Establishment Of The Normans In England. 1066-1087.
King Harold was dead, but England was not subdued. The
Wittenagemot had already reassembled in London to choose a new
leader for resistance to the invasion. The sons of Harold were
still children; and in accordance with a passion for hereditary
right remarkable in a country which had often rejected that
principle, the popular assembly chose Edgar Atheling, a
grand-nephew of Edward the Confessor, to receive the perilous
title of king of England. But Edgar was young, his intellect was
feeble, and the chiefs who surrounded him were haughty and
undisciplined. Stigand, the archbishop of Canterbury, was still
endeavoring to organize the army, with the assistance of the
Earls Edwin and Morcar, when the approach of the Normans rendered
it necessary to make an immediate effort. After leaving Hastings,
near which town he afterwards built Battle Abbey, the Conqueror
had begun his march upon London. The city was well defended:
after a slight attack William set fire to Southwark, and,
spreading his troops over the country, pillaged the domains of
all the thanes assembled at the Wittenagemot. He enclosed the
capital in a circle of fire and plunder which raised fears of a
famine. Edwin and Morcar, as well as the Saxon prelates, had
already begun to lose courage. The reinforcements expected from
the distant provinces were stopped by the Normans. William was at
Berkhampstead, still threatening London. An embassy was
despatched with a view to conciliate him.
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Soon afterwards the young king Edgar and all his counsellors,
including Stigand, Edwin, and Morcar, presented themselves before
the Norman--the king to renounce his empty title, the earls to
swear fidelity to the conqueror. The duke received them affably:
he promised in his turn to govern with mildness, in accordance
with the ancient laws, and raising his camp at Berkhampstead he
advanced towards London. For a moment he had appeared to hesitate
with regard to the opportunity for his coronation; but his barons
urged him to take the title which he had won at the point of the
sword, and William voluntarily allowed himself to be guided by
them, though only consenting to stay in London after he should
have built a fortress for his residence.
He had need to defend himself: for at every step the hostility of
the people over whom he sought to rule displayed itself
energetically. On arriving at St. Alban's the Normans found the
way obstructed by a number of large trees thrown across the road.
"Who has done this?" inquired William angrily. "I," replied the
Abbot of St. Alban's, presenting himself before him; "and if
others of my rank and profession had done as much, you would not
have advanced as far as this." The conqueror did no harm to the
proud abbot; but on the day of his coronation he surrounded
Westminster Abbey with battalions of his Normans before entering
beneath its majestic roof, attended by his barons and by the
Saxons who in a small number had rallied round him. Stigand had
submitted; but he had refused to crown the usurper. This duty,
therefore, fell upon the Archbishop of York, Aldred, a prudent
man, who was able to discern the signs of the times. At the
moment when the duke entered the church the acclamations of the
bystanders were so noisy that the Normans posted outside,
believing that they were fighting in the sacred edifice, rushed
into the neighboring houses and set them afire.
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The cries of the inhabitants, the clatter of arms, frightened in
their turn the spectators of the ceremony; they hurried in a
crowd to the door, hastening to get out, and William soon found
himself almost alone in the church with the priests and some
devoted friends. The coronation ceremony, however, continued, and
when the Duke of Normandy had issued from the church to appease
the tumult he had become king of England. The Normans had
dispersed to extinguish the fires or pillage the houses; the
Saxons murmured against them under the sombre prognostications of
a reign thus inaugurated by fire and sword. William left London
almost immediately, and his first measures, mild and conciliatory
in their nature, attracted around him a considerable number of
Saxon chiefs, to whom he confirmed the title to their domains. A
great extent of territory had already fallen into his hands, but
the time for dividing the spoil had not yet arrived. In the month
of March, 1067, William crossed over into Normandy, having
entrusted the government of England to his brother, the Bishop of
Bayeux.
Was his object to place in security the treasures which he had
acquired, or to give time for insurrections to break out in order
to suppress them energetically? Whatever may have been his
motives he remained eight months in Normandy, enriching the
churches and abbeys with the spoils gathered in England, and
conducting through his hereditary states the dangerous subjects
whom he had brought in his suite, Stigand, Edwin, Morcar, and the
youthful Edgar Atheling.
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Meanwhile the Saxons were groaning under the exactions of Odo of
Bayeux, and did not confine themselves to groans. The risings
became numerous; the inhabitants of Kent had called to their
assistance Eustace of Boulogne, who had previously been the cause
of the discontent of the English with Edward the Confessor, and
who was now at enmity with the Conqueror. He came; but Dover
Castle opposed to his attacks an unexpected resistance, which
allowed the Normans time to arrive and repulse him. William had
returned to England when, in 1068, the ill-feeling of the
population of Devon drew upon that county the attention of the
conquerors. The aged Githa, the mother of Harold, was living at
Exeter, whither she had carried all her wealth. The fortress
refused to receive William and his garrison, offering only to pay
the taxes which were wont to be paid to the Saxon kings. "I
desire subjects, and do not accept their conditions," said
William, who ordered the assault to be commenced. The city was
well defended; it resisted for eighteen days. At length the
magistrates, less firm than the citizens, opened the gates, and
the inhabitants paid cruelly for their obstinacy. Githa, and the
ladies of her suite, succeeded in escaping, and in concealing
themselves in the little islands at the mouth of the Severn,
whence they set sail for Flanders. But scarcely was the outbreak
extinguished in the South when it broke forth in the North. Earl
Edwin, to whom William had lately refused to give the hand of one
of his daughters, as he had previously promised, had withdrawn
himself from his court, and the vassals, as well as the friends
of the earl, had already gathered around him in Northumbria. The
Conqueror at once commenced his march, and entering York took up
his position there after expelling the Saxons. While he was
pillaging and ravaging the environs the old Archbishop Aldred,
whose convoys had been seized, came to make complaint to the
king, and reproaching him with the cruelties committed in his
name. "Thou art a foreigner. King William," he exclaimed, "yet
Heaven desiring to punish our nation, thou hast obtained this
kingdom of England at the price of much bloodshed, and I have
anointed thee with my own hands. But I now curse thee and thy
race, because thou hast persecuted the Church of God and
oppressed its servants."
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Several Normans had already grasped the hilts of their swords;
but William restrained them, and permitted the priest to return
in safety into his palace, where he fell sick and died soon
afterward.
The capture of York had not discouraged the Northumbrians; they
attacked the Normans in Durham, and massacred them in numbers;
they had also received important reinforcements. Sweyn, king of
Denmark, at the solicitation of the sons of Harold, had sent
assistance to the insurgents; two hundred and forty Danish
vessels were approaching the coasts. Edgar Atheling, having
sought refuge in Scotland with King Malcolm, who had married his
sister Margaret, had lately joined the Saxon army and promised
support to his brother-in-law. Before the Conqueror was apprised
of this new danger York was recaptured by the insurgents, and
Edgar Atheling had assumed once more the title of king, which he
had formerly laid at the feet of the Norman. But winter came, and
William was already assembling his army. Settling hastily the
affairs which had called him Southward he took once more the road
towards the North, and entered into secret negotiations with the
Danes, insomuch that at the moment that he appeared under the
walls of York the pirates weighed anchor and sailed again down
the coast, pillaging the Saxon villages which the king had
abandoned to them before taking again the road towards their
country.
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Malcolm, the king of Scotland, had now come to the assistance of
the insurgents. York was again taken and put to fire and sword.
King William then carried his anger and his vengeance into all
the counties of the North; not a village which was not burnt, not
a domain which was not confiscated. The churches, and even the
monasteries found no shelter against Norman rapacity. The
inhabitants of Beverley had amassed their treasures in the church
dedicated to St. John of Beverley, a Saxon like themselves, who
owed them protection. This, however, had no effect on the
Normans, and Toutain, one of the battle chiefs of William,
penetrated on horseback into the church of the monastery, in
pursuit of the fugitives who had taken refuge there. His horse
slipped upon the marble pavement of the sanctuary and the
horseman was killed. St. John of Beverley had protected his
countrymen, and the Normans withdrew from his abbey. Edgar
Atheling had taken refuge again in Scotland; but this time the
insurrection had found a true chief. Hereward, lord of Born, a
warrior celebrated by his adventures abroad, had intrenched
himself in the isle of Ely, which he called the Camp of Refuge,
and from all sides the oppressed English gathered around him.
William ordered the Earls Edwin and Morcar, who had returned to
his court, to be carefully watched. They were apprised of the
fact and secretly fled. Edwin was overtaken and slain by the
soldiers who pursued him; but Morcar succeeded in reaching the
isle of Ely. Thence Hereward undertook expeditions into the
surrounding country, and kept at bay all the troops which William
sent against him. He even defied Yves Taillebois, one of the
king's favorites, whom William had recently induced to marry
Lucy, a sister to Edwin and Morcar, and whose intolerable tyranny
contributed to maintain the insurrection in the Eastern counties.
But King William caused the little isle to be invested, cutting
off from it provisions and reinforcements. The monks of the
monastery grew weary of that compulsory fast, and indicated to
the Normans the points of attack.
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The Saxons were beaten: the Bishop of Durham and Earl Morcar were
taken and cast into prison for the remainder of their lives.
Hereward succeeded in escaping, and in maintaining an irregular
warfare; but, won over at last by the proposals of William, who
sincerely admired his indomitable courage, he consented to lay
down his arms. He lived long afterwards upon his domains, which
the Conqueror permitted him to enjoy.
The Camp of Refuge was destroyed, and the county of
Northumberland was given by William to the Saxon Waltheof, a
warrior esteemed by his countrymen, whom William had attached to
him by giving him the hand of his niece Judith. Being called away
into Normandy in consequence of a rising of the inhabitants of
Maine, the king took with him an English army, which fought as
valiantly for him as it had against him shortly before. During
his sojourn on the Continent he received into favor Edgar
Atheling, who had recently failed in a new attempt instigated by
the king of France, Philippe I.; the descendant of King Alfred
took up his abode at Rouen, where he passed eleven years of his
life in amusing himself with his horses and dogs.
A fresh insurrection recalled William into England. On this
occasion it was the Normans themselves who revolted against him.
His faithful companion, William FitzOsbern, was dead, and his son
Roger, earl of Hereford like his father, had contracted a
marriage with the sister of Ralph de Waher, or Guader, a Breton
knight, who had accompanied William, and had been created Earl of
Norfolk. This union was distasteful to the king, who had
endeavored to prevent it, for he did not like the Bretons. After
the nuptials the party was excited: FitzOsbern and Waher spoke of
the tyranny of King William, and proposed his overthrow.
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Waltheof, who was present, had listened, but without taking part
in the conspiracy. He had merely promised secrecy; but the secret
was betrayed by his wife, who disliked him, and desired to rid
herself of her husband. Lanfranc, who had become Archbishop of
Canterbury upon the deposition of Stigand, and who was invested
with power in the absence of his master, despatched an army
against the rebels. The latter had been obliged lo declare
themselves before their preparations were completed. When the
king recrossed the sea the insurrection was already almost
suppressed. Waher was banished, together with a great number of
Bretons; FitzOsbern was put in prison; the unfortunate Waltheof,
who had not taken up arms, but who was a Saxon, son of the
glorious Siward, and Earl of Northumbria, was executed, to the
great indignation of his fellow-countrymen, who came in crowds to
pray at his tomb, and attributed to him numerous miracles.
William did not allow Judith to marry the man for whom she had
sacrificed her husband. She, on her part, refused the marriage
which he offered her; and the king, having stripped her of all
her possessions, this wicked woman was reduced to wander
sometimes in England, sometimes on the Continent, bearing with
her everywhere tokens of her misery and shame.
Thus ended the great insurrection in England. William was master
of the country, and the harsh repressive measures which he had
employed at length bore their fruits. The Saxons murmured under
the weight of their misfortunes, but no longer dared to revolt.
The king, frequently called into Normandy by his quarrels with
his eldest son, Robert Curthose, was able now to leave England
without anxiety. When he arrived at manhood Robert had called on
his father to divest himself in his favor of the duchy of
Normandy.
[Image]
Robert's Encounter With His Father.
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"I am not accustomed to throw off my clothing before going to
bed," replied William, and Robert irritated, had revolted against
his father and endeavored to arouse against him embarrassments
and enemies on all sides. In vain had his mother Matilda, who
loved him tenderly, endeavored many times to reconcile him with
his father. Robert could not endure the yoke of paternal
authority. He journeyed about the Continent, expatiating on his
grievances and squandering the money which his mother sent to him
secretly, to the great vexation of William. He received
assistance from the king of France, Philippe I., who detested his
father, and who installed him in the fortress of Gerberoi, on the
confines of Normandy, whence it was easy for him to pillage the
neighboring territory. William besieged Gerberoi. During a sortie
Robert found himself face to face with a knight of robust form,
concealed by his armor, and having his vizor lowered, with whom
he contended for some time. At length he unseated him, and was on
the point of despatching his antagonist, when the wounded knight
called his people to his aid, and Robert recognized the voice of
his father. In spite of his vanity Robert's heart was accessible
to generous sentiments. He threw himself on his knees before his
prostrate father, entreated his pardon, raised him with his own
hands and set him on his horse. A reconciliation followed, for
Robert was softened and penitent. But a fresh quarrel soon
hurried the son out of Normandy. He set forth bearing with him a
malediction which his father never revoked.
While the rebellions of his eldest son detained the Conqueror in
his Norman domains, his brother Odo, bishop of Bayeux, whom he
had created Earl of Kent, had made himself detested in England. A
brave and able warrior, the bishop had often led to battle the
soldiers of William; but he had taken advantage of his influence
to oppress the poor Saxons, extorting from them enormous riches.
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His vast treasures, the grand position which his brother
occupied, and the conquests of the Normans in Italy had awakened
in the heart of the Bishop of Bayeux the hope of becoming Pope.
He had bought a palace in Rome and had sent there a great deal of
money; when he resolved to go himself into Italy, and began to
make preparations for his journey, gathering around him a number
of Norman pilgrims anxious to obtain pardon for their sins by
that holy enterprise.
Scarcely, however, had William become cognizant of his brother's
project, when he returned from Normandy, and meeting the prelate
in the Isle of Wight, caused him to be immediately arrested.
Then, reassembling his council, he enumerated before the barons
his grievances against the Bishop of Bayeux, his cruelties, his
extortions, his secret manœuvres. "What does such a brother
deserve?" he asked in conclusion. No one replied. "Let him be
arrested," said the king, "and I will see to him." The barons
hesitated: William himself advanced towards his brother. "Thou
hast not the right to touch me," exclaimed Odo, "I am a priest
and a bishop; the Pope alone is empowered to condemn me." "I am
not judging the Bishop of Bayeux, but the Earl of Kent," replied
William; and having sent him across the sea into Normandy, he
imprisoned his brother in a dungeon, to the great satisfaction of
the English, who detested him.
William had lost his wife Queen Matilda in 1083; the only
softening influence which had tempered that imperious will had
disappeared. His two remaining sons, William and Henry,
quarrelled with each other: the Danes were again threatening the
shores of England, where they could easily have found support,
and the English, sullen and subjected, nourished in their hearts
a deep hatred towards the sovereign who had despoiled them, not
only to enrich his Norman adherents, but in favor of the stags
and deer, "whom (says the chronicle) he loved like his children,"
and for whose sake he had created or enlarged forests, while he
had destroyed towns, villages, and monasteries which interfered
with the preservation of game, or the pleasures of the chase, the
passion for which he transmitted to his descendants.
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It was during these years of doubtful repose that William caused
to be compiled the Domesday Book, a complete record of the state
of property in England, in repute to this day, and an
indispensable labor after a conquest which had resulted in the
transfer of nearly all the domains to other hands. William had
divided the immense territories of which he had possessed himself
into 60,215 fees of knights who had all sworn to him the oath of
fidelity. Six hundred great vassals holding directly from the
crown had also sworn to him faith and homage as their suzerain
lord; and lest their united influence should become dangerous,
the king had scattered their fiefs in different parts of the
country among their enemies the Saxons. Perhaps unconsciously
William had thus obviated the greater part of the inconveniences
of the conquest. This was not like the case of a feeble and
effeminate people exhausted by oppression as were the Gauls at
the moment of the invasion of the Germans. In England, two
nations of the same origin and the same religion, equally brave
and obstinate, had found themselves face to face. The Saxons were
strong enough to resist their conquerors step by step. The
Normans could not completely oppress a people always ready to
revolt, who had long possessed institutions fitted for developing
individual liberty.
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Thus compelled to reckon with the conquered, the Normans
necessarily acquired by degrees a greater respect for liberty
than they had felt under the Norman feudal régime. The persecuted
Saxons remained united in order to preserve some power of
resistance: the Normans triumphant, but few in number among their
enemies, were in their turn compelled to agree together, that
they might not be crushed. Governed by the feudal law, they owed
to the king their lord feudal service and certain gifts or dues
under definite conditions: the Saxons, who by degrees allied
themselves with William, accepted the same conditions on
receiving their fiefs, without, however, renouncing the laws
peculiar to their race or the rural institutions which the
conquerors did not use themselves, and did not always permit to
be freely exercised. It was nevertheless to this assemblage of
confused regulations, requiring long years to bring them into
accord, that the two nations owed the preservation of their
strength and their liberties during the fusion which was slowly
in progress. In England, as on the Continent, the feudal lords
were grand justiciaries upon their lands, but they had acquired
the habit of summoning eight or ten of the principal inhabitants
of the neighborhood in testimony to the truth of the facts
alleged, according to the ancient Saxon custom, which is the
origin of juries. When the criminal could not be found, the
parish remained responsible for fines and costs. Thus the Saxons
and the Normans came to perform themselves the duties of police
and of maintaining order. Instead of succumbing, the liberties of
England developed and fortified themselves by the conquest. It
was a struggle, but not an oppression.
Meanwhile William the Conqueror grew weary of his inaction.
Gloomy and alone, he felt the need of the noise of combat and the
excitement of war. Philippe I. had refused to yield up to him the
town of Mantes, and a portion of the French Vexin over which he
claimed to have right as duke of Normandy.
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Philippe had even encouraged his barons to make incursions into
William's territory. Uniting his Norman barons and his English
vassals, whose valor he knew, against his enemies, he crossed the
sea in the latter days of the year 1086, to seize by force of
arms what the King of France refused to yield to negotiations. On
arriving in France, William had been taken ill, and it was not
till the month of June that he was at length able to march
against Mantes, which he captured and cruelly pillaged. While in
the midst of the burning town he was encouraging his soldiers
when his horse slipped. The king was an old man of heavy frame;
he fell and was seriously injured. They carried him to Rouen,
where he languished six weeks. Remorse now seized him; all the
cruelties of his life rose up before him; he endeavored to
expiate them by gifts to the poor and endowments of the churches.
His two younger sons were there, anxious to know in what way the
king was about to divide his heritage. In spite of his anger
against Robert, the king would not deprive him of the duchy of
Normandy, where he had been able to make friends. "I leave to no
one the kingdom of England," he said, "for I did not receive it
as a heritage, but won it by my sword, at the price of much
bloodshed. I confide it therefore to the good-will of God,
desiring nevertheless that it should go to my son William, who
has always obeyed and served me in all things;" and he wrote to
the Archbishop Lanfranc, to recommend him to crown his son.
Henry approached his father's bed. "And I?" said he. "Do you
leave me nothing?" "Five thousand pounds' weight of silver from
my treasury," replied the king, who was now dying. "And what
shall I do with this silver if I have neither house nor land?"
cried the young man. "Be patient, my son," said the king, "and
thou shalt perhaps, be greater than all."
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Henry immediately obtained payment of the money and went his way,
while his brother William set out for England in order to
accomplish his father's wishes by being crowned as soon as
possible. The Conqueror was left alone upon his death-bed.
It was the 9th of September, 1087. William was sleeping heavily
when he was awakened by the sound of bells. "What is that?" he
inquired. "The bells of St. Mary sounding the prime," was the
answer. "I commend my soul to Our Lady, the sainted Mary, and to
God," said the king, raising his hand towards heaven, and he
expired. His sons had left him when dying: his attendants
abandoned him when dead. A sudden stupor seized on the entire
city upon the death of this powerful and terrible ruler. When the
monks recovered themselves, and flocked into the royal palace to
fulfil the duties of their office, they found the chamber
stripped and the body of the Conqueror almost naked, stretched
upon the ground. The king's sons troubled themselves no more with
the funeral of their father than they had done with regard to his
last moments. His body was conveyed to Caen, and it was a country
gentleman named Herluin who undertook the expenses, from a kind
disposition and for the love of God. At the church of St. Stephen
of Caen, which the king had built and endowed, the body of the
monarch was on the point of being placed in a grave, when a
citizen of Caen, named Azelin, advanced from among the crowd and
exclaimed, "Bishop, the man whom you have praised was a robber.
The ground on which we stand is mine; it was the site of my
father's house, which he took from me to build his church. I
claim my right, and in the name of God I forbid you to inter him
in my ground, or to cover his body with earth which is mine." It
was necessary to pay to Azelin the just compensation which he
claimed before the body was allowed to be deposited in the grave
that awaited it. It was found to be too narrow, and they were
compelled to place the coffin in it by force, to the great horror
of the bystanders; and not till then was the Conqueror able to
enjoy in peace the six feet of earth required for his last
resting-place.
[Image]
Azelin Forbidding The Burial Of William The Conqueror.
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