William of Malmesbury's Chronicle of the kings of England : from the earliest period to the reign of King Stephen

Front matter

WILLIAM OF MALMESBURY # CHRONICLE

OF KINGS OF ENGLAND

S?2c

Preface

The history of the English, from their arrival in Britain to his own times, has been written by Bede, a man of singular learning and modesty, in a clear and captivating style. After him you will not, in my opinion, easily find any person who has attempted to compose in Latin the history of this people. Let others declare whether their researches in this respect have been, or are likely to be, more fortunate ; my own labour, though diligent in the extreme, has, down to this period, been without its reward. There, are, indeed, some notices of antiquity, written in the vernacular tongue after the manner of a chronicle,* and arranged according to the years of our Lord. By means of these alone, the times succeeding this man have been rescued from oblivion : for of Elward,f a noble and illustrious man, who attempted to arrange these chronicles in Latin, and whose intention I could applaud if his language did not disgust me, it is better to be silent. Nor has it escaped my knowledge, that there is also a work of my Lord Eadmer,| written with a chastened elegance of style, in which, beginning from King Edgar, he has but hastily glanced at the times down to WiUiam the First : and thence, taking a freer range, gives a narrative, copious, and of great utiHty to the studious, until the death of Archbishop Ralph. § Thus from the time of Bede there is a period of two hundred and twenty-three years left unnoticed in his history ; so that the regular series of time, unsupported by a connected relation, halts in the middle. This circumstance has induced me, as well out of love to my

* This alludes to those invaluable records, the Saxon Chronicles. These, as originally compiled, have been already published in the present Series of Monkish Historians.

t Elward, or Ethelwerd, was a noble Saxon, great-great-grandson of King Ethelred, brother of Alfred. He abridged and translated the Saxon Chronicle into Latin, published in the present Series. He lived apparently in the time of Edgar, towards the close of the tenth century.

t Eadmer, a monk and precentor of Christ-Church, Canterbury, and pupil of Archbishop Anselm, together with a variety of other works, wrote " Historia Novorum," or, a history of modern times, from a.b. 1066 to 1122.

$ MS. Anselmi. Eadmer at first brought down his history to the death of Archbishop Anselm only, a.d. 1109, but aftei wards continued it to the decease of Ralph, a.d. 1122.

B 2

4 PREFACE.

country, as respect for the authority of those who have enjoined on me the undertaking, to fill up the chasm, and to season the crude materials with Roman art. And that the work may proceed with greater regularity, I shall cull somewhat from Bede, whom I must often quote, glancing at a few facts, but omitting more.

The First Book, therefore, contains a succinct account of the English, from the time of their descent on Britain, till that of King Egbert, who, after the diiferent Princes had fallen by various ways, gained the monarchy of almost the whole island.

But as among the English arose four powerful kingdoms, that is to say, of Kent, of the West Saxons, of the Northumbrians, and of the Mercians, of which I purpose severally to treat if I have leisure ; I shall begin with that which attained the earliest to maturity, and was also the first to decay. This I shall do more clearly, if I place the kingdoms of the East Angles, and of the East Saxons, after the others, as little meriting either my labours, or the regard of posterity.

The Second Book will contain the chronological series of the Kings to the coming of the Normans.

The three following Books will be employed upon the history of three successive kings, with the addition of whatever, in their times, happened elsewhere, which, from its celebrity, may demand a more particular notice. This, then, is what I purpose, if the Divine favour shall smile on my undertaking, and carry me safely by those rocks of rugged diction, on which Elward, in his search after sounding and farfetched phrases, so unhappily suffered shipwreck. " Should any one, however," to use the poet's expression,* " peruse this work with sensible delight," I deem it necessary to acquaint him, that I vouch nothing for the truth of long past transactions, but the consonance of the time ; the veracity of the relation must rest with its authors. Whatever I have recorded of later times, I have either myself seen, or heard from credible authority. However, in either part, I pay but little respect to the judgment of my contemporaries : trusting that I shall gain with posterity, when love and hatred shall be no more, if not a reputation for eloquence, at least credit for diligence.

* Virgilii Ed. VI. V. 10.

THE HISTORY

OF THE

KINGS OF ENGLAND

Chapter I

Of the arrival of the Angles, and of the Kings of Kent. [a.d. 449.]

In the year of tlie incarnation of our Lord 449, Angles and Saxons first came into Britain ; and although the cause oi their arrival is universally known, it may not be improper here to subjoin it : and, that the design of my work may be the more manifest, to begin even from an earlier period. That Britain, compelled by Julius Csesar to submit to the Roman power, was held in high estimation by that people, may be collected from their history, and be seen also in the ruins of their ancient buildings. Even their emperors, sovereigns of almost all the world, eagerly embraced opportunities of sailing hither, and of spending their days here. Finally, Severus and Constantius, two of their greatest princes, died upon the island, and were there intei'red with the utmost pomp. The former, to defend this province from the incursions of the barbarians, built his celebrated and well-known wall from sea to sea. The latter, a man, as they report, of courteous manners, left Constantine, his son by Helena, a tender of cattle,* a youth of great promise, his

* Helena's origin has been much contested : Gibbon decides that she was daughter of an innkeeper. The word " Stabularia," literally implies an ostler- wench ; and it has been conjectured that it was applied to her, by the Jews and Gentiles, on account of her building a church on the spot where stood the stable in which our Lord was born.

6 WILLIAM OF MALMESBTJRT. [b. i. c.l.

heir. Constantine, greeted emperor by the armj, led away, in an expedition destined to the continent, a numerous force of British soldiers ; by whose exertions, the war succeeding to his wishes, he gained in a short time the summit of power. For these veterans, when their toil was over, he founded a colony on the western coast of Gaul, where, to this day, their descendants, somewhat degenerate in language and manners from our own Britons, remain with wonderful increase.*

In succeeding times, in this island, Maximus, a man wellfitted for command, had he not aspired to power in defiance of his oath, assumed the purple, as though compelled by the army, and preparing immediately to pass over into Gaul, he despoiled the province of almost all its military force. Not long after also, one Constantine, who had been elected emperor on account of his name, drained its whole remaining warlike strength ; but both being slain, the one by Theodosius, the other by Honorius, they became examples of the instability of human greatness. Of the forces which had followed them, part shared the fate of their leaders ; the rest, after their defeat, fled to the continental Britons. Thus when the tyrants had left none but half-savages in the country, and, in the towns, those only who were given up to luxury, Britain, despoiled of the support of its youthfulf population, and bereft of every useful art, was for a long time exposed to the ambition of neighbouring nations.

For immediately, by an excursion of the Scots and Picts, numbers of the people were slain, villages burnt, | towns destroyed, and everything laid waste by fire and sword. Part of the harassed islanders, who thought anything more advisable than contending in battle, fled for safety to the mountains ; others, burying their treasures in the earth, many of which are dug up in our own times, proceeded to Rome to ask assistance. The Romans, touched with pity, and deeming it above all things important to yield succour to their oppressed allies, twice lent their aid, and defeated the enemy. But at length, wearied with the distant voyage, they declined returning in future ; bidding them rather themselves not

* Various periods have been assigned for the British settlement in Armorica, or Bretagne ; but the subject is still involved in great obscurity, t Some MSS. read juvenilis, others militaris. t Some MSS. read iuccensa.

A.D. 447.] REIGN OF VORTIGEKN. 7

degenerate from the martial energy of their ancestors, but learn to defend their country with spirit, and with arms. They accompanied their advice with the plan of a wall, to be built for their defence ; the mode of keeping watch on the ramparts ; of sallying out against the enemy, should it be necessary, together with other duties of military discipline. After giving these admonitions, they departed, accompanied by the tears of the miserable inhabitants ; and Fortune, smiling on their departure, restored them to their friends and country. The Scots, learning the improbability of their return, immediately began to make fresh and more frequent irruptions against the Britons ; to level their wall, to kill the few opponents they met with, and to carry off considerable booty ; while such as escaped fled to the royal residence, imploring the protection of their sovereign.

At this time Vortigern was King of Britain ; a man calculated neither for the field nor the council, but wholly given up to the lusts of the flesh, the slave of every vice : a character of insatiable avarice, ungovernable pride, and polluted by his lusts. To complete the picture, as we read in the History of the Britons, he had defiled his own daughter, who was lured to the participation of such a crime by the hope of sharing his Idngdom, and she had borne him a son. Regardless of his treasures at this dreadful juncture, and wasting the resources of the kingdom in riotous living, he was awake only to the blandishments of abandoned women. Roused at length, however, by the clamours of the people, he summoned a council, to take the sense of his nobility on the state of public affairs. To be brief, it was unanimously resolved to invite over from Germany the Angles and Saxons, nations powerful in arms, but of a roving life. It was conceived that this would be a double advantage : for it was thought that, by their skill in war, these people would easily subdue their enemies ; and, as they hitherto had no certain habitation, would gladly accept even an unproductive soil, provided it afforded them a stationary residence. Moreover, that they could not be suspected of ever entertaining a design against the country, since the remembrance of this kindness would soften their native ferocity. This counsel was adopted, and ambassadors, men of rank, and worthy to represent the country, were sent into Germany.

8 WILLIAM OP MALMESBUKY. [b.i.c.1.

The Germans, hearing that voluntarily offered, which they had long anxiously desired, readily obeyed the invitation ; their joy quickening their haste. Bidding adieu, therefore, to their native fields and the ties of kindred, they spread their sails to Fortune, and, with a favouring breeze, arrived in Britain in three of those long vessels which they call " ceols."* At this and other times came over a mixed multitude from three of the German nations ; that is to say, the Angles, Saxons, and Jutes. For almost all the country lying to the north of the British ocean, though divided into many provinces, is justly denominated Germany, from its germinating so many men. And as the pruner cuts off the more luxuriant branches of the tree to impart a livelier vigour to the remainder, so the inhabitants of this country assist their common parent by the expulsion of a part of their members, lest she should perish by giving sustenance to too numerous an offspring ; but in order to obviate discontent, they cast lots who shall be compelled to migrate. Hence the men of this country have made a virtue of necessity, and, when driven from their native soil, they have gained foreign settlements by force of arms. The Vandals, for instance, who formerly over-ran Africa ; the Goths, who made themselves masters of Spain ; the Lombards, who, even at the present time, are settled in Italy ; and the Normans, who have given their own name to that part of Gaul which they subdued. From Germany, then, there first came into Britain, an inconsiderable number indeed, but well able to make up for their paucity by their courage. These were under the conduct of Hengist and Horsa, two brothers of suitable disposition, and of noble race in their own country. They were great-grandsons of the celebrated Woden, from whom almost all the royal families of these barbarous nations deduce their origin ; and to whom the "nations of the Angles, fondly deifying him, have consecrated by immemorial superstition the fourth day of the week, as they have the sixth to his wife Frea. Bede has related in what particular parts of

* These are supposed to be long vessels, somewhat like galleys, and it would appear, as well from Brompton, col. 897, as from so small a number containing a body equal to a military enterprise like that described here and in other places, that they vere of considerable burden.

AD. 449] ARRIVAL OF HENGIST. 9

Britain, the Angles, Saxons, and Jutes,* fixed their habitations : my design, however, is not to dilate, though there mav be abundance of materials for the purpose, but to touch only on what is necessary.

The Angles were eagerly met on all sides upon their arrival : from the king they received thanks, from the people expressions of good-will. Faith was plighted on either side, and the Isle of Thanet appropriated for their residence. It was agreed, moreover, that they should exert their prowess in arms for the service of the country ; and, in return, receive a suitable reward from the people for whose safety they underwent such painful labours. Ere long, the Scots advanced, as usual, secure, as they supposed, of a great booty with very little difficulty. However, the Angles assailed them, and scarcely had they engaged, before they were put to flight, whilst the cavalry pursued and destroyed the fugitives. Contests of this kind were frequent, and victory constantly siding with the Angles, as is customary in human affairs, while success inflamed the courage of one party, and dread increased the cowardice of the other, the Scots in the end avoided nothing so cautiously as an engagement with them.

In the meantime, Hengist, not less keen in perception than ardent in the field, with consent of Vortigern, sends back some of his followers to his own country, with the secret purpose, however, of representing the indolence of the king and people, the opulence of the island, and the prospect of advantage to new adventurers. Having executed their commission adroitly, in a short time they return with sixteen ships, bringing with them the daughter of Hengist ; a maiden, as we have heard, who might iustly be called the master-piece of nature and the admiration of mankind. At an entertainment, provided for them on their return, Hengist commanded his daughter to assume the office of cup-bearer, that she might gratify the eyes of the king as he sat at table. Nor was the design unsuccessful : for he, ever eager after female beauty, deeply smitten with the graceful-

* Bede i. 15. The people of Kent and of the Isle of Wight were Jutes ; the East, South, and West Saxons, were Saxons ; and of the Angles came the East-Angles, Mid-Angles, Mercians, and Northumbrians. For the limits of the several kingdoms of the Heptarchy, see Chap. VI. The Cottonian MS. (Claud, ix.) reads, Wichiis,

10 WILLLOl OF MALMESBURY. [b. i. c. 1.

ness of her form and the elegance of her motion, instantly conceived a vehement desire for the possession of her person, and immediately proposed marriage to her father ; urging him to a measure to which he was already well inclined. Hengist, at first, kept up the artifice by a refusal ; stating, that so humble a connection was unworthy of a king : but, at last, appearing to consent with reluctance, he gave way to his importunities, and accepted, as a reward, the whole of Kent, where all justice had long since declined under the administration of its Gourong (or Viceroy), who, like the other princes of the island, was subject to the monarchy of Vortigern. Not satisfied with this liberality, but abusing the imprudence of the king, the barbarian persuaded him to send for his son and brother, men of warlike talents, from Germany, pretending, that he would defend the province on the east, wliile they might curb the Scots on the northern frontier. The king assenting, they sailed round Britain, and arriving at the Orkney Isles, the inhabitants of which they involved in the same calamity with the Picts and Scots, at this and after times, they finally settled in the northern part of the island, now called Northumbria. Still no one there assumed the royal title or insignia till the time of Ida, from whom sprang the regal line of the Northumbrians ; but of this hereafter. We will now return to the present subject.

Vortimer, the son of Vortigern, thinking it unnecessary longer to dissemble that he saw himself and his Britons circumvented by the craft of the Angles, turned his thoughts to their expulsion, and stimulated his father to the same attempt. At his suggestion, the truce was broken seven years after their arrival ; and during the ensuing twenty, they frequently fought partial battles,* and, as the chronicle relates, four general actions. From the first conflict they parted on equal terms : one party lamenting the loss of Horsa, the brother of Hengist ; the other, that of Katigis, another of Vortigern's sons. The Angles, having the advantage in all the succeeding encounters, peace was concluded ; Vortimer, who had been the instigator of the war,

* At Aylesford, a.d. 455 ; at Crayford, 457 ; at Wippedsfleet (supposed, but very doubtful, Ebbsfleet, in Thanet), 465 ; and the fourth, a.d. 473, the place not mentioned. See Saxon Chronicle, a.d. 465.

A.D.520.] MASSACRE OF THE BRITISH NOBLES, 1.1

and difFerecl far from the indolence of liis father, perished prematurely, or he would have governed the kingdom in a noble manner, had God permitted. When he died, the British strength decayed, and all hope fled from them ; and they would soon have perished altogether, had not Ambrosius, the sole survivor of the Komans, who became monarch after Vortigern, quelled the presumptuous barbarians by the powerful aid of warlike Arthur. It is of this Ai-thur that the Britons fondly tell so many fables, even to the present day ; a man worthy to be celebrated, not by idle fictions, but by authentic history. He long upheld the sinking state, and roused the broken spirit of his countrymen to war. Finally, at the siege of Mount Badon,* relying on an image of the Virgin, which he had afiixed to his armour, he engaged nine hundred of the enemy, single-handed, and dispersed them -with incredible slaughter. On the other side, the Angles, after various revolutions of fortune, filled up their thinned battalions with fresh supplies of their countrymen ; rushed with greater courage to the conflict, and extended themselves by degrees, as the natives retreated, over the whole island : for the counsels of God, in whose hand is every change of empire, did not oppose their career. But this was eff^ected in process of time ; for while Vortigern lived, no new attempt was made against them. About this time, Hengist, from that bad quahty of the human heart, which grasps after more in proportion to what i* already possesses, by a preconcerted piece of deception, invited his son-in-law, with three hundred of his followers, to an entertainment ; and when, by more than usual compotations, he had excited them to clamour, he began, purposely, to taunt them severally, with sarcastic raillery : this had the desired effect, of making them first quarrel, and then come to blows. Thus the Britons were basely murdered to a man, and breathed their last amid their cups. The king himself, made captive, purchased his liberty at the price of three provinces. After this, Hengist died, in the thirty-ninth year after his arrival ; he

* Said to be Bannesdowii, near Bath. Giraldus Cambrensis says, the image of the Virgin was tixed on the inside of Arthur's shield, that he might kiss it in battle. Bede erroneously ascribes this event to a-d. 493. (Bede** Ecclesiastical History, b. i. c. 6.)

12 WILLIA3I OF MAJLMESBUKY. [b. r. c. 1.

was a man, who urging his success not less by artifice than courage, and giving free scope to his natural ferocity, preferred effecting his purpose rather by cruelty than by kindness. He left a son named Eisc;* who, more intent on defending, than enlarging, his dominions, never exceeded the paternal bounds. At the expiration of twenty-four years, he had for his successors, liis son Otha, and Otha's son, Ermenric, who, in their manners, resembled him, rather than their grandfather and great grandfather. To the times of both, the Chi'onicles assign fifty-three years; but whether they reigned singly, or together, does not appear.

After them Ethelbert, the son of Ermenic, reigned fifty-three years according to the Chronicle ; but fifty-six according to Bede. The reader must determine how this difference is to be accounted for; as I think it sufficient to have apprized him of it, I shall let the matter rest.f In the infancy of his reign, he was such an object of contempt to the neighbouring kings, that, defeated in two battles, he could scarcely defend Ms frontier ; afterwards, however, when to his riper years he had added a more perfect knowledge of war, he quickly, by successive victories, subjugated every kingdom of the Angles, 'svith the exception of the Northumbrians. And, in order to obtain foreign connections, he entered into affinity with the king of France, by marrying his daughter Bertha. And now by this connection with the Franks, the nation, hitherto savage and wedded to its own customs, began daily to divest itself of its rustic propensities and incline to gentler manners. To this was added the very exemplary Hfe of bishop Luidhard, who had come over with the queen, by which, though silently, he allured the king to the knowledge of Christ our Lord. Hence it arose, that his mind, already softened, easily yielded to the preaching of the blessed Augustine ; and he was the first of all his race who renounced the errors of paganism, that he might obscure, by the glory of his faith,

* According to Sprott, Hengist died in 488, and was succeeded by his son Octa, vel Osca. Osca died a.d. 408, and Esc, his son, ascended the throne. In the year 522 Ermenric, the father of king Ethelbert, reigned. Ethelbert became king of Kent in 558.

f The difference seems to have arisen from carelessness in the scribe; as the Saxon Chronicle states him to have ascended the throne a.d. 560, and to have died 616: which is exactly fifty-six years, although it asserts him to have reigned only 53.

those whom he surpassed in power. This, indeed, is spotless nobility ; this, exalted virtue ; to excel in worth those whom you exceed in rank. Besides, extending his care to posterity, he enacted laws, in his native tongue, in which he appointed rewards for the meritorious, and opposed severer restraints to the abandoned, leaving nothing doubtful for the future.*

Ethelbert died in the twenty-first year after he had embraced the Christian faith, leaving the diadem to his son Edbald. As soon as he was freed from the restraints of paternal awe, he rejected Christianity, and overcame the virtue of his stepmother.f But the severity of the divine mercy opposed a barrier to his utter destruction : for the princes, whom his father had subjugated, immediately rebelled, he lost a part of his dominions, and was perpetually haunted by an evil spirit, whereby he paid the penalty of his unbelief. Laurentius, the successor of Augustine, was offended at these transactions, and after having sent away his companions, was meditating his own departure from the country, but having received chastisement from God, he was induced to change his resolution. if The king conversing with him on the subject, and finding his assertions confirmed by his stripes, became easily converted, accepted the grace of Christianity, and broke off his incestuous intercourse. But, that posterity might be impressed with the singular punishment due to apostacy, it was with difficulty he could maintain his hereditary dominions, much less rival the eminence of his father. For the remainder of his life, his faith was sound, and he did nothing to sully his reputation. The monastery also, which his father had founded without the walls of Canterbury, § he ennobled with large estates, and sumptuous presents. The praises and merits of both these men ought ever to be proclaimed, and had in honour by the English ; because they allowed the Christian faith to acquire

* See Wilkins's " Leges Anglo-Saxonicffi," and the Textus Roffensis.

■f The name of the second queen of Ethelbert is not mentioned, probably on account of this incest.

X St. Peter, it is said, appeared to Laurentius at night, and reproaching him for his cowardice, severely chastised him with a scourge; the marks of which had the effect here mentioned the next day. Bede ii. 6. According to Sprott, St. Laurentius became archbishop of Canterbury, a.d. 610.

§ St. Augustine's, Canterbury, completed, according to Sprott, a.d. 663.

14 WILLIAM OF JIALMESBURY. [b. i. c 1.

Strength, in England, by patient listening and willingness to believe. Who can contemplate, without satisfaction, the just and amiable answer wliich Bede makes king Ethelbert to have given to the first preaching of Augustine ? " That he could not, thus early, embrace a new doctrine and leave the accustomed worship of his country ; but that, nevertheless, persons who had undertaken so long a journey for the purpose of kindly communicating to the Angles what they deemed an inestimable benefit, far from meeting with ill-treatment, ought rather to be allowed full liberty to preach, and also to receive the amplest maintenance." He fully kept his promise ; and at length the truth of Christianity becoming apparent by degrees, himself and all his subjects were admitted into the number of the faithful. And what did the other ? Though led away at first, more by the lusts of the flesh than perverseness of heart, yet he paid respect to the virtuous conduct of the prelates, although he neglected their faith; and lastly, as I have related, was easily converted through the sufferings of Laurentius, and became of infinite service to the propagation of Christianity. Both, then, were laudable : both deserved high encomiums ; for the good work, so nobly begun by the one, was as kindly fostered by the other.

To him, after a reign of twenty-four years, succeeded Erconbert, his son, by Emma, daughter of the king of France. He reigned an equal number of years with his father, but under happier auspices ; alike remarkable for piety towards God, and love to his country. For his grandfather, and father, indeed, adopted our faith, but neglected to destroy their idols ; whilst he, thinking it derogatory to his royal zeal not to take the readiest mode of annihilating openly what they only secretly condemned, levelled every temple of their gods to the ground, that not a trace of their paganism might be handed down to posterity. This was nobly done : for the mass of the people would be reminded of their superstition, so long as they could see the altars of their deities. In order, also, that he might teach his subjects, who were too much given to sensual indulgence, to accustom themselves to temperance, he enjoined the solemn fast of Lent to be observed throughout his dominions. This was an extraordinary act for the king to attempt in those times:

A.D. CG4— 686.] EGBERT LOTHERE. 15

but he was a man whom no blandishments of luxury could enervate ; no anxiety for power seduce from the worship of God. Wherefore he was protected by the favour of the Almighty; every thing, at home and abroad, succeeded to liis wishes, and he grew old in uninterrupted tranquillity. His daughter Ercongotha, a child worthy of such a parent, and emulating her father in virtuous qualities, became a shining light in the monastery of Kalas in Gaul.*

His son Egbert, retaining his father's throne for nine years, did nothing memorable in so short a reign; unless indeed it be ascribed to the glory of this period, that Theodore| the archbishop, and Adi-ian the abbat, two consummate scholars, came into England in his reign. Were not the subject akeady trite, I should willingly record what light they shed upon the Britons ; how on one side the Greeks, and on the other the Latins, emulously contributed their knowledge to the public stock, and made this island, once the nurse of tyrants, the constant residence of philosophy : but this and every other merit of the times of Egbert is clouded by his horrid crime, of either destroying, or permitting to be destroyed, Elbert and Egelbright, his nephews.|