Book: Harold, Book 12.

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[196] Odo's licentiousness was, at a later period, one of the alleged
causes of his downfall, or rather against his release from the prison
to which he had been consigned. He had a son named John, who
distinguished himself under Henry I.--ORD. VITAL. lib. iv.

[197] William of Poitiers, the contemporary Norman chronicler, says
of Harold, that he was a man to whom imprisonment was more odious than
shipwreck.

[198] In the environs of Bayeux still may perhaps linger the sole
remains of the Scandinavian Normans, apart from the gentry. For
centuries the inhabitants of Bayeux and its vicinity were a class
distinct from the Franco-Normans, or the rest of Neustria; they
submitted with great reluctance to the ducal authority, and retained
their old heathen cry of Thor-aide, instead of Dieu-aide!

[199] Similar was the answer of Goodyn the Bishop of Winchester,
ambassador from Henry VIII. to the French King. To this day the
English entertain the same notion of forts as Harold and Goodyn.

[200] See Mr. Wright's very interesting article on the "Condition of
the English Peasantry," etc., Archaeologia, vol. xxx. pp. 205-244. I
must, however, observe, that one very important fact seems to have
been generally overlooked by all inquirers, or, at least, not
sufficiently enforced, viz., that it was the Norman's contempt for the
general mass of the subject population which more, perhaps, than any
other cause, broke up positive slavery in England. Thus the Norman
very soon lost sight of that distinction the Anglo-Saxons had made
between the agricultural ceorl and the theowe; i.e., between the serf
of the soil and the personal slave. Hence these classes became fused
in each other, and were gradually emancipated by the same
circumstances. This, be it remarked, could never have taken place
under the Anglo-Saxon laws, which kept constantly feeding the class of
slaves by adding to it convicted felons and their children. The
subject population became too necessary to the Norman barons, in their
feuds with each other, or their king, to be long oppressed; and, in
the time of Froissart, that worthy chronicler ascribes the insolence,
or high spirit, of le menu peuple to their grand aise, et abondance de
biens.

[201] Twelve o'clock.

[202] Six A.M.

[203] A celebrated antiquary, in his treatise in the "Archaeologia,"
on the authenticity of the Bayeux tapestry, very justly invites
attention to the rude attempt of the artist to preserve individuality
in his portraits; and especially to the singularly erect bearing of
the Duke, by which he is at once recognised wherever he is introduced.
Less pains are taken with the portrait of Harold; but even in that a
certain elegance of proportion, and length of limb, as well as height
of stature, are generally preserved.

[204] Bayeux tapestry.

[205] AIL. de Vit. Edw.--Many other chroniclers mention this legend,
of which the stones of Westminster Abbey itself prated, in the statues
of Edward and the Pilgrim, placed over the arch in Dean's Yard.

[206] This ancient Saxon lay, apparently of the date of the tenth or
eleventh century, may be found, admirably translated by Mr. George
Stephens, in the Archaeologia, vol. xxx. p. 259. In the text the poem
is much abridged, reduced into rhythm, and in some stanzas wholly
altered from the original. But it is, nevertheless, greatly indebted
to Mr. Stephens's translation, from which several lines are borrowed
verbatim. The more careful reader will note the great aid given to a
rhymeless metre by alliteration. I am not sure that this old Saxon
mode of verse might not be profitably restored to our national muse.

[207] People.

[208] Heaven.

[209] Omen.

[210] The Eastern word Satraps (Satrapes) made one of the ordinary
and most inappropriate titles (borrowed, no doubt, from the Byzantine
Court), by which the Saxons, in their Latinity, honoured their simple
nobles.

[211] Afterwards married to Malcolm of Scotland, through whom, by the
female line, the present royal dynasty of England assumes descent from
the Anglo-Saxon kings.

[212] By his first wife; Aldyth was his second.

[213] Flor. Wig.

[214] This truth has been overlooked by writers, who have maintained
the Atheling's right as if incontestable. "An opinion prevailed,"
says Palgrave, "Eng. Commonwealth," pp. 559, 560, "that if the
Atheling was born before his father and mother were ordained to the
royal dignity, the crown did not descend to the child of uncrowned
ancestors. "Our great legal historian quotes Eadmer, "De Vit. Sanct.
Dunstan," p. 220, for the objection made to the succession of Edward
the Martyr, on this score.

[215] See the judicious remarks of Henry, "Hist. of Britain," on this
head. From the lavish abuse of oaths, perjury had come to be reckoned
one of the national vices of the Saxon.

[216] And so, from Gryffyth, beheaded by his subjects, descended
Charles Stuart.

[217] Brompt. Chron.

[218] See Note P.

[219] It seems by the coronation service of Ethelred II. still
extant, that two bishops officiated in the crowning of the King; and
hence, perhaps, the discrepancy in the chronicles, some contending
that Harold was crowned by Alred, others, by Stigand. It is
noticeable, however, that it is the apologists of the Normans who
assign that office to Stigand, who was in disgrace with the Pope, and
deemed no lawful bishop. Thus in the Bayeux tapestry the label,
"Stigand," is significantly affixed to the officiating prelate, as if
to convey insinuation that Harold was not lawfully crowned. Florence,
by far the best authority, says distinctly, that Harold was crowned by
Alred. The ceremonial of the coronation described in the text, is for
the most part given on the authority of the "Cotton MS." quoted by
Sharon Turner, vol. iii. p. 151.

[220] Introduced into our churches in the ninth century.

[221] The Wyn-month: October.

[222] "Snorro Sturleson." Laing.

[223] The Vaeringers, or Varangi, mostly Northmen; this redoubtable
force, the Janissaries of the Byzantine empire, afforded brilliant
field, both of fortune and war, to the discontented spirits, or
outlawed heroes of the North. It was joined afterwards by many of the
bravest and best born of the Saxon nobles, refusing to dwell under the
yoke of the Norman. Scott, in "Count Robert of Paris," which, if not
one of his best romances, is yet full of truth and beauty, has
described this renowned band with much poetical vigor and historical
fidelity.

[224] Laing's Snorro Sturleson.--"The old Norwegian ell was less than
the present ell; and Thorlasius reckons, in a note on this chapter,
that Harold's stature would be about four Danish ells; viz. about
eight feet."--Laing's note to the text. Allowing for the exaggeration
of the chronicler, it seems probable, at least, that Hardrada exceeded
seven feet. Since (as Laing remarks in the same note), and as we
shall see hereafter, "our English Harold offered him, according to
both English and Danish authority, seven feet of land for a grave, or
as much more as his stature, exceeding that of other men, might
require."

[225] Snorro Sturleson. See Note Q.

[226] Snorro Sturleson.

[227] Hoveden.

[228] Holinshed. Nearly all chroniclers (even, with scarce an
exception, those most favouring the Normans), concur in the abilities
and merits of Harold as a king.

[229] "Vit. Harold. Chron. Ang. Norm." ii, 243.

[230] Hoveden.

[231] Malmesbury.

[232] Supposed to be our first port for shipbuilding.--FOSBROOKE, p.
320.

[233] Pax.

[234] Some of the Norman chroniclers state that Robert, Archbishop of
Canterbury, who had been expelled from England at Godwin's return, was
Lanfranc's companion in this mission; but more trustworthy authorities
assure us that Robert had been dead some years before, not long
surviving his return into Normandy.

[235] Saxon Chronicle.

[236] Saxon Chronicle.--"When it was the nativity of St. Mary, then
were the men's provisions gone, and no man could any longer keep them
there."

[237] It is curious to notice how England was represented as a
country almost heathen; its conquest was regarded quite as a pious,
benevolent act of charity--a sort of mission for converting the
savages. And all this while England was under the most slavish
ecclesiastical domination, and the priesthood possessed a third of its
land! But the heart of England never forgave that league of the Pope
with the Conqueror; and the seeds of the Reformed Religion were
trampled deep into the Saxon soil by the feet of the invading Norman.

[238] WILLIAM OF POITIERS.--The naive sagacity of this bandit
argument, and the Norman's contempt for Harold's deficiency in
"strength of mind," are exquisite illustrations of character.

[239] Snorro Sturleson.

[240] Does any Scandinavian scholar know why the trough was so
associated with the images of Scandinavian witchcraft? A witch was
known, when seen behind, by a kind of trough-like shape; there must be
some symbol, of very ancient mythology, in this superstition!

[241] Snorro Sturleson.

[242] Snorro Sturleson.

[243] So Thierry translates the word: others, the Land-ravager. In
Danish, the word is Land-ode, in Icelandic, Land-eydo.--Note to
Thierry's "Hist. of the Conq. of England," book iii. vol. vi. p. 169
(of Hazlitt's translation).

[244] Snorro Sturleson.

[245] See Snorro Sturleson for this parley between Harold in person
and Tostig. The account differs from the Saxon chroniclers, but in
this particular instance is likely to be as accurate.

[246] Snorro Sturleson.

[247] Snorro Sturleson.

[248] Sharon Turner's Anglo-Saxons, vol. ii. p. 396. Snorro
Sturleson.

[249] Snorro Sturleson.

[250] The quick succession of events allowed the Saxon army no time
to bury the slain; and the bones of the invaders whitened the field of
battle for many years afterwards.

[251] It may be said indeed, that, in the following reign, the Danes
under Osbiorn (brother of King Sweyn), sailed up the Humber; but it
was to assist the English, not to invade them. They were bought off
by the Normans,--not conquered.

[252] The Saxons sat at meals with their heads covered.

[253] Henry.

[254] Palgrave--"Hist. of Anglo-Saxons."

[255] Palgrave--"Hist. of Anglo-Saxons."

[256] The battle-field of Hastings seems to have been called Senlac,
before the Conquest, Sanguelac after it.

[257] Traitor-messenger.

[258] "Ne meinent od els chevalier,
Varlet a pie De eskuier;
Ne nul d'els n'a armes portee,
Forz sol escu, lance, et espee."
Roman de Rou, Second Part, v. 12, 126.

[259] "Ke d'une angarde [eminence] u ils 'estuient
Cels de l'ost virent, ki pres furent."
Roman de Rou, Second Part, v. 12, 126.

[260] Midnight.

[261] This counsel the Norman chronicler ascribes to Gurth, but it is
so at variance with the character of that hero, that it is here
assigned to the unscrupulous intellect of Haco.

[262] Osborne--(Asbiorn),--one of the most common of Danish and
Norwegian names. Tonstain, Toustain, or Tostain, the same as Tosti,
or Tostig,--Danish. (Harold's brother is called Tostain or Toustain,
in the Norman chronicles). Brand, a name common to Dane or Norwegian
--Bulmer is a Norwegian name, and so is Bulver or Bolvaer--which is,
indeed, so purely Scandinavian that it is one of the warlike names
given to Odin himself by the Norse-scalds. Bulverhithe still
commemorates the landing of a Norwegian son of the war-god. Bruce,
the ancestor of the deathless Scot, also bears in that name, more
illustrious than all, the proof of his Scandinavian birth.

[263] This mail appears in that age to have been sewn upon linen or
cloth. In the later age of the crusaders, it was more artful, and the
links supported each other, without being attached to any other
material.

[264] Bayeux tapestry.

[265] The cross-bow is not to be seen in the Bayeux tapestry--the
Norman bows are not long.

[266] Roman de Rou.

[267] William of Poitiers.

[268] Dieu nous aide.

[269] Thus, when at the battle of Barnet, Earl Warwick, the king-
maker, slew his horse and fought on foot, he followed the old
traditional customs of Saxon chiefs.

[270] "Devant li Dus alout cantant
De Karlemaine e de Rollant,
Ed 'Olever e des Vassalls
Ki morurent en Ronchevals."
Roman de Rou, Part ii. I. 13, 151.

Much research has been made by French antiquaries, to discover the old
Chant de Roland, but in vain.

[271] W. PICT. Chron. de Nor.

[272] For, as Sir F. Palgrave shrewdly conjectures, upon the
dismemberment of the vast earldom of Wessex, on Harold's accession to
the throne, that portion of it comprising Sussex (the old government
of his grandfather Wolnoth) seems to have been assigned to Gurth.

[273] Harold's birthday was certainly the 14th of October. According
to Mr. Roscoe, in his "Life of William the Conqueror," William was
born also on the 14th of October.

[274] William Pict.

[275] Thus Wace,

"Guert (Gurth) vit Engleiz amenuisier,
Vi K'il n'i ont nul recovrier," etc.

"Gurth saw the English diminish, and that there was no hope to
retrieve the day; the Duke pushed forth with such force, that he
reached him, and struck him with great violence (par grant air). I
know not if he died by the stroke, but it is said that it laid him
low."

[276] The suggestions implied in the text will probably be admitted
as correct; when we read in the Saxon annals of the recognition of the
dead, by peculiar marks on their bodies; the obvious, or at least the
most natural explanation of those signs, is to be found in the habit
of puncturing the skin, mentioned by the Malmesbury chronicler.

[277] The contemporary Norman chronicler, William of Poitiers. See
Note (R).

[278] See Note (R).

[279] "Rex magnus parva jacet hic Gulielmus in urna--
Sufficit et magno parva Domus Domino."

From William the Conqueror's epitaph (ap-Gemiticen). His bones are
said to have been disinterred some centuries after his death.

[280] Thomson's Essay on Magna Charta.

[281] Orderic. Vital. lib. 4.

[282] The date of William's marriage has been variously stated in
English and Norman history, but is usually fixed in 1051-2. M.
Pluquet, however, in a note to his edition of the "Roman de Rou," says
that the only authority for the date of that marriage is in the
Chronicle of Tours, and it is there referred to 1053. It would seem
that the Papal excommunication was not actually taken off till 1059;
nor the formal dispensation for the marriage granted till 1063.

[283] For authorities for the above sketch, and for many interesting
details of Lanfranc's character, see Orderic. Vital. Hen. de
Knyghton, lib. ii. Gervasius; and the life of Lanfranc, to be found in
the collection of his Works, etc.

[284] Pigott's Scand. Mythol. p. 380. Half. Vand. Saga.

[285] "Suthsaxonum Ministrum Wolfnothem." Flor. Wig.

[286] Asser. de Reb. Gest. Alf. pp. 17, 18.

[287] Camden, Caernarvonshire.

[288] Pennant's Wales, vol. ii. p. 146.

[289] The ruins still extant are much diminished since the time even
of Pownall or Pennant; and must be indeed inconsiderable, compared
with the buildings or walls which existed at the date of my tale.

[290] Johann. ap. Acad. Celt. tom. iii. p. 151.

[291] William of Poitiers.

[292] He is considered to refer to such bequest in one of his
charters: "Devicto Harlodo rege cum suis complicibus qui michi regnum
prudentia Domini destinatum, et beneficio concessionis Domini et
cognati mei gloriosi regis Edwardi concessum conati sunt auferre."--
FORESTINA, A. 3.

But William's word is certainly not to be taken, for he never scrupled
to break it; and even in these words he does not state that it was
left him by Edward's will, but destined and given to him--words
founded, perhaps, solely on the promise referred to, before Edward
came to the throne, corroborated by some messages in the earlier years
of his reign, through the Norman Archbishop of Canterbury, who seems
to have been a notable intriguer to that end.

[293] Palgrave, "Commonwealth," 560.

[294] "Quo tumulato, subregulus Haroldus Godwin Ducis filius, quem
rex ante suam decessionem regni successorem elegerat, a totius Angliae
primatibus, ad regale culmen electus, die eodem ab Aldredo Eboracensi
Archiepiscopo in regem est honorifice consecratus."--FLOR. Wig.

[295] Some of these Norman chroniclers tell an absurd story of
Harold's seizing the crown from the hand of the bishop, and putting it
himself on his head. The Bayeux Tapestry, which is William's most
connected apology for his claim, shows no such violence; but Harold is
represented as crowned very peaceably. With more art, (as I have
observed elsewhere,) the Tapestry represents Stigand as crowning him
instead of Alred; Stigand being at that time under the Pope's
interdict.

[296] Edward died Jan. 5th. Harold's coronation is said to have
taken place Jan. the 12th; but there is no very satisfactory evidence
as to the precise day; indeed some writers would imply that he was
crowned the day after Edward's death, which is scarcely possible.

[297] Vit. Harold. Chron. Ang. Norm.

[298] Laing's Note to Snorro Sturleson, vol. iii. p. 101.

[299] This William Mallet was the father of Robert Mallet, founder of
the Priory of Eye, in Suffolk (a branch of the House of Mallet de
Graville).--PLUQUET. He was also the ancestor of the great William
Mallet (or Malet, as the old Scandinavian name was now corruptly
spelt), one of the illustrious twenty-five "conservators" of Magna
Charta. The family is still extant; and I have to apologise to Sir
Alexander Malet, Bart. (Her Majesty's Minister at Stutgard), Lieut.-
Col. Charles St. Lo Malet, the Rev. William Windham Malet (Vicar of
Ardley), and other members of that ancient House, for the liberty
taken with the name of their gallant forefather.



THE END.

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