1191. See the whole account in W. Rishanger, 90, ed. Riley.
1192. The see was at Ramsbury, but the Bishop is often called “Episcopus Wiltoniensium,” that is “of the men of Wiltunscír.” In Mercia and Northumberland the Bishopricks (much like the shires, see vol. i. p. 51) seem commonly to be spoken of by the names of the episcopal towns; in Wessex and East-Anglia it is as usual, or more so, to use the name of the tribe or district. See below, p. 406.
1194. Will. Malm. Gest. Pont. ap. Scriptt. p. Bed. 142. “Ejus animi magnitudini, vel potius cupiditati, quum non sufficeret rerum angustia, quoniam apud Ramesberiam nec clericorum conventus, nec quo sustentaretur erat.”
1195. Ib. “Antecessores suos indigenas fuisse; se alienigenam nullo parentum compendio vitam quo sustentet habere.”
1197. Will. Malms. u. s. “Episcopum Schireburnensem ... cujus episcopatum suo uniendum antiquis Edgithæ Reginæ promissis operiebatur.”
1198. On the history of Savaric and his designs on Glastonbury, see the History of Adam of Domersham in Anglia Sacra, i. 578, and Mr. J. R. Green and Professor Stubbs in the Somersetshire Archæological Proceedings for 1863, pp. 39–42.
1199. Fl. Wig. 1055. “Offensus quia ei sedem episcopalem transferre de villâ quæ Reamnesbyrig dicitur ad abbatiam Malmesbyriensem Rex nollet concedere.” There is nothing in this short notice inconsistent with the fuller account given by William of Malmesbury.
1200. I have spoken above (p. 84) of the changes made by Leofric at Exeter, and I shall have to speak in my next Chapter of the like changes made by Gisa at Wells.
1201. Will. Malms. Scriptt. p. Bed. 142. “Excellentis prudentiæ monachi, audito quid in curiâ actum, quid justitiæ surreptum esset, ad Comitem Godwinum ejusque filium summâ celeritate contendunt.” William is here mistaken in mentioning Godwine, who of course was dead. The story cannot be removed to a time before Godwine’s death, as it is fixed to 1055 by the witness of Florence.
1202. Ib. “Id Rex pro simplicitate, cui pronior quam prudentiæ semper erat, legitimè concedendum ratus, tertio abhinc die dissoluit.”
1203. Ib. “Antequam Hermannus in re vel saisitione inviscaretur.”
1204. Ib. “Illi [Godwine and Harold, or, more truly, Harold only], rei indignâ novitate permoti, Regem adeunt, et à sententiâ deducunt; facile id fuit viris summis amplissimâ auctoritate præditis, quibus et caussæ rectitudo, et Regis facilitas suffragaretur. Ita Hermannus, necdum planè initiatus, expulsus est.”
1206. Fl. Wig. 1055. “Episcopatum dimisit, marique transfretato, apud Sanctum Bertinum monachicum habitum suscepit, ibique in ipso monasterio tribus annis mansit.” Saint Omer, it must be remembered, was at this time Flemish, and Flanders, and lands south of Flanders, were still largely Teutonic.
1207. William of Malmesbury (Scriptt. p. Bed. 142) makes himself merry over the grievances of a Bishop who had turned monk in a momentary fit of pique; “Sed ut ferè fit talibus, repentino illo impetu relligionis frigescente, indies in Angliam reditum meditabatur. Figebat [Pigebat?] hominem assuetum obsequiis, innutritum deliciis, carere delinimentis quæ ab ineunte fuerat expertus ætate.”
1208. William, strangely confounding his dates, fancies that Godwine died during Hermann’s absence at Saint Omer, and that Hermann was more likely to gain his point after Godwine’s death. He is followed by R. Higden, XV Scriptt. ii. 281, the passage so oddly perverted by Thierry. See above, p. 345.
1209. See Flor. Wig. 1058.
1210. William of Malmesbury continues to jeer at him to the last; “Accepit ergo Hermannus Schireburnensem episcopatum integrum cum tribus pagis, Edwardo Rege dante, vivacitateque suâ datoris annos transcendens ad Willielmi tempora duravit.” The three “pagi” are the three shires of which the united diocese was formed, Berkshire, Wiltshire, and Dorsetshire. So the Abingdon Chronicler recording his death in 1078; “Se wæs Biscop on Bearrucscire and on Wiltunscire and on Dorsætan.” Cf. note on p. 401.
1213. See Appendix G.
1214. Flor. Wig. 1056. “Ecclesiarum amator, pauperum recreator, viduarum et pupillorum defensor, oppressorum subventor, virginitatis custos, comes Agelwinus, id est Odda.” Cf. above, p. 161.
1215. Ib. “Ab Aldredo Wigornensi episcopo, ante suum obitum, monachizatus.” So Chronn. Ab. and Wig. 1056. “He wæs to munece gehadod ær his ende.”
1216. Flor. Wig. u. s. “Apud Deorhyrste decessit, sed in monasterio Persorensi honorificè sepultus quiescit.” So Chronn. Ab. and Wig. “His lic lið on Perscoran.” His brother Ælfric, for whose soul Deerhurst church was built (see above, p. 161), who died in 1053 (Fl. Wig. in anno), also died at Deerhurst and was buried at Pershore.
1217. See vol. i. p. 588. According to the Worcester Chronicle under the years 1041 and 1073, and the Peterborough Chronicle under 1072, Æthelric was consecrated to York, and was unjustly deprived of the metropolitan see (hit wæs mid unrihte him ofgenumon), on which he took Durham. Hugo Candidus, the Peterborough writer (ap. Sparke, 46), attributes his loss of the see of York to the natural dislike of the seculars to a monk; “facientibus quibusdam ex canonicis vel ex clericis, quia penè naturale est eis semper invidere monachis, quia monachus erat, noluerunt pati eum archiepiscopum esse.” But what vacancy was there at York in 1041 or 1042? Hugh is loud in his praise, but Simeon of Durham (Hist. Dun. Eccl. iii. 9, X Scriptt. 34) has much to say against him, charging him with robbing his church. In the third year of his episcopate he was driven out, but was restored by Earl Siward, on the receipt of a bribe (munere oblato). Digging at Chester-le-street to build a stone church on the site of the old wooden one, he found a treasure, which he spent in building churches and repairing roads near Peterborough.
1218. Flor. Wig. and Chronn. Wig. 1072. Petrib. 1073. Sim. Dun. u. s.
1219. Sim. Dun. u. s.
1220. These two brother monks and Bishops remind one of the opening of the Ormulum;
Æthelwine, according to Simeon, had administered the Bishoprick of Durham under his brother.
1221. Chronn. Wig. and Petrib. 1059. The former breaks out into song, and gives us good authority for the surname of Ironside;
Florence says, “Ut ei mandârat suus patruus Rex Eadwardus, de Ungariâ ... Angliam venit. Decreverat enim Rex illum post se regni hæredem constituere.”
1222. The death of the Emperor Henry the third is recorded in the Abingdon Chronicle under 1056, under the name of Cona, that is, of course, Conrad. The mistake in the name is odd, but there is no need to have recourse to Mr. Thorpe’s strange conjecture, A. S. Chronicles, ii. p. 159. The Peterborough Chronicle has a Latin entry with the true name “Henricus.”
1224. The Tongues most familiar to Eadward would naturally be Magyar and High-Dutch.
1225. Chron. Ab. 1057;
1226. Chron. Petrib. 1057. “Her ... com Ædward æðeling, Eadmundes sunu cynges, hider to lande, and sona þæs gefor.” So Florence; “Ex quo venit parvo post tempore vitâ decessit Lundoniæ.”
1227. The song in the Abingdon Chronicle says;
1228. Lappenberg, p. 517 (ii. 259 Thorpe); “Doch ehe er noch seinen königlichen Oheim erblickte, von dessen Augen eine ihm ungünstige Partei, vermuthlich Earl Harolds, des nachherigen Königs, Freunde, ihn fern zu halten wusste, starb er plötzlich zu London.” He goes on however distinctly to absolve Harold from all share in his death.
1229. See Will. Gem. vii. 36. Ord. Vit. 500 C. Still more strongly, Guy of Amiens (129 et seqq.) and Liber de Hydâ, p. 293.
1230. Palgrave, Hist. Ang. Sax. 352. “He was buried in St. Paul’s Cathedral; and sad and ruthful [rueful?] were the forebodings of the English, when they saw him borne to his grave.—Harold gained exceedingly by this event. Did the Atheling die a natural death?—The lamentations of the chroniclers seem to imply more than meets the ear.” Mr. C. H. Pearson (Hist. of Eng. in the Early and Middle Ages, i. 244) does not scruple to repeat the insinuation.
1231. Unless indeed some tradition of the sort had found its way into the confused mind of Saxo (p. 203), when he made Harold murder King Eadward? He may have been thinking of Eadward the Ætheling, or he may have been writing purely at random.
1233. William was charged with poisoning Conan of Britanny (Will. Gem. vii. 33), and also Walter of Mantes (Eadward’s nephew), and his wife Biota (Ord. Vit. 534 B). I shall have to speak of these matters in their proper place.
1234. Chron. Wig. 1057. Petrib. and Cant. 1058. Fl. Wig. 1057.
1235. Fl. Wig. 1057. “Laudabilis Comes Leofricus, Dusci Leofwini filius [Earl Leofric, son of Ealdorman Leofwine, see vol. i. pp. 456, 461], in propriâ villâ quæ dicitur Bromleage, in bonâ decessit senectute ii. Kal. Sept.” He had been Earl at least twenty-five years, perhaps thirty-three.
1236. Besides Bromton and Knighton quoted above (p. 48), Godgifu’s ride through Coventry appears in Roger of Wendover, i. 497.
1237. Florence (u. s.) distinctly says that Leofric and Godgifu built the church; “de suo patrimonio à fundamentis construxerunt.” But Orderic (511 A) says, “Elfgarus Comes Coventrense cœnobium construxit,” and goes on to speak of Godgifu’s gifts of ornaments; he is clearly confounding father and son.
1238. Fl. Wig. 1057. “Adeo ditaverunt ut in Angliâ tanta copia auri, argenti, gemmarum, lapidumque pretiosorum in nullo inveniretur monasterio, quanta tunc temporis habebatur in illo.” The charter about Coventry in Cod. Dipl. iv. 253 can hardly be genuine as it stands. Pope Alexander was not reigning in 1043.
1239. See Appendix BB.
1240. Chron. Wig. and Flor. Wig. in anno.
1243. See Appendix BB.
1244. See Appendix G.
1245. See Appendix CC.
1246. See vol. i. pp. 33, 34. Harold however did not command the whole Severn valley, as Worcestershire was now held by Ælfgar. See Appendix G.
1247. See Appendix G.
1248. See Appendix G.
1250. This seems implied in the way in which William’s preparations are spoken of by the Chroniclers and Florence under 1066.
1251. Flor. Wig. 1066. “Quem Rex ante suam decessionem regni successorem elegerat.” I shall discuss this point at length in the third volume.
1252. See Appendix DD.
1253. He is “subregulus” in Florence, 1066.
1255. Compare on the other hand the joint Kingship of Hugh and Robert in France (see vol. i. p. 269). So in England in after times we find Henry the son of Henry the Second crowned in his father’s lifetime. In the Empire the cases are endless. See above, p. 373, for that of the reigning King Henry the Fourth.
1257. De Inv. c. 14. “Quem [Haroldum] indigenæ præ cæteris postulabant et ardenter sitiebant post sanctum Regem Edwardum, ipsius morum et vitæ hæredem. Quod quidem divinâ miseratione processu temporis videre meruerunt qui tunc præsentes fuerunt.” When the Waltham writer wrote, “Eadwardus Simplex” had become a canonized saint.
1258. The authorities for this chapter are essentially the same as those for the last. With regard to the Chronicles, it may be noticed that the Abingdon Chronicle, which must be looked on as in some degree hostile to Godwine, is in no sort hostile to Harold. The Peterborough Chronicler, who seems rather to keep himself for great occasions, is rather meagre during this period. As Welsh matters are still prominent, the Welsh Chronicles have still to be consulted, and, towards the end of the period, the Northern Sagas again become of some little importance. But the characteristic of the period is the prominence of ecclesiastical affairs, which brings several local and legendary writers into a position of some consequence. Thus, for the history of Westminster, the tales of Æthelred of Rievaux and his followers have to be compared with the authentic narratives of contemporary chroniclers, and, as Harold’s great foundation comes within these years, we now begin to make use of the local Waltham writers. The main facts and fictions belonging to the local Waltham history are found in the two tracts, De Inventione Sanctæ Crucis and Vita Haroldi, which were first published by M. Francisque Michel in his Chroniques Anglo-Normandes (Rouen, 1840). From these I endeavoured in 1857 to put together the early history of Waltham, and of Harold in relation to Waltham, in a paper in the Transactions of the Essex Archæological Society, vol. ii. p. 34. But M. Michel’s editions are by no means accurate, and of the De Inventione he left out many chapters altogether. I was therefore led into some errors of detail. Since that time, a perfect edition of the De Inventione has been published, with a Preface, by Professor Stubbs (Oxford, 1861). The Vita Haroldi was written after 1205. In its essence, as regards the main facts of English history, it is a mere romance, but, like other local romances, it has its value for points of local description, and even for purely local facts. The De Inventione is a work of higher character. It was written by an anonymous Canon of Waltham, who was born in 1119, who entered the College in 1124, who was made a Canon before 1144, and who wrote after 1177, when he lost his prebend at the change in the foundation of Waltham under Henry the Second. This tract contains a good deal of legend, but no romance. The author writes in evident good faith, and with a manifest desire to be fair and accurate. He repeats the legends of his house as he heard them from his childhood; he was inclined, like the rest of his contemporaries, to see, and even to expect, miracles where we see only natural causes. But, making the necessary deductions on these scores, he is distinctly more trustworthy than the average of local historians. On his general character as an historian, and especially on the miraculous element in his narrative, see the remarks in Professor Stubbs’ Preface, p. xxvii.
As we have to deal with Westminster and Waltham, we have also to deal in a less degree with Wells and Worcester, two churches which figure prominently in the ecclesiastical history of these years. For Wells we have Gisa’s own narrative of his controversy with Harold, in the “Ecclesiastical Documents” published by the Camden Society. For Worcester we have the Life of its great Bishop Saint Wulfstan, by William of Malmesbury, in the second volume of Anglia Sacra, and the shorter Life by the contemporary Heming. This last is given in Old-English in Hearne’s edition of Heming’s Worcester Cartulary (a book which ought to be reprinted), p. 403, and in Latin in the first volume of Anglia Sacra.
1259. See Appendix EE.
1260. Ib.
1261. All our Chronicles save Abingdon, which is just now silent for a few years, mention the death of Stephen and the accession of Benedict. None of them imply any doubt as to Benedict’s legitimacy, but they use three different words to express his appointment. He is “to Papan geset” in Worcester, “gehalgod to Papan” in Peterborough, “gebletsod þarto” in Canterbury—in the last entry of that chronicle.
1262. See the Cardinal of Aragon’s Life of Nicolas, Muratori, iii. 301. He does not allow Benedict a place in his list. Yet the next Pope who assumed the name, in 1303, was called Benedict the Eleventh. Muratori, iii. 672. On these Popes, see Milman, Latin Christianity, iii. 47.
1263. Our Chronicles (Worcester and Peterborough) record the fact in nearly the same words under the year 1059; “Her on þisum geare wæs Nicolaus to Papan gecoren; se wæs biscop æt Florentie þære burh; and wæs Benedictus ut adrifen, se wæs ær Papa.” These last words may seem to imply a certain cleaving to Benedict. It is a pity that the strict and orthodox Abingdon writer (see above, p. 343) is silent, as he might have employed some other formula.
1264. Chronn. Wig. Petrib. Cant. 1058. See above, pp. 343, 344. Benedict was “corruptus pecuniâ,” according to John of Peterborough, 1058.
1265. The long-lived Godwine, or the latter of the two Godwines, vanishes in 1046. We hear nothing, as far as I know, of the disposition of the see in the meanwhile. The Godwine who (Chronn. Wig. Petrib.) died in 1061 seems to be a different person, a Suffragan Bishop of Saint Martin’s near Canterbury.
1266. The Chronicles significantly connect the consecration of Æthelric and Siward with the receipt of the pallium by Stigand. The Peterborough writer (1058) seems specially to mark it; “Her on þisum geare forðferde Stephanus Papa, and wæs Benedictus gehalgod to Papan. Se ylca sænde Stigande Arcebiscope pallium hider to lande. And on þisum geare forðferde Heaca biscop on Suðseaxan, and Stigand Arcebiscop hadode Ægelric monuc æt Christes cyrcean to biscop to Suðseaxum, and Siward abbot to biscop to Hrofeceastre.”
1267. Of these dangers we shall hear more distinctly in the case of the pilgrimage of Tostig in 1061. The Biographer now (410) tells us that Harold, “potenti munificentiâ veneratus sanctorum limina, per medios insidiantes cautus derisor more suo Dei gratiâ pervenit ad propria.” These words might have a deeper meaning; the visit to Normandy and the oath might be on his return; but the chances are the other way.
1268. Chron. Wig. 1058. “Her man ytte ut Ælfgar Eorl, ac he cóm sona inn ongean mid strece þurh Gryffines fultum; and her com scyphere of Norwegan. Hit is langsum to attellane eall hu hit gefaren wæs.” So Florence; “Algarus Merciorum Comes a Rege Eadwardo secundò exlegatus est; sed Regis Walanorum Griffini juvamine et Norreganicæ classis adminiculo, quæ ad illum venerat ex improviso, citò per vim suum comitatum recuperavit.” Is this the fleet mysteriously referred to by Tigernach (O’Conor, i. 301) under the same year? “Classis cum filio Regis Danorum [he probably means Norwegians] cum alienigenis Insularum Orcnensium et Ebudensium et Dubliniensium, ut subigeret sibi regnum Saxonum. Sed Deus contrarius fuit ei in re istâ.”
1269. This would apply to the entry in the Chronicle; but, if so, Florence, who marks the repetition of the word by the word “secundò,” was misled by it.
1270. When Morkere heads the Northumbrian revolt in 1065, the Biographer (p. 421) says of the sons of Ælfgar, “inter eos regiæ stirpis pueros et eumdem Ducem Tostinum ex veteri simultate odio [odia?] erant.” The “regia stirps” can refer only to some possible descent of the House of Leofric from ancient Mercian Kings. (Cf. vol. i. p. 456.) There is no sign of any connexion between them and the West-Saxon royal family.
1272. Ib. i. 7. “Sub potestate sæculari, usque ad tempus Wolstani episcopi Wygorniensis ... mirificè tradebatur.”
1274. Hist. Mon. Glouc. i. 8. “Anno Domini millesimo vicesimo secundo Wolstanus Episcopus Wygorniensis, qui postea factus est Archiepiscopus Eboracensis, concedente Rege Cnuto, Duce Danorum, qui Ecclesiam Sanctam exaltavit, et libertates suas antiquas renovavit et promovit, ut dicit Petrus Pictavensis, hic Wolstanus clericos qui ecclesiam Sancti Petri antea rexerant et custodierant, sub protectione Dei et Apostolorum Petri et Pauli et regulâ beati Benedicti in eâdem ecclesiâ regulariter collocavit.” In this case the canons seem not to have been driven out, but to have taken the monastic vows on themselves. This was partly the case at Bury. See vol. i. p. 486.
1275. Hist. Glouc. i. 8. “Multa bona dissipavit.” Two lordships had to be sold to make good the losses caused by him.
1276. Chron. Wig. 1058. “On þam ilcan gere Ealdred bisceop halgode þæt mynster on Gleawcestre þe he sylf geforðode, Gode to lofe and Sc̃e Petre.” Florence mentions that the church was built by Ealdred “a fundamentis,” and adds, “postea Regis licentiâ, Wlstanum Wigornensem monachum à se ordinatum, Abbatem constituit ibidem.” The local history (p. 9), which calls him Wilstanus, gives the same account. The prominence here given to the Bishop of the Diocese is remarkable; we hear nothing of any election by the monks, but only of an Abbot chosen by the Bishop and confirmed by the King. One might fancy that Wulfstan, as founder, had retained some special rights of patronage over the monastery of Gloucester.
1279. After the consecration at Gloucester, says the Worcester Chronicler (1058), “swa ferde to Hierusalem, mid swilcan weorðscipe swa nan oðer ne dyde ætforan him;” “quod nullus,” adds Florence, “archiepiscoporum vel episcoporum Angliæ eatenus dinoscitur fecisse.”
1280. “Per Ungariam,” says Florence.
1281. Chron. Wig. “And hine sylfne þær Gode betæhte, and wurðlic lac eac geoffrode to ures Drihtenes byrgene, þæt was an gylden calic, on fíf marcon swiðe wundorlices geworces.” The chronicler, just as at the time of the mission to Köln, clearly rejoices in the splendour and bounty of his own Bishop.
1282. Oddly enough, it is the Worcester and not the Peterborough Chronicler who records this purely local fact; “on þisan gere wæs se stypel gehalgad æt Burh on xvi. kal. Novemb.”
1284. Chron. Mon. Evesham, p. 88. “Transiit quoque vir ille Mannius eâdem nocte et horâ quâ Rex gloriosus Æduuardus, festivitate scilicet sanctæ Epiphaniæ Domini.” But Eadward died on the eve of the Epiphany not on the Epiphany itself.
1285. Ib. 87. “Nunc sub eo jure præpositi totius abbatiæ hujus curam agebat.”
1286. There is here a chronological difficulty. The Evesham Chronicle fixes the date to April 23, 1059. Mannig died on the same day as Eadward, that is January 5, 1066; seven years, so the historian says, after his resignation. This makes the year of Æthelwig’s appointment 1059. For day and place we are told (88), “Rex ... fecit eum apud Glocestre, ubi tunc curiam suam tenebat, coram multis principibus hujus patriæ ab Aldredo Archiepiscopo honorabiliter in paschali sollemnitate die festivitatis sancti Georgii martyris consecrari.” Now it is hardly likely that Ealdred, who had left for Jerusalem seemingly not very early in the year before, could have been again in England so soon as Saint George’s Day, 1059. Also it was not the Easter but the Christmas festival which was commonly held at Gloucester. That Ealdred is called Archbishop before his time is a common slip. Perhaps (see Mr. Macray’s note on p. 87) the reckoning of seven years is wrong, and the date was really 1058, before Ealdred left England; or the wrong season may be given (though this seems hardly likely, and the usual places of the Gemóts were sometimes departed from); or the ceremony may have been really performed by some other Bishop, and Ealdred’s name may have been carelessly inserted because he was known to be Bishop of the Diocese at the time.
1288. When I say that this mistake is found in Sharon Turner (Hist. of England, i. 79, 81, 84), in Sir Francis Palgrave (Hist. of Anglo-Sax. 378, 388), and in Lappenberg (p. 556 of the original, ii. 302 of Mr. Thorpe’s translation), it is not wonderful that it is found also in Thierry (lib. iii.) as well as in Dr. Vaughan (Revolutions in English History, i. 298), in M. Emile de Bonnechose (ii. 283), and in Mr. St. John (ii. 275). Yet, without looking to the local historians, or to the writers who record the change of foundation under Henry the Second, they need only have turned to William of Malmesbury, iii. 247; “Ecclesiam ... canonicis impleverat.”