HISTORY OF THE NORMAN CONQUEST.
=London=
HENRY FROWDE
]
OXFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS WAREHOUSE AMEN CORNER, E.C.
THE HISTORY OF THE NORMAN CONQUEST OF ENGLAND, ITS CAUSES AND ITS RESULTS.
BY
EDWARD A. FREEMAN, M.A.
LATE FELLOW OF TRINITY COLLEGE.
VOLUME II.
THE REIGN OF EADWARD THE CONFESSOR.
Φιλεῖ γὰρ ὁ Θεὸς τοῖς οὔτε ἀγχίνοις οὔτε τι οἰκόθεν μηχανᾶσθαι οἵοις τε οὖσιν, ἢν μὴ πονηροὶ εἶεν, ἀπορουμένοις τὰ ἔσχατα ἐπικουρεῖν τε καὶ ξυλλαμβάνεσθαι, ὁποῖον δή τι καὶ τῷ βασιλεῖ τούτῳ τετύχηκεν.—Procopius, Bell. Vand. i. 2.
=Oxford:= AT THE CLARENDON PRESS. M.DCCC.LXVIII.
[_All Rights reserved._]
PREFACE.
My first volume was preliminary. I am now able to announce the exact extent and scheme of my book. My plan now extends to five volumes. The present volume takes in the first stage of the actual struggle between Normans and Englishmen, that is, the Reign of Eadward the Confessor. I begin with Eadward’s election, and I continue the narrative to his death. I take in also the early years of William in Normandy. In this period the struggle is not as yet a struggle of open warfare: it is a political struggle within the Kingdom of England. Harold and William gradually come to be the leaders and representatives of their several nations; but they are not, during the time embraced in the present volume, brought into any actually hostile relation to one another.
The third volume will, as far as England is concerned, be devoted to the single year 1066. But, along with the history of that great year, I shall have to trace the later years of William’s Norman reign. The year itself is the time of actual warfare between England and Normandy under their respective sovereigns. It embraces the reign of Harold and the interregnum which followed his death. I shall, in this volume, describe the election of Harold, the campaigns of Stamfordbridge and Hastings, and the formal completion of the Conquest by the acceptance and coronation of William as King of the English. Of this volume a considerable part is already written.
The fourth volume I shall devote to the reign of William in England. The Conquest, formally completed by his coronation, has now to be practically carried out throughout the land. The authority of William, already formally acknowledged, is gradually established over England; local resistance is overcome; the highest offices and the greatest landed estates throughout England are gradually transferred from natives to foreigners. Before William’s death the work was thoroughly done, and the great Domesday Survey may be looked on as its record. The Conquest, in its immediate results, is now fully accomplished.
The second, third, and fourth volumes will therefore embrace the main narrative, the third being the centre of all. The fifth volume will answer to the first. It will be supplementary, as the first was preliminary. It will be devoted to the results of the Conquest, as the first was devoted to its causes. It will not be necessary to prolong the detailed history beyond the death of William the Conqueror, but it will be necessary to give a sketch of the history down to Edward the First, in order to point out the stages by which the Norman settlers were gradually fused into the mass of the English nation. I shall also have to examine the permanent results of the Conquest on government, language, and the general condition of England.
I have again to give my best thanks for help of various kinds to several of the friends whom I spoke of in my first volume. To them I must now add Mr. Duffus Hardy and Mr. Edward Edwards. But, above all, I must again express my deep thanks to Professor Stubbs, not only for the benefit derived from his writings, but for his personal readiness to correct and to suggest on all points. Without his help I may truly say that this volume could not be what I trust it is.
SOMERLEAZE, WELLS, April 21st, 1868.
CONTENTS.
CHAPTER VII. FROM THE ELECTION OF EADWARD TO THE BANISHMENT OF GODWINE. 1042–1051. A. D. PAGE The struggle between Normans and Englishmen begins with the accession of Eadward 4 Import of Eadward’s election; resolve of the English people to have none but an English King 4 Other possible candidates; Swend Estrithson; Eadward the son of Eadmund 5 Eadward the one available representative of the old stock 5
§ 1. The Election and Coronation of Eadward. 1042–1043. June, 1042 Popular election of Eadward 5 Delay of the coronation; its probable causes 6 Eadward probably absent from England and unwilling to accept the Crown 6–7 Embassy to Eadward; negotiations between him and Godwine 7–8 Eadward accepts the Crown and returns to England 8 Christmas? Witenagemót of Gillingham 1042–1043 9 Opposition to Eadward’s election in the interest of Swend Estrithson 9 Eadward the only possible choice; nature of his claims 10–14 April 3, Eadward crowned at Winchester 1043 14 Exhortation of Archbishop Eadsige; position of Eadward; his relations to Godwine and the other great Earls 14–16 Presence of foreign Ambassadors at the coronation; Eadward’s foreign connexions; his relations with Magnus of Denmark and with the French Princes 16–19 Gifts of the English nobles; Godwine gives a ship to the King 19–20
§ 2. Condition of England during the early years of Eadward. Character of Eadward; his position as a Saint 20–21 Eadward’s memory acceptable to Englishmen and Normans alike 22 Eadward’s personal character; purely monastic nature of his virtues; points of likeness to his father 23–24 His love of hunting; contrast with the humanity of Anselm 25–27 Personal appearance and habits of Eadward 27 His love of favourites; his fondness for foreigners; promotion of Normans to high office 28–30 The Norman Conquest begins under Eadward 30 Relations between Eadward and Godwine; Norman calumnies against Godwine and his sons 30–31 Character of Godwine; his relations to ecclesiastical bodies; his over care for his own household 31–33 His good and strict government of his Earldom 33–34 Godwine never reached the same power as Harold did afterwards 35 Godwine’s eloquence; importance of speech at the time 35 1043 Godwine’s family; Swegen raised to an Earldom 36 1045? Promotion of Beorn and Harold 36–37 Character of Harold; his military genius 37–39 His civil virtues; his singular forbearance; his championship of England against strangers 39–40 His foreign travels; his patronage of Germans as opposed to Frenchmen 40–41 Harold’s personal character; his alleged spoliation of monasteries; his friendship with Saint Wulfstan; his foundation of Waltham 41–42 Frankness and openness of his personal demeanour; alleged charges of rashness 42–43 Story of Eadgyth Swanneshals 43 Comparison between Harold and Constantine Palaiologos 43–44 Character of Swegen 44–45 Character of the Lady Eadgyth; her doubtful loyalty to England; her relations to her husband 45–47 Greatness of Godwine and his house 47–48 The other Earldoms; Mercia under Leofric; Northumberland under Siward 48–50 General condition of England; tendency not to separation but to union; comparison with Frankish history 50 Nature of the Earldoms as affected by the Danish conquest; special position of Northumberland 50–51 The King’s Writs; light thrown by them on the condition of Folkland 52–53 General powers of the Witan not lessened 53 1040 Affairs of Scotland; reign and death of Duncan 53–54 1040–1058 Reign of Macbeth; his distribution of money at Rome 54–55 1039–1063 Affairs of Wales; reign of Gruffydd of North Wales 55–56 1039 His victory over Eadwine at Rhyd-y-groes 56 1042 His wars in South Wales and victory at Aberteifi 56 Eadward’s relations with foreign powers; his connexion with Germany 56 Claims of Magnus of Norway on the Crown of England 57 The reign of Eadward comparatively peaceful 57