty vessels with a
small army to the assistance of the English". He
entered the mouth of the Avon, and laid siege to
Bristol; but, being unable to get possession of it,
he returned to his ships, and proceeded along the
south-west coast, to land in the province of So-
merset. On his approach, all the inhabitants rose
* Famulari lascivis dominis suis. Ord. Vital. p. 512.
* Bellicis turbinibus undique insurgentibus admoděm occupa-
tus. Ibid. apud Seript. Rer. Francic. tom. XI. p. 241.
“Cum sexaginta navibus. Guill. Gemet. apud Script. Rer.
Francic, tom. XI. p. 630,
THE TAIKING OF CHESTER.
375
against the Normans; and the insurrection ex- BQQK.
* * : IV.
tended into the provinces of Devon and Dorset. -º-º-
The alliance of the Britons of Cornwall with their
neighbours the Saxons was once more renewed;
and they made a combined attack on the principal
body of troops stationed in that quarter under the
command of one Dreux de Mont-aigu ". Great
reinforcements were sent to the assistance of this
Norman; and the first troop that advanced against
the insurgents was composed of Englishmen who
had found it easier to sell themselves to the fo-
reigner than to resist him. They were led by
Edmoth, formerly an officer of high rank in the
service of king Harold'; and William, in sending
them against their countrymen, was as desirous
that they themselves should be killed as that they
should kill his enemies. On whichever side the
victory might be, he thought (says an old histo-
rian) that it must be to his advantage, since there
would be Saxons “slain in it. Ednoth perished,
with many of his followers; the insurrection con-
* Exoniensis comitatüs habitatores coadonatá turbā ex cornu
Britanniae. Orderic. Vital. p. 514.
7 Eadnoth stallere (aulae praefectus.) Chron. Saxon. Frag. Ed.
Lye.
* Dum alienigense alterutros confoderent, ingens sibi levamen
providens utrilibet vincerent. Will, Malmesb. p. 104.
376
SIEGE OF DOVER TO
BOOK tinued ; and the son of Harold returned to Ireland
IV.
to bring over his brother with fresh troops.
Edmund and Godwin, sailing together, and
doubling the long promontory called the Land's
End, entered this time the mouth of the river
Tovey, in the southern part of the province of
Devon". They imprudently ventured upon the
territory where the Normans of the south had as-
sembled their forces to oppose a barrier to the
insurrection of the west. Two chiefs, of whom
one was Brian, son of Eudes duke of Lower Brit-
tany, attacked them unawares, and killed nearly
two thousand men, Saxons, British, and Irish.
The sons of the late king returned to their vessels
and sailed away in sadness, having now lost every
hope". To complete the destruction of the re-
volted people of Dorset and Somerset, Geoffroy
bishop of Coutances, came with the garrisons of
London, Winchester, and Salisbury. He seized a
great number of men, either in arms or suspected
of having taken up arms, and cruelly mutilated
them, in their limbs or features “.
This rout and retreat of the auxiliaries from
Ireland did not entirely allay the ferment among
* Chron. Saw. Frag. Ed. Lye.
* Ibid.
* Captos mutilaverunt. Orderic. Vital. p. 514.
THE TAKING OF CHIESTER.
377
the populations of the west. The movement, which bººk
had begun in the south, had communicated itself
to the whole frontier of the Welsh territory. The
men of the country about Chester, a country yet
free from all invasion, had come down to Shrews-
bury; and, joining the soldiers of young Edric,
whom the Normans called the wild, they drove
back the foreigners toward the east". The two
chiefs Brian and Guillaume, who had driven away
the sons of Harold and reduced the men of De-
von and Cornwall, then advanced from the south;
and the king himself, departing from Lincoln,
came on the eastern side with a chosen body of
his warriors. Near Stafford, at the foot of the
great chain of mountains, he met a division of
the army which the friends of the conquest called
the party of the factious, and destroyed it in one
battle *. The other captains penetrated as far as
Shrewsbury; this town, with the surrounding
country, again fell under the yoke of the foreigner,
and the men laid down their arms. A few brave
men, who chose to keep them, took refuge in the
downs by the sea-side, or on the tops of the moun-
tains. For a long time they continued a painful
* Gualli et Castrenses praesidium regis apud Scrobesburiam
obsiderunt, quibus incolae civitatis cum Edrico cognomento
guilda (mild) aliisque ferocibus Anglis auxilio fuerunt. Orderic.
Wital. p. 514. * Ibid.
378 SIEGE OF DOVER TO
BOOK and unprofitable struggle against the Small isolat-
* ed bodies; they laid ambuscades at the entrances
of the woods and in the marrow vallies, for the
straggling soldier, the adventurous forager, or the
messenger carrying orders from the chiefs; but
the great roads, the cities and towns, were occu-
pied by the enemy's battalions. Hope was suc-
ceeded by terror; men shunned one another in-
stead of uniting ; and the whole of the south-west
country once more became silent.
In the north, the city of York continued to be
the extreme limit of the conquest. The Norman
soldiers occupying that place did not strive to
advance beyond it; and even their excursions into
the country south of York were not without dam-
ger to themselves: Hugues son of Baudry, vis-
count or governor of the town, did not dare to go
as far as Selby, and pass the river Ouse, without
taking with him a numerous escort. It was dan-
gerous for the Norman warrior to leave his camp
or his arms; for troops of insurgents, dispersing
and immediately forming again, were continually
harassing the bodies of troops on march, and even
the garrisons of York'. Guillaume Malet, col-
* Comitabatur eum non modica militiae multitudo. . . . . fecit
hoc illis partibus Anglorum indomita ferocitas ct invicta con-
stantia, qui semper ad vindictam suam in Gallos insurgentes.
Er. Historid Monast. Selbeiensis, apud Labbatum, tom. I. p. 602.
I
THE TAKING OF CIHESTER.
379
league of Hugues son of Baudry in the command BOOK
of these garrisons, went so far as to declare in his
dispatches, that without prompt assistance he
would not answer for the safety of his post". This
news, being brought to the conqueror's quarters,
excited great alarm. He himself departed in haste,
and arrived before York at the moment when the
citizens, leagued with the men of the flat country,
were besieging the Norman fortress. He attacked
them vigorously with superior numbers; spared
no one (say the chronicles"); dispersed those whom
he did not kill; and laid the foundation of a second
castle, the erection and keeping of which he en-
trusted to his most intimate confidant, William
son of Osbert, his seneschal and marshal for both
Normandy and England'.
After his departure, the English rallied again,
and laid siege to both the castles at once ; but
they were repulsed with loss, and the Normans
finished their new works of defence unmolested".
The possession of York being thenceforward en-
sured, the conqueror resumed the offensive, and
endeavoured to extend the limits of the subjugated
* Denunciavit se defecturum, nisi maturum fessis conferat
auxilium. Orderic. Vital. p. 512.
* Neculli pepercit. Orderic. Vital. p. 512.
* Ibid.
* Whid.
380
SIEGE OF DOVER TO
BOOK territory as far as Durham. The command of this
IV.
hazardous expedition was given to one Robert,
surnamed Cumine or Comine. Robert went forth
gaily, with the anticipated title of Count of Nor-
thumbria'. His army was inconsiderable; but his
confidence in himself was great, and became un-
bounded when he found himself near the end of his
route without having met with any resistance. He
was already within sight of the towers of Durham,
called by the foreigners the fortress of the rebels
of the north", when Egelwin, the Saxon bishop of
the town, hastened to meet him, and officiously
warned him to beware of a surprise". “Who will
attack me !” returned Comine : “none among you
either can or dare *.” The Normans entered Dur-
ham; and massacred a few unarmed men, as if to
insult and defy the English P. The soldiers en-
camped in the open places, and the chief took the
house of the bishop.
Night came; and the men of the banks of the
Tyne then lighted, on the heights, the fires which
' Donavit Roberto comitatum in Northanhymbrorum terrá.
Chron. Saxon. Gibson, p. 17.
* Guill. Gemet. p. 290.
* Insidias praemonuit. Aluredus Beverlacensis, p. 127, 128.
* Dicens costalia praesumere non audere. Chron, Walt. Hem-
ingford. p. 548.
” Occisis nonnullis. Alured. Beverl. p. 128.
º
THE TAKING OF CHESTER.
381
were to serve them as signals. They assembled BQQK
in great numbers, and made all speed towards
Durham. At daybreak they had arrived at the
gates, which they broke"; and the Normans were
assailed on all sides in the streets, of the turnings
of which they were ignorant'. They endeavoured
to rally at the episcopal house, where their count
had taken up his quarters; they barricadoed it, and
defended it for Some time, discharging their arrows
upon the Saxons from above; but the latter ter-
minated the conflict by setting fire to the house,
which was entirely consumed, with those who had
shut themselves up in it”. Robert Comine was
among the dead; he had brought with him twelve
hundred horsemen in full armour, and it is not
precisely known how many servants-at-arms and
foot soldiers accompanied them'. This terrible
defeat made such an impression upon the Normans,
that the numerous forces sent to take vengeance
for the massacre, having advanced as far as Elfer-
tam, now Allerton, at an equal distance from York
and Durham, being seized with a panic, refused to
* Totă nocte festinantes Dunelmum in diluculo per portas
irrumpunt. Alured. Beverl. p. 128. -
* Imparatos ubicumque locorum interficiunt. Ibid.
* Sed cūm non ferient jacula defendentium, domum cum ha-
bitantibus concremärunt. Ibid.
* Chron. Saron. Gibson. p. 174.
382
SIEGE OF DOVER TO
Book proceed any further. It was rumoured that they
IV.
had been struck with immobility by a supernatural
force, through the power of a saint named Cuth-
bert, who was interred at Durham, and protected
the place of his repose".
The Northumbrians, who gained this great vic-
tory, were descended from ancient Danish colo-
mists; and there had never ceased to exist between
them and the population of Denmark relations of
reciprocal amity, the fruit of their community of
origin. From the first moment that they were
threatened by the Norman invasion, they sent to
ask assistance from the Danes in the name of the
ancient fraternity of their ancestors; and similar
solicitations were also addressed to the kings of the
north by the Anglo-Danish inhabitants of York,
Lincoln, and Norwich *. A crowd of Saxon refu-
gees pleaded the cause of their country with the
people of the north; and importuned them to make
war upon the Normans, who were oppressing a
nation of the great Teutonic family, after having
killed its king, allied by blood with the then exist-
" Er Chronico Sanctae crucis Edimburg. apud Angliam Sacram.
tom. I. p. 159.
* Angli Svenum (Danorum regem) deauxiliosollicitant. Script.
Rer. Danic, tom. III, p. 254.
THE TAKING OF CHESTER.
383
ing chiefs of Denmark. William, who had never Book
in his life known how to pronounce a single word
of the language which his forefathers had once
spoken in the north, foresaw from the beginning
this natural alliance of the Danes with the Eng-
lish, and therefore it was that he built so many for-
tresses on the eastern coasts of England. He also
sent at different times to Swen king of Denmark,
accredited ambassadors, skilful negociators, and
bishops of insinuating address, to persuade him to
remain at peace”. But the man of the north did.
not yield to these seductions: he did not consent
(say the Danish chronicles) to leave the English
people in servitude under a people of a foreign
race and language; but he assembled his fleet and
his soldiers". Two hundred and forty vessels sail-
ed for Britain, commanded by Osbeorn, brother of
Swen, and his two sons Harold and Knut. On re-
ceiving intelligence of their departure, the Eng-
lish counted the days that would elapse before the
* Ad ulciscendam consanguinei necem, Haroldi scilicet à
francigenis interempti, et Angliam pristinae libertati restituen-
dam. Script. Rer. Danic. tom. III. p. 350.
* Legatos misit cum exeniis. Chron. Henric. Knighton, apud
Script. Rer. Danic. tom. III. p. 253. Torfaei Hist. Norwegia.
* Audientes Daci Angliam esse subjectam Romanis seu fran-
cigenis, graviter sunt indignati, arma parant, classem aptant.
Script. Rer. Danic. tom. III. p. 254.
IV.
$84.
SIEGE OF DOVER TO
BOOK descent of these children of the Baltic, once so
IV.
terrible to them, and pronounced with fondness
the names which their ancestors had cursed".
Other bodies of warriors, hired in the service of
the Saxon cause with the gold which had been
saved from the hands of the Norman plunderers,
were to come in small fishing-boats from the sandy
shores of ancient Saxony and Friesland". The
Saxon refugees in Scotland promised some assis-
tance; and, while awaiting the commencement of
the grand struggle, the inhabitants of Northum-
bria, proud of the liberty which they had shewn
their ability to maintain, made frequent incursions
into the cantonments of the foreigners". The com-
mander of one of the castles of York was killed in
one of these encounters'.
It was in the interval between the two feasts of
the Virgin Mary in autumn, that the sons of king
Swen, his brother Osbeorn, and five other Danish
chiefs of high rank, landed in England'. They
* See Book II. passim.
* Frisia pro Anglicis opibus copias mittebat. Orderic. Vital.
p. 513.
* Diversos excursus crebrö agitantes Danorum praestolantes
adventum. Er Guillelm. Gemeticensi, apud Script. Iter. Francic.
tom. XI. p. 530.
* Orderic. Vital. p. 512.
* Math. Westmonast. Math. Paris. p. 5.
THE TAKING OF CHESTER.
385
boldly attempted a descent on the south-east coast, Book
the part best guarded by the conquerors; but,
having been repulsed successively from Dover,
Sandwich, and Norwich, they returned northward
and entered the mouth of the Humber, as their
forefathers had done, but with very different aus-
pices". As soon as their approach was rumoured
in the surrounding places, on all sides (says the
Saxon chronicle) the ancient chiefs of the English
race, the men of influence among the people, and
all the English in a body, quitted the towns, the
houses, and the fields, to join and fraternise with
the Danes'. The young king Edgar, Merlsweyn,
Gospatric, Siward Beorn, and many other Saxon
refugees, promptly hastened from Scotland. On
the other side came Waltheof son of Siward, who,
like Edwin and his brother, and like King Edgar
himself, had escaped from the palace of the foreign
king: he was yet very young; but had the lofty
stature and vigor of body which had rendered
his father famous".
The Saxons placed themselves in front, as the
advanced guard, and the Danes formed the main
* Orderic. Vital. p. 512.
'Chron. Saxon. Frag. Ed. Lye. Math. Westmonast. Math.
Paris, p. 5.
* Nervosus lacertis, robustus pectore, et procerus toto corpore.
Math. Westmonast. p. 229.
WOL. I. C C
IV.
386
SIEGE OF DOVER TO
Bººk army; in this order they marched upon York,
some on horseback and some on foot, (says the
Saxon chronicle) full of joy and hope". Mes-
sengers were sent before them to inform the citi-
zens that their deliverance was approaching, and
the town was soon invested on all sides. On the
eighth day of the siege, the Normans who guard-
ed the castles, fearing that the neighbouring
houses would furnish the assailants with materials
for filling up the trenches, set fire to them". The
conflagration rapidly spread; and, by the light of
the flames, the insurgents and their auxiliaries,
aided by the inhabitants of the place, penetrated
into the town and compelled the foreigners to shut
themselves up in their two citadels: the same day
the citadels were carried by assault". There pe-
rished in this combat, some thousands of the men
of France, as they are termed in the English chro-
nicles". Waltheof, placed in ambuscade at one of
the castle gates, killed with his own axe several
" Equitantes et iter facientes cum immenso agnine valdé ex-
ultantes. Chron. Saron. Frag.
*Timentes ne domus quae prope castella erant adjumento Da-
nis ad fossas implendas essent. Alured. Beverl. p. 128.
" Dani et Nordhymbri eadem die castella fregerunt. Ibid.
p. 128, 129.
* Multos centenos hominum francorum mecărunt. Chron.
Saxon, Frag. Multa millia. Math. Paris. p. 5.
THE TARING OF CHIESTER.
387
flying Normans". He pursued a hundred horse- BOOK
men into a neighbouring wood; and, to save him-
self the trouble of a longer search, he caused it to
be set fire to, and the hundred fugitives were
burned. A Danish warrior and poet composed a
song on this exploit, in which he called the Saxon
chief brave as Odin in battle, and congratulated him
on having furnished to the wolves of England a
repast of Norman carcases". The victors granted
their lives to the commanders of York, Gilbert de
Gand and Guillaume Malet, the wife and children
of the latter, and a few others, who were carried
on board the Danish fleet. They totally destroyed,
perhaps imprudently, the fortifications built by
the foreigner, that no trace might be left of his
passage'. Young Edgar, having once more be-
come king at York, concluded a compact of mu-
tual alliance with the citizens”. Thus was again
erected that national royalty which had lasted
only for a moment: its dominion and Edgar's
power extended from the Tweed to the Humber;
but William and slavery still reigned over all the
P Singulos egredientes per portam decapitavit. Script. Rer.
Danic. tom. III. p. 299.
* Torva-tuenti oppositus est cibus alni equo (lupo) ex cadave-
ribus Francorum. Snorre's Heimskringla, tom. III.
* Chron. Sazon. Gibson, p. 174.
: Cives cum eo foedus iniverunt. Ibid. Frag. Ed. Lye.
IV.
C C 2
388
SIEGE OF DOVER TO
BOOK south—over all the fine country, over all the great
IV.
and rich towns.
Winter was approaching: the Danish ships took
their stations in the Humber, at the mouths of the
Ouse and the Trent. Their army and that of the
free Saxons awaited the return of mild weather to
advance southward, to make the limits of the con-
quest still narrower, and to confound King William
(as the historians of the age express it'). William
was not without uneasiness in the expectation of
this critical moment. The defeat of his men had
filled him with grief and anger; and he had sworn
not to lay down his lance until he had killed all
the Northumbrians": but, moderating his eager-
ness, he resolved to employ artifice, and sent mes-
sengers to Osbeorn the brother of king Swen,
chief commander of the Danish fleet. He pro-
mised this chief to deliver to him secretly a large
sum of money, and to leave him at liberty to take
provisions for his army from all the eastern coast,
if he would, at the end of winter, depart without
fighting’. The Dane, tempted by avarice, proved
unfaithful to his mission and a traitor to the allies
* Ut Guillelmum regem confunderent. Math. Westmonast.
Math. Paris. p. 5.
" Juravit se omnes Northymbrenses unā lanceé perempturum.
Roger. de Hoved, p. 451.
* Ut sine pugnâ discederet peractfi hieme. Florent. Wigorn.
p. 636.
The TAKING of CHESTER.
389.
of his country: to his great dishonor, (say the BOOK
chronicles) he complied with all that William re-
quired ".
William did not confine himself to this single
precaution: having silently taken away from the
free Saxons their principal support, he next turn-
ed to the Saxons of the subjugated country; he
redressed the grievances of some, moderated the
insolence of his soldiers and his agents *, gained
upon the weak minds of the majority by slender
concessions, and, in return, exacted fresh oaths
and fresh hostages *. He then marched upon
York, with all speed and with all his forces.
The defenders of the town were apprised at one
and the same time of the approach of the Norman
cavalry, and the departure of the Danish fleet.
Deserted as they were, and bereft of their best
hopes, they still resisted, and were killed by thou-
sands in the breaches of their walls". The com-
bat was long, and the victory dearly bought. In
this rout without shame, king Edgar fled; and
such as could escape with him followed him into
Scotland, where king Malcolm again received
7 Non sine magno dedecore. Florent. Wigorn.
* Compescens alationem suorum. Math. Westmonast.
* Foedere cautius cum omnibus confirmato. Ibid.
* Math. Westmonast. Flores. Hist.
390
SIEGE OF DOVER TO
BOOK them with kindness, and opened an asylum to men
of all conditions emigrating from the north of En-
gland ‘.
Once more master of York, the Norman did
not stop there, but made his battalions continue
their march rapidly towards the north. The fo-
reigners rushed upon the territory of Northum-
bria with all the frenzy of revenge"; they burned
the crops in the fields as well as the towns and
hamlets, and butchered the cattle as well as the
men". This devastation was carried on studi-
ously, and in some sort on a regular plan, in order
that the brave men of the north, finding their coun-
try uninhabitable, might be obliged to abandon
it and settle in other places. They retired, either
into the mountains which still bore the name of
the asylum which the ancient Britons had formerly
found there, or to the extremity of the eastern
coast, among the downs and impassable marshes.
There they became robbers and pirates against
the foreigner; and were accused, in the proclama-
tions of the king of the conquest, of violating the
* Omnes Anglos profugos libenter recipiebat. Math. Paris.
p. 4.
* In Nordhymbriam efferato properavit animo. Alured. Be-
verl. p. 127.
* Totius regionis urbes, viros, et agros, et oppida conteri, et
fruges jussit igne consumi. Math. Paris, p. 4.
THE TAKING OF CHESTER. 391
public peace and morals, in seeking to prolong BOOK
their lives by following an infamous profession'.
The Normans entered Durham for the second
time; and the night came, and the day after it,
without their sleep being disturbed as Robert Co-
mine's had been.
Before their entry into this town, which was the
key to all the northern country, the bishop of
Durham, the same Egelwin who had given Robert
those warnings by which he profited so little, had
joined with the principal inhabitants of the place,
to fly (says an old English poet) whither they could
be followed by neither Norman nor Burgundian,
neither robber nor vagrant". Carrying with them,
according to the superstition of the age, the bones
of that St. Cuthbert whose terrible power the Nor-
mans themselves believed they had experienced,
they reached a place in the north, at the mouth
of the Tweed, called Lindisfarn-ey, or vulgarly
Holy Island, a sort of island peopled more with
Cúm adhāc in suá arumná armis atque fugā auderent,
in maritimorum praesidiorum remotiora se se receperunt, inho-
nestas opes pyraticolatrocinioque sibi contrahentes. Br Guill.
genetic. apud Script. Rer. Francic, tom. XI. p. 630.
* Sithed thei dread nothing of theſe ne of feloun that were
with the kyng, Norman ne Burgoloun, Robert Brunne's Chro-
nicle, p. 77. -
392
SIEGE OF DOVER TO
Book relics than with men, which twice a day, at the
IV.
flow of the tide, was surrounded with water, and
twice, when the tide fell, was joined to the main
land". The great church of Durham, abandoned
and left without a guardian, became an asylum for
the poor, sick, and wounded Saxons, who lay in
it on the bare stones, exhausted with hunger and
misery'. *
The conquering army, whose divisions covered
a space of a hundred miles, traversed this terri-
tory (which they were invading for the first time)
in all directions, and the traces of their passage
through it were deeply imprinted. The old his-
torians relate that, from the Humber to the Tyne,
not a piece of cultivated land, not a single inha-
bited village remained". The monasteries which
had escaped the ravages of the Danish pagans, that
of St. Peter near the Wear, and that of Whitby
inhabited by women, were profaned and burned'.
To the south of the Humber, according to the
same narrators, the ravage was no less dreadful.
They say, in their passionate language, that be-
* Halig-ealand. Alured. Beverl. p. 129.
'Spelunca erat pauperum, debilium, aegrotantium, qui illic
declimantes fame ac morbo deficiebant. Ibid. p. 129.
* Nusquām villa inhabitata. Ibid.
' Jo. Brompton, p. 966. Will. Malmesb. p. 271.
THE TAKING OF CIHESTER. 393
tween York and the eastern sea, every living crea- Book
ture was put to death, from man to the beast", ex- V.
cepting only those who took refuge in the church
of St. John the archbishop, at Beverley. This
John was a Saint of the English race; and, on the
approach of the conquerors, a great number of
men and women flocked, with all that they had
most valuable, round the church dedicated to their
blessed countryman, in order that, remembering
in heaven that he was a Saxon, he might protect
them and their property from the fury of the fo-
reigner. The Norman camp was then seven miles
from Beverley. It was rumoured that the church
of St. John was the refuge of the rich and the de-
pository of the riches of the country. Some ad-
venturous scouts, who by the cotemporary his-
tory are denominated knights, set out under the
command of one Toustain, in order to be the first
*
to seize the prize". They entered Beverley with-
out resistance; marched to the church-yard, where
the terrified crowd were assembled; and passed
its barriers, giving themselves no more concern
about the Saxon saint than about the Saxons who
invoked him. Toustain, the chief of the band,
casting his eye over the groups of English, ob-
* Ab homine usque ad pecus periit quicumque repertus est
ab Eboraco usque ad mare orientale. Alured. Beverl. p. 129.
* Quidam milites rapinis assueti. Ibid. p. 127.
º
&
394,
SIEGE OF DOVER TO
BOOK served an old man richly clad, with gold bracelets
IV.
in the fashion of his nation". He galloped towards
him with his sword drawn, and the terrified old
man fled to the church: Toustain pursued him;
but he had scarcely passed the gates, when, his
horse's feet slipping on the pavement, he was
thrown off and stunned by the fall". At the sight
of their captain half dead, the rest of the Normans
turned round; and their imaginations being ex-
cited, hastened full of dread to the camp to relate
this terrible example of the power of John of Be-
verley. When the army passed through, no one
dared again to tempt the vengeance of the blessed
saint; and, if we may believe the legend, the ter-
ritory of his church alone remained covered with
habitations and produce, in the midst of the de-
vastated country".
William, pursuing the remnant of the free Sax-
ons, went as far as the great Roman wall, the re-
mains of which are still to be seen extending from
east to west, from the mouth of the Tyne to the
Solway Frith. He then returned to York; and
* Auream in brachio armillam ferentem. Alured. Beverl, p.
127.
* Infra valvas ecclesiae insequitur paenê fugiendo extinctum,
sed equus. Ibid. º
* Nec terra aliqua erat culta, excepto solo territorio beati
Joannis Beverlaci. Jo, Brompton, p. 966.
THE TAKING OF CHESTER.
5
39
sent to Winchester for the crown, the gilded Book
staves, the furred robes, and all the other insignia
of English royalty; these he displayed with great
pomp before the feast of the nativity, as if to give
the lie to those who, a few months before, had
fought for King Edgar and their country'. There
was no one now to repel this affront; for a last as-
semblage of the brave was dispersed on the banks
of the Tyne". Such was the termination of the
resistance in the north; such was the end of liberty,
according to the English—of rebellion, according
to the Normans'. On both sides of the Humber,
the cavalry of the foreign king, his counts, his
bailiffs", and his couriers, thenceforward travelled
unmolested on the roads and through the towns.
Famine, like a faithful companion of the conquest,
followed their footsteps. From the year 1067, it
had been desolating some provinces, which alone
had then been conquered; but in 1069 it extended
* Ex civitate Guentā jubet adferri coronam aliaque ornamenta
regalia et vasa. Orderic. Wital. p. 515.
* Hostile collegium in angulo quodam regionis paludibus un-
dique munito. Ibid.
* Seditionum tempestate parumper conquiescente. Guill. Ge-
metic. apud Script. Rer. Franc. tom. XI. p. 630.
* Ballivi. In the French of that time, bails or baillift, the ge-
meric name for an officer or functionary.
IV.
396
sIEGE ÖF Dovert To
Book itself through the whole of England * and appear-
IV.
ed in all its horror in the newly-conquered ter-
ritories. The inhabitants of the province of York
and the country to the north, after feeding on the
horses which the Norman army abandoned on the
roads, devoured human fiesh'. More than a hun-
dred thousand people, of all ages, died of want in
these countries”. “It was a frightful spectacle,”
says an old annalist, “to see on the roads, in the
public places, and at the doors of the houses, hu-
man bodies a prey to the worms; for there was no
one left to throw a little earth over them".” This
distress of the conquered country was confined to
the natives; for the foreign soldier lived there in
plenty. For him there were in the fortresses vast
heaps of corn and other provisions, which were
also purchased for him abroad, with gold taken
from the English. Moreover, the famine assisted
him in completely taming the vanquished; and
often, for the remnants of the meal of one of the
meanest followers of the army, the Saxon, once il-
* Normannis Angliam vastantibus, per totam Angliam, maxi-
mè per Northumbriam, fames praevaluit. Flor. Wig. p. 636.
* Ut homines carnem comederent humanam. Ibid.
* Orderic. Vital. p. 515.
* Neque enim supererat qui ea humo cooperiret, omnibus ex-
tinctis vel gladio vel fame. Roger, de Hoved. p. 451.
THE TAKING OF CHESTER,
397
lustrious among his countrymen, but now wasted BOOK
and depressed by hunger, would come and sell him-
self and all his family to perpetual slavery". Then
was this shameful treaty inscribed on the blank
pages of some old missal, where these monuments
of the miseries of another age are to be found at
this day, furnishing a theme for the sagacity of the
man of learning and the curiosity of the man of
leisure. -
The territory situated on one side to the north
and on the other to the south of the Humber, ra-
vaged as it was, was divided among the conque-
rors with the same order which had regulated the
partition of the lands in the south. Several lots
were made of the houses, or rather the ruins of
York; for in the two sieges which that town had
suffered, it had been so devastated, that several
centuries afterwards the foundations of the ancient
suburbs were still to be seen at the distance of
more than a mile in the open country “. King
William took to himself the greater part of the
houses that were left standing". The Norman
Plures in servitutem se vendiderunt dummodo qualitercüm-
que miserabilem vitam sustentarent. Roger. de Hoved.
* Constans fama est aliquot villas esse uno ab Eboraco mil-
liarioubi antè tempora Willelmi Nothi termini erant suburbana-
rum aedium. Lelandi Collectanea, tom. IV. p. 36.
" Extractaer Doomesday-book, apud Seript. ed. & Gale, p. 774.
IV.
398
SIEGE OF DOVER TO
Book captains divided the rest among them, with the
IV.
churches, the shops, and even the shambles, which
they let for a certain rent". Guillaume de Ga-
renne had eighteen villages in the province of
York, and Guillaume de Percy upwards of eighty
manors'. Most of these domains, in the roll drawn
up fifteen years afterwards, were simply denomi-
nated waste-landº. The same quantity which, in
Edward's time, had produced a rent of sixty
pounds, produced less than five in the hands of
the foreign chief or soldier. The land on which
two free Englishmen had lived in plenty, main-
tained, after the conquest, only two poor toiling
slaves, who scarcely returned to their Norman
lord a tenth part of the revenue of the ancient free
cultivators".
The large tracts of country north of York fell
to the share of Allan, a Bas-Breton, whom the
Normans called Alain, and whom his fellow-coun-
trymen, in their Celtic tongue, surnamed Fergan,
* Comes de Moritonio habet ibi XIV mansiones et XI bancos
in macello et ecclesiam Sancti Crucis. Doomesday-book, tom. II.
p. 298.
* Ancient Tenures of Land, p. 6.
* Omnia në wasta, Doomesday-book, tom. II. p. 309. Modò
omnino sunt wasta, Ibid. Ex maximá parte wasta. Ibid.
* Duo taini temuere; ibi sunt duo villani cum ună carrucá;
valuit 40 sol, modè 4 sol, Ibid, p. 315.
5
THE TAKING OF CHIESTER.
399
or the red-haired. This Alain built a castle and BOOK
outworks near his principal manor, called Gilling,
on a hill, encompassed almost on all sides by the
rapid river Swale. This fortress (says an old ac-
count) was designed to protect him and his men
against the terrible incursions of the disinherited
English". Like most of the other captains of the
conquering army, he baptized the castle which
became his residence with a French name, calling
it Riche-mont, on account of its elevated situation,
from which it commanded the surrounding coun-
try'.
The whole island formed at the easternmost
point of Yorkshire by the ocean and the rivers, was
given to Dreux Bruère, a captain of Flemish auxi-
liaries. This man married a relative of King Wil-
liam's, and killed her in a fit of anger: but before
the report of her death had spread, he went to the
king, and begged that he would give him money
in exchange for his lands, as he wished to return
' Dictum Rufum vel Fergaunt. Ea: veteri chartà apud Script.
Rer. Francic. tom. XII. p. 568.
* Pro tuitione suorum contrá infestationem Anglorum tunc
ubique exhaeredatorum. Er veteri chartà apud Script. Rer.
Francic, tom. XII. p. 568.
Et nominavit dictum castrum Riche-mont, suo idiomate Gal-
lico, quod Latiné sonat Divitem Montem, Ibid. et Monast. An-
glic, tom. I. p. 877. -
400
SIEGE OF DOVER TO
BOOK into Flanders. William ordered the sum which
IV.
the Fleming asked for to be paid him; and it was
not until after his departure, that the cause of it
was divulged". His island then became the pro-
perty of Eudes de Champagne, who afterwards
married the conqueror's sister by the mother's
side". When the wife of Eudes had been brought
to bed of a son, he remarked to the king that the
isle of Holderness was not fertile, producing no-
thing but oats; and begged that he would grant
him a portion of land capable of bearing wheat,
wherewith the child might be fed". William (say
the old acts) gave him the entire town of Bytham,
in the province of Lincoln.
Not far from this same isle of Holderness, on
the banks of the Humber, Gamel son of Quetet,
who had come from Meaux in France with a troop
of men from the same town, took a certain extent
of land where he fixed his abode and that of his
companions". These men, wishing to attach the
remembrance of their native city to the place of
their new habitation, gave it the name of France,
* Dugdale's Baronage, p. 60. Monast. Anglican.
" Nec gignebat nisi avenam. Ibid. tom. I. p. 796.
° Undé alere posset nepotem suum. Ibid.
* Qui in conquaestu Normannorum de quádam civitate Galliae,
Meldis Latinë, sed Meaux Gallice nuncupata exeuntes. Ibid.
tom. I. p. 792.
THE TAIKING OF CHESTER.
40 #
which continued for several centuries to be that Book
of a monastery founded on the same spot". Ga-
mel, the chief of the adventurers of Meaux, and
the possessor of the principal manor in their little
colony, came to an understanding with the Nor-
man chiefs occupying the neighbouring lands, that
the limits of their respective possessions should
be invariably fixed. Several conferences, or par-
1emens (as they were then termed), were held with
Basin, Sivard, and Francon and Richard d'Es-
touteville. They all, with one accord, measured
their several portions of land, and set bounds to
them, “in order,” says the old account, “ that their
posterity might have mothing to dispute about,
but that the peace which reigned among them.
might be transmitted to their heirs'.”
The great domain of Pontefract, the place where
the Norman troops had forded the Aire, fell to the
share of Guilbert de Lacy, who, following the ex-
ample of most of his companions, built a castle
upon it". It appears that this Guilbert, with his
armed bands, was the first who crossed the moun-
* Post dictum conquaestum, ipsum locum inhabitantes nomen
de Meaux ci imposuerunt in memoriam pristinae civitatis. Mo-
mast. Anglic, tom. I. p. 792.
* Ex communi consilio terminos inter se distinguentes, ad
auferenda certamina posterorum. Ibid. p. 394.
: Ibid. tom. I. p. 859.
vol. I. D d
IV.
402
SIEGE OF DOVER TO
BOOK tains west of York; and that he invaded the coun-
IV.
try about Lancaster, which then was part of
the province of Chester. It is, however, certain
that he appropriated to himself an immense tract
of land in that country, of which Blackburn was
the chief place, and which extended to the south
and east as far as the confines of Yorkshire : ac-
cording to an old tradition, he expelled all the
English proprietors from Blackburn, Rochdale,
Tollington, and the whole neighbourhood. Be-
fore the conquest (said the tradition) all these
proprietors were free, equal in rights, and inde-
pendent of one another; but after the invasion by
the Normans, there was in the whole country but
one master, with a number of farmers on lease ‘.
William, with his chosen troops, had advanced
as far as Hexham, near the wall of Severus. His
captains penetrated further, and conquered the
rest of the country to the north and west. The
mountainous country of Cumberland was reduced
into a Norman county. It was taken possession
of by one Renouf Meschines; and the land of
heaths and marshes, called Westmoreland, was
likewise put under the authority of a foreign go-
* Vulgaris opinio tenet et asserit quëd quot fuerunt villae vel
mansae seu maneria hominum, tot fuerunt domini, quorum nullus
dealio tenebat . . . . . . post conquaestum autem in unum do-
minium omnia sunt redacta. Monast. Anglic. tom. I. p. 859.
THE TAIKING OF CHESTER.
403
vernor". This count shared the rich domains and BOOK
fine women of the country among his followers.
He gave the three daughters of Simon son of
Thour, proprietor of the two manors of Elreton
and Tadewiks, one to Humphrey his man-at-arms,
another to Raoulcalled Tortes-mains, and the third
to an esquire, Guillaume de St. Paul . In Nor-
thumbria, properly so called, Ives de Vesey took
the town of Alnwik, with the grand-daughter and
the whole inheritance of a Saxon killed in battle y.
Robert de Brus obtained by conquest (say the old
acts) several hundred manors and the dues of the
port of Hartlepool in the province of Durham ".
And, to cite one last instance of these territorial
usurpations, Robert d'Umfreville had the forest
of Riddesdale, which belonged to Mildred son of
Akman. In token of investiture with this domain,
he received from the conquering king the sword
which he had himself worn on his entrance into
" Monast. Anglic, tom. I. p. 140.
* Datae et disponsatae . . . . et cum eis in haereditate totum
manerium de Elreton . . . . tradidit filiam cujusdam. Ibid. p.
838. ,
* Qui ſuit occisus in bello cum Haroldo rege. Ibid. tom. II.
p. 592.
* Per conquacstum. Ibid. tom. II. p. 148. . . . . . apud
Hartlepool portum maris et de qualibet navi 8 den. Ancient
Tenures, p. 146.
D d 2
404
SIEGE OF DOVER TO
BOOK Northumbria; and swore to use it in clearing the
1064.
to
1070,
territory of wolves and enemies to the Nor-
mams “.
When the Northumbrians, after driving away
Tostig the brother of Harold, in a national insur-
rection, had chosen as their chief Morkar the bro-
ther of Edwin, Morkar had, with their consent,
placed at the head of the country beyond the Tees
young Osulfson of Edulf". Osulf kept his com-
mand until the conqueror had passed the Tyne.
He was then obliged to fly, like the rest, to the
forests and mountains: and the victor put in his
place a Saxon named Copsig ; a man whom the
people of Northumbria had driven away with Tos-
tig; who therefore sought to revenge himself on
the Northumbrians; and whom, for that very rea-
son, the Norman gave them for a chief'. Copsig
installed himself in his post, under the protection
of the conquerors; but after exercising his power
for a short time in a false security, he was assailed
in his house by a troop of dispossessed English,
led by that very Osulf whose spoils he had re-
ceived. The servant of the foreigner was taking
his repast without any apprehension, when the in-
* Ancient Tenures, p. 15.
* Monast. Anglic, tom. I. p. 41.
* Rex Willelmus comitatum Osulfi tradidit Copsio qui sub
Tostio totius comitatüs curam gerebat.
THE TAKING OF CHESTER. 405
surgents fell upon him, slew him, and immediately BOOK
dispersed". IV.
These instances of vengeance and daring, of 1070.
which only a few are cited by the historians, would
probably occur in many places; but, however nu-
merous they might be, they could not save Eng-
land. An immense force, regularly conducted, and
regularly distributed, made a jest of the virtuous
but impotent efforts of the martyrs to independ-
ence. The brave themselves, those great chiefs
of the country whose names alone rallied many
around them, lost courage, and compromised with
the foreigner. Thus did Waltheof, thus did Gos-
patric, thus did Morkar and Edwin. They stooped
to fortune; and, casting aside the Sword of liberty,
made peace with the conquerors. This reconci-
liation, so fatal to the Saxon cause, took place on
the banks of the Tees. William pitched his camp
for fifteen days on that river, and there received
the oaths of Gospatric and Waltheof Gospatric,
who was absent and submitted by message, re-
ceived by message the government of Northum-
bria, vacant by the death of Copsig, together with
the foreign title of count". Waltheof placed his
* Convivantem concludit . . . . . manibus Osulfi obtrunca-
tur. Simeo Dunelmensis, p. 38. Script. ed. & Seldeno.
* Monastic. Anglic, tom. I. p. 41.
406
SIEGE OF DOVER TO
Bººk bare hand in the hand of the Norman, and became
tº mºms
count of the two provinces of Huntingdom and
Northampton'. He married Judith, one of his
mew friend’s nieces; but, as will be seen in the
course of this history, the bed of the foreign wo-
man proved harder to the Saxon chiefthan the bare
stones on which he feared he should lie by re-
maining faithful to his country. Soon after, King
Edgar himself came to abjure a second time his
national title and the rights which he had received
from the people *. He was a man endowed with
but little strength of mind, and borne along, whe-
ther to good or evil, by the torrent of circum-
stances and the example of others. His fidelity
to the Norman king was mo greater than it had
been to England: when the wind of resistance
blew afresh, Edgar again fled into Scotland, fol-
lowed by the imprecations of the foreigners, who
accused him of violating his faith". The English
people, indulgent in their misery, pardoned him
his inconstancy, and,though deserted by him, loved
* Datis dexteris. Orderic. Vital. p. 515. Will. Malmesb.
p. 104. Chron. Saxon. Frag.
* Et misericordiam postulans impetravit et pacem cum eo fecit.
Math. Paris. p. 5.
* Facto ad Scotos transfugio, jusjurandum maculavit. Ibid.
7
THE TAKING OF CHESTER.
407
him still. “He was young and handsome,” say Book
the Saxon annals, “ and was descended from the
true race, the best race of the country'.”
After the conquest of the lands of the north,
that of the provinces of the north-west, bordering
on the Welsh territories, appears soon to have
been accomplished. Edric, surnamed the Wild,
no longer stopped the Norman bands which over-
ran every part of them, and had ceased to molest
by his incursions their hitherto precarious esta-
blishments in the vicinity of the old entrenchment
of Offa. At length Raoul de Morte-mer took the
young partisan-chief prisoner; and, with the ad-
vice of his council of war, stripped him of all his
possessions, for having (says an ancient account)
refused obedience to the conquest, though repeat-
edly summoned to obey".
The Norman army which brought under the
yoke the population of the Welsh marshes, did not
stop at Offa's trench; but, passing that ancient
frontier to the east of Shrewsbury, penetrated into
the land of the Cambrians. Thus was commenced
the conquest of Wales, which from that time was
unremittingly pursued by the conquerors of En-
* Thaet beste kund that Engelond hadde to be kynge. Robert
of Gloucester's Chronicle, p. 377.
* Et quià idem Edricus moluit conquaestui parere . . . . .
Monast. Anglican, tom. II. p. 221.
IV.
408
$IEGE OF poven TO
BOOK gland'. One Baudoin was the first who built a
IV.
Norman fort in that country: the Welsh named
it Baldwin’s Fort—Tre Faldwin; and the Normans
called it Mont-Gomery, from the name of Bau-
doin's successor, Roger de Montgomery, count of
the province of Shrop and the country taken from
the Welsh".
The town of Shrewsbury, fortified by a citadel
built on the ground formerly occupied by fifty-one
houses, was added to the domains of King Wil-
liam", who levied imposts on it for his eachequer
(as the Normans called that, which by the Romans
was named the fisc"). The agents of the conque-
ror exacted no greater tributes than the town had
paid in the time of English independence; but
there is an authentic declaration of the inhabi-
tants which shews the real value to them of this
apparent moderation. “ The English inhabitants
of Shrewsbury,” (such are the words of the roll)
“say that it is a heavy burthen for them to pay
the full amount of the impost which they paid in
'Postguàm Normanni bello commisso Anglossibi subjuga-
rent, Walloniam suo imperio. ... Gesta Stephani Regis, p. 930.
* Pennant's Tour in Wales, tom. II. p. 348.
* Quamvis castellum comitis occupaverit 51 mansuras. Ex-
tracta ea Doomesday-book, apud Script. Gale, p. 773.
* This name is taken from that of a table divided into squares
and compartments to facilitate the counting of money.
Fº
J
THE TAKING OF CHESTER.
4.09
King Edward's time, and to be taxed for as many Book
houses as were then existing: for fifty-one houses
have been pulled down to make room for the
count's castle; fifty more are so much damaged as
to be uninhabitable; forty-three Frenchmen occupy
houses which paid in Edward's time; and more-
over, the count has given to the abbey, which he
has founded, thirty-nine of the townsmen, who
formerly contributed with the rest P.”
These monasteries, founded by the conquerors
in the heart of the towns or in the country, were
peopled with monks come from abroad with the
Norman baggage. Each fresh band of armed sol-
diers, was escorted by a fresh band of frocked sol-
diers who, like the others, come to England to
gaaingner, as it was then expressed. In 1068, the
abbot of St. Regnier at Ponthieu, embarking for
England at the port of Wissant, met with upwards
of a hundred monks and abbots of all orders, with
a crowd of warriors and traders, who were all
waiting, like himself, to pass the strait". Some
P Dicunt Angligenae burgenses de Sciropesberie, multum
grave sibi esse . . . . . . . et XLIII Francigenae burgenses te-
meant mansuras geldantes T. A. E. et abbatiae quam facit ibi
comes dederit ipse XXXIX burgenses, olim cum aliis geldantes
similiter. Eatracta ex Doomesday-book, apud Script. Gale; p.
773. *
* Ubi ſuerunt cum illo tam abbates quâm monachi plusquâm
IV.
1068
1070,
410
SIEGE OF DOWER TO
BOOK naked and famishing Benedictimes came from Séez
IV.
in Normandy to an extensive habitation given
them by Roger de Montgomery; and received,
for the supply of their table, a tenth of all the ver
mison taken in the province of Shrop'. Some
monks of St. Florent at Saumur emigrated from
their convent to take up their abode in a church
which, by right of conquest, had fallen to the share
of Guillaume de Brause, an Anjouan". And to
conclude,-in the province of Stafford, near Stone
on the Trent, there was a small oratory, where
two nuns and a priest passed their days in praying
in honor of a Saxon saint called Wolfed. All
three were killed by one Emisant, a soldier of the
conquering army, “which Enisant,” says the le-
gend, “killed the priest and the two nuns, that
his sister, whom he had brought with him, might
have their church'.”
From the time that the conquest began to pros-
per, not young soldiers and old warlike chiefs alone,
1066
to
1070.
centum, praeterea militarium virorum et negociatorum plurima
multitudo, qui omnes in Angliam transvehi cupiebant. Ez
Chronico Sti. Richarii, apud Script. Rer. Francic, tom. XI. p.
133.
* Pennant's Tour in Wales, tom. II. p. 402.
* Monast. Anglic.
* This Enysan slue the nuns and prest alsoe, because his
sister should have this churche soe. Ibid. tom. II. p. 126.
THE TAKING OF CHESTER.
41 I
but whole families, men, women, and children, BOOK
emigrated from Gaul to seek their fortunes in the
country of the English. To the people on the
other side of the Channel, this country was like a
land newly discovered, which they went to colonise.
“ Hoël the Breton,” says an old record, “ and
his wife Celestine, came to the army of the Nor-
man bastard, and received a gift from this same
bastard of the manor of Elinghall, with all its de-
pendencies'.” One Guillaume (says another old
recordin rhyme) came into England with his wife
Tifanie, his maid Manfas, and his dog Hardigras".
Men, who adventured together in the chances of the
invasion”, became sworn brothers in arms and
contracted fellowships in gain and loss, for life and
death. Robert d’Oily and Roger d'Ivry came to
the conquest as brethren leagued together by faith
and by oath’. Their clothes and their arms were
alike, and they shared together the lands which
* Quidam Hoël nomine et Celestria uxor ejus venerunt in ex-
ercitu Willelmi Bastard in Angliam. Monast. Anglic, tom. III.
p. 54.
" William de Cognisby And his maid Manfas
Came out of Britanny And his dogge Hardigras.
With his wife Tiffany
Hearne, Praefatio ad Forduni Hist, p. 170.
* Fortunarum participes. Monast. Anglic. tom. II. p. 136.
* Fratresjurati et per fidemet sacramentum confederati vene-
runt ad conquaestum Angliae. Ibid. Gloss, de Ducange, tom. III.
p. 688,
IV.
412 SIEGE OF DOVER TO
Book they conquered. Eude and Picot, Robert Mar-
mion and Gaultier de Somerville, did the same *.
Jean de Courcy and Amaury de St. Florent swore
their fraternity of arms in the church of Notre
Dame at Rouen: they vowed to serve together, to
live and die together, and to share together their
pay and whatever they might gain by the sword".
Others, at the moment of their departure, dispos-
ed of all that they possessed on that side the chan-
nel, that they might be the more determined to
make themselves a new and more brilliant for-
tune. Thus it was, that Geoffroy de Chaumont,
son of Gidoin viscount of Blois, gave to his niece
Denise all the lands which he possessed in the
country of Blois, at Chaumont and Tours. “ He
departed for the conquest,” says the historian,
“ and afterwards returned to Chaumont with an
immense treasure, large sums of money, a great
number of articles of rarity, and the titles of pos-
b 22
session of more than one great and rich domain *.
There now remained to be invaded only the
* Monsieur Galtere of Somerville, sworn brodyr. Monast.
Anglic. tom. II. p. 199.
* Wigladii et fortuna. Ibid.
* Quiducem adire deliberans, totum nepoti suae reliquit . . .
Auri et argenti copias multas, terreque possessiones amplissimas.
Gesta Ambasiensium Dominorum, apud Script. Rer. Prancic, tom,
XI. p. 258.
THE TAKING of CHESTER.
413
country about Chester, the only great town in Book
England whose streets had not resounded with the
tread of the foreign cavalry. After passing the win-
ter in the north, William undertook this last expe-
dition in person"; but, at the moment of his depar-
ture from York, great murmursarosein the conquer-
ing army. There-actionin Northumbria had fatigu-
ed the victors; and they foresaw stillgreater fatigues
in the invasion of the country bordering on the river
Dee and the western Sea. Exaggerated accounts of
the difficulty of the ground and the obstinacy of the
inhabitants were circulated among the soldiers".
The auxiliary Anjouans and Bretons began to feel,
like the Normans in the preceding year, a longing
after home. They in their turn complained more
loudly than the rest of the hardships of the service;
and great numbers of them asked for their dis-
charge, that they might repass the sea". It seems
that William, unable to overcome the determina-
tion of those who refused to follow him, assumed
an appearance of unconcern. To such as would
remain faithful, he promised repose after the vic-
tory, and great possessions as the recompense of
* Movet expeditionem contra Cestrenses et Geralos. Orderic.
Vital. p. 515.
* Locorum asperitatem ethostium terribilem ferocitatem. Ibid.
* Servitiis, ut dicebant, intolerabilibus. Ibid.
IV.
414
SIEGE OF DOVER TO
BOOK their toils". He crossed, by roads until then im-
IV.
practicable for horses, the chain of mountains ex-
tending, from south to north, the whole length of
England. He entered Chester victorious, and the
Norman standard was planted on both shores of
the ocean. The conqueror, according to his cus-
tom, built a fortress at Chester; he staid for some
time at Stafford *; and at Salisbury, in his return
to the south, he distributed abundant rewards
among his followers". He then repaired to Win-
chester, to his royal citadel, the strongest in all
England; and which was his palace in spring, as
that of Gloucester was in winter, and the Tower of
London or the convent of Westminster near Lon-
don in summer'.
The troops of Gherbaud the Fleming were left
to keep and defend the newly-conquered province.
Gherbaud was the first captain that bore the title
of Count of Chester. To support his title and
maintain his post, he was exposed to great dangers
from the English as well as from the men of Wales,
who long continued to harass him : at length, he
1070
to
1071.
* Victoribus requiem promittit. Ibid. p. 515.
* Ibid. p. 516.
* Praemia militibus largissimé distribuit. Ibid.
* Ter gessit suam coronam (cynehelm) singulis annis, ad pas-
cha eam gessit in Winceaster, ad Pentecosten in Westminster,
ad natales in Gleaweceaster. Chron, Saron. Gibson, p. 190.
THE TAKING OF CHESTER.
415
became weary of these fatigues, and departed to Book
return to Flanders". The Norman king then gave
the county of Chester to Hugues d'Avranches,
son of Richard le Gois, who was sirnamed Le-
Loup, and bore a wolf's head on his escutcheon.
Hugues-le-Loup and his captains passed the Dee,
which formed, at the extremity of Offa's dike, the
northern limit of the Welsh territory. They con-
quered the country of Flint, which became a part
of the Norman county of Chester, and built a fort
at Rhuddlan'. One of Hugues-le-Loup's lieu-
tenants, who was governor of this fort, changed
his name from Robert d'Avranches to Robert de
Rhuddlan; and, by a contrary whim, Robert de
Malpas or Maupas, governor of another fort, built
on a lofty hill, gave his own name to the place,
which has borne it to this day. “Both of them,”
says an ancient historian, “with other ferocious
chiefs, poured the blood of the Welsh like water".”
They fought a murderous battle with them in the
marshes of Rhuddlan, a spot already marked with
calamity in the memory of the Cambrian people,
* Magna ibidifficilia tam ab Anglis quâm a Guallis adversanti-
bus pertulerat. Orderic. Vital. p. 522.
| Pennant's Tour in Wales, vol. II. p. 10.
* Cum Roberto de Malo-passu et aliis proceribus feris multum
Guallorum sanguinem effudit. Orderic. Vital. p. 522.
IV.
416
3IEGE OF DOVER TO
BQQK on account of a great battle won by the Saxons
-- about the close of the eighth century. A singu-
lar monument of these two national disasters was
still existing a few years ago in the north of
Wales: this was a mournful air, without words,
but which it was customary to apply to many
melancholy subjects; it was called the air of
Rhuddlan-marsh".
We are told by old accounts that when Hugues-
le-Loup had installed himself with the title of
count in the province of Chester, he called over
from Normandy one of his old friends, named Ni-
gel or Lenoir; and that Lenoir brought with him
five brothers, Houdard, Edouard, Volmar, Hors-
win, and Volſan". Hugues distributed among
them lands in his county. He gave to Lenoir the
town of Halton near the river Mersey; and made
him his constable and hereditary marshal—that is,
wherever the count of Chester was at war, Lenoir
and his heirs were to march at the head of the
whole army in going out, and to be the last in re-
turning. They had, as their share of the booty
taken from the Welsh, the beasts of all descrip-
* Morfa-Rhuddlan. Cambro-Briton, vol. II.
* Et cum isto comite Hugone venit quidam miles, Nigellus
nomine, qui duxit secum quinque fratres. Monast. Anglic. tom.
II. p. 905.
THE TAKING OF CHESTER.
4, 17
tions". In time of peace, they had the right of BOOK
administering justice for all offences within the
district of Halton, and made their profit of the
fines. Their servants enjoyed the privilege of
buying in the market at Chester before any one
else, unless the count's servants had presented
themselves first". Besides these prerogatives, the
constable Lenoir obtained for himself and his heirs
the control of the roads and streets during the fairs
at Chester, the tolls of all the markets within the
limits of Halton, all animals found astray in the
same district', and lastly, the right of stallage, and
of selling, with an entire freedom from tax and
toll, every sort of merchandise excepting salt and
horses'. -
Houdard, the first of the five brothers, became
to Lenoir nearly what Lenoir was to count Hu-
gues; he was hereditary seneschal of the con-
stablery of Halton. Lenoir, his lord, gave him for
his service and homage (such was the formula of
* De praeda perquisità in Wallia omnia animalia diversorum
colonum inter quatuor membra. Monast. Anglic, tom. II.
p. 905. * *
* Emant ministri sui ante omnes in civitate, nisi comitis mi-
nistri praevenerint. Ibid.
Omnia animalia fugitiva, gallice Wages. Ibid. p. 187.
* Practer sal et aequos, Ibid.
VOL. I. E e
418
SIEGE OF DOVER TO
BOOK
.I.V.
--> -
the time') the lands of Weston and Ashton. Of
the profits of the war, he had all the bulls taken
from the Welsh "; and the best ox, as a recom-
pense for the man-at-arms who carried his ban-
ner”. Edouard, the second brother, received
from the constable two bovatas of land at Wes-
ton'. Two others, Volmar and Horswin, jointly
received a domain in the village of Runcone. And
the fifth, named Wolfan, who was a priest, obtain-
ed the church of Runcone *.
These curious details are, in themselves, scarce-
ly worthy of notice; but they may assist the reader
to picture in his imagination the various scenes of
the conquest, and give to the facts of greatest
importance their local colouring. All the arrange-
ments of interest, all the sharing of possessions
and offices, which took place in the province of
Chester, between the Norman governor, his first
lieutenant, and the lieutenant's five companions,
give a true and faithful idea of the transactions of
* Per hommagis et servitio suo. Monast. Anglic. tom. II.
p. 187. r
." Adventagia guerrae. Gloss. de Ducange.
* Et latori vexilli sui meliorem bovem. Monast. Anglic, tom.
II. p. 187. º -
7 Duas bovatas terrae in Weston. Ibid.
* Quintus verö frater fuit sacerdos, et insi dedit ecclesiam de
Runcone Nigellus: ex Normanniä venerunt. Ibid.
THE TAKING OF CHIESTER.
#19
the same kind and at the same time in every Book
IV,
province of England. When the reader shall
hereafter meet with the titles of count, constable,
and seneschal,—when, in the course of this history
he finds any mention of the rights of jurisdiction,
of markets, or of tolls, of the profits of war and of
justice,—let him immediately call to mind Hugues
d'Avranches, his friend Lenoir, and the five bro-
thers who came with Lenoir: then, perhaps, he will
perceive some reality under these titles and for-
mulas, which, if examined apart from men and
transactions, have no meaning whatever. The
eyes of our imagination must endeavour to reach
men through the distance of ages, and represent
them to us living and acting on that soil where
even the dust of their crumbled relics is no longer
to be found. Many particular facts, many names
now obscure, have been designedly placed in this
recital: let the reader dwell upon them; let him
imagine old England once more peopled with its
invaders and its vanquished of the eleventh cen-
tury; let him figure to himself the former proud
and fortunate, the latter invoking death as more
tolerable than slavery ". Seven hundred years have
already passed away, since these men ceased to
* Potiãs mori quàm vivere optabant. Orderic. Vital. p.
522.
E e 2
420 sIEGE of Dover, &c.
BOOK breathe, since their hearts ceased to beat, with
—º- pride or with suffering:—but what is this to the
imagination, which knows no past, and to which
even the future is present 7
END OF, VOL. I.
I N D E X,
CHRONOLOGICAL AND ANALYTICAL,
TO
V O L U M E I.
*-**asumºr
º
BOOK. I.
FROM THE SETTLING OF THE BRITONS TO THE NINTH
CENTURY.
-Q-
IDATES,
55 B. c. Ancient populations of the island of Britain
to - Britain under the Romans. The Picts and
410, the Scots * . ſº §
PAGES,
1-9
410 Social state of the Britons . . Their form of
to government. Attacks from without. • Intestine
449. dissensions . . . i. ſº º
449-455. The Saxons auxiliary to the Britons. “Become
enemies to them . º tº * : º
455-542. Saxon conquests in Britain º º
542 Emigration of the Angles. •Conquests by the
to Angles . . Anglo-Saxon colonies • British fu-
595. gitives settled in Gaul. • Political state of Gaul
... Influence of the Gaulish bishops. Their
policy...Their friendship for the Franks’ “Con-
quests by the Franks..Their victories over the
Goths. .State of the Britons in Gaul. Their
9–15
15–19
19–21
IN DE X.
DATES,
disputes with the Gaulish clergy.. Their wars
with the Franks. • Heresy of Britain º
595. Character of Pope Gregory. . His desire of
converting the Anglo-Saxons . º ſº
596. Missionaries sent into Britain. •Their arrival.
596-604. Conversion of an Anglo-Saxon king. “Papal
instructions. • Plan of ecclesiastical organization
604 . Ambition of the bishop Augustine. • Reli-
to gious belief of the Welsh - - Augustine's confer-
607. ences with the Welsh clergy. “His revenge upon
the Welsh . i. tº tº ſº 4. iſ
608–620. Return of the Anglo-Saxons to paganism. .
Fresh success of the Roman priests . i.
620 Attempts at conversion in Northumberland. .
to Conference of the Northumbrian chiefs on that
628. subject. •Conversion of the Northumbrians
628 Attempts of the Roman clergy against the
to Irish church. - Religious zeal of the Irish. •
990. Hatred of the Welsh for the Roman church . .
Devotion and orthodoxy of the Anglo-Saxons
... Rupture between the Anglo-Saxons and the
Roman church . * . ū * ſº
Respective limits of the different populations
of Britain. • Remains of the British race. -Pa-
triotic obstinacy of the Welsh . . Duty of the
historian towards a conquered people .
Book II.
PAGES,
21–49
49–51
51–55
56–62
62–71
71–74
74–81
81–90
90–98
ANGLO-SAXON HISTORY TO THE MIDDLE OF THIE ELEVENTH
CENTURY,
*º-
787 First landing of the Danish pirates. •Their
to character. Their daring . . Their conquests in
874. England . º sº i. i. g
99-107
2
IN DE X.
DATES ,
874
to
879.
879
to
885.
885
to
934.
Resistance of Elf-red, king of the West Sax-
ons, to the Danish invasion. •King Elf-red's
unpopularity. His flight. . He comes forward
again, and attacks the Danes. . He makes peace
with them • ſº * º † i.
Elf-red becomes king of the East Saxons and
of Kent. •Successive unions of the English ter-
ritory under one and the same authority .
Another war with the Danes. • Election of king
Ed-ward. • Conquests of king Ethelstan • Na-
tional song of the Anglo-Saxons, on the victory
of Brunan-burh * º
Defeat of Er-ric the Dame . . A Danish
song on his death . . Political consequences of
the defeats of the Danes • Fresh emigrations
from Denmark . . . . . .
General massacre of the Danes in England
Grand armament of the Danish king Swen
against England. • Patriotic firmness and death
of the Saxon archbishop Elf-eg... King Ethel-
red flies to Gaul . g i. iº º &
State of the inhabitants of Gaul. •Second emi-
gration and conquest of the Franks. • A Frankish
King takes the title of emperor . . Dismember-
ment of the empire of the Franks . . Distinction
of races and conditions in Gaul
Gaul attacked by the Norman pirates. • Rolf
the Norman settles there. • Gaulish Normandy
... • Political successes of the Gallo-Normans. •
Their social state and language . *
King Ethel-red recalled to England. • Battles
between the Anglo-Saxons and the Anglo-
Danes. . Godwin son of Ulf-noth saves a Danish
chief. . Knut the Dane becomes king of all En-
gland... State of the Anglo-Saxon peasantry .
Skilful policy of king Knut. • Knut courts the
friendship of the Pope.. He makes a pilgrimage
to Rome. . His letter from Rome to the English
people. • Dismemberment of his states .
i.
PAGES.
107–115
. 115–118
118–125
934
to
1002.
1003.
1004
to
1013,
1013
to
1017.
1017
to
1035.
125–134,
134–135
135–140
. 140–152
y^
. 152—162
162–171
171–179
I N DE X.
DATES, PAGES,
1085 Her-ald and Hard-knut, kings of England,
to one in the north, the other in the south. . Prepa-
1037. rations for war between the Anglo-Saxons and
the Anglo-Danes. . Her-ald sole king of En-
gland * tº {} * tº . 179–185
1037-1089. Violent death of Elf-red son of Ethel-red. .
Fabulous circumstances of that event . . 185–189
1040 Exactions of king Hard-knut...Tyrannies of
to the Danes. •The Danes driven from England. . -
1042. Election of Ed-ward son of Ethel-red . , 189—197
1042 Re-establishment of English independence. . .
to Fresh causes of internal troubles. . Enmity of k
1048. the English people to king Ed-ward's Norman
favourites. “Original expression of popular dis-
content and uneasiness . tº * . 198–205
BOOK III.
FROM THE ELECTION OF EDWARD TO THE BATTLE OF
IIASTINGS,
-º-
1048. Eustace of Boulogne enters Dover ... His
quarrel with the inhabitants. • Patriotic opposi-
tion of Godwin and his sons. • Great armament
of king Edward. • Proscription of Godwin and
his sons * iſ . • • * tº *
1048 Triumph of the Norman favourites... Visit of
to William duke of Normandy. . His character . .
1,051. His ambitious projects . * * *
1052. Landing of Godwin and his sons. Terror
and flight of the Norman favourites... Proscrip-
tion of the Normans • Some of them, by special
favour, are suffered to remain in England 4.
1053-1063. Death of Godwin . . Death of Siward. . Mili-
tary talents and popularity of Harold .
206—214
. 214–220
220–228
228-232
IND EX.
I)ATES,
1064.
1065.
1066.
Insurrection of the Northumbrians against
their chief, Tostig, brother to Harold. • Harold
prefers justice to his brother's interest. • Exile
of Tostig i. tº tº tº ſº *
Enmity of the Roman church against the En-
glish people • ‘That enmity aggravated by fresh
motives • Alliance between the Roman church
and William duke of Normandy . & tº
Harold resolves to go to Normandy. . King
Edward dissuades him from it. . His departure..
His imprisonment by the count of Ponthieu. .
His liberation. • His reception at Rouen by
duke William. Requests made to him by Wil-
liam . . His oath on the relics.. His return to
England... Presentiments of public calamity. .
Death of king Edward º i.
Election of Harold. • Chagrin of the duke
of Normandy...Tostig goes in search of ene-
mies to his brother Harold . . He persuades
Harold king of Norway to make a descent upon
England tº * º
Messages sent to Harold king of England by
the duke of Normandy. The duke's negociations
with the Roman church - “Definitive alliance
concluded between him and pope Alexander II.
Convocation of the states of Normandy. Their
opposition to duke William's projects. . William
baffles that opposition. “Great military prepara-
tions • ‘Enlisting of men of all countries. . Em-
barkation of the troops. Delays occasioned by
the bad weather. • Departure of the Norman
fleet . . . . # tº †:
Harold king of Norway lands in England..
Harold king of England goes by forced marches
against the Norwegians. •Meeting of the two
armies. . Rout of the Norwegians
Landing of the Norman army at Pevensey,
near Hastings... King Harold marches against
the Normans. He entrenches himself at the
distance of seven miles from their camp .
PAGES.
232–235
235–240
. 240–252
. 252–258
258–264
. 265–275
. 27.5–283
. 283—28S
I N DE X.
I)ATES. PAGES.
1066. Messages from William to Harold. • Answers
of the latter. •State of the Anglo-Saxon army. .
Preparations of both armies for battle... Nor-
man order of battle • ‘Attack upon the Anglo-
Saxon camp. Victory of the Normans . . 288–299
King Harold's body recognized by his mis-
tress, Edith the swan-necked. • Affecting ex-
pressions of the old English historians. •Trait
of patriotic superstition.. Founding of Battle
Abbey º * : tº i. º . 299–302
BOOK IV.
FROM THE SIEGE OF DOWER TO THE TAKING OF CHESTER.
-º-
1066. Battle of Romney. Taking of Dover. • Capi-
tulation of the province of Kent.. Election of
king Edgar • Submission of London. - Duke
William stops near London . i. º . 302–313
William causes himself to be proclaimed king
..The ceremony disturbed. •The new king re- \,
mains out of London . g ſº tº . 313—318
1066 Methodical dispossession of the English--
to Division of spoil among the Normans. . Extent
1067. of the conquered territory.. Sufferings of the
conquered... Details of expropriation. • Punish-
ment of the monastery of Hida † i. . 319–331
Fortresses built at London. •State of the con-
quering army...Ancient list of the conquerors of
England *...* * • • * . 331–337
1067. King William returns to Normandy. "Is re-
ceived there with public rejoicings • Revolt of
the province of Kent. -Battles fought in the
western provinces. • Probable limits of the inva-
ded territory * tº tº º † . 337-345
INDEX.
DATES,
1067
to
1068.
1068.
I069.
1070.
PAGES.
Alarms and return of king William . . He
marches to the west. •Siege and taking of
Exeter... Partition of lands in the western pro-
vinces • Resistance of the monks of Winch-
comb. •Flight of the English chiefs into the -
north . . iſ tº Tº . . * 345–356
Conspiracy against the Normans. •King Ed-
gar flies to Scotland • - State of the Scottish
population. Liking of the kings of Scotland for .
men of Teutonic race * * tº . 356–364
Ring William marches to the north...Taking
of Oxford, Warwic, Leycester, Nottingham,
and Lincoln—called by the Normans Nicole . 364–367
Taking of York... Singular adventure of arch-
bishop Eldred.. His despair and death. Wea-
riness of the Normans • ‘Many of them return
to their families . tº º * ſº . 367–374
Insurrection in the western provinces • ‘Land-
ing of the sons of king Harold on the south-
west coast...Termination of the revolt in the
WCSt . º tº tº i † . . 374–378
State of the northern provinces. •March of
the Norman Robert Comine against the city of
Durham - -Defeat and death of Robert Comine
. . Alliance of the northern English with the
Danes. • Arrival of Danish succours in England
• -The English, in conjunction with the Danes,
besiege and take the city of York . 378–388
York retaken by the Normans. •Taking of
Durham. •Flight of the inhabitants. . Devasta-
tion of the country.. St. John of Beverley
frightens the Norman soldiers. •The conquest is
completed in the north . º * . 388–395
Famine. • Partition of houses and lands. .
French colony in Yorkshire • Distribution of
English women • ‘Second submission of the
English chiefs... Submission of king Edgar . 395–407
Defeat of Edric the Saxon. •Complaint of the
English inhabitants of Shrewsbury. -Conquer-H
ing monks and priests...Societies in gain and
IN DE X.
3DATES.
1070
to
1071.
PAGES,
loss, among the soldiers of the conquest. •Fra-
ternities in arms - * tº º . . . 407 —412
March of king William against the city of
Chester. •Taking of Chester. • First invasion of
Wales by the Normans • - Battle fought near
the marshes of Rhuddlan . . Settling of five
brothers from Normandy in the province of
Chester... Utility of the minutest historical de- i.
tails ; : tº tº º i. i ſº * 41 2–420.
PhINTED BY R. GILBERT, ST. Jolin's SQUARE, LONDON.
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