A.D. 1065. HAROLD'S OATH TO WILLIAM OF NORMANDY. 41

Saxon race. He had subdued the British people to his fealty by the terror of his arms. That he looked to the crown of England on the death of Edward was a natural result of his character and his position. Harold's young brother Ulnoth, and his nephew, who had both been confided to William, when Godwin gave them as hostages upon the conclusion of his revolt, had been detained in Normandy, though not illtreated. Harold went to redeem them. His ship was driven by a tempest on the coast near the mouth of the Somme. Guy, the count of Ponthieu, was lord of that territory. He imprisoned Harold in a fortress near Montreuil. Harold had little hope of immediate escape; but he found a ransomer in duke William. Upon his release from Montreuil, Harold went on to Rouen. There he was welcomed with the most lavish generosity. The secret rivals became the warmest friends. Harold followed William to his war with Conan, a count of Brittany; and William honoured him with splendid gifts of arms and horses. The duke frankly promised the surrender of Ulnoth and the son of Sweyn. William told Harold that when he and Edward were living under the same roof in Normandy, Edward had affirmed that if ever he became king of England, William should be his successor. The duke then asked whether Harold would support him in realising that promise. The Saxon was in his power. These were not times when ambition was easily surrendered to conscientiousness. Harold assented. But his assent was to be more solemnly enforced. He was to swear. He did swear. But he swore with a mental reservation. He was swearing upon common reliquaries, as he thought; but under the reliquaries were hidden, by a cloth of gold, the bones of saints and holy martyrs. William then commanded the cloth to be removed; and Harold turned pale when he knew the super-sanctity of the oath which he had taken. This strange story is in perfect accordance with the character of the age in which these two men lived. Harold, at length, returned to England.

Godwin's son, Tostig, and William of Normandy had married sisters. -the daughters of Baldwin, count of Flanders. In his earldom of Northumbria, Tostig was most tyrannous and oppressive, even beyond the usual oppression of these petty kings. The people of Northumbria rose against his power, drove him from York, and chose Morcar, one of the sons of Leofric, as their chief. The whole country was in alarm; and Harold was deputed to put down the insurrection. He summoned the insurgent people to a conference. They stated their wrongs. He tried to extenuate the deeds of Tostig, and to plead for his restoration. "We were born free," said the Northumbrians. "We were brought up in freedom. We will have no tyrant." Harold returned to the king without striking a blow; and he brought back to the insurgents pardon and peace. Tostig fled to Flanders; and became Harold's implacable

enemy.

Upon the banishment of Tostig, Harold contracted a marriage of policy. He married the daughter of Algar; she being the widow of Griffith, king of Wales, whose sons had succeeded to the kingdom. He was thus placed in alliance with two of the most powerful of the other chieftains. King Edward was old, and more than ever enfeebled. His great desire

was to complete his abbey-church of Westminster. Close by that abbey was his palace. Here the gentle Edward died, on the 5th of January, 1066. There was one legitimate heir to the throne-Edgar, the grandson of the brave Ironside; but on the day of Edward's burial, Harold was crowned by the Saxon archbishop Stigand. Some of the chroniclers, amongst others Hoveden, state, that before his decease the king appointed Harold his successor. The fact is generally admitted; but it is coupled by others with a statement that the nomination was extorted from the dying Edward by the importunities of Harold and his partisans.

Duke William was in his city of Rouen, in the January of 1066. The news came that Edward was dead; and that Harold filled his throne. William immediately sent an envoy to Rome, to ask that Nicholas II. should put England under interdict-the England that had chosen a perjurer for king; that had expelled a Norman archbishop whom Rome had consecrated; that had ceased to pay the "Peter's pence" which her pious kings of old had willingly given. The duke secured the aid of Rome. He was not so successful with the king of France, whose help he implored in his projected assertion of a right to the English crown, on the promise of Edward. Philip of France thought his imperious vassal somewhat too powerful already. Baldwin of Flanders, his brother-in-law, was equally indisposed to assist him in his enterprise. Conan, then duke of Brittany, after William had for some time announced his design, declared war against him, claiming Normandy as his own. Conan paid the penalty of his rashness. He died by poison. William had still to surmount difficulties with his own people. Then went forth a proclamation that, supported by the Holy Father of Christendom, who had sent to him a consecrated banner, William, duke of Normandy, was about to demand, by force of arms, his rightful inheritance of England; and that all who would serve him with spear, sword, or cross-bow, should be amply rewarded. At this call gathered together all the adventurers of Western Europe. They came in crowds from Maine and Anjou, from Poitou and Brittany, from Aquitaine and Burgundy, from France and Flanders. The summer of 1066 was almost passed before the preparations were complete. A large fleet had assembled at the beginning of September at the mouth of the Dive. This fleet consisted of small transports, scarcely larger than a fishing smack. Their whole number is stated to have been nine hundred and ninety-seven. They were detained for a month by contrary winds. At length, on the 28th September, William leapt from his boat on the flat beach at Pevensey; and falling to the ground, a cry went forth that it was an evil omen. He grasped the sand, and turned the omen into a sign of gladness, for he had taken seisin of his kingdom. In a few days the army marched to Hastings.

King Harold was far away when duke William landed on that unprotected shore. His exiled brother, Tostig, had been to Normandy, and had arranged with William a plan of united action for the invasion of the country; and he engaged Hardrada, the king of Norway, in the confederacy. Tostig first tried his fortune alone on the south coast; but the vigilance of Harold drove him to the north. At the mouth of the Tyne, Tostig waited for the Norwegian armament, and their forces having

A.D. 1066.

DEFEAT AND DEATH OF HAROLD.

43

landed, they marched to York. Here they defeated the Northumbrian earls, Edwin and Morcar. Harold was with his army on the southern coast when the news of the Norwegian invasion reached him; and he marched at once to encounter these enemies. He would have negotiated with his brother; but when Tostig asked what the king of Norway should have, the Saxon answered, "Seven feet of earth for a grave." A great battle was fought at Stamford-Bridge on the Derwent; and Hardrada and Tostig were amongst the slain. Where this battle was fought, the bones of the dead whitened the earth for half a century. That day of carnage was the same 27th of September on which William sailed from Saint Valéry. As Harold sat at a banquet at York after the victory, the news came of the Norman landing. He had made adequate preparations for a resistance by sea when he marched to the north; but the same tempest that detained the invaders in Normandy compelled the Saxon ships to remain in their ports. They came out too late; and blockaded the whole coast. Harold rested not a day in Northumbria. He marched direct for London, where all the warlike population rallied round his standard. Meanwhile, the Normans had entrenched themselves near Hastings. They had ravaged this beautiful district so mercilessly, that for twenty years it lay waste and desolate.

On the 13th October, the army of Harold was encamped on a range of hills, near a place then called Senlac. This is the modern "Battle." The sea was in the distance, and the English ships were ready to cut off the retreat of the invaders. The army of William was on another range of hills. The watch-fires of each camp could be seen by the other as the night closed in. There was revelry in the English camp. There was silence and prayer in the Norman. William mounted his horse at daybreak on the 14th. At nine o'clock the Normans moved across the little valley, with the papal banner carried in advance of the duke. They were formidable in their cavalry and their bowmen. The English waited the attack with their battle-axes, the Kentish men in the front. They kept their ground like a mighty wall; and they advanced in the same firm array. After a fight of six hours, William commanded his men to turn their backs. The English raised a cry of triumph, and, breaking their ranks, rushed from their commanding position into the plain. Then the Norman cavalry wheeled round, and a terrible slaughter took place. Harold fell a little before sunset. There was still a struggle; but the great leader had passed away.

CHAPTER IV.

WILLIAM of Normandy was encamped at Hastings, when he heard that a division of his army, having landed at Romney, had been attacked by the people of that port. William marched to Romney, and revenged himself by a slaughter of its inhabitants. Dover had a strong garrison, and

The Nor

there, around the castle, was a large English force collected. mans set the town on fire, and the castle was taken. William's army was falling away by sickness. The Conqueror waited for reinforcements from Normandy; and at length, leaving the coast, marched along the Watling Street to London.

On learning the death of Harold, the people of the south, and of London, chose Edgar Atheling as king. The two great earls of Mercia and Northumbria, the brothers-in-law of Harold, withdrew to the north. As William advanced, the people of London exhibited a show of resistance; but they finally made their submission, through the archbishop and great nobles, who did homage to the invader at Berkhampstead. He was crowned king at Westminster, on Christmas-day. In the midst of the solemn ceremony, a tumult was raised by the Norman troops outside the abbey, for the purpose, we may suppose, of interrupting the wonted Anglo-Saxon form of the king swearing to govern justly.

The new king was politic enough to use, in the beginning of his reign, that moderation which belonged to a legal title. He had a difficult policy to carry through. He had to propitiate the rapacity of his own people; and he had to avert the hatred of those whom he claimed to rule over. He treated Edgar Atheling with kindness; he welcomed some of the chieftains to his court. He exhorted his adherents to moderation. He so regulated the collection of his revenue that the burthen should be equally distributed. He prohibited all riotous assemblies. He provided for the safe passage of traders, and the transport of merchandise by sea and land. Where the country was considered settled, there the rule was entrusted to Norman chiefs. In the castle of Winchester, which William erected, he placed William Fitz-Osborn, as lieutenant of the south. His half-brother, Odo, bishop of Bayeux, was established at Dover, as governor of Kent. In the spring of 1067, the Conqueror went to Normandy, and remained there during the summer and autumn. During his absence from England, his chieftains commenced a system of oppression which drove many of the bravest and best of the Anglo-Saxon race into exile. Ordericus has briefly told the story of "the flower of the English youth," who valiantly served in the armies of Alexius, the Greek emperor. Others sought in foreign aid for their country's deliverance. In the west the people depended upon themselves. Edric, commonly known as "The Forester"-Edric of the woods-refused obedience to Fitz-Osborn, as earl of Hereford; and, with the aid of the British, held the district against him. The two sons of Harold sailed from Ireland, and ascending the Avon, ravaged the country near Bristol. William was alarmed by the news of all this disaffection and disquiet. He hastily left the administration of Normandy to his queen and his son Robert, and sailed from Dieppe for Winchelsea, on the night of the 6th December. He kept his Christmas at London; and assembled around him the English bishops and nobles. Having satisfied the Londoners, William departed to carry his arms to the west and to the north. In January his army was before Exeter. The burghers fought stoutly for eighteen days, but they finally surrendered. The king then marched into Cornwall, where he met no resistance.

Edwin of Northumbria had, with his brother Morcar, given his adhesion

A.D. 1069.

NORMANS, DANES, AND SAXONS.

45

to the Norman; and William had promised one of his daughters to the powerful earl. But when he became more secure, William "refused to give him the princess who was the object of his desire, and for whom he had long waited.' The brothers, indignant at the promise-breaker, summoned the English and Welsh to their standard; and sent their messengers in every quarter to rouse the people to rebellion. The provinces beyond the Humber were the first to rise. But the prompt vigour of the king put down the insurrection before it became general. Edwin and Morcar submitted; and William made a show of favour and forgiveIn this year Edgar Atheling fled, with his mother and sisters, to Scotland, and they were received with kindness by Malcolm, the king.

ness.

The submission of Edwin and Morcar had not arrested the disaffection of the north. In the beginning of 1069, the English burst into the city of Durham, which was held by one of William's chiefs, Robert de Comines, set fire to the palace where the intrusive earl and his followers were sleeping after late revelry, and massacred all the Norman soldiers, except two. York then rose upon its foreign garrison. Again the king came in person against the insurgents, and routed them with unsparing slaughter. In June, the sons of Harold came in force, and landed near Plymouth. They were repulsed. In the same month, Canute, the son of Sweyn, king of Denmark, came with a mighty fleet. These forces were repulsed on the south and eastern coasts; but in August the invaders sailed for the Humber. They were here joined by a fleet under Edgar Atheling, and some English earls. As this army advanced towards York, the Normans in garrison set fire to the houses, and the city was burning for three days. The Normans made a sally upon the Danes and English, who had invested the city, and were utterly defeated with immense loss. William had collected about him a new body of auxiliary troops, and he marched to the north with an overwhelming force. But he trusted not to force alone. His agents were busy amongst the Danish chiefs; and their powerful army retired to their ships. The English, who had joined the Danes at the Humber, fell back to the Tyne. York was left to be defended by earl Waltheof alone. When the king, after a march through a hostile population, and an almost impassable country, reached that city, he found it abandoned. He dispersed his commanders in separate divisions over a surface of a hundred miles, with orders to destroy every living man, and every article that could minister to the sustenance of life. Houses were to be burnt; the implements of husbandry were to be broken up; the whole district from the Humber to the Tees, from the Wear to the Tyne, was to be made a desert. And it was made a desert. From the desolated Yorkshire, William, in the March of 1070, led his army to Chester, and put down the insurrectionary spirit in Mercia. submission of the wretched inhabitants of the north provoked the resentment of Malcolm, king of Scotland, and he became their enemy. At the head of an army he crossed the Tyne, and completed the work of devastation.

The

In 1072 took place the last struggle of Saxon nationality. Hereward

* Ordericus Vitalis.