1394. The Biographer makes a distinct allusion to the change of tactics, p. 425;
Were this writer less rhetorical, one might think that cunei meant specially the Housecarls, as distinguished from the “agmina cita” of the light-armed. Cf. Giraldus (ii. 451); “Haroldus ultimus, qui pedes ipse, cumque pedestri turmâ et levibus armis victuque patriæ conformi [see on the Welsh fare just above], tam validè totam Kambriam et circuivit et transpenetravit.” But the fullest account is given by John of Salisbury (iv. 18); “Quum ergo gentis cognosceret levitatem, quasi pari certamine militiam eligens expeditam, cum eis censuit congrediendum, levem exercens armaturam, perornatus incedens fasciis pectus et præduro tectus corio, missilibus eorum levia objectans ancilia, et in eos contorquens nunc spicula, nunc mucronem exercens, sic fugientium vestigiis inhærebat, ut premeretur ‘pede pes et cuspide cuspis,’ et umbo umbone repelleretur.”
1395. Vita Eadw. 426;
So John of Salisbury (iv. 18); “Nivium itaque collem ingressus, vastavit omnia.”
1396. Giraldus (ii. 451). “In cujus victoriæ signum perpetuamque memoriam lapides in Walliâ more antiquo in titulum erectos locis, in quibus victor exstiterat, literas hujuscemodi insculptas habentes plurimos invenies; Hic fuit victor Haroldus.” I am not aware that any of these monuments now remain. The stones at Trelech in Monmouthshire, sometimes thought to be a memorial of one of Harold’s victories, must be far older, and Monmouthshire is not likely to have been the scene of war.
1397. Ib. (ii. 453). “Ibi capiuntur milites, hic decapitantur; ibi redimuntur, hic perimuntur.”
1398. Joan. Sarisb. iv. 18. “Usque ad miserationem parvulorum omnem masculum qui inveniri potuit interficiens, in ore gladii pacavit provinciam.” So Harold’s biographer, though confounding the chronology (see above, p. 442), says (Vita Haroldi, 155) truly enough, “Viribus autem corporis quantum præstiterit, quam acer et strenuus [mark the standing epithet] animis armisque innotuerit, subacta, immo ad internecionem per Haroldum penè deleta, Wallia est experta.”
1399. Giraldus (ii. 451). “Ut in eâdem fere mingentem ad parietem non reliquerit.”
1400. John of Salisbury extends the campaign over two years, and Florence places the death of Gruffydd in 1064. But both the Worcester and the Peterborough Chronicles distinctly place the whole story between May and August 1063.
1401. Fl. Wig. 1063. “Regem suum Griffinum exlegantes abjecerunt.”
1402. Chron. Wig. 1063. “Se wæs kyning ofer eall Wealcyn.”
1403. I quote literally the Brut y Tywysogion. Its wrong date, 1061, is corrected in the Annales Cambriæ into 1063. “Griffinus filius Lewelini Rex Britonum nobilissimus dolo suorum occisus est.”
1404. Chron. Wig. He is slain “fram his agenum mannum, þurh þæt gewin þe he won wiþ Harold Eorl.”
1405. The Peterborough Chronicler is almost startling in his terse brevity; “And þæt folc heom gislodon and to bugon, and foron syððan to, and ofslogon heora cyng Griffin and brohton Harolde his heafod.” By John of Salisbury’s time it was forgotten that Gruffydd was killed by his own people; with him Harold “Reges cepit et capita eorum Regi qui eum miserat præsentavit” (iv. 18). The death of Gruffydd had however been decreed in the Christmas Gemót. See above, p. 468.
1406. Chron. Wig. “And Harold hit [Gruffydd’s head] þam kynge brohte, and his scipes heafod and þa bone þermid.” I do not know what the “bone” means. The Biographer (426) says nothing about the death of Gruffydd, but is eloquent about the spoil, especially the
1407. The Worcester Chronicle (1063) says expressly that the two princes were Gruffydd’s brothers; “And se kyng Eadward betæhte þæt land his twam gebroþran Bleþgente and Rigwatlan.” In the two Welsh Chronicles no notice is taken of this investiture of Gruffydd’s successors, but in 1068 we find Bleddyn and Rhiwallon reigning; they are however called sons of Cynfyn, and are described as waging war with the sons of Gruffydd. Of Bleddyn we have heard before in the invasion of Herefordshire. See above, p. 388.
1408. See Appendix DD. The Peterborough Chronicle leaves out all mention of Eadward; “And he [Harold] sette oþerne cyng þærto.”
1409. Chron. Wig. “And hig [Bleddyn and Rhiwallon] aþas sworon and gislas saldan þæm Cynge and þæm Eorle, þæt heo him on allum þingum unswicende beon woldon, and eighwar him gearwe, on wætere and on lande, and swylc of þam lande gelæstan swylc man dyde toforan ær oþrum kynge.”
1410. Joan. Sarisb. iv. 18. “Legem statuit ut quicumque Britonum exinde citra terminum, quem eis præscripsit, fossam scilicet Offæ, cum telo inveniretur, ei ab officialibus regni manus dextra præcideretur.”
1411. Ib. “Adeoque virtute Ducis tunc Britones confecti sunt ut fere gens tota deficere videretur, et ex indulgentiâ jam dicti Regis mulieres eorum nupserunt Anglis.”
1412. I shall speak more largely of her in my third volume.
1413. Brut y Tywysogion, 1039. “Gruffydd overcame Howel and captured his wife, and took her to be his own wife.”
1414. It is certainly hard measure when Sir Francis Palgrave (Hist. Ang. Sax. p. 372) speaks of Harold’s wife as “her whose husband he had murdered.” Did Alexander murder Darius?
1416. Excepting Dr. R. Vaughan (Revolutions in English History, i. 300), who, from some undescribed sources not open to other writers, has found out that “the marriage could hardly have been a happy one. Ea[l]dgyth was a woman of great ambition, and unscrupulous in her use of means to gratify her passions.”
1417. Chron. Ab. 1065. “Harold Eorl ... þone Kingc Eadward þar to habbene for huntnoþes þingon.” So Flor. Wig. “Ut Dominus suus Rex Eadwardus illic aliquamdiu venationis caussâ degere possit.”
1418. See above, p. 387. Florence expressly distinguishes him as “filius Regis Suth-Walanorum Griffini, quem ante paucos annos Griffinus Rex North-Walanorum occiderat, ejusque regnum invaserat.”
1419. R. Wend. i. 507. “Craddoc, Griffini filius, quem anno præterito exsulaverat Haroldus.” This may however be some confusion with the outlawry of Gruffydd ap Llywelyn.
1420. Chronn. Ab. and Wig. 1065. “Þa for Cradoc Griffines sunu to, mid eallum þam þe he begytan mihte, and þæt folc mæst eall ofsloh þe þar timbrode, and þæt gód genam þe þar gegaderod wæs.”
1421. Chron. Wig. “Ne wiston we hwa þone unræd ærest gerædde.”
1422. Vita Eadw. 421. “Interea quorumdam nobilium factione quos ob nequitias suas gravi presserat dominatûs sui jugo, conjurant in invicem in ejus præjudicio.”
1423. Chron. Ab. 1065. “Forþam þa he rypte God ærost.”
1424. Ib. “And ealle þa bestrypte þe he ofer mihte, æt life and æt lande.”
1425. Ib. “Ealle þa mid hym þe unlage rærdon.” On the untranslatable phrase of unlaw, see above, p. 336.
1426. Fl. Wig. 1065. “Pro immensitate tributi quod de totâ Northhymbriâ injustè acceperat.”
1427. Flor. Wig. 1065. “Pro exsecrandâ nece ... Gamelis filii Orm ac Ulfi filii Dolfini quos anno præcedenti Eboraci in camerâ suâ, sub pacis fœdere, per insidias, Comes Tostius occidere præcepit.” Dolfin and Orm both appear in Domesday, seemingly as holders under William of small parts of great estates held under Eadward. See 278 b, 330 b, 331 b. Orm married Æthelthryth, a daughter of Earl Ealdred (Sim. Dun. X Scriptt. 82) and sister-in-law of Earl Siward (see vol. i. p. 587), but Gamel was not her son.
1430. Fl. Wig. “Pro exsecrandâ nece ... Gospatrici, quem Regina Edgitha, germani sui Tostii caussâ, in curiâ Regis, quartâ nocte Dominicæ nativitatis, per insidias occidi jussit.” The deed here attributed to Eadgyth reminds one of the old crimes of Eadric at Oxford and Shrewsbury. See vol. i. pp. 356, 411.
1432. Chron. Wig. 1065. “And sona æfter þisan gegaderedon þa þegenas hi ealle on Eoforwicscire and on Norðhymbralande togædere.” Here we have perhaps the earliest use of the name Yorkshire, and of the name Northumberland in its modern sense. See vol. i. p. 585. The Abingdon Chronicle has only “on Eoforwicscire,” and Peterborough says “foron Norðhymbra togædere.”
1433. I have, as usual, made a comparison of the narratives in an Appendix (Note HH), referring here only to details.
1434. Flor. Wig. 1065. “Cum cc. militibus.”
1435. The names come from Florence. All three appear in Domesday as great landowners, Gamel especially, in King Eadward’s time. In 1086 Gamel still holds in capite a small part of his vast estates in Yorkshire (331), while his small Staffordshire holding seems to be increased (250 b). Dunstan has sunk to be a tenant of Ilbert of Lacy (317 b), while Glonieorn, called in Domesday Glunier (298 et al.), has, either by death or by confiscation, vanished altogether.
1436. See Appendix HH.
1437. The regulations made for the King’s reception at Shrewsbury (Domesday, 252) show that his presence there was not unlikely, and there was at least one Gemót held there in the time of Æthelred. See vol. i. p. 356. One of the legends of Harold and Tostig (see Appendix Z) implies the King’s probable presence at Hereford; but we do not distinctly hear of him further north than Gloucester.
1439. Sim. Dun. Hist. Eccl. Dun. iii. 14 (X Scriptt. 37). “Quidam vocabulo Copsi, qui sub Tosti totius comitatûs curam gerebat.” Gest. Regg. Angl. a. 1072 (X Scriptt. 204). “Rex Willelmus comitatum Osulfi commisit Copsio, qui erat partis Tostii Comitis viro consiliario et prudenti.” In Domesday also (298 b et al.) he figures as Copsi, but his estates do not seem to have been very large. His gifts to the Church of Durham are mentioned by Simeon (X Scriptt. 37). The Norman writers, as William of Poitiers (148 ed. Giles), turn his name into Coxo, out of which Thierry, by way of being specially Teutonic, has made Kox. (Cf. “Alwinus Coc Bedellus” in Domesday 190, a prudent man who held at the Survey what he had held T. R. E.) They also call him “Comes,” though Simeon (X Scriptt. 37) seems, even under William, to give him no higher title than “Procurator” = Gerefa?
1440. Chronn. Wig. Petrib. 1065. The Abingdon Chronicler omits this decree, which marks the gathering as intended to assume the character of a lawful Gemót.
1441. Chronn. Wig. Petrib. “And sendon æfter Morkere Ælfgares sunu Eorles, and gecuron hine heom to Eorle.” To the same effect afterwards Chron. Ab. “Hig namon heom þa Morkere to Eorle.” Vita Eadw. 421. “Utque efferæ temeritatis haberent auctoritatem, caput sibi et dominum faciunt Ducis Alfgari filium juniorem, ejusque fratrem natu majorem, ad hanc societatem dementiæ suæ invitant.”
1445. Sim. Dun. Gest. Regg. 1072 (X Scriptt. 204). “Morkarus vero, quoniam aliàs gravibus negotiis impeditus fuerat, comitatum ultra Tynam tradidit Osulfo adolescenti, filio præfati Comitis Eadulfi.” We shall hear of him again.
1446. The names come from Florence, who (see Appendix HH) describes them as “illius [Tostii] Danicos huscarlas, Amundum et Reavensvartum.” “Danicus” is an ambiguous word, and does not show whether they were simply adventurers from Denmark or sons of followers of Cnut. The name would hardly be applied to descendants of the elder Danish settlers. At any rate, one of these men was a considerable landowner, and both, from their special mention, must have been men of some importance, probably officers in command of the force. Reavenswart is doubtless the man who, under several spellings, occurs as a landowner T. R. E. in Yorkshire, Shropshire, and Cheshire (Domesday, 257, 266, 268 b, 301 b). The Amund of Suffolk, 433, 433 b, and 441 b, is a different person, but may not “Anand huscarl R. E.” in Hertfordshire, 140 b, be a corrupt form of our Amund?
1447. See Appendix HH.
1448. Chronn. Wig. Petrib. 1065. “And naman ealle his wæpna on Eoforwic and gold and seolfer and ealle his sceattas, þe hig mihton ahwær þær geacsian.” Fl. Wig. “Ærarium quoque ipsius fregerunt, et omnibus quæ illius fuerant ablatis, recesserunt.” Will. Malms. (ii. 200). “Homines ejus, et Anglos et Danos, obtruncârunt, equos et arma, et supellectilem omnem corradentes.”
1449. See Appendix HH.
1451. Chronn. Wig. Petrib. “And eac fela Bryttas comon mid him.”
1453. Chron. Wig. “And þa Ryðrenan dydan mycelne hearm abutan Hamtune, ... ægþær þæt hi ofslogon menn, and bærndon hús and corn, and namon eall þæt orf þe hig mihton to cuman, þæt wæs feola þusend, and fela hund manna hi naman, and læddan norð mid heom.” I do not know that the word “Ryðrenan” occurs elsewhere; but the hope that it might mean Welshmen is dispelled by the word “norð,” and still more clearly by the words of the Peterborough Chronicler, who, for “þa Ryðrenan” reads “þa norðerne menn.” The evil doers were clearly the original Northumbrian revolters.
1454. Chronn. Wig. Petrib. 1065. “Swa þæt seo scir and þa oðra scira þæ ðær neah sindon wurdan fela wintra ðe wyrsan.”
1455. On the negotiations, see Appendix HH.
1457. Will. Malms. ii. 200. “Se nullius Ducis ferociam pati posse.” See Appendix HH.
1458. Ib. “Proinde, si subditos velit, Markerium filium Elgari eis præficiat, re experturum quam dulciter sciant obedire, si dulciter tractati fuerint.”
1459. Chronn. Wig. Petrib. “And eac ærendracan mid him sendon.”
1460. Vita Eadw. 422. “Accitis undique regni primatibus, habebat ibi consilium quid super tali negotio esset opus.”
1461. Vita Eadw. 422. “Culpabant nonnulli eumdem gloriosum Ducem nimiæ feritatis, et magis amore justitiæ inquietos punisse arguebatur cupiditati invadendæ eorum facultatis.” I suppose I have caught the meaning of this stiff bit of Latin.
1462. Ib. “Dicebatur quoque [mark the difference of the formula], si dignum esset credere, fratris sui Haroldi invidioso, quod absit, suasu, hanc dementiam contra Ducem suum aggressos esse.” The Biographer expresses his own disbelief; “Sed ego huic detestabili nequitiæ a tanto principe in fratrem suum non audeo nec vellem fidem adhibere.” The Biographer, the special apologist of Tostig, is here driven to his last shift.
1463. Chron. Ab. and Florence. See Appendix HH.
1464. See Appendix Z.
1465. Vita Eadw. 422. “Ipse tamen Dux Tostinus, coram Rege ejusque frequentibus palatinis publicè testatus, hoc illi imposuit, sed ille citiùs ad sacramenta nimis (proh dolor) prodigus [on this most remarkable allusion, see above, p. 43], hoc objectum sacramentis purgavit.”
1466. Ib. 423. “Multotiens ergo à Rege per legatos consulti quum non adquiescerent sed potiùs inceptâ dementiâ ampliùs furerent, ferro disponit eorum contumacem proterviam compescere, commotis regali edicto universis totius reliquiis Angliæ.”
1467. Ib. “Sed quia ex asperiori hieme jam tunc aëris incumbebat inæqualitas, tum non facile erat ad contrariam expeditionem sufficientes educere exercituum copias, et quia in eâdem gente horrebat quasi bellum civile, instabant quidam ferventem Regis animum sedare, et ne expeditio procederet, suadere.”
1469. This seems implied in the words of the Biographer (423); “Obluctatique diutiùs Regem proficisci volentem non tam avertunt, quam eo invito perperàm deficiunt.”
1470. Vita Eadw. 423. “Contestatusque Deum cum gravi mœrore ipsi conquestus est quod suorum debito destitueretur obauditu ad comprimendam iniquorum superbiam. Denique super eos imprecatus est vindictam.”
1472. Chronn. Wig. and Petrib. “And se cyng þæs geuðe, and sende eft Harold heom to Hamtune” [it should be Oxford, see Appendix HH]. William of Malmesbury (iii. 252) does not ill describe the state of things; “Fiebant ista, ut a consciis accepimus, infenso Rege, quia Tostinum diligeret; sed morbo invalidus, senio gravis, penè jam despectui omnibus habere cœperat ut dilecto auxiliari non posset.” When William wrote, Eadward, however much reverenced, was not yet formally canonized.
1473. Will. Malms. ii. 200. “Haroldus ... qui magis quietem patriæ quam fratris commodum attenderet.”
1474. That the ravages took place during this interval, appears from the words of the Peterborough and Worcester Chronicles, that it was “þa hwile þe he [Harold] for heora ærende.”
1475. Both this and the Northampton Assembly are called “Mycel Gemót.” See Appendix HH.
1476. This is, I think, implied in the words of the Abingdon writer and of Florence (see Appendix HH). Harold tries to reconcile them “ibi”—at Northampton—“et post apud Oxnefordam.”
1479. Chron. Wig. and Petrib. “And he [Harold] niwade þær Cnutes lage.”
1480. Fl. Wig. “Cum adjutorio Comitis Eadwini de Angliâ Tostium expulerunt.”
1481. Vita Eadw. 423. “At Deo dilectus Rex, quum Ducem suum tutare non posset, gratiâ suâ multipliciter donatum, mœrens nimium quod in hanc impotentiam deciderit, à se dimisit.” The Chronicles, by simply saying “fór ofer sæ,” or something to that effect, distinctly favour the Biographer’s account.
1482. The Chronicles mention the departure of Tostig and his wife; the Biographer says, “cum conjuge et lactentibus liberis.” Yet they had been married fourteen years.
1483. With him went, say the Worcester and Peterborough Chronicles, “ealle þa þe woldon þæt he wolde.” So the Biographer (u. s.), “plurimâque nobilium suorum manu.”
1484. Fl. Wig.
1486. Chronn. Ab. Wig. Petrib. and Flor. Wig. The Abingdon Chronicle and Florence alone mention Saint Omer.
1487. Since this section was written, Dean Stanley has published his Memorials of Westminster Abbey, in the early part of which he goes over nearly the same ground. But I find a good deal of difference between my ideas of historical evidence and those of the Dean.
1488. Flor. Wig. “Post hæc Rex Eadwardus paullatim ægrotare cœpit.” Vita Eadw. 423. “Quo dolore decidens in morbum, ab eâ die usque in diem mortis suæ ægrum trahebat animum.” Will. Malms. iii. 252. “Quare ex animi ægritudine majorem valetudinem corporis contrahens, non multo post decessit.” The hagiographers do not feel called on to enlarge on the real cause of the death of their hero—baffled wrath against his own people.
1489. Vita Eadw. 417. “Ob amorem principalis Apostoli, quem affectu colebat unico et speciali.”
1490. The Biographer assigns no motive for the foundation of Westminster beyond this special reverence for Saint Peter, and the other usual motives for the foundation of monasteries. But his statement does not exclude the account given by the legendary writers about the vow, the dispensation, and the embassies to Rome. This I accept in the main, of course without binding myself to any legendary details, because it fits in so exactly with the statements of the Chroniclers and other authentic writers, who mention the two embassies without describing their object.
1493. See above, pp 447, 467.
1494. It is somewhat dangerous to use the two doubtful charters which will be found in Cod. Dipl. iv. 173, 181. If I could fully trust them, I should find it easy to add many details. But I venture to refer to them only when their statements seem either to have great probability in themselves or to be confirmed by some other evidence. The two embassies to Rome seem to imply that, in 1050, nothing had been begun, but that in 1061 the foundation was complete. The words of the second charter (p. 181) imply this. Eadward says “Quum ergo renovâssem eam,” &c. of the time when he sent the second embassy, four years before the completion and dedication of the church.
1495. Cod. Dipl. iv. 175. “Revelavit beatus Petrus cuidam probabilis vitæ monacho incluso nomine Wlfsino voluntatem suam esse ut restruerem locum, qui dicitur Westmonasterium.” On Wulfsige, see above, p. 466.
1496. Wace (10653) enlarges on the name, and his phonetic spelling illustrates his natural difficulty in pronouncing the letter þ.
Prevost’s note is worth reading.
1497. So says Æthelred, X Scriptt. 385.
1498. Æthelred, 385, and more briefly in the charter, iv. 181.
1499. Vita Eadw. 417. “Parvo quidem opere et numero, paucioribus ibi congregatis monachis sub Abbate in servitio Christi.”
1502. Vita Eadw. u. s. “Eligit ibi habere sibi locum sepulcri.”
1503. So at least says Pope Nicolas’ letter in Æthelred, 389. Cod. Dipl. iv. 184. “Ut ampliùs imperpetuum regiæ constitutionis et consecrationis locus sit, atque repositorium regalium insignium.” Here, whether the text be genuine or not, the immediate application of the church to the use spoken of proves the truth of the statement.
1504. Vita Eadw. 417. “Intendit Deo devotus Rex locum illum, tam vicinum famosæ et opulentæ urbi, tum satis apricum ex circumjacentibus fecundis terris et viridantibus prædiis.” He goes on to speak of the commerce of London.
1505. See vol. i. p. 280. Eadward was a benefactor to Fécamp (ðán hálgan mynstre æt Feskamp), giving it land at Steyning in Sussex (Cod. Dipl. iv. 229), where there grew up an alien Priory. A magnificent fragment of the church remains, of late twelfth century work.
1506. On the remains of Eadward’s work in Westminster Abbey, see the work by Mr. G. G. Scott and others, Gleanings from Westminster Abbey.
1507. This is asserted in the famous passage of William of Malmesbury (ii. 228), “Ecclesia ... quam ipse illo compositionis genere primus in Angliâ ædificaverat quod nunc penè cuncti sumptuosis æmulantur expensis.” On the architectural question I trust to say something in the last volume of this work.