Part 31 (1/2)
[49] We give him that t.i.tle, which this Norman n.o.ble generally bears in the Chronicles, though Palgrave observes that he is rather to be styled Earl of the Magesetan (the Welch Marches).
[50] Eadigan.--S. TURNER, vol. i. p. 274.
[51] The comparative wealth of London was indeed considerable. When, in 1018, all the rest of England was taxed to an amount considered stupendous, viz., 71,000 Saxon pounds, London contributed 11,000 pounds besides.
[52] Complin. the second vespers.
[53] CAMDEN--A church was built out of the ruins of that temple by Sibert, King of the East Saxons; and Canute favoured much the small monastery attached to it (originally established by Dunstan for twelve Benedictines), on account of its Abbot Wulnoth, whose society pleased him. The old palace of Canute, in Thorney Isle, had been destroyed by fire.
[54] See note to PLUQUET's Roman de Rou, p. 285. N.B.--Whenever the Roman de Rou is quoted in these pages it is from the excellent edition of M. Pluquet.
[55] Pardex or Parde, corresponding to the modern French expletive, pardie.
[56] Quen, or rather Quens; synonymous with Count in the Norman Chronicles. Earl G.o.dwin is strangely styled by Wace, Quens Qwine.
[57] ”Good, good, pleasant son,--the words of the poet sound gracefully on the lips of the knight.”
[58] A sentiment variously a.s.signed to William and to his son Henry the Beau Clerc.
[59] Mallet is a genuine Scandinavian name to this day.
[60] Rou--the name given by the French to Rollo, or Rolf-ganger, the founder of the Norman settlement.
[61] Pious severity to the heterodox was a Norman virtue. William of Poictiers says of William, ”One knows with what zeal he pursued and exterminated those who thought differently;” i.e., on transubstantiation. But the wise Norman, while flattering the tastes of the Roman Pontiff in such matters, took special care to preserve the independence of his Church from any undue dictation.
[62] A few generations later this comfortable and decent fas.h.i.+on of night-gear was abandoned; and our forefathers, Saxon and Norman, went to bed in puris naturalibus, like the Laplanders.
[63] Most of the chroniclers merely state the parentage within the forbidden degrees as the obstacle to William's marriage with Matilda; but the betrothal or rather nuptials of her mother Adele with Richard III. (though never consummated), appears to have been the true canonical objection.--See note to Wace, p. 27. Nevertheless, Matilda's mother, Adele, stood in the relation of aunt to William, as widow of his father's elder brother, ”an affinity,” as is observed by a writer in the ”Archaeologia,” ”quite near enough to account for, if not to justify, the interference of the Church.”--Arch. vol. x.x.xii. p. 109.
[64] It might be easy to show, were this the place, that though the Saxons never lost their love of liberty, yet that the victories which gradually regained the liberty from the gripe of the Anglo-Norman kings, were achieved by the Anglo-Norman aristocracy. And even to this day, the few rare descendants of that race (whatever their political faction), will generally exhibit that impatience of despotic influence, and that disdain of corruption, which characterise the homely bonders of Norway, in whom we may still recognise the st.u.r.dy likeness of their fathers; while it is also remarkable that the modern inhabitants of those portions of the kingdom originally peopled by their kindred Danes, are, irrespective of mere party divisions, noted for their intolerance of all oppression, and their resolute independence of character; to wit, Yorks.h.i.+re, Norfolk, c.u.mberland, and large districts in the Scottish Lowlands.
[65] Ex pervetusto codice, MS. Chron. Bec. in Vit. Lanfranc, quoted in the ”Archaeologia,” vol. x.x.xii. p. 109. The joke, which is very poor, seems to have turned upon pede and quadrupede; it is a little altered in the text.
[66] Ord. Vital. See Note on Lanfranc, at the end of the volume.
[67] Siward was almost a giant (pene gigas statures). There are some curious anecdotes of this hero, immortalised by Shakspere, in the Bromton Chronicle. His grandfather is said to have been a bear, who fell in love with a Danish lady; and his father, Beorn, retained some of the traces of the parental physiognomy in a pair of pointed ears. The origin of this fable seems evident. His grandfather was a Berserker; for whether that name be derived, as is more generally supposed, from bare-sark,--or rather from bear-sark, that is, whether this grisly specimen of the Viking genus fought in his s.h.i.+rt or his bearskin, the name equally lends itself to those mystifications from which half the old legends, whether of Greece or Norway, are derived.
[68] Wace.
[69] See Note (E), at the end of the volume (foot-note on the date of William's marriage).
[70] Anglo-Saxon Chronicle.
[71] Some writers say fifty.
[72] Hovenden.
[73] Bodes, i.e. messengers.
[74] Anglo-Saxon Chronicle.
[75] Or Fleur-de-lis, which seems to have been a common form of ornament with the Saxon kings.
[76] Bayeux Tapestry.
[77] See note (F), at the end of the volume.
[78] The York Chronicle, written by an Englishman, Stubbs, gives this eminent person an excellent character as peacemaker. ”He could make the warmest friends of foes the most hostile.” ”De inimicissimis, amicissimos faceret.” This gentle priest had yet the courage to curse the Norman Conqueror in the midst of his barons. That scene is not within the range of this work, but it is very strikingly told in the Chronicle.
[79] Heralds, though probably the word is Saxon, were not then known in the modern acceptation of the word. The name given to the messenger or envoy who fulfilled that office was bode or nuncius. See Note (G), at the end of the volume.
[80] When the chronicler praises the gift of speech, he unconsciously proves the existence of const.i.tutional freedom.
[81] Recent Danish historians have in vain endeavoured to detract from the reputation of Canute as an English monarch. The Danes are, doubtless, the best authorities for his character in Denmark. But our own English authorities are sufficiently decisive as to the personal popularity of Canute in this country, and the affection entertained for his laws.
[82] Some of our historians erroneously represent Harold as the eldest son. But Florence, the best authority we have, in the silence of the Saxon Chronicle, as well as Knyghton, distinctly states Sweyn to be the eldest; Harold was the second, and Tostig was the third. Sweyn's seniority seems corroborated by the greater importance of his earldom. The Norman chroniclers, in their spite to Harold, wish to make him junior to Tostig--for the reasons evident at the close of this work. And the Norwegian chronicler, Snorro Sturleson, says that Harold was the youngest of all the sons; so little was really known, or cared to be accurately known, of that great house which so nearly founded a new dynasty of English kings.
[83] Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, A. D. 1043. ”Stigand was deposed from his bishopric, and all that he possessed was seized into the King's hands, because he was received to his mother's counsel, and she went just as he advised her, as people thought.” The saintly Confessor dealt with his bishops as summarily as Henry VIII. could have done, after his quarrel with the Pope.
[84] The t.i.tle of Basileus was retained by our kings so late as the time of John, who styled himself ”Totius Insulae Britannicae Basileus.”--AGARD: On the Antiquity of s.h.i.+res in England, op. Hearne, Cur. Disc.
[85] Sharon Turner.
[86] See the Introduction to PALGRAVE's History of the Anglo-Saxons, from which this description of the Witan is borrowed so largely, that I am left without other apology for the plagiarism, than the frank confession, that if I could have found in others, or conceived from my own resources, a description half as graphic and half as accurate, I would only have plagiarised to half the extent I have done.
[87] Girald. Gambrensis.
[88] Palgrave omits, I presume accidentally, these members of the Witan, but it is clear from the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle that the London ”lithsmen” were represented in the great National Witans, and helped to decide the election even of kings.
[89] By Athelstan's law, every man was to have peace going to and from the Witan, unless he was a thief.--WILKINS, p. 187.
[90] G.o.da, Edward's sister, married first Rolf's father, Count of Nantes; secondly, the Count of Boulogne.
[91] More correctly of Oxford, Somerset, Berks.h.i.+re, Gloucester, and Hereford.
[92] Yet how little safe it is for the great to despise the low-born. This very Richard, son of Scrob, more euphoniously styled by the Normans Richard Fitz-Scrob, settled in Herefords.h.i.+re (he was probably among the retainers of Earl Rolf), and on William's landing, became the chief and most active supporter of the invader in those districts. The sentence of banishment seems to have been mainly confined to the foreigners about the Court--for it is clear that many Norman landowners and priests were still left scattered throughout the country.
[93] SENECA, Thyest. Act ii.--”He is a king who fears nothing; that kingdom every man gives to himself.”
[94] Scin-laeca, literally a s.h.i.+ning corpse; a species of apparition invoked by the witch or wizard.--See SHARON TURNER on The Superst.i.tions of the Anglo-Saxons, b. ii. c. 14.
[95] Galdra, magic.
[96] Fylgia, tutelary divinity. See Note (H), at the end of the volume.
[97] Morthwyrtha, wors.h.i.+pper of the dead.
[98] It is a disputed question whether the saex of the earliest Saxon invaders was a long or short curved weapon,--nay, whether it was curved or straight; but the author sides with those who contend that it was a short, crooked weapon, easily concealed by a cloak, and similar to those depicted on the banner of the East Saxons.
[99] See Note (K), at the end of the volume.