•
MB
iJr\
BOHM'S STANDARD LIBRARY.
Eltgaitlly Printed, a,id bound in Cloth, at 3.«. Gd. per
va.
THE MISCELLANEOUS WORKS AND REMAINS OF THE REV. ROBERT HALL, «'ii!i Memoir by DR. GRKUOKY, and Ks-<ay by JOHN FOSTKH. J'orlrcit.
& 3. ROSCOE'S LIFE AND PONTIFICATE OF LEO X.. Kditcd by his Son, •lie l"<]|'vri.'lit Nntci, Documents, Sec. la -2 \ ols. Purlraitj.
SCHLEGELS LECTURES ON THE PHILOSOPHY OF HISTORY. Translated from the (ierM.;iM, "••'•-"••"•"'•• !•«' " » l<— " '
& 6 SISMONDI'S EUROPE. Trans
ROSCOE'S LIFE O SCHLEGELS LEC
& 11. BECKMANT ORIGINS. Four
SCHILLERS HIS' OF THE NETH
SCHILLERS WOR
i njtein's C " \Vilhelni Tell."]
MEMOIRS OF Th
with mi ". \ccoun
14. MEMOIRS OF BE 16,
OF
2'.
i 27> ', 28,
20- 31. 35. 37.
3". 42. 43. 44
18, & 22. COXE
foundation of the
19, It 23. LANZIS OCKLEY'S HISTC
SCHILLER S WO Orleans," ;.nd " H
26, & 33. LAMA
the French Uc\ (
MACHIAVELLIS
SCHLEGEL'S LE
PHILOSOPHY <
32. & 36. RANK Vols. Partf
30, «c 34. COXE ii. Part nit
••( K fln« li thnu
pubtUbcd in the orij
SHERIDAN'S DRAMA 1 10 wuuKb ANU Llrt. rorimu.
GOETHE'S WORKS. Vol.1. [His Autobiography. 13 Books.] Portrait.
WHEATLEY ON THE COMMON PRAYER. Frontispiece.
39. 40, 81. It 86. MILTON S PROSE WORKS. I» 5 Vols, with general Index trails.
41, St 45. MENZEL'S HISTORY OF GERMANY. Complete in 3 Vols. Portrait. SCHLEGELS /ESTHETIC AND MISCELLANEOUS WORKS. GOETHE'S WORKS. V,,l. II. riU-niRiuder of hi* Autobiography, ;,nd Travels.] SCHILLERS WORKS Vol. IV. r,T1)e Pa,llllcn, ., .. Kie^ .. .. ^ d
^L^' Translated l,j HK.NKY U. HOH.N.
its of
THE
fn
m
BOHN'S STANDARD LIBRARY.
48. SCHLEGEL'S LECTURES ON MODERN HISTORY. 1 47. LAMARTINE'S HISTORY OF THE FRENCH REVOLUTION OF 1848. c&\
-'.'• * 48 & 50. JUNIUS'S LETTERS, with Notes, Additions, Essay, Index, &c. 2 Vols.
;4 49, 55, 60, 65, 71. VASARI'S LIVES OF THE MOST CELEBRATED PAINTERS, jfcwj/ Xff& SCULPTORS, AND ARCHITECTS. Translated by MBS. I'OSTKR, wan Notes, f
V\.';'3 Complete in a Vols., with Index.
£••'.'* 5t. TAYLOR'S (JEREMY) HOLY LIVING AND DYING. Portrait.
* 52. GOETHE'S WORKS. Vol. III. ["Faust," " Ipliijrenw," "Torquato Tassn," e '{' '2 and " K'.'tnont."] Translated by Miss SWAKWICK. With " Goetz von Her- tfj<o~
lichingeu," translated by Sin WALTKII SCOTT.
3 53, 56, 58, 61. 66, 67, 75, &. 82. NEANDER'S CHURCH HISTORY. Careful!;, ; revised by the KKV. A. J. W. MOKEISOM. 8 Vols. With Index.
>^ 54. NEANDER'S LIFE OF CHRIST.
j) 57, 64. NEANDER'S PLANTING OF CHRISTIANITY, &, ANTIGNOSTIKUS, f^ i-;-r;3 3 Vols. E>V(1
•••* 59. GREGORY'S (DR.) LETTERS ON THE CHRISTIAN RELIGION.
•3 62 & 63. JAMES' (G. P. R.) LOUIS XIV. Complete in 3 Vols. Portraits.
' 68 &. 70. SIR JOSHUA REYNOLDS' LITERARY WORKS, with Memoir, 2 Vols. Port. gp£
3 69. ANDREW FULLER'S PRINCIPAL WORKS. Portrait.
~1 72. BUTLER'S ANALOGY OF RELIGION, AND SERMONS, with Notes, &c. g&.
€>3 73. MISS BREMER'S WORKS. Translated by M.unr Ilowrrr. New Edition, revised. « Vol. I. [" The Neighbours," and other Tales.] 1'ost 8vo. Portrait. 3j. GJ.
$ 74. NEANDER'S MEMORIALS OF CHRISTIAN LIFE IN THE EARLY AND "«. MIDDLE AGES (including his "Linht in Dirk Vlaees"). 1'ost 8vo. 3*. 6V. ;
"^ 76. MISS BREWERS WORKS, by MARY IIOWITT. Vol. II. "The President's *
Daughters." Portrait.
I 77 &. 80. JOHN FOSTER'S LIFE AND CORRESPONDENCE, edited by J. R. *
KYLAND. In 2 Volumes. Portrait. (C".j':
? 73. BACON'S ESSAYS. APOPHTHEGMS, WISDOM OF THE ANCIENTS.
NEW ATALANTIS, AND HENRY VII., with Dissertation an 1 :' Portrait.
5 79. GUIZOT'S HISTORY OF REPRESENTATIVE GOVERNMENT, tran-h'.,M J from the I'rench by A. U. SCOBI.K. Witli Index.
•=» 83. MISS BREMER'S WORKS, by MARY HOWITT. Vol. III. "The Home, i-.n-i c Strife ami Peace."
!. DE LOLME ON THE CONSTITUTION Of ENGLAND, or. Account of the ||S> I) J'.imlish Gorernment ; edited, with Life and Notes, by Jons MACGBKQO&, M.I'. f
i .
', 85. HISTORY OF THE HOUSE OF AUSTRIA, from 1792 to the present time; in continuation of COXK. Portrait of the present Emptror.
•
nj l/ie present E,npf, 87 &. 88. FOSTER'S LECTURES, edited by J. E. RYLAMJ. 2 vols.
89- MISS BREMER'S WORKS, by MARY IIOW1TT, V..1 IV. "A Diary: Tho II Kamily ; The Solitary; The Comforter; Axel and Anna ; and a Letter
; ' ubiiu! Suppers.
1 90. SMITH'S (ADAM) THEORY OF MORAL SENTIMENTS: and "Essay on
jj tht: First Formation of languages," with Memoir by I)i:i;\i.i) Sr>:u AKT.
^ 91, 95, 96, 99, 102, 103. 105, & 106. COWPER'S COMPLETE WORKS, Edited by Suriiii.V; comprising Ins l'o,-:iis. Correspondence, and 'I'ranslations, with
> Soiitbej 's Mi-mou'. H'itk ~M Eiii/rur'uigs oil Steel. Complete in n vols.
•.» o //
:
BOHN'S STANDARD LIBRARY.
92. DANUBIAN PROVINCES.— RANKK'S History of - lion iu Bosnia, and The Slave Prorifl
S3. GOETHES ELECTIVE AFFINITIES, SORROWS OF WERTHER. GERMAN EMIGRANTS, GOOD WOMEN; and A NOUVELtTTE.
94. THE CARAFAS OF MADDALONI: >";ip!cs uudci- Spanish Dominion. vi.niKU 1>L lloCMOXT. Portrait i\l'3lasa..
97 & 109 CONDE'S HISTORY OF THE ARABS IN SPAIN. T'rausl.,:
- I. and II.- i'foulitpieee.
98 & 104. LOCKE'S PHILOSOPHICAL WORKS, containing the ]:s,ay on ili«
Human Understanding, iiic Conduct of the DnilenUndioj;, Sec., with Notes Ijy J. A. M. Jon.v, l>ij. (jencral Index and a Portrait. In 2\uls.
100. HUNGARY: ITS HISTORY AND REVOLUTIONS. With a copious Memoir iruni new and authentic sources. 1'vrtruit of A'
101. HISTORY OF RUSSIA to the present time, compiled from KA^.^.x^l^ T-ioicf : . hy W. K. KLLI.V. In 2 vols. Vol. I., Pariraii <>t Catherine the
107 & 108. JAMES'S (G. P. R.\ LIFE OF RICHARD CCEUR DE LION, Kintr ol i .Ution, M-itli portraits of Jiifbard, and Philip Augustu-*. Complete
BOHN'S EXTRA VOLUMES,
i'7'orm iriM the STAX DARD LIBRARY, price 3t Gd.
"•
)UNT HAMILTON S FAIRY TALES. Portrait. BOCCACCIO S DECAMERON, a .om,,lete translation, by W. K. KILL,, Esq.
— >— --
UNIFORM WITH THE STANDARD LIBRARY,
BARBAULD'S (MRS) SELECTIONS FROM THE SPECTATOR, TATLER, J:r GUARDIAN. AND FREEHOLDER. ln2Vols. &». 6U per Volume.
c
BRITISH POETS, from MII.TON to KIUKK \Vimi:. Cabinet Edition, comprising in n £
very small 1m; ivmarkaMy clear type, as much matter as tin: siv.
Johnson's Poets. Complete in i \ o!.-. . 1-1*. ^
GARY'S TRANSLATION OF DANTE. Extra cloth. 7*. 6"'.
CATTERMOLE'S EVENINGS AT HADDON HALL. 2t exquisite En'.'ra\in:.-? ou I
from l),-:-r.:i bv himself; the Lettir-Press by the BAKO.NKSS UK CAI.A- fjQf.' j!j;i:i.;.A. Post bvo. 7s. (id.
CHILLINGWORTH'S RELIGION OF PROTESTANTS. Z3. 6d.
CLASSIC TALES; comprising The Vicar of Wal:e!ic,!d, Elizabeth, Paul and Virginia, Gulliver's Tri\< is, Sterne's Sentimental Journey, Sorrows of Werier, Th.. and Coiisiantia, Castle of U trail to, and llassula*. 12mo. 7 Portrait!. oJ. O./.
DEMOSTHENES. Translated by LM.AXIJ. Portrait. ">s.
DICKSON AND MOWBRAY ON POULTRY, Edited by MRS. LOCDOX, lllus- '
nations iiy J|AI.MA (including the Cochin-China Fowl). 5.?. c ' /'/v
HORACE'S ODES AND EPODES, translated literally and rhythmically, by the REV. ,
IRVING'S (WASHINGTON) WORKS. Complete in 10 Vols., £1 13.?., or Ss. 6J. f
pi'i- Vol. *-•'• ',•<
JOYCE'S SCIENTIFIC DIALOGUES. Greatly Improved Edition, with Questions, &.C., e by PI.N.MICK. (Upwards oi 600 pagot). woodcuts. ~>s.
JOYCE'S INTRODUCTION TO THE ARTS AND SCIENCES. r,.«.
LAMARTINE'S HISTORY OF THE RESTORATION. 4 voh., post 8ro., new Vdition, gS with a General Index, and 5 additional Porlraitt, riz., Lanmrtiue, L'aUeyranU Cv0'^
1/ii'ayette, Jiey, and Louis XVII. Cloth. £^'^
LAMARTINES THREE MONTHS IN POWER. Sewed, 2 j.
LAMARTINE'S POETICAL MEDITATIONS AND RELIGIOUS HARMONIES, J
with Biographical Sketch. Portrait. Cloth, ."j. Gd.
DH>
LAWRENCES LECTURES ON COMPARATIVE ANATOMY, PHYSJCt.OGY. i
ZOOLOGY, AND THE NATURAL HISTORY OF MAN. frontispiece ,W (Bjolc; Plates, ui. S»?
LILL
5
Y'S INTRODUCTION TO ASTROLOGY. A New and Improved Edition, by J ZADKIKL, with his Grammar of Astrology, and Tallies of Kativtiies. o*.
* LOUDON'S (MRS.) ENTERTAINING NATURALIST, -i Description of men •43j Five Hundred Animals, with Indexes of Scientific and Popular Maim-
r/nrarils of 500 W'todcuts, by BKWICK, HAKVKY, Sec. llevised and enlarged.
'• 'y. ?•*. li,/.
* LOWTH'S LECTURES ON THE SACRED POETRY OF THE HEBREWS. t
i
y MICHELET'S HISTORY OF THE FRENCH REVOLUTION. •}.«.
| MILLER'S PHILOSOPHY OF HISTORY. Third Revised and Improved Edition. 4 Volumes, at ">s. (W. per Volume,
S-ji MITFORD'S I'MISS) OUR VILLAGE. 2 Vols., New Edition, KI//< H'ootit-uts nndbea\<- :• .'• ' I'roiiti.ijiircejt on Steel, gilt cloth. Each Vol. bs.
, NORWAY. A Road liook for Tourists in Norway, with Hints to English Sportsmen and « Anglers, by THOMAS FOKKSTKK, Esq. Litiip cioth. x\v. '(c
1 PARKES' ELEMENTARY CHFMISTRY. Xew Edition, revised, 5*. ,!,35 5 b
M ,.*„.- - ...... - v «. ** ,S ,
UNIFORM WITH THE STANDABP LIBRARY.
SHAKSPEARE'S PLAYS AND POEMS, with Lift, by CHAI.UKRS. In 1 VoL
the simc. KmbdlMird with 40 pleasing Steel Engravings, elegantly bound
in rnl Turkrj notli, i;iit cd^ca. as.
STANDARD LIBRARY CYCLOP/EDI A OF POLITICAL, CONSTITUTIONAL,
STATISTICAL, AND FORENSIC KNOWLEDGE. 4 \\,U. 3*. G/ t-ai-h. Thll work rurlaiiK ft* mucli »« cizht ordinary oci.ivnj. It wav first published in nnnth.tr . under the title of 1'olitiol Dictionary, a: £1 |i.». The Com. >UGC AIM., «onco tie most coiii|>elent c 10 ara o c »y.
STURM'S MOflNING COMMUNINGS WITH GOD. Kcw Edition, us.
UNCLE TOMS CABIN, «ilh Introductory Remarks by the Rtv. J. SHEBMAS •' ;ir type, with head-lines of Contents), "i. C,/.
• The same, cm fine paper, with 8 new Illustration} by LKF.CII and GILBKKT,
nn i n ir.tuti/'itl 1'ranlispifce by Hi.NCill.irr. 'As. 6d.
THE WIDE, WIDE WORLD, by ELIZABKIII WKTIIEBF.LL. Complete in 1 Vol, triV/j .»pieee, gilt edges. Zi. Ctl.
The name, Illtutrafed Kilh 9 highly fulshed Engrar'wgs on Steel, riclily
bound in cloth, gilt edges. 6*.
BOHNS SCIENTIFIC LIBRARY.
••HARD LIBRARY, price 5»., (wptinfi " Cotmot," KidJ, and H, .rhifhnrt 3*. <W., and Mantelft " Petrifaction*," which is to.)
STAUNTONS CHESS PLAYERS HAND-BOOK. t-i//i Diagrams. LECTURES ON PAINTING, by THE ROYAL ACADEMICIAN-.
4, 8, & 15. HUMBOLOTS COSMOS ; or. Sketch of a Physical Description of
the I .n,v«n.r lr,nsat,,|. wul, Note,, i,y K. i:. <>„>.. fn 4 Vol... ,',,/, fM
s maiUtia IbOMh pulilisbed at so !„«• a price) is more complete
tber IhcNotei are placed beneath the text, llumboldfs analvtica
rirs and tlie pas«a^es hitliertosiipprtssi-d, are included; and comprehensive
HAND-BOOK OF GAMES, by VAHIOL'S AMATKUHS and PllOl'tN^ HIS HUM30LDTS VIEWS OF NATURE, --./A n-/,,,,r,,/ rifie ,.f n\mlor,,-.
f, llc\-ised liv Dr. Win GUT
, i:«»p.i«ed in Si.nple Expo-
&•&
BOHN'S SCIENTIFIC LIBRARY.
12 AGASSIZ AND GOULD'S COMPARATIVE PHYSIOLOGY. New and Enlarged
Edition, irith neafti/ 400 fllutlraliotu. 13, 19. Sc 28. HUMBOLDTS PERSONAL NARRATIVE OF HIS TRAVELS IN
AMERICA. With Genen.l Index. 14 PYE SMITH'S GEOLOGY AND SCRIPTURE. Fifth Edition, with Memoir.
16. OERSTED'S SOUL IN NATURE, &c. Portrait.
17. STAUNTON'S CHESS TOURNAMENT, *itk Digrams.
18 & 20. BRIDGEWATER TREATISES. KIKBY on the History, Habits, and
Instincts of Animals ; Edited by T. KYMKR JONKS. In ~ \ols. ifaiiy Jlbittratiotu, 21 BRIDGEWATER TREATISES. KIDD On the Adaptation of External
Nature to (lie Physical Condition of Man. 3.«. 6i/. 22. BRIDGEWATER TREATISES. WHKWKU.'S Astronomy and General Physics,
considered with reference to Natural Theology. I'ortfait of the £arl of
voter. ?..«. (>:/. 23 SCHOUW'S EARTH, PLANTS, AND MAN, and KOBELL'S SKETCHES
FROM THE MINERAL KINGDOM, Translated by A. HlMnucx, F.K.S., kc.,
i'-ith CnJoiirtJ Mnji of the Geography of Plants.
24. BRIDGEWATER TREATISES. CIIALMKKS on the Adaptation of External
Nature to the Moral and Intellectual Constitution of Man, with the Author's last Corrections, and liiographiral Sketch by the KKV. l)n. CUMMIKO.
25. BACONS NOVUM ORGANUM AND ADVANCEMENT OF LEARNING.
Complete, with Notes, by J. DKVK.Y, M.A.
26 &. 27. HUMPHREYS COIN COLLECTOR'S MANUAL: a popular introduction to the Study of Coins, ancient and modern ; with elaborate Indexes, and numerous hiyhly-jiuis'lied Ennrnfin</s on Wood and Steel, 1 Vols.
29. COMTES PHILOSOPHY OF THE SCIENCES, Edited from the 'Cours de
Philosophic Positive, ' by G. 11. LKWKS, Ksq.
30. MANTELL'S (I>R) GEOLOGICAL EXCURSIONS, including THE ISLE OF
WIGHT. New Edition, « ith Prefatory Note by T. UUFERT JONES, Esq., numerous leaulifid If'oiidrut.i, <md a Geological Juap.
31. HUNT'S POETRY OF SCIENCE; or, Studies of the Physical Phenomena of
Nature. 3rd Edition, revised nnd enlarged.
32 & 33. ENNEMOSER'S HISTORY OF MAGIC, Translated from the German by WII.I.IA.M HOWITT. With an Appendix of the most remarkable and best authenti- cated Stories of Apparitions, Dreams, Second Sight, Predictions, Divinations, Vam- pires, 1'uiricj, Table Turning, and Spirit Happing, &c., by MABY HOWITT. In 2 Vols.
34. HUNTS ELEMENTARY PHYSICS; an Introduction to the Study of Natural Philosophy. New Edition, revised. Numerous Woodcuts and Coloured Froiilisfiiecf.
I
BOHN'S ILLUSTRATED LIBRARY,
Uniform with the STANDARD LIBRARY, at ~>s. prr rolt'.,,ir, I'.y'/C'
owiY*
to 3. LODGE'S PORTRAITS OF ILLUSTRIOUS PERSONAGES OF GREAT I
BRITAIN. H Y..U post M-o. x'iO Portraits. &'•-"•'
. CRUIKSHANK'S THREE COURSES AND DESSERT, n\lk 50 fllnslratioiis.
. PICKERING'S RACES OF MAN, vith ,iu,ntrovi /'. y.v«;/.« i»r t'ulniirr.l It. (!</.)
, KITTOS SCRIPTURE LANDS, AND BIBLICAL ATLAS, f-'i/A -t J/«J5*, (or • Coloured, Is. M) lb
|
4 |
|
|
X |
-"• |
|
j |
12. |
|
* |
|
|
i |
13. |
|
•J |
14. 15 1 |
|
* |
17 1 |
|
* |
10. |
|
4 |
20. |
|
^ |
|
|
1 |
21. |
|
.* |
|
|
: • ^ |
22. |
|
' 9 |
|
|
J- |
|
|
» '••' |
|
|
24. |
|
|
Uj |
|
|
« |
25. |
|
-o |
|
|
•:u |
|
|
? |
|
|
j |
|
|
? |
|
|
D |
2d. |
|
r 1 |
|
|
•x |
|
|
? * |
27. |
|
' -J ,•1 |
28 |
|
J |
|
|
•,» |
|
|
? > > |
3D. |
|
* |
31. |
BOHN'S ILLUSTRATED LIBRARY.
WHITE'S NATURAL HISTORY OF StLBORNE, with Notes by SIR \Vx- JAUIH.M: and oilier*, edited, with large additions, by E. JESSE, Lsq. With 40
DIDRONS CHRISTIAN 'ICONOGRAPHY, vitk 150 beautiful JEnyrariuffs. In
2 Vols. Vol. 1.
REDDING ON WINES New and Revised Edition, vilh 20 bfatttiful Woodcuts. U 16 ALLEN S BATTLES OF THE BRITISH NAVY. New Edition. Enlarged
by the Author. Ifwmenmtfiae i',,rtr«Uf on Steel. 2 Vols. & 18. ROME IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY. Fifth Edition, iu 2 Vols.,
\ fine Steel Kityrnrinj.i. and Index. MAXWELLS VICTORIES OF WELLINGTON AND THE BRITISH ARMIES,
'rith Eiii/rnrint/t on Steel.
LIFE OF WELLINGTON, by " Ax OLD Soi im.H." compiled from the materials of .. and continue. I by an eminent Author, with an Account of the Funeral. highly finished Engraving* on Steel. MARY AND WM HOWITTS STORIES OF ENGLISH AND FOREIGN UFE,
!0 beautiful Steel Kn,jnn,ugs. BECHSTEIN S CAGE arid CHAMBER BIRDS, inrluding SUKKT'S Warblers.
Neiv Kilitiuii. (rrca'ly I'lii.iriiud, inimervKS Piitles (or Coloured, ?£. d.'.) NORWAY AND ITS SCENERY, eimiprisin:,' I'UICK'.S Journx!. with law Addi- tion* and a lluad HIM\. Edited by Tins. FoKESTEX, Esq. ll'it/i 22 Illustrations, beautifully Engrared «« Steel by JjHtff.
*.* The U'M.l Uxi!i i I >ld -.^inrriti'ly, pri'.'f 2*.
CHINA: PICTORIAL, DESCRIPTIVE, AND HISTORICAL, with some account nf Av i and ;lie Burmese, Siani and .Yjsani. i:iuslnite.i lij nearly 100 knyrc.ciiiyi
PICTO3IAL HANDBOOK OF LONDON, comprising its Antiijuities, Avcliitec- tnrr, Arls, M»uiHaetnn-», Trade, Social. Literary, and .Scientific Institutions, Exhibitions, and Galleries of Art, &c. JUtulratfd with 205 Kmjrmiugs on IfuuU, and a large and complete Uap.
Tliin volume, of which the former editions were pub! Mini 1 y Mr. Wcnlc at Ov., contains
. - . '.-•' |..i_.. ..
MARY HOWITT'S PICTORIAL CALENDAR or TIIK SEASONS, rxhihilin^ -urrt, Hursnito, and Clmmctenstici ot" Country I.il'c, iur every .Month in ir; and emUidying the whole of AIKKM'S Calendar of Nature, iptrurdt ,>f I nil ItiHStrnlimu. '
DANTE, translated into English Verse by I. C. WKIOTIT, M.A. Third Edition, care- fully revised. Portrait a-,d :it Illustrations on Steel, nfter FI.ASMAN. & 29 MUDIE'S BRITISH BIROS, or History of the Feathered Tribes of the ManiK Fifth Edition, revised by W. C. L. MAKI IN. E*n. Complete in -'ilh 52 fiiinres nf VirJi. and 1 ad\lil>onul Plata of AWs. (Of, wilk the 1'lnle, Colonrtd.Ti. 6.1. \xr Vol.)
TASSO'S JERUSALEM DELIVERED, translated into English Spenserian verse, with a Life of the Author by J. 11. WurfK*. Fourth Edition. 24 Kiuirarings b-i
INtJIA : PICTORIAL. DESCRIPTIVE, and HISTORICAL, from th ItaH to the Present. Illustrated by vpieardi of 100 Mngratings on Map nf Hindoostnti.
NICOLINI'S HISTORY OF THE JESUITS : their Origin, Progress, Doctrines '1','nv Purtrniti nf l,iyn!a, Luine/., Xavier, Burgia, Acquavira, Tire
.in.l IVpc fiai.;; nielli.
ROBINSON CRUSOE, with llmstnitions by STOTHAKD and HARVEI, 12 beautiful "* •"•''"!« OH Stetl, and 74 on Wood.
e Earliest Wood, and
<s*
BOM'S ANTIQUARIAN LIBRAE!.
ORDERICUS VITALIS.
THE
ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY
ENGLAND AND NORMANDY,
ORDERICUS VITALIS.
TRANSLATED, WITH NOTES, AND THE INTRODUCTION OF GUIZOT,
BY THOMAS FORESTER, M.A. '
VOL. II.
LONDON:
HENRY G. BOHN, YORK STREET, COVENT GARDEN.
MDCCCLIV.
D(\
MAY 15 1956
THE
ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY
OP
ORDERICUS VITALIS.
> BOOK IV.
CH. I. The Conqueror founds two abbeys at Caen, and Battle abbey — Restores order in England — The great English nobles submit — Aggrandizes his Norman followers.
IN the time of Pope Alexander II.,1 many states throughout the world were a prey to severe calamities ; the nations plunging into furious contests to their mutual ruin. This was particularly the case with the western states, which suffered great disasters. On the death of those excellent kings, Henry of France, and Edward of England, the French and English had long reason to lament their loss, as the princes who succeeded were little like them for virtue and gentleness of disposition. When these fathers of their country were removed, they were followed by tyrants who abused the royal authority. England, stained by the cruel- ties and perjury of Harold, fell to decay, and deprived of its race of native kings, became a prey to foreign adventurers, the adherents of William the Conqueror, presenting a melancholy subject for the pen of the feeling historian.
Writers of learning and eloquence found ample materials for several works, having lived for many years at the court of King William, and had opportunities of observing all he did, and the varied and illustrious events of his reign; they were privy to his most secret counsels, and by his muni- 1 September 30, 1061— April 20, 1073.
VOL. II. B
2 OHDEEICTJS VITALIS. [B.IV. CII.I.
ficence rose to wealth and eminence, to \vhich their origin gave them no pretensions. The churches he erected, or which were built in his time to the glory of God, both in Normandy and England, are noble monuments of his devo- tion and his liberality in providing for the service of God, and have left to posterity an example worthy of their imitation. His piety led him also to found a number of monasteries, and to enlarge those which he and others had already built, liberally endowing them with ample pos- sessions, and taking them under his protection against all adversaries. The two convents he founded at Caen, the one for monks the other for nuns, are special witnesses of his munificence. They were both erected in honour of the King Eternal, while he himself was yet a duke only, select- ing one for his own tomb, the other for that of his consort.1 The war in England being terminated, his enemies having submitted to his victorious arms, and the royal crown being placed on his head at London, William founded at Senlac, where the decisive battle was fought, the abbey of the Holy Trinity,3 endowing it with revenues and domains fitting a royal foundation. Goisbert, a pious monk of Marmoutier, was appointed the first abbot,3 under whose rule monastic order and regular discipline were duly established. The monastery at Marmoutier, begun by the most holy Martin, bishop of Tours, became by God's grace an increasing semi- nary of excellent men. In our times Albert and Bartho- lomew, Bernard, and Hilgot, and afterwards William of
1 The abbey of the Holy Trinity was founded in 1066, and the church dedicated on the 18th of June of the same year. The foundations of the abbey of St. Stephen were also laid before the conquest, through tlie exertions of Lanfranc, who became the first fibbot, but the works were carried on much more slowly, and it was not consecrated until the 13th of December, 1077.
* This abbey has always been better known as Sanctus Martinus de Delta, or Battle Abbey. William determined, notwithstanding the opposi- tion of the monks, to build it on the field of battle, so much, that the high altar was placed on the spot where tbe body of Harold was found after the battle, as some say, but as others, where the royal standard was taken. Part of the church was built of Caen stone, until a quarry was discovered in the neighbourhood.
3 The first abbot of Battle was not Goisbert, but Robert Blancard, who was drowned in returning from Marmoutier. Goisbert succeeded him in 1076, nine years after the foundation of the abbey.
A.D. 1067 — 1068.] WILLIAM'S ADMINISTRATION. 3
Nantz, were abbots of that monastery;1 men by -whose sanctity and virtues numbers were benefited, and whose fame was diffused not only throughout the neighbourhood, but in foreign countries. After Goisbert's death, Henry, the prior of Canterbury, was promoted to the government of Battle Abbey, an office which he worthily filled. On his decease, he was succeeded by Eodolph, prior of Rochester,2 who was before a monk of Caen. He directed all his efforts by a zeal for holiness and sound doctrine to secure his welfare and that of his contemporaries, and persisted with ardour in his spiritual exercises to a good old age. At length the aged monk departed happily out of this world to God his maker, in the 25th year of the reign of Henry, king of England.
After his coronation at London, King William ordered many affairs with prudence, justice, and clemency. Some of these concerned the profit and honour of that city, others were for the advantage of the whole nation, and the rest were intended for the benefit of the church. He enacted some laws founded on admirable principles. No suitor ever demanded justice of this king without obtaining it : he con- demned none but those whom it would have been unjust to acquit. He enjoined his nobles to comport themselves with grave dignity, joining activity to right judgment, having constantly before their eyes the Eternal King who had given them the victory. He forbade their oppressing the conquered, reminding them that they were their own equals by their Christian profession, and that they must be cautious not to excite revolt by their unjust treatment of those whom they had fairly subdued. He prohibited all riotous assemblages, murder, and robbery, and as he restrained the people by force of arms, he set bounds to arms by the laws. The taxes and all things concerning the royal revenues were so regulated as not to be burdensome to the people. Bobbers, plunderers, and malefactors had no asylum in his dominions. Merchants found the ports and highways open, and were protected against injury.
1 Albert, 1037—1063 or 1064; Bartholomew, 1063 or 1064—1084; Bernard, 1084—1100; Helgot, 1100—1105; William de Nantz (of which he had been archdeacon), 1105 — 1124.
2 Prior of the cathedral church of St. Andrew at Rochester.
B 2
4 OBDEBICUS VITALTS. [u.IY. CH. I.
Thus the first acts of his reign were all excellent, and eminent for the great benefits flowing from good government conferred on his subjects, which were confirmed by perse- verance in a right course, with plain indications of a suc- cessful result.
The king, quitting London, spent some days at Barking,1 a place not far off, while some fortifications were completed in the city for defence against any outbreak by the fierce and numerous population. Edward and Morcar. the sons of Earl Algar, and the most powerful of the English nobles from their birth and possessions, now came to the king, asking his pardon, if in aught they had offended him, and submitting themselves and all they had to his mercy. Then Earl Coxo,3 a nobleman of singular courage and prudence, Turkil of Lime,4 Siward and Aldred, sons of Ethelgar,5 the late king's grandson, with Edric surnamed Guilda, that is, "The Wild,"6 nephew of the infamous prince surnamed Streone, that is, " The Rapacious," and many others of high rank and great wealth made their peace with William, and taking the oath of fealty, were honourably restored to their respective domainsi The king then made a progress through several parts of the kingdom, making regulations to the
1 Or Berkhampstead ? The Tower of London was built after the plan of the old Tower at Rouen, says Pommeraye in an inedited note to the text of Ordericus Vitalis.
1 Edwin, earl of Mercia, and Morcar, earl of Northumbria. All the other historians agree in describing the submission of these powerful earls to have been made at Berkhampstead.
1 Coxo. His real name was Copsi. Though he governed all the country north of the Tyne, under Morcar, it does not appear that he ever received the title of earl himself.
4 Not Lyme Regis in Dorsetshire. Most probably this Tutkil was son of Alwine, vicount of Warwickshire, who, according to Dugdale, styled himself in the reign of William Rufus, Turkil de Earden, from the forest of Arden. He held twenty-one manors. The name given him by our author may be derived from Leming-tun, now Leamington Priors, on the river Learn.
* This Siward is the same person as Siward Barn, who shut himself up in the isle of Ely in 1071, with Earl Morcar and Bishop Egelwin. He possessed a great nuirber of manors before the conquest. We do not find any such person as Etheljrar, a nephew of King Edward, but there was an Ethel ward banished by Canute in 1020, who may have been the same, having one of Edward's three sisters for his mother.
• The domains of Edric were in the county of Hereford; as to the infamous assassin, his father, see what is said in vol. i. p. 148.
A.D. 1067.] WILLIAM BETURNS TO EOEMANDY. 5
mutual advantage of himself and the inhabitants of the country. He gave the custody of castles to some of his bravest Normans, distributing among them vast possessions as inducements to undergo cheerfully the toils and perils of defending them.
He built a strong castle within the walls of "Winchester, a fortified and wealthy city contiguous to the sea, and placing in it William Fitz-Osbern, the best officer in his army, made him his lieutenant in the south of the kingdom. Dover and all Kent he committed to his brother Odo, bishop of Bayeux, a prelate distinguished by great liberality and worldly activity. These two were entrusted with the chief government of the realm of England ; and he joined with them Hugh de Grantmesnil, Hugh Montfort, William de Warrene, and other brave warriors. Some of them governed their vassals well ; but others, wanting prudence, shamefully oppressed them.
CH. II. Rejoicings on William's arrival in Normandy — Abbey churches consecrated — Death of Maurilius, arch- bishop of Rouen — His epitaph, and successor.
THE king, having thus provided for the security of the kingdom, rode to Pevensey, where many English knights assembled to meet him. Here the stipendiary soldiers who were returning to their own countries received handsome pay. Bang William then set sail in the month of March, and crossed the sea in safety to his native dominions. He took with him, in honourable attendance, Stigand the arch- bishop, Edgar Etheling, cousin of King Edward, and the three powerful earls, Edwin, Morcar, and Waltheof,1 with Ethelnoth, governor of Canterbury, and several others of high rank and most graceful person. The king adopted a courteous policy in thus preventing these great lords from plotting a change during his absence, and the people would be less able to rebel when deprived of their chiefs. Besides, it gave him an opportunity of displaying his wealth and honours in Normandy to the English nobles, while he de- tained as a sort of hostages those whose influence and safety had great weight with their countrymen.
The arrival of King William with all this worldly pomp 1 Wiiltheof held the earldoms of Northampton and Huntingdon.
6 OEDEEICUS VITALIS. [B.IV. CH.II.
filled the whole of Normandy with rejoicings. The season was still wintry, and it was Lent ; but the bishops and abbots began the festivals belonging to Easter, wherever the new king came in his progress ; nothing was omitted which is customary in doing honour to such occasions, and every- thing new they could invent was added. This zeal was recompensed, on the king's part, by magnificent offerings of rich palls, large sums in gold, and other valuables to the altars and servants of Christ. Those churches also which he could not visit in person were made partakers of the general joy by the gifts he sent to them.
The feast of Easter1 was kept at the abbey of the Holy Trinity at Fecamp, where a great number of bishops, abbots, and nobles assembled. Earl Eadulph, father-in-law of Philip king of France2 with many of the French nobility, were also there beholding with curiosity the long-haired natives of English-Britain, and admiring the garments of gold tissue, enriched with bullion, worn by the king and his courtiers. They also were greatly struck with the beauty of the gold and silver plate, and the horns tipped with gold at both extremities. The French remarked many things of this sort of a royal magnificence, the novelty of which made them the subject of observation when they returned home.
After Easter, the king caused the church of St. Mary on the Dive to be consecrated,3 at which he himself reverently assisted, with a great attendance both of the nobles and com- monalty, on the calends [1st] of May. He there pro- claimed by a herald, ordinances which were very beneficial to his whole people. On the calends [1st] of July, he ordered the consecration of the church of St. Mary at Jumieges, and was present himself at the holy ceremony.4 He made large endowments on both of these churches out of his own domains, and devoutly assisted at the celebration of the holy mysteries. Maurilius, archbishop of Rouen, with his suffragan bishops, humbly and reverently performed
1 Easter fell this year on the 8th of April.
* Ralph the Great, count of Valois.
3 The abbey of Notre-Dame, at St. Pierre-sur-Dive, was founded in 1046.
* The nave of this church, begun by Robert Champert in 1040, is still standing.
A.D. 1067.] DEATH OF AECIIBISHOP MAUBILIL'S. 7
the consecration, and shortly afterwards took to his bed in the twelfth year of his episcopate. Having fulfilled all the duties of a devout servant of God, he departed to him whom he had long served on the 5th of the ides [9th] of August. His body was conveyed to the cathedral church, which five years before [the first indiction] he had dedicated to St. Mary, mother of God, and it was there interred with high honours before the crucifix.1 His epitaph, composed by Richard, son of Herluin, a canon of that church, and inscribed in letters of gold on a plate of brass, runs thus : —
Men of Rouen ! drop a tear On your honour'd Maurille's bier : Monk and bishop, such the claim Of that venerable name. Lordly Rheims beheld his birth, Academic Liege his worth, While he wisdom's treasures gain'd, From her triple fountain drain'd. Citizens ! to him endear"d, 'Twas for you this fane he rear'd ; Rais'd its pillar'd arches high, Fill'd it with sweet minstrelsy, And, amid your joyous throng, Led the holy prayer and song. Scarcely past the sacred mirth, In the consecrated earth Maurille's honour'd relics rest ; While his soul is with the blest, And, released from mortal clay On the eve of Laurent's day, Borne to mansions in the sky, Keeps the laurelled feaat on high.
After the death of Maurilius, the church of Rouen elected Lanfranc, abbot of Caen, archbishop, a choice which King William with his nobles and the whole people gladly con- firmed. But full of devotion to God and unfeigned humility, Lanfranc refused to take upon himself the burden of this
' This expression always means the crucifix placed between the choir and the nave. That Maurillius was interred between the choir and the principal nave of the cathedral at Rouen, appears still from an inscription near his tomb. This prelate was a native of Rheims, and had governed an abbey at Florence. The consecration here spoken of by our author was celebrated in the month of October, 1 063.
8 OBDEMCUS YITALIS. [fi.IV. CH.II.
high dignity, and used all his influence for the promotion to it of John, bishop of Avranches.1 That this might be canonically accomplished, he went to Borne and obtained from Pope Alexander a licence for bishop John's conse- cration, and brought back with the licence the pallium, which conferred so much honour on himself and the whole of Normandy.
In consequence John was translated from the see of Avranches, which he had filled seven years and three months, to the metropolitan chair of Eouen. He was animated by a lively zeal for virtue both in his words and actions, and like Phineas, his hatred of vice was fervent. As for worldly honour, his birth was most illustrious, being a son of Kalph, count of Baieux, the uterine brother of Eichard the elder, duke of Normandy.2 He governed the metropolitan see with firmness and activity ten years, taking severe measures to separate incontinent priests from their concubines; and when in a synod he prohibited their intercourse under pain of excommunication, he was assailed with stones, and forced to make his escape, on which occasion when flying from the church he intoned with a loud voice the verse : " 0 God, the heathen are come into thine inheritance." *
John was succeeded at Avranches by an Italian named Michael, a prelate of great learning, and venerable for his religious zeal, who was raised by canonical election to the see of Avranches. He worthily filled the pastoral office more than twenty years, and after a happy old age, died in the time of i)uke Eobert. At his death Turgis was
1 John, surnamed d'Avranches, became bishop of Avranches in Sept. 1060; and archbishop of Rouen in 1067. He was celebrated for his quarrels with the monks of St. Ouen, and for his great arrogance.
1 Ralph, count d'lvri and de Bayeux, was uterine brother of Richard I., aa being son of his mother, Sprote, and Asperleng, a rich miller of Vau- dreuil (says the continuator of William de Jumieges), to whom she was married after the death of William Longsword. This union may appear leas disproportioned when it is recollected that she was only the duke's concubine, he having a lawful wife, the .duchess Leutgarde, who after his death married Theobald, count de Chartres. However this may be, this count Ralph played a distinguished part in the court of his brother and his nephew.
1 Psalm Ixxiz. 1. The acts of this synod, which caused this disturb- ance, will be found in a further part of this work, under the year 107'2.
A.D. 1067.] THK ENOLIST EEVOLT. 9
appointed, and has now held that bishopric almost thirty years.1
CH. III. Norman oppression. — The English secretly form conspiracies. — Large bodies emigrate to Constantinople and join the emperor's body-quard. — Attempt of Eustace, count of Boulogne, to surprise Dover Castle.
MEANWHILE the English were oppressed by the insolence of the Normans, and subjected to grievous outrages by the haughty governors who disregarded the king's injunctions. The chiefs of inferior rank, who had the custody of the castles, treated the natives, both gentle and simple, with the utmost scorn, and levied on them most unjust exactions. Bishop Odo himself, and William Fitz-Osbern, the king's lieutenants, puffed up with pride, gave no heed to the reasonable complaints of his English subjects and disdained to weigh them in the balance of equity. They screened their men-at-arms who most outrageously robbed the people and ravished the women, and those, only incurred their wrath who were driven by these grievous affronts to be loud in their remonstrances. The English deeply lamented the loss of their freedom, and took secret counsel how they might best shake off a yoke so insupportable, and to which they were so little accustomed. They accordingly sent a message to Sweyn,2 king of Denmark, entreating him to take measures for recovering the crown of England, which his ancestors Sweyn and Canute had formerly won by their vic- torious arms. Some went into voluntary exile, either to free themselves from the domination of their Norman masters, or for the purpose of obtaining foreign aid to renew the contest with their conquerors. Some, the very flower of the English youth, made their way to distant regions, and served valiantly in the armies of Alexius, emperor of Constantinople,3 a prince of great sagacity and
: Michael was bishop of Avranches A.D. 1067 — 1094 ; Turgis, his successor, 1094 — 1138. It appears, therefore, that this passage was written in 1124.
8 Sweyn II. (Erickson), April 28, 1044—1074 or 1076. He was not a ck'scondant of Canute the Great in the direct line, but hw nephew. His mother, Estrith, married first Richard II., duke of Normandy, who divorced her.
* There is no more certain fact than the existence of a corps of Danen,
10 OUDEEICTTS TITALTS. [B.IT. CH.1II.
astonishing munificence. Being attacked by Robert Guis- card, duke of Apulia, with all his force in support of Michael, •whom the Greeks hnd expelled from the imperial throne for the despotism of his government, the English exiles met a favourable reception, and were arrayed in arms against the Norman bands with which the Greeks were unable to cope. The emperor Alexius laid the foundations of a town called Chevetot,1 beyond Byzantium, for his English troops, but as the Normans gave them great annoyance in that post, he recalled them to the imperial city, and committed to their guard his principal palace and the royal treasure. In this way the Anglo-Saxons settled in Ionia, they and their posterity becoming faithfully attached to the holy empire, and having gained great honour in Thrace, continue to the present day, beloved by the emperor, senate, and people.
Provoked to rebellion by every sort of oppression on the part of the Normans, the English sent messengers to Eustace, count of Boulogne, inviting him to despatch a powerful fleet to take Dover by surprise. They were formerly much at variance with Eustace, but as differences had now risen between him and the king, and they knew by fatal experi- ence that he was a skilful and fortunate commander, they
Norwegians, and English in the service of the Greek emperors, who formed their body-guard. They were armed with battle-axes, were exceedingly brave and faithful, and possessed great privileges. They are called by tho Greek historians Varanges or Baranges, a word of northern derivation, signifying warrior (waring), and found in Normandy as a family name, and in names of places, as Warrene, Varingeville. This body of Varangi were employed at Constantinople so long back as the reign of the emperor Michael the Paphlagonian, 1034 — 1041, and consequently at a time far preceding that in which our author places the English exiles among them, or the battle of Hastings. No doubt, the original band were Danes or Norwegians, and the English were incorporated with them, as they suc- cessively withdrew from the Norman yoke. Besides, the great body of the English who adhered to Harold were of Dano-Norwegian extraction, as indeed two thirds of the inhabitants of the north of England then were, and it was quite natural for them to join their countrymen at Constantinople with the allurements of high pay and distinction. In the end, their num- bers became so great, that several Greek writers speak of the Varangi as exclusively English.
1 The Chevetot of our author is called by Villehardoun, Chivetoi, and he informs us that it was situated on the Gulf of Nicomedia, in the neighbour- hood of Nice. The true name is Ki/3wroc. Ducange thinks that Alexis Conme;j;ug only rebuilt the city, which was of older date.
AJ>. 1067 — 1068.] DOVER ASSAULTED. 11
were reconciled to him, and used their utmost efforts to wrest Dover castle from the royal garrison and deliver it to Eustace. He no sooner received the message of the Ken- tish-men, than, his fleet being in readiness, he embarked his troops and made a quick passage in the dead of the night, hoping to find the garrison off their guard. He had with him many knights, but all their horses were left behind, except a very few. The whole neighbourhood was in arms, and especially a strong body of Kentish-men who seconded Eustace's attack with all their might. The bishop of Bayeux and Hugh de Mountfort, who were principally charged with the defence of the coast, were on the other side of the Thames, and had drawn off with them the main part of the troops. If the siege had been prolonged for two days, a large body of the enemy would have assembled from a dis- tance. But while the assailants made desperate attacks up- on the place, the garrison were prepared for an obstinate defence, and offered a determined resistance at the points most open to attack. The conflict was maintained with fury on both sides for some hours of the day. But Eustace beginning to be doubtful of success, and being apprehensive of a sally by the besieged, which might force him to a more shameful retreat, gave the signal for retiring to the ships. Upon this the garrison immediately opened the gates, and falling on the rear-guard with spirit, but in good order, killed a great many of them. The fugitives, panic-struck by a report that the bishop of Bayeux had unexpectedly arrived with a strong force, threw themselves in their alarm among the crevices of the perpendicular cliffs, and so perished with more disgrace than if they had fallen by the sword. Many were the forms of death to which their defeat exposed them, many, throwing away their arms, were killed by falling on the sharp rocks ; others, slipping down, destroyed themselves and their comrades by their own weapons ; and many, mor- tally wounded, or bruised by their fall, rolled yet breathing into the sea ; many more, escaping breathless with haste to the ships, were so eager to reach a place of safety that they crowded the vessels till they upset them and were drowned on the spot. The Norman cavalry took prisoners or slew as many as they could overtake. Eustace escaped by having the advantage of a fleet horse, his knowledge of the road, and
12 ORDEBICUS TITAHS. [B.IV. CH.III.
finding a ship ready to put to sea. His nephew, a noble youth who bore arms for the first time, was taken prisoner. The English escaped through by-roads, the garrison of the castle being too few in number to pursue a multitude who thus dispersed themselves.
Not long afterwards Count Eustace effected a reconcilia- tion with King William, and enjoyed his friendship for many years afterwards. This count's origin was most illustrious, as he was a descendant of Charlemagne, the mightiest king of the Franks. His power also was very great, he being sovereign prince of the three counties of Boulogne, Guines, and Terouanne.1 He married Ida,2 a noble and religious woman, who was sister of Godfrey, duke of Lorraine. She bore him three sous, Godfrey, Baldwin, and Eustace, and a daughter who married Henry IV., emperor of Germany.
While most of the English, sighing for their ancient liber- ties, were plotting rebellion for the purpose of recovering them, there were numbers of that nation who kept the faith they had pledged to God, and were obedient to the king whom he had set up, according to the apostle's precept : " Fear God, honour the king."8 Earl Copsi, one of the most distin- guished of the English nobles both by birth and power, and still more by his singular prudence and entire honesty of pur- pose, faithfully adhered to King William, and espoused his cause with much zeal. His owu vassals were, however, very far from following his example, being determined supporters and friends of the malcontents. They therefore assailed him in every way, using prayers, threats, and protestations, to induce him to desert the party of the foreigners and second the wishes of good men of his own race and nation. But finding that his mind was too firmly fixed in the right
1 Eustace, second of the name, count de Boulogne, about 1049 — 1093, was indeed descended from Charlemagne by his mother, Maud of Louvain. As to his being count of Terouanne, no such title appears, and Guines belonged to Baldwin I., count d'Ardres. Eustace's first wife was Goda, sister of Edward the Confessor, whom he married in 1050.
2 Ida of Ardenne, daughter of Godfrey le Barbu, duke of Lower Lor- raine, was married to Eustace II. in December, 1057, and died in the odour of sanctity the 13th of August, 1113. Her only children were Godfrey de Bouillon, Eustace III., and Baldwin I., king of Jerusalem after his eldest brother.
1 1 Peter ii. 17.
A.D. 1068.] WILLIAM EETTJENS TO ENGLAND. 13
course to be diverted from its purpose, his country neigh- bours rose against him, and he was treacherously slain on account of his devoted fidelity.1 This excellent man thus sealed with his blood the truth that their lord's dignity ought always to be respected by loyal subjects.
Then Aldred, primate of Tork, and some other bishops, rendered themselves serviceable to the king, in obedience to justice, remembering the admonition of the wise man : "My son, fear God and the king."2 At the same time some of the most discreet citizens of the towns, and noble knights of distinguished names and wealth, with many of the commonalty, espoused the cause of the Normans against their own countrymen with great zeal.
Meanwhile, King William was employing his residence in Normandy to provide carefully for its tranquillity during a long period. With the advice of wise counsellors, he enacted just laws, and rendered equal justice to the poor as well as the rich. He selected the best men for judges and governors in all the provinces of Normandy. He freed the holy monasteries and the domains granted to them from all unjust exactions, by royal privileges and charters of protection. He proclaimed by the voice of heralds security to all, both natives and foreigners, throughout his dominions, and at the same time the severest penalties against thieves, rioters, and those who broke the peace of the country.
Cn. IV. William returns to England — Overawes the mal- contents— Besieges Exeter — Queen Jtfatilda comes over and is crowned — The English nobles break into open rebellion.
WHILE the king was thus occupied, reports reached him from beyond sea, and, mingling evil with his best hopes, caused him great disquietude ; for, the disaifection of the English, joined by the efforts of the Danes and other barbarous nations, threatened the Normans with great losses. Leaving the government of Normandy to his Queen
1 He was assassinated at Newburn, about the middle of March, 1068, by Osulf, his predecessor in his government. Copsi, attacked by surprise, took refuge in a church, which was set on fire, and when he attempted to escnpe from the flames, Osulf stabbed him.
3 Proverbs xxiv. 21.
14 OBDEBICUS VITALIS. [B.IT. CH.IT.
Matilda, and his young son Robert,1 with a council of religious prelates and valiant nobles to be guardians of the state. He then rode on the night of the 6th of December to the mouth of the river of Dieppe, below the town of Arques,2 and, setting sail with a south wind in the first watch of the cold night, reached in the morning, after a most prosperous voyage, the harbour on the opposite coast called Winchelsea. Hitherto the wintry winds had made the sea very tempestuous, but the church was then celebrating the feast of St. Nicholas, bishop of Myra, and prayers were offered in Normandy on behalf of their pious prince. The providence of God, therefore, which conducts all those it favours when and where it wills, brought the good king to a port of safety, amid the storms of winter. In his present voyage he was attended by Roger de Montgomery,3 who, at the time of his former expedition to invade England, was left, with his wife, governor of Normandy. The king first conferred on him the earldoms of Chichester and Arundel, and, after a time, made him earl of Shrewsbury.
On the king's landing he was well received by the English, and entertained with fitting honours, both by the monks and secular officers. He kept the feast of Christmas at London, treating the English bishops and nobles with great courtesy. He received each with open arms, gave them the kiss of welcome, and was affable to all. When they made any request it was graciously granted, and he listened favourably to what they reported or advised. By these arts the numbers of the treasonably disposed were reduced. While he some- times gave instructions to the Normans with equal care and
1 This prince could not have been older than thirteen years at this time (A.D. 1067), as he died in 1134, at the age of eighty, at Cardiff Castle, where he was detained prisoner by his brother after the battle of Tin- chebrai, and if he was then, as it is supposed, twenty-four, he must have been born in 1054. It appears by a charter of Srigand de Mesidon, that he was declared by William his successor in the duchy of Normandy as early as 1 063 ; and this charter bore his signature, though he was not then more than nine years old.
2 The river Dieppe, which gave its name to the town built at its mouth after this voyage, is now called the Bethune to its junction with the river at Arques.
3 Ordericus's father probably accompanied his patron on this occasion, and remained in England with him, where our author, who seems proud to style himself an Englishman, was born about five years afterwards.
A.D. 1068.] SIEGE OF EXETEB. 15
address, at others he privately warned the English to be continually on their guard, in all quarters, against the crafty designs of their enemies. All the cities and provinces which he had himself visited or had occupied with garrisons, obeyed his will ; but, on the frontiers of the kingdom, in the northern and western districts, the same wild independence prevailed which formerly made the people insubordinate except when they pleased, to the kings of England in the times of Edward and his predecessors.
Exeter was the first to contend for freedom, but being attacked with vigour by powerful troops it was compelled to submit. It is a rich and ancient city, built in a plain, and fortified with much care, being distant about two miles from the sea coast, where it is reached by the shortest passage from Ireland or Brittany. The townsmen held it in great force, raging furiously, both young and old, against all Frenchmen. In their zeal they had invited allies from the neighbouring districts, had detained foreign merchants who were fit for war, and built or repaired walls and towers, and added whatever was reckoned wanting to their defences. They had also engaged other towns, by envoys they sent, to join in league with them, and prepared to oppose with all their strength the foreign king, with whom before they had no connection. When the king heard of these proceedings, he commanded the chief citizens to take the oath of fealty to him. But they returned this reply : " We will neither swear allegiance to the king, nor admit him within our walls ; but will pay him tribute, according to ancient custom." To this, the king gave this answer : " It does not suit me to have subjects 011 such conditions." He then marched an army into their territories, and in that expedition called out the English for the first time. The elders of the city, when they learned that the king's army was approaching near, went out to meet him, entreating for peace, promising to obey all his commands, and offering him such hostages as he required. When, however, they returned to their fellow citizens, who were in great alarm at the guilt they had incurred, they found them still determined to persist in their hostilities, and for various reasons roused themselves to stand on their defence. The king, who had halted four
16 ORDEEICTTS YTTALIS. [B.IT. CH.IT.
miles from the city, was filled with anger and surprise on receiving this intelligence.
In the first place, therefore, he advanced with five hundred horse to reconnoitre the place and the fortifications, and to ascertain what the enemy was doing. He found the gates shut, and crowds of people posted on the outworks, and round the whole circuit of the walls. In consequence, by the king's order, the whole army moved to the city, and one of the hostages had his eyes put out before the gate. But the mad obstinacy of the people neither yielded to fear nor to commiseration for the fate of the other hostages ; but strengthened itself in the determination to defend themselves and their homes to the last. The king therefore strongly invested the city on all sides, assaulted it with the utmost force of his arms, and for many days continued his attacks on the townsmen stationed on the walls, and his efforts to undermine them from beneath.1 At length the chief citizens were compelled, by the resolute assaults of the enemy, to have recourse to wiser counsels, and humbling themselves, to implore mercy, a procession of the most lovely of the young women, the elders of the city, and the clergy, carrying the sacred books and holy ornaments, went out to the king. Having humbly prostrated themselves at his feet, the king, with great moderation, extended his clemency to the repentant people, and pardoned their offences as if he had forgotten their obstinate resistance to his authority, and that they had before treated with insult and cruelty some knights he had sent from Normandy, and who were driven by a storm into their port. The citizens of Exeter were full of joy, and gave thanks to God at finding that, after so much anger and such terrible threats, they had made their peace with the foreign king better than they expected. William refrained from confiscating their goods, and posted strong and trusty bands of soldiers at the city gates, that the army might not force an entrance, in a body, and pillage the citizens. He then selected a spot within the walls for erecting a castle, and left there Baldwin de Meules, son of Count Gislebert, and other knights of eminence to complete the works and garrison the place. Continuing his march afterwards into Cornwall, the furthest extremity of Britain,3 1 The siege lasted eighteen days. a " Cornu- Britannia."
A.D. 1068.] QUEE5" MATILDA. CEOWXED. 17
and having everywhere restored order by his sudden move- ments, he disbanded his army, and returned to Guent1 in time for the vacation at the feast of Easter.
In the year of our Lord, 1068,2 King William sent persons of high rank to Normandy to bring over his queen Matilda, who quickly obeyed her husband's commands with a willing mind, and crossed the sea with a great attendance of knights and noble women. Among the clergy who were attached to her court for the performance of sacred offices, the most distinguished was Guy, bishop of Amiens, who had composed a poem on the battle between Harold and "William.3 Aldred, archbishop of York, who had crowned and anointed her husband, consecrated Matilda to partake in the honours of royalty, at the feast of Whitsuntide, in the second year of William's reign. Being now a crowned queen, Matilda, before a year was ended, gave birth to a son named Henry,* who was declared heir to all the king's dominions in England. This young prince had his attention turned to a learned education as soon as he was of age to receive instruction, and after the death of both his parents, had a bold career in arms. At last, having distinguished himself by his various claims to merit, he filled his father's throne for many years.
The same year, Edwin and Morcar, sons of Earl Algar, and young men of great promise, broke into open rebellion, and induced many others to fly to arms, which violently disturbed the realm of Albion. King William, however, came to terms with Edwin, who assured him of the submission of his brother and of nearly a third of the kingdom, upon which the king promised to give him his daughter in marriage. Afterwards, however, by a fraudu- lent decision of the Normans, and through their envy and covetousness, the king refused to give him the princess who was the object of his desire, and for whom he had long waited. Being, therefore, much incensed, he and his brother again broke into rebellion, and the greatest part of
1 " Guentam," Winchester.
2 We have found our author sometimes reckon the commencement of thf year from Christmas ; he, begins this from Easter.
1 See vol. i. p. 492.
4 Afterwards King Henry I., surnamed Deuu-elere.
VOL. II. C
18 OEDEEICUS YITALI3. [B.IT. CU.1T.
the English and AVelsh followed their standard. The two brothers were zealous in the worship of God, and respected good men. They were remarkably handsome, their relations were of high birth and very numerous, their estates were vast and gave them immense power, and their popularity great. The clergy and monks offered continual prayers on their behalf, and crowds of poor daily supplications.
Earl Algar had founded a monastery at Coventry,1 and amply endowed it with large revenues for the subsistence of the monks belonging to it. The countess Godiva also, a devout lady, had contributed all her wealth to the monastery, and employed goldsmiths to convert all the gold and silver she possessed into sacred tapestries, and crosses, and images of saints, and other ecclesiastical ornaments of wonderful beauty, which she devoutly distributed. These excellent parents, thus devoted to God and praiseworthy for their piety, had a fine family which merited the greatest distinc- tion, viz., Edwin, Morcar, and a daughter named Edith, who was first married to Griffith, king of Wales, and after his death to Harold, king of England.2
At the time when the Normans had crushed the English, and were overwhelming them with intolerable oppressions Blethyn, king of Wales,3 came to the aid of his uncles, at the head of a large body of Britons. A general assembly was now held of the chief men of the English and Welsh, at which uni- versal complaints were made of the outrages and tyranny to which the English were subjected by the Normans and their adherents, and messengers were despatched into all parts of Albion to rouse the natives against their enemies, either secretly or openly. All joined in a determined league and bold conspiracy against the Normans for the recovery of their ancient liberties. The rebellion broke out with great violence in the provinces beyond the Humber. The insur-
1 The abbey of Coventry was founded about the year 1043, by Leofric, earl of Mercia, Algar's father, or rather by Godiva, his mother. She was sister of Torold, sheriff of Lincolnshire, and her name appears several times in the Domesday- book as tiodeva Comitissa. A passage in it proves that she lived till after the Conquest.
a Our author is mistaken in making Edith, sister of Edwin and Morcar, have for her first husband Griffith, king of Wales. See vol. i. p. 461.
* Blethyn-ap-Cynvyn, therefore, was not nephew of Edwin and Morcar. lie was brother of Griffith.
A.D. 1068.] IXSUEftECTIONS — CASTLES BUILT. 19
gents fortified themselves in the woods and marshes, on the estuaries, and in some cities. York was in a state of the highest excitement, which the holiness of its bishop was unable to calm. Numbers lived in tents, disdaining to dwell in houses lest they should become enervated ; from which some of them were called savages by the Normans.
In consequence of these commotions, the king carefully sur- veyed the most inaccessible points in the country, and, select- ing suitable spots, fortified them against the enemy's excur- sions. In the English districts there were very few fortresses, which the Normans call castles ; so that, though the English were warlike and brave, they were little able to make a deter- mined resistance. One castle the king built at Warwick, and gave it into the custody of Henry, son of Roger de Beau- mont.1 Edwin and Morcar, now considering the doubtful issue of the contest, and not unwisely preferring peace to war, sought the king's favour, which they obtained, at least, in appear- ance. The king then built a castle at Nottingham, which he committed to the custody of William PevereU.
When the inhabitants of York heard the state of affairs, they became so alarmed that they made hasty submission, in order to avoid being compelled by force ; delivering the keys of the city to the king, and offering him hostages. But, suspecting their faith, he strengthened the fortress within the city walls, and placed in it a garrison of picked men. At this time, Archill, the most powerful chief of the Northum- brians, made a treaty of peace with the king, and gave him his son as a hostage. The bishop of Durham,2 also, being reconciled to King William, became the mediator for peace with the king of the Scots, and was the bearer into Scotland of the terms offered by William. Though the aid of Mal- colm had been solicited by the English, and he had prepared to come to their succour with a strong force, yet when he heard what the envoy had to propose with respect to a peace, he remained quiet, and joyfully sent back ambassadors in company with the bishop of Durham, who in his name swore fealty to King William. In thus preferring peace to war, he best consulted his own welfare, and the inclinations of his subjects ; for the people of Scotland, though fierce in war,
1 He was created earl of Warwick. a Egclwin, bishop of Durham. C 2
20 OB1JEBICUS TITALIS. [fi.IV. CH.IT.
love ease and quiet, and are not disposed to disturb them- selves about their neighbours' affairs, loving rather religious exercises than those of arms. On his return from this expedition, the king erected castles at Lincoln, Huntingdon, and Cambridge, placing in each of them garrisons composed of his bravest soldiers.
Meanwhile, some of the Norman women were so inflamed by passion that they sent frequent messages to their hus- bands, requiring their speedy return, adding that, if it were not immediate, they should choose others. They would not venture as yet to join their lords, on account of the sea voyage, which was entirely new to them. Nor did they like to pass into England where their husbands were always in arms, and fresh expeditions were daily undertaken, attended with much effusion of blood on both sides. But the king naturally wished to retain his soldiers while the country was in so disturbed a state, and made them great offers of lands with ample revenues and great powers, promising still more when the whole kingdom should be freed from their opponents. The lawfully created barons and leading soldiers were in great perplexity, for they were sensible that, if they took their departure while their sovereign, with their brothers, friends and comrades, were surrounded by the perils of war, they would be publicly branded as base traitors and cowardly deserters. On the other hand, what were these honourable soldiers to do, when their licentious wives threatened to stain the marriage bed with adultery, and stamp the mark of infamy on their offspring ? l In consequence, Hugh de Grantmesnil, who was governor of the Gewissse, that is, of the district round "Winchester,2 and his brother-in-law Hum- phrey de Tilleul,3 who had received the custody of Hastings from the first day it was built, and many others, departed, deserting, with regret and reluctance, their king struggling
1 M. Thierry remarks on this passage : " Bitter, and not very decent jests were directed against the Norman women who were in such haste to recall their protectors and the fathers of their children; and imputations of cowardice diffused witli reference to those who might abandon their leader in a foreign land." — History of the Norman Conquest, Hazlitt's translation, p. 215.
3 The present Hampshire; but the Gewissae, properly speaking, were the inhabitants of a far more extensive district.
* Tilleul-en-Auge, two leagues north of Grant-mesnil.
A.D. 1069.] THE BEYOLT BECOMES GENEBAL. 21
amongst foreigners. They returned obsequiously to their lascivious wives in Normandy, but neither they nor their heirs were ever able to recover the honour and domains which they had already gained, and relinquished on this occasion.1
England was now a scene of general desolation, a prey to the ravages both of natives and foreigners. Fire, robbery, and daily slaughter, did their worst on the wretched people, who were for ever attacked, trampled down, and crushed. Calamity involved both the victors and their victims in the same toils, prostrating them alternately by the sword, pesti- lence, and famine, according to the dispensations of the Almighty Disposer of events. The king, therefore, taking into consideration the impoverished state of the country, assembled the stipendiary soldiers he had in his pay, and, rewarding their services with royal munificence, kindly per- mitted them to return to their homes.
CH. V. Descent of the sons of Harold from Ireland in the west of England — invasion of the east and north by the troops of Sweyn, king of Denmark — They are joined by the Anglo-Danish nobles and population — King William1 s cam- paign in Yorkshire and Durham — Lays waste the country between the Humber and the Tees — Marches against the insurgents in Cheshire and the borders of Wales.
IN the third year of his reign, King William gave the county of Durham to Robert de Comines, who soon after- wards entered the city, with great confidence, at the head of five hundred men. But the citizens assembled early in the night, and massacred Robert and all his troops, except two, who escaped by flight.2 The bravest of men were unable to defend themselves, taken at disadvantage, at such an hour, and overwhelmed by numbers.
Not long afterwards, Robert Fitz-Richard, the governor of York, was slain with many of his retainers. Confidence
1 William's resentment against Hugh de Grantmesnil does not appear to have been so lasting as our author represents it, for Hugh not only returned to England, where at the time of making the Domesday survey he possessed a vast number of manors, and where he filled important offices, but his wife, Adeliza, held directly of the crown several manors in her own name, a distinction granted to very few of the Norman ladies.
" This massacre took place on the 28th of January, 1069.
22 OEDEKICTJS YITALIS. [B.IT. CH.T.
now became restored among the English in resisting the Normans, by whom their friends and allies were grievously oppressed. Oaths, fealty, and the safety of their hostages, were of little weight to men who became infuriated by the loss of their patrimony and the murder of their kinsfolk and countrymen.
Marlesweyn, Cospatric, Edgar Atheling, Archill, and the four sons of Karol, with other powerful and factious nobles, collected their forces, and joining a band of the townsmen and their neighbours, made a desperate attack on the royal fortress of Tork. William Malet, the governor of the castle, was, therefore, compelled to inform the king that he must surrender, unless his harassed troops received immediate reinforcements. The king flew to the spot, and fell on the besiegers, none of whom he spared. Many of them were taken prisoners, numbers slain, the rest put to flight. The king spent eight days in the city, making an additional for- tification, and committed the place to the custody of the earl William Fitz-Osbern. He then returned in triumph to Winchester, where he celebrated the feast of Easter. After the king's departure, the English re-assembled and renewed their attack, menacing both the fortresses ; but Earl AVilliam and his troops, falling on the insurgents in a certain valley, defeated them, many being slain or taken prisoners, and the rest, for the present, escaped by flight.
Being thus unceasingly occupied by revolts which broke out in every quarter, King William sent back Matilda, his dearly beloved wife, to Normandy, where, sheltered from tho tumults with which England was distracted, she might have leisure to devote herself to religious duties, and watch over the safety of the province and of Robert her son. This princess was cousin to Philip, king of France, and being descended from the royal line of the French kings and the emperors of Germany,1 she was no less distinguished by her illustrious birth, than by the effulgence of her virtues. Her august husband had by her an enviable family, consisting both of sons and daughters : Robert and Richard, William Rufus and Henry, Agatha and Constance, Adeliza, Adela, and Cicely, who met with different fates in this uncertain
1 Queen Matilda was daughter of Adela of France, sister of Henry I., and consequently cousin-gennan of Philip I.
A.D. 1068.] EXPEDITION FEO1I IBELA5TD. 23
life, and have afforded ample materials from which eloquent writers have composed voluminous works.1 Beauty of person, high birth, a cultivated mind, and exalted virtue, combined to grace this illustrious queen, and, what is still more worthy of immortal praise, she was firm in the faith, and devoted to the service of Christ. Her charities, which she daily distributed with fervent zeal, contributed more than I am able to express to the prosperity of her husband, continually struggling in his warlike career.
The two sons of Harold,2 king of England, took refuge with Dermot, king of Ireland, disconsolate at their father's death and their own expulsion. Obtaining succour from him and his chief nobles, they appeared off Exeter, with sixty-six vessels, full of troops. Landing on the coast they began boldly to ravage the interior of the country, subjecting it to severe losses by fire and sword. But they were quickly encountered by Brian, son of Eudes, count of Brittany, and William Gualdi, at the head of an armed force, which, after two battles on the same day, reduced their fearful numbers so much that those who were left escaped in two vessels, and on their return filled Ireland with grief. Indeed, if night had not put an end to the conflict, not even one would have returned home with tidings of the disaster. So just a fate befell the tyrant's sons, attempting to revenge him and those who aided them in such an enterprize.3
During these occurrences Githa, the wife of Godwin and mother of Harold, secretly collected vast wealth, and from
1 The histories of the sons of William and Matilda are well known ; of the daughters, Agatha, the eldest, was betrothed successively to Harold and to Alphonso, king of Gallicia, but died while she was on her way to Spain, as will appear hereafter. Constance married Afen Fergan, duke of Brittany, nnd Adela, Stephen, count de Blois. Adeliza became a nun in the convent of St. Leger-de-Preaux, and Cecilia in that of the Holy Trinity at Cadiz, of which she was afterwards abbess.
a There were three, not two, sons of Harold, who claimed the protection of Dermot, king of Leinster ; Godwin, Edmund, and Magnus.
* According to our English historians, this expedition, which was under- taken in 1068, was neither so short nor disastrous as our author represents. It was not Brian of Brittany, but Eadnoth, formerly Harold's master-of- the-horse, who put himself at the head of the forces which resisted the sons of his late master. He was killed in the battle, but the fleet though repulsed at this point ravaged the coasts of Devonshire and Cornwall, returning to Ireland loaded with the plunder of the two counties.
24 OBDEBICT78 TITALIS. [B.IV. CH.V.
her fear of King "William crossed over to France, never to return.1
At that time Sweyn, king of Denmark, equipped with great care a powerful fleet, in which he embarked both Danes and English under the command of his two sons2 and his brother Osbern, with two pontiffs and three distinguished earls, directing the armament against England. For he had often been invited by the earnest prayers of the English, accompanied by large sums of money, and he was also moved by the loss of his countrymen recently slain in the battle with Harold; and being the nephew of King Edward, who was son of Hardicanute, his ambition was excited by his near relationship to the throne. This king was possessed of great power, and he assembled the whole strength of his kingdom, which was augmented by aux- iliary forces from neighbouring countries with which he was allied. He was thus supported by Poland, Frisia, and Saxony. Leutecia3 also furnished a body of stipendiary soldiers hired with English wealth. That populous country was inhabited by a nation which, still lost in the errors of paganism, was ignorant of the true God, but, entangled in the toils of ignorance, worshipped Woden, Thor, and Frea, and other false gods, or rather demons. This nation was ex- perienced in war both by sea and land, but Sweyn had often gained victories over it under its king, and had reduced it to submission. Grown arrogant by repeated successes, and seeking to raise his power and glory to a still higher pitch, Sweyn, as we have already mentioned, fitted out an expedi- tion against King William. The Danes attempted a landing at Dover, but were repulsed by the royal troops. Making
1 This princess, who is also called Edith, escaping from Exeter in 1067, spent some time in concealment on the little island called the Flat-Holmes near the mouth of the Severn. She afterwards reached the coast of Flan- ders, and took refuge at St. Omer. Her name frequently appears in the Domesday-book, where it is spelt Ghida, Gida, or Gueda. The entries there prove that she held of the crown, before the conquest, 39,600 acres of land.
2 The fleet was under the command of Sweyn's second son, Canute, afterwards Canute IV., 1080— July, 108C, who was canonized in 1100.
3 "A country in the north of Germany, on the left bank of the Oder, and near its mouth, and consequently to the north of Saxony." — Le Pri- vosL " Probably the country of the Lettons, now called Lithuania." — Dubois,
A.D. 10C9.] THE DANES LAND ON THE HTTMBEE. 25
another attempt at Sandwich, they were again repulsed by the Normans. However they found an opportunity of disembarking at Ipswich, and dispersed themselves to pillage the neighbourhood ; but the country people assembled, and slaying thirty of them, compelled the rest to save themselves by flight. Having landed at Norwich for a similar incur- sion, they were encountered by Ralph de Gruader, who put numbers of them to the sword, caused many to be drowned, and forced the rest to retire with disgrace to their ships and put to sea. King William was at this time in the forest of Dean following the chace, as it was his custom to do. Receiving intelligence there of these descents of the Danes, he instantly despatched a messenger to York, with di- rections to his officers to be on their guard against the enemy, and to summon him to their support if necessity required. Those to whom the custody of the fortresses was entrusted sent word in reply that they should need no succour from him for a year to come. By this time the Atheling,1 "Waltheof, Siward, and other powerful English lords, had joined the Danes, who landed at the mouth of the broad river Humber. The Atheling had gone there on a predatory excursion with his own followers, and was sepa- rated from the allied troops. But they were unexpectedly attacked by the king's garrisons, sallying forth from Lincoln, who took them all prisoners, except two who escaped with the Atheling, and destroyed their ship which those who were left to guard it abandoned in alarm.
The Danes now invested York, their force being much increased by the number of the natives who assembled to support them. "VValtheof, Cospatric, Marisweyn, Elnoc, Archill, and the four sons of Karol, marched in the van, taking their stations in front of the Danes and Norwegians. The garrison of the castle made a rash sally, and, engaging within the city walls, fought at a disadvantage. Being unable to resist the numbers of the assailants, they were all killed or made prisoners. The castles having lost their defenders were open to the enemy. The king was still en- joying a false security when the news of this disaster reached him. Report magnified the force of the invaders, and said tliat they were prepared to join battle with the king himself. 1 " Adclinus," Edgar Atheling.
26 OEDERICUS YIT^LIS. [B.IT. CH.V.
William, roused by grief and anger, hastened his preparations for advancing against them ; but they, fearing to measure themselves with so renowned a commander, fled to the Humber, and sailed over to the shore which borders on Lindsey. The king pursued them with his cavalry, and finding some marauders in the almost inaccessible fens, put them to the sword and destroyed some of their fastnesses. The Danes escaped to the opposite shore, waiting an oppor- tunity of revenging themselves and their comrades.
At that time the West Salons of Dorset and Somerset, and their neighbours, made an attack on Montacute, but by God's providence they were foiled in their attempt ; for the men of Winchester, London, and Salisbury, under the command of Geoffrey, bishop of Coutances, came upon them by surprise, slew some of them, and mutilating a number of the prisoners, put the rest to flight. Meanwhile the Welsh, with the men of Cheshire, laid siege to the king's castle at Shrewsbury, aided by the townsmen under Edric Guilda,1 a powerful and warlike man, and other fierce English. The same thing was done at Exeter by the people of Devonshire, and a host of men assembled from Cornwall. It is the extreme point of the west of England towards Ireland, from whence it derives its name of Cornu Bri- tannia, the horn of Britain, or Cornwall. The citizens of Exeter took the king's side, for they had not forgotten the sufferings they had formerly endured. The king receiving this intelligence lost no time in giving orders to two earls, William and Brian,2 to march to the relief of the two places which were attacked. But before they reached Shrewsbury, the enemy had burnt the town and retired. The garrison of Exeter made a sudden sally, and charging the besiegerr with impetuosity, put them to the rout. William and Brian, meeting the fugitives, punished their rash enterprise with a great slaughter.
Meanwhile the king found no difficulty in crushing con-
1 Edric the Wild, see before, vol. L p. 147. The Normans called him le Sauvage, the Forester.
* Probably William Fitz-Osborn, governor of Winchester, and Brian of Rrittany, mentioned before, p. 23, who was the second son of Eudes, count de Penthievre, and brother of Alan the Black and Alan the Red, earls of Richmond in Yorkshire.
A.D. 1069.] WILLIAM'S CAMPAIGN nr THE ITOBTII. 27
siderable numbers of the insurgents at Stafford. In so many conflicts blood flowed freely on both sides, and the defenceless population, as well as those who were in arms, suffered from time to time severe disasters. The divine law was everywhere violated, and ecclesiastical discipline became almost universally relaxed. Murders were wretchedly fre- quent, men's hearts were stimulated to evil by the incentives of covetousness and passion, and they were hurried in crowds to hell, condemned by God whose judgments always prove just. Upon King William's return from Lindsey he left there his half brother Eobert Count de Mortaine,1 and Eobert Count d'Eu, to restrain the incursions of the Danes. The invaders lurked for a while in concealment, but when they supposed it was safe, they issued from their dens to join in the festivals of the country people on what are called their farms. Upon this the two earls fell upon them unexpectedly, and mingling their blood with the feasts, followed them up while they were in disorder, and pursued them to their very ships, slaughtering them as they fled. It was again reported that the brigands had gone to York, to celebrate the feast of the nativity, and prepare themselves for battle. The king was hastening thither from Notting- ham, but was stopped at Pontefract, where the river was not fordable, and could not be crossed by boats. He would not listen to those who advised him to return ; and to those who proposed to construct a bridge he replied that it was not expedient, as the enemy might come upon them un- awares, and take the opportunity of their being so engaged to inflict a loss upon them. They were detained there three weeks. At length, a brave knight named Lisois des Moutiers, carefully sounded the river, searching for a ford both above and below the town. At last, with great diffi- culty, he discovered a place where it was fordable, and crossed over at the head of sixty bold men-at-arms. They were charged by a multitude of the enemy, but stoutly held their ground against the assault. The next day, Lisoig returned and announced his discovery, and the army crossed the ford without further delay. The road now lay through forests and marshes, over hills and along valleys, by paths so narrow that two soldiers could not march abreast. In 1 The king's half-brother by his mother Arlotta.
28 ORDEEICITS VITALIS. [B.IY. CH.V.
this way they at last reached the neighbourhood of York, when they learned that the Danes had already retreated. The king, therefore, detached a body of men-at-arms, with commanders and officers, to repair the fortresses inside the city walls, and posted others on the banks of the Humber to oppose the advance of the Danes ; while he himself con- tinued his march through an almost inaccessible country, overgrown with wood, in the full intention of pursuing the enemy, without relaxation, into the fastness in which they lurked. His camps were scattered over a surface of one hundred miles ; numbers of the insurgents fell beneath his vengeful sword, he levelled their places of shelter to the ground, wasted their lands, and burnt their dwellings with all they contained. Never did William commit so much cruelty ; to his lasting disgrace, he yielded to his worst impulse, and set no bounds to his fury, condemning the innocent and the guilty to a common fate. In the fulness of his wrath he ordered the corn and cattle, with the imple- ments of husbandry and every sort of provisions, to be collected in heaps and set on fire till the whole was con- sumed, and thus destroyed at once all that could serve for the support of life in the whole country lying beyond the Humber. There followed, consequently, so great a scarcity in England in the ensuing years, and severe famine involved the innocent and unarmed population in so much misery, that, in a Christian nation, more than a hundred thousand souls, of both sexes and all ages, perished of want.1 On many occasions, in the course of the present history, I have been free to extol William according to his merits, but I dare not commend him for an act which levelled both the bad and the good together in one common ruin, by the infliction of a consuming famine. For when I see that innocent children, youths in the prime of their age, and grey headed old men, perished from hunger, I am more disposed to pity the sorrows and sufferings of the wretched people, than to undertake the hopeless task of screening one who was guilty of such wholesale massacre by lying flatteries. I assert, moreover, that such barbarous homicide could not pass unpunished. The Almighty Judge beholds alike the
1 This famine lasted nine years, but its ravages were most severe in the years 1068, 1069, and 1070.
A.D. 1069 — 1070.] SUBMISSION OF THE ENGLISH. 29
high and low, scrutinizing and punishing the acts of both with equal justice, that his eternal laws may be plain to all.
"While the Avar was in progres, William ordered the crown and the other ensigns of royalty, and plate of value, to be brought from "Winchester, aud stationing his army in camps, went himself to York where he spent the feast of Christmas. He learnt that a fresh band of the marauders was lurking in a corner of the country defended on all sides either by the sea or by marshes. There was only one ac- cess to this retreat, by a sound strip of land not mor.e than twenty feet wide. They had collected abundance of booty, and lived in perfect security, believing that no force could hurt them. However, when they heard that the royal troops were at hand they quickly decamped by night. The indefatiga- ble king pursued his desperate foes to the river Tees, through such difficult roads that he was obliged sometimes to dis- mount and march on foot. He remained seven days on the Tees. There he received the submission of Waltheof in per- son, and of Cospatric by his envoys who swore fealty on his part. Their former allies, the Danes, were now exposed to great perils, having become wandering pirates, tossed by the winds and waves. But they suffered no less from famine than from storms. Part of them perished by shipwreck ; the rest sustained life by feeding on a misera- ble pottage ; and these not only common soldiers, but the princes, earls, and pontiffs. Meat entirely failed, even musty and putrid as they had long eaten it. They did not venture to land in search of plunder, nor even touch the shore, so great was their terror of the inhabitants. At last the small re- mains of that powerful fleet sailed back to Denmark, and carried to Sweyn, their king, a miserable account of all the misfortunes they had undergone, the savage courage of tho enemy, and the loss of their comrades.
In the month of January, King William returned from the Tees to Hexham, by a road hitherto unattempted by an armv, where the peaked summits of the hills and the deep glens were often covered with snow at a season when the neighbouring plains were clothed with the verdure of spring. The king passed it in the depth of winter during a severe frost, but the troops were encouraged by the cheerfulness with which he surmounted all obstacles. Still the march
30 OEDERICUS TITALIS. [B.IV. C1I.Y.
was not accomplished without great difficulty and the loss of a great number of horses. Every one had enough to do in providing for his own safety without having much' concern for that of his chiefs or his friends. In these straits, the king lost his way, having no escort but six men-at-arms, and spent a whole night without knowing where they were. Having returned to York he repaired the several castles in that place, and ordered affairs advantageously for the city and neighbourhood. He then engaged in another expedi- tion against the people of Chester and the Welsh, who, in addition to their other delinquencies, had lately besieged Shrewsbury. The troops who had just gone through so much suffering were apprehensive that they would be expo- sed to still greater in the present enterprise. They dreaded the ruggedness of the country, the severity of the winter, the dearth of provisions, and the terrible fierceness of the enemy. The soldiers of Anjou, Brittany, and Maine com- plained that they were ground down with a service more intolerable than that of guarding the castles, and made vehement claims on the king for their discharge. They said, for their justification, that they could not serve under a lord who was venturing on enterprises which were unexampled and out of all reason, nor carry into effect impracticable orders. The king, in this emergency, imitated the example of Julius Ca3sar, and did not condescend to reconcile them to his service by earnest entreaties or fresh promises. He proceeded boldly on his march, commanding the faithful among his troops to follow him, and giving out that he cared little for these who would desert him, considering them as cowards, poltroons, and faint-hearted. He promised repose to such as contended successfully with the difficulties they had to surmount, declaring that there was no road to honour but through toilsome exertions. With unwearied vigour he made his way through roads never before travelled by horses, across lofty mountains and deep valleys, rivers and rapid streams, and dangerous quagmires in the hollows of the hills. Pursuing their track they were often distressed by torrents of rain, sometimes mingled with hail. At times they were reduced to feed on the flesh of horses which perished in the bogs. The king often led the way on foot with great agility, and lent a ready hand to assist others in
A.]), 1070.] SYNOD AT W1NCHESTEB. 31
their dfficulties. At length he conducted hia whole force safely to Chester, and put down all hostile movements throughout the province of Mercia by the power of a royal army. He then built a castle at Chester, and another on his return at Shrewsbury, leaving strong garrisons and abundant stores of provisions in both. From thence march- ing to Salisbury, he recompensed his soldiers for all their sufferings by an ample distribution of rewards, giving due praise to all who deserved it, and dismissing them with many thanks. To mark his displeasure with those who had threatened desertion, he detained them forty days longer than their comrades, a slight penalty for men who deserved a much severer punishment.
CH. VI. King William 's care of the church in England — Digression on its origin, eminent men, and monastic esta- blishments— Lanfranc's early life ; he is appointed arch- bishop of Canterbury.
AFTEB, these events, King William kept the feast of Easter at Winchester, where certain cardinals of the Roman church solemnly crowned him. For, at his request, Pope Alexan- der had sent over to him, as his most beloved son, three special legates, Ermenfrid, bishop of Sion,1 and two cardinal canons. He detained them at his court for a year, listening to and honouring them as if they were the angels of God. They so ordered aifairs with respect to various places and on several occasions, as to distinguish the districts which needed canonical examination and orders.
But what was most important, a numerous synod was held at Windsor2 in the year of our Lord 1070, at which the king and the cardinals presided. In this synod, Stigaud, who had been already excommunicated, was deposed. His hands were stained by perjury and homicide, and he had not entered on his archiepiscopal functions by the lawful door, having been raised to his dignity by the two bishops of Norfolk and Winchester, by the steps of an infamous am- bition, and by supplanting others. Some suffragans were also deposed for having disgraced the episcopal office by
1 In the Valais. The cHrdinals' names were Peter and John. - The synod was not held at Windsor but at Winchester, immediately after Easter.
32 ORDEBICUS VITALIS. [fl.IT. CII.VI.
their criminal life and ignorance of pastoral duties. Two Norman prelates, chaplains of the king, were nominated bishops, Walkelin of Winchester, and Thomas of York ;l the first in the place of one who was deposed, the second of one who was dead. Both of these prelates were prudent, full of gentleness and humanity, venerated and beloved by men, and venerating and loving God. Others were replaced by bishops translated from France, men of letters, of excellent character, and zealous promoters of religion.
King William exhibited in various ways his desire to further what was good, and especially he always esteemed true piety in the servants of God, on which the peace and prosperity of the world depend. This is abundantly proved by general report, and it is most clearly esta- blished by his actions. When one of the chief shepherds was at any time removed by death from the scene of his labours, and the church of God deprived of her ruler was sorrowing in her widowhood, the careful prince sent pru- dent commissioners to the bereaved house, and caused an inventory to be made of the goods of the church, that they might not be wasted by sacrilegious guardians. He then assembled bishops and abbots and other wise counsellors, and with their assistance made inquiry who was most fit and proper to have the government of the house of God, both as regarded its spiritual and temporal wants. Accord- ingly, the person recommended by them for his virtuous life and proficiency in learning, was appointed by the king's tender care to the vacant bishopric or abbey. He acted on this principle during the fifty-six years2 he governed the dukedom of Normandy and the kingdom of England, leaving thus an excellent example and pious custom to his suc- cessors. He held simony in the utmost detestation, being in- fluenced in his choice of abbots and bishops by then- sanctity and wisdom, and not by their wealth or power. He advanced persons of worth to the government of the English monas-
1 Thomas, archbishop of York, was a native of Bayeux, of which he was canon, but not a chaplain to the king. The nomination was made at Whitsuntide.
a There is some exaggeration in this computation. William's govern- ment, reckoning from his accession to the dukedom of Normandy, only lasted fifty-two years, and as he was then only eight years old, he could not have exercised much discretion in the choice of bishops and abbots.
A..D. 596 — 870.] MONASTEBIES IN ENGLAND. 33
teries, by whose zeal and discipline the monastic rule, which had somewhat relaxed, became more strict, and, where it seemed to have failed, was restored to its former vigour.
It must be recollected that Augustine and Lawrence,1 and the other first missionaries in England were monks, and, instead of canons, piously established monks in their episcopal sees, a system rarely found in other countries. They founded a number of famous abbeys, and recommended to their converts monastic institutions both by word and ex- ample. This order, therefore, flourished in England with great lustre for more than two hundred years, and Christian perfection happily numbered among its votaries the English kings Ethelbert and Edwin, Oswald and Ofia, with many others, whom it raised for their souls' health to the highest pitch of virtue, until the time that Edmund, king of the East- Angles, and two other English kings received martyr- dom at the hands of the pagans.2 After that, the Danish kings, Oskytel and Ghithrum, Anwind and Halfdene, Inguar and Hubba, invaded England with their heathen bands, giving to the flames the monasteries and churches of the monks and clergy, and butchering the flock of Christ like sheep.
After some years, Alfred king of the Grewissae3 and son of King Ethelwulph, made a bold stand against the pagans ; and having, by God's help, slain, expelled, or subjugated his enemies, was the first of the English kings who united in his person the monarchy of the whole of England. In my
1 These missionaries, sent by Pope Gregory the Great, arrived in England in the year 596. Augustine aud Lawrence were successively archbishops of Canterbury.
* St. Edmund the Martyr was murdered on the 20th of November, 870. The two other kings alluded to in this passage are Osbert and Ella, com- petitors for the kingdom of Northumbria, who were killed by the Danes in the year 866.
8 Gewissie is the Anglo-Saxon term for the people of the west of England, signifying the " west." They were not, therefore, confined to the small county of Hants, as M. Le Prevost observes. The Visigoths are a name of similar signification. Wessex was Alfred's proper hereditary kingdom, to which he succeeded in 87'2. Sussex had been long absorbed in it; Kent and Mercia were annexed, and he gradually extended his sove- reignty over all the kingdoms of the Heptarchy, the portions still possessed by the Danes after his conquests being governed by tributary princes of that nation. Alfred died on the 26th of October, 901. VOL. II. D
34 OEDERICTTS VITALIS. [s.IV. CH.VI.
opinion he surpassed all the kings of England, before or after him, in courage, munificence, and above all in pru- dence, and after a glorious reign of twenty-nine years left his sceptre to his son Edward the elder. When peace and order were re-established throughout the realm, pious princes and bishops began to employ themselves in restor- ing the monasteries ; and as all the monks in England had either perished or been driven out by the fury of the hea- thens in the troublesome times already mentioned, they commissioned a young man of high character whose name was Oswald, to proceed to the abbey of Fleury in France, built by Leodebod of Orleans on the banks of the Loire in the time of Clovis, son of Dagobert, king of the Franks.1 The place is held in great reverence on account of the bones of St. Benedict, the founder and master of the monastic order, which the monk Aigulf sent by the abbot Mummo- lus, translated from Beneventum to the country of Orleans.3 This happened after the devastation of the abbey of Monte Cassino, which the holy father Benedict foretold with tears to the monk Theoprobus, a worthy servant of God, as we Tead in the second book of the dialogues which Pope Gregory, the illustrious doctor of the church, so eloquently addressed to Peter the sub-deacon.3
After the death of King Clepo, before his son Autarith was of age to govern, when the whole Lombard nation, having no king, was subject to thirty-four dukes ; some Lombard brigands made an attack in the night with a view to plunder and pillage the abbey of Monte Cassiuo ; but all the monks, by God's protection, escaped in safety with their Abbot Bonitus. For a hundred and ten years afterwards the abbey remained desolate, until Petronax, bishop of Brescia, went there, and by the help of Pope Zachary rebuilt it in a style of great magnificence, and from that day to this the abbey of Monte Cassino has continually increased in splendour.4 During, however, the continuance of the deso-
1 This abbey was founded in the year 641, the fourth of the reign of Clovis, by Leodebaud, abbot of St. Aignau, at Orleans.
2 The translation of the relics of St. Benedict was made about the year 653. See an account of it in the Ada SS. Ordinis S. Benedict!, t. ii.
3 Vita S. Benedict! ubbat. c;>p. xvii.
4 Ordericus states the destruction of Monte Cassino to have taken place
950 — 980.] INTRODUCTION OP THE BENEDICTINE ETTLE. 35
lation, and while the abbey was destitute of worshippers, the house of Fleury was, according to God's will, enriched by the possession of the precious remains of the illustrious father Benedict, whose translation the Cisalpine monks commemorate yearly, with solemn and pious offices, on the fifth of the ides [llth] of July. To Fleury, therefore, was the reverend youth Oswald sent, to be professed a monk, and, being instructed in the monastic rule, order his own life well according to the will of God, as well as conduct others who should attach themselves to that discipline, in the footsteps of the apostles, to the summit of their heavenly vocation. And so it happened.
For, after some years, Oswald was sent back to England1 by the abbot of Fleury, at the courteous request of his countrymen, and being distinguished by great sagacity, as well as excellence, he was placed at the head of all the monastic institutions in England. Those venerable men, Dunstan and Athelwold, seconded him with all their influence, and their first effort was to introduce the regular discipline at Glastonbury and Abingdon. These doctors were faithfully obeyed by Athelstan, Edred, Edmund, and (especially) Edgar, son of Edmund, kings of England. In their reigns Dunstan was raised to be metropolitan of Canterbury, and Athelwold to be bishop of Winchester, and Oswald became, first, bishop of Worcester and afterwards archbishop of York. At their entreaty Abbo, a wise and pious monk of Fleury, was sent over the sea and instituted the monastic rule at Ramsey,2 and other English monasteries, after the same manner in wrhich it was practised in France at that period. He inspired the bishops just named with
some time between the death of Clepo, second king of the Lombards, 5th of January, 575, and his son Autarith coming of age, 584. It appears to have actually occurred about the year 582, when Bonitus was the sixth abbot. St. Petronax, who was never a bishop, but abbot of Monte Cassino, began to restore it from its ruins about the year 720, and died there the 6th of May, 750, or thereabout.
1 St. Oswald's residence at Fleury -sur-Loire appears to have been about the middle of the tenth century; his return to England in 961 ; his pro- motion to the bishopric of Worcester the year following; and to the archbishopric of York in 970.
2 The abbey of Ramsey, in Huntingdonshire, was founded by Oswald in 971. Abbo appears to have undertaken his journey to England about the year 980, remaining there nearly two years.
D 2
36 OBDEBICTJS VITALIS. [B.TT. CII.YI.
the love of holiness and all goodness, shedding lustre on them by their doctrines, and the miracles they performed, thus rendering great services to men of learning as well as to the vulgar.
Bishop Athelwold then restored in the time of King Edgar, in the town now called Burg, the abbey of Medes- hamsted, which bishop Sexulf founded in the reign of Wulfere, king of the Mercians.1 He also endowed with great wealth the church dedicated to St. Peter, prince of the apostles. Afterwards, Thorney abbey, Ely abbey,2 and many other monasteries, were built in different places ; and societies of monks, clerks, or nuns, were suitably established in them. Abundant revenues were assigned to each of these houses, sufficient to supply the servants of the altar with meat and clothing, in order that they might not fail in the divine service for want of necessaries.
Monastic discipline being thus restored in England, a glorious army of monks was furnished with the arms of the Spirit to contend against Satan, and taught to persevere in fighting the Lord's battle until victory was gained. But after the lapse of some years, in the time of King Ethelred, son of Edgar, a violent storm rose in the north, to winnow the wheat in which tares had abundantly multiplied. Sweyn, king of Denmark, a bigoted idolater, sailed to the coast of England with a powerful fleet, manned by pagans, and, making a descent with formidable numbers when it was least expected, drove the terrified king Ethelred, with his sons Edward and Alfred, and his queen Emma, to take refuge in Normandy.3 It was not however long before, by God's providence, Sweyn, the cruel persecutor of the Christians, was killed by St. Edmund, and Ethelred, on learning his death, returned to his own kingdom. Then Canute, king of Denmark, when he heard his father's fortunes, made an alliance with Lacman, king of Sweden, and Olave, king of Norway, and their allied forces landed in England. In the
i This abbey, afterwards called Peterborough, or Peter's " Burjr," was founded about the middle of the seventh century, and restored by Bishop Athe.-.rold in 972.
4 Thorney abbey was founded in 472 ; Ely restored in 970.
1 The events here recapitulated occurred in the year 1013, but Ethelred did not at first accompany his wife and children to Normandv. but retired for some time to the Isle of Wight.
A.D. 596 — 735.] LEABHED ECCLESIASTICS. 37
end, after many defeats, on the death of King Ethelred and his son Edmund Ironside, he ascended the throne of England, which he and his sons, Harold and Hardicanute, possessed for more than forty years.1
During these events Canterbury, the metropolitan city, was besieged and burnt, and St. Elphege, the archbishop, was tortured by the heathen Danes and suffered martyrdom.2 At that time other cities were also burnt, and episcopal and abbey churches destroyed, with their sacred books and ornaments. The flock of the faithful was dispersed by these storms through various quarters, and dreadfully torn by the ravages of the wolves, to which it became a prey.
I have made a long digression, I trust to some advantage, and collected facts from former annals, for the purpose of showing to the attentive reader how it was that the Normans found the people of England so clownish and almost illiterate, notwithstanding the [Roman pontiffs had long since supplied them with institutions best calculated for their instruction. Gregory and Boniface had sent excellent teachers, with sacred books and all the necessaries for performing the offices of the church for the service of the English people, and had taught them, as their dear children, all that was good. After that, Pope Vitalian, in the reigns of Oswy and Egbert, sent into England those learned men, Theodore, archbishop, and Adrian, abbot, by whose labours and intelligence the English clergy were well instructed, both in Latin and Greek literature, and became much distinguished. In the next age flourished Abbot Albinus and Bishop Aldelm, whose learning and piety enlightened numbers, and whose writings have handed down to posterity memorable proofs of their virtues.3 All these and many
1 See before, b. i. vol. i. p. 146. The reign of Canute in England Listed from 1017—1035; Harold- Harefoot, 1035 — 1040; Hardicanute, 1040— 1 042 ; which together are far from making up the forty years assigned to these reigns by our author. For Lacman and Olave, see the preceding reference.
2 The destruction of Canterbury Cathedral, and the murder of Arch- bishop Elphege, occurred in the spring of the year 1011; the latter on EHster Eve, the 19th of April, the former some weeks preceding.
3 The mission of Theodore and Abbot Hadrian took place in 668. See Beile's Eccles. Hist. p. 171, Bohn's Edition. Albinus succeeded Hadrian as abbot of St. Augustine's, Canterbury, in 709, ib. p. 276. Bede acknow-
38 OKDEBICUS YITALIS. [B.IT. CH.VII.
more have been rendered illustrious by the labours ot the eloquent Bede, who has equalled them to the most accomplished masters of the liberal arts, and inquirers into the secrets of nature. This venerable man divided the life- giving bread of the Old and New Testament among the children of Christ, by his lucid commentaries, explaining in his works more than sixty mysterious subjects, and thus gained lasting honour, both in his own and foreign countries.1
When the precious stones were happily set in the walls of the heavenly Jerusalem, and the grains of wheat safely housed in the garner of the true Joseph, the stones were scattered in the streets, and the chaff was cast on the dung- hill, and carelessly trodden under foot by those who passed by. Thus, by the just judgment of Almighty God, when his chosen servants had passed out of this transitory world to that which is eternal, the Danes, as we have already seen, restrained by no fear of God or man, long revelled in the ruin of England, practising, without remorse, innumerable breaches of the divine law. Human actions, always prone to evil, become by an infamous course truly abominable, when rulers, who ought to govern with the rod of discipline, are taken away. This freedom from control had relaxed the bonds both of the clergy and laity, and inclined both sexes to every species of license. The abundance of meat and drink led to excess, and levity and wantonness paved the way to crime. "With the ruin of the monasteries, religious discipline was enfeebled, and canonical rules were not restored till the times of the Normans. '
For a long period the monastic life had fallen into decay among the islanders, and the lives of monks little differed from those of men of the world ; their dress and their name
ledges the assistance he received from this learned monk in the compilation of his history. Aldelm, abbot of Malmesbury, became the first bishop of the new see of Sherborne about the same time, and died in 709. His works were published in London in 1842, in vols. i. and ii. of Patres Eccletia Anylicante.
1 The venerable Bede flourished 673— May 26, 735. His well known Ecclesiastical History has been several times translated, and is published in the first volume of Bohn's Antiquarian Library. The Commentaries on the Holy Scriptures, and other works alluded to by Ordericus Vitalis, are enumerated in the preface to that volume.
A..D. 1070.] 1ANFBANC. 39
was a mere deception ; they were abandoned to gluttony, to endless peculation, and foul prevarication. By the care of King William the order was reformed according to the canonical rules, and its blessed usages being restored, be- came highly honoured. Some new abbots were appointed by the king, and several monks received instruction in the monasteries of France, who, placed by the king's command in the English abbeys, perfected the discipline and gave examples of a religious life. Scotland, an abbot, distin- guished for his learning and great worth, was instituted to the abbey of St. Peter, prince of the apostles, founded by Augustine, the first doctor of the English nation. Born in Normandy, of a noble family, and strictly educated at the monastery of Mount St. Michael the archangel-in-peril-of- the-sea, he was preferred by the Normans to be abbot for the reformation of the monks of Canterbury.1 In like man- ner there was a change of rulers in other monasteries, which in some was profitable, in others dangerous, both to those who governed and to those who were placed under them.
The see of Canterbury, in which St. Augustine sat, and which, by a decree of Pope Gregory, obtained the primacy over all the bishops of Britain, was, on the deposition of Stigand, committed to Lanfranc, abbot of Caen, by the choice of the king and all his council. Born of a noble family, in the city of Pavia, in Italy, he learnt from child- hood in the schools the liberal arts, and applied himself with zeal to the study of the civil law, according to the cus- tom of his country, with the intention of continuing a layman. The youthful orator, when pleading a cause, fre- quently triumphed over his veteran opponents, and by a torrent of eloquence won the prize from men long in the habit of eloquent speaking. At a ripe age his opinions were given with so much wisdom, that learned doctors, judges, and praetors of the city, readily adopted them. But when in exile, the former academician, like Plato, learnt to philosophize, the light eternal flashed into his mind, and the
1 He was abbot of St. Peter's of Canterbury before the year 1092, when he attended the synod at Winchester ; and died in September, 1087. M. Le Prevost conjectures that he belonged to a Norman family which gave its name to the village of Pontdcoulant, Pons-Scollandi.
40 OEDEKICTJS VITALIS. [B.IT. CH.TII.
love of true wisdom enlightened his soul. He saw with Ecclesiastes, though he had not as yet learnt the use of ecclesiastical writings, that the things of the world are but vanity. Casting off the world therefore with sovereign con- tempt, he took on himself the profession of religion, and submitted to the yoke of the monastic rule. He selected for his retreat the abbey of Bee in Normandy, for its secluded site and poor endowment, enriching it by his prudent and ever watchful care, and bringing it into a state of the most perfect order, ruling the brotherhood with a discipline at once mild and strict, and aiding the holy abbot, Herluins, with profitable counsel.1 A novice and an exile, while he mortified himself from sin and the world, and laboured most for what was spiritual and heavenly, God, the searcher of hearts, decreed, that his light should be set in a candlestick, that it might lighten the spacious house of the Lord. Forced from the quiet of the cloister by his sense of obe- dience, he became a master, in whose teaching a whole library of philosophy and divinity was displayed. He was a powerful expositor of difficult questions in both sciences. It was under this master that the Normans received the first rudiments of literature, and from the school of Bee that so many philosophers proceeded of distinguished at- tainments, both in divine and secular learning. For before, in the time of six dukes of Normandy, scarce any Norman devoted himself to liberal studies, nor did any doctor arise among them until, by the Providence of God, Lanfranc landed on the shores of Normandy. His reputation for learning spread throughout all Europe, and many hastened to receive lessons from him out of France, Gascony, Brit- tany, and Flanders.
To understand the admirable genius and erudition of Lanfranc, one ought to be an Herodian in grammar, an Aristotle in dialectics, a Tully in rhetoric, an Augustine and Jerome, and other expositors of the law and grace, in the sacred scriptures. Athens itself, in its most flourishing state, renowned for the excellency of its teaching, would have honoured Lanfranc in every branch of eloquence and
1 After spending some time at Avranches, Lanfranc came to Bee in 1042. He was named prior there in 1045, and immediately afterwards opened bis school
A.D. 1045—1070.] LANFBAKC. 41
discipline, and would have desired to receive instruction from his wise maxims. Our monk was full of zeal to cleave asunder, with the sword of the word, whatever sects at- tacked the Catholic faith. In the counsels of Rome and Vercelli1 he crushed, with the weapons of spiritual elo- quence, Berenger of Tours, esteemed by some an heresiarch, condemning his doctrine, which made the consecrated host the ruin instead of the salvation of souls. Lanfranc there ex- plained, with deep reverence, and most conclusively proved, that the bread and wine which are placed on the Lord's table are, after consecration, the true flesh and the true blood of the Lord our Saviour. He publicly defeated Be- renger, after a most elaborate controversy, both at Eome and at Tours, and compelled him to abjure his heresy, and to profess in writing the orthodox belief. Afterwards the blasphemous heretic, blushing for shame at having cast into the fire at Eome, with his own hands, the books containing his perverted doctrines, to save himself from being burned, corrupted his disciples by his money and his deceitful arguments, to conceal at home his latest writings, and after- wards convey them to -foreign countries, that his old errors might receive fresh support, and their duration be extended to future years. To refute which Lanfranc published a work, written in a clear and agreeable style, and founded on sacred authorities, which treats on the subject of the eucharist* with the strongest force of reasoning, and while it is lucid with eloquent discourse, is not prolix and tedious. Many churches earnestly desired to have Lanfranc for their bishop or abbot, and even Home, the capital of Christendom, so- licited him by letters to come there, and used prayers and even force to detain him. So illustrious in the sight of all
1 The two councils here mentioned, in which Lanfranc confuted the errors of Berenger, archdeacon of Angers, were held in the year 1 050, the first after Easter, and that of Vercelli in the month of September. It is very doubtful whether Lanfranc assisted at the council of Tours, but he was present at that of Rome in April, 1059, when Berenger was compelled to abjure his errors.
* Lanfranc's principal work against this heretic, to which he gave the strange title of Liber Scintillarum, but which is commonly known l>y that of De Corpore et Sanguine Domini, was written in the year 1079.
42 OBDEBICUS TITALIS. [B.VI. CH.VI.
men was one whom virtue and wisdom especially orna- mented.
When the bishop of Sion had deposed Stigand, as before related, he invited Lanfranc to undertake the primacy, and announced to him the petition of the church of G-od in a synod of the bishops and abbots of Normandy. Lanfranc, in much distress of mind, and fearing to take on himself so great a charge, begged for time to consider, holding it for certain that the retirement of a monk and the active duties of an archbishop could not be reconciled. Abbot Herluin laid his commands upon him, and he was accustomed to obey him as he would Christ. The queen and her son the prince entreated him ; the elders of the council also who were assembled earnestly exhorted him. He would not give a hasty reply, because every word and act of his was guided by the rule of discretion. He was unwilling to for- feit his o'bedience, and to offend those who entreated, per- suaded, admonished him. He, therefore, mournfully crossed the sea to make his excuses, hoping for a happy return. The king cordially received his coadjutor in Christian culture, and, combating with dignity and grace the excuses his humi- lity offered, succeeded in overcoming his reluctance.-
In the year of our Lord, 1070, Lanfranc, the first abbot of Caen,1 was sent by divine providence, to become the teacher of the English, and after a canonical election, and lawful consecration enthroned in the archiepiscopal see of the church of Canterbury on the fourth of the calends of September [August 29th.] A number of bishops and abbots, with a great concourse of the clergy and people, were present at the ceremony. The inhabitants of the whole of England, whether present or absent, were raised to the highest pitch of joy, and would indeed have offered bound- less thanks to God if they had known how much good Heaven was then bestowing upon them.
In the church of Caen, Lanfranc was succeeded by "William, son of Radbod, bishop of Seez, who, I think, nine years afterwards was translated by King William to the
1 The French editors of Ordericus place the nomination of Lanfranc to his abbey of St. Stephen at Caen in the middle of the year 1066, contrary to the general opinion. See book iii. c. xii. (voL i. p. 466).
A.D. 1070.] BONNE-AME, ABBOT OF CAEN. 43
metropolitan see of Rouen. He was cousin of William bishop of Evreux, son of Girard Fleitel, the influence of which family was extremely powerful in Normandy in the time of the Richards.1 As canon and archdeacon of Rouen he was under Mauritius, archbishop of that see, and becoming more ardent in his love of God, he went abroad with Theodoric, abbot of St. Evroult, devoutly making a pilgrimage to the glorious sepulchre of our Lord at Jerusa- lem. After his return, being apprehensive of losing the fruit of his former labours, he withdrew altogether from the temptations of the world, and devoted himself with delight to his holy warfare in the abbey of Bee. He was afterwards sent with Lanfranc to instruct the novices who assembled from all parts for the service of Christ in the city of Caen, and in the course of time became their worthy father and superior.
At the death of "William, bishop of Evreux, he was suc- ceeded by Baldwin, the duke's chaplain, who regularly governed the bishopric nearly seven years. At his decease Grislebert Fitz-Osbern, canon and archdeacon of Lisieux, became his successor. He held the see to its great benefit more than thirty years, augmenting its revenues in various ways, and skilfully regulating its affairs. On the death of Ives, bishop of Seez, Robert, son of Hubert de Rie, succeeded him, governing the see nearly twelve years, and being him- self zealous for the service of Grod, was a kind friend to the monks.2
CH. VII. TJie earls Edwin and Morcar slain or imprisoned —Their vast estates distributed among the Norman lords — Names and titles of the new possessors.
IN these times, by God's gracious providence, tranquillity prevailed in England, and the brigands being driven to a
1 William Bonne- Ame, son of Radbod, bishop of Se"ez (1025—1032), was made archbishop of Rouen after John d'Avranches in 1079. Our author is right in stating him to be cousin of Gerard Fleitel, father of William I., bishop of Evreux from 1046—1066. From a charter of his, signed by William the Conqueror, giving the commune of St. Denis-du- Bosc-Guerard, which derived its name from him, to St. Wrandrille's abbey, it appears that he long survived the dukes Richard I. and Richard II.
8 It is supposed that a bishop named Michael intervened between William Fleitel and Baldwin. The latter was bishop of Evreux before
44 OBDZBICUS VITALIS. [B.IV. CH.YII.
distance, the cultivators of the soil renewed their labours in some sort of security. The English and Normans lived amicably together in the villages, towns, and cities, and intermarriages between them formed bonds of mutual alliance. Then might be seen in some of the towns and country fairs French traders with the merchandize they imported, and the English, who before in their homely dress cut a sorry figure in the eyes of the Normans, appeared in their foreign garb a different people. No one dared any longer to live by robbery, but all cultivated their lands in safety, and, though this did not last long, lived happily with their neighbours. Churches were built and repaired, and the ministers of religion zealously performed in them the service of God. The king's great activity watched over the public good, and roused the people by all possible means to profitable pursuits. He took some pains to make himself master of the English language, to enable himself to hear the complaints of his subjects without an interpreter, and to render equal justice to all according to the rules of equity ; but his time of life rendered this study a work ot difficulty, and his attention was necessarily diverted to other objects by the multiplicity of his occupations.1
But as the enemy of man goeth about like a roaring lion seeking whom he may devour, fresh disturbances of a serious character arose between the English and Normans, so that the relentless furies were again let loose, and for a long period wrought endless mischief. This originated in the evil counsels which led King William, much to the injury of his reputation, to a breach of faith in shutting up the illustrious earl Morcar, in the Isle of Ely, where he was besieged, though at the time he was in alliance with the king, and neither plotted nor suspected any evil. Their
June, 1066. He died in 1070, and our author is mistaken as to the number of years he held that see. Gislebert, his successor, filled it thirty- four years, as we shall find hereafter. Ives de Belesme also died in 1070, and Robert de Rie about 1082.
1 Hume charges the Conqueror with the preposterous design of eradi- cating the English, and substituting the Norman language. The use of the latter in the courts, generally alleged in evidence of this design, was only the natural consequence of almost all the ecclesiastics, who were also the lawyers, being Normans. The Conqueror's own charters are either in Anglo-Saxon or Latin.
A.D. 1071.] EDWIN AND MOBCAK. 45
differences were fomented by wily newsmongers, who went to and fro propounding the treacherous terms that the earl should surrender himself to the king, and the king restore him to his favour as a trusty adherent. The earl might have defended himself for a considerable time in his inac- cessible retreat, or when things came to the worst, have taken advantage of the river which surrounded it to escape by sea. But weakly listening to false representations, he left the island, and came to court with his attendants in peaceable guise. The king, however, was apprehensive that Morcar would avenge the evils unjustly inflicted on himself and his countrymen, and be the means of raising endless disturbances in his English dominions ; he, therefore, threw him into prison without any distinct charge, and committing him to the custody of Roger de Beaumont, confined him in his castle all the rest of his life.1 When Earl Edwin, that handsome youth, heard of his brother's imprisonment, he declared that he would prefer death to life unless he could deliver Morcar from captivity, or have his revenge by a plentiful effusion of Norman blood.2 For six months he solicited aid from the Scotch, the "Welsh, and the English. Meanwhile three brothers who were admitted to his fami- liarity, and were his principal attendants, betrayed him to the Normans, assassinating him, though he made a despe- rate defence at the head of twenty men-at-arms. The high tide, which rendered it necessary for Edwin to halt on the bank of a stream, aided the Normans in perpetrating this outrage, by cutting off his retreat. The report of Edwin's death, spread throughout the kingdom, was the cause of deep sorrow, not only to the English, but even to the Nor- mans and French, who lamented his loss like that of a friend
1 Ordericus has not related these circumstances quite correctly. King William did not shut up Morcar in the Isle of Ely, but the earl retired there, and took refuge with Hereward to escape the king's persecutions. We find that he was committed to the custody of Roger de Beaumont, who probably guarded him in one of his castlea of Beaumont, Brionne, or Pontaudemer. Morcar was restored to liberty by the Conqueror on his death- bed, but almost immediately afterwards sent back to prison by William Rufus.
8 It does not appear that Edwin was induced to become insurgent in consequence of his brother's arrest, but that, on the contrary, he was the first to -break with the Conqueror.
46 ORDEH1CTJS YITALIS. [B.IV. CH.TII.
or kinsman. This young nobleman was, as I have before said, born of pious parents, and lent himself to all good works as far as his multifarious engagements in difficult worldly affairs allowed. The graces of his person were so striking that he might be distinguished among thousands, and he was full of kindness for the clergy, the monks, and the poor. King William was moved to tears when he heard of the treason which had cut off the young earl of Mercia, and with a just severity sentenced to banishment the traitors who, to gain his favour, brought him the head of their master.
Thus far "William of Poitiers carries his history,1 which, imitating the style of Sallust, eloquently and acutely recounts the acts of King "William. This author was by birth a Norman, being a native of the town of Preaux,2 where his sister was abbess of a convent of nuns dedicated to St. Leger. He is called "William of Poitiers, because in that city he drank deeply at the fountain of learning. Returning into his own country, he became eminent as the most learned of all his neighbours and fellow students, and made himself useful to Hugh and Gislebert, bishops of Lisieux, in ecclesiastical affairs, as archdeacon of that diocese. He had served with courage in a military career before he took orders, fighting bravely for his earthly sovereign, so that he was the better able to describe with precision the scenes of war, from having himself been present and encountered their perils. As age came on he devoted himself to science and prayer, and was more capable of composing in prose or verse than of preaching. He frequently wrote clever and agreeable poems, adapted for recitation, submitting them without jealousy to the correction of his juniors. I have briefly followed, in many parts, his narrative of King Wil- liam and his adherents without copying all he has written, or attempting to imitate his elegant style. I come now, with God's help, to recount events which took place among
1 If the history of William de Poitiers extended as far as this period, as it is impossible to doubt after what our author here says, an important part of it has been lost, for in the state we now possess it, the narrative goes no further than the murder of Copsi.
7 Near Pont Audemer. There were two abbeys here; a convent of monks dedicate 1 to J- 1. Peter, and one of nuns to St. Leger. A sister of William de Poitiers, named Emma, was the first abbess of St. Leger.
A.D. 1071.] THE NORMAN LOEDS. 47
our neighbours in the times which succeeded, not allowing myself to doubt that, as I have freely made use of what my predecessors have published, so those who come after me and are yet unborn, will diligently investigate the history of the present age.
The two great earls of the Mercians having been got rid of, Edwin by death, and Morcar by strict confinement, King William distributed their vast domains in the richest districts of England among his adherents, raising the lowest of his Norman followers to wealth and power. He granted the Isle of "Wight and the county of Hereford to William Fitz-Osbern, high-steward of Normandy, giving him the charge, in conjunction with Walter de Lacy and other tried soldiers, of defending the frontier against the Welsh, who were breathing defiance. Their first expedition was a bold attack on the people of Brecknock, in which the Welsh princes, Rhys, Cadogan, and Meredith,1 with many others, were defeated. The king had already granted the city and county of Chester to Grherbod of Flanders, who had been greatly harassed by the hostilities both of the English and Welsh. Afterwards, being summoned by a message from his dependants in Flanders, to whom he had entrusted his hereditary domains, he obtained leave from the king to make a short visit to that country, but while there his evil fortune led him into a snare, and, falling into the hands of his enemies, and thrown into a dungeon, he had to endure the sufferings of a long captivity, cut off from all the blessings of life. In consequence, the king gave the earldom of Chester to Hugh d'Avranches, son of Richard surnamed Goz, who, in concert with Robert of Rhuddlan, and Robert of Malpas, and other fierce knights, made great slaughter among the Welsh. This Hugh was not merely liberal but prodigal ; not satisfied with being surrounded by his own retainers, he kept an army on foot. He set no bounds either to his generosity or his rapacity. He continually
1 Rhys-ap-Owen, Cadogan-ap-Blethyn, and Meredith-ap-Owen. Orde- ricus probably in his youth heard frequent mention of these Welsh chiefs and others he has named before. Shrewsbury, the seat of his father's patron, Roger, earl of Montgomery, was a frontier garrison, intended, like those of Chester and Malpas also mentioned, to curb the inroads of the tribes of North Wales.
48 ORDERICTTS VITALI3. [B.IV. CH.YII.
wasted even his own domains, and gave more encouragement to those who attended him in hawking and hunting, than to the cultivators of the soil, and the votaries of heaven. He indulged in gluttony to such a degree as to become so fat that he could scarcely walk. He abandoned himself immoderately to carnal pleasures, and had a numerous offspring of both sexes by his concubines, but they have almost all been carried off by one misfortune or another. He married Ermentrude, daughter of Hugh de Clermont, in the Beauvais, by whom he had Bichard, who succeeded him as his heir in the earldom of Chester, and when yet young and childless perished by shipwreck in company with William, son and heir apparent of Henry, king of England, and many of the nobility, on the seventh of the calends of November [26th October].1
King William gave first to Roger de Montgomery the castle of Arundel and the city of Chichester, and afterwards the earldom of Shrewsbury,2 which town is situated on a hill by the river Severn. This earl was wise, moderate, and a lover of justice ; and cherished the gentle society of intelligent and unassuming men. For a long time he had about him three well-informed clerks, Godebald, Odelirius,3 and Herbert, whose advice he followed with great advantage. He gave his niece Emerie and the command of Shrewsbury to Warin the Bald,4 a man of small stature but great courage, who bravely encountered the earl's enemies, and maintained tranquillity throughout the district entrusted to his government. Roger de Montgomery also gave commands in his earldom to William, surnamed Pantoul, Picot de Say, and Corbet,5 with his sons Roger and Robert, as well as other
1 Our author gives a full account, in the twelfth book of this history, of the shipwreck of the Blanche-Nef, in which the young Earl of Chester, and many others of the nobility, were lost on the 25th of November, 1119, off Barfleur, with two sons and a daughter and niece of King Henry I. See also Henry of Huntingdon's History, b. vii. p. 249, Dohn's edition.
8 Roger de Montgomery, earl of Shrewsbury in England, was count of Belesme and Alen9on in Normandy, through his wife, Mabel de Belesme.
s Odelirius was the father of Ordericus Vitalis.
4 Warin is probably the person mentioned in the fifth book as Guarinut Vicecomes.
4 William Pantoul was lord of Noron, near Falaise. See b. v. c. 16. Piqot de Say, a place in the neighbourhood of Armenian. He had twenty- nine manors in Shropshire, and a castle on the coast of Pembrokeshire, in
A.D. 1071 — 1080.] NOBMANS MADE ENGLISH EABLS. 49
brave and faithful knights, supported by whose "wisdom and courage he ranked high among the greatest nobles.
King William conferred the earldom of Northampton on Waltheof, son of Earl Siward,1 the most powerful of the English nobility, and, in order to cement a firm alliance with him, gave him in marriage his niece Judith,2 who bore him two beautiful daughters. The earldom of Buckingham was given to Walter Giffard,3 and Surrey to William de Warrenne, who married Gundred, Gherbod's sister. King William granted the earldom of Holdernesse to Eudes, of Champagne, nephew of Count Theobald, who married the king's sister, that is, Duke Robert's daughter;4 and the earldom of Norwich to Ralph de Guader, son-in-law of William Eitz-Osbern. To Hugh Grantmesnil he granted the town of Leicester, and distributed cities and counties among other lords, with great honours and domains. The castle of Tutbury, which Hugh d'Avranches before held, he granted to Henry, son of Walkelin de Ferrers,5 conferring on other foreigners who had attached themselves to his fortunes, such vast possessions that they had in England many vassals more rich and powerful than their own fathers ever were in Normandy.
What shall I say of Odo, bishop of Baieux, who was earl palatine, and generally dreaded by the English people, issuing his orders everywhere like a second king. He had the command over all the earls and barons of the realm,
South Wales. It appears by Domesday Book, that Roger Corbet held lands in Shropshire, where the family still flourishes.
1 King William did not confer on Waltheof the earldoms of Northamp- ton and Huntingdon, as he possessed them before the conquest, but only confirmed his right to them. His father, Siward, was earl of Northumbria, but counties or earldoms were not yet strictly hereditary, and Henry of Huntingdon informs us that on account of Waltheof's being of tender years at his father's death, the earldom of that powerful and turbulent province was conferred on Tosti, Earl Godwin's son. Siward himself, the stout earl immortalized by Shakespeare in, Macbeth, was of Danish or Norwegian extraction.
1 Judith was the daughter of William's half-sister Adelaide, countess d'Aumale.
* Walter Giffard, lord of Longueville, near Dieppe.
* Our author is mistaken here ; Adelaide was daughter of Herluin de Couteville, and not of Duke Robert.
5 In the county of Stafford, with seven lordships, and created him earl of Derby.
VOL. II. B
50 ORDEEICUS VITALIS. [B.IT. CH.TI1.
and with the treasures collected from ancient times, was in possession of Kent, the former kingdom of Ethelbert, son of Ermenric, Eadbald, Egbert, and his brother Lothaire, and where the first English kings were converted to the faith of Christ by the disciples of Pope Gregory, and obtained the crown of eternal life by their obedience to the divine law. The character of this prelate, if I am not deceived, was a compound of vices and virtues ; but he was more occupied with worldly affairs than in the exercise of spiritual graces. The monasteries of the saints make great complaints of the injuries they received at the hands of Odo, who, with violence and injustice, robbed them of the funds with which the English had piously endowed them in ancient times.1
Geoffrey, bishop of Coutances, of an ancient JsTorman family, who rendered essential services and support at the battle of Senlac, and was a commander of troops in other conflicts, in which natives and foreigners crushed each other, received for his share, by grant from King William, two hundred and eighty vills, which are commonly called manors, which, at his death, he left to his nephew De Mowbray, who speedily lost them by his rashness and mis- conduct.2
Likewise, Eustace de Boulogne, and Robert Morton, "William d'Evreux, Eobert d'Eu, Geoffrey, son of Rotrou de Mortagne, and other counts and lords, more than I can enumerate, received from King William great revenues and honours in England. Thus strangers were enriched with English wealth, while her sons were iniquitously slain, or driven into hopeless exile in foreign lands. It is stated that the king himself received daily one thousand and sixty pounds, thirty pence, and three farthings, Stirling money, from his regular revenues in England alone, independently of presents, fines for offences, and many other matters which constantly enrich a royal treasury. King William also caused
1 Lnnfranc, with great firmness, claimed before the inquest of the county •rended over by Geoffry, bishop of Coutances, certain estates of which
deprived the see of Canterbury, and obtained their restoration. Geoffry de Mowbray, a commune in the canton of Perci, was made bishop of Goutances m April, !048, and died the 2nd of February, 1093. t will he-eafter appear how his ncnhew lest the immense heritage bequeathed to him.
A.D. 1080 — 1086.] ECCLESIASTICAL ABUSES. 51
a careful survey to be taken of the whole kingdom, and an accurate record to be made of all the revenues as they stood in the time of King Edward.1 The land was distributed into knights' fees with such order that the realm of England should always possess a force of sixty thousand men, ready at any moment to obey the king's commands, as his occasions required.
CH. VIII. Tyranny of the conquerors — Abuses of ecclesias-
ical patronage — The English ejected to make way for
Normans — Story of Guitmond, afterwards bishop ofAversa.
POSSESSED of enormous wealth, gathered by others, the Normans gave the reigns to their pride and fury, and put to death without compunction the native inhabitants, who for their sins were subjected by divine Providence to the scourge. In them we find fulfilled the couplet of the Man- tuaii Maro : —
O mortals ! blind of fate, who never know To bear high fortune, or endure the low.*
Young women of high rank were subject to the insults of grooms, and mourned their dishonour by filthy ruffians. Matrons, distinguished by their birth and elegance, lamented in solitude ; and, bereaved of their husbands and deprived of the consolation of friends, preferred death to life. Ignorant upstarts, driven almost mad by their sudden elevation, won- dered how they arrived at such a pitch of power, and thought that they might do whatever they liked. Fools and perverse, not to reflect, with contrite hearts, that, not by their o\yi strength, but by the providence of God, who ordereth all things, they had conquered their enemies, and subjugated a nation greater, and richer, and more ancient than their own ; illustrious for its saints, and wise men, and powerful kings, who had earned a noble reputation by their deeds, both in war and peace ! They ought to have recollected with fear, and
1 This famous record is called The Domesday Book, and sometimes Rotulus, or Liber Wintnnia, it having been kept in the treasury at Win- chester. The survey was begun in 1080, and completed in 1086. 2 Nescia mens hominum fati, sortisque future, Et servare modum, rebus sublata secundis !
Virg. JEn. X. 501. E 2
52 ORDEBICTJS VITA.LIS. [B. IV. CH.VIII.
deeply inscribed in their hearts, the word which says : " With the same measure that ye mete, it shall be measured to you again." l
Some churchmen, who, to all appearance, were wise and religious, constantly followed the court, and became abject flatterers, to the no small disgrace of their Christian pro- fession, that they might obtain the dignities they coveted. As the hire for their services is demanded of princes by newly enlisted soldiers, so some of the laity repaid the clergy for paying them court by gifts of bishoprics and abbeys, wardenships, archdeaconries, deaneries, and other offices of power and dignity, which ought to be conferred for the merits of holiness and learning. The clergy and monks now attached themselves to an earthly prince to obtain such rewards, and, for their worldly advantage, lent themselves without decency to a service which was incom- patible with their spiritual duties. The old abbots were terrified by the threats of secular power, and, unjustly driven from their seats without the sentence of a synod, to make way for hirelings, who, more tyrants than monks, were intruded in their places. Then such traffic and agreements took place between prelates of this class and the flocks com- mitted to their charge, as may be supposed between wolves and sheep having no protector. This may be easily proved by what happened in the case of Turstin, of Caen, and the convent of Glastonbury.2 This shameless abbot, attempting to compel the monks of Glastonbury to disuse the chant which had been introduced into England by the disciples 01 the blessed Pope Gregory, and to adopt the chant of the Flemings or Normans, which they had never learned or heard before, a violent tumult arose, which ended in disgrace to the holy order. For when the monks refused new fashions, and their haughty superior persisted in his obstinacy, all of a sudden, laymen, armed with spears, came to their master's aid, and surrounding the monks severely beat some of them, and, as report says, mortally wounded them. I could relate many such instances, if they would edify the reader's mind ; but such subjects are by no means
1 Luke vi. 38.
1 Turetin was intruded on the monks of Glastonbury in 1081. The tumulu here described broke out in 1083.
A.D. 1070.] THE MONK GT7ITMOIO). 53
agreeable, and, therefore, without dwelling on them, I gladly employ my peii on other matters.
Guitmond was a venerable monk of the monastery called La Croix d'Helton, where we read that Leudfred, the glorious confessor of Christ, happily served the Lord forty-eight years in the reigns of Childebert and Chilperic.1 Guitmond crossed the sea on a royal summons, and was offered by the king and great men of the realm a high ecclesiastical office, but he positively refused to undertake the charge. He was in the prime of years, devout and deeply learned ; having left to the world a remarkable proof of his genius in the book he wrote against Berenjrer, On the Body and Blood of our Lord,3 as well as in his other works. When the king entreated him to remain in England until he should have an opportunity of suitably promoting him, Guitmond took time to consider the matter carefully, and pointed out how much his own views differed from the proposal which had been made, in a long letter replying to the king to the following effect : —
" I am averse to undertaking any ecclesiastic^ function for many reasons, which I am not willing, nor would it become me, fully to detail. In the first place, when I consider well the infirmities, both bodily and mental, which I continually suffer, I painfully feel my inability to undergo the scrutiny of the divine Judge, for even now I lament that in my daily struggles to keep the path of life I am in continual danger of erring from the truth. But if I cannot safely rule my- self, how shall I be able to direct the course of others in the way to salvation ? Besides, after carefully considering all circumstances, I do not see by what means I can fitly undertake the government of a community whose foreign manners and barbarous language are strange to me ; a wretched people, whose fathers and near relations and friends have either fallen by your sword, or have been disin- herited by you, driven into exile, imprisoned, or subjected to an unjust and intolerable slavery. Search the scriptures
1 La Croix St. Leufroi, between Evreux and Gaillon, in the diocese of Evreux. St. Leufroi died about the year 738, in this monastery which he founded, after governing it forty-eight years.
4 Guitmundi episcopi Aversani, de corporis et sanguinis veritate in Eucharistia. This work was written in the year 1075.
54 ORDEBICTJS YITALIS. [B.IT. CU.TIIT.
and see if there be any law by which a pastor chosen by enemies can be intruded by violence on the Lord's flock. Every ecclesiastical election ought to be purely made in the first instance by the society of the faithful who are to be governed, and then confirmed by assent of the fathers of the church and their friends, if it be canonical ; if not, it should be rectified in a spirit of charity. How can that which you have wrung from the people by war and bloodshed be innocently conferred on myself and others who despise the world and have voluntarily stripped ourselves of our own substance for Christ sake ? It is the general rule of all who take religious vows to have no part in robbery, and, for the maintenance of justice, to reject offerings which are the fruits of pillage. For the scripture saith : ' The sacrifice of injustice is a polluted offering ;' and a little afterwards: ' Whoso offereth a sacrifice of the substance of the poor is like one that slayeth a son in his father's sight.'1 Reflecting on these and other precepts of the divine law, I cannot but tremble. I look upon England as altogether one vast heap of booty, and I am afraid to touch it and its treasures as if it were a burning fire. As God commands every man to love his neighbour as himself, I will tell you sincerely what I learn from divine inspiration : what I think profitable for myself is also for your good. Let not that which is spoken in friendship be considered offensive ; but do you, brave prince, and your fellow soldiers, who have encountered with you the greatest perils, receive with kindness the expression of my advice. Reflect every day of your lives on the operations of the Lord, and in all your undertakings have his judgments, which are incomprehensible, before your eyes, BO weighing your course of life in the scales of justice accord- ing to the will of God, that the righteous Judge, who orders all things rightly, may be merciful to you in the day of doom. Let not flatterers betray you into a deceitful secu- rity, and from the success which has attended you in the present life lull you into the death-sleep of worldly prospe- rity. Vaunt not yourself that the English have been conquered by your arms, but gird yourself carefully for that more difficult and dangerous combat with your spiritual enemies which still remains and is to be fought daily. The 1 Ecclus. xxxiv. 21 and 24.
A.D. 1070.] GUITMOXD'S LETTER TO WILLIAM i. 55
revolutions of earthly kingdoms are exhibited in the pages of scripture in which the knowledge of past events is divinely furnished. The Babylonians, under their king Nebuchodnosor, subdued Judea, Egypt, and many other countries, but seventy years afterwards they were themselves conquered aud subjugated by the Medes and Persians under Darius and his grandson Cyrus. Two hundred and thirty years afterwards, the Macedemonians, under the command of Alexander the Great, defeated Darius the king of Persia and his innumerable hosts ; and many years afterwards, when the .Romans sent forth their legions into every quarter of the globe, the Parthians were utterly subdued under their king Perseus. The Greeks, led by Agamemnon and the son of Palamede, laid siege to Troy, and having slain the king Priamus, son of Laomedon, and his sons Hector and Troilus, Paris, Deiphobus and Amphimacus, after a ten years' siege, destroyed with fire and sword the famous kingdom of Phrygia. A remnant of the Trojans, with Eneas for their chief, established themselves in Italy ; another band, under the command of Antenor, after a long and difficult journey, reached Denmark, and made a settlement there which their posterity inhabit to the present time. The kingdom of Je- rusalem, enriched by David and his powerful successors with the spoils of other nations and aggrandized by their conquest of the surrounding barbarous tribes, was overturned by the Romans in the reigns of Vespasian and Titus, and the stately temple of the Jews destroyed one thousand and eighty-nine years after its foundation, eleven hundred thousand Jews perishing by the sword or famine. The Franks formed an alliance with the Gauls in the time of their duke Sunno, and having resolutely shaken off the Roman yoke began to lord over them. It is now almost six hundred years since the Anglo-Saxons, under their chiefs Hengist and Horsa, wrested by force or fraud the government of Britain from the natives now called Welsh. The Guinili, driven by chance from the Scandinavian island invaded that part of Italy now called Lombardy in the reign of Alboin, son of Audo, and, long resisting the Romans, have held possession of It to the pre- sent day. All these great men whom I have described, as elated by victory, not long afterwards miserably perished, and together with their victims are subject to endless tor-
56 OKDEBICUS TITALIS. [B.IV. CH.VIII.
tures, under which they groan in the noisome caverns of hell. The Normans, under their chief Rollo, wrested Neustria from Charles the Simple, and have now held it for one hundred and ninety years,1 against all the efforts of the French, not- withstanding their frequent attacks. Need I speak of the Gepidi and the Vandals, the Goths and the Turks, the Huns and the Heruli, and other barbarous nations ? Their whole business is to ravage and rob, and to tread under foot • every vestige of peace. They lay waste the soil, burn houses, disturb the world, scatter the means of subsistence, butcher the population, spread every where barbarism and confusion. Such signs as these are omens of the end of the world, as we are plainly told in the word of truth : ' Nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom ; and there shall be great earthquakes in divers places, and famines and pestilences : and fearful sights and great signs shall there be from heaven.'4
So sinks the reeling world with woes oppressed.
"Reflecting thoughtfully on these and such like revolutions in human affairs, let not the conqueror glory in the ruin of his rivals ; for he himself shall hold his footing no longer than his Maker wills. I will now, 0 king, apply what I have said to your own case, beseeching you to listen to me Avith patience for youi soul's sake. Before you, no one of your race obtained the kingly dignity ; that high honour did not accrue to you by inheritance, but by the free gift of Almighty God, and the kind preference of your kinsman King Edward. Edgar Atheling and many other scions of the royal stock, are, according to the laws of the Hebrews and other nations, nearer in degree than yourself as heirs to the crown of England. They have been set aside by the lot which has led to your advancement: but the more mysterious is God's providence, the more terrible is the account you will have to give of the stewardship committed to you. I submit these considerations to your highness
i Without its being necessary to follow the venerable monk through all his historical disquisitions, it may be proper to remark that this calculation would carry back the grant of territory made by Charles the Simple to Hollo nnd his followers to the vear 880
» Lukexxl 11, 1-2.
A.D. 1077.] GUITMO2TD GOES TO EOME. 57
with the fullest good wishes, humbly beseeching you to be ever mindful of what must come at last, and not to be wholly engrossed with present prosperity, which is too often followed by intolerable suffering, wailing, and gnashing of teeth. And now I commit you, your friends and followers, to the grace of God, intending, with your permission, to return to Normandy, and leave the rich spoils of England to the lovers of this world, as dross and dung. I truly pre- fer, for my part, that poverty for the love of Christ which was the choice of Anthony and Benedict, above all the riches of the world which were the coveted portion of Cro3sus and Sardanapalus, and when they afterwards miserably perished, became the spoils of their enemies. Christ, the good shepherd, has uttered the warning : ' "Woe to the rich of this world,' who enjoy here vain and super- fluous luxuries, while he promised the blessings of the world to come to the poor in spirit ; which may He vouchsafe to grant us, who liveth and reigneth through all ages. Amen." The king, who with his great lords admired the firmness of the venerable monk, treated him with deference, and taking leave of him with marked respect, commanded him, with fitting honours, to return to Normandy, and there wait his own presence where he pleased. When G-uitmond re- turned to the enclosure of his own monastery, it was noised abroad that he had preferred monastic poverty to episcopal wealth, and further, that he had in the presence of the king and his nobles stigmatized the conquest of England with the character of robbery, and accused of rapacity all the bishops and abbots who had obtained preferment in England against the feeling of the natives. These allegations of his becoming known throughout the kingdom, and causing much discussion, were very distasteful to numerous persons who being little disposed to follow his example, were extremely exasperated by what he had said. Not long afterwards, on the death of John, archbishop of Rouen, the king and others selected G-uitmond for his successor ; but his enemies, the men he had so severely rebuked, did all in their power to hinder his preferment. They found nothing, however, to object to, in a man of his worth, but that he was the son of a priest. Upon this, Guitmond, wishing to be clear of all suspicion of covetousness, and preferring to suffer poverty in
58 OEDEBTCUS TITALIS. > [B.IV. CH. VIII.
a foreign country, rather than foment disturbances in his own, applied respectfully to Odilo, the abbot of his monastery, and humbly petitioned for permission to travel abroad, which was granted. This illiterate abbot little knew what treasures of wisdom were concealed under the humble exterior of the learned monk, and so he made no difficulty in parting with a philosopher of inestimable worth, who was received with joy by Pope Gregory VII. on his arrival at Home, and made a cardinal of the holy Roman church, and by Pope Urban, after experience of his abilities, solemnly consecrated metro- politan of Aversa.2 That city, built in the time of Leo IX., Dy the Normans when they first settled in Apulia was called Adversa by the Romans, because it was founded by their adversaries. Abounding in wealth, powerful from the warlike character of its Cisalpine inhabitants,3 formidable to its enemies, and respected by its faithful subjects and allies, that city, by the determination of the Normans, was immediately dependent in ecclesiastical affairs on the pope himself, from whom it received the philosopher Gruitmond, honoured with the mystical decoration of the pallium, as its bishop. This prelate long governed the church entrusted to his care, enjoying the apostolical privileges of his see free from all the exactions of men. Having diligently taught his flock, and given them the protection of his merits and
E ravers, after many struggles in the exercise of his virtues e departed in the Lord.*
1 It could not be the result of this affair which induced Guitmond to leave Normandy, for he went to Italy in 1077, and John d'Avranches did not die till 1079. It may even be doubted whether William proposed »<> prefer him to the archbishopric of Rouen two years after he had entirely renounced his country to attach himself altogether to the court of Rome. He went so far as even to change his name, and adopt that of Christian or Cristin.
3 Guitmond was not made a cardinal. The see of Aversa was not an archbishopric, but immediately dependent on the holy see. The city was rebuilt by the Normans, on the site of the ancient Atella, not in the pope- dom of Leo IX., 1048 — 1054, but about the year 1030. Ranulph, one of their leaders, was invested with the title of Count d'Aversa by the emperor Conrad in 1038.
1 Our author means the Normans, as coming from this side of the Alps.
* The precise date of Guitmond's death is unknown. Like his patron, Pope Urban If., he probably died about the end of the eleventh century. For his life and writings, see L'Histoire Littfraire de la France, t. viii.
A.D. 1067 — 1093.] DEATH OF WILLIAM FITZ-OSBEBN. 59
CH. IX. Affairs of Flanders — William Fitz-Osbern killed in battle there — King William crosses over to Nor- mandy.
IN the fifth year of his reign King William sent "William Fitz-Osbern to Normandy to assist Queen Matilda in the defence of the duchy. At that time there was great con- tention in Flanders between the heirs to that province. Baldwin, son-in-law of Eobert king of France, and count of Flanders, of distinguished bravery had by his wife Adela several sons and daughters of great merit. Robert, the Frisian, Arnold, Baldwin, Odo, archbishop of Treves, Henry the clerk, Queen Matilda, and Judith, wife of Earl Tostig, were all children of Baldwin and Adela.1 Their characters and the various occurrences of their lives, would furnish histo- rians with matter for extended works. Robert the eldest, having offended his father, and being banished by him, sought the court of Florence, duke of Frisia, his father's enemy, and, in reward for his services, received his daughter's hand in marriage ; at this the duke of Flanders was much incensed and in his anger gave his son Robert the name of the Frisian, and, proclaiming him an outlaw, appointed his second son Arnold his heir. A short time afterwards, Duke Baldwin died, and Arnold held Flanders for a short time. But Robert the Frisian invaded it vigo- rously with a large body of Frisian and other troops. Philip king of France, who was their kinsman, came to the aid of Arnold, with a French army, summoning Earl William [Fitz-Osbern] to attend him as governor of Normandy. But Earl William joined the king with only ten men-at- arms, and rode with him gaily to Flanders, as if he was only going to a tournament. Meanwhile, Robert the Frisian, had united his forces with those of the emperor, and on Sep- tuagesima Sunday, the tenth of the calends of March [20th of February], attacked the enemy by surprise early in the morning, and Philip, king of France, and his army flying, Arnold, and his nephew Baldwin, and Earl William were slain.2 Robert afterwards held the dukedom of Flanders
1 Baldwin V. had only four children ; Arnold was his grandson, son of Baldwin VI., who succeeded his father, Baldwin V., September 1, 1067.
2 This battle was fought at Bavinchove, near Cassel, the 20th of Feb.
60 OHDEEICUS TITALIS. [B.IV. C II. VIII.
for many years, and at his death left it to his sons Eobert of Jerusalem and Philip.1 The body of Earl William was carried to Normandy by his men-at-arms, and interred amid much sorrow in the abbey of Cormeilles. He had founded two abbeys on his patrimonial estates in honour of St. Mary, Mother of God ; one at Lire, on the river Bille, where Adeliza his wife was buried, and the other at Cormeilles where, as I have just mentioned, he was himself interred.3 This baron, the bravest of all the Normans, was deeply lamented by all who knew his generosity, his good humour, and general virtues. King AVilliam thus distributed his inheritance among his sons. William the eldest son had Breteuil, Pacy, and the rest of his patrimonial estates in Normandy which he possessed during all his life, nearly thirty years. Roger, the younger brother, had the earldom of Hereford and his father's other possessions in England ; but he shortly afterwards lost all by his perfidy and folly, as will appear in the sequel.
Though Matilda's government was powerful and her resources vast, she was plunged into the deepest affliction by the death of her father, her mother's bereavement, the cruelty of one brother, which caused the loss of another, as well as of her beloved nephew, and a number of her friends. It is thus that the Almighty God punishes the inhabitants of the earth when they forget him, casts down the proud, and makes it plain that he is the Ruler of the universe. Robert the Frisian now subjugated the whole of Flanders, and held possession of it for almost thirty years,8 securing with ease the alliance of Philip king of France. Those two princes were cousins by descent, and both married daughters of Florence, marquis of Frisia;1 and their sons are to the
1 07 1 . The person described by our author as nephew of Robert the Frisian, was Baldwin, count d'Hainault, Arnold's eldest brother, but he did not fall in the battle, living till the first crusade, which he joined.
1 Robert the Frisian died suddenly in October, 1093, leaving, as our author states, two sons, and also three daughters ; but the sons did not possess his states jointly or successively, the share of Philip being only the buiyravate of Ypres.
1 Concerning these two abbeys, see before, vol. i. p. 384. Adeliza, wife of William Fitz-Osbern, was daughter of Roger de Toni.
3 Only twenty-one years.
* These two princes were not brothers-in-law ; Philip married Bertha,,
A.D. 1072.] KI>TG WILLIAM VISITS NOBMA.NDT. 61
present day united in the same bonds of amity. But a new cause of dissension between the Normans and Flemings sprung out of the death of the queen's brother and other relations, and especially that of Earl William [Fitz-Osbern]. Affairs in Normandy becoming thus disturbed, the king put his English dominions into a good condition, and then hastened over to Normandy that he might order things there to the best advantage. The king's arrival being known, the hearts of the peaceable were gladdened, but the promoters of discord, and those stained with crimes, whose consciences reproached them, trembled at the approach of an avenging power. The king assembled the leading men of Normandy and Maine, and in a royal speech recommended them all to maintain peace and do justice. The bishops and churchmen he exhorted to lead good lives, continually to study Grod's law, to consult together for the welfare of the church, to correct the morals of their flocks according to the canonical decrees, and in all things to govern with prudence.
CH. X. A synod held at Souen under John the archbishop — Acts of the synod.
IN the year of our Lord 1072 a synod assembled in the city of Eouen, the metropolitan see, in the church of the blessed St. Mary, ever virgin, mother of God. John, archbishop of that see, presided, and following in the steps of the fathers, consulted on various points regarding the necessities of the church with his suffragans, Odo, bishop of Bayeux, Hugh of Lisieux, Robert of Seez, Michael of Avranches, and Gisle- bert of Evreux.1 The doctrine of the church on the holy and undivided Trinity was first taken into consideration, which they affirmed, ratified, and made profession of their belief with their whole hearts according to the decrees of the sacred councils of Nice, Constantinople, the first of Ephesus, and Chalcedon. After this profession of the
daughter of Florence, count of Holland, and Robert the Frisian, Gertrude of Saxony, the count's widow, who was Philip's mother-in-law.
1 The account of this synod given by Ordericus Vitalis is the only record we have of it.
62 ORDERICTTS TITALIS. [B.IT. CH.X.
Catholic faith, the following articles were added as they are hereunder written.
First. It is ordered by us, that according to the decrees of the fathers, the chrism, and the oil for baptism and the holy unction, be consecrated at a convenient hour, that is, after the second nones, as the aforesaid fathers decreed. The bishop should take care that twelve priests, or as many as he has with him, assist at the consecration in their sacerdotal vestments.
Item. In some dioceses an odious practice has grown up for the archdeacons, in the absence of the bishop, to obtain from some other bishop small portions of oil and chrism, and to mix them with oil of their own ; which custom is condemned, and every archdeacon is to present the whole of his chrism and oil to the consecrating bishop, the same as if it was his own diocesan.
Item. The distribution of the chrism and oil shall be made by the deans with the greatest care and reverence, so that they wear albs while the distribution takes place, and it be so ma'de in such vessels, that no portion be lost by care- lessness.
Item. It is ordered, that no priest shall celebrate mass without also communicating.
Item. No priest shall baptize a child unless he wear his alb and stole, but upon urgent necessity.
Item. There are some priests who reserve the viaticum and holy water beyond the eighth day, which is condemned. Others, when they have no consecrated host, make a fresh consecration, which is severely forbidden.
Item. It is ordered, that the gifts of the Holy Spirit shall not be conferred without both givers and receivers having fasted, nor the confirmation be made without fire [candles ?]. This is enjoined, that in conferring holy orders we may not violate apostolical authority. For we read in the decrees of Pope Leo, that holy orders shall not be given indiscrimi- nately every day, but after Saturday in the beginning of the succeeding night, the holy benediction be given, both those who give and those who receive it being then fasting. The same rule will be observed when the office is performed on the morning of the Lord's day, the fast having been pro-
A.D. 1072.] ACTS OP THE SYNOD OF BOUEJT. 63
longed. This portion of time is a prolongation of the commencement of the night preceding, and it is not to be doubted that it belongs to the day of the resurrection as is also declared in our Lord's passion.
Item. The observance of the four seasons, according to the divine institution, is to be kept among us with general accord at the proper periods ; viz., the first week in March, the second in June, the third in September, and the same in December, ux honour of the nativity of our Lord. It would be unseemly that an institution of the saints should be nullified by worldly cares and occupations.
Item. Clerks, who, without election, vocation, or the intervention of a bishop, intrude themselves into sacred orders ; those who have been ordained [priests] by the bishop, supposing them to be already deacons ; and those who are ordained priests and deacons, without having had the minor orders ; all these ought to be deposed.
Item. Those who have received the tonsure, and afterwards relinquished it, shall be excommunicated until such time as they make due amends. Clerks offering themselves for ordination are to present themselves at the bishop's residence on the fifth day [Thursday].
Item. Monks and nuns, who, quitting their convents, wander about from place to place, and those who have been expelled for their offences, ought to be compelled by pastoral authority to return to their convents. If the abbots shall refuse to re-admit those who have been expelled, let them be supplied with food as alms, or which they may earn by the labour of their hands, until it be ascertained that they have amended their lives.
Item. Forasmuch as the cure of souls is trafficked in by buying and selling, both by the clergy and laity, and even by monks, such practices are strictly forbidden.
Marriages are not to be solemnized in private, nor after dinner ; but the bride and bridegroom shall receive the nuptial benediction fasting, from a priest who is also fasting, at the manse.1 And, before they are united, their family shall be inquired into ; and if there be found to be any con-
1 " In monasteries." The French editor of Ordericus remarks that the term, in writers of the middle ages, often means the parish church. See the observations, vol. i. p. 396.
64 OBDERICUS TITALIS. [B.IV. CH.X.
sanguinity within the seventh generation, or if either of the parties has been divorced, they must not be married. Any priest who breaks this rule shall be deposed.
Concerning priests, deacons, and subdeacons, who have taken women to live with them, the decree of the synod of Lisieux shall be observed ; that they are not to have the care of churches, neither of themselves, or by their vicars, and shall receive no part of the revenues. Archdeacons, who eught to enforce discipline, may not be allowed to have con- cubines, or handmaids, or any women smuggled in; but should set an example of continence and holiness to their subordinates. Those should be chosen deans who know how to reprove and correct the inferior clergy, whose life is irreproachable, and who merit the preferment more than others.1
Item. It is forbidden any one who, in the lifetime of his wife, has been charged with adultery, after her death to marry the woman with respect to whom he was accused. For great mischief has ensued from this practice ; and men have even murdered their wives.
Item. No one whose wife has taken the veil, shall marry again while she is living.
Item. If the wife of any man who has gone in pilgrimage or elsewhere, shall marry another before she has received certain intelligence of his death, she shall be excom- municated until she has made due satisfaction.
Item. It is decreed that those who fall publicly into mortal sins shall not be very soon reinstated in holy orders. For, as St. Gregory says, if the lapsed obtain license to return to their order, the influence of canonical discipline is undoubt- edly weakened, as the hope of being restored diminishes the tear of encouraging the inclination to evil conduct. It should,
1 This canon caused a tumult, in which the archbishop barely escaped with his life. The controversy about married priests caused great dis- turbances throughout Europe. A similar decree was made by a synod held at London in 1102. See Huntingdon's History, p. 241, 252. No distinction was drawn between wives and concubines ; indeed the words of this canon seem studiously to ignore the legal existence of the former — " qui feminat us ur paver int." The term uxores is used by the synod of London, but that is understood to apply both to wives and con- cubines. The synod of Lisieux here mentioned was held in 1055. It deposed Archbishop Mauger. Its acts are lost.
A.D. 1072.] ACTS OF THE SYNOD OF KOUEN. 65
therefore, be an established rule, that those who fall into open sin, should on no account be restored to their former rank, but under special circumstances, and after making amends by a long penance.
Item. If any clerk who has lapsed, is liable to be deposed, and a sufficient number of bishops, according to the canons, cannot be assembled for that purpose, viz. six, in the case of priests, and three, in that of deacons, any bishop who cannot attend may substitute bis vicar-general with equal authority.
Item. It is decreed, that during Lent, no one shall dine till the hour of nones is passed, and vespers begin. No one who eats before shall be considered as fasting.
Item. It is decreed, that, on the Saturday of Easter, the office shall not commence before nones. For it has regard to the night of our Lord's resurrection, in honour of which the Gloria in Excelsis and Alleluia is sung. It is also marked by the benediction of the candle at the beginning of the office. The book of Offices 1 says that, on these two days, the eucharist is not celebrated. By the two days are meant the sixth day [Friday] and Saturday, on which the grief and mourning of the apostles are commemorated.
Item. If the feast of any saint occurs on a day on which it cannot be kept, it shall be celebrated not before but within the octave.
Item. According to the decrees of the holy fathers, Popes Innocent and Leo, we order that general baptism shall only be administered on the Saturday of Easter and Whitsuntide ; with this provision, that the washing of regeneration shall not be denied to infants, at whatever time, or on whatever day it is required. However, we entirely forbid the adminis- tration of baptism on the eve or the feast of the Epiphany, unless in case of sickness.
The decrees of this synod were subscribed by John, arch- bishop of Rouen, Odo, bishop of Bayeux, Michael, bishop of Avrauches, Gislebert, bishop of Evreux, and some venerable abbots, who were at that time the honour of the monasteries of Normandy, and maintained the monastic discipline.
1 This work, composed by Archbishop John while he was bishop of Avrauches, was published at Rouen in 1G79.
VOL. ii. v
GO OBDEBICUS TITALTS. [u.IV. CH.XI.
CH. XI. Notices of eminent men in the alleys of Normandy in the author's age— particularly in the alley of Sec.
I THINK it well to transmit to posterity an account of the holy fathers who wisely governed the abbeys of Normandy, in the time of King William, and whose study it was worthily to serve the eternal King, who reigns unchangeably. Their disciples, I think, have already committed to writing many of their memoirs for the information of future times, but there are some whom it is pleasant to me, as well as to my superiors, at least to name in these pages, for the particular regard I bear them, and not for any worldly advantage, but simply from my love of learning, and the piety with which they were divinely inspired.
The abbey of Fecamp, which stands in sight of the sea, and is dedicated to the holy and undivided Trinity, Creator of all things, was nobly founded by Richard I., duke of Normandy, and afterwards richly endowed with lands and possessions by Eichard II. After William of Dijon, a man of great wisdom and zealous for religion, the venerable abbot John governed this monastery fifty-one years. Next, it was held for almost twenty-seven years by William de Eos, a clerk of Bayeux and monk of Caen.1 Like the mystical spikenard, he was an odour of sweet smelling in the house of the Lord by his charity, munificence, and many virtues. The works he diligently performed either before the world, or in secret before few witnesses, bore witness to the spirit which dwelt within him, and entirely possessing him, con- ducted him to his crown before the throne of the Lord of Sabaoth.
The monk Gontard was removed from the abbey of Fontenelles2 by the election of prudent men. and appointed ruler of the abbey of Jumieges, after the death of Abbot Robert. He diligently spread the food of spiritual wisdom before the flock committed to his charge, and sustained with vigour the strictness of monastic discipline. He cherished
1 William de Dijon, 1001—1028 ; John, a native of the neighbourhood >f Ravenna, 1028-1-V-bruary 22, 1079; William de Ros, 1079-March '-(>, I 108.
2 This abbey, afterwards known by the name of St. Wandrille, its patron saint.
A.D. 1079 — 1093.] AXSELiI ABBOT OF BEC. G7
and honoured the gentle and submissive, as a father treats his children, but applied the rod of correction to the repro- bate and contumacious and despisers of discipline, like a severe master. At length, having accompanied his col- leagues, the bishops of Normandy, to the council of Cler- mont held by Pope Urban, A.D. 1095, the third iudiction, Father G-ontard, by God's will, died there on the sixth of the calends of December [November 26], He was suc- ceeded by Tancard,1 prior of Fecamp, who proved to be tierce as a lion^,
On the death of Herluin, who was the founder and first abbot of the monastery of Bee,2 and being endowed with spiritual graces in his lifetime, contributed much to the profit of the children of the church, he was succeeded by the venerable Anselm, a man of deep erudition, who, by God's grace, filled the abbey much to its renown, with devout and learned brethren. As the number of the servants of God increased, their means of subsistence did not fail, but there was abundant provision for the honour- able entertainment of the noble friends and attached brothers who nocked to the abbey from all quarters. Learned men of eminence, both clergy and laity, resorted to hear the sweet words of truth which flowed from his mouth, pleasing to the seekers of righteousness as angels' dis- courses. , Anselm, who was a native of Italy, had followed Lanfranc to Bee, and as the Israelites carried off the gold and wealth of the Egyptians, so he entered with joy the land of promise with a full lading of the worldly erudition of the philosophers. Becoming a monk, he gave himself up to the study of theology, and poured forth abundantly the honeyed streams of wisdom from the rich fountain of wisdom. He skilfully cleared up the difficulties of the obscure passages of scripture, threw light upon them by his discourses and writings, and expounded with soundness the mysterious predictions of the prophets. All his words were valuable, and edified his attached hearers. His attentive pupils committed to writing his letters and typical dis- courses ; so that, being deeply imbued with them, they
1 Gontard, abbot of Jumieges, about 1078 — November 26, 1095, the day on \vhich the council closed; Tancard, 1096— about 1101. - 1034— August 26, 1078.
r 2
68 onDEBicrs TITALIS. [B.IT. CH.XI.
profited others as well as themselves, to no small degree. His successors, "William and Boso, were deeply penetrated with this spirit, and having drawn deeply at the source of so much wisdom, were able to distribute large draughts of the pure stream to their thirsting disciples. Anseltn was courteous and affable, replying with kindness to all who questioned him in simplicity. At the instance of his friends he published books, keenly and profoundly written, on the Trinity, on Truth, Freewill, the Fall of Satan, and the question, Why God was made Man ? His disciples spread the report of his talents through all the Latin world, and the western church was filled to inebriation with the nectar of his exalted character. The vast deposit of learning and theology at the abbey of Bee, begun by Lanfranc, was nobly added to by Anselm,1 and thence proceeded a succession of enlightened teachers, careful pilots and spiritual cha- rioteers,2 to whom were confided the helm and the reins by which the church is divinely guided in the concerns of the present world. The monks of Bee are thus become so devoted to literary pursuits, and so exercised in raising and solving difficult questions of divinity, and in profitable dis- cussions, that they seem to be almost all philosophers ; and those among them who appear to be illiterate, and might be called clowns, derive from their intercourse with the rest the advantages of becoming fluent grammarians. Delight- ing in God's worship with mutual good-will and sweet affection, and taught by true wisdom, they are unwearied in the offices of devotion. The hospitality of the monks of Bee I cannot sufficiently praise. Ask the Burgundians and Spaniards, and their other visitors from far and near, and their replies will tell truly with what kindness they are entertained; and they will doubtless strive to imitate it under similar circumstances. The gate of the abbey of Bee stands for ever open to every traveller, and their bread is never refused to any one who asks it for charity's sake.
? St. Anselm, abbot of Bee, 1079— March (?, 1093, was a native of Aosta in Piedmont. For his works, consult the Hixloire JMteraire de la France, t. ix. William de Montfort ; his successor, August 2, 1094— April 16, 1124; Boson, 1124— June 24, 1136.
1 Providi nauta et tpiritnales a^rigec ; the latter phrase sounds strangely in the French translation, " des cochers spirituels."
A.D. 1063 — 1092.] ABBOTS OF FONTENELLES, ETC. 69
What more can I say of the merits of the monks of Bee ? * May He who graciously began and carries on the good works which so eminently distinguishes them, keep them stedfast in the right way, and conduct them safe to the haven of salvation !
Gerbert de Fontenelles, Ainard of Dives, and Durand of Troarn,2 three illustrious abbots, shone brilliantly in the temple of the Lord like bright stars in the firmament of heaven. They were no less distinguished by their piety and charity, than by numerous accomplishments, among which they were remarkably eminent for the zeal with which they studied sacred psalmody in the house of God. Standing in the first rank among the masters of music who have applied their art to sweet modulation, they composed some charming chants for antiphons and responses. The King supreme, who is lauded by angels and archangels, and all the company of heaven ; Mary, the immaculate virgin who bore the Saviour of the world ; angels, apostles, and martyrs ; confessors and virgins ; these were the themes which drew from them mellifluous streams of heart-felt praise ; and with these they carefully instructed the youth- ful choristers of the church to sing praises to the Lord with Asaph and Eman, Elthan and Idithun, and the sons of Corah.
Nicholas, son of Eichard III., duke of Normandy, after being from his boyhood a monk of Fecamp, governed for nearly sixty years the abbey of St. Peter, prince of the apostles, in the suburbs of Rouen. He began building a church, remarkable for its size and elegance, in which reposes the body of St. Ouen, archbishop of that city,
1 The abbey of Bee long continued to be a distinguished school of learning, and the resort of men of letters and eminence. It gave another archbishop to Canterbury in 1 1 39, in the person of Theobald, who w.is abbot of Bee. Henry of Huntingdon, the English historian, accompanying that prelate to Rome, soon after his appointment, they rested at Bee on their journey, and there Huntingdon tells us, in his " Letter to Warin," he met the celebrated monk Robert de Torigny, otherwise called Del Monte, a great antiquarian, who showed him the work of Geoffrey of Monmouth recently published, from which Huntingdon extracted his abridged account of the ancient British kings.
a Gerbert, abbot of St. Wandrille, 1055— September 4, 1089; Ainard, abbot of Notre-Dame de St. Pierre sur-Dive, 1046 — January 14, 1078; Durand, abbot ol'Troarn, May 13, 1059— February 11, 1088.
70 ORDEEICUS YITALIS. . [B.IT. C1I.XII.
•with many other relics of saints.1 There were also in Nor- mandy at that time many other superiors of monks, whose numerous virtues I am compelled to omit, least I should weary the reader by too great prolixity.
CH. XII. Popes Alexander II. and Gregory VII. (Hilde- brand) — Singular nomination of Hoel to the see of Mans.
IK the year of our Lord 1073 (the eleventh indiction), Pope Alexander II. departed this life, after filling the Eoman and apostolical see eleven years ; and Gregory VII., whose baptis- mal name was Hildebrand, succeeding him, sat in the chair of St. Peter seventeen years.2 A monk from his childhood, Gregory was deeply read in the law of God, and his fervent zeal in the path of justice brought on him much persecution. He launched his apostolical decrees through all the world, and, sparing no one, thundered forth the holy oracles with terrible effect, summoned all men to the marriage feast of the Lord of Sabaoth with both prayers and threats. At the request of this pope, the venerable Hugh, abbot of Cluni, sent to Borne Oclo, prior of that monastery, who had been a canon of Kheims, accompanied by other chosen monks, who were joyfully received by the pope as fellow labourers sent him by God.3 He selected Odo for his principal counsellor, and made him bishop of Ostia, which see has the prerogative of having its bishop elected by the clergy of Home, and consecrated by the pope himself. Benedict also promoted the other monks, as circumstances permitted, preferring them to the government of different churches.
On the death of Arnold, bishop of Mans, King "William said to Samson, bishop of Bayeux, his chaplain : " The
1 Nicholas, son of Richnrd, abbot of St. Ouen, 1 056— February, 1092. The end of the north transept of the church here mentioned is still standing. This striking ruin, which stands between the present church and the hotel of the municipality, examined from the interior, iully justifies, by its fine proportions, the admiration with which our autl.or viewed it.
* Pope Alexander II, September 30, 1061— April 21, 1073; Gregory VII., April 22, 1073— May 25, 1085.
* It was not Gregory VII., but his successor, Urban II., who on giving up the bishopric of Ostia, when rbised to the popedom, invited his old contemporary at Cluni, the learned Odo, to succeed him in the see of Ostia, which he held till the year 1101.
AJ). 1080.] HOEL NAMED BISHOP OF MANS. 71
bishopric of Mans being now void, I wish, by God's will, to promote you to that see in his place. Mans, an ancient city which derives its name from canine madness,1 has a popula- tion which is always aggressive and blood-thirsty as regards its neighbours, and insolent and rebellious to its lords. I have, therefore, resolved to place the reins of its ecclesias- tical government in your hands, having cherished and dearly loved you from your childhood, and desiring now to place you high among the great men of my dominions." Samson replied: "According to the apostolical precept, a bishop ought to be irreproachable ; but I hsve been far from answering to that character, during the whole course of my life, for 1 feel that before God I am polluted with sins, both of body and mind ; and, wretched and unworthy as I am, my manifold offences forbid me to aspire to so high a dignity." The king said : " With your natural shrewdness you see clearly that you act rightly in confessing yourself a sinner; but I have set my mind on you, and shall not depart from my purpose, unless you either accept the bishopric, or recommend me another to take it in your place." Simon heard this with joy, and replied: "My lord and king, you have now spoken well ; and you will find me ready, with God's help, to do what you wish. You have in your chapel a poor clerk, who is well born and of good conversation. Give him the bishopric, in the fear of the Lord, for I think he is worthy of that honour. On the king's inquiring who he meant, Simon replied: "His name is Hoel, and he is a native of Brittany, and a humble and truly good man." Hoel was presently summoned at the king's command, without being informed for what purpose. But when the king saw before him a mere vouth, in mean apparel, and of emaciated aspect, he conceived a contempt for him, and, turning to Simon, said : " Is this the person you praised so highly ? " To which Samson replied : " Even so, my lord ; I honestly recommend him without the slightest hesitation, and it is not without reason that I prefer him to myself and such as me. His gentleness and benevolence make him fit to be a bishop. Do not despise him for his emaciated appearance. His humble dress only makes him
1 A play upon the Latin term for Mans; cceno-manis a canind rabie dicta.
72 OEDEEICUS VITA1I8. [B.IY. Cn.XII.
more estimable in the eyes of wise men ; Q-od himself does not regard a man's exte'rior, but has respect unto the worth concealed beneath it." The king, in his wisdom, reflected on observations so full of sagacity, and, coming to a better mind, and bringing his scattered thoughts under the control of reason, hastened again to call the clerk we are speaking of to his presence, and committed to him the charge and temporalities of the bishopric of Mans. The royal will being made known among the clergy, testimonies of Hoel's good conversation were universally forthcoming. The faithful offered their devout praises to God for so just and excellent a selection, and the pastor-elect was introduced with fitting honour to the sheepfold of his flock by the bishops and other servants of God who received the king's commands. The new bishop was not more astonished at his sudden pro- motion than David, when he was scorned by his brethren, at Samuel's raising him to the throne of Judah. Hoel, bishop of Mans, thus elevated to the government of that see, presided over it in great sanctity for fifteen years. He laid the foundations of the cathedral church in which the remains of St. Julian the confessor, and first bishop of Mans, were deposited ; and began other works, which the church required, labouring to complete them as opportunity offered.1 At his death, he was succeeded by Hildebert, a distinguished versifier, who worthily filled the see for thirty years. He completed the cathedral church begun by his predecessor, which he solemnly consecrated amid the great rejoicings of the people. Not long afterwards, in the year of our Lord 1125, the fourth indiction, when Gislebert, arch- bishop of Tours, died at Home, at the same time as Pope Callistus II., he was called to the metroplitan see of Tours in the time of Pope Honorius, by the demands and orders of the holy church, and still continues to hold it with laud- able care and exemplary conduct.
1 The appointment of Hoel to the see of Mans was not made in 1073. but after ^the death of Arnold, his immediate predecessor, the 24th of July, 1097. The historians of Mans repudiate the extraordinary circum- stances related by our author on the subject of h;s election. According to them, Hoel completed the cathedral begun by Vularin and Arnold, and Hildebert only erected the chapter-house and sacristy. But as the con- secration of the cathedral was not made till 1120, it is hardly probable that it would have been deferred so long, if it had been finished by Hoel.
A.D. 1051—1062.] HEEBEET, COUNT OF MAINE. 73
CH. XIII. Affairs of Maine — Expedition of King William, which established his power in that province.
As the ocean never remains in a state of complete rest, but its troubled waves are always in motion ; and, though its surface at times appears calm to the unobservant spec- tator, those who navigate it are not the less in dread of changes and fluctuations: so this world is in a constant state of turmoil from the tide of events, and is always pre- senting new forms of sorrow or joy. Thus, endless alterca- tions are constantly arising and proceeding to extremities among those unsatisfied worldlings, whose wishes the world itself is insufficient to satisfy. While each strives to be first and endeavours to tread under foot his rivals, the law of God is broken in the disregard for justice, and human blood is shed without mercy in the struggle to obtain what every one covets. This is abundantly shown by the records of ancient history, and modern reports tell the same tale in our very streets and villages. It follows that some rejoice for the moment, while others are filled with sorrow and trouble. I have already treated shortly of some instances of this kind in my present work, and shall add more, faithfully detailing what I have heard from my seniors.
Herbert, count of Maine, who was, it is said, of the race of Charlemagne, merited by his great bravery the name by which he was commonly known, in bad Latin signifying watch-dog. For after the death of Hugh his father, who was subdued by the powerful Fulk the elder, he rose in arms against the conqueror, and by his nightly expeditions, frequently alarmed the men and dogs of the city and for- tified towns, so that their fears made them be on the watch against his formidable attacks.1
1 It has been remarked that Ordericus is very apt to multiply the number of the descendants of Charlemagne, but it is well known that on the dis- memberment of the Carlovingian empire, not only the sovereign princes of the highest rank, but a vast number of the powerful nobles, who under various titles carved out for themselves independent sovereignties in frag- ments of the empire, strengthened their pretensions by connecting them- selves with the common stock of honour and power among the Franks of the ninth and succeeding centuries. Herbert Eveille-chien succeeded his father, Hugh, in 1016, or earlier, and died the 15th of April, 1036. Our author has before given, vol. i. p. 448, a different and far less natural account of his strange surname.
74 OEDEKICCS VITALIS. [B.IT. CH.XIII.
Hugh, the son of Herbert, after Alan count of Brittany, died in Normandy from poison given him by the Normans, married hia widow Bertha, daughter of Theobald count de Blois, by whom he had a son named Herbert and three daughters;1 one of them was given in marriage to Azzo, marquis of Liguria; another, named Margaret, was be- trothed to Eobert, sou of "William duke of Normandy, but died while she was his ward, before marriage. The third married John, lord of the castle called Fleche, by whom she had three sons, Goisbert, Elias, and Enoch.2
Geoffrey Martel, the brave count of Anjou, dying, was succeeded by his two nephews, sons of his sister by Alberie, count du Gatinois, one of whom, Geoffrey, a prince of simple and gentle manners, obtained the county in right of his being the eldest. After the death of the younger brother Herbert, "William duke of Normandy acquired his share of the inheritance, and Count Geoffrey conferred the fief on llobert, with his daughter's hand in marriage, receiving from him homage and fealty in the presence of his father at Alen9on. Not long afterwards Fulk, surnamed Rechin, revolted from Geoffrey his brother and liege lord, and treacherously siezing him kept him prisoner in the castle of Chinon more than thirty years. Such were the revolutions which disturbed the province of Anjou and its neighbours, and in which the nobles of the country took different sides, according to their inclinations.
While Fulk himself was deeply grieved at seeing Maine under the supremacy of the Normans, the turbulent citi- zens and neighbouring garrisons, with some hired soldiers, joined unanimously in a conspiracy against their foreign masters, and, vigorously assaulting the citadel and other
1 Hugh, Herbert's son, succeeded him in 1036, and married Bertha,
daughter of Eudes, count de Bois and Champagne, and widow of Alan
III., duke of Brittany, who was poisoned in Normandy the 1st of October,
•40. Hugh died the 7th of April, 1051, leaving, notwithstanding what
our author says, only one son and one daughter.
7 Gereende, second wife of Azzo, marquis of Liguria, was sister, not daughter, of Hugh II. The same may be said of Paule or Haberge, the mother, and not the wife of John, lord of Fleche, of the family of the lords of Beauquency. For the dates of the deaths of Herbert II. and Margaret, ha sister, betrothed to Robert Court-hose, see before vol L pp. 448 and 449.
A.D. 1073.] KING WILLIAM BEDUCES MAINE. 75
fortifications of the city, defeated and expelled Turgis de Traci1 and William de la Forte, and the rest of the king's officers. Some were slain, making a brave resistance, others were cruelly thrown into prison, and, ample revenge was taken on the Normans thus deprived of their liberty. All the country was now in a state of disturbance, the Norman power was eclipsed, and assailed by almost all, as by an universal blight. In like manner Geoffrey de Mayenne and other barons of Maine, formed a conspiracy and rose against the Normans ; a few only, for their own reasons and under various circumstances, maintained their allegiance to King William.
When this great king heard the dreadful reports of the massacre of his officers, his anger was roused, and he took measures for checking the progress of his enemies, and revenging, by arms, the rebellion of the traitors as it de- served. The Normans and English were quickly summoned to the field, and the several bodies of troops being formed into one army, with horse and foot skilfully arrayed under their several commanders, he marched at the head of this formidable force into the country of Maine. He first be- sieged the castle of Fresnai, where he knighted Eobert de Belesine. Hubert, the governor, however, came to terms, and, surrendering his castles of Fresnai and Beaumont2 to the king, continued his submission for some time. Having next laid siege to the castle of Sille, the governor gave him- self up to the king and obtained peace. No one indeed was able to make any resistance to the overwhelming force of the royal army, but all the garrisons of the castles and the country people, with the clerks and monks, decided on receiving the king as the restorer of peace, with fitting honours. At length he came before Maine, and investing the place with several divisions of his army, made his royal commands duly known, imperiously requiring the citizens to consult their own safety by quietly surrendering the place, and so avoiding an assault and the consequent horrors of fire and sword. Listening to this wise counsel, the citi- zens came the next day, bringing with them the keys of the
1 Turgis ile Traci, near Vire, where there are still the ruins of a magnificent castle of the middle u-j;e.
2 i'resiuu and Beaumont, le Vicomte, both on the Sarthc.
76 OBDEBICUS VITALIS. [B.IV. CH.XIII.
city, and offering their submission, which the king received with favour. The rest of the people of Maine were terrified at seeing so vast and fierce an army marcbing through their territories, and they found that their fellow conspirators and supporters were unable to make any stand against so experienced a general. They therefore sent delegates to the conqueror to ask for peace, and terms being made, they gladly joined their standards with the royal ensigns, and were permitted thenceforth to live in peace in their own homes and under their vines, and enjoy themselves as they pleased.
Order being thus restored in Maine without much fight- ing, and the province continuing tranquil under the do- minion of King William, Count Fulk l became mischievously jealous, and his anger broke forth against some of the ad- herents of the Normans. John de la Fleche, the most powerful lord in Anjou, who was particularly obnoxious to him on this account, having ascertained that the count was ready to fall upon him with an armed force, summoned his confederates in the neighbourhood to his assistance, and demanded the support of King \Villiam, which was granted him. For, without delay, the king sent to him William de Moulins, Eobert de Vieux-Pont, and other brave and ex- perienced knights, who were at once united by John with his own followers in the defence of his towns. Fulk, learning these dispositions, was much vexed, and immediately collecting a body of troops laid siege to John's Castle. Count Hoel* also came to the succour of Fulk with a large force of Bretons, with which he did all in his power to second the enterprise of Fulk. King William, knowing that such large bodies of troops must completely surround his own adherents, again issued a royal proclamation for mustering the Normans and English and other people under his rule, and like a resolute general led an army of 00,000 men, as report says, against the enemy. Meanwhile the Angevins and the Bretons, on hearing of the approach of the royal army, did not retire, but boldly crossed the Loire, and after etfecting the passage destroyed their boats, that the hope of retreat might not make them less des- 1 Fulk le Rlchin, count d'Anjou, April 4, 1067— April 14, 1109 a Hoel V., duke of Brittany, 10G6— April 15, 1084.
A.D. 1078.] SETTLEMENT OF MAINE. 77
perate in fighting. While, however, the two armies were in face of each other, drawn out for battle, and many hearts quailed at the fearful death, and the still more fearful fate after death, which awaits the reprobate, a cardinal priest of the Roman church, and some pious monks, interfered by divine inspiration, and remonstrated with the chiefs of both armies. They firmly forbade the battle in God's name, and used exhortations and prayers to effect a peace. Their endeavours were powerfully seconded by "William of Evreux and Eoger [de Montgomery],1 and other counts and brave soldiers, who, bold and forward as they were in legitimate contests, were slack to engage in odious quarrels, brought about by pride and injustice. The messengers of Christ thus sowing the seeds of concord, the arrogance of the am- bitious gave way, and the fears of the timid were gradually allayed. Many conferences were held, a variety of proposals were discussed, there was a contest of words ; but by the power of God the ambassadors of peace were successful with both parties. The count of Anjou ceded his rights in Maine to the young prince Robert, the king's son, with all the fiefs which the prince acquired by Margaret his wife from Count Herbert. Finally, Robert performed due homage to Fulk, as a vassal to his superior lord. John and the other Angevins, who had borne arms for the king against the count, were reconciled to their sovereign, while, on the other hand, those of Maine, who had revolted with the count against the king, were included in the treaty. The grace of God thus reconciling the hearts of the princes, offences were repented and forgotten on one side and the other, and the good people made great rejoicings at the peace which delivered them from the lowering storms that disturbed their tranquillity. The peace between the king and the count, which was concluded at a place commonly called Blanch-Land or Blanche-Bruyerre,2 lasted all the king's life to the advantage of the two states.
1 William, count d'Evreux, December 13, 1067 — April 18, 1 1 18 ; Roger de Montgomery, earl of Belesme, Alenfon, and Shrewsbury, 1070— July 27, 10.94.
2 There is still a fkrm called Blancheland, near St. Mards de Cr6, at one extremity of the vast sandy desert called the Landes, which at that time extended south of the Loire from the suburbs of La Fleche to this place.
78 ORDEHICUS VITALIS. [u.IV. CH.XIT.
CH. XIV. Conspiracy of the great English nobles against King William — Arguments used to induce Earl Waltlieof to join it — The rest break into open rebellion, and are defeated.
AT the same period [A.D. 1074] there arose another violent storm fraught with trouble and disaster to vast numbers in England. Two powerful English noblemen, Roger, earl of Hereford, and his brother-in-law, Balph, earl of Norwich,1 concerted together an open revolt, being resolved to wrest the dominion of England from King William, and to set up themselves as its sovereigns, or rather its tyrants. They therefore, rivalled each other in fortifying their castles, preparing arms, and mustering soldiers, sending frequent messengers far and near to their trusty adherents, and inviting, by entreaties and promises, all over whom they had any influence to aid their enterprise. Having reflected on the revolutions of affairs and the chances of the times, they said to their confederates and allies :2 " All prudent men know that a favourable moment must not be neglected, and that when the right time is come, then it is that brave men ought boldly to engage in a work of glory. But there never was a more fitting opportunity than that which is now afforded us by the mysterious dispensations of Providence for aspiring to the throne. He who now bears the title of king is unworthy of it as being a- bastard, and it must be evident that it is displeasing to God such a master should govern the kingdom. He is involved in endless quarrels in his dominions over the sea, being at variance not only with strangers but with his own children, and in the midst of his difficulties his own creatures desert him. He has deserved
1 Roger de Breteuil, earl of Hereford; Ralph de Guader or de Gaol. The Saxon Chronicle says that he was a Welshman on his mother's side, and his father an Englishman named Ralph, and born in Norfolk. It appears, however, that the family was of the -Armorican branch of the Welsh, having come from Brittany and been settled in England before the conquest. King William conferred on Ralph II. the earldoms of Norfolk and Suffolk, with the daughter of William Fitz-Osbern in marriage.
* The conspiracy was formed at the bridal feast, where the two great earls, with Waltheof and other nobles, and bishops, and abbots of the party were assembled, and as the Saxon Chronicle quaintly says — " They quaffed bride-ale, Source of man's bale."
A.D. 1074.] THE ENGLISH NOBLES BEYOLT. 79
this by the crimes which are openly talked of all over the world. He disinherited and drove out of Normandy William Werlenc,1 Count de Mortain, for a single word. Walter, Count de Pontoise, nephew of King Edward, and Biota his wife, being his guests at Falaise, were both his victims by poison in one and the same night.2 Conan, also, was taken off by poison at William's instigation ; that valiant count whose death was mourned through the whole of Brittany with unutterable grief on account of his great virtues.3 These, and other such crimes have been perpetrated by William in the case of his own kinsfolk and relations, and he is ever ready to act the same part towards us and our peers. He has impudently usurped the glorious crown of England, iniquitously murdering the rightful heirs, or driving them into cruel banishment. He has not even rewarded according to their merits his own adherents, those by whose valour he has been raised to a pitch of eminence exceeding that of all his race. Many of these who shed their blood in his service have been treated with ingratitude, and on slight pretexts have been sentenced to death, as if they were his enemies. To his victorious soldiers, covered
1 William Werlenc, earl of Mortaine, is only known by two passages in our author's history, and by the nineteenth chapter of the seventh book of William de Jumieges. As the circumstances connected with his being deprived of his earldom appear to have been little honourable to his sovereign, the Norman historians carefully abstain from enlarging upon them.
* See an account of these persons, and the crime of which they were victims, book iii. p. 448 of the first volume. Walter, count du Vexin, de Chaumon, and Mantis, was son of Drogo, count of the Vexin and Amiens, who died on his pilgrimage to the Holy Land with Robert, duke of Nor- mandy, in 1035. He was nephew of Edward the Confessor, by his wife Edith, a daughter of Ethelred and Emma.
8 This is one of the foulest acts imputed to William. Conan, duke of Brittany (1040— 1066), finding that the duke was on the point of with- drawing all his troops from Normandy for the invasion of England, prepared to take advantage of it by making an incursion into Lower Normandy. It appears that William could think of no other means of parrying this attack than by procuring Conan 'a gloves and helmet to be poisoned by one of his chamberlains who held lands in Normandy. This atrocious scheme was entirely successful. According to Conan's epitaph, he did not die till the llth of December, which suggests the conjecture that the effects of the poison were not instant. See the Continuator of William de Jumieges, book vii. c. 33.
80 ORDEBICFS VITALIS. [B.IT. CH.XIT.
\vith wounds, were allotted barren farms and domains depo- pulated by the ravages of war ; and even these his avarice subsequently compelled them to surrender in part or in whole. These things cause him to be generally hated, and his death would be the signal for universal joy. Now, the greatest part of his army is detained beyond sea, busily employed in continual wars. The English think of nothing but cultivating their lands, they are more intent on feasting and drinking bouts than on the thoughts of battle ; but, notwithstanding, they thirst for revenge for the blood and ruin of their relations." In such language as this the con- spirators vented their treason, and encouraging themselves by all sorts of motives to the execution of their wicked pro- ject, they called to their councils Waltheof, earl of North- ampton, and tempted him to join them by a variety of sug- gestions, to this effect : " Brave sir, you may plainly see that now is your time for recovering your forfeited honours, and for securing vengeance for the unmerited injuries you have lately suffered. Join our party, and support it without faltering in your resolution, and the third part of England shall be yours, by an equal division among ourselves. It ia our object that the realm of England should be restored to the same state in which it lately was in the time of Edward our most pious sovereign. Let one of us be king, the other two dukes, and thus all the honours of England will be divided among us. William is now engaged beyond the sea in endless wars which absorb his whole strength, and we know for certain that he will never land again on the shores of England. Come, then, noble sir, listen to counsels so advantageous to you and your family, and act in the manner which will prove the salvation of our enslaved fellow countrymen."
Waltheof replied as follows : " In such enterprises the utmost caution is required; and in all nations the fealty sworn by every subject to his liege lord should be faithfully kept. King William has received mine, lawfully given as to his superior lord by one holding under him, and to secure my fidelity he gave me his niece in marriage. He also gave me a rich earldom, and admitted me into the number of his familiar companions. How can I be faithless to such a prince without entirely breaking my fealty to him ? I am
A.D. 1074.] THE CONSPIRATOBS DEFEATED. 81
well known in many countries, and far from me be the disgrace which would attend my being proclaimed a sacri- legious traitor. Never was there a song so sweet as to charm away the disgrace of treason. All nations curse traitors and turncoats, as they do wolves, thinking them only fit to be hanged, and if they can catch them, condemn them to the gibbet, with all the insults and tortures they can devise. Ahitophel and Judas, both traitors aud apos- tates, and each of them doomed to the gallows, to be suspended between heaven and earth as fit for neither, perished by their own hands. The law of England sen- tences a traitor to lose his head, and on his attainder the inheritance of his children is escheated. God forbid that such a crime should taint my honour, and my name be held up to scorn with such infamy throughout the world ! The Lord God, who showed his power in saving David from the hands of Goliah and Saul, Adarezer and Absalom, hath delivered me also from many dangers both by sea and land. I commit myself entirely to his keeping, trusting in him that my life will never be stained with treason, and that I shall not be branded with apostacy like Satan and the fallen angels."
When Ealph the Breton and Eoger heard the determi- nation of Waltheof, they were sorely troubled, and bound him by a terrible oath not to divulge their conspiracy. Not long afterwards it suddenly burst forth into open rebellion in all parts of England, and the opposition to the king's officers became general. Upon this, William de Warrene, and Richard de Bienfaite, son of Earl Gislebert, who had been appointed chief justiciaries of England, summoned the rebels to appear in the king's high court. They, however, disdained to pay any attention to the precept, and, following \ip this contempt of court, set the royal authority at de- fiance. William and Richard, therefore, without further delay, assembled the English army, and fought a severe battle with the rebels on the plain called Fagadun.1 By God's help they defeated the enemy, and taking them prisoners, marked every one, without regard to his rank, by ampu- tating his right foot. Ralph the Breton was pursued to his own castle without being taken. They then concentrated 1 Beecham or Beechamwell, near Swaffham, Norfolk (?)
VOL. II. O
82 OEDEEICTJS YITALIS. [B-1V> CH-X1T-
their forces and invested Norwich, and adding to their strength by their display of valour and military skill, they harassed the besieged with constant assaults and their engines of war, pressing the siege for three months with unwearied vigour. The besieging army was continually aug- menting, and was abundantly supplied with abundance of food and other necessaries to prevent desertion. Ralph de Guader, finding himself thus shut up and expecting no relief from his accomplices, entrusted the fortress, with many cautions, to the trusty garrison, and embarked at the nearest sea-port to seek for help in Denmark. Meanwhile, the king's lieutenants, William and Robert, pressed the townsmen to surrender, while they despatched hasty messen- gers over the sea to the king, giving an account of these transactions and begging him to return with all speed for the defence of the kingdom.
No sooner had the indefatigable king received these tidings than he set in order the affairs of Normandy and Maine, and all being arranged, crossed over to England without loss of time. He then summoned all the great men of the realm to attend his court, and having addressed in flattering terms the lords who had been faithful to their allegiance and proved their fidelity, he demanded of the authors and supporters of the rebellion the reason why they preferred wrong to right. The garrison of Norwich having made terms, the place was given up to the king, and Ralph de Guader, earl of Norwich, was disinherited~of his English honours and domains. Being banished the kingdom, he returned to Brittany with his wife and settled on his patri- monial estates which his attainder by the sovereign of England could not affect. In that province he had on his domains two noble castles, Guader and Montfort, which his sons possess b