1076. I infer that Ealdred’s holding of Winchcombe was something more than a mere temporary holding till a successor could be found. The Worcester Chronicle (1053) speaks of it in the same form of words as the appointments of Leofwine and Æthelnoth; “And Leofwine feng to þam bisceoprice æt Licedfelde, and Aldret bisceop feng to þam abbodrice on Wincelcumbe,” &c. Florence however says, after mentioning the appointments of Leofwine and Æthelnoth, “Aldredus vero Wigorniensis episcopus abbatiam Wincelcumbensem tamdiu in manu suâ tenuit, donec Godricum, Regis capellani Godmanni filium abbatem constitueret.”
1077. Fl. Wig. 1054.
1078. Chron. Ab. 1053. “Eac Wylsce menn geslogan mycelne dæl Englisces folces ðæra weardmanna wið Wæstbyrig.”
1084. “Jussu Regis,” says Florence, 1054.
1085. On the war with Macbeth, see Appendix X.
1086. See Munch, Chron. Regum Manniæ, 46 et seqq. Burton, History of Scotland, i. 374.
1087. Annals of Ulster, 1054. See Appendix X.
1088. Chron. Wig. 1054. “And lædde þonan micele herehuþe, swilce nan man ær ne begeat.”
1090. Now that the Housecarls are an established institution, wars are carried on with much greater speed than they were in Æthelred’s time. If the expedition was voted at the end of June, Siward could easily have met Macbeth in the field before the end of July.
1091. Tac. Mor. Germ. c. 20. “Sororum filiis idem apud avunculum, qui apud patrem honor. Quidam sanctiorem arctioremque hunc nexum sanguinis arbitrantur, et in accipiendis obsidibus magis exigunt.”
1092. See above, p. 364, for Siward nephew of Siward, and vol. i. p. 300 for Wulfmær nephew of Brihtnoth.
1094. See Appendix Y.
1095. See Appendix Y.
1096. It is only through Margaret that our Kings from Henry the Second onward were descended from Eadward the Elder, Eadmund, or Eadgar. But it must not be forgotten that every descendant of Matilda of Flanders was a descendant of Ælfred.
1100. I rely far more on the probability of the case than on the account given by William of Malmesbury under the influence of those Norman prejudices against which he sometimes struggles, but to which he sometimes yields. He tells us (ii. 228), “Rex Edwardus, pronus in senium [fifty, or a year or two older], quod ipse non susceperat liberos, et Godwini videret invalescere filios, misit ad Regem Hunorum ut filium fratris Edmundi, Edwardum, cum omni familiâ suâ mitteret; futurum ut aut ille aut filii sui succedant regno hæreditario Angliæ; orbitatem suam cognatorum suffragio sustentari debere.” He then goes on to describe the Ætheling (“vir neque promptus manu neque probus ingenio”), his family, his return, and his death. He then adds, “Rex itaque, defuncto cognato, quia spes prioris erat soluta suffragii, Willelmo Comiti Normanniæ successionem Angliæ dedit.” I believe exactly the reverse to be the truth.
1101. See Appendix Y.
1105. So I understand the passage in the Evesham History, p. 87, about Æthelwig’s appointment to the Abbey of Evesham in 1059. He is there spoken of as one “qui multo antea tempore episcopatum Wigornensis ecclesiæ sub Aldredo archiepiscopo laudabiliter rexerat.” See Mr. Macray’s note. That Ealdred is called Archbishop need be no difficulty. It is the old question about the days of Abiathar the Priest.
1106. On Mannig, see above, p. 70. The Evesham History, p. 86, describes him as skilful in all arts, and as practising them for the adornment of the churches of Canterbury and Coventry as well as of his own Evesham.
1107. Chron. Wig. 1054. “And he lofode Leofwine bisceop to halgianne þæt mynster æt Eofeshamme, on vi. Id. Oct.”
1108. Young Henry was crowned at the age of five at Aachen, July 17th, 1054, by Hermann, Archbishop of Köln. Lambert in anno.
1109. Agnes, daughter of William the Great, Duke of Aquitaine, married King Henry in 1043 (Lambert and Chron. And. ap. Labbe, i. 276) or 1045 (Hugo Flav. ap. Labbe, i. 187) or 1049 (Chron. S. Maxent. in anno). Her father being dead, she is described as “filia Agnetis,” the Agnes so famous in the history of Geoffrey Martel (see above, p. 276). Abbot Hugh, in recording the marriage, cannot refrain from the strange comment, “Quum enim esset [Heinricus] aliàs bonus, et omnes ejus sitirent dominium, carnis tamen incontinentiam frænare non potuit.” Was Henry the Third bound to imitate Henry the Second?
1110. See Appendix Y.
1111. Ib.
1112. See above, p. 100. We have no account of the time or circumstances of his return from banishment.
1113. Chron. Ab. 1054. “Swa swa he on his reste læg.” Chron. Wig. “on his bedde.”
1114. All the Chronicles and Florence, in anno.
1115. Hen. Hunt, M. H. B. 760 C. “Adhuc parvulus.” So Bromton, 946. But he could hardly be “in cunis jacens” (R. Higden, lib. vi. Gale, ii. 281), when we consider his importance twelve years later.
1116. We know her through a document in Cod. Dipl. iv. 265. “Godgiva vidua” gives lands to Peterborough “pro redemptione animæ suæ per consensum Regis Eaduuardi.” She then married Siward; “Postea accepit eam Siuuardus Comes in conjugio; post tempus non multum mortua est.” The singular story about these lands will be best told when discussing the character of Waltheof.
1117. See vol. i. p. 587. Sim. Dun. X Scriptt. 81. “Nepos Aldredi Comitis Comes Waltheof, erat enim filius filiæ illius.” Simeon (ib. 82) seems to imply that Waltheof held Bernicia under his father (“filio suo Waltheofo comitatum Northymbrorum dedit”); but he clearly was not in possession in 1065. See Simeon’s own account, X Scriptt. 204. On the question whether he received Northamptonshire on his father’s death or ten years later, see Appendix G.
1118. Hen. Hunt. M. H. B. 760 C. Bromton, 946. Ann. Wint. 26.
1119. Chronn. Ab. and Wig. 1055. “And he ligeð æt Galmanhó, on þam mynstre þe he sylf let timbrian and halgian on Godes and Olafes naman [Gode to lofe and eallum his halgum”]. Bromton, 946, using the language of later times, says, “Sepultus est in monasterio sanctæ Mariæ apud Eboracum in claustro.” There is still a parish church of Saint Olaf in that part of the city.
1121. See Appendix G.
1122. Vita Eadw. 408. “Agentibusque amicis potissimùm autem et pro merito hoc ejus fratre Haroldo Duce et ejus sorore Reginâ, et non resistente Rege ob innumera ipsius fideliter acta servitia, ducatum ejus suscepit Tostinus, vir scilicet fortis et magnâ præditus animi sagacitate et sollertiâ.”
1123. The Biographer, essentially a courtier, always likes to attribute as much as possible to the personal action of the King, and to keep that of the Witan, as far as may be, in the back ground.
1124. Plutarch. Apophth. Alex. 29. Τιμᾷν μὲν ἐδόκει Κρατερὸν μάλιστα πάντων, φιλεῖν δὲ Ἡφαιστίωνα· Κρατερὸς μὲν γὰρ, ἔφη, φιλοβασιλεύς ἐστιν, Ἡφαιστίων δὲ φιλαλέξανδρος. Eadward’s affection for Tostig is also marked by William of Malmesbury, iii. 252; “Quia Tostinum diligeret, ... ut dilecto auxiliari non posset.”
1125. This seems implied in the Biographer’s description of the state of things when the Northumbrian revolt broke out in 1065 (421); “Erat ... Tostinus in curiâ Regis, diutiùsque commoratus est cum eo, ejus detentus amore et jussis in disponendis regalis palatii negotiis.”
1130. He is called “adolescens” by Simeon of Durham (X Scriptt. 204) ten years later. His father had now been dead fourteen years; Oswulf was therefore probably a mere babe at the time of his death.
1132. See Appendix Z.
1134. Vita Eadw. 409.
1135. Vita Eadw. 409. “At Dux Tostinus et ipse gravi quidem et sapienti continentiâ, sed acrior paullisper in persequendâ malitiâ, virili præditus et indissolubili mentis constantiâ.” In a writer who is striving hard to make out a case for Tostig, the words in Italics mean a great deal. We shall see, as we go on, reason to justify infinitely stronger expressions; but the point is that Tostig was not a mere wanton oppressor, but a ruler who carried a severe justice to such a degree as to become injustice. This is the impression conveyed by the no doubt flattering, but still very carefully drawn, portrait given by the Biographer.
1136. Vita Eadw. 421. “Licet antecessor ejus Dux Siwardus ex feritate judicii valdè timeretur, tamen tanta gentis illius crudelitas et Dei incultus habebatur ut vix triginta vel viginti in uno comitatu possent ire, quin aut interficerentur aut deprædarentur ab insidiantium latronum multitudine.”
1137. Ib. 422. “Quos pacis deificæ filius et amator eximius Dux adeò illo adtenuaverat tempore, patriam scilicet purgando talium cruciatu vel nece, et nulli quantumlibet nobili parcendo qui in hoc deprehensus esset crimine, ut quivis solus etiam cum quâvis possessione ad votum possent commeare, absque alicujus hostilitatis formidine.” This last is the proverbial saying which is applied to the strict police of William (Chron. Petrib. 1087); “Swa þæt án man þe himsylf aht wære mihte faran ofer his rice mid his bosum full goldes ungederad.” It is essentially the same as the story told of the vigilant administration of the Bretwalda Eadwine; Bæda, Hist. Eccl. ii. 16.
1138. Vita Eadw. 409. “Propter eamdem regiæ stirpis uxorem suam omnium abdicans voluptatem, cœlebs moderatiùs corporis et oris sui prudenter regere consuetudinem.” On this singular use of the word cœlebs, see Appendix B.
1139. Vita Eadw. 409. “Quum largiretur, liberali effundebat munificentiâ, et frequentiùs hoc hortatu religiosæ conjugis suæ in Christi fiebat honore quam pro aliquo hominum labili favore.” Tostig and Judith had much reverence for Saint Cuthberht, and were bountiful in their gifts to his church at Durham. But Judith chafed under the discipline which forbade women to pay their personal devotions at his shrine. She accordingly, before venturing herself, sent a handmaid to try her luck. The poor girl was sadly buffeted by the indignant saint, on which Tostig and his wife offered a splendid crucifix with the usual accompanying figures. Sim. Dun. Hist. Eccl. Dun. iii. 11.
1141. I have no means of reckoning save the vague one which I have had to follow throughout. As Godwine and Gytha were married in 1019, their third or fourth child would probably be born about 1023 or 1024.
1142. Simeon of Durham (Gest. Regg. in anno) speaks of Malcolm being Tostig’s “conjuratus frater” in 1061. The engagement must therefore have been entered into before that year and after 1055. Tostig would not become Malcolm’s sworn brother till he found himself his neighbour.
1145. See Appendix X.
1146. Chron. Petrib. 1055. “Þa bead man ealre witena gemót vii. nihton ǽr midlenctene.” Flor. Wig. “Habito Lundoniæ consilio.”
1147. Ib. “Utlagode mann Ælfgar eorl, forðon him man wearp ón þæt he was þes cynges swica and ealra landleoda. And he þæs geanwyrde wæs ætforan eallum þam mannum þe þær gegaderode wæron, þeah him þæt word ofscute his unnþances.” So Chron. Cant.
1148. “Butan ælcan gylte,” Chron. Ab. “Forneh butan gylte,” Chron. Wig. “Sine culpâ,” Florence. Just as in the case of the ballad charging Godwine with the murder of Ælfred (vol. i. p. 546), these differences look very much as if the Worcester writer had seen the Abingdon text, and had altered a passage which might be construed into a representation of Harold as a false accuser. One can hardly conceive any other motive for the change. And care on such a point seems to show that Harold had some hand in the accusation, whether true or false. It is singular however that Henry of Huntingdon, who is generally most bitter against Harold, should be the writer who expresses the most distinct conviction of the guilt of Ælfgar (M. H. B. 760 D); “Eodem anno Algarus consul Cestriæ [a confusion of his present and later offices] exsulatus est, quia de proditione Regis in consilio convictus fuerat.” On the other hand, a later writer, John of Peterborough (1055), commits himself to the banishment being done both “sine caussâ” and “per Haroldi consilium.”
1149. Chron. Ab. 1055. “He gewende ða to Irlande, and begeat him ðær lið; þæt wæs xviii. scipa butan his agenan.” So “xviii. piraticis navibus acquisitis” in Florence. The part of Ireland whence they came is not mentioned, but Diarmid, the protector of Harold, was still reigning at Dublin, and he would doubtless be equally ready to protect Ælfgar. I can find no mention of the matter in the Irish Chronicles.
1150. The language of the three Chronicles and of Florence is singularly varied, but they all assert the same fact.
1151. Ann. Camb. 1055. “Grifinus filius Lewelin, Grifud filium Riderch occidit et Herefordiam vastavit.” So Brut y Tywysogion, 1054.
1152. Fl. Wig. “Petivit [Algarus] ut contra Regem Eadwardum sibi esset in auxilium.”
1153. Fl. Wig. “De toto regno suo copiosum exercitum congregans.” The Welsh Chronicler says that “Gruffydd raised an army against the Saxons,” but he takes care to say nothing of his English, Irish, or Danish allies.
1154. Domesday, 179. “In Arcenefelde habet Rex tres ecclesias; presbyteri harum ecclesiarum ferunt legationes Regis in Wales.... Quum exercitus in hostem pergit, ipsi per consuetudinem faciunt Avantwarde et in reversione Redrewarde. Hæ consuetudines erant Walensium T. R. E. in Arcenefelde.” These customs are described at length, and they give a curious picture of a border district, largely inhabited by Welshmen living under English allegiance and bound to service against their independent brethren.
1155. Domesday, 181. “Rex Grifin et Blein vastaverunt hanc terram T. R. E. et ideo nescitur qualis eo tempore fuerit.” Blein is doubtless Blethgent the brother of Gruffydd, to whom his kingdom was given by Harold in 1063.
1156. Fl. Wig. 1055. “Duobus miliariis a civitate Herefordâ.”
1158. It is now that Florence introduces him as “timidus Dux Radulfus, Regis Eadwardi sororis filius.”
1159. Chron. Ab. 1055. “Ac ǽr þær wære ænig spere gescoten, ær fleah ðæt Englisce folc, forðan þe hig wæran on horsan.” Florence is more explicit; “Radulfus ... Anglos contra morem in equis pugnare jussit.”
1160. See Macaulay’s remarks on Monmouth’s raw cavalry at Sedgemoor. Hist. Eng. i. 588, 604.
1161. Fl. Wig. 1055. “Comes cum suis Francis et Nortmannis fugam primitùs capessit. Quod videntes Angli ducem suum fugiendo sequuntur.” But the Chronicles do not necessarily imply this.
1162. Chron. Ab. “And man sloh ðær mycel wæl, abutan feower hund manna oððe fife, and hig nænne agean.” The Annales Cambriæ (1055) have simply, “Grifinus ... Herfordiam vastavit,” without mention of the battle. The Brut (1054) much fuller. It makes no mention of Ælfgar and his contingent, but it speaks of Reinolf or Randwlf as the commander of the English. It says nothing of the special reason for the flight of the English, which it says happened “after a severely hard battle.”
1163. The battle, according to the Abingdon Chronicle and Florence, the “harrying” according to the Worcester Chronicle, was on the 24th of October, ix. Kal. Nov.
1164. So all the Chronicles under 792.
1165. See Appendix AA.
1166. Chronn. Ab. and Wig. and Fl. Wig. 1055.
1167. Flor. Wig. 1055. “Septem canonicis qui valvas principalis basilicæ defenderant occisis.” Chron. Wig., without mentioning the number, “Forbærude [Ælfgar] þæt mære mynster þe Æthelstan bisceop getimbrode, and ofsloh þa preostas innan þan mynstre.”
1168. “Nonnullis è civibus necatis, multisque captivatis,” says Florence, but the Worcester Chronicle, after mentioning the slaughter of the clergy, adds, “and manege þærto eacan;” while Abingdon says, “and þæt folc slogan, and sume onweg læddan.”
1169. The Brut y Tywysogion plainly distinguishes the “gaer,” or castle, which was demolished, from the town, which was burned. The castle was doubtless of stone, while the houses of the town would be chiefly of wood.
1170. Chronn. Ab. and Wig. and Fl. Wig. 1055, 1056.
1171. See Appendix Y.
1172. Florence, at this point, seems quite to boil over with admiration for Harold. “Quod ubi Regi innotuit, de totâ mox Angliâ exercitum congregari jussit, cui Glawornæ congregato strenuum Ducem Haroldum præfecit, qui, devotè jussis obtemperans, Griffinum et Algarum impigrè insequitur, ac fines Walanorum audacter ingressus, ultra Straddele castrametatus est; sed illi, quia virum fortem et bellicosum ipsum sciebant, cum eo committere bellum non audentes, in Suth-Waliam fugerunt.”
1173. See Flor. Wig. u. s. “Straddele” or “Stratelei” (see Domesday, 187) is a border district reckoned along with Herefordshire in Domesday. Roger of Wendover (i. 494), in a fine fit of exaggeration, carries Harold as far as Snowdon; “Castra usque ad Snaudunam perduxit.” Mr. Woodward (History of Wales, 210) makes Straddele to be Ystrad-clwyd, the southern Strathclyde of Denbighshire, but the witness of Florence and Domesday seems decisive.
1174. Fl. Wig. 1055. “Majorem exercitûs partem ibi dimisit, mandans eis ut suis adversariis, si res exposceret, viriliter resisterent.”
1175. I infer this from a comparison of the Chronicles, Florence, and Domesday. The Abingdon Chronicle says, “And Harald Eorl let dician ða dic abutan þæt port þa hwile.” Florence says more distinctly, “Herefordam rediens, vallo lato et alto illam cinxit, portis et seris munivit.” These accounts, as well as the probability of the case, point to a mere “vallum.” But in Domesday, 179, we read of there being a “murus” at Hereford in the time of King Eadward, which seems to imply a stone wall. Nothing is more likely than that Harold should throw up a hasty mound now, and afterwards make a more elaborate fortification, when, as I shall presently show, Hereford came under his immediate government. On the walls of Exeter and Towcester see vol. i. pp. 338, 346.
1176. One hundred and three burghers held of the King, twenty-seven of Earl Harold, whose customs were the same as those of the King’s men. The customs are detailed at great length. The burghers were liable to military service against the Welsh, and paid a fine of forty shillings to the King in case of disobedience to the Sheriff’s summons for that purpose. Some served with horses. The Reeve paid twelve pounds to the King and six to Earl Harold, that is the Earl’s third penny. The King had a mint, and also the Bishop. The whole details are exceedingly curious, and I shall probably have to refer to them again.
1177. Chronn. Ab. and Wig. Flor. Wig. 1056. “Cujus corpus Herefordam delatum, in ecclesiâ quam ipse a fundamentis construxerat, est tumulatum.” Yet he had the year before said, “monasterio quod ... Æthelstanus construxerat ... combusto.”
1178. Chron. Ab. 1055. “And þæt sciplið gewende to Legeceastre, and þær abiden heora males þe Ælfgar heom behét.” So Florence.
1179. The Worcester Chronicle, which, as well as (still more strangely) that of Peterborough, wholly leaves out Harold’s exploits, seems to record Ælfgar’s restoration with some degree of sarcasm; “And þa þa hi hæfdon mæst to yfele gedón, man gerædde þone ræd, þæt man Ælfgar Eorl geinnlagode, and ageaf him his eorldom, and eall þæt him ofgenumen wæs.”
1180. The Annales Cambriæ has “Magnus filius Haraldi vastavit regionem Anglorum, auxiliante Grifino Rege Britonum.” The Brut gives him the strange description, “Magnus uab Heralt, brenhin Germania” which I do not understand. Was he Ælfgar’s Irish ally, defrauded of his pay? The entry the year before, about waiting at Chester, looks like it.
1181. Fl. Wig. 1056. “In episcopali villâ quæ vocatur Bosanbyrig decessit.” A fine thirteenth century church and some remains of the episcopal manor still exist.
1182. The Abingdon and Worcester Chronicles here get poetical; Peterborough is, just here, strangely meagre; “And man sette Leofgar to biscupe; se wæs Haroldes Eorles mæsse-preost; se werede his kenepas on his preosthade, oððæt he wæs biscop. Se forlet his crisman and his hrode, his gastlican wæpna, and feng to his spere and to his sweorde æfter his biscuphade, and swa fór to fyrde ongean Griffin þone Wyliscan Cing.” Yet a fighting Bishop was not so wonderful a thing in those times. See vol. i. p. 432. William of Malmesbury, Gest. Pont. 163, makes some confusion, when he says, “Leovegar. Hunc tempore Regis Edwardi Grifin Rex Walensium urbe crematâ expulit sede et vitâ.” And Roger of Wendover makes some further confusion or other when he writes (i. 495), “Ethelstanus Herefordensis præsul obiit, et Levegarus, Ducis Haroldi capellanus, successit; hunc præsulem, in omni religione perfectum, Griffinus Rex Walensium, Herefordensi civitate crematâ, peremit.”
1184. Chron. Ab. 1056. “Eaforðlic is to atellanne seo gedrecednes, and seo fare eall, and seo fyrdung, and þæt geswinc and manna fyll and eac horsa, þe eall Englahere dreah.”
1185. See above, pp. 153, 362, 372. The Chronicles distinctly say, “Ealdred bisceop feng to þam bisceoprice þe Leofgar hæfde.” Florence rather softens this into, “Aldredo Wigornensi præsuli, donec antistes constitueretur, commissus est episcopatus Herefordensis.” He kept it for four years, holding also the see of Ramsbury during part of the time.
1186. Fl. Wig. “Idem episcopus et Comites Leofricus et Haroldus cum Rege Eadwardo Walanorum Regem Griffinum pacificaverunt.”
1188. Chron. Ab. 1056. “Swa þæt Griffin swor aðas þæt he weolde beon Eadwarde Kinge hold Underkingc and unswicigende.”
1189. Domesday, 263. “Rex Eadwardus dedit Regi Grifino totam terram quæ jacebat trans aquam quæ De vocatur. Sed postquam ipse Grifin forisfecit ei, abstulit ab eo hanc terram, et reddidit episcopo de Cestre [the see had been moved thither before the Survey. See Will. Malms. Gest. Pont. 164 b] et omnibus suis hominibus qui antea ipsam tenebant.” A “forisfactio” on the part of Gruffydd can hardly refer to his loss of his whole kingdom in 1063, and this moment of reconciliation and homage is obviously the most natural time for a partial surrender. We have here also another example of church lands being dealt with for political purposes in a way which would naturally give rise to those charges of sacrilege against Harold and others of which I have spoken elsewhere. See Appendix E.