THE STORY OF THE NATIONS THE NORMANS TOLD CHIEFLY IN RELATION TO THEIR CON- QUEST OF ENGLAND BY SARAH ORNE JEWETT NEW YORK G. P. PUTNAV.'S SONS LONDON- T. FISHER UNWIN »9^5 1905" Copyright, x886 BY G, P. PUTNAM'S SOWS Ube "ftnfcfterbocfcec press, Hew B?orh TO MY DEAR GRANDFATHER Doctor WILLIAM PERRY, of Exeter CONTENTS. I. PAGE The Men of the Dragon Ships . . . 1-29 The ancient Northmen, 1-3 — Manner of life, 4-6 — Hall- life and hospitality, 7 — Sagamen, 8 — Sea-kings and vikings, g— Charlemagne and the vikings, ii — Viking voyages and , settlements, 12-22 — The Northmen in France, 23-27 — Mod- em inheritance from the Northmen, 28. II. Rolf the Ganger 30-51 Harold Haarfager, 30— Jarl Rognwald, 32 — Rolf's outlawry, 33 — Charles the Simple, 35 — The Archbishop of Rouen, 37 — Hasting, 38 — Siege of Bayeux, 40 — Rolf's character, 41 — The founding of Normandy, 43 — The king's grant, 45 — Rolf's christening, 46 — Law and order, 48 — Rolf's death, 50. III. William Longsword 52-65 French influences ; Charlemagne ; Charles the Fat, 52-54 — Feudalism, 55 — The Franks, 55 — Norman loyalty to France, 57 — Longsword's politics, 60 — The Bayeux Northmen, 61 — Longsword's love of the cloister, 63 — Longsword's char- acter, 64. IV. Richard the Fearless 66-89 Longsword's son, 66 — A Norman castle, 67 — News of Longsword's death, 69 — His funeral, 70 — Richard made Vlll CONTENTS. PACB duke, 70— The guardianship of Louis of France, 72 — De- tention of Richard and escape from Laon, 73-75 — Hugh of Paris, 76 — Louis at Rouen, 77 — Norman plots. So — Harold Blaatand, 81 — Normandy against France, 82 — Indepen- dence of Normandy, 84 — Normandy and England, 85 — Ger- berga, 85 — Alliance with Hugh of Paris ; with Hugh Capet, 86-88— Death of Richard, 8g. V. Duke Richard the Good .... 90-114 Richard the Good's succession, 90 — French influences, 91 — Lack of records, 91 — Prosperity of the duchy, 92 — Rich- ard's love of courtliness and splendor, 92 — Wrongs of the common people ; their complaint, 93-95 — Raoul of Ivry, 96 — The Flemish colony ; the Falaise fair ; Richard's brother William, 97, 98 — Robert of France, 99— Richard's marriage, loi — yEthelred the Unready, 102 — The Danes in England, 103 — Emma of Normandy, 105 ; Trouble with Burgundy, 107 — The lands of Dreux, 109 — The Count- Bishop of Chalons, no ; Norman chroniclers, 112 — Ermen- oldus ; the third Richard and his murder, I12-114. VL Robert the Magnificent . . 1 15-129 Power and wealth of Normandy, 115 — The English princes, 118 — Cnut of England and Queen Emma, 119— Robert's lavishness ; Baldwin of Flanders, 120-122 — The tanner's daughter, 122 — Norman pride and Robert's defiance of pub- lic opinion, 124— Robert's pilgrimage to Jerusalem, 125 — His death at Nicoea, 129. vn. The Normans in Italy .... 130-148 Hasting the pirate, 130 — Early Norman colonies in the south of Europe, 132 — The Norman character, 134 — Tan- cred de Hauteville, 135 — Serlon de Hauteville, 136 — Sicily, 139 — Pope Leo the Tenth, 140 — Robert Guiscard, 141 — Rapid progress of the Norman-Italian States and their prosperity, 142 — Norman architecture in Sicily, 145. CONTENTS. IX VIII. PAGE The Youth of William the Conqueror . 149-170 Typical character of William, 149 — Loneliness of his child- hood, 151 — William de Talvas, 152 — The feudal system, 153 — Christianity and knighthood, 156 — Ceremonies at the making of a knight, 157 — The oaths of knighthood, 161 — The Truce of God, 166-170. IX. Across the Channel .... 1 71-194 Changes in England, 171 — ^thelred, 172 — The Danegelt, 173 — The Danes again, 175 — Swegen, 177 — Cnut, 178 — Eadmund Ironside, 180 — Cnut's pilgrimage, 181 — Godwine, 184 — Eadward the Confessor, 187 — The Dover quarrel, 189 — Normans in England, 192 — Castles, 193. X. The Battle of Val-es-Dunes . . . 195-214 Roger de Toesny, 196 — William's boyhood, 198 — Escape from Valognes, 199 — The Lord of Rye, 200 — Guy of Bur- gundy, 201 — Rebellion, 202 — Val-es-Dunes, 204 — Ralph of Tesson, 206 — Neal of St. Saviour, '208 — William's leniency, 211 — His mastery, 213 — The siege of Alenyon, 213. XL The Abbey of Bec ..... 215-231 Cloistermen, 215 — Soldiery and scholarship, 216 — Building of religious houses, 218 — Cathedrals, 220 — Benedictines, 222 — Herluin and his abbey, 223 — Lanfranc, 226 — His influence in Normandy, 229. XII. Matilda of Flanders . . . . 232-254 Flanders, 232 — Objections to William's marriage, 234 — Marriage of William and Matilda at Eu, 236 — Mauger, 237 — Rebuilding of churches, 239 — William's early visit to England, 242 — Godwine's return, 244 — His death, 245 — X CONTENTS. PAGE Jealousy of France, 246 — The French invasion of Nor- mandy, 247 — Battle of Mortemer, 248 — The curfew bell, 251 — Battle of Vaiaville, 252 — Harold of England's visit, 254- XIII. Harold the Englishman . . . 255-274 Causes and effects of war, 255 — Relations of William and Harold, 256 — Harold's unfitness as a leader of the English, 257 — His shipwreck on the coast of Ponthieu, 260 — Wil- liam's palace in Rouen, 261 — News of Harold's imprison- ment by Guy of Ponthieu, 262 — Harold's release, 264 — His life in Normandy, 265 — His oath, 267 — Eadward's last ill- ness, 269 — Harold named as successor, 272. XIV. News from England .... 275-294 Harold made king, 275 — William hears the news, 276 — ■ The Normans begin to plan for war, 278 — William's em« bassy, 280 — The council at Lillebonne, 280 — The barons ^ hold back, 282 — Lanfranc's influence at Rome, 286 — Tos- tig, 287 — Harold's army, 290 — Harold Hardrada, 291- The battle of Stamford Bridge, 293. XV. The Battle of Hastings .... 295-3 ix Nolroandy makes ready for war, 295 — The army at St. Valery, 297 — William crosses the Channel, 298 — The camp at Hastings, 300 — Harold of England, 302 — Senlac, 304 — The battle array, 306 — The great fight, 308 — The Norman victory, 310. XVI. William the Conqueror .... 312-344 Norman characteristics, 312 — William's coronation, 314— His plan of government, 316 — Return to Normandy, 320 — Caen, 322 — The Bayeux tapestry, 323 — Matilda crowned CONTENTS. xi PAGE queen, 325 — Difficulties of government, 327 — The English forests, 330 — Decay of learning in Eadward's time, 331 — William's laws against slaver}-, 332 — His son Robert, 333 — The queen's death, 335 — Odo's plot, 335— William's injury at Mantes, 337 — His illness and death, 339 — Description from Roman de Rou, 341. XVII. Kingdom and Dukedom .... 345~358 William Rufus, 345 — Robert of Normandy, 346 — William Rufus in England, 349 — Duke Robert goes on pilgrimage, 351 — Murder of W^illiam Rufus, 353 — Henry Beauclerc seizes the English crown, 355 — Death of Prince William, 358. XVIII. Conclusion 359~366 Development of Norman character, 360 — Northern influ- ences, 362 — The great inheritance, 365. LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. BIRTHPLACE OF WILLIAM THE CONQUEROR. FALAISE. Frontispiece MAP EUROPE AT CLOSE OF ELEVENTH CENTURY IRON SPEAR AND CHISEL VIKING SHIP . ViKING .... NORSE BUCKLE NORWEGIAN FIORD FLAILS AS MILITARY WEAPONS ABBEY CHURCH OF ST. OUEN. (rOUEn) QUEEN EMMA OR ^LFGIFU NORMAN COSTUMES ROBERT, DUKE OF NORMANDY, CARRIED TER TO JERUSALEM NORMAN PLOUGHMAN ARMING A KNIGHT . CONFERRING KNIGHTHOOD ON THE FIELD ^ KING CNUT ..... DOORWAY OF CATHEDRAL, CHARTRES CANTERBURY CATHEDRAL CRYPT OF MOUNT ST. MICHEL xiii IN A LIT OF BATTLE I 5 13 17 21 31 77 87 105 117 127 153 157 167 179 217 221 241 XIV LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. NORMAN ARCHER .... GUY, COUNT OF PONTHIEU MOUNT ST. MICHEL OLD HOUSES, DOL . . . FUNERAL OF EADWARD THE CONFESSOk STIGAND, ARCHBISHOP OF CANTERBURY MAP — NORMANDY IN I066 MAP ENGLAND .... NORMAN VESSEL .... WILLIAM THE CONQUEROR NORMAN MINSTREL SOLDIER IN CLOAK .... DEATH OF HAROLD NORMAN LADY . . . « BATTLE-AXES . . . . o ODO. BISHOP OF BAYEUX PAGE • . 253 . 259 263 265 • 273 . 277 . 281 . 289 • • . 297 301 305 309 325 326 329 335 The ten illustrations in this volume which are from designs by Thomas Macquoid, have been reproduced (through the courtesy of Messrs. Chatto & Windus) from Mrs. Macquoid's "Pictures and Legends from Normandy and Brittany," the American edition of which was published by G. P. Putnam's Sons. DUKES OF THE NORMANS. ROLF, First Duke of the Normans, r. 911-927. I WILLIAM LONGSWORD, r. 927-943. RICHARD THE FKARLESS, r. 943-996. RICHARD THE GOOD, r. 996-1026. I Emma, m. i.'^thelred II. of England ; m. 2. Cnut of England and Denmark. RICHARD III. r. 1026-1028. ROBERT THE MAGNIFICENT, r. 102S-1035. I WILLIAM THE CONQUEROR, r. 1035-1087. ROBERT II.. r. 1087- 1096 (from 1096 10 1 100 tlie Duchy was held by his brother William), and 1100-1106 (when he was over- thrown at Tinche- brai by his brother Henry). WILLIAM RUFUS, r. 1 096- 1 100. Adela, m. Stephen, Count of Blois. I STEPHEN OF BLOIS, s. 1135. HENRY I., r. 1106-1135. Matilda m. GEOFFRY COUNT OF ANJOU AND MAINE (who won the Duchy from Stephen). HENRY IL, invested with the Duchy, 1 150, d. 1189. I I I RICHARD JOHN, THE LION-HEART, r. II99-I204 r. II 89-1199. (when Normandy Was conquered by France). EUROPE AT T«E CLOSE ofthj IP CENTURY *- O THE STORY OF THE NORMANS. I. THE MEN OF THE DRAGON SHIPS. " Far as the breeze can bear, the billows foam, Survey our empire and behold our home." — Byron. The gulf stream flows so near to the soutliern coast of Norway, and to the Orkneys and Western Islands, that their climate is much less severe than might be supposed. Yet no one can help wonder- ing why they were formerly so much more populous than now, and why the people who came westward even so long ago as the great Aryan migration, did not persist in turning aside to the more fertile coun- tries that lay farther southward. In spite of all their disadvantages, the Scandinavian peninsula, and the sterile islands of the northern seas, were inhabited by men and women whose enterprise and intelli- gence ranked them above their neighbors. Now, with the modern ease of travel and trans- portation, these poorer countries can be supplied from other parts of the world. And though the THE STORY OF THE NORMANS. THE MEN OF THE DRAGON SHIPS. " Far as the breeze can bear, the billows foam, Survey our empire and behold our home." — Byron. The gulf stream flows so near to the southern coast of Norway, and to the Orkneys and Western Islands, that their climate is much less severe than might be supposed. Yet no one can help wonder- ing why they were formerly so much more populous than now, and why the people who came westward even so long ago as the great Aryan migration, did not persist in turning aside to the more fertile coun- tries that lay farther southward. In spite of all their disadvantages, the Scandinavian peninsula, and the sterile islands of the northern seas, were inhabited by men and women whose enterprise and intelli- gence ranked them above their neighbors. Now, with the modern ease of travel and trans- portation, these poorer countries can be supplied from other parts of the world. And though the I 2 THE STORY OF THE NORMANS. summers of Norway are misty and dark and short, and it is difficult to raise even a little hay on the bits of meadow among the rocky mountain slopes, com- merce can make up for all deficiencies. In early times there was no commerce except that carried on by the pirates — if we may dignify their under- takings by such a respectable name, — and it was hardly possible to make a living from the soil alone. The sand dunes of Denmark and the cliffs of Norway alike gave little encouragement to tillers of the ground, yet, in defiance of all our ideas of suc- cessful colonization, when the people of these coun- tries left them, it was at first only to form new set- tlements in such places as Iceland, or the Faroe or Orkney islands and stormiest Hebrides. But it does not take us long to discover that the ancient North- men were not farmers, but hunters and fishermen. It had grown more and more difficult to find food along the rivers and broad grassy wastes of inland Europe, and pushing westward they had at last reached the place where they could live beside wa- ters that swarmed with fish and among hills that sheltered plenty of game. Besides this they had been obliged not only to make the long journey by slow degrees, but to fight their way and to dispossess the people who were al- ready established. There is very little known of these earlier dwellers in the cast and north of Eu- rope, except that they were short of stature and dark-skinned, that they were cave dwellers, and, in successive stages of development, used stone and bronze and iron tools and weapons. Many relics of THE MEN OF THE DRAGON SHIPS. 3 their home-life and of their warfare have been dis- covered and preserved in museums, and there are evidences of the descent of a small proportion of modern Europeans from that remote ancestry. The Basques of the north of Spain speak a different lan- guage and wear a different look from any of the sur- rounding people, and even in Great Britain there are some survivors of an older race of humanity, which the fairer-haired Celts of Southern Europe and Teu- tons of Northern Europe have never been able in the great natural war of races to wholly exterminate and supplant. Many changes and minglings of the in- habitants of these countries, long establishment of certain tribes, and favorable or unfavorable condi- tions of existence have made the nations of Europe differ widely from each other at the present day, but they are believed to have come from a common stock, and certain words of the Sanscrit language can be found repeated not only in Persian and In- dian speech to-day, but in English and Greek and Latin and German, and many dialects that have been formed from these. The tribes that settled in the North grew in time to have many peculiarities of their own, and as their countries grew more and more populous, they needed more things that could not easily be had, and a fash- ion of plundering their neighbors began to prevail. Men were still more or less beasts of prey. Invaders must be kept out, and at last much of the industry of Scandinavia was connected with the carrying on of an almost universal fighting and marauding. Ships must be built, and there must be endless 4 THE STORY OF THE NORMANS. supplies of armor and weapons. Stones were easily collected for missiles or made fit for arrows and spear-heads, and metals were worked with great care. In Norway and Sweden were the best places to find all these, and if the Northmen planned to fight a great battle, they had to transport a huge quantity of stones, iron, and bronze. It is easy to see why one day's battle was almost always decisive in ancient times, for supplies could not be quickly forwarded from point to point, and after the arrows were all shot and the conquered were chased off the field, they had no further means of offence except a hand-to-hand fight with those who had won the right to pick up the fallen spears at their leisure. So, too, an unexpected invasion was likely to prove successful ; it was a work of time to get ready for a battle, and when the Northmen swooped down upon some shore town of Britain or Gaul, the unlucky citi- zens were at their mercy. And while the Northmen had fish and game and were mighty hunters, and their rocks and mines helped forward their warlike enterprises, so the forests supplied them with ship timber, and they gained renown as sailors wherever their fame extended. There was a great difference, however, between the manner of life in Norway and that of England or France. The Norwegian stone, however useful for arrow-heads or axes, was not fit for building purposes. There is h^rrdly any clay there, either, to make bricks with, so that wood has usually been the only material for houses. In the Southern coun- tries there had always been rude castles in which IRON CHISEL FOUND IN AAMOT PARISH, OESTERDALEN. IRON POINT OF A SI'EAU Wli 11 INLAIU WORK OF SILVER, FOUND AT NESNE, IN NORDLAND. 6 THE STORY OF THE NORMANS. the people could shelter themselves, but the North- men could build no castles that a torch could not destroy. They trusted much more to their ships than to their houses, and some of their great cap- tains disdained to live on shore at all. There is something refreshing in the stories of old Norse life ; of its simplicity and freedom and child- ish zest. An old writer says that they had " a hank- ering after pomp and pageantry," and by means of this they came at last to doing things decently and in order, and to setting the fashions for the rest of Europe. There was considerable dignity in the manner of every-day life and housekeeping. Their houses were often very large, even two hundred feet long, with the flaring fires on a pavement in the middle of the floor, and the beds built next the walls on three sides, sometimes hidden by wide tapestries or foreign cloth that had been brought home in the viking ships. In front of the beds were benches where each man had his seat and footstool, with his armor and weapons hung high on the wall above. The master of the house had a high seat on the north side in the middle of a long bench ; oppo- site was another bench for guests and strangers, while the women sat on the third side. The roof was high, there were a few windows in it, and those were covered by thin skins and let in but little light. The smoke escaped through openings in the carved, soot-blackened roof, and though in later times the rich men's houses were more like villages, because they made groups of smaller buildings for store- houses, for guest-rooms, or for workshops all around, THE MEN OF THE DRAGON SHIPS. 7 still, the idea of this primitive great hall or living-room has not even yet been lost. The later copies of it in England and France that still remain are most inter- esting; but what a fine sight it must have been at night when the great fires blazed and the warriors sat on their benches in solemn order, and the skalds recited their long sagas, of the host's own bravery or the valiant deeds of his ancestors ! Hospitality was almost made chief among the virtues. There was a Norwegian woman named Geirrid who went from Heligoland to Iceland and settled there. She built her house directly across the public road, and used to sit in the doorway on a little bench and in- vite all travellers to come in and refresh themselves from a table that always stood ready, spread with food. She M^as not the only one, either, who gave herself up to such an exaggerated idea of the duties of a housekeeper. When a distinguished company of guests was present, the pleasures of the evening were made more important. Listening to the sagas was the best entertainment that could be offered. " These productions were of very ancient origin and entirely foreign to those countries where the Latin language- prevailed. They had little or nothing to do with either chronology or general history ; but were lim- ited to the traditions of some heroic families, relat- ing their deeds and adventures in a style that was always simple and sometimes poetic. These compo- sitions, in verse or prose, were the fruit of a wild Northern genius. They were evolved without mod- els, and disappeared at last without imitations ; and 8 THE STORY OF THE NORMANS. it is most remarkable that in the island of Iceland, of which the name alone is sufficient hint of its frightful climate, and where the very name of poet has al- most become a wonder, — in this very island the skalds (poets) have produced innumerable sagas and other compositions during a space of time which covers the twelfth, thirteenth, and fourteenth cen- turies. " ^ The court poets or those attached to great fam- ilies were most important persons, and were treated with great respect and honor. No doubt, they often fell into the dangers of either flattery or scandal, but they were noted for their simple truthfulness. We cannot help feeling such an atmosphere in those sagas that still exist, but the world has always been very indulgent towards poetry that captivates the imagination. Doubtless, nobody expected that a skald should always limit himself to the part of a lit- eral narrator. They were the makers and keepers of legends and literature in their own peculiar form of history, and as to worldly position, ranked much higher than the later minstrels and troubadours or trouveres who wandered about France. When we remember the scarcity and value of parchment even in the Christianized countries of the South, it is a great wonder that so many sagas were written down and preserved ; while there must have been a vast number of others that existed only in tradition and in the memories of those who learned them in each generation. If we try to get the stor\' of the Northmen from * Depping : " Mantimes Voyages des Normands." THE MEN OF THE DRAGON SHIPS. 9 the French or British clironicler, it is one long, dreary complaint of their barbarous customs and their hea- then religion. In England the monks, shut up in their monasteries, could find nothing bad enough to say about the marauders who ravaged the shores of the country and did so much mischief. If we believe them, we shall mistake the Norwegians and their companions for wild beasts and heathen savages. We must read what was written in their own lan- guage, and then we shall have more respect for the vikings and sea-kings, always distinguishing between these two ; for, while any peasant who wished could be a viking — a sea-robber — a sea-king was a king in- deed, and must be connected with the royal race of the country. He received the title of king by right as soon as he took command of a ship's crew, though he need not have any land or kingdom. Vikings were merely pirates ; they might be peasants and vikings by turn, and won their name from the inlets, the viks or wicks, where they harbored their ships. A sea-king must be a viking, but naturally very few of the vikings were sea-kings. When we turn from the monks' records, written in Latin, to the accounts given of themselves by the Northmen, in their own languages, we are surprised enough to find how these ferocious pagans, these merciless men, who burnt the Southern churches and villages, and plundered and killed those of the inhabitants. whom they did not drag away into slav- ery, — how these Northmen really surpassed their enemies in literature, as much as in military achieve- ments. Their laws and government, their history lO THE STORY OF THE NORMANS. and poetry and social customs, were better than those of the Anglo-Saxons and the Franks. \ If we stop to think about this, we see that it would be impossible for a few hundred men to land from their great row-boats and subdue wide tracts of country unless they were superior in mental power, and gifted with astonishing quickness and bravery. The great leaders of armies are not those who can lift the heaviest weights or strike the hardest blow, but those who have the mind to plan and to organ- ize and discipline and, above all, to persevere and be ready to take a dangerous risk. The countries to the southward were tamed and spiritless, and bound down by church influence and superstition until they had lost the energy and even the intellectual power of their ancestors five centuries back. The Roman Empire had helped to change the Englishmen and many of the Frenchmen of that time into a popula- tion of slaves and laborers, with no property in the soil, nothing to fight for but their own lives. The viking had rights in his own country, and knew what it was to enjoy those rights ; if Jie could win more land, he would know how to govern it, and he knew what he was fighting for and meant to win. If we wonder why all this energy was spent on the high seas, and in strange countries, there are two answers : first, that fighting was the natural employment of*the men, and that no right could be held that could not be defended ; but beside this, one form of their energy was showing itself at home in rude attempts at literature. It is surprising enough to find that both the qualit}' and the quan- THE MEN OF THE DRAGON- SHIPS. II tity of the old sagas far surpass all that can be found of either Latin or English writing of that time in England. These sagas are all in the familiar tongue, so that everybody could understand them, and be amused or taught by them. They were not meant only for the monks and the people who lived in cloisters. The legends of their ancestors' beauty or bravery belonged to every man alike, and that made the Norwegians one nation of men, work- ing and sympathizing with each other — not a mere herd of individuals. The more that we know of the Northmen, the more we are convinced how superior they were in their knowledge of the Useful arts to the people whom they conquered. There is a legend that when Charlemagne, in the ninth century, saw some pirate ships cruising in the Mediterranean, along the shores of which they had at last found their way, he covered his face and burst into tears. He was not so much afraid of their cruelty and barbar- ism as of their civilization. Nobody knew better that none of the Christian countries under his rule had ships or men that could make such a daring voyage. He knew that they were skilful workers in wood and iron, and had learned to be rope-makers and weavers ; that they could make casks for their supply of drinking-water, and understood how to prepare food for their long cruises. All their swords and spears and bow-strings had to be made and kept in good condition, and sheltered from the sea-spray. It is interesting to remember that the Northmen's 12 THE STORY OF THE NORMANS. fleets were not like a royal navy, though the king could claim the use of all the war-ships when he needed them for the country's service. They were fitted out by anybody who chose, private adven- turers and peasants, all along the rocky shores. They were not very grand affairs for the most part, but they were all seaworthy, and must have had a good deal of room for stowing all the things that were to be carried, beside the vikings themselves. Sometimes there were transport vessels to take the arms and the food and bring back the plunder. Perhaps most of the peasants' boats were only thirty or forty feet long, but when Ave remember how many hundreds used to put to sea after the small crops were planted every summer, we cannot help knowing that there were a great many men who knew how to build strong ships in Norway, and how to fit them out sufficiently well, and man them and fight in them afterward. You never hear of any fleets being fitted out in the French and English harbors equalling these in numbers or efficiency. When we picture the famous sea-kings' ships to ourselves, we do not wonder that the Northmen were so proud of them, or that the skalds were never tired of recounting their glories. There were two kinds of vessels : the last-ships, that carried car- goes ; and the long-ships, or ships-of-war. Listen to the splendors of the " Long Serpent," which was the largest ship ever built in Norway. A dragon- ship, to begin with, because all the long ships had a dragon for a figure-head, except the smallest of them, which were called cutters, and onK- carried Ifa^^lliiiii^^ 14 THE STORY OF THE NORMANS. ten or twenty rowers on a side. The " Long Ser- pent " had thirty-four rowers* benches on a side, and she was a hundred and eleven feet long. Over the sides were hung the shining red and white shields of the vikings, the gilded dragon's head towered high at the prow, and at the stern a gilded tail went curling off over the head of the steersman. Then, from the long body, the heavy oars swept forward and back through the water, the double thirty-four of them, and as it came down the fiord, the " Long Serpent " must have looked like some enormous cen- tipede creeping out of its den on an awful errand, and heading out across the rough water toward its prey. The crew used to sleep on the deck, and ship- tents were necessary for shelter. There was no deep hold or comfortable cabin, for the ships were built so that they could be easily hauled up on a sloping beach. They had sails, and these were often made of gay colors, or striped with red and blue and white cloths, and a great many years later than this we hear of a crusader waiting long for a fair wind at the Straits of the Dardanelles, so that he could set all his fine sails, and look splendid as he went by the foreign shores. To-day in Bergen harbor, in Norway, you are likely to see at least one or two Norland ships that belong to the great fleet that bring down furs and dried fish every year from Hammerfest and Trond- hjem and the North Cape. They do not carry the red and white shields, or rows of long oars, but they are built with high prow and stern, and spread a great THE MEN OF THE DRAGON SHIPS. I 5 square brown sail. You arc tempted to think that a belated company of vikings has just come into port after a long cruise. These descendants of the long-ships and the last-ships look little like peaceful merchantmen, as they go floating solemnly along the calm waters of the Bergen-fiord. The voyages were often disastrous in spite of much clever seamanship. They knew nothing of the mari- ner's compass, and found their way chiefly by the aid of the stars — inconstant pilots enough on such foggy, stormy seas. They carried birds too, oftenest ravens, and used to let them loose and follow them toward the nearest land. The black raven was the vikings' favorite symbol for their flags, and familiar enough it became in other harbors than their own. They were bold, hardy fellows, and held fast to a rude code of honor and rank of knighthood. To join the most renowned company of vikings in Harold Haarfager's time, it was necessary that the champion should lift a great stone that lay before the king's door, as first proof that he was worth initiating. We are gravely told that this stone could not be moved by the strength of twelve ordinary men. They were obliged to take oath that they would not capture women and children, or seek refuge during a tempest, or stop to dress their wounds before a battle was over. Sometimes they were possessed by a strange madness, caused either by a frenzy of rivalry and the wild excitement of their rude sports or by intoxicating liquors or drugs, when they foamed at the mouth and danced wildly about, swallowing burn- ing coals, uprooting the very rocks and trees, destroy- 1 6 THE STORY OF THE NORMANS. iiig their own propert}", and striking indiscriminately at friends and foes. This berserker rage seems to have been much applauded, and gained the possessed viking a noble distinction in the eyes of his com. panions. If a sea-king heard of a fair damsel any- where along the neighboring coast, he simply took ship in that direction, fought for her, and carried her away in triumph with as many of her goods as he was lucky enough to seize beside. Their very gods were gods of war and destruction, though beside Thor, the thunderer, they worshipped Balder, the fair-faced, the god of gentle speech and purity, with Freyr, who rules over sunshine and growing things. Their hell was a place of cold and darkness, and their heaven was to be a place where fighting went on from sunrise until the time came to ride back to Valhalla and feast together in the great hall. Those who died of old age or sickness, instead of in battle, must go to hell. Odin, who was chief of all the gods, made man, and gave him a soul which should never perish, and Frigga, his wife, knew the fate of all men, but never told her secrets. The Northmen spread themselves at length over a great extent of country. We can only wonder why, after their energy and valor led them to found a thriving colony in Iceland and in Russia, to even venture among the icebergs and perilous dismal coasts of Greenland, and from thence downward to the pleasanter shores of New England, why they did not seize these possessions and keep the credit of discovering and settling America. What a.'Change that would have made in the world's history ! His- 18 THE STORY OF THE NORMANS. torians have been much perplexed at the fact of Leif Ericscn's lack of interest in the fertile Yin- land, New England now, which he visited in 986 and praised eloquently when he left it to its fate. Vin- land waited hundreds of years after that for the hardy Icelander's kindred to come from old England to build their houses and spend the rest of their lives upon its good corn-land and among the shadows of its great pine-trees. There was room enough for all Greenland, and to spare, but we cannot help sus- pecting that the Northmen were not very good farmers, that they loved fighting too well, and would rather go a thousand miles across a stormy sea to plunder another man of his crops than to patiently raise their own corn and wool and make an honest living at home. So, instead of understanding what a good fortune it would be for their descendants, if they seized and held the great western continent that stretched westward from Vinland until it met another sea, they kept on with their eastward raids, and the valleys of the Elbe and the Rhine, of the Seine and Loire, made a famous hunting-ground for the dragon ships to seek. The rich seaports and trading towns, the strongly walled Roman cities, the venerated abbeys and cathedrals with their store of wealth and provisions, were all equally exposed to the fury of such attacks, and were soon stunned and desolated. What a horror must have fallen upon a defenceless harbor-side when a fleet of the North- men's ships was seen sweeping in from sea at da}-- break ! What a smoke of burning houses and shrieking of frightened people all da)' long ; and as I THE MEM OF THE DRAGON SHIPS. 1 9 the twilight fell and the few. survivors of the assault dared to creep out from their hiding-places to see the ruins of their homes, and the ships putting out to sea again loaded deep with their possessions ! — we can hardly picture it to ourselves in these guiet days. T ; . The people who lived in France were of another sort, but they often knew how to defend themselves as well as the Northmen knew how to attack. There are few early French records for us to read, for the literature of that early day was almost wholly de- stroyed in the religious houses and public buildings of France. Here and there a few pages of a poem or of a biography or chronicle have been kept, but from this very fact we can understand the miserable condition of the country. In the year 810 the Danish Norsemen, under their king, Gottfried, overran Friesland, but the Emperor Charlemagne was too powerful for them and drove them back. After his death they were ready to try again, and because his huge kingdom had been divided under many rulers, who were all fighting among themselves, the Danes were more lucky, and after robbing Hamburg several times they ravaged the coasts and finally settled themselves as comforta- bly as possible at the mouth of the Loire in France. Soon they were not satisfied with going to and fro along the seaboard, and took their smaller craft and voyaged inland, swarming up the French rivers by hundreds, devastating the country everywhere they went. In 845 they went up the Seine to Paris, and plun- f-yi^ 20 THE STORY OF THE. NORMANS. dered Paris too, more than once ; and forty years later, forty thousand of thcni, led by a man named Siegfried, went up from Rouen with seven hundred vessels and besieged the poor capital for ten months, until they were bought off at the enormous price of the whole province of Burgundy. See what power that was to put into the hands of the sea-kings' crews ! But no price was too dear, the people of Paris must have thought, to get rid of such an army in the heart of Gaul. They could make whatever terms they pleased by this time, and there is a tradi- tion that a few years afterward some bands of Dan- ish rovers, who perhaps had gone to take a look at Burgundy, pushed on farther and settled themselves in Switzerland. From the settlements they had made in the prov- ince of Aquitania, they had long before this gone on to Spain, because the rich Spanish cities were too tempting to be resisted. They had forced their way all along the shore of the sea, and in at the gate of the Mediterranean ; they wasted and made havoc as they went, in Spain, Africa, and the Balearic islands,i and pushed their way up the Rhone to Valence. W^ can trace them in Italy, where they burned the cities of Pisa and Lucca, and even in Greece, where at last the pirate ships were turned about, and set their sails for home. Think of those clumsy little shijjs out on such a journey with their single masts and long oars! Think of the stories that must have been told from town to town after these strange, wild Northern foes had come and gone ! They were like hawks that came swooping down out of the sky, and though THE MEN OF THE DRAGON SHIPS. 21 Spain and Rome and Greece were well enough acquainted with wars, they must have felt when the Northmen came, as we should feel if some wild beast from the heart of the forest came biting and tearing its way through a city street at noontime. NORSE BUCKLE WITH BYZANTINE DECORATION. The whole second half of the ninth century is taken up with the histories of these invasions. We must follow for a while the progress of events in Gaul, or France as Ave call it now. though it was made un 52 THE STORY OF THE NORMAMS. then of a number of smaller kingdoms. The result of the great siege of Paris was only a settling of affairs with the Northmen for the time being; one part of the country was delivered from them at the expense of another. They could be bought off and bribed for a time, but there was never to be any such thing as their going back to their own countr)' and letting France alone for good and all. But as they gained at length whole tracts of country, instead of the little wealth of a few men to take away in their ships as at first, they began to settle down in their new lands and to become conquerors and colonists instead of mere plunderers. Instead of continually ravaging and attacking the kingdoms, they slowly became the owners and occupiers of the conquered territory ; they pushed their way from point to point. At first, as you have seen already, they trusted to their ships, and always left their wives and children at home in the North countries, but as time went on, they brought their families with them and made new homes, for which they would have to fight many a battle yet. It would be no wonder if the women had become possessed by a love for adventure too, and had insisted upon seeing the lands from which the rich booty was brought to them, and that they had been saying for a long time : " Show us the places where the grapes grow and the fruit-trees bloom, where men build great houses and live in them splendidly. We are tired of seeing only the long larchen beams of their high roofs, and tne purple and red and gold cloths, and the red wine and yellow wheat that xow briiig awa\-. WHiv should wc not sfo THE MEN OF THE DRAGON SHIPS. 23 to live in that country, instead of your breaking it to pieces, and going there so many of you, every year, only to be slain as its enemies ? We are tired of our sterile Norway and our great Danish deserts of sand, of our cold winds and wet weather, and our long winters that pass by so slowly while the fleets are gone. We would rather see Seville and Paris themselves, than only their gold and merchandise and the rafters of their churches that you bring home for ship timber." One of the old ballads of love and valor lingers yet that the women used to sing : " Myklagard and the land of Spain lie wide away oer the lee.'' There was room enough in those far countries where the ships went — why then do they stay at home in Friesland and Norway and Denmark, crowded and hungry kingdoms that they were, of the wandering sea-kings? As the years went on, the Northern lands them- selves became more peaceful, and the voyages of the pirates came to an end. Though the Northmen still waged wars enough, they were Danes or Norwegians against England and France, one realm against another, instead of every man plundering for him- self. The kingdoms of France had been divided and weakened, and, while we find a great many fine examples of resistance, and some great victories over the Northmen, they were not pushed out and checked altogether. Instead, they gradually changed into Frenchmen themselves, different from other Frenchmen only in being more spirited, vigorous, and alert. They inspired every new growth of the re- 24 THE STORY OF THE NORMANS. ligion, language, or manners, witn their own splen- did vitality. They were like plants that have grown in dry, thin soil, transplanted to a richer spot of ground, and sending out fresh shoots in the doubled moisture and sunshine. And presently we shall find the Northman becoming the Norman of his- tory. As the Northman, almost the first thing we admire about him is his character, his glorious en- ergy ; as the Norman, we see that energy turned in- to better channels, and bringing a new element into the progress of civilization. The Northmen had come in great numbers to set- tle in Gaul, but they were scattered about, and so it was easier to count themselves into the population, instead of keeping themselves separate. Some of these settlements were a good way inland, and every- where they mixed their language with the French for a time, but finally dropped it almost altogether. In a very few years, comparativel}' speaking, they were not Danes or Norwegians at all ; they had for- gotten their old customs, and even their pagan gods of the Northern countries from which their ancestors had come. At last we come to a time when we be- gin to distinguish some of the chieftains and other brave men from the crowd of their companions. The old chronicles of Scandinavia and Denmark and Iceland cannot be relied upon like the histories of Greece or Rome. The student who tries to discover when this man was born, and that man died, from a saga, is apt to be disappointed. The more he studies these histories of the sea-kings and their countries, the more distinct picture he gets of a I'HE MEN OF THE DRAGON SHIPS. 2$ great crowd of men taking their little ships every year and leaving the rocky, barren coasts of their own country to go southward. As we have seen, France and England and Flanders and Spain were all richer and more fruitful, and they would go ashore, now at this harbor, now that, to steal all they could, even the very land they trod upon. Now and then we hear the name of some great man, a stronger and more daring sailor and fighter than the rest. There is a dismal story of a year of famine in France, when the north wind blew all through the weeks of a leaf- less spring, the roots of the vines were frozen, and the fruit blossoms chilled to the heart. The wild creatures of the forest, crazed with hunger, ventured into the farms and villages, and the monks fasted more than they thought best, and prayed the more heartily for succor in their poverty. But down from the North came Ragnar Lodbrok, the great Danish captain, with his stout-built vessels, " ten times twelve dragons of the sea," and he and his men, in their shaggy fur garments, went crashing through the ice of the French rivers, to make an easy prey of the hungry Frenchmen — to conquer everywhere they went. And for one Ragnar Lodbrok, read fifty or a hundred ; for, though there are many stories told about him, just as we think that we can picture him and his black-sailed ships in our minds, we are told that this is only a legend, and that there never was any Ragnar Lodbrok at all who was taken by his enemies and thrown into a horrible dungeon filled with vipers, to sing a gallant saga about his life and misdeeds. But if there were no hero of 26 THE STORY OF THE NORMANS. this name, we put together little by little from one hint and another legend a very good idea of those quarrelsome times, when to be great it was necessary to be a pirate, and to kill as many men and steal as much of their possession as one possibly could These Northmen set as bad an example as any traveller since the world began. More than ninety times we can hear of them in France and Spain and the north of Germany, and always burning and ruin- ing, not only the walled cities, but all the territory round about. Shipload after shipload left their bones on foreign soil ; again and again com- panies of them were pushed out of France and Eng- land and defeated, but from generation to genera- tion the quarrels went on, and we begin to wonder why the sea-coasts were not altogether deserted, until we remember that the spirit of those days was war- like, and that, while the people were plundered one year, they succeeded in proving themselves masters the next, and so life was filled with hope of military g!or\', and the tide of conquest swept now north, and now south. From the fjords of Norway a splendid, hardy race of young men were pushing their boats to sea every year. Remember that their own country was a very hard one to live in with its long, dark winters, its rainy, short summers when the crops would not ripen, its rocky, mountainous surface, and its natural poverty. Even now if it were not for the fishing the Norwegian peasant people would find great trouble in gaining food enough. In early days, when the tilling of the ground was less understood, >♦• must THE MEN OF THE DRAGON SHIPS. 2 J have been hard work tempting those yellow-haired, eager young adventurers to stay at home, when they could live on the sea in their rude, stanch little ships, as well as on land ; when they were told great stories of the sunshiny, fruitful countries that lay to the south, where plenty of food and bright clothes and gold and silver might be bought in the market of war for the blows of their axes and the strength and courage of their right arms. No wonder that it seemed a waste of time to stay at home in Norway! And as for the old men who had been to the fights and followed the sea-kings and brought home treasures, we are sure that they were always talking over their valiant deeds and successes, and urging their sons and grandsons to go to the South. The women wished their husbands and brothers to be as brave as the rest, while they cared a great deal for the rich booty which was brought back from such expeditions. What a hard thing it must have seemed to the boys who were sick or lame or deformed, but who had all the desire for glory that belonged to any of the vikings, and yet must stay at home with the women ! When we think of all this, of the barren country, and the crowd of people who lived in it, of the natural relish for a life of adventure, and the hope of splendid riches and fame, what wonder that in all these hundreds of years the Northmen followed their barbarous trade and went a-ravaging, and finally took great pieces of the Southern countries for their own and held them fast. As we go on with this story of the Normans, you 28 THE STORY OF THE NORMANS. will watch these followers of the sea-kings keeping always some trace of their old habits and customs. Indeed you may know them yet. The Northmen were vikings, always restless and on the move, steal- ing and fighting their way as best they might, daring, adventurous. The Norman of the twelfth century was a crusader. A madness to go crusading against the Saracen possessed him, not alone for religion's sake or for the holy city of Jerusalem, and so in all the ages since one excuse after another has set the same wild blood leaping and made the Northern blue eyes shine. Look where you may, you find Englishmen of the same stamp — Sir Walter Raleigh and Lord Nelson, Stanley and Dr. Livingstone and General Gordon, show the old sea-kings' courage and recklessness. Snorro Sturleson's best saga has been followed by Drayton's " Battle of Agin- court " and Tennyson's " Charge of the Light Brig- ade " and " Ballad of Sir Richard Grenville." I venture to say that there is not an English-speaking boy or girl who can hear that sea-king's ballad this very day in peaceful England or America without a great thrill of sympathy. " At Flores in the Azores Sir Richard Grenville lay, And a pinnace, like a fluttered bird, came flying from far away : ' Spanish ships of war at sea ! We have sighted fifty-three.' " — Go and read that; the whole of the spirited story; but there is one thing I ask you to remember first in all this long story of the Normans : that however much it seems to you a long chapter of bloody wars and miseries and treacheries that get to be almost THE MEN OF THE DRAGON SHIPS. 29 tiresome in their folly and brutality ; however little profit it may seem sometimes to read about the Norman wars, yet everywhere you will catch a gleam of the glorious courage and steadfastness that have won not only the petty principalities and dukedoms of those early days, but the great English and Ameri- can discoveries and inventions and noble advance- ment of all the centuries since. On the island of Vigr, in the Folden-fiord, the peasants still show some rude hollows in the shore' where the ships of Rolf-Ganger were drawn up in winter, and whence he launched them to sail away to the Hebrides and France — the beginning of as great changes as one man's voyage ever wrought. II. ROLF THE GANGER. " Far had I wandered from this northern shore, Far from the bare heights and the wintry seas, Dreaming of these No more." t^ ^ — A. £. Toward the middle,Qi..the ninth century Harold Haarfager did great things in Norway. There had always been a great number of petty kings or jarls, who were sometimes at peace with each other, but oftener at war, and at last this Harold was strong enough to conquer all the rest and unite all the kingdoms under his own rule. It was by no means an easy piece of business, for twelve years went by before it was finished, and not only Norway itself, but the Orkneys, and Shetlands, and Hebrides, and Man were conquered too, and the lawless vikings « were obliged to keep good order. The story was that the king had loved a fair maiden of the North, called Gyda, but when he asked her to ma.rry him she had answered that she would not marry a jarl ; let him make himself a king like Gorm of Denmark! At this proud answer Harold loved her more than ever, and vowed that he would never cut his hair 30 ROLF THE GANGER. 31 until he had conquered all the jarls and could claim Gyda's hand. The flourishing shock of his yellow hair became A NORWEGIAN FIORD. renowned ; we can almost see it ourselves waving prosperously through his long series of battles. When he was king at last he chose Jarl Rognwald of 32 THE STORY OF THE NORMANS. More to cut the shining locks because he was the most vahant and best-beloved of all his tributaries. Jarl Rognvvald had a family of sons Avho were noted men in their day. One was called Turf-Einar, because he went to the Orkney islands and discov- ered great deposits of peat of which he taught the forestlcss people to make use, so that they and their descendants were grateful and made him their chief hero. Another son was named Rolf, and he was lord of three small islands far up toward the North. He followed the respected profession of sea- robber, but though against foreign countries it was the one profession for a jarl to follow, King Harold was very stringent in his laws that no viking should attack any of his own neighbors or do any mischief along the coasts of Norway. These laws Rolf was not careful about keeping. There was still another' brother, who resented Haarfager's tyrannies so much that he gathered a fine heroic company of vikings and more peaceable citizens and went to Iceland and settled there. This company came in time to be renowned as the begin- ners of one of the most remarkable republics the world has ever known, with a unique government by its aristocracy, and a natural development of liter- ture unsurpassed in any day. There, where there were no foreign customs to influen<:e or pervert, the Norse nature and genius had their perfect flowering. Rolf is said to have been so tall that he used to march afoot whenever he happened to be ashore, rather than ride the little Norwegian horses. He was nicknamed Gang-Roll (or Rolf), which means ROLF THE GANGER. 33 Rolf the Walker, or Ganger. There are two legends which give the reason why he came away from Nor- way — one that he killed his brother in an unfortunate quarrel, and fled away to England, whither he was directed by a vision or dream ; that the English helped him to fit out his ships and to sail away again toward France. The other story, which seems more likely, makes it appear that the king was very angry because Rolf plundered a Norwegian village when he was coming home short of food from a long cruise in the Baltic Sea. The, peasants complained to Harold Haarfager, who happened to be near, and he called the great Council of Justice and banished his old favorite for life. Whether these stories are true or not, at any rate Rolf came southward an outlaw, and presently we hear of him in the Hebrides off the coast of Scotland^ where a company of Norwegians had settled after King Harold's conquests. These men were mostly of high birth and great ability, and welcomed the new-comer who had so lately been their enemy. We are not surprised when we find that they banded together as pirates and fitted out a famous expedi- tion. Perhaps they did not find living in the Hebrides very luxurious, and thought it necessary to collect some merchandise and money, or some slaves to serve them, so they fell back upon their familiar customs. Rolf's vessels and theirs made a formidable fleet, but although they agreed that there should not be any one chosen as captain, or admiral, as we should 34 THE STORY OF THE NORMANS. say nowadays, we do not hear much of any of the confederates except Rolf the Ganger, so we ma)' be sure he was most powerful and took command whether anybody was willing or not. They came round the coast of Scotland, and made first for Holland, but as all that part of the country had too often been devastated and had become very poor, the ships were soon put to sea again. And next we find them going up the River Seine in France, which was a broader river then than it is now, and the highway toward Paris and other cities, which always seemed to offer great temptations to the vikings. Charles the Simple was king of France by right, but the only likeness to his ancestor Charle- magne was in his name, and to that his subjects had added the Simple, or the Fool, by which we can tell that he was not a very independent or magnificent sort of monarch. The limits of the kingdom of France, at that time, had just been placed between the Loire and the Meuse, after many years of fight- ing between the territories, and Charles was still con- testing his right to the crown. The wide empire of Charlemagne had not been divided at once into dis- tinct smaller kingdoms, but ^he heirs had each taken what they could hold and fought for much else beside. Each pretended to be the lawful king and was ready to hold all he could win. So there was naturally little good-feeling between them, and not one could feel sure that his neighbor would even help him to fight against a common enem}'. It was " Every one for himself, and devil take the hindmost ! " to quote the old proverb, wliich seldom has so literal an ap- ROLF THE GANGER. 35 plication. King Charles the Simple, besides defend- ing himself from his outside enemies, was also much troubled by a pretender to the crown, and was no doubt at his wit's end to know how to manage the province of Neustria, lately so vexed by the foreign element within its borders. It might be easy work for the troop of Northmen that had followed Rolf. Besides the fact that they need not fear any alliance against them, and had only Charles the Simple for their enemy, one of his own enemies was quite likely to form a league with them against him. The fleet from the Hebrides had come to anchor on its way up the Seine at a town called Jumieges, five leagues from Rouen. There was no army near by to offer any hindrance, and the work of pillaging the country was fairly begun without hindrance when the news of the incursion was told in Rouen. There the people were in despair, for it was useless to think of defending their broken walls ; the city was already half ruined from such invasions. At any hour they might find themselves at the mercy of these new pirates. But in such dreadful dismay the archbishop, a man of great courage and good sense, whom we must honor heartily, took upon himself the perilous duty of going to the camp and trying to save the city by making a treaty. He had heard stories enough, we may be sure, of the cruel tortures of Christian priests by these Northern pagans, who still believed in the gods Thor and Odin and in Val- halla, and that the most fortunate thing, for a man's life in the next world, was that he should die in battle in this world. T,6 THE STORY OF THE NORMANS. There was already a great difference in the hopes and plans of the Northmen : they listened to the archbishop instead of killing him at once, and Rolf and his companions treated him and his interpreter with some sort of courtesy. Perhaps the bravery of the good man won their hearts by its kinship to their daring ; perhaps they were already planning to seize upon a part of France and to forsake the Hebrides altogether, and Rolf had a secret design of founding a kingdom for himself that should stand steadfast against enemies. When the good priest went back to Rouen, I think the people must have been sur- prised that he had kept his head upon his shoulders, and still more filled with wonder because he was able to tell them that he had made a truce, that he had guaranteed the assailants admission to the city, but that they had promised not to do any harm whatever. Who knows if there were not many voices that cried out that it wasonly delivering them to the cruel foe, with their wives and children and all that they had in the world. When the ships came up the river and were anchored before one of the city gates near the Church of St. Morin, and the tall chieftain and his comrades began to come ashore, what beating hearts, what careful peep- ing out of windows there must have been in Rouen that day ! But the chiefs had given their word of honor, and they kept it well ; they walked all about the city, and examined all the ramparts, the wharves, and the sup- ply of water, and gave every thing an unexpectedly kind approval. More than this, they said that Rouen ROLF THE GANGER. 37 should be their head-quarters and their citadel. This was not very welcome news, but a thousand times better than being sacked and ravaged and burnt, and when the ships had gone by up the river, I dare say that more than one voice spoke up for Rolf the Ganger, and gratefully said that he might not prove the worst of masters after all. Some of the citizens even joined the ranks of the sea-king's followers when they went on in quest of new adven- ture up the Seine. Just where the river Eure joins the Seine, on the point between the two streams, the Norwegians built a great camp, and fortified it, and there they waited for the French army. For once King Charles u'as master of his whole kingdom, and he had made up his mind to resist this determined invasion. Pi- rates were bad enough, but pirates who were evi- dently bent upon greater mischief than usual could not be sent away too soon. It was not long before the French troops, under the command of a general called Regnauld, who bore the title of Duke of France, made their appearance opposite the encamp- ment, on the right bank of the Eure. The French counts had rallied bravely ; they made a religious duty of it, for were not these Norwegians pagans? and pagans deserved to be killed, even if they had not come to steal from a Christian country. There was one count who had been a pagan him- self years before, but he had become converted, and was as famous a Christian as he had been sea-king. He had declared that he was tired of leading a life of wild adventure, and had made peace with France 38 THE STORY OF THE NORMANS. twenty years before this time ; and the kingdom had given him the county of Chartrcs — so he must have been a powerful enemy. Naturally he was thought to be the best man to confer with his countrymen. There was a council of war in the French camp, and this Hasting (of whom you will hear again by and b}') advised that they should confer with Rolf before they risked a battle with him. Perhaps the old sea- king judged his tall successor by his own experience, and thought he might like to be presented with a county too, as the price of being quiet and letting the frightened Seine cities alone. Some of the other lords of the army were very suspicious and angry about this proposal, but Hasting had his way, and went out with two attendants who could speak Danish. The three envoys made their short journey to the river-side-'as-qtHckly as possible, and presently they stood on the bank of the Eure. Across the river were the new fortifications, and some of the sea- kings' men were busy with their armor on the other shore. " Gallant soldiers !" cries the Count of Chartres; " what is your chieftain's name ? " " We have no lord over us," they shouted back again ; " we are all equal." " For what end have you come to France?" " To drive out the people who are here, or make them our subjects, and to make ourselves a new country," says the Northman. "Who are you? — ■ How is it that you speak our own tongue ? " "You know the story of Hasting," answers the ROLF THE GANGER. 39 count, not without pride — " Hasting, the great pi- rate, who scoured the seas with his crowd of ships, and did so much evil in this kingdom ?" "Aye, we have heard that, but Hasting has made a bad end to so good a beginning"; to which the count had nothing to say ; he was Lord of Chartres now, and hked that very well. " Will you submit to King Charles ? " he shouts again, and more men are gathering on the bank to listen. " Will you give your faith and service, and take from him gifts and honor? " "No, no !" they answer ; " we will not submit to King Charles — go back, and tell him so, you messen- ger, and say that we claim the rule and dominion of what we win by our own strength and our swords." But the Frenchmen called Hasting a traitor when he brought this answer back to camp, and told his associates not to try to force the pagan entrench- ments. A traitor, indeed ! That was too much for the old viking's patience. For all that, the accusation may have held a grain of truth. Nobody knows the whole of his story, but he may have felt the old fire and spirit of his youth when he saw the great en- campment and heard the familiar tones of his coun- trymen. It may be wrong to suspect that he went to join them ; but, at all events, Count Chartres left the French camp indignantly, and nobody knows where he went, either then or afterward, for he for- sook his adopted country and left it to its fate. They found out that he had given good advice to those proud comrades of his, for when they attacked the enemy between the rivers they were cut to 40 THE STORY OF THE NORMANS. pieces ; even the duke of France, their bold leader, was killed by a poor fisherman of Rouen who had followed the Northern army. Now there was nothing to hinder Rolf, who begins to be formally acknowledged as the leader, from go- ing up the Seine as fast or as slow as he pleased, and after a while the army laid siege to Paris, but this was unsuccessful. One of the chiefs was taken prisoner, and to release him they promised a year's truce to King Charles, and after a while we find them back at Rouen again. They had been ravaging the country to the north of Paris, very likely in King Charles's company, for there had been a new division of the kingdom, and the northern provinces no longer called him their sovereign. Poor Charles the Sim- ple ! he seems to have had a very hard time of it with his unruly subjects, and his fellow-knights and princes too, who took advantage of him whenever- they could find a chance. By this time we know enough of Rolf and his friends not to expect them to remain quiet very long at Rouen. Away they went to Bayeux, a rich city, and assaulted that and killed Berenger, the Count of Bayeux, and gained a great heap of booty. We learn a great deal of the manners and fashions of that early day when we find out that Berenger had a beautiful daughter, and when the treasure was divided she was considered as part of it and fell to Rolf's lot. He immediately married her with ap- parent satisfaction and a full performance of Scandi- navian rites and ceremonies. After this the Northmen went on to Evreux and ROLF THE GANGER. 4 1 to some other cities, and their dominion was added to, day by day. They began to feel a certain sort of respect and care for the poor provinces now that they belonged to themselves. And they ceased to be cruel to the unresisting people, and only taxed them with a certain yearly tribute. Besides this, they chose Rolf for their king, but this northern title was changed before long for the French one of duke. Rolf must have been very popular with his followers. We cannot help a certain liking for him ourselves or being pleased when we know that his new subjects liked him heartily. They had cursed him very often, to be sure, and feared his power when he was only a pirate, but they were glad enough when they gained so fearless and strong a man for their protector. Whatever he did seemed to be with a far-sightedness and better object than they had been used to in their rulers. He was a man of great gifts and uncommon power, and he laid his plans deeper and was not without a marked knowl- edge of the rude politics of that time — a good gov- ernor, which was beginning to be needed more in France than a good fighter even. Fighting was still the way of gaining one's ends, and so there was still war, but it was better sustained and more orderly. These Northerners, masters now of a good piece of territory, linked themselves with some of the smaller scattered settlements of Danes at the mouth of the river Loire, and went inland on a great expedition. They could not conquer Paris this time either, nor Dijon nor Chartres. The great walls of these cities and several others were not to 42 THE STORY OF THE NORMANS. be beaten down, but there is a long list of weaker towns that fell into their hands, and at last the French people could bear the sieges no longer, and not only the peasants but the nobles and priests clamored for deliverance. King Charles may have been justly called the Simple, but he showed very good sense now. " We shall starve to death," the people were saying. " Nobody dares to work in the field or the vineyard ; there is not an acre of corn from Blois to Senlis. Churches are burnt and peo- ple are murdered ; the Northmen do as they please. See, it is all the fault of a weak king ! " King Charles roused himself to do a sensible thing ; he may have planned it as a stroke of policy, and meant to avail himself of the Northmen's strength to keep himself on his throne. He consulted his barons and bishops, and they agreed with him that he must form a league with their enemies, and so make sure of peace. As we read the story of those days, we are hardly sure that Rolf was the subject after this rather than the king. He did homage to King Charles, and he received the sovereignty over most of what was to be called the dukedom of Normandy. The league was little more than an obli- gation of mutual defence, and KingCharles was lucky to call Rolf his friend and ally. The vigorous Nor- wegian was likely to keep his word better than the French dukes and barons, who br6ke such promises with perfect ease. Rolf's duty and his interest led him nearly in the same path, but he was evidently disposed to do what was right according to his way of seeing right and wrong. ROLF THE GANGER. 43 All this time he had been living with his wife Popa, the daughter of Count Berenger, who was slain at Bayeux. They had two children — -William, and a daughter, Adela. According to the views of King Charles and the Christian church of that time, the marriage performed with Scandinavian rites was no marriage at all, though Rolf loved his wife devot- edly and was training his son with great care, so that he might by and by take his place, and be no inferior, either, of the young French princes who were his contemporaries. As one historian says, the best had the best then, and this young William was being made a scholar as fast as possible. For all this, when the king's messenger came to Rolf and made him an offer of Gisla, the king's daughter, for a wife, with the seigneury of all the lands between the river Epte and the border of Brit- tany, if he would only become a Christian and live in peace with the kingdom, Rolf listened with pleas- ure. He did not repeat now the words that Hasting heard on the bank of the Eure, " We will obey no one ! " while with regard to the marriage he evi- dently felt free to contract a new one. It was all a great step upward, and Rolf's clear eyes saw that. If he were not a Christian he could not be the equal of the lords of France. He was not a mere adventurer any longer, the leader of a band of pirates; other ambitions had come to him since he had been governor of his territory. The pagan fanaticism and superstition of his companions were more than half extinguished already ; the old myths of the Northern god:, had not flourished in 44 THE STORY OF THE .\ OR MANS. this new soil. At last, after much discussion and bar<^aining about the land that should be given, Rolf gave his promise once for all, and now we may begin to call him fairly the Duke of Normandy and his people the Normans ; the old days of the Northmen in France had come to an end. For a good many year.j the neighboring provinces called the new duke- dom "the pirate's land" and "the Northman's land," but the great Norman race was in actual existence now, and from this beginning under Rolf, the tall Norwegian sea-king, has come one of the greatest forces and powers of the civilized world. I must give you some account of the ceremonies at this establishment of the new duke, for it was a grand occasion, and the king's train of noblemen and gentlemen, and all the Norman ofificers and statesmen went out to do honor to that day. The place was in a village called St. Claire, on the river Epte, and the French pitched their tents on one bank of the river and the Normans on the other. Then, at the hour appointed, Rolf came over to meet the king, and did what would have astonished his father Rognwald and his viking ancestors very much. He put his hand between the king's hands and said : " From this time forward I am your vassal and man, and I give my oath that I will faithfully protect your life, your limbs, and your royal honor." After this the king and his nobles formally gave Rolf the title of duke or count, and swore that they would protect him and his honor too, and all the lands named in the treaty. But there is an old story that, when Rolf was directed to kneel before I ROLF THE GANGER 45 King Charles and kiss his foot in token of submis- sion, he was a rebellious subject at once. Perhaps he thought that some of his French rivals had re- vived this old Prankish custom on purpose to humble his pride, but he said nothing, only beckoned quietly to one of his followers to come and take his place. Out steps the man. I do not doubt that his eyes were dancing, and that his yellow beard hid a laughing mouth ; he did not bend his knee at all, but caught the king's foot, and lifted it so high that the poor monarch fell over backward, and all the pirates gave a shout of laughter. They did not think much of Charles the Simple, those followers of Rolf the Ganger. Afterward the marriage took place at Rouen, and the high barons of France went there with the bride, though it was not a very happy day for Gisla, whom Rolf never lived with or loved. He was a great many years older than she, and when she died he took Popa, the first wife back again — if, indeed, he had not considered her the true wife all the time. Then on that wedding-day he became a Christian too, though there must have been more change of words and manner than of Rolf's own thoughts. He received the archbishop's lessons with great amia- bility, and gave part of his lands to the church be- fore he divided the rest among his new-made nobles. They put a long white gown or habit on him, such as newly baptized persons wore, and he must have been an amusing sight to see, all those seven days that he kept it on, tall old seafarer that he was, but he preserved a famous dignity, and gave estates to 46 THE STORY OF THE NORMANS. seven churches in succession on each day of that solemn week. Then he put on his every-day clothes again, and gave his whole time to his political affairs and the dividing out of Normandy among the Nor- wegian chieftains who had come with him on that lucky last voyage. It is said that Rolf himself was the founder of the system of landholding according to the custom of feudal times, and of a regular system of property rights, and customs of hiring and dividing the landed property, but there are no state papers or charters belonging to that early time, as there are in England, so nobody can be very sure. At any rate, he is said to have been the best ruler possible, and his province was a model for others, though it was the most modern in Gaul. He caused the dilapidated towns and cities to be rebuilt, and the churches were put into good repair and order. There are parts of some of the Rouen churches standing yet, that Rolf rebuilt. There is a great temptation to linger and find out all we can of the times of this first Count of Nor- mandy — so many later traits and customs date back to Rolf's reign ; and all through this story of the Nor- mans we shall find a likeness to the first leader, and trace his influence. His own descendants inherited many of his gifts of character — a readiness of thought and speech ; clear, bright minds, and vigor of action. Even those who were given over to ways of vice and shame, had a cleverness and attractiveness that made their friends hold to them, in spite of their sins and treacheries. A great deal was thought of learning and scholarship among the nobles and gentle folk of ROLF THE GANGER. 47 that day, and Rolf had caught eagerly at all such advantages, even while he trusted most to his North- ern traditions of strength and courage. If he had thought these were enough to win success, and had brought up his boy as a mere pirate and fighter, it would have made a great difference in the future of the Norman people and their rulers. The need of a good education was believed in, and held as a sort of family doctrine, as long as Rolf's race existed, but you will see in one after another of these Norman counts the nature of the sea-kings mixed with their later learning and accomplishments. We cannot help being a little amused, however, when we find that young William, the grandson of old Rognvald, loved his books so well that he begged his father to let him enter a monastery. The wise, good man Botho, who was his tutor, had taught him to be proud of his other grandfather. Count Beren- ger, who belonged to one of the most illustrious French families, and taught him also to follow the example of the good clergymen of Normandy, as well as the great conquerors and chieftains. By and by we shall see that he loved to do good, and to do works of mercy, though his people called him Wil- liam Longsword, and followed him to the wars. Normandy was wild enough when Rolf came to rule there, but before he died the country had changed very much for the better. He was very careful to protect the farmers, and such laws were made, and kept, too, that robbery was almost un- known throughout the little kingdom. The peas- ants could leave their oxen or their tools in the 48 THE STORY OF THE NORMANS. field now, and if by chance they were stolen, the duke himself was responsible for the loss. A pretty story is told of Rolf that has also been told of other wise rulers. He had gone out hunting one day, and after the sport, while he and his companions were resting and having a little feast as they sat on the grass, Rolf said he would prove the orderliness and trustiness of his people. So he took off the two gold bracelets which were a badge of his rank, and reached up and hung them on a tree close by, and there they were, safe and shining, a long time afterward, when he went to seek them. Perhaps this story is only a myth, though the tale is echoed in other countries — England, Ireland, and Lombardy, and others beside. At any rate, it gives an expression of the public safety and order, and the people's gratitude to their good kings. Rolf brought to his new home some fine old Scandinavian customs, for his own people were knit together with close bonds in Norw^ay. If a farmer's own servants or helpers failed him for any reason, he could de- mand the help of his neighbors without paying them, and they all came and helped him gather his harvest. Besides, the law punished nothing so se- verely as the crime of damaging or stealing from a growing crop. The field was said to be under God's lock, with heaven for its roof, though there might be only a hedge for its wall. If a man stole from another man's field, and took the ripe corn into his own barn, he paid for it with his life. This does not match very well with the sea-kings' exploits abroad, but they were very strict rulers, and very honest ROLF THE GANGER. 49 among themselves at home. One familiar English word of ours — hurrah, — is said to date from Roli'o reign. Ron the Frenchmen called our Rolf ; and there was a law that if a man was in danger himself, or caught his enemy doing any damage, he could raise the cry Ha Roil ! and so invoke justice in Duke Rolf's name. At the sound of the cry, everybody was bound, on the instant, to give chase to the of- fender, and whoever failed to respond to the cry of Ha Roil ! must pay a heavy fine to Rolf himself. This began the old English fashion of " hue and cry," as well as our custom of shouting Hurrah ' when we are pleased and excited. We cannot help being surprised to see how quickly the Normans became Frenchmen in their ways of living and even speaking. There is hardly a trace of their Northern language except a few names of localities left in Normandy. Once settled in their new possessions, Rolf and all his followers seem to have been as eager for the welfare of Normandy as they were ready to devastate it before. They were proud not of being Norsemen but of being Normans. Otherwise their country could not have done what it did in the very next reign to Rolf's, nor could Rouen have become so much like a French city even in his own lifetime. This was work worthy of his power, to rule a people well, and lift them up toward better livino- and better things. His vigor and quickness made him able to seize upon the best traits and capabilities of his new countrymen, and enforce them as patterns and examples, with no tolerance of their faults. 50 THE STORY OF THE NORMANS. From the viking's ships which had brought Rolf and his confederates, all equal, from the Hebrides, it is a long step upward to the Norman landholders and quiet citizens with their powerful duke in his palace at Rouen. He had shared the lands of Nor- mandy, as we have seen, with his companions, and there was a true aristocracy among them — a rule of the best, for that is what aristocracy really means. No doubt there was sin and harm enough under the new order of things, but we can see that there was a great advance in its first duke's reign, even if we cannot believe that all the fine stories are true that his chroniclers have told. Rolf died in 927, and was a pious Christian ac- cording to his friends, and had a lingering respect for his heathen idols according to his enemies. He was an old man, and had been a brave man, and he is honored to this day for his justice and his courage in that stormy time when he lived. Some say that he was forty years a pirate before he came to Nor- mandy, and looking back on these days of sea- faring and robbery and violence must have made him all the more contented with his pleasant fields and their fruit-trees and waving grain ; \\ith his noble city of Rouen, and his gentle son William, who was the friend of the priests. Rolf became very feeble in body and mind, and before his death he gave up the rule of the duchy to his son. He lingered for several years, but we hear nothing more of him except that when he lay dying he had terrible dreams of his old pirate da}'s, and was troubled by visions of his slaughtered vie- ROLF THE GANGER. 51 tims and the havoc made by the long-ships. We are glad to know that he waked from these sorrows long enough to give rich presents to the church and the poor, which comforted him greatly and eased his unhappy conscience. He was buried in his city of Rouen, in the cathedral, and there is his tomb still with a figure of him in stone — an old tired man with a furrowed brow ; the strength of his fourscore years had become only labor and sorrow, but he looks like the Norseman that he was in spite of the ducal robes of French Normandy. There was need enough of bravery in the m^an who should fill his place. The wars still went on along the borders, and there must have been fear of new trouble in the duchy when this old chieftain Rolf had lain down to die, and his empty armor was hung high in the palace hall. ^g^^^2^ ^^^M ^Mrt ^^S 'J^&ii^^ ^P ^^ ^ ^J^^^ ^^^ S^^S ^^i ^^P ^^£ ^^ ^^ ^^ ^^ ^ III. WILLIAM LONGSWORD. " For old, unhappy, far-off things And battles long ago." — Wordsworth. Before we follow the fortunes of the new duke, young William Longsword, we must take a look at France and see what traditions and influences were going to affect our colony of Northmen from that side, and what relations they had with their neigh- bors. Perhaps the best way to make every thing clear is to go back to the reign of the Emperor Charlemagne, who inherited a great kingdom, and added to it by his wars and statesmanship until he was crowned at Rome, in the year 8oo, emperor not only of Germany and Gaul, but of the larger part of Italy and the northeastern part of Spain. Much of this territory had shared in the glories of the Roman Empire and had fallen with it. But Charlemagne was equal to restoring many lost advantages, being a man of great power and capacity, who found time, while his great campaigns were going on, to do a great deal for the schools of his country. He even founded a sort of normal school, where teachers were fitted for their work, and his daughters were 52 WILLIAM L0NGS1V0RD. 53 busy in copying manuscripts ; the emperor himself was fond of being read to when he was at his meals, and used to get up at midnight to watch the stars. Some of the interesting stories about him may not be true, but we can be sure that he was a great general and a masterly governor and lawgiver, and a good deal of a scholar. Like Rolf, he was one of the men who mark as well as make a great change in the world's affairs, and in whose time civilization takes a long step forward. When we know that it took him between thirty and forty years to com- pletely conquer the Saxons, who lived in the north- ern part of his country, and we read the story of the great battle of Roncesvalles in which the Basque people won ; when we follow Charlemagne (the great Charles, as his people love to call him) on these campaigns which take up almost all his history, we cannot help seeing that his enemies fought against the new order of things that he represented. It was not only that they did not want Charlemagne for their king, but they did not wish to be Christians either, or to forsake their own religion and their own ideas for his. When he died he was master of a great association of countries which for years yet could not come to- gether except in name, because of their real un- likeness and jealousy of each other. Charlemagne had managed to rule them all, for his sons and officers, whom he had put in command of the various provinces, were all dictated to by him, and were not in the least independent of his oversight. His fame was widespread. Embassies came to him from d*^ 54 THE STORY OF THE NORMANS. tant Eastern countries, and no doubt he felt that he was establishing a great empire for his successors. Thirty years after he died the empire was divided into three parts, and thirty-four years later it was all broken up in the foolish reign of his own great- grandson, who was called Charles also, but instead of Charles the Great became known as Charles the Fat. From the fragments of the old empire were formed the kingdoms of France, of Italy, and of Germany, with the less important states of Lorraine, Bur- gundy, and Navarre. But although the great em- pire had fallen to pieces, each fragment kept some- thing of the new spirit that had been forced into it by the famous emperor. For this reason there v/as no corner of his wide domain that did not for many years after his death stand in better relation to progress, and to the influence of religion, the most potent civilizer of men. All this time the power of the nobles had been in- creasing, for, whereas, at first they had been only the officers of the king, and were appointed to or removed from their posts at the royal pleasure, they contrived at length to make their positions heredi- tary and to establish certain rights and privileges. This was the foundation of the feudal system, and such a growth was sure to strike deep root. Every officer could hope to become a ruler in a small way, and to endow his family with whatever gains and holdings he had managed to make his own. And as these feudal chiefs soon came to value their power, they were ready to fight, not only all together for their king or over-lord, but for themselves; and one WILLIAM LONGSIVORD. 55 petty landholder with his dependents would go out to fight his next neighbor, each hoping to make the other his tributary. France proper begins to make itself heard about in these days. If you have read " The Story of Rome," and "The Rise and Fall of the Roman Empire," you can trace the still earlier changes in the old province of Gaul. The Franks had come westward, a bold association of German tribes, and in that fifth century when the Roman rule was overthrown, they swarmed over the frontiers and settled by hundreds and thousands in the conquered provinces. But, strange to say, as years went on they disappeared ; not because they or their children went away again and left Gaul to itself, but because they adopted the ways and fashions of the country. They were still called Franks and a part of the country was called France even, but the two races were completely mixed to- gether and the conquerors were as Gallic as the con- quered. They even spoke the new language ; it appears like an increase or strengthening of the Gallic race rather than a subjugation of it, and the coming of these Franks founded, not a new province of Germany, but the French nation. The language was changed a good deal, for of course many Frankish or German words were added, as Roman (or Romance) words had been added be- fore, to the old Gallic, and other things were changed too. In fact we are not a bit surprised when we find that the German kings, Charlemagne's own de- scendants, were looked upon as foreigners, and some of the French leaders, the feudal lords and princes, 56 THE STORY OF THE NORMANS. opposed themselves to their monarchs. They were brave men and ready to fight for what they wanted. Charles the Fat could not keep himself on his un- steady throne, and in Rolf's^ day France was con- tinually at war, sometimes at home, and almost al- ways with the neighboring provinces and kingdoms. Rolf's contemporary, Charles the Simple, lost his kingship i2i_^92^when his nobles revolted and put another leader in his place, who was called Hugh the Great, Count of Paris. Charles the Simple was kept a prisoner'imtTrHe died, by a Count of Vermandois, of whom he had claimed protection, and whose daughter William Longsword had married. There was a great deal of treachery among the French nobles. Each was trying to make himself rich and great, and serving whatever cause could promise most gain. There was diplomacy enough, and talking and fighting enough, but very little loyalty and care for public welfare. In Normandy, a movement toward better things showed itself more and more plainly ; instead of wrangling over the fragments of an old dismembered kingdom, Rolf had been carefully building a strong new one, and had been making and keeping laws instead of break- ing laws, and trying to make goodness and right prevail, and theft and treachery impossible. We must not judge those days by our own, for many things were considered right then that are wrong now; but Rolf knew tha^ order and bravery were good, and that learning was good, and so he kept his dukedom quiet, though he was ready enough to fight his enemies, and he sent his son William WILLIAM LONGSWORD. 57 Longsword to school, and made him a good scholar as well as soldier. This was as good train- ing as a young man could have in those stormy- times. Under Rolf, Normandy had held faithfully to the king, but under his son's rule we find a long chapter of changes, for William was constantly transferring his allegiance from king to duke. When he suc- ceeded his father, Normandy and France were at war — that is, Rolf would not acknowledge any king but Charles, who was in prison, while the usurper, Rudolph of Burgundy, was on the French throne. It is very hard to keep track of the different parties and their leaders. Everybody constantly changed sides, and it is x\6\. very clear what glory there was in being a king, when the vassals were so powerful that they could rebel against their sovereign and make war on him as often as they pleased. Yet they were very decided about having a king, if only to show how much greater they were by contrast. Duke Hugh of Paris takes the most prominent place just at this time, and with his widespread dominions and personal power and high rank, we cannot help wondering that he did not put himself at the head of the kingdom. Instead of that he chose to remain a subject, while he controlled the king's actions and robbed him of his territory and kept him in personal bondage. He had no objection to transferring his strange loyalty from one king to another, but he would always have a king over him, though at three different times there was nothing except his own plans to hinder him from putting the crown of 58 THE STORY OF THE NORMANS. France upon his own head. He had a stronger guiding principle than some of his associates, and seems to have been a better man. From Charles the Simple had come the lands of Normandy, and to him the first vow of allegiance had been made, and so both Rolf and William took his part and were enemies to his usurper and his foes. When William/:ame into possession of his dukedom, one of his first acts was to do homage to his father's over-lord, and he never did homage to Rudolph the usurper until Charles was dead, and even then waited three years ; but Rudolph was evidently glad to be friends, and presented Longsword with a grant of the sea-coast in Brittany. The Norman duke was a formidable rival if any trouble should arise, and the Normans themselves were very independent in their opinions. One of Rolf's followers had long ago told a Frenchman that his chief, who had come to Neustria a king without a kingdom, now held his broad lands from the sun and from God. They kept strange faith with each other in those days. Each man had his own ambitious plans, and his leagues and friendships were only for the sake of bringing them about. This was not being very grateful, but Rolf's men knew that the Breton lands were the price of peace and alliance, and not a free gift for love's sake by any means. As we try to puzzle out a distinct account of William's reign, we find him sometimes the enemy of Rudolph and in league with Hugh of Paris, some- times he was in alliance with Rudolph, though he would not call him king, and oftener he would have WILLIAM LONGSWORD. 59 nothing to do with cither. It is very dull reading, except as we trace the characters of the men them- selves. Most of the Normans had accepted Christianity many years before, in the time of Rolf, and had been christened, but a certain number had refused it and clung to the customs of their ancestors. These people had formed a separate neighborhood or colony near Baycu x, and after several generations, while they had outwardly conformed to the prevail- ing observances, they still remained Northmen at heart. They were remarkable among the other Normans for their great turbulence and for an almost incessant opposition to the dukes, and some of them kept the old pagan devices on their shields, and went into battle shouting the Northern war-cry of " TJior aide ! " instead of the pious " Dze7i aide ! " or " Dex aide ! " of Normandy. Whatever relic of paganism may have clung to Rolf himself, it is pretty certain that his son, half Frenchman by birth, was almost wholly a Frenchman in feeling. We must remember that he was not the son of Gisla the king's sister, however, but of Popa of Bayeux. There was a brother or half-brother of hers called Bernard de Senlis, who in spite of his father's murder and the unhappy beginning of their acquaint- ance with Rolf, seems to have become very friendly with the Norse chieftain. The fortunes of war were so familiar in those days and kept so many men at fierce enmity with each other, that we are half surprised to come upon this sincere, kindly relationship in the story of the early 6o THE STORY OF THE NORMANS. Normans. Even Rolf's wife's foolish little nickname, " Popa," under cover of which her own name has been forgotten, — this name of puppet or little doll, gives a hint of affectionateness and a sign of home- likeness which we should be very sorry to miss. As for Bernard de Senlis, he protected not only the rights of Rolf's children and grandchildren, but their very lives, and if it had not been for his standing between them and their enemies Rolf's successors would never have been dukes of Normandy. With all his inherited power and his own personal bravery, William found himself in a very hard place. He kept steadfastly to his ideas of right and might, and one thinks that with his half French and half Northman nature he might have understood both of the parties that quickly began to oppose each other in Normandy. He ruled as a French prince, and he and his followers were very eager to hold their place in the general confederacy of France, and eager too that Normandy should be French in religion, manners, and customs. Yet they did not wish Nor- mandy to be absorbed into France in any political sense. Although there were several men of Danish birth, Rolf's old companions, who took this view of things, and threw in their lot with the French party, like Botho, William's old tutor, and Oslac, and Ber- nard the Dane, of whom we shall hear again, there was a great body of the Normans who rebelled and made much trouble. William's French speech and French friends were all this time making him distrusted and even disliked by a large portion of his own suljjects. There stil' WILLIAM LONGSWORD. 6 1 remained a strong Northern and pagan influence in the older parts of the Norman duchy; while in the new lands of Brittany some of the independent Danish settlements, being composed chiefly of the descendants of men who had forced their way into that country before Rolf's time, were less ready for French rule than even the Normans. Between these new allies and the disaffected Normans themselves a grand revolt was organized under the leadership of an independent Danish chief from one of the Breton provinces. The rebels demanded one concession after another, and frightened Duke William dreadfully ; he even proposed to gi\'e up his duchy and to beg the protection of his French uncle, Bernard de Senlis. We are afraid that he had left his famous longsword at home on that campaign, until it appears that his old counsellor, Bernard the Dane, urged him to go back and meet the insurgents, and that a great vic- tory was won and the revolt ended for that time. The account of William's wonderful success is made to sound almost miraculous by the old chronicles. The two Norman parties held separate territories and were divided geographically, and each party wished to keep to itself and not be linked with the other. The Christian duke who liked French speech and French government might keep Christian Rouen and Evreux where Frenchmen abounded, but the heathen Danes to the westward would rather be inde- pendent of a leader who had turned his face upon the traditions and beliefs of his ancestors. For the time being, these rebellious subjects must keep their grudges and bear their wrongs as best they might, 62 THE STORY OF THE NORMANS. for their opponents were the masters now, and William was free to aim at still greater influence in French affairs as his dominion increased. Through his whole life he was swayed by religious impulses, and, as we have known, it was hard work at one time to keep him from being a monk. Yet he was not very lavish in his presents to the church, as a good monarch was expected to be in those days, and most of the abbeys and cathedrals which had suffered so cruelly in the days of the pirates were very poor still, and many were even left desolate. His government is described as just and vigorous, and as a general thing his subjects liked him and upheld his authority. He was ver>' desirous all the time to bring his people within the bounds of Chris- tian civilization and French law and order, yet he did not try to cast away entirely the inherited speech or ideas of his ancestors. Of course his treatment of the settlements to the westward and the Danish party in his dominion must have varied at different times in his reign. Yet, after he had made great efforts to identify himself with the French, he still found him- self looked down upon by his contemporaries and called the Duke of the Pirates, and so in later years he concerned himself more with his father's people, and even, so the tradition goes, gave a new Danish colony direct from Denmark leave to settle in Brit- tany. His young son Richard was put under the care, not of French priests, but his own old tutor, Botho the Dane, and the boy and his master were sent purposely to Bayeux, the very city which young Richard's grandfather, Rolf,, had helped to ravage. Y-^jr WILLIAM LONGSWORD. 63 At Rouen the Northman's language was already almost forgotten, but the heir to the duchy was sent where he could hear it every day, though his good teacher had accepted French manners and the re- ligion of Rome. William Longsword had become sure that there was no use in trying to be either wholly Danish or wholly French, the true plan for a Duke of Normandy was to be Dane and Frenchman at once. The balance seems to have swung toward the Danish party for a time after this, and after a troubled, bewildering reign to its very close, William died at the hands of his enemies, who had lured him away to hold a conference with Arnulf, of Flanders, at Picquigny, where he came to a mysterious and sudden death. The next year, 943 , "was a marked one in France and began a new order of things. There was a birth and a death which changed the current of history. The Count of Vermandois, the same man who had kept the prison and helped in the murder of Charles the Simple, was murdered himself — or at least died in an unexplained and horrible way, as men were apt to do who were called tyrants and were regicides be- side. His dominion was divided among his sons, except some parts of it that Hugh of Paris seized. This was the death, and the birth was of a son and heir to Hugh of Paris himself. His first wife was an Englishwoman, Eadhild, but she had died childless, to his great sorrow. This baby was the son of his wife H.idwisa, the daughter of King Henry of Ger- many, and he was called Hugh for his father ;»^iiugiL Capet, the future king. After this Hugh of Paris 64 THE STORY OF THE NORMANS. changed his plans and his poHcy. True enough, he had never consented to being a king himself, but it was quite another thing to hinder his son from reigning over France by and by. Here the French- man begins to contrast himself more plainly against the Frank, just as we have seen the Norman begin to separate himself from the Northman. Under Rolf Normandy had been steadily loyal to King Charles the Simple ; under William it had wavered between the king and the duke ; under Richard we shall see Normandy growing more French again. Under William Longsword, now Frenchman, now Northman was coming to the front, and everybody was ready to fight without caring so very much what it was all about. But everywhere we find the striking figure of the young duke carrying his great sword, that came to be the symbol of order and peace. The golden hilt and long shining blade are familiar enough in the story of William's life. Somehow we can hardly think of him without his great weapon. With it he could strike a might}' blow, and in spite of his uncommon strength, he is said to have been of a slender, graceful figure, with beautiful features and clear, bright color like a young girl's. His charming, cheerful, spirited manners won friend- ship and liking. '' He had an eye for splendor," says one biographer ; "well spoken to all, William Longsword could quote a text to the priest, listen respectfully to the wise sayings of the old, talk mer- rily with his young friends about chess and tables, discuss the flight of the falcon and the fleetness of the hound." WILLI A M LO.VCS I VORD. 65 When he desired to be a monk, he was persuaded that his rank and duties would not permit such a sacrifice, and that he must act his part in the world rather than in the cloister, for Normandy's sake, but in spite of his gay life and apparent fondness for the world's delights and pleasures, when he died his followers found a sackcloth garment and scourge under his splendid clothes. And as he lay dead in Rouen the rough haircloth shirt was turned outward at the throat so that all the people could see. He had not the firmness and decision that a duke of Normandy needed ; he was very affectionate and impulsive, but he was a miserly person, and had not the pcnver of holding on and doing what ought to be done with all his might. IV. RICHARD THE FEARLESS. " By many a warlike feat Lopped the French ]i]-js." — Dkayton. Around the city of Bayeux, Avere the head- quarters of the Northmen, and both Rolf's followers and the later colonists had kept that part of the duchy almost free from French influence. There Longsword's little son Richard (whose mother was Espriota, the duke's first wife, whom he had married in Danish fashion), was sent to learn the Northmen's language, and there he lived yet with his teachers and Count Bernard, when the news came of the murder of his father by Arnulf of Flanders, with Avhom William had gone to confer in good faith. We can imagine for ourselves the looks of the little lad and his surroundings. He was fond even then of the chase, and it might be on some evening when he had come in with the huntsmen that he found a breathless messenger who had brought the news of Lonsgword's death. We can imagine the low roofed, stone-arched room with its thick pillars, and deep stone casings to the windows, where the wind came in and made the torches fiure. At each end of 66 RICHARD THE FEARLESS. 67 the room would be a great fire, and the servants busy before one of them with the supper, and there on the flagstones, in a dark heap, is the stag, and perhaps some smaller game that the hunters have thrown down. There are no chimneys, and the fires leap up against the walls, and the smoke curls along the ceiling and finds its way out as best it can. One end of the room is a step or two higher than the other, and here tliere is a long table spread with drinking-horns and bowls, and perhaps some beautiful silver cups, with figures of grapevines and fauns and satyrs carved on them, which the Norse pirates brought home long ago from Italy. The floor has been covered with rushes which the girls of the household scatter, and some of these girls wear old Norse ornaments of wrought silver, with bits of coral, that must have come from Italy too. The great stag-hounds are stretched out asleep after their day's work, and the little Rich- ard is tired too, and has thrown himself into a tall carved chair by the fire. Suddenly there comes the sound of a horn, and everybody starts and listens. Was the household to be attacked and besieged ? for friends were less likely visitors than enemies in those rough times. The dogs bark and cannot be quieted, and again the horn sounds outside the gate, and somebody has gone to answer it, and those who listen hear the great hinges creak presently as the gate is opened and the sound of horses' feet in the courtyard. The dogs have found that there is no danger and creep away lazily to go to sleep again, but when the 68 THE STORY OF THE NORMANS. men of the household come back to the great hall their faces are sadly changed. Something has hap- pened. Among them are two guests, two old counts whom everybody knows, and they walk gravely with bent heads toward the boy Richard, who stands by the smaller fire, in the place of honor, near his fath- er's chair. Has his father come back sooner than he expected ? The boy's heart must beat fast with hope for one minute, then he is frightened by the silence in the great hall. Nobody is singing or talk- ing ; there is a dreadful stillness ; the very dogs are quiet and watching from their beds on the new- strewn rushes. The fires snap and crackle and throw long shadows about the room. What are the two counts going to do— Bernard Harcourt and Rainulf Ferrieres ? They are kneeling before the little boy, who is ready to run away, he does not know why. Count Bernard has knelt be- fore him, and says this, as he holds Richard's small hand : " Richard, Duke of Normandy, I am your liegeman and true vassal " ; and then the other count does and says the same, while Bernard stands by and covers his face with his hands and weeps. Richard stands, wondering, as all the rest of the noblemen promise him their service and the loyalty of their castles and lands, and suddenly the truth comes to him. His dear father is dead, and he must be the duke now ; he, a little stupid boy, must take the place of the handsome, smiling man with his shining sword and black horse and purple robe and the feather with its shining clasp in the high ducal RICHARD THE FEARLESS. 69 cap that is as splendid as any crown. Richard must take the old counts for his playfellows, and learn to rule his province of Normandy ; and what a long, sad, frightened night that must have been to the fatherless boy who must win for himself the good name of Richard the Fearless ! Next day they rode to Rouen, and there, when the nobles had come, the dead duke was buried with great ceremony, and all the people mourned for him and were ready to swear vengeance on his treacher- ous murderer. After the service was over Richard was led back from the cathedral to his palace, and his heavy black robes Were taken off and a scarlet tunic put on ; his long brown hair was curled, and he was made as fine as a little duke could be, though his eyes were red with crying, and he hated all the pomp and splendor that only made him the surer that his father was gone. They brought him down to the great hall of the palace, and there he found all the barons who had come to his father's burial, and the boy was told to pull off his cap to them and bow low in answer to their salutations. Then he slowly crossed the hall, and all the barons walked after him in a grand pro- cession according to rank — first the Duke of Brittany and last the poorest of the knights, all going to the Church of Notre Dame, the great cathedral of Rouen, where the solemn funeral chants had been sung so short a time before. There were all the priests and the Norman bish- ops, and the choir sang as Richard walked to his place near the altar where he had seen his father sit 70 THE STORY OF THE^ NORMANS. SO many times. All the long services of the mass were performed, and then the boy-duke gave his promise, in the name of God and the people of Nor- mandy, that he would be a good and true ruler, guard them from their foes, maintain truth, punish sin, and protect the Church. Two of the bishops put on him the great mantle of the Norman dukes, crimson velvet and trimmed with ermine ; but it was so long that it lay in great folds on the ground. Then the archbishop crowned the little lad with a crown so wide and heavy that one of the barons had to hold it in its place. Last of all, they gave him his father's sword, taller than he, but he reached for the hilt and held it fast as he was carried back to his throne, though Count Bernard offered to carry it. Then all the noblemen did homage, from Duke Alan of Brit- tany down, and Richard swore in God's name to be the good lord of every one and to protect him from his foes. Perhaps some of the elder men w^ho had followed Rolf the Ganger felt very tenderly toward this grandchild of their brave old leader, and the friends of kind-hearted Longsword meant to be loyal and very fatherly to his defenceless boy, upon whom so much honor, and anxiety too, had early fallen. See what a change there was in Normandy since Rolf came, and what a growth in wealth and order- liness the dukedom had made. All the feudal or clannish spirit had had time to grow, and Normandy ranked as the first of the French duchies. Still it would be some time yet before the Danes and Nor- wegians of the north could cease to think of the Normans as their brothers and cousins, and begin to RICHARD THE FEARLESS. 7 1 call them Frenchmen or Welskes, or any of the other names they called the people in France or Britain. It was sure to be a hard dukedom enough for the boy-duke to rule, and all his youth was spent in stormy, dangerous times. His father had stood godfather — a very close tie — to the heir of the new king of France, who was called Louis, and he was also at peace with Count Hugh of Paris. Soon after Longsword's death King Louis appeared in Rouen at the head of a body of troops, and demanded that he should be considered the guardian and keeper of young Richard during his minority. He surprised the counts who were in Rouen, and who were just then nearly defenceless. It would never do for them to resist Louis and his followers ; they had no troops at hand ; and they believed that the safest thing was to let Richard go, for a time at any rate. It was true that he was the king's vassal, and Normandy had always done hom- age to the kings of France. And with a trusty baron for protection the boy was sent away out of pleasant Normandy to the royal castle of Laon. The Rouen people were not very gracious to King Louis, and that made him angry. Indeed, the French king's dominion was none too large, and everybody knew that he would be glad to possess himself of the dukedom, or of part of it, and that he was not unfriendly to Arnulf, who had betrayed William Longsword. So the barons who were gathered at Rouen, and all the Rouen people, must have felt very anxious and very troubled about Richard's safety when the French horsemen gal- y2 THE STORY OF THE NORMANS. loped away with him. From time to time news came that the boy was not being treated very well. At any rate he was not having the attention and care that belonged to a duke of Normandy. The duke- dom was tempestuous enough at any time, with its Northman party, and its French party, and their jealousies and rivalries. But they were all loyal to the boy-duke who belonged to both, and who could speak the pirate's language as well as that of the French courtr If his life were brought to an un- timely end what a falling apart there would be among those who wei^e not unwilling now to be his subjects. No wonder that the old barons were so eager to get Richard home again, and so distrustful of the polite talk and professions of affection and interest on King Louis's part. Louis had two little sons of his own, and it would be very natural if he sometimes remembered that, if Richard were dead, one of his own boys might be Duke of Normandy instead — that is, if old Count Hugh of Paris did not stand in the way. So away went Richard from his pleasant country of Normandy, with its apple and cherry orchards and its comfortable farms, from his Danes and his Normans, and the perplexed and jealous barons. A young nobleman, named Osmond de Centeville, was his guardian, and promised to take the best of care of his young charge, but when they reached the grim castle of Laon they found that King Louis' promises were not likely to be kept. Gerberga, the French queen, was a brave woman, but eager to forward the fortunes of her own household, and nobody took much notice of the boy who was of so RICHARD THE FEARLESS. 73 much consequence at home in his own castle of Rouen. We cannot help wondering why Richard's life did not come to a sudden end like his father's, but perhaps Osmond's good care and vigilance gave no chance for treachery to do its work. After awhile the boy-duke began to look very pale and ill, poor little fellow, and Osmond watched him tenderly, and soon the rest of the people in the castle had great hopes that he was going to die. The tradition says that he was not sick at all in reality, but made himself appear so by refusing to eat or sleep. At any rate he grew so pale and feeble that one night everybody was so sure that he could not live that they fell to rejoicing and had a great banquet. There was no need to stand guard any longer over the little chief of the pirates, and nobody takes much notice of Osmond even as he goes to and from the tower room with a long face. Late in the evening he speaks of his war-horse which he has forgotten to feed and litter down, and goes to his stable in the courtyard with a huge bundle of straw. The castle servants see him, but let him pass as usual, and the banquet goes on, and the lights burn dim, and the night wanes before any- body finds out that there was a thin little lad, keep- ing very still, in the straw that Osmond carried, and that the two companions were riding for hours in the starlight toward the Norman borders. Hurrah! we can almost hear the black horse's feet clatter and ring along the roads, and take a long breath of relief when we know that the fugitives get safe to Crecy castle within the Norman lines next morning. 74 THE STORY OF THE NORMANS. King Louis was very angry and sent a message that Richard must come back, but the barons re- fused, and before long there was a great battle. There could really be no such thing as peace be- tween the Normans and the kingdom of France, and Louis had grown more and more anxious to rid the country of the hated pirates. Hugh the Great and he were enemies at heart and stood in each other's way, but Louis made believe that he was friendly, and granted his formidable rival some new territory, and displayed his royal condescension in various ways. Each of these rulers was more than willing to increase his domain by appropriating Nor- mandy, and when we remember the two parties in Normandy itself we cannot help thinking that Rich- ard's path was going to be a very rough one to follow. His father's enemy, Arnulf of Flanders, was the enemy of Normandy still, and always in secret or open league with Louis. The province of Brittany was hard to control, and while William Longsword had favored the French party in his dominions he had put Richard under the care of the Northmen. Yet this had not been done in a way to give com- plete satisfaction, for the elder Danes clung to their old religion and cared nothing for the solemn rites of the Church, by means of which Richard had been invested with the dukedom. They were half insulted by such silly pageantry, yet it was not to the leaders of the old pirate element in the dukedom, but to the Christianized Danes, whose head-quarters were at Rouen, that the guardianship of the heir of Nor- mandy had been given. He did not belong to the RlCffARD THE FEARLESS. 75 Christians, but to the Norsemen, yet not to the old pagan vikings either. It was a curious and per- haps a very wise thing to do, but the Danes Httle thought when Longsword promised solemnly to put his son under their charge, that he meant the Chris- tian Danes like Bernard and Botho. There was one thing that all the Normans agreed upon, that they would not be the vassals and lieges of the king of France. They had promised it in their haste when the king had come and taken young Richard away to Laon, but now that they had time to consider, they saw what a mistake it had been to make Louis the boy-duke's guardian. They meant to take fast hold of Richard now that he had come back, and so the barons were summoned, and when Louis ap- peared again in Normandy, with the spirit and gallantry of a great captain, to claim the guardian- ship and to establish Christianity, as well as to avenge the murder of Longsword, if you please ! — he found a huge army ready to meet him. Nobody can understand how King Louis managed to keep such a splendid army as his in good condi- tion through so many reverses. He had lost heavily from his lands and his revenues, and there were no laws, so far as we know, that compelled military service, but the ranks were always full, and the golden eagle of Charlemagne was borne before the king on the march, and the banner of that great em- peror, his ancestor, fluttered above his pavilion when the army halted. As for the Danes (which means simply the Northern or Pirate party of Normandy), they were very unostentatious soldiers and fought 76 THE STORY OF THE NORMANS. on foot, going to meet the enemy with sword and shield. Some of them had different emblems on their shields now, instead of the old red and white stripes of the shields that used to be hung along the sides of the long-ships, and they carried curious weapons, even a sort of flail that did great execution. We must pass quickly over the long account of a feigned alliance between Hugh of Paris and King Louis, their agreement to share Normandy be- tween themselves, and then Hugh's withdrawal, and Bernard of Senlis's deep-laid plot against both the enemies of Normand}-. It was just at this time that there was a great deal of enmity between Normandy and Brittany, and the Normans seem to be in a more rebellious and quarrelsome state than usual. If there was one thing that they clung to every one of them, and would not let go, it was this : that Nor- mandy should not be divided, that it should be kept as Rolf had left it. Sooner than yield to the plots and attempted grasping and divisions of Hugh and Arnulf of Flanders, and Louis, they w'ould send to the North for a fleet of dragon ships and conquer their country over again. They knew very well that however bland and persuasive their neighbors might become Avhen they desired to have a truce, they al, ways called them filthy Normans and pirates behind their backs, and were always hoping for a chance to push them off the soil of Normandy. There was no love lost between the dukedoms and the kingdom. After some time Louis was persuaded again that Normandy desired nothing so much as to call him her feudal lord and sovereign. Bernard de Senlis as- RICHARD THE FEARLESS. 77 sured him, for the sake of peace, that they were no longer in doubt of their un- happiness in having a child for a ruler, that they were anxious to return to the old pledge of loyalty that Rolf gave to the successor of Charle- magne. He must be the over-lord again and must come and occupy his humble city of Rouen. They were tired of being har- ried, their land was desolated, and they would do any thing to be released from the sorrows and penalties of war. Much to our surprise, and very likely to his own astonishment too, we find King Louis presently going to Rouen, and being received there with all manner of civility and deference. Every- body hated him just as much as ever, and dis- trusted him, and no doubt Louis returned the compliment, but to outward view he was be- loved and honored by his tributaries, and the Norman city seemed quiet and particularly servile to its new ruler and his bragging troops. Nobody understood ex- actly why they had Avon their ends with so little FLAIL AS A MILITARY WEAPON (i). trouble, and everybody 78 THE STORY OF THE NORMANS. was on the watch for some amazing counterplot, and dared not trust either friend or foe. As for Louis, they had shamed and tormented him too much to make him a very afTectionate sovereign now. To be sure he ruled over Normandy at last, but that brought him perplexity enough. In the city the most worth- less of his followers was putting on the airs of a conqueror and aggravating the Norman subjects un- bearably. The Frenchmen who had followed the golden eagle of Charlemagne so long without any reward but glory and a slender subsistence, began to clamor for their right to plunder the dukedom and to possess themselves of a reward which had been too long withheld already. Hugh, of Paris, and King Louis had made a bold venture together for the conquest of Normandy, and apparently succeeded to their heart's content. Hugh had besieged Bayeux ; and the country, be- tween the two assailants, had suffered terribly. Ber- nard the Dane, or Bernard de Senlis either, knew no other way to reestablish themselves than by keeping Louis in Rouen and cheating him by a show of com- plete submission. The Normans must have had great faith in the Danish Bernard when they sub- mitted to make unconditional surrender to Louis. Could it be that he had been faithless to the boy- duke's rights, and allowed him to be contemptuously disinherited ? Now that the king was safely bestowed in Rouen, his new liegemen began to say very disagreeable things. Louis had made a great fool of himself at a banquet soon after he reached Rolf's tower in the RICHARD THE FEARLESS. 79 Norman city. Bernard the Dane, had spread a fa- mous feast for him and brought his own good red wine. Louis became very talkative, and announced openly that he was going to be master of the Nor- mans at last, and would make them feel his bonds, and shame them well. But Bernard the Dane left his own seat at the table and placed himself next the king. Presently he began, in most ingenious ways, to taunt him with having left himself such a small share of the lands and wealth of the, ancient province of Neustria. He showed him that Hugh of Paris had made the best of the bargain, and that he had given up a great deal more than there was any need of doing. Bernard described in glowing colors the splendid dominions he had sacrificed by letting his rival step in and take first choice. Louis had not chosen to take a seventh part of the whole duke- dom, and Hugh of Paris was master of all Nor- mandy beyond the Seine, a beautiful country watered by fine streams whose ports were fit for commerce and ready for defence. More than this ; he had let ten thousand fighting men slip through his hands and become the allies of his worst enemy. And so Bernard and his colleagues plainly told Louis that he had made a great mistake. They w^ould consent to receive him as their sovereign and guardian of the young duke, but Normandy must not be divided ; to that they would never give their consent. Louis listened, half dazed to these suggestions, and when he w^as well sobered he understood that he was attacked on every side. Hugh of Paris had de- clared that if Louis broke faith with him now h- 8o THE STORY OF THE KORMANS. would make an end to their league, and Louis knew that he would be making a fierce enemy if he lis- tened to the Normans; yet if he refused, they would turn against him. On the other hand, if he' permitted Hugh to keep his new territory, lie was only strengthening a man who was his enemy at heart, and who sooner or later would show his antagonism. Louis's own soldiers were becoming very rebellious. They claimed over and over again that Rolf had had no real right to the Norman lands, but since he had divided them among his followers, all the more reason now that the conquerors, the French owners of Normandy, should be put into possession of what they had won back again at last. They demanded that the vectors should enforce their right, and not only expressed a wish for Bernard the Dane's broad lands, but for his handsome young wife. They would not allow that the Normans had any rights at all. When a rumor of such wicked plans began to be whispered through Rouen and the villages, it raised a great excitement. There would have been an insurrection at once, if shrewd old Bernard had not again insisted upon patience and submission. His wife even rebelled, and said that she would bury herself in a convent: and E:^riota, young Richard's mother, thriftily re solved to provide herself with a protector, and mar- ried Sperling, a rich miller of Vaudrcuil. Hugh of Paris was Bernard's refuge in these troubles, and now we see what the old Dane had been planning all the time. Hugh had begun to be- lieve that there was no use in trying to hold his new RICHARD THE FEARLESS. 8 1 possessions of Normandy beyond the Seine, and that he had better return to his old cordial alliance with the Normans and uphold Rolf the Ganger's dukedom. So the Danish party, Christians and pa- gans, and the Normans of the French party, and Hugh of Paris, all entered into a magnificent plot against Louis. The Normans might have been con- tented with expelling the intruders, and a renuncia- tion of the rights Louis had usurped, but Hugh the Great was very anxious to capture Louis himself. Besides Hugh of Paris and the Norman barons who upheld the cause of young Richard, there was a third very important ally in the great rebellion against King Louis of France. When Gorm a famous old king of Denmark had died some years before, the successor to his throne was Harold Blaatand or Bluetooth, a man of uncommonly fine character 'for those times^ — a man who kept his promises and was noted for his simplicity and good faith and loyalty to his word. Whatever reason may have brought' Harold to Normandy at this time, there he was, the firm friend of the citizens of the Bayeux country, and we find himu'ith his army at Cherbourg. All Normandy was armed and ready for a grand fight with the French, though it appears that at first there was an attempt at a peaceful conference. This went on very w'ell at first, the opposing armies being drawn up on either side of the river Dive, when who should appear but Herluin of Montreuil, the insolent traitor who was more than suspected of having caused the murder of W^illiam Longsword. Since then he had ruled in Rouen as Louis's deputy and 82 THE STORY OF THE NORMANS. stirred up more hatred against himself, but now he took a prominent place in the French ranks, and neither Normans nor Danes could keep their tempers any longer. So the peaceful conference was abruptly ended, and the fight began. Every thing went against the French : many counts were killed ; the golden eagle of Charlemagne and the silk hangings and banners of the king's tent had only been brought for the good of these Normans, who captured them. As for the king himself, lie was taken prisoner; some say that he was led away from the battle-field and secreted by a loyal gentleman of that neighborhood, who hid him in a secluded bowery island in the river near by, and that the poor gentleman's house and goods were burnt and his wife and children seized, before he would tell anything of the defeated monarch's hiding-place. There is another story that Harold Blaatand and Louis met in hand-to-hand combat, and the Dane led away the Frank as the prize of his own bravery. The king escaped and was again captured and imprisoned in Rouen. No bragging now of what he would do with the Normans, or who should take their lands and their wives. Poor Louis was completely beaten, but there Mas still a high spirit in the man and in his brave wife Gerberga, who seems to have been his equal in courage and resource. After a while Louis only regained his freedom by giving up his castle of Laon to Hugh of Paris, and the successor of Charle- magne was reduced to the pitiful povert}- of being king only of Compiegne. Yet he was still king, and nobody was more ready to give him the title than RICHARD THE FEARLESS. 83 Hugh of Paris himself, though the diplomatic treach- eries went on as usual. Harold had made a triumphant progress through Normandy after the great fight was over, and all the people were very grateful to him, and it is said that he reestablished the laws of Rolf, and confirmed the authority of the boy-duke. We cannot understand very well at this distance just why Harold should have been in Normandy at all with his army to make himself so useful, but there he was, and unless one story is only a repetition of the other, he came back again, twenty years after, in the same good-natured way, and fought for the Normans again. Poor Louis certainly had a very hard time, and for awhile his pride was utterly broken ; but he was still young and hoped to retrieve his unlucky for- tunes. Richard, the young duke, was only thirteen years old when Normandy broke faith with France, He had not yet earned his title of the Fearless, which has gone far toward making him one of the heroes of history, and was waiting to begin his real work and influence in the dukedom. Louis had sympathy enough of a profitless sort from his Ger- man and English neighbors. England sent an em- bassy to demand his release, and Hugh of Paris refused most ungraciously. Later, the king of the Germans or East Franks determined to invade Hugh's territory, and would not even send a message or have any dealings with him first ; and when he found that the German army was really assembling, the Count of Paris yielded. But, as we have already seen, Louis had to give up a great piece of his king- 84 THE STORY OF THE NORMANS. dom. As far as words went, he was king again. He had lost his authority while he was in prison, but it was renewed with proper solemnity, and Hugh was again faithful liegeman and homager of his former prisoner. The other princes of Europe, at least those who were neighbors, followed Hugh's example — all except one, if we may believe the Norman historians. On the banks of the Epte, where Rolf had first done homage to the French king, the Norman duchy was now set free from any over-lordship, and made an in- dependent country. The duke was still called duke, and not king, yet he was completely the monarch of Normandy, and need give no tribute nor obedience. Before long, however, Richard, or his barons for him — wily Bernard the Dane, and Bernard de Senlis, and the rest — commended the lands and men of Normandy to the Count of Paris, benefactor and ally. The Norman historians do not say much about this, for they were not so proud of it as of their being made free from the rule of France. We are certain that the Norman soldiers followed Hugh in his campaigns, for long after this during the reign of Richard the Fearless there were some charters and state papers written which are still preserved, and which speak of Hugh of Paris as Richard's over-lord. There are so few relics of that time that we must note the coinage of the first Norman money in Richard's reign. The chronicles follow the old fashion of the sagas in sounding the praises of one ■man — sometimes according to him all the deeds of his ancestors besides ; but, unfortunately, they refer little to general history, and tell few things about tht klCHARD THE FEARLESS. %% people. We find Normandy and England coming into closer relations in this reign, and the first men- tion of the English kings and of affairs across the Channel, lends a new interest to our story of the Normans. Indeed, to every Englishman and Ameri- can the roots and beginnings of English history are less interesting -in themselves than for their hints and explanations of later chapters and events. Bef6re we end this account of Duke Richard's boyhood, we must take a look at one appealing frag- ment of it which has been passed by in the story of the wars and tumults and strife of parties. Once King Louis was offered his liberty on the condition that he would allow the Normans to take his son and heir Lothair as pledge of his return and good behavior. No doubt the French king and Queen Gerberga had a consciousness that they had not been very kind to Richard, and so feared actual retalia- tion. But Gerberga offered, not the heir to the throne, but her younger child Carloman, a puny, weak little boy, and he was taken as hostage instead, and soon died in Rouen. Miss Yonge has written a charming story called " The Little Duke," in which she draws a touching picture of this sad little exile. It makes Queen Gerberga appear very hard and cruel, and it seems as if she must have been to let the poor child go among his enemies. We must remem- ber, though, that these times were very hard, and one cannot help respecting the poor queen, who was very brave after all, and fought as gallantly as any one to keep her besieged and struggling kingdom out of the hands of its assailants. 86 THE STORY OF THE NOR Af A .VS. We must pass over the long list of petty wars be- tween Louis and Hugh. Richard's reign was stormy to begin with, but for some years before his death Normandy appears to have been tolerably quiet. Louis had seen his darkest times when Normandy shobk herself free from French rule, and from that hour his fortunes bettered. There was one disagree- ment between Otto of Germany and Louis, aided by the king of Burgundy, against the two dukes, Hugh and Richard, and before Louis died he won back again the greater part of his possessions at Laon. Duke Hugh's glories were somewhat eclipsed for a time, and he was excommunicated by the Archbishop of Rheims and took no notice of that, but by and by when the Pope of Rome himself put him under a ban, he came to terms. The Normans were his constant allies, but there is not much to learn about their own military enterprises. The enthusiastic Norman writers give a glowing account of the failure of the confederate kings to capture Rouen, but say less about their marauding tour through the duchies of Normandy and Hugh's dominions. Rouen was a powerful city by this time, and a famous history be- longed to her already. There are some fragments left still of the Rouen of that day, which is very surprising when we remember how battered and beleaguered the old town was through century after century. Every thing was apparently prospering with the king of France when he suddenly died, only thirty- three years of age, in spite of his tempestuous reigp^ and always changing career. He must have felt like a RICHARD THE FEARLESS. 87 very old man, one would think, and somehow one imagines him and Gerberga, his wife, as old people in their Castle of Laon. Lothair was the next king, and Richard, who so lately was a child too, became the elder ruler of his time. Hug^h of Paris died two ABBEY CHURCH OF ST. OUEN (KUUEN). years later, and the old enemy of Normandy, Arnulf of Flanders, soon followed him. The king of Ger- man}-, Otto, outlived all these, but Richard lived longer than he or his son. 88 THE STORY OF THE NORMANS. The duchy of France, Hugh's dominion, passed to his young son, Hugh Capet, a boy of thirteen. When this Hugh grew up he did homage to Lothair, but Richard gave his loyalty to Hugh of Paris's son. The wars went on, and before many years went over Hugh Capet extinguished the succession of Charle- magne's heirs to the throne of France, and was crowned king himself, so beginning the reign of France proper ; as powerful and renowned a kingdom as Europe saw through many generations. By throwing off the rule of German princes, and achiev- ing independence of the former French dynasty, an order of things began that was not overthrown until our own day. Little by little the French crown annexed the dominions of all its vassals, even the duchy of Normandy, but that was not to be for many years yet. I hope we have succeeded in getting at least a hint of the history of France from the time it was the Gaul of the Roman empire ; and the empire of Charlemagne, and later, of the frag- ments of that empire, each a province or kingdom under a ruler of its own, which were reunited in one confederation under one king of France. All this time Europe is under the religious rule of Rome, and in Richard the Fearless's later years we find him the benefactor of the Church, living close by the Minster of Fecamp and buried in its shadow at last. There was a deep stone chest which was placed by Duke Richard's order near one of the minster doors, where the rain might fall upon it that dropped from the holy roof above. For many )'ears, on Saturda}- evenings, the chest was filled to the brim with RICHARD THE FEARLESS. 89 wheat, a luxury in those days, and the poor came and filled their measures and held out their hands afterward for five shining pennies, while the lame and sick people were visited in their homes by the almoner of the great church. There was much talk about this hollowed block of stone, but when Richard died in 996 at the end of his fifty-five years' reign, after a long, lingering illness, his last command was that he should be buried in the chest and lie " there where the foot should tread, and the dew and the waters of heaven should fall." Beside this church of the Holy Trinity at Fecamp he built the abbey of St. Wandville, the Rouen cathedral, and the great church of the Benedictines at St. Ouen. New struc- tures have risen upon the old foundations, but Richard's name is still connected with the places of worship that he cared for. " Richard Sans-peur has long been our favorite hero," says Sir Francis Palgrave, who has written perhaps the fullest account of the Third Duke ; " we have admired the fine boy, nursed on his father's knee whilst the three old Danish warriors knelt and rendered their fealty. During Richard's youth, adolescence, and age our interest in his varied, active, energetic character has never flagged, and we go with him in court and camp till the day of his death." V. DUKE RICHARD THE GOOD. " Then would he sing achievements high And circumstance of chivalry." — ScOTT. Richard the Fearless had several sons, and when he lay dying his nobles asked him to say who should be his successor. " He who bears my name," whispered the old duke, and added a moment later : " Let the others take the oaths of fealty, acknowl- ledge Richard as their superior ; and put their hands in his, and receive from him those lands which I will name to you." So Richard the Good came to his dukedom, with a rich inheritance in every way from the father who had reigned so successfully, and his brothers Geoffry, Mauger, William, and Robert, accepted their por- tions of the dukedom, to which Richard added more lands of his own accord. During this reign there were many changes, some very gradual and natural ones, for Normandy was growing more French and less Scandinavian all the time, and the relationship grew stronger and stronger between vigorous young Normandy and troubled, failing England. Later we shall see how our Nor- 90 DUKE RICHARD THE GOOD, 91 mans gave a new impulse to England, but alread} there are signs and forebodings of what must ccn-e to pass in the days of Richard the Good's grandson, WilHam the Conqueror. We first hear now of many names which are great names in Normandy and England to this day. " It seems as if there were never any region more peopled with men of known deeds, known names, known passions and known crimes," says Palgrave; and the Norman annals abound with historical titles "rendered illustrious by the illusions of time and blazonry which imagination imparts." It is very strange how few records there are, among the state papers in France, of all this period. Ever)'- important public matter in England was carefully recorded long before this, but with all the proverbial love of going to law, and all the well-ordered priest- hood, and good education of the upper classes, there are only a few scattered charters until Normandy is really merged in France. This almost corresponds to the absence, in the literary world, of papers relating to Shakespeare, which is such a puzzle to antiquarians. Here was a man well-known and beloved both in his native village and the world of London, a man who must have covered thousands of pages with writing, and written letters and signed his name times without number, and yet not one of his manuscripts and very few signatures can be found. Only the references to him in contemporary litera- ture remain to give us any facts at all about the greatest of English writers. Of far less noteworthy men, of his time and before that, we can make up 92 THE STORY OF THE NORMANS. reasonably full biographies. And Normandy is known only through the records of other nations, and the traditions and reports of romancing chroni- clers. There are no long lists of men and money, and no treasurer or general of Rolf's, or Longsword's time has left us his accounts. Rolf's brother, who went to Iceland while Rolf came to Normandy, in the tyrannical reign of Harold Haarfager, estab- lished in that storm-bound little country a nation of scholars and record-makers. Perhaps it was easier to write there where the only enemies were ice and snow and darkness and the fury of the sea and wind. Yet we can guess at a great deal about the condi- tion of Normandy. There was so much going to and fro, such a lively commerce and transportation of goods, that we know the old Roman roads had been kept in good repair, and that many others must have been built as the population increased. The famous fairs which were held make us certain that there was a large business carried on, and besides the maintenance and constant use of a large army, in some years there was also a thrifty devotion to mer- cantile matters and agriculture. Foreign artisans and manufacturers were welcomed to the Norman provinces, and soon formed busy communities like the Flemish craftsmen, weavers and leather-makers, at Falaise. The Normans had an instinctive liking for pomp and splendor ; so their tradesmen flourished, and their houses became more and more elegant, and must be carved and gilded like the dragon ships. A merry, liberal duke was this Richard ; fond of his court, and always ready to uphold Normandy's DUKE RICHARD THE GOOD. 93 honor and his own when there was any fighting to be done. He had a great regard for his nobles, and we begin to find a great deal said about gentlemen ; the duke would have only gentlemen for his chosen fol- lowers, and the aristocrats make themselves felt more distinctly than before. The rule of the best is a hard thing to manage, it sinks already into a rule of the lucky, the pushing, or the favored in the Rouen court. The power and reign of chivalry begins to blossom now far and wide. We begin to hear rumors too on the other side that there were wrong distinctions between man and man, and tyranny that grew hard to bear, and one Norman resents the truth that his neighbor is a better and richer man than he, and moreover has the right to make him a servant, and to make laws for him. The Norman citizens were equal in civil rights — that is to say, they were not taxed without their own consent, need pay no tolls, and might hunt and fish ; all could do these things except the villeins* and peasants, who really composed the mass of the native population, the descendants of those who lived in Normandy before Rolf came there. Even the higher clergy did not form part of the nobility and gentry at first, and in later years there was still a difference in rank and privileges between the priests of Norwegian and Danish race and the other eccle- siastics. Before Richard the Good had been long on his throne there was a great revolt and uprising of the peasantry, who evidently did not think that their new * Farm laborers ; countrymen. 94 THE STORY OF THE NORMANS. duke deserved his surname at all. These people conceived the idea of destroying the inequality of races, so that Normandy should hold only one na- tion, as it already held one name. We cannot help being surprised at the caieful political organization of the peasantr}/-, and at finding that they established a^ regujar _parliam ent withjbwo rencesentatives from every district. In all the villages and hamlets, after the day's work was over, they came together to talk over their wrongs or to listen to some speaker more eloquent than his fellows. They " made a commune," which anticipates later events in the history of France in a surprising way. Freeman says that " such a con- stitution could hardly have been extemporized by mere peasants," and believes that the disturbance was founded in a loyalty to the local customs and rights which were fast being trampled under foot, and that the rebels were only tr}-ing to defend their time- honored inheritance. The liberty which they were eager to grasp might have been a great good, scattered as it would have been over a great extent of countiy, instead of being won by separate cities. The ancient Norman constitutions of the Channel Islands, Jersey and Guernsey and the rest, antiquated as they seem, breathe to-day a spirit of freedom worthy of the air of England or Switzerland or Nor- way. The peasants clamored for their right to be equal with their neighbors, and no doubt many a small land- holder joined thcni, \\\\o did not wish to swear fealty to his over-lord. In the Roman dc Ron, an old chron- icle which keeps together many traditions about early DUKE RICHARD THE GOOD. 95 Normandy that else might have been forgotten, we find one of these piteous harangues. Perhaps it is not authentic, but it gives the spirit of the times so well that it ought to have a place here : " The lords do nothing but evil ; we cannot obtain either reason or justice from them ; they have all, they take all, eat all, and make us live in poverty and suffering. Every day with us is a day of pain ; we gain nought by our labors, there are so many dues and services. Why do we allow ourselves to be thus treated ? Let us place ourselves beyond their power ; we too are men, we have the same limbs, the same height, the same power of endurance, and we are a hundred to one. Let us swear to defend each other ; let us be firmly knit together, and no man shall be lord over us ; we shall be free from tolls and taxes, free to fell trees, to take game and fish, and do as we will in all things, in the wood, in the meadow, on the water! " At this time the larger po^'tion of Normandy was what used to be called forest. That word meant something more than woodland ; it belonged then to tracts of wild country, woodland and moorland and marshes, and these were the possession of the crown. The peasants had in the old days a right, or a custom at any rate, of behaving as if the forests were their own, but more and more they had been restricted, and the unaccustomed yoke galled them bitterly. Besides their being forbidden to hunt and fish in the forests, the water-ways were closed from them, taxes imposed, and their time and labor de- manded on the duke's lands. There had been grants 96 THE STORY OF THE NORhfANS. of these free tracts of country to the new nobiHty, and with the hinds the new lords claimed also the service of the peasantry. The people do not appear to have risen against the duke himself, so much as against their immedi- ate oppressors, and it was one of these who was to be their punisher. You remember that Richard the Fearless' mother, Espriota, married, in the troublous times of his boyhood, a rich countryman called Sperling. They had a son called Raoul of Ivry, who seems to have been high in power and favor with the second Richard, his half-brother, and who now entered upon his cruel task with evident liking. He had been brought up among the country-folk, although he stood at this time next to the duke in office. He was very crafty, and sent spies all through Normandy to find out when the Assembly or Parlia- ment was to be held, and then dispersed his troops according to the spies' report, and seized upon all the deputies and these peasants who were giving oaths of allegiance to their new commanders. Whether from design or from anger and prejudice Raoul next treated his poor prisoners with terrible cruelty. He maimed them in every way, putting out their eyes, cutting off their hands or feet ; he impaled them alive, and tortured them with melted lead. Those who lived through their sufferings were sent home to be pa- raded through the streets as a warning. So fear prevailed over even the love of liberty in their brave hearts, for the association of Norman peasants was broken up, and a sad resignation took the place, for DUKE RICHARD THE GOOD. 97 hundreds of years, of the ardor and courage which had been lighted only to go out again so quickly. There was another rebellion besides this, of which we have some account, and one man instead of a whole class was the ofTender. One of Richard's brothers, or half-brothers, the son of an unknown mother, had received as his inheritance the county of Exmes, which held three very rich and thriving towns. These were Exmes, Argentan, and Falaise in which we have already learned that there was a colony of Flemings settled, skilful, industrious weavers and leather-makers and workers in cloth and metals. Falaise itself was already very old indeed, and there remain yet the ruins of an old Roman camp, claimed to belong to the time of Julius Caesar, beside the earliest specimen of that square gray tower which is really of earlier date though always associated with Norman feudalism. The Falaise Fair, which was of such renown in the days of the first dukes, is supposed to be the sur- vival of some pagan festival of vast antiquity. The name of Guibray, the suburb of Falaise which gave its name to the Fair, is said to be derived from the Gaulish word for mistletoe, and wherever we hear of mistletoe in ancient history it reminds us, not of merry-makings and Christmas holidays, but of the grim rites and customs of the Druids. William, Duke Richard's brother, does not seem to have been grateful for these rich possessions, and before long there is a complaint that he fails to re- spond to the royal summons, and that he will not render service or do homage in return for his hold- 98 THE STORY OF THE NORMANS. ing. Raoul of Ivry promptly counselled the Duke to take arms against the offender. It was not long before William found himself a prisoner in the old tower of Rolf at Rouen. He was treated with great severity, and only avoided being hanged by making his escape in most romantic fashion. A compassionate lady contrived to supply him with a rope, and he came down from his high tower-window to the ground hand over hand. Lucki- ly he found none of his keepers waiting for him, and succeeded in getting out of the country. Raoul had been hunting his partisans, and now he had the pleasure of hunting William himself, by keeping spies on his track and forcing him from one danger to another until he was tired of his life, and boldly determined to go to his brother the Duke and beg for mercy. He was very fortunate, for Richard not only listened to him, and was not angry at being stopped on a day when he had gone out to amuse himself with hunting, but he pardoned the suppliant and pitied his trials and sufferings, and more than all, though he did not give back the forfeited county of Exmes, he did give him the county of Eu. We hear nothing of what Raoul thought of such a pleasant ending to the troubles after he had shown such zeal himself in pursuing and harassing the Duke's enemy. We must take a quick look at the relations be- tween Richard the Good and Hugh Capet, Hugh of Paris's successor, and Robert of France, Hugh Ca- pet's son, who was trying to uphold the fading dig- nities and power of the Carlovingian throne. Truly DUKE RICHARD THE GOOD. 99 Charlemagne's glories were almost spent, and the new glories of the great house of the Capets were growing brighter and brighter. Our eyes already turn toward England and the part that the Norman dukes must soon play there, but there is something to say first about France. Robert and Richard were great friends ; they had many common interests, and were bound by solemn oaths and formal covenants of loyalty toward and protection of each other. Robert was a very honor- able man ; his relation to his father was a most curious one, for they seem to have been partners in royalty and to have reigned together over France. Richard the Fearless had done much to establish the throne of the Capets, and there was a firm bond be- tween the second Richard and young Robert, to whom he did homage. There were several powerful chiefs and tributaries, but Richard the Good out- ranks them all, and takes his place without question as the first peer of France. The golden lilies of France are already in flower, and though history is almost silent through the later years of Hugh Capet's life, there are signs of great activity within the king- dom and of growing prosperity. There is an old proverb : " Happy is that nation which has no his- tory!" and whenever we come to a time that the historians pass over or describe in a few sentences, we take a long breath and imagine the people busy in their homes and fields and shops, blest in the freedom from war and disorder. Robert of France was a famous wit and liked to play tricks upon his associates. He was a poet too, lOO THE STORY OF THE NORMANS. and wrote some beautiful Latin rhymes which are still sung in the churches. There is a good story about his being at Rome once at a solemn church festival. When he approached the altar he held a chalice in his hands with great reverence, and every- body could see that it held a roll of parchment. There could be no doubt that the king meant to bestow a splendid gift upon the church, perhaps, a duchy or even his whole kingdom ; but after the service was over, and the pope and cardinals, full of expectation, hurried to see what prize was put into their keeping, behold ! only a copy of Robert's famous chant " Cornelius Cetiturio ! " It was a sad disappointment indeed when they looked at this unexpected offering ! But Robert was more than a good comrade, he was a remarkably good king, as kings went ; he kept order and was brave, decided, and careful. It was true that he had fallen heir to a prosperous and well- governed kingdom, but it takes constant effort and watchfulness and ready strength to keep a kingdom or any lesser responsibilities up to the right level. He had one great trial, for his wife Bertha, being his first cousin, should not have been his wife according to the laws of the Roman Church. For the first time there was a pope of Rome who was from beyond the Alps, a German ; and Robert and he were on bad terms, which resulted in the excommunication of the king of France and the queen, and at one time they were put so completely under the ban that even their servants forsook them and the whole kingdom was thrown into confusion. The misery became so DUKE RICHARD THE GOOD. 101 great that the poor queen presently had to be sep- arted from her husband, and this was the more grievous as she had no children, and so Robert was obliged to put her away from him and marry again for the sake of having an heir to the throne. Bertha's successor was very handsome, but very cross, and in later years King Robert used to say : " There are plenty of chickens in the nest, but my old hen pecks at me! " In spite of the new queen's bad temper there are a good many things to be said in her praise. She was much better educated than most women of her day, and she had a great admiration for Robert's poetry, and these things must have gone far to make up for her faults. Duke Richard's marriage was a very fortunate one. His sister Hawisa, of whom he was guardian, was asked in marriage by Duke Godfrey of Brittany, and this was a very welcome alliance, since it bound the two countries closer together than ever before, and made them forget the rivalries which had some- times caused serious trouble. Especially this was true when a little later Richard himself married Godfrey's sister Judith, who was distinguished for her wisdom. They had a most splendid wedding at the Abbey of St. Michael's Mount, and in course of time one of their daughters married the Count of Burgundy and one the Count of Flanders. In spite of much immorality and irregularity in those days, there was enough that was proper and respectable in the alliances of the noble families, and we catch many a glimpse of faithful lovers and I02 THE STORY OF THE NORMANS. gallant love-making. It was often said that Nor- mandy's daughters did as much for the well-being of the country as her sons, and when we read the lists of grand marriages we can understand that the dukes' daughters won as many provinces by their beauty as the sons did by their bravery in war. It is hard to keep the fortunes of all these races and kingdoms clear in our minds. We cannot help thinking of England, and looking at all this early his- tory of the Normans and their growth in relation to it. Then we must keep track of the Danes and Northmen, who have by no means outgrown their old traits and manners, though their cousins in Nor- mandy have given up privateering and the long ships. The history of France makes a sort of background for Normandy and England both. These marriages of which I have just told you greatly increased the magnificence and the power of the Norman duchy and widened the territory in every way. The Norman dukes could claim the right to interfere in the affairs of those states to which they Avere allied, and they improved their op- portunities. But the most important of all the alli- ances has not been spoken of at all — the marriage of Richard the Fearless' daughter Emma to -^thelred jthe Unready of England. "T^Elhelred himself was the black sheep of his illus- trious family — a long line of noble men they were for the most part. In that age much of the character of a nation's history depended upon its monarch, and it is almost impossible to tell the for- tunes of a country except by giving the biographies DUKE RICHARD THE GOOD. IO3 of the reigning king. This yEthelred seems to have had energy enough, but he began many enterprises and never ended them, and wasted a great deal of strength on long, needless expeditions, and does not appear to have made effective resistance to the ene- mies who came knocking at the very gates of Eng- land. He had no tact and little bravery, and was given to putting his trust in unworthy and treacher- ous followers, ^thelred was the descendant of good King Alfred and his noble successors, but his own kingdom was ready to fall to pieces before he reigned over it very long, and his reign of thirty-eight years came near to being the ruin of England. There were two or three men who helped him in the evil work, who were greater traitors at heart than yEthel- red himself, and we can hardly understand why they were restored to favor after their treason and sel- fishness were discovered. As one historian says, if we could only have a few of the private letters, of which we have such abundance two or three cen- turies later, they would be the key to many dififi- culties. The Danes were nibbling at the shores of Eng- land as rats would gnaw at a biscuit. They grew more and more troublesome. Over in Normandy, Richard the Good was treating these same Danes like friends, and allowing them to come into his harbors to trade with the Norman merchants. In the Cotentin country they found a people much like themselves, preserving many old traditions, and something of the northern speech. The Cotentin lands were poor and rocky, but the hills were crowded I04 THE STORY OF THE NORMANS. with castles, well armed and well fortified, and the men were brave soldiers and sailors, true descendants of the old vikings. They sought their fortunes on the sea too, and we can trace the names of these Cotentin barons and their followers through the army of William the Conqueror to other castles in the broad English lands that were won in less than a hundred years from ^thelred's time. Very likely some of these Cotentin Normans were in league with the northern Danes who made their head-quarters on the Norman shores, and went plundering across the Channel. Soon ^thelred grew very angry, which was to be expected, and he gathered his fleets at Portsmouth, and announced that he should bring Duke Richard back a captive in chains, and waste the whole offending country with fire, except the holy St. Michael's Mount. The fleet obeyed ^thelred's foolish orders, and went ashore at the mouth of the river Barfleur, only to find the Normans assembled from the whole surrounding country — not a trained army by any means, but an enraged peasantry, men and women alike, armed with shepherds' crooks, and reaping- hooks and flails, and in that bloody battle of Sang- lac, they completely routed the English. All the invaders who escaped crowded into six of their vessels and abandoned the rest, and hurried away as fast as they could go. This was a strong link in the chain that by and by would be long enough to hold England fast, and put her at the mercy of the Nor- mans altogether. There was peace made before very long, though the Normans considered them^ DUKE RICHARD THE GOOD. 105 selves to have been grievously insulted, and laughed at the English for being so well whipped. Perpetual peace, the contract unwisely promises, and the pope interfered between the combatants, to prevent the shedding of innocent blood. After the promises were formally made, ^th- elred tried to make the alliance even closer. He had children already — one, the gallant Eadmund Ironside, who might have saved the tottering king- dom if he had only held the authority which was thrown away in his father's hands. The name of M.\.\i- elred's first queen has been lost, but she was " a noble lady, the daughter of Thored, an Ealdorman," and had been some time dead, so with great diplo- macy King ^thelred the ^ ^ """ , ■' *=• QUEEN EMMA OR /ELFGIFU (FROM Unready, " by the grace the register of hyde ab- of God Basileus of Albion, ^^'' King and Monarch of all the British Nations, of the Orkneys and the surrounding Islands," as he liked to sign himself, came wooing to Normandy. Emma, the duke's sister, married him and went to England. iCthelred gave her a splendid wedding-present of I06 THE STORY OF THE NORMANS. wide domains in the counties of Devon and Hants, part of which held the cathedral cities of Winchester and Exeter, the pride and defence of Southern Britain. Queen Emma gave the governorship of Exeter to her chief adviser and ofificer, Hugh the Norman, and her new subjects called her the Gem of Normandy, and treated her with great deference. She had the beauty of her race and of Rolf's de- scendants, and her name was changed to ^Ifgifu, because this sounded more familiar to the English ears. At least that is the explanation which has come down ^ to us. Things were in a very bad way in England — the Anglo-Saxon rule of that time was founded upon fraud and violence, and the heavy misfortunes which assailed the English made them fear worse troubles later on. The wisest among them tried to warn their countrymen, but the warnings were apparently of little use. The make-believe rejoicings at Queen Emma's coming were quickly over with, and soon we hear of her flight to Normandy. Many reasons were given for this ominous act. Some say that .^thelred disgusted her by his drunkenness and lawlessness, and others that Hugh the Norman was treacherous, and betrayed his trust to the Danes, and that the queen was a partner in the business. There is still another story, that .^Ethelred was guilty of a shocking massacre, and that Emma fled in the horror and confusion that it made. Yet later she returned to England as the queen of Cnut the Dane. Now we must change from England to France altogether for a few pages, and see how sttMdilv the DUKE RICHARD THE GOOD. 10/ power of the Normans was growing, and how widely it made itself felt. We must see Richard the Good as the ally of France in the warfare waged by King Robert against Burgundy, which was the most im- portant event of Robert's reign. Old Hugh of Paris had carefully avoided any confusion between the rights of Burgundy and the rights of France when he established the foundation of his kingdom. He was a wise politician, and understood that it would not do to conflict with such a power as Burgundy's, which held the Low Countries, Spain, and Portugal and Italy within its influence. Since his day Bur- gundy had been divided, but it was still distinguished for its great piety and the number of its religious institutions. Robert's uncle was Duke of Burgundy, and he was a very old man ; so Robert himself had high hopes of becoming his successor. His chief rival was the representative of the Lombard kings in Italy — Otho William, who was son of Adalbert, a pirate who had wandered beyond the Alps, and Ger- berga, the Count of Chalons' daughter. After Adal- bert died Gerberga married old Duke Henry of Burgundy, and prevailed upon him to declare her son as his successor. This was illegal, but Otho William was much admired and beloved, and the great part of the Burgundians upheld his right. Behold, then, Richard the Good and his Norman soldiery marching away to the wars ! Duke Henry was dead, and King Robert made haste to summon his ally. Thirty thousand men were mustered under the Norman banner, and the black raven of war went slowly inland. What an enterprise it was to trans- I08 THE STORY OF THE NORMANS. port such a body of men and horses across country! Supphes could not be hurried from point to point as readily as in after-times, and the country itself must necessarily be almost devastated as if a swargi of locusts had crept through it. Normandy was over- flowing with a military population anxious for some- thing to do, with a lingering love for piracy and plundering. They made a swift journey, and Rich- ard and his men were at the gates of the city of Auxerre almost as soon as the venerable duke was in his grave. There was a tremendous siege ; Robert's rival had won the people's hearts, and in the natural strongholds of the mountain slopes they defended themselves successfully. Besides this brave opposi- tion of the Burgundians, the Normans were fought against in a more subtle way by strange phenomena in the heavens. A fiery dragon shot across the sky, and a thick fog and darkness overspread the face of the earth. Auxerre was shrouded in night, and the Norman archers could not see to shoot their arrows. Before long the leagued armies raised the siege of the border city and marched on farther into the country up among the bleak, rocky hills. Only one of the Burgundian nobles — Hugh, Count of Chalons and Bishop of Auxerre — was loyal to the cause of King Robert of France. Presently we shall see him again under very surprising circumstances for a count, not to speak of a bishop ! The country was thoroughly ravaged, but some time passed before it was finally conquered. At last there was a compro- mise, and Robert's son was elected duke. His DUKE RICHARD THE GOOD. IO9 descendants gave France a vast amount of trouble in later years, and so Burgundy revenged herself and Otho William's lost cause. Richard of Normandy had kept his army well drilled in this long Burgundian campaign, but before his reign was over he had another war to fight with the Count of Dreux. The lands of Dreux were originally in the grant made to Rolf, but later they were held by a line of counts, whose last representa- tive disappeared in Richard the Fearless' reign. We find the country in Richard's possession without any record of war, so it had probably fallen to the crown by right. There was a great Roman road through the territory like the Watling Street that ran from Dover to Chester through England, and this was well defended as the old Roman roads always were. Chartres was joined to Dreux by this road, and Chartres was not at peace with Normandy. So a new fort and a town sprung up on the banks of the river to keep Chartres in check: Tilli^res, or the Tileries, which we might call the ancestor of the famous Tuileries of modern Paris. There were several fierce battles, and sometimes gaining and sometimes losing, the Normans found themselves presently in a hard place. We are rather startled to hear of the appearance of king Olaf of Nor- way and the king of the Swedes as Richard's allies. The French people had not wholly outgrown their hatred — or fear and distrust either — of the pirates, and when the news came that bands of Northmen were landing in Brittany there was a wild excitement. Richard and the Chartres chieftain were making alto- no THE STORY OF THE NORMANS. gether too much of their quarrel, and King Robe-rt, as preserver of the public peace, was obliged to interfere. After this episode everybody was more afraid of Normandy than ever, and Chartres was the gainer by the town of Dreux, with its forest and castle, that being the king's award. We cannot help wondering why Richard was persuaded to yield so easily, with all his Northmen eager enough to fight — but they disappear for the time being, and many stories were told of their treacherous warfare in Brittany; of the pitfalls covered with branches into which they tempted their mounted enemies on the battle-field of D61. All this seems to have been a little private diversion on their way to the Norman capital, where they were bidden for the business with Chartres. Then there was a fight with the bishopric of Chalons, which interests us chiefly because Richard's son and namesake first makes his appearance. Re- naud, the son of Otho William, who had lost the dukedom of Burgundy, had married a Norman dam- sel belonging to the royal family of Rolf. This Renaud was defeated and captured by the Count- Bishop of Chalons, of whom we know something already. He was loyal to King Robert of France, you remember, in the war with Burgundy, and now he treated Renaud with terrible severity, and had broken his vows, moreover, by getting married. King Robert gave the Normans permission to march through his dominions, and seems to have turned his back upon the Count-Bishop. There was a succession of sieges, and the army burned and de- DUKE RICHARD' THE GOOD. Ill stroyed on every side as it went through Burgundy, and finally made great havoc in one of the chief towns, called Mirmande in the chronicles, though no Mirmande can be heard of now in that part of the world, and perhaps the angry Normans determined to leave no trace of it for antiquarians and geograph- ers to discover. The Count-Bishop flees for his life to Chalons, and when he was assailed there, he was so frightened that he put an old saddle on his back and came out of the city gates in that fashion to beg for mercy. The merry historian who describes this scene adds that he offered Richard a ride and that he rolled on the ground- at the young duke's feet in complete humiliation. One might reasona- bly say that the count made a donkey of himself in good earnest, and that his count's helmet and his priestly, shaven crown did not go very well together. The third Richard covered himself with glory in this campaign, however, and went back to Normandy triumphant, to give his old father great pleasure by his valor. But Richard the Good was very feeble now, and knew that he was going to die ; so, like Richard the Fearless, he went to Fecamp to spend his last days. When he had confessed to the bishops, he called for his faithful barons, and made his will. Richard was to be his successor, and his courage and honesty deserved it ; but the old father appears to have had a presentiment that all would not go well, for he begged the barons to be loyal to the good youth. Robert, the second son, fell heir to the county of Exmes, upon the condition that he should be faithful 112 THE STORY OF THE NORMANS. to his brother. There was another son, Mauger, 3 bad fellow, who had no friends or reputation, even at that early day. He was a monk, and a very low- minded one ; but later he appears, to our astonish- ment, as Archbishop of Rouen. No mention is made of his receiving any gift from his father ; and soon Richard the Good died and was buried in the Fecamp Abbey. In after years the bones of Richard the Fearless were taken from the sarcophagus out- side the abbey door, and father and son were laid in a new tomb near the high altar. All this early history of Normandy is told mainly by two men, the saga-writers of their time — William of Jumi^ges, who wrote in the lifetime of William the Conqueror, and Master Wace, of Caen, who was born on the island of Jersey, between thirty and forty years after the conquest of England. His " Roman de Rou " is most spirited and interesting, but, naturally, the earlier part of it is not always reliable. Both the chroniclers meant to tell the truth, but writing at a later date for the glory of Normandy, and in such a credulous age, we must forgive them their inaccuracies. They have a great deal more to say about Richard the Good than about his two sons, Richard and Robert. Richard was acknowledged as duke by all the barons after his father's death, and then went in state to Paris to do homage to King Robert. This we learn from the records of his contract of marriage with the king's daughter. Lady Adela, who was a baby in her cradle, and the copy of the settlements is preserved, or, at least, the account of the dowry DUKE RICHARD THE GOOD. II3 which Richard promised. This was the seigneiirie of the whole Cotentin country, and several other baronies and communes; Cherbourg and Bruot and Caen, and many cities and lands besides. Poor little- Lady Adela ! and poor young husband, too, for that matter; for this was quite a heartless affair of state, and neither of them was to be any happier for all their great possessions. In the meantime Robert, the Duke's brother, was not in the least satisfied, and made an outcry be- cause, though he was lord of the beautiful county of Exmes, the city of Falaise was withheld from him. There was a man from Brittany who urged him to resent his wrongs, and made trouble between the brothers; Ermenoldus he was called, the thcosophist ; and there is a great mystery about him which the old writers stop to wonder over. He was evidently a sort of magician, and those records that can be discovered give rise to a suspicion that he had strayed far eastward with some pirate fleet toward Asia, and had learned there to work wonders and to compass his ends by uncanny means. There was a siege of Falaise, which Robert seized and tried to keep by main strength ; but Richard's army was too much for him, and at last he sued for peace. The brothers went back to Rouen appar- ently the best of friends ; but there was a grand banquet in Rolf's old castle, and Richard was sud- denly death-struck as he sat at the head of the feast, and was carried to his bed, where he quickly breathed his last. The funeral bell began to toll while the banquet still went on, and the barons made them selves merry in the old hall. 114 THE STORY OF THE NORMANS. There was great lamentation, for Richard was al- ready much beloved, and nobody doubted that he had been poisoned. So Robert came to the throne of Normandy with a black stain upon his character, and during all the rest of his life that stain was not overlooked nor forgotten. As for the baby-widow, she afterward became the wife of the Count of Flanders, Baldwin de Lisle, and she was the mother of Matilda, who was the wife of William the Conqueror. VI. ROBERT THE MAGNIFICENT. " What exile from himself can flee ?" — Byron. Before we begin the story of the next Duke of Normandy whose two surnames, the Devil, and the Magnificent, give us a broad hint of his character, we must take a look at the progress of affairs in the dukedom. There is one thing to be re- membered in reading this history, or any other, that history is not merely the story of this monarch or that, however well he may represent the age in which he lived and signify its limitations and devel- opment. In Normandy one cannot help seeing that a power has been at work bringing a new Northern element into the country, and that there has been a great growth in every way since Rolf came with his vikings and besieged the city of Jumieges. Now the dukedom that he formed is one of the fore- most of its day, able to stand on equal ground with the royal kingdom and duchy of France, for Robert's homage is only the homage of equals and allies. Normandy is the peer of Burgundy and of Flanders, and every day increases in strength, in "5 Il6 THE STORY OF THE NORMANS. ambition, in scholarship and wealth. The influence and prestige of the dukedom are recognized every- where, and soon the soldiers of Normandy are going to take hold of English affairs and master them with unequalled strength. Chivalry is in the bloom of its youth, and the merchants of Falaise, and Rouen, and their sister cities, are rich and luxurious. The women are skilled in needlework and are famous for their beauty and intelligence. Everywhere there are new castles and churches, and the land swarms with inhabitants who hardly find room enough, while the great army hardly draws away the over- plus of men from the farms and workshops. There are whole districts like the Cotentin peninsula, that are nearly ready to pour out their population into some new country, like bees when they swarm in early summer, and neither the fashion of going on pilgrimage to the holy shrines, nor the spirit that leads to any warlike adventure, are equal ^o the need for a new conquest of territory, and a general emigration. There are higher standards everywhere in law and morals and customs of home-life. The nobles are very proud and keep up a certain amount of state in their high stone castles. In the Cotentin alone the ruins of more than a hundred of these can yet be seen, and all over Normandy and Brittany are relics of that busy, prosperous time. The whole territory is like a young man who has reached his majority, and who feels a strength and health and ambition that make him restless, and make him believe himself capable of great things, _ ^ S 00 o ^ l-i Il8 THE SrORY OF THE NORMANS. From followers of the black ravens and worshippers of the god Thor, the Normans have become Chris- tians and devout followers of the Church of Rome. They go on pilgrimage to distant shrines and build churches that the world may well wonder at to-day and try to copy. They have great houses for monks and nuns, and crowds of priests and scholars, and it would not be easy to find worshippers of the old faith unless among old people and in secluded neigh- borhoods. There is little left of the old Northman's fashions of life but his spirit is as vigorous as ever, and his courage, and recklessness, his love of a fight and hatred of cowardice, his beauty and shapeliness, are sent down from generation to generation, a surer inheritance than lands or money. We grow eager, ourselves, to see what will come of this leaven of daring and pride of strength. There is no such thing for Normandy now, as tranquillity. Duke Robert's story is chiefly interesting to us because he was the father of William the Conqueror, and in most of the accounts of that time it is hard to find any thing except various versions of his course toward his more famous son. But in reality he was a very gifted and powerful man, and strange to say, the conquest of England was only the carry- ing out of a plan that was made by Puke Robert himself. The two young . sons of Emma and vEthelred were still in Normandy, and the Duke thought it was a great pity that they were neglected and apparently forgotten by their countrymen. He undertook to be their champion, and boldly demanded that King ROBERT THE MAGNIFICENT. II9 Cnut of England should consider their rights. He sent an embassy to England and bade Cnut "give them their own," which probably meant the English crown. Cnut disdained the message, as might have been expected, and Duke Robert armed his men and fitted out a fleet, and all set sail for England to force the Dane to recognize the young princes. It sounds very well that the Normans should have been so eager to serve the Duke's cousins, but no doubt they were talking together already about the possi- bility of extending their dominions across the Chan- nel. They were disappointed now, however, for they w jre beaten back and out of their course by very bad weather, and had to put in at the island of Jersey. From there they took a short excursion to Brittany, because Robert and his cousin Alan were not on good terms, Alan having refused to do hom- age to Normandy. There was a famous season of harrying and burning along the Breton coast, which may have reconciled the adventurers to their disap- pointment, but at any rate the conquest of England was put off for forty years. One wonders how Cnut's Queen Emma felt about the claims of her sons. It was a strange position for her to be put into. A Norman woman herself who had virtually forsaken her children, she could hardly blame her brother for his efforts to restore them to their Eng- lish belongings, and yet she was bound to her new English interests, and must have different standards as Danish Cnut's wife from those of Saxon yEthel- red's. There is an announcement in one of the Nor- man chronicles that Cnut sent a message to the I20 THE STORY OF THE A'ORMAJVS. " effect that he would give the princes their rights at his death. This must have been for the sake of peace, but it is not very Hkely that any such thing ever happened. A new acquaintance between the countries must have grown out of the banishment of some of the EngHsh nobles in the early part of Cnut's reign, and they no doubt strengthened the interest of the Nor- mans, and made their desire to possess England greater than ever before. We shall be conscious of it more and more until the time of the Conquest comes. The Normans plotted and planned again and again, » and their intrigues continually grew more dangerous to England. It is plain to see that they were al- ways watching for a chance to try their strength, and were not unwilling to provoke a quarrel. Ead- ward, one of the English princes, was ready to claim his rights, but he had learned to be very fond of Normandy, and his half-heartedness served his adopted country well when he came at last to the English throne. For the present we lose sight of him, but not of ^Elfred his brother, who ventured to England on an expedition which cost him his life, but that failure made the Norman desire for revenge burn hotter and deeper than before, though the ashes of disappointment covered it for a time, Duke Robert's reign began with a grand flourish, as if he wished to bribe his subjects into forgetful- ness of his brother Richard's death. There were splendid feasts and presents of armor and fine clothes for his retainers, and he won his name of the Mag- nificent in the very face of those who whispered ROBERT THE MAGNIFICENT. 121 that he was a murderer. He was very generous, and seems to have given presents for the pleasure it gave himself rather than from any underhand motives of gaining popularity. We are gravely told that some of his beneficiaries died of joy, which strikes one as being somewhat exaggerated. The old castle of Rolf at Rouen was forsaken for the castle of Falaise. No doubt there were unpleas- ant associations with Rolf's hall, where poor Richard had been seized with his mysterious mortal illness. Falaise, with its hunting-grounds and pleasant woods and waters and its fine situation, was Robert's favorite home forever after. There he brought his wife Es- trith, Cnut's sister, who first had been the wife of Ulf the Danish king, and there he lived in a free companionship with his nobles and with great con- descension towards his inferiors, with whom he was often associated in most familiar terms. There were chances enough to show his valor. Once Baldwin the elder, of Flanders, was attacked by his son Baldwin de Lisle, who had put himself at the head of an army, and the poor Count was forced to flee to Falaise for shelter and safety. Any excuse for going to war seems to have been accepted in Normandy ; the country was brimming over with people. There was almost more population than the land could support, and Robert led his men to Flan- ders with great alacrity, and settled the mutiny so entirely that there was no more trouble. Flanders was brought to a proper state of submission, as if in revenge for old scores. At last the noblemen who had upheld the insurrection all deserted the leader of 122 THE STORY OF THE NORMANS. it, and both they and young Baldwin besought Rob- ert to make the terms of peace. After this, Flan- ders and Normandy were very friendly together, and before long they formed a most significant alli- ance of the royal houses. In Robert's strolls about Falaise, perhaps in dis- guise, like another Haroun al Raschid, his beauty- loving eyes caught sight one day of a young girl who was standing bare-footed in a shallow brook, washing linen, and making herself merry with a group of busy young companions. This was Arlette, or Herleva, according as one gives her the Saxon or the Norman name ; her father was a brewer and tan- ner, who had been attracted to Falaise from Ger- many by the reputation of its leather manufactures and good markets. The pastures and hunting- grounds made skins very cheap and abundant, but the trade of skinning of beasts was considered a most degrading one, and those who pursued it in ancient times were thought less of than those who followed almost any other occupation. If we were not sure of this, we might suspect the Norman nobles of casting undue shame and reproach upon this man Fulbert, Duke Robert seems to have quite forgotten his lawful wife in his new love-making with Herleva. Even the tanner himself objected to the duke's no- tice of his daughter, but who could withstand the wishes" of so great a man ? Not Fulbert, who ac- cepted the inevitable with a good grace, for later in the story he shows himself a faithful retainer and household official of his lord and master. Robert never seems to have recovered from his first devo- ROBERT THE MAGNIFICENT. 123 tion to the pretty creature who stood with slender, ivhite feet in the brook, and turned so laughing a face toward him. They showed not long ago the very castle-window in Falaise from which he caught his first sight of the woman who was to rule his life. He did not marry her, though Estrith was sent away ; but they had a son, who was named William, who himself added the titles of the Great and The Conqueror, but who never escaped hearing to his life's end the shame and ignominy of his birth. We cannot doubt that it was as mean an act then as now to taunt a man with the disgrace he could not help ; but of all the great men who were of illegiti- mate birth whom we know in the pages of history, this famous William is oftenest openly shamed by his title of the Bastard. He won much ap- plause ; he was the great man of his time, but from pique, or jealousy, or prejudice, perhaps from some faults that he might have helped, he was forever ac- cused of the shame that was not his. The Bastard, — the Tanner's Grandson ; he was never allowed to forget, through any heroism or success in war, or fur- thering of Norman fortunes, that these titles be- longed to him. The pride of the Norman nobles was dreadfully assailed by Duke Robert's shameful alliance with 'Herleva. All his relations, who had more or less right to the ducal crown, were enraged beyond con- trol. Estrith had no children, and this beggarly lit- tle fellow who was growing plump and rosy in the tan- ner's house, was arch-enemy of all the proud lords and gentlemen. There was plenty of scandal and mockery 124 THE STORY OF THE NORMANS. in Falaise, and the news of Robert's base behavior was flying from village to village through Nor- mandy and France. The common people of Falaise laughed in the faces of the barons and courtiers as they passed in the street, and one day an old burgher and neighbor of the tanner asked William de Talvas, the head of one of the most famous Nor- man families, to go in with him to see the Duke's son. The Lord of Alen^on was very angry when he looked at the innocent baby-face. He saw, by some strange foreboding and prevision, the troubles that would fall upon his own head because of this vigor- ous young life, and, as he cursed the unconscious child again and again, his words only echoed the fear that was creeping through Normandy. Robert was very bold in his defiance of public opinion, and before long the old tanner sheds his blouse like the cocoon of a caterpillar, and blooms out resplendent in the gay trappings of court cham- berlain. Herleva was given the place as duchess which did not legally belong to her, and this hurt the pride of the ladies and gentlemen of the court and the country in a way that all Robert's munificence and generosity could not repay or cure. The age was licentious enough, but public opinion demanded a proper conformity to law and etiquette. All the aristocratic house of Rolf's descendants, the valor and scholarship and churchmanship of Normandy, were insulted at once. The trouble fermented mor'? and more, until the Duke's uncle, the Archbishop of Rouen, called his nephew to account for such open sin and disgrace of his kindred, and finally ex- ROBERT THE MAGNIFICENT. 12$ communicated him and put all Normandy under a ban. Somehow this outbreak was quieted down, and just then Robert was called upon, not only to settle the quarrel in Flanders above mentioned, but to up- hold the rights of the French king. For his success in this enterprise he was granted the district of the Vexin, .which lay between Normandy and France, and so the Norman duchy extended its borders to the very walls of Paris. Soon other questions of pressing importance rose up to divert public com- ment ; it was no time to provoke the Duke's anger, and there was little notice taken of Herleva's aggra- vating presence in the ducal castle, or the untoward growth and flourishing of .Iier son. At length Duke Robert announced his intention of going on a pilgrimage to Jerusalem. He wished to show his piety and to gain as much credit as pos- sible, so the long journey was to be made on foot. The Norman barons begged him not to think of such a thing, for in the excited condition of French and Norman affairs nothing could be more impru- dent than to leave the dukedom masterless. " By my faith ! " Robert answered stoutly, " I do not mean to leave you without a lord. Here is my young son, who will grow and be a gallant man, by God's help ; I command you to take him for your lord, for I make him my heir and give him my whole duchy of Normandy." There was a stormy scene in the council, and how- ever we may scorn Robert's foolish, selfish present- giving and his vulgarity, we cannot help pitying him 126 THE STORY OF THE NORMANS. as he pleads with the knights and bishops for their recognition of his innocent boy. We pity the Duke's shame, while his natural feeling toward the child wars with his disgust. With all his eloquence, with all his authority, he entreats the scornful listeners until they yield. They have warned him against the danger of the time, and of what he must expect, not only if he goes on pilgrimage and leaves the duke- dom to its undefended fate, but also if he further provokes those who are already his enemies, and who resent the presence of his illegitimate child. But he dares to put the base-born lad over the dukedom of Normandy as his own successor. He even goes to the king of France and persuades him to receive the unworthy namesake of Longsword as vassal and next duke, and to Alan of Brittany, who consents to be guardian. Then at last the unwilling barons do homage to the little lord — a bitter condescension and service it must- have been ! After all the ceremonies were finished, Robert lost no time in starting on his pilgrimage. He sought the shrine of Jerusalem, many a weary mile awa}', over mountain and fen, past dangers of every sort. Nothing could be more characteristic than his per- formance of his penance or his pleasure journey — whichever he called it — for although he went on foot, he spent enormous sums in showering alms upon the people who came out to greet him. Her- alds rode before him, and prepared his lodging and reception, and the great procession of horses and grooms and beasts of burden grew longer and longer fis he went on his way. Once they blocked up the KOBEkT THE MAGNIFICENT. 127 gateway of a town, and the keeper fell upon the pilgrim Duke, ignorantly, and gave him a good thrashing to make him hurry on with his idle crowd. Robert piously held back those of his followers who ROBERT, DUKE OK NORMANDY, CARRIED IN A LITTER TO JERUSALEM. (from an old ILLUMINATED MANUSCRIPT.) would have beaten the warder in return, and said that it was well for him to show himself a pattern of humility and patience, and such suffering was meant for the !7ood of one's soul. 128 THE STORY OF THE NORMANS. The Duke did a great many foolish things ; for one, he had his horses shod with silver shoes, held on by only one nail, and gave orders that none of his servants should pick up the shoes when they were cast, but let them lie in the road. At last the pilgrims reached Constantinople, and Robert made a great display of his wealth, not to speak of his insolent bad manners. The emperor, Michael, treated his rude guests with true Eastern courtesy, and behaved himself rnuch more honorably than those who despised him and called him names. He even paid all the expenses of the Norman pro- cession, but, no doubt, he was anxious not to give any excuse for displeasure or disturbance between the Northerners and his own citizens. When the visit was over, and Robert moved on toward Jerusa- lem, his already feeble health, broken by his bad life, grew more and more alarming, and at last he could not take even a very short journey on foot, and was carried in a litter by negroes. The Crusades were filling the roads with pilgrims and soldiers, and travellers of every sort. One day they met a Coten- tinman, an old acquaintance of Robert's. The Duke said with grim merriment that he was borne like a corpse on a bier. " My lord," asked the Crusader, who seems to have been sincerely shocked and dole- ful at the sight of the Duke's suffering ; " my lord, what shall I say for you when I reach home ? " " That you saw me carried toward Paradise by four devils," said the Duke, readier at any time to joke about life than to face it seriously and to do his duty. He kept up the pretence of travelling unknown and in dis- IfOBERT THE MAGNIFICENT. 1 29 guise, like a humbler pilgrim, but his lavishness alone betrayed the secret he would really have been sorry to keep. Outside the gates of Jerusalem there was always a great crowd of people who were not able to pay the entrance-fee demanded of every pil- grim ; but Robert paid for himself and all the rest before he went in at the gate. The long journey was almost ended, for on the way home, at the city of Nicaea, the Duke was poisoned, and died, and was buried there in the cathedral with great solemnity and lamentation. He had collected a heap of relics of the saints, and these were brought safely home to Normandy by Tostin, his chamberlain, who seems to have served him faithfully all the way. VII. THE NORMANS IN ITALY. " And therefore must make room Where greater spirits come." — Marvell. There is a famous old story about Hasting, the viking captain. Once he went adventuring along the shores of the Mediterranean, and when he came in sight of one of the Tuscan cities, he mistook it for Rome. Evidently he had enough learning to furnish him with generous ideas about the wealth of the Roman churches, but he had brought only a handful of men, and the city looked large and strong from his narrow ship. There was no use to think of such a thing as laying siege to the town ; such a measure would do hardly more than tease and provoke it : so he planned a sharp stroke at its very heart. Presently word was carried from the harbor side, by a long-faced and tearful sailor, to the pious priests of the chief church, that Hasting, a Northman, lay sick unto death aboard his ship, and was desirous to re- pent him of his sins and be baptized. This was promising better things of the vikings, and the good bishop visited Hasting readily, and ministered eager- ly to his soul's distress. Next day word came that the robber was dead, and his men brought him early 130 THE NORMANS IN ITALY. I3I to the church in his cofifin, following him in a de- fenceless, miserable group. They gathered about the cofifin, and the service began ; the priests stood in order to chant and pray, their faces bowed low or lifted heavenward. Suddenly up goes the cofifin-lid, out jumps Hasting, and his men clutch at the shi- ning knives hidden under their'cloaks. They strip the jewelled vestments from the priests' backs ; they shut the church doors and murder the poor men like sheep ; they climb the high altar, and rob it of its decorations and sacred cups and candlesticks, and load themselves with wealth. The city has hardly time to see them dash by to the harbor side, to hear the news and give them angry chase, before the evil ships are standing out to sea again, and the pirates laugh and shout as they tug at the flashing oars. No more such crafty converts! the people cry, and lift their dead and dying priests sorrowfully from the blood-stained floor. This was the fashion of Italy's early acquaintance with the Northmen, whose grand- children were to conquer wide dominions in Apulia, in Sicily, and all that pleasant country between the inland seas of Italy and Greece. It must have seemed almost as bad to the Romans to suffer invasion of this sort as it would to us to have a horde of furious Esquimaux come down to attack our coasts. We only need to remember the luxury of the Italian cities, to recall the great names of the day in literature and art, in order to contrast the civilization and appearance of the invader and 'Ihe invaded. Yet war was a constant presence then, and every nation had its bitter enemies born of race 132 THE STORY OF THE NORMANS. prejudice and the resentment of conquest. To be a great soldier was to be great indeed, and by the time of the third of the Norman dukes the relation of the Northmen and Italians was much changed. Yet there was not such a long time between the time of Hasting the pirate, and that of Tancred de Hauteville and Robert Guiscard. Normandy had taken her place as one of the formidable, respectable European powers. The most powerful of the fiefs of France, she was an enemy to be feared and hon- ored, not despised. She was loyal to the See of Rome ; very pious and charitable toward all religious establishments; no part of Southern Europe had been more diligent in building churches, in going on pilgrimage, in maintaining the honor of God and her own honor. Her knights prayed before they fought, and they were praised already in chronicle and song. The troubadours sflngjiheir noble deeds from hall to hall. The world looked on to see their bravery and valor, and when they grew restless and went a-roving and showed an increasing desire to extend their pos- sessions and make themselves lords of new acres, the rest of the world looked on with envy and approval. Unless the Normans happened to come their way ; that of course was ouite a different thing. We cannot help thinking that the readiness of the Englishman of to-day to form colonies and to adapt himself to every sort of climate and condition of for- eign life, was anticipated and foreboded in those Norman settlements along the shores of the Medi- terranean sea. Perhaps we should say again that the Northmen of a much earlier date were the true Til : OR MANS IN ITALY. 133 ancestors of all English colonists with their roving spirit and love of adventure, but the Normandy of the early part of the eleventh centur\' was a type of »^ the England of to-day. Its power was consolidated and the territory became top narrow for so much energy to be pent up in. The population increased enormously, and the familiar love of conquest and of seeking new fortunes was waked again. The bees send out new swarms when summer comes, and, like the bees, both Normans and Englishmen must have a leader and centralization of the general spirit, else there is scattering and waste of the common force. We might go on with this homely illustration of the bees to explain the way in which smaller or larger groups of pilgrims, and adventurers of a less pious inclination, had wandered southward and east- ward, toward the holy shrines of Jerusalem, or the rich harvest of Oriental wealth and luxury. Not much result came from these enterprises, though as early as 1026, we find the Duke of Naples allowing a company of NornTan wanderers to settle at Aversa, and even helping them to build arid fortify the tovvn^ aTid to hold iras~a1HiT3 of out-post garrison against his enemies in Capua. They were understood to be ready for all sorts of enterprises, and the bitter flow- ers of strategy and revolt appeared to yield the sweetest honey that any country-side could oiTer. They loved a fight, and so they were often called in by the different Italian princes and proved them- selves most formidable and trustworthy allies in case of sudden troubles. This is what an historian of that time says about them : t34 THE STORY OF THE NORMANS. " The Normans are a cunning and revengeful peo- ple ; eloquence and dL^-^simulation appear to be their hereditary qualities. They can stoop to flatter; but unless they are curbed by the restraint of law they indulge the licentiousness of nature and passion, and in their eager search for wealth and dominion they despise whatever they possess and hope whatever they desire. Arms and horses, the luxury of dress, the exercises of hawking and hunting, are the delight of the Normans ; but on pressing occasions they can endure with incredible patience the inclemency of every climate, and the toil and abstinence of a mili- tary life." How we are reminded of the old vikings in this striking description ! and how we see certain changes that have overlaid the original Norse and Danish nature. There are French traits now, like a not very thick veneering of more delicate and polished wood upon the sturdy oak. Aversa was quickly made of great importance to that part of the world. The Norman colony did good missionary work, and Robert Guiscard, the chief Norman adventurer and founder T5f the king- dom of Naples, was leader and'Tnspirer of great enterprises. In following the history of the time through many volumes, it is very disappointing to find such slight reference to this most interesting episode in the development of Norman civilization. In one of the green valleys of the Cotentin, near a small stream that finds its way into the river Dove, there are still standing the crumbling walls of an ancient Norman castle. The neicfhborine fields still THE NORMANS IN ITALY. 1 35 keep their old names of the Park, the Forest, and the Dove-Cot ; and in this way, if in no other, the remembrance is preserved of an old feudal manor- house. Not long ago some huge oaks were clustered in groups about the estate, and there was a little church of very early date standing in the shade of a great cedar tree. Its roof had a warlike-looking rampart, and a shapely tower with double crosses lifted itself high against the sky. In the early years of the eleventh century there lived in this quiet place an old Norman gentleman who was one of Duke Richard the Good's best soldiers. He had wandered far and wide in search of gain and glory. The Duke had given him com- mand of ten armed men who formed his body-guard, and after a long service at court this elder Tancred returned to his tranquil ancestral home to spend the rest of his days. He was poor, and he had a very large family. His first wife, Muriel, had left several children, and their good step-mother treated them all with the same tenderness and wise helpfulness that she had shown to her own flock. The young de Hautevilles had received such education as gentle- men gave their children in those days, and, above every thing else, were expert in the use of arms and of horses and the pleasures of the chase. They trained their falcons, and grew up brave and strong. There were twelve sons, all trained to arms. Three of the elder family were named William, Drogo, and Humphrey, and the sixth, their half-brother,- was R ^ert, w ho early won for himself the surname of Guisc3.i:d, or the Wise. Tall fellows they were, these 136 THE STORY OF THE NORMANS. sons of the Chevalier de Hauteville. One of the old French historians tells us that they had an air of dignity, and even in their youth great things were expected of them ; it was easy to prophesy their brilliant future. While they were still hardly more than boys, Serlon, their eldest brother, who had already gone to court, killed one of Duke Robert's gentlemen who had offered him some insult, and was banished to England where he spent some time in the dreariness of exile, longing more and more to get back to Normandy. This brought great sorrow to the household in the Cotentin valley ; it was most likely that a great deal depended upon Serlon's success, and the eager boys at home were looking to him for their own advancement. However, the disappointment was not very long-lived, for at the time when Henry of France was likely to lose his throne through the intrigues of his brother and his mother, Constance of Provence, and came to the Duke of Normandy for aid, Serlon came home again without being asked, and fought like a tiger at the siege of Tillieres. You remember that this siege lasted a long time, and it gives us a good idea of the warfare of that age to discover that every day there came out of the city gate an awesome knight who challenged the con- queror to single combat. The son of brave old Tancred was not frightened by even the sight of those unlucky warriors who lay dead under the challenger's blows, and one morning Serlon went to the gate at daybreak and called the knight out to fiCfht with him. THE NORMANS IN ITALY. 1 37 The terrible enemy did not wait ; he presently appeared in glistening armor and mounted upon a fiery steed. He asked Serlon who he was, and as if he knew by instinct that he had met his match at last, counselled the champion of Normandy to run away, and not try to fight with him. Nobody had recognized the banished man, who carefully kept the visor of his helmet down over his face, and when the fight was over and the enemy's head was off and borne at the head of his victorious lance, he marched silently along the ranks of the Norman knights, who were filled with pride and glory, but for all their cheering he was still close- helmeted. Duke Robert heard the news of this famous deed, and determined that such a valiant knight must not hide himself or escape, so he sent a messenger to command the stranger to make him- self known. When he found that Serlon himself had been the hero, he ran to meet him, and embraced him and held him to his heart, and still more, gave back to him all the lands and treasures which had come to him by his marriage and which had been confiscated when he was sent into exile. All these glories of their elder brother made the other sons more eager now than ever to show their prowess, but there was slight chance in Normandy, for the war lasted but little longer. But when Robert had put the French king on his throne again, he deter- mined, as we have seen already, to go on a pilgrim- age. There was not much prospect of winning great fame at home while young William the heir was so unpopular and Alan of Brittany was his care- 138 THE STORY OF THE NORMANS ful guardian. The de Hautevilles were impatient at the prospect of years of petty squabbles and treach- erous intrigues ; they longed for a broader field for their energies. There was no such thing as staying at home and training the falcons; their hungry young brothers and sisters were pushing their way already, and the ancient patrimony was growing less and less. So William and Drogo and Humphrey went away to seek their fortunes like fairy-book princes, and hearing vague rumors of Rainulf's invitation to his countrymen, and of his being made count of the new possessions in Aversa, they turned their faces towards Italy. We cannot help lingering a moment to fancy them as they ride away from the door of their old home — the three brave young men together. The old father looks after them wistfully, but his eyes are afire, and he lives his own youth over again and wishes with all his heart that he were going too. The little sisters cry, and the younger brothers long for the day when their turn will come to go adven- turing. The tame falcons flutter and peck at their hoods, there where they stand on their perches with fettered claws; the grass runs in long waves on the green hill-sides and dazzles the eyes that look after the sons as they ride towards the south ; and the mother gives a little cry and goes back into the dark hall and weeps there until she climbs the turret stairs to see if she cannot catch one more look at the straight backs and proud heads of the young knights, or even one little glint of their horses' trappings as they ride away among the orchard leaves. THE NORMANS IN ITAL Y. 13$ They would have to fight their way as best they could, and when they reached Apulia at last they still found work enough for their swords. South of Rome were the territories of the independent counts of Naples and the republic of Amalfi. South of these the Greek possessions of Lombardy, which had its own governor and was the last remnant of the Eastern empire. The beautiful island of Sicily had been in the hands of the Moslems and belonged to the African kingdom of Tunis. In 1038 the governor of Lom- bardy believed he saw the chance that he had long been waiting for, to add Sicily to his own dominions. The Arabs were fighting among themselves and were split up already into several weak and irreconcilable factions, and he begged the Normans to go and help his own army to conquer them. After a while Sicily was conquered, but the Normans were not given their share of the glory of the victories ; on the con- trary, the Lombard governor was too avaricious and ungrateful for his own good, and there was a grand quarrel when the spoils Vvcre divided. Two years afterwards the indignant Normans came marching back to attack Apulia, and defeated the Greeks at Cannae so thoroughly that they were only left in possession of a few towns. This was in 1643, ^^^ we cannot help feeling a great satisfaction at finding William de Hauteville president of the newLtepublic^of" Apulia:. Had not the1;hree brothers shown their bravery and ability? Perhaps they had only remembered their old father's wise talk, and profited by his advice, and warning 14<^ THE STORY OF THE NORMANS. lest they should spend their strength by being great in little things instead of aiming at nobler pieces of work. All the high hopes which filled their hearts as they rode away from Normandy must have come true. They were already the leaders in Apulia, and had been foremost in the organization of an aristo- cratic republic. Twelve counts were elected by popular suffrage, and lived at their capital of Melfi, and settled their affairs in military council. And William, as I have said, was president. Presently from East and West envious eyes began to look at this powerful young state. Europe knew well enough what had come from giving these Nor- mans foothold in Gaul not so very long ago, and the Pope and the emperors of the West and East formed a league to chase the builders of this new Normandy out of their settlements. The two emperors, how-, ever, were obliged to hurry back to defend their own strongholds, and Leo the Tenth was left to fight his neighbors alone, with the aid of same German sol- diers, a mere handful, whom Henry )me Third had left. The Normans proposed fair terms to his Holiness, but he ventured to fight the battle of Civitella, and was overpowered and beaten, and taken prisoner himself. Then the shrewd Normans said how grieved they had been to fight against the Father of the Church, and implored him, captive as he was, to receive Apulia as a fief of the Holy See. This seems very puzzling, until we stop to think that the Normans would gain an established position among the Italian powers, and this amounted to an alliance with the power of the papal interests. ; THE NORMANS IN ITALY. I4I William de Hauteville died, and the office of presi- dent, or first count, passed to his next brother, Drogo, and after him to Humphrey. One day, while Drogo was count, a troop of pilgrims appeared in Amalfi, with their wallets and staves. This was no uncommon sight, but at the head of the dusty com- pany marched a young man somewhere near twenty- five years of age, and of remarkable beauty. The high spirit, the proud nobility in his face, the tone of his voice even, showed him to be an uncommon man ; his fresh color and the thickness of his blond hair gave nobody a chance to think that he had come from any of the Southern countries. Suddenly Drogo recognized one of his step-brothers, whom he had left at home a slender boy — this was Robert, already called — Gtn^cafdi — He-Tiad ^gathered a re- spectable IrttTe^troop of followers — five knights and thirty men-at-arms ijiade his escort, — and they had been forced to put on some sort of disguise for their journey, because the court of Rome, jealous of the growing powder of the Normans in Italy, did every thing to hinder their project, and refused permission to cross their territories to those who were coming from the North to join the new colony. Humbert de Hauteville was with Robert — indeed the whole family, except Serlon, went to Italy sooner or later after the old knight Tancred died ; even the mother and sisters. Robert arrived in time for the battle of Civitella, and distinguished himself amazingly. Indeed he was the inspirer and leader of the Norman successes in the South, and to him rather than to either of his 142 THE STORY OF THE NORMANS. elder brothers belongs the glory of the new Nor- mandy. His frank, pleasant manners won friends and fol- lowers without number, who loved him dearly, and rallied to his standard. He was well furnished with that wiliness and diplomacy which were needed to cope with Southern enemies, and his wild ambition led him on and on without much check from feelings of pity, or even justice. Like many other Normans, he was cruel, and his acts were those of a man who sees his goal ahead, and marches straight toward it. While William the Conqueror was getting ready to wear the crown of England, Robert Guiscard was laying his plans for the kingdom of the two Sicilies. After a while Drogo was assassinated, and then Humphrey was put in his place, but he and Robert were always on bad terms with each other apparently. Robert's faults were the faults of his time, and yet his restlessness and ambition seem to have given his brother great disquietude ; perhaps Humphrey feared him as a rival, but at any rate he seems to have kept him almost a prisoner of state. The Guiscard gained the votes of the people before long, when the count died and left only some young children, and in 1054 he was made Count of Apulia and general of the republic. We need not be surprised to find his title much lengthened a little later ; he demanded the ducal title itself from Pope Nicholas, and styles himself " by the grace of God and St. Peter, Duke of Apulia, Calabria, and hereafter of Sicih-." " The medical and philosophical schools of Salerno, long renowned in Italy, added lustre to his kingdom, and ; THE NORMANS IN ITALY. U3 the trade of Amalfi, the earliest of the Itahan com- mercial cities, extending to Africa, Arabia, India, with af^liated colonies in Constantinople, Antioch, Jerusalem, and Alexandria, enriched his ample do- main. Excelling in the art of navigation, Amalfi is said to have discovered the compass. Under her Norman dukes, she held the position of the queen of Italian commerce, until the rise of the more famous cities of Pisa, Genoa, and Venice.* Roger de Hauteville, the youngest brother of all, wh o-was much like Robert in every way, was the conqueror of Sicily, and the expedition was piously called a crusade against the unbelievers. It was thirty years before the rich island was added to the jurisdiction of Rome, from which the Mussulmans had taken it. Roger was given the title of count, but his dominion was on a feudal basis instead of being a republic. This success induced Robert to make a campaign against the Eastern empire, and the invasions continued as long as he lived. They Avere not very successful in themselves, but they were influential in bringing about great changes. The first crusade was an outcome of these plans of Robert's, and all the altered relations of the East and West for years afterward. We must go far ahead of the slow pace of our story of the Normans in Normandy and England to give this brief sketch of the Southern dukedoms. The story of the de Hautevilles is only another example of Nor- man daring and enterprise. The spirit of adventure, of conquest, of government, of chivalry, and personal * A. H. Johnson : " The Normans in Europe." 144 THE STORY OF THE NORMANS. ambition shines in every page of it, and as time goes on we watch with joy a partial fading out of the worse characteristics of cruelty and avarice and trickery, of vanity and jealous revenge. " Progress in good government," says Mr. Green in his preface to A Short History of England, " is the result of social developments." The more we all think about that, the better for us and for our country. No doubt the traditions of Hasting the Northman and his barba- rous piracies had hardly died out before the later Normans came, first in scattered groups, and then in / legions, to settle in Italy. One cannot help feeling that they did much to make amends for the bad deeds of their ancestors. The south of Italy and tne Sicilian kingdom of Roger were under a wiser and more tolerant rule than any government of their [ day, and Greeks, Normans, and Italians lived to- /gether in harmony and peace that was elsewhere unknown. The people were industrious, and all sorts of trades flourished, especially the silk manufacture. Perhaps the soft air and easy, luxurious fashion of life quieted the Norman restlessness a little. Who can tell? Yet we get a hint of a better explanation of the prosperity of the two Sicilies in this passage from an old chronicle about King Roger : " He was a lover of justice and most severe avenger of crime. He abhorred lying ; did every thing by rule, and never promised what he did not mean to perform. He never persecuted his private enemies, and in war endeavored on all occasions to gain his point without shedding of blood. Justice and peace were univer- sally observed throughout his dominions." THE NORMANS IN ITALY. 145 A more detailed account of the reigns of the De Hautevilles will be found in the " Story of Sicily," but before this brief review of their conquests is ended, it is only fair to notice the existing monuments of Norman rule. The remains of Norman architecture, dating back to their time, may still be seen in| Palermo and other cities, and give them a romantic' interest. There are ruins of monasteries and con- vents almost^ without number, and many churches still exist, though sometimes more or less defaced by modern additions and ignorant restoration. The Norm.ans raised the standard of Western forms of architecture here as they did elsewhere, and their simpler buildings make an interesting contrast with Eastern types left by the Saracens. Outside the large cities almost every little town has at least some fragments of Norman masonry, and in Aderno — to note only one instance of the sort — there is a fine Norman castle in excellent preservation, which is used as a prison now. At Troina, a dreary moun- tain fortress, there is a belfry and part of the wall of a cathedral that Roger I. built in 1078. It was in Troina that he and his wife bravely established their court fifteen years earlier, and withstood a four months' siege from the Saracens. Galfridus, an old chronicler, tells sadly that the young ruleps only had one cloak between them, and grew very hungry and miserable ; but Eremburga, the wife, was uncom- plaining and patient. At last the count was so dis- tressed by the sight of her pallor and evident suffering, that he rallied his men and made a des- perate charge upon his foes, and was happily victo- 146 THE STORY OF THE NORMANS. rious. Galfridus says of that day : " The single hand of Roger, with God's help, did such execution that the corpses of the enemy lay around him on every side like the branches of trees in a thick forest when strewn by a tempest." Once afterward, when Roger was away fighting in Calabria, Eremburga was form- ally left in command, and used to make the round with the sentinels on the walU every night. We must look in Palermo ^or the noblest monu- / ments of Norman days, and beside the churches and palaces, for the tombs of the kings and archbishops in San Rosario Cathedral. There lies Roger himself, " mighty Duke and first King of Sicily." Mr. Symonds says*: " Very sombre and stately are these porphyry resting-places of princes born in the purple, assembled here from lands so distant, from the craggy heights of Hohenstauffen, from the green orchards of Coten- tin, from the dry hills of Aragon. They sleep and the centuries pass by. Rude hands break open the granite lids of their sepulchres to find tresses of yel- low hair, and fragments of imperial mantles em- broidered with the hawks and stags the royal hunter loved. The church in which they lie changes with the change of taste in architecture and the manners of successive ages. But the huge stone arks remain unmoved, guarding their freight of mouldering dust beneath gloomy canopies of stone, that tempers the sunlight as it streams from the chapel windows." And again at Venosa, the little town where the poet Horace was born, and where William de Haute- ville with his brothers Drogo, Humphrey, and *" Studies in Soutliern Italy." 'Ihn. jvOkMajv:^ 2 IV ITALY. 14/ Robert Guiscard are buried, we cannot do better than quote the same channing writer : " No chapter of history more resembles a romance than that which records the sudden rise and brief splendor of the house of Hauteville. In one gener- ation the sons of Tancred de Hauteville passed from the condition of squires in the Norman vale of C6- tentin to Kinghood in the richest island of the Southern Sea. The Norse adventurers became sultans of an Oriental capital. The sea-robbers assumed, together with the sceptre, the culture of an Arabian court . . . lived to mate their daughters with princes and to sway the politics of Europe with gold. . . . What they wrought, whether wisely or not, for the ultimate advan- tage of Italy, endures to this day, while the work of so many emperors, republics* and princes, has passed and shifted like the scenes in a panto- mime. Through them the Greeks, the Lombards, and the Moors were extinguished in the South. The Papacy was checked in its attempt to found a prov- vince of St. Peter below the Tiber. The republics of Naples, Caeta, Amalin, which might have rivalled perchance with Milan, Genoa, and Florence, were subdued to a master's hand. In short, to the Nor- man, Italy owed that kingdom of the two Sicilies, which formed one third of her political balance ; and which proved the cause of all her most serious revolutions." Much has been lost of the detailed history of the Norman-Italian states, and lost especially to English literature. If the development of Southern Italy 148 THE STORY OF THE NORMANS. had gone steadily forward to this time, with the eagerness and gathering force that might have been expected from that vigorous impulse of the eleventh century, no doubt there would have been a perma- nent factor in history rather than a limited epi- sode. The danger of the climate, to those born and reared in Northern or Western Europe, was un- doubtedly in the way of any long-continued prog- ress. To-day the Norman buildings look strangely different from their surroundings, and are almost the only evidence of the once brilliant and pros- perous government of the Normans in the South. One enthusiastic historian, who wrote before the glories of the de Hautevilles had faded, would have us believe that " there was more security in the thickets of Sicily than in the cities of other king- doms." VIII. THE YOUTH OF WILLIAM THE CONQUEROR. " One equal temper of heroic hearts Made weak by time and fate, but strong in will To strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield." — Tennyson. There was one man, famous in history, who more than any other Norman seemed to personify his race, to be the type of the Norman progressiveness, firm- ness, and daring. He was not only remarkable among his countrymen, but we are forced to call him one of the great men and great rulers of the world. Nobody has been more masterful, to use a good old Saxon word, and therefore he came to be master of a power- ful, venturesome race of peeple and gathered wealth and widespread territory. Every thing would have slipped through his fingers before he was grown to manhood if his grasp had not been like steel and his quickness and bravery equal to every test. " He was born to be resisted," says one writer ; '-^ " to excite men's jealousy and to awaken their life-long ani- mosity, only to rise triumphant above them all, and to show to mankind the work that one man can do — one man of fixed principles and resolute * Johnson ; " The Normans in Europe." My 150 THE STORY OF THE NORMANS. will, who marks out a certain goal for himself. and will not be deterred, but marches steadily towards it with firm and ruthless step. He was a man to be feared and respected, but never to be loved ; chosen, it would seem, by Providence . . . to upset our foregone conclusions, and while oppos- ing and crushing popular heroes and national sympa- thies, to teach us that in the progress of nations there is something required beyond popularity, something beyond mere purity and beauty of char- acter — namely, the mind to conceive and the force of will to carry out great schemes and to reorganize the failing institutions and political life of states. Born a bastard, with no title to his dukedom but the will of his father ; left a minor with few friends and many enemies, with rival competition at home and a jealous over-lord only too glad to see the power of his proud vassal humbled, he gradually fights his way, gains his dukedom, and overcomes competition at an age when most of us are still under tutors and governors ; extends his dominions far beyond the limits transmitted to him by his forefathers, and then leaves his native soil to seek other conquests, to win another kingdom, over which again he has no claim but the stammering will of a weak king and his own irre- sistible energy, and what is still more strange, secur- ing the moral support of the world in his aggression, .and winning for himself the position of an aggrieved person recovering his just and undoubted rights. Truly the Normans could have no better representa- tive of their extraordinary power." William was only seven years old or. a little more WILLIAM THE CONQUEROR. 151 when his father left him to go on pilgrimage. No condition could have appeared more pitiable and desperate than his — even in his childhood we become conscious of the dislike his character inspired. Of- ten just and true to his agreements, sometimes unexpectedly lenient, nothing in his nature made him a winner and holder of friendship, though he was a leader of men and a controller of them, and an inspirer of faithful loyalty besides the service ren- dered him for fear's sake. His was the rule of force indeed, but there is one thing to be particularly noted— that in a licentious, immoral age he grew up pure and self-controlled. That he did not do some bad things must not make us call him good, for a good man is one who does do good things. But his strict fashion of life kept his head clearer and his hands stronger, and made him wide-awake when other men were stupid, and so again and again he was able to seize an advantage and possess himself of the key to success. While his father lived, the barons paid the young heir unwilling respect, and there was a grim acquies- cence in what could not be helped. Alan of Brittany was faithful to his trust, and always able to check any dissensions and plots against his ward. The old animosity between him and Robert was quite for- gotten, apparently; but at last Alan was poisoned. Robert's death was the signal for a general uprising of the nobles, and William's life was in peril for a dozen years. He never did homage to the king of France, but for a long time nobody did homage to him either ; the barons disdained any such alle- 152 THE STORY OF THE NORMANS. giance, and sometimes appear to have forgotten their young duke altogether in their bitter quarrels, and murders of men of their own rank. We trace Wil- liam de Talvas, still the bastard's fierce enemy, through many plots and quarrels ; — it appears as if he were determined that his curse should come true, and made it the purpose of his life. The houses of Montgomery and Beaumont were linked with him in anarchy and treachery ; it was the Montgomeries' deadly mischief to which the faithful Alan fell vic- tim. William himself escaped assassination by a chance, and several of his young followers were not so fortunate. They were all in the strong castle of Vaudreuil, a place familiar to the descendants of Longsword, since it was the home of Sperling, the rich miller, whom Espriota married. The history of the fortress had been a history of crime, but Duke Robert was ready to risk the bad name for which il was famous, and trust his boy to its shelter. There had never been a blacker deed done within those walls than when William was only twelve years old, and one of his playmates, who slept in his chamber, was stabbed as he lay asleep. No doubt the Mont- gomery who struck the cruel blow thought that he had killed the young duke, and went away well sat- isfied ; but William was rescued, and carried away and hidden in a peasant's cottage, while the butchery of his- friends and attendants still went on. The whole country swarmed with his enemies. The population of the Cotentin, always more Scandinavian than French, welcomed the possibility of independence, and the worst side of feudalism began to assert itself WILLIAM THE CONQUEROR. I 53 boldly. Man against man, high rank against low- rank, farmer against soldier, — the bloody quarrel.-; increased more and more, and devastated like some horrible epidemic. There were causes enough for trouble in the state of feudalism itself to account for most of the uproar and disorder, let alone the claim of the unwelcome young heir to the dukedom. It is very interesting A NORMAN PLOUGHMAN. to see how, in public sentiment, there was always an undertone of resentment to the feudal system, and of Loy^alty to the idea, at least, of hereditary mon- jirchy. Even Hugh the Great, of France, was gov- erned by it in his indifference to his good chances for seizing the crown j'ears before this time ; and though the great empire of Charlemagne had long since tottered to its fall and dismemberment, there 154 THE STORY OF THE NORMANS. was still much respect for the stability and order of an ideal monarchical government. The French people had already endured some terrible trials, but it was not because of war and trouble alone that they hated their rulers, for these sometimes leave better things behind them ; war and trouble are often the only way to peace and quietness. They feared the very nature of feudalism and its political power. It seemed to hold them fast, and make them slaves and prisoners with its tangled network and clogging weights. The feudal lords were petty sovereigns and minor despots, who had certain bonds and allegiances among themselves and with each other, but they were, at the same time, absolute masters of their own domain, and their sub- jects, whether few or many, were under direct con- trol and surveillance. Under the great absolute monarchies, the very extent of the population and of the country would give a greater security and less disturbance of the middle and lower classes, for a large army could be drafted, and still there would be a certain lack of responsibility for a large percentage of the subjects. Under the feudal system there were no such chances; the lords were always at war, and kept a painfully strict account of their resources. Every field and every family must play a part in the enterprises of their master, and a continual racking and robbing went on. Even if the lord of a domain had no personal quarrel to settle, he was likely to be called upon by his upholder and ally to take part with him against another. In the government of a senate or an ecclesiastical council, the common peo- WILLIAM THE CONQUEROR. I 55 pic were governed less capriciously ; their favor was often sought, even in those days, by the different factions who had ends to gain, and were willing to grant favors in return ; but the feudal lords were quite independent, and could do as they pleased without asking anybody's advice or consent. This concerns the relation of the serfs to their lords, but among the lords themselves affairs were quite different. From the intricate formalities of obli- gation and dependence, from the necessity for each feudal despot's vigilant watchfulness and careful prep- aration and self-control and quick-sighted decision, arose a most active, well-developed class of nobles. While the master of a feudal castle (or robber-strong- hold, whichever we choose to call it) was absent on his forays, or more determined wars, his wife took his place, and ruled her dependents and her house- hold with ability. The Norman women of the higher classes were already famous far and wide through Europe, and, since we are dealing with the fortunes of Normandy, we like to picture them in their castle-halls in all their dignity and authority, and to imagine their spirited faces, and the beauty which is always a power, and which some of them had learned already to make a power for good. No matter how much we deplore the condition of Normandy and the lower classes of society, and sympathize with the wistfulness and enforced pa- tience of the peasantry ; no matter how perplexed we are at the slowness of development in certain direc- tions, we are attracted and delighted by other as- pects. We turn our heads quickly at the sound of 156 THE STORY OF THE NORMANS. martial music. The very blood thrills and leaps along our veins as we watch the Norman knights ride by along the dusty Roman roads. The spears shine in the sunlight, the horses prance, the robber- castles clench their teeth and look down from the hills as if they were grim stone monsters lying in wait for prey. The apple-trees are in blossom, and the children scramble out of the horses' way ; the flower of chivalry is out parading, and in clanking ar- mor, with flaunting banners and crosses on their shields, the knights ride by to the defence of Jerusa- lem. Knighthood was in its early prime, and in this gay, romantic fashion, with tender songs to the ladies they loved and gallantly defended, with a prayer to the Virgin Mary, their patroness, because they rever- enced the honor and purity of womanhood, they fought through many a fierce fight, with the bitter, steadfast courage of brave men whose heart is in their cause. It was an easy step from their defiance of the foes of Normandy to the defence of the Church of God. Religion itself was the suggester and promoter of chivalry, and the Normans forgot their lesser quarrels and petty grievances when the mother church held up her wrongs and sufferings to their sympathy. It was to Christianity that the mediaeval times owed knighthood, and, while his- torians complain of the lawlessness of the age, the crimes and violence, the social confusion and vulgar- ity, still the poetry and austerity and real beauty of the knightly traditions shine out all the brighter. Men had got hold of some new suggestions ; the best of them were examples of something better than WILLIAM THE CONQUEROR. 157 the world had ever known. As we glance over the list of rules to which a knight was obliged to sub- scribe, we cannot help rejoicing at the new ideal of christian manhood. Rolf the Ganger had been proud rather than ashamed of his brutal ferocity and selfishness. This new standard demands as good soldiery as ever ; in fact, a greater daring and utter absence of fear, but ARMING A KNIGHT. it recognizes the rights of other people, and the sin- gle-heartedness and tenderness of moral strength. It is a very high ideal. A little later than the time of William the Con- queror's youth, there were formal ceremonies at the making of a knight, and these united so surprisingly the poet's imaginary knighthood and the customs of military life and obligations of religious life, that we cannot wonder at their influence. 158 THE STORY OF THE NORMANS. The young man was first stripped of his clothes and put into a bath, to wash all former contamina- tions from body and soul — a typical second baptism, done by his own free will and desire. Afterward, he was clothed first in a white tunic, to symbolize his purity ; next in a red robe, a sign of the blood he must be ready to shed in defending the cause of Christ ; and over these garments was put a tight black gown, to represent the mystery of death which must be solved at last by him, and every man. Then the black-robed candidate was left alone to fast and pray for twenty-four hours, and when even- ing came, they led him to the church to pray all night long, either by himself, or with a priest and his own knightly sponsors for companions. Next day he made confession ; then the priest gave him the sacrament, and afterward he went to hear mass and a sermon about his new life and a knight's duties. When this was over, a sword was hung around his neck and he went to the altar, where the priest took off the sword, blessed it, and put it on again. Then the candidate went to kneel before the lord who was to arm him, and was questioned strictly about his reasons for becoming a knight, and was warned that he must not desire to be rich or to take his ease, or to gain honor from knighthood without doing it honor; at last the young man solemnly promised to do his duty, and his over-lord to whom he did homage granted his request to be made a knight. After this the knights and ladies dressed him in his new garments, and the spurs came first of all the armor, then the haubert or coat of mail ; next WILLIAM THE CONQUEROR. I 59 the cuirass, the armlets, and gauntlets, and, last of all, the sword. Now he was ready for the accolade ; the over-lord rose and went to him and gave him three blows with the flat of the sword on his shoulder or neck, and sometimes a blow with the hand on his breast, and said : " In the name of God, of St. Michael and St. George, I make thee knight. Be valiant and fearless and loyal." Then his horse was led in, and a helmet was put on the new knight's head, and he mounted quicklv and flourished his lance and sword, and went out of the church to show himself to the people gathered outside, and there was a great cheering, and pranc- ing of horses, and so the outward ceremony was over, and he was a dubbed knight, as the old phrase has it — adopted knight would mean the same thing to-day ; he belonged to the great Christian brother- hood of chivalry. We have seen how large a part religion played in the rites and ceremonies, but we can get even a closer look at the spirit of knighthood if we read some of the oaths that were taken by these young men, who were the guardians and scholars of whatever makes for peace, even while they chose the ways of war and did such eager, de- voted work with their swords. M. Guizot, from whose " History of France " I have taken the greater part of this description, goes on to give twenty-six articles to which the knights swore, not that these made a single ritual, but were gathered from the ac- counts of different epochs. They are so interesting, as showing the steady growth and development of better ideas and purposes, that I copy them here. l60 THE ST OR V OF THE NORMANS. Indeed we can hardly understand the later Norman history, and the crusades particularly, unless we make the knights as clear to ourselves as we tried to make the vikings. We must thank the clergymen of the tenth and elev- enth centuries for this new thought about the duties and relationships of humanity, — men like Abelard and St. Anselm, and the best of their contempor- aries. It is most interesting to see how the church availed herself of the feudal bonds and sympathies of men, and their warlike sentiment and organization, to develop a better and more peaceful service of Qo^. Truthfulness and justice and purity were taught by the church's influence, and licentiousness and brutality faded out as the new order of things gained strength and brightness. Later the pendu- lum swung backward, and the church used all the terrors of tyranny, fire, and sword, to further her ends and emphasize her authority, instead of the authority of God's truth and the peace of heavenly living. The church became a name and cover for the ambitions of men. Whatever the pretences and mockeries and rival- ries and thefts of authority may be on the part of unworthy churchmen, we hardly need to remind ourselves that in every age the true church exists, and that true saints are living their holy, helpful lives, however shadowed and concealed. Even if the harvest of grain in any year is called a total loss, and the country never suffered so much before from dearth, there is always enough wheat or corn to plant the next spring, and the fewer handfuls the more WILLIAM THE CONQUEROR. l6l precious it is sure to seem. In this eleventh cen- tury, a century which in many ways was so disor- derly and cruel, we are always conscious of the pres^ ence of the "blameless knights'' who went boldly to the fight ; the priests and monks of God who hid themselves and prayed in cell and cloister. " It was feudal knighthood and Christianity together," says Guizot, " which produced the two great and glorious events of that time — the Norman conquest of Eng- land, and the Crusades." These were the knight's promises and oaths as Guizot repeats them, and we shall get no harm from reading them carefully and trying to keep them our- selves, even though all our battles are of another sort and much duller fights against temptations. It must be said that our enemies often come riding down upon us in as fine away and break a lance with us in as magnificent a fashion as in the days of the old tournaments. But our contests are apt to be more like the ancient encounters with cruel treach- ery of wild beasts in desert places, than like those at the gay jousts, with all the shining knights and ladies looking on to admire and praise. The candidates swore : First, to fear, reverence, and serve God religiously, to fight for the faith with all their might, and to die a thousand deaths rather than renounce Christianity ; To serve their sovereign prince faithfully, and to fight for him and fatherland right valiantly ; To uphold the rights of the weaker, such as widows, orphans, a'nd damsels, in fair quarrel, ex- posing themselves on that account according as need 1 62 THE STORY OF THE NORMANS. might be, provided it were not against their own honor or against their king or lawful princes. That they would not injure any one maliciously, or take what was another's, but would rather do bat- tle with those who did so. That greed, pay, gain, or profit should never con- strain them to do any deed, but only glory and vir- tue. That they would fight for the good and advan- tage of the common weal. That they would be bound by and obey the orders of their generals and captains, who had a right to command them. That they would guard the honor, rank, and order of their comrades, and that they would, neither b\' arrogance nor by force, commit any trespass against any one of them. That they would never fight in companies against one, and that they would eschew all tricks and artifices. That they would wear but one sword, unless they had to fight against two or more enemies. That in tourney or other sportive contests, they would never use the point of their swords. That being taken prisoner in a tourney, they would be bound on their faith and honor to perform in every point the conditions of capture, besides being bound to give up to the victors their arms and horses, if it seemed good to take them, being also disabled from fighting in war or elsewhere without their victor's leave. That they would keep faith inviokibly with all the WILLIAM THE CONQUEROR. 1 63 world, and especially with their comrades, upholding their honor and advantage wholly in their absence. That they would love and honor one another, and aid and succor one another whenever occasion offered. That having made vow or promise to go on any quest or adventure, they would never put off their arms save for the night's rest. That in pursuit of their quest or adventure, they would not shun bad and perilous passes, nor turn aside from the straight road for fear of encountering powerful knights, or monsters, or wild beasts, or other hindrance, such as the body and courage of a single man might tackle. That they would never take wage or pay from any foreign prince. That in command of troops or men-at-arms, they would live in the utmost possible order and disci- pline, and especially in their own country, where they would never suffer any harm or violence to be done. That if they were bound to escort dame or dam- sel, they would serve, protect, and save her from all danger and insult, or die in the attempt. That they w^ould never offer violence to any dame or damsel, though they had won her by deeds of arms. That being challenged to equal combat, they would not refuse without wound, sickness, or other reasonable hindrance. That, having undertaken to carry out any enter- prise, they would devote to it night and day, unless they were called away for the service of their king and country. 164 THE STORY OF THE NORMANS. That, if they made a vow to acquire any honor, they would not draw back without having attained it or its equivalent. That they would be faithful keepers of their word and pledged faith, and that, having become prisoners in fair warfare, they would pay to the uttermost the promised ransom, or return to prison at the day and hour agreed upon, on pain of being proclaimed infa- mous and perjured. That, on returning to the court of their sovereign, they would render a true account of their adventures, even though they had sometimes been worsted, to the king and the registrar of the order, on pain of being deprived of the order of knighthood. That, above all things, they would be faithful, courteous, and humble, and would never be wanting to their word for any harm or loss that might accrue to them." It would not do to take these holy principles, or the pageant of knight-errantr}% for a picture of Normandy in general. We can only remind our- selves with satisfaction that this leaven was working in the mass of turbulent, vindictive society. The priests worked very hard to keep their hold upon their people, and the authority of the church proved equal to many a subtle weakness of faith and quick strain of disloyalt}'. We should find it difificult to match the amazing control of the state by the church in any other country, — even in the most superstitiously devout epochs. When the priest- hood could not make the Normans promise to keep the peace altogether, they still obtained an astonish- WILLIAM THE CONQUEROR. 1 65 ing concession and truce. There was no figliting from Wednesday evening at sunset until Monday morning at sunrise. During these five nights and four days no fighting, burning, robbing, or plunder- ing could go on, though for the three days and two nights left of the week any violence and crime were not only pardonable, but allowed. In this Truce of God, not only the days of Christ's Last Supper, Passion, and Resurrection were to remain undese- crated, but longer periods of time, such as from the first day of Advent until the Epiphany, and other holy seasons. If the laws of the Truce were broken, there were heavy penalties : thirty years' hard pen- ance in exile for the contrite offender, and he must make reparation for all the evil he had committed, and repay his debt for all the spoil. If he died un- repentant, he was denied Christian burial and all the offices of the church, and his body was given to wild beasts and the fowls of the air. To be sure, the more ungodly portion of the citi- zens fought against such strict regulations, and called those knights whom the priests armed, " cits without spirit," and even harder names, but for twelve years the Truce was kept. The free days for murder and theft were evidently made the most of, and from what we can discover, it appears as if the Normans used the Truce days for plotting rather than for praying. Yet it was plain that the world was getting ready for great things, and that great emergencies were beginning to make themselves evident. New ideas were on the wing, and in spite of the despotism of the church, sometimes by 1 66 THE STORY OF THE NORMANS. very reason of it, we can see that men were breaking their intellectual fetters and becoming freer and wiser. A new order of things was coming in ; there was that certain development of Christian ideas, which reconciles the student of history in every age to the constant pain and perplexity of watching misdirected energies and hindering blunders and follies. " It often happens that popular emotions, however deep and general, remain barren, just as in the vegetable world many sprouts come to the surface of the ground, and then die without growing any more or bearing any fruit. It is not sufficient for the bringing about of great events and practical results, that popular aspirations should be merely manifested ; it is necessary further that some great soul, some powerful will, should make itself the organ and agent of the public sentiment, and bring it to fecundity, by becoming its type — its personifi- cation." * In the middle of this eleventhcentury, the time of William the Conqueror's youth, the opposing ele- /ments of Christian knighthood, and the fighting L__s£irit_gf_the viking blood, were each to find a cham- pion in the same leader. The }'oung duke's early years were a hard training, and from his loveless babyhood to his unwept death, he had the bitter sorrows that belong to the life of a cruel man and much-feared tyrant. It may seem to be a strange claim to make for William the Conqueror — that he represented Christian knighthood — but we must re- member th;it fighting was almost the first duty of * Guizot. WILLIAM THE CONQUEROR. 167 man in those days, and that this greatest of the Norman dukes, with all his brutality and apparent heartlessness and selfishness, believed in his church, CONFERRING KNIGHTHOOD ON THE FIELD OF BATTLE. and kept many of her laws which most of his com- rades broke as a matter of course. We cannot remind ourselves too often that he was a man of 1 68 THE STORY OF THE NORMANS. pure life in a most unbridled and immoral age, if we judge by our present standards of either purity or immorality. There is always a temptation in reading or writing about people who lived in earlier times, to rank them according to our own laws of morality and etiquette, but the first thing to be done is to get a clear idea of the time in question. The hero of Charlemagne's time or the Conqueror's may prove any thing but a hero in our eyes, but we must take him in relation to his own surroundings. The great laws of truth and justice and kindness remain, while the years come and go ; the promises of God endure, but while there is, as one may say, a common law of heavenly ordering, there are also the various statute laws that vary with time and place, and these forever change as men change, and the light of civilization burns brighter and clearer. In William the Conqueror's lifetime, every landed gentleman fortified his house against his neighbors, and even made a secure and loathsome prison in his cellar for their frequent accommodation. This seems inhospitable, to say the least, and gives a tinge of falseness to such tender admonitions as prevailed in regard to charity and treatment of wayfarers. Yet every rich man was ambitious to go down to fame as a benefactor of the church ; all over Normandy and Brittany there was a new growth of religious houses, and those of an earlier date, which had lain in ruins since the Northmen's time, were rebuilt with pious care. There appears to have been a new awakening of religious interest in the year looo, which lasted late into the century. There was a WILLIAM THE CONQUEROR. 1 69 surprising fear and anticipation of the end of the world, which led to a vast number of penitential deeds of devotion, and it was the same during the two or three years after 1030, at the close of the life of King Robert of France. Normandy and all the neighboring countries were scourged by even worse plagues than the feudal wars. The drought was terrible, and the famine which followed desolated the land everywhere. The trees and fields were scorched and shrivelled, and the poor peasants fought with the wild beasts for dead bodies that had fallen by the roadside and in the forests. Sometimes men killed their comrades for very hunger, like wolves. There was no commerce which could supply the failure of one country's crops with the overflow of another's at the other side of the world, but at last the rain fell in France, and the misery was ended. A thousand votive offerings were made for very thankfulness, for again the people had expected the end of the world, and it had seemed most probable that such an arid earth should be near its final burning and desolation. In the towns, under ordinary circumstances, there was a style of living that was almost luxurious. The Normans were skilful architects, and not only their minsters and monasteries, but their houses too, were fit for such proud inhabitants, and rich with hangings and comfortable furnishings. The women were more famous than ever for needlework, some of it most skilful in design, and the great tapestries are yet in existence -that were hung, partly for warmth's sake, about >the stone, walls of the castles. Some- lyo THE STORY OF THE NORMANS. times the noble ladies who sat at home while their • lords went out to the wars, worked great pictures on these tapestries of various events of family history, and these family records of battles and gallant bravery by land and sea are most interesting now for their costume and color, beside their corrobora- tion of historical traditions. We have drifted away, in this chapter, from Wil- liam the Conqueror himself, but I believe that we know more about the Normandy which he was to govern, and can better understand his ambitions, his difficulties, and his successes. /^ A country of priests and soldiers, of beautiful women and gallant men ; a social atmosphere already alive with light, gayety, and brightness, but swayed with pride and supersti- tion, with worldliness and austerity ; loyal to Rome, greedy for new territory, the feudal lords imperious masters of complaining yet valiant serfs ; racked everywhere by civil feuds and petty wars and in- stinctive jealousies of French and foreign blood — this was Normandy^ The Englishmen come and go and learn good manners and the customs of chivalry, England herself is growing rich and stupid, for Harthacnut had introduced a damaging custom of eating four great meals a day, and his subjects had followed the fashion, though that king himself had died of it and of his other habit of drinking all night long with merry companions. y IX. ACROSS THE CHANNEL. " One decree Spake laws to them, and said that, by the soul Only, the nations should be great and free." — Wordsworth. It is time to take a closer look at England and at the shameful degradations of yEthelred's time. The inroads of the Danes read like the early history of Normandy, and we must take a step backward in the condition of civilization when we cross to the other side of the Channel. There had been great changes since ALlired's wise and prosperous reign, or even since the time of yEthelred's predecessor, Eadgar, who was rowed in his royal-barge at Chester by eight of his vassal kings — Kenneth of Scots, Mal- colm of Cumberland, Maccus of the Isles, and five Welsh monarchs. The lord of Britain was gracious enough to do the steering for so noble a company of oarsmen, and it was considered the proudest day that ever had shone upon an English king. We must remind ourselves of the successive waves of humanity which had overspread England in past ages, leaving traces of each like less evident geologic 171 1^2 THE STORY OF THE NORMANS. strata. From the stone and bronze age people, through the Celts with their Pictish and Scottish remnant, through the Roman invasion, and the Saxon, more powerful and enduring than any from our point of view, we may trace a kinship to our Normans across the water. But the English de- scendants of Celts, Danes, Angles, Saxons, and Jutes needed to feel a new influence and refreshing of their better instincts by way of Normandy. Perhaps each one of the later rulers of Britain thought he had fallen upon as hard and stormy times and had as much responsibility as anybody who ever wielded a sceptre, but in the reign of the second yEthelred, there are much greater dramas being played, and we feel, directly we get a hint of it, as children do who have been loitering among petty side-shows on their way to a great play. Here come the Danes again, the kings of Denmark and the whole population of Norway one would think, to read the records, and this time they attack England with such force and determination that within less than forty years a Danish king is master of Britain. If ^thelred had been a better man this might never have happened, but among all the Saxon kings he seems to have been the worst — thoroughly bad, weak, cowardly, and cruel. He was sure to do things he had better have left alone, and to neglect his plain duty. Other kings had fallen on as hard, perplexing times as he, but they had been strong enough to keep some sort of control of themselves at any rate. Dunstan the archbishop warned the peo- ACROSS THE CHANNEL. 173 pie, when ^thelred was crowned, that they had no idea of the trouble that was coming, and through the whole reign things went from bad to worse. Dreadful things happened which we can hardly blame the silly king for — like a plague among cattle, and the burning of London in 982 ; and a few years after- ward there was a terrible invasion of the Norwegians, and we have seen that aid and comfort were ready for them over in Bayeux and the pirate cities of Nor- mandy. Now we first hear of the Danegelt, great sums of money, always doubling and increasing, that were paid the Northmen as bribes to go away and leave England in peace. The paying of this Danegelt be- came a greater load than the nation could carry, for the pirates liked nothing better than to gather a great fleet of ships every few months and come to anchor off the coast, sending a messenger to make the highwayman's favorite request, your money or your life ! One of the first sums boldly demanded of ^thelred's aldermen was ten thousand pounds. We can see how rapidly the wealth of England had increased, for in Alfred's time the fine for killing a king was a hundred and twenty shillings, and this was considered a great sum of money ; the penalty for taking a peasant's life was only five shillings, which makes us understand, without any doilbt, the scarceness and value of money. Here are some extracts from the English chronicle, which had been kept since Bede's time and for many years after this, which will show how miserably every thing was going on ; 174 THE STORY OF THE NORMANS. looi. "The army [the Danes of course] went over the land and did as was their wont. Slew and burned ... it was sad in every way for they never ceased from their evil." I002. " In this year the king and his witan resolved, that tribute would be paid and peace made with them, on condition that they should cease from their evil. This they accepted and were paid, ;^ 24,000. 1006. " At midwinter the Winchester folk might see an insolent and fearless army as they went by their gate to the sea, and fetched them food and treasure over fifty miles from the sea. Then was there so great awe of the army that no one could think or devise how they should be driven from the country. Every shire in Wessex had they cruelly marked with burning and with harrying. The king began then with his witan earnestly to consider what might seem most advisable to them all, so that the country might be protected ere it were at last un- done." This time the tribute was ^^"36,000, and an- other time the ships put to sea with a Danegelt of ;^48,ooo. England grew more and more miserable and shamefully unable to defend herself, the captains of her fleet were incapable or treacherous, and at last, when some of the ships had been wrecked and there had been some sad disasters at sea, the chronicle has a more despairing tone than ever. " It was as if all counsel had come to an end," the writer says, " and the king and aldermen and all the high witan went home, and let the toil of all the nation lightly perish." ACROSS THE CHANNEL. 1 75 ^thelred the Unready won for himself, in his reign of thirty-eight years, the hearty contempt and distrust of all his people. There is a temptation to blame him for the misery of England, and to at- tribute it all to his faults and to the low aims and standards of his character, to his worthless ambitions. But, in a general way, the great men, or notorious men of history, who stand out before a dim and half- forgotten background, are only typical of their time and representative of it. One very good man, or bad man, cannot be absolutely a single specimen of his kind ; there must be others who rank with him, and who have been his upholders and influencers. So while the story of any nation is in its early chapters, and seems to be merely an account of one ruler or statesman after another, we must not forget that each symbolized his day and generation, — a brave leader of a brave race, or a dull or placid or serene representative of a secure, inactive age. Although there was blundering enough and treachery in yEthelred's reign, there was a splendid exception in the victories and steadfastness of the city of London, which was unsuccessfully attacked again and again by the Danes. The heathen, as the English called their enemies, were lucky in their two leaders, the king of Norway, and the king of Denmark. Olaf, the first-named, was converted after a while, and going from the islands of Orkney to England, he was baptized there, and the English bishops were very kind to him, and ^thelred gave him some presents, and made him promise that he would not come plundering to England any more. 176 THE STORY OF THE NORMANS. We are quite surprised to hear that the promise was kept. Swegen the Dane promised too, but he ap- peared again after a while, and /Ethelred thought he would improve upon the fashion of paying Dane- gelt by ordering a general massacre of all the Danes instead. Afterward somebody tried to excuse such a piece of barbarianism by saying that the Danes had plotted against the king, but even if they had, yEthclred showed a wretched spirit. It was a time of peace, but he sent secret messengers all through the country, and as the English were only too glad to carry out such orders, there was a terrible slaughter of men, women, and children. "^ Next year Swegen came back to avenge the wrong, all the more readily because his own sister and her husband and son were among the murdered, and the poor woman had made a prophecy, as she fell, dying, that misery and vengeance should fall upon the Eng- lish for their sins. For a long time afterward the Danes were very fierce and kept England in fear and disorder. Once they laid siege to Canterbury, and when it had fallen into their hands they demanded Danegelt from the Archbishop, a very good old man. He had a heart full of pity for his poor people already so abominably taxed and oppressed in every way, and was brave enough to squarely re- fuse, so the Danes slew him .with horrible torture ; one might tell many such stories of the cruelty and boldness of the invaders. /Ethelred was per- fectly helpless or else cowardly and indifferent, and presently Swegen, who had gone back to the North returned with a great fleet and a swarm of followers, ACKOSS THE CHANNEL. I'J'J and not long afterward he .conquered every sort of opposition, even that of the brave Londoners, and was proclaimed king of England. Here was a change indeed ! the silly Saxon king and his wife and children fled across the sea to Normandy, and Swegen sat upon the throne. He began to reign in splendid state ; he had the handsomest ships afloat, all decked out with figures of men and birds and beasts wrought in silver and amber and gold, and fine decorations of every sort. No doubt he had made fine plans and meant to do great deeds, but he died suddenly within a very short time, and the peo- ple believed he was frightened to death by a vision. ^'Ethelred was in Normandy at the court of Richard the Fearless. You remember that Richard's sis- ter Emma went over to England to marry the un- ready king. yEthelred had one older son, Eadmund Ironside, beside the two boys who were Emma's children, and the hearts of the English turned to their old king, and at last they sent for him to come back, in spite of his faults. Pie made many fine promises, and seems to have done a great deal better most of the time during the last two years that he lived. Perhaps he had taken some good lessons from the Norman court. But Cnut, Swegen's son, came back to England, just before he died, as fearless as a hawk, and led his men from one victory to another, and ^thelred faded out of life to everybody's relief. When he was dead at last, the witan chose Cnut for king in his stead, but the Londoners, who were rich and strong, and who hated the Danes bitterly — the Londoners would have none of the pirates to 178 THE STORY OF THE NORMANS. reign over them, and elected young Eadmund Iron, side, a valiant soldier and loyal-hearted fellow who feared nothing and was ready to dare every thing. The two young kings were well matched and fought six great battles, in most of which Ironside gained the advantage, but at last the Danes beat him back- and though everybody was ready for a seventh bat- tle, the witan showed their wisdom for once and for- bade any more fighting, and somehow managed to proclaim peace. The young kings treated each other most generously, and called each other brother, and were very cordial and good-natured. They agreed to divide the kingdom, so that Eadmund Ironside had all England south of the Thames — East Anglia and Essex and London. Cnut took all the northern country and owned Eadmund for his over-lord, but within the year Cnut reigned alone. Eadmund died suddenly — some say that he was murdered, and some that he had worn himself out with his tremen- dous activity and anxiety. It is a great temptation to follow out the story of such a man, and especially because he lived in such an important time, but we must hurry now to the point where Norman and English history can be told together, and only stop to explain such things as will make us able to under- stand and take sides in the alliance of the two vigor- ous, growing nations. Cnut's life, too, is endlessly interesting. He be- gan by behaving like a pirate, and the latter part of his reign was a great reform and a very comforta- * ble time for England, so scarred and spoiled by war. In the beginning there was a great question about ACROSS THE CHANNEL. 1 79 the kingship. In those days it was a matter of great importance that the king should be able to rule and able to fight, and the best and most powerful mem- ber of the royal family was the proper one to choose. KING CNUT. (From the Register of Hyde Abbey.) The English for a long time had elected their kings, and Cnut, though he held half the country, was very careful not to seize the rest by force. We l8o THE STORY OF THE NORMANS. ^ watch with great interest his wielding of rude poli- tics before the witan ; he called them into council and laid his claim before them. Eadmund Ironside had left two little sons, but no- body thought of their being his successors. Indeed Cnut showed a great fear of the royal family, and took care that his rivals should be disposed of ; he knew that the witan and everybody else were tired of the everlasting war and bloodshed. He was fierce and downright in his demands, and in the end the heirs of Ironside were all passed over — the Athelings or princes were all set aside, and Cnut the Dane was king of England. Ironside's brother, Eadwy, of whom the best things are said, was outlawed, and died within a few months under very suspicious circumstances. The two little boys, Ironside's sons, were sent out of the country to Cnut's half-brother, the king of Sweden, with orders that they, should be put out of the way. The king felt such pity for the innocent children, that he sent them away to Hungary instead of having them murdered. The Hungarian king, Stephen, was a saint and a hero, and he was very kind to the poor exiles, and brought them up carefully. One died young, but we shall hear again about the other. Cnut did a very surprising thing next. He sent for Queen Emma to come back again from the Nor- man court to marry him. She. must have been a good deal older than he, but she was still a beautiful woman, and marked with the f;unous Norman dignity and grace. Cnut ]:)romiscd that if they should ever have a son born, he should be the next ACROSS THE CHANNEL. l8l king of England. Emma's two elder sons, yElfred and Eadward, were left in Normand)-, and there they grew up quite apart from their mother, and thinking much more of their Norman descent and belonging than of their English heritage, Cnut now appears in the light of a model sov- ereign for those days. He had renounced all his pagan ideas, and been christened and received into the Church. We might expect that he would have pushed his own countrymen forward and all the Dan- ish interests, but it was quite the other way. At the beginning of his reign he had executed several powerful English nobles whose influence and antago- nism he had reason to fear; but now he favored the English in a marked way, and even ordered his ships and all the pirates and fighting men back to the North. It seems very strange, now, that a king of England ever reigned over Sweden and Denmark, and Norway beside, but it seems as if Cnut were prouder of being king of England than of all his other powers and dignities. He was not only very gracious and friendly with his English subjects at home, but he sent them abroad to be bishops, and displeased the Danish parishes by such arrange- ments. We all know the story of the rising tide, and Cnut's reproof to his courtiers on the sea-shore. As we read about him we are reminded a little of Rolf the Ganger, and his growth from pirate fashions to a more gentle and decent humanity. The two men were not so very unlike after all, but I must confess that I think with a good deal of sympathy 1 82 THE STORY OF THE NORMANS. of Cnut's decision to go on a pilgrimage to Rome. It was expecting a good deal of the young sea-rover that he should stay quietly at home to rule his king- dom. The spirit of adventure stirred in his veins, and we may be sure that he enjoyed his long and perilous overland journey to Italy. He made the road safer for his countrymen who might also have a pious desire to worship at the famous foreign shrines. He complained to the emperor and the priests at Rome about the robber-chiefs who pounced down upon travellers from their castles in the Alps, and they promised to keep better order. The merchants and pilgrims were often laden with rich offerings for the churches, besides goods which they wished to sell, and the robbers kept watch for them. Their ruined fortresses are still perched along the Alpine passes, and one cannot help hoping that Cnut had some exciting disputes with his enemies, and a taste of useful fighting and proper discipline among the bold marauders. He wrote a famous letter about his pilgrimage, directed to the archbishops, and bishops, the great men, and all the people. He tells whom he saw in Rome — the Pope, and the German Emperor, and other great lords of the earth ; and says, with pride, that every one has treated him handsomely, and what fine presents he has had given him to carry home. He had come to Rome for the good of his people, and for the salvation of his own soul, he tells them seriously; and one thing he did for England was to complain of the heavy taxes the church had put upon it, and the Pope promised that such injustice ACROSS THE CHANNEL. 1 83 should not happen any more. There is something very touching in the way that he says he had made a great many good resolves about his future life, and that he is not ashamed to own that he has done wrong over and over again, but he means, by God's help, to amend entirely. He vows to Heaven that he will govern his life rightly, and rule his kingdom honestly and piously, and that neither rich nor poor shall be oppressed or hardshipped. There never was a better letter, altogether, and Cnut kept his promises so well that the old Anglo-Saxon chronicle, which aches with stories of war and trouble, grows quite dull now in the later years of his reign. There was nothing to tell any more, the monks thought who kept the record ; but we know, for that very reason, that the English farms flourished, and the wheat fields waved in the summer wind, the towns grew rich, and the merchants prosperous ; and when the English-Northman king died, it was a sad day for England. Cnut was only forty years old, but that was a long time for a king to live. His son, Harold Harefoot, reigned in his stead, and many of the old troubles of the country sprang up at once, as if they had only been asleep for a little while, and were by no means out-grown or ended. "^ Harold Harefoot was not in the least pious, and behaved himself with most unreasonable folly, and fortunately died at the close of four years of insult and unworthiness. Then Harthacnut, the younger brother, was made king, and he promptly demanded a Danegelt, the most hateful of taxes, and did \y 1 84 THE STORY OF THE NORMANS. a great many things which only reopened the breach between Dane and Englishman, though it had seemed to be smoothed over somewhat in his father's time. Harold had done one brutal thing that towered above all the rest. The two princes who had been living in Normandy thought there might be some chance of their gaining a right to the throne, and the younger one, Alfred, had come over to England with his knights and gentlemen. Harold seized them and was most cruel ; he first blinded his half-brother and then had him put to death. This made a great noise in Normandy, and there is one good thing to be said about Harthacnut, that he was bitterly angry with his brother, and also with Earl Godwine, a fa- mous nobleman, who was the most powerful man in England next the king. He was Cnut's favorite and chief adviser, but Harthacnut suspected that he had a hand in Alfred's murder. Nobody has ever been quite clear about the matter. Godwine and all his lords swore that he was innocent, and gave the king a magnificent ship with all sorts of splendors belonging to it, besides nearly a hundred men in full armor, and gold bracelets to make them as grand as could be. So the king accepted Godwine's oath in view of such a polite attention, but he asked Eadward to leave the Norman court and come over to live with him. Eadward came, and in two years he was king of England, Harthacnut having died a wretched drunken death. So again there was a descendant of Alfred the Great and the house of Cerdic on the throne. Ead- ward was the last of the line, and in his day began ACROSS THE CHANNEL. 1 85 the most exciting and important chapter of EngUsh history — the Norman Conquest. We have come quickly along the line of Danish kings, and now it is time to stop and take a more careful look at the state of manners and customs in England, and make ourselves sure what the English people of that time were like, how they lived in their houses, and what changes had come to the country in general. There were certain hindrances to civili- zation, and lacks of a fitting progress and true growth. Let us see what these things were, and how the greater refinement of the Normans, their superior gifts and graces, must come into play a little later. There was some deep meaning in the fusion of the two peoples, and more than one reason why they could form a greater nation together than either Normans or Englishmen could alone. First, the dwellers on English soil had shown a tendency, not yet entirely outgrown, to fall back into a too great indulgence in luxurious living. When the storm and strain of conquest, of colonization, had spent itself, the Englishmen of Eadward's and Cnut's time betook themselves to feasting and lawlessness, of the sort that must undermine the vigor of any people. The fat of the land tempted them in many ways, and they sank under such habits as quickly as they had risen under the necessities that war makes for sacrifices and temperance. They were suffering, too, from their insularity ; they were taken up with their own affairs, and had kept apart from the prog- ress of the rest of Europe. There was a new wave and impulse of scholarship, which had not yet reached 1 86 THE STORY OF THE NORMANS. them. It was ebb-tide in England in more ways than one ; and time for those Normans to appear who, to use the words of one of their historians, " borrow every thing and make it their own, and their presence is chiefly felt in increased activity and more rapid development of institutions, literature, and art. Thus . . . they perfect, they organize every thing, and everywhere appear to be the master spirits of their age." The English people had become so impatient of the misrule of Cnut's sons, that the remembrance of Cnut's glories was set aside for the time being, and no more Danish kings were desired. " All folk chose Eadward to king," says the chronicle, and evi- dently the hearts of the people were turned, full of hope and affection, to the exiled son of ^thelred and Emma, who had been since his childhood at the Norman court. His murdered brother Alfred had been canonized by the romantic sympathy of his English friends ; he was remembered now as a saint- ly young martyr to English patriotism, and the dis- reputable reign of Cnut's sons had made the vir- tues of the ancient race of English kings very bright by comparison. The new king must be of English blood and a link with past prosperity. The son of Eadmund Ironside was an exile also in the distant court of Hungar)^ but Eadward, a gentle, pious man, was near at hand, and there were a thousand voices ready to shout for him even while Harthacnut lay unburied in the royal robes and trappings. There was an opposition on the part of the Danes, who were naturally disinclined to any such change, ACROSS THE CHANNEL. 1 87 and when the formal election and consecration of the new king took place, some months after this popular vote, all Earl Godwine's power and influence were brought to bear before certain important votes could be won. Indeed, at first Eadward himself was apparently hard to persuade to accept his high ofifice. He seems to have been much more inclined to a religious life than to statesmanship, but between much pushing from behind in Normandy and the eager entreaties of his English friends, he was forced to make his way again across the Channel. There are interesting accounts, which may or may not be true, of his conversations with Godwine; but the stronger man prevailed. The very promise he made to uphold the new king's rights might make Eadward feel assured and hopeful of some stability and quiet- ness in his reign. England was far behind Normandy in social or scholarly progress ; to reign over English- men did not appear the most rewarding or alluring career to the fastidious, delicate, cloister-man, . The rough-heartiness and red-cheeked faces of his sub- jects must have contrasted poorly with his Norman belongings, so much more refined and thoughtful, not to say adroit and dissembling. England was still divided into four parts, as Cnut had left it. His scheme of the four great earldoms had proved a bad one enough, for it had only made the nation weaker, and kept up continual rivalries and jealousies between the lords of Northumbria, Mercia, East Anglia, and Wessex. The northern territory was chiefly Danish in its traditions, and though there was a nominal subjection to the king, Northumbria was 1 88 THE STORY OF THE NORMANS. almost wholly independent of any over-rule. In Mercia, Lady Godiva and Earl Leofric were spending their lives and their great wealth, chiefly in further- ing all sorts of religious houses and good works of the churches. The greatest earl of all was Godwine of Wessex, the true leader of the English and a most brave and loyal man. Cnut had trusted him, and while there were enough jealous eyes to look at his kingly pros- perity, and malicious tongues ready to whisper about his knowledge of young Alfred's murder, or his favor and unrighteous advancement of his own family to places of power, Godwine still held the confidence of a great faction among the English people. His son Harold was earl of East Anglia, and they were lawful governors, between them, of the whole south- ern part of the kingdom. It was mainly through Godwine's influence that Eadward was crowned king, and we may look to the same cause for his marriage with the earl's daughter Edith, but the line of Eng- lish princes, of whom Godwine hoped to be ancestor, never appeared, for the king was childless, and soon made an enemy of his father-in-law. Some people say that Godwine did not treat his royal son with much respect having once put him on the throne. Eadward too never was able to forget the suspicion about .Alfred's murder, so the breach between him and the great earl was widened year by year. Eadward was not the sturdy English monarch for whom his peo- ple had hoped ; he was Norman at heart, as a man might well be who had learned to speak in the for- eign tongue, and had made the friendships of his ACROSS THE CHANNEL. 1 89 boyhood and manhood in the duke's court and cloi- sters. Priestcraft was dearer to him than statecraft, and his name of The Confessor showed what almost saintly renown he had won from those who were his friends and upholders. It did not suit very well that one Norman gentle- man after another came to London to fill some high ofificial position. Eadward appeared to wish to sur- round himself wholly with Normans, and the whole aspect of the English court was changed little by little. The king proved his own weakness in every way — he was as like .^thelred the Unready as a good man could be like a bad one. Godwine grew more and more angry, and his de- termination to show that England could do without the crowds of interlopers who were having every thing their own way worked him disaster for a time. There was a party of the king's friends journeying homeward to Normandy, who stopped overnight in the city of Dover and demanded its hospitality in inso- lent fashion. The Dover men would not be treated like slaves, and a fight followed in which the French- men were either killed or driven out of the town. Eadward. of course sided with his friends, and was very indignant ; he sent orders to Earl Godwine, who was governor of the region, to punish the offenders, but Godwine refused squarely unless the men should have been fairly tried and given a chance to speak for themselves. This ended in a serious quarrel, and the king gained a victory without any battle either, for there was a sudden shifting of public feeling in Eadward's favor — Godwine's own men forsook him 190 THE STORY OF THE NORMANS. and were loyal to the crown, and the great earl was banished for conscience sake, he and all his family, for the king even sent away his own wife, though he kept all her lands and treasures, which was not so saint-like and unworldly as one might have expected. One of Godwine's sons had proved himself a very base and treacherous man, and the earl had shielded him ; this was one reason why his defence of Eng- lish liberty was so overlooked by his countrymen, but the Normans had a great triumph over this de- feat, and praised the pious king and told long stories of his austere life, his prayers, and holy life. After he was canonized these stories were lengthened still more, but while he was yet without a halo some of his contemporaries charge him with laziness and in- capacity. He certainly was lacking in kingly quali- ties, but he gained the respect and love of many of his subjects, and was no doubt as good as so weak a man could be. After his death Englishmen praised him the more because they liked William the Conqueror the less, and as for the Normans they liked anybody better than Harold, who had been a much more formidable opponent in his claim to the English crown. Mr. Freeman says : " — The duties of secular government . . . were . . . always something which went against the grain. His natural place was not on the throne of England, ' but at the head of a Norman abbey. . . . For his virtues were those of a monk ; all the real man came out in his zeal for collecting relics, in his visions, in his religious exercises, in his gifts to churches and monasteries, in his desire to mark his ACROSS THE CHANNEL. I9I reign as its chief result, by the foundation of his great abbey of Saint Peter at Westminster. In a Tjrince of the manly piety of Alfred things of this sort form only a part, a pleasing and harmonious part, of the general character. In Eadward they formed the whole man." The chronicler who writes most flatteringly of him acknowledges that he sometimes had shocking fits of bad temper, but that he was never betrayed into unbecoming language. On some occasions he was hardly held back by Godwine or Harold from civil war and massacre ; though he was conscientious within the limit of his intelligence, and had the art of giving a gracious refusal and the habit of affability and good manners. William of Malmesbury, the chronicler, tells us that he kept his royal dignity, but that he took no pleasure in w^earing his robes of state, even though they were worked for him by his affectionate queen. Like his father, he was ever under the do- minion of favorites, and this was quickly enough discovered and played upon by Norman ecclesiastics and Norman and Breton gentlemen in search of ad- venture; and aggrandizement. It makes a great difference whether we read the story of this time in English or in French records. Often the stories are directly opposite to each other, and only the most careful steps along the path k'eep one from wander- ing off one way or the other into unjust partisan- ship. Especially is this true of Godwine, the confes-- sor's great contemporary. He seems, at any rate, to have been a man much ahead of his time in knowl- edge of affairs and foresight of the probable effects 192 THE STORY OF THE NORMANS. from the causes of his own day. His brother earls were jealous of him ; the Church complained of his lack of generosity ; even his acknowledgfcd eloquence was listened to incredulously ; and hie good govern- ment of his own provinces, praised though it was, did not gain him steady power. His good government made him, perhaps more than any thing else, the fore- most Englishman of his time, and presently we shall see how deep a feeling there was for him in Eng- land, and how much confidence and affection were shown in his welcome back from exile, though he had been allowed to go away with such sullen disap- proval. Godwine's wife, Gytha, was a Danish wo- man, which was probably a closer link with that faction in the northern earldom than can be clearly understood at this late day. Lord Lytton's novel, called " Harold," makes this famous household seem to live before our eyes, and the brief recital of its fortunes and conditions here cannot be more than a hint of the real romance and picturesqueness of the story. The absence of Godwine in Flanders — a whole year's absence — had taught his countrymen what it was to be without him. They were sadly annoyed and troubled by the king's continued appointment of Normans to every place of high honor that fell vacant. Bishoprics and waste lands alike were pounced upon by the hangers-on at court, and castles were lifting their ugly walls within sight of each other almost, here and there in the quiet English fields. Even in London itself the great White Tower was already setting its strong foundations ; ACROSS THE CHANNEL. 193 a citadel for the town, a fort to keep the borderers and Danes at bay were necessary enough to a coun- try, but England was being turned into another Normandy and Brittany, with these new houses that were built for war, as if every man's neighbor were his enemy. The square high towers were no fit places for men to live in who tilled the soil and tended their flocks and herds. There were too many dark dungeons provided among the foundation stones beside, and the English farmers whispered together about their new townsfolk and petty lords, and feared the evil days that were to come. The ruined Roman houses and strange tall stones of the Druid temples were alike thrown down and used to build these new castles. Men who had strayed as far as the Norman coasts had stories enough to tell ; what landmarks of oppression these same castles were in their own country, and how the young Duke William had levelled many of them to the ground in quarrelsome Normandy. There V/as no English word for this awesome new word — castles ! The free and open halls of the English thanes were a strange contrast to the new order of dwelling-places. Robert of Jumieges had been made Archbishop of Canterbury, and a host of his countrymen surround- ed the king more and more closely and threatened to deprive the English of their just rights. It was this monk Robert who had " beat into the king's head " that his brother Alfred had come to his death through Earl Godwine. It is very easy to tell the story of the Normans from the English side. Let us cross the Channel again 194 THE STORY OF THE NORMANS. to Roueii and see what effect the condition of Eng- lish affairs was having upon the young duke. It would not be strange if his imagination were busy with some idea of enlarging his horizon by a look at his neighbors. Eadward had no heir, they had talked together oftentimes, perhaps, about the possibility of making one noble great kingdom by the joining of England and Normandy. Every day more stories reaclj^ed his ears of the wealth and fruitfulness of the Copfessor's kingdom. X. THE BATTLE OF VAL-ES-DUNES. ' Who stood with head erect and shining eyes, / As if the beacon of some promised land Caught his strong vision, and entranced it there." —A. F. The Viking's grandchildren had by no means lost their love for journeying by land or sea. As in old Nor- way one may still find bits of coral and rudely shaped precious stones set in the quaintly wrought silver ornaments made by the peasants, so in Normandy there are pieces of Spanish leather and treasures from the east and from the south, relics of the plundering of a later generation. Roger de Toesny, one of Wil- liam's fiercest enemies, does not become well-known to us until we trace out something of his history as a wanderer before he came to join Talvas in a well- planned rebellion. In Duke Richard the Good's time there was a restless spirit of adventure stirring in Norman hearts, and the foundations were laid of the South- ern kingdoms which made such a change in Europe. A Norman invasion of Spain came to nothing in comparison with those more important settlements, but in ioi8 Roger de Toesny carried the Norman 195 196 THE STORY OF THE NORMANS. arms into the Spanish peninsula. A long time be- fore this Richard the Fearless had persuaded a large company of his Scandinavian subjects to wander that way, being pagan to the heart's-core and hopelessly inharmonious. Roger followed them on a grand crusade against the infidel Saracen, and also hoped to gain a kingdom for himself. He was of the noblest blood in Normandy, of Rolf the Ganger's own family, and well upheld the warlike honor of his house in his daring fights with the infidel. Al- most unbelievable stories are told of his cannibal- like savagery with his captives, but the very same stories are told of another man, so we will not stop to moralize upon Roger's wickedness. He married the Spanish countess of Barcelona, who did homage to the king of France, and every thing looked prosper- ous at one time for his dominion, but it never really took root after all, and de Toesny went back again to Normandy, and blazed out instantly with tremen- dous wrath at the pretentions of William the Bastard. He could not believe that the proud Norman barons and knights would ever submit to such a degradation. De Talvas was only too glad to greet so sympa- thetic an ally, and the opposition to the young duke took a more formidable shape than ever before. All through William's earli'est years the feudal lords spent most of their strength in quarrelling with each other, but de Toesny's appearance gave the signal for a league against the ruler whom they de- spised. William was no longer a child, and rumors of his premature sagacity, and his uncommon strength and quickness in war, were flying about from town THE BATTLE OE THE VAL-kS-DUNES. 1^7 to town and warned liiv. enemies that they had no time to lose if they meant to crush him down. He was a noble-looking lad and had shown a natural pref- erence for a soldier's life ; at fifteen he had demand ed to be made a knight of the old Norman tradi- tion in which lurked a memory of Scandinavian cere- monies. None save Duke William could bend Duke William's bow, and while these glowing accounts of him were written from a later standpoint, and his story might easily be read backward, as a fulfilment of prophecy, we can be sure, at least, that his power asserted itself in a marked way, and that he soon gained importance and mustered a respectable com- pany of followers as the beginning of a brilliant and almost irresistible court and army. Even King Henry of France was jealous of his vassal's rising fame and popularity, and felt obliged to pay William a deference that his years did not merit. All through the first twelve years men felt that the boy William's life was in danger, and that, whatever re- spect Henry paid him, was likely to be changed to open animosity and disdain the moment that there was a good excuse. We have a glimpse now and then of the lonely lad at his sport in the forest about Falaise and Valognes, where he set apart preserves for hunting. We follow him from Alan of Brittany's wardship, to the guardian he chose himself, who held the place of tutor with that of captain-general of the Norman array, but, guardian or no guardian, he pushed forward single-handed, and mastered others, beside himself, in a way that the world never will cease to wonder at. 198 THE STORY OF THE NORMANS. Roger d ■ Tocsny refused allegiance to begin witli, and with loud expressions of his scorn of the Bas- tard, began to lay waste his neighbors' lands as if they, too, had been Saracens and merited any sort of punishment. We first hear the name of De Beau- mont, famous enough ever since, in an account of a battle which some of Roger's outraged victims waged against him. Grantmesnil, too, is a name that we shall know very well by and by, when William has gone over to England with his Norman lords. Nor- mandy never got over its excitement and apparent astonishment at William's presence and claims; but even in his boyhood he was the leader of a party. " So lively and spirited was he, that it seemed to all a marvel," says one of the old chroniclers, with enthusiasm. When he began to take deep interest in his affairs, the news of revolts and disorderliness in the country moved him to violent fits of irritation, but he soon learned to hide these instinctively, and the chronicle goes on to say that he " had welling up in his child's heart all the vigor of a man to teacn the Normans to forbear from all acts of irregularity." In this outbreak against de Toesny he found an irre- sistible temptation to assert his mastery, and boy as he was, he really made himself felt ; De Toesny was killed in the fierce little battle, and his death gave a temporary relief from such uprisings ; but William comes more and more to the front, and all Normandy takes sides either for or against him. This was no insignificant pretender, but one to be feared ; his guardians and faithful men who had held to him for good or bad reasons, were mostly j)ut out of the way THE BA TTLE OF THE VAL-kS-DUNES. I99 by their enemies, and there was nobody at last who could lead the Bastard's men to battle better than he could himself. Henry of France had been biding his time, and now Guy of Burgundy, the son of William's cousin, whom he had welcomed kindly at his feudal court, puts in a claim to the dukedom of Normandy. He helped forward a conspiracy, and one night, while William was living in his favorite castle at Valognes, the jester came knocking with his bauble, and crying at the chamber door, begging him to fly for his life: " They are already armed; they are getting ready; to delay is death ! " cried poor Golet the fool ; and his master leaped out of bed, seized his clothes, and ran to the stables for his horse. Presently he was galloping away toward Falaise for dear life, and to this day the road he took is called the Duke's road. This was in 1044, and William was nineteen years old. He was not slow to understand that the rebels had again risen, and that the conspiracy was more than a conspiracy; it was a determined insurrection. All the night long, as he rode across the country in the bright moonlight, he was thinking about his plans, no doubt, and great energies and determina- tions were suddenly waked in his heart. This was more than a dislike of himself and the tan-yard in- heritance ; it was the old rivalry of the Frenchmen and Northmen. The old question of supremacy and race prejudice was to be fought over once more and for the last time with any sort of distinctness. This was not the petty animosity of one baron or another ; it was almost the whole nobility of Normandy against their duke. 200 THE STORY OF THE NORMANS. There was one episode of the duke's journey which is worth telHng: He had ridden for dear hfe, and liad forded many a stream, and one, more dangerous, tide inlet where the rivers Oune and Vire flowed out to sea ; and when he got safe across, he went into the Church of St. Clement, in the Bayeux district, to kneel down and say his prayers. As the sun rose, he came close to the church and castle of Rye, and the Lord of R)'e was standing at the castle gate in the clear morning air. William spurred his horse, and was for hurr}'ing by, but this faithful vassal, whose name was Hubert, knew him, and stopped him, and begged to be told the reason of such a headlong journey. The Lord of Rye was very hospitable, and the tired duke dismounted, and was made welcome in the house ; and presently a fresh horse was brought out for him, and the three brave sons of the loyal house were mounted also to ride by his side to Falaise. This hospitality was not forgotten. Later, in England, their grateful guest set them in high places, and favored them in princely fashion. Guy, of Burgundy had been brought up with William as a friend and kinsman, and had been treated with great generosit}'. He was master of some great estates, and one of these was a powerful border fortress between Normandy and France. His friends were many, and he found listeners enough to his propositions. Born of the princely houses of Burgundy and Normandy, he claimed the duchy as his inherited right ; and while so many in court and camp were ashamed of their lawful leader, and ready to deny his authority, came Guy's opportunity. THE BATTLE OF THE VAL-kS-DUNES. 20I William was cautious, and not without experience. When he was only a baby he had caught at the straw on which he lay, and would not let go his hold, and this sign of his future power and persistence had been proved a true one. The quarrelsome, lawless lords felt that their days of liberty for themselves, and oppression of everybody else, would soon be over if they did not strike quickly. They dreaded so strong and stern a master, and rallied to the standard of the Bastard's rival, Guy of Burgundy. There were some of the first nobles of the Coten- tin who forsook their young duke for this rival who was hardly Norman at all, as they usually decided such points. His Norman descent was on the spin- dle side rather than the sword, to use the old dis- tinction, and his mother's ancestors would not have prevented him in other days from being called al- most a Frenchman. There is a tradition that Guy promised to divide the lands of Normandy with his allies, keeping only the old French grant to Rolf for himself, and this must have been the cause of the treason of the descendants of Rolf's and William Longsword's loyal colonists. It would amaze us to see the change in the life and surroundings of the feudal lords even in the years of William's minority. The leader of the barons in the revolt was the Viscount of Coutances, the son of that chief who had defeated iEthelred of England and his host nearly half a century before. He lived in a castle on the river Oune, near which he afterward built his great St. Saviour's Abbey. This was the central point of the insurrection, and from his tower Neal of St. Sa- 202 THE STORY OF THE NORMANS. viour could take a wide survey of his beautiful Cotentin country with its plough-land and pastures and forests, the great minster of Lessay, and the cliffs and marshes ; the sturdy castles of his feudal lords scattered far and wide. There came to Saint Saviour's also Randolf of Bayeux, and Hamon of Thorigny and of Creuilly, and Grimbald of Plessis, and each of them made his fortress ready for a siege, and swore to defend Guy of Burgundy and to use every art of war and even treachery to subdue and disgrace William. I say " even treachery," but that was the first resort of these insurgents rather than the last. They had laid the deep plot to seize and murder him at Valognes, and Grimbald was to have struck the blow. King Henry of France was another enemy at heart. It is difficult at first to understand his course toward his young neighbor. He never had fairly acknowledged him, and William on his part had never put his hands into the king's and announced with the loyal homage of his ancestors that he was Henry's man. While Normandy was masterless in William's youth, there was a good chance, never likely to come again in one man's lifetime, for the king to assert his authority and to seize at least part of the Norman territory. The discontent with the base-born heir to the dukedom might not have been enough by itself to warrant such usurpation, but then, while the feudal lords were in such turmoil and so taken up with, for the most part, merely neighborhood quarrels ; while they had so little na- tional and such fierce sectional feeling, would have THE RATTLE OE THE VA L-ts-DUNES. 2o3 been the time for an outsider to enrich himself at their expense. It was not yet time for Normandy to be provoked into a closer unification by any out- side danger. The French and Scandinavian factions were still distinct and suspicious of each other, but it was alread}' too late when King Henry at last, without note or warning, poured his soldiers across the Norman boundary and invaded the Evregin ; too late indeed in view of what followed, and in spite of the temporary blazing up of new jealousies and the revival of old grievances and hatreds. Henry won a victory and triumph for the time being ; he demanded the famous border castle of Tilliercs and insisted that it should be destroyed, and though the brave commander held out for some time even against William's orders, he finally surrendered. Henry placed a strong garrison there at once, and after getting an apparently strong hold on Normandy there followed a time of peace. The king seemed to be satisfied, but no doubt the young duke's mind was busy enough with a forced survey of his enemies, already declared or still masked by hypocrisy, and of his own possible and probable re- sources. A readiness to do the things that must be done was making a true man of Duke William even in his boyhood. For many years he had seen revolt and violence grow more easy and more frequent in his dukedom ; the noise of quarrels and fighting grew louder and louder. In his first great battle at Val-es-dunes the rule of the Cotentin lords and Guy of Burgundy, or the rule of William the Bastard, struggled for the mastery. 204 THE SrORY OF THE NORMANS. It was a great battle in importance rather than in numbers. William called to his loyal provinces for help, and the knights came riding to court from the romance-side of Normandy, while from the Bessin and the Cotentin the rebels came down to meet them. It seems strange that, when William repre- sents to us the ideal descendant of the Northmen, the Scandinavian element in his dukedom was the first to oppose him. For once King Henry stood by his vassal, and when William asked for help in that most critical time, it was not withheld. Henry had not been ashamed to take part with the Norman traitors in past times, and now that there was a. chance of breaking the ducal government in pieces and adding a great district to France, we are more than ever puzzled to know why he did not make the most of the occasion. Perhaps he felt that the rule of the dukes was better than the rule of the mutinous barons of the Cotentin, and likely, on the whole, to prove less dangerous. So when William claimed protection, it was readily granted, and the king came to his aid at the head of a body of troops, and helped to win the victory. We hear nothing of the Norman archers yet in the chronicler's story of the fight. They were famous enough afterward, but this battle was between mounted knights, a true battle of chivalry. The place was near the river Orne, and the long slopes of the low hills stretched far and wide, covered with soft turf, like the English downs across the Channel, lying pleasantly toward the sun. Master Wace writes the.story of the day in the " Roman de Rou," THE BATTLE OF THE VAL-kS-DUNES. 20$ and sketches the battle-field with vivid touches of his pen. Mr. Freeman says, in a note beneath his own description, that he went over the ground with Mr. Green, his fellow-historian, for company, and Master Wace's book in hand for guide. In the "Roman de Rou " there is a hint that not only the peasantry, but the poorer gentlemen as well, were secretly on William's side, that the prejudice and distrust toward the feudal lords was very great, and that there was more confidence in a sovereign than in the irksome tyranny of less powerful lords. The barons of Saxon Bayeux and Danish Cou- tahces were matched against the loyal burghers of Falaise, Romanized Rouen, and the men of the bishop's cities of Liseux and Evreux. King Henry stopped at the little village of Valmeray to hear mass, as he came up from the south with his fol- lowers, and presently the duke joined them in the great plain beyond. The rebels are there too ; the horses will not stand in place together, they have caught the spirit of the encounter, and the bright bosses of the shields ; the lances, tied with gay rib- bons, glitter and shine, as the long line of knights bends and lifts and wavers like some fluttering gay decoration, — some many-colored huge silken splendor all along the green grass. The birds fly over swiftly, and return as quickly, puzzled by the strange appear- ance of their country-side. Their nests in the grass are trampled under foot — the world is alive with men in armor, who laugh loudly and swear roundly, and are there for something strange, to kill each other if they can, rather than live, for the sake of 206 THE STORY OF THE NORMANS. Normandy. Far away the green fields stretch into the haze, the cottages look like toys, and the sheep and cattle feed without fear in the pastures. Church towers rise gray and straight-walled into the blue sky. It is a great day for Normandy, and her best knights and gentlemen finger their sword-hilts, or buckle their saddle-girths, and wait impatiently for the battle to begin on that day of Val-es-dunes. Among the Cotentin lords was Ralph of Tesson, lord of the forest of Cinquclais and the castle of Harcourt-Thury. Behind him rode a hundred and twenty knights, well armed and gallant, who would follow him to the death. He had sworn on the holy relics of the saints at Baycux to smite William wherever he met him, yet he had no ground for complaint against him. His heart fell when he saw his rightful lord face to face. A tanner's grandson, indeed, and a man whose father and mother had done him wrong ; all that was true, yet this young Duke William was good to look upon, and as brave a gentleman as any son of Rolf's, or the fearless Rich- ard's. Ralph Tesson (the Badger they called him), a man both shrewd and powerful, stood apart, and would not rank himself and his men with either fac- tion, and his knights crowded round him, to remind him that he had done homage once to William, and would fight against his natural lord. The Cotentin lords were dismayed and angr\-, they promised him great rewards, but nothing touched him, and he stood silent, a little way from the armies. The young duke and the king noticed him, and the six- score-and-six brave knights in his troop, all with their THE BATTLE OF THE VAL-kS-DUNES. 20/ lances raised and trimmed with their ladies' silk tokens. William said that they would come to his aid ; neither Tesson nor his men had any grudge against him. Suddenly Tesson put spurs to his horse, and came dashing across the open field, and all the lords and gentlemen held their breath as they watched him. "Thury! Thury!" he shouted as he came, and "Thury! Thury! "the cry echoed back again from the distance. He rode straight to the duke ; there was a murmur from the Cotentin men ; he struck the duke gently with his glove. It was but a playful mockery of his vow to the saints at Bayeux ; he had struck William, but he and his knights were Wil- liam's men again ; the young duke said, " Thanks to thee ! " and the fight began, all the hotter for the an- ger of the deserted barons and their desire for re- venge. The day had begun with a bad omen for their success. " Dexaide ! " the old Norman war-cry, rang out, and those who had followed the lilies of France cried " Montjoie Saint Denis ! " as they fought. Nowadays, a soldier is a soldier, and men who choose other professions can keep to them, unless in their country's extremity of danger, but in that day every man must go to the wars, if there were need of him, and be surgeon or lawyer, and soldier too ; yes, even the priests and bishops put on their swords and went out to fight. It would be interesting to know more names on the roll-call that day at Val-es- dunes, but we can almost hear the shouts to the patron saints, and the clash of the armor. King 2o8 THE STORY OF THE NORMANS. Henry fought like a brave man, and the storm ol the battle raged fiercest round him. The knights broke their lances, and fought sword to sword. There was no play of army tactics and manoeuvring, but a hand-to-hand fight, with the sheer strength ol horse and man. Once King Henry was overthrown by the thrust of a Cotentin lance, and sprang up quickly to show himself to his men. Again he was in the thickest of the encounter, and was met by one of the three great rebel chiefs and thrown upon the ground, but this Lord of Thorigny was struck, in his turn, by a loyal French knight, and presently his lamenting followers carried him away dead on his shield like any Spartan of old. And the king hon- ored his valor and commanded that he should be buried with splendid ceremonies in a church not far from the battlefield. Long afterward the Norman men and women loved to sing and to tell stories about the young Duke William's bravery and noble deeds of arms in that first great fight that made him duke from one end of Normandy to the other. V He slew with his own hand the noblest and most daring warrior of Bayeux. Master Wace, the chronicler, tells us how William drove the sharp steel straight through his hardy foe, and how the body fell be- neath his stroke and its soul departed. Wace was a Bayeux man himself, and though he was a loyal songster and true to his great duke, he cannot help a sigh of pride and sorrow over Hardrez' fate. Neal of St. Saviour fought steadily and cheered his men eagerly as the hour went on, but Randolf of Bayeux felt his courage begin to fail him. Hamon THE BATTLE OF THE VA l.-kS-DUNES. 209 was dead. Their great ally, Hardrez, had been the flower of his own knights, and he was lying dead of a cruel sword-thrust there in plain sight. He lost sight of Neal, perhaps, for he was suddenly afraid of betrayal, and grieved that he had ever put his helmet on. There i.; a touching bit of description in the " Ro- man dc Rou " ju!:t now. The battle pleased him no more, is told in the quaint short lines. He thought how sad it ^\•as to be a captive, and sadder still to be slain. He gave way feebly at every charge ; he wandered to and fro aimlessly, a thing to be stum- bled over, we fancy him, now in the front of the fight, now in the rear ; at last he dropped his lance and shield. " He stretched forth his neck and rode for his life," says Master Wace^ quite ashamed of his countryman. But we can see the poor knight's head drooping low, and his good, tired horse — the better man of the two — mustering all his broken strength to carry his master beyond the reach of danger. All the cowards rode after him pell-mell, but brave Saint Saviour fought to the last and held the field until his ri'jht arm failed and he could not strike again. The French pressed him hard, the Norman men looked few and spent, and the mighty lord of the Cotentin knew that all hope was lost. There on the rising ground of Saint Lawrence the last blow was struck. Away went the rebels in groups of three or four — away for dear life every one of them, riding this way and that, trying to get out of reach of their enemies and into some sort of shelter. The duke chased them like a hound on the track of hares on, on tow- 210 THE STORY OF THE NORMANS. ard Bayeux, past the great Abbey of Fontenay and the Allemagnc quarries, until they reached the river Orne with its deep current. Men and horses floun- dered in the water there, and many hot wounds tinged it with a crimson stain. They were drowned, poor knights, and poor, brave horses too. They went struggling and drifting down stream ; the banks were strewn with the dead ; and the mill-wheels of Borbillon, a little farther down, were stopped in their slow turning by the strange wreck and floating worthless fragments of those lords and gentlemen who had l ost the battle of the Val-es-djjnes. And William was the conqueror of Normandy. Guy of Burgundy was a traitor to his friends, and won a heritage of shame for his flight from the field. We hear nothing of him while the fight went on, only that he ran away. It appears that he must have been one of the first to start for a place of safety, because they blame him so much ; there is nothing said about all the rebels running away together a little later. That was the fortune of war and in- evitable ; not personal cowardice, they might tell us. Guy of Burgundy was the man who had led the three Cotentin lords out by fair promises and taunts about their bastard duke,- and he should have been brave and full of prowess, since he undertook to be the rival of so brave a man. He did not go toward the banks of the fateful river, but in quite another direction to his own castle of Brionne, and a troop of his vassals escaped with him and defended them- selves there for a long time, until William fairly starved them out like rats in a hole. The)' held THE BATTLE OF THE VAL-ES-DUNES. 211 their own bravely, too, and no man was put to death when they surrendered, while Guy was even allowed to come back to court. Master Wace stoutly main- tains that they should have been hung, and says long afterward that some of those high in favor at court were the traitors of the great rebellion. Strange to say, nobody was put to death. Mr. Freeman says of this something that gives us such a clear look at William's character that I must copy it entire. " In those days, both in Normandy and elsewhere, the legal execution of a state criminal was an event that seldom happened. Men's lives were recklessly wasted in the endless warfare of the times, and there were men, as we have seen, who did not shrink from private murder, even in its basest forms. But the formal hanging or beheading of a noble prisoner, so common in later times, was, in the eleventh century, a most unusual sight. And, strange as it may sound, there was a sense in which William the Conqueror was not a man of blood. He would sacrifice any number of lives to his boundless ambi- tion ; he did not scruple to condemn his enemies to cruel personal mutilations ; he would keep men for years as a mere measure of security, in the horrible prison-houses of those days ; but the extinction of human life in cold blood was something from which he shrank." At the time of the first great victory, the historian goes on to say, William was of an age when men are commonly disposed to be generous, and the worst points of his character had not begun to show themselves. Later in life, when he had broken the 212 THE STORY OF THE NORMANS. rule, or perhaps we must call it only his prejudice and superstition, we find that the star of his glory is already going down, pale and spent, into the mists of shame and disappointment. None of the traitors of the Val-es-dunes were treated harshly, according to the standard of the times. The barons paid fines and gave mortgages, and a great many of them were obliged to tear down their robber castles, which they had built without permission from the duke.V This is the reason that there are so few ruins in Normandy of the towers of that date. The Master of St. Saviour's was obliged to take himself off to Brittany, but there was evi- dently no confiscation of his great estates, for we find him back again at court the very next year, high in the duke's favor and holding an honorable position. He lived forty-four years after this, an uncommon lifetime for a Norman knight, and followed the Con- queror to England, but he got no reward in lands and honor, as so many of his comrades did. Guy of Burgundy stayed at court a little while, and then went back to his native province and devoted himself to making plots against his brother, Count William. Grimbald de Plessis fared the worst of all the conspira- tors; he was taken to Rouen and put into prison weighted down with chains, and given the poorest of lodgings. He confessed that he had tried to murder William that night at Valognes, when the court jester gave warning, and said that a knight called Salle had been his confederate. Salle denied the charge stoutly and challenged De Plessis to fight a judicial combat, but before the day came the schem- THE BATTLE OF THE VAL-ES-DUNES. 213 ing, unlucky baron from the Saxon lands was found dead in his dungeon. The fetters had ground their way into his very bones, and he was buried in his chains, for a warning, while his estates were seized and part of them given to the church of Bayeux. ' Now, at last, the Norman priests and knights knew that they had a master. For some time it was sur- prisingly quiet in Normandy, and the country was unexpectedly prosperous. The great duchy stood in a higher rank among' her sister kingdoms than ever before, and though there was another revolt and serious attacks from envious neighbors, yet the Saxons of the Bessin and the Danes of the Cotentin were overthrown, and Normandy was more unitedly Norman-French than ever. There had been a long struggle that had lasted from Richard the Fearless' boyhood until now, but it was ended at last, to all intents and purposes. Even now there is a differ- ence between the two parts of Normandy, though so many years have passed ; but the day was not far off after this battle of Val-es-dunes when the young conqueror could muster a great army and cross the channel into England. " The Count of Rouen," says Freeman, " had overcome Saxons and Danes within his own dominions, and he was about to weld them into his most trusty weapons, wherewith to overcome Saxons and Danes beyond the sea." Perhaps nothing will show the barbarous cruelty of these times or William's fierce temper better than the story of Alengon and its punishment. William Tal- vas, the young duke's old enemy, formed a rebellious league with Geoffry of Anjou, and they undertook 2t4 THE STOkY OF THE NORMANS. to hold Alen^on against the Normans. When Wil- liam came within sight of the city, he discovered that they had sufficient self-confidence to mock at him and insult him. They even spread raw skins over the edge of the city walls, and beat them vigor- ously, yelling that there was plenty of work for the tanner, and giving even plainer hints at what they thought of his mother's ancestry. William was naturally put into a great rage, and set himself and his army down before the walls his enemies thought so invincible. He swore " by the splendor of God " that he would treat them as a man lops a tree. with an axe, and, sure enough, when the siege was over, and Alen^on was at the Conqueror's mercy, he demanded thirty-two captives of war, and nose, hands, and feet were chopped off, and present- ly thrown back over the walls into the town. i^^^^^^^^L^ Ik^f^'&sT !^Wt? ^^m ®| ^s m (Jj^> ^**@r"^^^^ r^P^ ^