saga-writers of their time—William of Jumiéges, who wrote in the
lifetime of William the Conqueror, and Master Wace, of Caen, who was
born on the island of Jersey, between thirty and forty years after
the conquest of England. His "Roman de Rou" is most spirited and
interesting, but, naturally, the earlier part of it is not always
reliable. Both the chroniclers meant to tell the truth, but writing at
a later date for the glory of Normandy, and in such a credulous age,
we must forgive them their inaccuracies.
They have a great deal more to say about Richard the Good than about
his two sons, Richard and Robert. Richard was acknowledged as duke by
all the barons after his father's death, and then went in state to
Paris to do homage to King Robert. This we learn from the records of
his contract of marriage with the king's daughter, Lady Adela, who was
a baby in her cradle, and the copy of the settlements is preserved,
or, at least, the account of the dowry [Pg113] which Richard
promised. This was the /seigneurie/ of the whole Côtentin country, and
several other baronies and communes; Cherbourg and Bruot and Caen, and
many cities and lands besides. Poor little Lady Adela! and poor young
husband, too, for that matter; for this was quite a heartless affair
of state, and neither of them was to be any happier for all their
great possessions.
In the meantime Robert, the Duke's brother, was not in the least
satisfied, and made an outcry because, though he was lord of the
beautiful county of Exmes, the city of Falaise was withheld from him.
There was a man from Brittany who urged him to resent his wrongs, and
made trouble between the brothers; Ermenoldus he was called, /the
theosophist/; and there is a great mystery about him which the old
writers stop to wonder over. He was evidently a sort of magician, and
those records that can be discovered give rise to a suspicion that he
had strayed far eastward with some pirate fleet toward Asia, and had
learned there to work wonders and to compass his ends by uncanny means.
There was a siege of Falaise, which Robert seized and tried to keep by
main strength; but Richard's army was too much for him, and at last he
sued for peace. The brothers went back to Rouen apparently the best
of friends; but there was a grand banquet in Rolf's old castle, and
Richard was suddenly death-struck as he sat at the head of the feast,
and was carried to his bed, where he quickly breathed his last. The
funeral bell began to toll while the banquet still went on, and the
barons made themselves merry in the old hall. [Pg114]
There was great lamentation, for Richard was already much beloved, and
nobody doubted that he had been poisoned. So Robert came to the throne
of Normandy with a black stain upon his character, and during all the
rest of his life that stain was not overlooked nor forgotten.
As for the baby-widow, she afterward became the wife of the Count of
Flanders, Baldwin de Lisle, and she was the mother of Matilda, who was
the wife of William the Conqueror.
[Illustration]
[Pg115]
[Illustration]
VI.
ROBERT THE MAGNIFICENT.
"What exile from himself can flee?"—BYRON.
Before we begin the story of the next Duke of Normandy whose two
surnames, the Devil, and the Magnificent, give us a broad hint of
his character, we must take a look at the progress of affairs in the
dukedom. There is one thing to be remembered in reading this history,
or any other, that history is not merely the story of this monarch
or that, however well he may represent the age in which he lived and
signify its limitations and development.
In Normandy one cannot help seeing that a power has been at work
bringing a new Northern element into the country, and that there has
been a great growth in every way since Rolf came with his vikings and
besieged the city of Jumièges. Now the dukedom that he formed is one
of the foremost of its day, able to stand on equal ground with the
royal kingdom and duchy of France, for Robert's homage is only the
homage of equals and allies. Normandy is the peer of Burgundy and of
Flanders, and every day increases in strength, in [Pg116] ambition,
in scholarship and wealth. The influence and /prestige/ of the dukedom
are recognized everywhere, and soon the soldiers of Normandy are
going to take hold of English affairs and master them with unequalled
strength. Chivalry is in the bloom of its youth, and the merchants of
Falaise, and Rouen, and their sister cities, are rich and luxurious.
The women are skilled in needlework and are famous for their beauty
and intelligence. Everywhere there are new castles and churches, and
the land swarms with inhabitants who hardly find room enough, while
the great army hardly draws away the overplus of men from the farms
and workshops. There are whole districts like the Côtentin peninsula,
that are nearly ready to pour out their population into some new
country, like bees when they swarm in early summer, and neither the
fashion of going on pilgrimage to the holy shrines, nor the spirit
that leads to any warlike adventure, are equal to the need for a new
conquest of territory, and a general emigration.
There are higher standards everywhere in law and morals and customs of
home-life. The nobles are very proud and keep up a certain amount of
state in their high stone castles. In the Côtentin alone the ruins of
more than a hundred of these can yet be seen, and all over Normandy
and Brittany are relics of that busy, prosperous time. The whole
territory is like a young man who has reached his majority, and who
feels a strength and health and ambition that make him restless, and
make him believe himself capable of great things.
[Pg117]
[Illustration: NORMAN COSTUMES.
1. Herdsman. 2. Man of rank. 3. Pilgrim. 4, 5, 6, 7, 8. Warriors. 9.
Man of rank. 10. Lady of rank.]
[Pg118]
From followers of the black ravens and worshippers of the god Thor,
the Normans have become Christians and devout followers of the Church
of Rome. They go on pilgrimage to distant shrines and build churches
that the world may well wonder at to-day and try to copy. They have
great houses for monks and nuns, and crowds of priests and scholars,
and it would not be easy to find worshippers of the old faith unless
among old people and in secluded neighborhoods. There is little left
of the old Northman's fashions of life but his spirit is as vigorous
as ever, and his courage, and recklessness, his love of a fight and
hatred of cowardice, his beauty and shapeliness, are sent down from
generation to generation, a surer inheritance than lands or money. We
grow eager, ourselves, to see what will come of this leaven of daring
and pride of strength. There is no such thing for Normandy now, as
tranquillity.
Duke Robert's story is chiefly interesting to us because he was the
father of William the Conqueror, and in most of the accounts of that
time it is hard to find any thing except various versions of his
course toward his more famous son. But in reality he was a very gifted
and powerful man, and strange to say, the conquest of England was only
the carrying out of a plan that was made by Duke Robert himself.
The two young sons of Emma and Æthelred were still in Normandy, and
the Duke thought it was a great pity that they were neglected and
apparently forgotten by their countrymen. He undertook to be their
champion, and boldly demanded that King [Pg119] Cnut of England
should consider their rights. He sent an embassy to England and bade
Cnut "give them their own," which probably meant the English crown.
Cnut disdained the message, as might have been expected, and Duke
Robert armed his men and fitted out a fleet, and all set sail for
England to force the Dane to recognize the young princes. It sounds
very well that the Normans should have been so eager to serve the
Duke's cousins, but no doubt they were talking together already about
the possibility of extending their dominions across the Channel. They
were disappointed now, however, for they were beaten back and out of
their course by very bad weather, and had to put in at the island of
Jersey. From there they took a short excursion to Brittany, because
Robert and his cousin Alan were not on good terms, Alan having refused
to do homage to Normandy. There was a famous season of harrying
and burning along the Breton coast, which may have reconciled the
adventurers to their disappointment, but at any rate the conquest of
England was put off for forty years. One wonders how Cnut's Queen
Emma felt about the claims of her sons. It was a strange position for
her to be put into. A Norman woman herself who had virtually forsaken
her children, she could hardly blame her brother for his efforts to
restore them to their English belongings, and yet she was bound to her
new English interests, and must have different standards as Danish
Cnut's wife from those of Saxon Æthelred's. There is an announcement
in one of the Norman chronicles that Cnut sent a message to the
[Pg120] effect that he would give the princes their rights at his
death. This must have been for the sake of peace, but it is not very
likely that any such thing ever happened.
A new acquaintance between the countries must have grown out of the
banishment of some of the English nobles in the early part of Cnut's
reign, and they no doubt strengthened the interest of the Normans,
and made their desire to possess England greater than ever before. We
shall be conscious of it more and more until the time of the Conquest
comes. The Normans plotted and planned again and again, and their
intrigues continually grew more dangerous to England. It is plain to
see that they were always watching for a chance to try their strength,
and were not unwilling to provoke a quarrel. Eadward, one of the
English princes, was ready to claim his rights, but he had learned
to be very fond of Normandy, and his half-heartedness served his
adopted country well when he came at last to the English throne. For
the present we lose sight of him, but not of Ælfred his brother, who
ventured to England on an expedition which cost him his life, but that
failure made the Norman desire for revenge burn hotter and deeper than
before, though the ashes of disappointment covered it for a time.
Duke Robert's reign began with a grand flourish, as if he wished to
bribe his subjects into forgetfulness of his brother Richard's death.
There were splendid feasts and presents of armor and fine clothes for
his retainers, and he won his name of the Magnificent in the very face
of those who whispered [Pg121] that he was a murderer. He was very
generous, and seems to have given presents for the pleasure it gave
himself rather than from any underhand motives of gaining popularity.
We are gravely told that some of his beneficiaries died of joy, which
strikes one as being somewhat exaggerated.
The old castle of Rolf at Rouen was forsaken for the castle of
Falaise. No doubt there were unpleasant associations with Rolf's hall,
where poor Richard had been seized with his mysterious mortal illness.
Falaise, with its hunting-grounds and pleasant woods and waters and
its fine situation, was Robert's favorite home forever after. There he
brought his wife Estrith, Cnut's sister, who first had been the wife
of Ulf the Danish king, and there he lived in a free companionship
with his nobles and with great condescension towards his inferiors,
with whom he was often associated in most familiar terms.
There were chances enough to show his valor. Once Baldwin the elder,
of Flanders, was attacked by his son Baldwin de Lisle, who had put
himself at the head of an army, and the poor Count was forced to flee
to Falaise for shelter and safety. Any excuse for going to war seems
to have been accepted in Normandy; the country was brimming over with
people. There was almost more population than the land could support,
and Robert led his men to Flanders with great alacrity, and settled
the mutiny so entirely that there was no more trouble. Flanders was
brought to a proper state of submission, as if in revenge for old
scores. At last the noblemen who had upheld the insurrection all
deserted the leader of [Pg122] it, and both they and young Baldwin
besought Robert to make the terms of peace. After this, Flanders and
Normandy were very friendly together, and before long they formed a
most significant alliance of the royal houses.
In Robert's strolls about Falaise, perhaps in disguise, like another
Haroun al Raschid, his beauty-loving eyes caught sight one day of a
young girl who was standing bare-footed in a shallow brook, washing
linen, and making herself merry with a group of busy young companions.
This was Arlette, or Herleva, according as one gives her the Saxon
or the Norman name; her father was a brewer and tanner, who had been
attracted to Falaise from Germany by the reputation of its leather
manufactures and good markets. The pastures and hunting-grounds made
skins very cheap and abundant, but the trade of skinning of beasts was
considered a most degrading one, and those who pursued it in ancient
times were thought less of than those who followed almost any other
occupation. If we were not sure of this, we might suspect the Norman
nobles of casting undue shame and reproach upon this man Fulbert.
Duke Robert seems to have quite forgotten his lawful wife in his new
love-making with Herleva. Even the tanner himself objected to the
duke's notice of his daughter, but who could withstand the wishes of
so great a man? Not Fulbert, who accepted the inevitable with a good
grace, for later in the story he shows himself a faithful retainer and
household official of his lord and master. Robert never seems to have
recovered from his first [Pg123] devotion to the pretty creature who
stood with slender, white feet in the brook, and turned so laughing
a face toward him. They showed not long ago the very castle-window
in Falaise from which he caught his first sight of the woman who
was to rule his life. He did not marry her, though Estrith was sent
away; but they had a son, who was named William, who himself added
the titles of the Great and The Conqueror, but who never escaped
hearing to his life's end the shame and ignominy of his birth. We
cannot doubt that it was as mean an act then as now to taunt a man
with the disgrace he could not help; but of all the great men who
were of illegitimate birth whom we know in the pages of history,
this famous William is oftenest openly shamed by his title of the
Bastard. He won much applause; he was the great man of his time, but
from pique, or jealousy, or prejudice, perhaps from some faults that
he might have helped, he was forever accused of the shame that was
not his. The Bastard,—the Tanner's Grandson; he was never allowed to
forget, through any heroism or success in war, or furthering of Norman
fortunes, that these titles belonged to him.
The pride of the Norman nobles was dreadfully assailed by Duke
Robert's shameful alliance with Herleva. All his relations, who had
more or less right to the ducal crown, were enraged beyond control.
Estrith had no children, and this beggarly little fellow who was
growing plump and rosy in the tanner's house, was arch-enemy of
all the proud lords and gentlemen. There was plenty of scandal and
mockery [Pg124] in Falaise, and the news of Robert's base behavior
was flying from village to village through Normandy and France. The
common people of Falaise laughed in the faces of the barons and
courtiers as they passed in the street, and one day an old burgher and
neighbor of the tanner asked William de Talvas, the head of one of
the most famous Norman families, to go in with him to see the Duke's
son. The Lord of Alençon was very angry when he looked at the innocent
baby-face. He saw, by some strange foreboding and prevision, the
troubles that would fall upon his own head because of this vigorous
young life, and, as he cursed the unconscious child again and again,
his words only echoed the fear that was creeping through Normandy.
Robert was very bold in his defiance of public opinion, and before
long the old tanner sheds his blouse like the cocoon of a caterpillar,
and blooms out resplendent in the gay trappings of court chamberlain.
Herleva was given the place as duchess which did not legally belong to
her, and this hurt the pride of the ladies and gentlemen of the court
and the country in a way that all Robert's munificence and generosity
could not repay or cure. The age was licentious enough, but public
opinion demanded a proper conformity to law and etiquette. All the
aristocratic house of Rolf's descendants, the valor and scholarship
and churchmanship of Normandy, were insulted at once. The trouble
fermented more and more, until the Duke's uncle, the Archbishop of
Rouen, called his nephew to account for such open sin and disgrace
of his kindred, and finally [Pg125] excommunicated him and put all
Normandy under a ban.
Somehow this outbreak was quieted down, and just then Robert was
called upon, not only to settle the quarrel in Flanders above
mentioned, but to uphold the rights of the French king. For his
success in this enterprise he was granted the district of the Vexin,
which lay between Normandy and France, and so the Norman duchy
extended its borders to the very walls of Paris. Soon other questions
of pressing importance rose up to divert public comment; it was no
time to provoke the Duke's anger, and there was little notice taken of
Herleva's aggravating presence in the ducal castle, or the untoward
growth and flourishing of her son.
At length Duke Robert announced his intention of going on a pilgrimage
to Jerusalem. He wished to show his piety and to gain as much credit
as possible, so the long journey was to be made on foot. The Norman
barons begged him not to think of such a thing, for in the excited
condition of French and Norman affairs nothing could be more imprudent
than to leave the dukedom masterless. "By my faith!" Robert answered
stoutly, "I do not mean to leave you without a lord. Here is my young
son, who will grow and be a gallant man, by God's help; I command you
to take him for your lord, for I make him my heir and give him my
whole duchy of Normandy."
There was a stormy scene in the council, and however we may scorn
Robert's foolish, selfish present-giving and his vulgarity, we cannot
help pitying him [Pg126] as he pleads with the knights and bishops
for their recognition of his innocent boy. We pity the Duke's shame,
while his natural feeling toward the child wars with his disgust. With
all his eloquence, with all his authority, he entreats the scornful
listeners until they yield. They have warned him against the danger
of the time, and of what he must expect, not only if he goes on
pilgrimage and leaves the dukedom to its undefended fate, but also
if he further provokes those who are already his enemies, and who
resent the presence of his illegitimate child. But he dares to put
the base-born lad over the dukedom of Normandy as his own successor.
He even goes to the king of France and persuades him to receive the
unworthy namesake of Longsword as vassal and next duke, and to Alan
of Brittany, who consents to be guardian. Then at last the unwilling
barons do homage to the little lord—a bitter condescension and service
it must have been!
After all the ceremonies were finished, Robert lost no time in
starting on his pilgrimage. He sought the shrine of Jerusalem, many a
weary mile away, over mountain and fen, past dangers of every sort.
Nothing could be more characteristic than his performance of his
penance or his pleasure journey—whichever he called it—for although he
went on foot, he spent enormous sums in showering alms upon the people
who came out to greet him. Heralds rode before him, and prepared his
lodging and reception, and the great procession of horses and grooms
and beasts of burden grew longer and longer as he went on his way.
Once they blocked up the [Pg127] gateway of a town, and the keeper
fell upon the pilgrim Duke, ignorantly, and gave him a good thrashing
to make him hurry on with his idle crowd. Robert piously held back
those of his followers who would have beaten the warder in return, and
said that it was well for him to show himself a pattern of humility
and patience, and such suffering was meant for the good of one's soul.
[Illustration: ROBERT, DUKE OF NORMANDY, CARRIED IN A LITTER TO
JERUSALEM.
(FROM AN OLD ILLUMINATED MANUSCRIPT.)]
[Pg128]
The Duke did a great many foolish things; for one, he had his horses
shod with silver shoes, held on by only one nail, and gave orders that
none of his servants should pick up the shoes when they were cast, but
let them lie in the road.
At last the pilgrims reached Constantinople, and Robert made a great
display of his wealth, not to speak of his insolent bad manners.
The emperor, Michael, treated his rude guests with true Eastern
courtesy, and behaved himself much more honorably than those who
despised him and called him names. He even paid all the expenses of
the Norman procession, but, no doubt, he was anxious not to give
any excuse for displeasure or disturbance between the Northerners
and his own citizens. When the visit was over, and Robert moved on
toward Jerusalem, his already feeble health, broken by his bad life,
grew more and more alarming, and at last he could not take even a
very short journey on foot, and was carried in a litter by negroes.
The Crusades were filling the roads with pilgrims and soldiers, and
travellers of every sort. One day they met a Côtentin man, an old
acquaintance of Robert's. The Duke said with grim merriment that he
was borne like a corpse on a bier. "My lord," asked the Crusader, who
seems to have been sincerely shocked and doleful at the sight of the
Duke's suffering; "my lord, what shall I say for you when I reach
home?" "That you saw me carried toward Paradise by four devils," said
the Duke, readier at any time to joke about life than to face it
seriously and to do his duty. He kept up the pretence of travelling
unknown and in [Pg129] disguise, like a humbler pilgrim, but his
lavishness alone betrayed the secret he would really have been sorry
to keep. Outside the gates of Jerusalem there was always a great crowd
of people who were not able to pay the entrance-fee demanded of every
pilgrim; but Robert paid for himself and all the rest before he went
in at the gate. The long journey was almost ended, for on the way
home, at the city of Nicæa, the Duke was poisoned, and died, and was
buried there in the cathedral with great solemnity and lamentation. He
had collected a heap of relics of the saints, and these were brought
safely home to Normandy by Tostin, his chamberlain, who seems to have
served him faithfully all the way.
[Illustration]
[Pg130]
[Illustration]
VII.
THE NORMANS IN ITALY.
"And therefore must make room
Where greater spirits come."—MARVELL.
There is a famous old story about Hasting, the viking captain. Once
he went adventuring along the shores of the Mediterranean, and when
he came in sight of one of the Tuscan cities, he mistook it for Rome.
Evidently he had enough learning to furnish him with generous ideas
about the wealth of the Roman churches, but he had brought only a
handful of men, and the city looked large and strong from his narrow
ship. There was no use to think of such a thing as laying siege to the
town; such a measure would do hardly more than tease and provoke it:
so he planned a sharp stroke at its very heart.