_THE POLITICAL HISTORY OF ENGLAND_
_Seventy-five years have passed since Lingard completed his_ HISTORY
OF ENGLAND, _which ends with the Revolution of 1688. During that
period historical study has made a great advance. Year after year
the mass of materials for a new History of England has increased;
new lights have been thrown on events and characters, and old errors
have been corrected. Many notable works have been written on various
periods of our history; some of them at such length as to appeal
almost exclusively to professed historical students. It is believed
that the time has come when the advance which has been made in the
knowledge of English history as a whole should be laid before the
public in a single work of fairly adequate size. Such a book should
be founded on independent thought and research, but should at the
same time be written with a full knowledge of the works of the best
modern historians and with a desire to take advantage of their teaching
wherever it appears sound._
_The vast number of authorities, printed and in manuscript, on which a
History of England should be based, if it is to represent the existing
state of knowledge, renders co-operation almost necessary and certainly
advisable. The History, of which this volume is an instalment, is an
attempt to set forth in a readable form the results at present attained
by research. It will consist of twelve volumes by twelve different
writers, each of them chosen as being specially capable of dealing
with the period which he undertakes, and the editors, while leaving
to each author as free a hand as possible, hope to insure a general
similarity in method of treatment, so that the twelve volumes may
in their contents, as well as in their outward appearance, form one
History._
_As its title imports, this History will primarily deal with politics,
with the History of England and, after the date of the union with
Scotland, Great Britain, as a state or body politic; but as the life
of a nation is complex, and its condition at any given time cannot
be understood without taking into account the various forces acting
upon it, notices of religious matters and of intellectual, social, and
economic progress will also find place in these volumes. The footnotes
will, so far as is possible, be confined to references to authorities,
and references will not be appended to statements which appear to be
matters of common knowledge and do not call for support. Each volume
will have an Appendix giving some account of the chief authorities,
original and secondary, which the author has used. This account will
be compiled with a view of helping students rather than of making long
lists of books without any notes as to their contents or value. That
the History will have faults both of its own and such as will always in
some measure attend co-operative work, must be expected, but no pains
have been spared to make it, so far as may be, not wholly unworthy of
the greatness of its subject._
_Each volume, while forming part of a complete History, will also in
itself be a separate and complete book, will be sold separately, and
will have its own index, and two or more maps._
Vol. I. to 1066. By Thomas Hodgkin, D.C.L., Litt.D., Fellow of
University College, London; Fellow of the British Academy.
Vol. II. 1066 to 1216. By George Burton Adams, M.A., Professor of
History in Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut.
Vol. III. 1216 to 1377. By T. F. Tout, M.A., Professor of Medieval
and Modern History in the Victoria University of Manchester;
formerly Fellow of Pembroke College, Oxford.
Vol. IV. 1377 to 1485. By C. Oman, M.A., Fellow of All Souls’
College, and Chichele Professor of Modern History in the
University of Oxford.
Vol. V. 1485 to 1547. By H. A. L. Fisher, M.A., Fellow and Tutor of
New College, Oxford.
Vol. VI. 1547 to 1603. By A. F. Pollard, M.A., Professor of
Constitutional History in University College, London.
Vol. VII. 1603 to 1660. By F. C. Montague, M.A., Professor of
History in University College, London; formerly Fellow of Oriel
College, Oxford.
Vol. VIII. 1660 to 1702. By Richard Lodge, M.A., Professor of
History in the University of Edinburgh; formerly Fellow of
Brasenose College, Oxford.
Vol. IX. 1702 to 1760. By I. S. Leadam, M.A., formerly Fellow of
Brasenose College, Oxford.
Vol. X. 1760 to 1801. By the Rev. William Hunt, M.A., D.Litt.,
Trinity College, Oxford.
Vol. XI. 1801 to 1837. By the Hon. George C. Brodrick, D.C.L.,
late Warden of Merton College, Oxford, and J. K. Fotheringham,
M.A., Magdalen College, Oxford, Lecturer in Classics at King’s
College, London.
Vol. XII. 1837 to 1901. By Sidney J. Low, M.A., Balliol College,
Oxford, formerly Lecturer on History at King’s College, London.
The Political History of England
IN TWELVE VOLUMES
EDITED BY WILLIAM HUNT, D.LITT., AND REGINALD L. POOLE, M.A.
I.
THE HISTORY OF ENGLAND FROM THE EARLIEST TIMES TO THE NORMAN CONQUEST
THE
HISTORY OF ENGLAND
FROM THE EARLIEST TIMES TO
THE NORMAN CONQUEST
BY
THOMAS HODGKIN, D.C.L., LITT.D.
FELLOW OF UNIVERSITY COLLEGE, LONDON
FELLOW OF THE BRITISH ACADEMY
LONGMANS, GREEN, AND CO.
39 PATERNOSTER ROW, LONDON
NEW YORK AND BOMBAY
1906
CONTENTS.
CHAPTER I.
THE PREHISTORIC FOREWORLD.
B.C. PAGE
Palæolithic Man in Britain 1
Neolithic Man in Britain 3
Pre-Celtic stone-workers 4
Celtic workers in bronze and iron 5
Brythons and Goidels 6
Dolicho-cephalic and Brachy-cephalic men 7
CHAPTER II.
CÆSAR IN BRITAIN.
Pytheas the geographer: his description of Britain 8
Cæsar’s conquest of Gaul 9
55. His first invasion of Britain. The voyage 11
The landing 13
First skirmish and naval disaster 14
British war-chariots 15
Return to Gaul and thanksgivings in Rome 16
54. Second invasion. Cassivellaunus heads the
resistance of the Britons 17
Battle of the Thames 18
Mandubracius, a rival candidate to Cassivellaunus 18
Cassivellaunus makes a nominal submission 19
Cæsar returns to Gaul 19
Cæsar’s description of Britain 20
His motives for the invasion 21
Note on Cæsar’s points of arrival and departure in
his expeditions to Britain 23
CHAPTER III.
THE CENTURY OF SUSPENSE.
Coin-kings of Britain--
Commius 26
Tincommius, Verica and Eppilus 26
Dubnovellaunus 26
Tasciovanus at Verulamium 27
Cunobelinus: Shakespeare’s Cymbeline 28
CHAPTER IV.
THE ROMAN CONQUEST OF BRITAIN.
A.D.
41. Claudius, Emperor of Rome 29
Aulus Plautius, commander of expedition to
Britain 30
Mutinous disposition of the troops 31
Battle of the Medway (?) 31
Claudius arrives to complete the conquest 32
Camulodunum captured 32
44. Cogidubnus and Prasutagus, subject allies of
Rome 33
47. Aulus Plautius returns to Rome 34
Ostorius Scapula, the new _legatus_ 35
War against the Silures 35
51. Caratacus defeated: sent a captive to Rome 36
52. Didius Gallus, governor 37
59. Veranius, governor 37
Suetonius Paulinus conquers the Druids of
Anglesey 38
Revolt of the Iceni under Boadicea 39
Camulodunum sacked 41
London and Verulam sacked 42
Defeat and death of Boadicea 43
61. Recall of Suetonius 44
Trebellius Maximus, an incompetent governor 45
71. Petillius Cerialis, governor, subdues the
Brigantes 46
75. Julius Frontinus completes the conquest of the
Silures 46
78. Agricola, governor, conquers the Ordovices 47
Wise administration of Agricola 47
79. Probable foundation of Eburacum 48
80. Agricola subdues all the country up to the river
Tanaus 49
81. Possible foundation of some of the stations on the
Roman Wall 50
82–84. Agricola’s Caledonian campaigns 50
84. Recall of Agricola 51
CHAPTER V.
THE ROMAN OCCUPATION.
The Roman Wall between Tyne and Solway 53
_Circa_ 120. Probably built by Hadrian 54
Manner of its construction 55
The _Prætenturæ_ or camps on the line of the
wall 56
Troops garrisoning the wall 57
_Circa_ 140. Wall of Antoninus Pius between Firths of Forth and
Clyde 58
185. Ulpius Marcellus, governor 59
208. The Emperor Severus in Britain 60
Builder or rebuilder of the wall (?) 61
211. Severus dies at Eburacum 62
Third century a time of disintegration of the
empire 63
284. Accession of Diocletian. His system of
partnership-emperors 64
287–293. Usurpation of Carausius 65
293. Carausius assassinated by Allectus 65
296. Emperor Constantius overthrows Allectus 66
306. Death of Constantius. Proclamation of Constantine 67
367. Theodosius (father of the emperor) checks the
ravages of the barbarians in Britain and
relieves London 68
383. Usurpation of Maximus 69
The _Notitia Imperii_ 70
409. The usurper Constantine withdraws the legions to
Gaul 72
Roman roads 73
Sepulchral inscriptions 74
Mithraism and Christianity 75
Character of Roman occupation of Britain 77
CHAPTER VI.
THE ANGLO-SAXON CONQUEST.
Previous location of Jutes and Saxons 80
Angles related to Longobardi 81
Latin authors on the Anglo-Saxon conquest--
The chronicler, Prosper Tiro 82
_Life of Germanus_ 83
English authors on the conquest--
Bede 86
The _Anglo-Saxon Chronicle_ on the conquest-- 87
Kent 88
Sussex 89
Wessex 90
Deira and Bernicia 94
British version of the conquest--
Gildas 95
Nennius 100
Summary of results-- 107
Did King Arthur exist? 107
500 or 516? British victory of Mount Badon 99, 107
577. Victory of Ceawlin, the West Saxon, at
Deorham 92, 107
March of King Cunedag from Lothian to Wales 102
Did the Anglo-Saxon conquest involve the
extermination of the Britons? 110
CHAPTER VII.
THE COMING OF AUGUSTINE.
553. Procopius held Britain to be the abode of departed
spirits 113
577? Gregory and the Anglian lads in the Forum at
Rome 115
596. Gregory sends Augustine to Britain 116
597. Interview of the missionaries with Ethelbert, King
of Kent 117
Ethelbert baptised 119
Augustine sends report of his mission to
Rome 120
597. Gregory’s reply and letters to the Kentish king
and queen 121
Essex partly converted. St. Paul’s Church in
London built 122
Conferences of Augustine with Welsh bishops 123
605? Death of Augustine. He is succeeded by Laurentius 125
616. Death of Ethelbert 125
Ethelbert as Bretwalda 126
The kings of Kent and Essex apostatise 127
Vision of Archbishop Laurentius. The King of Kent
returns to Christianity 128
CHAPTER VIII.
EDWIN OF DEIRA.
Anglian settlement of Northumbria 131
547. Ida, King of Bernicia. His building of Bamburgh 132
593–617. Reign of Ethelfrid, grandson of Ida 133
603. Battle with the Scots at Dawston Burn 134
613. Battle with the Welsh at Chester 135
Early history of Edwin, son of Aelle, King of
Deira 136
617. Edwin defeats Ethelfrid at the river Idle 137
Edwin as Bretwalda 138
625. Marriage with Ethelburga of Kent 139
626. Attempted assassination of Edwin 140
Edwin and Paulinus 141
Debate at Goodmanham. Acceptance of Christianity 142
627. Baptism of Edwin and his family 142
633. Battle of Heathfield against Penda of Mercia and
Cadwallon of Wales. Edwin defeated and slain 144
CHAPTER IX.
OSWALD OF BERNICIA.
563. St. Columba and the religious settlement of
Iona 147
615. Oswald, son of Ethelfrid takes refuge at
Iona 150
633. Consequences of the Battle of Heathfield.
Disastrous reign of Osric and Eanfrid 151
634. Oswald returns to Northumbria. Victory of
Heavenfield over Cadwallon 152
Oswald rules from Bamburgh 154
St. Aidan’s mission planted at Lindisfarne 155
Oswald as Bretwalda 157
642. Oswald defeated by Penda at Maserfield and
slain 158
Canonisation of Oswald 159
CHAPTER X.
OSWY AND PENDA.
Early history of Mercia 160
Conversion of Wessex by Birinus 161
Conversion of East Anglia 163
637. Egric, King of East Anglia, slain in battle with
Penda 164
654. His successor, Anna, shares the same fate 165
Oswy reigns in Bernicia and Oswin in Deira 165
Marriage of Oswy with Eanfled, daughter of
Edwin 165
Murder of Oswin, King of Deira 167
Death of St. Aidan 167
Ravages of Penda 168
Penda’s son, Peada, converted to Christianity 169
655. Battle of the Winwaed. Penda defeated by Oswy and
slain 170
CHAPTER XI.
TERRITORIAL CHANGES--THE CONFERENCE AT WHITBY--THE GREAT PLAGUE.
History of Northumbria. Alchfrid, King of
Deira 171
The Bewcastle Cross 172
658. History of Mercia. Wulfhere, son of Penda, throws
off the yoke of Oswald 173
653. Sigebert, King of Essex, becomes Christian 175
Temporary relapse of East Saxons into heathenism 176
Wars between Wessex and Mercia 178
Division between Celtic and Roman Churches on the
question of date of Easter 179
664. Synod convoked at Whitby to settle this
question 180
Chief combatants on either side 182
First appearance of Wilfrid 183
The dispute settled in favour of the Roman
Easter 186
Ravages of the great plague 188
671. Death of Oswy 190
CHAPTER XII.
KING EGFRID AND THREE GREAT CHURCHMEN: WILFRID, THEODORE, CUTHBERT.
671–685. Chief events of Egfrid’s reign 191
Wilfrid, Bishop of York: his journey to
Gaul 193
Ceadda appointed in Wilfrid’s absence 195
Theodore of Tarsus chosen for see of Canterbury 195
669. Theodore arrives in England 196
He restores Wilfrid to diocese of York 198
Egfrid’s wives: Etheldreda and Ermenburga 199
Magnificence of Wilfrid 200
Ermenburga and Theodore both hostile to
Wilfrid 201
678. Wilfrid’s diocese divided against his will 202
He appeals to Rome 203
Wilfrid’s imprisonment and exile 204
His missionary work in Sussex 204
678. Early life of St. Cuthbert 205
685. He is made Bishop of Lindisfarne 207
685. King Egfrid’s death on the battlefield of
Nechtansmere miraculously revealed to
St. Cuthbert 207
Aldfrid, King of Northumbria 208
687. Death of St. Cuthbert 208
690. Death of Theodore 209
687. Wilfrid returns to his diocese 209
692. The quarrel breaks out again. Wilfrid’s second
journey to Rome 209
705. Death of Aldfrid. Usurpation of Eadulf. Accession
of Osred 210
Synod by the Nidd: the dispute with Wilfrid
settled 211
709. Death of Wilfrid 212
CHAPTER XIII.
THE LEGISLATION OF KING INE.
686. Cadwalla, King of Wessex 215
688. His pilgrimage to Rome 216
Ine reigns over Wessex 216
726. His abdication and pilgrimage to Rome 217
Laws of early Kentish kings 218
693. Ine promulgates his laws 219
Open-field system of agriculture 221
Position of the _ceorl_ (free husbandman) 223
Position of the _theow_ (serf) 225
Law of the _wergild_ 227
Position of the thegn 228
Position of the ealdorman 229
Compurgation or oath-helping 229
693. The kings and their _witan_ 231
Note on Anglo-Saxon money--
Pounds, shillings and pence 233
History of prices: purchasing power of money 234
Special monetary terms: _Mancus_, _Thrymsa_,
etc. 235
CHAPTER XIV.
THE EIGHTH CENTURY.
Review of the life of Bede 237
735. Death of Bede 239
709. Death of Aldhelm, Bishop of Sherborne: his
literary works 241
The poet Cynewulf: verses on the Ruthwell
Cross 242
Religious decline: Bede’s letter to Archbishop
Egbert 243
Sham monasteries 244
Rapid succession of Northumbrian kings: Ceolwulf
and Eadbert 245
_Circa_ 756. Northumbrian capital transferred to Corbridge 247
716–757. Ethelbald, King of Mercia 249
His wars with Wessex 249
757–796. Offa, King of Mercia 250
Offa’s Dyke 251
Correspondence between Offa and Charlemagne 252
786. Cynewulf, King of Wessex--romantic story of his
death 255
784–802. Beorhtric, King of Wessex: his evil-minded wife,
Eadburh 255
CHAPTER XV.
EARLY DANISH INVASIONS--EGBERT AND ETHELWULF.
790. First affray with the Danes 257
Scandinavian ravages in the ninth century 259
Danish methods of fighting 261
Consolidation of England due to the Danes 262
802. Egbert becomes King of the West Saxons 263
829. Egbert, Overlord of Mercia, and Bretwalda 264
Northumbria recognises Egbert’s supremacy 264
835–838. Danish raids 265
839. Death of Egbert: accession of Ethelwulf 265
Ethelwulf’s ministers: Swithun and Ealhstan 266
851. Victory over the Danes at Ockley 267
853. War with Rhodri Mawr, King of Wales 267
855. Ethelwulf with his little son Alfred visits
Rome 268
He endows the _Schola Saxonum_ at Rome 270
856. His second marriage to Judith, daughter of Charles
the Bald 270
Rebellion of Ethelbald and division of the
kingdom 271
Death of Ethelwulf. His testamentary gifts 271
CHAPTER XVI.
ETHELWULF’S SONS--DANISH INVASIONS TO THE BAPTISM OF GUTHRUM.
848. Birth of Alfred the Great 272
His childhood: two visits to Rome 273
Episode of the book of ballads 273
858. Ethelbald marries his father’s widow, Judith 274
860. Death of Ethelbald: accession of Ethelbert 275
866. Ethelbert succeeded by Ethelred: Alfred
_Secundarius_ 275
Danish invasions. Martyrdom of St. Edmund, King of
East Anglia 277
871. “The year of battles” 278
Battle of Aescesdune: the Danes defeated 279
Death of Ethelred: accession of Alfred 280
The Danes harry Mercia 281
875–883. Wanderings of the body of St. Cuthbert 282
876. Danish attacks on Wessex renewed under Guthrum 283
877. Danes at Chippenham: Alfred retires to Athelney 283
878. Ubba slain: Alfred defeats the Danes at
Ethandune 284
“Peace of Wedmore.” Baptism of Guthrum 285
CHAPTER XVII.
ALFRED AT PEACE.
878–892. Fourteen years of comparative peace 286
_Circa_ 886. _Aelfredes and Guthrumes Frith_: its conditions:
boundary between the two nations 287
Family life of Alfred 289
His mysterious sicknesses 290
His exertions to raise the intellectual level of
his subjects: foreign scholars invited to his
court 291
His translation of Gregory’s _Regula Pastoralis_ 292
His translation of Orosius’s _History_ 293
Narrative of Arctic voyager Ohthere 294
His share in composition of _Saxon Chronicle_ 295
His translation of Bede’s _Ecclesiastical
History_ 295
His translation of Boethius’s _Consolation of
Philosophy_ 296
Administration of his household 298
Alfred’s Dooms 299
Greater leniency in the penalties inflicted, as
compared with those under Ine 301
Local moots 302
Condition of the servile class 303
_Folcland_ and _Bocland_ 304
CHAPTER XVIII.
ALFRED’S LAST DAYS.
892. Danish invasions recommenced 307
893. Faithlessness of the pirate Hasting 309
894. The Danes at Chester 310
895. Danish encampment by the river Lea 311
896. End of the invasion: pestilence 312
897. Alfred’s navy: sea-fight at the Isle of
Wight 313
900? Death of Alfred: his burial-place 314
Note on the extent of the Danelaw--
Distribution of the Danes in districts east
of the Watling Street boundary as evidenced
by place-names 315
CHAPTER XIX.
EDWARD AND HIS SONS.
900. Accession of Edward “the Elder” 318
900–904? Rebellion of Ethelwald 319
Conquest of Danish kingdoms beyond the Watling
Street 320
912–918. Prowess of Edward’s sister Ethelfled, “the Lady of
the Mercians”. Her fortresses 321
Edward continues her work of castle-building 323
924. Alleged recognition of Edward as overlord by
Constantine II., King of Scots 325
924–925. Death of Edward: accession of Athelstan 328
Doubts as to Athelstan’s legitimacy 329
Character of Athelstan. His relation to
continental powers 330
Story of the adoption of Hakon of Norway 331
Dealings with Northumbria and the Scots 332
937. Battle of Brunanburh. Discussion of its
site 334
Ballad of Brunanburh 335
Athelstan as “King of all Britain,” and
_Basileus_ 336
Mysterious death of Athelstan’s brother,
Edwin 337
940. Death of Athelstan. Succeeded by his brother
Edmund 338
942. Edmund delivers the Five Boroughs from Danish
thraldom 340
943. Wulfstan, Archbishop of York, helps the Danes
against Edmund 340
945. Alleged “cession of Cumberland” to Malcolm, King
of Scotland 341
946. Edmund assassinated by a robber. Accession of
Edred 339
948. Eric, of Denmark, chosen King of Northumbria.
Edred’s war with him and Archbishop Wulfstan 342
954. End of the Northumbrian kingdom 342
955. Death of Edred 343
CHAPTER XX.
EDGAR AND DUNSTAN.
955–959. Short and troublous reign of Edwy 344
Early history of Dunstan 345
Coronation banquet of Edwy. Dunstan forces Edwy to
return to his nobles 349
957. Banishment of Dunstan 350
958. Archbishop Oda annuls the marriage of Edwy and
Elfgiva 351
957. Edgar set up against Edwy. Division of the
kingdom 351
958–959. Death of Edwy. Edgar sole king 352
Recall of Dunstan, who is made Bishop of
Worcester 352
960. Dunstan, Archbishop of Canterbury 352
966. Westmorland harried by Thored 353
968. Thanet harried by Edgar 353
Monastic reform; expulsion of _canonici_ 354
Oswald and Ethelwold help on the reform 355
973. Edwin’s coronation. Water pageant on the
Dee 356
Legendary dealings with Scottish and Welsh
kings 357
Story of Edgar’s immense navy 357
Character of Edgar. His marriage with Elfrida 359
975. Death of Edgar 359
CHAPTER XXI.
EDWARD THE MARTYR--OLD AGE OF DUNSTAN--NORMANS AND NORTHMEN.
975. Accession of Edward “the Martyr” 360
Anti-monastic policy of Elfhere in Mercia.
Banishment of Oslac, Earl of Northumbria 361
977–979. Three meetings of the Witenagemot on the monastic
question. Catastrophe at Calne 362
978. Edward assassinated at Corfe 364
Accession of Ethelred II. 365
Closing years of Dunstan. His remonstrances
against Ethelred’s spoliation of Church lands
at Rochester 365
988. Death of Dunstan 365
Story of the Dukes of Normandy 367
927. Duke William Longsword 368
943. Duke Richard the Fearless 369
Origin of the house of Plantagenet 370
Harold Blue-Tooth, King of Denmark 371
Sweyn of Denmark dethrones his father 371
Harold Fair-hair, King of Norway 372
CHAPTER XXII.
ETHELRED THE REDELESS.
Imbecility of this king 374
Severe criticisms of the Saxon Chronicle on his
management of affairs 375
982–1016. Calendar of thirty-four years of Danish
invasions 376
991. Lay of Brihtnoth, hero of the battle of
Maldon 378
Saxon armour 381
Payments of tribute to the Danes: _gafol_
(commonly called Danegeld) 382
992. Beginning of the “inexplicable treasons” of
Ealdorman Elfric 383
994. Sweyn and Olaf Tryggvason invade England 384
Bishop Alphege ambassador to Olaf 384
995–1000. Subsequent career of Olaf Tryggvason 385
1000. Norway conquered by Denmark and Sweden 385
Ethelred ravages Cumberland 385
1002. Marriage of Ethelred to Emma of Normandy 386
Massacre of Danes on St. Brice’s Day 387
1008. Taxation ordered for building of ships 388
1009. Treasons of Ealdorman Edric Streona 388
London vainly attacked by the Danes 389
1011. Canterbury sacked by the Danes 389
1012. Archbishop Alphege martyred 390
1013. Sweyn and his son Canute land in England 391
The English submit. Ethelred flees to Normandy 392
1014. Death of Sweyn. Return of Ethelred 393
1014. Canute’s brutal mutilation of hostages 394
1015. More villainies of Edric Streona 394
1016. Edmund Ironside, son of Ethelred, continues the
war 395
Death of Ethelred. Accession of Edmund II.
(Ironside) 396
Series of battles between Edmund and Canute 396
Edmund defeated at Assandune 397
Partition of the kingdom. Death of Edmund 397
CHAPTER XXIII.
CANUTE AND HIS SONS.
1016. Canute sole King 399
Edwy “King of the Ceorls” 399
Four great earls under Canute 401
Edric killed: Thurkill banished 401
1017. Canute marries Emma, widow of Ethelred 402
Numerous executions 402
Family of Leofwine 402
Godwine, son of Wulfnoth 403
1018. Danish troops dismissed 404
1023. Translation of the body of St. Alphege 405
Northumbrian and Scottish affairs 406
1018. Great Scottish victory at Carham: loss of the
Lothians 408
1031. Malcolm II. owns the supremacy of Canute 409
1026. Canute’s pilgrimage to Rome 410
Alliance with Emperor Conrad II. 413
1025. Canute’s unsuccessful campaign against St. Olaf,
King of Norway 415
Canute orders the murder of Jarl Ulf, his
brother-in-law 414
1028. St. Olaf defeated. Norway conquered 414
Relations with Normandy 415
1035. Death of Canute 416
England divided between his sons Harold Harefoot
and Harthacnut 417
1036. Unsuccessful expedition of the Etheling
Alfred 418
His murder, and cruel treatment of his followers 419
1037. Queen Emma banished to Flanders 420
Disputes between Harold and Archbishop Ethelnoth 420
1040. Death of Harold: accession of Harthacnut 421
Severe tax laid upon the people 421
1041. Edward, son of Ethelred, invited over from
Normandy 421
1042. Death of Harthacnut 422
CHAPTER XXIV.
LEGISLATION OF THE LATER KINGS.
Importance of property in cattle 424
_Judicia Civitatis Lundoniæ_: Insurance against
cattle-stealing 425
1042. The Anglo-Saxon Hundred and its _gemôt_ 428
The Danish _wapentake_ 429
The Anglo-Saxon _burh_ and its development into
the borough 429
The _trinoda necessitas_: _fyrd-fare_, _burh-bote_
and _bridge-bote_ 432
The shire and its _gemôt_ 432
Ealdormen, earls and shire-reeves 434
Table of _wergilds_ in the _North-leoda
laga_ 435
_Rectitudines singularum Personarum_ 436
Various classes of dependants; the _geneat_,
_cotsetla_ and _gebur_ 437
Tendency towards administrative strictness. The
offence of _oferhyrnesse_ 438
The _borh_ or warrantor: institution of the
_tithing_ 439
Ordeals 440
Grants of _sake_ and _soke_ 441
Tendencies towards feudalism 441
CHAPTER XXV.
EDWARD THE CONFESSOR.
1042. Accession of Edward 442
1043. Harsh treatment of Queen Emma 442
1045. Edward marries Edith, daughter of Earl Godwine 443
1047. _Foreign relations_: Magnus of Norway 444
1048. Edward joins the Emperor Henry III. against
Baldwin 445
1049. Edward’s vow of pilgrimage to the Holy Land:
Westminster Abbey planned 445
_Internal History_: ships paid off: army tax
(_here-gyld_) abolished 445
Siward, Earl of Northumbria 447
Leofric, Earl of Mercia 448
Vast power of Earl Godwine and his family 448
Misconduct of Sweyn, son of Godwine 449
1049. Sweyn murders his cousin Beorn 451
1052. Death of Sweyn 451
Edward’s foreign relatives: their unpopularity 452
Ecclesiastical favourites: Robert Champart 452
1051. Eustace of Boulogne and the men of Dover 453
Godwine heads resistance to the foreigners 454
Exile of Godwine and temporary ruin of his
family 455
Visit of William the Norman to England 457
1052. Death of Queen Emma 457
Return of Earl Godwine and reinstatement of his
family 459
Stigand, Archbishop of Canterbury 460
Death of Earl Godwine: his son Harold all-powerful 461
1057. Return and death of the Etheling Edward 461
_Scottish affairs_: Macbeth’s murder of the young
King Duncan 462
1054. Siward of Northumbria aids Malcolm against
Macbeth 463
1055. Death of Siward. His earldom given to Tostig 463
1037. _Welsh affairs_: Victories of Griffith ap
Llewelyn 464
1055. Leofric’s son Elfgar outlawed 465
Harold’s wars with Griffith 466
Griffith marries Aldgyth, daughter of Elfgar 467
1063. Death of Griffith 467
1064? Harold’s visit to Normandy and oath to Duke
William 469
1065. Northumbria rebels against Tostig Godwineson 470
Tostig banished: his earldom given to Morkere, son
of Elfgar 471
Harold marries Aldgyth, widow of Griffith 471
Dedication of Westminster Abbey 472
1066. Death of Edward the Confessor 472
CHAPTER XXVI.
STAMFORD BRIDGE AND HASTINGS.
1066. Election of Harold 474
Duke William prepares to invade England 475
Appearance of the comet 476
Unsuccessful invasion of Tostig 477
Invasion of Harold Hardrada of Norway and
Tostig 479
Sept. 20. Edwin and Morkere, sons of Elfgar,
defeated at Fulford 479
Harold marches northward 480
Sept. 25. Battle of Stamford Bridge. Harold
Hardrada and Tostig slain 481
Sept. 28. William the Norman lands at Pevensey 482
Story of the voyage of his fleet 483
William entrenches himself at Hastings 483
Movements of Harold 485
Battle of Hastings (or Senlac). Numbers and
weapons of the hostile armies 486
Incident of the Malfosse 488
Harold slain 489
William’s supper on the battlefield. Disposal of
the body of Harold 490
Battle Abbey 491
APPENDIX I. On Authorities 493
II. Genealogy of Northumbrian kings 509
III. Genealogy of West Saxon kings before Egbert 510
INDEX 511
MAPS.
(AT THE END OF THE VOLUME.)
Roman Britain.
Anglo-Saxon Britain.
ERRATA.
Page 332, line 12, _for_ “Guthred” _read_ “Guthfred”.
Page 333, line 3, _for_ “North Wales” _read_ “part of South Wales”.
CHAPTER I.
THE PREHISTORIC FOREWORLD.
The history of England if we wish to take it in its narrowest sense
begins with the migrations of the Angles, Jutes and Saxons in the fifth
century after Christ. Yet, remembering that we have dwelling close
beside us and mingling their blood with ours a gallant little people
who own no descent from the Anglo-Saxon invaders, and remembering also
how magical was the effect on all the barbarian races, of contact
with the all-transmuting civilisation of Rome, we cannot surely leave
altogether untold the story of those five centuries during which our
country was known to the rest of Europe not as Anglia but as Britannia.
Can we absolutely stop even there? It is true that the conscious
history of Britain, the history that was written by chroniclers and
enshrined in libraries, begins, as do the histories of all the nations
of Western Europe, with the day when they came first in contact with
the Genius of Rome. But is it possible to avoid trying to peer a little
further into the infinite, dim and misty ages that lie beyond that
great historic landmark? This is what our teachers of natural science
have endeavoured to do on our behalf, labouring with the spade of the
excavator and the collected specimens of the comparative anatomist to
read a few of those faded pages of the history of Britain which had
already been long illegible when Julius Cæsar landed on our shores.
And first we listen to the voice of Geology. After toiling through
the all-but eternities of the Primary and Secondary systems of
rock-formation, she seems to heave a sigh of relief as she enters the
vestibule of the Tertiary system. New heavens and a new earth, an earth
not utterly unlike that upon which we now dwell, seem to lie before
her, and she names the four vast halls through which she leads her
disciples “the Dawn of the New,” “the Less New,” “the More New,” and
“the Most New” (Eocene, Miocene, Pliocene and Pleistocene). In the last
of these halls, which is represented by a mere line on the geological
ground plan, yet which may easily have had a duration of 200,000 years,
we at last find our fellow-countryman, the first human inhabitant, as
far as we know, of the British Isles. In certain well-known caves on
the south coast of Devonshire (Kent’s Cavern and Brixham) there were
found some sixty years ago flint implements undoubtedly fashioned by
human hands, along with the remains of hyenas and other animals long
since extinct in the British Islands, and these were lying under a
stalagmite floor which must have taken at least 12,000 years, and
may well have taken 100,000 years, for its formation. It was thus
conclusively proved that Palæolithic man whose handiwork has been
found in many other European countries, especially in the wonderfully
interesting caves of Aquitaine, lived also, how many millenniums ago
none can say, in the limestone caves of Britain. Besides these dwellers
in caves and probably of an even earlier period than they, were the
other Palæolithic men who have left abundant traces of their presence
in the spear-heads, flints, scrapers and other large stone implements
which are often found in the gravel deposits of ancient rivers.
The Old Stone-workers, as this earliest known race of men is called
to distinguish them from Neolithic men, their immeasurably remote
descendants or representatives, knew, of course, nothing of the use
of metals, and generally fashioned their flint implements or their
bone needles in a somewhat rough and unworkmanlike manner. They
knew nothing of the art of the weaver, and can therefore have had
no other clothing than the skins of beasts. Neither did they ever
manufacture anything in the nature of pottery; so that shells and the
skulls of animals must have been their only drinking cups. But the
relics of their primeval feasts show that they were in all probability
not cannibals, and the very few Palæolithic skulls which have been
preserved show a type decidedly nobler than some of the backward races
of the present day. Curiously enough the men who had made so little
advance in the homely industries of life had nevertheless a distinct
feeling for graphic art. “By far the most noteworthy objects” in the
Palæolithic caves “are the fragments of bone, horn, ivory and stone,
which exhibit outlined and even shaded sketches of various animals.
These engravings have been made with a sharp-pointed implement, and
are often wonderfully characteristic representations of the creatures
they portray. The figures are sometimes single; in other cases they are
drawn in groups. We find representations of a fish, a seal, an ox, an
ibex, the red-deer, the great Irish elk or deer, the bison, the horse,
the cave-bear, the rein-deer and the mammoth or woolly elephant.”[1]
Whatever may have been the precise relation of the Pleistocene period
to the Great Ice Age--a point as to which there is some difference of
opinion--it is admitted that at some time or other after that when
the hyena howled in the Brixham Cave, and when Palæolithic man left
there his rudely worked flint implements, the conditions of life in
Northern Europe changed. The Arctic zone invaded the larger part
of the Temperate zone, and a great cap of ice covered not only the
Scandinavian countries and the greater part of Russia but Ireland,
Scotland and England, at least as far south as the valley of the
Thames. Now were our chalk hills rounded into smoothness, now were many
of our river beds hollowed out, and untidy heaps of “terminal moraine”
deposited where the glaciers debouched into the valleys. This dismal
change, destructive of all the higher organic life and continuing
possibly over a period of thousands of years, makes, in our island at
any rate, an impassable barrier between two races of mankind. When
the great ice deluge subsided, when the winter-tyrant returned to his
true Arctic home, when the oak and the pine began again to appear
upon the hills, and flowers like our own bloomed in the valleys, then
the Neolithic man, the “New Stone-worker,” came upon the scene and
scattered abundant evidences of his presence over the land. From that
period--date we cannot call it, for we have no evidence which would
justify us in making the roughest approximation to a date--man has been
continuously a dweller in this island, Neolithic man at length yielding
ground to the immigrant Celt, the Celt to the Saxon, the Saxon to the
Dane and the Norman.
At this point Ethnology must intervene and take up the story of the
ages which has thus far been told by her sister Geology. Of what race
were the men who after the retreat of the great desolating glaciers
came to inhabit this our island? We know that on the one hand they
were in a decidedly more advanced state of civilisation than their
Palæolithic predecessors. Instead of the rough unshapely pyramids of
flint which the Old Stone men used for axes and chisels, Neolithic
man went on shaping and polishing his implements till scarcely a
fault could be found in the symmetry of their curves. He continued,
of course, to hunt and fish as his predecessor had done, but he had
also some knowledge of agriculture, he was a breeder of cattle and
he knew how to weave cloth and to bake pottery. He no longer lived
principally in caves, but sometimes in a fairly constructed house,
often, for security, built on the edge of a lake. But, strange to say,
with all these great advances towards civilisation, he does not seem to
have felt any of that passion for picture-drawing which distinguished
his predecessor “the artistic hunter of the Reindeer period”.[2] The
physiological characteristics which differentiate Neolithic man from
the Celt, his conqueror, will be more fully dwelt on when we come to
the next act in the drama; but meanwhile it may be stated that the race
was not a tall one. Professor Rolleston says: “I have never found the
stature to exceed 5 feet 9 inches in any skeleton from a barrow which
was undoubtedly of the ‘stone and bone’ [_i.e._, Neolithic] period”.
There is some reason to think that they were dark complexioned with
black and curly hair, but it must be admitted that the evidence for
this statement is not very conclusive.
On the whole Ethnology decides that these earliest inhabitants of
our island after the Great Ice Age were a non-Aryan race, strangers
therefore to that great and widely scattered family to which, as far as
language is concerned, all the great European peoples save the Turks,
the Hungarians and the Finns, ultimately belong. Of course since no
vestige of language survives to indicate their nationality, even this
universally accepted classification, or rather refusal to classify,
must be considered as purely conjectural. In the words of Professor
Rolleston: “The race which used stone and bone implements, may, so
far as the naturalist’s investigations lead him, have spoken either
a Turanian or an Aryan tongue: what he sees in their skulls and their
surroundings impresses him with the notion of an antiquity which may
have given time enough and to spare for the more or less complete
disappearance of more than one unwritten language”. The important fact
to lay hold of is that the whole of the long period of Stone-workers
in this country is pre-Celtic. Any name which we may for purposes
of convenience give to these aborigines of Britain, whether the now
nearly discarded word Turanians, to mark their exclusion from the
Aryan family; or Iberians, to indicate a possible connexion with the
mysterious Basques of the Pyrenees; or Silurians, in order to show
a possible survival of their type in the countrymen of Caractacus;
is only like an algebraical symbol, a label affixed to a locked box,
denoting our ignorance of its contents.
Perhaps the most important fact known in connexion with the Neolithic
inhabitants of Britain is that recent discoveries show that they were
the builders of Stonehenge. That a race of men using no implements of
iron should have succeeded in rearing those huge blocks into position
on the plain of Wiltshire is a stupendous marvel, equalling in its
way the erection of the pyramids of Ghizeh, the placing of the great
stones in the temple at Baalbek, or the superposition of the 300-ton
block of Istrian marble on the tomb of Theodoric, at Ravenna. This
discovery seems to throw some doubt on the generally received notion
that Stonehenge was connected with Druidical worship, since that was
probably of Celtic origin. It is possible that Stonehenge may be the
“magnificent circular temple to Apollo” which, according to Diodorus
Siculus, existed in an island which may be identified with Britain.
* * * * *
To the age of stone succeeded the age of bronze, and to the age of
bronze succeeded that of iron. Both in our island belong to the
domination of the Celts, except in so far as the age of iron may be
said to have lasted through Roman, Saxon and Norman domination down
to our own day. It is admitted by all that the Celtic immigrants came
in two successive waves, the distinction between which may be seen
to this day, or if not always seen in physical type, at least always
heard in the language of their descendants. The first wave, which is
generally known as the Gaelic, eventually rolled to the Highlands and
islands of Scotland and to the shores of Ireland, and is represented
philologically by the kindred dialects of Gaelic and Erse. The second
wave, popularly known as the Cymric, overspread the whole east and
centre of Britain, the Gaels being probably forced to retire before
their Cymric conquerors. To this race belong the Welsh and the Bretons
of France; and Cumberland and Cornwall once spoke their language.
Some of our most recent authorities on British ethnology, believing
the term Cymri to be of late origin and the term Gaelic to have some
misleading associations, prefer to speak of Goidels and Brythons (early
national names) instead of Gaels and Cymri; but the distinction between
the two races and the main lines of their geographical distribution
are generally accepted, and are not affected by this question of
nomenclature.
It is probable, then, that at some period whose date cannot yet be even
approximately conjectured, and from some quarter which we may guess,
but can only guess, to have been the north of Germany, a bronze-using
race of warriors and hunters, ancestors of the modern Highlander and
Irishman, crossed the sea and established themselves in the island of
Britain, or, as it was, perhaps, then called, Albion. Later on, but how
many centuries later none can say, another race, kindred but probably
hostile, invaded our shores, drove the Gaels or Goidels before them,
established themselves in the best parts of the southern portion of
the island, and, being themselves called Brythons, gave to the whole
land the name by which the Romans called it, Britannia. As we know that
iron had been introduced into the country before the arrival of the
Romans, we may conjecture that this second Celtic wave consisted of
the wielders of weapons of iron, and that this was one cause of their
victory over the Goidels. The Brythons, thus settled in the valley of
the Thames and above the chalk cliffs of Sussex, were the enemies whom
Cæsar encountered when he invaded Britain.
A word may be said as to the relation of these Aryan invaders to the
presumably non-Aryan aborigines, the Neolithic men to whom allusion
was previously made. It used to be supposed that these aborigines
disappeared before the men of bronze and iron as completely as the
aborigines of Tasmania have disappeared before the Anglo-Saxon
immigrant. More careful investigation has led our recent ethnologists
to deny this conclusion. In the first place, there are features in the
rude polity of the historic Celts which suggest a doubt whether they
really constituted the whole population of the country. Their chiefs
are warlike leaders, their rank and file are themselves owners of
slaves. Everything about them seems to show that they were, like the
Spartans, a comparatively small ruling race surrounded by a subject
population, which they perhaps needed to keep severely in check.
Then the testimony of the tombs--and it is after all to the tombs
that we must chiefly resort for information as to the fate of these
buried peoples--decidedly confirms the theory of the survival of the
aborigines and of their blending to a considerable extent with their
Celtic conquerors. The stone-using people buried their dead in oblong
mounds technically known as “long barrows” generally some one hundred
to two hundred feet long by forty or fifty feet wide. The skulls found
in these long barrows, lying side by side with implements of stone,
are uniformly of the type known as Dolicho-cephalic, that is, the
width from ear to ear is very considerably less than the length from
the eyes to the back of the head. With the introduction of bronze
we at once find a noticeable difference both in the shape of the
tomb and the appearance of its occupant. The mound is now circular,
generally from forty to sixty feet in diameter, the “round barrow” of
the archæologist; and the skulls found in it are at first uniformly
of the Brachy-cephalic type, square and strong, the width generally
about four-fifths of the length. The important point to observe for
our present purpose is that as we pass from the early Celtic to the
late Celtic type of barrow--a transition of which we are assured by
the gradual introduction of iron as well as by other signs known
to archæologists--the character of the skulls undergoes a certain
modification towards the Dolicho-cephalic type. The conclusion arrived
at by the greatest investigator of British barrows, Dr. Greenwell, is
that “ultimately the two races became so mixed up and connected as to
form one people. If this was the case, by a natural process the more
numerous race would in the end absorb the other, until at length, with
some exceptions to be accounted for by well-known laws, the whole
population would become one, not only in the accidents of civilisation
and government, but practically in blood also.”