BOOK III.

I now attempt to give a clue to the mazy labyrinth of events and transactions which occurred in England, during the year 1141,[563] lest posterity, through my neglect, should be unacquainted with them; as it is of service to know the volubility of fortune and the mutability of human estate, God only permitting or ordaining them. And, as the moderns greatly and deservedly blame our predecessors, for having left no memorial of themselves or their transactions since the days of Bede, I think I ought to be very favourably regarded by my readers, if they judge rightly, for determining to remove this reproach from our times.

[Sidenote: [A.D. 1141.] SIEGE OF LINCOLN.]

King Stephen had peaceably departed from the county of Lincoln before Christmas, and had augmented the honours of the earl of Chester,[564] and of his brother; of whom the earl, long since, in the time of king Henry, had been married to the daughter of the earl of Gloucester. In the meanwhile, the citizens of Lincoln, who wished to acquire great favour with the king, certified him by a message, when resident in London, that the two brothers had taken up their abode in security, in the castle of that city: and that, suspecting nothing less than the arrival of the king, they might be very easily surprised, while themselves would provide that he should get possession of the castle as secretly as possible. As Stephen never wished to neglect any opportunity of augmenting his power, he gladly repaired thither. In consequence, the brothers were surprised and besieged, even in the Christmas holidays. This step appeared unjustifiable to many, because, as I have observed, he had left them before the festival, without any suspicion of enmity; nor had he, even now, after ancient usage, abjured his friendship with them, which they call “defying.” However, the earl of Chester, though surrounded with imminent dangers, adroitly escaped from the castle. By what management this was accomplished I know not; whether through consent of some of the besiegers, or whether, because valour, when taken by surprise, frequently tries variety of methods, and often discovers a remedy for its emergencies. Not content with his own escape, he earnestly cast about, how to devise the safety of his brother and of his wife, whom he had left in the fortress. The more prudent mode seemed to be, to request assistance from his father-in-law, although he had long since offended him on many accounts, but principally because he appeared staunch to neither party. He sent messengers, therefore, promising eternal fidelity to the empress, if, induced more by affectionate regard than any desert of his, he would rescue those from danger, who were already in the very jaws of captivity.

Unable to endure this indignity, the earl of Gloucester readily assented. Weary of delay, too, as the fairest country was harassed with intestine rapine and slaughter, for the sake of two persons, he preferred bringing the matter to an issue at once, would God permit. He hoped, also, for the Divine assistance on his undertaking, as the king had molested his son-in-law, without any fault on his part; was at that moment besieging his daughter; and had castellated the church of the holy mother of God in Lincoln. How much ought these things to weigh in the mind of a prince? Would it not be better to die, and fall with honour, than endure so marked a disgrace? For the sake then of avenging God, and his sister, and liberating his relations, he entered on this perilous undertaking. The supporters of his party readily accompanied him; the major part of whom being deprived of their inheritances, were instigated to hostility by rage at their losses, and the consciousness of their valour. However, during the whole extended march, from Gloucester to Lincoln, he studiously concealed his intention, leaving all the army, with the exception of a very few, in suspense, by his mysterious conduct.

[Sidenote: [A.D. 1141.] STEPHEN DEFEATED.]

At length, on the day of the Purification of the blessed Mary, they arrived at the river flowing between the two armies, called the Trent, which, from its springs, together with floods of rain, had risen so high, that it could not possibly be forded. Here, at last, disclosing his intention to his son-in-law, who had joined him with a strong force, and to those he had brought with him, he added, that, “He had long since made up his mind, never to be induced to fly, be the emergency what it might; if they could not conquer, they must die or be taken.” All encouraged him to hope the best; and, wonderful to hear, though on the eve of hazarding a battle, he swam over the rapid river I have mentioned, with the whole of his party. So great was the earl’s ardour to put an end to calamity, that he preferred risking extremities to prolonging the sufferings of the country. The king, too, with many earls, and an active body of cavalry, abandoning the siege, courageously presented himself for battle. The royalists began the prelude to the fight, which they call the “joust,”[565] as they were skilled in that exercise: but when they saw that the consular party, if they may be so called, did not attack from a distance with lances, but at close quarters with swords, and broke the king’s ranks with violent and determined onset, the earls, to a man, for six of them had entered the conflict, together with the king, consulted their safety by flight. A few barons, of laudable fidelity and valour, who would not desert him, even in his necessity, were made captive. The king, though he by no means wanted spirit to defend himself, being at last attacked on every side by the earl of Gloucester’s soldiers, fell to the ground by a blow from a stone; but who was the author of this deed is uncertain. Thus, when all around him were either taken or dispersed, he was compelled to yield to circumstances and become a captive. On which the truly noble earl of Gloucester commanded the king to be preserved uninjured, not suffering him to be molested even with a reproach; and the person, whom he had just before fiercely attacked when dignified with the sovereignty, he now calmly protected when subdued: that the tumults of anger and of joy being quieted, he might show kindness to his relation, and respect the dignity of the diadem in the captive. The citizens of Lincoln were slaughtered on all sides by the just indignation of the victors, and without commiseration on the part of the conquered, as they had been the origin and fomenters of this calamity.

The king, according to the custom of such as are called captives, was presented to the empress, at Gloucester, by her brother, and afterwards conducted to Bristol. Here, at first, he was kept with every mark of honour, except the liberty of going at large: but in succeeding time, through the presumption of certain persons, who said openly and contumeliously, that it did not behove the earl to treat the king otherwise than they chose; and also, because it was reported, that having either eluded or bribed his keepers, he had been found, more than once, beyond the appointed limits, more especially in the night-time, he was confined with fetters.

In the meanwhile, both the empress and the earl dealt by messengers with the legate his brother, that he should forthwith receive her into the church,[566] and to the kingdom, as the daughter of king Henry, to whom all England and Normandy had sworn allegiance. This year, the first Sunday in Lent happened on the fourteenth before the kalends of March. By means of negotiators on either side, the business was so far forwarded, that they agreed to meet in conference, on an open plain on this side of Winchester. They assembled, therefore, on the third Sunday in Lent, a day dark and rainy, as though the fates would portend a woeful change in this affair. The empress swore, and pledged her faith to the bishop, that all matters of importance in England, and especially the bestowing of bishoprics and abbeys, should await his decision, if he, with the holy church, would receive her as sovereign, and observe perpetual fidelity towards her. Her brother, Robert, earl of Gloucester, swore as she did, and pledged his faith for her, as did also Brian Fitz-count, lord Marcher[567] of Wallingford, and Milo of Gloucester, afterwards earl of Hereford, with some others. Nor did the bishop hesitate to receive the empress as sovereign of England, and, together with certain of his party, to pledge his faith, that so long as she did not infringe the covenant, he would observe his fidelity to her. On the morrow, which was the fifth before the nones of March, a splendid procession being formed, she was received in the cathedral of Winchester; the bishop-legate conducting her on the right side, and Bernard, bishop of St. David’s, on the left. There were present also, Alexander, bishop of Lincoln, Robert of Hereford, Nigel of Ely, Robert of Bath: the abbats, Ingulf of Abingdon, Edward of Reading, Peter of Malmesbury, Gilbert of Gloucester, Roger of Tewkesbury, and some others. In a few days, Theobald, archbishop of Canterbury, came to the empress at Winchester, by invitation of the legate: but he deferred promising fidelity to her, deeming it beneath his reputation and character to change sides, till he had consulted the king. In consequence, he, and many other prelates, with some few of the laity, were allowed to visit Stephen and converse with him: and, graciously obtaining leave to submit to the exigency of the times, they embraced the sentiments of the legate. The empress passed Easter, which happened on the third before the kalends of April, at Oxford; the rest returned to their respective homes.

[Sidenote: [A.D. 1141.] CONFERENCE AT WINCHESTER.]

On the day after the octaves of Easter, a council began, with great parade, at Winchester, consisting of Theobald, archbishop of Canterbury, all the bishops of England, and many abbats: the legate presiding. Such as were absent, accounted for it by messengers and letters. As I was present at the holding of this council, I will not deny posterity the truth of every circumstance; for I perfectly remember it. On the same day, after the letters were read by which some excused their absence, the legate called the bishops apart, and discoursed with them in secret of his design; then the abbats, and, lastly, the archdeacons were summoned. Of his intention nothing transpired publicly, though what was to be done engrossed the minds and conversation of all.

On the third day of the week, the speech of the legate ran nearly to this effect: “That, by the condescension of the pope, he acted as his vicegerent in England: wherefore, by his authority, the clergy of England were assembled at this council to deliberate on the peace of the country, which was exposed to imminent danger: that, in the time of king Henry, his uncle, England had been the peculiar abode of peace; so that by the activity, and spirit, and care of that most excellent man, not only the natives, of whatever power or dignity, dared make no disturbance; but, by his example, each neighbouring king and prince, also, yielded to peace, and either invited, or compelled, his subjects to do the like: moreover, that this king, some years before his death, had caused the whole realm of England, as well as the duchy of Normandy, to be engaged, by the oaths of all the bishops and barons, to his daughter, late the empress, who was his only surviving issue by his former consort, if he should fail of male offspring by the wife he had espoused from Lorraine: and adverse fortune,” said he, “was envious of my most excellent uncle, and suffered him to die in Normandy without male issue. Therefore, as it seemed long to wait for a sovereign who delayed coming to England, for she resided in Normandy, we provided for the peace of the country, and my brother was allowed to reign. And although I gave myself as surety between him and God, that he would honour and advance the holy church, and uphold good, but abrogate evil, laws; yet it grieves me to remember, shames me to say, how he conducted himself in the kingdom: how justice ceased to be exerted against the daring; how all peace was annihilated, almost within the year: the bishops made captive, and compelled to give up their possessions; the abbeys sold; the churches robbed of their treasures; the counsels of the abandoned regarded: while those of the virtuous were postponed or totally despised. You know how often I addressed him, both by myself and the bishops, more especially in the council held last year for that purpose, and that I gained by it nothing but odium. Every one, who shall think rightly, must be aware, that I ought to love my mortal brother, but that I should still more regard the cause of my immortal Father. Wherefore, since God has exercised his judgment on my brother, by permitting him, without my knowledge, to fall into the hands of the powerful, I have invited you all here to assemble by virtue of my legation, lest the kingdom should fall to decay through want of a sovereign. The case was yesterday agitated in private, before the major part of the English clergy, to whose right it principally pertains to elect the sovereign, and also to crown him. First, then, as is fitting, invoking God’s assistance, we elect the daughter of that peaceful, that glorious, that rich, that good, and, in our times, incomparable king, as sovereign of England and Normandy, and promise her fidelity and support.”

[Sidenote: [A.D. 1141.] MATILDA ELECTED SOVEREIGN.]

When all present had either becomingly applauded his sentiments, or, by their silence, not contradicted them, he added: “We have despatched messengers for the Londoners, who, from the importance of their city in England, are almost nobles, as it were, to meet us on this business; and have sent them a safe-conduct: and we trust they will not delay their arrival beyond to-morrow: wherefore let us give them indulgence till that time.”

On the fourth day of the week the Londoners came; and being introduced to the council, urged their cause, so far as to say, that they were sent from the fraternity, as they call it, of London, not to contend, but to entreat that their lord the king might be liberated from captivity: that all the barons, who had long since been admitted to their fellowship, most earnestly solicited this of the lord legate and the archbishop, as well as of all the clergy who were present. The legate answered them copiously and clearly: and, that their request might be the less complied with, the speech of the preceding day was repeated, with the addition, that it did not become the Londoners, who were considered as the chief people of England, in the light of nobles, to side with those persons who had deserted their lord in battle; by whose advice the king had dishonoured the holy church; and who, in fact, only appeared to favour the Londoners, that they might drain them of their money.

In the meantime, a certain person, whose name, if I rightly remember, was Christian, a clerk belonging to the queen, as I heard, rose up, and held forth a paper to the legate. He having silently perused it, exalted his voice to the highest pitch, and said, that it was informal, and improper to be recited in so great an assembly, especially of dignified and religious persons. For, among other offensive and singular points, the signature of a person was affixed to it, who, in the preceding year, at a similar council, had attacked the venerable bishops with opprobrious language. The legate thus baffling him, the clerk was not wanting to his mission, but, with notable confidence, read the letter in their hearing; of which this was the purport. “The queen earnestly entreated the whole clergy assembled, and especially the bishop of Winchester, the brother of her lord, to restore the said lord to his kingdom, whom abandoned persons, and even such as were under homage to him, had cast into chains.” To this suggestion, the legate answered to the same effect as to the Londoners. These conferring together, declared, that they would relate the decree of the council to their townsmen, and give it their support as far as they were able.

On the fifth day of the week the council broke up, many of the royal party having been first excommunicated; more especially William Martel, who had formerly been cup-bearer to king Henry, and was at that time butler to Stephen; for he had sorely exasperated the legate, by intercepting and pilfering much of his property. It was now a work of great difficulty to soothe the minds of the Londoners: for though these matters, as I have said, were agitated immediately after Easter, yet was it only a few days before the Nativity of St. John that they would receive the empress. At that time great part of England readily submitted to her government; her brother Robert was assiduously employed in promoting her dignity by every becoming method; kindly addressing the nobility, making many promises, and intimidating the adverse party, or even, by messengers, exhorting them to peace; and already restoring justice, and the law of the land, and tranquillity, throughout every district which favoured the empress; and it is sufficiently notorious that if his party had trusted to Robert’s moderation and wisdom, it would not afterwards experienced so melancholy a reverse. The lord legate, too, appeared of laudable fidelity in furthering the interests of the empress. But, behold, at the very moment when she imagined she should get possession of all England, every thing was changed. The Londoners, ever suspicious and murmuring among themselves, now burst out into open expressions of hatred; and, as it is reported, even laid wait for their sovereign and her nobles. Aware of and escaping this plot, they gradually retired from the city, without tumult and in a certain military order. The empress was accompanied by the legate and David king of Scotland, the heroine’s uncle, together with her brother Robert who then, as at every other time, shared her fortune; and, in short, all her partizans to a man escaped in safety. The Londoners, learning their departure, flew to their residence and plundered every thing which they had left in their haste.

[Sidenote: [A.D. 1141.] THE EMPRESS AND THE LEGATE.]

Not many days after, a misunderstanding arose between the legate and the empress which may be justly considered as the melancholy cause of every subsequent evil in England. How this happened I will explain. King Stephen had a son named Eustace, begotten on the daughter of Eustace earl of Boulogne. For king Henry, the father of the empress, that I may go back somewhat to acquaint posterity with the truth of these transactions, had given Mary, the sister of his wife, the mother of this lady, in marriage to the aforesaid earl, as he was of noble descent and equally renowned for prudence and for valour. By Mary, Eustace had no issue except a daughter called Matilda. When she became marriageable, after the death of her father, the same truly magnificent king gave her in wedlock to his nephew Stephen, and also procured by his care the county of Boulogne for him, as he had before conferred on him that of Moreton in Normandy. The legate had justly proposed that these counties should be bestowed on his nephew Eustace, whom I mentioned, so long as his father should remain in captivity. This the empress altogether opposed, and it is doubtful whether she had not even promised them to others. Offended at the repulse, he kept from her court many days; and though repeatedly sent for, persisted in refusing to go thither. In the meanwhile, he held a friendly conference with the queen, his brother’s wife, at Guildford, and being wrought upon by her tears and concessions, bent his mind to the liberation of Stephen. He also absolved, without consulting the bishops, all those of the king’s party whom he had excommunicated in the council, while his complaints against the empress were disseminated through England, that she wished to seize his person; that she observed nothing which she had sworn to him; that all the barons of England had performed their engagements towards her, but that she had violated hers, as she knew not how to use her prosperity with moderation.

To allay, if possible, these commotions, the earl of Gloucester, with a retinue not very numerous, proceeded to Winchester; but, failing in his endeavours, he returned to Oxford, where his sister had for some time established her residence. She therefore understanding, as well from what she was continually hearing, as from what she then learned from her brother, that the legate had no friendly dispositions towards her, proceeded to Winchester with such forces as she could muster. Being immediately admitted into the royal castle, with good intentions probably she sent messengers to the bishop, requesting that, as she was upon the spot, he would come to her without delay. He, not thinking it safe to go, deceived the messengers by an evasive manner, merely saying, “I will prepare myself:” and immediately he sent for all such as he knew were well-disposed to the king. In consequence almost all the earls of England came; for they were full of youth and levity, and preferred military enterprise to peace. Besides, many of them were ashamed at having deserted the king in battle, as has been said before, and thought to wipe off the ignominy of having fled, by attending this meeting. Few, however, attended the empress: there were David king of Scotland, Robert earl of Gloucester, Milo de Hereford, and some barons; for Ranulf earl of Chester came late, and to no purpose. To comprise, therefore, a long series of events within narrow limits: the roads on every side of Winchester were watched by the queen and the earls who had come with her, lest supplies should be brought in to those who had sworn fidelity to the empress. The town of Andover also was burned. On the west, therefore, necessaries were procured but scantily and with difficulty; some persons found on the road, being intercepted and either killed or maimed; while on the east, every avenue towards London was crowded with supplies destined for the bishop and his party; Geoffrey de Mandeville, who had now again revolted to them, for formerly after the capture of the king he had sworn fidelity to the empress, and the Londoners, lending every possible assistance, and omitting no circumstance which might distress that princess. The people of Winchester were, though secretly, inclined to her side, regarding the faith they had before pledged to her, although they had been in some degree compelled by the bishop to such a measure. In the meanwhile combustibles were hurled from the bishop’s castle on the houses of the townspeople, who, as I have said, rather wished success to the empress than to the bishop, which caught and burned the whole abbey of nuns within the city, and the monastery which is called Hyde without the walls. Here was an image of our Lord crucified, wrought with a profusion of gold and silver and precious stones, through the pious solicitude of Canute, who was formerly king and presented it. This being seized by the flames and thrown to the ground, was afterwards stripped of its ornaments at the command of the legate himself: more than five hundred marks of silver and thirty of gold, which were found on it, served for a largess to the soldiers. The abbey of nuns at Warewell was also burned by one William de Ipres, an abandoned character who feared neither God nor man, because some of the partizans of the empress had secured themselves within it.

[Sidenote: [A.D. 1141.] RETREAT OF THE EARL OF GLOUCESTER.]

In the meantime, the earl of Gloucester, though suffering, with his followers, by daily contests with the royalists, and though circumstances turned out far beneath his expectation, yet ever abstained from the burning of churches, notwithstanding he resided in the vicinity of St. Swithun’s. But unable to endure any longer the disgrace of being, together with his party, almost besieged, and seeing fortune inclining towards the enemy, he deemed it expedient to yield to necessity; and, having marshalled his troops, he prepared to depart. Sending his sister, therefore, and the rest, in the vanguard, that she might proceed without interruption, he himself retreated gently, with a chosen few, who had spirit enough not to be alarmed at a multitude. The earls immediately pursuing him, as he thought it disgraceful, and beneath his dignity to fly, and was the chief object of universal attack, he was made captive. The rest, especially the chiefs, proceeded on their destined journey, and, with the utmost precipitation, reached Devizes. Thus they departed from Winchester on the day of the exaltation of the holy cross, which at that time happened on a Sunday, having come thither a few days before the assumption of the holy mother of God. It appeared to some rather miraculous, and was matter of general conversation in England, that the king on the Sunday of the purification of our lady, and the earl on the Sunday of the exaltation of the life-imparting cross, should each experience a similar fate. This, however, was truly worthy of remark and admiration, that, no one, on this mischance, ever beheld the earl of Gloucester either dispirited or dejected in countenance. He breathed too high a consciousness of dignity, to subject himself to the caprice of fortune; and, although he was at first invited by soothing measures, and afterwards assailed by threats, he never consented to treat of his liberation, except with the privity of his sister. At last the affair was thus decided: that the king and himself should be liberated on equal terms; no condition being proposed, except that each might defend his party, to the utmost of his abilities, as before. These matters, after repeated and long discussion, from the exaltation of the holy cross, to the festival of All Saints, then came to a suitable conclusion. For on that day, the king, released from his captivity, left his queen, and son, and two of the nobility at Bristol, as sureties for the liberation of the earl; and came with the utmost speed to Winchester, where the earl, now brought from Rochester, whither he had first been taken, was at this time confined. The third day after, when the king came to Winchester, the earl departed, leaving there on that day his son William, as a pledge, till the queen should be released. Performing with quick despatch the journey to Bristol, he liberated the queen, on whose return, William, the earl’s son, was set free from his detention. It is, moreover, sufficiently notorious, that, although, during the whole of his captivity and of the following months till Christmas, he was enticed by numberless and magnificent promises to revolt from his sister; yet he always deemed his fraternal affection of greater importance than any promise which could be made him. For leaving his property and his castles, which he might have quietly enjoyed, he continued unceasingly near the empress at Oxford, where, as I have said before, fixing her residence, she held her court.

[Sidenote: [A.D. 1141.] COUNCIL AT WESTMINSTER.]

In the meantime, the legate, a prelate of unbounded spirit, who was never inclined to leave incomplete what he had once purposed, summoned by his legatine authority a council at Westminster, on the octaves of St. Andrew. I cannot relate the transactions of this council with that exact veracity with which I did the former, as I was not present. We have heard that a letter was then read from the sovereign pope, in which he gently rebuked the legate for not endeavouring to release his brother; but that he forgave him his former transgression, and earnestly exhorted him to attempt his liberation by any mode, whether ecclesiastical or secular: that the king himself entered the council, and complained to the reverend assembly, that his own subjects had both made captive, and nearly killed him by the injuries they inflicted on him, who had never refused them justice. That the legate himself, too, by great powers of eloquence, endeavoured to extenuate the odium of his own conduct: that, in truth, he had received the empress, not from inclination, but necessity; for, that, while his brother’s overthrow was yet recent, all the earls being either dispersed or waiting the issue of events in suspense, she had surrounded Winchester with her party: that she had obstinately persevered in breaking every promise she had made pertaining to the right of the churches: and that he had it from unquestionable authority, that she, and her partisans, had not only had designs on his dignity, but even on his life: that, however, God, in his mercy, had caused matters to fall out contrary to her hopes, so that he should himself escape destruction, and rescue his brother from captivity: that he commanded therefore, on the part of God and of the pope, that they should strenuously assist the king, anointed by the will of the people and with the approbation of the holy see: but that such as disturbed the peace, in favour of the countess of Anjou, should be excommunicated, with the exception of herself, who was sovereign of the Angevins.

I do not say, that this speech was kindly received by all the clergy, though certainly no one opposed it; for all bridled their tongues either through fear, or through reverence. There was one layman sent from the empress, who openly forbade the legate, by the faith which he had pledged to her, to ordain any thing, in that council, repugnant to her honour; and said, that he had made oath to the empress, not to assist his brother, unless, perchance, by sending him twenty horsemen at the utmost: that her coming to England had been effected by his frequent letters: that her taking the king, and holding him in captivity, had been done principally by his connivance. The advocate affirmed these and many other circumstances, with great harshness of language, and by no means sparing the legate. However, he could not be prevailed upon, by any force of argument, to lay aside his animosity: for, as I have said before, he was an active perseverer in what he had once taken in hand. This year, therefore, the tragedy of which I have briefly related, was fatal, and nearly destructive, to England; during which, though conceiving that she might now, perhaps, experience some little respite, yet, she became again involved in calamity, and, unless God’s mercy shall shortly come to her relief, must there long continue.

[Sidenote: [A.D. 1142.] ROBERT, EARL OF GLOUCESTER.]

It seems fitting that I should commence the transactions of this year, which is A.D. 1142, with certain events which were unnoticed in the former; and, at the same time, briefly recapitulate what has been said, in various places, of Robert, earl of Gloucester, son of king Henry, and submit it, thus arranged, to the consideration of the reader. For, as he was the first to espouse the just defence of his sister, so did he persevere with unshaken constancy in her cause without remuneration; I say without remuneration, because some of her supporters, either following the course of fortune, are changed with its revolutions, or having already obtained considerable benefits, fight for justice under expectation of still further recompence: Robert, alone, or nearly alone, uninfluenced by such considerations, was never swayed, as will appear hereafter, either by hope of advantage, or fear of loss. Let no one, therefore, suspect me of adulation, if I relate these matters circumstantially: for I shall make no sacrifice to favour; but pure historical truth, without any stain of falsehood, shall be handed down to the knowledge of posterity.

It has been related of the earl, how, first[568] of all the nobility, after David, king of Scotland, he confirmed, by oath, his fealty to his sister, the empress, for the kingdom of England, and the duchy of Normandy, in the presence of his father Henry. There was some contention, as I have said, between him and Stephen earl of Boulogne, afterwards king of England, who should swear first; Robert alleging the preference of a son, Stephen the dignity of a nephew.

It has been recorded too, what reasonable causes, from December, when his father died, till after the ensuing Easter, detained him in Normandy, from coming immediately into England to avenge his sister’s injuries. And when at last he did come, with what just deliberation, and with what proviso, he consented to do homage to the king; and how justly, in the following year, and thenceforward, he abjured it.

Nor has his second arrival in England from Normandy, after his father’s death, with his sister, been omitted: where, relying on the favour of God, and his innate courage, he ventured himself, as into a desert full of wild beasts, though scarcely accompanied by one hundred and forty horsemen. Neither has it been unnoticed, that, amid such tumult of war, while anxious watch was kept on all sides, he boldly came to Bristol with only twelve horsemen, having committed his sister to safe custody, as he supposed, at Arundel: nor with what prudence, at that time, he received her from the very midst of her enemies, and afterwards advanced her in all things to the utmost of his power; ever busied on her account, and neglecting his own interest to secure hers, while some persons taking advantage of his absence, curtailed his territories on every side: and, lastly, urged by what necessity, namely to rescue his son-in-law, whom the king had besieged, he engaged in a hazardous conflict, and took the king prisoner. This fortunate event, however, was somewhat obscured by his own capture at Winchester, as I have recorded in the transactions of the former year; though by the grace of God, he showed himself, not so much an object of commiseration, as of praise, in that capture. For, when he saw that the royalist earls were so persevering in the pursuit that the business could not be gotten through without loss on his part, he sent forward all those for whom he was under apprehension, and more especially the empress. When they had proceeded far enough to escape in safety, he followed leisurely, that the retreat might not resemble a flight, and received the attack of the pursuers himself; thus purchasing, by his own detention, the liberty of his friends. And now, even at the moment of his capture, no one, as I have said above, perceived him either dispirited, or humbled in language: he seemed so far to tower above fortune, that he compelled his persecutors, for I am loth to call them enemies, to respect him. Wherefore the queen, though she might have remembered, that her husband had been fettered by his command, yet never suffered a bond of any kind to be put upon him, nor presumed on her dignity to treat him dishonourably. And finally at Rochester, for thither he was conducted, he went freely whither he pleased, to the churches below the castle, and conversed with whom he chose, the queen only being present (for after her departure he was held in free custody in the keep) and so calm and serene was his mind, that, getting money from his vassals in Kent, he bought some valuable horses, which were both serviceable and beneficial to him afterwards.

[Sidenote: [A.D. 1142.] EARL ROBERT IN PRISON.]

The earls, and those whose business it was to speak of such matters, at first, tried if he would allow of the king and himself being liberated on equal terms. Though his countess, Mabil, out of solicitude for her beloved husband, would have embraced these terms the moment she heard them, being, through conjugal affection, bent on his liberation, yet he, in his wiser policy, refused: asserting that a king and an earl were not of equal importance; however, if they would allow all who had been taken with him, or for him, to be set at liberty, to this he might consent. But the earls and other royalists would not assent to these terms; they were anxious indeed for the king’s liberty, but not at their own pecuniary loss: for earl Gilbert had taken William of Salisbury: and William de Ipres, Humphry de Bohun; and others had made such captures as they could, at Winchester, greedily expecting large sums for their ransom.

Next attacking the earl another way, they were anxious to allure him with magnificent promises, if so they might effect their purpose. Would he go over to the king’s side, and dismiss his sister, he should govern the whole country: all things should await his decision: the crown should be the only distinction between him and the king: over all others he should rule as he pleased. The earl rejected these unbounded promises, with a memorable reply, which I wish posterity to hear, and to admire: “I am not my own master,” said he, “but am in another’s power; when I shall see myself at my own disposal, I promise to do every thing which reason dictates on the matter you propound.”

Irritated and incensed at this, when they could do nothing by fair means, they began to menace, that they would send him over sea to Boulogne, and keep him in perpetual bondage till death. Still, however, with a serene countenance, dispelling their threats, he firmly and truly protested, that he feared nothing less. For he relied on the spirit of his wife, the countess, and the courage of his partizans, who would immediately send the king into Ireland, if they heard of any foul deed perpetrated against himself.

A month elapsed in these transactions; so difficult a work was it to effect the liberation of princes whom fortune had fettered with her chain.[569] But, at length, the supporters of the empress having conferred together, entreated the earl by divers messages, that “as he could not do what he would,” according to the comic writer, “he would do what he could:” he should allow therefore, the king and himself to be set at liberty, on equal terms, “otherwise,” said they, “we fear lest the earls, inspirited by the consciousness of their great and most distinguished exploit in making you captive, should attack us one by one, reduce our castles, and even make an attempt upon your sister.”

Robert, wrought upon at length, assented to the proposal of the legate and archbishop, but still on condition that none of the castles, or territory, should be restored, which had come under the power of the empress or of any of her faithful adherents, since the capture of the king: but he could not by any means obtain the release of his friends, as he had given offence to some persons, in rejecting, with a kind of superciliousness their magnificent promises with respect to the government of the whole kingdom. And as they were extremely anxious that, for the royal dignity, the king should be first set at liberty, and then the earl; when he demurred to this, the legate and the archbishop made oath, that if the king, after his own liberation, refused to release the earl, they would forthwith deliver themselves up into Robert’s power, to be conducted wherever he pleased. Nor did he rest here; for his sagacious mind discovered an additional security. It might fall out, that the king, as often happens, listening to evil counsel, would consider the detention of his brother, and of the archbishop, as of very little consequence, so that he himself were at his ease. He demanded, therefore, from them both, separately, instruments, with their seals, addressed to the pope, to the following effect; “That the sovereign pope was to understand, that they, for the liberation of the king and the peace of the kingdom, had bound themselves to the earl by this covenant, that, if the king refused to liberate him after his own release, themselves would willingly surrender to his custody. Should it, therefore, come to this calamitous issue, they earnestly entreated, what it would well become the papal goodness voluntarily to perform, that he would release them, who were his suffragans, as well as the earl, from unjustifiable durance.” There was something more to the same effect.

These writings, received from either prelate, Robert deposited in a place of safety, and came to Winchester with them and a great company of the barons. The king also, as has been before observed, coming thither soon after, had a friendly interview with the earl. But although he, and all the earls present, eagerly busied themselves in bringing over Robert to their wishes, yet, “firm as a rock amid the ocean” in his resistance, he rendered their attempts abortive, or refuted them by argument. He affirmed, that, it was neither reasonable nor natural, that he should desert his sister, whose cause he had justly espoused, not for any benefit to himself, nor so much out of dislike to the king, as regard to his oath, which, they also ought to remember, it was impiety to violate, especially when he called to mind, that he had been enjoined by the pope to respect the oath he had taken to his sister in the presence of his father. Thus failing of peace, they severally departed.

[Sidenote: [A.D. 1142.] DESIGNS OF THE EMPRESS.]

The reason why I have not incorporated these events with the transactions of the former year is that I did not then know them; for I have always dreaded to transmit anything to posterity, through my narrative, the truth of which I could not perfectly vouch for. What, then, I have to relate of the present year will commence as follows.

The respective parties of the empress and of the king, conducted themselves with quiet forbearance from Christmas to Lent, anxious rather to preserve their own, than to ravage the possessions of others. The king went to a distant part of the kingdom for the purpose of quelling some disturbances. Lent coming on gave all a respite from war; in the midst of which the empress came with her party to Devizes, where her secret designs were debated. So much of them, however, transpired that it was known that all her partizans had agreed to send for the earl of Anjou, who was most interested in the defence of the inheritance of his wife and children in England. Men of respectability were, therefore, despatched and such as might fitly execute a business of such magnitude. Not long after, nearly on the Easter holidays, the king, while meditating, as it is said, some harsh measures, was detained by an acute disease at Northampton; so severe, indeed, that he was reported, almost throughout England, as being at the point of death. His sickness continued till after Pentecost, when returning health gradually restored him. In the meantime, the messengers returning from Anjou, related the result of their mission to the empress and the princes in a second council, held at Devizes on the octaves of Pentecost. They said that the earl of Anjou in some measure favoured the mission of the nobility, but that among them all he was only well acquainted with the earl of Gloucester, of whose prudence and fidelity, greatness of mind and industry, he had long since had proof. Were he to make a voyage to him he would, as far as he was able, accede to his wishes: but that all other persons would expend their labour in passing and repassing to no purpose.

The hopes of all the assembly being thus excited, they entreated that the earl would condescend to undertake this task on account of the inheritance of his sister and of his nephews. At first he excused himself, alleging the difficulty of the business, the perilous journey, beset with enemies on either side of the sea; that it would be attended with danger to his sister, as in his absence those persons would be hardly able to defend her, who, distrusting even the strength of their own party, had nearly deserted her during his captivity. Yielding at length to the general desire, he demanded hostages, especially from those who were considered as the chief persons, to be taken with him into Normandy, and to be pledges, as well to the earl of Anjou as to the empress; and that all, continuing at Oxford, should unite in defending her from injury to the utmost while he was absent. His propositions were eagerly approved, and hostages given him to be conducted into Normandy.

Robert, therefore, bidding adieu to his sister, and taking with him his hostages and some light troops, proceeded by safe marches to Wareham, which town and castle he had long since entrusted to his eldest son William. There, soon after the festival of St. John, committing himself, by the grace of God, to the ocean, with such vessels as he then possessed, he weighed anchor. When they were about mid-sea, a tempest arising, all except two were dispersed; some were driven back, and some carried beyond their destination. Two only, in one of which was the earl with his most faithful adherents, keeping their course, arrived in the wished-for port. Proceeding thus to Caen, he sent messengers for the earl of Anjou. The earl came without reluctance, but stated his difficulties, and those not a few, to the object of the embassy when proposed to him; among others that he should be detained from coming into England by the rebellion of many castles in Normandy. This circumstance delayed the earl of Gloucester’s return longer than he had intended: for, that he might deprive the earl of Anjou of every evasion, he assisted him in subduing ten castles in Normandy. The names of which were Tenerchebrei, Seithilaret, Brichesart, Alani, Bastenborg, Triveres, Castel de Vira, Placeit, Vilers, Moreton. Yet even by this activity, he furthered the end of his mission but little. The earl of Anjou stated fresh causes, as the former were done away, to excuse his coming into England. Indeed, as a very singular favour, he permitted his eldest son, by the empress, to accompany his uncle to England, by whose presence the chiefs might be encouraged to defend the cause of the lawful heir. The youth is named Henry, after his grandfather; may he hereafter resemble him in happiness and in power.

[Sidenote: [A.D. 1142.] RETURN OF THE EARL OF GLOUCESTER.]

In England, in the meantime, the king seizing the opportunity of the earl’s absence came unexpectedly to Wareham, and finding it slightly garrisoned, he burned and plundered the town, and immediately got possession of the castle also. Not content with this, as he saw fortune inclined to favour him, three days before the festival of St. Michael, by an unexpected chance,[570] he burned the city of Oxford, and laid siege to the castle, in which was the empress with her domestic guards. This he did with such determined resolution, that he declared no hope of advantage or fear of loss should induce him to depart till the castle was delivered up, and the empress surrendered to his power. Shortly after, all the nobility of the empress’s party, ashamed of being absent from their sovereign in violation of their compact, assembled in large bodies at Wallingford, with the determination of attacking the king if he would risk a battle in the open plain; but they had no intention of assailing him within the city, as Robert earl of Gloucester had so fortified it with ditches that it appeared impregnable unless by fire.

These rumours becoming prevalent in Normandy, Robert hastened his return. He embarked, therefore, somewhat more than three, but less than four hundred horsemen, on board fifty-two vessels; to these were added two which he took at sea on his return. God’s grace so singularly favoured his pious resolution that not one ship, out of so great a number, was separated, but all nearly close together, or gently proceeding one before the other, ploughed the calm bosom of the deep. Nor did the waves violently dash against the fleet, but rather seemed subserviently to further their passage, like that most beautiful appearance at sea when the wave gradually approaching gently breaks upon the shore. Thus making the port of Wareham, these favoured vessels restored the earl and all his companions to the wishes of their friends.

He had at first thought of landing at Southampton, at once to wreak his vengeance both on its inhabitants and on their lord: but this resolution was changed through the repeated entreaties of the Vituli, who were fearful that their dearest connexions, who resided at Southampton, would be involved in the general calamity. These are a kind of mariners, who are known by the name of Vituli; and as they are his faithful adherents he thought fit to listen to their petitions, and desist from his design. Again, it appeared more dignified to return to the place whence he had departed, and to recover by force what he had lost by a similar mode. Reducing, therefore, immediately the port and town, he laid siege to the castle, which by its strength stimulated the spirit, not to call it obstinacy, of those of the king’s choicest troops who defended it. Yet, nevertheless, soon after, the garrison, shaken in their resolution by the engines of the earl, and greatly alarmed, begged a truce, that, as is the custom of the military, they might demand assistance from the king, consenting to deliver up the castle if he refused to come by a certain day. This, though he was possessed with the utmost impatience to become master of the fortress, was very agreeable to the earl, as it led him to suppose it might draw off Stephen from besieging his sister. We may imagine what firmness of mind this man possessed who, with little more than three hundred horsemen, and as yet joined by no succours in England, could undauntedly await the king, who was reported to have more than a thousand; for many persons had joined the siege, not so much through dislike to the empress as through the hope of plunder.

However, when it was certified that the king, from that resolution which I have before mentioned, refused assistance to the besieged at Wareham, the earl obtained the castle, and with the same attack subdued the island of Portland, which they had fortified, as well as a third castle, called Lullewarden, which belonged to a certain chamberlain, called William of Glastonbury, who had lately revolted from the empress. Robert then, at the beginning of Advent, summoned the whole of Matilda’s partisans to Cirencester: where all resolving to afford their sovereign every possible assistance, they meditated a march to Oxford; courageously determining to give the king battle, unless he retreated. But as they were on their route, the pleasing account reached them, that the empress had escaped from the blockaded castle at Oxford, and was now at Wallingford in security. Turning aside thither, then, at the suggestion of their sovereign, since the soldiers who had remained at her departure, after delivering up the castle, had gone away without molestation, and the holidays admonished them to repose awhile, they resolved to abstain from battle, and retired to their homes.

[Sidenote: [A.D. 1142.] ESCAPE OF THE EMPRESS.]

I would very willingly subjoin the manner of the empress’s liberation, did I know it to a certainty; for it is undoubtedly one of God’s manifest miracles. This, however, is sufficiently notorious, that, through fear of the earl’s approach, many of the besiegers at Oxford stole away wherever they were able, and the rest remitted their vigilance, and kept not so good a look out as before; more anxious for their own safety, in case it came to a battle, than bent on the destruction of others.[571] This circumstance being remarked by the townsmen, the empress, with only four soldiers, made her escape through a small postern, and passed the river. Afterwards, as necessity sometimes, and indeed, almost always, discovers means and ministers courage, she went to Abingdon on foot, and thence reached Wallingford on horse-back. But this I purpose describing more fully, if, by God’s permission, I shall ever learn the truth of it from those who were present.

INDEX.

Adultery, punished in Old Saxony, 74.

Ælla founds the kingdom of Sussex, 92.

Aimar, bishop of Puy, 363, 365.

Alcuin, 62; his epistles, 66, 79, 84.

Aldhelm, abbat of Malmesbury, 29; made bishop of Sherborne, 35.

Aldred, abp. of York, crowns William I, 281.

Aldrey, William de, account of, 340.

Alexander, bp. of Lincoln, imprisoned, 500.

Alexius I, emperor of Constantinople, 365.

Alfwold, king of Northumbria, 68.

Alfred, king of England, anointed by pope Leo, 99; ascends the throne, 113; retires to Athelney, ib.; assumes the garb of a minstrel, 114; routs the Danes, 116; his personal bravery, 117; his children, ib.; founds various monasteries, 118; his love of literature, ib.; dies, 121.

Alfred, the son of Ethelred, 207.

Alfrid, king of Northumbria, 52.

Alla, king of Northumbria, 41.

Almodis, countess of Toulouse, 416.

Ambrosius, monarch of Britain, 11.

Analaf, 129, 136; created king by the Northumbrians, 141.

Angles and Saxons invited from Germany, 7; arrive in Britain, 8.

Angle-School at Rome, 99.

Anjou, earls of, account of, 265.

Anjou, Geoffrey earl of, account of, 261.

Anlaf, king of Norway, baptized, 168.

Anselm, abp. of Canterbury, quits the kingdom, 338; recalled, 428; his contest with king Henry, 448.

Anschetil, a Norman nobleman, 144.

Antioch, description and siege of, 378-382.

Aoxianus, governor of Antioch, 379, 381.

Arbrisil, Robert de, account of, 471.

Architecture, new style of at Westminster, 55; at Salisbury and Malmesbury, 442.

Armorica or Bretagne, British settlement of, 6.

Arthur assists Ambrosius, 11; his sepulchre never found, 315.

Asia Minor, its ancient fruitfulness, 377.

Ass, a man transformed into one, 180.

Asser, bishop of Sherborne, account of, 118.

Assingdon, consecration of church at, 198.

Athelard, abp. of Canterbury, 82.

Athelstan, king of Mercia, 128-140.

Athelwold, the confidant of Edgar, 159.

Augustine, St., converts the king of Kent to Christianity, 12, 26. See Joscelyn.

Azotus, siege of, 405.

Babylon in Egypt, formerly Taphnis, 390.

Badon, Mount, siege of, 11.

Bayeux, city of, burned, 433.

Baldred, king of Kent, 17; expelled, 96.

Baldwin I, king of Jerusalem, 395-412.

Baldwin II, king of Jerusalem, 412.

Baldwin, earl of Flanders, 206.

Balista, what, 380.

Ballads, ancient historical, 138, 148, 315.

Balso the Short, story of, 145.

Bangor, monastery of, 44.

Battles at Aylesford, 194; Antioch, 382; Ascalon, 391; Assingdon, 194; Bensington, 38; Bruneford or Brumby, 129; Degstan, 43; Dol, 291; Eschendun, 111; Gerborai, 291; Hastings, 257, 276, 280; Hellendun, 96; Penn, near Gillingham, 193; Sceorstan, ib.; Standford-bridge, 256; Tenersebray, 433; Walesdun, 260; Witgeornesbrug, 20; Wodensdike, 19.

Battle abbey, founded by William I, 300.

Bede, Venerable, 3, 54, 56, 59.

Belesme, Robert de, 430, 433.

Benedict Biscop, founder of Wearmouth, 54.

Benignus, St. 25; his epitaph, ib.

Berefreid, what, 388.

Berengar of Tours, account of, 311.

Bernard, abbat of Tyron, account of, 471.

Bernard, the monk, 385.

Bernicia, kingdom of, 46.

Bernulph, king of Mercia, 87, 96.

Berthwulf, king of Mercia, expelled, 88.

Bertric, king of Wessex, 40; expels Egbert, 95; poisoned, 106.

Bethlehem, church of St. Mary, at, 383.

Bezants, money so called, 372, 406.

Bishoprics, extinct or consolidated, 78. Extent of, 92; removal of, 78, 352; precedence of, 22.

Bishops, seven, story of, 127, 128.

Blois, Theobald earl of, 438.

Blois, Henry de, bishop of Winton, and legate, 501; his treaty with the empress Maud, 517; holds a council at Winton, 518; his quarrel with the empress, 523.

Blois, Stephen earl of, joins the crusade, 366, 408; killed at Ramula, 410.

Blood, its physical effects, 361; shower of, 67.

Boamund, his design in urging the crusade, 356, 365; account of, 413.

Boniface, archbishop of Mentz, 73.

Boy, Jewish, legendary story of, 314.

Bracelets exposed by Alfred on highways, 118.

Briget, St. 25.

Britons, avarice and rapine of, 67.

Britons, western, or Cornwallish, 134.

Brithwin, bishop of Wilton, 247.

Burgundy, Stephen earl of, 408. Killed at Ramula, 410.

Burhred, king of Mercia, 88.

Cadwalla, king of the Britons, 46.

Cædwalla, king of Wessex, 16. Baptized, and called Peter, 31.

Caerleon, or Chester, 43.

Cæsarea, siege of, 405.

Cæsar, Julius, subdues Britain, 5.

Calixtus II, pope, his letter on reducing Sutri, 466; accommodation with the emperor Henry V, 467.

Calne, remarkable accident at, 163.

Canons, secular, expelled Winchester, 149; Attempt to recover their monasteries, 162.

Canterbury, see of, attempt to remove it to Lichfield, 78; controversy with see of York, 319.

Canterbury, city of, burnt, 16. Dreadful outrage at, 218.

Canute, elected king by the Danes, 190; lands at Sandwich, 192; divides the kingdom with Edmund Ironside, 195; assumes the sovereignty of England, 196; conquers the Swedes and Norwegians, 198; his epistle from Rome, 199; his death, 205.

Caradoc of Lancarvon, his Life of Gildas, 22, _note_.

Ceawlin, king of Wessex, his character, 18.

Ceolwulf, king of Northumbria, 53; becomes a monk, 61.

Centuries, or hundreds, instituted, 117.

Cenric, king of Wessex, his character, 18.

Ceolfrid, abbat of Wearmouth, 51, 55.

Ceols, vessels so called, described, 8, 18.

Cerdic, founds the kingdom of Wessex, 17.

Charles the Great (Charlemagne), 65, 85.

Charles the Bald, king of France, 125.

Charles the Simple, king of France, 124.

Charles the Fat, king of France, 102.

Charters, Ethelbald’s, 76. Ethelwulf’s, 107. Edmund’s, to Glastonbury, 141. Edgar’s, to Glastonbury, 151. To Malmesbury, 155; Canute’s, to Glastonbury, 203. Stephen’s, 493.

Chartres, siege of, 125. Church of, 204.

Chasuble, meaning of, 473, _note_.

Chester, reduced by Edward the elder, 131.

Chorges, bishop of, account of, 414, 417.

Christianity, introduced into Mercia, 71.

Chronicle, Saxon, 3, 30, 39, 98.

Churchyards, privileges of, 492, _note_.

Circscet, what, 202.

Cissa, king of Sussex, 92, _note_.

Cistertian order, origin of, 347; observances of, 349.

Clergy, vanity of their dress condemned, 76.

Clerks, two, at Nantes, story of, 268.

Clermont, council of, its enactments, 356.

Clock, mechanical, 175.

Cologne, abp. of, his exemplary conduct, 183.

Comet, appearance of, 251, 343.

Complines, what, 350, _note_.

Constantine the Great, exhausts Britain, 6.

Constantine, elected emperor, and slain, 6.

Constantine, king of Scots, expelled his kingdom, 129; killed, 130.

Constantinople, described, 372. Its emperors, 374.

Corbaguath, or Corbanach, commander of the Persian forces, 381. His death, 421.

Councils, ecclesiastical, civil, &c., 76, 127, 163, 191, 311, 356, 462, 499, 501, 517, 525.

Court, licentiousness of Rufus’s, 337.

Courtiers, their insolence to the clergy, 339.

Crida, king of Mercia, 70, _note_.

Cross, part of our Saviour’s, 118, 136, 390, 411.

Crucifix, said to have spoken, 163. Celebrated one at Lucca, 332. At Winchester, 523.

Crusaders, march of, 364. Their extreme distress, 377. Their admirable conduct, 387-391.

Cuichelm, king of Wessex, 19, 20.

Cumberland, assigned to Malcolm, 141.

Curfew, supposed abolition of, 428, _note_.

Cuthbert, St. 52. Appears to Alfred, 113. His incorruption, 236.

Cuthburga, abbess of Wimborne, 35.

Cuthred, king of West Saxons, 37.

Cynegils, king of Wessex, account of, 20.

Cynewolf, king of West Saxons, 38.

Dancers and profane singers punished, 182.

Danes, invade England, 40, 96. Ravages of, 69, 112, 167. Butchered by Ethelred, 169. Exact tribute, 185.

Danube, the river, described, 374.

Daibert, abp. of Pisa, joins the Crusade, 397. Made patriarch of Jerusalem, 398.

Dalmatic, garment so called, what, 85.

Danfrunt, siege of, 263. Castle of, 436.

David, St. 26.

David, tower of, at Jerusalem described, 387.

David, king of Scotland, his character, 434.

Decennaries, or tithings instituted, 117.

Deira, province of, 42.

Den, a monastery so called, 466.

Denmark, succession of its kings, 292.

Devices, on armour or shields, 262, 469.

Devil, visible appearance of, 343.

Dionysius the Areopagite, 119.

Domesday-book, account of, 291.

Drinking by pegs, account of, 148.

Dunstan, abp. of Canterbury, 141, 167, 245.

Durham, privileges of the see of, 303.

Eadbert, king of Northumbria, 61-67.

Eadburga, daughter of Edward the Elder, 125, 244.

Eadburga, queen of Wessex, 106.

Eadbald, king of Kent, 13.

Eadbert Pren, king of Kent, 17, 87.

Eadgaring, meaning of, 64.

Eadmer, the historian, 3, _note_.

Ealstan, bishop of Sherborne, 106, 108.

Earls, their official honours, 496, _note_.

Earthquake, terrible, 342.

East Anglia, kingdom of, 88. Extent of, 92. Plundered by the Danes, 112. Account of, 240.

Ecclesiastics, their property seized at death, 494.

Eclipse, terrific, 488, 511.

Edan, king of Scots, 43.

Edessa, in Mesopotamia, described, 396.

Edgar, king of England, 147-162.

Edgar Etheling, son of Edward the Exile, 253. His character, 284.

Edgitha, wife of the Confessor, 216.

Edifices, stone, first builders of in England, 54.

Editha, daughter of Edgar, 161, 245.

Edmund, St. king of East Anglia, 89. Slain, 112. His incorruption, 236. His boundary, 242. Church built in honour of him, 198.

Edmund, king, 141. His death, 143.

Edmund Ironside, 191-195.

Edred, king of England, 145.

Edric, duke of Mercia, 169, 191, 197.

Edward the Elder, 122. His issue, 124. Education of his children, 125.

Edward the Martyr, 162-165.

Edward the Confessor, 213. Crowned at Winchester, 216. His character, 247. His predictions, 251. Dies, 253.

Edward the Exile comes to England, 253.

Edwin, king of Northumbria, 45.

Edwin, brother of Athelstan, 139.

Edwin, brother of Edmund Ironside, 196.

Edwin and Morcar, earls of Northumbria, 285.

Edwy, king of England, 145-147.

Egbert, king of Kent, 15.

Egbert, archbishop of York, 61.

Egbert, king of Wessex, 94-97.

Egfert, king of Mercia, 86.

Egfrid, king of Northumbria, 51.

Eginhard, his life of Charlemagne, 64, _note_.

Eisc, son of Hengist, king of Kent, 12.

Elbert, and Egelbright, 15, 237, 243.

Eleutherius, bishop of Rome, 21.

Elfred, the rival of king Athelstan, 128; His singular death, 137.

Elferius, destroys monasteries, 164, 165.

Elfgiva, concubine of king Edwy, 146.

Elfthrida, wife of king Edgar, 159, 161; Causes the murder of king Edward, 164.

Elmer, a monk, flies like Dædalus, 252.

Elphege, archbishop of Canterbury, 168; his body translated to Canterbury, 202; its incorruption, 236.

Elward, or Ethelwerd, abridger of the Saxon Chronicle, 3, _note_.

Ely, church of, made a cathedral, 476.

Emma queen of Ethelred, 187; her liberality to Winchester, 215; story of the ploughshares, ib. _note_.

England, divisions of, geographical and ecclesiastical, 91-93; oppressed state of after the conquest, 235, 253; its lamentable condition in the time of Stephen, 496, 509.

Erconbert, king of Kent, 14.

Ercongotha, St. 15, 242.

Erie, expelled the kingdom by Canute, 197.

Ermenhilda, St. 242.

Ethelbald, king of Mercia, 73-77.

Ethelbald, king of Wessex, 110.

Ethelbert, king of Kent, 12; his answer to Augustine, 14; converted to Christianity, ib.

Ethelbert, St. king of East Anglia, killed, 78.

Ethelbert, king of Kent, Essex, &c., 110.

Ethelbert, son of Ermenred, murdered, 15, 237, 243.

Ethelburga, queen of Ina, her art, 36.

Etheldrida, St. her incorruption, 242.

Ethelfrid, king of Northumbria, 43.

Ethelnoth, archbishop of Canterbury, 203.

Ethelred, king of Mercia, 72.

Ethelred, son of Ermenred, murdered, 15, 237, 243.

Ethelred, or Ethelbert, king of Northumbria, 68.

Ethelred, king of Wessex, 111.

Ethelred II, king of England, 165, 186-193.

Ethelfleda, lady of the Mercians, 123.

Ethered, earl, governor of Mercia, 116.

Ethelric, king of Northumbria, 42.

Ethelwald opposes Edward the Elder, 123.

Ethelwalch, king of Sussex, 30.

Ethelwold, bishop of Winchester, 149.

Ethelwulf, king, 97; his grant of tithes, 98; marries Judith, 99; returns from Rome, 106; his charter, 107; his descent, 109.

Euripus, or sea-flood, destroys villages, 191.

Eustace, earl of Boulogne, his affray, 218.

Exeter, fortified and walled by Athelstan, 134; burnt, 168; reduced by Wm. I, 281.

Famine, ravages England, 170.

Feudal law, practices connected with, 447, _note_.

Fire, sacred, miracle of, at Jerusalem, 384, 404.

Fitz-Hubert, Robert, 506, 511.

Fitz-Osberne, William, 288.

Flanders, Robert earl of, 366, 436.

Formosus, pope, his pretended epistle, 127.

Forest, New, account of, 306.

Franks, origin of, 63; their character, 95.

France, recapitulation of kings of, 64, 99.

Frea, wife of Woden, 8.

Frideswide, St. church at Oxford burnt, 191.

Fulcher of Chartres, on Syrian transactions, 395.

Fulbert of Chartres, his character, 204, 314.

Fulda, monastery of, 210; disease at, 318.

Fulk, earl of Anjou, account of, 265.

Gelasius II, pope, expelled Rome, 464.

Geoffrey, Martel, account of, 267.

Gerbert, pope Sylvester II, 172-181.

German, St. 24; his miracles, 116.

Gildas, the historian, 22, 67.

Girth, or Gurth, son of Godwin, 222, 275.

Glastonbury, antiquities of, by William of Malmesbury, 51; account of, 21; its privileges, 142, 150; Canute’s presents to, 203; contention at, 303.

Gosfrith, bishop of Coutances, 328, 329.

Gloucester, Robert earl of, prefatory epistle to, 1. Conclusion of Regal History addressed to, 477; his character, 478; Modern History addressed to, 480; conduct with respect to Stephen, 492; with respect to his sister, 497; arrives in England, 505-531; his death, 1, _note_.

Godfrey, duke of Lorraine, account of, 365.

Godfrey of Boulogne, account of, 392; joins the crusade, 394; chosen king of Jerusalem, 390, 394; dies, 395.

Godfrey, prior of Winton, account of, 475.

Godwin, earl, defeats the Swedes, 198; supports Emma, 206; murders Alfred the son of Ethelred, 207; his character and death, 221; his family, 223.

Golgotha, church of, 395, _note_.

Gothrun, a Danish king, baptized, 115.

Gregory I, pope, 42; dialogues of, 119, 232; his pastoral translated by Alfred, 120.

Gregory VI, pope, otherwise Gratian, 223-230.

Gregory VII, pope, otherwise Hildebrand, 298.

Gregory VIII, pope, otherwise Maurice Bourdin, 464.

Griffin, king of the Welsh, 214, 256.

Grimbald, abbat of Winton, 118, 120.

Guimund, bp. of Avers, his eloquence, 312.

Guiscard, or Wiscard, Robert, 294, 413.

Gunhilda, married to Hen. III, 207; accused of adultery, 238.

Gunhildis, sister of Swayne, murdered, 185.

Handboc, Alfred’s, 120, and _note_.

Hardecanute, 205; dies at Lambeth, 206.

Harold, sends presents to Athelstan, 134.

Harold, son of Canute, 205; dies, 206.

Harold, son of Godwin, 214; banished, 220, 254; seizes the crown of England, 55, 275; his death, 277-280.

Harold Harfager, king of Norway, 256, 257.

Harding, founder of Cistertians, 347.

Hastings the Dane, his ravages, 115.

Hastings, battle of, 276-280.

Head, magical, formed by Gerbert, 181.

Hegesippus, a Greek author, 378.

Helena, mother of Constantine the Great, 5.

Helias de la Fleche, 341.

Hengist, king of Kent, his origin, 8; arrives in Britain, 9; his son and brother arrive at Orkney, 10; settle in Northumbria, ib.; his massacre of the British nobles, 11; death, ib.

Henry I, king of England, 425; elected king, 427; marries Matilda of Scotland, 428; gets possession of Normandy, 431; his wholesome laws, 434; his transactions with the Scots, ib.; subdues the Welsh, 435; quarrel with earl of Flanders, 436; interview with pope Calixtus, 440; passion for exotic animals, 443; recapitulation of his character, 445; his person and habits, 446; espouses Adala of Louvain, 454; transactions till his death, 483-490.

Henry III, emperor of Germany, 208-212.

Henry IV, emperor, excommunicated, 358.

Henry V, his contest with the pope, 457.

Hereford, Roger earl of, rebels, 288.

Herbert, bishop of Norwich, account of, 353.

Hildebrand, pope Gregory VII, 295; his conduct to the emperor Henry V, 298.

Hildebert of Mans, verses on Berengar, 312, 367.

Hingwar, the Dane, ravages Northumbria, 240.

Horsa, brother of Hengist, his death, 10.

Horæ, what, 350, _note_.

Hospital, erected at Jerusalem, 385.

Hubba the Dane, brother of Hingwar, 240.

Hugh the Great, brother of Philip, joins the Crusade, 365. His death, 408.

Hugo, abbat of Clugny, his account of Hildebrand, 296. Announces the death of Rufus, 344.

Hugo, abp. of Rouen, his letter, 489.

Hunting, right of, restricted by Will. II, 339.

Hyde monastery, Winton, 122; burnt, 523.

Hyrcanus, digs gold from David’s sepulchre, 177.

Ida, king of Northumbria, 41.

Ina, king of Wessex, 31. Abdicates and dies at Rome, 37. His grant to Glastonbury, 32.

Indract, St. account of, 26.

Investiture of churches, 298, 447. Pope Paschal’s epistle on, 448. Contests about, 458.

Ipres, William de, his perfidy, 495. Burns the abbey of Warewell, 523.

Ireland, converted, 24. Its dependence on England, 443.

Jerusalem, expedition to, or Crusade, 355. Approach to by Crusaders, 383. Description of, 384. Patriarchs of, 385. Siege of, 387. Capture of, 389.

Jews, their insolence, 338.

Jewish youth, anecdote of, 338, _note_.

John XIII, pope, his epistle to Alfric, 151. Confirms the grants to Glastonbury, 153.

John XV, pope, makes peace between Ethelred and Richard duke of Normandy, 171.

John Fitz-Gilbert, 512.

Joscelyn of St. Bertins, account of, 355. His translation of St. Augustine, ib.

Jothwel, king of the Welsh, 129.

Joust, meaning of that term, 515, _note_.

Jutes, a German tribe, settled in Britain, 9.

Katigis, son of Vortigern, death of, 10.

Kenelm, St. 87. Murdered by his sister, 238.

Kenred, king of Northumbria, 53.

Kenred, or Kinred, king of Mercia, 72.

Kent. Its conversion to Christianity, 13. Annexed to West Saxons, 17. Ravaged by Ina, 31. Its extent, 91.

Kentwin, king of Wessex, 30.

Kenwalk, king of Wessex, 20; his death, 30.

Kenulph, king of Mercia, 79-86.

Kinad, king of Scots, 147, 158.

Knights, order of, among the Anglo-Saxons, 131.

Lambert, abp. of Canterbury, deprived, 78.

Lamp, perpetual, 234.

Lanfranc, abp. of Canterbury, 300, 323.

Lanzo, prior of Lewes, account of, 472.

Laurentius, abp. of Canterbury, chastized by St. Peter, 13.

Legion, Theban, account of, 136, _note_.

Leo III, pope, 79. His epistle, 82.

Leofa, murders king Edmund, 143.

Leofric, earl of Hereford, 214.

Leonard, St. his peculiar power, 415, _note_.

Leutherius, bishop, founds Malmesbury, 28.

Lewis VI, king of France, account of, 438.

Library, noble one at York, 62; at Jerusalem, 385.

Libraries formerly attached to churches, 120.

London, ravaged, 97; granted by Alfred to earl Ethered, 116; besieged by Danes, 167; by Canute, 194; dreadful tempest at, 342.

Longinus, St. legend of, 136, _note_.

Lothere, king of Kent, 15.

Lucius, king of the Britons, baptized, 21.

Luidhard, bishop, exemplary life of, 12.

Mabil, wife of Robert earl of Gloucester, 1, _note_; 433, _note_, 483, 528.

Malcolm, king of the Cumbrians, 147.

Malcolm II, king of Scotland, 199.

Malcolm III, placed on the throne of Scotland, by Edward the Confessor, 214; receives the English fugitives, 282; slain, 283, 333.

Malger, archbp. of Rouen, account of, 300.

Malmesbury, monastery of, founded, 28; seized by Offa, 78; by Alstan, 98; its possessions restored, 86; monks expelled by Edwy, 146; seized by Roger bishop of Salisbury, 508; singular account of one of its monks, 177.

Malmesbury, John abbat of, his character, 509.

Malmesbury, William monk of, his motives for writing history, 1; his history of Glastonbury, 21; his love of learning and fondness for books, 93; of Norman and English parentage, 258; his diffidence, 414; first regular historian of the English after Bede, 477; three small volumes of his works supposed to be lost, 480, _note_; residence at Malmesbury, 28; indignation at oppression of his monastery, 78, 98, 146, 508; his design of writing the lives of the prelates, 148.

Magus, Simon, legend of, 180, _note_.

Mancus, value of, 82, _note_.

Manse, signification of, 108, _note_.

Marchio, its signification, 517, _note_.

Margaret, wife of Malcolm king of Scots, her issue, 253; her piety and death, 333.

Martin, St. his relics cure a leprous person, 116.

Matilda, wife of William I, 265, 305.

Matilda, wife of Henry I, account of, 253, 428; her piety, learning, and death, 452.

Matilda, or Maud, married to Henry V, 457; returns to England, 481; succession of England settled on her, 482; married to Fulco earl of Anjou, 483; succession again confirmed to her, 487; elected queen, 519; designs of, 531; escape from Oxford, 535.

Maurilius of Feschamp, account of, 301.

Mayors of the palace, 64, _note_.

Maximus, assumes the empire, 6; his expedition to Gaul, and death, ib.

Mellent, Robert earl of, account of, 441.

Mercia, kings of, 70; extent of, 92; Mercians unite with the Danes, 112; their noble stand in favour of Ethelred, 192.

Mice, singular tales concerning, 316, 317.

Milburga, abbess of Wenlock, 243.

Miles, ambiguity of that term, 289, _note_; 499.

Miracles, Oswald’s, 49; of pope Leo III, 65; of St. Martin, 116; St. Edward’s, 164; of St. Magnus, 182; of Ethelred and Ethelbert, 238; of St. Kenelm, ib.; St. Wistan, 239; St. Edmund, 240; St. Milburga, 243; Eadburga, 244; Editha, 245; of Edward the Confessor, 248.

Money, debased state of in time of king Stephen, 511.

Montgomerie, Roger, conspires against William II, 329.

Morcar, son of Elgar, made earl of Northumbria, 223; defeated by Danes, 256; his death, 285.

Moreton, William earl of, rebels against Henry I, 431.

Mountain, perforated, tale of, 178.

Murrain, dreadful, 417.

Necromancy, 180, 232.

Nice, in Bithynia, siege of, 366, 377.

Nidering, or Nithing, signification of, 330.

Normandy, granted to Rollo, 125; distracted state of, 260, 331, 422, 431.

Normandy, William I, duke of, account of, 143.

Normandy, Richard I, duke of, his pacification with Ethelred, 171.

Normandy, Richard II, duke of, account of, 188.

Normandy, Robert I, duke of, account of, 259; his expedition to Jerusalem, 189.

Normandy, Robert II, Curthose, duke of, pawns his duchy, 339; joins the crusade, 366, 410; account of, 420; arrangement with Henry I, 422; imprisoned till death, 423.

Normans, subdue part of Gaul, 8; unjust preference of after the conquest, 253; dislike to William II, 329; feuds of with the English, 217; manners and customs of, 280.

Northumberland, Robert, earl of, 323, 339.

Northumbria, kingdom of, 41; divided into two provinces, 46; its extent, 93; yields to Egbert, 96; unites with Danes, 112; subdued by Athelstan, 129.

Norwegian, singular courage of one, 256.

Norway, succession of its kings, 292.

Odo, archbishop of Canterbury, separates Edwy from Elfgiva, 146.

Odo, bishop of Bayeux and earl of Kent, 307; rebels against Rufus and is banished, 328.

Offa, king of Mercia, his character, 77; rapacity, 78; treaty with Charlemagne, 84.

Offa, king of Essex, becomes a monk, 91.

Ordeal, account of, 22, _note_.

Order, monastic, afflicted by Edwy, 146; revives under Edgar, 155.

Organ, hydraulic, account of, 175.

Orkney, isles of, subdued by Magnus, 343; Paul earl of, 443.

Osberne, precentor of Canterbury, his life of Dunstan, 146; his skill in music, 148.

Osbert, king of Northumbria, 112.

Osred, king of Northumbria, 68.

Oswald, king of Northumbria, 46; his death, 48; miracles, 49, 237.

Oswin, king of Northumbria, 50.

Oswy, king of Northumbria, 50, 51.

Otha, brother of Hengist, settles in Northumbria, 40.

Otho, the Great, 66.

Pallas, his body found at Rome, 234.

Palling, a Danish noble murdered, 185.

Palms, assumed by pilgrims, and why, 398.

Palumbus, a priest, 233; his death, 234.

Paschal II, pope, his letter to Henry I, on investitures, 448; to Anselm, 450; contest with the emperor Henry V, 457.

Paschasius, his story of the Host, 314.

Patrick, St. 24.

Patrician of Rome, its office, 462.

Paul, of Samosata, 396.

Paulinus, 26; converts the Northumbrians, 45.

Penda, king of Mercia, his character, 70; his death, 71.

Peter the Hermit, account of, 366, 381.

Peter-pence, origin of, 98, 202.

Petrary, meaning of that term, 380, 405.

Philip I, king of France, 206. His infatuated conduct, 437.

Philip the clerk, account of, 420.

Places, holy, Bede’s account of, 57.

Plegmund, abp. of Canterbury, 120.

Plough-alms, what, 201.

Poison, antidote against, 415.

Poitou, Peter, bishop of, account of, 469.

Poitou, William, earl of, defeated by the Turks, 408. His licentious conduct, 469.

Prodigy, of the double woman, 235.

Pythagoras, his double path, 172.

Quendrida, murders her brother Kenelm, 87, 238.

Ramula, description of, 383. Siege of, 409.

Ranulf, or Ralph, bishop of Durham, his character, 336, 476. Imprisoned, 428. His escape, 429.

Raymond, earl of St. Giles, joins the crusade, 365. Account of, 416.

Reading monastery, 447.

Redwald, king of the East Angles, 41, 88.

Repasts, custom concerning in England, changed, 441, _note_.

Richard, son of Will. I, his untimely death, 306.

Ring, with Solomon’s impression, 177.

Ritual, Ambrosian, 350, _note_. Gregorian, ib.

Robert, archbishop of Canterbury, 217. He flies, proceeds to Rome, and dies, 221.

Robert, bishop of Chester, account of, 354.

Robert Curthose. See Normandy.

Robert, earl of Moreton, brother of Will. I, 307.

Robert Fitz-Hubert, 511.

Robert Friso, earl of Flanders, account of, 289.

Robert Guiscard, account of, 295.

Robert, king of France, his character, 204.

Robert, son of Godwin, account of, 284.

Roger, bishop of Salisbury, account of, 441. Imprisoned, 500. Death and character, 507.

Rollo the Dane, obtains Rouen, 125. His insolence, 126.

Romans finally quit Britain, 6.

Rome, dreadful state of, 224. Citizen of, singular story of, 232. Poetical description of, 367. Account of its gates, churches, &c., 368. Schism in church of, 484.

Rome-scot, 98, 202.

Ross, in Wales, Flemings settled at, 435.

Rouen, William, archbishop of, account of, 438.

Sabert, king of East Saxons, baptized, 90.

Saints, incorruption of several, after death, 48, 236.

Salisbury, tempest at, 343; cathedral, 442.

Saracens, their learning and divination, 173. Defeat of at Ascalon, 407.

Saxons, invited over from Germany, 7.

Saxons, East, kingdom of, 90. Its extent, 92.

Saxons, West kingdom of, 17. Its extent, 92.

Schools instituted in East Anglia, 88.

Scotland, subdued by Canute, 199.

Scots, defeated by the Angles, 9. Characterized, 364. Civilized by king David, 434.

Scotus, Johannes, account of, 119.

Scotus, Marianus, account of, 317.

Selsey, monastery of, 92. Singular circumstance at, 236.

Sepulchre, holy, church of, 384, 389.

Serlo, bishop of Sees, trims the beard of Henry I, 445, _note_.

Serlo, abbat of Gloucester, account of, 471.

Severus, dies in Britain, 5.

Shift of the Virgin, confounds the Danes, 125.

Ship, a magnificent, presented to Athelstan, 134.

Shoes with curved points, 337, _note_.

Sibilla, duchess of Normandy, 421, _note_.

Sigebert, king of Wessex, 38. His death, ib.

Sigebert, king of East Anglia, 89.

Sighelm, bishop of Sherborne, sent to India by Alfred, 118.

Simony, its extensive spread, 357.

Siric, abp. of Canterbury, 167.

Sithtric, king of Northumbria, 129, 132.

Siward, earl of Northumbria, kills Macbeth, 214. Supports Edward the Confessor, 219.

Siward, king of Norway, winters in England, 444. His voyage to Jerusalem, ib.

Slaves, female, prostituted and sent to Denmark, 222. Custom of selling, 279.

Sleepers, seven, story of, 250, _note_.

Solyman, sovereign of Romania, his army defeated, 376. Defeats the Franks, 408.

Sow, a warlike engine so called, 388.

Spear of Charlemagne, which pierced our Saviour, 135.

Spike, used at the Crucifixion, 135.

Statue, in the Campus Martius, 176.

Statue, brazen, at Rome, story of, 232.

Stephen, earl of Moreton, account of, 482. Comes to England and is chosen king, 490. Crowned, and goes into Scotland, 491. His character, 495. His perfidy to Robert, earl of Gloucester, 496. His violent conduct, 500. Contest with his brother the legate, 504. Conflicts with the Empress’s party, 506, 507. Besieges Lincoln, 514. Defeated and made captive, 515. Liberated, 524. Plunders Wareham, 533. Burns Oxford, ib.

Stigand, bishop of Winton, 221, 253, 281, 302.

Sugar-cane, account of, 397, _note_.

Suger, abbat of St. Denis, his account of Henry I, 446, _note_.

Sultan, meaning of that term, 379.

Superstition, singular, 122, and _note_.

Sussex, kingdom of, 92, _note_.

Sweyn, king of Denmark, invades England, 185. His conduct, 189, and death, 190.

Sweyn, son of Godwin, 219, 222. Goes to Jerusalem and is killed by the Saracens, ib.

Swithun, St., bishop of Winchester, 98.

Sword, miraculous, Athelstan’s, 130; Constantine’s, 135.

Tancred, prince of Antioch, enters Bethlehem, 383; his covetousness, 390; his conduct and death, 419.

Tewkesbury, monastery of, 433.

Thanet, isle of, appropriated to the Angles on their arrival, 9.

Thanet, monastery of, minster, 15.

Theodore, archbishop of Canterbury, 15, _note_, 51.

Thorns, crown of, 136.

Thurkill, the Dane, invites Sweyn, to England, 185; his expulsion and death, 197.

Time, division of by candle, 121.

Tirel, Walter, kills W. Rufus, 345.

Tosty, son of Godwin, expelled by the Northumbrians, 222; retires to Flanders, 223; his attempts against Harold, 256; defeated and slain, 257, 285.

Tower of London, its origin, 341.

Truce of God, why so called, 358, _note_.

Tudites, or Martel, Carolus, 64; his body carried off by evil spirits, 232.

Turks, their extensive dominion, 360; crafty mode of fight, 361; cruelty at the siege of Nice, 376; at Antioch, 379; defeated near Berith, 401; bodies burnt to obtain money they had swallowed, 406, _note_; besiege Baldwin at Rama, 284.

Ulfkytel, earl of Essex, attacks the Danes at Thetford, 69; killed at Assingdon, 170, 194.

Urban II, pope, 299; instigates the first crusade, 357; his speech at the council of Clermont, 359; contests with Guibert, 414.

Utred, earl of Northumbria, 192; defeated and put to death by Canute, 193.

Vavassour, meaning of, 510, _note_.

Vallery, St., his body brought forth to implore a wind, 273.

Ver, Albric de, his harangue in favour of king Stephen, 502.

Vindelici, account of, 208.

Virginity, Aldhelm’s commendation of, 29, 36.

Visions, of Charles king of France, 102; of Athelstan’s mother, 139; of Edgar, 156; of Edward Confessor, 249; of Constantine the Great, 372.

Vortigern, his character, 7, 11.

Vortimer, the son of Vortigern, 10.

Waher, Ralph de, rebels against William I, 287.

Wales, reduced to a province, 214; pays tribute to Athelstan, 134.

Walkelin, bishop of Winchester, 302.

Walker, bishop of Durham, murdered, 303.

Walwin, nephew of Arthur, his sepulchre, 315.

Waltheof, earl, account of, 386; his death, ibid.

Warewell, or Whorwell, 160; monastery of, ib.

Warwick, Henry earl of, 441.

Welsh, subdued by Edward the Elder, 123; by Harold, 256; by Henry I, 435.

Werburga, patroness of Chester, 72, 236, 243.

Werefrith, bishop of Worcester, 118.

Westminster Abbey consecrated, 255.

West-Saxon kings, geneology of, 109.

Wight, Isle of, given to Withgar, 218; converted to Christianity, 71.

Wilfrid, bishop of Hexham, expelled his see, 51.

William I, king of England, 253; his early history, 259; his conquests, 268; is crowned, 281; summary of his wars, 282; his issue, 305; munificence to monasteries, 308; death, 310.

William II, king of England, his birth and education, 327: contentions with his nobles, 328; seizes castles of Tunbridge and Pevensey, 319; contests and treaty with his brother Robert, 330; his expedition against Wales and Scotland, 333; character, 334, 346; calamitous events of his reign, 342; singular tokens and manner of his death, 344.

William of Carilef, bishop of Durham, 304.

William, earl of Arches, 263.

William Fitz-Osberne, account of, 289.

William, son of Henry I, 454.

Winchelcumb, dreadful tempest at, 342.

Winchester, church at, 21, 39; Canute’s liberality to, 198.

Windows, glass, first makers of in England, 54.

Wistan, St. account of, 239.

Witch, Berkeley, account of, 230.

Witches, two at Rome, account of, 180.

Withlaf, king of Mercia, 88, 96.

Withred, king of Kent, 16.

Woden, account of, 8.

Wolves, tribute of, paid to Edgar, 158.

Woodstock Park, menagerie at, 443.

Worcester, insurrection at, 207.

Wulnod, destroys Ethelred’s fleet, 169.

Wulnod, son of Godwin, 222.

Wulstan, precentor of Winchester, 149; his book on the harmony of sounds, ib.

Wulstan, archbishop of York, confined by Edred, 145.

Wulstan, bishop of Worcester, account of, 303.

Wulfhere, king of Mercia, 71, 72.

York, city of, burnt, 112; besieged, 133; destroyed, 282.

York, see of, controversy with Canterbury, 319; with Worcester and Dorchester, 323.

Youths, from England, exposed to sale at Rome, 42.

J. HADDON, PRINTER, CASTLE STREET, FINSBURY.

FOOTNOTES

[1] “_Olim_ enim _cum historias lusi_, viridioribus annis rerumque lætitiæ congruebat rerum jocunditas. Nunc ætas progressior, et fortuna deterior, aliud dicendi genus expostulant. _Quadragenarius sum hodie_,” &c. Prol. in expos. Thren. Hierem. MS. Bodl. 868.

[2] “Ista autem avis (struthio) membrorum grandium, pennas quidem habens, sed volatu carens. Qualem in Angliâ vidimus, _tempore regis Henrici_ externorum monstrorum appetentissimi.” Ch. iv. v. 31.

[3] He has afforded another notice of time, but not equally precise. Godfrey is said to have been abbat of Malmesbury from the year 1084 till 1105; and Malmesbury mentions certain transactions which took place in Godfrey’s time as beyond his memory; and others which happened when he was a boy. Anglia Sacra, II. 45-7. If Malmesbury wrote the miracles of St. Andrew, a work which is attributed to him, he was born the 30th of November.

[4] He says he also collected many books for the monastic library: and mentions others which he had seen at Canterbury, Bury St. Edmunds, &c. Gale, tom. iii. pp. 376, 298.

[5] Some notion of his diligence may perhaps be afforded by the following list of his writings.

1. _De Gestis Regum._ The History of the Kings of England. The first three books were probably written soon after the year 1120. Malmesbury intimates that he then hesitated for a time on the expediency of continuing his history; but at length having determined on prosecuting his design, he dedicated the fourth and fifth books to Robert earl of Gloucester; at whose request he afterwards composed

2. _Historiæ Novellæ._ The Modern History. This appears to have been begun after the death of Henry I; probably not long before 1140.

3. _De Gestis Pontificum._ The History of the Prelates of England containing, in four books, an account of the bishops, and of the principal monasteries, from the conversion of the English, by St. Augustine, to 1123; to which he added a fifth

4. _De Vita Aldhelmi._ The Life of St. Aldhelm: which was completed in 1125. It is very reasonably conjectured that this last was published separately and some time after the others; as, though there are many ancient MSS. of the first four books, one copy only has yet been discovered with the fifth. The former were published by Saville, but from very faulty and scanty MSS. The latter by H. Wharton, and by Gale; but also very defectively.

5. _De Vita S. Dunstani._ The Life of S. Dunstan, in two books. MS. Bodley Rawlinson, 263. This was written at the request of the monks of Glastonbury, for whom he had previously composed the following three:

6. _Vita S. Patricii._ The Life of S. Patrick, in two books. Leland, Collectanea, 3, 272, has extracts from it, but no MS. has hitherto occurred.

7. _Miracula S. Benigni._ The Miracles of S. Benignus. This has not occurred.

8. _Passio S. Indracti._ The Martyrdom of S. Indract. MS. Bodley Digby, 112. This he translated and abridged from the Anglo-Saxon. Abbreviated in Capgrave’s Legenda Nova.

9. _De Antiquitate Glastoniensis Ecclesiæ._ The History of Glastonbury. It is addressed to Henry bishop of Winchester, and was of course written after 1129. Printed in Gale’s Collection, t. 3, and by Hearne, from an interpolated MS.

10. _Vita S. Wulstani Episcopi Wigorniensis._ The Life of S. Wulstan, Bishop of Worcester. A Translation from the Anglo-Saxon, addressed to Prior Guarin, between 1124 and 1140. The greater part of it has been printed. Anglia Sacra, t. 2.

11. _Chronica._ Chronicles, in three books. See p. 480. This work is probably lost.

12. _Miracula S. Elfgifæ._ The Miracles of Elfgifa, in metre. A specimen of these rhymes, there printed as prose, may be seen in the De Gestis Pontif. f. 143: they were apparently written while he was very young; as, before 1125, he says, “_quondam_ cecini.”

13. _Itinerarium Joannis Abbatis Meldunensis versus Romam._ The Itinerary of John Abbat of Malmesbury to Rome. This was drawn up, after 1140, from the relation of another monk of that foundation who accompanied the abbat. Leland, Collect. 3, 272, ed. 1774, mentions it as being very curious. It does not occur, but it was formerly in the possession of Bale.

14. _Expositio Threnorum Hieremiæ._ A Commentary on the Lamentations of Jeremiah. MS. Bodley, 868. Abridged from Paschasius Radbert, probably about 1136.

15. _De Miraculis Divæ Mariæ libri quatuor Gul. Cantoris Malmsburie._ The Miracles of the Blessed Virgin, in four books. Leland, Coll. 4. 155.

16. _De Serie Evangelistarum, Carmine._ The Order of the Evangelists, in verse. Leland, Collect. 4. 157. These two have not occurred.

17. _De Miraculis B. Andreæ._ The Miracles of S. Andrew. MS. Cotton. Nero, E. 1. Abridged from a very prolix work.

18. _Abbreviatio Amalarii de Ecclesiasticis Officiis._ Amalarius on Ecclesiastical Offices, abridged. MS. Lambeth. 380.

19. _Epitome Historiæ Aimonis Floriacensis._ The History of Haimo of Flory, abridged. MS. Bodley, Selden. Arch. B. 32.

Several other works are attributed to him by Tanner, on the authority of Bale and Pits.

[6] These remarks on the character and style of our author must be received, as they say, _cum grano salis_. They more justly evince the zeal of Mr. Sharpe than the merits of Malmesbury’s composition. The classical reader will probably lament with me that our early historians should have used a style so cumbersome and uninviting. To this general censure Malmesbury is certainly no exception. His Latinity is rude and repulsive, and the true value of his writings arises from the fidelity with which he has recorded facts, which he had either himself witnessed or had obtained from eye-witnesses.

[7] This valuable work has been published, together with Bede’s Ecclesiastical History, in a preceding volume of this series.

[8] See his prologue to the Life of Wulstan, Anglia Sacra, ii. 243.

[9] Some of these allusions are occasionally marked in the notes.

[10] A considerable portion of the present work was printed anonymously as a continuation of Bede, at Heidelberg, in 1587. The whole, together with the History of the Prelates, was first printed by Sir Henry Saville, who appears to have consulted several copies in the “Scriptores post Bedam,” London, 1596, fol. This was reprinted, but with many additional errors, at Frankfort, 1601, fol. Saville’s division into chapters, in the second book more especially, has no authority; but as it appeared sufficiently convenient, it has been adopted: the division of the sections is nearly the same throughout all the MSS.

[11] Robert, Earl of Gloucester, the Mecænas of his age, was a natural son of Henry I., and a man of great talents and of unshaken fidelity. He married Mabil, daughter of Robert Fitzhamon, by whom he had a numerous issue. He died October 31, A.D. 1147.

[12] This alludes to those invaluable records, the Saxon Chronicles. These, as originally compiled, have been already published in the present Series of Monkish Historians.

[13] Elward, or Ethelwerd, was a noble Saxon, great-great-grandson of King Ethelred, brother of Alfred. He abridged and translated the Saxon Chronicle into Latin, published in the present Series. He lived apparently in the time of Edgar, towards the close of the tenth century.

[14] Eadmer, a monk and precentor of Christ-Church, Canterbury, and pupil of Archbishop Anselm, together with a variety of other works, wrote “Historia Novorum,” or, a history of modern times, from A.D. 1066 to 1122.

[15] MS. Anselmi. Eadmer at first brought down his history to the death of Archbishop Anselm only, A.D. 1109, but afterwards continued it to the decease of Ralph, A.D. 1122.

[16] Virgilii Ecl. VI. v. 10.

[17] Helena’s origin has been much contested: Gibbon decides that she was daughter of an innkeeper. The word “Stabularia,” literally implies an ostler-wench; and it has been conjectured that it was applied to her, by the Jews and Gentiles, on account of her building a church on the spot where stood the stable in which our Lord was born.

[18] Various periods have been assigned for the British settlement in Armorica, or Bretagne; but the subject is still involved in great obscurity.

[19] Some MSS. read _juvenilis_, others _militaris_.

[20] Some MSS. read _succensæ_.

[21] These are supposed to be long vessels, somewhat like galleys, and it would appear, as well from Brompton, col. 897, as from so small a number containing a body equal to a military enterprise like that described here and in other places, that they were of considerable burden.

[22] Bede i. 15. The people of Kent and of the Isle of Wight were Jutes; the East, South, and West Saxons, were Saxons; and of the Angles came the East-Angles, Mid-Angles, Mercians, and Northumbrians. For the limits of the several kingdoms of the Heptarchy, see Chap. VI. The Cottonian MS. (Claud. ix.) reads, _Wichtis_.

[23] At Aylesford, A.D. 455; at Crayford, 457; at Wippedsfleet (supposed, but very doubtful, Ebbsfleet, in Thanet), 465; and the fourth, A.D. 473, the place not mentioned. See Saxon Chronicle, A.D. 465.

[24] Said to be Bannesdown, near Bath. Giraldus Cambrensis says, the image of the Virgin was fixed on the inside of Arthur’s shield, that he might kiss it in battle. Bede erroneously ascribes this event to A.D. 493. (Bede’s Ecclesiastical History, b. i. c. 6.)

[25] According to Sprott, Hengist died in 488, and was succeeded by his son Octa, vel Osca. Osca died A.D. 408, and Esc, his son, ascended the throne. In the year 522 Ermenric, the father of king Ethelbert, reigned. Ethelbert became king of Kent in 558.

[26] The difference seems to have arisen from carelessness in the scribe; as the Saxon Chronicle states him to have ascended the throne A.D. 560, and to have died 616: which is exactly fifty-six years, although it asserts him to have reigned only 53.

[27] See Wilkins’s “Leges Anglo-Saxonicæ,” and the Textus Roffensis.

[28] The name of the second queen of Ethelbert is not mentioned, probably on account of this incest.

[29] St. Peter, it is said, appeared to Laurentius at night, and reproaching him for his cowardice, severely chastised him with a scourge; the marks of which had the effect here mentioned the next day. Bede ii. 6. According to Sprott, St. Laurentius became archbishop of Canterbury, A.D. 610.

[30] St. Augustine’s, Canterbury, completed, according to Sprott, A.D. 663.

[31] Chelles, near Paris.

[32] Theodore, archbishop of Canterbury, was a native of Tarsus in Cilicia, and a prelate of great learning; but it being apprehended by Pope Vitalian that he might rather incline to the doctrines of the Greek Church, Adrian was sent with him, as a kind of superintendent, and was appointed abbat of St. Augustine’s.

[33] See book ii. chap. 13, “but this and every other,” &c. Some editions omit this passage altogether.

[34] Wansdike, in Wiltshire.

[35] Virgil, Æn. ii. 390.

[36] Bradford on Avon. See Sax. Chron. A.D. 652.

[37] Pen, in Somersetshire.

[38] Malmesbury wrote a History of Glastonbury, which is printed in Gale’s Collection, vol. iii. and by Hearne, in the History of Glastonbury, and from this work he extracts this account. Sharpe gives it [from “But since,” &c. to “character so munificent” in page 28, line 2], in a note as a various reading of one of the MSS. The note occupies the greater part of seven pages from 25 to 31 in Sharpe’s original volume.

[39] There is a Life of Gildas, written not long after this history, by Caradoc of Lancarvon, in which we are told, that, while he was residing at Glastonbury, a prince of that country carried off Arthur’s queen and lodged her there; that Arthur immediately besieged it, but, through the mediation of the abbat, and of Gildas, consented, at length, to receive his wife again and to depart peaceably.

[40] The ordeal was an appeal to heaven to decide immediately on the justice of the cause. There were many modes of this whimsical trial; as by handling hot iron, plunging the arm into hot water, throwing the accused into water, &c. If, after three days, the party exhibited no mark of burning in the two former; or if he did not sink in the latter experiment, he was considered innocent. The whole was conducted with great solemnity; the ritual may be seen in Spelman, voce Ordalium.

[41] The Saxon mode of interment appears frequently to have been under pyramids or obelisks. See Anglia Sacra, ii. 110.

[42] St. Germanus drew up a body of his new converts in a valley surrounded on every side by mountains, and, on the approach of their enemies, ordered that on a given signal, all should shout “Hallelujah.” The sudden sound, being reverberated by the surrounding mountains, struck their foes with such a panic, that they instantly fled. See Bede, Hist. Eccl. b. i. c. 20.

[43] Patrick is said to have floated over, from Ireland, on this altar, and to have landed near Padstow in Cornwall. Gough’s Camden, i. 19. Malmesbury appears to have been misled by the Glastonbury historian, so as to confound St. Patrick with St. Petrock. From the latter, the town of Padstow derives its name, as is proved by Whitaker, in his Ancient Cathedral of Cornwall.

[44] On their return from a pilgrimage to Rome they designed visiting Glastonbury, out of respect to St. Patrick; and filled their scrips with parsley and various other seeds, which they purposed carrying to Ireland, but their staves being tipped with brass, which was mistaken for gold, they were murdered for the supposed booty.

[45] It is understood as synonymous with hide, or as much land as one plough could till.

[46] Cuthred. According to the Saxon Chronicle, he bestowed on him 3000 hides of land.

[47] Bede, in “Chronicles of the Anglo-Saxons,” p. 267.

[48] Where this river was is not known: it has been conjectured it should be Avon. Malmesbury is also said to have been originally called Bladon.

[49] De Laudibus Virginitatis. His “Commendation of Virginity,” was first written in prose: and was printed by H. Wharton, 4to. 1693. He afterwards versified it with occasional amplifications or omissions. Some MSS. give the date as 671: others 672; and others again 675. See Canisius, Antiquæ Lectiones, t. i. 713. Ed. Basnagii. The whole works of Aldhelm have been collected for the first time by the present editor, and form vol. i. of PATRES ECCLESIÆ ANGLICANÆ.

[50] Malmesbury afterwards wrote the life of Aldhelm. It ought to form the fifth book “_de Gentis Pontificum_,” but has never yet been printed in the same volume with the four preceding books.

[51] See Bede, b. iv. c. 15.

[52] The Saxon Chronicle and Florence of Worcester mention his attacks on the South Saxons, but do not notice the East Angles.

[53] See Wilkins’s Leges Anglo-Saxonicæ.

[54] Some manuscripts omit all that follows to “Berthwald, archbishop of Canterbury,” p. 35, and insert in place of it “More especially that at Glastonbury most celebrated in our days, which he erected in a low retired situation, in order that the monks might more eagerly thirst after heavenly, in proportion as they were less affected by earthly things.” Sharpe inserts the shorter passage in his text, and gives the longer in a note.

[55] See Kemble’s Charters, vol. i. p. 85.

[56] The Antiquities of Glastonbury were published about the same time by Gale, vol. iii. and by Hearne.

[57] The 25th of May.

[58] Bede, Eccl. Hist. b. iv. c. 7-10.

[59] All this passage, from “What splendour, p. 35, to persuasion,” is omitted in some MSS., and is given in a note by Hardy and Sharpe; but it seems almost necessary to the context.

[60] Malmesbury here perpetuates the error of the transcriber of the Saxon Chronicle, in assigning thirty-one years to Cynewolf, for as he came to the throne in 756, and was killed in 784, consequently he reigned about twenty-nine years. Perhaps he wrote, correctly, “_uno de triginta annis_,” conjectures Mr. Hardy.

[61] Supposed Dalston near Carlisle, or Dawston near Ichborough.

[62] Malmesbury here confounds the ancient monastery of Banchor, near Chester, with the more modern see of Bangor in Carnarvonshire.

[63] Ovid. Trist. 1. 9, v. 5.

[64] Cadwalla, king of the Britons, having slain Eanfrid and Osric, A.D. 634, had usurped the government of Northumbria.

[65] When he was seated at table and just about to commence dinner, the royal almoner informed the king that a great number of poor were assembled in the street, asking relief; on which he immediately ordered the whole of the provisions to be distributed, and the silver dish also to be cut into pieces, and divided amongst them. See Bede, b. iii. c. 6.

[66] Juv. Sat. vii. 202.

[67] Bambrough in Northumberland. Bede iii. 6, p. 118.

[68] St. Cuthbert is represented as holding the head of Oswald in his arms. Bede’s bones were afterwards laid in the same coffin.

[69] The horse lay down under his rider in great agony; but recovered by rolling on the spot and cropping the grass. A person carried away some of the earth, which he hung up against a post in the wall: the house caught fire and was burnt with the exception of the timber to which the bag was tied. See Bede, b. iii. c. 9, 10; and for the other stories, c. 13.

[70] The principal points in dispute were, the time of celebrating Easter and the form of the tonsure. See Bede, Eccl. Hist. iii. 25.

[71] See Bede, Hist. Eccl. iii. 29.

[72] Bede’s Life of St. Cuthbert, c. 24.

[73] Ermenburga, the second wife of Egfrid. The first, Etheldrida, was divorced from him, on account of her love of celibacy, and became a nun. Wilfrid, bishop of Hexham, was several times expelled his see. Elected bishop of York, A.D. 664, he was expelled in 678. He was recalled to Northumbria in 687, and again expelled 692. He died A.D. 709, having been reinstated by the pope. See Bede v. 19. and Sax. Chron.

[74] Virg. Æn. vi. 815.

[75] The country was laid waste by the Danes, A.D. 793, and continued to be disturbed by them throughout the reigns of Alfred and Ethelred. The great devastation was made by William the Conqueror A.D. 1069.

[76] This is not quite correct: Jarrow, one of Benedict’s monasteries, is on the river Tyne.

[77] Benedict surnamed Biscop, a noble Northumbrian, quitted the service of king Oswy, when he had attained his twenty-fifth year, and travelled to Rome five several times; occupying himself while there, either in learning the Roman ritual, or in collecting books, pictures, and ornaments of various descriptions for the monasteries he had founded at Wearmouth: he also brought over masons from France to build a church after the Roman manner; as well as artificers in glass. See Bede’s Lives of the Abbats of Wearmouth and Jarrow.

[78] “... lapidei tabulatus,” this seems intended to designate buildings with courses of stone in a regular manner, which is also implied by him, De Gestis Pontif. lib. iii. f. 148. Bede, whom he here follows, affords no assistance as to the precise meaning: he merely states, that Benedict caused a church to be erected after the Roman model.

[79] The monks of Glastonbury used all possible means to obtain relics of saints. See the curious account of a contention concerning the body of St. Dunstan, which those monks asserted they had stolen from Canterbury, after it had been burnt by the Danes, in the time of Ethelred, in Whartoni Anglia Sacra, vol. ii. p. 222.

[80] Eccles. Hist., book v. ch. 24.

[81] John of Beverley, bishop of Hexham, A.D. 686. He was made bishop of York, A.D. 705, and died 7th of May, 722. See Bede, b. v. c. 2-6.

[82] Seneca, Controvers. lib. 1.

[83] Hebrews x. 31.

[84] Romans viii. 18.

[85] Scipio Africanus was accustomed to observe, “that he was never less idle than when unoccupied, nor never less alone than when by himself.” _Cicero de Offic._ 1. 3.

[86] These lines are thus rendered into English:

“Beneath this stone Bede’s mortal body lies; God grant his soul may rest amid the skies. May he drink deeply, in the realms above, Of wisdom’s fount, which he on earth did love!”

[87] Called Egbert by some writers.

[88] Paulinus had departed from Northumbria, in consequence of the confusion which prevailed on the death of Edwin. Bede, b. ii. c. 20. He died Oct. 10, 644.

[89] Alcuin, a native of Northumbria, and educated at York, through his learning and talents became the intimate friend and favourite of Charlemagne, for whom he transcribed, with his own hand, the Holy Scriptures. This relic is now preserved in the British Museum.

[90] See this epistle at length in Alcuini Op. vol. i. p. 52. Epist. 38.

[91] Others say he was buried at St. Martin’s, at Tours, where he died, April 18, 804. His works will be included in PATRES ECCLESIÆ ANGLICANÆ.

[92] The Life of Charlemagne, by Eginhard, who was secretary to that monarch. Du Chesne Script. Franc. tom. ii. It is one of the most amusing books of the period.

[93] The mayors of the palace seem originally to have merely regulated the king’s household, but by degrees they acquired so much power, that Pepin the elder, maternal grandfather of him here mentioned, had already become in effect, king of France. They first appear to have usurped the regal power under Clovis II. A.D. 638.

[94] Malmesbury differs from all the best authorities, who assign only six years to his reign. He ascended the throne A.D. 759, and was expelled A.D. 765.

[95] Osred, through a conspiracy of his nobles, had been deposed, and, after receiving the tonsure, was compelled to go into exile. Two years after, induced by the promises and oaths of certain of the Northumbrian chiefs, he returned, but being deserted by his forces, he was made prisoner and put to death by the order of Ethelred. Sim. Dunelm. A.D. 790-2. Osred was expelled from his kingdom, A.D. 790, and Ethelred was restored after an exile of twelve years.--HARDY.

[96] This letter is not yet published in Alcuini Opera.

[97] Epist. xlii. Op. tom. i. p. 57.

[98] This is not quite correct: Osbald was elected by a party to succeed him; but after a very short period he was deposed, and the government devolved on Eardulf. Eardulf after a few years was driven into exile; went to Rome, and, it would seem, was restored to his kingdom, by the influence of Charlemagne, A.D. 808. V. Sim. Dunelm. col. 117, and Eginhardi Annales, Duchesne, 2, 255.

[99] It would appear that Penda was not the first king, but the first of any note. Hen. Huntingdon assigns the origin of the kingdom to about the year 584 under Crida, who was succeeded, in the year 600, by Pybba; Ceorl came to the throne in 610, and Penda in 626. See H. Hunt, f. 181, 184--b.

[100] King of the Britons, see Bede, b. ii. ch. 20. It was by his assistance that Cadwalla defeated Edwin, king of Northumbria, at Hatfield, Oct. 12, A.D. 633.

[101] This was by paying to his relatives his weregild, or the legal price of his blood; for all, from the king to the slave, had their established value. One moiety, only, of the weregild went to the family of the murdered person; the other went into the public purse.

[102] Ethelbald had been frequently exhorted by the king to make confession of his transgressions, but had constantly declined it. At last being seized with sickness, he appears to have imagined that he saw two angels approach with a very small volume, in which were written the few good actions he had ever performed; when immediately a large company of demons advancing, display another book of enormous bulk and weight, containing all his evil deeds, which are read to him; after which, asserting their claim to the sinner against the angels, they strike him on the head and feet, as symptoms of his approaching end. Bede, b. v. c. 13.

[103] Boniface, whose original name was Winfred, after unwearied labour in the conversion of various nations in Germany, by which he acquired the honourable appellation of Apostle of the Germans, at length suffered martyrdom in Friesland. A collected edition of his works forms volumes xv. and xvi. of PATRES ECCLESIÆ ANGLICANÆ by the editor of this work. One of the original churches, built by him in Saxony, still exists in the Duchy of Gotha, at a little village called Gierstedt.

[104] See this epistle at length in Spelmanni Concilia, vol. i. page 232, and reprinted by Wilkins, Concilia, i. 87, also in Bonifacii Opera, &c.

[105] The Winedi were seated on the western bank of the Vistula, near the Baltic. In Wilkins, it is “apud Persas,” among the Persians.

[106] Lullus was appointed his successor by Boniface, on setting out for Friesland, in 755; he died A.D. 785.

[107] The value of the mancus is doubtful; sometimes it appears to mean the same with the mark, at others it is supposed equal to thirty pence of the money of that time. The gold manca is supposed to be eight to the pound, which was probably the coin sent to the pope.

[108] See this entire, Usserii Veterum Epistolarum Hibernicarum Sylloge, epist. 18. p. 36; and Alcuini Opera, tom. i. p. 6, epist. 3.

[109] The dalmatic was a garment worn by the clergy, and sometimes by princes. Its name is said to have been derived from its invention in Dalmatia. The pall here apparently signifies an upper vesture also, in form resembling a cloak without sleeves; but it has a variety of meanings. See Du Cange, and note at p. 44, of Bede’s Eccles. History.

[110] Kenulf made Cuthred king of Kent, A.D. 798. Eadbert had been dreadfully mutilated by having his eyes put out and his hands cut off. See chap. i.

[111] “Qui agros non habebant.” These words refer to an inferior class of gentry, as he mentions the people at large, “populus,” afterwards.

[112] Redwald was not the first king of East Anglia, but the first who became distinguished. In the year 571, Uffa assumed the title of king: he was succeeded by his son, Titil, in 578 who was followed by Redwald, his son. See Bede, b. ii. c. 15.

[113] According to the Saxon Chronicle, A.D. 921, that is, the 21st of Edward the Elder, and the fiftieth from the murder of king Edmund. Now following this statement, as Edward succeeded his father, Alfred A.D. 901, the expulsion of the Danes would be the twentieth of his reign. In Florence of Worcester the union of the kingdoms under Edward the Elder is assigned to the year 918.--HARDY.

[114] Sleda was not the first, but their times are uncertain. See Florence of Worcester, who calls him the son of Escwine, whom Henry of Huntingdon considers to have been the first king of Essex.

[115] Brother to St. Chad, bishop of Lichfield. See Bede, b. iii. c. 22.

[116] Here seems an oversight which may be supplied from Florence of Worcester. “Swithed succeeded Selred, and held the sovereignty some years; after whom few native kings ruled in Essex, for in the same year that Egbert conquered Kent, they surrendered to his power.” Selred died 746; their submission took place 823. It would appear, however, from the authorities adduced by Mr. Turner, Hist. of Anglo-Saxons, vol. i. p. 318, that Selred was in fact king of East Anglia.

[117] The kingdom of Sussex was founded by Ælla, who arrived in Britain with three vessels, and accompanied by his three sons, A.D. 477. He seems to have attained a very high degree of power, and was succeeded by his son Cissa.--The affairs of this kingdom are extremely obscure; it appears to have been sometimes dependent on Kent and sometimes on Wessex until finally united to the latter by Egbert, A.D. 823.

[118] The early adventures of Egbert are found only in Malmesbury. He does not observe the order in which these events happened.

[119] The printed text of the former editions places the battle of Hellendun, A.D. 806. Several MSS. have 826, one 825, and two only appear to adopt the correct year 824, as inserted above. These are--The Arundel MS. No. 35, Brit. Mus. and the MS. in Trinity Coll. Cam. R. 14. The place is variously conjectured: Wilton in Wiltshire; Hillingdon in Middlesex; and near Highworth in Wilts.

[120] Malmesbury, in following the Saxon Chronicle, is two years earlier than the Northern Chronicles.

[121] See Saxon Chronicle, A.D. 823-825.

[122] Roger, bishop of Salisbury, seized it in like manner to his own use, A.D. 1118, and held it till his death, 1159.

[123] Alluding to the Rome-scot, or Peter’s-pence, a penny from each house, paid on the festival of St. Peter. Its origin and application seem obscure: Higden interpolates Malmesbury, as assigning its first grant to Ina: Henry of Huntingdon says, Offa. This grant is supposed by Spelman to have been made in a General Council of the nation. A similar payment appears to have been made by other nations. It is to be observed that Asser mentions only Ethelwulf’s donation of three hundred mancuses.

[124] Asser relates that pope Leo stood sponsor for, and confirmed Alfred, who had been sent to Rome by his father the preceding year.

[125] The conflagration here named seems that mentioned by Anastasius, who tells us, that, shortly after the accession of Pope Leo the fourth, a fire broke out in the Saxon street, but the pope, making the sign of the cross with his fingers, put a stop to it. (Anastas. Biblioth. p. 319.) From this author’s account it appears to have been a street or quarter of considerable extent, and near to St. Peter’s. There were schools of this kind belonging to various nations at Rome. Matt. Westminster says it was founded by Ina, with the consent and approbation of Pope Gregory, that priests, nobles, prelates, or kings, of the English nation, might be entertained there during their stay for the purpose of being thoroughly instructed in the Catholic faith; for that, from the time of Augustine, the doctrine and schools of the English had been interdicted by the popes on account of the various heresies which had sprung up among them; that, moreover, Ina bestowed a penny from each house, or Rome-scot, for the support of these persons. (Matt. West. A.D. 727.) It was destroyed by fire in the year 816, and partially again A.D. 854. Our text, therefore, is at variance with the account given by Anastasius, and the latter is probably incorrect.

[126] The divisions of France were liable to considerable variation: but it may be sufficient to observe, that Aquitaine lay between the Garonne and Loire; Vasconia, from the Garonne to the Pyrenees; Gothia, from the Pyrenees along the coast to the eastward; Austrasia or East France, besides various tracts beyond the Rhine, lay between that river and the Meuse; Neustria or West France, from the Channel to the Loire with the exception of Brittany.

[127] The battle of Fontenai is considered as the most calamitous in the French annals; more than one hundred thousand men having, it is said, perished in it. It was fought on the 25th of June, A.D. 841, a memorable month in the annals of France.

[128] Cornu-guallia, i.e. the Horn of Gaul from the projection of Brittany.

[129] Some pretend that he was accidentally wounded by Bertholde, one of his attendants; and that the story of the boar was invented in order to screen him from punishment. Malmesbury, however, follows Asser, the Saxon Chron., &c.

[130] This vision is copied from Hariulfe’s Chronicle, lib. iii. cap. 21. The Annals ascribed to Asser also recite the vision, sub anno 886.--_See Mr. Hardy’s Note_, vol. i. p. 160.

[131] Asser had conversed with many persons who afterwards saw her begging for a subsistence in Pavia, where she died.

[132] One hundred were for the pope, and the other two hundred to be divided between the churches of St. Peter and St. Paul, to provide lights on Easter-eve.

[133] Ingulf, who likewise gives this charter, reads, “laicis miseris,” the poor laity.

[134] Manse implies generally a dwelling and a certain quantity of land annexed; sometimes it is synonymous with a hide, or plough-land.

[135] Ingulf has A.D. 855: 3 indict, which agrees with Asser, who assigns that year for the grant. It appears to be the charter which Malmesbury before referred to on the king’s going to Rome, and has given rise to much controversy; some holding that it conveyed the tithes of the land only, while others maintain that it was an actual transfer of the tenth part of all lands in the kingdom. See Carte, vol. i. 293. Both opinions are attended with considerable difficulties. Mr. Carte very inadvertently imagines this charter and the copy in Ingulf to be distinct grants: the latter being, he says, a confirmation and extension of the former, after Ethelwulf’s return from Rome: but the false date in Malmesbury is of no importance, some MSS. having even 814, and 855 was the year of his departure, not of his return.

[136] Jordanes, or Jornandes, was secretary to the kings of the Goths in Italy. He was afterwards bishop of Ravenna, and wrote, _De Rebus Gothicis_; and also, _De Regnorum et Temporum Successione_.--HARDY.

[137] A similar list of the genealogy of the West Saxon kings, will be found in the Saxon Chronicle, A.D. 855.

[138] Malmesbury’s Chronology to the accession of Edward the Elder, is a year later than the Saxon Chronicle, Asser, and Florence of Worcester. His computation rests on fixing the death of Ethelwulf in 857, who went to Rome in 855, stayed there a year, and died in the second year after his return. Allowing ten years for Ethelbald and Ethelbert, it brings the accession of Ethelred to 867, and five years added to this give 872 for Alfred’s accession. After the death of Ethelbald Judith returned to France. She left no children; but marrying afterwards Baldwin, count of Flanders, she bore him Matilda, wife of William the Conqueror.

[139] Supposed Aston, near Wallingford, Berks. Others think Ashendon in Bucks. The Latin and Saxon names, _Mons Fraxini_, and Eschendun, seem to favour the latter.

[140] This legend will be found in the curious “account of the translation of the body of St. Cuthbert from Lindisfarne to Durham,” which we shall give in “Anglo-Saxon Letters, Biographies,” &c. It is taken from the Acta Sanctorum, iii. March, p. 127.

[141] This story rests upon the authority of Ingulf and William of Malmesbury. Asser does not notice it.

[142] This seems a mistake as far relates to Northumbria. The Saxon Chronicle has “Northerna,” and Florence of Worcester “Rex Northmanicus,” which at a first glance might easily be converted into Northumbria.

[143] Asser, the faithful friend and biographer of this great king. His Life of Alfred, alike honourable to his master and himself, is free from flattery. It is given in one of the volumes of our Series.

[144] It has been printed by Gale, Oxon, 1681.

[145] John the Scot is generally supposed to have died in France before A.D. 877, as the letter of Anastasius (Usher’s Sylloge, Ep. 24,) addressed to Charles the Bald, who died in that year, seems strongly to imply that he was not then living. There is, however, no positive notice of the time of his death. The story indeed has so much the air of one told in Asser of John abbat of Athelney, that one would almost suspect it was formed from it: especially as Malmesbury seems to speak in a very hesitating manner on the subject. V. Asser, à Wise, p. 62.

[146] Asser says he first began his literary education, Nov. 11, 887.

[147] Alfred’s Manual, from the description which Asser gives of it, appears to have contained psalms, prayers, texts of Scripture, etc.: Malmesbury, however, in his Lives of the Bishops, quotes anecdotes of Aldhelm from it also.

[148] Plegmund is said to have written part of the Saxon Chronicle; Asser was archbishop of St. David’s, and biographer of Alfred; Grimbald, abbat of St. Omers; and John of Corvey, a German Saxon, whom Alfred invited into England.

[149] Asser says he devoted one half of his income “to God;” which part was afterwards subdivided for the poor, for the two monasteries he had founded, for the school he had established, for other monasteries and churches, domestic and foreign.

[150] This proportion was for both teachers and pupils in the school he founded for the young nobility.--_Lappenberg_, vol. i. p. 340.

[151] Matilda, queen of William the First, was daughter of Baldwin earl of Flanders, the fifth in descent from Ethelswitha. See note, p. 110.

[152] On its removal called Hyde Abbey.

[153] The popular notion was, that the devil re-animated the corpse, and played a variety of pranks by its agency; and that the only remedy was to dig up and consume the body with fire. See Will. Neubrig v. 22.

[154] Virg. Æneid, x. 641.

[155] By West-Angles he probably intends the people of Essex or East-Saxons. See Florence of Worcester.

[156] Charles the Simple had one son by her, Louis II., surnamed D’Outremer.

[157] Surnamed the Great: father of Hugh Capet: she had no issue by him.

[158] Henry, surnamed the Fowler, father of Otho the Great. She had a son and daughter by him. One of Edward’s daughters, called Adela, is said to have been married to Ebles, earl of Poitiers, by whom she had two sons. See L’Art de Verifier les Dates, ii. 312.

[159] This seems to have been Lewis the Blind, king of Arles: and if so, she must have been one of the elder daughters, as he appears not to have survived A.D. 930. She had, at least, one son by him, Charles Constantine, earl of Vienne. See L’Art de Verifier les Dates, ii. 429.

[160] This is a mistake: Hugh is confounded with his father, who married Edward’s daughter. There is no notice of this exploit of Hugh’s in Bouquet, though Isembard is mentioned as the nephew of Lewis, who, being unjustly banished, returns accompanied by a large body of Danes and Normans, but is defeated. Bouquet, Recueil, &c. tom. ix. 58. Lewis, however, left issue, and it was on the death of his grandson Lewis, that Hugh Capet became king of France.

[161] This story of pope Formosus and the seven bishops is to be found verbatim in a MS. (Bodley, 579) which was given to the cathedral of Exeter by bishop Leofric, who died A.D. 1073. Its difficulties therefore are not to be imputed to our author. But though it may not be easy to assign a rational motive for the invention of such an instrument, it is a decided forgery; and all the ecclesiastical writers, from Baronius to Wilkins, [See Concilia, i. p. 201,] have utterly failed in their conjectural attempts to uphold it: even the temperate, the acute, the learned Henry Wharton [Anglia Sacra, i. 554, 5], who rejects decidedly the epistle, gives but an unsatisfactory solution of the seven vacant sees. Its repugnancies will be seen at a glance, when it is recollected, that Formosus died A.D. 896; Edward did not reign till A.D. 901; and Frithstan did not become bishop of Winchester before A.D. 910.

[162] Matt. ix. 37.

[163] In the Saxon Chronicle it is called Brumby. [See Chronicles of the Anglo-Saxons, in Bohn’s Antiquarian Library, pp. 376, 377.] Its site is not exactly known, but it was probably not far from the Humber.

[164] Said to be Werstan, bishop of Sherborne. See Malmesbury’s Gesta Pontificum; or, Lives of the Bishops, to be hereafter translated and published in this series.

[165] This passage is thought to prove the existence of knights as a distinct order among the Saxons; and, coupled with the case of Hereward, it has very much that air. See Mr. Turner’s Anglo-Saxons, 4, 171, et inf. But perhaps in the present instance, it may amount to nothing more than bestowing his first arms on him. Lewis the Debonnaire received his arms, “ense accinctus est,” at thirteen years old.--Duchesne, t. ii. 289.

[166] Cornu Galliæ, a fanciful etymology.

[167] Improperly called king: it was Hugh the Great, father of Hugh Capet. Malmesbury was probably deceived by a blunder of Ingulf’s.

[168] This is a mistake, she was daughter of Alfred. See chap. iv. p. 117.

[169] The legend of St. Longinus makes the centurion mentioned in the Gospel, the person who pierced the side of our Lord; with many other fabulous additions. See Jac. a Voragine, Legenda Sanctorum.

[170] The Theban legion refusing, in the Diocletian persecution, to bring the Christians to execution, were ordered to be decimated; and on their persisting in the same resolution at the instigation of Maurice, the commander of the legion, they were, together with him, put to cruel deaths. V. Acta Sanctor. 22 Sept.

[171] He has, apparently, the oppressions of bishop Roger constantly before him.

[172] Reginald was not the son of Gurmund, but of Guthferth, who was driven out of Northumberland by Athelstan. See Saxon Chronicle, A.D. 927-944.

[173] The exact meaning of some of these terms is not easily attainable, but they are generally understood to imply--jurisdiction over the burgh, or town--hundred court--oaths and ordeals--thieves taken within the jurisdiction--housebreakers--breach of peace--offences committed on the highways, or forestalling--tolls--warranty, or a right of reclaiming villains who had absconded. The charter therefore conveys a right to hold various courts, and consequently to try, and receive all mulcts arising from the several offences enumerated, which being generally redeemable by fine, produced considerable sums; besides, what was perhaps of more importance, exemption from the vexations of the king’s officers.

[174] Duke is often used in charters, &c. as synonymous with earl.

[175] In Gloucestershire.

[176] See Will. Gemeticensis, lib. iii. c. 11.

[177] These were a woollen shirt and cowl. Will. Gemet. lib. iii. c. 12.

[178] Edred is described by Bridferth as being constantly oppressed with sickness; and of so weak a digestion, as to be unable to swallow more than the juices of the food he had masticated, to the great annoyance of his guests. Vita Dunstani, Act. Sanct. 19 Maii.

[179] A quibble on his name, as compounded of “hill” and “stone.”

[180] Much variation prevails among the earliest writers concerning Elfgiva. Bridferth (Act. Sanct. 19 Maii) says, there were two women, mother and daughter, familiar with Edwy. A contemporary of Bridferth (MS. Cott. Nero, E. I.) asserts, that he was married, but fell in love with, and carried off, another woman. A MS. Saxon Chron. (Cott. Tib. b. iv.) says, they were separated, as being of kin. Osberne, Edmer, and Malmesbury, in his Life of Dunstan (MS.), all repeat the story of the two women.

[181] Dunstan, learning that he was dead, and that the devils were about to carry off his soul in triumph by his prayers obtained his release. A curious colloquy between the abbat and the devils on the subject, may be found in Osberne’s Life of Dunstan, Anglia Sacra, ii. 108.

[182] The Mercians had revolted, and chosen Edgar king.

[183] Osberne’s Life of St. Dunstan is published in the Anglia Sacra, vol. ii.

[184] Wulstan’s Life of Ethelwold is printed by Mabillon, and in the Acta Sanctorum, Antwerp. Aug. tome i.

[185] He erected another church at Worcester, in which he placed monks. The canons finding the people desert them in order to obtain the favour of the new comers, by degrees took the monastic habit. See Malmesbury de Gest. Pontif. lib. iii.

[186] Some MSS. omit from “Edgar of glorious memory, &c.” to “spoken of another. The monastic order,” &c. in page 155, and insert the charter at length, together with what follows it, thus:

“In the name of our Lord Jesus Christ: although the decrees of pontiffs and the decisions of priests are fixed by irrevocable bonds, like the foundations of the mountains, yet, nevertheless, through the storms and tempests of secular matters, and the corruptions of reprobate men, the institutions of the holy church of God are often convulsed and broken. Wherefore I perceive that it will be advantageous to posterity that I should confirm by writing what has been determined by wholesome counsel and common consent. In consequence, it seems proper that the church of the most blessed mother of God, the eternal virgin Mary, of Glastonbury, inasmuch as it has always possessed the chief dignity in my kingdom, should be honoured by us with some especial and unusual privilege. Dunstan, therefore, and Oswald, archbishops of Canterbury and York, exhorting thereto, and Brithelm, bishop of Wells, and other bishops, abbats, and chiefs assenting and approving, I, Edgar, by the grace of God, king of the English, and ruler and governor of the adjacent nations, in the name of the blessed Trinity, for the soul of my father who reposes there, and of my predecessors, do by this present privilege decree, appoint, and establish, that the aforesaid monastery and all its possessions shall remain free and exonerated from all payments to the Exchequer now and for ever: they shall have soc and sac, on stronde and on wude, on felde, on grithbrice, on burgbrice, hundredsetena, and mortheras, athas, and ordelas, ealle hordas bufan eorthan, and beneothan: infangenetheof, utfangenetheof, flemenefertha, hamsocne, friderbrice, foresteal, toll and team, just as free and peaceably as I have in my kingdom: let the same liberty and power also as I have in my own court, as well in forgiving as in punishing, and in every other matter, be possessed by the abbat and monks of the aforesaid monastery within their court. And should the abbat, or any monk of that place, upon his journey, meet a thief going to the gallows, or to any other punishment of death, they shall have power of rescuing him from the impending danger throughout my kingdom. Moreover, I confirm and establish what has hitherto been scrupulously observed by all my predecessors, that the bishop of Wells and his ministers shall have no power whatever over this monastery, or its parish-churches; that is to say, Street, Miricling [Merlinge], Budecal, Shapwick, Sowy, or their chapels, or even over those contained in the islands, that is to say, Beokery, otherwise called Little Ireland, Godney, Martensia, Patheneberga, Adredseia, and Ferramere, except only when summoned by the abbat for dedications or ordinations, nor shall they cite their priests to their synods or chapters, or to any of their courts, nor shall they suspend them from their holy office, or presume to exercise any right over them whatever. The abbat shall cause any bishop of the same province he pleases to ordain his monks, and the clerks of the aforesaid churches, according to the ancient custom of the church of Glastonbury, and the apostolical authority of archbishop Dunstan, and of all the bishops of my kingdom; but the dedications of the churches we consign to the bishop of Wells, if he be required by the abbat. At Easter let him receive the chrism of sanctification, and the oil from the bishop of Wells, according to custom, and distribute them to his before mentioned churches. This too I command above all other things: on the curse of God, and by my authority, saving the right of the holy Roman church, and that of Canterbury, I inhibit all persons, of whatever dignity, be they king, or bishop, or earl, or prince, or any of my dependants, from daring to enter the bounds of Glastonbury, or of the above named parishes, for the purpose of searching, seizing, holding courts, or doing any thing to the prejudice of the servants of God there residing. The abbat and convent shall alone have power in causes known and unknown, in small and in great, and in every thing as we have before related. And whosoever, upon any occasion, whatever be his dignity, whatever his order, whatever his profession, shall attempt to pervert or nullify the pre-eminency of this my privilege by sacrilegious boldness, let him be aware that he must without a doubt give account thereof, with fear and trembling, before a severe Judge, unless he first endeavour to make reparation by proper satisfaction.” The charter of this privilege the aforesaid king Edgar confirmed by his own signature at London, in the twelfth year of his reign, with the common consent of his nobles; and in the same year, which was the 965th of our Lord’s incarnation, and the 14th of the indiction, pope John, in a general assembly, authorized it at Rome, and made all the men of chief dignity who presided at that council confirm it; and also, from motives of paternal regard, sent a letter to the following effect to earl Alfric, who was then grievously persecuting the aforesaid church:--

“Bishop John, servant of the servants of God, to Alfric the distinguished earl, and our dearly beloved son in the Spirit, perpetual health and apostolical benediction. We have learned, from the report of certain faithful people, that you commit many enormities against the church of the holy mother of God, called Mary of Glastonbury, which is acknowledged to belong solely to, and to be under the protection of, the Roman Pontiff, from the earliest times; and that you have seized with boundless rapacity upon its estates and possessions, and even the churches of Brent and Pilton, which, by the gift of king Ina, it legally possesses, together with other churches, that is to say, Sowy, Martine, Budecal, Shapwick, and that on account of your near residence you are a continual enemy to its interests. It would, however, have been becoming, from your living so near, that by your assistance the holy church of God might have been much benefited and enriched; but, horrible to say! it is impoverished by your hostility, and injured by your deeds of oppression; and since we doubt not that we, though unworthily, have received from St. Peter the apostle the care of all the churches, and solicitude for all things; we therefore admonish your affection, to abstain from plundering it, for the love of the apostles Peter and Paul, and respect to us, invading none of its possessions, churches, chapels, places, and estates; but if you persist, remember, that by the authority of the chief of the apostles, committed unto us, you shall be excommunicated and banished from the company of the faithful, subjected to a perpetual curse, and doomed to eternal fire with the traitor Judas.”

[187] Glastonbury is situated on land which was once an island formed by a stagnation of inland waters, in a low situation.

[188] The twelfth of Edgar was 971.

[189] Here is an omission, apparently, which may be supplied from the Ang. Sac. ii. p. 33. “A piece of ground, to wit, of ten farms (or manors), called Estotun,” &c. G. Malm. de Vita Adhelmi.

[190] Edgar’s laws for the punishment of offenders were horribly severe. The eyes were put out, nostrils slit, ears torn off, hands and feet cut off, and, finally, after the scalp had been torn off, the miserable wretches were left exposed to birds or beasts of prey. V. Acta Sanctor. Jul. 2, in Vita Swythuni.

[191] Whorwell, Hants.

[192] This seems to have been founded on the singular circumstance of his not having been crowned till within two years of his death.

[193] Virg. Æn. ii. 169.

[194] When the question was agitated, whether the monks should be supported or the canons restored, the crucifix is said to have exclaimed, “Far be it from you: you have done well; to change again would be wrong.” See Edmer, and Osberne, Angl. Sacra, ii. 219, 112.

[195] The life of Elphege, by Osberne, is in the Anglia Sacra, ii. 122.

[196] Ulfkytel attacked the Danes near Thetford, A.D. 1004, and though compelled to retreat, yet occasioned so severe a loss to the enemy, that they are said to have acknowledged that they had never endured a more powerful attack. See Flor. Wigorn., and the Saxon Chronicle, A.D. 1004.

[197] At Assingdon in Essex, A.D. 1016.

[198] In several of the manuscripts there is an omission of several words which has made nonsense of the whole paragraph. Its restoration is due to Mr. Hardy, in whose edition of William of Malmesbury it is given correctly from MS. authority.

[199] That is, when he had attained that age when a man settles, or chooses his future line of conduct; or, to years of discretion. This Pythagoras represented by the form of the letter Y, or the Greek _gamma_.

[200] Hermenegild the eldest son of Leovigild. He was invested by his father with the royal diadem and the principality of Bœtica, and contracted an alliance with Ingundis, daughter of Sigebert, king of Austrasia. Ingundis was persecuted, and at length killed by her husband’s mother, on account of her Catholic faith. Leander, archbishop of Seville, easily persuaded Hermenegild to resent the treatment of his bride, and assisted him in an attempt to dethrone his father. Hermenegild was taken and sentenced to death for his rebellion. The inflexible constancy, with which he refused to accept the Arian communion, from which he had been converted by Leander, as the price of his safety, procured for him the honour of being enrolled among the saints of the Romish church.--HARDY.

[201] Isidore was bishop of Seville in the sixth century.

[202] An instrument for making celestial observations. The reader who is conversant with the Arabian Nights’ Entertainments will remember its being frequently mentioned in that amusing book.

[203] The abacus was a counting table: here it seems used metaphorically for arithmetic, Gerbert having written a treatise on arithmetic with that title. The authors of the Hist. Litt. de la France, t. vi. understand him literally, as stealing a book containing the principles of the science, and then confound this supposed book with the conjuring treatise mentioned below. They also seem very much displeased with Malmesbury for relating these tales of their countryman, and attribute them to cardinal Benno; but there is nothing of this kind in his work published by Goldastus, and in Brown’s Fasciculus, t. i.

[204] Ovid. Amor. iii. iv. 17.

[205] This was perhaps a necessary precaution, according to the rules of the necromantic art.

[206] His treatise so called.

[207] Macrob. in Somn. Scip. i. 20.

[208] Josephus Antiq. Jud. 1. vii. c. 15. viii. 2.

[209] In the fabulous Itinerary of St. Peter, falsely attributed to Clemens Romanus, Simon is represented as causing Faustinianus to assume his countenance, by rubbing his face with a medicated unguent, to the great alarm of his sons, who mistook him for Simon, and fled until recalled by St. Peter.

[210] Other MSS. read Otbert.

[211] “Living, formerly called Elfstan, was translated from Wells to Canterbury in the year 1013; he died, 12th June, 1020.”--HARDY.

[212] Malmesbury seems to have fallen into some confusion here. The murder of the Danes took place on St. Brice’s day, A.D. 1002, and accordingly we find Sweyn infesting England in 1003 and the following year (see Saxon Chronicle): but this his second arrival took place, A.D. 1013: so that the avenging the murder of his sister Gunhilda could hardly be the object of his present attack.

[213] Matins were sometimes performed shortly after midnight.

[214] It was customary to hold a chapter immediately after primes.

[215] Sweyn died Feb. 3, A.D. 1014.

[216] The monastery of St. Edmundbury.

[217] He here considers Ledo to imply the spring tide; but others say it means the neap, and express the former by Malina. See Du Cange.

[218] Corsham, in Wiltshire?

[219] March 12th, but the Saxon Chronicle says St. George’s day, 23d April.

[220] In Somersetshire?

[221] Sceorstan is conjectured to be near Chipping Norton.--SHARP. Supposed to be a stone which divided the four counties of Oxford, Gloucester, Worcester and Warwick.--HARDY.

[222] He passed the Thames at Brentford, followed them into Kent, and defeated them at Aylesford. Saxon Chron.

[223] Thought to be either Assingdon, Ashdown in Essex, or Aston in Berkshire.

[224] Henry Huntingdon says they actually engaged, and that Canute finding himself likely to be worsted, proposed the division.--H. Hunt. 1. 6.

[225] “Florence of Worcester and the Saxon Chronicle place his death on the 30th of November, 1016. Florence, however, adds the year of the indiction, which corresponds with A.D. 1017.”--HARDY.

[226] The Danish chiefs were apprehensive that he would excite commotions in their country; in consequence of which he was ultimately despatched.--Ang. Sac. ii. 144.

[227] He returned by the way of Denmark. Florence of Worcester.

[228] St. Angelo in Calabria.

[229] The several princes, through whose territories their passage lay, exacted large sums for permission to pass; apparently in the defiles of the Alps.

[230] A penny for every plough, that is, for as much land as a plough could till, to be distributed to the poor: it was payable in fifteen days from Easter.

[231] Payable at Whitsuntide.

[232] A certain quantity of corn. Though it also implies, occasionally, other kinds of offerings.

[233] A forfeiture to the king, but varying according to the nature of the offence.

[234] This seems to be the meaning: he has probably in view the practice of the early princes of the Norman line, who swore to observe the laws of king Edward.

[235] Dean of Canterbury.

[236] This appears merely intended to express that he received the pall from the pope. The two transactions are inverted; he went to Rome A.D. 1021, and translated Elphege’s body A.D. 1023.

[237] Augustine, bishop of Hippo.

[238] He was bishop of Selsey, which see was afterwards removed to Chichester.

[239] The whole country round Glastonbury is flat and marshy, bearing evident marks of having formerly been covered by water.

[240] “See the letter of Fulbert to king Canute (an. 1020 aut 1021.) No. xliv., p. 466. tom. x. Rec. des Hist. de la France. Fulberti Carnot. Episc. Op. Var. 8vo. par. 1608. Epist. xcvii. p. 92.”--HARDY.

[241] Though several French chronicles give nearly the same account of Odo being the elder brother, the learned editors of the Recueil des Historiens de France insist that the assertion is false.

[242] “After the death of Canute, the kingdom was at first divided: the northern part fell to the share of Harold, and Hardecanute obtained the southern division. In the year 1037, Harold was chosen to reign over all England, (Flor. Wigorn.)”--HARDY.

[243] This he notices, because there was a suspicion that she had imposed the children of a priest and of a cobbler on Canute as her own. V. Flor. Wigorn.

[244] The Saxon Chronicle says March 17: it also makes Hardecanute arrive on the 18th of June.

[245] The printed Saxon Chronicle has no mention of this transaction, but there are two manuscripts which relate it. The story appears true in the main, but it is told with so much variety of time, place, &c., that it is difficult to ascertain its real circumstances. See MSS. Cott. Tib. b. i. and iv.

[246] It seems to mean a page, or personal attendant: some MSS. read “alumnus sturni;” apparently the keeper of her starling. There appears to have been a sort of romance on this subject. The youth is said to have been a dwarf, and therefore named Mimicon: his gigantic adversary was Roddingar. V. Matt. West. and Joh. Brompton.

[247] These people inhabited the country on and near the southern coast of the Baltic.

[248] Clerk was a general term including every degree of orders, from the bishop downwards to the chanter. A story near similar has been told of the celebrated Eginhard and the daughter of Charlemagne. V. Du Chesne, Script. Franc. T. ii.

[249] This brief allusion to Macbeth rather disproves the historical accuracy of Shakespere. See the Saxon Chronicle.

[250] This seems the foundation of the fable of Emma and the Ploughshares: as the first apparent promulgator of it was a constant reader and amplifier of Malmesbury. See Ric. Divisiensis, MS. C. C. C. Cant. No. 339.

[251] “Eadsine was translated from Winchester to Canterbury in 1038. The Saxon Chronicle (p. 416) states, that he consecrated Edward, at Winchester, on Easter day, and before all people well admonished him.”--HARDY.

[252] Eustace II, surnamed _Aux Grenons_. He succeeded his father, Eustace I, in 1049; and married, in 1050, Goda, daughter of king Ethelbert, and widow of Gauthier comte de Mantes, by whom he had no issue; but by his wife Ida he left three sons; Eustace, who succeeded him, Godefroi, created, in 1076, marquis d’Anvers by the emperor Henry IV, and afterwards duc de Bouillon, was elected king of Jerusalem in 1099, (23rd July); and, dying 18th July, 1100, was succeeded by his brother Baudouin, comte d’Edesse.--HARDY.

[253] He means Dover; according to the Saxon Chronicle, from which he borrows the account. Eustace stopped at Canterbury to refresh himself, and his people, and afterwards set out for Dover.--Sax. Chron. page 421.

[254] Earl Godwin’s second wife’s name was Gytha. (Saxon Chron. and Flor. Wigorn.)--HARDY.

[255] Sweyn had debauched an abbess, and being enraged that he was not allowed to retain her as his wife, he fled to Flanders. Shortly after he returned, and intreated Bruno or Beorn to accompany him to the king, and to intercede for his pardon: but it should seem this was a mere pretence; as he forced him on ship-board, and then put him to death. V. Flor. Wigorn, A.D. 1049. Chron. Sax. A.D. 1046, p. 419.

[256] “Pagi places the commencement of Gregory’s papacy in May 1044, but Ughelli cites a charter in which the month of August, 1045, is stated to be in the first year of his pontificate. He was deposed at a council held at Sutri, on Christmas-day, A.D. 1046, for having obtained the holy see by simony. Mr. Sharpe remarks that Malmesbury’s character of this pope is considered as apocryphal. Compare Rodul Glaber, lib. v. c. 5.”--HARDY.

[257] “Steteruntque comæ, et vox faucibus hæsit.”--Virgil, Æneid iii. 48.

[258] There are various stories of this kind in Gregory’s Dialogues.

[259] The original is as follows:

Filius Evandri Pallas, quem lancea Turni Militis occidit, more suo jacet hic.

I am unable to say who was the author of this epigram, but it is not too hazardous to assert that it was not composed either by Ennius or by any other ancient poet.

[260] There seems no reason to doubt the truth of this circumstance, since the exhibition of the Siamese twins, the most extraordinary _lusus naturæ_ that has occurred in the nineteenth century. Medical science, aided by comparative anatomy, has ascertained that the bodies of both man and the brute creation are susceptible of combinations--not usually occurring in the course of nature,--which in former times were thought impossible, and as such were universally disbelieved.

[261] Sometimes called St. Audry. She was abbess of Ely monastery. St. Werburga was patroness of Chester monastery.

[262] Archbishop of Canterbury, from A.D. 1006 to 1012. See Sax. Chronicle, pp. 402, 403.

[263] Bede, book iv. chap. 14. There are some MSS. which want this chapter. The former editor of Bede accounts for it very satisfactorily; stating that a very ancient MS. in the Cotton Collection has a note marking that a leaf was here wanting; and that those which want the chapter were transcripts of this imperfect MS.

[264] Acca, bishop of Hexham, A.D. 710, and a great friend of venerable Bede, who inscribed to him many of his works.

[265] Or Elbert. See b. i. c. i. p. 15.

[266] He was at the same time bishop of Worcester, and archbishop of York.

[267] See b. i. c. 4, p. 78.

[268] “Concerning St. Wistan, consult MSS. Harl. 2253. _De Martyrio S. Wistani._”--HARDY.

[269] Repton.

[270] Thought to be the Devil’s Dyke, on Newmarket Heath.

[271] He was tied to a tree, and shot to death with arrows. Abbo Floriacensis.

[272] This boundary is said to have been formed by Canute, in consequence of his father Sweyn having been killed by St. Edmund in a vision for attempting to plunder his territory. See Malm. de Gest. Pontif. lib. ii. f. 136, b. edit. Lond.

[273] Faremoutier in Brie.

[274] Hist. Eccl. b. iii. c. 8, p. 122.

[275] In b. i, c. 1, p. 15, it is said the compensation for their murder was made to their mother; but here she is called their sister, which is the general account. When it was left to her to estimate this compensation (i. e. their weregild), she asked as much land as her stag should compass, at one course, in the Isle of Thanet; where she founded the monastery of Minster. Vide W. Thorn. col. 1910, and Natale S. Mildrythæ; (Saxonicè), MS. Cott. Calig. A. xiv. 4.

[276] “Mild” gentle.

[277] In Shropshire.

[278] The Seven Sleepers were inhabitants of Ephesus; six were persons of some consequence, the seventh their servant. During the Decian persecution they retired to a cave, whence they despatched their attendant occasionally to purchase food for them. Decius, hearing this, ordered the mouth of the cave to be stopped up while the fugitives were sleeping. After a lapse of some hundred years, a part of the masonry at the mouth of the cave falling, the light flowing in awakened them. Thinking they had enjoyed a good night’s rest, they despatched their servant to buy provision. He finds all appear strange in Ephesus, and a whimsical dialogue takes place, the citizens accusing him of having found hidden treasure, he persisting that he offered the current coin of the empire. At length the attention of the emperor is excited, and he goes in company with the bishop to visit them. They relate their story and shortly after expire. In consequence of the miracle they were considered as martyrs. See Capgrave, Legenda Nova.

[279] On the Norman conquest many English fled to Constantinople, where they were eagerly received by Alexius, and opposed to the Normans under Robert Guiscard. Orderic. Vitalis, p. 508.

[280] Victor II. succeeded Leo IX. in 1056, and died in 1057. Stephen or Frederic, brother of duke Godefroi, succeeded Victor II. on the second of August, 1057, and Nicolaus became pope in 1059.

[281] That is, of Malmesbury. This Elmer is not to be confounded with Elmer or Ailmer prior of Canterbury.

[282] Died and was buried at St. Paul’s. Sax. Chron. A. 1057.

[283] It is hardly necessary to observe, that the succession of William is one of the most obscure points in our history.

[284] Near Chichester.

[285] It was customary for the king to wear his crown on the solemn festivals of Easter, Whitsuntide, and Christmas: it being placed on his head in due form by the archbishop.

[286] “Westminster Abbey was consecrated on the 28th of December, 1065. Ailred of Rievaulx, in his Life of Edward, states that the church had been commenced some years before, in performance of a vow the king had made to go to Rome; but being dissuaded from it, he sent to the pope to obtain his dispensation from that journey; the pope granted it, on condition that Edward should, with the money he would have spent in that voyage, build a monastery in honour of St. Peter.”--HARDY.

[287] The battle of Stanford-bridge was fought on the 25th of September, 1066. See Saxon. Chron. p. 440.

[288] What Malmesbury here relates is highly probable, from the shortness of the time which elapsed from William’s landing, to the battle of Hastings,--only fifteen days. In this period, therefore, the intelligence was to be conveyed to York, and Harold’s march into Sussex to be completed; of course few could accompany him, but such as were mounted.

[289] Will. Pictaviensis, to whom he seems here to allude, asserts that Harold had collected immense forces from all parts of England; and that Denmark had supplied him with auxiliaries also. But the circumstances mentioned in the preceding note show the absurdity of this statement.

[290] “Robert’s expedition to Jerusalem was in 1035,” (Bouq. 14, 420.)

[291] Ecclesiast. x. 16.

[292] Geoffrey II., son of Foulques III., earl of Anjou, whom he succeeded, A.D. 1040.

[293] “He was the son of Hugh de Montgomery and Jemima his wife, daughter of Turolf of Pont-Andomare, by Wora, sister of Gunnora, great-grandmother to the Conqueror. He led the centre of the army at the battle of Hastings, and was afterwards governor of Normandy. William the Conqueror gave him the earldoms of Arundel and Shrewsbury. See more of him in Sir H. Ellis’s Introduction to Domesday, vol. i. p. 479.”--HARDY.

[294] “For an account of the earls of Anjou consult the Gesta Consulum Andegavensium, auctore Monacho Benedictino Majoris Monasterii (apud Acherium, tom, iii.)”--HARDY.

[295] To carry a saddle was a punishment of extreme ignominy for certain crimes. See another instance in W. Gemeticensis, Du Chesne, p. 259, and Du Cange, in voce “Sella;” who very justly supposes the disgrace to arise from the offender acknowledging himself a brute, and putting himself entirely in the power of the person he had offended.

[296] “From this passage it is clear that Foulques IV. was still the reigning earl of Anjou, which therefore proves that Malmesbury had finished this work before 1129, in which year Geoffrey le Bel, better known as Geoffrey Plantagenet, son of Foulques, became earl of Anjou.”--HARDY.

[297] Terent. Andr. iv. 1.

[298] “These words seem to imply that the Great Council of the kingdom had never agreed to any settlement of the crown on the duke; and without such sanction no oath made by Harold in favour of William would have been binding.”--HARDY.

[299] Some copies omit from “it is wonderful,” to “But,” and substitute as follows:-- ... “that in the course of a very few years, many, if not all, things were seen changed in either order. The former became, in some respects, more dull but more liberal: the latter, more prudent in every thing, but more penurious; yet both, in defending their country, valiant in battle, provident in counsel; prepared to advance their own fortune, and to depress that of their enemies.”

[300] This passage enables us to ascertain nearly the year in which William of Malmesbury’s work was written.

[301] “There are two places called St. Valeri; one in Picardy, situated at the mouth of the Somme, and formerly called Leugonaus; the other is a large sea-port town, situated in Normandy, in the diocese of Rouen, and was formerly called S. Valeri les Plains, but now S. Valeri en Caux. It seems to be the former place to which Malmesbury here refers, ‘In Pontivo apud S. Walericum in ancoris congrue stare fecit,’ writes William of Jumièges.”--HARDY.

[302] This was said in allusion to the feudal investiture, or formal act of taking possession of an estate by the delivery of certain symbols. “This story, however, is rendered a little suspicious by these words being in exact conformity with those of Cæsar, when he stumbled and fell at his landing in Africa, _Teneo te, Africa_. The silence of William of Poitou, who was the duke’s chaplain, and with him at his landing, makes the truth of it still more doubtful.”--HARDY.

[303] “Whatever may have been the conqueror’s orders, to restrain his army from plundering, it is conclusive, from the Domesday Survey, that they were of no avail. The whole of the country, in the neighbourhood of Hastings, appears to have been laid waste. Sir Henry Ellis, in the last edition of his General Introduction to Domesday, observes, that the destruction occasioned by the conqueror’s army on its first arrival, is apparent more particularly under Hollington, Bexhill, &c. The value of each manor is given as it stood in the reign of the conqueror; afterwards it is said, ‘vastatum fuit;’ and then follows the value at the time of the survey. The situation of those manors evidently shows their devastated state to have been owing to the army marching over it; and this clearly evinces another circumstance relating to the invasion, which is, that William did not land his army at one particular spot, at Bulwerhithe, or Hastings, as is supposed,--but at all the several proper places for landing along the coast, from Bexhill to Winchelsea.”--HARDY.

[304] Lib. v. c. 14.

[305] This is from W. Pictaviensis, who puts it in the mouth of the conqueror, but it is evidently false; for Godwin died A.D. 1053, Siward A.D. 1055, and in 1054 we find Edward the Confessor sending for his nephew from Hungary, to make him his successor in the kingdom, who, accordingly, arrives in A.D. 1057, and dies almost immediately after. He could not, therefore, have made the settlement as here asserted.

[306] As the armour of that time was of mail, this might easily happen.

[307] What this was is not known; but it is supposed to have been a ballad or romance, commemorating the heroic achievements of the pretended nephew of Charlemagne.

[308] “There seems to have been a fabulous story current during the twelfth century, that Harold escaped from the battle of Hastings. Giraldus Cambrensis asserts, that it was believed Harold had fled from the battle-field, pierced with many wounds, and with the loss of his left eye; and that he ended his days piously and virtuously, as an anchorite, at Chester. Both Knighton and Brompton quote this story. W. Pictaviensis says, that William refused the body to his mother, who offered its weight in gold for it, ordering it to be buried on the sea-coast. In the Harleian MS. 3776, before referred to, Girth, Harold’s brother, is said to have escaped alive: he is represented, in his interview with Henry II. to have spoken mysteriously respecting Harold, and to have declared that the body of that prince was not at Waltham. Sir H. Ellis, quoting this MS., justly observes, that the whole was, probably, the fabrication of one of the secular canons, who were ejected at the re-foundation of Waltham Abbey in 1177.”--HARDY.

[309] Four manuscripts read _Exoniam_, and one, namely, that which was used by Savile, read _Oxoniam_. But Matthew Paris also seems to have read _Exoniam_, for such is the text of the two best MSS. of that author. (Reg. 14, c. vii. and Cott. Nero, D. V.) Upon a passage in the Domesday Survey, describing Oxford as containing 478 houses, which were so desolated that they could not pay gold, Sir H. Ellis remarks: “The extraordinary number of houses specified as desolated at Oxford, requires explanation. If the passage is correct, Matthew Paris probably gives us the cause of it, under the year 1067, when William the Conqueror subdued _Oxford_ in his way to York:--‘Eodem tempore rex Willielmus urbem Oxoniam sibi rebellem obsidione vallavit. Super cujus murum quidam, stans, nudato inguine, sonitu partis inferioris auras turbavit, in contemptum videlicet Normannorum; unde Willielmus in iram conversus, civitatem levi negotio subjugavit.’ (Matt. P. ed. Watts, sub ann. 1067, p. 4.) The siege of Exeter in 1067 is also mentioned by Simeon of Durham, col. 197; Hoveden, col. 258; Ralph de Diceto, col. 482; Flor. of Worces. fol. Franc. 1601, p. 635; and by Ordericus Vitalis, p. 510.”--HARDY.

[310] Domesday Book bears ample testimony to this statement; and that which closely follows, viz. that the resources of this once-flourishing province were cut off by fire, slaughter, and devastation; and the ground, for more than sixty miles, totally uncultivated and unproductive, remains bare to the present day. The land, which had belonged to Edwin and Morcar in Yorkshire, almost everywhere in the Survey is stated to be _wasta_; and in Amunderness, after the enumeration of no fewer than sixty-two places, the possessions in which amounted to one hundred and seventy carucates, it is said, ‘Omnes hæ villæ jacent ad Prestune, et tres ecclesiæ. Ex his 16 a paucis incoluntur, sed quot sint habitantes ignoratur. Reliqua sunt wasta.’ Moreover, _wasta_ is added to numerous places belonging to the archbishop of York, St. John of Beverley, the bishop of Durham, and to those lands which had belonged to Waltheof, Gospatric, Siward, and Merlesweyne!--HARDY.

[311] Fordun has a story of Edgar’s being cleared from an accusation of treason against W. Rufus, by one Godwin, in a duel; whose son, Robert, is afterwards described as one of Edgar’s adherents in Scotland. L. v. c. 27-34. “The Saxon Chronicle states, that in the year 1106, he was one of the prisoners taken at the battle of Tinchebrai, in Normandy. Edgar is stated, by Dr. Sayers, in his Disquisitions, 8vo, 1808, p. 296, upon the authority of the Spelman MSS., to have again visited Scotland at a very advanced period of life, and died in that kingdom in the year 1120. If this date can be relied upon, the passage above noted would prove that Malmesbury had written this portion of his history before the close of that year.”--HARDY.

[312] “Earl Waltheof, or Wallef, as he is always styled in Domesday Book, was, according to the Saxon Chronicle, beheaded at Winchester on the 31st May, 1076. The Chronicle of Mailros and Florence of Worcester, however, assign this event to the preceding year.”--HARDY.

[313] “Harold’s master of the horse. He was killed in 1068, in opposing the sons of Harold, when they came upon their expedition from Ireland.”--HARDY.

[314] “W. Fitz-Osberne was only the father-in-law of Ralph de Guader.”--HARDY.

[315] There is considerable difficulty in distinguishing exactly the various meanings of the term “miles.” Sometimes it is, in its legitimate sense, a soldier generally; sometimes it implies a horseman, and frequently it is to be taken in its modern acceptation for a knight; the latter appears to be the meaning here.

[316] “Charles, called the Good. He was the son of Canute IV, king of Denmark, and Adele, daughter of Robert le Frison. He succeeded Boudouin VII, as earl of Flanders (17th June, 1119,) and died 2nd March, 1127.”--HARDY.

[317] “King William now went over sea, and led his army to Brittany, and beset the castle of Dol; but the Bretons defended it, until the king came from France; whereupon king William departed thence, having lost there both men and horses, and many of his treasures, (Sax. Chron. A.D. 1076.) This event is more correctly attributed by Florence and others to the preceding year.”--HARDY.

[318] Domesday book. This invaluable record, which has been printed by order of the House of Commons, contains a survey of the kingdom, noting, generally, for there are some variations in different counties, the proprietors and value of lands, both at the time of the survey and during the reign of Edward the Confessor, the quantity of arable, wood, and pasture, &c. the various kinds of tenants and slaves on each estate, and, in some instances, the stock; also the number of hides at which it was rated, for the public service, with various other particulars.

[319] Sweyn succeeded to the kingdom of Denmark on the death of Magnus in 1047.

[320] Man and Anglesey.

[321] Nicolas reigned from A.D. 1105 to A.D. 1135, June 25, when he was murdered.

[322] “Hoveden, who follows Malmesbury, adds that Alexius married, crowned, and then burnt alive his female accomplice.”--HARDY.

[323] Archdeacon, and afterwards chancellor. Baronius, x. 289.

[324] He was elected pope the 22nd of April, 1073, and died 25th May, 1085.--HARDY.

[325] Investiture was a symbolical mode of receiving possession of a benefice, dignity, or office.

[326] This seems intended to denote his absolute submission, and willingness to undergo any kind of penance which might be enjoined upon him. Sometimes excommunicated persons wore a halter about their necks; sometimes they were shorn or scourged prior to receiving absolution. Vide Basnage, pref. in Canisium, p. 69, 70.

[327] “The abbey of St. Stephen’s, Caen, is stated to have been completed in 1064, but when it was dedicated is not accurately known: some fix the dedication in 1073, others in 1081, and Orderic in 1077. There was, however, a foundation charter granted subsequently to 1066, for in it William styles himself King.”--HARDY.

[328] “The convent of the Holy Trinity was founded by Matilda 1066, and its church dedicated on the 18th of June in that year. Duke William on the same day, presenting at the altar his infant daughter Cecilia, devoted her to the service of God in this monastery, where she became the second abbess.”--HARDY.

[329] “This disgraceful contention happened in the year 1083. It seems to have arisen from the abbat (Thurstan) attempting to introduce a new chant, brought from Feschamp, instead of the Gregorian, to which the monks had been accustomed.”--HARDY.

[330] Bracton says (lib. ii. c. 8, sec. 4), that the bishop of Durham had as full power in the county of Durham as the king in his own palace. The privileges of the see of Durham trace back to the time of St. Cuthbert.

[331] Walker offered to purge himself by oath from all participation in the murder. See Flor. Wig. A.D. 1080.

[332] “Matilda died 2nd Nov. 1083. She bequeathed to this monastery her crown, sceptre, and ornaments of state. A copy of her will may be seen in the Essais Historiques, by the Abbé de la Rue, tom. ii. p. 437.”--HARDY.

[333] Some MSS. omit from “a dreadful spectacle,” to the end of the paragraph, and substitute thus, “Here he willingly passed his time, here he delighted to follow the chase, I will not say for days but even months together. Here, too, many accidents befell the royal race, which the recent recollection of the inhabitants supplies to inquirers.”

[334] Agatha and Adeliza were their names, according to Ordericus Vitalis, (lib. iv. 512.)

[335] Some MSS. omit from “money,” to “I have,” and substitute, This he sought all opportunities of collecting, provided he could allege that they were honourable, and not unbecoming the royal dignity. But he will readily be excused, because a new government cannot be administered without large revenues. I have, &c.

[336] The Romish ritual directs the woman to kneel, with a lighted taper in her hand, at the church door, where she is sprinkled with holy water, and afterwards conducted into the church. The practice seems connected with the festival of the Purification. Vide Durand, lib. vii. c. 7.

[337] Sixty shillings down, and as much more afterwards. Orderic. Vital.

[338] ... lanistarum vel pellificum. It seems a sneer at the sanguinary disposition of the Roman people, and at the bulls of the pope. In a dispute on the credibility of evidence adduced, it is observed, that the oral testimony of three bishops was certainly to be preferred “to sheep-skins blackened with ink and loaded with a leaden seal.” Edmer. Hist. Nov. p. 65.

[339] Marianus was born in Ireland A.D. 1028, and was compiler of a celebrated chronicle, which is the basis of Florence of Worcester. His imagined correction of Dionysius is founded in error.

[340] See the letters which passed on this subject between Lanfranc and Thomas archbishop of York in Lanfranci Opera, ed. J. A. Giles, 2 vols. 8vo. forming vols. 21 and 22 of Patres Ecclesiæ Anglicanæ.

[341] Two of the MSS., used by Mr. Hardy, place here the dedicatory epistle of the author to Robert Earl of Gloucester, which we have placed at the commencement of the work.

[342] “At this period the custom of receiving knighthood from the hands of bishops or abbats yet obtained. There is a law of Henry I., prohibiting abbats from making knights.”--HARDY.

[343] The 27th of September.

[344] Persius, Sat. i. 85.

[345] On their own lands, it should seem from Sax. Chron., p. 465.

[346] Nidering is supposed by Somner to denote such as were infamous enough to rifle a dead body. Gavelk. 65. Lye renders it, nequam, exlex,--infamous, outlaw. MS. Nithing. Spelman derives it from nidus: but there is no authority for either interpretation; and in such cases it is safer, to confess ignorance than to mislead the reader by fanciful etymologies.

[347] This crucifix was very celebrated; it being pretended that it was the work of Nicodemus. “See further on this subject in the Rev. J. E. Tyler’s interesting volume, entitled, ‘Oaths, their origin, nature, and history.’ London: 8vo, pp. 289-296.”--HARDY.

[348] Cicero de Officiis, ii. 15. Much of the argument is borrowed from the same source.

[349] Some read, “The king used to laugh,” &c.

[350] This is unintelligible to the English reader. The author uses the word “firmarius,” which certainly would not have conveyed the idea of a “farmer” to the mind of either Cicero or Horace.

[351] Those who followed the court, being under no kind of control, were in the habit of plundering and devastating the country wherever they went. When they were unable to consume whatever they found in their lodgings, they would sell it to the best bidder, or destroy it with fire; or if it were liquor, after washing their horses’ legs with a part, they let the remainder run. “As to their cruelty towards their hosts, or their unseemly conduct towards their wives and daughters, it is shameful even to remember.”--Edmer. Hist. Nov. p. 94.

[352] These shoes, which gave occasion for various ordinances for their regulation or abolition, during several successive centuries, are said to have owed their invention to Fulk, earl of Anjou, in order to hide his ill-formed feet. Orderic. Vitalis, p. 682: who also observes, that the first improver, by adding the long curved termination, was a fellow (quidam nebulo) in the court of William Rufus, named Robert.

[353] Others read, “The palace of the king was not the abode of majesty, but the stews of pathics.”

[354] Edmer, besides constant mention of Anselm in his Historia Novorum, wrote his life also, in a separate form.

[355] A Jewish youth imagined that St. Stephen had appeared to him, and commanded him to be baptized: this he obeyed. His father immediately flew to the king, earnestly entreating an order for his son to be restored to the faith of his ancestors. The king not discovering any advantage as likely to accrue to himself, remained silent: on this the Jew offers him sixty marks, on condition that he would restore his son to Judaism. William then orders the youth to be brought before him; relates his father’s complaint, and commands him to renounce his baptism. The lad, astonished, replies, “Your majesty is joking surely.” “I joke with thee,” exclaims the king, “thou son of ordure! begone, and obey my commands instantly, or by the cross at Lucca I will have your eyes torn out.” The young man remaining inflexible, he drove him from his presence. The father was then ordered before the king, who desired him to pay down the money he had promised; but, on the Jew’s remonstrating that he had not reconverted his son, and the king’s declaring that his labour was not to go unrewarded, it was agreed that he should receive half the sum. Edmer, Hist. Novor. p. 47.

[356] “Compater” sometimes means a friend or companion.

[357] Pharsalia, lib. ii. 515--v. 580.

[358] “It has been inferred from this passage, that Malmesbury states the tower of London was built by William Rufus. There appears, however, little doubt that the principal building, now called the White Tower, was commenced by the Conqueror, and finished by Rufus, under the superintendence of Gundulph, bishop of Rochester.”--HARDY.

[359] “The tradition of William having met his death by the hand of Sir Walter Tirel, whilst hunting in the New Forest, is generally received; but Suger, a contemporary historian, and, as it seems, a friend of Tirel, in his Life of Louis le Gros, king of France, alluding to the death of Rufus, observes, ‘Imponebatur a quibusdam cuidam nobili Gualtero Tirello quod eum sagitta perfoderat: quem, cum nec timeret nec speraret, jurejurando sæpius audivimus quasi sacrosanctum asserere, quod ea die nec in eam partem silvæ, in qua rex venebatur, venerit, nec eum in silva omnino viderit.’ See also Edmer, Hist. Nov. p. 54, and Ord. Vit. Hist. Eccles. lib. x. p. 783.”--HARDY.

[360] It fell A.D. 1107. An. Winton.

[361] By this probably is to be understood the payment of Peter-pence. Anselm had offended the king, by acknowledging Urban without consulting him.

[362] Juvenal, Sat. i. 37.

[363] A kind of woollen shirt.

[364] The concluding psalms of the matin service.

[365] The Horæ, or canonical services, were matins, primes, tierce, sexts, nones, vespers, and complines.

[366] The Ambrosian ritual prevailed pretty generally till the time of Charlemagne, who adopted the Gregorian. Durandus (lib. v. c. 1) has a curious account of an experiment, on the result of which was founded the general reception of the latter, and the confining the former chiefly to Milan, the church of St. Ambrose.

[367] The learned Mabillon appears much displeased with Malmesbury, for the motives here assigned for abbat Robert’s quitting Citeaux. Vide Ann. Benedictinor.

[368] From the French “losenge,” adulation.

[369] Alluding to the legend of St. Peter and Simon Magnus; who having undertaken by means of enchantment, to fly, was, by the adjuration of St. Peter, dashed to the earth and killed. Vide Fabricius, Codex Apocryphus.

[370] His letters, long supposed to be lost, were found by the editor of this work in a MS. belonging to the Burgundian library at Brussels, and have been since published by R. Anstruther, 8vo. Bruxellis, 1845.

[371] Joscelyn’s “Life and Translation of St. Augustine” is printed in the “Acta Sanctor. Antwerp. 26 Maii.” See the Preface to Bede, p. xxxix.

[372] Another famous writer of Lives of Saints, several of which exist still in MS.

[373] “The council of Clermont, in Auvergne, continued from 18th to 28th of Nov. A.D. 1095; wherein the decrees of the councils held by pope Urban at Melfe, Benevento, Troie, and Plaisance, were confirmed, and many new canons made. Malmesbury’s is perhaps the best account now known of that celebrated council. See the acts of the council of Clermont; Conc. tom. xii. p. 829, &c.”--HARDY.

[374] The practice of private wars; for an account of which, see Robertson’s Hist. of Charles V. vol. i.

[375] If orders could not be completely conferred on Saturday, the ceremony might be performed on Sunday; and the parties continuing to fast the two days were considered as one only.--DURAND.

[376] The Truce of God, was so called from the eagerness with which its first proposal was received by the suffering people of every degree: during the time it endured, no one dared infringe it, by attacking his fellows. See Du Cange: and Robertson’s Charles V. vol. i. It was blamed by some bishops as furnishing an occasion of perjury, and was rejected by the Normans, as contrary to their privileges. The Truce of God was first established in Aquitaine, 1032.

[377] There are other orations, said to have been delivered by Urban in this council, remaining; and L’Abbe (Concil. T. x.) has printed one from a Vatican MS.; but they are all very inferior to Malmesbury.

[378] He alludes to St. Augustine and the fathers of the African church.

[379] This gratuitous insult on a brave and noble people is unworthy a writer like William of Malmesbury; but the monkish historians were as deficient in taste as in style. The cloister was a useful seminary to teach the plodding accuracy which is required to write a chronicle; but for elevation of mind and diffusion of liberal sentiment, it was as inefficient as it is still.

[380] The rustic, observes Guibert, shod his oxen like horses, and placed his whole family on a cart; where it was amusing to hear the children, on the approach to any large town or castle, inquiring, if that were Jerusalem. Guib. Novigent. Opera, p. 482.

[381] Fulcher says, those who assumed the cross were estimated at that number; but that multitudes returned home ere they passed the sea. Fulcherius Carnotensis ap. Gesta Dei per Francos, p. 387.

[382] However repugnant this representation may be to the generally received opinion, it is that of an eye-witness, when describing the army assembled at Constantinople. Fulch. Carnot. p. 389.

[383] It should probably be the Elbe, as he appears to describe the people of northern Germany.

[384] Virgil, Æneid i. 281.

[385] “Hildebert was translated to Tours, A.D. 1125, upon the death of Gislebert, who died at Rome about the middle of December, 1124, in the same week with pope Calixtus. (Ord. Vit. lib. xii. p. 882.)”--HARDY.

[386] For a very interesting account of the walls and gates of Rome, see Andrew Lumisden’s “Remarks on the Antiquities of Rome and its Environs, London, 4to. 1797.”

[387] Now called Porta del Popolo.

[388] Porta Pinciana.

[389] The Two Hundred and Sixty are said to have been shot with arrows in the amphitheatre, by order of Claudius. The Thirty suffered under Diocletian.

[390] Porta Salaria.

[391] Porta Pia.

[392] Porta di San Lorenzo.

[393] Porta Maggiore.

[394] The Forty Soldiers suffered martyrdom under Licinius at Sebastia in Armenia.

[395] So called, because for a long time after they had suffered martyrdom (martyrio coronati) their names were unknown; and though afterwards their real names were revealed to a certain priest, yet they still continued to retain their former designation.

[396] Porta di San Giovanni.

[397] There is no notice of this in Lumisden: it is probably now destroyed.

[398] Porta Latina.

[399] Porta di San Sebastiano.

[400] Porta di San Paolo.

[401] Aquas Saluias, now Trefontane. The tradition is, that St. Paul was beheaded on this spot: that his head, on touching the ground, rebounded twice, and that a fountain immediately burst forth from each place where it fell. See Lumisden.

[402] Porta Portese.

[403] Porti di San Pancrazio.

[404] Sacred places and bodies of saints long since deceased, are but feeble safeguards against the outbreak or even moderate agency of human passions, which, in every country and under every form of superstition, act always in the same way.

[405] Aldhelmi Opera, page 28.

[406] The story of Silvester’s having baptized Constantine is considered as altogether unfounded. See Mosheim, vol. i.

[407] This, in Aldhelm, is the Labarum, or imperial standard.

[408] The place of his birth is contested.

[409] Geor. i. 103.

[410] “The Danube empties itself through six mouths into the Euxine. The river Lycus, formed by the conflux of two little streams, pours into the harbour of Constantinople a perpetual supply of fresh water, which serves to cleanse the bottom, and to invite the periodical shoals of fish to seek their retreat in the capacious port of Constantinople.”--HARDY.

[411] After all the researches of the last fifty years, the “Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire,” by Gibbon, will be found to contain the best history of these Byzantine emperors.

[412] His Turkish name was Killidge-Arslan: his kingdom of Roum extended from the Hellespont to the confines of Syria, and barred the pilgrimage of Jerusalem. (See De Guignes, tom. iii. p. 2, pp. 10-30.)--HARDY.

[413] When Urban II addressed the multitude from a lofty scaffold in the market-place of Clermont, inciting the people to undertake the crusade, he was frequently interrupted by the shout of thousands in their rustic idiom exclaiming “Deus lo vult!” “It is indeed the will of God!” replied the pope; “and let those words, the inspiration surely of the Holy Spirit, be for ever adopted as your war-cry.”--HARDY.

[414] Hegesippus, a Greek author of the second century, wrote an account of the Jewish war, and of the destruction of Jerusalem; said to have been translated into Latin by St. Ambrose. He also wrote an ecclesiastical history, in five books, a fragment of which only remains.

[415] “The siege of Antioch commenced on the 21st of October, 1097, and ended 3rd June, 1098.”--HARDY.

[416] Pharsalia, iv. 579.

[417] The balista was a warlike engine for casting either darts or stones: the petrary, for throwing large stones only.

[418] Owing to the scarcity of fuel.

[419] “Phirouz, a Syrian renegade, has the infamy of this perfidious and foul treason.”--HARDY.

[420] “In describing the host of Corbaguath, most of the Latin historians, the author of the Gesta, (p. 17,) Robertus monachus, (p. 56,) Baldric, (p. 3,) Fulcherius Carnotensis, (p. 392,) Guibert, (p. 512,) William of Tyre, (lib. vi. c. 3, p. 714,) Bernardus Thesaurarius, (c. 39, p. 695,) are content with the vague expressions of ‘infinita multitudo,’ ‘immensum agmen,’ ‘innumeræ copiæ,’ ‘innumeræ gentes.’ The numbers of the Turks are fixed by Albertus Aquensis at two hundred thousand, (lib. iv. c. 10, p. 242,) and by Radulphus Cadomensis (c. 72, p. 309) at four hundred thousand horse. (Gib. Decl. Rom. Emp. vii. pp. 364, 5.)”--HARDY.

[421] The greatest part of their march is most accurately traced in Maundrell’s Journey from Aleppo to Jerusalem.--HARDY.

[422] The church of St. Mary, at Bethlehem, contained within its walls a sort of grotto, in which it was pretended Christ was born.--See Bede, de Locis Sanctis.

[423] “Jerusalem was possessed only of the torrent of Kedron, dry in summer, and of the little brook or spring of Siloe, (Reland, tom. i. pp. 294, 300). Tacitus mentions a perennial fountain, an aqueduct, and cisterns of rain-water. The aqueduct was conveyed from the rivulet Tekoe, or Etham, which is likewise mentioned by Bohadin, (in Vit. Saladin. p. 238.)”--HARDY.

[424] It was pretended that the lamps in the church of the Holy Sepulchre were miraculously ignited on Easter Eve.

[425] Bernard, with two companions, sailed from Italy to Alexandria, and travelled thence by land to Jerusalem in the year 870. Their travels are printed in “Mabillon’s Acta Benedictinorum.” The account is short, but has several interesting particulars. There is also a good MS. in the British Museum, Bib. Cott. Faust, b. 1, where, by a mistake of the scribe, it is dated A.D. 970, but this is clearly wrong, for Bernard mentions Lewis, king of Italy, as then living, and he died A.D. 875.

[426] Some MSS. insert the name of another John after Juvenalis, but no patriarch of this name is known to have lived at that period. Malmesbury has, moreover, omitted the names of eleven patriarchs, between Juvenal, who died A.D. 458, and Zacharias who died A.D. 609.

[427] Cosroes, or Chosroes the Second, king of Persia.

[428] “The church of Jerusalem was vacant after the death of Sophronius, A.D. 644, until the year 705, when John V succeeded, whom Theodorus followed, A.D. 754.”--HARDY.

[429] “The tower of David was the old tower Psephina or Neblosa; it was likewise called Castellum Pisanum, from the patriarch Daimbert. (D’Anville, pp. 19-23.)”--HARDY.

[430] That is to say, with several floors or apartments, one above the other; each of which contained soldiers.

[431] Interested motives and conduct, it is to be observed, are several times imputed to the adventurers from Sicily and Calabria.

[432] In allusion to the custom of painting and gilding the ceilings.

[433] Godfrey would not, however, accept the name of king, nor wear a crown of jewels in a city where his Saviour had been crowned with thorns. He therefore contented himself with the title of “Defender and Baron of the Holy Sepulchre.”

[434] Pope Urban however died fourteen days after the taking of Jerusalem. Daibert was appointed patriarch of the captured city.

[435] The church of Golgotha contains within it the rock on which the cross was fixed for the crucifixion. Bede, Eccles. Hist. p. 264.

[436] Fulcher wrote an account of the transactions in Syria, where he was present, from A.D. 1095 to 1124. Malmesbury condenses much of his narrative with his usual ability. It is printed in the Gesta Dei per Francos, and, ap. Duchesne Hist. Franc. Scriptor. tom. iii.

[437] Paul was bishop of Antioch in the third century. “He was better pleased with the title of ducenarius than with that of bishop. His heresy, like those of Noetus and Labellius in the same century, tended to confound the mysterious distinction of the Divine persons. He was degraded from his see in 270, by the sentence of eighty bishops, and altogether deprived of his office in 274 by Aurelian (Mosheim’s Ecc. Hist. vol.i. p. 702, &c.)”--HARDY.

[438] The sugar cane. “This kind of herb is annually cultivated with great labour. When ripe they pound it in a mortar, strain off the juice, and put it in vessels until it coagulates, and hardens in appearance like snow or white salt. This they use scraped and mixed with bread, or dissolved in water. The canes they call Zucra.” Albertus Aquensis, ap. Gesta Dei, p. 270.

[439] In token of victory, or the completion of their purpose, by having visited the holy sepulchre. Vide Albert. Aquens. ubi sup. p. 290.

[440] See note, p. 384.

[441] “Lord have mercy upon us,” thrice repeated, three times.

[442] Bernard the monk notices the custom of imparting the holy light, in order that the bishops and people might illuminate their several residences from it. Fulcher describes this event at great length, and observes that each person had a wax taper in his hand for the purpose of receiving the holy fire. Gesta Dei, p. 407.

[443] Engines made to cast stones.

[444] Fulcher relates, with great coolness, that he saw the bodies of the Turks, who were slain at Cæsarea, piled up and burned, in order to obtain the bezants which they had swallowed. Hist. Hierosol. ap. Du Chesne, tom. iv. 845. This practice of swallowing money is referred to by pope Urban, and, by his account, the merely burning dead bodies to obtain the hoard was a very humble imitation of the Saracen custom, with respect to those who visited Jerusalem before the crusades; which was to put scammony in their drink to make them vomit, and if this did not produce the desired effect, they proceeded to immediate incision! Guibert Abbas. Opera, p. 379.

[445] Juvenal, Sat. i. 43.

[446] Among a variety of instances adduced of her wealth, it is stated, that the mast of the vessel which conveyed her to Palestine, was covered with pure gold. Alb. Aquens. ap. Gesta Dei, p. 373.

[447] Fulcher assigns a different reason for her being divorced. The king, being extremely ill and thinking he should not survive, recollected that he had another wife living, to whom he had been previously married at Edessa. Du Chesne, t. iv. 864. He had been twice married before. His first wife, an English woman, accompanied him on the Crusade, and died in Asia: the second, daughter of Taphnuz, an Armenian nobleman, following him, by sea, to Jerusalem, was taken by pirates; and being suspected of improper conduct during her absence, was, on her arrival at Jerusalem, about A.D. 1105, repudiated, and shut up in the convent of St. Anne. Alb. Aquens. ubi sup. Guib. Abbat. Opera, p. 452.

[448] “Roger, prince-regent of Antioch, son of Richard, seneschal of Apulia, married Hodierna, sister of Baldwin II. He was slain in 1119.”--HARDY.

[449] This account appears in some measure incorrect. Gozelin and the king were both confined in the same castle. On its being seized Gozelin escaped, and collected troops to liberate his friends, who were now themselves besieged. But ere his arrival, the Turks had made themselves masters of the fortress and carried off the king, who did not recover his liberty for some time, and then only by paying a considerable ransom. Fulch. Carnot. et Will. Tyr. ap. Gesta Dei.

[450] Baldwin died 21st August, A.D. 1131.--HARDY.

[451] Boamund was baptized Mark; but his father hearing a tale related of a giant named Buamund, gave him that appellation. When, after his captivity, he returned to France, many of the nobility requested him to stand for their children; this he acquiesced in, and giving them his own name, it became frequent in these parts, though before nearly unknown in the West. Ord. Vital. p. 817.

[452] There is a play here on the words Mollucium and Durachium, intended to imply soft and hard, “mollis” and “durus,” which it is not easy to translate.

[453] Orderic. Vital. p. 797, gives a different account of his deliverance, and which has quite a romantic air.

[454] Leonard was godson to Clovis king of France, and obtained, through the favour of that monarch, that, whenever he should see any one who was in chains, he should immediately be set at liberty. At length it pleased God to honour him to that degree, that, if any person in confinement invoked his name, their chains immediately fell off, and they might depart; their keepers themselves having no power to prevent them. Vide Surius, Vitæ Sanct. Nov. 6.

[455] He is called Pontius in Bouquet, Rec. 13, 7.

[456] Helena, daughter of Otho I. duke of Burgundy. Bouquet, Rec. 13, 7.

[457] None of the original historians of the crusade mention Robert, by name, as refusing the crown. Henry of Huntingdon however records it, and Albertus Aquensis observes, that it was first offered to Raymond, earl of Toulouse, who declining to accept it, and the other chiefs in succession following his example, Godfrey was, with difficulty, prevailed on to ascend the throne. Alb. Aquens. 1. vi. c. 33. and Villehardouin, No. 136.

[458] “Sibilla, duchess of Normandy, died by poison, according to Ordericus Vitalis, and the Continuator of William of Jumièges. Malmesbury’s account does not appear to be supported by any contemporary testimony.”--HARDY.

[459] “Normandy was only mortgaged for 10,000 marks, about the 100th part of its present value.”--HARDY.

[460] Cicero de Offic. 1. iii. But Malmesbury seems to have thought it necessary to soften it; as Cæsar’s axiom says, “for the sake of power.”

[461] Instead of these words “nor was he liberated, &c.,” another manuscript reads, “and whether he ever will be set free, is doubtful.” Upon which Mr. Hardy observes that these various readings of the MSS. seem to mark the periods when the author composed and amended his history. In other words, the reading in the text was substituted by the author, when he revised his work after Robert’s death, for the reading in the note, which is copied from a MS. written whilst Robert was still in prison.

[462] “Henry was born in 1068, not in 1070, as stated by Ordericus Vitalis, (Annal. Burton, apud Fell, inter Rer. Anglic. Script. v. p. 246.)”--HARDY.

[463] “William the Conqueror was abroad at Pentecost in the 21st year of his reign, A.D. 1087. Henry undoubtedly received knighthood in the year 1086, in the 20th year of his father’s reign.”--HARDY.

[464] Wilkins, Leges Anglo-Saxonicæ, 233.

[465] This has been taken to mean the abolition of the Curfew, by which it is said, all fires were ordered to be extinguished at eight o’clock; but it may be doubted, whether it does not rather refer to some regulation of the court merely.

[466] Those called the Confessor’s.

[467] Matilda having taken the veil, though only for a purpose, scruples were raised as to the propriety of her entering the marriage state: a synod was therefore called at Lambeth by archbishop Anselm, and it was there determined that Matilda, not having voluntarily become a nun, might marry according to the law of God. See Edmer, pp. 56, 57.--HARDY.

[468] These appellations seem intended as sneers at the regular life of Henry and his queen. Godric implies God’s kingdom or government.

[469] For the particulars of the bishop’s escape, see Ordericus Vitalis p. 787.

[470] “There is no vestige of this exhortation in any letter of pope Paschal to king Henry now known. Indeed Paschal, writing to archbishop Anselm, enjoins him to effect a reconciliation between the king and his brother. See Anselmi Opera, edit. nov. p. 382, col. 2.”--HARDY.

[471] Orderic. Vital. [p. 815.] relates a circumstance highly indicative of the troubled state of Normandy. Henry, on his arrival, was immediately welcomed by Serlo bishop of Sees; who, on conducting him into the church, pointed out the area nearly filled with boxes and packages brought thither for security from plunderers, by the inhabitants.

[472] His daughter Mabil became the wife of Robert earl of Gloucester, to whom Malmesbury dedicated this work.

[473] Robert de Belesme was seized by order of king Henry in 1112, having come to him in Normandy as ambassador from the king of France to treat of peace. Robert was in the following year sent over to England, and confined in Wareham Castle until his death.--HARDY.

[474] “The laws of Henry I. have lately been reprinted in the ‘Ancient Laws and Institutes of England,’ under the able editorship of Mr. Thorpe.”--HARDY.

[475] “It appears from two charters, printed in Rymer’s Fœdera, vol. i. pp. 6, 7, that Henry agreed to pay a pension of four hundred marks, annually, to Robert, earl of Flanders, for the service of one thousand knights.”--HARDY.

[476] “William, surnamed Clito [the Clito], son of Robert, duke of Normandy, and Sibilla de Conversano, succeeded to the earldom of Flanders upon the death of Charles le Bon, A.D. 1127.”--HARDY.

[477] He probably intended a joke on the custom of ringing the bells to scare evil spirits.

[478] “Ordericus Vitalis attributes this act to Odo, bishop of Bayeux; but Pope Urban II., in his Epistle to Raynald, archbishop of Rheims, ascribes it to Ursio, bishop of Senlis.”--HARDY.

[479] “Although king Philip, a few years before his death, entertained some notion of embracing a monastic life, as is seen in the epistle written to him by Hugh, abbat of Cluni, yet it appears that he never carried his design into effect.”--HARDY.

[480] “Pope Calixtus met king Henry at Gisors on his return from the council at Rheims, held in October 1119.”--HARDY.

[481] This practice is referred to by Henry Huntingdon, when speaking of Hardecanute, who had four repasts served up every day, “when in our times, through avarice, or as they pretend through disgust, the great set but one meal a day before their dependents.”--H. Hunt. lib. vi. p. 209.

[482] “Henry of Huntingdon, in his epistle to Walter (Anglia Sacra, pars ii., p. 695) gives a flattering character of Robert. Ordericus Vitalis places his death on the first June, A.D. 1118.”--HARDY.

[483] Roger had a church in the neighbourhood of Caen, at the time that Henry was serving under his brother William. Passing that way, he entered in, and requested the priest to say mass. Roger began immediately, and got through his task so quickly that the prince’s attendants unanimously declared, “no man so fit for chaplain to men of their profession.” And when the royal youth said, “Follow me,” he adhered as closely to him, as Peter did to his heavenly Lord uttering a similar command; for Peter, leaving his vessel, followed the King of kings; he, leaving his church, followed the prince, and appointed chaplain to himself and his troops, became “a blind guide to the blind.” Vide G. Neubrig, 1. 6.

[484] “Paulus Diaconus, also called Winfrid, was secretary to Desiderius, last of the native princes of Lombardy. Paulus wrote his History of the Lombards, in six books, before the empire by Charlemagne was founded.”--HARDY. Malmesbury seems to imply that the vessel was lost in the Mediterranean; but if so, he misunderstood Paulus Diaconus, who is speaking of the race of Alderney. Vide Paul. Diac. lib. i. c. 6, ap. Muratori. Rer. Ital. Script. t. 1.

[485] Of Henry’s prudent accommodation to the times, a curious anecdote is related by Ordericus Vitalis, p. 815. When Serlo bishop of Sees met him on his arrival in Normandy, he made a long harangue on the enormities of the times, one of which was the bushyness of men’s beards which resembled Saracens’ rather than Christians’, and which he supposes they would not clip lest the stumps should prick their mistresses’ faces; another was their long locks. Henry immediately, to show his submission and repentance, submits his bushy honours to the bishop, who, taking a pair of shears from his trunk, trims his majesty and several of the principal nobility with his own hands.

[486] Virg. Æn. vi. 853.

[487] Whilst endeavouring to distinguish good coin from counterfeits, the silver penny was frequently broken, and then refused. Henry’s order, therefore, that all should be broken, enabled any one immediately to ascertain the quality, and, at the same time, left no pretext for refusing it on account of its being broken money.--Vide Edmerum Hist. Novor. p. 94.

[488] Suger relates, that Henry was so terrified by a conspiracy among his chamberlains, that he frequently changed his bed, increased his guards, and caused a shield and a sword to be constantly placed near him at night: and that the person here mentioned, who had been favoured and promoted in an especial manner by the king, was, on his detection, mercifully adjudged to lose only his eyes and his manhood, when he justly deserved hanging.--De Vit. Lud. Grossi. Duchesne, iv. 308.

[489] “Compare Malmesbury’s character of Henry in this particular with that given of him by Henry of Huntingdon.”--HARDY.

[490] The ceremony of giving possession of lands or offices, was, by the feudal law, accompanied with the delivery of certain symbols. In conformity to this practice, princes conferred bishoprics and abbeys by the delivery of a crozier and a ring, which was called their investiture: and as consecration could not take place till after investiture, this, in fact, implied their appointment also. The popes at length finding how much such a practice tended to render the clergy dependent on the temporal power, inhibited their receiving investiture from laymen by the staff and ring, which were emblems of their spiritual office. The compromise of Henry with Paschal enacted, that in future the king would not confer bishoprics by the staff and ring; but that the bishops should perform the ceremony of homage, in token of submission for their temporals: the election by these means, remaining, nominally, in the chapter, or monastery.

[491] The printed copy, as well as such manuscripts as have been consulted, read, “investituras consecrationum:” evidently wrong; the true reading, as appears from Edmer, p. 72, where the whole instrument is inserted, being “investituram vel consecrationem.”

[492] On Anselm’s return, shortly after Henry’s accession, it was agreed that all matters should remain in abeyance, until both parties should have sent messengers to the pope, for his decision on the subject of investitures. See Edmer, p. 56.

[493] He had been recalled on the king’s accession, but afterwards quitted the kingdom again.

[494] “Henry married Adala, daughter of Godfrey, conte de Louvain, in February, 1121.”--HARDY.

[495] “Bromton (col. 1013, x. Scrip.) ascribes to Malmesbury words which are no where to be found in this author, ‘Willelmus Malmesbiriensis dicit, quod ille Willelmus regis primogenitus palam Anglis fuerat comminatus, quod, si aliquando super eos regnaret, faceret eos ad aratrum trahere quasi boves: sed spe sua coruscabili Dei vindicta cum aliis deperiit.’”--HARDY.

[496] “The nuptials of prince William with Matilda, daughter of the earl of Anjou, were celebrated in June, 1119, before the council of Rheims.”--HARDY.

[497] See page 252.

[498] Virgil Æneid. v. 206.

[499] He is called a butcher by Orderic Vitalis, p. 867, who has many particulars of this event.

[500] “The marriage of William, son of the duke of Normandy, with Sibilla, in 1123, was dissolved, at the instance of king Henry, in the following year, by the pope’s legate.”--HARDY.

[501] “Matilda was betrothed to the emperor Henry V. in 1109, but was not married to him until the 7th January, 1114.”--HARDY.

[502] The church of St. Maria, in Scuola Græca, is so called, from a tradition that St. Augustine, before his conversion, there taught rhetoric.--See Lumisden, 318.

[503] Trastevere, that part in which St. Peter’s is situated.

[504] Three beautiful columns, supposed to be remains of the temple of Jupiter Stator.

[505] The principal entrance to St. Peter’s church, so called by way of pre-eminence.

[506] The Rota, which seems to have been a part of St. Peter’s church, is not enumerated by Fontana, de Basilica Vaticana.

[507] The chapel, in which the tombs of the apostles are said to be placed.

[508] The patrician of Rome appears to have been its chief magistrate; derived from the office of prefect or patrician under the emperors of Constantinople.

[509] As pope Calixtus II.

[510] The church of St. Saviour, or St. John Lateran, built by Constantine the Great.

[511] MS. pravilegium, a play on the words privilegium and pravilegium.

[512] Cosenza, L’Abbe, tom. x.

[513] Another MS. reads Troianus instead of Turianus.

[514] “_Septimo decimo._ More correctly _octavo decimo_, as the emperor went before Easter in the year 1117.”--HARDY.

[515] “Paschal died in Jan. 1118.”--HARDY.

[516] “Maurice Bourdin, archbishop of Brague, was elected pope by the influence of the emperor Henry V, on the 9th of March, 1118, and took the name of Gregory VIII.”--HARDY.

[517] “Gelasius II, died at Clugny, 29th Jan. 1119.”--HARDY.

[518] A monastery near Salerno, inaccessible, except by one passage. Here were kept such as from their conduct had become either dangerous or scandalous: they were supplied with every thing necessary, according to their order, but were held in close confinement. Its name was given from the untameable disposition of its inmates. See Orderic. Vital. 870.

[519] This was a high compliment to the ancient Briton.

[520] Guibert of Nogent excuses himself from commemorating the valour of many of the crusaders, because, after their return, they had run headlong into every kind of enormity. Opera, p. 431.

[521] Robert de Arbrisil founded the monastery of Fontevrault in 1099, and died in 1117.

[522] “Bernard founded the abbey of Tyron in 1109, and died in 1116.”--HARDY.

[523] At Lewes in Sussex.

[524] The uppermost garment of the priest, covering the rest entirely.

[525] Those who officiated were enjoined to fold up their garments.

[526] It was customary to hold a short chapter immediately after primes.

[527] Odo, second abbat of Clugny, was founder of the Clugniac rule in the tenth century. Odilo was elected the fifth abbat of Clugny in 994.

[528] Godfrey was prior of Winchester from A.D. 1082 to 1107. His verses in commendation of the chief personages of England are in the manner of those already inserted on Serlo abbat of Gloucester. Many of his epigrams have very considerable merit.

[529] He probably has Henry Huntingdon in view, who wrote a History of England shortly after him.

[530] Terentii Andria, i. 1.

[531] What these were is unknown, as it is believed there is no MS. of them now to be met with.

[532] “The emperor Henry V. died on the 23rd of May, A.D. 1125; and in September, A.D. 1126, king Henry returned from Normandy, with his daughter the empress.”--HARDY.

[533] “The union of the kingdoms under Egbert did not take place for several years after his accession in 802.”--HARDY.

[534] This must be understood with the exception of Canute and his sons, between Edmund Ironside, and Edward the Confessor.

[535] Here seems a mistake. Margaret was given to Malcolm by her brother Edgar Atheling, while in exile in Scotland, A.D. 1067. See the Saxon Chronicle.

[536] “Robert was created earl of Gloucester in the year 1119. On the Pipe-roll, 31 Hen. I., this entry occurs: ‘Glœcecestrescire. Et comiti Glœc. xxii. numero pro parte sua comitatus.’”--HARDY.

[537] “The nuptials of Matilda with Geoffrey Plantagenet, afterwards earl of Anjou, were celebrated in the presence of her father, in Sept. 1127.”--HARDY.

[538] “Henry completed the twenty-eighth year of his reign the 4th of August, 1128; but the Saxon Chronicle places his return from Normandy during the autumn of 1129.”--HARDY.

[539] It is very remarkable what excessive pains were employed to prevail on the young men to part with their locks. In the council held at London by archbishop Anselm, A.D. 1102, it is enacted, that those who had long hair should be cropped, so as to show part of the ear, and the eyes. From the apparently strange manner in which this fashion is coupled in Edmer, p. 81, one might be led to suspect, it was something more than mere spleen which caused this enactment. See also Orderic. Vitalis.

[540] An allusion to his name, which signifies a lion.

[541] Pope Innocent died A.D. 1143.

[542] “Philippe, eldest son of Louis VI, was consecrated by command of his father on the 14th April, 1129; but meeting with an accidental death on the 13th October, 1131, the king, twelve days afterwards, caused his second son, Louis, to be crowned at Rheims by the Roman pontiff, Innocent II.”--HARDY.

[543] Both the printed copy and the MSS., which have been consulted, read here tricesimo primo, ‘thirty-first,’ [1131]; but it should be the thirty-second, 1132.--See Hen. Hunt.

[544] “Malmesbury seems to have committed two oversights here. Henry went to Normandy for the last time on the third before the nones of August, (that is, third, instead of fifth), A.D. 1133. This is evident from the eclipse he mentions, which took place on that day, as well as from the testimony of the continuator of Florence of Worcester, a contemporary Writer.”--SHARPE. “Although all the MSS. read ‘tricesimo secundo,’ yet it is evident, from the context, that it should be ‘tricesimo tertio;’ the completion of Henry’s thirty-third regnal year being on the 4th of August, 1133. This, and other passages show, that Malmesbury reckoned Henry’s reign to commence on the 5th of August, the day of his consecration, and not on the 2nd of that month, the day of his brother’s death.”--HARDY.

[545] “The eclipse of the sun took place on the 2nd of August, 1133, at mid-day.”--HARDY.

[546] From what has been said above this should be two.

[547] “Liberationes,” signifies, sometimes, what we now call liveries, that is garments; sometimes money at stated periods, or, as we should say, wages: it is here rendered in the latter sense, as being distinct from “solidatæ,” pay or stipends. Perhaps it was intended to distinguish two orders of persons by this bequest; servants and soldiers: otherwise it may mean garments and wages.

[548] “The majority of contemporary writers state that Stephen’s coronation took place on the 26th December.”--HARDY.

[549] “The author of the Dialogus de Scaccario states that for some time after the Norman conquest there was very little money in specie in the realm, and that, until the reign of Henry the First, all rents and farms due to the king were rendered in provisions and necessaries for his household; but Henry I ordered the payments to be made in money: they were consequently made ‘ad scalam,’ and ‘ad pensum;’ ‘in numero,’ or by tale; and ‘per combustionem,’ or melting, which latter mode was adopted to prevent payment being made in debased money; hence perhaps it was that Henry’s money was of the best quality.”--HARDY.

[550] The progress of some of Henry’s treasure is curious. Theobald, earl of Blois, gave many jewels, which had been bestowed on him by Stephen, his brother, to certain abbeys, and these again sold them for four hundred pounds to Suger, abbat of St. Denis. Henry, Suger observes, used to have them set in most magnificent drinking vessels. Suger, ap. Duchesne, t. iv. p. 345.

[551] Church-yards were, by the canons, privileged, so that persons in turbulent times conveyed their property thither for security.

[552] It had been the practice to seize, to the king’s use, whatever property ecclesiastics left behind them. Henry of Huntingdon relates, that on the death of Gilbert the Universal, bishop of London, who was remarkable for his avarice, all his effects, and among the rest, his boots crammed with gold and silver, were conveyed to the exchequer. Anglia Sacra, ii. 698. Sometimes, even what had been distributed on a death-bed, was reclaimed for the king. Vide G. Neub. 3, 5. “This practice of seizing the property of ecclesiastics at their death seems subsequently to have settled down into a claim on the part of the king of the cup and palfrey of a deceased bishop, prior, and abbat. See Rot. Claus. 39 Hen. III, m. 17, in dorso.”--HARDY.

[553] It seems to have been a vexatious fine imposed on litigants when, in their pleadings, they varied from their declaration. Murder is sometimes taken in its present acceptation; sometimes it means a certain fine levied on the inhabitants where murder had been committed.

[554] Earls, till this time, had apparently been official; each having charge of a county, and receiving certain emoluments therefrom: but these created by Stephen, seem to have been often merely titulary, with endowments out of the demesnes of the crown. Rob. Montensis calls these persons Pseudo-Comites, imaginary earls, and observes that Stephen had completely impoverished the crown by his liberalities to them. Henry the Second, however, on being firmly seated on the throne, recalled their grants of crown lands, and expelled them the kingdom.

[555] The term “miles” is very ambiguous: sometimes it is a knight; sometimes a trooper; sometimes a soldier generally. In later times it signified almost always a knight; but in Malmesbury, it seems mostly a horseman, probably of the higher order.

[556] “Roger, the chancellor of England, was the son of Roger, bishop of Salisbury, by Maud of Ramsbury, his concubine.”--HARDY.

[557] The author of the “Gesta Stephani,” says, the king ordered both bishops to be kept without food, and threatened, moreover, to hang the son of bishop Roger. Gest. Stephani, 944. The continuator of Flor. Wigorn. adds, that one was confined in the crib of an ox-lodge, the other in a vile hovel, A.D. 1138.

[558] It has before been related that Stephen made many earls, where there had been none before: these seem the persons intended by Malmesbury in many places, when speaking of some of the king’s adherents.

[559] It would seem from this passage that he had seen Livy in a more complete state than it exists at present.

[560] Horat. Epist. i. 1, 100.

[561] The meaning of vavassour is very various: here it seems to imply what we call a yeoman.

[562] This he effected by means of scaling ladders, made of thongs of leather. Gest. Stephani, 951.

[563] Several MSS., as well as the printed copy, read 1142, but one has 1141, which is right.

[564] “Ranulf, earl of Chester, and his uterine brother, William de Romare, were the sons of Lucia, countess of Lincoln.”--HARDY.

[565] The joust signifies a contest between two persons on horseback, with lances: each singled out his opponent.

[566] That is, as appears after, to acknowledge her publicly as their sovereign.

[567] Marchio: this latterly signified marquis in the sense we now use it; but in Malmesbury’s time, and long after, it denoted a guardian of the borders: hence the lords marchers on the confines of Scotland and Wales; though it does not appear very clearly how this should apply to Wallingford, unless it was his place of birth.

[568] This seems an oversight: as he had before related, more than once that Stephen preceded Robert in taking the oath to Matilda.

[569] Virgil, Æn. i. 33.

[570] The garrison having sallied out against him, he suddenly passed a ford which was not generally known and, repelling the enemy, entered the town with them. Gesta Regis Stephani, 958.

[571] One of the MSS. omits from, “This circumstance,” to the end, and substitutes, ... “but these matters, with God’s permission, shall be more largely treated in the following volume.”

Transcriber’s Notes

Simple typographical errors were silently corrected, except as noted below.

Punctuation, hyphenation, and spelling were made consistent when a predominant preference was found in this book; otherwise they were not changed.

Many names were spelled in more than one way; in most cases, all variants have been retained here.

The spelling of non-English words was not checked.

Ambiguous hyphens at the ends of lines were retained.

The page headers of the original book contained a timeline. It is represented in this eBook by sidenotes, beginning with “[A.D. year]”, placed between paragraphs nearby their originally-printed positions, and shaded in some versions of this eBook. Redundant headers have been omitted, some of the dates are not in sequence, and some headers were not printed near the topics to which they refer.

All but three of the chapter headings used the abbreviation “CHAP.”, so the three that were spelled out have been changed to abbreviations.

The Index entries were not checked for proper alphabetization or correct page references, but all of the “U” entries have been moved to precede the “V” entries rather than to follow them.

In the Index, inconsistent usage of periods and semi-colons at the ends of main and sub-entries has not been changed; occasional mis-capitalization following such punctuation has not been changed; spellings that differ from the ones on the referenced pages have not been changed.

Unbalanced quotation marks in footnotes citing HARDY have been remedied.

Page 19: “unluckly” was printed that way.

Page 196: Shows “1017-1031” as the years of Canute’s reign, and also says he “reigned twenty years”.

Page 232: “to his day” appears to be a typographical error for “to this day”.

Page 256: Text uses “Standford Brigge” and “Stanford-bridge”; Index uses “Standford Bridge” to refer to this page. All retained here.

Page 462: The opening quotation mark before “A.D. 1112, the fifth of the indiction,” has no obvious matching closing mark.

Page 496: “none before, appropriating” was changed here from “none before, appropropriating”, which appears to be a typesetting error.