The History of the Norman Conquest of England, its causes and its results

Front matter

HISTORY OF THE NORMAN CONQUEST. Eonuon MACMILLAN AND CO. PUBLISHERS TO THE UNIVERSITY OF ©xUxti. THE HISTORY OF THE NORMAN CONQUEST OF ENGLAND, ITS CAUSES AND ITS RESULTS. BY EDWARD A. FREEMAN, M.A., Hon. D.C.L. & LL.D LATE FELLOW OF TRINITY COLLEGE, Knight Commander of the Greek Order of the Saviour and of the Servian Order of Tehova, Corresponding Member of the Imperial Academy of Sciences of Saihi Petersbur of the Royal Academy of Lincei of Rome, of the Royal Society of Sciences of Gottingen, and of the Historical Society of Massachusetts. VOLUME I. THE PRELIMINARY HISTORY TO THE EJECTION OF EADWARD THE CONFESSOX. Ati-e'cro/iei' 6t) avSpas ef5o£ovs, Kal tovs JTctTt'pas rjfJ.iai' 77) yepe'crei .... KUpievoires ep rais /3a<ri\ei'ai9 aVTiiiv . . . . flovArviroi'Tai eti (TvWcrci avTWP, . . . 7]yo\tjJ.evoi Aaou iv 6(aj8ovAt'oiy. — Ecclus. c. xliv.

THIRD EDITION, REVISED. GiD*forsJ: AT THE CLARENDON PBESS. M.DCCC.LXXVII. 1.HIS third English edition of these two volumes has been again thoroughly revised throughout. I have not however thought it needful to recast or enlarge the earlier chapters, as I still cling to the hopes with regard to my first and fifth volumes which I expressed in the Preface to the fifth volume. But I have added and corrected in detail, wherever I have found any fresh matter or any fresh light on old matters. And I found also, in revising what I wrote twelve years back, that I could improve a good deal in point of mere style. I have often put a good English word where I had at first allowed a stranger to creep hi. In the first volume I have seen reason to alter my narrative on one point of some local and personal interest, though not greatly affecting the general history.

I have been convinced by the arguments of Mr. James Parker that the murder of Sigeferth and Morkere at Oxford has been confounded with the massacre of Saint Brice, and that some details which belong to the earlier event have been transferred to the later. In the Norman chapter in the second volume, I have once or twice worked in, in the form of new or enlarged VOL. i. b VI local description, the results of later journeys in Normandy and Maine. And I have also made some improvements in the maps. The author of a work on this scale always does wisely in not reviewing his reviewers, and I shall certainly not spend any great time reviewing mine. I, and doubtless others, have been amused at many pieces of criticism, perhaps not the least at the amazement with which some people have seen Old-English names written in Old-English fashion.

Preface

TO THE SECOND EDITION. IN revising these volumes for the present edition, I have made many improvements for which I feel that I must in some sort throw myself on the indulgence of the buyers and readers of the first edition. The publication of a large work of this kind in distinct volumes is, I believe, on the whole, the most satisfactory way for the reader, as it certainly is for the author. But it has its disadvantages. If no part of a work is printed till the last page of the last volume is written, a final revision may give the earlier parts the advantage of the author's researches up to the last moment. But if volumes are published separately, the researches which are needful for the composition of the later volumes continually bring to light matter which would have been highly useful during the composition of the earlier volumes.

This is especially the case with a subject like mine, where information has to be sought for in so many quarters, and where a great deal of information is drawn from purely incidental notices in quarters where it might hardly have been looked for. Take for instance one of our primary authorities for a great part of my subject, the Nor-

PREFACE.

TO THE SECOND EDITION. XI man Survey. None but a professed editor or com mentator on Domesday would sit down to read it through, word for word ; but, in searching in it for facts bearing on one subject, one is sure to light by the way on facts bearing on half-a-dozen other subjects as well. In these ways I have, in the course of writing the later parts of my work, come across much matter which enables me to correct and improve what I had already written in the earlier parts. All these improvements in detail I have thought it right to make in preparing a second edition. And I have also in many places improved the arrangement of the matter, by throw ing some portions of the text and a considerable portion of the notes into the form of Appendices. These portions were chiefly passages which consisted of dissertation rather than narrative, and which therefore seemed better suited to the form of de tached essays.

This change will, I hope, be found to make the narrative hang better together ; but, as the passages removed to the Appendix have shown a tendency to grow on the road, it has somewhat increased the size of the volumes. I have also done my best to improve the maps. I have added a map of Gaul in the tenth century, which seemed needful for the better understanding of the fourth Chapter. I have also recast the map of Britain in 597, which, as it stood in the first edition, was a failure, owing to the attempt, which can never be thoroughly successful, to represent the state of things at two different periods at once. As it is, it is designed to show, as far as evidence or probable conjecture makes it possible to show, how

PREFACE.

TO THE SECOND EDITION. XII things stood at the exact time of the mission of Augustine. In this difficult task I have been much helped by Archdeacon Jones, my former colleague in writing the History of Saint David's, by Mr. J. R. Green, and yet more by Mr. Haddan, whose know ledge of Celtic matters is really amazing. But, after all, there are many points on which it is impossible to get beyond conjecture. As the changes in the text and notes have disturbed the order of paging, I have added a special Index to this edition of these two volumes. When the whole work is complete, a general Index to the whole five volumes will be given. It will be at once seen that these improvements are in some sort made at the cost of the purchasers of the first edition, for it is impossible for them to be thrown into the form of a separate supplement for their benefit.

I can only ask again for their indulgence towards a course which could not be helped, if the book was to be brought as near perfection as might be. The revision required by these volumes has un avoidably delayed the composition of the fourth volume ; but I am happy to say that it is begun. SOMEELEAZE, WELLS, November 26th, 1869. J. HE present volume is the first instalment of a work which I have contemplated, and for which I have at various times collected materials, for the last twenty years. I had hoped to complete the work, or so much of it as would come down to the actual accession of William the Conqueror, in time for it to appear during the year 1866, the octocentenary year of the Conquest. I found how ever that, to make the main subject really in telligible from my point of view, it was necessary to treat the preliminary history at much greater length than I had originally thought of.

The present volume therefore is merely introductory to the account of the actual Conquest. The second portion of the narrative, containing the reigns of Eadward, Harold, and William, is already in progress, and will follow with all possible speed. I think it right to add that this work must not be taken as a sign that I have at all given up the design of going on with my History of Federal Government. Of the second volume of that work a considerable part is already written. One or two circumstances led me to lay it aside for a time, and I do not at all regret that such has been the case. The part on which I was engaged was the history of the German Confederation, and I find that, of what I have written, part has already become antiquated through the events of the past year. When Germany shall have assumed a shape pos sessing some greater chance of permanence than her present clearly transitional state, I shall be better able to take a general view of German Federal history from the beginning.

The peculiarity of the German Confederation is that it is the one recorded Confederation which arose from the separation of the component parts of a Kingdom. There now seems every chance of its changing back again into some thing more like its original state. The condition of the Hanseatic towns also, another part of my sub ject, is already greatly modified by the same events. It is even possible that they may not be without effect on the European position of Switzerland. On the whole, I believe that the delay in my work will only lead to its improvement, and that a volume on Swiss Federalism, and on German Federalism generally, will be far more valuable two or three years hence than it would have been if I had been able to complete it in the year before last. With regard to my present work, my main object is to draw out that view of the Norman Conquest which I believe to be the one true one.

That view, I may say, is formed by uniting the views of the two most eminent writers who have dealt with the subject, Augustine Thierry and Sir Francis Palgrave. The name of the last-mentioned illustrious scholar can never be uttered by any student of early English history without a feeling of deep gratitude. But his great and unfinished works set forth only half the truth. His eloquent French rival sets forth the other half. Each of these great writers must stand charged with considerable exaggeration on his own side of the question. Still, in the main, I think we may say that each is right in what he asserts and wrong only in what he leaves out of sight. From one point of view, the Norman Conquest was nearly all that Thierry says that it was ; from another point of view, it was hardly more than Sir Francis Palgrave says that it was.

Both writers also singularly resemble each other in a certain lack of critical power. Nothing in any period of history, above all, nothing in the period of history with which I am concerned, is more necessary than to distinguish the respective value of different authorities. Now in this respect both Thierry and Sir Francis Palgrave were deficient. Neither, I believe, ever made a statement for which he could not give chapter and verse in some shape or other. But both of them were too apt to catch at any statement which seemed at all to support their several theories, without always stopping to reflect whether such statements came from contemporary chronicles or charters or from careless and ill-informed compilers three or four centuries later. The prominence which I have given to the preliminary history contained in this volume is due to a deep and growing conviction that the history of the Norman Conquest, and indeed all later English history also, is constantly misunderstood through a fatal habit of beginning the study of English history with the Norman Conquest itself.

A confused and unhappy nomenclature hinders many people from realizing that Englishmen before 1066 were the same people as Englishmen after 1066. They thus fail to perceive that the Norman Conquest, instead of wiping out the race, the laws, or the language which existed before it, did but communicate to us a certain foreign infusion in all three branches, which was speedily absorbed and assimilated into the preexisting mass. We cannot understand the Norman Conquest of England without knowing something of the history both of Englishmen and of Normans before they met in arms on the hills of Sussex. As regards the Normans, the conquest of England was but the most brilliant and the most permanent of a series of brilliant conquests, from the occupation of Rouen to the occupation of Naples. As regards England, the Conquest was the grand and final result of causes which had been at work at least ever since the death of Eadgar.

The Danish invasions, and the Norman tendencies of Eadward, each, in different ways, both suggested the enterprise of WTilliam and made that enterprise easier to be effected. I there fore look on the earlier history of Normandy, and still more on the English history from the accession of Æthelred to the death of Harthacnut, as so closely connected with my subject as to need a treatment in considerable detail. With the reign of Eadward the period of the Conquest itself begins. And I may add that I have done my best to throw some life into a period of our history which is full alike of political instruction and of living personal interest. That period is commonly presented to ordinary readers in the guise either of fantastic legends or else of summaries of the most repulsive dryness. I have striven to show what was the real political state of England in the tenth and eleventh centuries.

I have striven also to clothe with flesh and blood the dry bones of men like Brihtnoth and Ulfcytel and Eadmund and our illustrious Danish conqueror himself. As in my History of Federal Government I ventured to restore the Greek spelling of proper names, so I now follow the example of scholars like Kemble, Lappenberg, and others, in employing the genuine spelling of Old-English names. As they are generally spelled, they are a mere chaos of French and Latin corruptions, following no principle of any kind. Æ'Selstdn becomes " while Æpelred, exactly the same form, becomes "Æthelred." I do not however follow Mr. Kemble in retaining the obsolete letter #. It seems to me as much out of place to write Æ'cSel'Sry^ in the midst of a modern English sentence, as it would be to write Adene or Qeojjompos.

At one time I felt inclined to ex cept those names which are still in familiar use, like Alfred and Edward, on the same principle on which I write Philip and not Philippos. Were the English names, like the Greek, simply cut short at the end, there would be no difficulty in so doing. But it would be unpleasantly inconsistent to write Ælfric and Alfred, Eadwig and Edward. I there fore make a chronological distinction ; by the time of our post-Norman Edwards, the a had been dropped in contemporary spelling, and I write accordingly. The names of Normans and other foreigners, Wil liam, John, and the like, I give in their modem shape. Nothing could be gained by writing Wil lelm, Willaume, or Guillaume, all of them mere corruptions just as much as the modern English form. Names of places again I write with their usual modern spelling, because in them we have, what in the names of men we have not, an universally received and, allowing for some misconceptions, fairly consistent system.

I except only one or two places, like Brunanburh, Ethandun, Assandun, of which the geographical position is more or less un certain, and whose fame is wholly confined to the time of which I am writing. I have given two maps, chiefly founded on those in Spruner's Hand-Atlas. As in the maps which accompanied my History of Federal Government, any attempts to mark the boundaries of states whose boundaries were always fluctuating must always be more or less conjectural, and my conjectures, or those of Dr. Spruner, may not be the same as the conjectures of all my readers. All such attempts must be taken at what they are wTorth and no more. For one such conjecture I am specially responsible. In the map of Britain in 597 I have attempted, by means of cross-colouring, to mark the extent of ter ritory north of the Thames and Avon which was West-Saxon in 597, but which I believe to have become Mercian in 628.

In so doing I have followed the indications given by Dr. Guest in his papers and local maps ; but I believe that mine is the first at tempt to show the results of his researches on the general map of Britain. In this map my object was to mark all ascertained places mentioned in the Chronicles, with the addition of a few from Bæda, up to the time of Ecgberht. In the later map of the English Empire my principle was to mark those places which were mentioned in my own history from the time of Ecgberht to the Norman Conquest. I have now only to return my thanks to those friends who have helped me in my undertaking in various ways, by comments and suggestions, by the loan of books, and in a few cases, though very few, by verifying references to books which I had not at hand. At their head I am proud to place the two men who stand at the head of living students of English history, Dr. Guest and Professor Stubbs.

I have also to thank Viscount Strangford for several valuable suggestions as to the early Celtic ethnology of Britain. My thanks are due also for help of different kinds to the Rev. S. W. Wayte, now Pre sident of Trinity College, to the Rev. John Earle, late Professor of Anglo-Saxon, to the Rev. J. E. B. Mayor, of St. John's College, Cambridge, to F. H. Dickinson, Esq., of Trinity College, Cambridge, to the Rev. J. R. Green, of Jesus College, a rising scholar to whom I look for the continuation of my own work, and to W. B. Dawkins, Esq., of Jesus College and of the Geological Survey. Mr. Dawkins I have especially to thank for much help in my investiga tions of the battle-fields of Maldon and Assandun, and I look to him for more valuable help still when I come to the greater battle which forms the centre of my whole history.

And I must add my thanks for the kindness of every sort which I have uniformly XX received from the Delegates of the University Press, from one especially whose loss all historical students are now lamenting, my late learned and deeply esteemed friend Dr. Shirley. SOMERLEAZE, WELLS, January 4th, 1867. CONTENTS.

Introduction

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A. D. PAGE The Norman Conquest important, not as the beginning of English history, but as its chief turning-point . I Necessity of the earlier English history to its right understanding ..... 2 x Its character as compared with earlier and later conquests ...... 3 Nature of the changes effected by it . . . 4 — 5 Divisions of the work ..... 5 — 7

Chapter II. Formation Oe The Kingdom Oe England

449 — 975. §1. The Heathen Period of English Conquest. 449 — 597. The languages, races, and local names of Britain essentially the same now as at the time of the Norman Conquest ...... 8 The Norman element absorbed in the existing English nation ...... 9 The English Conquest ; credibility of the narrative . 9 Question of earlier Teutonic settlements . . 10 — 12 Analogy of the Danish invasions . . . 12 Course of the English Conquest to the end of the sixth century ..... 13 — 15 Difference between the English Conquest and other Teutonic conquests . .... 15 — 18 Extermination of the Celtic inhabitants . . . 18 . .> Causes and results of the difference . . . 19 — 21 3. Britain at the end of the sixth century; occupation itaafeM?..y of the country by various Low-Dutch tribes . 21 — 23.-;#"'- **'" „ VOL. I. C -'^ts?^*^ CONTENTS.

A. d. PAeE No regular Heptarchy, but seven Kingdoms prominent among others . 23 24 Growth of Wessex ..... 24 — 25 Peculiar character of Mercia . . . . 26 — 27 Supremacy of the Bretwaldas . . • 28 §2. Conversion of the English to Christianity. 597—681. Peaceful progress of Christianity in England . 29 Effects of the conversion ; increased intercourse with the Continent ..... 30 — 31 England the first national Church in the West . 31 — 32 Cessation of wars of extermination . . . 33 Advance of Wessex ; Celtic element in the Western shires ...... 33—35 § 3. Fluctuations of Dominion between Northumberland, Mercia, and Wessex. 577—823. 61 7 — 633 Rivalry of Mercia and Northumberland ; reign of Eadwine ...... 35 — 36 627 — 655 Reign of Penda of Mercia .... 56 — 37 635 — 685 Greatness of Northumberland under Oswald and his successors . . . . . . 37 716—819 Renewed greatness of Mercia ; reign of Offa. . 37 — 38 Influence of Charles the Great in English affairs . 38 39 802 Accession of Ecgberht of Wessex ... 39 § 4.

Permanent supremacy of Wessex. 823 — 924. 802 — 837 Gradual submission of the other English Kingdoms to Ecgberht . . . . 40—41 S15 — 837 His successes over the Welsh ; independence of the Northern Celts ..... 41 42 789 — 1070 Danish Invasions - . . . . 43 Three Periods of the Danish Invasions . . 43 45 837 — 901 Reigns of Æthelwulf and his sons . . . 45 46 867—877 Danish Conquest of Northumberland, East-Anglia, and part of Mercia ..... 46 871—880 Election of Ælfred ; Danish Invasions of Wessex . 46—47 878—890 Peace of Wedmore and establishment of Guthrum in East-Anglia 47—48 Character and extent of the Danish occupation ; its effect on local nomenclature . . ,g Character of Ælfred .... 40— 13 Consolidation of England promoted by the Dan'sh Wars 53-55 893—901 Later wars and death of Ælfred . . -- -g CONTENTS. xxiii A. D. PAGE 901 — 925 Reign of Eadward the Elder ; his Kingdom reaches the Humber ..... 56 — 5S 924 Commendation of Northumberland, Scotland, and Strathclyde ...... 58 — 60 §5.

Imperial Supremacy of the West-Saxon Kings of the English. 924 — 975. 925 — 940 Reign of Æthelstan ; Northumberland first incorporated ...... 60 937 Battle of Brunanburh .... 61 940 — 955 Reigns of Eadmund and Eadred; final incorporation of Northumberland .... 62 945 Grant of Cumberland to Malcolm of Scotland . 63 955 Reign of Eadwig in Wessex and Eadgar in Mercia . 63 Character of Dunstan .... 63 — 64 958—975 Sole reign of Eadgar ; his supremacy over all Britain 64 — 66 975 — 1016 Reigns of Eadward and Æthelred . . . 66 — 67 Recapitulation ..... 67 — 68

Chapter III. The Constitution Of England In The Tenth And Eleventh

CENTl'RIES. The Old-English Constitution survived the Norman Conquest ...... 69 — 71 § 1 . Origin of the Old-English Kingship. Summary of the growth of Wessex . . . 72 The germs of our institutions to be traced to the earliest times . . . . . . 72 — 74 Analogy with other Teutonic and other Aryan nations 74 Origin of Kingship ; earlier government by Ealdormen or Heretogan ..... 74 — 76 Difference between Ealdormen and Kings . . 76 — 78 Title of King ..... 78 Kingship national and not territorial . . . 78 — 79 Growth of kingly power through extension of territory ...... 79 — 80 § 2. The Early Teutonic Constitution and its Decay. The Teutonic Free Community ; analogies elsewhere . 80—81 Eorls and Ceorls ..... 82 84 The Mark; Folldand ; the Eftel . . . 84—85 Origin and nature of the Comitatus or Thegnhood; Homeric and other analogies . . . 85—80 The Thegns supplant the old Eorls ... 89 C a CONTENTS. a.d. PAGE Effects of the change ; Commendation ; depression of the Ceorls . . . . • 90—91 Growth of feudal principles .... 91 — 93 Earlier form of military service . . . 93 — 94 Folkland and Bookland .... 94 — 96 Comparison between England, Germany, and Switzerland ...... 9fi—97 Changes in the ancient Constitution ; their necessity 97 Ceorldom sinks into Villainage, but the Villains are gradually emancipated .... 97 Amalgamation of Marks into Shires and of Shires into Kingdoms . . . . .98 — 100 § 3.

Origin and Powers of the Witenagemdt. Democratic constitution of the old Assemblies of the Mark and the Shire .... 100 — 102 The Assembly of the Kingdom inevitably shrinks up into an Assembly of the King's Thegns . . 102 — 103 The Witenagemdt of Wessex becomes the General Legislature, the Gemdts of other Kingdoms surviving as local bodies .... 104 Powers of the Gem<5t greater than those of a modern Parliament ..... 105 — 106 Right of deposing the King .... 106 — 107 Right of electing the King ; combination of the hereditary and elective principles . . . 107 — no Direct action of the Witan in all matters . . no — 112 Joint action of the King and the Witan . . 112 — 113 Loss and recovery of Parliamentary freedom after the Conquest ...... 113 — 114 Importance of the personal character of the King . 114 — 115 His influence as Executive and as Hlaford of the chiefmen ...... 116 — 117 § 4.

The Imperial Power of the King and his Relation to the Dependent Kingdoms. 954 England one Kingdom, but much local independence retained . . . . . j T * Statement of the question as to the superiority of the West-Saxon Kings over all Britain . . 118 924 Superiority over Scotland dates from the Commendation to Eadward .... 1 18 hq 922 Pinal Commendation of the Welsh . . . uq Nature of Commendation ; analogous instances . no 121 924 — 1 291 Claims of the two Edwards ; change of ideas mean- * CONTENTS. XXV A.D. PAGE Threefold relation of the King of Scots to the English Crown ...... 122 — 123 Geography and relations of Scotland, Lothian, and Strathclyde ..... 123 — 124 History of Cumberland . . . .1 24 — 1 26 History of Lothian ; it becomes the historical Scotland 1 26 — 1 29 Analogy between Scotland and Switzerland . . 129 — 130 922 — 1283 History of Wales ..... 130 — 131 Position of the dependent Kingdoms . . . 131 — 133 Statement of the case as to the Imperial Titles . 133 — 134 The Titles used in the Charters imply an Imperial position ...... 134 — 136 No continuous tradition from the Provincial Emperors ...... 136 — 137 286 — 407 Real position of the " Tyrants " . . . 137 — 139 No analogy between them and the Bretwaldas . 139 — 140 The Imperial style adopted through a feeling that the position of the West-Saxon Kings was analogous to that of the Emperors . . . 140 — 1 43 Position of Ecgberht, of Æthelstan, of Eadgar . 140 — 141 The Imperial titles go out of use after the Norman Conquest ...... 143 — 144 Late instances of their use .... 144 — 145 827 — 1869 Growth of the English system of dependencies . 145 — 146 The Kingdom of England and Empire of Britain transferred to William .... 146 — 147

Chapter IV. Sketch Of The History Of Normandy During The Tenth Century

Original kindred of Englishmen, Danes, and Normans 148 — 149 Danes in England become Englishmen, in Gaul, Frenchmen ..... 149 — 151 § 1. General Effects of the Scandinavian Settlements in Gaul. Analogybetween the settlements of Rolf and Guthrum 151 Results of the Norman settlement on general history ; character of the Normans .... 151 — 154 Effects on French history; position of Gaul ; struggle between Paris and Laon decided by the Normans 154 — 155 Origin of Modern France .... 155—156 888 Division of the Empire ; Eastern and Western Franks 156 830 — 888 Growing importance of Paris ; Odo the first Parisian King ...... 156—159 CONTENTS. XXVI PAGE A.D. §2. Settlement and Reign of Rolf '. 911 — 927. The Danish ravages within the Empire compared with those in England 159—163 Various Danish settlements in Gaul ; exceptional importance of that at Rouen .... 163—164 164 — 166 S76— 911 ? 911 912 Character of Rolf; his earlier exploits Rolf in possession of Rouen ; his defeat at Chartres .

Peace of Clair-on-Epte ; analogy with that of Wed- 166 166 — 167 167—168 168 — 170 more The Kingdom strengthened by the cession . Rolf's homage to Charles ; extent of his grant Internal condition of Normandy; probable position of the two races ; vestiges of the Danish language . Normandy not an absolute Monarchy I7I-I73 173—174 174—176 Rolf supports the Karlings against Robert and Rudolf Abdication and death of Rolf. 922 — 927 927? 932? 924 176 His acquisition of the Bessin ; its importance 176—179 § 3. Reign of William Longsword. 927 — 943. Religion of Rolf; birth and education of his son William ...... 179— 181 182—183 Breton revolt . 931 Relations between Æthelstan and the Continent; Alan of Britanny takes refuge in England . 183—186 936 Alan restored ; the Cotentin and the Channel Islands become Norman ; their subsequent history 186—189 Danish and Christian parties ; revolt and submission of the Danish party 93 2 189 — 190 William's position between the two ; Danish education of his son Richard 190 — 192 Part played by William in French history ; condition of Gaul .... 192 — 196 926-933 William's fidelity to Charles the Simple; he does homage to Rudolf after his death . 196 — 197 198 — 200 936 Election of Lewis ; influence of Æthelstan Reign and character of Lewis ; true character of the later Karlings 200 — 201 Affairs of Montreuil and Lotharingia; intervention of Æthelstan and Otto 939—940 201 — 205 205 — 206 Council of Attigny ; murder of William Longsword . 942—943 § 4.