Part 4 of 9
NOTE PP. p. 544. The Submission at Berkhampstead
564. See vol. ii. p. 280. Orderic (532 A) thinks it necessary to apologize for the name; “Vulgò, sed parum Latine, cognominari Evigilans-Canem pro ingenti probitate promeruit.” Geoffrey’s title of Martel seems to be the only name of the kind in this generation which is used familiarly and without scruple.
565. Ord. Vit. 532 A. “In eumdem [Fulconem] arma levans nocturnas expeditiones crebrò agebat, et Andegavenses homines et canes in ipsâ urbe, vel in munitioribus oppidis terrebat, et horrendis assultibus pavidos vigilare cogebat.” Yet elsewhere (487 C) he tells us, “Vulgò Evigilans-canem cognominabatur, propter gravissimas infestationes, quas à perfidis affinibus suis Andegavensibus incessanter patiebatur.”
567. See Count Fulk in D’Achery, iii. 233, and Gest. Cons. ib. 353. Herbert is “miles acerrimus,” and his Cenomannian soldiers deal “ferocissimos ictus.”
568. See vol. ii. pp. 276, 278.
569. Will. Pict. 103. “Ut enim alia plurima omittam, novissimè nostrâ memoriâ Fulco Andegavensis Herbertum Cenomannicum majorem Santonas illexit, sponsione urbis ipsius. Ibi, vinctum in medio colloquio, ad pactiones, quas avarè concupierat, carcere ac tormentis coëgit.” So William of Malmesbury (iii. 235), who seems to think this act the only stain on the otherwise perfect character of Fulk; “Unum omnino est quo eum notari audierim, Sanctonas sponsione urbis illectum, in medio colloquio ab apparitoribus arctari, et quibus placuit conditionibus irretiri fecit. Cætera sanctus et integer,” &c. The length of the imprisonment comes from the fragment in Duchèsne, iv. 81; “Tunc Comes Fulco supradictus dolo accersitum secum adduxit Sanctonas Arbertum nobilissimum Comitem Cenomannis, et primâ quadragesimæ dominicâ post cœnam nocte intempestâ eum traditione cepit, et in vinculis secum duxit, tenuitque in carcere biennio. Unde eripere eum Dominus dignatus est. Sequenti anno propter ipsum scelus combusta est ipsa civitas [Saintes?] cum sede episcopali, et dein mansit deserta basilica.”
570. Ord. Vit. 487 D, 655 C. See vol. i. p. 584; ii. p. 130.
571. Vet. An. iii. *304. “Herbertus Comes, cognomine Bacco, avunculus Herberti, qui fuit temporibus Avesgaudi episcopi.”
572. Ib. “Sedem Avesgaudi avunculi sui gaudenter suscepit.” The succession to the see of Le Mans had come to follow much the same law as the succession to the see of Czetinje.
573. Herbert Bacco kept him out of the Bishoprick for two years. Vet. An. u. s.
574. Compare the relations of Normandy to the Capetian Kings, vol. i. p. 272.
576. Vet. An. iii. 305*. “Videns vero Præsul suum episcopatum nec per Regem nec per seipsum à Baccone posse defendi, petivit quiddam à, Rege Henrico, quod utinam non petiisset, scilicet ut daret episcopatum Gaufrido Andegavorum Comiti, solummodò dum viveret, ut liberiùs à, Comite Cenomannico illum defenderet, illo etenim mortuo in regiam manum rediret.” The somewhat startling phrase of the grant of the Bishoprick to the Count of Anjou (even though the Count of Anjou was an hereditary Canon of Saint Martin’s at Tours) can only mean the grant of the lay rights and duties of Advocatio.
577. Ib. 306*. “Consilium iniit cum parochianis et heroibus terræ.” “Heros” was a favourite word with Orderic, but this biographer seems to use it as if it were a sort of standing title of the citizens of Le Mans. Several Spanish cities, I believe,are officially styled “heroic,” like “fidelis civitas” and the like among ourselves.
578. Ord. Vit. 532 B.
579. See vol. ii. p. 195. The writer in Vet. An. iii. 306 calls her “nobilissima femina” and “uxor fortissima.”
580. Vet. An. iii. 306*. “Sperans se pro hoc castrum Lit habiturum. Sed nihil ei profecit, quia illud bene custodierunt milites castellani.” Yet we had just before read how “Gaufridus castellum Lit igne cremavit.”
581. Labbé and Cossart, Conc. ix. 1042.
582. Vet. An. iii. 307*. “Cives verò Cenomannici uxorem Hugonis cum infantibus plorantem per unam portam projecerunt, et Gaufridum Comitem gaudentem intrare fecerunt.”
583. Ib. “Quum autem audiisset præsul Gervasius in vinculis quæ fecissent heroes Cenomannici [see last page; it can hardly be satire] vitæ diffidens, non habuit aliquam spem ultra vivendi; venit Annolit, castellum Lit reddidit. Dum hæc agerentur, Comes Gaufridus Gervasium de carcere exire permisit, tali videlicet sacramento, ut quamdiu ipse Gaufridus adviveret, intra civitatem Cenomannicam Gervasius non intraret.”
584. Ib. “Quum verò videret præsul quod neque in urbem neque in castellum suum posset intrare, abiit ad Willelmum Normanniæ Comitem, ac quidquid ei Gaufridus fecit vel quomodò eum tradidit, illi mœrens rettulit.”
585. Chron. Rem. 1059. Labbé, i. 360. See above, p. 178.
586. I am here following the Norman accounts; the Angevin version in the Gesta Consulum is very different. We there read (D’Achery, iii. 258), “In diebus illis Willelmus Dux Normannorum Herbertum Cenomannicum Consulem nimis impugnabat, cui Martellus auxiliator et tutor fuit, et idcirco Willelmus Dux, qui postea Angliâ acquisitâ Rex Anglorum exstitit, multa à Martello mala perpessus est.”
587. This German sojourn is mentioned incidentally by William of Poitiers (105), where Herbert’s sister, afterwards to be spoken of, is brought “ex partibus Teutonum.”
588. Vet. An. iii. *315. “Erat autem uxor ejusdem Marchisii Gersendis nomine, filia Herberti Cenomannorum illustrissimi Comitis, qui vocatus est Evigila-canem: quæ primò quidem Theobaldo Duci Campaniæ in matrimonium tradita, sed ab eo, repudio interveniente, discedens, præfati Athonis postmodum fuerat copulata conjugio.” See also Ord. Vit. 532 B.
589. See above, p. 89. Yet a fairer ground of consanguinity than usual might have been alleged.
590. See the life of Albert Azo in Gibbon’s Miscellaneous Works, iii. 409. We shall hear of him again at Le Mans.
591. Ord. Vit. 532 B. “Tertia vero Johanni Domino castri quod Flecchia dicitur nupsit, quæ marito suo tres liberos, Goisbertum, Heliam et Enoch peperit.” Helias will hardly come within the limits of my central history, but he was a memorable man in the days of William Rufus.
592. William of Poitiers calls Margaret the daughter of Herbert (103), but he afterwards (105) corrects the mistake and calls her “germana.” It is plain from Orderic (u. s.) that she was the daughter of Hugh and sister of Herbert. Benoît (35790) erroneously makes her only his half-sister;
The “Tieise” comes from some misunderstanding of the “Teutonum partes” in William of Poitiers. William has much to say about her virtues and early death; “Hæc generosa virgo, nomine Margarita, insigni specie, decentior fuit omni margaritâ.” This seems to be an earlier use of the name than I had thought in vol. i. p. 522, as this Margaret could hardly have been called after the daughter of the Ætheling Eadward.
593. See above, p. 169.
595. Will. Pict. 103. “Hugo ... Gaufredi tyrannide metuens omnino deleri, Normanniæ Ducem Willelmum, sub quo tutus foret, supplex adiit, manibus ei sese dedit, cuncta sua ab eo, ut miles a domino, recepit.” Ord. Vit. 487 C. “Præfatus nimirum juvenis, post obitum Herberti senioris patris [it should of course be Hugh] ... consilio matris suæ se suumque patrimonium fortissimo Duci Normannorum commendaverat.” This is an excellent example of the process of commendation described in vol. i. p. 129.
596. See above, p. 188.
597. Will. Pict. 103. “Cunctorum singulariter eum statuens heredem si non gigneret alium.”
598. Ib. “Præterea ut conjunctiùs attingeret tantum virum ipse et posteritas ipsius Ducis, ei filia [see above, p. 197] petita atque pacta est.” Ord. Vit. 532 B. “Alia, nomine Margarita, Rodberto filio Guillelmi Ducis Neustriæ desponsata est.” And again (487 C); “Margaritam sororem suam Rodberto ejusdem Ducis filio in conjugium dederat, cum quâ hereditatem suam, comitatum scilicet Cenomanensem, si sine liberis obiret, concesserat.”
599. Will. Pict. 105. “Germanam Hereberti ... nato suo conjugare decrevit [Willelmus], ut per eam ipse et progeniti ex ipso, jure quod nullâ controversiâ convelli posset vel infirmari, Hereberti hæreditatem possiderent sororius et nepotes.”
600. Ib. 103. “Ne quærerent alium, præter quem ipse dominum eis, hæredem sibi, relinqueret. Cui si volentes pareant, leve servitium toleraturos fore, si vi subacti, forsitan grave.” See vol. ii. p. 169.
601. Ord. Vit. 487 D. “Quia Normannicum jugum his quibus imminet gravissimum est, subire nimis formidabant.”
602. Ord. Vit. 487 D. “Walterius ... totum comitatum Cenomanensem calumniabatur, et ex parte possidebat. Nam ipsam urbem, quæ caput est provinciæ, Goisfridus de Meduanâ et Hubertus de Sanctâ Susannâ, aliique potentes in fidelitate Walterii acriter tenebant.” William of Poitiers says only (104), “At homines malefidi Galterium Medantinum Comitem, cui soror Hugonis nupserat, receperunt invasorem desertores.” But he presently mentions Geoffrey of Mayenne. On Geoffrey, see above, p. 167.
603. He was a native of Vendôme, who had been a knight (“miles quidam primùm”), then a monk of Marmoutiers. He became Prior, and was “Prior bonus, ædificator nimis.” Geoffrey Martel then removed him to Angers, and made him Abbot of Saint Sergius and Bacchus, a decaying monastery, which he restored (“destructum valdéque redactum ad nihilum, magnum ex novo constituit”). None of his work remains there. He was then chosen Bishop of Le Mans by the clergy and people under a congé d’elire and letter missive from Count Geoffrey (“Gaufridus ... congregavit populum terræ suæ et omnem clerum, ut Cenomannensi ecclesiæ eligerent Episcopum.” Vet. An. iii. *311). It will be remembered that the Count of Anjou had stepped into the position of the King with regard to the Bishoprick. See above, p. 193.
604. Vet. Ann. iii. 312*. “Quamvis pauperior et humilior antecessoribus Episcopis fuerit, tamen majora opera exercere tentavit. Quinto namque ordinationis suæ anno fundamenta matris ecclesiæ ampliora quam fuerant inchoavit, sed morte inopinâ superveniente perficere non potuit.” It illustrates the character of Vulgrin that this is the only event of the year 1063 that the episcopal chronicler finds to record. The conquest of Maine by William is mentioned only incidentally in the life of the next Bishop, p. 314*.
605. See above, p. 183.
606. Ib.
607. Will. Pict. 104. “Incendium confestim injicere, aut urbem totam exscindere, ausos iniqua trucidare, quantùm ingenio abundavit et viribus, potuisset. Sed hominum sanguini, quamquam nocentissimo, parcere maluit solita illa temperantia.”
608. Ib. “Maluit ... validissimam urbem relinquere incolumem, caput atque munimentum terræ quam in manu habebat.”
609. This seems to be taken for granted throughout the story, and it is implied in such expressions as that just quoted and others elsewhere. William of Jumièges, in his shorter account (vii. 27), which, it will be remembered (see at p. 169), is put out of place, speaks in the same way; “Ad urbem Cenomannicam per aliquot annos arma convertit ... Ad postremum victi Cenomanni, jam castellis per cunctum comitatum subactis, dextras Duci dederant.”
610. Will. Pict. 104. “Cenomannici ... anxii trepidique ... accito sæpiùs Gaufredo, quem præses eorum Galterius dominum sibi ac tutorem præfecit, prœlio decernere minati sunt nonnumquam, sed ausi numquam.”
611. Will. Pict. 104. “Præsidia, ubi res postulavit, imponens.”
612. Ib. “Perdomitis tandem castellis jam per totum comitatum subactis, reddunt civitatem prævalenti.”
613. We have seen (see above, p. 201) that Vulgrin began to rebuild the church in the fifth year of his episcopate, that is this very year 1063. The only question is whether any part of his work still exists. I will not enlarge on this purely architectural question, but will simply refer to the account in the Vetera Analecta. The expression in p. *313 might imply that the next Bishop Arnold destroyed every trace of what Vulgrin began; but, as (p. 314*) it appears that Arnold’s own work was confined to the choir and transepts, it is possible that Vulgrin’s nave (or possibly a still earlier nave) may have survived. The western portal of the church has a very ancient look.
614. William of Poitiers (104) becomes eloquent on the “joyeuse entrée.” Of the ecclesiastical part of the ceremony he tells us, “Templa summoperè, quemadmodùm processiones, adornata effulgent, redolent thymiamata, resonant sacra cantica.” So Orderic (488 A), with a curious confusion between Bishop Vulgrin and his successor; “Cœnomannicam urbem, civibus ultro sese dedentibus, cum ingenti tripudio recepit, eique Domnus Ernaldus, ejusdem urbis Præsul cum clericis et monachis revestitis textus crucesque ferentibus honorabiliter obviam processit.” Of the laity William tells us, “Studium est summis, mediis, infimis, placare infensum. Occurrunt, clamant dominum suum, procidunt et inclinantur ejus dignitati; fingunt hilares vultus, lætas voces, plausus congratulantes.”
615. See the story of Bishop Hildebert, Vet. An. iii. 308.
616. The building of the castle seems implied in Will. Pict. 104–105; “Victori sufficiens pœna fuit perdomitos in potestatem suam venisse, et urbis firmamentum suâ in reliquum custodiâ occupari.” So Roman de Rou, 10211;
This castle, “regia turris,” must be distinguished from the buildings spoken of by William of Jumièges (vii. 27) and Benoît (35735); “In quorum medio ad domandum eorum insolentiam, duo municipia (“deus chasteaus” in Benoît) in Ponte Barbato, seu Barbello, stabilivit suisque militibus custodienda commisit.” Orderic (773 A) expressly distinguishes them; “Regia turris [elsewhere “turris principalis, turris Cenomannica”], et Mons-Barbatus atque Barbatulus, Regi [Guillelmo Rufo] subjiciuntur, et meritò, quia à patre ejus condita noscuntur.”
617. The conquest of Maine is recorded in a Latin entry in our own Peterborough Chronicle, 1062; “Hoc anno subjugata est Cynomannia Comiti Normanniæ Willielmo.”
618. Will. Pict. 105. “Voluntariè Gualterus deditioni consensit, ne, invasa protegens, hæreditaria amitteret. Clades a Normannis illata vicinitati Medanti et Calvimontis metum ei faciebat de majori.”
619. The direct charge against William is found only, as far as I know, in the harangue which Orderic puts into the mouths of the conspirators at the bride-ale of 1076 (534 B); “Gualterium Pontesii Comitem, Eduardi Regis nepotem, cum Biotâ uxore suâ, Falesiæ hospitavit, et nefariâ potione simul ambos unâ nocte peremit.” This one would suppose to be after the surrender of Le Mans. But in the account which Orderic elsewhere gives in his own person, William is not distinctly accused, and the death of Walter and Biota is made to happen while the war is going on (487 D); “Dum magnanimus Dux frequenti expeditione rebelles impeteret ... prædictus Comes Walterius et Biota conjux ejus per inimicorum machinamenta simul, ut ferunt, letali veneno fraudulenter infecti obierunt. Quibus defunctis, securior Dux ... rebelles expetiit.” But it is plain from the narrative of William of Poitiers that Walter survived the surrender of Le Mans, and it is not likely that he would be at Falaise while the war was going on. This contradiction throws a good deal of doubt on the whole story. See vol. ii. pp. 413–414. No one, as far as I know, ever charged William with the death of Herbert, who died even more opportunely for him than Walter.
620. Will. Pict. 106. “Per legatos iterum iterumque monitus ad obsequendum, mentem obstinatam non omisit.” William waxes very eloquent in abuse of the “versutus homo, Gaufredus Meduanensis.” At this distance of time he looks very like a loyal vassal, perhaps even like a true patriot.
621. Orderic (488 A) makes William take Ambrières, for whose capture we have already had two dates, on the road; “Ambreras oppidum ejus [Gaufredi] cepit,” &c.
622. The river side, according to William of Poitiers (106), “nullâ vi, nullo ingenio vel arte humanâ, attentari potest.” The land side was not quite so impossible; “Alteri vero [lateri] munimenta lapidea, pariterque difficillimus aditus propugnant.”
625. Will. Pict. 106. “Hujus castri latus alterum ... alluitur scopuloso rapidoque flumine, nam supra Meduanæ ripam in præruptâ montis rupe situm est.”
626. At Angers the cathedral crowns the hill, the castle commands the river; the great monastery of the Holy Trinity lies on the other side, in what was originally a mere suburb. But neither Angers nor Le Mans has the steep double slope of Mayenne.
628. Will. Pict. 106. “Gladiis, lanceis, missilibus, nihil geritur, nihil gerendum speratur. Item neque ariete, neque tormento cæterisve instrumentis bellicis. Siquidem locus omnino machinamentis importunus erat.”
629. Ib. “Equitum ac peditum copias tantas incassum fatigari cuncti ferè opinantur, multi conqueruntur, nullâ spe animos eorum erigente, nisi fortè morâ annuâ vel ampliore fames expugnet.”
630. Ib. “En sollerti consilio ipsius [Willelmi] injecti ignes castrum corripiunt.”
631. Ib. 107. “Citissimè diffunduntur [ignes] more suo, sævius omni ferro quæque obvia vastantes.”
632. Ib. “Quae, sicut alibi capta plerumque grandia, militum potiùs quam sua esse voluit continentissimus ac liberalissimus princeps.”
633. William of Jumièges, as I have already said (see above, p. 169), puts the taking of Mayenne, as a sequel to that of Le Mans, out of place. He also makes the fire accidental (vii. 27); “Meduanum verò, castellum cujusdam opulenti militis nomine Goiffredi, adhuc restiterat, quod Dux exercitibus applicitis aliquamdiù oppugnans cepit, igneque injecto per duos pueros, qui clam ad ludendum cum oppidanis infantibus intraverant, combussit.” Wace (10250) says, “Li bores esprit et aluma.” Ord. Vit. 488 A. “Meduanam post diutinam obsidionem combussit.”
634. I infer this, not only from the absence of any mention of his name during the siege, and from the unlikelihood that such a man would have yielded to what seems to have been a mere panic, but from the expressions of William of Poitiers a little before (106); “Fuga, astutia, validæque munitiones non modicum fiduciæ ministraverunt. Statuit ergo prudentia repudiati domini latibulum carissimum abalienare ei castrum Meduanum, æstimans multò satius ac dignius hâc pœnâ ferire, quam fugitantem persequi, et victoriam levem ex eo capto insignibus titulis addere.”
635. See Vet. An. iii. *315; Ord. Vit. 706 C, 707 A, 771 D.
636. Will. Pict. 107. “Restauratis quæ flamma corruperat, præsidioque providenter disposito.” So Will. Gem. vii. 27. “Quod iterum restauravit et custodibus suis mancipavit.” So Benoît, 35770. But Wace (10253) says,
637. Will. Pict, u. s. “Insolitum triumphum, quasi de naturâ superatâ, domum revexit cum immenso gaudio exercitûs.”
638. Ord. Vit. 488 A. “Quo superato, penè omnes illius complices et ad rebellandum fautores terrore curvati sunt, et Willelmum Principem, quem divina manus protegebat, timere eique obsecundare coacti sunt.”
639. Vet. An. iii. 314*. “Willelmus Princeps Normanorum ... Cenomannensem comitatum, exstinctis atque omninò deletis ejusdem comitatûs hæredibus, adquisierat.” Is this meant as a charge against William? If so, it extends beyond Walter and Biota, and seems to prove too much.
640. Will. Pict. 105. “Quoniam pueri ætas nondum fuit matura conjugio [Robert must have been four years younger than Margaret, whose father died in 1051, two years before William’s marriage], in locis tutis illam, prope nubilem, magno cum honore custodiri fecit, nobilium atque sapientium virorum ac matronarum curæ commissam.” Orderic (488 A) says she was entrusted “Stigaudo potenti viro de mansione Odonis.” Compare the entrusting of William’s own daughter to Roger of Beaumont; Orderic, 573 D.
641. Ord. Vit. u. s. “Priusquam nubiles annos attingeret seculi ludibriis erepta feliciter obiit.”
642. Will. Pict. u. s. He enlarges on this at length.
643. Will. Pict. u. s.
644. Will. Pict. and Ord. Vit. u. s.
645. See vol. ii. pp. 415, 420.
646. See vol. ii. pp. 475, 476, 634.
647. See vol. ii. p. 299 et seqq.
648. See vol. ii. pp. 303, 421.
649. See vol. ii. pp. 367 et seqq., 422.
650. See Appendix R.
651. See Appendix R.
652. See vol. ii. pp. 537, 543.
653. See vol. ii. p. 329, and cf. pp. 147, 149, 580.
655. See Appendix R.
656. See Appendices R. and S.
657. Bayeux Tapestry, pl. 1.
658. So Eadmer (4) makes him go “cum ditioribus et honestioribus hominibus suis [his own Thegns or personal Comitatus], auro et argento vesteque pretiosâ nobiliter instructis.”
660. Tapestry, pl. 1. It is singular however that, though a large part of Bosham Church is as old as Harold’s time, or older, the picture in the Tapestry is in no way like it—or indeed like any other human erection.
661. Tapestry, pl. 1.
662. See above, p. 157.
663. Will. Pict. 108. “Docuit enim avaritiæ calliditas Galliarum quasdam nationes exsecrandam consuetudinem, barbaram, et longissimè ab omni æquitate Christianâ alienam. Illaqueant potentes aut locupletes: trusos in ergastula afficiunt contumeliis, tormentis. Sic variâ miseriâ prope ad necem usque contritos ejiciunt sæpissimè venditos magno.” So Will. Malms. ii. 228. “Barbarum et effrænatum morem regionis esse ut qui evaserant in mari naufragium in terrâ invenirent periculum.”
664. I infer as much from the use of the word “illaqueant” in the last quotation from William of Poitiers.
665. Roman de Rou, 10765 et seqq. The sums of money are thus given (10776);
666. Bayeux Tapestry, plate 2. “Hic apprehendit Wido Haroldum.” Benoît de Ste. Maure (36540) adds the odd comment, that those who were seized in this fashion might have wished themselves in Sicily; “Mieuz vousissent estre en Sezile.” Yet, when Benoît wrote, Sicily was a settled Norman monarchy.
667. So at least says William of Malmesbury (ii. 228); “Manus manicis, pedes compedibus, præbuere.”
668. This is quite plain from the Tapestry, plate 2. “Duxit eum ad Belrem et ibi eum tenuit.” Wace (10784) says, “A Abevile l’ont mené,” and makes Guy take him to Beaurain only after the news has reached William (v. 10798);
This I conceive to arise from a misconception of the words of William of Jumièges, vii. 31; “In manus Widonis Abbatisvillæ Comitis incidit. Quem idem Comes captum cum suis confestim in custodiâ trusit.” But this does not imply that Abbeville was the place of imprisonment. William of Poitiers, William of Malmesbury, and Benoît do not mention any particular place. Anyhow it was not Saint Valery. See below, Chapter xv. § 2.
669. Roman de Rou, 10785;
Eadmer (5) says, “Constrictus igitur Haraldus quemlibet ex vulgo, promissâ mercede illectum, clam ad Comitem Normanniæ dirigit;” but that the messenger was an Englishman appears from his moustache in the Tapestry, plate 3. “Hic venit nuntius ad Wilgelmum Ducem.” William of Malmesbury, ii. 228, gives another turn to the message, of which I shall have to speak elsewhere. One expression is very odd; “Si pecuniis exuenda captivitas esset, libens daret Willelmo Comiti, non semiviro Guidoni.” I do not know the meaning of this strange epithet and spondaic cadence.
670. Wace understood this. Roman de Rou, 10800;
671. Will. Pict. 108. “Properè missis legatis.” The speed at which they ride in the Tapestry (pl. 3) is beyond anything of the kind represented in the whole story, except in the very thick of the battle.
672. Ib. “Precatu simul ac minis extortum.” William of Jumièges (vii. 31) puts this still more strongly; “Dux autem ut hoc comperit, missis legatis violenter illum extorsit.” But the other narratives do not bear this out.
Eadmer (5) makes two messages, the latter stronger than the former; “Ille [Willelmus] festinatò per nuncios mandat Domino Pontivi, Haraldum cum suis ab omni calumniâ liberum sibi quantociùs mitti, si pristinâ amicitiâ suo amodò vellet ex more potiri. Sed quum ille hominem dimittere nollet, iterum in mandato accepit se necessariò Haraldum missurum, alioquin certissimè sciret Willelmum Normanniæ Ducem armatum pro eo Pontivum iturum.”
673. Eadmer however makes him still plunder his captives; “Mittit igitur virum cum sociis, primò tamen eis quæ meliora detulerant simul ablatis.”
674. See above, p. 116. That Eu was the place appears from Will. Pict. 108. “Ipse [Guido] adducens apud Aucense castrum sibi præsentavit.” So Benoît, 36572. “Li amena à Ou tot quite.”
675. Will. Pict. 108. “Guidoni bene merito, qui, nec pretio nec violentiâ compulsus, virum quem torquere, necare, vendere potuisset pro libitu ipse ... sibi præsentavit, grates rettulit condignas, terras tradidit amplas ac multum opimas, addidit insuper in pecuniis maxima dona.” The position of the lands comes from the Roman de Rou, 10806;
676. “Harold Dux Anglorum” in the Tapestry, pl. 1. He bears the same title in the Saxon Annalist (Pertz, vi. 764). See vol. i. pp. 289, 470; cf. 179, and ii. 635.
677. In the Tapestry, plate 4, we merely read, “Hic Dux Wilgelm cum Haroldo venit ad palatium suum.” It is here that the mysterious “unus clericus et Ælfgyva” (see Appendix S.) are seen standing at the door of the Palace. William of Poitiers (108) says more distinctly, “In urbem sui principatûs caput Rothomagum introduxit.” So Benoît, 36577;
678. Roman de Rou, 10810;
679. Snorro (Johnston, 190; Laing, iii. 76). “Sat Haralldr í hássæti à adra hönd Jarli, enn til annarar handar kona Jarls, hon var hverri kono frídari, er menn höfdo sed ... Jarl geck optazt snemma at sofa, enn Haralldr sat lengi à kvölldom, oc taladi vid kono Jarls.” This is an exact picture of old Norwegian, if not of Norman life. See Keyser’s Private Life of the Old Northmen, pp. 72, 143; “The guests ... were shown to the beds appointed for them. But even after they had retired for the night, they often had to quaff off a horn or two, which the hostess, or one of the women of the house, would bring them, while she seated herself the while by their bed-side and entertained them by her conversation.”
680. See Appendix R.
681. See Appendix F.
682. Namely that of William of Poitiers. See Appendix R.
683. Harold (see vol. ii. p. 555) could hardly have been born before 1021, but, as he became Earl in 1045 (see vol. ii. pp. 36, 37, 43), he is not likely to have been born many years later. William (see vol. ii. pp. 585–587) was born in 1027 or 1028.
684. See Appendix O.
685. See Appendix R.
686. William of Poitiers (109), who puts the knighthood before the Breton expedition, seems to extend it to Harold’s followers; “Qui venerant cum ipso”—possibly Wulfnoth and Hakon—“armis militaribus et equis delectissimis instructos secum in bellum Britannicum duxit.” “Militaribus” is doubtless to be taken in the technical sense. The Tapestry (pl. 6) places the knighthood after the Breton war; “Hic Willelm dedit Haroldo arma.” Wace follows William of Poitiers (10812). Mr. Planché (Arch. Ass. June 1867, p. 145) says that Wace lays the scene at Avranches. He probably refers to the Roman de Rou, 13723, but the knighthood is not there spoken of.
687. William of Malmesbury (iii. 236) attributes the opposite motive to William. He takes Harold, “volens ejus manum explorare; simul et strictiori consilio, apparatum ostentans suum, conspicaturo quantùm præstaret Anglicis bipennibus ensis Normannicus.” If Harold was set to fight on horseback with his Danish axe in his hand, it might very likely be so.
688. The fullest accounts are in William of Poitiers (109) and the Tapestry (pll. 4–6), but it is not easy to reconcile the two. The other accounts are very short. Wace (10814) makes Harold accompany William in three or four expeditions;
This, as we shall see, is quite possible. See Appendix T.
690. Conan was the grandson of Hadwisa, daughter of Richard the Fearless. See vol. i. p. 508.
691. See vol. ii. p. 181; cf. i. pp. 518, 526. William of Poitiers (109) is inclined to dwell on these earlier wars, rather than on the later guardianship of Alan. His son Conan is “paternæ rebellionis renovator.”
692. See above, p. 168.
693. Will. Pict. 109. “Is [Conanus] in virum ferocissimum adultus, a tutelâ diu toleratâ liber, capto Eudone patruo suo, atque vinculis ergastularibus mancipato, provinciæ, quam dono paterno accepit, magnâ cum truculentiâ dominari cœpit.” William of Malmesbury (iii. 236) looks on him with more favour; “Viridis juventâ et præcellens robore, Eudonem patruum vinxerat, multa egregia fecerat.”
694. See Art de Vérifier les Dates, ii. 896.
695. William of Poitiers goes back to the grant of Charles the Simple, who gave Britanny to Rolf “in servitium perpetuum.” (See vol. i. p. 191.) But he allows the constant revolts of the Breton Counts; “Comites Britannici e jugo Normannicæ dominationis cervicem omnino solvere numquam valuerunt, etsi multoties id conati totâ vi obluctando.” So William of Malmesbury (iii. 236) speaks of William as “Britanniam ut hæreditarium solum calumnians.”
696. Will. Pict. 111. See below, p. 238.
698. Will. Pict. 110. Britanny is “regio longè latèque diffusa, milite, magis quam credibile sit, referta.” He goes on to say; “Partibus e quidem in illis miles unus quinquaginta genuerat, sortitus more barbaro denas aut ampliùs uxores; quod de Mauris veteribus refertur, legis divinæ atque pudici ritûs ignaris. Ad hoc populositas ipsa armis et equis maximè, arvorum culturæ aut morum minimè student.” The word “denas” seems to show that this patriarchal state of things was not confined to one particular knight. One hardly sees why the ancient Moors should have been picked out as the horrid example, rather than the modern Saracens or any other polygamous people.
The Chronicle of St. Michael’s Mount (Labbé, i. 350), under the year 1056, says of Conan’s uncle, “Hic Eudo multos habuit filios.” Was he the “miles” whom William of Poitiers had specially in his eye?
699. Will. Pict. 110. “Uberrimo lacte, parcissimo pane, sese transigunt. Pinguia pabula gignunt pecoribus loca vasta et fermè nescia segetum.”
700. Ib. “Prœlia cum ardenti alacritate ineunt: dum prœliantur, furibundi sæviunt. Pellere soliti, difficilè cedunt.”
701. Ib. “Quum vacant a bello, rapinis, latrociniis, cædibus domesticis, aluntur sive exercentur.”
702. See above, p. 166, and vol. ii. 284.
703. Will. Pict. 109. “Conani in tantum jam temeritas crevit, ut quo die terminos Normanniæ aggrederetur denuntiare non formidaret.” This sort of bravado was chivalrous heroism in William; it is mere rashness and insolence in Conan.
704. Ib. “Dominus ejus [Conani] antiquo jure, sicuti Normannorum, Willelmus, castellum quod Sancti Jacobi appellatum est interim opposuit in confinio, ne famelici prædones ecclesiis inermibus, aut ultimo terræ suæ vulgo, excursionibus latrocinantibus nocerent.” The castle and town are still always known as Saint-James, never as Saint-Jaques.
705. Will. Pict. 110. “Nihili pendens terribilitatem hanc Dux Willelmus, in quem diem adventum Conani meminit denuntiatum, eo ipse intra fines ejus occurrit.”
706. I presume that the “Ruallus” of William of Poitiers represents the name Rhiwallon.
708. See vol. i. p. 240. For the special mention of Dol, see Flodoard, 944.
710. Will. Pict. 110. Conan is engaged in “castri terræ suæ Doli oppugnatione.”
711. Unless possibly a larger proportion of beggars and of way-side crosses than is usual in Normandy.
712. The time of the invasion was autumn. “Stabant in aristis fruges immaturæ.” They missed therefore the snowy bloom of a Breton, Norman, or West-Saxon land in the time of spring. Snorro also (see above, p. 227) makes Harold’s visit in the autumn, but he makes him stay all the winter.
714. Bayeux Tapestry, pll. 4, 5. “Hic Willelm Dux et exercitus ejus venerunt ad Montem Michaelis.”
715. Bayeux Tapestry, pl. 5. “Hic Harold Dux trahebat eos de arenâ.” See vol. ii. p. 38.
717. Will. Pict. 110. “Sistere tentat Conanum castri præses Ruallus, revocat illudens, morari biduum precatur, sufficiens huic moræ stippendium ab ipso sumpturum.”
718. Ib. “Homo miserè exterritus, pavorem potiùs audiens, cursu instituto longiùs profugit.” So the Tapestry, pl. 5; “Venerunt ad Dol et Conan fugâ vertit.” On the mention of Rennes, see Appendix T.
719. Will. Pict. 111. “Nec penes agricolas interesse, Normannico an Britannico exercitu consumpti anni laborem amiserint.”
720. Ib. “Sibi modo ad famam valuisse, non ad conservationem rerum, Conani depulsionem.”
721. Will. Pict. 110, 111. “Menstruâ penuriâ fatigatum exercitum reducebat.” The Archdeacon’s minute setting forth of the workings of the Duke’s mind is too long to copy.
722. Ib. 111. “Excedenti jam Britanniæ limitem repente indicatur Gaufredum Andegavensem cum ingentibus copiis Conano fuisse conjunctum, et ambos postero die prœliatum affuturos.”
723. See Appendix T.
724. See vol. ii. pp. 220, 233.
725. Bayeux Tapestry, pl. 5.
726. Bayeux Tapestry, pl. 5.
727. Ib. pl. 6. Cf. the legend of the death of Malcolm at Alnwick. See Robertson, i. 147.
728. See the Angevin Chronicle in Labbé, i. 276.
729. Bayeux Tapestry, pl. 6.
730. Cf. vol. i. pp. 436, 585; ii. 384.
731. Bayeux Tapestry, pl. 6.
732. See above, p. 227.
733. Ord. Vit. 492 A. “Omnia quæ ab illo requisita fuerant super sanctissimas reliquias juraverat.”
734. Wace, 10828. See Appendix R.
735. Ib. 10838;
736. Ib. 10858;
737. See Appendix R.
739. See Appendix F.
740. See vol. ii. pp. 431, 434.
741. So say most of the accounts. See Appendix R.
742. Will. Malms, iii. 238. “Liberatum se sacramento asserens, quod filia ejus quam desponderat citrà nubiles annos obierat.”
743. See vol. ii. pp. 43, 494.
744. The apology put into Harold’s mouth by William of Malmesbury (iii. 238) is that he was “necessitate temporis coactus.” Wace (11965) puts it more clearly still. Harold’s Biographer (Chron. Ang. Norm. ii. 187) argues the point at length. See Appendix U.
745. See Appendix R.
746. Compare the homage done by Richard the Fearless to Hugh the Great on promising to marry his daughter. See vol. i. p. 248.
747. See Appendix R.
748. See above, p. 157.
749. See vol. ii. pp. 365, 384, 385, 460.
750. See the speech of Philip, Lord Wharton, on the Abjuration Bill of 1690. Macaulay, iii. 574.
751. See the stories of the fidelity of Geroy and his son William to their several feudal lords, vol. ii. pp. 230–232. On the other hand it is constantly made an aggravation of the imprisonment of William of Aquitaine by Geoffrey Martel, that it was a wrong done against his lord. See vol. ii. p. 594. So the Peterborough Chronicle (1087) says of the last expedition of William himself, that he “hergode uppan his agenne hlaford Philippe þam cynge.”
752. The authorities for this Chapter are essentially the same as those for the last.
753. Will. Pict. 109. “Non enim in longum sperabatur Edwardi ægrotantis vita.”
754. William of Poitiers (145–146) gets very eloquent on this head; I have quoted the passage in Appendix G.
755. The suddenness of the news is marked by William of Poitiers (121); “Verus rumor insperatò venit Anglicam terram Rege Edwardo orbatam esse et ejus coronâ Heraldum ornatum.”
756. See above, p. 52, and vol. ii. pp. 336, 346, 358.
757. In the Tapestry (pl. 8) we see the ship; “Hic navis Anglica venit in terram Willelmi Ducis.” See Bruce, p. 87. The language of Wace (10991) seems to imply a special messenger;
758. Roman de Rou, 10983.
759. See Prevost’s note, ii. 120.
760. Ib. 10989;
On “dameisels,” “domicelli,” a diminutive of “dominus,” which now survives both in French and English in the feminine only, see Ducange in voc. Benoît (36640) applies the name, in the form “danzel,” to Wulfnoth. In the pretended Laws of Eadward, it translates “Æðeling,” with the comment, “Nos de pluribus, quia filios baronum vocamus domicellos, Angli autem nullum præter filios Regum vocant” (Schmid, 516).
761. Will. Malms. iii. 279. “Fuit ... roboris ingentis in lacertis, ut magno sæpe spectaculo fuerit quod nemo ejus arcum tenderet, quem ipse admisso equo pedibus nervo extento sinuaret.”
762. Roman de Rou, 10995;
763. Ib. 10997;
All these graphic details are peculiar to Wace. Benoît (36672) is much shorter.
764. Roman de Rou, 11012; “Sor un pécol sun chief a mis.” I suppose this means, as Mr. Taylor translates it, against a pillar. Wace’s description is so perfect, that it is impossible to do anything but simply repeat it. Otherwise this would be a good opportunity to call up the image of the ancient pillared hall, as at Oakham and Winchester, and once at Westminster, the one great apartment of the palace, as of any other house, and seemingly open to all comers.
765. Wace (11017) here says simply, “Li seneschal,” but from v. 11051 we see who this seneschal was.
766. Roman de Rou, 11020; “Par la sale ala chantusant.” “Fredonnant, chantant légèrement,” says Pluquet; “humming a tune” in Mr. Taylor’s version.
767. Roman de Rou, 11051. “Li filz Osber el cuer hardi.”
768. See Appendix U.
769. See above, p. 70.
771. I leave it to canon lawyers to determine whether Harold’s precontract to the daughter of William would in any way invalidate his marriage with the widow of Gruffydd. However this may be, William could not seriously expect that Harold would, on any such grounds, put away his wife, especially when his wife was the sister of the two Northern Earls. The question of course remains whether Harold really was married at the time.
772. So Eadmer and those who copy from him. See Appendix U.
773. Will. Malms, iii. 238. See Appendix U.
774. Eadmer, 5. “Si de filiâ suâ, quam debui in uxorem, ut asserit, ducere, agit, super regnum Angliæ mulierem extraneam, inconsultis principibus, me nec debere nec sine grandi injuriâ posse adducere noverit.”
775. Will. Malms. iii. 238. “Præsumptuosum fuisse quod, absque generali senatûs et populi conventu et edicto, alienam illi hæreditatem juraverit; proinde stultum sacramentum frangendum.” This is less forcibly put by Eadmer (5); “Regnum quod necdum fuerat meum quo jure potui dare vel permittere.”
776. Numbers xxx. 3–5.
777. Will. Malms. iii. 238. “Quantò magis quod ille, sub Regis virgâ constitutus, nesciente omni Angliâ, de toto regno, necessitate temporis coactus, impegerit, videatur non esse ratum.”
778. Ib. “Præterea iniquum postulat ut imperio decedat, quod tanto favore civium regendum susceperit; hoc nec provincialibus gratum, nec militibus tutum.” I do not fully understand this last clause. Would Harold’s Thegns and Housecarls have been specially exposed to danger in case of William’s peaceful accession? Or does the historian write by the light of his own time and of Domesday, remembering how much more heavily William’s confiscations fell on the “milites” than on the “provinciales.”
779. Ib. “Ita revertebantur inanes nuntii, vel veris vel verisimilibus argumentis præstricti.”
780. Will. Malms. iii. 238. “Alter [Willelmus] interea illum [Haroldum] per nuntios leniter convenire, de rupto fœdere expostulare, precibus minas insuere: sciret se ante annum emensum ferro debitum vindicaturum, illuc iturum quo Haroldus tutiores se pedes habere putaret.” Is this last not very intelligible clause a scoff at the English tactics of fighting on foot?
We’ll remember where you stopped. All chapters