The history of the Norman conquest of England, its causes and its results, Volume 3 (of 6) (part 7 of 7)

The history of the Norman conquest of England, its causes and its results, Volume 3 (of 6) (part 7 of 7)

In the Chronicle of Saint Maxentius he is called Geoffrey in 1044, 1058, 1060, 1061, 1062, Guy and Geoffrey in 1068, William in 1071, lastly in 1086, “Guido qui et Goffredus.” This is certainly the way to confuse genealogists.

Footnote 368

Will. Pict. 95. “Rex denuò accitus multo et miserè supplici nuncio venire abnuit.” The Archdeacon now gets very eloquent, and gives us all the inner workings of the mind of one whom he calls “Papiæ partus.” It takes a minute or two to see that by this odd description he means the Count of Arques.

Footnote 369

This ceremony was gone through by the Count-Bishop Hugh (see vol. i. p. 514) to Richard the Good; “Equestrem sellam ferens humeris, provolutus genibus Richardi,” &c. Will. Gem. v. 16. Palgrave, iii. 133. Cf. Will. Malms. iii. 235. So we now read in William of Poitiers; “Pars ocreis et calcaribus ornati [why?], insolito comitatu incedentes, et eorum plerique sellam equestrem incurvo languidoque dorso, nonnulli solum se nutabundi vix eportantes.”

Footnote 370

Will. Pict. 95. “Erat item cernere calamitatem levis armatura egredientis fœdam ac variam.”

Footnote 371

Ib. 96. “Verum et ii, et quiqui aliàs relicti sunt a Francis, quum deditas esse comperissent Archarum latebras, sese nostris fugâ furati sunt.”

Footnote 372

Ib. 95. “Noluit extorrem et inopem casu magis pudendo cruciari; sed cum gratiâ et possessionibus quibusdam amplis atque multorum redituum, patriam ei concessit.”

Footnote 373

Will. Gem. vii. 7. See Deville, p. 78 et seqq. I see no difficulty in reconciling the two accounts.

Footnote 374

See Deville, p. 89.

Footnote 375

See above, p. 92.

Footnote 376

See above, pp. 93, 101.

Footnote 377

See above, p. 94.

Footnote 378

See vol. i. p. 189; vol. ii. p. 202.

Footnote 379

Will. Pict. 96. “Normanniam, quæ sub Regibus Francorum egit ex antiquo, prope in regnum evectam.” What would our old friend Dudo (see vol. i. pp. 193, 209, 247) have said to the “prope”?

Footnote 380

Ib. “Quum Imperatorem Romanum, quo majus potentiæ sive dignitatis nomen in orbe terrarum aliud non est, amicum et socium haberet.”

Footnote 381

Ib. “Quum provinciis multis præsideret potentibus, quarum domini aut rectores militiæ suæ essent administri, Comitem Willelmum suum nec amicum nec militem, sed hostem esse.”

Footnote 382

See above, p. 116.

Footnote 383

Art de Vérifier les Dates, ii. 614.

Footnote 384

Ib. But it must be borne in mind that the kinswoman of William’s whom Odo married was not Adelaide, the Duke’s sister, but the younger Adelaide, her daughter by Ingelram of Ponthieu. See vol. ii. p. 588.

Footnote 385

Will. Pict. 97. “Condolentes in eâdem Theobaldus, Pictavorum Comes, Gaufredus, item reliqui summates, quâdam insuper indignatione privatâ intolerandum ducebant sese Regis, quocumque prævia vocarent, signis parere; Willelmum Normannorum nequaquam pro Rege, sed confidenter atque indesinenter ad ejus magnitudinem, quam aliquantùm attrivit, ulteriùs atterendam, vel si quâ viâ valeant, conterendam, in armis agitare.”

Footnote 386

Will. Pict. 97. “Præterea concupiebant Normanniam, aut ejus partem, quidam Regis proximi.”

Footnote 387

Ib. “Julium Cæsarem, vel bellandi peritiorem aliquem, si fuerit peritior, exercitûs Romani ducem (ex mille nationibus coacti olim, dum Roma florentissima mille provinciis imperitâsset) hujus agminis immanitate terreri potuisse affirmares.”

Footnote 388

Ib. “Burgundiam, Arverniam, atque Wasconiam properare videres horribiles ferro: imo vires tanti regni, quantùm in climata mundi quatuor patent, cunctas, Franciam tamen et Britanniam, quantò nobis viciniores, tantò ardentius infestas.” As he speaks of the “regnum,” he clearly means by Burgundy only the Duchy which held of the French Crown. His use of “Francia” along with the rest, as the name of one part of Gaul, should be noticed. Compare the use of the word by Flodoard; see vol. i. p. 199.

Footnote 389

Will. Pict. 98. “Guido, Pontivi Comes, ad vindicandum fratrem Ingelrannum nimis avidus.” Will. Malms. iii. 233. “Guido Pontivi Comes studiosiùs ultionis fratris intendit.”

Footnote 390

I find no mention of Geoffrey as present, except in William of Jumièges (vii. 24), who makes him accompany the King. This account is followed by Benoît of Saint More, 35245;

“Li quens d’Anjou Gefrei Martel, Qui del ovraigne esteit mult bel, I vint od riche compaignie E od ses archers de valie.”

But it is strange that William of Poitiers and the other writers should have left out so important a person, had he really been there, and his absence, hard as it is to account for it, agrees better with what follows.

Footnote 391

Ord. Vit. 657 D (cf. 638 D). “Aliam [phalangem] Odoni fratri suo ac Rainaldo de Claro Monte, et duobus Consulibus, Radulfo de Monte-Desiderii atque Widoni de Pontivo, commendavit.” William of Poitiers, like Richer of old (see vol. i. p. 223, note 3, cf. 237, note 2), is strong in his antiquated geography. He tells us (98) about “Quantus miles inter Sequanam et Garonnam fluvios colligeretur (quas gentes multas uno nomine Celtigallos appellant);” then about those who were “inter flumen Rhenum [Henry the Frank’s notions about the Rhine frontier were doubtless different] et Sequanam collecti, quæ Gallia Belgica nuncupatur.” Lastly, “Regem insuper comitabatur Aquitania pars Galliæ tertia.” Reginald of Clermont is “Rainaldus familiarissimus.” Was he commissioned to supply the incapacity of Odo? See vol. i. p. 520.

Footnote 392

Roman de Rou, 9919;

“La gent de dous parz a mandée Si come Saine l’a devisée.”

Footnote 393

Ord. Vit. 657 D. “Ut per vada Eptæ Neustriam citò introirent, Braium et Calcegium totumque Rothomagensem pagum invaderent ferro et flammâ, nec ne rapinis usque ad mare penitus devastarent.”

Footnote 394

See above, p. 119.

Footnote 395

Hugh Capet was crowned at Noyon. Richer, iv. 12. See vol. i. p. 268.

Footnote 396

Roman de Rou, 9923. “Cels de Melant è de Vermendeiz.” See above, p. 120. The reigning Count was Herbert the Fourth.

Footnote 397

Guy, Bishop of Amiens, the author of the poem “De Bello Hastingensi” (see Will. Gem. vii. 44), was a son of Ingelram the First and uncle of Guy and of Ingelram the Second. He succeeded to the see about 1058.

Footnote 398

See above, pp. 136, 139.

Footnote 399

Wace, 9925, says “Cels de Flandres è de Belmont,” and Benoît (35255) “La furent Flamenc e Poher.” But the presence of subjects of Baldwin is exceedingly unlikely, and Benoît in some sort confutes himself by adding “E Braibençon e Hainuer,” thus getting beyond the borders of the Western realm within which the others strictly confine themselves. He was most likely misled, as others have been since, by the grand talk about the Rhine.

Footnote 400

That is, if Provins roses, brought from the East by pilgrims or Crusaders, had reached Europe so soon.

Footnote 401

Isaiah xlvii. 7.

Footnote 402

Roman de Rou, 9943. “De Bourges è de Berri.” As usual, the names of the city and of the district are both slightly varying forms of the old Gaulish name; but it is curious to see them distinguished in such a marked way, which seems not to be done in any other part of the catalogue.

Footnote 403

Livy, v. 34. “Celtarum quæ pars Galliæ tertia est penes Bituriges summa imperii fuit; ii Regem Celtico dabant, Ambigatus is fuit,” etc. Then follows the account of his sending forth the Colonies under his sister’s sons Bellovesus and Sigovesus. Did the special sanctity of a sister’s son (see vol. ii. p. 368) extend to the Celts?

Footnote 404

Cæsar, B. G. vii. 18, 19. Merivale, Roman Empire, ii. 14.

Footnote 405

Livy, v. 35. “Senones recentissimi advenarum.” They alone seem to have been concerned in the taking of Rome.

Footnote 406

Roman de Rou, 9941;

“Cels de Perche è del Chartrain, Cels del boscage è cels del plain.”

Footnote 407

See vol. i. p. 189.

Footnote 408

See vol. i. p. 260.

Footnote 409

See Ord. Vit. 655 C. He gives Fulk Bishop of Amiens, the predecessor of Guy, as a third son of Drogo and Godgifu besides Walter and Ralph.

Footnote 410

Roman de Rou, 9948;

“Normanz manace, mult se vante K’il destruireit Evrecin, Rosmeis destruira è Lievin Tres k’à la mer chevalchera, E par Auge s’en reveindra.”

Footnote 411

Ord. Vit. 657 D. “Ego è contra non segnis processi, contra Regis mapalia per litus Sequanæ cum meis me semper opposui.” So Roman de Rou, 9965;

“L’altre ont li Dus od sei, Ki remaindrant cuntre li Rei.”

He then goes on with the catalogue.

Footnote 412

See vol. ii. p. 257.

Footnote 413

Ib. p. 260.

Footnote 414

Ib. p. 268.

Footnote 415

Roman de Rou, 9967;

“Venir fist cels de Beessin E li Barunz de Costentin.”

Footnote 416

See vol. ii. p. 258.

Footnote 417

See vol. ii. p. 290 et seqq.

Footnote 418

Roman de Rou, 9968;

“E cels del val de Moretoing E d’Avrenches ki est plus loing.”

Footnote 419

Ib. 9975;

“Mult prez sereit, ço dist, del Rei, Prez del Rei se herbergereit, E des forriers garde prendreit: N’ireient mie luing en forage, K’il ni’aient, s’il poet, damage. La viande fist tresturner De la ù li Reis dut passer: Li bestes fist as bois mener Et as vilains les fist garder.”

Footnote 420

Will. Malms. iii. 233. “Juxta Regis castra sensim obambulans, ... ut nec cominùs pugnandi copiam faceret, nec provinciam coram se vastari sineret.”

Footnote 421

Roman de Rou, 9960. “Et de Gornai li viel Huon.” Old indeed, as Mr. Taylor (Wace, 217) truly says, if he had found his bride at the court of King Pippin. Yet he lived to fight at Senlac. The name survives at Barrow Gurney in Somersetshire and elsewhere.

Footnote 422

See Taylor’s Wace, 171. De Crisp. Gen. Giles 342.

Footnote 423

See above, p. 129. To these four William of Poitiers adds Hugh of Montfort.

Footnote 424

Roman de Rou, 9983–9989. Cf. Benoît, 35325. William of Poitiers rather slurs this part over, in order to bring in the carnage of Mortemer at once.

Footnote 425

Benoît, 35339;

“Si ce fuissent genz Sarrazine, Ne fiessent teu descepline.”

Footnote 426

Roman de Rou, 10007. “Vilains pernent, fames porgiesent.” Benoît goes more into detail.

Footnote 427

Benoît, 35341;

“N’i espairnent à riens vivanz, N’as vielles genz ne as enfanz.”

Footnote 428

Roman de Rou, 9990;

“A Mortemer se herbergierent; Par l’aesement des ostelz.”

And again, 10010;

“Asez truverent biax ostelz.”

So Benoît, 35353;

“Mais la nuit aiment les deliz Des bons mangers e les bons liz.”

Footnote 429

Will. Gem. vii. 24. “In incendiis et mulierum ludibriis occupati.”

Footnote 430

Roman de Rou, 10031 (cf. Benoît, 35394 et seqq.);

“Tel kuide son cheval munter, Ki el frein ne poet assener, Tel kuide de l’ostel issir Ki à l’us ne poet avenir.”

Footnote 431

Roman de Rou, 10035;

“Normanz gardouent les iessues, E li trepas as chiefs des rues.”

So Benoît, 35404. He tells us (35399);

“E li mortel brait sunt si grant Que l’om n’i oïst Deu tonant.”

Compare Giovanni Villani’s (xii. 66. Murat. xiii. 948) description of the bombards at Crecy; “Che facieno si grande tremuoto e romore, che parea che Iddio tonasse.”

Footnote 432

Will. Gem. vii. 24. “Mane commissum bellum in continuâ cæde occumbentium ad usque nonam ab utrisque est protractis.” So Roman de Rou, 10039;

“Dez li matin soleil levant Tresk’a none del jur passant.”

The war “in hieme ante Quadragesimam” (Ord. Vit. 658 A).

Footnote 433

Roman de Rou, 10051;

“N’i out gaires si vil garçon Ki n’enmenast Franceiz prison, E bels destriers n’out dous u treis, Od tut l’altre menu herneis. N’out chartre en tute Normendie, Ki de Franceiz ne fust emplie.”

Footnote 434

“Equorum velocitate saluti consulunt,” says William of Poitiers (98), whose account is confused, and who seems anxious to pass off the surprise as a regular battle. Orderic (658 A) says “velocitate pedum viguerunt.” He also calls it “terribile prœlium,” &c., but I do not see that this contradicts Wace’s account, grounded on William of Jumièges.

Footnote 435

Roman de Rou, 10049, after recording the captivity of Guy;

“Maiz Valeran, sun frere, unt mort, Chevalier mult vaillant è fort.”

Footnote 436

Ord. Vit. 658 A. “Post duos annos hominium ab eo tali tenore recepi, ut exinde mihi semper fidelis exsisteret, et militare servitium, ubi jussissem, cum centum militibus mihi singulis annis exhiberet.”

Footnote 437

Ib. “Hominium enim jamdudum illi fecerat.”

Footnote 438

Ib. “In tali ergo necessitate pulcrum illi et competens servitium impendit, dum in castro suo illum triduo protexit et postea salvum ad sua perduxit.”

Footnote 439

Ord. Vit. 658 A. “Castrum tamen Mortui-maris, in quo inimicum meum salvavit, illi jure, ut reor [it is curious to see the Conqueror on his defence], abstuli, sed Guillelmo de Guarennâ, consanguineo ejus, tironi legitimo, dedi.” All about William of Warren and his family will be found in Mr. Stapleton’s paper in the Archæological Journal, iii. 8, 14.

Footnote 440

Stapleton, Arch. Journal, p. 6.

Footnote 441

William of Warren and Roger of Mortemer were both descended from Herfast, a brother of the Duchess Gunnor. Will. Gem. viii. 37.

Footnote 442

See above, p. 86.

Footnote 443

For the famous answer of John Earl of Warren (a descendant of William in the female line) to the Commissioners “Quo Warranto” in Edward the First’s time, see Walter of Hemingburgh, ii. 6.

Footnote 444

Roman de Rou, 10063;

“Cele nuit méisme asez tost Vint la novele al Duc en l’ost.”

Footnote 445

Benoît gets eloquent on this head, and gives us (35469 et seqq.) a picture of William at his devotions; “ses mains jointes,” “od lermes de pieté.”

Footnote 446

Benoît, 35493;

“Logée fu en teu maniere Par son l’eve d’une riviere: E sor eus fu grant la faleise.”

Footnote 447

See vol. i. p. 514; ii. p. 199. That the messenger was Ralph of Toesny is affirmed by William of Jumièges (vii. 24), Orderic (658 B, where of course it is put into William’s own mouth), and Benoît (35479). William of Poitiers (99) says only “cautè instructum quemdam,” and Wace (10074) says expressly,

“Fist un home tost envéier, Ne sai varlet u esquier.”

Footnote 448

See Roman de Rou, 12718.

Footnote 449

See Orderic, 576 B, 687 D. On this Elizabeth or Isabel, see Palgrave, iv. 249, 259.

Footnote 450

Will. Gem. vii. 25.

Footnote 451

Ord. Vit. 813 D.

Footnote 452

William of Poitiers (99) and Wace (10077), who do not call the messenger Ralph of Toesny, make him mount a tree. Orderic does not mention his position, and William of Jumièges (vii. 24) and Benoît (35406) make him climb the high rock—“in quodam proximo monte,” according to William—already spoken of. To climb a tree was seemingly below the dignity of a descendant of Malahulc.

Footnote 453

William of Jumièges, followed by Benoît, makes Ralph say who he is, and describe the event of the battle at some length—at greater length of course in Benoît than in William. This, I think, quite takes away from the startling and spectral effect of the scene in Wace, 10077;

“En un arbre le fist munter, E tute nuit en haut crier: ‘Franceiz, Franceiz, levez, levez, Tenez vos veies, trop dormez; Alez vos amis enterrer, Ki sunt occiz à Mortemer.’ Li Reis oï ke cil cria Merveilla sei, mult s’esmaia.”

William of Poitiers says only, “Dux Willelmus nocte intempestâ cautè instructum quemdam direxit, qui tristem Regi victoriam propiùs castra ipsius ab alto arboris per singula inclamavit.” Orderic (658 B) is still shorter; “Per Radulfum de Toëniâ quæ trans Sequanam contigerant Regi Francorum mandavi.”

Footnote 454

So I understand Wace (10089);

“Endementres k’al Rei parloent, E de noveles demandoent, Eis vus la novele venue E par tute terre espandue, Ke tut li mielx de lor amiz Esteit à Mortemer occiz.”

He had just before said (10067);

“C’est une chose, ke novele, Ki mult est errant et isnele, E ki bone novele porte Séurement bute à la porte.”

So Will. Pict. 100. “Famâ referente, quæ tam falsi quam veri nuntia volat.” Compare Mr. Grote’s remarks and quotations on the φήμη. Hist. of Greece, v. 260.

Footnote 455

Will. Pict. 99. “Rex attonitus inopinato nuntio, procul omni cunctatione signo antelucano suos in fugam excitavit; summè necessarium ratus quàm maximâ celeritate Normanniæ finibus discedere.”

Footnote 456

Plutarch, Moralia, ii. 51 (ed. Tauchnitz) “Πρὸς δὲ τοὺς φέγοντας αὐτὸν ἐπὶ τῷ δι’ ἀπάτης πολλὰ πράσσειν, ὡς ἀνάξιον τοῦ Ἡρακλέους, ἔλεγεν [ὁ Λύσανδρος], Ὅπου μὴ ἐφικνεῖται ἡ λεοντῆ, προςραπτέον ἐκεῖ τὴν ἀλωπεκῆν.”

Footnote 457

See vol. ii. p. 261.

Footnote 458

Ib. p. 279.

Footnote 459

See above, p. 126.

Footnote 460

Will. Pict. 99. “Multa dehinc hostilia utrimque acta sunt, qualia præter belli conflictum inter tantos hostes fieri solent.”

Footnote 461

See vol. ii. pp. 203–205.

Footnote 462

Will. Gem. vii. 25. “Postea Dux contra Tegulense castrum, quod Rex illi dudum abstulerat, aliud oppidum non deterius, quod Bretolium usque hodie vocatur, instaurat.”

Footnote 463

Will. Gem. vii. 25. So Benoît, 35553, who takes the opportunity to give the life of William Fitz-Osbern at length.

Footnote 464

Roman de Rou, 10133;

“Maiz li herneiz unt tut lessié A cels ki l’orent gaaingnié.”

Footnote 465

Will. Pict. 99. “Ejus [Regis] vero assensu et quasi dono quodam Dux jure perpetuo retineret quod Gaufrido Andegavorum Comiti abstulerat, quodque valeret auferre.” Will. Malms. iii. 233. “Conventum ut ... Comes erepta vel eripienda Martello jure vendicaret legitimo.”

Footnote 466

See vol. ii. pp. 281–289.

Footnote 467

I see no reason to doubt that the present ruined tower is that taken by William in 1049.

Footnote 468

See vol. ii. p. 289. The fortification of Ambrières in 1049 is distinctly asserted in the passage of William of Jumièges there referred to; but William of Poitiers certainly speaks now as if the castle had to be built rather than merely to be strengthened.

Footnote 469

Will. Pict. 99. “In ipso conventu principes militiæ suæ jussu commonuit Dux intra terminos Martelli Andegavensis ad Ambreras construendas maturè adesse paratos.”

Footnote 470

Ib. “Et quem hujus incœpti diem eis ipse, eumdem Martello per legatos præfinivit.” The Archdeacon here bursts into a torrent of admiration. Compare William’s earlier challenge to Geoffrey. See vol. ii. p. 285.

Footnote 471

See below, p. 208 et seqq.

Footnote 472

Will. Pict. 99. “Cui tyrannus Martellus, ut erat elatus animo, grandia præsumere et loqui solitus, ‘Meum,’ inquit, ‘sicut vilis et pudendi domini, omninò abnuas dominium, si, patiente me, patrari videas quod metuis.’”

Footnote 473

Ib. 100. “Die præfinito, Cenomannicum solum ingressus, Normannorum rector, dum castrum, quod minatus est, erigit.”

Footnote 474

Cf. vol. i. p. 326; vol. ii. p. 398.

Footnote 475

Will. Pict. 100. “Quem [Gaufredum] ubi ampliùs opinione morari videt, et jam de cibariorum penuriâ plebeii pariter ac proceres conqueruntur, ne milite minùs prompto in futurum utatur, modò dimittere statuit, castro viris et alimoniis munito, jubens tamen ut, quum nuntium ejus acceperint, quantociùs eodem redeant cuncti.” Compare Harold’s orders in the Welsh war at about the same time, vol. ii. p. 394.

Footnote 476

Will. Pict. 100. “Exercitûs nostri mox divulgato discessu.”

Footnote 477

Ib. “Willelmo, Pictavorum Comite, Domino suo.” See vol. ii. p. 594.

Footnote 478

See above, p. 138.

Footnote 479

See above, p. 139.

Footnote 480

Will. Pict. 100. “Eudone, Britannorum Comite.” He was however rather Regent for his nephew. See Art de Vérifier les Dates, ii. 896.

Footnote 481

Will. Pict. u. s. “Missilia, saxa, libriles sudes, item lanceæ desuper feriunt. Iis plerique interemti cadunt, alii repelluntur. Sic, audaci molimine cassato, aliud incipiunt. Tentant murum ariete, qui percussus in virgâ castellanorum frangitur.”

Footnote 482

Ib. “Willelmus, omnis moræ impatiens, evocat exercitum, subventum ire quam maximè properat.”

Footnote 483

Will. Pict. 100. “Quem postquam inimici, tres adeò nominati Comites, adequitare percipiunt mirâ celeritate, ne dicam trepidâ fugâ, cum immanibus exercitibus dilabuntur.”

Footnote 484

Ib. “Victor Gaufredum Meduanensem ... intra exiguum tempus eousque compulit, ut in remotissimis Normanniæ partibus sibi manus perdomitas daret, fidelitatem quam satelles domino debet jurans.” William of Jumièges (vii. 27), followed by Wace (10189) and Benoît (35627), places here the conquest of Le Mans and the taking of Mayenne. The source of the confusion is obvious.

Footnote 485

See above, p. 164.

Footnote 486

See vol. ii. p. 286.

Footnote 487

On Roca Mabiliæ or Roche Mabille, see Stapleton, i. lxxiii.

Footnote 488

See above, p. 96.

Footnote 489

See above, p. 104.

Footnote 490

Will. Pict. 101. “Martellus Andegavensis, nondum tot sinistris casibus fractus, minimè defuit, quantum ullatenùs virium colligere potuit adducens. Vix enim hujus inimici odium et rabiem Normanniæ tellus penitus contusa vel excisa satiaret.” So Roman de Rou, 10271; “Par li cunseil Giffrei Martel.” So Benoît, 35855.

Footnote 491

Roman de Rou, 10272;

“Encuntre aost, el blé novel.”

Footnote 492

Will. Pict. 101. “Per Oximensem comitatum ad fluvium Divam pervenere.” So Will. Gem. vii. 28; Roman de Rou, 10278; Benoît, 35866.

Footnote 493

Roman de Rou, 10303;

“Li Roiz son ovre apareilla, Vers Baieues, ço dist, ira, Béessin tot essillera, E quant d’iluec repairera, Par Varaville passera, Auge è Lievin vastera.”

Footnote 494

Ib. 10289;

“Li Dus out sa gent à Faleise; Noveles out dont mult li peise, Tort li fet li Reis, ço li semble, Ses chevaliers mande et asemble, Ses castiaz fist tost enforcier, Fossez parer, murs redrecier. Li plain païs laira gaster, S’il ses castiax puet bien garder. Bien porra, ço dit, recovrer, Et as plaines terres amender.”

Footnote 495

See above, p. 117.

Footnote 496

Roman de Rou, 10313;

“Encore ert Caem sanz chastel, N’i aveit fet mur ne quesnel.”

Footnote 497

See vol. i. p. 243.

Footnote 498

Wace alone (Roman de Rou, 10319 et al.) speaks, throughout his narrative, of a bridge. All the other writers (Will. Pict. 101; Will. Gem. vii. 28; Will. Malms. iii. 234; Benoît, 35899) speak only of a ford—“vadum Divæ”—or, as Benoît calls it,

“As guez où la grant mer parfonde C’estent e espant e sorunde.”

This is plainly one of Benoît’s exaggerations. The spot is perfectly well marked by the causeway mentioned by Wace (10351), which is still in use, and leads to the present bridge over the tidal stream. The two accounts may be easily reconciled, if we suppose that a bridge was first thrown across between the time of the battle and the time of Wace, and that Wace naturally described the place as it was in his own time. Benoît is therefore, for once, more accurate in his narrative than Wace; but his accuracy is quite accidental; Benoît simply dressed up the tale as he found it in the Latin writers; Wace, as ever, used his own powers of local observation.

Footnote 499

Roman de Rou, 10405;

“Munté fu de suz Basteborc, Vit Varavile è vit Caborc, Vit les marez, vit les valées De plusors païs lunges è lées.”

Wace alone mentions the names Varaville and Bastebourg. I visited the battle-field in May 1868 in company with my friend M. Le Gost of Caen, and I can, as at Val-ès-Dunes and everywhere else, bear witness to the accuracy of Wace’s local description.

Footnote 500

Will. Pict. 101. “Nam, dum ad vadum Divæ morarentur, supervenit ipse alacer cum exiguâ manu virorum felici horâ.”

Footnote 501

Will. Gem. vii. 28. “Quod [vadum] Rege transeunte, media exercitûs pars substitit, mare eructuante, ob redundationem fluminis non valens transmeare.” So Benoit, 35904. This explains the “morarentur” of William of Poitiers, who himself says afterwards (102), “Ne vero jure sæviens [Willelmi] gladius in adversam ripam insequeretur, rheuma maris obstabat alveum Divæ insuperabili mole occupantis.”

Footnote 502

Roman de Rou, 10345;

“La véissiez fiere medlée, Mainte colp de lance è maint d’espée; Des lances fierent chevaliers, Et o les ars traient archiers.”

Footnote 503

Ib. 10357;

“Mult lor anuie la cauchie, K’il truvent lunge et empirie.”

Footnote 504

Roman de Rou, 10377;

“Mult véssiez herneiz floter, Homes plungier et affondrer.”

Cf. Virg. Æn. i. 100;

“Ubi tot Simoeis correpta sub undis Scuta virôm galeasque et fortia corpora volvit.”

Wace, it must be remembered, conceiving the bridge to have been there, attributes to its breaking what was really owing to the coming in of the tide.

Footnote 505

Roman de Rou, 10410;

“Vit sa grant gent ki a duil vait, Prendre vit les uns è loier, Li altres vit en mer néier; Ciax ki neient ne pot secorre, Ne les prisons ne puet rescorre.”

Footnote 506

Roman de Rou, 10415;

“De mautalent soufle è suspire, De pesance ne set ke dire; Mult véissiez sun cors desfrire; E sun viaire taindre d’ire. Volentiers, ço dist, retornast S’il arière passer kuidast, Si les barnages li loast, Maiz nus ne loe k’il i past.”

Footnote 507

Will. Gem. vii. 28. “Amicitiam quoque Ducis, consideratâ ejus probitate, requisivit, et Tegulense castrum, quod dudum abstulerat, illi tradidit.”

Footnote 508

Ib. “Caussâ corporeæ salutis a Johanne medicorum peritissimo potionem accepit. Sed, veneno nimiam sitim inferente, jussum archiatri sprevit et a cubiculario potum accipiens dum medicus abesset, ante purgationem bibit. Unde nimis infirmatus, eodem die post perceptionem sacræ eucharistiæ obiit.”

Footnote 509

See vol. i. p. 507.

Footnote 510

Will. Gem. vii. 28. “Mathildem, Juliusclodii Regis Rugorum filiam, in matrimonio habuit.” So the fragment in Duchèsne, iv. 150. But her name was Anne, and William of Jumièges has confounded her with a former wife Matilda. See Duchèsne, iv. 153. Chron. S. Maxent. 1050 (Labbé, ii. 209). “Ainricus Rex Francorum duxit uxorem Scythicam et Rusam.” On this marriage see more at length Karamsin, Histoire de Russie, ii. 38. 404.

Footnote 511

Anne, daughter of Rômanos and Theophanô and sister of Basil the Second, married Vladimir of Russia. See Ducange, Hist. Byz. 144.

Footnote 512

Const. Porph. de Cerem. i. 96, and the commentary of Reiske, vol. ii. p. 450, ed. Bonn. Finlay, Byz. Emp. i. 238, 272.

Footnote 513

He was crowned at Pentecost 1059. Chron. Rem. ap. Labbé, i. 360, and the fragment in Duchèsne, iv. 150.

Footnote 514

See above, p. 82.

Footnote 515

Will. Pict. 90. “Monarchia post Franciæ, cum puero monarchâ, ipsius, consiliosissimi viri, tutelæ, dictaturæ, atque administrationi cessit.” Ord. Vit. 480 D. “Balduino Flandrensium Duci puerum cum regno ad tutandum commendavit.” Will. Gem. vii. 28. “Philippum filium suum in regimine Francorum hæredem constituit, et tutelæ Balduini Flandrensis Satrapæ commendavit.” Will. Malms. ii. 188. “Defuncto Rege Henrico, qui Philippum parvum reliquerat filium, regnum Francorum nobiliter aliquantis annis rexit, fideliterque adulto (nam ejus amitam uxorem habebat) restituit.” Ann. Elnonenses Minores (Pertz, v. 20), 1061. “Henricus Rex obiit, et Balduinus Comes Flandriæ, quasi Interrex in regno judicat, salvâ fidelitate Philippi pueri Regis. Huic verò magnum decus intervenit gloriæ. Nam Comes Tietbaldus, Andegavensis Comes, et omnes Galliæ optimates, salvâ fide Philippi Regis, juraverunt fidelitatem et honorem regni. Quod autem regni erat, sapienter et honestè disponebat.” The Chronicle of the Counts of Flanders (Corp. Chron. Flandr. i. 86) adds, to nearly the same account, that it was done “salvâ tamen fidelitate Philippi pueri, si viveret. Si autem non, ipse Balduinus Comes Rex existeret, ut pote justus hæres per Athelam uxorem Regis Henrici sororem.” Ann. Blandinienses (Pertz, v. 26), 1061. “Baldwinus Marchisus regni Francorum magistratus efficitur.” The variety of words used to express Baldwin’s functions is remarkable. A regency was something new.

Footnote 516

Chron. S. Maxent. 1057. “Eodem anno civitas Namnetica Gaufredo Comiti ab Hoel Comite reddita est, qui non bonâ usus fide auferre eam illi tentavit.”

Footnote 517

Chron. S. Maxent. 1058. “Willermus, qui et Petrus, cognomento Acer, adunato exercitu vallavit castrum Salmurum simul et Gaufredum Martellum inclusit in eo.”

Footnote 518

Ib. “Ubi inhiando dum aptaret ad bellum exercitum, dolore dysenteriæ morbis percussus reversus est infirmus. Ex quâ infirmitate mortuus est relinquens terrenum regnum.” Directly after we read, “Successit in regno Gosfredus.” So that “regnum” in the former entry is not a mere figure of speech, strange as is the application of the word to the dominions of a Duke of Aquitaine.

Footnote 519

Ib. 1060. “Monachali habitu priùs suscepto ab Airaudo abbate Sancti Nicolai.” So Chron. And. ap. Labbé, i. 287. Fulk. ap. D’Achery, ii. 233.

Footnote 520

Ord. Vit. 532 B. Chron. S. Maxent. 1060. Gest. Cons. 258.

Footnote 521

See vol. ii. pp. 40, 430, 635–637.

Footnote 522

See vol. ii. pp. 636, 637.

Footnote 523

See above, p. 139.

Footnote 524

Chron. S. Maxent. 1061–1062 (Labbé, ii. 210). The war with Anjou rose out of the old question about Saintogne. The Spanish expedition is thus described; “Inde [from Saintes after its surrender by the Angevins] abiens in Hispaniam cum multis Normannis, Barbastam civitatem nomini Christiano, cunctis qui in eâ erant priùs perditis, adquisivit.”

Footnote 525

Gest. Cons. c. 10 (ap. D’Achery, iii. 258). The abbey had hitherto remained in the patronage of the King, a position quite different from that of the Norman and Aquitanian Prelates. See vol. ii. p. 209. This illustrates the inferior position of the Counts of Anjou, as originally holders under the Duchy of France.

Footnote 526

Gest. Cons. c. 11. p. 259, and Fulk’s own story in p. 238.

Footnote 527

William of Poitiers (102) says of him, as compared with his uncle; “Nomine proprio idem, probitate absimilis ei, cœlestem regem timere, et pro comparando externo honore bona actitare cœpit.” Ord. Vit. 532 C. “Goisfredus, qui simplex et tractabilis moribus erat.”

Footnote 528

See vol. ii. p. 169.

Footnote 529

See vol. ii. p. 413.

Footnote 530

Will. Gem. vii. 29. “Tunc quibusdam maledicis vicinos comparesque suos accusantibus ex invidiâ, Dux Willelmus exasperatus ingenti furiâ Barones suos, scilicet Rodulfum de Toeniâ, Hugonem de Grentemaisnilio, et Ernaldum Willelmi Geroiani filium ejecit de Normanniâ.” Ord. Vit. 481 A. He tells us how the chief men “cupiditate furente unus alium supplantare conabatur.” He specially mentions the agency of Roger and Mabel, who “exortâ simultate gaudebant et blandis adulationibus sibi Ducem alliciebant.” He goes on to say that “animosus Dux plus æquo iræ frena relaxans præcipuos milites ... sine probabilibus culpis diu exsulare coegit.”

Footnote 531

See above, p. 159.

Footnote 532

See vol. ii. p. 232.

Footnote 533

Orderic tells this story twice with slight differences. The first time (464 D) he makes Robert’s death happen while he is besieged by the Duke; “Pomo venenato, quod conjugi suæ vi rapuerat, comesto post quinque dies mortuus est.” The second time (478 C) he tells the story as I have given it in the text, but without any mention of the siege, and with the important addition “uxore contradicente comedit.” The important point of course is how far Adelaide, and how far through her her kinsman the Duke, contemplated the death of Robert or of any one else.

Footnote 534

Ord. Vit. 481 D.

Footnote 535

Ib. 485 A.

Footnote 536

Orderic tells the tale at length, 488, 489.

Footnote 537

See vol. ii. p. 234. See Will. Gem. vii. 29. Orderic has much to say about the matter. Some readers may perhaps think that the story, as told by him in p. 479, hardly bears out his own statement in p. 481 B, that he was “falsò accusatus.” The Duke is said to have designed his mutilation in some way (“damna membrorum inferre”), on which, at the advice of Hugh Bishop of Lisieux, he took to flight. I confess to putting more confidence in the Duke than in the Abbot.

Footnote 538

Will. Gem. vii. 29. “Sine reatu et judicio synodi de Normanniâ expulit.”

Footnote 539

Ib. “Quia de audaci Geroicorum prosapiâ prodierat.”

Footnote 540

Bessin. Conc. Rot. Prov. 48. Pommeraye, 72. “Ut quotidie serò signi pulsu ad preces Deo fundendas quisque invitaretur, atque occlusis foribus domorum ultra vagari ampliùs vetitum admoneretur.” Cf. Palgrave, iii. 274. The reason given by the commentator is “ut furtis nocturnis caveretur.” The Fathers of this Synod are overflowing in their loyalty to their Duke, “qui quantâlibet locorum intercapedine a se invicem dissiti essent, quasi urbis unius concives sub Principe suo, non secus ac sub amantissimo patre-familias victuros invicem spoponderunt.”

Footnote 541

As usual, the Gaulish name of the tribe appears in slightly different forms in the present names of the city and of the county. The original name of the city, which does not appear in Cæsar, was Subdinnum. See Dict. Geog. art. Cenomani.

Footnote 542

Livy, v. 35. Polyb. ii. 17, 32. The Greek form is Γονομάνοι.

Footnote 543

Polyb. ii. 23–24.

Footnote 544

Cæs. Bell. Gall. vii. 75. They appear as “Aulerci Cenomani.” The name Aulerci is common to them with several other tribes.

Footnote 545

The legend of Saint Julian is given at length in the Acts of the Bishops of Le Mans, in Mabillon’s Vetera Analecta, iii. 50–59. On this, and on Cenomannian legend generally, I would refer to “Les Cenomans Anciens et Modernes” by the Abbé Voisin (Paris and Le Mans 1852). But the good Abbé’s faith is strong and his criticism is weak.

Footnote 546

On the Defensores Civitatum see the legislation in the Code, lib. i. tit. 55. (From Valentinian and Valens in 365 to Theodosius and Valentinian in 441.) But a more remarkable mention of the Defensor occurs in the Veteres Formulæ Andegavenses in Mabillon, Vet. An. iv. 234. I leave the passage in the Latin of King Childebert; “Cum juxta consuetudinem Andicavis civetate, curia puplica resederet in foro, ibique vir magnificus illi prosecutor dixit: Rogo te, vir laudabilis illi Defensor, illi Curator, illi Magister militum, vel reliquum curia puplica, utique obticis puplicis patere jobeatis, quia habeo quid apud acta prosevere debiam. Defensor principalis simul et omnis Curia puplica dixerunt: Patent tibi cotecis puplici, prosequere quæ optas.” What was law at Angers was not unlikely to be law at Le Mans.

Footnote 547

We shall come in my next volume to the “Conspiratio quam communionem vocabant” in the days of Bishop Arnold. Vet. Ann. iii. *315.

Footnote 548

See the “Dissertation sur les Incursions Normandes dans Le Maine,” by M. Lestang (Le Mans 1855).

Footnote 549

Local tradition places no less a person than the famous Roland among the local heroes. See Voisin, i. 271. This falls in with his description in Eginhard, Vita Car. c. ix., as “Hruodlandus Brittannici limitis præfectus.”

Footnote 550

See vol. i. pp. 199, 200.

Footnote 551

Flod. 924. “Nortmanni cum Francis pacem ineunt sacramentis per Hugonem et Heribertum Comites, Seulfum quoque Archiepiscopum; absente Rege Rodulfo, ejus tamen consensu, terra illis aucta, Cinomannis et Baiocæ pacto pacis eis concessæ.” This grant is doubtless alluded to by William of Poitiers when he says (p. 104), “Nam et olim egit sub Normannorum Ducum ditione regio Cenomanica.”

Footnote 552

Flod. 924. “Rex [Rodulfus] ... Heriberto denique Peronam, et Hugoni filio Rotberti Cinomannis dedit.”

Footnote 553

See the note of Pertz, iii. 623, on Richer, iii. 77. The invasion of Otto (see vol. i. p. 265) and the exploits of Geoffrey (see vol. ii. pp. 274, 591) are transferred to the reign of Robert, “Robertus filius Ducis”—a confusion, one would almost think, between Robert the son of Hugh Capet and the elder Robert the son of Robert the Strong.

Footnote 554

M. Voisin (i. 332 et seq.) makes his Hugh-David reign from 922 to 970, when he is succeeded by Hugh the Second, father of Herbert Wake-the-Dog. The Art de Vérifier les Dates (ii. 830) seems to know only one Hugh, who begins to reign 955 “ou environ.” Hugh the father of Herbert is perfectly well ascertained, the only question is whether he is the same as the Hugh and the Hugh-David whose charters are printed by M. Voisin (i. 341). A Count David appears in Robert de Monte (Pertz, vi. 518) as a rebel against King Robert, in punishment for which rebellion, “dedit Rex Gaufrido Grisagonella homagium illus, et ipsam civitatem, et quidquid habebat in episcopatu Cenomannensi.” This is of course the same story that we have just had before. As the Counts of the tenth century do not immediately concern my subject, I do not feel called on to decide between the disagreeing doctors, ancient or modern.

Footnote 555

He was probably married; at least there was a personage in his house whom the Biographer of the Bishops (Vet. An. iii. *298), sarcastically perhaps rather than reverentially, speaks of as “Episcopissa.” He is also charged with fraudulently suppressing a college of Canons, in order to enrich his children with their possessions.

Footnote 556

Vet. An. iii. *297. “Venit ad Burgardum Vindocinensem Comitem,” then follows the list of the property alienated to the Count, but I do not find any account of this matter in the life of Burchard in Duchèsne, iv. 116.

Footnote 557

Ord. Vit. 532 B. Herbert is introduced “post mortem Hugonis patris sui quem Fulko senior sibi violenter subjugârat.”

Footnote 558

See the story in Will. Gem. v. 10.

Footnote 559

Vet. An. iii. *299. “Sepulto Segenfrido ... domnus Avesgaudus nepos ipsius sedem episcopalem suscepit.” The elder William of Belesme was his brother. Like Archbishop Malger (see above, p. 94), he was fond of hunting, and, as a punishment for his breach of canonical rule, he had a fall from his horse, which damaged his nose for life. We have however heard something (see vol. ii. p. 139) of his good works in the way of building.

Footnote 560

See vol. ii. pp. 230, 231.

Footnote 561

Vet. An. iii. *300. “Constituit castellum, nomine Firmitatem, super fluvium Idoneæ ut esset ibi in refugium.”

Footnote 562

Ib. “Habuit [comes] Alanum fortissimum Comitem Britannorum sibi in adjutorium, et venit ad castellum, et obsedit illud. Ex unâ enim parte vallaverunt illud Britanni, ex alterâ Cenomannici.”

Footnote 563

Fulbert, we are told (Vet. An. u. s.; see vol. i. p. 488), “tunc temporis sapientiâ et sanctitate inter Galliarum Episcopos, velut Lucifer inter cetera astra cœli, resplendebat.” Fulbert is to excommunicate him “auctoritate divinâ, nisi resipisceret.” Fulbert’s divine authority seems to have reached beyond his own diocese. He wrote a letter “sale satis conditam,” and afterwards sat in judgement in person between the Count and the Bishop in the city of Le Mans. Mabillon seems to identify the letter with the one which is printed in Duchèsne, iv. 173, denouncing the crimes of “Præcursor Antichristi Herbertus Comes Cenomanis” and denouncing excommunication against him. But this letter is addressed to Ebalus, who, in p. 181, appears as Archbishop, not, as one would have expected, of Tours, but of Rheims.

Footnote 564

See vol. ii. p. 280. Orderic (532 A) thinks it necessary to apologize for the name; “Vulgò, sed parum Latine, cognominari Evigilans-Canem pro ingenti probitate promeruit.” Geoffrey’s title of Martel seems to be the only name of the kind in this generation which is used familiarly and without scruple.

Footnote 565

Ord. Vit. 532 A. “In eumdem [Fulconem] arma levans nocturnas expeditiones crebrò agebat, et Andegavenses homines et canes in ipsâ urbe, vel in munitioribus oppidis terrebat, et horrendis assultibus pavidos vigilare cogebat.” Yet elsewhere (487 C) he tells us, “Vulgò Evigilans-canem cognominabatur, propter gravissimas infestationes, quas à perfidis affinibus suis Andegavensibus incessanter patiebatur.”

Footnote 566

See vol. ii. p. 274.

Footnote 567

See Count Fulk in D’Achery, iii. 233, and Gest. Cons. ib. 353. Herbert is “miles acerrimus,” and his Cenomannian soldiers deal “ferocissimos ictus.”

Footnote 568

See vol. ii. pp. 276, 278.

Footnote 569

Will. Pict. 103. “Ut enim alia plurima omittam, novissimè nostrâ memoriâ Fulco Andegavensis Herbertum Cenomannicum majorem Santonas illexit, sponsione urbis ipsius. Ibi, vinctum in medio colloquio, ad pactiones, quas avarè concupierat, carcere ac tormentis coëgit.” So William of Malmesbury (iii. 235), who seems to think this act the only stain on the otherwise perfect character of Fulk; “Unum omnino est quo eum notari audierim, Sanctonas sponsione urbis illectum, in medio colloquio ab apparitoribus arctari, et quibus placuit conditionibus irretiri fecit. Cætera sanctus et integer,” &c. The length of the imprisonment comes from the fragment in Duchèsne, iv. 81; “Tunc Comes Fulco supradictus dolo accersitum secum adduxit Sanctonas Arbertum nobilissimum Comitem Cenomannis, et primâ quadragesimæ dominicâ post cœnam nocte intempestâ eum traditione cepit, et in vinculis secum duxit, tenuitque in carcere biennio. Unde eripere eum Dominus dignatus est. Sequenti anno propter ipsum scelus combusta est ipsa civitas [Saintes?] cum sede episcopali, et dein mansit deserta basilica.”

Footnote 570

Ord. Vit. 487 D, 655 C. See vol. i. p. 584; ii. p. 130.

Footnote 571

Vet. An. iii. *304. “Herbertus Comes, cognomine Bacco, avunculus Herberti, qui fuit temporibus Avesgaudi episcopi.”

Footnote 572

Ib. “Sedem Avesgaudi avunculi sui gaudenter suscepit.” The succession to the see of Le Mans had come to follow much the same law as the succession to the see of Czetinje.

Footnote 573

Herbert Bacco kept him out of the Bishoprick for two years. Vet. An. u. s.

Footnote 574

Compare the relations of Normandy to the Capetian Kings, vol. i. p. 272.

Footnote 575

See vol. ii. p. 209.

Footnote 576

Vet. An. iii. 305*. “Videns vero Præsul suum episcopatum nec per Regem nec per seipsum à Baccone posse defendi, petivit quiddam à, Rege Henrico, quod utinam non petiisset, scilicet ut daret episcopatum Gaufrido Andegavorum Comiti, solummodò dum viveret, ut liberiùs à, Comite Cenomannico illum defenderet, illo etenim mortuo in regiam manum rediret.” The somewhat startling phrase of the grant of the Bishoprick to the Count of Anjou (even though the Count of Anjou was an hereditary Canon of Saint Martin’s at Tours) can only mean the grant of the lay rights and duties of Advocatio.

Footnote 577

Ib. 306*. “Consilium iniit cum parochianis et heroibus terræ.” “Heros” was a favourite word with Orderic, but this biographer seems to use it as if it were a sort of standing title of the citizens of Le Mans. Several Spanish cities, I believe,are officially styled “heroic,” like “fidelis civitas” and the like among ourselves.

Footnote 578

Ord. Vit. 532 B.

Footnote 579

See vol. ii. p. 195. The writer in Vet. An. iii. 306 calls her “nobilissima femina” and “uxor fortissima.”

Footnote 580

Vet. An. iii. 306*. “Sperans se pro hoc castrum Lit habiturum. Sed nihil ei profecit, quia illud bene custodierunt milites castellani.” Yet we had just before read how “Gaufridus castellum Lit igne cremavit.”

Footnote 581

Labbé and Cossart, Conc. ix. 1042.

Footnote 582

Vet. An. iii. 307*. “Cives verò Cenomannici uxorem Hugonis cum infantibus plorantem per unam portam projecerunt, et Gaufridum Comitem gaudentem intrare fecerunt.”

Footnote 583

Ib. “Quum autem audiisset præsul Gervasius in vinculis quæ fecissent heroes Cenomannici [see last page; it can hardly be satire] vitæ diffidens, non habuit aliquam spem ultra vivendi; venit Annolit, castellum Lit reddidit. Dum hæc agerentur, Comes Gaufridus Gervasium de carcere exire permisit, tali videlicet sacramento, ut quamdiu ipse Gaufridus adviveret, intra civitatem Cenomannicam Gervasius non intraret.”

Footnote 584

Ib. “Quum verò videret præsul quod neque in urbem neque in castellum suum posset intrare, abiit ad Willelmum Normanniæ Comitem, ac quidquid ei Gaufridus fecit vel quomodò eum tradidit, illi mœrens rettulit.”

Footnote 585

Chron. Rem. 1059. Labbé, i. 360. See above, p. 178.

Footnote 586

I am here following the Norman accounts; the Angevin version in the Gesta Consulum is very different. We there read (D’Achery, iii. 258), “In diebus illis Willelmus Dux Normannorum Herbertum Cenomannicum Consulem nimis impugnabat, cui Martellus auxiliator et tutor fuit, et idcirco Willelmus Dux, qui postea Angliâ acquisitâ Rex Anglorum exstitit, multa à Martello mala perpessus est.”

Footnote 587

This German sojourn is mentioned incidentally by William of Poitiers (105), where Herbert’s sister, afterwards to be spoken of, is brought “ex partibus Teutonum.”

Footnote 588

Vet. An. iii. *315. “Erat autem uxor ejusdem Marchisii Gersendis nomine, filia Herberti Cenomannorum illustrissimi Comitis, qui vocatus est Evigila-canem: quæ primò quidem Theobaldo Duci Campaniæ in matrimonium tradita, sed ab eo, repudio interveniente, discedens, præfati Athonis postmodum fuerat copulata conjugio.” See also Ord. Vit. 532 B.

Footnote 589

See above, p. 89. Yet a fairer ground of consanguinity than usual might have been alleged.

Footnote 590

See the life of Albert Azo in Gibbon’s Miscellaneous Works, iii. 409. We shall hear of him again at Le Mans.

Footnote 591

Ord. Vit. 532 B. “Tertia vero Johanni Domino castri quod Flecchia dicitur nupsit, quæ marito suo tres liberos, Goisbertum, Heliam et Enoch peperit.” Helias will hardly come within the limits of my central history, but he was a memorable man in the days of William Rufus.

Footnote 592

William of Poitiers calls Margaret the daughter of Herbert (103), but he afterwards (105) corrects the mistake and calls her “germana.” It is plain from Orderic (u. s.) that she was the daughter of Hugh and sister of Herbert. Benoît (35790) erroneously makes her only his half-sister;

“Herbert aveit une soror Devers sa mere; esteit Tieise.”

The “Tieise” comes from some misunderstanding of the “Teutonum partes” in William of Poitiers. William has much to say about her virtues and early death; “Hæc generosa virgo, nomine Margarita, insigni specie, decentior fuit omni margaritâ.” This seems to be an earlier use of the name than I had thought in vol. i. p. 522, as this Margaret could hardly have been called after the daughter of the Ætheling Eadward.

Footnote 593

See above, p. 169.

Footnote 594

See vol. ii. p. 180.

Footnote 595

Will. Pict. 103. “Hugo ... Gaufredi tyrannide metuens omnino deleri, Normanniæ Ducem Willelmum, sub quo tutus foret, supplex adiit, manibus ei sese dedit, cuncta sua ab eo, ut miles a domino, recepit.” Ord. Vit. 487 C. “Præfatus nimirum juvenis, post obitum Herberti senioris patris [it should of course be Hugh] ... consilio matris suæ se suumque patrimonium fortissimo Duci Normannorum commendaverat.” This is an excellent example of the process of commendation described in vol. i. p. 129.

Footnote 596

See above, p. 188.

Footnote 597

Will. Pict. 103. “Cunctorum singulariter eum statuens heredem si non gigneret alium.”

Footnote 598

Ib. “Præterea ut conjunctiùs attingeret tantum virum ipse et posteritas ipsius Ducis, ei filia [see above, p. 197] petita atque pacta est.” Ord. Vit. 532 B. “Alia, nomine Margarita, Rodberto filio Guillelmi Ducis Neustriæ desponsata est.” And again (487 C); “Margaritam sororem suam Rodberto ejusdem Ducis filio in conjugium dederat, cum quâ hereditatem suam, comitatum scilicet Cenomanensem, si sine liberis obiret, concesserat.”

Footnote 599

Will. Pict. 105. “Germanam Hereberti ... nato suo conjugare decrevit [Willelmus], ut per eam ipse et progeniti ex ipso, jure quod nullâ controversiâ convelli posset vel infirmari, Hereberti hæreditatem possiderent sororius et nepotes.”

Footnote 600

Ib. 103. “Ne quærerent alium, præter quem ipse dominum eis, hæredem sibi, relinqueret. Cui si volentes pareant, leve servitium toleraturos fore, si vi subacti, forsitan grave.” See vol. ii. p. 169.

Footnote 601

Ord. Vit. 487 D. “Quia Normannicum jugum his quibus imminet gravissimum est, subire nimis formidabant.”

Footnote 602

Ord. Vit. 487 D. “Walterius ... totum comitatum Cenomanensem calumniabatur, et ex parte possidebat. Nam ipsam urbem, quæ caput est provinciæ, Goisfridus de Meduanâ et Hubertus de Sanctâ Susannâ, aliique potentes in fidelitate Walterii acriter tenebant.” William of Poitiers says only (104), “At homines malefidi Galterium Medantinum Comitem, cui soror Hugonis nupserat, receperunt invasorem desertores.” But he presently mentions Geoffrey of Mayenne. On Geoffrey, see above, p. 167.

Footnote 603

He was a native of Vendôme, who had been a knight (“miles quidam primùm”), then a monk of Marmoutiers. He became Prior, and was “Prior bonus, ædificator nimis.” Geoffrey Martel then removed him to Angers, and made him Abbot of Saint Sergius and Bacchus, a decaying monastery, which he restored (“destructum valdéque redactum ad nihilum, magnum ex novo constituit”). None of his work remains there. He was then chosen Bishop of Le Mans by the clergy and people under a congé d’elire and letter missive from Count Geoffrey (“Gaufridus ... congregavit populum terræ suæ et omnem clerum, ut Cenomannensi ecclesiæ eligerent Episcopum.” Vet. An. iii. *311). It will be remembered that the Count of Anjou had stepped into the position of the King with regard to the Bishoprick. See above, p. 193.

Footnote 604

Vet. Ann. iii. 312*. “Quamvis pauperior et humilior antecessoribus Episcopis fuerit, tamen majora opera exercere tentavit. Quinto namque ordinationis suæ anno fundamenta matris ecclesiæ ampliora quam fuerant inchoavit, sed morte inopinâ superveniente perficere non potuit.” It illustrates the character of Vulgrin that this is the only event of the year 1063 that the episcopal chronicler finds to record. The conquest of Maine by William is mentioned only incidentally in the life of the next Bishop, p. 314*.

Footnote 605

See above, p. 183.

Footnote 606

Ib.

Footnote 607

Will. Pict. 104. “Incendium confestim injicere, aut urbem totam exscindere, ausos iniqua trucidare, quantùm ingenio abundavit et viribus, potuisset. Sed hominum sanguini, quamquam nocentissimo, parcere maluit solita illa temperantia.”

Footnote 608

Ib. “Maluit ... validissimam urbem relinquere incolumem, caput atque munimentum terræ quam in manu habebat.”

Footnote 609

This seems to be taken for granted throughout the story, and it is implied in such expressions as that just quoted and others elsewhere. William of Jumièges, in his shorter account (vii. 27), which, it will be remembered (see at p. 169), is put out of place, speaks in the same way; “Ad urbem Cenomannicam per aliquot annos arma convertit ... Ad postremum victi Cenomanni, jam castellis per cunctum comitatum subactis, dextras Duci dederant.”

Footnote 610

Will. Pict. 104. “Cenomannici ... anxii trepidique ... accito sæpiùs Gaufredo, quem præses eorum Galterius dominum sibi ac tutorem præfecit, prœlio decernere minati sunt nonnumquam, sed ausi numquam.”

Footnote 611

Will. Pict. 104. “Præsidia, ubi res postulavit, imponens.”

Footnote 612

Ib. “Perdomitis tandem castellis jam per totum comitatum subactis, reddunt civitatem prævalenti.”

Footnote 613

We have seen (see above, p. 201) that Vulgrin began to rebuild the church in the fifth year of his episcopate, that is this very year 1063. The only question is whether any part of his work still exists. I will not enlarge on this purely architectural question, but will simply refer to the account in the Vetera Analecta. The expression in p. *313 might imply that the next Bishop Arnold destroyed every trace of what Vulgrin began; but, as (p. 314*) it appears that Arnold’s own work was confined to the choir and transepts, it is possible that Vulgrin’s nave (or possibly a still earlier nave) may have survived. The western portal of the church has a very ancient look.

Footnote 614

William of Poitiers (104) becomes eloquent on the “joyeuse entrée.” Of the ecclesiastical part of the ceremony he tells us, “Templa summoperè, quemadmodùm processiones, adornata effulgent, redolent thymiamata, resonant sacra cantica.” So Orderic (488 A), with a curious confusion between Bishop Vulgrin and his successor; “Cœnomannicam urbem, civibus ultro sese dedentibus, cum ingenti tripudio recepit, eique Domnus Ernaldus, ejusdem urbis Præsul cum clericis et monachis revestitis textus crucesque ferentibus honorabiliter obviam processit.” Of the laity William tells us, “Studium est summis, mediis, infimis, placare infensum. Occurrunt, clamant dominum suum, procidunt et inclinantur ejus dignitati; fingunt hilares vultus, lætas voces, plausus congratulantes.”

Footnote 615

See the story of Bishop Hildebert, Vet. An. iii. 308.

Footnote 616

The building of the castle seems implied in Will. Pict. 104–105; “Victori sufficiens pœna fuit perdomitos in potestatem suam venisse, et urbis firmamentum suâ in reliquum custodiâ occupari.” So Roman de Rou, 10211;

“Et il fist cax è pierre atraire; Illoec fist une tur faire.”

This castle, “regia turris,” must be distinguished from the buildings spoken of by William of Jumièges (vii. 27) and Benoît (35735); “In quorum medio ad domandum eorum insolentiam, duo municipia (“deus chasteaus” in Benoît) in Ponte Barbato, seu Barbello, stabilivit suisque militibus custodienda commisit.” Orderic (773 A) expressly distinguishes them; “Regia turris [elsewhere “turris principalis, turris Cenomannica”], et Mons-Barbatus atque Barbatulus, Regi [Guillelmo Rufo] subjiciuntur, et meritò, quia à patre ejus condita noscuntur.”

Footnote 617

The conquest of Maine is recorded in a Latin entry in our own Peterborough Chronicle, 1062; “Hoc anno subjugata est Cynomannia Comiti Normanniæ Willielmo.”

Footnote 618

Will. Pict. 105. “Voluntariè Gualterus deditioni consensit, ne, invasa protegens, hæreditaria amitteret. Clades a Normannis illata vicinitati Medanti et Calvimontis metum ei faciebat de majori.”

Footnote 619

The direct charge against William is found only, as far as I know, in the harangue which Orderic puts into the mouths of the conspirators at the bride-ale of 1076 (534 B); “Gualterium Pontesii Comitem, Eduardi Regis nepotem, cum Biotâ uxore suâ, Falesiæ hospitavit, et nefariâ potione simul ambos unâ nocte peremit.” This one would suppose to be after the surrender of Le Mans. But in the account which Orderic elsewhere gives in his own person, William is not distinctly accused, and the death of Walter and Biota is made to happen while the war is going on (487 D); “Dum magnanimus Dux frequenti expeditione rebelles impeteret ... prædictus Comes Walterius et Biota conjux ejus per inimicorum machinamenta simul, ut ferunt, letali veneno fraudulenter infecti obierunt. Quibus defunctis, securior Dux ... rebelles expetiit.” But it is plain from the narrative of William of Poitiers that Walter survived the surrender of Le Mans, and it is not likely that he would be at Falaise while the war was going on. This contradiction throws a good deal of doubt on the whole story. See vol. ii. pp. 413–414. No one, as far as I know, ever charged William with the death of Herbert, who died even more opportunely for him than Walter.

Footnote 620

Will. Pict. 106. “Per legatos iterum iterumque monitus ad obsequendum, mentem obstinatam non omisit.” William waxes very eloquent in abuse of the “versutus homo, Gaufredus Meduanensis.” At this distance of time he looks very like a loyal vassal, perhaps even like a true patriot.

Footnote 621

Orderic (488 A) makes William take Ambrières, for whose capture we have already had two dates, on the road; “Ambreras oppidum ejus [Gaufredi] cepit,” &c.

Footnote 622

The river side, according to William of Poitiers (106), “nullâ vi, nullo ingenio vel arte humanâ, attentari potest.” The land side was not quite so impossible; “Alteri vero [lateri] munimenta lapidea, pariterque difficillimus aditus propugnant.”

Footnote 623

See vol. ii. p. 206.

Footnote 624

See vol. ii. p. 286.

Footnote 625

Will. Pict. 106. “Hujus castri latus alterum ... alluitur scopuloso rapidoque flumine, nam supra Meduanæ ripam in præruptâ montis rupe situm est.”

Footnote 626

At Angers the cathedral crowns the hill, the castle commands the river; the great monastery of the Holy Trinity lies on the other side, in what was originally a mere suburb. But neither Angers nor Le Mans has the steep double slope of Mayenne.

Footnote 627

See vol. ii. p. 264.

Footnote 628

Will. Pict. 106. “Gladiis, lanceis, missilibus, nihil geritur, nihil gerendum speratur. Item neque ariete, neque tormento cæterisve instrumentis bellicis. Siquidem locus omnino machinamentis importunus erat.”

Footnote 629

Ib. “Equitum ac peditum copias tantas incassum fatigari cuncti ferè opinantur, multi conqueruntur, nullâ spe animos eorum erigente, nisi fortè morâ annuâ vel ampliore fames expugnet.”

Footnote 630

Ib. “En sollerti consilio ipsius [Willelmi] injecti ignes castrum corripiunt.”

Footnote 631

Ib. 107. “Citissimè diffunduntur [ignes] more suo, sævius omni ferro quæque obvia vastantes.”

Footnote 632

Ib. “Quae, sicut alibi capta plerumque grandia, militum potiùs quam sua esse voluit continentissimus ac liberalissimus princeps.”

Footnote 633

William of Jumièges, as I have already said (see above, p. 169), puts the taking of Mayenne, as a sequel to that of Le Mans, out of place. He also makes the fire accidental (vii. 27); “Meduanum verò, castellum cujusdam opulenti militis nomine Goiffredi, adhuc restiterat, quod Dux exercitibus applicitis aliquamdiù oppugnans cepit, igneque injecto per duos pueros, qui clam ad ludendum cum oppidanis infantibus intraverant, combussit.” Wace (10250) says, “Li bores esprit et aluma.” Ord. Vit. 488 A. “Meduanam post diutinam obsidionem combussit.”

Footnote 634

I infer this, not only from the absence of any mention of his name during the siege, and from the unlikelihood that such a man would have yielded to what seems to have been a mere panic, but from the expressions of William of Poitiers a little before (106); “Fuga, astutia, validæque munitiones non modicum fiduciæ ministraverunt. Statuit ergo prudentia repudiati domini latibulum carissimum abalienare ei castrum Meduanum, æstimans multò satius ac dignius hâc pœnâ ferire, quam fugitantem persequi, et victoriam levem ex eo capto insignibus titulis addere.”

Footnote 635

See Vet. An. iii. *315; Ord. Vit. 706 C, 707 A, 771 D.

Footnote 636

Will. Pict. 107. “Restauratis quæ flamma corruperat, præsidioque providenter disposito.” So Will. Gem. vii. 27. “Quod iterum restauravit et custodibus suis mancipavit.” So Benoît, 35770. But Wace (10253) says,

“Lung tems aprez quant son leu vit Le restora sainz cuntredit. Gardes i mist ki l’atornerent, Ki paiz tindrent e paiz garderent.”

Footnote 637

Will. Pict, u. s. “Insolitum triumphum, quasi de naturâ superatâ, domum revexit cum immenso gaudio exercitûs.”

Footnote 638

Ord. Vit. 488 A. “Quo superato, penè omnes illius complices et ad rebellandum fautores terrore curvati sunt, et Willelmum Principem, quem divina manus protegebat, timere eique obsecundare coacti sunt.”

Footnote 639

Vet. An. iii. 314*. “Willelmus Princeps Normanorum ... Cenomannensem comitatum, exstinctis atque omninò deletis ejusdem comitatûs hæredibus, adquisierat.” Is this meant as a charge against William? If so, it extends beyond Walter and Biota, and seems to prove too much.

Footnote 640

Will. Pict. 105. “Quoniam pueri ætas nondum fuit matura conjugio [Robert must have been four years younger than Margaret, whose father died in 1051, two years before William’s marriage], in locis tutis illam, prope nubilem, magno cum honore custodiri fecit, nobilium atque sapientium virorum ac matronarum curæ commissam.” Orderic (488 A) says she was entrusted “Stigaudo potenti viro de mansione Odonis.” Compare the entrusting of William’s own daughter to Roger of Beaumont; Orderic, 573 D.

Footnote 641

Ord. Vit. u. s. “Priusquam nubiles annos attingeret seculi ludibriis erepta feliciter obiit.”

Footnote 642

Will. Pict. u. s. He enlarges on this at length.

Footnote 643

Will. Pict. u. s.

Footnote 644

Will. Pict. and Ord. Vit. u. s.

Footnote 645

See vol. ii. pp. 415, 420.

Footnote 646

See vol. ii. pp. 475, 476, 634.

Footnote 647

See vol. ii. p. 299 et seqq.

Footnote 648

See vol. ii. pp. 303, 421.

Footnote 649

See vol. ii. pp. 367 et seqq., 422.

Footnote 650

See Appendix R.

Footnote 651

See Appendix R.

Footnote 652

See vol. ii. pp. 537, 543.

Footnote 653

See vol. ii. p. 329, and cf. pp. 147, 149, 580.

Footnote 654

See vol. ii. p. 335.

Footnote 655

See Appendix R.

Footnote 656

See Appendices R. and S.

Footnote 657

Bayeux Tapestry, pl. 1.

Footnote 658

So Eadmer (4) makes him go “cum ditioribus et honestioribus hominibus suis [his own Thegns or personal Comitatus], auro et argento vesteque pretiosâ nobiliter instructis.”

Footnote 659

See vol. ii. p. 151.

Footnote 660

Tapestry, pl. 1. It is singular however that, though a large part of Bosham Church is as old as Harold’s time, or older, the picture in the Tapestry is in no way like it—or indeed like any other human erection.

Footnote 661

Tapestry, pl. 1.

Footnote 662

See above, p. 157.

Footnote 663

Will. Pict. 108. “Docuit enim avaritiæ calliditas Galliarum quasdam nationes exsecrandam consuetudinem, barbaram, et longissimè ab omni æquitate Christianâ alienam. Illaqueant potentes aut locupletes: trusos in ergastula afficiunt contumeliis, tormentis. Sic variâ miseriâ prope ad necem usque contritos ejiciunt sæpissimè venditos magno.” So Will. Malms. ii. 228. “Barbarum et effrænatum morem regionis esse ut qui evaserant in mari naufragium in terrâ invenirent periculum.”

Footnote 664

I infer as much from the use of the word “illaqueant” in the last quotation from William of Poitiers.

Footnote 665

Roman de Rou, 10765 et seqq. The sums of money are thus given (10776);

“Doint li vint livres solement, Il l’en fera gaaigner cent, Kar tel prison li liverra, Ki cent livres u plus donra.”

Footnote 666

Bayeux Tapestry, plate 2. “Hic apprehendit Wido Haroldum.” Benoît de Ste. Maure (36540) adds the odd comment, that those who were seized in this fashion might have wished themselves in Sicily; “Mieuz vousissent estre en Sezile.” Yet, when Benoît wrote, Sicily was a settled Norman monarchy.

Footnote 667

So at least says William of Malmesbury (ii. 228); “Manus manicis, pedes compedibus, præbuere.”

Footnote 668

This is quite plain from the Tapestry, plate 2. “Duxit eum ad Belrem et ibi eum tenuit.” Wace (10784) says, “A Abevile l’ont mené,” and makes Guy take him to Beaurain only after the news has reached William (v. 10798);

“A Belrem le fist envéier Por fere del Duc esluingnier.”

This I conceive to arise from a misconception of the words of William of Jumièges, vii. 31; “In manus Widonis Abbatisvillæ Comitis incidit. Quem idem Comes captum cum suis confestim in custodiâ trusit.” But this does not imply that Abbeville was the place of imprisonment. William of Poitiers, William of Malmesbury, and Benoît do not mention any particular place. Anyhow it was not Saint Valery. See below, Chapter xv. § 2.

Footnote 669

Roman de Rou, 10785;

“E Heraut a par un privé En Normendie el Duc mandé.”

Eadmer (5) says, “Constrictus igitur Haraldus quemlibet ex vulgo, promissâ mercede illectum, clam ad Comitem Normanniæ dirigit;” but that the messenger was an Englishman appears from his moustache in the Tapestry, plate 3. “Hic venit nuntius ad Wilgelmum Ducem.” William of Malmesbury, ii. 228, gives another turn to the message, of which I shall have to speak elsewhere. One expression is very odd; “Si pecuniis exuenda captivitas esset, libens daret Willelmo Comiti, non semiviro Guidoni.” I do not know the meaning of this strange epithet and spondaic cadence.

Footnote 670

Wace understood this. Roman de Rou, 10800;

“Li Dus pensa s’il le teneit, K’il en fereit bien son espleit.”

Footnote 671

Will. Pict. 108. “Properè missis legatis.” The speed at which they ride in the Tapestry (pl. 3) is beyond anything of the kind represented in the whole story, except in the very thick of the battle.

Footnote 672

Ib. “Precatu simul ac minis extortum.” William of Jumièges (vii. 31) puts this still more strongly; “Dux autem ut hoc comperit, missis legatis violenter illum extorsit.” But the other narratives do not bear this out.

Eadmer (5) makes two messages, the latter stronger than the former; “Ille [Willelmus] festinatò per nuncios mandat Domino Pontivi, Haraldum cum suis ab omni calumniâ liberum sibi quantociùs mitti, si pristinâ amicitiâ suo amodò vellet ex more potiri. Sed quum ille hominem dimittere nollet, iterum in mandato accepit se necessariò Haraldum missurum, alioquin certissimè sciret Willelmum Normanniæ Ducem armatum pro eo Pontivum iturum.”

Footnote 673

Eadmer however makes him still plunder his captives; “Mittit igitur virum cum sociis, primò tamen eis quæ meliora detulerant simul ablatis.”

Footnote 674

See above, p. 116. That Eu was the place appears from Will. Pict. 108. “Ipse [Guido] adducens apud Aucense castrum sibi præsentavit.” So Benoît, 36572. “Li amena à Ou tot quite.”

Footnote 675

Will. Pict. 108. “Guidoni bene merito, qui, nec pretio nec violentiâ compulsus, virum quem torquere, necare, vendere potuisset pro libitu ipse ... sibi præsentavit, grates rettulit condignas, terras tradidit amplas ac multum opimas, addidit insuper in pecuniis maxima dona.” The position of the lands comes from the Roman de Rou, 10806;

“E li Dus li a fet aveir Lez l’ewe d’Alne un bel maneir.”

Footnote 676

“Harold Dux Anglorum” in the Tapestry, pl. 1. He bears the same title in the Saxon Annalist (Pertz, vi. 764). See vol. i. pp. 289, 470; cf. 179, and ii. 635.

Footnote 677

In the Tapestry, plate 4, we merely read, “Hic Dux Wilgelm cum Haroldo venit ad palatium suum.” It is here that the mysterious “unus clericus et Ælfgyva” (see Appendix S.) are seen standing at the door of the Palace. William of Poitiers (108) says more distinctly, “In urbem sui principatûs caput Rothomagum introduxit.” So Benoît, 36577;

“Tot dreit à Roem la citè L’en amena li Dux od sei.”

Footnote 678

Roman de Rou, 10810;

“A maint rice torneiement Le fit aler mult noblement.”

Footnote 679

Snorro (Johnston, 190; Laing, iii. 76). “Sat Haralldr í hássæti à adra hönd Jarli, enn til annarar handar kona Jarls, hon var hverri kono frídari, er menn höfdo sed ... Jarl geck optazt snemma at sofa, enn Haralldr sat lengi à kvölldom, oc taladi vid kono Jarls.” This is an exact picture of old Norwegian, if not of Norman life. See Keyser’s Private Life of the Old Northmen, pp. 72, 143; “The guests ... were shown to the beds appointed for them. But even after they had retired for the night, they often had to quaff off a horn or two, which the hostess, or one of the women of the house, would bring them, while she seated herself the while by their bed-side and entertained them by her conversation.”

Footnote 680

See Appendix R.

Footnote 681

See Appendix F.

Footnote 682

Namely that of William of Poitiers. See Appendix R.

Footnote 683

Harold (see vol. ii. p. 555) could hardly have been born before 1021, but, as he became Earl in 1045 (see vol. ii. pp. 36, 37, 43), he is not likely to have been born many years later. William (see vol. ii. pp. 585–587) was born in 1027 or 1028.

Footnote 684

See Appendix O.

Footnote 685

See Appendix R.

Footnote 686

William of Poitiers (109), who puts the knighthood before the Breton expedition, seems to extend it to Harold’s followers; “Qui venerant cum ipso”—possibly Wulfnoth and Hakon—“armis militaribus et equis delectissimis instructos secum in bellum Britannicum duxit.” “Militaribus” is doubtless to be taken in the technical sense. The Tapestry (pl. 6) places the knighthood after the Breton war; “Hic Willelm dedit Haroldo arma.” Wace follows William of Poitiers (10812). Mr. Planché (Arch. Ass. June 1867, p. 145) says that Wace lays the scene at Avranches. He probably refers to the Roman de Rou, 13723, but the knighthood is not there spoken of.

Footnote 687

William of Malmesbury (iii. 236) attributes the opposite motive to William. He takes Harold, “volens ejus manum explorare; simul et strictiori consilio, apparatum ostentans suum, conspicaturo quantùm præstaret Anglicis bipennibus ensis Normannicus.” If Harold was set to fight on horseback with his Danish axe in his hand, it might very likely be so.

Footnote 688

The fullest accounts are in William of Poitiers (109) and the Tapestry (pll. 4–6), but it is not easy to reconcile the two. The other accounts are very short. Wace (10814) makes Harold accompany William in three or four expeditions;

“Ne sai de veir treiz feiz u quatre, Quant as Bretuns se dut combatre.”

This, as we shall see, is quite possible. See Appendix T.

Footnote 689

See vol. ii. p. 193.

Footnote 690

Conan was the grandson of Hadwisa, daughter of Richard the Fearless. See vol. i. p. 508.

Footnote 691

See vol. ii. p. 181; cf. i. pp. 518, 526. William of Poitiers (109) is inclined to dwell on these earlier wars, rather than on the later guardianship of Alan. His son Conan is “paternæ rebellionis renovator.”

Footnote 692

See above, p. 168.

Footnote 693

Will. Pict. 109. “Is [Conanus] in virum ferocissimum adultus, a tutelâ diu toleratâ liber, capto Eudone patruo suo, atque vinculis ergastularibus mancipato, provinciæ, quam dono paterno accepit, magnâ cum truculentiâ dominari cœpit.” William of Malmesbury (iii. 236) looks on him with more favour; “Viridis juventâ et præcellens robore, Eudonem patruum vinxerat, multa egregia fecerat.”

Footnote 694

See Art de Vérifier les Dates, ii. 896.

Footnote 695

William of Poitiers goes back to the grant of Charles the Simple, who gave Britanny to Rolf “in servitium perpetuum.” (See vol. i. p. 191.) But he allows the constant revolts of the Breton Counts; “Comites Britannici e jugo Normannicæ dominationis cervicem omnino solvere numquam valuerunt, etsi multoties id conati totâ vi obluctando.” So William of Malmesbury (iii. 236) speaks of William as “Britanniam ut hæreditarium solum calumnians.”

Footnote 696

Will. Pict. 111. See below, p. 238.

Footnote 697

See vol. ii. p. 592.

Footnote 698

Will. Pict. 110. Britanny is “regio longè latèque diffusa, milite, magis quam credibile sit, referta.” He goes on to say; “Partibus e quidem in illis miles unus quinquaginta genuerat, sortitus more barbaro denas aut ampliùs uxores; quod de Mauris veteribus refertur, legis divinæ atque pudici ritûs ignaris. Ad hoc populositas ipsa armis et equis maximè, arvorum culturæ aut morum minimè student.” The word “denas” seems to show that this patriarchal state of things was not confined to one particular knight. One hardly sees why the ancient Moors should have been picked out as the horrid example, rather than the modern Saracens or any other polygamous people.

The Chronicle of St. Michael’s Mount (Labbé, i. 350), under the year 1056, says of Conan’s uncle, “Hic Eudo multos habuit filios.” Was he the “miles” whom William of Poitiers had specially in his eye?

Footnote 699

Will. Pict. 110. “Uberrimo lacte, parcissimo pane, sese transigunt. Pinguia pabula gignunt pecoribus loca vasta et fermè nescia segetum.”

Footnote 700

Ib. “Prœlia cum ardenti alacritate ineunt: dum prœliantur, furibundi sæviunt. Pellere soliti, difficilè cedunt.”

Footnote 701

Ib. “Quum vacant a bello, rapinis, latrociniis, cædibus domesticis, aluntur sive exercentur.”

Footnote 702

See above, p. 166, and vol. ii. 284.

Footnote 703

Will. Pict. 109. “Conani in tantum jam temeritas crevit, ut quo die terminos Normanniæ aggrederetur denuntiare non formidaret.” This sort of bravado was chivalrous heroism in William; it is mere rashness and insolence in Conan.

Footnote 704

Ib. “Dominus ejus [Conani] antiquo jure, sicuti Normannorum, Willelmus, castellum quod Sancti Jacobi appellatum est interim opposuit in confinio, ne famelici prædones ecclesiis inermibus, aut ultimo terræ suæ vulgo, excursionibus latrocinantibus nocerent.” The castle and town are still always known as Saint-James, never as Saint-Jaques.

Footnote 705

Will. Pict. 110. “Nihili pendens terribilitatem hanc Dux Willelmus, in quem diem adventum Conani meminit denuntiatum, eo ipse intra fines ejus occurrit.”

Footnote 706

I presume that the “Ruallus” of William of Poitiers represents the name Rhiwallon.

Footnote 707

See vol. ii. p. 476.

Footnote 708

See vol. i. p. 240. For the special mention of Dol, see Flodoard, 944.

Footnote 709

See vol. i. p. 510.

Footnote 710

Will. Pict. 110. Conan is engaged in “castri terræ suæ Doli oppugnatione.”

Footnote 711

Unless possibly a larger proportion of beggars and of way-side crosses than is usual in Normandy.

Footnote 712

The time of the invasion was autumn. “Stabant in aristis fruges immaturæ.” They missed therefore the snowy bloom of a Breton, Norman, or West-Saxon land in the time of spring. Snorro also (see above, p. 227) makes Harold’s visit in the autumn, but he makes him stay all the winter.

Footnote 713

See vol. i. p. 330.

Footnote 714

Bayeux Tapestry, pll. 4, 5. “Hic Willelm Dux et exercitus ejus venerunt ad Montem Michaelis.”

Footnote 715

Bayeux Tapestry, pl. 5. “Hic Harold Dux trahebat eos de arenâ.” See vol. ii. p. 38.

Footnote 716

See vol. i. p. 526.

Footnote 717

Will. Pict. 110. “Sistere tentat Conanum castri præses Ruallus, revocat illudens, morari biduum precatur, sufficiens huic moræ stippendium ab ipso sumpturum.”

Footnote 718

Ib. “Homo miserè exterritus, pavorem potiùs audiens, cursu instituto longiùs profugit.” So the Tapestry, pl. 5; “Venerunt ad Dol et Conan fugâ vertit.” On the mention of Rennes, see Appendix T.

Footnote 719

Will. Pict. 111. “Nec penes agricolas interesse, Normannico an Britannico exercitu consumpti anni laborem amiserint.”

Footnote 720

Ib. “Sibi modo ad famam valuisse, non ad conservationem rerum, Conani depulsionem.”

Footnote 721

Will. Pict. 110, 111. “Menstruâ penuriâ fatigatum exercitum reducebat.” The Archdeacon’s minute setting forth of the workings of the Duke’s mind is too long to copy.

Footnote 722

Ib. 111. “Excedenti jam Britanniæ limitem repente indicatur Gaufredum Andegavensem cum ingentibus copiis Conano fuisse conjunctum, et ambos postero die prœliatum affuturos.”

Footnote 723

See Appendix T.

Footnote 724

See vol. ii. pp. 220, 233.

Footnote 725

Bayeux Tapestry, pl. 5.

Footnote 726

Bayeux Tapestry, pl. 5.

Footnote 727

Ib. pl. 6. Cf. the legend of the death of Malcolm at Alnwick. See Robertson, i. 147.

Footnote 728

See the Angevin Chronicle in Labbé, i. 276.

Footnote 729

Bayeux Tapestry, pl. 6.

Footnote 730

Cf. vol. i. pp. 436, 585; ii. 384.

Footnote 731

Bayeux Tapestry, pl. 6.

Footnote 732

See above, p. 227.

Footnote 733

Ord. Vit. 492 A. “Omnia quæ ab illo requisita fuerant super sanctissimas reliquias juraverat.”

Footnote 734

Wace, 10828. See Appendix R.

Footnote 735

Ib. 10838;

“Quant Heraut suz sa main tendi, La main trembla, la char frémi.”

Footnote 736

Ib. 10858;

“Heraut forment s’espoanta Des relikes k’il li monstra.”

Footnote 737

See Appendix R.

Footnote 738

See vol. ii. p. 300.

Footnote 739

See Appendix F.

Footnote 740

See vol. ii. pp. 431, 434.

Footnote 741

So say most of the accounts. See Appendix R.

Footnote 742

Will. Malms, iii. 238. “Liberatum se sacramento asserens, quod filia ejus quam desponderat citrà nubiles annos obierat.”

Footnote 743

See vol. ii. pp. 43, 494.

Footnote 744

The apology put into Harold’s mouth by William of Malmesbury (iii. 238) is that he was “necessitate temporis coactus.” Wace (11965) puts it more clearly still. Harold’s Biographer (Chron. Ang. Norm. ii. 187) argues the point at length. See Appendix U.

Footnote 745

See Appendix R.

Footnote 746

Compare the homage done by Richard the Fearless to Hugh the Great on promising to marry his daughter. See vol. i. p. 248.

Footnote 747

See Appendix R.

Footnote 748

See above, p. 157.

Footnote 749

See vol. ii. pp. 365, 384, 385, 460.

Footnote 750

See the speech of Philip, Lord Wharton, on the Abjuration Bill of 1690. Macaulay, iii. 574.

Footnote 751

See the stories of the fidelity of Geroy and his son William to their several feudal lords, vol. ii. pp. 230–232. On the other hand it is constantly made an aggravation of the imprisonment of William of Aquitaine by Geoffrey Martel, that it was a wrong done against his lord. See vol. ii. p. 594. So the Peterborough Chronicle (1087) says of the last expedition of William himself, that he “hergode uppan his agenne hlaford Philippe þam cynge.”

Footnote 752

The authorities for this Chapter are essentially the same as those for the last.

Footnote 753

Will. Pict. 109. “Non enim in longum sperabatur Edwardi ægrotantis vita.”

Footnote 754

William of Poitiers (145–146) gets very eloquent on this head; I have quoted the passage in Appendix G.

Footnote 755

The suddenness of the news is marked by William of Poitiers (121); “Verus rumor insperatò venit Anglicam terram Rege Edwardo orbatam esse et ejus coronâ Heraldum ornatum.”

Footnote 756

See above, p. 52, and vol. ii. pp. 336, 346, 358.

Footnote 757

In the Tapestry (pl. 8) we see the ship; “Hic navis Anglica venit in terram Willelmi Ducis.” See Bruce, p. 87. The language of Wace (10991) seems to imply a special messenger;

... “Un Serjant Ki d’Engleterre vint errant, Al Duc vint dreit.”

Footnote 758

Roman de Rou, 10983.

Footnote 759

See Prevost’s note, ii. 120.

Footnote 760

Ib. 10989;

“Mult aveit od li chevaliers E dameisels et esquiers.”

On “dameisels,” “domicelli,” a diminutive of “dominus,” which now survives both in French and English in the feminine only, see Ducange in voc. Benoît (36640) applies the name, in the form “danzel,” to Wulfnoth. In the pretended Laws of Eadward, it translates “Æðeling,” with the comment, “Nos de pluribus, quia filios baronum vocamus domicellos, Angli autem nullum præter filios Regum vocant” (Schmid, 516).

Footnote 761

Will. Malms. iii. 279. “Fuit ... roboris ingentis in lacertis, ut magno sæpe spectaculo fuerit quod nemo ejus arcum tenderet, quem ipse admisso equo pedibus nervo extento sinuaret.”

Footnote 762

Roman de Rou, 10995;

“Ke li Reis Ewart ert finez, E Heraut ert à Rei levez.”

Footnote 763

Ib. 10997;

“Quant li Dus ot bien escolté, E tute sout la vérité ... Semblant fist d’home corocié. L’ovre del boiz a tut lessié, Sovant a sun mantel lacié, E sovent l’a destachié; Ne il à home ne parla, Ne home à il parler n’osa.”

All these graphic details are peculiar to Wace. Benoît (36672) is much shorter.

Footnote 764

Roman de Rou, 11012; “Sor un pécol sun chief a mis.” I suppose this means, as Mr. Taylor translates it, against a pillar. Wace’s description is so perfect, that it is impossible to do anything but simply repeat it. Otherwise this would be a good opportunity to call up the image of the ancient pillared hall, as at Oakham and Winchester, and once at Westminster, the one great apartment of the palace, as of any other house, and seemingly open to all comers.

Footnote 765

Wace (11017) here says simply, “Li seneschal,” but from v. 11051 we see who this seneschal was.

Footnote 766

Roman de Rou, 11020; “Par la sale ala chantusant.” “Fredonnant, chantant légèrement,” says Pluquet; “humming a tune” in Mr. Taylor’s version.

Footnote 767

Roman de Rou, 11051. “Li filz Osber el cuer hardi.”

Footnote 768

See Appendix U.

Footnote 769

See above, p. 70.

Footnote 770

See vol. i. p. 224.

Footnote 771

I leave it to canon lawyers to determine whether Harold’s precontract to the daughter of William would in any way invalidate his marriage with the widow of Gruffydd. However this may be, William could not seriously expect that Harold would, on any such grounds, put away his wife, especially when his wife was the sister of the two Northern Earls. The question of course remains whether Harold really was married at the time.

Footnote 772

So Eadmer and those who copy from him. See Appendix U.

Footnote 773

Will. Malms, iii. 238. See Appendix U.

Footnote 774

Eadmer, 5. “Si de filiâ suâ, quam debui in uxorem, ut asserit, ducere, agit, super regnum Angliæ mulierem extraneam, inconsultis principibus, me nec debere nec sine grandi injuriâ posse adducere noverit.”

Footnote 775

Will. Malms. iii. 238. “Præsumptuosum fuisse quod, absque generali senatûs et populi conventu et edicto, alienam illi hæreditatem juraverit; proinde stultum sacramentum frangendum.” This is less forcibly put by Eadmer (5); “Regnum quod necdum fuerat meum quo jure potui dare vel permittere.”

Footnote 776

Numbers xxx. 3–5.

Footnote 777

Will. Malms. iii. 238. “Quantò magis quod ille, sub Regis virgâ constitutus, nesciente omni Angliâ, de toto regno, necessitate temporis coactus, impegerit, videatur non esse ratum.”

Footnote 778

Ib. “Præterea iniquum postulat ut imperio decedat, quod tanto favore civium regendum susceperit; hoc nec provincialibus gratum, nec militibus tutum.” I do not fully understand this last clause. Would Harold’s Thegns and Housecarls have been specially exposed to danger in case of William’s peaceful accession? Or does the historian write by the light of his own time and of Domesday, remembering how much more heavily William’s confiscations fell on the “milites” than on the “provinciales.”

Footnote 779

Ib. “Ita revertebantur inanes nuntii, vel veris vel verisimilibus argumentis præstricti.”

Footnote 780

Will. Malms. iii. 238. “Alter [Willelmus] interea illum [Haroldum] per nuntios leniter convenire, de rupto fœdere expostulare, precibus minas insuere: sciret se ante annum emensum ferro debitum vindicaturum, illuc iturum quo Haroldus tutiores se pedes habere putaret.” Is this last not very intelligible clause a scoff at the English tactics of fighting on foot?

Footnote 781

See vol. i. p. 524 et seqq.

Footnote 782

Æsch. Ag. 1653. οἶδ’ ἐγὼ φεύγοντας ἅνδρας ἐλπίδας σιτουμένους.

Footnote 783

See above, p. 90.

Footnote 784

See vol. ii. p. 241.

Footnote 785

Will. Pict. 113. “Caussam viduæ, inopis, pupilli, ipse humiliter audiebat, misericorditer agebat, rectissimè definiebat. Ejus æquitate reprimente iniquam cupiditatem, vicini minùs valentis aut limitem agri movere, aut rem ullam usurpare, nec potens audebat quisquam nec familiaris.” Cf. vol. ii. p. 172.

Footnote 786

Ib. “Accipere solitus est avido auditu suavique gustu sacræ paginæ sermones, iis, ut animæ epulum sumeret, delectari desiderans, castigari, atque edoceri. Sumebat et honorabat condecenti reverentiâ hostiam salutarem, Dominicum sanguinem.” I do not know that the word “auditu” absolutely proves that William could not read, but it looks like it. He was however fully aware of the advantages of learning, even in laymen. See vol. ii. p. 274. This passage is also to be noticed as one among several which show that communion in both kinds was still allowed. The Archdeacon goes on to extol his sovereign’s orthodoxy in the matter of Transubstantiation, and to tell how he drove from his dominions the heresy which thought otherwise—“aliter sentientem pravitatem”—that is doubtless the teaching of Berengar. See vol. ii. pp. 116, 227.

Footnote 787

Ib. 114. “Ejus liberi pietatem Christianam infantes didicere diligenti provisione ipsius.” This pious care answered better with his daughters than with his sons.

Footnote 788

Ib. “Quoties ejus edicto et hortatu convenere Præsules, Metropolitanus cum suffraganeis, de statu relligionis, clericorum, monachorum, atque laicorum acturi. Synodis his arbitrum se deesse nolebat.” The advantages of the prince’s presence are then dwelt upon.

Footnote 789

Ib. “Delato forte suas ad aures immani alicujus crimine, quod Episcopus aut Archidiaconus justo dementiùs vindicaverit, reum majestatis æternæ teneri jussit incarceratum, quousque caussa domini æquitate districta decerneretur, Episcopum aut Archidiaconum, veluti adversarios divinæ partis, criminans in judicium devocandos, feriendos gravi sententiâ.” The obscure words “justo dementiùs” mean, I conceive, not that the ecclesiastical judges were too strict, but that they let off offenders for money. On the doings of Archdeacons see vol. ii. p. 230, and the passage of John of Salisbury there referred to.

Footnote 790

Will. Pict. 115. “Lanfrancum ... intimâ familiaritate colebat; ut patrem venerans, verens ut præceptorem, diligens ut germanum aut prolem. Illi consulta animæ suæ, illi speculam quamdam, unde ordinibus ecclesiasticis per omnem Normanniam prospiceretur, commisit.”

Footnote 791

See vol. ii. p. 224.

Footnote 792

See the great anathema in Paul of Bernried’s Life of Gregory, cap. lxxvi. (ap. Murat. iii. 336); “Henrico Regi, filio Henrici Imperatoris, ... totius Regni Teutonicorum et Italiæ gubernacula contradico.” Mark how, as constantly in Lambert, while Italy has a name, Germany has none. See vol. i. pp. 172, 176.

Footnote 793

Compare Lord Macaulay’s remarks (ii. 624) on the different clauses of the resolution by which the Crown was declared vacant after the flight of James the Second.

Footnote 794

See above, p. 178, and vol. i. pp. 268, 519.

Footnote 795

See vol. i. p. 175. In the passage of Bruno there referred to, Philip gets no higher title than “Latinæ Franciæ Rector.” Yet he is better off that Charles the Bald, who, in the Annales Fuldenses under 875 (Pertz, i. 389), is only “Galliæ Tyrannus.”

Footnote 796

See vol. ii. p. 373.

Footnote 797

I hold, it may be remembered (see vol. i. p. 646), that the balance of evidence is against Godwine’s churlish birth; but, if such a rumour, true or false, were afloat, it would be enough. I do not however find the point brought forward by any contemporary Norman writer.

Footnote 798

See vol. i. p. 230.

Footnote 799

See vol. ii. pp. 277, 593.

Footnote 800

Henry of Huntingdon, as we have seen (see vol. i. p. 332), seriously believed in William’s hereditary right. So elsewhere (761 E) he speaks of his “jus cognationis.” The Ramsey Historian also (cap. cxx.) says that William sought “regnum aviti propinquitate sanguinis debitum.” But perhaps still more remarkable is the way in which William of Poitiers (143), after describing William’s election and coronation at Christmas, adds, “Et, si ratio sanguinis poscitur, pernotum est quam proximâ consanguinitate Regem Edwardum attigerit filius Ducis Rodberti, cujus amita, Richardi Secundi soror, filia Primi, Emina, genitrix fuit Edwardi.”

Footnote 801

Compare the passage from Orderic (598 A) quoted in Appendix C.

Footnote 802

Liber de Hydâ, 291. “Dei etenim nutu multorum fit concursus populorum, ultro se navibus ingerentium, qui audierant Angliam argenti et auri omnibus opulentam, cibi et potûs omniumque frugum uberrimam, omnibus præterea bonis esse refertam.” So Orderic (494 A) speaks of William’s foreign followers as “Anglicæ prædæ inhiantes.”

Footnote 803

Will. Pict. 124. “Non eo animi viget [Heraldus] robore, quo vel minimum quid meorum polliceri audeat. At arbitrio meo pariter quæ mea sunt, quæque dicuntur illius, promittentur atque dabuntur.” To any man but William one might have quoted the fable about the bear and his skin.

Footnote 804

See vol. i. pp. 330, 633.

Footnote 805

Ib. p. 525, and above, p. 266.

Footnote 806

This comes among the three causes for William’s invasion given by Henry of Huntingdon (761 D); “Primò, quia Alfredum cognatum suum Godwinus et filii sui dehonestaverant et peremerant: Secundò, quia Robertum Episcopum et Odonem Consulem [see vol. ii. p. 564] et omnes Francos Godwinus et filii sui arte suâ ab Angliâ exsulaverant: Tertiò, quod Haraldus, in perjurium prolapsus, regnum, quod jure cognationis [see above, p. 278] suum esse debuerat, sine aliquo jure invaserat.”

Footnote 807

See vol. ii. p. 70.

Footnote 808

William of Poitiers (124) is emphatic on this head; William “non tantùm ditionem suam et gloriam augere, quantùm ritus Christianos partibus in illis corrigere intendit.”

Footnote 809

See vol. ii. p. 458.

Footnote 810

See Appendix W.

Footnote 811

See above, p. 151.

Footnote 812

See vol. ii. p. 291.

Footnote 813

See above, p. 258, and vol. ii. p. 198.

Footnote 814

See vol. ii. p. 211.

Footnote 815

See vol. ii. p. 589.

Footnote 816

See vol. ii. p. 210.

Footnote 817

See above, p. 116.

Footnote 818

See above, p. 118.

Footnote 819

See vol. ii. p. 199.

Footnote 820

See above, p. 159.

Footnote 821

See above, pp. 183, 201; vol. ii. 232.

Footnote 822

See vol. ii. pp. 185, 186.

Footnote 823

See above, pp. 129, 153.

Footnote 824

See above, p. 155.

Footnote 825

See above, p. 158.

Footnote 826

I get the details of this meeting and of the larger meeting at Lillebonne from the Roman de Rou (11118 et seqq.), the only account which carefully distinguishes the two. See Appendix W.

Footnote 827

Roman de Rou, 11156;

“S’il s’en voleient bien pener Od la gent k’il poeit mander, E Dex le volsist graanter, Bien porreit sun dreit recovrer.”

Footnote 828

Ib. 11165. “Maiz sez homes è sez clers creie.” It is curious to find the wealth of the Church pointed to so early as among possible ways and means.

Footnote 829

Ib. 11171;

“Ceste parole lor mostrez, Bien deivent al cunseil venir, Ki el travail deibvent partir.”

This good constitutional doctrine almost forestalls the teaching of our great constitutional poet of the thirteenth century;

“Igitur communitas regni consulatur, Et quid universitas sentiat sciatur.”

Political Songs (Camden Soc.), p. 110. But, instead of “communitas regni,” Normandy had only “grant barnage.”

Footnote 830

See vol. ii. p. 332.

Footnote 831

See vol. i. p. 197.

Footnote 832

See Ord. Vit. 493 A, B.

Footnote 833

Orderic twice stops to discuss the Roman origin of Lillebonne (554 C and 864 B, C). It was founded by Caius Julius Cæsar on the site of a Gaulish town called Caletum, which he had destroyed. It was called Julia after his daughter. In Orderic’s own time it was barbarously called “Illebona.” William of Malmesbury (iii. 238), from whom we learn that Lillebonne was the place of meeting, calls it “Lillebona.”

Footnote 834

These points in the history of Lillebonne are said to have been made out by the researches of M. Deville. But I am sorry to say that I know those researches only through M. Joanne’s excellent Guide to Normandy, p. 243. Lillebonne however is a place which speaks for itself.

Footnote 835

See the view in Cotman’s Architectural Antiquities of Normandy, p. 75.

Footnote 836

William kept his court (“curia”) at Lillebonne in 1063. See Orderic, 482 A. A synod was also held there in 1080. See vol. ii. p. 241.

Footnote 837

Compare the Diets of Poland, at once the most aristocratic and the most democratic of all assemblies. Compare also the whole history of the States of Britanny, so well traced out by the Count of Carné, in his États de Bretagne. The second order, the Noblesse, was always more independent than either the Clergy or the Burghers, and its internal constitution was that of a Landesgemeinde.

Footnote 838

This is implied in the words of William of Poitiers (124), “Quis enim juxta præstitutum naves perfici, aut perfectis remiges inveniri, annuo spatio posse speraret?”

Footnote 839

Roman de Rou, 11182;

“Ne pot mie sanz lor aïe Aveir grant gent è grant navie: Die chescun ke il li fera, Kels genz è quantes nés merra.”

Footnote 840

Roman de Rou, 11186;

“Cil dient k’il en parlereient, E par cunseil l’en respondreient, E li Dus lor a graanté.”

Footnote 841

Ib. 11196;

“Mult se vont entrels dementant, Par tropeax se vunt cunseillant, Ci vint, ci quinze, ci quarante, Ci trente, ci cent, ci seisante.”

Footnote 842

Ib. 11202;

“Li altres dient ke pas n’iront, Kar mult deibvent è povres sont.”

Footnote 843

Will. Pict. 124. “Quis novâ hac expeditione pulcherrimum statum patriæ in omnem redigi miseriam non timeret?”

Footnote 844

Ib. “Quis Romani Imperatoris opes eâ vinci difficultate non affirmaret?” The ideas of Caius Julius Cæsar and of King Henry the Fourth were perhaps a little intermingled in the mind of the Archdeacon of Lisieux.

Footnote 845

Ib. 123. “Thesauris illum abundare, quibus partis suæ Duces et Reges præpotentes conducantur.”

Footnote 846

Ord. Vit. 493. “Normannorum paucitatem non posse vincere Anglorum multitudinem asserebant.”

Footnote 847

Will. Pict. 124. “Classem [Heraldum] habere plurimam, homines in ministeriis nauticis peritissimos, qui sæpiùs pericula et prœlia maritima sint experti; terrâ illius, uti divitiis, ita militis copiâ, hanc multipliciter superari.”

Footnote 848

See the passage quoted in p. 293.

Footnote 849

Roman de Rou, 11214;

“N’atendez mie k’il vos priet, Ne ne demandez nul respiet, Alez avant, si li offrez Mult plus ke faire ne poez.”

Footnote 850

Ib. 11220;

“Se la busuigne remaneit, Par adventure tost direit, A ço k’il est achoisonos, Ke tut areit perdu par nos; Fetes li tant ke il ne die Ke s’erre seit par vos faillie.”

Footnote 851

Roman de Rou, 11228;

“Parlez por nos, ço vos préion, La parole sor vos meton: Vos direz ço ke vos voldrez, Nos feron ço ke vos direz.”

Footnote 852

Ib. 11226;

“Sire, font il, la mer doton, Ultre mer servir ne devon.”

Footnote 853

Ib. 11244;

“Por vos, ço dient, avancier, Se lerreient en mer néier, U en feu ardent geter.”

Cf. Psalm lxvi. 12.

Footnote 854

Roman de Rou, 11251;

“Se bien l’ont fet, mielx le feront; Ensemble o vos mer passeront, Vostre servise dobleront. Ki solt mener vint chevaliers, Quarante en merra volentiers, E ki de trente servir deit, De sesante servir vos velt, E cil ki solt servir de cent, Dous cent en merra bonement.”

Footnote 855

Roman de Rou, 11260;

“E jo merrai en boen amor En la busoigne mon Seignor Sesante nés apareillies De homes cumbatanz chargies.”

Footnote 856

Ib. 11264;

“Li Barunz tuit se merveillierent, Mult fremirent é grondillierent Des paroles ke cil diseit, E des pramesses k’il faseit, Dunc il ne aveit nul garant.”

Footnote 857

Ib. 11272;

“Li servise ki est doblez Creiment k’il seit en feu tornez, Et en costume seit tenu, Et par costume seit rendu.”

See Taylor’s note, p. 108.

Footnote 858

Roman de Rou, 11278;

“Nus hoem ne poeit altre entendre Parole oïr ne raison rendre.”

Henry of Huntingdon (M. H. B. 761 E), in his abridged narrative, cuts the matter far too short. I do not remember any other writer who mentions the trick of William Fitz-Osbern.

Footnote 859

So William of Malmesbury, iii. 238. “Super negotio singulorum sententias sciscitatus.” But he perhaps goes too far when he speaks of “omnes ejus voluntatem plausibus excipientes.”

Footnote 860

Roman de Rou, 11290;

“Ne ke jamez d’ore en avant, Ço lor a miz en convenant, N’ierent de servise requis, Forz tel ke solt estre al païz, E tel come lor ancessor Soleient fere a lor Seignor.”

Footnote 861

Roman de Rou, 11298;

“E li Dus fist tot enbrever, Nés fist è chevaliers nombrer.”

Footnote 862

I have read, in some peerage or book of genealogy, the pedigree of some one who professes to be descended from one of the English knights who went over to ask William to come and deliver them from the tyranny of Harold. Truly pedigree-makers will say anything.

Footnote 863

See the account of Robert the son of Wymarc in William of Poitiers, 128.

Footnote 864

By the second I mean Ralph of Norfolk, of whose origin I shall speak elsewhere. See Appendix LL.

Footnote 865

On the movements of Tostig see Appendix X.

Footnote 866

See vol. ii. p. 319.

Footnote 867

See vol. ii. p. 387.

Footnote 868

Ib. p. 434.

Footnote 869

See vol. ii. p. 501, and Appendix X.

Footnote 870

Ord. Vit. 492 D. “Tosticus ... festinus Normanniam adiit, et Willelmum Ducem cur perjurum suum regnare sineret fortiter redarguit.” The phrase “perjurus suus” is like the common phrase of “the King’s rebels” and such like.

Footnote 871

Ib. “Seque fideliter, si ipse cum Normannicis viribus in Angliam transfretaret, regni decus obtenturum illi spopondit.”

Footnote 872

Ord. Vit. 493 A. “Ejus exhortationibus animatus Normanniæ proceres convocavit.”

Footnote 873

Ib. 492 D. See Appendix N.

Footnote 874

Ord. Vit. 493 C. “Interea Tosticus in Angliam remeandi licentiam a Duce accepit; eique auxilium suum, tam per se quàm per omnes amicos suos, firmiter spopondit. Sed, sicut scriptum est, ‘Homo cogitat, Deus ordinat,’ evenit multò aliter quam sperabat. Nam de Constantino pelagus intravit, sed Angliam attingere nullatenus potuit. Heraldus enim mare navium militumque copiâ munierat, ne quis hostium sine gravi conflictu introiret in regnum quod fraudulenter invaserat. Tosticus itaque magnis undique premebatur angustiis, utpote qui nec Angliam per bellum cum paucis contra in numeros invadere, nec Normanniam propter contrarietatem ventorum poterat repetere.” It is wonderful how many undertakings in this age were thwarted by stress of weather.

Footnote 875

See the next Chapter.

Footnote 876

Ord. Vit. 494 A. “Galli namque et Britones, Pictavini et Burgundiones, aliique populi Cisalpini ad bellum transmarinum convolârunt, et Anglicæ prædæ inhiantes variis eventibus et periculis terræ marique sese obtulerunt.” Lappenberg (543), and Mr. Thorpe (ii. 286) more distinctly, hints that it was from mistaking the meaning of the word “Cisalpini” that Thierry got his Piedmontese. We have already seen something of the use of the word as well as of “transmarinus.” See vol. i. pp. 181, 210 (note 1), 230, 627.

Footnote 877

Guy of Amiens (v. 259. M. H. B. 861 C, Giles 34) makes William count up French, Bretons, Cenomannians, and adds,

“Appulus et Calaber, Siculus quibus jacula fervet; Normanni faciles actibus egregiis.”

Footnote 878

Will. Pict. 122. “Convenit etiam externus miles in auxilium copiosus, quos ex parte notissima Ducis liberalitas, verum omnes justæ caussæ fiducia contraxit.”

Footnote 879

See Appendix W.

Footnote 880

See the story in Lambert and Berthold (ap. Pertz, v. 272) under the year 1062. Milman, Latin Christianity, iii. 74.

Footnote 881

Lambert, 1063. “Adalbertus Premensis Archiepiscopus ... sæpiùs colloquendo, obsequendo etiam atque adsentando, ita sibi Regem brevi devinxerat, ut, cæteris episcopis posthabitis, totus in eum inclinaretur, et ipse in regno communi penè monarchiam usurpare videretur.” Milman, iii. 77.

Footnote 882

Lambert, 1065. “Per concessionem ejusdem Archiepiscopi [Adalberti sc.] primùm se Rex arma bellica succinxit.”

Footnote 883

Ib. 1066. Milman, iii. 81.

Footnote 884

It was Stamfordbridge, not Senlac, which attracted the attention of Lambert. See Appendix M.

Footnote 885

Henry, in his own troubles, sent an embassy to William (Bruno de Bello Saxonico, c. 36, ap. Pertz, v. 342). See also the amazing account of “Willehelmus Bostar” in Lambert, 1074. See vol. ii. p. 582.

Footnote 886

William of Poitiers says first, at an earlier time (120), “Admirabatur, laudabat, ac venerabatur eum supra nomina Regum Imperii Romani majestas, cujus olim gloriosissimus moderator Henricus, Conradi Imperatoris Augusti filius, cum ipso etiam tum puero, veluti cum nominatissimo Rege, amicitiam junxit ac societatem.” He now (123) says, “Et Romanorum Imperatori [he was not yet Emperor] Henrico, Henrici Imperatoris filio, nepoti Imperatoris Chounradi, noviter junctus fuit in amicitiâ.” After the former passage the Archdeacon adds, what is yet more amazing, that the Eastern Emperor wished for William as a neighbour to help him to withstand the advance of the Mahometans; “Optabat hunc vicinum et amicum nobilis et ampla, multisque Regibus dominans Constantinopolis, quo propugnatore sperneret gravem potentiam Babylonis.” The wise proverb τὸν Φραγκὸν φίλον ἔχῃς γείτουα οὐκ ἔχῃς (Eginh. Vita K. 16) must have been forgotten.

Footnote 887

See vol. ii. pp. 276, 373.

Footnote 888

Will. Pict. 123. “Cujus [Henrici] edicto in quemlibet hostem Germania ei, postularet, veniret adjutrix.”

Footnote 889

Ib. “Rex quoque Danorum Suenus fidem legationibus ei spopondit, sed inimicis ejus amicum exhibebat se fidelem, sicut in sequentibus legendo ipsius detrimenta, spectabis.” This of course takes in the help which Swend gave to the English insurgents after William’s coronation, but it must be connected also with William’s assertion (p. 132) that there were Danish troops at Senlac.

Footnote 890

See vol. ii. pp. 92, 93.

Footnote 891

Roman de Rou, 11326;

“En Belveisin, à Saint-Girmer Ala li Dus el Rei parler.”

I fancy that the splendid church of this monastery is less known than it should be to travellers and architectural students. It contains nothing so old as the days of William and Philip, but, among other magnificent portions, it has a Lady Chapel which reminds one at once of the Chapel of Henry the Seventh at Westminster and of that of Saint Lewis at Paris.

Footnote 892

Roman de Rou, 11330;

“Ke se tant aidier li voleit, Ke par s’aïe éust son dreit, Engleterre de li prendreit, E volentiers l’en servireit.”

Footnote 893

Ib. 11362;

“Quant Engleterre ara cunquise, Poiz jà n’areiz de li servise; Petit sert, maiz meins servira, Quant plus ara, meins vos fera.”

Footnote 894

See vol. i. pp. 96, 129–131, 247–250.

Footnote 895

Roman de Rou, 11368;

“Li Reis el Duc aidier ne vout, Ainz le destorba quant il pout.”

Footnote 896

See Roman de Rou, 11390–11433, and Appendix W.

Footnote 897

See above, p. 86, and Appendix N.

Footnote 898

See Dugdale, Baronage, i. 400; Mon. Angl. v. 491; Ellis, i. 422. The charter there quoted (later than 1274), by an amazing piece of genealogy, makes Gilbert a son of Count Baldwin and a nephew of William. “Giselbertus de Gaunt, filius Baldwini Comitis de Flandriâ venit cum Willelmo Conquæstore avunculo suo in Angliam.”

Footnote 899

Dugdale, i. 425; Mon. Angl. vi. 959; Ellis, i. 420, 504. “Walterus Bec ... venit cum Conquæstore et habuit hæreditatem suam in Flandriâ.” He appears in Domesday as “Walterus Flandrensis.”

Footnote 900

See vol. ii. p. 136.

Footnote 901

See Appendix Y.

Footnote 902

See above, pp. 231, 233.

Footnote 903

On Odo, see above, pp. 168, 231. This Alan Fergant must be carefully distinguished from his cousin Alan Fergant, who was afterwards Count of Britanny, and who married William’s daughter Constance. See the pedigree drawn out by Mrs. Green, Princesses, i. 25. So Roman de Rou, 11508;

“Alain Felgan vint el passage, Ki des Bretunz out grant barnage.”

Footnote 904

Roman de Rou, 11511; “E li Sire i vint de Dinan.”

Footnote 905

Ib. 11505;

“Le visquens i vint de Toarz, Haimon de bien grant poéir, E ki poeit grant gent aveir.”

Cf. Will. Pict. 142, where his name is written “Haimerius.”

Footnote 906

Roman de Rou, 11312;

“Poiz a requis ses boens veizins, Bretunz, Mansels et Angevins, Cels de Pontif è de Boloigne, K’od li viegnent en sa besoigne.”

Footnote 907

Liber de Castro Ambasiæ, c. iv., ap. D’Achery, iii. 276. He joined William when he was “omnem militiæ valetudinem quam invenire potuit in arma commovens,” and when “ex diversis regionibus optimi milites et bellicosi gregatim convenirent.” After a fitting panegyric we read, “Statim ut a Guillermo Duce fuit agnitus, super omnes ei familiarior est habitus.”

Footnote 908

See the account of this war in the Gesta Consulum, D’Achery, iii. 259, where Fulk’s conduct to his brother is called a “persequutio,” while Fulk himself (p. 233) speaks of his own “tribulatio” and the “invasio” of his brother.

Footnote 909

Gest. Cons. 259, where we hear of “proditio” and “proditores,” while Fulk (u. s.) speaks only of a “campestre prœlium in quo eum [Geoffrey] Dei gratiâ superavi,” and adds delicately, “proinde accepi civitatem Andegavæ.” See also the two Angevin Chronicles in Labbé, i. 276, and, more fully, 288. These troubles were among the effects of the comet.

Footnote 910

Gest. Con. 260. “Fulco Richin Barbatum fratrem suum captum tenuit et in vinculis Chainoni castro posuit.”

Footnote 911

See Appendix Z.

Footnote 912

Will. Gem. vii. 33. He is followed by Benoît, 36866–36963.

Footnote 913

See above, p. 207.

Footnote 914

See vol. ii. p. 412.

Footnote 915

The famous application of Pippin as to the lawfulness of deposing Childebert was rather a case of conscience.

Footnote 916

See the very remarkable account of these struggles in Lambert, 1064. Milman, iii. 83. With the high-minded comments of the impartial Lambert it is well to compare the panegyric of the partizan William of Poitiers (122). He at least had good reason to say that Alexander “responsa edebat justa salutariaque.” So Benoît, 36787;

“A Rome ert donc pape Alixandre, Jusz hoem, saintismes e verais, Qui mult tint sainte Iglise en pais.”

He goes on, prematurely enough, to say,

“A lui tramist li Reis Guillaume Por mostrer l’ovre deu reaume.”

Footnote 917

Will. Malms. iii. 238. “Ne justam caussam temeritas decoloraret, ad Apostolicum ... misit, justitiam suscepti belli quantis potuit facundiæ nervis allegans.” The name of this eloquent ambassador comes from Orderic, 493 B.

Footnote 918

Roman de Rou, 11446;

“E se ço ert ke Deus volsist K’il Engleterre conquésist, De Saint Pierre la recevreit, Altre fors Dex n’en servireit.”

Footnote 919

William of Malmesbury (iii. 238) discusses the point; “Haroldus id facere supersedit, vel quod turgidus naturâ esset, vel quod caussæ diffideret, vel quod nuntios suos a Willelmo et ejus complicibus, qui omnes portus obsidebant, impediri timeret.” There was clearly no record or received tradition about the matter.

Footnote 920

I find no suggestion of the possibility of any hearing of the English side anywhere but in the passage of William of Malmesbury just quoted.

Footnote 921

William of Malmesbury (u. s.) says that the Pope gave judgement, “perpensis apud se utrimque partibus.” But it is from a letter written long after to William by Hildebrand, then Gregory the Seventh, that we learn how strong an opposition was made to William’s claims. The letter is dated April 24th, 1080, and has chiefly to do with the affairs of the see of Le Mans. Gregory says to William; “Notum esse tibi credo, excellentissime fili, priusquam ad pontificale culmen ascenderem, quanto semper te sinceræ dilectionis affectu amavi, qualem etiam me tuis negotiis et quam efficacem exhibui, insuper ut ad regale fastigium cresceres quanto studio laboravi. Quâ pro re a quibusdam fratribus magnam penè infamiam pertuli, submurmurantibus quod ad tanta homicidia perpetranda, tanto favore meam operam impendissem. Deus verò in meâ conscientiâ testis erat, quàm recto id animo feceram, sperans per gratiam Dei et non inaniter confidens de virtutibus bonis quæ in te erant, quia quantò ad sublimiora proficeres, tantò te apud Deum et sanctam ecclesiam (sicut et nunc, Deo gratias, res est) ex bono meliorem exhiberes.” Ep. Greg. VII. cxxxvi., ap. Bouquet, xiv. 648.

Footnote 922

See above, p. 89 et seqq.

Footnote 923

Orderic (482 B) tells a story how, at one stage of the endless negotiations about Abbot Robert of Saint Evroul (see above, p. 184), Robert came with certain Papal Legates to claim his Abbey; “Audiens verò Dux ... vehementer iratus dixit se quidem Legatos Papæ de fide et relligione Christianâ, ut communis patris, libenter suscepturum; sed si quis monachorum de terrâ suâ calumniam sibi contrariam inferret, ad altiorem quercum vicinæ silvæ per capitium irreverenter suspensurum.” This was in 1063. William plainly recognized no Benefit of Clergy, and when the witnesses are liable to be hanged, the proceedings of the Court can hardly be called free.

Footnote 924

So at least Wace (12353) makes William say after he is landed in England;

“E si saunt Engleiz de veir, A tuz le velt fere saveir, Ke cil sunt escumengié De l’Apostoile è del clergié.”

Footnote 925

We may infer this last object from the care with which William (see Will. Pict. 144) took, after his coronation, to send to Rome “Sancti Petri pecuniam,” and also from his famous correspondence with Gregory. See Lanfranc, ep. 10 (Giles, i. 32).

Footnote 926

Roman de Rou, 11452;

“Un gonfanon e un anel Mult precios è riche è bel; Si come il dit, de soz la pierre Aveit un des cheveuls Saint Pierre.”

For a hair another reading has a tooth.

Footnote 927

The banner is mentioned by most writers. Will. Pict. 123. “Vexillum accepit [Willelmus] ejus [Alexandri] benignitate, velut suffragium Sancti Petri; quo primo confidentiùs ac tutiùs invaderet adversarium.” Ord. Vit. 493 C. “Vexillum Sancti Petri Apostoli, cujus meritis ab omni periculo defenderetur, transmisit.” Will. Malms. iii. 238. “Papa vexillum in omen regni Willelmo contradidit.” So Wace, u. s., and Benoît, 36807. Wace calls it “gonfanon,” Benoît “enseigne.”

Footnote 928

In this Chapter we of course return to English authorities, to the Chronicles and Florence, the latter now distinctly assuming the character of an independent authority. These we have to compare throughout with the great Norwegian account, the Saga of Harold Hardrada in Snorro, many of the details of which are manifestly mythical. A few scattered hints may also be picked up from German, Norman, and other sources.

Footnote 929

Chronn. Ab. Wig. 1066. “And sona þaræfter [after the appearance of the comet] com Tostig eorl fram begeondan sǽ into Wiht mid swa myclum liðe swa he begytan mihte. And him man geald þar æigðer ge feoh ge metsunge.” So Florence; “Non multò post, Comes Tostius de Flandriâ [on this point see Appendix Z] rediens, ad Vectam insulam applicuit, et postquam insulanos sibi tributum et stippendium solvere coegerat, discessit.” The Peterborough Chronicler, followed, as he so often is, by William of Malmesbury (ii. 228), as also by Henry of Huntingdon (M. H. B. 762 A), takes no notice of Tostig’s movements till he appears in the Humber. The Norman account, it will be remembered (see above, p. 304), makes him not land in England at all till he comes with Harold Hardrada.

Footnote 930

Chron. Ab. 1066. “And fór þa þanon, and hearmas dyde ægwar be þam sæ riman þa he tó mihte, oð he becom to Sandwic.” Flor. Wig. “Circa ripas maris, donec ad Sandicum portum veniret, prædas exercuit.”

Footnote 931

Will. Malms. iii. 238. “Præterea, qui [Haroldus] putaret minas Willelmi numquam ad factum erupturas, quod ille conterminorum Ducum bellis implicaretur, totum animum otio cum subjectis indulserat; nam profectò, nisi quod Noricorum Regem adventare didicit, nec militem convocare nec aciem dirigere dignatus fuisset.”

Footnote 932

Flor. Wig. 1066. “Mox, ut regni gubernacula susceperat, ... cœpit ... pro patriæ defensione ipsemet terrâ marique desudare.”

Footnote 933

Chronn. Wig. Ab. “And Harold cyng his [Tostiges] broðor gegædrade swa micelne sciphere and eac landhere, swa nan cyng her on lande ær ne dyde forþam þe him wæs gecyðd þæt Wyllelm Bastard [“Willelm eorll fram Normandige, Eadwardes cingces mæg,” Chron. Ab. and Fl. Wig.] wolde hiðer [“cuman,” Ab.] and ðis land gewinnen, eallswa hit syððan aeóde.”

Footnote 934

Chron. Ab. and Fl. Wig. “Ða cydde man Harolde kynge þe on Lundene wæs.”

Footnote 935

Chron. Ab. 1066. “Þa Tostig þaet geaxode þaet Harold cing wæs toward Sandwic, þa for he of Sandwic, and nam of þam butsekarlon sume mid him, sume þances, sume unþances.” So Florence; “De butsecarlis quosdam volentes, quosdam nolentes, secum assumens.”

Footnote 936

See vol. ii. p. 323.

Footnote 937

Chron. Ab. “And gewende þa norð into [Humbran] and þær hergode on Lindesege.” So Florence; “Recessit, et cursum ad Lindesegiam direxit.” Chronn. Wig. Petrib. “And þá hwile com Tostig eorl into Humbran mid sixtigum scipum.” So William of Malmesbury, ii. 228; “Eodem anno Tostinus, a Flandriâ in Humbram navigio sexaginta navium delatus, ea quæ circa oram fluminis erant piraticis excursionibus infestabat.”

Footnote 938

Chronn. Wig. Petrib. 1066. “And Eadwine eorl com mid landferde, and adraf hine út.” The Abingdon Chronicler and Florence add Morkere; so William of Malmesbury (ii. 228); “Ab Edwino et Morchardo, concordis potentiæ fratribus, impigrè de provinciâ pulsus.”

Footnote 939

Chronn. Wig. Petrib. “And þa butsecarlas hine forsocan.”

Footnote 940

Ib. “And he for to Scotlande mid xii. snaccum.”

Footnote 941

See vol. ii. pp. 384, 452.

Footnote 942

Snorro, ap. Laing, iii. 70. The peace was made on the terms of the status in quo.

Footnote 943

See the quotation from Adam of Bremen in vol. ii. p. 121.

Footnote 944

See Appendix X.

Footnote 945

See vol. ii. p. 627.

Footnote 946

See vol. ii. 90, 106, 151.

Footnote 947

Snorro, ap. Johnstone, 193; Laing, iii. 78. See Appendix BB.

Footnote 948

“Enn Gamli Knútr konungr eignadiz at erfd Dana-ríki, en med hernadi oc orrosto England” (Johnstone, 194). But England was Cnut’s first Kingdom; he did not succeed to Denmark till the death or deposition of his brother Harold. (See vol. i. pp. 403, 465.) This is another proof how utterly the short reign of Harold was forgotten.

Footnote 949

Johnstone, p. 195. “Mæla menn þat, segir hann, at þer hinir Ensko se eigi alltrúir.”

Footnote 950

Orderic (493 D) makes Tostig make this proposal to Harold; “Medietatem Angliæ vobis retinete, aliamque mihi, qui vobis inde fideliter serviam, retinete.” The proposal is quite in the spirit of any one who represented, or claimed to represent, Northumberland. Compare William’s alleged offer to Harold of England in the next Chapter.

Footnote 951

Snorro, ap. Johnstone, 195. “Því eignadiz Magnús Konungr Danmórk, at þar landz höfdingiar veitto hönom; enn því feckt þú eigi at allt landz-folk stód i múti þer. Því bardiz Magnús Konungr eigi til Englandz, at allr landz-lydr villdi hafa Játvard at Konungi.” It would almost seem as if, both in England and in Denmark, a distinction was drawn between the chiefs and the mass of the people. The people seem to be conceived as being, always and everywhere, patriotic; but it was possible that some of the chief men in both countries might be won over to the cause of the invader. This is eminently true of England in the reign of Æthelred. The people, the land-folk, of Denmark, says Tostig, resisted Harold; the people of England were unanimous for Eadward. None but the Danish chiefs are spoken of as supporting Magnus, and it is only from the chiefs in England that Tostig looks for the means of fulfilling his promise to Harold.

Footnote 952

See vol. ii. pp. 91–93.

Footnote 953

See above, p. 289.

Footnote 954

Snorro, ap. Laing, iii. 101;

“Severe was Harald, but we call That just which was alike to all.”

Compare the discriminating comparison between him and his brother Saint Olaf; Johnstone, 225; Laing, iii. 102.

Footnote 955

Snorro, ap. Johnstone, 197; Laing, iii. 80. “Enn sumir sögdo, at England mundi verda torsott, mann-folk ofa-mikit á, oc þat lid er kallat er þínga-manna-lid, þeir voro menn sva fræknir, at betra var lid eins þeirra enn II Harallds manna hinna besto.” Harold’s Staller Ulf is scandalized at the comparison.

Footnote 956

Chron. Ab. 1066. “þa com Harold cyning of Norwegan norð into Tínan on unwaran.”

Footnote 957

See the quotation from the Worcester Chronicle in p. 325.

Footnote 958

See vol. i. pp. 426, 427.

Footnote 959

See above, p. 325, note 4. The Abingdon Chronicle speaks of “scip_fyrde_ and eac land_fyrde_,” that of Worcester of “scip_here_ and eac land_here_.” No doubt both kinds of force were called out. The preparations of Harold are also strongly set forth by Orderic, 500 A; “Hastingas et Penevesellum aliosque portus maris Neustriæ oppositos.... toto anno illo cum multis navibus et militibus callide servaverat.” Compare also his account of Tostig’s expedition, see above, p. 304. And, after all, no one does more justice to Harold in this respect than the most hostile of all writers, William of Poitiers (123); “Heraldus interea promptus ad decernendum prœlio, sive terrestri sive navali, plerumque cum immani exercitu ad littus marinum opperiens.”

Footnote 960

Chron. Ab. “Þa hit wæs to Nativitas Sanctæ Mariæ, þa wæs manna metsung agán, and hig nan man þar na leng gehealdan ne mihte.” This last expressive clause is left out by Florence, who says merely “victu deficiente.” Cf. above, p. 167. Compare also the preparations made for the defence of the southern coast in 1337, and the writ of Edward the Third commanding the dispersion of the levies which are described as “Hujusmodi onera importabilia sustinere non valentes.” Rymer, vol. ii. part ii. p. 996; Longman, Edward III. i. 121.

Footnote 961

Chron. Ab. “And man draf þa scypu to Lundene, and manega forwurdon ær hi þyder cómon.”

Footnote 962

See Appendix AA.

Footnote 963

See above, p. 65.

Footnote 964

Snorro, Johnstone, 196; Laing, iii. 80. “Sendi Haralldr konungr ord um allan Noreg, oc baud út leidángri, hálfom almenningi.”

Footnote 965

Snorro gives him about two hundred ships of war, besides transports and other smaller craft (“Haralldr konungr hefdi nær cc. skipa, oc umfram vista-byrdingar oc smá-skútor.” Johnstone, 198; Laing, iii. 81); the three Chronicles, William of Malmesbury, and the Scholiast of Adam of Bremen (iii. 51) give him three hundred, Florence five hundred, while in Marianus Scotus (ap. Pertz, v. 559) the number rises to “minùs mille.”

Footnote 966

Marianus, u. s. “Araldus, qui et Arbach vocabatur, Rex Nordmandorum, minùs mille navibus venit mense Septembri, Anglicam terram regnaturus.” “Arbach” is an odd corruption of Hardrada. I ought to have mentioned before that the English writers all transfer to him the surname “Harfagra,” which belongs to the famous Harold of the ninth century. A Flemish chronicler (Chron. S. Bavo. Corp. Chron. Fland. i. 459), who copies Marianus, turns him into “Haricnuth, Rex Nordanhymbrorum.”

Footnote 967

See vol. i. p. 204.

Footnote 968

Snorro, ap. Laing, iii. 30, 37.

Footnote 969

Snorro, ap. Johnstone, 200; Laing, iii. 82. “Haralldr konungr, ádr hann fór af Þrándheimi, hafdi þar látit taka til Konungs Magnus son sinn, oc setti hann til ríkis í Noregi, er konungi fór í braut.” Thora is simply called “Þora Þórbergs dóttir,” while Elizabeth is “Ellisif drottning.”

Footnote 970

See vol. i. pp. 453, 475, 531, 533.

Footnote 971

Schol. ad Ad. Brem. iii. 51. “Insuper massa auri, quam Haroldus a Græciâ duxit, ad Bastardum tali fortunâ pervenit. Erat autem pondus auri quod vix bisseni juvenes cervice levarent.”

Footnote 972

This however Orderic seems to wish us to believe. William makes his preparations (494 A), while still “nescius infortunii quod præoccupârat suum præcursorem [Tosticum sc.] et extra statutum cursum longè propulerat ad septemtrionem.”

Footnote 973

See Flor. Wig. 1098. Will. Malms. iv. 379. Ord. Vit. 768. The expedition of Harold, Cnut, and Osbiorn in 1069 (see Florence in anno) was undertaken directly for the deliverance of England. Magnus in 1098 said expressly that he came not against England, but against Ireland and the Isles.

Footnote 974

Snorro, ap. Johnstone, 198; Laing, iii. 81. The name should be noticed. Had every Harold his Gyrth?

Footnote 975

The “witch-wife” of Laing’s translation is a “tröll-kona” in the original.

Footnote 976

On the career of Thorfinn, see Orkneyinga Saga, ap. Johnstone, Ant. Celt. Scand. 176 et seqq.; Torfæi Orcades, i. 16 (p. 63 et seqq.); also Robertson, Scotland under Early Kings, i. 111–129.

Footnote 977

The Orkneyinga Saga (Johnstone, p. 181) attributes to him an expedition into England in the reign of Harthacnut, of which I find no trace in English history.

Footnote 978

Mark the prevalence among the Northern nations of scriptural names, when they were all but unknown in England. We have already had James, King of the Swedes (see vol. i. p. 455); now we have Mary and Paul, besides the Russian Elizabeth.

Footnote 979

Snorro, ap. Johnstone, 200; Laing, iii. 83. So the Scholiast on Adam of Bremen, iv. 31; “Haraldus, frater Olaph nequissimus, Orchadas suo adduxit Imperio, _regnum_que suum dilatavit usque ad Riphæos montes et Island.” Is the Kingdom of Norway, with Iceland for a part of it, distinguished from the Empire of Britain? Adam is here discussing the geography of the Riphæan mountains, but they are a familiar flourish. See the extracts in vol. i. p. 208, where they are placed somewhere in Britain.

Footnote 980

Chron. Wig. 1066. “Tostig him to beah and his man wearð.” Will. Malms, ii. 228. “Ibi Regi Noricorum ... obvio manus dedit.” See Appendix X.

Footnote 981

Adam Brem. iii. 51. “Tosti ... Regem Nordmannorum auxilio ducit Haroldum, Regemque Scotorum, et occisus est ipse Tosti et Rex Hiberniæ et Haroldus cum toto exercitu eorum a Rege Anglorum.” The “Rex Scotorum” and the “Rex Hiberniæ” can hardly be the same person, and Tostig was just now on the best terms with Malcolm.

Footnote 982

See the last quotation.

Footnote 983

Chron. Manniæ, 1047 (1066), p. 3 Munch. “De quâ fugâ [apud Stamfordbrige] quidam Godredus cognomento Crouan, filius Haraldi nigri, de Ysland fugiens venit ad Godredum filium Sytric qui tunc regnavit in Manniâ, et honorificè susceptus est ab eo.” See Munch’s note, pp. 50, 51. He however takes “Ysland” to mean not Iceland, but Isla.

Footnote 984

Flor. Wig. 1066. “Citato cursu ostium Humbræ fluminis intraverunt.”

Footnote 985

For these accounts of the harrying of “Kliflönd,” “Skardaborg,” and “Hellornes,” see Snorro, Johnstone, 201; Laing, iii. 83.

Footnote 986

Scarborough, unluckily, is not mentioned in Domesday, otherwise the name of its lord might perhaps help us to recover the personality of a man who must have been worth remembering.

Footnote 987

We read some way further on in the Abingdon Chronicle how Harold of England found the fleet at Tadcaster.

Footnote 988

Flor. Wig. 1066. “In loco qui Richale dicitur applicuerunt.”

Footnote 989

The carelessness of Eadwine and Morkere is strongly set forth by William of Malmesbury, ii. 228; “Ambo ergo [Harald Hardrada and Tostig] consertis umbonibus terram Transhumbranam populabantur; germanos recenti victoria feriatos, qui nihil minus quam talia latrocinia metuerent, aggressi, victos inter Eboracum includunt.”

Footnote 990

See vol. i. p. 317.

Footnote 991

Marianus (Pertz, v. 559), describing the Battle of Fulford, mentions the slaughter of a hundred priests; “Eburaci in auctumno plus quam mille laicorum centosque [sic] presbyterorum bello occidit de Anglis.” The Chronicle of Saint Bavon (see above, p. 340) cuts down the number of priests killed to ten. The Hyde writer (292) mistakes the battle for a storm and massacre at York, with a grievous slaughter of priests; “Eboracam ... tandem ... capientes tantâ in eâ cæde debacchati sunt, ut ex numero presbyterorum qui in eâ interfecti sunt, quantus fuit cæterorum morientium numerus, utrumque conjici potest undecies enim xx. [220?] presbyteri feruntur ibi occidisse.”

Footnote 992

The earlier writers do not give the name of the place; they are satisfied with saying that it was near York. The Worcester and Peterborough Chronicles say that the Northmen “comon to Eoforwic and heom þær wið fuhton Eadwine Eorl,” etc. So Florence says “juxta Eboracum,” and Marianus “Eburaci.” Henry of Huntingdon (M. H. B. 762 A), after saying that the fight was “juxta urbem,” adds, “cujus locus pugnæ in australi parte urbis adhuc ostenditur.” But to the local knowledge of Simeon a still more exact account seemed needful. He copies Florence as usual, but after the words “juxta Eboracum” he inserts the words “apud Fulford.” The matter is elaborately discussed by a writer in the Gentleman’s Magazine, August, 1863, p. 216 (cf. p. 347), who is very busy with Snorro, Rapin, Thierry, and Drake’s Eboracum, but who unluckily did not “possess a copy of Simeon.”

Footnote 993

See Snorro, ap. Johnstone, 202; Laing, iii. 84.

Footnote 994

Ib. “Þat var fen diúpt oc breitt oc fultt af vatni.”

Footnote 995

Snorro, ap. Johnstone, 202; Laing, iii. 84. “For þar fram merki Mauro-kara Jarls.” Snorro does not speak of any exploits of Eadwine, nor indeed does he mention his name. I am not sure that he does not confound him with Waltheof, whom he describes as present in the battle, calling him, as elsewhere, a brother of Morkere. (See vol. ii. p. 553.) He gives him however his proper title as Earl of Huntingdon. (See vol. ii. p. 560.) The presence of Waltheof is not mentioned by any other writer. It was perhaps suggested by his later exploits at York.

Footnote 996

Ib. 203; Laing, iii. 84. “Lá þar sva þyckt valrinn, at Nordmenn mátto gánga þurfaetis yfir fenit.” He goes on to kill Morkere both in prose and verse, but he lived at least till 1087. Cf. Chron. Ab. “And þær wæs þæs Engliscan folces mycel ofslagen and adrenct and on fleam bedrifen.” So Florence; “Multo plures ex illis in fluvio demersi fuere quam in acie cecidere.”

Footnote 997

Snorro, Johnstone, 203; Laing, iii. 85. “Valþiófr Jarl [meaning most likely Eadwine] oc þat lid er undan komz, flýdi upp til borgarinnar í Jorvik, vard þar it mesta mannfall.”

Footnote 998

The details come from Snorro (Johnstone, 205; Laing, iii. 85), but the capitulation is clear from the English writers. Chron. Ab. “And þa æfter þam gefeohte, for Harold cyningc of Norwegan and Tostig eorl into Eoferwic.” So Simeon, who, after the landing at Riccall, inserts the words “et Eboracum gravi pugnâ obtinuerunt.” Snorro, who understood the geography of the coast, gets all wrong in the interior. He fancies that both Riccall and Stamfordbridge were close to York.

Footnote 999

Chron. Ab. “And to fullan friðe gespræcon, þæt hig ealle mid him suð faran woldon and þis land gegan.” Cf. vol. i. p. 394.

Footnote 1000

Chron. Ab. and Florence. Snorro does not mention the hostages given by Harold.

Footnote 1001

Chron. Ab. “And Harold cyningc of Norwegan and Tostig eorl and heora gefylce wæron afaren of scipe begeondan Eoferwic to Stanfordbrycge; forþam þe him wæron behaten to gewissan þæt him man þær of ealre þære scire ongean by gislas bringan wolde.”

Footnote 1002

Bæda, ii. 9.

Footnote 1003

The confusion made by Snorro must be constantly borne in mind. The army was at Stamfordbridge; the ships were left at Riccall; these points are several miles distant from York and from one another. Snorro fancies that they were all three close together; he makes Harold Hardrada go to Stamfordbridge as a convenient post for attacking the city, and he makes him also go back to his ships on the Sunday evening. He no doubt thought that Stamfordbridge was on the Ouse. So the Hyde writer (292) turns the fight of Stamfordbridge into a siege of York; “Haroldus .... eis occurrit apud Eboracum et totis viribus civitatem oppugnat.” Cf. the passage from Domesday, below, p. 361. Stamfordbridge was the Battle of York, as Senlac was the Battle of Hastings.

Footnote 1004

Æthelred (405) says, “In loco qui tunc Steinfordebrigge, nunc autem ex rei eventu etiam Pons Belli dicitur.” So the De Inventione, cap. 20; “Rediens a Ponte Belli, quod a bello cognomen.” The older name is now the only one known, but the battle is by no means forgotten on the spot.

Footnote 1005

On the details, see Appendix CC.

Footnote 1006

See Appendix BB.

Footnote 1007

The story is told in the Ramsey History, c. 120, by Æthelred of Rievaux, 404, in the Vita Haroldi, p. 188. The Ramsey writer does not mention Harold’s sickness; the vision comes “quum Haraldus, propter imparitatem forsitan copiæ militaris, obviare [Tostino] dissimularet.” The vision itself too is cut much shorter. Æthelred tells us of Harold’s sickness, but does not describe its nature. From his own biographer’s account it would seem to have been gout; “Tybies ubito unius [“tibia subitò cruris” or “tibia cruris unius”?] vehementissimo cœpit dolore constringi.”

Footnote 1008

Æthelred, u. s. “Nocte quidem præteritâ, quum dolore torqueretur, licet eum non parùm urgeret molestia imminens, siluit tamen, reputans apud se, si publicaret languorem, quod et suis futurus esset contemptui et hostibus irrisioni.”

Footnote 1009

Vita Haroldi, u. s. “Qui ex suo tali compede plus subditorum discrimini quam suo congemiscens dolori, noctem penè totam suspiriis et precibus agentes [agens?] insomnem, familiarem Sanctæ Crucis expetierat subventionem.” The scene can hardly be meant to be laid at Waltham. The Holy Cross, it will be remembered, had wrought one cure on Harold already. See vol. ii. p. 443.

Footnote 1010

“Ailsius,” “Elsinus,” “Alxi,” the pluralist Abbot of Ramsey and Saint Augustine’s, who had not refused the ministrations of Stigand. See vol. ii. p. 454. We shall hear of him yet again.

Footnote 1011

Vita Haroldi, p. 188. “Rex itaque ... divinis curatur beneficiis, exhilaratur oraculis.”

Footnote 1012

The presence of Gyrth and Leofwine might be taken for granted. That of Bondig appears from a very confused, and probably corrupt, passage of the De Inventione, c. 20. The army disperses after the victory at Stamfordbridge, and “Tostinus, Gerth, et Bundinus” are mentioned among those who had been there. For “Tostinum” we should doubtless read “Leofwinum,” and the whole history is greatly misconceived, but the passage seems evidence enough to prove the presence of Bondig, to whom I owe some amends for my note at vol. ii. p. 359. See above, p. 53.

Footnote 1013

Chron. Ab. “Þa for he norðweard dæges and nihtes, swa hraðe swa he his fyrde gegaderian mihte.”

Footnote 1014

Domesday, ii. 15. Pachesham was a possession of the church of Westminster. The Survey adds, “hanc terram dedit unus teignus ecclesiæ quum ivit ad bellum in Eurewic cum Haroldo.”

Footnote 1015

In Domesday (177 b) we read of certain lands which one Wulfgeat had given to the church of Evesham in the fifth year of King Eadward, on the occasion of his son Ælfgeat becoming a monk of the house. The account then goes on; “Postea præstitit abbas Æluuinus hanc terram suo avunculo quamdiu ipse homo viveret. Qui postea mortuus fuit in bello Heraldi contra Norrenses.” It is worth notice that the Church of Evesham found means to take possession of the land in the short space of time between the two great battles; for the Survey continues, “ecclesia recepit terram suam antequam Rex W. in Anglia venisset.”

Footnote 1016

Marianus Scotus, ap. Pertz, v. 559. “Araldus vero Rex Anglorum cum septem aciebus belli statim pervenit.”

Footnote 1017

See vol. ii. p. 500.

Footnote 1018

See the Abingdon Chronicle quoted in the last page.

Footnote 1019

See above, p. 61.

Footnote 1020

I need hardly quote the well-known passage of Gildas (§ 23) telling how our forefathers, “grex catulorum de cubili leænæ barbariæ” as he calls us, came “tribus, ut lingua ejus exprimitur, cyulis, nostrâ linguâ longis navibus.” Cf. Bæda, i. 15. The Englishman however does not use the English word preserved to us by the Briton.

Footnote 1021

Chron. Ab. 1066. “Þa ámang þissan com Harald Engla cyninge mid ealre his fyrde on ðone Sunnandæg to Táða and þær his lið fylcade.” See above, p. 347.

Footnote 1022

Snorro, ap. Johnstone, 205; Laing, iii. 86. “Þat sama kvelld, éptir sólarfall kom sunnan at borginni Haralldr konungr Gudenason med óvigan her reid hann í borgina at villd oe þocka allra borgar-manna.” He is wrong however in making Harold reach York on the Sunday evening and pass the night in the city.

Footnote 1023

Chron. Ab. 1066. “Harold Engla Cyningc ... for þa on Monandæg þurh ut Eoferwic.”

Footnote 1024

See Appendix CC.

Footnote 1025

Snorro, Johnstone, 206; Laing, iii. 87. “Þeir gördo sva, oc var lidit því meira, er náligarr fór, oc allt at siá, sem á eina ís-möl sæi, er vapnin glóado.”

Footnote 1026

This famous saying is proverbial. We find it applied to William in the Peterborough Chronicle, 1087; “Se þe wæs ærur rice cyng and maniges landes hlaford, he næfde þa ealles landes buton seofon fot mæl.” It was also long after applied to Charles the Bold by the Bernese historian Valerius Anshelm (i. 143); “Der Herzog ... ward von verachter Macht mit sieben Schuh Erdrychs zu Ruw gesetzt und vernügt.” It is the same general idea as the Æschylean lines,

χθόνα ναίειν διαπήλας, ὁπόσαν καὶ φθιμένοισι κατέχειν, τῶν μεγάλων πεδίων ἀμοίρους.

Sept. c. Theb. 713.

Footnote 1027

The moment of Tostig’s death is, oddly enough, not mentioned in the Saga. But the construction of the story clearly requires it to be placed here. Tostig takes Harold’s place by the standard. Afterwards Eystein takes it. Tostig is clearly killed between these two points.

Footnote 1028

Chron. Ab. “Ða com Harold Engla cyning heom ongean on unwaran begeondan þære brycge.” Chron. Wig. “Ða com Harold ure cyng on unwær on þa Normenn.”

Footnote 1029

Chron. Ab. “Swyðe heardlice lange on dæg feohtende wæron.” Chron. Wig. “And þær wærð on dæg swiðe stranglic gefeoht on bá halfe.” Flor. Wig. “Rex Anglorum Haroldus ... plenam victoriam, licet acerrimè pugnatum fuisset, habuit.”

Footnote 1030

This appears not only in the Saga, but also in Marianus (Pertz, v. 559); “Araldus Rex Anglorum, ... quum Araldum imparatum absque loricis et ceteris ejusdem rei invenisset, bello occidit.” So Saxo (207), where however there is a good deal of exaggeration; “[Haraldi] cunctationem Norwagienses timori consentaneam rati, neglectis corporum munimentis, perinde ac securi periculum validiùs prædæ incubuerunt. Sed dum incautiùs ruunt sparsi palantesque ab Anglis nullo negotio (!) trucidati sunt.”

Footnote 1031

Hen. Hunt. M. H. B. 762 B. “Maximus numerus Anglorum Norwagenses cedere sed non fugere compulit.”

Footnote 1032

Ib. “Ultra flumen igitur repulsi, vivis super mortuos transeuntibus, magnanimiter restiterunt.” See the use of the same proverbial expression above, p. 351.

Footnote 1033

See vol. i. p. 299. This story is found in the Abingdon Chronicle, being the last entry, added in another hand, and, according to Mr. Earle, in the Northumbrian dialect. Mr. Earle (Parallel Chronicles, p. xxxviii.) ingeniously conceives that the account of the battle in this Chronicle, so much fuller than in any of the others, is due to some Northumbrian visitor, who at last took up the pen and wrote a little himself. The story is not told by Florence, but it is found in William of Malmesbury and Henry of Huntingdon, with some variations.

Footnote 1034

Will. Malms, ii. 228. “Uno et altero et pluribus nostræ partis [William for once writes as an Englishman] interemtis.” Henry of Huntingdon (M. H. B. 762 B) is more precise or more romantic; “Plus xl. viris Anglorum securi cædens electâ.”

Footnote 1035

Chron. Ab. “þa seite an Englisce mid anre flan, ac hít nactes ne widstod.” The shooting of one arrow seems looked on as an exploit on the English side. William of Malmesbury has confounded this shot with the death-blow; “Unus ex collateralibus Regis jaculum ferreum in eum eminùs vibrat, quo ille, dum gloriabundus proludit ipsâ securitate incautior, terebratus, victoriam Anglis concessit.”

Footnote 1036

Chron. Ab. “And þa com an oþer under þere brigge, and hine þurðstang en únder þere brunie.” Hen. Hunt. u. s. “Quidam navim ingressus per foramina pontis in celandis eum percussit jaculo.” Compare the death of Eadmund Ironside, vol. i. p. 438. On the “foramina pontis” compare a bridge described by Richer (iv. 50) which “tantis enim et tot hiatibus patebat,” &c. At Boroughbridge in 1321 Humfrey Earl of Hereford was pierced in exactly the same way. See Chron. Galfredi le Baker, p. 65. The memory of the English exploit is kept up on the spot by a yearly baking of pies of pears, made in the shape of a boat—“pear-boat pies”—at the feast held on (I think) the Monday after the day of the battle.

Footnote 1037

The presence of Flemings, followers no doubt of Tostig, is attested in the addition to the Abingdon Chronicle; “And þere michel wel geslogon, ge Norweis ge Flæming.”

Footnote 1038

Chron. Wig. “And Engle ahton wælstowe geweald;” the old formula.

Footnote 1039

Chron. Wig. “Oðþ hig sume to scype coman.”

Footnote 1040

See above, p. 346.

Footnote 1041

The Worcester Chronicle says emphatically, “þaer waes lyt to lafe.” So the Abingdon writer; “þaer waes Harold cyning of Norwegan and Tostig eorl ofslagen and ungerim folces mid heom, ægðer ge Normana ge Englisca.” Cf. Orderic (500 A); “Nimius sanguis ex utrâque parte effusus est et innumerabilis [ungerím] hominum bestiali rabie furentium multitudo trucidata est.”

Footnote 1042

Chron. Wig. “Sume adruncen and sume eae forbærnde, and swa mislice fórfarene.” So Henry of Huntingdon (M. H. B. 762 B); “Angli ... totam Norwagensium aciem vel armis straverunt vel igne deprehensos combusserunt.” Compare the story in the Saga (Laing, iii. 95) of Waltheof burning the Normans after Senlac.

Footnote 1043

Liber de Hydâ, p. 292. “Haroldus ... et Tostius ... victi occubuerunt, sectaque eorum capita Regi Haroldo sunt deportata.” So Guy of Amiens, 37;

“Invidus ille Caïn fratris caput amputat ense, Et caput et corpus sic sepelivit humo.”

Footnote 1044

Will. Malms. iii. 252. “Cadaver ejus, indicio verrucæ inter duas scapulas agnitum.” Can this account be reconciled with the other?

Footnote 1045

The Hyde writer (u. s.) sends him to be buried in Norway; “Corpus defuncti Regis his qui remanserant deportandum in proprium regnum Rex Haroldus concessit.”

Footnote 1046

Will. Malms. u. s. “Cadaver ... sepulturam Eboraci meruit.”

Footnote 1047

Ord. Vit. 500 A. “Locus etiam belli pertranseuntibus evidenter patet, ubi magna congeries ossium mortuorum usque hodie jacet, et indicium ruinæ multiplicis utriusque gentis exhibet.”

Footnote 1048

Flor. Wig. “Licet de totâ Angliâ fortiores quosque in prœliis duobus benè sciret jam cecidisse.”

Footnote 1049

The death of Harold Hardrada was followed by a time of unusual quiet in the North. He was succeeded by his sons Olaf and Magnus, of whom Magnus died in 1069, after which Olaf reigned alone till 1093. He was succeeded by his son Magnus Barefoot, who figures in English history as the invader of Anglesey in 1098 (see above, p. 342). Snorro (Johnstone, 221; Laing, iii. 98) says that Harold Hardrada’s daughter Mary (see above, pp. 340, 344, 367) died suddenly in Orkney on the same day that her father and her lover Eystein died at Stamfordbridge.

Tostig left two sons by Judith, Skule and Ketil. They returned to Norway with Olaf (Snorro, ap. Johnstone, 222; Laing, iii. 97–99), from whom they both received grants of land in Norway, where they became founders of families—representatives of the male line of Earl Godwine. Skule especially was in high honour with Olaf. Their mother Judith remarried with Welf, Duke of Bavaria, son of the Marquess Azo (see above, p. 197), and was thus an ancestress of the House of Brunswick. Some of the German historians mistake her for the widow of Harold instead of the widow of Tostig. See Appendix N, where I have also spoken of her degree of kindred to Baldwin the Fifth (see vol. ii. p. 134). She was undoubtedly his sister, and not his daughter, and she might be called, in a wide sense, the niece of Eadward.

Footnote 1050

Chron. Wig. “Se kyng þa geaf gryð Olafe þæs Norna cynges suna, and heora Biscope and þan eorle of Orcanége, and eallon þan þe on þam scypum to lafe wæron.” Florence gives the Orkney Earl his name Paul, and the addition to the Abingdon Chronicle strangely calls Olaf “Hetmundus.”

Footnote 1051

Chron. Wig. “Hi foron þa upp to uran kyninge.”

Footnote 1052

Compare the auxiliaries sent by Swend, of whom more in the next volume, and the Danes and Swedes who came with William the Third. Macaulay, ii. 489; iii. 625.

Footnote 1053

I accept this incident, as one likely to be remembered, from Henry of Huntingdon (M. H. B. 762 C) and the Ramsey History (cap. cxx.), though they absurdly represent the feast as held, and the message as brought, on the day of the battle, when William had not yet landed. So Wace says of his Thegn who brought the news from Sussex;

“Ultre le Humbre l’a trové: En une ville aveit disné.”

The writer of the De Inventione (c. xx.) most strangely makes Harold go, after the battle, to Waltham, and hear the news there; “Waltham rediit, ubi de applicatione Normannorum nimis veridicâ narration e nuntium suscepit.”

Footnote 1054

See the next Chapter, § 2.

Footnote 1055

Throughout this Chapter, the Norman and English accounts have carefully to be compared, but it is from the Norman authorities that we have to draw most of our details. The English writers seem to have shrunk from dwelling at length on the great “memory of sorrow,” so that all their accounts are comparatively meagre. At this point also we lose the Abingdon Chronicle altogether, which ends with the Battle of Stamfordbridge. Among the Norman accounts, the first places belong to the Tapestry and to William of Poitiers. The Tapestry, which gave us no help during the period of negotiation, begins to be most minute as soon as we get to the beginning of actual military preparations, and it continues to be of primary importance down to the end of the Battle of Senlac. The high authority of William of Poitiers, as a contemporary and seemingly an eyewitness, is somewhat balanced by his constant strain of panegyric on William and by his no less constant sacrifice of chronological order to the demands of his rhetoric. Wace, the honest and painstaking inquirer of the next century, has been valuable before, and he becomes still more valuable now. We are now also reinforced by another important narrative on the Norman side, the “Carmen de Bello Hastingensi” by Guy, Bishop of Amiens (see above, p. 136), printed in Giles’ Scriptores Rerum Gestarum Willelmi Conquestoris, in the Chroniques Anglo-Normandes, and in the Monumenta Historica Britannica. This poem is referred to, and coupled with William of Poitiers, by William of Jumièges, or rather by his continuator (vii. 44); “Si quis verò pleniùs illa nôsse desiderat, librum Willelmi Pictavensis, Luxoviorum Archidiaconi, eadem gesta, sicut copiosè, ita eloquenti sermone affatim continentem, legat. Edidit præterea de eâdem materiâ opus non contemnendum Guido Episcopus Ambianensis, heroico metro exaratum.” Guy’s work is useful for the details of the voyage and the battle, and for some of the events after the battle. With these Norman accounts we have of course to compare the short narratives in our own Chronicles and in Florence; some particular facts of importance may also be gleaned from William of Malmesbury, from the Waltham writer De Inventione, and from others of the subsidiary authors.

Footnote 1056

See above, p. 325.

Footnote 1057

The cutting down of the trees is graphically shown in the Tapestry, pl. 8. This beginning at the beginning reminds one of Odysseus when about to leave Kalypsô’s island; αὐτὰρ ὁ τάμνετο δοῦρα κ.τ.λ. (Od. v. 243), and seemingly we may add, θοῶς δέ οἱ ἤνυτο ἔργον.

Footnote 1058

They may be seen at work in the Tapestry. Wace too (11473) gives a vivid account;

“Fevres è charpentiers manda; Dunc véissiez à granz esforz Par Normendie à toz li porz, Mairrien atraire è fust porter, Cheviles fere et boiz doler, Nés et esquiz apareillier, Veiles estendre, mast drecier A grant entente et à grant cost.”

Cf. the great speech of Dikaiopolis in the Acharnians, 471 et seqq., especially 526 et seqq.; τὸ νεώριον δ’ αὖ κωπέωυ πλατουμέυωυ, κ.τ.λ.

Footnote 1059

Ord. Vit. 494 A. “In Neustriâ multæ naves cum utensilibus diligenter paratæ sunt, quibus fabricandis clerici et laici studiis et sumptibus adhibitis pariter intenderunt.” Wace (11304) names some of the contributors, and a fuller list is printed in Lord Lyttelton’s Appendix, i. 463, and in Giles, Scriptt. Will. Conq. 21.

Footnote 1060

I cannot identify Fulk the Lame, who seems not to occur in Domesday. A Fulk of Parmes signs a charter in the Cartulary of the Holy Trinity at Rouen (p. 465), and a Fulk of Caldri was a benefactor of the same house in 1084 (p. 466). As his charter is confirmed by King Philip and not by William, he was doubtless a Frenchman. Gerald the Seneschal (“Dapifer,” “Senescallus”) signs a charter of Robert of Montgomery (p. 442) in this very year (“anno dominicæ incarnationis MLXV, tunc scilicet quando Normannorum Dux Guillelmus cum classico apparatu ultra mare erat profecturus”). He is perhaps the same as Gerald the Marshal (Marescalcus) who appears in the Suffolk Domesday (438 b) as holding a former possession of Earl Ælfgar.

Footnote 1061

Roman de Rou, 11309. “Mult voleit li Dus avancier.”

Footnote 1062

So the list in Lyttelton; Wace (11305) cuts down Odo’s gift to forty.

Footnote 1063

“Extra has naves ... habuit Dux a quibusdam suis hominibus, secundùm possibilitatem unius navis cujusque, multas alias naves.”

Footnote 1064

“A Romo vel Rumi eleemosynario Fescanni, postea Episcopo Lincolniensi, unam navem cum xx. militibus.”

Footnote 1065

Plut. Cæs. 38. Ἴθι, ἔφη, γενναῖε, τόλμα καὶ δέδιθι μηδέν· Καίσαρα φέρεις καὶ τὴν Καίσαρος τύχην συμπλέουσαν.

Footnote 1066

Lyttelton, i. 464. “Matildis, postea Regina, ejusdem Ducis uxor, ad honorem Ducis fecit effici navem quæ vocabatur Mora, in quâ ipse Dux vectus est. In prorâ ejusdem navis fecit fieri eadem Matildis infantulum de auro, dextro indice monstrantem Angliam, et sinistrâ manu imprimentem cornu eburneum ori.” Wace’s account (11594) is somewhat different;

“Sor li chief de la nef devant, Ke marinier apelent brant, Out de coivre fet un enfant, Saete et arc tendu portant, Verz Engleterre out son viaire, Et là faseit semblant de traire, Ki kel part ke la nef coreit, Semblant de traire avant faseit.”

In the Tapestry, pl. 9, the child with his horn is plain enough, and he looks towards England; but he is at the stern of the ship, and not at the prow, and in his left hand he bears a pennon.

Footnote 1067

The most exact account is that of Wace (11564), who heard the number from his father;

“Maiz jo oï dire à mon pere, Bien m’en sovint, maiz varlet ere, Ke set cenz nés, quatre meins, furent, Quant de Saint-Valeri s’esmurent, Ke nés, ke batels, ke esqueis A porter armes è herneis. E jo en escript ai trové, Ne sai dire s’est verité, Ke il i out treis miles nés Ki porterent veiles è trés.”

This exactness reminds one of Æschylus’ reckoning in the Persians, 333–335. William of Poitiers (125) naturally has his head full of Agamemnon; “Memorat antiqua Græcia Atridem Agamemnona fraternos thalamos ultum ivisse mille navibus: protestamur nos Willelmum diadema regium requisisse pluribus.” William of Jumièges (vii. 34) makes the number “ad tria millia.” Benoit (37004) slightly improves on this;

“Si out treis mile nefs au meins; De ce nos fait l’autor certains.” Gaimar (5248) goes beyond all of them. The French, as he calls them, have “bien unze mil nefs.” Another reading makes it only nine thousand.

Footnote 1068

See vol. i. p. 349 for the “yð-hengestas.” Cf. the Chronicles, 1003.

Footnote 1069

Ord. Vit. 494 B. “Denique hortatu Hugonis Episcopi aliorumque sapientum Mainerium Priorem elegit, eique per pastoralem baculum exteriorem curam tradidit, et prædicto antistiti ut ea quæ sibi de spirituali curâ competebant suppleret præcepit.” Here again we get a good illustration of the relations between Church and State in Normandy, and no bad comment on our own thirty-seventh Article.

Footnote 1070

Ib. “Eodem die Dux Domnum Lanfrancum Beccensium Priorem coram se adesse imperavit, eique Abbatiam quam ipse Dux in honore Sancti Stephani protomartyris apud Cadomum honorabiliter fundaverat commendavit.”

Footnote 1071

See the charter of Roger of Montgomery quoted above, p. 379.

Footnote 1072

See above, p. 108.

Footnote 1073

The charter in Gallia Christiana, xi. 61, gives the account of her dedication; “Præfatus comes gloriossissimus et uxor ejus cum filiis suis Domino eodem die [14 Kal. Jul. 1066] obtulerunt filiam suam Cæciliam nomine, favente Archiepiscopo Rothomagensi cum cæteris præsulibus, quatenus in eodem loco, Deificæ videlicet Trinitatis, Ipsi in habitu religionis perenniter serviret.” See Mrs. Green’s Princesses, i. 5.

Footnote 1074

Ord. Vit. 548 B.

Footnote 1075

See above, p. 69.

Footnote 1076

As they were delayed a month at the Dive, and a further time at Saint Valery, the time of the first assembling of the fleet is carried back to the month of August, and not to the last days of the month. See p. 394.

Footnote 1077

Will. Pict. 155. “Illius [Matildis] prudentiam viri adjuvere consilio utilissimi; in quibus locum dignitatis primum tenebat Rogerus de Bellomonte ... ob maturitatem ævi liberior ad negotia quæ domi geruntur; filio adolescente ... officio militari tradito.” On Roger, see above, p. 287, and vol. ii. p. 199.

Footnote 1078

See above, pp. 174, 176.

Footnote 1079

Judges v. 21.

Footnote 1080

See vol. ii. p. 263.

Footnote 1081

See Macaulay, ii. 465.

Footnote 1082

Will. Pict. 122. “Ventorum incommoditas ad Portum Divæ detinebat morâ menstruâ.” Ord. Vit. 500 A. “Classis Normannorum spatio ... unius mensis in ostio Divæ vicinisque portubus Nothum [Notum, sc.] præstolata est.”

Footnote 1083

Will. Pict. u. s. “Rapinâ omni interdictâ, stippendio ipsius millia militum quinquaginta alebantur ... ea illius temperantia fuit ac prudentia.”

Footnote 1084

Ib. “Homo imbecillis aut inermis equo cantans quà libuit vectabatur, turmas militum cernens, non exhorrescens.”

Footnote 1085

Will. Pict. 122. “Militibus et hospitibus abunde sumptus ministrabatur, nemini rapere quippiam concedebatur. Provincialium tutò armenta vel greges pascebantur seu per campestria, seu per tesqua. Segetes falcem cultoris intactæ expectabant, quas nec attrivit superba equitum effusio, nec demessuit pabulator.”

Footnote 1086

The Chronicle of Saint Maxentius (Labbé, ii. 211) says, “Fertur habuisse in exercitu suo quatuordecim millia hominum.” But William of Poitiers, in the passage just quoted, speaks of “millia militum quinquaginta;” and afterwards he makes William (128) say that he will fight Harold, “tametsi decem sola millia virorum haberem, quales ad sexaginta millia adduxi.” Lastly, Orderic (500 B) gives him “quinquaginta millia militum cum copiâ peditum.” A good deal turns on the ambiguous word “miles.”

Footnote 1087

See above, p. 325.

Footnote 1088

It is now that William of Poitiers (123) gives that notice of Harold’s preparations which I referred to above, p. 337; “Heraldus ... callidè subornatos transmisit exploratores.” This sort of expression, and some of the words presently put into William’s mouth (“Non indiget Heraldus auri sui vel argenti jacturâ tuam aliorumque fidem atque sollertiam emere”), might lead one to fancy that these spies were Norman subjects won over by English gold. But the word “transmisit” seems to forbid this notion. The truth is that William’s panegyrist cannot understand the position of an Englishman faithfully serving the English King.

Footnote 1089

Herod. vii. 146.

Footnote 1090

Will. Pict. u. s. “Quorum deprehenso uni, caussamque sui adventûs quâ præceptum est specie obtegere conato, Dux animi sui magnitudinem prodidit.”

Footnote 1091

Will. Pict. 123. “Quid consulatur, quid apparetur apud nos, certior eum quam velit, et opinione ejus citior, index, quippe mea præsentia, docebit.” This “index” is exactly the αὐτὸς ἄγγελος of Herodotus.

It is here that William of Poitiers brings in those fears and hesitations among the Normans, which, as I have said elsewhere (see above, pp. 293, 294, and Appendix W), clearly belong to another part of the story. William is made to tell the spy that he will be in England within a year, and the Normans say that it is impossible that a fleet should be got ready within the year. This language could not have been used at a moment when the fleet was ready to sail, and was simply waiting for a fair wind.

Footnote 1092

See above, p. 282.

Footnote 1093

Will. Pict. 124. “Præterea, ne rapinam amittat ille pugnabit; nos quæ dono accepimus, beneficiis comparavimus, requirimus.”

Footnote 1094

Ib. “Virtute meliùs quam numero militum bella geruntur.”

Footnote 1095

Ord. Vit. 500. “Spatio unius mensis.”

Footnote 1096

See above, p. 338.

Footnote 1097

Will. Pict. 124. “Jam tota classis providentissimè exornata ab ostio Divæ vicinisque portubus, ubi Notum quo transmitterent diutiùs exspectavere, Zephyri flatu in stationem Sancti Walerici delata est.” So Ord. Vit. 500 A.

Footnote 1098

On the homage of Guy to William for Ponthieu see above, p. 157. He now also held lands in Normandy itself. See p. 226.

Footnote 1099

The position is well marked by Guy of Amiens, 52;

“Desuper est castrum quoddam sancti Walarici.”

Footnote 1100

Something about the early history of Saint Valery may be gleaned from the work of M. Lefils, Histoire Civile, Politique et Religieuse de Saint-Valery et du Comté du Vimeu (Abbeville, 1858), but the book is vastly inferior to the excellent local works which have helped me so much in Norman matters. On Saint Walaric or Valery himself, see p. 21.

Footnote 1101

As the story appears in the Life of Burchard of Vendôme (Duchèsne, Rer. Franc. iv. 121), the Count of Flanders concerned is the younger Arnulf, and the restoration is brought about by the influence of King Robert and the personal agency of Count Burchard. But this account is very confused. The body was really carried off by the elder Arnulf, and the restoration was effected in 981 by Hugh Capet, who also changed the secular canons of Saint Valery into monks. See the Relatio in Mabillon, Act. Ord. Ben. vii. 546.

Footnote 1102

See above, p. 131.

Footnote 1103

See Lefils, p. 64. I will not enter into any controversy as to the date of the so-called Tower of Harold, or as to the origin of its name. It may be called after some other Harold, or the name may be, as M. Lefils suggests, a corruption of something quite different. But in any case it was not, what the legend makes it, the place of the imprisonment of Harold the son of Godwine, which was undoubtedly at Beaurain. See above, p. 223.

Footnote 1104

Will. Pict. 125. “Princeps, quem neque mora sive contrarietas venti, neque terribilia naufragia, neque pavida fuga multorum qui fidem spoponderant, frangere prævalent.”

Footnote 1105

See above, p. 338. I am by no means clear that some trace of these engagements, probably of no great importance, may not lurk in the “pavida fuga” of William of Poitiers. See Appendix AA.

Footnote 1106

Herod. viii. 24.

Footnote 1107

Will. Pict. 125. “Quin et consilio adversitatibus obvius, submersorum interitus quantùm poterat occultavit, latentiùs tumulando.”

Footnote 1108

Ib. “Commeatum indies augendo inopiam lenivit.”

Footnote 1109

Ib. “Ad hoc hortamine diverso retraxit exterritos, animavit paventes.”

Footnote 1110

Guid. Amb. 54;

“Nam ter quinque dies complêsti finibus illis, Exspectans summi Judicis auxilium. Ecclesiam sancti devotâ mente frequentans, Illi pura dabas ingeminando preces. Inspicis et templi gallus quâ vertitur aurâ; Auster si spirat, lætus abinde redis: Si subitò Boreas Austrum divertit et arcet, Effusis lacrimis fletibus ora rigas. Desolatus eras: frigus faciebat et imber, Et polus obtectus nubibus et pluviis.”

The edition in the Monumenta Historica Britannica has “ter quinque dies,” while those of Giles and Michel have “tum quinque.” The former reading is obviously right, as explaining the expression in v. 53 of “longa difficilisque mora.” With William’s looking at the weathercock, compare the passage of Macaulay referred to in p. 386.

Footnote 1111

These last details come from Wace, 11579;

“Poiz unt tant li covent préié Ke la chasse Saint-Valeri Mistrent as chams sor un tapi. Als cors saint vinrent tuit orer Cil ki debveient mer passer; Tant i ont tuit deniers offert, Tot li cors saint en ont covert.”

The bringing out of the body of the saint, which evidently made a deep impression, is also recorded by William of Poitiers (125), Orderic (500 B), and William of Malmesbury (iii. 238). Guy of Amiens, whom we should have expected to be eloquent on the subject, holds his peace.

Footnote 1112

William of Poitiers has his head full of Agamemnôn and of Xerxês, but this obvious analogy does not seem to have occurred to him. Yet who can help thinking of the northern blasts, the πνοαὶ ἀπὸ Στρύμονος μολοῦσαι (Æsch. Ag. 185 et seqq.), which delayed the fleet of the Achaians, and of the sacrifice by which alone help could be gained?

Footnote 1113

All our accounts directly connect the favourable wind with the religious ceremony which had just been performed. William of Poitiers (125) describes the rite, and immediately adds, “Spirante dein aurâ exspectatâ.” So Orderic (500 B); “Denique dum prosper ventus multorum votis optatus, Deo volente, subitò spiravit.” William of Malmesbury (iii. 238) is, if possible, still more emphatic; “Nec mora intercessit, quin prosper flatus carbasa impleret.” Guy of Amiens (70), not mentioning the special ceremony, attributes the change of weather to William’s prayers generally;

“Velle tuum tandem pius ut Deus est miseratus, Pro votoque tibi suppeditavit opus.”

Footnote 1114

Will. Pict. 125. “Voces cum manibus in cœlum gratificantes, ac simul tumultus invicem incitans tollitur.” Both this writer and Guy of Amiens give very full and vivid accounts of the voyage.

Footnote 1115

Ib. “Increpat atque urget in puppes ardens vehementia Ducis, si quos ullatenus moram nectere notat.”

Footnote 1116

See above, p. 294.

Footnote 1117

Will. Pict. u. s. “Terra quam properantissimè deseritur, dubium iter quam cupientissimè initur.” So Guy of Amiens, 78;

“Protinus una fuit mens omnibus, æqua voluntas, Jam bene pacato credere se pelago. Quamquam diversi tamen adsunt lætificati; Nec mora, quisque suum currit ad officium.”

Footnote 1118

Will. Pict. 125. “Eo celeritatis motu impelluntur, ut quum armigerum hic, socium inclamet ille, plerique immemores clientum, aut sociorum, aut rerum necessariarum, id solum, ne relinquantur, cogitant et festinant.”

Footnote 1119

Tapestry, pl. 9. “Isti portant armas ad naves, et hic trahunt carrum cum vino et armis.” We shall hear presently of the nature of the drink, at least on board the ducal ship. William either despised or knew not of the wine of Gloucestershire. See vol. ii. p. 145.

Footnote 1120

Wid. Amb. 82;

“Sublimant alii malos, aliique laborant Erectis malis addere vela super.”

Footnote 1121

Ib. 84; “Plurima cogit equos equitum pars scandere naves.”

Footnote 1122

Ib. 90;

“Hinc resonando tubæ varios dant mille boatus, Fistula cum calamis, et fidibus cithara; Tympana taurinis implent mugitibus auras; Alternant modulos cymbala clara suos.”

Footnote 1123

Ib. 98;

“Sed tu templa petis sancti supra memorati, Muneribusque datis curris adire ratem.”

Footnote 1124

Wid. Amb. 106;

“Nox ubi cæca polum tenebrosis occupat umbris, Et negat obsequium Cynthia tecta tibi, Imples non aliter facibus rutilantibus undas, Sidera quam cœlum, sole ruente, replent. Quot fuerant naves, totidem tu lumina spargis.”

Footnote 1125

Will. Pict. 125. “Dat præconis voce edictum, ut, quum in altum sint deductæ, paullulum noctis conquiescant non longè à suâ rates cunctæ in ancoris fluitantes, donec, in ejus mali summo lampade conspectâ, extemplò buccinæ clangorem cursûs accipiant signum.” So Roman de Rou, 11588;

“Une lanterne fist li Dus Metre en sa nef el mast de sus.”

The lantern on the Duke’s mast is shown plainly enough in the Tapestry, pl. 9; but there is no mention of it in Guy, unless it lurks in the more general words (111),

“Impositæ malis permultâ luce laternæ Tramite directo per mare vela regunt.”

He then goes on to mention the order for the mid-sea halt, much as in William of Poitiers.

Compare the description of the voyage of Scipio in Livy, xxix. 25; “Lumina in navibus singula rostratæ, bina onerariæ haberent; in prætoriâ nave insigne nocturnum trium luminum fore.” See also the description of the voyage of the other William, Macaulay, ii. 477.

Footnote 1126

Will. Pict. 126. “Solutis noctu post quietem navibus, vehens Ducem retrò ceteras agillimè reliquit.”

Footnote 1127

Od. viii. 557;

οὐ γὰρ Φαιήκεσσι κυβερνητῆρες ἔασιν, οὐδέ τι πηδάλι’ ἐστὶ, τά τ’ ἄλλαι νῆες ἔχουσιν, ἀλλ’ αὐταὶ ἴσασι νοήματα καὶ φρένας ἀνδρῶν.

Footnote 1128

Will. Pict. 126. “[Navis] ardentiùs ad victoriam properantis imperio suæ velocitatis parilitate quasi obtemperans.”

Footnote 1129

In the Tapestry, pll. 9, 10, horses are seen in all the ships except in the Duke’s own and in one other near to it.

Footnote 1130

Will. Pict. u. s. “Jussus manè remex mali ab alto num quæ veniant consequæ speculari, præter pelagus et aëra prospectui suo aliud nihil comparere indicat.”

Footnote 1131

Ib. “Confestim ancorâ jacta, ne metus atque mœror comitem turbam confunderet, abundans prandium, nec Baccho pigmentato carens, animosissimus Dux, acsi in cœnaculo domestico, memorabili cum hilaritate accepit, cunctos actutum affore promittens, Deo cujus eos tutelæ credidit adducente.”

Footnote 1132

Ib. “Inquisitus denuò speculator, naves quattuor advenire, tertiò tantas exclamat ut arborum veliferarum uberrima densitas nemoris præstet similitudinem.”

Footnote 1133

Will. Pict. 126. “Quam ex intimo corde divinam glorificaverit pietatem conjiciendum cuivis relinquimus.” The beholders of William’s devotions were admitted into the Palace of Truth.

Footnote 1134

Will. Malms. iii. 238. “Omnibus itaque ad prætoriæ puppis vermiculatum velum convolantibus.” The epithet would apply to the sails of all the ships as shown in the Tapestry; but the sails of the Duke’s ship, and of those of two others near him—perhaps those of his two brothers—have the colours arranged in a different way from any of the others.

Footnote 1135

Wid. Amb. 123;

“Tertia telluri supereminet hora diei, Quum mare postponens littora tuta tenes.”

On the date, see Appendix FF.

Footnote 1136

“Venit ad Pevenesæ,” says the Tapestry, pl. 9. So William of Poitiers (126) and William of Jumièges (vii. 34). William of Malmesbury (iii. 238) says carelessly, “Placido cursu Hastingas appulerunt.” So Wace (11618), who altogether reverses the geography, making the army land at Hastings and go to Pevensey afterwards.

Footnote 1137

On the true meaning of this formula see vol. i. p. 11.

Footnote 1138

The question as to the site of Anderida may be looked on as decided by a paper by Mr. Arthur Hussey in the Sussex Archæological Collections, vi. 90. See also Mr. T. Wright, Wanderings of an Antiquary, p. 137. Their views are confirmed by Dr. Guest, Salisbury Proceedings, p. 55.

Footnote 1139

Domesday, 20 b, where the usual account of the town dues is given.

Footnote 1140

Cissanceaster or Chichester, the English name of the Roman Regnum. On the whole settlement, see Guest, Salisbury Proceedings, p. 54. I must beg pardon for having in the map in my first volume followed Dr. Spruner in giving a wrong position to the site of Cymenes-óra.

Footnote 1141

Chronn. 491. “Her Ælle and Cissa ymbsæton Andredes ceaster, and ofslogon ealle þa þær inne eardedon; ne wearð þær forþon an Bret to lafe.” This is the passage which Gibbon (cap. xxxviii. note 142, vol. vi. p. 372 Milman), quoting it in the Latin version, calls “an expression more dreadful in its simplicity, than all the vague and tedious lamentations of the British Jeremiah [Gildas].”

Footnote 1142

See vol. i. pp. 23, 151.

Footnote 1143

Henry of Huntingdon, who gives (M. H. B. 710 C, D) a fuller account of the siege, evidently taken from ballads, winds up his account thus; “Quia tot ibi damna toleraverant extranei, ita urbem destruxerunt quod numquam postea reædificata est; locus tantum, quasi nobilissimæ urbis, transeuntibus ostenditur desolatus.”

Footnote 1144

Ord. Vit. 500 A. “Heraldus ... Hastingas et Penevesellum, aliosque portus maris Neustriæ oppositos, ... toto anno illo cum multis navibus et militibus callidè servaverat.”

Footnote 1145

See above, p. 338.

Footnote 1146

I look with great suspicion on the statement of William of Poitiers and Guy of Amiens about Harold sending a vast naval force to hinder William’s landing. See Appendix AA. At all events no English ships were near at the time.

Footnote 1147

Will. Pict. 126. “Liberè naves egreditur, pugnâ nullâ obstante.” Ord. Vit. 500 B. “Nemine resistente littus maris gaudens arripuit.” So Guy of Amiens, 127;

“Debita terra tibi, pavidis nudata colonis, Læta sinu placido teque tuosque capit.”

Footnote 1148

It is plain that the ships were brought to shore as near together as might be. Wace (11619) distinctly asserts this; “L’une nef à l’altre acosterent.” There is no ground for the notion of Mr. Hayley, quoted by Sir Henry Ellis (i. 316), “That William did not land his army at any one particular spot, at Bulverhithe or Hastings, as is supposed; but at all the several proper places for landing along the coast from Bexelei to Winchelsea.”

Footnote 1149

This process is graphically shown in the Tapestry, pl. 10; “Hic exeunt caballi de navibus.”

Footnote 1150

Roman de Rou, 11711;

“Quant li Dus primes fors issi, Sor sez dous palmes fors chaï; Sempres i out levé grant cri E distrent tuit: mal signe est ci; Et il lor a en haut crié; Seignors, par la resplendor Dé, La terre ai as dous mainz seizie; Sans chalenge n’iert maiz guerpie; Tote est nostre quant qu’il i a; Or verrai ki hardi serra.”

William of Malmesbury (iii. 238) seems to mix up this saying of the Duke’s with the saying of the soldier quoted directly afterwards; “In egressu navis pede lapsus, eventum in melius commutavit, acclamante sibi proximo milite, ‘Tenes,’ inquit, ‘Angliam, Comes, Rex futurus.’” Mr. Hardy in his note suspects, perhaps with reason, the whole story, on account of its likeness to the story of Cæsar (Suet. Julius, 59); “Prolapsus in egressu navis, verso ad melius omine, ‘Teneo te,’ inquit, ‘Africa.’”

Footnote 1151

Roman de Rou, 11725;

“Sire, dist-il, avant venez, Ceste saisine recevez; De ceste terre vos saisis, Vostre est sainz dote li païs. E li Dus respont: Jo l’otrei, E Dex i seit ensemle od mei.”

Footnote 1152

Ib. 11636.

“Li rivage unt tuit porcacé, Nul hoem armé n’i ont trové.”

Footnote 1153

Ib. 11642.

“Ensemble vindrent al gravier, Chescun armé sor son destrier. Tuit orent ceintes les espées, Et plain vindrent lances levées.”

The last word expresses the way of bearing the lance, not in the rest, but used overhand.

Footnote 1154

William of Poitiers (127) says of the forts both at Pevensey and at Hastings, that they were “quæ sibi receptaculo, navibus propagnaculo forent.” So Guy (141);

“Littora custodis, metuens amittere naves, Mœnibus et munis, castraque ponis ibi.”

This shows the falsehood of the story of William burning his ships, of which the first traces appear in Wace, 11731;

“Dunc fist à toz dire è crier, Et as mariniers comander Ke li nés fussent despécies, A terre traites è percies, Ke li coarz ne revertissent Ne par li nés ne s’enfoïssent.”

William of Jumièges (vii. 34) certainly makes the most of the fort at Pevensey; “Statim firmissimo vallo castrum condidit, probisque militibus commisit.” The notion that some part of the Roman walls was made use of is suggested by the words of Guy (143);

“Diruta quæ fuerant dudum castella reformas; Ponis custodes ut tueantur ea.”

Footnote 1155

See the Tapestry, pl. 10. “Festinaverunt Hastinga ut cibum raperentur.” They are going as fast as the messengers sent to Guy of Ponthieu (see above, p. 225), but they are not bare-headed.

Footnote 1156

See Appendix KK.

Footnote 1157

The French Biographer of Eadward (4333) gives an amusing origin for the name. William

“Une tur ferme e renuvele, Ke li Ducs Hastinges apele, Hastivement ke fu fermée, E pur co fu si appelée.”

Footnote 1158

See vol. i. p. 382.

Footnote 1159

See vol. ii. p. 106.

Footnote 1160

See above, p. 404.

Footnote 1161

Chron. Wig. “Hi ... worhton castel æt Hæstingaport.”

Footnote 1162

William of Poitiers mentions the fortifications at Pevensey and at Hastings in the same breath. See above, p. 407. William of Jumièges, having mentioned that of Pevensey, goes on (vii. 34) to say, “Festinus Hastingas venit, ibique cito opere aliud firmavit.” (It must be this passage, or some other to the same effect, which suggested the grotesque bit of etymology which I have just quoted from the French Life of Eadward.) In the Tapestry (pl. 11) we see the Duke in consultation with his brothers; then follows, “Iste jussit ut foderetur castellum at Hastingaceastra.” The pickaxe and spade are being largely used, the “agger” is rising, and the buildings seem to be of wood. So Wace (11656);

“Par cunseil firent esgarder Boen lieu à fort chastel garder. Donc out des nés mairrien geté, A la terre l’ont traïné, Trestui percié i tut dolé; Li cheviles tutes dolées Orent en granz bariz portées; Ainz ke il fust bien avespré, En ont ut chastelet fermé.”

Wace’s confusion of geographical order must not be forgotten, but no doubt the description of one fort would do equally well for the other.

Footnote 1163

Will. Fil. Steph. 193.

Footnote 1164

Roman de Rou, 11602;

“De la flote ki fu si grant E de la gent dont i out tant N’i out ke dui nés perillies, Ne sai s’el furent trop chargies.”

Footnote 1165

Ib. 11697;

“En mer esteit, ço dist, néiéz Et en un nef perilliéz.”

Footnote 1166

Wace, 11697. William does not—as an invader, he could not—rise to the full greatness of the saying of Hektôr.

Footnote 1167

Will. Pict. 139. “Illuc errore appulsos fera gens adorta prœlio, cum utriusque partis maximo detrimento, fuderat.” Benoît, 37682;

“Qu’arivé i out de sa gent, Je ne sai par quel achaison; Mais li Engleis pesme e felon Les li ocistrent par pecchié.”

All we can see is that the encounter, however caused, happened before the great battle.

Footnote 1168

See Appendix AA.

Footnote 1169

On these systematic ravages, see Appendix DD.

Footnote 1170

Wid. Amb. 147;

“Nec mirum, Regem quia te plebs stulta negabat, Ergo perit justè, vadit et ad nihilum.”

We find the same sentiment in William of Poitiers’ account of the battle (134); “Stravit adversam gentem, quæ sibi, Regi suo, rebellans commeruit mortem.”

Footnote 1171

See the graphic picture in pl. 10, where we find our friend Wadard. See Appendix A.

Footnote 1172

Tapestry, pl. 11. “Hic domus incenditur.” So Guy of Amiens, 152; “Vulcano flammis depopulante domos.”

Footnote 1173

Roman de Rou, 11751;

“Donc véissiez Engleiz foïr, Bestes chacier, mezons guerpir; As cemetieres tot atraient, Et encor là forment s’esmaient.”

Footnote 1174

Will. Pict. 131. “Accelerabat enim eò magis Rex furibundus, quod propinqua castris Normannorum vastari audierat.”

Footnote 1175

See above, p. 9.

Footnote 1176

William of Poitiers (128) introduces him as, “Dives quidam finium illorum inquilinus, natione Normannus, Rotbertus filius Wimaræ nobilis mulieris.” (Without this one would not have taken Wymarc for a female name.) Wace (11849) does not know his name;

“En la terre aveit un baron, Maiz jo ne sai dire son non, Ki mult aveit li Dus amé, E se faiseit de li privé.”

So Benoît, 37050;

“Un produem riche e assazez Qui de Normendie esteit nez, Mais en cele terre maneit, Ou richement se conteneit.”

There is nothing in the earlier narrative to imply that Robert had held any disloyal correspondence with William.

I cannot find that Robert held any lands in Sussex. See Ellis, ii. 206.

Footnote 1177

Yet, if we place the message somewhat late in William’s stay at Hastings, the presence of Robert at Stamfordbridge is just possible.

Footnote 1178

I suppose he is represented in the Tapestry, pl. 11; “Hic nuntiatum est Willelmo de Harold.”

Footnote 1179

Will. Pict. 128. “Hastingas Duci, domino suo et consanguineo, nuntium destinavit.” The kinsfolk both of William and of Eadward are endless.

Footnote 1180

Benoît, 37064;

“Coment Heraut s’ert combatuz Qui ceus de Norwege out vencuz Et ocis son frere e le rei, E ceus qu’il amena od sei, Où plus aveit de vint milliers.”

William of Poitiers (u. s.) only says “ingentes eorum exercitus delevit.”

Footnote 1181

Benoît, 37070;

“Od plus a de cent mile armez.”

William again says only, “Animatus eo successu festinus redit in te, numerosissimum populum ducens ac robustissimum.”

Footnote 1182

Will. Pict. u. s. “Prœliatus cum fratre proprio Rex Heraldus et cum Rege Noricorum, quo fortiorem sub cœlo nullum vivere opinio fuit.”

Footnote 1183

Will. Pict. 128. “Adversus quem non ampliùs tuos quam totidem despectabiles canes æstimo valere.” See above, p. 334, for the reputation of the English Housecarls in Norway.

Footnote 1184

Ib. “Prudens vir computaris, domi militiæque cuncta hactenus prudenter egisti.” The tone seems patronizing, but it perhaps expresses the general opinion of William up to this time. He had certainly been mainly remarkable for amazing prudence and amazing good luck, rather than for the winning of great battles.

Footnote 1185

Ib. “Suadeo, inter munitiones mane, manu ad præsens confligere noli.”

Footnote 1186

There are few cases in which we can better apply the familiar words of Thucydides (v. 105), μακαρίσαντες ὑμῶν τὸ άπειρόκακον οὐ ζηλοῦμεν τὸ ἄφρον.

Footnote 1187

St. Luke xiv. 31.

Footnote 1188

Will. Pict. 128. “Non me tutarer valli aut mœnium latebris, sed confligerem quamprimùm cum Heraldo.” He then goes on to make the statement about his numbers which I have quoted in p. 387.

Footnote 1189

Ib. “‘Pro mandato,’ inquit, ‘quo mihi dominus tuus vult esse cautum, quamquam sine contumeliâ suadere decuerit, gratias ipsi et hæc refer.’”

Footnote 1190

See above, p. 375.

Footnote 1191

Roman de Rou, 11831;

“Un chastel i ont fermé De bretesches è de fossé.”

Footnote 1192

Ib. 11755;

“Un chevalier de la cuntrée Oï la noise è la criée Ke païsant è vilain firent, Ki la grant flote arriver virent.”

Footnote 1193

Ib. 11761;

“En dreit un tertre s’arestut, Ke alquanz d’els ne l’aparçut; Iloc s’estut, si esgarda Coment la grant flote ariva.”

Wace’s account is of course confused by his primary blunder of reversing the geographical order, by making William land at Hastings, and thence go to Pevensey (see above, p. 400). His Thegn is therefore made to set out from Hastings, and the scene is apparently laid at Hastings. For Wace makes the Thegn hide himself behind a hill (“tertre”), which it would be easy to do at Hastings, but hard at Pevensey, as the mound of the later castle, then close to the landing-place, would hardly serve the purpose. The expression is clearly borrowed from Guy of Amiens’ description of his messenger from Hastings (149);

“Ex Anglis unus, latitans sub rupe marinâ.”

But a man who saw the actual landing, and at once started for York, must have started from Pevensey, and the fort which he saw thrown up must have been the fort at Pevensey, not the fort at Hastings. No doubt a messenger from Hastings, the messenger described by Guy of Amiens, would soon follow the messenger from Pevensey, and Wace, in his geographical confusion, rolled the two into one.

The words of Florence also would imply that news was brought straight from Pevensey; “Nuntiatum est ei Willelmum Comitem gentis Normannicæ ... advenisse ... et in loco qui Pefnesea dicitur suam classem adpulisse.”

Footnote 1194

Roman de Rou, 11770;

“Vit li chastel fere è fermer; Vit li fossé envirun faire.”

Footnote 1195

Roman de Rou, 11774;

“S’espée ceint è prist sa lance.”

Wace perhaps arms his English Thegn a little too much in continental fashion. For Wace’s “lance,” I have therefore substituted the English javelin. But for such a ride the sword would be a more convenient weapon than the axe. Sword and javelin are the equipment of Harold when riding round his camp, in the Tapestry, pl. 13.

Footnote 1196

Ib. 11777;

“Astant se mist cil el chemin, Tart se colcha, leva matin; Tant a erré ke noit ke jor Por Heraut querre son Seignor.”

Footnote 1197

Flor. Wig. 1066. “Cum innumerâ multitudine equitum, fundibaliorum, sagittariorum, peditumque ... utpote qui de totâ Galliâ sibi fortes auxiliarios conduxerat.”

Footnote 1198

See p. 407.

Footnote 1199

I get my second messenger from Guy of Amiens (149–167). He is “rusticus;” the other, “chevalier.” As the Thegn saw and describes the actual landing, the Churl saw and describes the later ravaging. Wid. Amb. 150;

“Cernit ut effusas innumeras acies, Et quod agri fulgent pleni radiantibus armis, Vulcano flammis depopulante domos. Perfidiæ gentem ferro bacchante perire, Quasque dabant lacrimas cæde patrum pueri.”

Footnote 1200

Wid. Amb. 159;

“Dux Normannorum cum Gallis atque Britannis Invasit terram, vastat et igne cremat. Millia si quæris, tibi dicere nemo valebit: Quod mare fert pisces, tot sibi sunt equites; Et veluti stellas cœli numerare nequires, Ejus sic acies nec numerare vales.”

“French,” “Franci” in the Tapestry, is the only name which takes in the whole of William’s army as thus described.

Footnote 1201

Ib. 165;

“Captivos ducit pueros captasque puellas, Insuper et viduas et simul omne pecus.”

Footnote 1202

Roman de Rou, 11836;

“Mielx me venist aveir perdu Quant ke Tosti out demandé.”

Footnote 1203

Ib. 11838;

“Ke jo n’éusse el port esté, Quant Willame vint el rivage; Bien defendisse li passage. Tant en féisse en mer plungier, E tant en féisse néier, Jà à la terre ne venissent, Jà nient del nostre ne préissent; Jà de morir garant n’éussent, Se la mer tote ne béussent; Maiz issi plout el Rei celeste, Jo ne poiz mie par tut estre.”

Footnote 1204

Wid. Amb. 169. “Advocat ipse Duces, Comites, terraeque potentes.”

Footnote 1205

See vol. ii. pp. 104, 141.

Footnote 1206

Wid. Amb. 185;

“Quantus erit luctus, quantus dolor et pudor ingens, Regni quanta lues, quam tenebrosa dies, Si quod quærit habet, si regni sceptra tenebit? Hoc omnes fugiant vivere qui cupiunt.”

Footnote 1207

Wid. Amb. 191;

“Nascitur extemplò clamor qui perculit astra, Et vox communis omnibus una fuit; ‘Bella magis cupimus quam sub juga colla reponi Alterius Regis, vel magis inde mori.’”

Footnote 1208

Roman de Rou, 11879;

“Heraut vint à Lundres puignant, De totes parz Engleiz mandant, Ke tuit viengent delivrement E mult apareilliement, El terme k’il lor out mandé, Sainz esoigne forz d’enferté.”

Footnote 1209

Gaimar, 5255 (M. H. B. 827);

“Marleswain donc i lessat; Pur ost mander en suth alad.”

See Ellis, ii. 185. Merlswegen held lands in various parts from Cornwall to Yorkshire: it was of Lincolnshire that he was Sheriff. See Domesday, 376.

Footnote 1210

Fl. Wig. 1066. “Comites Edwinus et Morkarus, qui se cum suis certamini subtraxere.” These are words which no ingenuity can get over.

Footnote 1211

We shall presently come to the list of shires whence men did come.

Footnote 1212

The general zeal of Englishmen is allowed even by their enemies. Will. Pict. 132; “Studium pars Heraldo, cuncti patriæ præstabant, quam contra extraneos, tametsi non justè, defensare volebant.”

Footnote 1213

Will. Malms, ii. 228. “Haroldus, triumphali eventu superbus, nullis partibus prædæ commilitones dignatus est: quapropter multi, quo quisque poterat dilapsi, Regem ad bellum Hastingense proficiscentem destituere.” So again, iii. 239.

Footnote 1214

Gaimar, 5251 (M. H. B. 827);

“Li reis Harald, quant il oi, L’évesque Aldret a donc saisi Del grant aveir e del herneis K’il out conquis sur les Norreis.”

Footnote 1215

See Appendix G.

Footnote 1216

Will. Malms. ii. 228. “Præter stippendiarios et mercenarios milites, paucos admodum ex provincialibus habuit.” See Appendix HH.

Footnote 1217

The list of shires in Wace (12848) might seem at first sight to be simply names set down at random; but, on a careful examination, it has a deep significance. The list runs thus; London, Kent, Hertford, Essex, Surrey, Sussex, Saint Eadmund’s and Suffolk, Norwich and Norfolk, Canterbury and Stamford, Bedford (mentioned twice), Huntingdon, Northampton, York, Buckingham, Nottingham, Lindesey and Lincoln, Salisbury, Dorset, Bath and Somerset, Gloucester, Worcester, Winchester and Hampshire, Berkshire. This list exactly answers to the geographical division which I have given in the text, with the single exception that we find Worcester where we should rather have looked for Hereford. The shires mentioned are those which make up the Earldoms of Harold, Gyrth, Leofwine, and Waltheof, together with the shires through which Harold marched. This accounts for what at first seems a contradiction, namely that we find York on the list and yet read afterwards (12877) “D’ultre li Humbre n’i vint gaires.” No doubt some volunteers followed the King from York, but the main force of Northumberland was kept back by Morkere. Why are Canterbury and Stamford joined? One or other name must surely be wrong.

Footnote 1218

Roman de Rou, 12957;

“Kar ço dient ke cil de Kent Deivent férir primierement; U ke li Reis auge en estor, Li primier colp deit estre lor. Cil de Lundres, par dreite fei, Deivent garder li cors li Rei, Tut entur li deivent ester, E l’estandart deivent garder.”

Footnote 1219

The Ansgardus of Guy. For all these names see Appendix EE.

Footnote 1220

See vol. ii. pp. 63, 441.

Footnote 1221

Bondig (see above, p. 53) is mentioned in a very confused passage in the De Inventione, c. 20; “Ab omnibus consultum est ei Tostinum [Leofwinum?], Gerth, et Bundinum, et reliquos qui secesserant, exspectare.” I do not understand the “secession” of Gyrth; so Bondig may have been at Senlac also.

Footnote 1222

See vol. ii. pp. 467, 644.

Footnote 1223

See Appendix EE.

Footnote 1224

See vol. ii. p. 349.

Footnote 1225

Chron. Petrib. 1066. “And þa wæs Leofric Abbot of Burh æt þæt ilca feord, and sæclode þær, and com ham, and wæs dæd sone þæræfter, on ælre halgan mæsse niht; God are his saule.”

Footnote 1226

See Appendix EE.

Footnote 1227

On the chronology of these events, see Appendix FF.

Footnote 1228

See above, p. 31.

Footnote 1229

The Waltham writer (De Inv. 20), as I have already said (see above, p. 375), conceives the King as hearing the news of William’s landing at Waltham. This we know to be wrong: but we may surely accept a journey from London to Waltham.

As for the miraculous narrative, see Professor Stubbs, De Inv. xxviii. For other mere legendary versions, see Appendix II.

Footnote 1230

De Inv. 20. “Mane facto ecclesiam Sanctæ Crucis ingrediens, et relliquias quas apud se habebat in capellâ suâ repositas altari superponens.”

Footnote 1231

De Inv. 20. “Votum vovit, quod si successus prosperos sub eventu belli præstaret ei Dominus, copiam prædiorum et multitudinem clericorum Deo ibidem serviturorum ecclesiæ conferret, et se Deo serviturum amodo quasi servum emptitium sponderet.”

Footnote 1232

Over the west door seems a strange place for the great relic of a church; yet I cannot otherwise understand the words of the Waltham writer (De Inv. 20). Harold makes his offerings on the altar; then, “Clero eum comitante et processione præcedente, veniunt ad valvas templi, ubi conversus ad Crucifixum Rex ille Sanctæ Cruci devotus, ad terram in modum crucis prosternens se, pronus oravit.”

Footnote 1233

De Inv. 20. “Imago Crucifixi, quæ priùs erecta ad superiora respiciebat, quum se Rex humiliaret in terram, demisit vultum quasi tristis, lignum quidem præscium futurorum.” The writer then goes on to mention Thurkill, from whom he himself heard the story.

Footnote 1234

See Appendix GG.

Footnote 1235

Roman de Rou, 11935. See Appendix GG.

Footnote 1236

Will. Pict. 129.

Footnote 1237

Roman de Rou, 11975.

Footnote 1238

De Inventione, 20. “Nimis præceps, et de virtute suâ præsumens, credebat se invalidos et impræniunitos Normannos expugnare, antequam a Normannis gens subsequutiva in præsidium eorum succresceret.” This last reason is borne out by the testimony of the Worcester Chronicles, which I shall quote hereafter, that reinforcements did come to William either before the battle or very soon after.

Footnote 1239

See p. 412, note 4.

Footnote 1240

The interposition of Gyrth is mentioned, not only by his special admirer Wace (12041 et seqq.), but by William of Jumièges (vii. 35), Orderic (500 C, who nearly copies William of Jumièges), William of Malmesbury (iii. 239), and Benoît (37129). The speech is much to the same effect in all. Here it is that William of Malmesbury makes the odd mistake about Gyrth’s age which I mentioned in vol. ii. p. 555.

Footnote 1241

Will. Gem. vii. 35. “Quiesce, quæso, prudenter tractare tecum velis, quid cum sacramentis Consuli Normanniæ promiseris. Cave ne perjurium incurras, et pro tanto scelere tu cum viribus nostræ gentis corruas nostræ-que progeniei permansurum dedecus exinde fias.” The expression “cave ne perjurium incurras,” so late in the day, is remarkable. William of Malmesbury (iii. 239) softens matters a little; “Nec enim ibis in inficias quin illi sacramentum vel invitus vel voluntarius feceris; proinde consultiùs ages si, instanti necessitati te subtrahens, nostro periculo colludium pugnæ tentaveris.”

Footnote 1242

Will. Gem. u. s. “Ego, liber ab omni sacramento, Willelmo Comiti nihil debeo. Audacter igitur contra illum pro natali solo certare paratus sum.” So William of Malmesbury (u. s.); “Nos, omni juramento expediti, justè ferrum pro patriâ stringemus.”

Footnote 1243

Will. Gem. u. s. “Ne clara libertas Anglorum pereat in tuâ pernicie.”

Footnote 1244

Will. Malms, iii. 239. “Nobis solis prœliantibus, caussa tua utrobique in portu navigabit: quia et fugientes restituere et mortuos ulcisci poteris.” Wace (12057) adds the alternatives of his own captivity and of an agreement between Harold and William;

“Mais se jo suis veincu u pris, Vos, se Dex plaist, ki serez vis, Vos maisnies rasemblerez, E cumbatre vos i porrez, U tel parole el Duc prendrez, Ke vostre régné en paiz tendrez.”

Footnote 1245

This advice comes from Wace (12065);

“Alez par cest païz, ardant Maizons è viles destruiant; Pernez la robe è la vitaille, Pors et oeilles et aumaille, Ke Normanz vitaille ne truissent Ne nule rien donc vivre puissent. Fetes la vitaille esluingnier, Ke il ne truissent ke mengier, Si les porrez mult esmaier E faire ariere repairier; Li Dus meisme s’en ira, Quant la vitaille li faldra.”

Footnote 1246

Ord. Vit. 500 C. “Quæ interitu Tostici filii sui valde erat lugubris.”

Footnote 1247

Will. Gem. vii. 35. “Consilium istud, quod amicis ejus salubre videbatur sprevit, et germanum suum, qui fideliter ei consiliabatur, conviciis irritavit, matremque suam, quæ nimis ipsum retinere secum satagebat, pede procaciter percussit.” So Ord. Vit. 500 D. Wace, whose good taste and dramatic feeling places him high above all the other Norman writers, passes by this absurd tale, but it reappears in Benoît (37197);

“Vers sa mere fu mult eschis, Qui chèrement fust à plaisir Deu remaindre, deu retenir, E tant l’en fist longe preiere Qu’enverse la bota arière; Tel il dona del pié el ventre.”

Footnote 1248

See Appendix N.

Footnote 1249

Roman de Rou, 12086;

“A cest cunseil tuit se teneient, Et issi fere le voleient.”

Footnote 1250

Roman de Rou, 12090;

“Ke jà en champ sanz li n’iront, Ne sanz li ne se cumbatront. Por coart, ço dist, le teindreient E plusors li reprovereient, Ke sis boens amiz envéiout, En lieu ù aler il n’osout.”

Footnote 1251

See vol. ii. p. 319.

Footnote 1252

Roman de Rou, 12080;

“Maisonz è viles n’en ardra, Ne sis homes ne robera. ‘Coment,’ dist-il, ‘dei-jo grever La gent ke jo dei governer? Destruire ne grever ne dei La gent ki det garir soz mei.’”

Compare the advice given by Memnôn to Arsitês in Arrian (i. 12. 17) and Arsitês’ answer; Παρῄνει ... προϊόντας ... τόν τε χιλὸν ἀφανίζειν καταπατοῦντας τῇ ἵππῳ, καὶ τὸν ἐν τῇ γῇ καρπὸν ἐμπιμπράναι, μηδὲ τῶν πόλεων αὐτῶν φειδομένους· οὐ γὰρ μενεῖν ἐν τῇ χώρᾳ Ἀλέξανδρον ἀπορίᾳ τῶν ἐπιτηδείων. Ἀρσίτην δὲ λέγεται εἰπεῖν ἐν τῷ συλλόγῳ τῶν Περσῶν, ὅτι οὐκ ἂν περιΐδοι μήτ’ οἰκίαν μίαν ἐμπρησθεῖσαν τῶν ὑπό οἱ τεταγμένων ἀνθρώπων. Contrast the conduct of William in ravaging the English coast when an invasion from Denmark was looked for; Chron. Petrib. 1085.

Footnote 1253

See Appendix FF.

Footnote 1254

See Appendix HH.

Footnote 1255

Will. Pict. 131. “Accelerabat ... Rex furibundus ... nocturno etiam incursu aut repentino minùs cautos opprimere cogitabat.” He then goes on to tell of the seven hundred ships. See Appendix AA. So Will. Gem. vii. 35, 36; “Ducem incautum accelerans præoccupare, totâ nocte equitans [Heraldus] in campo belli apparuit manè. Dux verò nocturnos præcavens excursus hostis, inchoantibus tenebris ad gratissimam usque lucem exercitum jussit esse in armis.” William of Poitiers makes the fight begin directly on the approach of the English army, and William of Jumièges puts it the same day. The last messages between William and Harold are thus cut out, and William of Poitiers leaves no room for the two different ways of spending the night. But William of Poitiers is always careless of chronology, and William of Jumièges is here ignorant of it (see Appendix GG). Wace makes the English reach Senlac on Thursday night, and a day is spent in the messages. He says (12110) of Thursday night,

“Normanz cele nuit se gaitierent, E tote nuit armé veillierent; Tote nuit furent en suspeiz, Kar dit lor fu ke li Engleiz Cele nuit tresk’à els vendreient E cele nuit les assaldreient. Ço meismes les Engleiz cremeient Ke Normanz la nuit les guerreient; Issi unt tote nuit veillié, Li uns por li altres gaitié.”

All this proves the existence of a very natural expectation on both sides, but it proves nothing as to Harold’s real intentions. An examination of the ground is enough to show what Harold’s plan really was.

Footnote 1256

See Appendix KK.

Footnote 1257

See Appendix KK.

Footnote 1258

Hen. Hunt. M. H. B. 763 B. “Quum ergo Haraldus totam gentem suam in unâ acie strictissimè locâsset, et quasi castellum inde construxisset, impenetrabiles erant Normannis.”

Footnote 1259

On the name Senlac, see Appendix KK.

Footnote 1260

The position is well described by Guy of Amiens (365);

“Mons silvæ vicinus erat, vicinaque vallis, Et non cultus ager asperitate suâ.”

Footnote 1261

Chron. Wig. 1066. “He [Harold] com him tógenes æt þære háran apuldran.” The name is not uncommon in the description of boundaries in the Charters.

Footnote 1262

See above, p. 124.

Footnote 1263

Roman de Rou, 12106;

“Héraut a li lieu esgardé, Clore l’a fet de boen fossé; De treiz parz leissa treiz entrées Ki à garder sunt comandées.”

Footnote 1264

See above, p. 438.

Footnote 1265

Flor. Wig. 1066. “Quia arto in loco constituti fuerant Angli, de acie se multi subtraxere, et cum eo [Haroldo] perpauci constantes corde remansere.” Something of the same kind may be thought to be implied in the words of the Worcester Chronicler; “Ac se kyng þeah him swiðe heardlice wið feaht, mid þam mannum þe him gelæstan woldon.” See Appendix HH.

Footnote 1266

This, to say nothing of the best evidence of all, the circumstances of the battle itself, is implied in the language of those who speak of the insufficient numbers of the army. See the extract from the Worcester Chronicle, p. 445.

Footnote 1267

Tapestry, plates 12, 13. We shall hear of them again.

Footnote 1268

Will. Malms. iii. 239. Harold’s spies, as in the former case (see above, p. 388), are well received and shown everything. They then make their report, and “serio addiderunt, penè omnes in exercitu illo presbyteros videri, quod totam faciem cum utroque labio rasam haberent.... Subrisit Rex fatuitatem referentium, lepido insequutus cachinno, quia non essent presbyteri, sed milites armis validi, animis invicti.” So Roman de Rou, 12238–12253. William of Malmesbury here comments on the English custom of wearing the moustache (see vol. ii. p. 27), which he oddly connects with Cæsar’s account of the Welsh of his day.

Footnote 1269

See Appendix KK.

Footnote 1270

Roman de Rou, 12254 et seqq. See Appendix GG.

Footnote 1271

Cf. Roman de Rou, 12290, with William of Malmesbury, iii. 240; and see Appendix GG.

Footnote 1272

Roman de Rou, 12262;

“U se mist al boen jugement De l’Apostoile è de sa gent.”

And see Appendix GG.

Footnote 1273

See Roman de Rou, 12437.

Footnote 1274

Will. Malms. iii. 241. “Angli, ut accepimus, totam noctem insomnem cantibus potibusque ducentes.” So Wace, 12465, who gives us some curious bits of English;

“Quant la bataille dut joster, La nuit avant, ço oï conter, Furent Engleiz forment haitiez, Mult riant è mult enveisiez; Tote nuit mangierent è burent Unkes la nuit et lit ne jurent. Mult les véissiez demener, Treper, è saillir è chanter; Bublie crient è weissel E laticome è drincheheil, Drinc Hindrewart è Drintome, Drinc Helf è drinc Tome.”

Footnote 1275

Will. Malms. iii. 242. “Contra Normanni, nocte totâ confessioni peccatorum vacantes, mane Dominico Corpore communicârunt.”

Footnote 1276

Will. Pict. 131. “Aderant comitati e Normanniâ duo Pontifices, Odo Baiocensis et Goisfredus Constantinus; unà multus clerus et monachi nonnulli. Id collegium precibus pugnare disponitur.” So Ord. Vit. 501 A. Of Odo at least the Tapestry tells another story. Compare the English Prelates at Assandun, vol. i. p. 432.

Footnote 1277

On Geoffrey of Mowbray (Bishop 1048–1093) and his vast possessions in England, see Ellis, i. 400.

Footnote 1278

Chron. Petrib. 1087. “He wæs swiðe ríce bisceop on Normandige; on Baius wæs his bisceopstol ... and he hæfde eorldom on Englelande.” Cf. 1088.

Footnote 1279

Wace (12478–12522) is very full on the ministrations of the two Bishops, and on the devotions of the army, both during the night and on the morning before the battle. The vow is thus described (12485–12490);

“Por ço ke samedi esteit, Ke la bataille estre debveit, Unt Normanz pramis è voé, Si com li cler l’orent loé, Ke à cet jor mez s’il veskeient, Char ne saunc ne maingereint.”

Footnote 1280

The piety of the English on the night before Azincourt is insisted on in some of our accounts. Take Elmham for instance (479);

“Nox pluvialis ibi plebem sine pane madebat: Ad Dominum vigiles quique dedere preces.”

So Walsingham, ii. 310, ed. Riley; Monstrelet, vol. i. c. 146, p. 227 b. What the French are chiefly charged with is playing at dice for English ransoms. See Redman, p. 45, ed. Cole. This is the point chiefly brought out by Shakespeare, Henry V, Act iv. Chorus. Compare also the accounts of the night before Lewes, the piety of the patriots and the foul excesses of the royalists. Rishanger, Chron. p. 25; Chron. Lanercost, 75; Political Songs (Camden Soc.), p. 80.

Footnote 1281

See the legend in Appendix II.

Footnote 1282

See above, p. 19.

Footnote 1283

Will. Pict. 131. “Ipse mysterio missæ quam maximâ cum devotione assistens, Corporis ac Sanguinis Dominici communicatione suum et corpus et animam munivit.”

Footnote 1284

We have the speech in William of Poitiers (132), Henry of Huntingdon (M. H. B. 762, 763), and Wace (12531 et seqq.). William candidly says, “Exhortationem, quâ pro tempore breviter militum virtuti plurimum alacritatis addidit, egregiam fuisse non dubitamus, etsi nobis non ex totâ dignitate suâ relatam.” The two chief points in his summary are the glories of the Normans in earlier warfare (“Commonuit Normannos quod in multis atque magnis periculis victores tamen se duce semper exstiterint. Commonuit omnes patriæ suæ, nobilium gestorum magnique nominis”) and the small renown of the English (“Sæpenumerò Anglos hostili ferro dejectos cecidisse, plerumque superatos in hostis venisse deditionem, numquam gloriâ militiæ laudatos”). Henry of Huntingdon, allowably enough, has worked up these two points into an elaborate harangue, which amounts to a sort of panegyrical history of Normandy. Wace enlarges chiefly on the sins of the English, the massacre of Saint Brice, the fate of Ælfred, and such like. I have briefly worked in the chief points of all three versions.

Footnote 1285

Hen. Hunt. 762 D. “Nonne patres vestri Regem Francorum in Rotomago cœperunt, et tenuerunt donec Ricardo puero, Duci vestro, Normanniam reddidit eo pacto, quòd in omni colloquutione Regis Franciæ et Ducis Normanniæ gladio Dux accingeretur, Regem verò nec gladium nec etiam cultellum ferre liceret.” See vol. i. pp. 244, 247, and especially Palgrave, ii. 495. I do not pledge myself to the terms of the peace.

Footnote 1286

Henry enlarges only on Mortemer, and says nothing about Varaville. But William would hardly leave out his own special exploit. About Val-ès-dunes, a victory won over his own people, he might well hold his peace.

I leave out one or two purely legendary stories in Henry’s version.

Footnote 1287

Wace is rather lavish of this word; William comes (12545)

“Por vengier li fèlunies Li traïsuns, li feiz menties, Ki li homes de cest païs Unt fet à notre gent toz dis.”

And again, 12575;

“Teles felunies è plusors K’il unt fete à nos ancessors Et à nos amis ensement, Ki se contindrent noblement.”

Footnote 1288

In the rhetoric of the Archdeacon of Huntingdon (M. H. B. 763 A, B), “Erigite vexilla, viri, nec sit iræ promeritæ modus vel modestia. Ab Oriente ad Occidentem videatur fulmen gloriæ vestræ, audiatur tonitruum impetus vestri, vindicesque generosissimi sanguinis.”

Footnote 1289

Roman de Rou, 12527; “En un tertre s’estut li Dus.” In the Tapestry (pl. 13), William is shown on horseback addressing his soldiers; “Hic Wilelm Dux alloquitur suis militibus ut prepararent se viriliter et sapienter ad prelium contra Anglorum exercitum.” But as the word “sapienter” alone might almost show, this scene comes later in the day.

Footnote 1290

Ib. 12627;

“Vint Willame li filz Osber, Son cheval tot covert de fer; Sire, dist-il, trop demoron.”

Wace is here guilty of an anachronism, as the horses in the Tapestry are not covered with armour. See Taylor’s note, 163.

Footnote 1291

I think there can be no doubt that the famous scene of the hauberk must be placed on the height of Telham. Wace probably did not know the ground, and did not realize the distance between Hastings and Battle. William and his knights would hardly ride so far in their full armour, and the real site is clearly marked in two other writers. The Chronicler of Battle Abbey (p. 3) is very distinct; “Perveniens ad locum collis qui Hechelande dicitur, a parte Hastingarum situm, dum sese invicem armis munire contendunt, ac eidem Duci lorica ad induendum porrigitur, ex improviso inversa ipsi oblata est.” The Brevis Relatio (7) is even more precise; “Pervenientes itaque usque ad unum collem qui erat a parte Hastingarum contra illum collem in quo erat Heraldus et exercitus ejus, ibi ut, erant armati, paullisper substiterunt, intuentes Anglorum exercitum.” It is just possible that Wace, by his “tertre,” meant the hill of Telham, only without any idea of its distance from Hastings. Cf. Guy of Amiens (343);

“Haud procul hostiles cuneos nam cernit adesse, Et plenum telis irradiare nemus.”

On the identity of Telham and Heathland see Lower, Contributions to Literature, 40; Sussex Archæological Collections, vi. 20.

Footnote 1292

Will. Pict. 131. “Terreret alium loricæ, dum vestiretur, sinistra conversio. Hanc conversionem risit ille ut casum, non ut mali prodigium expavit.” Roman de Rou, 12647;

“Cil en furent espoenté, Ki li haubert unt esgardé.”

Footnote 1293

See above, p. 405.

Footnote 1294

Will. Malms. iii. 242. “Ministrorum tumultu loricam inversam indutus, casum risu correxit, ‘Vertetur,’ inquiens, ‘fortitudo comitatûs mei in regnum.’” So Roman de Rou, 12665;

“Li nom ki ert de Duché Veneiz de Duc a Rei torné; Reis serai ki Duc ai esté, N’en aiez mie altre pensé.”

The Battle Chronicler attributes the witty saying to William Fitz-Osbern.

Footnote 1295

Roman de Rou, 12673;

“Sun boen cheval fist demander, Ne poeit l’en meillor trover; De l’Espaingne li out envéié, Un Reis par mult grant amistié.”

On Alfonso see above, p. 112, and Appendix O.

Footnote 1296

Roman de Rou, 12679;

“Galtier Giffart l’out amené, Ki à Saint Jame aveit esté.”

Footnote 1297

See above, p. 314.

Footnote 1298

Roman de Rou, 12685;

“Li visquens de Toarz guarda Coment li Dus armes porta; A sa gent a entor sei dit: Hom mez si bel armé ne vit, ... Soz ciel tel chevalier n’en a Beau quens è beau Rei sera.”

Footnote 1299

Brevis Relatio (7). “Armatus itaque, et se et totum exercitum suum Domino commendans, cœpit inquirere a quodam milite qui juxta eum erat, ubi Heraldum putaret esse. Respondit autem ille quod putabat eum esse in illo spisso agmine quod erat ante eos in montis summitate, nam, sicut putabat, Heraldi standarium ibi videbat.” This is a good instance of the way in which one authority fits into another. This scene is evidently the same as that which is represented in the Tapestry (plate 12); “Willelm Dux interrogat Vital si vidisset exercitum Haroldi.” This Vital, it will be remembered (see Appendix A), was a dependant of Odo, and the mention of a person otherwise unknown, but who held much land in Kent under his patron, is one of the proofs of the connexion of the Tapestry with the Bishop of Bayeux.

Footnote 1300

The vow comes from the Battle Chronicle (3), where it immediately follows the story of the hauberk; “Unde et nunc, de ejus [Creatoris] auxilio securus, ad vestras qui mei gratiâ hoc initis certamen corroborandas manus ac mentes votum facio, me in hoc certaminis loco pro salute cunctorum, et hic nominatim occumbentium ad honorem Dei et sanctorum ejus, quo servi Dei adjuventur congruum, cum dignâ libertate fundaturum monasterium.” The words in Italics come, I suspect, from the chronicler, not from the Duke. The vow at such a moment is in every way probable, but William was hardly already thinking of the exemption of the Abbey of Battle from the jurisdiction of the Bishop of Chichester.

Footnote 1301

He was (Chron. Bell. 4) surnamed Faber, “quod cum sodalibus venatum aliquando profectus, sagittis fortè deficientibus, quum quemdam fabrum hujuscemodi operis ignarum adissent, ipse malleis arreptis mox sagittam artificioso ingenio compegit.” His reason for being where he was is characteristic; “Divulgato ipsius Ducis in Angliam adventu, gratiâ commodi ecclesiæ suæ, cum reliquis exercitui sese immiscuerat.”

Footnote 1302

Chron. Bell. u. s. “Idem monasterium in venerationem beati pontificis Martini nominatim fundaretur suggessit.”

Footnote 1303

Wid. Amb. 413;

“Sed lævam Galli, dextram petiere Britanni, Dux cum Normannis dimicat in medio.”

That is, the French were on the right, the Bretons on the left, of the Normans.

Footnote 1304

Will. Pict. 133. “Britanni et quotquot auxiliares erant in sinistro cornu.” Roman de Rou, 12795;

“De l’altre part Alain Fergant Et Aimeri li cumbatant, Poitevinz meront è Bretons E del Maine toz li Barons.”

Cf. Wid. Amb. 255;

“Gensque Britannorum quorum decus exstat in armis, Tellus ni fugiat est fuga nulla quibus; Viribus illustres Cenomanni, gloria quorum Bello monstratur per probitatis opem.”

Footnote 1305

See vol. i. p. 208.

Footnote 1306

Roman de Rou, 13625;

“Joste la cumpaigne Néel Chevalcha Raol de Gael; Bret esteit è Bretonz menout, Por terre serveit ke il out.”

See Appendix LL.

Footnote 1307

See vol. ii. p. 196.

Footnote 1308

Roman de Rou, 12784;

“Venir a fet avant Rogier Ke l’en dist de Montgomeri: Forment, dist-il, en vos me fi; ... E Guillame un seneschal, Li filz Osber un boen vassal, Ensemble od vos chevalchera Et ovec vos les assaldra. Li Boilogneiz è li Pohiers Aureiz è toz mes soldéiers.”

“Soldéiers,” “soldarii,” are of course mercenaries.

Footnote 1309

See vol. ii. p. 197.

Footnote 1310

See above, pp. 258, 295.

Footnote 1311

See vol. ii. p. 132. Eustace stands first on the list in William of Poitiers, 135.

Footnote 1312

Will. Pict. 132. “Ipse fuit in medio cum firmissimo robore, unde in omnem partem consuleret manu et voce.”

Footnote 1313

See vol. ii. pp. 245, 267. So Roman de Rou, 13486;

“Bien firent cel de Béessin, E li baronz de Costentin, E Néel de Saint Salvéor, Mult s’entremet d’aveir l’amor E li boen gré de son seignor.”

But Neal’s presence is called in question by Prevost (Wace, ii. 231), Taylor (207), and Delisle (Saint-Sauveur, 21). I do not see that they at all upset Wace.

Footnote 1314

Roman de Rou, 13636;

“Li archier du Val de Roil, Ensemle od els cels de Bretoil, A maint Engleiz creverent l’oil.”

Footnote 1315

A single ἱπποτοξότης appears in the Tapestry at the very end of the battle, pl. 16. I get my details of costume from the Tapestry, pl. 13 and onwards.

Footnote 1316

See above, p. 455.

Footnote 1317

See above, p. 257.

Footnote 1318

Il. vii. 140.

Footnote 1319

In the Tapestry William appears armed only with the mace. That it is the mace I have no doubt. In pl. 13, where William is addressing his army, it might be a mere baton of command (see vol. ii. p. 255), but in pl. 15 he is shown wielding the same weapon in the very thickest of the battle. William’s weapon is also exactly the same as the “baculus” (Tapestry, pl. 15) or “baston” (Roman de Rou 13259) of Odo. William of Poitiers arms William with the sword (“fulminans ense”—like Eadmund at Assandun, see vol. i. p. 430—“stravit adversam gentem” 134), so does Guy (469 “abstracto gladio,” 483 “devorat ense”). The point is that all agree in arming him with a weapon of close conflict, not with the lance, which, as we shall see, he uses only for quite another purpose. He may very well have carried both mace and sword, but the sword does not appear in the Tapestry.

Footnote 1320

Will. Pict. 131. “Appendit etiam humili collo suo relliquias, quarum favorem Heraldus abalienaverat sibi, violatâ fide quam super eas jurando sanxerat.”

Footnote 1321

Roman de Rou, 13765;

“Li Quens Robert de Moretoing Ne se tint mie del Duc loing; Frere ert li Dus de par sa mere, Grant aïe fist à son frere.”

Footnote 1322

See above, p. 151.

Footnote 1323

See Ellis, i. 455. He held the very first-fruits of the Conquest as possessor of the town of Pevensey. Domesday, 20 b.

Footnote 1324

Ord. Vit. 501 B. “Turstinus filius Rollonis vexillum Normannorum portavit.” Roman de Rou, 12773;

“Tosteins filz Rou le Blanc out non, Al Bec en Caux aveit meison.”

William of Poitiers (132) says only, “Vexillo prævio quod Apostolicus transmiserat,” without mentioning the bearer. I cannot see the banner in the Tapestry.

Footnote 1325

See vol. i. p. 514.

Footnote 1326

See above, p. 159.

Footnote 1327

Roman de Rou, 12719;

“Portez, dist-il, mon gonfanon, Ne vos voil fere se dreit non; Par dreit è par anceissorie Deivent estre de Normendie Vostre parent gonfanonier, Mult furent tuit boen chevalier.”

Footnote 1328

Ib. 12731;

“D’altre chose vos servirai; En la bataille od vos irai, Et as Engleiz me combatrai Tant ke jo vis estre porrai; Saciez ke ma main plus valdra Ke tels vint homes i aura.”

Footnote 1329

See above, p. 129.

Footnote 1330

Roman de Rou, 12743;

“Véiez mon chief blanc è chanu, Empeirié sui de ma vertu, Ma vertu m’est afébliée, E m’aleine mult empeiriée. L’ensuigne estuet à tel tenir, Ki lonc travail poisse soffrir, E jo serai en la bataille; N’aveiz home ki mielx i vaille, Tant i kuid ferit od m’espée, Ke tot en iert ensanglantée.”

The dialogue which follows between the Duke and the old warrior is very curious.

Footnote 1331

Of the long list given by Wace (13462 et seqq.) I only choose a few of the more remarkable. Wace’s account, with Mr. Taylor’s notes, is a perfect nobiliaire of the Conquest.

Footnote 1332

Roman de Rou, 13715;

“Willame Patric de la Lande Li Reis Heraut forment demande; Co diseit, se il ne véeit, De perjure l’apellereit.”

On Harold’s visit to William Patry, see Prevost’s note, ii. 261; Taylor, 238.

Footnote 1333

See vol. ii. p. 291. Roger is described by Wace (13677) only as “l’ancestre Hue li Bigot.” See Prevost’s note, ii. 256; Taylor, 234.

Footnote 1334

Roman de Rou, 13472;

“Guillame ke l’en dit Mallet Hardiement entrels se met.”

Footnote 1335

The connexion between William Malet and Harold is not easy to make out. He is clearly the person described by Guy of Amiens (588) as

“... Quidam partim Normannus et Anglus, Compater Heraldi.”

(On the reading see M. H. B. 867 D.) The obvious meaning of this would be that William’s mother was an Englishwoman, and that he and Harold had contracted spiritual brotherhood by standing godfathers to the same child. There was a William Malet, whose mother’s name was Hesilia of the family of Crispin (De Genere Crispinorum, Giles, Lanfranc, i. 341), but he died a monk at Bec, and was doubtless a different person. I can make nothing of the pedigrees given by Sir Alexander Malet in his Translation of Wace, pp. 268, 9. Sir Alexander makes out William Malet to be uncle to the Lady Ealdgyth, calling her mother Ælfgifu a sister of William Malet; but I know no authority for this, and, if true, it would not make William “partim Normannus et Anglus.”

Footnote 1336

Will. Pict. 132. “Pedites in fronte locavit, sagittis armatos et balistis, item pedites in ordine secundo firmiores et loricatos; ultimò turmas equitum.”

Footnote 1337

Roman de Rou, 12885;

“Par matin les fist toz armer Et la bataille conréer.”

Footnote 1338

Harold’s speech comes from Wace, 12889 et seqq.

Footnote 1339

Roman de Rou, 12905;

“Lungues lances unt et espées, Ke de lor terres unt aportées, E vos avez lances agües E granz gisarmes esmolues. Cuntre vos armes ki bien taillent Ke kuid les lor gaires ne vaillent.”

The respective weapons of the two nations could hardly be better described.

Footnote 1340

Tapestry, plate 13. “Iste nuntiat Haroldum Regem de exercitu Willelmi Ducis.” The very striking figure of Harold on his horse is clearly shown under the tree, and the messenger and the host which he has been spying out seem to be shown crossing the broken ground between Telham and Senlac.

Footnote 1341

Roman de Rou, 12967;

“Quant Heraut out tot apresté, E ço k’il volt out comandé, Emmi les Engleiz est venu, Lez l’estendart est descendu.”

This is almost a translation of the lines in the song of Maldon, quoted in vol. i. p. 298, note 3. So again, 13103;

“Miz se sunt juste l’estandart; Chescun prie ke Dex le gart.”

Footnote 1342

The Hyde writer (293) preserves a strange legend indeed. He puts at this point the advice which Gyrth gave before the army left London. Both armies are marshalled; Harold has made his speech (“Haroldus quoque exercitum suum nunc vultu, nunc voce, nunc patriâ oratione, hortatur”). Then Gyrth counsels his brother to withdraw, while he himself leads on the army. Then comes this marvellous tale; “Denique quum omnimodo Haroldus obsisteret, et numquam se Normannorum timore fugam inire responderet, principes Anglorum equum cui solus infidebat [insidebat?] enervaverunt, dicentes debere eum participem esse pœnarum qui tantum malum Angliæ solus intulerit.” This is one way indeed to account for the national tactics.

Footnote 1343

Roman de Rou, 12985–12999. Harold is here (see Appendix HH) made to say that he has four hundred thousand men of all kinds.

Footnote 1344

Ib. 13054;

“Guert, dist Heraut, por bien le fis; Jor li assis à samedi, Por ço ke samedi naski; Ma mere dire me soleit Ke à cel jor bien m’aveindreit.”

Compare the memorable Tuesdays in the life of Saint Thomas. Herbert, vii. 164 (Giles); Robertson’s “Becket,” 339.

Footnote 1345

Roman de Rou, 13093;

“Li quens de Flandres m’a traï; Mult fis ke fol ke jel’ créï, Kar par son brief m’aveit mandé, Et par messaige asséuré Ke Willame ne porreit mie Aveir si grant chevalerie.”

I can throw no more light on these dealings of Baldwin with Harold than I can upon his other no less mysterious dealings with William. See above, p. 312, and Appendix W.

Footnote 1346

See above, p. 457, &c.

Footnote 1347

Herod. vi. 112. Μανίην τε τοῖσι Ἀθηναίοισι ἐπέφερον καὶ πάγχυ ὀλεθρίην, ὁρέωντες αὐτοὺς ὀλίγους, καὶ τούτους δρόμῳ ἐπειγομένους, οὔτε ἵππου ὑπαρχούσης σφι οὔτε τοξευμάτων. Here however it was no case of δρόμῳ ἐπείγεσθαι.

Footnote 1348

Roman de Rou, 12929;

“Fet orent devant els escuz De fenestres è d’altres fuz, Devant els les orent levez Come cleies joinz è serrez; N’i lessierent nule jointure, Fet en orent devant closture. Par ù Normanz entrels venist, Ki descunfire les volsist. D’escuz è d’aiz s’avironerent, Issi desfendre se kuiderent; Et s’il se fussent bien tenu, Jà ne fussent li jor veincu.”

Will. Malms. iii. 241. “Pedites omnes cum bipennibus, consertâ ante se scutorum testudine, impenetrabilem cuneum faciunt; quod profectò illis eâ die saluti fuisset, nisi Normanni simulatâ fugâ more suo confertos manipulos laxâssent.” On the shield-wall, see vol. i. p. 300. Cf. the γέῤῥα of the Persians at Plataia, Herod. ix. 61 (see Blakesley’s note), and the palisade at Mykalê, ix. 97.

Footnote 1349

See vol. i. p. 298. Will. Pict. 133. “Protinùs, equorum ope relictâ, cuncti pedites constitere densiùs conglobati.” So Guy, 369;

“Nescia gens belli solamina spernit equorum, Viribus et fidens hæret humo pedibus, Et decus esse mori summum dijudicat armis, Sub juga ne tellus transeat alterius.”

(The Peterborough Chronicler himself could not have asked for a nobler panegyric on his countrymen than these two lines.) He presently adds (377);

“Omnes descendunt et equos post terga relinquunt, Affixique solo bella ciere tubis.”

Footnote 1350

See the quotation from William of Malmesbury at vol. i. p. 299.

Footnote 1351

Only one English archer is represented in the Tapestry, pl. 14. He is a small man without armour, crouching under the shield of a tall Housecarl, like Teukros under that of Aias; Il. viii. 267. Compare the remarks on the use of the bow at Stamfordbridge, p. 370.

Footnote 1352

The heavy-armed English in the Tapestry are largely armed with the axe, which one only of the light-armed in plate 15 seems to carry. Wace therefore is hardly accurate when he says (12927),

“Geldons Engleiz haches portoent, E gisarmes ki bien trenchoent.”

“Geldons” being said to mean peasants. He had before said (12839),

“Li vilain des viles aplouent, Tels armes portent com ils trovent, Machues portent è granz pels, Forches ferrées è tinels.”

The “lignis imposita saxa” of William of Poitiers (133) can hardly mean engines for hurling stones, but rather such rude weapons as are described in the text. Perhaps we may recognize them in the odd-looking clubs which are borne by the flying English in the Tapestry, pl. 16, and one of which is shown as hurled in pl. 14. Otherwise the light-armed are mainly armed with javelins, as in pl. 15. I follow the Tapestry throughout as to the equipment of the two classes of English.

Footnote 1353

Will. Malms. iii. 243. “Haroldus ... sæpe hostem cominùs venientem ferire, ut nullus impune accederet quin statim uno ictu equus et eques prociderent.” So the description in Wace (13400) of the exploits of an English warrior;

“A un Normant s’en vint tot dreit, Ki armé fu sor un destrier; Od la hache ki fu d’acier, El helme férir le kuida, Maiz li colp ultre escolorja; Par devant l’arcon glacéia La hache ki mult bien trencha; Li col del cheval en travers Colpa k’a terre vint li fers, E li cheval chaï avant Od tot son mestre à terre jus.”

Many groups in the Tapestry fully bear out this description. Does the special mention of “acier” imply that the Danish axe was, so late as this time, ever made of bronze? I believe that, vividly as the great axes of the eleventh century live in description and in stitch-work, no antiquary has ever lighted on a specimen. The clashing of axe and lance at Senlac can hardly fail to remind one of the saying of Sperthias and Boulis (Herod. vii. 135); εἰ γὰρ αὐτῆς [ἐλευθερίης] πειρήσαιο, οὐκ ἂν δόρασι συμβουλύοις ἡμῖν περὶ αὐτῆς μάχεσθαι, ἀλλὰ καὶ πελέκεσι.

Footnote 1354

Roman de Rou, 13733;

“Engleiz ne saveient joster, Ne à cheval armes porter; Haches è gisarmes teneient, Od tals armes se cumbateient. Hoem ki od hache volt férir, Od sez dous mainz l’estuet tenir, Ne pot entendre à sei covrir, S’il velt férir de grant aïr; Bien férir è covrir ensemble Ne pot l’en faire, ço me semble.”

This remark of Wace is well illustrated by many of the figures in the Tapestry.

Footnote 1355

Wid. Amb. 375;

“In summo montis vexillum vertice fixit, Affigique jubet cætera signa sibi.”

This seems a dark allusion to the double ensign.

Footnote 1356

See vol. i. p. 429. The passage of Henry of Huntingdon there quoted gives us just the explanation which is needed. The Tapestry (pl. 16) very distinctly shows the Dragon, and the other writers describe the Standard. Whether the Standard itself is shown in the Tapestry, pl. 14, I do not feel certain. If so, the Fighting Man is not discernible.

Footnote 1357

Æsch. Sept. c. Theb. 447;

ἐσχημάτισται δ’ ἀσπὶς οὐ σμικρὸν τρόπον’ ἀνὴρ δ’ ὁπλίτης, κ.τ.λ.

Footnote 1358

Will. Pict. 144. “Memorabile vexillum Heraldi, hominis armati imaginem intextam habens ex auro purissimo.” Will. Malms. iii. 241. “Vexillum ... erat in hominis pugnantis figurâ, auro et lapidibus arte sumptuosâ intextum.” So Roman de Rou, 12975;

“Li gonfanon fu mult vaillanz, D’or è de pierres reluisanz.”

Footnote 1359

Wid. Amb. 374. “Nobilibusque viris munit utrumque latus.” So Roman de Rou, 12973;

“Asez out entur li Baronz. Heraut fu lez si gonfanonz.”

Footnote 1360

Will. Malms, iii. 241. “Rex ipse pedes juxta vexillum stabat cum fratribus.” So William of Poitiers by implication (138); “Propius Regem fratres ejus duo reperti sunt.” Wace says (12971);

“Lewine è Guert furent od lui, Frere Heraut furent andui.”

And afterwards (13105), “Envirun els lor parenz furent.” On the strength of this I have ventured to introduce Hakon, as well as Ælfwig. The Abbot undoubtedly was there (see vol. ii. p. 644); and, if Harold had brought Hakon back from Normandy (see above, p. 242), he would hardly be away. I may perhaps have been somewhat influenced by the part which Hakon plays in Lord Lytton’s romance, where however he somewhat usurps the traditional functions of Gyrth.

Footnote 1361

“Granz haches tindrent en lor cols,” says Wace (13111), but none appears in the Tapestry with the axe hanging from the neck. Can “en lor cols” mean “on their shoulders”? In the Tapestry, pl. 14, an Englishman is distinctly shown resting his axe on his shoulder while he uses his spear.

Footnote 1362

See above, p. 444.

Footnote 1363

Flor. Wig. 1066. “Ab horâ diei tertiâ.” So Roman de Rou, 13265;

“Dez ke tierce del jor entra, Ke la bataille comença, De si ke none trespassa Fust si de si, fust si de là, Ke nus ne sout lequel veincreit, Ne ki la terre cunquerreit.”

But I cannot help noticing the tendency to make the hours of battles and of other great events coincide with the hours of the Church.

Footnote 1364

Roman de Rou, 13215;

“En la champaigne out un fossé; Normanz l’aveient adossé; En belliant l’orent passé, Ne l’aveient mie esgardé.”

Footnote 1365

Od. ix. 156;

Αὐτίκα καμπύλα τόξα καὶ αἰγανέας δολιχαύλους εἰλόμεθ’ ἐκ νηῶν· διὰ δὲ τρίχα κοσμηθέντες βάλλομεν.

Footnote 1366

Wace (13149 et seqq.) introduces him as “Taillefer ki mult bien cantout.” Guy of Amiens first calls him (391)

“Histrio, cor audax nimium quem nobilitabat;”

and afterwards (399)

“Incisor-ferri mimus cognomine dictus.”

Footnote 1367

Roman de Rou, 13151;

“Devant li Dus alout cantant De Karlemaine è de Rollant, E d’Oliver è des vassals Ki morurent en Renchevals.”

Will. Malms, iii. 242. “Tunc cantilenâ Rollandi inchoatâ, ut martium viri exemplum pugnaturos accenderet.” So in the Ludwigslied;

“Sang was gesungen, Wig was bigunnen.”

After the profanation of the name of the great Emperor, it is refreshing to turn to a word or two of his own speech.

Footnote 1368

I should hardly have ventured to accept this juggling trick on the sole authority of Henry of Huntington (M. H. B. 763 B), but we find it also in Guy, 393;

“Hortatur Gallos verbis, et territat Anglos; Altè projiciens ludit et ense suo.”

Footnote 1369

Will. Pict. 133. “Iis [the English missiles, see above, p. 473], veluti mole letiferâ, statim nostros obrui putares.”

Footnote 1370

Ib. “Altissimus clamor, hinc Normannicus, illinc barbaricus, armorum sonitu et gemitu morientium superatur.”

Footnote 1371

Roman de Rou, 13193;

“Normanz escrient; Dex aïe; La gent englesche, Ut s’escrie.”

Compare the dying words of Lewis the Pious in the Astronomer’s Life (64, Pertz, ii. 648); “Bis dixit, Hutz, hutz, quod significat foras. Unde patet quia malignum spiritum vidit,” &c. The English had to drive out less ghostly foes.

Footnote 1372

As we have two ensigns, a national and a personal one, so we evidently have a national and a personal war-cry. As, besides the Standard, Harold’s own Standard, we have the national Dragon, so we have the cry of “Holy Cross,” which cannot fail to be an invocation of Harold’s own Holy Cross of Waltham, and we have also another cry of “God Almighty,” which we must infer to be more strictly a national cry. We may fancy that the irregular levies shouted “God Almighty,” while the King’s Thegns and Housecarls shouted “Holy Cross.”

Footnote 1373

Compare the description of a widely different warfare;

“And one enormous shout of ‘Allah!’ rose In the same moment, loud as even the roar Of war’s most mortal engines, to their foes Hurling defiance: city, stream, and shore Resounded ‘Allah!’ and the clouds which close With thickening canopy the conflict o’er, Vibrate to the Eternal name. Hark through All sounds it pierceth, ‘Allah! Allah! Hu!’”

Don Juan, viii. 8.

Footnote 1374

We here get some more of Wace’s English. Roman de Rou, 13119;

“Olicrosse sovent crioent, E Godemite reclamoent; Olicrosse est en engleiz Ke Saints Croix est en franceiz, Et Godemite altretant Com en frenceiz Dex tot poissant.”

Footnote 1375

Will. Pict. 133. “Subveniunt equites, et qui posteriores fuere fiunt primi. Pudet eminùs pugnare; gladiis rem gerere audent.”

Footnote 1376

Ib. “Angli nimium adjuvantur superioris loci opportunitate, quem sine procursu tenent, et maximè conferti; atque ingenti quoque numerositate suâ atque validissimâ corpulentiâ; præterea pugnæ instrumentis, quæ facile per scuta vel alia tegmina viam inveniunt.” “Corpulentia” doubtless means height and general bigness. The English in the Tapestry are decidedly taller than the Normans. Compare the same remark on our continental kinsfolk, p. 90.

Footnote 1377

Will. Pict. 133. “Vulnerant et eos qui eminùs in se jacula conjiciunt.” So Wid. Amb. 415;

“Anglorum stat fixa solo densissima turba, Tela dat et telis et gladios gladiis.”

Footnote 1378

Will. Pict. u. s. “Fortissimè itaque sustinent vel propellunt ausos in se districtum ensibus impetum facere.” Cf. Il. xv. 708;

οὐδ’ ἄρα τοίγε τόξων ἀϊκὰς ἀμφὶς μένον οὐδέ τ’ ἀκόντων, ἀλλ’ οἵγ’ ἐγγύθεν ἱστάμενοι, ἕνα θυμὸν ἔχοντες, ὀξέσι δὴ πελέκεσσι καὶ ἀξίνῃσι μάχοντο, καὶ ξίφεσιν μεγάλοισι καὶ ἔγχεσιν ἀμφιγύοισι.

Footnote 1379

Will. Pict. 133. “Ecce igitur hâc sævitiâ perterriti avertuntur pedites pariter atque equites Britanni et quotquot auxiliares erant in sinistro cornu; cedit ferè cuncta Ducis acies; quod cum pace dictum sit Normannorum invictissimæ nationis.” So Guy, 444;

“Normanni fugiunt, dorsa tegunt clipei.”

(On the difference in the order of events between William and Guy see Appendix KK.) Cf. Eadmer (5, 6, copied by Roger of Howden, Bromton, and others); “De quo prœlio testantur adhuc Franci qui interfuerant, quoniam, licèt varius casus hic inde exstiterit, tamen tanta strages ac fuga Normannorum fuit, ut victoria quâ potiti sunt verè et absque dubio solo miraculo Dei adseribenda sit.”

Footnote 1380

See vol. i. p. 301.

Footnote 1381

Ib. p. 424.

Footnote 1382

Will. Pict. u. s. “Credidere Normanni Ducem ac dominum suum cecidisse.”

Footnote 1383

Will. Pict. 134. “Nudato insuper capite detractâque galeâ.” So Guy, 448; “Iratus galeâ nudat et ipse caput.” In the Tapestry, pl. 15, he simply raises his nose-piece. This was perhaps the real action, which it was hard to describe in an heroic fashion.

Footnote 1384

Wid. Amb. 449. “Vultum Normannis dat, verba precantia Gallis.”

Footnote 1385

Will. Pict. u. s. “Me, inquit, circumspicite. Vivo, et vincam, opitulante Deo. Quæ vobis dementia fugam suadet?” &c. The exact words are of course given differently in different accounts.

Footnote 1386

Ib. “Fugientibus occurrit et obstitit, verberans aut minans hastâ.” So Guy, 445;

“Dux ubi perspexit quod gens sua victa recedit, Occurrens illi signa ferendo manu, Increpat et cædit, retinet, constringit et hastâ.”

Yet it is at this moment that the Tapestry (pl. 15, “Hic est Willelm Dux”) shows him in the most marked way with his mace.

Footnote 1387

On the part taken by Eustace in the battle, see Appendix KK.

Footnote 1388

In the Tapestry, pl. 15, all William’s immediate comrades at this point, except Eustace, are shown with drawn swords.

Footnote 1389

Roman de Rou, 13243;

“Quant Odes li boen corunez, Ki de Baieues ert sacrez, Poinst, si lor dist, Estez, estez; Séiez en paiz, ne vos movez; N’aiez poor de nule rien, Kar se Dex plaist nos veincron bien. Issi furent asséuré, Ne se sunt mie remué. Odes revint puignant arière U la bataille esteit plus fière, Forment i a li jor valu.”

He is very plainly shown in the Tapestry, pl. 15; “Hic Odo Episcopus, baculum tenens, confortat pueros.” Odo is most prominent in the two authorities connected with his own church.

Footnote 1390

Will. Pict. 134. “Exardentes Normanni, et circumvenientes millia aliquot insequuta se, momento deleverunt ea, ut ne quidem unus superesset.” But Guy (463) seems to include other parts of the army also;

“Post illum reliqui feriunt ad corda reversi; Vires assumunt rejiciendo metum. Ut stipulæ flammis pereunt spirantibus auris, Sic a Francigenis, Anglica turba, ruis.”

Footnote 1391

I need hardly refer to the story of the Horatii and Curiatii in Livy (i. 24); “Forte in duobus tum exercitibus erant trigemini fratres, nec ætate nec viribus dispares.”

Footnote 1392

See above, p. 434.

Footnote 1393

Wid. Amb. 471;

“Heraldi frater, non territus ore leonis, Nomine Gernt, Regis traduce progenitus, Librando telum celeri volitante lacerto, Eminus emisso cuspide corpus equi Vulnerat, atque Ducem peditem bellare coegit; Sed pedes effectus dimicat et meliùs.”

So Will. Pict. 136. “Equi tres ceciderunt sub eo confossi. Ter ille desiluit intrepidus, nec diu mors vectoris inulta remansit.” So Will. Malms. iii. 244. “Dum ubique sævit, ubique infrendet, tres equos lectissimos sub se confossos eâ die amisit.” I find no account of the third unhorsing.

Footnote 1394

Od. ix. 49:

Ἤπειρον ναίοντες, ἐπιστάμενοι μὲν ἀφ’ ἵππων ἀνδράσι μάρνασθαι, καὶ ὅθι χρὴ πεζὸν ἐόντα.

Footnote 1395

On the different accounts of the death of Gyrth, see Appendix KK.

Footnote 1396

The death of Leofwine as well as of Gyrth is placed at this point in the Tapestry, pl. 14.

Footnote 1397

Liv. xxvii. 49. “Ibi, ut patre Hamilcare et Hannibale fratre dignum erat, pugnans cecidit.” Compare the reception of the news by Hannibal in c. 51.

Footnote 1398

Roman de Rou, 13874;

“Là ù la presse ert plus espesse, Là cil de Kent è cil d’Essesse A merveille se cumbateient, E li Normanz ruser faiseient, En sus les faiseient retraire, Ne lor poeient grant mal faire.”

Footnote 1399

Wid. Amb. 489;

“Ille timens cædem negat illi ferre salutem; Nam pavitat mortem, ceu lepus ante canem.”

But the other motive is just as likely in one “ex Cenomannorum progenitus genere.”

Footnote 1400

Ib. 491;

“Dux memor, ut miles subitò se vertit ad illum, Per nasum galeæ concitus accipiens, Vultum telluri, plantas ad sidera volvit; Sic sibi concessum scandere currit equum.”

Mark the mention of the nose-piece, so conspicuous in the Tapestry.

Footnote 1401

Ib. 501;

“Postquam factus eques Dux est, mox acriùs hostes Vulnerat, aggreditur, fulminat, insequitur.”

Footnote 1402

Ib. 503–518. The Englishman is described as

“Filius Hellocis, vir celer et facilis.”

I wish I knew how to identify him.

Footnote 1403

Ib. 525;

“Talibus auspiciis Comes et Dux associati, Quo magis arma micant, bella simul repetunt.”

Footnote 1404

Will. Pict. 134. “Patuerunt tamen in eos viæ incisæ per diversas partes fortissimorum militum ferro.”

Footnote 1405

Ib. “Tiro quidam Normannus Robertus, Rogerii de Bello-Monte filius ... prœlium illo die primum experiens, egit quod æternandum esset laude, cum legione quam in dextro cornu duxit irruens ac sternens magnâ cum audaciâ.” Wace (13462) seemingly confounds Robert with his father Roger, who was not there. See Prevost’s note, ii. 229, and above, p. 384. Mark how the allies and mercenaries are put under Norman officers.

Footnote 1406

Roman de Rou, 12941;

“Jà Normant ne s’i embastist, Ke l’alme à hunte ne perdist, Fust par hache, fust par gisarme, U par machue u par altre arme.”

Footnote 1407

See above, p. 161.

Footnote 1408

Wid. Amb. 421;

“Nec penetrare valent spissum nemus Angligenarum, Ni tribuat vires viribus ingenium.”

(The metaphor of the “nemus” or “silva” runs throughout Guy’s description.) So William of Malmesbury (ii. 228) speaks of Harold as being “astutiâ Willelmi circumventus.”

Footnote 1409

Will. Pict. 135. “Meminerunt quam optatæ rei paullò ante fuga dederit occasionem.”

Footnote 1410

The Brevis Relatio however (7) calls them “cuneus Normannorum fere usque ad mille equites.” But he adds that they were “ex alterâ parte” from the Duke’s own post.

Footnote 1411

Will. Pict. u. s. “Animadvertentes Normanni, sociaque turba, non absque nimio sui incommodo hostem tantum simul resistentem superari posse, terga dederunt, fugam ex industriâ simulantes.”

Footnote 1412

Guy of Amiens (425) marks clearly what troops they were who broke their order;

“Rustica lætatur gens et superâsse putabat, Post tergum nudis insequitur gladiis.”

William of Poitiers (135) is here very graphic; “Barbaris cum spe victoriæ ingens lætitia exorta est. Sese cohortantes exsultantè clamore nostros maledictis increpabant, et minabantur cunctos illicò ruituros esse.”

Footnote 1413

Will. Pict. 135. “Normanni repente regirati equis interceptos et inclusos undique mactaverunt, nullum relinquentes.” Brevis Relatio, 8. “Normanni, qui erant cautiores bello quam Angli, mox redierunt, atque inter illos et agmen a quo se disjunxerant, se immiserunt.” Wid. Amb. 433;

“Quique fugam simulant instantibus ora retorquent, Constrictos cogunt vertere dorsa neci. Pars ibi magna perit, pars et densata resistit, Millia namque decem sunt ibi passa necem.”

Footnote 1414

Will. Malms. iii. 242. “Ita ingenio circumventi, pulcram mortem pro patriæ ultione meruere: nec tamen ultioni suæ defuere, quin crebrò consistentes, de insequentibus insignes cladis acervos facerent; nam, occupato tumulo, Normannos, calore succensos acriter ad superiora nitentes, in vallem dejiciunt, levique negotio in subjectos tela torquentes, lapides rotantes, omnes ad unum fundunt.” The scene is vividly shown in the Tapestry, pl. 15, and the defenders of the little hill are all light-armed.

Footnote 1415

Will. Malms. iii. 242. “Item fossatum quoddam præruptum, compendiario et noto sibi transitu evadentes, tot ibi inimicorum conculcavere, ut cumulo cadaverum planitiem campi æquarent.” On this last proverbial saying, see above, pp. 351, 369, and Appendix CC. This scene is most vividly shown in the Tapestry, pl. 15; “Hic ceciderunt simul Angli et Franci in prœlio.” It must not be confounded with the similar event later in the day on the other side of the hill. See Appendix KK.

Footnote 1416

Wid. Amb; 427;

“Amotis sanis labuntur dilacerati, Silvaque spissa priùs rarior efficitur.”

Footnote 1417

This was evidently the case, and this is, I suppose, what Guy of Amiens means in his somewhat difficult lines (429);

“Conspicit ut campum cornu tenuare sinistrum, Intrandi dextrum quod via larga patet.”

“Dextrum” would thus mean the English right.

Footnote 1418

Will. Pict. 135. “Fit deinde insoliti generis pugna, quam altera pars incursibus et diversis motibus agit, altera, velut humo adfixa, tolerat.... Mortui plus dum cadunt, quam vivi moveri videntur. Leviter sauciatos non permittit evadere, sed comprimendo necat, sociorum densitas.” He had before said (134), “Ob nimiam densitatem eorum labi vix potuerunt interempti.” So Guy, 417;

“Spiritibus nequeunt frustrata cadavera sterni, Nec cedunt vivis corpora militibus: Omne cadaver enim, vitâ licet evacuatam, Stat velut illæsum, possidet atque locum.”

Footnote 1419

Will. Pict. u. s. “Reliquos majori cum alacritate aggressi sunt, aciem adhuc horrendam et quam difficillimum erat circumvenire.”

Footnote 1420

See above, p. 477. Wace makes three o’clock the time when William gave the order to shoot up into the air. I cannot help thinking that it must have been much nearer sunset when that order was given, and that the hour of vespers rather marks the time when the Normans first got on the hill.

Footnote 1421

Of the long list of stories of this kind given by Wace (13387 et seqq.) I pick out a few of the more remarkable.

Footnote 1422

See above, p. 474, note 1.

Footnote 1423

Will. Malms, iii. 242–244. “Emicuit ibi virtus amborum ducum. Haroldus, non contentus munere imperatorio ut hortaretur alios, militis officium sedulò exequebatur.... Item Willelmus suos clamore et præsentiâ hortari, ipse primus procurrere, confertos hostes invadere.” Cf. vol. i. p. 424.

Footnote 1424

Will. Pict. 136. “Cum Heraldo, tali qualem poëmata dicunt Hectorem vel Turnum, non minùs auderet Willelmus congredi singulari certamine quam Achilles cum Hectore vel Æneas cum Turno.”

Footnote 1425

Roman de Rou, 13845–13872.

Footnote 1426

Ib. 13910–13915.

Footnote 1427

Ib. 13388;

“Quant un Engleiz vint acorant; En sa cumpaigne out chent armez, De plusors armes atornez. Hache noresche out mult bele.”

It has been suggested that this centurion may have been a hundred-man or centenarius.

Footnote 1428

Roman de Rou, 13428–13461. The sworn brotherhood is thus described;

“Ki s’esteient acumpaignié Por ço ke bien erent preisié. Ensemble debveient aler, Li uns debveit l’altre garder.”

Of their axes we read, as of that of Harold;

“En lors cols aveient levées Dui gisarmes lunges è lées; As Normanz feseient granz mals, Homes tuoent è chevals.”

It is hard to identify any of these stories with the particular groups in the Tapestry, but in plates 15 and 16 several single combats of this kind may be seen, which well illustrate the deadly effect of the English axes.

Footnote 1429

Roman de Rou, 13751–13764. This story is told with great spirit. The four last lines run;

“Maiz li Engleiz l’avironerent, Od lor gisarmes le tuerent: Là fu trové quant il fu quis, Lez l’estandart mort et occis.”

On his kindred to Ralph of Tesson (see vol. ii. p. 256) see Prevost’s note, ii. 265.

Footnote 1430

Roman de Rou, 13395;

“En la bataille el primer front, La ù Normanz plus espez sont, En vint saillant plus tost ke cers.”

This encounter (described by Wace, 13387–13423) is worth notice on several grounds. I have quoted some lines above, p. 494. The Englishman is at last killed by Roger of Montgomery, who exclaims, “Ferez, Franceiz.” M. Pluquet (ii. 227) here comments on the Norman Roger calling his men “French.” The name of “Franci” (see above, p. 419) would take in all William’s followers, but Roger of Montgomery was (see above, p. 459) in the immediate command of the distinctly French contingent.

Footnote 1431

Will. Pict. 135. “Languent Angli, et quasi reatum ipso defectu confitentes vindictam patiuntur.” So Guy, 527;

“Amborum gladiis campus rarescit ab Anglis, Defluit et numerus, nutat et atteritur, Corruit appositâ ceu silva minuta securi, Sic nemus Angligentûm ducitur ad nihilum.”

Footnote 1432

Wid. Amb. 533;

“... Dux prospexit Regem super ardua montis Acriter instantes dilacerare suos.”

Will. Malms. iii. 242. “Valuit hæc vicissitudo, modò illis modò istis vincentibus, quantùm Haroldi vita moram fecit.”

Footnote 1433

Flor. Wig. 1066. “Ab horâ diei tertiâ usque noctis crepusculum suis adversariis restitit fortissimè, et seipsum pugnando tam fortiter defendit et tam strenuè ut vix ab hostili interimi posset agmine.” Od. ix. 56;

ὄφρα μὲν ἠὼς ἦν καὶ ἀέξετο ἱερὸν ἦμαρ, τόφρα δ’ ἀλεξάμενοι μένομεν πλέονάς περ ἐόντας· ἦμος δ’ ἠέλιος μετενίσσετο βουλυτόνδε, καὶ τότε δὴ Κίκονες κλῖναν δαμάσαντες Ἀχαιούς.

Footnote 1434

See the full account in the Roman de Rou, 13275–13296. So Henry of Huntingdon (M. H. B. 763); “Docuit igitur Dux Willielmus viros sagittarios ut non in hostem directè, sed in aëra sursum sagittas emitterent, cuneum hostilem sagittis cæcarent, quod Anglis magno fuit detrimento.” Henry is copied by Ralph of Diss, X Scriptt. 480, and Bromton, 960.

Footnote 1435

Roman de Rou, 13287;

“Quant li saetes reveneient, De sor les testes lor chaeient, Chiés è viaires lor perçoent, Et à plusors les oilz crevoent; Ne n’osoent les oilz ovrir, Ne lor viaires descovrir.”

Footnote 1436

Ib. 13293;

“Saetes plus espessement Voloent ke pluie par vent.”

So Henry of Huntingdon (u. s.), who is again followed by Ralph and Bromton; “Interea totus imber sagittariorum cecidit circa Regem Haraldum, et ipse in oculo percussus corruit.”

Footnote 1437

Wid. Amb. 543;

“Per nimias cædes nam bellica jura tenentes Heraldus cogit pergere carnis iter.”

Footnote 1438

Roman de Rou, 13297;

“Issi avint k’une saete Ki de verz li ciel ert chaete, Féri Heraut de sus l’oil dreit, Ki l’un des oilz li a toleit; E Heraut l’a par aïr traite, Getée a les mains, si l’a fraite. Por li chief ki l’a dolu S’est apuié sor son escu.”

This scene, the turning-point of all English history, is vividly shown in the Tapestry, pl. 16. Wace places it too early in the battle. William of Poitiers and the English writers do not mention the manner of the King’s death. All that Florence can utter is “heu, ipsemet cecidit crepusculi tempore.” William of Malmesbury (iii. 242) says, “Jactu sagittæ violato cerebro procubuit,” and in the next chapter, after describing Harold’s exploits (see above, p. 474), how every Norman who came near him was cut down, adds the remarkable expression, “quapropter, ut dixi, eminùs letali arundine ictus mortem implevit.” Compare—if any comparison be not sacrilege—the death of Richard, son of Richard King of the Romans, at the siege of Berwick in 1296 (Walt. Hem. ii. 98); “Ibi corruit frater Comitis Cornubiæ, miles strenuissimus [Harold’s own epithet], qui quum ad hostes caput in altum erigeret, in ipsum oculari aperturâ galeæ percussus telo, confestim cecidit et expiravit.” Between 1066 and 1296 the nose-piece had been exchanged for the vizor.

Footnote 1439

Hen. Hunt. M. H. B. 763 C. “Viginti autem equites strenuissimi fidem suam dederunt invicem quod Anglorum catervam perrumpentes signum regium quod vocatur Standard arriperent. Quod dum facerent, plures eorum occisi sunt; pars autem eorum, viâ gladiis factâ, Standard asportavit.” But it would seem from Wace that it was rather the Dragon which was carried off (13956);

“L’estendart unt à terre mis, Et li Reis Heraut unt occis E li meillor de ses amis; Li gonfanon à or unt pris.”

So directly after (13965); “E l’estendart out abatu.” And so again, 14013.

Footnote 1440

Hen. Hunt. M. H. B. 763 C. “Irrumpens autem multitudo equitum Regem vulneratum interfecit.”

Footnote 1441

Guy of Amiens (537) gives their names. Eustace has been already mentioned;

“Alter ut Hectorides, Pontivi nobilishæres; Hos comitatur Hugo promptus in officio; Quartus Gilfardus patris a cognomine dictus; Regis ad exitium quattuor arma ferunt.”

Footnote 1442

Compare the four murderers of Saint Thomas, who however needed a fifth, and that a clerical hand, to imitate this particular act of brutality. Will. Fil. Steph. 303. “Quidam Hugo de Horsea, cognomento Malus Clericus, sancti martyris procumbentis collum pede comprimens, a concavitate coronæ amputatæ, cum mucrone cruorem et cerebrum extrahebat.” Cf. Edw. Grim, 77; Reg. Pont. 168.

Guy leaves out all mention of the wound from the arrow.

Footnote 1443

Wid. Amb. 549;

“Abscidit coxam quartus procul egit ademptam; Taliter occisum terra cadaver habet.”

This action is very clearly shown in the Tapestry, pl. 16. So Wace, 13942.

Footnote 1444

Will. Malms. iii. 243. “Jacentis femur unus militum gladio proscidit; unde a Willelmo ignominiæ notatus, quod rem ignavam et pudendam fecisset, militiâ pulsus est.” But I certainly cannot identify the one among the four mentioned by Guy who was punished in this way by William.

The death of Harold reminds one of the death of Patroklos (Il. xvi. 818);

Ἔκτωρ δ’, ὡς εἶδεν Πατροκλῆα μεγάθυμον ἂψ ἀνάχαζόμενον, βεβλημένον ὀξέϊ χαλκῷ, ἀγχίμολόν ῥά οἱ ἦλθε κατὰ στίχας, οὖτα δὲ δουρὶ νείατον ἐς κενεῶνα· διὰ πρὸ δὲ χαλκὸν ἔλασσε.

Footnote 1445

The resistance of the heavy-armed English after the death of Harold is shown most distinctly in the Tapestry, pl. 16; but it is confined to the heavy-armed.

Footnote 1446

Will. Pict. 137. “Viderunt Normannos non multum decrevisse peremptorum casu, et quasi virium incrementa pugnando sumerent, acriùs quam in principio imminere.”

Footnote 1447

Flor. Wig. 1066. “Comites etiam Gyrth et Leofwinus fratres illius cecidere, et fere nobilitas totius Angliæ.” This is an enlargement of the Worcester Chronicle; “Ðær wearð ofslægen Harold Kyng and Leofwine Eorl his broðor and Gyrð Eorl his broðor and fela godra manna.”

Footnote 1448

Guy indeed says (553), “Bella negant Angli; veniam poscunt superati,” but nothing of the sort is implied either in William of Poitiers or in the Tapestry. William (137) speaks of “Ducis eam sævitiam quæ nulli contra stanti parceret,” and the Tapestry (pl. 16) shows all the heavy-armed English lying dead.

Footnote 1449

See above, p. 427.

Footnote 1450

See below, p. 508.

Footnote 1451

Chron. Petrib. 1066. “And þa wæs Leofric Abbot of Burh æt þæt ilca feord, and sæclode þær, and com ham, and wæs dæd sone þæræfter on ælre halgan mæsse-niht.”

Footnote 1452

Wid. Amb. 681;

“Intus erat quidam contractus debilitate Renum, sicque pedum segnis ab officio; Vulnera pro patriâ quoniam numerosa recepit; Lecticâ vehitur mobilitate carens.”

This is said of “Ansgardus,” whom I hold to be the same as Esegar. See above, p. 424, and Appendix EE.

Footnote 1453

Wid. Amb. 557;

“Vesper erat, jam cardo diem volvebat ad umbras, Victorem fecit quum Deus esse Ducem. Solum devictis nox et fuga profuit Anglis, Densi per latebras et tegimen nemoris.”

Footnote 1454

Tapestry, pl. 16. “Fugâ vertunt Angli.” The fliers are all light-armed.

Footnote 1455

See vol. i. p. 301.

Footnote 1456

Will. Pict. 137. “In fugam itaque conversi quantociùs abierunt, alii raptis equis, nonnulli pedites.”

Footnote 1457

This adventure of Eustace is described at length by William of Poitiers (137). William seems now to be armed with a broken lance; “Terribilior cum parte hastæ quam grandia spicula vibrantes.” He calls back Eustace from his flight; “Eustachium Comitem cum militibus quinquaginta aversum et receptui signa canere volentem ne abiret virili voce compellavit.” The blow given to Eustace is thus described (138); “Hæc inter verba percussus Eustachius inter scapulas ictu sonoro, cujus gravitatem statim sanguis demonstrabat naribus et ore.”

Footnote 1458

This last scene of the battle is left out by Wace and Guy of Amiens, but it comes out very strongly in William of Poitiers, 137; “Rediit tamen fugientibus confidentia, nactis ad renovandum certamen maximam opportunitatem, prærupti vallis [valli?] et frequentium fossarum.” Orderic (501 D), who partly follows William of Jumièges (vii. 36), is fuller; “Nam crescentes herbæ antiquum aggerem tegebant, ubi summopere currentes Normanni cum equis et armis ruebant; ac sese, dum unus super alterum repente cadebat, vicissim exstinguebant. Ibi nimirum fugientibus Anglis rediit confidentia. Cernentes enim opportunitatem prærupti valli et frequentium fossarum, inopinatò restiterunt, in unum collecti sunt, et Normannis magnam stragem fortiter intulerunt.” He says that fifteen thousand of the Normans were killed at this point, which must surely be the number of the slain in the whole battle. He mentions one only by name, “Eginulfus Aquilensis oppidanus.” The name of Malfosse comes from the Chronicon de Bello, 5. See Appendix KK.

I do not feel at all clear about the reading of the words in Italics. There is a “prærupta vallis,” but the palisade could hardly be called a “vallum,” and I greatly doubt about Orderic’s “antiquus agger.” The gender of “vallis” however in William of Poitiers is odd.

Footnote 1459

Will. Malms. iii. 245. “Illa fuit dies fatalis Angliæ, funestum excidium dulcis patriæ, pro novorum dominorum commutatione.”

Footnote 1460

Hen. Hunt. lib. vi.; Scriptt. p. Bed. 212. “Quum jam Domini justam voluntatem super Anglorum gentem Normanni complêssent, nec jam vix aliquis princeps de progenie Anglorum esset in Angliâ, sed omnes ad servitutem et ad mœrorem redacti essent; ita etiam ut Anglicum vocari esset opprobrio.”

Footnote 1461

Ib. lib. vii.; Scriptt. p. Bed. 213. “Declaratum constat quomodò Dominus salutem et honorem genti Anglorum pro meritis abstulerit et jam populum non esse jusserit.”

Footnote 1462

See the quotation from Eadmer in p. 482.

Footnote 1463

Will. Pict. 138. “Sic victoriâ consummatâ, ad aream belli regressus, repperit stragem, quam non absque miseratione conspexit, tametsi factam in impios, tametsi tyrannum occidere sit pulcrum, famâ gloriosum, beneficio gratum.” Cf. vol. ii. p. 285, note 3.

Footnote 1464

Chron. Wig. 1066. “And þa Frencyscan ahton wælstowe geweald, eallswa heom God uðe for folces synnon.”

Footnote 1465

Will. Pict. 138. “Latè solum operuit sordidatus in cruore flos Anglicæ nobilitatis atque juventutis.”

Footnote 1466

Roman de Rou, 14026;

“Ki par noit kuident relever, Et par noit kuident escaper; Maiz mult se kuident ainz vengier, Et mult se kuident vendre chier. Ne chaut chescun de sa vie, Ne li chaut poiz ki l’ocie, Mais ke il ait un Normant mort.”

This remarkable passage throws light on the escape of Esegar and Leofric.

Footnote 1467

Ib. 14055;

“Li colps virent granz en l’escu E li helme out quassé véu.”

Will. Malms, iii. 244. “Et proculdubio divina ilium manus protexit, ut nihil sanguinis ex ejus corpore hostis hauriret, quamquam ilium tot jaculis impeteret.” If we can believe Guy of Amiens (555), William had killed two thousand Englishmen with his own hand;

“Dux ibi per numerum duo millia misit ad Orcum, Exceptis aliis millibus innumeris.”

Footnote 1468

Roman de Rou, 14073;

“A la champaigne la nuit jut, Entre li morz mainga è but. Diemaine fu el demain.”

Footnote 1469

Wid. Amb. 561;

“Inter defunctos noctem pausando peregit Victor, et exspectat Lucifer ut redeat.”

Footnote 1470

Ib. 567;

“Illuxit postquam Phœbi clarissima lampas Et mundum furvis expiat à tenebris, Lustravit campum, tollens et cæsa suorum Corpora, Dux terræ condidit in gremio.”

Footnote 1471

Will. Pict. 139. “Par fuisset Anglorum, qui sese per injuriam tantam pessumdederunt in mortem, carnes gulâ vulturis lupique devorari, ossibus insepultis campos fore sepultos. Cæterum illi crudele visu est tale supplicium. Volentibus ad humandum eos colligere liberam concessit potestatem.” So more at length, Roman de Rou, 14083–14092. Guy however (571) says,

“Vermibus atque lupis, avibus canibusque voranda, Deserit Anglorum corpora strata solo.”

The easiest way to reconcile the statements is that William did not order the burial of the English; he allowed the bodies which were claimed to be carried away, but those which were unclaimed remained unburied.

Footnote 1472

Of William’s dealings with the New Minster I shall have to speak in my next volume.

Footnote 1473

William of Poitiers (138) simply says, “Propiùs Regem fratres ejus duo reperti sunt.”

Footnote 1474

Roman de Rou, 14083;

“Li nobles dames de la terre Sunt alées lor maris querre; Li unes vunt quérant lor peres, U lor espos u filz u freres; A lor villes les emporterent, E as mostiers les en terrerent.”

Footnote 1475

See Appendix K.

Footnote 1476

See vol. ii. p. 630.

Footnote 1477

Ulf the son of Harold (see Flor. Wig. 1087) can hardly fail to have been a child of Ealdgyth. See Lappenberg, p. 557 (vol. ii. p. 304, Thorpe). If Harold’s marriage with Ealdgyth took place after his election (see Appendix F), Ulf must have been a posthumous child.

Footnote 1478

Flor. Wig. 1066. “Cujus [Haroldi] morte auditâ, Comites Edwinus et Morkarus ... Lundoniam venere, et sororem suam Aldgitham Reginam sumptam ad Civitatem Legionum misere.”

Footnote 1479

De Inv. c. 20. “Viso hoc infausto auspicio, multo dolore correpti, duos fratres de ecclesiâ præcipuos et majores natu, Osegodum Cnoppe et Ailricum Childemaister, in comitatu Regis miserunt ad prœlium, ut, cognitis rei eventibus, de corpore Regis et suorum ecclesiæ devotorum curam agerent, et, si fortuna sic daret, cadavera reportarent.” Was Æthelric “Magister Scholarum” between Adelard and his son? See vol. ii. p. 444.

Footnote 1480

Ib. c. 21. “Fatales hos Regis eventus sequuti fuerant a longè ut viderent finem.”

Footnote 1481

Wid. Amb. 577;

“Heraldi mater, nimio constricta dolore, Misit adusque Ducem, postulat et precibus Orbatæ miseræ natis tribus et viduatæ, Pro tribus unius reddat ut ossa sibi, Si placet, aut corpus puro præponderet auro.”

Will. Malms. iii. 247. “Corpus Haroldi matri repetenti sine pretio misit, licet illa multum per legatos obtulisset.” (On the difference between these two accounts, see Appendix MM.) Both these versions make Gytha simply send; but the words of William of Poitiers (138) seem to me rather to imply that she came personally; “Tumulandum eum Willelmo agnomine Maletto concessit, non matri pro corpore dilectæ prolis auri par pondus offerenti.” So Orderic (502 C); “Mœsta igitur mater Guillelmo Duci pro corpore Heraldi par auri pondus obtulit.”

Footnote 1482

Il. xxii. 351:

οὐδ’ εἴ κεν σ’ αὐτὸν χρυσῷ ἐρύσασθαι ἀνώγοι Δαρδανίδης Πρίαμος· οὐδ’ ὥς σέ γε πότνια μήτηρ ἐνθεμένη λεχέεσσι γοήσεται, ὃν τέκεν αὐτὴ, ἀλλὰ κύνες τε καὶ οἰωνοὶ κατὰ πάντα δάσονται.

He afterwards (Il. xxiv. 578) receives the gifts of Priam; that is, he does not refuse them; but they seem to have no share in bringing about his change of purpose.

Footnote 1483

Will. Pict. 138. “Scivit non decere tali commercio aurum accipi. Æstimavit indignum fore ad matris libitum sepeliri, cujus ob nimiam cupiditatem insepulti remanerent innumerabiles. Dictum est illudendo, oportere situm esse custodem littoris et pelagi, quæ cum armis ante vesanus insedit.” So directly after “in littoreo tumulo jaces.”

Footnote 1484

Wid. Amb. 582;

“Sed Dux iratus prorsùs utrumque negat; Jurans quod potiùs præsentis littora portûs Illi committet aggere sub lapidum. Ergo velut fuerat testatus, rupis in alto Præcepit claudi vertice corpus humi.”

Cf. Il. vii. 86;

σῆμά τέ οἱ χεύσωσιν ἐπὶ πλατεῖ Ἑλληςπόντῳ κ.τ.λ.

Footnote 1485

De Inv. 21. “Fratres ... currunt ad cadavera, et vertentes ea huc et illuc, Domini Regis corpus agnoscere non valentes.” It will be easily seen that I am blending two stories. See Appendix MM.

Footnote 1486

See Appendix NN.

Footnote 1487

De Inv. c. 21. “Secretiora in eo signa noverat ceteris ampliùs, ad ulteriora intima secretorum admissa, quatinus ipsius notitiâ certificarentur secretis indiciis qui exterioribus non poterant.” So Will. Pict. 138. “Ipse, carens omni decore, quibusdam signis, nequaquam facie, recognitus est.” Compare the finding of Tostig, p. 373. A story of the same sort is told by Rudolf Glaber (lib. iii. c. 9; Duchèsne, iv. 38) of Odo of Champagne.

Footnote 1488

See Hist. Fed. Gov. vol. i. p. 451.

Footnote 1489

Wid. Amb. 573;

“Heraldi corpus collegit dilaceratum, Collectum texit sindone purpureâ, Detulit et secum repetens sua castra marina, Expleat ut solitas funeris exsequias.”

Footnote 1490

Ib. 587;

“Extemplo quidam partim Normannus et Anglus, Compater Heraldi, jussa libenter agit: Corpus enim Regis citò sustulit et sepelivit, Imponens lapidem, scripsit et in titulo: ‘Per mandata Ducis, Rex, hic, Heralde, quiescis, Ut custos maneas littoris et pelagi.’”

See the quotation from William of Poitiers, p. 512. So Ord. Vit. 502 B.

Footnote 1491

See Appendix MM.

Footnote 1492

This tale is the main subject of the Vita Haroldi in the Chroniques Anglo-Normandes, vol. ii. See especially pp. 173–184, 194–222.

Footnote 1493

Vit. Har. 173. “A duobus, ut fertur, mediocribus viris, quos francalanos sive agricolas vocant, agnitus et callidè occultatus.”

Footnote 1494

Ib. 174. “Transfretavit igitur in Germaniam, generis sui genitricem aditurus Saxoniam ... cognatos ad ferenda propriæ stirpi suffragia instanter sollicitat.” He goes to Denmark in p. 175.

Footnote 1495

See vol. i. p. 68.

Footnote 1496

A false—Matthew Paris thinks a true—Baldwin, was hanged in Flanders in 1224. See Mat. Par. 322 Wats. On the false Sebastians, see the work of M. d’Antas, “Les Faux Don Sébastien,” Paris, 1866.

Footnote 1497

Fuller, History of Waltham Abbey, p. 259. Cf. Knighton, 2343.

Footnote 1498

There was a twofold translation of Waltheof (see Ord. Vit. 537 A, 543 A), and seemingly of Harold also.

Footnote 1499

De Inv. c. 21. “Cujus corporis translationi, quum sic se habebat status ecclesiæ fabricandi, vel devotio fratrum reverentiam corpori exhibentium, nunc extremè memini me tertiò adfuisse, et sicut vulgò celebre est, et attestationes antiquorum audivimus, plagas ipsis ossibus impressas oculis corporeis et vidisse et manibus contrectâsse.” He could probably just remember the translation in the dim way that a child remembers things, but his recollection was strengthened by hearing the story from older members of the house.

Footnote 1500

Il. xxiv. 804.

Footnote 1501

Walt. Hem. ii. 266–267. “Ordinaverunt de corpore Regis quod ... maneret in ecclesiâ religiosorum de Waltham, donec ... vacaret eis intendere sepulturæ; factumque est ita.”

Footnote 1502

The wonderful analogy between the two great Edwards, the son of Ælfred and the son of Henry the Third, strikes us at every stage of the history of the two. See above, p. 38.

Footnote 1503

The authorities for this Chapter are the same as for the last, except that the Bayeux Tapestry now fails us.

Footnote 1504

Guy of Amiens (595) says, after mentioning Harold’s burial,

“Nomine postposito Ducis, et sic Rege locato, Hinc regale sibi nomen adeptus abit.”

Footnote 1505

Will. Malms. ii. 228. “Quasi cum Haroldo omne robur deciderit Angliæ.”

Footnote 1506

Chron. Wig. 1066. “And Wyllelm eorl for eft ongean to Hæstingan, and geanbidode þær hwæðer man him to bugan wolde.”

Footnote 1507

Ib. “Ac þa he ongeat þæt man him to cuman nolde.”

Footnote 1508

Will. Pict. 141. “Erat videlicet eorum voti summa non habere dominum quem non habuere compatriotam.”

Transcriber’s Note: This footnote was cut short in the original printing, at “Will. Pict. 141. “Erat videlicet eorum voti summa non habere domi-”; the rest of the sentence has been completed by comparison with another edition of the book.

Footnote 1509

Roman de Rou, 13986;

“Engleiz ki del champ eschaperent, De si à Lundres ne finerent: Ço diseient è so creimeient Ke li Normanz prez les sueient.”

He goes on to say that many were drowned through their eagerness to cross the bridge into the city.

Footnote 1510

See above, p. 501.

Footnote 1511

Flor. Wig. 1066. “Cujus [Haroldi] morte auditâ, Comites Edwinus et Morkarus ... Londoniam venere.” William of Malmesbury, less probably (iii. 247), makes them hear the news in London, “apud Londoniam audito interitûs Haroldi nuntio.”

Footnote 1512

See above, p. 511.

Footnote 1513

Will. Pict. 141. “Tum verò confluxerat ad ipsam hospes turba propugnatorum, quam, licet ambitu nimis ampla, non facilè capiebat.” So Guy of Amiens, 641;

“Hanc bello superata petit gens improba, sperans Vivere per longum libera tempus in hâc.”

Footnote 1514

Flor. Wig. “Aldredus autem Eboracensis Archiepiscopus, et iidem Comites [Edwinus et Morkarus], cum civibus Lundoniensibus et butsecarlis, Clitonem Eadgarum, Eadmundi Ferrei Lateris nepotem, in Regem levare voluere.”

Footnote 1515

See Appendix NN.

Footnote 1516

Guy of Amiens (645) has here a very singular statement;

“Unà, postremùm rectores atque potentes Tali consilio consuluere sibi: Scilicet ut puerum natum de traduce Regis Hi Regem sacrent, ne sine Rege forent.”

“Tradux Regis” must mean either Godwine or Harold. In an earlier passage (472) it means Godwine. The passage then implies that either a brother or a son of Harold was chosen. I do not however take this as showing that there really was any movement in favour of one of Harold’s sons, but rather that Guy fancied that Eadgar was a son or brother of Harold.

Footnote 1517

As I before said, there is no trustworthy evidence as to Waltheof’s presence or absence at Senlac. A priori, it is about equally strange if he stayed away and if, being there, he came back alive. Snorro, who still calls Waltheof Harold’s brother, unhesitatingly takes him to the battle; “Þar voró þá med Haralldi brædor hans Sveinn (!) oc Gyrdir oc Valþiófr Jarl.” (Johnstone, p. 218; Laing, iii. 95.) But he goes on to give an account of an exploit of Waltheof after the battle, the burning of a hundred Normans who had taken shelter in a wood, which seems to be transferred from Waltheof’s doings at York in 1068. See above, p. 372.

Footnote 1518

Will. Malms, iii. 247. “Edwinus et Morcardus, amplæ spei fratres, ... urbanos sollicitaverant ut alterutrum in regnum sublevarent.”

Footnote 1519

See the quotation from Florence in p. 526. So Will. Pict. 140. “Regem statuerant Edgarum Athelinum, ex Edwardi Regis nobilitate, annis puerum.” Ord. Vit. 502 D. “Interemto Heraldo, Stigandus Cantuariensis Archiepiscopus, et præclari Comites Eduinus et Morcarus, aliique primates Anglorum qui Senlacio bello non interfuerunt, Edgarum Clitonem filium Eduardi Regis Hunorum [see vol. ii. p. 622], filii Edmundi Irnesidæ, id est Ferrei-Lateris, Regem statuerunt.” Benoît (37742), translating William of Poitiers (see above, p. 525), says;

“Esleu unt e fait seignor D’un chevalier mult jent meschin Qui ert apelé Addelin, De la lignée au bon Ewart; Fust od dutance ou à regart, En firent rei: kar por morir Ne porreient-il-ce soffrir Qu’eussent rei en Engleterre Qu’estraiz e nez fut d’autre terre.”

Yet young Eadgar was hardly more than an Englishman by courtesy.

Footnote 1520

This is implied in the quotation from Florence in p. 526.

Footnote 1521

Will. Malms. iii. 247. “Cæteri proceres Edgarum eligerent, si Episcopos assertores haberent.” The “cæteri proceres” are opposed to Eadwine and Morkere. “Sed proximo urgente periculo et domesticæ litis dissidio, nec illud quidem effectum.” The apparent discrepancies in the several accounts may, I think, be reconciled by assuming the course of events to have been as I have given it in the text. Men hardly knew how to describe an election which was followed by an abdication of the King-elect before the day of coronation came.

Footnote 1522

Ealdred, as we have seen, is mentioned by Florence, who, as a Worcester man, traces his career with special interest; the Norman writers mention Stigand, naturally the more prominent of the two Primates in their eyes. So Will. Pict. 140 (followed by Benoît, 37731); “Interea Stigandus Cantuariensis Archipræsul, qui, sicut excellebat opibus atque dignitate, ita consultis plurimùm apud Anglos poterat, cum filiis Algardi aliisque præpotentibus, prœlium minantur.”

Footnote 1523

They are mentioned a little later by Florence among the Bishops and others who submitted to William at Berkhampstead.

Footnote 1524

The Worcester Chronicler, after describing the submission of Berkhampstead, adds; “And þæt wæs micel unræd þæt man æror swa ne dyde, þa hit God betan nolde for urum synnum.”

Footnote 1525

See above, p. 501.

Footnote 1526

Chron. Petrib. 1066. “Da cusan þa, munecas to abbot Brand prouost, forðan þæt he wæs swiðe god man, and swiðe wis; and senden him þa to Ædgar Aðeling, forðan þet þe landfolc wendon þœt he sceolde cyng wurðen.” These words certainly seem to me to imply that Eadgar was not “full King,” that he was not crowned. Thierry places the story of Brand later, after William’s coronation, perhaps because the Chronicler goes on to speak of “cyng Willelm.” But that entry was evidently made later than 1066, perhaps after the sad events of 1070.

Footnote 1527

Ib. “And se Æðeling hit him geatte þa bliþolice.”

Footnote 1528

Flor. Wig. 1066. “Ad pugnam descendere multi se paravere.” He had just before spoken of the citizens and the “butsecarls.” Cf. Guy of Amiens, 653;

“Sparsit fama volans quod habet Londonia Regem; Gaudet et Anglorum qui superest populus.”

Footnote 1529

On the age of Eadgar see Appendix OO.

Footnote 1530

Flor. Wig. 1066. “Iidem Comites ... cum eo se pugnam inituros promisere, sed ... suum auxilium ab eis retraxere et cum suo exercitu domum redierunt.” So William of Malmesbury, iii. 247; “Quod [their own election] frustra conati, Northanhimbriam discesserant, ex suo conjectantes ingenio numquam illuc Willelmum esse venturum.” The two accounts fill up gaps in each other, but there is no essential contradiction.

Footnote 1531

Will. Malms. u. s. “Ita Angli, qui, in unum coëuntes sententiam, potuissent patriæ reformare ruinam, dum nullum ex suis volunt, alienum induxerunt.” This distinct assertion of the possibility of successful resistance after Senlac should be noted.

Footnote 1532

See above, p. 525.

Footnote 1533

Wid. Amb. 597;

“Hastingæ portûs castris tum quinque diebus Mansit, et ad Doveram vertit abinde viam.”

The affair of Romney is passed by.

Footnote 1534

Chron. Wig. 1066. “He fór upp mid eallon his here þe him to lafe wæs, and him syððan fram ofer sǽ cóm.” See above, p. 433. The words in Italics mark William’s loss as more serious than might have been gathered from the run of the story.

Footnote 1535

Domesday, 4 b. “Rex habet omne servitium ab eis, et ipsi habent omnes consuetudines et alias forisfactas pro servitio maris, et sunt in manu regis.”

Footnote 1536

See above, p. 411.

Footnote 1537

Chron. Wig. 1066. “He fór upp mid eallon his here ... and hergode ealne þone ende þe he oferferde.” So Florence; “Interea Comes Willelmus Suth-Saxoniam, Cantiam, Suthamtunensem provinciam, Suthregiam, Middel-Saxoniam, Heortfordensem provinciam devastabat, et villas cremare hominesque interficere non cessabat.” This quite upsets the contrary description in William of Malmesbury (iii. 247); “Sensim ergo Willelmus, ut triumphatorem decebat, cum exercitu, non hostili sed regali modo progrediens, urbem regni maximam Londoniam petit.” The notion of a peaceful progress was probably suggested by the quiet surrender of so many towns; but then it was simply through the terror of William’s ravages that they surrendered. Compare the surrender of London to Swend in 1013. See vol. i. p. 397.

Footnote 1538

See above, p. 410.

Footnote 1539

Will. Pict. 139. “Humatis autem suis, dispositâque custodiâ Hastingas eum strenuo præfecto, Romanærium accedens, quam placuit pœnam exegit pro clade suorum,” The affair of Romney seems to be mentioned by no other writer, except Benoît, who follows William of Poitiers, and thus (37686) translates the last words;

“Por c’en ert mult vers eus irié, Laidement lor fist comparer.”

Footnote 1540

See vol. ii. p. 140. The same remark on the absence of castles in England is made by Wace (6454) when describing the conquest of England by Swend;

“N’i aveit gaires fortelesce, Ne tur de pierre ne bretesce, Se n’esteit en vieille cité, Ki close fust d’antiquité; Maiz li Barunz de Normendie, Quant il orent la Seignorie, Tirent chastels è fermetez Turs de pierre, murs è fossez.”

Footnote 1541

The history of the church in Dover Castle is discussed at length by Mr. Puckle in his work on the Church and Castle of Dover (Oxford, 1864), but his argument is somewhat obscured by dreams about the ancient British Church. I have little doubt that the existing building dates from the time of Eadbald, an opinion in which I am confirmed by Mr. G. G. Scott.

Footnote 1542

Wid. Amb. 603;

“Est ibi mons altus, strictum mare, littus opacum; Hinc hostes citiùs Anglica Regna petunt. Sed castrum Doveræ pendens a vertice montis, Hostes rejiciens, littora tuta facit.”

William of Poitiers also (140) enlarges on the strength of the position; “Situm est id castellum in rupe mari contiguâ, quæ naturaliter acuta undique ad hoc ferramentis elaborata incisa, in speciem muri directissimâ altitudine, quantum sagittæ jactus permetiri potest, consurgit, quo in latere undâ marinâ alluitur.”

Footnote 1543

That the castle which William found was the work of Harold seems implied in the demand of William as described by William of Poitiers (108) that Harold should give up to him “Castrum Doveram, studio atque sumptu suo communitum.” The castle already fortified by Harold seems to be opposed to the other castles which were to be built “ubi voluntas Ducis ea firmari juberet.”

Footnote 1544

See above, pp. 241, 245.

Footnote 1545

Will. Pict. 139. “Hinc Doveram contendit, ubi populum innumerabilem congregatum acceperat, quod locus ille inexpugnabilis videbatur.”

Footnote 1546

Will. Pict. 139. “Ejus propinquitate Angli perculsi, neque naturæ vel operis munimento neque multitudini virorum confidunt.”

Footnote 1547

See Lappenberg, Anglo-Norman Kings, 103, ed. Thorpe.

Footnote 1548

Guy of Amiens (599) makes the men of Dover meet William while still on his march from Romney;

“Nec medium complêrat iter, quum territus illi Occurrit populus partus in obsequio, Obtulit et claves castri portasque reclusas: Testatur simulans velle subesse sibi.”

But William of Poitiers (140) merely says that the fire took place “quum castellani supplices deditionem pararent.” It is possible that a distinction may be drawn between the town and the castle, and that the castle did not surrender till William entered the town. “Simulans,” in Guy, must simply mean that the submission was forced, and contrary to the real wishes of those who made it; he clearly does not mean to imply any treachery.

Footnote 1549

See vol. ii. p. 169.

Footnote 1550

Will. Pict. 140. “Armigeri exercitûs nostri prædæ cupidine ignem injecerunt. Flamma levitate suâ volitans pleraque corripuit.” Guy does not mention the fire, but William’s account is confirmed by Domesday, 1; “In ipso primo adventu ejus [Regis Willelmi] in Angliam fuit ipsa villa combusta.”

Footnote 1551

Will. Pict. u. s. “Dux, nolens incommoda eorum qui secum deditionaliter agere cœperant, pretium dedit restituendarum ædium, aliaque amissa recompensavit.” Guy, on the other hand (607), uses words which might be understood as meaning that William expelled the English inhabitants and planted a Norman colony;

“Clavibus acceptis, Rex intrans mœnia castri, Præcipit Angligenis evacuare domos. Hos introduxit per quos sibi regna subegit, Unumquemque suum misit ad hospitium.”

Certainly Domesday shows singularly few English owners at Dover, but this is more likely to be owing to the severe administration of Odo than to any acts of William at this time. And Guy perhaps only meant that William quartered his sick soldiers on the inhabitants.

Footnote 1552

Will. Pict. u. s. “Severiùs animadverti præcepisset in auctores incendii, ni vilitas et numerositas ipsorum occultavisset eos.”

Footnote 1553

Ib. “Recepto castro, quæ minùs erant per dies octo addidit firmamenta.”

Footnote 1554

Ib. “Custodiam inibi relinquens et dysenteriâ languentes.” He had just before said, “Milites illic recentibus carnibus et aquâ utentes, multi proluvio ventris exstincti sunt, plurimi in extremum vitæ debilitati discrimen.” Then William “ad perdomandum quos devicit proficiscitur.”

Footnote 1555

Wid. Amb. 611;

“Illicò pervasit terror vicinia castri, Urbes et burgos, oppida quæque replens.”

Every one knows the legend, followed by Thierry and, hesitatingly, also by Lappenberg (105), about the Kentish men coming with boughs in their hands and extorting from William a confirmation of their rights. It comes from William Thorn, X Scriptt. 1786, and it has, as far as I know, no better authority. The tale describes the Kentishmen as led by Stigand, who was then undoubtedly in London. There is nothing to show that Kent was better treated than the rest of England; as it was put under Odo, it was perhaps treated a little worse. William no doubt promised to the Kentishmen the preservation of their ancient laws, but this he did to Englishmen everywhere.

Footnote 1556

Will. Pict. 140. “Contremuit etiam potens metropolis metu, et ne funditus caderet ullatenus resistendo, maturavit impetrare statum obediendo.”

Footnote 1557

Ib. “Occurrunt ultro Cantuarii hand procul à Doverâ, jurant fidelitatem, dant obsides.” So Guy, 613;

“Nobilior reliquis urbs Cantorberia dicta, Missis legatis, prima tributa tulit.”

Footnote 1558

Wid. Amb. 615;

“Post aliæ plures nimium sua jura timentes, Regi sponte suâ munera grata ferunt. ... Omnes dona ferunt et sub juga colla reponunt; Flexis poplitibus oscula dant pedibus.”

He likens them to flies settling on a wound.

Footnote 1559

See above, p. 358.

Footnote 1560

Will. Pict. 140. “Veniens postero die ad Fractam Turrim castra metatus est, quo in loco gravissimâ sui corporis valetudine animos familiarium pari contulerit ægritudine.”

Footnote 1561

William of Poitiers goes on, “Volens autem publicum bonum, ne exercitus egestate rerum necessariarum laboraret, noluit indulgere sibi moras ibi agendo.” But that he did not go far from Canterbury is plain from Guy, 623;

“Per spatium mensis cum gente perendinat illic, Post aliò vadit castra locare sibi.”

Guy does not mention William’s illness, but his mention of the month’s delay quite agrees with it.

Footnote 1562

See Appendix K.

Footnote 1563

Wid. Amb. 625;

“Guincestram misit, mandat primatibus urbis, Ut faciunt alii, ferre tributa sibi. Hanc Regina tenet Regis de dote prioris Hetguardi: quare dedecus esse putat Sic sibi concessam si vadit tollere sedem; Solum vectigal postulat atque fidem.”

The embassy to Winchester is not mentioned by William of Poitiers.

Footnote 1564

Wid. Amb. 631;

“Unà primates Reginæ consuluerunt, Illaque concedens ferre petita jubet. Taliter et Regis præcepto spirat uterque, Nam dominæ pariter et sua dona ferunt.”

Footnote 1565

Ib. 639;

“A lævâ muris, a dextris flumine tuta, Hostes nec metuit, nec pavet arte capi.”

Footnote 1566

Wid. Amb. 635;

“Rex sic pacatus tentoria fixa resolvit, Quo populosa nitet Londona vertit iter.”

Footnote 1567

See the quotation from Florence in p. 534.

Footnote 1568

The expressions of Guy (663 et seqq.) seem distinctly to assert a siege. We read, for instance,

“Densatis castris a lævâ mœnia cinxit.”

And again,

“Ædificat moles, vervecis cornua ferro, Fabricat et talpas urbis ad excidium.”

Yet it is impossible to reconcile this with the account in William of Poitiers. Guy’s description of Westminster (665) is worth notice;

“Dimidiæ leugæ spatio distabat ab urbe Regia regalis, ante decora nimis, Fertur ab antiquis quæ Guest vocitata colonis, Post Petri nomen duxit ab ecclesiâ. Providus hanc sedem sibi Rex elegit ad ædem, Quæ sibi complacuit jure nec immeritò: Nam, veluti patrum testantur gesta priorum, Ex solito Reges hic diadema ferunt.”

Guy has a little exaggerated the antiquity of Westminster as a royal dwelling-place.

Footnote 1569

Will. Pict. 141. “Præmissi illo equites Normanni quingenti egressam contra se aciem refugere intra mœnia impigrè compellunt, terga cædentes. Multæ stragi addunt incendium, cremantes quidquid ædificiorum citra flumen invenere.” On Southwark as a dwelling-place of Godwine, see vol. ii. pp. 147, 329, 579.

Footnote 1570

Will. Pict. 141. “Ut malo duplici superba ferocia contundatur.”

Footnote 1571

Ib. “Dux, progrediens dein quoquoversùm placuit, transmeato flumine Tamesi, vado simul atque ponte ad oppidum Warengefort pervenit.” Yet Wallingford is on the West-Saxon side of the river.

Footnote 1572

Domesday, 56. “In Burgo de Walingeford ... Rex Edwardus habuit xv. acras in quibus manebant huscarles.” The customs of Wallingford are given at great length. On Wigod of Wallingford, see Appendix PP.

Footnote 1573

See vol. i. p. 410.

Footnote 1574

See vol. ii. pp. 113, 117, 330.

Footnote 1575

See above, p. 485.

Footnote 1576

Chron. Wig. 1066. “He hergode ... [see above, p. 534, note 3] oð þæt he com to Beorhhamstede.” So Florence; “Devastabat ... donec ad villam quæ Beorcham nominatur veniret.”

Footnote 1577

On the submission of Berkhampstead, see Appendix PP.

Footnote 1578

Wid. Amb. 681. See above, p. 502.

Footnote 1579

Ib. 685.

“Omnibus ille tamen primatibus imperat urbis; Ejus in auxilio publica res agitur.”

Footnote 1580

The story is told at length by Guy of Amiens, 687 et seqq. I confess that these stories of secret messages always strike me as somewhat suspicious, to say nothing of the misconception of the state of things involved in the description of London as a besieged town. But it is not likely that Guy should have invented the name and the whole story of his “Ansgardus,” and, as I before said (see above, p. 424), I do not see who he can be except the Staller and Sheriff Esegar. About the siege, Guy, as before (see above, p. 542), is explicit. Esegar is made to say (699),

“Molis et erectæ transcendit machina turres, Ictibus et lapidum mœnia scissa ruunt.”

Footnote 1581

Wid. Amb. 689;

“Solum Rex vocitetur, ait; sed commoda regni, Ut jubet Ansgardus, subdita cuncta regat.”

Footnote 1582

Ib. 693;

“Natu majores, omni levitate repulsâ, Aggregat.”

The “natu majores” may of course be simply the “yldestan þegnas” (see vol. i. p. 78), but here in London we cannot help thinking of Aldermen in the later sense.

Footnote 1583

Wid. Amb. 715;

“Actutum docilis noster legatus ut hosti Mittatur, verbis fallere qui satagat, Servitium simulet, necnon et fœdera pacis, Et dextras dextræ subdere, si jubeat.”

Footnote 1584

Wid. Amb. 723;

“Sed quia vix patulâ teneatur compede vulpes, Fallitur a Rege fallere quem voluit.”

Cf. above, pp. 161, 488, but one is a little surprised at the comparison being made by William’s own laureate.

Footnote 1585

Ib. 725;

“Namque palam laudat Rex atque latenter ineptat Quidquid ab Ansgardo nuntius attulerat.”

Footnote 1586

Ib. 727;

“Obcæcat donis stolidum verbisque fefellit, Prœmia promittens innumerosa sibi.”

Footnote 1587

Ib. 735;

“Pulcrior est sole, sapientior et Salomone, Promptior est Magno, largior et Carolo.”

I doubted for some time whether the Bishop of Amiens had not severed “Carolus Magnus” into two distinct heroes; but by “Magnus” we are most likely to understand Cnæus Pompeius Magnus. He then goes on to state William’s claim to the Crown (737);

“Contulit Eguardus quod Rex donum sibi regni Monstrat et affirmat, vosque probâsse refert.”

This is of course the Norman tale of the consent of the Witan being given to Eadward’s devise of the Crown. See Appendix R. and vol. ii. p. 302.

Footnote 1588

Ib. 731;

“Rex vobis pacem dicit profertque salutem, Vestris mandatis paret et absque dolis. ... Hoc igitur superest, ultra si vivere vultis, Debita cum manibus reddere jura sibi.”

Footnote 1589

Wid. Amb. 741;

“Annuit hoc vulgus, jus turn probat esse senatus, Et puerum Regem cœtus uterque negat.”

This passage is worthy of notice by any one who is studying the municipal antiquities of London. At the same time we must remember that it is not merely London which is concerned. So far as the passage proves anything, I should rather take it as a witness to the popular character of the Witenagemót. See vol. i. p. 112.

Footnote 1590

Chron. Wig. 1066. “And þær [at Berkhampstead] him com ongean Ealdred arcebisceop and Eadgar cild and Eadwine eorl and Morkere eorl and ealle þa betstan men of Lundene.” Florence’s list is, “Aldredus Archiepiscopus, Wulstanus Wigornensis Episcopus, Walterus Herefordensis Episcopus, Clito Eadgarus, Comites Edwinus et Morkarus, et de Lundoniâ quique nobiliores, cum multis aliis.” It is clear from this passage that Florence understood the doubtful word cild as, sometimes at least, equivalent to Æðeling.

As to the list itself, and the presence of Stigand, Eadwine, and Morkere, see Appendix PP.

Footnote 1591

Chron. Wig. 1066. “And bugon þa for neode, þa mæst wæs to harme gedón.”

Footnote 1592

See above, p. 529.

Footnote 1593

Chron. Wig. 1066. “And gysledan and sworon him aðas.” So Florence; “Datis obsidibus, illi deditionem fecerunt, fidelitatemque juraverunt.”

Footnote 1594

Wid. Amb. 747;

“Novit ut adventum, factus Rex obvius illis Cum puero reliquis oscula grata dedit; Culpas indulsit, gratanter dona recepit, Et sic susceptos tractat honorificè.”

So Ord. Vit. 503 A. “Ipsi ab eo benigniter suscepti, pristinas dignitates et honores receperunt.... Edgarus Adelinus, qui Rex fuerat constitutus ab Anglis, resistere diffidens humiliter Guillelmo se regnumque contulit. Ille verò, quia idem puer mitis et sincerus erat, et consobrinus Eduardi Magni[!] Regis, filius scilicet nepotis ejus, erat, amicabiliter eum amplexatus est, et omni vitâ suâ inter filios suos honorabiliter veneratus est.”

Footnote 1595

Chron. Wig. 1066. “And he heom behet þæt he wolde heom hold hlaford beon.” Flor. Wig. “Cum quibus et ipse fœdus pepigit.”

Footnote 1596

See Appendix PP.

Footnote 1597

Will. Pict. 141. “Orant post hæc ut coronam sumat unà, Pontifices atque cæteri summates; ‘Se quidem solitos esse Regi servire, Regem dominum habere velle.’” Ord. Vit. 503 B. “Cuncti Præsules regnique proceres cum Guillelmo concordiam fecerunt, ac ut diadema regium sumeret, sicut mos Anglici principatûs exigit, oraverunt.... Hoc divino nutu subacti optabant indigenæ regni, qui [non] nisi coronato Regi servire hactenus erant soliti.”

Footnote 1598

See above, p. 449.

Footnote 1599

Will. Pict. 141. “Consulens ille comitatos e Normanniâ, quorum non minùs prudentiam quam fidem spectatam habebat.”

Footnote 1600

Ib. “Patefecit eis quid maximè sibi dissuaderet quod Angli orabant; res adhuc turbidas esse, rebellare nonnullos, se potiùs regni quietem quam coronam cupere.... Denique non oportere nimium properare, dum in altum culmen ascenditur.” The Archdeacon adds, “Profectò non illi dominabatur regnandi libido.” Cæsar, we know, was not ambitious; neither, it seems, was William.

Footnote 1601

Will. Pict. 141. “Præterea, si Deus ipsi hunc concedit honorem, secum velle conjugem suam coronari.” The panegyrist again comments—this time with truth—“Sanctum esse intellexerat, sanctèque diligebat conjugii pignus.”

Footnote 1602

Ib. 142. “Haimerius Aquitanus, Præses Toarcensis, linguâ non ignobilior quam dextrâ.” Mark the wide sense of “Aquitanus.” The name still stretches to the Loire.

Footnote 1603

See above, p. 456.

Footnote 1604

Will. Pict. 142. “Non est diu trahendum nostrâ deliberatione quod desideramus fieri quam ocissimè.” The Archdeacon had just before said, “Familiares suasere ut totius exercitûs unanimi desiderio optari sciebant.”

Footnote 1605

Ord. Vit. 503 B. “Hoc summopere flagitabant Normanni, qui pro fasce regali nanciscendo suo Principi subierunt ingens discrimen maris ac prœlii.”

Footnote 1606

Will. Pict. u. s. “At prudentissimi et optimi viri nequaquam ita cuperent in alto hujus monarchiæ illum locari, nisi præcipuè idoneum perviderent, licet ipsorum commoda et honores per exaltationem ejus augeri volentes.”

Footnote 1607

Ib. “Præsertim sperans, ubi regnare cœperit, rebellem quemque minus ausurum in se, faciliùs conterendum esse.”

Footnote 1608

Will. Pict. 142. “Præmisit ergo Lundoniam, qui munitionem in ipsâ construerent urbe, et pleraque competentia regiæ magnificentiæ præpararent.”

Footnote 1609

See vol. ii. p. 264.

Footnote 1610

See above, p. 130.

Footnote 1611

Will. Pict. 142. “Adversitas omnis procul fuit adeò ut venatui et avium ludo, si fortè libuit, securè vacaret.” Cf. vol. ii. p. 284.

Footnote 1612

Chron. Wig. 1066. “And þeah onmang þisan hi hergedan eall þæt hi oferforon.” So Florence; “Nihilominus exercitui suo villas cremare et rapinas agere permisit.”

Footnote 1613

See above, p. 534.

Footnote 1614

See above, p. 537.

Footnote 1615

Thierry has a story how Frithric, Abbot of Saint Alban’s, cut down trees and put them in the way to block William’s march. For this tale he refers to no ancient authority whatever, but only to Speed! It is not even found in the sufficiently legendary life of Frithric in the Lives of the Abbots of Saint Alban’s.

Footnote 1616

Will. Malms. Gest. Pont. Scriptt. p. Bed. 134. “Nec minùs sed multò etiam magis Rex Willelmus extulit locum magnis reditibus prædiorum, quod ibi regni susceperit insignia. Consuetudo igitur apud posteros evaluit ut, propter Edwardi inibi sepulti memoriam, regiam regnaturi accipiant coronam.” How closely these ideas were connected in William’s mind appears from a letter of his to John Abbot of Fécamp (see above, p. 100), in which he says, “Abbatiam Sancti Petri de Westmonasterio ... in maximâ veneratione et habeo, et ex debito habere debeo. Ibi enim jacet vir beatæ memoriæ dominus meus [see above, p. 249] Rex Ethwardus, ibi etiam tumulata est Regina Etgith uxor ejus inclita; ego etiam ibidem, Dei clementiâ providente, sceptrum et coronam totius regni Anglici suscepi.” Mabillon, Vet. An. i. 219.

Footnote 1617

Will. Neubrig. i. 1. “Quum, peractâ victoriâ, tyranni nomen exhorrescens et legitimi principis personam induere gestiens, a Stigando, tunc temporis Cantuariensi archiepiscopo, in regem solemniter consecrari deposceret; ille, viro, ut aiebat, cruento et alieni juris invasori, manus imponere nullatenus acquievit.” He is followed by Walter of Hemingburgh (vol. i. p. 9).

Footnote 1618

See above, p. 284.

Footnote 1619

See above, p. 282.

Footnote 1620

Will. Pict. 143. “Repudiavit consecrari a Stigando Cantuariensi, quem per Apostolici justum zelum anathemate reprobatum didicerat.” Ord. Vit. 503 B. “Stigandus Cantuariensis sæcularibus curis et actibus nimis intentus erat, et pro quibusdam reatibus ab Alexandro Papâ interdictus fuerat.” Eadmer, 6. “Quam consecrationem licet ipse Rex et omnes alii optimè nôssent deberi specialiter fieri et propriè a Pontifice Cantuariensi, tamen quia multa mala et horrenda crimina prædicabantur de Stigando qui eo tempore ibi Pontifex erat, voluit [noluit?] eam ab ipso suscipere, ne maledictionem videretur induere pro benedictione.” On the ecclesiastical position of Stigand see above, pp. 16, 29, 42, and vol. ii. pp. 342, 605.

Footnote 1621

William of Newburgh, i. 2, remarks, “Aldredus verò Eboracensis Archiepiscopus, vir bonus et prudens, hoc munus implevit, acutiùs intelligens, cedendum esse tempori, et divinæ nequaquam resistendum ordinationi.” He is again followed by Walter of Hemingburgh. William of Poitiers (142) takes this opportunity to praise Ealdred as “æquitatem valdè amans, ævo maturus, sapiens, bonus, eloquens.” In Guy of Amiens too (791), though his name is not mentioned, he appears as

“Præsul celeberrimus unus, Moribus insignis et probitate cluens.”

“Probitas” generally refers to warlike prowess; but Ealdred’s Welsh campaign (see vol. ii. p. 110) was not specially glorious.

Footnote 1622

William of Poitiers (142) speaks casually of those “qui circa monasterium in armis et equis præsidio dispositi fuerunt.” Orderic (503 C) is more explicit; “Normannorum turmæ circa monasterium in armis et equis, ne quid doli et seditionis oriretur, præsidio dispositæ fuerunt.” Presently after he speaks of “armati milites qui extrinsecus erant pro suorum tuitione.”

Footnote 1623

That it was a new crown appears from Guy of Amiens (757);

“Auro vel gemmis jubet ut sibi nobile stemma Illud quo deceat fiat ab artifice.”

He then goes on to devote twenty-four lines to a description of the jewels which adorned it.

Footnote 1624

The procession is described at length by Guy, 787 et seqq.;

“Tempore disposito quo Rex sacrandus habetur, Terræ magnates et populosa manus, Pontificale decus, venerabilis atque senatus Undique conveniunt Regis ad officium.”

Footnote 1625

This is clear from Guy (801);

“Rex, multâ comitumque ducum vallante catervâ, Ultimus incedit cum strepitu populi. Illius et dextram sustentat metropolita, Ad lævam graditur alter honore pari.”

There can therefore be no doubt as to the share taken by Stigand in William’s coronation. He acted as a Bishop, but not as an Archbishop. It is however somewhat strange that Guy should put him so completely on a level with Ealdred, without any hint as to his uncanonical position. On the two Bishops who led the King, see Appendix E.

Footnote 1626

See above, p. 451.

Footnote 1627

Will. Pict. 142. “Eloquutus ad Anglos ... Eboracensis Archiepiscopus ... an consentirent eum sibi Dominum coronari inquisivit. Protestati sunt hilarem consensum universi minimè hæsitantes, ac si cœlitùs unâ mente datâ unâque voce. Anglorum voluntati quam facillimè Normanni consonuerunt, sermocinato ad eos ac sententiam percunctato Constantini Præsule.” Ord. Vit. 503 C. “Dum Adelredus Præsul alloqueretur Anglos, et Goisfredus Constantiniensis Normannos, an concederent Guillermum regnare super se, et universi consensum hilarem protestarentur, unâ voce, non unius linguæ loquutione.” Guy of Amiens (811) is very emphatic;

“Normannus quidam præsul mox pulpita scandens, Famosis Gallis talia verba dedit; ‘Oblatus vobis si Rex placet, edite nobis; Arbitrio vestri nam decet hoc fieri.’ Concessit populus, clerus favet atque senatus; Quod sermone nequit innuit et manibus. Sermo peroratur post illum metropolitæ: Hac eadem linguâ protulit Angligenâ. Spirat utrimque manus, laudat, spondet famulari, Annuit ex toto corde subesse sibi.”

William of Poitiers distinctly counts this as an election; “Sic electum consecravit idem Archiepiscopus,” &c. And he presently (143) makes William’s right threefold, by bequest or hereditary succession, by conquest, and by election; “Quam [Anglicam terram] et hæreditariâ delegatione sacramentis Anglorum firmatâ, et jure belli ipse possedit, coronatus tali eorumdem consensu vel potiùs appetitu ejusdem gentis primatum.”

Footnote 1628

William of Poitiers (142, 143) tells us how the horsemen who surrounded the church (see above, p. 557) “ignotæ [linguæ?] nimio strepitu accepto, rem sinistram arbitrati, prope civitati imprudentiâ flammam injecerunt.” Orderic (503 C) is clearer, “flammam ædibus imprudenter injecerunt.” Guy does not mention the fire.

Footnote 1629

Ord. Vit. u. s. “Currente festinanter per domos incendio, plebs quæ in ecclesiâ lætabatur perturbata, et multitudo virorum ac mulierum diversæ dignitatis et qualitatis, infortunio perurgente, celeriter basilicam egressa est.... Penè omnes ad ignem nimis furentem cucurrerunt, quidam ut vim foci viriliter occarent, et plures ut in tantâ perturbatione sibi prædas diriperent.” Mark the use of “focus” retained in the Romance languages.

Footnote 1630

Ord. Vit. 503 D. “Soli Præsules, et pauci clerici cum monachis, nimium trepidantes ante aram perstiterunt, et officium consecrationis super Regem vehementer trementem vix peregerunt.”

Footnote 1631

The Worcester Chronicler is emphatic on the oath; “Ða on midwintres dæg hine halgode to Kynge Ealdred arcebisceop on Westmynstre, and he sealde him on hand mid Christes béc, and eac swór, ærþan þe he wolde þa corona him on heafode settan, þæt he wolde þisne þeodscype swa wel haldan swa ænig kynge ætforan him betst dyde, gif hi him holde beon woldon.” So Florence; “Quia Stigandus, primas totius Angliæ, ab Apostolico Papâ calumniatus est pallium non suscepisse canonicè, ipsâ Nativitatis die, quæ illo anno feriâ secundâ evenit, ab Aldredo Eboracensium Archiepiscopo in Westmonasterio consecratus est honorificè [the words which he uses of Harold’s coronation], priùs ut idem Archipræsul ab eo exigebat, ante altare Sancti Petri Apostoli, coram clero et populo jurejurando promittens, se velle sanctas Dei ecclesias et rectores illarum defendere, necnon et cunctum populum sibi subjectum justè et regali providentiâ regere, rectam legem statuere et tenere, rapinas injustaque judicia penitùs interdicere.” William of Poitiers and Guy are silent about the oath.

------------------------------------------------------------------------

TRANSCRIBER’S NOTES

● Typos fixed; non-standard spelling and dialect retained. ● Used numbers for footnotes, placing them all at the end of the last chapter. ● Enclosed italics font in underscores. ● Enclosed bold or blackletter font in =equals=.