228. Hist. Rams. c. 75. (p. 434). “Quum esset bonæ vitæ et prudentiæ laudabilis, genuinâ tum animi feritate, utpote Teutonicus natione, damnum aliquod suæ attulit laudi.” His appointment is more remarkable, as he succeeded Wulfsige who died at Assandun (vol. i. p. 432), so that he must have been promoted very early in Cnut’s reign, before his connexion with Conrad began. Wythmann got into all kinds of trouble with his monks, and at last, after a pilgrimage to Jerusalem, died a solitary. His story in the Ramsey History is worth reading.
230. Chron. Ab. 1045. “Eadward cyng geaf Heramanne his preoste þæt bisceoprice.” Chron. Wig. 1046. “Man sette Hereman on his setle,” an expression implying the consent of the Witan. Florence says, “Regis capellanus Herimannus, de Lotharingiâ oriundus.”
231. Fl. Wig. 1031. Will. Malms. Gest. Pont. 145 b.
232. “Vir prudentissimus Livingus,” says Florence (1031); “Omnibus quæ injuncta fuerant, sapientèr et mirificè ante adventum Regis consummatis,” says William.
233. Will. Malms. Gest. Pont. 145 b. Cf. Gest. Regg. iii. 300.
236. Will. Malms. u. s. “Ambitiosus et protervus ecclesiasticarum legum tyrannus, ut fertur, invictus, qui nihil pensi haberet, quominùs omni voluntati suæ assisteret.”
237. Will. Malms. u. s. “A majoribus accepimus, quum ille spiritum efflaret, tum horrisonum crepitum per totam Angliam auditum, ut ruina et finis totius putaretur orbis.” The loss of men like Lyfing is indeed the ruin of nations.
238. Will. Malms. (u. s.), who speaks of his gifts to the monastery, and of the services still said for him, “ut hodieque xv. graduum psalmos continuatâ per successores consuetudine pro ejus decantent quiete.”
239. “Lyfing se wordsnotera biscop.” He adds, “he hæfde iii. biscoprice an on Defenascire, and on Cornwalon, and on Wigracestre.” So Florence calls him “Hwicciorum, Domnaniæ, et Cornubiæ præsul.” In the Peterborough Chronicle he is “biscop on Defenascire,” which the Canterbury Chronicler, using the language of his own age, turns into “biscop of Exceastre.”
240. Flor. Wig. 1046. “Regis cancellario Leofrico Brytonico mox Cridiatunensis et Cornubiensis datus est præsulatus.”
241. Will. Malms. Gest. Pont. 145 b. “Lefricus apud Lotharingos altus et doctus.”
246. Such a personal installation seems to be the meaning of the description in the foundation charter of the new see of Exeter, in Cod. Dipl. iv. 118. The Charter is doubtful, but it may probably be trusted for a fact of this kind. Cf. Will. Malms. iii. 300.
247. See the whole subject fully illustrated by Professor Stubbs in the Preface to the De Inventione, p. ix. et seqq.
The rule of Chrodegang will be found at length in D’Achery’s Spicilegium, i. 565 et seqq.
248. Cap. 53. “Ut Canonici cucullos monachorum non induant.”
249. See Stubbs, De Inventione, p. x.
250. Will. Malms. Gest. Pont. 145 b. “Canonicos statuit qui, contra morem Anglorum, ad formam Lotharingorum uno triclinio comederent, uno cubiculo cubitarent. Transmissa est hujuscemodi regula ad posteros, quamvis pro luxu temporum nonnullâ jam ex parte deciderit, habentque clerici œconomum ab episcopo constitutum, qui eis diatim necessaria victui, annuatim amictui commoda suggerat.”
252. The name of Ealdred will be constantly recurring in our history for the next twenty-three years. His general life and character are described by William of Malmesbury, De Gest Pont. 154, and Thomas Stubbs, Gest. Pont. Eb. X Scriptt. 1700 et seqq.
253. T. Stubbs, u. s. “Iste apud Regem Edwardum tantæ erat auctoritatis, ut cum eo mortales inimicos reconciliaret et de inimicissimis amicissimos faceret.”
254. The reconciliation of Gruffydd appears from his acting immediately afterwards in concert with Earl Swegen. That Ealdred brought about this present reconciliation is not distinctly stated, but it quite falls in with his general character, and with the fact that he played a prominent part in a later reconciliation between Eadward and Gruffydd. The success of Ealdred in reconciling both Swegen and Gruffydd to the King is specially commented on by Thomas Stubbs, the biographer of the Archbishops of York (X Scriptt. 1701). Now Stubbs wrote more than three hundred years after the time; still he is not a romancer like Bromton or Knighton, but a really honest and careful writer, and he doubtless had access to materials which are now lost or unprinted. He may indeed refer to the later reconciliation in 1056, but the combination of the names of Swegen and Gruffydd might lead us to think that he was speaking of some event at this time.
255. Chron. Ab. 1046. “Her on þysum geare for Swegn eorl into Wealan, and Griffin se Norþerna cyng forð mid him, and him man gislode.” In Ann. Camb. 1046 we read, “Seditio magna orta fuit inter Grifud filium Lewelin et Grifud filium Riderch.” Or possibly the expedition may be that recorded under the next year, when Gruffydd ap Llywelyn ravaged all South Wales in revenge for the treacherous slaughter of one hundred and forty of his nobles. In any case the two independent accounts exactly fit in to one another.
256. Chron. Ab. 1046. “þa he hamwerdes wæs þa het he feccan him to þa abbedessan on Leomynstre, and hæfde hi þa while þe him geliste, and let hi syððan faran ham.”
257. Florence does not mention the affair of Swegen and Eadgifu in its chronological order, but refers to it when he describes the return of Swegen in 1049. “Suanus ... qui, relictâ prius Angliâ, eo quod Edgivam Leonensis monasterii abbatissam, quam corruperat, in matrimonium, habere non licuerit, Danemarciam adierat.” So the Worcester Chronicle, which does not mention Eadgifu, says, under 1050, “Swegen Eorl, þe fór ær of þisan lande to Denmarcon, and þær forworhte hine wið Denum.” Abingdon, the only Chronicle which mentions Eadgifu, does not speak directly of Swegen’s departure, but implies it under 1049. Mr. St. John (ii. 148 et seqq.) works up the story into an elaborate romance, with a glowing description of the beauty, accomplishments, and wickedness of Eadgifu and of nuns in general. M. de Bonnechose (ii. 85) tells us, “Sweyn cinquième fils de Godwin, fit violence (?) à Elgive, abbesse de Leominster; banni par le roi pour ce crime,” &c.
259. Chronn. Petrib. 1045. Cant. 1046. “On ðam ilcan geare ferde Swegen eorl ut to Baldewines lande to Brycge, and wunode þær ealne winter, and wende þa to sumere út.” “Út” means, of course, to Denmark. William of Malmesbury says (ii. 200), “Swanus, perversi ingenii et infidi in Regem, multotiens à patre et fratre Haroldo descivit, et pirata factus, prædis marinis virtutes majorum polluit.” Whom did William look on as the forefathers of Swegen?
260. Chron. Petrib. 1046. Swegen on his return asks for their restoration.
261. Will. Malms. ii. 196. “Leofricus ... monasteria multa constituit ... Leonense, et nonnulla alia.” So Flor. Wig. 1057. On Leominster see Monasticon, iv. 51.
262. Leominster Monastery had no existence in the time of Henry the First, when it was a “dirutum monasterium” which that King granted to his new Abbey of Reading (Will. Malms. Gest. Pont. Scriptt. p. Bed. 144). I infer also from Domesday (180) that the house had no corporate being at the time of the Survey. Leominster was then held by the King; in King Eadward’s time it had been held by Queen Eadgyth. The monastery is only casually mentioned; it holds no land, but a rent seems to be reserved for the “victus monialium.” These facts together seem to me to show that the society was dissolved, a certain rent being set aside for the surviving members, like the pensions granted at the general Dissolution under Henry the Eighth. See Appendix E.
263. Chronn. Ab. 1046. Wig. 1047. “Man utlagode Osgod stallere.” Chron. Petrib. 1044. “On þis ilcan geare wearð aflemed ut Osgot Clapa.” Chron. Cant. 1045. “And Osgod Clapa wærð ut adriven.” The difference of expression in the different Chronicles is remarkable. On “ut adriven,” see vol. i. p. 561. Florence, 1046, says, “Osgodus Clapa expellitur Angliâ.”
265. The Abingdon Chronicle says “on þis ylcan geare man geútlagode Osgod Clapan foran to middanwintre.”
266. This is implied in the narrative of Florence, 1049. “Osgodus autem ... Danemarciam rediit.”
268. Snorro, Harold, 21 (Laing, iii. 19).
269. Ibid. 26, 28 (Laing, iii. 25, 27).
270. The application of Swend and the refusal by the Witan come from the Worcester Chronicle, 1048. “And Swegen eac sende hider, bead him fylstes ongeon Magnus Norwega cyng; þæt man sceolde sendan L. scypa him to fultume; ac hit þuhte unræd eallum folce; and hit wearð þa gelet, þurh þæt þe Magnus hæfde mycel scypecræft.” The personal share of Godwine and Leofric in the debate comes from Florence, 1047. “Tunc comes Godwinus consilium Regi dedit ut saltem L. naves militibus instructas ei mitteret; sed quia Leofrico comiti et omni populo id non videbatur consilium, nullam ei mittere voluit.”
271. Flor. Wig. 1047.
272. Snorro, Harold, 30 (Laing, iii. 29).
274. For a mythical version of the death of Magnus, mixed up with a story of a vision of Eadward’s, see Æthel. Riev. X Scriptt. 378.
276. Flor. Wig. 1048. I insert this story with a certain amount of fear and trembling, as it reads so like a mere repetition of what happened the year before. Still the authority of Florence is high, and it is not unlikely that Swend, in his new circumstances, might make a second application.
277. Fl. Wig. 1048. “Haroldus ... nuntios ad Regem Eadwardum misit et pacem amicitiamque illi obtulit, et recepit.”
279. Chron. Ab. 1046. Fl. Wig. 1047. Chron. Wig. 1048. It was after Candlemas, i. e. of 1047.
280. Chronn. Ab. 1048. Wig. 1049. Fl. Wig. 1048.
281. Chron. Wig. 1049. “Þæt wilde fyr on Deorbyscire micel yfel dide.” Florence (1048) calls it “ignis aërius, vulgo dictus silvaticus.”
282. Chronn. Ab. 1047. Wig. 1048. Petrib. 1045. Cant. 1046. Fl. Wig. 1047. By some extraordinary confusion Florence places here the death of Eadmund, Bishop of Durham, and the succession of Eadred, which happened in 1041. See vol. i. pp. 588–9.
283. Chron. Ab. 1048. Chron. Petrib. 1046. These clearly refer to the same event. I hardly understand Mr. Thorpe’s note to his Translation of the Chronicles, p. 137. “This predatory expedition, assigned here to the year 1046, is of a much earlier date”—one seemingly before the year 1000. This is because a Lothen and an Yrling occur in the story of Olaf Tryggwesson. But the Chronicler could hardly be mistaken on such a point. Lappenberg (499. Thorpe, ii. 239) seems to have no doubt on the matter.
284. “Godwines Rath wurde bald als der richtige erkannt.” Lappenberg, 499.
285. I make up the details by joining the narratives of the two Chronicles. Both mention Sandwich; but the Peterborough Chronicle alone speaks of the vast booty.
286. Chron. Ab. 1048. “Man gehergode Sandwic and Wiht, and ofslohan þa betsta men þe þa wæron.”
287. Chron. Petrib. 1046. “And wendon þa onbuton Tenet, and woldon þær þet ilce don; ac þet landfolc hardlice wiðstodon, and forwerndon heom ægðer ge upganges ge wæteres, and aflymdon hi þanon mid ealle.” The refusal of water is remarkable. Probably in other cases the landfolk had to provide provisions out of sheer fear.
288. Chron. Petrib. u. s.
289. Chron. Ab. 1048. “And Eadward cining and þa eorlas foran æfter þam út mid heore scypun.” Eadward had been on board the fleet once before (see p. 74), but that time he saw no service.
290. Chron. Petrib. 1046.
292. Lamb. Herz. 1047.
294. See the Life of Leo by the contemporary Archdeacon Wibert, in Muratori, iii. 282.
295. The intervention of Hildebrand, as told by Otto of Freisingen in his Annals, lib. vi. c. 33, seems apocryphal, as Muratori remarks in his note, iii. 292. But the germ of the story is to be found in Wibert; Leo entered Rome barefoot, and though he announced his appointment by the Emperor, he demanded the assent of the clergy and people before he entered on his office.
296. On this war see Hermannus Contractus, 1044–1050. Lambert, 1044–1050. Sigebert, 1044–1049 (ap. Pertz, vi. 358–9). Ann. Leodienses (ap. Pertz, iv. 19, 20). Otto Fris. Chron. vi. 33. Conrad Ursp. 1045–9 (p. 229, ed. 1537). Annalista Saxo (ap. Pertz, vol. vi. p. 689). Struvius, i. 352. The destruction of the palace is mentioned in our own Abingdon and Worcester Chronicles, 1049, 1050; “Se casere gaderode unarimedlice fyrde ongean Baldewine of Brycge þurh þæt þæt he bræc þæne pallant æt Neomagan, and eac fela oðra unþanca þe he him dyde.” So Florence, 1049; “Quod apud Neomagum suum palatium combussisset atque fregisset pulcherrimum.” The year of its destruction was 1046, according to Lambert (“Inter alias quas rei publicæ intulit clades, Neumago domum regiam miri et incomparabilis operis incendit”), 1047 according to Sigebert, (“Godefridus palatium Neomagi incendit et irreparabiliter destruit”). Both writers speak of the destruction of the church of Verdun; Lambert adds the singular penance of Godfrey, which must have followed his submission in 1049. “Post modicum facti in tantum pœnituit, ut publicè se verberari faceret, et capillos suos ne tonderentur [one is reminded of the Merwings] multâ pecuniâ redimeret, sumptus ad reædificandam ecclesiam daret, et in opere cæmentario per seipsum plerumque vilis mancipii ministerio functus deserviret.” Abbot Hugh in the Verdun Chronicle (Labbe, i. 190) makes the destruction at Verdun still more extensive; “Templum Sanctæ Mariæ à Duce Godefrido et Balduino succensum est, vasa sacra ablata, civitasque destructa, viii. Kal. Nov.” So in another Verdun Chronicle (ib. 401); “1048 Civitas Virdunensis a Duce Godefrido et Balduino Comite deprædatur et unà cum Monasterio Sanctæ Mariæ incenditur.”
297. Florence (1049) seems pointedly to distinguish the relations in which Swend and Eadward stood to the Emperor. “Suanus ... ut Imperator illi mandârat, cum suâ classe ibi affuit, et eâ vice fidelitatem Imperatori juravit. Misit quoque ad Regem Anglorum Eadwardum et rogavit illum ne Baldwinum permitteret effugere, si vellet ad mare fugere.”
298. Flor. Wig. 1049. Chronn. Ab. and Wig. ib. “þæt he ne geþafode þæt he him on wætere ne ætburste.”
300. Chronn. Ab. and Wig. “þæt se casere hæfde of Baldwine eall þæt he wolde.” The reconciliation was at Aachen. Sigebert, 1049. Hermann, 1050. Lambert seems to confound this reconciliation with the later synod at Mainz. William of Poitiers boldly turns the tables; the father-in-law of Duke William could not have made submission even to an Emperor; “Nomine siquidem Romani Imperii miles fuit, re decus et gloria summa consiliorum in summâ necessitudine ... Est enim et nationibus procul remotis notissimum quam frequentibus, quamque gravibus bellis Imperatorum immanitatem fatigaverit, pace demum ad conditiones ipsius arbitratu dictatas compositâ, quum Regum dominos terræ ipsorum nonnullâ parte mulctaverit violenter extortâ, sua quæque vel inexpugnatâ vel indefessâ potiùs manu tutam.” Giles, 90. Duchesne, 183 D.
302. Chron. Ab. 1049. “He com hider mid hiwunge, cwæð þæt he wolde his man beon.”
303. Chron. Petrib. 1046. “And com Swegn eorl in mid vii. scypum to Bosenham, et griðode wið þone cyng, and behet man him þæt he moste wurðe [beon] ælc þæra þinga þe he ǽr ahte.
304. Chron. Petrib. 1046. “Da wiðlæg Harold eorl his broðor and Beorn eorl þæt he ne moste beon nan þære þinga wurðe þe se cyng him geunnen hæfde.” So Chron. Ab. 1049. The Worcester Chronicle and Florence do not mention this opposition of Harold and Beorn.
306. “Fóron fela scypa hám,” says the Worcester Chronicle; but Abingdon puts it more distinctly; “And þa se cing lyfde eallon Myrceon ham; and hig swa dydon.”
307. Abingdon and Worcester mention Godwine’s going with forty-two ships, but Peterborough has more distinctly, “Ða ge[wende] Godwine eorl west onbuton mid þæs cynges ii. scipum þan anan steorde Harold eorl and þan oðran Tostig his broðor, and landesmanna sciþa xlii.”
308. The first certainly authentic signature of Tostig seems to be in this year. Cod. Dipl. iv. 115. The charter, after the signatures of Godwine, Leofric and Siward, has those of “Harold Dux,” “Beorn Dux,” “Tosti nobilis,” “Leowine nobilis.” Leofwine must have been very young.
309. Chron. Petrib. “Ða scyfte man Harold eorl úp þæs cynges scipe þe Harold eorl ǽr steorde.” Mr. Earle’s conjecture that for “Harold eorl” we should read “Beorn eorl” is absolutely necessary to make sense of the passage. Parallel Chronicles, 343.
310. Was it some feeling that a brother’s life had been at least in jeopardy that led William of Malmesbury, or those whom he followed, into the strange statement (ii. 200), “Pro conscientiâ Brunonis cognati interempti, et, ut quidam dicunt, fratris”?
311. Chron. Ab. “Þa wende Beorn for þære sibbe þæt he him swican nolde.” So Wig.
312. “To Dertamuðan,” Chronn. Ab. and Wig. “to Axamuðan,” Chron. Petrib.
313. The personal share of Harold in the burial comes from the Abingdon Chronicle, the one least favourable to Godwine. Peterborough, so strongly Godwinist, is silent.
314. Chron. Ab. “And se cing þa and eall here cwæðon Swegen for niðing.” Cf. Chron. Petrib. 1088. “Ða se cyng ... sende ofer eall Englalande, and bead þæt ælc man þe wære unniðing sceolde cúman to hé.” Will. Malms. iv. 306. “Jubet ut compatriotas advocent ad obsidionem venire, nisi si qui velint sub nomine Niðing, quod nequam sonat, remanere.” Matt. Paris. p. 15 (Wats); “Absque morâ ut ad obsidionem veniant jubet; nisi velint sub nomine Nithing, quod Latinè nequam sonat, recenseri. Angli, qui nihil contumeliosius et vilius æstimant quam hujusmodi ignominioso vocabulo notari, catervatim ad Regem confluentes,” &c.
315. On military Assemblies, Macedonian, Ætolian, and even Achaian, see Hist. Fed. Gov. i. pp. 413, 511, 549.
318. Here, which implies a standing force, very often a paid force, not fyrd, the general levy of the country.
321. “Lytel ær þan” (namely the second burial of Beorn), the men of Hastings set forth, according to the Worcester Chronicle, the only one which mentions their exploit.
322. So I understand the words of the Worcester Chronicle. The men of Hastings go after Swegen and take “his twa scypa”—the only ships he then had. To explain his having only two ships the writer adds, “ehta scypa he hæfde ær he Beorn beswice; syððan hine forleton ealle buton twam.” The only meaning of these words seems to be that which I have given, though it involves the difficulty as to the personal escape of Swegen. But it is clear that Florence took them differently; “Dimiserunt illum sex naves, quarum duas paullò post cœperunt Hastingenses ... Swanus verò ad Flandriam duabus fugiens navibus ibi mansit.” This accounts for his escape, but I cannot see how “his twa scypa” can mean two of the ships which had left him. The Abingdon Chronicle also mentions the desertion of the six ships, but not the exploit of the Hastings men.
For other examples of the vigorous action of the men of the “Cinque Ports” in 1293 and 1297, see Walter of Hemingburgh, vol. ii. pp. 41, 158 (Hist. Soc. Ed.).
323. Chron. Ab. “And þar wunode mid Baldwine.” Chron. Petrib. “And Swegen gewende þa east to Baldewines lande, and sæt þær ealne winter on Brycge mid his fullan griðe.”
324. Chron. Wig. 1050. “Swein eorl bæd Beorn eorl mid facne,” “ær he Beorn beswice.” Chron. Ab. 1049. “ær he Beorn amyrðrode.”
326. I think that by comparing the Abingdon Chronicle under 1050 with the Peterborough Chronicle under 1047, it will appear that Swegen was reinstated in this Gemót of Midlent 1050, one which I shall have to mention again.
327. Flor. Wig. “Swanus ... ibi mansit, quoad Wigornensis episcopus Aldredus illum reduceret, et cum Rege pacificaret.” This seems to imply that Ealdred brought him over in person.
328. The old diocese of Worcester took in the shires of Worcester and Gloucester and part of Warwick. Of these Gloucestershire was in Swegen’s Earldom, the rest in Leofric’s.
329. The reconciliation of Swegen with Eadward is mentioned by Thomas Stubbs (see above, p. 87) as an instance of the peacemaking powers of Ealdred, along with that of Gruffydd.
330. It is clear that the details of the murder could come only from Swegen himself, as his accomplices were killed by the Hastings men. Ealdred would be the obvious person for Swegen to confess them to. I do not suspect the Bishop of betraying the secrets of the confessional. A public crime like that of Swegen was doubtless followed by a public confession.
332. Four, according to the Worcester Chronicle, two, according to Florence. The Abingdon Chronicle does not mention this last incident, and that of Peterborough passes by the whole story of Osgod.
333. Chron. Wig. “þa man ofsloh begeondan sæ.” Flor. Wig. “Quæ in transmarinis partibus captæ sunt, occisis omnibus qui in illis erant.”
334. Chron. Wig. “On Wylisce Axa.” Flor. Wig. “Ostium intrantes Sabrinæ, in loco qui dicitur Wylesc Eaxan appulerunt.” The “Welsh Axe” is of course the Usk. The rivers of the same name in Somersetshire and Devonshire had ceased to be looked on as Welsh.
335. On the details of this perplexing campaign, see Appendix I.
336. Ralph’s signatures seem to begin in 1050. See Cod. Dipl. iv. 123, 125. That in 121 is more doubtful. That in 113 Mr. Kemble marks as doubtful, but refers it to 1044–1047. But it must be spurious. It makes Eadsige Archbishop and Ælfgar Earl at the same time, as also Tostig, who was not an Earl till long after. See Appendix G.
337. Chron. Wig. 1050. “And hi comon unwær on heom, on ealne ærne morgen, and fela godra manna þær ofslagon; and þa oþre ætburston forð mid þam biscope.”
338. “Þæt micele mynster æt Rémys,” says the Worcester Chronicle, which might seem to mean the Metropolitan church; but Florence makes it plain that the Abbey is meant; “Rogatu eximiæ religionis Abbatis Herimari.... sancti Remigii Francorum apostoli monasterium, Remis constitutum, maximo cum honore dedicavit.” Cf. Will. Gem. vii. 15.
339. Ord. Vit. 575 A.
340. The presence of the Emperor is asserted by the Worcester Chronicle; “Þær wæs se Papa Leo and se Casere.” Florence does not speak of the Emperor, but says that Leo took with him “præfectum et digniores quosdam Romuleæ urbis.”
341. Chron. Petrib. 1046. “Þær wæs on Leo se Papa and se arcebiscop of Burgundia and se arcebiscop of Bysincun and se arcebiscop of Treviris, and se arcebiscop of Remis, and manig mann þærto ge hadode ge læwede.”