Part 21 (1/2)

[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 cite, Ki close fust d'antiquite.

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 pa.s.ses 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 vava.s.sors 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 const.i.tuimus ad utilitatem Anglorum;' which his son Henry expresses thus: 'Lagam Edwardi regis vobis reddo, c.u.m illis emendationibus quibus pater meus eam emendavit, consilio baronum suorum.' See the laws of William in the Proofs and Ill.u.s.trations, p. lx.x.xix, 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 cla.s.ses, 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.

[Ill.u.s.tration]

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 c.u.m in Angliam venissem, et in finibus Hastingiae, c.u.m exercitu applicuissem contra hostes meos, qui mini regnum Angliae injuste conabantur auferre, in procinctu belli, jam armatus, coram baronibus et militibus meis, c.u.m 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 c.u.m essemus adepti, votum Deo solvens, in honorem Sanctae Trinitatis, et beati Martini, confessoris Christi, ecclesiam construxi; pro salute animae meae et antecessoris mei regis Eadwardi, et uxoris meae Mathildis reginae, et successorum meorum in regno; et pro salute omnium quorum labore et auxilio regnum obtinui; et illorum maxime qui in ipso h.e.l.lo 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 loc.u.m qui nunc BELLUM nuncupatur,'--and that William arrayed himself to oppose him, 'equitum cuneis circ.u.m septus'--'ad loc.u.m 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 opulentia maxima ditati sumus.']

[Footnote 12: This expedition took place at the end of July, 1087.]

[Footnote 13: Et quia strepitus Rotomagi, quae populosa civitas est, intolerabilis erat aegrotanti, extra urbem ipse rex praecepit 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 a.s.sume 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 funde'--'mult sagement ad parle,' 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 a.s.sembled 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.]