pagan--Penda--who made a vow to extirpate Christianity from the
island, and entered into an alliance with Cadwallon, a Welsh King, for
the invasion of Northumbria. Eadwine encountered them at Heathfield,
near Doncaster, and a sanguinary battle ensued, which proved most
disastrous to the hitherto victorious Northumbrians. Eadwine and his
son Osfrid were slain in the fight, and another son, Eanfrid, was
murdered after the battle. The victors then ravaged the country,
burning and plundering the houses, and slaughtering the people without
regard to sex or age. Cadwallon remained in Northumbria, assuming the
government, and ruling the people with great severity and cruelty,
until he was slain in battle by Oswald, whilst Penda marched into East
Anglia, which had become Christian, subdued it, and then took upon
himself the title of Bretwalda. Thus fell the great and glorious
Eadwine, the victor of many fights, the Bretwalda of England, the
first Christian King of the North, and the protomartyr of Northumbria.
His body was conveyed to Whitby for burial, and his head interred in
the porch of his church at York. He was afterwards canonised, and a
church in London and another at Breve, in Somersetshire, have been
dedicated to St. Eadwine. The Queen, with her two surviving children,
accompanied by Paulinus, fled to Kent. She founded a nunnery, and took
the veil within its walls; her children she sent to France, to be
educated under the care of her cousin, King Dagobert, and after her
death she was canonised. Paulinus became the third Bishop of
Rochester.
Siward, the Viceroy.
According to a Scandinavian legend, a young Danish lady went wandering
into a forest, where she suddenly, when turning out of one glade into
another, came face to face with a bear, who seized her and forcibly
violated her. The result was the birth of a child, with shaggy ears,
to whom was given the name of Barn. He married, and had a son, Siward,
who came on a piratical excursion to England, and became Viceroy Earl
of Northumbria, and this identity of Siward, son of Barn, with Siward
the Earl, has been generally accepted by modern chroniclers, which may
be attributed to the great obscurity which hangs over the history of
this period. The fact is, that this legend does not pertain to Earl
Siward at all, but to another Siward--Siward-Barn--who lived
half-a-century afterwards, and was son of the Danish Jarl--Barn.
Following the instincts of his race, he sailed from Denmark with a
fleet, and after ravaging the Orkneys and the coasts of Scotland and
Northumbria, passed up the Thames, and presented himself at the Court
of Edward the Confessor, whose favour he gained by entering his
service. He was rewarded with lands in Cumberland and Westmoreland,
and in Holderness, Yorkshire, one of his manors there being called
Barns-town, now Barmston, near Bridlington. After the conquest, he
joined in the northern insurrection against William I., and was one of
the companions of Hereward the Wake in the Isle of Ely, where he was
captured, sent a prisoner into Normandy, and there died. He never had
anything to do with the Earldom of Northumbria, which was held during
his time by Tosti, Morkere, and Waltheof, the son of Earl Siward.
Having disposed of this myth, it becomes us to give, as far as can be
ascertained, the true ancestry of Siward. When the Saxon heptarchy, or
octarchy, became consolidated into one kingdom, the realm of
Northumbria, extending from the Humber to the Tweed, and sometimes to
the Forth, which was the last to submit, was peopled by a brave and
warlike people, sensitively tenacious of their independence, and of
so turbulent a character, that it became necessary to place over them
a Viceroy Earl of great vigour, determination, and military ability,
to give it the semblance of semi-independence, but at the same time to
be ready on the spot to nip incipient rebellion when in the bud. Such
a Governor was found in Oswulf, son of Ealdred, Lord of Bamborough,
who was nominated to the office by King Athelstane. He was succeeded
by Waltheof, the Elder, who was followed by his son Ughtred, from whom
the holders of not less than seven peerages claim descent. By Ælgifu,
daughter of King Ethelred II., he had issue--Eadulf, Gospatric, and
Ældred. Ældred succeeded as Earl of Bernicia, on the death of his
uncle, Eadulf I., Earl of Northumbria; and Siward, who was his son,
appears to have been appointed, at the same time, Deputy-Earl of
Deira.
He was born towards the end of the tenth century, was a giant in
stature, of Herculean strength, and of great courage, which he
displayed on many a field of battle. His life, indeed, appears to have
been spent more in the battlefield than in the peaceful pursuits of
government, the administration of justice, or the superintendence of
his Yorkshire manors, of which Malton was the chief, granted to him
for his military services, and it presents a succession of romantic
episodes, in which the sword played the principal part.
Ældred, his father, died in 1038, and was succeeded in Bernicia by his
brother, Eadulf II. Siward, however, claimed it as his hereditary
right; and so matters remained until 1041, when Eadulf incurred the
displeasure of King Hathacnut. This was the opportunity Siward had
been longing for, and he hastened up to the King's Court, where, by
his representations, he embittered the mind of the King still further
against his uncle, and in the sequel was either ordered or permitted
to put him to death. This was precisely what he wanted, and, without
the least scruple of conscience or regard to kinship when his own
aggrandisement was at issue, he proceeded to Bernicia and murdered his
uncle in cold blood, assuming at the same time the government, and
thus becoming Earl of Northumbria in its integrity.
In the same year, 1041, the people of Worcester rose in insurrection
against an unpopular tax, and the three great Earls, Siward of
Northumbria, Leofric of Mercia, and Godwine of Kent, were directed to
march thither to suppress it. This was done chiefly at the instigation
of Ælfric, Archbishop of York, who had caused their Bishop, Lyfric, to
be deprived, and himself appointed in his room, to hold the see _in
commendam_ with York, but whom the clergy of Worcester refused to
recognise. The Earls had no difficulty in suppressing the
revolt--indeed the rebels scarcely made any stand against them; but,
with great barbarity, they slaughtered the people, plundered their
habitations, burnt the city, and compelled them to accept Ælfric as
their Bishop.
The following year Hathacnut died, and was succeeded by Eadwarde the
Confessor, more fitted for the cowl than the crown, when the three
Earls, the mightiest subjects of the realm, divided the administration
of the kingdom amongst themselves; Siward at this time held likewise
the Earldoms of Huntingdon and Northampton, which were severed from
Northumbria at his death.
In 1051, Count Eustace of Boulogne, on his return from a visit to King
Eadwarde, treated the people of Dover with great insolence, who fell
upon him and his followers, and gave them a deservedly severe
chastisement. Eustace demanded redress from the King, who commanded
Earl Godwine to punish the Dover people, who, finding that Eustace had
been the aggressor, asked that they might be heard in their defence,
to which the King would not listen; then Godwine assumed a higher
tone, and demanded the surrender of the Count to answer for his
insolence. This enraged the King, who summoned Siward and Leofric to
render assistance against the hostile designs of Godwine. They came to
Gloucester, where a compromise was effected; but at a subsequent
gemôt, held in London, Godwine and his family were banished.
The most creditable military effort of the many in which his sword had
been drawn, and that which redounded the most to his glory, was the
last of his life. In 1054, he was sent by King Eadwarde in command of
an expedition into Scotland against the usurper, Macbeth, in favour of
the young Prince, Malcolm Canmore, son of the murdered King Duncan. He
was now the father of two sons by his first wife--Æthelfleda--Osbert,
now approaching manhood, and Waltheof, a boy, some years younger. The
former he took with him to Scotland, to initiate him in the then
deemed glorious art of war; and a brave young fellow he proved himself
to be, a worthy scion of the old stock. Siward attacked Scotland by
land and sea, met the usurper and defeated him in a pitched battle,
after which he caused Malcolm to be proclaimed King. It is sometimes
stated that Macbeth was slain in the battle, which was not the case,
as he escaped and held out for three years, maintaining a desultory
series of fights with Malcolm, but was eventually slain in 1057. His
son Osbert fell in the battle, fighting bravely, and when the news was
brought to him, he eagerly inquired if his wounds were in front, and
when told they were, said that he could not but rejoice, such a death
being worthy of one sprung from his loins.
Shakspeare, not always true to history, in his tragedy of "Macbeth"
thus gives the death of "Young Siward," as he calls Osbert:--He meets
with Macbeth on the field, and, after some bandying of words, they
fight, and Macbeth falls, after which Osbert rushes into the thick of
the fight, and falls himself. When Siward is told that all his son's
wounds are in front, he exclaims--
"Why, then, God's soldier is he!
Had I as many sons as I have hairs,
I would not wish them to a fairer death:
And so his knell is tolled."
Prince Malcolm observes--
"He's worth more sorrow,
And that I'll spend for him."
To which Siward replies--
"He's worth no more.
They say he parted well, and paid his score,
And so God be with him."
Henry of Huntingdon, speaking of Siward's death, says--"And so he
passed away, as he believed, to Valhalla, to rejoin the great warriors
of his race who had gone before," seeming to intimate, founded on the
misconception of his identity with the Viking Siward-Barn, that he
died in the old Scandinavian faith of Woden, which was not true, as he
lived and died a Christian, such as Christians were then. He is
supposed to have founded a church in York, dedicated to St. Olaf, the
martyred King of Norway, and connected with it a fraternity of monks,
the name of which, in the reign of William II., was changed into that
of St. Mary the Virgin, and eventually became the famous and wealthy
abbey of after-times, with a mitred abbot. The ruins may now be seen
in the grounds of the Museum.
He ruled his province with great firmness and some severity, necessary
in his endeavours to curb the savage propensities of the people, and
to establish a system of order and good government, and was bountiful
to the Church, as some atonement, perhaps, for the crimes by which he
rose to his high position.
Shortly after his return from his Scottish expedition, he was stricken
with dysentery, which rapidly grew worse, and he lay in his vice-regal
mansion at York without hope of recovery. When he felt his last
moments approaching he suddenly started up from his couch and
exclaimed, "Let me not die the death of a cow! If it be not my fate to
die gloriously on the field of battle, as my brave boy, Osbert, has
done, with all his wounds in front, at least let me die in the guise
of a warrior. Don me my harness, place the helmet on my head, and gird
my sword on my thigh. It were a shame and disgrace that I, who have
faced death in so many fields, should die ignominiously in bed. Bring
forth my battle-axe and shield, and place them by my side, that the
ghosts of my warlike ancestry, who are looking down upon me now, may
see me pass away from earth to join them in their everlasting home,
with the semblance of the great warrior that I have been." And thus,
seated on a chair, clothed in his armour, and supported in an upright
posture by his attendants, he gave up the ghost, and was buried in his
church of St. Olaf.
His son, Waltheof, being too young for the government of so important
a province, it was given to Tosti, son of Earl Godwine, and brother of
Harold, the future King; whilst Waltheof succeeded to the Earldoms of
Huntingdon and Northampton, and eventually to that of Northumbria.
Phases in the Life of a Political Martyr.
In the year 1055, there was a funeral in the Church of St. Olaf, York.
The corpse was conveyed through the streets of the city with great
barbaric splendour and pomp. The procession, consisting of stalwart
and bronzed warriors, was strikingly illustrative of the dead hero.
Swords flashed in the sun; armour, pikes, and battle-axes glittered;
and captured pennons, with other trophies of war, were borne along in
triumph. Although all these warriors were mourners, the chief, and,
indeed, the only one of the blood who followed, was a stripling of
fifteen, young in years, but displaying muscular proportions, a
military bearing, and features betokening valour, determination of
purpose, and invincible resolution in the accomplishment of his will.
The warrior was laid in his tomb with all due ceremonial, the priests
closed their books, the soldiers who had followed him to many a
battlefield, gathered round the open grave to take a last look at his
coffin, and then dispersed, whilst the young mourner returned to the
vice-regal castle, which now seemed so solitary and desolate without
the sound of his father's voice. The defunct warrior was stout old
Siward, the Northumbrian Earl, who had scorned "to die the death of a
cow," and the mourner who followed his remains was his sole surviving
son, Waltheof; his elder son, Osbert, having been slain in battle.
Eadward the Confessor was then King, and he, deeming Waltheof too
young and inexperienced to rule so ungovernable a people as the
Northumbrians, appointed Tosti, a younger son of Earl Godwine, and
brother to Harold, afterwards King, to the Earldom. Tosti, however,
ruled the people with such intolerable cruelty and oppression that the
people of York broke into his mansion, plundered it, and murdered his
house-carles; they then assembled in a folkgemôte and formally deposed
him, electing Morkere of Mercia in his room. This was an illegal act,
but the King, when he heard the circumstances of the case, confirmed
it, as did also the Witan-Gemôte of Westminster. Morkere constituted
Osulf, Waltheof's uncle, his deputy in Bernicia, on whose death he
was succeeded by his brother, Gospatric.
John of Peterborough says that Waltheof was given the Earldoms of
Huntingdon and Northampton at his father's death; but as these were
held by Tosti, the probability seems to be that he succeeded on the
deposition of that Earl. Simeon of Durham says that he governed
Bernicia as his father's deputy, but this seems improbable on account
of his age, and is not confirmed by other authorities. On the
accession of Harold, Tosti, in conjunction with Harold Hardrada,
invaded Northumbria, but were defeated by Harold at Stamford Bridge.
It was, however, the cause of the ruin of Harold, who, whilst
banquetting at York in celebration of his victory, had news brought
him that Duke William of Normandy had landed in Sussex, and he had to
lead his army by forced marches to the south, arriving in the front of
the fresh Norman troops footsore and wearied, and with the loss of
many who had fallen out of the ranks during the march; the result
being his defeat and death, which might have been otherwise but for
this fatal expedition to York. The brother Earls, Morkere of
Northumbria and Eadwine of Mercia, and Waltheof undertook to bring
bodies of soldiers to his aid, but the former two stood aloof, from
politic motives; but Waltheof sent his contingent, if he were not
present at the battle himself, which is uncertain.
Duke William was now King of England. London, with the south and east,
had submitted at once, but it cost him some efforts to subjugate the
west, and still more the north. He did, however, eventually make
himself master of Yorkshire and the northern counties, built a castle
at York, and placed therein William Malet as military governor of the
city. The year after his accession, he found it necessary to visit his
Norman Dukedom, when, fearing to leave behind him men so powerful, and
whom he suspected of disaffection, he courteously invited Earls
Eadwine, Morkere, and Waltheof, to accompany him as guests, who
complied with his request, although they were perfectly aware that
they were going as hostages for the good behaviour of their people
during his absence. Soon after their return, the three Earls, under
Earl Gospatric, made a demonstration in the north in favour of Eadgar,
the Atheling, but were defeated, and fled to the court of Malcolm, in
Scotland. William sent a herald to demand the fugitives, but the King
declined giving them up.
In the year 1069, a Danish fleet of 240 vessels might be seen sailing
up the Humber and Ouse. It was under the command of the Danish Princes
Harold and Cnut, and had been joined at sea by a Scottish fleet under
Gospatric and Waltheof. This formidable force landed near York, and
entered the city amid the acclamations of the citizens. Malet was shut
up in the Castle with a body of Norman troops, and had boastingly
written to the King that he wanted no help, for he could hold it till
domesday. Around the Castle walls were several houses, which Malet
ordered to be fired, that they might not afford shelter to the enemy,
but the fire spread further than he intended, consuming the greater
portion of the city, the Cathedral, and Archbishop Egbert's
magnificent library. It was whilst the flames were rising up with
terrific grandeur from the Cathedral towers, and the houses were all
ablaze or in ashes, that the confederates made their grand attack,
captured the citadel, and put the garrison to the sword. Waltheof
performed prodigies of valour. It is recorded of him in a Danish
saga--"The great Earl, with mighty arm and sinewy breast, stood by the
gate of York (Castle) as the Normans came forth, their heads falling
to the earth in succession beneath his battle-axe." Waltheof was
appointed Governor of York, the English and Scots garrisoning it,
whilst the Danes, in their ships, occupied the Trent and Ouse, to
check the advance of William and his army.
It was not long before the King made his appearance before York and
demanded its surrender.
Waltheof replied, "Take it if you can, for assuredly I will not
surrender it while life lasts." The King then bribed the Danes to
withdraw, by a large sum of money and permission to ravage the
northern coasts, and invested the city. A breach was made in the
walls, and William of Malmesbury says--"Waltheof, a man of great
muscular strength and courage, stood in the breach, and killed a great
number of Normans who attempted to enter." He states, also, that a
battle was fought outside the walls, and that Waltheof was the
victor. The siege lasted six months, and the city was reduced at last
by famine, after which the King committed the horrible crime of laying
waste the country from York to Durham so effectually that for nine
years neither spade nor plough was put in the ground, and the
miserable survivors who escaped his sword were compelled to eat the
most loathsome food to sustain life.
Gospatric, Earl of Northumbria, and Waltheof fled to Scotland, but
afterwards tendered their submission to the King, the latter in
person, the other by proxy. Waltheof was a man of immense power and
influence as Lord of Hallamshire, Malton, and many another broad manor
in Yorkshire and other counties, and was, besides, a skilful warrior
and brave soldier, and the King, admiring his qualities, longed to win
him over as his liege man. He therefore pardoned him, restored him to
his Earldoms, and added thereto that of Northumbria, from which he had
deposed Gospatric. Moreover, he gave him in marriage his niece,
Judith, daughter of Eudes, Earl of Champagne, thinking thus to make
sure of his loyalty.
Soon after he entered upon his new Earldom he committed a crime which
is a blot upon his name, but which was considered justifiable in that
age. A deadly feud existed between the descendants of Ughtred and
those of one Thorbrand of York. Thorbrand was the enemy of the father
of the second wife of Ughtred, who only obtained her hand by
undertaking to kill him, but was murdered himself by Thorbrand. Earl
Ealdred then, in retaliation, assassinated Thorbrand, and was in turn
killed by Carl, son of Thorbrand, and a series of murders followed,
which were completed by a wholesale massacre of the sons of Carl by
Waltheof, when they were feasting at the house of their elder brother
at Settrington, two only escaping.
There was a great feast in the eastern counties to celebrate the
marriage of Ralph, Earl of Suffolk, with Emma, daughter of Roger, son
of William, Earl of Hereford, and Waltheof was one of the guests. This
marriage had been prohibited by the King, who was now in Normandy, and
advantage was taken of his absence to consummate it, which was, in the
eye of the law, a treasonable act. After the dinner, the conversation
turned upon the tyranny of King William, and, as the guests became
heated with wine, they framed a plot to depose him, and place one of
themselves as King in his room, the rest to be his proximate peers.
Waltheof is said to have taken the oath on compulsion, but the
following morning repented of having done so, and went to Archbishop
Lanfrane for absolution, who advised him to go to the King, explain
the matter, and implore his pardon. He had, however, foolishly
mentioned it to his wife Judith, who, wishing to get rid of "the Saxon
churl" and marry a Norman, sent an exaggerated account of the
conspiracy to her uncle, with the intimation that her husband was most
deeply implicated in it. Waltheof went to Normandy, revealed the plot
to the King, and asked his forgiveness for the part he had been
compelled to take in it, who assured him of pardon, and they returned
to England together.
The King, however, who had now for some time looked upon Waltheof as
too powerful for a subject, thought this a favourable opportunity to
get rid of him, and when he arrived in England, committed him to
prison at Winchester. He then caused him to be arraigned at the
Pentecostal gemôte, on a charge of treasonable conspiracy, and he was
condemned to death. A few days after he was brought out into the
market-place at Winchester, and there beheaded; the first instance,
says Kennett, of decapitation in England. Ingulphus says that Judith
might have saved him, but she desired his death that she might marry
again, and afterwards experienced feelings of remorse for her cruelty.
She subsequently fell into disgrace with her uncle for refusing to
marry one who was lame. Her name appears in Domesday Book as Lady of
the Manors of Hallam, Sheffield, and Attercliffe.
By his wife Judith he had issue, three daughters,
co-heiresses--Matilda, who married first Simon de St. Liz, and
secondly, David I., King of Scotland, thus conveying the Earldom of
Huntingdon to the Scottish Royal Family; Alice, who married Richard
Fitz Gilbert, whose granddaughter and heiress married Richard Fitz
Ooth, from whom was Robert Fitz Ooth, who claimed the Earldom of
Huntingdon on the failure of the Scottish male line, and who is
generally supposed to be identical with the outlaw Robin Hood; and
Judith, who married first Ralph de Toney, secondly Robert, son of
Richard de Tonbridge, from whom descended the Barons and Earls
Fitzwalter, the Earldom becoming extinct, and the Barony falling in
abeyance in 1753, the latter being called out in 1868, in the person
of Sir Brook William Brydges, fifth Baronet of, County Kent.
The Murderer's Bride.