NOTE X. p. 300. The Movements of Tostig after his Banishment

The presence of Tostig in Normandy is asserted by Orderic in the passages which I have quoted in the text, and it is implied in the short narrative of William of Jumièges (vii. 32), who simply says, after describing Harold’s accession, “Porro Dux Tosticum Comitem in Angliam misit, sed militia Heraldi mare servans eum armis abegit” (see p. 304). William of Poitiers and Wace make no mention of any visit of Tostig to Normandy; they do not speak of him at all till they come to their almost incidental mention of Harold Hardrada’s invasion of England. The English writers also make no mention of any visit to Normandy on Tostig’s part. He goes to Flanders and comes on his vain expedition to England in May “from beyond sea” (see p. 324), which of course leaves the matter open between Normandy and Flanders. Snorro again knows nothing of a visit to Normandy, but takes Tostig (see p. 329) from Flanders to Denmark by way of Friesland. I do not however wholly reject the account of Orderic. The omission of Tostig’s visit both by William of Poitiers and the English writers is not at all hard to understand, while it is not easy to see why William of Jumièges or Orderic should have invented it. Its omission by Snorro is still less surprising; it is hard indeed to reconcile his version with that in the English Chronicles even on those points which are the very life of his story.

Orderic’s story however cannot be accepted in its details. First of all, it involves (see vol. ii. p. 626) the central mistake of making Tostig’s banishment follow the accession of Harold. Secondly, as a necessary consequence of this mistake, it greatly hurries Tostig’s movements, making him go to Flanders, leave his wife there, and hasten to Normandy, whereas we know that he left England on November 1st, 1065, and stayed with Baldwin the whole winter (see vol. ii. p. 501). Thirdly, it represents Tostig’s first expedition as not reaching England at all, whereas we know that he landed and harried the coast at several places (see p. 326). But, except the first mistake, which we know how to account for and to correct, these are not very fatal difficulties. Tostig did reach England, but he did nothing there of any moment, and a foreign writer might easily speak of an expedition which so utterly missed its mark, as if it had never touched English ground at all. And, small as the point is, it is worth noticing as an undesigned coincidence that Orderic makes Tostig set sail from the Côtentin, while the English Chronicler makes him land in the Isle of Wight. I have therefore not hesitated to accept the main outline of Orderic’s story, and to represent Tostig’s first expedition, in May, 1066, as undertaken with at least the connivance of William. Tostig must have had some force, Norman or Flemish, adhering to him during the whole time. The presence of Flemings at Stamfordbridge is beyond doubt. See p. 371.

What follows next in Orderic and William of Jumièges is far harder to reconcile with our own Chronicles. They both make Tostig, after struggling in vain against many winds (“Zephyro Notoque aliisque ventis alternatim impellentibus angores multos pertulit,” Orel. Vit. 593 C), make his way at last to Harold Hardrada in Norway. “Post plurimos labores ad Heraldum Regem Nortwigenarum, qui Harafagh cognominabatur, accessit,” says Orderic. So William of Jumièges (vii. 32); “At ille non valens salubriter Angliam introïre, neque Normanniam, quia ventus obstabat, redire, Heraldum Herfagam, Northwegæ Regem, adiit.” There is nothing about his going to Scotland or to Denmark. Wace indeed takes him to Denmark, but seemingly only through confounding Denmark and Norway.

So Benoît, who carries Tostig to Norway in v. 36842 (“vers Northwege l’estut sigler Par merveilles orrible mer”), calls the force which he brought into England “ceus de Norwege” in v. 37065, and “Daneis” in 37103. None of these writers know anything of the double negotiation, first with Swend, then with Harold, which is so prominent in Snorro. Again, the Norman accounts take Tostig and Harold Hardrada straight from Norway to Yorkshire. The “erroneus exsul” pleads his cause before the tyrant, as Orderic (493 D) himself calls Harold, though Tostig is made to address him by many respectful titles (“Sublimitatem vestram, magnifice Rex”—see vol. i. pp. 63, 286—“supplex adeo, et me servitiumque meum Majestati vestræ fideliter offero”). He tells how his younger brother has risen against him and deprived him of the honours—whether the Earldom of the West-Saxons or the Empire of Britain—which were due to him by hereditary right (“ut possim restitui per vestrum suffragium honori ex paternâ successione debito. Nam Heraldus frater meus, qui jure mihi, utpote primogenito, debuisset parere, fraudulenter insurrexit contra me”). He goes on to enlarge on his brother’s perjury (“regnum Angliæ perjuriis præsumpsit usurpare”), an argument which, however telling with William, sounds strangely out of place when addressed to Harold Hardrada. He proposes to Harold of Norway to overthrow Harold of England, and to occupy his Kingdom, granting half of it to Tostig in fief (“proterviam perfidi fratris bello proterite, medietatem Angliæ vobis retinete, aliamque mihi, qui vobis inde fideliter serviam dum advixero, retinete”). Harold consents, he occupies six months in preparations, and sets sail in August. Orderic therefore conceived that Tostig’s banishment, his journeys to Flanders and Normandy, his attempt on England, and his escape to Norway, all took place in the course of January and February. In August then Harold and Tostig set sail together and sail straight for Yorkshire (“mense Augusto Heraldus Noricorum Rex cum Tostico et ingenti classe immensum pelagus intravit, et, Aparciate seu Boreâ flante, ad Angliam applicuit et Eboracensem provinciam primitùs invasit,” 499 D, 500 A).

It is clear that this account differs in some respects from that of Snorro, which I have given in the text. Snorro makes Tostig leave Harold in the spring (see p. 333) and go and collect English and Flemish troops in Flanders, with whom he meets Harold at some point of his voyage. The stoppage in Orkney again (see p. 344) is left out by Orderic, which is not very wonderful.

When we turn to our own Chronicles, we see that whatever amount of truth the stories of Orderic and Snorro may contain, their chronology at least is wholly wrong. Tostig’s first expedition to England, which Snorro leaves out, and which Orderic places at some time in January or February, did not happen till May (see above, p. 708). After its failure, Tostig went, not to Denmark or Norway, but to Scotland, and stayed there all the summer (see p. 327). The question now comes, which I left doubtful in the text, whether he ever went to Norway at all. Let us look at the different accounts.

The Abingdon Chronicle, which is followed by Florence, having mentioned the summer sojourn of Tostig in Scotland, the preparations of Harold of England in the south, and the return of his fleet to London (see p. 338), goes on; “þa ða scipu ham coman, þa com Harold cyning of Norwegan norð into Tínan on unwaran ... and Tostig eorl him com to mid eallum þam þe he begiten hæfde, eallswa hy ær gesprecen hæfdon” (“ut priùs condixerant,” Fl. Wig.).

The Worcester and Peterborough Chronicles record the flight of Tostig to Scotland, and at once connect it with the Norwegian invasion. “And he [Tostig] for to Scotlande mid xii. snaccum, and hine gemette [hine gemette þær. Wig.] Harold se Norrena cyng [cyng of Norwegon. Wig.] mid ccc. scipum; and Tostig him to beah [him to beah and his man wearð. Wig.], and hi bægen foran into Humbran oð þæt hi coman to Eoferwíc.”

This version is followed by William of Malmesbury (ii. 228); “Tostinus ... versus Scotiam vela convertit: ibi Regi Noricorum, Haroldo Harvagre, obvio manus dedit, qui cum ccc. navibus Angliam aggredi meditabatur. Ambo ergo consertis umbonibus terram Transhumbranam populabantur.”

These two accounts are clearly independent. Abingdon puts the meeting of Harold and Tostig in the Tyne. Worcester and Peterborough seem to put it in Scotland. But their words might be taken as leaving the place uncertain. Nor is there any contradiction in the more important question whether the expedition had been already planned between Harold and Tostig. This is directly asserted by the Abingdon Chronicle. The two others would certainly, taken by themselves, be understood to imply that Harold Hardrada had already set out on his own account, and that his meeting with Tostig was not the result of any agreement. This appearance becomes still stronger in William of Malmesbury, from his use of the verb “meditabatur.” But there is no word exactly answering to this in the Chronicles, and the difference in the two accounts may be simply one of omission. The words “eallswa hy ær gesprecen hæfdon” may in themselves mean anything, from a mere agreement to join forces in the Tyne made after an unexpected meeting in Scotland up to the voyage to Norway spoken of by Snorro and Orderic. The question is whether the chronology will admit of that voyage. Snorro and Orderic, as we have seen, place it early in the year. If we give up the story of Tostig’s journey to Normandy and his concert with William, it would be easy to take Tostig into Norway before his first attack on England, at any time between January and May. But it is plain that he did not go to Norway immediately on the failure of that expedition, for he went to Scotland and stayed there all the summer. And it is hard to find room between the end of summer and September 25th for a voyage of Tostig to Norway, for the preparations of Harold Hardrada, and for his voyage. A communication by messengers is more possible, as that may be spread over all the time from May to September. But, if we make Tostig visit Norway so late in the year, it could not have been his visit which first suggested to Harold to invade England. Indeed the invasion could hardly have been first suggested by letters or messages sent so late as May.

We must then either reject the partnership between William and Tostig in the May expedition and carry Tostig into Norway early in the year, or else we must suppose that Harold Hardrada was already planning an attack on England, and that all that any visit or message of Tostig did was to strengthen and hasten a purpose already formed. On the whole I incline to this last view, because I cannot see why any Norman writer should have invented a connexion between Tostig and William, if it never happened. But if we reject the Norman story, we can accept nearly the whole tale in Snorro. Tostig goes to Denmark and Norway early in the year; he then returns to Flanders and collects a force. Snorro does not say what he did with it till he met Harold in the autumn. The gap will thus be filled by the May voyage to England and the summer in Scotland. I am quite content to leave the point open, but I would remark that it is at least as hard to reconcile the Norman and Norwegian accounts with one another as to reconcile either with the English account.

The Hyde writer, as usual, gives (292) an independent account which is worth a passing notice.

“Frater ejus [Haroldi], nomine Tostius, genere et animo temerarius, mox ut fratrem regium honorem usurpâsse vidit, nutu Domini, qui perjurium undique persequebatur, quâdam simultate inter eos ortâ, Angliâ discessit, atque cum multâ manu et thesaurorum suorum copiâ multitudinem Flandriam ad Sanctum Odmarum, ut aiunt, devenit, ubi commendatâ thesaurorum suorum copiâ navem ascendens insulam Norweiam, quondam Scanciam dictam, et ut Gothorum historia testatur, multarum gentium officinam, petivit; quam ingressus, Regem ejus Haroldum, cognomento Hervard [Harfragi], id est, crine formosum, erat enim et staturâ corporis et formâ decorus, tum precibus tum promissionibus ita illexit, ut congregato exercitu et classe paratâ, cum eodem Angliam ad debellandum Regem Haroldum festinus adveniret. Denique Angliam ingressi, Eboracam opulentissimam civitatem et archiepiscopatûs sedem obsidione cingunt.”

We have already (see vol. ii. p. 231) seen this writer talking about the “Isle of Norway,” when, by the way, he really meant Denmark. We here see where he found it, namely in the opening chapters of Jornandes, especially the well-known passage in c. iv. (Muratori, i. 193); “Ex hâc igitur Scanziâ insulâ, quasi officinâ gentium, aut certè velut vaginâ nationum, cum Rege suo nomine Berig, Gothi quondam memorantur egressi.”