WHAT FURTHER PARLEY WAS HAD BETWEEN THE KING
AND DUKE WILLIAM BEFORE THE BATTLE.
Then the duke chose a messenger, a monk learned and wise, well
instructed and experienced, and sent him to king Harold. He gave him his
choice, to take which he would of three things. He should either resign
England and take his daughter to wife; or submit to the good judgment of
the apostle and his people; or meet him singly and fight body to body[1],
on the terms that he who killed the other, or could conquer and take him
prisoner, should have England in peace, nobody else suffering. Harold
said he would do neither; he would neither perform his covenant, nor put
the matter in judgment, nor would he meet him and fight body to body.
Before the day of the battle, which was now become certain, the duke of
his great courage told his barons, that he would himself speak with
Harold; and summon him with his own mouth to render up what he had
defrauded him of, and see what he would answer; that he would appeal him
of perjury, and summon him on his pledged faith; and if he would not
submit, and make reparation forthwith, he would straightway defy, and
fight him on the morrow; but that if he yielded, he would, with the
consent of his council, give up to him all beyond the Humber towards
Scotland.
The barons approved this, and some said to him, "Fair sir, one thing we
wish to say to you; if we must fight, let us fight promptly, and let
there be no delay. Delay may be to our injury, for we have nothing to
wait for, but Harold's people increase daily; they come strengthening
his army constantly with fresh forces." The duke said this was true, and
he promised them that there should be no more delay.
Then he made a score of knights mount upon their war-horses. All had
their swords girt, and their other arms were borne by the squires who
went with them. A hundred other knights mounted next, and went riding
after them, but at a little distance; and then a thousand knights also
mounted and followed the hundred, but only so near as to see what the
hundred and the twenty did.
The duke then sent to Harold, whether by monk or abbot I know not, and
desired him to come into the field, and speak with him, and to fear
nothing, but bring with him whom he would, that they might talk of an
arrangement. But Gurth did not wait for Harold's answer, and neither let
him speak, nor go to talk with the duke; for he instantly sprang up on
his feet, and said to the messenger, "Harold will not go! tell your lord
to send his message to us hither, and let us know what he will take, and
what he will leave, or what other arrangement he is willing to make."
Whilst the messenger returned to carry this answer, Harold called
together his friends and his earls, all by their names, to hear what
message the duke would send back. And he sent word to Harold, that if he
would abide by his covenant, he would give him all Northumberland, and
whatever belonged to the kingdom beyond Humber; and would also give to
his brother Gurth the lands of Godwin their father. And if he refused
this, he challenged him for perjury in not delivering up the kingdom,
and not taking his daughter to wife, as he ought: in all this he had
lied and broken faith; and unless he made reparation he defied him. And
he desired the English should know and take notice, that all who came
with Harold, or supported him in this affair, were excommunicated by the
apostle and the clergy. At this excommunication the English were much
troubled; they feared it greatly, and the battle still more. And much
murmuring was to be heard on all hands, and consulting one with the
other; none was so brave, but that he wished the battle might be
prevented.
"Seignors," said Gurth, "I know and see that you are in great alarm;
that you fear the event of the battle, and desire an arrangement: and so
do I as much, and in truth more, I believe; but I have also great fear
of duke William, who is very full of treachery. You have heard what he
says, and how low he rates us, and how he will only give us what he
likes of a land which is not his yet. If we take what he offers, and go
beyond the Humber, he will not long leave us even that, but will push us
yet further. He will always keep his eye upon us, and bring us to ruin
in the end. When he has got the uppermost, and has the best of the land,
he will leave little for us, and will soon try to take it all. He wants
to cheat us into taking instead of a rich country, a poor portion of
one, and presently he will have even that. I have another fear, which is
more on your than on my own account, for I think I could easily secure
myself. He has given away all your lands to knights of other countries.
There is neither earl nor baron to whom he has not made some rich
present: there is no earldom, barony, nor chatelainie, which he has not
given away: and I tell you for a truth, that he has already taken
homage from many, for your inheritances which he has given them. They
will chase you from your lands, and still worse, will kill you. They
will pillage your vassals, and ruin your sons and daughters: they do not
come merely for your goods, but utterly to ruin you and your heirs.
Defend yourselves then and your children, and all that belong to you,
while you may. My brother hath never given away, nor agreed to give away
the great fiefs, the honors, or lands of your ancestors; but earls have
remained earls, and barons enjoyed their rights; the sons have had their
lands and fiefs after their fathers' deaths: and you know this to be
true which I tell you, that peace was never disturbed. We may let things
remain thus if we will, and it is best for us so to determine. But if
you lose your houses, your manors, demesnes, and other possessions,
where you have been nourished all your lives, what will you become, and
what will you do? Into what country will you flee, and what will become
of your kindred, your wives and children? In what land will they go
begging, and where shall they seek an abode? When they thus lose their
own honour, how shall they seek it of others?"
By these words of Gurth, and by others which were said at his instance,
and by pledges from Harold to add to the fiefs of the barons, and by his
promises of things which were then out of his power to give, the English
were aroused, and swore by God, and cried out, that the Normans had
come on an evil day, and had embarked on a foolish matter. Those who had
lately desired peace, and feared the battle, now carried themselves
boldly, and were eager to fight; and Gurth had so excited the council,
that no man who had talked of peace would have been listened to, but
would have been reproved by the most powerful there[2].
[Footnote 1: _William of Poitiers_ mentions only the last of these
proposals, and says that it greatly alarmed Harold; on the same grounds,
no doubt, as Gurth had urged, against a vassal's coming into personal
conflict with one to whom he was bound in fealty, especially when
ratified by an oath; notwithstanding an entirely fraudulent creation of
the pledge in the first instance.]
[Footnote 2: _Benoit_ follows the story that Harold had planned a
surprise on William's army, and had sent another force round by sea to
intercept his retreat.
La nuit que li ceus fu teniègres,
Soprendre quidout l'ost Normant
En la pointe del ajornant,
Si qu'el champ out ses gens armées
E ses batailles devisées:
Enz la mer out fait genz entrer
Por ceus prendre, por ceus garder
Qui de la bataille fuireient,
E qui as nefs revertireient.
Treis cenz en i orent e plus.
Dès ore ne quident que li dux
Lor puisse eschaper, ne seit pris,
Ou en la grant bataille occis.]