CHAPTER III.

ETHELRED

{978} THE freedom which England had so long enjoyed from the

depredations of the Danes, seems to have proceeded, partly from the

establishments which that piratical nation had obtained in the north

of France, and which employed all then superfluous hands to people and

maintain them; partly from the vigor and warlike spirit of a long race

of English princes, who preserved the kingdom in a posture of defence,

by sea and land, and either prevented or repelled every attempt of

the invaders. But a new generation of men being now sprung up in the

northern regions, who could no longer disburden themselves on Normandy,

the English had reason to dread that the Danes would again visit an

island to which they were invited, both by the memory of their past

successes, and by the expectation of assistance from their countrymen,

who, though long established in the kingdom, were not yet thoroughly

incorporated with the natives, nor had entirely forgotten their

inveterate habits of war and depredation. And as the reigning prince

was a minor, and even when he attained to man’s estate, never discovered

either courage or capacity sufficient to govern his own subjects, much

less to repel a formidable enemy, the people might justly apprehend the

worst calamities from so dangerous a crisis.

{981.} The Danes, before they durst attempt any important enterprise

against England, made an inconsiderable descent by way of trial; and

having landed from seven vessels near Southamptom, they ravaged the

country, enriched themselves by spoil, and departed with impunity. Six

years after, they made a like attempt in the west, and met with like

success. The invaders, having now found affairs in a very different

situation from that in which they formerly appeared, encouraged

their countrymen to assemble a greater force, and to hope for more

considerable advantages.

{991} They landed in Essex, under the command of two leaders; and

having defeated and slain, at Maldon, Brithnot, duke of that county,

who ventured with a small body to attack them, they spread their

devastations over all the neighboring provinces. In this extremity,

Ethelred, to whom historians give the epithet of the _Unready_,

instead of rousing his people to defend with courage their honor and

their property, hearkened to the advice of Siricius, archbishop of

Canterbury, which was seconded by many of the degenerate nobility;

and paying the enemy the sum of ten thousand pounds, he bribed them

to depart the kingdom. This shameful expedient was attended with the

success which might be expected. The Danes next year appeared off the

eastern coast, in hopes of subduing a people who defended themselves

by their money, which invited assailants, instead of their arms, which

repelled them. But the English, sensible of their folly, had in the

interval assembled in a great council, and had determined to collect

at London a fleet able to give battle to the enemy;[*] though that

judicious measure failed of success, from the treachery of Alfric, duke

of Mercia, whose name is infamous in the annals of that age, by the

calamities which his repeated perfidy brought upon his country. This

nobleman had, in 983, succeeded to his father, Alfere, in that extensive

command; but, being deprived of it two years after, and banished the

kingdom, he was obliged to employ all his intrigue, and all his power,

which was too great for a subject, to be restored to his country, and

reinstated in his authority. Having had experience of the credit and

malevolence of his enemies, he thenceforth trusted for security, not to

his services, or to the affections of his fellow-citizens, but to the

influence which he had obtained over his vassals, and to the public

calamities, which he thought must, in every revolution, render his

assistance necessary. Having fixed this resolution, he determined to

prevent all such successes as might establish the royal authority, or

render his own situation dependent or precarious. As the English had

formed the plan of surrounding and destroying the Danish fleet in

harbor, he privately informed the enemy of their danger; and when they

put to sea, in consequence of this intelligence, he deserted to them,

with the squadron under his command, the night before the engagement,

and thereby disappointed all the efforts of his countrymen.[**]

Ethelred, enraged at his perfidy, seized his son Alfgar, and ordered his

eyes to be put out.[***]

[* Chron. Sax. p. 126.]

[** Chron. Sax. p. 127. W. Malms, p. 62. Higden,

p. 270.]

[*** Chror. Sax. p. 128. W. Malms, p. 62.]

But such was the power of Alfric, that he again forced himself into

authority; and though he had given this specimen of his character, and

received this grievous provocation, it was found necessary to intrust

him anew with the government of Mercia. This conduct of the court,

which, in all its circumstances, is so barbarous, weak, and imprudent

both merited and prognosticated the most grievous calamities.

{993.} The northern invaders, now well acquainted with the defenceless

condition of England, made a powerful descent under the command of

Sweyn, king of Denmark, and Olave king of Norway; and sailing up the

Humber, spread on all sides their destructive ravages. Lindesey was laid

waste; Banbury was destroyed; and all the Northumbrians, though mostly

of Danish descent, were constrained either to join the invaders, or to

suffer under their depredations. A powerful army was assembled to oppose

the Danes, and a general action ensued; but the English were deserted in

the battle, from the cowardice or treachery of their three leaders, all

of them men of Danish race, Frena, Frithegist, and Godwin, who gave the

example of a shameful flight to the troops under their command.

Encouraged by this success, and still more by the contempt which it

inspired for their enemy, the pirates ventured to attack the centre of

the kingdom; and entering the Thames in ninety-four vessels, laid siege

to London, and threatened it with total destruction. But the citizens,

alarmed at the danger, and firmly united among themselves, made a bolder

defence than the cowardice of the nobility and gentry gave the invaders

reason to apprehend; and the besiegers, after suffering the greatest

hardships, were finally frustrated in their attempt. In order to revenge

themselves, they laid waste Essex, Sussex, and Hampshire; and having

there procured horses, they were thereby enabled to spread through the

more inland counties the fury of their depredations. In this extremity,

Ethelred and his nobles had recourse to the former expedient; and

sending ambassadors to the two northern kings, they promised them

subsistence and tribute, on condition they would, for the present, put

an end to their ravages, and soon after depart the kingdom. Sweyn and

Olave agreed to the terms, and peaceably took up their quarters at

Southampton, where the sum of sixteen thousand pounds was paid to them.

Olave even made a journey to Andover, where Ethelred resided; and he

received the rite of confirmation from the English bishops, as well as

many rich presents from the king. He here promised that he would never

more infest the English territories; and he faithfully fulfilled the

engagement. This prince receives the appellation of St. Olave from the

church of Rome; and, notwithstanding the general presumption, which lies

either against the understanding or morals of every one who in those

ignorant ages was dignified with that title, he seems to have been a man

of merit and of virtue, Sweyn, though less scrupulous than Olave, was

constrained, upon the departure of the Norwegian prince, to evacuate

also the kingdom, with all his followers.

{997.} This composition brought only a short interval to the miseries of

the English. The Danish pirates appeared soon after in the Severn; and

having committed spoil in Wales, as well as in Cornwall and Devonshire,

they sailed round to the south coast, and entering the Tamar, completed

the devastation of these two counties. They then returned to the Bristol

Channel; and penetrating into the country by the Avon, spread themselves

over all that neighborhood, and carried fire and sword even into

Dorsetshire. They next changed the seat of war; and after ravaging the

Isle of Wight, they entered the Thames and Medway, and laid siege to

Rochester, where they defeated the Kentish men in a pitched battle.

After this victory, the whole province of Kent was made a scene of

slaughter, fire, and devastation. The extremity of these miseries forced

the English into counsels for common defence, both by sea and land;

but the weakness of the king, the divisions among the nobility, the

treachery of some, the cowardice of others, the want of concert in all,

frustrated every endeavor; their fleets and armies either came too late

to attack the enemy, or were repulsed with dishonor; and the people

were thus equally ruined by resistance or by submission. The English,

therefore, destitute both of prudence and unanimity in council,

of courage and conduct in the field, had recourse to the same weak

expedient which, by experience, they had already found so ineffectual:

they offered the Danes to buy peace, by paying them a large sum of

money, These ravagers rose continually in their demands; and now

required the payment of twenty-four thousand pounds, to which the

English were so mean and imprudent as to submit.[*]

[* Hoveden, p. 429. Chron. Malm. p. 153.]

The departure of the Danes procured them another short interval of

repose, which they enjoyed as if it were to be perpetual without making

any effectual preparations for a more vigorous resistance upon the next

return of the enemy.

Besides receiving this sum, the Danes were engaged by another motive to

depart a kingdom which appeared so little in a situation to resist their

efforts. They were invited over by their countrymen in Normandy, who at

this time were hard pressed by the arms of Robert, king of France, and

who found it difficult to defend the settlement, which, with so much

advantage to themselves, and glory to their nation, they had made in

that country. It is probable, also, that Ethelred, observing the close

connections thus maintained among all the Danes, however divided in

government or situation, was desirous of forming an alliance with that

formidable people. For this purpose, being now a widower, he made his

addresses to Emma, sister to Richard II., duke of Normandy, and he soon

succeeded in his negotiation. The princess came over this year {1001.}

to England, and was married to Ethelred.[*]

[* H, Hunting, p. 359. Higden, p. 271.]

In the end of the ninth and beginning of the tenth century--when the

north, not yet exhausted by that multitude of people, or rather nations,

which she had successively emitted, sent forth a new race, not of

conquerors, as before, but of pirates and ravagers, who infested the

countries possessed by her once warlike sons--lived Rollo, a petty

prince or chieftain in Denmark, whose valor and abilities soon en gaged,

the attention of his countrymen. He was exposed in his youth to the

jealousy of the king of Denmark, who attacked his small but independent

principality, and who, being foiled in every assault, had recourse at

last to perfidy for effecting his purpose, which he had often attempted

in vain by force of arms.[**]

[** Dudo, ex edit. Duchesne, p. 70, 71. Gul.

Gemeticenia, lib. ii, cap. 2, 3.]

He lulled Rollo into security by an insidious peace and falling suddenly

upon him, murdered his brother and his bravest officers, and forced him

to fly for safety into Scandinavia. Here many of his ancient subjects,

induced partly by affection to their prince, partly by the oppressions

of the Danish monarch, ranged themselves under his standard, and offered

to follow him in every enterprise. Rollo, instead of attempting

to recover his paternal dominions, where he must expect a vigorous

resistance from the Danes, determined to pursue an easier but more

important undertaking, and to make rus fortune, in imitation of his

countrymen, by pillaging the richer and more southern coasts of Europe.

He collected a body of troops, which, like that of all those ravagers,

was composed of Norwegians, Swedes, Frisians, Danes, and adventurers

of all nations, who being accustomed to a roving, unsettled life, took

delight in nothing but war and plunder. His reputation brought him

associates from all quarters; and a vision, which he pretended to have

appeared to him in his sleep, and which, according to his interpretation

of it, prognosticated the greatest successes, proved also a powerful

incentive with those ignorant and superstitious people.[*]

[* Dudo, p. 71. Gul. Gemet. in epist. ad Gul.

Conq.]

The first attempt made by Rollo was on England, near the end of Alfred’s

reign, when that great monarch, having settled Guthrum and his followers

in East Anglia, and others of those freebooters in Northumberland, and

having restored peace to his harassed country, had established the most

excellent military, as well as civil, institutions among the English.

The prudent Dane, finding that no advantages could be gained over such

a people, governed by such a prince, soon turned his enterprises against

France, which he found more exposed to his inroads;[**] and during the

reigns of Eudes, a usurper, and of Charles the Simple, a weak prince, he

committed the most destructive ravages, both on the inland and maritime

provinces of that kingdom. The French, having no means of defence

against a leader who united all the valor of his countrymen with

the policy of more civilized nations, were obliged to submit to the

expedient practised by Alfred, and to offer the invaders a settlement in

some of those provinces which they had depopulated by their arms.[***]

[** Gul Gemet lib. ii. cap 6.]

[*** Dudo, p. 82.]

The reason why the Danes, for many years, pursued measures so different

from those which had been embraced by the Goths, Vandals, Franks,

Burgundians, Lombards, and other northern conquerors, was the great

difference in the method of attack which was practised by these

several nations, and to which the nature of their respective situations

necessarily confined them. The latter tribes, living in an inland

country, made incursions by land upon the Roman empire; and when they

entered far into the frontiers, they were obliged to carry along

with them their wives and families, whom they had no hopes of soon

revisiting, and who could not otherwise participate of their plunder.

This circumstance quickly made them think of forcing a settlement in

the provinces which they had overrun: and these barbarians, spreading

themselves over the country, found an interest in protecting the

property and industry of the people whom they had subdued. But the Danes

and Norwegians, invited by their maritime situation, and obliged to

maintain themselves in their uncultivated country by fishing, had

acquired some experience of navigation; and, in their military

excursions, pursued the method practised against the Roman empire by the

more early Saxons. They made descents in small bodies from their ships,

or rather boats, and ravaging the coasts, returned with the booty to

their families, whom they could not conveniently carry along with them

in those hazardous enterprises. But when they increased their armaments,

made incursions into the inland countries, and found it safe to remain

longer in the midst of the enfeebled enemy, they had been accustomed to

crowd their vessels with their wives and children, and having no longer

any temptation to return to their own country, they willingly embraced

an opportunity of settling in the warm climates and cultivated fields of

the south.

Affairs were in this situation with Rollo and his followers, when

Charles proposed to relinquish to them part of the province formerly

called Neustria, and to purchase peace on these hard conditions. After

all the terms were fully settled, there appeared only one circumstance

shocking to the haughty Dane: he was required to do homage to Charles

for this province, and to put himself in that humiliating posture

imposed on vassals by the rites of the feudal law. He long refused to

submit to this indignity; but, being unwilling to lose such important

advantages for a mere ceremony, he made a sacrifice of his pride to his

interest, and acknowledged himself, in form, the vassal of the French

monarch.[*] Charles gave him his daughter Gisla in marriage; and, that

he might bind him faster to his interests, made him a donation of a

considerable territory, besides that which he was obliged to surrender

to him by his stipulation.

[* Ypod. Neust. p. 417.]

When some of the French nobles informed him that, in return for so

generous a present, it was expected that he should throw himself at the

king’s feet, and make suitable acknowledgments for his bounty, Rollo

replied, that he would rather decline the present; and it was with some

difficulty they could persuade him to make that compliment by one of his

captains. The Dane, commissioned for this purpose, full of indignation

at the order, and despising so unwarlike a prince, caught Charles by the

foot, and pretending to carry it to his mouth, that he might kiss it,

overthrew him before all his courtiers. The French, sensible of their

present weakness, found it prudent to overlook this insult.[*]

[* Gul. Gemet. lib. ii. cap. 17.]

Rollo, who was now in the decline of life, and was tired of wars and

depredations, applied himself, with mature counsels to the settlement of

his new-acquired territory, which was thenceforth called Normandy; and

he parcelled it out among his captains and followers. He followed,

in this partition, the customs of the feudal law, which was then

universally established in the southern countries of Europe, and which

suited the peculiar circumstances of that age. He treated the French

subjects, who submitted to him, with mildness and justice; he reclaimed

his ancient followers from their ferocious violence; he established law

and order throughout his state; and after a life spent in tumults and

ravages, he died peaceably in a good old age, and left his dominions to

his posterity.[**]

[** Gul. Gemet. lib. ii. cap. 19, 20, 21.]

William I., who succeeded him, governed the duchy twenty-five years;

and, during that time, the Normans, who were thoroughly intermingled

with the French, had acquired their language, had imitated their

manners, and had made such progress towards cultivation, that, on the

death of William, his son Richard, though a minor,[***] inherited his

dominions; a sure proof that the Normans were already somewhat advanced

in civility, and that their government could now rest secure on its laws

and civil institutions, and was not wholly sustained by the abilities

of the sovereign. Richard, after a long reign of fifty-four years, was

succeeded by his son, of the same name, in the year 996,[****] which

was eighty-five years after the first establishment of the Normans

in France. This was the duke who gave his sister Emma in marriage to

Ethelred, king of England, and who thereby formed connections with a

country which his posterity was so soon after destined to subdue.

[*** Order. Vitalis, p. 459. Grl. Geinet, lib. iv.

cup. 1.]

[**** Order. Vitalis, p. 459.]

The Danes had been established during a longer period in England than in

France; and though the similarity of their original language to that of

the Saxons invited them to a more early coalition with the natives,

they had hitherto found so little example of civilized manners among

the English, that they retained all their ancient ferocity, and valued

themselves only on their national character of military bravery. The

recent, as well as more ancient achievements of their countrymen

tended to support this idea; and the English princes particularly

Athelstan and Edgar, sensible of that superiority had been accustomed

to keep in pay bodies of Danish troops, who were quartered about the

country, and committed many violences upon the inhabitants. These

mercenaries had attained to such a height of luxury, according to the

old English writers,[*] that they combed their hair once a day, bathed

themselves once a week, changed their clothes frequently; and by all

these arts of effeminacy, as well as by their military character, had

rendered themselves so agreeable to the fair sex, that they debauched

the wives and daughters of the English, and dishonored many families.

But what most provoked the inhabitants was, that instead of defending

them against invaders, they were ever ready to betray them to the

foreign Danes, and to associate themselves with all straggling parties

of that nation.

The animosity between the inhabitants of English and Danish race, had,

from these repeated injuries, risen to a great height, when Ethelred,

from a policy incident to weak princes embraced the cruel resolution of

massacring the latter throughout all his dominions.[**] [4]

[* Wallingford, p. 547.]

[** See note D, at the end of the volume.]

{1002.}Secret orders were despatched to commence the execution every

where on the same day, and the festival of St. Brice, which fell on

a Sunday, [November 13,] the day on which the Danes usually bathed

themselves, was chosen for that purpose. It is needless to repeat the

accounts transmitted concerning the barbarity of this massacre: the rage

of the populace, excited by so many injuries, sanctioned by authority,

and stimulated by example, distinguished not between innocence and

guilt, spared neither sex nor age, and was not satiated without the

tortures as well as death of the unhappy victims. Even Gunilda, sister

to the king of Denmark, who had married Earl Paling, and had embraced

Christianity, was, by the advice of Edric, earl of Wilts, seized and

condemned to death by Ethelred, after seeing her husband and children

butchered before her face. This unhappy princess foretold, in the

agonies of despair, that her murder would soon be avenged by the total

ruin of the English nation.

{1003.} Never was prophecy better fulfilled; and never did barbarous

policy prove more fatal to the authors. Sweyn and his Danes, who wanted

but a pretence for invading the English, appeared off the western

coast, and threatened to take full revenge for the slaughter of their

countrymen. Exeter fell first into their hands, from the negligence

or treachery of Earl Hugh, a Norman, who had been made governor by the

interest of Queen Emma. They began to spread their devastations over the

country, when the English, sensible what outrages they must now expect

from their barbarous and offended enemy, assembled more early, and

in greater numbers than usual, and made an appearance of vigorous

resistance. But all these preparations were frustrated by the treachery

of Duke Alfric, who was intrusted with the command, and who, feigning

sickness, refused to lead the army against the Danes, till it was

dispirited, and at last dissipated, by his fatal misconduct. Alfric soon

after died, and Edric, a greater traitor than he, who had married the

king’s daughter, and had acquired a total ascendant over him, succeeded

Alfric in the government of Mercia, and in the command of the English

armies. A great famine, proceeding partly from the bad seasons, partly

from the decay of agriculture, added to all the other miseries of the

inhabitants.

{1007} The country, wasted by the Danes, harassed by the fruitless

expeditions of its own forces, was reduced to the utmost desolation, and

at last submitted to the infamy of purchasing a precarious peace from

the enemy, by the payment of thirty thousand pounds.

The English endeavored to employ this interval in making preparations

against the return of the Danes, which they had reason soon to expect. A

law was made, ordering the proprietors of eight hides of land to provide

each a horseman and a complete suit of armor, and those of three hundred

and ten hides to equip a ship for the defence of the coast. When this

navy was assembled, which must have consisted of near eight hundred

vessels,[*] all hopes of its success were disappointed by the factions,

animosities, and dissensions of the nobility. Edric had impelled his

brother Brightric to prefer an accusation of treason against Wolfnoth,

governor of Sussex, the father of the famous Earl Godwin; and that

nobleman, well acquainted with the malevolence as well as power of his

enemy, found no means of safety Dut in deserting with twenty ships to

the Danes.

[* There were two hundred and forty-three thousand

six hundred hides in England. Consequently, the ships

equipped must be seven hundred and eighty-five. The cavalry

was thirty thousand four hundred and fifty men.]

Brightric pursued him with a fleet of eighty sail; but his ships being

shattered in a tempest, and stranded on the coast, he was suddenly

attacked by Wolfnoth, and all his vessels burnt and destroyed. The

imbecility of the king was little capable of repairing this misfortune.

The treachery of Edric frustrated every plan for future defence; and

the English navy, disconcerted, discouraged, and divided, was at last

scattered into its several harbors.

It is almost impossible, or would be tedious, to relate particularly all

the miseries to which the English were henceforth exposed. We hear of

nothing but the sacking and burning of towns; the devastation of the

open country; the appearance of the enemy in every quarter of the

kingdom; their cruel diligence in discovering any corner which had

not been ransacked by their former violence. The broken and disjointed

narration of the ancient historians is here well adapted to the nature

of the war, which was conducted by such sudden inroads, as would have

been dangerous even to a united and well-governed kingdom, but proved

fatal where nothing but a general consternation and mutual diffidence

and dissension prevailed. The governors of one province refused to march

to the assistance of another, and were at last terrified from assembling

their forces for the defence of their own province. General councils

were summoned; but either no resolution was taken, or none was carried

into execution. And the only expedient in which the English agreed, was

the base and imprudent one of buying a new peace from the Danes, by the

payment of forty-eight thousand pounds.

{1011.} This measure did not bring them even that short interval of

repose which they had expected from it. The Danes, disregarding all

engagements, continued their devastations and hostilities; levied a new

contribution of eight thousand pounds upon the county of Kent alone;

murdered the archbishop of Canterbury, who had refused to countenance

this exaction; and the English nobility found no other resource than

that of submitting everywhere to the Danish monarch, swearing allegiance

to him, and delivering him hostages for their fidelity. Ethelred equally

afraid of the violence of the enemy, and the treachery of his own

subjects, fled into Normandy, {1013} whither he had sent before him

Queen Emma, and her two sons, Alfred and Edward. Richard received his

unhappy guests with a generosity that does honor to his memory.

{1014} The king had not been above six weeks in Normandy, when he heard

of the death of Sweyn, who expired at Gainsborough, before he had time

to establish himself in his new-acquired dominions. The English prelates

and nobility, taking advantage of this event, sent over a deputation to

Normandy, inviting Ethelred to return to them, expressing a desire of

being again governed by their native prince, and intimating their hopes

that, being now tutored by experience, he would avoid all those errors

which had been attended with such misfortunes to himself and to his

people. But the misconduct of Ethelred was incurable; and on his

resuming the government, he discovered the same incapacity, indolence,

cowardice, and credulity, which had so often exposed him to the insults

of his enemies. His son-in-law Edric, notwithstanding his repeated

treasons, retained such influence at court, as to instil into the king

jealousies of Sigefert and Morcar, two of the chief nobles of Mercia.

Edric allured them into his house, where he murdered them; while

Ethelred participated in the infamy of the action, by confiscating their

estates, and thrusting into a convent the widow of Sigefert. She was a

woman of singular beauty and merit; and in a visit which was paid her,

during her confinement, by Prince Edmond, the king’s eldest son, she

inspired him with so violent an affection, that he released her from the

convent, and soon after married her, without the consent of his father.

Meanwhile the English found in Canute, the son and successor of Sweyn,

an enemy no less terrible than the prince from whom death had so lately

delivered them. He ravaged the eastern coast with merciless fury, and

put ashore all the English hostages at Sandwich, after having cut off

their hands and noses. He was obliged, by the necessity of his affairs,

to make a voyage to Denmark; but, returning soon after, he continued his

depredations along the southern coast He even broke into the counties

of Dorset, Wilts, and Somerset where an army was assembled against him,

under the command of Prince Edmond and Duke Edric. The latter still

continued his perfidious machinations, and after endeavoring in vain to

got the prince into his power, he found means to disperse the army, and

he then openly deserted to Canute with forty vessels. {1015.}

Notwithstanding this misfortune, Edmond was not disconcerted; but

assembling all the force of England, was in a condition to give battle

to the enemy. The king had had such frequent experience of perfidy among

his subjects, that he had lost all confidence in them: he remained at

London, pretending sickness, but really from apprehensions that they

intended to buy their peace, by delivering him into the hands of his

enemies. The army called aloud for their sovereign to march at their

head against the Danes; and, on his refusal to take the field, they were

so discouraged, that those vast preparations became ineffectual for

the defence of the kingdom. Edmond, deprived of all regular supplies to

maintain his soldiers, was obliged to commit equal ravages with those

which were practised by the Danes; and, after making some fruitless

expeditions into the north, which had submitted entirely to Canute’s

power, he retired to London, determined there to maintain to the last

extremity the small remains of English liberty. He here found every

thing in confusion by the death of the king, who expired after an

unhappy and inglorious reign of thirty-five years. {1016.} He left two

sons by his first marriage, Edmond, who succeeded him, and Edwy, whom

Canute afterwards murdered. His two sons by the second marriage, Anred

and Edward, were, immediately upon Ethelred’s death, conveyed into

Normandy by Queen Emma.

EDMOND IRONSIDE

This prince, who received the name of _Ironside_ from his hardy

valor, possessed courage and abilities sufficient to have prevented his

country from sinking into those calamities, but not to raise it from

that abyss of misery into which it had already fallen. Among the other

misfortunes of the English, treachery and disaffection had crept in

among the nobility and prelates; and Edmond found no better expedient

for stopping the further progress of these fatal evils, than to lead

his army instantly into the field, and to employ them against the

common enemy. After meeting with some success at Gillingnam, he prepared

himself to decide, in one general engagement, the fate of his crown:

and at Scoerston, in the county of Glocester, he offered battle to the

enemy, who were commanded by Canute and Edric. Fortune, in the beginning

of the day, declared for him; but Edric, having cut off the head of one

Osmer, whose countenance resembled that of Edmond fixed it on a spear,

carried it through the ranks in triumph, and called aloud to the

English, that it was time to fly; for, behold! the head of their

sovereign. And though Edmond, observing the consternation of the troops,

took off his helmet, and showed himself to them, the utmost he could

gain by his activity and valor was to leave the victory undecided. Edric

now took a surer method to ruin him, by pretending to desert to him; and

as Edmond was well acquainted with his power, and probably knew no other

of the chief nobility in whom he could repose more confidence, he was

obliged, notwithstanding the repeated perfidy of the man, to give him

a considerable command in the army. A battle soon after ensued at

Assington, in Essex; where Edric, flying in the beginning of the

day, occasioned the total defeat of the English, followed by a great

slaughter of the nobility. The indefatigable Edmond, however, had still

resources. Assembling a new army at Glocester, he was again in condition

to dispute the field; when the Danish and English nobility, equally

harassed with those convulsions obliged their kings to come to a

compromise, and to divide the kingdom between them by treaty. Canute

reserved to himself the northern division, consisting of Mercia, East

Anglia, and Northumberland, which he had entirely subdued. The southern

parts were left to Edmond. The prince survived the treaty about a month.

He was murdered at Oxford by two of his chamberlains, accomplices of

Edric, who thereby made way for the succession of Canute the Dane to the

crown of England.

CANUTE

{1017.} The English, who had been unable to defend their country, and

maintain their independency, under so active and brave a prince as

Edmond, could after his death expect nothing but total subjection from

Canute, who, active and brave himself, and at the head of a great force,

was ready to take advantage of the minority of Edwin and Edward, the

two sons of Edmond. Yet this conqueror, who was commonly so little

scrupulous, showed himself anxious to cover his injustice under

plausible pretences. Before he seized the dominions of the English

princes, he summoned a general assembly of the states, in order to fix

the succession of the kingdom. He here suborned some nobles to depose

that, in the treaty of Glocester it had been verbally agreed, either to

name Canute, in case of Edmond’s death, successor to his dominions, or

tutor to hit children, (for historians vary in this particular;) and

that evidence, supported by the great power of Canute, determined

the states immediately to put the Danish monarch in possession of the

government. Canute, jealous of the two princes, but sensible that

he should render himself extremely odious if he ordered them to be

despatched in England, sent them abroad to his ally, the king of Sweden,

whom he desired, as soon as they arrived at his court, to free him,

by their death, from a& farther anxiety. The Swedish monarch was too

generous to comply with the request; but being afraid of drawing on

himself a quarrel with Canute, by protecting the young princes, he

sent them to Solomon, king of Hungary, to be educated in his court.

The elder, Edwin, was afterwards married to the sister of the king of

Hungary; but the English prince dying without issue, Solomon gave his

sister-in-law, Agatha, daughter of the emperor Henry the Second,

in marriage to Edward, the younger brother; and she bore him Edgar,

Atheling, Margaret, afterwards queen of Scotland, and Christina, who

retired into a convent.

Canute, though he had reached the great point of his ambition in

obtaining possession of the English crown, was obliged at first to make

great sacrifices to it; and to gratify the chief of the nobility, by

bestowing on them the most extensive governments and jurisdictions. He

created Thurkill earl or duke of East Anglia, (for these titles were

then nearly of the same import,) Yric of Northumberland, and Edric of

Mercia; reserving only to himself the administration of Wessex. But

seizing afterwards a favorable opportunity, he expelled Thurkill and

Yric from their governments, and banished them the kingdom; he put to

death many of the English nobility, on whose fidelity he could not rely,

and whom he hated on account of their disloyalty to their native prince.

And even the traitor Edric, having had the assurance to reproach him

with his services, was condemned to be executed, and his body to be

thrown into the Thames; a suitable reward for his multiplied acts of

perfidy and rebellion.

Canute also found himself obliged, in the beginning of his reign,

to load the people with heavy taxes, in order to reward his Danish

followers: he exacted from them at one time the sum of seventy-two

thousand pounds; besides eleven thousand pounds which he levied on

London alone. He was probably willing, from political motives, to mulct

severely that city, on account of the affection which it had borne to

Edmond, and the resistance which it had made to the Danish power in two

obstinate sieges.[*] But these rigors were imputed to necessity,

and Canute, like a wise prince, was determined that the English, now

deprived of all their dangerous leaders, should be reconciled to the

Danish yoke, by the justice and impartiality of his administration. He

sent back to Denmark as many of his followers as he could safely spare;

he restored the Saxon customs in a general assembly of the states; he

made no distinction between Danes and English in the distribution of

justice; and he took care, by a strict execution of law, to protect

the lives and properties of all his people. The Danes were gradually

incorporated with his new objects; and both were glad to obtain a little

respite from those multiplied calamities, from which the one, no less

than the other, had, in their fierce contest for power, experienced such

fatal consequences.

The removal of Edmond’s children into so distant a country as Hungary,

was, next to their death, regarded by Canute as the greatest security to

his government: he had no further anxiety, except with regard to Alfred

and Edward, who were protected and supported by their uncle Richard,

duke of Normandy. Richard even fitted out a great armament, in order to

restore the English princes to the throne of their ancestors; and though

the navy was dispersed by a storm, Canute saw the danger to which he was

exposed, from the enmity of so warlike a people as the Normans. In order

to acquire the friendship of the duke, he paid his addresses to Queen

Emma, sister of that prince; and promised that he would leave the

children, whom he should have by that marriage, in possession of the

crown of England. Richard complied with his demand, and sent over Emma

to England, where she was soon after married to Canute.[**] The English,

though they disapproved of her espousing the mortal enemy of her former

husband and his family, were pleased to find at court a sovereign to

whom they were accustomed, and who had already formed connections with

them; and thus Canute besides securing, by this marriage, the alliance

of Normandy gradually acquired, by the same means, the confidence of his

own subjects.[***] The Norman prince did not long survive the marriage

of Emma; and he left the inheritance of the duchy to his eldest son

of the same name; who, dying a year after him without children, was

succeeded by his brother Robert, a man of valor and abilities.

[* W. Malms, p. 72. In one of these sieges, Canute

diverted the coarse of the Thames, and by that means brought

his ships above London bridge.]

[** Chron. Sax. p. 151. W. Malms, p. 73.]

[*** W. Malms, p. 73. Higden, p 275.]

Canute, having settled his power in England beyond all danger of a

revolution, made a voyage to Denmark, in order to resist the attacks of

the king of Sweden; and he carried along with him a great body of the

English, under the command of Earl Godwin. This nobleman had here an

opportunity of performing a service, by which he both reconciled the

king’s mind to the English nation, and gaining to himself the friendship

of his sovereign, laid the foundation of that immense fortune which

he acquired to his family. He was stationed next the Swedish camp, and

observing a favorable opportunity, which he was obliged suddenly

to seize, he Attacked the enemy in the night, drove them from their

trenches, threw them into disorder, pursued his advantage, and obtained

a decisive victory over them. Next morning, Canute, seeing the English

camp entirely abandoned, imagined that those disaffected troops had

deserted to the enemy: he was agreeably surprised to find that they were

at that time engaged in pursuit of the discomfited Swedes. He was so

pleased with this success, and with the manner of obtaining it that

he bestowed his daughter in marriage upon Godwin, and treated him ever

after with entire confidence and regard.

{1028.} In another voyage, which he made afterwards to Denmark, Canute

attacked Norway, and expelling the just but unwarlike Olaus, kept

possession of his kingdom till the death of that prince. He had now by

his conquests and valor attained the utmost height of grandeur: having

leisure from wars and intrigues, he felt the unsatisfactory nature of

all human enjoyments; and equally weary of the glories and turmoils

of this life, he began to cast his view towards that future existence,

which it is so natural for the human mind, whether satiated by

prosperity or disgusted with adversity, to make the object of its

attention. Unfortunately, the spirit which prevailed in that age gave a

wrong direction to his devotion: instead of making compensation to those

whom he had injured by his former acts of violence, he employed himself

entirely in those exercises of piety which the monks represented as the

most meritorious. He built churches, he endowed monasteries, he enriched

the ecclesiastics, and he bestowed revenues for the support of chantries

at Assington and other places; where he appointed prayers to be said for

the souls of those who had there fallen in battle against him. He even

undertook a pilgrimage to Rome, where he resided a considerable time:

besides obtaining from the pope some privileges for the English school

erected there, he engaged all the princes, through whose dominions he

was obliged to pass, to desist from those heavy impositions and tolls

which they were accustomed to exact from the English pilgrims. By

this spirit of devotion no less than by his equitable and politic

administration, he gained, in a good measure, the affections of his

subjects.

Canute, the greatest and most powerful monarch of his time, sovereign

of Denmark and Norway, as well as of England, could not fail of meeting

with adulation from his courtiers; a tribute which is liberally paid

even to the meanest and weakest princes. Some of his flatterers breaking

out one day in admiration of his grandeur, exclaimed that every thing

was possible for him; upon which the monarch, it is said, ordered his

chair to be set on the sea-shore, while the tide was rising; and as the

waters approached, he commanded them to retire, and to obey the voice

of him who was lord of the ocean. He feigned to sit some time in

expectation of their submission; but when the sea still advanced towards

him, and began to wash him with its billows, he turned to his courtiers,

and remarked to them, that every creature in the universe was feeble and

impotent, and that power resided with one being alone, in whose hands

were all the elements of nature; who could say to the ocean, “Thus far

shalt thou go, and no farther;” and who could level with his nod the

most towering piles of human pride and ambition.

{1031.} The only memorable action which Canute performed after his

return from Rome, was an expedition against Malcolm, king of Scotland.

During the reign of Ethelred, a tax of a shilling a hide had been imposed

on all the lands of England. It was commonly called ‘danegelt;’ because

the revenue bar been employed either in buying peace with the Danes, or

in making preparations against the inroads of that hostile nation. That

monarch had required that the same tax should be paid by Cumberland,

which was held by the Scots; but Malcolm a warlike prince, told him,

that as he was always able to repulse the Danes by his own power, he

would neither submit to buy peace of his enemies, nor pay others for

resisting them. Ethelred, offended at this reply, which contained a

secret reproach on his own conduct, undertook an expedition against

Cumberland; but though he committed ravages upon the country, he could

never bring Malcolm to a temper more humble or submissive. Canute,

after his accession, summoned the Scottish king to acknowledge himself

a vassal for Cumberland to the crown of England; but Malcolm refused

compliance, on pretence that he owed homage to those princes only who

inherited that kingdom by right of blood. Canute was not of a temper to

bear this insult; and the king of Scotland soon found, that the sceptre

was in very different hands from those of the feeble and irresolute

Ethelred. Upon Canute’s appearing on the frontiers with a formidable

army Malcolm agreed that his grandson and heir, Duncan, whom he put in

possession of Cumberland, should make the submissions required, and that

the heirs of Scotland should always acknowledge themselves vassals to

England for that province.[*] Canute passed four years in peace after

this enterprise, and he died at Shaftesbury;[**] leaving three sons,

Sweyn, Harold, and Hardicanute. Sweyn, whom he had by his first marriage

with Alfwen, daughter of the earl of Hampshire, was crowned in Norway:

Hardicanute, whom Emma had borne him, was in possession of Denmark:

Harold, who was of the same marriage with Sweyn, was at that time in

England.

[* W. Malms, p. 74.]

[** Chron Sax p. 154. W. Malms, p. 76]

HAROLD HAREFOOT

{1035.} Though Canute, in his treaty with Richard, duke of Normandy,

had stipulated that his children by Emma should succeed to the crown

of England, he had either considered himself as released from that

engagement by the death of Richard, or esteemed it dangerous to leave an

unsettled and newly-conquered kingdom in the hands of so young a prince

as Hardicanute: he therefore appointed, by his will, Harold successor

to the crown. This prince was besides present, to maintain his claim; he

was favored by all the Danes; and he got immediately possession of his

father’s treasures, which might be equally useful, whether he found it

necessary to proceed by force or intrigue, in insuring his succession.

On the other hand, Hardicanute had the suffrages of the English, who,

on account of his being from among them of Queen Emma, regarded him as

their countryman; he was favored by the articles of treaty with the duke

of Normandy; and above all, his party was espoused by Earl Godwin, the

most powerful nobleman in the kingdom, especially in the province of

Wessex, the chief seat of the ancient English. Affairs were likely to

terminate in a civil war; when, by the interposition of the nobility

of both parties, a compromise was made; and it was agreed that Harold

should enjoy, together with London, all the provinces north of the

Thames, while the possession of the south should remain to Hardicanute:

and till that prince should appear and take possession of his dominions,

Emma fixed her residence at Winchester, and established her authority

over her son’s share of the partition.

Meanwhile Robert, duke of Normandy, died in a pilgrimage to the Holy

Land, and being succeeded by a son, yet a minor, the two English

princes, Alfred and Edward, who found no longer any countenance or

protection in that country, gladly embraced the opportunity of paying a

visit, with a numerous retinue, to their mother, Emma, who seemed to be

placed in a state of so much power and splendor at Winchester. But the

face of affairs soon wore a melancholy aspect. Earl Godwin had been

gained by the arts of Harold, who promised to espouse the daughter of

that nobleman; and while the treaty was yet a secret, these two tyrants

laid a plan for the destruction of the English princes. Alfred was

invited to London by Harold with many professions of friendship; but

when he had reached Guilford, he was set upon by Godwin’s vassals, about

six hundred of his train were murdered in the most cruel manner, he

himself was taken prisoner, his eyes were put out, and he was conducted

to the monastery of Ely, where he died soon after.[*] Edward and Emma,

apprised of the fate which was awaiting them, fled beyond sea, the

former into Normandy, the latter into Flanders; while Harold, triumphing

in his bloody policy, took possession, without resistance, of all the

dominions assigned to his brother.

[* H. Hunting, p. 365. Ypod. Neust. p. 434.

Hoveden, p. 438. Chron. Mailr. p. 156. Higden, p. 277.

Chron. St. Petri de Burgo, p. 39. Sim. Dunelm. p. 179. Abbas

Rieval. p. 366, 374. Brompton, p. 935. Gul. Gemet. lib. vii.

cap. 11. M. West. p. 209 Flor. Wigorn, p. 622. Alured.

Beverl. p. 118.]

This is the only memorable action performed, during a reign of four

years, by this prince, who gave so bad a specimen of his character, and

whose bodily accomplishments alone are known to us by his appellation

of _Harefoot_, which he acquired from his agility in running

and walking. He died on the 14th of April, 1039, little regretted or

esteemed by his subjects, and left the succession open to his brother

Hardicanute.

HARDICANUTE

{1039.} Hardicanute, or Canute the hardy, that is, the robust, (for

he top is chiefly known by his bodily accomplishments,) though, by

remaining so long in Denmark, he had been deprived of his share in the

partition of the kingdom, had not abandoned his pretensions; and he had

determined, before Harold’s death, to recover by arms what he had lost,

either by his own negligence or by the necessity of his affairs. On

pretence of paying a visit to the queen dowager in Flanders, ne had

assembled a fleet of sixty sail, and was preparing to make a descent on

England, when intelligence of his brother’s death induced him to

sail immediately to London, where he was received in triumph, and

acknowledged king without opposition.

The first act of Hardicanute’s government afforded his subjects a

bad prognostic of his future conduct. He was so enraged at Harold for

depriving him of his share of the kingdom, and for the cruel treatment

of his brother Alfred, that in an impotent desire of revenge against

the dead, he ordered his body to be dug up, and to be thrown into the

Thames; and when it was found by some fishermen, and buried in London,

he ordered it again to be dug up, and to be thrown again into the

river; but it was fished up a second time, and then interred with great

secrecy. Godwin, equally servile and insolent, submitted to be his

instrument in this unnatural and brutal action.

That nobleman knew that he was universally believed to have been an

accomplice in the barbarity exercised on Alfred, and that he was on that

account obnoxious to Hardicanute; and perhaps he hoped, by displaying

this rage against Harold’s memory, to justify himself from having had

any participation in his counsels. But Prince Edward, being invited

over by the king, immediately on his appearance preferred an accusation

against Godwin for the murder of Alfred, and demanded justice for that

crime. Godwin, in order to appease the king; made him a magnificent

present of a galley with a gilt stern, rowed by fourscore men, who wore

each of them a gold bracelet on his arm, weighing sixteen ounces,

and were armed and clothed in the most sumptuous manner. Hardicanute,

pleased with the splendor of this spectacle, quickly forgot his

brother’s murder; and on Godwin’s swearing that he was innocent of the

crime, he allowed him to be acquitted.

Though Hardicanute before his accession had been called over by the

vows of the English, he soon lost the affections of the nation by his

misconduct; but nothing appeared more grievous to them than his renewing

the imposition of danegelt, and obliging the nation to pay a great sum

of money to the fleet which brought him from Denmark. The discontents

ran high in many places: in Worcester the populace rose, and put to

death two of the collectors. The king, enraged at this opposition, swore

vengeance against the city, and ordered three noblemen, Godwin, duke of

Wessex, Siward, duke of Northumberland, and Leofric, duke of Mercia, to

execute his menaces with the utmost rigor. They were obliged to set fire

to the city, and deliver it up to be plundered by their soldiers; but

they saved the lives of the inhabitants, whom they confined in a small

island of the Severn, called Beverey, till, by their intercession, they

were able to appease the king, and obtain the pardon of the supplicants.

This violent government was of short duration. Hardicanute died in two

years after his accession, at the nuptials of a Danish lord, which he

had honored with his presence. His usual habits of intemperance were so

well known, that, notwithstanding his robust constitution, his sudden

death gave as little surprise as it did sorrow to his subjects.

EDWARD THE CONFESSOR

{1041.} The English, on the death of Hardicanute, saw a favorable

opportunity for recovering their liberty, and for shaking off the Danish

yoke, under which they had so long labored. Sweyn, king of Norway, the

eldest son of Canute, was absent; and as the two last kings had died

without issue, none of that race presented himself, nor any whom the

Danes could support as successor to the throne. Prince Edward was

fortunately at court on his brother’s demise; and though the descendants

of Edmond Ironside were the true heirs of the Saxon family, yet their

absence in so remote a country as Hungary, appeared a sufficient reason

for their exclusion to a people, like the English, so little accustomed

to observe a regular order in the succession of their monarchs. All

delays might be dangerous, and the present occasion must hastily be

embraced, while the Danes, without concert, without a leader, astonished

at the present incident, and anxious only for their personal safety,

durst not oppose the united voice of the nation.

But this concurrence of circumstances in favor of Edward might have

failed of its effect, had his succession been opposed by Godwin, whose

power, alliances, and abilities gave him a great influence at all times,

especially amidst those sudden opportunities which always attend

a revolution of government, and which, either seized or neglected,

commonly prove decisive. There were opposite reasons, which divided

men’s hopes and fears with regard to Godwin’s conduct. On the one hand,

the credit of that nobleman lay chiefly in Wessex, which was almost

entirely inhabited by English; it was therefore presumed that he would

second the wishes of that people in restoring the Saxon line, and in

humbling the Danes, from whom he, as well as they, had reason to dread,

as they had already felt, the most grievous oppressions. On the other

hand, there subsisted a declared animosity between Edward and Godwin,

on account of Alfred’s murder; of which the latter had publicly been

accused by the prince, and which he might believe so deep an offence, as

could never, on account of any subsequent merits, be sincerely pardoned.

But their common friends here interposed; and representing the necessity

of their good correspondence, obliged them to lay aside all jealousy and

rancor, and concur in restoring liberty to their native country. Godwin

only stipulated that Edward, as a pledge of his sincere reconciliation,

should promise to marry his daughter Editha; and having fortified

himself by this alliance, he summoned a general council at Gillingham,

and prepared every measure for securing the succession to Edward. The

English were unanimous and zealous in their resolutions; the Danes were

divided and dispirited: any small opposition, which appeared in this

assembly, was browbeaten and suppressed; and Edward was crowned king,

with every Demonstration of duty and affection.

The triumph of the English upon this signal and decisive advantage, was

at first attended with some insult and violence against the Danes, but

the king, by the mildness of his character, soon reconciled the latter

to his administration, and the distinction between the two nations

gradually disappeared. The Danes were interspersed with the English

in most of the provinces; they spoke nearly the same language; they

differed little in their manners and laws; domestic dissensions in

Denmark prevented, for some years, any powerful invasion from thence

which might awaken past animosities; and as the Norman conquest, which

ensued soon after, reduced both nations to equal subjection, there is

no further mention in history of any difference between them. The joy,

however, of their present deliverance made such impression on the minds

of the English, that they instituted an annual festival for celebrating

that great event; and it was observed in some counties, even to the time

of Spelman.[*]

[* Spelm. Glossary in verbo Hocday.]

The popularity which Edward enjoyed on his accession was not destroyed

by the first act of his administration, his resuming all the grants of

his immediate predecessors; an attempt which is commonly attended with

the most dangerous consequences. The poverty of the crown convinced the

nation that this act of violence was become absolutely necessary; and as

the loss fell chiefly on the Danes, who had obtained large grants

from the late kings, their countrymen, on account of their services

in subduing the kingdom, the English were rather pleased to see them

reduced to their primitive poverty. The king’s severity also towards his

mother, the queen dowager, though exposed to some more censure, met not

with very, general disapprobation. He had hitherto lived on indifferent

terms with that princess; he accused her of neglecting him and his

brother during their adverse fortune;[**] he remarked that, as the

superior qualities of Canute, and his better treatment of her, had made

her entirely indifferent to the memory of Etheldred, she also gave

the preference to her children of the second bed, and always regarded

Hardicanute as her favorite.

[** Anglia Sacra, vol. i. p.237]

The same reasons had probably made her unpopular in England; and though

her benefactions to the monks obtained her the favor of that order, the

nation was not, in general, displeased to see her stripped by Edward

of immense treasures which she had amassed. He confined her, during the

remainder of her life, in a monastery at Winchester; but carried his

rigor against her no farther. The stories of his accusing her of

a participation in her son Alfred’s murder, and of a criminal

correspondence with the bishop of Winchester, and also of her justifying

herself by treading barefoot, without receiving any hurt, over nine

burning ploughshares, were the inventions of the monkish historians, and

were propagated and believed from the silly wonder of posterity.[*]

[* Higden, p. 277.]

The English flattered themselves that, by the accession of Edward, they

were delivered forever from the dominion of foreigners; but they soon

found that this evil was not yet entirely removed. The king had been

educated in Normandy, and had contracted many intimacies with the

natives of that country, as well as an affection for their manners.[**]

The court of England was soon filled with Normans, who, being

distinguished both by the favor of Edward, and by a degree of

cultivation superior to that which was attained by the English in those

ages, soon rendered their language, customs, and laws fashionable in the

kingdom. The study of the French tongue became general among the people.

The courtiers affected to imitate that nation in their dress, equipage,

and entertainments; even the lawyers employed a foreign language

in their deeds and papers;[***] but above all, the church felt the

influence and dominion of those strangers: Ulf and William, two Normans,

who had formerly been the king’s chaplains, were created bishops of

Dorchester and London. Robert, a Norman also, was promoted to the see of

Canterbury,[****] and always enjoyed the highest favor of his master,

of which his abilities rendered him not unworthy. And though the king’s

prudence, or his want of authority, made him confer almost all the civil

and military employments on the natives, the ecclesiastical preferments

fell often to the share of the Normans; and as the latter possessed

Edward’s confidence, they had secretly a great influence on public

affairs, and excited the jealousy of the English, particularly of Earl

Godwin.[*****]

[** Ingulph. p. 62.]

[*** Ingulph. p. 62.]

[**** Chron. Sax. p. 161.]

[***** W. Malms, p. 80.]

This powerful nobleman, besides being duke or earl of Wessex, had the

counties of Kent and Sussex annexed to his government. His eldest son,

Sweyn, possessed the same authority in the counties of Oxford, Berks,

Glocester, and Hereford; and Harold, his second son, was duke of East

Anglia, and at the same time governor of Essex. The great authority of

this family was supported by immense possessions and powerful alliances;

and the abilities, as well as ambition of Godwin himself, contributed to

render it still more dangerous. A prince of greater capacity and vigor

than Edward would have found it difficult to support the dignity of the

crown under such circumstances; and as the haughty temper of Godwin

made him often forget the respect due to his prince Edward’s

animosity against him was grounded on personal as well as political

considerations, on recent as well as more ancient injuries. The king, in

pursuance of his engagements, had indeed married Editha, the daughter

of Godwin;[*] but this alliance became a fresh source of enmity between

them. Edward’s hatred of the father was transferred to that princess-;

and Editha, though possessed of many amiable accomplishments, could

never acquire the confidence and affection of her husband. It is even

pretended, that, during the whole course of her life, he abstained from

all commerce of love with her; and such was the absurd admiration paid

to an inviolable chastity during those ages, that his conduct in this

particular is highly celebrated by the monkish historians, and greatly

contributed to his acquiring the title of saint and confessor[**]

{1048.}

[* Chron. Sax. p. 157.]

[** W. Malms, p. 80, Higden, p. 277. Abbae Rieval.

p. 366, 377 M. West. p. 221. Chron. Thorn. Wykes, p. 21,

Anglia Sacra, vol i. p, 241.]

The most popular pretence on which Godwin could ground his disaffection

to the king and his administration, was to complain of the influence

of the Normans in the government; and a declared opposition had thence

arisen between him and these favorites. It was not long before this

animosity broke out into action. Eustace, count of Boulogne, having paid

a visit to the king, passed by Dover in his return: one of his train,

being refused entrance to a lodging, which had been assigned him,

attempted to make his way by force, and in the contest he wounded the

master of the house. The inhabitants revenged this insult by the death

of the stranger; the count and his train took arms, and murdered the

wounded townsman; a tumult ensued; near twenty persons were killed on

each side; and Eustace, being overpowered by numbers, was obliged to

save his life by flight from the fury of the populace.

He hurried immediately to court, and complained of tne usage he had

met with: the king entered zealously into the quarrel, and was highly

displeased that a stranger of such distinction, whom he had invited

over to his court, should, without any just cause, as he believed, have

felt so sensibly the insolence and animosity of his people. He gave

orders to Godwin, in whose government Dover lay, to repair immediately

to the place, and to punish the inhabitants for tne crime; but Godwin,

who desired rather to encourage than express the popular discontents

against foreigners, refused obedience, and endeavored to throw the whole

blame of the riot on the count of Boulogne and his retinue.[*] Edward,

touched in so sensible a point, saw the necessity of exerting the

royal authority; and he threatened Godwin, if he persisted in his

disobedience, to make him feel the utmost effects of his resentment.

[* Chron. Sax. p. 163. W. Malms, p. 81. Higden, p.

279]

The earl, perceiving a rupture to be unavoidable, and pleased to embark

in a cause where it was likely he should be supported by his countrymen,

made preparations for his own defence, or rather for an attack on

Edward. Under pretence of repressing some disorders on the Welsh

frontier, he secretly assembled a great army, and was approaching the

king, who resided, without any military force, and without suspicion, at

Glocester.[**]

[** Chron. Sax. p. 163. W. Mabus. p. 81.]

Edward applied for protection to Siward, duke of Northumberland, and

Leofric, duke of Mercia, two powerful noblemen, whose jealousy of

Godwin’s greatness, as well as their duty to the crown, engaged them to

defend the king in this extremity. They hastened to him with such of

their followers as they could assemble on a sudden; and finding the

danger much greater than they had at first apprehended, they issued

orders for mustering all the forces within their respective governments,

and for marching them without delay to the defence of the king’s

person and authority. Edward, meanwhile, endeavored to gain time by

negotiation; while Godwin, who thought the king entirely in his power,

and who was willing to save appearances, fell into the snare; and not

sensible that he ought to have no further reserve after he had proceeded

so far, he lost the favorable opportunity of rendering himself master of

the government.

The English, though they had no high idea of Edward’s vigor and

capacity, bore him great affection on account of his humanity, justice,

and piety, as well as the long race of their native kings, from whom he

was descended; and they hastened from all quarters to defend him from

the present danger. Hia army was now so considerable, that he ventured

to take the field; and marching to London, he summoned a great council

to judge of the rebellion of Godwin and his sons. These noblemen

pretended at first that they were willing to stand their trial; but

having in vain endeavored to make their adherents persist in rebellion,

they offered to come to London, provided they might receive hostages for

their safety: this proposal being rejected, they were obliged to disband

the remains of their forces, and have recourse to flight. Baldwin, earl

of Flanders, gave protection to Godwin and his three sons, Gurth, Sweyn,

and Tosti, the latter of whom had married the daughter of that prince;

Harold and Leofwin, two others of his sons, took shelter in Ireland. The

estates of the father and sons were confiscated; their governments were

given to others; Queen Editha was confined in a monastery at Warewel;

and the greatness of this family, once so formidable, seemed now to be

totally supplanted and overthrown But Godwin had fixed his authority on

too firm a basis, and he was too strongly supported by alliances both

foreign and domestic, not to occasion further disturbances, and make new

efforts for his reëstablishment. {1052.} The earl of Flanders permitted

him to purchase and hire ships within his harbors; and Godwin, having

manned them with his followers, and with freebooters of all nations, put

to sea, and attempted to make a descent at Sandwich. The king, informed

of his preparations, had equipped a considerable fleet, much superior to

that of the enemy; and the earl hastily, before their appearance, made

his retreat into the Flemish harbors.[*] The English court, allured by

the present security, and destitute of all vigorous counsels, allowed

the seamen to disband, and the fleet to go to decay;[**] while Godwin,

expecting this event, kept his men in readiness for action. He put to

sea immediately, and sailed to the Isle of Wight, where he was joined by

Harold with a squadron, which that nobleman had collected in Ireland.

He was now master of the sea; and entering every harbor in the southern

coast, he seized all the ships,[***] and summoned his followers in those

counties, which had so long been subject to his government, to assist

him in procuring justice to himself his family, and his country, against

the tyranny of foreigners.

[* Sim. Dunelm. p. 186.]

[** Chron. Sax. p. 166]

[*** Chron. Sax. p. 166.]

Reënforced by great numbers from all quarters, he entered the Thames;

and appearing before London, threw every thing into confusion. The king

alone seemed resolute to defend himself to the last extremity; but the

interposition of the English nobility, many of whom favored Godwin’s

pretensions, made Edward hearken to terms of accommodation; and the

feigned humility of the earl, who disclaimed all intentions of offering

violence to his sovereign, and desired only to justify himself by a

fair and open trial, paved the way for his more easy admission. It was

stipulated that he should give hostages for his good behavior, and that

the primate and all the foreigners should be banished: by this treaty

the present danger of a civil war was obviated, but the authority of the

crown was considerably impaired, or rather entirely annihilated. Edward,

sensible that he had not power sufficient to secure Godwin’s hostages in

England, sent them over to his kinsman, the young duke of Normandy.

Godwin’s death, which happened soon after, while he was sitting at table

with the king, prevented him from further establishing the authority

which he had acquired, and from reducing Edward to still greater

subjection.[*] [5] He was succeeded in the government of Wessex, Sussex,

Kent, and Essex, and in the office of steward of the household, a place

of great power, by his son Harold, who was actuated by an ambition

equal to that of his father, and was superior to him in address, in

insinuation, and in virtue. By a modest and gentle demeanor, he acquired

the good will of Edward; at least, softened that hatred which the prince

had so long borne his family;[**] and gaining every day new partisans by

his bounty and affability, he proceeded, in a more silent, and therefore

a more dangerous manner, to the increase of his authority. The king,

who had not sufficient vigor directly to oppose his progress, knew of

no other expedient than that hazardous one of raising him a rival in the

family of Leofric, duke of Mercia, whose son Algar was invested with the

government of East Anglia, which, before the banishment of Harold, had

belonged to the latter nobleman. But this policy, of balancing opposite

parties, required a more steady hand to manage it than that of Edward,

and naturally produced faction and even civil broils, among nobles of

such mighty and independent authority.

[* See note E, at the end of the volume.]

[** Brompton, p. 918]

Algar was soon after expelled his government by the intrigues and power

of Harold; but being protected by Griffith, prince of Wales, who had

married his daughter, as well as by the power of his father Leofric, he

obliged Harold to submit to an accommodation, and was reinstated in the

government of East Anglia. This peace was not of long duration: Harold,

taking advantage of Leofric’s death, which happened soon after, expelled

Algar anew, and banished him the kingdom: and though that nobleman

made a fresh irruption into East Anglia with an army of Norwegians, and

overran the country, his death soon freed Harold from the pretensions

of so dangerous a rival. Edward, the eldest son of Algar, was indeed

advanced to the government of Mercia; but the balance which the king

desired to establish between those potent families, was wholly lost, and

the influence of Harold greatly preponderated.

{1055.} The death of Siward, duke of Northumberland, made the way still

more open to the ambition of that nobleman. Siward, besides his other

merits, had acquired honor to England by his successful conduct in the

only foreign enterprise undertaken during the reign of Edward. Duncan,

king of Scotland, was a prince of a gentle disposition, but possessed

not the genius requisite for governing a country so turbulent, and so

much infested by the intrigues and animosities of the great. Macbeth,

a powerful nobleman, and nearly allied to the crown, not content with

curbing the king’s authority, carried still farther his pestilent

ambition: he put his sovereign to death; chased Malcolm Kenmore, his son

and heir, into England, and usurped the crown. Siward, whose daughter

was married to Duncan, embraced, by Edward’s orders, the protection of

this distressed family: he marched an army into Scotland; and having

defeated and killed Macbeth in battle, he restored Malcolm to the throne

of his ancestors.[*]

[* W. Malms, p. 79. Hoveden, p. 443. Chron. Mailr.

p. 158 Buchanan, p, 115, edit. 1715].

This service, added to his former connections with the royal family of

Scotland, brought a great accession to the authority of Siward in the

north; but as he had lost his eldest son, Osberne, in the action with

Macbeth, it proved in the issue fatal to his family. His second son,

Walthoef, appeared, on his father’s death, too young to be intrusted

with the government of Northumberland; and Harold’s influence obtained

that dukedom for his own brother Tosti.

There are two circumstances related of Siward, which discover his high

sense of honor, and his martial disposition. When intelligence was

brought him of his son Osberne’s death, he was inconsolable; till he

heard that the wound was received in the breast, and that he had

behaved with great gallantry in the action. When he found his own death

approaching, he ordered his servants to clothe him in a complete suit

of armor; and sitting erect on the couch, with a spear in his hand,

declared, that in that posture, the only one worthy of a warrior, he

would patiently await the fatal moment.

The king, now worn out with cares and infirmities, felt himself far

advanced in the decline of life; and having no issue himself, began to

think of appointing a successor to the kingdom. He sent a deputation to

Hungary, to invite over his nephew Edward, son of his elder brother, and

the only remaining heir of the Saxon line. That prince, whose succession

to the crown would have been easy and undisputed, came to England with

his children, Edgar, surnamed Atheling, Margaret, and Christina; but his

death, which happened a few days after his arrival, threw the king into

new difficulties. He saw that the great power and ambition of Harold had

tempted him to think of obtaining possession of the throne on the first

vacancy, and that Edgar, on account of his youth and inexperience, was

very unfit to oppose the pretensions of so popular and enterprising a

rival. The animosity which he had long borne to Earl Godwin, made him

averse to the succession of his son; and he could not, without extreme

reluctance, think of an increase of grandeur to a family which had risen

on the ruins of royal authority, and which, by the murder of Alfred, his

brother, had contributed so much to the weakening of the Saxon line. In

this uncertainty, he secretly cast his eye towards his kinsman, William

duke of Normandy, as the only person whose power, and reputation, and

capacity, could support any destination which he might make in his

favor, to the exclusion of Harold and his family.[*]

[* Irgulph. p. 68]

This famous prince was natural son of Robert, duke of Normandy, by

Harlotta, daughter of a tanner in Falaise,[**] and was very early

established in that grandeur, from which his birth seemed to have set

him at so great a distance.

[** Brompton, p. 910.]

While he was but nine years of age, his father had resolved to undertake

a pilgrimage to Jerusalem; a fashionable act of devotion, which had

taken place of the pilgrimages to Rome, and which, as it was attended

with more difficulty and danger, and carried those religious adventurers

to the first sources of Christianity, appeared to them more meritorious.

Before his departure, he assembled the states of the duchy; and in

forming them of his design, he engaged them to swear allegiance to his

natural son, William, whom, as he had no legitimate issue, he intended,

in case he should die in the pilgrimage, to leave successor to his

dominions.[*] As he was a prudent prince, he could not but foresee

the great inconveniencies which must attend this journey, and this

settlement of his succession; arising from the perpetual turbulency

of the great, the claims of other branches of the ducal family and

the power of the French monarch; but all these considerations were

surmounted by the prevailing zeal for pilgrimages;[**] and probably the

more important they were, the more would Robert exult in sacrificing

them to what he imagined to be his religious duty.

[* W. Malms, p. 95.]

[** Ypod. Neust. p. 452.]

This prince, as he had apprehended, died in his pilgrimage; and the

minority of his son was attended with all those disorders which were

almost unavoidable in that situation. The licentious nobles, freed from

the awe of sovereign authority, broke out into personal animosities

against each other, and made the whole country a scene of war and

devastation.[***] Roger, count of Toni, and Alain, count of Brittany,

advanced claims to the dominion of the state; and Henry the First king

of France, thought the opportunity favorable for reducing the power of

a vassal, who had originally acquired his settlement in so violent

and invidious a manner, and who had long appeared formidable to his

sovereign.[****] The regency established by Robert encountered great

difficulties in supporting the government under his complication of

dangers; and the young prince, when he came to maturity, found himself

reduced to a very low condition. But the great qualities which he soon

displayed in the field and in the cabinet, gave encouragement to his

friends, and struck a terror into his enemies. He opposed himself on all

sides against his rebellious subjects, and against foreign invaders; and

by his valor and conduct prevailed in every action.

[*** Malms, p. 95. Gul. Gemet. lib. vii. cap. 1]

[**** W. Malms, p. 97.]

He obliged the French king to grant him peace on reasonable terms; he

expelled all pretenders to the sovereignty; and he reduced his turbulent

barons to pay submission to his authority, and to suspend their mutual

animosities. The natural severity of his temper appeared in a rigorous

administration of justice; and having found the happy effects of this

plan of government, without which the laws in those ages became totally

impotent, he regarded it as a fixed maxim, that an inflexible conduct

was the first duty of a sovereign.

The tranquillity which he had established in his dominions, had given

William leisure to pay a visit to the king of England, during the time

of Godwin’s banishment; and he was received in a manner suitable to the

great reputation which he had acquired, to the relation by which he was

connected with Edward, and to the obligations which that prince owed to

his family.[*] On the return of Godwin, and the expulsion of the Norman

favorites, Robert, archbishop of Canterbury, had, before his departure,

persuaded Edward to think of adopting William as his successor;

a counsel which was favored by the king’s aversion to Godwin, his

prepossessions for the Normans, and his esteem of the duke. That

prelate, therefore, received a commission to inform William of the

king’s intentions in his favor; and he was the first person that opened

the mind of the prince to entertain those ambitious hopes.[**] But

Edward, irresolute and feeble in his purpose, finding that the English

would more easily acquiesce in the restoration of the Saxon line, and

in the mean time invited his brother’s descendants from Hungary, with a

view of having them recognized heirs to the crown.

[* Hoveden, p. 442. Ingulph. p, 65. Chron. Mailr.

p. 157 Higden, p. 279.]

[** Ingulph. p. 68. Gul. Gemet. lib. vii. cap. 31

Order Vitalis. p. 492.]

The death of his nephew, and the inexperience and unpromising qualities

of young Edgar, made him resume his former intentions in favor of the

duke of Normandy; though his aversion to hazardous enterprises engaged

him to postpone the execution, and even to keep his purpose secret from

all his ministers.

Harold, meanwhile, proceeded after a more open manner, in increasing his

popularity, in establishing his power, and in preparing the way for

his advancement on the first vacancy; an event which, from the age and

infirmities of the king, appeared not very distant. But there was still

an obstacle, which it was requisite for him previously to overcome. Earl

Godwin, when restored to his power and fortune, had given hostages for

his good behavior; and among the rest one son and one grandson, whom

Edward, for greater security, as has been related, had consigned to the

custody of the duke of Normandy. Harold, though not aware of the duke’s

being his competitor, was uneasy that such near relations should be

detained prisoners in a foreign country; and he was afraid lest William

should, in favor of Edgar, retain these pledges as a check on the

ambition of any other pretender. He represented, therefore, to the king

his unfeigned submission to royal authority, his steady duty to his

prince, and the little necessity there was, after such a uniform trial

of his obedience, to detain any longer those hostages, who had been

required on the first composing of civil discords. By these topics,

enforced by his great power, he extorted the king’s consent to release

them; and in order to effect his purpose, he immediately proceeded, with

a numerous retinue, on his journey to Normandy. A tempest drove him

on the territory of Guy, count of Ponthieu, who, being informed of his

quality, immediately detained him prisoner, and demanded an exorbitant

sum for his ransom. Harold found means to convey intelligence of his

situation to the duke of Normandy; and represented that, while he was

proceeding to his court, in execution of a commission from the king

of England, he had met with this harsh treatment from the mercenary

disposition of the count of Ponthieu.

William was immediately sensible of the importance of the incident. He

foresaw that, if he could once gain Harold, either by favors or menaces,

his way to the throne of England would be open, and Edward would meet

with no further obstacle in executing the favorable intentions which he

had entertained in his behalf. He sent, therefore, a messenger to Guy,

in order to demand the liberty of his prisoner; and that nobleman, not

daring to refuse so great a prince, put Harold into the hands of the

Norman, who conducted him to Rouen. William received him with every

demonstration of respect and friendship; and after showing himself

disposed to comply with his desire in delivering up the hostages,

he look an opportunity of disclosing to him the great secret of his

pretensions to the crown of England, and of the will which Edward

intended to make in his favor. He desired the assistance of Harold in

perfecting that design; he made professions of the utmost gratitude in

return for so great an obligation; he promised that the present grandeur

of Harold’s family, which supported itself with difficulty under the

jealousy and hatred of Edward, should receive new increase from a

successor, who would be so greatly beholden to him for his advancement

Harold was surprised at this declaration of the duke; but being sensible

that he should never recover his own liberty, much less that of his

brother and nephew, if he refused the demand, he feigned a compliance

with William, renounced all hopes of the crown for himself, and

professed his sincere intention of supporting the will of Edward, and

seconding the ptetensions of the duke of Normandy. William, to bind him

faster to his interests, besides offering him one of his daughters

in marriage, required him to take an oath that, he would fulfil his

promises; and in order to render the oath more obligatory, he employed

an artifice well suited to the ignorance and superstition of the age. He

secretly conveyed under the altar, on which Harold agreed to swear, the

relics of some of the most revered martyrs; and when Harold had taken

the oath, he showed him the relics, and admonished him to observe

religiously an engagement which had been ratified by so tremendous a

sanction.[*] The English nobleman was astonished; but dissembling his

concern, he renewed the same professions, and was dismissed with all the

marks of mutual confidence by the duke of Normandy.

[* Wace, p. 459, 460. MS. penes Carte, p. 354. W.

Malms, p. 93 H Hunting, p 366. Hoveden, p. 449. Brompton, p.

947.]

When Harold found himself at liberty, his ambition suggested casuistry

sufficient to justify to him the violation of an oath, which had been

extorted from him by fear, and which, if fulfilled, might be attended

with the subjection of his native country to a foreign power. He

continued still to practise every art of popularity; to increase the

number of his partisans; to reconcile the minds of the English to the

idea of his succession; to revive their hatred of the Normans; and, by

an ostentation of his power and influence, to deter the timorous Edward

from executing his intended destination in favor of William. Fortune,

about this time, threw two incidents in his way, by which he was enabled

to acquire general favor, and to increase the character, which he had

already attained, of virtue and abilities.

The Welsh, though a less formidable enemy than the Danes, had long been

accustomed to infest the western borders; and after committing spoil

on the low countries, they usually made a hasty retreat into their

mountains, where they were sheltered from the pursuit of their enemies,

and were ready to seize the first favorable opportunity of renewing

their depredations. Griffith, the reigning prince, had greatly

distinguished himself in those incursions; and his name had become so

terrible to the English, that Harold found he could do nothing more

acceptable to the public, and more honorable for himself, than

the suppressing of so dangerous an enemy. He formed the plan of an

expedition against Wales; and having prepared some light-armed foot to

pursue the natives in their fastnesses, some cavalry to scour the open

country, and a squadron of ships to attack the sea-coast, he employed at

once all these forces against the Welsh, prosecuted his advantages with

vigor, made no intermission in his assaults, and at last reduced

the enemy to such distress, that, in order to prevent their total

destruction, they made a sacrifice of their prince, whose head they

cut off, and sent to Harold; and they were content to receive as their

sovereigns two Welsh noblemen appointed by Edward to rule over them. The

other incident was no less honorable to Harold.

Tosti, brother of this nobleman, who had been created duke of

Northumberland, being of a violent, tyrannical temper, had acted with

such cruelty and injustice, that the inhabitants rose in rebellion,

and chased him from his government. Morcar and Edwin, two brothers,

who possessed great power in those parts, and who were grandsons of

the great duke, Leofric, concurred in the insurrection; and the former,

being elected duke, advanced with an army to oppose Harold, who was

commissioned by the king to reduce and chastise the Northumbrians.

Before the armies came to action, Morcar, well acquainted with the

generous disposition of the English commander, endeavored to justify

his own conduct. He represented to Harold, that Tosti had behaved in a

manner unworthy of the station to which he was advanced, and no one, not

even a brother, could support such tyranny, without participating,

in some degree, of the infamy attending it; that the Northumbrians,

accustomed to a legal administration, and regarding it as their

birthright, were willing to submit to the king, but required a governor

who would pay regard to their rights and privileges; that they had been

taught by their ancestors, that death was preferable to servitude, and

had taken the field determined to perish, rather than suffer a renewal

of those indignities to which they had so long been exposed; and they

trusted that Harold, on reflection, would not defend in another that

violent conduct, from which he himself in his own government, had always

kept at so great a distance. Thus vigorous remonstrance was accompanied

with such a detail of facts, so well supported, that Harold found it

prudent to abandon his brother’s cause; and returning to Edward, he

persuaded him to pardon the Northumbrians, and to confirm Morcar in the

government. He even married the sister of that nobleman;[*] and by his

interest procured Edwin, the younger brother, to be elected into the

government of Mercia. Tosti in a rage departed the kingdom, and took

shelter in Flanders with Earl Baldwin, his father-in-law.

By this marriage, Harold broke all measures with the duke of Normandy,

and William clearly perceived that he could no longer rely on the oaths

and promises which he had extorted from him. But the English nobleman

was now in such a situation, that he deemed it no longer necessary to

dissemble. He had, in his conduct towards the Northumbrians, given such

a specimen of his moderation as had gained him the affections of his

countrymen. He saw that almost all England was engaged in his interests;

while he himself possessed the government of Wessex, Morcar that of

Northumberland, and Edwin that of Mercia. He now openly aspired to the

succession; and insisted, that since it was necessary, by the confession

of all, to set aside the royal family, on account of the imbecility of

Edgar, the sole surviving heir, there was no one so capable of filling

the throne, as a nobleman of great power of mature age, of long

experience, of approved courage and abilities, who, being a native

of the kingdom, would effectually secure it against the dominion and

tyranny of foreigners. Edward, broken with age and infirmities, saw the

difficulties too great for him to encounter; and though his inveterate

prepossessions kept him from seconding the pretensions of Harold, he

took but feeble and irresolute steps for securing the succession to the

duke of Normandy.[**] [6] While he continued in this uncertainty, he was

surprised by sickness, which brought him to his grave on the fifth of

January, 1066, in the sixty-fifth year of his age, and twenty-fifth of

his reign.

[* Order. Vitalis, p. 492.]

[** See note F, at the end of the volume.]

This prince, to whom the monks gave the title of Saint and Confessor,

was the last of the Saxon line that ruled in England. Though his reign

was peaceable and fortunate, he owed his prosperity less to his own

abilities than to the conjunctures of the times. The Danes, employed

in other enterprises, at tempted not those incursions which had been

so troublesome to all his predecessors, and fatal to some of them. The

facility of his disposition made him acquiesce under the government of

Godwin and his son Harold; and the abilities, as well as the power of

these noblemen, enabled them, while they were intrusted with authority,

to preserve domestic peace and tranquillity. The most commendable

circumstance of Edward’s government was his attention to the

administration of justice, and his compiling, for that purpose, a body

of laws which he collected from the laws of Ethelbert, Ina, and Alfred.

This compilation, though now lost, (for the laws that pass under

Edward’s name were composed afterwards,[*]) was long the object of

affection to the English nation.

[* Spelm. in verbo Belliva.]

Edward the Confessor was the first that touched for the king’s evil: the

opinion of his sanctity procured belief to this cure among the people:

his successors regarded it as a part of their state and grandeur to

uphold the same opinion. It has been continued down to our time; and

the practice was first dropped by the present royal family, who observed

that it could no longer give amazement even to the populace, and was

attended with ridicule in the eyes of all men of understanding.

HAROLD

{1066.} Harold had so well prepared matters before the death of Edward,

that he immediately stepped into the vacant throne; and his accession

was attended with as little opposition and disturbance, as if he had

succeeded by the most undoubted hereditary title. The citizens of London

were his zealous partisans; the bishops and clergy had adopted his

cause; and all the powerful nobility, connected with him by alliance

or friendship, willingly seconded his pretensions. The title of Edgar

Atheling was scarcely mentioned, much less the claim of the duke of

Normandy; and Harold, assembling his partisans, received the crown from

their hands, without waiting for the free deliberation of the states, or

regularly submitting the question to their determination.[*] If any were

averse to this measure, they were obliged to conceal their sentiments;

and the new prince, taking a general silence for consent, and founding

his title on the supposed suffrages of the people, which appeared

unanimous, was, on the day immediately succeeding Edward’s death,

crowned and anointed king, by Aldred, archbishop of York. The whole

nation seemed joyfully to acquiesce in his elevation.

The first symptoms of danger which the king discovered, came from

abroad, and from his own brother, Tosti, who had submitted to a

voluntary banishment in Flanders. Enraged at the successful ambition of

Harold, to which he himself had fallen a victim, he filled the court

of Baldwin with complaints of the injustice which he had suffered; he

engaged the interest of that family against his brother; he endeavored

to form intrigues with some of the discontented nobles in England he

sent his emissaries to Norway, in order to rouse to arms the freebooters

of that kingdom, and to excite their hopes of reaping advantage from the

unsettled state of affairs on the usurpation of the new king; and, that

he might render the combination more formidable, he made a journey to

Normandy, in expectation that the duke, who had married Matilda, another

daughter of Baldwin, would, in revenge of his own wrongs, as well

as those of Tosti, second, by his counsels and forces, the projected

invasion of England.[**]

[* Gul. Pictavensis, p. 196. Ypod. Neust. p. 486.

Order. Vitalis, p. 492. M. West. p. 221. W. Malms, p. 93.

Ingulph. p. 68. Brompton, p. 957. Knyghton, p. 2339. H.

Hunting, p. 210. Many of the historians say, that Harold was

regularly elected by the states; some that Edward left him

his successor by will]

[** Order. Vitalis, p. 492.]

The duke of Normandy, when he first received intelligence of Harold’s

intrigues and accessions, had been moved to the highest pitch of

indignation; but that he might give the better color to his pretensions,

he sent an embassy to England, upbraiding that prince with his breach

of faith, and summoning him to resign, immediately, possession of the

kingdom. Harold replied to the Norman ambassadors, that the oath, with

which he was reproached, had been extorted by the well-grounded fear of

violence, and could never, for that reason, be regarded as obligatory;

that he had had no commission, either from the late king or the states

of England, who alone could dispose of the crown, to make any tender of

the succession to the duke of Normandy; and if he, a private person, had

assumed so much authority, and had even voluntarily sworn to support the

duke’s pretensions, the oath was unlawful, and It was his duty to seize

the first opportunity of breaking it: that he had obtained the crown by

the unanimous suffrages of the people, and should prove himself totally

unworthy of their favor, did he not strenuously maintain those national

liberties, with whose protection they had intrusted him; and that the

duke, if he made any attempt by force of arms, should experience the

power of a united nation, conducted by a prince who, sensible of the

obligations imposed on him by his royal dignity, was determined that the

same moment should put a period to his life and to his government.[*]

[* W. Malms, p. 99. Higden, p. 28,5. M. West. p.

222. De Gest Angl., incerto auctore, p. 331.]