HOW WILLIAM PROSPERED, AND HOW HE WENT TO
ENGLAND TO VISIT KING EDWARD; AND
WHO GODWIN WAS.
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The story will be long ere it close, how William became a king, what
honour he reached, and who held his lands after him. His acts, his
sayings and adventures that we find written, are all worthy to be
recounted; but we cannot tell the whole. In his land he set good laws;
he maintained justice and peace firmly, wherever he could, for the poor
people's sake, and he never loved the knave nor the company of the
felon.
By advice of his baronage he took a wife[1] of high lineage in Flanders,
the daughter of count Baldwin, and the granddaughter of Robert king of
France, being the daughter of his daughter Constance. Her name was
Mahelt[2], related to many a noble man, and very fair and graceful. The
count gave her joyfully, with very rich appareillement, and brought her
to the castle of Ou[3], where the duke espoused her. From thence he took
her to Roem, where she was greatly served and honoured.
At Caem the duke built two abbeys, endowing them richly. In the one,
which was called SAINT STEPHEN, he placed monks; Mahelt his wife took
charge of the other, which is that of THE HOLY TRINITY; she placed nuns
there, and was buried in it as she had directed in her life, from the
love which she had always used to bear towards it[4].
And the duke did what, I believe, no one before or after did. He sent[5]
for all his bishops to assemble, with his earls, abbots, and priors,
barons and rich vavassors, at Caem, there to hear his commandment; and
caused the holy bodies, wherever he could find them, to be brought
thither, whether from bishopric or abbey, over which he had seigniory.
He had the body of St. Oain[6] taken from Roem to Caem in a chest; and
when the clergy, and the holy relics, and the barons, of whom there were
many, were assembled on the appointed day, he made all swear on the
relics to hold peace and maintain it from sunset on Wednesday to sunrise
on Monday. This was called THE TRUCE, and the like of it I believe is
not in any country. If any man should beat another meantime, or do him
any mischief, or take any of his goods, he was to be excommunicated, and
amerced nine livres to the bishop. This the duke established, and swore
aloud to observe, and all the barons did the same; they swore to keep
the peace and maintain the truce faithfully.
To commemorate this peace through all time, that it might endure for
ever, they forthwith built a minster of hewed stone[7] and mortar, on
the spot where they swore upon the relics which had been brought to the
council. Many who had assisted at founding the minster called it
Toz-sainz[8], on account of so many holy relics having been there; but
it pleased many men to call it Sainte-paiz, on account of the peace
sworn to when it was built: at least I have heard it called both
Sainte-paiz and Toz-sainz. Close by they built a chapel called
Saint-Oain's, on the spot where his bones had rested while the council
sat.
William was generous, and the strangers who knew him, cherished him
much. He was very gentle and courteous, therefore king Edward loved him
well; great indeed was their love, each holding the other his lord. The
duke went to see Edward and know his mind; and having crossed over into
England[9], Edward received him with great honour, and gave him many
dogs and birds, and whatever other good and fair gifts he could find,
that became a man of high degree. He did not tarry long, but returned
into Normandy; for he was engaged with the Bretons, who were at that
time disturbing him.
Godwin had great wealth in England; he was rich in lands, and carried
himself proudly. Edward had his daughter to wife; but Godwin was fell
and false, and brought many evils on the land; and Edward feared and
hated him on account of his brother whom he had betrayed, and of the
Normans whom he had decimated, and many other mischiefs plotted by him.
And thus, both in words and deeds, great discord arose between them,
which was never thoroughly healed. Edward feared Godwin much, and
banished him from the land; swearing that he should never come back, or
abide in his kingdom, unless he swore fealty to him, and delivered him
hostages, and pledges for keeping the peace during his life. Godwin
dared not refuse, and as well to satisfy the king, as for the sake of
his relations, and the protection of his men, he delivered one of his
nephews and one of his sons[10] as hostages to the king. Edward sent
them to Duke William in Normandy, as to one in whom he placed great
trust, and desired him to keep them safe till he should himself demand
them. This looked, people said, as if he wished William always to keep
them, for the purpose of securing the kingdom to himself in case of
Edward's death. On these terms the king suffered Godwin to remain at
home in peace. I do not know how long this lasted, but I know that
Godwin in the end choked himself, while eating at the king's table
during a feast.
King Edward was debonaire; he neither wished nor did ill to any man; he
was without pride or avarice, and desired strict justice to be done to
all[11]. He endowed abbeys with fiefs, and divers goodly gifts, and
Westminster in particular. Ye shall hear the reason why. On some
occasion, whether of sickness or on the recovery of his kingdom, or on
some escape from peril at sea, he had vowed a pilgrimage to Rome, there
to say his prayers, and crave pardon for his sins; to speak with the
apostle, and receive penance from him. So at the time he had appointed,
he prepared for his journey; but the barons met together, and the
bishops and the abbots conferred with each other, and they counselled
him by no means to go. They said they feared he could not bear so great
a labour; that the pilgrimage was too long, seeing his great age; that
if he should go to Rome, and death or any other mischance should prevent
his return, the loss of their king would be a great misfortune to them;
and that they would send to the apostle[12], and get him to grant
absolution from the vow, so that he might be quit of it, even if some
other penance should be imposed instead. Accordingly they sent to the
apostle, and he absolved the king of his vow, but enjoined him by way of
acquittance of it, to select some poor abbey dedicated to St. Peter,
honoring and endowing it with so many goods and rents, that it might for
all time to come be resorted to, and the name of St. Peter thereby
exalted.
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Edward received the injunction of the apostle in good part. On the
western side of London, as still may be seen, there was an abbey of St.
Peter, which had for a long time been greatly impoverished; it is
situate on an island of the Thames called Zonee (Thorn-ee)[13], so named
because there were plenty of thorns upon it, and water around it; for
the English call an island 'ee,' and what the French call 'espine' they
call 'zon' (thorn); so that 'Zon-ee' (Thorn-ee) in English means 'isle
d'espine' in French. The name of Westminster was given to it afterwards,
when the minster was built King Edward perceived that there was much to
improve at Westminster; he saw that the brotherhood were poor, and the
minster decayed; and by counsel of clerks and laymen, while the country
was in prosperity, he with great labour and attention, restored and
amply endowed it with lands and other wealth. He gave indeed so much of
his own, of fair villages, rich manors and lands, crosses and other
goodly gifts, that the place will never know want, if things are managed
honestly. But when each monk wants much service, is greedy of money,
and makes a purse; the common stock soon wastes accordingly. Thus,
however, the king restored Westminster, and held the spot dear, and
loved it well. He also afterwards gave so much to St. Edmund (Bury),
that the monks who dwell there are very rich.
King Edward was now of a good age; his reign had been long, and to his
sorrow he had no child, and no near relation to take his kingdom after
him, and maintain it. He considered with himself who should inherit it
when he died; and often bethought him, and said he would give his
inheritance to duke William his relation, as the best of his lineage.
Robert his father had brought him up, and William himself had been of
much service to him; and, in fact, all the good he had received had come
from that line, and he had loved none so well, however kindly he might
behave to any one else. For the honor thereof of his good kinsman, with
whom he had been brought up, and on account of the great worth of
William himself, he determined to make him heir to the realm.
[Footnote 1: The marriage was, it is supposed, in 1053. See the last
note to Chapter VI.]
[Footnote 2: Matilda. The anonymous continuer of Wace's Brut says of
her;
Ceste Malde de Flandres fu née,
Meis de Escoce fu appelée,
Pur sa mère ke fu espusé
Al roi de Escoce ki l'out rové;
Laquele jadis, quant fu pucele,
Ama un conte d'Engleterre.
Brictrich-Mau le oï nomer,
Apres le rois ki fu riche ber.
A lui la pucele enveia messager
Pur sa amur a lui procurer:
Meis Brictrich Maude refusa,
Dunt ele mult se coruça.
Hastivement mer passa
E a Willam bastard se maria.
He then relates that after the conquest, Matilda revenged herself on
this Brictrich-Mau, by seizing him 'a Hanelye, a sun maner,' and
carrying him to Winchester, where he died 'par treison.' See, as to this
Brictrich, Dugdale, _Monasticon_, title TEWKESBURY; and Palgrave,
_English Commonwealth_, vol. i. ccxciv.]
[Footnote 3: Eu.]
[Footnote 4: The churches of each of these celebrated foundations
remain; we shall find William interred in his church; while Matilda's
remains rested in the other.]
[Footnote 5: The 'Truce of God' was introduced in Normandy in 1061. If
Wace meant to assert that the institution originated there, it is of
course erroneous. It had existed in other countries twenty years before;
but the Normans resisted its introduction among them, till enforced by
William's authority, as a measure of restraint on their excesses. See
Jolimont, _Monuments de Calvados_, page 42, and plate xx, as to the
ruins of the church of St. Paix.]
[Footnote 6: Saint Ouen.]
[Footnote 7: Carreau, or carrel--squared, quadrated, or quarried stones,
for which the neighbourhood of Caen became celebrated.]
[Footnote 8: All-Saints.]
[Footnote 9: This journey took place in 1051, during the exile of Godwin
and his sons; see Higden, _Polychronicon_. Most of the old historians
are silent about it; but it admits of little question, and had important
influence on subsequent events. See _Thierry_, i. 220.]
[Footnote 10: In 1052.]
[Footnote 11: Benoit de Sainte-More thus describes Edward:
Ewart li juz e li verais,
Qui Engleterre tint en pais,
Cume hauz reis, veirs crestiens,
Pleins de duçur et de toz biens.]
[Footnote 12: The pope.]
[Footnote 13: Wace's Saxon, where it occurs, is very imperfect, and
probably his French transcribers (we having no original MSS.) have made
it worse than it was. Zonee or Zon-ey is of course Thorn-ey; the Saxon
'th' being turned into 'z.' An old Latin chronicle, quoted by M.
Pluquet, has, 'in loco qui Thornie tune dicebatur, et sonat
quasi--spinarum insula,' One of William's first religious donations was
to this his predecessor's favourite establishment; and he records in the
charter his title to the kingdom of England, and the mode he adopted for
vindicating it. 'In nomine sanctæ et individuæ Trinitatis, anno Dom.
incarn. mixº vijº. Ego Willelmus Dei gratiâ dux Normannorum, per
misericordiam divinam, et auxilium beatissimi apostoli Petri pii
fauctoris nostri, favente justo Dei judicio, Angliam veniens, _in ore
gladii_ regnum adeptus sum, anglorum devicto Haroldo rege, cum suis
complicibus; qui michi regnum, providentiâ Dei destinatum, et beneficio
concessionis domini et cognati mei gloriosi regis Edwardi concessum,
conati sunt auferre,' See MSS. Cott. Faust. A. III. fol. 37, quoted in
Ellis, _Domesday_, i. 312.]
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