109. Chron. Ab. Cant. 1044. Petrib. 1043. I shall discuss the exact date afterwards.
110. Vita Eadw. 415. She sat at his feet, unless he lifted her up to sit at his side. This must be compared with the account of the legislation about West-Saxon Kings’ wives after the crime of Eadburh (Asser, M. H. B. 471 B). She had shown personal kindness to the Biographer (427);
This perhaps gave occasion for the more elaborate and better known description in the false Ingulf.
William of Malmesbury’s account of her (ii. 197) is singular; “Femina in cujus pectore omnium liberalium artium esset gymnasium, sed parvum in mundanis rebus ingenium; quam quum videres, si literas stuperes, modestiam certè animi et speciem corporis desiderares.”
111. Hist. Rams. cxiv. (p. 457). Abbot Ælfwine, wishing to obtain certain lands bequeathed to the monastery by one Æthelwine the Black, but which were withheld from it by one Ælfric the son of Wihtgar, “apposuit quoque de divitis crumenæ dispendio viginti marcas auri, quibus gratiam Regis mercaretur, Ædthithæ [sic] quippe Reginæ sedulitatem quinque marcarum auri pretio exegit interponi, ut pias ejus preces regiis auribus fideliter importaret.” So again, in a charter of 1060 in Cod. Dipl. iv. 142, Eadgyth lays claim to certain lands claimed by the Abbey of Peterborough, but on the intercession of her husband and her brothers Harold and Tostig (none of whom seem to have taken anything), and on the gift of twenty marks and certain church ornaments, she is induced to confirm the grant. That she looked carefully after her rents in money, kine, and honey, and after the men who stole her horse, is no blame to her (Cod. Dipl. iv. 257).
112. Will. Pict. 199 A, B (Duchesne).
113. Flor. Wig. 1065.
114. See Appendix B.
115. Vita Eadw. 431, (cf. 433).
116. Ibid. 403. See below.
117. Godgifu was the sister of Thorold the Sheriff, founder of the Priory of Spalding. See John of Peterborough, a. 1052. p. 49. Giles. The legend of her riding naked through Coventry is found in Bromton (949), and Knighton (2334). They do not mention peeping Tom, who, it is some comfort to think, must at any rate have been one of King Eadward’s Frenchmen.
118. See Will. Malms. ii. 196. Cf. Æthel. Riev. 389. Chron. Evesham. 84. This last writer extends Leofric’s authority to the borders of Scotland. Did Cumberland reach to the Ribble in those days?
119. “Stow sub promontorio Lincolniæ.” Bromton, 949. See the charters of Bishop Wulfwig, Cod. Dipl. iv. 290. The church was not built by Leofric, but by Eadnoth the Second, Bishop of Dorchester (1034–1050); Leofric’s benefaction took the form of ornaments. See Flor. Wig. 1057, where he calls Stow “locus famosus qui Sanctæ Mariæ Stou Anglicè, Latinè verò Sanctæ Mariæ Locus appellatur.” The antiquity of part of the church is indisputable, but a more wretched village cannot be found.
A document, professing to be a petition from Godgifu to Pope Victor, praying for the confirmation of her gifts to Stow, is marked doubtful by Mr. Kemble (Cod. Dipl. iv. 168), doubtless on good grounds. But I do not understand his date, 1060–1066, as the Popedom of Victor the Second was from 1055 to 1057. Siward, who died early in 1055, could hardly have signed an address to Pope Victor.
122. See Appendix G.
123. Vita Eadw. 421, 422.
124. See Chronn. 1055.
126. See Appendix G.
127. Chron. 1051.
128. Chron. 1055.
129. Cod. Dipl. vi. 203.
130. For the earliest example, one of 1020, see Kemble, Archæological Journal, xiv. 61, 62.
134. Orkneyinga Saga, Ant. Celt. Scand. 172 et seqq. Robertson, i. 114. Burton, i. 369.
135. Fordun, iv. 44. Robertson, i. 116. Marianus Scotus (Pertz, v. 557) says expressly, “Donnchad Rex Scotiæ in autumno occiditur a duce suo Macbethad mac Finnloech, cui successit in regnum annis xvii.”
136. Fordun, u. s. “Consanguinea Siwardi Comitis.”
137. Robertson, i. 120 et seqq. Burton, i. 371–2.
139. Marianus (Pertz, v. 558). “Rex Scottiæ Macbethad Romæ argentum pauperibus seminando distribuit.” Florence (1050) leaves out the word “pauperibus,” and changes “seminando” into “spargendo.” The change can hardly be undesigned, and of the influence of money at Rome we shall hear presently in the case of Bishop Ulf. Chron. Petrib. 1047. John of Peterborough (48) combines the two readings, saying, “Machetus Rex Scotorum Romæ argentum spargendo pauperibus distribuit.”
140. See Robertson, i. 122. Burton, i. 373.
143. Ann. Camb. 1039. Brut y Tywysogion, 1037.
144. Brut. 1040, 1042. Ann. Camb. 1039–1047. In one battle in 1040 Gruffydd seems to have been taken prisoner by the Danes of Dublin. But the whole narrative is very confused. See the entries under 1041 and 1042.
145. Brut, 1042. Ann. Camb. 1045?
149. Æthel. R. 375. “Tunc elevatus est sol et luna stetit in ordine suo, quando, Edwardo gloriâ et honore coronato, sacerdotes sapientiâ et sanctitate fulgebant, monasteria omni relligione pollebant, clerus in officio suo, populus stabat in gradu suo; videbatur etiam terra fecundior, aer salubrior, sol serenior, maris unda pacatior. Quoniam diu Rege pacifico regnante in uno vinculo pacis omnia convenirent, ut nihil pestilentiosum esset in aere, nihil in mari tempestuosum, in terrâ nihil infecundum, nihil inordinatum in clero, nihil in plebe tumultuosum.” It would be endless to contrast all these details with those found in the Chronicles and the Biographer. Even William of Malmesbury, comparatively sober as he is, goes too far when he says (ii. 196), “Denique eo regnante, nullus tumultus domesticus qui non citò comprimeretur, nullum bellum forinsecùs, omnia domi forisque quieta, omnia tranquilla.”
150. “Forðam heo hit heold ǽr to fæste wið hine,” say the Abingdon, Peterborough, and Canterbury Chronicles. Worcester is more explicit; “Forþan þe heo wæs æror þam cynge hire suna swiðe heard, þæt heo him læsse dyde þonne he wolde, ær þam þe he cyng wære, and eac syððan.” This is translated by Florence; “Vel quia priusquam Rex esset effectus, vel post, minus quam volebat illi dederat, et ei valdè dura exstiterat;” and by Roger of Wendover, “eo quod priusquam Rex fuerat, nihil illi contulerat quod petebat” (i. 482). William of Malmesbury says (ii. 196), “Mater ‘Angustos filii jamdudum riserat annos,’ nihil umquam de suo largita.” He then gives the reason, namely her preference for Cnut over Æthelred.
155. See the writ quoted at vol. i. p. 580, which cannot belong to the first reign of Harthacnut in Wessex only.
156. Besides land, the Abingdon Chronicle speaks of her wealth “on golde and on seolfre and on unasecgendlicum þingum.” So that of Worcester says of her treasures, “þa wæron unatellendlice.” So Florence; “quicquid in auro, argento, gemmis, lapidibus, aliisve rebus pretiosum habuerat.”
157. Will. Malms. ii. 196. “Congestis undecumque talentis crumenas infecerat, pauperum oblita; quibus non patiebatur dari nummum ne diminueret numerum. Itaque quod injustè coacervârat non inhonestè ablatum, ut egenorum proficeret compendio et fisco sufficeret regio.” Though accepting this account (hæc referentibus etsi plurimum fides haberi debeat), he goes on, as he does elsewhere (ii. 181. see vol. i. p. 487), to speak of her bounty to monasteries, especially at Winchester.
158. A meeting of the Witan is implied in the language of the Worcester Chronicle, “Man gerædde þan cynge þæt he rád of Gleawcestre,” and in the presence and consent of the three Earls—“ut illi [Leofricus, Godwinus, et Siwardus] consilium ei dederant,” as Florence says.
161. So says the Worcester Chronicle, followed by Florence; “He rád of Gleawcestre, and Leofric eorl and Godwine eorl and Sigwarð eorl mid heora genge, to Wincestre;” “Festinato Rex cum comitibus Leofrico, Godwino, et Siwardo de civitate Glawornâ Wintoniam venit.” The other Chronicles do not imply the King’s personal presence; “se cyng let geridan,” &c.
162. Chron. Wig. “On únwær on þa hlæfdian.” Flor. Wig. “Venit improvise.”
163. Chronn. Ab., Petrib., Cant. “Se cyng let geridan ealle þa land þe his modor ahte him to handa.” The Worcester Chronicler says nothing of the land.
164. Flor. Wig. “Verumtamen sufficienter ei ministrari necessaria præcepit et illam ibidem quietam manere jussit.”
165. Emma signs a charter of her son’s during this year 1043 (Cod. Dipl. iv. 74), which therefore belongs to an earlier Gemót than this of November, probably to one held at Winchester at the time of the coronation. From this time we find her signing only a few private documents (Cod. Dipl. iv. 86, 116) and documents connected with the Church of Winchester (iv. 90, 93). After her son’s marriage she seems not to sign her son’s charters at all. The documents at iv. 80, 99 are doubtful or spurious. On the Legend of Emma see Appendix H.
167. Adam of Bremen, iii. 13.
168. Chronn. and Flor. Wig. 1044, 1045, 1046, 1047. All dates are given.
169. De Inv. 14. “Adelstanus ... degenerans à patris astutiâ et sapientiâ ... multa ex his perdidit, et inter cetera Waltham.” This may however only mean that he squandered his estate. His son Esegar was Staller two years later. See Professor Stubbs’ note, and vol. i. p. 591.
170. Chron. Wig. 1045. Flor. Wig. 1044. If Gunhild’s sons were old enough to be dangerous, they must have been the children of Hakon who died in 1030. The names Heming and Thurkill have already appeared as those of a pair of brothers. Vol. i. p. 376. Cf. Knytlinga Saga, ap. Johnston, Ant. Celt. Scand. 105.
171. On this Harold see vol. i. p. 476. The signature to a charter of Bishop Lyfing’s, 1042 (Cod. Dipl. iv. 69), must be his.
172. Adam Brem. ii. 75. “Caussa mortis ea fuit quod de regali stirpe Danorum genitus, propior sceptro videbatur quam Magnus.”
173. The Chronica Sclavica, c. 13, makes Godescalc leave England after the death of Cnut (vol. i. 649, 494), but Adam (u. s.) puts his departure after the death of Cnut and his sons. If this last account be correct, it looks very much as if Godescalc was banished. According to Saxo (p. 204), he served for some time under Swend in his war with Magnus. Saxo also (p. 208) marries him to Siritha (Sigrid?) a natural daughter of Swend, but the national Chronicle distinctly makes his wife Demmyn, Cnut’s sister or daughter, alive at the time of his death.
These banishments probably helped, along with the displaced massacre of Saint Brice, to form the groundwork for the legend of the general expulsion or massacre of Danes in England. See vol. i. p. 592.
176. A private document in Cod. Dipl. iv. 116 is signed by “Stigand p̃.” It is assigned to the year 1049, but this date must be wrong, as it is signed by Ælfweard Bishop of London, who died in 1044. As it is signed by Eadward and Emma, it must belong to the early Gemót of 1043, that at which Stigand received his appointment as Bishop and Swegen as Earl.
177. Chron. Ab. 1043. Chronn. Petrib. and Cant. 1042.
178. Chron. Ab. “And raðe þǽs man sette Stigant of his bisceoprice, and nam eal þæt he ahte þam cinge to handa; forðam he wæs nehst his modor rǽde, and heo for swá swá he hire rædde; þæs ðe men wendon.”
179. Chron. Petrib. 1048.
182. In very much later times, in the fifteenth century, we find Parliament, King, and Chapter all combining in the appointment of Bishops, in a way which would rather surprise us now. The House of Commons petitions the King to recommend a particular person to the Chapter. Two such applications were made in favour of Archbishop Bourchier, at different stages of his advancement. See Hook, Lives of Archbishops, v. 276, 282. The order in Eadward’s time was different, as the Chapter seems, sometimes at least, to have first elected and then to have asked the confirmation of King and Witan. But the principle is much the same. At all events, in the eleventh century, though the papal veto was just beginning to be heard of, a papal provision was quite unknown.
183. See Lingard, Anglo-Saxon Church, i. 94, where the whole matter is very fairly stated. Investiture by the staff is implied in the famous legend of Saint Wulfstan at the tomb of Eadward.
184. Chron. Petrib. 1047.
186. Chron. Ab. 1044. Petrib. 1043. “Forðam se arcebiscop wende þæt hit sum oðer man abiddan wolde, oþþe gebicgan, þe he wyrs truwode and uðe, gif hit ma manna wiste.”
187. Ib. “Be þæs cynges leafe, and ræde, and Godwines eorles. Hit wæs elles feawum mannum cuð ær hit gedón wæs.” So William of Malmesbury, ii. 197. “Ante cum Rege tantùm et Comite communicato consilio, ne quis ad tantum fastigium aspiraret indignus, vel prece vel pretio.”
188. He was consecrated to the see of Upsala, according to Professor Stubbs (Ep. Succ. p. 20) and Dean Hook (i. 491); to Rochester, according to the Abingdon History (i. 452). But Florence (1049) calls him “Siwardus, Edsii Dorubernensis archiepiscopi chorepiscopus.” William of Malmesbury (De Gest. Pont. 116) has a strange story, how Siward was to succeed Eadsige, but treating him harshly, and not even allowing him enough to eat, was deprived of the succession to the Archbishoprick, and had to content himself with Rochester—“quo leviaret verecundiam, quo detrimentum consolaretur.” Siward signs charters with the title of Archbishop, Cod. Dipl. iv. 96, 103, 105; as Bishop only in iv. 99; as Abbot only in a very doubtful charter, iv. 102. See also Hen. Hunt. M. H. B. 759 B. Angl. Sacr. i. 106. Bromton, 938.
189. Chron. Ab. 1048. Chron. Wig. 1050. Fl. Wig. 1049. See Hist. Ab. i. 461. Siward was a benefactor to his abbey, and fills a considerable place in its history.
190. Chron. Ab. 1048. Petrib. 1046.
193. Fl. Wig. u. s. “Ablatis ex maximâ parte libris et ornamentis, quæ ipse eidem contulerat loco, et quædam, ut fertur, quæ alii contulerant.” Cf. Hist. Rams. u. s. But the Evesham historian, who uses very strong language against the monks of his own house, does not charge Ælfweard with more than transferring his intended gifts from Evesham to Ramsey; “quæ huic loco offerre cogitabat, versâ vice præfatæ ecclesiæ Ramesiæ omnia condonabat.” Hist. Eves. p. 85.
194. Chron. Wig. 1045. Fl. Wig. 1044. Hist. Eves. p. 86. Mannig rebuilt the church (Chronn. Ab. and Wig. 1054), and continued Abbot till 1066, when he died, having been for some time disabled by palsy.
195. Will. Malm. Gest. Pont. 134 b. He is there spoken of simply as a monk of Jumièges, but from the Biographer (399) and from the Nova Chronica Normanniæ, A. 1037, it appears that he had been Abbot. (See Neustria Pia, p. 309.) He became Abbot in 1037, and began the church in 1040. William himself, in his History (ii. 199), speaks of his building as “Ecclesia Sanctæ Mariæ, quam ipse præcipuo et sumptuoso opere construxerat.” He begins to sign as Bishop in 1046. Cod. Dipl. iv. 110.
196. William of Malmesbury (Gest. Pont. 116) makes Robert’s influence with Eadward the recompense of some services done to him in Normandy. He goes on, “Is ergo et amore antiquo et recenti honore primas partes in consiliis regalibus vendicabat, quos vellet deponeret, quos liberet, sublimaret.”
197. Ann. Wint. 21, Luard. “Tanti fuit homo ille in oculis Regis ut si diceret nigram cornicem esse candidam Rex citiùs ori illius quam oculis suis crederet.”
198. Vita Eadw. 400. So William of Malmesbury (u. s.); “Ille contra pertinaciùs insistere, donec præcipuos optimates, Godwinum dico et filios ejus, proditionis apud Regem accusatos Angliâ expelleret. Expulsionis aliæ quoque fuere caussæ, et alii auctores, sicut aliàs non tacuimus. Sed ille clariùs classicum cecinit, instantiùs accusavit.”
200. Bishop Godwin (Cat. of Bishops, p. 25) says truly, but without fully understanding the force of his own words; “This man is said to have laid the first foundation of the Normans conquest in England.”
201. Chron. Petrib. 1043. Fl. Wig. 1044.
204. Snorro, Saga of Magnus, 33, of Harold, 18 (Laing, ii. 391. iii. 17). Chron. Roskild. Lang. i. 377. Saxo, 203.
205. Saxo, 204.
207. Saxo, 203. Swend. Agg. c. 5 (Lang. i. 56). So Adam Brem. ii. 75; “Magnus autem Rex pro justitiâ et fortitudine carus fuit Danis, verùm Sclavis terribilis, qui post mortem Chnut Daniam infestabant.”
208. Snorro, Magnus, 38 (Laing, ii. 397). Ant. Celt. Scand. 184.
209. Snorro, Ant. Celt. Scand. 185. “Var þat þá rád her allra landsmanna at taka mik till Konungs her í Englandi.”
210. Does this mean that Eadward meant to meet Magnus in single combat?
211. Chron. Ab. 1044, 1045. Chron. Petrib. 1043.
212. Chron. Ab. 1045. “And þar wæs swa mycel here gegæderod swa nan man ne geseh, sciphere nænne maran on þysan lande.”
213. For the life of Harold Hardrada our chief authority is his Saga in Snorro, which will be found in the third volume of Laing’s Translation. It fits in better than might have been expected with authentic history. There are also notices in Adam of Bremen and the Danish writers.
214. See Finlay, Byz. Emp. i. 466.
216. Adam Brem. iii. 16. “Erat vir potens et clarus victoriis, qui prius in Græciâ et in Scythiæ regionibus multa contra barbaros prœlia confecit.” For some legends, see Saxo, 205.
217. See Finlay, i. 487.
218. Ib.
219. It is worth noticing that the reigning Emperor Constantine Monomachos had a hand in restoring the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. It would be singular indeed if Harold Hardrada were in any way the instrument of his bounty. See Finlay, i. 503.
220. So says the Saga, but it is hard to say who is meant by this niece of Zôê. It is possible that, if there be any truth in the story, some niece or other kinswoman of Constantine is intended. William of Malmesbury (iii. 260) gives another turn to the story. He was “pro stupro illustris fœminæ leoni objectus.” Of course he kills the beast. In Saxo (205) the crime becomes murder, and the lion is exchanged for a dragon.
221. Snorro, Harold, c. 18 (Laing, iii. 17).
222. Chron. Wig. 1046. “On þam geare gegaderade Eadward cyng mycele scypferde on Sandwic, þurh Magnus þreatunge on Norwegon; ac his gewinn and Swegenes on Denmarcon geletton þæt he her ne com.” So Fl. Wig. 1045. Rog. Wend. i. 483.
223. Chron. Ab. 1044. Petrib. 1043. Cant. 1045. But 1043 in Peterborough really means 1045, and the 1044 of Abingdon takes in the whole Christmas season running into the next year. The Hyde writer (288), amusingly enough, places the marriage after Godwine’s return in 1052. Eadward “adveniens multâ probitate multâque animi industriâ cœpit florere, et Normannos quos adduxerat principes per Angliam constituere; contra hunc quoque Comes Godwinus, pacis inimicus, tentans rebellare, irâ commotus, Angliâ discessit, moxque repatrians usque in ipsam metropolim Londoniam classem suam advexit. Denique se non posse prævalere animadvertens, pacem cum Edwardo statuit componere, et ut nullius rebellionis suspicio remaneret, filiam suam Editham nomine ei matrimonio copulavit, filiumque suum Haroldum ejus dapiferum constituit.”