to Ethelnoth, Metropolitan, and Elfric, Archbishop of York, and to all
bishops, nobles, and to the whole nation of the English high and low,
health. I notify to you that I have lately been to Rome, to pray for the
forgiveness of my sins; for the safety of my dominions, and of the
people under my government. I had long since vowed such a journey to
God, but, hitherto hindered by the affairs of my kingdom, and other
causes preventing, I was unable to accomplish it sooner. I now return
thanks most humbly to my Almighty God, for suffering me, in my lifetime,
to approach the holy apostles Peter and Paul, and all the holy saints
within and without the city of Rome, wherever I could discover them, and
there present, to worship and adore according to my desire. I have been
the more diligent in the performance of this, because I have learned
from the wise that St. Peter the Apostle has received from God great
power in binding and in loosing: that he carries the key of the kingdom
of heaven; and consequently I have judged it a matter of special
importance to seek his influence with God. Be it known to you that at
the solemnity of Easter, a great assembly of nobles was present with
Pope John and the Emperor Conrad, that is to say, all the princes of the
nations from Mount Garganus[3] to the neighbouring sea.[4] All these
received me with honour and presented me with magnificent gifts. But
more especially was I honoured by the Emperor with various gifts and
offerings in gold and silver vessels and mantles and costly garments.
Moreover, I spoke with the Emperor himself and the sovereign Pope and
the nobles who were there, concerning the wants of all my people,
English as well as Danes; observing that there ought to be granted to
them more equitable regulations, and greater security on their passage
to Rome; that they should not be impeded by so many barriers on the
road, nor harassed with unjust exactions. The Emperor assented to my
request, as did Rodolph the King,[5] who has the chief dominion over
those passes; and all the princes confirmed by an edict that my
subjects, traders as well as those who went on a religious account,
should peaceably go and return from Rome without any molestation from
warders of passes or tax-gatherers. Again I complained before the Pope
and expressed my high displeasure that my archbishops were oppressed by
the immense sum of money which is demanded from them when seeking,
according to custom, the apostolical see to receive the pall: and it was
determined that it should be so no longer. Moreover, all things which I
requested for the advantage of my kingdom from the sovereign Pope and
the Emperor and King Rodolph and the other princes through whose
territory our road to Rome runs, they have freely granted and confirmed
by oath under the attestation of four archbishops and twenty bishops and
an innumerable multitude of dukes and nobles who were present. Wherefore
I give most hearty thanks to God Almighty for having successfully
completed all that I had wished in the manner I had designed, and fully
satisfied my intentions. Be it known, then, that since I have vowed to
God himself henceforward to reform my life in all things, and justly and
piously to govern the kingdoms and the people subject to me, and to
maintain equal justice in all things; and have determined through God’s
assistance to rectify anything hitherto unjustly done, either through
the intemperance of my youth or through negligence; therefore I call to
witness and command my counsellors to whom I have entrusted the counsels
of the kingdom that they by no means either through fear of myself or
favour to any powerful person suffer henceforth any injustice, or cause
such to be done in all my kingdom. Moreover I command all sheriffs or
bailiffs throughout my whole kingdom, as they value my affection or
their own safety not to commit injustice towards any man, rich or poor,
but to allow all, noble and ignoble alike, to enjoy impartial law, from
which they are never to deviate, either on account of royal favour, the
person of any powerful man, or for the sake of amassing money for
myself: for I have no need that money be accumulated for me by unjust
exactions. Be it known to you therefore, that, returning by the same way
that I went, I am now going to Denmark, through the advice of all the
Danes, to make peace and firm treaty with those nations who were
desirous, had it been possible, to deprive me both of life and of
sovereignty: this, however, they were not able to perform, God, who by
His kindness preserves me in my kingdom and in my honour and destroys
the power of all my adversaries, bringing their strength to nought.
Moreover, when I have established peace with the surrounding nations,
and put all our sovereignty here in the East in tranquil order, so that
there shall be no fear of war or enmity on any side, I intend coming to
England, as early in the summer as I shall be able to get my fleet
prepared. I have sent this letter before me in order that my people may
rejoice at my prosperity; because, as you yourselves know, I have never
spared, nor will I spare, either myself or my pains for the needful
service of my whole people. I now therefore adjure all my bishops and
governors throughout my kingdom by the fidelity they owe to God and me,
to take care that before I come to England all dues owing by ancient
custom [to the Church] be discharged; that is to say, the penny for
every carucate ploughed, the tithe of the increase of your flocks and
herds, the penny for St. Peter at Rome, whether from cities or villages,
the tithe of corn in the middle of August, and the church-scot at the
feast of St. Martin. If all these dues are not regularly paid, I shall
on my return to England execute unpitying justice on the defaulter.
Footnote 3:
In Apulia.
Footnote 4:
The Tyrrhene Sea.
Footnote 5:
Of Burgundy.
RANKS AMONG THE ENGLISH (BETWEEN 1029 AND 1060).
=Source.=—Translated in Elizabeth’s reign by William Lambarde,
_Perambulation of Kent_, p. 500, quoted by Hakluyt, _Principal
Voyages_. For original, see Thorpe, _Ancient Laws and Institutes of
England_.
It was some time in English laws, that the people and the laws were in
reputation; and then were the wisest of the people worship-worthy, every
one after his degree: Earle, and Churle, Thein, and under-Thein. And if
a churle thrived so, that he had fully five hides of his owne land, a
Church and a Kitchin, a Belhouse, and a gate, a seate, and a severall
office in the kings hall, then was he thenceforth the Theins right
worthy. And if a Thein so thrived, that he served the king, and on his
message rid in his household, if he then had a Thein that followed him,
the which to the kings journey five hides had, and in the kings seate
his Lord served, and thrise with his errand had gone to the king, he
might afterward with his foreoth his lords part play at any great neede.
And if a Thein did thrive so, that he became an Earle; then was he
afterward an Earles right worthie. And if a Marchant so thrived, that he
passed thrise over the wide seas, of his owne craft, he was thenceforth
a Theins right worthie. And if a scholar so prospered thorow learning
that he degree had and served Christ, he was then afterward of dignitie
and peace so much worthie, as thereunto belonged: unlesse he forfaited
so, that he the use of his degree use ne might.
SAXON AND NORMAN (1051).
=Source.=—_Anglo-Saxon Chronicle._ Translated by J. A. Giles. Bohn’s
Library.
ANNO 1048 [really 1051].—In this year King Edward appointed Robert, of
London, archbishop of Canterbury, during Lent. And in the same Lent he
went to Rome after his pall: and the King gave the bishopric of London
to Sparhafoc, Abbot of Abingdon; and the King gave the abbacy of
Abingdon to bishop Rodulf, his kinsman. Then came the archbishop from
Rome one day before St. Peter’s mass-eve, and entered on his
archiepiscopal see at Christ’s Church on St. Peter’s mass-day; and soon
after went to the king. Then came abbot Sparhafoc to him with the king’s
writ and seal, in order that he should consecrate him bishop of London.
Then the archbishop refused, and said that the pope had forbidden it
him. Then went the abbot to the archbishop again for that purpose, and
there desired episcopal ordination; and the archbishop constantly
refused him, and said that the pope had forbidden it him. Then went the
abbot to London and occupied the bishopric which the king before had
granted him, with his full leave, all the summer and the harvest. And
then came Eustace [Earl of Boulogne] from beyond the sea soon after the
bishop, and went to the king, and spoke with him that which he then
would, and went then homeward. When he came to Canterbury, east, then
took he refreshment there, and his men, and went to Dover. When he was
some mile or more on this side of Dover, then he put on his
breast-plate, and so did all his companions, and went to Dover. When
they came thither, then would they lodge themselves where they chose.
Then came one of his men, and would abide in the house of an householder
against his will, and wounded the householder; and the householder slew
the other. Then Eustace got upon his horse, and his companions upon
theirs; and they went to the householder, and slew him within his own
dwelling; and they went up towards the town, and slew, as well within as
without, more than twenty men. And the townsmen slew nineteen men on the
other side, and wounded they knew not how many. And Eustace escaped with
a few men, and went again to the king, and made known to him, in part,
how they had fared. And the king became very wroth with the townsmen.
And the king sent off Godwin, the earl, and bade him go into Kent in a
hostile manner to Dover: for Eustace had made it appear to the King,
that it had been more the fault of the townsmen than his: but it was not
so. And the earl would not consent to the inroad, because he was loath
to injure his own people. Then the king sent after all his council, and
bade them come to Gloucester, nigh the aftermass of St. Mary. Then had
the Frenchmen erected a castle in Herefordshire among the people of
Sweyn the earl, and wrought every kind of harm and disgrace to the
king’s men thereabout which they could. Then came Godwin the earl, and
Sweyn the earl, together at Beverstone, and many men with them, in order
that they might go to their royal lord, and to all the peers who were
assembled with him, in order that they might have the advice of the king
and his aid, and of all this council, how they might avenge the king’s
disgrace, and the whole nation’s. Then were the Frenchmen with the king
beforehand, and accused the earls, so that they might not come within
his eyes’ sight; because they said that they were coming thither in
order to betray the king. Thither had come Siward the earl [of
Northumbria], and Leofric the earl [of Mercia], and much people with
them, from the north, to the king; and it was made known to the earl
Godwin and his sons, that the king and the men who were with him were
taking counsel concerning them: and they arrayed themselves on the other
hand resolutely, though it were loathful to them that they should stand
against their royal lord. Then the peers on either side decreed that
every kind of evil should cease: and the king gave the peace of God and
his full friendship to either side. Then the king and his peers decreed
that a council of all the nobles should be held for the second time in
London at the harvest equinox; and the king directed the army to be
called out, as well south of the Thames as north, all that was in any
way most eminent. Then declared they Sweyn the earl an outlaw, and
summoned Godwin the earl and Harold the earl, to the council, as quickly
as they could effect it. When they had come thither, then were they
summoned into the council. Then required he safe conduct and hostages,
so that he might come, unbetrayed, into the council and out of the
council. Then the king demanded all the thegns whom the earls before
had; and they granted them all into his hands. Then the king sent again
to them, and commanded them that they should come with twelve men to the
king’s council. Then the earl again required safe conduct and hostages,
that he might defend himself against each of those things that were laid
to him. Then were the hostages refused him; and he was allowed a safe
conduct for five nights to go out of the land. And then Godwin the earl
and Sweyn the earl went to Bosham, and shoved out their ships, and
betook themselves beyond sea, and sought the protection of Baldwin [earl
of Flanders], and abode there all the winter. And Harold the earl went
west to Ireland, and was there all the winter with the king’s
protection. And soon after this happened, then put away the king the
lady [Editha, Godwin’s daughter] who had been consecrated his queen, and
caused to be taken from her all which she possessed, in land, and in
gold, and in silver, and in all things, and delivered her to his sister
at Wherwell. And abbot Sparhafoc was then driven out of the bishopric of
London, and William, the king’s priest, was ordained thereto. And then
Odda was appointed earl over Devonshire, and over Somerset, and over
Dorset, and over the Welsh [Cornish]. And Algar, the son of Leofric the
earl, was appointed to the earldom which Harold before held.
CHARACTERISTICS OF THE ENGLISH BEFORE THE CONQUEST.
=Source.=—William of Malmesbury (died about 1142), _Gesta Regum_, book
iii. Translated by J. A. Giles. Bohn’s Library.
England had long since adopted the manners of the Angles which had been
very various according to the times: for in the first years of their
arrival, they were barbarians in their look and manners, warlike in
their usages, heathens in their rites; but after embracing the faith of
Christ, by degrees and in process of time, from the peace they enjoyed,
regarding arms only in a secondary light, they gave their whole
attention to religion. I say nothing of the poor, the meanness of whose
fortune often restrains them from overstepping the bounds of justice: I
omit men of ecclesiastical rank, whom sometimes respect to their
profession, and sometimes the fear of shame, suffer not to deviate from
the truth: I speak of princes, who from the greatness of their power
might have full liberty to indulge in pleasure; some of whom in their
own country, and others at Rome, changing their habit, obtained a
heavenly kingdom and a saintly intercourse. Many during their whole
lives in outward appearance only embraced the present world, in order
that they might exhaust their treasures on the poor or divide them
amongst monasteries. What shall I say of the multitudes of bishops,
hermits, and abbots? Does not the whole island blaze with such numerous
relics of its natives that you can scarcely pass a village of any
consequence but you hear the name of some new saint, besides the numbers
of whom all notices have perished through the want of records?
Nevertheless, in process of time, the desire after literature and
religion had decayed for several years before the arrival of the
Normans. The clergy, contented with a very slight degree of learning,
could scarcely stammer out the words of the Sacraments; and a person who
understood grammar was an object of wonder and astonishment. The monks
mocked the rule of their order by fine clothing, and the use of every
kind of food. The nobility, given up to luxury and wantonness, went not
to church in the morning after the manner of Christians, but merely in a
careless manner heard mattins and masses from a hurrying priest in their
chambers.... The commonalty, left unprotected, became a prey to the most
powerful, who amassed fortunes by either seizing on their property or by
selling their persons into foreign countries; although it be an innate
quality of this people to be more inclined to revelling than to the
accumulation of wealth.... Drinking in particular was a universal
practice, in which occupation they passed entire nights as well as days.
They consumed their whole substance in mean and despicable houses,
unlike the Normans and French, who in noble and splendid mansions lived
in frugality. The vices attendant on drunkenness, which enervate the
human mind, followed; hence it arose that, engaging William more with
rashness and precipitate fury than military skill, they doomed
themselves and their country to slavery by one and that an easy victory.
In fine, the English at that time wore short garments reaching to the
mid-knee; they had their hair cropped, their beards shaven, their arms
laden with golden bracelets, their skin adorned with punctured designs.
They were accustomed to eat till they became surfeited, and to drink
till they were sick. These latter qualities they imparted to their
conquerors; as to the rest they adopted their manners. I would not,
however, have these bad propensities universally ascribed to the
English. I know that many of the clergy at that day trod the path of
sanctity by a blameless life; I know that many of the laity of all ranks
and conditions in this nation were pleasing to God. Be injustice far
from this account; the accusation does not involve the whole
indiscriminately.
A NORMAN ACCOUNT OF THE BATTLE OF HASTINGS (1066).
=Source.=—William of Malmesbury (died about 1142), _Gesta Regum_, book
iii. Translated by J. A. Giles. Bohn’s Library.
The courageous leaders mutually prepared for battle, each according to
his national custom. The English, as we have heard, passed the night
without sleep, in drinking and singing, and, in the morning, proceeded
without delay towards the enemy; all were on foot, armed with
battle-axes, and covering themselves in front by the junction of their
shields, they formed an impenetrable body, which would have secured
their safety that day, had not the Normans, by a feigned flight, induced
them to open their ranks, which till that time, according to their
custom, were closely compacted. The king himself on foot, stood, with
his brother, near the standard, in order that, while all shared equal
danger, none might think of retreating. This standard William sent after
the victory to the Pope; it was sumptuously embroidered, with gold and
precious stones, in the form of a man fighting. On the other side, the
Normans passed the whole night in confessing their sins, and received
the Sacrament in the morning. Their infantry, with bows and arrows,
formed the vanguard, while their cavalry divided into wings, were thrown
back. The earl, with serene countenance, declaring aloud that God would
favour his, as being the righteous side, called for his arms; and
presently when, through the hurry of his attendants, he had put on his
hauberk the hind part before, he corrected the mistake with a laugh,
saying: “My dukedom shall be turned into a kingdom.” Then beginning the
song of Roland, that the warlike example of that man might stimulate the
soldiers, and calling on God for assistance, the battle commenced on
both sides. They fought with ardour, neither giving ground, for great
part of the day. Finding this, William gave a signal to his party, that,
by a feigned flight, they should retreat. Through this device the close
body of the English, opening for the purpose of cutting down the
straggling enemy, brought upon itself swift destruction; for the
Normans, facing about, attacked them thus disordered, and compelled them
to fly. In this manner, deceived by a stratagem, they met an honourable
death in avenging their country; nor indeed were they at all wanting to
their own revenge, as, by frequently making a stand, they slaughtered
their pursuers in heaps: for, getting possession of an eminence, they
drove down the Normans, when roused with indignation and anxiously
striving to gain the higher ground, into the valley beneath, where
easily hurling their javelins and rolling down stones on them as they
stood below, they destroyed them to a man. Besides, by a short passage
with which they were acquainted, avoiding a deep ditch, they trod
underfoot such a multitude of their enemies in that place, that they
made the hollow level with the plain by the heaps of carcases. This
vicissitude of first one party conquering, and then the other, prevailed
as long as the life of Harold continued; but when he fell, his brain
pierced by an arrow, the flight of the English ceased not until night.
The valour of both leaders was here eminently conspicuous. Harold, not
merely content with the duty of a general in exhorting others,
diligently entered into every soldier-like office; often would he strike
the enemy when coming to close quarters, so that none could approach him
with impunity; for immediately the same blow levelled both horse and
rider. Wherefore, as I have related, receiving the fatal arrow from a
distance, he yielded to death. One of the soldiers with a sword gashed
his thigh as he lay prostrate; for which shameful and cowardly action,
he was branded with ignominy by William, and dismissed the service.
William, too, was equally ready to encourage by his voice and by his
presence; to be the first to rush forward; to attack the thickest of the
foe. Thus everywhere raging, everywhere furious, he lost three choice
horses, which were that day pierced under him. The dauntless spirit and
vigour of the intrepid general, however, still persisted, though often
called back by the kind remonstrance of his bodyguard; he still
persisted, I say, till approaching night crowned him with complete
victory. And no doubt the hand of God so protected him that the enemy
should draw no blood from his person, though they aimed so many javelins
at him. This was a fatal day to England, a melancholy havoc of our dear
country, through its change of masters.
THE LAST OF THE NORTHMEN AND OF THE ENGLISH (1066).
=Source.=—_Anglo-Saxon Chronicle._ Translated by J. A. Giles. Bohn’s
Library.
ANNO 1066.—In this year King Harold came from York to Westminster, at
that Easter which was after the midwinter in which the king died....
Then was over all England such a token seen in the heavens as no man
ever before saw. Some men said that it was Cometa the star, which some
men call the haired star; and it appeared first on the eve Litania
Major, the 8th before the Kalends of May, and so shone all the seven
nights. And soon after came in Tostig the earl from beyond the sea into
the Isle of Wight, with so great a fleet as he might procure; and there
they yielded him as well money as food. And King Harold, his brother,
gathered so great a ship force, and also a land force, as no king here
in the land had before done; because it was made known to him that
William the bastard would come hither and win this land; all as it
afterwards happened. And the while, came Tostig the earl into Humber
with sixty ships; and Edwin the earl came with a land force and drove
him out. And the boatmen forsook him; and he went to Scotland with
twelve vessels. And there met him Harold King of Norway with three
hundred ships; and Tostig submitted to him and became his man. And they
then went both into Humber until they came to York; and there fought
against them Edwin the earl and Morcar the earl, his brother: but the
Northmen had the victory. Then was it made known to Harold King of the
Angles that this had thus happened: and this battle was on the vigil of
St. Matthew. Then came Harold our king unawares on the Northmen, and met
with them beyond York at Stamford Bridge with a great army of English
people: and there during the day was a very severe fight on both sides.
There was slain Harold the Fair-haired and Tostig the earl; and the
Northmen who were there remaining were put to flight; and the English
from behind hotly smote them, until they came, some, to their ships,
some were drowned, and some also burnt; and thus in divers ways they
perished, so that there were few left: and the English had possession of
the place of carnage. The king then gave his protection to Olave, son of
the king of the Norwegians, and to their bishop, and to the earl of
Orkney, and to all those who were left in the ships: and they then went
up to our king and swore oaths that they ever would observe peace and
friendship towards this land; and the king let them go home with
twenty-four ships. These two general battles were fought within five
days. Then came William earl of Normandy into Pevensey, on the eve of
St. Michael’s mass [28 September]: and as soon as his men were fit, they
constructed a castle at Hastings-port. This was then made known to King
Harold, and he then gathered a great force, and came to meet him at the
estuary of Appledore; and William came against him unawares, before his
people were assembled. But the king nevertheless strenuously fought
against him with those men who would follow him; and there was great
slaughter made on either hand. There was slain King Harold, and Leofwine
the earl, his brother, and Gyrth the earl, his brother, and many good
men; and the Frenchmen had possession of the place of carnage, all as
God granted them for the people’s sins. Archbishop Aldred and the
townsmen of London would then have child Edgar for king, all as was his
true natural right: and Edwin and Morcar vowed to him that they would
fight together with him. But in that degree that it ought ever to have
been forwarder, so was it from day to day later and worse; so that at
the end all passed away. This fight was done on the day of Calixtus the
pope. And William the earl went afterwards again to Hastings, and there
awaited to see whether the people would submit to him. But when he
understood that they would not come to him, he went upwards with all his
army which was left to him, and that which afterwards had come to him
from oversea; and he plundered all that part which he overran, until he
came to Berkhamsted. And there came to meet him Archbishop Aldred [of
York], and child Edgar, and Edwin the earl, and Morcar the earl, and all
the chief men of London; and then submitted for need, when the most harm
had been done: and it was very unwise that they had not done so before;
since God would not better it, for our sins. And they delivered hostages
and swore oaths to him; and he vowed to them that he would be a loving
lord to them: and nevertheless, during this, they plundered all that
they overran. Then on midwinter’s day, Archbishop Aldred consecrated him
king at Westminster; and he gave him a pledge upon Christ’s book, and
also swore, before he would set the crown upon his head, that he would
govern this nation as well as any king before him had at the best done,
if they would be faithful to him.
NOTE ON THE CHIEF AUTHORITIES.