HOW WILLIAM WAS CROWNED KING; AND HOW HE
AT LAST FELL ILL AT ROUEN[1].
[The duke placed a guard in Hastings[2], from the best of his knights,
so as to garrison the castle well, and went thence to Romenel[3], to
destroy it utterly, because some of his people had arrived there, I know
not by what accident, and the false and traitorous had killed them by
felony. On that account he was very wroth against them, and grievously
punished them for it.
Proceeding thence, he rested no where till he reached Dover, at the
strong fort he had ordered to be made at the foot of the hill. The
castle on the hill was well garrisoned, and there all the goods of the
country round were stored, and all the people had collected. The place
being well fortified, and being out of the reach of any engines, they
had made ready to defend themselves, and determined to contest the
matter with the duke; and it was so well fenced in, and so high, and had
so many towers and walls, that it was no easy matter to take it, as long
as provisions should last.
The duke held them besieged there eight days; and during that time there
were many fierce and bold assaults of the men and esquires. But the
castle guards learnt that however long they might hold out, they must
expect no succour, for that Harold the king was dead, and all the best
of the English: and thus all saw plainly that the kingdom could no
longer be defended. They dared not therefore longer keep up the contest,
seeing the great loss they had sustained, and that do what they would it
would not avail them long; so being forced by this necessity, they
surrendered the castle, strong, rich, and fair as it was, to the duke,
saving only their bodies and goods; and made their peace with him, all
the men of the country swearing fealty to him. Then he placed a gallant
and brave garrison in the castle; and before he parted thence all came
to him from Cantorbire, both of high and low degree, and gave him their
oaths and homage, and delivered hostages.
Stiganz was then archbishop of the city, as I read, who had greater
wealth and more powerful friends than any other man of the country. In
concert with the greatest men of the kingdom, and the sons of earl
Algar[4], who could not brook the shame of their people being so
conquered, and would not suffer a Norman to obtain such honour, they
had chosen and made their lord a knight and gallant youth called
Addelin[5], of the lineage of the good king Edward. Whether from fear or
affection they made him king; and they rather chose to die than have for
king in England one who was a stranger, and had been born in another
land.
Towards London repaired all the great men of the kingdom, ready to aid
and support Addelin in his attempt. And the duke, being desirous to go
where he might encounter the greatest number of them, journeyed also to
London, where the brave men were assembled ready to defend it. Those who
were most daring issued out of the gates, armed, and on horseback;
manœuvring against his people, to show how little they feared him,
and that they would do nothing for him. When the duke saw their
behaviour, he valued them not sufficiently to arm against them more than
five hundred of his people. These, lacing their helmets on, gave the
rein to their horses, angry and eager for the fray. Then might you see
heads fly off, and swords cleaving body and ribs of the enemy.
Thus without any pause they drove all back again, and many were made
prisoners, or lost their lives. And they set fire to the houses, and the
fire was so great that all on this side the Thames was burnt that day.
Great grief was there in the city, and much were they discomforted. They
had lost so much property, and so many people, that their sorrow was
very heavy. Then they crossed the water, some on foot and some on
horseback, and sought the duke at Walengeford, and stayed not till they
had concluded their peace, and surrendered their castles to him. Then
the joy of all was great; and archbishop Stiganz came there, and did
fealty to duke William, and so did many more of the realm; and he took
their homages and pledges. And Addelin was brought there also, whom they
had foolishly made king. And Stiganz so entreated the duke, that he gave
him his pardon, and then led all his force to London, to take possession
of the city; and neither prince nor people came forth against him, but
abandoned all to him, body, goods, and city, and promised to be
faithful and serve him, and to do his pleasure; and they delivered
hostages, and did fealty to him.]
Then the bishops by concert met at London, and the barons came to them;
and they held together a great council. And by the common council of the
clergy, who advised it, and of the barons, who saw that they could elect
no other[6], they made the duke a crowned king[7], and swore fealty to
him; and he accepted their fealty and homages, and so restored them
their inheritances. It was a thousand sixty and six years, as the clerks
duly reckon, from the birth of Jesus Christ when William took the crown;
and for twenty and one years, a half and more afterwards, he was king
and duke.
To many of those who had followed him, and had long served him, he gave
castles and cities, manors and earldoms and lands, and many rents to his
vavassors[8].
Then he called together all the barons, and assembled all the English,
and put it to their choice, what laws they would hold to, and what
customs they chose to have observed, whether the Norman or the English;
those of which lord and which king: and they all said, "King Edward's;
let his laws be held and kept." They requested to have the customs which
were well known, and which used to be kept in the time of king Edward;
these pleased them well, and they therefore chose them: and it was done
according to their desire[9], the king consenting to their wish.
He had much labour, and many a war before he could hold the land in
peace: but troubled as he was, he brought himself well out of all in the
end. He returned to Normandy[10], and came and went backward and forward
from time to time, making peace here and peace there; rooting out
marauders and harassing evil doers.
WHERE THE BATTLE HAD BEEN, HE BUILT AN ABBEY, AND PUT AN ABBOT
THEREIN[11].
The king of France called on the duke to do service to him for England,
as he did for his other fief of Normandy; but William answered that he
would pay him just as much service for England as he had received help
towards winning it; that the king had not assisted him in his
enterprize, nor helped him in his need; that he would serve him duly for
his original fief, but owed him nought for any other; that if the king
had helped him, and had taken part in the adventure, as he had
requested, it might have been said that he held England of him: but that
he had won the land without him, and owed no service for it to any one,
save God and the apostle at Rome; and that he would serve none else for
it.
Thus they wrangled together, but they afterwards came to an accord; and
the king of France remained quiet, making no more demands on William.
The French, however, often made war upon him and annoyed him; and he
defended himself, and attacked them in return. One day he won, another
he lost; as it often chances in war, that he who loses on one day gains
on the next.
William was once sojourning at Rouen, where he had rested several days;
for illness (I know not whence arising) pressed upon him, so that he
could not mount his warhorse, nor bear his arms and take the field. The
king of France soon heard that he was not in a condition to fight, and
was in truth in bed; so he sent him word maliciously, that he was a long
time lying in like a lady, and that he ought soon to get up, or he might
lie too long. But William answered him, that he had not laid within too
long yet; "Tell him," said he, "that when I get up, I will go to mass in
his lands, and will make a rich offering of a thousand candles. My
matches shall be of wood, and the points shall blaze with steel instead
of fire."
This was his message, and when he had recovered, he accomplished what he
had threatened. He led into France[12] a thousand armed men with their
lances set, the points gleaming with steel; and he burnt houses and
villages on his route, till the king of France could see the blaze. He
set fire even to Mantes, and reduced the whole place to ashes; so that
borough, city, and churches were all burnt together. But as he passed
through the city mounted on his favourite horse, it put its foot upon a
heap of live ashes, and instantly starting back, gave a sudden plunge.
The king saved himself from falling, but wounded himself sorely against
the pommel of the saddle, upon which he was thrown. He returned with
his men back to Rouen, and took to his bed; and as his malady increased,
he caused himself to be carried to Saint-Gervais, in order that he might
be there in greater quiet and ease[13].
Then he gave his land to his sons, in order that there might be no
dispute after his death. He called together his barons[14], and said,
"Listen to me, and see that ye understand. Normandy my inheritance,
where the most of my race are, I give to Robert my son, the eldest born;
and so I had settled before I came to be king. Moreover I give him Mans.
He shall have Normandy and Mans, and serve the king of France for the
same. There are many brave men in Normandy; I know none equal to them.
They are noble and valiant knights, conquering in all lands whither
they go. If they have a good captain[15], a company of them is much to
be dreaded; but if they have not a lord whom they fear, and who governs
them severely, the service they will render will soon be but poor. The
Normans are worth little without strict justice; they must be bent and
bowed to their ruler's will; and whoso holds them always under his foot,
and curbs them tightly, may get his business well done by them. Haughty
are they and proud; boastful and arrogant, difficult to govern, and
requiring to be at all times kept under; so that Robert will have much
to do and to provide, in order to manage such a people.
"I should greatly desire, if God so pleased, to advance my noble and
gallant son William. He has set his heart upon England, and it may be
that he will be king there; but I can of myself do nothing towards it,
and you well know the reason. I conquered England by wrong[16]; and by
wrong I slew many men there, and killed their heirs; by wrong I seized
the kingdom, and of that which I have so gained, and in which I have no
right, I can give nought to my son; he cannot inherit through my wrong.
But I will send him over sea, and will pray the archbishop to grant him
the crown; and if he can in reason do it, I entreat that he will make
him the gift.
"To Henry my son, the youngest born, I have given five thousand livres,
and have commanded both William and Robert, my other sons, that each,
according to his power, will, as he loves me, make Henry more rich and
powerful than any other man who holds of them."
[Footnote 1: The passage in brackets, to p. 267, is from _Benoit de
Sainte-More._ It is introduced here, as well to relieve the baldness of
Wace's narrative after the battle, as because an account of William's
progress is really necessary, in order to give a just view of his
prudent policy, in the prosecution of an enterprize obviously still very
perilous, though crowned with such decisive success. The reader may
refer to _Introd. Domesday_, i. 314, for interesting local information,
deduced from that record, on the subject of William's course and
progress after landing; tracing a district on the map eastward from
about Pevensey, by Bexhill, Crowherst, Hollington, Guestling, and
Icklesham, round by Ledescombe, Wartlington, and Ashburnham; thus
embracing a circuit of country, near the centre of which stands Battle.
The MS. collections of Mr. Hayley of Brightling are there referred to;
and (though perhaps rather fanciful in some of their conclusions) may be
appropriately quoted. 'It is the method of Domesday-book, after reciting
the particulars relating to each manor, to set down the valuation
thereof at three several periods; to wit,--the time of King Edward the
Confessor,--afterwards when the new tenant entered upon it,--and again
at the time when the survey was made. Now it is to be observed, in
perusing the account of the rape of Hastings in that book, that in
several of the manors therein [Witingoes, Holintun, Bexelei, Wilesham,
Crohest, Wiltingham, Watlingetone, Nedrefelle, Brunham, Haslesse,
Wigentone, Wilendone, Salherst, Drisnesel, Gestelinges, Luet, Hiham (the
scite of Winchelsea), and Selescome] at the second of those periods, it
is recorded of them that they were _waste_: and from this circumstance I
think it may, upon good ground, be concluded what parts of that rape
were marched over by and suffered from the ravages of the two armies of
the conqueror and king Harold. And indeed the situation of those manors
is such as evidently shows their then devastated state to be owing to
that cause. The wasted manors on the east were Bexelei, Wilesham, Luet,
and Gestelinges; which are all the manors entered in the survey along
the coast from Bexelei to Winchelsea. And this clearly evinces another
circumstance relative to the invasion; which is 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 Bexhill to Winchelsea. After which, in drawing together
towards the place of battle, the left wing of the army just brushed the
manor of Holinton, so as to lay waste a small portion, which afterwards
fell to the lot of the abbot of Battle; and after quite overrunning the
manors of Wiltingham and Crohest, arrived at Brunham; in which, and the
adjoining manors of Whatlington and Nedrefelle, the battle was lost and
won. We may likewise trace the footsteps of king Harold's army by the
devastations which stand upon record in the same book. Where they begin
we suppose the army entered the county; and the state of the manor of
Parkley, in the hundred of Skayswell, points out the place in the parish
of Tyshurst. They there desolated their way through two parcels of land
in the same hundred, belonging to the manor of Wilendone; and laying
waste Wigzell, Saleherst, and another manor in the hundred of Henhurst,
with Hiham, and a small part of Sadlescombe, in the hundred of Staple,
they came to Whatlington; through which, and the manor of Netherfield,
they extended themselves to face and oppose the invading enemy.']
[Footnote 2: From Domesday we learn who received the custody of
Hastings: 'Rex Will. dedit comiti [de Ow] castellariam de Hastinges.'
_Introd. Domesday_, i. 18.]
[Footnote 3: Romney. It is not here stated whether William's men had
been sent from Hastings thither, or whether part of his fleet had gone
astray in the voyage, and landed there. _Domesday_ says of Dover, 'In
ipso primo adventu ejus in Angliam _fuit ipsa villa combusta_.']
[Footnote 4: Edwin and Morcar.]
[Footnote 5: Edgar Atheling.]
[Footnote 6: Wace had, in narrating Swain's success in overrunning
England, i. 327, observed upon the facility afforded to an invader by
the scarcity of fortified posts:
N'i aveit gaires fortelesce,
Ne tur de pierre ne bretesce,
Se n'esteit en vieille cité,
Ki close fust d'antiquité.
Maiz li barunz de Normendie,
Quant il orent la seignorie,
Firent chastels e fermetez,
Turs de pierre, murs e fossez.
]
[Footnote 7: _Benoit_ goes on to narrate at much greater length the
events subsequent to the battle. Wace passes very lightly over English
internal affairs, of which he probably knew and cared little, and which
were, moreover, foreign to the plan of his work. The _Saxon Chronicle_
says of the coronation: 'Then on Midwinter day archbishop Aldred
hallowed him to king at Westminster, and gave him possession with the
books of Christ; and also swore him, ere that he would set the crown
upon his head, that he would as well govern this nation as any king
before him best did, if they would be faithful to him.' See as to the
chronology of William's life and age Sir Harris Nicolas's _Chronology of
History_, 279.]
[Footnote 8: In the words of the original,
Dona chastels, dona citez,
Dona maneirs, dona comtez,
Dona terres, as vavassors
Dona altres rentes plusors.
]
[Footnote 9: By the supposed charter of William in _Rymer_, he thus
declares: 'This also we command, that all have and hold the law of
Edward the king in all things,--audactis hiis quas constituimus ad
utilitatem Anglorum;' which his son Henry expresses thus: 'Lagam Edwardi
regis vobis reddo, cum illis emendationibus quibus pater meus eam
emendavit, consilio baronum suorum.' See the laws of William in the
Proofs and Illustrations, p. lxxxix, to Palgrave's _Rise and Progress of
the English Commonwealth_, vol. i.]
[Footnote 10: William went first in March, 1067. It is to be regretted
that Wace did not avail himself of the glowing description of the wealth
and splendour of William's retinue, the joy of all classes, the
universal festival occasioned by his triumphal return to Normandy, as
contained in _William of Poitiers_, p. 210.] [Footnote 11:
King William bithougt him also of that folke that was vorlorne,
And slayn also through him in the battaile biforne;
And ther as the bataile was, an abbey he let rere
Of Seint Martin, for the soules that there slayn were;
And the monkes well ynough feffed without fayle,
That is called in Englonde ABBEY OF BATAILE.
[Illustration]
So far ROBERT OF GLOCESTER. William, speaking for himself in his
foundation charter in Dugdale's _Monasticon_,(where see all the details
of the foundation), gives the following account of his motives and
proceedings. 'Notum facio omnibus, &c.--quod cum in Angliam venissem, et
in finibus Hastingiæ, cum exercitu applicuissem contra hostes meos, qui
mini regnum Angliæ injustè conabantur auferre, in procinctu belli, jam
armatus, coram baronibus et militibus meis, cum favore omnium, ad eorum
corda roboranda, votum feci, ecclesiam quandam ad honorem Dei
construere, pro communi salute, si per Dei gratiam obtinere possem
victoriam. Quam cum essemus adepti, votum Deo solvens, in honorem Sanctæ
Trinitatis, et beati Martini, confessoris Christi, ecclesiam construxi;
pro salute animæ meæ et antecessoris mei regis Eadwardi, et uxoris meæ
Mathildis reginæ, et successorum meorum in regno; et pro salute omnium
quorum labore et auxilio regnum obtinui; et illorum maximè qui in ipso
hello occubuerunt.' The _Chronicle_ of Battle Abbey (Cott. MS. Dom. A.
ii.) is precise as to the localities of the battle. It states that
Harold came 'ad locum qui nunc BELLUM nuncupatur,'--and that William
arrayed himself to oppose him, 'equitum cuneis circum septus'--'ad locum
collis qui HETHELANDE dicitur, a parte Hastingarum situm.' Hethelande is
afterwards mentioned as part of the abbey's possessions. In this
Chronicle is contained one of the most curious historical and legal
relics of the twelfth century; the record of a suit, as to jurisdiction,
between the bishop of Chichester and the abbot of Battle, which has been
printed in Palgrave's _Rise and Progress of the English Commonwealth_.
One of the barons present observes of the battle, that William obtained
his crown by it, 'nosque omnes opulentiâ maxima ditati sumus.']
[Footnote 12: This expedition took place at the end of July, 1087.]
[Footnote 13: Et quia strepitus Rotomagi, quæ populosa civitas est,
intolerabilis erat ægrotanti, extra urbem ipse rex præcepit se aufferi,
ad ecclesiam Sancti Gervasii, in colle sitam occidentali; _Ordericus
Vit._ vii. 656. A priory was attached to the church of St. Gervais,
which furnishes probably the oldest ecclesiastical remain in Normandy.
The crypt, below the apsis represented in the cut at the foot of this
chapter, is supposed to be Roman, and coeval with the earliest
introduction of Christianity at Rouen. The apsis itself is probably a
re-erection with the original materials, but anterior to Duke William.]
[Footnote 14: The anonymous continuer of _Wace's Brut_ gives a curious
account of William's deliberation, at an earlier date, with his barons,
as to the future state and fortunes of his sons. He is described as
proving the qualities and tempers of his sons, by asking each what bird
he would choose to be, if doomed to assume that form:
Si Dex, ki est tuit puissant,
De vus eust fait oisel volant,
De tuz icels ki pount voler
Laquelle voldriez resembler?
Robert selects the esperver, and William the eagle, but Henry, 'k'en
clergie esteit fundé'--'mult sagement ad parlé,' and chose the
estornele. The whole story forms a curious and interesting apologue. The
'grantz clers de phylosophie, e los mestres de grant clergie, e les
sages homes de son poer,' are described as assembled on this occasion,
'a un parlement;' and the king opens the session with a royal speech,
perhaps the earliest of the sort on record:
Seignors! dist il, ki estes ici,
De vostre venue mult vus merci.
De voz sens et vostre saver
Ore endreit en ai mester;
Pur ceo vus pri e requer
K'entre vus voillez traiter, &c.
The story forms a distinct fabliau in the MSS. Cotton. Cleop. A. xii.]
[Footnote 15: _Orderic_ puts the same observation into William's mouth.
History fully proves its justice.]
[Footnote 16: This confession may appear to be an odd commentary on the
tenor of Wace's preceding history of the events leading to the conquest.
It was perhaps in some quarters unpalatable here, for Duchesne's MS.
reads directly the opposite:
'Engleterre ai cunquise a dreit.'
_Orderic_ gives the confession, but less explicitly, thus: 'Neminem
Anglici regni constituo hæredem.... Fasces igitur hujus regni, quod cum
tot peccatis obtinui, nulli audeo tradere nisi Deo solo.' See the note
on this passage in _Lyttleton's Hen. II._ vol. i. 397. Possibly
William's admission would not, in his day, be understood as being at
variance with any of the details given by Wace and other Norman
historians. Harold, as we have seen, is treated as assuming with his
brother Gurth the perfect moral and legal validity of his title as
against William, and yet as shrinking from a personal contest with one
to whom he had de facto, though by stratagem, become bound in
allegiance. And William might, in a similar train of reasoning, maintain
all the facts asserted by the Normans, bearing on the moral justice of
the case as between him and Harold, and his personal right to punish
treason in his man, and yet admit that Harold, having obtained by the
gift of Edward, and by election and consecration, a strictly legal
title, his eviction was tortuous, and could give his conqueror no right
except that of force--none that he could lawfully transmit. _Benoit_
states his title by conquest, not in the mitigated sense in which that
word has been used by some of our legal antiquaries, but in its harshest
application:
Deu regne est mais la seignori
As eirs estraiz de Normendie:
CUNQUISE l'unt cum chevalier
Au FER TRENCHANT e al acier.
His account of William's speech is in our appendix.]
[Illustration]
[Illustration]