KING HAROLD.
A.D. 1063-1066
Harold and William.--Quarrel between Godwin and Edward.--Treaty between
Godwin and Edward.--Hostages.--The giving of hostages now
abandoned.--Cruelties inflicted.--Canute's hostages.--Godwin's
hostages.--Edward declines to give up the hostages.--Harold goes to
Normandy.--Harold's interview with Edward.--The storm.--Harold
shipwrecked.--Guy, count of Ponthieu.--Harold a prisoner.--He is
ransomed by William.--William's hospitality.--His policy in
this.--William's treatment of his guests.--William's policy.--William
makes known to Harold his claims to the English crown.--Harold's
dissimulation.--William's precautions.--The betrothment.--William
retains a hostage.--Harold's apparent acquiescence.--The public
oath.--The great assembly of knights and nobles.--The threefold
oath.--William's precaution.--The sacred relics.--Harold's
departure.--His measures to secure the throne.--Age and infirmities of
Edward.--Westminster.--Edward's death.--The crown offered to
Harold.--Harold's coronation.--He knights Edgar.--Harold violates his
plighted faith to William.
Harold, the son of the Earl Godwin, who was maneuvering to gain
possession of the English throne, and William of Normandy, though they
lived on opposite sides of the English Channel, the one in France and
the other in England, were still personally known to each other; for not
only had William, as was stated in the last chapter, paid a visit to
England, but Harold himself, on one occasion, made an excursion to
Normandy. The circumstances of this expedition were, in some respects,
quite extraordinary, and illustrate in a striking manner some of the
peculiar ideas and customs of the times. They were as follows:
During the life of Harold's father Godwin, there was a very serious
quarrel between him, that is, Godwin, and King Edward, in which both the
king and his rebellious subject marshaled their forces, and for a time
waged against each other an open and sanguinary war. In this contest the
power of Godwin had proved so formidable, and the military forces which
he succeeded in marshaling under his banners were so great, that
Edward's government was unable effectually to put him down. At length,
after a long and terrible struggle, which involved a large part of the
country in the horrors of a civil war, the belligerents made a treaty
with each other, which settled their quarrel by a sort of compromise.
Godwin was to retain his high position and rank as a subject, and to
continue in the government of certain portions of the island which had
long been under his jurisdiction; he, on his part, promising to dismiss
his armies, and to make war upon the king no more. He bound himself to
the faithful performance of these covenants by giving the king
_hostages_.
The hostages given up on such occasions were always near and dear
relatives and friends, and the understanding was, that if the party
giving them failed in fulfilling his obligations, the innocent and
helpless hostages were to be entirely at the mercy of the other party
into whose custody they had been given. The latter would, in such cases,
imprison them, torture them, or put them to death, with a greater or
less degree of severity in respect to the infliction of pain, according
to the degree of exasperation which the real or fancied injury which he
had received awakened in his mind.
This cruel method of binding fierce and unprincipled men to the
performance of their promises has been universally abandoned in modern
times, though in the rude and early stages of civilization it has been
practiced among all nations, ancient and modern. The hostages chosen
were often of young and tender years, and were always such as to render
the separation which took place when they were torn from their friends
most painful, as it was the very object of the selection to obtain those
who were most beloved. They were delivered into the hands of those whom
they had always regarded as their bitterest enemies, and who, of course,
were objects of aversion and terror. They were sent away into places of
confinement and seclusion, and kept in the custody of strangers, where
they lived in perpetual fear that some new outbreak between the
contending parties would occur, and consign them to torture or death.
The cruelties sometimes inflicted, in such cases, on the innocent
hostages, were awful. At one time, during the contentions between
Ethelred and Canute, Canute, being driven across the country to the
sea-coast, and there compelled to embark on board his ships to make his
escape, was cruel enough to cut off the hands and the feet of some
hostages which Ethelred had previously given him, and leave them
writhing in agony on the sands of the shore.
The hostages which are particularly named by historians as given by
Godwin to King Edward were his son and his grandson. Their names were
Ulnoth and Hacune. Ulnoth, of course, was Harold's brother, and Hacune
his nephew. Edward, thinking that Godwin would contrive some means of
getting these securities back into his possession again if he attempted
to keep them in England, decided to send them to Normandy, and to put
them under the charge of William the duke for safe keeping. When Godwin
died, Harold applied to Edward to give up the hostages, since, as he
alleged, there was no longer any reason for detaining them. They had
been given as security for _Godwin's_ good behavior, and now Godwin was
no more.
Edward could not well refuse to surrender them, and yet, as Harold
succeeded to the power, and evidently possessed all the ambition of his
father, it seemed to be, politically, as necessary to retain the
hostages now as it had been before. Edward, therefore, without
absolutely refusing to surrender them, postponed and evaded compliance
with Harold's demand, on the ground that the hostages were in Normandy.
He was going, he said, to send for them as soon as he could make the
necessary arrangements for bringing them home in safety.
Under these circumstances, Harold determined to go and bring them
himself. He proposed this plan to Edward. Edward would not absolutely
refuse his consent, but he did all in his power to discourage such an
expedition. He told Harold that William of Normandy was a crafty and
powerful man; that by going into his dominions he would put himself
entirely into his power, and would be certain to involve himself in some
serious difficulty. This interview between Harold and the king is
commemorated on the Bayeux tapestry by the opposite uncouth design.
What effect Edward's disapproval of the project produced upon Harold's
mind is not certainly known. It is true that he went across the Channel,
but the accounts of the crossing are confused and contradictory, some of
them stating that, while sailing for pleasure with a party of attendants
and companions on the coast, he was blown off from the shore and driven
across to France by a storm. The probability, however, is, that this
story was only a pretense. He was determined to go, but not wishing to
act openly in defiance of the king's wishes, he contrived to be blown
off, in order to make it seem that he went against his will.
[Illustration: HAROLD'S INTERVIEW WITH EDWARD.]
At all events, the _storm_ was real, whether his being compelled to
leave the English shores by the power of it was real or pretended. It
carried him, too, out of his course, driving him up the Channel to the
eastward of Normandy, where he had intended to land, and at length
throwing his galley, a wreck, on the shore, not far from the mouth of
the Somme. The galley itself was broken up, but Harold and his company
escaped to land. They found that they were in the dominions of a certain
prince who held possessions on that coast, whose style and title was
Guy, count of Ponthieu.
The law in those days was, that wrecks became the property of the lord
of the territory on the shores of which they occurred; and not only were
the ships and the goods which they contained thus confiscated in case of
such a disaster, but the owners themselves became liable to be seized
and held captive for a ransom. Harold, knowing his danger, was
attempting to secrete himself on the coast till he could get to
Normandy, when a fisherman who saw him, and knew by his dress and
appearance, and by the deference with which he was treated by the rest
of the company, that he was a man of great consequence in his native
land, went to the count, and said that for ten crowns he would show him
where there was a man who would be worth a thousand to him. The count
came down with his retinue to the coast, seized the unfortunate
adventurers, took possession of all the goods and baggage that the waves
had spared, and shut the men themselves up in his castle at Abbeville
till they could pay their ransom.
Harold remonstrated against this treatment. He said that he was on his
way to Normandy on business of great importance with the duke, from the
King of England, and that he could not be detained. But the count was
very decided in refusing to let him go without his ransom. Harold then
sent word to William, acquainting him with his situation, and asking him
to effect his release. William sent to the count, demanding that he
should give his prisoner up. All these things, however, only tended to
elevate and enlarge the count's ideas of the value and importance of the
prize which he had been so fortunate to secure. He persisted in refusing
to give him up without ransom. Finally William paid the ransom, in the
shape of a large sum of money, and the cession, in addition, of a
considerable territory. Harold and his companions in bondage were then
delivered to William's messengers, and conducted by them in safety to
Rouen, where William was then residing.
William received his distinguished guest with every possible mark of the
most honorable consideration. He was escorted with great parade and
ceremony into the palace, lodged in the most sumptuous manner, provided
with every necessary supply, and games, and military spectacles, and
feasts and entertainments without number, were arranged to celebrate his
visit. William informed him that he was at liberty to return to England
whenever he pleased, and that his brother and his nephew, the hostages
that he had come to seek, were at his disposal. He, however, urged him
not to return immediately, but to remain a short time in Normandy with
his companions. Harold accepted the invitation.
All this exuberance of hospitality had its origin, as the reader will
readily divine, in the duke's joy in finding the only important rival
likely to appear to contest his claims to the English crown so fully in
his power, and in the hope which he entertained of so managing affairs
at this visit as to divert Harold's mind from the idea of becoming the
King of England himself, and to induce him to pledge himself to act in
his, that is, William's favor. He took, therefore, all possible pains to
make him enjoy his visit in Normandy; he exhibited to him the wealth
and the resources of the country--conducting him from place to place to
visit the castles, the abbeys, and the towns--and, finally, he proposed
that he should accompany him on a military expedition into Brittany.
Harold, pleased with the honors conferred upon him, and with the novelty
and magnificence of the scenes to which he was introduced, entered
heartily into all these plans, and his companions and attendants were no
less pleased than he. William knighted many of these followers of
Harold, and made them costly presents of horses, and banners, and suits
of armor, and other such gifts as were calculated to captivate the
hearts of martial adventurers such as they. William soon gained an
entire ascendency over their minds, and when he invited them to
accompany him on his expedition into Brittany, they were all eager to
go.
Brittany was west of Normandy, and on the frontiers of it, so that the
expedition was not a distant one. Nor was it long protracted. It was, in
fact, a sort of pleasure excursion, William taking his guest across the
frontier into his neighbor's territory, on a marauding party, just as a
nobleman, in modern times, would take a party into a forest to hunt.
William and Harold were on the most intimate and friendly terms possible
during the continuance of this campaign. They occupied the same tent,
and ate at the same table. Harold evinced great military talents and
much bravery in the various adventures which they met with in Brittany,
and William felt more than ever the desirableness of securing his
influence on his, that is, William's side, or, at least, of preventing
his becoming an open rival and enemy. On their return from Brittany into
Normandy, he judged that the time had arrived for taking his measures.
He accordingly resolved to come to an open understanding with Harold in
respect to his plans, and to seek his co-operation.
He introduced the subject, the historians say, one day as they were
riding along homeward from their excursion, and had been for some time
talking familiarly on the way, relating tales to one another of wars,
battles, sieges, and hair-breadth escapes, and other such adventures as
formed, generally, the subjects of narrative conversation in those days.
At length William, finding Harold, as he judged, in a favorable mood for
such a communication, introduced the subject of the English realm and
the approaching demise of the crown. He told him, confidentially, that
there had been an arrangement between him, William, and King Edward, for
some time, that Edward was to _adopt_ him as his successor. William told
Harold, moreover, that he should rely a great deal on his co-operation
and assistance in getting peaceable possession of the kingdom, and
promised to bestow upon him the very highest rewards and honors in
return if he would give him his aid. The only rival claimant, William
said, was the young child Edgar, and he had no friends, no party, no
military forces, and no means whatever for maintaining his pretensions.
On the other hand, he, William, and Harold, had obviously all the power
in their own hands, and if they could only co-operate together on a
common understanding, they would be sure to have the power and the
honors of the English realm entirely at their disposal.
Harold listened to all these suggestions, and pretended to be interested
and pleased. He was, in reality, interested, but he was not pleased. He
wished to secure the kingdom for himself, not merely to obtain a share,
however large, of its power and its honors as the subject of another. He
was, however, too wary to evince his displeasure. On the contrary, he
assented to the plan, professed to enter into it with all his heart, and
expressed his readiness to commence, immediately, the necessary
preliminary measures for carrying it into execution. William was much
gratified with the successful result of his negotiation, and the two
chieftains rode home to William's palace in Normandy, banded together,
apparently, by very strong ties. In secret, however, Harold was
resolving to effect his departure from Normandy as soon as possible, and
to make immediate and most effectual measures for securing the kingdom
of England to himself, without any regard to the promises that he had
made to William.
Nor must it be supposed that William himself placed any positive
reliance on mere promises from Harold. He immediately began to form
plans for binding him to the performance of his stipulations, by the
modes then commonly employed for securing the fulfillment of covenants
made among princes. These methods were three--intermarriages, the giving
of hostages, and solemn oaths.
William proposed two marriages as means of strengthening the alliance
between himself and Harold. Harold was to give to William one of his
daughters, that William might marry her to one of his Norman chieftains.
This would be, of course, placing her in William's power, and making her
a hostage all but in name. Harold, however, consented. The second
marriage proposed was between William's daughter and Harold himself; but
as his daughter was a child of only seven years of age, it could only be
a betrothment that could take place at that time. Harold acceded to this
proposal too, and arrangements were made for having the faith of the
parties pledged to one another in the most solemn manner. A great
assembly of all the knights, nobles, and ladies of the court was
convened, and the ceremony of pledging the troth between the fierce
warrior and the gentle and wondering child was performed with as much
pomp and parade as if it had been an actual wedding. The name of the
girl was Adela.
In respect to hostages, William determined to detain one of those whom
Harold, as will be recollected, had come into Normandy to recover. He
told him, therefore, that he might take with him his nephew Hacune, but
that Ulnoth, his brother, should remain, and William would bring him
over himself when he came to take possession of the kingdom. Harold was
extremely unwilling to leave his brother thus in William's power; but as
he knew very well that his being allowed to return to England himself
would depend upon his not evincing any reluctance to giving William
security, or manifesting any other indication that he was not intending
to keep his plighted faith, he readily consented, and it was thus
settled that Ulnoth should remain.
Finally, in order to hold Harold to the fulfillment of his promises by
every possible form of obligation, William proposed that he should take
a public and solemn oath, in the presence of a large assembly of all the
great potentates and chieftains of the realm, by which he should bind
himself, under the most awful sanctions, to keep his word. Harold made
no objection to this either. He considered himself as, in fact, in
duress, and his actions as not free. He was in William's power, and was
influenced in all he did by a desire to escape from Normandy, and once
more recover his liberty. He accordingly decided, in his own mind, that
whatever oaths he might take he should afterward consider as forced upon
him, and consequently as null and void, and was ready, therefore, to
take any that William might propose.
The great assembly was accordingly convened. In the middle of the
council hall there was placed a great chair of state, which was covered
with a cloth of gold. Upon this cloth, and raised considerably above the
seat, was the _missal_, that is, the book of service of the Catholic
Church, written on parchment and splendidly illuminated. The book was
open at a passage from one of the Evangelists--the Evangelists being a
portion of the Holy Scriptures which was, in those days, supposed to
invest an oath with the most solemn sanctions.
Harold felt some slight misgivings as he advanced in the midst of such
an imposing scene as the great assembly of knights and ladies presented
in the council hall, to repeat his promises in the very presence of God,
and to imprecate the retributive curses of the Almighty on the violation
of them, which he was deliberately and fully determined to incur. He
had, however, gone too far to retreat now. He advanced, therefore, to
the open missal, laid his hand upon the book, and, repeating the words
which William dictated to him from his throne, he took the threefold
oath required, namely, to aid William to the utmost of his power in his
attempt to secure the succession to the English crown, to marry
William's daughter Adela as soon as she should arrive at a suitable age,
and to send over forthwith from England his own daughter, that she might
be espoused to one of William's nobles.
As soon as the oath was thus taken, William caused the missal and the
cloth of gold to be removed, and there appeared beneath it, on the chair
of state, a chest, containing the sacred relics of the Church, which
William had secretly collected from the abbeys and monasteries of his
dominions, and placed in this concealment, that, without Harold's being
conscious of it, their dreadful sanction might be added to that which
the Holy Evangelists imposed. These relics were fragments of bones set
in caskets and frames, and portions of blood--relics, as the monks
alleged, of apostles or of the Savior--and small pieces of wood,
similarly preserved, which had been portions of the cross of Christ or
of his thorny crown. These things were treasured up with great solemnity
in the monastic establishments and in the churches of these early times,
and were regarded with a veneration and awe, of which it is almost
beyond our power even to conceive. Harold trembled when he saw what he
had unwittingly done. He was terrified to think how much more dreadful
was the force of the imprecations that he had uttered than he had
imagined while uttering them. But it was too late to undo what he had
done. The assembly was finally dismissed. William thought he had the
conscience of his new ally firmly secured, and Harold began to prepare
for leaving Normandy.
He continued on excellent terms with William until his departure.
William accompanied him to the sea-shore when the time of his
embarkation arrived, and dismissed him at last with many farewell
honors, and a profusion of presents. Harold set sail, and, crossing the
Channel in safety, he landed in England.
He commenced immediately an energetic system of measures to strengthen
his own cause, and prepare the way for his own accession. He organized
his party, collected arms and munitions of war, and did all that he
could to ingratiate himself with the most powerful and wealthy nobles.
He sought the favor of the king, too, and endeavored to persuade him to
discard William. The king was now old and infirm, and was growing more
and more inert and gloomy as he advanced in age. His mind was occupied
altogether in ecclesiastical rites and observances, or plunged in a
torpid and lifeless melancholy, which made him averse to giving any
thought to the course which the affairs of his kingdom were to take
after he was gone. He did not care whether Harold or William took the
crown when he laid it aside, provided they would allow him to die in
peace.
He had had, a few years previous to this time, a plan of making a
pilgrimage to Jerusalem, but had finally made an arrangement with the
pope, allowing him to build a Cathedral church, to be dedicated to St.
Peter, a few miles west of London, in lieu of his pilgrimage. There was
already a Cathedral church or _minster_ in the heart of London which was
dedicated to St. Paul. The new one was afterward often called, to
distinguish it from the other, the _west_ minster, which designation,
Westminster, became afterward its regular name. It was on this spot,
where Westminster Abbey now stands, that Edward's church was to be
built. It was just completed at the time of which we are speaking, and
the king was preparing for the dedication of it. He summoned an assembly
of all the prelates and great ecclesiastical dignitaries of the land to
convene at London, in order to dedicate the new Cathedral. Before they
were ready for the service, the king was taken suddenly sick. They
placed him upon his couch in his palace chamber, where he lay, restless,
and moaning in pain, and repeating incessantly, half in sleep and half
in delirium, the gloomy and threatening texts of Scripture which seemed
to haunt his mind. He was eager to have the dedication go on, and they
hastened the service in order to gratify him by having it performed
before he died. The next day he was obviously failing. Harold and his
friends were very earnest to have the departing monarch declare in _his_
favor before he died, and their coming and going, and their loud
discussions, rude soldiers as they were, disturbed his dying hours. He
sent them word to choose whom they would for king, duke or earl, it was
indifferent to him, and thus expired.
Harold had made his arrangements so well, and had managed so effectually
to secure the influence of all the powerful nobles of the kingdom, that
they immediately convened and offered him the crown. Edgar was in the
court of Edward at the time, but he was too young to make any effort to
advance his claims. He was, in fact, a foreigner, though in the English
royal line. He had been brought up on the Continent of Europe, and
could not even speak the English tongue. He acquiesced, therefore,
without complaint, in these proceedings, and was even present as a
consenting spectator on the occasion of Harold's coronation, which
ceremony was performed with great pomp and parade, at St. Paul's, in
London, very soon after King Edward's death. Harold rewarded Edgar for
his complaisance and discretion by conferring upon him the honor of
knighthood immediately after the coronation, and in the church where the
ceremony was performed. He also conferred similar distinctions and
honors upon many other aspiring and ambitious men whom he wished to
secure to his side. He thus seemed to have secure and settled possession
of the throne.
Previously to this time, Harold had married a young lady of England, a
sister of two very powerful noblemen, and the richest heiress in the
realm. This marriage greatly strengthened his influence in England, and
helped to prepare the way for his accession to the supreme power. The
tidings of it, however, when they crossed the Channel and reached the
ears of William of Normandy, as the act was an open and deliberate
violation of one of the covenants which Harold had made with William,
convinced the latter that none of these covenants would be kept, and
prepared him to expect all that afterward followed.