Master Wace, His Chronicle of the Norman Conquest From the Roman De Rou

332

CREVECŒUR, arrondissement of Lisieux. The Crevecœurs—de Crepito-corde—settled in England, and were divided into two branches, those of Redburn and Kent, from the time of Hen. I.; see the endowments of Bullington and Leedes in the Monasticon. Hasted says (though his authority may be questioned) that the family name of Hamo dapifer or vice-comes of Domesday was Crevequer. He adds that he was brother of Robert Fitz-Hamon; and here he is supported by a charter of the Conqueror to Saint Denis, existing still at Paris, to which we find as witnesses, 'Ego Haimo Regis dapifer'—'Ego Robertus firater hujus Haimonis.' See Introd. Domesday, i. 432. In the Bayeux inquest, 'Hugo de Crevecuire feodum v mil.'

333

DRIENCOURT changed its name to Neufchâtel, after Hen. I. built a castle there. Nothing seems known of the lords of Driencourt in England; unless we find them in the Daincurt of Domesday; Introd. i. 365; ii. 406; and see Dugdale's Baronage, i. 385.

334

No place of this name is known in Normandy. It may refer to BRUCOURT, arrondissement of Pont-l'Evesque; and the correct reading of the MS. was perhaps Brieucort. See Robert de Brucourt's confirmation of the grants by Jeffery de Fervaques to Walsingham. About the same time a Gilbert de Brucourt gave lands at Fervaques to the abbey of Val-Richer. A.L.P. In the Red book—de balliâ de Oximis—'Gilbertus de Breuecourt 2 mil. regi de Pinu cum pertinent. Idem 1 mil. de fœdo Mort. in Cerenciis.' We afterwards find,—among those who 'serviunt ad custamentum domini,—'Gillebertus de Bruecort, senex, 4 partem de Colevill et Angervill.' Gilbert de Brucourt and Hugh his son appear in a charter to Troarn. Mém. Ant. Norm. viii. 238.

335

COMBRAY, arrondissement of Falaise. At a later period lords of this name are among the benefactors of St Barbe-en-Auge and Fontenay.

336

AULNAY. See note 22 last chapter. There are four communes of this name. Aulnay l'Abbaye, arrondissement of Vire, belonged in the twelfth century to the Says above mentioned, and Jourdain de Saye founded the abbey there in 1131. De Alneto is of common recurrence in early charters. There was also a house of Laune, de Alno, at Laulne near Lessay; see M. de Gerville's Recherches, ii. 241.

337

There are nine FONTENAYS in Normandy. If we are to presume that the one here alluded to is Fontenay-le-Marmion, near Caen, the lord of Marmion would seem mentioned twice; though Fontenay was possibly then held by some one under the Marmions. The Marmion at Hastings is considered to have been Robert; not Roger, as Wace says. There was a Roger afterwards, who is named in a charter of king Richard to Grestain. In the Red book, Robertus Marmion is among the defaulters. In the Bayeux inquest, 'feodum Marmion et Rogeri et in Buevilla 1 mil.'

338

RUBERCY, arrondissement of Bayeux. It appears that when the abbey of Longues was founded in 1168 by Hugh Wac, he was lord of Rebercil, and gave lands there to the foundation. This Hugh was probably the same as married Emma daughter of Baldwin Fitz-Gilbert (founder, in 1138, of Bourne, in Lincolnshire), and grand-daughter of a Gilbert, apparently cotemporary with the conquest. A.L.P. Hugh's son, also called Baldwin, appears in the Monasticon, and in the charters of Longues; Mém. Ant. Norm. viii.

339

See VIEUX-MOLAY before; this being perhaps a repetition of the same person, lord of MOLLEI-BACON, arrondissement of Bayeux. William Bacon, who in 1082 endowed the abbey of the Trinity at Caen, answers to this period. The first of the Bacons known in England was Richard Bacon, nephew of Ranulf earl of Chester, and founder of the priory of Roucester in Staffordshire. M. Le Prevost asks why the English Bacons deduced their origin from a Grimbald, cousin of William Warren, in preference to the well known Bacons of Molay? See as to the history of Mollei-Bacon the Abbé Beziers, in Nouvelles Recherches sur la France, Paris, 1766, vol. i. Among the defaulters in the Red book is 'Rogerus Bathon [de Bacon in Duchesne] pro quartâ parte in Campigneio'—Campigny-les-Bois, arrondissement of Bayeux? This Roger Bacon seems to have been brother to Philip de Colombieres; see Mémoires des Antiq. Norm. viii. 153. 441.

340

Brampton takes the safe side in protesting against being accountable for the baptismal names of the early Norman barons; in specifying which Wace has, we have seen, often erred. There is a charter to Bernay in the Mém. Ant. Norm. iv. 381, granted, it would seem, by duke Richard II. at the great council at which he, in 1027, made disposition of his dutchy in favour of his son. Besides dignitaries of the church, it is signed by one hundred and twenty-one viscounts, barons, &c. of whom all, with the exception of those distinguished by offices, and Tustingus, (probably Turstin-Goz), Goffredus Wac and Gillebertus Veil in (if indeed the two last are not each the names of two distinct persons) are called merely by their baptismal names. The list is very curious, forming a complete parliament or council, of about one hundred and thirty magnates. Benoit, in his short account of the exploits of the army, which will be found in our appendix, excuses himself from enumeration of the chiefs who composed it, by saying,

En treis quaere [cahiers] de parcheminN'en venisse je pas a fin.

341

Hired men.

342

See previous note on TURSTIN FITZ-ROU, the standard bearer.

343

ALAN LE ROUX, the red—of Britanny—received the earldom of Richmond and splendid grants for his services. See Introd. Domesday, i. 366; and, for the discussion as to his pedigree, see the introduction to Gale's Registrum of the honor of Richmond. Of all the combatants at Hastings, Alan is alone dwelt upon by Gaimar (who was perhaps himself a Breton) in the following passage, which is not found in the MS, in British Museum,

Li quiens Alain de BretaigneBien i ferit od sa compaigne.Cil i ferit come baron:Mult bien le firent Breton.Od le roi vint en ceste terrePur lui aider de sa guerre;Son cosin ert, de son lignage.Gentil home de grant parage;Le roi servit et ama,Et il bien le guerdona;Richement[mont?] li dona el northBon chastel et bel et fort.En plusurs lius en EngleterreLi rois li donna de sa terre.Lunges la tint et puis finit:A Seint-Edmon l'om l'enfouit.Ore ai dit de cel baronRepairer voil a ma raison.

344

BERNARD DE ST. VALERY, on the Somme, who was grandson of duke Richard II. by a daughter, and was therefore cousin to the conqueror. A branch of the St. Valery family established itself in England; Ranulfus de St. Walarico appears in Domesday, Introd. i. 503. In the Red book, de Baiocasino, is 'Guido de Sancto Galerico 1 mil. pro allodiis taill.;' and among the defaulters is 'Bernardus de Sancto Valerico, pro fœdo de Valle de Dun.'

345

ROBERT COMTE D'EU. We have seen him before at the battle of Mortemer. He received the custody of the castle of Hastings, and considerable lands in England, which his family retained till the severance of Normandy; see Introd. Domesday, i. 463; and Estancelin's History of the comtes d'Eu. Comes Augi is one of the defaulters in the Red book roll.

346

The enarmes were two thongs, or loops of leather, fixed to the inside of the shield, by which it was borne on the arm. There was besides a leather strap and buckle, by which the shield was, when not in use, strung to the warrior's neck. This extra strap was called the guige; and left the bearer the use of both hands, which were necessary when fighting with the battle axe.

347

L'Estoire de Seint Ædward le Rei puts an energetic exhortation into William's mouth at this crisis:

Ke put estre, dist-il, cesteCuardie, segnurs Normantz,Ki ancesurs avea si grants?Rois Rou, ki as coups de lanceDescumfist le rei de France,E le mata en mi sa terre,Par force de bataille e guerre;E ducs Richard k'apres li vint,Ki li diable ateint e tint.E le venquit e le lia.E vus failliz, forlignez ja!Sivet moi, ma gent demeine!

348

William of Poitiers and William of Malmsbury give the following description of this gonfanon or standard: 'Memorabile quoque vexillum Heraldi, hominis armati imaginem intextum habens ex auro purissimo.' 'Vexillum illud … quod erat in hominis pugnantis figurâ, auro et lapidibus arte sumptuosâ contextum.'

349

Benoit and the author of the Estoire de Seint Ædward, describe the result of the battle and Harold's fall in a few lines. See appendix.

350

Some discrepancy has been pointed out between the account here given by Wace and that found in William of Jumieges and William of Poitiers. The Latin historians say more as to resistance to the last in the battle. There can, however, hardly be said to be any material variance. The fight being ended, all agree that the English army dispersed and ultimately fled; and what Wace dwells upon seems to have reference to the circumstances of this final retreat. Benoit says,

Cele occise, cele dolorTint tant cum point i out deu jor,Ne la nuit ne failli la paineCi que parut le Diemaine.—si quide l'om bien e creitQu'a cinc milliers furent esméSol eu grant champ del fereiz,Quant qu'il fussent desconfizEstre l'occise e la martireQui fu tute la nuit a tire.

351

The author of the 'Chronicles of London Bridge' has missed recording this notice of the early history of that structure; which seems till the reign of Hen. I, to have been of a very fragile character, probably a bridge of boats.

352

William of Poitiers and William of Malmsbury mention three horses, as killed under William. William of Poitiers states his prowess to have been hailed in songs, as well as verbal applause; 'plausibus et dulcibus cantilenis efferebant.'

353

William of Jumieges makes it the middle of the night, before William returned from the pursuit; though his subsequent expression would rather imply daylight: 'ad aream belli regressus, reperit stragem, quam non absque miseratione conspexit.'

354

Other authority supplies the fact that free leave was given, expressly for the purpose of seeking and interring the dead; see William of Poitiers, and Benoit de Sainte-More on the same subject.

355

WALTHAM ABBEY, founded or restored by Harold. According to William of Poitiers, and Ordericus, the body was brought to William; and being refused to Ghita, Harold's mother, was committed to William Malet, to be buried on the sea shore. William of Malmsbury has a different account: he says the body was given to Ghita, who bore it to Waltham. Perhaps this and other variations of the story were subsequent inventions, to suppress the dishonourable truth, as to William's revenge. The accounts in Benoit, the Brut, and L'Estoire de Seint Ædward, are in our appendix. The story told in the Waltham MS. (Cott. Jul. D. vi.) as to the pious offices of Osgod Cnoppe, and Ailric the childemaister, two of its monks, and the more romantic legend, in Harold's life, (Harl. MS. 3776),—see our appendix,—are both quoted in Palgrave's History of England, 1831. As to the Editha brought to Osgod's aid in discerning the body, and as to her being different from 'Eddeva pulchra' of Domesday, see Introd. Dom. ii. 79.

356

The passage in brackets, to p. 267, is from Benoit de Sainte-More. It is introduced here, as well to relieve the baldness of Wace's narrative after the battle, as because an account of William's progress is really necessary, in order to give a just view of his prudent policy, in the prosecution of an enterprize obviously still very perilous, though crowned with such decisive success. The reader may refer to Introd. Domesday, i. 314, for interesting local information, deduced from that record, on the subject of William's course and progress after landing; tracing a district on the map eastward from about Pevensey, by Bexhill, Crowherst, Hollington, Guestling, and Icklesham, round by Ledescombe, Wartlington, and Ashburnham; thus embracing a circuit of country, near the centre of which stands Battle. The MS. collections of Mr. Hayley of Brightling are there referred to; and (though perhaps rather fanciful in some of their conclusions) may be appropriately quoted. 'It is the method of Domesday-book, after reciting the particulars relating to each manor, to set down the valuation thereof at three several periods; to wit,—the time of King Edward the Confessor,—afterwards when the new tenant entered upon it,—and again at the time when the survey was made. Now it is to be observed, in perusing the account of the rape of Hastings in that book, that in several of the manors therein [Witingoes, Holintun, Bexelei, Wilesham, Crohest, Wiltingham, Watlingetone, Nedrefelle, Brunham, Haslesse, Wigentone, Wilendone, Salherst, Drisnesel, Gestelinges, Luet, Hiham (the scite of Winchelsea), and Selescome] at the second of those periods, it is recorded of them that they were waste: and from this circumstance I think it may, upon good ground, be concluded what parts of that rape were marched over by and suffered from the ravages of the two armies of the conqueror and king Harold. And indeed the situation of those manors is such as evidently shows their then devastated state to be owing to that cause. The wasted manors on the east were Bexelei, Wilesham, Luet, and Gestelinges; which are all the manors entered in the survey along the coast from Bexelei to Winchelsea. And this clearly evinces another circumstance relative to the invasion; which is that William did not land his army at any one particular spot, at Bulverhithe, or Hastings, as is supposed; but at all the several proper places for landing along the coast from Bexhill to Winchelsea. After which, in drawing together towards the place of battle, the left wing of the army just brushed the manor of Holinton, so as to lay waste a small portion, which afterwards fell to the lot of the abbot of Battle; and after quite overrunning the manors of Wiltingham and Crohest, arrived at Brunham; in which, and the adjoining manors of Whatlington and Nedrefelle, the battle was lost and won. We may likewise trace the footsteps of king Harold's army by the devastations which stand upon record in the same book. Where they begin we suppose the army entered the county; and the state of the manor of Parkley, in the hundred of Skayswell, points out the place in the parish of Tyshurst. They there desolated their way through two parcels of land in the same hundred, belonging to the manor of Wilendone; and laying waste Wigzell, Saleherst, and another manor in the hundred of Henhurst, with Hiham, and a small part of Sadlescombe, in the hundred of Staple, they came to Whatlington; through which, and the manor of Netherfield, they extended themselves to face and oppose the invading enemy.'

357

From Domesday we learn who received the custody of Hastings: 'Rex Will. dedit comiti [de Ow] castellariam de Hastinges.' Introd. Domesday, i. 18.

358

Romney. It is not here stated whether William's men had been sent from Hastings thither, or whether part of his fleet had gone astray in the voyage, and landed there. Domesday says of Dover, 'In ipso primo adventu ejus in Angliam fuit ipsa villa combusta.'

359

Edwin and Morcar.

360

Edgar Atheling.

361

Wace had, in narrating Swain's success in overrunning England, i. 327, observed upon the facility afforded to an invader by the scarcity of fortified posts:

N'i aveit gaires fortelesce,Ne tur de pierre ne bretesce,Se n'esteit en vieille cité,Ki close fust d'antiquité.Maiz li barunz de Normendie,Quant il orent la seignorie,Firent chastels e fermetez,Turs de pierre, murs e fossez.

362

Benoit goes on to narrate at much greater length the events subsequent to the battle. Wace passes very lightly over English internal affairs, of which he probably knew and cared little, and which were, moreover, foreign to the plan of his work. The Saxon Chronicle says of the coronation: 'Then on Midwinter day archbishop Aldred hallowed him to king at Westminster, and gave him possession with the books of Christ; and also swore him, ere that he would set the crown upon his head, that he would as well govern this nation as any king before him best did, if they would be faithful to him.' See as to the chronology of William's life and age Sir Harris Nicolas's Chronology of History, 279.

363

In the words of the original,

Dona chastels, dona citez,Dona maneirs, dona comtez,Dona terres, as vavassorsDona altres rentes plusors.

364

By the supposed charter of William in Rymer, he thus declares: 'This also we command, that all have and hold the law of Edward the king in all things,—audactis hiis quas constituimus ad utilitatem Anglorum;' which his son Henry expresses thus: 'Lagam Edwardi regis vobis reddo, cum illis emendationibus quibus pater meus eam emendavit, consilio baronum suorum.' See the laws of William in the Proofs and Illustrations, p. lxxxix, to Palgrave's Rise and Progress of the English Commonwealth, vol. i.

365

William went first in March, 1067. It is to be regretted that Wace did not avail himself of the glowing description of the wealth and splendour of William's retinue, the joy of all classes, the universal festival occasioned by his triumphal return to Normandy, as contained in William of Poitiers, p. 210.

366

King William bithougt him also of that folke that was vorlorne,And slayn also through him in the battaile biforne;And ther as the bataile was, an abbey he let rereOf Seint Martin, for the soules that there slayn were;And the monkes well ynough feffed without fayle,That is called in Englonde ABBEY OF BATAILE.

So far ROBERT OF GLOCESTER. William, speaking for himself in his foundation charter in Dugdale's Monasticon,(where see all the details of the foundation), gives the following account of his motives and proceedings. 'Notum facio omnibus, &c.—quod cum in Angliam venissem, et in finibus Hastingiæ, cum exercitu applicuissem contra hostes meos, qui mini regnum Angliæ injustè conabantur auferre, in procinctu belli, jam armatus, coram baronibus et militibus meis, cum favore omnium, ad eorum corda roboranda, votum feci, ecclesiam quandam ad honorem Dei construere, pro communi salute, si per Dei gratiam obtinere possem victoriam. Quam cum essemus adepti, votum Deo solvens, in honorem Sanctæ Trinitatis, et beati Martini, confessoris Christi, ecclesiam construxi; pro salute animæ meæ et antecessoris mei regis Eadwardi, et uxoris meæ Mathildis reginæ, et successorum meorum in regno; et pro salute omnium quorum labore et auxilio regnum obtinui; et illorum maximè qui in ipso hello occubuerunt.' The Chronicle of Battle Abbey (Cott. MS. Dom. A. ii.) is precise as to the localities of the battle. It states that Harold came 'ad locum qui nunc BELLUM nuncupatur,'—and that William arrayed himself to oppose him, 'equitum cuneis circum septus'—'ad locum collis qui HETHELANDE dicitur, a parte Hastingarum situm.' Hethelande is afterwards mentioned as part of the abbey's possessions. In this Chronicle is contained one of the most curious historical and legal relics of the twelfth century; the record of a suit, as to jurisdiction, between the bishop of Chichester and the abbot of Battle, which has been printed in Palgrave's Rise and Progress of the English Commonwealth. One of the barons present observes of the battle, that William obtained his crown by it, 'nosque omnes opulentiâ maxima ditati sumus.'

367

This expedition took place at the end of July, 1087.

368

Et quia strepitus Rotomagi, quæ populosa civitas est, intolerabilis erat ægrotanti, extra urbem ipse rex præcepit se aufferi, ad ecclesiam Sancti Gervasii, in colle sitam occidentali; Ordericus Vit. vii. 656. A priory was attached to the church of St. Gervais, which furnishes probably the oldest ecclesiastical remain in Normandy. The crypt, below the apsis represented in the cut at the foot of this chapter, is supposed to be Roman, and coeval with the earliest introduction of Christianity at Rouen. The apsis itself is probably a re-erection with the original materials, but anterior to Duke William.

369

The anonymous continuer of Wace's Brut gives a curious account of William's deliberation, at an earlier date, with his barons, as to the future state and fortunes of his sons. He is described as proving the qualities and tempers of his sons, by asking each what bird he would choose to be, if doomed to assume that form:

Si Dex, ki est tuit puissant,De vus eust fait oisel volant,De tuz icels ki pount volerLaquelle voldriez resembler?

Robert selects the esperver, and William the eagle, but Henry, 'k'en clergie esteit fundé'—'mult sagement ad parlé,' and chose the estornele. The whole story forms a curious and interesting apologue. The 'grantz clers de phylosophie, e los mestres de grant clergie, e les sages homes de son poer,' are described as assembled on this occasion, 'a un parlement;' and the king opens the session with a royal speech, perhaps the earliest of the sort on record:

Seignors! dist il, ki estes ici,De vostre venue mult vus merci.De voz sens et vostre saverOre endreit en ai mester;Pur ceo vus pri e requerK'entre vus voillez traiter, &c.

The story forms a distinct fabliau in the MSS. Cotton. Cleop. A. xii.

370

Orderic puts the same observation into William's mouth. History fully proves its justice.

371

This confession may appear to be an odd commentary on the tenor of Wace's preceding history of the events leading to the conquest. It was perhaps in some quarters unpalatable here, for Duchesne's MS. reads directly the opposite:

'Engleterre ai cunquise a dreit.'

Orderic gives the confession, but less explicitly, thus: 'Neminem Anglici regni constituo hæredem.... Fasces igitur hujus regni, quod cum tot peccatis obtinui, nulli audeo tradere nisi Deo solo.' See the note on this passage in Lyttleton's Hen. II. vol. i. 397. Possibly William's admission would not, in his day, be understood as being at variance with any of the details given by Wace and other Norman historians. Harold, as we have seen, is treated as assuming with his brother Gurth the perfect moral and legal validity of his title as against William, and yet as shrinking from a personal contest with one to whom he had de facto, though by stratagem, become bound in allegiance. And William might, in a similar train of reasoning, maintain all the facts asserted by the Normans, bearing on the moral justice of the case as between him and Harold, and his personal right to punish treason in his man, and yet admit that Harold, having obtained by the gift of Edward, and by election and consecration, a strictly legal title, his eviction was tortuous, and could give his conqueror no right except that of force—none that he could lawfully transmit. Benoit states his title by conquest, not in the mitigated sense in which that word has been used by some of our legal antiquaries, but in its harshest application:

Deu regne est mais la seignoriAs eirs estraiz de Normendie:CUNQUISE l'unt cum chevalierAu FER TRENCHANT e al acier.

His account of William's speech is in our appendix.

372

Wight.

373

HORA PRIMA, six in the morning.

374