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diff --git a/old/68963-0.txt b/old/68963-0.txt deleted file mode 100644 index 4cdf32d..0000000 --- a/old/68963-0.txt +++ /dev/null @@ -1,4710 +0,0 @@ -The Project Gutenberg eBook of A short history of the Norman Conquest -of England, by Edward A. Freeman - -This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and -most other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions -whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms -of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at -www.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in the United States, you -will have to check the laws of the country where you are located before -using this eBook. - -Title: A short history of the Norman Conquest of England - -Author: Edward A. Freeman - -Release Date: September 11, 2022 [eBook #68963] - -Language: English - -Produced by: Charlie Howard and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team - at https://www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from images - generously made available by The Internet Archive) - -*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK A SHORT HISTORY OF THE NORMAN -CONQUEST OF ENGLAND *** - - - - - -Transcriber’s Note: Italic text is enclosed in _underscores_, boldface -in =equals signs=. - - - - - A SHORT HISTORY - OF THE - NORMAN CONQUEST - OF - ENGLAND - - - BY - EDWARD A. FREEMAN, D.C.L., LL.D. - - _Late Regius Professor of Modern History in the - University of Oxford_ - - - Third Edition - - - OXFORD - AT THE CLARENDON PRESS - 1908 - - - - - HENRY FROWDE, M.A. - PUBLISHER TO THE UNIVERSITY OF OXFORD - LONDON, EDINBURGH - NEW YORK AND TORONTO - - - - -CONTENTS. - - - CHAP. PAGE - - I. INTRODUCTION 1 - - II. THE ENGLISH AND THE NORMANS 6 - - III. THE EARLY DEALINGS BETWEEN ENGLISH AND NORMANS 16 - - IV. THE YOUTH OF DUKE WILLIAM 30 - - V. HAROLD EARL AND KING 39 - - VI. THE TWO HAROLDS 55 - - VII. THE COMING OF DUKE WILLIAM 64 - - VIII. THE GREAT BATTLE 76 - - IX. HOW DUKE WILLIAM BECAME KING 86 - - X. HOW KING WILLIAM WON THE WHOLE KINGDOM 93 - - XI. KING WILLIAM’S LATER WARS 108 - - XII. HOW KING WILLIAM RULED THE LAND 118 - - XIII. THE TWO WILLIAMS 128 - - XIV. THE RESULTS OF THE NORMAN CONQUEST 134 - - XV. THE LATER HISTORY 148 - - - - -INTRODUCTION. - - -I have here told, in the shape of a primer, the same tale which I have -already told in five large volumes. I have only to say that, though -the tale told is the same, yet the little book is not an abridgement -of the large one, but strictly the same tale told afresh. I shall be -well pleased if I am able some day to tell the same tale on a third and -intermediate scale. - - SOMERLEAZE, WELLS, - _June 5, 1880_. - - - - -THE NORMAN CONQUEST OF ENGLAND. - - - - -CHAPTER I. - -INTRODUCTION. - - -=1. Meaning of the Norman Conquest.=--By the Norman Conquest of -England we understand that series of events during the latter part -of the eleventh century by which a Norman Duke was set on the throne -of England, and was enabled to hand down the crown of England to his -descendants. The Norman Conquest of England does in truth mean a great -deal more than the mere transfer of the crown from one prince or one -family to another, or even than the transfer of the crown from a prince -born in the land to a prince who came from beyond sea. It means a great -number of changes of all kinds which have made the history and state of -our land ever since to be very different from what they would have been -if the Norman Conquest had never happened. For the Norman Duke could -not be set on the throne of England without making many changes of all -kinds in the state of England. But the fact that a Norman Duke was set -on the throne of England is the central point of the whole story of the -Norman Conquest of England. That story must tell how William Duke of -the Normans became William King of the English. It must also tell how -it came about that the Norman Duke could be made King of the English; -that is, it must tell something of the causes which led to the Norman -Conquest. It must also tell of the changes which came of the way in -which the Norman Duke was made King of the English. That is, it must -tell something of the effects which followed on the Norman Conquest. -And, in order to make the causes of the Conquest rightly understood, -it must tell something of the state of things among both the Normans -and the English before the Norman Conquest of England happened. And, in -order to make the effects of the Conquest rightly understood, it must -go on to tell something of the times for some while after the Conquest -itself, that we may see the way in which the changes which followed on -the Conquest were wrought, and how they have had an effect on English -history ever since. - -=2. Meaning of the word Conquest.=--We may now ask a little further -what is the meaning of the word _conquest_, whether there can be -more kinds of conquest than one, and whether the Norman Conquest of -England has anything about it which is either like or unlike any other -conquest. Now the word _conquest_ strictly means the winning or getting -of anything, whether rightly or not, or whether by force or not. It -might mean, for instance, the winning of land, whether a kingdom or -anything smaller, by strength of war, or it might mean winning it by -sentence of law. And this first meaning of the word has something -specially to do with the Norman Conquest of England. For when King -William was called the _Conqueror_, it did not at first mean that he -had won the crown of England by force; for he claimed it as his own by -law. But though he claimed it as his own by law, he had in fact to win -it by force; we can therefore rightly speak of the _Conquest_ and the -_Conqueror_ in the sense which those words now commonly bear, that of -winning a land and the rule over it by strength of war. For, though -Duke William claimed the crown as his own by law, he could get it only -by coming into our land with an army and overthrowing and killing our -king in fight; and when he had got the crown and was called King, he -had still to win the land bit by bit, often by hard fighting, before he -had really got the whole kingdom into his hands. The Norman Conquest of -England was therefore a conquest in the best known meaning of the word; -it was the winning of the land by strength of war. - -=3. Different kinds of Conquests.=--Now this fact that Duke William -claimed the English crown as his own by law, and yet had to win it -in battle at the head of a foreign army, had a great deal to do with -the special character of the Norman Conquest of England, and with the -effect which that Conquest has had on the history of England ever -since. There have been at different times conquests of very different -kinds. Sometimes a whole people has gone from one land to another; they -have settled by force in a land where other men were dwelling, and have -killed or driven out the men whom they found in the land, or have let -them live on as bondmen in their own land. Here is mere force without -any pretence of right, and a conquest like this can happen only among -people who are quite uncivilized, as we English were when we first came -to the island of Britain. The Norman Conquest was nothing at all like -this; the English were neither killed nor driven out nor made slaves, -but went on living in their own land as before. The Norman Conquest -was, so to speak, less of a conquest than conquests of this kind. But -it was much more of a conquest than some other conquests of another -kind have been. In some conquests of later times all that has happened -has been something of this kind. A king has won a kingdom by force, or -he has added some new lands to the kingdom which he had before. The -changes made by such a conquest may be only what we may call political -changes, changes in the government and most likely to some extent in -the law. Such a conquest may be made with very little change which -directly touches private men; it may be made without turning anybody -out of his house or land. Indeed many men may even keep on the public -offices which they held before. Now the Norman Conquest of England, -though not so much as the other kind of conquest, was much more than -this. For though the English nation was not killed or driven out, yet -very many Englishmen had their lands, houses, and offices taken from -them and given to strangers. And this happened specially with the -greatest estates and the highest offices. These passed almost wholly to -strangers. It was not merely that a foreign king won the English crown, -but that his foreign followers displaced Englishmen in nearly all the -highest places in the English kingdom. - -=4. Nature of the Norman Conquest.=--Now this special character of the -Norman Conquest of England, as being more than one kind of conquest and -less than another, came chiefly of the fact that a prince who claimed -the English crown by law did in truth win it by force of arms. No one -in England supported his claim; he had to make it good at the head of -a foreign army. And when he had thus won the crown, he had at once -to make himself safe in the strange land which he had conquered, and -to reward those who had helped him to conquer it. He therefore very -largely took away the lands and offices of the English who had fought -against him, and gave them to the Normans and other strangers who had -fought for him. But, as he claimed to be king reigning according to -law, he gave them those lands and offices to be held of the English -crown, according to English law. From this, and from many other -causes, it came about that the descendants of the Normans who settled -in England step by step become, as we may say, Englishmen, if not by -blood yet by adoption. For several generations after the Conquest the -high places of the land, the great estates and chief offices, were -almost always held by men of Norman or other foreign blood. But in a -very few generations these men learned to speak English and to have the -feelings of Englishmen. The effect of the Norman Conquest of England -was neither to make England subject to Normandy nor to make it a Norman -land. It gave to England a much higher place in the world in general -than it had held before. At home, Englishmen were neither driven out -nor turned into Normans, but the Normans in England were turned into -Englishmen. But in this work of turning themselves into Englishmen, -they made, bit by bit, many changes in the laws of England, and in the -language, manners, and thoughts of Englishmen. - -=5. Causes of the Norman Conquest.=--We have thus seen what kind of -a work the Norman Conquest of England was, as compared with other -conquests of our own and of other lands. It is well thoroughly to -understand this in a general way before we begin to tell our tale at -all at length. And before we come to tell the tale of the Conquest -itself, we must try clearly to understand what kind of people both -Englishmen and Normans were at the time when the Normans crossed the -sea to conquer England. We must see what were the real causes, and -what were the immediate occasions, which led to an event which seems -so strange as that a Norman Duke should give out that he had a right -to the English crown, and that he should actually be able to win it by -war. And to do this, we must run lightly over the history both of the -English and of the Normans down to the time when they first began to -have any dealings with one another. - - - - -CHAPTER II. - -THE ENGLISH AND THE NORMANS. - - -=1. The English and Norman Settlements.=--When the Normans crossed the -sea to conquer England, the English had been much longer settled in -the land which from them was called England than the Normans had been -in the land which from them was called Normandy. It was in the fifth -century that the English began to settle in those parts of the isle of -Britain which from them took the name of England. But it was not till -the beginning of the tenth century that the Normans settled in that -part of the mainland of Gaul which from them took the name of Normandy. -The English had thus been living for six hundred years in their land, -when the Normans had been living only about a hundred and fifty years -in theirs. The English therefore in the eleventh century were more -thoroughly at home in England than the Normans were in Normandy. Among -the English the adventurous spirit of new settlers had spent itself in -the long wars with the Welsh which established the English dominion -in Britain. But in the Normans that spirit was still quite fresh. -Their conquest of England was only one, though it was the greatest, of -several conquests in foreign lands made by the Normans about this time. -Both were brave; but the courage of the English was of the passive kind -with which men defend their own homes; the courage of the Normans was -of the restless, ambitious, kind with which men go forth to seek for -themselves new homes. - -=2. The English in Britain.=--The first time when the affairs of -Normandy and of England came to have anything to do with one another -was about eighty years before the Norman Conquest of England. At -that time all England was united into one kingdom under the kings of -the house of the West-Saxons. In the course of about a hundred years -after their first landing, the English had founded seven or eight -chief kingdoms, besides smaller states, at the expense of the Welsh, -occupying all the eastern and central parts of Britain. Among these -states four stand out as of special importance, as having at different -times seemed likely to win the chief power over all their neighbours. -These were Kent, Wessex, Mercia, and Northumberland. The power of Kent -came early to an end, but for a long time it seemed very doubtful to -which of the other three the chief power would come. Sometimes one had -the upper hand, and sometimes another. But at last, in the early years -of the ninth century, the West-Saxon king Ecgberht won the chief power -over all the English kingdoms and over all the Welsh in the southern -part of the island. The northern parts of the island, inhabited by the -Picts, the Scots, and the northern Welsh, remained quite independent. -And in the English and southern Welsh kingdoms kings went on reigning, -though the West-Saxon king was their _lord_ and they were his _men_. -That is, though he had nothing to do with the internal affairs of their -kingdoms, they were to follow him in matters of peace and war, and at -all events never to fight against him. Long before the chief lordship -thus came into the hands of the West-Saxon kings, all the English -kingdoms had embraced Christianity. Kent was the first to do so; its -conversion began at the end of the sixth century (597), and all -England had become Christian before the end of the seventh. - -=3. The Danes in England.=--Not long after the West-Saxon kings had won -the chief power over the other English kingdoms, a series of events -began which made a great change in England, and which was of a truth -the beginning of the Normans as a people. The people of Scandinavia, -the Danes and the Northmen or Norwegians, began about this time, first -to plunder and then to settle both in England and in Gaul. They were -still heathens, just as the English had been when they first landed in -Britain. Their invasions were therefore the more frightful, and they -took special delight in destroying the churches and monasteries. In -England all the latter part of the ninth century is taken up with the -story of their ravaging and settlements. They settled in eastern and -northern England; they overran Wessex for a moment, but there they were -defeated and driven out by the famous King Alfred. They had upset the -other English kingdoms, so that Wessex was now the only independent -English and Christian kingdom. Alfred could therefore treat with them -as the one English king. The Danish king Guthrum was baptized, and -a line was drawn between his dominions and those of Alfred, leaving -to Alfred all Wessex and the other lands south of the Thames and all -south-western Mercia. Thus Alfred lost as an over-lord; but his own -kingdom was enlarged; and the coming of the Danes, by uprooting the -other English kingdoms, opened the way for the West-Saxon Kings to win -the whole of England. This was done under Alfred’s successors, Edward, -Æthelstan, Edmund, and Eadred, in the first half of the tenth century. -After long fighting, all the English kingdoms were won from the Danes -and were united to the kingdom of the West-Saxons. And the Kings of -the English, as they were now called, held the lordship over the other -kingdoms of Britain, Scottish and Welsh. - -=4. The Northmen in Gaul.=--While this was going on in Britain, -something of much the same kind was going on in Gaul. Throughout the -ninth century the Northmen were plundering in Gaul, sailing up the -rivers, burning towns and monasteries, and sometimes making small -settlements here and there. But in the beginning of the tenth century -they made a much greater and more lasting settlement. A colony of -Northmen settled in that part of Gaul which from them took the name of -Normandy, and there founded a new European state. This was in the year -912. The great dominion of the Franks under Charles the Great was now -quite broken up into four kingdoms. That of the West-Franks, called -_Karolingia_, because several of its kings bore the name of Charles, -took in the greater part of Gaul. The crown was more than once disputed -between the kings of the house of Charles the Great, who reigned at -Laon, and the Dukes of the French, whose capital was Paris, and whose -duchy of _France_ was the greatest state of Gaul north of the Loire. -Some of these dukes themselves wore the crown, and, when they did -not, they were much more powerful than the kings at Laon. But whether -the king reigned at Paris or Laon, the princes south of the Loire, -though they called themselves his men, took very little heed to him. -Now when the kingdom was at Laon, the king was pretty well out of the -way of invaders who came by sea; but no part of Gaul was more exposed -than the duchy of France, with its long seaboard on the Channel, and -with the mouth of the river Seine making a highway for the Northmen -up to Rouen and Paris. Paris was several times besieged in the ninth -century; and now at the beginning of the tenth, the coasts of Gaul, -especially the northern coast, were ravaged by a great pirate-leader -named Rolf--called in Latin _Rollo_ and in French _Rou_--who had got -possession of Rouen and seemed disposed to settle in the land. - -=5. Settlement of Rolf.=--At this time the kingdom of the West-Franks -was held by Charles, called the Simple, who reigned at Laon. Robert, -Duke of the French, was his man, but a man much more powerful than his -lord. But no prince in Gaul had suffered so much from Rolf’s ravages. -So King Charles and Duke Robert agreed that the best thing to be done -was very much what Alfred had done with Guthrum, to grant to Rolf part -of the land as his own, if he would be baptized and hold it as the man -of the king. So Rolf was baptized with Duke Robert to his godfather, -and he took his name in baptism, though he was still commonly spoken of -as Rolf. And he received the city of Rouen and the land from the Epte -to the Dive, as a fief from King Charles, and became his man. So Rolf -and his followers settled down in the land which from them was called -the _Land of the Northmen_ and afterwards the Duchy of Normandy. It was -enlarged in Rolf’s own time by the addition of the city of Bayeux and -its territory, and in the time of his son William Longsword, by the -addition of the peninsular land of Coutances, called the _Côtentin_, -and the land of Avranches to the south of it. The Norman dukes claimed -also to be lords over the counties of Britanny and Maine; but they -could never really make good their power there. But the whole north -coast of the duchy of France now became the duchy of Normandy. Paris -and its prince, sometimes king, sometimes only duke, were quite cut off -from the sea by the land of the Norman dukes at Rouen. - -=6. The Early Norman Dukes.=--In this lay the beginning of the strife -between Normandy and France, which, when the same princes came to -rule over England and Normandy, grew into the long wars between France -and England. The princes and people of France never forgot that they -had lost the great city of Rouen and all the fair land of Normandy. -But King Charles at Laon gained by the duchy of France being in this -way weakened and cut in two. He gained too because, when Rolf swore to -be his man and be faithful to him, he really kept his oath. For when, -first Duke Robert of France (922), and then Duke Rudolf of Burgundy -(923), rose up against King Charles and were made kings in his stead, -both Rolf and his son William after him clave to the lord to whom Rolf -had first sworn. Rolf too ruled his land well, and put down thieves and -murderers, so that the story ran that he hung up a jewel in a tree, -and no man dared to take it. Under him and his son William Longsword -(927–943) most of the Normans gradually became Christians, and left -off their Scandinavian tongue and learned to speak French. By the end -of William’s reign nothing but French was spoken at Rouen; but in the -lands to the west, which had been won more lately, men still spoke -Danish, and many still clave to the gods of the North. This heathen -and Danish party more than once revolted, and, after the death of Duke -William, they even for a while got hold of the young Duke Richard -and made him join in their heathen worship. About the same time new -settlements from the North were made in the Côtentin. But Duke Richard -presently commended himself to Hugh the Great, Duke of the French; that -is, he became his man instead of the King’s man. During the rest of his -reign the duchies of France and Normandy were in close alliance, and -Richard had a chief hand in giving the kingdom to Hugh Capet, the son -of Hugh the Great. - -=7. Manners of the Normans.=--During Richard’s reign then the Normans -were getting more and more French in their language and manners. And -more than this, it was their help which took the crown of Karolingia -from the German kings at Laon, and gave it to the French kings at -Paris. Thus the Dukes of the French became Kings of the French, and, -as they extended their power, the name of their duchy of _France_ was -gradually spread over nearly all Karolingia, and over the greater part -of the rest of Gaul. In the time of the next Duke, Richard the Good -(996–1026), there was a great revolt of the peasants in Normandy. -These were most likely largely of Celtic descent, while all the great -landowners were Normans. And it is also noticed of this duke that he -began to draw new distinctions among his subjects, and would have -none but _gentlemen_ about him. This is almost the first time that we -hear that word. The peasants were put down, and the gentlemen had the -upper hand. The Normans had now quite changed from the ways of their -Northern forefathers. From seafaring men they had turned into the best -horsemen in the world. The Norman gentleman, mounted on his horse, with -his shield like a kite, his long lance, and sometimes his sword or -mace-at-arms, became the best of all fighting-men of his own kind. And, -now that they were fully settled in their own land, the Normans began, -quite in the spirit of their forefathers, though in another garb, to -go all over the world to seek for fighting wherever fighting was to be -had. Often religious zeal was mingled with love of fighting. Some went -to help the Christians of Spain against the Saracens, and others, later -in the century, went to help the Eastern Emperors against the Turks. -But their greatest exploits of all were done in the two greatest of -European islands, one the greatest in the Mediterranean, the other the -greatest in the Ocean, Sicily and Britain. - -=8. The Normans in Italy and Sicily.=--We shall come presently to -their doings in our own island. But it is well to remark that the -Norman Conquest of England was no doubt largely suggested by the Norman -exploits in southern Italy and Sicily. These went on during nearly the -whole of the eleventh century; but they began under Richard the Good. -They were not enterprises of the Norman dukes, or of the Norman state -in any way, but of private Norman gentlemen who went out to seek their -fortunes. They founded more than one principality in southern Italy, -but the most famous settlement was that made by the sons of a simple -Norman gentleman called Tancred of Hauteville. They conquered all -southern Italy, putting an end to the dominion of the Eastern Emperors, -and they got the Pope to invest them with what they conquered. Then -Robert Wiscard son of Tancred became Duke of Apulia. He then went on -to attack the Eastern Emperor beyond the Hadriatic, and actually held -Durazzo and other possessions there for some while. Thence he came -back to help the Pope against the Western Emperor Henry the Fourth, so -that he defeated both Emperors in one year. His brother Roger, partly -with his help, conquered all Sicily from the Mahometans. He was only -called Great Count; but his son, another Roger, became the first King -of Sicily. All this began before the Norman Conquest of England, and -was going on at the same time. We speak of it here to show what manner -of men the Normans of the eleventh century were. When private men could -found duchies and kingdoms and put Emperors to flight, we might indeed -look for great things whenever a Duke of the Normans at the head of his -whole people should put forth his full strength. - -=9. The Danish Conquest of England.=--Meanwhile the Danish invasions of -England, which had been put an end to by the great kings who followed -Alfred, began again in the last twenty years of the tenth century, and -went on for thirty-six years (980–1016) till England was altogether -conquered. But these were invasions of another kind from the earlier -Danish invasions. In the ninth century both England and Denmark were -still made up of various settlements, more or less distinct, and this -or that party of Danish adventurers came to settle in this or that -part of England. But in the course of the tenth century Denmark, like -England, had been joined together into one kingdom; and the invasions -now took the form of an enterprise of a king of all Denmark trying to -win the crown of all England. But, though England was now joined under -one king, its different parts were not yet thoroughly welded together, -and it needed a great king to make the whole force of the kingdom act -together. In the former part of the tenth century England had had such -great kings; but when the Danish invasions began again, she had a -king, Æthelred, of quite another kind. His name means _noble rede_ or -counsel, but men called him the _Unready_ or man without _rede_. For, -though he sometimes had what we may call fits of energy, they were -commonly in the wrong place; and during his long reign it was only -once towards the very end that he showed himself as at all a national -leader against the enemy. Generally the Danes landed at this or that -point; then, if the men of that shire had a brave leader, a good fight -was made against them; but there was no general resistance. The king -thought more of giving the Danes money to go away than of fighting -them. And of course this only led them to come again for more money. -In this way one shire after another was harried; the land was weakened -bit by bit, till the Danes could march where they pleased, even in the -inland parts. At last, in 1013, the Danish king Swen or Swegen was -able to subdue all England, and to make the English acknowledge him -as king. King Æthelred had to flee from the land and to take shelter -beyond the sea. And his wife and her children had to seek for shelter -beyond the sea along with him. By this time the story of Normandy -and the story of England are beginning to be joined into one. For -Æthelred’s wife was a Norman woman, and the land in which he and she -sought shelter was her own land of Normandy. We must now therefore go -back a little way in our story, and see how the Normans and the English -had already come to have dealings with one another, in war and in -peace. - - - - -CHAPTER III. - -THE EARLY DEALINGS BETWEEN ENGLISH AND NORMANS. - - -=1. Early Dealings between England and Gaul.=--Up to the tenth century -the English had very little to do with their neighbours in Gaul. The -English kings commonly married the daughters of other English kings, -or, after there was only one kingdom, the daughters of their own great -men. It was somewhat more common for English kings to give their -daughters to foreign kings; but even this did not happen very often. -But in the days of Edward the Elder and his son Æthelstan several of -Edward’s daughters were married to the chief princes of Western Europe. -Among them one married King Charles of Laon and another Duke Hugh of -Paris. Thus King Lewis the son of Charles was sister’s son to the -English kings Æthelstan and Edmund. They played a certain part in the -affairs of Gaul on behalf of their nephew, and, as Lewis was an enemy -of the Normans, it may be that some ill-feeling between the English and -the Normans began thus early. But there was no open quarrel till the -last years of the tenth century, when Æthelred was King of the English, -and when the long reign of Richard the Fearless in Normandy was coming -near to its end. - -=2. The first Quarrel between England and Normandy.=--The first time -when Englishmen and Normans are distinctly recorded to have met as -enemies was in a quarrel which arose out of the Danish invasions of -England. In 991 King Æthelred and Duke Richard had a quarrel, and they -were made friends by Pope John the Fifteenth. The ground of quarrel -seems to have been that the Danes had been allowed to sell the plunder -of England in the Norman havens. About nine years later we hear of -another quarrel. The Norman writers say that Æthelred sent a fleet with -orders to harry the whole land and to bring Duke Richard before him -with his hands tied behind his back. Then they tell us that the English -fleet did land in the Côtentin, but that they were driven back by the -men of the land, with the women helping them, without any help from -Duke Richard. We need not believe these details, any more than we need -believe the details of many other stories of these times; but there -must be some ground for the tale. At any rate there is no doubt that -Æthelred in 1002 married Emma, the daughter of Duke Richard. This was -most likely when peace was made, and some say that Æthelred went over -to Normandy himself to bring home his bride. - -=3. The Marriage of Æthelred and Emma.=--This marriage marks one of -the main stages in the events which led to the Norman Conquest. First -of all, it was, as we have seen, an unusual thing for an English king -to marry a foreign wife. In all the time that the English had been in -Britain it had, as far as we know, happened only twice before. This -is one of many things which show that England was now getting to have -more to do with foreign lands than before. Secondly, by reason of this -marriage Normans and other French-speaking people now began for the -first time to settle in England and to hold English offices. Emma now -became Lady of the English, for by the custom of the West-Saxons the -King’s wife was called not _Queen_ but _Lady_, and she changed her -name from the foreign Emma to the English Ælfgifu. As the King’s wife -she received a gift from her husband. This gift consisted of lands and -towns, and among them the city of Exeter. Here the Lady set one Hugh, -whom the English call the French churl, as her reeve. When the Danes -attacked Exeter in 1003, Hugh, if he did not actually betray the city, -at least made no good defence, and Exeter was taken. Such was the -beginning of Norman command in England. Thirdly, for the first time in -the West-Saxon house, the children of a king were half-strangers by -birth, and what followed made them strangers yet more thoroughly. And -fourthly, the reigning houses of England and Normandy now became of kin -to one another, and it was this which first put it into the head of -Duke William that he might perhaps succeed to the throne of his English -kinsfolk. - -=4. The Marriage of Cnut and Emma.=--Emma, the Norman Lady, now becomes -a very important person in English history. She was the wife of two -kings and the mother of two kings. Her first husband Æthelred had not -to stay very long in his banishment in Normandy. For the next year -Swegen the Danish king died. Then the Danes chose his younger son Cnut -or Canute to be king in England, while his elder son Harold reigned -in Denmark. War followed between Cnut and Æthelred, in which at last -Æthelred showed some little spirit, but in which the great leader -on the English side was his son Edmund, called Ironside. He was not -the son of Emma, whose children, Alfred, Edward, and Godgifu, were -still quite young, but of an earlier wife of Æthelred. Then in the -beginning of 1016 Æthelred died. Many of the English now thought that -it was best to accept Cnut as king; so he was chosen at a meeting at -Southampton, while Edmund was chosen in another meeting in London. The -English gradually joined Edmund; he was a strong and brave captain, -very unlike his father; six battles were fought in the year; London was -three times besieged by Cnut; but in the last battle, at Assandún in -Essex, Edmund was defeated by the treason of his brother-in-law Eadric. -Still he was so powerful that it was agreed to divide the kingdom, Cnut -reigning in the North and Edmund in the South. But before the year -was out, Edmund died, and many thought that Eadric, some that Cnut, -had brought about his death. Then at the Christmas of 1016–1017 Cnut -was a third time chosen king over all England, and one of the first -things that he did was to send to Normandy for the widowed Lady Emma, -though she was many years older than he was. She came over; she married -the new king, and was again Lady of the English. She bore Cnut two -children, Harthacnut and Gunhild. Her three children by Æthelred were -left in Normandy. She seems not to have cared at all for them or for -the memory of Æthelred; her whole love passed to her new husband and -her new children. Thus it came about that the children of Æthelred were -brought up in Normandy, and had the feelings of Normans rather than of -Englishmen, a thing which again greatly helped the Norman Conquest. - -=5. The Reign of Cnut.=--Though Cnut came in as a foreign conqueror, -yet he reigned as an English king. He was chosen when he was quite -young; England was his first kingdom; and, though he soon inherited -the kingdom of Denmark and afterwards conquered Norway, yet England -was always the land which he loved best. He began harshly, banishing -or putting to death every one whom he thought at all dangerous, -especially such of the kinsfolk of Æthelred as he could get at. Emma’s -two boys were safe in Normandy, perhaps safer with their uncle Duke -Richard--that is Richard the Good, son of Richard the Fearless, who -reigned from 996 to 1026--than they would have been with their mother -in England. But when Cnut was fully established on the throne, he -left off this harshness; he ruled the English according to their own -laws, and gradually got rid of the Danes who had come with him, and to -whom he had given earldoms and other high offices. These places were -now again given to Englishmen, and the chief among them was Godwine, -Earl of the West-Saxons. Under Cnut England became the centre of a -great Northern Empire, such as was not seen before or after. His -father Swegen had been baptized in his childhood; but he cast away -Christianity and became a heathen again. His son Cnut was therefore -brought up as a heathen, but he was baptized while still a young man -by the name of Lambert, though he was always called Cnut, just as Rolf -was always called Rolf and never Robert. He made the pilgrimage to -Rome, and was there received with great worship by the Pope and by the -Emperor Conrad, who came to be crowned while he was there. All his wars -were in the North, in Scotland, Norway, and Sweden. He was always on -good terms with Duke Richard of Normandy; but things changed in this -respect before the end of Cnut’s reign. When Richard the Good died, he -was succeeded by his son Richard the Third, who reigned only two years. -Then in 1028 came his other son Robert, who is famous in several ways, -but perhaps most of all for being the father of William the Conqueror -of England. - -=6. Duke Robert and the English Æthelings.=--There seems no doubt that -Cnut and Robert had some kind of quarrel, but the story is told in -different ways, and it is not easy to make out the exact truth. But -it seems that Robert married Cnut’s sister Estrith and then put her -away. She had, seemingly before this, been married to the Danish Earl -Ulf, who was put to death by Cnut, and she was the mother of Swegen -called from her _Estrithson_, who was afterwards King of the Danes, -and who plays a great part in English history also. The Northern -writers tell some wild stories about Cnut invading Normandy and dying -while besieging Rouen; but it is quite certain that he died quietly at -Shaftesbury in 1035. But it does seem likely that Robert, though he -never actually invaded England, yet made ready to do so. He played a -great part in the affairs of the neighbouring states, and he seems to -have been specially pleased to restore dispossessed princes to their -dominions. Thus he restored Baldwin Count of Flanders and his own lord -Henry King of the French. He was therefore very likely, above all if he -had any quarrel with Cnut on other grounds, to try to bring home his -cousins, the English _Æthelings_ or King’s sons, Alfred and Edward, -and to set one of them on the English throne. It is said that he got -together a fleet and set out, but he was hindered by the wind, and -driven to the coast of Britanny, where he hardly had a quarrel with the -reigning Count Alan. So, instead of conquering the greater Britain, of -which England is part, all that he did was to harry the lesser Britain -in Gaul. But no doubt this attempt of Duke Robert’s would make an -invasion of England to be talked of in Normandy as a possible thing, -and might specially help to put it into the head of his son William. - -=7. The Second attempt of the Æthelings.=--Of the accession and youth -of William we shall say more presently. It is enough to say now that -Cnut and Robert died nearly at the same time. After Cnut’s death the -kingdom of England was again divided, as it had been before between -Edmund and Cnut. Earl Godwine and the West-Saxons wished to keep the -whole kingdom for Emma’s son Harthacnut, who was already reigning in -Denmark under his father. But it was decreed that Harthacnut should -have Wessex only, and that the rest of England, together, it would -seem, with the overlordship of all, should pass to Harold, who was -said to be Cnut’s son by an Englishwoman named Ælfgifu. But Harthacnut -stayed in Denmark, and his English kingdom was ruled by his mother -Emma, with Godwine to her minister. Thus we seem to be getting nearer -to the Norman Conquest, when the Norman Lady rules in Wessex. And -now comes a story which is told in the most opposite ways by the old -writers. It is certain that one or both of the English Æthelings, -Alfred and Edward, made another attempt to get the kingdom of England, -that Alfred fell into the hands of Harold, that his eyes were put out -by Harold’s orders, and that he soon afterwards died. But as to all -the details of the story, there is nothing but contradiction. Some -say that Edward invaded England with a Norman fleet, and won a battle -near Southampton, but sailed away without doing anything more. Others -say nothing about Edward and only speak of Alfred. And it was believed -by many that Earl Godwine betrayed Alfred to Harold, though those -who say this seem to have forgotten that Godwine was the minister of -Harthacnut. Some say too that Alfred had a large party of Normans with -him, and that they were put to death in various cruel ways. The chief -thing for our purpose is that it was fully believed in Normandy that -either Godwine by himself, or the English people with Godwine at their -head, had betrayed and murdered the Ætheling, the kinsman of the Norman -Duke. So this was treasured up as a ground for vengeance against the -English nation in general and against Godwine above all. - -=8. Emma and Edward.=--The next thing that happened in England was -not likely to please the Normans much better. For the West-Saxons got -tired of waiting for their king Harthacnut, who stayed all the time -in Denmark; so in 1037 they forsook him and chose Harold to be king -over Wessex as well as over the rest of England. The first thing that -Harold did was to drive the Lady Emma out of the land. She did not go -to Normandy, but to Flanders; because Normandy was just then, as we -shall presently see, full of confusion. But in 1040 Harold died, and -Harthacnut was chosen king over all England. Thus England had a king -who was, on the mother’s side, of Norman descent. Emma came back, and -Harthacnut sent for his half-brother Edward to come from Normandy and -live at his court. And Edward brought with him a French nephew of his -and of Harthacnut’s. This was Ralph, the son of their sister Godgifu -or Goda, daughter of Æthelred and Emma, who was married to a French -prince, Drogo Count of Mantes. So the foreign influence, Norman and -French, was spreading. Their other sister Gunhild, the daughter of Cnut -and Emma, was married to King Henry of Germany, afterwards the great -Emperor Henry the Third. Harthacnut, like his brother Harold, reigned -only a short time, and died in 1042. Then the English said that they -had had enough of strange kings, and that they would have a king of the -old stock. There were only two men of that stock now living. Edmund -Ironside had left two little twin sons, Edmund and Edward, who were -sent away beyond sea in Cnut’s time. Of these Edmund was dead, but -Edward was living far away in Hungary. By modern law he would have been -the right heir, as the son of the elder brother. But in those days it -was deemed enough to choose within the kingly house, without thinking -of any particular rule of succession. So no one thought of Edward who -was away in Hungary, and the Wise Men--the great men of the land in -their assembly--chose Edward who was near at hand, the son of Æthelred -and Emma. Some were for choosing another Danish king, Swegen, the son -of Cnut’s sister Estrith. Swegen afterwards reigned very wisely in -Denmark, and it might perhaps have really been the best thing to choose -him. But the feeling was all in favour of a king of the old English -stock; so Edward was chosen. - -=9. King Edward.=--With Edward’s election the connexion between English -and Norman affairs becomes closer still; we might almost say that -the Norman Conquest began in his time. Men thought that, by choosing -Edward, the English royal house was restored to the crown; but it was -in truth very much as if a Norman king had been chosen. Harthacnut had -as much Norman blood in him as Edward, but he had not been brought up -in Normandy; his feelings and ways were Danish. But Edward’s feelings -and ways were all Norman. His being the son of a Norman mother had -not much to do with it, as there was no great love between mother and -son. Emma had quite neglected her children by Æthelred, and she seems -even to have opposed Edward’s election. He had not been very long -king before he took away all her treasures. What really made Edward -more of a Norman than an Englishman was that he had lived in Normandy -from his childhood, and had made many friends there, and chiefly -his young cousin Duke William. He liked to speak French and to have -French-speaking people about him, specially Norman churchmen, to whom -he gave English bishoprics and other high preferments. He also gave -estates and offices to Norman and other French-speaking laymen as -far as he could; but the King could not give away the great temporal -offices so much according to his own pleasure as he could give away -the great places of the Church. He could not give away either without -the consent of his Wise Men; but the Wise Men were more ready to -allow a foreign bishop than a foreign earl. So, while we find several -French-speaking bishops and abbots in Edward’s reign, we find only -one French-speaking earl. This was the King’s nephew Ralph the son of -Godgifu. Of smaller men, both clergy and laymen, many held benefices -and estates. This was specially so during the former part of Edward’s -reign, which was chiefly a time of struggle between English and foreign -influences in the land. - -=10. King Edward and Earl Godwine.=--Edward was a devout and -well-disposed man. His love of foreigners he could hardly help; his -chief fault was now and then giving way to fits of passion, in which -he sometimes gave rash and cruel orders. But in these cases he seems -to have been commonly stirred up by his favourites. Otherwise he was -remarkably free from cruelty or any other of the common vices of his -time. Being thus a really good and pious man, and one whom both Normans -and English could agree in reverencing, he was very early looked on as -a saint and thought to work miracles. But he was a weak man and quite -unfit to govern his kingdom. The first nine years of his reign were one -long struggle whether England should be ruled by the King’s foreign -favourites or by the English Earl Godwine. Godwine, along with his -friend Bishop Lyfing, had the chief hand in bringing about Eadward’s -election, and this claim on the King’s gratitude made him yet more -the first man in the kingdom than he was before. The King married his -daughter Edith, and his sons were gradually raised to earldoms, some -of them while they were very young. Godwine was beyond all doubt an -Englishman who loved his own land and folk; but he was over-grasping on -his own behalf and on that of his children. In marrying his daughter to -the King, he no doubt looked forward to a grandson of his own wearing -the crown; but Edward had no children, and, at least in the early part -of his reign, he seems to have had little love for his wife. And the -gathering together of many earldoms in the one house of the Earl of the -West-Saxons gave offence, not only to the Normans, but seemingly to the -earls and people of the rest of England. Thus these first years of the -reign of Eadward tell us the tale both of the power of Godwine and of -his fall. - -=11. The Earldoms.=--It will be well here to explain who were the chief -men of England at this time, and what were the earldoms which they -held. At this time an earldom was not a mere rank or title, but meant -the government of one or more shires over which the earl was set by -the authority of the King and his Wise Men. There were now four chief -earldoms, answering to the four greatest of the ancient kingdoms, those -of Wessex, Mercia, Northumberland, and East-Anglia. There were always -these four; but there were also others as well, and shires were often -taken from one earldom and given to another, as was thought good at the -time. The Mercian shires above all, those in the middle of England, -were very often handed to and fro between one earl and another. When -Edward was elected, Godwine was Earl of the West-Saxons, that is, of -all England south of the Thames. Siward, a famous Dane, was Earl of -the Northumbrians, that is of all England north of the Humber and the -Ribble, and also of Northamptonshire and Huntingdonshire. Leofric was -Earl of the Mercians, but he had only the western part of Mercia under -his immediate rule. Who was Earl of the East-Angles we do not know. -Besides these there were other earls who held one or more shires, -seemingly under the great earls; and as these smaller earldoms became -vacant, room was found both for the King’s friends and for the family -of Godwine. Thus the King’s nephew Ralph was Earl, first of Worcester -and then of Hereford. And Godwine very soon got earldoms for his elder -sons Swegen and Harold, and for his wife’s nephew Beorn, the brother -of the Danish King Swegen. Swegen had a strangely-shaped government, -taking in Somerset, Gloucestershire, Herefordshire, Berkshire, and -Oxfordshire. Harold had East-Anglia; Beorn had all eastern Mercia -except Northamptonshire and Huntingdonshire. Thus the power of Godwine -and his house was very great; but it was perhaps shaken by the crimes -of his eldest son Swegen, who killed his cousin Beorn. For this he was -banished, but was afterwards restored to his earldom. - -=12. Norman influence in England.=--The way in which Godwine had to -strive against the King’s love of strangers is shown, as we have -said, in the appointment of bishoprics and other great offices in the -Church. Early in his reign, in 1044, the see of London was given to -Robert, Abbot of Jumièges in Normandy, the first time that an English -bishopric had ever been held by a French-speaking man. Robert had great -power over the King, which he used against the English and especially -against Godwine. At last in 1051 Robert himself became Archbishop -of Canterbury; other bishoprics were given to Normans, and Norman -clerks and knights held benefices and estates in various parts of the -kingdom. But the King did not venture to give an earldom to any Norman, -or to any foreigner except his own nephew Ralph. One fashion which -the Normans brought in with them was that of building _castles_. The -English were used to fortify towns, and their kings and other chief men -had lived in _halls_, often on the tops of mounds and fenced in by a -palisade. But the Normans now began to build _castles_, that is, either -strong square towers, or strong stone walls crowning the mounds. Thence -they could oppress the people in many ways, and the writers of the time -always speak of the building of the castles with a kind of shudder. - -=13. The Banishment of Godwine.=--The appointment of Robert to -the archbishopric marks the time when the Normans had things most -thoroughly their own way. About this time the King’s brother-in-law, -Count Eustace of Boulogne, came to pay him a visit. As he went home, -he and his followers rode into the town of Dover, and tried to quarter -themselves where they pleased in the houses. So a fight followed, in -which several men were killed on both sides. Then the Count rode back -and told the King how insolently the men of Dover had dealt by him. -Then Edward flew into one of his angry fits, and bade Godwine go and -lay waste Dover with fire and sword. But Godwine said that he would do -no such thing; he would do nothing to any man in his earldom except -according to law; the men of Dover should be lawfully tried before the -Wise Men, and, if they were found guilty of any crime, they should be -lawfully punished. While these things were doing in Kent, there came -also a cry from Herefordshire about the deeds of certain Normans there, -Richard and his son Osbern, who had built a castle called _Richard’s -Castle_, and had greatly oppressed the people. And at the same time the -Archbishop and the other Normans were setting the King against Godwine -more than ever, and bringing up the old story about his brother Alfred. -Godwine and his sons therefore gathered the men of their earldoms, and -demanded that the King should give up the foreigners, Count Eustace -among them, for lawful trial. Edward got together the forces of the -rest of the kingdom under the Earls Siward, Leofric, and Ralph, and -made ready for war. The West-Saxons and East-Angles accordingly marched -on Gloucester, where the King was; but actual warfare was hindered by -Leofric, and it was agreed that all matters should be judged in an -assembly in London. The King came there with an army. The assembly -met; Swegen’s outlawry was renewed; Godwine and Harold were summoned -to appear as criminals for trial. As they refused to come without a -safe-conduct, they were outlawed. Harold and Leofwine found shelter in -Ireland, Godwine and the rest of the family in Flanders. The King’s -wife, the Lady Edith, stayed in England, but she was shorn of her royal -rank, and sent to the monastery of Wherwell. The Normans now had for -awhile everything their own way. They thought it a good time for Duke -William to come over and pay a visit to his cousin the King. William -was now about twenty-three years of age, and he had been called Duke -ever since he was a child of seven. We will now go back and see what -had been going on in Normandy during these early years of his reign. - - - - -CHAPTER IV. - -THE YOUTH OF DUKE WILLIAM. - - -=1. The Birth, and Accession of Duke William.=--We have already -spoken of Duke Robert, and how he tried to bring back his cousins -the Æthelings to England. Towards the end of his reign Duke Robert -determined to go on a pilgrimage to Jerusalem, to pray at the tomb of -Christ and win the forgiveness of his sins. Before he went, he wished -to settle the succession to his duchy, in case he should die on so -long and dangerous a journey. He had no lawful children, and it was -not at all clear who among his kinsfolk had the best right to succeed -him. So, after some difficulty, he was able to persuade the wise men -of Normandy to accept as their future duke his little son William, -who, as his parents had never been married, was called William the -Bastard, till he had won a right to be called William the Conqueror -and William the Great. William was born before his father became Duke, -while he was only Count of the land of Hiesmes, of which Falaise, the -town of the rocks, was the capital, where Count Robert had a castle. -There is a famous castle there still, but it is somewhat later than -William’s time, and he certainly was not born in it. But there is no -doubt that William was born at Falaise, and that his mother Herleva was -the daughter of a tanner of that town, whom Robert afterwards made his -chamberlain. Herleva had also a daughter Adelaide by Duke Robert, and -after his death she married a knight named Herlwin of Conteville, to -whom she bore two sons, Odo and Robert, William’s half-brothers, who -play a great part in our story. William was not at all ashamed of the -lowliness of his birth on the mother’s side, and, when he was duke, -he raised her sons to high honour. As he was not Duke Robert’s lawful -son, he had no right to succeed according to modern law; but the rules -of succession were then not at all fixed, and the Normans above all -thought but little of lawful marriage and birth in such matters. The -chief objection to William’s being acknowledged as the future duke was -that he was a mere child, about seven years old, so that, if his father -died while he was away, he would not be able to govern. But Duke Robert -said, “He is little, but he will grow,” and at last the wise men of -Normandy sware to him. Then Robert went on his pilgrimage and never -came back. He died on his way home, in 1035, a long way from his own -land, at Nikaia in Asia, where the famous Council of the Church was -held in the days of Constantine, and was buried there. - -=2. William’s Childhood.=--It was after William became duke, but before -he was a full-grown man, that the Ætheling Alfred had come to his sad -end in England, and that the Ætheling Eadward had been chosen King -there. We cannot say how much William had personally to do with either -matter. He came to his duchy as a child; but his childhood and youth -were of a kind which made him a man, and a strong and wise man, very -early. The Norman nobles were very hard to govern at any time, and -when the prince was a child, they did whatever they chose. They were -always fighting with one another, and sometimes murdering one another -by craft. And they were always rebelling against their young duke, and -sometimes seeking his life. For it must be remembered that they had -not at all wished to have Herleva’s son for their lord, and there were -several kinsmen of Duke Robert who thought, and rightly according to -our notions, that they had a better right to the duchy than William. -The young duke had good and faithful guardians, but several of them -were murdered. The land in short was in a state of utter confusion. -And now that Normandy was divided and weak, the old friendship with -France began to give way, and the French and their kings began again to -remember that the settlement of the Normans had cut off France from the -sea. So Henry the King of the French joined himself to William’s other -enemies, and took his castle of Tillières on the French border. Thus he -was William’s enemy early in his reign, and he became his enemy again -afterwards; but in the most dangerous moment of William’s Norman reign, -the French king was his firm friend. This was in 1047, when a large -part of Normandy rose in rebellion against William, of which we must -say a little more. - -=3. The Revolt of Western Normandy.=--It will be remembered that the -western part of Normandy, the lands of Bayeux and Coutances, were won -by the Norman dukes after the eastern part, the lands of Rouen and -Evreux. And it will be remembered that these western lands, won more -lately and fed by new colonies from the North, were still heathen and -Danish some while after eastern Normandy had become Christian and -French-speaking. Now we may be sure that, long before William’s day, -all Normandy was Christian, but it is quite possible that the old -tongue may have lingered on in the western lands. At any rate there -was a wide difference in spirit and feeling between the more French -and the more Danish districts, to say nothing of Bayeux, where, before -the Normans came, there had been a Saxon settlement. One part of the -duchy in short was altogether Romance in speech and manners, while -more or less of Teutonic character still clave to the other. So now -Teutonic Normandy rose against Duke William, and Romance Normandy was -faithful to him. The nobles of the _Bessin_ and _Côtentin_ made league -with William’s cousin Guy of Burgundy, meaning, as far as one can see, -to make Guy Duke of Rouen and Evreux, and to have no lord at all for -themselves. Their leader was Neal, the Viscount of the Côtentin, the -son of the Neal who had beaten back the English invasion in Æthelred’s -day. When the rebellion broke out, William was among them at Valognes, -and they tried to seize him. But his fool warned him in the night; he -rode for his life, and got safe to his own Falaise. - -=4. The Battle of Val-ès-Dunes.=--All eastern Normandy was loyal; but -William doubted whether he could by himself overcome so strong an array -of rebels. So he went to Poissy, between Rouen and Paris, and asked his -lord King Henry to help him. So King Henry came with a French army; -and the French and those whom we may call the French Normans met the -Teutonic Normans in battle at Val-ès-dunes, not very far from Caen. -It was William’s first pitched battle, a battle of horsemen, in which -King and Duke fought hand to hand against the rebels, and each slew -some of their chief men. Yet King Henry was once thrown from his horse -by a spear from the Côtentin, a deed of which the men of the peninsula -sang in their rimes. But they were beaten none the less, and the whole -land which had rebelled submitted. Neal escaped, and was after a while -pardoned, nor was Duke William’s hand at all heavy on his vanquished -enemies. But he had vanquished them thoroughly. He was now fully -master of his own duchy; the battle of Val-ès-dunes finally fixed that -Normandy should take its character from Romance Rouen and not from -Teutonic Bayeux. William had in short overcome Saxons and Danes in Gaul -before he came to overcome them in Britain. He had to conquer his -own Normandy before he could conquer England, and we shall see that, -between these two conquests, he had in some sort to conquer France also. - -=5. Duke William’s Visit to King Edward.=--Thus Duke William was for -the first time master in Normandy, and four years later it was no -doubt said that King Edward was for the first time master in England. -Godwine was gone, and the King’s Norman favourites had everything their -own way. And now the young Duke came to pay his cousin a visit. With -so many Normans at the court and in other parts of the land, it might -almost seem to him that he was still in his own duchy. Was it now -that the thought first came into his head that he might succeed his -childless kinsman in a kingdom which looked as if it had already become -Norman? Certain it is that William always said that Edward had promised -him the crown at his death; and this visit seems a more likely time -for such a promise than any time before or after. Of course we must -remember that Edward could not, by English law, really leave William -the crown; the utmost that he could do would be to recommend the Wise -Men to choose him at his death. But just at this time neither William -nor Edward was likely to think much about English law, and Edward’s -Norman counsellors were still less likely to think about it than either -of them. We cannot say for certain how it was; but we can hardly doubt -that Edward did make William some kind of promise, and this seems the -most likely time for it. At any rate William had now conquered Normandy -and had visited England. These are two steps towards the time when he -again came to England, not as guest but as Conqueror. - -=6. Duke William in his own Duchy.=--We shall see presently that the -course of events in England must have altogether thrown back William’s -hopes with regard to the English crown. But he went on winning fame -and power in his own land beyond the sea. He ruled his duchy wisely -and well, and it flourished greatly under him. He promoted learned men -from other countries, above all two men who lived to play a greater -part in England than in Normandy. These were Lanfranc from Pavia in -Italy and Anselm from Aosta in Burgundy. They were both monks of the -newly-founded monastery of Bec in Normandy, which was at this time a -nursery of famous men. The Duke married Matilda, daughter of Baldwin -Count of Flanders, by whom he had several daughters and, for the -present, three sons, Robert, Richard, and William. The most famous of -his daughters was Adela, who married Stephen Count of Blois. But Duke -William did not reign without rebellions at home and wars abroad. For -a short time after the battle of Val-ès-dunes the friendship between -the Duke and King Henry of France went on. Both joined in a war against -Geoffrey Count of Anjou, who now held the land of Maine between Anjou -and Normandy. In 1049 Duke William for the first time extended his -dominions by winning the castles of Domfront and Ambrières in Maine, of -which Domfront has ever since been part of Normandy. But before long -King Henry got jealous of William’s power, and he was now always ready -to give help to any Norman rebels. Men in France began again to say -that Normandy was a land cut off from France, and that France should be -made again to reach to the sea as of old. And the other neighbouring -princes were jealous of him as well as the King. His neighbours in -Britanny, Anjou, Chartres, and Ponthieu, were all against him. But the -great Duke was able to hold his own against them all, and before long -to make a great addition to his dominions. - -=7. Duke William’s Wars with France.=--The wars between Normandy -and France are very important, because they have so great a bearing -on English history. There was no quarrel between England and France -as long as Normandy lay between them. But France and Normandy had -many quarrels and wars; so, when the same prince ruled in England -and in Normandy, England was dragged into the quarrels of Normandy, -and there grew up a rivalry between England and France which went on -after Normandy was conquered by France. These wars therefore between -Duke William and King Henry are really the beginning of the long wars -between England and France. King Henry invaded Normandy three times. -The first time, in 1053, the King came to help a kinsman of the Duke’s, -William Count of Arques near Dieppe, where the castle with a very deep -ditch is still to be seen. This time the French army was caught in an -ambush and was utterly routed. In this battle was killed Ingelram Count -of Ponthieu, which made room for the accession of his brother Count -Guy. The next year, 1054, King Henry came again with a much greater -army, gathered from his own kingdom and from the dominions of many -of the other princes of Gaul. They came in two great divisions, to -attack Normandy on both sides of the Seine. That which came in on the -right bank was utterly cut to pieces in the town of Mortemer, which -they had occupied and where the Normans attacked them by night. Then -the Duke sent a messenger who crossed to the other side of the river -where the King’s own army was, where he climbed a tree and shouted -to them in the darkness to go bury their friends who were dead at -Mortemer. So they were seized with a panic and fled. In this battle -the new Count of Ponthieu, Guy, was taken prisoner, and was not let -go till he became Duke William’s man for his county. Peace was now -made with France, and Duke William was allowed to make some conquests -at the expense of Anjou. But very soon France and Anjou were again -allied against Normandy. In 1058 King Henry made his last invasion. -This time the French army was cut off by a sudden attack at the ford -of Varaville near the Dive. All these campaigns show that William, who -could fight so well in a pitched battle, was no less skilful in all -kinds of cunning enterprises. Soon after this, in 1060, both King Henry -and Geoffrey of Anjou died. William was now safe from all attacks on -that side, all the more so as the new King of the French, Philip, was a -child, and the Regent was William’s own father-in-law Count Baldwin of -Flanders. - -=8. The Conquest of Maine.=--Thus William, who in some sort conquered -his own Normandy at Val-ès-dunes, did in some sort also conquer France -at Mortemer and Varaville. But he had not yet enlarged his dominions, -except at Domfront and Ambrières and one or two other points on the -frontier towards Maine. He was presently able to win the whole county. -And this part of William’s life should be carefully studied, because -his conquest of Maine is strikingly like his conquest of England. -In both cases he won a land against the will of its people, and yet -with some show of legal right. Maine had had counts of its own, some -of them famous men, as were also many of the bishops of the great -city of Le Mans; the citizens too were stout and jealous of their -freedom. But latterly the land of Maine had come under the power of -Geoffrey of Anjou. On Geoffrey’s death, the lawful Count Herbert, to -get back his county, commended himself to William, and they settled -that William’s son Robert should marry Herbert’s sister Margaret, and -that Maine should pass to their descendants. This was something like -Edward’s promise of the English crown to William. In 1063 Herbert -died childless, and William claimed the county on behalf of his son, -though he and Margaret were not yet married. But the people of Maine -chose for their count Walter Count of Mantes, who had married Count -Herbert’s aunt Biota. He was the son of King Edward’s sister Godgifu -and brother of Ralph of Hereford. This was like the English people -choosing Harold. Then William made war on Maine, and occupied the -county bit by bit, till the city surrendered and Walter submitted to -him. Soon after this Walter and Biota died; William’s enemies said that -he poisoned them, which is not in the least likely. But from this time -he ruled over Maine as well as over Normandy. We shall see that its -brave people revolted more than once against both him and his sons. But -the conquest of Maine raised William’s power and fame to a higher pitch -than it reached at any other time before his conquest of England. And, -soon after the conquest of Maine, the affairs of Normandy and England, -which have stayed apart ever since William’s visit to Edward, begin to -be joined together. It is time then to go back and see what had been -happening meanwhile in England. - - - - -CHAPTER V. - -HAROLD EARL AND KING. - - -=1. The Return of Godwine and Harold.=--When Duke William paid his -visit to King Edward in 1052, Godwine and all his family, save only the -Lady Edith, were in banishment, and the Normans were in full power in -the land. But before long the English were longing to have Godwine back -again. Men soon began to tire of the King’s foreign favourites, who, it -seemed, could not even defend the land against the Welsh. For the Welsh -King Gruffydd came into Herefordshire and smote the Normans who held -Richard’s Castle. Men sent to ask Godwine to come back; he prayed the -King to let him come back, and he got Count Baldwin with whom he was -staying and also the King of the French to ask for him; but the King’s -favourites would not let him hearken. Then, in 1052, Godwine made up -his mind to come back without the King’s leave, as he knew that no -Englishman was likely to fight against him. He therefore set sail from -Flanders, and Harold and Leofwine set sail from Dublin. The crews of -their ships must have been Irish Danes, which perhaps made Englishmen -afraid of them. For, when they landed at Porlock in Somerset, the -men of the land withstood them, and Harold and Leofwine beat them -in a battle and harried the neighbourhood. But when Godwine came to -southern England, no man withstood his coming, but in most parts the -folk joined him willingly, saying that they would live and die with -him. The King got a fleet against him; but the crews had no heart, and -the fleet was scattered before Godwine came. At last Godwine’s ships -and Harold’s met, and they sailed up the Thames together, and came -before London on September 14. The citizens then said that what the -Earl would they would; the King and his earls brought up an army and -another fleet, but the men would not fight against Earl Godwine. Then -peace was made; it was agreed that an assembly should be held the next -day to settle everything. Then Godwine landed, having come back without -shedding of blood. Then fear came on all the Normans who were in and -near London, and they fled hither and thither. Specially the Norman -Archbishop Robert and Ulf Bishop of Dorchester cut their way out of the -city, slaying as they went, and went beyond sea, and never came back to -England. - -=2. The Restoration of Godwine.=--The next day the assembly met, and -voted that Godwine and all his family should be restored to all their -goods and honours. It was voted also that all the Normans who had -misled the King, especially Archbishop Robert, who was gone already, -should be banished. So Godwine and Harold got back their earldoms, -and the Lady Edith came back from her monastery; only Swegen did not -come back; for he had repented him of his sins and gone barefoot on -a pilgrimage to Jerusalem, and had died on the way back, about the -time that his father and brothers came home. Of the King’s Norman -friends some were allowed to stay, and Bishop William of London was -allowed to keep his bishopric; but from this time no more Normans got -bishoprics or other great offices. And the English Bishop Stigand got -the archbishopric of Canterbury instead of Robert. This is a thing to -be specially remembered; for it was made a charge against Stigand, -Godwine, Harold, and the whole English nation that Robert had been -driven from his archbishopric and Stigand put in his place, without the -authority of the Pope, but merely by a vote of the English assembly. -The Popes therefore never acknowledged Stigand as lawful archbishop, -and though he kept the archbishopric till four years after William’s -coming, many people in England seem to have been afraid to have any -great ecclesiastical ceremony done by him. Bishops commonly went to be -consecrated by the Pope, or else by the Archbishop of York. It is easy -to see how Duke William was able to turn all this to his own ends. - -=3. The Death of Godwine.=--At the Easter-tide of the next year, April -15, 1053, Earl Godwine died. He was seized with a fit while at the -King’s table, and died three days after. The Normans told strange tales -about his death, but that is the simple story in our own Chronicles. -Then his son Harold succeeded him as Earl of the West-Saxons, and -was the chief ruler of England during the remaining thirteen years -of Edward’s reign. There is no sign of any dispute between the King -and the Earl, though Edward’s chief favourite was not Harold, but -his younger brother Tostig. The King was allowed to have his Norman -friends about him in offices of his court, but not to set them over -the kingdom. Bishoprics were given either to Englishmen or to men from -Lorraine, that is, we should now say, from Belgium, who could most -likely speak both Low-Dutch and French. The King’s nephew Ralph and -his friend Odda kept their earldoms as long as they lived; but, as -earldoms fell vacant, they were given to men of the two great families -of Godwine and Leofric. Ælfgar son of Leofric succeeded Harold in -East-Anglia. In 1055 Siward of Northumberland died, and his earldom was -given to Tostig the son of Godwine. And when in 1057 the Earls Leofric -and Ralph died, the earldoms were parted out again. Ælfgar took his -father’s earldom of Mercia; only Ralph’s earldom of Hereford, which -needed specially to be guarded against the Welsh, was added to Harold’s -earldom. Godwine’s son Gyrth succeeded Ælfgar in East-Anglia, and his -other son Leofwine got Kent and the other shires round London. Thus the -greater part of England was under the rule of the house of Godwine, and -what was not remained under the house of Leofric; for when Ælfgar died, -his son Edwin succeeded him. - -=4. The Scottish and Welsh Wars.=--These later years of Edward’s reign, -in which Harold was truly the ruler of England, were marked by several -stirring events. Thus there was a war with Scotland, where the crown -had been more than once disputed between two families. The present king -Macbeth had come to the crown after a battle in which Duncan the former -king was killed. Duncan was a kinsman of Earl Siward, who therefore -wished to restore his son Malcolm. In 1054 Siward entered Scotland, -defeated Macbeth, and declared Malcolm king; but the war went on for -four years longer, till Macbeth and his son were killed and Malcolm got -the whole kingdom. Then there were several wars with the Welsh, under -their last great king Gruffydd son of Llywelyn. In 1055 Earl Ælfgar -was banished; he then joined Gruffydd in an invasion of Herefordshire. -Earl Ralph went out to meet him; but either he only knew the French way -of fighting or he liked it best. So he made the English go into battle -on horseback, to which they were not used, and they were therefore -defeated. Ælfgar and Gruffydd then burned and sacked Hereford; but -Earl Harold came and fortified the city afresh. Peace was made with -Gruffydd, and Ælfgar got his earldom back again. Gruffydd presently -made war again, but he lost part of his lands at the next peace. -He seems to have always kept up his connexion with Ælfgar and his -family, and he married Ælfgar’s daughter Ealdgyth. At last in 1062 his -ravages could no longer be borne, and it was determined to subdue him -altogether. The next year Earl Harold waged a great campaign in Wales, -in which, the better to fight among the mountains, he made the English -take to the Welsh way of fighting, and so made all the Welsh submit. -Gruffydd was presently killed by his own people, and Earl Harold gave -Wales to two princes, Bleddyn and Rhiwallon, to hold as the King’s -men. These Welsh and Scottish wars make up nearly all that happened -between England and other lands during this time. There was peace with -Normandy; but Duke William paid no more visits to his cousin the King. -Of a visit which Earl Harold made to him we shall speak presently. - -=5. The Succession to the Crown.=--All this time men must have been -thinking who should be king whenever King Edward should die. By English -law, when the king died, the Wise Men chose the next king. But they -chose from the kingly house, and, if the last king left a son of an -age to rule, he was almost always chosen. Indeed, if he were actually -the son of a king, born after his father was crowned, he had a special -right to be chosen. But the crown had never been given to a woman, nor -does it seem that the son of a king’s daughter had any claim above -another man. But it was held that, though the crown could not pass by -will, yet some weight ought to belong to the wishes of the late King. -Now King Edward had no children, and the only man in the kingly house -was his nephew Edward, the son of his elder brother Edmund Ironside. -This is he who had been sent away as a child in Cnut’s time. He was -now living in Hungary, with his wife and three children, Edgar, -Margaret, and Christina. King Edward in 1054 sent for him to come to -England, doubtless meaning that he should succeed him. This shows that -he had quite given up all thought of being succeeded by his Norman -cousin. Edward the Ætheling--that is, the king’s son, as son of Edmund -Ironside--came to England in 1057; but he sickened and died soon after -he landed. His son Edgar was quite a child, and was not a king’s son. -Moreover he was not born in the land, and he could hardly have been -much of an Englishman. Men had therefore to think who should be king -if King Edward died before Edgar was grown up. One can fancy that the -King might have wished to leave the crown to his nephew Earl Ralph; -but, though he was the King’s nephew, he was not of the kingly house, -and he was not an Englishman. Ralph too died the same year. We can -hardly doubt that from this time men began to think whether a time -might not come when they should have to choose a king not of the kingly -house. From this time Earl Harold seems to hold a special place, and -to be spoken of in a special way. His name is joined with the King’s -name in a way which is not usual, and he is even called _Subregulus_ -or _Under-king_. All this looks as if the thought of choosing him king -whenever Edward should die was already in men’s minds. - -=6. Earl Harold’s Church at Waltham.=--In those days almost every great -man, both in England and in Normandy, thought it his duty to make some -great gift to the Church, commonly to found or enrich some monastery, -to build or rebuild its great church or minster. Many monasteries were -founded and churches built at this time in Normandy by Duke William -and his barons. And it was the same in England. King Edward’s great -business was to rebuild and enrich the minster of Saint Peter on the -isle of Thorney in the Thames, which, as standing west from the great -church of London, the church of Saint Paul, was known as the _West -Minster_. So the Lady Edith, Earl Leofric and his wife Godgifu, Earl -Siward, Earl Odda, and many bishops and abbots, were busy at this time -building churches and founding monasteries. Earl Godwine is the only -great man of the time of whom we hear nothing of the kind. Earl Harold, -on the other hand, was as bountiful as any of them, only his bounty -went, not to the monks, but to the secular clergy. These were those -clergy who were not, like the monks, bound by special vows in their -own persons, but only by the general law of the Church. They were the -parish priests and the canons of cathedral and collegiate churches; -only in England several cathedral churches were now served by monks, -and more were afterwards. For the monks were much more in fashion -just now; Earl Harold however, when he founded a great church, placed -in it not monks but secular canons. This was at Waltham in Essex. A -church had been founded there in Cnut’s days by his banner-bearer Tofig -the Proud, who put in it a rood or cross which had been brought from -Leodgaresburh (afterwards called Montacute) in Somerset, and which was -thought to work wonders. Harold now rebuilt Tofig’s church on a greater -scale; and, whereas Tofig had founded only two priests, Harold raised -the number to twelve, one of whom was Dean, and another _Childmaster_. -Earl Harold had through his whole life a special reverence for the Holy -Cross of Waltham, and in battle the war-cry of his immediate following -was “Holy Cross.” - -=7. Harold and William.=--The Duke of the Normans and the Earl of -the West-Saxons were thus both of them winning fame and power, each -of them on his own side of the sea. They were beyond all doubt the -foremost men, the one in England, the other in Gaul. But there was a -difference between their positions which arose out of the different -political conditions of England and Gaul. Harold was a subject of the -King of the English, his chief adviser and minister, the ruler of a -great part of the kingdom under the King. But he was still a subject, -though a subject who had some hope of being one day chosen king over -his own land and people. William could not be called a subject of the -King of the French; he was a sovereign prince, ruling his own land, and -owing at most an external homage to the king. But he had no chance, as -Harold had, of ever becoming a king in his own land; his only chance -of becoming a king was by winning, either by force or by craft, the -crown of England. Harold and William were therefore rivals. By this -time they must have known that they were rivals. But as yet nothing had -happened to make any open enmity between them. They could hardly have -met face to face; but each must have carefully watched the course of -the other. And before long they were to meet face to face; but there -are so many stories as to the way in which their meeting came about -that it is very hard to say anything at all certain about it. Harold -made a journey on the continent in 1058, when he made the pilgrimage to -Rome. And it is said that, on his way back, he carefully studied the -state of things among the princes of Gaul. At that time William’s chief -enemies, Henry of France, William of Aquitaine, and Geoffrey of Anjou, -were all alive, and it may be that Harold had some schemes of alliance -with some of them, in case William should ever put forth any dangerous -claims. But of the details of this journey we know nothing. The Norman -writers always said that Harold at some time or other took an oath to -William, which he broke by accepting the English crown. But they tell -the story in so many ways, with so many differences of time, place, -and circumstances, that we cannot be certain as to any details. The -English writers say nothing about the story; but the fact that they do -say nothing about it is the best proof that there is some truth in it. -For there are many Norman slanders against Harold which they carefully -answer; so we may be sure that, if they could have altogether denied -this story, if they could have said that Harold never took any oath -to William at all, they would gladly have said so. We may therefore -believe that Harold did take some kind of oath to William, which oath -William was able to say that Harold had broken. But further than this -we can say nothing for certain. All that we can do therefore is to tell -the story in that way which, out of the many ways in which it is told, -seems the least unlikely. - -=8. The Oath of Harold.=--It would seem then that, most likely in the -year 1064, after the Welsh war, Harold was sailing in the Channel, most -likely with his brother Wulfnoth and his sister Ælfgifu. They were -wrecked on the coast of Ponthieu, where Count Guy, according to the -cruel custom of the time towards shipwrecked people, shut up Harold in -prison, in hopes of getting a ransom. But the Earl contrived to send -a message to Guy’s lord Duke William, and the Duke at once sent to -release him, paying Guy a large ransom. William then took Harold to -his court at Rouen and kept him there as his guest in all friendship. -Harold even consented, in return doubtless for the kindness which the -Duke had shown him, to help William in a war which he was carrying on -with the Breton Count Conan, a war in which William and Harold together -took the town of Dinan. At some stage of this visit Harold took the -oath. It seems most likely that the oath really was simply to marry one -of William’s daughters, but that the oath was accompanied by an act -of homage to William. Such acts of homage were often done in return -for any favour, without much being meant by them; and Harold had just -received a great favour from William in his release from Guy’s prison. -The act might be understood in two ways; but it is plain that William -would have a great advantage when he came to claim the crown, from the -fact that Harold had in any way become his man. All kinds of other -stories, some strange, some quite impossible, are told. Harold is made -to promise, not only to secure the crown to William on Edward’s death, -but to give up the castle of Dover and other places in England to be -held by Norman garrisons. And there is one specially famous tale how -William tricked Harold into swearing quite unwittingly in an unusually -solemn way. He was made, so the story ran, to put his hand on a chest, -and it was shown to him afterwards that this chest was full of the -relics of saints. And those who tell this story are much shocked at the -supposed crime of Harold, but seem to see no harm in the trick played -by William. The stories all contradict one another; but they all agree -in one thing, namely in making Harold promise to marry a daughter of -William. And this promise he certainly did not keep. After all this, -Harold went back to England, leaving, as it would seem, his brother -Wulfnoth as a hostage for fulfilment of his promise, whatever that -promise was. - -=9. The Revolt of Northumberland.=--It will be remembered that Tostig -the son of Godwine had been made Earl of the Northumbrians on the death -of Siward in 1055. Beside Northumberland, his earldom took in the -outlying shires of Northampton and Huntingdon. The Norman tales speak -of Harold and Tostig as having been enemies from their boyhood; but -there is nothing to make us think that there is any truth in this, and -Tostig helped Harold in his Welsh wars. Tostig had also some wars of -his own with Malcolm of Scotland, who invaded Northumberland, although -he and Tostig were sworn brothers. Tostig also, like Harold, made -the pilgrimage to Rome, and, when he and his people were robbed, he -used some very bold language to Pope Nicolas. In his own earldom he -had a fierce people to rule, and he ruled them fiercely; beginning -with stern justice, he gradually sank into oppression. He seems also -to have given offence by staying away from his earldom with the King, -with whom he was a great favourite, and handing Northumberland over -to the rule of one Copsige. At last, when he had put several of the -chief men to death and had laid on a very heavy tax, the whole people -revolted. This was in October, 1065. They held an assembly at York, in -which they declared Tostig deposed, and chose Morkere the son of Ælfgar -to be their earl. Under him Oswulf, a descendant of the old earls, -was to rule in Bernicia. They rifled Tostig’s hoard; they killed his -followers and friends, and marched to Northampton, harrying the land -as they went. There Morkere’s brother Edwin, the Earl of the Mercians, -met them with the men of his earldom and a great body of Welshmen. Thus -half England was in revolt. Tostig meanwhile was hunting with the King -in Wiltshire. The King was eager to make war on the Northumbrians; but -Earl Harold wished to make peace, even at the expense of his brother. -The King at last gave him full power to settle matters; so he held -an assembly at Oxford, and, as he saw that it was hopeless to try to -reconcile Tostig and the Northumbrians, he granted their demands. Peace -was made, and the laws of Cnut were renewed; that is to say, it was -decreed that Northumberland should be as well ruled as it had been in -Cnut’s day. Morkere was acknowledged as Earl of the Northumbrians; but -Northamptonshire and Huntingdonshire were given to Waltheof the son of -Siward. And Oswulf, one of the blood of the old Northumbrian earls, -ruled, seemingly under Morkere, in the northern part of the earldom, -that which was now beginning to be specially called Northumberland. -Tostig was banished and sought shelter in Flanders. By this revolution -the house of Leofric became again at least as powerful in England as -the house of Godwine, setting aside the personal influence of Harold. - -=10. The Death of Edward.=--We have now come near to the end of King -Edward’s reign. All this time he had been building the great church of -Saint Peter at Westminster, close by his palace, and he was just able -to finish it before he died. The Wise Men came together at Westminster -for the Christmas feast of 1065; the King wore his crown as usual; but -he fell sick before the hallowing of the new minster, which was done -on Innocents’ Day. Before the feast was over, on January 5th, 1066, -he died, the last King of the male line of Cerdic. Before he died, he -uttered some strange words which were taken to be a prophecy, and which -were in aftertimes understood of the Conquest of England and of the -succession of the kings who followed. But his last act was to recommend -the Wise Men to choose Earl Harold as king in his stead. The next day, -the feast of the Epiphany, King Edward was buried in his own church of -Saint Peter. He had built it specially to be the crowning-place and the -burying-place of kings. It was put to both uses within a few days after -it was hallowed. - -=11. The Election and Coronation of Harold.=--And now the time had come -for which men must have been looking so long. King Edward was dead; a -new king had to be chosen, and there was no one in the kingly house fit -to be chosen. As the Christmas feast was not yet over, the Wise Men -were still gathered together at Westminster; so that they could choose -at once. It is not clear whether anybody in England knew anything -about Harold’s oath to William; if anything was known of it, it must -have been held to be of no strength. Nor do we know whether the claims -either of William or of Edgar were spoken of or thought of. The thing -which is certain is that, as soon as Edward was dead, the assembly -met, and, according to the late king’s wishes, chose Earl Harold King. -The next day he was hallowed to king in the new church of Saint Peter; -that is, he was crowned and anointed, and he swore the oath to his -people. As men had doubts whether Stigand of Canterbury was a lawful -archbishop, the rite was done by Ealdred Archbishop of York. Of this -there is no real doubt, though some of the Norman writers say that -Harold was crowned by Stigand. That is, they wish to imply that he was -not lawfully crowned. For in those days the crowning of a king was not -a mere pageant. It was his actual admission to the kingly office, just -like the consecration of a bishop. Till he was crowned, he might have, -by birth or election, the sole right to become king; but he did not -become king till the oil was poured on his head and the crown set upon -it. So men might argue that, if the rite was done by an archbishop who -had no good right to his see, the coronation would not be valid. All -this is worth marking, as showing the feelings of the time. But there -is no doubt that Harold came to the crown quite regularly, that he was -recommended by Edward on his death-bed, that he was regularly chosen by -the assembly, and regularly crowned by Archbishop Ealdred. If things -had gone on quietly, Harold would most likely have been the first of -a new line of kings. This event in our history is very much like what -had happened among the Franks three hundred years before. The last -King of the house of the Merwings was deposed, and Pippin, the father -of the Emperor Charles the Great, was chosen King in his stead. Only -in England there was no need to depose Edward, but merely to choose -Harold when he died. And in one very important point the change of the -kingly house among the English was quite unlike the same change among -the Franks. For the Pope specially approved of the election of Pippin, -while the Pope was very far from approving of the election of Harold. - -=12. King Harold in Northumberland.=--One of the English Chronicles -says that the nine months of the reign of Harold were a time of -“little stillness.” So it truly was; he was hard at work from the very -beginning. At what time Duke William first sent to challenge the crown -is not certainly known; but it is not likely to have been very long -after Harold’s crowning. Of this however we shall best speak in another -chapter. But the new king found at once that part of his kingdom was -not ready to acknowledge him. This was Northumberland, to the people -of which land he had lately shown so much favour by confirming their -deposition of his own brother, and their choice of Morkere as their -earl. Harold had indeed been crowned by their own archbishop, and -their chief men must have acknowledged him along with the rest of the -Wise Men; but we should remember that at an assembly in London, though -there would be many men present from Wessex, Mercia, and East-Anglia, -there could not be many from Northumberland. This would indeed be -true of almost every assembly that was held at all; for the three -usual places were Winchester, Westminster, and Gloucester, all of them -places convenient in turn for different parts of southern England, -but none of them convenient for Northumberland. But the change of the -kingly house was an act of greater weight than any other, and the -Northumbrians might have some kind of ground for saying that the choice -had been made without their consent. How far the brother earls Edwin -and Morkere had anything to do with stirring up discontent we cannot -tell; but their doings both before and after look like it. Anyhow the -Northumbrians refused to acknowledge King Harold. The King now did just -as he had done a few months before. He did not think of force; but he -went himself to York, taking with him his friend Wulfstan Bishop of -Worcester, a most holy man, who was afterwards called Saint Wulfstan. -At York he held an assembly, and the speeches of the King and the -Bishop persuaded the Northumbrians to submit without any fighting. And -it was most likely at this time, and by way of further pleasing the -Northumbrians, that King Harold married Ealdgyth the sister of Edwin -and Morkere and widow of the Welsh King Gruffydd. He thus made it -quite impossible that he could marry Duke William’s daughter. And the -Norman writers do not fail to speak against the marriage on that score, -and further to blame him for marrying the widow of a man whom he had -killed. Yet Harold had simply overcome Gruffydd in fair warfare, and he -had nothing to do with his death, which was the deed of Gruffydd’s own -people. - -=13. The Comet.=--King Harold came back from York to Westminster, -and there kept his Easter feast. The usual place was Winchester; but -London was now growing in importance, and specially so during these -few months of Harold’s reign. For he was busy the whole time in making -ready for the defence of all southern and eastern England, and for this -London was the best head-quarters. He did not appoint any earl of the -West-Saxons, but kept Wessex in his own hands, while the south-eastern -shires formed the earldoms of his brothers Gyrth and Leofwine. We read -much of his good government and good laws, which of course simply means -that he went on doing as king as he had done as earl. For any making -of new laws he had no time. But he seems to have given what heed he -could to ecclesiastical appointments and reform; for it was specially -needful for him to get the clergy on his side. One thing specially -marked this Easter assembly. A most brilliant comet was seen, which is -recorded by all manner of writers both in England and elsewhere. In -those days, when astronomy was little known, men believed that a comet -was sent as a sign that some great event was going to happen. So now -men gazed at the hairy star, and wondered what would come of it. By -this time every one must have known something of the great struggle -which was coming. The comet, it was thought, foretold the fall of some -great power; but they could not yet tell whether it foretold the fall -of Harold or the fall of William. - -=14. Summary.=--We have thus seen how, after the death of his father, -Harold, as Earl of the West-Saxons, gradually became chief ruler of -England, and how the path was opened to him to become king on Edward’s -death. We have seen how he made some kind of oath to Duke William which -might be said to be broken by his accepting the crown. We have seen how -he was nevertheless regularly named, chosen, and crowned king, and how -he got possession of the whole kingdom. We have now to see what was -all this while going on beyond sea, what preparations his rival Duke -William was making, and what other dangers were threatening England -from other quarters. - - - - -CHAPTER VI. - -THE TWO HAROLDS. - - -=1. Tostig’s Invasion.=--Harold and the English people must have known -very well by this time the danger which threatened them from Normandy. -They did not perhaps think so much of another danger which threatened -them at the same time. Besides Duke William, another foe was arming -against them, and, as it turned out, it was this other foe who struck -the first blow. It was indeed a time of little stillness when men had -to guard against two invasions at once. Or rather it was found to be -impossible to guard against both of them. While King Harold was doing -all that man could do to make the southern coast of England safe -against the Norman, another enemy whom he did not look for came against -him in the north. This was the famous King of the Northmen, Harold -son of Sigurd, called _Hardrada_, that is _Hard-rede_, the stern in -counsel. King Harold of Norway came before Duke William of Normandy. -And yet King Harold of Norway was not the first to come. After all it -was the south of England which was first invaded, but it was by a much -smaller enemy than by either the great king or the great duke. This was -no other than the banished Earl Tostig. He seems to have been trying to -get help anywhere to put him back in his earldom, even at the cost of a -foreign conquest of England. Some say that he had been to Normandy to -stir up Duke William, some that he had been to Norway to stir up King -Harold. The accounts are not easy to put together. But it is certain -that by May he had got together some ships from somewhere or other, and -with them he came to Wight. He then plundered along the south coast; -but by this time King Harold of England was getting ready his great -fleet and army to withstand Duke William. So King Harold marched to the -coast, and Tostig sailed away. He then sailed to Lindesey and plundered -there. But the Earls Edwin and Morkere drove him away, and he found -shelter in Scotland with King Malcolm. - -=2. Harold Hardrada.=--Harold of Norway was the most famous warrior -of Northern Europe. His youth had been passed in banishment; so he -took service under the Eastern Emperors, who now kept a Scandinavian -guard called the Warangians. In that force he did many exploits, -specially by helping in the war, when in 1038 the Imperial general -George Maniakês won back a large part of Sicily from the Saracens. -It is even said that he waged war with the Saracens in Africa, and -he then made the pilgrimage to Jerusalem, which he is said to have -not done without fighting. And there is a stone at Venice, which was -brought from Peiraieus the haven of Athens, on which is graven the name -of Harold the Tall, and it has been thought that this records some -exploits of Harold Hardrada there. And many strange tales are told of -him, of his killing dragons and lions, carrying off princesses, and the -like. In short he is one of the great heroes of Northern romance. But -there is no doubt that he came back to Scandinavia, that he got the -kingdom of Norway which had been held by his forefathers, and waged -a long war with Swegen of Denmark. Now at the time of Edward’s death -and our Harold’s election the North was at peace. The great warrior -was perhaps tired of peace; and, either of his own thought or because -he was stirred up by Tostig, he began to plan an expedition against -England. Whether Tostig had stirred him up or not, it is certain that, -when he set out, Tostig joined him, bowed to him and became his man, -and helped him in his warfare against his own brother and his own -country. - -=3. Preparations of Harold of England.=--All the summer of the year -1066 King Harold of England was doing all that man could do to put -southern England in a state to withstand any attack from Normandy. If -he knew at all that King Harold of Norway was coming, it was still -his main business, as he could not be everywhere at once, to defend -that part of the kingdom which was under his own immediate rule and -which was exposed to the more dangerous enemy. The care of the North -he had to leave to its own earls, Edwin and Morkere, who were now his -brothers-in-law, and who, of all men in the island, were the most -concerned to keep Tostig out of it. King Harold then got together -the greatest fleet and army that had ever been seen in England, and -with them he kept watching the coasts. This was very hard work to -do in those days. For only a small part of his army, called his own -_housecarls_, were regular paid soldiers; the greater part were the -people of the land, whose duty it was to fight for the land when they -were called upon. Such an army was ready enough to come together and -fight a battle; but it was hard to keep them for a long time under -arms without fighting. And it was also very hard to feed them, for of -course they could not be allowed to plunder in their own land. The -wonderful thing is that King Harold was able to keep them together so -long as from May to September. All that time they were waiting for Duke -William, and Duke William never came. Early in September they could -hold out no longer; there was no more to eat, and every man wanted to -go home and reap his own field. So the great fleet and army broke up, -and the land was left without any special defence. And in the course -of the month in which they broke up, both enemies came. In that very -September both King Harold of Norway and Duke William of Normandy -landed in England. But King Harold of Norway came the first, and indeed -the war with him was over before Duke William crossed the sea. - -=4. The Voyage of Harold of Norway.=--Whether then he was stirred up by -Tostig or whether he set forth of his own will, King Harold of Norway -got him together a mighty fleet, and set sail for England, meaning to -win the land and reign there. But men said that he and his friends saw -strange dreams and visions on the way which forebode evil to the host. -One saw the host of England march to the shore, and before them went -a wolf, and a witch-wife rode on the wolf, and she fed the wolf with -carcases of men, and, as soon as he had eaten one, she had another -ready to give him. It is well to mark these stories, which come out of -the old tales and songs of the Northmen, as they show what manner of -men they were who now came against England for the last time. The whole -story of Harold Hardrada is told in one of the grandest of the old -Northern tales, but, when we come to examine it by our own Chronicles, -we see that only parts of it can be true. But, notwithstanding the bad -omens, the great fleet sailed on, and reached the isles of Shetland -and Orkney. These were then a Scandinavian earldom, and its earls, -Paul and Erling, joined the Norwegian fleet. It was joined too by -other Scandinavian princes from Iceland and Ireland, by King Malcolm -of Scotland, and at last, when King Harold of Norway reached the -Tyne, by the English traitor Tostig. Whether by agreement or not, he -met the Norwegian fleet with whatever following he had, he became -the man of Harold Hardrada, and agreed to go on with him against his -brother Harold of England. They sailed along the coast of Yorkshire, as -Deira was now beginning to be called; they ravaged Cleveland, and met -with no resistance till they reached Scarborough. There the Northmen -climbed the hills above the town, and threw down great burning masses -of wood to set it on fire. Then they sailed on; the men of Holderness -fought against them in vain; they entered the mouth of the Humber; -the Northumbrians fled before them, and sailed, as the small ships of -those times could, a long way up the country, up the river Wharfe to -Tadcaster. So the Norwegian fleet was able to sail up the Ouse towards -York without hindrance. They reached Riccall, a place about nine miles -from York by land, but much further by the river. There the host -disembarked; some were left to guard the ships, while the main body of -the army, with Harold Hardrada and Tostig at its head, set forth to -march upon York. - -=5. The Battle of Fulford.=--It would seem that the two brother earls -who ruled on either side of the Humber had taken very little care to -defend their coasts; but they were no cowards when actual fighting -came. They were now together at York; and when the Northmen came near, -they marched out with whatever troops they had, and met Harold of -Norway at Fulford, two miles from York, on September 20th, 1066. Events -now press so fast on one another that we must remember the days of the -week, and the battle of Fulford was fought on Wednesday. Though Fulford -is much nearer to York than to Riccall, Harold of Norway got thither -before the English earls, and was able to choose his own ground. The -battle was fought on a ridge of ground with the river on one side -and a ditch and a marsh on the other. On this side was the weakest -part, the right, of the Norwegian army; here Earl Morkere charged, and -pressed on for a while. But on the left King Harold of Norway, with his -royal banner the _Landwaster_ beside him, drove all before him. The -English presently fled, and not a few, besides those who were slain -with the sword, were hurled into the river and into the ditch. The two -earls, with the remnant of their host, found shelter at York. - -=6. The Surrender of York.=--York held out only four days, and made -terms with the enemy on Sunday. An assembly was held, in which Harold -Hardrada was received as king, and it was agreed that the men of -Northumberland should follow him against southern England. Hostages -for the city were given at once, and hostages for the shire were -promised. It is plain that all this was not according to the real -wishes of the Northumbrians; but one would think that Edwin and Morkere -must have been poor commanders, not to have held out a little longer. -The Norwegian army now marched to Stamfordbridge, about eight miles -north-east of York, on the river Derwent. Thither the hostages were to -be brought. It is not very clear why they went away so far from York, -and still further from their ships at Riccall. Perhaps it was because -there seems to have been a royal house near at Aldby, of which either -Tostig or Harold of Norway may have had a fancy for taking possession -at once. Anyhow the mass of the army encamped at Stamfordbridge. -There was a wooden bridge there across the Derwent, and the host was -scattered on both sides of the river. - -=7. The March of King Harold of England.=--The men of York needed only -to wait one day longer, and they would not have had to bow to Harold of -Norway. For King Harold of England was on his march; that very Sunday -when they surrendered he was in Yorkshire; on Monday morning he was in -York itself. When the fleet and army which had guarded the south coast -had dispersed, the King rode to London, and there he heard the news -of the coming of Harold of Norway. It is said that he was sick at the -time; but he bore up as well as he could to get ready his army. And the -story ran that King Edward appeared in the night to Abbot Æthelsige of -Ramsey, and bade him go to the King and tell him to be of good cheer -and go forth and smite the enemies of England. Now this story proves -something; for those who put it together could not have looked on -Harold as a perjurer or usurper or one undutiful to King Edward, as the -Normans said he was. Harold was condemned by the Pope at Rome, and yet -Englishmen, even in after times, did not think the worse of him for -that. So a tale like this is worth telling. In any case King Harold -got ready his army, and pressed on as fast as he could. When he left -London, he could not have known of the battle of Fulford; but he would -hear the news on the way, and it would make him press on yet faster. On -Sunday, September 29th, he reached Tadcaster, and reviewed the fleet in -the Wharfe. The next morning he reached York. The whole city received -him gladly; but he passed on through the city at once to attack the -enemy. The land between York and Stamfordbridge lies so that an army -coming from York could get very near to Stamfordbridge without being -seen. So we read that King Harold of England and his host came unawares -on King Harold of Norway and his host. And then, on that same Monday, -was fought the first of the two great battles of this year, the fight -of Stamfordbridge. - -=8. The Battle of Stamfordbridge.=--The Norwegian story has a grand -tale to tell of the battle, which may be read in many books. But -it cannot be true; it must have been made many years after. For it -describes the English army as made up chiefly of horsemen and archers, -which were just the forces which an English army of that time had not. -In after days, when Englishmen had taken to the Norman way of fighting, -there were English archers and horsemen, and the story must have been -written then. But in those days Englishmen fought on foot; those who -rode to the field got down from their horses when the fighting began. -The heavy-armed first hurled their javelins, and then they fought with -their great axes, or sometimes with swords. The sword was the older -weapon; the axe had come in under Cnut. The light-armed had javelins, -slings, any weapons they could get; the bow was the rarest of all. -But though we cannot believe the Norwegian story, we know something -of the battle from our own Chroniclers, and there are bits in one of -our Latin writers, Henry of Huntingdon, which are plainly translated -from an English song. And that song must have been made at the very -time, for only a few days later men had something else to think about -besides making songs about Stamfordbridge. In this way we learn that -the battle began on the right side of the Derwent, that nearest to -York. The English army came unawares on the part of the Northmen who -were on that side, who were not in order nor fully armed. They were -presently cut to pieces. But meanwhile the main body on the other side -had time to form under King Harold of Norway and Earl Tostig, and one -valiant Northman kept the bridge against the whole English host. He cut -down forty men with his axe; one of the few archers in the English army -shot an arrow at him in vain; at last a man went below the bridge and -pierced him from below through his harness. Then the English crossed, -and the real battle began, the fight of the two Harolds. The fight was -long and fearful between two armies equally brave, fighting in much -the same way, and each led on by a great captain. But in the end the -English won a complete victory. Harold of Norway and Tostig were both -killed in the battle, and the great mass of the Norwegian army was cut -off. Tostig was known by a mark on his body and was buried at York. And -King Harold of England, who had marched into York from Tadcaster on the -Monday morning, marched back again to York from Stamfordbridge on the -same Monday evening, having overthrown the first of the two enemies who -threatened him. So the hostages for all Yorkshire were never given to -Harold of Norway. - -=9. The Days after the Battle.=--The Norwegian army had been cut off -at Stamfordbridge; but the Norwegian fleet was still in the Ouse at -Riccall. There were Olaf the son of Harold of Norway and the Earls of -Orkney. King Harold of England offered them peace; so they came to York -and gave hostages, and sware oaths that they would keep friendship -towards England. Some days afterwards the feast of victory was kept -at York; and while the King was at the board, a messenger came who -had ridden as fast as he could from the south to say that the second -enemy was come. Duke William of Normandy had landed in Sussex, and was -harrying the land. He had indeed landed three days after the fight of -Stamfordbridge, Thursday, September 28th, 1066. We must now go back and -see all that he had been doing since the crowning of King Harold of -England. - - - - -CHAPTER VII. - -THE COMING OF DUKE WILLIAM. - - -=1. Duke William’s Claims.=--Every one who knew what had happened -between William and Harold must have known that after that Duke William -would certainly claim the English crown whenever King Edward died. He -would most likely have done so, even if Harold had never sworn anything -to him; but now that Harold had sworn something, whatever it was, he -was yet more sure to press his claims than before. It is worth while -to stop and think what William’s claim really was. The truth is that -he had no real claim whatever; but he was able in a cunning way to put -several things together, each of which sounded like a claim. And so, by -using one argument to one set of people and another to another, he was -able to persuade most men out of England that he was the lawful heir to -the English crown, kept out of his right by the wrong-doing of Harold. -Each of his claims was really very easy to answer; but each was of a -kind which was likely to persuade somebody, and the whole list together -sounded like a very strong claim indeed. The real case was this. The -people of England had a right to choose whom they would for their -King, and they had not chosen William. It was indeed usual to choose -out of the one kingly house, and Harold did not belong to that house. -But then neither did William. William indeed said that he was Edward’s -near kinsman and ought to succeed him. And no doubt in lands where -the notion of electing kings was going out of memory, where hereditary -succession was coming in, but where the rules of hereditary succession -were not yet fully fixed, this claim would have an effect on men’s -minds. But in truth William had no more claim by inheritance than he -had by election. He was indeed Edward’s kinsman through Edward’s mother -Emma; but he was not of the house of the Old-English kings, which -alone could give him any preference for the crown above other men. And -meanwhile there was young Edgar, a nearer kinsman than William, and -who was of the old kingly house. And it is worth noticing that, about -a hundred years after, when the notion of hereditary succession had -taken root, men began to speak, very often of Harold, and sometimes -of William too, as wrong-doers against Edgar. But at the time no one -thought of this. And according to modern law King Edward himself would -also have been a wrong-doer against Edgar; for by modern law Edgar, the -grandson of the elder brother, would come before Edward the younger -brother. But most surely no one at the time thought of that either. -Then William said that Edward had left him the crown. Now there can be -little doubt that Edward had once made him some kind of promise; but -a king of the English could not leave his crown to any one; he could -at most recommend to the Wise Men, and Edward had recommended Harold. -William in short had no kind of right to the crown, whether by birth, -bequest, or election. But it was easy for him to talk as if he had; -and it was still easier to bring in all manner of other things, which -had nothing to do with the matter, but which all helped to make a fair -show. Harold was his man who had forsworn himself against him. Harold -had done despite to the bones of the Norman saints. These might be -Harold’s own personal sins, but the English people had nothing to do -with them. But William found something to say against the English -people also. They had, with Harold’s father at their head, murdered -the Ætheling Alfred, William’s cousin, and his Norman companions. They -had, Harold among them, driven out many Normans, among them Archbishop -Robert, and had set up a schismatic archbishop in his place. They were -an ungodly people, who did not show respect enough to the Pope; he, -Duke William, would go and teach them better ways. And, if all other -arguments should fail, he could offer lands and honours in England to -all who would come and help him to conquer England. William in short -could show himself all things to all men, from a pious missionary to -a mere robber. But mark that all this care to put himself right in -men’s eyes shows that we have got out of the days of mere violence. -When the English entered Britain, when the Danes entered England, when -the Northmen settled in what was to be Normandy, they did not think of -putting forth so many good reasons for what they did as Duke William -put forth now. - -=2. Duke William’s Challenge.=--All these arguments sounded very well -on the mainland; but no one listened to them in England. Yet it was -not for want of hearing them. Duke William heard of Edward’s death -and of Harold’s election and coronation in one message; and before -long he sent a challenge to the new King. As we have no exact dates, -we cannot tell for certain whether this was before or after Harold’s -journey to Northumberland; but anyhow it was early in his reign. Nor -can we say exactly what were the terms of the message. William of -course called on Harold to do whatever he had sworn to do. But, as -there are many stories as to what it was that Harold had sworn to do, -so there are as many stories, and indeed more, as to what it was that -William now called on him to do. Let him give up the kingdom; let him -hold it of William as his lord; let him be earl of half of it under -William; let him in any case marry William’s daughter; he had at all -events promised to do that. Now, if the message came after Harold had -married Ealdgyth, this last part must have been mockery. Indeed the -whole message must have been sent, not with any hope or thought that -Harold would do anything because of it, but simply that William might -say that he had given his enemy every chance, and might thus seem to -put himself yet more in the right and Harold yet more in the wrong. -For it is needless to say that whatever William asked Harold refused. -As there are different stories about William’s challenge, so there are -different stories about Harold’s answer. In some accounts he is made -to give an answer which covers everything. His oath was not binding, -because it was not taken freely. He could not give up his kingdom or -hold it of William, for the English people had given him the crown, and -none but they could take it from him. And as for marrying William’s -daughter, he says in one account that the daughter whom he had promised -to marry was dead, in another that an English king could not marry a -foreign wife without the consent of the Wise Men. He is not made to -say that he is married already. So the message may have come before he -married Ealdgyth, or it may be that that answer would have seemed to -the Normans to be only making bad worse. - -=3. Duke William’s Councils.=--Nothing was now left to William, if he -wished for the English crown, but to try and take it by force. His -first business then was to see what help he could get in his own duchy. -He first got together a small council of his immediate friends and -kinsfolk; they said that they would help him themselves, but that they -could not answer for anybody else. Then he gathered a larger council -of all the barons of Normandy at Lillebonne. Here there was great -opposition. Many men said that it was no part of their duty to their -duke to follow him beyond sea; many also said that the undertaking was -rash, and that Normandy was not able to conquer England. And in the end -the assembly did not come to any general vote; but William talked over -the barons one by one, till they all promised to help him; each would -give so many ships and so many men. And when the thing was once blazed -abroad, men began to take it up eagerly, and all Normandy was full of -zeal for the undertaking. The first thing to be done was to make a -fleet; so trees were cut down and ships were built, and all the havens -of Normandy were busy with the shipbuilding all the summer. In the -course of August the fleet was ready. All the great men of Normandy had -made presents of ships. And by that time men enough to fill them had -flocked in both from Normandy and from other lands. - -=4. Duke William’s Negotiations.=--Everything at this time was as -lucky for William as it was unlucky for Harold. Harold had two enemies -coming against him at once, and he could not bear up against both. So -a few years before, if William had set out on such an undertaking as -the conquest of England, he would have left his duchy open to several -enemies at once. Just now he had no one to fear. All his old enemies -were dead; King Henry of France, Duke William of Aquitaine, and Count -Geoffrey of Anjou. We have seen that it is not unlikely that Harold -had once thought of alliances with some of these princes, in case -William had any designs on England. There was no such chance now. The -young King Philip of France was under the guardianship of William’s -father-in-law Baldwin of Flanders. In Anjou there was a civil war. The -only neighbour likely to be dangerous was Conan of Britanny. He died -about this time in the Angevin war, and there is a tale that William -contrived to poison his bridle, his gloves, and his hunting-horn. The -strange thing is that it is a Norman writer who mentions this, and -that the Bretons say nothing about it. But it was not like William -to poison any one, and it is certain that, next to his own subjects, -no people followed him so readily as the Bretons. To the King of the -French William sent an embassy; some even say that he offered to -hold England of him. At any rate he made things safe on the side of -France. And he sent to the young King Henry of Germany, the son of the -Emperor Henry. Here England had, by the death of the Emperor, really -lost a friend, and not merely the enemy of an enemy. Neither of these -kings gave William any help; but they did all that he wanted; they -did nothing against him, and they did not hinder their subjects from -joining his army. But William’s greatest negotiation of all was with -the Pope, Alexander the Second. He tried to show, not only that Harold -was a perjurer and a sinner against the saints, whom the Pope ought -to punish, but also that his enterprise against England would tend -greatly to the advantage of the Roman Church. Discipline should be -better enforced in England, and the money which was paid to the Pope, -called _Romescot_ or _Peterpence_, should be more carefully paid. And -besides all this, there were men at Rome who could see how much the -authority of the Pope would gain, if it were once allowed that he had -the right to dispose of crowns or to judge between one claimant of a -crown and another. Some of the cardinals said that the Church ought not -to meddle in matters of blood or to set Christians to fight against -one another. But the voice of these just men was overruled, chiefly -by the arguments of Hildebrand the Pope’s chief counsellor, who was -then Archdeacon of Rome, and who was afterwards himself the great Pope -Gregory the Seventh. So Pope Alexander, seemingly without hearing any -one on the English side, ruled that Harold was a perjured man, and that -the cause of Duke William was righteous. So he gave the Duke a hallowed -banner and a ring with a hair of Saint Peter. William was thus able -to attack England, her king, and her freedom, as if he had been going -forth on a holy war against the enemies of the faith. - -=5. The Voyage of Duke William.=--In the course of August all was -ready. The fleet was built and manned, and the army was ready to cross -into England. The place of meeting was at the mouth of the Dive. The -number of ships and of men is very differently told us; but the Norman -poet Wace, whose father was there, says that the number of ships was -696. They were only large boats for transport, with a single mast and -sail. When they were come together at the Dive, they were kept a whole -month waiting for a south wind to carry them to England. It would have -been better for England if the south wind had blown at once; for in -August King Harold and his army were still ready to meet them; but, as -it was, the Normans did not come till the first army was disbanded, -and till Harold was busy with the war in the north. At last, though a -south wind did not come, a west wind did, and the fleet sailed to Saint -Valery at the mouth of the Somme, in Count Guy’s land of Ponthieu. They -were now much nearer to England than they had been at the Dive; but -they still could not cross till Wednesday, September 27, two days after -the fight of Stamfordbridge. Then at last the south wind blew, and the -fleet crossed in the night. The Duke’s own ship, the Mora, the gift of -the Duchess Matilda, sailed first with a huge lantern at its mast to -guide them. On Thursday morning the Duke of the Normans and his host -landed at Pevensey in Sussex. They landed under the walls of the Roman -city of Anderida, which had stood forsaken and empty, ever since it had -been stormed by the South-Saxons nearly six hundred years before. There -was just now no force in those parts able to hinder the Norman landing. -There is a story that, as William landed, his foot slipped, and he -fell. But, as he arose with his hands full of English earth, he turned -and said that he had taken _seizin_ or possession of his kingdom, for -that the earth of England was in his hands. Anyhow he took his first -possession of English ground at Pevensey, where he left a force. He -then, on Friday, September 29th, marched to Hastings, which he made his -head-quarters. He there threw up a mound and made a wooden castle. And -from this centre he began to harry the land far and wide, in order to -make King Harold come the sooner and fight. - -=6. The March of King Harold.=--The news of Duke William’s landing was, -as we have seen, brought to King Harold at York as fast as it could be -brought. And King Harold set out on his march southwards as fast as -man could set out. With his housecarls and such men of the northern -shires as were ready to follow him at once, he set forth for London. -Edwin and Morkere were bidden to follow with all speed at the head of -the whole force of their earldoms, while the King sent forth to gather -the men of his own Wessex and of the earldoms of his brothers Gyrth and -Leofwine, to come to the muster at London. Thus the men of all southern -and eastern England came in at the King’s word; but the main strength -of the north never came. Edwin and Morkere kept their men back, most -likely hoping to be able to hold their own earldoms against either -Harold or William. Thus King Harold got little help in his second -struggle from the land which he had saved in the first. While the -troops were coming in, the King went to the church which he had himself -built at Waltham, and prayed there. And men said that signs and wonders -were wrought at his coming; for that the image on the Holy Cross bowed -its head, as if to say, ‘It is finished.’ So the canons of Waltham -feared that harm would come to their King and founder. And two of them -followed King Harold’s host to the place of battle, that they might in -anywise see the end. - -=7. Duke William’s New Message.=--The host was now ready to set forth -for Sussex, all but the men of those shires whose force never came at -all. And now another messenger came from Duke William to the King in -London. A monk of Fécamp, a great abbey in Normandy near the sea-coast, -came and stood before the King of the English on his throne. He bade -him come down from it and abide a trial at law between himself and the -Duke who claimed the crown by the bequest of Edward, and whose man -he had himself become. The King--so the Norman writers say--answered -that his oath to William, as being unwilling, was of no force, and -that any bequest to William was made of no strength by Edward’s later -recommendation of himself. This answer, it will be seen, did not go to -the root of the matter; but it was answer enough to this particular -message. The King then sent his message to Duke William to offer his -friendship and rich gifts, if he would go quietly out of the land; but -that, if he was bent on fighting, he would meet him in battle on the -next Saturday. Then Earl Gyrth gave his brother wise but cruel counsel. -He said that, as Harold had anyhow sworn to William, it was not good -that he should meet him in fight. Let him, Gyrth, go against Duke -William with the host which had already come together; let the King -meanwhile wait for fresh troops, and lay waste all the land between -London and the sea, so that, even if the Normans won the fight against -Gyrth, they would have nothing to eat, and their duke would be driven -to go away. But King Harold said that he would never let his brothers -and his people go forth to the fight while he himself shrank from it, -and that he would never burn a house or lay waste a field in the land -over which he was set to be king. So the King marched from London with -his host, and on Friday, October 13th, he reached the hill of Senlac, -seven miles inland from the Duke’s camp at Hastings, and there waited -for the attack of the Normans. - -=8. King Harold’s Camp.=--The English, as has been already said, were -used to fighting on foot. They were stout men to hurl their javelins -and to meet the enemy hand to hand with their axes; but they had no -horsemen and very few archers. The Normans, on the other hand, were the -best horsemen and archers in the world. It was therefore King Harold’s -plan not to attack the enemy, but to let them attack him; not to meet -them in a broad plain fit for horsemen, but to hold a strong place in -attacking which the Norman horses would be of less use. So he pitched -his camp on a hill which stands out from the main line of hills, and -the sides of which are in parts very steep; he fenced it in with a -palisade, and with a ditch on the south side where the ground was less -steep. The land between Hastings and Senlac was woody, broken, and -rolling ground, and the ground at the foot of the hill must then have -been a mere marsh. The Normans would therefore have much ado to get to -the hill and ride up it, and, if they got to the top, they would find -the English standing there ready to cut them down. So wisely had King -Harold chosen his place of fighting; for he knew the land of Sussex -well. - -=9. The Last Challenge.=--Both King Harold and Duke William sent spies -to see what the other was doing. It is said that an English spy came -back and said that in the Norman camp were more priests than soldiers. -In an earlier time both Normans and English had worn their beards; but -now the Normans shaved the whole face like priests, while the English -wore only their whiskers on the upper lip. So the spy took the shaven -Normans for priests. Then King Harold laughed, and said that they would -find these priests right valiant fighting men. One tale tells that King -Harold and Earl Gyrth rode out together to spy out the Norman camp, -and came back unhurt. And it is also said that now, after the camp was -pitched on Senlac, Duke William sent yet a last message and challenge -to King Harold. Once more, would Harold give up the kingdom to William, -according to his oath? Would he and his brother Gyrth hold the kingdom -of William as his men? Lastly, if he declined either of these offers, -would he meet William in single combat? The crown should be the prize -of the victor, and the blood of their followers on both sides would be -spared. But King Harold refused all these offers; for to have accepted -any of them, even the single combat, would have been to acknowledge -that the war was his personal quarrel with William, and not the quarrel -of the people of England whose land William had unjustly invaded. It -is plain that Harold had no right to stake the crown on the issue of -a single combat. If William killed Harold, that would give William no -right to the crown, which it was for the people of England to give to -whom they would. And if Harold killed William, the Norman army was not -the least likely to go away quietly; there would have been a battle -to fight after all. So King Harold assuredly was right in refusing to -stake the fate of England on his own single person. All these stories, -it must be remembered, come from the Norman writers; our English -Chronicles cut the tale very short. But we may be pretty sure that -there is some truth in them, and this story of the challenge seems very -likely. Anyhow by Friday evening, every man in each army knew that the -great fight for the crown and the freedom of England was to be fought -on the morrow. - - - - -CHAPTER VIII. - -THE GREAT BATTLE. - - -=1. The Authorities.=--Before we tell the tale of the great fight on -Senlac which forms the centre of our whole story, it will be well to -stop and think for a while of the sources from which the tale comes. -Our own Chroniclers tell us very little; the defeat of the king and -people of England was a thing on which they did not love to dwell. We -have therefore to get most of the details from Norman sources. Of these -there are several, among which four are of special importance. There -is the Latin prose account by William, Archdeacon of Poitiers, who was -in the Conqueror’s army, and the account in Latin verse by Guy, Bishop -of Amiens, who wrote very soon after. Both of these were courtiers and -flatterers of William; still we may learn a good deal from them. A -more honest writer, though not so near to the time, is Master Wace, a -canon of Bayeux, whose father crossed with William and was therefore -most likely in the battle. Wace wrote the history of the Norman dukes -in French rime, called the _Roman de Rou_, and in it he gives a full -account of the battle. He had clearly taken great pains to find out -all that he could about the fight, and about everybody, on the Norman -side at least, who was in it. But more precious than all is the famous -Tapestry of Bayeux, which contains the whole history of the Conquest, -from Harold’s voyage to the end of the battle, wrought in stitchwork. -This was made very soon after the time by order of Bishop Odo for his -church at Bayeux. These are the main authorities; from them, and from a -sight of the ground, it is not hard to make out the story. And we get -incidental pieces of knowledge, such as names of men who were in the -battle on the English side, from all manner of sources here and there, -among them from the great record called Domesday, of which we shall -presently speak. - -=2. The March of the Normans.=--The Norman writers tell us that Duke -William’s army spent the night before the battle, the night of Friday, -October 13th, in prayer and shrift, while the English spent it in -drinking and singing. And certainly, if our men sang some of the old -battle-songs, we shall not think the worse of them. But this is the -kind of thing which we often find the writers of the victorious side -saying of a defeated army. Anyhow both armies were quite ready for -their work early on Saturday morning. The Normans marched from Hastings -to the height of Telham, opposite Senlac. There they made ready for -the fight; the knights mounted their war-horses and put on their -harness. The Duke’s hauberk was by some chance turned the wrong way; -but his ready wit turned this into a good omen, he said that a Duke was -going to be turned into a King. Then he mounted his horse; he looked -out at the place where his spies told him that the English King was -posted, and he vowed that, where Harold’s standard stood, he would, -if he won that day’s fight, build a minster to Saint Martin of Tours. -Then the host set out in three divisions. On the left Count Alan of -Britanny commanded the Bretons, Poitevins, and Mansels. Among them was -one English traitor, Ralph of Wader or of Norfolk. He was seemingly -banished by Edward or Harold, and, as he was of Breton descent by -his mother, he now came back among his mother’s people. On the -right Roger of Montgomery, one of the most famous lords of Normandy, -commanded the French and the mercenaries from all parts. In the midst -were the Normans themselves, and in the midst of them was the banner -which had come from Rome, borne by a knight of Caux named Toustain -(that is, Thurstan) the White. Close by it rode the Duke and his two -half-brothers, Bishop Odo of Bayeux and Count Robert of Mortain. The -Duke carried round his neck the relics on which Harold had sworn. In -each of these three divisions were three sets of soldiers. First went -the archers and other light-armed foot, who were to try to put the -English into disorder with their arrows and other missiles. Then came -the heavy-armed foot, who were to try and break down the palisade, and -lastly the horsemen. The archers had no defensive armour; the horsemen -and heavy-armed foot had coats of mail and helmets with nose-pieces. -The knights had their kite-shaped shields, their long lances carried -overhand, and their swords for near fight. The Duke and the Bishop -alone carried maces instead of swords. The mace was a most terrible and -crushing weapon; Odo, it was said, carried it rather than a sword or -lance, because the canons of the Church forbade a priest to shed blood. -In this array they had to cross the rolling and marshy ground between -the hills of Telham and Senlac. - -=3. The Array of the English.=--Meanwhile King Harold marshalled his -army on the hill, to defend their strong post against the attack of -the Normans. All were on foot; those who had horses made use of them -only to carry them to the field, and got down when the time came for -actual fighting. So we see in the Tapestry King Harold riding round -his host to marshal them and exhort them; then he gets down and takes -his place in the battle on foot. The army was made up of soldiers of -two very different kinds. There was the King’s personal following, his -housecarls, his own thanes, and the picked troops generally, among them -the men of London who claimed to be the King’s special guards, and -the men of Kent who claimed to strike the first blow in the battle. -They had armour much the same as that of the Normans, with javelins to -hurl first of all, and for the close fight either the sword, the older -English weapon, or more commonly the great Danish axe which had been -brought in by Cnut. This was wielded with both hands, and was the most -fearful of all weapons, if the blow reached its mark; but it left its -bearer specially exposed while dealing the blow. The men were ranged -as closely together as the space needed for wielding their arms would -let them; and, besides the palisade, the front ranks made a kind of -inner defence with their shields, called the _shield-wall_. The Norman -writers were specially struck with the close array of the English, and -they speak of them as standing like trees in a wood. Besides these -choice troops, there were also the general levies of the neighbouring -lands, who came armed anyhow, with such weapons as they could get, the -bow being the rarest of all. These inferior troops were placed to the -right, on the least exposed part of the hill, while the King with his -choice troops stood ready to meet Duke William himself. The King stood -between his two ensigns, the national badge, the dragon of Wessex, -and his own Standard, a great flag with the figure of a fighting man -wrought on it in gold. Close by the King stood his brothers Gyrth -and Leofwine, and his other kinsfolk--among them doubtless his uncle -Ælfwig, the Abbot of the New Minster at Winchester, who came to the -fight with twelve of his monks. Leofric, Abbot of Peterborough, was -also there; but we do not hear of any of the bishops. Whether Earl -Waltheof was there is not certain; it is certain that Edwin and Morkere -were not. - -=4. The Beginning of the Battle.=--By nine in the morning, the Normans -had reached the hill of Senlac, and the fight began. But before the -real attack was made, a juggler or minstrel in the Norman army, known -as _Taillefer_, that is the Cleaver of Iron, asked the Duke’s leave to -strike the first blow. So he rode out, singing songs of Charlemagne, -as the French call the Emperor Charles the Great, and of Roland his -paladin. Then he threw his sword up in the air and caught it again; -he cut down two Englishmen and then was cut down himself. After this -mere bravado came the real work. First came a flight of arrows from -each division of the Norman army. Then the heavy-armed foot pressed -on, to make their way up the hill and to break down the palisade. But -the English hurled their javelins at them as they came up, and cut -them down with their axes when they came near enough for hand-strokes. -The Normans shouted “God help us;” the English shouted “God Almighty,” -and the King’s own war-cry of “Holy Cross”--the Holy Cross of Waltham. -William’s heavy-armed foot pressed on along the whole line, the native -Normans having to face King Harold’s chosen troops in the centre. -The attack was vain; they were beaten back, and they could not break -down the palisade. Then the horsemen themselves, the Duke at their -head, pressed on up the hill-side. But all was in vain; the English -kept their strong ground; the Normans had to fall back; the Bretons -on the left actually turned and fled. Then the worse-armed and less -disciplined English troops could not withstand the temptation to come -down from the hill and chase them. The whole line of the Norman army -began to waver, and in many parts to give way. A tale spread that the -Duke was killed. William showed himself to his troops, and with his -words, looks, and blows, helped by his brother the Bishop, he brought -them back to the fight. The flying Bretons now took heart; they turned, -and cut in pieces the English who were chasing them. Thus far the -resistance of the English had been thoroughly successful, wherever they -had obeyed the King’s orders and kept within their defences. But the -fault of those who had gone down to follow the enemy had weakened the -line of defence, and had shown the Normans the true way of winning the -day. - -=5. The Second Attack.=--Now came the fiercest struggle of the whole -day. The Duke and his immediate following tried to break their way -into the English enclosure at the very point where the King stood by -his standard with his brothers. The two rivals were near coming face -to face. At that moment Earl Gyrth hurled his spear, which missed the -Duke, but killed his horse and brought his rider to the ground. William -then pressed to the barricade on foot, and slew Gyrth in hand to hand -fight. At the same time the King’s other brother Earl Leofwine was -killed. The Duke mounted another horse, and again pressed on; but the -barricade and the shield-wall withstood all attempts. On the right the -attack of the French division had been more lucky; the palisade was -partly broken down. But the English, with their shields and axes, still -kept their ground, and the Normans were unable to gain the top of the -hill or to come near the standard. - -=6. The Feigned Flight.=--The battle had now gone on for several hours, -and Duke William saw that, unless he quite changed his tactics, he had -no hope of overcoming the resistance of the English. They had suffered -a great loss in the death of the two earls, and their defences were -weakened at some points; but the army, as a whole, held its ground as -firmly as ever. William then tried a most dangerous stratagem, his -taking to which shows how little hope he now had of gaining the day by -any direct attack. He saw that his only way was to bring the English -down from the hill, as part of them had already come down. He therefore -bade his men feign flight. The Normans obeyed; the whole host seemed -to be flying. The irregular levies of the English on the right again -broke their line; they ran down the hill, and left the part where its -ascent was most easy open to the invaders. The Normans now turned on -their pursuers, put most of them to flight, and were able to ride up -the part of the hill which was left undefended, seemingly about three -o’clock in the afternoon. The English had thus lost the advantage of -the ground; they had now, on foot, with only the bulwark of their -shields, to withstand the horsemen. This however they still did for -some hours longer. But the advantage was now on the Norman side, and -the battle changed into a series of single combats. The great object -of the Normans was to cut their way to the standard, where King Harold -still fought. Many men were killed in the attempt; the resistance of -the English grew slacker; yet, when evening was coming on, they still -fought on with their King at their head, and a new device of the Duke’s -was needed to bring the battle to an end. - -=7. The End of the Battle.=--This new device was to bid his archers -shoot in the air, that their arrows might fall, as he said, like bolts -from heaven. They were of course bidden specially to aim at those who -fought round the standard. Meanwhile twenty knights bound themselves to -lower or bear off the standard itself. The archers shot; the knights -pressed on; and one arrow had the deadliest effect of all; it pierced -the right eye of King Harold. He sank down by the standard; most of the -twenty knights were killed, but four reached the King while he still -breathed, slew him with many wounds, and carried off the two ensigns. -It was now evening; but, though the King was dead, the fight still went -on. Of the King’s own chosen troops it would seem that not a man either -fled or was taken prisoner. All died at their posts, save a few wounded -men who were cast aside as dead, but found strength to get away on the -morrow. But the irregular levies fled, some of them on the horses of -the slain men. Yet even in this last moment, they knew how to revenge -themselves on their conquerors. The Normans, ignorant of the country, -pursued in the dark. The English were thus able to draw them to the -dangerous place behind the hill, where not a few Normans were slain. -But the Duke himself came back to the hill, pitched his tent there, -held his midnight feast, and watched there with his host all night. - -=8. The Burial of Harold.=--The next day, Sunday, the Duke went over -the field, and saw to the burial of his own men. And the women of the -neighbourhood came to beg the bodies of their kinsfolk and friends -for burial. They were allowed to take them away to the neighbouring -churches. But Duke William declared that, if the body of Harold was -found, he, as a perjured man, excommunicated by the Pope, should not -have Christian burial. Harold’s mother Gytha offered a vast sum--the -weight in gold of the body, it was said--to be allowed to bury him at -Waltham. But William refused, and bade one of his knights, William -Malet by name, to bury him, without Christian rites, but otherwise with -honour, under a cairn on the rocks of Hastings. Yet there was a tomb of -King Harold at Waltham, and it was always said there that two of the -canons, who had followed Harold to the place, asked for his body, that, -when they could not tell it for his wounds, they called in the help of -a woman named Edith, whom he had loved before he was King, and that -she knew it by a mark. They were then allowed to bury him at Waltham. -The truth most likely is that King Harold’s body fared very much as we -know that Earl Waltheof’s body fared ten years later. That is, he was -first of all buried on the rocks, but afterwards William, now King, -relented and allowed him to be buried in his own church. Anyhow there -can be no doubt that Harold died in the battle, as all the writers who -lived at the time, both Norman and English, say distinctly. But, as -often happens in such cases, there afterwards grew up a tale which said -that he was not killed, but only badly wounded, that he was carried off -alive, and lived for many years, dying at last as a hermit at Chester. -The like is told of Harold’s brother Gyrth; but there is no reason to -believe either tale. - -=9. Effects of the Battle.=--It must be well understood that this great -victory did not make Duke William King nor put him in possession of the -whole land. He still held only part of Sussex, and the people of the -rest of the kingdom showed as yet no mind to submit to him. If England -had had a leader left like Harold or Gyrth, William might have had to -fight as many battles as Cnut had, and that with much less chance of -winning in the end. For a large part of England fought willingly on -Cnut’s side, while William had no friends in England at all, except -a few Norman settlers. William did not call himself King till he was -regularly crowned more than two months later, and even then he had -real possession only of about a third of the kingdom. It was more than -three years before he had full possession of all. Still the great fight -on Senlac none the less settled the fate of England. For after that -fight William never met with any general resistance. He never had to -fight another pitched battle against another wearer or claimant of -the English crown. He was thus able to conquer the land bit by bit. -How this came about we shall see in the next chapter. But it is very -important not to make either too much or too little of the Battle of -Senlac or Hastings. It did not make William either formally King or -practically master of the kingdom. But, as things turned out, the -result of the battle made it certain that he would become both sooner -or later. - - - - -CHAPTER IX. - -HOW DUKE WILLIAM BECAME KING. - - -=1. The Election of Edgar.=--After the great battle, Duke William is -said to have expected that all England would at once bow to him. In -this hope he was disappointed. For a full month after the battle, no -one submitted to him except in the places where he actually showed -himself with his army. The general mind of England was to choose -another king and to carry on the war under him. But it was hard to -know whom to choose. Harold’s brothers were dead; his sons were young, -and it is not clear whether they were born in lawful wedlock. Edwin -and Morkere had by this time reached London; but no one in southern -England was the least likely to choose either of them. The only thing -left to do was to choose young Edgar, the last of the old kingly house. -The Wise Men in London therefore chose Edgar as king. He did one or -two acts of kingly power; but he was never full king, as not being -crowned. He would doubtless have been crowned at Christmas, had things -turned out otherwise. When he was chosen, Edwin and Morkere withdrew -their forces and went back to their own earldoms, taking their sister -Ealdgyth, the widow of Harold, with them to Chester. They most likely -thought, either that William would be satisfied with occupying the -lands which had been held by Harold and his brothers, or else that they -would be able to hold their own earldoms against him. By so doing, -they destroyed the last chance of England, which was for the whole land -to rally faithfully round Edgar. Southern England alone, weakened by -the slaughter on Senlac, was quite unable to withstand William. - -=2. William’s March.=--After the battle William waited five days at -Hastings, thinking that men would come in and bow to him. But as none -came in, he marched on into Kent. The main strength of that land had -been cut off in the battle; resistance was therefore not to be thought -of, and one place submitted after another. So did Dover, where was -one of the few castles in England, and Canterbury. At this point -William’s march was checked by sickness; but even then he was able to -send messengers to Winchester. That city, the dwelling-place of the -widowed Lady Edith, also submitted. He then marched towards London; but -he did not cross the Thames; his policy was to win the great city by -first occupying the lands all round it. He however defeated a sally of -the men of London and burned the suburb of Southwark. He then marched -along the right bank of the Thames to Wallingford, where he crossed -the river. He then struck eastward to Berkhampstead, meaning to hem in -London from the north. After Berkhampstead, he had no need, in this -first campaign, to march any further as an enemy. - -=3. William’s Election and Coronation.=--The men of London were at -first eager to carry on the war. But they were weakened by the treason -of the Northern earls, and, as William gradually came round to the -north of the city, their hearts failed them. The Wise Men and the -citizens at last agreed that there was nothing to be done but to submit -to William. So the King-elect Edgar gave up his claim, and went with -Archbishop Ealdred and the other chief men, and offered William the -crown. It is said that he had some scruple in accepting it while he -actually held so small a part of the kingdom; but he could not fail -to see how great a gain it would be to him in winning the rest, if he -could give himself out as the King of the English, lawfully chosen -and crowned. He therefore came to London, and on Christmas-day he was -regularly crowned and anointed by Ealdred, as Harold had been on the -day of the Epiphany. At his crowning his Norman soldiers kept guard -outside the minster. And when the people within were asked whether -they would have Duke William for their king, and they shouted, Yea, -Yea, the Normans outside thought that some harm was doing to the Duke; -so--a strange way of helping him, one would think--they set fire to the -houses near the church. Others rushed out of the church to quench the -fire, and there was much confusion and damage. Thus the new King’s old -and new subjects quarrelled on the very day of his crowning, though -hardly by any fault of his. Meanwhile a fortress, the first beginning -of the famous Tower of London, was rising to keep the city in order. -While it was building, the King withdrew to Barking in Essex, not far -from London. - -=4. The Submission of the Northern Earls.=--While King William was -at Barking, most of the chief men of the north of England came and -bowed to him, as the chief men of the south had done at Berkhampstead. -Edwin and Morkere saw by this time that William had no mind for half -a kingdom; so they came and bowed to him, and were restored to their -earldoms. Most likely Waltheof did the same. So did Copsige, the former -favourite and lieutenant of Tostig, and other men of power in those -parts. William received them all graciously. But it would seem that -Oswulf did not come. At least it is certain that he gave the new King -some offence; for before long, in February, William deprived him of -his earldom and gave it to Copsige. - -=5. William’s Position.=--William was now King of the English, as far -as a regular election and coronation and the submission of the chief -men of the land could make him so. But it must not be thought that he -had as yet any real authority over the whole kingdom. He had actual -possession of the south-eastern part, from Hampshire to Norfolk. Of -the chief cities he held London, Winchester, Canterbury, Norwich, -and most likely Oxford. And it would seem that he was acknowledged -in part of Herefordshire, where a Norman, Osbern by name, one of the -old builders of Richard’s Castle, had been sheriff under Edward. But -in all northern, western, and north-western England, he was only king -so far as that there was no other king. No Norman soldier had been -seen anywhere near York, Exeter, Lincoln, or Chester. The submission -of the earls carried with it no real obedience on the part of their -earldoms. But it suited William’s policy, now that he was acknowledged -as king, to act in all things as if he had full power everywhere. Thus -he restored to Edwin and the rest the lands and offices which he had as -yet no means of taking from them. Thus he professed to give the earldom -of Oswulf to Copsige. This last story teaches us what the real state -of things was. The truth is that Copsige, an enemy of Oswulf’s, wished -to supplant him. It suited his ends to be able to use William’s name, -and it suited William to give him authority to do so. But William was -not able to give Copsige any real power in Northumberland. Very soon -after he had gone thither as the earl appointed by the new king, he was -killed by the partisans of Oswulf, who kept the earldom till later in -the year he was himself killed by a robber. - -=6. William’s Confiscations and Grants of Land.=--In William’s reading -of the law, he had himself been, ever since Edward’s death, not indeed -full king, which he could not be till he was crowned and anointed, but -the only person who had a right to become king. Those who had hindered -him from taking his crown peaceably, those above all who had fought -against him at Senlac, were rebels and traitors. Harold, he held, -was no king, but only an usurper; in the legal language of William’s -reign, he is never called King but only Earl, and all his acts as king -are looked on as of no strength. In short, in William’s view, as no -Englishman had fought for him, as many Englishmen had fought against -him, the whole land of the kingdom, except of course Church land, was -forfeited to the crown. He might, if he chose, take it all, and either -keep it himself or grant it to whom he would. But in the greater part -of England he could not as yet do this, and he was too wise to try to -do it anywhere all at once. Much land in England, that which was called -_folkland_, was in the beginning the common land of the nation. This -had been for a long time coming more and more to be looked on as the -land of the king. And now that the king was a foreign conqueror, the -change was fully carried out, and the _folkland_ passed to the new -king as his own. So did the great estates of Harold and the rest of -the house of Godwine, and of others who had died on Senlac. All this -King William took to himself, to keep as the _demesne_ of the crown or -to reward his Norman followers, as he would. As for the lands of men -who submitted quietly, he seems at first to have commonly granted them -back again. For this he often took a payment; we read of the English -generally buying back their lands, and also of particular cases where -this was done. But it was the universal rule that no man, Norman or -English, had any right to lands, whether he had held them before or -not, unless he could prove a grant from King William, which was best -proved by having the King’s writ and seal to show. Thus, from the very -beginning of his reign, as any man, Norman or English, offended him or -did him good service, William was always seizing on land and making -grants of land till, by the end of his reign, by far the greater part -of the land of England had changed hands. Most of it was granted to -Normans or other strangers, but Englishmen who in any way won his -favour both kept their old lands and received new grants. All this -began now; but it only began; it was only step by step that the chief -offices and estates of England passed from the hands of Englishmen into -the hands of strangers. As yet it was only in south-eastern England -that he could either take or grant anything. - -=7. William’s Visit to Normandy.=--King William now thought that it was -time to go for a while to his own land; so he crossed into Normandy -for the feast of Easter in the year 1067. It was natural that he -should wish to show himself to his old friends and subjects in his new -character of King and Conqueror. And it was part of his policy too to -treat England as if it was thoroughly his own, and thereby to see how -far it really was so. In so doing it was needful to provide for the -government of the kingdom while he was away. The north he could not -help leaving as it was; the part of the kingdom which was really in his -power he put under the rule of his brother Bishop Odo and his chief -friend William Fitz-Osbern. To them he also gave earldoms, Kent to Odo -and Hereford to William. But neither then nor afterwards did he set -earls in the old fashion over the whole land; he set them only on the -coasts or borders which were likely to be attacked. Thus the Earl of -Hereford had to keep the land against the Welsh, and the Earl of Kent -to keep it against any attacks from the mainland. Then the King called -on all the chief men of England to go in his train to Normandy. He took -with him Edgar the king of a moment, Archbishop Stigand, the Earls -Edwin, Morkere, and Waltheof, and other men of power in the land. They -all went as his honoured guests and friends, though they were in truth -rather to be called hostages and prisoners. He then passed through many -parts of Normandy and gave gifts to many churches. He stayed there till -December. By that time events had happened which called him back to -England. - - - - -CHAPTER X. - -HOW KING WILLIAM WON THE WHOLE KINGDOM. - - -=1. The Regency of Bishop Odo and Earl William.=--The rule of those -whom King William left in England to govern in his name was not of a -kind to win much love from the English people. William himself seems to -have done all that he could to gain the good will of his new subjects, -consistently with firmly establishing his own power. He could be harsh, -and even cruel, when it served his purpose; but at no time does he seem -to have been guilty of mere wanton oppression for oppression’s sake. -He was always strict in punishing open wrong-doers of any kind, of -whatever nation. It was otherwise with his two lieutenants, Bishop Odo -and Earl William Fitz-Osbern. If they did not actually take a pleasure -in oppression, they at any rate allowed their followers to do whatever -they chose, and, whatever wrong an Englishmen suffered, he could get no -redress. Above all things, they everywhere built castles and allowed -others to build them, and we have already seen with what horror our -forefathers looked on the building of castles. It would almost seem -as if oppression was worst immediately under the eyes of the two -regents. At least it was in their own earldoms, in Odo’s earldom of -Kent and in William Fitz-Osbern’s earldom of Hereford, that special -outbreaks against the new King’s authority now broke out. But the two -movements were of a different kind. In Kent, which had fully submitted -to William, the attempt was strictly a revolt against an established -government. In Herefordshire, where the whole land had not submitted, -men still tried, just as they might have done before the great battle, -to keep the foreign invaders out of a district which they had not yet -entered. - -=2. Eadric in Herefordshire.=--The chief leader in resistance to the -Normans on the Herefordshire border was Eadric, a powerful man in those -parts who had never submitted to the new king. He still kept part of -the land quite free, holding out in the woods and other difficult -places, whence the Normans called him the _Wild_ or _Savage_. Earl -William’s men were always attacking him, but in vain. At last he made -an alliance with the Welsh Kings Bleddyn and Rhiwallon, those to whom -the kingdom of Gruffydd had been given by Harold. With their help he -laid waste the land which had submitted to the Normans, and carried off -great plunder. In fact the Normans were never able to overcome Eadric, -and we shall hear of him again more than once. - -=3. Count Eustace at Dover.=--The Kentishmen meanwhile sought for help -beyond the sea, as Eadric had sought for help beyond the border; but it -was a very strange helper that they chose. They sent to Count Eustace -of Boulogne, the brother-in-law of King Edward, the same who had done -so much harm at Dover in Edward’s days, and who had been one of the -four who mangled the dying Harold. They must indeed have been weary of -Odo when they sent for Eustace to help them. Why Eustace listened to -them is not very clear. William had given him lands in England; we do -not hear of any quarrel between them, and Eustace could hardly have -thought that he would be able to drive William out and to make himself -king instead. However this may be, he sailed across with some troops, -and was joined by a large body of English, chiefly Kentishmen. Their -first attempt was on the castle of Dover; but Eustace lost heart and -gave way; the garrison sallied; his whole force was routed, and he -himself escaped to his own land. - -=4. William’s Return.=--Besides those who thus openly revolted -against William or withstood his power, other Englishmen showed their -discontent in various ways. Some left the country altogether; others -tried to get help in various parts, above all from King Swegen in -Denmark. Swegen, it will be remembered, was nephew of Cnut and cousin -of Harold, and there had been talk of choosing him king five-and-twenty -years before instead of Edward. If any foreign prince could really have -delivered England, Swegen was the man to do it. But he missed the right -time when so much of the land was still unsubdued. The worst was that -Englishmen could not agree to act together. One district rose at one -time and one at another. Some were for Swegen, some for Edgar, some for -the sons of Harold; Edwin and Morkere were for themselves. So there was -no common action against William, and the land was lost bit by bit. -In December William came back. He held an assembly at Westminster, -where much land was confiscated and granted out again. He also caused -Count Eustace to be tried in his absence and outlawed. As Count of -Boulogne, Eustace owed William no allegiance; but as his man, holding -lands in England, he could be thus tried and outlawed. In after times -Eustace gained the King’s favour again, and got back his lands. William -also sent embassies to various foreign princes, to hinder anything -from being done against him in their lands. Especially he sent the -English Abbot Æthelsige as ambassador to King Swegen. And he made two -appointments which are worth noticing. The bishopric of Dorchester was -vacant; so he gave it to a Norman monk, Remigius of Fécamp. This was -the beginning of a system which he carried on through his whole reign, -that of giving bishoprics, as they became vacant, to Normans and other -foreigners. Also the earldom of Northumberland was vacant by the death -of Oswulf. William had not the least authority in Northumberland; yet -he made a show of again granting--or rather in truth of selling--the -earldom to Gospatric, a man of the kin of the old earls. But Gospatric -was as yet no more able to take possession than Copsige had been. - -=5. The Siege of Exeter.=--In the spring of 1068 William began -seriously to undertake the conquest of that part of England where his -kingship was still a mere name. All western, central, and northern -England--all Northumberland in the old sense, the greater part of -Mercia, and a large part of Wessex--was still unsubdued. At this -moment the state of things in the West was specially threatening. -Exeter, above all, the greatest city of the West, was the centre of -all resistance. Gytha, the widow of Godwine and mother of Harold, was -there, most likely with her grandsons, Godwine, Edmund, and Magnus. -The citizens of Exeter made leagues with the other towns of the West; -men joined them from other parts of England; if the other unconquered -districts had risen at the same time, and if they could all have agreed -on some one course, it may be that even now William could have been -driven out. But while the West was in arms, the North stayed quiet, and -even in Exeter itself men were not fully of one mind. Before William -went forth to war, he sent a message to the men of Exeter, demanding -that they should swear oaths to him and receive him into the city. -They sent word that they would pay him the tribute which they had -been used to pay to the old kings, but that they would swear no oaths -to him nor receive him within their walls. That is, they would be a -separate commonwealth, paying him tribute, but they would not have him -as their immediate king. William was not likely to allow this kind of -half-submission; so he began his march against Exeter, taking care to -call on the force of the shires which were already conquered to come -with him. To strike fear into his chief enemy, he took and harried the -towns of Dorset on his way. The great men of the city were frightened -and sent to William, making submission and giving hostages. But the -commons disowned the submission; so William laid siege to the city, -after he had put out the eyes of one of the hostages. Exeter held out -bravely for eighteen days, and was then taken by undermining one of the -towers. William then entered the city, and granted his pardon to the -citizens. Gytha and her companions meanwhile escaped by the river. The -King then caused a castle called _Rougemont_, or the Red Hill, to be -built to keep the city in his power, and he greatly raised the amount -of its tribute; but he seems to have done no further harm. - -=6. The Conquest of the West.=--The taking of Exeter was followed, at -once or before long, by the conquest of all western England. Dorset, -Devonshire, Somerset, Cornwall, and most likely Gloucestershire and -Worcestershire, were now added to William’s dominions. But Eadric still -held out in his corner of Herefordshire. William was now master of -all Wessex and East-Anglia and of part of Mercia. His conquest of the -western lands was clearly followed by many confiscations and grants -of land; above all the King’s brother Count Robert got nearly all -Cornwall, and large estates in other shires. Among these he got the -hill in Somerset where the holy cross of Waltham had been found, and -which the Normans called _Montacute_ or the peaked hill. William now -thought that things were quiet enough for him to bring his wife to -England; so at Pentecost, 1068, the Lady Matilda was hallowed to Queen -at Westminster by Archbishop Ealdred. - -=7. The First Conquest of the North.=--Meanwhile, just after the -West was subdued, the North was in arms. Though Edwin, Morkere, and -Gospatric were nominally William’s earls in Northern England, yet -their earldoms had never submitted, and the earls themselves seem to -have lived chiefly at William’s court. But now all Northern England -made ready to resist, York being naturally the centre of the movement, -as Exeter had been in the West. They got the Welsh to help them, and -sent messages to Scotland and Denmark. The whole land was in arms. -And now Earl Gospatric went out and joined his own people, and so did -Edgar the Ætheling, and seemingly the Earls Edwin and Morkere also; so -there was no lack of leaders. King William marched to meet them as far -as Warwick, seemingly his first conquest in this campaign. Near that -town the English army met him; but the hearts of Edwin and Morkere -failed them. They submitted, and were restored to their earldoms and -to William’s seeming favour; one of the King’s daughters was even -promised in marriage to Edwin. The army now dispersed; only a party -of the bolder men marched northwards and held Durham. Gospatric, with -Edgar and his mother and sisters, found shelter with King Malcolm in -Scotland. William had now nothing to do but to march northward, taking -one town after another. Some, it would seem, were taken by force, while -others submitted peaceably. In all cases he built a castle to keep -the town in order; but there was a great difference in his treatment -of one town and shire and another. In some parts many more Englishmen -kept their lands and offices than in others; these were doubtless -those which submitted most quietly. In this way he occupied most -likely Leicester and certainly Nottingham, and so went on to York. The -city submitted quietly; but a castle was built. Having thus gained the -capital of the North and the main centre of resistance, William did not -this time go on any further, but marched back another way, occupying -Lincoln, Stamford, Cambridge, and Huntingdon. These two campaigns -of the year 1068 gave William a greater part of England than he had -won in 1066. Northumberland in the narrower sense, with Durham, and -north-western Mercia, with Chester as the chief city, were all that now -remained unsubdued. But William’s hold on some of the lands which had -submitted was still very insecure. - -=8. The Sons of Harold.=--This same year 1068 the three sons of Harold, -Godwine, Edmund, and Magnus, who had escaped with their grandmother -Gytha, came back by sea with a force from Ireland, doubtless chiefly -Irish Danes. But they did nothing except plunder. They were driven off -from Bristol, and then fought a battle with the men of Somerset, who -were led by Eadnoth, a man who had been their father’s _Staller_ or -Master of the horse, but who was now in the service of William. Eadnoth -was killed, and Harold’s sons sailed away, having only made matters -worse. Some time in the same year William had a son born to him in -England, namely his youngest son Henry. He was the only one of his sons -who was born after his father was crowned; so he alone, according to -English notions, was a real Ætheling. Moreover he was brought up as an -Englishman. He was afterwards King Henry the First. - -=9. The First Revolt of York.=--Neither the North nor the West long -remained quiet. The year 1069 was still fuller of fighting than -the year 1068. But this was the year in which England was really -conquered. At the Christmas feast of 1068 William again made a grant -of the earldom of Northumberland in the narrower sense. That land -was still quite unsubdued; but now that he had York, it would be -easier to attack Durham and the parts beyond. So the King granted the -earldom to one Robert of Comines, who set out with a Norman army to -take possession. But he fared no better than Copsige had done. The -men of the land determined to withstand him; but, through the help of -the Bishop Æthelwine, he entered Durham peaceably. But he let his men -plunder; so the men of the city and neighbourhood rose and slew him -and all his followers. This success encouraged the men of Yorkshire -and their leaders who had fled to Scotland. Gospatric and Edgar came -back; they were welcomed at York and laid siege to the castle. But King -William at once marched north, drove them away, built a second castle, -and left his friend Earl William of Hereford in command. He then sent -a force against Durham, but it got no further than Northallerton. No -sooner was the King gone than the English again attacked the castles at -York, but they were defeated by Earl William. And a little later, in -June, Harold’s sons came again and plundered in Devonshire, but were -driven away. So the land was harried alike by friends and by foes. - -=10. The Coming of the Danes.=--All this shows how all efforts were -in vain, simply for want of a real leader, a king of men like Harold -or Edmund Ironside. Englishmen could fight; but their fighting was -of no use, when there was no steadiness in the chief men, no concert -between one part of the land and another. In fact they seem to have -fought best when they had no earls or other great men at their head, -when each district fought for itself. In the autumn of this year 1069 -there was the best chance of deliverance of all. A large part of -England was in arms at once. The West rose; the men of Somerset and -Dorset besieged the new castle of Montacute; the men of Devonshire and -Cornwall besieged the new castle of Exeter. On the Welsh border Eadric -with a host of Welsh and English attacked Shrewsbury; Staffordshire -too, which most likely had not yet submitted, was in arms. But all -these movements were put down one by one; save that Staffordshire was -left alone for a while. Meanwhile yet greater things were doing in the -North. King Swegen of Denmark at last sent a great fleet to the help of -the English, under his brother Osbeorn and his sons Harold and Cnut. -After some vain attempts on Dover, Sandwich, Ipswich, and Norwich, the -Danes entered the Humber, and the English came joyfully to meet them. -All the chief men of the north joined them. Edgar and Gospatric came -back from Scotland, and this time Earl Waltheof joined them. William’s -commanders at York, William Malet, he who had first buried Harold’s -body, and Gilbert of Ghent, sent word to the King that they could hold -out for a whole year; but it was not so. The host, Danish and English, -began to march on York, and Archbishop Ealdred, worn out with troubles, -died as they were coming. The Norman commanders now set fire to the -houses near the castles, and a great part of the city was burned. The -Danes and English soon reached York; the Normans sallied, and were, -some cut to pieces, some made prisoners, the two leaders being among -the prisoners. In this fight Earl Waltheof slew many of the enemy, and -won himself great fame. The castles were broken down, and York was now -quite free from the Normans. But, instead of holding the city, the -English dispersed, and the Danes went back to their ships. - -=11. The Final Conquest of the North.=--When King William heard of -the fall of York, he at once marched northwards. But when he found -that his enemies were all scattered, he left his brother Robert in -Lindesey to act against the Danes, while he himself went and subdued -Staffordshire, seemingly by hard fighting. He then marched to York, -and recovered the city. And now he did one of the most frightful deeds -of his life. He caused all northern England, beginning with Yorkshire, -to be utterly laid waste, that its people might not be able to fight -against him any more. The havoc was fearful; men were starved or sold -themselves as slaves, and the land did not recover for many years. Then -King William wore his crown and kept his Christmas feast at York. In -January 1070 he set out to conquer the extreme north, which was still -unsubdued. The Earls Waltheof and Gospatric now craved his pardon. They -were restored to their earldoms, and Waltheof received the King’s niece -Judith in marriage. William then went on to Durham, where the Bishop -and nearly everybody had fled from the city, and ravaged the whole land -as he had ravaged Yorkshire. He then went back to York by a very hard -winter’s march, and settled the affairs of his new conquest. He was now -at last master of all Northumberland, Deira and Bernicia alike. - -=12. End of the Conquest.=--Still William had not yet possession of -all England. Not only did Eadric still hold out on his border, and it -may be that the Isle of Ely had never fully submitted; but one whole -corner of England, and one of the chief cities, still held out. This -was Chester. Now then in February 1070 William made another hard winter -march from York to Chester. The sufferings of the army were frightful, -and many of the mercenaries mutinied. But William went on, and received -the submission of the last free English city, whether peaceably or by -fighting we know not. He built castles at Chester and Stafford. He then -marched to Salisbury, where he reviewed and dismissed his army, as -having now won the whole land. And so in truth he had. If a few points -were still unsubdued, no whole shire or great town held out against -him. At last, more than three years after his coronation, he was really -king of the whole land in fact as well as in name. From henceforth -such opposition to him as we still hear of was no longer resistance to -an invader, but rather revolt against an established, though foreign, -government. - -=13. The New Archbishops.=--William had now time to turn his mind to -the affairs of the Church. Things had naturally got into confusion -during the time of warfare; and besides this, William had made up his -mind to subdue the Church of England as well as the state, or rather to -make the Church a means whereby to hold the kingdom more firmly. As he -gradually transferred the greatest estates and highest temporal offices -from Englishmen to strangers, so it was part of his policy to do the -same with the chief offices of the Church. His rule was that, as the -bishops died, Normans or other strangers should be put in their places, -and that those of the English bishops against whom any kind of charge -could be brought should be deprived without waiting for their deaths. -With the abbots the rule was less strict; their temporal position was -not so important as that of the bishops. So, though several English -abbots were deposed and many foreign abbots were appointed, still many -more Englishmen kept their places than among the bishops, and some -Englishmen even received abbeys from William himself. In doing all -this he had the help of Pope Alexander and of those who advised him; -for it was part of William’s policy to strengthen the connexion of -England with Rome, though he firmly refused to give up a whit of his -own royal power. At the Easter feast of 1070 two papal legates came, -and, when the King wore his crown, it was they who put it on his head. -A council was then held, in which Archbishop Stigand was deposed, as -his right to the archbishopric had all along been thought doubtful. -His successor was one of the most famous scholars in Europe. This was -Lanfranc of Pavia in Lombardy, who had settled in Normandy and become -a monk, and was now abbot of the monastery of Saint Stephen at Caen, -which William himself had founded. Lanfranc became Archbishop in -August, and was William’s right hand man for the rest of his reign. The -other archbishopric also was vacant by the death of Ealdred of York. -At Pentecost this was given to a Norman, Thomas, a canon of Bayeux, -also a great scholar and a careful bishop. For many of William’s -appointments were very good in themselves, if only the men chosen had -not been strangers. These two new archbishops went the next year to -Rome to receive from the Pope the pallium or badge of metropolitan -dignity; so England had two foreign primates. Stigand’s other bishopric -of Winchester was also given to another Norman, Walkelin. And so the -work went on through the whole of William’s reign, till at the end, -Saint Wulfstan of Worcester was the only Englishman who was a bishop in -England. - -=14. The Danes at Ely.=--Before the two foreign archbishops were -consecrated, there was again fighting in England. The Danish fleet, -which after all had done so little for England, stayed in the Humber -while William was subduing Northumberland. William then gave bribes -to the Danish commander Osbeorn, and it was agreed that the Danes -should sail back when the winter was over, and that meanwhile they -might plunder in England. Thus again was the land harried by friends -and foes alike. At last, in May 1070, the Danes sailed to the Fenland, -and showed themselves at Ely. The people welcomed them, believing that -they would win the land; most likely they were ready to have Swegen -for king. Thus the revolts began almost at the moment when the conquest -was finished. We now hear for the first time of the famous name of -Hereward. All manner of strange and impossible tales are told of him; -but very little is known for certain about him, though what we do know -is quite enough to set him before us as a stout champion of England. -He had held lands in Lincolnshire, and he had fled away from England, -but when or why is not known. He would seem to have come back about the -time when the Danes came to Ely, and he joined himself with them and -with the men of the land who helped them. The abbey of Peterborough was -now vacant by the death of its Abbot Brand, and William had given it to -a Norman named Turold. He was a very stern man, and came with a body -of Norman soldiers to take possession of the abbey. But Hereward was -before him. Lest the wealth of the abbey should be turned to help the -enemy, he came (June 1, 1070) with the Danes and the men of the land, -and plundered the monastery. The Danes now went away, taking with them -much of the spoil of Peterborough. But, when they got home, King Swegen -banished his brother Earl Osbeorn for having taken bribes from William -and having done so little for England. - -=15. The Defence of Ely.=--About this time Eadric the Wild submitted -to the King, which marks that all resistance was over on his side of -England. But the revolt went on in the Fenland. The monastery of Ely -was the centre of resistance, as it stood in a land which then was -really an island and which was very easy to defend. The Abbot Thurstan, -who had been appointed by King Harold, and his monks, were at first -zealous for the patriots. Men flocked to the isle from all parts, and -they held out all the winter of 1070 and through the greater part of -the next year. In the spring of 1071 the two earls, Edwin and Morkere, -at last left William’s court, being, it is said, afraid lest the King -should put them in bonds. Edwin tried to get to Scotland, but he was -killed on the way, either by his own men or by Normans to whom he was -betrayed. But Morkere made his way to Ely and helped in the defence -of the isle. Other chief men came also; but it is clear that the soul -of the enterprise was Hereward. There are many tales told of his -exploits; but this at least is certain. William came and attacked the -isle from all points, and there was much fighting for many months, in -which William Malet, whom the Danes had released, was killed. At last -in October 1071, the isle surrendered. Some say that the monks of Ely, -when the King seized their lands outside the isle, turned traitors; -others that Morkere and the other chiefs grew fainthearted. Anyhow the -war was at an end. The King took possession of the isle; he built a -castle at Ely and laid a fine on the abbey, while Morkere and others -were kept in prison. Hereward alone did not submit, but sailed out into -the sea unconquered. There are several stories of his end. It seems -most likely that he was at last received into William’s favour, and -even served under him in his wars on the mainland. But some say that he -was killed by a party of Normans who set upon him without any orders -from the King, and that he died fighting bravely, one man against many. - -=16. Summary.=--Thus we see that, after five years from William’s first -landing, he was in full possession of the kingdom and had put down all -opposition everywhere. The great battle had given him real possession -of south-eastern England only; but it had given him the great advantage -of being crowned king before the end of the year. During the year 1067 -William made no further conquests; all western and northern England -remained unsubdued; but, except in Kent and Herefordshire, there was -no fighting in any part of the land which had really submitted. The -next two years were the time in which all England was really conquered. -The former part of 1068 gave William the West. The latter part of that -year gave him central and northern England as far as Yorkshire, the -extreme north and north-west being still unsubdued. The attempt to win -Durham in the beginning of 1069 led to two revolts at York. Later in -the year all the north and west was again in arms, and the Danish fleet -came. But the revolts were put down one by one, and the great winter -campaign of 1069–1070 conquered the still unsubdued parts, ending with -the taking of Chester. Early in 1070 the whole land was for the first -time in William’s possession; there was no more fighting, and he was -able to give his mind to the more peaceful part of his schemes, what -we may call the conquest of the native Church by the appointment of -foreign bishops. But in the summer of 1070 began the revolt of the -Fenland, and the defence of Ely, which lasted till the autumn of 1071. -After that William was full king everywhere without dispute. There was -no more national resistance; there was no revolt of any large part of -the country. There were still wars within the isle of Britain; but they -were wars in which William could give out that he was, as King of the -English, fighting for England. And there was one considerable revolt -within the kingdom of England; but it was not a revolt of the people. -The conquest of the land, as far as fighting goes, was now finished. -We have now to see how the land fared under a king who claimed to be -king by law, but who had to win his crown by fighting at the head of -an invading army. His rule, as we shall see, was neither that of a -king who had really succeeded according to law nor yet that of a mere -invader who did not even make any pretence to legal right. - - - - -CHAPTER XI. - -KING WILLIAM’S LATER WARS. - - -=1. The Affairs of Wales.=--William was now king over all England, but -he had not yet won that lordship over the whole of Britain which had -been held by the old Kings of the English. But it was his full purpose -to win this also, as well as the rule of his immediate kingdom. But of -course neither the Scots nor the Welsh were inclined to give him any -greater submission than they could help, and there was much fighting -on both borders. The care of the Welsh marches William put into the -hands of his earls. It was only on the borders and on the exposed -coasts that he placed earls at all. Besides his brother Odo in Kent and -his friend William Fitz-Osbern at Hereford, there was Earl Gospatric -in Northumberland to guard the northern border against the Scots, and -Earl Ralph in Norfolk to guard the east coast against the Danes. But he -did not appoint any earls to succeed Edwin and Morkere. Parts however -of Edwin’s earldom were given to two great Norman leaders, Roger of -Montgomery who became Earl of Shrewsbury, and Hugh of Avranches who -became Earl of Chester. Their duty, along with the Earl of Hereford, -was to keep the Welsh march. They received vast estates and special -powers, the Earl of Chester especially being more like a vassal prince -than an ordinary earl. All these earls had much fighting with the -Welsh, and they took much land from them and built many castles. Earl -Roger especially built a castle to which he gave the name of his own -castle in Normandy, Montgomery, whence a town, and afterwards a shire, -took its name. The Welsh princes moreover were always fighting among -themselves, and they were often foolish enough to call in the Normans -against one another. So the English border advanced. At last in 1081 -it is said that King William went on a pilgrimage to Saint David’s, -and about the same time he founded the castle at Cardiff. Of the three -earls of the border, William, Roger, and Hugh, the last two outlived -King William. But Earl William Fitz-Osbern left England in 1071, to -marry Richildis Countess of Flanders and to try to win her county. -There he was killed, and was succeeded in his earldom by his son Roger, -of whom we shall hear presently. - -=2. The First War with Scotland.=--King Malcolm of Scotland had all -this while given himself out as a friend of the English. He had at -least promised them help, and he had at any rate given all English -exiles a welcome shelter in Scotland. But, as if England had become an -enemy’s country now that it was conquered by William, in the course -of the year 1070 he invaded Northumberland and harried the land most -cruelly, destroying whatever little the Normans had left. Yet none -the less, when Edgar and his sisters came to seek shelter again, he -received them most kindly, and after a little while he married Edgar’s -sister Margaret. This marriage was of great importance in the history -of Scotland. For Margaret brought English ways into Scotland and made -many reforms, and for her goodness she was called a saint. From this -time the English part of the dominions of the King of Scots, namely -the earldom of Lothian and those parts of Scotland, like Fife, which -took to English ways, had altogether the upper hand over the really -Scottish part of the land. No doubt this marriage made William look -on Malcolm as still more his enemy, but he could not as yet avenge -his inroad. The most part of 1071 he was busy at Ely, and in 1072 he -was wanted in Normandy, where the affairs of Flanders made things -dangerous. But in August 1072 he set out to invade Scotland by sea and -land. It is to be noticed that Eadric, the hero of Herefordshire, went -with him. For we can well believe that, now that William was really -king over the whole land, Englishmen were quite ready to serve him in a -war with the Scots, especially after Malcolm’s invasion. But there was -no fighting; for Malcolm came and met William at Abernethy and became -his man, as, since the days of Edward the Unconquered, the Kings of -Scots had ever been to the Kings of the English. Thus had William won, -not only the kingdom of all England, but the lordship of all Britain, -like the kings who had been before him. - -=3. Affairs of Ireland.=--There is in truth some reason to believe that -William sought for a lordship even beyond the isle of Britain, such as -the kings who were before him had never had. The English Chronicle says -that, if King William had lived two years longer, he would have won all -Ireland by his wisdom, without any fighting. We cannot tell how this -might have been; but it is certain that, though William never had the -rule of any part of Ireland, yet in his day England began to have much -more to do with Ireland, both with the Danes who were settled there -and with the native Irish. This showed itself in bishops from Ireland -coming to England to be consecrated by Lanfranc. This was admitting an -English supremacy in spiritual things which was very likely to grow -into a supremacy in temporal things also. - -=4. Affairs of Northumberland.=--As William came back from Scotland, it -is to be noticed that he confirmed the privileges of the bishopric of -Durham. He had just given that see to a new bishop, Walcher from Lower -Lorraine. The bishops of Durham came gradually to have great temporal -rights, like the earls of Chester. Had all earls and all bishops been -like these two, the kingdom of England might have fallen to pieces, as -Germany did. King William also took away the earldom of Northumberland -from Gospatric, and gave it to Waltheof, who was already Earl of -Northampton and Huntingdon. Earl Waltheof and Bishop Walcher were close -friends. But Waltheof began his rule by a great crime. This was killing -the sons of Carl, though they had been his comrades at the taking of -York, because their father Carl, a chief man in the North, had killed -Waltheof’s grandfather Ealdred. This was the custom of deadly feud, -which was common in Scotland long after. Gospatric went to Scotland, -where King Malcolm gave him lands. But he either kept or afterwards -received lands in England, and his descendants went on as chief men in -the North. One son of his, Dolfin, seems to have received from King -Malcolm a small part of Cumberland, namely the land about Carlisle. -This was not yet part of the kingdom of England. - -=5. The War of Maine.=--William’s next warfare was on his own side of -the sea. The city and land of Maine, which he had won in 1063, now -revolted against him. The men of Maine first chose as their count Hugh -the son of the Lombard Marquess Azo, because his mother Gersendis was -the sister of their last count Herbert. But she and her husband and son -did not agree with the citizens of Le Mans; so the people proclaimed -a _commune_. That is, Le Mans should be a free city, as Exeter had -striven to be. The whole land of Maine joined the citizens, but they -were betrayed by the nobles; so that the story of Le Mans is like the -story of Exeter. Then King William in 1073 crossed the sea, taking with -him a great host of English, among whom, there is some reason to think, -was Hereward himself. One is sorry to think that a man who had fought -so well for freedom in his own land should go and fight against freedom -in another land; but we may be sure that the English of that day were -glad to fight with French-speaking men anywhere. With this army William -laid waste the whole land, and at last the city surrendered, and was, -as usual with him, well treated. Le Mans lost its new freedom; but it -kept all its old rights and customs. Then William made peace with Count -Fulk of Anjou, who also had claims over Maine; William’s eldest son -Robert was to do homage to Fulk for the county. Thus King William won -the land of Maine the second time, ten years after his first conquest. - -=6. William’s Enemies.=--At this time of his reign William had to spend -a great part of his time out of England. King Philip of France was his -enemy and Count Robert of Flanders. And Count Robert’s daughter was -married to Cnut of Denmark, which helped to ally two of his enemies -more closely. But the strangest thing is that one German writer says -that in 1074 it was fully believed that King William was thinking of -an expedition into Germany and of getting himself crowned at Aachen. -Another German writer, on the other hand, tells the story quite the -other way, and says that King Henry of Germany (who was afterwards -Emperor) sent to ask William’s help against his own enemies. Either -way such stories show that William was very much in men’s thoughts and -mouths everywhere. And King Philip and Count Robert made a very subtle -plot for William’s annoyance. This was to plant the Ætheling Edgar at -Montreuil, in the land between Normandy and Flanders. He would thus be -able to get together English exiles, men from France and Flanders, -and volunteers and mercenaries of all kinds, to trouble the Norman -frontier. Edgar was now in Scotland with his sister Queen Margaret. -He set out to go to France, but was driven back by a storm. And then -William saw that it was his best policy to win Edgar over to himself. -So he sent for him to Normandy, and he kept him for many years at his -court in great honour. - -=7. The Revolt of the Earls.=--Meanwhile a revolt broke out in England, -which was not, like the revolt of Ely, a rising of the English people -against strangers, but a revolt of a few of the great men for their -own ends. Roger, Earl of Hereford, gave his sister Emma in marriage to -Ralph, Earl of Norfolk, against the King’s orders, which was in itself -an offence. Then at the bride-ale they began to talk treason, and to -plot how they might kill the King and divide the kingdom. Earl Waltheof -too was there; but it is not clear how far he consented to their -schemes. On the whole it seems most likely that he at first agreed -and swore, and then repented and drew back. He went and confessed to -Archbishop Lanfranc, who told him to go and tell the King everything. -So Waltheof crossed to Normandy and told everything, and the King -received him kindly and kept him with him. Meanwhile the two other -earls had revolted openly. But they found few men to help them, except -their mercenaries and a number of Bretons who were attached to Earl -Ralph. Ralph moreover made a league with King Swegen for a Danish fleet -to be sent yet again. The English, who might have risen for Edgar or -Swegen, thought that no good was likely to come of a revolt like this, -and they fought for the King against the earls. Earl Roger was stopped -by Bishop Wulfstan and Abbot Æthelwig; the Norman bishops Odo and -Geoffrey went against Earl Ralph, who fled to Denmark, while his wife -defended the castle of Norwich against the King. The Danes, under Cnut, -came at last, and sailed up to York; but they did nothing except rob -the minster. Norwich castle surrendered; the revolt was altogether put -down, and those who had a hand in it were punished in various ways; but -none of them were put to death. - -=8. The Death of Waltheof.=--Ralph of Norfolk had escaped, and his -latter end was better than his beginning; for he and his wife went to -the crusade and died on the way. Roger of Hereford was kept in prison, -some say for the rest of his days. But Waltheof, whose crime, if he -had done any, was less than theirs, was in Normandy with the King, and -seemingly in his favour. He came back to England with the King, and -was soon after put in prison. He was twice brought for trial before an -assembly of the great men, and the second time, at Pentecost 1076, he -was condemned to death and was beheaded on the hills near Winchester -on May 31. This was the only time in his whole reign that William put -any man to death except in war. And it is strange that William, who -had forgiven his enemies, Waltheof himself among them, over and over -again, should have dealt so much more harshly with Waltheof than with -Roger and others who were far more guilty. But it is said that Waltheof -had many Norman enemies, his wife Judith among them. His earldom of -Northumberland was given to his friend Bishop Walcher. The English -looked on him as a saint and martyr, and believed that miracles were -wrought at his tomb at Crowland. And men generally believed that, after -Waltheof’s death, King William’s good luck, which had hitherto followed -him in such a wonderful way, began to forsake him. - -=9. The Rebellion of Robert.=--And so it did, whether the death of -Waltheof had anything to do with it or not. The very same year the -Conqueror suffered his first defeat. For some reason or other, he -besieged Dol in Britanny; but he failed and had to fly. Then his son -Robert got discontented, because his father refused to give up any part -of his dominions to him. Robert went away, and tried to get various -princes to help him. King Philip did give him help, and many of the -young nobles of Normandy joined him. In 1079 Philip put him in the -castle of Gerberoi, and William came to besiege it. In a sally, Robert -overthrew his father, who was saved by the Englishman Tokig, son of -Wiggod of Wallingford. But William could not take Gerberoi, and he was -persuaded to be reconciled to Robert. Meanwhile Malcolm of Scotland -made another frightful inroad into Northumberland, and in 1080 Robert -was sent to chastise him. Robert did very little, but on his way back -he founded a new castle by the Tyne, whence the town of Newcastle took -its name. Robert then again quarrelled with his father, and went away -into France, never to come back as long as his father lived. - -=10. The Death of Matilda.=--William and his Queen Matilda had lived -in all love and confidence up to the time of William’s quarrel with -Robert. Then for the first time they also quarrelled, because Matilda -would send gifts to her son in his banishment, against his father’s -orders. A little later, in 1083, she died. Their second son Richard had -already died in a strange way while hunting in the New Forest, and one -of their daughters died while on her way to marry a Spanish king. But, -besides Robert, William’s other sons, William and Henry, were living; -one daughter, Constance, was married to Count Alan of Britanny, and -another, Adela, to Count Stephen of Chartres. Another, Cecily, was a -nun. Just about the time of Matilda’s death there was another revolt in -Maine, where the Viscount Hubert held the castle of Sainte-Susanne for -three years (1083–1086) against all William’s power. The castle could -not be taken, and at last William was driven to receive Hubert to his -favour. - -=11. The Death of Bishop Walcher.=--William had thus during these -years to undergo several domestic losses and several defeats in war -on the mainland. But his hold on England was as firm as ever. After -the revolt of the earls, there was nothing which could be called a -rebellion, only a local outbreak, in which a local governor lost his -life on account of one particular wrong deed. This was Bishop Walcher -of Durham, to whom William had given the earldom of Northumberland. -This bishop seems, as a temporal ruler, to have been weak rather than -oppressive; he is not charged with wrong-doing himself, but with -failing to punish wrong-doers. He had several favourites, both English -and foreign, who did much mischief. At last some of them murdered one -Ligulf, an Englishman of the highest rank in the country, and withal a -chief friend of the bishop himself. But even these men he spared, so -that the people believed that he had himself a hand in Ligulf’s murder. -So when an Assembly met to judge the case, the people, headed by the -chief Englishmen present, killed the bishop and all his followers. Then -Odo was sent to punish them; but he took money, and put innocent men -to death, and again harried the land. This was in 1080, the year that -Robert was sent against the Scots. This was not a revolt against the -Norman king as such, but rather a riot, such as might have happened -just as well under Edward or Harold, if any earl of theirs had given -the same offence. - -=12. Death of Cnut of Denmark.=--Thus there was nothing, except the -inroad of Malcolm, to be called war in England after the revolt of the -earls in 1075. But in William’s last years a very formidable attack on -England was threatened. Cnut of Denmark, who had twice sailed up the -Humber, never quite gave up the thoughts of conquering or delivering -England. When he himself became king, he made great preparations, and -was joined by his father-in-law Robert of Flanders, and by Olaf of -Norway, the son of Harold Hardrada. In 1085 Cnut got together a great -fleet, and William brought over a vast host of mercenaries to guard the -land. But a quarrel arose between Cnut and his brother Olaf, and the -next year Cnut was killed in a church by his own men, and was called a -saint and martyr. Thus the danger was turned away from William. - -=13. Summary.=--We have thus seen how William, having gradually -conquered all England, went on to assert the old lordship of the -English crown over the rest of Britain. He could not however, any more -than the kings before him, keep matters wholly quiet on the Welsh and -Scottish borders. In Wales the power of his earls advanced; but King -Malcolm, though he became William’s man, remained a dangerous enemy. In -England there was no real popular revolt after the submission of Ely. -The English generally did not favour the rebel earls, and the death of -Bishop Walcher was a riot rather than a revolt. On the whole, the land -remained quite quiet under William’s rule. Beyond sea Maine revolted -and was conquered afresh; but after this great success came several -petty wars in which William’s good fortune came to an end. Yet, when -England was concerned, it came back again, as the great preparations -of Cnut came to nothing. William had also his domestic troubles, the -rebellion of one son, the death of another, and the death of his wife. -And in all this the men of the time saw the penalty for the death of -Waltheof. - - - - -CHAPTER XII. - -HOW KING WILLIAM RULED THE LAND. - - -=1. William’s Government.=--We have thus seen how a foreign prince -won, and how he kept, the kingdom of England, and how little, after he -had once really won it, his rule was disturbed either by revolts at -home or by attacks from abroad. We now ask, What was the nature of his -government in England all this time? The answer must be that with which -we started at first, namely that his government was different both from -that of a lawful native king and from that of a conqueror who had come -in without any show of right. William was no wanton oppressor, and he -no doubt honestly wished to rule his kingdom as well as he could. He -even tried to learn English, that he might the better do his duty as -an English king. He professed to rule according to the law of King -Edward, that is, to rule as well and justly as King Edward had done. -And in fact he made very few changes in the old laws. The changes which -began with his reign were mostly those gradual changes which could not -fail to happen when all circumstances were so greatly changed. The laws -might still be the same; but their working could not be the same, when -the king was a stranger, and when all the greatest estates and offices -had passed into the hands of strangers. By the end of William’s reign -there were very few Englishmen holding great estates; there was no -English earl and only one English bishop. Again, William’s government -was much stronger than that of any king who had been before him; he was -better able to enforce the law, and he did enforce it very strictly. -The English writers give him all praise for making good peace in the -land, that is for severely punishing all wrong-doers. A king who did -this in those days was forgiven much that was bad in other ways. The -special complaint which men made against William’s government was that -he was greedy and covetous, and laid on heavy taxes which men deemed -to be wrongful. This is no doubt true; but it is to be remembered that -regular taxation was then coming in as something new, and that in no -age are men fond of having their money taken from them. - -=2. William’s Laws.=--William however did make some new laws. These -laws were solemnly enacted in the regular assemblies of the kingdom; -but then those assemblies were gradually changing from gatherings of -Englishmen into gatherings of Normans. He renewed, as the saying went, -Edward’s Law, with such changes as he said were for the good of the -English people. Some of these changes were made merely for the time, -while there was still a distinction between English and _French_. This -last is the word commonly used to take in both the Normans and all -the other French-speaking people whom William had brought with him. -Frenchmen who had settled in King Edward’s time were to reckon as -Englishmen. Normans and Englishmen were to live in peace, but as the -Normans were often killed privily, a special law was made for their -protection. If the murderer was not to be found, the hundred was to -pay. And for some purposes each nation was to keep its own law. Both -English and Normans used, in doubtful cases, to appeal to the judgement -of God; but the Normans sought to find out the truth by single combat -and the English by the ordeal of hot iron. William allowed both ways, -and ordered that each man might keep the custom of his own nation. He -forbade the slave-trade by which men were sold out of the land, chiefly -to Ireland. This had been forbidden by earlier kings also, but William -himself could not wholly get rid of the evil practice. He forbade the -punishment of death; criminals might be blinded or mutilated, but -not hanged or otherwise killed. This rule he most strictly observed -himself, save only in the case of Waltheof. And just at the end of his -reign, in 1086, in a great assembly at Salisbury, he made what was -in the end the most important law of all. Every man in the land, of -whatever other lord he might be the man, swore to be faithful to King -William in all things, even against his other lord. Of how great moment -this law was we shall see presently. - -=3. Changes in the Church.=--Another law of William’s had reference to -the affairs of the Church. It had hitherto been the custom in England -that both civil and ecclesiastical matters should be dealt with in the -general assemblies, both of the whole kingdom and of each shire. In -these last the earl and the bishop sat together. William now ordered -that the bishops should hold separate courts for Church causes. And -all through William’s reign Lanfranc held many synods of the clergy -distinct from the general assemblies of the kingdom. In these synods -bishops and abbots were deposed, and many new canons were made. This -was the time when Pope Gregory the Seventh was trying to forbid the -marriage of the clergy everywhere. In England the secular clergy were -very commonly married, both the parish priests and the canons in the -secular minsters. The rule which Lanfranc laid down was that no canon -should even keep a wife to whom he was already married; but the parish -priests were allowed to keep their wives, only the unmarried were not -to marry, nor was any married man to be ordained. Lanfranc was a monk -and a favourer of monks; new monasteries were founded, above all King -William’s abbey of the Battle, built, in discharge of his vow, on the -hill of Senlac, with its high altar on the spot where Harold’s standard -had stood. And monks were put into some churches where there had before -been secular priests. The ecclesiastical rule of William and Lanfranc -tended on the whole to greater learning and stricter discipline among -the clergy; but these gains were purchased by thrusting strangers into -all the chief places of the Church as well as of the State. - -=4. The New Bishops and Abbots.=--We have said already that, as the -bishops and abbots died, or, when there was any pretext for so doing, -were deprived, strangers were appointed, always to the bishoprics, -commonly to the abbeys. Some of the foreign abbots were rude or fierce -men who despised the English. Such was Turold the stern abbot of -Peterborough, of whom we have already heard; such was Paul of Saint -Alban’s, who mocked at the old abbots and pulled down their tombs. -Such too was Thurstan of Glastonbury, who, when his monks refused -to sing the service after a new fashion, brought soldiers into the -church, who slew several of them. But for this King William deposed -him. But William’s prelates were not as a rule like these. Most of the -new bishops worked hard, according to their light, in building their -churches, and reforming their chapters and dioceses. Some of them, in -obedience to one of Lanfranc’s canons, moved their sees from smaller -towns to greater. Thus was the see of Lichfield moved to Chester -(afterwards to Coventry), that of Elmham to Thetford (afterwards to -Norwich), that of Sherborne to Old Salisbury, that of Dorchester to -Lincoln, and, after William’s death, that of Wells to Bath. Some of -the new prelates lived on good terms with their English neighbours; -there is a document in which Saint Wulfstan and his monks of Worcester -enter into a bond of spiritual brotherhood with several abbots, Norman -and English, and their monks. But besides this, Saint Wulfstan did one -good work which was his own. William’s law against the slave-trade was -at first no better kept than the same law when it was put forth by -earlier kings. The men of Bristol still went on selling English slaves -to Ireland. Bristol was in Wulfstan’s diocese. So he went thither many -times, and often preached to the people against their great sin, till -they left off sinning, at least for a while. - -=5. King William and the Pope.=--While King William helped Lanfranc in -all his reforms, he would not give up a whit of the authority in the -affairs of the Church which had been held by the kings who had been -before him. Both the English kings and the Norman dukes were used to -invest bishops and abbots by giving them the ring and staff, the badges -of their office. When Hildebrand, who had so greatly favoured William’s -attack on England, became the famous Pope Gregory the Seventh, he tried -with all his might to take away this right from the Emperor and other -princes; but to the King of the English he never said a word about the -matter, and William himself, and for a while his successors after him, -went on investing the prelates just as had been done before. At one -time Pope Gregory wrote to the King, demanding that the payment of a -penny from each house, called _Romescot_ or _Peterpence_, should be -more regularly paid, and not only this, but that the King should become -his man for his kingdom. To this William wrote back that he would pay -the money, because the kings before him had paid it; but that, as no -King of the English before him had ever become the man of the Pope, -so neither would he. We must here remark, not only the way in which -William stood up for the rights of his crown even against so great a -Pope as Gregory, but also the way in which he puts himself exactly in -the place of the Old-English kings. Giving himself out as their lawful -successor, he claims all that was theirs, but he claims nothing more. - -=6. The Imprisonment of Bishop Odo.=--There was another act of -William’s which shows how fully minded he was that no privilege and -no favour should hinder him either from carrying out his own will or -from doing whatever he thought was for the good order of his kingdom. -His brother Odo, Bishop of Bayeux and Earl of Kent, had got so puffed -up with pride and cruelty that he was no longer to be borne. We may -believe that the King was specially displeased with his doings in the -North when he was sent to punish the riot in which Bishop Walcher was -killed. At last, in 1082, Odo fancied that he was going to be made Pope -whenever Gregory died, and he got together a great company, or rather -an army, in England and Normandy, and was going to set out for Italy. -William was then in Normandy; but he came back to England, called an -assembly, and formally accused his brother. He said that Odo’s misdeeds -could no longer be borne; what would the Wise Men of the land counsel -him to do? The whole assembly held its peace. Then the King said he -must do justice, even against his brother; he bade his barons seize -him. But in those days it was thought a great matter to seize a bishop, -or indeed any priest. So no man stirred. Then King William seized his -brother with his own hands. Odo cried out that it was unlawful to seize -a bishop, and that none but the Pope could judge him. It is said that -Lanfranc had told the King what to say to this. William answered that -he did not seize the Bishop of Bayeux, but that he did seize the Earl -of Kent. So, whatever might become of the Bishop of Bayeux, the Earl of -Kent was kept in prison at Rouen. Pope Gregory pleaded earnestly that -he might be set free; but William kept him in ward till the day of his -own death. - -=7. The New Forest.=--There is no doubt that William was always anxious -to do justice, whenever so to do did not hinder his own plans. And -this makes a great difference between him and mere oppressors who seem -really to like to do mischief. But we have seen that he could do very -dreadful things for the sake of his policy, and after a while he came -to do things only less dreadful for the sake of his own pleasure. -Nearly all men of that time were fond of hunting; William was specially -so. For his pleasure in this way he made a forest in Hampshire, not -far from his capital at Winchester, and, after eight hundred years, -that forest is called the _New Forest_ still. It must be remembered -that a _forest_ does not properly mean land all covered with wood. -There were sure to be wooded parts in a forest, but the whole was not -wood. A forest is land which is kept waste for hunting, and which is -put out of the common law of the land, and ruled by the special and -harsher law of the forest. Very hard punishments were decreed against -either man or beast that meddled with the king’s game. Now, to make or -enlarge his New Forest, William did not scruple to turn tilled land -into a wilderness, to take men’s land from them, and to destroy houses -and churches. Just as men thought that William lost his luck after the -death of Waltheof, so men thought that the New Forest brought a special -curse on his house. Certain it is that three of his house, his two sons -Richard and William, and his grandson a son of Robert, all died in a -strange way in the Forest. - -=8. The Great Survey.=--One of the greatest acts of William’s reign, -and that by which we come to learn more about England in his time than -from any other source, was done in the assembly held at Gloucester at -the Christmas of 1085. Then the King had, as the Chronicle says, “very -deep speech with his Wise Men.” This “deep speech” in English is in -French _parlement_; and so we see how our assemblies came by their -later name. And the end of the deep speech was that commissioners were -sent through all England, save only the bishopric of Durham and the -earldom of Northumberland, to make a survey of the land. They were to -set down by whom every piece of land, great and small, was held then, -by whom it had been held in King Edward’s day, what it was worth now, -and what it had been worth in King Edward’s day. All this was written -in a book kept at Winchester, which men called _Domesday Book_. It is a -most wonderful record, and tells us more of the state of England just -at that moment than we know of it for a long time before or after. But -above all things we see how far the land had passed from Englishmen to -Normans and other strangers. There are only a very few Englishmen who -keep great estates at all like those of the chief Normans; but it is -quite a mistake to think that every Englishman was driven out of his -hearth and home. Crowds of Englishmen keep small estates or fragments -of great ones, sometimes held straight of the King, sometimes of a -Norman or an Englishman in William’s favour. And when any man, Norman -or English, had a claim against any other man, Norman or English, it -was fairly set down in the book, for the King to judge of. - -=9. The Oath of Allegiance.=--Another act, no less important than the -great survey, followed close upon it. When the survey was made, and the -King knew how all the land in his kingdom was held, he called all the -landowners of any account to a great assembly at Salisbury in August -1086. There they all, of whatever lord they were the men, sware oaths -to King William and became his men. That is to say, William had made -up his mind to hinder in his kingdom the evils which were growing up -in other lands. Elsewhere it was generally held that a man was bound -to fight for his own lord, even against his overlord the king. In -this way the kingdom of Karolingia or France, and the kingdoms held -by the Emperors, broke up into principalities which were practically -independent. Most surely William himself would have been greatly amazed -if a man of the Duke of the Normans had refused to go against the King -of the French. But he took care that there should at least be no such -questions in the kingdom of England. Every man in William’s kingdom -became the King’s man first of all, and was to obey him against all -other men. There never was any one law made in England of greater -moment than this. England for a long time had been getting more united, -when the coming of William brought in two sets of tendencies. On the -one hand the general strength of his government, and the mere fact that -the land was conquered, did much to make the land yet more united. On -the other hand, many of William’s followers had brought with them the -new notions which caused other kingdoms to split in pieces. This wise -law settled that the first set of tendencies should get the upper hand, -and that the land should become more united by reason of the Conquest. -Since William’s day no man has ever thought of dividing the kingdom of -England. - -=10. The Last Tax.=--The great survey and the oath of allegiance were -nearly the last acts of William in England. All that he did afterwards -was to lay on one more heavy tax. This was a tax of six shillings on -every hide of land, a tax which could be both more easily and more -fairly raised now that the survey was made. Men cried out more than -ever, and altogether it was a sad and strange time. There were bad -crops and fires and famines, and many chief men both in England and -Normandy died. And now the time came for the great ruler of both those -lands to die also. - - - - -CHAPTER XIII. - -THE TWO WILLIAMS. - - -=1. King William’s Last War.=--The way in which the Conqueror came -by his death was hardly worthy of the great deeds of his life. The -land between Rouen and Paris, on the rivers Seine and Oise, known as -the _Vexin_, was a land which had long been disputed between Normandy -and France. Border quarrels were always going on, and just now there -were great complaints of inroads made by the French commanders in -Mantes, the chief town of the Vexin, on the lands of various Normans. -William made answer by calling on Philip to give up to him the town of -Mantes and the whole Vexin. Philip only answered by making jests on -William, who was just now keeping quiet at Rouen, seeking by medical -treatment to lessen the bulk of his body. Philip said that the King -of the English was lying in, and that there would be a great show of -candles at his churching. Then King William was very wroth, and swore -his most fearful oaths that, when he rose up, he would light a hundred -thousand candles at the cost of the French King. So in August 1087, as -soon as he was able to get up, he entered the Vexin and harried the -land cruelly. He reached Mantes (August 15), entered the town, caused -it to be set on fire, and rode about to see the burning. At last his -horse stumbled, perhaps on the burning embers; he was thrown forward -on the tall bow of his saddle, and received a wound inside which made -him give over. He was carried to Rouen, and there lay in the priory of -Saint Gervase outside the city. - -=2. King William’s last Sickness.=--He lay there for more than three -weeks. The chief prelates of Normandy came about him; some of them were -skilful leeches who could tend his body as well as his soul. But they -saw that there was no hope, and told him that he must die. He then -began to make ready for death. He professed repentance for all his -wrong deeds, for the harrying of Northumberland long before and for the -burning of Mantes just now. He sent money to make good the destruction -at Mantes, and he sent other money to the churches and poor of England. -Then he settled the succession to his dominions. He said that by all -law Robert must succeed him in Normandy; so it must be; yet he saw what -woes would come on the land where Robert should rule. About England he -said that he did not dare to make any order; but he wished, if it were -God’s will, that William should succeed him, and he sent a letter to -Archbishop Lanfranc, praying him to crown William, if he thought it -right to do so. To his youngest son Henry he left five thousand pounds -in money from his hoard. Robert was far away, and now his other sons -left him, William to look after the kingdom, and Henry to look after -his money. Then the King bade all the men, Norman and English, whom he -had kept in prison to be set free, save only his brother Odo. Him he -said he would not set free; he would only be the cause of more mischief -if he were let out. But his brother Robert and others prayed hard for -him, and at last, much against his will, the King bade that Odo should -be set free with the others. - -=3. King William’s Death and Burial.=--At last on September 9, 1087, -the great King William, the Conqueror of England, died. There was fear -and confusion through all Rouen; men knew not what to do, now that the -man who had kept the land in peace was gone. For a while the King’s -body lay stripped and forsaken. But at last he was taken to Caen, to -be buried in his own minster of Saint Stephen without the walls. Then, -when the rites of burial began, one Asselin the son of Arthur rose and -said that the ground on which the church was built was his and his -father’s, and he forbade that the body should be buried in his soil. -So they paid him at once for the grave, and afterwards for the whole -estate that he had lost. Then was King William buried, and a shrine of -cunning workmanship was made over his grave; but all is now gone. - -=4. William the Red.=--The king who was now to succeed William the -Great was his third son William--his second son Richard had died in -the New Forest. From his ruddy face he was called William Rufus or the -Red, and sometimes the Red King. His character was a strange mixture. -He had a large share of his father’s gifts; he was brave, free of -hand, and merry of speech; and, when he chose, he could be both a good -captain and a good ruler. But he had none of his father’s really great -qualities; he was a blasphemer of God and a man of the foulest life; -without being so cruel in his own person as some other princes, he was -utterly reckless, and cared not how much evil he caused. He was also -quite careless of his promises, except when he pledged his word as a -good knight; then he kept it faithfully; any one who trusted himself to -his personal generosity was always safe. For we have now come to the -beginning of what is called chivalry, of which William the Red was one -of the first professors. He was proud and self-willed above all men, -and he had not, like his father, any steady purpose about any matter. -He was always beginning undertakings and not ending them. Yet there is -no doubt that he was a man of great natural gifts, if he had chosen to -use them better. He made a great impression on the minds of men at the -time, and of no king are there more personal stories told. - -=5. Accession of William Rufus.=--It does not seem that William Rufus -was ever regularly chosen king. He crossed to England with his father’s -letter to Lanfranc, and on September 26, the Archbishop crowned him -at Westminster. No one gainsaid his claim; all men bowed to him and -sware oaths to him. But it must be remembered that there was really -more to be said for either of his brothers than for him. Robert was the -eldest son, and was his father’s natural successor in Normandy. And -those Normans who wished England and Normandy to stay together, would -of course wish to have Robert for king in England. On the other hand, -if the English had given up all thought of a king of their own blood, -the natural choice for them was Henry. He alone was a real Ætheling, a -king’s son born in the land. But neither Robert nor Henry was at hand, -and William took the crown quite quietly. He held the Christmas feast -at Westminster, and it seems to have been then that he gave back the -earldom of Kent to his uncle Bishop Odo. - -=6. The Rebellion of Odo.=--The new king had been only a few months -on the throne, when most of the chief Normans openly rebelled against -him, meaning to bring in his brother Duke Robert. At the head of the -revolt were the King’s two uncles, Count Robert and Bishop Odo. Odo -was the first beginner of the whole stir, for he found that he was -not, as he had hoped to be, the King’s chief counsellor. Earl Roger of -Shrewsbury, Bishop Geoffrey of Coutances, Bishop William of Durham, -and others of the great men joined them; but Earl Hugh of Chester, -Archbishop Lanfranc and all the other bishops, above all Saint Wulfstan -at Worcester, remained faithful. Then the King saw that he had nothing -to trust to but the native English. So he called them to his standard, -and made promises of good government in every way. Then the people -flocked to him from all parts, and he found himself at the head of a -great English army. The rebels were now smitten everywhere; specially -the King with his Englishmen beat back the troops that Duke Robert sent -to land at Pevensey. That is, they beat back a new Norman invasion on -the very spot where the Conqueror had landed. Then they took the castle -of Rochester, where Odo was, and Odo had to come out with shame and to -go back to Normandy; he never saw England again. Many of the rebels -lost their lands; but they afterwards got them back again when peace -was made between King William and his brother Robert. - -=7. The End of the Conquest.=--William Rufus was very far from -keeping the promises of good government which he made to the native -English when he needed their help. Yet it would be hard to show -that he directly oppressed Englishmen as Englishmen; his reign was -rather a time of general misrule, which oppressed all classes, though -undoubtedly the native English must have suffered the most. But this -war of the year 1088 was the last stage of the Norman Conquest. It -was the last time that Englishmen and Normans, as such, met in battle -against one another on English soil. And, as far as fighting went, -the English had the better. In this war Englishmen, fighting against -Normans, kept the crown of England for a Norman King. Thus by this war -the Norman Conquest of England was in some sort completed and in some -sort undone. It was completed so far as that the Norman house was now -firmly established on the English throne. From this time no one thought -of driving out the kings who came of the line of the Conqueror. No one -thought again of setting up Edgar, though he lived a long time after -this; no one thought again of asking for help from Denmark. But the -Conquest was undone so far as that all this was done by the English -themselves, so far as the Norman King was set on the throne by English -hands. At this point then we shall best end our tale of the history of -the Conquest, and stop to look at the effects which the Conquest had, -both at once and on the later history of England. - - - - -CHAPTER XIV. - -THE RESULTS OF THE NORMAN CONQUEST. - - -=1. General Results of the Conquest.=--We must carefully distinguish -the immediate effects of the Norman Conquest, the changes which it made -at the moment, from its lasting results which have left their mark -on all the times which have come after. In many ways these two have -been opposite the one to the other. It might have seemed at the time -that the English people had altogether lost their national life, their -freedom, their laws, their language, and everything that was theirs. -But in truth the Norman Conquest, which at the time seemed to destroy -all these things, has actually kept to us all these things--except our -language--more perfectly than we could have kept them if the Norman -Conquest had never happened. We can see this by comparing the course of -our history with that of other kindred nations which never underwent -anything like the Conquest. In no other land have things gone on -from the beginning with so little real break as in England. From the -earliest times till now, England has never been without a national -assembly of some kind. Our national assemblies have changed their name -and their form; but they have never wholly stopped; we have never had -to begin them again as something altogether new. But in many other -lands the national assemblies stopped altogether, and they have had -to be set up again as something new in later times, very often after -the pattern of ours. And so it is with many other things, which might -have died out bit by bit, if there had never been any Conquest, and -which might have been suddenly cut short, if the Conquest had been of -another kind from what it was. It is the foreign conquest wrought under -the guise of law which is the key to everything in English history. -And we shall find that the Norman Conquest did not very greatly bring -in things which were quite new, but rather strengthened and hastened -tendencies which were already at work. We shall see many examples of -this as we go on. - -=2. Intercourse with other lands.=--One very clear case of this rule -is the way in which England now began to have much more to do with -other lands than she had had before. But this was only strengthening -a tendency which was already at work. From the reign of Æthelred -onwards England was beginning to have more and more to do with the -mainland. Or rather, whereas England had before had to do, whether in -war or in peace, almost wholly with the kindred lands of Scandinavia, -Germany, and Flanders, she now began to have much to do with the -Latin-speaking people, first in Normandy, then in France itself. The -great beginning of this was, as we have already said, the marriage of -Æthelred and Emma. Then came the reign of their son Edward, with his -foreign ways and foreign favourites. All this in some sort made things -ready for the fuller introduction of foreigners and foreign ways at -the Conquest. When the same prince reigned over England and Normandy, -and when in after times the same prince reigned, not only over England -and Normandy, but over other large parts of Gaul, men went backwards -and forwards freely from one land to another. If strangers held high -offices in England, Englishmen often held high offices in other lands. -Our kings too, strangers by descent, went on, even after they had quite -become Englishmen, marrying foreign wives and giving their daughters -to foreign princes, far more commonly than had been done before. -Foreign trade too increased; England had a very old trade with Germany -and Flanders; this in no way ceased, while a great trade with Normandy -and other parts of Gaul grew up. And, besides the fighting men and -others who followed the kings, not a few merchants and other peaceful -men from other lands settled in England. In every way, in short, -Britain ceased to be a world of its own; England, and Scotland too, -became part of the general world of Western Europe. - -=3. Effects of the Conquest on the Church.=--In nothing did this come -out more strongly than in the affairs of the Church. The English Church -was, more strictly than any other, the child of the Church of Rome, -and she had always kept a strong reverence for her parent. But the -Church of England had always held a greater independence than the other -churches of the West, and the kings and assemblies of the nation had -never given up their power in ecclesiastical matters. Church and State -were one. But from the time of the Conquest, the Popes got more and -more power, as was not wonderful when the Conqueror himself had asked -the Pope to judge between him and Harold. Gradually all the new notions -spread in England; the Popes encroached more and more, and laws after -laws had to be made to restrain them, till the time came when we threw -off the Pope’s authority altogether. The affairs of Church and State -got more and more distinct; the clergy began to claim to be free from -all secular jurisdiction and to be tried only in the ecclesiastical -courts; the marriage of the clergy too was more and more strictly -forbidden. All this was the direct result of the Norman Conquest. If -the Conquest had never happened, it might have come about in some other -way; but it was in fact through the Conquest that it did come about. -William the Conqueror, like many other great rulers, set up a system -which he himself could work, but which smaller men could not work. In -after times the kings and popes often played into one another’s hands -to get their own ends, not uncommonly at the expense of both clergy and -people. More than once the whole nation of England, nobles, clergy, and -commons, had to rise up against Pope and King together. - -=4. Foreign Wars.=--It was also owing to the Norman Conquest that -England began to be largely entangled in continental wars. Here again, -this might very likely have come about in some other way; but this was -the way in which it did come about. As long as Normandy was a separate -state lying between England and France, England and France could hardly -have any grounds of quarrel. But when England and Normandy had one -prince, England got entangled in the quarrels between Normandy and -France. England and France became rival powers, and the rivalry went -on for ages after Normandy had been conquered by France. Then too both -England and Normandy passed to princes who had other great possessions -in Gaul, and the chief of these, the duchy of Aquitaine, was kept by -the English kings long after the loss of Normandy. Thus, through the -Norman Conquest, England became a continental power, mixed up with -continental wars and politics, and above all, engaged in a long rivalry -with France. - -=5. Effects on the Kingly Power.=--One chief result of the Norman -Conquest was greatly to strengthen the power of the kings. The Norman -kings kept all the powers, rights, and revenues which the English -kings had had, and they added some new ones. A king may be looked on -in two ways. He may either be looked on as the head of the state, of -which other men are members, or else as the chief lord, with the chief -men of the land for his men, holding their lands of him. Both these -notions of kingship were known in Europe; both were known in England; -but William the Conqueror knew how to use both to the strengthening -of the kingly power. Where the king is merely the lord of the chief -men, the kingdom is likely to split up into separate principalities, -as happened both in Germany and in Gaul. William took care that this -should not happen in England by making his great law which made every -man the man of the king. But when this point was once secured, it added -greatly to the king’s power that he should be personal lord as well as -chief of the state, and that all men should hold their lands of him. -The Norman kings were thus able to levy the old taxes as heads of the -state, and also to raise money in various ways off the lands which were -held of them. They could, like the old kings, call the whole nation -to war, and they could further call on the men who held lands of them -either to do military service in their own persons or to pay money to -be let off. Thus the king could have at pleasure either a national -army, or a _feudal_ army, that is an army of men who did military -service for their _fiefs_, or lastly an army of hired mercenaries. And -the kings made use of all three as suited them. Another thing also -happened. In the older notion, kingship was an office, the highest -office, an office bestowed by the nation, though commonly bestowed on -the descendants of former kings. But now kingship came to be looked -on more and more as a possession, and it was deemed that it ought to -pass, like any other possession, according to the strict rules of -inheritance. Thus the crown became more and more hereditary and less -and less elective. For several reigns after the Norman Conquest, things -so turned out that strict hereditary succession could not be observed. -Still, from the time of the Conquest, the tendency was in favour of -strict hereditary succession, and it became the rule in the long run. - -=6. Effects on the Constitution and Administration.=--We have already -seen that both William the Conqueror and the Norman kings after him -made very few direct changes in the law. Nor did they make many formal -changes in government and administration. They destroyed no old -institutions or offices, but they set up some new ones by the side of -the old. And of these sometimes the old lived on till later times, -and sometimes the new. And sometimes old things got new names, which -might make us think that more change happened than really did. And in -this case again sometimes the old names lived on and sometimes the -new. Thus the Normans called the _shire_ the _county_, and the king’s -chief officer in it, the _sheriff_, they called the _viscount_. Now we -use the word _county_ oftener than the word _shire_; but the sheriff -is never called _viscount_, a word which has got another meaning. So, -in the greatest case of all, the King is still called _King_ by his -Old-English name, but the assembly of the nation, the _Witenagemót_ -or Meeting of the Wise Men, is called a _Parliament_. But this is -simply because the wise men spoke or _parleyed_ with the king, as we -read before that King William had “very deep speech with his Wise -Men” before he ordered the great survey. What is much more important -than the change of name is that the assembly has quite changed its -constitution. And yet it is truly the same assembly going on; there has -been no sudden break; changes have been made bit by bit; but we have -never been without a national assembly of some kind, and there never -was any time when one kind of assembly was abolished and another kind -put in its stead. The greatest change that ever happened in a short -time was that, in the twenty-one years of the Conqueror’s reign, an -assembly which was almost wholly an assembly of Englishmen changed -into one which was almost wholly an assembly of Normans. But even this -change was not made all at once. There was no time when Englishmen as -a body were turned out, and Normans as a body put in. Only, as the -Englishmen who held great offices died or lost them one by one, Normans -and other strangers were put in their places one by one. Thus there -came a great change in the spirit and working of the assembly; but -there was little or no immediate change in its form. And so it was in -every thing else. Without any sudden change, without ever abolishing -old things and setting up new ones, new ideas came in and practically -made great changes in things which were hardly at all changed in form. -It is a mistake to think that our Old-English institutions were ever -abolished and new Norman institutions set up in their stead. But it is -quite true that our Old-English institutions were greatly changed, bit -by bit, by new ways of thinking and doing brought over from Normandy. - -=7. Effects of the Conqueror’s Personal Character.=--Besides all other -more general causes, there can be no doubt that the personal character -of William himself had a great effect on the whole later course of -English history. As William had no love for oppression for its own -sake, so neither had he any love for change for its own sake. He saw -that, without making any violent changes in English law, he could get -to himself as much power as he could wish for. Both he and the kings -for some time after him were practically despots, kings, that is, who -did according to their own will. But they did according to their own -will, because they kept on all the old forms of freedom; so, in after -times, as the kings grew weaker and the nation grew stronger, life -could be put again into the forms, and the old freedom could be won -back again. A smaller man than William, one less strong and wise, -would most likely have changed a great deal more. And by so doing he -would have raised far more opposition, and would have done far more -mischief in the long run. William’s whole position was that he was -lawful King of the English, reigning according to English law. But a -smaller man than William would hardly have been able at once outwardly -to keep that position, and at the same time really to do in all things -as he thought fit. It is largely owing to William’s wisdom that there -was no violent change, no sudden break, but that the general system of -things went on as before, allowing this and that to be changed bit by -bit in after times, as change was found to be needed. - -=8. Relations of Normans and Englishmen.=--It followed almost -necessarily from the peculiar nature of William’s conquest that in no -conquest did the conquerors and the conquered sooner join together -into one people. No doubt the fact that Normans and English were after -all kindred nations had something to do with this; but the union could -hardly have been made so speedily and so thoroughly, if it had not -been for the peculiar character of the conquest made under the form -of law. William took a great deal of land from Englishmen and gave it -to Normans; but every Norman to whom he gave land had in some sort to -become an Englishman in order to hold it. He held it from the King of -the English according to the law of England; he stepped exactly into -the place of the Englishman who had held the land before him; he took -his rights, his powers, his burthens, whatever they might be, neither -more nor less. He had to obey and to administer English law, to hold -English offices, to adapt himself in endless ways to the customs of -the land in which he found himself. And, except in the case of the -very greatest nobles, there were men of Old-English birth by his -side, holding their lands as he held his, holding offices, attending -in assemblies, acting with him in every way as members of the same -political body. The son of the Norman settler, born in the land, often -the son of an English mother, soon came to feel himself more English -than Norman. So the two nations were soon mingled together, so soon -that a writer a hundred years after the Conquest could say that, among -freemen, it was impossible to say who was English and who was Norman by -descent. Of course in thus mixing together, the two nations influenced -one another; each learned and borrowed something from the other. The -English did not become Normans; the Normans did become Englishmen; but -the Normans, in becoming Englishmen, greatly influenced the English -nation, and brought in many ways of thinking and doing which had not -been known in England before. - -=9. Effects of the Conquest on Language.=--Above all things, this took -place in the matter of language. In this we carry about us to this day -the most speaking signs of the Norman Conquest. If the Norman Conquest -had never happened, the English tongue would doubtless have greatly -changed in the course of eight hundred years, just as the other tongues -of Europe have greatly changed in that time. But it could not have -changed in the same way or the same degree. No other European tongue -has changed in exactly the same way, because no other tongue has had -the same causes of change brought to bear on it. Our own Old-English -tongue, as it was spoken when the Normans came, was a pure Teutonic -tongue, that is, it was as nearly pure as any tongue ever is; for there -is no tongue which has not borrowed some words from others. So we had, -since we came into Britain, picked up a few words from the Welsh, and -more from the Latin. But these were simply names of things which we -knew nothing about till we came hither, foreign things which we called -by foreign names. And we had kept our grammar, and what grammarians -call the _inflexions_, that is, the forms and endings of words, quite -untouched. The Normans, on the other hand, after their settlement -in Gaul, had quite forgotten their old Danish tongue, allied to the -English, and, when they came to England, they all spoke French. French -is the _Romance_ tongue of Northern Gaul, that is, the tongue which -grew up there as the Latin tongue lost its old form, and a good many -Teutonic words crept in. The effect of the Norman Conquest on our -tongue has been twofold. We have lost nearly all our inflexions; we -should very likely have lost most of them if there had been no Norman -Conquest, for the other Teutonic tongues have all lost some or all of -their inflexions; but the Norman Conquest made this work begin sooner -and go on quicker. Then we borrowed a vast number of French words, -many of them words which we did not want at all, names of things which -already had English names. But this happened very gradually. For some -while the two languages, French and English, were spoken side by side -without greatly affecting one another. French was the polite speech, -Latin the learned speech, English the speech of the people; but for -a hundred and fifty years after the Conquest, French was never used -in public documents. Before long the Normans in England learned to -speak English, and they seem to have done so commonly by the end of -the twelfth century, though of course they could speak French as well. -Then there came in a French, as distinguished from a Norman influence; -French came in as a fashion, and it was not till the fourteenth century -that English quite won the day; and when it came in, it had lost many -of its inflexions, and borrowed very many French words. And since this -we have gone on taking in new words from French, Latin, and other -tongues, because we have lost the habit of making new words in our own -tongue. All these later changes are not direct effects of the Norman -Conquest; still they are effects. The French fashion could never have -set in so strongly if the French tongue had not been already brought in -by the Normans. - -=10. Effects of the Conquest on Learning and Literature.=--There can -be no doubt that in all matters of learning the Norman Conquest caused -a great immediate advance in England. There had in earlier times been -more than one learned period in England; but the Danish wars had -thrown things back, and it does not seem that Edward, with all his -love for strangers, did much to encourage foreign scholars. But with -the coming of William this changed at once. Lanfranc and Anselm for -instance, the first archbishops of Canterbury after the Conquest, were -the greatest scholars of their time. Men of learning and science of -all kinds came to England, and men in England, both of Norman and of -English blood, took to learning and science. We have therefore during -the twelfth century a large stock of good writers who were born or -who lived in England. But they wrote in Latin, as was usual then and -long after with learned men throughout western Europe; they therefore -did nothing for the encouragement of a native literature. Still men -did not leave off writing in English; the English Chronicle goes on -during the first half of the twelfth century, and small pieces, chiefly -religious, were still written. But the Norman Conquest had the effect -of thrusting down English literature into a lower place; even when -it was commonly spoken, it ceased to be either a learned or a polite -tongue. On the other hand, the newly-born French literature took great -root in England. It was about the time of the Conquest that men in -Northern Gaul found out that the French tongue which they talked had -become so different from the Latin which they wrote that it would be -possible to write in French as well as to speak it. The oldest French -books, like the oldest books of most languages, are in verse, and -this new French verse flourished greatly among the Normans, both in -Normandy and in England. Thus Wace wrote the story of the Norman dukes, -and specially of the Conquest of England. Others, who were settled in -England and began to love their new land, wrote books of English and -British history and legend. Thus, for a long time after the Conquest, -there was much writing going on in England in all three languages. Many -French writings were translated into English, and some English writings -into French. But all this, though it showed how men’s minds were at -work, kept down the real tongue and the real literature of the land for -several ages. - -=11. Effects of the Conquest on Art.=--In those days there was not -much art in Western Europe, save the art of building. Books were -illuminated, and there was both painting and sculpture in churches, but -they were what would be now thought very rude work. Both in Germany -and in England the art of embroidery seems to have flourished; but -that is hardly art in any high sense. But in the art of building the -Norman Conquest of England marks a great stage. When we speak of -building, we have mainly to do with churches and castles; houses were -commonly of wood, as indeed churches and castles often were also. In -the eleventh century men still built throughout Christendom with round -arches, after the manner of the old Romans. And in Western Europe they -built everywhere very much after the same pattern, one which came from -Italy. But in the eleventh century men began to strike out new ways in -architecture, and, without wholly forsaking the old Roman models with -their round arches, they devised new local styles in different parts. -Thus one form of what is called _Romanesque_ architecture arose in -Italy, another in Southern Gaul, another in Northern Gaul, and so on. -The Normans of William’s day were great builders, and the Romanesque -style of Northern Gaul grew up chiefly in Normandy, and is commonly -called _Norman_. In Edward’s day this new style came into England among -other Norman fashions, and under William it took firmer root. The new -prelates despised the English churches as too small, and they rebuilt -them on a greater scale, and of course in the new style. For a while -the old style which England had in common with the rest of Western -Europe was still used in smaller buildings; but by the end of the -eleventh century the Norman style had taken full root in England, and -in the twelfth century it grew much richer and lighter. And as stone -building came more and more into use, the style spread to houses and -other buildings. - -=12. Effects of the Conquest on Warfare.=--Military architecture, the -building of castles and other strong places, is in some sort a part of -the history of the building art, no less than the building of churches -and houses. Still it has a character and a history of its own. In this -matter, and in all matters which had to do with warfare, the Norman -Conquest made the greatest change of all. In England men could fence -in a town with walls, but they had no strong castles. Their strong -places were great mounds with a wooden defence on the top. But the -Normans brought in the fashion of building castles, as we have seen -in the history of Edward’s reign. They sometimes built lighter keeps -on the old mounds; sometimes they built massive strong towers; and -in either case they were fond of surrounding them with deep ditches. -These were the types which the Normans brought in, and they grew into -the elaborate castles of later times. Thus the land was filled with -castles, and warfare took mainly the form of attacking and besieging -them. After the Norman Conquest we hear for a long time much more of -sieges, and much less of battles in the open field, while in the Danish -wars we heard much more of battles than of sieges. The Normans also -brought their own way of fighting into England, and made great changes -in English armies. Before the Conquest we had no horsemen and very -few archers; from this time we have both, and the old array goes out -of use. Yet we sometimes read of the Norman knights getting down from -their horses and fighting with swords or axes in Old-English fashion. -And, as the archers came to be the strongest part of an English army, -and that which was thought specially English, it was in one way a going -back to the old state of things. The weapon was changed; but, in times -when horsemen were most thought of, a stout body of foot was still the -strength of an English army. - -=13. Summary.=--Thus we see the special way in which the Norman -Conquest, owing to its own special nature and to the personal character -of William, acted upon England. It did not destroy or abolish our old -laws or institutions; but by influencing, it gradually changed, and -in the end preserved. And in this way the Conquest worked in the end -for good. We have really kept a more direct connexion with the oldest -times, without any sudden break or change, than those kindred nations -which have never in the same way been conquered by strangers. There -has been great change, but it has been all bit by bit, with no general -upsetting at any particular time. We will now, in our last chapter, see -a little more particularly how these causes worked in the later history -of England. - - - - -CHAPTER XV. - -THE LATER HISTORY. - - -=1. The Norman Kings.=--William Rufus began his reign as a Norman king -of England only; Robert held the duchy of Normandy. But William got, -first part and then the whole, of Normandy into his hands, and he -afterwards warred with France. Here then is the beginning of our French -wars, wars which the French writers from the very beginning speak of as -wars of the English against the French. William Rufus’ reign was one of -great oppression and wrong, and in his time, under his minister Randolf -Flambard, the new customs about the holding of land got put into a -definite shape. At his death in 1100 Normandy and England were again -separated for a while, for Robert again took his duchy, while Henry was -chosen King of the English. As he was the only one of the Conqueror’s -children who was in any sense English, the native English were strongly -for him, and helped him to keep the crown, when the Normans again -wished for Robert. This is the last time that we hear of the English -and Normans in England acting as separate classes of people. The reign -of Henry, which lasted till 1135, was the time in which the two races -were gradually joined together. Henry also pleased the English by -marrying Edith or Matilda, the daughter of Malcolm King of Scots and -Margaret the sister of the Ætheling Edgar. Thus his children sprang in -the female line from the old kings. Then Robert ruled Normandy so ill -that many of his own people wished to get rid of him; so in 1106 King -Henry won the duchy at the battle of Tinchebrai. This was just forty -years after William the Great had won England, and men began to say -that things were now turned round. Henry’s son, William the Ætheling, -died before him. He therefore wished his crown to go to his daughter -Matilda, the widow of the Emperor Henry the Fifth, whom he married to -Count Geoffrey of Anjou. For the rule to pass to a woman was a strange -thing both in England and in Normandy. So when Henry died, men chose -his sister’s son Stephen of Blois. Stephen was much loved by men of all -races, but he had not strength to reign in those times. The friends of -the Empress rose up against him, and through the whole of Stephen’s -days, till 1154, there was such a time as England never saw before -or since. All law vanished, and there was nothing but bloodshed and -plunder. Meanwhile Count Geoffrey conquered Normandy. At last it was -settled that Stephen should keep the crown for life, but that the son -of Geoffrey and Matilda, Henry, now Duke of the Normans, should reign -after him. - -=2. Henry of Anjou.=--Duke Henry soon succeeded Stephen, and with him -a new time began. He inherited Normandy and Anjou; he took England by -the agreement with Stephen; and before he became king he had married -Eleanor, Countess of Poitou and Duchess of Aquitaine, who brought with -her all south-western Gaul. Thus the King of the English became a great -prince on the mainland, and was far more powerful in Gaul than his -lord the King of the French. Normandy and England alike became parts -of a vast dominion, the ruler of which was in no way either Norman or -English except by female descent. Yet, as he was English by female -descent, men tried to see in him a representative of the old kings. -In this state of things all the natives of England, of whatever race, -began to draw closer together, and still more so under Henry’s sons, -when a fashion set in of favouring men who were altogether strangers, -neither English nor Norman. This reign was the time of the famous -Archbishop Thomas, son of Gilbert Becket. He was born of Norman parents -in England in Henry the First’s reign, and he was the first man born -in the land who became archbishop after the Conquest. We are most -concerned with him here, because he shows how the two races were now -joined together. Thomas throughout feels and speaks as an Englishman, -and everybody looks on him as such. Henry the Second was one of our -greatest kings, the first since the Conquest who was really a lawgiver. -A great deal of our later law dates from his time, and it is all law -made for an united nation, without distinction of Normans and English. -It is not clear whether Henry himself spoke English; but he certainly -understood it, and it was commonly spoken by men of both races in his -time. Henry also increased the greatness of his kingdom by establishing -a fuller supremacy over Scotland and by beginning the conquest of -Ireland. - -=3. The Sons of Henry.=--After Henry in 1189 came his son Richard. -He was born in England, but he was really the least English of all -our kings. He was only twice in England during his reign, both times -for a very little while. He first came to be crowned, and afterwards -in 1194 he came to take his crown again. For he went to the crusade, -and on his way back he was kept in prison by the Emperor Henry the -Sixth. To him he did homage for something, as Harold did to William, -and some say that it was for the crown of England that he did homage. -The rest of his reign he was chiefly fighting in Gaul; but while he -was away, England was ruled by his ministers. His first chief minister -was his chancellor William Longchamp, Bishop of Ely. He came from -Normandy, and he despised and mocked Englishmen in every way. But the -name of Englishman now took in all men born in the land, and we find -another bishop, also born in Normandy, speaking of it as a strange -and shameful thing that Bishop William could speak no English. So the -nation, under the King’s brother Earl John, rose and drove out the -foreign chancellor. In the later part of Richard’s reign the land was -better ruled by his minister Archbishop Hubert. On Richard’s death in -1199 Earl John succeeded quietly in Normandy, and was then elected -King in England. But in Anjou the notion of hereditary right had taken -deeper root, and there men were for Richard’s nephew Arthur, because -his father Geoffrey was John’s elder brother. In England a nephew had -always been passed over in such cases, and John’s election was quite -lawful. King Philip of France took Arthur’s side, but Arthur was taken -by John and, there is little doubt, was murdered by him in 1202. Then -Philip gathered a court of peers and declared that John had by this -crime forfeited all the lands that he held of the crown of France. To -carry out this decree Philip, in 1203–4, conquered all continental -Normandy; only the islands clave to their duke, and they have stayed -with the English kings ever since. So our Queen still holds the true -Normandy, the land which remained Norman, while the rest of the duchy -became French. Philip also took Anjou and the other Angevin lands; but -not Aquitaine, the duchy of Queen Eleanor, who was still living. Thus -John and his successors lost continental Normandy, but kept Aquitaine. - -=4. Effects of the loss of Normandy.=--This final separation of -England and Normandy marks one of the chief stages in our story. If -any un-English feelings still lingered in the heart of any Englishman -of Norman descent, they quite died out now that England was the only -country of all Englishmen, and Normandy had become a foreign and -hostile land. While the first Angevin kings held their great dominion -in Gaul, though England was their greatest and highest possession, we -cannot say that it was in any way the head or centre, or that their -other lands were dependencies of England. But now that the King of -England held only the duchy of Aquitaine in the further part of Gaul, -that duchy was distinctly a dependency of England, and it was always -leading our kings into quarrels with France. Thus the rivalry between -England and France, which began out of the union between England and -Normandy, went on after Normandy was again joined to France. Thus both -the foreign and the domestic position of England was fixed by the loss -of Normandy. It is henceforth again a kingdom inhabited by an united -English people, but a kingdom holding a large distant dependency as a -fief of the French crown, and made thereby the special rival of France. - -=5. The Nation and the Kings.=--It may seem strange that, just at -this moment, when the chief outward signs of the Norman Conquest were -swept away, and when the Normans in England had become thoroughly good -Englishmen, things should in one point seem to go back. The thirteenth -century, to which we have now come, is the time when the French tongue -came into use for official documents. In old times men had used either -English or Latin. After the Conquest English gradually died out, and -for a while we have Latin only. Now French gradually comes in, and we -have Latin and French. Thus, just when the English tongue was again -coming to the front, it was again driven back. But this increased use -of French was a mere fashion, owing very much to the great influence -which France and the French tongue had just then over all parts of -Europe. And now that the whole nation was united, it was a mere -fashion, and not a badge of conquest. But while the nation got more -English, the kings got more foreign. John (1199–1216) filled the land -with foreign mercenaries, and became the man of the Pope. The nation -wrung the Great Charter from him, and this marks a great stage. Long -after the Conquest, whenever there was any bad rule, men called for the -law of King Edward. But now we hear no more of the law of King Edward; -the Great Charter gave all that had been asked for under that name. -Under John’s son Henry the Third (1216–1272), the land was eaten up by -strangers and plundered by the Popes. Then the nation joined together -more than ever under Earl Simon of Montfort. Oddly enough, he was by -birth a Frenchman in the strictest sense; but he inherited English -estates, and he became a good Englishman, like King Cnut and Archbishop -Anselm. Under him and under the next king Edward, (1272–1307) our -national assemblies, now called _Parliaments_, began to take their -present shape, with an elective House of Commons chosen by the shires -and towns. - -=6. King Edward the First.=--King Edward, the greatest of our later -kings, and the first since the Conquest who bore an English name, was -in his own day called Edward the Third or Fourth, as he really was; -but afterwards he came to be called Edward the First, as the first -of the name since the Conquest. Now at last we had a really English -king, whose object was the greatness of England at home and abroad. -He established the supremacy of England over Wales and Scotland more -thoroughly than ever. Wales was now joined to England and was gradually -incorporated with it; but the subjection of Scotland led to its -complete independence. Like Henry the Second, King Edward was a great -lawgiver; and from his day we may say that we had got back again our -old laws and freedom in shapes better suited to the times. All signs of -the Norman Conquest may now be said to have passed away, except the use -of the French tongue. King Edward spoke English well, and much English -was written in his time; and, when he was at war with France, he gave -out that the French king wished to invade England and wipe out the -English tongue. Still French went on as a fashion, and became more than -ever the language of official writings. - -=7. The Wars with France.=--The last traces of French influence in -England were finally got rid of during the great war with France which -began under Edward the First’s grandson Edward the Third (1327–1377). -He claimed the crown of France through his mother, and a long war -followed, which in 1360 was ended by the peace of Bretigny. By this -Edward gave up his claim to France, but he kept the duchy of Aquitaine, -the town of Calais which he had conquered, and the county of Ponthieu, -not as fiefs of the crown of France, but as wholly independent -dominions. Then the French broke the peace; the war began again, and -England lost nearly everything except Calais, Bourdeaux, and Bayonne. -But under Henry the Fifth (1413–1422) the war again began with vigour. -He conquered Normandy, and made a peace by which he was to succeed -to the crown of France. He died just too soon for this; but his son -Henry the Sixth (1422–1460) succeeded in name to France as well as to -England, and was crowned at Paris. But in his day the English were -driven, first out of France, then out of Normandy, and then out of -Aquitaine (1453); so that England lost both the old inheritance and -the new conquest. Nothing was kept but Edward the Third’s conquest of -Calais, which was not lost till 1558. These long wars became more and -more, national wars of England against France. Edward the Third indeed, -who had been brought up by a French mother, seems to have acted less as -an English king than as a French prince claiming the French crown. But -the war was quite national on the part of his subjects, and Henry the -Fifth was an English king in every sense. These long wars with France -naturally gave a blow to the use of French at home, as being the speech -of the enemy. English quite gained the upper hand again in the course -of the fourteenth century. Henry the Fifth even had ministers who could -not speak French, and who therefore, in a conference with the French -ministers, demanded that they should use Latin, as the common language -of Western Christendom. Yet such is the power of habit that acts of -parliament were written in French till quite late in the fifteenth -century, and on some solemn occasions, as when the Queen gives her -assent to an act of parliament, the French tongue is used still. - -=8. Summary.=--Thus all things, the reign of Henry the First, the -Angevin dominion and the break-up of that dominion, the un-English -reigns of John and Henry the Third and the English reign of Edward the -First, the long war with France, its victories and its defeats, all -helped, in their several ways, to undo foreign influences in England -and to make the land more and more English. We have in fact advanced -by going back. All the best changes in our laws, institutions, and -customs, have been really returns, under new forms, to our oldest ways -of all. We have thus got rid of the effects of the Norman Conquest; -but it has been by the help of the Norman Conquest itself that we have -been able to get rid of them. The Conquest did in short give the old -life and the old freedom a new start. It hindered them from dying out -or going to sleep. Men had always something to strive for and struggle -against; and so we were able to keep and to reform without ever -destroying and building up afresh. All this came of the special nature -of the Norman Conquest of England as it was explained at the beginning. -But the work was greatly helped by the fact that the Normans were after -all disguised kinsmen, and it was helped still more by the personal -character of their leader, by the strong will and far-seeing wisdom of -William the Great himself. - - -Oxford: Printed at the Clarendon Press by Horace Hart, M.A. - - - - -Transcriber’s Notes - - -Punctuation, hyphenation, and spelling were made consistent when a -predominant preference was found in the original book; otherwise they -were not changed. - -Simple typographical errors were corrected; unbalanced quotation -marks were remedied when the change was obvious, and otherwise left -unbalanced. - -Text mostly refers to “Edward” but has three occurrences of “Eadward.” - -*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK A SHORT HISTORY OF THE NORMAN -CONQUEST OF ENGLAND *** - -Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions will -be renamed. - -Creating the works from print editions not protected by U.S. copyright -law means that no one owns a United States copyright in these works, -so the Foundation (and you!) can copy and distribute it in the -United States without permission and without paying copyright -royalties. 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