Chron. Ab. and Florence. Snorro does not mention the hostages given
by Harold.
Footnote 1001
Chron. Ab. “And Harold cyningc of Norwegan and Tostig eorl and heora
gefylce wæron afaren of scipe begeondan Eoferwic to Stanfordbrycge;
forþam þe him wæron behaten to gewissan þæt him man þær of ealre þære
scire ongean by gislas bringan wolde.”
Footnote 1002
Bæda, ii. 9.
Footnote 1003
The confusion made by Snorro must be constantly borne in mind. The
army was at Stamfordbridge; the ships were left at Riccall; these
points are several miles distant from York and from one another.
Snorro fancies that they were all three close together; he makes
Harold Hardrada go to Stamfordbridge as a convenient post for
attacking the city, and he makes him also go back to his ships on the
Sunday evening. He no doubt thought that Stamfordbridge was on the
Ouse. So the Hyde writer (292) turns the fight of Stamfordbridge into
a siege of York; “Haroldus .... eis occurrit apud Eboracum et totis
viribus civitatem oppugnat.” Cf. the passage from Domesday, below, p.
361. Stamfordbridge was the Battle of York, as Senlac was the Battle
of Hastings.
Footnote 1004
Æthelred (405) says, “In loco qui tunc Steinfordebrigge, nunc autem
ex rei eventu etiam Pons Belli dicitur.” So the De Inventione, cap.
20; “Rediens a Ponte Belli, quod a bello cognomen.” The older name is
now the only one known, but the battle is by no means forgotten on
the spot.
Footnote 1005
On the details, see Appendix CC.
Footnote 1006
See Appendix BB.
Footnote 1007
The story is told in the Ramsey History, c. 120, by Æthelred of
Rievaux, 404, in the Vita Haroldi, p. 188. The Ramsey writer does
not mention Harold’s sickness; the vision comes “quum Haraldus,
propter imparitatem forsitan copiæ militaris, obviare [Tostino]
dissimularet.” The vision itself too is cut much shorter. Æthelred
tells us of Harold’s sickness, but does not describe its nature.
From his own biographer’s account it would seem to have been gout;
“Tybies ubito unius [“tibia subitò cruris” or “tibia cruris unius”?]
vehementissimo cœpit dolore constringi.”
Footnote 1008
Æthelred, u. s. “Nocte quidem præteritâ, quum dolore torqueretur,
licet eum non parùm urgeret molestia imminens, siluit tamen, reputans
apud se, si publicaret languorem, quod et suis futurus esset
contemptui et hostibus irrisioni.”
Footnote 1009
Vita Haroldi, u. s. “Qui ex suo tali compede plus subditorum
discrimini quam suo congemiscens dolori, noctem penè totam suspiriis
et precibus agentes [agens?] insomnem, familiarem Sanctæ Crucis
expetierat subventionem.” The scene can hardly be meant to be laid at
Waltham. The Holy Cross, it will be remembered, had wrought one cure
on Harold already. See vol. ii. p. 443.
Footnote 1010
“Ailsius,” “Elsinus,” “Alxi,” the pluralist Abbot of Ramsey and Saint
Augustine’s, who had not refused the ministrations of Stigand. See
vol. ii. p. 454. We shall hear of him yet again.
Footnote 1011
Vita Haroldi, p. 188. “Rex itaque ... divinis curatur beneficiis,
exhilaratur oraculis.”
Footnote 1012
The presence of Gyrth and Leofwine might be taken for granted. That
of Bondig appears from a very confused, and probably corrupt, passage
of the De Inventione, c. 20. The army disperses after the victory
at Stamfordbridge, and “Tostinus, Gerth, et Bundinus” are mentioned
among those who had been there. For “Tostinum” we should doubtless
read “Leofwinum,” and the whole history is greatly misconceived, but
the passage seems evidence enough to prove the presence of Bondig, to
whom I owe some amends for my note at vol. ii. p. 359. See above, p.
53.
Footnote 1013
Chron. Ab. “Þa for he norðweard dæges and nihtes, swa hraðe swa he
his fyrde gegaderian mihte.”
Footnote 1014
Domesday, ii. 15. Pachesham was a possession of the church of
Westminster. The Survey adds, “hanc terram dedit unus teignus
ecclesiæ quum ivit ad bellum in Eurewic cum Haroldo.”
Footnote 1015
In Domesday (177 _b_) we read of certain lands which one Wulfgeat had
given to the church of Evesham in the fifth year of King Eadward,
on the occasion of his son Ælfgeat becoming a monk of the house.
The account then goes on; “Postea præstitit abbas Æluuinus hanc
terram suo avunculo quamdiu ipse homo viveret. Qui postea mortuus
fuit in bello Heraldi contra Norrenses.” It is worth notice that the
Church of Evesham found means to take possession of the land in the
short space of time between the two great battles; for the Survey
continues, “ecclesia recepit terram suam antequam Rex W. in Anglia
venisset.”
Footnote 1016
Marianus Scotus, ap. Pertz, v. 559. “Araldus vero Rex Anglorum cum
septem aciebus belli statim pervenit.”
Footnote 1017
See vol. ii. p. 500.
Footnote 1018
See the Abingdon Chronicle quoted in the last page.
Footnote 1019
See above, p. 61.
Footnote 1020
I need hardly quote the well-known passage of Gildas (§ 23) telling
how our forefathers, “grex catulorum de cubili leænæ barbariæ” as he
calls us, came “tribus, ut lingua ejus exprimitur, cyulis, nostrâ
linguâ longis navibus.” Cf. Bæda, i. 15. The Englishman however does
not use the English word preserved to us by the Briton.
Footnote 1021
Chron. Ab. 1066. “Þa ámang þissan com Harald Engla cyninge mid ealre
his fyrde on ðone Sunnandæg to Táða and þær his lið fylcade.” See
above, p. 347.
Footnote 1022
Snorro, ap. Johnstone, 205; Laing, iii. 86. “Þat sama kvelld, éptir
sólarfall kom sunnan at borginni Haralldr konungr Gudenason med
óvigan her reid hann í borgina at villd oe þocka allra borgar-manna.”
He is wrong however in making Harold reach York on the Sunday evening
and pass the night in the city.
Footnote 1023
Chron. Ab. 1066. “Harold Engla Cyningc ... for þa on Monandæg _þurh
ut_ Eoferwic.”
Footnote 1024
See Appendix CC.
Footnote 1025
Snorro, Johnstone, 206; Laing, iii. 87. “Þeir gördo sva, oc var lidit
því meira, er náligarr fór, oc allt at siá, sem á eina ís-möl sæi, er
vapnin glóado.”
Footnote 1026
This famous saying is proverbial. We find it applied to William in
the Peterborough Chronicle, 1087; “Se þe wæs ærur rice cyng and
maniges landes hlaford, he næfde þa ealles landes buton seofon fot
mæl.” It was also long after applied to Charles the Bold by the
Bernese historian Valerius Anshelm (i. 143); “Der Herzog ... ward
von verachter Macht mit sieben Schuh Erdrychs zu Ruw gesetzt und
vernügt.” It is the same general idea as the Æschylean lines,
χθόνα ναίειν διαπήλας,
ὁπόσαν καὶ φθιμένοισι κατέχειν,
τῶν μεγάλων πεδίων ἀμοίρους.
Sept. c. Theb. 713.
Footnote 1027
The moment of Tostig’s death is, oddly enough, not mentioned in the
Saga. But the construction of the story clearly requires it to be
placed here. Tostig takes Harold’s place by the standard. Afterwards
Eystein takes it. Tostig is clearly killed between these two points.
Footnote 1028
Chron. Ab. “Ða com Harold Engla cyning heom ongean on unwaran
begeondan þære brycge.” Chron. Wig. “Ða com Harold ure cyng on unwær
on þa Normenn.”
Footnote 1029
Chron. Ab. “Swyðe heardlice lange on dæg feohtende wæron.” Chron.
Wig. “And þær wærð on dæg swiðe stranglic gefeoht on bá halfe.” Flor.
Wig. “Rex Anglorum Haroldus ... plenam victoriam, licet acerrimè
pugnatum fuisset, habuit.”
Footnote 1030
This appears not only in the Saga, but also in Marianus (Pertz,
v. 559); “Araldus Rex Anglorum, ... quum Araldum imparatum absque
loricis et ceteris ejusdem rei invenisset, bello occidit.” So Saxo
(207), where however there is a good deal of exaggeration; “[Haraldi]
cunctationem Norwagienses timori consentaneam rati, _neglectis
corporum munimentis_, perinde ac securi periculum validiùs prædæ
incubuerunt. Sed dum incautiùs ruunt sparsi palantesque ab Anglis
nullo negotio (!) trucidati sunt.”
Footnote 1031
Hen. Hunt. M. H. B. 762 B. “Maximus numerus Anglorum Norwagenses
cedere sed non fugere compulit.”
Footnote 1032
Ib. “Ultra flumen igitur repulsi, vivis super mortuos transeuntibus,
magnanimiter restiterunt.” See the use of the same proverbial
expression above, p. 351.
Footnote 1033
See vol. i. p. 299. This story is found in the Abingdon Chronicle,
being the last entry, added in another hand, and, according to Mr.
Earle, in the Northumbrian dialect. Mr. Earle (Parallel Chronicles,
p. xxxviii.) ingeniously conceives that the account of the battle in
this Chronicle, so much fuller than in any of the others, is due to
some Northumbrian visitor, who at last took up the pen and wrote a
little himself. The story is not told by Florence, but it is found in
William of Malmesbury and Henry of Huntingdon, with some variations.
Footnote 1034
Will. Malms, ii. 228. “Uno et altero et pluribus nostræ partis
[William for once writes as an Englishman] interemtis.” Henry of
Huntingdon (M. H. B. 762 B) is more precise or more romantic; “Plus
xl. viris Anglorum securi cædens electâ.”
Footnote 1035
Chron. Ab. “þa seite an Englisce mid anre flan, ac hít nactes ne
widstod.” The shooting of one arrow seems looked on as an exploit on
the English side. William of Malmesbury has confounded this shot with
the death-blow; “Unus ex collateralibus Regis jaculum ferreum in eum
eminùs vibrat, quo ille, dum gloriabundus proludit ipsâ securitate
incautior, terebratus, victoriam Anglis concessit.”
Footnote 1036
Chron. Ab. “And þa com an oþer under þere brigge, and hine þurðstang
en únder þere brunie.” Hen. Hunt. u. s. “Quidam navim ingressus
per foramina pontis in celandis eum percussit jaculo.” Compare the
death of Eadmund Ironside, vol. i. p. 438. On the “foramina pontis”
compare a bridge described by Richer (iv. 50) which “tantis enim et
tot hiatibus patebat,” &c. At Boroughbridge in 1321 Humfrey Earl of
Hereford was pierced in exactly the same way. See Chron. Galfredi le
Baker, p. 65. The memory of the English exploit is kept up on the
spot by a yearly baking of pies of pears, made in the shape of a
boat—“pear-boat pies”—at the feast held on (I think) the Monday after
the day of the battle.
Footnote 1037
The presence of Flemings, followers no doubt of Tostig, is attested
in the addition to the Abingdon Chronicle; “And þere michel wel
geslogon, ge Norweis ge Flæming.”
Footnote 1038
Chron. Wig. “And Engle ahton wælstowe geweald;” the old formula.
Footnote 1039
Chron. Wig. “Oðþ hig sume to scype coman.”
Footnote 1040
See above, p. 346.
Footnote 1041
The Worcester Chronicle says emphatically, “þaer waes lyt to lafe.”
So the Abingdon writer; “þaer waes Harold cyning of Norwegan and
Tostig eorl ofslagen and ungerim folces mid heom, ægðer ge Normana
ge Englisca.” Cf. Orderic (500 A); “Nimius sanguis ex utrâque parte
effusus est et innumerabilis [ungerím] hominum bestiali rabie
furentium multitudo trucidata est.”
Footnote 1042
Chron. Wig. “Sume adruncen and sume eae forbærnde, and swa mislice
fórfarene.” So Henry of Huntingdon (M. H. B. 762 B); “Angli ...
totam Norwagensium aciem vel armis straverunt vel igne deprehensos
combusserunt.” Compare the story in the Saga (Laing, iii. 95) of
Waltheof burning the Normans after Senlac.
Footnote 1043
Liber de Hydâ, p. 292. “Haroldus ... et Tostius ... victi
occubuerunt, sectaque eorum capita Regi Haroldo sunt deportata.” So
Guy of Amiens, 37;
“Invidus ille Caïn fratris caput amputat ense,
Et caput et corpus sic sepelivit humo.”
Footnote 1044
Will. Malms. iii. 252. “Cadaver ejus, indicio verrucæ inter duas
scapulas agnitum.” Can this account be reconciled with the other?
Footnote 1045
The Hyde writer (u. s.) sends him to be buried in Norway; “Corpus
defuncti Regis his qui remanserant deportandum in proprium regnum Rex
Haroldus concessit.”
Footnote 1046
Will. Malms. u. s. “Cadaver ... sepulturam Eboraci meruit.”
Footnote 1047
Ord. Vit. 500 A. “Locus etiam belli pertranseuntibus evidenter patet,
ubi magna congeries ossium mortuorum usque hodie jacet, et indicium
ruinæ multiplicis utriusque gentis exhibet.”
Footnote 1048
Flor. Wig. “Licet de totâ Angliâ fortiores quosque in prœliis duobus
benè sciret jam cecidisse.”
Footnote 1049
The death of Harold Hardrada was followed by a time of unusual quiet
in the North. He was succeeded by his sons Olaf and Magnus, of whom
Magnus died in 1069, after which Olaf reigned alone till 1093. He was
succeeded by his son Magnus Barefoot, who figures in English history
as the invader of Anglesey in 1098 (see above, p. 342). Snorro
(Johnstone, 221; Laing, iii. 98) says that Harold Hardrada’s daughter
Mary (see above, pp. 340, 344, 367) died suddenly in Orkney on the
same day that her father and her lover Eystein died at Stamfordbridge.
Tostig left two sons by Judith, Skule and Ketil. They returned to
Norway with Olaf (Snorro, ap. Johnstone, 222; Laing, iii. 97–99),
from whom they both received grants of land in Norway, where they
became founders of families—representatives of the male line of Earl
Godwine. Skule especially was in high honour with Olaf. Their mother
Judith remarried with Welf, Duke of Bavaria, son of the Marquess
Azo (see above, p. 197), and was thus an ancestress of the House of
Brunswick. Some of the German historians mistake her for the widow of
Harold instead of the widow of Tostig. See Appendix N, where I have
also spoken of her degree of kindred to Baldwin the Fifth (see vol.
ii. p. 134). She was undoubtedly his sister, and not his daughter,
and she might be called, in a wide sense, the niece of Eadward.
Footnote 1050
Chron. Wig. “Se kyng þa geaf gryð Olafe þæs Norna cynges suna, and
heora Biscope and þan eorle of Orcanége, and eallon þan þe on þam
scypum to lafe wæron.” Florence gives the Orkney Earl his name Paul,
and the addition to the Abingdon Chronicle strangely calls Olaf
“Hetmundus.”
Footnote 1051
Chron. Wig. “Hi foron þa upp to uran kyninge.”
Footnote 1052
Compare the auxiliaries sent by Swend, of whom more in the next
volume, and the Danes and Swedes who came with William the Third.
Macaulay, ii. 489; iii. 625.
Footnote 1053
I accept this incident, as one likely to be remembered, from Henry
of Huntingdon (M. H. B. 762 C) and the Ramsey History (cap. cxx.),
though they absurdly represent the feast as held, and the message as
brought, on the day of the battle, when William had not yet landed.
So Wace says of his Thegn who brought the news from Sussex;
“Ultre le Humbre l’a trové:
En une ville aveit disné.”
The writer of the De Inventione (c. xx.) most strangely makes Harold
go, after the battle, to Waltham, and hear the news there; “Waltham
rediit, ubi de applicatione Normannorum nimis veridicâ narration e
nuntium suscepit.”
Footnote 1054
See the next Chapter, § 2.
Footnote 1055
Throughout this Chapter, the Norman and English accounts have
carefully to be compared, but it is from the Norman authorities that
we have to draw most of our details. The English writers seem to have
shrunk from dwelling at length on the great “memory of sorrow,” so
that all their accounts are comparatively meagre. At this point also
we lose the Abingdon Chronicle altogether, which ends with the Battle
of Stamfordbridge. Among the Norman accounts, the first places belong
to the Tapestry and to William of Poitiers. The Tapestry, which gave
us no help during the period of negotiation, begins to be most minute
as soon as we get to the beginning of actual military preparations,
and it continues to be of primary importance down to the end of the
Battle of Senlac. The high authority of William of Poitiers, as a
contemporary and seemingly an eyewitness, is somewhat balanced by his
constant strain of panegyric on William and by his no less constant
sacrifice of chronological order to the demands of his rhetoric.
Wace, the honest and painstaking inquirer of the next century, has
been valuable before, and he becomes still more valuable now. We are
now also reinforced by another important narrative on the Norman
side, the “Carmen de Bello Hastingensi” by Guy, Bishop of Amiens
(see above, p. 136), printed in Giles’ Scriptores Rerum Gestarum
Willelmi Conquestoris, in the Chroniques Anglo-Normandes, and in the
Monumenta Historica Britannica. This poem is referred to, and coupled
with William of Poitiers, by William of Jumièges, or rather by his
continuator (vii. 44); “Si quis verò pleniùs illa nôsse desiderat,
librum Willelmi Pictavensis, Luxoviorum Archidiaconi, eadem gesta,
sicut copiosè, ita eloquenti sermone affatim continentem, legat.
Edidit præterea de eâdem materiâ opus non contemnendum Guido
Episcopus Ambianensis, heroico metro exaratum.” Guy’s work is useful
for the details of the voyage and the battle, and for some of the
events after the battle. With these Norman accounts we have of
course to compare the short narratives in our own Chronicles and in
Florence; some particular facts of importance may also be gleaned
from William of Malmesbury, from the Waltham writer _De Inventione_,
and from others of the subsidiary authors.
Footnote 1056
See above, p. 325.
Footnote 1057
The cutting down of the trees is graphically shown in the Tapestry,
pl. 8. This beginning at the beginning reminds one of Odysseus when
about to leave Kalypsô’s island; αὐτὰρ ὁ τάμνετο δοῦρα κ.τ.λ. (Od. v.
243), and seemingly we may add, θοῶς δέ οἱ ἤνυτο ἔργον.
Footnote 1058
They may be seen at work in the Tapestry. Wace too (11473) gives a
vivid account;
“Fevres è charpentiers manda;
Dunc véissiez à granz esforz
Par Normendie à toz li porz,
Mairrien atraire è fust porter,
Cheviles fere et boiz doler,
Nés et esquiz apareillier,
Veiles estendre, mast drecier
A grant entente et à grant cost.”
Cf. the great speech of Dikaiopolis in the Acharnians, 471 et seqq.,
especially 526 et seqq.; τὸ νεώριον δ’ αὖ κωπέωυ πλατουμέυωυ, κ.τ.λ.
Footnote 1059
Ord. Vit. 494 A. “In Neustriâ multæ naves cum utensilibus diligenter
paratæ sunt, quibus fabricandis clerici et laici studiis et sumptibus
adhibitis pariter intenderunt.” Wace (11304) names some of the
contributors, and a fuller list is printed in Lord Lyttelton’s
Appendix, i. 463, and in Giles, Scriptt. Will. Conq. 21.
Footnote 1060
I cannot identify Fulk the Lame, who seems not to occur in Domesday.
A Fulk of Parmes signs a charter in the Cartulary of the Holy Trinity
at Rouen (p. 465), and a Fulk of Caldri was a benefactor of the
same house in 1084 (p. 466). As his charter is confirmed by King
Philip and not by William, he was doubtless a Frenchman. Gerald the
Seneschal (“Dapifer,” “Senescallus”) signs a charter of Robert of
Montgomery (p. 442) in this very year (“anno dominicæ incarnationis
MLXV, tunc scilicet quando Normannorum Dux Guillelmus cum classico
apparatu ultra mare erat profecturus”). He is perhaps the same as
Gerald the Marshal (Marescalcus) who appears in the Suffolk Domesday
(438 _b_) as holding a former possession of Earl Ælfgar.
Footnote 1061
Roman de Rou, 11309. “Mult voleit li Dus avancier.”
Footnote 1062
So the list in Lyttelton; Wace (11305) cuts down Odo’s gift to forty.
Footnote 1063
“Extra has naves ... habuit Dux a quibusdam suis hominibus, secundùm
possibilitatem unius navis cujusque, multas alias naves.”
Footnote 1064
“A Romo vel Rumi eleemosynario Fescanni, postea Episcopo
Lincolniensi, unam navem cum xx. militibus.”
Footnote 1065
Plut. Cæs. 38. Ἴθι, ἔφη, γενναῖε, τόλμα καὶ δέδιθι μηδέν· Καίσαρα
φέρεις καὶ τὴν Καίσαρος τύχην συμπλέουσαν.
Footnote 1066
Lyttelton, i. 464. “Matildis, postea Regina, ejusdem Ducis uxor, ad
honorem Ducis fecit effici navem quæ vocabatur Mora, in quâ ipse
Dux vectus est. In prorâ ejusdem navis fecit fieri eadem Matildis
infantulum de auro, dextro indice monstrantem Angliam, et sinistrâ
manu imprimentem cornu eburneum ori.” Wace’s account (11594) is
somewhat different;
“Sor li chief de la nef devant,
Ke marinier apelent brant,
Out de coivre fet un enfant,
Saete et arc tendu portant,
Verz Engleterre out son viaire,
Et là faseit semblant de traire,
Ki kel part ke la nef coreit,
Semblant de traire avant faseit.”
In the Tapestry, pl. 9, the child with his horn is plain enough, and
he looks towards England; but he is at the stern of the ship, and not
at the prow, and in his left hand he bears a pennon.
Footnote 1067
The most exact account is that of Wace (11564), who heard the number
from his father;
“Maiz jo oï dire à mon pere,
Bien m’en sovint, maiz varlet ere,
Ke set cenz nés, quatre meins, furent,
Quant de Saint-Valeri s’esmurent,
Ke nés, ke batels, ke esqueis
A porter armes è herneis.
E jo en escript ai trové,
Ne sai dire s’est verité,
Ke il i out treis miles nés
Ki porterent veiles è trés.”
This exactness reminds one of Æschylus’ reckoning in the Persians,
333–335. William of Poitiers (125) naturally has his head full of
Agamemnon; “Memorat antiqua Græcia Atridem Agamemnona fraternos
thalamos ultum ivisse mille navibus: protestamur nos Willelmum
diadema regium requisisse pluribus.” William of Jumièges (vii. 34)
makes the number “ad tria millia.” Benoit (37004) slightly improves
on this;
“Si out treis mile nefs au meins; De ce nos fait l’autor certains.”
Gaimar (5248) goes beyond all of them. The French, as he calls
them, have “bien unze mil nefs.” Another reading makes it only nine
thousand.
Footnote 1068
See vol. i. p. 349 for the “yð-hengestas.” Cf. the Chronicles, 1003.
Footnote 1069
Ord. Vit. 494 B. “Denique hortatu Hugonis Episcopi aliorumque
sapientum Mainerium Priorem elegit, eique per pastoralem baculum
exteriorem curam tradidit, et prædicto antistiti ut ea quæ sibi de
spirituali curâ competebant suppleret præcepit.” Here again we get
a good illustration of the relations between Church and State in
Normandy, and no bad comment on our own thirty-seventh Article.
Footnote 1070
Ib. “Eodem die Dux Domnum Lanfrancum Beccensium Priorem coram se
adesse imperavit, eique Abbatiam quam ipse Dux in honore Sancti
Stephani protomartyris apud Cadomum honorabiliter fundaverat
commendavit.”
Footnote 1071
See the charter of Roger of Montgomery quoted above, p. 379.
Footnote 1072
See above, p. 108.
Footnote 1073
The charter in Gallia Christiana, xi. 61, gives the account of her
dedication; “Præfatus comes gloriossissimus et uxor ejus cum filiis
suis Domino eodem die [14 Kal. Jul. 1066] obtulerunt filiam suam
Cæciliam nomine, favente Archiepiscopo Rothomagensi cum cæteris
præsulibus, quatenus in eodem loco, Deificæ videlicet Trinitatis,
Ipsi in habitu religionis perenniter serviret.” See Mrs. Green’s
Princesses, i. 5.
Footnote 1074
Ord. Vit. 548 B.
Footnote 1075
See above, p. 69.
Footnote 1076
As they were delayed a month at the Dive, and a further time at Saint
Valery, the time of the first assembling of the fleet is carried back
to the month of August, and not to the last days of the month. See p.
394.
Footnote 1077
Will. Pict. 155. “Illius [Matildis] prudentiam viri adjuvere consilio
utilissimi; in quibus locum dignitatis primum tenebat Rogerus de
Bellomonte ... ob maturitatem ævi liberior ad negotia quæ domi
geruntur; filio adolescente ... officio militari tradito.” On Roger,
see above, p. 287, and vol. ii. p. 199.
Footnote 1078
See above, pp. 174, 176.
Footnote 1079
Judges v. 21.
Footnote 1080
See vol. ii. p. 263.
Footnote 1081
See Macaulay, ii. 465.
Footnote 1082
Will. Pict. 122. “Ventorum incommoditas ad Portum Divæ detinebat
morâ menstruâ.” Ord. Vit. 500 A. “Classis Normannorum spatio ...
unius mensis in ostio Divæ vicinisque portubus Nothum [Notum, sc.]
præstolata est.”
Footnote 1083
Will. Pict. u. s. “Rapinâ omni interdictâ, stippendio ipsius millia
militum quinquaginta alebantur ... ea illius temperantia fuit ac
prudentia.”
Footnote 1084
Ib. “Homo imbecillis aut inermis equo cantans quà libuit vectabatur,
turmas militum cernens, non exhorrescens.”
Footnote 1085
Will. Pict. 122. “Militibus et hospitibus abunde sumptus
ministrabatur, nemini rapere quippiam concedebatur. Provincialium
tutò armenta vel greges pascebantur seu per campestria, seu per
tesqua. Segetes falcem cultoris intactæ expectabant, quas nec
attrivit superba equitum effusio, nec demessuit pabulator.”
Footnote 1086
The Chronicle of Saint Maxentius (Labbé, ii. 211) says, “Fertur
habuisse in exercitu suo quatuordecim millia hominum.” But William
of Poitiers, in the passage just quoted, speaks of “millia militum
quinquaginta;” and afterwards he makes William (128) say that he will
fight Harold, “tametsi decem sola millia virorum haberem, quales
ad sexaginta millia adduxi.” Lastly, Orderic (500 B) gives him
“quinquaginta millia militum cum copiâ peditum.” A good deal turns on
the ambiguous word “miles.”
Footnote 1087
See above, p. 325.
Footnote 1088
It is now that William of Poitiers (123) gives that notice of
Harold’s preparations which I referred to above, p. 337; “Heraldus
... callidè subornatos transmisit exploratores.” This sort of
expression, and some of the words presently put into William’s mouth
(“Non indiget Heraldus auri sui vel argenti jacturâ tuam aliorumque
fidem atque sollertiam emere”), might lead one to fancy that these
spies were Norman subjects won over by English gold. But the word
“transmisit” seems to forbid this notion. The truth is that William’s
panegyrist cannot understand the position of an Englishman faithfully
serving the English King.
Footnote 1089
Herod. vii. 146.
Footnote 1090
Will. Pict. u. s. “Quorum deprehenso uni, caussamque sui adventûs
quâ præceptum est specie obtegere conato, Dux animi sui magnitudinem
prodidit.”
Footnote 1091
Will. Pict. 123. “Quid consulatur, quid apparetur apud nos, certior
eum quam velit, et opinione ejus citior, index, quippe mea præsentia,
docebit.” This “index” is exactly the αὐτὸς ἄγγελος of Herodotus.
It is here that William of Poitiers brings in those fears and
hesitations among the Normans, which, as I have said elsewhere (see
above, pp. 293, 294, and Appendix W), clearly belong to another part
of the story. William is made to tell the spy that he will be in
England within a year, and the Normans say that it is impossible that
a fleet should be got ready within the year. This language could not
have been used at a moment when the fleet was ready to sail, and was
simply waiting for a fair wind.
Footnote 1092
See above, p. 282.
Footnote 1093
Will. Pict. 124. “Præterea, ne rapinam amittat ille pugnabit; nos quæ
dono accepimus, beneficiis comparavimus, requirimus.”
Footnote 1094
Ib. “Virtute meliùs quam numero militum bella geruntur.”
Footnote 1095
Ord. Vit. 500. “Spatio unius mensis.”
Footnote 1096
See above, p. 338.
Footnote 1097
Will. Pict. 124. “Jam tota classis providentissimè exornata ab ostio
Divæ vicinisque portubus, ubi Notum quo transmitterent diutiùs
exspectavere, Zephyri flatu in stationem Sancti Walerici delata est.”
So Ord. Vit. 500 A.
Footnote 1098
On the homage of Guy to William for Ponthieu see above, p. 157. He
now also held lands in Normandy itself. See p. 226.
Footnote 1099
The position is well marked by Guy of Amiens, 52;
“Desuper est castrum quoddam sancti Walarici.”
Footnote 1100
Something about the early history of Saint Valery may be gleaned from
the work of M. Lefils, _Histoire Civile, Politique et Religieuse de
Saint-Valery et du Comté du Vimeu_ (Abbeville, 1858), but the book is
vastly inferior to the excellent local works which have helped me so
much in Norman matters. On Saint Walaric or Valery himself, see p. 21.
Footnote 1101
As the story appears in the Life of Burchard of Vendôme (Duchèsne,
Rer. Franc. iv. 121), the Count of Flanders concerned is the younger
Arnulf, and the restoration is brought about by the influence of King
Robert and the personal agency of Count Burchard. But this account
is very confused. The body was really carried off by the elder
Arnulf, and the restoration was effected in 981 by Hugh Capet, who
also changed the secular canons of Saint Valery into monks. See the
Relatio in Mabillon, Act. Ord. Ben. vii. 546.
Footnote 1102
See above, p. 131.
Footnote 1103
See Lefils, p. 64. I will not enter into any controversy as to the
date of the so-called Tower of Harold, or as to the origin of its
name. It may be called after some other Harold, or the name may be,
as M. Lefils suggests, a corruption of something quite different. But
in any case it was not, what the legend makes it, the place of the
imprisonment of Harold the son of Godwine, which was undoubtedly at
Beaurain. See above, p. 223.
Footnote 1104
Will. Pict. 125. “Princeps, quem neque mora sive contrarietas venti,
neque terribilia naufragia, neque pavida fuga multorum qui fidem
spoponderant, frangere prævalent.”
Footnote 1105
See above, p. 338. I am by no means clear that some trace of these
engagements, probably of no great importance, may not lurk in the
“pavida fuga” of William of Poitiers. See Appendix AA.
Footnote 1106
Herod. viii. 24.
Footnote 1107
Will. Pict. 125. “Quin et consilio adversitatibus obvius, submersorum
interitus quantùm poterat occultavit, latentiùs tumulando.”
Footnote 1108
Ib. “Commeatum indies augendo inopiam lenivit.”
Footnote 1109
Ib. “Ad hoc hortamine diverso retraxit exterritos, animavit paventes.”
Footnote 1110
Guid. Amb. 54;
“Nam ter quinque dies complêsti finibus illis,
Exspectans summi Judicis auxilium.
Ecclesiam sancti devotâ mente frequentans,
Illi pura dabas ingeminando preces.
Inspicis et templi gallus quâ vertitur aurâ;
Auster si spirat, lætus abinde redis:
Si subitò Boreas Austrum divertit et arcet,
Effusis lacrimis fletibus ora rigas.
Desolatus eras: frigus faciebat et imber,
Et polus obtectus nubibus et pluviis.”
The edition in the Monumenta Historica Britannica has “ter quinque
dies,” while those of Giles and Michel have “tum quinque.” The
former reading is obviously right, as explaining the expression in
v. 53 of “longa difficilisque mora.” With William’s looking at the
weathercock, compare the passage of Macaulay referred to in p. 386.
Footnote 1111
These last details come from Wace, 11579;
“Poiz unt tant li covent préié
Ke la chasse Saint-Valeri
Mistrent as chams sor un tapi.
Als cors saint vinrent tuit orer
Cil ki debveient mer passer;
Tant i ont tuit deniers offert,
Tot li cors saint en ont covert.”
The bringing out of the body of the saint, which evidently made a
deep impression, is also recorded by William of Poitiers (125),
Orderic (500 B), and William of Malmesbury (iii. 238). Guy of Amiens,
whom we should have expected to be eloquent on the subject, holds his
peace.
Footnote 1112
William of Poitiers has his head full of Agamemnôn and of Xerxês, but
this obvious analogy does not seem to have occurred to him. Yet who
can help thinking of the northern blasts, the πνοαὶ ἀπὸ Στρύμονος
μολοῦσαι (Æsch. Ag. 185 et seqq.), which delayed the fleet of the
Achaians, and of the sacrifice by which alone help could be gained?
Footnote 1113
All our accounts directly connect the favourable wind with the
religious ceremony which had just been performed. William of Poitiers
(125) describes the rite, and immediately adds, “Spirante dein
aurâ exspectatâ.” So Orderic (500 B); “Denique dum prosper ventus
multorum votis optatus, Deo volente, subitò spiravit.” William of
Malmesbury (iii. 238) is, if possible, still more emphatic; “Nec mora
intercessit, quin prosper flatus carbasa impleret.” Guy of Amiens
(70), not mentioning the special ceremony, attributes the change of
weather to William’s prayers generally;
“Velle tuum tandem pius ut Deus est miseratus,
Pro votoque tibi suppeditavit opus.”
Footnote 1114
Will. Pict. 125. “Voces cum manibus in cœlum gratificantes, ac simul
tumultus invicem incitans tollitur.” Both this writer and Guy of
Amiens give very full and vivid accounts of the voyage.
Footnote 1115
Ib. “Increpat atque urget in puppes ardens vehementia Ducis, si quos
ullatenus moram nectere notat.”
Footnote 1116
See above, p. 294.
Footnote 1117
Will. Pict. u. s. “Terra quam properantissimè deseritur, dubium iter
quam cupientissimè initur.” So Guy of Amiens, 78;
“Protinus una fuit mens omnibus, æqua voluntas,
Jam bene pacato credere se pelago.
Quamquam diversi tamen adsunt lætificati;
Nec mora, quisque suum currit ad officium.”
Footnote 1118
Will. Pict. 125. “Eo celeritatis motu impelluntur, ut quum armigerum
hic, socium inclamet ille, plerique immemores clientum, aut sociorum,
aut rerum necessariarum, id solum, ne relinquantur, cogitant et
festinant.”
Footnote 1119
Tapestry, pl. 9. “Isti portant armas ad naves, et hic trahunt carrum
cum vino et armis.” We shall hear presently of the nature of the
drink, at least on board the ducal ship. William either despised or
knew not of the wine of Gloucestershire. See vol. ii. p. 145.
Footnote 1120
Wid. Amb. 82;
“Sublimant alii malos, aliique laborant
Erectis malis addere vela super.”
Footnote 1121
Ib. 84; “Plurima cogit equos equitum pars scandere naves.”
Footnote 1122
Ib. 90;
“Hinc resonando tubæ varios dant mille boatus,
Fistula cum calamis, et fidibus cithara;
Tympana taurinis implent mugitibus auras;
Alternant modulos cymbala clara suos.”
Footnote 1123
Ib. 98;
“Sed tu templa petis sancti supra memorati,
Muneribusque datis curris adire ratem.”
Footnote 1124
Wid. Amb. 106;
“Nox ubi cæca polum tenebrosis occupat umbris,
Et negat obsequium Cynthia tecta tibi,
Imples non aliter facibus rutilantibus undas,
Sidera quam cœlum, sole ruente, replent.
Quot fuerant naves, totidem tu lumina spargis.”
Footnote 1125
Will. Pict. 125. “Dat præconis voce edictum, ut, quum in altum sint
deductæ, paullulum noctis conquiescant non longè à suâ rates cunctæ
in ancoris fluitantes, donec, in ejus mali summo lampade conspectâ,
extemplò buccinæ clangorem cursûs accipiant signum.” So Roman de Rou,
11588;
“Une lanterne fist li Dus
Metre en sa nef el mast de sus.”
The lantern on the Duke’s mast is shown plainly enough in the
Tapestry, pl. 9; but there is no mention of it in Guy, unless it
lurks in the more general words (111),
“Impositæ malis permultâ luce laternæ
Tramite directo per mare vela regunt.”
He then goes on to mention the order for the mid-sea halt, much as in
William of Poitiers.
Compare the description of the voyage of Scipio in Livy, xxix. 25;
“Lumina in navibus singula rostratæ, bina onerariæ haberent; in
prætoriâ nave insigne nocturnum trium luminum fore.” See also the
description of the voyage of the other William, Macaulay, ii. 477.
Footnote 1126
Will. Pict. 126. “Solutis noctu post quietem navibus, vehens Ducem
retrò ceteras agillimè reliquit.”
Footnote 1127
Od. viii. 557;
οὐ γὰρ Φαιήκεσσι κυβερνητῆρες ἔασιν,
οὐδέ τι πηδάλι’ ἐστὶ, τά τ’ ἄλλαι νῆες ἔχουσιν,
ἀλλ’ αὐταὶ ἴσασι νοήματα καὶ φρένας ἀνδρῶν.
Footnote 1128
Will. Pict. 126. “[Navis] ardentiùs ad victoriam properantis imperio
suæ velocitatis parilitate quasi obtemperans.”
Footnote 1129
In the Tapestry, pll. 9, 10, horses are seen in all the ships except
in the Duke’s own and in one other near to it.
Footnote 1130
Will. Pict. u. s. “Jussus manè remex mali ab alto num quæ veniant
consequæ speculari, præter pelagus et aëra prospectui suo aliud nihil
comparere indicat.”
Footnote 1131
Ib. “Confestim ancorâ jacta, ne metus atque mœror comitem turbam
confunderet, abundans prandium, _nec Baccho pigmentato carens_,
animosissimus Dux, acsi in cœnaculo domestico, memorabili cum
hilaritate accepit, cunctos actutum affore promittens, Deo cujus eos
tutelæ credidit adducente.”
Footnote 1132
Ib. “Inquisitus denuò speculator, naves quattuor advenire, tertiò
tantas exclamat ut arborum veliferarum uberrima densitas nemoris
præstet similitudinem.”
Footnote 1133
Will. Pict. 126. “Quam ex intimo corde divinam glorificaverit
pietatem conjiciendum cuivis relinquimus.” The beholders of William’s
devotions were admitted into the Palace of Truth.
Footnote 1134
Will. Malms. iii. 238. “Omnibus itaque ad prætoriæ puppis
vermiculatum velum convolantibus.” The epithet would apply to the
sails of all the ships as shown in the Tapestry; but the sails of the
Duke’s ship, and of those of two others near him—perhaps those of his
two brothers—have the colours arranged in a different way from any of
the others.
Footnote 1135
Wid. Amb. 123;
“Tertia telluri supereminet hora diei,
Quum mare postponens littora tuta tenes.”
On the date, see Appendix FF.
Footnote 1136
“Venit ad Pevenesæ,” says the Tapestry, pl. 9. So William of Poitiers
(126) and William of Jumièges (vii. 34). William of Malmesbury (iii.
238) says carelessly, “Placido cursu Hastingas appulerunt.” So Wace
(11618), who altogether reverses the geography, making the army land
at Hastings and go to Pevensey afterwards.
Footnote 1137
On the true meaning of this formula see vol. i. p. 11.
Footnote 1138
The question as to the site of Anderida may be looked on as decided
by a paper by Mr. Arthur Hussey in the Sussex Archæological
Collections, vi. 90. See also Mr. T. Wright, Wanderings of an
Antiquary, p. 137. Their views are confirmed by Dr. Guest, Salisbury
Proceedings, p. 55.
Footnote 1139
Domesday, 20 _b_, where the usual account of the town dues is given.
Footnote 1140
Cissanceaster or Chichester, the English name of the Roman Regnum.
On the whole settlement, see Guest, Salisbury Proceedings, p. 54. I
must beg pardon for having in the map in my first volume followed Dr.
Spruner in giving a wrong position to the site of Cymenes-óra.
Footnote 1141
Chronn. 491. “Her Ælle and Cissa ymbsæton Andredes ceaster, and
ofslogon ealle þa þær inne eardedon; ne wearð þær forþon an Bret to
lafe.” This is the passage which Gibbon (cap. xxxviii. note 142,
vol. vi. p. 372 Milman), quoting it in the Latin version, calls “an
expression more dreadful in its simplicity, than all the vague and
tedious lamentations of the British Jeremiah [Gildas].”
Footnote 1142
See vol. i. pp. 23, 151.
Footnote 1143
Henry of Huntingdon, who gives (M. H. B. 710 C, D) a fuller
account of the siege, evidently taken from ballads, winds up his
account thus; “Quia tot ibi damna toleraverant extranei, ita urbem
destruxerunt quod numquam postea reædificata est; locus tantum, quasi
nobilissimæ urbis, transeuntibus ostenditur desolatus.”
Footnote 1144
Ord. Vit. 500 A. “Heraldus ... Hastingas et Penevesellum, aliosque
portus maris Neustriæ oppositos, ... toto anno illo cum multis
navibus et militibus callidè servaverat.”
Footnote 1145
See above, p. 338.
Footnote 1146
I look with great suspicion on the statement of William of Poitiers
and Guy of Amiens about Harold sending a vast naval force to hinder
William’s landing. See Appendix AA. At all events no English ships
were near at the time.
Footnote 1147
Will. Pict. 126. “Liberè naves egreditur, pugnâ nullâ obstante.” Ord.
Vit. 500 B. “Nemine resistente littus maris gaudens arripuit.” So Guy
of Amiens, 127;
“Debita terra tibi, pavidis nudata colonis,
Læta sinu placido teque tuosque capit.”
Footnote 1148
It is plain that the ships were brought to shore as near together as
might be. Wace (11619) distinctly asserts this; “L’une nef à l’altre
acosterent.” There is no ground for the notion of Mr. Hayley, quoted
by Sir Henry Ellis (i. 316), “That William did not land his army at
any one particular spot, at Bulverhithe or Hastings, as is supposed;
but at all the several proper places for landing along the coast from
Bexelei to Winchelsea.”
Footnote 1149
This process is graphically shown in the Tapestry, pl. 10; “Hic
exeunt caballi de navibus.”
Footnote 1150
Roman de Rou, 11711;
“Quant li Dus primes fors issi,
Sor sez dous palmes fors chaï;
Sempres i out levé grant cri
E distrent tuit: mal signe est ci;
Et il lor a en haut crié;
Seignors, par la resplendor Dé,
La terre ai as dous mainz seizie;
Sans chalenge n’iert maiz guerpie;
Tote est nostre quant qu’il i a;
Or verrai ki hardi serra.”
William of Malmesbury (iii. 238) seems to mix up this saying of the
Duke’s with the saying of the soldier quoted directly afterwards; “In
egressu navis pede lapsus, eventum in melius commutavit, acclamante
sibi proximo milite, ‘Tenes,’ inquit, ‘Angliam, Comes, Rex futurus.’”
Mr. Hardy in his note suspects, perhaps with reason, the whole story,
on account of its likeness to the story of Cæsar (Suet. Julius, 59);
“Prolapsus in egressu navis, verso ad melius omine, ‘Teneo te,’
inquit, ‘Africa.’”
Footnote 1151
Roman de Rou, 11725;
“Sire, dist-il, avant venez,
Ceste saisine recevez;
De ceste terre vos saisis,
Vostre est sainz dote li païs.
E li Dus respont: Jo l’otrei,
E Dex i seit ensemle od mei.”
Footnote 1152
Ib. 11636.
“Li rivage unt tuit porcacé,
Nul hoem armé n’i ont trové.”
Footnote 1153
Ib. 11642.
“Ensemble vindrent al gravier,
Chescun armé sor son destrier.
Tuit orent ceintes les espées,
Et plain vindrent lances _levées_.”
The last word expresses the way of bearing the lance, not in the
rest, but used overhand.
Footnote 1154
William of Poitiers (127) says of the forts both at Pevensey and at
Hastings, that they were “quæ sibi receptaculo, navibus propagnaculo
forent.” So Guy (141);
“Littora custodis, metuens amittere naves,
Mœnibus et munis, castraque ponis ibi.”
This shows the falsehood of the story of William burning his ships,
of which the first traces appear in Wace, 11731;
“Dunc fist à toz dire è crier,
Et as mariniers comander
Ke li nés fussent despécies,
A terre traites è percies,
Ke li coarz ne revertissent
Ne par li nés ne s’enfoïssent.”
William of Jumièges (vii. 34) certainly makes the most of the fort
at Pevensey; “Statim firmissimo vallo castrum condidit, probisque
militibus commisit.” The notion that some part of the Roman walls was
made use of is suggested by the words of Guy (143);
“Diruta quæ fuerant dudum castella reformas;
Ponis custodes ut tueantur ea.”
Footnote 1155
See the Tapestry, pl. 10. “Festinaverunt Hastinga ut cibum
raperentur.” They are going as fast as the messengers sent to Guy of
Ponthieu (see above, p. 225), but they are not bare-headed.
Footnote 1156
See Appendix KK.
Footnote 1157
The French Biographer of Eadward (4333) gives an amusing origin for
the name. William
“Une tur ferme e renuvele,
Ke li Ducs Hastinges apele,
_Hastivement_ ke fu fermée,
E pur co fu si appelée.”
Footnote 1158
See vol. i. p. 382.
Footnote 1159
See vol. ii. p. 106.
Footnote 1160
See above, p. 404.
Footnote 1161
Chron. Wig. “Hi ... worhton castel æt Hæstingaport.”
Footnote 1162
William of Poitiers mentions the fortifications at Pevensey and at
Hastings in the same breath. See above, p. 407. William of Jumièges,
having mentioned that of Pevensey, goes on (vii. 34) to say,
“_Festinus_ Hastingas venit, ibique _cito opere_ aliud firmavit.”
(It must be this passage, or some other to the same effect, which
suggested the grotesque bit of etymology which I have just quoted
from the French Life of Eadward.) In the Tapestry (pl. 11) we see the
Duke in consultation with his brothers; then follows, “Iste jussit ut
_foderetur_ castellum at Hastingaceastra.” The pickaxe and spade are
being largely used, the “agger” is rising, and the buildings seem to
be of wood. So Wace (11656);
“Par cunseil firent esgarder
Boen lieu à fort chastel garder.
Donc out des nés mairrien geté,
A la terre l’ont traïné,
Trestui percié i tut dolé;
Li cheviles tutes dolées
Orent en granz bariz portées;
Ainz ke il fust bien avespré,
En ont ut chastelet fermé.”
Wace’s confusion of geographical order must not be forgotten, but no
doubt the description of one fort would do equally well for the other.
Footnote 1163
Will. Fil. Steph. 193.
Footnote 1164
Roman de Rou, 11602;
“De la flote ki fu si grant
E de la gent dont i out tant
N’i out ke dui nés perillies,
Ne sai s’el furent trop chargies.”
Footnote 1165
Ib. 11697;
“En mer esteit, ço dist, néiéz
Et en un nef perilliéz.”
Footnote 1166
Wace, 11697. William does not—as an invader, he could not—rise to the
full greatness of the saying of Hektôr.
Footnote 1167
Will. Pict. 139. “Illuc errore appulsos fera gens adorta prœlio, cum
utriusque partis maximo detrimento, fuderat.” Benoît, 37682;
“Qu’arivé i out de sa gent,
Je ne sai par quel achaison;
Mais li Engleis pesme e felon
Les li ocistrent par pecchié.”
All we can see is that the encounter, however caused, happened before
the great battle.
Footnote 1168
See Appendix AA.
Footnote 1169
On these systematic ravages, see Appendix DD.
Footnote 1170
Wid. Amb. 147;
“Nec mirum, Regem quia te plebs stulta negabat,
Ergo perit justè, vadit et ad nihilum.”
We find the same sentiment in William of Poitiers’ account of the
battle (134); “Stravit adversam gentem, quæ sibi, Regi suo, rebellans
commeruit mortem.”
Footnote 1171
See the graphic picture in pl. 10, where we find our friend Wadard.
See Appendix A.
Footnote 1172
Tapestry, pl. 11. “Hic domus incenditur.” So Guy of Amiens, 152;
“Vulcano flammis depopulante domos.”
Footnote 1173
Roman de Rou, 11751;
“Donc véissiez Engleiz foïr,
Bestes chacier, mezons guerpir;
As cemetieres tot atraient,
Et encor là forment s’esmaient.”
Footnote 1174
Will. Pict. 131. “Accelerabat enim eò magis Rex furibundus, quod
propinqua castris Normannorum vastari audierat.”
Footnote 1175
See above, p. 9.
Footnote 1176
William of Poitiers (128) introduces him as, “Dives quidam finium
illorum inquilinus, natione Normannus, Rotbertus filius Wimaræ
_nobilis mulieris_.” (Without this one would not have taken Wymarc
for a female name.) Wace (11849) does not know his name;
“En la terre aveit un baron,
Maiz jo ne sai dire son non,
Ki mult aveit li Dus amé,
E se faiseit de li privé.”
So Benoît, 37050;
“Un produem riche e assazez
Qui de Normendie esteit nez,
Mais en cele terre maneit,
Ou richement se conteneit.”
There is nothing in the earlier narrative to imply that Robert had
held any disloyal correspondence with William.
I cannot find that Robert held any lands in Sussex. See Ellis, ii.
206.
Footnote 1177
Yet, if we place the message somewhat late in William’s stay at
Hastings, the presence of Robert at Stamfordbridge is just possible.
Footnote 1178
I suppose he is represented in the Tapestry, pl. 11; “Hic nuntiatum
est Willelmo de Harold.”
Footnote 1179
Will. Pict. 128. “Hastingas Duci, domino suo et _consanguineo_,
nuntium destinavit.” The kinsfolk both of William and of Eadward are
endless.
Footnote 1180
Benoît, 37064;
“Coment Heraut s’ert combatuz
Qui ceus de Norwege out vencuz
Et ocis son frere e le rei,
E ceus qu’il amena od sei,
Où plus aveit de vint milliers.”
William of Poitiers (u. s.) only says “ingentes eorum exercitus
delevit.”
Footnote 1181
Benoît, 37070;
“Od plus a de cent mile armez.”
William again says only, “Animatus eo successu festinus redit in te,
numerosissimum populum ducens ac robustissimum.”
Footnote 1182
Will. Pict. u. s. “Prœliatus cum fratre proprio Rex Heraldus et cum
Rege Noricorum, quo fortiorem sub cœlo nullum vivere opinio fuit.”
Footnote 1183
Will. Pict. 128. “Adversus quem non ampliùs tuos quam totidem
despectabiles canes æstimo valere.” See above, p. 334, for the
reputation of the English Housecarls in Norway.
Footnote 1184
Ib. “Prudens vir computaris, domi militiæque cuncta hactenus
prudenter egisti.” The tone seems patronizing, but it perhaps
expresses the general opinion of William up to this time. He had
certainly been mainly remarkable for amazing prudence and amazing
good luck, rather than for the winning of great battles.
Footnote 1185
Ib. “Suadeo, inter munitiones mane, manu ad præsens confligere noli.”
Footnote 1186
There are few cases in which we can better apply the familiar words
of Thucydides (v. 105), μακαρίσαντες ὑμῶν τὸ άπειρόκακον οὐ ζηλοῦμεν
τὸ ἄφρον.
Footnote 1187
St. Luke xiv. 31.
Footnote 1188
Will. Pict. 128. “Non me tutarer valli aut mœnium latebris, sed
confligerem quamprimùm cum Heraldo.” He then goes on to make the
statement about his numbers which I have quoted in p. 387.
Footnote 1189
Ib. “‘Pro mandato,’ inquit, ‘quo mihi dominus tuus vult esse cautum,
quamquam sine contumeliâ suadere decuerit, gratias ipsi et hæc
refer.’”
Footnote 1190
See above, p. 375.
Footnote 1191
Roman de Rou, 11831;
“Un chastel i ont fermé
De bretesches è de fossé.”
Footnote 1192
Ib. 11755;
“Un chevalier de la cuntrée
Oï la noise è la criée
Ke païsant è vilain firent,
Ki la grant flote arriver virent.”
Footnote 1193
Ib. 11761;
“En dreit un tertre s’arestut,
Ke alquanz d’els ne l’aparçut;
Iloc s’estut, si esgarda
Coment la grant flote ariva.”
Wace’s account is of course confused by his primary blunder of
reversing the geographical order, by making William land at Hastings,
and thence go to Pevensey (see above, p. 400). His Thegn is therefore
made to set out from Hastings, and the scene is apparently laid
at Hastings. For Wace makes the Thegn hide himself behind a hill
(“tertre”), which it would be easy to do at Hastings, but hard
at Pevensey, as the mound of the later castle, then close to the
landing-place, would hardly serve the purpose. The expression is
clearly borrowed from Guy of Amiens’ description of his messenger
from Hastings (149);
“Ex Anglis unus, latitans sub rupe marinâ.”
But a man who saw the actual landing, and at once started for York,
must have started from Pevensey, and the fort which he saw thrown up
must have been the fort at Pevensey, not the fort at Hastings. No
doubt a messenger from Hastings, the messenger described by Guy of
Amiens, would soon follow the messenger from Pevensey, and Wace, in
his geographical confusion, rolled the two into one.
The words of Florence also would imply that news was brought straight
from Pevensey; “Nuntiatum est ei Willelmum Comitem gentis Normannicæ
... advenisse ... et in loco qui Pefnesea dicitur suam classem
adpulisse.”
Footnote 1194
Roman de Rou, 11770;
“Vit li chastel fere è fermer;
Vit li fossé envirun faire.”
Footnote 1195
Roman de Rou, 11774;
“S’espée ceint è prist sa lance.”
Wace perhaps arms his English Thegn a little too much in continental
fashion. For Wace’s “lance,” I have therefore substituted the English
javelin. But for such a ride the sword would be a more convenient
weapon than the axe. Sword and javelin are the equipment of Harold
when riding round his camp, in the Tapestry, pl. 13.
Footnote 1196
Ib. 11777;
“Astant se mist cil el chemin,
Tart se colcha, leva matin;
Tant a erré ke noit ke jor
Por Heraut querre son Seignor.”
Footnote 1197
Flor. Wig. 1066. “Cum innumerâ multitudine equitum, fundibaliorum,
sagittariorum, peditumque ... utpote qui de totâ Galliâ sibi fortes
auxiliarios conduxerat.”
Footnote 1198
See p. 407.
Footnote 1199
I get my second messenger from Guy of Amiens (149–167). He is
“rusticus;” the other, “chevalier.” As the Thegn saw and describes
the actual landing, the Churl saw and describes the later ravaging.
Wid. Amb. 150;
“Cernit ut effusas innumeras acies,
Et quod agri fulgent pleni radiantibus armis,
Vulcano flammis depopulante domos.
Perfidiæ gentem ferro bacchante perire,
Quasque dabant lacrimas cæde patrum pueri.”
Footnote 1200
Wid. Amb. 159;
“Dux Normannorum cum Gallis atque Britannis
Invasit terram, vastat et igne cremat.
Millia si quæris, tibi dicere nemo valebit:
Quod mare fert pisces, tot sibi sunt equites;
Et veluti stellas cœli numerare nequires,
Ejus sic acies nec numerare vales.”
“French,” “Franci” in the Tapestry, is the only name which takes in
the whole of William’s army as thus described.
Footnote 1201
Ib. 165;
“Captivos ducit pueros captasque puellas,
Insuper et viduas et simul omne pecus.”
Footnote 1202
Roman de Rou, 11836;
“Mielx me venist aveir perdu
Quant ke Tosti out demandé.”
Footnote 1203
Ib. 11838;
“Ke jo n’éusse el port esté,
Quant Willame vint el rivage;
Bien defendisse li passage.
Tant en féisse en mer plungier,
E tant en féisse néier,
Jà à la terre ne venissent,
Jà nient del nostre ne préissent;
Jà de morir garant n’éussent,
Se la mer tote ne béussent;
Maiz issi plout el Rei celeste,
Jo ne poiz mie par tut estre.”
Footnote 1204
Wid. Amb. 169. “Advocat ipse Duces, Comites, terraeque potentes.”
Footnote 1205
See vol. ii. pp. 104, 141.
Footnote 1206
Wid. Amb. 185;
“Quantus erit luctus, quantus dolor et pudor ingens,
Regni quanta lues, quam tenebrosa dies,
Si quod quærit habet, si regni sceptra tenebit?
Hoc omnes fugiant vivere qui cupiunt.”
Footnote 1207
Wid. Amb. 191;
“Nascitur extemplò clamor qui perculit astra,
Et vox communis omnibus una fuit;
‘Bella magis cupimus quam sub juga colla reponi
Alterius Regis, vel magis inde mori.’”
Footnote 1208
Roman de Rou, 11879;
“Heraut vint à Lundres puignant,
De totes parz Engleiz mandant,
Ke tuit viengent delivrement
E mult apareilliement,
El terme k’il lor out mandé,
Sainz esoigne forz d’enferté.”
Footnote 1209
Gaimar, 5255 (M. H. B. 827);
“Marleswain donc i lessat;
Pur ost mander en suth alad.”
See Ellis, ii. 185. Merlswegen held lands in various parts from
Cornwall to Yorkshire: it was of Lincolnshire that he was Sheriff.
See Domesday, 376.
Footnote 1210
Fl. Wig. 1066. “Comites Edwinus et Morkarus, _qui se cum suis
certamini subtraxere_.” These are words which no ingenuity can get
over.
Footnote 1211
We shall presently come to the list of shires whence men did come.
Footnote 1212
The general zeal of Englishmen is allowed even by their enemies.
Will. Pict. 132; “Studium pars Heraldo, cuncti patriæ præstabant,
quam contra extraneos, _tametsi non justè_, defensare volebant.”
Footnote 1213
Will. Malms, ii. 228. “Haroldus, triumphali eventu superbus, nullis
partibus prædæ commilitones dignatus est: quapropter multi, quo
quisque poterat dilapsi, Regem ad bellum Hastingense proficiscentem
destituere.” So again, iii. 239.
Footnote 1214
Gaimar, 5251 (M. H. B. 827);
“Li reis Harald, quant il oi,
L’évesque Aldret a donc saisi
Del grant aveir e del herneis
K’il out conquis sur les Norreis.”
Footnote 1215
See Appendix G.
Footnote 1216
Will. Malms. ii. 228. “Præter stippendiarios et mercenarios milites,
paucos admodum ex provincialibus habuit.” See Appendix HH.
Footnote 1217
The list of shires in Wace (12848) might seem at first sight to be
simply names set down at random; but, on a careful examination,
it has a deep significance. The list runs thus; London, Kent,
Hertford, Essex, Surrey, Sussex, Saint Eadmund’s and Suffolk, Norwich
and Norfolk, Canterbury and Stamford, Bedford (mentioned twice),
Huntingdon, Northampton, York, Buckingham, Nottingham, Lindesey and
Lincoln, Salisbury, Dorset, Bath and Somerset, Gloucester, Worcester,
Winchester and Hampshire, Berkshire. This list exactly answers to
the geographical division which I have given in the text, with the
single exception that we find Worcester where we should rather have
looked for Hereford. The shires mentioned are those which make up
the Earldoms of Harold, Gyrth, Leofwine, and Waltheof, together with
the shires through which Harold marched. This accounts for what at
first seems a contradiction, namely that we find York on the list and
yet read afterwards (12877) “D’ultre li Humbre n’i vint gaires.” No
doubt some volunteers followed the King from York, but the main force
of Northumberland was kept back by Morkere. Why are Canterbury and
Stamford joined? One or other name must surely be wrong.
Footnote 1218
Roman de Rou, 12957;
“Kar ço dient ke cil de Kent
Deivent férir primierement;
U ke li Reis auge en estor,
Li primier colp deit estre lor.
Cil de Lundres, par dreite fei,
Deivent garder li cors li Rei,
Tut entur li deivent ester,
E l’estandart deivent garder.”
Footnote 1219
The Ansgardus of Guy. For all these names see Appendix EE.
Footnote 1220
See vol. ii. pp. 63, 441.
Footnote 1221
Bondig (see above, p. 53) is mentioned in a very confused passage
in the De Inventione, c. 20; “Ab omnibus consultum est ei Tostinum
[Leofwinum?], Gerth, et Bundinum, et reliquos qui secesserant,
exspectare.” I do not understand the “secession” of Gyrth; so Bondig
may have been at Senlac also.
Footnote 1222
See vol. ii. pp. 467, 644.
Footnote 1223
See Appendix EE.
Footnote 1224
See vol. ii. p. 349.
Footnote 1225
Chron. Petrib. 1066. “And þa wæs Leofric Abbot of Burh æt þæt ilca
feord, and sæclode þær, and com ham, and wæs dæd sone þæræfter, on
ælre halgan mæsse niht; God are his saule.”
Footnote 1226
See Appendix EE.
Footnote 1227
On the chronology of these events, see Appendix FF.
Footnote 1228
See above, p. 31.
Footnote 1229
The Waltham writer (De Inv. 20), as I have already said (see above,
p. 375), conceives the King as hearing the news of William’s landing
at Waltham. This we know to be wrong: but we may surely accept a
journey from London to Waltham.
As for the miraculous narrative, see Professor Stubbs, De Inv.
xxviii. For other mere legendary versions, see Appendix II.
Footnote 1230
De Inv. 20. “Mane facto ecclesiam Sanctæ Crucis ingrediens, et
relliquias quas apud se habebat in capellâ suâ repositas altari
superponens.”
Footnote 1231
De Inv. 20. “Votum vovit, quod si successus prosperos sub eventu
belli præstaret ei Dominus, copiam prædiorum et multitudinem
clericorum Deo ibidem serviturorum ecclesiæ conferret, _et se Deo
serviturum amodo quasi servum emptitium sponderet_.”
Footnote 1232
Over the west door seems a strange place for the great relic of a
church; yet I cannot otherwise understand the words of the Waltham
writer (De Inv. 20). Harold makes his offerings on the altar; then,
“Clero eum comitante et processione præcedente, veniunt ad valvas
templi, ubi conversus ad Crucifixum Rex ille Sanctæ Cruci devotus, ad
terram in modum crucis prosternens se, pronus oravit.”
Footnote 1233
De Inv. 20. “Imago Crucifixi, quæ priùs erecta ad superiora
respiciebat, quum se Rex humiliaret in terram, demisit vultum quasi
tristis, lignum quidem præscium futurorum.” The writer then goes on
to mention Thurkill, from whom he himself heard the story.
Footnote 1234
See Appendix GG.
Footnote 1235
Roman de Rou, 11935. See Appendix GG.
Footnote 1236
Will. Pict. 129.
Footnote 1237
Roman de Rou, 11975.
Footnote 1238
De Inventione, 20. “Nimis præceps, et de virtute suâ præsumens,
credebat se invalidos et impræniunitos Normannos expugnare, antequam
a Normannis gens subsequutiva in præsidium eorum succresceret.”
This last reason is borne out by the testimony of the Worcester
Chronicles, which I shall quote hereafter, that reinforcements did
come to William either before the battle or very soon after.
Footnote 1239
See p. 412, note 4.
Footnote 1240
The interposition of Gyrth is mentioned, not only by his special
admirer Wace (12041 et seqq.), but by William of Jumièges (vii. 35),
Orderic (500 C, who nearly copies William of Jumièges), William of
Malmesbury (iii. 239), and Benoît (37129). The speech is much to the
same effect in all. Here it is that William of Malmesbury makes the
odd mistake about Gyrth’s age which I mentioned in vol. ii. p. 555.
Footnote 1241
Will. Gem. vii. 35. “Quiesce, quæso, prudenter tractare tecum velis,
quid cum sacramentis Consuli Normanniæ promiseris. Cave ne perjurium
incurras, et pro tanto scelere tu cum viribus nostræ gentis corruas
nostræ-que progeniei permansurum dedecus exinde fias.” The expression
“cave ne perjurium incurras,” so late in the day, is remarkable.
William of Malmesbury (iii. 239) softens matters a little; “Nec enim
ibis in inficias quin illi sacramentum vel invitus vel voluntarius
feceris; proinde consultiùs ages si, instanti necessitati te
subtrahens, nostro periculo colludium pugnæ tentaveris.”
Footnote 1242
Will. Gem. u. s. “Ego, liber ab omni sacramento, Willelmo Comiti
nihil debeo. Audacter igitur contra illum pro natali solo certare
paratus sum.” So William of Malmesbury (u. s.); “Nos, omni juramento
expediti, justè ferrum pro patriâ stringemus.”
Footnote 1243
Will. Gem. u. s. “Ne _clara libertas Anglorum_ pereat in tuâ
pernicie.”
Footnote 1244
Will. Malms, iii. 239. “Nobis solis prœliantibus, caussa tua
utrobique in portu navigabit: quia et fugientes restituere et mortuos
ulcisci poteris.” Wace (12057) adds the alternatives of his own
captivity and of an agreement between Harold and William;
“Mais se jo suis veincu u pris,
Vos, se Dex plaist, ki serez vis,
Vos maisnies rasemblerez,
E cumbatre vos i porrez,
U tel parole el Duc prendrez,
Ke vostre régné en paiz tendrez.”
Footnote 1245
This advice comes from Wace (12065);
“Alez par cest païz, ardant
Maizons è viles destruiant;
Pernez la robe è la vitaille,
Pors et oeilles et aumaille,
Ke Normanz vitaille ne truissent
Ne nule rien donc vivre puissent.
Fetes la vitaille esluingnier,
Ke il ne truissent ke mengier,
Si les porrez mult esmaier
E faire ariere repairier;
Li Dus meisme s’en ira,
Quant la vitaille li faldra.”
Footnote 1246
Ord. Vit. 500 C. “Quæ interitu Tostici filii sui valde erat lugubris.”
Footnote 1247
Will. Gem. vii. 35. “Consilium istud, quod amicis ejus salubre
videbatur sprevit, et germanum suum, qui fideliter ei consiliabatur,
conviciis irritavit, matremque suam, quæ nimis ipsum retinere secum
satagebat, pede procaciter percussit.” So Ord. Vit. 500 D. Wace,
whose good taste and dramatic feeling places him high above all the
other Norman writers, passes by this absurd tale, but it reappears in
Benoît (37197);
“Vers sa mere fu mult eschis,
Qui chèrement fust à plaisir
Deu remaindre, deu retenir,
E tant l’en fist longe preiere
Qu’enverse la bota arière;
Tel il dona del pié el ventre.”
Footnote 1248
See Appendix N.
Footnote 1249
Roman de Rou, 12086;
“A cest cunseil tuit se teneient,
Et issi fere le voleient.”
Footnote 1250
Roman de Rou, 12090;
“Ke jà en champ sanz li n’iront,
Ne sanz li ne se cumbatront.
Por coart, ço dist, le teindreient
E plusors li reprovereient,
Ke sis boens amiz envéiout,
En lieu ù aler il n’osout.”
Footnote 1251
See vol. ii. p. 319.
Footnote 1252
Roman de Rou, 12080;
“Maisonz è viles n’en ardra,
Ne sis homes ne robera.
‘Coment,’ dist-il, ‘dei-jo grever
La gent ke jo dei governer?
Destruire ne grever ne dei
La gent ki det garir soz mei.’”
Compare the advice given by Memnôn to Arsitês in Arrian (i. 12. 17)
and Arsitês’ answer; Παρῄνει ... προϊόντας ... τόν τε χιλὸν ἀφανίζειν
καταπατοῦντας τῇ ἵππῳ, καὶ τὸν ἐν τῇ γῇ καρπὸν ἐμπιμπράναι, μηδὲ
τῶν πόλεων αὐτῶν φειδομένους· οὐ γὰρ μενεῖν ἐν τῇ χώρᾳ Ἀλέξανδρον
ἀπορίᾳ τῶν ἐπιτηδείων. Ἀρσίτην δὲ λέγεται εἰπεῖν ἐν τῷ συλλόγῳ τῶν
Περσῶν, ὅτι οὐκ ἂν περιΐδοι μήτ’ οἰκίαν μίαν ἐμπρησθεῖσαν τῶν ὑπό οἱ
τεταγμένων ἀνθρώπων. Contrast the conduct of William in ravaging the
English coast when an invasion from Denmark was looked for; Chron.
Petrib. 1085.
Footnote 1253
See Appendix FF.
Footnote 1254
See Appendix HH.
Footnote 1255
Will. Pict. 131. “Accelerabat ... Rex furibundus ... nocturno etiam
incursu aut repentino minùs cautos opprimere cogitabat.” He then goes
on to tell of the seven hundred ships. See Appendix AA. So Will.
Gem. vii. 35, 36; “Ducem incautum accelerans præoccupare, totâ nocte
equitans [Heraldus] in campo belli apparuit manè. Dux verò nocturnos
præcavens excursus hostis, inchoantibus tenebris ad gratissimam usque
lucem exercitum jussit esse in armis.” William of Poitiers makes the
fight begin directly on the approach of the English army, and William
of Jumièges puts it the same day. The last messages between William
and Harold are thus cut out, and William of Poitiers leaves no room
for the two different ways of spending the night. But William of
Poitiers is always careless of chronology, and William of Jumièges is
here ignorant of it (see Appendix GG). Wace makes the English reach
Senlac on Thursday night, and a day is spent in the messages. He says
(12110) of Thursday night,
“Normanz cele nuit se gaitierent,
E tote nuit armé veillierent;
Tote nuit furent en suspeiz,
Kar dit lor fu ke li Engleiz
Cele nuit tresk’à els vendreient
E cele nuit les assaldreient.
Ço meismes les Engleiz cremeient
Ke Normanz la nuit les guerreient;
Issi unt tote nuit veillié,
Li uns por li altres gaitié.”
All this proves the existence of a very natural expectation on both
sides, but it proves nothing as to Harold’s real intentions. An
examination of the ground is enough to show what Harold’s plan really
was.
Footnote 1256
See Appendix KK.
Footnote 1257
See Appendix KK.
Footnote 1258
Hen. Hunt. M. H. B. 763 B. “Quum ergo Haraldus totam gentem suam
in unâ acie strictissimè locâsset, _et quasi castellum inde
construxisset_, impenetrabiles erant Normannis.”
Footnote 1259
On the name Senlac, see Appendix KK.
Footnote 1260
The position is well described by Guy of Amiens (365);
“Mons silvæ vicinus erat, vicinaque vallis,
Et non cultus ager asperitate suâ.”
Footnote 1261
Chron. Wig. 1066. “He [Harold] com him tógenes æt þære háran
apuldran.” The name is not uncommon in the description of boundaries
in the Charters.
Footnote 1262
See above, p. 124.
Footnote 1263
Roman de Rou, 12106;
“Héraut a li lieu esgardé,
Clore l’a fet de boen fossé;
De treiz parz leissa treiz entrées
Ki à garder sunt comandées.”
Footnote 1264
See above, p. 438.
Footnote 1265
Flor. Wig. 1066. “Quia arto in loco constituti fuerant Angli, de acie
se multi subtraxere, et cum eo [Haroldo] perpauci constantes corde
remansere.” Something of the same kind may be thought to be implied
in the words of the Worcester Chronicler; “Ac se kyng þeah him swiðe
heardlice wið feaht, mid þam mannum þe him gelæstan woldon.” See
Appendix HH.
Footnote 1266
This, to say nothing of the best evidence of all, the circumstances
of the battle itself, is implied in the language of those who speak
of the insufficient numbers of the army. See the extract from the
Worcester Chronicle, p. 445.
Footnote 1267
Tapestry, plates 12, 13. We shall hear of them again.
Footnote 1268
Will. Malms. iii. 239. Harold’s spies, as in the former case (see
above, p. 388), are well received and shown everything. They then
make their report, and “serio addiderunt, penè omnes in exercitu
illo presbyteros videri, quod totam faciem cum utroque labio rasam
haberent.... Subrisit Rex fatuitatem referentium, lepido insequutus
cachinno, quia non essent presbyteri, sed milites armis validi,
animis invicti.” So Roman de Rou, 12238–12253. William of Malmesbury
here comments on the English custom of wearing the moustache (see
vol. ii. p. 27), which he oddly connects with Cæsar’s account of the
Welsh of his day.
Footnote 1269
See Appendix KK.
Footnote 1270
Roman de Rou, 12254 et seqq. See Appendix GG.
Footnote 1271
Cf. Roman de Rou, 12290, with William of Malmesbury, iii. 240; and
see Appendix GG.
Footnote 1272
Roman de Rou, 12262;
“U se mist al boen jugement
De l’Apostoile è de sa gent.”
And see Appendix GG.
Footnote 1273
See Roman de Rou, 12437.
Footnote 1274
Will. Malms. iii. 241. “Angli, ut accepimus, totam noctem insomnem
cantibus potibusque ducentes.” So Wace, 12465, who gives us some
curious bits of English;
“Quant la bataille dut joster,
La nuit avant, ço oï conter,
Furent Engleiz forment haitiez,
Mult riant è mult enveisiez;
Tote nuit mangierent è burent
Unkes la nuit et lit ne jurent.
Mult les véissiez demener,
Treper, è saillir è chanter;
_Bublie_ crient è _weissel_
E _laticome_ è _drincheheil_,
_Drinc Hindrewart_ è _Drintome_,
_Drinc Helf_ è _drinc Tome_.”
Footnote 1275
Will. Malms. iii. 242. “Contra Normanni, nocte totâ confessioni
peccatorum vacantes, mane Dominico Corpore communicârunt.”
Footnote 1276
Will. Pict. 131. “Aderant comitati e Normanniâ duo Pontifices, Odo
Baiocensis et Goisfredus Constantinus; unà multus clerus et monachi
nonnulli. Id collegium _precibus pugnare_ disponitur.” So Ord. Vit.
501 A. Of Odo at least the Tapestry tells another story. Compare the
English Prelates at Assandun, vol. i. p. 432.
Footnote 1277
On Geoffrey of Mowbray (Bishop 1048–1093) and his vast possessions in
England, see Ellis, i. 400.
Footnote 1278
Chron. Petrib. 1087. “He wæs swiðe ríce bisceop on Normandige; on
Baius wæs his bisceopstol ... and he hæfde eorldom on Englelande.”
Cf. 1088.
Footnote 1279
Wace (12478–12522) is very full on the ministrations of the two
Bishops, and on the devotions of the army, both during the night
and on the morning before the battle. The vow is thus described
(12485–12490);
“Por ço ke samedi esteit,
Ke la bataille estre debveit,
Unt Normanz pramis è voé,
Si com li cler l’orent loé,
Ke à cet jor mez s’il veskeient,
Char ne saunc ne maingereint.”
Footnote 1280
The piety of the English on the night before Azincourt is insisted on
in some of our accounts. Take Elmham for instance (479);
“Nox pluvialis ibi plebem sine pane madebat:
Ad Dominum vigiles quique dedere preces.”
So Walsingham, ii. 310, ed. Riley; Monstrelet, vol. i. c. 146, p.
227 _b_. What the French are chiefly charged with is playing at
dice for English ransoms. See Redman, p. 45, ed. Cole. This is the
point chiefly brought out by Shakespeare, Henry V, Act iv. Chorus.
Compare also the accounts of the night before Lewes, the piety of the
patriots and the foul excesses of the royalists. Rishanger, Chron. p.
25; Chron. Lanercost, 75; Political Songs (Camden Soc.), p. 80.
Footnote 1281
See the legend in Appendix II.
Footnote 1282
See above, p. 19.
Footnote 1283
Will. Pict. 131. “Ipse mysterio missæ quam maximâ cum devotione
assistens, Corporis ac Sanguinis Dominici communicatione suum et
corpus et animam munivit.”
Footnote 1284
We have the speech in William of Poitiers (132), Henry of Huntingdon
(M. H. B. 762, 763), and Wace (12531 et seqq.). William candidly
says, “Exhortationem, quâ pro tempore breviter militum virtuti
plurimum alacritatis addidit, egregiam fuisse non dubitamus, etsi
nobis non ex totâ dignitate suâ relatam.” The two chief points in his
summary are the glories of the Normans in earlier warfare (“Commonuit
Normannos quod in multis atque magnis periculis victores tamen
se duce semper exstiterint. Commonuit omnes patriæ suæ, nobilium
gestorum magnique nominis”) and the small renown of the English
(“Sæpenumerò Anglos hostili ferro dejectos cecidisse, plerumque
superatos in hostis venisse deditionem, numquam gloriâ militiæ
laudatos”). Henry of Huntingdon, allowably enough, has worked up
these two points into an elaborate harangue, which amounts to a sort
of panegyrical history of Normandy. Wace enlarges chiefly on the sins
of the English, the massacre of Saint Brice, the fate of Ælfred, and
such like. I have briefly worked in the chief points of all three
versions.
Footnote 1285
Hen. Hunt. 762 D. “Nonne patres vestri Regem Francorum in Rotomago
cœperunt, et tenuerunt donec Ricardo puero, Duci vestro, Normanniam
reddidit eo pacto, quòd in omni colloquutione Regis Franciæ et Ducis
Normanniæ gladio Dux accingeretur, Regem verò nec gladium nec etiam
cultellum ferre liceret.” See vol. i. pp. 244, 247, and especially
Palgrave, ii. 495. I do not pledge myself to the terms of the peace.
Footnote 1286
Henry enlarges only on Mortemer, and says nothing about Varaville.
But William would hardly leave out his own special exploit. About
Val-ès-dunes, a victory won over his own people, he might well hold
his peace.
I leave out one or two purely legendary stories in Henry’s version.
Footnote 1287
Wace is rather lavish of this word; William comes (12545)
“Por vengier li fèlunies
Li traïsuns, li feiz menties,
Ki li homes de cest païs
Unt fet à notre gent toz dis.”
And again, 12575;
“Teles felunies è plusors
K’il unt fete à nos ancessors
Et à nos amis ensement,
Ki se contindrent noblement.”
Footnote 1288
In the rhetoric of the Archdeacon of Huntingdon (M. H. B. 763 A, B),
“Erigite vexilla, viri, nec sit iræ promeritæ modus vel modestia.
Ab Oriente ad Occidentem videatur fulmen gloriæ vestræ, audiatur
tonitruum impetus vestri, vindicesque generosissimi sanguinis.”
Footnote 1289
Roman de Rou, 12527; “En un tertre s’estut li Dus.” In the Tapestry
(pl. 13), William is shown on horseback addressing his soldiers; “Hic
Wilelm Dux alloquitur suis militibus ut prepararent se viriliter et
sapienter ad prelium contra Anglorum exercitum.” But as the word
“sapienter” alone might almost show, this scene comes later in the
day.
Footnote 1290
Ib. 12627;
“Vint Willame li filz Osber,
_Son cheval tot covert de fer_;
Sire, dist-il, trop demoron.”
Wace is here guilty of an anachronism, as the horses in the Tapestry
are not covered with armour. See Taylor’s note, 163.
Footnote 1291
I think there can be no doubt that the famous scene of the hauberk
must be placed on the height of Telham. Wace probably did not know
the ground, and did not realize the distance between Hastings and
Battle. William and his knights would hardly ride so far in their
full armour, and the real site is clearly marked in two other
writers. The Chronicler of Battle Abbey (p. 3) is very distinct;
“Perveniens ad locum collis qui Hechelande dicitur, a parte
Hastingarum situm, dum sese invicem armis munire contendunt, ac eidem
Duci lorica ad induendum porrigitur, ex improviso inversa ipsi oblata
est.” The Brevis Relatio (7) is even more precise; “Pervenientes
itaque usque ad unum collem qui erat a parte Hastingarum contra illum
collem in quo erat Heraldus et exercitus ejus, ibi ut, erant armati,
paullisper substiterunt, intuentes Anglorum exercitum.” It is just
possible that Wace, by his “tertre,” meant the hill of Telham, only
without any idea of its distance from Hastings. Cf. Guy of Amiens
(343);
“Haud procul hostiles cuneos nam cernit adesse,
Et plenum telis irradiare nemus.”
On the identity of Telham and Heathland see Lower, Contributions to
Literature, 40; Sussex Archæological Collections, vi. 20.
Footnote 1292
Will. Pict. 131. “Terreret alium loricæ, dum vestiretur, sinistra
conversio. Hanc conversionem risit ille ut casum, non ut mali
prodigium expavit.” Roman de Rou, 12647;
“Cil en furent espoenté,
Ki li haubert unt esgardé.”
Footnote 1293
See above, p. 405.
Footnote 1294
Will. Malms. iii. 242. “Ministrorum tumultu loricam inversam indutus,
casum risu correxit, ‘Vertetur,’ inquiens, ‘fortitudo comitatûs mei
in regnum.’” So Roman de Rou, 12665;
“Li nom ki ert de Duché
Veneiz de Duc a Rei torné;
Reis serai ki Duc ai esté,
N’en aiez mie altre pensé.”
The Battle Chronicler attributes the witty saying to William
Fitz-Osbern.
Footnote 1295
Roman de Rou, 12673;
“Sun boen cheval fist demander,
Ne poeit l’en meillor trover;
De l’Espaingne li out envéié,
Un Reis par mult grant amistié.”
On Alfonso see above, p. 112, and Appendix O.
Footnote 1296
Roman de Rou, 12679;
“Galtier Giffart l’out amené,
Ki à Saint Jame aveit esté.”
Footnote 1297
See above, p. 314.
Footnote 1298
Roman de Rou, 12685;
“Li visquens de Toarz guarda
Coment li Dus armes porta;
A sa gent a entor sei dit:
Hom mez si bel armé ne vit,
...
Soz ciel tel chevalier n’en a
Beau quens è beau Rei sera.”
Footnote 1299
Brevis Relatio (7). “Armatus itaque, et se et totum exercitum
suum Domino commendans, cœpit inquirere a quodam milite qui juxta
eum erat, ubi Heraldum putaret esse. Respondit autem ille quod
putabat eum esse in illo spisso agmine quod erat ante eos in montis
summitate, nam, sicut putabat, Heraldi standarium ibi videbat.”
This is a good instance of the way in which one authority fits
into another. This scene is evidently the same as that which is
represented in the Tapestry (plate 12); “Willelm Dux interrogat Vital
si vidisset exercitum Haroldi.” This Vital, it will be remembered
(see Appendix A), was a dependant of Odo, and the mention of a person
otherwise unknown, but who held much land in Kent under his patron,
is one of the proofs of the connexion of the Tapestry with the Bishop
of Bayeux.
Footnote 1300
The vow comes from the Battle Chronicle (3), where it immediately
follows the story of the hauberk; “Unde et nunc, de ejus [Creatoris]
auxilio securus, ad vestras qui mei gratiâ hoc initis certamen
corroborandas manus ac mentes votum facio, me in hoc certaminis
loco pro salute cunctorum, et hic nominatim occumbentium ad honorem
Dei et sanctorum ejus, quo servi Dei adjuventur congruum, _cum
dignâ libertate_ fundaturum monasterium.” The words in Italics
come, I suspect, from the chronicler, not from the Duke. The vow
at such a moment is in every way probable, but William was hardly
already thinking of the exemption of the Abbey of Battle from the
jurisdiction of the Bishop of Chichester.
Footnote 1301
He was (Chron. Bell. 4) surnamed Faber, “quod cum sodalibus venatum
aliquando profectus, sagittis fortè deficientibus, quum quemdam
fabrum hujuscemodi operis ignarum adissent, ipse malleis arreptis
mox sagittam artificioso ingenio compegit.” His reason for being
where he was is characteristic; “Divulgato ipsius Ducis in Angliam
adventu, _gratiâ commodi ecclesiæ suæ_, cum reliquis exercitui sese
immiscuerat.”
Footnote 1302
Chron. Bell. u. s. “Idem monasterium in venerationem beati pontificis
Martini nominatim fundaretur suggessit.”
Footnote 1303
Wid. Amb. 413;
“Sed lævam Galli, dextram petiere Britanni,
Dux cum Normannis dimicat in medio.”
That is, the French were on the right, the Bretons on the left, of
the Normans.
Footnote 1304
Will. Pict. 133. “Britanni et quotquot auxiliares erant in sinistro
cornu.” Roman de Rou, 12795;
“De l’altre part Alain Fergant
Et Aimeri li cumbatant,
Poitevinz meront è Bretons
E del Maine toz li Barons.”
Cf. Wid. Amb. 255;
“Gensque Britannorum quorum decus exstat in armis,
Tellus ni fugiat est fuga nulla quibus;
Viribus illustres Cenomanni, gloria quorum
Bello monstratur per probitatis opem.”
Footnote 1305
See vol. i. p. 208.
Footnote 1306
Roman de Rou, 13625;
“Joste la cumpaigne Néel
Chevalcha Raol de Gael;
Bret esteit è Bretonz menout,
Por terre serveit ke il out.”
See Appendix LL.
Footnote 1307
See vol. ii. p. 196.
Footnote 1308
Roman de Rou, 12784;
“Venir a fet avant Rogier
Ke l’en dist de Montgomeri:
Forment, dist-il, en vos me fi;
...
E Guillame un seneschal,
Li filz Osber un boen vassal,
Ensemble od vos chevalchera
Et ovec vos les assaldra.
Li Boilogneiz è li Pohiers
Aureiz è toz mes soldéiers.”
“Soldéiers,” “soldarii,” are of course mercenaries.
Footnote 1309
See vol. ii. p. 197.
Footnote 1310
See above, pp. 258, 295.
Footnote 1311
See vol. ii. p. 132. Eustace stands first on the list in William of
Poitiers, 135.
Footnote 1312
Will. Pict. 132. “Ipse fuit in medio cum firmissimo robore, unde in
omnem partem consuleret manu et voce.”
Footnote 1313
See vol. ii. pp. 245, 267. So Roman de Rou, 13486;
“Bien firent cel de Béessin,
E li baronz de Costentin,
E Néel de Saint Salvéor,
Mult s’entremet d’aveir l’amor
E li boen gré de son seignor.”
But Neal’s presence is called in question by Prevost (Wace, ii. 231),
Taylor (207), and Delisle (Saint-Sauveur, 21). I do not see that they
at all upset Wace.
Footnote 1314
Roman de Rou, 13636;
“Li archier du Val de Roil,
Ensemle od els cels de Bretoil,
A maint Engleiz creverent l’oil.”
Footnote 1315
A single ἱπποτοξότης appears in the Tapestry at the very end of the
battle, pl. 16. I get my details of costume from the Tapestry, pl. 13
and onwards.
Footnote 1316
See above, p. 455.
Footnote 1317
See above, p. 257.
Footnote 1318
Il. vii. 140.
Footnote 1319
In the Tapestry William appears armed only with the mace. That it
is the mace I have no doubt. In pl. 13, where William is addressing
his army, it might be a mere baton of command (see vol. ii. p. 255),
but in pl. 15 he is shown wielding the same weapon in the very
thickest of the battle. William’s weapon is also exactly the same as
the “baculus” (Tapestry, pl. 15) or “baston” (Roman de Rou 13259)
of Odo. William of Poitiers arms William with the sword (“fulminans
ense”—like Eadmund at Assandun, see vol. i. p. 430—“stravit adversam
gentem” 134), so does Guy (469 “abstracto gladio,” 483 “devorat
ense”). The point is that all agree in arming him with a weapon of
close conflict, not with the lance, which, as we shall see, he uses
only for quite another purpose. He may very well have carried both
mace and sword, but the sword does not appear in the Tapestry.
Footnote 1320
Will. Pict. 131. “Appendit etiam _humili_ collo suo relliquias,
quarum favorem Heraldus abalienaverat sibi, violatâ fide quam super
eas jurando sanxerat.”
Footnote 1321
Roman de Rou, 13765;
“Li Quens Robert de Moretoing
Ne se tint mie del Duc loing;
Frere ert li Dus de par sa mere,
Grant aïe fist à son frere.”
Footnote 1322
See above, p. 151.
Footnote 1323
See Ellis, i. 455. He held the very first-fruits of the Conquest as
possessor of the town of Pevensey. Domesday, 20 _b_.
Footnote 1324
Ord. Vit. 501 B. “Turstinus filius Rollonis vexillum Normannorum
portavit.” Roman de Rou, 12773;
“Tosteins filz Rou le Blanc out non,
Al Bec en Caux aveit meison.”
William of Poitiers (132) says only, “Vexillo prævio quod Apostolicus
transmiserat,” without mentioning the bearer. I cannot see the banner
in the Tapestry.
Footnote 1325
See vol. i. p. 514.
Footnote 1326
See above, p. 159.
Footnote 1327
Roman de Rou, 12719;
“Portez, dist-il, mon gonfanon,
Ne vos voil fere se dreit non;
Par dreit è par anceissorie
Deivent estre de Normendie
Vostre parent gonfanonier,
Mult furent tuit boen chevalier.”
Footnote 1328
Ib. 12731;
“D’altre chose vos servirai;
En la bataille od vos irai,
Et as Engleiz me combatrai
Tant ke jo vis estre porrai;
Saciez ke ma main plus valdra
Ke tels vint homes i aura.”
Footnote 1329
See above, p. 129.
Footnote 1330
Roman de Rou, 12743;