YALE UNIVERSITY
LIBRARY

HISTORY

JOTJE CONQUESTS OE EMLAED;

HISTORY

FOUB CONQUESTS OF ENGLAND.

JAMES AUGUSTUS ST. JOHN.

IN TWO VOLUMES.

VOL. II.

LONDON;
SMITH, ELDER, & CO., 65, CORNHILL.
1862.
The 'Right of Translation is reserved.

CONTENTS OF YOLUME II.

CHAPTER XIII.
Conquest of England by the Danes ... ... ... 1
CHAPTEE. XIV.
Danish Sovereigns of England ... ... ... 37
CHAPTER XV.
Danish Sovereigns — (continued) ... ... ... 106
CHAPTEE XVI.
Eestoration of the House of Cerdie ... ... ... 130
CHAPTEE XVII.
Ascendancy of Harold and Tostig ... ... ... 181
CHAPTEE XVIII.
Last of the Saxon Kings ... ... ... ... 233
CHAPTEE XIX.
Early Years of William's Eeign ... ... ... 281
CHAPTEE XX.
Depopulation of Northnmbria ... ... ... 315
CHAPTER XXI.
Domestic and Foreign "Wars ... ... ... ••• 348
Conclusion ... ... ... ••• ••• 414

HISTORY OF ENGLAND;-

CHAPTER XIII.
CONQUEST OF ENGLAND BY THE DANES.
Over Ethelred's amatory achievements the Chroniclers
have, in many instances, drawn a veil, though not so
thick as entirely to conceal their character.1 He now,
in a.d. 1002, conceived the idea of strengthening himself
against his enemies by contracting an alliance with a
Norman princess.2 All the steps he had previously taken
might have been retrieved — he might have listened to
wiser counsellors — superior armies and fleets might have
been organised and equipped — the nation might have
roused itself from its lethargy, and shaken off the
northern incubus ; but, by intermarrying with a daugh
ter of the Vikings recently established in France, he
enlarged the range of pretensions to the English throne,
and prepared the way for the Battle of Hastings.. It
may doubtless be said for him that he was at his wit's
end — no great way to travel. He had alienated the
feelings of the English; misfortune had thinned his
friends ; his own folly had exhausted his resources, and
he was to some extent, therefore, excusable in making
this desperate attempt to secure to himself a new . ally
against the Baltic marauders, who every clay hemmed
1 William of Malmesbury, II. 10. Mailros, I. 153. Ex accessionibus
2 Saxon Chronicle, Florence of Eoberti de Monte ad Sigibertum,
Worcester, a.d. 1002. Chronica de Bouquet, X. 269,
VOL. II. B

Y

2 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. [CHAE. XIII.
him more closely round, and threatened to deprive, him
at once of crown and life. He could not, moreover, be
ignorant that the ranks of the invaders were gradually
strengthened by fugitives from his own camp, for during
the whole protracted struggle between the. Saxons and
Danes, thousands of the former — chiefly, perhaps, serfs
and slaves — had joined the Vikings against their country
men. Eichard Sans Peur, who died a.d. 996, had left be
hind him, by Guenora, a Danish concubine,1 a daughter,
called by popular adulation the Pearl of Normandy,2
Emma,3 whom the Saxons denominated Elfgiva, or the
Gift, of the Elves, seems, in truth, to have been possessed
of much beauty ; but her mental qualities were very far
from corresponding with the charms of her person. Like
all other Normans, she was greedy of gold, ambitious,
selfish, voluptuous, and in an eminent degree prone to
treachery. So far, therefore, she was a fitting mate for
Ethelred,4 who is supposed by some to have proceeded
in person to Normandy to . bring her home.5 In the ;
suite of the queen came over numbers of her country
men, subtle, intriguing, false, and capable of any act of
treason which promised to further their own fortunes.
These men having been appointed to high commands6 in
various parts of England, allied themselves with the
enemy, and commenced that system of fraud and perfidy
which in a future reign led to the most calamitous results.
1 Pajgrave, History of Normandy * The author of L'Estoire de
and England, II. 902. Seint iEdward le Eei, VV. 137-
2 " Emma, "Normanorurn gemma, 142, speaks of Ethelred and Emma
venit in Angliam etdiadema no- as well suited to each other in a
menque reginse suscepit." Henry different sense :—
of Huntingdon, p. 752. See also " He a wife married, wfcasenamewasEmmci''
Higden Polychronicon, III. 271. A graceful pair they were ;
Capgrave, Chronicle of England, p. £ SSST.MSSf**'
122, quaintly observes that " In the Such was the pair aad the company."
xxiv. yere of his regne he wedded Mr Luard's translation, p. 183.
Emme, cleped ' The broche of Nor- 5 Gaimar L'Estoire des Eneles
mandie."' V v. 4126, sqq. '
3 Breve Chronicon S. Martini 6 Saxon Chronicle, Florence of
Turonensis, a.d. 996. Worcester, a.d. 1003.

A.D. 1002.] DANISH CONQUEST. 3
Whatever may have been the beauty of Emma,
Ethelred's marriage with her was simply an affair of
policy, for ho sooner was she installed in the palace,
.than he abandoned her society for that of his English
mistresses,1 with whom he could converse, while in her
company he perhaps experienced that tedium and dis
taste which often characterise intercourse with foreigners.
The early days of their nuptials are said to have been
clouded by the darkest and most sinister rumours. With
whom they originated is unknown. Possibly Emma's
Norman friends, always delighting in plots, may have
sought to ingratiate themselves at court by industriously
circulating or inventing strange and horrible designs,
and attributing them to the king's enemies. To add
to the exasperation of Ethelred's mind, Huna, his
minister and commander-in-chief, burning perhaps with
resentment for some personal wrong, is said, in a private
audience, to have drawn a fearful picture of the insults
and injuries everywhere suffered by the English at the
hands of the Northmen, who, enriched by indiscriminate
plunder, and naturally petulant and reckless, strutted
through the streets of London and other great towns
dressed in scarlet or purple, with gilded shields and
battle-axes, and helmets inwrought with gold, alluring
to their arms such women as were weak and vicious, and
offering brutal violence to the noble and the chaste.
But however eloquently Huna may have delineated
these maddening scenes, the topic was far from possess
ing novelty. For. upwards of two hundred years the
soil of England had been stained by similar atrocities,
and its women, high and low, had become habituated to
the licentious conduct of the invaders. It is, neverthe
less, possible that foreign insolence had about this time
attained to an unusual height, put on more offensive
features, or approached the hearths of men who, through
their power or influence in the land, could avenge the
degradation of their families.2
1 William of Malmesbury, II. - Matthew of Westminster, Roger
10. of Wendover, a.d. 1012.

4 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. [CHAP. XIII.
Be that as it may, Ethelred, even in the arms of his
young wife, devised and executed one of those porten
tous crimes, which succeeding ages regard with unmiti
gated horror. To extirpate the Northmen, and clear
the whole kingdom of them in one day, the plan of
a general massacre was organised. On this occasion, at
least, Ethelred and his counsellors displayed great skill,
ability, and determination. Though their genius did
not enable them to cope with the Northmen in the field,
they were at least equal to the task of surprising them
by their firesides, or in their beds, and butchering them
while incapable of resistance. If the accounts of the
Chroniclers be correct, we must admit the whole English
nation, or at least all the men in authority, to have par
ticipated in the crime of the king. The preparations^
for the massacre were made at leisure, with abundant
contrivance and forethought. Orders were transmitted
secretly by letters 1 to every part of the kingdom, that
on St. Brice's Day, the thirteenth of November, the
Anglo-Saxons should all rise as one man, and utterly?
exterminate the Danes.2
What multitudes of them existed in England, we know
not, bat their numbers must have been very great, since
there was scarcely a town or village in which they
did not form a portion of the inhabitants.3 Some had
brought with them their wives from Denmark, others
had married into English families, and settled down
peaceably in the midst of their new relatives. But
these circumstances could by no means extinguish the
feelings of resentment and hatred with which the Danes
were generally regarded. Scarcely a man, certainly no
whole family, could be found in England which had not
received some deadly injury at the hands of the invaders.
One throb of fierce rapture, therefore, quivered through
the whole nation, on the receipt of the fatal instructions
1 Capgrave, Chronicle of Eng- 3 Florence of Worcester, a.d.
land, edited by the Rev. Francis 1002.
Charles Hingestoii, p. 122. 3 Chronicon Joliaunis Bromton,
H. 880.

A.D. 1002.] DANISH CONQUEST. 5
from London. Suddenly, in the midst of complete
tranquillity, the Anglo-Saxons rose against their guests,
against their dearest friends, against their brothers-in-
law, and their sisters-in-law, and plunged the avenging
steel into their hearts, not even sparing infants at the
breast, whose brains, together with those of their mothers,
were dashed out against the posts of their doors.1 In
some cases, those Englishwomen who had become the
mistresses of Danes were buried alive in the earth, or had
their breasts cut off, and were thus left to perish.2 The
slaughter was equally vast and hideous. Well might
the Chroniclers be ashamed to dwell on the features of
the nation's barbarity, and seek to palliate its hideous-
ness by extending one short general description over it
like a pall. But impartial history must neither dissem
ble nor extenuate crimes. We know that the Danes
themselves, in their attempt to subdue this country,
wpre guilty of the most detestable; cruelty, slaughtering
habitually the aged and the infant, the nun at the altar,
the mother at the cradle-side.
By the massacre of St. Brice's Day, the English re
duced themselves to a level with the Danes. Their
ferocity was equal, and enacted on a much larger stage.
The Vikings had perpetrated their enormities, here and
there, at wide intervals, in towns, in villages, or in
convents, but the revenge taken upon them extended
;hrough the territories of a whole kingdom, and that,
:oo, after habits of intimacy, of friendship, and even of
- ove, had begun to unite the two races. For the authors
pf this crime, no apology can be offered; but a majority
of the inferior agents may have been stimulated and
qverreached by a belief, briefly spoken of in the Saxon
Chronicle, that the Northmen were about to rise upon
them, perpetrate an universal butchery, and then seize
typon the entire realm.3 It is said that this conspiracy
' Roger of Wendover, Matthew 3 Saxon Chronicle, Florence of
of Westminster, a.d. 1012. Worcester, a.d. 1002.
2 Chronica Johannis Wallingford,
III. 547,

6 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. [CHAP. XIIj.
of the Danes had been revealed to Ethelred. But the
report rests upon no evidence,1 and the hurried, obscure,
guilty way, in which the hideous crime is alluded to,
sufficiently proves that the Chroniclers had no real ex
tenuation to offer, and that the conspiracy was a mere
fable. Gunhilda,2 the sister of Sweyn, after having beheld
her children and her husband — the traitor Palig — killed
before her eyes,3 was herself led forth to execution in
the streets of London. Familiar with her brother's
character and policy, she predicted, as they were about
to shed her blood, that her death would be speedily and
fearfully avenged.
As the population of East Anglia, Northumbria, and
the Five Burghs of Mercia, was almost exclusively
Danish, we cannot attribute tp the humanity of Ethelred
its exclusion from the massacre. All that could be
reached by the pike or the dagger were slain. Neither
the horrors of St. Bartholomew, nor the Sicilian Vespers,
could exceed the enormity of St. Brice's Day. The
only explanation of it that, can be given, is to be found
in the facts of the Danish invasion, already stated. It
was a sanguinary reaction, the turning of the tiger
upon its hunters. The extent of its criminality is not
to be estimated ; but the deed lived in the memory of
the Northmen wherever they might be found, and was
cherished especially by the Danes in France, who, though
separated from their kindred on the Baltic by a hundred:
and forty years' residence in a foreign land, had their.
vindictive passions stimulated at Hastings by an artful
and exasperating reference to the bloody achievements
of Ethelred.
While the slaughter was taking place in London,
1 William of Malmesbury speaks to be so great a favourite as it was
of it as a light suspicion, II. 10. among the northern nations. See"
2 Considering the evil reputation a highly interesting account of the
which attached to the na,me of ancient Gunhilda, and her magic
Gunhilda, ever since the time of studies, in Dr. Dasent's Appendix
Eric Bloodaxe's queen, it is surpris- to the Njals Saga, II. 377 396.
ing that it should have continued 3 William of Malmesbury II. 10.

A.D. 1002.] DANISH CONQUEST. 7
twelve young Danes rushed, it is said, to the banks
of the Thames, and throwing themselves into a boat,
rowed with all their might down the river. After
lurking about the shore for some time, they found
a ship bound for Denmark, on board of which they
returned home, where they related to the fierce and vin
dictive SWeyn all they knew of the massacre of their
countrymen, dwelling so emphatically on the circum
stances which attended the death of his sister Gunhilda,1
that their narrative wrung tears, it is said, even from
the iron nature of Forkbeard. We must not, however,
attribute either to affection or vengeance the policy
which immediately after the massacre of the Danes in
England, was pursued by Sweyn. From the moment of
his accession to the throne of Denmark, effected through
the murder of his father by Palnatoke, but more
especially after the defeat and death of Olaf Trygvesson,
he had evidently resolved upon the conquest of England,
and in order, as far as possible, to ensure success, had
taken precisely those measures which Robert the Devil's
bastard afterwards adopted as his models. Dexterously
availing himself of the indignation excited throughout
Denmark by the murder of the princess Gunhilda,
together with that of so many gallant and noble Danes,2
he assembled the chiefs of his kingdom, and in a strain
of eloquence worthy of himself and his race, explained
to them that nothing could atone for so hideous an
aggregate of crime as had been perpetrated in England
against their countrymen but the complete conquest of
the island. They were urged, therefore, to make im
mediately the most strenuous exertions in their several
governments and provinces, while he himself appealed to
all the chivalry of the North to aid him in chastising the
wickedness of a nation which, by the depth of its crimi
nality, appeared to have outraged the whole human race.
i Chronica Johannis Wallingford, 2 Higden Poly chronicon, III.
III. 547. Matthew of Westminster, 271.
a.d. 1012.

8 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. [CHAP; XIII.
In a state, of society such as that which prevailed in
the North of Europe in the eleventh century, Avhen
piracy and war constituted the chief employment of
gentlemen, the invitation to engage in an enter
prise promising much gain and glory wr not to be
resisted ;l adventurers, therefore, from Iceland, from:
Norway, and from all the neighbouring regions, eagerly
enrolled themselves in the ranks of the Danish army.
What manner of men they were may be gathered from
the traditions of the North, in which they are repre
sented cool, ruthless, unsparing as the Red Indians
of other days, habitually prowling about with arms in
their hands, always athirst for vengeance, eager to
shed blood, and, like the savages of Borneo, addicted
to cutting off and bearing about with them the heads of
their enemies as trophies of their prowess. Even the
missionaries of the mildest and gentlest of all religions
propagated their faith in Iceland by assassination and
massacre. Earl Thangbrand,2 the apostle of the island,
always went armed with sword or spear, ready to transfix >
his opponents. Scarcely a family in the country, andf
probably very few individuals, could be found who were
not stained with the blood of some neighbour and en
tangled in the meshes of hereditary feuds, which con
verted murder into a duty. Throughout the land, at
dawn or eve, assassins might be seen behind walls, in
thickets and copses, on the rocky banks of rivers, lyingK
in wait for the objects of their ferocious revenge ; and"
in the law courts, accordingly, the chief business tran-~
sacted had reference to the making up of quarrels,
arresting the course of blood feuds, or fixing the amount
of pecuniary atonement for murder. Such were the
brutalising effects of this system of manners, that women,
instead of exerting their influence to humanise their
companions, may be said as a rule to have stimulated

1 Matthew of Westminster, a.d. 2 Dr. Dasent, Njal Saga^it xcn,

A-D. 1003.] DANISH CONQUEST. \ , 9
their bloodthirstiness, ahd goaded them into crime, some-
times by taunting those who appeared slow or unwillY
ing to take revenge, sometimes by taking the garment
in which their husbands had been murdered, folding
it up careful1 - so as to preserve the clotted blood, and
then on the visit of some male relation, on whom the
duty of slaughter seemed to have devolved, bringing it
forth from the coffer and flinging it over him, to awaken
his criminal appetite by the sight and smell of his
relative's gore. What treatment the Anglo-Saxons had
to expect from such invaders may be readily divined.
Mercy was an attribute totally foreign to their natures ;
Avhat they sought in their expeditions against our island
was good store of Anglo-Saxon silver, which they ac
quired by all conceivable deeds of violence and vil'lany,
and, when their work was accomplished, scattered in
vast profusion over all the regions of the North.1
As no king had ever more need than Ethelred of
money, so among all the princes who reigned in England
no one possessed so many mints,2 or passed laws so severe
to protect the royal privilege of coining from being in
vaded by illicit moneyers.3 To estimate the amount of
civilisation in a country, there is no surer means than
interrogating its laws. If these be based on humane
principles, if in their spirit you discern a preference of
life before property, of right before power, the protection
of the poor and the needy before the convenience of the
great, you may bestow on the possessors of such a code
the praise of being civilised ; but if, on the contrary, the
authors of the laws chiefly make reference in their work
to the rights and privileges of power and opulence, we
must inevitably include such a state in the vast circle of
barbarism. To put false money into circulation is in-

1 " The quantity of Anglo-Saxon 2 Ruding, Annals of the Coinage
coins found all over the Northshows of Great Britain, I. 367.
that they must have passed current 3 Laws of King Ethelred, § III.
everywhere," Dasent, Njals Saga, art. 8.
II. 400.

10 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. [CHAP. XIII,
disputably an offence against civil society, but to visit
such an offence with death is to exercise the wild
authority of a brigand who understands nothing of the
proportions between crime and punishment. The old
privilege1 of all Anglo-Saxons of high rank — earls, arch
bishops,2 bishops, and abbots — to possess mints and issue
coin of their own, had already been abrogated as early
as the days of Athelstan, who caused to be enacted a
law prohibiting any but the king from establishing a
mint. Considering the influence of immemorial custom,-
we can experience little surprise that many among the'
Saxons should refuse to recognise the justice of such a
law. It needed much time and systematic indoctrinating
to persuade the English nation that a privilege enjoyed
from the earliest ages by all noblemen, eminent church-'
men, and municipal bodies, could with justice be anni
hilated by a single act of the Witenagemot. Besides, in
the circumstances of the times, in which confusion and;
anarchy overspread the whole land, there existed the
strongest temptation to make the most of what little
silver or any other metal a man might possess. Even'
the regular moneyers, or mint-masters, seem often to
have struck false coin, for which;, when accused, if they
failed to clear themselves by the threefold ordeal, they*
were put to death. Desperate bands of coiners, the relics1^ :
possibly, of the ancient general system of money-makingf
repaired in many instances by night to the forests,3 and
in their deep and distant recesses fabricated that pro
fusion of spurious money which seems to have inundated
the land, and excited the vindictiveness of the legislature. ,,
At first the Anglo-Saxons possessed no coins of their
1 In the opinion of Selden, every noth, archbishop of Canterbury, a.d.!
lord of a city not only exercised the 830-870 (Chronologia Augustinen-
pri vilegeof coining, butalso stamped sis, pp. 14, 17), sold for £13 10s.,"
the money with either his name or which indicates the rarity of these '
his effigies. Ruding (Annals of the archiepiscopal coins. — Athenxum,-
Coinage, I. 346) refers to Selden's January 26th, 1861.
notes on Eadmer, p. 217. 3 Laws of King Ethelred, S iii.
2 At the sale of Mr. Sheppard's, of art. 16. J
Frome, collection, a penny of Ceol- -I

A.D. 1003.] DANISH CONQUEST. 11
own, but made use indiscriminately of euch money as
had been put in circulation by the Britons or Romans,
who seem to have established mints in every considerable
city and town in England. Of British money,large quanti
ties, both in gold and silver, were struck before the Clau-
dian conquest, which appear to have continued in circu
lation after the Romans had become masters of the island,
for the edict ordaining that all current money should
bear the imperial stamp, may be regarded as imaginary.1
As under the later Anglo-Saxon kings, the gold Byzant
was allowed to circulate, so it may be concluded that in
very early times, as well under the Romans as Saxons,
foreign gold coins of different nations were commonly in
use. In corroboration of this view, it may be remarked
that hoards of ancient money have from time to time
been dug up in various parts of the kingdom, and re
cently two Greek gold coins were discovered in Kent,
one under the roots of a very old tree.2 It has been
inferred that when the chiefs of the Heptarchy began to
strike money of their own, their mints were regulated
by laws brought with them from the Continent,3 but it
is far more probable that they adopted both the practice
and the rules which they found already established in
the country. The first Anglo-Saxon mint seems to have
been set up in Kent, where scsettse were coined as early
as the sixth century, and before the conversion of the
natives to Christianity.4 From that time forwards all the
i Ruding ( Annals of the Coinage lary terms of the Greeks and
of Great Britain, J. 272) refers to Saxons, rejects the notion that the
Gildas, whpse authority on such latter borrowed from the former,
matters is altogether worthless. and boldly sends our ancestors to
Cunobelift's coins, of which there Egypt in search of numismatic lore,
exist more than forty varieties, I, 279.
must surely have formed part of the 3 Ruding, Annals of the Coinage
circulating medium from the pro- of Great Britain, I. 274.
fusion in which they are found scat- i See Ruding, Annals, &c, 4to
tered all over England. See Wright, volume, plate iii. Examples of
Celt, Roman and Saxon, second these scsettse have been found in
edition, pp. 82, sqq. pagan Anglo-Saxon barrows or
2 Athenwum, February 2nd, 1861. graves. Wright, Celt, Roman and
Ruding, after discussing the simi- Saxon, p. 437
larity observable in the nummu-

12 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. [CHAP. XIII.
petty princes and chiefs who carved out for themselves
dominions in this country, impressed more or less rudely
their effigies on the money circulated in their territories,
but with the exception of the Mercian Offa, nothing
like artistic skill or taste is discernible in the production
of their mints ; and to account for the superior beauty
and elegance of this prince's coins, he is supposed to
have brought back with him Italian artists from Rome,1
to preside over the labours of his moneyers. This in
genious conjecture, however, loses much of its proba
bility when it is considered that Offa's Roman pilgrimage
is a fiction, for which reason some other explanation of
the superiority of his coins must be sought, and may
perhaps be found in the greatness of his own genius, and
the much higher state of civilisation which Mercia seems
to have inherited from the great Roman municipalities
with which it was thickly studded.
The history of the Anglo-Saxon mints, equally curious
and imperfect, may be said to show that, in times of great
public calamity, like those of Alfred and Burhred, the
coinage was much debased. In no part of the country, ex
cept Northumbria, do we find brass money, or, save in rare
instances, any other metal than silver; but in the period
between the departure of the Romans and the establish
ment of the Anglo-Saxon principalities, an abundance
of brass money, supposed to have been struck by the
municipal towns, was in general circulation. Iinme^
diately upon the Danish conquest, the effigies of the
foreign sovereigns, the violent precursors of the Normans
appear upon the coins of England— -Sweyn,2 Canute, and
their successors, whose truculent physignomies must
1 Ruding (Annals of the Coinage was writing the life of an English
of Great Britain, I. 323) adopts king, while really composing the
with some hesitation the legend of legend of a mythical Anglian prince.
Offa's pilgrimage, and refers to See Kemble, Preface to Beowulf I.
Carte, History of England, I. 273. xiv.
But this writer has no authority 2 See Bircherod, Specimen An-
but the fabulous life of Offa, by tiquse rei Moneterise Danornm p
Matthew Paris, who imagined he 39, quoted by Ruding.

A.D, 1003.] DANISH CONQUEST. 18
hourly have reminded the Saxons, through their com
mercial dealings, that they were a subjugated and inferior
people.1 In the year a.d. 1003, Sweyn, having drawn together
an army from most parts of Europe, appeared with a
powerful fleet off the coast of Devonshire, and this time
with something like a show of justice. Sailing up the
Exe, he was about to lay siege to Exeter, when Hugo,2
the governor, one of Emma's creatures, unterrified by
the events of St. Brice's Day, threw open the gates to
the Danish host. Having wreaked ample vengeance on
the inhabitants, collected immense booty, and ruined the
city wall, the Vikings marched inland, and encamped
in Wiltshire. It would be nauseous to repeat the
stories of perfidy by which the Chroniclers attempt to
extenuate the cowardice of the Saxons. Elfric, they
pretend, whose son's eyes had been put out, and who
before had repeatedly betrayed the cause of his country,
was again placed by Ethelred at the head of the English
army sent to dispute with Sweyn the road to the capital.
Just on the eve of battle, he feigned, we are told, to be
seized with sudden sickness,3 upon which the soldiers,
though eager to engage the enemy, reluctantly turned
their backs, and fled. Upon this, Sweyn pursued his
march, sacked and burned Wilton4 and Salisbury, after
which he approached that part of the shore where he
knew that his sea-horses awaited him. Mounted on
these trusty steeds, the Vikings turned their faces east
wards, and landed, a.d. 1004, at Norwich,5 and having
plundered and burned the city, advanced into the
interior, diffusing terror far and wide. To stay their
ravages, Ulfkytel, earl of East Anglia, suddenly calling
together his Witan, consulted with them, and it was
agreed that a sum of money should be offered to the in-
1 Ruding, Annals of the Coinage * Higden.'Polychronicon, III. 271.
of Great Britain, L 376, sqq. 5 Florence of Worcester, a.d.
. 2 Florence of Worcester, a.d. 1003. 1004,
3 Saxon Chronicle, a.d, 1003.

14 HISTORY OF- ENGLAND. [CHAP. Xtlt.
vaders for the purchase of peace;1 The mdhey Was&'c-
eepted, and the truce agreed on ; but before its expira
tion, Sweyn threw himself, with his whole force, into
Thetford, which he sacked, and set on fife.2 The brave
earl, perceiving that no faith was to be put in treaties
with the Danes, proclaimed a general levy throughout
East Anglia, and prepared for battle. His policy was
vigorous and enlightened. To one part of his forces he
issued orders to burn the Danish fleet, which was
leisurely moving up the coast for the protection of the
army; with the remainder, he resolved to encounter
Sweyn, in the hope of entirely cutting him off.
But his policy was defeated by the tardiness of tiniii
dity of the East Anglians. His orders to destroy the
ships were disobeyed, and only a small portion 6f the
people rallied round him fof battle. With these, how
ever, he attacked the Danes with all a Dane's fierceness
and braVery— for he too belonged to the Scandinavian
race— -and so fiery was his impetuosity, and so well was
he seconded by the small force at his command, that, by:
the confession of the invaders themselves, they never
engaged in a more sanguinary conflict on English ground.
Many of the East Anglian nobles fell in this battle, which
might have proved fatal to Sweyn and his whole army
had the rising against them been general. As it was, he
fought his way with much difficulty to his ships.
This casual advantage exerted little influence on the
general aspect of the war, which, during the following
year, was interrupted by the results of its own ravages';
No calamity, incident to human society, had England
escaped. The appearance of comets, and the occurrence
of earthquakes, had filled the nation with superstitious'
terrors ; plagues had attacked the people, with their
flocks and herds ; and now, in a.d. 1005, famine came to
coniplete the destruction begun by pestilence and the
sword.3 In the midst of these horrors, of which the
1 Saxon Chronicle, a.d. 1004. 3 Saxon Chronicle, a.d. 1004.
2 Chronica de Mailros, 1. 153.

A.D. 1005.] DANISH CONQUEST. 15
great massacre only formed the crowning incident, the
two races were manifestly blending, partly by force,
partly through policy. Ethelred himself had been
united with a Danish woman, who brought him many
children; and his second wife was also, in part at least,
a Scandinavian. Most of his offspring, therefore, were
semi-Danes, . and these again allied themselves, both
males and females, with the Baltic stock. No reasons
of policy or prejudice prevented his distributing his
daughters among his earls : Ulfkytel had one, Edric
another, and as long as his family survived they con
tinued to marry and intermarry with individuals from
the north. The surface of events was, therefore, ob
viously sloping towards the catastrophe of Hastings.
Very little pure Saxon blood remained in the country.
By violence or persuasion, by interest, by considerations
of expediency, by accident frequently, and at times by
love, the Saxon women had become the mothers of
children to Danes. The king's marriage with Emma
contributed in no slight degree to multiply the elements
of confusion and dissolve the links of patriotism. Ad
venturers from Normandy stealthily crept into the land,
through the pardonable partiality of Emma, and the
criminal connivance of her husband. All these new comers
had Anti-Saxon leanings, and by birth, education, and
inherent prejudices were led to co-operate with the
invaders rather than the invaded. During all the suc
ceeding reigns. the same process was continued, and
always on a larger and larger scale. By degrees the
whole face of the country became studded with Northern
earls, bishops, abbots, monks, priests, and inferior
settlers, so that to transfer the sceptre from one family
or race to another demanded no extraordinary effort,
and involved no marvellous revolution.
The desolation of war can by no means be regarded
as the only cause ofthe famine which afflicted England
in 1005. There must have been the co-operation of
natural phenomena, floods, droughts, murrain, mildew;

16 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. [CHAP. XIII.
for the devastations had long continued, and were^ after
wards renewed on a still more extensive scale without
producing similar results. From whatevef fountain 'the
bitter waters flowed, they covered the whole land.
Everywhere the famishing multitude presented the
grim spectacle of suffering; and, thefefore, unable to
victual his followers, Sweyn sailed back to Denmark;
but, after a brief delay, having recruited his* forces on
the Baltic, returned with an immense fleet, and landed
shortly after Midsummer at Sandwich. No new feature
characterised the military operations that ensued. Meet
ing with little opposition, they marched inland, Hghting
up their war-beacons as they went, in other words,
committing towns and cities to the flames. No single
county in all Wessex escaped the ravages of the enemy.
An army, indeed, was collected to check their progress,
which continued in the field all harvest-time, but with
out once coming to an engagement. The men then
dispersed and retired to their homes, leaving the Danes
undisputed masters of the country wherever they ad
vanced. A prophecy had got into circulation, that if
these invaders ever ventured to encamp on Cuckamsley
Hill,1 they would never again be able to reach the sea.
To evince their contempt for the silly superstition of
the natives, the. Danes, after having set all Berkshire
and Oxfordshire in a blaze, proudly pitched their tents
on the fatal height, despising equally the prediction and
its authors, and when they had at their leisure surveyed
from this eminence the lovely country they had resolved
should one day be their own, they descended, and
sweeping before them their vast booty, rich vestment's,
chalices from the altar, gold and silver ornaments, large
droves of cattle, and troops of female captives — returned
towards the sea-shore. During their march, a small army
of Saxons, drawn together in haste, encountered them

1 Camden, Britannia, p, 151.'

A.D. 1006.] DANISH CONQUEST. 17
at Kennet,1 but was soon put to flight ; after which they
pushed forward leisurely, apprehending no further inter
ruption. Their route lay near the city of Winchester,
and the faithful Chronicler observes : — "_ Then might the
Winchester men see a brave and fearless army pass by
their gates, and collect for its use food and treasure
through a circuit of fifty miles." 2
Ethelred, with his favourite Edric Streone,3to whom he
had given his daughter Editha in marriage,4 had mean
time retired into Shropshire,5 where his evil destiny be
trayed him into the commission of fresh crimes. It seems
wholly impossible to penetrate the secret of Ethelred's ¦
character. When it was most needful for him to conci
liate the affections and goodwill of his people, his every
day acts only tended to alienate them more completely
from him. Deeds of violence characterised the manners
of the, times — one of his ablest generals, haying slain in
private strife a court favourite, was banished the realm,
and now Ethelred indulged his vindictiveness and cupi
dity against other distinguished persons. To lessen the
odium inspired by his crimes, they are in part attributed
by the Chroniclers to the instigation of Edric: but
what a king does by his, instruments, he does himself.
We are wholly deprived, therefore, of all pretence for at
tempting the exculpation of Ethelred, who slew, blinded,
or sent into exile, the best and ablest m*en of England.6
The steps by which his new favourite rose to influence
in the palace, and to distinction and power in the state,
have not been carefully marked by the Chroniclers. He
is said to have been a man of low origin,7 but gifted by
nature with great abilities, a plausible tongue, and most
1 . The Cunetio of Antoninus, situ- 3 Higden,Polychronicon, III. 272.
ated on the river of the same name. 6 " The same year was Wulfgeat
Camden, Britannia, p. 98. deprived of all his possessions, and
2 Saxon Chronicle, a.d. 10Q6. Wulfeah and Ufgeat were blinded,
3 Historia Ingulphi, I. 57. and Elfelm, the ealdorman, was
4 Florence of Worcester, a.d. 1 009, slain." Saxon Chronicle, a.d. 1006.
with the note of Mr. Petrie. Roger ' Higden, Polychronicon, III. 272.
de Hoveden, a.d. 1007. William of Malmesbury, II. 10.
VOL. II. C

18 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. [CHAP. XIII.
persuasive eloquence. Despised and shrunk from by
the' nobility on account of his humble birth, he perceived
that his sole prospect of advancement lay through the
king's favour, which was only to be secured by divining
arid executing his worst wishes. Men in such a situa
tion often become perfidious and sanguinary. Con
strained to submit to numerous insults, even from their
patron, they treasure up the remembrance of them in
their hearts, and are half suffocated by their pent-up
feelings till the moment of vengeance presents itself, :
We find Edric Streone in a situation of great opulence
and authority in Shropshire, where his first achievement
is an act of assassination. His residence was at that time
in the city of Shrewsbury, whither he invited Elfhelm,
earl of Mercia or Deira1, whose estates and honours he
coveted, to a great entertainment, which, after the
manner of the Anglo-Saxons, lasted many days. All
the amusements of the age were called in to enliven the
guests, especially hunting, always a favourite sport with
Teutonic nations. The hunt naturally led the sports
men into a forest, where Edric had made all necessary
arrangements for the assassination of his guest. It is
clearly implied by the appellation of the murderer, that
he was habitually employed in deeds of blood, for he is
called Godwin, the ' ' City Hound. ' ' 2
This miscreant, at the head of a band of ruffians,
bribed with gifts and profuse promises by Edric, seizing
dexterously upon the moment when the .great earl was
passing through a dusky part of the wood, rushed sud
denly from his hiding-place, and assassinated him. That

1 There is no certainty respecting and refers to Gale, I. 522, probably
the province of which Elfhelm was a typographical error for ILL 522.
earl. From the fact that, almost Historia Eliensis, where the sig-
iinmediately after his murder, Edric nature of Elfhelmus Dux occurs
succeeded to the earldom of Mercia, in a charter. See also Codex Diplo-
•it may perhaps be inferred that he maticus, VI. 153.
•slew him in order to obtain his 2 Florence of Worcester A.p.
•honours, though Dr. Lappenberg is 1006. " Carnifex Godwimis ' Port-
of opinion that he was earl of Deira, hund, id est, oppidi canis."

A.D. 1007.] DANISH CONQUEST. \9
this crime Was committed in conformity with the king's
wishes can hardly admit of a doubt, for the terror it
inspired throughout Mercia had not yet died away ere
the two sons of Elfhelm, Wulfeah and Ulfgeat, had their
eyes torn out by royal command.1 It had always formed
a part of Ethelred's domestic policy to assail the great
men of his kingdom with false accusations, that he might
have a pretext for taking at once their lives and their
"estates. What proportion of the advantages springing
from the murder and the blinding fell to his share, the
historians of the time have omitted to state ; but Edric
Streone, his instrument or accomplice, rose greatly in the
path of ambition, for he shortly after received as his
reward the extensive and opulent earldom of Mercia.2
Meanwhile no effectual steps were taken to circum
scribe the ravages of the enemy. All England lay before
them trembling, not knowing in what direction the torrent
of plunder, massacre, and violation would be next poured.8
Their predecessors of the ninth century had conducted
the same process of devastation over the surface of
France, where, with comparatively small forces, they re
duced the whole population of the land to depend for
life upon their mercy. A few hundred Normans entered
the largest cities, and carried away whatever they set
their hearts on. Most of the ancient noble families had
disappeared, and the nation, subjugated and corrupted
by ecclesiastical influence, had degenerated into a rabble
of tame and submissive slaves. All public affairs were
in the hands of bishops and monks, who, profiting by
the general calamity, enlarged the circle of saint and
relic worship, which every day became a more prolific
1 Matthew of Westminster, a.d. "Then became the dread of the
1006. army so great that no man could
2 William of Malmesbury, II. 10. think or discover how they could
Saxon Chronicle, a.d. 1007. be driven out of the land, or this
3 The language, of the National land maintained against them, for
Chronicle in describing the feelings they had every shire jn Wessex
which then universally prevailed sadly marked by burning and by
is equally strong and emphatic : plundering," a.d. 1006.

c

2

20 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 0GHAP- XI11,
source of opulence to the Church. The same causes
had now produced the same effects in England!, where
the worshippers of Odin drove before them like a .flock
of sheep vast multitudes of those whom the supersti
tions of Rome had altogether deprived of manly virtiaiell;
In this dismal predicament, the king and his Witan re^
verting to the grovelling policy of substituting gold (for
steel, paid for a brief and precarious truce thirty-
six thousand pounds of silver.2 The expedient, -it- us
said, was hateful to them; but possessing neither courage
nor military skill, it was their only resource. They
furthermore agreed to supply the invaders with provi-*
sions,. for which the whole country was ransacked by the
government collectors. To what depths of misery the
people were reduced by these measures, it surpasses our*
power to conjecture. One day their scanty stores were^
swept away by the Danes, on the next Ethelred's tax-
gatherers made their appearance, and showed little more
mercy than the common foe. The contest had assumed
the character of a civil war, and Sweyn was looked upoff
rather as Ethelred's rival for the crown than as a foreign
marauder. From viewing him in this light, thousands;
fell away3 from the unworthy descendant of Alfred, to
cleave to the adventurous Viking, who, whatever might
be the fierceness or ferocity of his mind, at least pos
sessed the redeeming virtue of courage. u
Trial only in desperate times can ascertain the measure
of a nation's resources. To prevent the army of Norths
men already in England from receiving perpetual re
inforcements by sea, it was decreed by the Witenagemdt

1 See Hallam's able note on the acomered with Danes that he be the
cowardice of the French in the couneelofthebischopofCaunteriY

ninth century. Middle Ag<|s, 1. 134, he accorded with them to pay hei
2 Higden (Polychronicon, III. yerly X thousand pound, and the
272) reduces the sum to thirty thou- second yere XVI thousand ; andYo
sand pounds of silver. Capgrave thei reised him to XL thousands"
(Chronicle of England, p. 122) thus 3 Chronicon: Johannis Bronitoiij
quaintly sums up the history of the p. 880.
Danish tribute ; — " He was so

A.D. 1009.] DANISH CONQUEST. 21
that a vast fleet should be constructed and equipped1
with all speed.2 To accomplish this, the payment of the
Danegeld was rigorously enforced. Every three hun
dred and ten hides of land were required to supply a
ship fully manned ahd armed, and every eight hides a
helmet and coat of mail. Upwards of a year was con
sumed in making ready this armament, which far ex
ceeded in magnitude all the maritime efforts of preceding
kings.. , Unhappily physical means are of little avail
where wisdom and courage are wanting. About the
vicious and bewildered king, the earl of Mercia and his
brethren clung like the fabled serpents about Laocoon.
They were seven in all — Edric, Brihtric, Elfric, Goda,
Ethelwine, Ethelward, and Ethelmere — and between
them was incessantly carried on a reckless struggle for
pre-eminence. Being all desirous of monopolising the
favour of Ethelred, they plotted against each other, and
pursued their designs with relentless vindictiveness.
Ethelmere, the youngest of the brothers, had a son,
Wulfnoth,3 who for his courage and capacity had been
made Childe of the South Saxons, a post of great honour
and distinction. This excited rancorous envy in the
breast of his uncle Brihtric, who, in order to compass
his overthrow, accused him of treason to the king.4 Fa
miliar with the cruel and capricious temper of Ethelred,
the young earl effected his escape from London, and,
throwing himself on board the fleet, persuaded the sea
men of twenty ships to follow his fortunes, and become
Vikings on the ocean. Imitating the Northmen, whose
calling they had adopted, they plundered and devas
tated the whole southern coast of England as if it had
been the territory of their worst enemy. Brihtric now
persuaded himself that the favourable moment had
1 Saxon Chronicle, a.d. 1008. For Henry Ellis, Introduction to Dooms-
the number of hides in England see day, 1. 145, sqq.
Gale, III. 748 ; and for the extent 2 Chronica de Mailros, I. 154.
of the hide,Kemble, Saxons in Eng- s Saxon Chronicle, Florence of
land, Appendix to vol. I. p. 487. Sir Worcester, a.d. 1009.
' ^ * Roger de Hoveden, a.d. 1008.

22 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. [CHAP. X|JI.
arrived for at once satiating his revenge and rising to
higher honour at court. He requested and obtained the
command of a large squadron, with which he set out
eagerly in pursuit of his nephew; but not being famif-
liar with the sea, or with the signs of bad. weather,
he suffered himself to be overtaken., by a storm, which
wrecked most of his ships upon the beach> These the
Childe of the South Saxons, coming up with his little
squadron as soon as the tempest had subsided, set on
fire and utterly destroyed, and having by this act placed
an impassable barrier between himself and the king's
favour, sailed merrily away to lead the life of a pirate on
the sea.1 , ,-. -¦¦_,< -,r
The great body of the fleet, however, was still saffe
under the command of Ethelred himself; but that
valiant prince, taking fright at the disaster which had
overtaken Brihtric's squadron, relinquished the comi
mand and fled on shore. The example thus set was
immediately followed by the rest of the admirals^ who,
through fear apparently of Wulfhoth, hastily entered
the Thames and returned to London. Thus the whole
expense of this immense armament was thrown away,
since the- only result , obtained by its construction was
the farther impoverishment of the nation.2
No sooner had the sea been cleared, than a vast
Danish fleet appeared off the coast, and, meeting with no
opposition, entered the harbour of Sandwich.3 Heiee the
freebooters refreshed themselves, and then sailed fopr
Canterbury, which they would at once have stormed and
sacked, but that the citizens consented to ransom them
selves, by the payment of three thousand pounds.* It
.has been suspected, perhaps, with out- reason, that the
movements of Thurkill were directed by Sweyn,5 who,
'Matthew of Westminster, a.d. Simeon DeGestis Regum Anslorum.
1008. p. 167.
2 Saxon Chronicle, a.d. 1009. 5 William of Malmesbury makes
3 Florence of Worcester, a.d. 1009. Thurkill inyite Sweyn to undertake
4 Higden, Polychronieon, III. 272. the conquest of England, by giving

A,D. 1009.] DANISH CONQUEST. 23
though ostensibly observing the stipulations of his treaty
with Ethelred, contrived in this way to neutralise them.
Whatever construction we put upon his conduct, Thur
kill pursued the hereditary system of his countrymen.
Proceeding to the Isle of Wight, and making that his
-head-quarters, he disembarked his forces in Hampshire,
and extended his depredations throughout the whole of
that county, together with Berkshire and Sussex, Another
appeal was now made by Ethelred to the nation, which
consented, though with evident reluctance, to take the
field against the new enemy. No advantage, however, was
obtained by this hasty rush to arms. Possessed by over
whelming terror of the Danes, they marched hither and
-thither, showing themselves where the enemy were not,
and skilfully eluding coming face to face with them.
On one occasion, when they were thrown- accidentally
-between Thurkill and the sea, and, in the opinion of the
Chroniclers, might have easily cut him off, nothing was
thought of but flight, the disgrace and infamy of which
are set down, though with obvious injustice, to the ac
count of Edric Streone. Had the army been really brave,
it would have found a general; but commanders and
soldiers were equally without valour, and Only sought to
screen themselves from censure by mutual accusations of
treachery. Encountering no effectual resistance, Thurkill again
advanced eastwards, and occupied Kent, subsisting by the
plunder of that ancient kingdom, and the neighbouring
county of Essex. Imagining everything to be possible
against so pusillanimous a foe, he frequently, pushed .for
ward his army to the walls of London, which he attempted
to storm. But the citizens of that great city had lost
nothing of their hereditary courage,- and invariably op
posed to the assailants so vigorous a resistance that they
him an account of the king's vices, as Forkbeard knew England much
of the people's sloth, and the better than Thurkill, this story is
country's fertility (II. 10). - But obviously without foundation. T

.24.. HISTORY OF ENGLAND. [CHAPV XIII.
at length relinquished the enterprise, and remained till
mid-winter cooped up in their camp.1
The operations ofthe Northmen now ceased to resemble
war; the whole country lay helpless before them, and,
with the exception of the capital, scarcely any city escaped
the calamity of storm and plunder. The accounts trans*
mitted to us, however, can hardly fail to excite our
scepticism, since we find the same counties repeatedly
ravaged, and yet always yielding an abundance of plunder,
and the same cities burned again and again: Almost the
only feature possessing any novelty is the battle of Ring-
mere,2 in which Ulfkytel, at the head of the East Anglians*
encountered the host of Thurkill, as he had previously^
that of Sweyn. The fruitlessness of prolonging the strug
gle was made evident at Ringmere. A majority of the
combatants on both sides were Danes, or the descendants
of Danes, and if they fought, it was only^ on one side^ta
preserve what they had acquired, on the other; to effect
an establishment in the country arid share the soil with
the previous settlers. But an interval of peaceful posses*
sion, however short, seems to have unfitted the Danes]
as it had unfitted the Anglo-Saxons, for hand to hand
battles with the ferocious Vikings, who knew they had
no alternative but victory or death by hunger. Before
these half-famished freebooters, the East Anglians, fol-J
lowing their leader, Thurkytel Mareshead,3 soon gave
way, while the blue-eyed Vandals of Cambridgeshire,-
preferring death to defeat, continued the struggle until
they were either cut to pieces or overwhelmed by numa
bers. In this battle fell Athelstan, one of the king's
sons-in-law, together with many other nobles ; after
which Thurkill remained, during three months, master
of East Anglia.
By what means the conquest of the country was
1 Saxon Chronicle, a.d. 1009. ' Myren-Heafod, Florence of
2 Simeon De Gestis Regum An- Worcester,' A.d: 1010.
glorum, p. 167. Chronica de Mail-
ros, 1.154. , ,

e
A.D. 1011.] DANISH CONQUEST. fi A* ^ 25
delayed, seems difficult of explanation. . The spiM"p^ tn%»
people was all but completely broken. Dissensio^T-^.ik-_
trust, effeminacy, selfishness, pervaded the whole popN^M
tion, narrowing the views and paralysing the energies of
all that remained of the ancient Saxon aristocracy. As
in the worst days of the Heptarchy, no traces were visible
of a national policy ; county refused to aid county, and
thanes and earls, intent on preserving their own estates,
abandoned aU care of the public weal. When armies,
therefore, were raised, the only effect was still further to
impoverish the country, since they never showed them
selves to the enemy, but carefully directed their march
through those counties which were farthest removed from
his ravages.1
Considering the characters of the king and his coun
sellors, no surprise can be expressed' at their having
recourse, in such an emergency, to . their old device of
supplying the foe with fresh resouifces ; but the ability
ofthe people to find the means cannot fail to excite our
astonishment. Devastated, depopulated, and pillaged as
England is said to have been, it now, in the thirty-first
year of the war, was sufficiently wealthy to pour as tribute
into the coffers of the spoilers, forty-eight thousand pounds
of silver.2 Over the amount of tribute, however, Ethel
red and his witless Witan had no control. The Danes
made their demands, and as the Saxons would not fight,
it- was clear they must comply with the wishes of their
toasters. They had probably ceased to expect anything
beyond a short respite, in consideration of this immense
donation. Barbarians have seldom much respect for
truth, and regard the keeping of faith as an act of weak
ness.:., To outwit their enemies by oaths and treaties is
as honourable, in their opinion, as to subdue them in the
'Relating the events of this of the national Chronicle :" Never-
calamitous period, the Saxon theless, for all the truce and tribute,
Chronicle observes, " Wherever the they went everywhere in bands, and
Danes were, there the English were plundered -our miserable people,
not." a.d. 1010. and robbed and slew them, a.d.
2 Tho following are the sad words 1011, Historia Ingulphi, I. 57.

26 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. [CHAP. XIII.
field. Accordingly, the Danes agreed to everything re
quired of them by Ethelred, and, having obtained the
moneys took no further notice of the incident, than in so
far as it augmented their, supplies.
About the middle of September, Thurkill, at the head
of his army, once more entered Kent, and, being resolved to
add the nameof its ancientcapital to the list of cities he had
already ruined, encamped before Canterbury,1 and com
menced the siege by surrounding it with a deepttrencb.3
The defence of the place, with its splendid cathedral,- its
rich and spacious monasteries, its palaces and regal tombs,
and aetive and opulent population, devolved on arch- -
bishop Elphege.3 This man, formerly abbot of St. Aa-
gustine's, had, during the Benedictine contest, been ap
pointed to the see of Winchester by Dunstan, from which,
in a.d, 1005, he had been raised to the primacy.4 Dis
tinguished for courage, and resolution, and honoured by
all ranks for his virtues and the extraordinary munificence
of his charity, he would probably have baffled the skill
and worn out the patience of the besiegers, but for a
signal act of treachery on the part ; of one of his own
clergy. The city had already held out twenty days,5 when
archdeacon Elmar,6 whose life Elphege had formerly
preserved, nqw repaid the archbishop's goodness by
betraying him to his worst enemies; through the
treachery of this sacerdotal miscreant, the Danes were
admitted into Canterbury, and signalised their entrance
by burning to the ground one whole quarter of the
city.r Furious at the losses they had sustained, and the
privations they had endured before the walls, they
devoted the inhabitants to a general massacre, in which
it is. said many thousand persons perished. The great
1 Chronica de Mailros, 1. 154. = Roger, de Hoveden, Matthew
2 Saxon Chronicle, Florence of of Westminster, a,d. 1011.
Worcester; a.d. 1011. e Henry of Huntingdon' p. 754,
» Qsbernus De Vita S. Elphegi ' Osbernus De Vita S. Elphegi,
Anglia Sacra, II. 133. 11.135. - --
* ChronologiaAugustinensis,p,23.

A.D, 1:011.] DANISH CONQUEST. 27
monasteries of Augustine and Christchurch, in strength
and i extent, resembled fortresses : into these, therefore^
.multitudes of men, women, and children, fled for
sanctuary. In vain, for the Danes, bursting open the
.gates,1 devoted nine-tenths. of the inmates to torture or
slaughter. The males, whether monks or laymen, were
suspended in the most barbarous manner till they ex
pired in agony; they snatched infants from their
mothers' breasts, and tossed them to and fro upon their
pikes,2 or dashed them on the ground to be erushed to
death beneath the wheels - of heavy waggons ; the
mothers themselves they dragged along by the hair of
their heads, and cast alive into the flames.3 Every
form of suffering which cruelty could devise was in
flicted on the wretched inhabitants ; the poor were
allowed to perish amid torments; the great and opulent,
loaded with chains, were huddled promiscuously into
their ships, to be tortured until ransomed by their
friends, or put to death by slow degrees. Among these
was Elphege the archbishop, Godwin, bishop of
Rochester, Leofrina, abbess of St. Mildred's,4 Alfred,

1 Thorn, however, maintains that neighbours of exactly the same
St. Augustine's monastery was pre- crimes. Simeon De Gestis Regum
served from spoliation by a miracle, Anglorum, p. 204. Whe,n we con-
which he relates at length. Yet he sider many of the events of more
adds that many of its precious relics recent history, whether at home or
and, jewels were then iidden, and abroad, the wars of the Reformat
the monks dying without revealing tion, the civil contests in France,
the places of concealment, they the rebellion in Ireland, we may
were aever afterwards found. Chro- discover quite enough .to destroy
nica, p. 1782. our scepticism as, to the sportive
2 When towards the end of their infanticide of the Scandinavians.
career the Northmen became 3 Having described the execrable
ashamed of these atrocities, the torture to which men were sub-
perpetration of thejn was attri- jected, Osberne proceeds : — " Ma-
buted exclusively to the refuse of tronae, quas'ceeteris clafiores nobi-
the Vikings. See Dr. Dasent's litas effecerat dum thesauros quos
Appendix to the Njals Saga, II. non habebant coguntur prodere, ca-
354. The Chroniclers, however, pillis per omnes civitatis plateas
are consistent and unanimous in distractae, ad ultimum flammis in-
their statements as far as these jectse moriuntur." De Vita S.
cruelties are concerned, and at a Elphegi, ubi supra. -
^ater period accuse our Scottish . *Floreneeof Worcester, a.d.1011.

28 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. [CHAP. XIII.
the king's reeve, with a number of monks, canons, and
wealthy citizens. The caitiff Elmar, who should have
fallen by the stroke of some equitable battle-axe^ was
suffered to depart, and bear away with him the rewards :
and memorials of his infamy. ;,-)-..¦
Having remained in the captured' city several days,
the Danes re-entered their ships, taking; along with"
them a multitude of women and children to be soldfor
slaves, or reserved as the concubines of the army.1' They
then moved up the river to Greenwich, where they dis
embarked and encamped within sight of London. A
portion of the tribute money not having yet been paid,
Ethelred and the great earls had come together to
deliberate on the means of raising the last instalment*.
Much difficulty, it may be presumed, was experienced -
in wringing from the people the immense sum which :
their fears had induced them to promise. All the dis
tressing details attending the levying of this impost?'
have been buried in oblivion ; but it was not until
seven months after the sack of Canterbury that the king,
and his Witan were enabled to fulfil their engagement^
All this while the intrepid archbishop remained a
prisoner, exposed to insults and torture, and threatened?
constantly with death. But no amount of bodily
anguish could subdue the firmness of his soul. Life in
all likelihood had become a burden to him; he saw thejs
whole land a prey to impious marauders, and, among his
own countrymen, nothing but dissension, cowardi©3pr
and vice. To be delivered from so afflicting and humi
liating a spectacle he longed for death, which he sin
cerely believed would be for him the. beginning of hap
piness. He sternly refused, therefore, to comply with the
demands of his captors to extort from* his oppressed
and miserable people an additional three thousand
pounds of silver to purchase for himself a few evil days,
for he was old, and to the natural feebleness of age the
1 Osbernus De Vita S. Elphegi, II. 136.

A.D. 1012.] DANISH CONQUEST. 29
effects of torture and long imprisonment had now been
added. His invincible magnanimity appears to have
excited, no less than the disappointment of their cupidity,
the rage of the Danes. Having menaced him with a
barbarous death, they gave the noble Englishman a
week's respite, in the hope that calm reflection on the
horrors and torments he would have to encounter might
subdue his courage. They were mistaken. At the end of
the appointed time Elphege was as unshaken in his reso
lution as ever, and rather desirous, perhaps, than other
wise to bring his prolonged tragedy to a close.
On Saturday, April 19, 1012, the leaders ofthe army
having received a large supply of wine from the South,
celebrated a great feast, which among them, as among
the Anglo-Saxons, was a necessary preliminary to poli
tical deliberations. The place of meeting was in the
open air, probably on some part of what we now call
Greenwich Park.1 The animals intended to be eaten,
chiefly oxen, were dragged into the midst of the
assembly, killed, flayed, and roasted on the spot. The
ground was covered with blood, bones, reeking entrails,
horns, skulls ; and the ferocious Vikings, gorged and
intoxicated with flesh and wine, ordered their illustrious
captive to be brought before them.2
A single expression made use of by the Chroniclers^
shows that the archbishop, though aged and infirm, broken
down by imprisonment, and threatened, every instant
with death, never lost sight of his duties as a Christian
teacher, but laboured strenuously for the conversion of
his enemies. On the very day preceding his martyrdom,
he had persuaded one of these chiefs, named Thrum, to
make profession of Christianity and receive the rite of
baptism. When Elphege appeared in presence of Thurkill and
his jarls, they once more counselled him to save his life
1 Chronica, Thorn, p. 1781. 1648. Annales Mon asterii Bur ton-
2 Gervas. Actus Pontif. Cant., p. ensis, I. 246.

30 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. [CHAP. XIII.
by obtaining from his friends the sum demanded for his
ransom. Undismayed by the menacing countenances
he beheld all around him, the great prelate, with the
lofty spirit of a patriot, steadily refused compliance,1
upon which the infuriated revellers started from their
seats, and snatching up bones, horns, and skulls, cast
them at him, till, wounded and bleeding, he almost sank
beneath their weight. To prolong his sufferings, they
struck him, it is said, with the back of their battle-axes,
until Thrum, the convert bf the previous day, unable to
witness any longer the agonies of his teacher, clove his
head with his battle-axe and thus terminated his life.
On the following day the body of Elphege, by permis
sion of his murdererSj was borne to London, and reve
rently interred in St. Paul's Cathedral.2
Ethelred was not in circumstances to be particular
about his alliances; he therefore entered into negoci-
ations with the murderer of Elphege and the incendiary
of his colintry, to take service under the English govern
ment. It was either not fottnd practicable to raise a
sufficient sum to hire the whole fleet, or else a number
of its leaders preferred a roving life upon the ocean to
becoming mercenaries in the pay of the English king.
A majority of the force, therefore, broke up and dis
persed, while Thurkill, with forty-five ships, joined the
standard of Ethelred, and undertook to protect the coast
from invasion.
Sweyn, meanwhile, was making immense preparations
for the conquest of England. Sending swift messengers
through all Denmark to rouse his countrymen to arms,

\ Saxon Chronicle," Florence of gines " that some extraordinary
Worcester, a.d. 1012. Osbernus cause had embittered the Danes
Vita S. Elphegi, II. 147. John against the archbishop ;" but no
of Brbmton, p. 889. Lappenberg, trace of any such cause is to be
II. 176, misinterpreting. Florence found in history, nor need we seek
and the Saxon Chronicle, affirms it, since the withholding of the'
that Elphege enraged the Danes money was of itself sufficient to
by first promising, and. then re- excite their fury.
fusing a ransom. He also ima- 2 Florenceof Worcester,A.D. 1012.

A,D. 1013.] DANISH CONQUEST. 31
he superintended in person the budding and equipment
of his new fleet, which contemporary chroniclers describe
in terms of the most extravagant exaggeration. The
minds of barbarians delight, it is true, in pomp and
magnificence ; but Sweyn was much too sagacious to
waste in vain ornaments those treasures of gold and
silver whieh he could not but know would be indis
pensable to the success of his expedition. He may,
nevertheless, have considered it politic to dazzle the
eyes' of the- vulgar with gilded vanes and figure-heads in
the form of birds with wings outspread, or lions, bulls,
and dragons, whose voluminous folds and erected crests
appeared in the sun's rays to breath forth fire over the
waves.1 Rows of shields, either gilded or painted red
and white, hung over the rails from stem to stem, while
above, sails of many colours, red, white and blue, flaunted
in the air.2
It was in the great heats of summer that the king of
the North set sail on his ambitious enterprise, while the
Baltic shores were lined with thronging spectators, who
all wished him — God speed. He had committed the
government of his native land to his younger son,
Harald ; the elder, Canute, he took with him, apparently
through some suspicion of his fidelity. Emerging from
the Sound, and traversing the German ocean, he arrived
safely with his great armada at Sandwich in the month
of August. Here some time appears to have been vainly
spent in tampering with the fidelity of Thurkill, who,
instead of coveting Sweyn's presence in England,3 ob
viously discovered in his coming circumstances wholly
inconsistent with his own designs.
The Danish king, therefore, quitted the shores of
Kent, and rounding the promontory of East Anglia,
entered the Humber, . on both banks of which he
1 EncomiumEmmse Maseres, p. 9. attributes to Thurkill a policy which
2 Heimskringla, Introduction, I. he could not but have foreseen, as I
138, 141. have already remarked, would
3 William of Malmesbury, II. 10, prove fatal to his own ambition.

32 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. [CHAP. XIII.
reckoned confidently on a friendly, reception. Gains
borough,1 on the Trent, was made his head-quarters, and
there he remained till fame had spread through all the
neighbouring counties an exaggerated idea of his arma
ment. The great earls of Northumbria and East Ang
lia, regarding the cause of Ethelred as hopeless, and
thoroughly despising his character and pretensions, came
to Gainsborpugh and swore fealty to Sweyn. The Five
Burghs of Mercia followed their example, so that he was
recognised as king of all England beyond Watfing-
street. Taught, however, by experience, he reposed no
great trust in the fidelity of his new subjects, but took out
of every shire hostages to insure their obedience. The
custody of these he committed to his son Canute,8 whom,
to overawe the turbulent spirits of the north, he left
with the fleet in the Humber. Then, having organised
a large force of cavalry, consisting chiefly of Northum
brians, he hastened towards Watling-street, the boundary
of his own dominions, and immediately on entering the
enemy's country took the most effectual measures for
subduing the minds of the people by terror. Full license
of atrocity was given to the soldiers, who, stimulated by
authority and their own passions, perpetrated eyery.eyfl
in their power against the wretched inhabitants. The
fertile fields were laid waste, towns delivered to the
flames, groves and orchards cut down, gardens rooted
up,3 churches plundered, men of the military age mas
sacred wherever found, while women of all ranks,
huddled together in droves, were converted into camp
followers.4 Far and wide rolled the torrent of desola
tion, overwhelming the fairest cities in Mercia and
Wessex, until its progress was checked by the walls of

1 Saxon Chronicle, Florence of 3 Bois e gardins fait asaarter.
Worcester, a.d. 1013. Historia In- Lives of Edward the Confessor, p.
gulphi, I. 56-57. 30.
2 Saxon Chronicle, Florence of 4 Matthew of Westminster, a.d.
Worcester, a.d. 1013. 1013.

A.D. 1013.J DANISH CONQUEST. 33
London, where Ethelred lay cowering under' the protec
tion of Thurkill.
On this, as on so many other occasions, the citizens
of the capita! displayed undaunted courage and resolu
tion.1 They probably shared with the rest of mankind
a thorough contempt for Ethelred; but as he had en-
trustedhis person to their keeping, they determined on
standing by him to the last. His principal aim being
thus" thwarted, Sweyn marched westwards, and took up
his quarters at Bath.2 It was now distinctly perceived
throughout the country that adherence to the cause of
Ethelred must prove not only fruitless but destructive.
Almost every man of character and position he had
alienated from him by his vices, cowardice, and inca
pacity. Instead of watching over the interests of the
people committed to his care, he had shut his eyes
against their misery, and passed his time riotously in
the company of drunkards and harlots. The noble
person ahd handsome' countenance bestowed on him by
nature, had contributed greatly to accelerate his ruin,
since they furnished a perpetual theme for flatterers,
and facilitated his success with women. It has already
been seen that in ' order to supply himself with the ma
terials of revelry and seduction, he seized by fraud or
force on the lands of his nobles, whom he caused to be
falsely accused and unjustly put to death. To fight in
the quarrel of such a man, scarcely defensible from the
beginning, had now become a crime against the country.
The pertinacity with which a large portion of the nation
had hitherto adhered to him in spite of his worthless-
ness, shows how deeply rooted in their minds was vene
ration for the great man from whom he descended, and
with what extreme reluctance they abandoned him to
his fate. With regard to the citizens of London, they
refused in the midst of peril and calamity to forsake him
at all, for it was not until he had taken refuge in
1 William of Malmesbury, II. 10. 2 Saxon Chronicle, a.d. 1013.
Henry of Huntingdon, p. 754.
VOL. II. D

34 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. [CHAP. XIII.
Thurkill's fleet, which lay in the Thames off Greenwich,
and through solicitude for his own personal safety had
sailed away to the Isle of Wight, that they despatched
commissioners to Sweyn to treat for peace, and prevent
the utter ruin of their city. The Lady Emma had already
been sent under the charge of Elfsy, abbot of Peter
borough, to her brother Richard in Normandy,1 as had
also the two young princes, Edward and Alfred,3 who
were committed to the care of Elfhun, bishop of Durham.
The love of display induced Ethelred, even in the depths
of his misfortune, to give his wife a guard of a hundred
and fifty soldiers, under the command of his son-in-law
Edric, who remained about the person of the queen
during the whole period of her exile.3 Desperate as his
fortunes were, Ethelred still hesitated to place himself
in the power of his brother-in-law, whom he had
exasperated by systematic neglect and ill-usage of his
sister, Emma was not one of those wives who look upon it
as a duty to conceal the failings or crimes of their hus
bands. She had constantly transmitted her complaints
to Normandy, and probably rather over-stated than
otherwise the insults and injuries she had to endure in
England. At this time of trouble, however, she seems
to have forgotten her rancour, and to have exerted all
the influence she possessed in appeasing her brother's
resentment, Richard consented, therefore, to afford an
asylum to her libertine lord, who, almost worn out by
excesses and the infirmities they necessarily bring in
their train,, was said, at the age of forty-six, to be sinking
beneath the weight of old age.4 Looking forward to
1 Saxon Chronicle, a.d. 1013. 3 Matthew of Westminster, a.d.
Chronica de Mailros,T. 154. 1013.
2 In the life of Edward the Con- « Osbern, Vita S. Elphegi, Anglia
fessor, m Norman French, it is erro- Sacra, II. 132. The absurdity of
neously said that Emma was re- the monk is pointed out by the
ceiyed by her father, Richard Sans editor, who says, " Rex Ethelredus
Peur, V. 235, for he had then been nondum quadragesimum sextum
dead at least fifteen years, Qrderi- cetatis annum assectus fuerat."
cus Vitalis, I. 24,

A.D. 1013.] DANISH CONQUEST. 35
the probability of flight, he had recourse to the practice
common all over the world in times of trouble of bury
ing treasure in the earth against a day of need. The
site of his underground exchequer was Winchester,
whence he now withdrew the gold to defray the ex
penses of his voyage.1 To Rouen, therefore, the re
jected king of England repaired,2 where he found a
magnificent reception.3
While the royal family and their ghostly companions
remained in Normandy, an incident occurred so charac
teristic of the manners and perverted ideas of the age,
that it ought not to be passed over in silence. Elfsy,
abbot of Peterborough, who had the honour of infusing
his superstitions into the mind of Edward, the future
king of England, paid a visit during his exile to the
monastery of Boneval. Hither, also, the Danes had
come, as was evident from the state of poverty to which
the abbot and his monks were reduced. Neverthe-
theless they possessed a treasure on which the Northmen
set no value. This was the headless body of St. Flo
rentine, which Elfsy beheld with a covetous eye, and
taking advantage of the indigence of the brethren, in
duced them to dispose of it for the sum of five hundred
pounds. The trade in relics was one of the largest and
most lucrative of that period. Nothing was easier than
to manufacture mummies, and call them the relics of
saints, after which they often sold fo*r their weight in
gold ; thus, Archbishop Ethelnoth having gone to Rome
for the pall, made, on his return, inquiries at Pavia for
some relic of St. Augustine, bishop of Hippo, whose
body, it was said, had been translated to that city ; and
the Italians entertaining a profound belief in the bound
lessness of English wealth, immediately brought forth
the Saint's right arm, the very arm with which he had
1 Gulielm. Gemet. V. 7. s Life of Edward the Confessor,
2 Capgrave, Chronicle of Eng- Norman French, V. 200. Matthew
land, p. 122. Historia Monasterii of Westminster, a.d. 1013.
de Abingdon, I. 430.
D 2

36 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. [CHAP. XIII.
written the " Confessions," " The City of God," and all
those terrible theological speculations in which the
Calvinists discovered the germs of their doctrines, with
the arguments by which they may be plausibly upheld,
The price demanded and obtained for this supposititious
fragment of the bishop's remains has been exaggerated
by credulity into a fabulous amount; no less than a
hundred talents of silver and a talent of gold,1 that is
from seven to ten thousand pounds sterling. This
precious acquisition was made in behalf of Leofric the
young earl of Mercia, and husband to the famous
Godiva, then engaged in rebuilding the great minster
at Coventry ;2 whereas Elfsy designed his new acquisi
tion for his own monastery in Northamptonshire, and
on his return presented it with all due reverence to
Christ and St. Peter.3
1 Henry de Knyghton, p. 2318. where he expresses no scepticism
William of Malmesbury, II. 11. respecting the enormous price of
2 See Dr. Hook (Lives of the Augustine's arm.
Archbishops of Canterbury, 1.482), 3 Saxon Chronicle, a.d. 1013.

A.D. 1014.] DANISH SOVEREIGNS. 37

CHAPTER XIV.
DANISH SOVEREIGNS OF ENGLAND.
Upon the flight of Ethelred, supreme power in Eng
land fell necessarily into the hands of Sweyn ;, but no
distinct record of the acts of his brief reign has been
handed down to us. The monks, devoured by super
stition, dwell only on the menaces he is supposed to
have uttered against St. Edmund, and the town and
minster in which his remains had been interred. It
appears, however, that he imposed a heavy tribute on
the nation, the payment of which was exacted with
cruel severity. In an assembly of his chiefs at Gains
borough,1 he proposed, it is said, a visit to the town of
Bury St. Edmunds, which through the influence of the
monastic orders had long been exempt from taxation,
and in consequence grown extremely wealthy. This
threat provoked his destruction. His death is shrouded
in mystery. Some say,2 that while sitting on his war-
horse3 in the midst of his jarls, the form of St. Edmund,
mounted on a charger, to him alone visible, galloped
into the assembly, and pierced him through with his
shadowy lance. Others, with more probability, deal
the fatal stroke in the dead of night,4 when access to his
couch must have proved less difficult to the patriotic
assassin who put on the saint's disguise. There is yet
another tradition, which describes the great Viking as
seized by some illness which he foresaw would prove
1 Saxon Chronicle, Florence of 3 See Ducange, voce Emissarius.
Worcester a.d. 1014. 4 Estoire de Seint ^Edward, V.
2 Simeon De' Gestis Regum An- 217. Capgrave, Chronicle of Eng-
slorum, p. 171. Florence of Wor- land, p. 123. William of Malmes-
cester, A.D. 1014. bury, II. 10.

38 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. [CHAP. XIV,
fatal, and therefore sent for his son Canute, and after
giving him instructions respecting the government of
their new kingdom, besought him, that should circum
stances necessitate his return to Denmark, he would not
leave his father's bones in a foreign and hostile land,1
but bear them away Avith him to their northern home,
where they might rest beside those of his forefathers.
The Danish king's death having taken place in
the midst of confusion in a foreign country, and among
a people hourly on the verge of insurrection, little at
tention could be paid to funeral obsequies. His re
mains were, therefore, committed, temporarily, to the
earth at York,2 by order, as has been supposed, of his
son Canute, who, perceiving the difficulty and danger of
his situation, either forgot his father's injunctions re
specting the conveyance of his corpse to Denmark, or
found it impracticable to obey them. It seems not im
probable that Forkbeard, during his residence in the
northern capital of England, had taken to himself a
native mistress, who, now that he was dead, displayed
her love and affection towards his body, which she
caused to be embalmed with a profusion of aromatic
substances, and then, freighting a ship, and putting it
on board, sailed away with what she regarded as a
precious deposit, to the Baltic. On her arrival in Den
mark this extraordinary woman found that prince
Canute had preceded her; and she therefore sent on
shore a messenger to inform him and his brother Harold
that she had brought to them their father's remains.
It appears that Sweyn, before leaving his native land for
the conquest of England, had constructed for himself a
mausoleum in the monastery of the Holy Trinity ; and
now his sons receiving, it is said, his corpse with joy,
caused it to be conveyed ashore and entombed with
due honour.3
1 Encomium Emmae in Langebek, 3 Encomium Emmje, II. 480,
IL t7.7' ^ „ . and compare Guil. Gemet. in Du-
2 Simeon De Geatis Regum An- chesne, p. 252.
glorum, p. 171.

A.D. 1014.] DANISH SOVEREIGNS. 39
Whatever may have been the manner of king Sweyn's
death and burial, the fact that it had taken place had no
sooner been made public than the nation once more broke
up into two hostile factions ; one, in which the Danes
predominated, declared Canute king,1 while the other,
composed chiefly of Anglo-Saxons, resolved upon the
restoration of Ethelred, and immediately sent ambas
sadors to Normandy to negociate his return.2^ In their
simplicity and credulity, forgetting that the Ethiopian
cannot change his skin, nor the leopard his spots, they
made lavish professions of loyalty, and entreated him to
resume the sceptre of his ancient realm, on condition that
he would consent to rule more righteously than before.
Having experienced the bitterness of eating another
man's bread, Ethelred the " Unready " was now ready
enough to promise anything. All that had been said or
done against him he engaged to pardon, and swore to
regulate his conduct by the strictest rules of equity and
justice. Still a keen remembrance of the tribulations
he had endured in England for awhile stayed his
steps. The thick incense of loyalty suddenly blazing up
before him, obstructed his gaze into the future. As
he was always selfish, he shrunk from trusting his
own precious person to the tumultuous sea of popular
passions, but sent over envoys, with the child Edward,
in the hope of winning back by his youthful beauty the
alienated affections of the English.3
The length and intricacy of the negociations show
that much doubt and hesitation existed on both sides,
A plenary act of concord was drawn up and signed by
the nobles of England on one part, and by Ethelred and
his friends on the other. He agreed to rule thence
forward in conformity with the principles laid down for
him by the leaders of the people, while they solemnly
pledged themselves never again to suffer a Danish
prince to reign in England.4 Neither of the contracting
i Simeon De Gestis Regum An- p. 892. Henry de Knyghton, de
storum, p. 171. Radulph de Di- Eventibus Angliae, p. 2315.
ceto d 466- 3 William of Malmesbury, II. 10.
2 Chronicon Johannis Bromton, * Saxon Chronicle, a.d, 1014.

40 .;. HISTORY OF ENGLAND. [CHAP. XIV»
parties imderstood themselves or those with whom they
entered into covenant, nor could they foresee how en
tirely a few months would change their views. However,
Wwhen all necessary arrangements had been made,Ethelred
crossed the Channel during Lent, and witnessed, wherever
he moved, the hollow rejoicings of a restoration.
Knowing what was expected of him, and refreshed
by three months deliverance from the cares of royalty,
he displayed an energy of character entirely out of
keeping with his former life.^" Canute, after his father's
death, had remained in Lindsey, where he was busily
engaged in making preparations for a foray with a large
body of cavalry into the south of England. But the
celerity of Ethelred's movements surprised him in the
midst of his plans. While he was deliberating, . the
English army, with the king at its head, was upon him,
and putting both Danes and East-Anglians to the rout,
drove the Vikings in the utmost confusion to their
ships./ Canute, unable to withstand the power .of the
English king, or to protect the people whom he had
betrayed into revolt, turned the prows of his ships
southward and sailed to Sandwich,1 where he put on
shore all the hostages given to his father, having first
cut off their hands, ears, and noses, as an earnest to the
English people of the kind of government they might
expect from him.2
While the Danish prince was thus glutting his vin
dictive passions on one side of the island, the Saxon
monarch was indulging the same gratification on the
other. The men of Lincolnshire — he did not inquire
whether through choice or necessity — having joined
the standard of Canute, were considered in the light
of rebels. In a paroxysm of vengeance, Ethelred
set their towns and villages on fire, devastated the
whole province, and massacred as many of the inhabi
tants as fell within his reach.3 After this act of cle-
1 Chronicon Johannis Bromton, 2 Florence of Worcester, Saxon
P 892. Chronicle, a.d. 1014.
3 Saxon Chronicle, ubi supra.

A.D. 1014.J DANISH SOVEREIGNS. I ^. <\ M>'
\ i&'xAA-%
mency, intended to prove how kind and loving X^d^
meant to be, he betook himself to the collecSwn^qf
Danegeld, and signalised his restoration by an inS^olt
of thirty thousand pounds1 to allay the cravingso?
Thurkill and his fleet lying idle at Greenwich. One
of the continental Chroniclers, contemporary with the
events he relates, has preserved a tradition by no means
destitute of probability, which yet, I believe, is nowhere
alluded to by our own historians : Ethelred, on his re
turn to England, feeling the decay of his own frame,
and wishing to preserve the crown to his house, caused
Edward, the elder of his two sons, to be anointed and
crowned king, with the full consent and approbation of
the people. The writer observes that Edward was then
quite a boy, but, with characteristic carelessness, omits
to state his age, which, however, could not have exceeded
eleven years. The performance of this ceremony, which
appeared to strengthen Edward's claims to be regarded
as king of England, may have imparted additional keen
ness to Canute's desire to obtain possession of his person,
as until this scion of the house of Cerdie should be re
moved, he himself must be considered, by all loyal Eng
lishmen, in the light of a tyrannical usurper.2
As the autumn came on, nature, co-operating with
external and internal enemies, seemed to be on the eve
of extinguishing the English nation altogether. The
encircling sea rose at once on every side of the island,3
and, blown inwards by equinoxial storms, submerged
all the plain country, sweeping away hamlets, villages,
and large towns, some of which never reappeared on
1 Florence of Worcester, a.d. based the statement in the text.
1014. Simeon De Gestis Regum To add weight to the Chronicler's
Anglorum, p. 171. The Saxon testimony, they observe, that the
Chronicle gives twenty-one thou- account is taken Ex Chronici Fonto-
sand. nell. Append. Altera, Auctore
2 The Canon of Tours makes sad Monacho qui scribebat paulo post
havoc of chronology, crowding into medium ssaculi XL, apud Ache-
one year events which could not riuin, tom 2. Spicil. in fol. pag.
be synchronic. In a note to this 286. See Bouquet, X. 281.
writer, the Benedictine editors ex- 3 Chronicon Johannis Bromton,
tract from the Chronicle of Fonte- p. 892. Simeon De Gestis Regum
nelle, a passage on which I have Anglorum, p. 171.

42 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. [CHAP. XIV.
the map. No account remains of the multitudes
drowned on this occasion,1 neither is it practicable to
form any idea of the terror, distress, and misery which
these prodigious winter-floods must have brought upon
a people grievously impoverished by taxes, thinned by
perpetual civil conflicts, and oppressed and. bewildered
by the perpetual presence or apprehension of invasion.
With a view to the restoration of internal tranquillity,
the Danish nobles of Northumbria, East Anglia, and
Mercia, were invited to a conference at Oxford, where
Ethelred's evil genius betrayed him into a repetition of
those crimes by which, before his exile, he had out
raged the feelings of the nation. Like other princes of
latter times, he had learned and forgotten nothing
during his misfortunes, and his infamous son-in-law was
always at hand to weave for him the web of guilt. Too
honest to suppress his enormities, the contemporary
Chroniclers hurry over the scene of blood, without sup
plying those details which might have extenuated, or at
least explained, the motives by which the criminals were
actuated. In all likelihood fierce disputes arose respect
ing the limits of the Danelagh, or the rights and privi
leges of the burghers of the Seven Cities. Ostensibly to
conciliate the opposition, Edric gave a great banquet, at .
which Sigeferth and Morcar,2 with many other Danish
jarls and thanes, were requested to be present. Enter
taining no suspicion of treachery, the nobles repaired to
Edric's dwelling, but no sooner were they seated at table
than they were set upon and assassinated.3 The cry of
murder having been raised, their retainers and dependents
rushed to arms to avenge their masters ; but Edric had
provided against this contingency; a body of soldiers
was at hand, by whom the Danes were soon overpowered,
and driven to take refuge in the tower of a church—
Ethelfed's guards pursued and endeavoured to dislodge
1 Saxon Chronicle, a.d. 1014. 3 Saxon Chroniplf. -pi«-„„ c
2 Chronicon Johannis Bromton, Worcester, 1^1014 FIorence of
p. 892.

A.D. 1014.] DANISH SOVEREIGNS. 43
them— but being unable to effect their purpose, set fire
to the church, and burned them alive.1
After this achievement, Ethelred, like a chief of bri
gands, took possession of their effects, and evidently de
signed to extend his sceptre over the Danelagh. An
extraordinary incident obstructed the development of his
policy. Sigeferth had left a widow, Elgitha, whose in
fluence, on account of her nobility, the king dreaded;
he, therefore, ordered her to be seized, and sent to
Malmesbury, to be held in close captivity. At this
conjuncture, the Etheling, Edmund Ironside, Ethelred's
son by an unknown concubine,2 who appears to have
been systematically depressed, and excluded from the
councils of his capricious father by Edric Streone, comes
prominently on the scene. Seizing on the favourable
opportunity to acquire at once wealth and power, he
wooed and married the lady Elgitha,3 and immediately
proceeded, in her company, to the Five Burghs, where he
rendered himself master of her deceased husband's pos
sessions and authority ; by which means, he acquired the
position of an independent prince, for the men of the
five cities, Anglo-Danes, remarkable for their wealth
and courage, became his subjects, which explains the
jL hostility of his father to the measure.4
Yf Canute having collected a powerful army in Denmark,
and concluded with the neighbouring princes treaties, to
secure his own dominions from invasion during his

1 William of Malmesbury, II, 10. Edward, makes the mother of
2 Some writers pretend that the Ironside sometimes the daughter of
mother of Ironside was Ethelred's Count Theodoric (V. 158), some-
queen, who died before his marriage times the daughter of Count Torin
with Emma. Willelmus Godellus, (V. 246), but nowhere says she was
for example, observes, ''Hie exprio- Ethelred's queen. Malmesbury ob-
re conjuge Edelredi Regis fuerat serves that Edmund's birth was
natus." Bouquet, X. 262. But the obscure, but that, with that excep-
Chronicon Breve S. Martini Turo- tion, he was a worthy prince, II. 10.
nensis agrees with the best authori- 3 Florence of Worcester, a.d.
ties in speaking of him as the son 1 014.
of a concubine. Bouquet X. 282. * William of Malmesbury, II. 10.
The author of The Estoire de Seint

44 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. [CHAP. XIV.
absence, sailed, with a fleet of two hundred ships well
stored with munitions of war, for England,1 resolved to
subdue it or perish in the attempt.^ Making descents in
Kent and Dorsetshire, he applied himself to the ravaging
of Wessex, in the hope of conquering it by terror. Ethel
red, whose days were fast drawing to a close, lay sick at
Corsham.2 Edric Streone now stepped forward as a
competitor for the throne ; and being in command of
the royal forces, and intimately connected with the royal
family by marriage, thought himself as well entitled to
exercise royal authority as either of his rivals ; for
Canute was a foreign adventurer, and Edmund Iron
side a bastard. To make good his pretensions, he
exerted himself vigorously in raising new forces, and, by
lavish bribes and promises, won over to his side nearly
all the commanders of the fleet. Nor was Edmund
Ironside idle. Having raised a considerable army in
Northumbria, he moved southwards, and effected a junc
tion with Edric's forces. As each, however, aimed at
his own aggrandisement, it soon became evident that no
cordial union could exist between them. It was Edric's
policy, first to destroy one of his competitors, and then
the other. Who obtained the priority in death, or by
what means the end was accomplished, mattered little;
Immediately upon the junction of his forces with
those of the Etheling, dissensions arose between them;
each, probably, insisted on the chief command, and sus
pected3 the other of treachery ; a total alienation, there
fore, took place, and the allies separated, Edmund re
treating into Northumbria, and Edric moving south
wards, to try conclusions of policy with Canute.S'The
Danish Viking was not ignorant that in Edric he had a
rival of no ordinary genius and influence ; he, therefore,
welcomed his advent as a circumstance of the greatest-
possible importance to the fulfilment of his designs.,
1 Encomium Emmse, II. 480. 3 Henry of Huntingdon, p. 755.
2 Saxon Chronicle, Florence of '
Worcester, a.d. 1015.

A.D. 1016. J DANISH SOVEREIGNS. 45
Under the thickest mask of dissimulation, the compe
titors professed friendship towards each other, secretly
plotting the while the means of mutual destruction. They
foresaw that disease would speedily rid them of Ethel
red, and were scarcely less confident that want of states
manship, and ignorance of strategy, would ruin Iron
side. The Etheling, in fact, was deficient in those
qualities, which render a prince popular, for the Mer
cians refused to follow his standard unless upheld in
their allegiance by the presence of his father, who,
being unwilling or unable to repair to the army, the
Mercians separated, and Edmund, deserted anddispirited,
again withdrew into Northumbria. MeantimesfEdric and
Canute having crossed the Thames at Cricklade, gave up
all Mercia to pillage and devastation,1 and having col
lected immense booty, marched to London, which they
vainly attempted to reduce by blockade.. It would soon,
moreover, they thought, become necessary to try the
event of a battle in the field ; for Ironside having suc
ceeded in raising an army, and induced his father to join
him with a body of Londoners, appeared to be growing
formidable. But weakness and treachery clung round
the Unready to the last. Playing upon the feebleness of
his mind, some secret agents of the enemy suggested to
him, that unless he effected his escape, he would be
seized, and delivered to Canute. Terrified by this pro
spect, he deserted his son, and once more took refuge in
London,2 while Edmund, with the earls Uhtred and
Thurkytel, reduced to subsist by plunder, colledted booty
in all those counties which had refused to aid them
against. the Danes. As the catastrophe of the tragedy
approached, the policy of the combatants became more
and more intricate and tortuous, and their movements
more confused. Armies were beheld marching in all
directions, chiefs changing sides, sanguinary executions

1 Henry of Huntingdon. Florence 2 Saxon Chronicle, a.d. 1016.
'of Worcester, ubi supra.

46 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. [CHAP. XIV.
taking place. In the midst of this universal hubbub,
Ethelred, who had been joined by his son, terminated
his unfortunate and dishonourable life, at London, on
the twenty-third of April, a.d. 1016, and was buried in
St. Paul's Cathedral.1
An attempt was made by the gallant citizens and
a few noblemen who had remained in the capital after
Ethelred's death, to maintain the contest with the
Danes, and for this purpose they raised Edmund Iron
side to the throne.2 But whatever may have been the
valour of their young king, there was little in the situ
ation of the country to beget any very ardent hopes of
success. Weary of civil war — which the struggle had
now in truth become — a majority of the nobles, with
nearly all the bishops, abbots, and superior clergy,
repaired to Canute, then at Southampton,8 saluted him
as their sovereign, and took the oath of allegiance.
They, likewise, entered, of their own accord, into the
most solemn engagement never to recognise the claims
of any son or descendant of their late monarch. Canute,
on his part, took God and all mankind to witness, that
he would be to them a just and faithful lord. This
ceremony concluded, he embarked on board his fleet,
and sailed away for the Thames, to undertake the siege
of London, whose defenders he resolved to treat as rebels.
He arrived during Whitsun-week, and immediately
made his dispositions for commencing the siege. The
Londoners beheld, without dismay, the formidable pre
parations of Canute to reduce their city. Nothing could
exceed their intrepidity. They constituted, at this time,
the heart and head of the kingdom, aud distinguished
themselves no less by their wisdom than by their courage.
It was now understood that without London, the posses-

1 Historia Monasterii De Abing- p. 124. Ex Chronica Willelmi Go-
don, I. 431. Florence of Worcester, delli. Bouquet, X. 262.
a.d. 1016. 3 Florence of Worcester, a.d. 1016.
2 Saxon Chronicle, a.d. 1016. Simeon De Ggstis Regum Anglg»
Capgrave, Chronicle of England, Tum,p. 173.

A.D. 1016.] DANISH SOVEREIGNS. 47
sion of the rest of the kingdom was both unsatisfactory
and unsafe. Canute, therefore, determined to obtain
thorough possession of it at whatever cost ; but its in
vestment being impracticable without the command of
the river, which he could not ascend on account of
the great fortified bridge connecting London with the
southern bank, he caused a vast trench to be cut through
the low alluvial land lying south of the city, and, filling
it with the water of the Thames, floated a part of his
fleet past the bridge, and thus invested the city along
the whole south side. To render the blockade com
plete, he likewise cut a deep ditch1 and threw up a ram
part along the remainder of the wall, so as to prevent
all communication with the surrounding country.2 But
London was stored with provisions and abundant muni
tions of war, and the bravery of its inhabitants, which
seemed to increase with the danger, enabled them to
make full use of their advantages. No fear, therefore,
was entertained by Edmund that the capital would sur
render to Canute, so that, with a mind free from solici
tude on this point, he departed into Wessex3 to rouse
his hereditary dominions against the common foe. The
grandees who had sworn fealty to Canute at Southampton
by no means carried with them the sympathies of the
people, who, on the contrary, welcomed the appearance
of Ironside among them with the loudest demonstra
tions of joy. He accordingly experienced little difficulty
in attracting men to his standard ; but intelligence of
his movements having been brought to Canute, he de
tached a portion of his army from the force engaged in
besieging London, and ordered it to push on with all
speed into Wessex, in the hope of crushing the young
king before his levies should be completed. This army
Edmund encountered at Pen, on the skirts of Gillingham4
forest, in Dorsetshire, and completely routed.
1 Florence of Worcester, a.d. 3 Saxon Chronicle, a.d. 1016.
1016. i William of Malmesbury, II. 10.
2 Simeon De Gestis Regum An-" Florence of Worcester, a.d. 1016.
glorum, p. 173.

48 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. [CHAP. XIV.
He then proceeded rapidly with the organising of his
forces, and found himself by Midsummer1 at the head of
a powerful army; for the West Saxons, though they
might have considered it politic to dissemble their hatred
of the Scandinavians whom their kings had so frequently
employed, as well to hold them in subjection as to sub
jugate their neighbours, were not unwilling to try once
more the chances of war before taking finally upon their
necks the yoke of a foreign prince?ft Beginning to ap
prehend lest his rival might soon become too formidable,
Canute now left his jarl Eric to conduct the siege of
London, and marched westwards to encounter Edmund.
The armies came in sight of each other at Sherston in
Wiltshire^and made immediate preparations for an en
gagement. Ironside is said to have addressed his men
in an eloquent and pathetic speech, in which he urged
them, by all the motives that could influence patriotic
minds, to acquit themselves bravely on that day in de
fence of their wives their children and their homes ;2 after
which he drew up his troops in order of battle, conform
ably to the best rules of strategy known in that age, and,
having ordered the trumpets to sound a charge, pushed
forward the boldest of his soldiers to encounter the first
brunt of the Danish onset, and disposed the remainder
as a reserve in the rear. It may be fairly presumed,
that much of the day was taken up in manoeuvring
and irregular hand-to-hand encounters. On both sides
great courage was displayed, victory now appearing to
declare for the Danes, and. now for the English. Night
at length separated the combatants, who ate their sup-'
pers and bivouacked on the field in readiness to renew
the conflict with the dawn.
No event of these times could be allowed to pass with
out the interposition of Edric Streone, who, in pursuance
of the system of policy he had long adopted, acted on
this occasion as the ally of Canute, probably apprehend
ing that the forces of Ironside might otherwise obtain
1 Roger de Hoveden, a.d. 1016. 2 Florence of Worcester, a.d. 1016,

A.D. 1016.] DANISH SOVEREIGNS. 49
the victory, and frustrate his designs. In the pages of
the Chroniclers, he assumes the appearance of a. juggler,
or magician, perpetrating treasons without motive, and
incurring reprobation and infamy almost in sport. His
real aim was to crush Edmund by the aid of Canute,
then to rouse the popular feelings, and bring them irre
sistibly to bear against the foreigner, and thus to secure
his own accession to the throne. This view alone explains
his appearance in the field, at critical junctures, now co
operating with one king, now with another.
At Sherston, the more easily to bring about panic and
flight among the English, he cut off the head of a man,
named Osmear, who in features and the colour of his hair
resembled Edmund, and, riding out in front of his batta
lions, held up the ghastly token by the hair, and cried
out in a loud voice. — "Fly, Englishmen, fly ! behold,
the head of your king!" The stratagem was nearly
crowned with success. For a moment the English with
in hearing of his voice were smitten with terror, and on
the point of giving way ; but Edmund appearing in
person at the critical moment, ascended an eminence,
and taking off his helm«t, exposed his well-known face
to his comrades, who thereupon resumed courage, and
fell with redoubled fur} upon the Danes. Edmund,
himself brandishing a javelin, hurled it at the duke of
Mercia, who skilfully eluding the weapon, it passed on,
and that with so much force, that it transfixed two
soldiers drawn up in array behind each other.1 The
battle, nevertheless, continued till dark, when both
armies again bivouacked on the place of carnage. But
Canute evidently perceived that a renewal of the conflict
promised no advantage to his army, and, therefore, im
mediately after midnight, the order to decamp was cau
tiously circulated through his ranks. Accustomed to
stratagems and secresy, the Danes effected their retreat
in a silence so complete that not a sound or a murmur
1 William of Malmesbury, ubi supra.
VOL. II, E

50 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. [CHAP. XIV.
was wafted across the dark plain to the hostile army,
which, when the dawn glimmered on their helmets, and
battle-axes, and expanded the drowsy eyes of the sen
tinels, beheld with astonishment the country, far and
near, entirely cleared of the enemy.
The road to London now lay open to Ironside, but
without reinforcements it was not thought prudent to
pursue the enemy. Returning, therefore, into Wessex,
he with all speed recruited his army, and then, advanc
ing along the northern banks of the Thames, raised
the siege of London.1 The Chroniclers, obeying their
desires rather than their knowledge, say the Danes
were driven to their ships. The fact, however, was
otherwise; for two days later, Edmund, when he again
marched westwards to Brentford,2 found them en
camped on the opposite bank in Surrey. Here the
narratives become confused and contradictory, attrU
buting to Edmund a victory instead of a check, which,
it is evident, he received, since the Danes were enabled
to resume the siege of London, while he found himself
under the necessity of retreating into Wessex.3 These
small encounters and disasters would be undeserving of
notice, did they not serve to show with what extreme re
luctance the West Saxons submitted to the Danish yoke.
Though more than decimated by perpetual conflicts^
they rallied again and again about their gallant chief,
and nobly, though vainly, sacrificed themselves to pre
serve their country's independence.
Before London, however, Canute's reiterated efforts
proved fruitless — the citizens beat him back with great
slaughter, and provisions running short in his army, he
embarked the infantry, and sent them by way of the
Orwell, to plunder in Mercia. The cavalry retreated
through Kent to the banks of the Medway, collecting
plunder as they moved along. Here they were soon
joined by the fleet, with the booty amassed in the
1 Saxon Chronicle, a.d. 1016. 3 Florence of Worcester, a.d.
2 William of Malmesbury, II. 10. 1016.

A.D. 1016], DANISH SOVEREIGNS. 51
eastern counties, -and abandoned themselves for awhile
to ease and revelry, in Sheppey.1 All that follows in the
life of Ironside may be regarded as a series of dissolving
views, in which events and personages are confused and
blended together, so as absolutely to bewilder the atten
tion, and escape the grasp of the mind. Having no
longer real victories to describe, the Chroniclers delight
their fancies by imagining what advantages might have
been gained but for this or that untoward circumstance.
At Otford, in Kent, the Northmen would have been cut
to pieces, but for the perfidious counsel of Edric Streone,
who had now, in order to precipitate the catastrophe of
his country, united his forces with those of Wessex.
Human credulity is, doubtless, very great ; but, with
out charging Edmund with complete imbecility, we can
scarcely suppose him capable of falling into the wiles of so
notorious a traitor as Edric is represented to have been.
We are, therefore, driven to one of two suppositions : either
that Edmund was completely destitute of understanding,
Or that the Chroniclers have not related events faithfully.
If he accepted the co-operation of the Mercian earl, it was
because he felt the power of this chief to be too great
to be trifled with. Not being able to penetrate through
the policy of his crafty brother-in-law, he seems to have
regarded his erratic movements with bewilderment, and
was probably unable to decide whether more evil might
not arise to him from his continued enmity than from
his capricious friendship. Besides, like many other cha
racters described in history, Ironside may have been
possessed by the imperfect consciousness that Edric was
conducting him to perdition ; but under the spell of an
irresistible fascination, he, nevertheless, proceeded, alter
nately suspecting and confiding.
Canute, whose movements by no means imply defeat,
now passed over into Essex, and resumed his merciless
ravages, which were obviously intended to bring Edmund
1 Saxon Chronicle, a.d. 1016.
E 2

52 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. [CHAP. XIV.
precipitately to a final engagement. His policy was
crowned with success ; for the forces of the West Saxons
having been hastily assembled, Edmund crossed the
Thames, and advanced into Essex. The Danes, enriched
by the plunder of all Mercia, were retreating slowly and
heavily laden towards their ships, when the English
army came up with them at Assandun, or the Ass's
Hill.1 Edmund marshalled his forces skilfully in three
divisions, and in that order led them to the attack,
Canute, on the other hand, displayed all the strategic
ability of which he was master; but recked so little of
Edmund and the English, that disdaining the advantage
of higher ground, he descended to meet them on the
level plain. The hosts advanced, the banners unfurled,
the trumpets sounding, and the battle began. In the
height of the conflict, the earl of Mercia, with all his ad
herents, went over to the enemy ; and the tide of vic
tory, which appeared at one time to be setting towards
the standard of England, changed its course, and flowed
towards the Raven Banner. The Danes, in their fury
and impetuosity, bore down upon the English, and made
a prodigious slaughter^- Night came on, but brought
with it no cessation from carnage ; for the moon was at
the full, and with its refulgent brilliance made up, in
some degree, for the absence of the sun. Each contends
ing party appeared to feel that the decisive hour had
arrived. f No quarter was given or asked. As midnight
approached, the English broke and dispersed,<and the
Danes, unwilling to pursue them by the moon's uncer
tain and perplexing light, through woods and copses,
remained on the battle-field, where they lay down to rest
amid the thickly-strewn corpses of the slain. All the
flower of the nobility of Wessex and Mercia fell on that
day.2 Elfric the earl, Godwin the earl, Ulfkytel earl
of East Anglia, Ethel ward, son of Ethelwin, earl of East
1 Florence of Worcester, a.d. 2 Saxon Chronicle, a.d, 1016.
1016. William of Malmesbury,
11.10.

A.D. 1016.] DANISH SOVEREIGNS. 53
Anglia, surnamed the Friend of God, Eadnoth bishop of
Dorchester, and Wulsy abbot of Ramsey, who had come
to offer up their prayers to heaven for the champions of
England, and shared at once their fall and their fame.
As soon as the breaking light enabled the Danes to
distinguish the bodies of friends from foes, they buried
their comrades; but stripping the English, left their
naked corpses on the plain, to be devoured by wild dogs,
kites and ravens.1
After the battle of Assandun, the fortunes of the two
kings were committed to negociation. Either by some
fatality, or through the influence of superior genius,
Edric obtained the task of conducting these proceedings,
and suggested that the quarrel should be settled by
arbitration. But the armies had by this time proceeded.
to a considerable distance from the field of carnage at the
Ass's Hill, and were drawn up face to face on the banks
of the Severn. On one side, Edmund, with what re
mained of the chivalry of England ; on the other, Canute,
with his Scandinavian Vikings, and all such inhabitants
of the land as, indifferent to the family of their kings, only
desired repose.
The history, at this point, assumes a mythical air, not so
much, however, on account of what is related, as through
the unskilfulness or dishonesty of the narrators. At the
period of Rome's greatest civilisation, Antony proposed
to Augustus to decide, by single combat, their contest
for the throne of the world ; and though the wily nephew
of the great Julius eluded the dangerous encounter with
a sarcastic remark, the idea of two emperors fighting
hand to hand was not thought to be out of harmony with
the spirit of the times. We need experience no surprise
therefore, that two armies, in a dark and barbarous age,
should desire to devolve upon their leaders the duty of
terminating a struggle in which they had themselves too
long bled. We may, therefore, though not entirely
1 Encomium Emmce, Langebek, II. 487.

54 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. [dlAP. XIV.
without scepticism, concede a place in history to the
chivalrous conflict between Edmund and Canute on
the isle of Olney, According to a tradition, pre
served both in chronicles and metrical lays,1 the two
kings, fully armed, and mounted on their war-horses,
passed, over in boats to the Holm in the Severn, where,
with sword and lance, they did battle for the crown
of England. Edmund, the taller and more powerful8
man, rendered doubly fierce and impetuous by despair,
soon made his enemy feel the imminent danger in which
he stood. Canute, therefore, with soft words, proposed a
parley. The work of the sword was stayed, and a con
ference, at which, we may be sure, the friends of both
were present, took place, in which terms of reconcilia
tion were agreed upon. These the National Chronicle
describes with concise veracity, though they contain none
of those stipulations which the vanity of succeeding
writers invented. * ,
f By what we may denominate the treaty of OlneyV the
kingdom was divided, though very unequally, between
Canute and Edmund • for while the former obtained
Mercia, East- Anglia, ana the whole North, the sovereignty
of the latter was confined within the limits of Wessex.3
Edmund recognised likewise the supremacy of the Dane
by consenting to pay him tribute, and abandoning
London, which could not, therefore, be included in
his dominions, to negociate a separate treaty for itself.
1 Saxon Chronicle, Florence of 2 The author of the Metrical Life
Worcester, a.d. 1016. In the Estoire of the Confessor, who describes this
De Seint Edward, Mr. Luard's rencontre in the quaint language of
Translation (Y.V, 272, sqq,), m find chivalry, speaks of the Danish king
a sort of epic presentation of the as much the older man, and addresses
royal conflict, with suitable desorip. his adversary as "son Edmund,"
tions, speeches, and denouement, though he had then scarcely at*
The Chronicler s narative opens as tained the age of twenty^-one, while
follows : — the English prince was thirty, by
" The kings arm themselves with great the account of this Chronicler him-
Wuh°c»teSSofra.a and shining helmets, ??lf> suPP°rted by all the probahili-
And mount their swift war-horses ; ties ot the case. Estoire de Seinte
Their lances soon they break, Edward, ubi supra.
The splinters of which fly far : 3 to-ii- „ mr 1 i -,T ,„
Then they seize their furbished brands, W ™" ot Malmesbury, II. 10;
Now begins the combat," etc.

A.D. 1016.] DANISH SOVEREIGNS. ~55
The citizens agreed to ransom their lives and pro
perty by the payment of a sum of money, and consenting
to receive the Danes into their city, where, upon the
arrival of the fleet, Canute and his army took up their
winter quarters.
Policy was now substituted for the sword, and regulated
by the lax and tortuous morality of barbarism, proceeded
to clear away before Canute all obstacles to absolute
dominion. Edmund, though practically only earl of
Wessex, was still a thorn in his side. Experience had
revealed to him the fluctuating character of public opinion
in England, which, after a brief respite from troubles,
might shape itself anew, and veer round once more to fill
the banners of its ancient kings. The philosophic laws
of Rome recognised the equity of attributing the guilt
of any crime to him who chiefly profits by it. Apply
ing this principle to the events almost immediately
succeeding the pacification of Olney, which in the true
Roman style was celebrated by the striking of a medal
with the word Paoc on its obverse,1 we are warranted in
suspecting Canute of a double murder, attended by the
blackest treachery.2
With Edric Streone, every way worthy to be his
coadjutor, he probably took council on the means of
delivering the chiefs of the triumvirate from a rival still
considered dangerous. In periods of national confusion,
instruments of villainy abound; and two of Edmund's
chamberlains, who belonged to this class, were bribed
to assassinate him, which, it is said, they did by taking
advantage of an unguarded moment3 to impale him
on a spit.4 But as guilt naturally involves itself in
1 Ruding, Annals of the Coinage num ejus dolo cepit." Eex Canotus
of Great Britain, I. 379. de Dauamarca Paganus. Ex Chro-
2 The true idea of this tyrant's nico Ademari Cabanensis, in Bou-
character pierces through the narra- quet, X. 156.
tives of most ancient Chroniclers, 3 Lives of Edward the Confessor
even of those who composed their p. 189. William of Malmesbury,
works abroad, far from the real II. 10.
sources of information : " mortuo i Badulph de Diceto, p. 466;
Adalrado Kege Anglorum, Beg-

56 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. [CHAP. XIV.
mystery, the manner of his death remains uncertain*,:
some, calling in the aid of poison, others attributing.it
to accident, while there are those who discover in his
decease only the common hand of nature.1 In whatever;
way he perished, his death is supposed to have taken
place on the thirtieth of November, a.d. 1016, after a
short reign, or rather agony, of six months; and his
remains, having been carried into Wessex, were interred
beside his grandfather Edgar, at Glastonbury.2
There still survived six competitors for the throne of
England, of whom, in one way or another, the bloody*:
minded Dane considered it. necessary to dispose. While
meditating upon the means of effecting his purpose, with
the least possible scandal, he called together the Witan
at London,3 consisting of the princes, bishops, and
nobles of the realm. How many obeyed the summons
is not stated, but, whether few or many, they saw that
they met under surveillance of the Danish army, with a
Danish fleet in the river, and in the presence of a king
surrounded by numerous assassins, whose knives were
ever ready to spring from their sheathes to bury them
selves in the hearts of the king's opponents. Reading
base compliance in their countenances, Canute affected
to forget the stipulations of the treaty of Olney, and be
sought the assembled earls, bishops, and thanes to declare
whether the deceased king had intended his brothers Ol
sons to succeed him, or that the crown, in case he sur
vived, should pass to him. In their answer, an old
Chronicler honestly remarks, " they bore false witness
and foully lied ;"* for, in the hope of thus obtaining the
tyrant's favour, or mitigating his resentment against
them, they affirmed that not only had Edmund agreed
to Canute's succession, but desired that his sons should
be placed under his guardianship. He next proceeded
1 Saxon Chronicle, Florence of 3 Florence of Worcester, a,d. 1016.
Worcester, a.d, 1016. « Florenceof Worceater,ubisuprc6,
2 Ethelredus Abbas Bievallis, p,
365,

A.D. 1017.] DANISH SOVEREIGNS. js'TST
to demand from them the oath of allegiance, which' they
took, and in so doing utterly repudiated the claimYff
Edmund's brothers or sons to the crown. Against these
time-serving adulators the patriotic Chroniclers delight in
pronouncing the awards of Nemesis, observing, that by
the despot whom they preferred before their native
princes, they were all either cut off, root and branch,
deprived of their honours and estates, or driven igno-
miniously into exile in foreign lands. Their offspring,
moreover, were pursued with vindictive rancour, and,
sooner or later, totally exterminated.1
Having by these means acquired, a.d. 1017, the sove
reignty of England, Canute confirmed the ancient form
of administration, retaining for himself the government
of Wessex, leaving Edric Streone in possession of Mer
cia, appointing Thurkill to the earldom of East Anglia,
and bestowing Northumbria on Eric, the jarl who had
conducted the siege of London.2 Nevertheless, in the
number of those who might hereafter dispute the crown
with him, he discovered grounds for alarm. The mur
dered king had left two sons, Edmund and Edward,
whom, it is said, Edric Streone advised to be slain at
once. But Canute, adopting the policy ascribed in Hamlet
to the king of Denmark, sent the children to Sweden, to
be secretly disposed of by the sovereign of that country,
his ally.3 The Swedish prince refused to become Canute's
executioner, and in order to place the Ethelings beyond
the reach of the tyrant conveyed them into Hungary,
where, exactly in the manner described by the feudal
romances, they were tenderly brought up.4 Edmund died
childless, but Edward married Agatha,5 a princess of
German imperial family, and by her had three children — ¦

'Ethelredus Abbas Eievallis, p. Regum Anglorum, p. 176. Chro-
365. Chronicon Johannis Bromton, nica de Mailros 1. 155. William of
p. 907. Henry de Knyghton, p. Malmesbury, II. 10.
2317. 4 Florence of Worcester, A.d.
2 Saxon Chronicle, a.d. 1017. 1017.
3 Simeon Dunelmensis, De Gestis 5 Badulph de Diceto, p. 467.

58 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. [CHAP. XIV.
Edgar, the famous Etheling ; Christina, a nun, of whom
little is known; and Margaret, afterwards queen of
Scotland. So far the criminal designs of Canute were
frustrated, but other assassinations remained to be ac
complished, and Canute was not the man to shrink front
any amount of guilt which he might think necessary to
secure him peaceful possession of the English throne.
Among his rivals were Edwy, a natural brother of Ironr
side, and another Edwy of uncertain- parentage, known
in those times by the singular appellation of King of
the Churls. Most historians confound these two Edwys,
but their separate existence is proved by this, that the
King of the Churls, after having suffered banishment
was reconciled to Canute, while Edwy the Etheling
encountered a different fate.1
The evil genius of the House of Cerdie counselled the
immediate assassination of Ironside's brother, and named;
Ethel ward, the head of one of the noblest families in:
England, as the man who could best perform this bloody
service for the king, since he was the friend and most
trusted intimate of the Etheling.
Canute sent for Ethelward,2 and, without shame or
subterfuge, proposed the murder to him at once, " The
earl of Mercia," he said, " has spoken to me, and shown
how easy it would be for you to lead the Etheling to
his destruction. Do this thing, and I will not only
confirm you in the possessions and honours of your
family, but will take you into my heart, and you shall
be dearer to me than a brother." Ethelward instantly
perceived by the allusion to his paternal inheritance,
the peril in which he stood, and therefore replied that
he would do the king's bidding if it should be any way
in his power. But his intention was far otherwise, since
he loved the Etheling, and hoped, by undertaking his
assassination himself, to prevent the perpetration of the

Saxon Chronicle, a.d. 1017. 2 Florence of Worcester, a.dv
1016;

A.D 1017.] DANISH SOVEREIGNS. 59
crime, which, if he refused, Canute he knew would soon
achieve by some other hand. His merciful imposture
was unavailing ; the impatient tyrant first outlawed
Edwy, and then, by the aid of more compliant friends,
put him, in spite of his innocence, to death.1
There still remained the two sons of Ethelred by Emma,
but they were with their mother at the court of the Duke
of Normandy, and could not easily, therefore, be reached.
In order the more readily to obtain possession of them, he
made proposals of marriage to Emma,2 engaging that the
offspring they might have in common should succeed to
the crown, not doubting her consent, or that she would
bring her children with her into England, when he
might easily deal with them according to his pleasure.
Ambitious, profligate and heartless, the widow of Ethelred
immediately bestowed her hand on the man who had
pursued her wretched husband to death, and remorse
lessly imbrued his hands in the blood of the royal family.
In the month of July, a.d. 1017, she repaired to Eng
land,3 where her nuptials with the ferocious Scandinavian,
almost young enough to be her son, were immediately
solemnised.4 But Duke Richard, divining by royal
instinct the design of Canute against his nephews, re
tained them in Normandy, where their lives were indeed
safe, but where they forgot their native tongue, their
native manners and predilections, and acquired habits
and preferences which led to their own ruin, and the
ruin of their country.
An illustration of Canute's treachery and cruelty,
which may be regarded as a proper preface to the

1 " Jussu et petitione regis Ca- 2 Glabri Radulphi Historiorum
nuti eodem anno innocenter occidi- L. IL, Bouquet, X. 14, with the note
tur." Simeon De Gestis Regum An- of the Benedictine editors. Chroni-
glorum, p. 176. Chronicon Johannis con Willelm. Godell. Bouquet, X.
Bromton, p. 907. Henry de Enygh- 262. Chronica de Mailros, I. 155.
ton, p. 2317. The last two writers, 3 Florence of Worcester, a.d.
however, mistake the Saxon Chro- 1017.
nicle, and confound the Etheling i Lives of Edward the Confessor;
Edwy with the King Of the Churls, p. 190.

60 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. [CHAP. XIV.
history of Edric Streone's murder, occurred on the very
threshold of his reign. Uhtred, earl of Northumbria, of
whom I have already spoken as the ally of Ironside,1
found it necessary, on the establishment of the Danish'
power, to make his peace with the conqueror. He had
inherited with his estates, and voluntarily taken upon
himself by marriage, a multitude of sanguinary feuds',
so that he could nowhere in his earldom stir a step with
out the risk of encountering an enemy. He had in
curred the hatred of bishop Aldhun, by marrying and;
divorcing his daughter ; he had espoused the quarrels of
an opulent country gentleman, named Styr, by taking to
wife his daughter, with an immense dowry ; and he had,
converted this new friend and his adherents into foes, by
his passion for polygamy, which induced him to put
aside Styr's daughter, to become the son-in-law of king
Ethelred, who bestowed on him the princess Elfgiva.1
Canute, immediately on his accession, sent messengers to
Uhtred, inviting him to attend his court at Wiheal,
and pledging his faith to afford him safe conduct, both
in coming and going. Upon assurances so solemn, the
earl did not hesitate to comply with his sovereign's
invitation; but no sooner had he entered the hall of
audience, than our merry Macbeth2 ordered forth from
behind a curtain a body of assassins, under the lead of
Thurbrand Hold, who, falling upon Uhtred and his;
retainers, murdered them all, to the number of forty ;
upon which Canute seized the earldom of Northumbria,
and bestowed it on the bloody jarl Eric.3 The leadet
of Uhtred's assassins was one of those whose enmity
he had taken upon himself, by the articles of his second
marriage. :
During the Christmas festivities4 of a.d, 1017 another;
1 Simeon De Ucthredo comite 3 Saxon Chronicle ; Florence of
Northanthymbrorum, pp. 80, 81. Worcester, a.d. 1016.
2 William of Malmesbury (II. 10), i Matthew of Westminster,
who brands the tyrant's conduct Roger de Hoveden, a.d. 1017.
with the charge of inhuman levity.

A.D. 1017.] DANISH SOVEREIGNS. 61
event occurred characteristic of the new king, and
strikingly significant of the policy by which he regulated
his conduct. Through the misty narratives of the Chro
niclers the truth is visible, that the Danish conqueror re
garded Edric Streone in the light of a disguised competitor
rather than as a subject. He knew that the advantages he
had derived from his co-operation were the result of deep-
laid designs- — not the effects of friendship. By the
plans which he revolved in his own mind, he divined what
must be going on in the mind of his rival, and dreaded
lest that consummate perfidy which had already con
signed so many princes and nobles to a premature death,
might sooner or later immesh him in its toils. At first
he judged it would be unsafe to deprive him of his earl
dom, or attempt his life ; but he had been careful, in
the division of the kingdom, not to augment his power
by extending his command beyond the frontiers of
Mercia. When repairing to London, therefore, in com
pany with the other nobles of the realm, to share in the
regal festivities of Christmas, Edric probably went at
tended by a retinue sufficiently large to inspire Canute
with alarm. It certainly filled his own mind with a
strong conviction of security, since he ventured, even in
the palace, to beard the Danish prince, to reproach him
with his parsimonious distribution of honours, and to
insist on his own claims to much higher distinction than
he had obtained in the state.1 Assuming the tone of an
equal, he affirmed what was undeniable — that the Scan
dinavian Viking was chiefly indebted for the throne of
England to him. All the particulars of this fiery alter
cation were probably never made public ; but at the
reproaches of Edric, Canute's countenance is said to
have become inflamed with anger. The cant attributed
to him by the Chroniclers, he could not have had the
hardihood to make use of to his partner in treachery
and guilt. Accustomed to bloody deeds, fury incited
1 William of Malmesbury, II; 1 1 . Compare Simeon of Durham, p. 177.

62 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. [CHAP. XIV.
him to add another crime to the list, if we ought not
rather to infer, from the stationing of Eric fully armed
in the next chamber, that all the arrangements for the
assassination had been previously made. At a word
from Canute, the Norwegian jarl rushed into the apart
ment, and with his battle-axe felled Edric to the ground.
With the coolness of a pirate-chief, the king and his
accomplice took up the remains of their victim, and
hurled them forth through a window1 into the Thames.
Neither did he wish this perfidious murder to be con
cealed ; but issued orders that the body of the Mercian
earl should not be interred,2 but left to float up and
down upon the waves, a ghastly spectacle to both friends
and enemies.
He next kindly remembered Ethelward, who had
deceived him in the matter of the Etheling Edwy's
murder, and ordered him to be beheaded, because he
would not imbrue his hands in the blood of his deafest
friend. There is much confusion respecting this earl,
who is supposed by some to have been banished three
years later ; but as he is said to have been of the noblest
blood in England, we may fairly conclude him to have
been the son of Ethelmar the Great, and therefore to
have excited the special jealousy of Canute. Another
innocent victim to the tyrant's fury was Norman, brother
of Leofric earl of Leicester. Having been among the
most distinguished friends of Edric Streone, it was ap
prehended he might seek to avenge his death, by stimu
lating the midland counties, in which he possessed great
power and authority, to revolt.3 To this man the Abbey2
of Croyland had, during many years, trusted for protec
tion. But the friendship of the great was not to be ob
tained without an equivalent, and the monks therefore,
1 Higden,Polychronicon,III.275. accounts of this assassination. Com-
Chronica de Mailros, 1. 155. An- pare William of Malmesbury, II.
nales Burtonienses, I, 247. ' 1 0. Roger de Hoveden, Matthew
2 Roger of Wendover, a.d. 1017. of Westminster.
The Chroniclers vary in their s Saxon Chronicle, a.d. 1017.

A.D. 1018.] DANISH SOVEREIGNS. 63
for the services rendered them by Norman, had to alienate
from the princely domains of the monastery the manor
of Baddely, to him and his descendants, for the term of
a hundred years, at the nominal rent of one peppercorn.1
Many other adherents of Edric, illustrious for birth and
station, were condemned to the scaffold, among whom
was Brihtric, son of Elphege,2 earl and governor of Devon
shire. Fictitious crimes were attributed to them — in
some cases the sanguinary king affected, with singular
effrontery, to be avenging the cause of Ethelred and
Edmund — but their real offence consisted in that power
and influence among the Saxons, which might some day
render them formidable. It is possible, also, as affirmed.
by some Chroniclers,3 that Canute found these executions
and confiscations necessary to satisfy the horse-leech
appetites of his Danish followers for titles and lands.
His next step was to make the English taste, through
pecuniary exactions, the evils of being ruled by a
foreign lord. The sum of ten thousand five hundred
pounds was exacted from the citizens of London,4 and
seventy-two thousand from the rest of the nation.
Even these heavy imposts would not have sufficed, had
not Canute, perceiving the tameness of the people,
judged it safe to send the greater part of his fleet and
Danish army back to the Baltic,
The body of troops on which he thenceforward relied
for keeping down the English, was equally remarkable for
its exquisite organisation and the smallness of its num
bers. If we are to interpret literally the account5 trans
mitted to us of the formation and discipline of these
huscarls — the Praetorian guards6 of a barbarian conqueror
1 Chronicle of Croyland, a.d. 1017. Legum Castrensium Regis Canuti
2 Simeon De Gestis Regum An- Magni ; Scriptores Rerum Danica-
glorum, p. 177. rum, III. p. 139, sqq. For an account
3 Historia Ramesiensis, III. 438. of this little work, see the preface of
4 Saxon Chronicle, A.D. 1018. Langebek.
Simeon De Gestis Regum Anglo- 6 Gibbon, Decline and Fall of the
rum, p. 177. Chronicon Johannis Roman Empire, I, 168 ; and Lipsius,
Bromton, p. 907. De Magnitudine Romana, I. 4.
5 Suenonis Aggonis Historia

64 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. [CHAP. Xlji

— we must infer that our country had then reached the
utmost pitch of weakness and degradation. It required"
nearly forty thousand men1 to maintain tranquillity in
Britain long after it had been reduced to the condition
of a province and incorporated with the Roman empires j
but now the whole Anglo-Saxon people, together with
all the other dwellers in the island, were held in subjepi'
tion by a force which, according to some, did not equal
half a Roman legion 2 apart from the auxiliaries, and at
the highest computation did not exceed six thousand
men. When Canute had resolved upon organising this small
standing army, he issued a proclamation, inviting all
such to take service under his command as were either
oppressed by poverty 3 or preferred to honest industry
the leisure and license of a camp life. To dazzle their
imaginations and stimulate their vanity, the sword-smiths
and armourers throughout England were simultaneously
employed in fabricating splendid and costly weapons for
the new guard, so that, according to an ancient Chronicler,
the whole island resounded with the clang ofthe hammer
and the anvil. Swords, halberds, and battle-axes, richly
inlaid with gold, were the arms provided for these mer
cenaries, who wore besides gilded helmets on their headsi;
and golden bracelets on their arms.
When a sufficient number had been enrolled from;
all parts of the king's dominions, Denmark, Sweden,,.
Norway, and, probably, from all other parts of Europe,!
they proceeded in multitudes towards the palace, where
they received their arms and equipments, took what
was equivalent to an oath of allegiance, were duly
1 Three legions of twelve thousand were double that number. Langebek,
five hundred men each. Gibbon, by way of reconciling the two state-
Decline and Fall of the Roman Em- ments, supposes the original number
pire, T. 27. to have been three thousand, and to
2 Sweyn (III. 144) estimates their have been doubled by degrees.
number at three thousand; but Saxo 3 Canuti Magni Le<mm Castren-
Grammaticus, in Stephanus's notes sium Historia, cap. n.°
on Sweyn's work, maintains they

"A.D. 1018.] DANISH SOVEREIGNS. 65
numbered, and allotted their rank and station in the
army. The officers consisted of such persons as were distin
guished for their birth or opulence, or for their attach
ment to the Danish rule ; and the laws and regulations
by which order and discipline were enforced in the
Thingamanna1 or camp, were drawn up by two of Canute's
private secretaries.2 The greatest care was taken that
these mercenaries should be liberally supplied with pro
visions, and that they should never have to complain of
their pay being in arrears. As they belonged to different
countries, they were necessarily distinguished from each
other by manners and language, so that to preserve har
mony and mutual goodwill among them, demanded no
little prudence and judgment. In what part of London
their barracks were situated is not known, but they
appear to have been all cavalry, and to have spread
themselves daily over the country in the vicinity for the
purpose of exercise and watering their horses in the
neighbouring burns and rivulets.
To ingratiate himself the more with these soldiers,
Canute constituted himself their commander, so that he
appeared to be closely bound up with them, not so much
as their king as by being a trooper like themselves.
That he was constantly present at their exercises may
be inferred from the tragical incident which has sup
plied so many writers with a theme of praise: taking
offence one day at the insolence or awkwardness of a
member of the guild, he snatched from him his halberd,
and dealing him a furious blow, killed him on the
spot. The rest of the soldiers, beholding the mur
der, fiercely grasped their arms and closed about the
king, who appeased their resentment by submitting
himself at once to the judgment of those whom he
1 On the various appellations of 2 Ope and Eskil, for an account or
these guards, see the copious notes whom see Saxo Grammaticus, in
of Langebek, and compare Kemble, Langebek, III. 146.
Saxons in England, II. 120, Lappen-
berg, II. 202.
VOL. II. F

66 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. [CHAP. XIV*
affected to regard as his comrades and peers- To in*.
flict on him the punishment adjudged by the Camp Lawsr
to such an offender, the crafty mercenaries perceived}
would be to forfeit pay, distinction, and free quartensj
upon England, for which reason they left to the kingjl
himself the delicate task of determining the amount of
the wergild of the fallen warrior. In a fit of contrition,
or more probably through a stroke of policy, he con
demned himself to pay nine times the ordinary fine j:
and thus ensured to himself not only the pardon of the
Thingamanna, but the warm praises of historians. i\
• We have not been made acquainted with the internal
working of this system, which, however, unquestionably
answered the end for which it was called into existence^
since it held the Anglo-Saxons in tame submissjeii
throughout the country, while all the members of its
own body were restrained within proper bounds by the
fear of punishment. No act or circumstance was too
minute or insignificant to be thought worthy of atten
tion by the law, which determined the way in. which
the men should take out their horses to the ponds and
rivers, forbidding one trooper to ride up a stream so as
to muddy the water for his comrades' horses; prohibiting
all rough and uncouth language ; and insisting upon,
the utmost respect for each other's rights. When a
member of the guild appeared incorrigible, he was con*
demned to expulsion, which was almost equivalent to a
sentence of death, for having been allowed his choice to
depart by land or water, if he preferred the former, he
was conducted to the edge of a wood, and there watched
until his form disappeared in the gloom. Three shouts
were then raised to enable him to steer his course away
from his comrades, for if, by pursuing the windings of
the forest-pathway, he returned into their presence, he
became the victim of his own ill-fortune. Should the
offender resolve to face the perils of the sea, the whole
body of the Thingamanna escorted him to the sea-shore,
and there putting him on board a boat with oars or sails,

'A.D. 1018.] DANISH SOVEREIGNS. 67
thrust forth the bark into the waves, after which he
was to be deemed a public enemy, and if driven back
to the shore* by storms or contrary winds might be
immediately put to death. We may easily concede to
Canute and his ministers the credit of having originated
so Draconian a code, but must be permitted to be a
little more sceptical respecting the statement that its
extreme penalty was never once incurred. Indeed, the
whole scheme, in the form in which it has come down
to us, approximates very closely to the institutions of
Utopia ; so that, although we cannot refuse it a place in
the record of Canute's reign, we may yet reasonably
doubt whether we know all that ought to be known on
the subject, in order to form a just idea of the establish
ment and its authors.
The northern monarch, though cruel, rapacious, and
full of treachery, possessed abilities of no ordinary kind.
While crimes seemed necessary to his advancement or
security, he perpetrated them without scruple; but when
he had obtained the object of his ambition, prudence
taught him to moderate his ferocity, and seek to con
ciliate the nation he had subdued. History presents us
with many examples of similar princes. To win a crown
they consider all actions justifiable — hypocrisy, perjury,
proscription, assassination, massacre, with every other
enormity that can debase or pollute human nature.
Possessed of the reins of power, they learn to esteem
virtue more profitable, and, like Augustus Csesar, put
on the semblance of goodness, to soothe or overreach
mankind. In this art of reigning, Canute excelled. Regarding
Danes and English equally as the ministers of his will,
he made no distinction between them, but distri
buted offices and emoluments impartially among both.
Circumstances, moreover, greatly favoured his policy.
Numbers of rich Englishwomen, when left, by the
death of their husbands, in possession of large estates,
f2

68 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. [CHAP. XIV.
threw themselves into the arms of Danish lords,1
either through a politic preference for the ruling race,
or because a majority of the Anglo-Saxons,*according to
the united testimony of bishops and chroniclers, were
grievously deficient in those qualities which contribute
to the happiness of domestic life. On the vices imputed
to them it would be unprofitable to dwell. Anticipating
the profligacy of modern times, or reverting to the
corrupt manners of Imperial Rome, clubs2 were formed,
the members of which lavished their caresses and their
wealth on a single mistress, and if such individuals
afterwards undertook the responsibilities of married
life, it is easy to understand how slender were the
chances of happiness for them or their wives. The
Northern rovers, on the other hand, being then in the
period of transition from piracy to a settled mode of
existence, were soothed by the unusual pleasure of pos
sessing a peaceful home and a wife, with sufficient wealth
to reconcile them to the loss of the excitements of a
marauding career. Their superiority as husbands is
implied in most of the narratives of the times. Eond,
occasionally to infatuation, of their English wives,
who doubtless greatly surpassed in tenderness those of
their own country, they clung to them even when guilty
of the most criminal acts, and could hardly be forced by
the evidence of their senses to admit the guilt of their help
mates.3 By his judicious measures Canute established his
throne so firmly, that in less than three years after
the Conquest he considered it safe to return and pass a
1 Historia Ramesiensis, III. 441. convivium ; Muratori Antiquitates, .
2 "Horret animus, meminisse, quod IL 431. Van Hoist, de Eranis, p.
plerique faciunt, dum calamitatem 35. Manners and Customs of
istam patiuntur, qua symbolum Ancient Greece, III. 75, sqq.
una conferentes, communi pretio 3 See in the Historia Ramesiensis,
meretricem plures mercantur," &c, III. 438, sq., a long story of a step-
&c. Lupus Sermo ad Anglos. Scrip- mother, who killed her husband's
tores Rerum Danicarum, II. 468. daughter and buried her in a field.
Compare Ducange voce Symbolum

A.D. 1020.] DANISH SOVEREIGNS. 69
whole winter in his native land,1 thus setting the ex
ample of that policy which was afterwards followed by
the ^Norman Bastard. No commotions seem to have arisen
during his absence, but it is probable that many of the
English nobles, by their conversation or conduct, supplied
a pretext for further confiscations, banishments, and
assassinations ; for immediately on his return, Canute
assembled the Witan at Cirencester, on Easter Sunday,
April 17th,2 and obtained from that timid and servile
assembly a sentence of exile against earl Ethelward,
He had now enjoyed sufficient leisure to study the
character of his new subjects, and perceived that to
hold them in obedience, no policy was likely to prove
more effectual than conciliating the Church. The savage
Viking now, therefore, clothed himself in the virtues of
a pious prince, During his own and his father's wars,
innumerable minsters and monasteries had been over
thrown or desecrated, which excited against him the
hostility of both monks and clergy. To appease their
resentment he applied the revenues of the state to the
rebuilding of such edifices as had been ruined during
the late troubles, and in erecting new ones. Among
the latter was the magnificent minster of Assandun,
the Hastings of the Danish Conquest, which was erected
at the joint expense of earl Thurkill and the king.
Both these sanguinary chiefs, with a large assembly
of bishops and clergy, were present at its consecration
by Wulfstan, archbishop of York,3 after which Stigand,
one of his chaplains, was appointed its first mass-priest.4
' Matthew of Westminster, a.d. built there a minster of stone and
1019. lime, for the souls of the men who
2 Florence of Worcester, Roger of there were slain, and gave it one of
Wendover, a.d. 1020. hispriests, whose name was Stigand."
3 Florence of Worcester, ubi There seems no reason to doubt
supra. that this priest was identical with
4 Saxon Chronicle, a.d. 1020. the prelate and statesman who
This passage seems to occur in one afterwards so nobly distinguished
MS. only, and is thus given by Mr. himself for his piety, virtue and
Petrie, Monumenta Historica Bri- patriotism, when to profess a love
tannica, p. 427 : " Ahd caused to be of England or anything English was

70 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. [CHAP. XIV.
Another incident connected with church affairs may
be related, as characteristic of the manners of the clergy.
The see of Durham, or Lindisfarne,1 having been three
years vacant, a chapter of the canons was at length as
sembled to elect a bishop. It seems probable that the
jovial Northumbrians conducted affairs of this kind with
considerably less gravity than we are apt to imagine;
for in the midst of their deliberations, a jolly but respec
table priest, named Edmund, stood up, and observing
their perplexity, inquired jocularly why they did not
elect him for bishop % The joke was well-timed. The
canons at once put an end to their discussion, and taking
the merry priest at his word, elected him on the spot.
But the matter would not have been complete without a
miracle. Alarmed perhaps by their own rashness, they
proclaimed a fast of three, days, and resolved, through
permissible necromancy, to consult the shade of St.
Cuthbert. Mass, therefore, was celebrated at his tomb
by the bishop-elect, and during the service a sepulchral
voice was heard issuing from the grave, which thrice
named Edmund bishop.2
Gradually, with caution and unswerving perseverance,
Canute rid himself of all those who had aided in elevat
ing him to power. In a.d. 1021, he considered himself
so firmly seated in England, that he could venture to
aim a blow at the celebrated Thurkill, commander of
the Danish fleet under Ethelred, whose defection had
turned the scale in Canute's favour, and who, as a
reward, had been raised to the earldom of East Anglia,
Ulfkytel, who defeated Sweyn at Ringmere, having been
slain at Assandun, left a widow the inheritor of his vast

to incur the hatred of court and Archbishops of Canterbury, I.
king. Dr. Hook, in his life of 604.
Stigand, has either overlooked this x Simeon De Dunelmensi Ecclesia,
passage or hesitated to identify p. 30.
Canute's priest with queen Emma's 2 Florence of Worcester, a.d. 1020.
chaplain, in which capacity the Roger of Wendover, Matthew of
doctor informs us Stigand first Westminster, a.d. 1020. Radulph
appears in history. Lives of the de Diceto, p. 467.

A.D. 1021.] DANISH SOVEREIGNS. 71
estates. This was Edgitha,1 who, following the example
of her mother-in-law, queen Emma, married Thurkill,
the probable murderer of her lord. With her the earl
was now banished ;2 but in less than two years, Canute,
who, like most other tyrants, was capricious, became
reconciled to Thurkill, whom he entrusted with the
government of Denmark and the guardianship of his
son, but retained with him in England the son of the
viceroy as a hostage for his father, who doubtless had
not forgotten how Canute had dealt with other noble
hostages, whose nostrils he slit, and whose ears and
hands he cut off at Sandwich. More recent chroniclers
invent a different kind of fate for Thurkill, relating that
immediately on his landing in Denmark, the nobles of the
land, fearing lest his presence might cause internal dis
sensions and civil wars, attacked and slew him, and cast
his naked corpse upon the shore a prey to birds and wild
beasts,3 The list of political exiles was not yet complete, fosv
soon after, Canute's ingratitude and perfidy drove into
banishment the great Norwegian jarl Eric, who had
conducted the siege of London, and been rewarded for
his long services by the earldom of Northumbria, which
was governed under his authority by Eadulf, a man of
weak and sordid character, though brother to the noble
Uhtred.4 Such honours, however, were to the Danish
1 About the birth and history of Knyghton agrees, p. 2314. Higden,
this princess there hangs the ut- III. 270, denominates her Edgiva.
most possible obscurity. Dr. Lap- 2 Simeon De Gestis Regum An-
penberg, II. 168, calls her Wulfhild, glorum, p. 1 77.
butatpage207helosessightof Wulf- 3 Osbernus Hist, de Translatione
hild, and calls her Eadgyth, having S. Elphegi, Anglia Sacra, II. 144.
foundthename Edgitha in Florence, But Wharton, the editor, contra-
a.d. 1021. Simeon calls her Egitha, diets the statement of Osberne, and
but we find that a princess of a correctly observes that Thurkill
very similar name, Elgitha, was was not banished till a.d. 1021,
married to Edric Streone. Florence when he was sent to Denmark with
of Worcester, a.d. 1009. John of his wife Edgitha.
Bromton,Chronicon,p. 877, gives her 4 Simeon De TJcthredo Comite, pi
the name of Edgiva, and with him 81.

72 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. [CHAP. XIV.
king's adherents only so many steps towards outlawry
or death. While his own throne remained tottering
they were spared, because he might again have occa
sion for their swords, but as his power became esta
blished they were removed one after another, to make
way for persons to whom he owed no gratitude, and
who had therefore no pretence to presume upon their
services. Among these victims to his jealousy and sus
picion was Hakon Jarl, who, having married Gunhilda,
daughter of the king's sister by a Wendish prince, may
have betrayed symptoms of a lurking ambition natural
to all Scandinavian nobles. The reports, dimly trans
mitted to us through the Chronicles, place him at the
head of a formidable conspiracy to deprive Canute of
his kingdom and life. That there really was some
danger from his continued residence in England may
be inferred from the fact, that it was not judged safe to
dismiss him with abruptness and contumely. An honour
able form was given to his extrusion, since he was
nominally despatched on an important embassy ; but,
by one of those accidents peculiarly frequent during
Canute's reign, the great jarl either perished at sea, or
was assassinated in the Orkneys. Both traditions have
been preserved, and, in either case, it is hardly too
much to surmise that the fatal blow may have been
directed by an influence emanating from London.1
Canute, like the Norman Bastard, perceived that the
best means of consolidating conquest was to ensure the
co-operation of the Church. His mind was beginning, .
moreover, to be tinged with the superstition of his sub
jects ; and inclination, therefore, united with policy to . . .
engage him in what were then esteemed works of piety.
Up to the year 1 023 the remains of archbishop Elphege2
1 Florence of Worcester, Roger 2 Higden,Polychronicon, III.273.
deHoveden, Matthew of Westmins- Florence of Worcester, a.d. 1023.
ter, a.d, 1029. Radulph de Diceto, p. 468.

A.D. 1023.] DANISH SOVEREIGNS. 73
had rested in peace in St. Paul's Cathedral ; but now
the monks and clergy of Canterbury expressed their de
sire to possess his bones, and it was resolved that he
should be disinterred, and translated with great pomp
to his own minster.
No circumstance can illustrate more strikingly the
manners and ideas of those times. Ethelnoth, archbishop
of Canterbury, who having baptised and anointed Canute,
had always been in high favour1 at court, Brithwine,
bishop of Sherbourne, Elfsy, bishop of Winchester, with
a multitude of priests and monks, met on Whit-Sunday
at the church of St. Paul, in the midst of a vast concourse
of people assembled from all parts of London to witness
the strange ceremony. Immediately on reaching the
cathedral, the primate despatched a messenger to an
nounce his arrival to Canute, who happened just at that
moment to have entered the bath, of which — to their
great credit be it said — the Danes of all ranks were par
ticularly fond.2 Not to keep the holy man waiting, the
lively and jocose monarch, still a thorough Viking in
manners, sprang out of the water, and dispensing with
all the ceremonies of a regal toilette, put on a common
pair of shoes,3 and throwing a cloak over his naked
body, hastened in that primitive fashion to meet the
assembled nobles and clergy at St. Paul's. No idea
that they were about to engage in a gloomy or even a
solemn ceremony appears to have been entertained by
any of those present ; on the contrary, it was evidently
regarded as a rather sprightly4 enterprise. In sight of
the immense audience, the monastic sextons began dig
ging at the wall in which the corpse of the martyr had
1 Gervasii Actus Pontificum Can- wise given to the shoes worn by
tuariensium, p. 1651. bishops during the performance of
2 Chronica, Johannis Wallingford, divine service. Ducange in voce.
Ill . 547. " Sabbatum in quo solent * Saxon Chronicle, a.d. 1023, which
balneare." says, " they bore him with a wor-
3 Siibtalares : a sort of shoes shipful band and sprightly joy to
which the monks wore at night in Rochester."
summer. The same name was like-

74 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. [CHAP. XIV.
been lodged; but instead of experiencing any difficulty,
the stones spontaneously dropped out of their places,
and fell about them like forest leaves touched by the
first frosts of winter. According to rule, the body, when
disinterred, was found in perfect preservation,1 and having
been wrapped, coffin and all, in a linen shroud, was lifted
on their shoulders by the monks, and through the midst
of the palpitating multitude borne out of the cathedral.
The excitement felt by our ancestors on such occasions is
unintelligible to us. As the statues of Athena, in Pagan
times, were looked upon as the protectors of cities, so, in
the Dark Ages, were the bodies of saints and martyrs ;
knowing which, Canute apprehended a general rising
ofthe Londoners to prevent the departure of relics which
they had begun to regard as the Palladium of the City.
In the morning, therefore, before quitting the palace, he
ordered a detachment of his huscarls or guards to station
themselves at some of the distant gates of the capital
and organise a mimic insurrection, while other bodies
took post on the bridge and along the banks of the
river, to preserve order. Safe under the protection of
these trusty Danes, the monks, with coffin on shoulders,
crossed St. Paul's churchyard and hurried down one of
the narrow streets leading to the Thames, followed by
a vast procession with the king and archbishop at
its head. Here, one of the royal galleys, brilliantly
painted and adorned with golden dragons, the symbols
of Wessex, and filled with armed men, pushed up to
the bank to receive the precious freight. Canute was
the first to spring on board, and having been followed
by the archbishop, who superintended the embareatioBi
of the relics, took the rudder, and with his own royal
hands steered the galley to the farther shore.
On the policy of this day the Viking chief might, and
probably did, pride himself ever after. Secretly caring no
more for Elphege and his bones than for the head of Edric
1 Chronicon Johannis Bromton, p. 891, 900,

A.D. 1023.] DANISH SOVEREIGNS. 75
Streone, he nevertheless, to ingratiate himself with the
monks and clergy, affected deep devotion, and emerging
first from the barge, took the martyr's coffin and placed
it in the carriage which was to bear it to its place of
destination. He then commanded a detachment of his
fierce huscarls to protect the funereal cortege, and sat
down with the archbishop on the parapet of the bridge
until the procession had passed out of sight ; after which,
he took a jocular leave of Ethelnoth, telling him, play
fully, that he had saved his life from the rage of the
citizens, who might have risen in defence of so great a
treasure. He added, that he himself would willingly
have accompanied the procession to Canterbury, but
that public business, which could not be neglected, re
quired his presence in London. " My queen, however,"
he said, " together with my little son, who dwells with
you in your county of Kent, will supply my place, and
with this assurance I bid you God speed," Ethelnoth
then joined the vast multitude of monks, clergy,
grandees, and people who accompanied the martyr's
remains through Plumstead and Erith to Rochester.
In these operations three days were consumed, and
on the third came queen Emma, with her little son
Hardicanute, and joined the procession. It was the
midst of summer, and as the vast crowd moved along,
the dust rose in clouds into the blue sky. It was a
holiday period for all Kent — men, women, and children,
on horseback and on foot, constantly augmented the
length of the procession. In one part musicians were
beheld playing on the harp ; in another, troops of
dancers and singers; while the martyr's corpse, laid
out in state on a triumphal car, advanced in front of all,
" like the ark of the covenant."1
The vast procession entered the suburbs of Canter
bury with the monks of Christchurch at its head, some
1 The words of Osbern, Historia de Translatione S. Elphegi, Anglia
Sacra, II. 147.

76 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. [CHAP. XIV.
with loud voices chanting psalms and hymns, while
others bore aloft gold and silver crucifixes flashing with
gems. Prom the joy and gratulation of the people, a
stranger might have imagined they were bringing back
to their city some great chief, who by wisdom and valour
had risen to be the saviour of his country. Elphege,
indeed, was a patriot as well as a saint ; but by the
crowds then assembled his public virtues were much
less the objects of veneration than the wonder-working
power of his bones, which having been borne to the
cathedral,1 there lay in state for several days. When
the time arrived for depositing them once more in the
earth, the archbishop and bishops, with a host of inferior
clergy, again assembled, and the saint's relics were com
mitted, ashes to ashes, and dust to dust, on the north
side of the altar, where, as the Saxon historian relates*
they continued to be a source of comfort and health to
all who devoutly repaired to the spot.2
At a later period Elphege's biography, and the history
of the translation of his relics, were ordered by the arch*
bishop to be read annually in the cathedral, the one on
the anniversary of the removal of his bones, the other
on that of his martyrdom,3
It has been often observed that the history of a people
comprises as well its superstitions, fantastical beliefs,
and characteristic errors, as its martial achievements and
political institutions. Accordingly, to know our ances
tors, we must familiarise ourselves with what they used
to think of their conquerors, powerful prelates, and
other distinguished men. Viewed through the thick
haze of tradition which enveloped his memory in Eng
land, Canute, unlike his grim father, Forkbeard, appears
to us as a jovial tyrant, much given to laughter and
jesting, especially with his sacerdotal friend Ethelnoth.
1 Gervasii Actus Pontificum Can- 3 Eadmer, Vit. Anselm I. Never-
tuariensium. theless, both the productions above
2 Saxon Chronicle, Matthew of mentioned abound with fictions and
Westminster, a.d. 1023. imaginary miracles,

A.D. 1024.] DANISH SOVEREIGNS. 77
Once at Wilton, we are told, during the merry-makings
of Whitsuntide, the conversation at table happening to
turn on St. Editha, Canute protested, amid roars of
laughter, that he never could believe in the sanctity of
the daughter of so libidinous and tyrannical a king as
Edgar. As he was known to entertain but a mean
opinion of Saxon saints in general, Ethelnoth seized on
this opportunity to punish his scepticism. The tomb of
Edgar's canonised daughter being close at hand, he
took the king thither, and having caused the lid of the
sarcophagus to be raised, the lady within immediately
sat upright, and by looks and gestures displayed an
evident inclination to fly at the unbelieving king. Terri
fied, as well he might be, at this spectacle, Canute fell
half-senseless to the ground, and afterwards, when he
came to himself, was only too thankful that St. Editha
in her wrath had not stricken him dead. By fictions
like these both monks, . clergy, and laity amused their
leisure hours, while they at the same time gratified
their patriotic devotion at the expense of their foreign
Oppressors.1 Any popularity, however, which Canute might have
lost by making free with the reputation of the saints,
he amply made up for by exciting the gratitude both of
the clergy and the monastic orders by his lavish dona
tions to churches and monasteries. At Winchester he
is said to have indulged largely his generosity towards
the church, bestowing lands and manors3 on the minster,
the interior of which he likewise enriched with gorgeous
and costly ornaments, including a magnificent coffer to
contain the relics of St. Berinus, candelabra with
numerous branches, and immense quantities of gold
and silver plate, encrusted with jewels. The date of
these donations, chiefly made at the instigation of queen
Emma, appears to be determined by the statement that

1 Chronicon Johannis Bromton, p, 2 Annales Ecclesise Wintoniensis,
909. Anglia Sacra, I. 290.

78 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. [CHAP. XIV.
they were bestowed while the king was meditating on
plans of foreign conquest, and making preparations for'
realising his ambitious policy.1
Many of the subsequent achievements of Canute are
involved in obscurity. In a.d. 1025, learning that
troubles had broken out in his northern dominions, he
equipped a fleet, and sailing to the Baltic with a mixed
force of English and Danes, pitched his camp in the
Holm by Helga, the sacred river,2 where he encountered
Ulf and Eglaf, the chiefs of Sweden. The ground was
fiercely contested by both parties, but at length the
Danish king was driven back, and the Swedes remained
masters of the place of carnage. And now the days of
the conqueror of England might have been brought
suddenly to a close, but for the presence in his army of
a young Englishman at the head of the Anglo-Saxon
contingent.3 The Danes, after their defeat, remained sullenly in
their camp, which they expected, to be stormed on the
morrow by the Swedes. Canute either could not or
would not fly, but with his usual intrepidity made all
practicable preparations to receive the enemy. The Eng
lish, through doubts of their loyalty, or in conformity
with the practice of the times, were encamped apart.
Their leader, who bore a name destined afterwards to
become renowned throughout the world, took advantage
of Canute's military dispositions to execute a project
almost unexampled for daring. Addressing his country
men with martial eloquence, he urged them by many
considerations to perform an achievement which must
inspire their king with admiration of their valour. He
made light of the success of the Danes in England,
which he attributed to the caprice of fortune, and said
the king would concede to them the first place for valour
if they now conquered those who had conquered him.4
'William of Malmesbury, II. 3 Matthew of Westminster, a.d.
11. 1024.
!Saxon Chronicle, a.d. 1025. i William of Malmesbury, II. 11.

A.D. 1025.] DANISH SOVEREIGNS, 79
He then placed himself at their head, and sallying forth
silently, fell in the hours of thick darkness upon the
camp of the victorious Swedes, slaughtered an immense
number, and following the remainder in their flight,
continued the carnage for several miles.
When the morning broke, the English had not yet
returned from the pursuit. Canute, therefore, observ
ing their camp empty, imagined they had been cut off, or
gone over to the Swedes during the night. Still,
whether supported or betrayed, he resolved to face the
enemy, and, drawing up his soldiers in battle array, ad
vanced to renew the contest of the previous day. But
in the Swedish camp all was stillness and silence. No
smoke arose from the fires of soldiers cooking their
morning meal — no horses neighed — no trumpets sounded.
Were the hostile leaders laying some snare for him]
Moving forward with extreme caution, he speedily per
ceived unmistakeable tokens of the night's slaughter —
piles of deserted booty intermingled with corpses and
pools of blood.1 Ere he had yet recovered from his as
tonishment, the English chief returned at the head of
his countrymen, and described the surprise and destruc
tion of the Swedish army.2 Canute naturally received
him with gladness and gratitude, which was augmented
by the appearance of an embassy from the defeated
princes, sueing humbly for peace,3 and offering to do
homage to Canute for their dominions.
The English general was earl Godwin, whose name
occupies so illustrious a place in the history of England.
His story is perhaps one of the most remarkable on re
cord. During the troubles which brought to a close
the reign of Ethelred, it will be remembered that Wulf-
noth, Childe of the South Saxons, broke away from the
1 Chronicon Johannis Bromton, not with the Swedes, but the
p. 908. Henry de Knyghton, p. Wends.
2318. " 3 Roger of Wendover, a.d. 1024,
2 Dr. Lappenberg (II. 206) places desirous of enhancing still farther
this event in a.d. 1019, and supposes the merits of Godwin, relates that
the contest to have taken place, he took Ulf and Eglaf prisoners.

80 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. [CHAP. XIV.
king's fleet, with twenty ships, and became a Viking.on
the high seas. In this situation, history loses sightof
him for awhile. He had excited the jealousy and pro
voked the hatred of his uncles, then all-powerful at the
court of Ethelred, and their influence completely barred
his return to favour.
Unfortunately, no Chronicler has described this part
of Wulfnoth's career. He disappears as a pirate, and
re-appears as a herdsman, living with his only son in
the seclusion of an immense forest — probably that of
Andred. After one of those battles, in which the Northmen
were defeated, a Danish chief, flying for his life, lost his
way in Wulfnoth's forest.1 Having wandered about all
night, separated from his companions, he met at grey
dawn a youth of noble bearing, but in humble garb,
whom he entreated to direct him to the Danish camp.
"lama Saxon," replied the young man, " and were
I to become your guide, I should peril both my own life
and yours, because my countrymen are out in strong
bands, scouring the woods and plains, so that our escape
would be almost impossible. Tarry, therefore, in my
father's hut till nightfall, and I will then conduct you
to your friends." The Danish earl took from his finger
a massive gold ring, and offered it to the young herds
man, who replied, " Keep your ring ; what I do for you,
I will do without reward. If I succeed, I shall ask,
instead of all other recompense, your friendship, by which
I may rise in the Danish army, for among my country
men, after this, I can look for nothing but death." God
win then led the earl to his father's hut, where Wulf-
noth, who had now ceased to be ambitious for himself,
earnestly recommended to the chief the fortunes of his
son. We are not told what impression the bearing of these
two great Saxons made upon the Dane ; but from the
1 Knytlinga Saga, p. 191.

A.D. 1028.] DANISH SOVEREIGNS. 81
sequel it may be inferred that his mind was filled with
admiration. As soon as the stars were out, Godwin left
the hut with his father's guest, and, familiar with all the
intricacies of the forest, conducted their retreat so skil
fully, that they reached in safety the camp of Canute,
The northern chief was not ungrateful. In the feast of
that day, he seated Godwin beside him, in the highest
place of honour, as his son, and then presenting him to
the king, described the perilous services he had received
at his hands, and besought him to throw open before
the youth the career of fame.
Step by step, Godwin rose to distinction. His genius,
fertile in resources and full of grandeur, rendered the
highest employments accessible to him, and his courage,
which never failed in any emergency, won for him the
friendship of Canute, It was probably not until after
this expedition against the Swedes, in which the Danish
monarch owed both crown and life to Godwin, that he
bestowed on him the hand of his own sister,1 and raised
him to the earldoms of Kent and Wessex.
The internal tranquillity which England enjoyed at
this period may be ascribed equally to the ability and
crimes of Canute. All who might have disputed the
throne with him he had ruthlessly murdered or exiled.
To excite the slightest suspicion in his mind, was to
1 The contemporary author of (Illustrations of Domesday Book,
the Vita .33dwardi Regis, published p. 225), for the assertion that she
by the Master of the Rolls, p. 392, died by a stroke of lightning. Kel-
observes : '' Diutius probatum, ham's authority for this is Malmes-
ponit eum sibi a secretis, dans illi bury, who accuses her of being a
inconjugemsororemsuam."William slave-dealer, and obviously in-
of Malmesbury, II. 13, likewise re- sinuates that, by her crimes, she
lates that Canute gave Godwin his had provoked the vengeance of
sister, but depreciates the value of heaven. Dr. Lappenberg (II. 208)
his testimony, by connecting with it supposes Githa to have been the
a strange fable, invented after the sister of TJlf Jarl, on the authority
Conquest, to gratify Norman malig- of Adam of Bremen, p. 237. But
nity. Sir Henry Ellis (Introduc- the writer of the Life of Edward,
tion to Domesday, II. 117) speaks quoted at the beginning of this note,
of Githa as the sister, meaning pro- knew Githa personally, and was
bably daughter, of Sweyn, and in therefore more likely to know who
the followingpage refers to Kelham she was than Adam of Bremen.
VOL. II. G

82 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. [CHAP. XIV.
incur his implacable enmity. No one who could be
dangerous was spared ; and the cruelty of his disposition
being generally known, inspired with terror all those
who might otherwise perhaps have obeyed the prompfc-
ings of ambition. This produced throughout the realia
a profound calm, at least on the surface of society, though
the seeds of future troubles, destined to prove fatal to
the Danish rule, were then widely sown, and left to
germinate in secret.
Among the punishments of crime is the necessity it
creates of reproducing itself. Men in certain circum
stances, when they have once entered upon the career of
guilt, find it impossible to pause. Ambition in the
depths of their souls, craving perpetually, like an insati
able monster, for excitement, urges them into fresh enor
mities, which, before they have been perpetrated, appear
to promise contentment and repose. But when the step
has been taken, the victim of his own appetite perceives
another necessity for action rise before him, and thus
he toils up the steep of villany, till some sudden calamity
or death cuts him short.
Thus it was with Canute. Having subdued the
Swedes, and rendered them subordinate to his policy, if
not to his dominion, his desires projected themselves
over the mountains of Norway,1 where Olaf was toiling
to repress piracy, and by the introduction of Christianity,
to soften and purify the manners of his people. Re
formers are seldom popular. The profligate jarls, and
their wives, who profited by plunder on the sea, and
dissipated their acquisitions in licentiousness, hated their
ascetic king; and the pagan priesthood also, whose craft
he threatened, had become equally inimical. When the
news of this general defection reached Canute, he seized
eagerly on the opportunity. Sending emissaries into
Norway, with an abundance of gold and silver, he cor
rupted the leading men, who saw in him a prince more
1 Simeon De Gestis Regum Anglorum, p. 178.

A.D. 1029.] DANISH SOVEREIGNS. 83
congenial to their own tempers and dispositions. They
engaged, therefore, on his appearance with a fleet and
army off the coast,1 to throw off their allegiance to Olaf,
and range themselves under his standard. Accepting
the invitation, which he had purchased with the trea
sures of England, Canute, with an armanent of fifty
ships, repaired to Norway, and having expelled Olaf,
who fled into Russia, was hailed by the jarls king of
Norway.2 Some time after the departure of the English
fleet, the unhappy Olaf, returning to his own country,
and attempting to regain the sceptre, was assassinated by
the jarls.3
Canute's return from his Norwegian expedition took
place in A. d, 1029, and at the following mid-winter
festival, which he celebrated at Winchester, the Witan
drew up that important Code of Laws which still goes
under his name. From an attentive consideration of the
spirit by which it is pervaded, we may be able to form
some conception of the state of public opinion in England
at the begining of the eleventh century. The Church of
Rome may then be said to have done its utmost towards
undermining public and private morals, by substituting
superstitious . observances for the practice of virtue, by
exalting the monks above the married clergy, by put
ting matrimony itself under a ban, condemning it as a
heinous offence in the servants of the altar, and giving
currency to the idea that it is at best, even in the case of
laymen, a sinful indulgence. It is easy to perceive what
effects such a theory must inevitably produce. Bishops
mass-priests, and even monks, might take to themselves
wives ; but the women with whom they thus united,
dominated by the belief and sentiments of the times,
would regard themselves as little better than prostitutes,

1 Radulph de Bieeto (p. 46S), 5 Matthew of Westminster, a.d.
who says that the jarls despised 1028.
Olaf on account of his humanity 3 Saxon Chronicle, A.d. 1030.
and piety. Chronicon Johannis Bromton, p.
911.
G2

84 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. [cHAP. XIV.
and, almost of necessity, adopt an ethical practice
conformable to their internal convictions. To discover
the real moral principles which pervaded society, we
must study the Penitentials, which reveal the inwaril
working of" the national mind, the secret excesses and
offences by which the very foundation of morals was
sapped, and the pernicious arts and contrivances through
which Rome endeavoured to profit by the depravity
of its supporters.
The clergy in the age of which I am speaking, in
addition to concubines,1 had not unfrequently two or
more wives,8 and the people, following their example
rather than their precepts, fell gradually into the
extreme of licentiousness. To this was added a most
barbarous inhumanity towards the poor and needy, who,
having been betrayed by insidious stratagems into the
power of those who plotted against them, were seized,
bound, and sold into slavery in foreign lands. Even infants
in the cradle were not exempt from these machinations,
but having been kidnapped and concealed, were disposed
of to slave-dealers like cattle.3 But general observations

1 The concubine of a priest was spiritual! quodani incestu filias
denominated Focaria, which meant suas spirituales et poenitentiales tali
originally a girl who looked after contubernio polluunt et profanant."
the fire, " famula quse focum curat. 2 In more est, ut quidam duas,
Prresertim vero Focarias appellatse quidam pIuresiabeant,etnonnullus
Presbyterorum et Clericorum con- quamvis earn diisiserit, quam antea
cubinse." Occasionally, however, the habuit, aliam tamen ipsa vivente
focarise were distinguished from the accipit. This although^' certissime
concubines. In the M.S. Institutes norint quod non debean£~fc»bere oV
of Peter, patriarch of Jerusalem, aliquam coitus causam,"%uxoris
quoted by Ducange, we find that consortium, the latter offenclll'
priests kept their penitents and "quod nullus Christianus fac!
spiritual daughters as mistresses : debet." Dr. Milman, History
" In primis dolentes referimus quod Latin Christianity, III. 21, note?
nonnulli Sacerdotes aut parochiales See Ordinances of the Council of
ecclesiarum rectores jam duxerunt Enham, article 5.
in consuetudinem, imo verius dam- 3 Scriptores Rerum Danicarum,
nabilem corruptelam, tenere con- II. 466. Compare the Dooms of
tinue et publice in domo sua vel King Ine, articles 11, 53. In the
aliena Focarias, seu etiam concu- Dooms of King Athelstan, art. 22,
binas non solum extraneas, sed we discover the root of the Ameri-
etiam, quod dictu quoque nefas est, can Fugitive Slave Law.

A.D. 1029.] DANISH SOVEREIGNS. 85
would fail to suggest a true picture of the condition of
England during the reign of Canute, and I shall, there
fore, enter into a detailed account of his laws, which
must be looked upon as outward and visible signs of the
real inward disposition and temper of the nation.
The Code is divided into two parts, Ecclesiastical and
Secular ; and the former, aiming at the extinction of
heathenism, begins by commanding the worship of one
God. The protection of the Church and of the king
is to be inviolate ; so that a murder committed within the
sacred walls is to be held unpardonable, and all present
are to pursue the offender, who can by no means escape
death, unless by taking sanctuary in some place whose
privileges even the king dares not invade.1 He may
there negociate and obtain his pardon, by the payment of
heavy fines to the Church. The efforts of the clergy to
maintain their influence over the public mind are strongly
marked. Churches are to hold different ranks in public
estimation, from the lofty minster which towers over the
buildings of great cities, to the humble edifice, not even
surrounded with the burial-ground, Avhich stands hi the
open field. To enhance their own consequence, they
insinuate that devils would be present everywhere, if
not expelled by their arts of exorcism practised at bap
tisms, and the hallowing of the housel. To encourage
priests to eschew concubines, and even lawful wives, they
are assured that such as avoid all intercourse with women,
shall be honoured as thanes or nobles, which shows the
extreme difficulty of subduing nature. The Papists
have always perplexed themselves about matrimony,2 and
endeavoured to find ingenious reasons for not marrying
I
1 Ecclesiastical Laws of Canute, 2 See the famous treatise of
rticle 2. Chronicon Johannis Sanchez, De Matrimonio, three
Jromton, p. 918. See also Lingard, volumes folio, in which the licen-
listory and Antiquities of the tiousness of casuistry, and the bold
inglo-Saxon Church, I. 273. On prying of priests into the private
his'subject see the treatise of Paolo lives of their penitents, are pushed
3arpi De Jure Asylorum, Opere to the utmost extreme.
7arie, II. 110-136.

86 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. [CHAP. XIV.
one class of women, and marrying another. In Canute's
time, men were prohibited to marry within six degrees,
though what those degrees were is not explained ; nor
with the widow of any kinsman within those degrees/-
nor with their godmothers, nor with a hallowed nun, or
a divorced woman, nor with any relative of their former
wives. The king and the church converted the offences of
the people into a prolific source of revenue: if they did
what was judged wrong, they were to pay a fine ; if they
abstained 'from doing what was right, they were again
fined. Some fines were for the preservation of morals;
some to insure social observances; while others had
reference to the next world ; since persons for disobe
dience were threatened with damnation. When a man
died, his relatives were called upon to pay, at the open
grave, souls-scot — that is, the price of his soul, or fee for
admission into Paradise ; from which we must infer, that
without payment of this fee the corpse would not have
been interred, and the pagan idea that while the body re^
mained unburied the soul could not be happy, evidently
pervaded society.1 Every minster claimed a right over
the corpses of all who had lived within what was called
the shrift district or jurisdiction of the Confessional^
because, even when a corpse was laid out beyond its
confines, the souls-scot had still to be paid to the minster
to which the man had belonged when living,
1 In my History of the Manners below. If these received the rights
and Customs of Ancient Greece, of interment, the spirit was allowed
III. 421, I have sought to give freely to traverse that stream;
expression to the Hellenic idea. dusky and inviolable, which sur-
" Among the Greeks, the dead were rounded the realms of Hades. If
invested with a sanctity which all not, the ghost, cold and desolate^
good men esteemed inviolable, and wandered along its hither shore
this persuasion .acquired additional during the space of a hundred years;
force, from the belief that, though after which the laws of Orcus re-
separated, the spirit and the body lented, and permitted it to taste of
were not wholly independent of happiness, amid the groves of
each other ; for, upon the treat- Asphodel, and those blissful bowers
ment experienced by its remains, where poets and sages devoted the
the state of the soul was in some circle of eternity to the culture and
measure regulated in the realms pure delights of wisdom."

A.D. 1029.] DANISH SOVEREIGNS. 87
The observance of Sunday was conformable to the
notions which are now again becoming prevalent —
namely, that half the Saturday and all the hours till
Monday morning should belong to it. The early closing
of banks, counting-houses, and shops on Saturday after
noon, forms part of this idea, and traces its origin to the
Dark Ages. In Saxon times, markets were habitually
held on Sundays j1 but Canute's Witan opposing a severe
theory to a lax-practice, aimed a blow at this ancient
custom, which had been introduced by the monks and
prolonged for their benefit. Even the folk-motes, or
popular courts, were, by the sages of Winchester, for
bidden to assemble on Sunday, except on urgent occa
sions. . Hunting, together with all secular employments,
was likewise prohibited. Ordeals and oaths were not
to be resorted to on any fast or festival days, and all
persons were commanded to go to housel at least thrice
in the year.
The secular division of the laws begins by affirming
that every man is worthy of folk-right, that is, apparently,
could demand that justice should be done him in all
cases. This, in the modern interpretation, is supposed
to mean the original unwritten compact by which a free
man enjoys his rights as a freeman — the common or
customary law of the land.2 The words of the code, how
ever, seem to apply to every Christian, slave or free,
because even slaves were supposed to have a claim to
justice. • t Throughout those times, that is from the Saxon inva
sion to a period long subsequent to the Conquest, the
right of sanctuary existed under strange modifications.
In pagan times it was connected with the worship of
stones, trees, and wells ;3 around which a piece of ground

1 See Mr. Stevenson, Preface to 2 Such isthe opinion of Mr. Thorpe,
the Abingdon Chronicle, II. lxxx. from whom I differ with reluctance.
sqq., and compare Ducange in Glossary to Ancient Laws and In-
vocibus Feria and Nundince. stitutions of England.

See Canons of Edgar, art, 16.

88 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. [CHAP. XIV.
was enclosed and called " Frithgeard" — asylum or sanc
tuary. It was likewise the consecrated area round a
temple, which, in Christian times, became the church
yard; when it was forbidden the faithful to perform}
vows at any of these places. St. Eligius observes, in
one of his sermons, that no Christian should presume
to offer up vows in fanes, before stones, or trees, or
fountains. These stones, in later times, owing to the
desertion of the ancient religion, were usually found in
forests or desert places, where the ruins of pagan worship
were suffered to remain unmolested. Thither secrefty,
probably at night, repaired the partisan of the old faith,
to offer up prayers to his favourite Gods, when such adora-.
tion had become unlawful and severely punishable.
The spirit of these laws would, at the commencement,
appear, to be merciful, since it is said that life ought not
to be sacrificed for slight offences, which were rather to
be expiated by slight punishments. This, if acted on,
would have indicated a great advance in civilisation ;
but the principle having been promulgated, no attempt
was made to develope it in practice, for, immediately
after, we find the sale of Christians permitted within the
realm, and even beyond seas, though "not too readily."
It was, however, adjudged to be illegal to sell them to
heathens, by whom were meant the Moors of Spain,, or
the Muslims of Africa and Asia. u
One of the most interesting facts to be learned fronnq
the study of Anglo-Saxon law, is the pertinacity with*
which the people clung to their ancient usages, heredi«
tary vices, and superstitions. What Alfred and his
predecessors forbade, had again to be denounced by
Canute, showing that in both these periods of English
history, the same causes produced the same effects. In
each edition, so to speak, of the laws, we find that
sorceresses, witches, adulteresses, diviners, prostitutes,
morth-workers were to be driven out of the land ; but
the Witan having solemnly pronounced their decision,
nothing further was probably done, except throwing

A.D. 1029.] DANISH SOVEREIGNS. 89
open a door to fearful persecution, especially against
such women as might happen to offend the monks or
priests, who, in Catholic countries, have always wielded
the weapons of superstition. Among the classes of
offenders enumerated in the laws, there is one about
which hangs much obscurity — I mean the morth-
workers, by some supposed to have been assassins or
secret poisoners. I imagine that, by the term, were
signified those enchantresses who, like the witches of
Hellas, pretended to destroy cruel oppressors or faithless
lovers, by fabricating their images in wax,1 then roasting
them before a slow fire, piercing them the while with
pins or needles, which, as they penetrated deeper and
deeper, at length reached the heart and caused instant
death. Another of these wild superstitions is called
Mot; another fyrht, which may probably mean phantas
magoria, shows, or illusions produced by enchantment,
and intended to create terror in those who beheld
them. By one article of the law certain men were denounced
as .adversaries and outlaws of God, meaning probably
Pagans, who were to be banished unless they amended.
The mercy declared at first soon gave way before the
love of property, since persevering thieves and robbers
were to be put to death. Canute's grandfather, Harold
Blatand, had introduced Christianity into Denmark, and
perished in an insurrection of the heathens. His son,
Sweyn, father of Canute, reverted to heathenism, and
destroyed the churches built by Blatand.2 Canute,
therefore, was born and bred a heathen, and when eon-
verted by Ethelnoth, displayed all that violent hatred of
the religion he had forsaken which usually characterises
new converts. This we discover in his laws ; he fiercely
prohibits heathenism, at the instigation, no doubt, of
1 Theocriti Pharmaceutria. honour of the Holy Trinity, and
2 Yet, according to the author within it a tomb for himself. See
i f the Encomium Einmse (II. 480), the note of Langebek.
i jjjeyn had erected a monastery in

90 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. [CHAP. XIV.
the bishops and other members of the Saxon Witan,
not sorry perhaps to be able thus to strike a blow at the
the Pagan Danes who had so often routed them in the
battle-field. In prohibiting heathenism, the law explains
what is meant by the term. To be a heathen, then, was
to worship idols,1 or, with the followers of Zoroaster^, to
adore the sun, moon, or fire; other objects of adoration
common to the Greeks and Romans were rivers, water-
wells, stones, forest trees of every kind— the fetish wor
ship of modern Africa.
Canute's Witan re-enacted the laws of Edgar and
Ethelred respecting the coinage f established an inspector
of weights and measures ; insisted on the duty of every
man to contribute towards the building and repair of
fortresses and bridges, towards the national levy in time
of war, and to the equipment and maintenance of a fleet.
To interest the sovereign in multiplying outlaws, it was
ordained that their estates should escheat to the king, ,
and that whoever harboured them should for every such
offence forfeit five pounds. The difference is recognised
between Wessex, Mercia, and Danelagh. The laws, of
the former two had now become identical ; it is observed
that in the Danelagh there was a fine not noticed in the
other provinces, namely, for fighting, the Danes being
more turbulent and quarrelsome.
Having, as I have said, commenced the law in a
merciful spirit, the Witan at Winchester, when they
began to ponder over their property, became cruel as
Red Indians. Affecting still to care for the souls of
thieves, they let loose their fury against their bodies^
condemning them sometimes to lose their heads, some
times their feet— in other cases their eyes were torn out,
1 Even in the Kentish laws we article 12. But Alfred carries his
find the most fearful penalties de- severity still farther, " Let him
nounced against idol-worship, "If a who sacriflceth to gods perish by
husband, without his wife's know- death ;" article 32.
ledge, make an offering to devils, 2 On this subject consult Ruding,
let him be liable in all his sub- Annals of the Coinage of Great
stance ;" Dooms of King Wihtred, Britain, I. 378.

1 A.D. 1029.] DANISH SOVEREIGNS. 91
they were scalped, had their noses and upper lips cut
off, in short were reduced to the most frightful objects,
though they were to be considered as God's creatures.
Nor was Christ's sacrifice to be forgotten. In the an
nouncement of the principle we discover the dawnings
of civilisation, but the old habits and propensities of the
Vikings would not yet suffer it to prevail. Neither was
pity towards slaves among the characteristics of the age;
if a theow failed to clear himself at the ordeal the first
time, he was branded with hot irons ; and for the second
offence lost his head. When a man was judged to be
untrue to all the people, and happened to have no surety
or protection, he was to be slain without ceremony, and
buried in the place allotted to thieves. If anyone took
his part he shared the same fate, A friendless man,
who is called a stranger or comer from afar, was to be
imprisoned1 till he could prove by the ordeal that he
meant no harm, an enactment which threw a serious
impediment in the way of locomotion, whether for the
purpose of curiosity or trade.
Little improvement had taken place in the condi
tion of women since the Saxons first landed on the
shores of England. In their original country any
transgression of the laws of chastity was visited
with ferocious cruelty, and though the ferocity of
the unwritten law had undergone some mitigation, the
same spirit still pervaded the enactments which regulated
the intercourse and relations of the sexes, as is manifest
from the way in which adultery was punished. If a
wife became guilty of this offence, she was not only
exposed to public shame, but all the possessions which
the law secured to married women, were forfeited to her
husband, and she had her nose and ears cut off When
the affair was brought to trial, either by compurgation or
1 The early laws were far more strangers hazardous, since if a man
humane in their treatment of entertained a wanderer three
strangers ; thus Alfred forbids to nights he became liable for his
vex strangers, article 33- In the conduct. Dooms of Hlothhsere and
Kentish Laws there is an article Eadric, article 15.,
which rendered hospitality to

92 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. [CHAP. XIV.
ordeal, and she failed in her defence, the bishop appears
to have acquired over her despotic power, so that he might '
have pronounced almost what doom he pleased.
To comprehend the manner in which the ordeal process
was conducted, it seems necessary to transcribe the Ian:
guage of the law itself. " Concerning the ordeal, we
enjoin, by command of God, and of the archbishop, and
of all bishops : that no man come within the church after
the fire is borne in with which the ordeal shall be heated,
except the mass-priest, and him who shall go thereto ':
and let there be measured nine feet from the stake to;
the mark, by the man's feet who goes thereto. But if
it be water, let it be heated till it low to boiling. And
be the kettle of iron or of brass, of lead or of clay. And
if it be a single accusation, let the hand dive after . the
stone up to the wrist ; and if it be threefold, up to the
elbow. And when the ordeal is ready, then let two-
men go in of either side ; and be they agreed that it is
so hot as we before have said. And let go in an equal
number of men of either side, and stand on both sides
of the ordeal, along the church; and let these all be
fasting, and abstinent from their wives on that night'/
and let the mass-priest sprinkle holy water over themf
all, and let each of them taste of the holy water and
give them all the book and the image of Christ's
rood to kiss; and let no man mend the fire any
longer when the hallowing is begun ; but let the iron
lie upon the hot embers till the last collect : after thai"
let it be laid upon the ' stapela ;' and let there be no '
other speaking within, except that they earnestly prayj
to Almighty God that he make manifest what is
soothest. And let him go thereto ; and let his hand be
enveloped, and be it postponed till after the third day, l
whether it be foul or clean, within the envelope. And '
he who shall break this law, be the ordeal with respect
to him, void, and let him pay to the king a hundred
and twenty shillings as 'wite.' m
If a man corrupted his female slave, he paid two fines/
1 Dooms of King Athelstan, article 7.

A.D. 1029.J DANISH SOVEREIGNS. 93
one to the Church, the other to the king, and she herself
became free.
There is great obscurity in the law which concerns
the mode of raising the king's revenue. It would appear
that the royal lands and lawful fines were sufficient to
support the sovereign, but it was customary to make free
will offerings to the king's reeve or sheriff towards aug
menting the royal income, which, by degrees, changed
their character and became compulsory payments. If
the sheriff demanded a fine when not due, he was him
self fined heavily. When a man died without a will,
his lord was forbidden to take more than the regular
heriot or succession tax, though it became his duty to
overlook the distribution of the property between the
wife and the children according to their legal claims.
In the case of an earl, the heir on coming into his
property paid, as heriot, eight horses, four of them
saddled, four helmets, four coats of mail, eight spears
and shields, four swords, and two hundred mancuses of
gold. The same rule applied to thanes and others,
according to their degree, with some variations in
Wessex, Mercia, East Anglia and the Danelagh.
When a husband died in quiet, possession of estates,
his wife and children were to inherit peaceably, but if
proceedings had been commenced against him, they were
to be continued against them as if he were still living.
The law forbade a widow to marry within a year from
her husband's death. If she broke the law, the punish
ment was severe. She forfeited her morning-gift,
together with all other property which she had received
from her deceased husband. If they were lands, the
..nearest kinsman took them. The new husband was
liable for his whole wer to the king. Women were
Jpxposed to constant violence, since even a rich widow1
jnight be taken from her home forcibly ; when the law
f interfered, if she choose to remain with the abductor,
P
1 Compare Ordinances of the Council of Enham, article 47 j Laws
.;, Alfred, article 34.

94 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. [CHAP* XIV.
she lost her property, but if she preferred returning to
her friends, retained it. To prevent women from
dooming themselves rashly to a life of celibacy, evem
widows were not suffered to take the veil too precipi- '
tately. When they succeeded to estates, they were
allowed a whole year, if necessary, to pay the heriot.
The management of women who had lost their natural
protectors was, in those ages, a subject of much per
plexity. A guardian was forbidden to sell his ward/
whether maid or widow, to a person whom she disliked.
Distinction was in such cases drawn between selling the
person, and, selling the right to possess the person, which
was rather nominal than real. If a man desired to obtain
a rich heiress, he applied to her guardian, and agreed to
pay him large sums of money, or to make over to him
an estate or estates for permission to wed his ward, to
whom Canute's laws nominally, at least, gave the privi
lege of choosing for herself.
When a man stole anything and carried it home, his
wife rendered herself his accomplice if she took charge
of it, and locked it up in her store-room, her chest, or her
cupboard ; otherwise she was deemed innocent, since she
could not forbid her jhusband bringing things into the
house. This Canute's Witan regarded as a merciful
improvement of the old law, which not only involved the
wife in her husband's punishment, but even the sucking
baby in the cradle who had not yet tasted meat. To
what law they refer is unknown. In the most ancient
code of Wessex, it is decreed, that if a man steal with
the knowledge of all his household, they are to be sold
into slavery, down even to the boy of ten years old ;
but no mention is made of the infant in the cradle.!
Other cruel practices are said to have been prohibited by
this article of Canute's law, but the impatient legislators
would not pause to enumerate them.
1 Compare Eemble, Saxons in 2 Laws of King Ine, article 7,
England, II, 96, sqq, and compare article 57.

Y.D. 1031.] DANISH SOVEREIGNS. 95
0 In these legal enactments we discern the commence-
iment of that awakening of conscience which it is the
aim of all religions to excite. Though still in the prime
of life, there appeared symptoms in Canute's constitution
which made him apprehend that the end of all things
for him was not far off. Amendment of life in those
days, when the shadow of Rome fell darkly over the
whole of Christendom, was not deemed sufficient. The
papal policy had successfully exerted itself to diffuse far
and wide the belief that, for complete remission of sins,
a pilgrimage to the Holy City of the West, the resting-
place as it was fondly believed of St. Peter and St. Paul,
was likewise necessary.
This duty might be performed by both high and low,
but to enhance its efficacy in the case, at least, of a
royal personage, it was always deemed expedient to pave
the way to the Eternal City with gold, Mindful of this
truth, Canute having resolved upon the pilgrimage to
Italy, provided himself abundantly with rich gifts, gold,
silken garments, and precious stones, with which to
allay the insatiable thirst of the successor of St. Peter,
With a retinue sufficiently strong to guard his person
and treasures, he crossed the sea and landed in Flanders.1
The way to Rome was, in those days, thickly beset with
difficulties and dangers. Not a wood could be traversed
without the risk of encountering banditti ; more especi
ally those of the Alps were overlooked and commanded
1 Respecting the date of this pil- to his conquest of Norway in J028.
grimage, historians disagree. Dr. Besides, in a.d. 1027, we find him
Lappenberg, relying upon Wippo, in England conducting his profligate
secretary to Conrad the Salic, and intrigues with the Norwegian jarls
the authorities collected by Lange- against their king Olaf, which he
bek, Danicarum Rerum Scriptores, followed up in the next year by his
II. 493, supposes it to have taken expedition to Norway. Considering
place in a.d. 1027. With him Dean all these things, it seems necessary
Milman, History of Latin Christi- to suppose some error in Wippo,
anity,II.424, agrees. But in order to which deranged the Benedictine
adopt this date, we must not only set chronology (Bouquet, X. CX. LVL),
aside every English Chronicler, but which, in its turn, has misled suc-
assume an interpolation in Canute's ceeding writers.
own letter, in which he plainly refers

96 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. [CHAP. XIV,
by strong castles, belonging to princes and great baronstw,
who did not disdain to augment their revenues by tljte
plunder of the pilgrim and the merchant.
Canute,1 during this journey, truly rendered himself
a benefactor to mankind, for, generously employing the
wealth which he had amassed in England by very doubt
ful means, he not only enriched numerous churches, but
relieved multitudes of poor persons, while his bounty
penetrated into the prisons, and softened the lot of such
as were there bound. In the interest of trade, more
over, as well as of pilgrims, he negotiated with the
authorities whose position enabled them to exact immo
derate tolls from travellers into Italy, and by the payment
of large sums of money, either entirely redeemed or
greatly diminished the customary dues.8 His piety,
though savage and unenlightened, was probably sincere.
The consciousness of much guilt lay heavily on his mind,
health and strength were failing him, and the things
at which he scoffed a few years before, now assumed
the character of terrible realities. Like the rest of his
contemporaries he was possessed by the belief that heaven
lay in the keeping of the priests and monks, and, there
fore, when he entered churches or monasteries, buildings
which in those times were thought to belong not to the
general body of believers, but to the mere servants and
ministers of the altar, he bowed, humbled himself, beat
his breast, and above all things made immense presents
of gold, silver, and precious stones to the guardians
of the Fanes.3 For years he had been in the" habit of
bestowing munificent presents on the clergy both at
home and abroad, ostensibly to aid them in repairing
and adorning their churches, but in truth to purchase ,
that vicarious sanctity in the efficacy of which all classes
believed. With this view he lavished costly gifts on the
sanctuaries of St. Omer, Namur, Chartres, and, during
1 Ex Chronica Willelmi Godelli. 2 Bouquet, X. 263. See Ducange
Bouquet, X. 263. voce Pedagium.
3 Encomium Enimse, II. 493,

A.D. 1031.J DANISH SOVEREIGNS, (l %$'<&$

,>»*.

his pilgrimage to Italy, exhausted the wealth of England:
in feasting, enriching, and conciliating the commanders,
so to speak, of the ecclesiastical outposts which defended
the approaches to Rome.
Whether or not any violent attempts were made
against the person or riches of Canute, the Chroniclers
omit to explain ; but from certain passages in his letter
to the English nation, describing the successful earnest
ness with which he had insisted on the demolition of
those dens of robbers by which continental roads were
beset, we are almost justified in believing that the
pilgrim king had to make his way into Italy with arms.
On his arrival at Rome, he excited the astonishment of
the Sovereign Pontiff, as well as of all the princes and
nobles there assembled, by the splendour of his magnifi
cence. Superstition had, in fact, induced him to carry
into Italy the spoils of England to be lavished on the
church. He gave much to his Holiness, and promised
more. Upon the emperor also he bestowed kingly gifts,1
and, by the profusion of his liberality, succeeded in
impressing upon the Romans a lofty opinion of English
opulence, which has never since, I believe, died away.
Fortunately for the effect of his donations, Canute
still preserved in his manners and character much of the
fierceness of the Viking. Though his notions of God
were narrow and rude, he still felt it is towards him
alone that princes and other men are to be humble. In
the midst of imperial and regal devotees from all parts of
Christendom, he angrily chid the pope for his simoniacal
avarice,3 which led him to extort from the archbishops
of England, who came to demand the pall, large sums of
money, which might be regarded as the purchase of
their sees. ' Overawed by the terrible Dane, his Holiness
promised that such transgressions against the spirit of
the Gospel should not be repeated. Canute next pro
ceeded to deliver from taxation the school established
1 Florence of Worcester, a.d. 1031. 2 Historia Ingulphi, I. 60.
> VOL. II, II

98 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. [CHAP. XIV.,
for the benefit of English students at Rome ; and, in
order the more easily to obtain these concessions, agreed
to secure to the Roman pontiff all those advantages
which he had been accustomed to derive from England.1
Having fulfilled his mission at the Eternal City, and
received splendid presents from the emperor and other
princes, he took his leave of the pope, and journeyed
towards Denmark, where the state of public affairs
demanded his presence.
It occurred to Canute, or his advisers, that it might
be prudent to communicate some account of his move
ments and intentions to the clergy, nobility, and people
of England ; and hence his famous Letter,2 forwarded1 to
England by Living, abbot of Tavistock, which reveals to
us so many curious particulars concerning the manners
and modes of thinking prevalent in the eleventh century.
Though pervaded by a profound respect for justice and
the laws, Canute's letter, nevertheless, breathes through
out the spirit of a'despot. He insists that what is right
shall be done, not simply because it is right or conform
able to law, but through dread of the punishment that
must follow disobedience. In a tone of manly contrition,
he regrets the crimes, errors, and excesses of his youth,
and expresses his .firm, resolve to govern thenceforward
more humanely and justly. His language implies, how
ever, that because he himself is reformed, he looks for
the same reformation in others. He tells the clergy, the
nobles, and all other administrators of the law, that he
expects his orders to be strictly obeyed, under pain
of his heavy, displeasure. He commands the exact dis
charge of all dues : plough alms, the tithe of animals
born in the year, the Peter's pence due to Rome, whether^
from cities or villages, the tenth of the harvest usually
paid in August, and the first fruits of seeds at the feast
of St. Martin. Thus it appears that Canute felt no
1 Matthew of Westminster, a.d. William of Malmesbury, II. 11.
1031. Florence of Worcester, a.d. 1031.
3 See the entire document in Historia Ingulphi, I. 60.

A.D. 1031.] DANISH SOVEREIGNS. 99
inclination either to emancipate the Church of England
from Rome, or to diminish the means by which that
Church itself was sustained.
On Canute's return from Scandinavia, he undertook
an expedition into Scotland, whose kings or chiefs he
is said to have reduced to obedience.1 But war had
now ceased to be his favourite employment. To con
ciliate his subjects, both Danish and English, he
adopted the practice of the old Saxon kings, and tra
versed his dominions in all directions,8 accompanied by
princes, nobles, courtiers, chaplains, secretaries, and a
strong detachment of his huscarls, who seem occasion
ally to have created no little confusion in the districts
through which they passed. Whether the king feasted
at the hall of some great earl or thane, or in the refec
tory of some opulent monastery, his retinue, too numerous
to be entertained and lodged in any one establishment,
were distributed among the towns and villages in the
vicinity, in the houses of the wealthy clergy, thanes, or
churls. Here they often got drunk, more majorum, made
bargains in their cups, and terrified their effeminate hosts
by their boisterous and ferocious manners, their swords
and battle-axes being ever at hand, gleaming over the
festive board.
It has been seen that from a very early period of his
reign, Canute took measures for winning over the clergy
and the monks, by erecting and lavishly endowing
churches and abbeys,3 by co-operating in the translation
of bones, and being present at episcopal feasts. Occa
sionally, his liberality may have been spontaneous and
genuine, as when he constructed the dyke and causeway,
ten miles in length, from the monastery of Ramsey to
that of Medeshamstede. Both he and his family appear
to have greatly delighted in the morasses of Huntingdon
and Cambridgeshire, and once, when his children and

1 Saxon Chronicle, a.d. 1031. 3 See Codex Diplomaticus, VI.
2 Historia Ramesiensis, III. 441. 179, 185, 191, &c.
H2

100 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. [CHAP. XIV.
domestics were proceeding in a ship from Medesham-
stede to Ramsey, they were overtaken by a storm, during
which several of the passengers lost their lives. To
prevent such disasters in future, Canute, it is said, com
manded his huscarls to mark out with their swords1 and
skeins a ditch, leading directly from one monastery to
the other ; and this having been excavated and cleared
out by multitudes of labourers, to receive and carry off
the waters, an elevated causeway, carefully paved with
stones, was constructed along it.8 Our ancestors, who
entertained peculiar ideas of the picturesque, seem to
have loved to reside in fenny districts, encircled by bogs
and swamps, and widely-spreading meres. It was not
simply, therefore, through the desire of security that
the monks took up their abode in such places as the
" Ram's Isle," lying in the midst of dismal black pools,
approached over tremulous quagmires, and rendered
verdant by bulrushes, reeds, and thick groves of alders
and wild ash.3 Here, having little else to do, they
applied themselves to a contest with nature, driving piles
into the soft earth, and carting thither immense quanti
ties of sea-sand4 and stones, by which a firm entrance was
made into their boggy paradise. In some respects their
taste is not to be disputed; for as they loved eels and
all other kinds pf fish, they could hardly have selected
a spot more abundantly supplied with these luxuries.
About the unhealthiness of the air they seem to have
cared little, since the soil was rich and productive, and
where laid out on soft level meadows was sprinkled
thickly, in spring-time, with flowers. Gardens were by
degrees created in the morass, with orchards and corn
fields ; so that the jovial monks, pecularly addicted td
the good things of this world, had always at their com-
1 Hence called Swerdes-delf. Cam- 4 With which the roads in Lin
den, Britannia, p. 424. colnshire are still commonly made.
2 Matthew of Westminster, a.d. Archdeacon Churton, Early English
1033. Camden, Britannia, p. 422. Church, p. 257.
3 Historia Ramesiensis, III. 385.

A.D. 1031.] DANISH SOVEREIGNS. 101
mand an abundance of fruit and grain wherewith to
regale themselves and make merry in the refectory.
Near at hand lay the clear and beautiful lake of Wittles-
mere,1 six miles long, by three in breadth, fringed all
round with trees, reeds, and flags, and abounding so
profusely with aquatic birds and fish of all kinds, that
although the fishermen and fowlers incessantly plied
their crafts night and day, the abundance of the supply
seemed never to be diminished.
One of the favourite resorts of Canute, for religious
purposes, was the monastery of Ely, whither he was
once proceeding, on the festival of the " Purification of
the Virgin," when he heard, from the deck of the vessel
on which he stood with his queen and nobles, the chant
of the monks, who had already commenced the service
of the day. Sweetly across the waters it came to him,
and so great was his delight, as monastic traditions love
to relate, that, standing up in the midst of his courtiers, he
burst forth into an improvised song, which down to a late
period continued to be sung in chorus by the people. His
pleasure may have been genuine, but the verses in which
the monks suppose him to have expressed it, are obvi
ously apocryphal. When his galley approached the shore,
the brethren formed themselves into a procession, and,
as they always did when honoured by the presence of a
princely or noble visitor, escorted him to the minster. In
severe winters he was sometimes prevented, by the frost
and snow, from joining in the solemnities of this festival,
till, having been probably accustomed to sledging in Den
mark, he bethought him of the practicablity of travers
ing the frozen lakes and ponds in a carriage. Even then,
however, the difficulty was not entirely removed. In
rainy winters the Ouse, the Nen, the Grant, the Welland,
and other rivers of the fens, overflowed their banks,
until, like Egypt during the inundation, the whole country
was submerged, and appeared like the sea, save that here
1 See Ducange, voce mara.

102 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. [CHAP. XIV.
and there the leafless trees showed their heads above the
flood. When frost suddenly set in, the whole of this
immense surface was soon converted into a sheet of ice,
over which it was thought so dangerous to travel, that
Canute, in spite of his sledge, hesitated to trust himself
upon it, till a huge clumsy fellow, named Brihtmer
Budde, from one of the neighbouring islands, volunteered
his services, and preceding the king's sledge, to the
great astonishment and admiration of the multitude,
conducted the regal devotee safe to Ely.1
The few remaining years of his life passed without
any remarkable achievement. Premature old age had
come upon him, and in his fortieth year8 he sank into
the grave, and was buried at Winchester,3 leaving those
extensive dominions, which his genius and policy had
held together, to fall asunder, and form separate king
doms as before. To his son Sweyn he gave Norway;
Denmark he bestowed on Hardicanute ; while to Harold
Harefoot, his son by the beloved Elfgiva, of Northampton^
he destined the crown of England.*
Of his character it is not easy to form a just estimate.
Some virtues, no doubt, he possessed, but they were so
intermingled with vices that they seldom resulted in any
benefits to mankind. Dazzled by his success or over-*-
awed by the power he exercised, historians are prone
to dwell on his greatness and magnificence,5 He

1 Historia Eliensis, III. 505. ceive in him, if not a ruler to be
2 Heimskringla, II. 364. compared with Charles the Great;
3 Annales Wintonienses, Anglia yet a conqueror who was not hated.
Sacra, I. 290. and under whom the people were
i This point has been much dis- probably happier than they had
puted, but Simeon of Durham states latterly been under their native
the fact distinctly : — " Haraldum sovereigns." Dr. Hook having in-
vero . . . regem Anglorum consti- stituted a comparison between
tuit." De Gest. Reg. Angl., p. 179. Canute andAlfred, somewhat indeed
Conf. Hist. Rames., III. 447. to the advantage of the latter, goes
6 The reader may desire to on to say, " After his accession to
examine the testimony of those who the throne, Canute became a
entertain a more favourable opinion changed and altered man. He not
than I do of Canute. Dr. Lappen- only valued and promoted the bless-
berg, II. 201, observes : " We per- ings of peace, but ia his humility

A.D, 1035.] DANISH SOVEREIGNS. 103
certainly subdued many kingdoms, England, Denmark,
Norway, and part of Sweden; in war he was successful,
in peace crafty, plotting and restless; in negotiation,
dissembling and perfidious. But I can discern in no
thing he did or said proofs of a great and noble mind.
Unscrupulous to the last degree, he used the dagger
unsparingly in clearing his way to the throne, and being
seated there, shed blood without mercy upon the slight
est alarm. History has not even preserved a list of his
assassinations, which are thrown confusedly before our
minds without order or details. We only know that to
excite the least suspicion in his breast was to incur the
penalty of death. The men he employed to destroy his
enemies or rivals, he afterwards butchered, ostensibly
from a mock sense of justice, but in truth to deliver
himself from the presence of his bloody instruments.
In domestic life he tasted of no happiness, but was
exposed to much humiliation and disgrace. His first.
English mistress, a lady of noble family, is said to have
palmed upon him the sons of a cobbler and a priest;
his Norman wife, penurious, heartless, and superstitious,
converted her union with him into a means of amassing
treasure. Friends he neither had nor deserved to have.
Even after his death, Nemesis never forsook his House.
The name of his only daughter was blighted with the
infamy of adultery j1 his sons, real or reputed, regarded
each other with deadly hatred during life, and debased
themselves by gluttony, drunkenness and most ignoble
acts of revenge. In utter scorn and contempt, there
fore, did his rule and family in England expire ; and if

and unostentatious piety presented bellica exercitatione inferior." It
an example of Christian excellence may perhaps have been pardonable
to his subjects," Lives of the Arch- in the monk of Ramsey to laud the
bishops of Canterbury, I. 478. benefactor of his monastery, but I
The author of the Historia Ramesi- have shown that Canute's principal
ensis(III. 437) had previously main- crimes were perpetrated after the
tained that " Cnuto Rex Christian- period at which he is supposed to
issimusnulliprsedecessorumsuorum have become an altered man.
Regum comparatione virtutum vel a William of Malmesbury, II. 12.

104 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. [CHAP. XIV.
he himself be remembered as a powerful prince, his
name is never recalled with pleasure, nor does the whole.
record of his life kindle one generous emotion or suggest
one noble thought. The piratical spirit of his ancestors
dominated him from the cradle to the grave. The
effects of his reign on the condition of England were
in a high degree calamitous. No doubt he put an end
for a while to civil war, but it was by extinguishing
every spark of the spirit of independence. Most of the
great Saxon families were impoverished or destroyed,
while the Danish and Franco-Danish elements were
lavishly introduced into English society to the extreme
deterioration of its political character. The connexion
with Normandy, begun by Ethelred, was continued and
strengthened by Canute, who now on terms of amity,
now of enmity, with the piratical dukes, contributed >in
both relatious to complicate the interests of the two
countries. Between the Saxons and the Normans, though, de
scended from one original stock, there was a natural
antipathy, to which time and the circumstances of
vicinity only added fresh force. With the Danes it
was altogether different. The Normans were, only a
recent offshoot from the Scandinavian stem, who still
cherished Danish manners, and in some parts of the
duchy — as for example at Bayeux — sedulously culti
vated the language of the mother country." The
jealousies existing therefore between the Danes, of
England and the Danes of France were only such
as could not fail to arise even between brethren
where property and dominion were at stake. In
Neustria they had trampled the French element into
the earth ; in England they sought, but vainly, to attain
the same result. It probably entered into the policy of
their leaders to aim at swamping Saxon influence in
church and state, by entrusting the high places of both
to men of Scandinavian blood. Canute took a queen
from Normandy ; Robert the Devil took a duchess from

A.D. 1035.] DANISH SOVEREIGNS. 105
Danish England ; but what was intended to be a con
necting link proved a cause of discord. Entangled by
the voluptuous fascinations of Arlette, Robert insultingly
sent back the Danish princess, and prepared to follow
this rash step by another still more decisive. He had
hitherto, like his predecessors, despised the pretensions
of his nephews, Edward and Alfred, and suffered them
to vegetate in neglect at the Norman court ; but now,
his own vindictive passions being roused, he fitted out
an expedition against England, ostensibly for the purpose
of asserting their claims to its sovereignty. But his
will was capricious as his passions were short-lived.
Weary of his wife, weary of Arlette, weary of his quarrel
with England, he made the accidental detention of his
fleet, by contrary winds, a pretext for abandoning the
enterprise, and his weak and ill-balanced mind yielding
to a new influence, he adopted the habit of a pilgrim,
visited the Holy Land, and perished in his attempt
to return to Europe. But his bastard son, inheriting at
once his dukedom, his pretensions and his policy, and
gifted with indomitable tenacity of purpose, constituted
himself the heir of his uncles, the sons of Ethelred, and
never for one moment lost sight of the idea till he stood
as a conqueror on the heights of Hastings. Thus we
perceive the close connexion between Ethelred's folly,
Canute's grasping ambition, and the extinction of the
Anglo-Saxon dynasties, which, by their weakness and
pusillanimity, had forfeited the respect and power be
queathed to them by great warriors and legislators, by
Penda and Alfred, and left to the heroic son of Godwin
the task of closing their career with glory.

106 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. [CHAP. XV,

CHAPTER XV.

DANISH SOVEREIGNS OF ENGLAND.
Upon the death of Canute, the affections of men
throughout the kingdom were much divided," there
being no less than four competitors for the throne:
Harold, the bastard son of Canute; Hardicanute,; his
son by Emma; and Edward and Alfred, the two sons
of Ethelred, then living as exiles in Normandy. To
determine between the pretensions of these princes, a
Gemot of the Witan was assembled at Oxford,1 where
the whole subject appears to have been fairly debated.
Leofric, earl of Mercia, with many others among the
nobles and clergy, advocated the claims of Harold,
laying no stress upon the fact that he was the offspring
of a concubine, or on the scandal circulated by Emma's
partisans that he was the son of a cobbler.2
On the other hand, Earl Godwin3 and the nobles of
Wessex, who, as Englishmen, dreaded the perpetual
ascendancy of the Danish party, contended for the
restoration of the House of Cerdie, and treated the
marriage settlement of Canute with Emma by which the
crown was secured to his offspring by her, as null and
void, the royal authority in England being elective, or,
in other words, depending on the choice of the Witan
1 Saxon Chronicle, a.d. 1036. 2 Yet this report is countenanced
(Florence of Worcester, a.d. 1035), by the National Chronicle.
confuses the whole subject, affirm- 3 William of Malmesbury, II. 12."
ing that the kingdom was divided
by lot.

A.D. 1036.] DANISH SOVEREIGNS. 107
in Gemot assembled. But the influence of the lord of
Bosenham was not yet firmly established. Though
backed by all the thanes of Wessex, he was borne down
in the national assembly by Leofric, earl of Mercia,1
who carried along with him all the nobles of the
northern provinces, together with the citizens of London
and the commanders of the mercenaries by sea and
land.2 Driven from his first position, earl Godwin
next suggested a compromise by which Wessex should
be secured to Hardicanute,3 then absent in Denmark,
while all England north of the Thames, including the
metropolis,4 should be made subject to Harold Harefoot,
the bastard son of Canute by Elfgiva, daughter of
Elfhelm, earl of Northampton.5 By his conduct on this
occasion Godwin drew upon himself the deadly hatred
of Harefoot, to avoid the immediate effects of which he
retired, with the queen-dowager and the treasures
bequeathed to her by the late king, to the ancient
palace of the sovereigns of Wessex, at Winchester.6
There, as regent of the kingdom for Hardicanute, and
at the -head of the West Saxon army, he administered
the affairs of the realm exposed to the suspicions of the
absent prince, and to the machinations of Harefoot and
his courtiers.
While the nobles, both Saxon and Danish, were
engaged in these factious intrigues, murmurs of civil
war diffused extreme terror among the people. Having
enjoyed under Canute nearly twenty years of tranquillity,
they • dreaded the renewal of those devastations which
had. ushered in his reign, and looked about in conster
nation for some place of security. Over what happened
elsewhere in the realm time has drawn a veil, though some
idea of it may be formed from what took place in Mercia,

1 Higden, Polychronicon, III. 276. i Chronicon Johannis Bromton,
Henry of Huntingdon, p. 758. p. 932.
2 Saxon Chronicle, a.d. 1036. 5 Chronica De Mailros, I. 156.
3 Simeon De Gestis Regum An- Roger de Hoveden, a.d. 1035.
glorum, p. 179. ° Saxon Chronicle, a.d. 1036.

108 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. [CHAP. XV.
where the inhabitants, in crowds, forsook their homes,
and with their children and moveable property, poured
tumultuously into the fens and sought a refuge within
the walls of Croyland Abbey. Ignorant, ill-bred, and
superstitious, they immediately threw the whole monas
tery into confusion, thronged the chapels and cloisters^
interrupted the accustomed services, and by their impor
tunities for assistance, so tortured the ears of the abbot-
and his brethren that they voluntarily remained prisoners
in their dormitories, whence they would scarcely descend
to perform mass or the still more important duties of
the refectory, though the wine, the Welsh ale, and the
plentiful supplies of almond milk1 for whicli the esta
blishment was celebrated, were, no doubt, consumed
above. Some of the incidents of this irruption of the peasantry
assumed a comic aspect. At Pegeland, a short distance
from the monastery, there existed a small dependent
establishment, where, surrounded by obedient clerks,
lived Wolfsy the anchorite. His pretensions to super
natural knowledge now brought upon him -severe
punishment ; night and day the imbecile fugitives beset
his cell to consult him about their present difficulties
and future prospects, and so incessant were the clamours
and importunities of this multitude that, through sheer
vexation and weariness of existence, the hermit put a
bandage over his eyes to conceal from himself, perhaps,
the winning looks of the children and the beauty of the
women, and in this state was led away to Evesham,
where8 far from noise and temptation, he ended his
days. Harold Harefoot and his advisers, perceiving that
the country was full of alarm and disaffection, and that
the higher clergy especially withheld their support from
the new king, hastened to get all things in readiness for

1 Historiee Croylandensis Con- 2 Historia Ineulphi, I. 61.
tinuatio, I. 498.

A.D. 1036.] DANISH SOVEREIGNS. 109
the coronation : probably in London, since Winchester,
which has been supposed by some modern writers1 to
have been the scene of the transaction, was the capital
of his brother's kingdom, and the residence of his enemy
Godwin, who lived there in discontent and suspicion, sur
rounded by his huscarls. Being summoned to officiate
at the ceremony, the primate, Ethelnoth,2 who, as the
subject of Hardicanute and the friend probably of
Emma and Godwin, disapproved of the election of
Harold, repaired to the cathedral, and, in a somewhat
ostentatious manner, refused to perform the act of con
secration. Had his refusal been meant otherwise than
as an insult, he might have declined being present at all;
but, with a view to damage the new king's authority, he
stood forth in the midst of the dignified clergy and nobles
ofthe realm, and declared, with an oath, that he would
consecrate no other man king while the sons of Emma
survived, to whom alone he owed allegiance. They were,
he said, committed to my care by Canute, and them
only will I serve. He then took the crown and sceptre,
which habitually remained in the custody of the arch
bishop of, Canterbury, and laying them reverently on
the great altar, declared to Harold that he neither gave
nor refused them to him, but that, by his apostolical
authority, he forbade any of the bishops of England to
crown or bless him.
Of what followed, different accounts have been trans
mitted to us : some maintaining that Ethelnoth persisted
in his refusal,3 notwithstanding the threats and promises
of the king, who, according to them, was either never
crowned at all, or owed his consecration to the more
flexible disposition of Eadsy,4 Ethelnoth's successor ;
1 Dr. Hook, Lives of the Arch- 3 Encomium Emmse, II. 496, but
bishops of Canterbury, I. 486. this author is so full of prejudice and
2 This prelate, descended from a partiality, that we must receive his
noble family, obtained, through his testimony with caution.
conduct and course of life, the sur- 4 Dr. Hook, Lives of the Arch-
name of "theGood." Stephen Birch- bishops of Canterbury, I, 490.
ington. Lives of the Archbishops
of Canterbury. Anglia Sacra, 1. 5.

110 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. [CHAP. XV.
while others relate that Ethelnoth at length relented, for
got his allegiance to Hardicanute, and placed the diadem
of England on the head of Elfgiva's son.1 Much hostility
appears to have existed between Harold and a portion,
at least, of the clergy. By these he is represented as a
pagan, and they relate that durihg the celebration of
divine service, he habitually went forth with hound and
horn, to chase the deer in the forests,2 preferring the
barking of dogs and the wild echoes of the rocks 'to the
chanting of liturgies and solemn anthems. As the Eng
lish were still a religious people, this greatly augmented
his unpopularity with all those over whom aneien1!
manners exerted any influence. There are not wanting
those, however, who speak of him as the benefactor of
monasteries, and say that many advantages were expected
to be derived from him, had not his days been cut short;
and they add, in support of their opinion, that he be
stowed his magnificent coronation robe of silk, inwrought
with flowers of gold, upon the Abbey of Croyland, where
it was converted into a cope,3 in which the mass-priest
decorated himself when officiating on festival days before
the high altar.
The principles, in conformity with which the kingdom
was divided, have not been explained ; but the Witan
would appear to have conferred upon Harold supremacy]
over his brother of Wessex. Reluctant to exercise sub
ordinate authority, or preferring the wild and boisterous
life of the Northmen, or else cherishing for Harold
a hatred which rendered it impossible to share the crowli
with him, Hardicanute resisted all the importunities of
Godwin,4 and his mother Emma, to return to England.5
1 Chronicon Johannis Bromton, 2 Encomium Emmse, ubi supra.''
p. 932. "Dictus Haraldus, qui 3 Historia Ingulphi, I. 61, 62. -\
secundum quosdam ut regnum i Chronicon Johannis Bromton,
legitimo suo fratri Hardeknouto in p. 932.
Dacia regnanti custodiret, in regem 5 Florence of Worcester, a,d,
esset erectus et ab Ethelnodo Doro- 1035.
bernensi Archiepiscopo apud Lon-
donias consecratus."

A.D. 1036.] DANISH SOVEREIGNS. Ill
In whatever motive it originated, his policy became the
source of endless calamities to his country, since it was
evidently his absence that first suggested the practica
bility of a Norman invasion. The position of the queen-
dowager was anomalous and painful. In possession of
Canute's treasures, which were rather public than private
property, and guided by the wisdom and experience of
Godwin, who exercised in Wessex the functions of
viceroy, she appeared formidable to Harefoot, who, to
lessen the danger he apprehended, seized a portion of
the wealth1 which had been left in her keeping by his
father, an. act not so much of tyranny as of prudence,
since he might reasonably suspect the uses which would
be made of such resources. But the estrangement
already existing between the court of Winchester and
the court of London was by this proceeding necessarily
increased. The connecting links of the events of those times
have in many instances not been supplied to us ; and,
therefore, instead of being lighted on our way by know
ledge, we are often left to the doubtful guidance of
conjecture. After suffering the English princes to lan
guish for twenty years in obscurity and insignificance,
the rulers of Normandy now discovered that some ad
vantage might possibly be derived from their pretensions
to the English throne. The organisation and. action of
conspiracies are necessarily involved in mystery, which
sometimes continues to envelope them even when the
motive to concealme*nt no longer exists. We are conse
quently unable to decide how far the designs of the
Norman Bastard and his advisers coincided with those
of the court of Winchester. That they were not entirely
unknown to Godwin and Emma seems clear ; and yet it
is difficult to believe that the great earl extended to
them his support, since by so doing he would have run
1 Radulph de Diceto (p. 472) ton, p. 932, and Henry deKnyghton,
says he took " partem meliorem." p, 2325.
See, also, Chronicon Johannis Brom-

112

HISTORY OF ENGLAND.

[CHAP. XV.

counter to the policy of his whole life, which was to
impart unity, concentration, and predominance to the
Saxon element in England.
Edward, the elder of the two princes, undertook the
lead of the first expedition,1 which, instead of being
directed against the dominions of Harold, the declared
enemy of his family, menaced the territories of his
brother Hardicanute. A desire to confer with queen
Emma was the pretext put forward ; but a fleet of forty
ships,8 with a large force armed and equipped for war,
could hardly be needed for so pacific a purpose. When,
therefore, the Norman armament became visible off the
coast, the West Saxons rushed to arms, and drew up
along the shore to dispute the disembarcation of the
invaders. Who led the men of Wessex is not stated ;
but it seems obvious that had the viceroy favoured the

1 Florence of . Worcester, a.d.
1036, who confuses the whole trans
action, making Edward and Alfred
arrive in England together, and
describing the former as remaining
with his mother at Winchester,
while the latter is captured and
slain, after which Emma sends back
her eldest son in haste to Nor
mandy. The " Metrical Life of the
Confessor," written while Norman
influence was predominant in Eng
land, presents us with a still wilder
narrative. The author, ignorant
of the whole course of events, jum
bles things together in the most
confused manner ; first, he informs
us that the princes were with their
grandfather, who had been dead
forty years ; second, he calls Alfred
the elder, in which, though wrong,
he has many other Chroniclers to
support him ; third, he transposes
the expeditions; of Edward and
Alfred, and supposes the latter to
have come firgt, "with a mighty
force of vessels ;" fourth, instead
of being repulsed from Sandwich,
he makes Godwin meet him there,
and " kiss, embrace, and play with

him," as if he had been a child ;
fifth, having disposed of Alfred,
whom, he tells us, Godwin seized"
and sent to Harefoot, he goes on to
speak of Edward, as "debonair,
wise and valiant," the "youngest
of all his brothers," whereas he was
born in 1003, and Hardicanute, pro
bably, in a.d. 1018 ; sixth, Hare^
foot is represented as king of Den
mark, which, in reality, had fallen,
together with Wessex, to the lot
of Hardicanute. But it would be
lost labour to enumerate all the
errors of this libel on Godwin, the
testimony of which is worthless
when the writer has the slightest
temptation to make a false state
ment ; yet it is a fair sample ofthe
works in which theHouse of Godwin
is calumniated. Mr. Luard's Trans
lation, p. 190, sqq.
2 Higden (Polychronicon, III.
277), who imagines that botto
brothers came together — and, in
truth, Alfred may have been in his
brother's fleet — says, they brought
along with them a large body of
Norman troops.

A.D. 1036.] DANISH SOVEREIGNS. 113
project of Edward, such a movement on the part of the
inhabitants could hardly have taken place. Still, through
the gallantry of the Norman knights in Edward's train,
and the adventurous valour of their followers, a landing
was effected at Southampton. The impolicy, however,
of the enterprise soon became manifest ; instead of being
received with open arms by his countrymen, the Nor-
manised son of the "Unready," speaking a foreign
language, and surrounded by foreign troops, was re
garded as a public enemy, and resolutely resisted. Irri
tated at the non-recognition of his claims, the prince
commenced operations as in a hostile country, and at
tempted to force his way towards Winchester. At first,
the hasty levies of peasants were put to flight, and
Edward let loose his Normans upon Hampshire to in
dulge in the luxury of massacre and pillage. Rendered
expert by long practice, the soldiers speedily succeeded
in amassing large quantities of booty; but their triumph
was of short duration, for after setting fire to several
villages and perpetrating all such atrocities as were
customary with their nation, they were driven back in
confusion to their ships, in which they effected their
escape. The contemporary Norman historians maintain
that Edward's army, after gaining a glorious victory,
suddenly relinquished the enterprise, a consolation which
the unsuccessful often afford themselves.1
Harold, who could not remain ignorant of this expe
dition, perceived clearly that no small danger threatened
him from the Continent ; since, if Wessex were wrested
from Hardicanute, the tide of revolution might roll on
and overwhelm his own portion of the kingdom. He,
therefore, contemplated with solicitude the events which
were taking place in Wessex, where both the viceroy and
the queen-dowager were objects of extreme suspicion to
him. He already, moreover, foresaw the practicability
of extending his sceptre over the whole island, and,
1 Guil. Pict. in Duchesne, p. 178.
VOL. II. I

114 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. [CHAP. XV.
in the absenc0 of his half-brother, almost deemed the
southern provinces his own. Yet he seems to have
been fully aware of the existence of plots in favour of
the sons of Ethelred, whose partisans, though few, made
up by superior activity for the paucity of their numbers.
By these, Alfred, the Etheling, was instigated to make
an attempt upon Kent, and he was not slow ift respond
ing to their wishes.1
Collecting a fleet and army, partly in Normandy, partly
in Flanders, he appeared suddenly off Sandwieh.8 But
time had reconciled the people to their Danish so ve-
reigns, and the sons of the " Unready," even if they had
not been personally forgotten, were not much calculated
to awaken national enthusiasm. In spite, therefore,: of
the number of his ships and troops, which is admitted
to have been considerable,3 he met with so warlike a
reception, that judging it imprudent to risk a battle, he
sailed away, rounded the North Foreland, entered the
Thames, and disembarked near Canterbury. Here he
was met by earl Godwin, who, avoiding the road to
London, conducted the prince and his retinue to Guild
ford,4 on their way to the head-quarters of the queen-
dowager. Alfred and his attendants were hospitably
entertained, and, after feasting and drinking late, retired
to rest.
In the middle of the night a detachment of Harold's
army, probably Danes, burst suddenly into Guildford,
and finding the prince and his followers asleep, easily
1 Encomium Emmse, II. 497. 3 Guillaume de Poitiers (Guizot,
2 Matthew of Westminster (a.d. Memoires, t. xxix. p. 326) says, that
1036) says, that Alfred came with he was better prepared to succeed
twenty-five picked ships, full of in his expedition than his brother
armed men, in order peaceably or, Edward had been. Edward crossed
if need were, by force of arms to the sea with forty ships and a corre-
recover his father's kingdom, which sponding army, so that we must
he imagines belonged to him of infer the forces of Alfred to have
right, though the Witenagem6t had been truly formidable.
solemnly declared that no descen- i Encomium Emmse, II. 497.
dant of Ethelred should ever reign
in England.

a.d. 1036.]

DANISH SOVEREIGNS.

115

made them prisoners. The barbarities which followed
were shocking and detestable. The Normans and
Flemings were divided into unequal parts by lots, one-
tenth being devoted to slavery, and nine-tenths to mas
sacre. Simple death, however, was judged too merciful
a fate for the invaders. They were maimed, mutilated,
scalped, disembowelled,1 and tortured in the most hideous
manner,8 after which Alfred was bound, hurried to
London, and thence to the Isle of Ely, in the very centre
of Danish influence.5 There he was brought to trial
before base and corrupt judges, and condemned to lose
his eyes. Ambition is seldom merciful towards com
petitors, and Harefoot was not the man to set an ex
ample of magnanimity. Alfred had attempted to hurl

i SeC in Hlgden, Polychronicon,
III, 277, a description Qf the hideous
punishment. 2 §>axon Chronicle, A.d. 1036. In'.
one manuscript only is the guilt of
this crime attributed to the earl of
Wessex. The narrative is given in
a metrical form, and may be re
garded as a fragmenit of those
ballads which constituted perhaps,
in most instances, the basis of the
prose chronicle. By a well-in
formed contemporary it- coulcl not
have been written — indeed, it ought
perhaps to be looked Upon as one
of those spurious imitations of an
cient ballad records which abounded
under the Norman princes, and
were designed, in some instances, to
insult the English, in others, ^ to
reconcile them to their foreign
masters by disseminating false ideas
of the state of the country which
preceded the last conquest, and of
the great men by whom it was
governed or defended. The writer
having commenced a prose state
ment flies off suddenly into verse —
or, rather, grows weary of the
attempt to convert the ballad into
history — and, instead of giving a
prose version, contents himself with I

quoting his original. At all events,
the story he tells is as follows : — ,
" But Godwin him then let,
And him in bonds set ;
And his companions he dispersed ;
And some divers ways slew,
Some they for money sold,
Some cruelly slaughtered,
Some did they bind,
Some did they blind,
Some did they mutilate,
Some did they scalp ;
Nor was a bloodier deed
Done in this land
Since the Danes came,
And here accepted peace."
This phrase shows either the igno
rance or the wilful falsehood of the
writer ; for the Danes, instead of
accepting peace, crushed the oppo
sition of the whole nation, and ac
quired dominion over the country
by war. Hoyeden (a.d. 1036)
throws these events into inextric
able confusion, likewise attributing
the massacre to Godwin, and putting
a crown to his errors by relating
that Emma sent away Edward to
Normandy, for that until then he
had remained with her.
3 Matthew of Westminster, a.d
1036.

116 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. [CHAP. XV.
him from the throne and take away his life, and having
fallen into his power, could hardly expect to be treated
with leniency. His vengeance, however, might have
been satisfied with blinding his adversary ; but fearing
lest his miserable condition might excite pity, he put
an end to his life, in the hope, probably, of deterring
Edward from again engaging in a similar enterprise.
So far this tragical occurrence is susceptible of expla
nation ; but a host of Chroniclers regarding it from a
Norman point of view,1 have endeavoured to involve
the great Saxon earl of Kent and Wessex in the guilt
of Harefoot. In order, however, to interpret human
action at all, we must assume that men habitually act
in conformity with their character, and that what con
stitutes that character is the system of their principles.
Godwin from the beginning of his career gave evident
tokens of great ambition, which led him to unite his
fortunes with those of the Danish king, whom he could
not but prefer before Ethelred. Yet even in this situa
tion he exerted all his efforts to enhance the glory and
consolidate the power of England. With the death of
Canute died his affection for the Danes, It was, in fact,
rather a personal attachment than a national predilec
tion. He was a Saxon in heart and mind, and as soon
as events rendered it practicable, exerted all his immense
influence to restore the sceptre to the family of the great
Alfred. He now occupied a most perilous position.
The eyes of Harold, of Leofric, earl of Mercia, and of
all the Danish leaders and partisans throughout the
kingdom were upon him. He stood at the head of a
diminutive minority which was decreasing in strength
every day. For reasons which will make themselves
evident as we proceed, he enjoyed no great favour among
the monastic orders, which have in nearly all ages
attached themselves to the winning side.
1 Guillaume de Poitiers, Wil- great earl in his grave in a tone
liam's chaplain, and evidently giving and temper worthy of a Mohawk.
expression to the virulence of his Memoires, &c, t. XXIX, p. 327.
master's feelings, apostrophises the

A.D. 1036.] DANISH SOVEREIGNS. 117
He was compelled, therefore, to rely for support,
perhaps for the preservation of his life, on the fidelity of
the West Saxons, and the men of Kent, who, however, in
opposition to the rest ofthe population, could hardly have
proved successful in the event of open conflict. Accord
ingly, during Harefoot's reign, Godwin, notwithstanding
the greatness of his abilities, played no distinguished
part, but remained in sullen grandeur, almost like a
banished king, at Winchester. The monkish chroniclers
who wrote after the fall of his heroic son at Hastings,
paid their court to the Norman princes by calumniating
the overthrown dynasty. To effect this more com
pletely, they travelled back to the great Harold's father,
whom they made the hero of a thousand ribald tales.
His real offence was, that he sought to guard against
the evils which he foresaw would inevitably come upon
England if the Normans were suffered to acquire the
lead in its councils, or influence and property in the
country. This conviction was the keystone of his whole life,
and led to the commission of an error which tarnished
all his glories, blighted the prospects which his sur
passing genius had opened up before him, and gave
rise to that vindictive hostility which, diffused and
permeating through a thousand channels, has infected
the whole body of English history as far as his name
and fame and family are concerned. This error was the
raising of Edward the Confessor to the throne, which he
did when the young man, timid and helpless, was com
pletely in his power. Had he not been swayed by
strong feelings of attachment for the old Saxon line, he
would then have done what his dauntless son after
wards did. But his conscientiousness overmastered his
ambition. He held the crown of England in his hands,
and might have put it on any head he pleased — on his
own, had he thought proper, yet he waived the tempt
ing advantage, set aside the most favourable circum
stances, and preferred before himself a trembling un-

118 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. [CHAP. XV.
Saxoned Saxon, merely because he regarded him as his
lawful prince. If this overruling principle of loyalty
guided his conduct then, when through his boundless
popularity he might have risen to the throne of England
without a crime, why should he now have committed
one of the most hideous atrocities recorded in history,
not only without temptation or any rational or intel*
ligible motive, but merely, as it would seem, for sport?1
If history is to go on repeating calumnies which imply
contradictions so palpable, it will supply but little real
instruction to succeeding times. Pretended evidence is
indeed brought forward to criminate Godwin in the
matter of Alfred's murder. But what is this evidence 1
The affirmations of men who lived hundreds of years
after his death, or Norman libels, or ballads written no
one knows when, by whom, or under what influence.
Unsuccessful attempts at restorations generally con
tribute to strengthen the hands of the princes whom they
are intended to overthrow. This was the result of
Alfred's enterprise ; for the Witan, alarmed at the
designs obviously entertained in Normandy against the
throne of England, and offended by the indifference of
Hardicanute, declared Harold king of all England.8
To account fox such a proceeding we must adopt one
of two hypotheses ; either that the son of Elfgiva of
1 The reason assigned by some ground. Higden, removed by many
chroniclers for Godwin's supposed generations from the period pf
animosity towards Prince Alfred is which he was writing, could only
truly pitiable. Desiring to unite speak in the language of others j
his daughter Editha with one of the author ofthe Encomium Emmse,
the sons of Ethelred, and disco- who wrote within three years of
vering that Alfred thought con- the massacre at Guildford, and had
temptuously of the connexion, he conversed with several of those who
fixed his eyes on Edward as the escaped, knew of his own know-
more simple and manageable, and ledge, and he says that Alfred was
slaughtered his elder brother to the younger of the two princes,
make way for him, Such is the "Alfridas minor natu." Scriptores
notion of Eanulph Higden, Poly- Eerum Danicarum, II. 497. See
chronicon, III. 277. But as Alfred, also Vita ^Edwardi Eegis, p. 401 .
instead of being the elder was the 2 Soger de Hoveden, a.d. 1037.
younger brother, the astute suppo- Saxon Chronicle, eodem anno.
sitions of the chronicler fall to the

A.D, 1037.] DANISH SOVEREIGNS. 119
Northampton possessed a much greater share than is
commonly supposed of the affections of the people, or
that serious apprehensions of danger from Emma's
Norman kindred were already entertained by the states
men and nobles of England.
When queen Emma learned the unhappy termination
of her son Alfred's attempt to dethrone Harold, she felt
the imminent danger of remaining any longer in Eng
land, exposed to the vengeance of the king. Calling
together, therefore, the nobles of Wessex,1 among whom,
it is to be presumed, Godwin was one, she took counsel
with them secretly, and it was agreed that her safest
course would be to fly the land; With the utmost prac
ticable despatch, a ship was got ready, and though the
winter storms had set in,8 which, to the frail barks of
those times, rendered the navigation of the Channel
highly perilous, Emma Set sail, and arrived safely in the
dominions of Baldwin earl of Flanders, popularly denomi
nated " the Friend of the English;" By this prince she
was hospitably received ; the castle of Bruges3 was as
signed to her as a residence, while the revenues of that
wealthy city were appointed for her support. Properly
to estimate this act of munificence, it must be remem
bered that Bruges was then the centre of a flourishing
commerce, which drew together within its walls mer
chants and strangers from all parts of Europe.4
Being now in complete safety, Emma, still ambitious
and restless, despatched a messenger to her son Edward
in Normandy, urging him to visit her at Bruges without
delay. Indolent as he was, he obeyed the summons,
and performed, we are told, the journey on horseback.
But there his energies failed. No persuasions of his
mother could prevail on him to undertake a second ex
pedition to England, where the feelings of the nobles
were completely alienated from him and his race. No
1 Encomium Emmse, II. 499. " Matthew of Westminster, a.d.
2 Saxon Chronicle, a.d. 1037. 1035. 4 EnGomium Emmee, II. 499.

120 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. [CHAP. XV.
very cordial affection seems ever to have existed between
Emma and this son, whose want of enterprise probably
increased the alienation. They parted, therefore, in no
friendly mood, and while he returned to the society of
ecclesiastics in Normandy, she concentrated her atten
tions oh her only remaining hope, Hardicanute, king of Den
mark. With him her machinations were more successful.
Quitting his dominions on the Baltic, he repaired, with
ten ships, to Bruges, to concert with his mother an armed
invasion of England, and a fratricidal contest for the
throne.1 The queen-dowager's treasures, whether brought
from Wessex or supplied by Baldwin, seem to have been
still considerable, since they proved equal to the enlist
ment, pay, and maintenance of a large army, and. a fleet
of sixty ships, which were collected in the ports of Flan
ders for a- descent upon England in the spring.
Meanwhile the bastard prince, of whose real character
and behaviour we know scarcely anything, was hastening
towards the grave. His death was preceded by a disas
trous irruption of the Welsh, who traversed the marches,
and fought a successful battle in Mercia, where Edwin,
brother of Leofric the earl, together with many other -
nobles, was slain. A great wind, also deemed worthy
of mention in the National Chronicle, burst over Eng
land,8 though of its effects nothing is related. Then
Harold Harefoot died, March 17th, a.d. 1039, at Lon
don, Oxford, or Exeter.3 Wherever he died, he was
buried at Westminster ; and the Witan, having hastily
assembled, sent an embassy, consisting of many nobles
and clergy, to invite over Hardicanute and his mother
from Bruges.4 This act of precipitation and folly had
scarcely been committed, ere the most bitter repentance
followed. Hardicanute, who seems never to have been

' Encomium Emmse, II. 500. of Edward the Confessor, edited by
2 Saxon Chronicle, a.d. 1039. Mr. Lnard, V. 484, says he died at
3 Florence of Worcester names Exeter.
London ; the Saxon Chronicle, Ox- * Hist. Karnes. III. 447.
ford ; and the metrical French life

A.D. 1039.] DANISH SOVEREIGNS. 121
quite sober, joyfully quitted the hospitable roof of
Baldwin, and, with his numerous Danish followers and
Flemish mercenaries, hastened to glut his evil passions
in England. The mass of the people, incapable of fore
sight, and entirely ignorant of his character, gave tokens
of immoderate joy at his arrival and coronation. But their
gratulations were short-lived.1 The youthful tyrant, in
fluenced by his cruel and vindictive mother, obviously
crossed the sea with strong feelings of rancour and ven
geance in his heart, which were not likely to be assuaged
by the consciousness of his own effeminacy and lack of
courage, which, during four years, had induced him to
acquiesce in his exclusion from the kingdom of Wessex.
Hardicanute's reign commenced with a base and
flagitious act of vengeance, which gave the people to
understand what treatment they might reasonably expect
from its perpetrator. He commanded earl Godwin,
Elfric, archbishop of York, Stor, the master of his house
hold, Edric, his steward, Thrond, captain of his guards,
with other men of high rank, to proceed to London,
drag forth the body of Harefoot from its regal tomb
in Westminster, and, after decapitation, cast it into a
ditch,8 whence it was transferred to the Thames, where,
having floated about for some time, it was discovered by
a fisherman 3 and delivered to the Danes residing along
the river, outside the city wall, who buried it in their
church of St. Clement's,4 in the Strand.
The English nation was soon made to feel, that worth
less as Harold might have been, their new master was still
less to their liking. Ferocious and stupid, Hardicanute

1 Saxon Chronicle, a.d. 1039. washed into theThames. Chronica
2 Simeon Dunelmensis, p. 180. de Mailros, I. 156.
Twysden, in his Glossary, explains 3 Higden, Polychrouicon, III. 276.
the word gronna, into which the Johannis Fordun Scotorum Histo-
corpse is said to have been first ria, III. 688.
thrown, to mean "locus palustris," * Chronicon Johannis Bromton,
a marsh or bog. In the present p. 933. Florence of Worcester, a.d.
instance it probably signified the 1040. William of Malmesbury,
city ditch, whence it may have been II. 1 2.

122 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. [CHAP. XV.
resolved to treat England as a Conquered country, and
always kept near him the Danish fleet and army, by the
terror of which he ruled. To maintain this mercenary
force in full vigour, he imposed an oppressive tax upon
the whole of England.1 The collective amount was
immense, since it was intended to enable him to pay
eight marks tp every rower, and twelve to every steersman
in his fleet. He had now touched the nation in its
tenderest point— his popularity vanished like smoke,
and was succeeded among the English by universal
detestation.8 In some counties it was found impossible
to levy the tax at all, while scarcely any consented to
pay the full amount.
To enforce the king's orders, his huscarls,3 or body
guard, were sent all over the country to collect the
money. At Worcester, the iniquity of the exaction
roused the people into insurrection : they resisted the
king's officers, and drove them by violence to take refuge
in one of tlie abbey towers.4 But even the right of
sanctuary failed to afford protection to those hated minis
ters of the Danes ; the gates of the minster were forced
— the populace broke into the tower, and chasing the
huscarls to an upper chamber, slew them there.
When news of this affair reached Hardicanute, his
fury knew no bounds. Nothing less would now satisfy
his Vengeance then the extermination of the people of
Worcester, and all the chief nobles of the realm5 were
ordered to lead an army into the territory ofthe Whiccas,
and waste it with fire and sword. In the command of
this desolating force, earl Godwin, with many other
1 Higden, Polychronicon, III. 276. fancies that Hardicanute raised an
Simeon De Gestis Begum Anglorum, English army to Combat his Danish
p. 180, 181. Chronicon Johannis troops! «
Bromton, p. 933. Henry de Knygh- s "Vide Ducange in voce Hilscarla.
ton, p. 2326. 4 Florence of Worcester, Eoger
2 The author of La Estoire de de Hoveden, a.d. 1041.
Seinte iEdward, v. 535, sqq. falls 5 Florence of Worcester, Matthew
into great perplexity in his attempt of Westminster, Eoger of Wendover,
to relate these circumstances. He a.d, 1041.

A.D. 1041.] DANISH SOVEREIGNS. 123
prudent and humane nobles, was associated, and, there
fore, it was not to be apprehended that very strict
obedience would be yielded to the king's orders. They
advanced towards Worcester with extreme slowness, thus
affording the citizens ample time to provide for their
own safety; Winter, however, was coming on, so that
their flight was attended by no little difficulty and hard
ship. Bearing away with them as much as they could
of their property, many of the citizens dispersed and fled
into distant parts of the country, while the remainder
passed over to Beverege, an island in the Severn, where
they threw up strong Works, and resolved to defend
themselves. Some few, more stubborn or confiding then
the rest, remained in the city, and were cut off, probably
by the ferocious huscarls, or taken prisoners, and, as the
custom of the time was, sold into slavery. The place
was then delivered up to sack and plunder during four
days, after which it was set on fire, and by the light of
its flaming homesteads the royal army, laden with booty,
marched away.1
All Hardicanute's triumphs were over his own people,
individually or collectively. Having taken vengeance
upon the inhabitants of Worcester, he next directed the
shafts of his wrath against its prelate, who, in conjunc
tion with earl Godwin, was accused by Elfric, archbishop
of Canterbury, of complicity in the execution of the
pretender, Alfred, and his associates. To obtain money,
of which Hardicanute contrived to be always in want,
appears to have been the sole object of these proceedings,
for having kept the bishop out of his see during a whole
year, he restored him for a sum of money. In the
plunder of the Church he was not, however, without a
participator, since the intriguing and worldly-minded
Elfric8 obtained the revenues of Worcester during the
suspension of Living.

1 Florence of Worcester, A.d.1041. De Gestis Eegum Anglorum, p. 180,
2 See the character of this prelate 181.
in Anglia Sacra, I. 472, 702. Simeon

124 HISTORY OF ENGLAND, [CHAP. XV.
The accusation against earl Godwin1 was neither
urged nor passed over with so little earnestness; he
was regularly brought to trial before his peers, and in
accordance with the forms of Saxon law, solemnly main
tained his own innocence. But his affirmation, con
sidered by itself, would have availed him little. A man
so placed was required, in order to clear himself, to find
twelve persons, his equals in rank, to come forward'
and join their oaths with his. Godwin appealed to the
Witan, and nearly all the nobles and thanes in England
voluntarily became his compurgators,2 and before God
and their country solemnly acquitted him of the crime
laid to his charge. The decision of this grand inquest
was looked upon as altogether satisfactory by his con
temporaries, and ought, in common fairness, to have
prevented the Chroniclers of after ages from repeating
the accusation without giving at the same time the'
testimony of the Great Council of the realm by which if !
was treated as false and calumnious . The whole transac
tion was obviously a political struggle, the Danish party
attacking, and the English party defending, the illus
trious earl of Wessex, the great hope and bulwark of -
the Anglo-Saxon cause.
It was customary at stated periods for subjects of
rank to conciliate the friendship of the sovereign with'
costly and magnificent presents. Godwin, the richest"
as well as the noblest man in England, in conformity''
with this practice bestowed upon Hardicanute a splendid
galley, which excited the admiration of his contempo
raries, and has been ever since celebrated by historians.'
It appears to have been a superb model of naval archi
tecture, ornamented at the stern with a gilded lion,
while from the prow a golden dragon, the symbol of'1
Wessex, projected with expanded wings and forked
tongue over the waves.3 Above fluttered a purple sail,
1 Compare Higden.Polychronicon, 3 For this description we are
HI. 277. chiefly indebted to the life of Ed-
2 Matthew of Westmiuster. ward the Confessor, edited by Mr.
Florence of Worcester, a.d. 1040. Luard, p. 397. The beautiful MS,

!A.D. 1041.] DANISH SOVEREIGNS. 125
! on which, in gorgeous emblazonry, were represented the
achievements of his forefathers by sea and land. It was
manned by eighty warriors, armed and equipped in
the most gorgeous style of the times, with golden
bracelets flashing on their arms, and weapons of the
rarest workmanship and materials. A Danish battle-
axe, inlaid with gold and silver, was slung from the
left shoulder; in their right hand they bore a Saxon
atagar, or spear, while their heads were adorned with
gilded helmets. Forty gilded shields, locked rim within
rim, extended in flashing blazonry along the ship's
bulwarks on either side, so as, in the words of an old
Chronicler, to conceal the steel beneath the gold,1
Hardicanute had one sister, Gunhilda,2 by some praised
for her beauty, by others for her wit and. accomplish-
i ments. After the necessary negociation, her hand was
| bestowed on Henry,3 emperor of Germany. The king
>and his courtiers vied with each other in the splendour
jOf their gifts to the departing princess, whom they
jencumbered with gold, silver, jewels, gorgeous silken
^garments, and magnificent horses.4 When proceeding
[towards the sea-shore to embark for the Continent, the
nobles of England formed themselves into a procession,
,and accompanied her to the beach, with so great a
^display of pomp and grandeur that the poets were
jwarmed into song, and the lays they composed on the
^occasion passed into the popular literature of the country,
nd were long afterwards sung in hostel and tavern.
"ay, even in Norman times the English, delighting to
^¦ecal the splendour of their ancient kings, employed
"of this Chronicle was presented by sought after on the Continent, that
|George II. to the public library of in order to retain a sufficient num-
Oambridge University. Compare ber in the country to mount the
Florence of Worcester, 1040. cavalry, and carry on the labours
. x William of Malmesbury, II. 12. of agriculture, a law was passed as
J 2 La Estoire de Seinte ^Edward, far back as the reign of Athelstan
V. 506. Vita Edwardi Confessoris, prohibiting their exportation ex-
i. 395. cept as presents. Dooms of King
3 Historia Eamesiensis, III. 434. Athelstan, 18.
4 English horses were so much

126 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. [CHAP. XV.
actors and minstrels to represent at banquets, with in*
strum ents and song, the festivity and joyousness of these
imperial nuptials;1
The Chroniclers have converted the life of this prin
cess into a theme of contradiction and mystery, some
relating that being accused of adultery, her reputation
was put to the hazard of single combat^-that her
champion, a dwarf, slew the champion of her accusers, a
giant — -and that refusing to be reconciled to her hus
band, she became a nun.8
But if the king and nobles could thus indulge in
pomp and ceremonies, the condition of the nation gene
rally presented a disastrous contrast. We obtain, how
ever only casual glimpses of the real state of the king
dom, through doubtful and obscure traditions. Hardi*
Canute appears to have been wholly unable to restrain the
mercenary force of Flemings and Northmen, which he had
brought along with him, and through sheer impotence j
let loose upon the country. By these miscreants, the
horrors of Sweyn's invasion seem to have been acted
over again. Unchecked by authority of any kind, they
spread themselves over the land, entering at pleasure.
into private dwellings, convents, and monasteries, vio^
lating matrons and virgins,3 and indulging in indiscri
minate ravage, plunder, and massacre. Exaggeration
there may be in the accounts transmitted to us, but it
seems perfectly credible that very great misery was the
result of introducing these lawless hordes into England.
To illustrate their thorough recklessness, the quaint
Chronicler naively observes, that decrees or privileges
from Koine they valued not an apple, and its sen-
* Matthew of Westminster, a.d. 3 Dames e gentiz puoeles,
1041. De cors e de face beles
2 Bromton, p. 933. Lappenberg, Des Daneis sunt desparagees
following other authorities, says she E viument de lur cors traitees. 1
died in Italy two years after her Estoire de Seinte iEdward, V. 570,1
marriage, II. 220. Higden, Poly- sqq. To the same effect Knyghton: I
chronicon, III. 277. — r-Befloraverunt uxores nostras, et ^
filias, et ancillas, p. 2326. j

A.D. 1042.] DANISH SOVEREIGNS. 127
tence or absolution they valued not a button.1 Now
these, in the absence of law and legitimate authority,
being the only restraints upon the wills and passions of
barbarous populations, the extinction of their influence
was almost equivalent to the entire subversion of social
order. Accordingly, the State; of things then existing
bordered on the aphelion of civilisation. Infant arid
matron, monk and hermit, canon and clerk, abbot and
bishop, they cut off or drove out of their dwellings in
sport* Gentlemen they hanged, that they might take
peaceable possession of their estates; ladies whom, in
their caprice, they exempted from murder or violation,
they robbed of their money and their palfreys, and, to
orown their contemptuous insolence, tore the rings from
their fingers and the garments from their bodies. Through
these achievements of his soldiers, Hardicanute is said to
have felt himself complete master of all England.
But nations, however humiliated by conquest, may
yet, by the extremes of oppression, be stimulated to
vengeance. Stung to the quick by insults and injuries
the most galling, the English are said to have resumed
courage and rushed to arms. The account of what took
place, grudgingly doled forth like the intimations of an
oracle, almost appears to be an echo of St. Brice's day.
Under the command of a leader named Howne, who
stood forth as the champion and avenger of his country,
the English took the field in immense numbers. What
was their system of operations, what battles they fought,
what vicissitudes they encountered, we are not told ;
the Chronicler simply relates that they fell fiercely upon
the Danes, made a vast indiscriminate slaughter, and
thus delivered' the greater part, of the kingdom from
their hated presence.8
1 Privilege u esorit de Eumme, 2 Henry de Knyghton, p. 2326.
Ne prisent vailant une pumme, The obscurity of this passage has
Sentence u absoluciun, hitherto deterred historians from
Ne preisent vailant un bittun. extracting out of it one of the most
Estoire de Seinte iEdward, V. 558, curious events of Hardicanute's
Sqq, reign. But one of the lives of

128 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. [CHAP. XV.
We must not, however, deny to Hardicanute the pos
session of any good qualities. He was weak, intern-
perate, and diseased; but won the affections of his
courtiers and the praise of the monks, by the profuse
feasting in which he indulged with his companions. Four
times a day1 did the tables of the palace groan beneath
mountains of fat beef, while wine, mead, pigment, morat
and cider, made the round of the board in flowing
goblets. Nor were the poor forgotten, what remained
of each repast, instead of being restored to the larder to
be reproduced at the next meal, was carried forth in
ample baskets, and distributed among the uninvited
who thronged tumultuously about the palace gates.2
To share in these perpetual festivities, Hardicanute
invited over his half-brother Edward from Normandy,3
and not only entertained him hospitably as might have
been expected, but proceeding beyond the bounds of
common generosity, conceded to him royal honours, and
associated him with himself in the government of the
kingdom. Like a good son, moreover, he refused to be
conscious of his mother's vices and failings, and treated
her with the utmost kindness and respect. With his
friends he mingled on terms of frank familiarity. If he
invited them to share his banquets, he also consented to
partake of theirs, and the cordiality with which he
entered into their convivial enjoyments cost him his
life. Osgod Clapa, a nobleman of distinction and
opulence, having bestowed his daughter's hand upon a
distinguished Dane, invited the jovial king to be present

Edward the Confessor, recently pub- p. 934. Henry of Huntingdon, p.
lished, supplies what was wanting 758.
to render Knyghton intelligible, 2 Historia Eamesiensis, III. 450,
and gives, at the same time, a strik- praises Hardicanute for his extreme
ing picture of the misery and de- kindness towards the poor.
gradation to which the English had 3 Simeon of Durham, p. 181.
been reduced by Hardicanute'smer- Malmesbury supposes Edward to
cenaries. Lives of Edward the have come over without invitation.
Confessor, vv. 532, 580. II. 12.
1 Chronicon Johannis Bromton,

A.D. 1042.] DANISH SOVEREIGNS. 129
at the nuptial feast, given at his house in Lambeth.
This was the sort of field in which the son of Emma
loved to display his royal presence. As a mark of
honour, he was placed next the bride, and rising after
deep potations to propose her health, while the acclama
tions that followed his speech were yet resounding
through the hall, he fell back senseless, with the goblet
still in his hand, and never spoke more.1 Being in
capable of prayer or confession, he died unhouseled,
and, in the language of a fierce Fifth-Monarchy man,
was huddled to dust at Winchester.8

Simeon of Durham, 181, Higden, 2 Sir Ealph Sadleir, Eights of
Polychronicon, III. 277. Historia the Kingdom, p. 67. Florence of
Eamesiensis, III, 450. Worcester, a.d. 1042. Henry of
Huntingdon, p. 758.

VOL. II, K

130 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. [CHAP. XVI.

CHAPTER XVI.
RESTORATION OF THE HOUSE OF CERDIC.
The way was now open for the return of the English
princes, and the realisation of Godwin's policy. It is
commonly supposed that Edward, the son of Ironside,
then an exile in Hungary, was the true heir to the
throne ; but his father having been himself a bastard,
and possessing no right, could transmit none to his
children. No law of primogeniture existed ; the Witan
chose from the royal family the individual they thought
best qualified to govern, and their suffrages, therefore,7
constituted the true right of the crown.
Edward, the son of Ethelred and Emma, who, as I
have related, had been invited over from Normandy by
his brother Hardicanute, and resided with him in the
palace, was now thrown into extreme perplexity. He
was not so much without ambition as without capacity.
He had been engaged, directly or indirectly, in three
attempts to recover the throne of England : first, when
he landed with a Norman army in Hampshire, and dis
graced himself by the atrocities he committed, before he
was put to flight by the inhabitants ; second, it was as
much in his interest as in his own that his brother
Alfred raised the standard of rebellion in Kent ; and
thirdly, it was in the assertion of his claims that Eobert
the Devil fitted out a fleet for the invasion qf England,
which, like the Armada of a later age, was dispersed
and shattered by a tempest.

A.D. 1042.] HOUSE OF CERDIC. 131
He was now probably about thirty-nine years of age,1
and therefore, had his mind been capable of profiting by
experience, might have been expected to act with pru
dence, But circumstances had co-operated with nature
in disqualifying him for the English throne. He was
partly by blood, and entirely by habits and education, a
Norman, He spoke the French language, affected the
French dress, had adopted the French form of Catho
licism, and by all his associations, tastes, and predilec
tions was estranged from England and the English. The
lofty independent tone of Saxon thought displeased him;
the language of the country was a stranger to his ears ;
to the demands of public business he was unequal, and
he seems during his stay at Hardicanute's court, to
have made no friends.
Accordingly, at that monarch's death, he found him
self beset by difficulties, and even by fears, for his own
safety.8 Looking around him, he could perceive no ray
of hope, save in the friendship and support of the great
earl- of Wessex, whose character the anti-Saxon party
had already sought to blacken, by representing him as
the betrayer of prince Alfred. Had Edward then put
faith in this calumny, he would surely not have centred
all his hopes in such a man, but, warned by his brother's
fate, would rather have fled to any other individual in
the realm for refuge. It may be presumed that Godwin
had treated him with kindness and consideration in his
days of dependence and obscurity, which suggested the
hope that he would befriend him now. At all events,
1 Lihgard (I. 276) speaks of him 2 According to the Annales Eccle-
as about forty ; but as Ethelred and sise Wintoniensis (II. 290), he re-
Emma were only married in a.d. paired to Winchester, concealed in
1002, he could not have been quite a plebeian garb, now hiding himself
so old. The same historian consis- in the house of his mother, and now
tently regards him as the elder in that of the bishop, whom he
brother, but on this point the afterwards accused of being her
Chroniclers are divided, some giv- paramour. Henry de Knyghton, p.
ing priority to his brother, and 2329.
some to him. Upon the whole, it
seems clear that he was the elder.
k2

132 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. [CHAP. XVI.
when Edward stood friendless and dejected in the land
of his forefathers, his heart and understanding equally
prompted him to crave an interview with the great states
man, whose influence over the people was unbounded,
and whose wisdom and eloquence. irresistibly swayed, in
most instances, the deliberations of the Witan.
Having, by messengers, obtained permission to wait on
Godwin, Edward proceeded to his residence, and would
have thrown himself at his feet, but that the earl kindly
prevented him.1 In the bewilderment of the moment,
the ambition of his former years was lost sight of or skil
fully cloaked by the policy of timidity.2 He did not ask
the earl's assistance to enable him to ascend the throne
of his ancestors, but, whatever might have been his
secret wishes, only petitioned for his protection and aid
to enable him to return to Normandy.
The crown was now hovering over Godwin's own
brow, and it would perhaps have demanded but few
efforts to place it firmly there. Being, however, full of
loyalty, he rejected the promptings of ambition, and
explained to the royal suppliant that by the aid which
he could afford, the sceptre of England might be secured
to him. He further represented to him how much
better it would be to reign here as a king than to wear
out his life in inglorious exile in Normandy ; he main
tained that as the son of Ethelred he might claim the
crown as his due ; that he was now of ripe age to
govern, and that the poverty and misfortune he had
experienced, would the better enable him to sympathise
with the misfortunes and poverty of others.3 Thus
soothed and cheered, Edward, in spite of his monastic
• x William of Malmesbury, II. 13. tachment — immediately proceeds
2 Lappenberg (II. 234) seems to say, that Edward was "strong
not a little perplexed by the attempt in the love of his people," a rash
to form Some idea of Edward's posi- assertion, hazarded for the purpose
tion at this time. Having observed pf disparaging the "crafty, earl,"
that " England had repeatedly and meaning the great statesman and
recently refused him for ' its patriot of Wessex.
sovereign"— no proof of great at- > William of Malmesbury, II, 13.

A.D. 1042.] HOUSE OF CERDIC. 133
simplicity, began to experience the force of a throne's
allurements, and to take a more favourable view of his
own prospects. Delivered from the apprehension of
imprisonment or death, his gratitude knew no bounds,
so that in the effervescence of the moment he was ready
to undertake or promise anything.
The contrast presented by the two men at this moment
was in the highest degree striking. Godwin, confident
and majestic, with a countenance expressive of the
loftiest intelligence, and the consciousness of all but
supreme power, handsome, full bf energy, and animated
by indomitable courage ; while Edward, with a face of
feminine make, terminating in a flaxen beard, a slender
and frail figure, with long white hands, so thin that the
light appeared between the fingers, seemed the incarna
tion of weakness and indecision.1 His will, therefore,
bowed naturally before that of the earl, and he agreed
at once to all the conditions upon which Godwin offered
him the crown — namely, that he and his sons, whose
earldoms extended over the better half of England,
should regulate the affairs of the kingdom, and that he
should take the beautiful, accomplished, and noble
Editha to be his queen.
Some idea may be formed of the education and
manners of women in those ages by the account which
has been left us of the earl of Wessex's daughter, Editha,8
of whom all the Chroniclers, whether friendly or hostile3
to her family, speak with extreme admiration. In con
trast with her father and brothers, she is regarded as a
" rose among thorns." Brought up partly at home, partly

1 Such is the description given of sqq.) has brought to light another
him by a contemporary writer, to daughter of the earl, Gunnilda, who
whom his personal appearance was became a nun at Bruges, who wore
familiar. Lives of Edward the haircloth next her skin, and for
Confessor, p. 435. many years before her death ab-
2 This lady is generally supposed stained from animal food and all
to have been Godwin's only daugh- kinds of dainty meats.
ter ; but Sir Henry Ellis (Intro- 3 Chronicon Johannis Bromton,
duction to Domesday, II. 78, 136, p. 938.

134 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. [CHAP. XVI.
at the convent of Wilton, she displayed all the accom
plishments and fascinations of an Englishwoman of. the
highest birth. To avoid associating with the crowds of
gentlemen, bards, minstrels, and retainers who thronged
the earl of Wessex's palace, she retired, like an eastern
princess, to her mother's private apartments,1 where she
passed her time in reading or needlework. Of the exact
nature of her studies we are ignorant, though she ap
pears to have been familiar with Latin, rhetoric, and
logic,8, and with all those works to which the statesmen.
and theologians of the times had recourse for enlighten
ment. Her mind must, consequently, have been brimful
of knowledge, both sacred and secular, while her manners
and conversation were as distinguished for ease, vivacity,
and grace, as her countenance and person were for
beauty. Her complexion was dazzlingly fair, and her"
luxuriant tresses, flaxen tinged with gold, falling in
massive ringlets over her neck and shoulders, imparted
to her a seraphic aspect. Over the education of this
daughter, Godwin, who excelled all his contemporaries
in the art of developing the intellectual faculties, appears
to have watched with peculiar fondness and care, so that
she was deficient in nothing known or practised by her
sex in those ages. In portrait-painting, in design, and
in works of the most delicate embroidery, she is said to
have surpassed all other ladies from the banks of the
Bosphorus to those of the Thames.3 Had Edward, there
fore, been possessed of a prince's instead of a monk's
character, he would have valued much less his elevation'
to the throne of England than the hand and love of this
peerless woman, whose name sheds a lustre and a
*
1 " Ubi non dissoluta ocio, nee ' Historia Ingulphi, I. 62.
onerosa, fastidio legere aut operari s See the picture drawn of her by
manibus consuevit, ornare miro the quaint metrical Chronicler, La
artificio vestes, sericis, aurum in- Estoire deSeint ^Edward, VV.1147-
texere, quseque rerum imitari pic- 1175. Ailredus Abbas Eievallis,
tura ; tali opere ac meditatione p. 378.
vitare lascivia, colloquia juvenum
devitare." Ailredus Eievallis,p,378.

A.D. 1042.] HOUSE OF CERDIC. 135
perfume over the whole of that period of English
history. The solemn compact between the earl and the prince
having on both sides been confirmed by oaths, Godwin
convened an assembly of the nobles and people at
Gillingham, in his own earldom of Kent, and there,
with his fervid eloquence, which is said to have been
peculiarly English, as well in character as in language,
so ably advocated the claims of Edward, that he was
proclaimed king by acclamation, and received general
homage. But, in an affair so momentous, Godwin did
not rely exclusively on the art of persuasion. He had
recourse to other and still more influential means ; with
some he prevailed by his authority, with some by
appealing to their self interest ; many readily acknow
ledged Edward's right, and the few with Danish pre
dilections, among whom was the sheriff of Middlesex,
Osgod Clapa,1 who persisted in opposition in spite of
justice and equity, were carefully marked and after
wards driven into exile.8
In the Norman account of this transaction, we dis
cern the bloody glimmer of Hastings' field thrown back
wards over events. The senate and people of England,
instead of choosing freely their own king, in conformity
with the laws and maxims of their forefathers, are
swayed by the menaces of the Norman duke, who
insinuates by his envoys that if they neglect his counsel
they shall feel the weight of his arms.3 Both the em
bassy and the threat are mere fictions. Had the strip
ling of eighteen, which William then was, sent so
insolent a message, the great military chiefs, Godwin,
Siward, and Leofric, would have treated his ambassadors
with derision. Treachery and superstition had not yet
1 Saxon Chronicle, a.d. 1046. neighbours to Sallust, whose genius
2 William of Malmesbury, II. 13. and grandeur of sentiment should
3GuillaumedePoitiers,Memoires, have preserved him from such an
XXIX. 336. This unskilful adu- insult.
lator has been compared by our

136 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. [CHAP, XVI.
paved the way for this truculent foreigner to the English
throne. The interval between the election of Edward at Gil-
lingham and his coronation, which took place at Win
chester1 on the Easter Sunday of the following year,
a.d. 1043, was probably employed in familiarising the
people with their new sovereign, and thus securing to
him a certain amount of popularity. Among the Anglo-
Saxons the ceremony of consecrating a king was con
ducted with much pomp. The archbishops of Canterbury
and York, the bishops, the abbots, the priors, in their
most gorgeous robes and sacerdotal ornaments, sparkling
and flashing with jewels, thronged the interior of the
cathedral, surrounded by all the chivalry and beauty of
the land.8 On the present occasion, Eadsy,3 the primate
who, already perhaps detected the approach of those dark
shadows which soon after fell upon the English church,
addressed to the sovereign a wise and temperate dis
course on the duties of a prince,4 and the assembly
probably hoped that the words of the sacred counsellor
would in time bear good fruit. In this belief the tide
of public rejoicing rose high, and overflowed the whole
kingdom: monastery and palace, mansion and cottage,
indulged in feasting and revelry, during which the
Danes, it is said, who could not be expected to share the
general joy, concealed themselves in their houses, while
they were mocked at and insulted5 in rude and boisterous
dramatic exhibitions. The third Tuesday after Easter,
which obtained popularly the name of Hokeday,6 was
especially set apart for these scenic representations which,

1

Saxon Chronicle. Florence of culis Edwardi Confessoris, p. 373
Worcester, a.d. 1043. Henry of Bromton, p. 936,
Huntingdon, p. 759. Matthew of * Saxon Chronicle, A.D. 1043.
Westminster, a.d. 1042. Capgrave, 6 Spelmanni Glossarium, p. 294.
Chronicle of England, p. 127. 6 Festivitas quam derisis ejectis-
2 La Estoire de Seinte ^Edward, que jam Danis Angli — ut exactis
V.V. 856, sqq. Eegibus Eomani, Fugalia. (Ovid.
3 Ailredus Abbas Eievallis de Gen. Fasti., II. 685, sqq.)— annuS in
Eeg.Angl.,p.366. De Vita et Mira- Isetitiam celebrabant. Spelmanni
Glossarium, p. 294.

A.D. 1043. J HOUSE OF CERDIC. 137
because they commemorated a great deliverance, took
so firm a hold of the national, mind, that they survived
the greatest changes in government and religion,1 and
only died out at last with the extinction of all popular
festivities. To form a correct idea of their character may now
perhaps be impossible. It would seem, however, that
the performers, having divided themselves into two
bodies, one representing the English, the other the
Danes, engaged in a series of military evolutions and
encounters, the cavalry, armed with lance and shield,
commencing the action, in which the infantry soon took
part. At first the opposing hosts manoeuvred in ranks ;
but presently, breaking into platoons, they successively
assumed the forms of squares, wedges, circles, and then
deploying again into line, engaged in conflict. Twice
victory seemed to declare in favour of the Danes ; but
ultimately, by large reinforcements of Englishwomen, the
foreigners were defeated, made captive, and led away in
triumph. Many learned men have confounded the event thus
celebrated with the massacre of St. Brice's Day,8 though
it seems manifestly to refer to the achievements of the
English under Howne, which were synchronic with the
close of Hardicanute's reign, and may perhaps only have
been terminated a little before Edward's coronation.3
In commemorating an anniversary, tradition is seldom
at fault: the massacre took place in the beginning of
winter; Hokeday occurring a fortnight after Easter, may
1 See in Strutt, Sports and Pas- in the Laws of Edward the Con-
times of the English People, p. 148, fessor, from which Spelman fairly
a description of the festivities of infers that the operations against
Hokeday before queen Elizabeth, the Danes were completed in the
at Kenilworth Castle. commencement of his reign : " Nam
2 Ducange, for example, voce irruentibus, instar turbinis, in ultio-
Hokeday, maintains this opinion, nem Danis et rerum summa unde-
and observes that even in his day quaque potitis eos denud sic ejecit
the custom had not entirely died Edouardus, ut spem omnem rede-
out in the Midland Counties. undi ademit."
3 See the curious sections, 34, 35,

138 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. [CHAP. XVI.
be said to have ushered in the rejoicings, great heats and
long days of summer -,1 and, consequently, could never
have been intended to keep alive the remembrance of an
atrocity which was perpetrated at a different season of
the year, and of which, with good reason, the Enghsh
were rather ashamed than proud.
History says nothing of the part enacted by the women
in the victories under Howne — it says only too much of
their delinquencies at the period of Ethelred's massacre^
which, instead of insuring to them the joyous mastery
over their households, and suggesting their merry pranks
in the streets, would rather have led to their clothing
themselves in sackcloth and covering their heads with
ashes, since their conduct, we are told, had been such
that they were mercilessly mutilated and slaughtered
with their paramours, while the children they had borne
them had their brains dashed out against the posts ofthe
doors. Forty years had effected a change in their charac
ters, so that instead of siding with the enemies of their
country, they gave such proofs of patriotic sentiments/
that their representatives and descendants throughout
the land endeavoured for ages to give perpetuity to the
memory of their deeds. On Hoke Tuesday, they went
forth, we are told, in joyous troops, throwing cords8 across
the streets of the towns and villages — the way, perhaps,
in which they had co-operated against the Danes — drew
passengers towards them, and extorted from each as
ransom a small present, which was afterwards appliedto
pious uses. ¦ ,'•'
But, notwithstanding the brilliance of these cere
monies, the dawn of Edward's reign was not propitious,'
1 Kennett, with overstrained in- 2 Nam cum hocken idem sit Ger.-
genuity, derives Hokeday from the manice quod obsidere cingere,' in-
Saxon Headseg : "Quod Gallice cubare ; alii in hac cclebritate.
dicimus, Haut jour ; forte quod in alios obsident, capiunt, ligant (prRfc
sestivis diebus adeoque longioribus sertim viros fcaminse), atque iude."
incidat hsec festivitas." Ducange, binding Tuesday, i.e., Diem Martis
ubi supra. Compare Matthew ligatoriam appellant."
Paris, a.d. 1255, 1258, and Matthew
of Westminster, a.d, 1261.

A-D. 1043], HOUSE OF CERDIC. 139
for then were sown the seeds of those calamities which
afterwards shot up and overshadowed the whole of Eng
land. With the asceticism of a monk, he united an ex
traordinary degree of hypocrisy and dissimulation. In
Normandy he had contracted all the vices of the Nor
mans, a puerile fondness for the chase, servility to the
Church of Home, and the inordinate love of money.
The Master of Politics teaches, that favours too great
to be repaid generally beget ingratitude. This was never
more strikingly exemplified than by Edward, the son of
Ethelred. He owed everything to Godwin, and there
fore hated him. The presence of the earl reminded him
of his dependence, and though in act he delegated the
government of the kingdom to him and his sons, he con
stantly meditated in secret on the means of delivering
himself from these friends, too powerful to be offended
or patiently tolerated.
In this frame of mind he was artfully strengthened by
the host of Norman favourites he had brought over with
him, or who flocked to England immediately on his ac
cession.1 These individuals, grasping, selfish, unprin
cipled, laboured to alienate his mind from the English
nobles, more especially Godwin, whose influence inter
fered with their mischievous designs. It was to these
men, chiefly priests and monks, that Edward opened his
heart ; and as they were perhaps in the pay, and cer
tainly espoused the interest of their own duke, we may
discover, in this circumstance, one principal cause of the
disastrous events that followed. Perceiving the king's
weakness and superstition, they laboured to create in him
the belief, consonant enough to his feeble frame and in
tellect, that the first of all human virtues is chastity, and
insinuated that, by practising it perseveringly, he might
raise himself to the level of the Saints. In conformity
with their wishes, which were probably only those of
William, expressed in monastic style, he bound himself,
by the obligations of a vow, to perpetual chastity, so that
1 William of Malmesbury, II. 13.

140 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. [CHAP. XVI.
succession to the English sceptre might be thrown open
to intrigue or arms. The influence of these sacerdotal
flatterers appeared extravagant and ludicrous, even to the
monks themselves, who relate, contemptuously that, had
Robert of Jumieges affirmed a black crow to be a white
one, the king would haVe sooner believed his words than
his own eyes.1
This may seem to be attributing to the rude priests
and statesmen of those times too subtle a policy. Bar
barism by no means paralyses the understanding, it only
destroys the taste, the sense of beauty, the purity of
sentiment, the refinement of manners. We may easily
believe, therefore, that among Edward's favourites there
were some who conceived the possibility of placing a
Norman line of princes on the throne of England, and
trembled lest the cohabitation of Edward with his queen
should produce an heir to dissipate their ambitious
dreams. Editha, though a wife in name, led in the
palace the life of a nun, mocked by some, pitied ,by
others, an object of aversion to her husband, who Ac
cumulated on her innocent head the hatred with which
his foreign favourites had inspired him for her father and
family.8 _ : ' # _ {|
Nor did the rancour and malignity of these courtierf
stop here. Having poisoned Edward's mind against
his greatest benefactor and his wife, . they proceeded to
involve him in the guilt of persecuting and plundering
his own mother. Some have sought to excuse th^-
approximation to matricide by imagining a sort: of
struggle3 between the parent and child ; others palliatjl
1 Si dicer et nigram cornicem esse odio, an castitatis zelo fecerit coaffi
candidam, rex citius ori illius quam pertum non habeo."
occulis suis crederet. Anglia Sacra,- 3 " The first opponent with whoSi1
I, 291 . Edward had to struggle was his
2 See William of Malmesbury, II. own mother." Lappenberg, II. 237y
13. Speaking of Edward's treat- Hume quaintly apologises fof
ment of his wife, Higden (Poly- Edward's behaviour to his mothiSf
chronicon, III. 277) observes, "quam by observing "that he had hithefw
taliarte tractabat, ut nee &thoro lived on indifferent terms with ; tlftf
ammoveret nectamen virili more princess." History ofEngland, 1.140.
cognosceret, quod families Illius

A.D. 1043.] HOUSE OF CERDIC. 141
the iniquity and baseness of the act by dwelling upon
Emma's^ neglect of her son during his infancy, her mar
riage with his father's enemy, her cruel partiality for
his younger brother, Hardicanute, and her parsimony
in affording him pecuniary aid while he was in exile.1
But these considerations, though not without weight,
constitute no justification of Edward's conduct. A
pious son, with a whole kingdom's resources at his com
mand, would have spared his mother's grey hairs the
shame and grief of being despoiled and hunted down by
her own offspring.8
Edward was at Gloucester when the machinations of
his foreign favourites blossomed and bore fruit. Sud
denly, to the surprise of all persons, he ordered the
earls Godwin, Leofric, and Siward, with a suitable
train of attendants, to accompany him, and set out for
Winchester3 in the beginning of November. By royal
ordinance, all the estates and manors of Emma the
queeh-dowager were confiscated and taken into the
king's own hands; and on his arrival in the ancient
capital of Wessex, her accumulated treasures in gold,
silver, jewels, precious stones, and female ornaments,
were taken from her. Many of the Chroniclers add,
that she was accused of adultery with bishop Alwin,4
and subjected to the fiery ordeal ; but their narratives
deserve no credit, having been apparently intended to
1 Saxon Chronicle, Florence of Edward's mind against his mother'
Worcester, a.d. 1043. as well as against Godwin and his
2 Edward's conduct was in this sons ; but to show how great was
respectidentical with that of Harold the confusion prevailing inhis mind,
Harefoot, upon whom Emma had he likewise accuses Godwin himself
no claims either of affection or of being the calumniator. The
gratitude. Annals of Winchester, the authors
3 Florence of Worcester, Saxon of which may have possessed means
Chronicle, ubi supra. of obtaining on such points informa-
4 Henry de Knyghton gives this tion not generally accessible, relate
intrigue as the reason why the king that Alwin, having been deprived
deprived Emma of her treasures, p. of all his possessions, was forbidden
2329. . Higden, Polychronicon, III. to leave the city on pain of death,
2-77, agrees with him, but accuses I, 291.
Eobert de Jumieges of poisoning

142 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. [CHAP. XVI.
account for Emma's liberality to the church of St.*
Swithun.1 It was not thought becoming even by the
pious Edward to remove his mother from sanctuary, and.
she was therefore suffered to remain in the minster, to
be supported by the charity8 of the clergy, which was
seldom wanting to the unfortunate.
In the same year,3 Eadsy, archbishop of Canterbury,
weighed down by the infirmities of age, had recourse
to an act of pious policy to secure to himself a worthy
successor. He feared, with good reason, that should
the election be deferred till after his death, some intri*
guing foreign priest, with abundant[funds at his command
would fly to Eome and purchase the preferment from
his Holiness.
By his piety and virtue Eadsy appeaf s to have gained
the friendship of earl Godwin, through whose influence
the king was prevailed upon to coincide with his views.
Siward, therefore, formerly a monk of Glastonbury, and
then abbot of Abingdon, was raised to the see of
Rochester, and during the primate's illness, intrusted
with the management of all secular affairs connected
with the archbishopric. He lived not, however, to
enjoy the honours intended for him, but after acting as
the primate's coadjutor during three years, died in a.d:
1046, upon which Eadsy resumed the entire govern-*
ment of his see. The year before his death, a.d:
1048, he presented to the church of St. Augustine
two superb silver-gilt chalices, and a psalter furnished
with a glossary, which, that it might not be removed
or stolen, was fastened by a chain to St. Gregory's
altar. At the same time he contributed a hundred

1 Annales Ecclesise Wintoniensis, Abingdon Chronicle, I. 451, which
A.D. 1043. appears to be more consistent with
2 Edward is said to have despoiled the order of events. Eadsy, who
his mother so completely, that he had been chaplain to Harold Hare-
did not leave her the value of a foot, was raised to the primacy in
farthing. Anglia Sacra, I. 291. 1038, and died in 1049. Angli#
3 Saxon Chronicle, a.d. 1044. Sacra, I. 5, 84, 86, 87, 227, 238, 790.
But I adopt the chronology of the >;.

AD. 1046,] HOUSE OF CERDIC. 143
marks towards the building of one of the church
towers,1 Meanwhile, England was threatened with another
invasion from the Baltic States. Magnus,8 king of
Norway, had entered several years before into a treaty
with Hardicanute, then king of Denmark, by which it
was agreed, that whichever of these princes survived
should succeed to the dominions of the other.3 The
crafty Norwegian now affected to regard himself as the
true heir to the English throne by virtue of the above
treaty, and notwithstanding the preposterousness of his
claim, summoned Edward to relinquish the sceptre,
menacing him with immediate hostilities in the event
of his refusal.
Surrounded by great statesmen and brave com
manders, Edward treated his menaces with disdain,
and, to protect- the shores of England from insult, fitted
out a formidable Channel fleet, which rendezvoused at
Sandwich.4 Intelligence of these preparations reaching
Scandinavia cooled the ambition of Magnus, who,
fearing to engage in so mighty an enterprise, contented
himself with assailing Sweyn, son of Canute, who had
succeeded to the throne of Denmark. In such an
emergency this prince looked naturally to England
for succour, and sought to obtain from Edward the
co-operation of a fleet of fifty ships. In the debate on
this subject in the Witenagemot, the influence of
Godwin, who strongly urged the policy of complying
with the request of Sweyn, received the first shock.
Leofric, earl of Mercia^ doubtless incited and supported
by the dissimulating king, opposed the departure of the
fleet5 upon the ground that it might soon be wanted to
1 ChronologiaAugustinensis, a.d. treaty regarded only Denmark and
1048. Norway.
2 This king, who was aided by 4 Mathew of Westminster, Eoger
the Swedes in recovering his father of Wendover, a.d. 1045.
Olaf 's throne, reigned from the year 5 Simeon De Gestis Eegum An-
in which Canute died to a.d. 1047. glorum. p. 182 ; Higden, Polychroni-
3 Heimskringla, II. 365. From con, III. 278.
Magnus's Saga, it is clear that the

144 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. [CHAP. XVI-
defend the British shores. This insidious council pre
vailing, Denmark was abandoned to its fate, Sweyn,,
nevertheless, assembling the forces of his kingdom,
gallantly encountered the superior armaments of Mag
nus, by whom he was defeated1 and driven into exile,
while his successful rival united the sceptres of both
kingdoms. Trfe imprudence of the policy recommended
by Leofric soon appeared. Twenty-five Norwegian ships,
under the command of Lothen and Irling, bent, how
ever, on plunder rather than conquest, disembarked at
Sandwich, sacked the town, and retired with immense
booty in captives, gold, and silver.8 But their attempt
to extend their ravages overthe whole of Thanet was
defeated by the valour of the inhabitants. Thence
they sailed to Essex, where, encountering little, or no
opposition, they spoiled the entire coast, and then sailed
away to dispose of their plunder in Flanders.
During this part pf Edward's reign, occurred many
remarkable phenomena, which the Chroniclers; relate
with superstitious awe. The recollection of them was
in fact engraven on the memory of the people by the
wide-spread destruction they occasioned. Owing to the
imperfection of agriculture, and the comparatively
slight attention paid, to commerce, the least irregularity
pf the seasons resulted in famine, which, though caused
by their own indolence or ignorance, was habitually
attributed to the anger of heaven. Immense spaces. pf
undrained land emitted, during summer, pestilential
exhalations, which gave rise to fatal epidemics ; while,
in winter, the humidity of the atmosphere, augmented
by the prevalence of morasses, swamps, and forests,; was
converted into snow, which sometimes fell in quantitips
so prodigious as to crush the woods by their weight.
The winter of a.d. 1046, is said to have been so tern'
pestuous and severe that the birds perished in extra
ordinary numbers, while the fish were frozen to death
1 Heimskringla, II. 394. s Saxon Chronicle, a.d. 1046.

A.D. 1049.J HOUSE OF CERDIC 145
in the rivers and lakes.1 As the spring came on, other
portents betokening the anger of heaven were noticed.
On Sunday, the first of May, occurred a great earth
quake, which shook many cities of Mercia, and this was
accompanied or followed by a strange mortality among
men and other animals in various parts of the kingdom.
That species of lightning, upon which the people of
those days bestowed the name of Avildfire, consumed
numerous towns and corn-fields in Derbyshire, and many
other parts of England.8
Edward the Confessor now became involved in the
quarrel between the Emperor of Germany and Baldwin
Count of Flanders. In one of those contests, perpetual
among the Germans, the count had marched to Nimiguen,
and burnt the imperial palace; and to revenge this affront
the Emperor Henry the Third gathered together an
army for the purpose of invading Flanders and subduing
or expelling Baldwin. Possessing no fleet, and fearing
lest his enemy should effect his escape by sea, Henry
applied to Sweyn, who, after the death of Magnus in
a.d. 1047 had recovered the throne of Denmark, and to
Edward, king of England, to co-operate, by blockading
the ports of Flanders. Both these princes consented —
Sweyn, because the imperial alliance might be of use to
him in his northern contests ; and Edward, to gratify his
revenge against Baldwin for extending hospitality and
protection to those numerous exiles whom the troubles
of the times had driven from England. Thither among
others had betaken himself Osgod Clapa, who, leaving
his wife at Bruges, collected a fleet of twenty-nine sail,
with which he meditated a descent on England. Actu
ated by these motives, the English king drew together
a formidable fleet at Sandwich,3 which, however, the
sudden pacification4 between Henry the Third and
Baldwin rendered unnecessary. The crews, therefore,
1 Saxon Chronicle, a.d. 1046. 3 Saxon Chronicle, A..D. 1049.
2 Florence of Worcester, A.D. i Chronica de Mailros, I, 157.
1047. VOL. II. L

146 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. [CHAP. XV
were in part disbanded ; such of them as had been
drawn from the several counties of Mercia received the
pay due to them, and returned to their homes ; of the
Danish mercenaries, some, with the promise of a full
year's pay, remained in the royal service, but the greater
number having been paid off, returned to the more
congenial practice of piracy on the high seas.1 A few
ships only were retained at Sandwich, while Godwin and
Beorn sailed with the remainder to Pevensey. Despairing
of accomplishing anything important against England,
Osgod Clapa broke up his armament, and repaired with
his wife and six ships to Denmark ; but the commanders
of the remaining twenty-three, unwilling to relinquish
the profitable enterprise in which they had embarked,
made a sudden descent near Eadulf 's Ness, on the coast
of Essex, which appears to have been always open to
the assaults of an enemy, and then made to sea with
considerable booty;2 but being overtaken by a violent
tempest, were all, save two, submerged beneath the
waves. No sooner, however, had the fleet dispersed, than intel
ligence was brought Edward of the landing above
spoken of in Essex, upon which, too late, he issued
orders to recal the ships he had sent away. Had
Clapa's force, which has been sometimes estimated at
thirty-nine sail, been a little more powerful and better-
commanded, Edward's precipitate policy might have
cost England dear. But the Viking system was now
falling to pieces of itself, so that the worst to be feared
from it was a series of insignificant disembarcations
and plunderings, from which the inhabitants of the coast
were in general well able to defend themselves.
It was now judged time to deliver the nation from
the odious and oppressive tax3 imposed nearly forty
years before by the bewildered Ethelred, for the purpose,
1 Saxon Chronicle, a.d. 1049. Higden, Polychronicon, III. 278,
2 Florence of Worcester, a.d. 1049. Eoger de Hoveden, a.d. 1051.
3 Eoger of Wendover, a.d. 1051. Chronica de Mailros, 1, 157.

A.D, 1049.] HOUSE OF CERDIC. 147
as was pretended, of carrying on war against the Danes j1
but in reality either to buy peace from them, or to
-purchase their service as mercenaries. The Danish
Conquest, which was, in part, the result of this policy,
having deluged England with blood, had passed away,
and the descendant of Alfred, who sat upon the throne,
might, had he been possessed of ordinary virtue and
intelligence, have imparted stability to Saxon rule.
Gold and silver, under the appellation of Danegeld,
filled his treasury to repletion, and among his counsel
lors, generals, and admirals were some of the ablest men
to whom England has ever given birth. Of both these
appendages to sovereignty he had secretly determined
to rid himself. His friends, the monks, to furnish him
with a motive quite in accordance with their ideas, gave
currency to the fiction that on going one day into his
exchequer, he saw, sitting upon the summit of a vast
heap of gold, a diminutive devil, grinning and playing
with the glittering spoils of the people. It was in the
light, therefore, of abstinence from sin that the Con
fessor viewed the abolition of Danegeld ¦? but whatever
may have been his incentive to the deed, the people had
reason to rejoice, since the impost, however productive,
instead of being expended in erecting national defences,
was lavished profusely upon court favourites and eccle
siastics, who from France and Normandy poured in one
continuous stream into England.3 Some Chroniclers
have attributed the remission of Danegeld to the vio
lence of a famine i which raged at the time, laying low
thousands, and filling the land with mourning ; but in
1 Ailredus Abbas Eievallis de into the treasury he beheld the
Vita Miraculis Edwardi Confesso- devil, as already stated, seated on
ris, p. 383. the money, and a dialogue ensued
2 Eoger de Hoveden, a.d. 1066, between the Confessor and the
in connexion with this affair has a Fiend, which ended in Edward's re-
legend which represents the money funding the money to those from
to have been collected by Harold whom it had been extorted.
and his sister Edith for the purpose 3 William of Malmesbury, II. 13.
of clothing the royal troops and 4 Historia Ingulphi, I. 65.
servants. When they took Edward
L 2

148 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. [CHAP. XVI.
all likelihood the tax really gave way before the general
discontent of the nation.
All men are guilty of transgressions, for which they
deserve, and sooner or later suffer, chastisement. The
Nemesis of the Godwin family, now began to exert her
power and darken the horizon ofthe great earl. His sons
growing up to be men, and acquiring immense wealth
and influence, ceased to be guided by his wisdom. Their
characters were strong, their passions violent, their pride
and ambition without limit. In the actual condition of
the kingdom, governed by a feeble monarch, surrounded
by necessitous and avaricious foreigners, equally hateful
to the nation and to them, their love of conflict was
excited, together with the hope of extending their
authority. In a state of things so open to vicissitude,
everything seemed possible to youths of high courage,
disciplined in arms, familiar with danger, eager for
renown, and to the last degree prodigal of their lives.
Sweyn, earl of Hereford, whose territories lay prin
cipally along the marches of Wales, and who appears to
have entered largely into the perplexed and sanguinary
contests of the Principality, having accompanied Griffith
in an expedition against the people of the South, rested
on his return at the town of Leominster, where he saw,
and became enamoured of, Edgiva,1 the lady abbess.
Monastic discipline had now become greatly relaxed, so
that the ladies of the cloister were scarcely less solicitous
to attract the gaze of men,8 by the display of gorgeous
dress and jewels, than women of the secular classes. The
abbesses belonged usually to noble families, and being
1 Florence of Worcester,A.D. 1049. " Quid aliud sunt hoc tempore puel-
Higden, Polychronicon, III. 273. larum monasteria, nisi qusedam non
2 Clemangis, a French theologian dico Dei sancturia sed Veneris exe-
of the fifteenth century, quoted by cranda prostibula, sedlascivorum et
Prynne, Eecords II. 229, and Hal- impudicorum juvenum ad libidines
lam, Middle Ages, III. 303, draws a explendas receptacula 1 ut idem sit
picture of convents, from which it hodie puellam velare, quod et pub-
may be inferred that they had lied ad scortandum exponere."
faithfully preserved their character;

A.D. 1049.] HOUSE OF CERDIC. 149
raised to authority in the earliest bloom of youth, were
only rendered more attractive by the coquetry of the
cloister, and the idea that they were forbidden.
For them and for the nuns generally, princes and
nobles had in all ages of Anglo-Saxon history forsaken
their wives,1 and brought upon themselves the severest
censures of the Church. To explain their peculiar at
tractions, we should probably take into account the fact
that they were better educated than other women, and
that the general regularity of their lives at once gave
them greater health and freshness, and something of
that delicacy of sentiment and manners which is fostered
by early seclusion from the habitual society of men.
Into their state and condition there entered much of
what we term romance ; their dwellings, built in pic
turesque and sequestered situations, almost necessarily
awakened the poetry of their nature ; they rose and.
wandered at night through their vast monasteries and
churches dimly lighted up, perfumed with the odour of
incense and thrilling with music ; the Pleiades and the
white dawn beheld them at their prayers, and therefore,
till they yielded to the seductive influence of the world,
they might be said to exist in the highest heaven of the
imagination. To draw them down from thence appears
to have been the aim of their secular lovers, over whom,
at least while their youth and beauty lasted, they exerted
an irresistible fascination.
The correctness of this view is proved by the
story of earl Sweyn and the abbess Edgiva. Capti
vated by her beauty, and still more in all likelihood by
her manners, he desired to make her his wife,8 and
exerted the utmost influence of his family to obtain what
in modern phraseology would be termed a dispensation,

1 See Bonefacii Epistolae, passim. Eggivam Leonensis monasterii ab-
2 This is distinctly stated by batissam quam corruperat in matri-
Simeon of Durham. Speaking of monium habere non licuerafc." De
his return from the north, he says, Gestis Eegum Anglorum, p. 183.
"Eelicta prius Anglia eo quod

150 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. [CHAP. XVI.
from the Witan and the king. But the act he had
committed placed him in hostility with the Church ; and
all the opponents of the earl of Wessex x dexterously
took advantage of this indiscretion of his son to shake
the fabric of his greatness. Hemmed round by Norman
ecclesiastics, with the savour of the Vatican about them;
Edward may really have been persuaded to look upon:
Sweyn's love for Edgiva as a crime, which indeed it
probably seemed to all those whose minds were domi-<
nated by Tibertine ideas. Of nearly all the incidents
of this contest between earl Sweyn and the court we are
ignorant, except that it terminated in his defeat: he
was constrained to restore the abbess to her cloister ;
upon which, in a blaze of passion, he relinquished his
vast domains, his honours, his power, and his golden
prospects for the future, and threw himself as a homeless
Viking upon the sea. Like all other English exiles he
first repaired to the court of Baldwin, count of Flanders ;
but growing speedily weary of its tameness and inaction,
sailed away for the stormier and more congenial North,2
where the princes and nobles, his relatives, still enter
tained a strong leaning towards the piratical life.
It has already been related that on the close of the
contest between Baldwin and the emperor Henry the
Third, Edward lay with a portion of his fleet at Sand
wich, whither intelligence was brought that a formidable
band of pirates was ravaging the western coast. To
oppose this new enemy, Edward had no one in whom-
he could fully confide but Godwin, the leader of the
cabinet, the chief general on land, the most trusty
admiral at sea. At the head of a squadron of forty- two
sail belonging to the nation, commanded by himself, and
two other ships the private property of the king, com
manded by his sons Harold and Tostig, the earl sailed
westward in search of the marauders, but was detained
by stress of weather at Pevensey.
1 Chronicon Johannis Bromton, p. 2 Florence of Worcester, a.d.
939. 'r 1049.

A.D. 1049. J HOUSE OF CERDIC. 151
At this juncture, earl Sweyn, disgusted with the life'
of a sea rover, or attracted irresistibly toward the land
which held Edgiva, returned with eight ships1 from
Denmark to England, and cast anchor in the port of
Bosenham, where his father possessed a castle, com
manding in front a view of the sea, and backed by a
semicircle of dense woods.8 On his desertion of his
earldom, on account of the abbess Edgiva, Edward had
divided Sweyn's territories between his brother Harold
and his cousin Beorn. To recover these he now pro
ceeded to Sandwich,3 where,having obtained an audience
of the king, he pleaded his cause so eloquently, and
made so many professions of loyalty,4 that he would
certainly have succeeded in his design had not Harold
and Beorn, swayed more by ambition than by affection.
opposed his just claims, and thwarted the king's cle
mency. In consequence of their cruel interference, the
only boon granted the unhappy earl was a safe conduct
for four days, at the end of which he was to leave the
kingdom. Indignation and revenge now took possession
of his mind, which became so clouded by passion that
he almost ceased to be a free agent. With the thirst
for vengeance torturing him at his heart, he stationed
his eight ships on some point of the coast midway be
tween Sandwich and Pevensey, and then proceeded to
visit his father5 at the latter port. Here he spoke with
him, and as he appears to have been always his favourite
son, easily obtained his forgiveness. Undermined by
the Norman favourites, and thwarted even by the native
nobles, Godwin no longer possessed his wonted influence
with the king. On Beorn therefore devolved the task
of reinstating Sweyn in the royal favour. Laying aside
his former opposition, the youthful earl consented to act
as his uncle directed, and left Pevensey with his- dark
1 Florence of Worcester. Saxon 4 Simeon De Gestis Begum An-
Chronicle, a.d. 1049. glorum, p. 183.
2 Camden, Britannia, p. 167. 5 Chronicon Johannis Bromton,
3 Henry de Ejuyghton, p. 2331. p. 939.

152 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. [cHAP. XVI.
and mysterious cousin. To understand the course which,,
Sweyn now pursued, we must suppose him to have been
so completely maddened by disappointed love, by the
loss of his earldom, and by the humiliation of seeking
through the influence of another what he could once
have commanded by his own power, that he was scarcely
master of his actions.
The earls, accompanied by their retainers, now rode
eastwards in the direction of Kent, till they approached
a point on the road opposite which the piratical squadron?
lay. Here Sweyn stopped short, and representing to
his cousin that his seamen would desert him if he should
any longer remain absent, begged he would accompany
him to the beach, that he might show himself and speak
to his followers. To this, Beorn consenting, they pro
ceeded together to the shore, where, anchored at a
little distance out at sea, rode the Viking fleet, from
which, as they drew near, a boat put off and was rowed
by a number of pirates towards the beach.1 Sweyn now
besought him to complete his kindness, by repairing
with him on board. Beorn's suspicions were roused by
this request ; he began to discover the danger of his
position, and strenuously refused, though too late, to
comply any farther with his wishes ; for ere he could
take a single step towards effecting his retreat, the -fierce
mariners, at a preconcerted signal, seized, bound, and
threw him headlong into the boat. Complete darkness,
covers all that followed. Whether the infuriated
earl of Hereford subjected his unhappy cousin to tor
ture or famine — whether he was exposed to the jeers
and insults of brutal bucaneers, or cast, bound as he
was, into some dark cell, must for ever remain unknown.
From the general ferocity of the age, which seems to
have reached its culminating point in Sweyn, we have
but too much reason to fear that the sufferings of the
youthful earl were great. They were, however, soon
1 Saxon Chronicle, a.d. 1046.

A.D. 1049.J HOUSE OF CERDIC. 153
terminated, for on the arrival of the Viking fleet at
Exmouth, he was hurried on shore and murdered. The
body, according to one Chronicler, was cast into a ditch,1
where a little earth was thrown over it. Another his
torian relates, what is very unlikely, that the as
sassins buried it in a church.2 Wherever his remains
were laid, when the news of his death reached London,
his friends and lithsmen hastened to Devonshire, and
taking u.p the body conveyed it to Winchester, where
Beorn at length found a resting-place by the side of
king Canute, his uncle. After this murder, Sweyn sailed
away with part of his fleet — for six ships out of eight
deserted him — to Flanders, where he was received by
Count Baldwin with the greatest hospitality, and passed
the winter at Bruges.
Much negociation and intrigue was meanwhile going
on in England, over which the negligence of the Chro
niclers has thrown an almost impenetrable veil. The
nation was rapidly separating into two factions, one
upholding the interest of Godwin, and the English ; the
other, that of Edward and his foreigners, while vic
tory veered sometimes towards one party, sometimes
towards the other. The main object of the king's
government was to fill every great office in church and
state with Normans and Frenchmen,3 who already owned
or commanded castles in several parts of the realm. At
court, the Norman-French language had superseded the
English, while all candidates for royal favour imitated
the foreign courtiers in dress, manners, and speech.
Immediately upon his accession, Edward had thronged
his court with foreigners, among whom many were of
high rank ; these he enriched and loaded with honours,
made his secret counsellors, and intrusted with every

1 Eoger de Hoveden, a.d. 1049. juxta Kanutum regem avunculum
2 Saxon Chronicle, a.d, 1046. suum apud Wintoniam humave-
Bromton (p. 939) varies the narra- runt."
tive: "Corpus dicti Beorni ad 3 William of Malmesbury, II. 13.
terram de mari projectum amici sui

154 HISTORY OF ENGLAND, [CHAP. XVI,
office of importance in his palace.1 Whether open or
disguised, the policy was vigorously in action which
ultimately transferred the diadem of England from a
native to a foreign brow. But though the process
of denationalisation steadily advanced, there were side;
currents and back waters which diverged from the main
stream, and appeared, from time to time, to be floating
events into the old Saxon channel. The fight for honours
and emoluments, carried on with equal fierceness by
clergy and laity, and the additional force imparted to
Roman influence, were only so many features of the
struggle — the real contest lay between the native aris
tocracy and the strangers, who, with the king at their
head, laboured to impress a foreign character upon
English society, and to convert the dominions of his
forefathers into a Norman dependency.
Most of the great ecclesiastical leaders of English pre
dilections adhered to the House of Godwin, which it was
already perceived must soon succeed to that of Cerdie. !
With its interests, with its honour, was bound up the
nationality of England. By these patriotic churchmen,
therefore, Edward was assailed in behalf of the banished"
earl— in spite of foreign influence his pardon was ob
tained — and Aldred bishop of Worcester was at length
commissioned to proceed to Flanders, and bring horae
Sweyn in triumph to his estates, his earldom, and his^
country.2 But all the incidents of the conflict were not
of one colour. Upon the death of Eadsy archbishop of
Canterbury, Robert of Jumieges,3 who had already been
made bishop of London, was appointed to succeed him.
and immediately proceeded to Rome for his pall.
An Englishman, whose adventures are strangely mixed
up with the story of those times, now comes upon the '1
scene. This was Sparahawk, originally a monk of St. Ed-
mondsbury, but for his extraordinary skill in the jewel-
1 Vita ^Edwardi Eegis, p. 399. 3 Thornse Eudborne Historia
2FlorenceofWorcester,A.D,1049. Major Wintoniensis, I. 233, 237-- -
Annales Wintonienses, I. 291.

A.D. 1049.] HOUSE OF CERDIC. 155
ler's craft, promoted to be abbot of Abingdon. He was
through the influence of the popular party, recommended
to the king, who apparently, without consulting his
Norman favourites, appointed him to the bishopric of
London. When the foreign primate, however, returned
from Rome, he refused to consecrate the Saxon, who,
making light of his authority, took possession of his
diocese, of which for awhile he received the revenues,
and conducted the affairs. For his hostility to the Saxon
bishop, who repeatedly demanded of him the rite of
consecration, Robert pretended a command from the
pope, who, he said, had forbidden him to comply in this
matter with the king's wishes. Ultimately the royal
authority succumbed to the papal, and Sparahawk was
driven from his diocese.1
An event shortly afterwards occurred which furnished
the Confessor with a pretext for giving vent to the hatred
he had long cherished in secret against the Godwin
family. Among the foreigners who were now flocking
in great numbers to England, came Eustace, count of
Boulogne,8 who had married Goda, Edward's sister. The
visit, owing to this close connexion, was natural, and
the favour and splendour with which he was received at
the royal palace of Gloucester would haVe excited little
attention, but for the circumstances which attended his
return to the Continent. Whether any plan had been
formed between him and his brother-in-law to involve
the earl of Wessex in a quarrel with the court, and
supply a pretext for his ultimate ruin, cannot be ascer-
i tained, though the course pursued by Eustace may pos
sibly be thought to justify such a suspicion. Having
i taken refreshment at Canterbury, the count and his
I followers resumed their march towards Dover, and at
I about the distance of a mile from the town put on their
.breast-plates,3 evidently contemplating mischief, and,
I 1 Historia Monasterii de Abing- 2 Higden, Polychronicon, III.
idon, I. 463. Saxon Chronicle, a.d, 279. Chronica de Mailros, I. 157.
1051. 3 Saxon Chronicle, a.d. 1048.

156 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. [CHAP. XVI.
riding forwards, entered the place fully armed and readyf
for battle.
They commenced their enterprise by seeking to force
their way into private houses, and quarter themselves
violently upon the inmates. This, as might have been
expected, provoked resistance. One of the count's re
tainers, seeing a dwelling which pleased his fancy, at
tempted, without the least ceremony, to take possession
of it, and wounded the owner, who, becoming infuriated,
slew the insolent foreigner. This was the signal for a
general assault and massacre. Confident in the supe
riority of their arms and military discipline, Eustace and
his retinue immediately remounted their horses; and,
galloping to the house of the Saxon gentleman, forced
their way in, and slew him on his own hearth. Alarm
and indignation spread through the whole town: the in
habitants rushed to arms ; the streets were crowded with
men, women and children ; the foreigners on their war-
horses, dashed furiously to and fro, trampling to death
aged men, women and infants,1 cutting down the citizens
with their swords, or spearing them with their lances.
Hearing the tumult and the shouting, the English soldiers
who garrisoned the castle8 seized their weapons and de
scended, in all haste, to protect or avenge their country
men. Their presence decided the affray. Eustace and
his Frenchmen, now the weaker party, were chased i
through the streets and lanes, their numbers diminishing
every moment, till at length the count, with some few
men, reached the open country, and saved their lives by
the speed of their horses.3 Forty dead bodies were left
weltering in blood in the streets of Dover, besides the
1 " Comes et sui nimis irati, viros, massacre at Canterbury. Chronicon
et mulieres, quam plures armis in- Johannis Bromton, p. 942.
terfecerunt, pueros et infantes suo- - " Custodes Castelli Dovoriensis."
rum pedibus equorum contrive- Higden, Polychronicon, III. 279.
runt." Simeon De Gestis Eegum 3 They fled like cowards, is the
Anglorum, p. 184. William of expression of Florence of Worcester
Malmesbury (II. 13) confuses the (a.d. 1051), after having trampled
whole transaction, and places the babes and children under their
horses' hoofs.

A.D. 1051.] HOUSE OF CERDIC. 157
number of old men, women and children who had been
maimed or wounded, to show the sort of treatment
which Edward's subjects had to expect from his foreign
favourites and guests.
Lamentable, however, as this occurrence may have
been in itself, it dwindles into nothing compared with
the disastrous results of which it was the fount and
origin. Count Eustace, who, strangely enough, was
allowed by the other Kentishmen to pursue his way un
molested, retraced his steps to Gloucester, and there gave
the weak and credulous monarch a false version of what
had happened. Edward, enraged at the insult1 which
he believed to have been offered to his brother-in-law,
sent for earl Godwin, in whose territories the massacre
had taken place, and without the slightest inquiry or
deliberation, commanded him at once to proceed to
Dover, in a hostile manner, and punish those whom he
thought proper to regard as delinquents.
Perceiving the king's mind to be swayed by foreign
influence,2 Godwin refused to obey, alleging that it was
unjust to punish men before they had been heard in
their own defence. He suggested that the officers of
the garrisons, and the principal citizens of Dover should
be sent for, and confronted with Eustace and his
marauders ; but instead of following this just course,
the Confessor summoned the Witan at Gloucester,3 in
the hope of being thus enabled to satisfy his vengeance.
Events were now clearly tending towards a rupture
between the House of Godwin and the king, who stood in
his own dominions at the head of a foreign party, bent on
perpetrating all the evil they could against the natives.
The success of the English cause was inextricably knit
with that of the earl of Wessex, who, therefore, con-
1 Henry de Knyghton, p. 2331 . explacitare, illsesi abirent ; sin alias
2 " Ille (Godwinus) autem videns in rebus suis et corporibus regi et
alienigenas apud regem prsevalere, comiti satisfacerent." Higden, Poly-
ac suos cives volens tutari respondit chronicon, III. 279.
justum fore custodes castelli Do- 3 Vita JEdwardi Eegis, p. 401.
voriensis conveniri, qui si se possent

158 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. [CHAP. XVI.
sidered himself justified in employing all the arts, of
policy of which he was master, and even arms if need
should be, to defend his country's liberties against a
host of foes introduced into it, and intrusted with the
command of strong positions, by its own sovereign,
Fortune supplied Godwin with a pretext for gathering
together an army, with which to insure freedom to
the deliberations of the Witan, and overawe the
turbulent Frank and Norman courtiers. The Welsh
had recently made a successful inroad into Sweyn's
earldom, and erected a strong castle in Herefordshire,1
whence their foraging parties issued at pleasure to
devastate and lay waste the surrounding country. It
was ostensibly to put an end to these depredations,
and drive their authors beyond the border, that Godwin
and his sons now mustered their forces, and in
formidable array approached the king's quarters. The
great earl himself advanced at the head of the men of
Kent, Sussex, Surrey, and Wessex ; the fierce and fiery
Sweyn led those of Oxford, Gloucester, Somerset, Here
ford, and Berks, while with Harold, already regarded
as the Dauntless, came those of Essex, Cambridge,
Huntingdon, and East Anglia.2
The army of the Godwins, encamped at Beverston and
Langtree,3 whence the earls sent to demand an audience
of the king and the Witan, and be instructed in what
manner to proceed in order to avenge the nation's dis
grace; Their purpose may have been enigmatically-
expressed, but Edward was surrounded by shrewd inter
preters, who filled his mind with apprehensions, and
exasperated him against his best friends. Held in
mental, if not in bodily captivity by his French and'
Norman courtiers, Edward hastily summoned to his aid
Leofric, earl of Mercia, Siward the Dane, earl of
Northumbria, and Radulph his own nephew, with their1
1 Saxon Chronicle, a.d. 1048. 3 Simeon De Gestis Eegum Anglo-
Florence of Worcester, a.d. 1051. ram, p. 184.
Chronicon Johannis Bromton, p. 942. '

A.D 1051.] HOUSE OF CERDIC. 159
respective forces.1 Godwin meanwhile pressed the king
to deliver into his hands Eustace, count of Boulogne, and
his accomplices, that they might be put to trial for the
massacre at Dover. Edward procrastinated and equivo
cated till the northern earls came up with their contin
gents, when he answered the demands of Godwin with
a peremptory refusal.
A civil war, in which the best blood of England
must be shed, now appeared inevitable; the royal army
entered Gloucester, burning with eagerness to engage
the men of Wessex, whose leader, equally great as a
statesman and a general, experienced the utmost reluc
tance to draw the sword against his son-in-law, and
shed the blood of his countrymen. Learning, however,
that a plan had been formed to assault his camp, he
drew up his men in battle array, and stood on the
defensive. To ward off the calamitous effects of such
a conflict, Leofrie,8 earl of Mercia, interposed his counsel
and authority; messengers and envoys passed and re
passed between the two armies,3 the flash and glitter of
whose arms might almost be said to light up the inter
vening space, and a truce was at length agreed upon
till St. Michael's Day, when the earl and the king were
to meet in London and there settle their differences in
a legal way.4 To insure the observance of peace,
hostages were given on both sides, as between public
enemies; after which, Godwin and his sons, who had
for once the weakness to put faith in their royal master,
disbanded their followers, and returned to their respec
tive earldoms. The impolicy of this proceeding was
soon made manifest. Instead of following their pacific
example, Edward, with all the chiefs who adhered to
him, exerted his utmost influence to organise an over
whelming force, a design in which he succeeded but
too well, so that, by the appointed day of Conference,
1 Eoger de Hoveden, a.d. 1051. 3 Chronicon Johannis Bromton,
= 2 Simeon De Gestis Eegum p. 943.
Anglorum, p. 185. 4 Higden, Polychronicon, HI. 279.

160 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. [CHAP. XVI.
London was filled with troops from all those parts of
England in which the king's authority was recognised
in opposition to the earl's.
The whole course and tenor of these events prove
to demonstration the frankness and loyalty of Godwin,
and the duplicity and falsehood of the king. Intending
at the London Conferences to appeal, not to force, but
to reason and justice, Godwin approached the metropolis
at the head of a small body of followers, with which he
took up his quarters in his own palace at Southwark.
Siward, Leofric, his son Alfgar, with all that was truly
noble in the land, had soon reason to repent that the
cause of the great earl was not tried at Gloucester,
where the near equality of forces might have insured
something like justice. Edward's court swarmed with
delators and traitors, chiefly if not wholly foreigners,
who clearly saw the impossibility of subjecting England
to Norman influence, until the House of Godwin should
be overthrown.
Capital accusations, through the vindictive hostility
of the Norman primate were now revived against the^
earl1 and his eldest son, though the former had been
acquitted in full Witenagemot by the whole aristocracy
of the realm, and the latter had received the king's
pardon with solemn assurance of safety on his return
from Flanders. No man, however, could rely on the
king's word, since everybody's life in the kingdom lay j
at the mercy of those intriguing churchmen whom he
had made the interpreters of his conscience.
One circumstance connected with these transactions
is enveloped with more than ordinary obscurity. I
Hostages, it has been related, were given by the king
to the earl at Gloucester. They appear to have been
a number of youthful nobles or thanes, who were now,
as a preliminary to all negociation, required by the
leaders of the royal party to be restored. Confident in
1 Vita ^Edwardi Eegis, p. 401.

V •*-"•¦ S5
A.D. I051.J HOUSE OF CERDIC. \161 <
his own integrity, and the equity of his peers, Godwin/ /.
at once complied with the king's demand, but no ^
corresponding sentiment of honour on the opposite side
led to the restoration of his hostages, among whom were,
his own son Wulfhofh, and Hacon the son of Sweyn.
On the contrary, for an offence previously condoned, the
earl of Hereford was once more pronounced an outlaw,
while he himself and his second son, Harold, were
haughtily commanded to appear and take their trial.
Teh years before, during the reign of Hardicanute,
the earl of Wessex had cleared himself by his own oath,
and by the oaths of nearly the whole peerage of the
realm, before the great Council of the Nation, of all par
ticipation in the crime now again, by the rancour of
archbishop Robert, laid to his charge. Still he was
ready to undergo a second trial, provided that for him
self, his son Harold, and their compurgators, a safe
conduct and proper hostages were given. That such a
precaution was needed, it seems impossible to deny.
The king's court and council swarmed with his enemies
: — and we may fairly infer that Stigand,1 bishop of
Winchester, who conducted the negociation, saw too
much reason to apprehend that, should the earl cross
the river on any other conditions, his ruin and death
would have immediately followed This became mani
fest to all, when, at the instigation of the primate,
Godwin was required to restore prince Alfred and his
accomplices to life or quit the kingdom in five days.
No amount of prudence will always suffice to protect
men against the law of vicissitude. At Gloucester,
with an immense army at his back, the great statesman
might have extorted fair terms from the king ; but in
the course of a few weeks the more subtle policy . of
Edward's courtiers had turned the tide against him.
Aid, legal and illegal, had been unscrupulously sought
by Edward to enable him to accomplish the over-
1 Vita ^Edwardi Eegis, p. 402.
VOL. II. M

162 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. [CHAP. XVI.
throw of his father-in-law; for, in addition to his
own English and Danish subjects, he had secretly
invited William the Bastard to hasten over to England
with a Norman contingent. Upon such Machia
vellian artifices Godwin had not reckoned. His fol
lowers, therefore, perceiving themselves to be greatly
outnumbered by the king's forces, who filled London,
and were probably drawn up in menacing array along
the river's banks, soon began to 'desert,1 upon which,
seeing there was no further time for delay, Godwin and
his sons resolved to provide for their safety by flight.
Their design being suspected, Edward, during the
following night, sent forth Aldred,8 bishop of Worcester,
at the head of a body of cavalry, to waylay and cut off
the fugitives ; but this prelate being a steady friend of
the exiled family, executed his orders with honourable
negligence. To distract the counsels of their enemies,
the fugitives separated and took different routes ;
Harold and his brother Leofwine flying to Bristol, where,
to be ready for the worst, Sweyn had prepared for them
a ship in which they passed over into Ireland,3 where
they were hospitably received and protected by the Irish
king. Godwin, with his wife Githa, and his sons Sweyn,
Tostig, andGurth, fled with all speed to Bosenham, where
a small fleet, which appears to have been always kept
in readiness, lay at anchor. Hastily embarking their
treasures, with as many of their followers as the ships
would contain, they left the shores of Sussex amidst the
tears and lamentations of the people, and with aus
picious autumnal gales sailed for Flanders, to the re
nowned count Baldwin, the ancient friend of the Godwin
family and of England.
But the triumph of the foreign courtiers was not yet
complete ; still in the palace lingered one member of

1 Higden, Polychronicon, III. 279. 3 Florence of Worcester, Matthew
2 Saxon Chronicle, a,d. 1052. of Westminster, a.d. 1051.

A.D. 1051.] HOUSE OF CERDIC. 163
the Godwin family, whom it was necessary to humi
liate or destroy. This was the queen, the beautiful and
loving Editha, whose heart had for years been torn with
sorrow by the dissensions and hatreds of those most
dear to her. The crafty primate now represented to the
king, that for the maintenance of public peace and order,
it would be necessary he should separate from his wife,
and remove her from the sight of the people, lest, behold
ing her beautiful countenance overshadowed with grief,
they might be led to think too deeply of the wrongs
which caused it. Destitute equally of affection and of
justice, Edward fell easily into the designs of his Norman
favourite. He had never loved his wife, and now, per
haps, accorded her a double portion of his hatred on
account of the difficulty which the destruction of her
family had caused him. She therefore received orders to
leave the palace, and with one female attendant, according
to some, with a splendid retinue, according to others,
but in either case as a prisoner, proceeded to strict con
finement in the monastery of Wilton,1 where she had
received a part of her education. Considering from
what kind of home she had been driven, how friendless
and forlorn had been her condition at court, and to
what insults she must have been hourly exposed from
the coarse and reckless enemies of her House, this clois
tered captivity was rather to be coveted than othewise.
We must be careful, however, not to regard Editha's
banishment as a mere act of policy, since her simple
removal would, in that case, have sufficed. Edward's
motives lay deeper. He evidently desired to make her
feel how hateful was the tie which bound him to her,
and was not unwilling that the whole country should be
made acquainted with his matrimonial discords, and the
insults and humiliations it was in his power to heap upon
1 Most writers, following the Saxon Editha herself, the account I have
Chronicle, say Wherwell ; but in adopted is given. Vita ^Edwardi
the Life of Edward, written by a Eegis, p. 403.
contemporary, and dedicated to
m2

164 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. [CHAP. XVI.
his unoffending consort. He deprived her, therefore,
publicly of all her lands and manors, her gold and her
silver,1 her superb robes and queenly ornaments, and
sent her forth from his palace in the primitive habit of
a nun to expiate her relationship to the great statesman
whom sacerdotal parasites and adulators had taught him
to regard as his enemy.
By these transactions, the way to a pacific invasion of
England by the Normans appeared to be thrown open.
The great island, renowned equally for its fertility and
beauty, which had-constituted one of the most cherished
provinces of the Roman Empire, now lay prostrate, before
a horde of half- reclaimed Scandinavian pirates, who
flocked across the Channel to glut their insatiable appe
tite for gold. At the head of these came Robert the
Devil's Bastard, whom, during the late troubles, Edward
had invited over to co-operate in the ruin of his bene
factor and father-in-law. William, we are told, arrived
with an imposing array8 of knights and men-at-arms,
who were all received and entertained magnificently3 by
the un-English king. To stimulate the desires of the
Norman chief, Edward led him over the fairest portions
of the realm, displaying to him its richly-wooded up
lands, its vast and fertile plains, its shadowy forests, its
superb palaces and castles, its spacious and gorgeous
monasteries, in comparison with which those of the Con
tinent dwindled into hovels, its broad ship - crowded
rivers, which made William regard the Seine as a trout
stream, and the Ome as a dirty kennel.
Though there could have been no question between the
Confessor and his ducal visitor respecting the succes
sion to the English throne — which, to do the former
justice, he seems never, during his whole life, to have
1 Saxon Chronicle, a.d.1048. Wil- nicle, A.D; 1052. Florence of Wor-j
liam of Malmesbury, II. 13. cester, a.d. 1051, says lie came over
2 " Then soon came William, the " with a vast retinue of Normans."
carl, from beyond sea, with a great Higden, Polychronicon, III. 279.
baud of Frenchmen." Saxon Chro- 3 Chronica de Mailros, I. 157.

A.D. 1051.] HOUSE OF CERDIC. 165
dreamt of altering in favour of his guest— it is scarcely
to be doubted that William's designs received fresh
development from this visit. He beheld the kingdom
gorged with wealth, without martial ability to defend it;
for Leofric and Siward were old, and the great natural
leaders of the chivalry of the land were in exile. Far
and near, moreover, in church and state, his own sub
jects were stationed as so many advance-guards of his
policy. Robert of Jumieges at Canterbury ; William in
the bishopric of London, Ulph in the see of Dorchester,
Radulph in the monastery of Abingdon, while Odda
had been raised to the earldom of Devonshire, Somerset
shire, Dorsetshire, and Cornwall.1
Even Algar, son of the earl of Mercia, though tho
roughly English by parentage, was deemed favourable
to the new scheme of government, and, therefore,
enriched with the spoils of the banished family, and
created earl of Essex and East Anglia.8 -When the
duke, after being treated with profuse hospitality and
laden with countless presents, departed for Normandy,
the king, with malignant and ignoble revenge, deli
vered into his hands the hostages he had received from
the great earl at Gloucester ; that is to say, Wulfnoth,
his own son, and Hakon the son of Sweyn, probably by
the lady abbess, who were thus condemned, to wear out
their lives in hopeless captivity, though almost within
sight of England's towering white cliffs.
By this close alliance with the Normans, Edward con
sidered himself sufficiently strengthened to dispense with
the services of the Danish fleet. The veteran sea-kings,
therefore, who had come into England with Sweyn and
Canute, with the jarl Thorkill, and the semi-Scandina
vian son of Emma, were paid what was due to them,
and dismissed. No longer, therefore, did the Saxon
behold the hated Raven Standard floating over his waters,
neither was he called upon any more to contribute
1 Saxon Chronicle, a.d. 1048. ' 2 Saxon Chronicle, ubi supra.

166 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. [CHAP, XVI,
annually the Danegeld, which, after continuing thirty-
eight years as a badge of inferiority and disgrace, had
been abolished.
The triumph of Edward's favourites, though appa
rently complete, was not of long duration. From policy
externally at work, storms came across the sea to break
up the tranquillity of the confederates. A formidable
fleet of Irish pirates appearing suddenly in the mouth of
the Severn, and co-operating with Griffith, prince of
Wales, ravaged all the country on the Wye. Bishop
Aldred, who belonged literally to the church militant,
in the lead of a small force went out to meet them;
but a knowledge of his movements having been conveyed
to Griffith by the treachery of some Welshmen in his
camp, he was attacked unexpectedly at break ef day,
and routed with considerable loss. Soon after a mixed
body of English and Normans encountered the same
enemy near Leominster, and were defeated, after which
the Kymric chief returned with abundant spoil to his
mountain fastnesses.
These, however, were insignificant skirmishes, which
only served to distract the attention of the court, while
the master-enterprise was organising in Flanders; but
before it could be thoroughly matured, Godwin re
ceived a fresh blow from the hand of fortune. His
proud and gallant son Sweyn, thwarted in love, and tor- „
tu'red by remorse, assumed the hair-cloth, staff, and scrip,
and set out barefoot on a pilgrimage to the Holy Land..
According to the rules of the Church, he was forbidden
to enter a bath or a warm bed, condemned to subsist on
bread and water, and excluded — save on rare occasions —
from the communion of all Christians. To charity, he owed
his daily bread. How he travelled, what he suffered, we
can never know. It is only stated, that having after
long and weary wanderings arrived at Jerusalem, and
performed the penances enjoined, he turned his face once
more towards England, by the way of Asia Minor.

A.D. 1052.] HOUSE OF CERDIC. 167
Here, however, in the ancient kingdom of Lycia,1 worn
down by fatigue, cold, and hunger, and the incessant
stings of conscience, or, as some say, pierced by the
swords of the Saracens,8 the heir of the most illustrious
House in Christendom perished in a manner so uncertain
and obscure, that in no Chronicler do we discover the
least indication of his last resting-place. Had it been
o.therwise, some noble crusader, full of the renown of
the Godwin dynasty, would probably have turned
aside from bloody conflicts with the infidels to erect a
humble monument to the memory of this guilty, but
great and unfortunate man, whose impetuous passions
were always in extremes, now urging him into conflict
with the monarch of England, and now inducing him to
adopt the palmer's weeds, and grovel in the dust before
the tomb of Christ.
But neither domestic calamities, nor the hostility of
Edward and his priests, could break the spirit of the
earl of Wessex. The love of England was still warm
in his heart ; his pride, also, and ambition, were as pre
dominant as ever ; and if he had lost one son by death
and another by royal treachery, he had still five left,
who, whatever failings they might have, were inured to
conflict, and as familiar with danger as with their beds.
The marriage of Tostig, the fiercest of them all, with
Baldwin's daughter,3 had linked his House with the
fortunes of Flanders; and the king of France, partly
influenced by the great count, partly by jealousy of
the Normans, exercised all the influence he possessed
to effect a reconciliation between the banished earl
and the king. But Edward was implacable.
Meanwhile Harold and Leofwine were negotiating
with the princes of Ireland for the raising of an army
1 Henry de Elnyghton, p. 2332. 3 Simeonis Dunelmensis Historia,
Matthew of Westminster; Saxon p. 35; Florence of Worcester, a.d.
Chronicle, A. D. 1052, supposes 1051 ; Henry de Knyghton, p. 2331,
Sweyn to have died at Constan- supposes Sweyn to have been mar-
tinople. ried to Judith.
2 William of Malmesbury, n. 13,

168 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. [CHAP. XVI.
to avenge their father's wrongs. Throughout England^
the people endured with indignant impatience the treat
ment of the great earl, which they looked upon as the
disgrace and ruin of the country, so exalted was the
opinion entertained of his virtue, wisdom, and abilities.
By persons of the highest distinction, messengers and
ambassadors were sent to him as to a sovereign prince,
expressing their readiness to take up arms, and, if neces
sary, to die in his cause ; nor was this done clandes^
finely, or even with the affectation of secresy, but openly,
in the face of day, and by almost the whole English
nation. Reluctant, however, to take any step which might,
kindle the flames of civil war, Godwin waited patiently,
in the hope that time might soften the king's resent
ment, or the ordinary vicissitudes of life bring him
under new and better influences. His patience and
hopes were vain. While he lingered in Flanders, the
Norman party was hourly striking deeper root in Eng
land, diffusing itself over the face of the country, and
rapidly enveloping in the folds of its power one strong
position after another until almost the whole • land
assumed a foreign aspect. The king himself, whose
life was passed in monkish devotion, or in the chase,
seems to have experienced peculiar delight in beholding
England assimilating itself to the Normandy of his
youth, in watching the rise of turreted castles like those
of Domfront or Falaise, at the foot of which he had sat
in boyhood, listening to the nightingale, or to the pealing
organ swelling up at grey dawn from churches in the
vale below. Unhappily, he likewise loved to listen to
the anti-national suggestions of foreign prelates, and
the envenomed calumnies of the cloister, which struck
at the noblest men of English race, and estranged him
from those whom, above all others, he should have
honoured and cherished.
Negociation proving fruitless, the earl had at length
recourse to arms, and, while Harold and Leofwine

A.D, 1052.] HOUSE OF CERDIC. 169
gathered forces in Ireland, organised a formidable army,
chiefly from those who from admiration of his genius,
his patriotism, his virtue, and, above all, perhaps his
hostility to the foreign adventurers, flocked to his stan
dard from England. His troops and fleet being ready,
he dropped down the Flemish river into the deep sea,
and, a favourable gale springing up, steered, with high
hope and courage, towards England, where his coming
was ardently longed for by nearly the whole nation. At
the same time his sons set sail from Ireland with a for
midable armament, and landing in the earldom of the
Norman Odda, swept like a storm of fire along the shore,1
spreading discouragement and terror among the adhe
rents of the king and his foreigners. At length, the
father and the sons met, and a joyful meeting it was, for
around them they beheld the pledges that their fortunes
were once more in the ascendant— stout and stalwart
Englishmen, with their swords, battle-axes, and atagars,
ready to do battle for the earl and England.
The united fleet rendezvoused off the Isle of Wight,8
where the leaders of the family deliberated, and laid
down the plan of their momentous enterprise. Having
determined in what manner they were to act, the four
sons, Harold and Tostig, Leofwine and Gurth, ranged
themselves under their father's command. The sail was
hoisted, and the whole fleet, developing itself in line,
moved leisurely up the Channel, putting into one port
after another, and receiving everywhere fresh accessions
of ships and men. From all the southern counties, the
integral parts of Godwin's own earldom, and from
Harold's territories of East Anglia, reinforcements ar
rived continually.3 The people flocked to the beach to
behold the father of his country, returning to deliver
them from strangers, and loud and incessant cheers
greeted the progress of the fleet. This was, doubtless,
1 Henry of Huntingdon, p. 2 Florence of Worcester, a.d.
759. " 1052. 3 Eoger de Hoveden, a.d. 1052.

170 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. [CHAP. XVI.
the proudest day of Godwin's1 life. He saw that the
people identified him in their hearts with their own wel
fare, and if his resolves had needed fresh strength, this
would have supplied it.
Having sailed along the shores of Hampshire, Dorset
shire, Sussex and Kent, the fleet rounded the North Fore
land, and entered the Thames.1 Intelligence of the earl's
approach having been brought to the king, he mustered
his Normans around him, with such followers as they
could command, and marched at their head to London.
No enthusiasm, however, greeted him as he passed.
The affections of the people were with the earl.8 In the
midst, therefore, of a sullen multitude, Edward entered
the capital, and ranged such ships as he possessed along
the northern bank of the Thames, from London-bridge
towards Westminster, while his army, disheartened by
seeing foreigners at its head, was drawn up behind.
Presently the streamers of Godwin's fleet were beheld
flapping in the breeze, and the vast array came sweeping
on till it reached the bridge, where, no guard being posted
to arrest its advance, it passed under the southern arch,
and deployed along the quays of Southwark, in the face
of the royal armament. Shouts from the city rent the
air, when the earl's standard was beheld greeting his
native land, and the authorities of the city throwing open
to him their gates, proceeded publicly, attended by thou
sands of the common people, to welcome him back to the
capital,3 which was more his than Edward's.
The earl's fleet having lain quiet for some time, at
length put itself in fighting order, assumed the form of
a crescent, and began to advance across the stream, with
the design of enclosing Edward's ships between its horns.
The most bewildering terror now took possession of the
royal leaders — a parley was sounded, and Edward ex
pressed his desire to negociate. Men of prudence and
1 Saxon Chronicle, Matthew of " Eoger of Wendover, a d. 1052.
Westminster, a.d. 1052. 3 Vita ^Edwardi Eegis, p. 406.

A.D, 1052,] HOUSE OF CERDIC 171
policy, like Stigand, bishop of Winchester, interposed
their good offices,1 and sought to effect a reconciliation
between the king and the earl, who demanded for him
self and his sons nothing but the restoration of their
estates and honours. For awhile the influence of the
Norman favourites co-operating with Edward's hatred
of his father-in-law delayed the re-establishment of
peace ; what hopes they entertained, it is difficult to
conjecture. If they flattered themselves with the ex
pectation of popular support, they were speedily un
deceived, since nothing could be more manifest than the
resolution of the whole people to live or die with God
win, who, from the moment of his appearance in London,
experienced the utmost difficulty in checking their incli
nation to fall upon the king.
The result of these negociations was the giving and
receiving of hostages, the first preliminary to a reconcili
ation. Consternation and dismay now seized upon the
Norman favourites. Robert, the archbishop, with the
other foreign prelates, and their retinues, instantly
mounted their horses, and rode towards the eastern gate,
where, experiencing some obstruction, they drew their
weapons and maimed or murdered a considerable number
of young men.8 Having thus got clear of London, they
dashed towards the coast, and reaching Eadulfs-ness
there threw themselves into a crazy boat, in which they
reached Normandy. So extreme was the primate's fear,
that he cast aside and left behind him his pall, together
with all the other insignia of his dignity, and effected
his escape, apparently in disguise. He had risen to the
archbishopric by intrigue, calumny, and corruption, and,
with a heart full of vindictive feelings, hurried to Rome,
to plot against the peace and happiness of the country
which had so long fostered him.
The Witenagemot was now assembled without the
city, probably in Westminster, and before this august
1 Eoger of Wendover, a.d. 1052. 2 Saxon Chronicle, a.d. 1052,

172 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. [CHAP. XVI.
council Godwin and his sons completely cleared them
selves of everything which had been laid to their charge.
Edward's authority became mute in presence' of the
legislature ; he, therefore, smothered his resentment, and
accorded to the great earl and to his sons the semblance
at least of friendship. Another act of reparation now
also became necessary ; he recalled his beautiful queen,1
and restored to her, under compulsion, her estates, her
manors, her treasures, her place in the palace, but not in
his heart. A general clearance was at the same time
made of the foreign courtiers, who, with the truculent
primate at their head, were declared outlaws from the
kingdom. Stigand,8 the distinguished bishop of Win
chester, was at the same time raised to the archiepiscopal
see of Canterbury, a measure just and laudable in itself,
but fraught with endless complications and calamities.
It must not be supposed that the outlawry of foreigners
extended to persons of inferior rank, who, dispersed
over the country, and protected by their obscurity,
retained possession of the lands and gifts they had
received from the impolitic king. His personal fa
vourites, also,3 especially his maternal relatives, were
exempted from the operation of the act, and remained,
either to hatch new plots and intrigues at court, or to
lay their insatiable hands on the honours and possessions
of the English in various parts of the country. But the
worst consequence of their presence in England was its
effect upon the spirit of the English Church. Hitherto
our ecclesiastical institutions, though allied to those of
the Continent, and liable to receive from time to time-
anomalous influences from Rome, scarcely formed a part
of its spiritual system, though it would be difficult to
point out any cause, save the peculiarity of the national"
character, which withheld them from merging completely
in those of the papacy. In Normandy, as well as in
1 Florence of Worcester, a.d. 3 Florence of Worcester, a.d.
1052. 1052.
2 Saxon Chronicle, ubi supra.

A.D. 1052.] HOUSE OF CERDIC. 173
France, ultramontane ideas had long predominated.
Italians had found their way into its churches and
monasteries, and by the superiority of their learning,
their supple, complying dispositions, their hereditary
craftiness, and blind devotion to the sovereign pontiff,
on which alone they often bestowed the name of piety,
rendered them dangerous to the native clergy, and ready
instruments for the furtherance of any flagitious enter
prise which promised to enlarge the dominion of the
popedom. Through the feeble intellect and perverted opinions
of Edward, the religious independence of his country
was insidiously undermined, and ultimately overthrown.
Upon the flight and outlawry ofthe Norman primate, that
distinguished statesman and prelate, Stigand, was, as we
have seen, elevated to the vacant see; but Robert, pro
ceeding directly to Rome, and employing the usual
arguments to incline the Pontiff to his side, contrived to
have the pall refused to the Saxon archbishop. The pre
tence on which Rome based its refusal, was that it could
not recognise a second primate of England while the first
was yet living. Crimes, even those of treason and murder,
constituted in its view no justification of an archbishop's
outlawry. The reasons which induced the Roman court
to adopt this course of proceeding appeared thirteen
years later, but were annulled or set aside for the time by
Benedict X.,1 who acknowledged the virtues and claims
of Stigand, and bestowed on him the pall. Robert, who
had probably gone to Rome as Duke William's agent,
having performed his mission, returned to Normandy,
where he died soon afterwards at Jumieges.8 To this
meddling and unscrupulous priest has been generally
attributed the first idea of the Norman Conquest. For
this assumption there appears to be no ground, the
design seems rather to have originated with Robert the

1 Anglia Sacra, II. 634. 2 Higden, Polychronicon, III.
280.

174 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. [CHAP. XVI.
Devil, whose capricious ambition led him to take the
first step towards an invasion by fitting out a fleet, which
actually sailed for England, but was driven back by a
storm. William inherited the scheme with the duchy,
and seems always to have set more value on the former
than on the latter. In laying the foundations of success,
he depended on many things ; chiefly, however, on the
Church, and on the practical celibacy and grovelling
superstition of Edward, which, by leaving the throne
without an heir, must greatly facilitate his projects.
The event, however, which contributed most to the
ruin of the English cause was the illness and death of
Godwin. Shortly after his return from Flanders, it was
noticed that he fell ill,1 and retired from court, probably
to his castle of Bosenham. For the illustrious position
he held in the realm, and the steadiness with which he
had withstood the emissaries of Rome, he was neces
sarily hated by the monks, one of whom suggests that
the malady which now assailed him was scarcely suffi
cient penance for the lands he held in spite of certain
monastic claims.8 Bishops and archbishops, cardinals
and popes, have expiated their hostility to the monastic
orders with their lives. In the fierceness and deadli-
ness of their rancour, cowled assassins have mingled
poison with the sacramental wine, and gloated over their
victims, as they breathed forth their souls in contortions
and agony, at the very altar of God. With undoubted
knowledge of these facts, is it too great a want of charity
to suspect that what Fra Paolo sarcastically denominates
"Italian physic" was administered to the great earl of
Wessex? Whether we accept or reject this surmise,
1 Saxon Chronicle, A.D. 1052. Southwark, and the morning after,
2 Saxon Chronicle, a.d. 1052. The on the Tuesday, they were recon-
writer, evidently a monk full of ciled, as it here before stands. God-
malignity against the champion of win then grew sick soon after he
his country, relates his illness and landed, and he afterwards departed ;
death as follows. " It was on the but he did all top little penance for
Monday after St. Mary's mass that the property of God which he held
Godwin with his ships came to belonging to many holy places."

A.D. 1053.] HOUSE OF CERDIC. 175
Godwin's health began to decline from the moment he
partook of those banquets which followed upon his re
conciliation with the king ; and on the following Easter
Monday, a.d. 1053, while sitting at table with the Con
fessor and his own sons, Harold, Tostig, and Gurth, at
Winchester, he sank speechless on the floor. Having
been borne by the youthful earls into the king's cham
ber,1 he there lingered in much suffering till the follow
ing Thursday, when he breathed his last, April 18th.
The unprincipled Chroniclers who, at a later period,
wrote under Norman influence, invented a vindictive
legend to account for the great man's sudden death.
Seeing the king's cupbearer slip with one foot, and re
cover himself with the other, he exclaimed, laughingly,
" See how brother helps brother !" " Yes," replied Ed
ward, " and so would Alfred, had you not slain him,
have helped me." Confounding different epochs and
systems of manners, they pretend that the earl, in self-
vindication, appealed to the form of ordeal called Cors-
nsed,8 and taking up a piece of bread,3 exclaimed, " May
this morsel choke me4 if I had any hand in your brother's
1 Simeon De Gestis Eegum An- 3 Lives of Edward the Confessor,
glorum (p. 187), merely observes p. 271, 372. The author of the
that the great earl, while sitting at Vita iEdwardi Eegis, speaks in very
the king's table, was seized by a different language of the death of
sudden illness, and fell back speech- the great Earl : " Eeconciliatis ergo
less in his chair. duce et ejus filiis cum rege, et omni
2 Ancient Laws and Institutions patria in pacis tranquillitate con-
of England, Glossary, article Cors- quiescente, secundo post hsec anno
nsed. See also Dooms of king Ca- obiit idem dux felicis memorise,
nute, Eccles. 5, and compare Wiht- exequiis que suis in luctum decidit
raed, 17, 18. Eth., 19-22. H. L. populus, hunc patrem, hunc nutri-
xiv. 8. E. and G., 3. Edm. E. cium suum regnique, memorabant
I., &e. A similar kind of ordeal suspiriis et assiduis fietibus," p.
formerly prevailed, and still per- 408.
haps prevails, among the Cingalese : 4 Ailredus Abbas Eievallis (De
when men were suspected of being Vita et Miraculis Edwardi Con-
brigands, a decoction was made fessoris, p. 395) concentrates all the
with the root of the rhamnus and monastic venom against Godwin,
given them to drink. If it made and makes Edward exclaim, when
them sick they were supposed to be he beholds his father-in-law stiffen-
guilty, if not they stood acquitted, ing in death, " Bear out this dog !"
Pennant, View of Hindustan, I. upon which his sons present
220. themselves and carry away their

176 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. [CHAP. XVI.
murder ;" then attempting to swallow the mouthful, he
was choked accordingly. This, however, was the pagan
form of the Corsnsed, or ordeal by bread and cheese,
for which the administering of the sacrament to the
accused had long been substituted.
The character of earl Godwin, in most of our histories,
lies buried beneath a load of calumny,1 From the ordi
nary faults and imperfections of mankind he was, doubt
less, not exempt; he coveted large possessions, chiefly
as a means of power, and, by the exercise of abilities of
the highest order, aimed at controlling both sovereign
and people. In the Witenagemot, the weight of his
authority more than balanced the united influence of
the earls of Mercia and Northumbria ; and by degrees,
as his sons grew up around him, and obtained earldoms
in various parts of the realm, the policy he originated in
his castle of Bosenham swayed, almost like an imperial
decree, the movements of the whole nation.
In the Great Council of the kingdom his eloquence
habitually bore down everything before it. Calni, mode
rate, and dignified, reining in with wisdom the im
petuosity of his nature, he presented to those around
him the beau ideal of an Englishman, with all his predi
lections and prejudices, the warmest attachment to his
father. Diceto (p. 476) advances wonderful man," he says, "like
one step farther, and closes his cha- Stigand, was persecuted by contem-
ritable narrative with maintaining porary libellers, whose character
the eternal damnation of the earl. very few among modern historians
Bromton (p. 944) writes in much have taken the trouble to vindicate
the same spirit, and says that Ha- or investigate." And again : " God-
rold dragged forth his father's body win was the connecting link he-
from beneath the table by the feet, tween the Saxon and the Dane, and
Henry de Knyghton (p 2333) is as the leader of the united English
little better than the echo of Brom- people, became one of the greatest
ton, whose narrative he merely men this country has ever pro- '
abridges. . duced, although, as is the English
1 1 observe with pleasure that Dr. custom, one of the most maligned."
Hook, in his able Lives ofthe Arch- It is honourable to Dr. Lingard
bishops of Canterbury (1. 508, 509), that. he ventured to take a more
speaks of earl Godwin in language favourable view of earl Godwin's
every way befitting' an English character than any of his prede-
gentleman and a scholar. "This cessors.

A.D. 1053.] HOUSE OF CERDIC. 177
native land, and a somewhat overweening contempt of
foreigners. He was, without question, the greatest
statesman of his age; and, indeed, statesmanship in
England may almost be said to have commenced with
him. Whether we look at home or abroad, we discover
no man in Christendom worthy to be ranked with him,
in genius or wisdom, in peace or war. His figure
towers far above all his contemporaries ; he constitutes
the acme" of the purely Saxon mind. No taint of foreign
blood was in him. He rose and grew up in Sussex,
and, according to tradition, was braced and strengthened
in youth by breasting the chill waves of poverty.
His father had been a rebel, a Viking on the deep ;
but, defeated in his designs, seems to have bequeathed
to his only son the task of building up the fortunes
of their House. It has been seen how he fulfilled his
father's wishes. Godwin's lot was cast upon evil days.
The marriage of Ethelred with Emma originated a fatal-
connexion between this country and Normandy, the
first fruits of which forcing themselves but too obviously
on his notice, he prevented, while he lived, from growing
to maturity. The efforts, public and secret, which he
found it necessary to make in the performance of this
patriotic task, laid him open to the charge of craft and
subtlety. Let it be granted, that he deserved the impu
tation ; but it must be added that, if foreign invasion
and conquest be an evil, from that evil England was
preserved as long as his crafty and subtle head remained
above ground ; and had he lived thirteen years longer,
the accumulated and concentrated scoundrelism of Europe
would have been dashed away in foam and blood from
the English shore.
Properly understood, Godwin's whole life was one
protracted agony for the salvation of his country. He
had to contend with every species of deleterious in
fluence — ferocious, drunken, dissolute, and imbecile
kings, the reckless intrigues of monasticism at the insti-
VOL. II. N

178 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. [CHAP. XVI.
gation of Rome, and the unprincipled and infamous
ambition of the Norman Bastard, who crept into England
during this great man's exile, and fled in all haste at his
return. What he had to contend with, what plots he
frustrated, what malice he counteracted, what supersti
tion and stupidity he rendered harmless, will never be
known in detail. We perceive the indefinite and indis
tinct forms of these things floating through the mists
of history, but cannot grasp and fix them for the in
struction of posterity.
What the monks of Norman times relate of him, is
only the evidence of their utter incapacity to comprehend
his greatness, or to perceive how the glory, which they
basely attempt to sully, enveloped and lighted up the
whole land in which they were unworthy to be born.
He is usually placed before the mind in juxtaposition
with the feeble son of the " Unready," in what is sup
posed to be disadvantageous contrast. But, if we except
Alfred, no king of the House of Cerdie ever laboured
more to promote the welfare of England than the son of
Wulfnotn. No act attributed to him, whether by friend
or foe, is traceable to any other motive. When he
commenced his career, the Danes had become an in
tegral portion of the English people, and the war that
raged was a war, not of races, but of dynasties. He
attached himself to the nobler leader, and aided him in
achieving victories which reflected lustre on England.
After that chief's death he watched faithfully over the
destinies of his family, till it became extinguished in
drunkenness, He then transferred his allegiance to the
false and incompetent Edward, who in the days of his
distress cowered at his feet, but afterwards, in the pleni
tude of the power he had given him, sought to obliterate
by his ruin and death the memory of his own self-
inflicted abasement.
When the remains of the great earl were deposited in
the old minster of the ancient capital of Wessex, the

A.D. 1053.] HOUSE OF CERDIC. 179
people, who know how to distinguish their benefactors
from their oppressors, thronged round the grave, and
gave vent to their sorrow in sobs, lamentations, and tears.
Throughout the whole land, all men of Saxon race
sorrowed for earl Godwin's loss as for the loss of a
father ; and even the monks, conciliated by gifts of
manors and gold, prayed for his soul. Githa, the
partner of his fortunes, the mother of his children,
who, after long years passed in love and honour, was
exposed, towards the close of life, to a tempest of cala
mities rarely paralleled in history or fable, sought to
blunt by lavish donations the edge of sacerdotal rancour,
and with her contemporaries succeeded.1
Seven sons had Godwin f three of them, the bravest
of the brave : two, blameless and recluse ; while
other two, Sweyn and Tostig, equally distinguished for
their genius and their crimes, precipitated the ruin of
their native land, and convulsed all Christendom. Of
his daughter, the stainless gem of his house, I have
spoken elsewhere. Over all his offspring, Nemesis
brooded, though not visibly before his death. They
resembled the great tragic families of heroic times in
beauty, intelligence, and misfortune. By the Norman
triumph of Hastings' plain they were scattered far over
the world, some to leave their bones in Asia or on the
Baltic shores, while others imparted their Anglo-Danish
energy to the imperial family of Russia, and originated
a long line of Czars.3 Nevertheless, we have still among

1 Vita ^Edwardi Eegis, p. 408. obviously a Norman libel. His
Anglia Sacra, I. 293. whole account of the earl's family
2 Malmesbury, following a dif- is full of errors ; for example,
ferent tradition, says he had two Harold is made older than Sweyn,
wives ; first, a sister of Canute, who and Godwin's seventh son, iustead
brought him one son, drowned on of being drowned, as he fables, in
horseback in the Thames. This the Thames, took the cowl at Salis-
princess, he tells us, amassed great bury, where he died at a very ad-
wealth by exporting beautiful Eng- vanced age. II. 13.
lish girls to be sold as slaves in 3 Snorro Sturleson, II. 178. Ka-
Denmark, for which, apparently, ramsin, Histoire de la Eussie, II.
she was struck dead by lightning — 22.
N 2

180

HISTORY OF ENGLAND. [CHAP. XVI.

us an illustrious representative of the House of Godwin,
since Victoria, the sovereign of the British empire, is
descended from the widow of Tostig, earl of North
umbria.8

2 Gibbon, in his Antiquities of the
House of Brunswick, Works, III.
191, 192, relates briefly the history
of Guelph VI. who, in 1071, was
invested by the Diet and the em
peror Henry IV. with the duchy
of Bavaria, which in that age ex
tended to the confines of Hungary,
and his nuptials were celebrated
with Judith, the daughter of Bald
win,, count of Flanders, and the
widow of a titular king of England.

This titular king, he goes on to ex
plain, was Tostus (Tostig), son of
earl Godwin, and younger brother
of Harold, against whom, with a
Norwegian army, he had unsuccess
fully disputed the crown. What*
ever title Tostig may have assumed
abroad, English history nowhere
bestows on him the name of king,
and Judith, consequently, had no
right to be entitled queen of Eng
land.

A.D. 1053.] HAROLD AND TOSTIG. 181

CHAPTER XVII.
ASCENDANCY OF HAROLD AND TOSTIG.
By the death of Godwin, a new distribution of the
principal honours of the realm was rendered necessary.
Harold succeeded to the earldom of Wessex ; and Algar,
son of Leofric, obtained Harold's former earldom of
East Anglia.1 Edward now, at length, bethought him of
his near relations, the son and grandchildren of his
brother Ironside, who had long endured all the evils of
exile in Hungary. He therefore- despatched Aldred,
bishop of Worcester,8 a renowned statesman and war
rior, into Germany, as his ambassador to negociate
with the emperor Henry III. for their return, designing
to select from among them an heir to succeed him on
the throne of England.3 Up to this time, therefore, he
had indisputably cherished no wish to be succeeded by
the duke of Normandy, or even by Harold. The epis
copal statesman crossed the Channel, and at Cologne
was received with distinguished honour by Henry the
Third and Archbishop Hermann.4 But the whole face of
Germany was at that time overcast with trouble and
confusion, owing to the war which raged with Hungary,
the death of the successor of Attila, and of the emperor
himself. Yet, after three years' delay and much nego-
1 Higden, Polychronicon, III. 280. his cousin and namesake his heir :
' Florence of Worcester, a.d. " decreverat Eex eum constituisse
1054. harsedem suum in Anglia."
3 Higden affirms (Polychronicon, i Saxon Chronicle, Florence of
III. 280), that he intended to make Worcester, a.d. 1054.

182 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. [CHAP. XVII,
ciation, Aldred succeeded in his mission, and returned to
England, bringing with him Edward,1 the son of Ironside,
Edgar the Etheling, and the princesses Margaret and
Christina.8 But the son of Ironside was not destined long to
enjoy the hospitality of the land of his forefathers ; he
died suddenly in London, before he had obtained an
audience of the king.3 Some historians,4 with super
fluous Machiavelism, have imagined he may have been
kept from court by the partisans of Harold, and express
surprise that since the son of Godwin profited most by
his death, he should not have been charged by the
Norman writers with having caused it. Such a suspi
cion, however, was too absurd to be put forward even by
those Chroniclers,1 because the survival of Edgar the
Etheling rendered it preposterous.
A transaction now presses for notice which the genius
of Shakespeare has enveloped with imperishable glory.
Macbeth, king of Scotland, having raised himself to
the throne by the murder of his predecessor Duncan,
now provoked his fate, either by refusing allegiance to
the English crown, or by perpetrating aggressions be
yond the borders. By Edward the Confessor, Si ward,
earl of Northumbria,5 was commanded to invade
Scotland, depose the assassin, and raise Duncan's son,
Malcolm, prince of Cumbria, to the throne. In this
enterprise Siward engaged with a double zest. He
loved war for its own sake, and to this passion a
strong feeling of interest was added, since Malcolm, the
Cumbrian chief, was his son-in-law. Eagerly, therefore,
did the old Danish jarl, at the head of his Northum
brians, and a royal contingent from the south, march
across the Scottish border, while a fleet moved north-
1 Simeon De Gestis Begum An- 3 Florence* of Worcester, a.d.
glorum, p. 189. Higden, Polychro- 1067.
nicon. III. 280. * Lappenberg, II. 259.
2 This princess became a nun, and 6 Chronica De Maikos, 1. 158.
died atEomsey. Williamof Malmes
bury, II. 13.

A,D. 1054.] HAROLD AND TOSTIG. 183
wards along the shore to co-operate with the land forces,
which we are told consisted chiefly of cavalry.1 The
encounter took place in Aberdeenshire. With Macbeth
rode to the field those Norman knights and men-at-arms
who, on the return of Godwin from Flanders, had fled
into Scotland, and were, in all likelihood, the chief in
stigators of the war. Siward, with his son Osborn, led
the English and the Danes — the battle was fierce and
protracted — thousands of the Scots and all the Normans
fell,2 and the tyrant Macbeth fled ignominiously from
the field, and was heard of no more. The victory,
however, cost Siward the life of his gallant son, who
appears to have fallen early in the battle. When a
soldier brought the news to the brave old man, he
inquired where he received his wound. On being told
in front, he replied, " Then he has died a death worthy
of himself and of me." During the following year,
however, Siward followed his gallant son to the tomb.
There may be something mythical in the manner in
which the Chroniclers describe his death; but it is at
least characteristic of the times, and of that old viking
energy which was already fast disappearing before the
influence of civilisation. When he perceived his end
approaching, he exclaimed, " Shame on me that I did
not fall in one of the many battles I have fought, but
am left to die at last the death of a sick cow. Never
theless, put on my armour of proof, gird the sword by my
side, place the helmet on my head,, let me have my shield
in my left hand, and my gold inlaid battle-axe in my
right, that the bravest of soldiers may die in a soldier's
guise."3 Siward was buried at York, in the church of
St. Olaf, which he had himself erected.4
In a Witenagem6t held in London, the rival Houses
of Godwin and Leofric once more put to trial their
strength and influence in the kingdom. Harold beheld
1 Simeon Pe Gestis Eegum An- 3 Henry of Huntingdon, p. 760.
glorum, p. 187. * Saxon Chronicle, Florence of
2 Eoger de Hoveden, a.d. 1054. Worcester, a.d. 1055.

184 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. [CHAP. XVII.
with profound disapprobation his own earldom of East
Anglia bestowed on Leofric's son Algar, who in all the
recent troubles appears to have leaned towards the
Norman party. When formally accused in the council
of treason towards the king and the nation, he admitted
his guilt,1 apparently choosing to owe his safety in the
realm to his own valour and the forces at his command,
rather than to his innocence. But, in his overweening
pride, he had miscalculated his power. No sooner had
the fatal admission escaped his lips than his antagonists
pressed their advantage, and appealing vigorously to the
king and the Witan, caused him to be outlawed and
banished, Harold's own policy, when in exile, now
became the model in conformity with which Alfgar
shaped his conduct ; he fled to Ireland, where, finding
a Norwegian Viking roaming the seas in search of ad
ventures, he took him into his service.3 From the Irish
chiefs also he procured aid, and then, with a powerful
fleet, manned with Celts, Mercians, and Northmen, re
passed the Channel into Wales, whose king, Griffith,3 he
knew was always ready to hazard crown and life in any
attempt against England.
Algar's negociations with the Welsh prince were
soon concluded. Placing himself and his followers
under the command of Griffith, who naturally took the
lead in tbe expedition, he descended with the united
army from the mountains, traversed the marches, and
advanced upon Hereford. Report, however, travelling
more rapidly than battalions, the approach of Griffith
soon became known to the English and Normans in gar
rison along the frontier, under the command of Radulph,
the nephew of Edward. This nobleman, dominated by
1 Saxon Chronicle, a.d. 1055, who were there gathered}: though
where we find these words, " They the word escaped him unintention-
outlawed Elgar, the edri, because it ally."
was cast upon him that he was a 2 Historia Ingulphi, I. 66.
traitor to the king and to all the 3 Florence of -Worcester,- a.d.
people of the land, and he made a 1055. a
confession of it before all the men

A.D. 1055.] HAROLD AND TOSTIG. 185
continental ideas, and regardless of the character of the
English, had introduced innovations into the army, and.
by transforming the native infantry into cavalry, de
stroyed their confidence in themselves. With a motley
force, half Norman, half Saxon, ill-disciplined, and di
vided by mutual dislike, Radulph advanced timidly to
encounter the mountaineers. His reluctance to face
them may be inferred from the fact, that the enemy
were suffered to approach within two miles of Hereford
before a blow was struck in the city's defence. There,
however, the armies met; but before a spear was
thrown, the Normans, with their cowardly leader,1
turned and fled, and the English followed their example.
There was consequently no battle, but in the bloody pur
suit between four and five hundred of the fugitives were
cut off without the slightest loss to the Celtic army.
Hereford now lay defenceless before the invaders,
Welsh, Norwegians, and Irish, who, with Griffith and
Algar at their head, poured into it promiscuously, and
betook themselves to violence and plunder. Knowing
where, in Catholic cities, most treasure was usually to
be found, they proceeded to the monastery, at the door
of which seven of the canons,8 trusting to their sacerdotal
character, had stationed themselves to prohibit their
entrance. They were immediately slain, and the soldiers,
exploring the whole edifice, pillaged the shrines, the
chapels, the altars, seizing upon crucifixes, chalices,
reliquaries, and whatever else was valuable, after which
they set the building on fire.3 Throughout the city also
they spread carnage and conflagration, and then, col
lecting their booty, and carrying away captive all of
both sexes that remained alive, they retreated like a
storm towards the Cambrian mountains, leaving nothing
but desolation in their track.4
1 Florence of Worcester, ubi 3 Saxon Chronicle, Florence of
supra. Worcester, a.d. 1055. „
2 Simeon De Gestis Begum An- 4 Chronicle of the Princes of
glorum, p. 188. Wales, a.d. 1054. Annales Cam
briae, a.d. 1055.

186 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. [CHAP. XVIT.
When intelligence of this inroad reached the court,
Edward ordered an army from all parts of the kingdom
to be assembled at Gloucester, and conferring uponHarold
the chief command, directed him to enter Wales and
inflict severe chastisement on the invaders. But cir
cumstances, which have escaped the notice of historians,
had effected a change in the policy of the son of Godwin,
Instead of pushing his rival to extremities, he contented
himself with fortifying Hereford by surrounding it with
a deep moat,1 and afterwards penetrating with his army
as far as Snowdon.2 No battle appears to have taken
place. Algar, probably growing weary of an exile's
life, and cherishing but little sympathy with his allies — ¦
Scandinavian pirates, Irish kernes, and Welsh free
booters — despatched messengers to Harold to negociate.
peace and reconciliation. The future king of England
was neither vindictive nor implacable ; he received, his
rival into friendship, and as his decision was equivalent
to that of Edward, in whose name he might be said to
govern the realm, Algar was restored to his titles and
honours.3 The Viking fleet sailed to Chester4 to await
the payment of the sum which had been promised them
for their services ; and this having been discharged by
Algar's father, Leofric, earl of Mercia, the pirates quitted
the shores of England, and returned to their homes.
Upon the death of Leofric, which happened in the fol
lowing year, Algar succeeded to the earldom of Mercia,
after which the Chroniclers, who are much given; to
repetition, relate another outlawry and inlawry with
the self-same machinery of Norwegians, Irish, and
Welsh. But this is obviously a mere echo of the for
mer transaction, and no otherwise interesting than as it
may illustrate the tendency of the monkish writers to
lose themselves in reiteration.

1 Saxon Chronicle, a.d. 1055. 4 Eoger de Hoveden, a.d. 1055 ;
2 Eoger of Wendover, a.d. 1055. Simeon De Gestis Begum Anglorum,
3 -Matthew of Westminster, a.d. p. 188.
1055.

A.D. 1057.] HAROLD AND TOSTIG. 187
Algar's father, Leofric, is celebrated by the chro
niclers for his wisdom as a statesman, and the extra
ordinary piety by which he and his countess Godiva
were distinguished among their contemporaries. Of
his sagacity we may form some conception from the fact
that in the views he took of public affairs, he was
generally opposed to earl Godwin, while he fell in with
the prejudices, partialities, and caprices of the king.
Pious he may have been, according to the theory of his
age, and in the estimation of the monks, for he laid out
large sums of money in the erection, repair, endowment,
and enriching of minsters and monasteries. Twenty-
two years and immense sums of money did he devote to
the building of the abbey of Coventry,1 in which, at the
expense of his earldom and his people, and for the mere
gratification of the fancy and greed of the monks, he
piled up masses of gold and silver, relics, and precious
stones. Here, in a shrine of silver, was deposited the
arm of Augustine, bishop of Hippo,8 purchased, as I have
already related, at Pavia, by archbishop Ethelnoth, for
a fabulous amount of gold and silver.
Those gifts, however, would have been trifles, had he
not entailed upon the monastery estates and manors,
woods, meadows, and arable lands, with farm-houses,
and serfs to provide for the constant supply of the
refectory. The same desire to conciliate heaven by costly
gifts, led Leofric and his consort to expend large portions
of their treasure in performing the same good offices
for the churches of Worcester, Evesham, Wenlock and
Leominster, together with those of John the Baptist,
St, Wereburga at Leicester, and of St. Mary of Stowe.3
Events at this time appeared strongly tending towards
the creation of a new dynasty, The reality of power
had already passed from the House of Cerdie to that of
1 Florence of Worcester, a.d. 1057. 2 Chronicon Johannis Bromton,
Compare Dr. Hook, in his Life of p. 948.
Archbishop Ethelnoth, I. 482. 3 Matthew of Westminster, a.d,
1057.

188 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. [CHAP. XVII.
Godwin ; for upon the death of Siward, earl of North
umbria, the vacant government was bestowed on the
queen's second brother, Tostig,1 while the third brother,
Gurth, succeeded Algar in the earldom of East Anglia.8
Thus the Godwins became all powerful in the realm,
swaying the north, the south, and the east, and eclipsing
completely the noble family of Mercia. The two fore
most figures on the scene were Harold and Tostig, men
such as few ages or countries have brought forth at the
same time. All Godwin's progeny were instinct with
genius and beauty, though they differed very widely
from each other in moral qualities.
A contemporary historian, familiar with the earls of
Wessex and Northumbria, has painted their characters
in glowing colours, and drawn them forth in an elaborate
parallel. They were he says, both handsome ahd finely
formed men, though Harold was the taller. In strength,
fierceness, and daring they were equal ; but the elder,
having disciplined himself by infinite labour, watching,
and abstinence, had acquired a milder manner and more
humane wisdom. The character of Tostig, remarkable
for its violence, even in those violent times, was still
more distinguished for persevering vindictiveness. His
will, however, being all powerful, he usually kept his
tempestuous passions under control, and only let them
loose in the channel in which, without obstruction, he
desired them to flow. When he had an object in view,
he proceeded towards it with an invincible firmness of
soul, tinged at times with malignity. That he might
appear to be guided by his friends, he consulted them
separately, and inspired each with the conviction that his
1 Vita Edwardi Eegis, p. 409. the south, Tostig the north. "Juni-
2 The author of the Latin Life of orum quoque Gyrth, quem supra
the Confessor, having drawn with diximus, immunem non passu's
great vigour and discrimination the est idem rex a suis honoribus, sed;:.
characters of Harold and Tostig, comitatum ei dedit in ipso vertice
describes in the following manner Orientalis Anglise et hunc ipsnm
the first step of their brother Gurth amplificandum promisit, ubi ma-.
in the road to honours ; Edward, he turior annos adolescentiae exuerit," ,
says, appointed Harold to defend p. 410.

A.D. 1057.] HAROLD AND TOSTIG. 189
was the determining counsel. When once resolved, nothing
could turn him from his purpose ; and so sagacious were
his views, that he appeared to be guided by instinct,
while his policy seemed to spring from the very actions
it produced, and consequently led generally to a pros
perous result.
When he gave, it was with lavish munificence, and
his generous inclinations were often directed by the
advice of his countess, a religious and beneficent woman.
In a character so resolute and inflexible, there was no
room for falsehood or deceit. With a faith firm as
adamant he adhered to his friends, while he pursued
his enemies with unwavering and relentless animosity.
In one word, he displayed in the eleventh century the
firmness and the cruelty, the virtues and the vices, with
which Lucius Scylla had, twelve hundred years before,
excited the admiration and terror of Rome. In his do
mestic relations he was blameless, presenting a rare ex
ample of concentrated love and fidelity to the age in
which he lived. For this virtue he is placed by the
historian in tacit contrast with Harold, with whom the
passion for women seems at least to have equalled the
passion for sway. Fierce and cruel, Tostig refused to
have his temper softened by the influence of the oppo
site sex; while Harold, in the midst of the greatest
designs, lay ever open to the fascinations of women, on ¦
whom he lavished with profusion his affections and his
opulence.1 1 Sir Henry Ellis has, I think, ties. His mistress, Swan Neck, re-
satisfactorily proved that Harold sided at Canterbury, and was still
had two wives : one, the mother of alive when the Domesday survey
his children ; second, the queen- was taken. Introduction to Domes-
dowager of Griffith, sister of the day, II. 79-81. Henry de Knygh-
earls Edwin and Morcar, Ediva ton (p. 2339), a diligent collector of
Pulchra, by whom he seems to have Norman libels, affirms that Harold
had no offspring. The immense never had a wife : " nee aliquam
amount of land she held is urged uxorem ducere voluit sed vi op-
by Sir Henry as an argument for her pressit, filias Baronum et procerum
not having been his mistress ; her atque militum de regno ; quod ipsi
estates exceeded 27,000 acres, and cegre ferebant."
were distributed over several coun-

190 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. [CHAP. XVII.
Both brothers pursued with constancy whatever they
undertook ; Tostig with the greater earnestness, Harold
with the greater wisdom. The former aimed exclu
sively at the consummation of his enterprises, the latter
at their fortunate consummation. Both could at times
practise dissimulation, and that so completely, that even
they who knew them most intimately could never divine
in what direction their actions were tending. In their
own family, among their countrymen, and even in
strangers and foreigners, they excited admiration and
attachment by their eloquence and the splendour of
their manners. Harold, abounding more in generous
sentiments, was more beloved; Tostig, dark, intrepid,
indomitable, inspired those around him with the par
tiality of fear. Men often gazed at and followed him,
though trembling, and more than doubtful of the result.
Nor is the impression left upon the mind of posterity
less characteristic of the men ; Harold's dauntless name,
his ambition, his loves, his misfortunes, inspire a tender
regret like that of close consanguinity: while the bare
mention of Tostig conjures up an inscrutable bloody
spectre which rose at Bosenham castle, hung for awhile
like a meteor over his contemporaries, and then sank
into the ground at Stamford Bridge.
The glory of Edward the Confessor's reign is entirely
traceable to these and other noblemen who then
flourished in England, and with few and brief inter
ruptions preserved the peace ofthe country. At leisure*,
therefore, from the toils of war, and protected in their
pursuits by comparatively just laws, the industrious
classes applied themselves diligently to the creation of
wealth. Naturally addicted to agriculture, the English
now enjoyed their favourite mode of life, and England
began to assume that rich and cheerful- aspect1 which
1 See in the Introduction to depreciation in the value of all
Domesday, passim, proofs of the kinds of property occasioned by the
great prosperity of England during Norman Conquest.
Edward's reign, and of the signal

AD. 1057.J HAROLD AND TOSTIG. 191
Nature designed it should always wear. Corn-fields,
orchards, gardens, everywhere gave signs of plenty ;
homesteads thickly dotted the landscape, water-mills1
clacked on every stream, salt-works8 were numerous in
several counties, flocks of sheep whitened the hills, the
meadows and lowlands abounded with herds, while im
mense droves of swine, under the care of well-fed slaves,
roamed in search of oak and beech mast through the
forests. Of the trees which taken together composed those
forests, we are far from possessing sufficient information.
Oaks we know have always abounded in England, where,
like the elm, they sometimes tower to the height of a
hundred and thirty feet,3 and throw out on all sides
immense boughs, beneath which whole bodies of cavalry
might find shelter.4 With woods of this king of trees5
the face of the country was picturesquely dotted, as well
as with clumps of beeches. Vast rows of elms, espe
cially in moist meadows, and along the well-watered
slopes of hills, groves of ordinary and mountain ash,
which attained to a prodigious height and bulk, espe
cially in the fens of Huntingdonshire,6 copses of alders
and birches,7 clusters of aspens beside the streams,
and extensive beds of sallows, osiers,8 and the basket
rush. Here and there were large watery plains
covered with reeds, while the sandy downs along
the sea-shore, impregnated with saline breezes, yielded

1 Introduction to Domesday, I. 5 Yet the oak is only thrice men-
121-125. tioned by name in the Domesday
2 Id., I. 126, sqq. Survey. Sir Henry Ellis, I. 101.
3 Evelyn, Silva, p. 194. c Historia Eamesiensis, III. 385.
4 Our Saxon ancestors frequently 7 Of this tree Evelyn remarks,
in their Dooms estimated the value that " the parts of the forest that
of a tree according to the number hardly bear any grass do frequently
of hogs that could stand under it. produce it in abundance." Silva,
" If any one cut down a tree under p. 78. .
which thirty swine may stand, and 8 Introduction to Domesday, ubi
it be discovered, let him pay sixty supra.
shillings." Laws of King Ine, 44.

192 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. [CHAP. XVII.
an abundance of sedge1 which, as it waved and sighed in
the wind, inspired the wandering chapman, the solitary
anchorite, and the forlorn serf with profound melancholy.
Gloom indeed, by foreigners, is deemed to be the cha
racteristic of our whole nation, from which, if true, our
superior thoughtfulness may be inferred, since, while we
meditate on the price paid for freedom, they fiddle, dance
and sing in the shackles of servitude.
Some counties were famous for the yew and the box,8
as Kent and Surrey, where with these and the holly
whole ridges of hills were in former times so thickly
clothed, that they suggested all the year round the idea
of eternal spring. One of the favourite spots of the
holly is a sheltered valley called Holmes-Dale, near the
course of the Mole or Swallow, where, as I have already
observed,3 Ethelwulf and his son Ethelbald defeated the
Danes with immense slaughter. Now no foreign armies
traversed the land, and safe under the protection of the
sons of Godwin, the yeoman and the labourer tilled their
fields in peace, or enjoyed their rustic sports in the
woodlands of Wessex. In various parts of the island
down to a very late period, enormous trees, oaks, elms,
ashes and yews, evidently the relics of primeval woods,
imparted an air of antiquity and grandeur to the land
scape. Some of these were nearly sixty feet in circum
ference, others eighty-one feet in the spread of then-
branches, affording five hundred and sixty square yards
of shade, and capable of sheltering from sun or shower
two thousand four hundred and twenty men.
Protected by ancient superstition and its own gro
tesque aspect, the thorn rose here and there on marly or
stony acclivities, throwing forward its branches with
the prevailing wind, and suggesting ideas of the Scan-

1 Ducange quotes from the Lives devenit, nomine Croylandiam*"
of the Saints the following passage : Voce Carectum.
" Ad quandam insulam diversis, ne 2 Evelyn, Silva, pp. 155, 157,
moribus, stagnis et careclis variis 199. 3 See vol. I. 227,

1055.] HAROLD AND TOSTIG. 193
dinavian divinity to which it was sacred.1 On the
arable plains, with two mounted horses yoked to the
plough2, the Saxon churls turned up the rich furrows, or
in autumn reaped the heavy wheat, or gathered and
piled up in heaps the ruddy apples in their orchards.
In spots well sheltered and favoured by the sun, vineyards3
were beheld, from the produce of which wine, though
not of a very superior quality, continued to be made
down to a late period. In the midst of all this in
dustry and plenty, cities, towns, villages, and hamlets
abounded. But, besides its secular life, England, even then, in spite
of ignorance, had another life, which hallowed its aspect
and endeared it doubly to the hearts of its people. More
than half the beauty of every country is communicated
to it by its religion. England, in the Confessor's time,
was thickly studded with monasteries, convents, and
vast churches, erected in the most lovely of its vallies,
on the summits of rugged rocks, on wild cliffs over
hanging the sea, or amidst the green foldings of its
picturesque hills. Heaven -pointing spires, lofty and
venerable turrets, with all the splendour of architecture,
flashed upon the eye of the pilgrim in whatever direc
tion he might journey, and songs and solemn music
celebrated the birth and close of each day, and threw/
their soft witchery into the night. In the Pagan world{
every hill, grove, or fountain was hallowed by the foot
steps of some God; and the beautiful spots of our own
land were no less hallowed by the constant presence of
God's worshippers, whose devotion, however ignorant,
was still devotion, and directed the heart to the fountain
of all happiness.
1 Satere. Mr. Stevenson, Pre- eight times in the Domesday Sur
face to the Abingdon Chronicle, II. vey, in spite of which some writers
xxx. have imagined that by vinese, or-
2 Laws of King Athelstan, 16. chards, are meant. But Spelman
3 Introduction to Domesday, I. decides the question, by observing
116. Sir Henry Ellis observes that that one of these vinese produced
vineyards are mentioned thirty- twenty modii of Wine. Gloss., p. 44.
VOL. II. °

194 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. [CHAP. XVII.
The monasteries had more than resumed their ancient
splendour, and their domains, more carefully cultivated
than any of the surrounding estates, led the way in
agricultural improvement, and insured large revenues
to the lord abbot and his subjects.1
One of the most remarkable characteristics of an
English landscape at this period, was the prodigious
number of bees8 whicli swarmed in almost every copse
and grove, and diffused themselves in spring and
summer over the wild flowers of the meadows, over
the parterres of the monastic gardens, over the varie
gated bloom of the fruit trees, and generally wherever
the earth had put forth blossoms or was sprinkled with
dew.3 Honey accordingly constituted a large article
of English commerce, and was consumed partly in the
manufacture of mead, partly in preparing those innu
merable forms of pastry,4 confectionary, and other dain
ties, in which our ancestors, more especially the monks,
delighted. As little value was then set on intellectual pleasures,
the necessity of some occupation to fill up the vacant
hours led to an assiduous application to the chase. The
king himself, after his long acts of devotion and theo.
logical discussions with the clergy,5 Lived more in the
company of hawks and hounds6 than of men. His
mind was incapable of interesting itself in politics, in

1See Mr. Stevenson's preface to des Francois, II. 301, sqq. "Le
the Abingdon Chronicle, II. xxx,, jour de la Pentec&te, lorsqu'on en-
and passim. tonnpit le Veni Creator pour la
2 Among the assistants in hus- Mease, des gens places k la voute de
bandry we find enumerated the l'eglise faisoient deseendre sur le
Apium Custos, or keeper of bees. peuple des 6touppes enflammes, et
Sir Henry Ellis's Introduction to jettoient en mime temps des feuilles
Domesday, I. 94. de chine ou des fleurs, et des
3 The counties in which bees ap- nieules ou des oublies."
pear to have most abounded, were 5 William of Malmesbury, II. 13.
those of Oxford, Warwick, Norfolk, B When the king went to hunt,
and Leicester. Introduction to one person from each house in
Domesday, I. 193, sqq. Hereford repaired to the stand or
4 See on sacred pastry, Le Grand station in the wood. Introduction
d'Aussy, Histoire de la Vie Privee to Domesday, 1. 195.

A.D. 1055.] HAROLD AND TOSTIG. 195
the arts of government, in watching over the adminis
tration of justice, or in promoting plans for the welfare
of his people. These duties he abandoned to his earls
and bishops, while he himself wandered through the
vales and woodlands, which then possessed a wild
beauty no longer to be found in the civilised portions
of Europe.
Canute, by his Forest Laws,1 had carefully provided
for the wild sports of his successors, by hedging round
the royal woods with a cordon of pains and penalties,
and an organised body of foresters, to see that his laws
in this respect were strictly put in execution. By this
ferocious conqueror the lives and liberties of ordinary
men were estimated at so cheap a rate, that for killing
a stag in the royal forest, freemen, according to their
rank, were condemned to one or two years imprison
ment, while the serf lost his life. Even unintentionally
to cause one of these favoured animals to run till it
panted was visited in a freeman with a fine of ten
shillings, while from a person of humbler grade twenty
shillings were extorted. The unhappy serf, despised
and persecuted by his master, and possessing no property
which the vindictive law could seize upon, was subjected,
like the inferior animals, to scourging. The language
of the Saxon law, which may be said in some respects
to have been improved by Canute, speaks habitually
of serfs with inhuman recklessness, ordaining that for
various offences the man who had lost his liberty should
be liable " in his hide." To preserve the delicate
animals of the royal chase from being alarmed and
made to run, the breath of terror was diffused around
the forest, and the unhappy peasant who accidentally
disturbed one of these pampered brutes, was to have
his skin lacerated with stripes. In this state the Forest
Laws passed down from the victor at Assandun to the
victor at Hastings, who may be truly said to have
1 See Ancient Laws and Insti- Kemble, Saxons in England, II. 78,
tutions of England, p. 183, 184. sqq.
O 2

196 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. [CHAP. XVII.
written his additions to them in blood. The monkish
partner of Editha does not lie open to the charge of
similar vindictiveness and ferocity, for though he en
joyed the chase, he does not appear to have interdicted
the same pleasure to others.
When the inclemency of the weather confined men
to their houses or castles, their time, since they possessed
no taste for books, would have hung very heavily on
their hands, had they not been capable of deriving
entertainment from feasting and drinking, in which a
large portion of their lives was passed. To enhance
their pleasures and promote digestion, the aid of
buffoons, jugglers, and minstrels1 was called in, and
these, wandering from town to town and castle to
castle, assisted our heavy forefathers in getting through
the twenty-four hours without dying of that ennui to •
which all barbarians are subject. Occasionally, how
ever, they took to less innocent amusements, such as
bear-baiting, to which, in some parts, the baiting of
bulls was added. In Edward's time, the city of Norwich
was bound by ancient custom to present annually a bear
and six bear-dogs to the king, from which we must infer
that the saintly Confessor some times exhilarated his
leisure hours by witnessing the bloody combat between
bruin and the English dogs.2
From the time of Edmund Ironside, we notice the
existence of a professional fool at court, where he throve
and became opulent by turning to account the folly of
others. This father of English jesters bore the appro
priate name of Hit-hard, and, considering the thickness
of the wits with which he had generally to deal, hard
hitting must have been needed to produce any effect.
Growing rich by the generosity of those whom he
amused, and, as lord of Chertham and Walworth, en-
_ lc'Poetae qui cantilenis eorum alii- * Introduction to Domesday, I.
ciunt homines manifeste ad Jocalia, 206.
intus vero latet anguis." Ducange,
voceJocale.

A.D. 1056.] HAROLD AND TOSTIG, 197
joying his dignity during thirty years, he at length
became conscious of the sin of misapplying his mental
faculties for the entertainment of drones and idlers, and,
being seized with a fit of penitence, offered up all his
worldly wealth on the altar of Canterbury cathedral,
after which he proceeded on pilgrimage to Rome, where
he probably ended his days.1
We may imagine, therefore, with what joy the whole
court hailed the intelligence that king Griffith,2 with an
army of Welshmen, had burst across the border, and was
harrying and devastating the fertile county of Hereford.
To the bishopric of that city, Harold had recently ap
pointed his own mass-priest,3 Leofgar, a man after his
own heart,4 who had never laid aside his knapsack,5 but
cultivated equally the study of divinity and that of arms.
No less glad was he than the nobles to have the monotony
of his life dissipated by the excitement of conflict. Laying
aside, therefore, his chrism and his rood — the ghostly
weapons of his profession — and taking to the more con
genial spear and battle-axe, he placed. himself at the head
of his martial clergy, and hastened to encounter Griffith
in the Marches. This, however, he did in an evil hour.
The Welsh invasion took place amid the great heats of
summer, and Griffith's army, consisting of hardy moun
taineers inured to labour and fatigue, appears to have
been numerous and formidable. He deployed, there
fore, on descending into the plains, and, dividing his
forces into separate columns, directed them to take
different routes, and penetrate into England on many
points at once. This perplexed the tactics of Edward's
commanders, whose troops were worn down by march
ing ahd countermarching, now to defend one town,
1 Dr. Doran, History of Court 6 Matthew, of Westminster, a.d.
Fools, p. 99: an interesting and 1056, pronounces the eulogium of
curious work. this prelate, who, he says, " was a
2 Florence of Worcester, a.d. 1056. lover of churches, a reliever of the
3 Simeon De Gestis Eegum An- poor, a defender of widows and
glorum, p. 188. orphans, and a helper of the op-
4 Saxon Chronicle, a,d. 1056. pressed."

198 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. [CHAP. XVII.
now another, sometimes beholding the flames of
war bursting forth in their front, sometimes in their
rear. Suddenly enveloped by the Welsh army, a large
division of the king's forces, commanded by the bishop
of Hereford, the sheriff of the county, and other gen
tlemen, was cut off with all its leaders, after which the
Welsh prince continued his march into England. It was
now thought necessary to send against him the greatest
generals in the kingdom, Harold, Leofric, and bishop
Aldred, by whom Griffith's advance was checked. It
does not, however, appear that any great advantage was
obtained over him by arms. Terms were settled by ne
gociation,1 and Griffith having agreed to hold the crown
of Wales in subordination to Edward, the campaign
concluded, and the armies returned to their homes.
Much obscurity envelopes the relations in which,
during times of peace, the KLymri and the English stood
towards each other. That there always existed great
jealousy and aversion is indisputable: the Welshman
found in arms beyond Offa's Dyke, after Harold's ex
pedition into the mountains, forfeited his right hand;
while the Saxon who, without observing the esta
blished regulations, crossed the Wye, probably exposedi
himself to analogous punishment. A convention has
come down to us which, though clear perhaps when
it was drawn up, is now as enigmatical as the vatici*
nations of an oracle. From it, however, we learn, that a
court existed on the frontier composed of twelve judges,
half Welsh, half English, who administered justice in
all disputes between individuals of the two nations.
Commercial intercourse, though sanctioned by the law,
and placed under its protection, seems, nevertheless, to
have been carried on with difficulty. There were fixed
stations on the border, to which traders who desired to
pass with their goods from one country into the other,
were bound to repair; having stated their intentions,
1 Saxon Chronicle, a.d. 1056.

A.D. 1061.] HAROLD AND TOSTIG. 199
they were permitted to cross the frontier under the gui
dance and safeguard of an officer appointed by the govern
ment, who accompanied them throughout their journey,
and was responsible for their safety, as well as for that
of their property till they had transacted their business,
after which he brought them back to the station from
which they had set out. For any loss of property or
injury to the person sustained by the traders during their
journey, the ofiicer in charge was answerable, and the
damages were assessed by the double commission.1
After this irruption, England again returned to a
state of profound peace, during which, a.d. 106 1,2 both
Harold and his brother Tostig, influenced no less, per
haps, by policy than by devotion, undertook a pilgrimage
to Rome.3 Kynsey,4 archbishop of York, having died
in 1060, Aldred, bishop of Worcester, was nominated to
succeed him, and was, therefore, under the necessity of
proceeding beyond sea for his pall*5 Tostig, his fortu
nate and happy wife, and his brother Gurth, attended
by a numerous and splendid train, accompanied arch
bishop Aldred, Crossing the Channel, and entering
Germany, they travelled through Saxony and along the
banks of the Upper Rhine, and passing the Alps, de
scended into Italy. In obedience to such ideas of piety
as then prevailed, Tostig and his countess, influenced
partly, perhaps, by their companion the archbishop,
visited all the celebrated shrines on their route, and at
each left lasting tokens of their devotion and munificence.
Thus journeying, and scattering around them the gold
of England, they reached the Eternal City.
Harold, meanwhile, whose mind was of a higher order,
1 Ordinance respecting the Dun- have been in 1061, since he was not
setas. elected archbishop of York till that
2 The Canon of Wells> Anglia year.
Sacra, I. 559, antedates the journey 3 Vita iEdwardi Eegis, p. 410.
of Gyso and Walter to Eome, which * Budborne, Historia Major Win-
he places in 1060 ; but Wharton, in toniensis, I. 240.
his note on the passage, shows that 6 Willelm. Malmesbur. Vita S.
as they accompanied Aldred, it must Wulfstani, Anglia Sacra, II. 250.

200 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. [CHAP. XVII.
and who even then distinctly saw before him the glitter
of the English crown, proceeded into France.1 He could
not be ignorant of the designs of the Norman duke, and
therefore sought to assure himself friends among the
natural enemies of William. Between the French and
Normans, hatred and jealousy were hereditary,2 though
time had already somewhat diminished their force. He
hoped, however, by the serenity and urbanity which he
breathed about him like an atmosphere, to make himself
friends among the Gallic princes, and travelled, there
fore, from court to court, meeting everywhere with the
distinguished reception due equally to his personal
qualities and his illustrious name. It may be conjec
tured from an allusion in the Chronicle to the many
snares3 he shunned by his prudence and foresight, that
there were those who plotted his destruction. For the
time their machinations proved fruitless. Harold arrived
safely at Rome, where, in obedience to the spirit of the
age, with which his own spirit seems not to have been
in harmony, he visited the resting places of the saints,
which he enriched by magnificent donations. His
religion, fostered in the bosom of the Enghsh Church,
seems to have been scarcely akin to that of the Conti
nent. In its simplicity and freedom from superstition,
it anticipated the far distant dawn of the Reformation,
and therefore, in spite of his utmost caution, he may
have suffered indications to have escaped from him at
Rome, which inclined the Pontiff and the Cardinals to
side afterwards with his more crafty rival, and throw the
whole weight of the Church into the scale against him.4
Even towards the English prelates a strong prejudice
existed in the papal court. Objection was taken to the
1 Vita Edwardi Eegis, p. 410. 4 Matthew of Westminster dis-
2 Palgrave, History of Normandy tinctly relates that the pope and
and England, II. 236. the cardinals hated Harold, because
3 " Per medios insidiantes cautus of his contempt for ecclesiastical
derisor more suo Dei gratia per- despotism : a.d. 1066.
venit ad propria." Idem., ubi
supra.

A.D. 1061.] HAROLD AND TOSTIG. 201
form of Aldred's elevation to the see of York, more
especially his holding at the same time the bishopric of
Worcester ;x and he was, therefore, not only refused the
pall, but degraded from his archbishopric. This was the
more surprising, inasmuch as Tostig, under whose aus
pices he came to Rome, was received and entertained,
with peculiar honour by Pope Nicholas, who, in a synod,
held soon after his arrival, placed him in the seat of
greatest dignity by his side. Two other prelates, Gyso,
bishop of Wells, and Walter, bishop of Hereford,2 who
had likewise come in the earl's company to be confirmed
in their sees, were successful in their application.
Touched by the disgrace of the archbishop, the ancient
friend of his House, and resolved to leave no means un
tried to remove the objections of the papal court, Tostig
prolonged his stay at Rome ; but, for reasons which have
not been explained, sent back his countess with a regal
train and strong escort to England, which she reached in
safety. Finding his efforts unavailing, the earl at length
quitted the Eternal City with his friends, and entered
upon the Campagna. He had not, however, proceeded
far on the road to Sutrium, in Etruria3 before he dis
covered some of the natural fruits of priestly govern
ment. The fertile and beautiful land, once so safe and peaceful
under Republican Consuls, had now been converted into
a den of brigands, who had their strongholds in every
mountain, and swarmed in every forest. Even in Rome
itself, which had long been enriched and corrupted by
the plunder of Christendom, there was no safety for any
but such as were well prepared to defend themselves
with arms. A majority of the citizens had degenerated
1Willelm. Malmesbur., Anglia Cantuariensibus, Ang. Sac, II. 684.
Sacra, II. 250. Gyso died in a.d. 1088. Idem., 1. 559.
2 These were the two prelates who 3 Liv. Hist., XXVI. 34. Veil.
afterwards, in a.d. 1070, consecrated Patercul. I. 13. Cramer, Descrip-
Lanfranctothearchbishopricof Can- tion of Ancient Italy, I. 234.
terbury. Diceto, de archiepiscopis

202 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. [CHAP. XVII.
into thieves and assassins, who, contracting through fa
miliarity, a contempt for everything connected with the
superstition by which they were themselves pampered
and depraved, and regarding pilgrims as persons
wholly without understanding, attacked them in the
churches, robbing them, if possible, before they had
made their offerings, if not, snatching away their ob
lations even from the very altar,1 These miscreants, who
reverenced nothing human or divine, could not be ex
pected to display any deference towards each other, and
accordingly, when any disagreement arose respecting the
division of the plunder, not only drew their swords
in the churches, but stabbed each other over the tombs
and altars of the apostles,8 which they esteemed no
better than any other bricks or stones.
Tradition attributes to Pope Gregory the Sixth 8 the
desire to put an end to this disgraceful state of
things. The policy he pursued, however, being sus
ceptible of more than one interpretation, his friends
bestowed the name of wholesome severity on what his
enemies denounced as barbarous cruelty. Irritated at
beholding the emptiness of his treasury, Gregory orga
nised a force with which he assailed the brigands, on the
highways, in the streets, and even in the sanctuaries of
religion ;4 but with the guilty, he may sometimes, per
haps, have confounded the innocent. At any rate, the
people of Rome began to clamour against the spirit
of his government, and their sentiments, whether just
or unjust, being shared by the cardinals themselves,

1 Henry de Knyghton, p. 2327. for the woman. Milman, History
2 William of Malmesbury, II. 13. of Latin Christianity, II. 426. The
3 This pontiff purchased the tiara date of Gregory's purchase is not
from his relative, Benedict IX., exactly fixed, but is generally sup-
of whom it is related, that falling in posed to have taken place in 1044,
love with one of his cousins, whom and his deposition in 1046, though
he demanded in marriage of her the Chronologia Augustinensis
father, Gerard of the Bock, and places it in 1048.
being unable to obtain her on any 4Diceto Abbreviationes- Chroni-
other terms, relinquished the papacy corum, p, 471 .

A.D. 1061.] HAROLD AND TOSTIG. 203
Gregory was denounced and deposed l as a tyrant, and
another infallible statesman and theologian elected to fill
his place. Change of pontiffs, however, produced no
change in the incidents of Roman life, Wherever the
rulers of a country are priests, there will always be mal
versation and misgovernment ; consequently whatever
may have been the efforts of Gregory's successors to
keep open the way to Rome, in order that bigotry and
imbecility might transport thither the spoils of Christen
dom, they failed in their design. Bold and dissolute
men, observing by what acts of fraud and delusion the
papal exchequer was replenished, concluded by an easy
species of logic, that it could not be very criminal to
participate in the wealth thus accumulated. Besides,
priests were always at hand to absolve, for a small fraction
of the plunder, the bandit from his guilt, and to furnish
him in his last hour with a safe passport to heaven.
Accordingly no surprise can be felt at the dangers which
beset travellers in the Campagna, or at the disorders
and crimes which imparted to Rome the aspect of a
brigand's lair, filled with mercenary beauty, abounding
with cheap means of penance, and redolent from time
immemorial of blood and lust.
On the very day of their departure, the travellers were
stopt on the road. A youthful nobleman, related to his
brother-in-law, king Edward, and habitually residing at
Rome, had come for th to accompany Tostig across the plains,
and rode at the head ofthe cavalcade. As he was of hand
some person, splendidly dressed and mounted, the bri
gands mistook him for earl Tostig himself, and he con
firmed them in their error by confessing that he was the
man. They therefore took him prisoner in the hope of
obtaining a large ransom, and sending him to the rear,
1 After his deposition, the simo- a German monastery, and strange
niacal pontiff, whom Dr. Milman to say, was accompanied in his re
calls the Didius Julianus of the pa- treat by. the famous Hildebrand.
pacy, proceeded under compulsion History of Latin Christianity, II,
to pass, the remainder of his days in 428.

204 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. [CHAP. XVII.
under a strong guard, attacked the rest of the party^
bishops and all, whom they plundered, stripped some
naked, and in that condition drove back to the papal
capital. x The captive nobleman, on whom the chronicler
bestows the name of Gaius, as soon as he considered
the earl and his friends in safety, confessed the stratagem
he had put in practice. At first the enraged robbers
threatened him with death ; but being in truth only
soldiers whom papal despotism had driven to despair,
they soon forgave the cheat which had been put upon
them, admired and praised his courage and fidelity, and
restoring the whole of his property, dismissed him from
their fortress with every mark of honour and respect.
Aldred, meanwhile, found his advantage in what had
threatened his destruction ; for the pope affecting to pity
his misfortunes, once more assembled the cardinals, and,
after due deliberation, reversed the former verdict, in
vested him with the pall, and granted in all other matters
the request of the English king. This he did chiefly
to appease earl Tostig, who, enraged by the obstacles
he had encountered, and still more, perhaps, by the in
dignities which had been offered him by the papal bri
gands, fiercely, in the spirit of his uncle Canute, threat
ened his holiness with the entire loss of those revenues,
which, under the name of Peter's Pence, he derived
annually from England. "Who," he inquired, '.'will
care for your excommunication at a distance, if a handful
of robbers set you at naught at your own door % If my
property be not restored to me, I shall believe that you
have shared the plunder, and that the crime is as much
yours as theirs. Besides, when the king of England
hears of these things, he will put an effectual stop to the
transmission of those revenues which you. have hitherto
derived from his subjects, especially if the archbishop of
York be permitted to return despoiled and dishonoured
to his country.8
1 Vita Edwardi Eegis, p. 412. 282. Chronicon Johannis Bromton^
2 Higden, Polychronicon, III. p. 952. Henry deKnyghton, p. 2336.

A.D. 1063.] HAROLD AND TOSTIG. 205
Subdued by these menaces, the pope, concealing his
fears under the mask of benevolence, addressed to the
earl1 a most gracious allocution, heaping upon him
at the same time blessings and rich presents from the
treasury of St. Peter, and, with kind and affectionate
professions, dismissed him in peace. This time, more
over, Tostig and his friends were sufficiently fortunate
to escape his holiness's banditti, and return, without
interruption, to England, where they were received with
general rejoicing.
During the absence of the earls Harold and Tostig, the
peace of the kingdom was disturbed at once in the North
and in the West ; for Malcolm of Scotland made a de
structive foray into Northumbria, as far as Lindisfarne,2
while Griffith, king of Wales, renewed his depredations
along the Marches. Edward, who then held his court at
Gloucester, consented to the organising of a new expe
dition against Wales. Griffith had connected himself
by marriage3 with the rival House of Mercia, having
taken to wife Editha, daughter of Algar. This con
nexion, probably, originated in the policy of attempting
to counterbalance the influence of the Godwins by an
alliance between the royal family of Wales and the
House of Leofric. Its immediate consequence, however,
was war. Harold, at the head of a chosen body of
cavalry, made a sudden irruption into Flintshire, burned
Griffith's palace of Rhuddlan, with the town which sur
rounded it, and all the naval stores and ships then in
harbour,4 Griffith himself escaping by sea with extreme
difficulty.5 The total subjugation of the principality
was now resolved upon, and Harold, instructed by expe
rience, adopted a new system of tactics, dress, and arms.
Having discovered that the heavy equipment of the

1 Vita Edwardi Eegis, p. 412. 2 Simeon De Gestis Begum An-
Willelm. Malmsbur. (De Vita S. glorum, p. 190.
Wulstani, Anglia Sacra, II. 250), 3 Guil. Geniet., VII.31.
who describes the earl, "Magnas i Saxon Chronicle, a.d. 1063.
efflantem minas." 6 Florence of Worcester, a.d. 1063.

206 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. [CHAP, XVII.
English, unfitted them for service in a rugged mountain
ous country, whose inhabitants were accustomed to the
most daring and rapid evolutions, he introduced a much
lighter armour, fabricated of boiled leather,1 which, being
at once thick and flexible, protected the wearers, while
it enabled them to advance or retreat with celerity.
Their weapons seem to have been only a sword and
light spear.
The command of this expedition was divided between
the brother earls, Harold directing the movements of the
naval armament, while Tostig entered the country at the
head of the Northumbrian horse.8 Indulging in his na
tural fierceness, the northern earl devoted the whole land
to fire and sword, and left behind him nothing but one
broad track of desolation; while Harold, moving along the
coast with his fleet, landed suddenly, from time to time,
and giving up towns and villages to conflagration, invested
the unhappy Kymri with a belt of fire. Nevertheless,
in defence of their homes, they everywhere fought and
bled ; but the English force being altogether overwhelm
ing, they bled in vain. Victory almost invariably de
clared for the invaders, and pillars rose thickly along the
coast, with the proud inscription, " Here Harold con
quered !"3 Tostig's operations have not been particularly
described ; but between the two leaders a system so de
structive was developed, that nearly all the Welsh of
military age, with a majority of the youth and even boys,
perished, leaving little besides old men, women, and
children, to preserve the once dreaded name ofthe Cimbri.
While pursuing this sanguinary policy, little thought
the conquerors that in scarcely more than three years
they themselves would be followed and hunted down in
like manner by a foe still more merciless than themselves,
For the time, however, their triumph was complete, and
1 " Corium coctum." Historia In- 425. Saxon Chronicle, Florence of
gulphi, I. 68. Worcester, a.d.1063.
2 Vitse ^Edwardi Eegis, pp. 416, 3 Giraldus Cambrensis in Anglia
Saera, II. 451. •

A.D. 1064.] HAROLD AND TOSTIG. 207
produced a partial blending of the hostile races ; nume
rous intermarriages took place between the invaders
and the Welsh ladies, no men of their own nation
being left to take them to wife. Griffith, the fearless
and indomitable king, having been shortly afterwards
deposed and murdered, his head, together with the
golden beak of his galley,1 was sent to Harold, who
laid the bloody trophy at the feet of the pious Edward.8
Griffith's widow, a lady of singular beauty, sister to the
youthful earls Edwin and Morcar, he took to be his
own wife,3 and thus sought to extinguish the feud which
had so long raged between the Houses of Godwin and
Leofric. Edward's sovereignty being thus established
in Wales, he pursued the insidious policy of dividing
the royal authority between two brothers, Blethgent
and Ruthlan,4 in order that dissension and civil discord
might be perpetuated, and do the work of the foreign
sword. Harold, who already exercised regal power, though
in Edward's name, to gratify the taste of his brother-in-
law, caused to be erected for him in Wales a splendid
hunting-lodge, in which he might reside when he pro
ceeded thither to enjoy his favourite pastime in the
mountains and woodlands.5 But Caradoc, the son of
Griffith, who had escaped the massacre of his kindred,
appearing suddenly at the head of a few followers, slew
the workmen, demolished the lodge, and bore away to
his fastnesses the booty he had won.6 This incident,
however, though it circumscribed the range of the royal
pleasures, interfered very little with Edward's passion
for the chase, since he had parks and hunting-lodges
in nearly every part of the kingdom, and while all
public business was carried on by Harold and his
1 Vita Edwardi Eegis, p. 426. 4 Eoger de Hoveden, a.d. 1064.
Historia Ingulphi, I. 68. Florence William of Malmesbury, II. 13.
of Worcester, a.d. 1064. s Eoger de Hoveden, a.d. 1064.
2 Matthew of Westminster, a.d, Matthew of Westminster, a.d. 1065,
1064. Saxon Chronicle, a.d. 1063. ° Saxon Chronicle, a.d. 1065.
3 Guillaume de JuiniSge, VII. 31. ,

208 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. [CHAP. XVII.
brothers, spent his time at one or other of these rural
seats. When not actually engaged in following the dogs
and falcons Edward devoted his leisure to the society of
monks1 and priests, especially those of France and
Normandy.8 What their conversation chiefly turned
upon we may conjecture from the writings bequeathed
to us by men of their order.3 In the heroic times of
Hellas, princes and nobles amused themselves with the
adventures of Gods and Heroes, sung to them in hall
and bower by the bards. With the substitution of
new machinery, the courtly tastes, up to the eleventh
century, in England, continued the same ; only for Zeus,
Ares and Aphrodite, were substituted saints and hermits,
whose miracles, mythes, and legends illuminated the
dark hours of winter by the fireside. These narratives,
quickened by the grotesque spirit of the North, enlivened
alike palace and monastery, castle and cottage.. The
monks reaped a golden harvest from Edward's credulity:
they delighted his ears by narratives of strange miracles,
which in those ages were multiplied with lavish profusion,
and he rendered them still happier by filling their scrips
and wallets with good English money. From his pre
sence, therefore, they habitually retired, their minds
brimful of joy, to diffuse the fame of his munificence,
not only over the whole breadth of England, but
throughout Europe, even to the Maremma and the
Pontine bogs.4
It would be unjust to deny to this king the praise
due to the virtue of charity. His solicitude for the
welfare of the poor was active and sincere, and the
simple life he led enabled him more completely to
gratify it. In monkish habits he excelled the monks

1 Mr. Luard's translation of the Vita et Miraculis Edwardi Confes- •
Metrical Life of Edward the Con- soris, pp. 375, 376, where he makes
fessor, p. 206. of Edward a complete prince of
2 William of Malmesbury, II. 13. Utopia.
3 Ailredus Abbas Eievallis, De 4 Vita ./Edwardi Eegis, p. 414. ¦

A.D. 1064.] HAROLD AND TOSTIG. 209
themselves, and no wonder, since what they carried on
as a trade he followed as a passion. For the pomps of
his royal position, he had no care, though he submitted
to act his part in them when it was judged necessary,
arrayed in garments embroidered by his queen in gold.1
Edith a's conduct was regulated by much the same
principles. Calamity, persecution, and the discords of
her husband and father, had embittered her youth, and
- driven her to seek for happiness in the pleasures of the
mind, and the exercise of virtue, piety, and beneficence.
Still in all courtly duties and ceremonies she was distin
guished for the majesty as well as the grace of her
manners, so that all who frequented her husband's palace,
or beheld her perform her part in public, went away
impressed with the conviction that she was the happiest,
as well as the noblest of women. Her generosity and
munificence knew no bounds ; yet her gentle humanity
was grievously tried by her husband's narrow and quaint
notions of a holy life. To realise his theory of charity,
he did not consider it sufficient to erect and endow all
over the kingdom establishments where the poor might
receive shelter and subsistence; he converted his own
palace into a species of hospital or lazar house, crowded
with the sick, the infirm, the maim, the halt, and the
blind, upon whom he Avas persuaded by his monastic
counsellors to attempt. the working of miracles; and if
by care, cleanliness, and a regular supply of wholesome
food, any persons were restored to health, the fact was
immediately attributed to supernatural influences, and
the credulous monarch was the first to put faith in his own
wonder-working powers. Scrofula was supposed to be
healed by his touch, and his monkish Chroniclers vie with
each other in celebrating the number and importance of
his miraculous cures.8

1 William of Malmesbury, II. 13. length by the author of the Metri-
2 His acts of charity, and miracu- cal Life of Edward, p. 232.
lous cures, are dwelt upon at great
VOL. II. P

210 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. [CHAP. XVII.
The terms on which he lived with his consort1 are
difficult to be understood. According to some, their
domestic life must have been cold and dreary, not only
void of love, but even of that affection and common
kindness which often, supply the- place of it. By his
sacerdotal favourites, he was urged to sting her like a
viper, to deprive her of all worldly possessions, to thrust
her forth from under his roof, to condemn her to im
prisonment, coercion and penance. He had married her
from policy, and revenged upon her innocent head the
craft and abject fear which had betrayed him into the
act. Yet when her father, the object of his terror and
aversion, was removed, Editha's natural sweetness and
goodness seem gradually to have inspired him with
gentler sentiments towards her. With a patience sur
passing that of Griselda, she endured his unkind treat
ment, conforming her behaviour in all things to his
wishes, tolerating his superstitious weaknesses, outdoing
him in real piety, prompting him to acts of goodness,
encouraging his munificence to the Church, and skilfully
directing from herself to him all the credit of her own
bounteous deeds.8
By pursuing, from motives of benevolence, a course
which the profoundest policy might have dictated, she
at length acquired an unbounded influence over her
husband's mind. Her brothers he loved for their own
sakes. Harold, with all his brilliant, amiable, and gentle
qualities, could hardly fail to inspire friendship wherever
he was known. Edward's attachment to the fierce, fiery,
vindictive Tostig, is less intelligible ; yet he appears to
have been his greatest favourite, the person in whose
1 It is said by Edward's monkish that he at first abstained from co-
biographers, that a compact was habiting with her through hatred of
entered into by him and Editha, of her family, and was afterward con-
which God only was witness, that she firmed in the habit by the sinister
should remain in his palace for ever influence of foreign monks See
a vestal. Ailredus Abbas Eievallis, also Matthew of Westminster, a.d.
p. 378. It is far more probable, as 1066.
Malmesbury (II. 13) conjectures, 2 Vita ^Edwardi Eegis, p. 415.

A.D. 1064.] HAROLD AND TOSTIG. 211
society he most delighted, who accompanied him in his
hunting parties, who was seldom long absent from his
palace, where he likewise exercised a strong influence
over Editha herself. It was the existence of this power
ful bond of affection between the brother and sister, that
afterwards suggested the calumny respecting the assassi
nation of Cospatric, whom the queen was accused of
taking off, to gratify the earl of Northumbria.1
Of Edward's domestic life we can form but an imper
fect idea. At table and in church, however, we are told
that Editha sat by his side ; but, at other times, when
in company, she usually placed herself on a stool at his
feet. In spite of his natural solemnity, he was occa
sionally possessed by the desire to be playful, and at
such times would nod to his beautiful queen to rise
from her humble position and sit beside him. If she
lingered, he stretched forth his long bony white hand,
and gently drew her up to the royal seat.2 The chroni
cler to whom we are indebted for these particulars was
evidently familiar at the palace, and no doubt had often
witnessed what he describes. Notwithstanding, how
ever, her piety and the blamelessness of her life, her
chastity was suspected, and the slander pursued her to
her death-bed, on which, when about to breathe her
last, she solemnly called heaven to witness that she had
always conducted herself with all reverence to the
marriage vow and the duty she owed her husband.3
Among Editha's claims to the gratitude of the Church
must be reckoned her rebuilding the monastery of
Wilton, in which she had been educated, and where
she had. acquired those graces and accomplishments
which enabled her to shine as England's queen. This
very ancient structure had been repaired and enlarged by
St. Editha, king Edgar's daughter by a nun ; but it was
still of wood. Edward's queen, therefore, observing the
1 Florence of Worcester, a.d. 2 Vita JEdwardi Eegis, p. 415.
1065. 3 William of Malmesbury, II. 13.

212 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. [CHAP. XVII.
improvements which had been made in architecture,
determined to replace the ancient mouldering edifice
Avith a building of stone, in whose shady aisles and
cloisters they whom she had once regarded as sisters^
might live in greater comfort and security. The conse
cration of churches and monasteries supplied our an
cestors, as the Olympic Games did the Greeks, Avith
an occasion of meeting together in great numbers.
Prelates and nobles, abbots, monks, nuns, with crowds
of people from all the country round, thronged the
pleasant banks of the Willey, to witness the ceremony
of consecration, and listen to the singing and the music
which celebrated the mystical union of the nuns with
their heavenly spouse. But the dAvellers in the ancient
Ellandune had reason to regret the architectural revo
lution in the monastery, since, through the carelessness
probably of the workmen, a conflagration was kindled
by which the whole village, obviously of timber, was
burnt to the ground.
While the queen was engaged in these peaceful occu
pations, a sanguinary rebellion arose in her brother
Tostig's earldom. He himself was at Britford1 with the
king when intelligence of the insurrection was brought
him. The circumstances attending the outbreak have
been differently described and explained. As far as the
monuments of the times enable us to form a judgment,
there was no little fault on both sides ; the temper of the
earl was harsh and austere, and he exercised his autho
rity with a severity which often degenerated into cruelty.
The people, ne\'ertheless, over whom he had to rule were
at once ferocious and turbulent, whose love of liberty8
habitually assumed the character of licentiousness, and
among Avhom blood-feuds, assassinations, private wars,
marauding, and brigandage, universally prevailed. Even
the long and stern rule of the Danish jarl Siward had
failed to restrain their savage propensities, so great
1 Saxon Chronicle, a.d. 1065. 2 William of Malmesbury, II, 13,

A.D. 1065.] HAROLD AND TOSTIG, 213
was their cruelty and contempt of God and man.1 In
spite of his watchfulness and rigour, neither life nor
property was any where in safety. Travelling singly, or
in small numbers, was impossible, and even when men
journeyed twenty or thirty in a body,2 they were often
attacked and murdered by banditti, who lay in ambush
in every copse, in every grove, in every forest, in every
ravine, glen, and mountain fastness.
On the accession of Tostig to the earldom, the face of
things very soon changed. He caused it to be under
stood that such offences, whether perpetrated by high
or low, would meet with no mercy from him, but that
he would visit all evil-doers indiscriminately with tor
ture and death. He kept his word. Executions filled
Northumbria with blood; caitiffs and cut-throats fell
beneath the axe, which, when need required, was like
wise lifted against the great, of whom justice made terri
ble examples. It has been asserted, perhaps not without
reason, that the earl threw too much ferocity into his
administration ; and without regard to time or place, or
often even to the forms of justice, decapitated malefac
tors whose nobility, in the opinion of the age, should
have exempted them from punishment.3
But the rigour of his government was, probably, less
prejudicial to him than the partiality of Edward, which,
by keeping him away from his earldom, in order that
he might enjoy his companionship both in the chase
and in the palace, necessarily threw the management of
the affairs of Northumbria into the hands of his depu
ties. These, doubtless, often strained their authority,
and, casting the responsibility of their acts upon the
1 Vita Edwardi Eegis, p. 421. 3 In this category probably stood
3"Tanta gentis illius crudelitas Ulf and Gamel, whom he caused to
et Dei incultus habebatur ut vix be executed, or, as others say, as-
triginta vel viginti in uno comitatu sassinated, in his own palace at
possent ire, quin aut interficerenter York. Florence of Worcester, a.d.
aut deprsedarentur ab insidian- 1065.
tium latronum multitudine." — Vita
^Edwardi Eegis, p. 422.

214 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. [CHAP. XVII.
absent earl, indulged their rapacity and their enmities
without stint. Other causes, however, concurred to
produce the rebellion. An opening appearing to pre
sent itself, the heads of the rival family skilfully availed
themselves of the occasion to abridge the influence of
the Godwins, and increase their own. A conspiracy
was, therefore, organised, at the head of which were
Edwin and Morcar, to overthrow Tostig, and the lead
ing men of Northumbria, eager to regain their ancient
license, armed and called out their retainers.1
The insurgents having taken the field marched to
wards York, where they attacked Tostig's palace,2 slew .
his English and Danish huscarls, and, in conformity^
with their hereditary instincts, plundered his treasures.3
He was not, however, without friends in the North; !
Thousands, adhering to their allegiance, were attacked
and slaughtered, through enmity to their absent lord,
in the streets of York and Lincoln, in the highways, in
the open fields, in woods, in rivers, — in short, wherever
circumstances brought the hostile factions face to face.4
To be known to have been a friend of Tostig, or to
have shared the hospitality of his palace---even the
suspicion of having been so honoured — was equivalent
to a sentence of death. Had he himself been present,
the rebellion would either never have broken out, or
been speedily crushed. As it was, the want of a leader
proved fatal to his cause ; his enemies grew more nu
merous and confident every hour, while his friends lost
heart, and at length succumbed to the storm. The
Northumbrians, sanguinary and rapacious, the old vi
king blood being still warm in their veins, having
slaughtered a large body of Tostig's adherents, precipi
tated themselves joyfully upon the South, and having
desolated the counties of Nottingham, Derby, and Lin-.
1 Saxon Chronicle, a.d. 1065. " Fit csedes multorum in Eboraea,
2 Henry of Huntingdon, p. 761. vel Lincolnia civitate in plateis,in
3 Eoger de Hoveden, a.d. 1065. aquis, in silvis, et in viis."
4 Vita ^Edwardi Eegis, p. 421.

A.D. 1065.] HAROLD AND TOSTIG. 215
coin, advanced to Northampton.1 In this marauding
expedition, to which they were partly, perhaps, insti
gated by the monks and priests, whose privileges and
lust of property Tostig appears to have circumscribed,
they aimed quite as much at plunder and satiating their
border animosities, as at delivering themselves from the
dominion of a severe lord. Tumultuous, savage, and
buccaneering, they poured across the Humber, pillaging,
devastating, slaughtering, making captives of the in
habitants as they marched ; and, having rested a while
at Northampton, advanced as far as Oxford.8
Civil war had commenced, and the atrocities perpe
trated by the Northumbrians would have fully justified
Edward in arming Wessex and the South, and leading
them against the insurgents. He adopted more pacific
measures, and, by the advice of earl Tostig3 himself,
sent Harold and other nobles to confer with the leaders
of the insurrection, hear the statement of their grie
vances, and, if possible, bring about a pacification. The
commissioners assembled, first at Northampton, and
afterwards at Oxford; but the rebel nobles, having
been met by ambassadors, where they expected an
army, became peremptory and overbearing, threatening
the king with hostility, unless he complied with their
demands to abrogate the laws enacted by Tostig, and
banish their author from the kingdom. English his
tory is full of the sudden vicissitudes of party. From
having been all-powerful in the realm, the House of
Godwin had now become unpopular, while that of Leo
fric was in the ascendant. Clearly perceiving this, and
being, besides, averse from civil strife, Harold conceded
to the Northumbrians the laws of Canute,4 and, returning
1 Saxon Chronicle, a. d. 1065. author of the Life of Edward, lean-
Simeon De Gestis Begum Anglo- ing rather to Tostig than to Harold,
rum p. 193. appears to have experienced some
2 Vita iEdwardi Eegis, p. 422. difficulty in making up his mind
3 Florence of Worcester, a.d. respecting the quarrel of the bro-
1065. thers, repeating the accusations
* Saxon Chronicle, a.d. 1065. The against the elder, and refuting

216

HISTORY OF ENGLAND. [CHAP, XVII.

to court, laid the propositions of the Northumbrians
before Edward. In such contingencies, the sovereign
was not competent to decide without consulting his
nobles and clergy. A Witenagem6t was, therefore, hastily
assembled at Bretheuorde, near Wilton, in which the)
subject was discussed with much passion and party
feeling. All those nobles who leaned to the House of
Leofric seized eagerly on the favourable opportunity for
striking a blow at the Godwins, not only acusing Tostig
of infusing cruelty and barbarity into the administration
of justice, but also of prosecuting men in order to obtain
possession of their property. It has even been asserted
that Harold originated these accusations,1 though the

them, but in language implying
some doubt and hesitation : " Dice-
batur quoque, si dignum esset cre
dere, fratris sui Haroldi insidioso,
quod absit, suasu hanc dementiam
contra ducem suum aggressos esse.
Sed ego huic detestabili nequitiae a
tanto principe in fratrem suum non
audeo nee vellem fidem adhibere,"
p. 422. Afterwards, when Harold
clears himself from the guilt of such
an action, by oath, the author adds :
" Sed ille (Haroldus) citius ad sacra-
menta nimis proh dolor! prodigus
hoc objectum sacramentis purga-
vit." p. 423.
1 Dr. Lappenberg (II. 271),
though he rejects the accusations
made against Harold, by hostile
chroniclers (Ordericus Vitalis, III.
11 ; and William of Malmesbury,
II. 13), yet appears to lend some
countenance to the story of their
mutual enmity, by referring to the
legends of Ailred de Eievaux, p.
394. This writer, while labouring
to elevate the Confessor to a level
with the Hebrew prophets, relates a
silly story, repeated by several other
monks, of the two brothers fighting
before him as boys after he had
married their sister Editha. The
absurdity of the naralive at once
becomes evident, when it is remem

bered that Edward never saw them
till they were grown up men, and
in possession of earldoms — for they
were older than their sister, who it
is to be presumed was a woman
when she became queen. To prove
the exactitude of his knowledge,
Ailred not only relates that Harold
drove Tostig out of England, but
that, after the battle of Stamford
Bridge, Harold Harfager (Hardrada)
made his escape from the field, and
returned to Norway with a single
vessel. Henry of Huntingdon (p.
761) loses himself in an absolute
flood of calumny, while he trans
poses this memorable adventure to
the year a.d. 1063, ten years after
Godwin's death . Harold, the recog
nised heir-apparent to the throne,
a general and statesman, far beyond
theprecinets of youth, is transform
ed into a cup-bearer, which signal,
honour so enrages the ruler of two
ancient kingdoms, that he flies at
his brother and tears him by the
hair of h is head . Henry, moreover,
gives him the palm of seniority,
calls his sister Emma, and describes
him as exceeding in savageness the
fiercest cannibal of New Zealand.
Going down to Hereford he slaugh
ters his brother's servants, pickles
their heads and arms in jars, and

A.D. 1065.J HAROLD AND TOSTIG. 217
suspicion is not only baseless, but irreconcileable with
all the events of the times. Before this assembly the
earl of Northumbria was summoned ; he appeared, and
by his own oath, and the oaths of his compurgators,
cleared himself of the offences laid to his charge. Never
theless, perceiving the angry temper of the Witan,
Edward, in spite of his affection for the earl, gave Avay.
The whole North was in arms, and the excitement he
feared might spread through the rest of England ; the
winter, too, was approaching, Avhich increased the diffi
culty of collecting an army, and there were those among
his friends who strongly dissuaded him from engaging
in civil war. Still, he did not yield so much to reason
as to necessity. His indignation had been excited, not
only on account of his friendship for Tostig, but at
seeing his own dignity insulted, and his authority set at
naught. Tostig, with all his passions on fire, especially
by the suggestion to which in his fury he gave ear, that
his own brother had conspired with the rest against
him, embarked with his wife, his children, his friends,
and whatever treasure he still possessed, and sailed away
to his father-in-law, Baldwin, at Bruges.1
From this day forward, to the day of his death, Ed
ward never recovered. He had been thrown into a
state of high wrought excitement, his pride had been
humiliated by having the consciousness of his inability
to protect his friends forced upon him. He was imme
diately seized, therefore, by the lingering malady which
terminated in his death. Accusations against Harold
were rife, and obtained a wide credence at the time,
because, as was thought, he had not interposed his
then jocularly sends to inform the videntur : _ falsa certe sunt quoa,d
king that when he should come into causam exilii Tostii, quse longe alia
those quarters he would find plenty fuit." Monumenta Britannica, ubi
of salt meat. Such is the monkish supra.
theory of history. However, for 1 Matthew of Westminster, a.d.
this atrocity we are told Tostig was 1065. Saxon Chronicle, eodem
banished the realm ; upon which anno.
Mr. Petrie obseves ; "Hsec ficta

218 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. [CHAP. XVII.
power for the rescue of his brother. But the Witen
agemot having assembled, and pronounced its judgment,
it was no longer a question of kindred or friendship,
but of national policy. His enemies, in truth, had
prevailed against him, and he was constrained to witness
supremacy over one-half of the kingdom pass out of
his own family into the hands of rivals and competitors
for public favour. This the ignorance and passions of
the times concealed from ordinary lookers on, whose
partial views and feelings crept into the Chronicles, and
long continued to pervert the decisions of history.
For many years Edward had been devoting the tenth
of his revenues1 to the construction of a vast Benedictine
monastery at Westminster,2 and now the close of his life,
and of his architectural labours, appeared likely to coin
cide. This work he had undertaken to obtain a release
from his vow of pilgrimage, made when in exile, which
the nobles of the kingdom, apprehending troubles during
his absence, would not permit him to fulfil. The abbey
occupying the site of an ancient temple of Apollo, stood
in the Isle of Thorns, on a level sunny spot, surrounded
by green meadows and pleasant groves. Near it flowed
the noble river On whose broad bosom, as our ancestors
were proud to observe, floated the commerce of the
Avorld. Here rose the great minster, close to the palace,
of the English kings, in the midst of a cluster of monastic
buildings, chapter-house, cloisters, refectory and spacious
dormitories. Nothing of equal splendour had previously
been seen in England. The people gazed therefore with
awe and Avonder at its stupendous towers, its long and
lofty arcades, its transepts, its choirs, its chapels, altars* :
winding staircases, its vast and gorgeously painted aatu.
dows, flooding the ulterior with the blazonry of many-
1 Dugdale, Monasticon Anglica- which he had provided for the
num, I. 267- comforts of the monks. See the
2 His merit in this work is recog- whole of his letter in Ailred de
nised by Pope Leo, who dwells Bievaux, pp. 381, 382.
particularly on the liberality with

A.D. 1065.] HAROLD AND TOSTIG. 219
coloured light.1 In this magnificent structure, EdAvard
had determined that his oaati ashes should be deposited,
though he now began to fear that the ceremony of con
secration could not be completed before his death.
At length the Christmas festival arrived, and notwith
standing his illness, which it was evident must prove
fatal, he presided at the royal banquets, affecting cheer
fulness in order not to cast a gloom over the customary
festivities. But his strength failed so rapidly, that in
spite of his earnest desire, he was unable to be present
at the consecration of the minster. Editha, therefore,
supported by her brother Harold, presided in his stead.
But his absence cast a gloom over the ceremony, Avhich
had been scarcely ended, ere the principal actors were
called upon to attend the king's death-bed.
When Edward felt that he was dying, he said to the
queen who sat in tears at his bedside — " Let thanks be
given to God, that I am going to be taken." He then
added, that his wife had been to him in the place of a
beloved daughter, cleaving ever to his side, and fulfilling
his wishes. Then pointing with his hand towards Harold,
his dear friend and supporter : " This woman," he said,
" I commit to thy protection, as well as the whole king
dom. Treat her as thy queen and sister, and let her
never be deprived of the honour she has always deserved
and received from me. To thee, I likewise recommend
all those who through love for me have left their native
land, and have hitherto served me faithfully. Protect
them here, if they desire to remain in the enjoyment of
all they possess ; but should they wish to return to their
homes, let them go in safety with whatever belongs to
them." Thus, as far as concerns Edward's wishes, it is clear
that he desired to be succeeded by Harold, The his
torian to whom we are indebted for these particular's,
1 Vita Eadwardi Eegis1, p. 417. In painted with histories. iEstoires les
the French life of Edward, the vereres, V. 2303.
windows are said to have been

220 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. [CHAP. XVII.
probably the queen's confessor, was in all likelihood
present at the scene he describes, and his testimony
agrees literally with that of the National Chronicle, in
which it is said — " And the sage ne'ertheless,
The realm committed
To a highly born man.
Harold's self
The noble earl !
He in all time,
Obeyed faithfully
His rightful lord ;
By words and deeds,
Nor aught neglected,
Which needful was
To his sovereign lord."1
When the king was dead and laid out, his face still
retained its rosy colour, while his white beard fell upon
his breast like a lily. His eyes being closed, and his
hands stretched down by his side, he appeared to be in
a sweet sleep.
The character of Edward the Confessor was full of
weakness, and therefore full of duplicity. His mind
had been corrupted in Normandy, and the events of
his life tended rather to aggravate his vices than
to deliver him from them. Nearly all princes brought
up in exile occupy a false position ; they necessarily
make friends among foreigners, who, when they are
restored to their country, have so many claims upon
their gratitude, that it is not a little difficult to satisfy
them. Besides, the royal exiles lose their national
manners, and in part, perhaps, their language, so that
they return home with the ban of foreigners upon them,
and find it next to impossible, during their whole lives,
to obliterate the impression made by this fact on the
minds of their countrymen.
1 Saxon Chronicle, a.d. 1066. value to be set on his testimony by
The author of the Brevis Belatio relating that he took it, and was
having affirmed that Edward re- crowned at St. Paul's, p. 4. — Ed.
fused Harold's entreaties to leave Giles.
him the crown, shows the little

A.D. 1065.] HAROLD AND TOSTIG. 221
All these unfavourable circumstances applied with
unusual force to Edward the Confessor. He had gone
abroad when a child, and the natural weakness and timi
dity of his character had been augmented by the forlorn
feeling of dependence. When sent for, therefore, into
England by Hardicanute, he came accompanied by
Norman adventurers, lay and clerical.1 Afterwards,
when raised to the throne, he invited over hosts of
those foreigners, with whom he had far more sympathy
than with the English. Hence the misfortunes of his
reign, and the incurable calamities brought immediately
afterwards upon his country. He was, properly speak
ing, the author of the last act of the Norman Conquest,
the first commenced with the year 787, and therefore
there is no name in our history less entitled to the re
spect of Englishmen.
His superstition reduced him to a level with the
lowest bigots and fanatics, but at the same time
rendered the monkish chroniclers so enamoured of his
life and conversation, that they secretly determined to
suggest a parallel between him and Christ. Miracles
were of the most familiar occurrence with this patron
of celibacy ; at the altar the sacramental bread was
transformed into the infant Jesus, who spoke to and
blessed him ;8 he cured by touch and the sprinkhng of
water a scrofulous woman,3 and transmitted to a long
line of successors the power of removing the disease,
thence called the " king's evil ;" he restored sight to the
blind, strength to the weak, health to the infirm, and
surpassed Calchas himself in the gift of prophecy.
The relaters of his actions rival the authors of the
Arabian Nights. While present at the dedication of
St. John's Church, a mendicant addresses him,4 and
1 The Saxon Chronicle, A.D. 1049, 2 Estoire de Seint JEdward le
speaking of one of his promotions Eei, V. 2515, sqq.
observes, " And King Edward gave ¦ 3 William of Malmesbury, II.
the bishopric (of Chichester), to 13,
Ulf, his priest, and unworthily 4 Estoire de Seint Edward le
bestowed it." Eei, V. 3453, sqq.

222 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. [CHAP. XVII.
intreats charity ; he has no purse, his almoner is
absent. What is to be done % Edward looks upon his
hand, and beholds there a favourite ring, which he im
mediately pulls from his finger and gives to the stranger.
Two English palmers, happening just then to be in
Palestine, lose their way while proceeding towards the
Holy Sepulchre. The place in which, they find them
selves is a desert, where they are overtaken by the
night. In their dread and perplexity, an old man with
a white beard appears to them, leads them to a comfort
able hotel, at which they find plenty to eat and drink,
good beds and clean linen ; after which their guide in
forms them that he is John the Evangelist, and by way of
proving his veracity, commissions them to restore to
Edward the ring which that gracious monarch had
given him in a church.
Contrary to Avhat might have been expected, Edward
was much given to laughter, occasionally, it must be
owned, very much out of season. Thus, one day at mass,1
while everybody. else was impressed with the solemnity
of the service, he exploded into a fit of merriment ; and
upon being asked the reason of his impious cachinnation,
replied, that he saAv in a vision the Danes and Norwe
gians entering into a compact to invade England, and
by way of ratifying their convention, sitting down to
gether to drink. The cup goes round, giving rise to
wild mirth — to this succeeds disputation — to disputation
quarrel — to quarrel a fierce conflict, in which both '
parties are totally disabled from carrying their design
against England into execution. " I laughed, there
fore," he said, "from the persuasion that no foreigners
will be able to effect anything against this country in
my time."
But his greatest, achievement in the way of joviality
occurred at a royal banquet in Westminster, on Easter

1 Higden, Poly chronicon, III. 278. Chronicon Johannis Bromton, p.
Ailredus Abbas Eievallis, p. 378. 949.

A.D. 1065.] HAROLD AND TOSTIG. 223
Sunday, where his sharp and emaciated features, after
having been for a Avhile oppressed by pensiveness, ex
panded into laughter.1 At the time no one inquired the
cause, but after dinner, Harold, accompanied by a bishop
and an abbot- — probably under the persuasion that his
majesty had become insane — proceeded to his private
chamber, and inquired why he had laughed. Edward
had again been indulged Avith a vision, and he replied
to the son of Godwin, that being at table, his thoughts
had been suddenly transported to the East, during Avhich
he saw the Seven Sleepers of Ephesus turn from their
right side to their left,2 which, he said, betokened all
sorts of calamities to mankind. Why so disastrous a
prospect for his fellow-creatures should excite his laugh
ter, the worthy monarch omitted to explain ; but Harold,
with philosophical scepticism, being resolved to test his
majesty's accuracy, despatched an embassy to Constan
tinople for the purpose of investigating the attitude of
the Sleepers, which was of course found to correspond
exactly Avith the king's vision. It never occurred to the
inventors of this legend that they ought to make it har
monise with the original fiction, which relates that the
Sleepers retire to their cavern in the reign of the emperor
Decius,3 awake one hundred and eighty-seven years after
wards, in the reign of the younger Theodosius, and then
vanish for ever from human sight. According to them
the martyred youths Avere to protract their slumbers in
definitely, and like Enceladus and Typhosus, under Etna,
to convulse the Avorld every time they sought ease by
turning round in their sleep. With these stories may
be classed the anecdote of Canute's placing his regal
chair in the waves, for the purpose of convincing his

1 William of Malmesbury, II. 13. 3 Gibbon, Decliue and Fall of the
2 Matthew of Westminster, a.d. Eoman Empire (VI. 32), has col-
1066. Eoger of Wendover supposes lected all the authorities for the
the cave of the Seven Sleepers to ancient legend, and related it with
have been in Mount Ccelius, at his usual force and perspicuity.
Eome.

*2S&y HISTORY OF ENGLAND. fcHAP. XVII.
.^biirtiers that he was not the omnipotent master of
! nature.
---" Edward's treatment of his Avife was at once odious
and pitiable, and the ingratitude he displayed towards
the great earl of Wessex, to whom he owed his crown
if not his life, leaves an indelible stain upon his memory.
That he endeavoured in the latter part of his reign to
make some amends to the Godwin family, and admitted
them into his intimate friendship, is true. He lavished
titles and favours on Tostig and Gurth, and evidently
designated Harold as his successor, though his want of
courage and resolution long led him to involve his
purpose in mystery.
His historical reputation is chiefly owing to the cir
cumstance that, through the influence of the Godwins; a
number of popular and useful laws were enacted or re
vived during his reign, over which, besides, a melan
choly splendour was cast by the fact that, except the
few troubled months allotted to the dauntless Harold,
his rule, extending almost through a quarter of a century,
closed the long and brilliant line of Saxon kings, among
whom were some of the best, the bravest, and most
generous of mankind.
Edward died on the fifth of January, a.d. 1066, and
on the following day, amid the tears ahd lamentations
of the people, was buried in Westminster Abbey, where
his tomb is still to be seen.

Controversy, though occasionally needful, disturbs
the course of history, and invests it with a dry and re
pulsive character. But everything is to be hazarded for
the sake of truth. Sometime during the latter portion
of Edward's reign, Harold is affirmed by many to have
taken a step which involved him in the guilt of perjury,
and led ultimately to his destruction. Supposing the
evidence in favour of this statement to be trustworthy,
no puerile desire to defend the last of our Saxon kings

A.D. 1066.] HAROLD AND TOSTIG.
should make us hesitate to adopt it. But is it trafj^
worthy? Is it consistent'? Has it any firm basis\.fli/
chronology 1 Are the witnesses agreed, either respect*^
ing his motives or object, or any of the leading circum
stances of the case % Truth wears one form, and is in
harmony with itself, as to time, place, persons, and all
its other concomitants ; whereas falsehood, having no
firm foundation on Avhich to stand, and being made up of
slippery and impalpable materials, rises before us in a
variety of shapes and attitudes, and can by no means be
fixed to one position.
It wilbbe immediately perceived that I am about to
speak of Harold's supposed visit1 to Normandy, of his
imprisonment at Ponthieu, of his liberation, of his recep
tion at Bouen, of his betrothal, in spite of his having a
wife in England, to one of the daughters of William —
though whether Adeliza or Agatha no one exactly knoAvs
-. — of his serving in the armies of the duke in various expe
ditions against Conan earl of Bretagne, of the assembling
of the states of Normandy, in whose presence Harold
swears over hidden relics to forward William's designs
against the liberties of England, though whether this
oath was taken at Rouen,8 at Bonneville-sur-Touque, or
at Bayeux,3 the historians of the transaction are unable
to decide ; neither is there any better agreement among
them respecting the motive, the object, or the date of
Harold's voyage. According to some he had, when
putting out to sea, no intention to visit Normandy, but
1 I say supposed, though Turner impartial writer, though somewhat
(History of England during the staggered by the bold assertions of
Middle Ages, I. 69) assumes it the Norman chroniclers, yet ob-
to have really taken place. Hume serves, by way of suggesting a
(I. 151, 157) takes the same view, decision, that the' " strictly Anglo-
Lingard (I. 294, 295), who, though Saxon authorities " are silent ou
perplexed by the numerous contra- the subject.
dictions in the story, selects two facts 2 OrdericusVitalis,III. _1L Guil-
whieh he regards as indisputable, laume de Poitiers, in Guizot's Col-
namely, his release from Ponthieu lection, XXIX. 369.
and his swearing fealty to William . 3 Waee, Eoman de Eou, V. 10729.
Dr.Lappenberg(II. 267), a calm and
VOL. II. Q

226 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. [CHAP, XVII.
was bound for Flanders j1 which, as far as their testimony
is concerned, disposes of the supposition that he was
commissioned by Edward to apprise the duke of his
having been designated successor to the throne of Eng
land. A second class of chroniclers send him out in a
fishing-boat,3 and cause him to be driven by a storm
on tbe French coast. According to a third class he
proceeds on a pious errand, since his purpose they say
Avas to deliver his brother and nephew from captivity.3
There is yet a fourth class of historians Avho represent
the great earl of Kent and Wessex, already, in fact, the
regent of England, as despatched by Edward, like an
ordinary envoy, to make knoAvn in Normandy the folly
of his OAvn hopes and the baselessness of his own ambi
tion.4 So far, it will be observed, there is nothing in the
received accounts but confusion and obscurity. When
Ave come to the chronology of the voyage,5 the variations
and contradictions are still more palpable, since we may
select for the date of it any point of time from a.d. 1056
to a.d. 1065, some affirming that it took place in the
former, some in the latter year ; others prefer a.d. 1Q59;
others, 1063 ; and others, again, 1064,
1 Henry of Huntingdon, p. 760. invented the story of the embassy
2 William of Malmesbury, II. 13. for his own protection against Wil-
Matthew of Westminster, Eoger of liam's treachery.
Wendover, a.d. 1059. 6 Bromton, p. 947, places it in the
3 Boger de Hoveden, a.d. 1066. fourteenth year of Edward, that is,
Walter Hemingford, II. 456. a.d. 1056 ; Matthew of Westminster
Simeon De Gestis Eegum Anglo- and Boger of Wendover in a.d.
rum, p. 196. 1059 ; Henry of Huntingdon, a.d.
4 At the head of these chroni- 1063 ; Eanulph, Higden, III. 283, in
clers stands Ingulph, who, to depre- 1064 ; Hoveden, Malmesbury, He-
ciate Harold, calls him Edward's mingford, Waee, Simeon of Dur-
niajor domo, but immediately af- ham, run through the whole gamut
terwards stultifies himself by speak- of chronology from the period im-
ing of his intended marriage with mediately succeeding the death of
William's daughter, I. 68. William Godwin to the. period immedi-
of Malmesbury (II. 13) observes ately preceding the death of Ed- '
that this was a commonly received ward, so little possible did they find
opinion, but that he himself believes it to give any stability *Qr coherence
Harold to have been driven to to their fable,
France against his will, and to have

A.D. 1066.] HAROLD AND TOSTIG. 227
Modern historians, discovering insuperable objections
to all the earlier dates, imagine there are fewer obstacles
in the way of adjudging the voyage to the last year of
Edward's reign.1 The selection seems unfortunate. At the
time of the expedition against Conan, the corn is said
to have been almost ripe in the fields, which in Bretagne
is never tbe case till towards the end of August or the
beginning of September. Noav, from the most unim
peachable of all testimonies,2 we know that Harold Avas
in Wales during the summer of a.d. 1065, overlooking
the erection of the hunting-palace which he undertook
to build for the pleasure of his brother-in-law. We
may infer, though it is not stated, that Harold left
Wales some time before the end of August, because on
the 24th of that month Caradoc, son of the murdered
king Griffith, Avhose widoAV Harold had married, exter
minated the earl's workmen, and put a period to the
construction of the palace.3 Immediately after this,
thai is, early in September, the insurrection took place
in Northumbria, Avhen Harold was at hand, ready at the
king's request to negociate with the rebels at North
ampton.4 From this view of the occurrences of a.d. 1065, it
seems difficult, if not impossible, to imagine an unoccu
pied interval lying betAveen midsummer and autumn
long enough to admit of our crowding into it all the
events which are said to have occurred during Harold's
imprisonment at Ponthieu and forced detention in Nor
mandy.5 The whole story, whether fact or fiction, with
1 Lappenberg, II. 267. Lingard, there himself. The language of
I. 295, whose notions as to time are Florence is more indefinite, yet
supported by Simeon of Durham, appears to imply the presence of
Walter de Hemingford, and others. " the brave earl of Wessex."
2 Saxon Chronicle, a.d. 1065, 3 Eoger de HovedeD, a.d. 1065.
which states that Harold, having i Florence of Worcester, A.d.
subdued Wales, ordered a hunting- 1065. Vita ^Edwardi Begis, p. 426
palace to be built there before Lam- 6 These occurrences were nume-
mas, and "there gathered much rous. First, Harold is driven out
good, and thought to have king to sea, wrecked, taken prisoner,
Edward there for the purpose of and thrown chained into a dungeon.
hunting," which proves he was After some time he finds means of
Q 2

228 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. [CHAP. XVII.
due allowance for the variations already pointed out,
runs as follows. The earl of Kent and Wessex, en
gaged in protecting the marches from the inroads of the
Kymri, in watching over his own interests, always more
or less in jeopardy from the machinations of the earls
of Mercia, and absorbed by profoundly disquieting
thoughts, suggested by- the relations which he could
not but have knoAvn to exist between his brother Tostig
and the turbulent and sanguinary people over whom
Edward's partiality had placed him, goes forth like a
knight-errant to deliver two hostages, his brother and
nephew, from prison. :
Before his departure he is warned by the king — who,
it must be remembered, had basely betrayed those hos
tages into captivity — not to place himself in the power
of William, with whose craft and selfishness he was but
too well acquainted, otherwise he Avould only bring dis
credit on himself and grievous calamities on his country.1
This earnest solicitude for his brother-in-law on the part
of EdAvard implies no over-mastering aversion for the
House of Godwin, or strong desire to pass the sceptre
out of his own hands into those of the Norman duke,
despatching a secret message to to Harold's adventure. Sailing to-
William, in consequence of which wards Bretland(Wales),he is driven
much negociation takes place be- with all his ships to Eouen, where
tween him and Guy, and it is not he remains during the whole sum-
until several couriers have passed mer, autumn, and winter, sitting up
to and fro that this brigand takes all night with the duchess, one of
Harold to Eu. Many tournaments the most beautiful women that
are then arranged in succesion, in could be seen, and exciting Wil-
the intervals between which Ha- liam's jealousy. To allay this tor-
rold may be supposed to have been turing feeling, he makes proposals
making love to one of William's for one of William's daughters,
daughters. Then follow three or then very young, but without the
four expeditions against Bretagne, least intention of wedding her, and
in all of which Harold served under when the spring returns sails back
the duke. Can we imagine that to England, leaving the jealous and
less than eight or nine months vindictive Norman to brood over
would have been passed in all these his plans of vengeance.
wars and amusements. Compare 1 Badulph de Diceto, p. 481 ;
Lappenberg, II. '268; Guillaume Simeon De Gestis Begum Anglo-
de Poitiers, in Guizot, t. xxix. rum, p. 196 ; Henry de Knyghton,
p. 369. Hardrada's Saga, cap. 78, p. 2337; Higden, Polychronicon
appropriates little short of a year III, 283,

A.D. 1066.] HAROLD AND TOSTIG. 229
from whose ambition, on the contrary, he anticipates
nothing but evil and disaster to England. No considera
tions, however, deter the headstrong earl. With Ed
ward's remonstrances still ringing in his ears, to sea he
goes, and is immediately shipwrecked in the territories
of Guy, count of Ponthieu, Avho puts him in fetters, and
throws him into a dungeon. Here, instead of bethink
ing himself of his own sovereign, a feAv of whose ships
of war, under the command of Tostig, Gurth, or Leof
wine, would have speedily brought Guy to reason, he
meanly appeals to the compassion of the duke of Nor
mandy. Regarding him rather as prey than as a guest,
William, like a true leader of banditti, perceives at once
all the advantages to be derived from the possession of
so noble a prisoner, and by menaces full of fury com
pels the brigand of Ponthieu to deliver him into his
hands. Once in the Norman capital, Harold comprehends all
the perils of his position.1 William glozes and flatters,
deals largely in promises, still more largely in fictions,
and the result is a compact the most absurd on re
cord. To prove his right to the English crown, he is
made to describe an agreement2 entered into by him
and Edward when they were youths together in Nor
mandy. EdAvard, however, had ceased to be a youth
when William was born, the birth of the former having
taken place in a.d. 1003, and the latter, at the earliest,
in a.d. 1024, or in a.d. 1027, if we adopt the common
reckoning, which makes him eight years old Avhen his
father, Eobert the Devil, quitted France, in a.d. 1035,
to proceed on pilgrimage to the Holy Land. By this
1 " Sensit Haraldus periculum tunc juvene et ipse juvenis in
undique nee intellexit qua parte Normannia dimoraretur, sibi inter-
evaderet." Walter Hemingford, posita fide sua pollicitum fuisse
II. 457. quod si Eex Anglise foret unquam,
2 Simeon De Gestis Begum An- jus Eegni in ilium jure Harseditario
glorum, p. 196. Hemingford, IL, post se transferred" Here it is
457, observes : " Dicebut enim Ee- obvious the respective ages of the
gem Edwardum, quando cum eo two are entirely lost sight of.

230 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. [CHAP. XVII.
computation William had barely attained the age of
thirteen, when, at the invitation of Hardicanute, Edward
left his place of exile to enjoy a superior style of de
pendence at the Court of Winchester. Accordingly
the man of thirty-seven and the boy of thirteen could
obviously never have been youths together, Avhich suffi
ciently, I think, disposes of the duke's claim to the
English crown through this secret treaty.
His negociations with Harold appear to be surrounded
with equally strong objections ;l several of the stipula
tions of their compact having been under the circum
stances too monstrous to be credible. One of the wit
nesses, Avho for the occurrences he relates depends
entirely on hearsay, tells us at one time that the eldest
of William's daughters,8 having fallen in love Avith the
tall, handsome, eloquent, and fascinating English prince,
was betrothed to him ;3 while at another time, he accuses
that prince of falsehood, for affirming to Edward that
such was the case. Harold's sister, it is well-known,
was the queen of England, and was then living with
her husband in his palace ; yet William is made to ask
her hand for one of his nobles, and Harold with equal
facility is made to give it.4 There is no difficulty in
understanding how the chroniclers, writing at a distance,
in time or place, should amuse themselves with such in
ventions, which no contemporary would have dared to
utter. Having paved the way with these preliminary
absurdities, the servile monks approach the object of
all their fictions — the bestowal of the crown of England
by the Confessor on the duke of Normandy, and the
1 Compare Annales Burtonensis, a child ; II. 13 ; while Ordericus
I. 247. Henry de Knyghton, himself, not making the ' end of his
p. 2337. commonwealth agree with the be-
2 Eadulph de Diceto bestows on ginning, accuses Harold of false-
this lady the name of Ala, p. 481. hood, for stating to Edward what
3 Ordericus Vitalis,V.ll. Compare he himself affirms in the passage
III. 11. William of Malmesbury, first referred to.
to show the little value we should ' Simeon De Gestis Begum An-
set in this matter on his testimony, glorum, ubi supra. Diceto, p. 481.
speaks of Agatha as at that time

A.D. 1066.] HAROLD AND TOSTIG. 231
oath of Harold, taken for greater sanctity over a tub of
dead men's bones,1 to secure it to him. Being quite in
the humour to be prodigal of oaths, there Avas no act of
treachery or baseness which the man, Avho for his un
flinching courage and invincible greatness of soul
obtained from the spontaneous admiration of his contem
poraries the surname ofthe "Dauntless," was not ready,
through craven fear, to engage by oath to perform : he
bound himself to deliver into William's hands the castle
and well of Dover,8 together Avith all the other fortresses
in his earldom, to take the Bastard's daughter to wife,
he being then a married man ; to give his sister, the
pious and fair Editha, noblest by far among the Saxon
queens of England, to one ofthe duke's courtiers; in
short to degenerate into a sort of Edric, the arch-traitor
and plague spot of English history.
Such are the circumstances Avhich have generally
appeared sufficiently probable to obtain credence from his
torians, though from a careful and impartial examination
of all the statements of the chroniclers, they seem to
be destitute of all claim to belief. It would not, how
ever, have been right to pass over the legend in silence;
though, if the reasons I have adduced for discrediting it
should be deemed satisfactory, future Avriters of English
history, may, perhaps, content themselves Avith tacitly
consigning it to oblivion. William of Poitiers, the only
contemporary Chronicler who countenances the tale, is
so partial, so extravagant, and so malevolent and vindic
tive whenever any member of the house of Godwin is
concerned, that he appears occasionally to become frantic
Avith hatred, so that unable to satiate his fury on the
1 Boger de Hoveden, a.d. 1065. then a little girl, and enriched with
2 Matthew of Westminster, a.d. all her inheritance. Eoger of Wen-
1059, says Harold engaged by oath dover tells the - same story, only
to deliver up to William the castle substituting Dover for Canterbury ;
of Canterbury, together wilh the and adds that thenceforwardHarold
whole kingdom, on Edward's death was regarded as a member of Wil-
in consequence of which he was liam's family
betrothed to the duke's daughter,

232 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. [CHAP. XVII.
living, he betakes himself in imagination to the resting-
place of the great earl, and insults him in his grave. A
man of such a temper of mind could hardly be expected
to be a calm and scrupulous narrator of facts ; yet if we
accept the calumnious fiction, the worthlessness of which
I have endeavoured to prove, it is exclusively to his
authority we must succumb, for the other relaters of the
story are only so many echoes of his assertions. The
inquiry is n<jt, as some appear to imagine, a mere Saxon
question — it, is a question of fact. If the story be true,
it proves Harold to have been Aveak enough to conceal
his feelings to save his life, while it demonstrates Wil
liam to have been a ruthless leader of banditti, ready, in
order to gain his OAvn ends, to imbrue his hands in the
blood of his guest, who had frankly confided in his
honour. Incredulity, therefore, it appears to me, makes
still more for the reputation of William than for that of
Harold — consequently the question is rather a Norman
than a Saxon one.

A.D. 1066.] LAST OF THE SAXON KINGS. 233

CHAPTEE XVIII.

LAST OF THE SAXON KINGS.

There is no portion of English history so involved in
obscurity or beset with difficulties as that on which we
are now about to enter. Not a statement can be hazarded
Avhich has not been made the subject of controversy;,
not a position taken up which has not been repeatedly
assailed and defended ; not an event related which has
not been distorted and discoloured by conflicting inter
pretations. Nevertheless, by a critical examination of
the original authorities — by a diligent attention to chro
nology — by duly weighing each chronicler's motives,
situation, means of acquiring knowledge, and claims to
credibility, it may not be impossible, even at this distance
of time, to ascertain the truth ; and no matter whose
character may suffer, this is the object of history. Names
weighed down by the accumulated calumny of a thousand
years, may thus be sometimes rescued from obloquy, and
restored to the honourable position they should have
held from the first.
Much more importance than they deserve has been
attached to the wishes of Edward the Confessor, respect
ing the person who was to succeed him ; for the crown
being elective, the choice of the new sovereign devolved
upon the nobles and clergy in Witenagem6t assembled.
Even such claims, however, as might have been founded
on the Avill of the deceased monarch were wholly want-
ing to the duke of Normandy. There is not a tittle of
evidence that Edward ever designated or contemplated

234 history of England. [chap. xvii.
him as his heir. The fiction that he conveyed to William
the expression of his intentions in his favour through
Robert Champart, the simoniacal archbishop of Canter
bury,1 is entirely dissipated by the fact, that long after
that prelate's death, he sent for his own nephew from
Hungary with the publicly declared design of proposing
him to the nation as its sovereign.2 Besides, knowing
that all the troubles of his own reign had sprung from
his partiality for the Normans, who Avere held in ab
horrence throughout England, he would not, even had
he cherished such a project, have dared to utter it, espe
cially to the recognised leader of the anti-Norman party,
whom for many years the respect and affection of the
whole country had marked out for his successor.
No contemporary authority3 of the slightest credit
adopts the Norman view of the transaction. On the
contrary, every English Chronicler Avho lived at the time,
and may be supposed to have enjoyed opportunities of
obtaining accurate information, affirms that the Confes
sor bequeathed the crown to Harold. A testimony still
more decisive, however, even than that of the indige
nous historians is that of William himself, who, on his
death-bed, his conscience burdened with every species of
crime and villainy, confessed he had not obtained the
crown of England by any right of succession, but wrested
it from Harold by the sword on the heath of Senlac.
The persevering falsehood of a whole life being thus
1 This priest died in a.d. 1053, and rence of Worcester, a.d. 1066. Eoger
therefore could hardly be expected de Hoveden, a.d. 1066. Simeon of
to wring anything from the Con- Durham states emphatically that
fessor on his death-bed thirteen Edward bequeathed the crown to
years after. See note to Ordericus Harold, who was likewise elected
Vitalis, I. 459. by all the nobles of England, p. 193.
2 Saxon Chronicle, Elorence of Eadulph de Diceto repeats and con-
Worcester, a.d. 1057. William of firms the testimony of Simeon, p.
Malmesbury, II. 13. 479. Higden, Polychronicon," III.
3 Compare Saxon Chronicle, a.d. 284, observes, " Tradit marianus,
1066. Lives of Ed ward the Confessor, quod rex Edwardus ante obitum
p. 433; Historia Eliensis, III. 515, suum designaverit Haraldum ie-
where Harold is said to have been gem futurum."
previously called subregulus. Flo-

A.D. 1066.] LAST OF THE SAXON KINGS.

235

relinquished at its close that he might not enter the
presence of God with a lie upon his lips, he dared not,
in that terrible moment, assume the right to bequeath
to another a sceptre which no one had bequeathed to him.
He left the matter, therefore, to the disposal of heaven,
thus abandoning the fiction of Avhich he had skilfully
availed himself during twenty-one years, that he had pos
sessed the throne of England as Edward's heir.1
That in all princely qualities Harold greatly surpassed
his Norman rival is not to be doubted. He was generous,
humane, and brave, even to a fault ; his piety and
munificence to the Church are warmly extolled by the
monastic writers; and his clemency, love of justice,
eloquence, and majestic presence, are acknowledged
even by his worst enemies. Had the influence of his
character been less powerful, the dangerous circumstances
of the times might have suggested a different choice ;
but all the magnates of the realm having been drawn to
London by the Christmas festivities, met immediately

1 Ordericus Vitalis, VII. 15. The
admissions put into the mouth of
William by the ecclesiastical his
torian of Normandy, if not made
exactly in the words in which they
have come down to us, were doubt
less believed at the- time to have
been extorted from the Conqueror
by remorse. Ordericus hated Ha
rold, and was generally ready to
pour forth adulation at the feet of
the Norman prince ; but he also, as
well as his hero, felt himself to be
in the grasp of Nemesis, who wrung
from him the truth piecemeal. What
he has related was probably con
fided to him by William's confessor,
who may have believed that by
divulging the terrible secret he was
doing God service : " I tremble,"
gasped the conqueror, " when I re
flect that I am stained by the rivers
of blood I have shed."  "I have
placed onmybrow aroyal diadem"...
" by victories over numerous adver
saries."... "But much as human am

bition is disposed to triumph iu such
successes, I am a prey to cruel fears
and anxieties when I reflect with
what barbarities they were attend
ed."  "I did not attain the crown
of England by hereditary right" 
" it was by the slaughter and banish
ment of Harold's adherents that I
subjugated England to rule. I have
persecuted its native inhabitants
beyond all reason — whether nobles
or commons I have cruelly oppressed
them."  "I took revenge on
multitudes of both sexes by subject
ing them to the calamity of a cruel
famine, and by so doing, alas, me !
became the barbarous murderer of
many thousands, both young and
old, of that fine race of people."
Even if this lugubrious confession
issued only from the lips of Wil
liam's cloistered panegyrist, it came
evidently from the heart, and may
be accepted as the universal convic
tion of the eleventh century.

236 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. [CHAP. XVIII.
after Edward's funeral, and with few dissentient voices
elected Harold to be king of England.. Some, it is said
there Avere, Avho, through attachment to the ancient
House of Cerdie, would, in more tranquil times, have
stood up for the pretensions of the Etheling Edgar ; but:
his youth and mental imbecility disqualifying him for
acceding to a throne surrounded with peril, he was set
aside in favour of that great Englishman, the fame of
whose achievements already filled Christendom.
Harold's coronation1 took place at Westminster on
the sixth of January, a.d. 1066, and the ceremony of
consecration was performed by Aldred,8 archbishop of
York, the primate Stigand3 having been suspended on
the futile charge of schism, by the profligate and venal
court of Borne. Possessing the title of king — the power
he had long wielded — Harold at once applied himself
to the abrogation of bad laws, and the enactment of
good ones. As if he foresaw the shortness of the
career allotted to him, he appeared resolved to make up
for the fewness of his days by the vigour and magnitude
of his deeds. His administration of justice, deserves to
be regarded as a model by all succeeding princes:
towards evil-doers he was inexorable, while honest and
good men found in him a kind and noble benefactor;
To the clergy *of every grade he behaved with the
1 Simeon, of Durham, .p. 193. accepted the archbishopric while
Diceto, p. 479. Eudborne, I. 240, Eobert was still living, and also
relates, perhaps figuratively, that presumed to wear the pall which
he put the diadem of England on the simoniacal foreigner had left
his own head. behind him at Canterbury. He
2 Higden, Polychronicon, III. 284. then makes use of a phrase which
3 Stephen Birchington, who may has coloured the language 'of A
be reckoned among Stigand's libel- modern historian. Benedict X.
lers, says, "Hi? in habitu clericali sent him, he says, the pall for money
^ primus _ archiepiscopatu functus " vel quod maii gratificantur simi-
est." Vitse Archiepiscoporum Can- libus ;" an idea which Lingard
tuariensium, 1. 5. He then informs adopts, observing of Benedict and
us that Stigand was William's, Stigand, " it was no difficult' matter
meaning Harold's, chaplain. Diceto for one intruder to obtain the pal-
(Anglia Sacra, II. 684), with the lium from another." History of
fierce prejudice of a monk, assails England, I. 286,
the memory of Stigand because he'

A.D. 1066.] LAST OF THE SAXON KINGS. 237
utmost liberality and courtesy, so that bishops, abbots,
monks, and clerks rejoiced at his accession, and prayed
for the protraction of his reign.1
With the assistance of men, influential through their
sanctity, he laboured to restrain that corruption of man
ners which the" long continuance of peace, the increase
of wealth, and more frequent intercourse with the Con
tinent had introduced. But we must not be betrayed
by monastic declamation into an exaggerated estimate
bf Anglo-Saxon degeneracy. Good but mistaken men
like Wulstan, bishop of Worcester, converted harmless
fashions or follies into crimes, inveighing, for example,
against the wearing of long hair, as if courage and
muscular energy were inconsistent with flowing locks.
The austerity of this excellent prelate, in which he
anticipated the Puritans of a later age, often laid him
open to the ridicule even of churchmen. Making dis
tinctions where nature has made none, he condemned the
use of the sable and the ermine, while, through a quaint
partiality for the name, he consented to line his robes
with lambskin.3 There was moreover something ludi
crous in his hostility to the luxuriant curls of his
countrymen : he carried about a little knife,3 with which
he was accustomed to pare his nails, or scrape off blots
from his books, and Avhen by his eloquence he had
convinced any one of the sin of going unshorn, he drew
forth this little instrument, and hacked off a lock to
what he deemed the proper length, counselling his
obedient penitent to cut off the remainder to suit.
Soon after the inauguration of the new dynasty,
intelligence was brought to the capital that symptoms
of disaffection had made their appearance in Northum-
1 Florence of Worcester, a.d. 1066, confounding him with Sweyn, and
Historia Eliensis, III. 515. The prosing about ridiculous visions.
Chronicle of Eamsey, which takes Hist. Barnes., III. 462.
the opposite view, destroys its own 2 Anglia Sacra, II. 259.
authority by falling into the most 3 Willelmus Malme=benensis De
palpable errors, making Tostig Vita S. Wulstaui, II. 254,
Harold's elder brother, that is

238 HISTORY OF ENGLAND, [CHAP. XVIII.
bria, whose inhabitants affected to be indignant at the
idea of subordination to the southern counties.1 To
preserve them in their allegiance, Harold made a pro
gress northwards, not followed by an army, but in
company with the bishop of Worcester, whose patriotism
and piety were universally known and respected. By
kindness and gentleness, which were among Harold's
principal characteristics, he secured the affections of the
Anglo-Danes, and then returned to celebrate the Easter
festival at Westminster.
Many causes now concurred to disturb the minds of
men. Rumours constantly reached the country of
designs of great magnitude which were forming against
it in the neighbouring states, Elanders, Normandy,
Scotland, and Norway. Tostig and the Norman duke
had married sisters8 — the former, Judith; the latter,
Matilda — daughters of count Baldwin. In the breast of
the exiled earl, resentment for his expulsion from
Northumbria, which he attributed to the influence of
his brother Harold, predominated over all other feelings,
and led him to co-operate with William in his designs
against England. No chronicler has revealed to us the
nature of tlieir scheme, or of the policy by which it was
to be realised. From events alone, therefore, can we
conjecture either. It appears to have been settled
betAveen the two pretenders that Tostig, whose Flemish
armament Avas first in readiness, should appear suddenly
in the Channel, strike terror into the southern counties,
and then, to perplex the councils of the English king,
effect a descent upon Northumbria, which William at the
outset, in the dubiousness of his affairs, was no doubt
ready to concede to him. ,
1 " Soli Northamhumbri magnum p. 343. Ordericus Vitalis, ni. 11.
et gentile tumentes interim parere This writer, though not ill informed
distulere ; Aquilonalem cervieo- respecting the affairs of Normandy^
sitatem Australi ut dictitabaut often displays gross ignorance of
mollitiei subjugare non dignati." English transactions. Thus he
Will. Malmes. De Vita S. Wulstani, speaks of Tostig as Harold's eldefj
II. 253. brother, and supposes him to have|'
2 Guillaume de Poitiers, t. xxix. been earl of Wessex.

A.D. 1066.] LAST OF THE SAXON KINGS. 239
Basing his claims to the English crown on the fiction
that it had been bequeathed to him by Edward, the duke
despatched messages to London to assert what he Avas
pleased to call his rights. To give some colour to this
proceeding, he won over by presents and promises the
reigning pope, Alexander1 the Second, to his interest,
and this, through the ignorance and superstition of the
times, was a consideration of great moment. By the
advice, probably, of the English prelates, who looked
with an eye of apprehension at Rome, where, in their
turn, they were regarded with aversion, Harold ne
glected or scorned to court the interference of a foreign
bishop with the internal affairs of his kingdom. The
establishment of a dynasty as well as the choice of an
individual sovereign rested with the nobles, clergy, and
people of England ; these three orders had substituted
the dynasty of Godwin for that of Cerdie, had placed the
diadem of England upon Harold's brow, had intrusted to
him the safeguard of their liberty and independence, and
in defence of this cause he resolved to live or die
It has been seen, however, that the Confessor had
introduced numerous foreign ecclesiastics into Eng
land, and these, scattered at intervals over the whole
face of the country, constituted so many secret points of
support for William. They were necessarily made ac
quainted with the designs of the duke, and must often
have met his envoys and messengers as they came and
Avent between the court of Westminster and that of
Eouen. Stimulated at once, therefore, by papal and
Norman influence and predilections, Ave may safely con
clude that they strained their power to the utmost to
promote the cause they had at heart. To effect this
purpose, they thickened the gloom emanating from the
1 John Capgrave, in his Chronicle the Pope, and expressed onto him
of England, imparts a strong Nor- the rite which he had to the crowne
man colour to his narrative. Hav- of Yngland, and the Pope com
ing related the fiction about aunded him on his blessing that
Harold's oath, he proceeds. "Then he schuld porsewe his rite, p. 129.
went duke William to Alisaunder

240 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. [CHAP. XVIII.
dens of superstition which they saw gathering over the
land. By their means sinister rumours were spread and
multiplied, so that, in spite of the national affection for
the Godwin dynasty, instead of that cheerful hope which
generally ushers in a new reign, a sort of tragic grandeur
invested the actions and movements of the king. Nature
herself soon imparted additional force to the machina
tions of the papal party. A comet1 of extraordinary
brilliance appeared suddenly in the heavens, shook its
flaming hair over the earth during seven nights, perplex
ing with fear of change, not monarchs only, but a majority
of human kind, and then retreated into the infinite
depths of space. This harbinger of disaster and cala
mity, according to popular interpretation, was visible
throughout Europe and. Asia, and in the ignorance of
astronomy which then prevailed, excited a degree of
terror no longer intelligible to educated minds. The
fears of that generation have been embodied in a few
words by a monk of Malmesbury, who, in ain address
to the comet, exclaims : " Thou art come at length, thou
ait come, to be wept by many mothers. Long is it
since I beheld thee, but thy present appearance is
doubly terrible, because thou foreshowest the ruin of
my country,"3
1 Saxon Chronicle, .Florence of Higden tells a ludicrous story of
Worcester, a.d. 1066, Ordericus this monk, who having read in the
Vitalis, III. 11, says it was visible mythology the fable of Dasdalus,
during fifteen days. Guy of Amiens, thought he would fly like him. He
De Bello Hastingensi, V. 125. therefore fastened feathers to his
Speaking of this comet, Geoffrey feet and hands, and ascending the
Gaimar says it lighted up the sky top of a high tower, threw himself
so brilliantly, that the night seemed off. For a good furlong he was
turned into day, V. 5150. Simeon supported by his wings, but being
of Durham, p. 194, relates that it seized by a sudden gust of wind,
was visible throughout the world. was dashed to the ground, and
Chronicle of Abingdon, I. 483. broke his legs. After this accident
2 Higden, Polychronicon, III. 284. he seems to have relinquished the
Thierry, History of the Norman art of flying, and to have betaken
Conquest, p. 59 (Eng. trans.) refers himself to astronomy, which he
to Higden, but erroneously calls studied with considerably more
Oliver, author of the Address to success.
the Comet, a monk of Glastonbury.

A.D. 1066.] LAST OF THE SAXON KINGS. 241
In furtherance of the plan agreed upon by the duke
of Normandy, Tostig left Flanders with his fleet, and
making a descent upon the Isle of Wight,1 collected plun
der after the manner of the old Vikings. Then returning
eastwards, he landed at Sandwich,8 where his ships being
short of hands he impressed a number of seamen into
his service, and then hearing of the approach of Harold's
fleet and army, hastened away to the North, intending to
raise the standard of revolt in his ancient earldom.
Landing however in Lindsey,3 where he commenced the
work of pillage and devastation, he was attacked and
expelled by the earls Edwin and Morcar, Many of his
seamen, as might have been expected, forsook him here ;
he lost thirty-eight of his ships, and with the twelve
that remained to him, took refuge with king Malcolm,
in Scotland, to await the coming of the Norwegian
king.4 Meanwhile, Harold having equipped a formidable
fleet, despatched it to cruise in the Channel. He like
wise organised a more numerous and powerful army
than had ever before been seen in England, and stationed
it at various points along the coast.5 William, at the
same time, was engaged in his preparations for invading
England. It is matter of wonder that he should have
thought it necessary to put forward any pretence of
right for the undertaking, since the Normans were
accustomed to look upon everything as their property
of which they could render themselves masters by the
sword. They had for nearly three hundred years been
engaged in attempts to subjugate the Anglo-Saxons,
and the duke of Normandy belonged by blood and
habits to the race which had produced Regnar,
Lodbrog, Hingwar and Hubba, Halfdene, Hastings,
and Rollo. It was putting, therefore, a severe restraint
on his viking propensities to defer so far to public
1 Fldrence of Worcester, a.d. 1 066. 4 Saxon Chronicle, a.d. 1066.
2 Simeon of Durham, p. 194. 5 Simeon of Durham, p. 194.
3 Eoger de Hoveden, a.d. 1066. Saxon Chronicle, a.d. 1066.
VOL. II. R

242 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. [cHAP. XVIII.
opinion, already beginning to sap the foundations of
barbarism throughout Europe, as to forge a will, though
he never ventured to produce it, and, under colour of
this fabrication, to aim at a crown which his bolder
and more unscrupulous ancestors would have seized
without any pretext. Adapting, however, his craft and
his enterprises to the altered spirit of the times, he
cloaked his violence with imposture, and readily, as
I have said, obtained the co-operation of the sovereign
pontiff. The genius and virtue of Junius Brutus, of Fabius,
Camillus, Cincinnatus, Scipio, and the Gracchi had
created the power which, metamorphosed into super
stition, and wielded by a priest, still governed the
world. The shadow of Rome hung thick over every
soul in Normandy, whose duke, in his expedition against
England, became the leader of the first crusade. To
take up arms against an excommunicated king and
people was, in the opinion of an ignorant age, to engage
in the service of God. Sacerdotal influence blended,
therefore, with secular, to rouse the zeal and stimulate
the passions of northern Christendom, to undertake the
conquest of the great heretical island which, blasted by
papal thunders, and devoted to perdition, was now, like
an immense storehouse of plunder, thrown open to all
the adventurers and miscreants of Europe.
The duke, whom the indiscriminate lust and profligacy
of his predecessors had connected with nearly all the lead
ing families of Normandy, called together his relatives and
adherents, prelates and barons,1 abbots and feudal- chiefs,
and by motives and -arguments addressed skilfully to their
licentiousness, their avarice, or their ambition, prevailed
on them to enter into his views.2 This public meeting,
1 Ordericus Vitalis, III. 11. Wace, 2 The author of the Brevis Be-
in his Boman de Eou, has under- latio represents the Norman barons
taken a narrative of these trans- as instigating William to undertake
actions, but, unless where supported the conquest, p. 5.
by other authorities, is obviously
not to be relied on.

A.D. 1066.] LAST OF THE SAXON KINGS. 243
however, was merely a politic form. The real business
had been accomplished before by private interviews
and modes of reasoning which it would not have been
convenient to employ in the face of the world. Some
were won over by promises of vast estates, towns, and
castles ; others by archbishoprics and bishoprics ; others
by offices of high dignity in the state, titles of honour,
and boundless opulence ; while others had their imagi
nations inflamed by the prospect of plunder, by the sack
of monasteries and convents, and the fleeting or perma-
nant possession of noble ladies, renowned as English
women have always been for the rare splendour of
their beauty. To gratify his ruthless partisans, the
duke was willing to promise anything. His own wife
had a private revenge to gratify. William had not en
joyed her first affections, which, at her father, Baldwin's
court, had been lavished on a noble Englishman, who
visited Flanders as Edward's ambassador. By this earl,
however, her charms were despised, or at least neglected ;
the offence rankled in her heart, and she longed eagerly
for the opportunity of slaking the thirst of vengeance.1
William scattered proclamations through all the
neighbouring countries, skilfully enumerating the in
ducements to join his standard ; and as Europe, in that
turbulent and barbarous age, abounded everywhere with
savage and lawless spirits, Normandy immediately be
came the Kebleh towards which they turned their faces.
Every road leading thitherward from Flanders, from
the upper and lower Rhine, from Burgundy,2 from
Acqultaine, from France, Anjou, Maine Poitou, and
Bretagne, became alive with infantry and men at arms,
swarthy, fierce, sensual, eager to shed blood, or animated
1 See the authorities collected by supported by Domesday itself,
Sir Henry Ellis, Introduction to which speaks of Brihtric's lands as
Domesday, II. 55. As the earliest passing into the hands of queen
writer who refers to this story is Matilda, or to those of Eobert Fitz
the continuator of Wace, it can Haimon.
only be regarded as a tradition. 2 Ordericus Vitalis, III. 11.
Indirectly, however, the account is
R 2

244 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. [CHAP. XVIII.
by those still worse passions which gloomy bigotry
inspires. Norman mothers, familiar with the lives led by
their sons, urged them to enlist under the duke's banner,
and expiate by the slaughter of the excommunicated
English their own crimes and offences.
The subordinate chiefs throughout the country ap
plied themselves diligently to the preparation of their
contingents, ships, horses, soldiers, money. How Wil
liam himself obtained the necessary funds has never
been clearly explained. The raising of loans was an
expedient not altogether unknown in those ages, though
the machinery employed in the operation differed from
that now in use. Sovereigns applied to their vassals, to
the clergy, to neighbouring princes, or to the pope;
and Avhen there appeared a reasonable chance of obtain
ing good interest, the papal court was seldom unwilling
to speculate. In the present case Alexander bestowed
on the Norman duke a prolific source of aid and opu
lence — the Standard, as it was called, of St. Peter,1
which, wherever it was displayed, sufficed to attract
towards it both men and money. By this peculiar finan
cial agency, the Norman duke soon obtained the means
of constructing a formidable fleet and filling it with
stores and arms. He was enabled likewise to draw to
his standard sixty thousand men, whom he quartered
and supplied with provisions in the districts bordering
on the intended ports of embarcation.
MeanAvhile the necessity of hastening the expedition
was every day making itself more sensibly felt; the
summer was wearing away; and the season approaching '^
in which, to the barks of those ages, the storms of the"
British Channel became formidable. Still, the longer''
the delay, the more swelled the ranks of the invading'^
army, whose numbers at length pressed almost beyond'-
endurance upon the resources of Normandy. The equi
noxial gales Avere blowing, and William's thoughts
1 Ordericus Vitalis, III. 11,

A.D. 1066.] LAST OF THE SAXON KINGS. 245
became as perturbed as the ocean, whose tumultuous
and roaring waves he beheld stretching out interminably
before him. Incidents, moreover, of sinister augury
had occurred to augment the gloom and perturbation of
his mind ; in the short passage from the mouth of the
Dive to St. Valeri,1 several ships had been wrecked
and their crews drowned. To prevent the spread of
a pauic through the whole fleet and army, the bodies
cast ashore by the waves were buried secretly at night,
Avhile every practicable precaution was taken to involve
the dismal proceeding in mystery.
Many causes concurred to delay the departure of the
expedition. Unfavourable winds were alone the osten
sible pretext ; but, in reality, the duke's movements
were regulated by considerations no way connected with
the weather. The English fleet, filled with seamen
accustomed to buffet with tempests and to achieve
victory on the waves, still cruised off the coast of Kent,8
Sussex, Dorset, and Hampshire, while a series of English
camps kindled their fires along the cliffs.3 Above all,
Harold of England was there, strong in his genius and
his bravery — stronger still in the affections of the nation
which rallied round, him as its last hope. To measure
lances with such a force, headed by such a general, was
what William dared not attempt. He trusted to his
deep-laid schemes of policy to disperse and dissipate the
strength of England, before he ventured to array that of
the Continent against it. He awaited, therefore, with
torturing anxiety the arrival of messengers to announce
the descent of Tostig with his Baltic rovers on the
Northumbrian coast, which must inevitably distract the
counsels, and would probably divide the strength of the
English king.
1 De Bello Hastingensi Carmen, 3 Florence of Worcester, a.d.
V. 46. Guillaume de Poitiers, 1066. Ordericus Vitalis, III. 11.
t. xxix. p. 391 William of Malmes- Guillaume de Poitiers, t. xxix. p.
bury, III 389, relates in his usual style of ex-
2 Saxon Chronicle, a.d. 1066. aggeration that Harold " couvrit le
Henry of Huntingdon, p. 762. rivage de lances et d'une innon>
brable armee.

246 HISTORY OF ENGLAND, [CHAP. XVIII,
The policy of the statesman, however, was closely
allied in William's mind with the superstition of the
devotee. He was constant, therefore, in his devotion
to St. Valeri, before whose shrine he daily spent several
hours in the supplications of pious ambition. The feelings
which pervaded the armament, as well as the multitudes
who were to remain behind, became every hour more
perturbed.1 The people to be attacked were unknown
and much dreaded. The old Scandinavian passion for
the sea had now been replaced by the strongest fear of
it, and therefore both the soldiers and their friends shed
abundance of tears, at the prospect of a parting which
for all might and for some must be eternal. Danger
begets piety, and therefore men whose noblest aspira
tions were for plunder, poured forth innumerable prayers
to heaven for the success of their enterprise. The priests
organised a procession and marched along the beach,
bearing aloft the relics of St. Valeri,2 and uttering many
vows and supplications, while their minds fluctuated
between hope and fear.
The duke of Normandy's policy soon began to pro
duce its natural fruits. His brother-in-law, Tostig,
having failed to procure allies in Denmark, had, as I
have said, been more successful in Norway, where sym
pathy with the pirates of Neustria survived in greater
vigour. The once proud and formidable son of Godwin
had now degenerated into an adventurer, desperate and
unscrupulous, playing in reality, though not perhaps in
intention, the game of the Norman ruler,3 and animated
by a fratricidal hatred of his dauntless brother, We
need to be informed by no chronicler of the thoughts
1 Higden relates that the common foras efferri, et pro vento habendc-
people murmured, and called Wil- sub dio poni."
liam a madman for attempting to 3 Ordericus Vitalis, III. 11, ob-
usurp the throne of another. Poly- serves that after the conference be-
chronicon, III. 285-287. tween the two brothers-in-law,
2 Guillaume de Poitiers, t. xxix. p. "Tostig received the Duke's per-
392. Henry de Knyghton (p. 2340) mission to return to England, hav-
describes as follows this display of ing firmly engaged to assist him,
superstition : " Tunc dux Williel- both in his own person and witf
mus fecit statim corpua Wallerici all his friends."

A.D 166.] LAST OF THE SAXON KINGS. 247
and schemes which filled the minds of the allies. What
ever pretexts may have floated on the surface, William,
Tostig, and Hardrada had secretly but one aim — that of
acquiring the crown of England for himself. The plan
agreed upon appears to have been this — to divide Eng
land into three parts,1 as it had often been divided
before, and apportion one bf these sections to each of the
invaders. William would at the outset have been con
tent with the sceptre of Wessex, while East Anglia and
Northumbria would have satisfied the aspirations of
Tostig and the Norwegian king. That nothing less
than conquest and settlement were aimed at, is evident
from the fact that Hardrada consented to congregate the
whole force, and exhaust the resources of his country2
in fitting out the invading fleet, on board of which,
when it was completed, he put his queen, Ellisof, his son,
Olaf, and his two daughters, Maria and Ingigerd.3 Then
sailing westward, Hardrada was joined on the Scottish
coast by Tostig's ships, together with those of the earls
of Orkney, Paul, and Erling, after which they made in
all speed for the mouth of the Humber.
Tostig experienced the strongest desire to become
master of York, either because it had been his capital
in happier days, or in order that he might exterminate
those who had driven him from the kingdom. He, there
fore, ascended the Ouse, and disembarked his forces at
Richale,4 on its right bank, where the gallant brothers,
Edwin and Morcar, at the head of the men of Northum
bria, hastened to encounter the invaders.5
1 Ordericus Vitalis, in the book two hundred sail, he proceeded
and chapter quoted above, repre- before his departure from Norway
sents Tostig as prevailing upon to " king Olaf 's shrine, unlocked it,
Harold Hadrada (whom he calls clipped his hair and nails, and
Harfager) to engage in the expe- locked the shrine again, and threw
dition against England by promis- the keys into the Nid." Heims-
ing himhalf the kingdom. kringla, III. 81.
2 In his Saga he is said to have 3 Heimskringla, III. 83.
sent out a message-token, and 4 Simeon De Gestis Eegum An-
ordered out half the men who were glorum, p. 194.
able to carry arms ; after which, 5 Boger de Hoveden, A.D. 1066.
having equipped a fleet of nearly

248 HISTORY OF ENGLAND [CHAP. XVIII.
Hardrada was a veteran warrior, who, with a small
army of Northmen, had traversed the whole continent of
Europe, diffusing terror wherever he marched, and taken
service among the fierce mercenaries who guarded the
throne of the effeminate Emperor of the East.1 At Con
stantinople he stood in turn with his battle-axe on his
shoulder at the door of the imperial palace. Growing
weary, however of this inactive and monotonous life, he
quitted the shores of the Bosphorus, and for some time
led the life of a pirate in the Mediterranean. Landing
in search of plunder at the Pirseeus, he carved his name
in Runic characters on one of the famous Lions, which
after various vicissitudes were carried as symbols of
victory to Venice. This inscription has now, by the aid
of photography, been deciphered by a Danish scholar.8
Among other achievements Hardrada had desolated and
pillaged Africa and Sicily,3 and Avith the riches thus
amassed returned at length to Norway, through Russia,
where at Novogorod he married Ellisof, daughter of the
Czar Jarislief, to Avhom he had forwarded a large portion
of the plunder which, at the head of the Varangians,
he had accumulated in his expeditions. For such a man
tranquillity had no charms. His colossal figure, seven
feet high, had been beheld on many a Baltic battle-field Y
and now stalked along the banks of the Humber and
Ouse in search of something nobler than the plunder '
of the Levant.
'Hardrada, after having been 2 Professor Eafn.
several years in the service of the 3 " The best proof that this body-
BussianCzar, appears to have passed guard (the Varangian) was corn-
down the Don or Dnieper into the posed chiefly of Northmen is, that
Black Sea, for by one of the scalds almost every year coins of the '
his approach to the Greek capital Greek emperors, Cufic coins,.1.
is thus described : gold chains, and other ornaments,
" Before the cold sea-curling blast, apparently of eastern workmanship,
The cutter from the land flew past, are found in Norway about the -
Her black yards swinging to and fro, »„ „ , j , < , ,, *
Her shield-hung gunwale dipping low. nouses of bonders, being probably
The king saw glancing o'er the bow, the hidden treasures of their fore-
SXlowertnd r^lanfeed sai.s *?¥™> *™g^ ^ them from-. - i
Gliding past tonns aud wooded vales." their service in Constantinople.
Heimskringla, Laing's translation! Ijaing, III. 4.
III. 3.

A.D. 1066.] LAST OF THE SAXON KINGS. 249
Against the forces of this regal adventurer, and his
equally terrible ally, Tostig, Edwin and Morcar, the
earls of Mercia and Northumbria, advanced at the head
of their people and encountered them on Wednesday,
September 20th,1 at Fulford-gate. The combatants
were in every respect unequal. At the head of an army
so large as to require to be transported in a fleet of
nearly five hundred ships, were two veteran generals,
inured to war from the cradle, while the English com
manders were almost entirely destitute of experience.
Nevertheless, rushing impetuously upon the invaders,
they at first carried everything before them. But tactics
and discipline often prove more than a match for the
most exalted valour. Hardrada put in practice all the
martial arts he had learned in the East ; the English
were repulsed and defeated,3 and their dead bodies
strewed the plain, and choked the channel of the
river.3 The whole of Northumbria noAV lay open to the in
vaders, though the sentiments of the people, and more
especially of the clergy, who united with their arch
bishop in attachment to Harold, were rendered still
more hostile by the sanguinary discomfiture at Fulford.
The Northmen now entered York,4 where they received
and gave in exchange a hundred and fifty hostages, and
then marching inland, took up a strong position at
Stamford, on the Derwent.
By the success of these operations, Harold of England
was placed in a situation of almost inextricable diffi
culty.5 On one side was the duke of Normandy medi
tating invasion; on the other, the king of Norway,
Avho, with an immense army now flushed with victory,
was already in the country, and actually marching upon
the South.6 William, in spite of his preparations, had
1 Florence of Worcester, a.d. 4 Simeon De Gestis Eegum An-
1066. glorum, p. 194.
2 Henry de Knyghton, p. 2339. 5 Odericus Vitalis, III. 14.
3 Eoger de Hoveden, a-d. 1066. 6 Matthew of Westminster, Saxon
Chronicle, a.d. 1066.

250 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. [CHAP. XVIII.
so long deferred the threatened blow, that it seemed not
improbable he might put off his invasion till the spring.
The Channel was ploughed up by storms, which ap
peared to anticipate the coming winter. To the
Normans, the sea, as I have said, was an object, of
terror, and the prevalence of contrary winds might
consequently suffice to check their attempt. A fewj
days he hoped would enable him to rout the Nor- ]
Avegians with their Scotch and Irish auxiliaries, and !
return victorious to preserve the inviolability of the
southern shore. In conformity with these views, the
fleet was withdrawn from the Channel, and precipi- j
tated northwards,1 while the army broke up its camps,
and in seven2 divisions marched towards the Derwent.3
This proceeding, whether the result of misfortup
or impolicy, may be regarded as the most calamitous
recorded in the history of England, big as it was
with defeat, disgrace, and innumerable evils. A great
nation's destiny was then trembling in the balance. '
Frankness, honour, magnanimity, with every noble and
chivalrous sentiment on the one side; craft, fraud,
imposture, grasping avarice, and the most sanguinary
cruelty on the other. Long and weary centuries of
oppression, thraldom, insult, the domination of race by
race, the substitution of despotic will for equitable laws,
the wholesale transferance of property from the native
to the stranger, the brand of infamy stamped upon the
noblest families by the dishonour of wives and daugh
ters, the pollution of convents and monasteries, the
desolation of the English Church, whose most revered ,
traditions and holiest rights were systematically tram* ]
pled upon : all these things rendered inevitable by that
fatal march were imperatively needed to obliterate its
consequences. 1 Ordericus Vitalis, III. 14. p. 479. Simeon De Gestis Begtim
2 Estoire de Seint iEdward le Anglorum, p. 194. Saxon Chronic
Eei, V. 4223. ele and Florence of Worcester, a.d.
3 Compare Ailredus Abbas Eie- 1066. i
vallis, p. 204. B&dulpb, de Diceto, \

A.D. 1066,] LAST OF THE SAXON KINGS. 251
Blind, however, to this long chain of disasters, the
flower of the English army, with their dauntless king at
their head, poured impetuously northwards to annihi
late the invaders of their country. On the morning of
the 25th of September, just as the sun was beginning
to light up the extended heaths and brown woods of
Yorkshire, the English came in sight of the Norwegian
army drawn out in formidable array on the farther
bank of the Derwent. Love for his misguided brother
induced the English king to try the effect of negocia
tion. Despatching to Tostig ambassadors, among whom
it is said he himself proceeded in disguise, he offered
him, as from brother to brother, not only reconciliation
and peace, but the restoration of all his possessions and
honours if he would lay down the sword. Tostig
replied that this step should have been taken during
the preceding winter, when he was wandering a fugi
tive and an exile over the Continent. If he should
now, however, accept the terms proposed by his brother,
What was to be conceded to his Scandinavian ally 1
*' Seven feet of English ground," replied Harold, " or
perhaps a little more as he is a very tall man."1
Upon this, the haughty and indignant earl put an
end to all parley and prepared for battle. Banishment,
the loss of his country, estrangement from his family,
toil, watching, danger, had thrown him into a state of
unnatural exaltation, which nothing but the fierce
excitement of conflict could allay.
History enters with extreme reluctance upon the
1 Heimskringla, III. 89. The known. " That was by far too long
author of the Saga attributes to concealed from me," he said, " for
Hardrada a sentiment so base and they had come so near to our army
dastardly that it would have suf- that this Harold should never have
flced to exclude him from the ranks carried back the tidings of our
of manly warriors. Eeproaching men's slaughter." Could we ac-
Tostig for neglecting to inform him cept the testimony of this Icelandic
that his brother Harold was among scald for history, we should expe-
the ambassadors, he intimates dis- rience very little regret for the fate
tinctly that he would have fallen which, in a few hours, overtook this
upon and murdered him had he bloodthirsty Norwegian,

252 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. [CHAP. XVIII.
'details of that fatal battle, the first act of the drama:
which was to. close at Hastings. The Scandinavians
were drawn out upon the plain in a vast half-moon,1 with 1
a scanty array of cavalry at either horn. Hardrada, with
his blue tunic and glittering helm, mounted on a black*
horse, and preceded by his standard, called " The^
Devastator of the Earth," commanded one of the wings;1
while Tostig headed the other. The king of England,3
superior in cavalry, swept along the plain towards the
foe,3 and the shock of battle began at break of day. '
Never, perhaps, had a September sun looked upon a
more terrible conflict — brother against brother, with' all
the hopes of England in the balance.
The Scandinavians on that day maintained their long
established reputation for valour.3 With their pikes
stuck in the earth, they withstood the shock of the .
English cavalry, while their archers poured upon the
assailants an incessant shower of arrows. As the English ¦
gained ground, the Norwegians retreated inch by inch
with their faces to the foe, their armour bloody, their
steps impeded by the corpses of their friends.4 At length
the retreat became a rout, the invaders were driven head
long over Stamford Bridge, narrow and built of wood.
Here, a gigantic Norwegian made a stand, hewing down
1 The Saga says in a circle, but Of armour bare,
this is evidently absurd. His deadly sword still swinging;
2 Though probably not ill-inform- The foemen feel its bite,
ed respecting the general scheme of His Norsemen rush to fight, ,,'
this battle, the author of Hardra- Danger to share,
da's Saga, falls occasionally into With Harold there,
palpable errors, as when he calls Where steel on steel was ringing." '
the king of England a " little man" Heimskringla, III. 9L ->,
(III. 90), since Harold Godwinson * Bromton, who has collected "
is known to have been a man of several traditions of this battle not
lofty stature. commonly mentioned, observes, that a
3 Amor, the earl's scald, thus the' English army, " Norwagensis^"
describes the appearance and be- cedere sed non fugere compellabat.'
haviour of Hardrada in this battle : Ultra flumen igitur repulsi, vivis"^
"Where the battle storm was ring- super mortuos transeuntibus mag-; "
*°g, nanimiterrestiterunt." Chronicon,,oa
Where arrow-cloud was singing, p. 959, see also Henry de Knvgh-
Harold stood there, ton, p. 2339,

! A.D. 1066.] LAST OF THE SAXON KINGS. 253
, the assailants with his battle-axe till he fell, pierced, it is
I said, with a spear by a man in a boat under the bridge.1
i In this battle Tostig and Hardrada perished, with nearly
| the whole of their army.2 The plain, far and near, was
] strewed with dead, the gullies were red with blood, the
river was choked, and it was not so much defeat that
fell upon the Scandinavians as annihilation. An in
significant remnant of the vast armament which had
sought the shores of England in five hundred ships fled
away across the ocean in twenty, to awaken the cries of
sorrow and desolation in all the fiords and gloomy forests
i of Norway.
The hurry and tumult of war prevented the English
( from performing the last sad offices for the dead, whose
| unburied remains lay heaped up and weltering in blood
j upon the heath, and for ages the site of this fearful
| battle was too certainly indicated by ghastly heaps of
i human bones, which far and near whitened the plain.3
Saxon and Norwegian, invaded and invader, lying quietly
side by side in death.
Harold, king of England, thus remained victorious.4
But his victory was his ruin. Profound policy might
have converted both Tostig and Hardrada into friends5
and incorporated their great host with his own to be
marshalled on the coast of Sussex against the Gallo-
Normans.5 He now, with thinned ranks, and mind
1 Matthew, of Westminster, a.d. Battle Bridge, was in his time be-
1066, alters the tradition, and stowed on Stamford in memory of
stations the gigantic Norwegian in this great slaughter.
the city gate, though he afterwards i Simeon De Gestis Begum An-
makes him drop into the river, glorum, p. 194.
Compare Bromton and Knyghton, 6 Some ofthe Chroniclers, unable
ubi supra. otherwise to account for the small-
2 Simeon De Gestis Begum An- ness of the king's forces, imagine
glorum, p. 194. Ailredus Abbas Eie- that he offended the nation by omit-
vallis, p. 405. Badulph de Diceto, ting to distribute the plunder.
p. 419. Higden, Polychronicon, III. But this omission could only have
284. affected the survivors of Stamford
3 Ordericus Vitalis, III. 14. Ac- Bridge, whom it might have in-
cording to Henry de Knyghton, p. duced to desert his standard. But
2339, the name of Pons Belli, or from all that appears no men were

254 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. [CHAP. XVIII,
oppressed by the recollection of the fratricidal conflict
into which he had been plunged by events, marched
hastily towards London to prepare to meet a second and
more formidable invasion. For while he was absent in
the North, the duke of Normandy had assembled all hisi
fleet at St. Valeri, and embarking his immense army;
from the Ticino, and the Khine, the Rhone, the Garonne, '
the Loire, the Scheldt, and the Seine, hoisted the stan- '
dard of St. Peter, and, committing himself and his for*
tunes to the waves of the English Channel,1 put off from
the shore amid the braying of clarions, and the shouts
of sixty thousand combatants. j
The arrangements which William had made, and the '
precautions he had taken, betoken a mind fully alive i
to all the circumstances of his great enterprise. During
the whole of the 28th of September, the army was
engaged in embarking its horses, its stores, and arms; \
after which, late in the afternoon, the soldiers them
selves went on board, and the fleet, consisting of four
hundred ships of war, and more than a thousand trans
ports, quitted the shores of France. As long as the day !
lasted, William's galley, bearing the Pope's standard
aloft, with sails of different colours inwrought with lions, I
the symbols of Normandy, led the van. Upon its prow
was the golden figure of a boy, holding with his left
hand an ivory trumpet to his mouth, and with the
finger of his right hand pointing across the waves to
wards England.2 As evening came on the lamps, sus
pended in lanthorns from the mast-head, were kindled,
to enable the mariners to avoid collision, and to keep j
up their courage during the night. William's own ship,

so staunch in his cause, so that the Guillaume de Poiters, t. xxix. p.
story must be regarded as one of 392.
those calumnious fables which were 2 Scriptores Eerum Gestarum WI1-
in vented against the House of God- lelm. Conquest, p. 22. But when the
win in Norman times. Higden, vessel shifted its position, the figure-
Ill. 285-286. head would, of course, point the
1 Ordericus Vitalis, III. 14. contrary way.

A.D. 1066.] LAST OF THE SAXON KINGS. 255
Avhich had been presented to him by his wife,1 being a
quick sailer, shot a-head of the fleet, and when day
daAvned found itself alone upon the waves. Not know
ing what had become of his companions, he ordered a
sailor to ascend the rigging, to observe whether any
portion of the fleet were visible ; and the man reported.
that he could discern nothing but sea and sky.8
Noticing some tokens of discouragement among his
officers, which inwardly he himself more than shared,
the duke caused a sumptuous breakfast to be laid out,
and lavishly circulated richly-spiced wine to raise their
drooping spirits.
Thus refreshed, William ordered the seaman aloft
once more, when four ships were descried in the offing,
and on a third ascent the mariner exclaimed that he
beheld a forest of masts approaching.
Fortune often appears to remove all obstacles from
the paths of some men, while she throws up every species
of impediment in the way of others. At this critical
moment the English fleet, partly despatched on different
services, and partly run into harbour to re-victual,3 had
left the whole Channel open to the enemy. William,
therefore, encountered no obstacle, but making direct
for the coast, landed at Pevensey without the least oppo
sition, as if upon an uninhabited island. The duke, it
is said, as he leaped from his bark, stumbled and fell
upon his knees. The soldiers around regarded this
as an evil prognostic, but taking up earth in both his
hands, he exclaimed, " I accept the omen, and thus
take possession of England."4 Among the troops the
first that disembarked were the archers, with short
Roscoe, Life of William the fieiente et classicus, et pedestris
Conqueror, p. 159. exercitus, domum rediit," p. 194.
2 Guillaume de Poitiers, t. xxix. i Henry de Knyghton, p. 2341.
p, 393. Boman de Eou, II. 151. Tradition
3 Simeon of Durham, relates that is fond of attributing the same inci-
both the coast aud the Channel were dents to different persons, and of
left defenoeless through want of interpreting them according to the
provisions: "Adveniente nativitate event. Hardrada, when he stum-
Sanctee Marise (Sept, 8) victu de- bled on the banks of the Derwent,

256 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. [CHAP. XVIII.
uniforms and closely shaven. Next followed the men-at-
arms, clad in coats of mail, and wearing conical helmets
of polished steel; their weapons were long heavy lances
and straight two-edged swords. After them landed, the
sappers and miners, workmen, and pioneers, with their
wooden towers, which having been brought over in sepa
rate pieces were afterwards erected at Hastings,
William's army immediately adopted the policy which
had formerly directed the expeditions of the Danes,
spreading themselves over the country, plundering,
devastating, and murdering, in order to inspire the popu
lation Avith terror.1 Considering they had to deal with
Christian enemies, the rustic South Saxons hoped to
escape death by taking sanctuary in the churches ; but
though fighting under the pope's banner, William's
soldiers, bent above all things on plunder, respected
neither the claims ef humanity nor the sanctity of the
altar. The duke himself, at the head of twenty-five horse,
is said to have gone forth from his camp to recon
noitre the country. The people having all fled, no
obstacle was encountered, so having advanced as far
as they thought proper, the party returned on foot on
account of the unevenness of the way. William under
stood thoroughly the art of winning favour among rough
and fierce adventurers. Observing that William Fitz-
Osberne showed symptoms of fatigue, he snatched from
him the heavy cuirass which he had unbraced, and sling
ing it with his own upon his shoulders, returned to the
army amid the jokes and laughter of his companions.2^
got quickly up and observed to his J Higden, in opposition to nearty
soldiers, " A fall is lucky for a tra- all the other Chroniclers, says, he
veller ;" but the son of Godwin, restrained his soldiers from pillage,
when he witnessed what had befall- on the ground that all they saw
en theNorwegian prince, remarked, was their own, III. 286. See ata
"A great man, and of stately ap- Henry de Knyghton, p. 2341,
pearance is he ; but I think his luck 2 Guillaume de Poitiers, in Gui-
has left him." Heimskringla, III. 88. zot's Collection, t. xxix. p. 395.
These minute superstitions were,
doubtless, the progeny of a later age.

A.D. 1066.] LAST OF THE SAXON KINGS. 257
While these events were taking place on the coast of
Sussex, Harold, exhausted by fatigue and wounds, was
at York,1 taking with his comrades some little repose
after the destructive carnage on the Derwent. Circum
stances, however, now combined to deny him all rest,
and to thrust him irresistibly towards his fall.2 The best
and bravest of his companions now lay stark on the
Yorkshire wolds,3 while of those who remained many
were swathed, bandaged, and stiff with wounds, and the
remainder almost spent and foredone with weariness ; for
they had marched nearly the whole length of England,
and fought one of the most protracted and sanguinary
battles on record. But no respite was allowed them to
recover their strength. The plan for the subjugation of
England had been organised with prodigious sagacity,
and fortune co-operated with policy to give it completion.
Ere the gloom occasioned by exhaustion had passed
away, intelligence was brought the English king, that
the duke of Normandy, with an army of sixty thousand
men, had landed on the southern coast, and thrown up
strong intrenchments at Hastings and Pevensey.4
It has been already said, that Aldred, archbishop of
York, the whole body of the Northumbrian clergy, with
all that was enlightened and patriotic in the land, rallied
about Harold, as the last great hope of his country.
But there were others who envied him, partly for the
splendour of his fortunes, but chiefly for those brilliant
qualities of mind and person by which, taken together,
he eclipsed all the leaders of his age. Among the luke
warm, it is to be feared, must be reckoned his brothers-
in-law, the earls Edwin and Morcar,5 Avho afterwards
1 Chronicon Johannis Bromton, 6 Florence favours the idea that
p. 959. these noblemen entertained some
2 Accordingly, many of the old jealousy of Harold, for he says they
Chroniclers represent him as urged kept themselves aloof from the con-
forward by the pressure of irresis- test, but upon hearing news of his
tible destiny. Hist. Eames., III. 462. death, marched to London, and sent
3 Eadulph de Diceto, p. 479. away their sister the queen to Ches-
4 Saxon Chronicle, a.d. 1066. His- ter (Monumenta Britanniea, p. 614).
toria Ingulphi, I. 69. Another interpretation, however,
VOL. II. s

25B-. '< HISTORY OF ENGLAND. [CHAP. fcVIII.
expiated their want of zeal in his cause by a succession
ofythe bitterest calamities. But neither desertion, nor
treason, the coolness of friends, nor the stratagems and
devices of enemies, could subdue the ardour or check
the impetuosity of Godwin's fearless son. With the
fragments of his victorious army, immediately on the
news of William's disembarcation, he advanced with
the utmost speed towards London, issuing Orders as he
moved, for the assembling on all sides of the national
levy. Arrived in London, he immediately made preparations
for a new conflict.1 The whole nation had long been
familiar with the dauntlessness of his soul, his personal
prowess, his commanding and persuasive eloquence,, and
those noble and kindly manners which endeared him to
all who knew him. As many, therefore, as were left
of his soldiers instantly put themselves in readiness to
accompany him, whether in victory Or in death. Every
inch an Englishman, no general was ever better quali
fied to lead the English to battle. All the attributes
may be given to their conduct : they purpose bf damaging Harold's cha-
were nearly always slow in their racter, that his cause was deserted,
movements, and, therefore, may not only by Edwin and Morcar, his
have intended to do what was right, brothers-in-law, but eveh by his
though wanting the energy tp do it sister (II. 292). Who, however, is
at the right time. his authority for this statement?
1 As might have been expected, No other than William bf Poitiers,
the great event which transferred whose whole account of these trans-
the crown of England from the actions is so replete with errors and
House of Godwin to the Norman misrepresentations, that his testi-
dynasty, has given rise to endless mony is altogether worthless, ex-
contradictions. Every move made cept where he could have no possible
by either competitor disturbs a temptation to falsify his narrative.
swarm of chroniclers and historians His exaggerations are so puerile
who cluster around it, and labour that they excite laughter. He ima-
to impart to it the colour of their gines, for instance, when speaking
ownimaginations. Malmesbury him- of Harold's handful of Saxons, that
self makes several statements di- he is describing the hosts of Xerxes,
reetly opposed to each other ; Lin- for, by an artful figure of speech,
gard, though not altogether satis- he affirms the English army to
factory, is just and impartial ; Dr. have been so vast, that it drank
Lappenberg seems to confound the dry the rivers on its passage-Mhe ,
adoption of contradictions with im- Thames, I suppose, and all. Guiaot,
partiality. He observes, for the Col. Mem. t. xxix. p. 402.

A.D.iO.66.] LAST OF THE SAXON KINGS, H ^259
which distinguish them as a nation he possessed. M .eY
pre-eminent degree — frank, honest, liberal, genet$jis>
without ostentation, religious without bigotry, aiidY
superstitious in nothing save in attachment to the
soil that gave him birth. His faults Avere those which
we, all of us, more or less inherit. He was wanting in
craft, he Avas even wanting in foresight, and trusted too
much to the tempestuous valour of his countrymen and
his own. At the head of Englishmen, he could not
believe in the possibility of defeat, nor was this greatly
to be wondered at, since in person he had never known
it, neither had his countrymen when led by him.
Whether followed, therefore, by few or many, he be
lieved himself capable of victoriously encountering any
odds on the soil of England,1 and every man that
marched under his standard shared his faith.
Observing, however, how the ranks of the English
army had been thinned, Githa,2 his mother, weighed
down by sorrow for the death of Tostig, who, though
fierce and intractable, was still her son, sought earnestly
to dissuade the king from again going forth to battle.
Earl Gurth3 also, his young and intrepid brother, joined
his intreaties to their mother's. They probably per
ceived in his manner something of that feverish excite
ment which in times of trouble and disaster often seizes
upon men, and thought it desirable that, before enga
ging in the impending struggle, he should taste at least
some few moments of tranquillity. Gurth, who had not
1 The author of the Chronicle of mother attempted, through tender-
Abingdon having related succinctly ness, to dissuade him from the field,
the destruction of the Norwegian the chivalrous king of England, the
host on the Derwent, censures Ha- very type of the heroism of his age,
rold for proceeding against the silenced her solicitude with kicks
Normans with a greatly inferior and blows. The baseness which
force, I. 483. could attribute conduct so unwor-
2 To show what value we should thy to so illustrious a character,
attach to the Norman writers of would doubtless have been capable
this period, it may be observed of the crime it affects to censure.
that Guillaume de JumiSges, VII. 3 Matthew of Westminster, a.d.
35, and Ordericus Vitalis, III. 14, 1066.
gravely assure us that, when his
• S2

260 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. [CHAP. XVIII.
accompanied him to Northumbria, and was in the
enjoyment of unimpaired health and vigour, offered to
take the lead of the expedition against the Normans,
and intreated his elder brother to remain a feAV days in
the capital to assemble and organise the reserve which
he might bring into the field at the critical moment,
while he and Leofwine conducted the first onset.
A general and statesmen of cooler head might have
adopted the sagacious policy of Gurth. But Harold's
position was beset on all sides with difficulties. The
chivalry and dash of his character constituted perhaps
his strongest hold upon the minds of the people, who
might have advanced timidly against the invaders under
any other leader. They would probably have inferred
that he despaired of his own fortunes and of theirs, and
thus by another route the same fatal goal might have
been reached. Whatever the Aviser course, Harold and
his people were too impetuous, too eager to sweep the
enemy from our shores, to listen to the voice of prudence.
Six days were given up to the assembling of forces, and
on the seventh the king of the English put himself at
the head of his brave countrymen and advanced rapidly
towards Hastings.1
The Norman traitors who had been located in
England by EdAvard the Confessor,2 now performed the
work for which they had been sent over. Enacting
everywhere the part of spies, they collected and for
warded to William's camp uninterrupted intelligence
of the movements of the English. Their information
Avas designed to hasten the hour of conflict, being eager
to revenge all the hospitality and kindness they had
1 The Norman monks savagely as marching against William. Bre-
exult over Harold, denominate him vis Eelatio, p. 6. Guy of Amiens
a fool, insane, mad, and say that applies to Harold the epithet Scele-
God was hurrying him to his punish- ratus. De Bello Hastingensi, v.
ment. Still, in his own estimation, 129.
it was far from, disagreeable, since 2 See the list in Duchesne and
he affirmed, they say, he had never Mas^res.
done anything in his life so pleasant

A.D. 1066.] LAST OF THE SAXON KINGS.

261

received from their English neighbours. They assured
William that, in a few days, the sons of Godwin would
be surrounded by a hundred thousand men,1 a force
more than sufficient to drive the invaders into the sea.
Nor was this estimate at all exaggerated ; the contin
gents of Mercia and Northumbria, under Edwin and
Morcar, would, in spite of the disinclination of their
leaders, have been compelled by public opinion to join
the king, as well as the reserve which the deputy-sheriff,
Marleswain, had been directed to forward from beyond
the Humber.8 Throughout the southern counties,
moreover, where the princes of the House of Godwin
were personally known and . loved, the levies were
putting themselves in motion to follow the Dragon of
Wessex. In truth, the army, at the head of which Harold
marched, fell short of a fifth of the estimate of the

1 Dr. Lappenberg, II. 292, ob
serves with much naivete that
Harold's army was considerably
under a hundred thousand and,
therefore, praises his firmness in
rejecting William's proposals. It
was under twenty thousand, and
consisted chiefly of men wounded
and weary from the previous battle.
The language of the Saxon Chroni
cle is enigmatical. Harold "then
gathered a great force and came to
meet him (William) at the estuary
of Appledore, and, William came
against him unawares before his
people were set in order." From
this we may perhaps infer that the
vanguard only of the English army
was engaged, which agrees also
with the interpretation of Florence,
who says, that not one-half, of Ha
rold's troops had yet assembled.
He then-disapproves of the position
taken up, which was so confined
that even of his actual followers
some found it necessary to fall back.
Ingulph, a bitter enemy of Harold,
says that, dreaming of an easy vic
tory, he marched against the in

vaders with a very small body of
followers : " Prsevolat universos,
exercet stimulos, nee de toto exer-
citu, prater paucissimos, eum aliquis
concomitatur," 1. 69. The Historia
Eliensis (III. 515) agrees with
Florence, that Harold advanced
against the Normans before half
his army had assembled. Higden,
Polychronicon (III. 285), states the
case briefly and clearly : " Hoc
audito nuncio Haroldus de Norrico
bello rediens, multum festinavit,
pauco stipatus milite, quia multos
fortes in priori bello amiserat."
2 Lappenberg supposes it to have
been necessary to leave troops be
hind in Northumbria to repress the
Anglo-Danes, and that these were
intrusted to the command of Marle
swain (II. 292). This is misunder
standing the statement in Ellis.
There existed no necessity for leav
ing troops, and Marleswain was
commissioned to raise fresh forces
with all speed and forward them
to Harold. Ellis, Introd. to Domes
day, II. 185 ; Gaimar, v. 5252.

262 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. [CHAP. XVIII.
Norman spies. The rashness of hazarding the desti
nies of England on a force so inadequate is doubtless
reprehensible — the delay of a few days would have ren
dered victory all but secure — but the sons of Godwin-
were incapable of fear, as well as of caution, and so they
advanced to find the glory of an epic grave.1 Harold
hoped to make up for the fewness of his followers by
the celerity of his movements, which might enable him,
he thought, to take the invaders by surprise, and storm
their intrenchments during the night.
Having traversed Surrey, he is supposed to have
entered the county of Sussex, through the manor of
Parkley in the hundred of Skay swell, and parish of
Tyshurst, and thence to have advanced by Wilendune,
Wigzall, Salehurst, Sadlescombe, and Whattington to
Netherfield, where, in consequence of intelligence which
met him on the road, he suddenly changed his tactics,
and took up a strong position on a range of hills skirting
the forest of Waterdown.2 It has been imagined that
the devastation of Sussex Avas partly accomplished by
the English army. But this is highly improbable, since
all the land, not in the rape of Hastings only, but
throughout the county, was the private property of the
king or his mother. This fact, which could not, of
course, escape the knowledge of William, may have
been a principal reason of the vindictive fury with which
he caused it to be desolated. It served, likewise, to
stimulate the inhabitants with indignation and resentment
against the foreigners, since they were not only fighting
the battle of their sovereign, but of the landlord on
whose estates they had been born, whose hospitality
they had often shared, and with whose castle on the
heights of Bosenham they had all been familar from
infancy.
1 The Chronicle of Eamsey, ini- his destruction by destiny. Hist.
mical in the highest degree to Eames. III. 462.
Harold,, says, he was. urged on to 2 Introduction to Domesday, I.
-314-318.

A.D. 1066.] LAST OF THE SAXQN KINGS. 263
Harold had underrated the wariness of his enemy
when he hoped to fall on him by surprise. William
clearly perceived the results of the violence and brutality
of his soldiers, who every day enlarged the circle of
rapine, and hourly expected an attack from the enraged
population. His intelligence, likewise, of the move
ments of the English king was minute and unbroken,
and he was far too experienced a general to neglect any
precaution necessary to the success of his enterprise.
From boyhood upwards his life had been passed in arms;
the perpetual necessity of guarding against treachery had
strengthened the sleepless prudence of his character, and
his military abilities, which were of a high order, enabled
him to discern and estimate correctly every advantage and
disadvantage incident to the position he had taken up.
A soldier so sagacious, so far-seeing, so deeply versed
in all the manoeuvres and arts of Avar, could not but be
fully alive to the perils of his situation. Stranded by
the surges of his own ambition on a foreign coast, and.
exposed to the attacks of an enemy, with the measure of
whose strength, generalship, and material resources he
was very imperfectly acquainted, he could not conceal
from himself that he must rely for victory less on the
valour of his own troops than on the headstrong rashness
of the natives. His profound policy, it is true, had put
in motion all the forces which could in any way promote
his designs. The cruelties perpetrated on the people of
Sussex, the robberies, the burnings, the murders, the
violations, could hardly fail to goad so chivalrous a prince
as Harold into impetuous acts of , imprudence. By ?he
swords of his Flemish and Norwegian allies, he had cut
off the flower of the English army ; even into the re
mainder, chiefly raw levies collected in haste, he hoped
to infuse doubt and hesitation, through the agency of
papal influence, which united with cunning fabrications,
suspicions, calumnies, and intrepid falsehoods diffused
by Norman priests — the fatal legacy which the Con
fessor had bequeathed to his country— would probably

264 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. [CHAP. XVIII.
restrain thousands from following the standard of their
lawful king.1 Still he could not but experience much
solicitude when he reflected that the valour which had
annihilated the hosts of Tostig and Hardrada, might in
reality be directed by greater wisdom than his prejudiced
judgment would habitually permit him to recognise in
a rival. Hence the rigid discipline, the perpetual watch
fulness, the masses, the sacraments, the grovelling de
votion to relics observable in the Norman camp.
While the English army was taking up its ground, the
king despatched a monastic herald,2 suitably attended,
to the duke of Normandy, with orders that he should
quit the kingdom, to which he had neither right nor
title. For this William was prepared, and having
treated the monk with politic courtesy, sent him back
to his lord accompanied by a Norman envoy.. When
Harold's OAvn people, on their return, were brought into
his presence, they are said to have related that there
were more priests and monks in the Norman army than
combatants in that of England.3 Amused at their mis
take, the king replied with a pleasant smile, "They
are not priests, but sturdy and valiant soldiers, as we
shall find to-morrow." The mistake arose from the
different habits of the two nations, the Saxons wearing
their hair and beards long, while the Normans cropped
and shaved close like ecclesiastics.4
Several of his superior officers, reflecting on the cir
cumstances in Avhich their king was placed, now sug
gested a policy which other generals in a Like situation
1 Historia Eliensis, III. 516. infuse terror into their country-
2 Guillaume de Poitiers, t. xxix. men. Eoger of Wendover, a.d.
p- 396. 1066. Higden, Polychronicon, III.
3 By some chroniclers this ac- 285. But William's chaplain, who
count is said to have been given by was present at the time, speaks only
scouts or spies, whom the duke had of the monastic envoy. The spies
detected in his camp, but instead of had been sent to Normandy before
putting them to death, as he might the expedition set sail.
have done by the laws of war, he * Higden, Polychronicon. HI. 286,
showed them his overwhelming William of Malmesbury, III.
strength, and sent theni back to

A.D. 1066.] LAST OF THE SAXON KINGS. 265
had found advantageous ; they advised that he should
avoid a battle, retreat toAvards London, and so thoroughly
ravage the country as to leave a desert in his rear. But
in the matter of honour, no knight of chivalry was ever
half so punctilious as Harold. " Shall I " he inquired,
" desolate the land which it is my most sacred duty to
defend % By my faith, it would be an act of treason ;
I will rather try the chances of battle with the feAV men
I have, and trust to my own valour and the goodness of
my cause." 1
The duke of Normandy, troubled in conscience by
the great act of imposture in which he Avas engaged,
endeavoured by numerous deAdces to avoid the appeal to
arms. He proposed to Harold that they should submit
their differences to the decision of the pope, whom he
had already bought over to his side ; or, he suggested,
that the Parliament of Normandy2 or the Witenagemot
of England might be empowered to try their cause,
which would have been to treat him, not as a marauding
Viking, but as legal competitor for the throne. Accord
ing to some he made a third offer, which was to submit
their claims to the ordeal of single combat ; but this is
so little in keeping with his character for sagacity, pru
dence, and caution, that we may safely dismiss it as a
fiction. His object, under all circumstances, was to
gain time, since additional troops were every day pour
ing in from the Continent.
No intellectual quality is so rare as the power to look
into the future. Neither the king of England nor the
Norman duke possessed it ; otherwise the latter Avould
have perceived that his chances of success lay entirely
1 Becneil des Historiens de with volleys of abusive epithets,
France, XIII. 229. The imagina- which though they may have ap-
tion of "Master Wace" betrays peared becoming to the prebendary
him into strange absurdities in his of Bayeux, would have been incon-
aecount of these transactions. For- ceivable to the sons of Godwin.
getting that Harold and his brother Taylor's Master Wace, p. 145.
were gentlemen as well as princes, 2 Guillaume de Poitiers, t. xxix.
he attributes to them a series p. 398.
of coarse altercations, interspersed

266 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. [CHAP. XVIII,
in immediate conflict, while the former Avould have had
recourse to the policy of delay, which would have
brought to his aid not only the large reinforcement^
then on their way to Sussex, but the rain-storms,:
snoAVS, and bitter blasts of November, which would have?
shrivelled up the adventurers from the South, and de
livered them helpless to starvation or the SAVord.
History often plays the part of a parasite to success,
and thus becomes confounded with romance. The
speeches and messages, the offers and menaces, attri,
buted by the chroniclers to the English and Norman
leaders have been transmitted to us in the garb of fable,
All the transactions of that bloody day awaken in the
mind feelings analogous to those inspired by the CEdipus
or the Eumenides. It is a vast tragedy — the tragedy of
the English nation- — that we behold, and Harold, its
symbol and representative, appears to be impelled for
wards to his doom by some irresistible Nemesis. The
grandeur, but not the interest, of the scene is interrupted
by the freaks of superstition, at once terrible and ludi
crous. Harold and his friends, though occupying the
summit of their age's intelligence, were yet not raised
altogether above the effects of its atmosphere. Their
minds were excited and overawed, when a fanatical
priest from the Norman camp, protected by the sacred
character of a herald, in which he came, pronounced
against them the sentence of Excommunication. Doubt,
perplexity, terror, the more powerful because indefinite,
were involved in that word. They looked at each
other, it is said, and for awhile knew not what answer
to make.
At any period of the world's history, utter exclusion
from the communion of the faithful must be regarded as
a great evil ; but when we remember the mental con
dition of those times, we may form some faint concep
tion of the effect produced by the maledictions of the
head of the christian world against a king or nation,
During the performance of. the fearful ceremony, the

A.D. 1066.] LAST OF THE SAXON KINGS. 267
church of St. Peter Avas hung with black, the bells of
the Eternal City rang forth their most dissonant and
discordant peals, all the officiating clergy stood — -for the
cursing took place during the night — each with a torch
in his hand, around the great altar; and as the sentence
consigning the offender to eternal perdition was pro
nounced by the sovereign pontiff, all reversed and ex
tinguished their torches, and left the vast Basilica in
utter darkness.1
Beady, or rather eager, to face danger in the battle
field, the English leaders yet quailed before these
spiritual weapons. Their dismay, however, continued
but for a moment; speedily recovering the firm temper of
their minds, they hurled back the menaces of both duke
and pope, grasped their arms and prepared for conflict.
By the whole world's admission their king was the
bravest of the brave, and, as Englishmen, they felt no
way unworthy to be his followers and companions.
The hours of darkness, it is said, were passed in a
very different manner in the rival camps ; by the Nor
mans, in hearing mass, and confessing their sins ; by
the English in fierce merriment, in tasting their last
banquet, or singing their last songs about their watch-
fires.2 At wide intervals slight reinforcements arrived,
consisting chiefly of country people and monks, who,
at the call of their country, quitted their cells, and
came with a martyr's spirit to find a grave beside their
heroic king.3 Some say there were likewise deser
tions,4 and it may be so, since there are dastards in all
L Compare Milman, History of cavalry at Hastings. Guy of
Latin Christianity, I. 146, III. 31, Amiens says they had horses, but
32 ; Gibbon, Decline and Fall of made no use of them, v. 365, sqq.
the Eoman Empire, II. 348, III. So Ordericus (III. 14), who observes
298. that they dismounted, preferring to
2 Higden, Polychronicon, III. 286, fight on foot.
"Angli ut accepimus. totam noe- * Simeon of Durham accounts for
tern bellum prsecedentum cantibus these desertions by observing that
et potibus duxerunt insomneuu" the position taken up by Harold
3 It has been made a question was too circumscribed to afford
whether the English possessed any them room to encamp, " Quia arcto

268 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. [CHAP. XVIII.
countries ; but the reason assigned, namely, that .thai
camp was too small to afford accommodation to them
all is absurd, because it was the fewness of their num-:
bers that rendered necessary the contraction of its
dimensions. At length the black 14th of October, in fatality resem
bling the day on Avhich the Romans fell at Allia,1 dawned,
and the king and the duke drew out their forces, in
order of battle.
Harold and his faithful brothers Gurth and Leofwine,
Avith the banner of England floating over their heads,2
took up their position on an eminence, from that cir
cumstance called to this day the Hill of the Standard,
and on both sides of them stretched out the English
lines, nobles, soldiers, priests, and monks, with bow jot
battle-axe in hand. On the left ran out seawards 'a
spur of the dense wood, and on the right a deep ravine,?
masked Avith brushwood and brambles. Before them
the ground descended into a gentle hollow, on the op
posite slope of which stood the immense body of the
enemy ranged in triple lines, archers, mailed4 infantry;
and cavalry, with the duke of Normandy mounted on a
superb charger in the midst. Observing the English
order of battle, William inquired Avhere was the king;;
and a soldier pointing with his finger, replied, " Yonder
is Harold, just where the standard crowns the height."?
It was nine o'clock in the morning, and the October
sun, shining through the crisp and clear air, glanced -i ¦ - .'
in loco constituti fuerant Angli, de I. 13 ; Cramer, Description , of
acie se multi subtraxere, et cum eo Ancient Italy, I. 305.
perpauci constantes corde reman- 2 Higden, Polychronicon, III. 286.
sere," p. 194. Florence of Wor- 3 Chronicle of Battle Abbey,
cester, aswehaveseenabove,assigns translated by Lower. Note, p. 6.
the same reason for the fewness of De Bello Hastingensi, where Gny
the English in the battle, a.d. 1066. draws a curious picture ofthe whole
1 Allia, a small river, with preci- battle, v. v. 365-380.
pitous banks, about eleven miles i Ordericus Vitales, III. 14. Gnil-
from Bome, where the republican laume de Poitiers, t. xxix. p. 402.
army was defeated by the Gauls Higden, Polychronicon, III. 286.
under Brennus, and almost annihi- 6 Brevis Belatio, p. 7.
lated. Livii Hist., V. 37 ; Flor.,

A.D. 1066.] LAST OF THE SAXON KINGS. 269
from the spear-heads and helmets of polished steel,
which twinkled and glittered along the field. The order
to charge was then given, and the Norman host, archers,
cross-bow men, the heavy infantry with their pikes, the
knights with lance in rest descended the hill, while the
English, grasping their battle-axes, and locking their
shields firmly together, stood like a rock.1 Mixing
strangely the sacred with the profane, the enemy, fresh
from the housel and the mass, advanced singing the
song of Roland, while Harold and his countrymen, who
are said to have passed the night in revelry, chose the
Cross of Christ and the Name of God for their battle-
cry. William, who concealed a false heart under his
cuirass, sought to propitiate the papal Nemesis by
taking the field like a necromancer, with a bag of relics2
about his neck, while Harold, conscious he had right
and justice on his side, scorned the symbols of super
stition, and presented an unpolluted breast to the shafts
of the foe.
Through the defective nature of the accounts trans
mitted to us, it seems impossible to represent distinctly
the manoeuvres and evolutions of the contending armies.
Swayed by the ideas of chivalry, and ignorant of mili
tary science, the chroniclers neglect the strategic move
ments of the day, to dwell on examples of personal
hardihood, relating hoAv Harold at once displayed the
abilities of the general and the courage of the common
soldier, now directing the movements of the army, and
now plunging, battle-axe in hand, into the densest
masses of the foe; how Gurth and William fought
hand to hand, how, the youthful earl speared the duke's
horse,3 while the rider escaped unhurt ; how, later in
1 Higden, Polychronicon, III. 286. thefornierandthedeaththreatening
Guy of Amiens, in spite of his arms of the latter, and stands with
Norman predilections, awards great foaming tusks, ready to gore the
praise tothe English common people, first that approaches him, v. 390.
comparing them to a wild boar, 2 Brevis Belatio, p. 4.
which, surrounded by dogs and 3 Guy of Amiens, De Bello Has-
hunters, scorns alike the teeth of tingensi, v. 474.

2T0 HISTORY* OF ENGLAND. [CHAP. XVIII.
the day, William had two other chargers1 killed under
him ; how the lines of assailants and assailed, agitated.
by various impulses, swayed to and fro like the surges of
a troubled sea, and how, as long as Harold's soul and
body kept together,2 the fierce small army of the English
continued invincible.
The stratagems by Avhich the invaders at length ob
tained the victory, were of the coarsest and most
ordinary kind, so that our reason almost staggers under
the attempt to believe that our forefathers were really
deluded and overcome by contrivances so shallow and
hackneyed. On a hundred battle-fields the Danes are
said successfully to have practised the same feints. Dear-
bought experience, therefore, ought to have restrained
the men of Kent, who formed the vanguard, and the
Londoners, who guarded the Sacred Banner of their
country, from disobeying their king, and deserting their
post to follow pretended fugitives. Yet we are assured,
by nearly all the historians of this Waterloo of the
Middle Ages, that the duke, finding ho impression was to
be made by bolt or arrow, sword or lance, upon the serried
array of the English, who with their battle-axes clove
in twain the lances of his knights, and cut through
their coats of mail, ordered a thousand horse to advance,
and then, when almost within swing of the English
weapons, to wheel about and mimic flight.3 This poor
deception answered its purpose. Stung by the desire
of vengeance, and with brain on fire, Harold's com
panions paused not to reflect, but rushing forwards, and
separating in chase of the artfully dispersing foe, Were,
by a well-executed movement surrounded and cut off
from the main body of the army. With their formid
able battle-axes they felled many of their assailants to"
the earth, but were at length hemmed in, and trampled
to death, by an overwhelming charge of cavalry.

Higden, Polychronicon, III. 286. 3 Brevis Eelatio, p. 8. Higden,
Boger of Wendover, a.d. 1066. Polychronicon, III. 286.

A.D. 1066.] LAST OF THE SAXON KINGS. 271
But this loss, severe as it was, produced no sensible
effect on the English force. Harold's emblazoned war
rior,1 brandishing his weapon, and glittering proudly
with jewels, still flapped and rustled over his head,
Avhile heaps of gory corpses and pools of blood clearly
revealed his station to the enemy. William, however,
who is reported by the Norman ballads to have chal
lenged the king of England to single combat, seems to
haAre taken especial care not to encounter him in the
field. He is said, indeed, to have headed the cavalry
in several charges, and on one occasion to have come in
contact, as I have said, with the young earl of the East
Anglians, but from Harold he kept aloof, with his bones
and phylacteries, either apprehensive of the result of
such a conflict, or not caring to look in the face the man
whom he had assailed Avith so much calumny, falsehood,
and iniquity.
The famous infantry of England, which has since
gained a thousand victories in every division of the
world, gave, at Hastings, a foretaste of what it was one
day to be. To bolt and arrow, to spear and sword, it
remained impenetrable as a rock, so that victory must
inevitably have declared for Harold, had the sagacity of
his comrades been equal to their courage. Once and
again they routed the chivalry of Bretagne and Maine,
of France and Acquitaine, and hewed down the bravest
of the Norman knights, who turned round and fled be
fore them. The duke, however, felt that, on that field,
there was no choice but victory or death. The rumour
was once spread that he himself had fallen, at which his
whole' force began to give Avay, and would have been
thrown into inextricable confusion, had he not, with rare
presence of mind, doffed his helmet and exclaimed,
" Here I am, look at me. By God's help, the victory
will be ours yet."2 Nor did he rest satisfied with words,
but, throAving himself in the way of the fugitives, struck
1 William of Malmesbury, IT. 13. 2 Ordericus Vitalis, III, 14.

272 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. [CHAP. XVIII.
furiously at those who were flying from the field, and
his efforts being seconded by many other knights and
barons, the fight was renewed.
Evening was already approaching, and it still appeared
doubtful towards which side victory would lean. Ob
serving, however, the contracted space occupied by the
English army, William ordered the left wing of his
cavalry to advance and take them in flank. The thicken
ing of the light imparted a doubtful aspect to the heath,
and the troops, galloping forwards at full speed without
discerning the masked ravine, were precipitated into it,
horses and riders, and there slain in such numbers that
their bodies filled up the hollow and made it level with
the plain.1
Every other plan of attack having been tried in vain,
William ordered the archers and crossbow-men to shoot
high, so that their bolts and arrows might, in descend
ing, pierce the faces of the English. How the fact was
revealed, is not stated, but it soon became known that,
just as twilight was falling2 upon the earth, one of these
missiles struck king Harold in the eye and entered the
brain. A wail probably rose from the bystanders as he
fell. His brothers had been slain for some time, together
with most of the nobles, whose bodies, mangled and gory,
were found in heaps about their king.
Conjecturing what had happened, twenty Norman
knights now volunteered to capture the Standard, and
bound themselves by a solemn oath to succeedor perish.
Advancing, therefore, lance in hand, and in a compact
band, they endeavoured to force their way towards the

1 The Chronicle of Battle Abbey of their countrymen in it; but the
speaks of this ravine as a dreadful translator, Mr. Lower, confesses his
precipice, and saj s it was overgrown inability to reconcile the description
with bushes and brambles. In the of the chronicler with any place in
time of the author, probably about the neighbourhood. Note, p. 6.
the end of the twelfth century, it 2 Dr. Lappenberg makes Harold
retained the name of Malfosse, given fall long before three o'clock j but
to it, in all likelihood, by the Nor- Florence, whom he usually follows,
mans, to commemorate the slaughter says he did not fall till twilight.

A.D. 1066.] LAST OF THE SAXON KINGS. 273
body of the dead king ; but though without chief or
general, what survived of the English infantry still main
tained its ground, and after nine hours of fighting and
fasting, gave proof that their strength was not yet ex
hausted. Ten, therefore, of the Norman barons soon
lay . weltering in their blood, a peace-offering to the
manes of Harold. The other ten succeeded in wrench
ing the banner from the earth, and setting up in its
place the standard of St. Peter, which, instead of being
to Christendom a symbol of peace, had become a baleful
meteor, the presage and cause of misfortune and death.
One of these Norman knights, beholding the royal corpse
on the sward, glutted his vengeance by piercing it with
his spear1 — a coAvardly and ignoble act, for which, it is
said, he was disgraced and expelled the army by
William. At length, as night came on, the English broke and
fled, closely pursued by the victors. No quarter was
given or asked ; amid the foldings of the hills, on the
plain, in the forest, the Normans wreaked their vengeance
on the fugitives as long as the moonlight enabled them
to distinguish foe from friend. But the dark, tangled,
and intricate recesses of the wood soon rendered the
continuance of the carnage unsafe. Though far from
satiated with blood, the pursuers, therefore, were re
luctantly compelled to interrupt their gratification and
return to the battle-field, where they found their leader's
tent pitched in the midst of the dead and dying, close
to that symbol of fraud and cruelty which the popes
denominated the standard of St. Peter.
On the following morning the Norman chief, in the
true spirit of a viking, gave his followers permission to
rifle the English dead. These spoils, the first fruits of
the Conquest, were greedily collected by the Norman
gentlemen, the Flemish weavers, and French churls,
who had been allured into the expedition by the pros-
1 Or with a sword, according to Higden, Polychronicon, III. 286.
VOL. II. T

274 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. [CHAP. XVIII.
pect of plunder. This was pleasant Sunday morning's
Avork for a christian army. After the corpses had been
stripped, they lay unburied on the heath, stark, bloody,
and ghastly in the October sun. Then the roll of his
own followers was read over, when it was found that
upwards of fifteen thousand1 men had fallen on that
perilous field. These the survivors were now ordered to
bury. As fast as possible, therefore, with pickaxe and
mattock, holes were dug in the earth to stow away the
broken tools with which William had built for himself
a throne. It was intimated to the inhabitants of Sussex-
that the friends and relatives of the slain would be
suffered to perform for them the rites of sepulture, upon-
which mothers and wives, with such rough sextons as
the hour could supply, hastened to the spot, and con
signed piously to the earth the bodies of the brave.
Among these came one illustrious mourner, Githa, the
mother of the deceased king. Not reflecting- that
William would regard her treasures as his own, she
offered for the body of her son its weight in gold, but
the obdurate victor, whose vindictive feelings had not
been quenched even by death, treated her supplication
with scorn, and ordered, his rival's corpse to be trans
ported to the sea-beach,2 and buried at high-water
mark in the sands. His underlings, however, seem-
to have proved more accessible than he to pity or
1 Speaking of the number of the corpse, he says, being borne to the
slain, Eadmer says, "tanta strages duke's camp, was, by order ofthe
ac fuga Normannorum fuit, ut vie- conqueror, delivered to William
toria, qua potiti sunt, vere et absque Mallet for interment near the sea-
dubio soli miraculo Dei ascribenda &hoxe,whichhadlongbeenguardedby
sit." Historia Novorum, p. 6. his arms. According to William%
2 Ordericus Vitalis (III. 14), chaplain, "Lui-me'me d£pouill6 de
whose narrative betokens a strange toute marque d'honneur, fut re-
conflict of feelings, since being an connu, non a sa figure, mais a quel-
Englishman by birth, he sometimes quessignes,etport6 dans le camp du
indulges in patriotic sentiments, but due, qui confia sa sepulture k Guil--
having fixed, his abode in a Norman laume surnomm6JMallet et non asa
monastery his habitual inspiration milre, qui offrait pour le corps de son
is the genius loci. Here the cher fils un egal poids d'or." Guil-
Englishman is uppermost. Harold's laume de Poitiers, t. xxix, p. 410.

A.D. 1066.J LAST OF THE SAXON KINGS. 275
to interest, since Githa, it is said obtained her noble
son's remains, and having caused them to be con
veyed to Waltham Abbey, which, before hi3 accession
to the throne, Harold himself had built and endowed,
they were there, with all due honour, interred by the
grateful monks. A tomb was likewise erected to his
memory, surmounted by his effigy in stone, which, up
to the close of the fourteenth century, constituted an
object of secret pilgrimage to devout and honourable
persons of English race.1
With Harold had perished the hope and strength of
the English nation. It was natural, therefore, in an
age of poetical ignorance, that his fate should give rise
to numerous mythes and legends expressive of the reve
rential feelings with which the people cherished his
memory. Old men, long after the curfew had become
familiar to English ears, loved to relate by their fire
sides at night how their dauntless king, with one of his
eyes torn out, and gashed with many a Avound, was
found on Sunday morning among the dead, and borne
half inanimate from the field; how, when his senses
returned to him, he caused himself to be transported
to the City of Legions,2 where he assumed the monastic
habit ; how his beautiful wife Avas sent to him by her
brothers; and how, after long years of penance and

1 Henry de Knyghton, p. 2343. AtWalthamitisplacedinthetomb;
Higden, Polychronicon, III. 286. For he was founder of the house."
William of Malmesbury pretends See also the appendix to Taylor's
that Harold s body was ordered by Master Waee £. 3G2.. sq . ,
William to be given to his mother, 2 H dd- Knyghton has col-
and the author of the Estoire de lected all sorts of stories about King
bemt .^Edward le Eei,, v. 4630,- Harold, but in general his mind
relates that: wa3 so confused- that he scarcely
urn. u«' n t. y *n n knew whether he ought to lean to
They sought forthebody of Harold, -r the favourable or unfavourable nar-
And found it among the slain : ratives; As, however, the worthy
And since he was a king canon 0f Leicester wrote at the end
It isgrauted that he should be in- of the fourteenth century, he could
terred. only compile from the chroniclers
Through the prayers of his mother who went before him. Twysden, p.
The body was carried on a bier, 2343.-
T 2

276 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. [CHAP. XVIII.
prayer, he at last closed his eyes in peace. At other
times the legend assumed a different form. Two monks,
it was said from Waltham, inspired with love for their
illustrious founder, had followed him to the fatal field,
and after his defeat and fall, diligently made search for
his body among the slain. Their eyes, hoAvever, dimmed
by age and tears, were unable to distinguish the features
of their benefactor through the mask of blood by which
they were disguised. Then went they, it is said, to his
mistress, the beautiful Editha, Avhose fair and lovely
form had procured for her the name of the Swan Neck,
The eyes of love soon found what those of pious attach
ment had missed. The remainder of the legend coin
cides with history, relating that the body was conveyed
to Waltham and there interred in the manner I have
already described. On the monument two words only
were engraved, " Unhappy Harold."
The character of this last of the Saxon kings has been
drawn in very different colours by historians, swayed in
some cases by the prejudices of race, in others by the
force of hostile traditions.1 It is full time that all
influences but those of truth' should be set aside. This
greatest of the sons of Godwin inherited his father's
valour but not his prudence. Forestalling the virtues
and tastes of chivalry, he Avas the very embodiment of
honour, bravery, magnanimity, and all knightly quali
ties, on whose brilliant and daring character, haughty
to the powerful, gentle to the weak, Bayard, according
1 The anonymous author of The as an amulet about their necks.
Brevis Relatio (Scriptores Eerum Ducange, Glossarium Mediae et
Gestarum Willelmi Conquestoris, Infinse Latinitatis, voce Filac-
ed. Giles, I. 2), not content with the terium. Lappenberg, II. 293, re-
ordinary version of the Ponthieu jects and adopts the fiction of
story, affirms that Harold took Harold's oath, for having shown
three oaths on the phylactery, that there is no evidence of his
called the Bull's Eye. This was ever having taken one, he loses
a casket which probably received sight of his own logic, and talks
its name from its shape, usually of his being oppressed by the con-
stuffed with the bones of saint3, sciousness of an oath carelessly or
which priests and other super- faithlessly taken.
stitioua persons sometimes wore

A.D. 1066,] LAST OF THE SAXON KINGS. 277
to the measure of his ability, may have modelled his
own. That his ambition was great cannot be denied.
Born in a private station, he aimed at the throne, but
ascended it by honourable means, the favour of his
predecessor and the spontaneous suffrage of his peers.
Incapable of fear, he was for that very reason often deaf
to the suggestions of policy. Prompted by headstrong
valour, he sometimes neglected the means necessary in
difficult circumstances to insure success.
Harold bore to Godwin much the same resemblance
that Alexander bore to Philip. The fathers, in both
cases, built up the edifice of glory, in which the sons
were destined to enshrine their power. Godwin was
the greater statesman, the greater master of politics,
because in a. higher degree he was master of himself.
Occupying the loftiest vantage ground of the age, he
could discern Avith an eagle's glance everything which
made for or against him within the circle of the horizon.
Gifted, moreover, with consummate patience, he could
wait for events, and withhold his hand, even when ready
to strike, till the moment most favourable for his purpose.
Of this rare art Harold was comparatively ignorant.
His soul being wholly without fear, he easily came to
the conclusion that apprehending nothing, nothing could
subdue him. At the time of his fall, he stood on the
very keystone of the arch of manhood, when the mind
and body are in perfection, and his athletic frame, tall
and majestic, and invested in a proportion which rarely
falls to the lot of man with beauty, it was but too natural
that he should think lightly of danger. He, besides,
united in his own person the blood of the two brave
races Avhich had contended during nearly three hundred
years for mastery in England — by his father he was a
West Saxon, by his mother a Dane. Hot and impe
tuous, therefore, was his blood. He had reached the age
of forty-three ; his successful rival was, perhaps, about
the same age.
The character most resembling Harold's in the pre-

278 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. , [CHAP. XVIII.
vious history of the world is that of the Macedonian.
conqueror, though their fortunes and the stages on
which they acted were very different. Alexander,
living when the human intellect had reached its culmi
nating point, enjoyed the advantage of the most perfect
education ever bestowed on man ; being initiated in
politics and statesmanship by Philip— -4n learning, liter
rature and philosophy, by Aristotle. With all that is
most beautiful in the arts he was familiar from his
cradle ; the Iliad and the Odyssey accompanied him on
his expeditions into Asia, and the most exalted of
mythical heroes appears to have been the model he
proposed to himself. Of these prodigious advantages
Harold was deprived. Living in an age of grovelling
ignorance and superstition, when the mind of all Europe
was under the sway of a doting priest who occupied the
place where the Gracchi had spoken, where Cicero had
philosophised, and where Lucretius had sung, he yet
by the mere force of intellect cast away much of the
superstition of the times. Still, with the truths, "with
the poetry, with the virtues of his religion, he strongly
sympathised, To him, as previously to his father, all
good men were attached. The archbishop beneath his
pall, the monk beneath his stole, felt their hearts beat
warmly towards their gallant king ; and it is one of the
strongest proofs of the love of all classes of his nation
towards him, that when the dead were stripped by the
victors at Hastings, the bodies of the abbot of Hide
and twelve of his monks were found with the monastic
garb beneath their armour. Upon the whole, the im
pression created by this man's character in kind, resem
bles, as I have said, that which is made by the character
of the Macedonian king. That one succeeded, find the
other failed, is nothing: Alexander might have been
slain at the Granicus, and Harold might h$ve been
vietqrious at Hastings, in Avhich case the whole history
of mankind would have presented to the st;u4enj; a, dif-
fejgnt &§peg£, W§ mm fiOl, therefore, jn jujging of

A.D. 1066.] LAST OF THE SAXON KINGS. 279
men, be exclusively dominated by circumstances, but
estimate them by the temper of their souls, in which the
son of Philip and the son of Godwin bore the strongest
possible likeness to each other.
Harold, is sometimes supposed to have been swayed
by a peculiar desire to perpetuate his memory,1 because
during his short reign he struck so many coins, and pos
sessed mints and money ers all over the kingdom. A
more -satisfactory explanation of these circumstances may
perhaps be discovered in the difficulties of his position,
which demanded a constant and profuse outlay of money.
Knowing his end, and looking back over the events of
his brief career, Avriters often seem inclined to attribute
to him prophetic power, and the consciousness that his
life would be short though filled with glory. Whatever
may have been his motives, the numismatic monuments
of his reign are numerous, and have been dug up from
the earth in several parts of England, almost always in
conjunction with those of Edward the Confessor and
William of Normandy. Mixed up with the accounts of
his mints and moneyers we meet the everlasting question
of his title to the throne, which a highly ingenious and
learned antiquarian supposes to be alluded to by the
word Pax on one of his coins.2 The " Peace" thus cele
brated is assumed to have been that agreement which,
after the Keturn from Flanders, was entered into by the
great earl and his sons on the one part, and the king on
the other. By one article of this convention, Harold's
succession to the crown is believed to have been secured ;
1 Buding, Annals of the Coinage to the earl, as the Saxon Chronicle
of Great Britain, I. 400. informs us. The particular articles
2 " The word Pax, to be found of that peace historians do not give
only on the coins of the Confessor, us, but it seems as if promise of
Harold, and William I., intimates succeeding to the crown was part,
it arose from something that had for the same Chronicle, speaking of
peculiar reference to them. I ap- Harold's taking the kingdom, says
prehend it was first on account of it was as king Edward had granted
thepeace between Godwin, Harold's or agreed with him." North's MS.
father, and King Edward, a.d. 1052, quoted in Buding's Annals, I. 390.
when he granted his grith or pax

280 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. [CHAP. XVIII,
though, bewildered by the contradictions of the chroni
clers, the author of this ingenious conjecture greatly
diminishes its significance by attributing equal credibility
to the imaginary compact between Edward and William
in Normandy. By impressing the word Pax on his
coins, Harold may only have intimated his resolution to
preserve, as far as in him lay, the peace and tranquillity
of the kingdom, and it is impossible to deny that he
exerted himself to the utmost to redeem his numismatic
pledge. On Edward's coins we find the same delusive
Avord, which, with still less justification, re-appears on
the money of William, whose whole career was an almost
unbroken series of carnage and slaughter. :

A.D. 1066.J WILLIAM I. 281

CHAPTER XIX.
EARLY YEARS OF WILLIAM'S REIGN.
The sea-kings struck the first blow for the conquest of
England in a.d. 787; in a.d. 1013 England was overrun
by king Sweyn, whose son Canute, after the episodes
of Ethelred's restoration, and Edmund Ironside's fruit
less struggle, completed the Danish conquest four years
later; in a.d. 1042 the Saxon element again became
predominant; in a.d. 1066 the Northmen obtained
recognised ascendancy, and tAventy-one years later, a.d.
1087, exactly three hundred years from the date of their
first landing, the subjugation of the island was complete,
Avhen the last of the vikings was thrust into a stone coffin
too small for his unwieldy bulk in the abbey of St.
Etienne at Caen. These heroic brigands, issuing from the
fiords and forests of Norway, and other parts of Scandi
navia, had already spread terror and devastation over
the greater part of Europe, drawn tears from the eyes
of Charlemagne, been the incessant scourge of his suc
cessors, marked with blood the track of their incursions
on the maps of Germany, France, Italy, Africa, Greece,
and Asia, where the ruins of cities, monasteries, convents,
and palaces, constituted, for many ages, the mementoes
of their prowess and ferocity. Cimbri, Saxons, Danes,
Normans, had all been cradled in the same land, and
formed, perhaps originally, but so many sections of the
same family. ThroAvn apart by circumstances, they were
afterwards, at various times, by greed and ambition,
precipitated against each other, and in their fierce and

282 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. [CHAP. XIX.
sanguinary conflicts for pre-eminence devastated and
stained with blood the fairest portions of Europe. Others1
have related at length the means by which the Scandi
navians effected their conquests in the north of France,
and became lords of the province of Neustria, which re
ceived from their domination the name of Normandy.
There they gradually laid aside the habits of a roving
life, applied themselves to agriculture and other useful
arts, and were in some degree influenced by what, for
want of a better term, may be called civilisation.
But the progress they had made in the arts of fife has
been strangely exaggerated. When monks felt them
selves called upon to institute a comparison between two
nations, they naturally gave the preference to that in
which their OAvn order exerted most influence ; and as
the Normans, resembling in this the inhabitants of the
rest of France, bowed their necks submissively to the
Church, were profuse in their donations to convents and
monasteries, and in other respects gave indubitable proofs
of their subserAdency to superstition,8 they easily com
manded the suffrages of all the chroniclers.3 ¦ But their
testimony is liable to exception. Contrasted with the
English, the Normans, at the period of the Conquest,
may have been entitled to the praise of greater sobriety,
partly, perhaps, on account of their inferior affluence,
partly through being engaged in incessant wars, but
1 Palgrave, History of Normandy the world. Should the third volume
and England, 2 vols. 8vo. Since my be in a state of forwardness, I trust
last reference to this learned, labo- it will not be long withheld from
rious, and conscientious writer, he the students of English history j
has been gathered to the authors of who, I feel sure, will always 'be
the past. Long familiarity with his ready to acknowledge the deep debt
works, which in all my researches, of gratitude they owe to the memory
especially into chronology, I have of Sir Francis Palgrave.
found highly useful, may almost be 2 Orderic. Vital, III. 1.
said to have entitled me to re- 3 Guillelm. Pictav., p. 86, ed;
gard him as a friend. His death, Maseres. This author relates to
therefore, has inspired me with no William's honour, that he believed
little regret, more especially as it in transubstantiation, and fiercely
occurred before he had enjoyed the persecuted such of his subjects as
pleasure of laying his interesting refused to agree with him, p. 92.
and elaborate work complete before

A.D. 1066.] WILLIAM I. 283
chiefly through the influence of the climate, since, in
their original country, they were distinguished above all
mankind for uproarious drunkenness.1
It seems to be a received opinion, that success in arms
implies superior refinement, whereas if any stress is to
be laid on the teaching of history, the reverse is the fact.
The Saxons, after occupying England for six hundred
years, and passing through every species of vicissitude,
addicting themselves to trades and handicrafts, to garden
ing and agriculture, to industry and commerce, and in
some degree to literature and the fine arts, had attained
a pitch of civilisation unknown on the Continent, except,
perhaps, in Italy and among the Mohammedans of Spain.
It has always been one of the characteristics of the
Enghsh people to attach less importance to domestic
architecture than many other nations. It may be true,
therefore, that their houses were less spacious than
those of the Normans. But in furniture, in plate, in
jewels, in collections of antique vases, in illuminated
manuscripts, in superb vestments, in wines, spices, rare
viands — in short, in all the materials and apparatus of
luxury, they far outwent the other nations of Christen
dom. ? This superiority they owed chiefly to the immense
extent of their foreign commerce, which brought and
stored up in London more wealth than was to be found
elsewhere in the world. Even then the Thames was
crowded with the sails of all nations, which from the
Nore to Westminster Abbey were continually passing
and repassing each other, lading or unlading, casting or
weighing anchor.3
1 Their coming into England in beaucoup sur la terre de France par
the time of Edgar, even as merchants l'abondance des me'taux prScieux;
and traders, is said to have exercised car de mgme qu'il deyait toe dit
a deleterious influence on the man- grenier de C6r£s a cause de l'abon-
ners of the Saxons, whom they dance de ses grains, de mime, par
allured into their favourite vice. l'abondance de son or, il pouvait
William of Malmesbury, II. 8. passer pour le tr&or de l'Arabie."
2 Guillaume de Poitiers, t. xxix. 3 Vita ^Edwardi Begis, p. 417,,
p. 432, who, in his inflated style, The writer dwells with peculiar
observes: "Ce pays l'emporte de pleasure on the sunny fields and

284 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. [CHAP. XIX,
The women of England also excelled those of all other
countries by their acquirements and domestic virtues, as
much as by their beauty. They excelled especially in
elegant accomplishments,1 embroidering exquisitely in
silver and gold, working after elaborate designs in
tapestry, painting portraits and scripture-pieces, as well
as fruit, flowers, and trees. From the earliest times,
moreover, they had been addicted to poetry, and knew
by heart the popular songs and ballads of their country.
The knowledge even of Latin8 Avas not uncommon among
them, and they are said occasionally to have amused
themselves with a style of reading to which feAv ladies
in Europe could now be found equal. Long before the
Conquest, the richest monastic foundation in Normandy
greatly prided itself upon the possession of a superbly
illuminated psalter, brought from England by queen
Emma in her flight, and by her presented to her brotheij
Eobert, archbishop of Rouen. William, one of this
powerful prelate's sons, stole the volume from his father's
chamber, and gave it to his wife Hawise, of AvhoiiJL
he was passionately fond. This psalter, whose destiny
it was to be transmitted from one owner to another' by
theft, seems to have been again stolen from Hawise by
her son Robert, who, on becoming a monk of Evroult,'
bestowed it on the monastery, together with his mother's
lands.3 Afterwards, when the Conquest had been achieved;
William, then no longer duke but king, bore back with
him, to his eager and hungry country, the plunder of
England, which was so varied in kind, so prodigious in
rich pastures of Westminster. "In- l Les femmes de l'Angleterre son
tendit ergo Deo devotus rex locum toe's habiles aux travaux d'aiguille,
ilium, turn vicinum famosse et opu- et aux tissus d'or." Guillaume de
lentse urbi, turn satis apricum ex Poitiers, t. xxix. p. 433.
circumjacentibus fecundis terris et 2 Historia Ingulphi, I. 62. Estoire
viridantibus prsediis, atque proximo de' Seint .ffidward le Eei, v. 1147,
decursu principalis flu vii a toto sqq,
orbe ferentis universarum venalium 3 Orderic, Vital., III. 3.
rerum copiosas merces subjectse
civitati."

A.D. 1066.J WILLIAM I. 285
amount, that the awe-stricken chroniclers maintain that
all the Gauls, if ransacked from end to end, would have
failed to supply treasures worthy to be compared with
it.1 The silver, the gold, the vases, vestments and cruci
fixes crusted with jewels, the silken garments for men
and women, the rings, necklaces, bracelets, wrought
delicately in gold2 and resplendent in gems, inspired
the continental barbarians with rapture, and in their
imaginations made England appear the Dorado of those
times.3 If we ascend higher still, and contemplate our fore
fathers in their institutions and laws, in their personal
security and widely-extended freedom, we shall discover
yet stronger reasons for regarding their social condition
as far superior to that of the Normans, among whom
feudalism prevailed in its most repulsive form. The
duke, or rather earl as he was then called, stood at the
head of the social edifice, surrounded by a number of
barons, who were all supposed to hold their estates or
fiefs from him, and might, therefore, upon the least
delinquency be disseized of all, and reduced to indi
gence. What the prince was to these barons, that was
each of them to his vassals, whose relations to their lord
were a repetition, on a reduced scale, of those of the
lord to his superior. This grinding military system
rested at its base upon serfdom and slavery of the most
galling and degrading kind, so that the mass of the
Norman people under duke William and his pre
decessors rivalled, in degradation and ignorance, the
peasants of Siberia and the Ukraine.
In England very different social arrangements were
found; the king lived almost, it might be said, among
1 Guillaume de Poitiers, t. xxix. sent from the plunder of England
p. 432. to the pope, together with costly
2 Eoach Smith, Collectanea An- ornaments, which would have been
tiqua, I. 99, 103, 104. held in the highest estimation even
3 Guillelm. Pictav., p. 147. This at Byzantium, then universally re-
writer observes, that incredible garded as the most opulent city in
treasures in gold and silver were the world.

286 HISTORY m 'ENGLAND. [CHAP. XIX.-
his peers, since the great nobles of the land, the ea*fl#-
of Wessex, of Kent,- of Mercia, East- Anglia and NorthY
umbria were so many princes in rank, dwelt in the midst
of their courts like sovereigns,, and had at their com^
mand huscarls, or guards, to enforce their authority and-
protect their persons. But their power, however con
siderable it might be, was subordinate to the authority
of the Witenagem6t, or great council of the realm, in
which they sat -beside the king, in company with the
archbishops, prelates, and abbots; so that nearly all ranks
of people might be said to be represented in the assembly.
Here, however, as on the Continent, numbers of men
were unhappily found, who, under the name of serfs and
theows, might almost be said to have lain outside the
institutions of the country, constituting the great blot!
upon English civilisation, and assimilating it at the base
to that of despotic states.
Scarcely an effort had hitherto been made for the
emancipation of these classes, which, in spite of the
laws, the chronicles, and the researches of modefn
jurisconsults and historians, are enveloped in almost
impenetrable obscurity. What were their precise re
lations to their masters, in what the peculiarities of
their condition consisted, how far the laws interfered for
their protection, and what in general were their race and
origin we are unable to explain. It has been sometimes
suspected that the servile population of later times was
descended, in great part, from the slaves scattered through
Britain before the Roman invasion, who by each success
sive conquest were thrust down lower and lower in the
social scale, recruited from time to time by criminals, by
outlaws, by fugitives from foreign lands, by captives
taken in war, and by such wretched unfortunates as
through desperate poverty were driven to take volun
tarily upon themselves the degrading yoke of servitude.
Whatever may have been their history, the existence of
servile classes in England, which reflected discredit on
its rulers or institutions, was one main cause of its in- •

AD. 1066.] WILLIAM 1. 287
ability to resist invasion, since every foreign army that
landed on its shores immediately received large rein
forcements from those sections of the population Avhich
cruelty and hard usage had converted into the worst
enemies of the state.
There had, moreover, been for many ages observ
able in English society a strong tendency to cen
tralisation, to the creation of a numerous and powerful
court, and to the substitution of royal favourites for
the ancient aristocracy of the land. Out of this cir
cumstance sprang another cause of the weakness of
the realm, which, instead of being studded as of old
with the castles of nobles, each forming the centre
of a military population, attached by the strongest ties
to their lord, and ready to undergo exile, servitude, of
death with him, was now almost completely denuded of
fortresses, and contained few relics of that aristocratic
organisation which the Saxons had originally introduced.
Yet there existed everywhere a sturdy and bold yeomanry,
always ready to take the field, and well qualified to
throw victory into the scale in which they stood.
But there were other influences in operation. Edward
the Confessor, though he certainly never contemplated
bequeathing his crown to the duke of Normandy, had yet
acted blindly throughout his reign, as the agent of his
country's subjugation. Hundreds of Normans,1 through
his criminal partiality, possessed lands and influence in the
realm, were in several parts intrusted with the command
of castles, and everywhere enabled by their Avealth or
court favour to exert a baleful influence over numerous
sections of the population.
Nor was even this the worst. Rome had a power
ful and disciplined army encamped in advantageous
positions throughout the land — I mean the clergy,
who, whether foreigners or natives, were, with very
1 See a list of the chief of the in Duchesne, Eerum Normanicarum
adventurers, in Mase*res,p. 367, and Scriptores, p. 1023.

288 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. [CHAP. XIX.
rare exceptions, slavishly submissive to the orders
of the sovereign pontiff.1 A few noble prelates,
patriots rather than ecclesiastics, adhered steadily to the
cause of their country. But when the pope began^to
fulminate his curses, the hearts of most died -within
them, and they consented to receive a foreign tyrant
rather than risk eternal exclusion from the society of the
blessed. Another feature of English society tended strongly
to deteriorate it, I mean the general prevalence of
monasticism. So far back as the eighth century, fears
had been felt by thoughtful men,2 of the effects of.this
tendency, which, however, it was found impossible - to
check, owing, perhaps, to one of those defects in the
social system discoverable all over Europe. To escape
from the oppression of the nobles there were but two
means — death or the cloister. Men, therefore, in crowds
put on the monastic garb, that they might enjoy liberty,
or at least exemption from secular authority ; and thus
the strength of the kingdom was sapped at its founda
tion, the growth of population checked, the use of arms
rendered unpopular, and the country laid open on all
sides to invasion. Hence the practice had groAvn up of
employing mercenaries, both in the army and the fleet:
Frisians, Danes, Norwegians, Swedes. With the restora
tion of the House of Cerdie, many signal improvements
were introduced, because the great earl of Wessex,3 alive
1 Maitland, History of London discern as far back as the"last cen-
(I. 37) indulges iii very severe ani- tury the true character of Godwin:
madversions onthe conduct of the "By the interposition," he observes,
clergy at this period. " It seems to " of many of the prime nobility,
me," he says, " a matter out of all matters were happily accommo-
doubt, that if the Christian clergy dated ; by restoring him and his
at that time had acted upon the sons to their honours and estates,
same principles of honour and virtue and banishing those vile and dan-
as the pagan priests, the druids, and gerous sycophants, the Normans,
bards formerly did, this kingdom who had introduced unjust laws,
never would have become a prey given false judgments, and com-
to either of those petty enemies — mitted grievous outrages against
the Danes or Normans. the English." History of London,
2 Bede, Hist. Eccles.Augl., V.23. 1.36.
3 Maitland possessed sagacity to

A.D. 1066.] WILLIAM I. 289
to all the defects and dangers of England, laboured "stre
nuously to impart a new spirit to its civilisation. Under
his influence, and that of his sons, the martial ardour of
the English revived, together with the love of freedom ;
but while they were in this stage of their progress, the
alliance between the pope, the duke of Normandy, the
count of Flanders, the king of Norway, and the earl of
Northumbria took place, and by precipitating multitudes
of adventurers from all parts of Europe on our shores,
pushed back and blighted for ever the spontaneous civi
lisation of the English people.
William, however, notwithstanding the completeness
of his victory at Senlac, apprehending the approach of
fresh forces, persisted in hovering long upon the sea,
which he regarded as his base of operations.1 We may
therefore dismiss as a wild fable the statement that there
were still seven hundred English ships in the Channel,2
the manning of which is supposed to have absorbed the
greater part of Harold's army. It appeared, as well it
might, to be incredible3 that a numerous and powerful
people like the English should lose heart upon one
defeat, and he consequently reckoned upon having to
engage in a bloody series of actions, to which, with his
thinned and shattered armament, he knew himself to be
wholly unequal. To provide as far as possible against
such a contingency, he had ordered his wife, Matilda,
whom he left behind in Normandy, together with the
barons who formed her council, to despatch across the
' Yet several monks, either igno- by the Saxon Chronicle, but is irre-
rant or careless of the truth, main- concileable with his anxietyrespect-
tain that he marched directly to ing the' reinforcements from Nor-
London, where he received the sub- mandy. Guillaume de Poitiers may
mission of the nobles.. Brevis Ee- have misled the modern historian
latio, p. 8. . by observing, " Le due Guillaume,
3 Sharon Turner, History of Eng- avec les troupes de la Normandie,
land during the Middle Ages, I. 73. etsans denombreux secours etrangers,
3 Yet Lingard assumes that Wil- soumit en un seul jour, de la troi-
liani expected the Euglish people silme heure au soir, toutes les
to offer him" the crown immediately villes de l'Angleterre," t. xxix. p.
after his victory at Senlac, II. 3. 412.
The notion is, indeed, countenanced
VOL. II. U

290 HISTORY OF. ENGLAND. [CHAP. XIX.
sea with all practicable speed such reinforcements1 as
might come up after his departure. from St. Valeri, or
which could be got together and organised in the
country. One of these bodies of reserve, intending to
make for Hastings or Pevensey, landed through mistake
or stress of weather at Romney, where, engaging in ei
conflict with the inhabitants, they were cut to pieces,
Receiving intelligence of this disaster, the duke, having
strengthened the fortifications, at Hastings, and left.
Humphrey de Tilleul in the place with a strong garrison,
marched eastwards to wreak his vengeance on the victors;,2
and having perpetrated a ferocious massacre, pursued his
route towards Dover.
Everything in William's movements tends to show
that had there been left in England a single general of
courage and ability, the annihilation of the invaders?
might have been found not only practicable but easy.
The policy, however, which a thousand years earlier
had laid Britain prostrate before the Roman sword, and
afterwards facilitated its conquest by the Saxons, now
came to the aid of the Normans. Dissensions in the
Witenagemot, absurd jealousies among the nobles, di^
visions and bickerings in the church, altogether pre,
vented the organising qf any great plan of national
defence. By these causes, the common people were
left to provide for their own safety as best they could.
Rumours meanwhile of devastation and massacre, aug
menting in volume, like avalanches as they rolled into
the distance, excited panic and mental paralysis.
To Dover large multitudes of persons had flocked, in
the hope of being protected by its castle, built on a
scarped rock, a bow-shot in height,4 overhanging the
1 Saxon Chronicle, a.d. 1066. the fate of England shoujd have
2 Guillelm. Pictav., p. 137. Ed. Ma- been decided by a single battle, and
seres, Orderic. Vital., III. 14. that no united effort was afterwards
3 William of Malmesbury (Vita, made by the nation, " quasi cum
S. Wulstani, II. 255), expresses the Haroldo robur omne deciderit
wonder which seems to have been patrise."
universally felt in his time, that * Guillelm. Pictav,, p. 138.

A.D. 1066.] WILLIAM I, 291
sea. Its defences had lately been greatly strengthened
by Harold, who regarded it as one of the keys of the
kingdom. Its size and importance may be inferred from
its having possessed a guildhall, and annually, during
the Confessor's reign, furnished the king twenty ships,
with four hundred and twenty men, for fifteen days.1
Immediately on their arrival, the Normans, probably
by William's order, set fire to the town, and, in the con
fusion caused by the conflagration, commenced negotia
tions with the garrison. Upon the nature of those
negociations history is silent ; we are merely told that
the invader proved successful, after which, affecting to
commiserate the sufferings of the inhabitants, he be
stowed on them a sum of money towards rebuilding
their dwellings. Here the victor remained eight days,
increasing the strength of the fortifications, and awaiting
the arrival of fresh levies from Normandy. During
this brief interval his voracious soldiery gorged them
selves to repletion on half-raw meat, and in default of
stronger liquors swallowed quantities of water; this
brought on dysentery, of which many of them died,
while others remained enfeebled during the rest of their
lives.2 These victims of gluttony William left with the
garrison of Dover, and with the remainder of his army
marched along the old Roman way towards the capital.
On no occasion in the history of the world does
the evil of divided counsels more strikingly appear.
Throughout the kingdom anarchy and confusion pre
vailed, the nobles and superior clergy, entertaining dif
ferent views, and broken into factions, contributed by
their discords and dissensions to accomplish the ruin of
their country. Ignorant and rustic people, however
patriotic their feelings, are usually swayed by an in
stinctive reverence for power. Accordingly, the sen
timent which makes certain eastern heretics worship the

1 Ellis, Introduction to Domes- 2 Orderic. Vital., III. 14.
day, 1. 190, 192, 257 ; II. 462.
U 2

292 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. [CHAP. XIX.
devil — fear of the mischief he may do them — impelled
large numbers of Kentish men to organise themselves
into a deputation, meet William on the way, submit
voluntarily to his power, and give hostages1 for their
allegiance. Out of" this fact a wild legend2 has been
constructed, in which Stigand, archbishop of Canterbury,
and Egelsig, abbot of St. Augustine's, perform the
chief parts. At the head of their followers, we are
told, each with a green branch in his hand, so that, like
the army of Siward in Macbeth, they presented the
appearance of a moving wood, the fantastic Jutes of
the lathes approached, and, encircling the Norman
Bastard, obtained from his hopes or fears a formal re
cognition of their ancient rights, Avhich he bound him
self never to infringe. This story, however, only deserves
notice as a specimen of the fictions by which the un
happy English, sought to blunt the sting of wounded
national vanity. No effectual resistance was in truth
offered to the advance of the victorious army, which
after making a brief halt, in consequence of the sudden
illness of the general, at a place called the Broken
Tower, supposed to have been situated between Sitting-
bourne and Rochester, pushed on towards the capital.3
No full and distinct picture has been transmitted to
us of the real state of things at that time in London,
though it is certain that its citizens, if properly led,
were sufficiently numerous and warlike to resist the
assaults of any force that could be brought against
them. They had defeated before their gates both Sweyn
and Canute, with many other Danish princes, and in
military ardour had no way degenerated from their
forefathers. Besides, at this moment, large bodies of
volunteers were pouring in from all parts of the
country, so that, immense as was the size of the capital
it could, scarcely afford them quarters.4 But fierce and
1 Guillaume de Poitiers, t. xxix. 3 See Maseres, note to Guilleht£
p. 414. Pictav., p. 139.
2 Thorn, p. 1786. « Guillelm. Pictav., p. 142.

A.D. 1066.] WILLIAM I. 293
angry factions noAV raged within the city walls, and,
even in the Witenagemot itself, some espousing the
policy of Edwin and Morcar, whose defection had caused
the defeat of Harold at Hastings; others, chiefly bishops
and abbots, dominated by papal influence, supporting
the claims of William,1 while a third party with Stigand,
Aldred, and many nobles at its head, determined to
restore the line of Cerdie, and raise Edgar the Ethel
ing to the throne.2 These debates, rendered more fierce
and impetuous by the rapid approach of a hostile army,
could not divert the minds of the citizens from attention
to their own defence. Beholding from their towers
the Normans pouring down from the heights of Kent
into the basin of the Thames, they sent out in haste a
small force, which, crossing the river, encountered on
the skirts of Southwark the vanguard of William's
army, consisting of five hundred knights, by whom they
were worsted, and driven back within their walls.3 But
London was not on that account disposed to surrender
to the invader. The citizens mounted guard along the
ramparts, the gates were manned, and every approach
fortified. Threats and cajoling having been tried and
proved fruitless, William reverted to the policy of the
ancient vikings, and, to inspire the Londoners with
terror, set fire to the Avhole city of Southwark,4 and
defiling his troops along the blazing houses, marched
towards the interior. Meeting with no strenuous oppo
sition, he crossed the river at Wallingford, Avhere he
encamped. It speedily became evident that the fall of England
could no longer be averted, for its chiefs and leaders,
instead of uniting in presence of supreme danger, madly
indulged their individual ambition, and blindly sought
1 William of Malmesbury, III. the author says William added
a.d. 1066. Johann Eordun Scoto- conflagration to slaughter, thereby
rum, Hist., III. 698. to subdue the ferocity of the Lon-
3 Saxon Chronicle, a.d. 1066. doners.
3 Guillelm. Pictav., p. 142, where 4 Ordericus Vitalis, III. 14,

294 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. [CHAP. XIX.
to profit by the calamities of their country. Edgar
was immediately discovered to be unequal to his situa
tion. Historians have sought in his extreme youth the
explanation of his want of influence ; but genius is of
no age, and had he possessed it the fortunes of England
might yet have been retrieved. His utter want of
capacity, which ten months before had caused him to be
set aside to make way for the great son of Godwin, now
again rendered itself manifest, and blighted the hopes of
his friends. In manners and speech a foreigner, he
inspired no confidence in the nobles, no enthusiasm in
the people.
The chief obstacle, however, to the reconstruction
of the Saxon monarchy was the want of patriotism in
the clergy, many of them Frenchmen or Normans, who
constituted all over the country so many centres of
intrigue and disaffection to the national cause. Owing
to the compact between pope Alexander and William,
they considered themselves bound to promote the in
terests of the public enemy,1 and their learning and
reputed piety giving them immense influence over their
secular neighbours,2 they were enabled to accomplish
more than twenty armies to promote the views of the
false and unscrupulous foreigner. The conquest of
England was consequently an ecclesiastical achieve
ment ; for the rapid submission of the country after the
loss of a single battle can be accounted for in no other
way. Shame has restrained the chroniclers, who all
belong to the sacerdotal order, from fully describing
the part taken by the Church in that disastrous period.
But, from numerous casual expressions, we discover
clearly that they recognised the justness of the accusa
tion preferred against a majority of the ecclesiastical
party. While William remained at Wallingford, his followers
developed throughout nearly all the southern counties
1 Johann. Fordun, V. 2. the Laws of England, IV. 415.
2 Blackstone, Commentaries on

A.D. 1066.] WILLIAM I. ( 295
the terrible policy of the old Danish invaders, delivering
cities, towns and villages to the flames, devastating the
open country, and indulging, wherever they marched,
the utmost license of lust, rapine, and slaughter.1 In
this way, Surrey,2 Kent, Sussex, Dorsetshire, and Hamp
shire were covered with burning ruins,3 an earnest to the
subjugated people of the advantages they were to derive
from passing under a foreign yoke. In the neighbour
hood ofthe capital, the Norman cavalry pillaged, ravaged,
and massacred up to the city walls; and when the dismay
of those within was described, by his sacerdotal spies, to
be at its height, the duke, with a division of his forces,
advanced to Berkhainpstead,4 more completely to menace
London. We cannot accept as historical, the poetical
description given by a contemporary writer of the state
of London at that critical moment. No doubt it was full
of anxiety and alarm. The Hanseward or chief magis
trate had fought, it is said, at Hastings, and there re
ceived many honourable wounds, from the effects of
which he still felt it necessary to be carried about in a
litter. Scantiness of supplies, which, with the naviga
tion of the Thames uninterrupted, seems hardly credible,
furnished a pretext for adopting the policy of capitula
tion. Extraordinary mystery hangs over all the proceed
ings then going on in the capital, the obscurity of which
is not to be dissipated by adopting the fanciful account
of a foreign poetaster.5 The leading men of the kingdom,
however, instead of dispersing, and deserting the king they
had set up, appear, to have remained about his person,
though they originated no judicious plan of action; but,
on the contrary, involved themselves and their prince in
difficulties so great and multiplied, that at length the only
means of escape was absolute submission to the invader.
1 Saxon Chronicle, a.d. 1066. 4 Simeon De Gestis Eegum An-
2 Simeon De Gestis Begum An- glorum, p. 195. Boger de Hoveden,
glorum, p. 195. a.d. 1066.
3 Florence ofWofcester, a.d. 1066. 5 Guy of Amiens, De Bello Hastin-
Eadulph de Diceto, p. 480. gensi.

296 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. [CHAP. XIX.
Edwin and Morcar have been accused of desert
ing the young king,1 Avhom they helped to set up, and
retreating with their forces to the North, but the best.
contemporary authority absolves them from this treason,
though it testifies, at the same time, to the futility of their
loyalty, or perhaps to its hollowness or insincerity. At,
whatever conclusion we may arrive on this point, we find
them2 included in the deputation which absolute despair
of maintaining Edgar on the throne urged the influen
tial nobles and people assembled in London to send to,
William at Berkhampstead.3 To demonstrate the ab
sence of all rational ground of hope of insuring the
sceptre to the House of Cerdie, it is sufficient to observe
the great and noble prelate, Stigand, the friend of the
Godwins, and the supporter of England's ecclesiastical
independence against the pope, at the head of the em
bassy.4 With him went king Edgar5 himself to lay the.
crown, which he knew not how to wear, at the feet of
the Conqueror. Aldred also, archbishop of York, the
intimate friend of the deceased king Harold, with Wuk
stan of Worcester, another of his pious intimates, the
earls Edwin and Morcar, with all the chief nobles and
men of London, proceeded in the train of Stigand, per
suaded that the power before which his spirit could quail
must be indeed formidable.
1 Florence of Worcester, a.d. crossed the Thames at Wallingford
1066. — a statement for which he has not
2 Saxon Chronicle, a.d. 1066. the slightest warrant. The Saxon
Chronicon Johannis Bromton, p. Chronicle, a far higher authority
961 • , than Poitiers, attributes the hasty
3 Simeon De Gestis Begum An- recognition of William's power,'.
glorum, p. 195. rather than his claims, not to Stkci
\ Guillaume Poitiers, p. 142, con- gand, but to Aldred, archbishop of
fuses the whole order of events, York. Poitiers, with the prover-
stating that Stigand repaired to bial inaccuracy of his countrymen,
William at Wallingford, and imme- wherever foreign names are con-
diately after representing the army cerned, confuses Wallingford with
as being within sight of London. Berkhampstead, transposing to the
Lingard, II. 5, with strange hostility former, events which took place at
to Stigand, speaks of him as the first the latter town.
to desert the cause of his country, « Eadulph de Diceto, p. 480.
and says he met William as he

A.D. 1066.] WILLIAM I. 297
The duke received these distinguished personages
with becoming respect and courtesy, and, with the
profound hypocrisy natural to his character, embraced
the rival king, promising always to be his fast friend.
He is accused by history of having practised, on
this occasion, a coarse piece of imposture, Avhich must
have excited the secret scorn of all Avho witnessed it :
having, from his first landing, proclaimed in the face
of the whole world, that he came to vindicate his right
to the crown of England, which he asserted had been
bequeathed to him by EdAvard, he now, when it was
offered him by the princes, nobles, and prelates of the
realm, affected modesty, and hesitated to accept the
perilous and troublesome dignity.1 He is even said to
have pushed his dissimulation so far as to have solemnly
consulted his Norman friends, every one of whom Avas
aware that he had invaded England for the acquisition
of the very throne, which he pretended a disinclination
to ascend. That he may have taken counsel with them,
and listened to the advice of Aimeri d'Acquitaine is
probable, but the matters debated in that council must
have been of a nature very different from those given in
the narrative of his adulating chaplain. The true de
sign of his artificial deliberation and coyness was doubt
less to torture the members of the deputation with anxiety
and apprehension, and make them accept as a boon what
he knew they must regard in their hearts as the greatest
of all calamities to themselves and their country. The
unhappy nobles and prelates having fulfilled their disas
trous mission, and left in the hands of their foe as many
hostages2 as he thought proper to demand, returned by
the Avay they had come, and the victorious duke, elated
at the prospect opening up before him, advanced towards
London. Instead, however, of ordering his troops to
respect the possessions of the inhabitants, as those of
persons who, by the late transaction, had become his
1 Guillaume de Poitiers, t. xxix. 3 Henry de Knyghton, p. 2343.
p. 415.

298 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. [CHAP. XIX.
subjects, he permitted his brutal knights and men-at-
arms to continue their ravages and devastation during
their Avhole march.1 He is supposed to have approached
by way of Hammersmith and Kensington, but prudently
abstained from entering the capital until those soldiefsj
whom he had sent in advance for the purpose, had cons
structed that fortress for his reception which is believed
to have afterwards expanded into the Tower.2 Mean
while he enjoyed so complete a tranquillity in that long
sweep of woods and fields, which extended around Lon
don towards the North, that he might have indulged,
in perfect safety, his favourite sport of the chase.3
While the duke remained encamped at a distance from
the city, preparations were actively made for his corona
tion, which it was agreed should take place on Christmas
Day. But who was to perform the ceremony 1 The office
of consecrating a king belonged of right to the arch«
bishop of Canterbury, primate of all England, and Wil
liam, in order that nothing might be wanting to establish
his influence among the people, of whose inclinations and
resources he could not as yet form a just idea, negotiated
with Stigand to obtain the sanction of his high name and
character.4 But the great Saxon prelate, though con
strained by events to tender submission to the invader,
refused to place the crown on the head of a man still
reeking with the best blood of England. This refusal
was the signal for all that Avas base and venal in the
church to assail his reputation. Having been nominated

1 Simeon of Durham particularly 3 Guillelm. Pictav., p. 144.
notices the burning of towns — exer- 4 Bromton observes, that William
citui suo villas cremare, et rapinas sought by all kinds of arts and
agere permisit, p. 195. Eoger de blandishments to obtain the consent
Hoveden, a.d. 1066. of Stigand, but not succeeding,
2 Guillaume de Poitiers, in Gui- never liked him afterwards, pi 962:
zot's Collection, t. xxix. p. 416 ; Hume, however, adopts the tradi-
with the notes of Maslres, in tion fabricated by hostile ehroni-
quarto edition, p. 144, See also clers, that William refused to be
Stow, Survey of London, pp. 17, crowned by him, and observes
23; Maitland, History of London, quaintly, that he was not much in
pp. 37, 38. the Duke's favour, I. 206.

A.D, 1066.] WILLIAM I. 299
to the see of Canterbury by the Confessor through the
influence of Godwin, wliile his predecessor the fugitive
Norman Robert was still alive, and obtained the pall
from Benedict1 the Tenth, whose pontificate, the in
trigues of the papal court brought to a premature close,
Stigand had been nominally suspended2 by the Roman
pontiff, though in England no notice was taken of his
decision, so that the primate continued to exercise the
authority and enjoy the revenues of his see. His re
fusal to invest the Conqueror with the sceptre and dia
dem converted him into a mark for all the rancour and
calumny of the Norman party, Avho began immediately
to assert that he had been deposed from his archbishopric
for his crimes, and that William would, consequently,
not consent to be anointed by his sacrilegious hands.3
It was nevertheless not considered politic to attempt his
removal from Canterbury, and substitute another in his
place. William adopted the policy of disseminating
reports injurious to Stigand's character,4 and conferring
on Aldred, archbishop of York, the equivocal and dan
gerous honour of officiating at his coronation.5
Westminster Abbey6 was chosen to be the scene of
the coronation, and a certain number of Saxon nobles
Avere induced, by corruption or terror, to grace the cere
mony with their presence. In all ages the English
have been fond of exhibitions, and on this occasion a
multitude of both sexes thronged the Abbey to behold
the death-blow given to their liberties. William's con
duct was regulated by a peculiar policy : he wished to
1 Anglia Sacra, Addenda etEmen- quest of England, p. 73, supposes
danda, I. 791, 796. Westminster Abbey to have been
2 Anglia Sacra, I. 607. the church in which the coronation
3 William of Malmesbury, III. of the English kings habitually
p, 281. took place. But this is an error ;
4 See Simeon of Durham, p. 195, no king, save Harold, had ever
who stigmatises as calumnious the been crowned in that building, the
decisions of the Boman pontiff. consecration of which had taken
5 Capgrave, Chronicle of England, place only one year before. Most
p. 129. of the Saxon kings were crowned
6 Thierry, History ofthe Con- either at Kingston, or Winchester >

300 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. [CHAP." XIX.
impart to his proceedings the air of a legal and consti
tutional succession, but at the same time to discover in
the conduct of the English a pretext for slaughter and
confiscation. Their tameness had disarranged his plans.
Reckoning upon a fierce and prolonged contest, he had
inspired his followers with the hope of enjoying the'
plunder of all England, because he was resolved to treat
his adversaries as rebels that he might seize upon their
property. In itself, moreover, his situation was one of
great difficulty. His Norman followers were inordinately
greedy of gain, but he might still depend upon their
loyalty, which however was far from being the case with
those reckless and unprincipled adventurers, who from
all parts of Europe had flocked to his standard. These
could only be satisfied by confiscations or pillage, and
if they saw no prospect of obtaining their ends, might even
fall upon him during his coronation, or at any other mo
ment, and cut him to pieces. Of the English, also, it was
impossible to be sure. They might put on the mask of
loyalty to conceal patriotic designs, and to prevent the
placing of the crown upon his brow might excite a tumult
and a massacre. From his speech to his soldiers at Hast
ings, we discover that the horrors of St. Brice's day1 were
ever present to his mind, and may therefore easily under
stand why he gave secret orders to his Norman guards re
specting what they were to do, should any symptoms of
insurrection appear while he was within the Abbey. iJ
When all these arrangements had been completed,
William, who had lodged during the previous night
at a fortress in the city,2 set out at early morning
for Westminster. In the streets through which he
passed, the pavement and the fronts of houses Avere
alive with spectators, possessed by the sentiments of
1 This reference to the massacre 2 Compare Eoscoe, Life of Wil-
of the Danes occurs in Henry of Ham the Conqueror, p. 202; Thierry,
Huntingdon, p. 762, and in the Bo- History of the Norman Conquest, ,
man de Eou, II. 187, sqq. Chron. p. 73, and Guillaume de Poitiers,'t.
de Normandie, Eec. des Hist, de la xxix. p. 416, sqq. Guillaume deiV
France, xiii. 232. Jumidges, VII. 37.

A.D. 1066.] WILLIAM I. 301
curiosity and alarm. On either side the way was a line
of foreign soldiers mounted or on foot, whose strange
garb and insolent bearing astonished and outraged the
populace. Accompanied by the mitred satellites of
Rome,1 and a handful of English nobles, who consented
to prostitute their presence for gold, William moved
onwards, passing as he went along the settlement and
sepulchre of the Danes, and traversing the little pictu
resque village of Charing, followed the road leading to
Westminster. Gloom and apprehension filled the souls
of all who looked on. To impose upon the bystanders
by a show of loyalty and attachment, his English cour
tiers, who, in truth, were only so many prisoners at
large, moved next his person, while the Norman barons,
with looks of triumph and contempt, encompassed their
leader and his poor-spirited victims. In this order the
whole cavalcade swept into the abbey, while a for
midable body of men-at-arms lined the neighbouring
streets to overawe the Londoners, whose fierceness and
valour inspired no little uneasiness.2
To impart to this dramatic exhibition the appearance
of a national act, Aldred, archbishop of York, before
commencing the ceremony of consecration, demanded
of the multitude of all ranks and both sexes, whom
curiosity or baseness had brought together in the Abbey,
whether they consented to receive William, duke of
Normandy, for their king. Geoffrey, bishop of Cou-
tance,3 put the same question to the assembled Normans,
and both sections of the crowd answering in the affirma
tive with loud shouts, which reverberated beneath the
roof of the minster, the men-at-arms posted without
affected to misunderstand the import of these sounds,
and to create a pretext for pillage and massacre, set fire
to the adjacent buildings.4 The glare of the flames
1 Guy of Amiens, De Bello Has- 3 Orderic. Vital., III. 14.
tingensi, v. 797. 4 Guillelm. Pictav., p. 145.
2°Guillaume de Poitiers, t. xxix.
p. 417. '

302 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. [CHAP. XIX.
flashing in through the painted windows inspired the
spectators with extraordinary alarm — men, women, and
children made a rush towards the doors, as if in appre
hension of immediate death — and elbowing, struggling,
and crushing each other, forced their way into the
streets, the English to aid in extinguishing the confla
gration, the Normans to rob and pillage during the
dismay and terror it created. To complete the cere
mony, there remained about the high altar only the
officiating archbishop, with a few straggling priests and
monks. Aldred, in fear and trembling, placed the dia
dem, the work, it is said, of a Byzantine artificer,1 on
the head of William, who likewise trembled violently/?
He was doubtless, therefore, in a proper frame of mind
to take any oath3 that might be tendered to him, and
swore accordingly to defend the churches of God and
their ministers, and to rule the whole people subjected
to his sway with justice and clemency ; to enact and
observe wholesome laws, and to prevent unrighteous;
judgments, plunder, and rapine.4 ,
The disastrous circumstances attending the coronation
made a highly unfavourable impression on the minds of
the people, and inspired them with the determination to
seize on the first fitting opportunity of revenge.5 Nor were
they much conciliated by what followed. The merce
naries, to whose swords William had owed his success,
now appear to have become clamorous for their reward,
and therefore all the treasures which king Harold had
amassed for the defence of the kingdom were lavished
on those who had ruined and despoiled it.6 Funds being
1 De Bello Hastingensi, v. 750. of them did he perform : hsec
2 Orderic. Vital., III. 14. omnia Deo vovit, sed nihil horum
3 The Chronicle of Abingdon, I. tennit,
489-490, observes that before Aldred i Simeon Dunelmensis, p. 195.
put the crown on William's head, Eadulph de Diceto, p. 480. Chrb-
he swore, in presence of the clergy nicon Johannis Bromton, p. 962.
and people, to respect the churches Stubbs, Actus Pontificum Ebora-
and their ministers, and to govern censium, p. 1712.
the nation justly ; it then adds, all 5 Orderic. Vital., III. 14.
these things he swore, but not one c Guillelm. Pictav., p. 146.

A.D. 1067.J WILLIAM I, 303
still wanting to maintain the profusion of the court, and
satisfy the innumerable demands which were hourly
made upon the sovereign, a heavy tax was immediately
imposed on the nation. Norman chroniclers, speaking
with levity of the sufferings of the vanquished, represent
this impost as a sort of voluntary benevolence, which
the English hastened to lay at the feet of their master.
In truth, however, they regarded it as an act of extor
tion and iniquity : men, they said, were weighed down
by a grievous tribute, and constrained to buy their own
lands of the Conqueror,1
The object which William had chiefly in view in
racking the people with impost, and collecting treasure
from all parts, was tp make a magnificent display on his
return to Normandy, which he had fixed for the ensuing
Lent. During the interval his agents and instruments
were incessantly employed in searching out and seizing
on the wealth of England, whose capital paralleled for
opulence and splendour the metropolis of the Eastern
Empire, the type of all that was superb and gorgeous in
those times, While this disastrous and dangerous enter
prise was in progress, William considered it unsafe to
remain in London, whose inhabitants, intrepid and war-
like, began to show so many signs of dissatisfaction with
their new master, that they were branded with the name
of barbarians by the Normans. To conciliate them,
however, he is said to have made several prudent regu
lations, some for protecting women from the violence of
the soldiery, others to restrain both officers and men
from frequenting taverns and houses of ill-fame, where
drinking might give rise to brawls and murders.2 To
curb and overawe them, the fortifications, hastily thrown
. up for AVilliam's residence before the coronation, were
now ordered to be strengthened, while others still more
formidable were constructed.
1 Saxon Chronicle, a.d. 1066. 3 Guillelm. Pictav., p. 148.

304 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. [CHAP. XIX.
During the progress of these works, William encamped
with his army at Barking, in Essex, whither many of the
English nobles repaired to tender their submission, and
receive from the hands of the Conqueror the privilege of
retaining their own lands and honours. This, however,
was far from being granted to all. To gratify his Norman
barons, and reward the chiefs of other nations who had
supplied contingents for the subjugation of England,
immense confiscations1 were found, imperatively neces
sary, and the operation was commenced with the fami
lies of those who had fought or fallen at Hastings, or
who had given any evidence of their intention to be
present on that fatal field. These were Avithout mercy
deprived of their estates, and the foreigners affected -to
regard it as an act of distinguished clemency that they
were not deprived of their lives. Farther to display his
placable disposition, William caused it to be made
known that the children of such Saxon patriots as would
have drawn the sword for their country, but were pre
vented by circumstances, might, after the lapse of a
whole generation, hope to have some small portion of
their paternal inheritance restored to them.2 To super
intend the spoliation of his people, the victor made a
royal progress through those parts of the kingdom which
had already submitted to him. He took measures at
the same time for preventing all resistance to his orders,
by building and garrisoning strong castles, in which the .
plunder of the neighbourhood might be stored up and
preserved. These fortresses were probably erected on
the confiscated lands, consisting of Avhole toAvns,3 manors,
1 Chronicle of Abingdon, I. 490, liam's chaplain, for the chronicler
where the miseries brought upon of Abingdon was contemporary with
England by the Conquest are touch- the events he relates.
ingly enumerated. Had Lingard * Dial], de Scaccario, printed at
been acquainted with this work, he the end of Madox's History of the
would probably not have allowed Exchequer, II.
himself to be misled by the syste- 3 Eoger of Wendover, a.d. 1067.
matic misrepresentations of Wil-

A.D. 1067.] WILLIAM I. 305
and districts, which were profusely distributed among
the foreign leaders.1 The English, it was perceived,
were only stunned by the suddenness of their misfortune,
and might at any moment be roused from their lethargy,
and become formidable to the invaders. Every con
trivance, therefore, which prudence could suggest was
put in practice to disperse, divide, impoverish, and dis
hearten the population.2 Attempts were likewise made
to conciliate the mercantile and industrious classes by
encouraging agriculture, trade, and commerce,3 though
these indications of civil wisdom were not suffered to
appear till the royal troops had ransacked all the shops
and opulent mansions in London, and heaped up their
spoil at the feet of the Conqueror.4 Less than three
months after his departure from Normandy had sufficed
to place on his brow the diadem of England, and he
resolved at the end of other three months to return to
his ancient dukedom as a king, and display, in imitation
of a Roman triumph, the plunder of the conquered realm,
together with a long train of captive nobles and prelates.
It has been conjectured,5 not without probability,
that William's design in revisiting the Continent in
such hot haste was in pursuance of a nefarious scheme
of policy. To those adventurers and soldiers of for
tune who had accompanied him in his expedition, he
had made promises which the tameness of the English
1 William Thorn, in his Chroni- the toils and perils of defending
ele, observes that no sooner had them. Ordericus Vitalis, IV. 1.
the Norman been made king of 2 Chronicle of Abingdon, I. 490,
England, than he degenerated into where it is stated that the nobles
a tyrant ; and having expelled mul- were robbed of their money, and
titudes of nobles, bishops, abbots, driven by force and insults into
and clergy, whose names he says exile, upon which their estates were
it would be wearisome to enume- seized.
rate, he seized on their estates and 3 Guillaume de Poitiers, t. xxix.
possessions, and bestowed them on p 423.
his Norman followers, p. 1787. He * Guillaume de Poitiers, t. xxix.
gave the custody of castles to some p. 418., sq.
of his bravest Normans, distributing 6 Hume, History of England, I.
among them vast possessions, as in- 212.
ducements to undergo cheerfully
VOL. II. X

306 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. [CHAP. XIX.
would not permit him to keep. It has been seen that
everything which Norman ingenuity could devise to
extract pretexts for confiscation out of the battle of
Hastings ' had been done, without either satisfying the
claims of his followers or affording the means of insuring
to him their future services. His absence, it was hoped,
would foment disaffection, and excite in various parts,
of the country rebellions, which he would take measures
for rendering harmless. Two of his Norman leaders,
his brother Odo,1 bishop pf Bayeux, a savage, turbulent,
cruel, and rapacious man,2 and William Fitz-Qsborne, at
whose instigation he had originally formed the design
of invading England, were to be left as his lieutenants,
and their greed and insolence, joined with the same
qualities in the commanders of castles and garrisons all
OA'er the country, would suffice, it was hoped, to goad
the natives into revolt, and thus place their houses,
lands, fortunes, and families, at the mercy of the ruthr
less Conqueror.
These arrangements completed, William rode towards
Pevensey,3 where he had ordered the English nobles whom
he meant to take with him as hostages, to await his arrival.
These were Stigand, archbishop of Canterbury, Edgar the
Etheling, the earls Edwin and Morcar, Waltheof, earl of
1 Capgrave, Chronicle of England, ought to have proved himself ex-
p. 129. emplary in the just government of
2 No better authority could per- England, became a most cruel op-
haps be adduced, to prove the pro- pressor of the people, and destroyer
fligacy and ferocity of Odo's charac- of the convents of monks ? In
ter, than that of his own royal desiring the liberation of this sedi-
brother, who, when solicited on his tious man, you are ill-advised, and
death-bed to release this rapacious are bringing on yourselves a serious
bishop from prison said, " I wonder calamity. It is clear that my bro-
that your penetration has not dis- ther Odo is a man not to be trusted,
covered the character of the man ambitious, given to fleshly desires,
for whom you supplicate me. Are and of enormous cruelty, and that
you not making petitions for a pre- he will never be converted from his
late who has long held religion in whoredoms and. ruinous follies."
contempt, and who is the subtle Ordericus Vitalis, VII. 16.
promoter of fatal divisions? Have 3 Guillaume de Poitiers, Guizot.,
I not already incarcerated for four t. xxix. p. 428.
years this bishop, who, when he

A.D. 1067.] WILLIAM I. 307
Huntingdon and Northampton, Ethelnoth, governor of
Canterbury, and many other personages of distinguished
rank and influence.1 His object in taking this step
was to remove from the realm all such persons as by their
wisdom and authority might have prevented impolitic
insurrections, or have organised and led such risings as
seemed to promised success. There had been assembled
in the port of Pevensey a number of vessels with white
sails, on board of which William, with his attendants,
captives, and plunder, now embarked, like one of the
old Jomsberg pirates bearing back to his stronghold the
gleanings of land and ocean. It has been thought
worthy of record by William's chief chronicler, that on
this occasion no congenial sea-king appeared to dispute
his passage2 to Normandy, which having therefore been
accomplished in peace, the son of Arlette disembarked
in his native land to display before its astonished inhabi
tants the fruits of his victory at Hastings.
The rigours of a Norman winter had not yet yielded
to the influence of spring. It was Lent, but the clergy,
eager to ingratiate themselves with the king, abridged
the duration of the meagre season, and wherever he
arrived, celebrated at once the festival of Easter.3 When
he drew near Rouen, the inhabitants of all ages went
out to meet him, dancing, shouting, and expressing
their joy, as Rome did at the return of Pompey.4 All
Normandy was equally full of rejoicing, for every man
in his degree expected to be enriched by the plunder of
England. William kept his Easter at Fecamp, where arrayed in
magnificent English robes elaborately embroidered Avith
gold, and surrounded by the Saxon nobles in the same
gorgeous costume, he inspired his own countrymen and
1 Orderic. Vital., iv. 1. Annales 2 Guillaume de Poitiers, Guizot.
Waverlienses, II. 130. Florence t. xxix. p. 428.
of Worcester, Eoger of Wendover, 3 Ordericus Vitalis, IV. 2.
a.d. 1067. i Guillelm. Pictav., p. 158, and in
Guizot's collection, t. xxix. p. 433.
x2

308 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. [cHAP. XIX.
numerous princely guests Avho had repaired thither
from France, with extraordinary admiration. Their
Avonder was no less excited by the profusion of gold and
' silver plate, capacious vases elaborately chased, Avith
large Saxon drinking horns tipped and rimmed with
gold ; crucifixes also of the same precious metal, en
crusted with jewels, flashed on all sides in the hands of
the monks, who, at the sight of so much splendour,
imagined themselves already in the heavenly Jerusalem.1
But what struck the strangers with most surprise was
the surpassing beauty ofthe long-haired Saxon youths,8
whose lofty expression of countenance, and delicacy of
features, rivalling that of the fairest women, reminded
many beholders of the beauty of Harold,3 the beau-ideal
of the Saxon race. The repasts at which all this mag
nificence was displayed were so sumptuous, that the
guests considered everything they had beheld before
mean in comparison, and afterwards, on returning to
tlieir homes in different parts of France, diffused far
and wide an exalted idea of the opulence and civilisa
tion of England. To strengthen this conviction, Wil
liam's presents to the clergy of Normandy and France
greatly tended. In a majority of the churches of both
countries, tapers had been burnt and masses said for
the success of his enterprise, and as these superstitious
practices were supposed to have greatly aided the con
quest, William now displayed his gratitude by bestow
ing on his sacerdotal allies some portion of the pillage
of his English subjects. To one church he sent con
siderable sums in money; to another, plate and gorgeous
ornaments of silver and gold; to a third, richly em
broidered vestments for the officiating priests, or to
spread at particular seasons over the altars.4
MeanAvhile, affairs in England Avere shaping themselves
1 Guillaume de Poitiers, t. xxix. 3 Ordericus Vitalis, III. 11.
P- 432. 4 Guillelm. Pictav., Maseres, p.
2 Guillaume de Poitiers, t. xxix. 159. Orderic. Vital., IV. 2.
p. 435.

A.D. 1067.] WILLIAM I. 309
according to the secret desires of William. The barons,
inferior knights, and men-at-arms, forming the garrisons
• of the castles, with which the country was now thickly
studded, issuing forth from their strongholds, violated
the women, and assassinated or plundered the men.1
Complaints were addressed to the king's lieutenants,
Odo and Fitz-Osborne, but only brought down insult and
punishment on those who made them. The martial
bishop in Dover fortress, and his colleague in the castle
of Winchester,2 treated the sufferings of the English
with derision, and extended their approval and protec
tion to those who vexed and plundered them.
These things soon became insupportable to a people
long accustomed to freedom and an equitable government.
Numbers, therefore, of theproudest and bravest abandoned
their country,3 either to avoid the sight of maddening
wrongs, or to organise in security some means of public
deliverance. A portion of these voluntary exiles made
their way to Constantinople, where they entered into the
formidable corps of Northern body-guards, to which the
eastern emperors had long intrusted, the preservation of
their thrones, their treasures, and their lives. The
origin of these guards, known to the Byzantine his
torians under the name of Varangians, is curious.
They at first consisted of Danes, Swedes, aud Nor
wegians, who penetrated into Russia, and became at
once the protectors and masters of the czars. Vladimir
I., desirous of shaking off their yoke, craftily prevailed
on the Varangians to transfer their services to the em
perors of Constantinople, as better able to reward their
fidelity. The fierce but simple barbarians consented;
1 Orderic. Vital., IV. 3. '< 3 Anglorum psene omnes nobiles,
2 The French translator of Guil- pecuniarum contractum sibi assu-
laume de Poitiers, finding Guenta mentes, extera ad regna convola-
in the Latin, supposed it to have runt ; quorum mox terrse in regum
some reference to Kent, and there- proscrip tre sunt fiscum. Chronicon
fore, in his version, substitutes Can- Monasterii de Abingdon, I. 490.
terbury for Winchester. Guizot,
Mem., t. xxix. p. 425.

310 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. [CHAP. XIX.
and the Byzantine monarch readily agreed to encircle
himself with the swords and battle-axes of men who^
feeling no sympathy with the seditious and restless.
populace of his capital, and owing their subsistence
entirely to his liberality, would naturally make his cause
their own. Immediately on the arrival of the English
patriots, the Emperor Alexius afforded them congenial
employment; for as Robert Guiscard was then advancing
with a Norman force from Italy to restore the dethroned
Michael, the Varangian force was despatched westward
to oppose him, and to its valour and discipline the failure
of his enterprise may be chiefly attributed. As these
warriors loved to dwell apart, Alexius assigned to them
the town of Kibotos,1 situated on the gulf of Nicomedia.
In this settlement, however, they were so perpetually
exposed to contests with the Norman freebooters, that
the emperor at length judged it politic, to remove them
to the capital, where they formed the nucleus of an
Anglo-Danish colony. Gradually the adventurers from
the Baltic became fewer, and the English more nume
rous, so that in the end the oriental praetorian guards
consisted entirely of our countrymen, who, preserving
their own manners, language, and hereditary valour,.
continued to shield the persons of the emperors, down
to the latest period of the Byzantine monarchy.2
The condition of England became every day worse;
and so galling were the insults the people endured,, and
so urgently did they appear to call for immediate ven
geance, that their leaders Avere betrayed into rash designs,
Avhich only augmented their calamities. Negociations
were entered into with Sweyn, king of Denmark,3 who
was entreated to undertake an expedition for the re
covery of the sceptre of his ancestors.
1 Orderic. Vital., IV. 3, where the 3 Guillaume de Poitiers, t. xxix.
town is called Chevetot. p. 437. See also, Masses' edition,
2 Ducange, voce Waringos. Gib- p. 162, with the editor's judicious
bon, Decline and Pall of the Soman note.
Empire, X. 221.

A.D. 1067.] WILLIAM I. 311
The people of Kent, who had been among the foremost
to tender submission to the Conqueror, becoming impatient
of the foreign yoke, organised an insurrection, to com
mence with the storming of Dover Castle.1 They had
not, however, sufficient confidence in their own strength
to make the attempt unaided, and therefore determined
to forego their enmity to Eustace, count of Boulogne,
and to invite him, now become William's enemy, to
co-operate in their enterprise.2 The count readily con
sented, and his fleet happening to be at hand, secretly
embarked, with a considerable force, and set sail during
the night, but through want of convenient transport,
most of his men-at-arms were obliged to leave behind
their horses. Many circumstances appeared propitious
to the enterprise. Odo and Hugh de MoHtfort Avere at
that time in Essex with a large portion of the Norman
force, while the Kentish men from all the surround
ing lathes rushed towards Dover to join in the siege.
Arriving, therefore, in the dead of night, Eustace at once
proceeded to the assault, hoping to take the garrison by
surprise; they seem, however, to have gained intelli
gence, and were on their guard. Having effected a
landing, he should have been content to maintain posses
sion of the town for a few days, during which thousands
would have flocked to his standard. But he was equally
Avanting in policy and military skill. The attack upon
the castle, though rashly commenced, was carried on
with great vigour for many hours of the following day,
till, perceiving he made no impression on the place,
Eustace, apprehending the bishop of Bayeux' return,
was seized suddenly with a panic, and gave the order for
retreat. The garrison no sooner perceived the enemy's
backs than they threw open the gates, made a desperate
sally, and falling furiously upon them, killed great
numbers, and filled the remainder with so much terror

Ordericus Vitalis, IV. 3. 3 Orderic. Vital., ubi supra.
Guillelm. Pictav., p. 163.

'312. .'/ HISTORY OF ENGLAND. [CHAP. XIX.
that in jfaeir bewilderment they rushed toward the cliffs,
over which some threw themselves headlong, while
others, endeavouring to descend through fissures and
crevices, slipped down and were either dashed to pieces
on the rocks, or rolled still breathing into the sea.
Such as reached the shore hurried so tumultuously
on board that they upset the ships, and were thus
drowned. Eustace himself, being mounted on a swift
horse, effected his escape ; his nephew, a youth who bore
arms for the first time, Avas taken prisoner. The Kent
ish men, striking into bye-ways with which they were
well acquainted, dispersed themselves over the country.
Eustace now considered it prudent to make his peace
with William, and abandon the weaker party, which
politicians regard as the best means of succeeding in life.
Throughout England the seeds of rebellion were fast
germinating. Men discovered too late the fatal error
they had committed by abandoning the cause of their
OAArn mild and generous king to take upon themselves
the yoke of a despotic foreigner. Fight, however, they
would, though it should be of no other use than to rid
them of the lives they could no longer enjoy. Yet some;
by the prospect of large gains, were induced to adhere
to the foreigner, a treason which they had learned to
mask with the convenient phrase of being faithful to
their allegiance. Among these was Copsi, formerlyearl
Tostig's lieutenant1 in Northumbria, and noAV governor
of the country beyond the Tyne, who failed, hoAvever, to
carry the feelings of his people along with him. Under
the lead of Osulf the former earl of Northumberland,
they rose in arms against this satellite of the Norman,
Avho retreating into a church Avas pursued thither and
assassinated by Osulf himself.2
Still this example did not deter others from pur-
1 Simeon de Dunelmensi Ecclesia, and mountains in hunger and dis-
P- 37. _ tress ; but being at length joined
2 This chief had for five weeks by a number of his countrymen,
b een wandering about in the woods proved more than a match for Wil-

A.D. 1067.] WILLIAM I. li ' 313 .
suing the same track. At the head of theYanti-
national party was Aldred, archbishop of York,x whose
treachery Avas kept in countenance by that of many
other persons of rank and distinction. The people,
unable to refine away justice and honour by means
of specious phrases, remained true to the cause of
their country, which was interwoven with every fibre of
their hearts. They recognised in William no right to
be tlieir soverign, and prepared for that long and disas
trous conflict, Avhich after deluging the soil of England
with the blood of her bravest children, ended by the
establishment of a feudal despotism. It has been seen
that nearly all the great and influential nobles had been
carried off as captives to Normandy, but some men of
note remained, to whom in their extremity the suffering
English appealed, beseeching them to lead the forces
of their country to battle against their oppressors. But
there was no unity of action, no general scheme
of policy. Rash and isolated efforts, the natural
results of a government of violence, characterised the
period between William's departure and his return,
among which was the insurrection in the Welsh
marches, headed by Edric Gwilt,1 or the Wild, and
two British chieftains. When the Confessor's foreign
favourites had been expelled England on the return
of the Godwins, some exceptions were made at the
king's earnest entreaty, and^ among these was Richard
Fitzscrope, who for fourteen years had remained Avith
a foreign garrison in command of the castle of Here
ford.2 These strangers, being addicted to plunder, made
incessant forays into the lands of Wild Edric, who,
Avhen he had organised the means of resistance, assailed
the plunderers, defeated them, pursued them in their
Ham's partisan. In the following Streone, and therefore connected
autumn, however, he was himself with king Harold by blood. Florence
assassinated. Simeon De Gest. Beg. of Worcester, a.d. 1006, 1067.
Angl, p. 204. Orderic. Vital., IV. 3. Simeon of Durham, p. 197.
1 Saxon Chronicle, a.d., 1067. 2 Florence of Worcester, a.d.
This chief was the nephew of Edric 1067.

314 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. [CHAP. XIX.
retreat, and ravaging the whole country as far as the
River Lugg, returned with immense booty into the moun
tain ranges of Wales.
William, who foresaw what work he had before him
in England, was all this while employing himself dili
gently in providing for the prolonged tranquillity of
Normandy. Acquainted with the temper and character
of his barons and clergy, he appointed such individuals
to be governors and judges as he thought best qualified
to promote his interest ; and to insure the support of
the Church, relaxed the pressure which he and his pre
decessors had inflicted on the monasteries. His saga
city taught him Avhere his chief strength lay : the clergy
alone could permanently influence the public mind, and
he addressed himself therefore in the first place to obtain
their enthusiastic aid.1 In his civil capacity William
was no less politic. By voice of herald 2 he proclaimed
complete safety to all peaceable persons whether natives
or strangers ; but as at the same time the severest
punishment was denounced against disturbers of the
king's peace, he could always strike doAvn his enemies
by including them in this sinister category.
William had scarcely completed these necessary ar
rangements, ere he received intelligence that his policy
had begun to bear fruit in England. He learned that
an invitation had been sent to Sweyn, king of Denmark,
and other chiefs of Scandinavia, to come and rescue the
kingdom from the Norman yoke. This was exactly what
he had foreseen and desired. Constituting a regency of
prelates and nobles to govern his original dominions in
the name of Matilda and his youthful son Robert, he
hastened towards the coast, and embarking at Arques
on the Dieppe, December 6th, 1067, was wafted over by
a south wind to the port of Winchelsea.3
1 Guillaume de JumiSges, VII. 38. 3 Ordericus Vitalis, IV. 4.
2 Ordericus Vitalis, IV. 3.

A.D. 1067.] DEPOPULATION OF NORTHUMBRIA. 315

CHAPTER XX,
DEPOPULATION OF NORTHUMBRIA.
The king on this occasion brought with him Roger
de Montgomery, whom he had formerly left governor
of Normandy, and upon this favourite he now showered
his bounties, making him first earl of Chichester and
Arundel, and afterwards of Shrewsbury.1 As William's
ferocity was dreaded, the English, who by circumstances
were thrown in his way, particularly the monks and
secular officers, displayed all outward tokens of loyalty.
He, himself, while studying whom and when to strike,
cloaked his fell designs with affability and courtesy, be
stowing smiles and the kiss of peace2 liberally on those
whom he meant to destroy. To the Normans, as far as
seemed prudent, he disclosed his real intentions, warn
ing them to look for nothing but disaffection and
treachery from the English; Avhile with the latter he
employed the same craft, endeavouring to create in them
the belief that he secretly espoused their cause, and
was desirous, by awakening their caution, to put them
on their guard against their enemies — a term by which
he wished them to understand he meant the Normans.
In, spite of all these arts, those divisions only of the
kingdom yielded him obedience in which he had built
castles and maintained strong garrisons. In the north
ern and western provinces the natives cherished that
wild independence which they had enjoyed under the
1 Dugdale, Baronage of England, 2 Id. ibid.
I. 26. Orderic. Vital., IV. 4.

316 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. [CHAP. XX.
Saxon kings. On the Avails of Exeter was first un
furled the standard of freedom. The population, partly
British and partly Saxon, was numerous and warlike,1.
and distinguished for that restless and proud disposition
which generally belongs to dwellers on the sea-coast,
Nor did they rely exclusively on their own strengtju
Negociations were entered into with the neighbouring
cities and towns, for the purpose of organising a patriotic
league for the public defence ; foreign merchants who
happened to be in the place were detained to afford
Avhat assistance they could ; the old walls and towers
were repaired, new fortifications thrown up, and the
presence of Githa,2 the mother of their late king, in
spired the inhabitants with double enthusiasm. Accom
panying the queen-mother was Blacheman, a priest of
great opulence, from the neighbourhood of Abingdon,
where, on the beautiful holme of Andresey he had
erected a church at his own expense. From the
description bequeathed to us of this structure, we are
constrained to form a high idea of Blacheman's archi;
tectural taste as well as riches. In both wings of the
building were numerous apartments for the accommo
dation of monks — refectories, dormitories, and kitchens
— the whole profusely adorned with paintings and bassi-
rilievi executed with wonderful delicacy, and displaying
extraordinary magnificence. Hither the monastic lords
of Abingdon would seem to have repaired to be in
structed by this singular ecclesiastic in science, art, and
eloquence, in return for which he enjoyed the revenues
of several estates and hamlets. It is to be presumed
that his immense wealth was now placed at the service
of his country, since he unquestionably shared* the
hostility of his royal mistress towards the truculent
invaders.3

1 Orderic. Vital, IV. 4. don, I. 472, II. 288. With Githa,
2 FlorenceofWorcester,A.D. 1067. the priest Blacheman shortly after
Eoger de Hoveden, a.d. 1068. departed from England, to which he
3 Historia Monasteria de Abing- never returned.

A.D. 1068.] DEPOPULATION OF NORTHUMBRIA. 317
Intelligence of these proceedings having been brought
to William, who had been celebrating his Christmas in
the capital, he immediately prepared to march west
wards for the purpose of quelling what he affected to
regard as an insurrection against lawful authority.
During the interval between his arrival in London, where
he was received with great marks of honour and rejoic
ing, and his departure for the siege of Exeter, he granted
to the City its first Norman charter, composed, however,
by way of flattery, in their own language.1 It was as
concise as if it had been drawn up by the Spartan Ephori,
declaring all the citizens, both French and English, to
be law-worthy, that every child should be his father's
heir, and that he would protect by royal authority the
inhabitants from injury. This was the boon; the
equivalent was presently exacted. Having conceded to
his trusty and well-beloved citizens the rights to which
they had all been born, he next called upon them to prove
their loyalty by the payment of a heavy war- tax,2 the levy
ing of which was carriedonto the utmost limits of hissway.
Every contrivance was resorted to for the purpose of
^breaking the spirit of the English, which, directed by
no enlarged policy, but bursting forth irregularly and.
without concert in different parts of the country, he
clearly perceived might in time be altogether crushed.
With a formidable force of infantry and cavalry, he
began his march towards Devonshire, traversed the
intervening heights, and pushed forwards his vanguard
to within sight of the walls. The old viking system of
warfare was still rigidly adhered to ; the Normans, as
1 Maitland (History of London, pieces, they are sewed up and care-
1.37,38), observes, "This charter fullypreservedinanorange-coloured
consists of four lines and a quarter, silken bag. On one side is the Con-
beautifully written in the Saxon queror on horseback, and on the
"character, ona slip of parchment of reverse he is sitting in a chair of
the length of six inches, and breadth state."
of one, which is preserved in the 2 Saxon Chronicle, a.d. 1067.
city archives as a very gi'eat jewel. Inportabile tributum Anglis in-
.... The seal, which is of white dixit. Henry de Knyghton, 2344.
 being broken into divers Eadulph de Diceto, p. 482.

318 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. [CHAP. XX.
• they advanced, spreading themselves right and left
through the country, plundering, burning, and devas
tating, partly to glut their cupidity and vengeance,
partly to diffuse terror. On approaching the capital of
the West, the Conqueror summoned its principal citi
zens to come forth and take the oath of fealty; but
overawed by the people, »whom even then perhaps they
meant to betray, these vacillating magnates replied, that
they would neither swear allegiance nor admit him
within their walls, though in conformity with ancient
usage they consented to the payment of tribute.1 Eely-
ing on the strength of his army, with which, for the
first time, English levies were incorporated, he observed,
haughtily, that it did not suit him to possess subjects
on such conditions, and immediately made preparations
for commencing the siege.
It then became manifest that, within the city, timidity
and divided counsels prevailed. With or without the
eonsent of their fellow-citizens, the thanes or chief men
of the place repaired to William's camp, entered into arti
cles of capitulation, and gave hostages for the due per
formance of their undertaking. The people, however,-
on their return repudiated the whole proceeding, and
resolved upon a vigorous defence. William's anger,
always ready to blaze out, was converted into fury by
these proceedings, and riding up with five hundred
horse*, he took one of the hostages and tore out his eyes
before the gates,2 to show the partisans of independence
what treatment they had to expect. As this act of
barbarity produced no other result than to inspire.the
citizens with still greater hatred3 of the tyrant, active
operations were found necessary, and the siege began.
Exeter stands in fhe midst of a plain, rich, fertile, and
dotted with clumps of trees; its meadows are among the*.

1 Orderic. Vital., IV. 4. in proof ofthe scorn with which the
2 Ordericus Vitalis, ubi supra.
3 Henry de Knyghton relates an
anecdote, not admissible in history,

2 Ordericus Vitalis, ubi supra. people of Exeter regarded the Nor-
3 Henry de Knyghton relates an man king, p. 2344.

A.D. 1068.] DEPOPULATION OF NORTHUMBRIA. 319
greenest in England, and breezes from the sea temper
the summer's heat and the winter's cold. Its river, the
Exe, emerges at a short distance from a chain of lovely
hills, and rolling its clear and sparkling waters along the
ramparts, falls into the sea, a few miles below the city.
The woods were then thicker, and the country, therefore,
even more picturesque, than at present. The king's army,
which was very large, invested the city on all sides ; for
eighteen days operations were carried on without inter
mission; thewalls — undermined belowand battered above,
while incessant showers of missiles were sent against the
garrison — began at length to give way, and the confidence
of the inhabitants abated. However, propositions of
surrender were not made until the illustrious Githa1 had
put her treasures on ship-board, and escaped safely out
to sea. With her, the sister of Sweyn, king of Denmark,
and numerous ladies, who apprehended that violation to
which the Normans invariably subjected the women of
captured cities, departed, and took refuge on the Steep
Holmes, a little island in the mouth of the Severn, which
had,for many ages, afforded a refuge to the Danes, whence,
after a brief stay, they passed over into the dominions of
the count of Flanders,2 and took up their residence at St.
Omer.3 Then the principal citizens, accompanied by numbers
of the loveliest women in Devonshire,4 with a large body
of clergy, bearing the sacred books, pixes and cruci
fixes, went out to the king and made their peace with
him.5 As it would not have suited his policy to de
stroy so large a city, and massacre its inhabitants, he,
feigned to be actuated by clemency; and preserving the
place for the sake of the revenues it would yield, par
doned the innocent inhabitants, and posted strong guards
at the gates to prevent the entrance of the army, which
1 Simeon De Gestis Eegum An- 3 Saxon Chronicle, a.d. 1067.
glorum, p. 197. 4 Orderic. Vital., IV. 4.
2 Chronicon Johannis Bromton, p. " Florence of Worcester, a.d.
963. 1067.

320 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. [CHAP. XX.
would have led inevitably. to universal havoc.1 But to
put a bridle in the mouth of the city, he selected a com
manding spot, and there, laid the foundations of a castle,
from the red colour of the hillock on which it was built
called Rougemont, after which he marched away, leaving
Baldwin De Meules,2 one of the sons of Gilbert, earl of
Brion, with a number of other knights and soldiers, to
complete and garrison the fortress. To wreak his ven
geance on the West Britons who had. aided the Saxons
in the defence of Exeter, he carried his arms into Corn
wall, devastating and confiscating as he moved along,
and having by these means re-established tranquillity,
disbanded his army, and repaired to celebrate the Easter
festival at Winchester.3
Regarding himself as firmly seated in England, he now
sent for his queen, Matilda, who had hitherto been regent
of Normandy, and she accordingly came over, accom
panied by many Norman knights and ladies, as well as
by a multitude of priests, among whom was Guy, bishop
of Amiens, author of a dull and libellous poem on the
battle of Hastings.4 During the Whitsuntide festival,
Matilda was crowned queen of England by Aldred, arch-^
bishop of York.5 Some historians have imagined that
the title of queen was unknoAvn to the Anglo-Saxons:
erroneously,6 since it prevailed in every state of the
Heptarchy, till the crime of Eadburga occasioned its
abolition.
1 Orderic. Vital, IV. 4. of Ewe, a natural son of Bichard
2 Ellis, Introd. to Domesday, I. duke of Normandy, the Conqueror's
377. Baldwin, one of the king's grandfather, Lyson, Mag. Brit., I.
generals at the battle of Hastings, note. Dugdale, Baronage of Eng-
was likewise called De Brion, De land, I. 254.
Sap, and De Exeter. He had the 3' Ordericus Vitalis, IV. 4.
barony of Okehampton, which was * Monumenta Bri tannica, pp. 856,
his chief seat, and the castle of 872. Wright, Biographia Britan-
Exeter, which, as has been stated, nica, II. 15.
he completed at the king's com- 6 Simeon De Gestis Begum An-
mand. He obtained, as his share glorum, p. 197. Capgrave, Chronicle
of the plunder of England, nineteen of Eugland, p. 129.
houses in Exeter, and 186 manors 6 Thierry, History ofthe Norman
in Dorsetshire and Devonshire. Conquest, p. 81.
His father was son of Godfrey, earl

A.D. 1068.] DEPOPULATION OF NORTHUMBRIA. 321
William's queen now enjoyed an opportunity of gratify
ing at once her avarice and her revenge. Throughout
the West the estates of the English and British nobles
were profusely confiscated to enrich the Norman adven
turers, and Matilda selected, as her share of the spoil,1
the lands of Brihtric, a Saxon earl, whose princely pos
sessions lay scattered through nearly all the southern
counties of England. This nobleman2 had been sent by
Edward the Confessor as ambassador to Flanders, while
Matilda was still a maiden, at her father Baldwin's
court. She became enamoured of the Englishman, and
made known to him her passion ; but he, either because
he had already a wife at home, or loved some other
woman, declined the honour of an alliance with Baldwin's
daughter, who never forgave the affront, and now, after
the lapse of nearly twenty years, indulged her implaca
ble vindictiveness. Not content, however, merely to be
enriched with his estates, she caused the man she had
formerly loved to be shut up, during the remainder
of his life, in a fortress at Winchester, there to expiate
the crime of having disdained a queen.3
Matilda now became once more prolific, and within a
year after her arrival in England gave birth to a son,
who received the name of Henry, and, because born in
the purple, was declared heir to all his father's dominions
on this side the Channel.4 This fact, to which sufficient
1 A Norman monk, who however for this account of Matilda's dis-
was not contemporary with the appointment j but in Domesday it-
events he relates, affirms that Wil- self, the fact that she became pos-
liam bestowed on his wife the whole sessed, in part at least, of Brithric's
county of Kent, in return for the- lands is distinctly intimated. Speak-
galley, called Mora, which she Pre- ing of four manors in Cornwall, the
sented to him before the invasion. record says : " Infrascriptas terras
Script. Ber. Gest. Will. Conq., p. 22. Brictric tenebat et post Mathildis
. 2 Compare Palgrave, Proofs and Begina." Domesday Book, I. 120.
Illustrations, p. 294 ; Monasticon, Her manors in Gloucestershire had
III. 59 ; Taylor's Master Wace, p. also been Brihtric's. I. 163.
65. 4 Orderic. Vital., IV. 4. Accord-
3 Sir Henry Ellis (Introduct. to ing to the Brevis Belatio, Prince
Domesday, II. 55) says that tho Henry used to contend, that he
anonymous continuator of Wace, alone was the king's son ; his elder
who wrote in the reign of Henry brothers being, merely the sons of
III., is perhaps the oldest authority the duke of Normandy, p. 9.
VOL. II. Y

322 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. [CHAP. XX.
weight has seldom been attached, explains the hatred; and
hostility which always prevailed among the sons pf
William. Nothing illustrates more strikingly the difference
between the English and the Normans than the facility
with which the latter overreached the former,1 so that if
craft be a proof of civilisation, the superiority was un
questionably on their side. In this, as in other things,
William stood at the head of his nation. His frauds
were masterly. There was no engagement into which, to
gain his ends, he would not enter; there were no promises
or oaths which, to forward the same purpose, he would
not break. Knowing the power and influence of the
earls of Mercia and Northumbria, he applied himself
diligently to discover the means of compassing their
ruin. Towards this end, the most effectual step was to
profess friendship for them, and display an inclination
to make them members of his family. He knew that
the earl of Mercia loved his daughter Adela; and as the
Saxons generally, but especially the noblest, were more
impassioned than politic, he laid snares for his feet,
through the purest affections of the heart. As far as a
Norman's word could bind, Adela was given to Edwin,
who consented to abdicate his position in England, as
well as in history, to obtain this princess's hand,
Two years, however, after the battle of Hastings, the
brother earls were involved in the meshes of insurrection,
by the impotent patriotism of their subjects. William's
promises and professions now became more lavish than
ever, and Edwin weakly consented to pacify andTbring
over to the invader nearly a third of the kingdom, for the
possession of the fair Adela.2 He accordingly laid down
his arms; but, supposing the storm to have been ap
peased, William immediately broke his faith, and refused
to accept Edwin for his son-in-law. If any hint of these
negotiations transpired, it must have cooled the ardour
1 Ordericus Vitalis, IV. 4. 2 Orderic, ubi supra.

A.D. 1068.] DEPOPULATION OF NORTHUMBRIA. 323
of the people in the cause of the great earls. Stung,
however, by the insult offered to their family, they again
flew to arms, and openly or secretly sent emissaries
throughout the realm, to rouse the English to revolt.
At such a moment the Kymri consented to lay
aside their hereditary quarrel with the Saxons, and
descend from their mountains to cooperate against
the common enemy. All the chiefs of the revolt met
together, and having enumerated the wrongs and
injuries they had sustained, entered into a solemn league
and covenant to expel the foreigners or perish in their
enterprise. Thousands of brave Saxons took possession
of the fen country, where they constructed what was
called the Camp of Refuge, in the Isle of Ely, deemed
the most inaccessible of all the marsh-lands. Here, far as
the eye could reach, nothing was visible upon the surface
of the marshes but vast beds of sedge, reeds or willows
intersected at frequent intervals by sluggish streams and
pools of water, which, filtrating into the earth, created
those quaking bogs into which men and horses often
sunk and were lost. In this dreary district the standard
of England was now raised.
All the provinces beyond the Humber Avere likewise
in commotion, hasty fortifications were thrown up, and
multitudes of brave men encamped under tents in the
open field, binding themselves by an oath never more
to dwell under a roof until they should have driven the
strangers from their shores.1
As the better part of the country Avas in the hands of
the insurgents, this revolt would probably have ended
in the utter extirpation of the Normans had the leaders
of the people proved themselves worthy to be at that
people's head. Still nothing could exceed the popu
larity of EdAvin and Morcar. In a country where admi
ration for beauty exerted so overmastering an influence,
their preeminently handsome persons cast a spell over
1 Orderic. Vital, IV. 4.
Y 2

324 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. [CHAP. XX.
the popular mind, especially when united with 'the
purity of their manners, the high excellence of their
characters, their lavish generosity, their active and
sincere piety, and their almost boundless wealth. Far
and near the monuments of their devotion, churches,
convents, monasteries, beautified the face of the country.
By the bounty of the females of their family the altars
were adorned with the most costly ornaments; cruci
fixes, and jewelled vases, gorgeous vestments, and
purple hangings imvrought with gold. No wonder,
therefore, that they had the prayers of the monks and
clergy, all of whom joined with the grateful poor in
offering up daily supplications for them, and invoking
blessings on their heads.1 Supported by so strong' a
popular feeling, the earls of Mercia and Northumbria,
had they been equal to their fortunes, might have
organised a force Avhich would have insured victory to
the English. Unfortunately they belonged to that
class of men who aim at advancing public prosperity by
substituting arguments for the sword, and ruling a
turbulerft generation by appealing to the unrecognised
principles of justice. Accordingly they made overture's
to William for peace, and, in appearance, obtained it.
He suppressed all indications of hostility till he could
strike with effect.
This pacification, which all genuine Englishmen per
ceived to be false and hollow, diffused the utmost appre
hension and distrust through Northumbria, several of
whose chiefs immediately prepared to escape from a
country which discord, indecision, and treachery had
manifestly doomed to total subjugation. At the head
of these was Marleswain, Avhom king Harold, before
the battle of Hastings, had commissioned to bring up
the Northumbrian contingent. Cospatric, also, with
many other nobles from that part of England, resolved
by expatriation to escape the tyranny of William, and
1 Orderic. Vital., ubi supra.

A.D. 1068.J DEPOPULATION OF NORTHUMBRIA. 325
embarking on board a ship in the Humber Avith Edgar
the Etheling, Agatha, his mother, and his two sisters,
Margaret and Christina, sailed for Scotland,1 where they
Avere received and hospitably entertained by Malcolm.
While these events were taking place in the North,
Godwin, Edmund, and Magnus, the sons of Harold,2
who upon their father's death had taken refuge with
Dermot, king of Ireland, returned Avith a small fleet,
furnished by that prince, to their OAvn country, and sail
ing up the Avon, attempted to take Bristol by storm.
The citizens, however, unwilling for their sake to em
broil themselves with the Normans, resisted the attempt
of the young princes, who, failing in this part of their
enterprise, entered Somersetshire with their forces, and
subjected the whole country to pillage and devastation.
Against them marched the man who most of all .might
have been expected to join their standard, Ednoth, who
had been master bf the horse to king Harold their
father. His baseness and ingratitude, however, received
their just punishment, for encountering the youthful
chiefs in battle, he was slain with the greater part of
his forces, after which, collecting immense booty, the
exiles retreated to their ships, and sailed back to
Ireland.3 England, at the time of the invasion, possessed few
fortified. positions or large castles,4 into which garrisons
might throw themselves to check the progress of an
enemy, harass his flanks, and render it unsafe for him
to move in any direction except with an overwhelming
force. The respite William now obtained he devoted
1 Simeon De Gestis Begum An- 3 Florence of Worcester, a.d.
glorum, p. 198. Bromtou, p. 966. 1068.
Knyghton,p.2344. Annales Waver- 4 Wace, in describing the invasion
leienses, II. 131. of Sweyn, dwells on this want of
2 Boger de Hoveden, Matthew fortified posts as one of the causes
of Westminster, a.d. 1069. Saxon which laid England open to the
Chronicle, ad. 1067, where, how- ravagesofanenemy.I. 327. Taylors
ever, the chronology of these events Master Wace, p. 266.
is extremely confused. Simeon De
Gestis Begum Anglorum, p. 198.

326 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. [CHAP. XX.
to repairing the error of the Saxon kings. He saw that
England was only to be ruled by castles, and adroitly
seized on every opportunity of erecting them.1 One of
his fortresses arose at Warwick, and was intrusted to
the command of Roger de Beaumont ;2 another at Not
tingham,3 which he committed to the care of William
Peveril,4 one of his bastard sons; a third was constructed
at Lincoln, ahd many others were built along the frontier
line, which separated what might now be called Norman
from Saxon England. The natives beheld with dismay
the multiplication of donjon keeps, and battlemented
walls, from whose summits their deadliest enemies re
connoitred their lands and houses. Terror now did the
work of arms. York threw open its gates to the Con
queror, who, to insure its fidelity, strengthened the
ancient castle, erected a new one, and placed in them
garrisons of chosen warriors.5
The fashion of submission having been thus set,
spread far and wide. Archil, the most powerful chief
of the Northumbrians, hastened to make his peace with
the king, and Egelwin, bishop of Durham, following in
the same track, put on the Norman livery, and became
the bearer of William's terms to the Scottish king.
This prince, though he had entered into engagements
to furnish aid to the English insurgents, now thought
it more prudent to side with the Normans, and accord
ingly sent back ambassadors with Egelwin, who in his
name swore fealty to William, to the great satisfaction
it is said of his subjects, who, though fierce and war-
1 Guillaume de Jumieges, VII. 42. permitted the duke's bastard to
2 Orderic. Vital., IV. 4. assume his name, and be enumerated
5 Florence of Worcester, A.D. among his children. Dugdale, Ba-
1068. ronage of England, I. 436. For an
* His mother was the daughter account of the possessions lavished
of Ingelric, founder of the colle- on William Peveril, see Ellis, In-
giate church of St. Martin's-le- traduction to Domesday, I. 226,467.
Grand, who had been mistress to 6 Florence of Worcester, a.d
William while he- was yet duke of 1068. Simeon De Gestis Begum
Normandy. She was afterwards Anglorum, p. 198.
married to Eanulph Peverell, who

A.D. 1068.] DEPOPULATION OF NORTHUMBRIA. 327
like when roused, habitually preferred ease, quiet, and
apphcation to religious exercises.
During this year the ladies of Normandy1 gave the
world a striking proof of how much they had degenerated
since, their migration from Scandinavia. Like the Spar
tan women during the Messenian war, they became
impatient of the absence of their lords, and by repeated
messages gave them to understand that if they did not
speedily return, they would choose for themselves others
in their places. This exhibition of intrepid profligacy
had in some cases the desired effect. It placed, however,
the whole of the Norman knights in a perplexing posi
tion. If, at the importunity of their wives, they abandoned
their superior lord while engaged in war, and surrounded
by dangers in a foreign land, they would be branded as
traitors and cowards, while if they adhered to their
political and military duties, their wives might inflict
indelible disgrace upon their names and families. To
retain them, William made the most lavish offers, pro
mising additional lands, and more sounding titles ; but
affection and respect for the honour of their Houses
outweighed with many all other considerations ; and
Hugh de Grantmesnil, Humphry de Tilleul, and many
others, relinquished their chances of promotion inEngland,
and returned to their hearths.
Numerous anecdotes are related of Norman ladies
quite in harmony with this account of their licentious
ness. William's own cousin, Adelaide, effected her
husband's destruction by means of a poisoned apple,
while besieged with him in the castle of St. Ceneri, and
his niece Judith accomplished the ruin and death of
her husband, Waltheof. Mabel, wife of Roger de
Montgomery, enjoyed the reputation of being a whole
sale, and reckless assassin, who poisoned the viands she
presented to her guests, and occasionally took off the
wrong person by accident. No one who incurred her
i Orderic. Vital., IV. 4.

328 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. [CHAP. XX.
resentment was safe. Moving about from castle to
castle, and from abbey to abbey, with a retinue of, a
hundred men-at-arms, she exhausted and plundered
those who offered her hospitality, and on one occasion
seems to have narrowly escaped falling a victim to the
treachery of which she was so liberal ; for on being re
proached by the abbot of Evroult for the number of her
retinue, she threatened at her next coming to bring along
vyith her a still more formidable train. The abbot, -in
reply, menaced her with the wrath of heaven, and: on
the following night, she was seized by so violent a
disorder, that . probably conjecturing the cause,, she
fled in all haste, and during the remaining, fifteen
years of her life, never again visited the abbey: of St.
Evroult. Her husband's only brother, Gislebert de
Montgomery, she poisoned by mistake, and Arnold de
Giroie fell a victim to her hatred of his family. Not,
however, being able to accomplish his destruction with
her OAvn hands, she effected her purpose by those of his
chamberlain, who administered to him the poison, in
company with two other nobles, who were saved by their
physicians, while Arnold perished. At length a fate
worthy of her crimes overtook her. Having enjoyed
a bath, she retired to her luxurious bed, at Bures on
the Dive, where Hugh, a gentleman whom she had de
spoiled of his inheritance, burst, with his three brothers,
into the chamber, and cut off her head. It Avas a dark
December night, the rivers were flooded with rain ; the
assassins, as they fled towards the frontier, Avith the.
design of making their Avay to Apulia, broke down the
bridges behind them, so that although her son, Hugh
de Montgomery, Avith sixteen other knights, was in the
castle, and immediately rushed forth in pursuit, Mabel's.
enemies escaped, and nothing remained to her friends
but to consign her body Avith a lying epitaph to the.
grave.1 1 Ordericus Vitalis, HI. 2, 3, 9, V. 13.

A.D. 1068.] DEPOPULATION OF NORTHUMBRIA. 329
As the king, however, could ill-spare the chiefs
whom his warm-blooded countrywomen thus AvithdreAV
from the English wars, he invited adventurers from
the whole Continent to join his standard, and it having
been discovered that the service in which they were
to be engaged was far more profitable than dangerous,
crowds of the idle and dissolute from most countries
of northern Europe flocked across the Channel. It
seems probable that such of the Norman Avarriors as
had not groAvn tired of the conflict prevailed upon their
wives to accompany them to England, where, in some
cases at least, they were allowed to resume the honours
and estates, whicli they had forfeited by their desertion.
Over all England, famine, pestilence, and civil war,
did their worst. There was no safety anywhere for
natives or strangers. The mercenary soldiers, under the
command of reckless leaders, devoted themselves on the
one hand to havoc and desolation, while, on the other, tbe
native Saxons dealt death around them wherever they
had the power.1 The surface of the whole country was
stained with blood, and there seemed to be a rivalry
between different races as to which should perpetrate the
most mischief.
At length William formed the resolution to dismiss
his mercenaries, who, gorged with plunder and fami
liarised with violation, rapine, and murder, were no
longer available in a military point of view. Laden
with booty, therefore, and soiled by every species
of crime, the odious adventurers set sail to enjoy the
rewards of their guilt on the Continent. This was
a deliverance at least to the king, but the wretched
people lay still exposed to the ravages of equally destruc
tive foes. Among many of the Norman leaders the
idea of extermination was evidently uppermost in the
mind. Between them and the natives, no intercourse
existed save that of wrongs and revenge. In several
'Orderic. Vital., IV. 4.

330 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. [CHAP. XX.
parts of the country the Saxons were always in arms,
fighting, though without policy or foresight, for the
freedom of their native land, while the Normans, with
superior arms and discipline, and led by able generals,
fell here and there unexpectedly upon the unwary natives
and butchered them without mercy.
York had hitherto proved the utmost limit of Norman-
England towards the North. It was now resolved to
carry forward the frontier line to Durham ; and Robert
de Comines, with a force of seven hundred chosen men,1
was despatched to take possession of the city of St. Cuth
bert in the king's name. Throughout the country the
Saxon clergy were in a state of much perplexity, their
natural affections inclining them to side with the people,
while their policy, as churchmen, impelled them in the
contrary direction. It has been seen that Egelwin
bishop of Durham, had already taken the oath of fealty
to William, and been employed by him in a diplomatic
mission to Scotland. On learning, however, the ap
proach of Robert de Comines, he went forth, with con
flicting feelings, to warn him of the evils which would
probably spring from his attempt upon Durham. Thei
insolent foreigner treated his caution with scorn, and
entering the city in a hostile manner, sleAV a number of
serfs belonging to the church ; after which, confiding in
the terror he had created, he took up his residence in the
episcopal palace, while the soldiers, dispersing, quartered
themselves in different parts of the city.
The advance of the Normans through Northumbriahad
not been unobserved. Determined to escape William's
yoke or perish, the inhabitants assembled in considerable
force, and marching through the long winter's night,2
appeared before Durham at break of day. No danger
being apprehended, the gates remained unguarded, so
1 Thierry, p. 86, speaks ofDeCo- — exercitus copiosus. Chronica, c.
mines' force as inconsiderable ; but 3.
Walter de Hemingford, to whom 2 January 28th, a.d. 1069.
he refers, says his army was large

A.D. 1069.] DEPOPULATION OF NORTHUMBRIA. 331
that the Northumbrians burst through them without
difficulty, and spreading themselves over the city, cut
down the Normans in the streets and houses till the
whole place ran red with blood. They then assailed the
bishop's palace, which was defended by a body of archers,
irritated by whose bolts they set fire to the building,
and the earl with all his followers perished in the flames.
Egelwin had either been forcibly excluded on the pre
ceding, evening, or else contrived to effect his escape
during the attack. One foreign soldier only survived
the slaughter, to bear tidings to the king of what had
happened.1 The confused chroniclers of the times, speaking of the
events which were crowded into this memorable year,
a.d. 1069, mention a second descent of the sons of Harold
in the west of England. The good fortune which had
accompanied their former expedition, on this occasion
forsook them ; for, encountering the king's forces, under
Brian, son of Eudes,2 count of Bretagne, and William
Gualdi, they were defeated with immense loss, and re
turned, with two out of sixty-six ships, to fill all Ireland
with mourning.3
The circumstance, however, which at this time chiefly
disturbed the Conqueror's mind, was a knowledge of the
great armament which had long been fitting out against
England on the Baltic shores. Sweyn, king of Denmark,
nephew of Canute the Great, had been prevailed upon
by a variety of motives to espouse the cause of the
oppressed Saxons in England.4 The gold of this country
had freely flowed northward, and enabled him to imitate
on a smaller scale the policy of William himself. He
invited adventurers from every part of Scandinavia and
northern Germany to enlist under his standard, and
1 Simeon DeGestis Eegum Anglo- 3 Orderic. Vital,, IV. 5. Florence
rum, p. 198. Eoger de Hoveden, of Worcester, a.d. 1069, makes the
a.d. 1069. number of ships sixty-four. Guil-
2 Guillaume de Jumie-ges, VII. laume de Jumidges, sixty-six.
41. 4 Eoger de Hoveden, a.d. 1069.

332 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. [CHAP. XX.
towards the end of summer despatched his fleet? con-^
sisting of two hundred and forty sail,1 and bearing the
flower of the English exiles, to the mouth of the.Hum-'
ber. Some insignificant division of this armada mayjbe,
supposed, from the narratives of the Normans, to; &$$
sailed along the southern and eastern coasts, either to
distract the attention of William's leaders, or to excite
the natives to revolt ; but, having touched at. several
places, they also made towards the North, and joined the
main fleet in the Humber. . > 4
The Etheling Edgar, Marleswain,2 earl Waltheof, and
several other nobles, likewise arriving with a small fleet
from Scotland, joined the Danes.3 Earl Cospatric, too,(,
Avith the land forces of Northumbria, marched to the
banks of the Ouse, and the whole allied army, thus conf |
centrated upon one point, prepared for the assault of
York. The city was immediately invested, on one side
by the Northumbrians, on the other by the Dane$
William Fitz-Osborne, the king's lieutenant in the North,
apprehending that the assailants might demolish: the
surrounding houses, in order with the materials to fill-up I
the castle ditch, caused them to be set on fire, and a,
strong wind prevailing at the time, the flames, spread,
and becoming irresistible in their progress, reduced
nearly the whole city to' ashes, including the monastery
and minster of St. Peter. Archbishop Aldred, we are
told, terrified at the prospect of the siege, and the nume
rous evils Avhich his own treasons had helped to bring
upon his country, died before the arrival of the besieger
and was buried in St. Peter's.4 .-. , :
The operations of the siege were pushed on with.the
utmost vigour ; the Normans, issuing forth from behind
their intrenchments, fought in the streets hand. to. hand
Avith the besiegers ; the defence was protracted during
eight days ; but at length the royal fortresses were taken
1 Florence of Worcester, a.d. 1069. i Simeon De Gestis Begum An-
2 Saxon Chronicle, a.d. 1069. glorum, p. 198 ; Saxon Chronicle,
3 Henry de Knyghton, p. 2344. a.d. 1069.

A.D. 1069.] DEPOPULATION OF NORTHUMBRIA. 333
by storm, and upwards of three thousand1 Normans
perished in the carnage. Gilbert de Ghent, William
i'Mallet, his wife and two children, were spared for the
sake of ransom, and sent as prisoners to the Danish ships.
Immense treasures are said to have been found in the
castles. Earl Waltheof, with a strong garrison, remained
in possession of York ; the great body of the Northum
brians, with Cospatric at their head, retired beyond the
Tyne, and the Danes betook themselves to their ships,
Avhich lay at anchor in the mouth of the broad Humber.
: To the number of leaders, Osbern, brother of king
Sweyn, Harold and Canute, his sons, earl Thorkill, and
bishop Christian, in addition to the English princes
and earls, we may attribute the distracted counsels which
directed the movements of the allies. No commanding
mind was at their head. Intent partly on bloodshed,
partly on booty, they would appear to have been satisfied
for the moment with the slaughter at York, and to have
formed no rational design for the future. A great
general would have followed up his first success by a
rapid march with his united army upon the South, which
would have imparted courage to the natives, and smitten
the foreigners with dismay. The prudence which the
allies lacked, William possessed. Having recently
dismissed large bodies of mercenaries, whom crime and
plunder had demoralised, he had supplied their places
with other adventurers from various parts of Europe,
and by their aid, united with a subtle policy, hoped to
break-up the formidable league, which had been organ
ised against him. He was hunting, it is said, in the
forest of Dean, when intelligence of the siege of York
reached him. All the fury of his savage nature was
roused, and in his usual profane manner he swore, by
the Splendour of God, to pierce all Northumbria with a
single spear,2 and having drawn together his forces,
hastened northwards to perform the congenial task.
1 Henry de Knyghton, p. 2344. ' Eoger de Hoveden, Annals, a.d.
1069.

334 HISTORY OF ENGLAND, [CHAP. XX.
On arriving at Pontefract, William found that the
river, swollen by the autumnal rains, was unfordable,
and through its torrent-like character, impassable byl
boats.1 Of those around him, some counselled a retreat,
others the construction of a bridge. He would listen to
neither, but remained sullenly inactive during, three
weeks meditating on plans of vengeance.
At the end of this period, one of the knights in his
army, patiently examining the channel of the river, at
length found a place where it was fordable, and crossing
over with sixty men-at-arms, encountered and put to
flight a small body of Northumbrians. Returning and
giving an account of his discovery to William, the whole
of the Norman forces crossed the river. The difficulties
and dangers of the route which William's army was now
compelled to follow, are emphatically dwelt upon by the
chroniclers. It lay, they tell us, through forests and
marshes, over hills and along vallies, where the paths
were sometimes so narrow that two soldiers could not
march abreast.2 In this way they drew near York,
where they learned that the allies had broken up their
camp and dispersed. According to some,3 the garrisons
of York made a stout resistance, but was at length over
come, and William entered the city at the head of his
troops. He now applied himself to all those arts of
craft and dissimulation by which, onmany other occasions,
he had paved the way to victory. Sending messengers
to the Danish prince, Osbern, on board his fleet, he is
said to have purchased his defection from the English
alliance with vast sums of money. In order, moreover,
to derive still further advantage from this compact, he
conceded to the Danes the privilege of plundering along
the whole eastern coast of England, on condition that
early in the spring they would return to their OAvn
country. William is also said to have won over several
1 Orderic. Vital., IV. 5. of Wendover, a.d. 1069. Thierry !
2 Ordericus Vitalis", ubi supra. amplifies and perplexes the whole
3 Matthew of Westminster, Boger narrative, p. 88.

A.D. 1069.] DEPOPULATION OF NORTHUMBRIA. 335
English nobles, by putting on the guise of friendship and
entering into solemn engagements to repress the inso
lence and rapacity of his countrymen.1 Having taken
these precautions, repaired the castles, and left in them
a strong garrison to check any attempts that might be
made during his absence, the Conqueror continued his
march through an almost inaccessible country, over
grown with trees, fully resolved to accomplish the exter
mination, of the Northumbrians.
He had for this purpose concentrated in the North all
his disposable forces, which, consisting chiefly of adven
turers and freebooters, were prepared without the least
scruple to execute his most sanguinary orders. To
accomplish his plan of extermination, he spread his
camps over a surface of one hundred miles, and having
thus hemmed round the Northumbrians, gradually
contracted his military "cordon, expelled them from
their fastnesses, drove them into a narrow compass, and
then fiercely applied himself to the work of slaughter.
The hideousness of the transaction has paralysed the
power of the chroniclers, so as to disable them alto
gether from entering into particulars. What they re
late they tell as it were under their breath, with horror
and reluctance, in gloomy general terms, which, how
ever, suffice to impress the mind with loathing and
abhorrence. Having followed the ruthless Bastard
through an almost endless series of atrocities, the
monk of Evroult exclaims on this occasion, " Never
did William perpetrate so much cruelty ! "2 The
towns, villages, hamlets, and scattered habitations
throughout Northumbria were reduced to ashes; all
the implements of agriculture— carts, ploughs, harrows —
were piled in heaps and consumed with fire ; the corn
was burnt in the granaries, horses, cattle, sheep, were
slaughtered in the fields or at the stalls — in short, every-
1 Florence of Worcester, Matthew 2 Ordericus Vitalis, IV. 5.
of Westminster, a.d. 1069.

336 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. [CHAP. XX.
thing that could serve for the support of human life was
utterly consumed. The tyrant gave full sway to all the
ferocious passions of his nature, and gloated his eyes
upon the wasted lands1 and the innumerable corpses of
the slain. No Red Indian hunted to madness by a
hostile tribe ever displayed so unappeasable a passion
for blood. His breast was steeled against compassion,
and wherever a Northumbrian appeared he was cut
down by the swords or pierced by the lances of the
Normans. As William desired to obtain the reputation of a good
Catholic, he interrupted these bloody operations in order
to celebrate the festival of Christmas, a.d. 1069, at
York, and to make the deeper impression on the minds
of the populace, sent to Winchester for his crown, his
jewels, and other regal ornaments, decked with which
he blazed before the eyes of the multitude like a great
king.2 In a country abounding with woods and thickets, it
was found impossible to destroy a whole population by
the sword. Multitudes escaped, and concealed them
selves either among the forests or in caverns. Their (
concealment was vain ; nearly everything that might
have contributed to the sustenance of life had been
annihilated, so that on all sides were seen helpless
infants, timid women, and grey-haired old men, Avander-
ing to and fro in search of a morsel of bread. But no
bread was to be found, and it is calculated that in the
famine which ensued more than a hundred thousand3
persons perished, in addition to those who had fallen
during the massacre. In the houses, in the streets, on
the roads, in the fields, festering and putrid bodies re
mained unburied, the number of the dead being too
great to be devoured by the Avild beasts, or the flights
of kites and ravens that descended like clouds upon the
place of carnage. The wretched remnant of the popu-
' William of Malmesbury, III. p. 2 Orderic. Vital., IV. 5.
283> 3 Orderic. Vital., ubi supra.

A.D. 1069.] DEPOPULATION OF NORTHUMBRIA. 337
lation sought to prolong their existence by feeding on
the flesh of horses, dogs, and cats, and hunger at length
obliterating from their breasts all sentiments of hu
manity, they assailed each other, and devoured human
flesh.1 By these means an immense tract of country,
extending from the Humber to the Tyne, was reduced
to a desert,3 and historians writing after the lapse of
nearly a hundred years, relate that it still remained a
wilderness in their times.3
To augment the misery of the Northumbrians, Mal
colm, king of Scots, in the interest of his brother-in-laAv
the Etheling, made an irruption into those provinces
which had now, through necessity, submitted to William.
Advancing through Cumberland, and descending into
Teesdale,4 he spread his marauding forces right and left,
as far south as Cleveland ;5 burning towns, monasteries,
and churches, often together with the congregations who
had taken refuge in them. While the Scots were thus
engaged, Cospatric, who had purchased the earldom of
Northumbria from William, burst suddenly into Cum
berland, where he perpetrated against the subjects of
Malcolm atrocities similar to those which the Scottish
king had committed in England, after which the earl
returned, with immense booty, to his castle of Barn-
borough.6 The ravages in Northumberland, however,
still proceeded, and were characterised by horrors and
cruelties, difiicult to be conceived.
, In all ages, men unenlightened by religion and philo
sophy have shown themselves incapable of pity. The
Scots, we are told, derived entertainment from multi
plying the sufferings of the English ; old men and women
they decapitated as of no use; infants, for the same reason,
1 Simeon De Gestis Begum An- * For a description of this valley,
glorum, p. 199. Florence of Wor- see Camden, Britannia, p.p. 771-
cester, a.d. 1069. 774. M'Cullocli, Statistical Account
2 Boger de Hoveden, a.d. 1069. of the British Empire, I. 41 .
3 William of Malmesbury, III. 5 William of Malmesbury, III.
Walter de Hemingford, c. 3. G Simeon of Durham, De Gestis
Thomas Stubbs, p. 1708. Begum Anglorum, p. 200.
VOL. II. Z

338 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. [CHAP. XX.
were tossed into the air, and received in their fall on the
points of pikes, which pierced or impaled them, after
which they were flung to the dogs.1 Young able-bodied
men and women, who might be sold as slaves, or em?
ployed as domestic servants, in their own country, they
drove before them like a herd of cattle, despatching
immediately such as fell through fatigue. So great was
the number of these captives, that all the towns, villages^
hamlets, and even cottages, near the border were supplied
with English slaves,2 who performed every kind of
drudgery for their ignorant and ferocious masters.
William had meanwhile been called southwards by
the devastations of the Kymri along the marches, having
previously, however, received, in the valley of the Tees,
the submission of Waltheof in person, and of Cospatric
by his envoys. It was the depth of winter; the summits
of the mountains were covered with snow, the road3
obstructed with corpses, or miry with blood; he con
tinued his march hoAvever to Hexham, and there organ
ised his expedition against Chester.3 The mercenaries
now became tired of following at his heels through the
passes of snowy mountains, and over bleak plains swept
by the icy east wind. These were chiefly the men from
Anjou, Bretagne, and Maine, who would have been well
content to garrison castles, and make forays against the
helpless inhabitants, but looked with terror on an ex
pedition undertaken in the depth of winter against the
fierce and terrible barbarians of the Kymrian mountains.
William, who could now recruit his armies from the
native English, was by no means sorry to find a pretext
for ridding himself of these troublesome foreigners.
He, therefore, gave them to understand, that whoever
was cowardly enough to desire it might take his, dis
charge, and go where he pleased. He himself, with
such of his troops as followed him cheerfully, advanced
1 Walter de Hemingford, c. 5., Eoger de Hoveden, a.d. 1070.
a.d. 1070. Henry de Knyghton, p. 2344.
2 Simeon of Durham, p. 201. 3 Orderic. Vital., IV. 5.

A.D. 1070.] DEPOPULATION OF NORTHUMBRIA. 339
in the month of January, amid torrents of rain and
hail, over bogs and quagmires, and through narrow
and difficult mountain-passes, which according to the
chroniclers had never before been traversed by cavalry.
Provisions falling short, they were sometimes reduced to
feed on the flesh of horses which had been suffocated in
the morasses. The king, however, set them the example
of endurance, sometimes advancing on horseback,
sometimes dismounting and leading the way on foot,
requiring the aid of no one, though always ready to assist
those who needed it. In this way he kept up the spirits
of his troops and reached the environs of Chester, where
by his usual cruelty and ferocity he suppressed the in
surrection. Then, having built a castle to overawe the
inhabitants, he proceeded to Shrewsbury, where he
erected another fortress, and left ample garrisons and
provisions in both.
Having reached Salisbury, he took the decisive,
but no longer dangerous step of dismissing great part
of his foreign troops. They had accomplished the
work for which he had hired them, and he now
desired nothing so much as to be delivered from their
presence and importunities. He, therefore, paid and
dismissed them, with such expressions of flattery as
despots condescend to employ towards their instruments.
Those who had threatened desertion, he punished by
retaining them forty days longer than their comrades.1
Having thus reduced the whole kingdom to subjection
with the exception of the fens, William had recourse to
a grand measure of spoliation2 for replenishing his
exhausted treasury. It had been customary in England,
from time immemorial, to convert the monasteries
during periods of great public danger into banks, in
which the noble and opulent3 deposited their jewels,
gold, silver, costly vestments, and other valuable pro-
1 Orderic. Vital, IV. 5. 3 Florence of Worcester, a.d. 1070.
2 Walter de Hemingford, II. 459.
Eoger de Hoveden, a.d. 1070.
z2

340 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. [CHAP- ^x
perty. As the Norman invaders professed the same
religion with themselves, they trusted that the edifices
which they esteemed sacred would be respected. They,
however, misunderstood the character of William, who;
reverenced nothing but force. By the advice offthe
earl of Hereford, and others of his council, he issued- an
order in February, a.d. 1070, that all the monasteries
in England should be searched, and the riches found
in them", to whomsoever belonging, conveyed intp
his own exchequer.1 His queen, Matilda, had air
ready commenced this pious operation by plundering
the great monastery of Abingdon. Having, soon after
her arrival in this country, learned from those delators,
who had now become as numerous in London as they
had been under the most infamous of the emperors at
Rome, that the church of the above abbey possessed
many rare and precious ornaments, she despatched
thither her emissaries, with orders to bring them to the
palace.2 The abbot and his brethren, who had incur
red the king's anger, met together on receipt of these
commands to deliberate on the selection of the ornaments
they should lay at the feet of Matilda. Their modest
offerings were spurned, and they were required to bring
others more choice and precious. The articles by which
the queen's avarice was at length satisfied, were a, chasu
ble richly embroidered in gold, a gorgeous cope, worn
by the priests while officiating in the choir, an albe,
a stole, and a copy of the Evangelists, crusted with
jewels.3 William on the present occasion, far, from
contenting himself with confiscating the wealth Avhich
secular persons had brought to the churches for safety,
took away the crucifixes overlaid with gems, the golden
chalices, and all the gorgeous sepulchral ornaments, with
which those sacred buildings were adorned. Nay, fo
place their inmates completely at his mercy, he robbed
1 Historia Eliensis, III. 516. 3 Eoger of Wendover, a.d. 1070,
2 Historia Monasterii de Abing
don, I. 485,491.

A.D. 1070.] DEPOPULATION OF NORTHUMBRIA. 341
them of their charters and privileges granted during a
long succession of ages by nobles and kings, and which
at the commencement of his reign he had bound himself
by oath to respect.1
The policy of the Conqueror had been from the
beginning to depress the natives, and exalt foreigners.
Nearly all the influential nobles were in exile, or in their
graves ; their estates had passed into other hands, their
honours were possessed by strangers. It was now deter
mined to complete this policy by making a thorough
clearance in the Church. Pope Alexander II. , William's
accomplice at Hastings, had sent over three legates, by
Whose crafty counsels the Church of England Avas to be
remodelled.2 By their suggestion, a synod was convened
at Winchester,' in which the fate of the English clergy
was definitively sealed. A beginning was made with
the great archbishop Stigand, the tried friend of
the Godwins, the counsellor of Harold, the anointer
of Edgar the Etheling, and the stoutest advocate of
England's ecclesiastical independence. The offences
Avith which he stood charged were designed to conceal
his real crime — his unshaken attachment to his country,
which in 1066 had led him to refuse to place the crown
on the head of William. For this, he had been dragged
as a captive into Normandy, and regarded as an object
of incessant suspicion, till the favourable moment for
accomplishing his ruin should arrive. The tranquillity
which the sword had established throughout the land
now enabled the king to wreak his vengeance equally
on layman and priest. Stigand's accusation was divided
into three heads :3 first, that he had unjustly held at the
same time the sees of Winchester and Canterbury;
second, that he had accepted the primacy during the
lifetime of Robert, the former archbishop, in whose pall
1 Matthew of Westminster, a.d. copyist the name of AVindsor has
X070. been substituted for Winchester.
2 Ordericus Vitalis (IV. 6), where, 3 Capgrave, Chronicle of England,
however, by the error of some p. 130,

342 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. [cHAP. XX.
he had sometimes arrayed himself during the celebration
of mass; third, that he had received investiture from pope
Benedict the tenth, accused of owing to money his ad
vancement to the papal throne.1 When his worst enemies
sat in judgment on him, he had little mercy to expect. By
the sentence, accordingly, of the king and the legates, he
was deposed from his archbishopric, and condemned to
perpetual imprisonment at Winchester.
It does not appear to have troubled the consciences of
the legates, that they were committing one of the offences
for which they punished the English prelate, namely, rais
ing one primate to the episcopal throne during the life
time of another, since Stigand was only removed to make
way for Lanfranc. Throughout the country, the native
bishops and abbots shared the fate of the primate, some
being accused of crimes, others of ignorance* Whatever
might be their virtues or their learning, they could not
deny that they were Englishmen, and as this was the
sole reason of their degradation they were thrust igno-
miniously out of the church, and cast into prison, where
they lingered out their unhappy lives. Among others,
Wulstan, bishop of Worcester, was summoned to resign
his mitre and crosier in Westminster Abbey. Having
received them from the predecessor of Harold, he strode
up to the Confessor's tomb, and striking it with his pas
toral staff, apostrophised the dead king, exclaiming, that
from him he had received the episcopal symbols, and to
him only Avould resign them.2 This stroke of policy
had the desired effect: he was suffered to retain his
bishopric. The object of this revolution was to obtain com
mand over the popular mind,3 by substituting foreign
for native influences. The English monks and clergy

1 Simeon De Gestis Begum An- came soft, and the pastoral staff sank
glorum, p. 201. into it. Chronicon Johannis Brom-
2 The Chroniclers add a miracle : ton, p. 976. Annales Burtonenses,
as the bishop, they say, struck the 1. 264.
tomb with his crosier, the stone be- 3 Eadmer, Historia Novorum,p.6.

A.D. 1070.] DEPOPULATION OF NORTHUMBRIA. 343
had, in many instances, enrolled themselves in the
national forces, and fallen for their country. Even those
dignified ecclesiastics who, through superstition or want
of foresight, had at first favoured the claims ofthe Nor
man duke, would afterwards appear to have adopted a
nobler policy, and thrown their weight into the opposite
scale. They now paid the penalty of their patriotism, and
foreign prelates, clergy, and monks, repairing in droves
to England, filled the episcopal palaces, the monas
teries and the churches. The nation was restrained,
therefore, by a double force : in every town and city there
rose a Norman castle, garrisoned by foreigners, in which
the plunder ofthe natives was deposited; and, close be
side it, a Norman abbey or priory, in which the revenues
of the English church became the prey of strangers. 1
At the head of this body of sacerdotal adventurers
stood Lanfranc, a native of Northern Italy,2 where he
had been educated for the law, and distinguished him
self, it is said, by his eloquence. Quickly perceiving,
however, that the road to honour lay not, in those ages,
through secular pursuits,3 he abandoned his country, and
became a monk in Normandy, where the ignorance of all
around him at once gratified his vanity and facilitated his
designs. Opening a school, first at Avranches, and after
wards at Bee, to which numbers desirous of knowledge
eagerly flocked, he soon acquired an immense reputation.
ITp to this period the Normans are said to have been
wholly unacquainted with literature,4 so that the credit
of awakening their minds, and directing their attention
to what was then called learning, must be attributed to
Lanfranc. By degrees he became known to the duke,
who, as the reward of certain services he had rendered
him at Rome, bestowed on him the abbey of Caen.5 At
1 Simeon De Gestis Begum An- 3 Chronicon Johannis Bromton,
glorum, p. 201. P- 968.
2 Ordericus Vitalis, IV. 7. Com- 4 Ordericus Vitalis, IV. 7.
pare Milman, History of Latin 5 Gervase, Actus Pontificum Can-
Christianity, III. 322, 323. tuariensium, p. 1652. Eadmer, His
toria Novorum, p. 6.

344 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. [CHAP. XX.
this time flourished the famous Berengar,1 Avho, antici
pating the reforms of a future age, assailed the doctrineiof
the Real Presence;2 one of the main pillars of Catholicism,
and in this is supposed to have been abetted by Lanfranc,
Afterwards, however, the supple Lombard, when< it
became dangerous to profess sympathy for Berengar,
wheeled round,3 maintained the orthodox opinion, and
inveighed, with all the eloquence and bitterness of which
he was master, against the tenets of his former friend.4
In the incidents of such a career, William discovered
reasons more than sufficient for desiring to have this
crafty ecclesiastic near his person, and, as soon as events,
permitted, invited him to fill the archiepiscopal seat at
Canterbury.5 According to established custom, and in
strict imitation of William himself, Lanfranc put -on the
disguise of modesty, and affected reluctance6 to under-.
take the responsibilities of so high an office; but in. all
such contingencies there is an infallible means of con
viction : Lanfranc succumbed to an imperative sense of
duty, and the insatiable thirst of power ; and became
the equal in everything but name of the Roman pontiff
himself, from whom, notwithstanding, he condescended
to solicit and receive the pall.
Shortly after his accession to the archiepiscopal throne,
Lanfranc, no less grasping and greedy of revenue than
_ 1 Milman, History of Latin Chris- for sincerity, when he affected re-
tianity, II. 450. luctance to quit his monastery to
2 Chronicon Johannis Bromton, p. become primate of England. "Lan-
940. franc resisted, not only from moiias-
3 Capgrave, Chronicle of England, tic aversion to state and secular
p. 130. pursuits, but from unwillingness to
4 Henry de Knyghton, pp. 2360, rule a barbarous people, of whose
2361. language he was ignorant." I am
6 Ailredus Abbas Eievallis, p. 405. more uncharitable, since it appears
Stephen Birchington, Anglia Sacra, to me that grandeur and power
I. 6. were the great objects of Lanfranc's
6 Dr. Milman (History of Latin existence. It may be added that
Christianity, III. " 323) takes, I the barbarism of the Normans
think, too favourable a view of this appears from tho events of the
operation, as well as of the part archbishop's own lifetohavebeenfar
which Lanfranc played in it. He greater than could have been found
gives the scheming Lombard credit in England,

A D. 1070.] DEPOPULATION OF NORTHUMBRIA. 345
his master, made the discovery that the bishop of Bayeux
and earl of Kent had seized on certain lands and usurped
certain rights appertaining to the church of Canterbury.
Having investigated the whole matter, and rendered
himself master of the particulars, the primate repaired
to the king, explained his wrongs and demanded justice.
William, never too cordial towards his half-brother,
whose avarice and ambition interfered with his own,
readily complied with Lanfranc's Avishes, and granted
permission for the convening of a great assembly of the
lords spiritual and temporal, on Pennenden Heath,1 to
hear and determine the quarrel of the rival claimants to
a long array of rich manors. Geoffry, bishop of Coutances,
one of the richest and most powerful men in England,
was appointed to preside over the meeting, as the king's
representative, and all persons, deeply versed in the an
cient laws and customs of England were invited to be
present to assist the judgment of the sacerdotal viceroy.
Among the prelates and nobles who came thither at the
king's command, was Egelric, bishop of Chichester, re
nowned for his learning, ecclesiastical and civil, who, on
account of his very great age, was conveyed to the heath, at
William's desire, in a chariot drawn by four horses.2 Odo3
himself, the proud and impetuous son of Arlette, rode to
Pennenden surrounded by an army of retainers, as did
likewise the bishop of Rochester, the lords Richard de
Tunb ridge, Hugh de Montfort, William D'Arc, Viscount
Haimon with many other of the king's barons. All these
grandees, mounted on chargers superbly caparisoned, fol-

... ,: Eadmeri Hist. Nov., p. 9. his counsellor in peace, ever by his
-r.2 Palgrave, English Common- side in war, though he neither wore
wealth, 1. 254. '"' arms nor engaged in battle." At
3 Dr. Milman (History of Latin Hastings, however, we find this
Christianity, III. 324), treats this bishop donning a hauberk over his
proud and cruel prelate with much albe, and flourishing a heavy mace
too great lenity. " The uterine at the English soldiers. Taylor's
brother of the king, Odo the Mag- Master Wace, p. 199.
nificent and able bishop of Bayeux,

346 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. [CHAP. XX.
lowed by their squires and men-at-arms, the arch
bishop's retainers, the lord-abbots with their monks,
and the dignified clergy, from far and near, made up a
vast assembly, which imparted to the great heath of
Pennenden the aspect of an immense camp.
When the lord bishop of Coutances had taken his
seat, Lanfranc, the primate of England, appeared before
him, and, in the name of the church of Canterbury,
pleaded his own cause, in opposition to those who main-
tained the king's rights identified on the present occasion
with those of the earl of Kent. No record of the plead*
ings has been preserved. It is merely stated that the
contest was carried on with great fierceness and tenacity!,
so that a first, a second, and a third day was consumed
before the judge deemed himself in a condition to pro
nounce judgment. The sacerdotal viceroy then decided*
that the estates and manors which had been taken by
Odo from the domains of the church of Canterbury
should be restored,1 together with all dues, immunities,
and privileges, and that the archbishop should thence*
forward exercise absolute jurisdiction within his own
territories, save in three cases, in which the fines levied
and the right of punishment should belong to the king.
These were, first, when anyone of the bishop's people
dug a pit in the king's high-road, so as to obstruct way
farers from city to city ; second, when anyone cut down
a tree and cast it across the road ; third, when murder
was committed, or blood spilt, or any other heinous
offence perpetrated on the highway.
Among the archbishop's privileges were two deserving
of notice, first, when blood was shed in any part of the
country, even on the king's lands, from the cessation of
the chanting of Hallelujah to the eighth day after
Easter, the whole fine belonged to the archbishop;
second, when any one during Lent was guilty of child-
1 To Lanfranc's success, Eadulph de Diceto alludes briefly, p. 490.

A.D. 1070.] DEPOPULATION OF NORTHUMBRIA.

347

wite,1 or bastardy, he claimed the whole, or at least half,
of the fine ; if the offence were committed in that portion
of the year which preceded Lent, the whole went into his
treasury ; if after Lent, the half only.3

1 Compare Spelman, Glossary,
article Wita, p. 572. Dooms of Ina,
art. 27. Leges Eegis Henriei Pri-
mi, cap. 78. By these laws the
father of a bastard child who con
cealed its birth, was punished by the
loss of the wer, in case it were slain.
Halliwell, in his Dictionary of Ar
chaic and Provincial Words, ex
plains childwite as follows: " A fine

paid to the Saxon lord when his
bondwoman was unlawfully got
with child ; and now within the
manor of Writtle (Essex), every
reputed father of a base child pays
to the lord, for a fine, 3s. Ad., which
custom is there still called ohildwit."
2 Historiola, M.S. quoted by Sel
den in his notes on Eadmer, pp. 197-
199.

348 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. [CHAP. XXL'

CHAPTER XXI.
DOMESTIC AND FOREIGN WARS.
Meanwhile very striking changes were taking place
in the manners and bearing of the people. It would
have been too much to expect that differences of race,
which after all were not very great, since both Saxons
and Normans had sprung originally from the same
stock, should have preserved a line of eternal separation
between the victors and the vanquished. Wealth and
poAver exercised their natural influence and brought
about intermarriages between English and Normans, so
that the two nations began gradually to blend together.^
The manners and dress of the ruling people were, more
over, speedily imitated by the subjugated, who thus1
hoped, perhaps, to conceal in part at least the most
obvious indications of the Conquest. French merchants
and pedlars, with French articles of dress and orna
ments, appeared in the fairs and markets, and the
Saxons, laying aside their national costume, adojpted. the
garb of the strangers.1 From this far back epoch must
Ave date, therefore, the weakness of our countrymen and
countryAvomen, which has habitually induced them to
concede to France the place of arbiter in dress. Wil
liam, on the other hand, sought to introduce among
his courtiers a taste for the magnificent attire of the
English nobles, which, on his first return to Rouen,

Orderic. Vital., IV. 7. William of Malmesbury, III,

A.D. 1071.] DOMESTIC AND FOREIGN WARS. 349
excited so much admiration in the French and Normans.
But this attempt seems to have been attended with no
permanent results. Equally vain was his endeavour to
render himself master of the language of his subjects,
which his age, his incessant occupations, and that
inflexibility of organs for which his countrymen have
always been remarkable rendered impracticable. His
attention was besides soon called away to the more
congenial task of destruction.
People accustomed to liberty are with difficulty under
any circumstances reconciled to its loss. Thousands of
Enghsh, impatient of the Norman yoke, yet incapable
of shaking it off, took shelter in the Isle of Ely,1 in the
heart of the fens, where they constructed what was
called the Camp of Refuge.2 On all sides sluggish
rivers, with broad, coarse and splashy banks, inclosed
the isle, which they sometimes laid almost completely
under water. The soil, soft and spongy, long retained
the impression made on it by the foot, and when
walked over trembled to a considerable distance like
the surface of a quaking bog. Here and there, it de
generated into a swamp, interspersed with broad sheets
of water and considerable lakes. No trees were to be
seen, save beds of rank willows which shot up to a great
height, and were divided from each other by extensive
fields of reeds.3
Into this asylum the insurgents and malcontents
gradually withdrew. Much obscurity hangs over this
episode of our history. Many nobles, prelates, and gen
tlemen of distinction betook themselves at different
periods to the fortifications in the fens, as archbishop
Stigand, the earls Morcar and Waltheof, Siward, sur
named Barn, Egelwin, bishop of Durham,4 Egelric, bishop
1 Historia Eliensis, Anglia Sacra, 3 Camden Britannia, pp. 405-
I. 609. 409.
2 Matthew of Westminster, a.d. ' i Florence of Worcester, a.d.
1071. Historia Ingulphi, I. 71. 1071. Eoger de Hoveden, a.d.
1072.

350 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. [CHAP. XXI,
of Lindisfarne— but no clear light has ever been thrown
either on the policy by which they were actuated or on
the nature and magnitude ofthe objects they aimed at.<
In seasons of great difficulty and danger, genius and
courage assert their superiority over rank. Instead of
conferring the chief command in the camp upon any of
the great earls, the insurgents placed at their head
Hereward, son of Leofric, lord of Brun.1 Mixed up
Avith the real history of this chief we find much that
wears the appearance of poetical fiction. The English
loved him for the brave stand he made against the
foreign invaders, and the poets of the time sought to
perpetuate in songs and ballads the memory of his
exploits, over which, to soothe the feelings of their
oppressed countrymen, they cast the brilliant colours of
the imagination.
The youthful career of Hereward had been full of
vicissitude and adventure. Confiding in his gigantio
stature and almost supernatural strength, he had sub
dued the pretensions and provoked the anger of all the
nobles and chiefs in his neighbourhood. The civil
contests of those ages resembled warfare, and men intro
duced into their sports and pastimes the feelings of the
battle-field. Wherever the youths of Mercia or East
Anglia assembled to indulge in the amusement of
wrestling, or any other manly sport, Hereward was sure
to be in the midst of them, resolved to carry off the
prize by strength or violence, for Avhen his sinews failed
him he took to the sword, and thus wrested from his;
companions what they would not willingly concede to
him. In no part of England did the rough fierce man
ners of the North survive in greater vigour than in
East Anglia. Parents, we are told, for the purpose of
testing the strength of their children, used to fling them
on the sloping thatched roofs of their dwellings; if,
with hands and feet, they were able to maintain their
1 Historia Ingulphi, I. 71.

A.D. 1071.] DOMESTIC AND FOREIGN WARS. 351
position, they judged them worthy to be East Angles,
if not, public opinion condemned them to emigrate
into the neighbouring counties, where they usually
displayed a decided superiority to the natives in activity
and energy.1
Hereward's hand, through the fierceness of his man
ners and the intemperance of his disposition, might be
said to be against every man, and every man's hand
against him. Complaints, therefore, multiplied through
out the neighbourhood, and so perpetually assailed his
father, Leofric, a man of small prudence or authority, that
he at length applied to king Edward to punish his own
son, and procured against him a sentence of outlawry.
Thus driven from his country, Hereward took refuge in
Northumbria, in Cornwall, in Ireland, and exciting,
probably, hostility against himself everywhere, at length
repaired to the ancient home of English exiles, Flanders.
Hereward's soul was of the true heroic temper. He
despised danger and death, and whether his life were
long or short, determined, while he lived, to be his own
master and yield to no one. No knight-errant ever
courted more earnestly the perils of the field. Where-
ever there was hard fighting there was Hereward ; yet,
in proportion as he bearded death it retreated from him.
His name accordingly became the theme of popular
bards and minstrels, and every palace and baronial hall

1 Thomas of Elmham, Hist. Mo- Mynheers; Steevens suggest heroes;
nast. S. August. Cantuar., p. 140. Malone, who shoots widest of the
What follows in this chronicle mark, would have " Will you go and
throws some light on an obscure hear us." The unintelligible word
passage in the Merry Wives of found in the old additions is an-heirs.
Windsor, Mine host of the Garter, Warburton, it will be seen by the
inviting tho gentlemen to witness following extract from the Canteiv
the mystification of Dr. Caius and bury Chronicle, divined the proper
Sir Hugh Evans, says, " Will you go word : haviug related the trial of the
on, hearts 1" But instead oi hearts roof described above, the chronicler
most of the commentators are says, " Hinc est quod hujusmodi
agreed that some other word should patrise homines stout-heris, quod
be substituted: Warburton pro- lingua Germannica magni domini,
poses Heris, an old Scotch word for sonat ab alliis terrse incolis nomi-
master; Sir T. Hanmer reads nantur."

352 -HISTORY OF ENGLAND. [CHAP. XXI.
in Europe rang Avith the praises of the Saxon hero.
But his life would not have been complete without love.
He saw in Flanders, a noble maiden, Turfrida, who con
sented to soothe his exile and share his fortunes.
When Hereward's great reputation reached England,
and was celebrated through the streets of Mercia,. the
anger of his former rivals was converted into admiration.
His mother Avas touched by the glory of her son, and
the heart of the old lord of Brun swelled with joy. For
reasons which cannot now be discovered, Hereward did
not return to England before the Norman invasion,
during which his father appears to have died, because,
in the confiscations Avhich ensued, his estates were in
cluded, and conferred upon the infamous Ivo Taillebois.
Learning in Flanders the calamity that had fallen
upon his house, Hereward, accompanied by Turfrida,
hastened to England, where he soon collected a formid
able band of kinsmen and friends, by Avhose aid he
drove the Norman freebooter from his paternal mansion,
avenged the insults Avhich. had been offered to his
mother, and for a while retained, by force, possession of
his patrimony. In times of so much confusion, every
man on his own estate was a petty sovereign. If he
could surround himself Avith numerous brave followers,
with sharp lances, and ponderous battle-axes, he might
gather his fruits, reap his harvests, and hunt his game
in comparative security. William for many years failed
to put an end to this state of things. The lands he
conferred upon his knights they had often to win and
keep by their swords. It was thus Avith Ivo Taillebois,
whose lot fell in the fens, near the monastery of Croy-
land, whose historical abbot has conferred on him an
unenviable celebrity.1

1 Ingulph, Chronicle of Croyland, tember 17th, 186 l,we find extracted
and Peter of Blois, in whose nar- from Nicholsou's Annals of Kendal,
rative he is described as a flatterer, a brief account of the extinction of
a traitor, and a sorcerer. Gale, I. this petty despot's family. " The
124, 125. In the Athenasum, Sep- first of them (the Taillebois) came

A.D. 1071.] DOMESTIC AND FOREIGN WARS. 353
Hereward seems to have thoroughly comprehended
the nature of the position he had taken up, as the leader
in a civil war Which might assume a formidable cha
racter, and extend its operations over a whole kingdom.
All ages have their prejudices, and in Hereward's time
everything was under their sway : to exercise supreme
command over men of noble birth and knightly honours,
he must himself be girt in the regular way with the
sword of knighthood ; he proceeded, therefore, to the
great abbey of Medeshamstede, where his uncle Brand
was lord abbot, explained the reasons of his coming,
and preferred his ambitious request. Brand, whose
feelings were all enlisted on the side of his countrymen,
willingly complied with his nephew's desires. By his
direction, Hereward repaired to the church of the
monastery, where he made confession of his sins, and
received absolution. According to custom, he then
prepared to watch all night in the church, at the foot
of the great altar, where he was expected to give him
self up entirely to devotion and prayer. But when the
doors were closed, Avhen all sounds were hushed, when
the tapers glimmered through the darkness in that vast
interior, when the painted casements, touched by the
night-breeze, rattled gently, we may be sure that
Hereward's thoughts reverted to the melancholy con
dition of his native land. The hours wore away, and
in the morning the lord abbot, accompanied by his
monks, came to complete the ceremony of Hereward's
installation. Mass was then performed, and after the
reading of the Gospel, Hereward advanced, and placed

over with the Conqueror, and mar- not long exist, but the last descend-
rying the sister and heiress of the ant of the Taillebois died only a
great Saxon earls, Edwin and Mor- few months ago. Mr. Nicholson,
car, took his Lucy's inheritance in quoting ' TJps and Downs in the
Lancashire and AVestmoreland, and House of Peers,' states that this
founded the great line whence relic of a great race was a girl of
sprang the barons of Kendal and eighteen, named Emily Taillebois,
Lancaster. The malejine of this who died a pauper in Shrewsbury
branch of the House of Anjou did workhouse."
VOL. II. 2 A

354 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. [cHAP. XXI.
his drawn sword upon the altar, to intimate that it was
thenceforward to be used in the service of God and his
country. The abbot then took the sword in his hands,
and, after blessing it, placed it upon the neck of his
nephew, who knelt reverently before him.1 The mass
was then continued, and Hereward, after receiving the
sacrament, rose from his knees a lawful knight, qualified
to command brave men, and fight the battles of England
at their head.
This mode of conferring the honours of knighthood
Avas treated- with derision by the Normans, who, in spite
of their pretended veneration for the pope, converted
religion into a pretext for devastation and plunder, while
they mocked at its precepts and despised its ministers.
The lord abbot Brand had already, at the first coming
of William, given great offence by his patriotism, whicli
led him to apply to Edgar the etheling, not to William,
to confirm his election by the monks. He had now, by
conferring the honours of knighthood on a chief in open
hostility against the king, completed his treason in the
eyes of the invader. A military force was therefore
sent to tear him from his monastery, and drag him before
the king ; but ere William's myrmidons arrived, death
had released the lord abbot from all secular apprehen
sions.3 In conformity with his settled scheme of policy,
William appointed Thorold, a Norman monk, to be
abbot of Medeshamstede, and sent him with a strong
escort to take possession. But Thorold foresaw in the
enterprise no small danger, since the monks, who were
nearly all Saxons, professed much reluctance to receive
a foreign abbot. Ease and good cheer, however, had
rendered the pious brethren altogether unfit for martyr
dom, Ayhich being suspected by Hereward, he determined
to diminish as far as possible the value of their submis
sion to their new lord, and projected a predatory excur-
1 Selden, Titles of Honour, p. 314. 2 Chron. Johan. S. Petri de Burgo.,
p. 47.

A.D. 1071.] DOMESTIC AND FOREIGN WARS. 355
sion to the monastery. Intelligence of his design having
reached Medeshamstede, Ywar the churchwarden arose
by night, and for the purpose of gaining favour with
the new abbot, entered the church, and taking thence
gospels, mass-robes, cassocks, with other garments, and
such ornaments as he could carry away, repaired before
day to Thorold at Stamford, whom he apprised of the
intended attack of the outlaws. All this he professed
to do by order of the monks. Their treachery and
servility proved of no avail, for early in the morning
they perceived the channel of the Nen filled with ships
from Ely, against whose crews, with Hereward at their
head, they determined, in the interest of the foreigner,
to defend their monastic citadel. To facilitate their
operations, the outlaws applied their torches, not only to
the monks' dwellings, but to the whole town, and ad
vancing through the fire entered the great abbey by the
Bolhithe gate. To the prayers of the monks, which
were clearly dictated by terror, they paid no heed, but
breaking into the church collected in all haste its gor
geous and costly ornaments. From the figure of Christ
they took down the crown of pure gold, and from beneath
its feet the footstool of red gold, then climbing up into
the steeple brought down the gold and silver table,
which had been there hidden. To these they added the
shrines and crucifixes of gold and silver, a vast amount
of gold and silver in money, the sacred books, and all
that blaze of gorgeous vestments in which monks delight.
For acting thus they pleaded their allegiance to the
monastery, whose opulence they would not suffer to fall
into the hands of the Normans, and re-embarking with
their plunder, sailed back to the Camp of Refuge.*
No sooner had the outlaws departed than Thorold, with
his. foreign escort, presented himself, and was submis
sively received by the then houseless monks, since every
thing but the church had been consumed by the flames.
1 Saxon Chronicle, a.d. 1070.
2 a 2

356 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. [CHAP. XXI.
It was now about the beginning of June, and the Danes,
Avho had hitherto lingered among the Saxons in Ely,
prepared to desert their allies. It has already been
seen that these treacherous barbarians had secretly sold
themselves to the Conqueror,1 and now, believing that
nothing more was to be gained, seized on whatever lay
within their reach, among which was the plunder of
Medeshamstede, and set sail for Denmark.2 Retribution,
however, overtook them on the ocean, for their ships,
dispersed by a violent storm, Avere stranded on various
coasts. Those which bore the shrines, the crosses, arid
the golden table, reached Denmark, where, the spoil
having been deposited in a church, the edifice Avas set
on fire, through the carelessness and drunkenness of
the marauders, and the last relics of Medeshamstede
perished in the conflagration.
Ignorant of what had happened, Thorold, with his
Norman force, joined the Angevin, Ivo Taillebois,
in an expedition against the Isle of Ely, probably in
the hope of recovering the wealth of his monastery.
Together they marched towards the willow forest, on
the edge of which the lord abbot's courage failed; he
refused to enter, the wood, and remained timidly oh its
skirts, in company with several Normans of high rank,
while Ivo scoured the reeds and willows in search ofthe
enemy. Hereward, who had watched all their move
ments, noAV made a rapid detour, and coming suddenly
upon the abbot and his party took them prisoners, and
conveyed them to the Camp of Refuge, Avhere they were
detained till their friends consented to pay for them a
ransom of three thousand marks.3
The fate of the earls of Mercia and Northumbria was
iioav debated in William's councils. Much danger was
1 Boger de Hoveden (a.d. 1070) 2 Historia Monasterii de Abing-
maintains that Osborn, the King's don, I. 485.
brother ouly received the bribe 3 Petri Blesensis Continnatio In-
from William, for which, on his gulphi Historia, I. 124.
return to Denmark, he was out
lawed by Sweyn.

A.D. 1071.] DOMESTIC AND FOREIGN WARS. 357
apprehended from their influence over their countrymen,
who still cherished for them an affectionate attachment.
Both king and courtiers, moreover, looking with an eye
of poyetousness on their vast domains, scattered through
out, the whole north and centre of England, their ruin
was resolved upon, and an order issued for their arrest.1
But even in, the royal palace they were not entirely
without friends. Having been informed of the king's
design, they effected their escape from court,2 took up
arms, and for a while defended themselves in various
parts of their provinces. Of the particulars of this
contest we are ignorant, though it appears, from the
great survey made many years later, that nearly all the
estates of these noblemen had been devastated during
the struggle, and remained a depopulated wilderness to
succeeding reigns.3
It might, however, from the very beginning have been
foreseen in what way the conflict Avould terminate ; for
besides that the king's power had been immensely ex
tended and consolidated, his character as a general and
statesman rose greatly superior to theirs ; for while he
was crafty, cautious, far-seeing, and inflexible in his
purposes, the brother earls were vacillating and irreso
lute, noAV adopting pacific measures, and now having
recourse to arms. Even respecting the policy to be
pursued on the present occasion they appear to have
taken different views; for Avhile Morcar's inclinations
led him to meditate a junction with the patriotic out
laws in the fens, Edwin, after a series of fruitless nego
tiations for succour with the Kymri, resolved to proceed
in person to Scotland to solicit aid from Malcolm.4 The
secret of his movements was betrayed, and a body of
the enemy followed closely on his track. AVith the
1 Florence of Worcester, Saxon 3 Sir Henry Ellis, Introduction
Chronicle, A.D. 1071; Simeon of to Domesday, I. 319.
Durham, p. 203. 4 Simeon De Gestis Begum An:
2 Ordericus Vitalis, IV. 4. Boger glorum, p. 203.
de Hoveden, a.d. 1071.

358 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. [CHAP. XXI.
traitors still in his retinue, consisting only of twenty
men-at-arms, he endeavoured by hard riding to distance
his pursuers and reach the sea ; arriving, however, at a
spot where his progress was arrested by a river in which
the tide was rising, the little band, with Edwin at their
head, turned round and faced the enemy. Their re
sistance was fierce and protracted ; but at length the
earl was slain, and his head, having been cut off, was,
by those who had betrayed him, carried to William, in
the hope of some great reward. The tyrant, now that
he had accomplished his purpose, affected to be over
whelmed with grief — it is said he even shed tears — and
to obtain credit for sincerity, likewise banished the
assassins, but at the same time took care to seize upon
the possessions of the two earls, which were so vast that
they enabled him to raise the meanest of his Norman
followers to affluence.1
Among the persons thus enriched, was the leader of
the Angevin mercenaries, Ivo Taillebois, to whom Lucia,
sister of Edwin and Morcar, had been forcibly 'given in
marriage. His estates, as I have already observed, lay
near the abbey of Croyland, whose inmates he inces
santly persecuted in a manner highly characteristic of
the times. Throughout the Avhole kingdom the hatred
of the invaders for the English was intense.2 Wherever
circumstances afforded the least pretext, they hunted
them down like wild beasts, and frequently, when all
pretext was wanting, the mere difference of race, sup
plied, in their estimation, a valid motive. Thus in the
fens of Croyland, Ivo let loose the malice and fury of
his retainers against the harmless monks, who occu
pied St. Mary's cell at some distance from the monas
tery, of which it was a spiritual dependence. The object
of this small foundation was to supply religious instruc-
1 Orderic. Vital., IV. 7. This and perishing in the attempt to
chronicler, however, reverses the effect his release.
order of events, representing Edwin 2 Ingulph, Chronicle of Croyland,
as surviving his brother's capture, p. 142, translated by Eiley.

A.D. 1071.] DOMESTie AND FOREIGN WARS. 359
tion to the inhabitants of Spalding and' other places,
situated too far from Croyland to attend divine service
at its church.
Ivo, like most of his contemporaries; being frequently
at a loss for amusement, adopted means, probably no way
peculiar, of killing time : the horses^ cattle, and flocks
of Saxon proprietors, whether lay or clerical, he looked
upon as game, and chased, for sport through the bogs
and swamps, sometimes driving them to a great distance,
and drowning them in the lakes, sometimes cutting off
their ears and tails, breaking their legs and backs, or
otherwise wounding and mutilating them. The prior
and monks of St. Mary's cell became the especial objects
of his malignity. As was natural, all the brethren of
the opulent monastery of Croyland were much addicted
to good cheer, and the little colony near Spalding could
not be expected to relinquish their habits by dwelling in
the neighbourhood of the earl's castle. They had there
fore their droves of fat swine, their oxen and. their sheep,
their geese and their poultry, together with numerous
serfs employed in watching over these articles of monastic
luxury. Ivo, who regarded their wealth with envy, seized
and impounded their cattle and swine, and, if complaints
were made at his, courts paid no heed to them; but, on
the contrary, after exacting bribes and presents from the
prior's serfs, would often permit his retainers to pursue
and beat them to death on the road.
„ .; It can accordingly excite little surprise that. the.
brethren of Croyland secretly extended their entire sym
pathy to. the .nobles; prelates, and other patriots in the
fens, whose constantly increasing multitudes at length
awakened the vigilance of the Conqueror, and induced
him to direct his forces against their stronghold.
No error can be greater than that of trusting exclu
sively for defence to any kind of material obstacles,
fortifications, moats, rivers, morasses, or fens — an enemy,
wealthy and determined, will overcome all these — -
men alone, brave, disciplined, and united, are invincible.

360 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. [CHAP. XXI.
Severus, the Roman emperor, had long before traversed
the British morasses, over dykes and bridges constructed
by the legions ; William had now recourse to the same
means, invested Ely by land and water,1 threw bridges
over the narrow streams and lagoons, and began the
construction of an immense causeway, three thousand
paces in length, which would carry his soldiers across
morass and quagmire into the very heart of the Campoi
of Refuge.2
The English, though without the least hope of ulti
mate success, threw away their lives with patriotic pro
digality to supply brilliant and striking incidents to the
great Epic of the Conquest. With Hereward at their
head, they assailed William's sappers and miners, drove
them from the causeway, burned their implements, and
slaughtered by hecatombs the troops posted there for
their defence. The Angevin, Ivo Taillebois, immersed
in the gloomy superstitions of the age, persuaded himself
that Hereward must be assisted by some mighty en
chanter jealous of the triumphs of the foreigners.3 He
therefore gravely counselled William to oppose art with
art, and employ a sorceress to counteract the magic of
the English. The mind of Arlette's son was no less
clouded by supernatural fears than that of his neighY'
bours, so that he readily gave his consent, and
Taillebois' witch, mounted on a lofty wooden tower, was
pushed along the causeway to encounter the powers of
the air, and cast a spell over the patriots of the marsh.
The English on this occasion — would that they had
ahvays been so! — were inaccessible to the terrors of '
superstition, and rushing forward impetuously, set fire
to the dry reeds close to the embankment, which spread- .•>'.
ing and climbing the causeway, soon enveloped tower,
1 Eadulph de Diceto, p. 484. belli quae usque hodie perstat, arti-
2 Saxon Chronicle, Eoger of ficiose construxit."
Wendover, a.d. 1071. Bromton, => petri Blesensis Continuatio Iu-
p. 969, likewise speaks of the long gulphi, I. 124-125.
causeway, and adds "et domum

A.D 1071.] DOMESTIC AND FOREIGN WARS. 361
Avorkmen, sorceress, and all in the flames, and reduced
the whole to a heap of ashes.
This threw much discouragement into the hearts
of the besiegers, and the conflict might have been
greatly protracted but for the baseness of the monks
of Ely,1 Avho, beginning tp entertain apprehensions
respecting the supplies for their refectory, determined
to sell the last hopes of their country " to gorge their
appetite." Sending secretly to William's camp, they
offered to point out to the soldiers a narroAV. winding-
path over the bogs, by which the Normans might safely
penetrate into the isle, provided assurances were given
them that the property and privileges of their monastery
would be respected.
William, never niggardly of promises, was now lavish
of them to the treacherous monks. At the heels of their
cowled conductors the Norman soldiers advanced along
the intricate pathway, and pouring in overwhelming
numbers into the island, stormed the Camp of Refuge,
cut to pieces more than a thousand of its defenders, and
compelled the remainder to surrender at discretion.2
Among these were earl Morcar, bishop Egilwin, Siward
Barn, abbot Egelric, and many others, who were dis
tributed at the pleasure of the Conqueror through the
various dungeons of England.3 Egelwin was confined
at Abingdon, where he shortly afterwards died,4 natu
rally according to some, though others relate that, over
come by grief, he refused all food, and perished of star
vation.5 Egelric died in his prison at Westminster,
but the Northumbrian earl, with a strange tenacity of
life, survived the Conqueror himself, by whom in his
last moments he Avas liberated from confinement. Rufus,
however, frustrated the dying tyrant's mercy, and threAV
1 Stow's Annals, p. 114. 5 Chronicon Johannis Bromton,
2 Saxon Chronicle, a.d. 1071. p. 969. In the Anglia Sacra, I.
3 Ordericus Vitalis, IV. 7. 703, the tradition is alluded to, that
* Historia Monasterii de Abing- he was condemned to death by
don, I. 48, 493. starvation.

362 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. [CHAP. XXI.
Morcar again into a dungeon, where he wore out'the
remainder of his days.1
The Conqueror's ferocity blazed forth in all its viru
lence against the common mass of prisoners taken in
Ely. To gratify the vindictive fury with which he now
regarded the whole English race, and, at the same time,
to impress upon the public mind a terrible idea of the
danger to be encountered by taking up arms against
him, he tore out the eyes of some,2 cut off the hands or
one foot of others, inflicted, on a third class, different
forms of mutilation, and in this state sent them forth to
roam hither and thither through the country as memen
toes at once of his vengeance and of the utter subju
gation of the land.
When the Camp of Refuge had been stormed; and its
defenders completely overpowered, Hereward, with a
small number of followers, effected his escape by boundr
ing over the quaking bogs, and Avading through pools
and marshes.3 His career thenceforth becomes < chiefly
mythical. Fallen races habitually console themselves !
for the loss of independence, by dAvelling fondly on the
displays of valour which graced their overthrow, and
converting into heroes the patriots who held out longest
against the conquerors; and nowhere do we find this
feeling more powerfully developed than among the Eng
lish of the eleventh century, who bore the foreign yoke
with that fierce impatience which foreshadowed the de
liverance which, though slow to come, came at length,
and enabled them to trample under foot Norman and
Fleming, Frisian and Frenchman, rule over their own
land with their own language, which they have converted
into the dialect of empire over half the world.
1 Florence of Worcester, Eoger lifted their neck against him, he
de Hoveden, a.d. 1087. banished from England, and others
2 Florence of Worcester, a.d. he mangled by putting out, their
1071. On a future occasion William eyes or cutting off their hands, a.d.
indulged at Winchester the same 1074.
fierce appetite for cruelty against 3 Eadulph de Diceto, p. 484.
captives of a nobler order. Some of Simeon De Gestis Begum Anglo-
those, says Hoveden, who had up- rum, p. 203.

A.D. 1071.] DOMESTIC AND FOREIGN WARS. 363
We ought not, through reverence for historic truth,
to reject all the legends that obtained currency
among our forefathers, under which, though disguised
perhaps and mutilated, truth may often lie concealed.
Doubtless, two contradictory versions of the same story
cannot be accepted. We are unable, for example, to
believe, Avith the abbot of Croyland, that HereAvard,
peaceably in his bed, was gathered to his fathers, and,
with the popular ballads, that, fighting strenuously to the
last, he fell beneath the treacherous weapons of the Nor
mans. Traditions, long current, which burned them
selves, so to speak, into the national memory, maintain
that when the hero of the fens escaped from Ely, he
forced his way through reeds and rushes, and over the
most dangerous portions of the marsh, to the banks of a
river in Lincolnshire, where he found a small body of
Saxon fishermen, habitually employed in carrying Avhat
they caught to dispose of at a Norman station in the
neighbourhood. But though compelled to labour for
the enemy, their hearts still clung to their national chief.
Eagerly, therefore, did they enter into his design to en
snare and destroy their foreign customers. Hereward
and his ' companions sprang into the boats, and, lying
down, were covered with heaps of straw. The fishermen
then pushed forward to their point of destination, where
they found the Normans seated under tents, waiting for
the arrival of their favourite delicacy. While the bar
gaining went on, out sprang Hereward and his friends,
battleaxe in hand, and having cut to pieces a number of
the enemy, put the rest to flight, after which, mounting
the horses of the Normans, which stood there ready
saddled, they gaily rode away.
Exploits of a similar character were performed in
various other parts in the neighbourhood of the fens,
Hereward1 being determined to avenge, as far as possible,
the slaughter of his friends and the ruin of his country.
1 Geoffrey Gaimar, Chron. Anglo-Norman, 1. 19.

364 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. [CHAP. XXI.
Indeed, the struggle assumed at length the character of
a war of extermination. Every pretext was eagerly
seized upon by the Normans for decimating the English,
while the latter almost invariably fell upon the free
booters and assasinated them Avherever an opportmiifcy
offered. The dead bodies of Normans were constantly
found in out-of-the-way places, with marks of violence
upon them, and many disappeared without, leaving be
hind them any trace of their fate.1
Hereward, the most prominent leader in this, conflict
of races, occasionally found shelter in the house of fan
opulent Saxon lady, who, as his first wife had become
a nun, at Croyland, now directed against the hero stra
tagems of love, and subdued him. Possessing friends
at court, she negotiated a reconciliation between the
great Saxon chief and the Norman king. Hereward
married this lady, settled upon her lands, and passed
the remainder of his Life in such tranquillity as the
memory of his country's fate would suffer him. to enjoy.
When death at length overtook him, he was buried at
Croyland, beside his Flemish wife Turfrida, leaving
behind him a daughter, who Avas still living when the
abbot of Croyland composed his Chronicle. The romance
writers, however, scandalised at. the idea that so great a
hero should ever lose heart, and die peaceably, in his
bed, invented a different termination for the Herqward
Epic. They fable, that having thrown off his armour,
and laid himself down in the sweet summer weather. to
sleep under a tree, he was set upon by twenty Norman
1 A law was in consequence pass- hundred in which a secret murder
ed, imposing a fine on the whole took place, to a heavy amercement,
neighbourhood in which the body was introduced into this kingdom by
of a murdered foreigner should be Canute, to prevent his countrymen,
found. Ancient Laws and Institu- the Danes, from being privily
tions of England, p. 206. Macaulay, murdered by the English; and Was
History of England, 1. 13. Sir Wil- afterwards continued by 'William
liam Blackstone observes, that, "ac- the Conqueror, for the like security
cording to Bracton, the ancient law of his own Normans." Commen-
of the Goths, condemning the vill, taries on the Laws of England, IV.
or, if that were too poor, the whole 194.

A.D. 1071.] DOMESTIC AND FOREIGN WARS. 365
knights, fifteen of whom he slew with a short pike
which he happened to have near him. Wounded and
bleeding, and supporting himself on one knee, the giant
had still sufficient force to dash out, with the boss of his
shield, the brains of a Breton knight who ventured too
near. At length four lances pierced his heart at once,
and the mighty HereAvard lay extended in death upon
the sod. But this termination, however much in keep
ing with his glorious life, is palpably inconsistent with
the account given by Ingulph, who — as he lived on
terms of friendship with the chief, was familiar Avith
his wife and daughter, and probably with his own lips
pronounced, ashes to ashes, and dust to dust, over his
heroic remains — must be allowed to have known better
than Geoffrey Gaimar what became of the dreaded
patriot of the fens.1
Having thus, by cruelty and treachery, subdued his
enemies in the centre and north of England, William
distributed profusely the lands of the vanquished among
his Norman followers, upon whom at the same time he
bestowed the loftiest titles. Thus William Fitz-Osborne,
on whom he had conferred the Isle of Wight, was raised
to the earldom of Hereford, Roger Montgomery Avas made,
as I have already said, earl of Arundel and ShreAVsbury,
Avhile Gherbod the Fleming obtained the earldom of
Chester. Along the Welsh marches a line of fortifica
tions extended, each castle being erected opposite one of
those gorges of the mountains through which, at irregular
periods, the tinconquered Kymri poured forth to devas
tate the plains. By the commanders of these fortresses an
incessant border warfare was maintained, with alternate
success and defeat; sometimes, aided by internal treachery,
the Norman lords penetrated almost into the heart of
Wales ; sometimes, when union imparted strength to the
aboriginal chiefs, they drove back the invaders, and pur
sued them with sword and fire to the very moats of their
castles.
1 Historia Ingnlphi, I. 68.

366 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. [CHAP. XXI.
The fortunes of one of these border earls may serve to
show how little William regarded his foreign instru
ments. When Gherbod the Fleming quitted his native
country, at the invitation of the Bastard, he left the
management of his hereditary domains in the hands of
some of his friends. These at length, whehhehadbeen
absent six years, urged upon him the necessity of revisit
ing Flanders, and having obtained the king's consent,
he complied Avith their wishes. But the times were tur
bulent; every province in Europe bubbled over with
petty wars ; and there was no man of rank who did not
possess, as the necessary concomitant of his power, a
multitude of merciless enemies. The earl of Chester had
not been long absent from England before he was made
captive by his foes and thrown into prison; upon which
William, instead of exerting his influence to obtain Gher-
bod's release, bestowed the earldom and county of Chester
on his own nephew, Hugh d' Avranches,1 who, in conjunc
tion with Robert of Rhuddlan, Robert of Malpas, and
other ruthless adventurers, was engaged in perpetual
conflicts with the Welsh.
Hugh was a singular compound of sensuality and fero
city, so that he was celebrated at once for his gluttony
and his military prowess, his passion for women and the
chase. The whole neighbourhood swarmed with, his
bastard children, but by his wife Ermentrude he had
only one son, Richard, Avho succeeded him in the earl
dom. His offspring, though numerous, Avere shortlived :
Richard perished by shipwreck, and Hugh's illegitimate
children, male and female, were all swept off by accident
or misfortune. No calamities, however, arrested the
course of his pleasures, or checked his martial propen
sities. In his oavii earldom he exercised all. but regal
authority, holding it as freely by the sword as William
himself held England by the crown.2 For the support
1 Orderic. Vital, IV. 7. Dugdale, that this Hugh lived till a.d.
Baronage of England, I. 32. Henry 1100.
de Knyghton, p. 2376, who relates 2 Dugdale, Baronage, I. 32.

A.D. 1072.]. DOMESTIC AND FOREIGN WARS. 367
of his poAver, he kept up, in addition to numerous re
tainers, a large army of mercenaries, in whose company
he devoted the intervals between his marauding expedi
tions to eating, hunting and hawking, and bestowed all
his favours on those who joined him in this threefold
course of delight. Like the early Saxon chiefs, he
treated the cultivators of the soil with contempt, and
extended little more courtesy or respect to the monks
and clergy.1
Another of these border chiefs was Roger de Mont
gomery, likewise a member of William's family,2 the
capital of whose earldom, Shrewsbury, a city built on a
beautiful hill overlooking the Severn,3 was one of the most
renowned places on the marches. In the train of this earl
came over from Normandy three priests, one of whom,
Ordericus, was the father, probably by a British wife, of
the ablest historian of William's reign, Ordericus Vitalis,
born at Shrewsbury, who was proud to call himself an
Englishman, and took peculiar delight in celebrating
the achievements of his countrymen. As a monk, how
ever, living under regular discipline in a Norman monas
tery, he often thought it necessary to strain his historical
conscience, so as to bestow upon the Conqueror praises
which he knew to be unmerited, and upon Harold censure
entirely hostile to his sense of justice.
Montgomery's character contrasted favourably with
that of Hugh d'Avranches. Instead of surrounding
himself with profligates of either sex, he took pleasure
in the society of men of letters, and soldiers distinguished
equally for their prudence and their bravery.4
Towards the end of August, a.d. 1072, William, who
still felt that the crown sat unsteadily on his brow,
since the etheling Edgar held his court of exiles in Scot
land, under the protection of Malcolm, advanced north
wards at the head of a strong force of cavalry, while a
1 Orderic. Vital., TV. 7. 3 Camden, Britannia,.p. 446.
2 Dugdale, Baronage of England, i Orderic. Vital., IV. 7.
I. 26.

368 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. [CHAP. XXI,
large fleet sailing up the eastern coast kept pace with
the movements ofthe army.1 Having crossed the Forth
and entered Scotland, he marched to Abernethy on the
Tay, encountering no resistance ; the exiles had fled
from Malcolm's court, probably to the fastnesses of the
mountains, and the Scottish king himself, unable to
oppose the invader in arms, came to him in a submissive
manner, did him homage for his kingdom, and gave
into his hands many hostages for his fidelity, after which
William returned into England.2
The policy he had pursued from the outset aimed,
as we have already seen, at ejecting the native English
from all ecclesiastical as well as civil offices, render
ing it evident that the government regarded the church
merely in the light of a political engine. Saxon
bishops were driven from their sees, Saxon priests from
their livings, Saxon monks from their monasteries, nay,
the hostility of William, travelling backwards for cen
turies, assailed even the saints of the conquered people,
and, declaring them to be no saints at all, caused their
names to be erased from the calendar. This act of
futile vengeance was chiefly effected through the ready
servility of Lanfranc, the Lombard adventurer, whose
ambition having been baulked in the world, threw itself
into the church as a sure ladder to opulence and power.
Upon the murder of Egelwin by starvation, William
nominated Vaulcher, a Lorrainese priest, to the see of
Durham. His consecration took place at Winchester, where
Editha, the Confessor's widoAv, being present, and observ
ing his lofty stature, florid complexion, and milk-Avhite
1 Annales Waverlienses, II. 131. the forces ofthe two kings, which
Walter de Hemingford, c. vi. they tell us lay facing each other
Simeon de Gestis Begum Anglorum, during several days, both afraid to
p. 203. Saxon Chronicle ; Florence begin the combat. The authorities
of Worcester ; Eoger de Hoveden ; to which they refer— Hemingford
Boger of Wendover ; Matthew of and the Waverley Annals— afford,
Westminster, a.d. 1072. however^ no support to their pa-
2 Carte, 1. 425, and Henry, V. 23, triotic fancy, disclosing nothing but
amuse themselves with imagining what I have related in the text.
something like an equality between

A.D. 1072.] DOMESTIC AND FOREIGN WARS. 369
hair, exclaimed, " We have here a noble martyr !"x
The hatred of the Northumbrians for foreign prelates
being well known, Vaulcher was accompanied by a strong
body of troops to York, Avhere he was placed under tbe
protection of earl Cospatric, who, though an Englishman,
had been suffered, for an immense sum of money, to
retain for a Avhile the earldom of Northumbria. He
conducted the foreign priest to Durham, Avhich,
though seated on a hill, and well fortified, did not, in
the eyes of Vaulcher, appear sufficiently secure. Now,
therefore, meeting William on his return from Scotland,
the trembling prelate besought him to provide still
farther for his safety, and, in compliance with his re
quest, a castle Avas built on the highest of the hills2 in
Durham, into which the shepherd might retreat from his
flock, should they evince a disposition to be unruly.
During his stay at Durham, the king resolved still
farther to outrage the feelings of the Northumbrians by
breaking open the sepulchre of Cuthbert,3 their favourite
saint, Always prone to cruelty, he declared that, if,
upon opening the saint's tomb, his bones should not be
found, all the elders of the church of Durham should
be put to death. The Aveather was very cold, and
people experienced some difficulty in defending them
selves against the severity of tbe season ; but no sooner
had the king issued orders for the desecration of the
sepulchre, than a violent heat burst out over his Avhole
body — in fact, the fever of superstition was upon him —
and he, therefore, in terror, countermanded the order,
and left the bones of Cuthbert to rest in peace. Diverted
from his sacred, he determined to satiate his civil, ven
geance, and, accusing earl Cospatric of offences vvhich
had preceded his purchase of the earldom, deposed
1 William of Malmesbury, III. 2 Boger de Hoveden, Matthew of
Chronicon Johannis Bromton, p. Westminster, a.d. 1072.
969. Henry de Knyghton, p. 3 Simeon Hist. Eccles. Dunel-
2347, men. p. 42, 43. Bromton, p. 972.
Walter Hemingford, c. vi.
VOL. II. 2 B

370 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. [CHAP. XXI.
him from his dignity, which he conferred on Waltheof,
son of Siward, to whom, indeed, the earldom belonged
of right. Cospatric retired into Scotland, where his
descendants were, during many ages, distinguished for
honours and opulence.1
Having thoroughly crushed England into submission,
William now, a.d. 1073, crossed the sea with a power
ful army to carry havoc and devastation into Maine.2
This province, lying betAveen Anjou and Normandy, had,
before the invasion of England, taken William's yoke
upon it, chiefly through hatred for the Angevin princes*
The experiment, however, proved far from agreeable.
The descendant of the viking Rollo had a heavy hand,
and he laid its full weight on all who recognised-mis
authority. The Manceaux, therefore, rose in arms
against his lieutenants, Turgis de Tracy and Guil
laume de la Ferte, who surrendered the citadel of Mans,
and evacuated the country. Several of the Normans,
however, were slain or taken prisoners during their
retreat, and the captives, being thrown into prison, ex
piated with cruel tortures the ferocity and ambition of
their master. Upon the arrival of the king, with a
formidable army of English and Normans, terror per
vaded the Avhole of Maine; castles, towns, and cities sur
rendered at his approach, through dread of his vindictive
cruelty, and thus that peace which fear creates was re
established. Soon afterwards a pretext was afforded him
for entering Anjou itself. Fierce rivalry existed between
Jean de la Fleche and Fulk count of Anjou, and the
former, being the weaker, solicited and obtained aid from
the king of England. The count, on the other hand,
entered into negotiations with the Duke of Bretagne,
who sent to his aid a powerful army. The allies crossed
1 Simeon De Gestis Begum An- this expedition the English are said
glorum, p. 204. to have destroyed the vineyards
2 Simeon De Gestis Eegum An- and burned the towns in France.
glorum, p. 205 ; Ordericus Vitalis, Bromton, p. 972 ; Saxon Chronicle,
IV, 13 ; William of Malmesbury, a.d. 1073 ; Annales Waverleienses
a.d. 1073 ; Diceto, p. 486. During II. 131.

A.D. 1073.] DOMESTIC AND FOREIGN WARS. 371
the Loire, and,- to cut off all chance of retreat, burned
their boats, that they might fight with the courage of
despair. At the head of sixty thousand men, William
entered the province, and a sanguinary contest was on
the eve of commencing, when a Roman cardinal, accom
panied by several monks, went to the leaders of both
armies, now drawn up face to face, and in the name of
God forbade them to join in battle. Their pious efforts
being warmly seconded by several soldiers of distin
guished valour, William, lord of Evreux, and Roger
de Montgomery, a peace was concluded, count Fulk
ceding the province of Maine in perpetuity to William's
son Robert, who, however, did homage for it to the
count as his suzerain. This treaty was concluded at a
place called Blanche Bruyere, or White Fern.1
At this time the etheling Edgar, in utter despair of
recovering the crown of England, was prevailed on by
his brother-in-law, Malcolm, to throw himself upon the
mercy of the conqueror. He therefore, Avith a small
number of followers, quitted Scotland, and, his intentions
being known, was escorted through the whole length of
England with much honour and ceremony by the Nor
man authorities. Passing the sea, and reaching William's
court at Rouen,2 he was Avell received by his victorious
rival,3 who, perceiving the feebleness of his character,
became convinced that he had nothing to fear from his
machinations. Granting him, therefore, a liberal pen
sion, and conceding to him the privilege of hunting in
the royal forests, he allowed this last descendant of the
house of Cerdie, to wear away eleven years of his in
glorious life under his protection. On one occasion, it
is said, the weakness and frivolity of the etheling
induced him to barter away a whole day's allowance for
one of the king's favourite horses.4 The chase thence-
1 Ord. Vit., IV. 13. Simeon De Gestis Begum Anglos
2 Annales Waverleienses, II. 131. rum, p. 205.
3 Henry de Knyghton, p. 2350 ; i William of Malmesbury, III.
Boger de Hoveden, a.d. 1073;
2 b2

372 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. [CHAP. XXL
forward became the ruling passion of this weak young
man, whom, in default of a better, the great national
council of England had deemed worthy to succeed^ the
dauntless son of Godwin. At the time of the great
survey, a,d. 1086, he held seven hides of land, in Hert
fordshire as tenant in capite. He was, however, restless
and unstable, now preferring Normandy to England, and
noAV England to Normandy. In a.d. 1086, he, with!
William's permission, went over sea, accompanied by
two hundred soldiers, to visit the Norman settlements
in Apulia,1 and, after the king's death, is said tp
have gone on pilgrimage to the Holy Land, in com
pany with Robert the son of one GodAvin, who was
slain there. On his way home, the emperor of Con
stantinople sought, by gifts and promises, to retain the.
unfortunate prince near his person, but a blind attach
ment to his native land made him reject this brilliant
offer, and he returned once more to England, Avhere, in
obscurity and neglect, he lived to a great old age, andat
length travelled into Scotland for the purpose, apparently,
of mingling his ashes with those of his sister, about a.d.
1120.2 In all subjugated countries, Avomen have to dread the
greatest insults to their modesty, but nowhere, perhaps,
in the records of Avar, do Ave find a more shameless
license accorded to rogues and vagabonds,, to inflict
irreparable disgrace upon the wives and daughterst)of
the noblest families, than Avas granted by William, -t$
his soldiers in England. By his permission and that
of his council, ladies of the highest rank, subjected to
the power of grooms, scoundrels, and miscreants;3
mourned their dishonour in secret, but being deprived
of their husbands, sons, and fathers, could look to ho"¦'.IB
1 Simeon De Gestis Eegum An- 3 Orderic. Vital., IV. 8. In ipsas
glorum, p. 213. matronas et virgines ubi eis facultas
2 Ellis, Introduction to Domesday, aspirabat nefanda libidine cceperunt
I> 409. insanire. Eadmeri, Historia NoyOj-
rum, p. 57.

A.D. 1074.J DOMESTIC AND FOREIGN WARS. 373
one for help. All who were able fled to the convents,
and to enjoy the protection of religion put on the veil.1
When the storm had somewhat blown over, they natu
rally ,desired to return into the Avorld ; but they were
now in subjection to Norman priests Avho coveted their
property, and therefore wished to retain them in per
petual seclusion. To decide this matter a solemn assem
bly was held, over which Lanfranc presided,2 and gave
it as his opinion, that all those English ladies who had
merely taken the veil as a protection against dishonour
were to be permitted to return to their families, if any
survived, but that they Avho had lost all their friends
might remain in the cloister.
While William still lingered in Normandy, an exten
sive conspiracy Avas formed against him in England, a.d.
1074.3 Roger, earl of Hereford, third son of William
Fitz-Osborne,4 had given his sister Emma in marriage to
Ralph, earl of Norfolk, contrary to the wishes of the
king, who had emphatically forbidden the nuptials.
These powerful lords, however, made light of his com
mands: the union took place, and the marriage-feast5
was celebrated at Norwich. It seems probable that
discontent at William's measures and government had
long prevailed among the Norman nobility, Avho found
that; by imposing a master upon England, they had
given themselves also a master. The wine drunk at
the Norwich banquet did not therefore suggest the con
spiracy — it merely induced the conspirators to declare
themselves. When the feast was at its height, and the
guests warmed with wine, Roger, earl of Hereford, ad-

1 " Quod nonnullse prsevidentes et 4 Dugdale, Baronage of England,
suo pudori metuentes monasteria I. 67.
virginum petivere, acceptoque, velo 5 Florence of Worcester says the
sese inter ipsas a tanta infamia pro- banquet took place in Cambridge-
texere." Id. ibid. shire, a.d. 1074. The Saxon Chro-
2 Idem, p. 8. nicle of the following year, speaking
3 Orderic. Vital., IV. 14. Brom- of these nuptials, says :
ton, Chronicon, p. 974, places it in " There was that bride-ale,
a.d. 1075. Thesource of man's bale."

374 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. [CHAP. XXI,
dressed them, stating the grounds of their quarrel with
William. His speech would have been a long one, had
it enumerated all the tyrant's crimes ; he merely glanced
at the principal, dwelling, at the same time, upon the
favourable moment, when William Avas engaged in quar
rels of his own seeking beyond sea; he alluded to
the unnatural conflicts with his own children; he showed
how, to gratify his vindictiveness, he had disinherited
the count of Mortain for a single -expression at which he
took offence; how he invited Walter, count de Pontoise,
and his wife, Biota, to his castle of Falaise, and poisoned
them both in one night;1 how he likewise took off by
poison,2 Conan, the noble duke of Bretaghe, who, on
account of his virtues and munificence, was deplored
with tears throughout the whole land. From such a
man, continued the earl, nothing but injustice and per
fidy is to be looked for.
Many other topics he dwelt on, in order to induce
Waltheof,3 and the other English nobles present, to
join in the enterprise, the object of which was to
dethrone William, condemn him to perpetual imprison
ment, and divide the kingdom into three equal parts,
of which the earls of Hereford, Norfolk and North-

1 " Count Walter, and Biota his mandie." The ingenious son of
wife, perished together, as the re- Arlette immediately turned this
port is, by poison treacherously ad- suggestion to account, and, to pre-
ministered by the contrivance of vent the duke's threatened inter-
their enemies." Orderic. Vital., III. ferehce with his English expedition,
8. Who these enemies were appears had recourse to his usual policy.
from the same author, IV. 14. Purchasing the cooperation of , a
" Walter, count de Pontoise, nephew Breton noble, employed about Go
of king Edward, and Biota his wife, nan's person, he caused his hunting
being his guests at Falaise, were horn,his gloves, and bridle reinsto be
both his victims by poison in ono smeared and saturated with poison.
and the same night." Conan, then engaged in the, siege
2 Conan, having accused William of Gauthier, donned the poisoned
of poisoning Alain,, his father, pro- gloves, and, putting his infected
voked his own death. " Mais toi et hand to his lips, introduced the
tes complices," said the duke of venom into his blood, and shortly
Brefcagne, by the mouth of his am- afterwards died. Guillaume de
bassador, " vous avez tu6 mon pe"re Junii&ges, VII. 33.
par le poison a Viraeux en Nor- 3 Henry de Knyghton, p. 2351.

A.D. 1074.] DOMESTIC AND FOREIGN WARS. 375
umbria were to have each one. Waltheof's timidity,
disguised uhder the name of policy, shipwrecked the
whole design. He entered into the plot, but entered
into it so cautiously, that the other conspirators appear
to have expected little from his cooperation ; yet they
came at length to an understanding, and separated.
to raise the standard of revolt in various parts of the
kingdom at once. The Kymri, ever ready to shed their
blood in any quarrel, joined eagerly in this war against
the Normans, and organised a strong contingent to act
in concert Avith the insurgent earls. It soon, however,
appeared that the popular leaders possessed none of those
qualities Which would have enabled them to overthrow
a military government like that of William ; instead of
making sure of those who held the keys of their posi
tion, they trusted everything to the chance of arms, and
while Waltheof marched to raise the North, Ralph de
Gael, earl of Norfolk, encamped, with his Saxon fol
lowers in the neighbourhood of Cambridge, and Roger of
Hereford marched towards the Severn. They had also
taken the precaution to form an alliance with the king
of ; Denmark, who sent his son Canute and earl Hacon,
the ready allies of all insurgents in England, but, with
a rashness which neutralised their efforts, gave their
forces no time to arrive. Roger was thwarted in his
attempt to cross the Severn by bishop Wulstan and
the vicount of Worcester, popularly called the Norman
Bear; the apostate English abbot, Egelwig, by artful
misrepresentations, restrained the ardour of the people
of Gloucestershire for freedom; so that, instead of join
ing the insurrection, they placed themselves under the
command of Walter de Lacy against the Kymri under
the earl of Hereford.
At this time, William being in Normandy, the govern
ment was intrusted to the Italian, Lanfranc, who proba
bly did not regret the opportunity of crushing Normans .
and Saxons alike. Abusing the power of the Church, he
launched the sentence of excommunication against the

376

HISTORY OF ENGLAND.

[CHAP. XXI.

earl of Hereford, in which he says : " Since thou hast
departed from the rule of conduct pursued by thy father,
since thou hast renounced the faith which he all his life
kept towards his lord, and Avhich caused him to acquire
so much Avealth — by virtue of my canonical authority, I
curse thee, excommunicate thee, and exclude thee from
the pale of the Church, and from the communion of
the Faithful." l Having indulged in this luxury of
malediction, he caused the forces of the kingdom to be
collected, and, under the command of Odo, bishop of
Bayeux, Geoffrey, bishop of Coutances, and William de
Warrenne,2 precipitated them against the insurgents. The
earl of Norfolk, assailed by superior numbers, was de
feated at Fagadon,3 after which the victors gave full scope
to their natural ferocity. Reviving the habit of the old
vikings, they mutilated their prisoners, whether Nor
man, Saxon, or Welsh, by cutting off one of their feet.
Ralph de Gael escaped, and threAV himself into Norwich,

1 Lanfranci Opera.
2 William de Warrenne, earl of
Warrenne, in Normandy, came into
England before the battle of
Hastings, at which he held a high
command. Ordericus Vitalis, IV.
7, supposes him to have married a
sister of Gherbod, earl of Chester,
whereas his wife, Gundreda, was,
in truth, the daughter of Wil
liam the Conqueror himself. Both
husband and wife, pious accord
ing to the notions of piety which
then prevailed, built and endowed
churches as peace-offerings for sin,
and in order, at the same time, to
transmit their memories to pos
terity. De Warrenne died a.d. 1088,
leaving his estates and honours to
his two sons. Gundreda died, May
27, 1085, in child-birth, at Castle
Acre, in Norfolk, and the earl, at
his decease, expressed a wish to be
buried by her side. Their remains
were deposited in the church ofthe
Cluniac Monastery ofLewes, whence
they would appear to have been

removed, in the thirteenth century,
and placed in small coffers, which
were exhumed in 1845, while
making a cutting for the Brighton
and Hastings railway. See a cu
rious and interesting paper by Mr.
Lower, in the Journal of the
Archaeological Association, I. 346
— 357. In the notes to Ordericus
Vitalis it is conjectured that Gun
dreda was the daughter of ZSIatilda,
by a former marriage. VIII. 9.
But the Conqueror, in his charter
granting the manor of Walton in]
Norfolk to the monks of St.Pancras,;
calls her his own daughter. Sir
Henry Ellis, Introduction ,,to
Domesday, I. 507. From a scien
tific examination of the bones. of
these two personages, it appears
that the earl was nearly six feet,
two inches high, while his countess,
equally tall in proportion, measured
nearly five feet eight inches in
height. 3 Orderic. Vital, IV. 14.

A.D. 1075.] DOMESTIC AND FOREIGN AVARS. 377
the castle, of Avhich was of so great strength that it ap
peared capable of indefinite resistance. Here, therefore,
he left his vassals under the care of his. young wife, and
sailed away to Bretagne in the hope of obtaining succour
from his kindred. The earl of Hereford was defeated
and taken prisoner, Waltheof made no movement in the
North, but instead, according to some chroniclers, basely
proceeded to betray his associates to the king, who, for
the moment appeared to accord him his forgiveness,
though merely for the purpose of selecting a better
opportunity for the infliction of punishment.1 The
Danish auxiliaries, with two hundred ships, arriving
when all was over, sailed away to Flanders, without
even attempting a landing.
The vindictive archbishop of Canterbury, a military
partisan rather than a priest, wrote William an account
of these transactions, in language remarkable for its
ferocity. Although the Bastard, in his invasion of
England, had obtained aid from Bretagne, he still
cherished, in his heart, the ancient grudge between
the Normans and Bretons, and eagerly seized upon the
pretext uoav afforded him, not only of spoiling the
Bretons in England of the possessions they had won,
but of carrying the war into their own country. Pre
tending to be in pursuit of Ralph de Gael, he marched
into Bretagne, where he laid siege to the town of Dol,
but, upon learning that duke Alain and the king of
France were advancing against him Avith their united
forces, hastily retreated, and soon afterwards passed over
into England, a.d. 1075.2 Arriving at Christmas, he
assembled his council to pass sentence, rather than to
try the persons taken prisoners in the late troubles.
Ralph de Gael being beyond his reach, could only be at
tacked through his estates, which were confiscated; Roger
of Hereford, his own relative, was condemned to per
petual imprisonment,3 which he underwent with a fierce
1 Saxon Chronicle, a.d. 1075. Flo- 2 Saxon Chronicle, ad. 1075.
rence of Worcester, a.d. 1074. 3 Florence of Worcester, a.d.
1074.

378 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. [CHAP. XXI.
and undaunted spirit. An ahecddte is related of him
which strikingly illustrates the temper of his mind:
" On one occasion, when the faithful were celebrating
the feast of Easter, and the king had sent to earl Roger
in prison, by the hands of his guards, a box, containing a
suit of very Valuable robes, the earl caused a large fire
to be made, and committed to the flames the royal
presents ; the surcoat, silken tunic, and mantle of the
furs of precious ermine, brought from abroad. The
king, hearing of this, exclaimed, in great wrath : ' He
is very insolent to put such an affront upon me ; but, by
God's light, he shall never get out of prison while I
live.' " x
The Welsh lords and gentlemen who had been present
at the fatal bridal of Norwich were the next objects of
William's vengeance : 2 some he caused to be sent into
exile, others he condemned to have their eyes torn out,
while others, again, were hung on a gibbet,3 to excite
terror in their friends and neighbours.
There was still another individual whose ruin and
lands William coveted — earl Waltheof, whoj after the
Nonvich bridal; is said to have betrayed the existence
of the conspiracy. His destruction, though secretly
resolved upon, was deferred, till the other delinquents
had been disposed of. Aware of the king's appetite for
forfeitures and executions, Waltheof's countess, Judith,
with the circumstances of whose life we are but im
perfectly acquainted, then became his accuser;4 and on
her testimony he was condemned. But William; had
had enough bf insurrections, and Avhile the traces of
civil Avar were yet red over all the land; was lothe
to hazard a new outbreak by the immediate assassina
tion of the Northumbrian earl. He kept him in prison,
therefore, during a whole year, partly to lull the people
into quiet by false hopes, partly perhaps that he might
1 Ord. Vit., IV. 14. 3 Eoger of Wendover, a,d. 1075.
2 Simeon De Gestis Begum An- 4 Chronicon Johannis Bromton,
glorum, p. 208. Eadulph de Diceto, p. 974;
p. 486.

A.D. 1075.] DOMESTIC AND FOREIGN WARS. 379
Obtain additional proofs of Waltheof's patriotism, which
in the eyes of the Normans was guilt. The place of his
imprisonment, removed as far as possible from his earl
dom, was Winchester; but even thither the love of the
people pursued him, and it was feared that, whenever
his execution should take place, there would be a
popular rising. But the orders at length came down,
and the officers immediately prepared to obey them.
This, however; they did with the utmost caution and
secresy. Early in the morning, while the citizens were still in
their beds, the earl was taken from his prison, and con
ducted by a strong escort to a neighbouring hill. Like
most other Saxon nobles, he was remarkable for his
lofty stature1 and personal beauty; but confinement,
and the perpetual conflict of hope and fear, had
shattered his nervous system. He experienced a strong
reluctance to die, and besought the officers in attendance
to grant him a sufficient time for prayer. He knelt on
the grass, and poured forth his supplications to God.
The executioner pressed him to despatch, because it Avas
feared that, if the people of Winchester should obtain
intimation of what was going forward, they would
attempt a rescue. Waltheof looked around him upon
the green earth, illuminated with the first rays of
morning, and his unwillingness was increased to close
his eyes Upon so much beauty for ever. He there
fore asked permission to go through the Lord's prayer,
which being granted, he proceeded as far as the
words, " Lead us not into temptation,"2 when the im
patient executioner, raising his sword, decapitated him
at one stroke, the head still muttering as it fell, " but
deliver us from evil." According to some authorities,
the body, by royal command, was buried in a cross-road
outside Winchester,3 though afterwards disinterred, and
1 William of Malmesbury, III. 1075. Compare Simeon De Gestis
2 Orderic. Vital, IV. 15. Eegum Anglorum, p. 208. Eadulph
3 Florence of Worcester, a.d. de Diceto, p. 482.

380 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. [CHAPl XXI.
borne by the grateful monks to its final resting-place in
the abbey of Croyland.1
William's niece, Judith, had brought about the de
struction of her husband in the hope of being united
to another man whom she is said to have loved— but
her partiality was disregarded, and William offered her
hand to another individual whom he considered more
useful — Simon de Senlis, a brave, but deformed and
ill-favoured knight, Avhose appearance displeased the
lascivious countess. The Conqueror cared not — the Nor
man knight obtained the estates, and the perfidious
woman was driven into retirement with her two daugh
ters, and died in poverty and neglect in the Isle of Ely,2
When William was engaged in making preparations
for the invasion of England, he eagerly sought the
cooperation of the Roman pontiff, whose authority he
was then ready to acknowledge in its plenitude. Hilde-
brand, at that time only archdeacon, though exercising in
that comparatively humble station all but supreme power,
induced Pope Alexander II. to prostitute the influence
of the tiara in furtherance of his protege's designs. It
Avas only natural, therefore, when he succeeded to the
throne of St. Peter, that he should expect from the
king of England an adequate reward for the great
services he had rendered him. At the moment, hoAvever,
of his accession, William was on the Continent, intent
on the devastation of Maine, and the time Avould, conse
quently, have been ill chosen for asserting the preten
sions of the Roman court ; it was not till some months
after the king's return that Hildebrand, then Gregory
VII. , despatched to England his legate, Hubert, first
to congratulate the Conqueror on his signal devotion
to the interests of the Church ; second, to complain that
the tribute to the Vatican, denominated Peter's pence, had
not for some years been paid ; third, that, as a Christian
1 Ingulph, Chronicle of Croyland, s Chronicon, Johannis Bromton,
a.d. 1075. Henry de Knyghton, p. 974. Ingulph, Chronicle of Croy-
p. 2351. laud, p. 146.

A.D. 1075.] DOMESTIC AND FOREIGN WARS. 381
prince who had acquired his sceptre by ecclesiastical aid,
he should do homage for his crown to the sovereign pon
tiff. At these demands the blood of the descendant of the
vikings boiled fiercely. He no longer stood in need of
St. Peter's standard ; England lay prostrate at his feet ;
he had just subdued his enemies in France, and was
indignant that an ambitious priest should affect supe
riority over him. He therefore, by the pen of Lanfranc,
replied to his former accomplice in the conspiracy against
Harold, in a tone of mingled concession and defiance,
that the money Avhich, during his three years' absence in
Normandy, had been withheld should be immediately
forwarded ; but that with respect to homage, he would
by no means pay it ; first, because he had never engaged so
to do ; and, second, because his predecessors, the kings of
England, had at no time done homage for their crown to
Hildebrand 's predecessors, the bishops of Rome. Still,
mindful of his habitual policy, he recalled the affection
with which he had regarded former popes, and professed
still stronger attachment for Hildebrand himself; but
aware that this would be little valued at Rome unless
accompanied by gold, he added, that the sums already
collected in the country should be intrusted to the care
of Hubert, and the remainder forwarded with all con.*
venient speed through the primate's legates.1
Hildebrand, who was then meditating the subjugation
of all Christendom,2 by means of the weapons which he
found in the spiritual armoury of the Vatican, politicly
consented to overlook the king of England's haughty
disregard of his authority, in the persuasion that Avhen his
system should be once fairly in operation, England would
be "compelled to bow the neck to Rome, in company with
the rest of Europe.
To acquire supreme authority over the human mind,
two things only seemed necessary : first, to establish the
1 Lanfranc, Epist. I. 32, ed. Giles. 199 ; X. 300, 304 ; XII. 266. Mil-
2 Compare Gibbon, Decline and man, History of Latin Christianity,
Fall of the Eoman Empire, IX. III. 8, 9.

382 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. [cHAP. XXL
authority of the clergy over public opinion; and, second;,
to convert them, as a body, into the unreasoning instru
ments of papal ambition. There is no phenomenon in
history more extraordinary than the success of the papacy
in darkening and enfeebling the intellect of the Christian
Avorld: for virtue, love of country, lofty sentiments of
duty, benevolence towards man, piety towards God, it
substituted servile submission to the priesthood, obe
dience to the Church, the belief in vicarious sanctity, the
notion that the Almighty was wrong in creating man
kind of different sexes, the persuasion that by shaving
the head, neglecting the main obligations of life, and
abjuring all relationship to society, men became invested
with holiness, and that the ranks and orders established
by the bishops of Rome possessed collectively and indi
vidually the power to absolve from sin, and consequently
to throw open to whomsoever they pleased the gates of
heaven. To obtain acceptance for this theory, Hildebrand
rightly judged a great reform in clerical life and manners
to be imperatively needed. For many ages the ethical
practice of the hierarchy and the monastic orders had
been gradually sinking from bad to worse. Church
"preferment had become an article of traffic,1 while,
instead of abstaining, in conformity with their vows,
from all intercourse .with women, the ministers of
Catholicism, from the highest to the lowest, gave the
lie to the doctrines they taught, by marriage in some
instances, by the utmost excesses of licentiousness in
others.2 It is one of the hereditary follies of mankind
to recognise the possibility of becoming religious by
proxy, which has led to the celibacy of the clergy, to
the immuring of monks and nuns, to the seclusion of

1 On the prevalence of simony in Eegum Anglorum, p. 205 ; Chronica
Italy, see the proofs collected by Gervasii.p. 1430; Capitula et Frag*
Milman, History of Latin Chris- menta Theodori, p. 312.
tianity, II. 431,435; III. 10, 12; 2 See the Pcenitentials of Theo--
and in England, Simeon De Gestis, dore and Egberti

A.D. 1075.] DOMESTIC AND FOREIGN WARS. 383
hermits, to the austerities of Brahmans. The inmates
of abbeys, priories, and convents were looked upon,
during the tenth and eleventh centuries, as the religion
of the country; and provided they observed the enjoined
fasts, and repeated the requisite number of prayers, the
rest of mankind might go on comfortably in their sins,
the extra sanctity in the former being presumed to
make up for the deficiency of it in the latter. But
Avhen, by the irregularity of their lives, by their pomp
and luxury, by their fighting, hawking, hunting, by
their intrigues at court, by their sale and purchase of
benefices, by their impudent professions of chastity in
the midst of a multitude of wives, concubines, and
palaces filled with sons and daughters, by the conversion
of convents and monasteries into so many sanctuaries of
intrepid immorality, the monks and clergy had created
irresistibly in mankind the conviction that they were
no better, if they were not worse, than the rest of the
Avorld, it became obvious that a great change must be
effected before the Church could hope to recover the
spiritual empire it had lost.
To accomplish this change was the grand project of
Hildebrand, who perceived in the ignorance and super
stition of mankind an inexhaustible source of power and
opulence to the Church. Like his contemporaries, he
was incapable of independent thinking. Dominated by
the traditions of the Vatican, adopting the maxims, and
reviving the policy of Gregory the Great, he attempted to
transform the sovereigns of Christendom into so many
papal satraps, by bringing to bear against them the
universal fanaticism of the times. The contests in which
he engaged upon the Continent belong to the general
history of Europe, and have been amply treated of by
others; it is only so far as his policy influenced the con
dition of England that it enters within the pale of my
subject. That he failed to arrest the decadence of the pa
pacy, or to introduce any permanent improvement into
the manners of the clergy, is a fact not to be gainsaid.

.384 . HISTORY OF ENGLAND. [CHAP. XXI.
"Iindee'd,;it is admitted even by the monastic historians
-' themselves, that his violent attempts at reformation, out
--of harmony altogether with the tendencies of the age,
instead of producing beneficial results, greatly contri
buted to exasperate the hostility which had long existed
between the people and the Church, and went on con
tinually augmenting in force till the final collapse of the
papal system in England. The sin of simony, against
Avhich the pope made Avar, proved Avholly incurable, as
did likewise the clerical hostility to celibacy, which after
triumphing over cardinals and councils, and occasioning
endless scandals, poAverfully aided to bring about the
Reformation.. The means by which Hildebrand's innovations tended
to destroy the influence of the Church were many and
powerful: he taught that sacraments administered by
simoniacal priests were not only ineffectual, but in
volved in deadly sin all who partook of them. Again,
to hear mass performed by a man not wholly inac
cessible to human love, implicated the congregation
in the guilt of the minister. The consequences might
have been easily foreseen. As few priests Avould consent,
at the bidding of Rome, to trample under foot all their
natural instincts and affections, to renounce the society
of their Avives, or of those concubines who supplied their
places, they necessarily fell under papal censure, which
absolved the public from the duty of attending their
ministry. Hence the general neglect of all religious
services, contempt for the clergy, disbelief in the effi
cacy of the sacraments, which the people themselves
occasionally undertook to administer, employing con
temptuously in baptism the wax from their earss,
instead of the chrism and holy oil, trampling under
foot the bread of the Eucharist when blessed by
married priests, and pouring forth the consecrated wine
upon the floor.1 1 Eadulph de Diceto, p. 486.

A.D. 1075.] DOMESTIC AND FOREIGN WARS. Y*" /~3g&-.
V, ,^A, \ '? %
To preserve England from becoming a pr1gvh'ice%f
Hildebrand's spiritual empire, William and his' coukcjI
opposed their authority to that of Rome, and prohibited,
under severe penalties, the introduction into this country
of any bull or rescript from the pope Avithout the king's
permission.1 The clergy, moreover, were forbidden to
issue sentence of excommunication or ecclesiastical
censure against any of his great lords or barons, under
pretence that they were guilty of heinous crimes ; to
recognise any individual as pope until his election had
been approved of by the English king ; or otherwise to
act in any manner implying the subordination of Eng
land to papal authority. The Church was thus made
subject to the State ; yet in spite of this wise proceeding,
numerous errors in doctrine and practice speedily crept
into the land. A great authority, deeply versed in the
history of our institutions, thus sums up the effects of
the conquest upon the religion of the country : " The
nation at this period seems to have groaned under as
absolute a slavery as was in the power of a warlike; an
ambitious, and a politic prince to create. The con
sciences of men were enslaved by four ecclesiastics,
devoted to a foreign power, and unconnected with the
civil state under which they lived, who now imported
from Rome, for the first time, the Avhole farrago of.
superstitious novelties which had been engendered by
the blindness und corruption of the times between
the first mission of Augustine the monk and the Norman
conquest : such as transubstantiation, purgatory, com
munion in one kind, and the worship of saints and
images; not forgetting the universal supremacy and
dogmatical infallibility of the holy see. The laws too,
as well as the prayers, were administered in an unknown
tongue." 2
Long after this period, the foreign bishops and priests
appointed to rich sees and livings, by the Norman kings,
'Eadmeri Historia Novorum,p. 6. 'Blackstone, Commentaries on
the Laws of England, IV. 414.
VOL. II. 2 C

386 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. [ciIAP. XXI.
persisted in addressing the unhappy Saxons either in
Latin or French, and when their auditors shed tears,
probably at being reminded by the jargon they heard of
their lost liberty, and the language in which its senti
ments were expressed, the vanity of-nthe preachers led
them to attribute the effect to their own skilful gestures
and eloquence.1 To illustrate the necessity of the eccle
siastical reforms projected by Hildebrand, the priests
and monks who followed the conqueror into England
rivalled the Grecian flatterers, who upon the overthrow
of Hellenic liberty repaired in droves to Rome. William's
court, as well as the houses of all the powerful nobles,
was croAvded by those priestly sycophants,, who cajoled,
adulated, and intrigued, sometimes putting on the dis
guise of sanctity, sometimes generating into buffoons, in
order to obtain by their servility bishoprics, abbeys,
wardenships, archdeaconries, deaneries, and other offices
of power and dignity.2 One honourable exception has
been left on record. Guitmond, a monk of La Croix
d'Helten, having been invited by William into England,
on account pf his great learning and piety, and pressed
to accept some high office in the Church, requested time
for consideration, and then expressed by letter his reasons
for declining the proposed dignity : " After carefully
considering all circumstances," he said, "I do not see by
what means I can fitly undertake the government of a
community Avhose manners and barbarous language are
strange to me ; a Avretched people, whose fathers and
near relations and friends have either fallen by your
sword, or have been disinherited by you, driven into
exile, imprisoned, or subjected to an unjust and intoler
able slavery." ... " How can that which you have
wrung from the people by war and bloodshed be inno
cently conferred on myself and others, who despise the
world, and have voluntarily stripped ourselves of our

1 Peter of Blois, Continuation of 3 Ordericus Vitalis, IV. 8,
Ingulph's Chronicle, p. 238. Eng. tr.

A.D. 1075.] DOMESTIC AND FOREIGN WARS. 887
own substance for Christ's sake7? "... "I look upon
England as altogether one vast heap of booty, and I
am afraid to touch it and its treasures, as if it were a
burning fire."
After so frank a declaration of opinion, Guitmond
found it necessary to expatriate himself, and proceeding
to Rome, was appointed, by Hildebrand, bishop of Aversa
in Apulia.1
William, the son of Robert the Devil, could expect
no love from his English subjects, and very little
from his own countrymen, the Normans ; but in the
natural course of things he might have looked for
some respect, if not affection, from his own sons. In
this he was justly disappointed. He had pursued to
wards them a policy which could not fail to set them
against each other, and against himself. He had nomi
nated Henry, his youngest son, to succeed him in the
realm of England ; he had bestowed the dukedom of
Normandy on his eldest son, Robert, by a solemn act in
which his nobles participated.2 But Round-legs, or
Short-hose,3 as this prince was contemptuously de
nominated, saw that his father had little inclination to
fulfil his promise,4 made at two several times, namely
before the battle of Hastings, and during a fit of illness,
Avhich seized upon him some time after. His courtiers
and favourites laboured still further to irritate him
against his father, and at length he made a formal de
mand to be installed in the government of Normandy
and Maine, which he affirmed belonged to him of right.
William refused to comply with his request, and Robert's
ambition became every day more and more importunate.
They who kneAV him describe him as a valiant prince, a
good archer, but talkative and prodigal ; in person pos
sessing little recommendation, his features being dull
1 Odericus Vitalis, IV. 8. 4 William of Malmesbury, III. p.
2 Eoger of Wendover, a.d. 1075. 607, ed. Hardy.
3 Eadulph de Diceto, p. 505.
2c2

388 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. [CHAP. XXI.
and heavy, and his figure stout and short, though he
possessed a loud clear voice, and was a fluent speaker.
One day, while William was preparing for his .expe
dition against Maine, he rested at a castle in the village
of Richer, which was called the Eagle, because, while
building, an eagle's nest had been found, on the spot in
an oak tree.1 There a furious quarrel took place be
tAveen his sons. Robert, with his friends, was walking
to and fro in the court below, while Rufus and Beaiu
clerc amused themselves with playing at dice in a
gallery which overlooked it. These tAvo princes at the
time were extremely young, Beauclerc being scarcely
eleven, and Rufus himself not more than sixteen or seven
teen, that is supposing fhe chroniclers to have preserved
the right dates. But the Anglo-Norman historian, by
saying that they acted as military men usually do, clearly
implies that they were not mere boys. However they
made a great clamour, and offensively threw down water
on the heads of Robert and his companions.2 Two of
these, Ivo and Aubrey de Grantmesnil, keenly feeling
the insult, united to incense Robert against his. brothers,
observing that, if he tamely submitted to such indignities,
he was a lost man. It required no great effort to excite
the passions of Short-legs. Followed by a number of
his friends he hurried upstairs ; Rufus and Henry had
retired from the gallery to a banqueting room, Avhere,
Robert found them in the midst of their friends. Being
roused to fury, he rushed forward to chastise them ; thei
noise reached the king, who seems to have been enjoying
himself in a neighbouring apartment ; he hastened to the.?
spot, and by his authority put an end for the moment
to the quarrel of his sons. In doing this, he probably
1 Ord. Vit., IV. 20. against them by Ivo and Albericde
8 Carte, in his account of this Grantmesnil, though for making
transaction says, that Eobert laugh- such a statement he has no authority
ed at the act of his brothers as a but his own imagination. History
mere joke, till he was incensed of England, I. 432.

ri's

A.D. 1077.] DOMESTIC AND FOREIGN WARS. 389
suffered his partiality for the younger princes to appear ;
at any rate Robert's mind Avas completely turned against
his family, and from this moment nothing but hatred
ever existed betAveen him and his father or brothers.
On the following night Robert escaped unobserved
from the castle, and with a small retinue, advancing
rapidly towards Rouen, endeavoured to seize upon the
castle by surprise. It is evident from the chroniclers,
that the quarrels of these brothers were not accidental, but
the result of contrivance and part of a system. Robert
had formed designs, and talked of them to his friends',^
who suffered his intentions to transpire ; for Roger d'lvry,
the king's butler, having been left in charge of Rouen
castle, is said to have anticipated the plot, and put the
fortifications in order. He immediately sent off mes-
1 sengers to inform the king of his son's attempt. Wil
liam's indignation kneAv no bounds — he gave orders for
all the malcontents to be seized — some fell into his
ii power, others in dismay fled into foreign countries, while
1 1 the king, by way of satiating his fury, confiscated their
II estates. Hugh de Chateauneuf, through hostility to
William gave the fugitives shelter in Chateauneuf,
Raimalard, Sorel, and other places, whence they might
make predatory incursions into Normandy.
William applied the revenues of their towns and lands
to the payment of the mercenaries who fought against
them.1 Normandy was now shaken by those commo
tions which habitually usher in a civil war, some es
pousing the cause of the son, others that of the father.
All the states in the neighbourhood, France, Bretagne,
Anjou, and Maine, fluctuated in uncertainty respecting
the part they ought to take. William himself, though
the foe he pursued was his own son, never hesitated for
a moment, but raising an army, and building several
castles in the neighbourhood of the hostile towns, pre-
| pared to attack his rebellious subjects. An incident
1 Orderic. Vital., IV. 20.

390 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. [CHAP. XXL
that occurred at this time may. serve to illustrate the
spirit in which this unnatural struggle was carried oft.
Aimer, one of Robert's mercenaries, who possessed a
castle on the borders, while engaged in conducting the
high steward of France towards his stronghold, was set
upon and murdered by four Norman knights, who threw
his corpse across a horse as they might have thrown the
carcass of a pig, and bringing it in this manner to the
king's camp, cast it on the earth before the hut of Count
Roger, with whom he had long been at feud. Aimer's
son, Goulfier, was so overawed by this act of vengeance,
that he became at once the loyal subject of William,
and he and his descendants persevered in their loyalty
to the English crown for more than fifty years.
Great obscurity envelopes this part of William's
history. The sequence of events appears to be as
follows. Before the invasion of England, William, iri
conformity with the practice of the times, called together
the barons of Normandy, and in their presence, as AVell
as in that of Philip of France, his suzerain, made Robert
his heir in the duchy of Normandy,1 and caused all the
nobles to swear fealty to him. When he invaded
England, he left his wife Matilda with the boy Robert
as *egent of Normandy, though obviously on his own
behalf. This, however, gave the youth a taste for power
and authority, so that, when he grew up towards man's
estate, he desired his father to abdicate the duchy, and
allow him to enjoy the sovereignty over it. But William
replied to his wife Matilda, Avho is said to have seconded
her son's request, that " he did not mean to take off
his clothes till he Avent to bed." The interview between
the father and son was stormy. Robert stubbornly per- >
sisted in his demand, William fiercely refused. While
the son was in the bitter irritation of mihd, caused by
his father's refusal, the adventure at Aigle above de
scribed took place. To this succeeded the flight into
1 Ord. Vit., IV. 20, v. 10.

A.D. 1079.] DOMESTIC AND FOREIGN WARS. 391
France and the furious border warfare. I can discover
no satisfactory evidence of any reconciliation at this time
betweeh the father and son.1 But everything is con
tradictory. Some historians maintain that he went to
Hugh de Chateauneuf in the first instance, and after
wards that he did not, but, instead, to his uncle, Robert
the Frisian. He wandered about in Germany, Italy,3
and France, and ultimately obtained an asylum in the
castle of Gerberoi, in which he was besieged by his
father. According to certain chroniclers, Philip bestowed
on Robert this castle, which is hardly to be credited,
since immediately afterwards we find the same Philip
uniting With William to besiege it.
Before Gerberoi occurred the adventure in which
Robert narrowly escaped becoming a parricide : while
the armies were engaging, Robert beheld a stout knight
in armour tiding across the field, and advanced to en
counter him — they set their lances in rest, and rushed
towards each other — Robert's spear pierced the horse of
his antagonist, who was thrown violently, and as some
say wounded, to the ground. Robert alighted hastily to
despatch him with his sword, when the old man drew
up his vizor, and Robert beheld his father prostrate
before him. The son's sword returned to its scabbard,
and he is even said to have bestowed his own horse'upon
his father, who rode away. In other narratives we find
no mention of Robert's generosity, William being sup
plied with a horse by an Englishman in his army named
Tooltie Wiggodson, who had no sooner performed this
act of loyalty than he was struck dead by a dart,3 while
1 Thierry assumes it, but without linquishment of Normandy. The
any authority. History of the Italian prince, however, possessing
Conquest of England, p. 116. more prudence than Eobert, de-
8 William of Malmesbury relates, clined the honour of his alliance,
that the object of his going into upon which he returned, disap-
Italy was to negociate a marriage pointed and indignant, into France.
with the daughter of the Marquis III. p. 454.
Bonifacio, by whose aid he hoped 3 Saxon Chronicle, A.b. 1079.
to subdue his father into the re-

392 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. [CHAP, XXI.
Rufus, who seems generally to have been near his father,
retreated with him Avounded from the field. But the
incident, though touching, in Avhatever way it terminated;:.
produced no reconciliation ; the unnatural war proceeded,
and during three whole weeks encounters between
knights and their followers took place beneath the walls
of Gerberoi.1
At length, many ofthe Norman barons, whose families .
were divided and brought to ruin by the unnatural dis
cords between father and son, exerted their utmost;
efforts to bring about a reconciliation. Reiterated re
bellions, however, had estranged William's heart from
his first-born ; he expressed great surprise to his cour
tiers that they should interest themselves on behalf of a
traitor, who had so often disturbed the peace of Nor
mandy by refusing to wait for his inheritance till it
should devolve upon him in the course of nature by his
father's death. But the barons persisted, and the king,
strong as Avas his will, yielded to their importunities.
The prodigal prince once more entered his father's house,
but, being equally devoid of principle and of natural
affection, very soon discovered reasons for another de
parture and revolt. His total want of filial piety now
so enraged the king that he cursed 2 him as he went,
and the superstition of the age referred to this pater^
nal ban those accumulated misfortunes and calamities
which afterwards fell without stint upon the undutifuL
son. Enough is not known of the internal dissensions; of
William's family to enable us to estimate exactly thei
amount of blame which ought to fall on each member.
Robert was Matilda's favourite, partly because he was
her first-born, but partly also, perhaps, because his
incapacity and his wickedness rendered him a greater
1 Ord. Vit., V. 10. Henry de addicted to this practice of cursing
Knyghton, p. 2351. Bromton, p. 977. his son. Compare Orderic. Vital.,
Simeon of Durham, p. 210. V. 11 ; Eadulph de Diceto, pp. 487,
2 William seems to have been 567.

A.D. 1079.] DOMESTIC AND FOREIGN WARS. 393
object of compassion. Whatever may be the expla
nation, Matilda's love for Robert occasioned fierce
quarrels between her and her husband, and produced
one of the most touching expressions of maternal
tenderness, anywhere on record. While this prince
was wandering about Flanders and Germany, accom
panied by many followers, and those too of the least
reputable kind, his resources frequently failed him, and
he had to beg from princes and nobles the means of
supporting his profligate life. On learning his wretched
state, Matilda, oppressed with grief, drew largely on the
revenues of Normandy in order to relieve his wants,
and her presents were often forwarded by one Samson,
a Breton. At length, these facts became known to
William, who thereupon, with great bitterness, re
proached the queen for supplying his enemies with
resources and arms, which, she well knew, they Avould
employ against his life. Matilda replied, " Do not
Avonder, I pray you, my lord, that I have a tender affec
tion for my first-born son. By the power of the Most
High, if my Robert Avere dead, and buried seven feet in
the earth, out of the sight of living men, and I could
bring him to life at the expense of my OAvn blood, I
would freely shed it for him, and I would undergo
sufferings greater than can be expected from female
weakness. How can you suppose that I can take any
delight in the abundance of wealth while I suffer my
son to be crushed by the extremity of want and distress1?
Far from me be such hardness of heart, nor should you,
in the fulness of your power, lay such an injunction
upon me." :
Upon this William is said to have grown Avhite with
fury. He gave orders that Samson, the queen's mes
senger, should be seized, and have his eyes torn out ;
but some of Matilda's attendants, with a humanity not
common in the courts of those ages, warning the Breton
1 Ordericus Vitalis, V. 10.

394 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. [CHAP. XXI,
of his danger, he fled to the abbey of Evroult, where he
placed himself beyond the king's reach by taking the
cowl. According to some chroniclers, William's wrath
was not restrained by the respect due to the mother of
his children ; in his transports of rage, he scourged her so
severely with a bridle as to cause her death. Consider
ing the character of the man, and the barbarism of .the
times, the anecdote is not altogether improbable, though
it rests on too slender a foundation to be confidently
received. Malmesbury 's reason, however, for discredit
ing it would almost seem to imply that he secretly gave
it full credence, since he could discover no hettei ground
for scepticism than that the tyrant bestowed upon his
queen a magnificent funeral.1
The troubles in Normandy, which might have been
expected to produce an effect beneficial rather than
otherwise upon the State of England, were followed by
no such result. The Bastard had left behind him. in the
conquered kingdom representatives fully equal to him-
self in rapacity and cruelty ; earls, viscounts, prelates,
and abbots, who, hating the English because they had
injured them, carried out the poliey of the conquest
With merciless rigour. Among these was Vaulcher,
bishop of Durham, who also, exercised the authority
of a secular earl2 and governor: he distinguished
himself in both capacities, delivering homilies on
morality in one breath, and Avith the next commanding
plunder and homicide. This was what the Normans
admired, and among them, therefore, Vaulcher the
Lorrainer became the type of what a bishop should
be. Vaulcher had naturally surrounded himself with
creatures from his own country, to whom the plunder
of the Northumbrians was at once a profitable and a
pleasant pastime. Chief among these Avere Leobili arid
Gilbert, whose rapacity and cruelty, it is said, the bishop
pardoned in consideration of their activity.
1 Malmesbury, III. p. 453. 2 Simeon de Dunelmensi Ecclesia,
p. 46.

A.D. 1080.] DOMESTIC AND FOREIGN WARS. 395
There was at that time in Durham a noble Saxon,
Liwulf1 by name, who having been stript by the
Normans of all his possessions in the south of England,
had fled northwards and taken refuge in the church of
Durham. Popular superstition, on account of his blame
less life and manners, attributed to him a supernatural
intercourse with the great St. Cuthbert, who, it was
affirmed, appeared to him familiarly, and dictated his
decisions.2 It is reasonable to assume that Liwulf
displayed a strong partiality for his oppressed and injured
countrymen, and thus rendered himself an object of
dislike to tbe foreign harpies who hovered over the
bishop's table, and defiled everything they touched.
Vaulcher himself beheld the Saxon with no friendly
eye, though an attempt is made by some chroniclers to
screen his memory. It appears certain that he lived on
terms of great familiarity with Liwulf, frequently took
his advice, and invited him to dine at his table. There,
on one occasion, Leobin, dean of Durham, the bishop's
chaplain, addressed the most opprobrious language to the
Saxon, who, thrown off his guard by the priests's inso
lence, replied with great vehemence.
When the banquet broke up, Liwulf retired to his
own mansion, and Leobin to plot his destruction. He
first applied to Gilbert, the bishop's kinsman, probably
his son, whom he had put in authority over the whole
county of Northumberland, and besought him to lend
his aid in compassing the Englishman's overthrow.
Gilbert, nothing lothe, fell into Leobin's views, and
proceeding with a strong force to Liwulf's house,
broke in and savagely murdered him and nearly all
his family.3 Vaulcher's authority in Durham was
supreme, and therefore it rested entirely with him to
free himself from suspicion, by punishing the mur
derers, or to make himself their accomplice, by con-
1 Simeon De Gestis Eegum An- ' William of Malmesbury, III.
glorum, p. 210. Eoger de Hoveden, 451.
a.d. 1080. 3 E°ger de Hoveden, a.d. 1080.

396 HISTORY OF ENGLAND-.* [CHAP. XXI.
doning tlieir guilt. He chose the latter course, there
by rendering it clear that the crime had been per
petrated by his orders. He had not reckoned, however,
upon the consequences of Liwuif's popularity; his noble
deportment, his generosity, his piety, and the entire
goodness of his life, had endeared him to the Nor
thumbrians, Avho, upon his assassination, rose in arms,
and demanded the punishment of the malefactors, or, in
default of this, expressed their determination to treat the
bishop himself as an accomplice.
These conditions the bishop accepted; by retiring with
the murderers into a church, and thence conveying offers
to LiAvulf's relatives and friends to pay the price of blood.
The Northumbrians scorned these proposals, and de
manded the^death of the assassins. To save his own life,
Vaulcher now drove Gilbert out of the church,* and he
was instantly slain by LiAvulf 's avengers. Leobin was
next ordered to quit the sanctuary, but he refused, and
Vaulcher found himself under the necessity of facing
Liwuif's friends in person. Before the portal of the
church they stood with drawn swords and spears, unable
to look upon which, Vaulcher drew the skirts of his robe
over his head, and, throwing himself forwards, was im
mediately pierced by the weapons of the Northumbrians.
The cowardly caitiff, Leobin, trembling at the righteous
vengeance of the people, still clung to the church, the
walls and roof of which were then set on fire. Leobin
continued in the building till the scorching flames be-

1 Florence of Worcester, a.d. 1080. red, slea ye the bischop !" Eoger
There are many variations in the of Wendover, a.d. 1075. William of
account of Vaulcher's death. The Malmesbury, III. p. 452, relates
Saxon Chronicle, a.d. 1080, relates the story with an evident leaning to
that he was slain in the month of Vaulcher, whom he absolves from
May at a gem6t, which does not all participation in the guilt of
here signify a regular assembly, Liwuif's murder'. With Vaulcher
but a tumultuous meeting or con- a hundred French and Flemings
ference, held in front of the church were massacred, from which it may
at Gateshead, where, in the midst be inferred that these foreigners
of their discussions, the Northum- had been employed in vexing and
brians shouted, " Schort rfid, god pillaging the people.

A.D. 1080.] DOMESTIC AND FOREIGN WARS. 397
came too fierce to be endured. He then, half burnt,
ascended to a lofty part of the edifice, and, casting him
self down headlong, Avas dashed to pieces on the pave
ment. When the news of these events reached London, Odo,
the sanguinary bishop of Bayeux, son of Arlette and
Herlouin, marched, with a powerful army,1 into the North,
to chastise the inhabitants, indiscriminately, for the act
of a few individuals. Men who were totally ignorant of
the assassination of Vaulcher, who had probably never
seen him or his victim, Liwulf, were now torn from their
houses, and murdered or mutilated in a shocking man
ner.2 Brother to the Bastard by birth, Odo Avas still
more his brother by disposition — what William had
spared during his expedition of vengeance, Odo now
destroyed — with his resistless myrmidons at his heels,
he swept over Northumbria like an iron tempest, devas
tating, plundering, murdering, and leaving everywhere his
track,marked by homesteads destroyed and towns reduced
to a blackened heap of ruins. It was through admiration
of these achievements that his countrymen bestowed upon
him the name of " Tamer of the English."
In the conquered kingdom, Odo undoubtedly held
the second place, haA'ing now been made earl of Kent
and Hereford, and grand justiciary of England. But the
ambition of a priest always points towards Rome. Odo
dreamed of the papacy, and aAvare of his desires, certain
Italian soothsayers3 confidently predicted that his head
would one day be croAvned with the triple mitre. Odo
left no step untried to realise this prediction, but ex
hausted the revenues of England and Normandy in buy
ing over the Roman cardinals and citizens, and in
creating for himself a party among the general body of
1 Simeon De Gestis Begum An- domi resederent,plerosqueutnoxios
glorum, p. 211. aut decollaris aut membrorum de-
2 " Dum mortem episcopi ulcisce- truncatione prseceperunt debilitari.
rentur terram pene totum in soli- Simeon de Dunelmensi Ecclesia, p.
tudinem redigerent. Miseros indi- 48.
genas, qui causa confisi innocentia 3 Ord. Vit., VII. 8,

398 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. [CHAP. XXI.
the clergy. He purchased a palace at Rome, and, in
order to dazzle the inhabitants of the Eternal City,
furnished and adorned it with the most lavish magnifi
cence.1 The wallets of the pilgrims who traversed the
Alps were filled with letters and despatches to influential
ecclesiastics,2 and everything appeared to be going on
well. Odo now projected an expedition in person to Rome,
and secretly engaged a number of William's bravest
knights to accompany him : they were on shipboard,
and had actually set sail, when the king, who had re-
ceived intelligence ef their design, came down, upon
them, took them all prisoners, and conveyed them for
trial to the Isle of Wight. Here William assembled his
barons, and overlooking the minor offenders, directed
his attack exclusively against his brother. He accused
him of innumerable offences, of corrupting his knight!
and men-at-arms, to gratify his ambition, of oppressing
England beyond measure, of pillaging churches and
abbeys — in short, of every crime which could justify the
king's severity against him.3 He therefore ordered him
to be seized, and conveyed as a prisoner to Normandy,
but no one would venture to lay his hands upon the
formidable churchman, who stood there invested with all
the mystic authority of the papacy. Perceiving the
hesitation of his barons and knights. William himself
advanced, and laid hold of Odo's robes, " I am a clerk,"
exclaimed Odo, " I am God's minister ; none but the
pope has a right to judge me." " I do not arrest the
clerk," ansAvered William, without relaxing his hold,
" I arrest the earl of Kent,4 and my own justiciary, who
has abused the privilege of his office, and thus rendered
himself liable to punishment." 5

1 Orderic. Vital., ubi supra. i Odo, in his charters,, calls him-
2 William of Malmesbury, III. p. self earl of Kent, as well .as bishop
457. of Bayeux. Historia Monasterii S.
3 Historia Monasterii de Abing- Augustini, p. 351.
don, II. 9. ? prd^ric. Vital, VII. 8.

A.D. 1082.] DOMESTIC AND FOREIGN WARS. 399
The knights who had been won over by Odo were
pardoned by the king, but Odo himself was sent over to
Normandy and confined in the castle of Rouen, where he
remained a prisoner till his brother's death. To obtain
the means of accomplishing his prodigious act of simony,
Odo had practised every possible art of extorting money
from the English people. He possessed a genius won
derfully adapted to the procuring of riches, and was a
master of craft and dissimulation. When Odo himself
had been imprisoned, William seized upon his partisans,
and by threats, if not by torture, compelled them to
reveal Odo's hoards, out of which were taken such piles
of the precious metal as, according to the chronicler,
would have exceeded the belief of succeeding ages.
The gold in some cases had been .put into sacks, and
sunk in rivers for the more complete concealment of it ;
but these treasures were noAV fished up, and served to
enrich the conqueror.1 Odo's estates, consisting of four
hundred and thirty-nine manors,2 scattered over the
most beautiful parts of England, were at the same time
put under sequestration, if not entirely confiscated.
The greed and rapacity of this churchman, in which he
resembled most of the Norman nobility, stimulated him
to seize upon lands and lordships3 wherever he found it
practicable to lay his hands on them, no matter whether
they belonged to churches and monasteries or to private
persons. He, doubtless, projected from the first the
purchase of the papacy,4 Avhich, as he knew, had often
been put up for sale, and knocked down, like a bishopric
or a common benefice,5 to the best bidder ; and by thus
rendering himself sovereign of the christian world,
looked forward to the keen delight of wounding the
pride and trampling on the ambition of his brother.
1 William of Malmesbury, III. p. * Milman, History of Latin Chris*
437. tianity, II. 426.
2 Sir Henry Ellis, Introduction . 5 Id., V. 426.
to Domesday, I. 226.
3 Domesday Book, 1. 9, b., 176,216.

400 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. [CHAP. XXI.
The mutual hatred of these " sons of Arlette is one of
the most unquestionable facts in history. That they
cooperated against the English is admitted ; but to this
course they were incited, not by fraternal affection, but
by self-interest. William knew that through Odo he
could exert a powerful influence over the church, while
Odo clearly understood the advantages he should derive
by contributing to raise his brother to the throne of
England. Their principle was that of brigands, settling
by compact, beforehand, the amount of the plunder
which each should receive from the fruits of the en
terprise in which they were to engage. But their
mutual hatred was not on this account the less. Odo
probably beheld Avith disgust the seven hundred and
ninety-three manors bestowed on his stupid brother the
earl of Mortain, and endured, with fierce impatience,
the superior Avealth and authority of the king; while
William felt it necessary to be always on his guard
against Odo's treachery, from which he only then felt
himself secure when he held him safe in the dungeons
of Rouen castle, whence he Avas reluctant lo liberate
him, even at the point of death.
Some have conjectured that Wulfnoth,1 the brother of
Harold, may have passed the years of his captivity in
the same fortress ; this is uncertain ; but the fate of the
tyrannical bishop was far more fortunate than that of
the innocent hostage, who lived and died within the
Avails of a fortress.
In the following year, queen Matilda, Avho had lived
much apart from her husband, fell sick and died2 at Caen,
November 2,3 a.d. 1083, and was buried in the convent

1 Thierry assumes that Wulfnoth lasted twenty-nine years. History
had been in prison fifteen years, ofthe Norman Conquest, p. 118.
but since he had been delivered as 2 Matthew of Westminster (a.d,
a hostage to Edward the Confessor 1083), who quaintly observes, that
before his father Godwin's death, she was rather old, and died on the
which happened in 1053, his im- 13th April,
prisonment must already have » Saxon Chronicle, a.d. 1083.

A.D. 1083.] DOMESTIC AtfD FOREIGN WARS. 401
of the Holy Trinity, which she had herself founded.1 It
has sometimes been imagined that Matilda lived happily
with her husband ; but this is incredible : she married
him almost through compulsion, after her heart had been
given to another. William's style of wooing was brutal.
Meeting her in the streets of Bruges, he knocked her
down, rolled her in the mud, and, leaving her prostrate
on the ground, rode away. Her father, Baldwin,
considering this only a slight earnest of what was to
happen if the. savage duke were any longer refused,
consented to bestow his daughter on the heir of Robert
the Devil, and Matilda became duchess of Normandy,
and afterwards queen of England. In that high posi
tion she had many griefs to devour, embittered rather
than sweetened by the memory of her own offences.
The Englishman whom she had loved in her youth, she
plundered, imprisoned, and left to die in captivity, and
she is reported to have been betrayed by her vindictive
jealousy into hamstringing2 the daughter of a priest who
had awakened William's passions.
One of the monuments which this unhappy queen is
supposed to have bequeathed to posterity, is the famous
Bayeux Tapestry, which, when I saw it several years
ago, was left by the authorities in a state of shameful
neglect, being abandoned to the custody of an old
woman, Avho unwound it rapidly for my inspection,
narrating all the while, in bad French, her version of
the history of the conquest of England.3 This famous
monument is a piece of linen, two hundred and fourteen
feet long, by twenty-one inches broad, on Avhich is re
presented, in needlework, the Norman version of the
history of the conquest. It consists of fifty-seven com
partments, divided from each other by a tree or a piece of
1 Ordericus Vitalis, VII. 9, where that Matilda was buried in the
the writer observes, that her tomb church of St. Etienne.
was nobly adorned with gold and °- William of Malmesbury, III.
jewels. Taylor's Master Wace, p. p. 453.
64. Eudborne (Historia Major Win- 3 Journal of a Besidence in Nor-
toniensis, 1. 257) states, erroneously, mandy, p. 144.
VOL. II. 2 D

402 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. [CHAP. XXI.
architecture. The figures of princes, knights, men-
at-arms, horses, galleys, are wrought upon the linen, with
thread and worsted, and, although rude, give a very
tolerable notion of the costume, arms, and 'armour of
those times ; but with respect to the character and se
quence of events, it is of no authority, since we know
neither the time in which nor the persons by whom it
was wrought. Supposing it to have originated in the
industry of queen Matilda and her maids, we must
regard it as a chronicle of the gossip which, during
the latter part of William's reign, circulated in the
palace of Rouen. It is, however, far more likely to
have been the work of a company of vain or patriotic
nuns, seeking to subdue the tedium of the cloister by
celebrating the exploits of their relatives or lovers.
Troubles and calamities thickened about William's
latter years,1 and he was constrained to taste the bitter
fruits of his own tyranny.2 When the wife whom he
had wronged and estranged from him was gone, he
stood alone upon the earth. No one remained to love
him ; his brother lay sickening, and plotting vengeance,
in a dungeon ; his children longed eagerly for his death,
that they might come into the inheritance which his
guilt had won for them ; his knights and barons, his
viceroys and lieutenants, fretted and impoverished by
his exactions, seemed perpetually on the eve of break
ing forth into rebellion ; the North once more appeared
to be labouring with new and vast armaments, to be
precipitated on the shores of England.3 Thus brought
to bay by Nemesis, William inwardly felt that his
powers of mischief were on the wane. Hubert, son-in-
law to the count of Nevers, led the way in the career of
revolt. Retiring into Maine, he shut himself up in his
castle of St. Suzanne, situated on the summit of a mass
of crags upon the banks of .the Erve, on the borders

1 Ordericus Vitalis, VII, 10. 3 Saxon Chronicle) Bogef de
2 Anglia Sacra, I. 257. Hoveden, a.d. 1085.

A.D. 1083.] DOMESTIC AND FOREIGN WARS. 403
of Anjou.1 It was a fortress of great magnitude and
strength, with a detached keep, and a walled tower a
thousand feet in circumference. Here the viscount bade
defiance to all the forces of Normandy. His chivalrous
character and gallant bearing induced many warriors
from Gascoigne and Acquitaine to enlist under his ban
ners; numbers of the disaffected in William's dominions
fled to him, and, when the king himself entered Maine
with a powerful army, he recognised the impractibility
of taking or. investing St. Suzanne, and contented him
self with throwing up an intrenched camp, consisting
of two inclosures, with wall and moat, in which he
placed a strong force under Alan the Red to watch
Hubert's movements. Numerous encounters took place
between Hubert's followers and the Normans, generally
to the disadvantage of the latter.
An incident which occurred during this contest
forcibly illustrates the manners of the times. One day,
as the Normans were advancing to attack the count's
forces, a beardless youth, concealed in bushes by the
wayside, shot an arrow and mortally wounded their
leader, Richer de l'Aigle. His followers, in great fury,
rode up to seize the youth, and were on the point of
cutting his throat, when the dying chief cried out,
*' Spare him, for the love of God ; it is for my sins that
I am called thus to die." The assassin was accordingly
suffered to depart, and Richer, confessing himself to his
companions in arms, almost immediately breathed his
last. His corpse was conveyed to a convent founded
by his father, Egenulf, who fell at Hastings, and there
decently interred by the monks.
Finding they made no progress in the war against
Hubert, but were rather in danger of having their own
camp stormed, the Norman generals, with William's
permission, commenced negotiations for peace, and
1 Ordericus Vitalis, VII. 10. The certain lands are said to have been
siege of St. Suzanne is referred to in bestowed on one Eobert, then en-
Domesday Book, fol. 158, b, where gaged in the contest.
2D 2

404 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. [CHAP. XXI.
Hubert, though successful and greatly enriched by the
struggle, displayed no reluctance to put an end to it.
Hostilities, therefore, ceased, and the count, under the
protection of a safe conduct, crossed the sea to William,
in England, and, obtaining the restoration of all his
father's wealth and honours, remained ever after firm
in his fidelity.
Canute the second, king of Denmark, influenced,, it
is said by his father-in-law, Robert the Frisian, earl of
Flanders, now projected the invasion of England,
Rumour described his fleet as of prodigious magnitude,
consisting of no less than a thousand Danish, a hundred
Flemish, and sixty Norwegian vessels, manned by the
very flower of the North. Alarmed by these tidings,
William made commensurate preparations for resistance %
strengthened the fortifications of the towns and castles
on the eastern coast, laid waste such parts as were un
defended, in order that the enemy, if they came, might
find no subsistence, sent out all the cruisers at his
command to watch and intercept the Danes, and invited
over from the Continent an immense multitude of
adventurers, both cavalry and infantry, who eagerly
flocked to his standard in the hope of pay and plunder.1
These licentious and turbulent foreigners were recklessly
billeted upon the inhabitants of all classes throughout
the country, and probably proved more injurious to their
morals and property than another invasion of the Danes
would have been. But the Danes came not.2 Why
they relinquished the enterprise is a point much debated
among the chroniclers, but of Avhich the best explana
tion is that they feared to encounter their kindred esta
blished in England. Ostensibly they had planned their
expedition to aid the oppressed Saxons against the
Normans, but in all likelihood the great success which
had attended William's invasion at first inspired them
1 Saxon Chronicle, a.d. 1085 ; z Florence of Worcester, a,d.
Simeon De Gestis Eegum Anglo- 1086.
rum, p. 213.

A.D. 1086. J DOMESTIC AND FOREIGN WARS. 405
with the belief that it would not be difficult to repeat
the process. Upon further consideration, however, they
changed their minds. How far William's gold may
have exercised an influence on their resolutions is not
known, but we may fairly suspect that it had something
to do with the circumstances which brought about the
strange breaking up of the Danish armada. It is indeed
said that he corrupted the bishops and many of the
courtiers, who threw constant obstacles in the way of
the fleet's departure. But it may be suspected, without
much uncharitableness, that Canute himself Avas not
possessed by any extraordinary anxiety to measure his
strength against that of the Norman conquerors, who
though they had ceased to speak the language of Scan
dinavia, were still Scandinavians in blood, in courage,
and ferocity.
¦ During the greater part of 1085 and 1086 the fleet
lay at anchor off the coast of Denmark, while the army
was encamped along the shore. The soldiers, who knew
nothing of the intrigues going on among the higher
clergy and courtiers, demanded to be led at once against
the Normans, or dismissed to their homes. They held
secret meetings, they discussed the policy of their
leaders, they murmured, they conspired,1 they employed
mutinous and threatening language. To reduce them
to obedience, Canute had recourse to severity, but in
stead of allaying the ferment this only increased it, until,
at length, the soldiers burst into the church in which
he' had taken refuge2 and sacrificed the irresolute king
to their fury. The whole of these transactions are dark
and intricate, and it would require new and prolonged
investigations to render them perfectly intelligible.3
Freed from all apprehensions of the Danes, William,
accompanied by his two sons Rufus and Beauclerc, passed
1 Danicarum Eerum Scriptores, gives a different account of this
III. 351, with thenotes of Langebek. transaction, VII. 11 .
3 Eoger de Hoveden, Saxon 3 Thierry, History of the Norman
Chronicle, a.d. 10,87. Ordericus Conquest, p. 126.

406 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. [CHAP. XXI.
over into Normandy. Between him and Philip, king
of France, there existed a strong enmity, which on
his falling ill at Rouen was increased by a taunting
speech of the French monarch. William, it was known,
had crossed the sea for the purpose of invading France,
and Philip, attributing his delay at Rouen to weakness,
observed insultingly, and alluding to the king's corpu
lence, "William is lying-in at Rouen, let him know
that I will be present at his churching with a hundred
thousand candles."1
Stung by this coarse jest, the Norman king exclaimed
fiercely, " By the splendour of God I will celebrate my
churching in the cathedral of Notre Dame, with ten
thousand lances for tapers.2 The dispute between these
kings originated in the appropriation by France of a
small province called the Vexin,3 situated between the
Epte and Oise. It had for ages belonged to Normandy,
but during William's minority the French took pos
session, and constantly refused to restore it. In this
quarrel, therefore, the appearance at least of justice was
on William's side, though he above all men should have
recognised the principle that might makes right, since
it was to this he owed the possession of England.
All negociation was put an end to by the bitterness
of the regal jests, and William sprang from his bed to
avenge the insult offered to his figure. The great Roman
poet builds his epic on the implacable anger of Juno,
for the disparagement of her beauty by a Trojan prince,
and the war of the Vexin, which within a limited circle
was as destructive as any celebrated in verse, traced
its flagitious barbarity to the French king's sneer at
William's person.
Having collected a formidable army, he crossed the
Epte into France in the month of July. All the fields
far and near were waving with the ripening corn, whose
1 Eoger of Wendover, a.d. 1087. 3 Ordericus Vitalis, VII. 14.
2 Bromton, p. 980. Knyghton,
p. 2353.

A.D. 1087.] DOMESTIC AND FOREIGN WARS. 407
golden hues in many places already hrvited the sickle ;
innumerable orchards, whose trees were laden with fruit,
lay scattered over the country, while the vine clustered
about the hills in bacchanal profusion. William's troops
trampled down or burned the corn, cut down the fruit-
trees, plucked up the vines by the roots, set fire to
hamlets and villages, and soon converted a splendid
scene of rural beauty into a display of dreary desolation.
Numbers of the common people were burnt in their
dwellings, and every form of cruelty was indulged in
to avenge the French king's jest. At length the Nor
mans presented themselves before the town of Mantes
on the Seine, whose inhabitants had stolen forth
with heavy hearts to witness the storm of devastation
which they saw rapidly drifting towards their own
dwellings, and the enemy, coming up suddenly, took them
by surprise, and entered the gates of the town pell-mell
with the fugitives. Here, in obedience to the royal
orders, churches, monasteries, convents were set on
fire, nuns and anchorites burnt alive in their cells,1 and
William, mounted on a fiery charger, witnessed the con
flagration with strange delight. Burning embers, blown
hither and thither by the wind, strewed the streets, filled
up the kennels and ditches, and presented everywhere
to the eye the appearance of a plain on fire. The king
rode to and fro, enjoying the sufferings, the shrieks and
screams of the inhabitants. Suddenly, as he plunged
along through blood and flames, his horse, treading on
the burning fragments of a house, reared and plunged,
and at length sent the pommel of the saddle into his
bowels, with a shock so violent that it produced an
internal rupture.2
The Conqueror was tamed at once. He desisted from
the prosecution of his design, and, with the fear of im
mediate death before his eyes, retreated in all haste to
* Simeon De Gestis Eegum An- * B°g« °£ Wendover, ad. 1087.
glorum, p. 213. Knyghton, p. 2353. William of Malmesbury, III. p. 460.

408 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. [CHAP. XXI,
Rouen. There he lay for some time hovering between
life and death, now striving to extort hope from; his
sacerdotal physicians, noAV yielding to the suggestions of
despair. The noise and bustle of that commercial city
soon induced him to remove to some more quiet spot,
where he might make with less disturbance his ap
proaches to the temple of death. The place selected
was the priory attached to the church of St, Gervase,
situated on a pleasant hill to the west of Rouen. Here
it became evident that the King of Terrors had raised-
his sceptre, and was summoning William to his halls.
Now rose up before the tyrant's mind1 the long array
of crimes and infamies by which he had acquired domi
nion in England, and exercised authority in Normandy,
and superstition of the most grovelling kind heightened
and multiplied the horrors of his guilty conscience.
The chroniclers have put into his mouth a prolix
speech, containing a recapitulation of his biography, be
dabbled here and there with large patches of blood;
Even in that record, however, he , avoids all allusion to
the murder of his guests, and to the poisoning of Conan;
but he remembers the barbarities, hideous beyond ex
ample, which he had perpetrated in" Northumbria, the
stark corpses strewed in loathsome decomposition along
the roads and fields, the countless victims of nine years'
famine, reduced to thin shadows by want, the tortures
inflicted on the English monks and clergy, wild multi
tudes of widows and orphans, made such by his cruelty,
unhappy bands of exiles, scattered over the whole of the
then known Avorld, drooping, fainting, perishing of want,.il i < ¦
far from their native country. Then he bethought himli [ 1 1.
ofthe prisons of Normandy, crowded with the nobles of
England, the victims of his injustice: the gallant Morcar,
allured into his power by fraud ; the gentle Wulfnoth,
delivered to him by Edward the Confessor's treachery,
1 Bromton balances, with con- and bad qualities, p. 981.
siderable justice, William's good

A.D. 1087.] DOMESTIC AND FOREIGN WARS. 409
in innocent childhood, and held in hopeless captivity
throughout life, with numerous others scarcely less injured.
or1 oppressed. His own brother, Odo, who deserved far
worse than a dungeon, might yet have pleaded to him
the caresses of the same mother, and all the soft remem
brances of childhood. But to William's sickening soul,
there were other crimes which Avore, in those ages, a still
more awful aspect : the burning of churches, of monas
teries, of convents, with the devout recluses, who refused
to come forth from their cells even to escape death.
William writhed with remorse and agony, when he
called this long array of delinquencies to mind. His
penitence naturally took the form prescribed by the
public opinion of the times : he sent money to Mantes to
rebuild the sacred edifices; he besought and conjured
the clergy to stand, with their prayers, betAveen him and
the wrath of God ; and, in order to purchase their in
tercession, lavishly distributed the wealth of England
among them and the churches. Then, again, Avhen he
came to bequeath his dominions, conscience stepped in :
to Normandy he thought he had a right, and that, in
conformity with the sacred engagement he had entered
into before the Conquest, he bestowed on his son Robert,
at the same time declaring openly his persuasion of his
thorough unworthiness.
On the subject of England, he solemnly gave the lie
to the professions of his whole life, confessing that he
had not obtained it by inheritance, but by the SAVord,
and the exercise of unspeakable cruelty. He hoped,
however,1 that his second son, William, might obtain the
English crown, and, persevering in dissimulation and
hypocrisy to the last, dictated a letter to Lanfranc, com
manding the delivering up of those treasures which might
determine the descent of the sceptre.
Fearing he should be overlooked, the youthful Henry
1 Simeon, misinformed on this England to Eufus. De Gestis Be-
point, says he left the kingdom of gum Anglorum, p. 213.

410 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. [CHAP. XXI.
now came forward, and inquired of his dying father what
he meant to do for him. The king replied, " I leave
thee five thousand pounds of silver."1 "But am I,"
inquired the pertinacious Henry, " to have no spot of
ground allotted me on which I may deposit my trea
sures V Anticipating the fate of Robert and Rufus,
William replied, " Be patient, my son, and thou wilt in
herit thy brothers' territories." Being unable to obtain
any more, Henry, with the royal order in his hand, left
his dying parent, and rushed off to attend to the weigh
ing of the silver. Rufus, equally impatient, deserted his
father's bedside, hurried to the shore, and took ship for
England. William's last moments2 soon arrived, and he breathed
forth his soul in a brief prayer to the Virgin. While he
was in his agonies, his courtiers and parasites, dropped
off one after another to stow away their plunder, and
it may even be doubted whether any one was really
present at his death. No sooner, however, was the
breath out of his body than it was thrown on the
ground, stript of its clothes, jewels, ornaments, and
left there naked and utterly neglected from morning till
afternoon prayers. He had not a soul to love him, man,
woman, or child. Nero himself was regarded with more
affection, since there were those who, when he was no
more, habitually, in spring and summer, strewed flowers
upon his tomb.3
The monks, always honourably distinguished by their
reverence for the dead, and the care with which they per
formed the rites of sepulture, as soon as they heard news
of his decease, formed themselves into a procession, and
with crucifixes and censers, according to their best notions
of piety, came to lift the corpse from its shameful position
1 John Capgrave assures us that '•* Historia Monasterii De Abing-
he left to Herri, cleped clerk, al don, IT. 16, 284.
his tresore (Chronicle of Eng- 3 Non defuerunt qui per longum
land, p 130) ; whether acquired, as tempus vernis sestiyisque floribus
Bromton observes, justly or unjust- tumulum ejus ornarent. Suetonii
ly, p. 979. Vita Neronis, 57.

A.D. 1087.] DOMESTIC AND FOREIGN WARS. 411
on the floor. They then performed, in the church of
St. Gervase, the service for the dead. There were, how
ever, expenses to be paid, and of William's family there
was no one to pay them. As far as appears, his body
might have become a prey to kites and wolves, but for
the natural piety of strangers. Herlouin, a country
knight, came forward and undertook the charge of the
funeral, caused the body to be washed and strewed with
spices, which induced the rude chroniclers to say it was
embalmed. Herlouin seems to have consulted the arch
bishop respecting the place of the king's interment, and
was advised to carry his remains to Caen, to the church
of St. Etienne, which William himself had built. He
accordingly procured a hearse to bear them to the banks
ofthe river, whence they were conveyed by Avater to Caen.
Here Gilbert, the lord abbot, with his monks, met the
corpse, and forming themselves into a procession, moved
slowly towards St. Etienne. But William's body was
destined not to advance one step to the tomb in peace.
As the hearse was moving along the streets, a great fire
burst forth in the town, the flames shooting aloft and
spreading with great rapidity, upon which all the clergy
and laity deserted the procession, and rushed off to extin
guish the conflagration, leaving the monks to perform
the royal obsequies as they pleased. Being accustomed
to order and discipline, they suffered not themselves to be
disturbed by what terrified others, and proceeded to the
church, which they entered singing psalms. Here the
corpse Avas left till all the prelates and abbots of Nor
mandy could be brought together to conclude the cere
mony. Among these was William's brother, Odo, bishop
of Bayeux, who had been liberated in time to behold
his enemy consigned to the earth. The spot selected
for his grave was between the choir and the altar, where
you still behold the slab that covers bis ashes, after the
lapse of nearly eight hundred years, inscribed with the
words, " Invictissimus Gulielmus."1
1 Journal of a Eesidence in Normandy, p. 34.

412 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. [CHAP. XXI.
When the stone coffin had been lowered into the
grave, but while the corpse still remained above ground
upon the bier,1 Gilbert, bishop of Evreux, who seems
to have been selected for his superior eloquence, deli
vered the funeral oration. He dwelt exclusively upon
those actions of the deceased which he considered1
honourable to his memory, celebrating the achieve
ments by Avhich he had enlarged the dominions of the
Normans far beyond what was known to their forei
fathers. The prelate did not even blush to exalt his
justice, his preservation of peace, his severities towards
thieves and robbers, of whom he was himself the chief,
and the protection he extended to innocent persons,
above all, to the monks and clergy. This discourse con
trasted strangely with William's own confession on his
death-bed, in which he enumerated his barbarities and
heinous crimes against all ranks and conditions of men.
When the bishop had concluded his panegyric, he
addressed himself to the congregation, whom he en
treated to pray for the soul of the deceased, and to
forgive him if in aught he had offended against them.
When he ceased speaking, Ascelin, the son of Arthur,
stepped forward and said, Avith a loud voice:2 "The
ground on which you stand Avas the yard belonging
to my father's house, which that man for whom you
pray, when he was yet only duke of Normandy, took
forcible possession of, and, in the teeth of all justice, by
an exercise of tyrannical power, here founded this abbey.
I, therefore, lay claim to this land, and openly demand
its restitution, and, in God's name, I forbid the body of
the spoiler to be covered with the earth which is my
property, or buried in my inheritance."
According to some historians, prince Henry was present
at this scene, and paid Ascelin a hundred pounds of silver
for the land on which the church stood. Others say,

1 Ordericus Vitalis, VII. 16. Chronicon Johannis Bromton, p.
3 Orderic. Vital, ubi supra. 980. Knyghton, p. 2353.

A.D. 1087.] DOMESTIC AND FOREIGN WARS. 413
the bishops paid him sixty shillings for the grave, and
afterwards arranged respecting the remainder of the
property. This interruption being over, the body was
lowered into the coffin, which was then discovered to
be too small, and great force being used to thrust it in,
the bowels burst,1 and ran out into the grave, imme
diately filling the church with so great a stench that
the. bystanders Avere unable to endure it. Incense,
therefore, and other aromatics were burnt, and ascended
in clouds, but failed to purify the tainted atmosphere.
The priests, being inspired with great terror and alarm,
hurried through the ceremony, and then hastened to their
respective abodes. 1 Ordericus Vitalis, VII. 16.

414 HISTORY OF ENGLAND.

CONCLUSION.

The effects of the Conquest, Avhatever ingenuity may
be exhibited in disguising them, were to check the civi
lisation of the country, to diminish the value of property,
to introduce mischievous usages and customs, and to
extirpate, as far as possible, those sentiments of liberty
which had begun to be very widely diffused before that
disastrous event. No stronger proofs of the beneficial
results of institutions can be adduced than their ten
dency to promote the well-being of the people, which
displays itself in application to the useful arts, agri
culture, commerce, and all other forms of industry.
Wherever this consequence is produced, it is followed
by another, Avhich enables us to judge of the extent to
which it operates ; that is to test its value. One of the
most unequivocal symptoms of good government is
increase of population, which, unless under very excep
tional circumstances, implies the abundance and cheap
ness of the primary necessaries of life.
Upon the settlement of the Normans in this country,
society made a retrograde movement; in most of the
towns a large proportion ofthe houses were to let ; many
places, once flourishing, fell into decay ; immense tracts
of land, which under the Saxon kings had been covered
with AvaA'ing corn, well-cultivated gardens, orchards, ot
vineyards, became waste, while the grinding oppression
exercised by the foreigners, produced a profound dis*
couragement in the minds of the people which paralysed
their energies, and led among other evil results to the

CONCLUSION. 415
neglect of marriage. Numbers among the most distin
guished of the ancient aristocracy, the females of whose
families had been debased and degraded by William's
licentious companions, sought to bury their .grief and
shame in the monasteries, where, in many cases, the
noblest blood in England became extinct. Far and
wide the marauders spread the taint of their infamous
manners through the country, where, being billeted in
the houses of gentlemen, ecclesiastics, and yeomen, they
exercised all the privileges usually claimed by successful
adventurers and mercenaries in a subjugated country.
When the women of the kingdom had been thus demo
ralised, they were not considered very eligible as wives,
and the ethics of the nation, which, deteriorated by the
Danish inroads, had begun to recover its tone under
Edward the Confessor and Harold, again retrograded,
and became the butt of scorn and satire to the licentious
witlings who crowded the courts of the Norman princes.
In consequence of these deleterious influences, the nisus
of population was so violently checked, that it took
nearly six hundred years to double the number of the in
habitants existing in England at the period of William's
invasion. This is an irrefragable argument against the
Conquest, considered from a social point of view.
For many years after it took place the castle may be
said to have devoured the cottage. Under the Saxon
system the whole face of the country was dotted with
homesteads. Indeed, so great was the partiality of the
English of those days for the enjoyments of a rural life, that
it required reiterated efforts of legislation to bring them to
the towns even for purposes of trade and business. Under
the Norman rule the state of affairs Avas reversed. The
people flocked to the towns, in the hope of thus escaping
some of the more galling forms of oppression, while the
king and his foreign grandees multiplied their forests,
parks, and chases, where they might enjoy the pleasures
best suited to their coarse and brutal natures.
One of the results of the passion for hunting in

416 HISTORY OF ENGLAND.
William, often referred to by the chroniclers, was the
formation of the New Forest, which withdrew from agri
culture and all kinds of productive industry an expanse
of country thirty miles in length. Towns, villages, and
hamlets, with their minsters and monasteries, were dis
peopled and demolished, in order that the king, Avhen not
engaged in the chase of human victims, might satisfy his
sanguinary appetite by slaughtering the inferior animals.
Here, in the pursuit of this bloody pastime, he sometimes,
it is said, spent whole months watching the deer as they
glanced between the ruins of Saxon churches, or trod in
their rapid flight upon desecrated altars and the graves
of the dead. What became of the inhabitants of the
towns and villages thus destroyed we are left to con
jecture : the men may have been draughted into the
conqueror's armies, while the women were driven either
to take refuge in convents, or to augment the ranks of
that disreputable sisterhood which the achievements of
the Normans tended greatly to multiply.
Still William may be said to have made amends for the
churches he overthrew in Hampshire by those he else
where erected and endowed. His followers, actuated iri
many instances we cannot doubt by genuine piety,
likewise built minsters and founded monasteries, which
they enriched with profuse donations in money and lands.
Such grants, from time immemorial, had been secured to
the possessors by charters, which bore in Saxon times
the signatures of the donors, preceded by the sign of the
cross. Edward the Confessor introduced the practice of
appending seals to these instruments, which became still
more completely the fashion in Norman times. In the
fabrication and use of these seals, extremely whimsical
traits of character were sometimes exhibited: it Avas
customary for kings and nobles, When about to enrich
some church or monastery, to clip a few hairs from theif
heads or beards, and mix them Avith the Avax on which
they impressed their seals, as an indubitable sign to pos
terity of the genuineness of the document. Thus, in one

CONCLUSION. 417
of their charters to the church of Lewes, the second earl
of Warrenne and his brother caused a little of their hair to
be cut off with a knife by the bishop and mixed with
the wax, a fact to which they allude in the document
itself. On other occasions, a still more curious and
primitive mode of verification was had recourse to ; the
noble donor, while the wax Avas yet warm and soft, put
the seal in his mouth and impressed upon it the marks
of his teeth. The earl of Lincoln, Avhen bestowing an
estate on the monastery of Castelacre, observes in his
Charter, " I have impressed upon the wax of this seal the
marks of my teeth, as my wife Muriel can testify;" and
the historian to whom Ave are indebted for this illustra
tion of Norman manners and enlightenment, relates that
the seal was still in existence in the fifteenth century.
When the king's intention to undertake the Domes
day survey . became known, the monks throughout the
kingdom began to tremble for their earthly, possessions.
Their charters, in many instances, had perished through
lapse of time ; in others, they had been destroyed by the
Danes ; Avhile William himself, by his great act of con
fiscation in a.d. 1070, had robbed numerous monasteries
of their title-deeds, that they might lie the more com
pletely at his mercy. Apprehension of the evils which
might accrue to them from the inquisition of the Domes
day commissioners, incited them to put once more in
practice the arts of fraud and forgery by Avhich, from
time immemorial, they had been in the habit of enrich
ing themselves and their monasteries. Where no genuine
charter existed, they fabricated one for the occasion, and
were doubtless sufficiently skilful to impart to it the ap
pearance and odour of remote antiquity.
Upon Domesday Book, in which tbe fruits of the great
survey are preserved, much care and pains have been
recently bestowed, though what is really wanted has not
been done. To throw all the light it is capable of afford
ing upon the condition of England when it fell intothe
hands of the vikings, the work, freed from abbreviations
VOL. II. 2 E

418 HISTORY OF ENGLAND.
and technical obscurities, should be printed, with the
best commentary which the topographical and antiquarian
learning of the present day could supply. This would
be a labour worthy of a liberal and enlightened govern
ment, and more deserving the gratitude of the country
than the publication of scores of inferior works. Were
this task accomplished, the disastrous consequences of
the subjection of the kingdom to foreigners would be
rendered so manifest, that the servile admirers of arbi
trary power might shrink from repeating the panegyrics
with which they have sought to embalm the memory of
one of the worst of kings.
The object of the survey was to facilitate the financial
operations of the government, by ascertaining the extent
and value of estates, and the amount of moveable property
throughout the realm. To describe the operations of the
commissioners by whom it was compiled, is altogether
unnecessary. The result arrived at indisputably esta
blishes the fact, that under the government of the con
quest the resources of the country were diminished, the
people oppressed and impoverished, the springs of industry
relaxed, and the foundation laid of all those disorders
and calamities which for ages afflicted the land.
No sufficient dataexistforexactlyestimatingthe amount
of the population. It does not, however, appear extrava
gant to assume, that on the day of William's landing it
fell little short of two millions, which went on during the
next twenty years steadily diminishing, till at his death it
probably fell considerably short of this number.
That William was a man of extraordinary abilities,is
not to be denied. His career from boyhood upwards,
his preparations for the invasion of England, his nego-'
ciations with the pope, with the petty princes of France,
with his father-in-law the count of Flanders, who lent
him ships and money on condition of receiving a large
pension, his forgeries respecting the will ofthe Confessor,
which thousands believed in, though no one ever saw
it — his generalship— his achievements as a statesman —

CONCLUSION. 419
his profound and subtle diplomacy ; each and all entitle
him to the reputation of worldly greatness. Nothing
could have been more enlarged or far-sighted than the
policy by which he overcame and subjected to prolonged
thraldom a free and powerful kingdom, whose inha
bitants he smote with mental paralysis, so that they
cowered like a vast herd of slaves beneath his sceptre.
His physical structure and personal appearance corre
sponded with the character of his mind : he was strong,
square, and athletic, with a countenance in which, with
regular and handsome features — except the mouth —
was blended the expression of so much ferocity, cruelty,
and falsehood, that feAV could regard him, especially
during his paroxysms of fury, without terror and appre
hension. He was addicted, moreover, beyond most men
to the habit of swearing and cursing, and his oaths and
imprecations were so appalling from their blasphemous
impiety, that they greatly augmented the dread excited
by his truculent aspect. Among his . vices, next after
bloodtbirstiness and cruelty, grasping avarice was most
prominent. He had recourse to the most odious and
disreputable means of extorting and amassing money,
appropriated to his own use fourteen hundred manors
from the confiscated estates of the English nobles, seized
despotically on men's property, then forced them to
purchase it back, and, like his brother Odo, addicted
himself to indiscriminate extortion and plunder, that he
might have always at his command an overflowing trea
sury wherewith to purchase unscrupulous agents of
tyranny, or to subdue by corruption and bribery the
enemies whom he felt lothe to encounter in the field.
Three times a year, also, he applied the contents of his
exchequer to the requisitions of feasting and merriment,
at Winchester, Westminster, and Gloucester,1 when the
1 Edward the Confessor, who on nastery a hundred cakes of white
some occasions substituted Worces- bread and a cask of wine. Mac
ter for Gloucester, bestowed at each Cabe, Catholic History of England,
of these festivals half a mark on the III. 432.
master of the choir, and on the mo-
2e

420 HISTORY OF ENGLAND.
chief nobles and authorities of the land thronged his
palace, and partook of his banquets. On these occasions
he wore his crown at table, and was distinguished for
courtesy and affability.
Some authors have sought to enhance his reputation
by praising his abstinence from Avomen. The same thing
has been said of Ezzelino da Romano, the personification
of revolting cruelty. In William's case the praise is un
merited, since, besides the mistress by whom he left at
least one son, there was another, the daughter of a priest,
his passion for whom betrayed Matilda into the guilt of
assassination. The spirit of his government was precisely what
might have been expected from a man of such a cha
racter. Throughout the land compassion and horror
were excited by multitudes of dreadful objects upon
whom the bloody laws of conquest had been exercising
their tender mercies. It was impossible to walk the
streets of any great city without encountering indi
viduals whose eyes had been torn out, whose feet or
hands or both had been lopped off, and who, thus
reduced to bare trunks, owed the protraction of their
wretched lives to the exercise of a dreadful charity.
Other barbarities, too shocking to be mentioned, were
likewise of constant occurrence. The least opposition
to despotic authority immediately provoked a massacre ;
every attempt at the recovery of freedom was quenched
in blood: executions,1 halters, axes, gibbets, Avere the
daily means by which the Saxons Avere sought to be
conciliated to their new master. If monks became un
ruly, they were shot down in the church till their blood
ran in streams from beneath the altar.2 The brave and
1 Yet in theory the law forbade enerventur oculi, et abscindantur
the execution of criminals, who pedes, vel testiculi, vel manus, ita
Were, instead, to be converted into quod truncus remaneat vivus, in
so many hideous spectacles for the signum prodicionis et nequitie sue.'
purpose of exciting terror ; " Inter- Carta Begis Willelmi, article 17.
dicimus etiam ne quis occidatur vel 2 Saxon Chronicle, a.d. 1083*
suspendatur pro aliqua culpa, sed

CONCLUSION. 421
noble were exiled for ever from their native land, the
tame and submissive were reduced to servitude. It has
been sometimes supposed that the slave trade, which had
constituted the opprobrium of Saxon times, was prohi
bited after the conquest, erroneously, since the laws of
William permit the sale of men and women within the
realm, and only repeat the ancient prohibition to export
them beyond sea.1
Of William's revenue it is impossible to form any ac
curate estimate. A contemporary Avriter makes on this
subject the following statement : " The king himself re
ceived daily one thousand and sixty pounds, thirty pence
and three farthings, sterling money, from his regular
revenues in England alone, independently of presents,
fines for offences, and many other matters which con
stantly enrich a royal treasury." 2 Very different con
ceptions of the value of this sum in our present money
have been formed by modern writers, some regarding it as
equivalent to twelve3 millions sterling; others, to fifteen4
millions ; while some even suppose it to have amounted to
twenty-three5 millions a-year. If we compare this imagi
nary revenue with the population, we shall immediately
perceive its absurdity, since, reckoning the inhabitants of
England during the Conqueror's reign at two millions,
we must assume them to have paid from six pounds to
eleven pounds a-head. As it is impossible to accept
such an interpretation, it has been suggested that the
text of the original historian has been corrupted, in
which case it cannot be adopted as the basis of any cal
culation. Unsatisfactory, therefore, as it may appear,
we must content ourselves with the remark, that the
Conqueror wrung as much money from his English sub
jects as the circumstances in which he was placed
1 " Inhibemus etiam ne quis 2 Ordericus Vitalis, IV. 7.
Christianum in alienam patriam 3 Burke, Works, X. 393.
vendat, et maxime infidelibus." i Buding, Annals of the Coinage
Laws of William the Conqueror, of Great Britain, I. 408.
article 41. See also Carta Eegis 6 Maslres, Historic Anglicanse
Willelrai, article 15. Selecta Monumenta, p. 258, note n.

422 HISTORY OF ENGLAND.
would permit, and that, as he found them industrious
and wealthy, his revenues must have been very consider-!
able. William, whose mints were scattered over nearly the
whole kingdom, struck, during his reign, a variety of
coins- — the mark, in gold and silver, the shilling, the
penny, the half-penny, the farthing, and the. mite, of
which the penny only has come down to our times. In
weight, fineness, and type, William's pennies resembled
those of king Harold, and the standard remained unal
tered during the greater part of his reign.1
1 Euding, Coinage of Great Britain, I. 406.

THE END.

INDEX.

INDEX.

Abandonment of the project of invading
Norman England by Canute IL, II.
405.
Abasside Khalifs, I. 280.
Abingdon, its monastery, I. 203 ; royal
huntsmen, &c, live there at free
quarters, 203; restored by Ethel-
wold, bishop of Winchester, 396 ; its
magnificence, 396.
Accident on the occasion of William's
landing in England, II. 255; at the
burial of William 1. 412.
Actors, II. 126.
Adamnan, the monk, sent as an ambas
sador to Alchfrid by the Picts, I.
152.
Adelaide, cousin of William I., poisons
her husband with an apple, II. 327.
Administration of common law, I. 405.
Adminius, an exiled British prince, the
cause of Caligula's expedition, 1. 22.
Adoption of foreign costume by the
Saxons, II. 348.
Advance of Anglo-Saxon civilisation, I.
304.
Adventurers in William's army, II.
300 ; from the Continent, invited by
William I. to join his standard, 329.
Adultery, punishment of, II. 91.
Affected clemency of William at Exeter,
II. 319.
Agricola, arrival of, as governor of
Britain, I. 32; his gentleness and
humanity in Britain, 32.
Agriculture, improved system of, I. 39 ;
II. 283.
Aimeri d'Acquitaine, II. 297.
Alai-ie compared with Hastings, I. 288.
Alchfrid, the son of Oswy, deprives his
father of half his kingdom, I. 140 j
succeeds Egfrid on the throne of Nor
thumbria, 151 ; recalls Wilfred, 151 ;
dies, 153.
Aldred of Worcester, sent by Edward

into Germany, II. 181 ; returns with
Edward, son of Edmund Ironside,
182 ; who dies suddenly, 182 ; goes
to Rome to obtain the pall on his
accession to the see of York, 199;
degraded from his archbishopric, 201 ;
restored to favour by the pope, and
promoted to the see of York, 204;
demands of the people whether they
accept William as their king, 302;
crowns William, 302 ; the head of
the anti-national party, 313; dies
through fear, 332.
Alfred, birth of, at Wantage, 1. 224 ; con
secrated king of Wessex, 229; early
taste for learning, 233 ; succeeds to
the throne, 237 ; marches against the
Danes, 241 ; his preparation for at
tacking the Danes, 256 ; utterly routs
them, 257; is made king of entire
Wessex, 258 ; defeated by the Danes
at Basing, 258; reputed a tyrant,
259 ; defeated by Danes, 261 ; nego-
ciates a peace with the Danes, 261-2 ;
again worsted by the Danes, 266 ;
employs mercenaries, and destroys the
Danish fleet, 267 ; bis mythical cha
racter, 268; driven from bis throne
by the Danes, and obliged to take
refuge in the forests, 268 ; story of
the burning cakes, 270; his charity,
271 ; throws off his disguise, and
marches into Wiltshire, 272 ; goes as
a minstrel into the Danish camp,
273 ; disposes his forces and dashes
into the Danish entrenchments, 274 ;
utterly routs the Danes, 274 ; treaty
with the Danish chief Guthrum,
278 ; his relations with foreign states,
280 ; his improvement of the English
navy, 283 ; his fleet defeats the Danes,
284; but is defeated in its turn in
consequence of its lack of vigilance,
284 j his study of letters, 285 ; his

HISTORY OF ENGLAND.

reforms in church and state, 286; not
naturally warlike, 286; fits out an
Arctic expedition, 287; marches to
oppose Hastings, 290 ; defeats Hast
ings at Farnham, 292; glorious vic
tory over Hastings, and generous
conduct to tbe vanquished, 294;
defeats tbe Danish army at But-
tingdon, 296 ; drives the Danes from
Ware, 299 ; constructs a navy, 301 ;
his exasperation at Danish treachery,
301 ; bis diffusion of knowledge and
moral habits, 302; his death and
character, 302; his beauty, 303;
compared with Charlemagne, 304;
his fondness for religious display ; en
dowments of monasteries and charity,
309.
Alfred the etheling, collects ari army;
lands at Canterbury ; is conducted by
Godwin to Guildford, II. 114 ; seized
by tbe Danes in the night ; his eyes
put out, and his followers massacred
or sent into slavery, 115 ; murdered,
116.
Alft-ie, commanding English fleet, this
treachery, I. 433 ; his crimes visited
on his son, 434.
Algar, his patriotism, I. 244 ; dies on
a heap of slain, 246.
Algar, made earl of East Anglia, II.
184; outlawed, 184 ; collects an army,
185 ; defeats tbe English before
Hereford, 185 ; sacks Hereford, 185 ;
restored to bis title, 186; succeeds
his father Leofric as earl of Mercia,
186.
Allegiance, Danish oath of, II. 64.
Ambition of the Roman pontiffs, I.
370.
Andred Forest, I. 155; 289.
Angles, their settlement in England,
I. 94.
Anglesea, the seat of the Archdruid,
1.28.
Anglo-Danes break out into rebellion,
I. 355.
Anglo-Saxon mints, II. 9, 10, 11.
Anglo-Saxons, degraded cowardice, I.
428 ; low state of morality of the
women, 428 ; their demoralisation
under Ethelred the Unready, 426;
428; 436; 444; 44.5.
Anlaf the Dane, I. 341, 342; defeats
English army, 342 ; bis fleet opposes
that of Athelstan, 343 ; in disguise
enters the English camp, 344 ; fide

lity of a soldier, 344; misled by the
Northumbrians, rebels against Ed
mund of Wessex, 352; defeats Ed-
mund at White Wells, 353; un
certainty as to bis ultimate fate, 355.
Anlaf and Edmund divide England
between them, I. 354.
Annihilation of the Scandinavian army
by Harold, II. 353.
Antagonism between the northern and
southern Britons, I. 50.
Aphelion of civilisation, II. 127.
Apocryphal conquests in Wales, I,
228.
Arabs, masters of the Alps,, I. 326.
Archdruid, his authority resembled
that of tbe Pope, 1. 6.
Archil of Northumbria hastens to maie
peace with William, II. 326.
Aristocracy of England degraded and
debased by tbe conquest, II. 4l5.
Arm of Augustine, II. 187.
Armada of the Normans, II. 254.
Army of brigands, II. 243 ; of William
the Conqueror, their fear pf the sea,
246; their superstitious devotion,
246; their marauding expeditions,
256.
Ascelin, son of Arthur, forbids tbe burial
of William I. at St. Etienne, 11.412;
is paid for the ground by Henry, 412,
413.
Assandun, battle of, II. 52.
Assassination of Mabel de Montgomery,
II. 328; of Richer de l'Aiglo, curious
story in regard to, 403.
Assembling of the English insurgents,
II. 349.
Assembly on Pennenden Heath, II. 345.
Astai'te, worshippers of, I. 4,
Athelney Castle, I. 271.
Athelstan, I. 224; defeats the Danes,
226 ; succeeds Edward the Elder on
the throne of Wessex, 330; story of
his birth, 330 ; mysterious death of
his brother, 331; his accession op
posed by Elfred,332; sends Elfred to
Rome, 332 ; annexes Northumbria'to
Wessex, 334; destroys the northern
fortresses, 336; his bearing towards
the nobles, 337; seeks the goodwill
ofthe priests, 337; buys their affec
tion, 338 ; becomes suzerain of Wales,
338 ; marches against the West Bri
tons, 339; jealous of his brother
Edwin, 339; causes Edwin's death,
340; his strange idea of expiation,

INDEX.

840 ; marches against Scotland after
purposely insulting its chiefs, 341 ; bis
suecess, 341; marshals his fleet to
oppose Anlaf the Dane, 343 ; defeats
Anlaf at Brunnaburghj 346 ; his intri
gues on the Continent, 349 ; his death
and character, 350; his appearance.
351.
Atrocities of William I. in Northumbria,
II. 335 ; committed by Odo, bishop of
Bayeux, 397.
Attempts of the Normans to conciliate
the mercantile classes, II. 305 ; of the
English to rouse insurrections against
William, 311 ; at Reformation, 384.
Attila compared with Hastings, I. 288.
Augustine, his mission to Britain, 1. 73 ;
lands in England, 75; is made bishop
of the English, 79 ; performs a
miracle ; prophesies the destruction of
the British monks, 81; his death,
95.
Augustus projects the conquest of Bri
tain, I. 20; fears to attempt what
Caesar found to be impracticable, and
abandons the expedition, 20.
Aurora Borealis, I. 334.
Sagdad, I. 280-281.
Baldwin of the Iron Arm, I. 234.
Baldwin de Meules, II. 320.
Ballads upon Alfred's murder, II. 118.
Banditti, II. 95.
Bangor Iscoed, monastery of, I, 42.
Baptism of a king of Wessex, 1. 124.
Barbaric colonies in Britain, I. 43.
Barracks, II. 65.
Bath, the* scene of Edgar's coronation,
I. 399.
Baths, II. 73.
Battle ofthe Idel, 1. 105; of Heavenfield,
128; of Oswestry, 129; of the Win-
wed, in which Penda fell, 134;
ofthe Windrush, 179 ; of Wilton, 214;
of Kesteven, 245 ; of Basing, 258 ; of
Ethandune, 274-8; of Bratton Hill,
278-282; of Farnbam, 292; ofBut-
.Jiugton, 296; of Chichester, 298 ; of
1,' Southampton, 301 ; of Axleholm, 314 ;
of Tempsford, 323; of Brunnaburgh,
345 ; its effects on policy of foreign
states, 346; of Sherston, II. 48; of
Assandun, 52; of Stamford Bridge,
252; of Hastings, 261; of Gerberoi,
391.
Bay of the Lighthouse, I. 142.
Bayeux tapestry, II. 401.

Bear-baiting, II; 196.
Bear the Briton, I. 431.
Beauty of British women, 1. 46 ; of Eng
land, fatal to its peace, 61 ; of Saxon
youths, II. 308.
Bede, the historian, I. 63; his death and
character, 174.
Bees, II. 194.
Benedictines, I. 370.
Beorn, his unjust detention of Sweyn's
property,"? II. 151; enticed away by
Sweyn, 152 ; murdered, 153.
Beorned defeats and slays Ethelbald and
is made king of Mercia, I. 186 : de
feated and deposed by Offa, 186.
Beornwulf marches against Wessex, I.
214; defeated by the armies of Wes
sex, 214 ; becomes king of Mercia,
214; falls in a, battle with the East
Angles, 215.
Berengar, II. 344.
Bernwulf, I. 300.
Bertha becomes queen of Kent, I. 96.
Bishop of Rochester resists Ethelred's
army, I. 424.
Bishops and abbots, persecution of, by
the Normans, II. 342.
Blacheman the priest, II. 316.
Blanche Bruyere, II. 371.
Blood-fines, I. 87.
Blood-money, I. 163.
Boadicea, queen of the Iceni, scourged,
and her family outraged by order of
the Roman governor, 1. 29 ; calls upon
the Britons to cast off the Roman
yoke, 30.
Border warfare, I. 318; justices, II.
198; chiefs, 366-367.
Bosenham monastery, 1. 156.
Boundaries, I. 366.
Brahmans, II. 383.
Bridal of death, I, 274.
Brigands of Etruria, II. 201-202.
Brigautes, I. 24.
Brihtmer Budde, II. 102
Brihtric, the successor of Cynewulf, I.
191 ; negociates with Offa for the de
livery into his hands of his rival Eg
bert, 192 ; marries Offa's daughter
Eadburga, 193; poisoned by his queen,
194.
Britain, how regarded by the ancients, I.
1 ; once united to the Continent, 2 ;
what animals found in, by the early
settlers, 2; supposed to have been
discovered by the Phoenicians, 2;
believed to be the true Dorado, 3;

HISTORY OF ENGLAND.

vague reports respecting, 4 ; anciently
covered with swamps -and forests, 5 ;
abounded in Caesar's time with popu
lation, 6 ; causes of tbe invasion of,
by Caesar, 10; asylum of political
refugees, 11 ; freed from the Romans
by Carausius, 45; reunited to the
empire, 45 ; approaches its ruin, 47.
British army, twice defeated by the
Romans under Plautius, I. 25 ; army
seat to aid the emperor Anthemius
in Gaul, 59; history between the
Roman exodus and the rise of Saxon
power— its obscurity, 49 ; monks re
fuse to recognise Augustine as their
archbishop, 81.
Britons, their blue eyes, golden hair,
and colossal stature, I. 3 ; their long
beards and black cloaks, 4 ; regarded
with terror by other nations, 4 ; then-
long voyages, 4; skilful miners, 4;
accused of possessing their wives in
common, 5 ; their religion and man
ners, 5 ; their extraordinary supersti
tions, 5; their primitive dwellings,
built in forests, 5 ; their fondness for
groves and woods, 6 ; how far civilised
at the coming of the Romans, 6 ; their
arts and manufactures, 6 ; their military
system, 10; their continental alliances,
10 ; some tribes of, send ambassadors
to Caesar, 12 ; attack the Romans in
the waves, 14; their conflict with
the Romans in the corn-field, 15;
union of, under Cassibelan, 16; dis
union among, 24 ; fought thirty-two
pitched battles with the Romans, 26 ;
their degeneracy under the Roman
emperors, 37 ; their fondness for
luxury, 37 ; send auxiliaries to fight
the battles of Rome abroad, 38 ;
eagerly adopt Christianity, 41; had
not as yet possessed a king, 57 ; con
sult tbe hermit of the mountains as
to the sanctity of Augustine, 80.
Brutality of Williavns knights, II. 298;
of Normans in England during
William's absence in Normandy,
309.
Brybtnotb, curious story, I. 427.
Buffoons, II. 196.
Burial of the slain by the monks who
had escaped, I. 250; of treasure, II.
35; by night, 245.
Buried treasures of the Roman colonists,
1.48.
Byrthelm of Sherborne is chosen to be

archbishop of Canterbury, I. 379 ; but
is sent back on the return of Dunstan,
380.
Cad walla, his ferocity, I. 114; defeats
Edwin, 114; his advance 'upon Nor
thumbria, 114; killed in the battle of
Heavenfield, 128.
Caedwalla, I. 155; his conferences with
Wilfrid, 155; slays Edilwalch, 157 ;
driven into the wilds of Wessex, 157 ;
becomes king of Wessex, 158 ; mur
ders the nephews of the late chief tf
tbe Isle of Wight, 158; vows to ex
terminate Pagan population, 158 ;
strange mingling in his character of
piety and cruelty, 159 ; goes as a
pilgrim to Rome, 161; his death,
162.
Caesar makes known to the Romans the
extent of Britain, I. 1 ; sources of his
power at Rome, 11 ; advantages he
anticipates from the invasion of
Britain, 12 ; rashly undertakes his first
expedition against Britain, 12 ; aims
at inspiring the Britons with terror,
12 ; sets sail for Britain in August,
12; calls a council of merchants,
12 ; his dispositions for landing in
Britain, 13 ; moves eastward with
his fleet, 13 ; his obscure narra
tive of his first expedition, 14;
escapes from Britain in the dead of
night, 15 ; vast preparations for a
second expedition, 15 ; lands a
second time in Britain, 15 ; his night
attack upon the British stockades,,' 16;
reaches the Thames, and* forces a
passage into Middlesex, 17; retreats
towards the shore, 18 ; a second time
escapes from Britain, 18.
Caligula, his insane expedition, I. 21;
draws np his army on the Gallic
coast, 21; embarks in a galley,'and
returns after a short cruise, 21;
orders his soldiers to charge into the
ocean, 22.
Camelac of Llandaff taken prisoner hy
the Danes, I. 321.
Camp of Refuge, II. 323; taken by
William through the treachery of the
monks of Ely, 361.
Camp laws, II. 66.
Canterbury, its siege by Thurkill, II.
26 ; its defence by archbishop El
phege, 26 ; taken by treachery, 26.
Canute, son of Sweyn, II. 37 ; declared

INDEX.

king, 39; his treatment of the hostages,
40 ; collects an army in Denmark, 43 ;
lands in England, 44 ; marches npon
London, 45 ; declared king of Wessex,
46 ; commences the siege of London,
46 ; his plan for taking it, 47 ; marches
against Edmund Ironside, leaving Eric
to, besiege London, 48; doubtful battle,
retreats before Edmund Ironside,
49; is driven from London, 50; orders
the murder of Edmund Ironside, 55 ;
summons the Witan, 56; proposes
the murder of Edwy the Etheling to
Ethelward, 58; marries Emma,
widow of Ethelred, 59 ; murders the
earl of Northumbria, 60; rewards
Edric Streone, 61 ; murders Edric,
62; his horrible order as to his body, 62;
beheads Ethelward, 62 ; his number
less victims, 62 ; kills a guard, and is
menaced by his soldiers, 63 ; pays tbe
wergild of the murdered warrior, 63 ;
his destruction of Edric's friends, 63;
his organisation of a royal guard, 64 ;
his abilities, 67 ; winters in Denmark,
his arbitrary - conduct on his re
turn, 69 ; pretended piety, 69 ; turns
his arms against his friend, Thurkill,
70; banishes him, but afterwards en
trusts him with the government of
Denmark, 71 ; drives Eric into exile,
71; his perfidy and cruelty, 72; his
', increasing superstition, 72; curious
anecdote in regard to him, 73 ; his
discreet policy, 74 ; his politic reve
rence for bishop Elphege's remains,
75; his jovial character, 76 ; lavish do
nations to the Church, 77 ; anecdote
of him, 77; defeated by the Swedes
at the Helga, saved by an Eng
lishman, 78; his Swedish enemies
slaughtered and routed by earl God
win, 79 ; begins to look upon Norway
with a greedy eye, 82; defeats Olaf,
and is made king. 83; his code of
laws, 83; originally a heathen, his
hatred of paganism after bi3 conver
sion, 89 ; advised- to go on a pilgrim
age to Rome, sets out, 95 ; his great
generosity on the way, 96; piety
sincere, 96 ; arrives in Rome, chides
the pope for his avarice, 97 ; his letter
to the English people, 98 ; goes to
Denmark, 98; returns and goes to
Scotland, 99; continued endowment
of churches and monasteries, 99 ; his
fondness of Ely monastery, 101 ;

crosses to the monastery on a sledge,
102; his death and character, 102;
his domestic life, 103 ; piratical spirit,
104.
Canute II. projects the invasion of Eng
land, but abandons it, II. 404; his
reasons for abandoning the expedition,
404-405 ; falls a victim to the fury of
his disappointed soldiers, 405.
Caractacus, I. 26 ; places himself at the
head of the Silures, 26 ; maintains the
contest against Roman power for nine
years, 26; is taken prisoner, 27; is
taken into the friendship of Claudius,
27.
Caradoc, son of Griffith, destroys the
royal hunting-lodge built by Harold
for Edward the Confessor, II. 207.
Carausius, the Silurian, I. 45 ; declares
the independence of Britain, 45; as
sumes the government of the country,
and reigns seven years, 45 ; is assas
sinated, 45.
Carthage, course of its early navigators,
1.2.
Cartismandua, I. 26.
Cassibelan, a union of the Britons under,
I. 16; Romans bewildered by his
tactics, 17 ; attacks the camp of the
Romans on the coast, 18.
Castle built to protect Vaulcher the
bishop, II. 369.
Castles erected by tbe Normans in Eng
land, II. 326.
Ceaulin, the pagan king of Wessex,
driven out by his nephew, Ceolric, a
christian, I. 122.
Celebration of the consecration of
churches and monasteries, II. 212.
Celestial phenomena, I. 173, 210, 242,
334, 418 ; II. 14, 144-145, 240.
Celtic race, known in history under vari
ous names, 1. 1 ; Europe overrun by, 1 ;
preceded in Scandinavia by the Fins,
1, note ; nations — characteristic vices
of, 24.
Centralisation, II. 287.
Ceolmund, I. 300.
Cerdie/ lands and settles in Hampshire,
1.92.
Ceremony of removing Bishop Elphege's
remains, II. 74, 75.
Change in the character of the Roman
soldiers, I. 22.
Characters ofthe people of Wessex and
Kent, 1. 164.
Charlemagne, his discussions with Offa

8

HISTORY OF ENGLAND.

of Mercia, I. 189 ; his presents to
the English king and clergy, 1. 190 ;
demands the hand of one of Offa's
daughters for his natural son, 190 ;
his fearful profligacy, 211.
Charms for the cure of diseases, I. 69.
Charter granted to London by William
I., II. 317.
Charters granted to monasteries by
Norman grandees, II. 416; forged
by monks, 417.
Chersonesus, origin of tbe name, I. 94.
Child-wite, II. 347.
Christian religion, its first introduction
into Britain, I. 41.
Christianity among the serfs, I. 70 ; its
steady progress, 120.
Church built by Blacheman, II, 316.
Church preferment, II. 382.
Church subject to the State, II. 385.
Church-scot, I. 404.
Cimbri, a Celtic tribe, 1. 1; descendants
of, 13.
City of Legions, II. 275.
City ofthe Seven Hills, I. 325.
Civil war between William I. and his
son Robert, II. 389.
Civilisation, its early development, 1. 207;
checked by the conquest, II, 414.
Claudius despatches Aulus Plautius to
Britain, I. 22; sends bis favourite,
Narcissus, to quell the mutiny, 22 ;
is sent for by Plautius, 25 ; arrives in
Britain, 26.
Clergy, their fondness for display, 1. 397 ;
manage public affairs, II. 10; in Nor
mandy, 314 ; in England at the time
of the Conquest, 287 ; forbidden by
William I. to act as if England were
subordinate to the Pope, 385.
Cogidunus, I. 26.
Coifi, the high priest, defies the pagan
gods, I. 111.
Coinage, II. 10, 11; debasing of, 12;
laws regarding, 90; during Harold's
reign, 279.
Coiners, their summary punishment, I.
407; desperate bands of, II. 10; laws
against, 9.
Colonies, nine founded in Britain, I. 3 3.
Comic persecution, II. 108.
Commerce, I. 407; II. 283.
Competitors for English throne, II. 56 ;
for the crown after Canute's death, 106.
Conference between Gallic and Italian
religious disputants at Verulam, I. 55 ;
at Oxford, II. 42.

Confiscation of English estates by Wil
liam I., II. 321.
Confused accounts of Ethelbert's second
wife, 1. 98.
Conquest, its mischievous results, II.
414 ; diminishes tbe value of property,
414; checks tbe nisus of population,
415.
Conspiracy against William I. in Eng
land, II. 373 ; its progress, 374-375.
Constantine the Great, the son of a Bri
tish mother, I, 46.
Contests between monks and the secular
clergy, I. 409.
Contingents contributed to the army by
estates, lay or ecclesiastical, I. 306.
Contrast between tbe Enghsh and Nor
man character, II. 282.
Convent of Ely plundered by Danes,
and nuns and monks murdered, I.
252.
Convents, fearful immorality in, 1. 176;
depravity in, II. 149.
Copsi, II. 312.
Corinthian brass, I. 45.
Cornwall, ancient trade with, I. 3.
Coronation, magnificence displayed at,
II. 236.
Corruption of manners, I. 436.
Costly presents, I. 348.
County courts, I. 405.
Courtiers turned monks, I. 368.
Courtly tastes, II. 208.
Cowardice of the natives, I. 444.
Cowardly vengeance of the Normans,
II. 273; rifle the English dead, 273.
Criminals, concentrated vengeance of
society against, I. 358.
Croyland, consternation of the monks at
the Danish victory at Kesteven, I.
246 ; massacre of the monks by the
Danes, 247; burned by the Danes,
248 ; its restoration by Turketul, 366;
II. 108 ; 110; 359.
Crown of England given to William by
Edgar the etheling, II. 296.
Cruelties of the Danes, II. 116 ; perpe
trated by Norman soldiers, 263.
Curious customs, II. 66.
Curious tankards, I. 391.
Cuthbert, William, resolves to break
open his tomb, II. 369.
Cuthred, king of Wessex, reduced to
dependence by Ethelbald, 1. 177; his
son rebels against him, 177; his son
killed by a mutiny of his own soldiers,
177 ; is reconciled with his rebellious

INDEX.

subject, Ethelhun, 178 ; marches with
Ethelhun into the Mercian territory,
179 ; defeats the Mercians, 180 ; dies,
and is succeeded by Sigebert, 180.
Cwichelm is baptised, 1. 124.
Cymbeline, I. 20; 57.
Cynehard, brother of Sigebert, retires
into the forests, 1. 183 ; places himself
at the bead of the outlaws, 183 ; slays
Cynewulf in the chamber of bis mis
tress, 184 ; defeated and slain by the
friends of Cynewulf, 185.
Cynewulf becomes king of Wessex, I.
181 ; banishes Cynehard, brother of
Sigebert, 182 ; slain in the chamber of
his mistress by Cynehard, 184 ; de
feated by Offa of Mercia, 187.
Danegeld, II. 21, 41 ; its abolition, 147.
Danes, invasion of, I. 206 ; their first
landing, 206-208; their cruelties, 208;
colony of, in Cornwall, 220; defeated
by Ethelwulf, 227 ; appear in Thanet,
236; take York, 239; their north
ward progress, 239 ; defeated by earls
Algar and Morcard, 243 ; their vic
torious progress southward, 255 ; de
feated by Ethelwulf earl of Berkshire,
255 ; kill Ethelwulf, 256 ; utterly de
feated by Alfred and Ethelred, 257;
defeat Alfred at Basing, 258; again de
feat Alfred, 261; appear in Wiltshire,
261 ; advance again northward, 263 ;
take Mercia, and raise a native to the
throne, 264 ; their capricious charac
ter, 264 j their conquest of North
umbria, 265; their fleet destroyed,
267; manner of burying tbe dead,
275 ; tender their submission to Alfred,
276 ; their chief baptised, 276 ; cease
their marauding life, and settle as
quiet colonists, 277; another expe
ditionary force arrives in England,
but not being allowed by their brethren
in arms to engage in marauding, de
part for Flanders, 283 ; once [more
ravage Kent, 284 ; prepare to assault
Rochester, but are compelled to raise
the siege by Alfred, 285 ; and fly to
the Continent, 285; take Shobury,
295; defeated at Buttington, 296;
again retreat to Shobury, 296;
march to Chester, after receiving
reinforcements, 297; harassed by
the English army, they cross into
Wales, and then again into North
umbria, 297; fortify themselves at

Ware, and drive back the English,
298 ; at length driven from Ware,
299 ; throw up a stronghold at Bridg
north, 299; their complete discom
fiture, 300; their victories under
Etbelwald, 312; again invade Eng
land, 315; defeated at Wodensfield,
316; enter Oxfordshire, but are de
feated and slaughtered by the inhabi
tants, 318 ; no longer objects of ter
ror, 323 ; again and again defeated,
324 ; reduced to allegiance, 325 ;
permanently rooted in England, 428 ;
how they recruited their navies and
armies, 432 ; escape tbe English fleet
sent against them by Ethelred, 433 ;
land in Northumbria, 437 ; compelled
to retire, they sail away and enter the
Humber, and defeat the army gathered
against them, 437 ; become protectors
of England, 439 ; having exhausted,
the revenues of Wessex sail westward,
442; after landing and plundering
where they pleased, they winter in
Devonshire, 442 ; sail eastward, 443 ;
pass on to the Isle of Wight, 444;
sail to the Kentish coast, and resolve
to storm Rochester, 444 ; reduce Kent
to a desert, 444; allowed by treaty
to remain in the country, 448 ; pre
parations for general massacre of, II.
4; their social position in England,
4; massacred by the Anglo Saxons,
5 ; on the Continent, their exaspera
tion at the massacre, 6 ; under Sweyn,
their victorious advance, 16 ; their
contempt for a Saxon prophecy, 16;
march to Winchester, 17 ; make Eng
land tremble, 19; bought off by
Ethelred, 20 ; force the citizens of
Canterbury to pay ransom, 22 ; their
victory at Ringmere, 24 ; take and
pillage Canterbury, 26 ; their atroci
ties, 27 ; return to their ships after
enforcing tribute, 28 ; celebrate a
grand feast, 29 ; call Elphege before
them, 29 ; murder bishop Elphege,
30 ; invited by Ethelred to take ser
vice under the English crown, 30 ;
their sovereigns in England, 37 ; mas
sacred by Ethelred at Oxford, 42 ;
defeated by Edmund Ironside at Pen,
47 ; their stratagems to defeat English
at Sherston, 49 ; effect their retreat,
49 ; defeat Edmund Ironside at As
sandun, 50 ; their fondness for English
wives, 68 ; good husbands, 68; fond-

10

HISTORY OF ENGLAND.

ness for bathing, 73 ; depraved state of
morals under Canute, 84 ; in France,
104 ; driven from a great part of
England, by an insurrectionary army
under Howne, 127 ; conceal themselves,
to avoid insult, on occasion of the
Saxon restoration, 136.
Danish fleet in the Thames, I. 226;
attacks the coast of Devonshire, 293 ;
enters Sandwich, II. 22; paid and
dismissed, 165.
Danish invaders sue to Edward the El
der for peace, I. 311.
Danish marriages in England, II. 15.
Danish troops desert the Saxon patriot
army, II. 356.
Darkening of the intellect by the papacy,
II. 382.
Death of Cerdie, I. 93.
Decrease of learning, I. 315.
Defeat of the English at Hastings, II.
272.
Degeneracy of the English under
Ethelred, I. 445 ; under Canute, IT.
64.
Depopulation of Northumbria, II. 315.
Description of the Bayeux Tapestry,
II. 401-402.
Desire of the Normans to decimate the
English, II. 364.
Desolation in England, II. 329.
Destruction of Danish vessels, 1. 301 ; of
the Witan at Calne, 413-414; of
Saxon families, II. 104.
Determination of tbe English people to
fight under Harold against the
Normans, II. 261.
Devastator of tbe Earth, II. 252.
Devil and the gold, II. 147.
Different modes of passing the night in
the English and Norman camps, II.
267.
Diflaculty of reconstructing the Saxon
monarchy at the time of William's
advance on London, II. 294.
Disaffection of the people against Ethel
red, II. 20 ; of William's soldiers, 338.
Disagreements between, foreign em
ploye's, I. 305.
Disastrous wars, I. 300.
Discussions in the Witan as to the heir
to the crown of Canute, II. 106.
Dissimulation of William when offered
the crown, II. 297.
Distracting policy of the Danes, I. 293.
Divian the missionary, I. 41.
Divinations, I. 69, 356.

Division of England under Canute, II.
57.
Domesday Book, .new edition of, sug
gested, II. 417; its object, 418.
Domestic and foreign wars, II. 348.
Domitian recalls Agricola, I. 32.
Donjon keeps, II. 326.
Donum Matutinale, I. 85.
Dooms promulgated by -Ethelbert, I.
82.
Dooms, I. 164.
Dover sacked by Normans, II. 291.
Dramatic exhibitions, II. 136 ; their na
ture, 137.
Dream of the Shepherd's Daughter, I.
330.
Dress Qf women, I. 329.
Druidesses dwelt apart in an island, 1. 9.
Druidic vestals, their power over the seas
and winds, 1. 10.
Druidism, probably modified hy the
Phoenicians, I. 4 ; among the Saxons,
68.
Druids, their circular temples, I. 5 ; their
philosophy, learning, and civil polity,
6 ; in what light their human sacrifices
to be considered, 7 ; nature of the
knowledge they possessed, 8; their
colleges, and tbe studies pursued in, 8 ;
their theology, 9 ; use of the Greek
character by, 9; their poetry,, 9;
hideous picture of them drawn by the
Romans, 27; frustrate designs of
Paulinus, 28; priestesses on the hanks
of the Menai Straits, 28 ; massacre of,
by the Romans, 29.
Drunkenness of clergy and laity, I. 391.
Dunstan, I. 360, 372 ; offends the king
Edwy, 374 ; driven into exile, 375 ;
cruelty he is said to have experienced
at the king's hands, 375; his return
to England, 380 ; his character, 380;
bis great power, 381 ; his means of
wielding it, 381 ; early life, 382 ;
becomes archbishop of Canterbury,
383; 398; crowns Edgar, 400; his
sternness towards courtiers, 407 ; his
strange consecration of Edward as
successor of king Edgar, 410 ; his
miracle at Winchester, 411; his de
bate in the Witan at Calne, 413;
second miracle, 413 ; his conduct of
public affairs, 414; accused of preparing
the terrible catastrophe at Calne, 414;
consecrates Ethelred the Unready,
417 ; bis speech to the king at the
coronation, 418 ; his sagacious policy,

INDEX.

11

419 ; persuades Ethelred to give away .
estates to the church, 420 ; his grow
ing weakness, 423 ; his denunciations
against the king, 424; his unpopu
larity and crimes 424; retires to
Canterbury to die, 425 ; his death, 426.
Durham taken by the Normans, II. 330.
Eadbald, tbe son of Ethelbert, converted
by a pretended miracle, I. iOO.
Eadburga, wife of Brihtric, I. 193 ; her
terrible cruelty and licentiousness,
193; poisons ber husband, 194; sails
for the mouth of the Rhine, 194 ; goes
to the court of Charlemagne, 194;
conduct at French court, 195; is
made abbess of a convent, 195 ; is
expelled for her profligacy, and flies
to Italy, 195 ; is reduced to beggary,
and .dies of starvation, 195.
Eadsy, archbishop of Canterbury; his
piety ; chooses a successor, who dies,
II. 142.
Eadulf, master of the horse, I. 300.
Eadulf of Sussex, I. 300.
Eadulf's Ness, II. 146.
Ealdbryht contests the throne of
Wessex with Ina, I. 168 ; defeated
by Ina's queen, 168; slain by Ina,
168.
Ealhard of Dorchester, I. 300.
Eanfrid, son of Edwin, put to death by
Penda, I. 129.
Early closing, II. 87.
East Auglia, its people and scenery, I.
251 ; reduced by the Danes, 254.
East Saxons, their war with the people
of Wessex, I. 99.
Easter question, I. 142.
Eaured becomes a tributary, to Egbert,
I. 218; king of Northumbria, 218.
Ecclesiastical crusade against property,
I. 391; extortions, 404-420.
Edgar deposes his brother Edwy, and
becomes king of Wessex, I. 377 ;
causes his brother to be assassinated,
378 ; his licentiousness, 384 ; ordered
to do penance, 384 ; hires penitents,
385 ; marries,- 386 ; his adventure at
Andover, 386; punishes a lady for her
virtue, 387; gratitude to his early
friends, 387; sends for Elfrida.the
daughter of earl Ordgar, but is deceived
by his messneger Athelwold, 388 ; his
plan of revenge, murders Athelwold,
389; and elevates Elfrida to the throne
as queen of Wessex, 389; supplies 2

funds for restoration of monasteries,
397 ; works of peace during his reign,
398; his revenge on the people of
Thanet for plundering the traders
from York, 399; his voyage of
state, 400; his coronation, 400;
insulted by the king of Scotland at a
banquet; offers to fight him singly,
but receives his homage, and pardons
him, 401; his death; circumstances
of his reign, 402; his consummate
prudence, 403; his family, 410;
doubt as to his successor, 410 ; suc
ceeded by his sou Edward, 4] 0.
Edgar the etheling, proposal to raise
him to the throne after Harold's
death, II. 294 ; unequal to his situa
tion, 295; lays the crown of Eng
land at the feet of William the Con
queror, 296; throws himself on
William's protection and is pensioned,
371 ; his career, 372.
Editha, daughter of earl Godwin, II.
133 ; her accomplishments, 134 ; her
studies; ber beauty; marries king
Edward, 134 ; though a wife, lives
the life of a nun, 140 ; hated by her
husband, 140; made the object of
Edward's malevolence, 163; driven
to a monastery, 163; her sufferings
and charity, 209; acquires influence
over her husband, 210; her prediction
respecting Vaulcher, 369.
Editha ofthe Swan Neck, II. 276.
Editha, Saint, I. 348; ridiculed by
Canute, II. 77.
Edmund succeeds Athelstan, I. 352;
defeated by Anlaf, 353 ; reduces the
whole of Northumbria, 356; plucks
out the eyes of two Cumbrian princes,
356; good social policy, 356; killed
by Leofa the outlaw, 359 ;
Edmund Ironside, the natural son of
Ethelred, becomes prince of the
Danish Burghs, II. 43; joins his
father against Edric and Canute, 45 ;
is raised to the throne, 46 ; defeats the
Danes at Pen, 47; engages Canute's
army at Sherston, 48 ; forces the
Danes to retreat, 49 ; doubtful battles,
50; is duped into joining Edric
Streone, 51 ; his want of policy, 51 ;
engages the Danes, and is betrayed
by Edric, 52; is defeated, 52; his
negociations with Canute, 53; pays
him tribute, 54; murdered by order
of Canute, 55.

12

HISTORY OF ENGLAND.

Edmund, a priest, elected bishop of
Durham through a joke; miraculous
voice, II. 70.
Edred succeeds Edmund on the throne
of Wessex, I. 360 ; advances with his
army to receive the submission of Nor
thumbria, 361 ; ravages the country,
362; defeated by Anglo-Danes, 363;
prepares to revenge his defeat, 363; re
ceives the submission of bis enemies,
364 ; his massacre at Thetford, 365 ;
dies, 369.
Edric Gwilt or the Wild, II. 313.
Edric Streone, the favourite of Ethelred,
a man of low origin, II. 17 ; his opu
lence ; prepares to assassinate Elfhelm
at a banquet, 18; a competitor for the
throne, 44; joined by Edmund Iron
side, 44; quarrels with him, 44; his
subtle policy, 45; marches against
London, 45; advises the murder of
Edmund's sons, 57 ; regarded with
suspicion by Canute, 61; murdered
by Canute, 62.
Education, growth of, I. 40; 328.
Edward tbe Elder succeeds Alfred, I.
310 ; his education, 310 ; after defeat
ing the pretender Ethelwald, restores
his wifs to the convent from which
she bad been enticed, 311 ; ad
vances against Ethelwald, 313; his
perilous position, 313 ; doubtful en
gagement with the Danes at Axle-
holm, 314; increase of bis power,
314; his fleet, 315; drives back the
Danish invaders, 321; chases the
Danes from one end of his dominions
to the other, 322 ; his death and cha
racter, 327.
Edward, St., succeeds Edgar — his strange
coronation by Dunstan, I. 410; goes
forth to hunt, visits his brother's house,
415 ; is murdered by order of Elfrida,
tbe mother of Ethelred the Unready,
416 ; his body discovered by a miracle,
421 ; buried at Shaftesbury, 422 ; ap
pearance of his spirit to the monks,
422; his body divided into several
parts and presented to various monas
teries, 423.
Edward, son of Edmund Ironside, his
children, II. 57; dies suddenly in
London, 182.
Edward the Confessor, crowned when a
boy^ II. 41 ; sails for England; his
landing opposed by the West Saxons,
112; iands at Southampton, 113; de

feats the English, but is driven at
length back to bis ships, 113; sent
for by his mother to Bruges, 119;
returns to Normandy, 120; invited to
England by Hardicanute, 128; his
incapacity, 130 ; his foreign language
and habits, 131 ; flies to Godwin, who
persuades him to take the crown, 132;
his weakness, 133 ; marries Editha,
daughter of Earl Godwin, 133 ; his co-
ronation, 136 ; his hypocrisy, 139 ; his
Norman vices, 139; his favourites, 139;
bis hatred of his queen, 140 ; drawn
into quarrels with his mother by his
Norman friends, 140 ; confiscates his
mother's property, 14i ; summoned by
Magnus, king of Norway, to relinquish
the crown, 143; treats Ms menaces
with disdain, and fits out a fleet, 143 ;
involved in foreign political dissensions,
145 ; his story of the devil on his j
heaps of gold,' 147 ; his fondness for 1
foreigners, 153 ; receives a visit from \
his brother-in-law, Eustace, count of j
Boulogne, 155 ; his scheme for ruining n
Godwin, 155; summons the Witan j
to try Godwin for refusing to carry j
out his bloodthirsty orders, 157 ; his \
rupture with Godwin, 158; concludes 1
a truce, 159 ; his treachery, 159 ; his
word worthless, 160 ; endeavours to
waylay Godwin, but fails, 162 j wreaks
his vengeance on his queen, 163 ; his
paltry outrage upon his wife, 163
deprives her of her property, 164;
invites to England William of Nor- J
mandy, 164 ; bis malignant treatment 1
of the hostages which, through his "
perfidy, he had retained, 165 ; prepares
to resist. Godwin, who, finding all ne
gociation vain, has recourse to arms,
and, with a large fleet, enters the
Thames, 170; wishes to
170; bis foreign courtiers
to Normandy, 171; compelled
Godwin to restore him his estates, to
dismiss foreigners, and bring back his
queen to the palace, 172 ; sends ai
army against the rebel Algar, undei
Harold, who restores peace, 186 ;j
passion for the chase, 207, 208; Ml
credulity imposed on by the monks,
208 ; supposed to cure diseases by his
touch, 209 ; fondness for the sons of
Godwin, 210; his domestic life, 210-
211; his growing sickness, 217; We»
of Thorns, 218; presides at a royal j

;/

INDEX.

13

banquet— dies, 219; desires Harold
to succeed him, 219; strange aspect
after death, 220 ; his character, 220,
221; charity, 222; joviality, 222;
odious treatment of his wife, 224;
buried in Westminster Abbey, 224.
Edwin, king pf Northumbria, treats for
the hand of Ethelberga, sister of Ead-
bald, 1. 101 ; marries Ethelberga, 102;
in exile, 103; takes refuge in East
Anglia with king Redwald, 103 ; his
strange dream, 104; bis murder re
solved on by king Redwald at the
instigation of Ethelfrid, 104 ; his re
storation, 105; subdues Bernicia, 106;
his attempted assassination by Eumer,
107; swears to adopt Christianity if
he succeed in punishing Cwiehelm for
histreachery,107; bisvictoriesoverthe
West Saxons, 108 ; hesitates to change
his faith, 108; calls together the
Witenagemot of Northumbria, 109;
is baptised, 110 ; annexes a Kymric
principality, 112; his naval power,
112 ; tranquil condition of his king
dom, 112 ; marches to oppose the in
cursion of Cadwalla, 114; his defeat
by Cadwalla, 114; his death, 114;
results of his incursion into tbe terri
tory ofthe West Saxons, 123.
Edwin, brother of Athelstan, his grow
ing popularity, I. 339 ; perished at
sea, 340.
Edwin and Morcar, their rebellion
against Tostig, II. 214 ; plunder his
palace, their success, 214; advance to
Northampton and Oxford, commission
assembled to quiet tbe rebellion, de
mand repeal of Tostig's laws and his
banishment, 214; Witenagemot held
to decide on their demands, they ac
cuse Tostig. of cruelty, 215; cause
him to be exiled, 217 ; resist Tostig's
second invasion, 247; defeated by
Tostig and Hardrada, 249; 296; their
popularity, 323 ; their eagerness for
pacification the ruin of the English
cause, 324; their Vacillating character,
357; death of Edwin, 358.
Edwy succeeds Edred on the throne of
Wessex, I. 369; early habits, 371;
his Goronation,372; offends the guests
at the feast of the coronation, 373 ; is
dragged back to the banquet hall by
Dunstan, 374; deposed by bis bro
ther Edgar, 377; bis assassination,
378. 2

E^wyking ofthe Churls, II. 58.
Fjdwy the etheling, II. 58; murdered
by Canute, 59.
Egbert, the rival of Brihtric^ flies to
Mercia, 1. 192" ; escapes to France to
avoid the treachery of Offa, 193; king
of Wessex, 210 ; a disciple of Charle
magne, 211 ; begins his reign by
bloodshed, 212 ; annexes Kent and
Essex to Wessex, 215 ; drives' Wiglaf
from Mercia, 216 ; invades Northum
bria, 217 ; defeated by the vikings,
219 ; defeated^ by the Welsh, 219 ;
invokes the Witan, 219 ; defeats the
united Danes and Kymri, 221 ; death
and character, 221.
Egferth succeeds Offa, 1. 200 ; dies, 200.
Egfrid succeeds Oswy as king of Nor
thumbria, I. 147; divorces his wife un
willingly, 147 ; quarrels with Wilfrid,
148 ; marries a second wife, 148 ;
king of Northumbria, his defeat by the
Picts, 151 ; his death, 151.
Eldhilda, L 348.
Elfhelm murdered by Edric, the fa
vourite of Ethelred, II. 18.
Elfred, rival of Athelstan, his strange
story, I. 331-332.
Elfric of Canterbury calls a synod, I.
441 ; goes to Rome, 442 ; returns to
England and ejects the secular clergy
from Christchurch, 442.
Elfsine of Winchester, I. 378 ; succeeds
Odo as archbishop of Canterbury,
378 ; is killed by an Alpine snow
storm, 379.
Elfwina succeeds Ethelfleda as queen of
Mercia, I. 320 ; is removed as a pri
soner to Wessex, 321.
Elgiva, I. 371; her sufferings, 377; is
murdered by the monks, 377.
Elmar, the archdeacon of Canterbury,
his treachery, II. 26 ; allowed to go
in peace, 28.
Elphege refuses to extort tribute from
the people for the Danes, II. 28';
threatened with torture, 29 ; sum
moned before the Danes at their ban
quet, 29 ; is murdered, 30 ; bis bones
dug up, 73 ; reburied at Canterbury,
76.
Ely monastery, II. 101.
Embroidery, I. 329.
Emma of Normandy, II. 2 ; marries
Ethelred, 3 ; finds an asylum for her
husband in Normandy, 34 ; marries
Canute, 59 ; flies to Bruges and en-
f2

14

HISTORY OF ENGLAND.

deavours to persuade Edward to at
tempt the throne of England, 119 ;
finding Edward too cowardly, consults
with Hardicanute, 120 ; her property
confiscated by her son, accused of
adultery, 141.
Enchanters, I. 306.
England, its white cliffs first seen by the
Romans, I. 13 ; its convulsed state,
126 ; its dismal condition under
Edgar, 389 ; terrible pestilence, 390 ;
denominated Saxony beyond the sea,
154 ; trembles before the Danes, II.
19 ; its wealth, 25 ; divided between
Canute and Edmund Ironside, 59 ; .
its internal tranquillity under Canute,
81 ; absence of castles in, 325 ; its
social condition at tbe time of king
Edgar's death, 403 ; its condition
after the suppression of the secular
clergy, 419.
English, their fondness for detached
houses, I. 87 ; relapse into paganism,
139 ; school at Rome, 230 ; clergy,
370 ; merchants, 429 ; army sent by
Ethelred into Normandy, the troops
land at Barfleur, drive the Normans
before them, 429 ; but are afterwards
utterly exterminated by the natives,
430; fleet sent by Ethelred against the
Danes, 433 ; its ill-success through
treachery, 433 ; scenery, II. 191,
192, 193, 194; trees, 191-192;
amusements, 196; obliged to buy
their own lands from the conqueror,
303 ; mercenaries at Constantinople,
settle at Kibotos, form the prin
cipal body-guard of the Byzantine
monarch, 310; army in Normandy,
370; enslaved condition of, under Wil
liam I., 385 ; 415.
Equinoxial gales, II. 244.
Eric, son of Harold Blue-tooth, raises
tlie standard of revolt in North
umbria, I. 362; murdered by Maccas,
364.
Establishment of feudal despotism, II.
313.
Estrangement between the court of
Winchester and London, II. 111.
Ethelbald, king of Mercia, invades
Wessex and takes castle of Somerton,
I. 172 ; his profligacy, 175 ; reduces
Wessex to dependence, 177 ; excites
tbe son of Cuthbert, king of Wessex,
to take up arms against his father,
1.77; defeated by the Kymri, 177;

flies before Ethelhun at the battle of
the Windrush, 180 ; defeated and
slain by Beornred, 186.
Ethelberga is delivered of a son, 1. 107 ;
escapes to the kingdom of her brother,
115 ; enters a convent, 115.
Ethelberga, persuades Ina to retire to a
monastery, I. 168.
Ethelbert, king of Kent ; his marriage
with the daughter of the king of
Paris, I. 71 ; bis conversion to Chris
tianity through his wife, 72; looks-
with ill-will upon the Pagans, 77 ; is
baptised by Augustine, 77; bestows
the city of Canterbury upon the
Christian missionaries, 79 ; marries a
second wife, 97; dies, 97.
Etheldritba flies to a convent, I. 198.
Ethelfleda, wife of Etheh-ed, I. 316-
317 ; succeeds her husband as governor
of Mercia, 317 ; strengthens the fron
tier line, 318 ; her victories in Wales,
319; takes the town of Derby, 319;
receives the submission of Leicester,
319; takes York, 320; dies, 320.
Ethelfrid, king of Northumbria, bis
massacre of the British monks, I.
82 ; the usurper, 103 ; his death,
105.
Ethelhard succeeds Ina, I. 170; his
reverses in Wales, 172.
Ethelhun, a noble of Wessex, rebels
against Cuthred, 1. 178 ; defeated by
Cuthred, 178 ; is reconciled with
Cuthred, 178.
Ethelnoth, archbishop of Canterbury,
II. 73, 109; refuses to consecrate
Harold Harefoot as king,-109.
Ethelred, earl of Mercia, 1. 314; defeats
the Danes at Wodensfield, 316 ; his
death, 316.
Ethelred,- rage of his mother at his
grief for his brother's murder, I. 416 ;
his dislike to wax-candles accounted
for, 416; succeeds his brother Edward,
and is consecrated at Kingston, 417 ;
held in odium by the people, 421 ;
sends an army to punish the bishop of
Rochester, 423; bis licentiousness,
426; his cowardice, 428; sends au
army into Normandy, 429, which is
cut to pieces, 430 ; fears for the
safety of his kingdom, 432; sends
a large fleet against the Danes,
433; punishes earl Alfric's son for
his father's treason, 434; disasters
and humiliations in bis reign, 434;

INDEX.

15

forced by circumstances upon the
throne, 435 ; his paltry policy towards
the Danes, 439 ; concludes a treaty,
with them, 439 ; invites the king of
Norway to Andover, 440; faint
attempt to raise an army and a fleet,
' 446 ; having failed to effect anything
against tbe Danes, the royal forces
attack the Kymri, 446 ; chooses Palig,
a Dane, to command the English
navy, 447; resolves to marry a
Norman princess, II. 1 ; his miserable
policy, 1 ; his laws, 2 ; marries Emma,
daughter of Richard of Normandy,
3 ; his immorality, 3 ; plans a
general massacre, 3; bis children half
Danish, 15 ; retires with his favourite,
Edric Streone, into Shropshire, where
he commits fresh crimes, 17; brutality
in Mercia, 19 ; buys off the Danes, 20 ;
his cowardice, 22 ; flight of his army,
23 ; secures the protection of the
Danish fleet, 30 ; hopelessness of his
cause, 33 ; bis profligate habits, 33 ;
flies to Normandy, 34 ; sends his son
Edward to England, 39 ; his restora
tion, 40; drives the Danes to their
ships, 40; punishes the rebels, 40;
causes Edward to be anointed as king,
41 ; massacres the Danes at Oxford,
42; desires to take tbe Danish burghs,
but is forestalled by his natural son,
Edmund Ironside, 43 ; bis death, 46.
Ethelwalch is converted to Christianity,
1. 136.
Ethelwald, the son of Alfred's elder
brother, refuses to recognise the right
ofEdward to the throne, 1.310; seizes
on Wimborne, but steals away by
night to avoid a battle, 311 ; entices
away a nnn, and leaves heir afterwards
to the tender mercies of his enemies,
311 ; is raised to the supreme com
mand of the Danes of Northumbria,
312 ; killed at the battle of Axleholm,
314.
Ethelward, enjoined by Canute to
murder Edwy the etheling, II. 58 ;
endeavours to save him, 59 ; beheaded,
62.
Ethelwold, bishop of Winchester; his
pilgrimage, I. 394; restores Medes
hamstede monastery, 395; rebuilds
monastery of Abingdon, 396-398.
Ethelwulf succeeds Egbert, I. 223 ;
leaves the cloister to ascend the
throne, 223 ; goes on a pilgrimage to

Rome, 229; second marriage, 231;
finds on his return to England his
nobles in arms against him, 232;
dies, 234.
Ethics of tha English deteriorated by
the conquest, II. 415.
Etruria, a den of brigands, II. 201.
Earner, employed "by Cwichelm of
Wessex to assassinate Edwin, I. 106.
Eustace, count of Boulogne, visits Ed
ward the Confessor, II. 155 ; marches
to Dover, 155; his followers endea
vour to force their way into private
houses and quarter themselves on the
inmates, 156 ; one of them insults au
English gentleman, who kills him,
156; the Englishman murdered by
Eustace's followers, 156; they mas
sacre the inhabitants, but are in their
turn defeated and cut to pieces by tbe
Saxon garrison, 156; invited to co
operate with the English against
William, 311; lands at Dover, at
tacks the castle, but is seized with
a panic and returns, 311; garrison
falls upon his followers in their flight,
311 ; joins William, 312.
Excommunication recognised by the
Druids, I. 7.
Exeter, siege of, II. 318; surrenders to
William tbe Conqueror, 319; beauty
of the scenery around the city, 319.
Exiled nobles, II. 341.
Exodus of the Romans from Britain, I.
47.
Fable as to the resistance offered to
William on bis march to London, II.
292.
Fabled bestowal of the English crown
by Edward the Confessor upon Wil
liam of Normandy, II. 230-233.
Factions in the Witenagemdt at the
time of William's conquest, II. 293.
Fagan the missionary, I. 41.
Fairs and markets, II. 348.
False flight of the Normans at the battle
of Hastings, II. 270.
Famishing multitudes, II. 16.
Fearful condition of England under
William in tbe early part of his reign,
II. 309-310.
Fearful scenes at Canterbury, II. 27.
Fearful tempests, II. 41.
Fees for entering Paradise, II. 86.
Female legislators, 1. 163.
Female slaves, protection of, I. 86.

16

HISTORY OF ENGLAND.

Fens of Croyland, II. 358.
Fetish worship, II. 90.
Feudalism among the Normans, II. 285.
Fictitious miracles, II. 77.
Field of battle at Hastings after the
defeat of the English, II. 274.
Field ofthe dead, I. 188.
Fines, II. 86 ; 346.
Fleet, taxes to pay for its building, II.
21.
Flight of tbe Northumbrian nobles after
the false peace, II. 324.
Flowers and fruits brought by the
Romans into Britain, I. 39.
Folk-motes, II. 87.
Folk-right, II. 87.
Fondness of the nobles for nuns, II.
149,
Foreign churches and monasteries en
riched by Canute, II. 96.
Foreign clergy introduced by William I.,
II. 343.
Foreign coins circulated in England, II.
11.
Foreign seamen, I. 305.
Foreign traders, I. 391.
Foreign women, I. 306,
Forest laws, II. 195.
Forkbeard, II. 38.
Fortification of British towns, I. 36.
Fortune-tellers, I. 306.
Foundlings, I. 166.
Frauds ofthe Normans, II. 322.
Freebooters, II. 24.
French fairs, I. 189.
Fricca the priestess, I. 69.
Frisian shipwrights, I. 305.
Frithgeard, II. 88.
Funeral of William the Conqueror, II,
410-411.
Gaius passes with the brigands for
Tostig; threatened with death, but
afterwards dismissed with honour for
bis fidelity, II. 204.
Gallant defence of the Camp of Refuge
by the English, II. 360.
Galley, given to Hardicanute by earl
Godwin, II. 124; its beauty, 125.
Gallic church, its aid solicited by the
Britons, I. 54.
Geoffrey Gaimar, II. 365.
Gerenti king of Cornwall, defeated by
Ina, 1. 166.
German auxiliaries, I. 23.
Germans, their dislike to the Romans,
1.89.

Germanus sent to Britain by the Gallic
church, 1.55; legend in regard to bim,
56.
Ghastly heaps of human bones, II, 253.
Gherbod the Fleming, II. 365-366.
Gift of the Elves, IL 2,
Githa, the mother of Harold, earnestly
endeavours to dissuade Harold from
going forth to battle, II. 259; ac
cused of fomenting rebellion, 317;
escapes to Flanders, 319.
Gloom of the English character, II, 192,
Goda the thane, I. 427.
Godgave, archbishop of Canterbury, I.
143; dies of the plague, 143 j is suc
ceeded by Wighard, 143.
Godiva, II. 187,
Godwin, " the city bound," assassinates
earl Elfhelm, by order of Edric, the
favourite of Ethelred, II. 18.
Godwin, earl, his speech to fhe English
contingent at the Helga, II. 78 ; de
feats the Swedes in the night, and
receives the grateful thanks of Ca
nute, 79; bis adventures with the
Danish chief, 80; rises in favour,
marries Canute's sister, and be
comes earl of Kent and Wessex, 81 ;
ou the death of Canute, proposes a
division of the kingdom between Har
dicanute and Harold Harefoot, 107 ;
his perilous position, 116; accused of
tbe murder of Alfred, 116; his
fidelity to the royal family, 117 ; takes
command of Hardicanute's army of
desolation, 122; accused of execution
of _ Alfred; 123; acquitted by the
Witan, 124; bis magnificent present
to the king, 124 j the crown hovering
over his head, 130; persuades Ed
ward to take ^the crown, 133; re
garded with suspicion by Edward,
139; his influence receives its first
shock, 143; his family and their Ne
mesis, 148; ordered by Edward to
punish the people of Dover for defend
ing their homes against the outrage
of his foreign guests — refuses— rup
ture with tbe king, 157 ; collects an
army, 158; marches with his two,
sons against Edward, 158; demands
an audience ofthe king, 158; insists on
the delivery to him of the count of
Boulogne, tbat be may be tried, 159 ;
concludes an impolitic truce, 159; bis
loyalty, 160; delivers back the king's
hostages,161; requiredtorestore Prince

INDEX.

17

Alfred to life, or quit the kingdom in
five days, 161; deserted by bis friends,
flies to Flanders, 162; marriage of
his son with Baldwin's daughter,
167; his dauntless pride and ambi
tion, 167; remains patiently in Flan
ders, but seeing England gradually
becoming Norman, _ has recourse to
arms, 168; collects a large army,
joyous meeting with his family, 169 ;
enthusiasm pf the people in his cause,
169 ; sails up the Channel, 169 ; enters
the Thames, 170 ; enters into negotia
tions with Edward, 171 ; is restored
to his estates, obtains the dismissal of
the foreigners at court, and the resto
ration of his daughter as queen, 172 ;
his illness, suggestion of poison, 174 ;
dies, 175 ; monkish legend as to his
death, 175 ; his character, 176 ; his
seven sons, 179 ; succeeded by his son
. Harold, 181 ; his family, their beauty,
188.
Golden vale, I. 321.
Goldfields, uncertainty respecting, I. 3.
Glory of Edward the Confessor's name
attributable to the nobles, II. 190.
Government pf clans, I. 64.
Great mortality, II. 145.
Greed and insolence of William's officers,
II. 306.
Greeks, their commercial rivalry with the
Phoenicians, I. 2.
Gregory tbe Great persuades Augustine
to resume his mission to Britain, I.
74.
Griffith, king of Wales, always ready to
join a marauding expedition, II. 185 ;
his incursion with his Welshmen, 197 ;
his victorious advance, 197 ; defeated
by Harold, 198 ; his defeat by Harold
and death, 207.
Grovelling superstition of Canute, II. 96.
Guardians and wards, II. 94.
Guitmond of La Croix d'Helton offered
by William I. a high office in the
church — his reasons for declining the
honour, II. 386; is appointed, by
Hildebrand, bishop of Aversa, 387.
Gunhilda, sister of Hardicanute, her
beauty, II. 125 ; marries Henry, em
peror of Germany — her bridal pro
cession, 125 ; conflicting stories as to
her married life, 126.
Gunhilda, sister of Sweyn, executed in
London after the massacre of the
Danes, II. 6.

Gurth, brother of Harold, succeeds Algar
as earl of East Anglia, II. 188.
Guthfrith, son of Sihtrie, raises the stan
dard of rebellion — is defeated, and
becomes a pirate, I. 335 ; becomes a
courtier, but is disgusted, and returns
to his marauding habits, 336.
Hadrian, an African monk, is chosen to
succeed Wighard, as archbishop of
Canterbury, I. 144; his humility,
144; declines the see, 144; made
abbot of St. Augustine's Monastery,
146.
Hakon Jarl becomes an object of sus
picion to Canute, and perishes sud
denly, II. 7a.
Handicrafts, II. 283.
Hanseward, II. 295.
Hardicanute, son of Canute, II. 102;
refuses to come to England, 110;
his refusal cause of great calamities,
110; proclaimed king of England,
120 ; his treatment of Harold's body,
121 ; his fierce tyranny, 122 ; sends
an army into Worcestershire, 122;
his persecution of bis people, 123 ;
unable to restrain violence of his
mercenaries, 126; his idea of con
quest, 127; his mode of winning
the affections of the monks and
courtiers, 128 ; his charity, 128 ; his
familiarity with his nobles, 128; in
vites his brother Edward from Nor
mandy, 128 ; dies at a feast, 129.
Hardrada, king of Norway, II. 247;
promised a third of England by Wil
liam of Normandy — his fleet, 247;
had been a mercenary in Turkey,
248; becomes a pirate — marries the
daughter of the emperor of Russia,
248 ; defeats Edwin and Morcar, 249 ;
defeated and killed at Stamford Bridge,
253.
Harold Harefoot, son of Canute, II.
102; prepares for the coronation, 108;
the primate refuses to consecrate him,
109 ; hostility between him and the
clergy, 110; fondness for hunting,
110 ; sees practicability of becom
ing king of whole of England, 113 ;
murders Alfred the etheling, 116;
deelared king of England, 118 ; dies,
120 ; treatment of his body by Hardi
canute, 121.
Harold, son of Godwin, his unjust de
tention of Sweyn's property, II. 151;

18

HISTORY OF ENGLAND.

negociates with the Irish for an army
to avenge his father, 167; succeeds
Godwin in the earldom of Wessex,
181; his generosity, 190; he and.
Tostig go on a pilgrimage to Rome,
199 ; bis visions of tbe English crown,
200; goes into France, 200; irri
tated by tbe incursions of the Welsh,
resolves upon the subjugation of Wales
— drives Griffith to sea, 205 ; his re
forms in military dress, 206; vic
torious campaign in Wales, 206;
marries the widow of king Griffith,
207 ; builds a royal hunting-lodge in
Wales, 207; bis supposed visit to
Normandy, 225 ; confusion of dates,
226 ; reasons for disbelieving the story
of bis visit, 227, 231 ; the story as
narrated by some chroniclers, 228;
shipwrecked on the coast of Nor
mandy — imprisoned — delivered into
the hands of William — William's
agreement with Edward, 229 ; sup
posed negociations with William, 230;
contradictory statements, 230; ob
scurity of history during bis reign,
233; his superiority to William, 235;
his coronation, 236 ; repeals bad laws
— model administration, 236 ; quiets
the disaffected in Northumbria by
gentleness, 238 ; equips a fleet, 241 ;
his preparations for the defence of his
country, 245 ; his difficult position,
249; marches against Tostig, 250;
false policy, 250 ; offers peace and
honour to his brother — his speech in
regard to Hardrada, 251; defeats and
kills Tostig and Hardrada, 253 ; re
poses at York, 257; disorganisation
of his army — clergy rally round him,
257; goes to London — makes pre
parations to oppose William, 258 ;
his character and bravery, 259 ; his
family try to persuade him not to go
forth to battle, but in vain, 259 ; ad
vances towards Hastings, 260; size
of his army, 262 ; its courage, 262 ;
takes up a position at Waterdown,
262; underrates his enemy, 263;
sends a, monk to demand William's
departure from England, 264; the
envoy's mistake as to the Norman
soldiery, 264 ; advised to retreat and
desolate the country in bis rear —
refuses, 265 : his death at Hastings,
272 ; burial, 274-275 ; his character,
276-277; likened to Alexander, 278.

Harold's sons, irruption of, into England
— collect booty-r slay the traitor Ed-
noth, and return to Ireland, II. 325 ;
second descent upon England— melan
choly fate of the expedition, 331.
Hastings, the viking, I. 288 ; dread cf
his name, 288; his undaunted valour,
288; lands in England, 289 ; ad
vances up the Thames, 289 ; defeated
by Alfred at Farnbam, 292 ; professes
to desire to leave England, 291;
marches back towards the coast, 291 ;
his treachery, 292 ; entrenches him
self at Bamfleet, 294 ; utterly defeated
by Alfred, 294 ; leaves England for
ever,and becomes governor of Chartres,
295.
Hatred existing between the sons of
William I., II. 322.
Hatred of tbe Normans for tbe English,
II. 358.
Hawks and hounds trained by the Kymri,
I. 338.
Hearth-penny, I. 404.
Hengist and Horsa, I. 58.
Henry nominated by William I. to suc
ceed him, II. 387 ; scene between him
and his father, 410.
Heptarchy, I. 90 ; its gradual destruc
tion, 212.
Hereward, lord of Bran, II. 350; his
early life, made the chief of the insure
rection against the Normans, 350;
his intemperance of disposition, 351 ;
fondness for fighting, 351 ; his popu
larity, arrives in England, 352 ; his
ambition, goes through tbe ordeal
necessary for his installation as a
knight, 353; is knighted, 354; his
forces attack and sack Medeshamstede,
and sailed back to the Camp of Refuge,
355; endofhis career, 362; legendary
story, 363; marries, 364; his death,
365.
Hieroduli, I, 308; 392.
Hildebrand sends an envoy to congratu
late William I. on bis devotion to the
Church, II. 380; demands tbat he
shall do homage to tbe papalauthority,
381; 385; 386; appoints Guitmond
bishop of Aversa, after his refusal to
accept office in the Church under
William I., 387.
Hill of Eagles, 1.252.
Hired penitents, I. 385.
Hithard, the jester, II. 196.
Hokeday, II. 136.

INDEX.

19

Holme of Andresey, II. 316.
Holmes-Dale, II. 192.
Honey, II. 194.
¦Hopelessness of the cause of Edgar the
etheling, II. 296.
Horrible punishments, I. 405.
Hostages given to William the Con
queror, II. 297 ; the eyes of one torn
out by William the Conqueror, 318.
House of Caves, I. 240.
House of Cerdie, II. 58; 130.
Howne rouses the English to insurrec
tion against the brutal soldiery of
Hardicanute, and drives the Danes
from the greater part of England, II.
127 ; rebellion celebrated by scenic
representations, 137.
Hugh d' Avranches, bis sensuality and
ferocity, II. 366 ; military prowess,
his swarms of bastard children, his
regal authority, 366; keeps up an
army of mercenaries, delights in hunt
ing, 367.
Humble places of worship, I. 42.
Humphrey de Tilleul left at Hastings by
William with a strong garrison, II.
290.
Hundred thousand persons perishing
. from hunger in Northumbria, II. 336 ;
eat carrion, and ultimately are forced
to cannibalism, 337.
Hunwald, the earl,- betrays and mur-
; ders.Oswin, I. 132.
Iceland and Norway, II. 8.
Iceni, I. 24 ; their victorious progress,
30; resolve to exterminate the Ro
mans, 30 ; their want of an experienced
leader, 30 ; storm London, 31 ; are
defeated by the Romans under Sue
tonius, 31.
Illuminated manuscripts, I. 308.
Immense confiscations, II. 304.
Immigration of the Saxons and other
Teutonic tribes, I. 56.
Impaling of children, II. 338.
Imperial expeditions against thenorthern
tribes of Britain, I. 43.
Improvements in law, II. 94.
Ina succeeds Caedwalla on tbe throne of
Wessex, 1. 162 ; forces from Wihtred,
king of Kent, tbe wergild of Mollo,
163; convenes the Witan, 164; his
reign crowded with events, 166 ; his
battle with the Mercian forces, 167 ;
takes London, 167; his long reign
excites the envy of the chiefs, 167 ;

his palace, 169 ; magnificence of the
palace destroyed by the queen in
order to pursuade him to her views,
169; abdicates and proceeds to Rome,
170.
Incidents of the Battle of Hastings, II.
269.
Indolence and procrastination of our
forefathers, I. 306.
Indulgences, I. 384; II. 385.
Infanticide, 1. 176.
Inferiority of the English in arts and
handicraft, I. 305.
Inhumanity of the Scots, II. 337.
Inroad into Wales by the Normans, II.
365.
Insurrection in the Welsh marches, II.
313 ; against the Normans, 322 ;
joined in by the Kymri, 323 ; imbe
cility of the leaders, 323; against
William, 375.
Intermingling of Danes and Saxons, I.
409.
Intestacy, II. 93.
Irish massacred by Egfrid, 1. 150.
Irish pirates, II. 166 ; defeat the Eng
lish and Normans, 166.
Irruption of peasantry into the churches
and cloisters, II. 108.
Isle of Nobles, I. 269.
Isle of Sheppey, I. 219.
Italian physic, I. 332.
Ivo Taillebois, II. 352; 358; fondness
for bunting, 359.
Jenghis Khan compared with Hastings,
I. 288.
Jesters, II. 196.
Joviality of the monks, II. 100.
Joy of the Normans on William's re
turn, II. 307.
Judith, I. 231; her conduct in England,
234 ; marries a forester, 234.
Judith betrays her husband, II. 378 ;
driven to the Isle of Ely, 380.
Jugglers, II. 196.
Justus, archbishop of Canterbury, I.
101.
Kenelm, the infant king of Mercia, is
murdered by order of his siBter, I.
213.
Kenneth, king of Scotland, I. 400; in
sults Edgar of England at a banquet,
401 ; refuses to fight with him, and
implores his pardon, 401.
Kentish army encamps inland, 1, 16.

20

HISTORY OF ENGLAND.

Kentish bravery, I. 313.
Kentish mode of fighting, I. 87.
Kenwulf obtains the throne of Mercia,
I. 201 ; his cruelty to the king of the
Jutes, 201 ; opinion of him enter
tained by the priests, 202 ; his sisters
enter a convent, 203 ; his death,
205.
Khalifs, Abasside, I. 280.
Kidnapping, II. 84.
Kings, their short lives, I. 402.
Kymri, constitute a majority of tho
population, 1. 60 ; their relations with
the Danes, 431 ; man Danish barks,
433.
Ladies of Normandy, their licentious
ness, II. 327.
Lake of Wittlesmere, II. 101.
Landmarks, I. 366.
Landscapes, II. 191.
Lanfranc, his history, II. 343 ; is made
archbishop of Canterbury, 344 ; sum
mons an assembly on Pennenden
heath, 345; bis contest with the
bishop of Bayeux, 346; governs
England in William's absence, 375 ;
excommunicates earl of Hereford,
376 ; sends an army against tbe in
surgents, 376 ; defeats them — his
ferocious account of the campaign,
377.
Laurentius succeeds Augustine, I. 95 ;
converts king Eadbald to Christianity
by a pretended miracle, 100.
Laws of Ethelred, II. 9.
Learning among the English, II. 284.
Legal code of Canute, II. 83 ; its pro
visions, 85.
Legend as to earl Godwin's death, II.
175 ; as to the fate of Hereward,
363.
Legendary history, I. 63.
Leo, bishop of Treves, sent to England
by Pppe John XV., I. 430; persuades
Ethelred to negociate a peace with
Richard of Normandy, 430.
Leobin, dean of Durham, murders a
Saxon nobleman, II. 395 ; hunted to
death by the friends of the murdered
Liwulf; 396-397.
Leofa, the outlaw, stabs Edmund, and
is killed by the nobles, I. 359.
Leofric, earl of Mercia, II, 107; his
character, II. 187.
Licentiousness of tho clergy, II. 382.
Lilla, bis heroic conduct, 1, 107.

Literature, II. 283.
Living abbot of Tavistock, II. 98.
Liwulf, stripped of bis possessions by
the Normans, flies to Durham church
for refuge ; fable in regard to him ;
invited by bishop Vaulcher to dine at
his table ; quarrels with Leobin, dean
of Durham, who insults him; mur
dered by Leobin's orders, II. 395 ;
his death avenged by his friends, 396-
397.
Lofoden Isles, I. 287.
London, fortification of, I. 85; tbe
centre of the military roads, 35;
wealth and valour of its citizens, 282;
its defences, 408'; its citizens defeat
the kings of Denmark and Norway,
439 ; treats with Sweyn for peace, II.
84; bravery of its citizens, 46-47;
its citizens beat off Canute, 50;
throws open its gates to Godwin,
170; factions at the time of Wil
liam's victory at Hastings, 293.
Love-matches, dearly paid for, I. 85.
Ludeoan, king' of Mercia, defeated and
slain by tbe East Anglians, I. 215.
Lupus sent to Britain by tbe Gallic
Church, I. 55.
Luxurious homes of the Romans and
Britons, 1. 36.
Mabel de Mpntgomery, her wholesale
poisoning of heir guests, II. 327;
nearly falls into ber own snare —
poisons her husband's brother by
mistake — killed by a man whom she
had despoiled of his estate, 328.
Macbeth, king of Scotland, II. 182;
refuses allegiance to Edward the Con
fessor, who sends an army against
him, 182 ; is defeated and dethroned
by the English, 183.
Machinations of Edward the Confessor's
foreign favourites, II. 141.
Magnificent books, I, 308.
Magnus, king of Norway, threatens
England, but, dismayed by the fleet,
attacks Denmark instead, II. 143.
Malcolm of Scotland, his fearful raid in
Cumberland, II. 337.
Marleswain, II. 332.
Marriage laws, II. 86.
Marriages preached against by the
monks, 1. 439.
Martial ardour of the English, II. 289.
Massacre of the Danes throughout Eng-
land, II. 5 ; fearful scenes, 5.

INDEX.

21

Massacres by Hardicanute's mercenaries,
II. 126.
Material defences, II. 359.
Matilda, queen of William I., her arrival
in England, II. 320 ; her coronation,
320 ; her avarice, 321 ; ber revenge for
her slighted love, 321 ; birth of a son,
821 ; her fondness for her son Robert,
392; relieves his wants — reproached
by the king for so doing, 393 ; is
scourged by William II. 894; ber
death, 400 ; cruelties imputed to her
401.
Matrimony, bribes to prevent, II. 85.
Medals, II. 55.
Medeshamstede Abbey, gallant resist
ance to the Danes, I. 248 ; its monks
slaughtered and the building burned,
249 ; restoration of the monastery by
Ethelwold, bishop of Winchester, 394-
395; II. 99; sacked by Hereward
and his army, 355.
Medicine, science of, I. 423.
Mellitus appointed bishop of London,
I. 95 ; forced by the princes of the
East Saxons to leave England, 99;
raised to the see of Canterbury, 101.
Mercenaries, sent back to the Continent
by William I., II. 329 ; their indis
criminate brutality, 126.
Mercia, its growing power, I. 138 ; gra
dual decrease of its power, 213.
Military roads, I. 33.
Milton, his sentiments as to tbe early
Saxon period, I. 59.
Minchins, I. 368.
Mingling of races in Britain, I. 44 ; of
' Paganism and Christianity, 356.
Minsters founded by Norman nobles, II.
416.
Minstrels, II. 126, 196.
Mints, private, II. 10; of Harold, 279 ;
of William, 422.
Miracles accomplished by Oswald's re
mains, I. 130.
Miraculous draught of fishes, I. 56.
Mission, leader of, returns to Rome, I.
¦74.
Mixed religion, I. 60.
Mode of subjugating the English mind,
adopted by the Normans, II. 842.
Mode of teaching adopted by Theodore
and Hadrian, I. 46.
Mollo, brother of Cadwalla, 1. 159; pe
rishes in the flames of a house he is
engaged in plundering, 160; buried
at Canterbury, 160.

Monasteries, erected by Edgar, I. 392 ;
their enrichment by royal cbarter,411;
restoration of, II. 69 ; deprived of their
riches and charters by William I., 340-
341.
Monastery of Medeshamstede, its splen
dour, I. 137; of Wilton, II. 163.
Monastic revolution, I. 352.
Monastieism, a cause of the weakness of
the Britons, I. 51 ; in its true aspect
If. 383.
Monkish avarice, I. 262; miracles, II.
77; vices, I. 368; sumptuous living,
369 ; ideas of marriage, II. 83, 85.
Monks, gradual triumph of their order,
I. 392 ; their occupations and mode of
preaching, 398 ; their division of me
nial offices between them, 398 ; their
long lives, 402 ; their character of
Edgar, 407; curious choice of quar
ters, II. 100.
Morcar, imprisoned, II. 361 ; dies, 362.
Morning-gift, II. 93.
Morth-workers, I. 306 ; II. 89.
Mother of God, I. 412.
Motives for menacing the Danes, II. 5.
Murder of an abbot projected by the
monks, I. 305.
Muslims in Europe, I. 326.
Native pirates, II. 21.
Natural children, 1. 167.
Necromancers, I. 306.
Nefarious scheme of William, II. 305.
Neglect of religious services, II. 384.
Nestorian Christians, I. 281.
New coinage, I, 406.
New Forest, cruelties which accom
panied its formation, II. 416.
Norman bastard, II. Ill; vices, 189;
traitors, 260; priest excommunicates
the English, 266 ; army before Lon
don, 295 ; soldiers pillage London
during William's coronation, 302 ;
charter, 317 ; army in Durham exter
minated by the English, 330, 331;
bear, 375.
Normandy, joy among the inhabitants
on the return of William, II. 307.
Northmen I. 207 ; their general attack
on England, 228 ; in England, their
pride and overbearing demeanour, II.
3 ; eagerness to join in the army for
the conquest of England, 8; their
growing power in England, 15 ; under
Tostig advance victoriously to Stam
ford, and fortify themselves, 249.

22

HISTORY OF ENGLAND.

Northern lights, I. 334, 418 ; mercena
ries, 447; blood-thirstiness of popu
lation, II. 8-9; rise of power in Eng
land, 15 ; pirates, 150.
Northumbria, obscurity of its history,
I. 102; decay of its power, 151; be
comes tbe theatre of crime, 153 ; civil
wars, 333 ; rebellion against Edmund
of Wessex, 352.
Norwegian ropemakers, I. 305 ; pirates,
pillage- Sandwich and the coast of
Wessex, II. 144.
Oak-trees, II. 191.
Obscurity in regard to the relations of
the Kymri and English, II. 198.
Observance of Sundays and fast-days, I.
404; of Sunday, II. 87.
Odilwald made king of Deira, 1. 132.
Odo of Canterbury, I. 373, 375; his
scheme for persecuting the king, bis
great power, 376 ; tears the queen
from the king's arms, and branding
her, sends her into exile, 377 ; incites
the king's brother to [rebellion, 377 ;
his death, 378.
Odo, bishop of Bayeux, II. 306 ; marches
against the Northumbrians to punish
them for avenging the murder of Li
wulf — his indiscriminate atrocities —
holds the second rank in England — bis
dream of papal power, 397 ; purchases
a palace at Rome — is on the point of
starting for the city of the Seven
Hills when he is taken prisoner by
William, who accuses him of tyranny
and extortion — no one dares to arrest
him — William arrests him, 398 ; sent
a prisoner to Normandy — his scheme
for buying the papacy— his prodigious
treasures, 399.
Offa the etheling, 1. 186 ; defeats Cyne
wulf of Wessex, 187 ; defeats Beornred
and becomes king of Mercia, 187 ; his
ferocity and oppression, 188; dyke,
188— II. 198; demands for his son
the hand of Bertha, daughter of
Charlemagne, I. 190; dissensions
with Charlemagne, 189, 191 ; strange
beauty of his daughters, 196 ; mur
ders Ethelbert king of East Anglia,
198 ; annexes East Anglia to his do
minions, 199 ; his remorse, 199 ; re
tires to tbe island of Andresey, 199 ;
bis death, 200; discovery of his
sarcophagus, 200.
Ohter, his Arctic expedition, I. 287.

Olaf Trygvesson, enters the Thames
with a fleet, I. 437 ; attacks London
and is defeated 438 ; ravages the coast,
439 ; invited by king Ethelred to An
dover, but refuses to go until after the
sending of hostages, 440; pledges
himself to remain friendly with Eng
land — defeated and killed by Sweyn
his former ally, 441 .
Olaf of Norway, disaffection against, II.
82 ; flees to Russia, but returning is
assassinated by the jarls, 83.
Olney, mythical history of treaty of, II.
53-54; single combat at, 53.
Ordeals, II. 87, 91, 92.
Ordovices, I. 24.
Osgod Clapa, II. 128; invites Hardi
canute to a nuptial feast, where he dies,
129 ; in exile, meditates a descent on
England, J.45 ; retires to Denmark,
146 ; his fleet, under subordinate offi
cers, makes a marauding descent on
England, after which it is submerged
by a tempest, 146.
Osmear, II. 49.
Ostritha, the queen, assassinated, I.
152.
Oswald, king of Northumbria, 1. 127 ;
his great charity, 128; defeats Cad
walla, 128 ; spreads the Christian
faith throughout bis kingdom, 129 ;
defeated and slain by Penda, 129.
Oswin shares with Oswy the crown of
Northumbria, I. 131; his justice and
beauty, 131.
Oswy, successor of Oswald; his gallant de
fence of Bamborougb, I. 130; marries
Eanfleda, daughter of Edwin, 132;
marches upon his brother's kingdom,
132; becomes king of Mercia, 136;
is driven from Mercia, 137; dies,
147.
Our Lady of Wareham, I. 422.
Outlaws of God, II. 89.
Outlawry of foreigners by Edward tbe
Confessor, II. 172.
Outrages of Edward the Confessor's
foreign favourites in Dover, II. 156.

Paganism, its re-estahUshment in Bri
tain, I. 65.
Pagan sanctuaries, II. 87.
Palig, the Dane, employed by Ethelred
to command the English fleet, goes
over to the enemy, I. 447.
Pantheism, 1. 66.

INDEX.

23

Papal interference in English affairs, I.
204.
Papal decree as to the desecration of
monasteries by Kenwulf, I. 205.
Parks and chases of theNorman grandees,
II. 415.
Parthians, similarity of British tactics to
those of the, 1. 18.
Paulinus, bishop of York, I. 101 ; his
majestic appearance, 102 ; his enthu
siasm in the cause of Christianity,
111 ; escapes with Edwin's wife,
children, and treasures, 115 ; is made
bishop of Rochester, 115.
Peace between Mercia and Northumbria,
1. 15C.
Peada, king of the Middle Angles, I.
132 ; becomes a Christian to obtain a
wife, 133; marries Alchfleda, the
daughter of Oswy, 133; murdered by
his wife at the Easter festival, 135.
Pearl of Normandy, II. 2,
Peculiar training of tbe nuns, II. 149.
Pedlars, I. 165.
Pelagian controversy, I. 53.
Pelagius visits Rome, I. 53.
Pen, battle of, II. 47.
Penances, I. 393; for drunkenness, 391.
Penda, his fierce Paganism, I. 117;
made king of Mercia, 117; reduces
to subjection the East Augles, 119 ;
marches against Oswy, 133 ; subdues
East Anglia, 133; his defeat and
death, 134; bis character, 134;
allows Christianity to be preached in
Mercia, 138.
Penitentials, II. 84.
People slay Hardicanute's guard, II.
122.
Perfidy of English commanders, II. 13.
Persecution of tbe English clergy by
William I., II. 338.
Pestilence, I. 390 ; II. 14.
Pestilences, II. 144.
Peter's pence, I. 171.
Philip, bis enmity to William I., II.
406.
Phcenicians, said to have been driven on
the coast of America, I. 2, note;
rivalry excited by, 2; their services
and civilisation, 3 ; their exploration
of the British isles, 3.
Pilgrimage, dangerous to virtue, I. 327.
Pilgrimages to Rome, I. 173.
Pilgrims, I. 326-327.
Piracy, the inheritance of younger sons
in Denmark, I. 208.

Plague, its spread in England, I. 139 ;
its fearful ravages, 139; in Ireland,
140 ; and famine, 423.
Plautius, lands in Kent, I. 23 ; appoint
ed governor of Britain, 26.
Plough alms, I. 404 ; 420.
Poetry, II. 284.
Political division of England, I. 91 ;
exiles, II. 145 ; refugees, I. 349.
Polygamy among the clergy, II. 84.
Pope Gregory's crusade against the
brigands, II. 202.
Population, its dread of civil war, II.
107 ; panic, 108 ; at what amount
estimated under William I., 418.
Populations of southern Europe, their
want of enterprise, I. 287.
Practical genius of the British people, I.
54.
Preparations of tbe English for attack
ing William, II. 313.
Pretended loyalty of the English to
wards William, II. 301 ; clemency of
William towards the Saxon patriots,
304 ; gratitude of William to the
French priesthood, 308.
Prices of articles of commerce, I. 407.
Priestly sycophants at the court of Wil
liam I., II. 386.
Priests, their cowardly desertion of their
flocks, I. 99.
Primogeniture, its fatal fruits in Den
mark, I. 209.
Professional fools, II. 196.
Proposed gifts of land to tbe Norman
nobles, II. 365.
Prudent regulations of the Normans to
preserve themselves from the anger of
the English, II. 303.
Punishment for not paying the demands
of the church, I. 304 ; of deserters,
II. 339.
Purchase of wives, I. 347.
Purification of the Virgin, II. 101.
Quaking bogs, II. 323.
Quendrida, assassin of St. Kenelm, I.
213.
Quendritha, queen of Offa, I. 197.
Ram's Isle, II. 100.
Raven flag, I. 227.
Reception of the English mission by
Ethelbert, I. 76.
Reckless brutality of the Norman mer
cenaries, II. 329.

24

HISTORY OF ENGLAND.

Redwald, his indecision in religious
matters, I. 117.
Regulations as to drink, I. 391.
Rejoicings on the restoration of the
Saxon royal family, II. 138.
Relics of saints, I. 55.
Relic worship, I. 435.
Reserve of Norman army cut to pieces
at Romney, IL 290.
Revenue, raising of, II. 93 ; of William
I., 421.
Revolt against William in Normandy,
II. 402-403.
Revolting instances of superstition at
Rome, I. 230.
Rewards for not marrying, II. 85.
Richer de l'Aigle, story of his death, II.
403.
Ringmere, battle of, II. 24.
Rise of new cities, I. 86.
River Lugg, II. 314.
Robert de Comines, sent by William I.
against Durham, II, 330; his army
exterminated, 331.
Robert of Jumieges, II. 140 ; made
archbishop of Canterbury, 154; first
act of tyranny, 155; being sent from
England by Edward, endeavours to
prevent Stigand from succeeding him
but fails»-dies, 173.
Robert of Normandy, II. 104; sends
back his Danish wife to England,
108 ; perishes in a pilgrimage to the
Holy Land, 108.
Robert, nominated by William I. Duke
of Normandy, II. 387 ; demands the
fulfilment of the promise, 387; his
appearance, 388; insulted by his
brothers — quarrel between them, 388;
his lasting hatred for his family, 389;
advances on Rouen — endeavours to
surprise tbe castle — bis retinue dis
persed by the king's troops, and their
estate confiscated — raises an army,
389 ; desires his father to abdicate his
dukedom of Normandy in his favour,
390 ; unhorses his father at tbe battle
of Gerberoi, but spares bis life, 391 ;
reconciled to bis father, but again
revolts and receives William's curse,
392.
Roger de Beaumont, II. 326.
Roger de Montgomery, favours showered
upon him by William the Conqueror,
II. 315 ; his story and character, 367.
Roger, earl of Hereford, his speech
against WiUiam I., II. 374 ; defeated I

by Odo— bis insult to the king, 378 ;
condemned to perpetual imprisonment
by William, 379.
Roman fleet, shattered by a Btorm, I.
16; army, mutiny of, 23; army, refuse
to hear Narcissus, but volunteer to
obey the orders of Plautius, 23 ; idea
of English wealth, II. 97.
Romans, send out a galley to watch the
Phoenicians on their way to Britain,
I. 2 ; land and pitch their camp, 14 ;
their cautious advanoe through Kent,
16.
Rome in miniature, arises in London, I.
36 ; after the fall ofthe republic, 59.
Romes-scot, I. 404 ; 420.
Romish religion undermines morality,
II. 83 ; clergy trade upon royal vice,
1. 385.
Rougemont, II. 320.
" Round-legs," nickname of Robert,
son of William I., II. 387.
Royal amusements, I. 402.
Royal crimes in Mercia, II. 19.
Royal Danish guards, II. 64.
Royal mode of doing penance, I. 384.
Royal villa of Puckleehurch, I. 258 ;
banquet at, 358.
Rufus and Beauelere insult thek' brother
Robert, and thereby breed a feud, II.

Sacerdotal influence II. 242.
Sacred springs, I. 67 ; trees, 67 ; slaves,
308.
St. Augustine, bis arm found in Italy
and sent to England, II. 36.
St. Berinus, II. 77.
St. Brice's day chosen for the massacre
of the Danes, II. 4.
St. Cuthbert, I. 435.
St. Editha, 1. 384j miracle at Wilton, II.
77.
St. Edward's Well, I. 421.
St. Eligius, II. 88.
St. Ethelbert treats for the hand of
Offa's daughter, Etbeldritha, I. 197.
St. Florentine; his headless body,- II.
35; bought by Elfsey, abbot of
Peterborough, 35.
St. Helena, I. 46.
St. Kenelm's well, I. 213.
St. Swithin, I. 224.
St. Wulfritb, -1.384.
Saintly relics regarded as the protectors
of cities, II. 74.
Sale of slaves in France, 1, 190.

INDEX.

25

Sanctuaries, 1. 166.
Sanctuary, II. 87.
Sanguinary naval battles, I. 301.
Savage policy of the Normans, II. 285.
Saxon divinities, I. 68 ; states, formation
of, 88 ; prophecy as to fate of Danes
if they reached Cuckamsley Hill, II.
16; patriots, confiscation of their
property, 304.
Scantiness of provisions, II. 295.
Scene at William's coronation, II. 300.
Scenery in England, II. 191-194.
Scheme of William I. • for replenishing
his treasury, II. 339.
Scotland, its chief does homage to
Edward the Elder, I. 325 ; its king
swears fealty to William I., II. 326.
Scots; their brutality, II. 337.
Seals, use of, introduced by Edward the
Confessor, II. 416 ; whimsical mode
of verifying, 416 ; impressed with
marks of donor's teeth, 417.
Sea-shells collected by the Roman soldiers
as the spoils of the conquered ocean,
I. 22.
Second trial of earl Godwin, II. 161.
Secret poison, I. 194.
Secret war between secular and ecclesi
astical power, I. 370.
Secular clergy, its defeat and suppres
sion, I. 419.
Seeds of rebellion during William's
absence, II. 312.
Selseyan Chersonesus, 1. 157.
Serfdom, II. 195.
Serfs, II. 286.
Sermons preached in foreign tongues, II.
385.
Servile population, how recruited, II.
286.
Settlers from tbe Continent arrive in
Britain, I. 33.
Seven Sleepers of Ephesus, II. 223.
Sexberga becomes queen of Wessex, I.
154; her overthrow, 155.
Shadows of Romish superstition, II.
95.
Shakespeare speaks in Cymbeline of a
Roman army in Britain under
Augustus, I. 20.
" Short-hose," nick-name of Robert, son
of William I., II. 387.
Siege of Bamborough, I. 130,
SiegeofExeter.il. 318.
Sigebert, succeeds Cuthred, I. 180;
brief and bloody reign, 181; deposed
by tbe Witan and given the county

of Hampshire, 181; murders his
friend Cumbra, 181 j driven from
Hampshire by Cynewulf, 181 ; takes
refuge in the forest ofAndred, 181;
killed by Ansian, one of Cumbra's
serfs, 182.
Sihtric of Northumbria demands in mar
riage Eadgitha, the sister of Athel
stan, I. 333; marries Eadgitha,
divorces her, and she takes refuge in
a convent, 334 ; dies, 334.
Silures, 1.24; 26.
Simon de Senlis, II. 380.
Simony, II. 97; 384.
Sinfulness of marriage taught by priests,
I. 370.
Siward, earl of Northumbria, fabulous
account of his death, II. 183.
Siward of Abingdon, his presents to
the church of St. Augustine, II. 142.
Slave-trade, I. 307 ; II. 88.
Sledging, II. 101.
Society, demoralised Condition of, I.
391, 392, 393; in England, its bar
barity, 387; demoralisation of, II.
25 ; under Canute, 82.
Solemn excommunication of Harold at
Rome, II. 266, 267.
Soul-scot, I. 404, 420; II. 86.
South Britain ; its history included in
that of Rome, I. 25.
South Saxons; their barbarism, I. 156;
strange suicide of their chiefs, 156 ;
converted to Christianity, 157.
Sparafoc, 1. 398; of St.Edmondsbury, II.
154; extraordinary skill as a jeweller —
made abbot of Abingdon — then bishop
of London — Robert of Jumieges re
fuses to consecrate him — takes the
diocese in spite of the foreign priest —
is driven from the living, 155.
Spoliation of the monasteries by Wil
liam I., II. 340.
Standard of St. Peter, II. 244.
Starving multitudes, II. 336 ; soldiers,
339.
State of agriculture under Edward the
Confessor, II. 191 ; fertility and fine
cultivation of the country, 191.
Steep Holmes, II. 319.
Stigand made archbishop of Canterbury,
II. 173 ; refuses to crown William I.,
298 ; pretended cause of William's
choice of Aldred to anoint him, 299 ;
accusations brought against him by the
Normans, 341 ; condemned to per
petual imprisonment, 342.

26

HISTORY OF ENGLAND.

Stone crosses, I. 366.
Strangely built ships, II. 31.
Strathclyde, I. 325.
Suetonius Paulinus, his ferocious cruelty,
1.27; approaches the Menai Straits, 28.
Sureties for criminals, I. 406.
Swedes defeat the Danes under Canute
at the Helga, II. 78 ; defeated in the
night by the English under earl God
win, 79.
Sweyn, the son of Harold Bluetooth;
his history, 1. 431 ; enters the Thames
with a fleet, 437; attacks London,
and is defeated, 438; ravages the
coast, 439; enraged with Olaf for
being won over by Ethelred, and de
feats and slays him, 441 ; his victo
rious march through southern Eng
land — concludes a treaty with Ethel
red, 448 ; resolves upon the conquest
of England, II. 7 ; collects an army,
8 ; appears with his. fleet off the coast
of Devonshire, 13; sacks Exeter,
Wilton, and Salisbury, and lands at
Norwich, 13; breaks a truce, and
sacks Thetford, 14; lands at Sand
wich, 16 ; preparations for conquering
England, 30; sets sail for England,
31 ; arrives at Sandwich, 31 ; sails
away, and makes Gainsborough his
head-quarters, 32; receives homage
of English earls, 32; his victorious
advance, 32 ; driven from London, he
takes refuge at Bath, 33 ; citizens of
London sue to him for peace, 34 ; is
made king of England, 37 ; his brief
reign and death, 37; his burial in
Denmark, 38.
Sweyn, carl of Hereford, II. 148;
becomes enamoured of Edgiva the
abbess, 148 ; desires to marry Ed
giva, 149 ; endeavours to obtain
a dispensation from the Witan ; com
pelled, to restore her to the monas
tery, and in disgust becomes a sea
rover, 150 ; tired of his life at sea,
returns to England— claims his con
fiscated estates — opposed by bis
brother and cousin — goes to his
father, 151; seizes his cousin, and
carries him off in revenge for his
greediness and selfish interference,
152 ; has him killed at Exmouth,
153 ; goes to Flanders, 153 ; stricken
by remorse, goes on a pilgrimage to
the Holy Land, 166; perishes in ob
scurity, 167.

Sweyn, king of Denmark, entreated
by the English to come to Eng
land and drive -out the Normans,
II. 310; invited to save Eng
land from tbe Normans, 314; his
preparations to drive the Normans
from England, 331 ; lands ^in Eng
land, and with tbe Englishi exiles
attacks and takes York, 332 ; de
stroys tho Norman army, 333.
Swithnlf of Rochester, I. 300.
Synod called at Whitby, I. 142 ; con
vened at Winchester, 411; again at
Winchester, II. 341,
Tamer of tbe English, II. 397.
Tapestry, II. 401.
Temple of Apollo, II. 218.
Tenth legion, bold act of its ensign-
bearer, I. 14.
Terror of the English at Harold's death,
11.272.
Teutons and Kymri divide Britain be
tween them, I. 62.
Thanet, assigned to the Saxons by Vor-
tigern, I. 58.
Theodore of Tarsus ordained archbishop
of Canterbury, I. 145 ; arrives in
England with Hadrian as sub-deacon,
146.
Theows, II. 286.
Thieves, severe laws against, II. 90.
Thingamanna, II. 65.
Thor and Woden, I. 60.
Thorold, a Norman monk, made abbot
of Medeshamstede, and sent with a
strong force to take possession, II.
354 ; enters a sacked monastery, 355 ;
marches against Hereward's forces in
the Isle of Ely, but is taken prisoner
with all his men, 356.
Three, a mystical number, I. 58.
Thurkill, the Dane, II. 22-23; advances
to London, 23 ; his siege of Canter
bury, 26 ; his fidelity to Ethelred,
31; banished by Canute, but after
wards made governor of Denmark —
fabulous story in regard to bim,
71.
Timour compared with Hastings, I.
288.
Tithes, I. 403-420.
Togodumnus, I. 26.
Tortures, II. 115.
Tostig, brother of Harold, marries the
daughter of Baldwin of Flanders, II.
167; made carl of Northumbria, 188 j

INDEX.

27

his character, 188 ; bis lavish munifi
cence—blameless life— contrast with
Harold, 189; his indomitable cou
rage, 190; goes on pilgrimage to
Rome, 199; received with honour
at Rome, 201 ; stopt by Etrurian
.^brigands, who seize upon a nobleman
by mistake, and demand a ransom,
203; enraged by the treatment of his
friend Aldred and the annoyances of
the brigands, threatens to stop the
payment of Peter's pence in England,
i 204 ; returns to England, 205 ; rebel
lion in his earldom, 212; banditti,
213; terrible justice of, 213; his
rebellious subjects, after driving his
friends from Northumbria, call upon
the king to repeal his laws and banish
him, 214 ; he is exiled, 217 ; suspects
Harold of conspiring against him
217; joins William in his designs
against England, 238 ; makes a de-
Scent upon the Isle of Wight — lands
at Sandwich — impresses seamen — re
turns to bis earldom, but is driven
out by Edwin and Morcar — flies to
Scotland, 241 ; his preparations for
tbe fratricidal contest, 246 ; once more
enters Northumbria, 247 ; with Har
drada defeats Edwin and Morcar, 249 ;
refuses Harold's offers of peace, 251 ;
defeatedand killed at Stamford Bridge,
253.
Tragedy of Hastings, II. 266.
Treachery ofthe Danes, I. 321.
Treasure sunk in rivers by Odo, bishop
of Bayeux, II. 399.
Treasures of the Danes, I. 336.
Treasures taken from England to Nor
mandy by William, II. 284-285.
Treasury of the monks of Ely, II. 361.
Treaty of York, I. 241.
Trinobantes, false representations of
their chief while in Gaul, I. 17.
Troops of Eustace, count of Boulogne,
throw themselves over the rocks; II.
312
Turketil the viking, I. 322.
Turketul, I. 365; restores Croyland
abbey, 366 ; buys back for it its pro
perty, 367 ; invites king Edred to
Croyland, 367 ; becomes a monk, 367 ;
destroys the right of sanctuary at
Croyland, 368.
. Tyre, its adventurous mariners, I. 2.
Uhtred, earl of Northumbria, murdered
by Canute, II. 60. A/

Ulfkytel, earl of East Anglia, bribes
Sweyn into a truce, II. 13 ; prepares,
after Sweyn's treachery, to defend
his country, 14 ; hi3 impetuous bra
very, and defeat of Sweyn's army, 14 ;
encounters the Danes, 24.
Unanimity of the populations of Eng
land and Wales in resisting the
Danes, I. 295.
Unhappy year, 1. 127.
Unscrupulonsness of Edward the Con
fessor, II. 161.
Utopian institutions, II. 67.
Valhalla, I. 63.
Vandals colonise the fens, I. 43.
Varangians, II. 309.
Variety of races in Britain, I. 60.
Vaulcher, bishop of Durham, his fear of
the English, II. 369; his homilies
and homicides, 394; refuses to punish
Leobin for murdering Liwulf— Li
wuif's assassins demanded of him —
delivers up one of them, but upon
the refusal of Leobin to come forward
is killed by the Northumbrians, 396.
Veneti, immense ships of, I. 14.
Venusius, I. 26.
Vespasian undertakes the subjugation of
the Belgse, I. 26.
Vestments of the clergy, I. 397.
Vicious standard of perfection erected by
Romish religion, 1. 207.
Vicissitudes of England's fortunes, II.
281.
Vikings incite their countrymen to con
quer Britain, 1.61 ; land in Britain and
pursue the inhabitants with fire and
sword, 61 ; 219 ; 321 ; their treasures,
336; their incursions into England
during the reign of Ethelred, 424 ;
their conflicts with the Anglo-Saxons,
427 ; their victories under Sweyn, II.
13 ; decay of their system, 146.
Violation of women by Hardicanute's
mercenaries, II. 126.
Voluntary exiles, II. 309.
Volunteers, I. 291. ;
Vortigern, I. 57.
Waltheof, II. 332 ; his treachery, 378 ;
imprisoned, 879 ; executed, 379.
Wards and guardians, II. 94.
War-elephants employed by the Romans,
1.17.
Wars of Kenwalch and Penda, I. 125.
Watling street, I. 34 ; meaning of the
name, 35 ; 277.
G

28

HISTORY. OF ENGLAND.

Wax-images fashioned by sorcerers, II.
89.
Wessex, obscurity of its history, I. 154 ;
its political importance after tbe battle
of tbe Windrush, 1. 180.
Westminster Abbey chosen as the scene
of William's coronation, II. 299.
White Fern, II. .371.
White Sea, I. 287.
White Wells, I. 353.
Widows forbidden to marry within tbe
year, II. 93.
Wighard succeeds Godgave as arch
bishop of Canterbruy, 1. 143 ; dies of
the plague at Rome, 143.
Wiglaf, governor of Worcester, makes
himself king of Mercia, I. 216 ; flies
for refuge to Croyland Abbey, 216 ;
wields the sceptre of Mercia as a
vassal of Egbert of Wessex, 216 ; his
gratitude to the monks of Croyland,
217.
Wild Edric, II. 313.
Wilderness in Northumbria, II. 357.
Wildfire, II. 145.
Wilfrid, the priest, 1. 137; bis contempt
for secular enjoyments, 141 ; bis
travels, 142 ; converts Oswy to tbe
doctrines of tbe Romish church, 142 ;
his magnificence, 148 ; is driven by
Egfrid from Northumbria, 148; is
exiled, 149 ; is cast into prison, 149 ;
appeals to pope Agatho, 149 ; returns
to Northumbria, 149; is recalled by
king Alchfrid, 151 ; is again expelled,
152 ; returns armed with an order
for re-admission from the pope, 152 ;
recovers tbe see of Hexham, hut no
longer exercises any influence, 152 ;
his insatiable ambition, 152 ; dies in
peace at Oundle, 152.
William of Normandy visits England,
his delight at its wealth and beauty,
II. 164 ; returns to Normandy
laden with presents, 165 ; conceives
the idea of an English conquest
as an inheritance, 174; sends
to London to demand the English
crown — wins over the pope, 239 ; his
savage army, 240; prepares to invade
England, 241 ; calls together his ad
herents, 242 ; his wife thirsts for
vengeance against tbe English, 243 ;
bis method of collecting an army, 243-
244 ; delays the departure of tbe ex
pedition, 245 ; his army fears tbe sea,
246 ; sets .sail for England while
Harold is engaged in the north — his

armada, 254 ; lands at Pevensey — bad
omen, 255 ; his method of obtaining
popularity among his troops, 256;
proposes to submit their differences
to the decision of the pope, 265 ;
his death reported during thebattle
of Hastings, 271 ; his victory
at Hastings, 272 ; his operations
after the battle of Hastings, 289-290 ;
sacks Dover, 291 ; becomes king of
England, 281; tbe treasures taken
by him to Normandy, 284-285 ;
apprehensive of English, hovers
round tbe sea-coast, 289 j marches on
London, 291 ; defeats the English on
the skirts of Southwark, and sets fire
to the city, 293 ; encamps at Walling
ford, 293; is offered tbe crown of
England, pretends to hesitate to ac
cept it, 297 ; permits the army to
ravage the country, 298; preparations
made in London for bis reception,
298 ; chooses Aldred to crown him
upon the refusal of Stigand to perform
the ceremony, 299 ; crowned at West
minster Abbey, 301 ; scene at the
coronation, 301 ; his emotion at bis
coronation, 302 ; anxious to make a
display on his return to Normandy,
imposes taxes on the English to pay
for his triumph, 303 ; encamps at
Barking — immense confiscations— his
pretended clemency towards the Saxon
patriots, 304; returns to Normandy,
hoping by his absence to foment dis
affection among Saxon patriots, 305-
306; his choice of hostages, 306-
307; .spends Easter at Fecamp, 307 ;
his presents to" the French clergy,
308 ; astonishment of his guests at
the splendour of tbe English spoils,
308 ; .provides for the tranquillity of
Normandy, 314 ; returns to England,
314, affects to regard tbe meetings
at Blacbeman's monastery as insur
rectionary movements —grants to Lon
don a charter — imposes a war-tax,
marches towards Devonshire, 317;
arrives at Exeter and demands its
surrender, tbe citizens refuse, 318;
encamps before the city, tears out the
eyes of a hostage, 318 ; receives the
surrender of the city, after eighteen
days — his affected clemency, 819 ;
wreaks his vengeance on the West
Britons, sends for bis queen, 320;
bis frauds, false friendship — binds
bis daughter to earl of Mercia, and

INDEX.

29

breaks his word, 322 ; affects to make
peace with the Northumbrians, 324 ;
his construction of castles, 326 ; in
vites 'foreign adventurers to join his
standard, 329 ; sends back to the Con
tinent his foreign mercenaries, 329;
on -bearing the success of the Saxon
and Danish forces, swears to exter
minate the Northumbrians, 333 ; takes
York, purchases the defection of the
Danish leader, 334; repairs the for
tresses, and marches through North
umbria, massacring tbe inhabitants,
destroying implements of husbandry,
• slaughtering the cattle, burning vil
lages, and committing unheard of
atrocities, 335 ; his paltry attempts at
appearing religious and at striking tha
people with awe — utterly destroys all
means of subsistence in Northumbria,
336 ; marches against the Kymri — dis
affection of his soldiers, 338 ; reduces
the Kymri, 339 ; dismisses his foreign
troops, 339 ; punishes deserters — plan
for replenishing his treasury, 339 ; his
spoliation of the monasteries, 340;
the difficulties encountered by him at
the Camp of Refuge, 360 ; his pre
parations for storming the Camp of
Refuge, 360 ; his ferocity towards his
prisoners, 362; advances northward,
367 ; enters Scotland, and receives the
submission of the Scottish king — his
persecution of the clergy, 368 ; re
solves to break open the tomb of
Cuthbert, 369 ; prevented by an ac
cidental perspiration, 369 ; crosses to
t Normandy, 370; his campaigns, 370;
pensions ¦ Edgar the etheling, 371 ;
his shameful ordinances in regard to
women, 372 ; conspiracy against him
during his absence in Normandy, 373-
374 ; bis campaign in Bretagne, re
treats and comes back to England,
condemns earl of Hereford to per
petual imprisonment, 377; vindictive
cruelty towards bis enemies, 378 ;
imprisons and executes Waltheof, 378-
379; mocks at the authority of Rome,
381 ; prohibits the introduction, with
out his authority, of any papal bull,
385 ; his son Robert's rebellion, 389 ;
thrown off his horse, by Robert, in
the battle of Gerberoi, 391; induced
to be reconciled with his rebellious
son, 392; who rebels again, curses
him as be departs, 392; his rage at

discovering that queen Matilda has
relieved Robert when in distress,
reproaches her bitterly, orders her
messenger's eyes to be torn out, 393 ;
scourges his queen, 394 j accuses his
brother Odo of tyranny and extortion,
arrests him on the eve of his depar
ture for Rome, imprisons him, and
seizes his treasures and estates, 399 ;
his mode of wooing, 401 ; misery of
William's latter years — children long
for his death, 402 ; revolt against him
in Normandy, 403 ; his rebellious sub
jects sue for peace, 403 ; his alarm at
the tidings of the projected Danish
invasion under Canute IL, bis pre
parations for defence, 404; commence
ment of his war with Philip of France,
406; his march into France — his cruelty
— enters Mantes, burns the town and
its inhabitants — receives an internal
injury, 407 ; retires to Rouen, where
be lingers between life and death,
408 ; his sons desert him at bis death
bed, 410 ; feels his death drawing
near, recais his past life — speech said
to have been delivered by him— his
countless victims, his fears, 408 ; his
remorse — beseeches the clergy to pray
for him — his hope that WiUiam might
succeed, 409 ; his death, 410 ; his
funeral, its semi-ludicrous aspect, 411 ;
his character, 418-420; his govern
ment, 420-421 ; his revenue, 421 ;
his mints, 422.
William Fitz-Osborne, II. 306.
William Peveril, II. 326.
Winterfloods, II. 42.
Witenagemdt, its debate on Christianity,
I. 109 ; decides in favour of Chris
tianity, 110; convened at Calne to
discuss the propriety of the continued
alienation of tbe property of the coun
try, and its bestowal on the monks,
412 ; fierce debate, 4L3 ; terrible
catastrophe, 413.
Wives, purchase of, I. 347.
Wives of the Norman knights insist
upon their husbands returning to Nor
mandy, II. 329.
Wizards, I. 306.
Wolfsy the anchorite, comic- persecution,
II. 108.
Women, their condition in the reign of
Ethelbert, I. 83 ; sold to their bus-
bands, 84 ; brought from all countries
by the Danes, 306 ; sold like cattle,

30

HISTORY OF ENGLAND.

307; condition of, 328; occupations
of, 329 ; dress, embroidery, 329 ; their
low state of morality in tbe reign of
Ethelred, 428; their depravity in
Canute's reign, II. 67, 68 ; condition
of, 91 ; constantly exposed to violence,
93; their education and manners,
133 ; their rejoicings at the restora
tion of the Saxon royal family, 138 ;
their beauty and accomplishments,
284; their terrible condition under
William I., 372; 415.
Worcester sacked by Hardicanute's
troops under earl Godwin, II. 123.
Worr, 1. 194.
Worship in pagan sacred places, II. 88.
Wulfhere becomes king of Mercia, I.
136 ; defeats Kenwalch, king of Wes
sex, 136.

Wulfnoth, his career as a viking, II. 80.
Wulfnoth, brother of Harold, supposed
to have lingered out his life in the
dungeons of Rouen Castle, II. 400.
Wulfred, I. 300.
Wulfrid, archbishop of Canterbury, I.
205.
Wulfstan, 1. 364 ; cast into prison, 364 ;
death, 365.
Wulstan, bishop of Worcester, II. 237 ;
ludicrous dislike to curls, 237.

Yeomanry, II. 287.
York, taken from the Normans by the
Danes and Saxons, II. 332.

Zoroaster, II. 90.

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