Harold : the Last of the Saxon Kings — Complete

“Ke d’une angarde Footnote eminence: u ils ‘estuient Cels de l’ost virent, ki pres furent.” Roman de Rou, Second Part, v. 12, 126.

260 ( return )

Midnight.

261 ( return )

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

262 ( return )

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

263 ( return )

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

264 ( return )

Bayeux tapestry.

265 ( return )

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

266 ( return )

Roman de Rou.

267 ( return )

William of Poitiers.

268 ( return )

Dieu nous aide.

269 ( return )

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

270 ( return )

“Devant li Dus alout cantant De Karlemaine e de Rollant, Ed ‘Olever e des Vassalls Ki morurent en Ronchevals.” Roman de Rou, Part ii. I. 13, 151.

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

271 ( return )

W. PICT. Chron. de Nor.

272 ( return )

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

273 ( return )

Harold’s birthday was certainly the 14th of October. According to Mr. Roscoe, in his “Life of William the Conqueror,” William was born also on the 14th of October.

274 ( return )

William Pict.

275 ( return )

Thus Wace,

 
    “Guert (Gurth) vit Engleiz amenuisier,
     Vi K’il n’i ont nul recovrier,” etc.
 

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

276 ( return )

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

277 ( return )

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

278 ( return )

See Note (R).

279 ( return )

“Rex magnus parva jacet hic Gulielmus in urna— Sufficit et magno parva Domus Domino.”

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

280 ( return )

Thomson’s Essay on Magna Charta.

281 ( return )

Orderic. Vital. lib. 4.

282 ( return )

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

283 ( return )

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

284 ( return )

Pigott’s Scand. Mythol. p. 380. Half. Vand. Saga.

285 ( return )

“Suthsaxonum Ministrum Wolfnothem.” Flor. Wig.

286 ( return )

Asser. de Reb. Gest. Alf. pp. 17, 18.

287 ( return )

Camden, Caernarvonshire.

288 ( return )

Pennant’s Wales, vol. ii. p. 146.

289 ( return )

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

290 ( return )

Johann. ap. Acad. Celt. tom. iii. p. 151.

291 ( return )

William of Poitiers.

292 ( return )

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

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

293 ( return )

Palgrave, “Commonwealth,” 560.

294 ( return )

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

295 ( return )

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

296 ( return )

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

297 ( return )

Vit. Harold. Chron. Ang. Norm.

299 ( return )

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

THE END.

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