ACCESSION OF EDWARD THE CONFESSOR.
"It is the curse of kings to be attended by slaves."
"Favourites, made proud by princes, that advance their pride
Against the power that bred it."
"Thou wouldst be great. What thou wouldst highly,
That wouldst thou holily: wouldst not play false,
And yet wouldst wrongly win."--SHAKSPERE.
Edward, surnamed the Confessor, had resided in England for some time,
when the throne became vacant by the death of Hardicanute; and the
Danes, left without a leader by the sudden and unexpected demise of
their king, had no means of resisting the Saxon force, which all
at once wheeled up on the side of Edward, and, led on by Godwin,
placed the crown of England upon the head of the son of Ethelred.
To strengthen the power which he already possessed, the earl Godwin
proposed that the king should marry his daughter, Editha, who appears
to have been a lady of high intellectual attainments: it was said of
her, in contrast to the stern and ambitious character of her father,
that, as the thorn produces the rose, so Godwin produced Editha.
Ingulphus, one of the most celebrated historians living at this
period, after describing her as being very beautiful, meek, modest,
faithful, virtuous, a lady of learning, and the enemy of no one, says,
"I have very often seen her, when, only a boy, I visited my father in
the royal court. Often, as I came from school, she questioned me on
letters and my verse; and willingly passing from grammar to logic,
she caught me in the subtle nets of argument. I had always three or
four pieces of money counted by her maiden, and was sent to the royal
larder for refreshment." But all these amiable qualities were not
sufficient to bring happiness to the royal hearth; the earl was ever
stepping in between Edward and Editha, for Godwin became jealous of the
Normans, who were constantly coming over, and obtaining dignities and
honours from the court. Norman soldiers were placed over the English
fortresses; Norman priests officiated in the Saxon churches, and, as
the Danish power waned, and the offices which Hardicanute had given
to his own countrymen became vacant, Edward filled up the places with
his Norman favourites. Those who had befriended him in his exile came
over--such as had grown up side by side with him till they reached
manhood--had shared his sports and pastimes--dined at the same table
with him when, without friend or companion, except his brother Alfred,
he landed a stranger upon the shores of Normandy;--all such as had
clung to him, and assisted him while he was in exile, now came over to
congratulate their old acquaintance who had so suddenly emerged from
his obscurity, and become, by the voice of the whole Saxon nation, and
the tacit consent of the overawed and powerless Danes, the undisputed
monarch of England. Edward, on the other hand, landed in his native
country almost a stranger; he brought with him foreign habits, foreign
manners, and even spake the Norman-French more fluently than the
plain Saxon tongue of his ancestors. He was but a child when he left
England, and nearly thirty years residence in a foreign court must
have caused his native language to have sounded harshly on his ears
when he again landed on the shores of Britain. With the exception of
those who accompanied him, England would seem like a strange country;
he found none there whose habits and tastes were congenial to his own,
none with whom he had interchanged the warm friendship which is natural
to youth; and he must instinctively have shunned the advances made to
him by earl Godwin, standing suspected, as he did, of having indirectly
contributed to the death of his brother Alfred, or, at the least, of
having deserted him in the night, and left him in the hands of the
Danes. Either Edward must have stood far aloof from such suspicion,
or, when he consented to marry the daughter of Godwin, have purchased
the crown of England by making a sacrifice of his feelings and of his
honour. Edward's mother, it will also be remembered, was a Norman, and
while the friends of her son poured into the English court, she herself
was followed by those who claimed kindred with her race, until even the
very language of the Norman usurped that of the Saxon.
The Norman costume now became fashionable; those who were ambitious
of rising in the king's favour, or who wished to stand high in the
estimation of his favourites, began to speak in broken Norman, until,
in the neighbourhood of the court, the Saxon seemed to have grown into
an unfashionable language. One man alone, and he, the most powerful in
the kingdom, still stuck sturdily to the old Saxon habits, and openly
expressed his dislike of the Norman favourites. This was the cowherd,
the son of Ulfnoth, whose daughter the king of England had married; and
he, with his sons, who had proved themselves second to none in valour
in the hard-fought field, rose up, and made head against the Norman
encroachments. The Saxon earl, and his tall sons, boldly shouldered
their way through the crowded court, where their sister and daughter
reigned as queen; they lowered their helmets to no one, but rudely
jostled as they passed the groups of knaves and place-seekers who
infested the palace. Thus, without, at the folk-moots, and the guilds,
the Saxon earl and his sons were the favourites of the people; while
within, and about the palace, they were bitterly hated by the Norman
favourites. Such was the state of parties at the English court nearly
a thousand years ago, and it will be necessary for the reader to bear
them in mind, for the better understanding of the changes which they
lead to--the invasion of England by the Normans--a period at which we
are now rapidly arriving.
Whether Edward believed that his mother Emma had a share in the death
of her son Alfred, or was stung with the remembrance that she had
left them to the mercy of a strange court, and that his position in
England was rendered uneasy by those who had followed him with their
clamorous claims across the ocean, or he disliked her for the favour
which she had shown to her Danish son, Hardicanute, or envious of the
immense wealth and possessions she is said to have accumulated during
the reckless reign of the hard-drinking sea-king--whether led by one
or another of these motives of dislike and suspicion, or actuated by a
wish to resent the neglect with which she had treated him, he seized
upon her possessions, lessened her power, and either confined her in
the abbey of Wearwell, or limited her residence within the compass of
the lands he granted her near Winchester. This act was countenanced
by Godwin, who, though he studied his own aggrandisement, seems never
wholly to have neglected the interests of the Saxons. Her alleged
intercourse with the bishop of Winchester--her passing through the
ordeal of fire unscathed, with naked feet over burning plough-shares,
are dim traditions entirely unauthenticated by any respectable
historian, although such trials were not uncommon, as we shall show,
when we come to treat of the manners and customs of the Anglo-Saxons.
After this period, Emma of Normandy is scarcely mentioned again by our
early historians.
During the second year of his reign, Edward was menaced with an
invasion by Magnus, king of Norway and Denmark, who sent letters to
England demanding the crown of Edward; to which the English king
replied by mustering a large fleet at Sandwich, and declaring himself
ready to oppose his landing. But the attention of Magnus was soon
diverted from England to secure his new territory of Denmark, as
Sweyn, the son of Ulfr, (the latter being the same sea-king whom the
cowherd Godwin guided to the Danish camp when he had lost his way in
the forest,) now aspired to the sceptre of Denmark. The son of Ulfr
requested aid from Edward to support his claim to the Danish sceptre;
and this request was strongly backed by earl Godwin, who, whatever
other stain he may have had upon his character, cannot in this instance
be accused of ingratitude, for he earnestly pleaded that fifty ships
should be fitted out, and sent to the aid of the son of his early
patron. Godwin's proposition was, however, overruled by Leofric and
Siward, earls of Mercia and Northumbria, who will frequently be seen
to stand between earl Godwin and his claims upon the throne. What aid
Godwin afforded the son of Ulfr of his own accord we know not, though
it is on record that Sweyn obtained the crown of Denmark on the demise
of Magnus, which happened shortly after the application he made for aid
to Edward of England. With the death of Magnus ended all attempts upon
the English crown on the part of the Danes, and we hear no more of the
ravages of these stormy sea-kings, nor of the civil wars in England
between these two nations, who had, through the alternations of war and
peace, been settled in various parts of England long before the star of
Alfred the Great rose up and illumined the dark night of our history.
A new enemy was now, with slow and silent step, coming stealthily into
England; he had already obtained a footing in the palace and in the
church; he had left his slimy trail in the camp, and on the decks of
the Saxon vessels; he had come with a strange voice, and muttered words
which they could not understand.
Those who had often quarrelled were now neighbours; the difference
in language and manners was beginning to disappear; for as they, to
a certain extent, understood each other's dialect, the Saxon and the
Danish idioms began to assimilate; they, with few exceptions, lived
under the same common law; their children mingled and played together
in the same streets, in the same fields and forests, became men and
women, married, and forgot the quarrels of their forefathers, and at
last began to settle down like one nation upon the soil. Thus, each
party looked upon the Norman favourites with the same jealous eye.
With the exception of the bickerings both on the part of the Saxon and
Danish chiefs against the Normans whom Edward countenanced, all went
on in tolerable order at the Saxon court for seven or eight years;
for Leofric and Siward were ever throwing their formidable weight
into the opposite scale, and thus keeping an even balance between the
power of Godwin and the throne. Edward had rendered himself popular
with both the Danes and the Saxons; he had revived the old laws of his
ancestors, abolished the odious tax of Dane-geld, without retaliating
upon such of his subjects as belonged to that nation, as Canute and
Harold had beforetime done while lording it over the Saxons. An event
at last occurred which scarcely any one would have foreseen or have
guarded against, and which reads more like a drunken frolic, or a
common street brawl, than the grave record of history, although it
ended by embittering the feelings of the Saxons against the Normans,
and was another of those almost invisible steps which eventually led
to the conquest of England. Amongst the foreigners who came to pay
their court at this time to the king of England, was Eustace, count
of Boulogne, who had married a sister of Edward, but whether maid or
widow at the time of her union with the French count, is not very
clearly made out; nor is it recorded whether she was the daughter of
Emma of Normandy, though she laid claim to Ethelred as her father.
Eustace, proud to claim such a relationship, whatever it might be,
mounted the two slips of feathered whalebone in his helmet, and with a
showy train of followers visited the English court, where he and his
retinue were hospitably entertained by Edward. Here he met with Normans
and French who spoke nearly the same language as himself, and there
is but little doubt that such an assembly did not fail to show their
contempt for everything that was Saxon, voting vulgar a court in which
a cowherd had risen to the rank of earl; and probably extolling their
own ancestry, who, time out of mind, had been brought up to the more
"polite" profession of murder and robbery both by sea and land. While
returning on his visit from Edward, he commanded his train to halt
before they entered Dover, and putting on his coat of mail, ordered
his followers to do the same; and thus armed, they entered the town.
They then commenced riding up and down the streets, insulting the
inhabitants, and selecting the best houses in which to take up their
quarters for the night; for such had been the custom of the Danes, who
made the houses of the Saxons their inns, sometimes permitting, as a
great favour, the owner and his family to share the meal which they
had compelled them to provide. It is pretty clear that the deeds of
these "good old times" had furnished the topic of conversation amongst
the visitors at the Saxon court, made up as it would be of Normans and
Northmen, and descendants of the Vikingrs, who now found it dangerous
to follow the "honourable" employment of their ancestors--men who
mourned over the changes which no longer allowed them with impunity to
insult the wife and daughter of the Saxon, whom they compelled to be
their host--to eat the meal which they forced him to provide, and for
which they considered they made him an ample return if they did not
stab him upon his own hearth, and then set fire to his house. These
cruel and bloody deeds, which had been counted valorous, had often,
doubtless, furnished the midnight conversation of the cruel sea-kings,
as they congregated around their fire, seated upon--
"A dismal circle
Of Druid stones upon the forlorn moor,
Where the chill rain begun at shut of eve
In dull November; and their chancel-vault
The heaven itself was blinded through the night."--KEATS.
Alas! such horrors were again to be renewed; though there were but few
at this time who foresaw the storm which was now slowly heaving up, and
was ere long doomed to burst with renewed fury upon England.
While the French count and his followers were prancing through the
streets of Dover, full, perhaps, of the thoughts of such scenes as
we have faintly pictured, one of them alighted upon the threshold of
a sturdy Saxon, who, considering his house was his castle, refused
to allow the insulting foreigner to enter. The Frenchman or Norman
instantly drew his sword and wounded the Saxon, who in his turn slew
the aggressor. The count and his followers attacked the Englishman, and
put him to death upon his own hearth. All Dover was instantly in arms,
for the foreigners now rode through the town sword in hand, striking at
all they came near, and trampling every one they could ride over under
the hoofs of their horses. They were at last met by an armed body of
the townsmen. A severe combat took place, and it was not until nineteen
of his followers were slain, that the count of Boulogne took flight
with all the speed he could; and not venturing to embark, he hastened
back, with such of his train as remained, to the court of the English
king.
Edward at once forgave his brother-in-law, and, on his bare assertion,
believed that the inhabitants of Dover were wholly to blame; he then
sent for earl Godwin, within whose governorship Dover was included, and
ordered him without delay to attack the town, and punish all who had
risen up in arms against the count of Boulogne and his followers. But
the Saxon earl was loath to appear in arms against his countrymen on
the mere report of a stranger, and reasonably enough suggested that
the whole affair should be investigated by competent judges; "for it
ill becomes you," replied Godwin, "to condemn without a hearing the
men whom it is your duty to protect." Urged on by the clamours of his
favourites, Edward insisted upon immediate vengeance being executed
upon the inhabitants of Dover; and when the Saxon earl refused to
fulfil his commands, he then cited him to appear before the council at
Gloucester, where the court was then held. Godwin was well acquainted
with the characters who would preside at the court before which he was
summoned, and well knew that, right or wrong, sentence of banishment
would be proclaimed against him, as it consisted chiefly of Normans,
who were his sworn enemies, and who would not hesitate, by any means,
to lessen the power he possessed: so, seeing the foreign enemies that
were arrayed against him, and the unfair trial that awaited him,
he resolved to overthrow this corrupt court by an appeal to arms,
and, without offering any violence to the king, rescue both himself
and England from the "cunning of the Normans." For as an old writer
observes, while describing the events which preceded and were followed
by those which took place about this period, "The all-powerful God
must have proposed to himself at once two plans of destruction for the
English race, and must have framed a sort of military ambuscade against
it: for, on one hand, he let loose the Danish invasion; on the other,
he created and cemented the Norman alliance; so that, if we escaped the
blows aimed at our faces by the Danes, the cunning of the Normans might
be at hand to surprise us."
When Godwin refused to be tried by the corrupt and packed court of
Gloucester, he commenced assembling his forces together; for he was
governor over the whole of the extensive country south of the Thames,
and the popularity of his quarrel caused numbers to flock to his
standard, as he was now looked up to by the Saxons as the defender of
their rights. Harold, his oldest son, also collected a large army from
the eastern coast between the Thames and Boston Wash; while Sweyn, his
second son, mustered many followers along the banks of the Severn and
the frontiers of Wales. The three armies commanded by Godwin and his
sons united, and drew up near Gloucester, when the earl sent messengers
to the king, demanding that the Count of Boulogne, with his followers,
together with such of the Normans and Frenchmen as had rendered
themselves objectionable, should be given up to the justice of the
English nation.
Meantime, Edward had not been idle, but had despatched messengers to
Siward and Leofric, with orders to muster all the forces they could
without loss of time, and during the interval that preceded their
arrival, he kept up a seeming negotiation with Godwin; but no sooner
did he find himself surrounded by a powerful army, headed by his own
chosen leaders, than he refused boldly to give up his Norman and French
favourites. But a great and unexpected change had taken place in the
spirit of the people; for although Edward had followed that cruel
policy which kings have too often had recourse to, that of setting
one nation against another, the Danes of Mercia and Northumberland
which had marched up under the banners of their earls, when confronted
together, refused to make war upon the Saxons. They now considered
them as their countrymen--so would not shed their blood for Edward and
his foreign favourites; a strong proof how popular the cause was which
Godwin had taken up; whilst neither the Saxon nor Danish chiefs would
draw their swords in such a quarrel.
When on neither side parties could be found who were willing to shed
each other's blood, peace was at once agreed upon, and it was decided
that the dispute should be investigated by an assembly in London.
Hostages and oaths were exchanged, both swearing to maintain the peace
of God, and perfect friendship. On the side of Edward this solemn
promise does not appear to have been sincere, as he availed himself of
the interval between taking the oath and the appointed time on which
the assembly was to take place, in levying a powerful army from every
available source, and in nearly every instance giving the command of
the various troops to his Norman and French favourites. This immense
army was quartered in and around London, so that the appointed council
was held in the very heart of a strongly fortified camp, the leaders of
which were the enemies of Godwin. Before this council Godwin and his
sons were summoned to appear without an escort, and unarmed. The earl,
in return, demanded that hostages should be given for their safety;
for he well knew that they had but few friends in the council. Edward
refused to furnish hostages, or to guarantee their safety either in
coming or going; and after having been twice or thrice summoned, and
refused the unconditional terms of surrender, sentence of banishment
was pronounced against earl Godwin and his sons, and only five days
allowed them to quit England, with all their family. Even before the
expiration of that period, king Edward, instigated doubtless by his
favourites, who thirsted both for the blood and the estates of the
Saxon earl, ordered a troop of horse to pursue the banished nobleman
and his family, but the command of the party was fortunately entrusted
to a Saxon, who was in no hurry to overtake them. Godwin, with his
wife, and three of his sons, Sweyn, Tostig, and Gurth, with such
treasure as they could amass, sailed for Flanders, and were kindly
received by earl Baldwin; while Harold and Leofwin, his other sons,
embarked from Bristol, and escaped into Ireland. All their broad lands
were confiscated; the high situations they had held were given to
the Norman favourites; the castles they had inhabited, with all they
contained, fell into the hands of their enemies; and Godwin found
himself, in his old age, and after a busy life spent in the service of
courts and camps, but little richer than, when a humble cowherd, he led
Ulfr through wild forest paths to the Danish camp.
Editha the queen was now left alone in the midst of her father's
enemies; nor was she long before she felt the weight of their hatred
and vengeance. "It was not right," the Norman favourites said, "that
while her family was in exile, she herself should sleep upon down." She
was also deprived of all the possessions which on her marriage had been
bequeathed to her by her father, and then shut up in a nunnery. Calm
and passionless as an historian ought ever to be, he would scarcely
feel any regret if the Norman invasion had taken place in the life-time
of such a weak-minded monarch as this Edward the Confessor, were it
only for his conduct to the beautiful and highly-gifted Editha, whose
character Ingulphus has so delicately drawn. Still less do we admire
the forbearance by which he obtained his much-lauded sanctity, which
was but a species of "refined cruelty" towards a lady whose very soul
must have been a shrine fit for the purest affection to dwell in. But,
after all, we feel a pity for Edward. His life was uncheered either by
the affection of father or mother, excepting in the very early years
of childhood. As he grew up, he became a prey to false friends and
unprincipled priests, who, while they pretended to draw his attention
to the treasures "which neither rust nor moth doth corrupt," were
themselves revelling in the very heart of vile and selfish corruption.
Ambitious as Godwin might be, there was much more of the nobleness of
human nature in his character than existed in the soul of Edward; and,
although we feel sorry for the king's weakness, we can never pardon
him for leaving that lovely lady alone in the cold grey cloisters of a
nunnery, where, to use the words of one of our old chroniclers, she "in
tears and prayers expected the day of her release," doubtless looking
beyond the grave for that happiness which it was never her lot to know
on earth. But we have now arrived at the fall and banishment of earl
Godwin, and must leave him for awhile in exile, to glance at the merry
doings in the English court during his absence.