WW/A i. VITA HAROLDI. MOULD FOR A PILGRIM'S BADGE OF THE HOLY CROSS OF WALTHAM. Tkt illustration kindly lent by the British Archaeological Association. VITA HAROLD I. THE ROMANCE OF THE LIFE OF HAROLD, KING OF ENGLAND. From the Unique Manufcript in the Britijh Mufium. EDITED, WITH NOTES AND A TRANSLATION, BY WALTER DE GRAY BIRCH, F.S.A., A Senior Assistant lit the Department of Manuscripts in the British Museum , Honorary Secretary of the British ArcJueological Association; Member of (he Committee of the Paragraphical Society, etc. LONDON : ELLIOT STOCK, 62, PATERNOSTER ROW, E.G. 1885. INTRODUCTION, [HE romantic life of King HAROLD the laft monarch before England fell under a feries of dominations of foreign dynafties, which has lafted nearly nine hundred years has, for a confiderable time, formed an interefting theme with hiftorians and men of literature. It is printed in the follow- ing pages from a careful collation with the unique manufcript in the Harley Library of the Britifh Mufeum, No. 3776, with a tranflation for the firft time. For the convenience of reference, I mall divide the fubject of this introduction into the following fections : (i) Defcription of the Manufcript; (2) Hiftory of the Manufcript ; (3) Notices of the Hiftorical Points, and of the Tranflation. I. DESCRIPTION OF THE MANUSCRIPT.. The manufcript is of quarto fize, meafuring i of- inches by 8 inches, of fomewhat thick and vi Introduction. rough vellum. The writing, in pale-coloured ink, is contained in thirty-one lines to a page, in a Gothic or black-letter book hand, occafionally difficult to interpret, becaufe of the fimilar way of forming the m, ni, ui, in, etc. It is evidently written, or rather copied from the author's own writing, by a fcribe ignorant of Latin perhaps a novice of the great Abbey of Waltham for feveral words are found divided erroneoufly, and others occur where they are improperly joined together. The ink, originally black, is now of a faded brown colour. The ornamental initial letters at the beginning of paragraphs are of red or blue colour ; and the rubrics, or contents of chapters, are in red. The writing is of the latter end of the thirteenth century, or, at lateft, of the beginning of the fourteenth century. The volume, of which the " Vita Haroldi " forms the firft article, contains feveral other treatifes, written by the fame fcribe, which have been difturbed at fome time from their original order of production, and other works have been introduced, although they have no connection with Waltham. The Waltham treatifes are numbered by the fcribe in numerical order, fo that we can readily reconftruct the arrangement of the volume when it repofed upon the quiet fhelves of the fcriptorium of that great monaftery. The fubjoined table mows the contents of the work : Introduction. vii Numeration Numeration Folio of the of the Waltham Harley Library. Library. .1. (i) Vita Haroldi ... 1-24 .a. (2) Ifta quae fecuntur . . . deficiunt in Libro de Inventione Crucis noftre de Waltham, etc. ... 25-30 .5. Lift of reliques brought by Harold to Waltham Ab- bey, etc. (Lat.) ... 31-35^ .6. Miracles performed by the wood of the Holy Crofs at the altar of St. John the Evange- lift, etc. (Lat.) ... 35^-38 A- Verfes on Waltham Abbey ; Names of the Abbots, etc.; Vifions, etc. (Lat. and French) ... 38-42 .8. A tracl on the In- vention of the Holy Crofs of Waltham ... 43-62 *(3) A fhort chronicle of England from * Numbers 3 to 7 have been added to the volume ; they are not of the fame fize, and are of later date. There is no evidence connecting them with Waltham. viii Introduction. Numeration Numeration Folio of the of the Waltham Harley Library. Library. 1066 to 1128 (Lat.) 63-66 *(4) Life of St. Brandan (Lat.) 67-75^ *l(5) Henry of Saltrey's " Purgatory of St. Patrick "(Z-0'.)... 75^-82 *(6) Life of Tungal, Bifhop of Cafhel (Lat.) 82-89^ * (7) ThreeVifionsofHell, etc. (Lat.) ... 89^-92 .2. (8) Meditation of St. Bonaventura, Minifter - General of the Minorite Friars (Lat.) ... 94-114 .3. Philofophical treat- ifes on fobriety ; old age, etc. (Lat.) 1 14^-1 16/> (9) Verfes on " Quid eft Femina." This, although made a feparate article, in the Harley cata- logue, is part of the old numera- tion 3. It ends abruptly at the bottom of the page 116^-117 I Introduction. ix Numeration Numeration Folio of the of the Waltham Harley Library. Library, *(io) " Martilogium fanc- torum in Anglia." A later trad: on the burial-places of Englifh faints (Lat.) 118-128 *(n) A calendar of the Saints' days and feftivals, between two fly-leaves, from a fervice book (Lat.) 129-135 II. HISTORY OF THE MANUSCRIPT. Of the authorfhip of this early tale (whether true or legendary we may never know) nothing is known for certain. Internal evidences point to the probability that it was compofed about a hundred and fifty years after the battle of Haftings. Sir Thomas DufFus Hardy (whofe account of the Codex is given in his " Defcriptive Catalogue of Manufcripts relating to the Early Hiftory of Great Britain," vol. i., pp. 668-671) ftates that in his opinion "there is probably fome truth in this curious narrative, but its errors are great and numerous. It is, however, known from good evidence that there was a report in circulation at an early period that Harold had efcaped from the * Thefe two articles have never belonged to the Waltham MS. x Introduction. (laughter at Haftings ;" and he refers to Brompton, 1 Knyghton, 2 jElred of Rievaulx, 3 and Giraldus Cambrenfis, 4 thofe who are curious to know more on this fubject. It is unneceffary to purfue this afpect of the fubject on this occafion, for the object in view is not to theorize upon a matter which, after all that can be faid on both fides, muft yet remain unfolved. The endeavour of the prefent work is to prefent to the reader, in a convenient form, a text carefully collated from the only manufcript known to exift at the prefent time, with a tranflation appended to it (as literal as the remarkable ftyle and phrafeology, obfcure, and in many places abfolutely unintelligible, as it is, will allow it to be, but yet not flavifhly clofe fo as to be uninterefting to the general reader), for the ufe of thofe who cannot read it in the original Latin in which it is compofed. From what religious houfe the Manufcript pafled ultimately into the hands of the great collector of the Harley Library is not, indeed, difficult to conjecture. Here, again, Sir Thomas D. Hardy advances a feet which is highly probable. That learned palaeographer confiders that the compofition was written apparently with the object of proving that Harold was not buried at Waltham, the traditional place of his fepulture, which, indeed, made that great Houfe of Secular Canons rich and famous in the annals of Britifh Monaftiqifm. Now, as there 1 Chronicle, col. 961. 8 Col. 2342. 8 P. 394- 4 P. 874- Introduction. xi is little doubt that the work itfelf was compofed, and certainly as far as the prefent manufcript is concerned, no doubt at all that it was tranfcribed, in the Abbey of Waltham, it is difficult to con- ceive any means for accounting for the apparent anomaly of an eftablimment which owed its prof- perity, in a vital degree, to the pious fentiments which cluftered around the fanctified fepulchre of the unfortunate King, caufing a tranfcript, or per- haps more than one, to be made of a treatife founded upon a fact, and profefTmg to prove a fact, which, if generally accepted, would have utterly deftroyed the cultus of the departed monarch on which the flouriming condition of the Abbey both morally and financially depended. Hardy, confcious of this difficulty, fuggefts that the authormip of this work here defignated by him as " little elfe than an hiftorical romance " muft be attributed to " one of the fecular canons who had been expelled 'from that eftablimment, and with the intention of robbing it of the honour of holding the remains of its founder." But when we come to examine the theory thus advanced, it falls to the ground, for even if we admit the fug- geftion of authormip at the date to which he fays internal evidence points viz., one hundred and fifty years after the battle of Haftings, A.D. 1066 + i5O = A.D. 1216, as tolerably accurate, 1 can we poflibly admit that, after giving the manufcript a 1 The probability of this date is borne out in feveral paflages to which footnotes are given in the places where they occur. xii Introduction. place in the Jc riptorium or library of the Abbey for nearly two hundred years, during which time every inmate would have conftant accefs to a work which could not fail to aroufe his intereft and excite his critical comments, if not to make his faith in the orthodox ftory of his founder's fortunes, the authorities of that inftitution would permit a tranfcript fuch as this undoubtedly is, an unpolimed, almoft, we may fay, an unconnected copy to be made about the beginning of the four- teenth century? III. NOTICE OF THE HISTORICAL POINTS ; AND OF THE TRANSLATION. In this unique MS., which has been carefully collated for the prefs, there are few points to which the attention of the reader may conve- niently be directed here. The fimple e is ufed in all cafes for the < or ce of ftandard Latin ortho- graphy ; b is occafionally added to fuch words as abundo, where the afpirate is manifeftly an error, its addition, no doubt, marking the peculiar pro- nunciation of Latin by our infular fcholars at the time when this manufcript was prepared. Another interefting deviation from the claflical form, but one which is very reprefentative of the early mediaeval period, is the ufe of the forms reicio^ eicio, etc., for rejicio, ejicio, etc., where the j is eliminated from its proper place between two vowels. Set is ufed generally for Sed. The punctuation is peculiar: no rules appear Introduction. xiii to have guided the compofer, who puts a point (.), the equivalent of our comma (,), in many places where we mould certainly not ufe any ftop ; the colon (:) is alfo frequently placed dividing words from each other in paflages where the modern ideas of punctuation would not allow fuch a practice. The comma and the femicolon are un- known ; but the inverted femicolon (i) is occa- fionally ufed, much more fparingly than the point and the colon, in places where we mould expect to fee the femicolon or comma. The text in the following pages reprefents the actual reading of the MS. I have preferred to retain even manifeft errors in this text rather than attempt to explain them by any alteration. Moft of thefe] errors, after all, eafily explain themfelves. The footnotes are marked H., to mow that the readings are thofe of this Harley Manufcript. The collations are : (i.) With the text, printed by M. Francifque Michel in his Chroniques Anglo-Normandes ', recueil d'Extraits et d'Ecrits relatifs a rHiftoire de Normandie et d'Angleterre, 8vo., Rouen, 1835, Tome ii., pp. 143-222. The text of chapters viii. and xii. are omitted by M. Michel, whofe text is otherwife fairly accurate and faithful. Where the readings of this edition are quoted in my footnotes, they are diftinguifhed by the letter M. (ii.) With a very poorly edited copy of the above text in the Cbroniques, by Rev. Dr. Giles, of C. C. C. Oxford, in his Vita Quorundam xiv Introduction. Anglo-Saxonum, " Original Lives of Anglo-Saxons and others who lived before the Conqueft." This work, which was printed and publifhed for the Caxton Society by J. RufTell Smith, 1854, is now out of print. The remarkable peculiarities which the editor evinced in abfurdly endeavouring to reduce the orthography of the manuscript to what he fancied was a claflical ftandard, his carelelThefs in failing to confult the text of the MS. where the accuracy of the text of the Chroniques was doubtful, and the inaccuracies T with which his work abounds culminating in his ludicrous footnote concerning his inability to point to . the identification of a well-known locality in Shropfhire combine to render the text he gives in the Vita abfolutely ufeless for purpofes of critical examination or for quotation. I have collated a large number of thefe numerous departures from the true reading of the MS. in footnotes diftinguifhed by the letter G. The tranflation of this manuscript into Englifh is here, as has been faid before, for the firft time attempted. And here I have to thank my col- league, Mr. I. H. Jeayes, for considerable afliftance in the work. The peculiar ftyle and diction, in- volved and obfcure as it is almoit throughout the work (except in a few narrative pafTages where the author condefcends to write in a lucid and fuccincT: manner), occasionally takes fuch 1 The firft word of his title, Vita for Vit<e, fhows the fame carcleflhefs which runs through the whole of the work. Introduction. xv wandering flights of fancy that, even if we accept the readings of the fcribe who made this Harley MS. as always correct a fact which is by no means fure, for no fecond copy is extant with which to compare them it is almoft impoflible to divine what the author wifhed to intimate to his hearers and readers, veiled and hidden in fentences of great length, crowded with " fefquipedalian words," and overflowing with that peculiar charac- teriftic of antithesis which the Anglo-Saxon and early Englifh literary man fo ftrongly affected. W. DE GRAY BIRCH. December, 1884. VITA HAROLDI REGIS. Incipit Prologus in vita vtri venerabilis Haroldi quondam Anglorum regis. [ICUT federis tabernaculi fub Moyfe . MS Hari. . . 377 ' * ut templi fub Salomone Dominici . divine commendant littere conftruc- tores : ita et eos profecuntur laudi- qui devocione prona offerre aut preparare conftruccioni neceflaria : fideliter ftuduerunt. Apud Neemiam 1 qui deriferunt edificantes inprecacione terribili percelluntur. Reedificatores lerufalem . titulis ab Hefdra perpetuis afcripti : nominis et operis fui perhennem pofteris memoriam confecra- runt. Hujufmodi confideracio ad ferendum quale- cunque fuffragium operi fandlo in quo defudatis patres reverendi tenuem licet cenfu et viribus im- becillem parvitatem meam : vehementer vere fateor incitavit. Accedit ftimulo huic calcarium infuper vice jam ultro currenti . nine fraterna cum arnica fuafione poftulacio . inde cum paterna juflione follicita commonicio. Sencio quidem laboris plenum . fet mercede fpero refertum . et quod vefter 1 Nehem. vi. 4 Vita Haroldi Regis. nutus injungit . et quod nofter animus geftit. Expetendus autem fummoque nifu cenfetur am- plectendus modici fudor temporis . quo non exigui et labentis evi celebritas: immo laudis et glorie eo manfure quo eterne decus et fplendor optinetur. Ceterum quovis pro labore aut opere . laudis tranfi- torie expetifle mercedem : operam perdidifie eft et impenfam. Non folum autem fed nee nullatenus expetite ultro tamen ingefte adquievifle favoris illecebre interni teftis et eterni judicis feipfum retribucione et laude privafle eft. Extat enim de ejufmodi : ejufdem diffinicio hunc habens modum : Amen 1 dico vobis : receperunt mercedem fuam. Jubet igitur ac petit auctoritas paterna . et fraterna caritas veftra quatinus opus egregium quod ceptum excellenter decenterque provectum . laudabilem 2 inftanter urgetis ad terminum . fump- tibus invigilem hinc inde aflumptis promovere . ne forte piis defint o[peri]bus copie neceflarie ad hoc perficiendum. Ex variis nempe patrum fcriptis volumen infigne in modulum unius libri com- pactum . ad laudem et de laude gloriofe ac deifice crucis operiofius elaboratum geftis memorabilibus 3 r ib. fundatoris veftri 4 . cujus memoria in benedictione eft . cupitis infigniri . talique ut ita dicatur celeumate laborem votivum confummari. Lauda- bile procul dubio quia devotum . quia providum hac in parte: fanctitatis veftre defiderium. Eft quidem devocionis nee indebite quod tanti viri magnalia nafciture preoptatis pofteritati litterarum 1 Matt. vi. 2, 5. 2 H. ; laudabile, G.M. 8 H.M. ; memorabilibus, G. 4 H.M. ; noftri, G. Vita Haroldi Regis. 5 indiciis fideliter aflignare. Eo quippe juris tenore peculiarem patronum et perpetuum nutritorem veftrum debitis tenemini virtutum fuarum pre- coniis illuftrare . quo crimini poterat ingratitudinis non oblique aflcribi : (\ promeritos 1 laudum ipfius titulos . editui fui et alumpni defidiofo filencio pofteris furarentur. Providencie nichilominus com- petentis eft quod laudibus fancte crucis ipfius cultoris devotiflimi laudes decernitis fubrogandas. Crucis fancte ex toto nimirum accedit glorie quic- quid in fervi fui meritis et virtutibus: enituit commendabile. Inter hec quam mee pariter incumbat modicitati animo magno et volenti quicquid vires fuggefferint immo quicquid gratia celeftis indulferit ad im- pendia tarn boni operis haut 2 fegniter corrogare quis nefciat ? Veftrum fiquidem immo Haroldi veftri quinimmo fancte utrorumque crucis jamdiu panem comedens ociofus . quo veftros erga me fereniores vultus afpicio : eo in me feveriorem illorum fenfuram 3 pertimefcere jure debeo . fi tantis quod abfit beneficiis non dixerim ingratum fet 4 inofficiofum . tarn gratis quam graciofe exhibitum : contingat inveniri. Geram igitur morem veftris pro pofTe defideriis geram quam potero vicem beneficiis : ea tamen racione quatinus et vos v.eftra michi pacta fervetis. Tenorem fcilicet fcribendorum diligentius examinetis . examinata tantummodo approbetis : aut emendetis. Sermonis quoque 1 Pro meritos, MS., with mark by a late hand to join the words. 2 H.M. ; haud, G. 8 Sic MS. ; cenfuram, G. 4 Sed, G. 6 Vita Haroldi Regis. reicientes 1 minus elimati rufticitatem . fententiam fi videbitur refervetis 2 eleganciori ut dignum eft ftilo explicandam. Nee enim defunt largiente Domino cetui fanditatis veftre Befeleelis 3 . Ooliab 4 . feu Hyram 5 peritiflimi fuccefTores . qui oblatam in donaria Domini a fupplici vulgo rudem materiam . locis et ufibus congruentibus noverint adaptare. Noverint quoque arte magiftra prout res exigit fingula queque fubtilius expolire . refecare fuperflua informia componere: deformia f. 2. exornare. Mee vero tantifper intererit impericie . aptiorem fabrice materiam a montibus excifam . et ratibus impofitam . ad planiora deducere. Quod egifle putabor fi a prifcorum libris . fi a fedulis 6 modernorum . fi a quorumdam fidelium rela- cionibus veris . paflim collegia: hujus libelli apicibus 1 Rejicientes, G. 2 Referventes, G. 3 Befeleel I. anno mundi 2544 . ante Jefum Chriftum 1510 . films Uri et Marie fororis Moyfis . de tribu Juda. Hunc ipfum elegit Dominus cum Ooliab . de tribu Dan . quos imple- vit fpiritu Dei . fapientia et intelligentia . et fcientia in omni opere ad excogitandum quidquid fabrefieri poterat ex auro et argento . et ere . marmore et gemmis . et diverfitate lignorum . ad edificandum tabernaculum fcederis . arcam teftimonii . pro- pitiatorium . et cunfta vafa tabernaculi. (F. P. Dutripon, ' Concordantiae,' Paris, 1844, p. 157.) Befeleel's name occurs in Exod. xxxi. 2 ; xxxv. 30 ; xxxvi. I ; xxxvii. I ; xxxviii. 22 ; I Par. ii. 20 ; 2 Par. i. 5. 4 Ooliab . filius Achifamech a tribu Dan. Artifex a Deo vocatus . fpirituque Sapientie et intelligence impletus ad edi- ficationem tabernaculi una cum Befeleel. (Dutripon, ut fupra, p. 983.) Ooliab occurs in Exod. xxxi. 6 ; xxxv. 34 ; xxxvi. I ; xxxviii. 23. 8 Hiram . artifex erarius plenus fapientia, etc. (Dutripon, ut fupra, p. 607.) Hiram occurs by name in 3 Reg. vii. 13 ; xl. 45 ; 2 Par. ii. 13 ; iv. 1 1, 16. H.M.; fchedulis, G. Vita Haroldi Regis. j que injungitis tradidero: fimplicium noticie pro- futura. Oracionum autem veftrarum aura lenis et placida fragilem eloquii noftri cimbam crucis vexillo pro velo . et jufti fui precibus pro am- pluftribus 1 inftrudam: in portum fecundi litoris perducat. Amen. 1 Ampliis tribus. M. ; apluftribus, G. EXPLICIT PROLOGUS. INCIPIUNT CAPITULA. PRIMUM. Quod fpeculum ferenitatis et clemende eluceat in geftis regis Haroldi. Quod frater regine fuit . quam fanctus duxit Edwardus. Qualiter pater ejus Godwinus dolum eludens Cnutonis regis . fororem ipfius accepit in uxorem . et quod de viciis nutritorum fuorum Haroldus infigniter triumphaverit. II. Quod Wallia per Haroldum pene deleta fit : et qualiter ipfe per virtutem Sancte Crucis de Waltham de paralifi 1 convaluerit. III. Quomodo ecclefiam Sancte Crucis apud Waltham conftruxerit . ditaverit . ornaverit . atque ordinaverit Haroldus . et quod Henricus Anglorum rex amotis fecularibus ipfum locum canonicis in- fignivit regularibus. IV. Quod divinitus difpofitum fuit ut homo ifte in regem erigeretur . et victis hoftibus ab eo : ab aliis ipfe victus a regno deiceretur . et de anacho- rita valde religiofo qui minifter ipfius jam folitarii fuerat. V. Quod inter vulneratores feminecem inven- tum et Wintoniam perduclum . mulier quedam 1 H.M. ; paralyfi, G. Vita Haroldi Regis. 9 Saracena biennio ibidem delitefcentem fanaverit Haroldum . et quod pro contrahendis contra Normannos auxiliis . Saxones Dacofque expetierit nilque profecerit. VI. Quod in fe tandem idem reverfus intellex- erit Deum fibi in via mundi adverfari . unde Chrifti fe conformans cruci ut hoftem antiquum melius triumpharet gaudet fe ab hominibus fuifle fuperatum. VII. Quod pro expeciendis 1 fanctorum fuffragiis longam inierit peregrinacionem : et quod ante- quam regnum habuiflet . fanctorum limina apofto- lorum adierit. VIII. Ammiracio 2 fcriptoris cum exclamacione brevi fuper benignitate Dei qua fit ut etiam pec- cata eleciorum : ipfis cooperentur in bonum. No NUM. Quod de peccato Haroldi multa di- f>2bt cuntur a multis : et de quercu fecus Rothomagum fub qua juraverat . que corticem exuta manet ufque in prefens. X. Satiffaccio quorundam pro Haroldo . qua eum de perjurio excufantes . Domino favente et fandlo connivente Edwardo ipfum regnafle affir- mant . et de vifione Abbatis Elfini . qua victorem Norwagicorum ipfum fore prenunciavit fanclus Edwardus. UNDECIMUM. De cruce fancta admirabilis quo- rum 3 relacio que regi Haroldo feftinanti ad pre- lium caput perhibetur inclinafTe et alia quedam fatis de ipfa cruce ftupenda miracula certiflime approbata. XII. Diverforum diverfa interpretacio fuper predictis fignis crucis fe inclinantis et quercus are- facte . et quod Haroldus fe ipfum bene judicando 1 H.M. ; expetendis, G. 2 H.M.'; Admiratio, G. 3 H.M. ; quorundam, G. io Vita Haroldi Regis. judicium prevenerit divinum et non formidet humanum. XIII. Quod multis in peregre 1 annis exaclis 2 ad Angliam ob exercitandam pacienciam et benig- nitatem Haroldus rediens Chriftianum fe vocitari fecerit . decenniumque in rupe quadam expleverit folitarie vivens . et in hujus temporis antichriftos compendiofa inveccio. XIIII. Quod in confinio Wallencium 3 poft- modum Haroldus pluribus in locis tempore multo degens . pacienter eorum frequencius tulerit af- fultus . faciem velans panno . et nomen nomine alio . ne aliquatenus cognofceretur quod tandem ad ejus veneracionem converfa eft immanitas per- fecutorum. 4 XV. Quod vir Domini Haroldus fugit obfe- quentes quos adierat et diu fuftinuerat perfe- quentes . et quod voce de celo lapfa defignatus fit ei locus paufacionis fue . et quod femiplenis ver- borum indiciis . fcifcitantibus innuerit fe fuiffe Haroldum et quod fcripto fucceflbris fui plenius oftendetur inferius hujus rei certitudo. XVI. Monetur lector ne fpernat Jeccionem quam fentit a non nullorum 5 opinionibus difcre- pare . et de triplici occafione contraria exiftiman- cium fuper materia prefenti . et de Willelmi Melduneliis 6 circa Haroldi fata errore triformi. XVII. Quid accident Waltammenfibus 7 circa 1 Inperegre, M.G. 2 H.M. ; extraftis, G. H.M. ; Wallenfium, G. 4 H.M. ; perfequutorum, G. 5 H. ; nonnullorum, M.G. H.M. ; Melduncnfis, rightly, G. 7 H.M. ; Walthammcnfibus, G. The fcribe of the Harley MS. has written this word thus, "Walta menfibus," clearly proving that he did not undcrftand what he was writing. Vita Haroldi Regis. 1 1 patroni fui fepulturam pie follicitis fed mulieris cujufdam errore delufis. XVIII. Quid frater Haroldi Gurta nomine f. 3. Abbati Waltero vel aliis refponderit fuper fratris fui requifitus cineribus vel fepultura. XIX. Quod viri Dei fuccefibr de geftis Haroldi beatiflimi vera fcribens . caufas geftorum minus congrue . bis aflignaverit . et prime aflignacionis difcuflio . et competens prolatis fentenciarum divi- ciarum 1 . teftimoniis ejufdem improbacio. XX. Secunde aflignacionis infirmacio et fcrip- toris ad ledorem deprecacio et de difficultate materiam refarciendi a prifcis fcriptoribus varie laceratam. 1 Diverfarum, M.G. EXPLICIUNT CAPITULA. Quod fpeculum Jerenitatis et clemencie Dei elu- ceat in geftis regis Haro\T\di. 1 Quod f rater regine fuit quam Janftus duxit Edwardus. Qjialiter pater ejus Godwinus dolum eludens Cnutonis regis Jororem ipfius accepit in uxorem . et quod de viciis nutritorum Juorum Haroldus infigniter trium- ph aver it. INCIPIT VITA SERVI DEI HARO[L]DP. QUONDAM REGIS . ANGLORUM. CAPITULUM I. |LLUSTRISSIMI vere quia regis legi- timi Haroldi jam rite ac legitime coronati gefta recenfere . nichil 2 aliud eft quam divine ferenitatis fimul et clemencie quafi fpeculum quoddam lucidiflimum piis mentibus exhibere. Quod ut clareat mani- feftius: ipfius immundana 3 feu in Chrifti milicia primordium progreflum et terminum dilucide curabimus fummatimque legentibus intimare. Vere 1 G. ; Harodi, H. Haro[l]di, M. 2 H.M.; Nihil, G. ; and fo in all cafes throughout the text. 8 In mundana, M.G. Vita Haroldi Regis. i 3 autem regem iJluftriflimum legittimeque 1 hunc dixerimus coronatum . qui fe ipfum bene regendo illique devotiflime cui fervire regnare eft obfe- quendo: coronam adeptus eft primum jufticie et poftmodum glorie fempiterne. Hunc God- winus 2 comes potentiffimus . ex forore Cnutonis Anglorum pariter et Dacorum regis habuit filium fratrem vero regine venerabilis quam rex et con- feflbr fanctiffimus duxerat Edwardus. Cujus felici matrimonio quamquam citra opus juncta fuerit maritale utrifque nimirum permanentibus in per- petue virginitatis flore : promocionis tamen multi- mode caufa fuit paterne familie. Conftat vero X 1 H.M. ; legitimeque, G. 2 It will be ufeful to introduce here a table fhowing the pedigree of Harold, Edward the ConfefTor, and William the Conqueror, and their relationfhip with each other. Richard L, 'Sans-Peur,' Duke of Normandy, d. 996. Richard II., 'Le (2.) in ioi7,=Emma,=f={i,)in ioi2,Ethel- Godwin, Bon,' D. of Nor- Canute, K. of d.io54. mandy, d. 1027. England and Denmark. red II., K. of Earl of England, d. Kent, d. 1016. 1053. Kicnara i\.ooeri i., ^.ureu, III., D. 'LeDiable,' d.iO36. J1.1JWAKU,- 'The Con- /UUU, nAMUVU 11., - in 1044. E. of Kent, of Nor- D. of Nor- feffor,' K. K. of Eng- mandy, mandy, d. of Eng- land 1066, d. d. 1028, 1035. land, a. 1066. , 1066. gyth. WILLIAM, 'The Gurth. God- Ed- Mag- Ulf. Har- Gy-=Wladimir, Conqueror,' win. mund. nus. old. tha. fon of Ja- bom 1027, D. roflav, of Normandy Grand- 1035, K. of Duke of England 1066, Ruffia, d. 1087. d. 1051. 14 Vita Haroldi Regis. ipfius genitorem vel ceterorum quofdam de illius genere . turn 1 prodicionis turn 1 et aliorum nota faci- norum infamatos 2 graviter fuifle. Hiis 3 vero mails . neceflitate cavendi imminentis exicii : Godwinus fe primo immifcuit deinde ulte- rius evagatur. Tuende fiquidem falutis obtentu dolum temptare 4 compulfus . dum femel cedit ad f. 3 b - votum : fraudibus in pofterum minuende felicitatis intuitu licencius nitebatur. Dum enim prefatus rex Dacie diadema Anglic ufurpaflet : cerneretque Godwinum incredibili aftucia nee minori audacia preditum fenfim ad fublimia confcendere timere cepit homo advena . indigene adolefcentis viribus fimul armatam et aftu animofltatem. Cujus licet fibi perneceflariam in multis expertam habuiflet induftriam : quiddam tamen de fpiritu Saulis mente concipiens ereptorem fuum propugnatoremque ftrenuiflimum dolo perdere cogitavit . quern palam opprimere nifi per invidiofam maliciam facile non fuit. Excogitato igitur confilio Godwinum quafi pro arduis regni utriufque negociis mittit in Daciam . tale quid fecum mente pertractans . Non fit fuper eum manus mea ; fed fit fuper eum manus Dacorum . cum 5 igitur jam medium equor navi opulentiflimo inftrucla apparatu fecaret ; cepit fuf- picio juvenis animum vehemencius titillare . fere- bat namque fignatas regis anulo Jitteras . fingulis fcilicet illius terre optimatibus fingulas . quarum 1 H.G. ; tantum . . . tantum, M. 2 M.G.; the letters ama in this^ord written in modern ink, H. 8 H.M. ; His, G. 4 H.M.; tentare, G. 6 H.M. ; Quum, G ; and fo throughout the text when ufed as a conjunction. Vita Haroldi Regis. 15 omnium prorfus nefciebat fentencias. Unius igitur figillorum cautus effractor ex brevi inclufo fe in brevi agnofcit capitali dandum fupplicio ; fi por- titoris cum ventum fuerit ad portum plenius fungatur officio. Tenor enim fcripture hie erat . ut quicumque illius feriem primitus advertifTet . bajulum ejus Godwinum nomine capite incon- tinent! 1 mutilaret. Expalluit novus Urias comperto quod fibi a rege parabatur . exicio paratque ut paucis utamur dolum extimplo 2 eludere dolo . fecit fie : extractaf- que a ceris fuis fingulas confregit cartulas 3 . calli- daque clerici cujufdam manu reponit recentes . quarum fumma fuit ut Godwinum fummo univer- forum tripudio exceptum . regie fororis nupciis darent . nee aliter ei quam fibi ft adeflet in hiis 4 que regia exigebant negocia incunctanter cuncti parerent. Sic regis bono regia mutatur fentencia . fie miles milicie mutat ftipendia . fie indebita cedit pena et debita bene merito accedit gloria. Sic denique in fratrem recipit quern utilem repperit rex militem . quern eciam paulo poft fecit confulem habuitque pervigilem in reliquum proviforem. Quo tamen eventu Godwinus in Dacorum plus f - * quam fatis favorem efrufus . gentis fue quampluri- bus fiebat infeftus. 5 Non nullos quoque de femine regio quorum unus frater Sancti Edwardi fuit Nota de EH- , | j'jv r J wardo et God- dolo perdidit licque non modo in concives . immo wino Pas et in dominos naturales non pauca deliquit. Verum tempor 1 H.M.G.; for incontinenter. 2 H.M. ; extemplo, G. 3 H.M. ; chartulas, G. 4 H. ; iis, M.G. 5 In feftus, H. 1 6 Vita Haroldi Regis. de hiis 1 alias qui voluerit plura inquirat. Quo 2 enim ad fufceptam attinet materiam . fatis eft iccirco nos vel compendiofe ifta prelibaffe ne inconfulte videremur ilia preterifie: que minus intelligentes ad fervi Dei Haroldi contumeliam novimus inter- file . cum fanum fapientes hec quam maxime ad ipfius gloriam videant pertinere. Qui enim gratia comitante divina vicium vicit quod ut ifti volunt natura inflixit quod convictus inftituit : eo utique favorabilius triumphavit . quo et hoc ipfum quod natus . quod educatus eft : fuperando mutavit. Nam etfi vicio ipfe quoque ut afieritur evo adhuc rudis ceflifie vifus eft . a natura fimul et nutritura . violenciam paflus eftimandus eft. Patet igitur quia operante eo qui de eadem mafia vas aliud facit in honorem . aliud in contumeliam . id quoque in virtutis Harpldo verfum eft meritum et Jaudis preconium quod ei ad vituperium ab indodis fuerat objectum. Sic rutilos producit . fie niveos 3 quafi nutrit rofarum liliorumque: fpina flores . quorum prerogative non adimit immo adicit 4 qua- Jitas abjectior ex conforcio cumulum venuftatis. 1 H.M. ; his, G. 2 H.M. ; Quod, G. 3 H. ; niveas, M.G. 4 H.M. ; adjicit, G. Qjuod Wallia 'per Haroldum pene deleta fit ; et qualiter ipfe -per virtutem Sanfte Crucis de Wal- tbam de paraliji 1 convaluerit ij [IRIBUS autem corporis quantum pre- ftiterit quam acer et ftrenuus animis armifque innotuerit: fubacta immo ad internicionem 2 per Haroldum pene deleta : Wallia eft experta. In hiis 3 quidem triumphis . vivente adhuc fancto rege Edwardo : infignis enituit . Hiis regi et regno pacem et quie- tem quam fortiter tarn et utiliter adquifivit. In- terea dum inter coevos probitate et potencia major . fummis eciam in regno proceribus prelacior efle videretur : manus omnipotentis que percutit et medetur carnem iftius gravi percuilione tetigit . ut fie prefentibus necnon 4 et futuris anime ipfius vulneribus medelam procuraret. Paralifin 5 vocant medici genus morbi quo corpus hominis attactum Nota de M- debita dedifcit officia . obfequia homini derogat j??J Mcdico< confueta. Reddit enim fubito partem quam in- vaferit . aut corporis totum : ftupidum torpens 1 H.M. ; paralyfi, G. a H.M. ; internecionem, G. 8 H.M. ; his, G.; and fo always throughout this text. 4 H. ; nee non, M.G. 5 H.M. ; Paralyfm, G. 1 8 Vita Haroldi Regis. et quafi emortuum. Haroldus hac repente tadhis ac proftractus 1 moleftia ; cum ceteris eflet merori turn 2 prefertim regi: fit precipui caufa doloris. Hunc enim velut quodam prefagio futurorum pre ceteris carum habuit et dilectum ; cum ftirpis illius quofdam fufpectos habuifTe dicatur aliqua- tenus et invifos. Quod fibi penes regem fanctifli- mum dileccionis et gracie privilegium non affini- tatis quamlibet grata propinquitas non probitatis non induftrie fingularis quibus erat preditus emi- nentia ; immo fola celeftis infpiracio conciliate eftimatur. Probabile enim fatis eft ad gloriam in hac parte Haroldi quia vir Deo plenus . divinique in multis confilii non ignarus eo indulgencius 3 ipfum amaverit quo perpetuum in celis pocius coheredem quam in terris fibi futurum previdebat momen- taneum fucceflbrem. Directi igitur regis a latere medici, necnon et alii atque alii prece precioque hinc inde allecti . egrotum ambiunt, quod ars feu conjectura fuggerit exierunt 4 . fed Omnipotentis manum vires hominum ammovere 5 non poflunt. Pervenit fama triftior ad aures Alemannorum im- peratoris . qui regi Anglorum affinitate proxi- mus . dileccione et amicicia erat conjunctiflimus. Huic medicus quidam nomine Ailardus fami- liaris erat . quern et artis fue duplex exercicium pericia et experiencia multa reddebat probatiffi- mum . et quod pluris eft favor divinus in pro- curanda fofpitate languencium : exhibuit graciofum. 1 H.M. ; proftratus, G. 2 H. ; tantun, M. ; tantum, G. 3 H.M. ; diligentius, G. 4 H.M. ; excierunt, G. 5 H.M. ; amovere, G. Vita Haroldi Regis. 19 Hunc igitur imperator adhibendam 1 ftrenuiflimo juveni medelam: regi amantiflimo celeriter defti- navit. Qui ad egrum deductus egritudinis mate- riam fagaciter rimatus curam adhibuit quam potuit . fet 2 in ventum omnis cedit opera: ubi hominis artificio celeftis opifex molitur adverfa. Ea tempeftate lapidea crucifix! regis noftri ymago 3 non multis ante celitus revelata et reperta tempori- bus . et ad Waltham 4 nutu perlata divino: miris in loco virtutum chorufcabat 5 fignis. Perpendens itaque phificus 6 nature auctorem naturalibus artis fue viribus contraire . omnemque inferioris nature racionem . naturantis 7 nature prejudicio funditus hebetari ; intellexit protinus hominem verbere conftringi virtutis illius de cujus manu non eft qui poflit eruere. Qui mox ut virum decuit fidelem f. 5 . et prudentem . cui manu nequivit : ore non diftulit remedium procurare. Nil enim moris habens falla- cium mencienciumque medicorum opem voluit a fe feparari . quam fenfit jam : per fe non pofle conferri. Nee fuum tamen egrotum reliquid 8 defperatum, fet a fpe vana in folidam hunc fpem transferens . in eo fperare qui falus eft . fperancium in fe fideliter fuadebat. A quo ut ocius optate falutis gaudia percipere mereretur: crucis falutifere ob- 1 H.M. ; ad adhibendam, G. 2 H.M. ; fed, G.; and fo always throughout. 3 H.M. ; imago, G. 4 There are feveral interefting trafts relating to the crofs at Waltham in the fame Harley MS. from which this text is de- rived. For a mould, from which leaden badges of the Holy Crofs were caft, fee Journal of the Britijb Arcbteological Affi- liation, vol. xxix. 421; cf. xxx. 52. 5 H.M. ; corufcabat, G. 6 H.M. phyficus, G. 7 H.M.; naturantis, omitted, G. 8 H.M. ; reliquit, G. 2o Vita Haroldi Regis. fequiis hunc infiftere . votumque illi vovere . prout fibi didtaret interna devocio : falubriter adhortatur. Languidus vero falutis confilium fano percepit animo . mittitque concito ad locum ubi crux vir- tuofa Celebris radiabat: exennia 1 ingencia. Sup- plicat obnixius loci cuftodibus falutaris nimirum figni peculiarius cultui mancipatis . quatinus et criminum veniam et dolorum levamen utriufque videlicet hominis fofpitatem fedulis fibi dignentur precibus optinere. 2 Nee defuit in longum cle- mencia falvatoris falutem a fe fide non fidla poftu- lanti. Mox etenim dolor cum languore decrevit a corpore amor vero cum devocione circa fancte crucis obfequium jam convalefcenti mirabiliter crefcebat in mente. In brevi fiquidem pleniflime redditus fofpitati . quantum medicine qua 3 con- valuerat extiterit devotus: magnificus 4 compro- bavit operum documentis. Veniens enim ad fanctam crucem Waltamenfem 5 falutaria curacionis fue vota perfolvit donaria obtulit preciofa . miniftris plurima largitus eft . fe ipfum gloriofe crucis tutele commendans . hancque fublimius honorare difponens : letus tandem 6 a loco . non corde rece- dens fed corpore : domino Regi et forori regine fe incolumen 7 prefentavit. Congratulatur fratri re- gina . rex militi congaudet : univerfa fimul curia exultacione feftiva letatur. Nee quia convaluit . fet quia celitus receperat fanitatem : omnes quidem 1 H.M. ; exenia, G. 2 H.M.; obtinere, G. 8 H.; quam, M.; [per] quam, G. 4 H.M. ; magnificis, G. 5 H.M. ; Walthamienfem, G. 6 H. ; tamen, M.G. 7 H. ; incolumem, M.G. Vita Haroldi Regis. 21 in commune . plaudebant fet rex ut erat fandtif- fimus impenfius gratulatur. Geminata fiquidem letitia pre ceteris triumphabat . qui et Chrifti de- lectabatur virtutibus tam pia exhibentis et devo- cionis 1 fideique profedtibus pafcebatur in illis : quos talium exhibicio in amore folidabat ejufdem piiiTmii Redemptoris. 1 H. ; dovocionis, M. ; devotionis, G. f 5b Quomodo ecclefiam Sanfte Cruets apud Waltham conftruxerit . ditaverit . ornaverit . atque ordina- vertt Haroldus et . quod Henricus Anglorum rex amotis fecularibus locum ipjius Canonicis in- Jignivit regularibus. . . . . iij. | AM vero hunc in quo vel per quern virtus experta . et oftenfa virtutis prebuit tam multis incentivum nil aliud cogitare nil loqui perpenderes: nifi qualiter divinis poflet beneficiis excellencius congruenciufque refpondere qualiter honore con- digno falutis adepte gaudia . fancte quiviflet cruci compenfare. Quo impenfius autem ejus intendebat cultui et infiftebat decori . eo fublimius gracia ilium celeftis virtutum et devocionis ditabat incrementis. Qua vir nobilis commercii fpecie magnopere de- Je&atus . contendebat inftancius de perceptis muneribus gracias exhibendo beneficia mereri pociora. Intuetur preterea quia et viro illi ad gracias non exiles teneretur . per quern fuperna pietas tot fibi exordia referafTet commodorum: de- cernitque condigno hunc fidei fue et devocionis premio munerandum. Cuftodie fiquidem oratorii Vita Haroldi Regis. 23 crucis adorande duo tantum clerici tarn brevibus ftipendiis quam tectis content! humilibus vide- bantur infervire. At vir magnificus locum et loci cultum omnimodis cupiens cum fuis cultoribus fublimare novam ibi bafilicam fabricare . mini- trorum augere numerum redditufque 1 eorum proponit ampliare. Utque celebriorem fama illuftriorem clericorum frequencia . celeftibus nobi- litatum muneribus locum terrigenis exhiberet: fcolas 2 ibidem inftitui fub regimine magiftri Ailardi fue ut prelibatum eft falutis miniftri : difpoficione fatagebat prudenti. Nee paulo fegnius quod mente conceperat rerum pergebat effectibus parturire. Jaciuntur feftinato ecclefie amplioris fundamenta . furgunt parietes . columpne 3 fublimes . diftantes ab invicem parietes . arcuum aut teftu- dinum emicidiis mutuo federantur. Culmen im- pofitum aeris ab introgreflis plumbei objective laminis: variam fecludit intemperiem. Binarius clericorum numerus fcilicet infamis: in mifticum 4 fenatus apoftolici duodenarium convalefcet. 5 Pul- cherrima nimirum racione ut totidem in ejus templo fancte crucis laudibus perhenniter 6 in- fervirent perfone quot illius gloriam mundo princi- f. 6. paliter ab inicio homines nunciaflent. Hiis vero predia et poflefliones unde fibi ad omnem fufficien- ciam neceflaria provenirent liberali munificencia con- tulit regia quoque auctoritate confirmari optinuit. 7 1 H.M. ; reditufque, G. 2 H.M. ; fcholas, G. 3 H.M. ; columnae, G. 4 H.M. ; myfticum, G. 6 M. ; convalefcit, G. ; -cet altered to -cit, H. 6 H.M. ; perenniter, G. 7 H.M. ; obtinuit, G. 24 Vita Haroldl Regis. Jam fi temptemus 1 ftilo 2 evolvere quot donariis 3 quam preciofis et multiplicibus vafis et ornamentis vario inftructam decore illam edem Dominicam nobilitaverit . fidem fcribendis forfan derogabit tantarum rerum multitude. Verum ne fimditus vel in hac parte magnificencie illius memoria deleatur ad quod tamen livor vehemencius afpirafle cognofcitur : opere precium eft pro zeli fervore obniti . et cum fpecies 4 ipfe rerum fublate funt quafdam velut umbras ipfarum confiderare volen- tibus intimare. Indicium proinde rerum illarum que a primo Normannici generis Anglorum rege Willelmo in Haroldi ut traditur invidiam fancte fue crucis ecclefie violenter ablate . et in Neuftriam tranflate funt : prefenti duximus pagine inferendum. NOTA. Tranftulit enim ut legitur idem rex de Waltham Sum ma . vj . miiibus et . vj . m Normanniam feptem fcrinia . ubi tria fuerunt centis et . Ixvj . Hbris. Scilicet aurea et quatuor argentea deaurata : cum gemmis in cappis aureis A f et argemeis . in preciofis plena reliquiarum . Quatuor textus: auro crucibus textis . r r K. s-\ -11 etcasuiamque argento . gemmifque 5 ornatos . Quatuor tunbula magna : aurea atque argentea . Sex candelabra : quorum duo aurea cetera argentea . Tres urceos magnos ex Greco opere : argenteos atque deauratos. Quatuor cruces auro atque argento et gemmis : fabricatas . Unam crucem ex quinquaginta marcis argenti fufilem . Quinque veftimenta facerdotalia preciofiflima : auro gemmifque ornata . Quinque cafulas auro gemmifque ornatas: in una quarum 1 H.M. ; tentemus, G. 2 H.M. ; ftylo, G. ; and fo always in the cafes of this word. 3 See this MS. fol. 31, where a confiderable lift is given. crucibus textis . et casulam < vocata est : Domin ad me. 4 H.M. ; fpeices, G. 6 H.G. ; an erafure in H., gcmmi z Vita Haroldi Regis. 25 erant duodecim marce auri . Duas capas: auro gemmifque ornatas . Quinque calices : duos aureos ceteros argenteos . Quatuor altaria cum reliquiis : quorum unum aureum cetera argentea deaurata. Unum cornu vinacium argenteum . centum folidis computatum . Decem philacteria . unum quorum de duabus marcis auri : et gemmis preciofis . cetera: auro argentoque parata . Duas fambucas fellas femineas : ex multo auro fabricatas . Duas campanas : preciofas . Hec et alia permulta que f - 6 b - longum eflet referre . queque Normannorum ambicio incomparabilia eftimaret . devote per Haroldum fancte cruci oblata et per Willelmum invidiofe nofcuntur ablata. Hujus tamen abla- cionis invidiam perfunctoria quadam vifus eft idem Willelmus compenfacione palliafTe ficut infcriptum ilia plenius refertur qua de invencione fancte fepius memorate crucis edita . ordinem quoque quo ad Waltham perlata eft ipfa crux : luculenter infinuat. Ubi eciam que et quanta loco fancto five in prediis et variis redditibus 1 five in rebus multiplicibus ad minifterium vel ornatum ecclefie pertinentibus . mirabili devocionis ardore contulerit vir pius : plenius reperitur expreflum. Nam quia ftilus ad ea properat explicanda que cultor crucis geflit ac pertulit poftquam fe ipfum in holocauftum Domino fuaviflimum optulit 2 tollens jam quotidie crucem fuam et Chriftum fequens . pauca de hiis 3 perftri- gendo referimus que de rebus fuis velut facrificium 1 H.M. ; reditibus, G. ; and fo always in the cafes of this word. 2 H.M. ; obtulit, G. ; and fo always in the various forms of this verb. 3 H.M. j iis, G. 26 Vita Haroldi Regis. jufticie: Cruci confecrata donavit. Quorum tarn multis in rebus mobilibus illi fublatis quecumque in terris . et villis 1 five ecclefiis aliifque redditibus loco affignavit hactenus fine diminucione magna non attamen fine nulla ut dicitur poflidere vide- tur. Statum vero ecclefie Walthamenfis per dive recordacionis regem Henricum fecundum in opti- mum noftris modo temporibus gradum videmus reformatum. 2 Canonici namque fub rigida . et difciplinabili regula ecclefiafticis excubiis per Haroldum mancipati ad fecularia fenfim tractu temporis plus equo devoluti facro canoni pretulerant vanitatem feculi. Nomen enim trahentes de utroque feculo videlicet et canone: perverfo ordine rem nominis dimidiavere. Secundum 3 namque fpiri- tantes et canonem fpernentes . hujus fcita et illius oblectamenta : lance librabant minus equa . unde pofthabitis divinis officiis fpaciabantur in triviis mundi : quibus verfandum erat in atriis domus Domini. Quibus demum pio regis jam dicti zelo inde amotis regularibus canonicis locus idem nobiliter infignitur. Qui Greco bene canoni regu- Jam jungentes Latinam . fie gemine vocis et rei fimplicis virtutem vivendo teneunt 4 . quod Grecis jure et Latinis maxime veneracioni efle deberent. HosHenricus officinis regularibus venuftiflime deco- ravit : fet Haroldus redditibus 5 neceflariis gratiflime 1 H. ; et villis, omitted, M.G. 8 This paflage clearly indicates that the prefent text was written after the death of King Henry II., 6 July, A.D. 1 1 89. 3 Sic MS. Scdm for Sclm ; with a marginal note Seculum f Seculum, M.G. 4 M.G. ; tenent, G. 6 H.M. ; reditibus, G. Vita Haroldi Regis. 27 fublimavit. Hiis enim fuftentatur grex Dominicus r. 7 . in fanctitate et jufticia ibidem Domino devotiffime ferviens; hiis cotidie 1 adventancium caterve innu- merabiles: multimoda confequantur 2 humanitatis bona. Hiis viatores 3 hiis famelicus: victum et viaticum hiis languens : curam hiis algens ; tegmen . hiis tectum : hofpes et advena. Hiis denique omnis egens . neceffitati fue fubfidia recepit oportuna. 4 1 H.M. ; quotidie, G. 2 H.M. ; confequuntur, G. 8 H. ; viator, M.G. 4 H.M. ; opportuna, G. ghiod divinitus difpojitum fuit ut homo ifte in regem ertgeretur et aliis viflis hoftibus ab eo . ab aliis i-pfe vittus a regno deiceretur . et de Ana- cborita valde religiofo qui minifter ipfius jam folitarii fuerat. . ' . , . . iiij UIS novit hominum quomodo com- pingantur ofla hominis in ventre pregnantis? Quis vero fcivit vel fcire poterit . quid conducat homini in vita fua ? Dominatur plerumque homo homini in malum fuum. Deprimitur nonnunquam et fubicitur ab homine homo homini: in bonum fuum. Sic in fervum fervorum fratribus fuis addicitur Chanaan . fie manus Jofeph fraterno addicte zelo : in Chophmo fervierunt. Sic et Haroldus nofter ut ad propofitum redeamus tan- quam fuper ventum fubito elevatur et repente eliditur valide. Regno pariter acclamante in regem erigitur . cefis qui irruperant barbaris victor ab acie cum triumpho revertitur. Recentem fupervenifTe hoftem ut audit non metuit . fed infultat extermi- natori fuo veluti protinus exterminando occurfitat. Manus conferit : et concidit congreditur et con- fciditur. Confciditur quidem et concidit . fet Vita Haroldi Regis. 29 numquid ad perniciem vel ad infipienciam fibi? Num hoc fuftinebit manus ilia regis crucifix! . qua obftetricante egreflus eft coluber tortuofus? ea quidem permittente tetigit oiTa ejus . et fingula fere membra hoftilis framea . carnem quoque ejus graviter vulneravit. Hac difpenfante hac mirabiliter difponente hec omnia fuo evenere Haroldo ut in ventre pregnantis ecclefie hominis ante tempora fecularia precogniti et fuis temporibus per hec omnia Deo nafcituri et perfecle placituri : ofTa com- pingerentur. Conceptus namque per devocionem fecundum interiorem hominem Deo . hiis exerciciis f- 7 *> crefcebat et augmentabatur formabatur et folida- batur : ut demum in parturicione egrediente pre dolore Rachelis anima fufciperet in eo Jacob pro Bennoni: 1 Benjamin. Qui enim matri fue videlicet angelice doloris et mortis filius vifus eft . patri Deo qui populum mente fuperbum crimine hifpidum variaque prodicione cruentum hoc eventu decreverat fupplantandum : filius dextere 2 mira ipfius permu- tacione efFectus. Verum quia ubique fere terrarum celebri fermone vulgatum eft quemadmodum Edwardo fanctiflimo ad celefte tranflato in regno terreno fuccefTerit Haroldus qualiter ejufdem favore de Norwagicis triumphaverit quamque magnani- miter quam celer et imparatus pre nimia mentis conftancia fupervenientibus Normannis occurrerit . ac cefis fociis ipfe quoque in hofte ceciderit : nos que poft hec per eum divinitus ac circa eum fadta plerofque latere cognovimus : Domino favente 1 In reference to Gen. xxxv. 1 8. 2 H.M. ; dextra:, G. 30 Vita Haroldi Regis. fcribemus. Quorum alia a quodam venerabilis admodum vite anachorita nomine Sebrichto . qui viro beato pluribus dum adviveret miniftravit annis . alia ab aliis eque fide digniflimis accepimus viris . qui nobis ea hec certitudine fcribenda retu- lerunt : qua effe veriffima indubitanter probaverunt. Porro que poft felicem ipfius excefTum a corpore celefti per eum virtute patrata: pagine afTcribentur ab illis qui prefentes cum fierent interfiierunt fcripta nobifque tranfmifTa funt. Predictus autem vir Dei olim minifter ejus et fequipeda devotiflimus . ut ille de mundo receflit . et quia ad Deum abiit miraculorum indiciis patenter declaravit : ejus ferventer in bono emulabatur exemplum. Cupiens quippequo ille pervenerat et ipfe pervenire: ftudebat quam fimilius potuit ficut ille ambulaverat : et ipfe ambulare. Igitur quod et Haroldum fuifle noverat peregrinacionis Jaborem amplexus natalis foli fpon- taneus exul . ut cujus fanctorum et domefticus Dei efle mereretur : efficitur. Nudus denique pedes a confinio recedit urbis Ceftrenfis ubi thefaurum quern devotus aliquot annis ibidem obfervant 1 parte in fuperni regis coronam fublata . partis reliquum humi defoflum dimittebat : nudus eciam cupiditatis f - 8 - mundane progreditur. Sic nudus et expeditus crucem Dominicam in loco quo Dominicis aptata fuit membris aditurus : fepulcrum ejus gloriofum vifitaturus . in loco ubi fteterunt pedes ejus adora- turus . Angliam demum egreditur plurima nichi- lominus et alia fandla fanctorum limina ut fecerat Haroldus lacrimis rigaturus . linguas infuper quas 1 H.M. ; obfervarat, G. Vita Haroldi Regis. 31 non noverat auditurus . et tribulaciones pro Chrifto non modicas cum gaudio fubiturus . alienigenarum fines ingreditur. Poftremo voti faluberrimi compos effectus poft varies quos enumerare non vacat circuitus ad patrium ut Haroldus folum revertitur. Reverfus vero in villa quadam territorii Oxene- fordenfis Stantona 1 nomine fefe permanfurum recepit . receptum : inclufit. Inclufus plerifque ob fcelera claufis et incarceratis aufteriorem ufque ad mortem vitam duxit. Hinc religion's quibufque venerabilis effectus et carus: a multis gracia edifica- cionis mutue : requiri folebat et defideranter adiri. Innotuerat enim devotiflimus Deo diftrictiflimus fibi affabilis cunctis . beneficus multis ; benevolus univerfis. Per hec et hujufmodi Chrifti cuicunque bonus odor effectus cum 2 in odore unguentorum ejus cuncli traherentur . me cum ceteris tanquam pufillum cum majoribus fimul rapuit . fibique arctius vinculo dileccionis aftrinxit. Quern adhuc vero tener . religionis profeffione tenellus . cum per internuncios utrobique graviores creberrime aliquociens 3 per memetipfum vifitaflem: 4 ad in- tima demum familiaritatis facraria ab ipfo admiflus fum. In quo tandem annis jam proveccior 5 adeo profeci : ut fecum de interioris hominis ftatu con- ferenti . vix quippiam fuorum michi fecretorum quod inftruccionis mee negotium expeteret : celare 1 Stanton Harcourt, about five miles from Witney, G. 2 H.M. ; quum, G. ; and fo always. 3 H. M. ; aliquoties, G. 4 Note in the margin of the MS. : "Auctor praefens fuit," in a handwriting of the fourteenth century. 6 H.M. ; proveftior, G. 32 Vita Haroldi Regis. valuiflet. Qui cum rufticanus eflet et totius eloquii alterius quam Anglici nefcius 1 . mirabilem tenebat . et amabilem de religionis fumma proque ydioma 2 fuo luculenter proferebat fentenciam . ut de meipfo aiebat . quod fencio dicam in paciencia et fpe falutis mee fummam puto confiftere. Subiciebat quanta oftendiflet fibi Dominus tribulaciones multas et magnas . quamque clementer converfus vivificafTet fe . et quam de abiflis 3 terre potenter reduxiflet fe. Interferebat et quanta paflus eflet in corpore quanta in mente connumerans et diftinguens utriufque de- fectus hominis et varies affectus demonum aflultus f> 8 k improbos . non parum quoque acerbos hominum infultus. Addebatque inter hec omnia jam jam paulo minus naufraganti fola mifero michi fpes in crucifixo pro anchora ruit . qua firmiter nifus omnia poft modicum quafi in fpumam et favillam eva- nuifle vidi que paulo ante ipfa morte intolera- biliora duxi. Verumptamen 4 tales inquit ac tantas fuftinui afflicciones carnis . ex quo corpus miferum tanquam feram indomabilem hujus in quo five carceris inclufi anguftiis ut inexpertus quifque fer- ream materiam five lapideam vix umquam crederet tanta durare valuifle. Hec ille non jactabundus de fe ipfo et laboribus fuis pro Chrifto fet memorabat animandum me inter ipfa videlicet tyrocinii fpiritualis inexperta certamina trepidantem tanquam emeritus jam miles proprii fudoris familiari experimento ac roboran- 1 Written twice in H. ; the firft word has a pen line drawn through it 2 H. ; ydiomafte], M. ; idiomate, G. 8 H.M. ; abyffis, G. 4 H.M. ; verumtamen, G. Vita Haroldi Regis. 33 dum talibus : eftimabat. Talia vero mente com- punctus proferebat non eorum que pertuliflet erumpnam J deflens: fet illius quam ad erumpnarum 2 fuarum levamen percepiflet confolacionis et gracie fpiritualis memoriam : cum mira dulcedine crucians. Hec de viri iftius vita et moribus non fuperflue ut eftimamus pagine videbantur inferenda . quatinus ex fanctitate alumpni liquidius docentur 3 quante per- feccionis culmine converfacio claruerit fui nutritoris. Hie de Haroldo mencionem faciens non aliter eum quam dominum fuum nominabat . ipfum profecto fe patronum habere in celo exultans quern precep- torem in mundo habuiffet. Per hunc igitur ut premiflum eft . et alios qui virum Dei viteque ipfius inftitutum variumque pro locis et temporibus ftatum agnoverant: ea que fecuntur comparata funt et vulgata. Horum nonnulli quod ipfe Haroldus ipfe 4 quondam in diademate gloriofus effet dum viveret nefcierunt converfacionis tamen illius teftes fuerunt . et quibus deguifTet in locis ex quo foli- tariam in Anglia duxit vitam plenius agnoverunt. Mundi namque gloriam cujus in feipfo ignobiles et lugubres exitus expertus fuiflet medullitus perhorceflcens 5 poftquam in terra olim fua vivere mftituit . nomen fibi novum ipfe impofuit . habita- cionis quoque loca ne quis eflet cui quolibet eventu proderetur non femel mutavit. Verum hec feriatim inferius profequemur : 6 nunc a digreflionis excefTu ad f - 9- ordinem cepte narracionis ftilo currente accedamus. 1 H.M. ; aerumnam, G. 2 H.M. ; asrumnarum, G. 3 H. ; docentur, M. ; doceatur, G. 4 H. ; the fecond ipfe omitted, M.G. 5 H.M. ; perhorrefcens, G. 6 H. ; perfequemur, M.G. D Quod inter vulneratos Jeminecem tnventum . et Wintoniam perduftum mulier quedam Saracena biennio ibidem deli tef cent em fanaverit Haroldum . et quod pro contrahendis contra Normannos auxiliis Sax ones Dacofque expecierit . nilque profecerit . v. igitur ac fuperato in primo congreflu a Normannis exer- citu Anglorum Rex Haroldus plagis confoflus innumeris inter mor- tuos . et ipfe profternitur. Nee poterant tamen quamlibet multa . quamlibet letalia vulnera vitam fimditus viro adimere : quern pietas falvatoris ad vitam et vicloriam felicius difpofuit reparare. Re- cedentibus itaque a Joco cedis hoftilibus caftris a mulierculis quas miferacio ad alliganda fauciorum vulnera illuc attraxerat: exanguis 1 jam et vix pal- pitans pugnator ille pridie potentiflimus invenitur. Ab hiis 2 Samaritani erga eum vices implentur . ab hiis in vicinum tugurium . alligatis vulneribus fuis deportatur. Inde a duobus ut fertur mediocribus viris quos francalanos five agricolas 3 vocant agnitus . 1 H. ; exfanguis, M.G. 2 H. ; ab iis, M.G. 3 Judging from the context, the Francalanus was probably the fame as the Franco homo of Domefday, of whom Sir H. Vita Haroldi Regis. 35 et callide occultatus ad Wintonienfium deducitur civitatem. Hie biennio latebras in quodam cellario fovens a quadam muliere genere Saracena artis cirurgice peritiflima: curatus eft . et Altiflimi cooperante medicina : ad integerrimam perductus fanitatem. Qui viribus quoque receptis regie magnanimitatis confident!: 1 quam animus nee in corporis ftrage omiferat : magnarum conatibus rerum credidit approbandam. Jam victoris fui jugo regni tocius nobilitas vulgufque colla fubmiferant . jam proceres pene cuncti aut perempti aut patria pulfi: avitos honores alienigenis parciendos ac poflidendos dimiferant. Cernens itaque Haroldus fuorum cladem . hof- tium felicitatem : corde ingemuit . et patrias magis quam proprias deplorans erumpnas 2 : aut com- moriendum fimditus aut fubveniendum civibus de- cernebat. Penalius enim ipfa quam vix effugiflet nece ducebat . fi nee fuis erepcioni fore temptaviflet miferrime viventibus : nee mifere peremptis ulcioni. Transfretavit igitur in Germaniam generis fui geni- S5ne a Haroidi tricem aditurus Saxoniam . gentis fue jam utro- Ger bique vulgatum miferabilem cafum cunclis ipfe miferandus deplorat . cognates ad ferenda proprie ftirpi fuffragia inftanter folicitat. Allegat infor- tunium tarn repentine cladis non viribus aut virtuti Ellis in his Introduction, ii. 112, gives a note, tending to fhew that thefe francones homines are entered as if attached to the manor, with the villani and bordarii. The Francigena (fee Ellis, Introd., ii. 426) was probably one who could not fhew his right to be confidered an Englifhman. 1 H.M. ; confidential^ G. 2 H. M. ; asrumnas, G. 36 Vita Haroldi Regis. hoftium . non ignavie civium . non denique timi- ditati . non imbecillitati fue efTe imputandum. Solam fibi in tali eventu animofitatem fuiife peri- culo . que fuarum confcia in rebus bellicis virium . et victoriarum . hoftilem multitudinem cum paucif- fimo milite excepiffet. Vincere enim afTuetus et vinci nefcius victum me ait credidiflem . fi paulo fegnius novande 1 inimicis victoriam retulifTem. Cefis namque favore divino a nobis cum rege fuo Norwagicis qui regni noftri fines ab aquilone irruperant: exercitibus etducibus noftris ad propria dimiffis repente a regione auftrali fupervenere Nor- manni. Quibus et ipfe cum paucis repentinus occurrens non inferior viribus aut animis . fed numero minor compreflus . tandem cecidi non vidhis cefli. Non incertam igitur victoriam de talibus confeftim fumemus quos eventus non virtus hac vice fuperiores oftendit. Quorum in propriam 2 devocionem . et fua infolencia . et tocius nobis premeditate congreflionis modus et exacerbate multitudinis copiofa folacia exhibebunt. Hiis et hujufmodi Saxones talibus quoque Dacos quos nichilominus follicite adivit pro expugnandis fecum regni fui invaforibus interpellat. Quorum ftudia ut vidit in diverfa niti in que 3 fua minus per- currere vota primo quidem graviter anxie mentis fluctibus eftuare cepit . vehementerque addici. In hoc quippe ut erat fagaciflimus fecuritati fue rex jam Anglorum et Normannorum dux caute prorfus 1 H.M. ; novam de, G. 2 H.j promptu, G. ; perpetu[am], M. 3 H. ; inque, M.G. Vita Haroldi Regis. 37 follerterque profpexerat ut mifla legacione regis gentifque Dacorum aliarum eciam finitimarum nacionum amicicias fibi abftringere 1 . et graciam conciliare feftinaret. 1 H.M. ; adftringere, G. f. 10. Quod infe tandem idem re-verfus, intellexit 1 Deum Jibi in via mundi adverfari unde Chrifti Je con- formant cruci ut hoftem melius triumpharet anti- quum gaudet fe ab hominibus fuijjejup era turn . 17. ANDEM vero in fe reverfus Haroldus et quafi a fantaftico quo diucius fompnio fibi redditus ad cor fuum totus convertitur. Intelligit vel fero obfiftentem fibi in via hac qua inaniter ambulabat Deum . fuique fuiffe angeli quern intus exteriufque in fe fue tarn pertinaciter cedentem pertulifTet gladium. Apertifque mentis fue oculis aliud de cetero fibi genus eligendum videt preliorum alia requirenda prefidia. Refpexerat enim oculo jam propicio crucifixus rex regis dejecti labores et longos cruciatus . nee ulterius paciebatur peculiarem vexilli fui cultorem tanti meroris abyfTo demergi in- volvi laberinto. 2 Refpexerat fane . lapfum crimine . et lapfum a dignitate quo refpiciente Japfus cadunt : et lapfi refurgunt. Refpexerat denique ut fletu lapfus culpam dilueret . fpem vero et ftudium regnandi non deponeret fed mutaret. Cepit igitur 1 H. ; intellexerit, M.G. 2 H.M. ; labyrintho, G. Vita Haroldi Regis. 39 lapfus videre et deflere fub afpeclu cuncla cernentis criminum fuorum et errorum lapfus cepit regni longe felicioris faciliorem multo viam agnofcere . et copiam prefentire. Sedet animo crucis quam amaverat imitatorem efle tollere quotidie crucem fuam venire poft crucifixum : et ipfum fequi. Nee vero a mente excidit quia ut ad hec idoneus fieri poflit fe ipfum in primis abnegare necefle fit. Quod nichilominus ut poflit eundem ipfum fibi in exem- plum proponit et adjutorem afTumit . qui cum in forma Dei eflet feipfum formam fervi accipiens exinanivit. Intuetur jam qualiter Dominus mundi mundanum cum eflet in mundo fprevit imperium . qui et quefitus in regem : fugerit . et milibus obfe- quencium turbis folitarie orationis fecerTum pre- tulerit. Reminifcitur datam huic per paflionis dure et mortis dire fupplicium omnem in celo et in terra poteftatem. Previdet ab omni carne huic tandem occurrendum . donandum ab eo omnem hominem regno vel fupplicio meminit fempiterno. Scit quidem 1 fi eatur ad committendum bellum cum eo ipfe cum decem milibus fibi occurrenti obvius cum viginti milibus veniat cujus adventus improvifus cujus difpar apparatus . quam 2 latenter invadit tarn potenter improvidum quemque et imparatum nonnunquam exterminat et extinguit. Pofthabito igitur inani temporalis regni ftudio abjecto terrene concertacionis exiciali propofito. Ad hunc regem adhuc longe agentem legationem f. ro . mittere ab eo que vere pacis funt tota proponit intencione poftulare. Cujus tamen iram fuis ut 1 Quoniam, G. ; qrn, H. ; quantum, M. 2 H. ; quern, M.G. 4 Vita Haroldi Regis. timebat offenfis cumulatam ne fua forte Tola legacio minus fufficeret delinire: inquirendos cenfuit et quibus pofTet obfequiis inquirendos . et fue lega- cionis congruos adjutores et ydoneos apud iratum regem interventores . cujus de cetero folius gratiam probavit t gloriam ambiendam. Mutatur itaque in Haroldo hominis repente exterioris habitus . et interioris affectus. Fulcit quam armare confuevit manum . curtata in baculum hafta . pro clipeo: pera collo appenditur . fiJtro vertex adumbratur : quern munire galea . ornare diadema folebat. Pedes et tybie pro fandaliis et ocreis vel nudantur funditus vel femicinciis obvolvuntur. Ut autem et reliqua hreviter explicemus: omnis armatura fortis . totus potentis ornatus vel abdicatur penitus . aut in abjeccionem transfertur: et penitentis penam. Nam humeris lacertis . lumbis et Jateri : lorica folum . folita non adimitur . fed proprius admo- vetur. Abftracta 1 fiquidem et abjedla interula: nude carni calibis duricies copulatur. Sic vigilans non armatus fed incarceratus incedit ferro . fie dormientem non thorus excipit . fed thorax includit. Et mira plane exterius afTumpta mutacio ifta. Jocundum fane et angelis et omnibus fanclis fpec- taculum . circa tantum et talem virum . talis ac tanta permutacio rerum . verum multo jocundius intra ipfum fibimet exhibebat interius arbiter Deus . creans et formans in eo pro tenebris lucem . et uni- verfum ftratum ejus mirabiliter verfans. Vere inquam mutacio hec : non cujufcunque fed dextere excelfi ubi crudelitas . et feritas mitefcit in cle- 1 G. ; abftinfta, M. ; abflir.fta, altered to abftrada, H. Vita Haroldi Regis. 41 menciam et lenitatem . contrahitur elatio : in humilitatem . Set quis mutacionis adeo felicis univerfa commemoret ? Ut innumera vel 1 paucis includam . hac mutacione concupifcencia carnis . et mundi in horum verfa contemptum et odium: defiderio ceflit et amori celeftium. Sic fie operante dextera excelfi rex tranfit in militem et militem quidem Chrifti : plus jam con- tempto quam prius cupito regno mundi. Tranfit rex in militem efficitur rex miles . ut ita efficiatur miles rex, et rex fimul ac miles tranfeat [in regem. f- Illi enim militare aggreditur miles ifte cui militare regnare eft . et regnare quidem in prefenti : in future conregnare. Illud vero conregnare multo felicius quam iftud regnare eft quod tamen regnare mundo et mundi regno fublimius et majus eft. Militando quidem regnat et regnando militat . donee mutet manfuris mutabilia miles Chrifti et abforbeatur mors in victoriam . et bellum vertatur in tropheum. 2 Tune rex tranfibit in regem militans in triumphantem follicitus in fecurum moribundus in Temper victurum. Interea innovate rege inno- vato et milite . regnum novum in Haroldo cum innovata fucceflit milicia: ipfius quoque cum fin- gulis fuis fenfibus et membris in novos reflorefcit ufus mundi cordis et corporis fubftancia tota. In fame et fiti in frigore et nuditate in orationibus in vigiliis in contumeliis 3 et injuriis . in omni denique labore et erumpna maceratur caro roboratur 1 H. ; vel, omitted, M.G. This is a clear inftance of Giles copying Michel inftead of reading the M.S. 2 H.M. ; tropaeum, G. 3 H.M. ; contumelis, G. 42 Vita Haroldi Regis. fpiritus : anima delectatur. Quatitur fufpiriis peftus hanelum 1 . quod prius tumidum: fpirabat cedis minas intonabat. Rorant lumina imbre lacri- marum. Fulmineum quiddam indignantis animi nutu in emulos confueta vibrare. Nil jam elatum cervicofum nichil aut truculentum os fupercilia . et cervix pretendebant. Modeftia inceflum regit pietas animum . affectus: puritas fibi defendit. Interiores quoque motus et exteriores : honeftas informat . fanctitas in fuas partes omnia ejus aflumit. Vide- tur jam fibi Haroldus folito felicius imperare . regnare fublimius tucius et utilius militare. Gaudet fe ab hominibus victum . dum mundum dum feipfum vincendo : victus quoque melius de Diabolo didicit triumphare. 1 H. ; Quantis s. p. anhelat, M. ; q. s. p. anhelum, G. Quo d pro expetendis fanftorum fuffragiis longum inierit peregrinacionem et quod antequam regnum habuijjet Janfforum limina apoftolorum adierit . vij. NSTRUCTUS vero ab 1 unccione que jam ilium docebat de omnibus celeftis quern invenerat thefaurum defiderii ne prede pateat inepte publicatus . caucius fentit abfcondendum. Nam et ovis primo genita feu bovis nee apta fciebat aratris . nee tondenda . quin et poma que germinant : legis sanccione immunda decerni. Hujufmodi ergo a Spiritu Sancto edoctus oraculis, omnes qui fibi ufque ad id temporis adhefifle vifi funt : amicos f. t. relinquid . neceflarios deferit . ab univerfis demum qui ipfum noverant: clam recedit. Adit populos antea ignotos . requirit non ignotos . fed olim quidem dileccione precognitos jam devocionis affectu ardius complexes : longe lateque patronos. Abiit igitur in regionem longinquam 2 vir ifte nunc vere nobilis . loca invifere facra fanctorum in fuis ubique fedibus . aut edibus veneraturus reliquias . regnum Dei quod intra fe jam tenebat corum fuf- 1 H.M. ; omitted, G. 2 H.G. ; lo[n]ginquam, G. 44 Vita Haroldi Regis. fragiis plenius et perfeccius accipere . et in fuam demum patriam reverti. Adierat quidem antea nondum videlicet Anglorum confecutus regnum fummorum limina Chrifti apoftolorum devocionis plane inftindhi . et fandlarum ab urbe reliquiarum ad fua pocius reportandi quam in urbe adorandi obtentu. Ferventifllmo namque ftudio facras col- ligere fategerat reliquias 1 ab illo prefertim tempore quo Sancte Crucis edificare apud Waltham ut prediftum eft ecclefiam cepit : et ditare. Unde accidit ut votis precum folutis turn prece turn precio varioque ingenio innumeris fandorum pignorum opibus adquifitis magnificorum quoque martyrum 2 1 For a long lift of thefe relics fee MS. Harl. 3776, f. 31. The chapter treating of them commences with a fhort poem : " Hoc facrum pondus fibi confervavit Haroldus Scilicet iftarum thefaurus reliquiarum. Quas tulit ignotis a partibus atque remotis. Unde crucis fanfte : fe premuniret in ede." 2 The Virgin martyrs Chryfanthus and Daria are cele- brated in the Calendar on the 25th Oftober. According to Alban Butler (vol. x., p. 502) Chryfanthus and Daria were ftrangers who came to Rome from the Eaft in the third century, the firft from Alexandria, the fecond from Athens. Chry- fanthus, after having efpoufed Daria, perfuaded her to prefer a ftate of perpetual virginity to that of marriage, that they might more eafily with perfect purity of heart trample the world under their feet, and accomplifh the folemn confecration they had made of themfelves to Chrift in their baptifm. Their martyrdom probably took place during the perfecution of Valerian, A.D. 237. They were interred on the Salarian way, their remains being found in the reign of Conitantine the Great. This part of the Catacombs was long known by the name of the Cemetery of SS. Chryfanthus and Daria. Their tomb was decorated by Pope Damafus, their remains tranflated by Pope Stephen VI. in A.D. 866, part into the Lateran bafilica, and part into the Church of the Twelve Apoftles. This, at leaft, is true of the relics of their companions who had Vita Haroldi Regis. 45 Crifanti et Darie rediens ad propria beata fimul ofla vifus fit afportafle a Roma. Verum tanti predam thefauri tandem fibi prereptam Roman! fencientes et id non eque ferentes: jam abeuntem . jam longius abfcedentem diete jam tercie feu quarte emenfo itinere pium confecuti predonem greflum fiftere cogunt. Nee enim reniti aut viribus vel fuga erumpere indigenarum multitude paucos fine- bat peregrinos. Quid multa ? Tenetur . arctatur . conviciis urgetur Haroldus. Quodque hiis egrius tulit . priftinis pofleflbribus minus 1 prout afferebant legittime conquifitas: reddere compellitur inefti- mabilis precii margaritas. Predictorum igitur Chrifti teftium in divinis non fuffragiis violencia Romanorum fpoliatus . cetera non minus preciof- iflima Rome obiterve 2 adquifita . in ecclefia fepius memorata patrie redditus fecum attulit reveren- tiflime confervanda. Devocionis vero illius et cautele . vigilanciam in adquirendis et refervandis fandlorum reliquiis fi quern plenius nofTe juvat: prenotatum de invencione crucis Waltamenfis fuperius tra&atum ftudiofe revolvat. Nos enim f. 12. que a veteribus fcripta funt intermittentes : novum noftrum novo ftili officio profequemur ut cepimus Chrifto ducente peregrinum. Quern et fi multas perluftrantem orbis Chriftiani provincias . totque been walled up at their tomb. The remains of SS. Chry- fanthus and Daria had been tranflated to the Abbey of Prom in the diocefe of Triers in A.D. 842, by gift of Pope Sergius II. In A.D. 844 they were removed to the Abbey of St. Avol or St. Navor in the diocefe of Metz, according to Mabillon, Sac. iz 1 . Bened. p. 6 1 1. 1 H. ; omitted, M.G. 2 G. ; ob iter ve, H.M. 46 Vita Haroldi Regis. tarn falubriter in tali perluftracione tempora con- fumentem nee locis fmgulis nee diebus comitari valemus queve egerit aut pertulerit in peregrina- cione longiflima fmgillatim nofle ac referre : faltem a finibus noftris elongatum jam diucius profecuti . ad nos quoque denuo remeanti alacrius occurramus. Comitantemvero . et deducentem nullifque aliquan- do temporibus aut locis ipfum relinquentem . Dominum magnifice collaudemus benedicentes in Domino pariter et famulum fuum: venientem equidem in nomine Domini. Ammiracio l J crip tor is cum exclamacione brevi Juper benignitate Dei qua fit ut eciam peccata elec- torum ipjis cooperentur in bonum . . viij. INTERIM autem in hoc nomine illo ambulante . illius anima per mul- tarum cum fponfa circuicionem pla- tearum quefitum et inventum tenente fponfum . ipfius jam fpiritum in Deo falutari fuo exultantem gratulabunda cum pfalmifta audire michi videor voce canentem . "Convertere 2 . anima mea . in requiem tuam: quia Dominus benefecit tibi." Hie vero precordis leticia benefici Domini circa {ervum fuum admirando magnalia : exclamare libet. O larga pietas et mira benignitas fpiritus tui O virtus et fapientia eterni Patris coeterne fili O dulcis O bone Jefu. O ineftimabilem et in- veftigabilem confiliorum tuorum altitudinem . Vere cogitaciones cordis tui avertere nemo potest. O quam vera fenfit de te que alloquens te. "Si 3 de- creveris" ait . "salvare nos: continue liberabimur." Quam fidelis quamque accepcione dignus fermo . 1 The text of this chapter is omitted by Michel, who dates, " In quo hiftorias materiam minime reperies." 2 Pfalm. cxiv. 7. 8 Cf. Efth. xiii. 9. 48 Vita Haroldi Regis. fidenter prolatus ad apoftolo tuo. "Scimus" inquit "quoniamdiligentibus 1 Deum: omnia cooperantur in bonum." Benedictum fit cum patre coeterno . et Spiritu coevo nomen glorie tue fanctum . qui cum iratus fueris mifericordiam facis et ut aflerit mulier fancta: omnia peccata hominum in tribulacione dimittis. Et quidem omnia hec vera efle et in hunc modum innumera . que paflim leguntur in literis facris de te fuper hiis que perficis et exhibes dili- gentibus te in uno demonftrafti 2 tuo hoc dilecto dilectore. Quam evidens nobis argumentum quam f. 12. b. prelucidum in uno homine ifto fuavitatis fimul et fortitudinis tue fpeculum condidifti O fapientia que ex ore Altiflimi prodidifti attingens a fine ufque ad finem fortiter et difponens omnia fuaviter. Ab hiis fontibus fuavitatis et fortitudinis illi duo rivi procedunt gratie et feveritatis feu clemencie et diftriccionis quibus debriata fuperficies terre fanc- torum everfis zizanniis 3 femen producit in fructum vite eterne. Quante enim ferenitatis pariter et gratie fuit quod ficut multi putant propter iniquita- tem corripuifti quidem fed in eternum non pro- jecifti hominem iftum . corripiens et corrigens caucioremque fibi . tibi devociorem ex ipfa quoque iniquitate exhibens eum. Quanta fuavitate quanta- que fortitudine ufus es circa eum tarn valide de manu mortis eripiens ilium vitam corporis ejus nee jaculis nee gladiis fibi permittens auferri .vitam vero anime etiam 4 peccato ut dicitur ablatam reftituens et reformans ei? Hinc et ipfius injufticia inventa 1 Rom. viii. 28. 2 H. ; dcmonftrati, G. 3 H. ; zizaniis, G. 4 H. ; et, G. Vita Haroldi Regis. 49 eft habundare in gloriam tuam . quandoquidem ex multa magnitudine et magna multitudine dulce- dinis benignitatis tue ubi habundavit iniquitas fua fuperhabundavit in eo gratia tua . ut eo impenfws diligeret te . quo plenius indulgenciam confeque- retur a te. Itaque clarefceret quia jdiligenti te cooperantur in bonum non aliqua fed omnia dum quod in malum Temper eft: ei cooperatur in bonum eternum 1 . fuum videlicet et tantum peccatum. 1 H. ; non aeternum, G. Quod de peccato Haroldi multa dicuntur a multis et de quercu Jecus Rotbomagum Jub qua juraverat qu<e corticem exuta manet ufque in ix. E quo nimirum ipfius peccato quia multi multa loquuntur . loqui de- bemus vel pauca et nos : et quid de eo fenciant qui vel exaggerare vel qui attenuare illud familiare habent in medium pro- ferre. Nam ipfum non qualemcumque 1 fed im- maniflimum pat[r]afie 2 peccatum plerique accufant in tantum ut huic ejus enormi peccato Anglice Jibertatis ruinam eftiment imputandam. Aflumpfifle enim in vanum afleritur nomen Domini Dei fui adeo ut perjurio illud polluere non timeret cujus piaculi crimen prodigio mirabili divinitus quoque aftruuntdenotari. Quercusenim proceritatis magne . multeque olim pulchritudinis ficut hodie quoque cernentibus demonftratur fub qua jurisjurandi facramentum duci Normannorum preftitit: mox ut illud regnum quod ei fervandum juraverat . 1 H.M. ; qualecumque, G. 2 Patafle, H. ; pat[r]affe, M.; patrafle, G. Vita Haroldi Regis. 51 ufurpando infregit : virore depofito defluentibus foliis corticem quod dictu mirum eft repente exuifle perhibetur. Res digna fpectaculo quod lignum multis condenfifque frondibus pauloante fpeciofum non fegnius quam hedera 1 ione 2 . quam oliva alterius prophete radicitus exaruit albique fa<5H funt rami ejus. Auget miraculum fubditi mar- coris : perpetuitas invicti roboris arboris exficcate quod frequenter cum plurimis et ipfi mirati fumus. Quis enim non obftupefcat vafte magnitudinis robor . ramufculis etiam minutis non imminutum fed undique inconfractum ab imis radicibus ufque ad fummitatem frondium omni velamento corticis fpoliatum . tot jam feculis nee etate ceffifle . nee carie tabuiffe . nee ventorum turbine impactum . nee imbrium inundacione infufum . putruifTe . vel faltem nutafle? Quo figno in anni circiter cen- tefimi quadragefimi fpacium 3 cum arborem vidimus jam porrecto . infandi fcelus perjurii vicinorum loco Rothomagus jactuabat . celitus infamari. Modico namque intervallo ab urbe ipfa diftat arbor infaufta ameno imminens faltui qui ftrate non multum abjacet a ponte Sequane ad Grandimon- tenfes 4 eremitas 5 fefe protendenti. Omine tam 1 Jonah iv. 6, 7, 9, 10. 2 H.M.; lonae, G. 3 If this be taken to fignify that the author beheld the withered tree after a lapfe of 140 years from the occurrence, we arrive at a date certainly prior to A.D. 1 206, the feventh and eighth regnal year of King John. 4 "Anno 1156 Henricus II. prioratum ordinis Grandimon- tcnfis fundavit in Silva Roboreti, quern paulo poft in vivarium fuum prope Rotomagum tranftulit ad finiftram fluminis Sequanae ripam ; unde locus ille nomen fumfit beatae Marias de Vivario." Gallia Chrijliana, xi. 47. c. 5 " La premiere vie des religieux de Grandmont, fut celle 52 Vita Haroldi Regis. invifo Londonias primum fibi prefumpfifle fertur Rothomagus fubjugandas. Nee alio magis aufpicio tota fimul Neuftria egentis et avare domine com- pendiis prodigas Anglorum opes ancillari pofTe: docta eft non defperare. Hiis adicitur 1 ab illis qui Haroldum jam vere victorem linguis adhuc in- fectantur . illius poft modum ac poft mcxlicum confecuta quam facilis tarn et crudelis dejeccio qua ut inopinate regnum amifit. Sic infufpicabiliter vitam vix confervando necem evafit. des ermites, fi 1'on en croit 1'opinion commune, diffe'rente de celle du pere Mabillon," etc. Richard et Giraud, Biblioth. Safr., xii. 262. 1 H.M. ; adjicitur, G. Satis faccio quorumdam pro Haroldo qua eum de ferjurio excufantes Domino favente et Sanfto con- nivente Edwardo ipjum regnajfe affirmant et de vi/ione abbatis Eljini qua vittorem Norwagicorum ipfum fore prenunciavit Janttus Edwardus . x. DIVERSO nonnulli ex fine ipfius . et creberrime eciam antea interlucenti- bus circa eum fuperni favoris indiciis viri Deo dile&i faftum mecientes . tarn jurisjurandi minus obfervati . quam regni quoque rite fufcepti : nituntur inducere rationem . Quod enim rem ut ex poftfacto inquiunt manifeftum f. 13 1>. eft univerfe procul dubio genti fue exicialem il ob- fervaretur juravit: tam fue voluntati adverfum quam fuorum faluti contrarium fuit. Juravit Notade jura- . ... ,. mento Haroldi. tamen metu conitriccus qui in virum conftantem et continue mori vel perpetuo incarcerari renuentem non immerito caderet. Nee vero alius a tantis anguftiis patebat exitus: in terra aliena in manu poteftatis tante conclufo . fragilitati ergo mortal! que vitam nifi in vita . vix exuit morem gerens et confilio qualiumcunque in tali tempore prefencium amicorum : exortum 1 preftitit juramentum in quo 1 H.M. ; extortum, G. 54 Vita Haroldi Regis. et leges mundane et divini canones variis vite hujus neceflitatibus condefcendifle . non ignorantur. De jure extorquentis hujufmodi facramentum . alii ut Jibuerit difputabunt. Licuit vero ut manifeftum eft fie elicitum . fi tamen quod nemo diffitetur eciam illicitum fuifTet : non implere juramentum. Hac vero quia alias nequivit de medio fe tenentium Haroldus exiit Normannorum. Qui fuis demum redditus quid pertulerit . quid egerit : cunctis palam exponit. Exponentem ut audit : univerfitas in iram excandefcit . initam mediante facramento paccionem improbat ne obfervetur . vehementer reclamat. Abfit inquiunt abfit ut ferviamus Nor- mannis! Abfit ut faftus Normanici jugo bar- barico : nobilitatis Anglice urbana libertas nulla- tenus fubfternatur ! Quid multa ? Conclamant omnes, fedet hec fentencia cunftis. Pofthabitoque juramenti quod nullum efie cre- debatur periculo : Haroldus demum unanimi omnium confilio fublimatur in regem. Quod preter divinitatis nutum minime accidifle : celitus poft in brevi fuerat declaratum . cum enim rex Norwagenfis 1 clafle adveclus numerofa intrafTet Angliam aggreflufque Eboracenfem provinciam cede et incendiis obvia queque vaftaret illique rex Npudeinfir- novus coacto exercitu fcftinaret occurrere tybie fu- mitate tybie. . . , . -11 n bito unms vehementimmo cepit dolore conftrmgi. Qui ex fuo tali compede plus fubditorum difcrimini L 14. quam fuo congemifcens dolori noctem pene totam 1 For account of this invafion and its refult, fee the Anglo- Saxon Chronicle, ad annum 1066. Vita Haroldi Regis. 55 fufpiriis et precibus agentes infompnem familiarem fancte crucis 1 expecierat fubvencionem. In ipfa vero node aftititit in vifione fervo Domini Elfino 2 abbati Ramefienfi fanctus et vigil propugnator fuorum rex Edwardus predeceffor viri merentis et afflicti exponens . abbati regis utrumque et corporis fcilicet et cordis incommodum cogitaciones infuper illius in cubili fuo ei manifeftans . mittenfque eum et dicens ei. " Surgens vade et annunciabis regi veftro ex me quia et prefentis fui doloris medelam et imminentis belli me interveniente Deus ei con- ceflit victoriam. Sit ei cogitacionum cordis fui revelatio confequende incontinent! divinitus fignum medicine fit et revelacionis infolite argumentum: capefTende victorie prefagium indubitatum." Rex itaque ut paucis utamur divinis curatur beneficiis exhilaratur oraculis. Hoftes fidenter aggreflus facile vincit . quia non . fuis fed illius viribus fuperavit . qui fanat contritos corde et alligat contritiones eorum . deiciens 3 gladio diligentium fe hoftes fuorum. Colligitur ergo racione non im- probabili fuadente . quia fanctiflimo predeceflbre 1 H.M. ; carcis, G. 2 This Abbot Elfmus is the Alfwynus or Aylwynus of Dugdale, who places him from A.D. 1043-1079. The Anglo-Saxon chronicle mentions him as ^Elfwine in A.D. 1046 or 1048. He occurs in feveral charters in Kemble's Codex as Alwinus (No. 809), ^Elfwinus (Nos. 853, 904, 919), ^Elfwine (No. 853), ^Elfwin (No. 904), and ^Elfwyne (No. 904). The French metrical poem printed by Rev. Mr. Luard among the " Mailer of the Rolls Series" (No. 3), p. 143, fays : " Une abe*s fu de Ramfeie, Ki Alexe ont nun, de feinte vie, E li aparut feint Aedward," etc. 3 H.M. ; dejiciens, G. 56 Vita Haroldi Regis. fuo connivente Deo quam maxime 1 difponente regnum fuerit aflecutus quod fan<5ti et patrocinio munitus et oraculo premonitus divino aftipulante fuffragio de hofte fuperbo tarn meruit triumph- aliter liberare. 1 Thefe words repeated by error of the fcribe, and after- wards their firft introdudlion into the text fcored through with the pen. De crucefantta admirabilis quorumdam relacio . que Regi Haroldo feftinanti ad prelium . caput per- bibetur inclinajje et alia quedamjatis de ipja cruce ftupenda certij/ime appro bat a 1 . . . xj. |UI adhuc non folum hiis racionibus et fignis defenfa eft legittima fceptri- gere poteftatis adepcio . et ejufdem favorabilis execucio comprobatur. Novo enim et feculis omnibus inaudito Sal- vatoris clemencia fuum dignata eft peculiarem fervum figno iterum fublimius infignire quo unius fimul tarn privilegiati titulo miraculi et fuum erga devotum regem et favorem oftenderet et amorem . et illius contra probra infamancium perenniter defenfaret honorem. Res ubique prope modum vulgata eft . oculifque ad hoc ufque tempus fubjecta que accidit. Revertens fiquidem a cede hoftium rex fortiffimus : et novis qui fuper- venerant feftinus occurrens inimicis . dileclam fibi f - *4 b. ecclefiam nulla patitur feftinacionis inftancia pre- . terire. Divertit igitur devotus, ad ipfam ingreditur, profternitur . et liquefadlis intimis 2 precordiorum 1 See MS. Harl. 3776, f. 54. "De eleccione et coronacione et de inclinacione capitis Sanfte crucis." H., internis, M.G. 58 Vita Haroldi Regis. medullis : Crucem fanctam adorat . vota graciarum pro optento 1 tropheo 2 exaggerat pro optinendo fi placeat fumme majeftati : preces fuppliciter inge- minat. Oracione poftremo completa: imminentis belli eventu cuncta moderantis arbitrio fideli devocione attencius delegate feipfum victoriofiflimo figno commendans cum receflurus jam demiflb vertice et prono corpore cruci facrofancte valefac- turus de more inclinaret fe: inclinavit pariter fe vultus ymaginis 3 crucifixe. Terruit nimirum et exhilaravit quofdam aftancium mirabile . et favor- abile opus Salvatoris. Quid enim favorabilius vel cogitari potuit quam ut rex feculorum immortalis invifibilis vifibiliter refalutare videretur regem mortalium miferorum falutantem fe . et fibi humiliter caput inclinanti caput fibi faxee ymaginis quam dignanter tam et potenter inclinare ? Quam nichilominus et terribile infirmitati humane fuit tam infolita videre ut contra naturam faxum flecleretur et quod fupra naturam eft Deus in fua ymagine homini inclinare cerneretur! De hoc vero quid dicemus quod ubi ars humana nee tenuem valuit divine ymaginis perforare palmam . ibi ymago ipfa flexiffe vifa eft cervicem corpu- lentam? Sudat homo artifex et cruorem elicit: foramen vero in manu Japideum efficit. 4 Orat homo in brevi defiturus efle rex . et collum lapideum quod manu hominis et fi aliquatenus foraretur nullatenus tamen flecteretur . flectitur 1 H. ; obtenti, M. ; obftento, G. * H.M. ; tropeo, G. 3 H.M. j imaginis, G. ; and fimilarly throughout in cafes of this word. * H. ; [non] efficit, M.G. Vita Haroldi Regis. 59 repente nee frangitur . inclinatur fed a tocius inte- gritate fubjecti corporis vel annex! capitis nee tenuiflima rima mediante diflipatur. Nee in fimplici tantum materia tale . et tantum effiilfit miraculum. Nam quod lapis interius latens hec et argentum exterius ambiens duplicate videlicet prodigio pertulit pariter et oftendit. Ipfa nempe illius ymago de quo fcriptum eft . Suxerunt 1 mel de fetra oleumque de Jaxo durijfimo . materia quidem petrina . immo et faxea eft . qualitate duriflima : circa humeros collum et Jacertos fpifla . et ut ita 1 15. dicatur corpulenta. Hec revelacione divina in mentis cujufclam vertice fub terra fuit reperta . nee fciri hactenus potuit quomodo vel a quo fculpta fit vel ibidem repofita et occultata. Perducta quoque eft celefti regimine ad locum fepius nominatum . quo hec contigifle perhibentur bobus nimirum carrum cui impofita fuit ad transferendum earn per centum viginti circiter miliaria 2 illuc directe pergentibus nee aliorsum a cepto itinere declinari finentibus. Ibi laminis argenteis veftita . et patibulo eminent! annexa nee affixa fuit. Nee enim vel tantillum artificii in fefe admifit humani . ut foramina quibus clavi de more induci valuiflent : in ea ullatenus homo facere potuiflet. Nee enim iftud intemp- tatum 3 fuit . Verum palma dextere illius ferreo vix inftrumento aliquantulum fuperficie tenus terebrata molliciem habuiffe inventa eft . unde emifit fanguinem . fed duriciem non amifit qua 1 Deut. xxxii. 1 3. 2 H.M. ; milliaria, G. 3 H.M. ; intentatum, G. 60 Vita Haroldi Regis. repulit acutiflimam celtem vel tarincam. Preftitit hoc ymaginis 1 fue dextere 2 Domini dextera . que ut pfalmifta 3 . cecinit fecit virtutem . unde et material! huic dextere que ibidem fubneditur congrue adaptatur . ut ipfa tot fignis infignita tot prodigiis fublimata . rebus pocius quam fermonibus dicere intelligatur . Dextera* Domini exaltavit me dextera Domini fecit virtutem. Hec vero omnia nunc iccirco retulimus ut clarefceret audientibus multiplicitas Dominice virtutis . quam in tali fecit inclinacione fancti capitis facrofancte ymaginis . ut enim prefati fumus tarn in argentea quam in lapidea efrulfit materia Dominice dignacionis pariter et virtutis opus hoc admirabile in oculis noftris quod juxta cornu altaris . ubi hoc geftum eft cotidie infpicimus. Nee enim vel lapis crepuit vel lamina fcifTuram fenfit feu rugam contraxit . cum a parte colli racione inclinacionis tante folito amplius tenderetur . et e regione gutturis et faucium non minori proporcione plicari cerneretur. Nee vero parva fuit primarie difpoficionis immu- tacio . ubi mentum ymaginis quod eminuifle olim accepimus . nunc ad pectus ufque demiflum ei velut infedifle ex premifla ut dictum eft inclinacione videmus. 1 H.M. ; imaginis, G. 8 H.M. ; dextra, G. ; and fo always in cafes of this word. 3 Pfa., H. ; pura, M. ; pfalmifta, G. 4 Pfalm. cxvii. 16. Diverforutn 1 diverfa inter $r et acio Ju-per predittis fignis cruets Je inclinantis et quercus arefafte : et f. 15 b. quod Haroldusjeipjumjudicando judicium prevenerit divinum et non formidet humanum . . xii. |OC quoque tante pietatis opus quam dulce et propicium tune prefentibus vifum eft omen portendifle tarn in- fauftum et crudele pofterorum non- nulli pretendifle dixerunt. Triumphato namque in brevi poft hec cum fuis rege eorum : {iibjec- cionem Anglorum Jamentabilemque depreflionem regni inclinacionem iftam prefignafle plurimi efti- mabant. Ceterum quibus rei gefte ordinem . et regis devoti erga crucem precedens pariterque fubfequens meritum attendentibus . longe verifi- milior meritoque benignior in opere tarn divino occurrit interpretacio. Deus enim qui merita fup- plicum femper excedit et vota . fupplices fuos fupra quam petunt et intelligunt: exaudire jugi- ter confuevit. Unde multociens 2 quos clemencius exaudit ad falutem . durius exaudit ad voluntatem. 1 This chapter omitted, M., with the following note : " Hoc capitulum omifimus ut longum et infulfum valde." 2 H. ; multoties, G. 62 Vita Haroldi Regis. Nam ad voluntatem contra eorum falutem : fuos exaudit folum inimicos. Nee eft necefie de qui- bufcunque electis aut reprobis utriufque exaudi- cionis exempla memorando : fermonem in longum protrahere. Sufficit reproborum principem con- fiderare fanctum virum Job ad temptandum petifle . et femel et iterum accepifle . ficque ad dampnacionis fue cumulum exauditum efle. Satis fit e diverfo ipfum electorum omnium caput meminifle paflionis imminente aculeo calicis tranflacionem petife nee optinuiffe fue tamen voluntatis nutum evidencius expreflifle fet patris beneplacito ipfam fubjecifle immo et ipfam penitus abjeciffe. 1 Non inquit mea voluntas fet tua fiat. Deus enim in tali voluntate proprio filio non pepercit pro omnibus nobis tradens ilium . ut cum de torrente in via bibiflet propterea exaltaret caput : quod in cruce quum bibifiet continue inclinavit. PremifTe tamen confummacionis diccio : hoftis humani generis denunciata deviccio fiiit. Qua denunciacione pro- mulgata caput inclinavit in pace dormiens . poft follicitudinis bellice longas vigilias . et poft fan- guinei fudoris agonem . in pace in id ipfum fuavi- ter requiefcens. Hec vero increduli : in contrarium converterunt. Quando vero triumphum de ini- micis confummavit . tune fe regem victorem Jivor deviclus vicifTe credebat. Ipfe autem quid egiffet non incertus, caput inviclum, et donee vinceret femper ereclum in fompnum tarn plene fecurus inclinavit. Patet jam quam peculiari figno fideli adoratori fuo vicloriam meliorem quam ceteri 1 Immo . . . abjecifle, H. j omitted, G, Vita Haroldi Regis. 63 peterent aut intelligerent . caput inclinando rex regi fe oftenderit conceflifTe. Ne enim prevaleret erronea viclorum contra fui victorem exiftimacio: et crederetur regnum amififle qui Judeorum rex dicebatur efle acceflit prefidis litteris indita opi- nionis temerarie improbacio . capiti jam inclinato : titulo fuppofito. Erat enim fcriptum in eo: Jefus 1 Nazarenus rex 'Judeorum. Permanfit enim vere rex . cui plebs impia quia regnum invidit ut ejus caput inclinaret : et ipfum occidit. At ille pariter et caput inclinavit et fibi regni potenciam vendicavit quam fe plenius accepirTe convefcens, caput in tantum inclinatum fuper omnes celos exaltavit. Nemo igitur exiftimet nomen regium feu regiam regi cui 2 tale fignum preftitum eft a rege regum omnium . dignitatem deperifle : vel quia fibi in fua ymagine inclinari dignatus eft, vel quia vifibiliter triumphare de hoftibus imminenti- bus ab eodem eidem permifTum non eft. Si vero et ad regnum cujus fibi temporalis adminiftracio divinitus collata prius eft et pofterius ablata . pre- fagium tarn infolite virtutis duxerit quis exten- dendum Anglice felicitatis depreflionem necnon et Jibertatis tarn laice quam ecclefiaftice non abnui- mus confignificari infulanis extunc 3 fatis expertam dejectionem. Verumptamen ex hoc fervi fui pre- rogative crux fancta prejudicari non patitur . quia et quiddam aliud id quod pro eo fpecialiter egit . univerfaliter fignare concedit. Ipfius nempe gemi- tibus pulfata et lacrimis . obfequiis infuper magni- fice honorata: pro gratis officiis votiva ei non 1 John xix. 1 9. 2 Cui, H. ; omitted, G. 3 H. ; ex tune, G. 64 Vita Haroldi Regis. autem invifa rependere . debuit vel pronunciare. Set neque tranfitoria et caduca immo ftancia bona et eterna piis preftat et promittit cultoribus eter- nus . et invariabilis Deus pro fuis laboribus vel obfequiis. Annuit ergo dedit et conceflit rex regi quod peciit . et fi forte aliter et melius concedere fcivit . et dare potuit utpote celeftis . terreno . permanens in eternum : ad eterna tranfituro. Ab- f. 16 b. ftulit autem umbratile regnum cui verum fervavit et eternum ne foret illud tranfeunti ad iftud vel Jeve impedimentum. Ne vero cogitaciones homi- num timide quorum et incerte funt providencie ob impendentis molem difcriminis cogitarent pium Dominum adverfus devotum famulum cogitaciones tantum cogitafle affliccionis . et non eciam pacis: immanitatem futuri fcandali prevenire decrevit im- menntatem premiffi miraculi . utque tandem hiis * finem imponamus talibus clemencie fue indiciis . dominus dominancium et inftantis glorie . et ex- tantis gratie fue 2 manifeftacionem . preferre fervo fuo dignatus eft et conferre. Hiis denique beneficiis et in perfecucionis nubilo et in abjectionis Juto . margaritam fuo inferendam diademati illuftrem ex- hibuit et oftendit . fumma poteftas . infinita pietas inaccefla fublimitas . fapiencie . clemencie 3 . et magnificencie omnipotentis Dei Patris et Filii et Spiritus Sancti folius et unius regis feculorum eterni. Quod vero de quercu opponunt alii viderint ipfi qui filveftres . et feras et arbores colunt . qui Jigna infenfibilia . et bruta animalia hominibus nature fue confortibus ad ymaginem Dei factis et quod hiis 1 H. ; piis, G. 2 Indiciis . . . gratie fue. 8 H. ; gratiz, G. Vita Haroldi Regis. 65 amplius eft Dei morte redemptis : preferre nee metuunt nee erubefcunt. Viderint ne forte jurare cogentis et fecuture ilJius pofteritatis pocius quam juramentum exhibentis prefignaverit aufpicia : arbor ipfa. Viderint et dijudicent utrum eis con- gruat per quos fan6litatis pariter et libertatis viror et vigor emarcuit et evanuit antique in Anglia ecclefie quod ubi regni fui primordia pulfare ceperunt lignum viride et frondofum fubito exaruit . decorem repente exuit 1 . et confufibilem tenuit nuditatem. In hunc modum fecundum ea que accidifie dicuntur pro rege noftro beato Haroldo vel contra ipfum aliis fie aliis vero fie fencientibus, nos que parcium fuerunt tetigifTe fufficiat diffinitivum calculum lectoris feu potius cuncta fcientis Dei : examini concedentes. Quan- tum vero noftrarum intererat virium per hec que non fuperflue ut eftimamus commemorata funt lapides fcandalorum de via tolJere . et planum iter facere didtante ut confidimus ipfa rerum veri- tate 2 conati fumus. Supereft jam ut redeunti et de via longiflima venienti ad nos regi noftro et patrono celeriter occurramus et repatrianti in An- glorum primum . deinde in Angelorum patriam devoto fidelis ftili minifterio pro viribus obfe- f. I7 . quamur. Ipfe vero non modo humanum fet et divinum jam accufando et judicando fe . fie ftuduit judicium prevenire ut fit ei pro minimo ab hiis judicari . qui in partem utramlibet odio propen- fiores aut favore: juxta humanum diem judicant . crebrius erronie rarius vere. 1 exuut, H. ; cxuit, G. 2 H. ; verum reritate, G. F Quod multis in peregrinatione annis exaftis ad Angliam ob exercitandam pacienciam et benignitatem Haroldus rediens Chriftianum fe vocitari fecerit decenniumque in rupe quadam expleverit 1 Jolitarie vivens ; et in hujus temporis Antichriftos compen- dioja inveccio . .- , . ^ . . . x iij. XACTIS igitur in fandlo religiofe pere- grinacionis fudore quampluribus annis alium converfacionis modum corpori jam laboris diuturnitate etateque confedto de cetero cenfuit imponendum. Didi- cerat quidem innumeras fanftorum quos adierat virtutes et vitas fandliflimas . decrevitque jam greflum figere . circuitionibus finem dare valefa- cere ex integro Marthe . cum Maria federe. Meditacionibus eorum que vifu vel auditu perce- perat ex dictis bonorum et geftis animum fpiritu- aliter ruminando quo liberius faginare 2 quatinus cum pfalmifta re et veritate cantare potuiffet . Sicufi adipe et pinguedine repleatur a[nima] m[ea] et la\biis\ ex\ultantibus\ lau\dat] os meum* Gufta- verat ac tenuit et ipfe turn in fe turn et in dulci ac 1 H.M. ; explevit, G. 2 H.M. ; saginaret, G. 3 Pfalm Ixii. 6. 4 H.M. ; maum, G. Vita Haroldi Regis. 67 fuavi juftorum fanctitate . quam dulcis et fuavis eft fanctorum Sanctus ; factuque ducit optimum in reliquum vacare plenius . ut videat perfeccius . fciat felicius quia Dominus ipfe eft Deus. Verum ne corporalis vacacio ut eft familiare incautis animo inferret feriato ignaviam aut torporem . in ilia potiflimum vacare terra et quiefcere preelegit ex cujus incolatu patiencie et benignitatis majus exercitium majufque argumentum : habiturum fe exhibiturumque previdit. Sciebat perfeccionis culmen cujus pectore jam dilatato gerebat amplitu- dinem . in eo quam maxime eminere quod films unigenitus fummi patris fratribus adoptivis indicere dignatus eft et docere . Orate 1 . inquiens . pro calumniantibus et perfequentibus vos . benefacite hits qui oderunt vos . ut fitis filii patris veftri qui in celis eft qui facit Jolem Juum oriri fuper bonos et malos . et pluit fuper juftos et injuftos. Afpirans igitur precordiali affectu ad vere hujus f. 17 b. perfeccionis meritum et premium ad quam pocius tendere vel in qua manere terra quam ad illam et in ilia debuiflet que tot fui perfecutores : quot illius pofleflbres . quot in ilia potentes tot fe odientes . tot ferme fe calumpniantes quot fibi vel de fe Joquentes continet. Nee vero temere jam: tarn forti fe credit certamini committit difcrimini. Non enim ignorat interni fui robur inhabitatoris quern inhabitabat . et a quo inhabitabatur nee veta- batur 2 cum apoftolo dicere: An* experimentum queritis ejus qui in me loquitur Chriftus ? 1 Matt. v. 44, 45. 2 H.M. ; verebatur, G. 3 ^ Cor. xiii. 3. 68 Vita Haroldi Regis. Tanti hofpitis jconfciencia fisus Chriftianum fe voluit nominari . ut ei unione jam fpiritus con- junctus 1 communione uniretur etiam vocabuli: quern fe inhabitantem in fe loqui : in fe noverat et operari in fe et pati. Nam et illud corde fibi . opere vero etiam nobis cum Paulo loquebatur : Omniu^ poffum in eo qui me confortat. Nori fie impii . non fie quos hoftis verfipellis hoftisdejiciens et dejectus . fie armat ut perimat fie roborat ut enervet. Docet enim vos ponere carnem brachium veftrum ut recedat a Deo cor veftrum ut fitis ficut myrice florentes et fteriles . habitetifque nunc in terra falfuginis que fuis fructum cultoribus non producit poft in terra inhabitabili : que fuis incolis requiem non concedit. In hac enim terra : folum fempiternus horror inha- bitat. Quis enim habitabit cum igne devorante aut quis habitabit cum ardoribus fempiternis? Quibus tamen 3 poftremis verbis propheticis abfque abufione abutimur . ignium non nefcientes diverfi- tatem . quorum ifte peccatores fine confumpcione confumit . ille peccata confumendo . peccatores juftificans illuminat pariter et accendit. Quid autem nobis eft de .hiis qui foris funt loqui vel judicare . qui ecclefiam immo ecclefias exterius quidem rapiunt et diripiunt . fet intus nee intrant nee inhabitant vineam quidem Domini Saboth 4 . pro pofTe fuo vindemiantes et fuccidentes . fet ab ejus cultore jam ipfi precifi . et nifi refipifcant . in ignem eternum in puncto mittendi ? Verum 5 quia 1 H.M. ; cunjunftus, G. a Philip, iv. 13. 3 H.M.; tame, G. H.; Sabaoth, M.G. 5 H. ; Utrum, M.G. Vita Haroldi Regis. 69 Antichrifti facti funt ifti ad 1 noftrum pocius redeuntes Chriftianum hos fibi relinquamus et fuo igni. Nam et nunc tefte propheta ignis adverfarios devorat . et juxta vitis vere fentenciam: palmesf. is. poft mittendus 2 in ignem jam ardet. Chriftianus vero nofter novus et vetus . novus : nomine vetus profeffione 3 . Chrifto fe inhabitante fecurus jam mundi victor et illius qui in mundo eft principis debellator novo marte nova preliandi arte fuos aggreditur vincere victores. Contulerat ei fuus rex cui fpe recuperandi regni amifli jam diu mili- taverat . ignem caritatis . quo flatu Sandli Spiritus eftuante . vi6tricium fibi armorum copiam tribula- cionum mallei fuper incudem pacienciefabricaverant. Hiis pro amiflb quidem regno fet celefti non terreno . certare didicerat invictiflime fciens quia ficut nullo fine ita nee ullo hofte cum illud obtinu- ifTet poflet amittere. Appulfus igitur demum in regnum quondam fuum periculofe quidem habitum fet fructuofe amifTum . armis quibus erat munitus pro regno incomparabiliter meliore viriliter pug- naturus . caftrum ingreditur fuis copiis fatis aptum. In quadam namque rupe fecus Dovram fefe re- cipiens . collegit primum fe in fe ; deinde con- fcendens a fe fuper fe cernebat terram a longe cujus interdum regem quoque oculi fui videbant in fuo decore in qua 4 et cum quo etiam ipfe certa fpe prefumebat regnare. Hie juxta decalogi fummam decennium in vite folitarie tyrocinio miles jam emeritus complens . vitalia legis divine pre- 1 H. ; ifti? Ad, M.G. * H. ; poftmittendus, M.G. 3 H.M.; prefeffione, G. * H.; quo, M.G. JQ Vita Haroldi Regis. cepta divinius ipfe vivendo certabat pocius excedere quam implere. Noverat enim id quidem virtutis . hoc efTe fanclitatis . inchoacionis illud: iftud per- feccionis. Ulud quoque necefTarium hoc cenfebat gloriofum. Hie denique confilium illic imperium attendebat . hominum pariter falutem et gloriam: zelantis et procurantis Dei. Non vero multum a loco ubi regnum terrenum pene moriendo pridem ipfe amiferat. Hie locus aberat ubi vitam fie inftituendo degebat . regnoque celorum vim faciendo illud rapiebat. Hie ergo paciencia hie et clemencia viri vires fuas exercebant et perdebant . ubi et preteritus fuus fuorumque lapfus . prefenfque hoftium faftus . memorie necnon . et afpectui fuo quo frequencius ingerebatur . eo benignius ad retribuenda retribuentibus fibi non mala fet pie interceflionis ampla beneficia incitabatur. Quodinconfinio Wallenfiumpoflmodum Haroldus f- pluribus in locis tern-pore multo degens patient er eorum frequencius tulerit ajfultus . faciem velans panno et nomen nomine alio ne aliquatenus agnojce- retur . et quod tandem ad ejus venerationem converfa eft immanitas perfecutorum . . . xiiij. (ECOLENS vero quia et Ualenfibus licet ob juftam ut tune temporis videbatur gentis fue defenfionem extitifTet quandoque infeftus . eupit jam Chriftianus perferre cum Paulo . quod egerat quondam Haroldus cum Saulo. Pertendit igitur Cancie valefaciens ufque in partes Wallie multoque ibi diverfis in locis moratus tempor'e : manebat cum illis et orabat pro illis quern illi non fe jam oppugnantem . fed pro fe pugnantem inde- finenter impugnabant gratis. Accefmrus vero ut premifTum eft in terram fibi ante cognitam ne quavis occafione a quolibet agnitus . virtutis meritum precio vanitatis dum laus oblata jure in eo Jaudanda profequitur venditaret faciem fuam et nomen proprium omnibus abfcondebat . proceflurus in publicum : velamen panniculi jugiter vultui pretendebat. Nomen requifitus: Chriftianum fe 72 Vita Haroldi Regis. dici aiebat. Qui enim nominis appellacione uni- verfis cicatricum vero fuarum infpeccione quibufdam innotuerat: vultum fimul 1 et vocabulum occultabat. Timebat namque ne forte his indiciis proderetur. Metuebat fiquidem ne vel a fuis fi qui forte fuperefle potuifient vel ab aJienis quoque fi agnofceretur ? plaufibus exciperetur feu priftine dignitatis et moderne humilitatis intuitu . feu etiam domeftice neceflitudinis aut familiaritatis obtentu. Nee enim timendum erat ne talem etatem feu con- verfacionem agens talem: ab hoftibus fi proderetur hoftiliter traclaretur . et durius quam fe ipfe con- ftruxerat 2 : per ipfos ardaretur. Non erat incertum tamen quia fi eorum notitie exponeretur moleftius utique quam eculeis 3 et carceribus laudibus ipforum et preconiis premeretur. Quis enim tarn humilem et mitem . tam benignum et leuem 4 tarn mundi rebus inanem . mundique amatoribus fponte de- fpicabilem videns . prefertim fi quante olim exceliencie quanteque affiuencie nee non et potencie fuiiTet minime Jateret . quicquid pofTet venerationis et honoris non ei devotiffime ex- I9 hiberet ? De ejus namque parfimonia et paciencia illud in eo mirabile commendatur quod non tam ad injurias pacienciam quam benificenciam repen- 4ebat et cariosum jam corpusculum refocillabat pocius quam reficiebat tenuiffimis alimentis. De quo et hoc a quodam religiofo admodum Chrifti fervo accepimus . quia fi quando vel exilem pifci- 1 H.M. ; fimal, G. 2 H.M. ; conftrixcrat, G. 8 H.M. ; aculcis, G. * H.j kncm, M.G. Vita Haroldi Regis. 73 culum edebat . nunquam infumpto 1 uno latere latus reliquum attingebat . aut regirabat . fed vel miniftro vel egeno fi affuiflet : intadum porrigebat. Ejus nimirum vir fan<5tus intencione rigidiflima complexus exemplum cujus fibi nominis vendicarat participium : maluit temporaliter cum Chrifto . et pro Chrifto jam a Chrifto di<5tus Chriftianus defpici et affligi : quam mundi favoribus et oble<5tamentis demulceri . unde et ifeipfum fevicie Wallenfmm ultro duxerat exponendum ponens fibi ante mentis oculos pafchalem Agnum qui fponte feipfum optulit 2 impiis facerdotibus pro nobis immolandum. Sicut enim 3 Chriftus ambulavit Chriftianus cupiens ambulare Agnum quern forte fequi non poterat per illibatam carnis mundiciam fequi feftinabat quocumque iret turn per mundi cordis puritatem . turn per affli&i corporis paflionem. Paciendi namque fervens amore quafi parum reputans quicquid ipfe fibi carnifex afperitatis intulifiet corpori et inedie effere gentis Jibenter adivit contubernium . a qua etfi quominus crucifi- gendum variis tamen modis fe noverat affligendum. Nee fecus quam fperabat et optabat: ab infidis ferinifque homunculis pertulit . verberibus namque feviflimis a latrunculis eorum fepius vehementer attritus quibus etiam poffent dampnis 2 afficiebatur. 1 H.M. ; confumrto, G. 2 H.M. ; obtulit, G. 3 The ufe of the ancient diacritical mark of abbreviation for this word (.tt.) goes far to (hew that the fcribe of this MS. was here copying from an original document, quite as old, in point of date, as the aftual fafts which it propofes to narrate. * H.M.; damnis, G. 74 Vita Haroldi Regis. Fraudabant eum viatico . vefte fpolibant utque peccunias 1 quas non habebat exhiberet nimiis et exquifitis eum cruciatibus et injuriis contorquebant . faciebant talia homines beftiales . quibus apte fatis congruit quod de Longobardis fanctus Gregorius ait ; " Quorum," inquid, 2 " funt zinzungie 3 pene et gratie fpate." Perferebat vero homo Dei univerfa mente placita 4 . hylari vultu . ore dulci- loquo . manu munifica ; nee quievit pietas hujuf- cemodi cum impietate conflictus . quoufque illius malum in hujus bono deviclum . verecundiam vicle imprimeret . victrici gratiam cumularet et gloriam. Pafcebat etenim ac potabat ut vox f. 19 b. monet apoftolica inimicos . mulcebat predones beneficiis . mitigabat tortores : miraculo inaudite lenitatis. Congerebat perinde de camino multe caritatis carbones ignis fuper capita eorum . unde mol[l]ita eorum duricia medullitusdemumliquefacla colere cepit . et honorare quern folebat illudere et flagellare. Infiftit manus obfequiis . que feviebat plagis. Ingeminat laudes afTueta lingua contu- meliis. Virtus enim inexperte bonitatis more aromatum quo durius traclabatur forcius redolebat . laciufque diffufa : multis per girum odor vite in 1 H.M. ; pecunias, G. 2 H.M. ; inquit, G. 3 H.M.; fuzugiae, G. The reference is to S. Gregorii Magni Epiftolarum, lib. i. xxxi. (Migne, vol. Ixxvii., fol. 484.) " quia ficut peccata mea increbantur, non Romanorum, fed Langobardorum epifcopus fadlus fum, quorum fynthiciae fpathae funt, et gratia pcena." The annotator writes, " Sjntbici* funt pafta, conventiones, a Graeco evvOr)x.r). Spatba, gladius ; unde fpatbarius; . . . Senfus igitur eft; Langobardorum pafta, con- traftus, id eft, jura omnia quac apud Romanes conftant ex padlis ct contraftibus, verfantur in vi et ferro." 4 H.M. ; placida, G. Vita Haroldi Regis. 75 vitam fiebat. Pellebat namque et fugabat fpiramen diabolicum nebulofi furoris : a precordiis brutorum licet hominum illapfa fenfibus eorum fragrancia fuavis fandle illius opinionis. Putares jam plerofque ex hiis: illud ei de canticis affectibus pocius quam vocibus concrepare . In 1 odore unguent or um tuorum currimus anime Jiquidem noftre dilexerunt te. \ " Oleum affufum nomen tuum ; ideo adolefcentulae di- lexerunt te. Trahe me : poft te curremus in odorem unguen- torum tuorum." Cant. Cantt., 1.1,2. Quod vir Domini Haroldus fugit obfequios quos adierat et diu Juftinuerat perfequentes et quod voce de celo lap/a defignatus fit ei locus paufacionis Jue . et quodfemiplenis verborum indiciis .Jcifcitantibus innuerit Je fuijje Haroldum et quod fcripto fuccef- foris Jui plenius oftendetur infer ius : kujus rei cer- titudo xv. T vir Domini humilitatis profunde cultor amator quietis cuftos follicitus utriu- que . ne alterutrius boni faltem exi- guum admitteret detrimentum : quos perfecuturos cenfuerat expetendos . inclinatos jam ad obfequia decernit fugiendos. Cedebat in eo jam corporei roboris virtus laboribus quidem cedere nefcia . fed annis infracta. Crederes olim roborari pocius quam infirmari genua ejus a jejunio . clunes et pedes meando agilitatem fumere fatigacionem vix fentire. At jam decrepito experiri erat : quia " Omnia J fert etas." Fufa igitur fupplici oracione ad Dominum : locum previderi divinitus fibique jamjam de- ficienti jam pre fue folius fuaviflime defiderio ^ Stat. Tbeb.y iii. 562. Vita Haroldl Regis. 77 vifionis precordiali fpiritu languenti folita poftulat benignitate concedi : in quo vite reliquum fub filentio optate quietis tranfigeret . et felici demum exceflu terminaret. Senciens autem per fpiritum benignum Dominum pauperis fui pium exaudifTe defiderium imponi fe fecit vili ju- f. 20. mento . folitoque contentus miniftro . iter quo ilium Dominus deftinare dignaretur aggreditur . pedibus iccirco fubvedhis alienis : quia virtus jam aberat fuis. Recedens igitur fcienter nefcius . et fapienter indoctus ductu comitatus angelico . Cef- trenfem demum pervenit ad urbem . Ubi mox die inclinato ad vefperam . mediam ingrefTus civitatem : cum manfionis locum miniftrum in- quirere precepifTet: vox repente hujufcemodi auri- bus eorum illabitur . "Vade," inquid, 1 " vir bone ad ecclefiam fancti Johannis paratam ibi accipies manfionem." Attonitus ad audita minifter oculo undique circumfpectans curiofo . edite vocis in- quire prolatorem : fed non comparuit. Nimirum angelum Domini bonum qui itinera fua fecum comitatus bene femper difpofuiflet ilium fecifle 2 qui de parata fibi manfione . hec denunciaflet viro Dei non fuit incertum. Ipfe vero more fuo panno ante oculos pendente . et totam pene faciem operiente . afpectum fibi velaverat ne videlicet occurrentibus ob notabilem cicatricum fuarum ob- duccionem ftupori effet . vel fi agnofceretur eciam veneracioni . vel ne ad mentis abdita . fenfibus un- decunque occurrenti pateret aditus vanitati. De- iignant mox digito qui circumftabant ecclefiam 1 H.M. ; inquit, G. H.M. ; fuifle, G. 78 Vita Haroldi Regis. celefti oraculo fibi defignatam: accedit . et gratu- lanter accipitur . hofpes celitus deftinatus. Mi- graverat fane ab hac luce de recent! venerabilis anachorita ejufdem loci cafulam fuam divinitus provifo cedens fandliflimo fucceflbri. Sufcepit vero letabunda et gaudens . licet quifnam eflet . cercius non agnofcens regem fuum filia Syon ecclefia vide- licet memorata fedentem ignobile quidem fubjugale . fanctum tamen et fibi venientem in omnibus falu- tarem. Ibidem quoque manens a vifitantibus fe . et que edificacionis erant ab eo reportantibus . fre- quenter requifitus an bello ubi rex Haroldus occu- buiffe ferebatur interfuiflet : refpondebat . " Interfui plane." Sufpicantibus vero nonnullis ne forte ipfe efTet Haroldus : et curiofius quoat 1 licuit inde fcifci- tantibus aliquociens 2 ita de fe loquebatur . "Quando apud Haftingas dimicatum eft : nullus Haroldo me carior habebatur." Hujufmodi ut ita dicatur femi- f. 20 b. verbiis ancipitem de fe nulli opinionem firmabat pocius in fuis conjecturis quam in veritatis certi- tudine 3 confirmabat. Quemadmodum vero rei hujus evidencia univerfis demum palam innotuerit non noftri fed viri venerabilis quern in ejufdem anachorefeos inhabitacione habuit fuccefTorem . verbis inferius exprimetur. 1 H.M. ; quoad, G. 2 H.M. ; aliquoties, G. 8 H. ; certitudincm, M.G. Monetur leftor nefpernat leccionem quamjentit a nonnullorum opinionibus difcrepare . et de triplici occafione contraria exiftimancium Juper materia pre- fenti et de Willelmi Meldunenfis circa Haroldi fata errore trlformi ..... xvj. INTERIM vero ledori noftro humiliter fuggerendum exiftimo ne ifta uteque 1 a noftra 2 pravitate digefta ducat fpernenda . quia aliter atque aliter plerofque forfan meminit de hac ipfa . et dixifTe et fcripfifle materia. Manifeftum enim eft quia non folum plebei relatores immo et illuftriflimi rethores 3 non modo diverfa fed penitus contraria fenferunt . et fcripferunt fuper hiis que facta feu fata Haroldi contingunt. Convincitur autem turn evident! racione turn et auctoritate non pofle efle verum altrinfecus: quod diflbnat. Hoc ipfa quidem veritate dictante : fanctus dixit leronymus. 4 In fentenciarum vero quas hie ventilamus racione triplex poterit a bene confiderantibus affignari con- trarietatis feu quod eciam inficiari nullus debet falfitatis occafio. In primis equidem perfpicuum 1 H.M. ; utique, G. 2 H.M. ; nofta parvitate, G. 3 H.M. ; rhetorcs, G. 4 H.M. ; Hieronymus, G. 80 Vita Haroldi Regis. eft quia in multis rei veritas univerfos pene diucius latuit. Hinc odium perfone . feu favor benevolis : commentandi bona malevolis : fimiliter mala de incertis configendi : liberam videbatur ceflifle facultatem. Hiis facundiflimus aftipulatur in cronicis fuis Meldunenfis Willelmus 1 promittitque fe medium inter obtrec"lancium . necnon et com- mendancium partes inceflurum. Crediderim pro- culdubio ipfum pro viribus veris inftitifle nee juftis preconiis . nee vituperiis . debitis negociorum merita ultro defraudafle. Verum quia audita non eciam vifa fcribebat hyftoriarum Jege audloris veritas tuta eft ubi veritas quoque ipfa geftorum : naufragatur. Alias : nee ipfi beatiffimi Evange- liorum fcriptores periculum falfitatis efFugerant. Sic Salvatoris pater dicitur Jofeph . fie difcipulorum quidam fratres ejus peculiarius ceteris nominantur . non quod verus fed quod putativus eos pater filios habuerit non quidem naturales fed pocius adoptivos. f - 2I - Secutus igitur opinionem et vero minus afluetus et ifte quod vero jam patet fuifTe oppofitum : hiftorie fue quamlibet veritati pro viribus innixe agnofcitur indidifle. Ceterum in aliis que de meritis Haroldi vel moribus prout animus tulit aut fama fuggeflit aureo nunc vero piceo commentatus eft ftilo venalius forte exorbitaverit a tramite veri in ipfum vero Chriftum Domini trunculencius deliquit. Tres enim lanceas in ipfum violentus intorfit . quibus non tarn illius perfonam quam ipfam contigit 1 The hiftorian William of Malmefbury. The paflages alluded to are in his Gejia Regum, ed. Hardy, Englifli Hiftorical Society, 2 vols., 8vo, pp. 339, 383-385, 408-420. Vita Haroldi Regis. 81 impeti veritatem. Dixit eum ictu fagitte: capita vulnerato oppetifTe J . dixit militem qui regi mortuo femur inciderat ducis cenfura victoris : ab exercitu pulfum. 2 Retulit a matre funus regium oblata pecunia a triumphatore Willelmo poftulatum . fed receptum abfque pecunia: apud Waltham tumu- latum. 3 Sic in femur . fie in caput fie in omne hominis corpus lingua licencius debachatur 4 ora- toris clanculo fcriptitantis . quam militis armata manus in propatuJo dimicantis. Verum tam a fagitta oris iftorum quam et a framea manus illorum liberavit Dominus pauperem et inopem quern et rethoribus 5 et regibus multis probavit in pluribus pociorem. 6 Non quidem de omnibus dico dabit Dominus fimpliciter gradient! intelligere que fcribo . fentire que fencio. Temperancius vero fcripfit hujus 1 "jaftu fagittae violato cerebro procubuit." (W. Malm., Gejia Regum, p. 416) ; "arainus lethali arundine iflus mortem implevit " (ibid.} 2 "Jacentis femur unus militum gladio profcidit ; unde a Willelmo ignominis notatus, quod rem ignavam et pudendam feciflet, militia pulfus eft " (ibid.) 3 " Corpus Haroldi matri repetenti fine pretio mifit, licet ilia multum per legates obtulifiet : acceptum itaque apud Waltham fepelivit, quam ipfe ecclefiam, ex proprio conftructam in honore fanfte Crucis, canonicis impleverat." (W. Malm., Gefta Regum, p. 420.) To which Hardy adds in a note : "There feems to have been a fabulous ftory current during the twelfth, century that Harold efcaped from the battle of Haftings. Giraldus Cambrenfis aflerts that it was believed Harold had fled from the battlefield, pierced with many wounds, and with the lofs of his left eye, and that he ended his days pioufly at Chefter. Both Knighton and Brompton quote this ftory. W. Piftavienfis fays that William refufcd the body to his mother, who offered its weight in gold for it, ordering it to be buried on the fea coaft. 4 H.M. ; debacchatur, G. 5 H.M. ; rhetoribus, G. 6 pocior 5, H. ; pocior eft, M. ; potiorem efle, G. G 82 Vita Haroldi Regis. ipfius fcriptoris contemporaneus venerabilis ad- modum abbas Edelredus 1 fuper hec in vita fan<5ti predeceflbris ejus regis Eadwardi. 2 Dicit quidem aut occubuifle Haroldum in prelio aut penitencie refervatum : non fine vulneribus evafifle. 1 H.M.; Ethelredus, G. This refers to Ailred, Abbot of Rievaulx, whofe work " De Vita et Miraculis Edwardi Con- feflbris " is printed by Twyfden in the Decem Scriptores, cols. 369-414. The fpecial chapter " De Victoria Regis Haroldi per beati Regis merita " is given in cols. 404, 405. 2 H.M. ; Edwardi, G. Quid accidit IValthammenfibus circa patronifui fepulturam piefollicitisfedmulieris cujufdam errors delufis ....... [ON mediocriter tamen id domini Willelmi aut attenuat in tali errore offenfam: quodapudWalthamgeftum longe lateque percrebuit. Revera enim ipfos quoque peculiares ae domefticos regis Walthamenfes canonicos infandus hie rumor pre- occupaverat. In bello fiquidem Haftingenfi regem occubuifle ora pene omnium loquebantur. Debite igitur patrono fuo liberaliflimo devocionis clerici non immemores fepedicti . quandam fagacis animi f - 2I - feminam nomine Editham in partes illas ubi dimicatum fuerat quantocius miferunt quatinus vel extincti membra domini fui ad fe deferret in fua re- verentiflime bafilica fepelienda. Videbatur enim 1 ad hoc attemptandum 2 . quo imbecillior et in- favorabilior hie fexus qui et ipfis cruentis licloribus minimum fufpedlus . plurimum vero miferendus cenferetur. Hec autem pre ceteris femina com- 1 H.M. ; enim aptior, G 2 H.M. ; attentandum, G. 84 Vita Haroldi Regis. modius videbatur ad hoc deftinanda 1 que inter milia 2 mortuorum illiusquem inquirebat eo quoque facilius decerneret eoque benivolencius tractaret exuvias . quo eum arctius amaverat et plenius noverat utpote 3 quam thai ami ipfius fecretis liberius interfuifle conftaret. Ad locum vero fedis infaufte cum accederet : percepit a multis id nimirum jactabunde difleminantibus circumquaque Nor- mannis regem Anglorum ignominiofe vidhim cruce femifradlo fuper faciem campi cum interfedtis jacere peremptum. Viderit lector quid verius probet. Alii etenim eos qui feminecem fuitulerant regem . hunc quoque rumorem fparfiffe exiftimabant in populo . fuo pariter et illius periculo in hoc profpicientes . quibus indubitato foret exicio . fi ilium vivere : hoftis audiret. Inter hec mulieris errorem non mirandum . que defecti . cruentati . jam denigrati . jam fetentis corporis fpeciem minus difcernere valens : pro eftimacione publica truncatum cadaver cum aliud non inveniret quod cercius agnofceret regis proprium : rapuit et fecum attulit alienum. Quod a canonicis reverenter exceptum : indifcufla rei veritate honefte in ecclefia Sancle Crucis fepul- ture eff traditum. 1 H.M.; dcftituanda, G. 2 H.M.; millia, G. 3 H.M. ; utquc, G. Quid f rater Haroldi Gurta nomine abbati Waltero vel aliis refponderit Ju-per fratris Jui requifitus cimribus vel fepultura . . xviij, N diebus vero regis Henrici fecundi vifus eft tarn ab ipfo rege quam a magnatibus terre . et populo Gurta frater Haroldi quern in libro fuo jam dictus hyftoriographus tempore adventus Normannorum aliquid plus puero etatis habuiffe refert prudentia vero animi . et probitate nil diftare a viro. Erat autem jam tune grandevus valde . et ficut ea tempeftate a multis accepimus qui eum viderant venuftus afpeftu . facie decorus . proceri- tate corporis admodum longus. Hunc vidit etiam f. 22. pie recordacionis canonicorum regularium apud Waltham abbas primus . dompnus 1 Walterus 2 . a 1 H.M. ; dominus, G. 2 Waltham, according to Dugdale, Man. AngL, vi. 57, con- tinued to be a college for about 1 1 5 years, according to Harold's foundation, from 1062 to 1177, when Henry I., determined to inflitute Regular Canons in room of Seculars, " quia clerici feculares, qui ibidem hue ufque manferant, mundanis operibus et illecebris illicitis magis quam divino fervitio intendebant." Guido or Wido Ruffus the Dean, being fufpended, refigned in 1 174, and in 1 177 on the eve of Pcntcccft, Walter de Gaunt, 86 Vita Haroldi Regis. quo una cum fratribus fibi adherentibus in curia regis apud Wodeftocam 1 diligenter fcifcitari ftuduit utrum revera cineres germani fui in fuo ut crede- batur monafterio fervarentur. Quibus 2 ille anglice refpondit . " Rufticum " ait " quemlibet habere poteftis . Haroldum non habetis." Ad locum tamen per feipfum venit crucem fanctam adoraturus . Oftenfoque fibi farcofago 3 fratris ut dicebatur : oblique illud intuitus " non " ait " homo fcit " . fie enim jurabat "non hicjacet Haroldus." Vivat in longum et vigeat in Chrifto dominus Michael canonicus probate religionis . camerarius ecclefie Walthamenfis qui multis aftantibus quorum non- nulli adhuc fuperfunt hec ab hore 4 viri fe audivifle conftanter affeverat. Hiis autem pro legencium commonicione ne perturbet eos varietas incerta fcriptorum breviter nee inutiliter ut confidimus prelibatis . jam ut promiflimus 5 viri fuperius memorati verba ponenda funt quibus manifefte docetur . qualiter fervi fui noticiam Chrifti benig- nitas plurimis evidentiflime patefaceret indiciis. a canon of Ofeney, was conftituted firft abbot. He died on the eve of Afcenfion Day, 1201. The mention of his name here in the text feems to indicate that his deceafe was recent, and helps to point the MS. to the date which I have affigned to it. 1 Woodftock, near Oxford. 2 On the margin of the MS. a monogram of the word Nota, to draw the attention of the reader. 3 H.M. ; farbofago, G. * H. j ore, M.G. 5 H.M. ; promiffimus, G. Quod viri del JucceJJor de geftis Haroldi bea- tiflimi vera Jcribens caufas geftorum minus congrue bis aflignaverit et -prime ajfignacionis dijcuflio et competent prolatis fentenciarum diverjarum teftimo- niis e<ujdem improbacio .... xix. IN quibus fideliflimi relatoris id quoque verbis perpendendum eft quia ficut res geftas luculenter digeflit et vere ita geftorum caufas minus ut ple- rifque videri poteft convenienter et provide quod pace tanti viri dictum {it exprimere curavit. Ubi illud tercium adverti poteft quod contrarietatis occafionem inter fcriptores diximus peperirTe. Qualitas fcilicet mentis feu intelligencia fingula queque referendum qui pro fui affeccione animi viri fandi 1 affectum propofitumque in hiis que geflit mecientes : quid quare fecerit nifi funt affig- natis racionibus intimare. Quorum fenfa fcriben- cium credulitas incaucius exprimendo facia ple- rumque infignia . interpretacione non vera fufcavit. Quod non femel fed fecundo bono huic viro in fue 1 H. ; fanftifiimi, M.G. Vita Harolai Regis. narracionis ferie ill is videtur accidiffe . qui rationi perfpicue nee non aliorum opinioni amplius inni- tentes eorum videlicet qui fervo domini familiarius f 32 t>j adheferant ipfius quodam modo intimam mentis ymaginem cordibus fuis alcius impreffere. Que vero ilia fint quibus minus adquiefcit ipfius ut creditur tenor veritatis opere precium eft breviter difcutere . quo fimplicioribus pro pofle auditoribus vim difcrecionis aperientes . omnem dubietatis caliginem de medio auferamus. Dicit igitur memoratus vir de fancto tune peregrinante ita. Poftmodum quia natalis foli Temper dulcis effe folet inhabitacio : ad Angliam cujus antea rex extiterat concito properavit. Cum autem fapi- entum diffinicione tritum fit : quia infirmus eft adhuc cui patria fua dulcis eft . fortis vero jam . cum omne folum patria eft . perfedus quoque cui omne folum exilium eft . cui non pateat abfurde dici virum ut ipfe dicit fenectute aridum . diutur- nitate itineris utique religiofi confra<5lum . natalis foli ut repatriaret dulcedine attractum? Dicente infuper Domino ad Abraham: Ingredere 1 de tera^ tua . itemque in pfalmo . Oblivifcere* populum tuum et domum patris tut. Quern etate minorem animi firmitate . et fanctitate meriti . inferiorem pariter et imbecilliorem . tenere non potuit terre fue . populi fui . domufque paterne dulcedo aut memoria duceret jam vel attraheret in omnibus 1 H.M. ; Egredere, G. Gen. xii. i. 2 H. ; terra, M.G. The MS. originally had the word dextera written in error, the x being now crafcd. s Pfalm. xliv. ii. Vita Haroldi Regis. 89 hiis quo provecciorem eo proculdubio et perfec- ciorem. Aut hanc omifTam olim dulcedinem corde ruminanti non continue iJlud evangelicum auribus interioris hominis forcius inthonaret : * Nemo' 2 ' mittens manum Juam ad aratrum . et refpiciens retro aptus eft regno Dei ? Nee vero perpendit fcriptor pius quale tune fuerit illud ejus natale folum qualiter immutatum quam fibi fuifque infeftum quam omni jam fui refpectu . et fi mollioribus adhuc duceretur affectibus . efle pofTet eciam grave fibi ad videndum. 1 H.M. ; intonaret, G. 2 Luc. ix. 62. Secunde affignacionis infirmacio et J "crip tor is ad leftorem deprecacio et de difficultate materiam refarciendi a prifcis Jcriptoribus varie lacera- tam . .... . . . .xx. I EC fatis validiore 1 paulo inferius ra- cione fulcitur ubi caufam allegat qua Ceftriam aditurus deferuit Salo- peflyram. Refert eum ne tribulacio exterior interioris hominis quietem a modera- minis fui ftatu deiceret locum ilium deferuiffe in quo . ficut idem perhibet vehementer . et fepiflime a Wallenfibus dampnis 2 et verberibus affliclus . feptennio 3 quietus in fe : et Domino humiliter 23- g rac i as agens : vifus eft permanfiffe. Que profeclo fentencia alia nichilominus 4 adhibita confideracione deprehenditur efle invalida excepta illorum quoque tradicione qui eum fines Wallenfium ob hanc ipfam racionem inhabitant affirmant: quatinus pateretur ab illis quos graviflima olim populacione attriverat quamlibet jufta ut putabatur de caufa: 1 validi ore, H. ; validiore, M.G. 2 H.M. ; damnis, G. 8 H. ; feptennio, M.G. 4 H.M. ; nihilominus, G. Vita Haroldi Regis. 91 quicquid eum perpeti cuncta fuaviter difponentis Dei clemens difpenfacio permifirTet. Si enim de- clinande infeftacionis illius obtentu fedem mutare decreviffet : fecifTet hoc utique cicius nee tociens dampnis 1 et verberibus: affligi expectaflet. Nee enim infcius erat in oris eorum in quorum olim medio . triennali ut fertur expedicione hyemando . niniio ipforum periculo intus et in cute ut dicitur eos noverat. Fuit hec quando adhuc comes tanta eos virtute perdomuit . peneque delevit . quanta omnium fequencium ufque in prefens regum vires nequivere. Tanti enim roboris fuifTe perhibetur cum fuerit audacia fingularis: ut ficut legimus in bello quoque Normannorum nullus ad eum armatorum accef- ferit hoftium quin ftatim primo ictu equum et equitem deiceret lethaliter fauciatos. 2 Quam adeo mirabilem . jam mutaverat fortitudinem fperans in domino . pennis afTumptis volans . et nufquam in volatu deficiens. Hoc autem folum volatili tarn forti jam erat formidini ne favoris fcilicet mundani vifco fuarum aliquatenus pennarum virtus infirmaretur fieretque infirmus et non tarn volucrum quas pafcit Deus quam illorum hominum fimilis quos pafcit ventus 3 : fi fibi feptem Sampfonis crines adulacionis novacula raderentur. Id folum ergo fugit quod fojum formidavit non fane Wallenfis telum fed peccatoris oleum. Sciebat Wallenfes: ignotos habere fufpicacioni . in religione probatos 1 H.M. ; toties damnis, G. 2 On the margin of the MS. a monogram of the word Nota. 3 Cf. Milton, Lycidas, " But fwoln with wind," etc. % 92 Vita Haroldi Regis. veneracioni . ideoque illorum afpernari contu- bernia . iftorum admirari. Vir autem domini hinc quidem juftus et fortis . illic prudens et tem- perans: afpernantes fortiter expeciit . ut quod meruifle fe timuit malum jufte pateretur . ad- mirantes prudenter deferuit . ne temperate medio- critatis bono privaretur. Meminit quia oJivam pulchram 1 uberem 2 fructiferam . a facie vocis f. 23 b. grandis: fubito juxta prophetam combufTit ignis: quamobrem voluit ambulare cum magnis . neque in mirabilibus fuper fe. Quos ergo diu fuftinuerat fupra dorfum fuum fabricantes : peccatores fubter- fugit . caput fibi impugnare feftinantes. Set jam finem fermo flagitat . liber claudendus eft ut que de Haroldo innotefcere necefle eft : ilJorum qui hec plenius agnoverunt ftilus evolvat. Benivolum 3 vero lectorem in fui cake libellus ifte linali claufula femper habeat exoratum . quatinus fui aucloris exceflus piis precibus dignetur expiare fecumque fancti Regis Haroldi opitulante inter- ceflione ad portum falutis eterne ipfum pariter optineat 4 pervenire . Multiloquio etiam in pre- fenti opufculo fcriptoris eo clemencius indulgeat veniam quod 5 difficilius fuiffe confpicit propofitum 6 materiam tot prius veterum ftudiis auclorum d\f- ciffam multipliciter et dilaceratam refarcire quodam modo et innovare ac vetuftam . ut ita dicatur ci[m]bam 7 et conquafTatam inter famofos hyftori- 1 H.M. ; pulcram, G. 2 H.M. ; uberem, uberem, G. 8 H.M. ; Benevolum, G. * H.M. ; obtineat, G. 8 H.M. ; quo, G. H.M; propofitam, G' 7 cibu, altered to ciba, H. ; cibum, M. ; cymbam, G. Vita Haroldl Regis. 93 arum fcopuJos in adverfum eciam undique nitentibus tanquam ventis . obtredlancium linguis et litteris . ad deftinatam perduxiffe ftacionem. Sit autem Deo adjutori noftro omnis honor et gloria . qui trinus et unus folus imperat benedidtus laudabilis gloriofus et fuperexaltatus in fecula. Amen. NARRATIO INCLUSI QUI SANCTO SUCCESSIT HAROLDO DE TRANSITU IPSIUS SANCTISSIMI REGIS ET DE MIRACULIS PER EUM PATRATIS POSTQUAM MIGRAVIT AD DoMINUM PREMISSA RELACIONE COMPENDIOSA DE HITS QUE GESSIT AC PERTULIT EX QUO TERRENUM AMISIT IM- PERIUM. ICRIPTUM eft quoniam tribulacio 1 pacienciam operatur paciencia : pro- bacionem . probacio vero : fpem. Ad probacionem paciencie . et fanfte fpei confirmacionem . permittit quandoque Deus fuos tribulari in prefenti ut liberet a tribulacione perhenni . unde et virum venerabilem Haroldum regem quondam Anglorum permifit in tempore tribulari . et ab hoftibus fuperari et a regno fuo eici 2 . ne de vidtoria prius habita fuperbiret . et in regnum elevatus profperitatis occafione amorem divinum poftponeret . fet in paupertate pofitus fandtius et beacius viveret dum a terrenis occupa- cionibus animum omnino liberum haberet. Igitur 1 i Rom. v. 3, 4. 2 H.M. ; ejici, G. Vita Haroldi Regis. 95 poft regni fui amiflionem et plagarum fuarum quas a Normannis pertulerat curacionem . tanquam peregrinus ad loca fancta per terras multas tune 1 f - arripuit . et diu in tali peregrinacione propter Deum laboravit. Poftmodum vero fenedlute aridus . et diuturnitate itineris confraclus fatigato corpori alterius modi religionem indicere ftuduit. Set quia natalis foli Temper dulcis efle folet in- habitacio : ad Angliam cujus ante rex extitit con- cito properavit . ut ibi pauper et vilis : et habitu humilis : refiduum vite fue percurreret : ubi quondam rex dives et fublimis . in veftibus amidus preciofis . floruerat . et tanto apud Deum ejus crefceret meritum . quanto benigniorem gereret animum quod cotidie 2 pofTet adverfarios fuos intueri . et in regno quod amiferat profperari et fecundum preceptum Domini pro eis Deum fideliter deprecari. Poftquam natalis foli fines attigit eremitice vite folitudinem elegit et ibi in pluribus locis converfatus ab omnibus incognitus ufque quo cunctis terrenis extremum valefaceret fideliter Deo miniftravit. Non autem animi levitate facta eft ab eo locorum mutacio . fet quere- bat ubi quiecius ferviret Deo. Habuit autem idem vir nobilis miniftrum quondam Moyfen nomine . qui michi qui hec fcribo inclufo in eodem loco apud Ceftriam ubi dominus Haroldus heremita et amicus Dei obiit: per biennium miniftravit. Eodem vero Moyfe . et viris fidelibus referentibus 1 H. ; iter, M.G. This paffage clearly fhows that G. copied M., and did not collate his text upon the MS. itfelf. 2 H.M. ; quotidie, G. 96 Vita Haroldi Regis. ea que fecuntur multa tamen pretermittens bre- viter et fideliter narrabo. Pervenit autem tandem vir Domini ad Salopeflyra 1 fcilicet ad territorium quod Cefwrthin 2 nominatur . et ibi per feptennium eodem Moyfe illi miniftrante heremiticam] vitam ducensvalde inquietabatur a latronibus Wallenfibus . et dampnis et verberibus vehementer et fepiflime affligebatur. Que omnia pacienter fuftinuit . in omnibus gracias Deo humiliter exhibuit. Set tamen poftmodum ne tribulacio exterior interioris hominis quietem 3 a moderaminis fui ftatu deiceret : 4 locum 1 H. ; Salopeffyra[m], M. ; Salopeffyram, G. 2 H. ; Cefwrthin, M.G. Michel makes no attempt to feek for this place ; Giles contents himfelf with faying, " The fituation of this place has not been identified." There can, however, be no doubt that " Cefwrtbin " is identical with Cbefwardine, a parifh in the hundred of North Bradford, in the northern divifion of the county of Salop, four miles fouth- caft of Market Drayton. The church is dedicated to St. Swithin. According to Eyton, Antiquities of Sbropjbire, x. 28, etc., Domefday Book enters the manor of Cifeworde-and- Ceppecanole, now Chipnall, in the StafFordmire hundred of Pireholle, held immediately of the king by Robert de Stafford. The celebrated Countefs Godiva held it at the time of Harold's hermitage there. The name has been varioufly fpelled Chefewurda, Chefworda, Chefwordyn, Chefworth, Chefew'rthin, Chefeword, and fo forth. It pafled into pofleflion of the great family of Le Strange, but Eyton was unaware of the mention of the place in this MS. John Le Strange granted the advowfon of the church to Haughmond Abbey. There does not appear to be extant any documentary evidence mowing the exadl time when the manor pafled out of the county of Stafford and was accounted to be in Shropshire, but from the text of this paffage it is clear that this had already taken place before the writing of the MS. Eyton mows inci- dentally that it muft have been at fome period between 1 1 89 and 1255 ; at the latter date it enters as a parcel of Bradford hundred in the roll of that hundred. 8 quietem, omitted, M.G. * H.M. ; dejicerct, G. Vita Haroldi Reg is. 97 ilium deferuit . et predido miniftro ejus fubfe- quente . Ceftriam profedus eft. Ibique in capella fandi Jacobi que fita eft fuper fluvium De appella- tum : extra muros civitatis in cimeterio 1 fandi Johannis Baptifte per feptennium : fcilicet ufque ad mortem . heremitice vivens religiosiflime con- verfabatur. Utebatur autem ad nudum tamdiu lorica : quoufque tota putrefieret . et omnino con- fumpta videretur. Scifluras vero ejus . et portiun-f. 34 b. culas diflblutas miniftro fuo Moyfi imperavit ut in fluvium de fecreto proiceret 2 . ne ipfum ea fuifle ufum alicui hominum pateret. Caftiffimus quidem fuit corpore . et continens corde humilis et prudens. Cujus condicionis eflet Temper occultabat ne forte in nimia ab hominibus veneracione haberetur . unde animus elatus a reditudinis tramite laberetur . et apud Deum humilitatis ipfius meritum minue- retur. Raro quidem capella exiit fed oracioni affidue intendit perficiens quod dominus ait. Quia oportefi Jemper or are et non deficere. Ante, oculos fuos femper pannum pendentem habuit . qui totam fere faciem velabat ita quod longiufcule iturus dudoris manu indigebat. Quare autem hoc fecerit . minifter ejus ignorabat . fed forte hoc agebat ne vultus defedi cicatricum appareret obduccio . vel ne ad cor ejus pateret aditus fecu- laribus vanitatibus dum oculis liber concederetur egreflus vel ne ab aliquibus qui eum prius viderant veraciter agnofceretur et ab hominibus venera- retur. 1 H.M.; caemetcrio, G. * H'.M. ; projicerct, G. 3 Luc. xviii. i. H D EXITU EXTREMO HAROLDI. PPROPINQUANTE autem die exitus venerabilis 1 viri Haroldi perventum eft ad hoc quod extreme neceflitatis urgente articulo vir fanctus viatici falutaris indigeret folacio . Unde accedens facerdos . quern ego bene novi Andreas nomine . de ecclefia fancti Johannis . infirmum vifitabat et illi quiquid 2 mos exigit Chriftianus devote exhibebat. Extre- mam vero ipfius audiens confeflionem eum interro- gavit cujus condicionis vir fuerit. Cui ille . " Si michi dixeris in verbo Domini quod me vivente quod tibi dixero nulli propalabis 3 fatisfaciam rationi tue interrogationis." Cui facerdos. " In periculo anime mee dico tibi quod quicquid mihi dixeris omnibus erit incognitum . ufque quo extremum efflaveris halitum." Turn ille . " Verum eft quod rex fui quondam Anglic Haroldus nomine . nunc autem pauper et jacens in cinere . et ut celarem nomen meum appellari me feci nomine Chris- tianum." 1 H.M.; vencrabiliis, G. 2 H. ; quicquid, M.G. * H.G. ; propalatis, M. Vita Haroldl Regis. 99 Non diu poft hec emifit fpiritum : et jam omnium hoftium fuorum vidor migravit ad dominum. Sacerdos vero ftatim omnibus nunciavit . quod ei vir Dei in extrema confeflione intimavit et ipfum efle certiflime re ... - 1 1 Here the MS. ends abruptly at the foot of the page rc[gem Haroldum] . . . M. TRANSLATION. THE LIFE OF KING HAROLD. PROLOGUE TO THE LIFE OF THE VENERABLE HERO HAROLD, FORMERLY KING OF THE ENGLISH. UST as the Holy Scriptures com- mend the builders of the ark of the covenant under the difpenfation of Mofes, and of the temple of the Lord under that of Solomon, fo alfo do they deem thofe men worthy of praife who have faithfully laboured with earneft devotion to offer or prepare things which are necefTary for the building. Ac- cording to Nehemiah, thofe who derided the builders are overthrown with a terrible impreca- tion; the rebuilders of Jerufalem, having been rewarded with hereditary titles by Ezra, fanctified an everlafting remembrance of their name and their work to their pofterity. Such a confideration, I truly confefs, vehemently ftimulated my infigni- ficance, although it is of flender value and of tottering ftrength, to contribute fome kind of afliftance to the holy work in which ye toil, reverend fathers. There is added to this ftimula- 1 04 The Life of King Harold. tion, moreover, as the turn runs already beyond meafure, on the one fide a brotherly requeft with friendly perfuafion, on the other fide an anxious admoniming with a paternal command. I feel, indeed, that it is a work full of labour, yet I truft it is replenifhed with its own reward, and that it is the performing of your wifhes and the outcome of our own eagernefs. But the pains of a little fpace of time are rightly to be under- gone and accepted, with the height of our ftrength, when in return we are rewarded, not by the applaufe of a frail and fleeting age, but rather by that of a praife and glory which will endure in that place where an eternal honour and fplendour is obtained. Neverthelefs, although to have looked for the reward of tranfitory praife for one's labour on one's work, is to have loft one's trouble and one's talk, in the fame way to accept the attraction of a favour, not indeed fought for, although freely beftowed, is to have deprived one's felf of the reward of internal felf-confcioufnefs and of the praife of the eternal Judge. For we muft bear in mind how applicable to fuch a pofition is that declaration couched in thefe words : Amen, I fay unto you, they have received their reward. Your fatherly authority, then, orders, and your brotherly love begs, me to take every watchful care, with afliftance gathered together on all fides, to promote a remarkable work which, begun indeed excellently, and worthily carried on, ye do urgently prefs forward to a praifeworthy termina- tion, left by chance any ftore of things needful The Life of King Harold. 105 for the completion of this undertaking fhould be wanting to the dutiful tafk. For ye do truly defire that a work of remarkable character fuch as this is, caft in the form of a fingle book, and compiled from various records written by our fathers, and ftudioufly worked out to the praife, and concerning the praife, of the glorious and God-bearing Crofs, with the memorable deeds of your founder (whofe memory we do cheer- fully blefs), mould be rendered famous, and that a talk dedicated in this way mould be completed with fuch a cheer, fo to fpeak. The defire of your holinefs is praifeworthy, without doubt, becaufe it is the refult of your devotion, and becaufe it has a good end in view. For it is, indeed, a mark of no undue devotion of yours, that you earneftly defire, by the medium of a literary compofition, to hand down faithfully to a pofterity which is about to be born, the great deeds of fo great a hero. For, of a truth, ye are held bound, by juft fuch a right, to illuftrate by due praife of his virtues, the merits of your own proper patron and everlafting benefactor, as on the other hand ye might fo be, not unduly, accufed of the crime of ingratitude, if you, his guardians and his nurflings, were by your filence to rob pofterity of any knowledge of the efpecially deferving notices of his praife. It cannot be denied that it is the duty of that excellent prudence of yours, to decree that the praifes of one who was a moft devout worfhipper of the Holy Crofs, muft be founded. For, indeed, whatever commenda- 1 06 'The Life of King Harold. tion is deferved by the merits and virtues of its fervant, really belongs altogether to the glory of that Holy Crofs. And in all this, who does not know how eager my moderate abilities are, in no idle fpirit to fet to work at profecuting fo good a book with a liberal fpirit, willingly employing whatever my ftrength can propofe yea, rather whatever God's grace can endow me with ? If I eat the bread of idlenefs, which belongs to you, or rather to Harold yea, much rather to the Holy Crofs of you both the more I behold your ferene faces looking at me, fo much the more ought I properly to dread a feverer condemnation at your hands, if which God forbid it mould chance that I be found, I will not fay ungrateful, but carelefs, after being endowed with fo many benefits, freely and gracioufly beftowed as they indeed are. I will, therefore, comply to the utmoft of my ability with your wifhes. I will mow the greateft poflible gratitude for your kindnefs, provided that you on your part keep to your agreement with me. That is, that you diligently fcrutinize the contents of my writings, and having examined them, then and then only approve or correct them ; rejecting the unpolifhed and badly exprefled diction, but re- ferving, if you think right, the idea, to be ex- preffed as it mould be, in a more elegant ftyle. For under God's guidance, the holy band of which you are members, is not lacking in highly educated fuccefibrs of Bezeleel, Aholiab, or Hyram, men who knew well how to employ, in fuitable Ljfe of King Harold. 1 07 places and fitting ufes, the raw material offered up by a fimple-minded congregation as gifts to the Lord. They knew, too, how with the hand of a mafter, and in accordance with the circumftances of the occafion, to polifh each fepa- rate article as deftly as poflible, to prune off the fuperfluous, to arrange the things wanting in order, to adorn the things that were fhapelefs. But all that my want of fkill can venture to undertake, is to hew out from the mountain-fide, and place upon rafts, a quarry in fome fmall degree prepared for a fabric, and to pilot it down the ftream to more convenient fites, and I mail feel that I have done this when I have handed down, in obedience to your injunctions, a feries of notices which are calculated to benefit the fimple who will take the trouble to ftudy them, gathered together from ancient books, from current writings, from true accounts of the faithful, be they who they .may, and gleaned fo as to form the principal points of intereft in this work. So may the gentle and placid breeze of your prayers waft into the harbour of a favourable more the fragile bark of my compofition, rigged as it is with the banner of the Crofs for its fail, and the prayers of its faithfulnefs for its figurehead. Amen. END OF TH-E PROLOGUE. HERE BEGIN THE CHAPTERS. I. WHAT a mirror of cheerfulnefs and gentlenefs mines forth in the ads of King HAROLD. How he was the brother of the Queen, whom the holy Edward married. How his father Godwin, efcap- ing the fnare of King Canute, received the latter 's fifter to wife ; and how Harold fignally triumphed over the vices of thofe who brought him up. II. How Wales was nearly deftroyed by Harold; and how he recovered from paralyfis by the virtue of the Holy Crofs of Waltham. III. How Harold built, enriched, adorned, and regulated the Church of the Holy Crofs at Waltham ; and how Henry, King of the Englifh, abolimed the fecular canons, and diftinguimed the place by the appointment of regular canons. IV. How it was divinely ordained that this man mould be raifed to the petition of King, and, after having defeated his enemies, mould in his turn be conquered by other enemies and depofed from his kingdom ; and concerning a very pious The Life of King Harold. \ 09 anchorite, who had been a fervant of Harold after he became a hermit himfelf. V. How a certain Saracen woman found him half dead amongft his aflailants, brought him to Winchefter, and healed him as he lay there con- cealed for two years ; and how he fought out the Saxons and Danes to collect allies againft the Normans, but was unfuccefsful. VI. How at length, coming to himfelf, he per- ceived that God was oppofing him in his worldly path ; wherefore, conforming himfelf to the Crofs of Chrift that he might the better triumph over the old enemy, he rejoices that he has fuffered defeat at the hands of men. VII. How he entered on a long pilgrimage to obtain the prayers of holy men ; and how, before he became a King, he vifited the refting-places of the holy Apoftles. VIII. The admiration of the writer, with a brief exclamation on the goodnefs of God, by which it happens that the fins even of the elect work in them for good. IX. How many things are faid by many people about Harold's fin ; and concerning the oak hard by Rouen, under which he made the oath, which remains, though ftript of its bark, to this day. X. The excufe fome make for Harold, whereby, exonerating him from perjury, they aftert that it was with the fanction of God and confent of the 1 1 o The Life of King Harold. holy Edward that he became King ; and concern- ing the vifion of the Abbot Elfinus, in which the holy Edward declared that Harold fhould be conqueror over the Norwegians. XI. A wonderful account concerning a Holy Crofs which is alleged to have bowed its head to Harold as he was haftening to battle, and certain other very aftounding miracles concerning this Crofs, proved to be undoubtedly true. XII. Different interpretations of different men concerning the above-mentioned figns of the bow- ing Crofs and the withered oak ; and how Harold, by judging himfelf favourably, anticipated the divine judgment and fears not man's. XIII. How, after many years fpent abroad, Harold, returning to England for the purpofe of exercifing his patience and meeknefs, caufed him- felf to be called CHRISTIAN,' and lived ten years in certain rock in folitude; with a fhort invective againft the Antichrifts of that time. XIV. How Harold afterwards fpent a long time in various places on the borders of the Welfh, bore their repeated afTaults in patience, hiding his face with a cloth, and changing his name for another left he mould by fome means be recognised ; how at length the cruelty of his perfecutors was changed into veneration for him. XV. How Harold, the man of God, avoided the obfequious who perfecuted him, whom he had approached, and long borne with ; and how a place of reft was appointed for him by a voice that fell 1'he Life of King Harold. 1 1 1 from heaven ; and how he hinted in ambiguous words to thofe who afked him that he was Harold ; and how the truth of the matter will be mown more fully in the account given by his fuccefTor. XVI. The reader is advifed not to defpife the reading which he feels differs from the opinions of fome ; and concerning the three occafions of thofe who think differently about this prefent fubject ; and concerning the threefold miftake of William of Malmefbury on the fate of Harold. XVII. What happened to the people of Wal- tham in their holy anxiety concerning the burial of their patron ; and how they were mifled by a woman's miftake. XVIII. How a brother of Harold, Gurth by name, replied to Walter the Abbot, or others, when aflced concerning the afhes or the burial of his brother. XIX. How the fucceflbr of the man of God, writing a true account of the deeds of the moft blefTed Harold, has on two occafions afligned in- appropriate reafons for his actions; with a dif- cuflion on the firft reafon, and a full difproval of the fame by the production of the evidence of various opinions. XX. The weaknefs of the fecond reafon afligned, and the writer's warning to the reader ; and on the difficulty of patching up materials torn in- difcriminately by ancient writers. HERE END THE CHAPTERS. HERE BEGINS THE LIFE OF HAROLD, SERVANT OF GOD, FORMERLY KlNG OF THE ENGLISH. CHAP. I. What a mirror of cheerfulnefs and gentlenefs Jhines forth in the atts of King Harold. Plow he was the brother of the Queen, whom the holy Edward married. How his father Godwin, ejc aping the Jnare of King Canute, received the latter 's fifter to wife ; and how Harold fignally triumphed over the vices of thofe who brought him up. MHMMM |O review the actions of the moft illuftrious and rightfully appointed King HAROLD, at this time duly and lawfully crowned, is nothing elfe than to difplay to pious minds a moft brilliant reflection of a divine ferenity and meeknefs. And that this may the more clearly appear we will take care to mow forth to our readers clearly and briefly the beginning, progrefs, and ending of his warfare with the world and with Chrift. We mail, indeed, have fpoken truth when we called him a king moft illuftrious and lawfully crowned, for by ruling The Life of King Harold. 1 1 3 himfelf aright and by fubmitting himfelf humbly to Him, to ferve whom is to be a king, he obtained firft a crown of juftice, and afterwards a crown of eternal glory. Godwin, a moft powerful Earl, begat him from a fifter of Canute, King of the Englifh and the Danes, which Harold was brother indeed of the revered Queen whom the King and moft holy confeflbr Edward had married. And although me had been united in an aufpicious marriage with him, yet fhort of confummation, and though both of them, forfooth, preferved their flower of per- petual maidenhood, me was yet a caufe of much preferment to her father's family. It is plain, however, that her father, or fome of the other members of her family, had been heavily branded with the mark of treafon and other crimes. Godwin, indeed, firft entangled himfelf in thefe mifdeeds, from the neceflity of averting an immi- nent deftruction, but afterwards he wanders farther in deceit. Compelled to ufe deceit under pretence of enfuring his own fafety, while once he yields to his wifhes, he afterwards committed fraud more freely when he faw his profperity declining. For when the above-mentioned King of Denmark had ufurped the diadem of England, and he faw that Godwin, a man endued with incredible cunning, and no lefs audacity, was gradually rifmg to a high pofition, he himfelf, a foreigner, began to fear the bold fpirit of this young native, armed as it was with power and craft. And although he had found his induftry very ufeful to him on many occafions, yet conceiving in his mind fomething of H4 Tfo Lfi f King Harold. the fpirit of Saul, he determined to ruin by trickery this moft ftrenuous defpoiler and champion, fince it was not eafy to crum him openly except by fpiteful malice. Having thought out, therefore, a plan, he fends Godwin into Den- mark, as if on important bufinefs concerning both kingdoms, having in his heart fome fuch thought as this : " Let not my hand be upon him, but the hand of the Danes." Now as he was failing along in mid-ocean, in a vefTel fitted with the moft lavifh appointments, a fufpicion began to agitate the mind of the youth. For he was bearer of letters fealed with the King's fignet, one for each of the chief men of that country, the contents of which he was quite ignorant. Breaking, therefore, care- fully one of the feals, he learnt from the brief en- clofure that he would be fhortly given over to the punimment of death, when he arrived in port, if he were to difcharge any further his duty as letter- carrier. For the tenour of the writing was that whoever mould firft learn the contents of the letter, was immediately to ftrike off the head of its bearer, Godwin by name. This new Uriah grew pale when he found that his deftruclion was being compafled by the King, and prepares (to make a long ftory fhort) to efcape the trick by another trick. This is what he did : he broke open and took out each letter from its feal, and fubftituted a frefh letter written by the clever hand of a clerk, the fubftance of which was that Godwin was to be received with great and univerfal rejoicings ; to receive in marriage the The Life of King Harold. 1 1 5 King's fifter, and that they all were to yield him obedience in what concerned the King's bufinefs, as they would the King himfelf if he were prefent. Thus the King's command was changed to the King's advantage. Thus the foldier changes his foldier's pay ; thus an undeferved punimment is unaccomplished, and a glory that is deferved accrues to him who earned it ; thus at length the King receives as a brother him whom he had hitherto found but a ufeful foldier, and making him foon after a ftate officer, found in him for the future an ever-watchful and prudent minifter. Though Godwin was received with much favour by the Danes by this occurrence, yet he came to be on ill terms with many of his own family ; and fome members alfo of the royal family he deftroyed by treachery, of whom one was the brother of the holy Edward: and thus not only againft his fellow-countrymen, but alfo againft his natural lords he committed not a few offences. But on this matter let him who wifhes to know feek elfewhere. As far as pertains to the fubjecl: in hand, it is enough that we have juft briefly touched on fuch things, left we mould feem to have patted over, without confederation, thofe other matters which we know that people, who underftand little about them, have perverted to the difcredit of Harold, the fervant of God, for wife men fee aright that thefe things pertain in the higheft degree to his renown. For he who, by divine favour, has overcome a vice which, as they would have it, nature has inflicted, and which focial ii6 The Life of King Harold. habits have formed, has certainly gained a greater victory in that he has overcome and got rid of the felf-fame vice in which he was born and reared ; for though Harold even, it is afTerted, feems to have given way to vice in his youth, he was con- fidered to have fuffered violence by his nature and rearing. It is plain, then, that, by the help of Him who from the fame lump of clay makes one vefTel to honour and another to difhonour, this circum- ftance, which had been caft up againft him to his difcredit by ignorant men, was turned by Harold to his virtue's benefit, and to the advancement of his honour. Thus a thorn brings forth bright red rofes, and produces, fo to fpeak, fnow-white lilies, from whofe natural functions the meaner property of the thorn fubtracts not, but rather adds to it, from the combination, an increafe of beauty. CHAP. II. How Wales was nearly deftroyed by Harold; and how . he recovered from paralyfis by the virtue of the Holy Crofs of Waltham. UT how Harold excelled in ftrength of body, and how famous he became for fhrewdnefs of mind and vigour in arms, was proved by the way he fubdued Wales aye, and nearly deftroyed it to extermination. Thefe victories gave him a con- fpicuous pofition even during the lifetime of the holy Edward ; and through them he acquired, by his bravery, a peace and tranquillity moft fervice- able to the King and the whole kingdom. Meanwhile, though he feemed to be greater than his contemporaries in uprightnefs and power, and even feemed to outihine the higheft princes of the kingdom, the hand of the Almighty, which ftrikes as well as heals, afflicted his flefh with a grievous ftroke, in order that he might obtain by his prefent and future wounds a remedy for his foul. Phyficians call paralyfis that fpecies of difeafe by which a man's body, when affected by it, I 1 8 The Life of King Harold. forgets its proper functions, and deprives him of his accuftomed duties, for it fuddenly renders the part which it has attacked, or the whole of the body, fenfelefs, torpid, and, as it were, dead. Harold, fuddenly attacked and proftrated by this affliction, becomes an occafion of an extraordinary forrow, for all people grieved for him, efpecially the King ; for the latter, as if by fome prefenti- ment of future things, loved Harold, and held him dear beyond all others, though it is faid that he looked on fome members of that family with a certain degree of fufpicion and hatred. And it was not the nearnefs of kinfhip, pleafant though it was, nor that excellence of honour and fmgular induftry with which he was endowed, but fimply a divine infpiration which, it is thought, produced in this moft pious King's mind fuch a predilection and favour towards Harold. It tends, indeed, to Harold's honour at this period, that a man, full of God, and not ignorant on many occafions of the divine purpofe, mould love him, and love him the more intenfely that he forefaw that Harold mould be an everlafting co-heir with him in heaven, rather than his temporary fucceflbr on earth. Therefore the King's own fpecial phyficians, befides others felected from all quarters by entreaty or payment, gather round the fick man, and try everything that art or conjecture can fuggeft, but the power of man cannot put afide the hand of the Almighty. The fad news reached the ears of the King of the Alemanni, who was both near akin to the The Life of King Harold. 1 1 9 King and clofely united to him in affection and friendship. At his Court there dwelt a certain phyfician named Ailard, a man moft trufted by reafon of his double practice in the art, as well great fkill as experience, but, what is of greater value, the grace of God mowed him much favour in effecting the cure of the fick. Him therefore the Emperor refolved to fend with all fpeed to his dear friend the King, that he might apply his cure to the vigorous young man. On being led to the fick man Ailard carefully examined the nature of the illnefs, and devoted every attention to him ; but every labour is of no avail when a heavenly worker operates in opposition to the art of man. At that time a ftone figure of our crucified King had recently been revealed and difcovered by the heavenly direction, which, having been brought by God's defire to Waltham, was famous in that place for its miraculous virtues. The phyfician therefore, after confideration, perceiving that the Author of Nature was acting in oppofition to the powers of Nature's art, and that the whole fyftem of the lower nature was being thoroughly deadened by the counteracting influences of Him who created nature, forthwith concluded that the man was being afflicted by a ftroke of His power, from whofe hand there is none who can deliver. And foon, as became a truftworthy and prudent man, he did not delay, as he was unable to cure him by his hand, to procure a remedy by his mouth. For, unlike deceitful and lying doctors, 1 20 The Life of King Harold. he was willing that the help which he already felt could not be given by him mould be obtained from other fources. He did not, however, leave the fick man in defpair, but directing him from a hope that was vain to a hope that was well founded, he perfuaded him to put his hope in Him who is the falvation of them who truft faithfully in Him. And that he might the quicker deferve to tafte the joys of a much- defired health, he exhorts him for his profit to attend to the offices of the Crofs which giveth falvation, and to vow a vow to it, as his inward devotion might dictate to him. The fick man liftened to the plan for his re- covery in a fenfible fpirit, and fends with all hafte to the place where the miraculous Crofs difplayed its mighty gifts. He prays with great earneftnefs that the guardians of the place, whofe peculiar duty it was to minifter at the health-giving fymbol, would deign to obtain for him by their hearty prayers pardon for his fins and alleviation of his fufferings ; in a word, health for both the inner and outer man. Nor was the mercy of the Saviour long wanting to him who afked for health with a faith unfeigned, for foon the pain and weaknefs of his body grew lefs ; but as he became ftronger his love and devotion for the obfervances of the Holy Crofs wonderfully increafed. And thus reftored in a fhort time to perfect health, he proved by acts of magnificence how indebted and devoted he was to the medicine by which he had regained his health. For coming to the Holy Crofs of Waltham, he paid the vows The Life of King Harold. 1 2 1 he had made for his health, offered coftly prefents, gave rich gifts to the attendants, commending himfelf to the guardianfhip of that glorious Crofs, and intending to endow it with ftill more exalted honour. Rejoiced, he at length departed from the place in body, but not in fpirit, and prefented himfelf fafe and found to the King, and to the Queen his fifter. The Queen congratulates her brother : the King rejoices with his foldier : the whole Court is glad with a joyous exultation, not becaufe Harold had recovered his health, but becaufe it was from Heaven he had recovered it. All, indeed, with one mind applauded ; but the King, as he was holieft, rejoices with greater feeling. He indeed excelled all others in a double joy, becaufe he was wont to find delight in the virtues of Chrift, who brings to pafs fuch holy works, and to feed on thofe advances of devotion and faith which the accomplishment of fuch miracles was calculated to ftrengthen in the love of the fame moft Holy Redeemer. CHAP. HI. How Harold built, enriched, adorned, and regulated the Church of the Holy Crofs at Waltham ; and how Henry, King of the Englifli, aboliflied thejecular canons, and diftinguiflied the -place by the appointment of regular canons. UT now obferve that this man, in whom and through whom a virtue, thus experienced and difplayed, gave to fb many an incentive to a virtuous life, could think or fpeak of nothing elfe but how he could make an excellent and fitting return for fuch divine benefits, and how he could, in com- penfation, give joy to that holy Crofs with an honour worthy of a health reftored. But in pro- portion as he applied himfelf more zealoufly for the Crofs's honour, and ftrove for its glory, fo much the more exceedingly did the favour of Heaven enrich him with increafe of virtues and devotion, with which manner of exchange he was greatly delighted, and endeavoured the more in- tently, by difplaying gratitude for gifts he had received, to deferve ftill more valuable benefits. The Life of King Harold. 123 He confiders, alfo, that he is bound, for thefe fubftantial favours, to that man whofe heavenly piety had unlocked to him the approaches to fb many privileges, and refolves to prefent him with a reward worthy of his faith and devotion. For there were only two clergy there to pray and take charge of the fervice and wormip of the Crofs, though they, indeed, feemed content with their fmall emolument and humble dwellings. But this excellent man, eager to exalt the place and its wormip with all clafTes of its worfhippers, propofes to build there a new temple, to increafe the number of attendants, and to augment their revenues; and in order that its fame and the throng of its clergy might difplay the place in the eyes of mankind, ennobled as it had been by heavenly gifts, more famous and more glorious, he caufed, by a prudent arrangement, fchools to be founded there, under the direction of Mafter Ailard, the preferver of his health, as has been juft now narrated. Nor was he flow to bring forth that which he had conceived in his mind. Foundations of a large church are rapidly laid ; the walls rife ; lofty columns at equal diftances unite the walls with interlacing arcades or vaults ; a roof of leaden plates keeps out the wind and the inclemencies of the weather. The number of clergy is increafed from a fhameful two to the myftic twelve of the company of the Apoftles, and for this excellent reafon, that the fame number of men who had told forth Chrift's glory to the world from the beginning, might ferve in eternal praife in the temple of His holy Crofs. 1 24 The Life of King Harold. He alfo, with a fplendid liberality, endowed them with eftates and pofleffions, that they might have fufficient for their neceflities ; and he obtained a confirmation of thefe gifts by the King's authority. Now, if we attempt to defcribe at length the number of gifts, the value and varied character of the veflels and ornaments with which he ennobled this houfe of God, the multiplicity of facts might perhaps detract from the exactnefs of the narrative. But left the account of his munificence mould be loft altogether, or in this particular and it is known that a violent jealoufy has aimed at this it is worth while to endeavour, with a fpirit of fervent zeal (fince the real fubftance of the facts themfelves has been loft), to make known to thofe who wifh to confider them, the madows, fo to fpeak, of the facts. We have therefore thought good to infert on the prefent page an account of thofe things which, through jealoufy of Harold, as they fay, were abftracted from the Church of the Holy Crofs by William, the firft Norman King of the Englifh, and carried off to Neuftria. For that King, as we read, carried off to Normandy, from Waltham, feven fhrines, of which three were gold and four filver-gilt, full of relics and precious gems ; four books of Holy Writ, ornamented with gold, filver, and gems in their bindings ; four large gold and filver cenfers; fix candelabra, of which two were gold and the reft filver; three large pitchers of Greek work, filver and gilt; four crofles worked in gold and filver and precious ftones ; one crofs that was caft from fifty gold marks ; five The Life of King Harold. 125 moft precious prieftly veftments, ornamented with gold and gems ; five hoods, ornamented with gold and gems, in one of which were twelve gold marks; two copes, ornamented with gold and gems ; five chalices, two gold and the reft filver ; four altars with their relics, of which one altar was gold, and the other filver-gilt ; one filver wine-horn, valued at one hundred millings; ten phylacteries, one of which was prepared from two gold marks and precious gems, and the others from gold and filver ; two dulcimers ; fome faddles for women, worked with much gold; and two bells of great value. Thefe, and very many other things, which it would take a long time to mention, and which the ambition of the Normans would confider incom- parable, are known to have been offered to the Holy Crofs by Harold in his piety, and taken away by William through hatred. The latter, however, feems to have palliated the heinoufnefs of the robbery by an eafy kind of compenfation by difleminating a clear account of the progrefs of events by which the Crofs was difcovered and conveyed to Waltham, wherein it is alfo more fully expreffed what, and how many, things the holy man, in a wonderful warmth of devotion, prefented to the holy place, either in eftates, or various revenues, or in a multitude of things per- taining to the fervice or adornment of the church. But as my pen is in hafte to explain what the worfhipper of the Crofs did and fuffered after he offered himfelf as a fweet facrifice to the Lord, 1 26 The Life of King Harold. bearing his crofs now daily and following Chrift, we proceed to relate what he gave from his own refources, and confecrated to the Crofs as a facrifice of juftice ; which things, indeed, after the removal of many of the moveables, whatever he afligned to the place in lands and vills, or churches and other revenues, to all appearance it ftill poflefles, without great diminution, yet not, as is faid, without fome lofs. But the conftitution of the Church of Waltham, we fee, was formed afrefli, to a high ftate of per- fection, in our time by King Henry the Second, of divine memory. For the canons, who were under a ilrict rule and difcipline, dedicated by Harold to their facred watches, finking through the gradual lapfe of time to fecular purfuits, had put before the facred canonical rule the emptinefs of fecular life. For deriving their name from both words, the " faeculum " and the " canon," they divided the meaning of their name in reverfe order, for lufting after fecular things and defpifing the canon rule, they weighed the knowledge of the latter with the pleafures of the former in a falfe balance ; wherefore cafting afide their facred duties, they, who ought to have fpent their time in the halls of the Lord's houfe, ftrutted about in the common paths of the world. Thefe men being at length removed from their office by the holy zeal of the above-mentioned King, the fame place is ennobled by the inftitution of regular canons. They happily, uniting the Latin rule with the Greek canon, preferve in their life the virtues of the double word and the fimpte matter, fo that they * The Life of King Harold. 1 27 ought to be objects of the greateft veneration both to the Greeks and the Latins. Thefe men Henry moft honourably adorned with offices built for regular canons; but Harold, with the kindeft thought, increafed their incomes. For by thefe men the Lord's flock, which ferved the Lord there in holinefs and righteoufnefs, is fupported ; by them day by day innumerable crowds of travellers obtain all the benefits of humanity ; at fheir hands the traveller and the hungry man receive food and provisions ; from them the fick man receives attention, and he who is cold a covering, and the ftranger and foreigner a roof to cover him in a word, everyone who is in need obtains at the hands of thefe men afliftance fuitable to his neceflities. CHAP. IV. How it was divinely ordained that this man Jhould be raifed to the pojition of King, and, after having defeated his enemies, Jhould in his turn be conquered by other enemies, anddepofed from his kingdom ; and concerning a very pious anchorite, who had been ajervant of Harold, after he became a hermit himjelf. IHO knows how the bones of a man are framed in the womb of her who is with child ? And who has learnt, or who can learn, what is beft for a man in his lifetime ? One man generally rules another to his hurt. Sometimes a man is fubdued and fubjected by one man to another for his good. Thus Chanaan is in bondage to his brother as a fervant of fervants; thus the hands of Jofeph, given over to bondage by his brothers' jealoufy, did fervice in Chophmos ; thus, too, our Harold, to return to our fubject, is fuddenly raifed, as it were, on the wind, and is in a moment violently thrown down. He is raifed to be King by the acclamation of the kingdom ; he returns a victor The Life of King Harold. 129 from the battle in triumph, having flain the barbarians who had attacked him. He fears not to hear that his late enemy has come upon him, but jeers at him ; he runs to attack his deftroyer, as though he would at one blow deftroy him. He joins battle, and falls; he attacks, and is cut down he is indeed cut down and fallen, but is it to his deftruction or his folly ? Will that hand of the crucified King, from which came forth a writhing ferpent, fuftain him ? That hand, indeed, permitting it, the enemy's fpear pierced his bones and nearly every limb, and grievoufly wounded him. All thefe things happened to Harold by the direction and wonderful difpenfation of that fame hand, in order that in the womb of the pregnant Church the bones of a man fore-ordained before fecular times, and deftined by God to be born, and by all thefe means to pleafe God perfectly, might be fafhioned. For conceived through piety ac- cording to the inward man, he grew and was increafed towards God in thefe exercifes, and was formed and ftrengthened fo that at length, like Jacob, when Rachel departed on account of pain in parturition, he obtained a Benjamin for a Benoni. For he who to his mother feemed a fon, forfooth, of angelic pain and death, by God his father, who had ordained that by this event a people haughty in mind, rough in ill-doings, and cruel in all kinds of treachery, mould be fup- planted, he was made by a wonderful transforma- tion the fon of his right hand. But as it was K 130 he Life of King Harold. noifed abroad by common converfation how Harold had fucceeded to the earthly kingdom of the moft blefled Edv/ard (himfelf tranflated to a heavenly kingdom), and how he had triumphed over the Norwegians with Edward's help, and how bravely and with t what impulfe and unprepared- nefs, from an exceflive fteadfaftnefs of purpofe, he went againft the Normans who were attacking him, and how, with his comrades flain, he fell on the enemy (ingle-handed, we, God helping us, will write in our account of thofe things which happened by the divine agency through him and concerning him, after the facts narrated above, which we know have efcaped the notice of moft chroniclers. Some of thefe things we heard from a cer- tain hermit of venerable life, Sebricht by name, who, while he lived, was a fervant for many years to the holy man; and others from equally truftworthy authorities, who have related thefe fads to us with a certainty which has proved them to be true. And further, thofe things which happened after his death through power from heaven, and which will be written on this page, have been written by thofe who were prefent when they happened, and have been handed down to us. But the above-mentioned man of God, once Harold's moft devoted fervant and follower, when he departed from this world, and it was clearly mown by his miracles that he had gone to heaven, emulated his example in doing good moft fervently, defiring to arrive at fuch a point of holinefs as he had reached, and being zealous to work in as The Life of King Harold. 131 fimilar a way as he had walked. Therefore, becaufe he knew Harold had done To, he under- takes the toil of a pilgrimage, and becomes a voluntary exile from his native foil, that he might be worthy to become a holy man and a fervant of God. With naked feet he leaves the borders of the city of Chefter, where he left the treafure which he had preferved there for fo many years, taking only a portion for the crown of his heavenly King, but leaving the reft dug up upon the ground; and thus ftripped of all worldly defire he goes forth on his pilgrimage. Thus bare and unencumbered, intending to approach the Lord's Crofs on the fpot where that Crofs was fafhioned for the Lord's body, to vifit His glorious fepulchre, and to adore the fpot where His feet refted, he at length departs from England; and, hoping to bedew with his tears the refting-places of other holy men as Harold had done, to liften to ftrange languages which he knew not, and to undergo with joy no fmall tribulation for Chrift's fake, he enters the country of ftrangers. At length, having accomplimed his vow, after many wanderings which there is here no fpace to mention, he returns to his native country as Harold had done. And on his return he betook himfelf to a town in the Oxford diftricl: called Stanton, and, confining himfelf there, led a feverer life till the time of his death than thofe who are confined and imprifoned for their crimes. Here, becoming an object of veneration and affection to all religious people, he was wont to be 132 The Life of King Harold. fought out and vifited by many for the fake of a mutual edification. For he had become well known as a man moft devout, felf-contained, affable to all, benevolent to many, well-wiming to all. By thefe means and in this way there arofe a goodly odour of Chrift, and as all were borne along in the odour of his holy deeds, I alfo, an infignificant perfon, as it were, among greater ones, was carried along with the reft and became clofely bound to him by a chain of love. But I, when ftill of a tender age, and young in the profeflion of religion, had vifited him often through older meflengers, but fometimes in my own perfon, and was at laft admitted to the inmoft fanctities of a familiar friendfhip. At length, when I was older, I advanced fo far that he would fcarcely hide any of his fecrets from me which feemed ufeful for my inftruction as I talked with him on the ftate of the inner man. And he, though he was country-bred, and ignorant of any language but Englim, he yet held a wonderful and admirable opinion concerning religion, and was clever in exprefling himfelf in his own idiom ; as he ufed to fay concerning myfelf : " Let me fay what I think I believe that the fum-total of my falvation confifts in patience and hope." He would add how many things the Lord had mown him in the fhape of many and great tribulations, and how mercifully he had, by converting him, given him new life, and how powerfully he had led him from the depths of earth. He would mention, too, what fufferings he had undergone in The Life of King Harold. 1 3 3 the body, and in mind, enumerating and diftin- guifhing the weaknefs and various affections of both the wicked aflaults of devils, and the no lefs bitter infults of men ; and he would add: "In all thefe trials which came upon me, an all but fhipwrecked wretch, my only hope was in the crucified One, my anchor ; and leaning firmly on this I faw, after a time, all my troubles, which I had but juft before deemed more intolerable than death itfelf, pafs away, as it were, into foam and ames. I have indeed borne," faid he, " fuch and fo great afflictions of the flefh (to flee from which I have confined my miferable body like fome un- tameable beaft in the narrownefs of this prifon) that an ignorant man would fcarcely believe could be fuftained by any body, though it were made of iron or ftone." Thefe things he ufed to relate, not boafting of himfelf or of his labours for Chrift, but he thought, like fome veteran telling the familiar experiences of his labours, that I, trembling on the brink of the fame untried ftruggles of my fpiritual appren- ticefhip might be animated and ftrengthened by their recital. Of fuch things he would fpeakwith much feeling, not deploring the hardfhip of his fufferings, but giving forth with a wondrous fweetnefs a memory of that confolation and fpiritual grace which he had found to be the alle- viation of his trials. Thefe matters concerning the man's life and manners we thought it not out of place to infert into thefe pages, in order that from the piety of the 134 T/ie Life of King Harold. pupil it may the more plainly be mown on what a pinnacle of perfection the life and converfation of the teacher mines forth. He, indeed, making mention of Harold, would call him his matter, rejoicing that he had in heaven an advocate whom, when on earth, he had as a preceptor. This, then, is the man by whom, as has been faid above, as well as by others who knew the man of God, and how his pofition of life was ordered and changed according to place and time, thefe things have been arranged and made known. And of thefe fome were ignorant that Harold was once, when he lived, a crowned king, but were witneffes of his converfation and knew well in what places he lived from the time when he fpent his life in folitude in England. For he, dreading from his heart the glory of the world, of which he had ex- perienced fuch ignoble and unhappy refults, when he refolved to live in his own country, took a new name, and changed from time to time the place of his dwelling, left by fome chance it mould be betrayed to anyone. But we will difcourfe of thefe things in their order below. Let us now from this exceflive digreflion proceed without more delay to the narration of what we have already begun. CHAP. V. How a certain Saracen woman found him half dead amongft his ajfailants, brought him to Winchefter^ and healed him as he lay there concealed for two years ; and how he fought out the Saxons and Danes to collebl allies againft the Normans, but was unfuccejsful. [HEN, then, the Englifh army was beaten and overcome at the firft attack of the Normans, King Harold, pierced with numerous blows, is thrown to the ground amongft the dead ; yet his wounds, many and deathly though they were, could not altogether deprive of life him whom the goodnefs of the Saviour had moft happily ordained to reftore to life and victory. Thus, as the enemy's hoft departed from the fcene of the (laughter, he, who the day before was fo powerful, is found ftunned and fcarcely breathing by fome women whom pity and a defire to bind up the wounds of the maimed had drawn thither. They act the part of Samaritans by him, and binding up his wounds, they carry him to a neighbouring hut. 136 T/ie Life of King Harold. From thence, as is reported, he is borne by two common men, franklins or hinds, unrecognifed and cunningly hidden, to the city of Winchefter. Here, preferving the fecret of his hiding-place, in a certain cellar, for two years, he was cured by a certain woman, a Saracen, very fkilled in the art of furgery, and with the co-operation of the medicine of the Moft High, was reftored to perfect health. On regaining his ftrength thus, he thought he would prove by great deeds the courage of his royal fpirit which his foul had not loft in the overthrow of his body. Already had the nobles of his kingdom, as well as the people, bowed their necks to the yoke of the conqueror ; already had nearly all his chiefs either perifhed or been driven from the country, leaving their anceftral honours to be divided and pofleffed by ftrangers. Harold, therefore, beholding the deftruction of his own people and the fuccefs of the enemy, groaned in fpirit, and forrowing more for his country's troubles than his own, refolved that he would perifh with his people or procure affi fiance for them. He crofled over, therefore, to Germany, the home of his race, with the intention of pro- ceeding to Saxony ; but grieves to find that already the miferable overthrow of his nation is common talk in all quarters. He earneftly begs his kinsfolk to lend their afliftance to one of their own ftock ; he declares that the misfortune of fo fudden a difafter was not to be attributed to the ftrength or valour of the enemy, nor to the cowardice of the The Life of King Harold. 137 < citizens, nor, indeed, to his own timidity or help- Jeflhefs; but that their danger lay in the very fact of their bravery, which, confcious as they were of their prowefs and victories, had Jed them to oppofe fuch a multitude of the enemy with too fmall a force of foldiers. " For," faid he, " accuf- tomed as I am to victory, and unacquainted with defeat, I mould have thought myfelf beaten if I had been but a little more tardy in gaining a frefh victory over the enemy. For when, by Divine grace, the Norwegians and their King, who had overrun our territory from the north, were {lain by us, and our armies and generals had been dif- mifled to their own homes, fuddenly the Normans came upon us from the fouth. And I, meeting them haftily with a fmall force, not inferior in courage or fpirit, but only in numbers, at length fell ; but though conquered, I did not yield. No uncertain victory, then, mall we gain immediately over fuch as thefe, whom accident, and not bravery, has on this occafion mown to be our fuperiors. And to the attainment of this end, the enemy's infolence, and the manner of their unexpected attack, will prove the devotion of my people, and give confolation to our enraged army." With thefe and fimilar arguments he im- portunes the Saxons, as well as the Danes whom he vifited with an equal anxiety, to fecure their help in driving out the invaders from his kingdom. But when he faw that their interefts were directed into other channels, he was at firft difturbed by, and gave himfelf up to, the agitations of a great 138 The Life of King Harold. anxiety. For he who was now King of the Englim, as well .as Duke of the Normans, in his forefight for his own fecurity had been thoughtful and prudent enough to anticipate Harold by haftening to ally himfelf, by means of an em- bafly, in friendfhip with the King and nation of the Danes, as well as with the neighbouring countries, and to conciliate their favour. CHAP. VI. How at length, coming to himfelf, he perceived that God was opposing him in his worldly path ; wherefore, conforming himfelf to the Crofs of Chrift that he might the better triumph over the old enemy, he rejoices that he has Juffered defeat at the hands of men. |OW Harold, coming at length to him- felf, and returning, as it were, from his fantaftic dream, is completely changed in his heart. He perceives, though late, that it was God who was oppofing him in the way in which he was fo fruitleflly walking, and that it was His angel's fword which had been borne againft him and his obftinate efforts ; and the eyes of his underftanding being opened, he fees that he muft choofe another kind of warfare, and that other kinds of defences would be required. For the crucified King had looked upon the toils and long-fufferings of the dethroned King with a regard already favourable to him, and would not further fuffer the fpecial devotee of His banner to be engulphed in the depths, or 1 40 The Life of King Harold. be overwhelmed in the maze of fo great an afflic- tion. He had beheld him fallen in fin and from his high dignity ; and when He beholds, ruin ceafes and the fallen arife. He had beheld, in fhort, that He might warn away his fin's fault with tears ; yet He had not deprived him of the hope and defire of ruling, but had changed the nature of his defire. He begins, then, to fee his errors, and to lament the faults of his fins and wrong-doings in the fight of Him who fees all things : he begins to find that the path to a more blefled kingdom is far eafier, and to have a foretafte of his oppor- tunity. He is fixed in his mind to become an imitator of the Crofs which he had loved, to bear his crofs daily, to come after the crucified One, and to follow Him. Nor does it efcape his notice that, in order to become fit for thefe things, he mufl firft deny himfelf. As much as he can, then, he propofes to take Him for an example and a helper, who, though He was in the nature of God, (tripped Himfelf of His divinity, and took the form of a fervant. He now fees how the Lord of the world, when He was in the world, defpifed a worldly kingdom; and, when they fought to make Him a King, fled, and preferred the retirement of a folitary life to a throng of followers. He remembers that all pov/er was given to Him in heaven and earth by the humilia- tion of a bitter paflion and a cruel death. He forefees that this muft eventually be undergone by all flem. He remembers that all mankind muft re- The Life of King Harold. 141 ceive from Him an eternal kingdom or an eternal punifhment. He knows that if he were to pro- pofe to make war againft Him, and were to go againft Him with ten thoufand, that He would come to meet him with twenty thoufand, whofe unexpected coming and whofe extraordinary pre- parations fometimes exterminate and deftroy him whom He affails fecretly and powerfully when He is lead expected, and he who is unprepared for Him. Putting on one fide, then, his vain defire of a temporal kingdom, and cafting off the fatal purpofe of an earthly ftrife, he propofes to fend an embaffy to that King who is ftill far off, impelling him to inquire from Him what are the terms of a true peace. And fearing that His anger will be increafed by his offences, and left, perchance, his embaffy alone may not be fufficient to propitiate Him, he refolves to feek out and entreat others, fitting and fuited to the purpofe, with all the prayers he can, to help him and interpofe for him with the angry King, whofe favour and glory alone he thought worthy of foliciting. Thus the outward appearance and inward difpofition of Harold are both fuddenly changed. The hand which he was wont to arm, he fupports with a fpear fhortened into a ftaff. Inftead of a fhield, a wallet hangs from his neck. His head, which he was wont to equip with a helmet, and adorn with a diadem, is fhaded with a head-drefs. His feet and legs, in the place of fandals and greaves, are either altogether bare, or encafed in ftockings. 142 The Life of King Harold. But let me relate the reft in a few words : all the armour of the warrior, the whole adornment of this mighty man, is either left off altogether, or elfe worn for the humiliation and punimment of the penitent. Not only is the breaftplate not thrown off from his moulders, arms, loins, and fide, but it is brought clofer to his body ; for the inner garments being taken off and thrown afide, the roughnefs of the metal is next to the bare flefh. Thus when awake, he walks, not indeed armed fo much as imprifoned in armour. Thus when he fleeps, a bed 1 does not receive him, but he is em- bedded in a cuirafs. The change in the outer appearance which he afTumed was wonderful. Pleafant indeed was this great alteration in fuch a man, both to the angels and all the faints ; but far more pleafing was the change wrought in the inner man by God the Judge, who created and formed in him light inftead of darknefs, and turned in a miraculous manner the man's whole nature. In truth, I fay, the change was not brought about by the hand of man, but by the right hand of the Moft High, at whofe word a cruel and favage nature foftens into mildnefs and gentle- nefs, exaltation becomes humility ; but who can tell of all the benefits of fo blefied a change? That I may condenfe in a few words an endlefs matter : by this change, luft of the flefh and the world was transformed into a contempt and hatred of fuch things, and yielded to a defire and love for heavenly things. 1 A play on the words " thorus " and " thorax." The Life of King Harold. 143 Thus, I repeat, by the help of the Mod High, the King is transformed into the foldier, and the foldier of Chrift indeed, the kingdom of the world being now more defpifed than it was before defired. The King is transformed into the foldier ; the King becomes a foldier that fo the foldier may become a king, and that he who is both king and foldier may be transformed into a king. The foldier begins to act a foldier's part on the fide of Him for whom to fight is to be a king ; to reign indeed in the prefent, and to reign with Him here- after. For that reigning with Him is far better than this preient reigning, for it is a far fublimer and greater thing than reigning in the world and over a worldly kingdom. By becoming a foldier, indeed, he reigns, and by reigning he beomes a foldier, until the foldier of Chrift changes all mutable things into things that endure, and death be fwallowed up in victory, and battle be turned into a trophy. Then mall the King receive his kingdom, the foldier mail become a conqueror: the anxious man mail feel fecure, and he that is mortal (hall live for ever. Meanwhile the King and foldier thus changed, a new kingdom and a new warfare are given to Harold, the whole nature of his foul and body throughout every fenfe and limb blooms afrefh and to new ufes in the world. In hunger and thirft, in cold and nakednefs, in prayers, in watchings, in infults and wrongs; in a word, in every toil and hardfhip, the flefh is weakened, the fpirit ftrengthened, the foul rejoiced. His panting breaft trembles with 1 44 T/ie Life of King Harold. fighs, which before fwelled with {laughters and thundered forth threatenings. His eyes are be- dewed with mowers of tears, which were wont to flafh forth lightnings on his rivals, at the bidding of an angry foul. His face, his brows, his neck difplayed no elation, pride, nor cruelty ; modefty regulates his gait ; piety, his mind ; purity guides his affections. Integrity gives form to his inward and outward movements; fanctity changes all his doings into her own ways. Harold appears now to govern himfelf more happily than is wont, to reign more eminently, to wage war with greater fecurity and ufefulnefs. He delights that he has been conquered by man, fince by conquering the world and himfelf he has, though conquered, learnt how .to achieve a more glorious victory over the devil. CHAP. VII. How he entered on a long pilgri- mage to obtain the prayers of holy men ; and how, before he became a King, he viftted the reft ing-places of the holy Apoftles. INSTRUCTED with an undion which now taught him concerning all things, he feels that he muft care- fully conceal that treafure of heavenly afpiration, left, if published abroad thoughtleflly, it might be expofed to robbery. For firftlings of fheep or kine are not fhorn nor put to the plough, and firft-fruits were deemed unclean. Therefore, inftru&ed by fuch divine orders as thefe from the Holy Spirit, he leaves all his friends who had feemed to cleave to him up to that time : he deferts his kinsfolk : he retires fecretly from all who had known him : he approaches peoples hitherto unknown to him : he feeks for fupporters far and wide amongft thofe who are not unknown to him, but who were in days gone by indeed well known to and loved by him, and now more clofely united in a feeling of devotion. This L 146 The Life of King Harold. man, now a noble man indeed, departed then to a far-diftant country to vifit facred places in order that he might pay honour to relics of the faints in their own homes and mrines; to obtain more fully and perfectly by their interceflion the kingdom of God which he already held within his breaft, intending after that to return to his own country. Before this he had vifited the refting-places of Chrift's moft exalted apoftles, when he had not yet fucceeded to the throne of the Englim, by an inftinct of devotion indeed, but alfo with the object of bringing holy relics from their city to his own, rather than wormipping them in theirs. For he had had a very fervent defire to collect facred relics, efpecially from the time he began to build and found the church of the Holy Crofs at Waltham, as we have narrated above; whence it happened that, having obtained numerous pledges of the faints, he appears alfo, by payment of vows and prayers and money, to have carried off from Rome on his return to his own country the blefled bones of the martyrs Chryfanthus and Daria. But the Romans, perceiving at length that they were being robbed of a great treafure, and not thinking it right, follow the pious plunderer juft as he is departing, or, indeed, had already de- parted three or four days' journey, and ftop his progrefs. For a whole hoft of the natives were not inclined to allow a few pilgrims to refift them by force or break away in flight. What more mall be faid ? Harold is flopped, bound, and over- whelmed with infults, and he thought it hardeft The Life of King Harold. 147 of all that he was compelled to give up thofe pearls of pricelefs value which he had lawfully obtained from their former poffefTors, as they indeed confefled. Returning to his own country, then, for the violence of the Romans could not rob him of the prayers and favour of the above- mentioned witnefles of Chrift, and having managed to obtain, in fpite of all, fome very precious relics at Rome, he brought them home to be reverently preferved in the church which has fo often been mentioned. And if anyone cares to know at greater length the watchfulnefs of his devotion and care in acquiring and preferving thefe relics of the faints, let him read carefully the treatife above-mentioned concerning the finding of the Crofs at Waltham. But we ourfelves, omitting what has been written by ancient writers, will give our pen a new duty, and follow, as we began to do, our new pilgrim, with Chrift for a guide. And if we are unable to accompany him to every place and on every (ingle day as he wanders through many countries of Chriftendom and fpends fo beneficially his time ; or if we do not know and cannot relate every fingle thing he did or fuffered on his long pil- grimage, Jet us at all events, following him as he is now already a long way off from our mores, go and meet him as he returns to us with all fpeed. And let us give God higheft praife who was with him and guided him, and who at no time or place deferted him, and let us do honour to him in the Lord, who comes, indeed, in the name of the Lord. CHAP. VIII. The admiration of the writer , with a brief exclamation on the goodnejs of God, by which it happens that the fins even of the eleR work in them for good. JEAN WHILE, as Harold continues walking in the name of the Lord, his foul like a bride feeking her bridegroom, as he wanders through many places, and having found him, holds him, rejoicing with his fpirit as it glories in God his Saviour, I feem to hear him finging with the pfalmift, " Turn, my foul, to thy reft, for the Lord has mown favour to thee." But he, for joy of heart and admiration of the mighty ads of his beneficent Lord towards his fervant, joyfully ex- claims: O abounding piety and wondrous kind- nefs of Thy Spirit ! O virtue and wifclom ! O co-eternal Son of an eternal Father ! O fweet and blefled Jefus! O ineftimable and unfearchable height of Thy counfels, truly no man can turn the thoughts of Thy heart. O how true were the feelings of her who faid to Thee, " If Thou haft The Life of King Harold. 149 decreed to fave us, we mall for ever be delivered." How faithful, how worthy of acceptation is that faying, fo confidently uttered by Thy apoftle! " We know," he fays, " that all things work to- gether for good to thofe that love Him." Blefled be the holy name of Thy glory with the co-eternal Father and co-eval Spirit, who, when Thou wert angry, haft pity, and as the holy woman relates, forgiveft all the fins of mankind in their tribula- tion. And, indeed, all thefe things Thou haft mown to be true, and countlefs, according to this meafure which are everywhere written in facred literature about Thee concerning thofe things which Thou doeft and fhoweft to thofe that love Thee, in this one man who loved and was loved by Thee. How plain the argument to us, how clear a fpectacle of gentlenefs and fortitude haft Thou builti up in this one man ! O Wifdom, who haft uttered words from the mouth of the Moft High, taking in hand with firmnefs all things from beginning to end, and difpofing them with gentlenefs ! From thefe fprings of gentlenefs and firmnefs proceed thofe two rivers of grace and feverity or mercy and ftriclnefs, watered by which the furface of the earth of the faints, the tares being uprooted, brings forth its feed to the fruit of eternal life. With what calmnefs and favour didft Thou take hold of this man, and, as fome think, on account of his wickednefs ; yet didft thou not hurl him into eternity, but, taking hold of him and correcting him, broughteft him forth from his very iniquity to 150 'The Life of King Harold. be more careful for himfelf, more devoted to Thee. What gentlenefs and what firmnefs didft Thou exercife with him, fnatching him fo powerfully from the hand of death, and not allowing his life to be taken away by javelin or fword, but reftoring and re-creating in him the life of his foul, a life, as has been mown, deprived of its fin. Hence, too, his unrighteoufnefs was found to abound to Thy glory, fince out of the great and manifold fweet- nefs of Thy kindnefs, where his wickednefs abounded, Thy grace abounded more and more in him, in order that in proportion as he mould love Thee more, he might receive a fuller pardon from Thee. That it might appear plain that not fome things but all things work together for good to him who loves Thee, and even one's own great fin, which indeed is always evil, worketh to fuch a man to his eternal benefit. CHAP. IX. How many things are faid by many people about Harold's fin; and concerning the oak hard by Rouen , under which he made the oath, which remains, though ftripilof its bark, to this day. ONCERNING this man's fin, fince many hiftorians fay much about it, we alfo ought to fpeak, and bring forward for impartial confideration what thofe, who have a defire to exaggerate or detract from it, think on the matter. For the majority accufe him of having committed a fin of no common kind; but of fuch heinoufnefs, indeed, that they are of opinion the downfall of Englifh liberty muft be imputed to its enormity. For it is aflerted that he took the name of the Lord God in vain, and feared not to pollute it with a falfe oath ; and they alfo add that this act of fin was marked out by a wonderful miracle from heaven. For the oak, which was once a tree of great height and beauty, as is proved by thofe who behold it to-day, under which Harold made the oath to the Duke of the Normans, as foon as he ufurped the 152 The Life of King Harold. kingdom which he had fworn to preferve for him, and thus broke his oath, is ftated, wonderful to relate, to have fhed its bark, and to have loft its greennefs and its foliage. A fight well worth feeing, for a tree which was a little time before remarkable for the number and thicknefs of its leaves, fhrivelled up from the roots, as quickly as did the gourd of Jonah and the olive of that other prophet, and all its branches became white. The lafting nature of the withered tree, an indeftruc- tible oak, increafes the miracle of the blight falling upon it, and this we have frequently, in common with many more, wondered at. Who, indeed, would not be amazed that this oak, of fuch vaft magnitude, not weakened by fmall branches but everywhere unbroken, from the loweft roots to the topmoft leaves, thus ftripped of every covering of bark, had not already yielded to old age and courfe of time ; or wafted by decay, or beaten upon by the violence of the winds, and flooded by many rains, had not grown rotten or, at leaft, bent ! But when we faw the tree one hundred and forty years after this event, when it was ftill to be feen thus marked, a man of Rouen declared that the crime of fo enormous a perjury had been thus fignalized by Heaven. The ill-feted tree ftill ftands at a mort diftance from the city itfelf, overhanging a pleafant glade, which is not far from the bridge over the Seine ftretching towards the hermits of Grandmont. The man of Rouen is faid to have prefumed, at the unufual omen, that London would fir ft be fubdued. The Life of King Harold. 153 The whole of Neuftria, in like manner, learned to hope that the vaft riches of the Englifh might fubferve the waftefulnefs of her needy and greedy miftrefs. To this is added, by thofe who inveigh againft Harold, already truly a conqueror, the overthrow, as eafy as it was cruel, and as rapid as it was undeferved, whereby he unexpectedly loft his kingdom. Thus, without fufpecling it, he efcaped deftruction by only juft preferving his life. CHAP. X. The excufe Jome make for Harold, whereby, exonerating him from perjury, they ajjert that it was with thefanftion of God and confent of the holy Edward that he became King ; and con- cerning the vijion of the Abbot Elfin, in which the holy Edward declared that Harold Jhould be conqueror over the Norwegians. N the other hand, fome people, for the fame reafon (and frequently even before this many were of this opinion, eftimating the act of the beloved man of God by the marks of divine favour which fhone around him), endeavour to bring forward a reafon for the non-fulfilment of the oath, and that Harold was quite right in afluming the kingly power. For judging from what happened after, if what he had fworn had been obferved, it would have been beyond a doubt a difaftrous thing to the nation, as it was againft his own wifh, and difadvantageous to the fafety of his people. For he made the oath under reftraint of fear, which fell upon this fteadfaft The Life of King Harold. 155 man, who very rightly refufed to meet an im- mediate death, or a never-ending imprifonment. And befides, there appeared no other way out of the difficulty, confined as he was in a foreign country, and in fuch powerful hands; therefore, yielding to the dictates of human frailty, which never gives up life willingly, and to the advice of fome friends who were with him at the time, he took the oath thus prefented to him, to which both human laws and the divine canon are known to have condefcended through various neceflities of this life. Concerning the right of extorting this oath, others will difpute as they pleafe. But it was lawful for him not to fulfil an oath thus forced from him, if, which none deny, the oath itfelf were illegal ; and by its means, for he could not have done fo otherwife, he efcaped from the Normans who were keeping him prifoner. And when he at length was reftored to his own people, he told everyone openly what he had fufTered and what he had done. And when they hear his account they are all with one mind feized with rage, reject an agreement made under compulfion of an oath, and cry out vehemently that it muft not be obferved. Heaven forbid, fay they, that we mould ferve the Normans! Heaven forbid that the liberty of our city and of our Englifh nobility mould ever be fubfervient to the barbarian yoke of Norman pride ! Why mould more be faid ? All cry with one voice : one opinion is in every mind. Putting afide, then, all danger from the oath, which was thought to be of no value, 156 The Life of King Harold. Harold at length, by the unanimous advice of all, is raifed to the throne. But that this had not happened with the divine Will had been declared a little time after from heaven. For when the Norwegian King, failing with a numerous fleet, had made an entry into England, attacking the province of York with fire and fword, and had begun to Jay wafte everything that came in his way, and when the newly-elected King was haften- ing to meet him with an army he had collected, he was fuddenly feized with moft violent pain in his leg. Fettered as he thus had become, and in agony for the peril of his fubjects rather than at his own pain, pafling nearly the whole night without fleep in fighs and prayers, he begged for the familiar afliftance of the Holy Crofs. In the fame night there appeared to that fervant of the Lord, Elfin, the Abbot of Ramfey, King Edward, the holy and watchful defender of his people, the predeceflbr of our forrowing and afflicted hero, telling the Abbot the misfortune of the King which had happened to his body and fpirit, mowing him befides the King's thoughts as he lay upon his bed ; fending him, and faying to him, " Rife, go, and tell your King from me the remedy for his prefent pain and the threatened war, that, at my interceflion, God has granted him the victory. Let the revelation of his heart's thoughts be a fign to him from heaven that the remedy is to be attended to, and let the argument of this unwonted revelation be a certain omen of his obtaining the victory." So the King, to fpeak briefly, is cured by divine favour, The Life of King Harold. 157 and is exhilarated by heavenly meflages. Attack- ing the enemy with confidence he eafily conquers them, for he overcame not by his own ftrength, but by the might of Him who heals thofe that are broken in heart, and binds up their wounds, deftroying with the fword the enemies of thofe that love him. Therefore we gather by the per- fuafion of an argument which is not improbable, becaufe he obtained the kingdom by the connivance of his moft holy predecefTor and the ordaining of God, that, fortified as he was by the favour of the faint and advifed by his divine meflage, God Him- felf afTenting thereto, he thus deferved to gain a triumphant victory over his haughty foe. CHAP. XL A wonderful account concerning a Holy Crofs which is alleged to have bowed its head to Harold as he was haftening to battle ; and cer- tain other very abounding miracles concerning this Crofs, proved to be undoubtedly true. OT only was his legal affumption of the kingly power defended by thefe events and figns, but his favourable performance of the fame is proved. For, by a fign new and quite unheard-of in all ages, the clemency of the Saviour deigned to fignalize His own peculiar fervant in a more exalted manner for the fecond time, by which act of fo fignal a miracle, the favour and Jove of Heaven were dif- played to the devoted King, and his honour de- fended for ever againft the reproaches of defamers. The circumftance which happened was noifed about everywhere, as was its due, and is vifible to the eye to the prefent day. As he was returning from the flaughter of his enemies, this moft valiant King, haftening to meet fome new adverfaries who had attacked him, no prefTure of hafte would allow The Life of King Harold. 159 him to pafs by his beloved church. He turns afide to it in his devotion, enters, proftrates him- felf, and the innermoft feelings of his heart be- coming foftened, he worfhips the Holy Crofs, multiplies vow upon vow of thanks for the victory he had juft gained, and humbly doubles his prayers that he may obtain another trophy of victory, if it mould pleafe God's High Majefty. His prayers being at length finifhed, and the ifTue of the im- pending conflict entrufted in his earneft devotion to the faithful judgment of Him who orders all things, as he was on the point of returning with bent head and {looping body, and faying farewell to the Holy Crofs, he bowed himfelf, as the cuftom is, and in refponfe the countenance of the crucified image bowed itfelf. This wonderful and aufpicious action of the Saviour gladdened while it terrified fome of thofe who flood by. For what could even be conceived more aufpi- cious than that the immortal King of Eternity, though invifible, mould be feen to anfwer the falute of a King of miferable mortals, and mould deign and have the power to incline His head to him ! How terrible this was to human weaknefs to fee fuch ftrange things, that, contrary to all nature, a ftone mould bend ; and, what is beyond nature, that God in His own image mould be feen to bend to a human being ! And what mail we fay of this, that, where the art of man could not pierce even the thin palm of the divine image, the image itfelf was feen to bend its bodily neck? The workman toils and draws blood, and makes a hole in the hand of 1 60 The Life of King Harold. ftone. A man, deftined foon to be a King no longer, prays, and the neck of ftone which, although, it might by fome means be pierced by man's hand, could by no means be bent, fuddenly bends itfelf, yet is not broken ; bows itfelf, but from the com- pletenefs of the whole body or the joined head, not the flighteft crack is made. And not only in the mere material was this great miracle fo re- markable. For the image being of ftone infide, and the outfide filver, a double miracle was per- formed and difplayed. It was the image, forfooth, of Him of whom it is written: "They have fipped honey from the ftone, and oil from the hardeft rock." The fubftance indeed was of ftone, yea, of very rock, hardeft in quality, thick about the moulders, neck, and arms of the image, and, fo to fpeak, corpulent. This image was difcovered by divine revelation, buried in the earth on the top of a certain hill ; nor was it known how or by whom it was fafhioned, or depofited and concealed there. It was brought by divine command direct to the place we have fo often mentioned, where thefe things are faid to have occurred, by oxen, who drew the cart on which it was laid about one hundred and twenty miles, and they would not allow it to turn afide any- where from the journey it had undertaken. There it was covered with filver plates, and was not joined or fixed to the lofty crofs. For it allowed fo little of man's workmanfhip on it, that a man could not even make the holes for the nails to be driven in. Nor was this attempted, but the palm of the The Life of King Harold. 1 6 1 right hand, as foon as a little of the furface had been bored by an iron, was found to poflefs a foft- nefs whence it emitted blood ; but it loft not its hardnefs, whereby it repelled the hardeft auger. The right hand of the Lord gave this quality to the right hand of His image, which, as the Pfalmift fang, hath given ftrength, whence alfo it is a fitting quality of this material right hand, that being made illuftrious by fo many figns, and glorious by fo many prodigies, it may feem to declare, not fo much in words as in fact, "The right hand of the Lord hath exalted me ; the right hand of the Lord hath given ftrength." Now, we have related all this to the end that the manifold nature of the heavenly power might appear, which was mown in this bending of the facred head of the holy image ; for, as we have faid, in the filver as well as the ftony fubftance, this wonderful act of heavenly condefcenfion and power fhone forth to our eyes, which we can ftill behold to-day near the horn of the altar where the occurrence hap- pened. For the ftone did not crack, nor did the filver plate experience a cleft, or contract a wrinkle, though it was ftretched to an unwonted degree from that part of the neck through fuch a bending ; nor was it feen to be folded in the leaft propor- tion from the region of the neck and jaw. But there was an alteration, and not a fmall one, from its original pofition, for whereas the chin of the image, as we have formerly heard, ftood ftraight out, we fee it now hangs down and fettled upon the breaft, by reafon of the bending which we have defcribed. M CHAP. XII. Different interpretations of dif- ferent men concerning the above-mentioned figns of the bowing Crojs and m the withered oak ; and how Harold, by judging .himjelf^ favourably anticipated the divine judgment and fears not man's. LTHOUGH this wonderful work of piety feemed at the time to have portended a happy and aufpicious omen, yet fome people afterwards faid that it prefaged an unlucky and difaftrous event. For when, a fhorf time after, the King was beaten with his army, many thought that the bending of the image fignified the fubjugation of the Englim and the lamentable downfall of the kingdom. But to thofe who look into the order of the occurrences and the fervices of the pious King towards the Crofs, both before and after the event, the former interpretation of fo divine an action feems more probable and more liberal. For God, who always gives in excefs of the merits and prayers of His fuppliant, is wont to Jiften to thofe who pray to Him as foon as they afk beyond what The Life of King Harold. 163 they afk and underftand. Wherefore He turns a deaf ear oftentimes to what His petitioners wifh, but anfwers their prayers for their good and fafety ; for it is only His enemy's wifhes that He grants to their own destruction. But it is not neceflary to make a long tale by narrating how He has anfwered the prayers of fome of the elect as well as finners. It is fufficient to bear in mind that the chief of reprobates fought to tempt that holy man Job, that this was accepted now and again, but was anfwered to the augmentation of his own condemnation. Let it fuffice to call to mind, on the other hand, that He, the chief of all the elect, when the fting of His fuffering was at hand, afked that the cup might pafs from Him, but obtained not the prayer which He had made accord- ing to His wifhes, but fubjected His will to the good pleafure of the Father, yea, and rendered it completely in fubjection. " Not My will," said He, " but Thine be done." For God in fuch a wim as that, fpared not His own Son, giving Him up for us all, that He might on that account, when he had drunk of the brook in the way, lift up His head which He bowed upon the Crofs. The ftory of the confummation was declared to be the overthrow of the enemy of mankind. And on this declaration becoming known, He bowed His head in peaceful {lumber, after the long vigils of an anxious conflict ; and fweetly refted in peace after the agony of His bloody fweat. But thefe things unbelievers have interpreted contrari- wife. When He achieved the victory over His 164 The Life of King Harold. enemies, defeated fpite thought that it had con- quered the victorious King. But He, knowing what He had done, bent His invincible head, which in victory He carried erect, in a fecure and peaceful fleep. It is now plain by this diftinguifh- ing fign the King had mown, in bending His head to the fuppliant King, that He had granted him a better victory than the reft looked for or thought. For, left an erroneous opinion mould prevail with the conquered againft the conqueror, and left He who was faid to be the King of the Jews mould be thought to have loft His kingdom, there was added the governor's difapproval of the rafh opinion in letters, in the infcription placed over His head, which was already bent. For It was written there, " Jefus of Nazareth, King of the Jews." He remained, in truth, a king, for the wicked multitude envied Him His kingdom, and killed Him, fo that He bowed His Head. But He indeed bowed His head, afluming at the fame time the power of His kingdom; which confefling 1 that He had received in its fulnefs, He exalted His bowed head above the heavens. Let no one think that the royal name or royal dignity (to whom fuch a mark was mown by the King of all Kings) was loft by the King, either becaufe He deigned to bow in his own image or becaufe it was not permitted the fame King vifibly to triumph over his threatening enemies by the fame means. But if anyone thinks that the 1 Convefcens, //'/. eating together with ; here evidently a corrupt reading, perhaps for confeflus. The Life of King Harold. 1 65 prefage of fuch an unexpected virtue fignified the extenfion of the kingdom, whofe temporal adminif- tration was at firft conferred on him, and after- wards taken from him, we do not deny that the downfall of Englifli profperity, and the overthrow of the liberty of the laity as well as the Church, which was experienced from that time, was por- tended to the inhabitants of our ifland. But the Holy Crofs does not fuffer the rights of its fervant to be diminifhed becaufe of its greater confederation for him. But the eternal and unchanging God offers and promifes to His wormippers for their labours and their religious worfhip not tranfitory and perifhable things, but rather ftable, good, and eternal things. Therefore the King granted, gave, and yielded to the King what he wimed. And if he could in any other or better way have known how to give or grant it, it would have been the heavenly granting to an earthly, one, a permanent for ever and ever to a tranfitory one. But He took away a fhadowy kingdom from him for whom He preferved a true and everlafting one, that the former might not be even a flight hindrance to his pafTmg to the latter. And left the thoughts of men (whofe forefight re- garding impending danger is full of fear and doubt) mould imagine that the good Lord purpofed to fuch an extent to bring affliction inftead of peace on his devoted fervant, He refolved that the vaft- nefs of the miracle which He had performed fhould anticipate the enormity of a future offence, and that we might put a limit to fuch things as 1 66 The Life of King Harold. thefe, He deigned to beftow and confer the mani- feftation of His clemency on His fervant. By thefe benefits, in fine, the exalted power, the infinite holinefs, the unapproachable fublimity of the mercy and greatnefs of Almighty God the Father, Son, and Holy Ghoft, the one and only King of Eternity, difplayed on the King's diadem a pearl of great brilliancy, when he was under a cloud of perfecution and in a flough of defpondency. And as for what fome allege abput the oak, let thofe attend to that who worfhip the beafts of the foreft and trees, and who fear not nor blum to prefer the fenfelefs wood and the brute beafts to men, partakers of their own nature, made after the image of God, and what is more than this, redeemed by His death. Let them take care left perchance the tree itfelf foretold an omen for him who enforced the oath and his immediate pofterity rather than for him who took the oath. Let them confider and decide whether it feemeth fitting to them by whofe agency the bloom and vigour of the fanctity and liberty of the ancient Church of England wafted and vanimed, that, when the firft pulfe of the kingdom began to beat, a green and leafy tree dried up, caft off in a moment its beauty, and difplayed a perplexing nakednefs. But let it fuffice that we have touched upon both fides of thefe matters which are related to have happened by fome in favour of King Harold, and by others in oppofition to him, leaving the fettlement of the queftion to the final decifion of the reader, or rather of the immortal God who The Life of King Harold. 1 67 knoweth all things. As far as we have been able, we have tried by means of what we have related, and which appeared to us not irrelevant to the fubject, to remove the ftumbling-ftones from the way, and to make the path plain, the actual fads, as we truft, guiding us. It remains for us now to go and meet, with what fpeed we may, our King and patron, who is returning to us from his long journey, and to follow him to the bed of our power v/ith the devoted fervice of our trufty pen, as he returns home firft to the home of the Angles and then of the Angels. But he himfelf, by accufmg and judging himfelf, ftrove fo to anticipate the judg- ment of man and of God that it mattered very little to him to be judged by thofe who, according as they were difpofed towards him by hatred or goodwill, judge according to their human lights, generally wrongly, and feldom rightly. CHAP. XIII. How, after many years Jpent abroad, Harold, returning to England for the purpofe of exercijing his patience and meeknefs, caujed himfelf to be called CHRISTIAN, and lived ten years in a certain rock infolitude ; with a Jhort inveRive againft the Antichrifts of that time. FTER fpending many years in the holy labour of a religious pilgrimage, Harold decided to practife a new method of life upon his body, worn out as it was with long toils and old age. He had learnt, indeed, the countlefs virtues and moft holy lives of the faints whom he had vifited, and he now refolved to ftay his fteps, to make an end of his wanderings, to bid farewell afrefh to the activity of Martha, and to reft quiet, like Mary, in meditation on the fayings and doings of holy men which he had heard and feen, that he might the more lavifhly enrich his fpirit, fo as to be able to fing with the Pfalmift in deed and in truth, "That my foul may be filled with marrow and fatnefs, and my mouth praifes Thee with joyful The Life of King Harold. 1 69 lips." He had experienced and maintained in his own perfon, and in the fweet and gentle fanctity of the righteous, how gentle and pleafant is the holy of holies; and he thinks that it would be beft for him to reft in future, that he may fee more perfectly, and know in a more blefled way, that the Lord Himfelf is God. But left this bodily repofe (as is cuftomary to the thoughtlefs) mould bring lazinefs or torpor upon his mind, he elected to reft and repofe in that land, by refiding in which he forefees that he will be able 'to poffefs and difplay a greater exercife and a more effective proof of his patience and goodnefs. He knew that the height of per- fection, which he felt in his enlarged breaft in all its fulnefs, would ftand out moft clearly in that faying which the only begotten Son of the Moft High deigned to utter and teach the brothers of his adoption, " Pray," faid He, " for them which defpitefully ufe you and perfecute you ; do good to them that hate you, that ye may be the children of your Father which is in heaven, for He maketh His fun to rife on the good and on the evil, and fendeth rain on the juft and on the unjuft." He afpired, therefore, in his heart's affection to the merit and reward of that true perfection to which he ought the rather to ftrive, and to remain in that land which contains as many of his perfecutors as there are dwellers therein ; as many of his haters as there are men therein ; almoft as many revilers as men who fpeak with him and of him. But he does not truft himfelf to fo ferious a ftruggle, nor 170 The Life of King Harold. commit himfelf to fuch a danger without due con- fideration ; for he is well aware of the ftrength of Him who dwelleth in him, and in whom he dwells ; nor did he fear to fay with the Apoftle, " Since ye feek a proof of Chrift fpeaking in me." With full truft, then, in the knowledge that he has fuch a gueft within him, he wimed to be called CHRISTIAN by name, that, being already joined in a union of the Spirit, he might alfo be united in the communion of name to Him who, he knew, was dwelling in him, fpeak- ing in him, working in him, and fuffering in him. For he faid with Paul, in his heart to himfelf, but to us alfo in work, " I can do all things through Him who ftrengtheneth me." It is not thus with the wicked man, nor with thofe whom a treacherous enemy an enemy who overthrows and is overthrown arms only to deftroy, flrengthens only to make weak. For fuch an one teaches you to place your reliance in your own flefh, that your heart may be alienated from God ; that you may be like the tamarifk, blooming yet barren ; and that you may dwell now in a land of faltnefs, which yields no fruit to its cultivators, and afterwards in an uninhabitable land, which gives no reft to thofe who dwell therein. In this land only eternal horror dwells. For who can dwell with the devouring flame, or who can abide with everlafting fires? But thefe laft prophetic words we ufe without abufe, knowing the difference of thofe fires: with which the one confumes fmners without deftroying them ; but the other, by con- The Life of King Harold. 171 fuming the fins, juftifies the finners, illuminating and kindling them. Yet why mould we fpeak of thefe, of whom we are not concerned to fpeak or judge, who, indeed, rob and deftroy the church aye, and churches outwardly, but inwardly enter not into nor inhabit them gathering the fruit and lopping the vineyard of the Lord of Hofts ; but now they are cut down by the hufbandman, and, unlefs they grow wife in time, they are to be caft in a moment into eternal fire. Now becaufe thefe men are become Antichrifts, let us rather leave them to themfelves and their flame and return to our Chriftian. For even now, as the prophet witnefleth, the flame devours the enemy, and in obedience to the fentence of the true vine, the branch is afterwards caft into the fire and burnt. But our Chriftian, new in name but old in profeflion, fecure in Chrift who dwelleth in him already the victor of the world and of that Prince who is in the world by a new warfare and a new art of fighting begins to conquer his conquerors. His King, with whom he had waged war already a long time in the hope of regaining his loft kingdom, had beftowed on him the flame of affection, with which, fanned by the breath of this Holy Spirit, the hammers of affliction had forged upon the anvil of fuffering a great panoply of victorious arms. With thefe he had learnt to fight without defeat for his loft kingdom but a kingdom, indeed, in heaven, not on earth, know- ing that, when he had obtained that, he could 172 The Life of King Harold. never lofe it at the hands of any enemy. Led, then, at length to his former kingdom poflefled, indeed, with great danger, but loft to his great gain ready to fight manfully with thofe weapons with which he was armed for a new and incom- parably better kingdom, he enters the camp equipped with all his armour. For, retiring into a cavern hard by Dover, he firft compofed his mind, then, rifing up out of himfelf, he beheld the land far above him, whofe King fometimes his eyes could fee in all His glory, in whom and with whom he prefumed to have a certain hope of reigning. Here, fulfilling all the commandments, he fpent ten years of folitary life, like a foldier in his recruit fervice, and at length, becoming a veteran, he ftrove, by leading a godly life, to exceed even rather than fulfil the vital precepts of the Divine Law. For he knew that that was a life of virtue, this a life of holinefs ; that a life of beginning, this a life of perfection; that alfo he judged neceflary, this glorious here, in fhort, he looked for counfel, there for empire, for the fafety of mankind, and at the fame time for the glory of a jealous and favourable God. Now this place, where he had thus determined to fpend his life, was not far diftant from the fpot where he had formerly loft his earthly kingdom by nearly meeting his death, and by this act feized power from the Kingdom of Heaven. Here, therefore, the patience and gentlenefs of the man exercifed and wafted his ftrength, where both his own and his The Life of King Harold. 173 people's paft misfortunes, and the prefent pride of his enemies, was brought to his memory and fight more frequently, forafmuch as he was more urged in a more generous fpirit to repay, not evil for evil, but the bounteous gifts of his holy inter- ceffion. CHAP. XIV. How Harold afterwards Jpent a long time in various places on the borders of the Welfli) bore their repeated ajjaults in patience, hiding his face with a cloth, and changing his name for another left he jhould by Jome means be recognifed ; how at length the cruelty of his per- Jecutors was changed into veneration for him. |lVING, then, among the Welfh, al- though he had been at one time an object of hatred to them, on account of what feemed at the time a juft defence of his own race, he now defires, as Chriftian, to fuffer with Paul what he had, as Harold, done with Saul. Bidding farewell, then, to Kent, he proceeds to Wales, and ftaying there in various places a long time, he Jived with the Welfh and prayed for them, although they, without provocation, ceafed not to afTault him, who was now not fighting againft them, but for them. But as he was going into a land, as we have ftated before, where he was once known, he concealed both his features and his name, wearing The Life of King Harold. 175 always in public the veil of a little piece of cloth before his face, left, if he were recognifed by any, the offer of their adoration to the merits of his virtues might lead him to become vain. If, then, his name were afked, he would fay that men called him Chriftian. He, indeed, difguifed both his face and his name, becaufe his name was known to all, and his face to many. For he was afraid that he might be betrayed bythefe indications, and he feared left he mould be greeted with applaufe from his own friends, if perchance any furvived, or by ftrangers even, if he were recognifed, either at the contempla- tion of his former dignity and prefent humility, or under pretence of friendship or familiarity. But it was not to be feared that, even if he were betrayed by his enemies, he would be treated in a hoftile manner, leading fuch a life and behaviour as he was doing, or put into clofer reftraint than he had put himfelf. Yet it was very probable, if his fecrets were known, that he might be troubled by what was worfe than tortures or imprifonment, namely, praife and applaufe. For who would not mow all the reverence and honour he could to fuch a man, when he faw how lowly-minded and mild how kind-hearted and gentle how indifferent to worldly things he was ; and how, by his own free-will, he had become an object of contempt to lovers of the world, efpe- cially if it were no fecret that in former times he had held a confpicuous pofition in the world, and had been rich and powerful? And this is re- markable about his frugality and patience, that he ij6 The Life of King Harold. did not fo much bear wrongs with patience, as repay them with kindnefTes ; and that he did not fo refrefh his faft-decaying body with food, as juft keep it alive. On this matter we have heard fully, from a certain holy fervant of Chrift, that if he were at any time eating a lean and fmall fifh, he would never eat but one half of it, leaving the other half untouched not even turning it over, but would hand it juft as it was to his fervant, or to fome needy man, if one were prefent. By thefe ftrict refolutions this holy man, following the example of Him whofe Name he claimed to mare, preferred to be defpifed and afflicted for a while with Chrift, and for Chrift, fince now he was called Chriftian from Chrift, rather than be ener- vated by the favours and pleafures of the world ; for which reafon he had of his own free-will expofed himfelf to the favage company of the Welfh, putting before his mental vifion that Pafchal Lamb who freely offered Himfelf to wicked priefts to be facrificed for us. For, defiring to walk as Chrift walked, this Chriftian haftened to follow wherever He went, through the purity of a worldly heart, and fuffer- ing of an afflicted body, that Lamb, which per- chance he could not follow in the unfoiled cleannefs of the flefh. For burning with a love of fuffering, as if he thought of too little account all the hard- fhip and failings he brought on his own body, himfelf his own torturer, he chofe to enter into companionfhip with a wild race, at whofe hands he knew he mould be fubjected to many afflictions, The Life of King Harold. 1 77 if not indeed crucifixion itfelf. He differed, in truth, from thefe treacherous, favage, and defpicable men, only what he looked for and expected, for he was often violently beaten with very cruel ftripes at the hands of robbers, from whom alfo he fuffered every poflible injury. They pilfered his provifions, and robbed him of his clothes ; and to induce him to bring forth money, of which he had none, they tortured him with exceffive and exquifite torments and ill-treatment. Such, indeed, was the conduct of thefe men, or rather wild beafts, that that faying of St. Gregory concerning the Longobardi fuits their cafe exactly : " Whofe very compacts are punimments, and whofe favours are fwords." But the man of God bore it all with a tranquil mind, a cheerful countenance, a gentle voice, and a generous hand. Nor did his pious habits ceafe, though he had to ftruggle with fuch impiety, until the evil of the latter was overcome and put to mame by the goodnefs of the former, and glory and honour was heaped upon the piety which had won the victory. For he gave food and drink to his enemies, as the Apoftle tells us to do. He foftened the hearts of his defpoilers by kindneffes he made his tormentors gentle by his wondrous, unheard-of meeknefs. He heaped, fo to fpeak, from the furnace of a great affection, coals of fire upon their heads, fo that the hardnefs of their hearts, foftened to the marrow, was at length melted, and they began to worfhip and honour him whom they had been accuftomed to mock and fcourge. The hand which once raged with ftripes, N 178 The Life of King Harold. is now conftant in kindnefles. The tongue, once ufed to contumely, redoubles its praifes. For the virtue of his not yet experienced goodnefs, after the manner of perfumes, the more it was handled, the ftronger fcent it had, and being widely diffufed, the odour of his life became, by its difperfion, life to many. For the fweet fragrance of his holy reputation, gliding into their fenfes, drove away and put to flight that devil's breath of raging mift from the hearts of thefe brute beafts, though human beings ; and you might well think that fuch an utterance as this came from their tuneful hearts, rather than their voices: "In the odour of Thy ointments we run, for our fouls have loved Thee." CHAP. XV. How Harold, the man of God, avoided the obfequious who perjecuted him, whom he had approached, and long borne with ; and how a place of reft was appointed for him by a 'voice that fell from heaven ; and how he hinted in ambiguous words to thoje who ajked him that he was Harold; and how the truth of the matter will be fliown more fully in the account given by his Juccejfor. UT this man of God, this practifer of a deep humility, this lover of quiet- nefs, this careful guardian of both thefe virtues, left he mould lofe or deftroy in the leaft either of thefe good qualities, decides that he muft fly from thofe whom he had firft fought out to perfecute him, but who now were inclined to worfhip him. The virtue of his bodily ftrength, which would not yield to labours, but was become broken with years, began to give way in him. Once you would have thought that his knees were growing ftrong rather than weak by his faftings ; that his legs were gaining activity ; 1 80 The Life of King Harold. that he fcarcely felt fatigue. But now the decrepit old man was to experience that " Old age brings everything." He makes a prayer to the Lord that he may be mown a place, in his declining years, defiring a pleafant vifion to his faint- ing heart, and begs that God with His wonted kindnefs will grant him fuch a refting-place, where he may pafs the remainder of his life in the quiet of a much-defired repofe, and there end his days by a happy death. And feeling that the Lord in His beneficent fpirit had liftened to the pious defire of His poor fuppliant, he caufed himfelf to be mounted on a poor beaft, and, content with his ufual attendant, ftarts on the journey which the Lord would deign to appoint for him ; and was thus borne by feet that were another's becaufe his own had no ftrength left in them. Departing, then, ignorant by defign, and wifely uninformed of his journey's end, and led by angelic guidance, he reached at length the city of Chefter, where, as the day was declining towards evening, arriving in the midft of the city, when he heard his attendants in- quiring where they were to ftay, a voice fuddenly falls upon them. " Go," it faid, " good man, to the church of St. John ; there you mall find a refting- place prepared for you." The attendant, aftonifhed at what he heard, gazes all round with curious eye, feeking for the owner- of the voice, but none was vifible. It was clear, forfooth, that it was the Lord's holy angel who, accompanying them on their journey, and ordering everything for their benefit, had told the man of God that a place was The Life of King Harold. 1 8 1 prepared for him. And he, as was his cuftom, with the veil that hung before his eyes covering nearly the whole of his face, had difguifed his countenance, left he might frighten thofe who met him by the remarkable appearance of his wounds ; or left, if he were recognifed, a feeling of vanity might fteal over his fenfes at the reverence he would be fubjedled to. The byftanders foon point out with their finger the church which was fignified to them by the divine oracle ; he approaches, and is heartily welcomed as a heavenly-appointed gueft. For the fad was that a venerable hermit of that place had recently departed this life, thus leaving his little dwelling vacant for a holy fucceffor thus divinely provided. The daughter of Sion, by which I mean the church we have mentioned above, full of joy and gladnefs (though no one knew for certain who he was), received her King, though feated in this ignoble fafhion, and yet a faint, and coming in all things as a Saviour to them. And as he abode there, when he was fre- quently afked by thofe who came to vifit him, and who reported what edification they gained from him, whether he was prefent at the war when King Harold was faid to have been killed, he replied, " I was certainly there." But to fome who fuf- pected that perhaps he might be Harold himfelf, and who queftioned him more clofely than was right, he would fometimes thus fpeak of himfelf, " When the battle of Haftings was fought,' there was no one more dear to Harold than myfelf." With fuch ambiguous words, fo to fpeak, he did 1 82 The Life of King Harold. not fo much confirm the truth of the facts, as refufe to ftrengthen them in their doubtful con- jectures. But how the evidence of the matter became at length plainly known to all will be mown below in the words, not of ourfelves, but of a venerable man who fucceeded Harold in his habitation at the fame hermitage. CHAP. XVI. The reader dejpife the reading which he feels differs from the opinions ofjome; and concerning the three occafions of thofe who think differently about this prejent Jubjeft ; and concerning the threefold miftake of William of Malmejbury on the fate of Harold. IEANWHILE, i think i ought in aii humility to fuggeft to the reader that he fhould not think he ought to defpife our hiftory from its evident infignificance, becaufe, perchance, he re- members that many perfons have fpoken' and written on this fame fubject in one place or another; for it is plain that not only ordinary hiftorians, but alfo moft renowned orators, have thought and written not only differently, but quite the oppofite to each other concerning the words of Harold. For it is quite clear, both by common-fenfe as well as authority, that what differs from truth cannot be true. This alfo St. Jerome, at the dictation of truth itfelf, has faid. But in the reafonablenefs of thefe opinions which 1 84 The Life of King Harold. we are here ventilating, a threefold caufe of difference of opinion or, what no one ought to deny, of falfehood, can be afligned by thofe who well confider the matter. In the firft place, indeed, it is plain that, in many cafes, the truth of matters has for a long time efcaped everyone. Hence diflike of, or favour to, a particular perfon feems to have given an excellent opportunity to kindly-difpofed perfons of relating good things, and likewife to evil-difpofed perfons of inventing evil things, when the facts themfelves were un- certain. Actuated by fome fuch confederation as this, that moft eloquent William of Malmefbury difcriminates in his chronicles, and promifes to take a half-way pofition between Harold's de- tractors and his fupporters. I mould have thought he would, without doubt, have infifted on the truth for its very virtue's fake, and would not willingly have defrauded the merits of the affair of their juft praifes or their due criticifm. But becaufe he wrote of things he had heard of but had not feen, by the law of hiftories the truth of the writer is aflured where the truth of the facts themfelves is wrecked ; otherwife, not even had the moft blefled writers of the Gofpels efcaped the rifk of miftakes thus Jofeph is called the father of the Saviour ; thus certain of His difciples are more particularly called His brothers than the reft, not that their real father, but their putative father had them as fons, not indeed natural, but adopted fons. Therefore, following general opinion, and The Life of King Harold. 185 unaccuftomed to the truth, this man is known to have introduced into his hiftory what it is plain was the reverfe of the truth, however much the truth of things is relied on to ftrengthen one's ftory. But in the other things, which he commented upon at one time with a pen of gold, at another with a pen fteeped with pitch, concerning the merits or manners of Harold, as his mind in- formed him or report fuggefted, perhaps he wandered from the path of truth fomewhat par- donably ; but he fell more feverely when he at- tacked the very Anointed of the Lord. For he turned upon himfelf in his impetuonty three fpears, by which it chanced that, not his perfon indeed, but his truth was attacked. He faid that Harold met his death by an arrow-wound upon his head ; he faid that the foldier who attacked the dead King's thigh had been driven from the army after cenfure from the victorious Duke ; he related that money was offered by his mother to the victorious William for a royal funeral, but that he was taken away, without payment of money, and buried at Waltham. Thus, concern- ing the thigh, the head, and the man's whole body, the tongue of the fpeaker, who writes many things in fecret, runs riot with more licence than the armed hand of the foldier who fights openly. But the Lord has delivered the poor and needy man whom He has proved to be more mighty in moft things than many orators and kings from the arrow of the mouth of the one and from the fpear in the hand of the other. 1 86 The Life of King Harold. I do not fpeak of all thefe things ; but the Lord will give to him who walks in fimplicity the power to underftand what I write, to think what I think. But a contemporary of the prefent writer has written in temperate language an account of thefe things (namely, Ethelred, a venerable abbot) in the life of his holy predeceflbr, King Edward. He fays, indeed, that Harold either fell in battle or efcaped, not without wounds, referved for re- pentance. CHAP. XV IL What happened to the people of Waltham in their holy anxiety concerning the burial of their patron ; and how they were mifled by a woman s miftake. lUT the offence of fuch a miftake on the part of William is a great deal lefTened becaufe what took place at Waltham was well known far and wide. For, in truth, this horrible report had reached the ears of the private domeftic canons of the King at Waltham, feeing that nearly everyone was faying that the King had fallen at the battle of Haftings. The clerks, fo often mentioned above, not unmindful of the devotion due to their moft generous patron, fent a certain woman of a mrewd intelligence, Edith by name, to the diftrict where the battle had been fought, that me might carry away the limbs of their dead lord, to be buried reverently in their church. She feemed [a more fuitable perfon] to make the attempt, infomuch as the weaker and lefs favoured fex would be con- fidered lefs an object of fufpicion to the cruel 1 88 The Life of King Harold. officers in authority, and more an obje<5t of com- panion. But this woman feemed more fitted than all others to carry out this affair, becaufe me could more eafily difcover amongft the thoufands of corpfes him me fought, and would handle his remains more tenderly, becaufe me loved him ex- ceedingly, and knew him well, inafmuch as it was clear that me had been frequently prefent in the fecret places of his chamber. But when me reached the ill-omened fpot, me heard from many Normans, who were everywhere boafting, that the King of the Angles was ignominioufly beaten, with his crofs broken in halves, and that he was lying on the battle-field, killed amongft the {lain. But let the reader fee what turned out to be a truer account. For others thought that they who had carried off the King half dead, had fet about this report, forefeeing that it would be dangerous to them and to him, and would prove their certain deftrudion, if the enemy mould hear that he was alive. We muft not therefore wonder at the miftake of the woman who, unable to difcern the features of the body hacked about as it was, covered with blood, already becoming black and decompofed, fince me could not find one which me could be certain was the King's feized hold of, and carried off with her, another man's mangled corpfe, to fatisfy the public eftimation. And this was the body which was received in all reverence by the Canons of Waltham, without queftioning the truth of the matter, and was handed over for burial in the Church of the Holy Crofs. CHAP. XVIII.How a brother of Harold, Gurth by name, replied to Walter the Abbot, or others, when ajked concerning the a/hes or the burial of his brother. N the days of King Henry II., there was feen by that King himfelf, as well as the nobles and people of the land, a brother of Harold named Gurth, whom the above-mentioned hiftorian in his book relates at the time of the arrival of the Normans to have been in years little more than a boy, but in wifdom and uprightnefs of mind, almoft a man. But he was, at the period we fpeak of, of a great age, and, as we heard from many who faw him at that time, beautiful to look upon, noble in mien, and very tall in figure. The Abbot of the regular canons at Waltham, the Lord Walter, of pious memory, was the firft to fee him; and was very eager to aik him, as well as his brothers, who were about the King's Court at Woodftock, whether in real truth the afhes of his brother were preferved in their 1 90 The Life of King Harold. monaftery, as was generally believed. He replied in Englifh, "You may have fome countryman, but you have not Harold." Yet he came to the place himfelf to worfhip the Holy Crofs, and when his brother's coffin was mown to him, look- ing afkance at it, faid : " Man knoweth not " (for fo he fware). "Harold lies not here." May that Lord Michael, Canon of the approved religion, Chamberlain of the Church at Waltham, live long and flourim in Chrift, who firmly aflerts that he heard thefe words from the man's own mouth, while many flood by, fome of whom ftill furvive. Thus having difcufied thefe things briefly and, as we truft, not unprofitably, for the information of our readers, left the uncertain differences of writers mould difturb them, we will now, as we promifed, fet down the words of the man we fpoke of above, by which it is clearly taught how the good- nefs of Chrift made plain by many figns the fame of His fervant. CHAP. XIX. How the fucce/or of the man of God, writing a true account of the deeds of the moft blejfcd Harold^ has on two occafions ajjigned inappropriate reafons for his aflions ; with a dif- cujjion on the fir ft reafon, and a full difpro-val of the fame by the production of the evidence of various opinions. |E muft confider that view alfo in the words of the moft faithful relator, that, juft as he lucidly explained things that were done, fo he took care to exprefs the reafon of the things done not fufficiently fitly and prudently, as moft people think ; and this may be faid without offence to fuch a great man. Hence, therefore, that third thing can be taken into confederation, which, as we faid, gave rife to a ground of difference among the writers : I mean, the quality of mind or in- telligence of thofe who relate all thefe things in order, who, according to the bent of their mind, meafuring the affection of the moft holy man, and the purpofe of his actions, have taken on them- 192 The Life of King Harold. felves to intimate the reafons of thofe actions. The evident credulity of thefe writers by carelefs expreflions has darkened with an interpretation far from true deeds worthy of the higheft praife. And this feems to have happened not once, but twice, to this good man in the courfe of his narra- tive, in their opinion who, fully relying on felf- evident reafons and other perfons' opinions I mean the opinions of thofe who had clung more clofely to the fervant of the Lord have imprefled in fome way or other more deeply on their hearts an inward likenefs of his mind. But what thofe things may be, by which the courfe of that truth is not fufficiently eftablifhed (as is thought) it is worth while to difcufs briefly, to the end that we may remove from the midft of it all darknefs of doubt, bringing to bear the force of our difcretion, as far as we can, on our more fimple-minded hearers. Thus the aforefaid man fays of the faint who was then on his journey ings, as follows : " Afterwards, becaufe to live on one's own native foil is always pleafant, he made all hafte to Eng- land, where he had formerly been King, that he might fpend there the remainder of his days." But fince it is a trite faying of the wife that that man is yet weak who holds his fatherland dear, but ftill ftrong when he makes any land his father- land, and even perfect when every land is a land of exile to him ; who does not fee that it is abfurd that a man withered with old age, as he himfelf fays, and broken down by the length of his The Life of King Harold. 193 journey, religious though it was, fhould be de- , clared to have been attracted by the fweetnefs of his native foil to feek a fatherland again in it? And does not the Lord fay to Abraham, " Get thee out of thy country ;" and again in the Pfalm, " Forget thine own people and thy father's houfe "? And if the fweetnefs or recollection of his land, his people, and his father's houfe could not hold him of lefs age or inferior ftrength of mind, or holinefs of purpofe, would it lead or would it attract him to all thefe things whereby the more he advanced the more perfect he became ? but would not that faying of the evangelift thunder in the fpiritual ears of the man who was pondering in his heart over the fweetnefs he had loft, " No man putting his hand to the plough, and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God " ? And again, the well-meaning writer does not confider what fort of a thing that native foil was to him how it was ftill unchanged, how it was hoftile to him and his party, and how it could even feem to him to be irkfome when he looked back upon the whole of his life, even if he was ftill led along by an affection tenderer than ever. CHAP. XX. The weaknefs of the Jecond reafon aj/igned, and the writer's warning to the reader ; and on the difficulty of patching up materials torn indifcriminately by ancient writers. |ND indeed he has no ftronger ground to ftand on, when he alleges the reafon why he left Shropfhire to go to Chefter. He relates that he abandoned the place in which (as the writer main- tains), though fo cruelly and frequently afflicted in lofles and ftripes by the Welm, he feemed to have fettled, at peace with himfelf and giving thanks to God, for the fpace of feven years, in order that the outward tribulation might not deftroy the repofe of the inward man from its attitude of felf- control. But this opinion is detected to be in- valid, no lefs than the other, when confidered, and when the tradition is accepted of thofe who affert that he dwelt in the country of the Welfh for this very reafon, which defcribes how he fuffered at the hands of thofe whom he had in paft years afflicted with fuch utter devaftation, The Life of King Harold. 195 though with an apparently juft caufe, whatever the merciful difpenfation of God, who orders all things in kindnefs, had permitted him to fuffer. For if, under pretext of withdrawing him from fuch violence, he had refolved to change his abode, he would have done it fooner, and not have waited to be afflicted fo often with lofTes and ftripes. For he was well acquainted with their fhores, in the midft of which, in a three-years' expedition, he knew them to their exceflive coft, as is related, thoroughly and entirely, as one fays. For this was the land which he had fubdued by his won- derful bravery, when yet an Earl, and nearly deftroyed it, which not one of the Kings who fucceeded him up to this prefent day had power to do. For it is maintained that he poflefTed fuch ftrength, and withal fuch wonderful boldnefs that, as we read, not one of the armed Norman army approached to attack him, but both horfe and rider were overthrown by him at the firft blow, mortally wounded. This remarkable valour he had now put off, trufting now in the Lord, and flying with wings he had aflumed, and nowhere failing in his flight. But the only thing he feared was that the power of his wings might be weakened by the lubricity of a worldly profperity, becoming feeble and not fo much like the birds whom God feeds as thofe men whom the wind feeds, if in his cafe the feven locks of Samfon mould be morn by the razor of adulation. It was this alone he fled from, becaufe it was the only thing he feared ; it 196 The Life of King Harold. was not, indeed, the weapons of the Welfh, but the oil of the finner. He knew that the Welfh held the unknown in fufpicion, but thofe who were approved in religion in veneration, and that therefore they defpifed the companionmip of the one, and admired that of the other. But the man of God, now juft and brave, now prudent and temperate, fought out thofe who defpifed him, that he might fuffer juftly what he feared he had de- ferved; and wifely deferted thofe who admired him, left he mould be deprived of the benefit of his temperate moderation. He remembered that the fire near the prophet fuddenly burnt the beau- tiful, fertile, and fruit-bearing olive-tree, at the appearance of a loud voice ; wherefore he wifhed to walk with the great and not amongft thofe who looked on him with admiration. Therefore he evades liars and finners whom he had for a long time borne upon his back, when he faw they were haftening to ftrike on the head. But now my ftory pleads for an ending. My book muft be clofed, that the pen of thofe who know thefe things more fully may narrate what it is neceflary to be known concerning Harold. But Jet this little book in its laft fentences implore the benevolent reader to deign to make allowance for the excefles of the author by holy prayers, and aflifted by the mterceflion of the pious King Harold, let him take him in his company to the harbour of eternal fafety ; may he grant pardon for the garruloufnefs of the writer of this prefent work when he fees how very difficult it was to The Life of King Harold. 197 patch up and make new again the materials at his command, torn and mifplaced as they are by the ftudies of former authors, and to guide into the wifhed-for haven the boat, old and mattered, amid the ill-famed rocks of hiftories, while the tongues and writings of calumniators are, as it were, winds fighting againft it. But all glory and honour be to God our helper, who alone, the Trinity and Unity, is King, blefled, worthy of praife, glorious and highly exalted for ever. THE NARRATIVE OF THE HERMIT whojucceeded the holy Harold on the death of that mo ft -pious King, and the miracles which were per- formed by his means after he departed to the Lord, preceded by a fliort account of his doings andfuffer- ings from the time he loft his earthly kingdom. T is written that tribulation worketh patience, patience experience, expe- rience hope. For the experience of patience and confirmation of a pious hope, God fometimes permits His people to have tribulation in this life that He may free them from an eternal tribulation, wherefore He alfo allowed the venerable Harold, once King of the Angles, to have tribulation, and to be overcome by his enemies, and expelled from his kingdom, left he might grow proud becaufe he had gained a victory ; and left, having been raifed to kingly power, he might put on one fide the love of God becaufe of his profperity, but having been placed in poverty that he might live a more holy and blefled life, while he had his mind altogether free from earthly occupations. The Life of King Harold. 199 Therefore, after the lofs of his kingdom, and the cure of the wounds he had received at the hands of the Normans, he takes a [journey] in the guife of a pilgrim to holy places through many lands, working for God on his holy pilgrimage. But after a time, being ftiff with old age and mattered by his long journey, he became defirous to inflict on his weary body another form of religious practice. And becaufe to live on one's native foil is always pleafant, he made all hafte to England, where he had formerly been King, that he might fpend there the remainder of his days, poor, defpifed, and meanly clad, where once he had flourimed as a king, wealthy, exalted, and clad in coftly garments, and in order that his merit might increafe in the fight of God (in proportion as he might poflefs a more benevolent fpirit) be- caufe he would be able every day to look upon his adverfaries and be happy in the kingdom he had loft, and alfo to obey the Lord's command in praying faithfully to God for them. On arriving at the mores of his native country, he chofe the folitary life of a hermit, and living there in many places unknown to all till he made his laft farewell to earthly things, he miniftered to God by faith. Nor did he change his place of abode by any caprice, but he fought where he might ferve God with moft tranquillity. Now this fame noble man had formerly an attendant named Mofes, who, when I, the prefent writer, was confined in the fame place at Chefter, where the Lord Harold, the hermit and friend of God died, attended me alfo 200 The Life of King Harold. for two years. And I will tell you briefly and faithfully, though I muft omit much, the events which follow according to the account of Mofes and other faithful men. At length the man of God came to Shropfhire, to a place called (Cefwrthin) Chef- wardine, and there for feven years leading the life of a hermit, with this Mofes for his attendant, he was very much difturbed by Welfh robbers, and was frequently and violently afflicted at their hands by their robberies and afTaults. All this he bore with patience, in all things giving thanks to God with humility. But after a time, left outward tribulation mould caft him down from his pofition of control over his inward man, he left that place, and followed by the above-mentioned attendant, fet out for Chefter, and there, in the Chapel of St. James, which is fituated on the River Dee, outfide the walls of the city in the cemetery of St. John Baptift, he fpent a hermit's life with great ftrictnefs for feven years, until his death. He wore for a long time a corfelet next his {kin, till it was all rotten, and quite worn away. But the cuttings and loofe pieces he bade his fervant throw fecretly into the river, that it might appear to no man that he had worn it. In his body, indeed, he was moft chafte and continent : in heart, lowly and prudent. Of what ftation of life he was he always kept a fecret, that he might not by chance be held in too great veneration by men, whereby his mind being elated he might flip from the path of uprightnefs, and the merit of his humility might be diminifhed in the fight of God. He rarely The Life of King Harold. 201 quitted the chapel, but was conftant in continual prayer, doing what God has faid : that men ought always to pray and not to faint. In front of his eyes he hung at all times a cloth, which covered nearly the whole of his face, fo that when he wifhed to walk at all far he required the hand of a guide. Why he did this, his attendant did not know ; but perhaps he did it to hide the appear- ance of the wounds upon his gamed face, or left, if a free outlet for his eyes exifted, an opening for fecular vanities might be made for his foul, or elfe it was that he might not be recognifed and vene- rated by any who had feen him in former times. ON THE LAST MOMENTS OF HAROLD. |OW as the day of the death of the venerable Harold drew near, and as that laft moment of extreme neceflity arrived when the holy man demanded the confolation of the Holy Sacrament, a prieft, whom I knew well, named Andrew, came and vifited the fide man and adminiftered to him all that the Chriftian rite requires. But as he was liftening to his laft confeflion, he afked him of what ftation of life he was ? To whom he replied : " If you will promife me, on the Word of the Lord, that, as long as I live, you will not divulge what I tell you, I will fatisfy the motive of your queftion." The prieft anfwered : " On peril of my foul, I declare to you that anything you mail tell me mall be preferved a fecret from everyone till you have drawn your laflrbreath." Then he replied : " It is true that I was formerly the King of England, Harold by name, but now am I a poor man, lying in afhes ; and, that I might conceal my name, I caufed myfelf to be called The Life of King Harold. 203 Chriftian." Not long after this he gave up the ghoft, and now, conqueror over all his enemies, he has departed to the Lord. But the prieft at once told them all that the man of God had confefled to him, in his laft words, that he was indeed King Harold. INDEX. AILARD, physician and abbot, 17, 18, 23 Alemrxnni, the, 18 Anchorite, at Chester, 78 Andrew, a priest, 98 Antichrists, 69 Benjamin, 29 Benoni, 29 Beseleel, 6 Brompton, the historian, 81 Butler, Alban, 44 Ceswrthin, or Cheswardine, co. Salop, 96 Chanaan, 28 Chester, city, 30, 77, 81, 95, 97 chapel of St. James, 97 cemetery of St. John Baptist, 97 chapel of St. John, 77 church of St. John, 98 Chophmos, 28 Chrysanthus, the martyr, 44, 45 Cnut, King, 13 Daci, the, or Danes, 13-15, 3 6 i 37 Darin, the martyr, 44, 45 De, River, 97 Domesday Book, 34 Dover, 69 Edward the Confessor, 13, 15, 17 Ellis, Sir Henry, 35 Elsinus, the abbot, 55 Esdras, 3 Eyton, Rev. R. W., quoted, 96 Francalanus, 34 Germany, 35 Giraldus Cambrensis, 81 Godiva, Countess, 96 Godwin, Earl, 13-15 Grandmont, Priory of, 51 Gregory, St., 74 Hardy, Sir Thos. D., ix.-xi., 81 Harold, description of the MS. Vita, i. ; history of the MS., ix. ; notice of his- torical points and translation, xii. ; pedi- gree of, 13 Hastings, xi., 78 Henry I., King, 26 Henry II., King, 51 Hiram, 6 Jacob, 29 Jeronymus, 79 Jerusalem, 3 Jonah, 51 Joseph, 28 Joseph, St., 80 Knighton, the historian, 81 Longobardi, the, 74 Martha, 66 _ Mary, Virgin, 66 Moses, 3 Moses, or Moyses, a servant, 95-97 Nehemiah, quoted, 3 Neustria, 24, 52 Normandy, 24, 29, 34, 54 Norway, 29, 36, 50, 54 Ooliab, 6 Oxfordshire, 31 Paralysis, 17 Paul, St., 70 Pedigree of Harold and William the Con- queror, 13 Prom Abbey, 45 Rachel, 29 Relics, 44 Rothomagus, 51 Saboth. 68 Samaritans, the, 34 Saracen, a, woman, 35 Saul, 14, 71 Saxony, 35, 36 Sebricht, anchorite, 30 Shropshire, 96 Stanton, in Oxfordshire, 31 Stephen VI., Pope, 44 Syon, 78 Uriah, 15 Wales, 17, 71, 73 Waltham, 19, 20, 24-26, 8t William the Conqueror, 13, 24-26 , William of Malmesbitry, 80, 81 W. Pictaviensis, the historian, 81 Winchester, city, 35 ELLIOT STOCK'S PUBLICATIONS. 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