in Italy. He was afterwards bishop of Ravenna, and wrote, _De Rebus
Gothicis_; and also, _De Regnorum et Temporum Successione_.--HARDY.
[137] A similar list of the genealogy of the West Saxon kings, will be
found in the Saxon Chronicle, A.D. 855.
[138] Malmesbury’s Chronology to the accession of Edward the Elder,
is a year later than the Saxon Chronicle, Asser, and Florence of
Worcester. His computation rests on fixing the death of Ethelwulf in
857, who went to Rome in 855, stayed there a year, and died in the
second year after his return. Allowing ten years for Ethelbald and
Ethelbert, it brings the accession of Ethelred to 867, and five years
added to this give 872 for Alfred’s accession. After the death of
Ethelbald Judith returned to France. She left no children; but marrying
afterwards Baldwin, count of Flanders, she bore him Matilda, wife of
William the Conqueror.
[139] Supposed Aston, near Wallingford, Berks. Others think Ashendon in
Bucks. The Latin and Saxon names, _Mons Fraxini_, and Eschendun, seem
to favour the latter.
[140] This legend will be found in the curious “account of the
translation of the body of St. Cuthbert from Lindisfarne to Durham,”
which we shall give in “Anglo-Saxon Letters, Biographies,” &c. It is
taken from the Acta Sanctorum, iii. March, p. 127.
[141] This story rests upon the authority of Ingulf and William of
Malmesbury. Asser does not notice it.
[142] This seems a mistake as far relates to Northumbria. The
Saxon Chronicle has “Northerna,” and Florence of Worcester “Rex
Northmanicus,” which at a first glance might easily be converted into
Northumbria.
[143] Asser, the faithful friend and biographer of this great king. His
Life of Alfred, alike honourable to his master and himself, is free
from flattery. It is given in one of the volumes of our Series.
[144] It has been printed by Gale, Oxon, 1681.
[145] John the Scot is generally supposed to have died in France before
A.D. 877, as the letter of Anastasius (Usher’s Sylloge, Ep. 24,)
addressed to Charles the Bald, who died in that year, seems strongly
to imply that he was not then living. There is, however, no positive
notice of the time of his death. The story indeed has so much the air
of one told in Asser of John abbat of Athelney, that one would almost
suspect it was formed from it: especially as Malmesbury seems to speak
in a very hesitating manner on the subject. V. Asser, à Wise, p. 62.
[146] Asser says he first began his literary education, Nov. 11, 887.
[147] Alfred’s Manual, from the description which Asser gives of it,
appears to have contained psalms, prayers, texts of Scripture, etc.:
Malmesbury, however, in his Lives of the Bishops, quotes anecdotes of
Aldhelm from it also.
[148] Plegmund is said to have written part of the Saxon Chronicle;
Asser was archbishop of St. David’s, and biographer of Alfred;
Grimbald, abbat of St. Omers; and John of Corvey, a German Saxon, whom
Alfred invited into England.
[149] Asser says he devoted one half of his income “to God;” which part
was afterwards subdivided for the poor, for the two monasteries he had
founded, for the school he had established, for other monasteries and
churches, domestic and foreign.
[150] This proportion was for both teachers and pupils in the school he
founded for the young nobility.--_Lappenberg_, vol. i. p. 340.
[151] Matilda, queen of William the First, was daughter of Baldwin earl
of Flanders, the fifth in descent from Ethelswitha. See note, p. 110.
[152] On its removal called Hyde Abbey.
[153] The popular notion was, that the devil re-animated the corpse,
and played a variety of pranks by its agency; and that the only remedy
was to dig up and consume the body with fire. See Will. Neubrig v. 22.
[154] Virg. Æneid, x. 641.
[155] By West-Angles he probably intends the people of Essex or
East-Saxons. See Florence of Worcester.
[156] Charles the Simple had one son by her, Louis II., surnamed
D’Outremer.
[157] Surnamed the Great: father of Hugh Capet: she had no issue by him.
[158] Henry, surnamed the Fowler, father of Otho the Great. She had a
son and daughter by him. One of Edward’s daughters, called Adela, is
said to have been married to Ebles, earl of Poitiers, by whom she had
two sons. See L’Art de Verifier les Dates, ii. 312.
[159] This seems to have been Lewis the Blind, king of Arles: and if
so, she must have been one of the elder daughters, as he appears not
to have survived A.D. 930. She had, at least, one son by him, Charles
Constantine, earl of Vienne. See L’Art de Verifier les Dates, ii. 429.
[160] This is a mistake: Hugh is confounded with his father, who
married Edward’s daughter. There is no notice of this exploit of Hugh’s
in Bouquet, though Isembard is mentioned as the nephew of Lewis, who,
being unjustly banished, returns accompanied by a large body of Danes
and Normans, but is defeated. Bouquet, Recueil, &c. tom. ix. 58. Lewis,
however, left issue, and it was on the death of his grandson Lewis,
that Hugh Capet became king of France.
[161] This story of pope Formosus and the seven bishops is to be found
verbatim in a MS. (Bodley, 579) which was given to the cathedral
of Exeter by bishop Leofric, who died A.D. 1073. Its difficulties
therefore are not to be imputed to our author. But though it may
not be easy to assign a rational motive for the invention of such
an instrument, it is a decided forgery; and all the ecclesiastical
writers, from Baronius to Wilkins, [See Concilia, i. p. 201,] have
utterly failed in their conjectural attempts to uphold it: even the
temperate, the acute, the learned Henry Wharton [Anglia Sacra, i. 554,
5], who rejects decidedly the epistle, gives but an unsatisfactory
solution of the seven vacant sees. Its repugnancies will be seen at a
glance, when it is recollected, that Formosus died A.D. 896; Edward
did not reign till A.D. 901; and Frithstan did not become bishop of
Winchester before A.D. 910.
[162] Matt. ix. 37.
[163] In the Saxon Chronicle it is called Brumby. [See Chronicles of
the Anglo-Saxons, in Bohn’s Antiquarian Library, pp. 376, 377.] Its
site is not exactly known, but it was probably not far from the Humber.
[164] Said to be Werstan, bishop of Sherborne. See Malmesbury’s Gesta
Pontificum; or, Lives of the Bishops, to be hereafter translated and
published in this series.
[165] This passage is thought to prove the existence of knights as
a distinct order among the Saxons; and, coupled with the case of
Hereward, it has very much that air. See Mr. Turner’s Anglo-Saxons,
4, 171, et inf. But perhaps in the present instance, it may amount
to nothing more than bestowing his first arms on him. Lewis the
Debonnaire received his arms, “ense accinctus est,” at thirteen years
old.--Duchesne, t. ii. 289.
[166] Cornu Galliæ, a fanciful etymology.
[167] Improperly called king: it was Hugh the Great, father of Hugh
Capet. Malmesbury was probably deceived by a blunder of Ingulf’s.
[168] This is a mistake, she was daughter of Alfred. See chap. iv. p.
117.
[169] The legend of St. Longinus makes the centurion mentioned in the
Gospel, the person who pierced the side of our Lord; with many other
fabulous additions. See Jac. a Voragine, Legenda Sanctorum.
[170] The Theban legion refusing, in the Diocletian persecution, to
bring the Christians to execution, were ordered to be decimated; and on
their persisting in the same resolution at the instigation of Maurice,
the commander of the legion, they were, together with him, put to cruel
deaths. V. Acta Sanctor. 22 Sept.
[171] He has, apparently, the oppressions of bishop Roger constantly
before him.
[172] Reginald was not the son of Gurmund, but of Guthferth, who was
driven out of Northumberland by Athelstan. See Saxon Chronicle, A.D.
927-944.
[173] The exact meaning of some of these terms is not easily
attainable, but they are generally understood to imply--jurisdiction
over the burgh, or town--hundred court--oaths and ordeals--thieves
taken within the jurisdiction--housebreakers--breach of peace--offences
committed on the highways, or forestalling--tolls--warranty, or a right
of reclaiming villains who had absconded. The charter therefore conveys
a right to hold various courts, and consequently to try, and receive
all mulcts arising from the several offences enumerated, which being
generally redeemable by fine, produced considerable sums; besides, what
was perhaps of more importance, exemption from the vexations of the
king’s officers.
[174] Duke is often used in charters, &c. as synonymous with earl.
[175] In Gloucestershire.
[176] See Will. Gemeticensis, lib. iii. c. 11.
[177] These were a woollen shirt and cowl. Will. Gemet. lib. iii. c. 12.
[178] Edred is described by Bridferth as being constantly oppressed
with sickness; and of so weak a digestion, as to be unable to swallow
more than the juices of the food he had masticated, to the great
annoyance of his guests. Vita Dunstani, Act. Sanct. 19 Maii.
[179] A quibble on his name, as compounded of “hill” and “stone.”
[180] Much variation prevails among the earliest writers concerning
Elfgiva. Bridferth (Act. Sanct. 19 Maii) says, there were two women,
mother and daughter, familiar with Edwy. A contemporary of Bridferth
(MS. Cott. Nero, E. I.) asserts, that he was married, but fell in love
with, and carried off, another woman. A MS. Saxon Chron. (Cott. Tib. b.
iv.) says, they were separated, as being of kin. Osberne, Edmer, and
Malmesbury, in his Life of Dunstan (MS.), all repeat the story of the
two women.
[181] Dunstan, learning that he was dead, and that the devils were
about to carry off his soul in triumph by his prayers obtained his
release. A curious colloquy between the abbat and the devils on the
subject, may be found in Osberne’s Life of Dunstan, Anglia Sacra, ii.
108.
[182] The Mercians had revolted, and chosen Edgar king.
[183] Osberne’s Life of St. Dunstan is published in the Anglia Sacra,
vol. ii.
[184] Wulstan’s Life of Ethelwold is printed by Mabillon, and in the
Acta Sanctorum, Antwerp. Aug. tome i.
[185] He erected another church at Worcester, in which he placed monks.
The canons finding the people desert them in order to obtain the favour
of the new comers, by degrees took the monastic habit. See Malmesbury
de Gest. Pontif. lib. iii.
[186] Some MSS. omit from “Edgar of glorious memory, &c.” to “spoken of
another. The monastic order,” &c. in page 155, and insert the charter
at length, together with what follows it, thus:
“In the name of our Lord Jesus Christ: although the decrees of pontiffs
and the decisions of priests are fixed by irrevocable bonds, like the
foundations of the mountains, yet, nevertheless, through the storms
and tempests of secular matters, and the corruptions of reprobate men,
the institutions of the holy church of God are often convulsed and
broken. Wherefore I perceive that it will be advantageous to posterity
that I should confirm by writing what has been determined by wholesome
counsel and common consent. In consequence, it seems proper that the
church of the most blessed mother of God, the eternal virgin Mary, of
Glastonbury, inasmuch as it has always possessed the chief dignity in
my kingdom, should be honoured by us with some especial and unusual
privilege. Dunstan, therefore, and Oswald, archbishops of Canterbury
and York, exhorting thereto, and Brithelm, bishop of Wells, and other
bishops, abbats, and chiefs assenting and approving, I, Edgar, by
the grace of God, king of the English, and ruler and governor of the
adjacent nations, in the name of the blessed Trinity, for the soul of
my father who reposes there, and of my predecessors, do by this present
privilege decree, appoint, and establish, that the aforesaid monastery
and all its possessions shall remain free and exonerated from all
payments to the Exchequer now and for ever: they shall have soc and
sac, on stronde and on wude, on felde, on grithbrice, on burgbrice,
hundredsetena, and mortheras, athas, and ordelas, ealle hordas bufan
eorthan, and beneothan: infangenetheof, utfangenetheof, flemenefertha,
hamsocne, friderbrice, foresteal, toll and team, just as free and
peaceably as I have in my kingdom: let the same liberty and power
also as I have in my own court, as well in forgiving as in punishing,
and in every other matter, be possessed by the abbat and monks of
the aforesaid monastery within their court. And should the abbat, or
any monk of that place, upon his journey, meet a thief going to the
gallows, or to any other punishment of death, they shall have power of
rescuing him from the impending danger throughout my kingdom. Moreover,
I confirm and establish what has hitherto been scrupulously observed by
all my predecessors, that the bishop of Wells and his ministers shall
have no power whatever over this monastery, or its parish-churches;
that is to say, Street, Miricling [Merlinge], Budecal, Shapwick, Sowy,
or their chapels, or even over those contained in the islands, that is
to say, Beokery, otherwise called Little Ireland, Godney, Martensia,
Patheneberga, Adredseia, and Ferramere, except only when summoned by
the abbat for dedications or ordinations, nor shall they cite their
priests to their synods or chapters, or to any of their courts, nor
shall they suspend them from their holy office, or presume to exercise
any right over them whatever. The abbat shall cause any bishop of the
same province he pleases to ordain his monks, and the clerks of the
aforesaid churches, according to the ancient custom of the church of
Glastonbury, and the apostolical authority of archbishop Dunstan, and
of all the bishops of my kingdom; but the dedications of the churches
we consign to the bishop of Wells, if he be required by the abbat. At
Easter let him receive the chrism of sanctification, and the oil from
the bishop of Wells, according to custom, and distribute them to his
before mentioned churches. This too I command above all other things:
on the curse of God, and by my authority, saving the right of the
holy Roman church, and that of Canterbury, I inhibit all persons, of
whatever dignity, be they king, or bishop, or earl, or prince, or any
of my dependants, from daring to enter the bounds of Glastonbury, or
of the above named parishes, for the purpose of searching, seizing,
holding courts, or doing any thing to the prejudice of the servants of
God there residing. The abbat and convent shall alone have power in
causes known and unknown, in small and in great, and in every thing
as we have before related. And whosoever, upon any occasion, whatever
be his dignity, whatever his order, whatever his profession, shall
attempt to pervert or nullify the pre-eminency of this my privilege by
sacrilegious boldness, let him be aware that he must without a doubt
give account thereof, with fear and trembling, before a severe Judge,
unless he first endeavour to make reparation by proper satisfaction.”
The charter of this privilege the aforesaid king Edgar confirmed by his
own signature at London, in the twelfth year of his reign, with the
common consent of his nobles; and in the same year, which was the 965th
of our Lord’s incarnation, and the 14th of the indiction, pope John,
in a general assembly, authorized it at Rome, and made all the men of
chief dignity who presided at that council confirm it; and also, from
motives of paternal regard, sent a letter to the following effect to
earl Alfric, who was then grievously persecuting the aforesaid church:--
“Bishop John, servant of the servants of God, to Alfric the
distinguished earl, and our dearly beloved son in the Spirit, perpetual
health and apostolical benediction. We have learned, from the report of
certain faithful people, that you commit many enormities against the
church of the holy mother of God, called Mary of Glastonbury, which is
acknowledged to belong solely to, and to be under the protection of,
the Roman Pontiff, from the earliest times; and that you have seized
with boundless rapacity upon its estates and possessions, and even
the churches of Brent and Pilton, which, by the gift of king Ina, it
legally possesses, together with other churches, that is to say, Sowy,
Martine, Budecal, Shapwick, and that on account of your near residence
you are a continual enemy to its interests. It would, however, have
been becoming, from your living so near, that by your assistance the
holy church of God might have been much benefited and enriched; but,
horrible to say! it is impoverished by your hostility, and injured
by your deeds of oppression; and since we doubt not that we, though
unworthily, have received from St. Peter the apostle the care of all
the churches, and solicitude for all things; we therefore admonish your
affection, to abstain from plundering it, for the love of the apostles
Peter and Paul, and respect to us, invading none of its possessions,
churches, chapels, places, and estates; but if you persist, remember,
that by the authority of the chief of the apostles, committed unto
us, you shall be excommunicated and banished from the company of the
faithful, subjected to a perpetual curse, and doomed to eternal fire
with the traitor Judas.”
[187] Glastonbury is situated on land which was once an island formed
by a stagnation of inland waters, in a low situation.
[188] The twelfth of Edgar was 971.
[189] Here is an omission, apparently, which may be supplied from the
Ang. Sac. ii. p. 33. “A piece of ground, to wit, of ten farms (or
manors), called Estotun,” &c. G. Malm. de Vita Adhelmi.
[190] Edgar’s laws for the punishment of offenders were horribly
severe. The eyes were put out, nostrils slit, ears torn off, hands and
feet cut off, and, finally, after the scalp had been torn off, the
miserable wretches were left exposed to birds or beasts of prey. V.
Acta Sanctor. Jul. 2, in Vita Swythuni.
[191] Whorwell, Hants.
[192] This seems to have been founded on the singular circumstance of
his not having been crowned till within two years of his death.
[193] Virg. Æn. ii. 169.
[194] When the question was agitated, whether the monks should be
supported or the canons restored, the crucifix is said to have
exclaimed, “Far be it from you: you have done well; to change again
would be wrong.” See Edmer, and Osberne, Angl. Sacra, ii. 219, 112.
[195] The life of Elphege, by Osberne, is in the Anglia Sacra, ii. 122.
[196] Ulfkytel attacked the Danes near Thetford, A.D. 1004, and though
compelled to retreat, yet occasioned so severe a loss to the enemy,
that they are said to have acknowledged that they had never endured a
more powerful attack. See Flor. Wigorn., and the Saxon Chronicle, A.D.
1004.
[197] At Assingdon in Essex, A.D. 1016.
[198] In several of the manuscripts there is an omission of several
words which has made nonsense of the whole paragraph. Its restoration
is due to Mr. Hardy, in whose edition of William of Malmesbury it is
given correctly from MS. authority.
[199] That is, when he had attained that age when a man settles, or
chooses his future line of conduct; or, to years of discretion. This
Pythagoras represented by the form of the letter Y, or the Greek
_gamma_.
[200] Hermenegild the eldest son of Leovigild. He was invested by
his father with the royal diadem and the principality of Bœtica, and
contracted an alliance with Ingundis, daughter of Sigebert, king
of Austrasia. Ingundis was persecuted, and at length killed by her
husband’s mother, on account of her Catholic faith. Leander, archbishop
of Seville, easily persuaded Hermenegild to resent the treatment of
his bride, and assisted him in an attempt to dethrone his father.
Hermenegild was taken and sentenced to death for his rebellion. The
inflexible constancy, with which he refused to accept the Arian
communion, from which he had been converted by Leander, as the price
of his safety, procured for him the honour of being enrolled among the
saints of the Romish church.--HARDY.
[201] Isidore was bishop of Seville in the sixth century.
[202] An instrument for making celestial observations. The reader who
is conversant with the Arabian Nights’ Entertainments will remember its
being frequently mentioned in that amusing book.
[203] The abacus was a counting table: here it seems used
metaphorically for arithmetic, Gerbert having written a treatise on
arithmetic with that title. The authors of the Hist. Litt. de la
France, t. vi. understand him literally, as stealing a book containing
the principles of the science, and then confound this supposed book
with the conjuring treatise mentioned below. They also seem very
much displeased with Malmesbury for relating these tales of their
countryman, and attribute them to cardinal Benno; but there is nothing
of this kind in his work published by Goldastus, and in Brown’s
Fasciculus, t. i.
[204] Ovid. Amor. iii. iv. 17.
[205] This was perhaps a necessary precaution, according to the rules
of the necromantic art.
[206] His treatise so called.
[207] Macrob. in Somn. Scip. i. 20.
[208] Josephus Antiq. Jud. 1. vii. c. 15. viii. 2.
[209] In the fabulous Itinerary of St. Peter, falsely attributed to
Clemens Romanus, Simon is represented as causing Faustinianus to assume
his countenance, by rubbing his face with a medicated unguent, to the
great alarm of his sons, who mistook him for Simon, and fled until
recalled by St. Peter.
[210] Other MSS. read Otbert.
[211] “Living, formerly called Elfstan, was translated from Wells to
Canterbury in the year 1013; he died, 12th June, 1020.”--HARDY.
[212] Malmesbury seems to have fallen into some confusion here. The
murder of the Danes took place on St. Brice’s day, A.D. 1002, and
accordingly we find Sweyn infesting England in 1003 and the following
year (see Saxon Chronicle): but this his second arrival took place,
A.D. 1013: so that the avenging the murder of his sister Gunhilda could
hardly be the object of his present attack.
[213] Matins were sometimes performed shortly after midnight.
[214] It was customary to hold a chapter immediately after primes.
[215] Sweyn died Feb. 3, A.D. 1014.
[216] The monastery of St. Edmundbury.
[217] He here considers Ledo to imply the spring tide; but others say
it means the neap, and express the former by Malina. See Du Cange.
[218] Corsham, in Wiltshire?
[219] March 12th, but the Saxon Chronicle says St. George’s day, 23d
April.
[220] In Somersetshire?
[221] Sceorstan is conjectured to be near Chipping Norton.--SHARP.
Supposed to be a stone which divided the four counties of Oxford,
Gloucester, Worcester and Warwick.--HARDY.
[222] He passed the Thames at Brentford, followed them into Kent, and
defeated them at Aylesford. Saxon Chron.
[223] Thought to be either Assingdon, Ashdown in Essex, or Aston in
Berkshire.
[224] Henry Huntingdon says they actually engaged, and that Canute
finding himself likely to be worsted, proposed the division.--H. Hunt.
1. 6.
[225] “Florence of Worcester and the Saxon Chronicle place his death
on the 30th of November, 1016. Florence, however, adds the year of the
indiction, which corresponds with A.D. 1017.”--HARDY.
[226] The Danish chiefs were apprehensive that he would excite
commotions in their country; in consequence of which he was ultimately
despatched.--Ang. Sac. ii. 144.
[227] He returned by the way of Denmark. Florence of Worcester.
[228] St. Angelo in Calabria.
[229] The several princes, through whose territories their passage lay,
exacted large sums for permission to pass; apparently in the defiles of
the Alps.
[230] A penny for every plough, that is, for as much land as a plough
could till, to be distributed to the poor: it was payable in fifteen
days from Easter.
[231] Payable at Whitsuntide.
[232] A certain quantity of corn. Though it also implies, occasionally,
other kinds of offerings.
[233] A forfeiture to the king, but varying according to the nature of
the offence.
[234] This seems to be the meaning: he has probably in view the
practice of the early princes of the Norman line, who swore to observe
the laws of king Edward.
[235] Dean of Canterbury.
[236] This appears merely intended to express that he received the pall
from the pope. The two transactions are inverted; he went to Rome A.D.
1021, and translated Elphege’s body A.D. 1023.
[237] Augustine, bishop of Hippo.
[238] He was bishop of Selsey, which see was afterwards removed to
Chichester.
[239] The whole country round Glastonbury is flat and marshy, bearing
evident marks of having formerly been covered by water.
[240] “See the letter of Fulbert to king Canute (an. 1020 aut 1021.)
No. xliv., p. 466. tom. x. Rec. des Hist. de la France. Fulberti
Carnot. Episc. Op. Var. 8vo. par. 1608. Epist. xcvii. p. 92.”--HARDY.
[241] Though several French chronicles give nearly the same account of
Odo being the elder brother, the learned editors of the Recueil des
Historiens de France insist that the assertion is false.
[242] “After the death of Canute, the kingdom was at first divided: the
northern part fell to the share of Harold, and Hardecanute obtained the
southern division. In the year 1037, Harold was chosen to reign over
all England, (Flor. Wigorn.)”--HARDY.
[243] This he notices, because there was a suspicion that she had
imposed the children of a priest and of a cobbler on Canute as her own.
V. Flor. Wigorn.
[244] The Saxon Chronicle says March 17: it also makes Hardecanute
arrive on the 18th of June.
[245] The printed Saxon Chronicle has no mention of this transaction,
but there are two manuscripts which relate it. The story appears true
in the main, but it is told with so much variety of time, place, &c.,
that it is difficult to ascertain its real circumstances. See MSS.
Cott. Tib. b. i. and iv.
[246] It seems to mean a page, or personal attendant: some MSS. read
“alumnus sturni;” apparently the keeper of her starling. There appears
to have been a sort of romance on this subject. The youth is said to
have been a dwarf, and therefore named Mimicon: his gigantic adversary
was Roddingar. V. Matt. West. and Joh. Brompton.
[247] These people inhabited the country on and near the southern coast
of the Baltic.
[248] Clerk was a general term including every degree of orders, from
the bishop downwards to the chanter. A story near similar has been
told of the celebrated Eginhard and the daughter of Charlemagne. V. Du
Chesne, Script. Franc. T. ii.
[249] This brief allusion to Macbeth rather disproves the historical
accuracy of Shakespere. See the Saxon Chronicle.
[250] This seems the foundation of the fable of Emma and the
Ploughshares: as the first apparent promulgator of it was a constant
reader and amplifier of Malmesbury. See Ric. Divisiensis, MS. C. C. C.
Cant. No. 339.
[251] “Eadsine was translated from Winchester to Canterbury in 1038.
The Saxon Chronicle (p. 416) states, that he consecrated Edward, at
Winchester, on Easter day, and before all people well admonished
him.”--HARDY.
[252] Eustace II, surnamed _Aux Grenons_. He succeeded his father,
Eustace I, in 1049; and married, in 1050, Goda, daughter of king
Ethelbert, and widow of Gauthier comte de Mantes, by whom he had no
issue; but by his wife Ida he left three sons; Eustace, who succeeded
him, Godefroi, created, in 1076, marquis d’Anvers by the emperor Henry
IV, and afterwards duc de Bouillon, was elected king of Jerusalem in
1099, (23rd July); and, dying 18th July, 1100, was succeeded by his
brother Baudouin, comte d’Edesse.--HARDY.
[253] He means Dover; according to the Saxon Chronicle, from which he
borrows the account. Eustace stopped at Canterbury to refresh himself,
and his people, and afterwards set out for Dover.--Sax. Chron. page 421.
[254] Earl Godwin’s second wife’s name was Gytha. (Saxon Chron. and
Flor. Wigorn.)--HARDY.
[255] Sweyn had debauched an abbess, and being enraged that he was not
allowed to retain her as his wife, he fled to Flanders. Shortly after
he returned, and intreated Bruno or Beorn to accompany him to the king,
and to intercede for his pardon: but it should seem this was a mere
pretence; as he forced him on ship-board, and then put him to death. V.
Flor. Wigorn, A.D. 1049. Chron. Sax. A.D. 1046, p. 419.
[256] “Pagi places the commencement of Gregory’s papacy in May 1044,
but Ughelli cites a charter in which the month of August, 1045, is
stated to be in the first year of his pontificate. He was deposed at a
council held at Sutri, on Christmas-day, A.D. 1046, for having obtained
the holy see by simony. Mr. Sharpe remarks that Malmesbury’s character
of this pope is considered as apocryphal. Compare Rodul Glaber, lib. v.
c. 5.”--HARDY.
[257] “Steteruntque comæ, et vox faucibus hæsit.”--Virgil, Æneid iii.
48.
[258] There are various stories of this kind in Gregory’s Dialogues.
[259] The original is as follows:
Filius Evandri Pallas, quem lancea Turni
Militis occidit, more suo jacet hic.
I am unable to say who was the author of this epigram, but it is not
too hazardous to assert that it was not composed either by Ennius or by
any other ancient poet.
[260] There seems no reason to doubt the truth of this circumstance,
since the exhibition of the Siamese twins, the most extraordinary
_lusus naturæ_ that has occurred in the nineteenth century. Medical
science, aided by comparative anatomy, has ascertained that the bodies
of both man and the brute creation are susceptible of combinations--not
usually occurring in the course of nature,--which in former times were
thought impossible, and as such were universally disbelieved.
[261] Sometimes called St. Audry. She was abbess of Ely monastery. St.
Werburga was patroness of Chester monastery.
[262] Archbishop of Canterbury, from A.D. 1006 to 1012. See Sax.
Chronicle, pp. 402, 403.
[263] Bede, book iv. chap. 14. There are some MSS. which want this
chapter. The former editor of Bede accounts for it very satisfactorily;
stating that a very ancient MS. in the Cotton Collection has a note
marking that a leaf was here wanting; and that those which want the
chapter were transcripts of this imperfect MS.
[264] Acca, bishop of Hexham, A.D. 710, and a great friend of venerable
Bede, who inscribed to him many of his works.
[265] Or Elbert. See b. i. c. i. p. 15.
[266] He was at the same time bishop of Worcester, and archbishop of
York.
[267] See b. i. c. 4, p. 78.
[268] “Concerning St. Wistan, consult MSS. Harl. 2253. _De Martyrio S.
Wistani._”--HARDY.
[269] Repton.
[270] Thought to be the Devil’s Dyke, on Newmarket Heath.
[271] He was tied to a tree, and shot to death with arrows. Abbo
Floriacensis.
[272] This boundary is said to have been formed by Canute, in
consequence of his father Sweyn having been killed by St. Edmund in
a vision for attempting to plunder his territory. See Malm. de Gest.
Pontif. lib. ii. f. 136, b. edit. Lond.
[273] Faremoutier in Brie.
[274] Hist. Eccl. b. iii. c. 8, p. 122.
[275] In b. i, c. 1, p. 15, it is said the compensation for their
murder was made to their mother; but here she is called their sister,
which is the general account. When it was left to her to estimate this
compensation (i. e. their weregild), she asked as much land as her stag
should compass, at one course, in the Isle of Thanet; where she founded
the monastery of Minster. Vide W. Thorn. col. 1910, and Natale S.
Mildrythæ; (Saxonicè), MS. Cott. Calig. A. xiv. 4.
[276] “Mild” gentle.
[277] In Shropshire.
[278] The Seven Sleepers were inhabitants of Ephesus; six were persons
of some consequence, the seventh their servant. During the Decian
persecution they retired to a cave, whence they despatched their
attendant occasionally to purchase food for them. Decius, hearing this,
ordered the mouth of the cave to be stopped up while the fugitives were
sleeping. After a lapse of some hundred years, a part of the masonry
at the mouth of the cave falling, the light flowing in awakened them.
Thinking they had enjoyed a good night’s rest, they despatched their
servant to buy provision. He finds all appear strange in Ephesus, and
a whimsical dialogue takes place, the citizens accusing him of having
found hidden treasure, he persisting that he offered the current coin
of the empire. At length the attention of the emperor is excited, and
he goes in company with the bishop to visit them. They relate their
story and shortly after expire. In consequence of the miracle they were
considered as martyrs. See Capgrave, Legenda Nova.
[279] On the Norman conquest many English fled to Constantinople, where
they were eagerly received by Alexius, and opposed to the Normans under
Robert Guiscard. Orderic. Vitalis, p. 508.
[280] Victor II. succeeded Leo IX. in 1056, and died in 1057. Stephen
or Frederic, brother of duke Godefroi, succeeded Victor II. on the
second of August, 1057, and Nicolaus became pope in 1059.
[281] That is, of Malmesbury. This Elmer is not to be confounded with
Elmer or Ailmer prior of Canterbury.
[282] Died and was buried at St. Paul’s. Sax. Chron. A. 1057.
[283] It is hardly necessary to observe, that the succession of William
is one of the most obscure points in our history.
[284] Near Chichester.
[285] It was customary for the king to wear his crown on the solemn
festivals of Easter, Whitsuntide, and Christmas: it being placed on his
head in due form by the archbishop.
[286] “Westminster Abbey was consecrated on the 28th of December, 1065.
Ailred of Rievaulx, in his Life of Edward, states that the church had
been commenced some years before, in performance of a vow the king had
made to go to Rome; but being dissuaded from it, he sent to the pope
to obtain his dispensation from that journey; the pope granted it, on
condition that Edward should, with the money he would have spent in
that voyage, build a monastery in honour of St. Peter.”--HARDY.
[287] The battle of Stanford-bridge was fought on the 25th of
September, 1066. See Saxon. Chron. p. 440.
[288] What Malmesbury here relates is highly probable, from the
shortness of the time which elapsed from William’s landing, to the
battle of Hastings,--only fifteen days. In this period, therefore, the
intelligence was to be conveyed to York, and Harold’s march into Sussex
to be completed; of course few could accompany him, but such as were
mounted.
[289] Will. Pictaviensis, to whom he seems here to allude, asserts that
Harold had collected immense forces from all parts of England; and that
Denmark had supplied him with auxiliaries also. But the circumstances
mentioned in the preceding note show the absurdity of this statement.
[290] “Robert’s expedition to Jerusalem was in 1035,” (Bouq. 14, 420.)
[291] Ecclesiast. x. 16.
[292] Geoffrey II., son of Foulques III., earl of Anjou, whom he
succeeded, A.D. 1040.
[293] “He was the son of Hugh de Montgomery and Jemima his wife,
daughter of Turolf of Pont-Andomare, by Wora, sister of Gunnora,
great-grandmother to the Conqueror. He led the centre of the army
at the battle of Hastings, and was afterwards governor of Normandy.
William the Conqueror gave him the earldoms of Arundel and Shrewsbury.
See more of him in Sir H. Ellis’s Introduction to Domesday, vol. i. p.
479.”--HARDY.
[294] “For an account of the earls of Anjou consult the Gesta Consulum
Andegavensium, auctore Monacho Benedictino Majoris Monasterii (apud
Acherium, tom, iii.)”--HARDY.
[295] To carry a saddle was a punishment of extreme ignominy for
certain crimes. See another instance in W. Gemeticensis, Du Chesne,
p. 259, and Du Cange, in voce “Sella;” who very justly supposes the
disgrace to arise from the offender acknowledging himself a brute, and
putting himself entirely in the power of the person he had offended.
[296] “From this passage it is clear that Foulques IV. was still
the reigning earl of Anjou, which therefore proves that Malmesbury
had finished this work before 1129, in which year Geoffrey le Bel,
better known as Geoffrey Plantagenet, son of Foulques, became earl of
Anjou.”--HARDY.
[297] Terent. Andr. iv. 1.
[298] “These words seem to imply that the Great Council of the kingdom
had never agreed to any settlement of the crown on the duke; and
without such sanction no oath made by Harold in favour of William would
have been binding.”--HARDY.
[299] Some copies omit from “it is wonderful,” to “But,” and substitute
as follows:-- ... “that in the course of a very few years, many, if not
all, things were seen changed in either order. The former became, in
some respects, more dull but more liberal: the latter, more prudent in
every thing, but more penurious; yet both, in defending their country,
valiant in battle, provident in counsel; prepared to advance their own
fortune, and to depress that of their enemies.”
[300] This passage enables us to ascertain nearly the year in which
William of Malmesbury’s work was written.
[301] “There are two places called St. Valeri; one in Picardy, situated
at the mouth of the Somme, and formerly called Leugonaus; the other is
a large sea-port town, situated in Normandy, in the diocese of Rouen,
and was formerly called S. Valeri les Plains, but now S. Valeri en
Caux. It seems to be the former place to which Malmesbury here refers,
‘In Pontivo apud S. Walericum in ancoris congrue stare fecit,’ writes
William of Jumièges.”--HARDY.
[302] This was said in allusion to the feudal investiture, or formal
act of taking possession of an estate by the delivery of certain
symbols. “This story, however, is rendered a little suspicious by these
words being in exact conformity with those of Cæsar, when he stumbled
and fell at his landing in Africa, _Teneo te, Africa_. The silence of
William of Poitou, who was the duke’s chaplain, and with him at his
landing, makes the truth of it still more doubtful.”--HARDY.
[303] “Whatever may have been the conqueror’s orders, to restrain his
army from plundering, it is conclusive, from the Domesday Survey, that
they were of no avail. The whole of the country, in the neighbourhood
of Hastings, appears to have been laid waste. Sir Henry Ellis, in
the last edition of his General Introduction to Domesday, observes,
that the destruction occasioned by the conqueror’s army on its first
arrival, is apparent more particularly under Hollington, Bexhill,
&c. The value of each manor is given as it stood in the reign of the
conqueror; afterwards it is said, ‘vastatum fuit;’ and then follows
the value at the time of the survey. The situation of those manors
evidently shows their devastated state to have been owing to the
army marching over it; and this clearly evinces another circumstance
relating to the invasion, which is, that William did not land his
army at one particular spot, at Bulwerhithe, or Hastings, as is
supposed,--but at all the several proper places for landing along the
coast, from Bexhill to Winchelsea.”--HARDY.
[304] Lib. v. c. 14.
[305] This is from W. Pictaviensis, who puts it in the mouth of the
conqueror, but it is evidently false; for Godwin died A.D. 1053, Siward
A.D. 1055, and in 1054 we find Edward the Confessor sending for his
nephew from Hungary, to make him his successor in the kingdom, who,
accordingly, arrives in A.D. 1057, and dies almost immediately after.
He could not, therefore, have made the settlement as here asserted.
[306] As the armour of that time was of mail, this might easily happen.
[307] What this was is not known; but it is supposed to have been
a ballad or romance, commemorating the heroic achievements of the
pretended nephew of Charlemagne.
[308] “There seems to have been a fabulous story current during the
twelfth century, that Harold escaped from the battle of Hastings.
Giraldus Cambrensis asserts, that it was believed Harold had fled from
the battle-field, pierced with many wounds, and with the loss of his
left eye; and that he ended his days piously and virtuously, as an
anchorite, at Chester. Both Knighton and Brompton quote this story.
W. Pictaviensis says, that William refused the body to his mother,
who offered its weight in gold for it, ordering it to be buried on
the sea-coast. In the Harleian MS. 3776, before referred to, Girth,
Harold’s brother, is said to have escaped alive: he is represented, in
his interview with Henry II. to have spoken mysteriously respecting
Harold, and to have declared that the body of that prince was not at
Waltham. Sir H. Ellis, quoting this MS., justly observes, that the
whole was, probably, the fabrication of one of the secular canons, who
were ejected at the re-foundation of Waltham Abbey in 1177.”--HARDY.
[309] Four manuscripts read _Exoniam_, and one, namely, that which
was used by Savile, read _Oxoniam_. But Matthew Paris also seems to
have read _Exoniam_, for such is the text of the two best MSS. of
that author. (Reg. 14, c. vii. and Cott. Nero, D. V.) Upon a passage
in the Domesday Survey, describing Oxford as containing 478 houses,
which were so desolated that they could not pay gold, Sir H. Ellis
remarks: “The extraordinary number of houses specified as desolated at
Oxford, requires explanation. If the passage is correct, Matthew Paris
probably gives us the cause of it, under the year 1067, when William
the Conqueror subdued _Oxford_ in his way to York:--‘Eodem tempore rex
Willielmus urbem Oxoniam sibi rebellem obsidione vallavit. Super cujus
murum quidam, stans, nudato inguine, sonitu partis inferioris auras
turbavit, in contemptum videlicet Normannorum; unde Willielmus in iram
conversus, civitatem levi negotio subjugavit.’ (Matt. P. ed. Watts,
sub ann. 1067, p. 4.) The siege of Exeter in 1067 is also mentioned
by Simeon of Durham, col. 197; Hoveden, col. 258; Ralph de Diceto,
col. 482; Flor. of Worces. fol. Franc. 1601, p. 635; and by Ordericus
Vitalis, p. 510.”--HARDY.
[310] Domesday Book bears ample testimony to this statement; and that
which closely follows, viz. that the resources of this once-flourishing
province were cut off by fire, slaughter, and devastation; and
the ground, for more than sixty miles, totally uncultivated and
unproductive, remains bare to the present day. The land, which had
belonged to Edwin and Morcar in Yorkshire, almost everywhere in
the Survey is stated to be _wasta_; and in Amunderness, after the
enumeration of no fewer than sixty-two places, the possessions in
which amounted to one hundred and seventy carucates, it is said,
‘Omnes hæ villæ jacent ad Prestune, et tres ecclesiæ. Ex his 16 a
paucis incoluntur, sed quot sint habitantes ignoratur. Reliqua sunt
wasta.’ Moreover, _wasta_ is added to numerous places belonging to the
archbishop of York, St. John of Beverley, the bishop of Durham, and
to those lands which had belonged to Waltheof, Gospatric, Siward, and
Merlesweyne!--HARDY.
[311] Fordun has a story of Edgar’s being cleared from an accusation of
treason against W. Rufus, by one Godwin, in a duel; whose son, Robert,
is afterwards described as one of Edgar’s adherents in Scotland. L. v.
c. 27-34. “The Saxon Chronicle states, that in the year 1106, he was
one of the prisoners taken at the battle of Tinchebrai, in Normandy.
Edgar is stated, by Dr. Sayers, in his Disquisitions, 8vo, 1808, p.
296, upon the authority of the Spelman MSS., to have again visited
Scotland at a very advanced period of life, and died in that kingdom in
the year 1120. If this date can be relied upon, the passage above noted
would prove that Malmesbury had written this portion of his history
before the close of that year.”--HARDY.
[312] “Earl Waltheof, or Wallef, as he is always styled in Domesday
Book, was, according to the Saxon Chronicle, beheaded at Winchester on
the 31st May, 1076. The Chronicle of Mailros and Florence of Worcester,
however, assign this event to the preceding year.”--HARDY.
[313] “Harold’s master of the horse. He was killed in 1068, in
opposing the sons of Harold, when they came upon their expedition from
Ireland.”--HARDY.
[314] “W. Fitz-Osberne was only the father-in-law of Ralph de
Guader.”--HARDY.
[315] There is considerable difficulty in distinguishing exactly
the various meanings of the term “miles.” Sometimes it is, in its
legitimate sense, a soldier generally; sometimes it implies a horseman,
and frequently it is to be taken in its modern acceptation for a
knight; the latter appears to be the meaning here.
[316] “Charles, called the Good. He was the son of Canute IV, king of
Denmark, and Adele, daughter of Robert le Frison. He succeeded Boudouin
VII, as earl of Flanders (17th June, 1119,) and died 2nd March,
1127.”--HARDY.
[317] “King William now went over sea, and led his army to Brittany,
and beset the castle of Dol; but the Bretons defended it, until the
king came from France; whereupon king William departed thence, having
lost there both men and horses, and many of his treasures, (Sax. Chron.
A.D. 1076.) This event is more correctly attributed by Florence and
others to the preceding year.”--HARDY.
[318] Domesday book. This invaluable record, which has been printed
by order of the House of Commons, contains a survey of the kingdom,
noting, generally, for there are some variations in different counties,
the proprietors and value of lands, both at the time of the survey
and during the reign of Edward the Confessor, the quantity of arable,
wood, and pasture, &c. the various kinds of tenants and slaves on each
estate, and, in some instances, the stock; also the number of hides
at which it was rated, for the public service, with various other
particulars.
[319] Sweyn succeeded to the kingdom of Denmark on the death of Magnus
in 1047.
[320] Man and Anglesey.
[321] Nicolas reigned from A.D. 1105 to A.D. 1135, June 25, when he was
murdered.
[322] “Hoveden, who follows Malmesbury, adds that Alexius married,
crowned, and then burnt alive his female accomplice.”--HARDY.
[323] Archdeacon, and afterwards chancellor. Baronius, x. 289.
[324] He was elected pope the 22nd of April, 1073, and died 25th May,
1085.--HARDY.
[325] Investiture was a symbolical mode of receiving possession of a
benefice, dignity, or office.
[326] This seems intended to denote his absolute submission, and
willingness to undergo any kind of penance which might be enjoined upon
him. Sometimes excommunicated persons wore a halter about their necks;
sometimes they were shorn or scourged prior to receiving absolution.
Vide Basnage, pref. in Canisium, p. 69, 70.
[327] “The abbey of St. Stephen’s, Caen, is stated to have been
completed in 1064, but when it was dedicated is not accurately known:
some fix the dedication in 1073, others in 1081, and Orderic in 1077.
There was, however, a foundation charter granted subsequently to 1066,
for in it William styles himself King.”--HARDY.
[328] “The convent of the Holy Trinity was founded by Matilda 1066, and
its church dedicated on the 18th of June in that year. Duke William
on the same day, presenting at the altar his infant daughter Cecilia,
devoted her to the service of God in this monastery, where she became
the second abbess.”--HARDY.
[329] “This disgraceful contention happened in the year 1083. It seems
to have arisen from the abbat (Thurstan) attempting to introduce a new
chant, brought from Feschamp, instead of the Gregorian, to which the
monks had been accustomed.”--HARDY.
[330] Bracton says (lib. ii. c. 8, sec. 4), that the bishop of Durham
had as full power in the county of Durham as the king in his own
palace. The privileges of the see of Durham trace back to the time of
St. Cuthbert.
[331] Walker offered to purge himself by oath from all participation in
the murder. See Flor. Wig. A.D. 1080.
[332] “Matilda died 2nd Nov. 1083. She bequeathed to this monastery
her crown, sceptre, and ornaments of state. A copy of her will may be
seen in the Essais Historiques, by the Abbé de la Rue, tom. ii. p.
437.”--HARDY.
[333] Some MSS. omit from “a dreadful spectacle,” to the end of the
paragraph, and substitute thus, “Here he willingly passed his time,
here he delighted to follow the chase, I will not say for days but even
months together. Here, too, many accidents befell the royal race, which
the recent recollection of the inhabitants supplies to inquirers.”
[334] Agatha and Adeliza were their names, according to Ordericus
Vitalis, (lib. iv. 512.)
[335] Some MSS. omit from “money,” to “I have,” and substitute, This he
sought all opportunities of collecting, provided he could allege that
they were honourable, and not unbecoming the royal dignity. But he will
readily be excused, because a new government cannot be administered
without large revenues. I have, &c.
[336] The Romish ritual directs the woman to kneel, with a lighted
taper in her hand, at the church door, where she is sprinkled with holy
water, and afterwards conducted into the church. The practice seems
connected with the festival of the Purification. Vide Durand, lib. vii.
c. 7.
[337] Sixty shillings down, and as much more afterwards. Orderic. Vital.
[338] ... lanistarum vel pellificum. It seems a sneer at the sanguinary
disposition of the Roman people, and at the bulls of the pope. In a
dispute on the credibility of evidence adduced, it is observed, that
the oral testimony of three bishops was certainly to be preferred “to
sheep-skins blackened with ink and loaded with a leaden seal.” Edmer.
Hist. Nov. p. 65.
[339] Marianus was born in Ireland A.D. 1028, and was compiler of a
celebrated chronicle, which is the basis of Florence of Worcester. His
imagined correction of Dionysius is founded in error.
[340] See the letters which passed on this subject between Lanfranc and
Thomas archbishop of York in Lanfranci Opera, ed. J. A. Giles, 2 vols.
8vo. forming vols. 21 and 22 of Patres Ecclesiæ Anglicanæ.
[341] Two of the MSS., used by Mr. Hardy, place here the dedicatory
epistle of the author to Robert Earl of Gloucester, which we have
placed at the commencement of the work.
[342] “At this period the custom of receiving knighthood from the
hands of bishops or abbats yet obtained. There is a law of Henry I.,
prohibiting abbats from making knights.”--HARDY.
[343] The 27th of September.
[344] Persius, Sat. i. 85.
[345] On their own lands, it should seem from Sax. Chron., p. 465.
[346] Nidering is supposed by Somner to denote such as were infamous
enough to rifle a dead body. Gavelk. 65. Lye renders it, nequam,
exlex,--infamous, outlaw. MS. Nithing. Spelman derives it from nidus:
but there is no authority for either interpretation; and in such
cases it is safer, to confess ignorance than to mislead the reader by
fanciful etymologies.
[347] This crucifix was very celebrated; it being pretended that it was
the work of Nicodemus. “See further on this subject in the Rev. J. E.
Tyler’s interesting volume, entitled, ‘Oaths, their origin, nature, and
history.’ London: 8vo, pp. 289-296.”--HARDY.
[348] Cicero de Officiis, ii. 15. Much of the argument is borrowed from
the same source.
[349] Some read, “The king used to laugh,” &c.
[350] This is unintelligible to the English reader. The author uses the
word “firmarius,” which certainly would not have conveyed the idea of a
“farmer” to the mind of either Cicero or Horace.
[351] Those who followed the court, being under no kind of control,
were in the habit of plundering and devastating the country wherever
they went. When they were unable to consume whatever they found in
their lodgings, they would sell it to the best bidder, or destroy it
with fire; or if it were liquor, after washing their horses’ legs with
a part, they let the remainder run. “As to their cruelty towards their
hosts, or their unseemly conduct towards their wives and daughters, it
is shameful even to remember.”--Edmer. Hist. Nov. p. 94.
[352] These shoes, which gave occasion for various ordinances for their
regulation or abolition, during several successive centuries, are said
to have owed their invention to Fulk, earl of Anjou, in order to hide
his ill-formed feet. Orderic. Vitalis, p. 682: who also observes, that
the first improver, by adding the long curved termination, was a fellow
(quidam nebulo) in the court of William Rufus, named Robert.
[353] Others read, “The palace of the king was not the abode of
majesty, but the stews of pathics.”
[354] Edmer, besides constant mention of Anselm in his Historia
Novorum, wrote his life also, in a separate form.
[355] A Jewish youth imagined that St. Stephen had appeared to him, and
commanded him to be baptized: this he obeyed. His father immediately
flew to the king, earnestly entreating an order for his son to be
restored to the faith of his ancestors. The king not discovering any
advantage as likely to accrue to himself, remained silent: on this the
Jew offers him sixty marks, on condition that he would restore his
son to Judaism. William then orders the youth to be brought before
him; relates his father’s complaint, and commands him to renounce his
baptism. The lad, astonished, replies, “Your majesty is joking surely.”
“I joke with thee,” exclaims the king, “thou son of ordure! begone,
and obey my commands instantly, or by the cross at Lucca I will have
your eyes torn out.” The young man remaining inflexible, he drove him
from his presence. The father was then ordered before the king, who
desired him to pay down the money he had promised; but, on the Jew’s
remonstrating that he had not reconverted his son, and the king’s
declaring that his labour was not to go unrewarded, it was agreed that
he should receive half the sum. Edmer, Hist. Novor. p. 47.
[356] “Compater” sometimes means a friend or companion.
[357] Pharsalia, lib. ii. 515--v. 580.
[358] “It has been inferred from this passage, that Malmesbury states
the tower of London was built by William Rufus. There appears, however,
little doubt that the principal building, now called the White Tower,
was commenced by the Conqueror, and finished by Rufus, under the
superintendence of Gundulph, bishop of Rochester.”--HARDY.
[359] “The tradition of William having met his death by the hand of Sir
Walter Tirel, whilst hunting in the New Forest, is generally received;
but Suger, a contemporary historian, and, as it seems, a friend of
Tirel, in his Life of Louis le Gros, king of France, alluding to the
death of Rufus, observes, ‘Imponebatur a quibusdam cuidam nobili
Gualtero Tirello quod eum sagitta perfoderat: quem, cum nec timeret nec
speraret, jurejurando sæpius audivimus quasi sacrosanctum asserere,
quod ea die nec in eam partem silvæ, in qua rex venebatur, venerit, nec
eum in silva omnino viderit.’ See also Edmer, Hist. Nov. p. 54, and
Ord. Vit. Hist. Eccles. lib. x. p. 783.”--HARDY.
[360] It fell A.D. 1107. An. Winton.
[361] By this probably is to be understood the payment of Peter-pence.
Anselm had offended the king, by acknowledging Urban without consulting
him.
[362] Juvenal, Sat. i. 37.
[363] A kind of woollen shirt.
[364] The concluding psalms of the matin service.
[365] The Horæ, or canonical services, were matins, primes, tierce,
sexts, nones, vespers, and complines.
[366] The Ambrosian ritual prevailed pretty generally till the time of
Charlemagne, who adopted the Gregorian. Durandus (lib. v. c. 1) has a
curious account of an experiment, on the result of which was founded
the general reception of the latter, and the confining the former
chiefly to Milan, the church of St. Ambrose.
[367] The learned Mabillon appears much displeased with Malmesbury, for
the motives here assigned for abbat Robert’s quitting Citeaux. Vide
Ann. Benedictinor.
[368] From the French “losenge,” adulation.
[369] Alluding to the legend of St. Peter and Simon Magnus; who having
undertaken by means of enchantment, to fly, was, by the adjuration
of St. Peter, dashed to the earth and killed. Vide Fabricius, Codex
Apocryphus.
[370] His letters, long supposed to be lost, were found by the editor
of this work in a MS. belonging to the Burgundian library at Brussels,
and have been since published by R. Anstruther, 8vo. Bruxellis, 1845.
[371] Joscelyn’s “Life and Translation of St. Augustine” is printed in
the “Acta Sanctor. Antwerp. 26 Maii.” See the Preface to Bede, p. xxxix.
[372] Another famous writer of Lives of Saints, several of which exist
still in MS.
[373] “The council of Clermont, in Auvergne, continued from 18th to
28th of Nov. A.D. 1095; wherein the decrees of the councils held by
pope Urban at Melfe, Benevento, Troie, and Plaisance, were confirmed,
and many new canons made. Malmesbury’s is perhaps the best account
now known of that celebrated council. See the acts of the council of
Clermont; Conc. tom. xii. p. 829, &c.”--HARDY.
[374] The practice of private wars; for an account of which, see
Robertson’s Hist. of Charles V. vol. i.
[375] If orders could not be completely conferred on Saturday, the
ceremony might be performed on Sunday; and the parties continuing to
fast the two days were considered as one only.--DURAND.
[376] The Truce of God, was so called from the eagerness with which its
first proposal was received by the suffering people of every degree:
during the time it endured, no one dared infringe it, by attacking his
fellows. See Du Cange: and Robertson’s Charles V. vol. i. It was blamed
by some bishops as furnishing an occasion of perjury, and was rejected
by the Normans, as contrary to their privileges. The Truce of God was
first established in Aquitaine, 1032.
[377] There are other orations, said to have been delivered by Urban
in this council, remaining; and L’Abbe (Concil. T. x.) has printed one
from a Vatican MS.; but they are all very inferior to Malmesbury.
[378] He alludes to St. Augustine and the fathers of the African church.
[379] This gratuitous insult on a brave and noble people is unworthy
a writer like William of Malmesbury; but the monkish historians were
as deficient in taste as in style. The cloister was a useful seminary
to teach the plodding accuracy which is required to write a chronicle;
but for elevation of mind and diffusion of liberal sentiment, it was as
inefficient as it is still.
[380] The rustic, observes Guibert, shod his oxen like horses, and
placed his whole family on a cart; where it was amusing to hear the
children, on the approach to any large town or castle, inquiring, if
that were Jerusalem. Guib. Novigent. Opera, p. 482.
[381] Fulcher says, those who assumed the cross were estimated at that
number; but that multitudes returned home ere they passed the sea.
Fulcherius Carnotensis ap. Gesta Dei per Francos, p. 387.
[382] However repugnant this representation may be to the generally
received opinion, it is that of an eye-witness, when describing the
army assembled at Constantinople. Fulch. Carnot. p. 389.
[383] It should probably be the Elbe, as he appears to describe the
people of northern Germany.
[384] Virgil, Æneid i. 281.
[385] “Hildebert was translated to Tours, A.D. 1125, upon the death of
Gislebert, who died at Rome about the middle of December, 1124, in the
same week with pope Calixtus. (Ord. Vit. lib. xii. p. 882.)”--HARDY.
[386] For a very interesting account of the walls and gates of Rome,
see Andrew Lumisden’s “Remarks on the Antiquities of Rome and its
Environs, London, 4to. 1797.”
[387] Now called Porta del Popolo.
[388] Porta Pinciana.
[389] The Two Hundred and Sixty are said to have been shot with arrows
in the amphitheatre, by order of Claudius. The Thirty suffered under
Diocletian.
[390] Porta Salaria.
[391] Porta Pia.
[392] Porta di San Lorenzo.
[393] Porta Maggiore.
[394] The Forty Soldiers suffered martyrdom under Licinius at Sebastia
in Armenia.
[395] So called, because for a long time after they had suffered
martyrdom (martyrio coronati) their names were unknown; and though
afterwards their real names were revealed to a certain priest, yet they
still continued to retain their former designation.
[396] Porta di San Giovanni.
[397] There is no notice of this in Lumisden: it is probably now
destroyed.
[398] Porta Latina.
[399] Porta di San Sebastiano.
[400] Porta di San Paolo.
[401] Aquas Saluias, now Trefontane. The tradition is, that St. Paul
was beheaded on this spot: that his head, on touching the ground,
rebounded twice, and that a fountain immediately burst forth from each
place where it fell. See Lumisden.
[402] Porta Portese.
[403] Porti di San Pancrazio.
[404] Sacred places and bodies of saints long since deceased, are but
feeble safeguards against the outbreak or even moderate agency of human
passions, which, in every country and under every form of superstition,
act always in the same way.
[405] Aldhelmi Opera, page 28.
[406] The story of Silvester’s having baptized Constantine is
considered as altogether unfounded. See Mosheim, vol. i.
[407] This, in Aldhelm, is the Labarum, or imperial standard.
[408] The place of his birth is contested.
[409] Geor. i. 103.
[410] “The Danube empties itself through six mouths into the Euxine.
The river Lycus, formed by the conflux of two little streams, pours
into the harbour of Constantinople a perpetual supply of fresh water,
which serves to cleanse the bottom, and to invite the periodical
shoals of fish to seek their retreat in the capacious port of
Constantinople.”--HARDY.
[411] After all the researches of the last fifty years, the “Decline
and Fall of the Roman Empire,” by Gibbon, will be found to contain the
best history of these Byzantine emperors.
[412] His Turkish name was Killidge-Arslan: his kingdom of Roum
extended from the Hellespont to the confines of Syria, and barred
the pilgrimage of Jerusalem. (See De Guignes, tom. iii. p. 2, pp.
10-30.)--HARDY.
[413] When Urban II addressed the multitude from a lofty scaffold in
the market-place of Clermont, inciting the people to undertake the
crusade, he was frequently interrupted by the shout of thousands in
their rustic idiom exclaiming “Deus lo vult!” “It is indeed the will of
God!” replied the pope; “and let those words, the inspiration surely of
the Holy Spirit, be for ever adopted as your war-cry.”--HARDY.
[414] Hegesippus, a Greek author of the second century, wrote an
account of the Jewish war, and of the destruction of Jerusalem; said
to have been translated into Latin by St. Ambrose. He also wrote an
ecclesiastical history, in five books, a fragment of which only remains.
[415] “The siege of Antioch commenced on the 21st of October, 1097, and
ended 3rd June, 1098.”--HARDY.
[416] Pharsalia, iv. 579.
[417] The balista was a warlike engine for casting either darts or
stones: the petrary, for throwing large stones only.
[418] Owing to the scarcity of fuel.
[419] “Phirouz, a Syrian renegade, has the infamy of this perfidious
and foul treason.”--HARDY.
[420] “In describing the host of Corbaguath, most of the Latin
historians, the author of the Gesta, (p. 17,) Robertus monachus, (p.
56,) Baldric, (p. 3,) Fulcherius Carnotensis, (p. 392,) Guibert, (p.
512,) William of Tyre, (lib. vi. c. 3, p. 714,) Bernardus Thesaurarius,
(c. 39, p. 695,) are content with the vague expressions of ‘infinita
multitudo,’ ‘immensum agmen,’ ‘innumeræ copiæ,’ ‘innumeræ gentes.’ The
numbers of the Turks are fixed by Albertus Aquensis at two hundred
thousand, (lib. iv. c. 10, p. 242,) and by Radulphus Cadomensis (c. 72,
p. 309) at four hundred thousand horse. (Gib. Decl. Rom. Emp. vii. pp.
364, 5.)”--HARDY.
[421] The greatest part of their march is most accurately traced in
Maundrell’s Journey from Aleppo to Jerusalem.--HARDY.
[422] The church of St. Mary, at Bethlehem, contained within its walls
a sort of grotto, in which it was pretended Christ was born.--See Bede,
de Locis Sanctis.
[423] “Jerusalem was possessed only of the torrent of Kedron, dry in
summer, and of the little brook or spring of Siloe, (Reland, tom. i.
pp. 294, 300). Tacitus mentions a perennial fountain, an aqueduct, and
cisterns of rain-water. The aqueduct was conveyed from the rivulet
Tekoe, or Etham, which is likewise mentioned by Bohadin, (in Vit.
Saladin. p. 238.)”--HARDY.
[424] It was pretended that the lamps in the church of the Holy
Sepulchre were miraculously ignited on Easter Eve.
[425] Bernard, with two companions, sailed from Italy to Alexandria,
and travelled thence by land to Jerusalem in the year 870. Their
travels are printed in “Mabillon’s Acta Benedictinorum.” The account is
short, but has several interesting particulars. There is also a good
MS. in the British Museum, Bib. Cott. Faust, b. 1, where, by a mistake
of the scribe, it is dated A.D. 970, but this is clearly wrong, for
Bernard mentions Lewis, king of Italy, as then living, and he died A.D.
875.
[426] Some MSS. insert the name of another John after Juvenalis, but
no patriarch of this name is known to have lived at that period.
Malmesbury has, moreover, omitted the names of eleven patriarchs,
between Juvenal, who died A.D. 458, and Zacharias who died A.D. 609.
[427] Cosroes, or Chosroes the Second, king of Persia.
[428] “The church of Jerusalem was vacant after the death of
Sophronius, A.D. 644, until the year 705, when John V succeeded, whom
Theodorus followed, A.D. 754.”--HARDY.
[429] “The tower of David was the old tower Psephina or Neblosa; it
was likewise called Castellum Pisanum, from the patriarch Daimbert.
(D’Anville, pp. 19-23.)”--HARDY.
[430] That is to say, with several floors or apartments, one above the
other; each of which contained soldiers.
[431] Interested motives and conduct, it is to be observed, are several
times imputed to the adventurers from Sicily and Calabria.
[432] In allusion to the custom of painting and gilding the ceilings.
[433] Godfrey would not, however, accept the name of king, nor wear
a crown of jewels in a city where his Saviour had been crowned with
thorns. He therefore contented himself with the title of “Defender and
Baron of the Holy Sepulchre.”
[434] Pope Urban however died fourteen days after the taking of
Jerusalem. Daibert was appointed patriarch of the captured city.
[435] The church of Golgotha contains within it the rock on which the
cross was fixed for the crucifixion. Bede, Eccles. Hist. p. 264.
[436] Fulcher wrote an account of the transactions in Syria, where he
was present, from A.D. 1095 to 1124. Malmesbury condenses much of his
narrative with his usual ability. It is printed in the Gesta Dei per
Francos, and, ap. Duchesne Hist. Franc. Scriptor. tom. iii.
[437] Paul was bishop of Antioch in the third century. “He was better
pleased with the title of ducenarius than with that of bishop. His
heresy, like those of Noetus and Labellius in the same century, tended
to confound the mysterious distinction of the Divine persons. He was
degraded from his see in 270, by the sentence of eighty bishops, and
altogether deprived of his office in 274 by Aurelian (Mosheim’s Ecc.
Hist. vol.i. p. 702, &c.)”--HARDY.
[438] The sugar cane. “This kind of herb is annually cultivated with
great labour. When ripe they pound it in a mortar, strain off the
juice, and put it in vessels until it coagulates, and hardens in
appearance like snow or white salt. This they use scraped and mixed
with bread, or dissolved in water. The canes they call Zucra.” Albertus
Aquensis, ap. Gesta Dei, p. 270.
[439] In token of victory, or the completion of their purpose, by
having visited the holy sepulchre. Vide Albert. Aquens. ubi sup. p. 290.
[440] See note, p. 384.
[441] “Lord have mercy upon us,” thrice repeated, three times.
[442] Bernard the monk notices the custom of imparting the holy light,
in order that the bishops and people might illuminate their several
residences from it. Fulcher describes this event at great length, and
observes that each person had a wax taper in his hand for the purpose
of receiving the holy fire. Gesta Dei, p. 407.
[443] Engines made to cast stones.
[444] Fulcher relates, with great coolness, that he saw the bodies of
the Turks, who were slain at Cæsarea, piled up and burned, in order to
obtain the bezants which they had swallowed. Hist. Hierosol. ap. Du
Chesne, tom. iv. 845. This practice of swallowing money is referred to
by pope Urban, and, by his account, the merely burning dead bodies to
obtain the hoard was a very humble imitation of the Saracen custom,
with respect to those who visited Jerusalem before the crusades; which
was to put scammony in their drink to make them vomit, and if this did
not produce the desired effect, they proceeded to immediate incision!
Guibert Abbas. Opera, p. 379.
[445] Juvenal, Sat. i. 43.
[446] Among a variety of instances adduced of her wealth, it is stated,
that the mast of the vessel which conveyed her to Palestine, was
covered with pure gold. Alb. Aquens. ap. Gesta Dei, p. 373.
[447] Fulcher assigns a different reason for her being divorced.
The king, being extremely ill and thinking he should not survive,
recollected that he had another wife living, to whom he had been
previously married at Edessa. Du Chesne, t. iv. 864. He had been twice
married before. His first wife, an English woman, accompanied him on
the Crusade, and died in Asia: the second, daughter of Taphnuz, an
Armenian nobleman, following him, by sea, to Jerusalem, was taken by
pirates; and being suspected of improper conduct during her absence,
was, on her arrival at Jerusalem, about A.D. 1105, repudiated, and
shut up in the convent of St. Anne. Alb. Aquens. ubi sup. Guib. Abbat.
Opera, p. 452.
[448] “Roger, prince-regent of Antioch, son of Richard, seneschal
of Apulia, married Hodierna, sister of Baldwin II. He was slain in
1119.”--HARDY.
[449] This account appears in some measure incorrect. Gozelin and the
king were both confined in the same castle. On its being seized Gozelin
escaped, and collected troops to liberate his friends, who were now
themselves besieged. But ere his arrival, the Turks had made themselves
masters of the fortress and carried off the king, who did not recover
his liberty for some time, and then only by paying a considerable
ransom. Fulch. Carnot. et Will. Tyr. ap. Gesta Dei.
[450] Baldwin died 21st August, A.D. 1131.--HARDY.
[451] Boamund was baptized Mark; but his father hearing a tale related
of a giant named Buamund, gave him that appellation. When, after his
captivity, he returned to France, many of the nobility requested him
to stand for their children; this he acquiesced in, and giving them
his own name, it became frequent in these parts, though before nearly
unknown in the West. Ord. Vital. p. 817.
[452] There is a play here on the words Mollucium and Durachium,
intended to imply soft and hard, “mollis” and “durus,” which it is not
easy to translate.
[453] Orderic. Vital. p. 797, gives a different account of his
deliverance, and which has quite a romantic air.
[454] Leonard was godson to Clovis king of France, and obtained,
through the favour of that monarch, that, whenever he should see any
one who was in chains, he should immediately be set at liberty. At
length it pleased God to honour him to that degree, that, if any person
in confinement invoked his name, their chains immediately fell off, and
they might depart; their keepers themselves having no power to prevent
them. Vide Surius, Vitæ Sanct. Nov. 6.
[455] He is called Pontius in Bouquet, Rec. 13, 7.
[456] Helena, daughter of Otho I. duke of Burgundy. Bouquet, Rec. 13, 7.
[457] None of the original historians of the crusade mention Robert, by
name, as refusing the crown. Henry of Huntingdon however records it,
and Albertus Aquensis observes, that it was first offered to Raymond,
earl of Toulouse, who declining to accept it, and the other chiefs
in succession following his example, Godfrey was, with difficulty,
prevailed on to ascend the throne. Alb. Aquens. 1. vi. c. 33. and
Villehardouin, No. 136.
[458] “Sibilla, duchess of Normandy, died by poison, according to
Ordericus Vitalis, and the Continuator of William of Jumièges.
Malmesbury’s account does not appear to be supported by any
contemporary testimony.”--HARDY.
[459] “Normandy was only mortgaged for 10,000 marks, about the 100th
part of its present value.”--HARDY.
[460] Cicero de Offic. 1. iii. But Malmesbury seems to have thought it
necessary to soften it; as Cæsar’s axiom says, “for the sake of power.”
[461] Instead of these words “nor was he liberated, &c.,” another
manuscript reads, “and whether he ever will be set free, is doubtful.”
Upon which Mr. Hardy observes that these various readings of the MSS.
seem to mark the periods when the author composed and amended his
history. In other words, the reading in the text was substituted by the
author, when he revised his work after Robert’s death, for the reading
in the note, which is copied from a MS. written whilst Robert was still
in prison.
[462] “Henry was born in 1068, not in 1070, as stated by Ordericus
Vitalis, (Annal. Burton, apud Fell, inter Rer. Anglic. Script. v. p.
246.)”--HARDY.
[463] “William the Conqueror was abroad at Pentecost in the 21st year
of his reign, A.D. 1087. Henry undoubtedly received knighthood in the
year 1086, in the 20th year of his father’s reign.”--HARDY.
[464] Wilkins, Leges Anglo-Saxonicæ, 233.
[465] This has been taken to mean the abolition of the Curfew, by which
it is said, all fires were ordered to be extinguished at eight o’clock;
but it may be doubted, whether it does not rather refer to some
regulation of the court merely.
[466] Those called the Confessor’s.
[467] Matilda having taken the veil, though only for a purpose,
scruples were raised as to the propriety of her entering the marriage
state: a synod was therefore called at Lambeth by archbishop Anselm,
and it was there determined that Matilda, not having voluntarily become
a nun, might marry according to the law of God. See Edmer, pp. 56,
57.--HARDY.
[468] These appellations seem intended as sneers at the regular life of
Henry and his queen. Godric implies God’s kingdom or government.
[469] For the particulars of the bishop’s escape, see Ordericus Vitalis
p. 787.
[470] “There is no vestige of this exhortation in any letter of pope
Paschal to king Henry now known. Indeed Paschal, writing to archbishop
Anselm, enjoins him to effect a reconciliation between the king and his
brother. See Anselmi Opera, edit. nov. p. 382, col. 2.”--HARDY.
[471] Orderic. Vital. [p. 815.] relates a circumstance highly
indicative of the troubled state of Normandy. Henry, on his arrival,
was immediately welcomed by Serlo bishop of Sees; who, on conducting
him into the church, pointed out the area nearly filled with boxes
and packages brought thither for security from plunderers, by the
inhabitants.
[472] His daughter Mabil became the wife of Robert earl of Gloucester,
to whom Malmesbury dedicated this work.
[473] Robert de Belesme was seized by order of king Henry in 1112,
having come to him in Normandy as ambassador from the king of France to
treat of peace. Robert was in the following year sent over to England,
and confined in Wareham Castle until his death.--HARDY.
[474] “The laws of Henry I. have lately been reprinted in the ‘Ancient
Laws and Institutes of England,’ under the able editorship of Mr.
Thorpe.”--HARDY.
[475] “It appears from two charters, printed in Rymer’s Fœdera, vol.
i. pp. 6, 7, that Henry agreed to pay a pension of four hundred marks,
annually, to Robert, earl of Flanders, for the service of one thousand
knights.”--HARDY.
[476] “William, surnamed Clito [the Clito], son of Robert, duke of
Normandy, and Sibilla de Conversano, succeeded to the earldom of
Flanders upon the death of Charles le Bon, A.D. 1127.”--HARDY.
[477] He probably intended a joke on the custom of ringing the bells to
scare evil spirits.
[478] “Ordericus Vitalis attributes this act to Odo, bishop of Bayeux;
but Pope Urban II., in his Epistle to Raynald, archbishop of Rheims,
ascribes it to Ursio, bishop of Senlis.”--HARDY.
[479] “Although king Philip, a few years before his death, entertained
some notion of embracing a monastic life, as is seen in the epistle
written to him by Hugh, abbat of Cluni, yet it appears that he never
carried his design into effect.”--HARDY.
[480] “Pope Calixtus met king Henry at Gisors on his return from the
council at Rheims, held in October 1119.”--HARDY.
[481] This practice is referred to by Henry Huntingdon, when speaking
of Hardecanute, who had four repasts served up every day, “when in our
times, through avarice, or as they pretend through disgust, the great
set but one meal a day before their dependents.”--H. Hunt. lib. vi. p.
209.
[482] “Henry of Huntingdon, in his epistle to Walter (Anglia Sacra,
pars ii., p. 695) gives a flattering character of Robert. Ordericus
Vitalis places his death on the first June, A.D. 1118.”--HARDY.
[483] Roger had a church in the neighbourhood of Caen, at the time
that Henry was serving under his brother William. Passing that way,
he entered in, and requested the priest to say mass. Roger began
immediately, and got through his task so quickly that the prince’s
attendants unanimously declared, “no man so fit for chaplain to men
of their profession.” And when the royal youth said, “Follow me,” he
adhered as closely to him, as Peter did to his heavenly Lord uttering
a similar command; for Peter, leaving his vessel, followed the King
of kings; he, leaving his church, followed the prince, and appointed
chaplain to himself and his troops, became “a blind guide to the
blind.” Vide G. Neubrig, 1. 6.
[484] “Paulus Diaconus, also called Winfrid, was secretary to
Desiderius, last of the native princes of Lombardy. Paulus wrote his
History of the Lombards, in six books, before the empire by Charlemagne
was founded.”--HARDY. Malmesbury seems to imply that the vessel was
lost in the Mediterranean; but if so, he misunderstood Paulus Diaconus,
who is speaking of the race of Alderney. Vide Paul. Diac. lib. i. c. 6,
ap. Muratori. Rer. Ital. Script. t. 1.
[485] Of Henry’s prudent accommodation to the times, a curious anecdote
is related by Ordericus Vitalis, p. 815. When Serlo bishop of Sees
met him on his arrival in Normandy, he made a long harangue on the
enormities of the times, one of which was the bushyness of men’s
beards which resembled Saracens’ rather than Christians’, and which
he supposes they would not clip lest the stumps should prick their
mistresses’ faces; another was their long locks. Henry immediately, to
show his submission and repentance, submits his bushy honours to the
bishop, who, taking a pair of shears from his trunk, trims his majesty
and several of the principal nobility with his own hands.
[486] Virg. Æn. vi. 853.
[487] Whilst endeavouring to distinguish good coin from counterfeits,
the silver penny was frequently broken, and then refused. Henry’s
order, therefore, that all should be broken, enabled any one
immediately to ascertain the quality, and, at the same time, left no
pretext for refusing it on account of its being broken money.--Vide
Edmerum Hist. Novor. p. 94.
[488] Suger relates, that Henry was so terrified by a conspiracy among
his chamberlains, that he frequently changed his bed, increased his
guards, and caused a shield and a sword to be constantly placed near
him at night: and that the person here mentioned, who had been favoured
and promoted in an especial manner by the king, was, on his detection,
mercifully adjudged to lose only his eyes and his manhood, when he
justly deserved hanging.--De Vit. Lud. Grossi. Duchesne, iv. 308.
[489] “Compare Malmesbury’s character of Henry in this particular with
that given of him by Henry of Huntingdon.”--HARDY.
[490] The ceremony of giving possession of lands or offices, was, by
the feudal law, accompanied with the delivery of certain symbols. In
conformity to this practice, princes conferred bishoprics and abbeys
by the delivery of a crozier and a ring, which was called their
investiture: and as consecration could not take place till after
investiture, this, in fact, implied their appointment also. The popes
at length finding how much such a practice tended to render the clergy
dependent on the temporal power, inhibited their receiving investiture
from laymen by the staff and ring, which were emblems of their
spiritual office. The compromise of Henry with Paschal enacted, that
in future the king would not confer bishoprics by the staff and ring;
but that the bishops should perform the ceremony of homage, in token of
submission for their temporals: the election by these means, remaining,
nominally, in the chapter, or monastery.
[491] The printed copy, as well as such manuscripts as have been
consulted, read, “investituras consecrationum:” evidently wrong; the
true reading, as appears from Edmer, p. 72, where the whole instrument
is inserted, being “investituram vel consecrationem.”
[492] On Anselm’s return, shortly after Henry’s accession, it was
agreed that all matters should remain in abeyance, until both parties
should have sent messengers to the pope, for his decision on the
subject of investitures. See Edmer, p. 56.
[493] He had been recalled on the king’s accession, but afterwards
quitted the kingdom again.
[494] “Henry married Adala, daughter of Godfrey, conte de Louvain, in
February, 1121.”--HARDY.
[495] “Bromton (col. 1013, x. Scrip.) ascribes to Malmesbury
words which are no where to be found in this author, ‘Willelmus
Malmesbiriensis dicit, quod ille Willelmus regis primogenitus palam
Anglis fuerat comminatus, quod, si aliquando super eos regnaret,
faceret eos ad aratrum trahere quasi boves: sed spe sua coruscabili Dei
vindicta cum aliis deperiit.’”--HARDY.
[496] “The nuptials of prince William with Matilda, daughter of the
earl of Anjou, were celebrated in June, 1119, before the council of
Rheims.”--HARDY.
[497] See page 252.
[498] Virgil Æneid. v. 206.
[499] He is called a butcher by Orderic Vitalis, p. 867, who has many
particulars of this event.
[500] “The marriage of William, son of the duke of Normandy, with
Sibilla, in 1123, was dissolved, at the instance of king Henry, in the
following year, by the pope’s legate.”--HARDY.
[501] “Matilda was betrothed to the emperor Henry V. in 1109, but was
not married to him until the 7th January, 1114.”--HARDY.
[502] The church of St. Maria, in Scuola Græca, is so called, from
a tradition that St. Augustine, before his conversion, there taught
rhetoric.--See Lumisden, 318.
[503] Trastevere, that part in which St. Peter’s is situated.
[504] Three beautiful columns, supposed to be remains of the temple of
Jupiter Stator.
[505] The principal entrance to St. Peter’s church, so called by way of
pre-eminence.
[506] The Rota, which seems to have been a part of St. Peter’s church,
is not enumerated by Fontana, de Basilica Vaticana.
[507] The chapel, in which the tombs of the apostles are said to be
placed.
[508] The patrician of Rome appears to have been its chief magistrate;
derived from the office of prefect or patrician under the emperors of
Constantinople.
[509] As pope Calixtus II.
[510] The church of St. Saviour, or St. John Lateran, built by
Constantine the Great.
[511] MS. pravilegium, a play on the words privilegium and pravilegium.
[512] Cosenza, L’Abbe, tom. x.
[513] Another MS. reads Troianus instead of Turianus.
[514] “_Septimo decimo._ More correctly _octavo decimo_, as the emperor
went before Easter in the year 1117.”--HARDY.
[515] “Paschal died in Jan. 1118.”--HARDY.
[516] “Maurice Bourdin, archbishop of Brague, was elected pope by the
influence of the emperor Henry V, on the 9th of March, 1118, and took
the name of Gregory VIII.”--HARDY.
[517] “Gelasius II, died at Clugny, 29th Jan. 1119.”--HARDY.
[518] A monastery near Salerno, inaccessible, except by one passage.
Here were kept such as from their conduct had become either dangerous
or scandalous: they were supplied with every thing necessary, according
to their order, but were held in close confinement. Its name was given
from the untameable disposition of its inmates. See Orderic. Vital. 870.
[519] This was a high compliment to the ancient Briton.
[520] Guibert of Nogent excuses himself from commemorating the valour
of many of the crusaders, because, after their return, they had run
headlong into every kind of enormity. Opera, p. 431.
[521] Robert de Arbrisil founded the monastery of Fontevrault in 1099,
and died in 1117.
[522] “Bernard founded the abbey of Tyron in 1109, and died in
1116.”--HARDY.
[523] At Lewes in Sussex.
[524] The uppermost garment of the priest, covering the rest entirely.
[525] Those who officiated were enjoined to fold up their garments.
[526] It was customary to hold a short chapter immediately after primes.
[527] Odo, second abbat of Clugny, was founder of the Clugniac rule in
the tenth century. Odilo was elected the fifth abbat of Clugny in 994.
[528] Godfrey was prior of Winchester from A.D. 1082 to 1107. His
verses in commendation of the chief personages of England are in the
manner of those already inserted on Serlo abbat of Gloucester. Many of
his epigrams have very considerable merit.
[529] He probably has Henry Huntingdon in view, who wrote a History of
England shortly after him.
[530] Terentii Andria, i. 1.
[531] What these were is unknown, as it is believed there is no MS. of
them now to be met with.
[532] “The emperor Henry V. died on the 23rd of May, A.D. 1125; and
in September, A.D. 1126, king Henry returned from Normandy, with his
daughter the empress.”--HARDY.
[533] “The union of the kingdoms under Egbert did not take place for
several years after his accession in 802.”--HARDY.
[534] This must be understood with the exception of Canute and his
sons, between Edmund Ironside, and Edward the Confessor.
[535] Here seems a mistake. Margaret was given to Malcolm by her
brother Edgar Atheling, while in exile in Scotland, A.D. 1067. See the
Saxon Chronicle.
[536] “Robert was created earl of Gloucester in the year 1119. On the
Pipe-roll, 31 Hen. I., this entry occurs: ‘Glœcecestrescire. Et comiti
Glœc. xxii. numero pro parte sua comitatus.’”--HARDY.
[537] “The nuptials of Matilda with Geoffrey Plantagenet, afterwards
earl of Anjou, were celebrated in the presence of her father, in Sept.
1127.”--HARDY.
[538] “Henry completed the twenty-eighth year of his reign the 4th of
August, 1128; but the Saxon Chronicle places his return from Normandy
during the autumn of 1129.”--HARDY.
[539] It is very remarkable what excessive pains were employed to
prevail on the young men to part with their locks. In the council held
at London by archbishop Anselm, A.D. 1102, it is enacted, that those
who had long hair should be cropped, so as to show part of the ear, and
the eyes. From the apparently strange manner in which this fashion is
coupled in Edmer, p. 81, one might be led to suspect, it was something
more than mere spleen which caused this enactment. See also Orderic.
Vitalis.
[540] An allusion to his name, which signifies a lion.
[541] Pope Innocent died A.D. 1143.
[542] “Philippe, eldest son of Louis VI, was consecrated by command
of his father on the 14th April, 1129; but meeting with an accidental
death on the 13th October, 1131, the king, twelve days afterwards,
caused his second son, Louis, to be crowned at Rheims by the Roman
pontiff, Innocent II.”--HARDY.
[543] Both the printed copy and the MSS., which have been consulted,
read here tricesimo primo, ‘thirty-first,’ [1131]; but it should be the
thirty-second, 1132.--See Hen. Hunt.
[544] “Malmesbury seems to have committed two oversights here. Henry
went to Normandy for the last time on the third before the nones of
August, (that is, third, instead of fifth), A.D. 1133. This is evident
from the eclipse he mentions, which took place on that day, as well
as from the testimony of the continuator of Florence of Worcester, a
contemporary Writer.”--SHARPE. “Although all the MSS. read ‘tricesimo
secundo,’ yet it is evident, from the context, that it should be
‘tricesimo tertio;’ the completion of Henry’s thirty-third regnal year
being on the 4th of August, 1133. This, and other passages show, that
Malmesbury reckoned Henry’s reign to commence on the 5th of August, the
day of his consecration, and not on the 2nd of that month, the day of
his brother’s death.”--HARDY.
[545] “The eclipse of the sun took place on the 2nd of August, 1133, at
mid-day.”--HARDY.
[546] From what has been said above this should be two.
[547] “Liberationes,” signifies, sometimes, what we now call liveries,
that is garments; sometimes money at stated periods, or, as we
should say, wages: it is here rendered in the latter sense, as being
distinct from “solidatæ,” pay or stipends. Perhaps it was intended
to distinguish two orders of persons by this bequest; servants and
soldiers: otherwise it may mean garments and wages.
[548] “The majority of contemporary writers state that Stephen’s
coronation took place on the 26th December.”--HARDY.
[549] “The author of the Dialogus de Scaccario states that for some
time after the Norman conquest there was very little money in specie in
the realm, and that, until the reign of Henry the First, all rents and
farms due to the king were rendered in provisions and necessaries for
his household; but Henry I ordered the payments to be made in money:
they were consequently made ‘ad scalam,’ and ‘ad pensum;’ ‘in numero,’
or by tale; and ‘per combustionem,’ or melting, which latter mode was
adopted to prevent payment being made in debased money; hence perhaps
it was that Henry’s money was of the best quality.”--HARDY.
[550] The progress of some of Henry’s treasure is curious. Theobald,
earl of Blois, gave many jewels, which had been bestowed on him by
Stephen, his brother, to certain abbeys, and these again sold them
for four hundred pounds to Suger, abbat of St. Denis. Henry, Suger
observes, used to have them set in most magnificent drinking vessels.
Suger, ap. Duchesne, t. iv. p. 345.
[551] Church-yards were, by the canons, privileged, so that persons in
turbulent times conveyed their property thither for security.
[552] It had been the practice to seize, to the king’s use, whatever
property ecclesiastics left behind them. Henry of Huntingdon relates,
that on the death of Gilbert the Universal, bishop of London, who was
remarkable for his avarice, all his effects, and among the rest, his
boots crammed with gold and silver, were conveyed to the exchequer.
Anglia Sacra, ii. 698. Sometimes, even what had been distributed on
a death-bed, was reclaimed for the king. Vide G. Neub. 3, 5. “This
practice of seizing the property of ecclesiastics at their death seems
subsequently to have settled down into a claim on the part of the king
of the cup and palfrey of a deceased bishop, prior, and abbat. See Rot.
Claus. 39 Hen. III, m. 17, in dorso.”--HARDY.
[553] It seems to have been a vexatious fine imposed on litigants
when, in their pleadings, they varied from their declaration. Murder
is sometimes taken in its present acceptation; sometimes it means a
certain fine levied on the inhabitants where murder had been committed.
[554] Earls, till this time, had apparently been official; each having
charge of a county, and receiving certain emoluments therefrom: but
these created by Stephen, seem to have been often merely titulary, with
endowments out of the demesnes of the crown. Rob. Montensis calls these
persons Pseudo-Comites, imaginary earls, and observes that Stephen had
completely impoverished the crown by his liberalities to them. Henry
the Second, however, on being firmly seated on the throne, recalled
their grants of crown lands, and expelled them the kingdom.
[555] The term “miles” is very ambiguous: sometimes it is a knight;
sometimes a trooper; sometimes a soldier generally. In later times it
signified almost always a knight; but in Malmesbury, it seems mostly a
horseman, probably of the higher order.
[556] “Roger, the chancellor of England, was the son of Roger, bishop
of Salisbury, by Maud of Ramsbury, his concubine.”--HARDY.
[557] The author of the “Gesta Stephani,” says, the king ordered both
bishops to be kept without food, and threatened, moreover, to hang the
son of bishop Roger. Gest. Stephani, 944. The continuator of Flor.
Wigorn. adds, that one was confined in the crib of an ox-lodge, the
other in a vile hovel, A.D. 1138.
[558] It has before been related that Stephen made many earls,
where there had been none before: these seem the persons intended
by Malmesbury in many places, when speaking of some of the king’s
adherents.
[559] It would seem from this passage that he had seen Livy in a more
complete state than it exists at present.
[560] Horat. Epist. i. 1, 100.
[561] The meaning of vavassour is very various: here it seems to imply
what we call a yeoman.
[562] This he effected by means of scaling ladders, made of thongs of
leather. Gest. Stephani, 951.
[563] Several MSS., as well as the printed copy, read 1142, but one has
1141, which is right.
[564] “Ranulf, earl of Chester, and his uterine brother, William de
Romare, were the sons of Lucia, countess of Lincoln.”--HARDY.
[565] The joust signifies a contest between two persons on horseback,
with lances: each singled out his opponent.
[566] That is, as appears after, to acknowledge her publicly as their
sovereign.
[567] Marchio: this latterly signified marquis in the sense we now use
it; but in Malmesbury’s time, and long after, it denoted a guardian of
the borders: hence the lords marchers on the confines of Scotland and
Wales; though it does not appear very clearly how this should apply to
Wallingford, unless it was his place of birth.
[568] This seems an oversight: as he had before related, more than once
that Stephen preceded Robert in taking the oath to Matilda.
[569] Virgil, Æn. i. 33.
[570] The garrison having sallied out against him, he suddenly passed
a ford which was not generally known and, repelling the enemy, entered
the town with them. Gesta Regis Stephani, 958.
[571] One of the MSS. omits from, “This circumstance,” to the end, and
substitutes, ... “but these matters, with God’s permission, shall be
more largely treated in the following volume.”
Transcriber’s Notes
Simple typographical errors were silently corrected, except as noted
below.
Punctuation, hyphenation, and spelling were made consistent when a
predominant preference was found in this book; otherwise they were not
changed.
Many names were spelled in more than one way; in most cases, all
variants have been retained here.
The spelling of non-English words was not checked.
Ambiguous hyphens at the ends of lines were retained.
The page headers of the original book contained a timeline. It is
represented in this eBook by sidenotes, beginning with “[A.D. year]”,
placed between paragraphs nearby their originally-printed positions,
and shaded in some versions of this eBook. Redundant headers have been
omitted, some of the dates are not in sequence, and some headers were
not printed near the topics to which they refer.
All but three of the chapter headings used the abbreviation “CHAP.”, so
the three that were spelled out have been changed to abbreviations.
The Index entries were not checked for proper alphabetization or
correct page references, but all of the “U” entries have been moved to
precede the “V” entries rather than to follow them.
In the Index, inconsistent usage of periods and semi-colons at
the ends of main and sub-entries has not been changed; occasional
mis-capitalization following such punctuation has not been changed;
spellings that differ from the ones on the referenced pages have not
been changed.
Unbalanced quotation marks in footnotes citing HARDY have been remedied.
Page 19: “unluckly” was printed that way.
Page 196: Shows “1017-1031” as the years of Canute’s reign, and also
says he “reigned twenty years”.
Page 232: “to his day” appears to be a typographical error for “to this
day”.
Page 256: Text uses “Standford Brigge” and “Stanford-bridge”; Index
uses “Standford Bridge” to refer to this page. All retained here.
Page 462: The opening quotation mark before “A.D. 1112, the fifth of
the indiction,” has no obvious matching closing mark.
Page 496: “none before, appropriating” was changed here from “none
before, appropropriating”, which appears to be a typesetting error.