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THE GIST OF 

MR. ROGER MERRIMAN 

MR. DANIEL MERRIMAN 

MRS. ETHAN SIMS 

AND 

JALD 




BOHN'S ANTIQUAEIAN LIBRARY. 



HENRY OF HUNTINGDON. 



TRnSTED BY TTOOUyALL AND KINDKR,. 

ANOEL COURT, SRCHrBE BTRIBT. 



THE 



CHRONICLE 



HENRY OF HUNTINGDON. 



C0MPRXSI27O 



THE HISTORY OF ENGLAND, FROM THE INVASION OF 
JULIUS C^SAR TO THE ACCESSION OF HENRY H. 



THE ACTS OF STEPHEN, 

XINO OF ENQLAND AND DUEE OF NORMANDY. 



TRANSLATED AND EDITED 

By THOMAS FORESTER, A.M., 

AUTHOB OP "KOBWAY IN 1848 AKD 1819," ETC., ETC> 



LONDON: 
HENRY G. BOHN, YORK STREET, COYENT GARDEN, 

MDCCCLIIL 



-^v- \2(-5.34 




tli^WfeVAHD Uj^IVERSITV 

WOV 3t978 



G1l->\' 2G>H 



CONTENTS. 



PAQB 

Editor's Prepace vii 

Henry of Humuhgdos's Preface xrv 

The History op the English 1-300 

The Letter to Walter on the Illustrious Men op bis age . 301-319 

Toe Acts op King Stephen, by an Anonymous Author . 323-430 

General Index 431-442 

Index to Huntingdon's Poems 442 



DESCRIPTION OF THE FRONTISPIECE. 

The plate is copied from a pen-and-ink drawing in the margin of a 
MS. of Huntingdon's History, in the British Museum, of the fourteenth 
century. One of King Stephen's barons, Baldwin Fitz-Gilbert, appears in 
the act of addressing the royal army before the battle of Lincoln, the issue of 
which was so disastrous to Stephen's fortunes, he having been taken priso- 
ner on the field. Baldwin is standing on a hillock, according to the his- 
tory, and leaning on his battle-axe. The army is represented by its leaders — 
knights in chain armour — among whom we discover, by the device on his 
shield, one of the powerful &mily of De Clare, to which Baldwin belonged. 
•Stephen himself, distinguished by the diadem encircling his helmet, stands 
in front of the group, listening to the address which, we are told, he deputed 
Baldwin to make, because his own voice was not sufficiently powerful. An 
attendant has dismounted, and is holding his horse. 



PREFACE BY THE EDITOR. 



The credit to be attacbed to an historical writer depends so 
much on his individual character, and his opportunities of 
acquiring inforaiation, that the student must naturally wish 
to know something of the personal histoiy of an author to 
whose works his attention is invited. Such memoirs are 
frequently compiled from scanty materials, hut it may be 
reasonably expected that their details, however defective, be 
at least correct as far as they extend. The author, one of 
our earliest national historians, the most viduable of whose 
works is now presented for the first time to tlie Englisli 
reader, happily supplies the means of eatisfying a natural 
curiosity, in the incidental references of a personal nature 
which may be collected from them. It is, therefore, some- 
what singular, that most of the writers who have supplied 
biographical notices of one so well known as Henry of 
Huntingdon, should be at variance with each other, while 
they have been led into some inaccuracies. A careful exa- 
mination, however, of his own works will ser\^e to place 
the few facts, of his personal and literary histoiy, to be 
gleaned from them, on a correct footing. 

There appeal's little doubt that our author was a native 
of Lincoln, or of some part of that formerly very extensive 
and important diocese ; and that lie was bom towards the 
"Close of the eleventh century, probably between the years 
1080 and 1090. His fathers name was Nicholas, and that 
he was an ecclesiastic of some distinction in the church 
■of Lincoln, we learn from swi affectionate tribute to his 



VIU EDIT0B8 PREFACE. 

memory in the eighth Book of his History. It would 
appear from this avowal of his parentage, that the cii'- 
cumstance of his being the son of a priest was consi- 
dered no blemish on Henry's origin ; the struggles of the 
papal court to enforce the celibacy of the secular clergy 
not having at that time been successful in England. StUl, 
however, our historian seems to betray some personal feel- 
ing in his remarks on the act of the synod held at London 
A.D. 1102, which prohibited the clergy from living witli 
wives, ** a thing," he observes, "not before forbidden," while 
he cautiously adds, that " some saw danger in a stiictness 
which, requiring a coiitinence above their strength, might 
lead them to disgrace then' Chiistian profession." This 
feeling further appears in the evident satisfaction with 
which, " despite of any Koman, though he be a prelate," 
he tells the story of tlie incontinence of the cardinal who 
inveighed so bitterly against the married clergy in that 
synods 

Some passages in our author's " Letter to Walter," trans- 
lated in tiie present volume, have led to a conjecture that his 
father Nicholas held the ai'chdeaconry of Huntingdon, to 
which Heniy was afterwards preferred ; for in enumerating 
the dignitaries of the church of Lincoln, he mentions 
Nicholas* as the Archdeacon of Himtingdon to whom he 
himself succeeded ; tliough he does not call him his fatlier, 
probably because he was writing to a friend familiar witli 
his family history. The terms " Star of the chinrcli," &c., 
which he applies to his fatlier in the poetical epitaph 
composed on his death"', seem to imply that he held a higli 
ecclesiastical position ; and he again takes occasion to pay a 
tribute of filial duty in the " Letter to Walter," in which he 
speaks of the deceased archdeacon as " distinguished no 
less by the graces of his person than by those of his mind." 
He then proceeds to give an account of his own appoint- 
ment, relating that " about the time of the death of Nicholas, 
who was Archdeacon of Cambridge, as well as of Hunt- 
ingdon and Hertford, when Cambridgeshire was detached 
from the see of Lincoln and attached to a new bishopric, 
he himself succeeded to the ai'chdeacomy of the two re- 

* History, pp. 241. 252. « Letter to Walter, p. 305. 

3 History, p. 244. 



EDITOBS PBEFACE. IX 

maining counties." Ely was the new bishopric, created, as 
Matthew Paris relates, by Henry I. in the year 1109; and 
as our author informs us that his father died a.d. 1110, 
there seems to be a significance in the phrase that, 
" about the time " of the death of Nicholas, he himself 
succeeded to the archdeaconry of two of the counties. 
The appointment may have been made in the lifetime, 
and on the resignation of the former incumbent; but, 
however this nmy be, the account furnishes almost con- 
clusive evidence that Nicholas, the father of oin: historian, 
preceded him as Archdeacon of Huntingdon, and that 
Hertfordshire was attached to that archdeaconry. 

While yet " a mere child," Henry was admitted into 
the family of Eobert Bloet, a prelate of great talents and 
influence, who held the see of London from a.d. 1093 
to 1123, taking a distinguished part in the civil, as well 
as the ecclesiastical, affairs of the time. Our author gives 
a lively account in his ''Letter to Walter"^ of the sump- 
tuous magnificence of the bishop's household, in which 
he had opportunities of associating with noble, and even 
royal ^, youths, who, according to the custom of the age, 
were nurtured in such establishments. Here he pur- 
sued his studies under the tuition of Albinus of Anjou, 
a canon of Lincoln, and subsequently Abbot of Ramsey, 
of whom he speaks in terms befitting his learning and 
worth. 

Henry appears to have continued in the Bishop Bloet's 
family until he arrived at manhood, and probably received 
from him, as his first preferment, a canonry of Lincoln; 
which Bale-^ states as a fact, though he does not refer to any 
authority for it. Our author informs us, that during these 
early years, he composed several books of epigrams, satires, 
sacred hymns and amatory poems, which he afterwards 
published with his more important works. He could not 
have been much more than thirty years of age at the 
time of his appointment to the archdeaconry, and he 
was probably indebted for his early promotion to so 
important an office, to the estimation in which his 
talents and his father's character were held by the bi- 
shop. 

' P. 302. 2 P. 307. 3 " Illustrium Britanniae Scriptorum." 



3C editor'b tbsfkce 

On flxe deaCh of Bisbop Bloct, in the ye«r 1153, iisppears 
ihat Bis^p Alexftnder d6 Blois, his sttceessor in the see 
*of Lincoln, becoming sensibie of Henry of Huntingdon^ 
•extended knowiedge «nd aplitade for bnsiness, admitted 
him to the same confidence and familiarity which he enjoyed 
'With his predecessor, and employed him frequently in im- 
'portant a^irs. Both Bale and Pitts ^ state that he accom- 
pflcnied Bishop Alexander to Rome; but tbey have not 
informed us on what occasion. The bishop went i^em 
•twice, in 1125 and 1144, and it is most probable that 
^wp author attended him in both his journeys, as, although 
he does not mention it in express terms, liis manner 
<f( speaking of his patron's munificence, which gained 
for him at the Boman court the surname of " The Magni- 
ficent," conveys the impression of his having, on both 
-occasions, been an eye-witness of his reception. Pitts also 
ifntimates tiiat, after his return. Bishop Alexander preferred 
Henry to the arehdeaconiy, on account of his faithful ser- 
Tices and his great learning ; but it seems clear, that he 
•owed his promotion to the patronage of Bishop Bloet many 
years before. 

The Histoiy of England was probably commenced soon 
after Bishop Alexander's return from his first journey. 
It was undertaken at his request, and dedicated to him. 
The first. part, comprising seven of the eight Books in- 
cluded in the present volume, and terminating with the 
reign of Henry I., was given to the world soon after that 
king's death in 1135. Thirteen years afterwards Hunt- 
ingdon ccaitinued his History to the period of the death 
of Bishop Alexander, the tiairteenth year of Stephen's 
reign, a.d. 1148. This portion of the work forms the first 
part of the eighth Book, according to the present arrange- 
ment, concluding with an aspiration for the welfare, in 
"those evil times," of his patron's successor, the young 
bishop, Robert de Chaisney. Huntingdon afterwards 
brought down the course of events to the death of Stephen 
«nd the accession of Heniy II. in 1 154 ; the latter pages of 
lihe seventh Book, and the whole of the eighth Book of the 
History,, in its present form, being occupied with this part 
of the narrative. It may be inferred from a sentence with 

* "Pitsins de illustribus Angli» Scriptoribus." 



yAddk one of tiie MS8., qpfm nc ndy ievi«ed by ike aiiih<« 
inmself, eoBcitides — " The accession of a new king flkemonds 
a new BookT — that he had fonaed the intODtiiA of 
a^ing a fdrtlier eontiiitwlioii to the History, relajting the 
tzanaaetions of the Teign of Henrj II. His dearth pro- 
bably ^strated this design, for he speaks of hime^f as an 
eM man in his " Letter to Waiter,** pabiished many yean 
before, and it is supposed that he did sot long survive the 
accession of Henry II., being at that time, it may be caica- 
lated, seventy years of age or upwards. The pi*ecise date 
of his deatii ie unknown, nor cam anything further be added 
to the slight notices which have been now given of his per- 
sonal history. 

Henry of Huntingdon's other works — ^besides the His* 
tocjof England, and the epigrams, satires, h^^mna and other 
poems, already mentioned — consist of : 

1. An Epis^e to Henry I. ** On the Succession of the 
Jewish, Assyrian, Persian, Macedonian, and Boman kings 
and emperors to his own time ;" which is supposed to have 
been written in the year 11^. 

2. An Epistle to Warin, the Briton, containing mi account 
<rf die ancient British kings^ from Brute to Cadwaller. The 
liWrthor accounts' for his having commenced the History of 
England from the invasion of Julius Csesar by his having 
been unable at that time to discover any records of an 
eKriier period. He ^en tells his friend, that while at 
the abbey of Bee, in Normandy, on his way to Ik>me, 
be met B*)bert Dei Mont (called also De Torigny), a 
aaonk of that m<»iasterv, and a great antiquarian, who, con- 
versing with him on the subject of his History lately pub- 
lished, showed him, to his great surprise, the British History 
of Geofirey of Monmouth, recently written, from which he 
extracted the accounts of the British kings given in his 
letter. The year 113^ is fixed as the date of this Epistie, 
on the authority of Pertx ^ who quotes a passage from it 
to the effect that it was written in that year during the 
anihor's journey, to Eome in company wilh Archbishop 
'Hieobald, who was, or had been. Abbot of B«c. The 
editor of tlie "Monumenta Britannica,"^ who does not 

' " Monumenta tJermanica,* vol. vi. p. 481. • Preface, p. 89. 



Xll ja^ITORS PBEFACK. 

notice Huntingdon's attending Archbishop Alexander to 
Eome, while most of bis other biographers agree in that 
particular, adopts this statement, Wharton, however, in 
his " Anglia Sacra," gives another version, quoting a Ma- 
nus(aipt of the Epistle which says nothing of iSie arch- 
bishop's journey; whence Wharton conjectures that Hun- 
tingdon was at Bee in company with Bishop Alexander 
on their way to Eome when Ihe letter to Warin was 
written. 

3. An Epistle to his friend Walter, " On Contempt of the 
World, or on the Bishops and other Illustrious Men of his 
Age." Wharton^ and Hardy ^ agree in assigning the date of 
this celebrated Epistle to the year 1145, or tiiereabouts; 
but it bears' internal evidence of having been written many 
years before. Not only does it mention Bishop Alexander 
who died in 1148, as living at the time, but, moreover, 
expressly asserts of Henry I. that "his reign has now 
lasted thirty-five years" and quotes a prediction that it 
would not last two years longer, which was singularly veri- 
fied, as Henry I. died in the month of December of that 
same year 1135. Huntingdon, indeed, in a former pas- 
sage, refers to his History, to explain the discrepancy 
between the chai-acter he has drawn of Henry I. in the 
two works, but it is most probable that both were pub- 
lished together shortly after the king's death, this para- 
graph being inserted after the Epistle was written. The 
order in which he aixanged his works, as will subsequently 
appear, confirms this conclusion; but, however this may 
be, nothing can be clearer than that Huntingdon himself 
assigns the year 1135 as the date of his letter to his friend 
Walter. 

4. Our author's only other work is an account of 
English saints and their mkacles, principally collected 
from Bede, the intention of compiling which he had 
announced in an early part of his History. 

There appears to be no copy extant of what may be 
called the first edition of Henry of Huntingdon's History 
of England, which ended with the reign of Henry I. ; but 

* Preface to tlie " Anglia Sacra." 

» Preface to the " Monumenta Britannica.'' 



EDIT0B8 PBEPAOE, XIll 

the Arundel MS., forming, so to speak, the second edition, 
ends with the death of Bishop Alexander de Blois in the 
year 1148. So fer as it extends, the Arundel MS. follows 
the same order of arrangement as those MSS., which contain 
the entire History together with the whole series of Henry 
of Huntingdon's prose works. They are divided into ten 
Books, of which iiie first seven correspond with the Books 
similarly numbered in tlie present volume. The eighth 
Book in the MSS. of both editions, according, it would 
appear, to Huntingdon's own arrangement, includes the 
three Epistles, to King Henry I., to Warin, and Walter, 
already mentioned. The ninth Book contains the account 
of saints and miracles compiled from Beds. The tenth 
Book of the complete MSS. of the prose works continues 
the History from the death of Henry I. to the accession 
of Henry II. Two beautiful MSS. in ,ihe Library at 
Lambeth contain two additional Books, comprising our 
author's poetical works ; the eleventh consisting of the 
satires and epigrams, and the twelfth of the hymns and 
other poems already referred to. 

Henry of Huntingdon's History of England was first 
printed in Sir Henry Savile's collection of the " Rerum An- 
glicarum Scriptores,'* published' in the year 1596. It was 
reprinted at Frankfort in 1603, and the first six Books are 
given in the ** Monumenta Historica Britannica," pub- 
lished 'luider the auspices of the Record Commission in the 
year 1848. Savile omitted the eighth and ninth Books of 
the manuscript copies, as interrupting the course of the narra- 
tive, and made the tenth Book of Huntingdon's order the 
eighth of his own. This arrangement is followed in the 
present volume, but our author's tract on the bishops and 
illustrious men of his time, contained in his ** Letter to 
Walter," and forming originally a section of the eighth 
Book of the History appeared to be so valuable an histo- 
rical document, and throwing such additional light on the 
characters of many eminent personages coniiected with the 
History, that, although it could not be inserted in its former 
place, it was considered desirable to append it to the 
History. 

Mr, Petrie's collation of Savile*s edition with four of the 



31V SOIX0B6 PJ(£F:AiO£. 

M8S. hts supplied a text of great purity for the first 
fliz Books of Huntmgdon's History which only are printed 
in his collecticai. He observes, that the variations obtained 
by the collation of the first seven Books were, on the whole, 
very few, and those mostly verbal ; but that in the eighth 
Book they were much more valuable, rectitymg many mis- 
takes of Savile's printed text, and afbrding several additions'*. 
Mr. Petrie's notes of tliese variations having been lo6t,;it was 
deemed advisable that a firesh collation of the eighth "Book 
should be made with two valuable MSS. in the British Mu- 
seum, Arundel, No. 48, and RojtiI 13, B. 6, both on vellum, 
and of the thirteenth, or fourteenth century. This coUation, 
some of tlie results of wliich ai-e refeired to in the notes, 
has not only s^[Ted to improve the present version of the 
eighth Book, but aoi examination df the MSS. has supplied 
the means of forming correct conclusions as to the order of 
Huntingdon's works and the dates of their publication. The 
"Letter to Walter'* was printed in Wharton's **Anglia 
Sacra,"- and in Dadier's *' Spicilegium;"'* both of winch 
editions have been consulted for the present translation. 

Henry of Huntingdon's merits as an historical writer 
were, perhaps, overrated by the old bibliogmphers, Pitts, 
Polydore Virgil, and John Leland, while modem critics 
have done him but scanty justice. The value of his 
History varies, of course, with its different eptxihs. The 
earlier Books being, as he informs us in the Preface, ^ com- 
pilation from Bede's Eeelesiastical History and the Chroni- 
cles, meaning the Saxon ChrcMiicle, they are of little worth, 
although occasionally sup^ying additional iacts. The third 
Book,, deseaibing- the conversion to Christianity of the 
several kingdooaas of the Heptarchy, though wholty compiled 
from Bede, has the merit of being a well -digested epitome, 
and of ofiaitting the greater part ol' the mii-aculous accounts 
which bzeak the thread of the venerable historian's narrative, 
our author judiciously reserving them for a separate book. 
Indeed, Henry of Huatogdon's works m general are inter- 
spersed with very few (rf those 6a<iH?ed kg^ids which, however 
fiharaetedsficoif the age^xtiar the hdslorical effect, though they 

' Preface to the " Monumenta Historica Britannica," p. 81. 



maf iu>t weilsen our r^iance on the geBeral truthfulness of 
tba naao-a^he. In this respect he contrasts favourably nd 
Qfily with Be(k, but whh Boger de Wendover and most 
other chroniclers, not excepting hie illustrious contemporaiy 
William of Midinesbury. Hia frequent references to the 
immediate interposition of Providence may be unsuited to> 
the taste of many readers of the present day, but it mu£t 
not be forgotten, that while he sometimes claims the di- 
vine interference for very questionable objects, he gene- 
rally takes just views of the human means employed iOx 
wcarking (Hit the dispensations of Providence. 

Approaching his own times, our author assumes the cha^ 
raeter of an original historian, and, at the commencement 
of his seventh Book, tells us that now he has to deal 
with events which had passed ui\der hie own observation, 
or which had been related to him by eye-witnessea^ 
SitiU, however, the Saxon ChronLele seems to have been the 
basis of his History for the rei^ of William II., although 
additional nuU;ter is frequently introduced. But the latter 
part of the seventh, and the whole of the eighth Book,, 
containing the reigns of Henry I. and Stephen, are more 
valuable, the author having been contemporaty with the 
events he describes, and possessing singular opportunities, 
of being well informed on all that passed, from his familiar 
intercourse with Bishops Bloet and Alexander de Bloip* 
the nephew of Boger Bishop of Salisbury, the greatest 
statesmen of the time; as wellas Broon his personal know-> 
ledge of many otlier eminent characters, as we learn £foi& 
his " Letter to Walter." 

Borrowing large portions of his materials from the Chror 
nicies, it was natural that Huntingdon's History, which 
Matthew of Westminster, iudeed, calls "his Chronicles,'' 
should partake of the sama eharaeter. AlUaough the science 
of hifitoiy may be eonaidciied as then m a transition state^ 
Henry of Huntnagdon has the merit of beting among tha 
earliest 4>f our national Histacians. as distinguished &om 
GhroBJclers. The skeleton of history now began to hi» 
iaveeted with consistency of faraa and jiroportipna, tlict 
scattered limbs to be united, and life breathed into the 
dry bones. Political changes were traced to their OJ^gin„ 



XVI EDITORS PREFACE. 

events connected with their causes, and developed in their 
effects, and the lines of individual character fully and vi- 
gorously drawn. Huntingdon's colouring is often florid, 
but he was too much of a chronicler to fall into the error 
of some of [our most esteemed modem historians, who, 
under a specious guise, and in polished sentences, convey 
' a very small amount of exact information. The genius, 
however, which enabled him to form the plan of his ex- 
tended work, distributing it into the successive periods 
of the Roman, the Saxon, the Danish, and the Norman 
occupations of England, and the sagacity of his obseiTa- 
tions, while tracing the origin of some of these revo- 
lutions, distinguish him from the mere recorder of passing 
events. The climax of the long series of events is wrought 
out with dramatic effect, -when, in glowing language, 
but without losing sight of historical truth, he pictures 
England as panting for a deliverer from her ruined and 
distracted state, hailing, with exultation, the accession of 
Henry II., and entering on an era of peace and prosperity, 
the anticipation of which forms a happy conclusion to the 
work. 

The freedom with which he canvasses the conduct of the 
great men of the time, both in his History and his 
" Letter to Walter," not sparing even his patron, King 
Henry I., and the two Williams, his immediate predeces- 
sors, gives a favourable idea of our author's independence 
of character, and exhibits, what we should call, the liberty 
of the press, in a light we should hardly have expected under 
the iron sway of the Norman kings. But suspicion is thrown 
on parts of his narrative which are unsupported by concurrent 
testimony. That would, however, be a singular canon of 
criticism which should, on such ground, discard the state- 
ments of an old writer, whose general credit is unimpeach- 
able, where there is no improbability in the circumstances 
related; and Huntingdon's History contains several inci- 
dents, unnoticed by other contemporaneous writers, which 
we should be reluctant to surrender ^. No one could have 
clearer views of the duty of an historian, as we have 

* For examples see the notes pp. 195 and 199. See also the note^ p. 1^9. 



EtolTOB's PBEFACE. Xvii 

already shown, and as is also apparent in the Preface 
to his " Letter to Walter :" " I shall relate nothing," he 
says, " that has not been told before, except what is 
within my own knowledge" — in w^hich expression he evi- 
dently includes the testimony of other credible persons — 
" the only evidence," he adds, "which can be deemed au- 
thentic." He appears, on the whole, to have faithfully 
adhered to this sound principle, but his great fault being 
amplification, it occasionally leads him to exaggeration in 
details, which the careful reader will easily distinguish from 
the fabrication of facts. There are very few instances in 
which any serious doubts of his veracity can be entertained, 
and in liiese it is fair to suppose that he has been misled 
by the authorities on which he relied. 

A fervid imagiuation, and a diffuse styleZof composition, 
natm-aUy betrayed our historian into these occasioned errors. 
Such was his poetical temperament, which, as we have 
already learnt, he cultivated from his earliest years, that 
even his own vivid prose sometimes failed of giving ex- 
pression to his feelings, and he vents them in verse. In 
an age when it might have been little expected, the coiu't 
of Henry Beauclerc was the resort of the learned : our author 
dedicated his first historical work to that patron of letters ; 
WilUam of Malmesbury found a MecsBuas in the king's 
natm^al son, the Earl of Gloucester, and his two accom- 
plished queens, Matilda and Alice,^successively, extended 
then' favour to men of genius. Geoffrey Gaimar and his 
brother, minnesingers of Normandy, flocked to their pre- 
sence to celebrate their praises and partake of their bounty. 
Nor were there wanting scholars who paid their homage to 
the Latin Muse, and made their offerings at the royal shrine. 
In most instances, aUiteration and rhyme disfigure the 
metres, and fanciful conceits and quaint antithesis mark 
the wide departure of the versifiers of those times from the 
classical models they professed to follow. Henry of Hun- 
tingdon, though not entirely free from these faults, ^vas one 
of the few composers of Latin vei'se, in that or preceding 
centuries, who rose above the common level. He occasion- 
ally writes with a freedom and elegance, a pathos and 
poetic feeling^ which have lightened the task - of making 

b 



« version of his poems suited to the taste of modem 
times. 

The chTOftology of the History is very defective. During 
the Sbxon period, it is based on the reigns of the kings of 
Wessex, with referenee to which the series of events in 
the o^^er kingdoms of the Heptarchy is calculated, and the 
whole is adapted rather misatisfactorily to the reckoning 
•of the Saxon Chronicle. This cumhroas system occasions 
great confusion, His subsequent chronological references 
are scanty and erroneous. Some of the errors are pointed 
out in the notes, and the dates have been generally rectified 
from the Saxon Chronicle, and, when that fails, from later 
authorities. The subject is fully discussed in the Preface 
to the " Monutnenta Historica Britannica," and the intro- 
ductory remarks on the chronology of the medieval histo- 
riaaas pre&xed to that work. 

" The Acts of King Stephen," now first translated into 
English, forms an appropriate sequel to Henry of Hun- 
tingdon** History. Nothing is known of the anonymous 
aiuthor of this valuable fragment ; for such it is, time and 
neglect having so injured- the only MS. copy extant, that 
several portions of the narrative are obliterated, and the 
concluding pages entirely lost. The work, however, bears 
internal evidence of having been written by an author con- 
temporaneous with the events related, an eye-witness of 
many of them, and not only present at the councils where 
affairs of state were debated, but privy to the king's most 
secret designs and springs of action. As he also appears 
to have been an ecclesiastic, it has been conjectured that 
he was the king's confessor. The ancient MS. referred to, 
preserved in the library of the duke-bishop of Laon, was 
brought to the notice of Duchesne, who printed it in his 
collection of the Norman Historians, pijblished at Paris 
in the year 1619: it has been lately republished by the 
Historical Society of London, under the careful editorship 
of Dr. Sewell, from whose improved text the present trans- 
Jation has been made. 

,jti Singularly enough, ** The Acts of Stephen'*" do not contain 
a single date, but, as far as can be ascertained (a variety of 
fevents being related which have found no place in any 



RDTEORH FBBFJbCS. SIX 

<]^er hiBtflsy), the <rrdef ol tmie ii dttly praaerved. Tke 
msnreniientsr of S^iephen, who was in mcessant action Xtvroug^- 
outkis stonny reign, are described trith a minut^ie9» which 
jbawa liiLat the antiaor was present at the scenes he depiete. 
Msaay of them lay in the west of Eogland, and va 8outh 
Walies, where the Earl of Glooeesten, the chief sap^rter 
of the cause of the emprasa, bad great possessions, and 
mudh influence is right of his wi£e, and of his moth^ir, 
who was daughter of a prin^ of tliat country. But the 
enterprises of other indiyidnal actors in those turbulent 
times fill a large portion of the author's pages, and these 
episodes form a very interesting part of tlie narrative. 
They enaiile us to realize tlie state of society, when ever}- 
defensible position was oc(^ied by a strong castle, tivere 
beiag no safety ontside the wails, and when, every mao's 
hand was against his nei^bonr. In these scenes, the 
high-bom baron, and tbe ruffianly freebooter, alike living 
1^ fraud and yioLence, are promineait figures, while licentious 
msn-atarms, and Flemish and Morman mercenaries, whose 
wages were rapine, ibllow ia their train ; and groups of 
afiri^ted and; plufidered citizens, and impoverished eccle- 
siastics, lend it horrors. Indeed^ as Dr. Sewell remarks, 
the whole narrative ^ is one stirring series of events of 
personal and individual interest, and, in this respect, it 
partakes much more of the character of a romance than 
of a history. We are transported a4i once into the camp 
of Stephen and his barons ; we are present at his coun- 
cils ; we are hurried fcDrward in the night march ; we lurk in 
the ambuscade; we take part in the storming of castles and 
<sities. Now we stand in the wild morasses of the isle of 
Ely; at another time we reconnoitre the fortifications of 
Bristol ; from the hard-fought field of Lincoln we are carried 
to the walls oi Oxford ; firom the dungeon of the captive 
king we hastesk to witness the escape of the empress, during 
all ti[ie severities of a December night" 

History presented in this attractive garb, leaves on the 
mind a far more durable impression tlmnis made by the 
generalizations of modem wri4iers, too many of whom 
ssgipesa to have been very sisperficaally acquainted witih 
ib& authorities whence they pro£sss to deffive their im^M 

b2 



XX EDITOBS PBEB-ACE. 

mation, while most of them have written under some par- 
ticular bias, political or religious, which has given a colour- 
ing to their statements, if it has not led to a perversion 
of facts. Truth must be sought at the fountain head, and 
happily for those who desire to form an independent judg- 
ment on the earlier periods of our national history, the 
contemporaneous chronicles which not long since were 
confined to the libraries of the opulent, and sealed up 
in the obscmity of a dead language, are now brought 
within the reach, and opened to the perusal of the general 
reader. 

In the present volume, the transactions of King Ste- 
phen's reign will be found recorded by two different au- 
thors. They should be read in connection with William 
of Malmesbury's " Modem History," which embraces the 
same period. " Taken together," as Dr. Sewell observes, 
'* they constitute a valuable body of history. They re- 
ciprocally develope the politics of contending parties; 
they serve as guides whereby to airive at the probable 
springs of action ; they supply mutual defects of informa- 
tion, they may serve to correct mutual errors." In com- 
paring Henry of Huntingdon's eighth Book with the " Acts 
of King Stephen," we have the advantage of considering 
the history of the times from opposite points of view, Hun- 
tingdon being warmly attached to the family of Hemy I., 
while our anonymous author was a partisan of Stephen. 
But it is satisfactory to find how little their personal feeling 
was allowed to influ«ice their statements of facts, or their 
estimates of character. Huntingdon does full justice to 
the bravery of Stephen, particularly at the battle of Lincoln, 
of which he has given so spirited a description ; wliile he 
seldom takes an opportunity of charging the king witli 
those repeated breaches of faith, which were the worst 
stain on his character, and which the anonymous author 
freely admits, with the palliation tliat he was influenced by 
evil coimsels. Both very much agree in their observations 
on the arrest of the bishops, which, though it might be 
justified by poUtical expediency, was one of Stephen's most 
tyrannical acts. Butjjwhile Huntingdon remarks that this 
prepared the way for his eventual niin, which it probably 



EDIT0B8 PBEFAOE. XXI 

did, by alienating the powerful clergy from his cause, the 
anonymous author considers that he expiated his crime by 
the restoration of the bishops* confiscated property, and a 
penance which was probably unknown to the other histo- 
rian. It maybe observed, in passing, that neither has done 
justice to the noblest character of the age, Robert, earl of 
Gloucester, the natural son of Henry I. They have not 
failed to describe his military achievements, which were 
not unrivalled at such a period ; to appreciate his higher 
merits of disinterestedness, firmness, and moderation, we 
must have recom^e to the pages of his admirable biogra- 
pher, William of Malmesbuiy. 

Notwithstanding this general agreement of our two au- 
thors, there is one part of their narrative in which they are 
found at entire variance ; and as it brings to notice a trait of 
some importance towards forming an estimate of Stephen's 
character, and is also connected with the early career of one 
of the greatest and wisest of our English kings, the subject 
may be worth a few concluding remarks. Perhaps no part of 
Huntingdon's History does him more credit, both in point 
of style, and as a clear and succinct narrative of events, 
than his account of the expedition in which Henry, duke of 
Normandy, embarked, to enforce his rights to the English 
crown. The historian represents the yoimg prince as 
having hazarded a landing with a small body of troops, 
depending upon the justice of his cause, and the attach- 
ment of a large part of the suffering nation ; and that, im- 
patient of delay, he shortiy afterwards took Malmesbury 
Castle by storm. He then, we are told, offered battie to 
Stephen, who had hastened to its relief; but the king 
drawing off his army, the duke threw succours into Wal- 
lingford Castle, and then having laid siege to the neigh- 
bouring castle of Crawmarsh, again offered battle to Ste- 
phen under its walls, though his forces were far inferior to 
the royal army. The history relates that the barons, on 
both sides, interfered to stop the further effusion of blood, 
and a truce was agreed upon, which, after some further suc- 
cesses of the Duke of Normandy, led to a treaty of peace, 
by which his right of succession to the throne was solemnly 
guaranteed. 

Such is Henry of Huntingdon's account of the campaign 



and it& resulAs. Left us now tnm to that ^«a by the- 
aaonymous author of the "Acts of Kmg Stephen." It re- 
lates diat, ou Heoay'g landing, he took no brilliant enter- 
prise in hand, but wasted Jbis time in sloth and negligemfie; 
that he wa« repoilsed with disgrace £rom Cricklade and 
Bom-ton, the only places he is said to have attadted; 
and that his army^ unaoierved and enfeebled by their disas- 
ters, at length di&bajiided. We .ai'e then infocmed that the 
young duke, yfoxn out with Rhasne and distress, applied to 
his raodaer, the Ciwintefis of Anjou, whose -treasury being 
eidaftiDHed, she had no means of supplying hts pressing 
necessities. He also, it is said* had xecourse to his uncle, 
the Earl of <7loftice$te«« — ^pvhiE), according to all other aocotmts^ 
died before hia nephew's eicpcMilition — hist he, w^e are told, 
was too fond of his moniey-bags, and ohose to jreserve tfaem 
for his own occasiions. In tiais dilexnniA ti:ie yo<mg duke 
applied to King Btephen, his cousin, who generously Flip- 
pUed the wants of his gpeastest enemy. 

This noble tesit is perhif^s not inconsistent with Kte- 
])hen's general daajraeteir, buit, 1o say nothing of the ana- 
chronLsm resi^ecting the Earl of G^loueester, and -die 
improbability of the eondueit fi^tributed to so faithful nxi 
adherent to the came of his sister an4 stephe!n% the 
account given of the yotmg dvkes puaillanimity and 
ne^genoe is as mmb. 9i "varianoe with the personal his- 
tory of thttt gallant and indefatigable prince^ afterwards 
Hmrj II., as it is with Huntkigdon's acooixnt of these 
transactioDS. Nor eaa it be understood how, with the 
rained fortunes here described, Henry was shortly after- 
wards able to establish his xi^ to the thioue, as it is an 
lUbdieptiEted fact ihs^ he did. 

Our anonymous author's account of the closing scenes 
of Stephen s reign, of which we are deprived by the r*- 
vagos of time, may hare thrown some light on the in- 
consistent of the two statements, and it is just possible 
tha* his description of Henry's fiiilure and distress mB.y 
refer to some previous unsuoeessful enterprise of the 
young prince, which Henry of Huntingdon aind all the 
other chronielers have passed over in siienee. But ^is 
is by no means probable, and the reasonable condLii- 
^en appeara to be, that the piesent is osne of these 



EDITORS PREFACE. XXlll 

not uncommon cases in which writers, whose general 
truth and honesty cannot be questioned, are occasionally 
found to differ, not only in their details of minute circum- 
stances, hut in their narratives of facts which might seem 
to have been sufficiently notorious. 

March 5, 1853. 



HENBT OF HUNTINGDOFS PBEFACE. 



TO ALEXANDER BISHOP OF LINCOLN'. 

As the pursuit of learning in all its branches affords, ac- 
cording to my way of thinking, the sweetest earthly mitiga- 
tion of trouble and consolation in grief, so I consider that 
precedence must be assigned to History, as both the most 
delightful of studies and the one which is invested with the 
noblest and brightest prerogatives. Indeed, there is nothing 
in this world more excellent than accurately to investigate 

' Alexander de Blois was preferred to the see of Lincoln by Henry I. A.i>. 
1123, on the recommendation of his uncle Roger^ bishop of Salisbury, the 
king's powerful and trusted minister. After Henry's death, the two bishops 
were suspected of secretly favouring the cause of his right heirs against the 
usurper, and Stephen, taking umbrage at their erecting strong castles on their 
estates, caused them to be suddenly arrested and severely treated. The 
bishops were thus compelled to surrender their fortresses, including the 
stately castle of Newark, which Bishop Alexander bad erected. They 
severely resented this harsh treatment, though Bishop Alexander was after- 
wards apparently reconciled to Stephen's government, and took a distin- 
guished part in public ai&irs, as he had^ also done in the lattfer part of 
Henry's reign. His biographers state that he was justiciary of all England 
and Papal Legate, but it would appear that what Huntingdon says of the 
uncle, the Bishop of Salisbury, has been inadvertently applied to the nephew. 
Alexander de Blois went twice to Rome where he displayed so much muni- 
ficence, that at that court he was called " The Magnificent." He also visited 
his friend Pope Eugenius IX. in France in the month of August, 1147, and 
died the following year, of a fever caught during his journey from the extra- 
ordinary heat of .the summer. He was buried in the cathedral at Lincoln, 
which having been injured or destroyed by fire, he had restored to more 
than its former magnificence. His general munificence was great, and, accord- 
ing to the usage of the times, the episcopal establishment was splendid and 
sumptuous, and he was more engaged in civil afibirs than befitted his eccle- 
siastical functions. But Henry of Huntingdon informs us that he was an 
excellent bishop, and much beloved and revered by his clergy and people. 
See his character drawn by our historian, pp. 284, 285, and 316. It is copied 
implicitly by Roger de Hoveden. That the bishop did not neglect the culture 
of literature m.iy be inferred from his suggestions to our author, which were 
the basis of the following History. 



XXVI HENRY OB^ HUNTINGDON S PREFACE. 

and ti'ace out the course of worldly affairs. ' For where is 
exhibited in a more lively manner the gr^indeur of heroic 
men, the wisdom of the prudent, the uprightness of the 
just, and the moderation of the temperate, than in the series 
of actions wMdi history records ? We find Horace suggest- 
ing this, when speaking in praise of Homer s story, he 
says : — 

' " His worics the beavtifixl and base contain, — 
Of vice and virtue more instructive rules 
ThaiLail the sober sages nf the schools." ' 

Orantor, indeed, and Chrysippus composed laboured treatises 
on moral philosophy, while Homer unfolds, as it were in a 
play^, the character of Agamemnon for maganinmity, of Nestor 
for prudence, of Menelaus for uprightness, and on the 
other hand portrays the vastness of Ajax, the feebleness of 
Priam, the wrath of Achilles, and the fraud of Paris ; setting 
forth in his narrative what is virtuous and what is profit- 
able, better than is done in the disquisitions of philoso- 
phers. 

But why should I dwell on profane literature ? See how 
sacred history teaches morals ; while it attributes faithful- 
ness to Abraham, fortitude to Moses, forbearance to Jacob, 
wisdom to Joseph ; and while, on the contrary, it sets forth, 
the injustice of Ahab, the weakness of Oziah, the reckless- 
ness of Manasseh, the folly of Eoboam. O God of mercy, 
wliat an effulgence was shed on humility, when holy Moses, 
after joining with his brother in an offering of sweet-smell- 
ing incense to God, his protector and avenger, threw him- 
self into the midst of a terrible danger ^ and when he shed 
tears for Mkiam *, who spoke scornfully of him, and was 
ever interceding for those who were malignant against him ! 
How brightly shone the light of humanity when David, 
assailed and grievously tried by the curses, the insults, and 

' Epistles, Book i. Ep. 1. 

• Two of the MSS. read *p«mfo, instead of specfaculo. The version would 
then be " displays as in a mirror.'' I have followed the reading given by 
Petri e as well as by Savile. ^ Numb. xvi. 46. 

^ The MBS. and printed editions read '' Maria^" clearly an eiror of the 
transcribers; see Numb. zii. 13. 



HENRY OF HTTKn-NGBOKa PREFACE. XXVll 

the foul reproaches of Shimei^, would not allow him to be 
injured, tiiough he himself was armed, and surrounded bj 
his followers in arms, while Shimei was alone and defence- 
less ; and afterwards, when David was triumphantly restored 
to his throne, he would not suffer punishment to be inflicted 
on his reviler. So, also, in the annals of all people, which 
indeed display the providence of God, clemency, munifi- 
cence, honesty, circumspection, and ihe like, with their 
opposites, not only ptrovoke believers to what is good, and 
deter them from evil, but even attract worldly men to good- 
ness, and arm them against wickedness. 

History brings the past to the view, as if it were present, 
and enables us to judge of the future by picturing to our- 
selves the past. Besides, the knowledge of former events 
has this further pre-eminence, that it forms a main distinc- 
tion between brutes and rational creatures. For brutes, 
whether they be men or beasts, neither know, nor wish to 
know, whence they come, nor their own origin, nor the 
annals and revolutions of the country they inhabit. Of the 
two, I consider men in this brutal state to be the worst, 
because what is natural in the case of beasts, ia the lot of 
men from their own want of sense ; and what beasts could 
not acquire if they would, such men will not though they 
could. But enough of these, whose life and death are 
alike consigned to everlasting oblivion. 

With such reflections, and in obedience to your com- 
mands, most excellent prelate, I have undertaken to arrange 
in order the antiquities and history of this kingdom and 
nation, of which you are the most distinguished ornament. 
At your suggestion, also, I have followed, as far as possible, 
the Ecclesiastical History of the venerable Bede, making 
extracts, also, from other authors, with compilations from 
the chronicles preserved in antient libraries. Thus, I have 
brought down the course of past events to times within 
our own knowledge and observation. The attentive reader 
will learn in this work both what he ought to imitate, and 
what he ought to eschew ; and if he becomes the better for 
this imitation and this avoidance, that is the fruit of my 
labours which I most desire ; and, in truth, the direct path 
of history frequently leads to moral improvement. But, as 

» 1 Kings ii. 8. 



XXVni HENRY OF HUNTINGDON S PREFACE. 

we imde^ke nothing without imploring divine assistance* 
let us commence by invoking God's holy name : — 

Prostrate beneath the terrors of tby frown, 
Some, till they fill their cup of crime, remain. 
Some, with its bitter dregs, thy vengeance drain. 
The thoughts of kings and nations fluctuate. 
Thou, in thy wisdom, rulest all their state^ 
Inflicting evil, as the prophet sings *, 
And wafting blessings upon angels* wings, 
When such the pleasure of thy righteous will; 
Thou self-existent, dread unchangeable, 
From whom, by whom, and in whom all things are ! 
Creator, Lord and shepherd, king of kings, 
Beginning, source, and growth, and end uf things. 
Fountain of light, whence heavenly radiance flows. 
My work inspire, and guide it to its close ; 
My work, which tells the marvels of thy hand. 
Thyself our Father, in our father's land. 
Thou, by whose counsels and whose mighty aid. 
Great in thy counsels, secret or displayed, 
Realms are exalted, or again brought down. 

And thou, exalted prelate, England*s pride, 

Our country's father, and our monarch's guide. 

What I have well performed, in grace approve. 

Where I have erred, correct me in thy love. 

See here how nations prosper, realms decay, 

And draw the moral for the future day. 

Mark, holy father, how their power arose. 

Their wealth, their fame, their triumphs o'er their foes, 

Mark how in nothing all such glories close. 

' Tsa. xiv. 7. 



HENEY OF BUNTINGDOFS 

HISTORY OF THE ENGLISH. 



BOOK 1. 1 



Bbitain is truly aa island of the utmost fertility, abounding 
in com and fruit trees, which are noin-ished by perennial 
streams. It is diversified by woods, sheltering birds and 
beasts of chace, affording meny sport to the hunter. Wild 
fowl of all sorts are exceedingly plentiful, both those which 
are peculiar to the land and those which frequent the 
water, whether the rivers or the sea. Moreover, tiie island 
is remarkably adapted for feeding cattle and beasts of bur- 
then ; insomuch tiiat Solinus remarks that ** in some parts 
of Britain the herbage of the meadows is so luxuriant that 
unless the cattle are shifted to poorer pasture there is risk 
of their suffering from surfeit." The never-faiHng springs 
feed rivers abounding in fish. Salmon and eels, especially, 
are very plentifiil. Herrings are taken on the coasts, as 
well as oysters and other kinds of shell-fish. Among these 
are the muscles, which produce beautiful pearls, of a great 

* Henry of Huntingdon, in this First Book, after giving a general descrip- 
tion of Britain, and some slight account, mostly fabulous, of its early history, 
embraces the period from the invasion of Julius. Osesar to the final abandon- 
ment of the province by the Bomans in the time of Theodosius II. But 
this Book is rather an epitome of the lives and characters of the Roman em* 
peiors, than a narrative of events in British, or Boman-British history. His 
principal authorities for the former are Eutropius, and the Epitome of Aure- 
fius Victor; but Bede's Ecclesiastical History furnishes the staple of his nar- 
rative ; and he also draws hirgely from the history of the Britons attributed 
to Nennius — ^by some to Qildas ; and he has also interwoven in his history 
information derived from other sources which cannot now be traced. 

B 



2 HENRY OF HUNTINGDON. [BOOK I. 

variety of colours, red, purple, violet, and emerald ; princi- 
pally, however, white. Nor are the cockles wanting from 
which a scarlet dye is made, whose exquisite tint does not 
fade by exposure either to the sun or rain ; the older it is 
the brighter the colour becomes. Dolphins and whales are 
also caught> as Jav^aall says^ :*^ 

" Far as the giant whales of Britain's sea 
Smed tbe dolghw." 

Britain is also rich in metallic veins of iron, tin, and lead. 
Some of these contain silver also, though not so commonly; 
silver, however, is received from the neighbouring parts of 
Germany, with which an extensive commerce is carried on 
by the Khine in the abundant produce of fish and meat, as 
well as of fine wool and fat cattle which Britain supplies, 
so that money appeara to be more plentiful liiere than in 
Germanj itself, and all the coins introduced into Britain by 
this traffic are €f pure silver. Britain, also, furnishes large 
quantities of veiy exc^ent j^ of a black and loiUiant h>^ 
[Rendered sparkling by fire, it drives away serpents ; when 
it becomes heated by friction substances adhere to it, as 
they do to amber. The island contains both salt-sprii^s 
and hot-springs, the streams from which s^ap^j baths 
accommodated to the separate use of persosss of every age 
and of both sexes. "For water," as St. Basil observes^ 
" acquires the quality of heat by running ovar certain me* 
tals, so tibat^ not only it becomes wann, hot even scalding 
hot." 

This celebrated island, formerly called Albion, afterwards 
Britain, and now England, extends between the north and 
the west 800 miles in length and 200 in breadti!!, except 
where the jutting out of some of its bolder promontories 
expands its breadth. Including these, its complete circuit 
reaches 4875 miles*. Britain has Germany and Denmark 
on the east, Ireland on the west, and Belgic-Ganl on the 
south. The first place which presents itself to those who 
cross the sea from the coast of Gaul is called Butubi-portus^ 

» Sat. X. T. 14. 

^ Bede, from whose history this description of Britain it partially bov- 
rowed; makes the circmt of the islaiid 8675 miles. See vi^ L of this 
series^ p, 4. 



a ckj whose name the Ea^iak hne ^mmp^ai into Bagtth 
eester^ The disteioe acioBa tbe aea iron G«88oric«im', a 
towa b^oBgii^ to tha tnbe of the Moiiiki, md Ihe nearest 
point from vfbaiAi the pssaage cm .be made is 69 nules, or, 
aeeoidiBg to some inifeeES» 450 fiiriiNBgii. Belgu><7«il de> 
rtred its. name front Behiaeit f«meiiy a fliwiriwiing city o£ 
liiat port of GiasL It i^ipeaEs that the piofinee is now 
divided into two pttrts, one q£ nhieh is called Pontlucs, 
and the odoar, where the Noonaos, a pow^fial and foreign 
race, are setded, NonnaDdj. To the north of Britain, 
whcve it is exposed to the open and boundlesa oeean, lie 
the0rime3rlshuids,1liiefiurtibestcif whidi ia called Thole*, 
as it is aaad : — 

" Sy'n Qtiaoit Thde uhiB tlrj poVr obey.*** 



;&itain is» indeed, surroanded by a nnmber ef islands^ 
tkfipee of winch ore gseatK than thereat. !Fli«t, we httre the 
Orkneys, aheady mentionGd ; next, the Isle of Man, which 
lies in Ihe middle of the sea, between Britain and Ireland ; 
and third, the Isle of Wicht, wlikh hi aatoated to the south, 
Ofer against the N<ninans and the AraK)ricans» who are now 
called Bretons. Thns it was said in an aaeieai discourse^ 
where k treated of judges and ralas, "^He shall judge 
EMtain with her tiaroe islands.** Britoiii was formerly 
funous for ^8 cities,, whidbi, as well as innmnerable cashes, 
were w^ fortified with irolls and towers, and with ggtes 
seenred by strong locks. The names of these cities in 
the British language were Kair-£faranc, York ; £aiiOh^it> 
Ganterbnzy ; Kair-Goiax^on^ Worcester ; Kair-Lund^iL€^ 
Xjomdon; Kaxr-Legion, Leicester; Kair-Gollon, CoLdi^ster ; 
Sair-Gkm, Gloucester; Eair-Cei, Chichester; Kair-Bristou, 
[Bristol;] Kair-Oeri, C^ancester; £aijr-Guent, Winchester,; 
Kair-Grant, Grantchester, now called Cambridge ; and 

> BickboEOQg^ la Kent 

* The aBcienfei ^^pasr to liave had bo cartwa idea of tlie situation of 
-wfeai they called Thade. The mma teems to have been yarioualy attributed 
to the fiurtheift islaad in the North. Sea, unknown with any certainty froin 
the iinpcc£eet geognphical knowledge of those icfiona, Som&modem writers 
have dieeovered Thi^ in Thelle-foarken^ one of the western districts of 
iionmy. 

* Qeorg. 1. 30. 

B d 



4 HENRT -OS' HTJNTINGDOir. [^OK J* 

Kalr-Lion, which we call Carlisle. Kair-Pauri is Dor* 
Chester; Kair-Dorm, Dormchester, a town on the river 
Nen, in Huntingdonshire, which is entirely destroyed; 
Kair-Loitchoit is Lincoln; Kair-Merdin still retains its 
former name [Carmarthen]. There were also Kair-Guor* 
con, Kair-Cucerat, Kair-Guortigem, Kair-Umac, Kair-Cele* 
mion, Kair-Meguaid, Kair-Licelid ; Kair-Peris, that is, 
Porchest^r ; and Kair-Legion, which was the seat of an arch« 
bishop in the time of the Britons, but now there are only 
the remains of its walls on the bank of the river TJsk, not 
far from its confluence with the Severn ^ Besides iliese 
there were Kair-Draiton, Kair-Mercipit, and Kair-Segent, on 
the Thames, not far from Beading, and which the Saxons 
called Silchester. These were the names of .the cities in 
the times of the Bomans and Britons^. 

Since the beginning of history there have been five in- 
flictions of the Divine wrath on the people of Britain ; the 
visitations of Providence falling on the faithful, as well 
as its judgments on unbelievers. The first was by the 
Romans, who conquered Britain, but after a time withdrew 
from the island. The second was by the Scots and Picts, 
who grievously harassed it by hostile inroads, but never suc- 
ceeded in gaining permanent possession. The third was 
by the Angles, who completely subjugated and occupied the 
-country. The foiuth was by the Danes, who established 
themselves on the soil by successM wars, but afterwards 
disappeared and were lost. The fifth was by the Normans, 
who conquered all Britain, and still hold the English in 
subjection. "When the Saxon^ had subjugated the coimtiy 
they divided it into seven kingdoms, to which they gave 
names of their own selection. Their first kingdom was 
called Kent ; % Sussex, in which Chichester is situated ; 

' There are still considerable remains of the walls of Garlcon, probably 

much in the same state as they were in the time of our Archdeacon of Hon- 

^tingdon. The discoyery of some tesselated pavements have authenticated 

its claims to having been a Eoman station — ^the Isca Silurum of the second 

Augustan legion ; whence its Roman-British name—the city of the legion. 

^ Henry of Huntingdon has taken this catalogue of ancient British citiei, 
for the most part, from Nennius, omitting three — Eair-Manch-guid, Kair- 
Pensavelcoyt, and Eair-Guentwig ; but adding to the list of Nennius, Eair- 
Glou, Kair-Ceri, Kair-Merdin, Kair-Dorm, and Eair-Oei. The three fiiit 
of these fure found also in Mark the Anchorite. 



IfOOK ij THE HEPTABGHT. ( 

3/Wessex, of which the capital was Wilton, now given ta 
the monks : Winchester, Salishury, and several other citiea 
were in this kingdom ; 4» Essex, which did not long remain 
independent, hut heeame subject to other kingdoms; 5, 
East Anglia, which contained the counties of Norfolk and 
Suffolk ; 6, Mercia, in which was Lincoln and several other 
cities; 7, Northumbria, of which the ciq[>ital was York^ 
Afterwards, when the kings of Wessex acquired the ascen- 
dancy over the rest, and established a monarchy throughout 
the island, they divided it into 37 coimties, which, though 
their situations and names are well-known to those who 
inhabit them, it may be worth the trouble to describe. For 
it may chance, perhaps, that as the names of the cities we 
have just enumerated, famous as they once were, are now 
considered barbarous and turned into derision, so also, in 
the lapse of time, those which are now very well-knowA 
may pass out of memory and become the subject of doubt, 
Kent, then, is the first county, in which are the sees of the 
Archbishop of Canterbury and the Bishop of Eochester, 
The second is Sussex, in which is the bishopric of Chi- 
chester. The third is Surry. The fourth is Hampshire, 
in which is the see of Winchester. The fifth is Berkshire^ 
The sixth is Wiltshire, in which is the bishopric of Salis- 
bury. The seventh is Dorset. The eighth is Somerset, in 
which is the bishopric of Bath, or Acemancester. The 
ninth is Devonshire, in which is the see of Exeter. The 
tenth, Cornwall ; the eleventh, Essex ; the twelfth, Middle- 
sex, in which is the see of London. The thirteenth, Suf- 
folk; the fourteenth, Norfolk, in which ia the see of 
Norwich. The fifteenth is Cambridgeshire, in which is the 
see of Ely. The sixteenth is Lincolnshire, of which the 
capital city is Lincoln, and to which are subject seven 
other counties, viz., Leicester, Hampton, Huntingdon. 
Hertford, Bedford, Buckingham, and Oxford ; for the great 
bishopric of Lincoln extends fi:om the Humber to the 
Thames. The twenty-fourth is Gloucestershire ; the twenty- 
fifth is Worcestershire, in which, is the see of Worcester. 
The twenty-sixth is Herefordshire, in which is the see of 
Hereford. The twenty-seventh is Salop;- the twaity-eighth, 
Cheshire, in which is the bishopric of Chester*; the twenty* 

' The Mat o tbiibishoprie, wlikhFetertnaifeitedtbCrhMtiff^ 
1075j waa afterwards reatored to Litchfield. 



4 HENXr 99 HOJri ' AlWW N. [BOOK L 

fbA k Wniwiek; the thirties, Steffoord. After 4fae iSbw^ 
fiedi, tike ifirst is Darby ; tlie second, Nottingham ; Ihe 
tbini, Yeii^shm, in ivl»di is ^le aichbidioprie of York. 
The Iburtk is Norflmmbei^MMi, over vhidi -preeadm liie 
Bi^op of Dmfiam. The fiftk is that distriet in iviiieh tiba 
new^ bkftioprio of Carlisle is establisbed. GoTuities are 
eaBed, in Engfish, shores. At the fxresent -tine, theiefixe, 
En^floid can boast of haTing seventeen bishopiics ; but it 
contains many more (^Hes than sndi as are ttshopa' sees, 
sncb as Gloncester, Leicester, Oxioid, and many othefs 
vrfaich haTe no InsliopB. In the western ||art of the ishmd, 
which is caUed Wales, th^e are three bishopries : one at 
St Darid^, anolh^ at Bangor, and ^le Ihiid at Ohmor- 
gan' ; but these are sees wifbo^ ciiies, by reason of tibe 
desolation of Wales, the only part of the isbnd retadned hj 
iSit Britons after <he Saxon conquest &i our times Hub 
Bi&iiop of St. David^s receives from the Pope tiie paUimm, 
vrMch formerly belonged to Oarleon, hot which it has now 
lost. 

Hie cities which have been enunenited have for their 
sites the jdeasant and ferdle banks of rivers. Two of 'fiiese 
nrers are more celebrated dian the rest, the Hiames and 
the Severn ; tfte two arms, as it were, of Britam, by which 
it dmws to itself the produce of odier ootmtries, and exports 
its own. But it is pecufiar to the Engfisii Umt, being omeiL 
ad^cted to ibreign travel, Hiey ore remarkable fin* thear 
Snperror style of dress and livn^, by wUch they are easily 
^fistingaisAied &om other nalicms. SSnce, liien, Britain 
abomids in so many things (cf^en vineTords i&ounsh m it, 
though Ihey »e not common), Hiose who covet its wealAi 
must bring th^ own m exehange for vi^at they reeeii;«. In 
whose praise some (me tkaa wrote : — 

^ darn, nilk, amdimtj, £i]kr Bked thnr itocei 
On Btitaiii*B pkuoi^ thin over all tlie iiles 
IPThete loaimnfg oceui waa/keM tea-girt ■liarei.*' 

And a fitfle after w aids >'^ 

af Hartingatp'g aam tm^ incliidfld Ounbezliind, Weitaorland, and part « 

STartlramberlancl. 

' * Hwiinff, m ^kmrnprntSmtt «m ike jeafc «f dw bbbopdc fiam the 

earliest timet. 



l] eUKKZE OF SVGX.AXB. T 

*> LMdoi Mr •yps.snd IHaelteftcr for wna, 
Henfevd for herds, Worceiter fxa com xenown'd ; 
Bath for itf waters, SaUsbnry for the chase; 
Por fishes, Canterbury ; York for its iroods ; 
Sxeter iMasts its ndi metalfic cm. 
Harnw die aea *tween ^XAitma and Amee, 
If btte nsuthem Dmham fronti the vox^g waves 
On which old Norway Uiunch'd her conq'ring sons. 
In grace prond Lincoln's children foremost stand, 
E!y*8 high toVrs l3ie wide champaign oommaDd, 
Bocheftor ijies bright on MeAw«y*s winding itnnd." 

. Nor must it be oi&iUed that the elimate of Britain is verj 
temperate, and healthy to its inhidttianta ; for since it lies 
bet^neen the north and the vest, the cold of the north is 
tempered by Ihe influence of the sun in its course westward. 
The malady called St Anthony's Fire never afflicts the 
natives, while diseased persons brou^ over from Gaul 
obtain a care. The island lies so near the Ncnih Pole, the 
ni^ts are so tight in summer that at midnight it is oflen 
doubtful to the beholders whether the evening twilight still 
reanaiiis, or daybreak has already commenced, so short is 
tte period before the sun's r^aun from having passed im- 
deneath like northern r^ons to appear again in the east. 
For this reason the days are of great length in summer, as, 
on Hie contrary, the nights are in winter, Heh^ days and 
ai^its dufing ^im altax^ jseasons being each only six 
hrars long; while in Armenia, Macedonia, and Italy, the 
loBgest dfff or ngjbt is of fifteen hours, the shortest of 
nine. 

There axe £9ur things in England which are yery remark- 
able. One is that the winds issue with such great violence 
from certain caverns in a mountain called the Peak\ that 
It ^ects matters thrown into ihem, and Ti^iiiizig them about 
ia the ike cames them to a great distance. The second is 
at fbtaneheoga, wheoe stones of extntordinary dimensions 
are nased as oolnmns, and others are fixed above, like lin- 
tds of immense portals ; and no one has been able to dts^ 
cover hj what mechanism sudti vast masses of stone were 
^bwitod, nor for what purpose they were designed. The 

1 In DeihjihBV. 



% HKKST OF HUliXEH€aK>H. [bOQK U 

third is at Ghedder-bole^, where there is a cavern idiich 
many persons have entered, and have traversed a great 
distance under ground, crossing subterraneous streams, 
without finding any end of the cavern. The fourth wonder 
is this, that in some parts of the countiy the rain is seen to 
gather about the tops of the hills, and forthwith to £bJ1 on 
the plains.' 

So important was Ihe safely of Britain to its loyal people 
that, under royal authority, they constructed I'our great 
highways from one end of ike island to the other, as mili* 
taiy roads, by which th^ might meet any hostile invadon. 
The first runs from west to east, and is called Ichenild. 
The second runs firom south to north, and is called fiiv 
ninge Strate'. The third crosses the island from Dover to 
Chester, in a direction from south-east to north-west, and is 
called Wailing Street The fourth, which is longer than 
the others, commences in Caithness, and terminates in Tot> 
ness, extending from the borders of Cornwall to the extre> 
mity of Scotlfioid ; this road runs diagonally from south* 
west to north-east, passing by Lincoln, and is called the 
Foss-way. These are the four principal hi^ways of Britain, 
which are noble and usefrd works, founded by the edicts of 
kings, and maintained by Tenerated laws. 

Five languages are spoken in Britain ; those of the Bri* 
tons, the Angles, the Scots, the Picts, and the Bomana. 
Of these the Latin has, by the study of the Holy Scriptures, 
become common to all. The Picts ^ however, have entirely 

I Wookey Hole, in Cheddar Cliffii, under tbe Mendip BSh, in Somenel- 
ihirfc 

s Or Kmifflimge Street. 

' On the origin of the Picts see vol. L of this series, p. 5. It is to he 
ohienred, that Henry of Hontingdon does not notice the Norsk or Banish 
among the Lingnages commonly spoken in Britain, thongh at least one-thiid 
of Bngland was coloniEed by Norwegians and Danes, and their ianguge^ a 
cognate dialect, indeed, of the AngUhSaxon, has left traces of its distinct chft- 
•lacteTyin some distzieti^ even to the present day, which most hare been stQl 
more ri£B in the times of the Archdeacon. See Wonaae*s " Banes in Bng- 
land," and an Bsaay on the same subject in the Jnbilee B^tion of King iJ. 
fred's works. Henry of Huntingdon implicitly copies Bede, without any- 
reference to the farther element which was added to the langinges spoken in 
Britain alUr the time of his anthoE* 



BOOK I.] O&IOIN OF TEB BBTCOBB. 9 

disappeared, and their language is extinet, 80 that the ae-^ 
counts given of this people by ancient 'writers seem aknost 
fabulous. Who will not mark the difiference between Ilia 
devotion to heavenly and the pursuit of earthly things, 
when he reflects that not only the kings and chiefs, but the 
whole race of this heathen people have utterly perished; 
and that all memory of them, and, what is more wonderful, 
their very language, the gift of God in the origin of their 
nation, is quite lost. 

Let what we have thus far written, though of many tbings 
we have treated briefly, -suffice with regiurd to the site and 
general characteristics of Britain. We come now to speak 
of the people by whom, and the time at which, the island 
was flrst inhabited. What we do not find in Bede wq 
borrow from other authors^. They tell us that the British 
nation was founded by Dardanus, who was the father of 
Troius. Troius was the father of Priamus and Anchises. 
Anchises was father of .^bieas, .^^eas of Ascanius, Ascanius 
of SUvius. When the wife of Silvius was pregnant, a sooth* 
sayer predicted that the son she should bring forth would 
slay his father. The soothsayer was put to death for this 
prophecy ; but the son that was bom, and who was called 
Brute, after a time, while he was playing with boys of his 
own age, struck his fiather with an arrow and killed hinu 
It was done not purposely, but by chance-medley ; where* 
npon Brute, being banished from Italy, came into Gaul. 
There he founded the city of Tours, and having afterward^ 
invaded the district of the Armoricans, he passed from 
thence into this island, subjugated its southern regions, 
and called it, after his own name, Britain* Some writers* 
however, affirm that when Brute reigned in Britain, Eli, 
the high-priest, was judge of Israel, and Posthmnus or 
Silvius, son of MneaSj reigned among the Latins. Brute 
was his grandson. After an interval of 80 years, it hap* 
pened that the Picts, a Scythian race, having embarked on 
the ocean, were driven by the winds round the coast of 
Britain, till at length they reached the north of Irelmd, 
where, finding the nation of the Scots already in possession, 

' This fiibnlons aeconnt of the origin of the Britoni it taken ^m Nen* 
aSnf , iii. T. 



10 JDBKBI OF BXnmm£09«n [BOOK J. 

^msy beggfed to be allowed to setlie tdBO, but failed ia ob' 
taining Iheir TOqiieBt. For die Sools 4Biiid, " This islaxid 
would not coDtain its i»oth, l9!iit w^e kaow that tliere is 
another idand not §ar £rom ours, to the eaatward, which 
we cm see at a. distoace vheci the days are claaxer than 
^zdnaiy. H^j/hml wili go tiiere joa will be able to establish 
jouTBeh«8 ; and if yofa m.&Bt wath oppositiaa we will come 
to your asMtanoe." lite Picts, thene^re, •crossing over to 
Britain, began to colonize the northern parts cf the island ; 
fior ihe Bntons wexe akteadjr settled in the south* The 
fkfte liaTiiig no wnas a^ed &^n of the Scots, who con- 
seated to gmnt them upon the sole conditloa that when 
any one^rtainl^ aiose in s^teVafiiBdis ^nej should elect a 
king irom &e royai race in the jSamale line rather than in 
the male ; which cuatoan, it appeass* ia maintained among 
the Kets to the prearait daj. ^ich, then, are the traditions 
wMch we find in old writers concerning the amyal o£ the 
KitOfis in that part of the world which is called Britain, as 
w«M as the anml of lise Picts m the same island. Ai^ 
thou^ it is an island, being Tery extensive, its excellence 
is not diminished on that acooant; when, in truth« the 
wh^ earth is itself an ishaid. .Bat as it is a coumon 
saying, " min is mh^ed wilh wind, and laughter with 
m^Bs,** the pre-emHucwt wealth and advantages of Kn gl^p d 
have excited the eoawj and cupidity of nrnghbooring nations. 
It has, dierefoe, been yery fmnpneo^y inmded, and ofb^i 
aubdned. Urns, ia ^ocess of tone, the Scots alfio migrated 
from Ireland into Britun, under ihenr diief Beivia, and 
either by &sr means, or by lorce of arms, obtained posses- 
eion of that part of the oom^tzj bdeongjng to the Picts 
which tiiese new settlers still oecupy. They are called 
Dal-Tectdixks, from the name of their chief; JDal, in thdr 
language, slpd^yjaa^ « portioii or district. This leads me to 
say someitlmig with re^Eod to Ireland, for ihong^ prc|)erly. 
It ia not my aabject, it is nearly connected with it. M^ 
what I 'shall sM be to 4he hcmoiur <sf Ahnighty Godi 

Next to !^4ain, Ireland is tbe ^leat ifi^mid in the ttwM ; 
<«nd, indeed, though it Is iiderior io Britain in wealth, it 
greatly surpasses • it in the salubrity and serenity of its 
-^dboate, arising £nom the natdte of its p^ution. For while 
it is less extended towards the north, it stretches maiih 



Bboc 1.] laaumurms of ieelaxs. i| 

father Hum Britun towavis the xftorthem eoast of Spun* 
from which, howerer, a vide sea divides it. In Ireland 
aacm seldom or never lies on the ground more than three 
^ys; no man there, on aocoont of winter* eltlttr makes 
hay in the summer, or ereets buildings to aheiler his cattle. 
No TOptiles nse seen there: no secpent ean eadst; for 
thoagh sezpentB have heen oiitesi carded there £n>m Bh- 
tam, when ^te ship approaiches the shore, as soon as they 
breathe the air wafted iiom the land they instantly die. 
On the other hand, almost all the prodoets o£ the island 
are antidotes to poison. In short, we have knovm persons 
iMtten by serpoits, to whom the scrapings of the l^ves df 
books brooght from Ireland, immeraed in water, having 
been given to diink, the potion immediately shsorbed the 
venom, whieh was spceading ihrou^out the body, and 
allayed the sweQing. Ged hath therefone endowed the 
Idand with this wondeiftd gift, and has appointed a nudti- 
lade of the saints for its protectkm. Moreover, He has 
emiehed it -with anlk and haney ; vineyards are not want- 
ing, mA it abounds with fish and fowl, deer and goaiB. 
l&s is truly the. oonntry of the 8eot9 ; hut if any one is 
desirous of knowing the time when it was first iuJiabited, 
tho^ I find noflbing aboot it In YeneimUe Bede, the 
Allowing is the aecount given by another wrker. At the 
tame the Egyptians were drowned hi the Bed 8ea, the sur- 
mors ban^aed finom among them a certain nobleman 
named Sejrtkns, thai he mi^t not aeqfuire the dominion 
«wr them. The banished man having wandered for some 
time in Afiioa, at last esme with his &mily to the dwdiUngs 
«f Ihe PhiiisliDes, and by the Salt Ltke th^ joomeyed 
heAmeea Bassicada and the mountains of Syria, and eame 
1^ tfie Biver Malva, and trai^ned Hanritaoia, navigating 
Hie Tosean Sea to the PiUais of Hercules. Thus th^ 
arrived in Spain, where they dwdt many yesrs, and their 
^posterit^ mdtiptted greatly. Thence they came into Ire- 
lBnd« ISOO years after the passage of Israel through Hie 
Bed Sea. The Britons, however, inhabited Britain before. 
J'or the Britons occupied Britain in the third Hge of the 
/wodd; the Scots, Ireland, in the fourth. These accounts 
me not Bsadi to be dq^ended on; but it is certain that the 
Scots came fi:om Spain to Ireland, sod that part of them, 



tH HEKB7 OF HUKHNQBON. [BOOK J^ 

migrating &x>m thence to Britain, added a third nation 
there to the Britons and the Picts ; for the part which 
remained still speak the same language, and are called 
Navarrese. There is a hroad golf of the sea which for-^ 
merly divided the nation of the Picts from the Britons. 
It nms from the west deep into the country, where stands, 
to the present day, a strongly-fortified city called Alcluith', 
on the north side of which the Scots, of whom we have 
already spoken, fixed their settlement. 

Julius CsBsar was the. first of the Eomans who invaded 
Britain, sixty years before the incarnation of our Lord*, 
and in the year 693 after the building of Bome. He was 
joined in his consulship with Lucius Bibulus, and, having 
subjugated the Germans and Gauls, who were then parted 
by the river Bhine, he came into the country of the Morini, 
from which is the shortest passage to Britain. Here he 
caused eighty ships of burthen and light galleys to be 
equipped, and transported his legions into Britdn. Things 
did not at first turn out: according" to his expectation; for, 
when disembarking, he had to encounter an attack from the 
Britons much severer than he had expected, and, finding his 
force outnumbered by a foe whom he had greaUy under- 
rated, he was compelled to re-embark his troops. On his 
return to Gaul he met with a violent storm, in which he 
lost a considerable part of his fleet, great numbers of his 
soldiers, and almost all his horses. Exasperated at his ill 
success, having established his legions in winter quarters, 
he caused six hundred ships of both sorts to be fitted out 
[b.o. 54], and early in the spring sailed again for Britain with 
his whole force. But, while he marched his army against 
the enemy, his fleet lying at anchor was assailed by a 
furious tempest, which either dashed the ships against 
each other, or drove them on shore as wrecks. Forty of the 
ships were lost; the rest were after some time, and with 
great difficulty, repaired. The consimunate general, there- 
fore, seeing all hopes of retreat cut off, the more urgentiy 

1 Dimbarton. 

' This date, borrowed from Bede, is incorrect, like many others of botH 
authors. It is now generally agreed that Caesar's second and snccessfnl xq- 
Tasion of Britain was effected B.O. 54, v.o, 700. The abortive expedition 
Imn mentioned took place the tummer before. 



B.G. 54 ] INVASION OF JUUCS C«8AS. 19 

roused the spirit of his troops, and, while he wa$ in the act 
of exhorting them, hattle was joined with the enemy. It 
was fought on both sides wi& the greatest ardour, the 
Eomans having no hope of a retreat, the Britons an assured 
hope of conquering as they had done before, Labienus, 
the tribune, who led the van of the Boman army against 
the division of Dolobellus, who was the lieutenant of the 
British king, charged it with such vigour that it was routed, 
put to flight, and pursued. But the main body of the royal 
ai-my was stationed between the columns of Gsesar and 
Labienus. It was commanded by Belinus, the brother of 
the king Oassibelaun, and the son of hud\ a very brave 
king, who had gained possession of many islands of the 
sea by the success of his arms. The royal army was 
therefore able to surround the cavalry of Labienus, who 
was slain with all his troops. And now Julius per* 
eeiving his ill fortune and being sensible that to avoid 
greater disaster he must have recourse to mancsuvring, 
instead of direct attacks, he feigned a retreat. The Britons 
pursued the retiring army and slew great numbers, but 
were checked by a wood into which the Bomans threw 
themselves. Preparing there for a third attack, Csesar thus 
exhorted his troops : — 

"Invincible fellow soldiers, who have braved the perils of 
the sea and the toils of marches and battles by land, and 
have been daunted neither by the fierce onset of the Gauls, 
nor the resolute courage of tiie German nations, think not 
that I suppose any words of mine can add to that disci- 
plined courage which is already perfect, and which, tried in 
so many fields, can neither be added to nor diminished : 
that valour, I say, which has always shone brightest when 
danger was greatest, and, while others have despaired, has 
led you exultingly onward to certain victory. I need not 
recaU to your minds what is fixed in your own memories, 
and in those of all nations, how often, seemingly conquered, 
we have conquered our conquerors ; and, not disheartened 
by our disasters, have become braver than the brave by 
whom we have been repulsed. Courage, when provoked, 
becomes desperate. Now then, if you have any regard for 

* Aocordbg to Qeoffrey of Monmoutb, Lud vas brother of CaBubelaun. 



14 BEXBY or mngnmtBiw, [book u 

the 0orf of ^e Boman name, now ia the tkne to eEshibit 
that militaapy discq^Uns in. vh«dk you have been perfectly 
trained, and wbieh you have always perfeeity maintained, in. 
its hi^est peifectioii in tins time of oxa utmost need. 
For myself, of two issues I have ixrevocaMy chosen, either 
to conquer, whiek ia ^riona^ or to die £» our country, 
wMch is m the power of erevy man. lli^t m only the 
reibge of cowards. Let those then amoi]^ you who are q£ 
the same mind witii nrTself hold up their invincihle right 
hands, and let our enemies be astonished to find u& reanir 
mated by our repulses, and recruited by our losses" ^ 

Having thus spoken be extended his r^ht hand, snd the 
whole army with loud shofuts raised their hands to heaven, 
and thus cheering began the battle. Then it was that tha 
legions being skSfully disposed, the persevering obstinacy 
with which they fought displayed the superiority of the 
Boman discipline. Content to stand on tiieir defence, 
while the Britons cadbansted ^emselves by repeated attacks^ 
ibe troops of GsBsar were fresh viihen the islanders had 
lost their vigour. Victory was (m the side of the Bomana, 
though not vntbout severe loss. From Hience Csesaj: 
marched to the river Thames. A large body of the enemy 
had posted themselves on the further side of the river under 
the command of Cassibelaun, who had planted sharp stakes 
in the river bonk and in the water where it was crossed by 
a ford^. The remains of these stakes are to be seen at the 
present day; they i^pear to be about the tidckness of a 
man's thigh, and, being shod with lead, remain immoyably 
fixed in tiie bed of tiie river. This being discovered, and 
avoided by the Bomans, they attacked the barbarians, who, 
not being able to stand t±ie shock of the legions, retired 
into the woods, fi:t)m the shelter of which they grievously 
galled the Bomans by repeated sallies. The strongly-forti- 
fied city of Trinovantum^ surrendered to Ceesar, under its 
governor Androgens, delivering to him seventy hostages. 

^^ Being nimble to ducover where the AichdeBcoa found tke reeoid of this 
ktimng address^ we maj attribate it to his own invention, in imitation of 
the speeches which both poets and histoiians have put into the mouths of 
their heroes on similar occasions. 

^ This ford of the Thames is supposed to have been near Kichmond. 

' Supposed to be London. 



Bia &4-44.] jxnLRiB c»ua. msimauam. Itt 



Jn fike maaoaer semenl otlier towns entemd into 
tvidi tii0 Bomans, aaad scqpn^tied guides bf -whose aid < 
penetrated to the CKfkM city of Casdbelaim, eovered oa 
both sides by moiBsses and ftorther ptote^ed by ifaiek 
ivoods^ wMle li iras stored with abundant sopfplies. The 
eitf was ti^en after an obstmate defence^ 

ETeoftoaHy, CsBsar retarmng into Ga^, and bdng dia» 
tracted by the cares of wars which beset him on efverj side^ 
withdrew from Britain the legions whieh he had plaesd in 
winter quarters, in order that they might aoccHnpany him la 
Home : a hei to which Laean lefers :-^ 

" TBe firee-born. BritooB toas th&r ydlinr Bau^ 
No longer cnrb'd by ttattomry c»™™*** 



Ketuming with regret to Eome, he ordered the fifth 
month to be called Joiy in honour of his own name. He 
was afterward treachercxely assassinirtftd in the senate* 
hoQBe on ihe Ides of March. As we have to speak of 
Csesar and his snecessors who ruled Bntom to the time of 
Martian, who was the forty-fourth in suoeesfflxm &om Julius 
Cffisar, we hate no wish to diminish their renown. We 
should hesitate to ecsnpare them in point ci morals to our 
own Quristian princesy while it would be a shame that the 
latter should be inferior. 

The panegyrick crif Solinus on Julius Caesar is just; 
" As much as Sergius and Sisinnius, the brarest of soldiers, 

* There seems to be fifttle doidii tbat Ymkai^Qt St Albou, vas the 
capital of Gassibelann, 

3 Lncan's Phanaiia, Book i 1. 402. Hemy of Hntii^ii has substi- 
tuted Britanni for Euteni, without any authority, which I have been able to 
diseoTer. Some hare read Sugvi^ considering the reading justified by tbe 
descriptire appellation, JUivi; but the epithet ** yellow-haured " was applied, 
not only to tiie GKsrmans, but to all the nordkem nations. Lueaa hinneEf 
tinu desigDBtes the Britons : — 

''celsoa ut Qallia cuzrus 
jETobilis, et flavia aeqaeretor mista Britaxuua.'' 

Fkars^vL 78. 

In the passage quoted by the Ardtdeaccn, Bateid is etidently the true 
nnUng, for the contest names Tarioaa €bi«kish tribes ; those ol the Vosgea, 
llio I^Qgones, about Langres, and the Isaiee, on the Isere. Then the 
Sateni, a people of Narbonese 0ao\, aftemramU le Boresgue, an meatioBiBd ; 
followed by refarence to the tf ibee en the Atar, now L'Aabe, in Laognedoei, 
and the Yar in Provence. 



1ft . JB[£KBY or HUNTINGDON, [BOOK X; 

outshone all other soldiers, so much did Gsesar exeel all othet 
generals, nay, other men of all times. In the wars carried on 
under his command, 1, 1 92,000 of the enemy were slain. How 
many were slain ha the civil wars he was reluctant to record. 
He fought fifty-two pitched battles ; being the only general 
who exceeded Marcus Marcellinus, who fought thirty-nine* 
No one wrote more rapidly, no one read with greater facility ; 
he was able to dictate four letters at one and the same time. 
So great was his excellence that those whom he conquered 
by his arms, he conquered yet more by his clemency. 

Augustus, succeeding jT:dius Csesar, obtained the empire 
of the whole world ; and received tribute from Britain as 
well as from his other dominions, as Virgil remarks : — 

" Embroidered Britons lift the purple screen." ' 

This he did in the forty-second year of his reign, when the true 
Light shone upon the world, and all kingdoms and islands, 
before over-shadowed with darkness, were taught that there is 
One only God, and saw the image of Him that created them. 
When Augustus had reigned fifty-five years and a half, he 
paid the debt of nature, Eutropius thus panegyrizes him : 
♦* Besides the civil wars, in which he was always victorious, 
Augustus subdued Armenia, Egypt, Galatia, Cantabria, 

* Geor. iii. 26. The sense is not very clear, ahd I have therefore ren- 
dered the words literally, in preference to offering any gloss npon it. 
Dryden thns paraphrases it :-^ 

^'When the proud theatres disclose the scene 
Which interwoven Britons seem to raise. 
And show the triumphs which their shame displays." 

Heyne conjectures that allusion is made to the curtain of the theatre on 
which were pictured^ embroidered, or interwoven, the tall and gaunt forms 
of British captives, represented in the act of rising from the ground and lifting 
the curtain. However this may be^ the quotation from the Georgics, which 
Henry of Huntingdon borrows from Nennius, fails of proving the subjection 
of the Britons in the time of Augustus. We find no authority for the state- 
ment, that this emperor received tribute from Britain, except a passage in 
the De Rebus iSfeticis of Jomandes, the Goth, a work of the sixth century, in 
"which he made use of the now lost Ecclesiastical History of Cassiodorus, who 
was governor of Sicily in the same century — ^no authorities whatever against 
the silence of contemporary classical authors. Dion Cassius telk us, that 
Augustus came into Gaul with the intention of invading Britain, as the 
Tritons refused to enter into a treaty with him, but was prevented by the 
revolt of some recently-subdued tribes of Gaul. 



B.C. 43.]' AUGUSTUS. — TtBEBIUS. ' IT 

Dalmatia, iE^annonia, Aqiiitania, niyricam, Bhetium, tlui 
Yindelici, the Salassi, Pontus, and Cappadocia. He so 
completely reduced the Dacians and Germans, that he 
transported 400,000 captives of their race into Gaul» where^ 
he settled them on the further hank of the Bhine. The 
Persians gave- him hostages, which they had never done 
before, restoring the standards taken from Crassus. He 
was xnild and gracious, affable in spirit, and handsome in 
person ; his eyes, particularly, were beautiM. Clement tot 
his subjects, he so treated his friends that he almost raised 
them to a level with himself. He engaged in war with na 
nation but upon just grounds, esteeming triumphs founded 
upon unfounded pretences, worthless. He was so loved by fo- 
reign and even barbarous peoples, that in some instances tiieir 
kings spontaneously came to Eome to do him homage ; 
others, as Juba and Herod, founded cities to his honour. 
He devoted some part of every day to reading, writing, and 
elocution. He was sparing in his diet, patient of rebuke, 
and placable to conspirators. He foimd Eome built of 
bricks, he left it of marble." 

Tiberius, the step-son of Augustus, succeeded him in 
the empire, which extended over Britain as well as the other 
kingdoms of the world ^. He reigned twenty-three years. 

' There is no authority for the statement, that Britain formed part of the 
Soman Empire during the reigns of Augustus and Tiberius. It would be a 
bootleflt task to correct all Henry of Huntingdon's errors and misstatements, 
in some of which he copies Bede. [See notes to the Eccles. Hist, cc. iii. 
IT. in the present series.] We should not have noticed the present mis- 
statement, but on account of a popular error which attributes ihe conquest 
of Britain to Julius Caesar, and supposes that from his time the island, or 
some part of it, remained in subjection to the Romans. The facts are, that 
in his second and most snooessfiil expedition, Caesar was not able, after much 
opposition and one signal defeat, to penetrate fiirther into the, country 
than about eighty miles from his place of landing, near Walmer, to Yeru- 
1am, or St Albans, following for the most part the valley of the Thames, 
which liver he crossed near Richmond. London and St Albans were the 
only towns he reduced, and these he abandoned after a few months' 
occupation, withdrawing his whole army from the island, to which he never 
returned. The Britons recovered their independence, and continued unmo- 
lested under the government of their native kings and chiefs during the 
reigns of Augustus, Tiberius, and Caligula, though the latter menaced them 
with a fresh invasion, which ended in an idle and ridiculous parade. A 





IS HEXKT OF smniKaiMMz. [lao^K I. 

He was {nndeni; «a& Jbrtuoidbe in war, txid tkus h^casem 
wortiiy to be tiie sacoessor of Avigastiis. In literature he 
VBS Mghlj acoomplisbed» bni sHU more neBteakakhi iox 
ekoqmnBR, hemg yuappier m unpremeditated replies tbaa ia 
aert speeriaes. He itas charged with disseml^ii^, inasmuch 
as he asssmei indi^fereBiee to those he xeallj loved and 
eoortesj to peraoBS he ^bslikad^. 

Oahis, anmaBBBd dahgula, reded ihe enaf^e of Ihe world 
ahoat Ave years. CSiacuiiita, who swceeeded hiaa a.d. 62^, 
aad iT,a 7da, TisitBd Eritam in the fiwrth year c^ his reign, 
and reoehied the aolBois^on of aosae vested la-ibes wkh- 
eat recooiBe to anna. JEie added the Odcmey Islacids^ 
aheady mentianed, to the empim, aad, Betazning to Borne 
afber an alasenoe <^ six montha, assimed £»r himself and 
hie Bon the sumame of BritaEmieiis, which is giipen him by 
Jir?enal^:~- 

^ Asd ftbov*^ BtUanmcnSj to aQ that came^ 
The iRiii^ tint bore ^ec* 

In this year that grievous famme preYaited in Kyria, 
which is seeorded by St liidce in the Acts of the Apostles 
to have been predicted by Agabus. In the tiaeie of Olaudius, 
Peler, the chief ieimder of onr faith, became bishop of 
Kome, which see he filled for twenty five years, t. e. to the 
last year of Nera Vespasian, commissioned by Claudius, 
went into Gaul, and afterwards to Britain, wh^e he had 
thirty-two eage^ements with the enemy, rediioed two iFery 

fcriod, Ifaawface, of neaiija century Aliased Wose tlie mooe aacoeviiuX mr 
VMbn uader tJto Emperor ClaiidifM^ from whiek the ^f*«Miihinfn<; of t^ 
Bomn doBuaioB in fiataiit datei. 

^ Tk» real date of the cacpedition -of Flanliai^ under CSlaadius, was * , t\. 
44, ua 796. Vlie same yos vofwi hia geneal't aaooeas, the Bmperar himaelf 
cnoKd over to Bcitam, bat only seBBained in the ialamd aixteen dayi. 
TbiM fcappeaed nmety-oeren years after Gsour'a abandenaiaift of his enter- 
iniao. Bade says that ^ he was the ooly oae either before or alter Julius 
Otmx, who had dared to land in the isht&d," so that Heory of Huiydagdoa's 
atory of tbo ^reroHed tribes" seems to be pure mv^ntion. 

^ TUs afao is ioeorrect The OdoMj* were aot reduced till the o(»quest8 
mi AgtrntAa, under VespaiiaB, and his socoessoss zednoed the XKUthem paita 
«f BrhaiB to subjection. 
^Jvr. flat. ^124. 



ftmedal tribes, took twenty toims, aad added the Isle of 
IS^g^ to tbe emipke, Wken Claudius had reigned thirteen 
yarSy 3ae went the vmif of his fitthers. His chamcter is 
tims sumioed up : ^ The administratioa of Glandius was 
gBuerally moderate, thou^ in some affairs be acted in* 
cnrtiously. SaceessM in war, he enlarged the empire; 
vhUe in peaee he was so gracious to his friends, that when 
Faoiinns^, « general of great eminence who had distin- 
gmdned himself in Britain, celefomted his trimnph, the em- 
feex maiiched on his left hand as he ascended to Ihe 
eapitoL"^ 

, Kfpo, -viioTe^ed thirteenyears and mtlier more than half, 
though ke bad be^i an active soldier in his youth, lapsed 
into sloth after he had obtained the empire. Hence, besides 
ether m^ies to Hiq empire, he nearly lost Britain; for 
dizring his goveoimment two of the greatest cities in the 
idand were sacked and ruined^. Nero perished miserably 
die same year in which he slew Pet» and Paul. 

Yespasian, who destroyed Jerusalem, reigned nearly ten 
^tears^. It wi» be who under Claudius was' sent into Britain 
and jsaiaGediihe Me of Wight to Ihe power of the Bomans. 
TMs island extends :&om east to west about 30,000 paces; 
iroaai north to Bouth, twelve ; and is distant in its eastern 
flirt six, -taod in its western twelve, miles :from the southern 
tsmst of Britain. This great man erected a column of the 
ittaght o€ 107 feet 1^ eulogium of Vespasian is thus 

' For PaoliiNU, wko did not cDinmsDd m Britain till the time of Nero, 
read Plaatim. By the Tictories of this general over Cunobeline, the 
soxOhem regions of Britain were reduced to a Eoman province. He wafl 
-succeeded by Ostoriiis, the conqueror of Caradauc, or Caractacns as he was 
«»Qed \fy the Beaunii. 

^ The sueeessei of Boadicea^ Qseen of the Iceni, a British tribe, who 
ware natives of Derbyshire, are here ailuded tp. She is said to have reduced 
to ashes London, Colchester, and Yerulam, and to have massacred 70,000 
of the Bomans and their allies. We do not wonder at Henry of Hunting- 
^•n*s imperfect acquaintance with the history of the Eoman emperors ; but 
it k Mirpriaiiig that he gives so confused an account, and collected such few 
isddents •f their tmnsactiom in Britain. Now it was that Suetonius Pau- 
linus commanded in Britain. He reduced Mona, and -exterminated the 
Druids, and was ultimately fiucceasfol in recovering the province after the 
losses in the time of Boadicea. 

' Butrop. viL 8. 

* The short leigitf iH Galba, Otho, and Yitelfiua, are not noticed. 

2 



20 HENB7 OF HUNTINGDON. [bOOK I^ 

faithfully given^ : *" He conducted his government with great 
moderation, but was inclined to avarice : not, indeed, that he 
raised money by imjust methods, and what he carefally col* 
lected he spent freely, being especially bountiful to those 
who were in need ; so that it would be difficult to name any 
prince whose liberalily was at once so great and so just 
His clemency was such that he was not disposed to inflict 
severer punishment than exile even on those who were 
guilty of treason. He was conqueror of Judsea, Achaia, 
Lycia, JEthodes, Byzantium, Samos, Thrace, Cilicia, Comar 
gene. Injuries and enmities he buried in oblivion; he 
bore patiently the invectives of lawyers and philosophers, 
and was courteous and affable to the senate, the people, and 
all the world." 

Titus, his son, reigned two years and two months, a 
prince endowed with every virtue, so that he was called the 
idol and the darling of the human race. He built the 
amphitheatre of Eome, at the dedication of which five 
thousand wild animals were slaui. His panegyric is of the 
highest order ^ : " Eloquent as well as brave, of great mode- 
ration, he transacted the business of the law-courts in Latin, 
and wrote poems and tragedies in Greek. At the siege of 
Jerusalem, serving under his father, he struck down twelve 
of the foremost of the garrison, each with a single arrow. 
At Bome his government was so humane, that he scarcely 
inflicted punishment on any, pardoning those who were 
convicted of conspiracy against his person, and admitting 
them to the same familimty as before ; so great was his 
kindness and Hberality, that when some of his friends 
blamed him for never denying any request, he replied, that 
* no one should depart sad from the presence of the emf 
peror.* He was so much beloved for this singular gracious- 
ness, and so severe was the public grief for his death, that 
all lamented him as if each had lost a private friend. He 
expired at a distance from Eome, and tiie senate receiving 
the intelligence late in the evening thronged into the senate- 
house and paid such a tribute of praise and acknowledgment 
to the memory of the deceased emperor, as they had never 
offered to him when he was alive and among them." 

' Eutrop. vii. 13. ' Ibid. viL 14. 



iLD« S%] X>OMITIAN. — 1!BAJAK. SI 

Pomitian, the brother of Titus, reigned fifteen years and 
five months. Next to Nero^ he was the most cruel perse- 
cutor of the Christians. Hateful to all, particularly to the 
senate, he brought about his own destruction'. 

Nerva held ti^e empire of the world little more than a 
year. 

Trajan reigned nineteen years and a half; governing 
Britain, as well as the other provinces, with singular vigour, 
and extending the empire, which since the time of Augustus 
had rather been defended than enlarged. He is the prince 
-who for justice' sake plucked out one of his own eyes and 
one of his son's ; and whom St. Gregoiy does not leave in hell. 
.Those who read himwiU understand how perfect was the 
character of the man whom, though a heathen, he would not 
consign to condemnation. Suetonius thus eulogizes him : 
" Trajan, a prince highly accomplished and of exemplary 
courage, conquered Daciaand the country about the Danube, 
together with Armenia, which the Parthuuis had seized. He 
gave a king to the Albanians, and ^tdmitted to his alliance 
ihe kings of the Ibeii, the Sauromati of the Bosphorans, 
the Arabs, the Osroenians, and the Colchians. He sub- 
dued and took possession of the countries of the Oordueni 
and the Marchamedians, with Antemusium, a great pro- 
vince of Persis, Seleucia and Ctesiphon, Babylon and the 
Messeni. He extended his frontier to the borders of India 
and the Bed Sea, forming three provinces, Armenia, Assyria, 
and Mesopotamia, with tiie nations who border on Madena. 
Afterwards, he reduced Arabia to the condition of a pro- 
vince, and fitted out a fleet on the Bed Sea by means of 
which he ravaged the coasts of India. But his military 
glory was excelled by his humanity and moderation ; bring- 
ing himself to the level of all, both at Bome and in the 
provinces^ and visiting familiarly his fdends^ and the sick. 
He mingled with them on festive occasions, and sat with 
them, in the same chariots. No senator received injury 
£rom him, and though he was liberal to all, his revenue was 



' Our author does not notice the afiEairs of Britain during the reigns of 
Vespasian, Titus, and Domitian, in which its complete subjugation wacf 
effiKted under Julius AgricoU, the greatest and best of the Roman generals 
in Britain, and who Qifly be considered the founder of Qiitisk cinlisation. 



39 HEHBX 07 HDHZESSDON. [BOOK 1. 

flogoMBited bj I1& is^ustke. He eoonfened xkhes Aid 
hoikourB cm thoae mth whom he was bat sh^dy fteqnamtBd. 
He embeUifihed the -wttole empire with paJblie buiidiiigs, 
conceding many privikges to the numuipalities ; doin^ 
nothing that was not gei^e and kmd, msoamch that donng 
his whole reign only a single senator was condemned, aad 
that one by the senate xtadf ^ wxtfaomt the knowitdge of 
Trajan. Th«a tbsooghoat the whole woiid he w»s tiJMi le- 
presentetire of the J>eityi and tiiere was no hcmiage which 
he did nsot mteait, whethar ahre or dead. Anxng oflier 
Bttjrings whieh aore attributed t& him, tibe finllowing ia lo- 
madcable. When his Mends objected to hisi, thst he 
carried his complaisance to his subjects too ftr, he repikd, 
that ^ he wished soit^ treat priyatB indiividuais, as empennv 
as he himself^ if in. a pchato station^ would wish emfieEraBs 
to treat him.' He was the only oiM who wk buried within 
the city wails» hss hfme^ being coliieieted ia s goiden wm^ 
which was depoaxtcd in the loinim he buiiir under & cofamn 
14Q feet in hd^ht His memoiy is still cheBlsbed, so that 
even in our age the phrase df the acclatnationa, with which 
the emperors aare haHed in the sioaatte is^ tiutt they he ^ forts- 
nats as Augustus, wocthy as Tn^onl ' " 

Hadrian ruled tiie wodd twenty-one years. He reduced & 
firesh rebdllon of the Jews, and having rebuilt Jerasakoar» 
withhekL from thoEi peEmisBic&L to visit it This ia his 
duuraeter^ : " He was. a prince of great moderatiop, and 
maintamed pea^e during hk entire reign. Once onily he 
engaged in war, and then by one of his generals. He made 
a pxof^ees through the whole circuit of the Boman world. 
The edsfkses he bulk were numeroius. He was very elofusxt 
in Latin, and kasned in Gredc" 

Antomnus Pius held the empire of the W(^d twenty 
three years and a> haif^: "An upri^^ and. exemplary 
prince, he may be esampared to Niuna Pomp^ni^ as Trs^an 
hkencd to Bomuhsr. Severe to none^ gmeieus to> all, he 
wielded his military power wkh modmrntion, defanding 
rather than extending the provinces. He sought out men 
of the greatest rectitude for the administration of affairs, 
holding the goodin honour, recoiling without any bitterness 

ti.& ^Ibid.ini.4. 



AJx iii.] • ifiaQSKr-dimEixBL n 



firoB liie evil. He wma aa zopeeUd bjr Mb^b ai biB 
alliance, that they submitted th^ir (pauA t* haB, and 
aeeepfted lus azfaitaationL MumficwMfc to faia fiiands, he jet 
left the tEBBBBiyridL SBs cksBcncj guned Ihbi llie nr* 
BsnedE FiiUL" 

Mttcens Airtmrinnfi Yeras\ ytkSx has farotiber Jbodas 
Lociixs OonmioflbB, reined j(Mntl^3UDeleen yeam and two 
months. The cmpre iuidbcen hAeito gavtam ed hy t^ma^ 
mooMreh. A £«rthiaB war aw oondaciad vkk ftteiiable 
-raloiEr and good fortime. Dmapg fSuar wagn, Bc iUheiiua 
being the pon^ vko goremad the Raman CSurcli, Laeiua 
the Biiti^ king mpimd him hy ktter to tiioa neasiiraa 
fiur hk ttiv ei ak »B to Chrig tia a uiy, His emhiMj nas 8a& 
ccs8fel» and the Bntona igtemed Ac Mtfc Agy liOMi tw ^ m- 
violate and imdistaihfld,, vtft the time of Biafifttan A 
pancBgyzie of Anioiimqs Yecns fboia the BeeBBihifltej': 
^ After ihe death of Antonans his consoctfroBi qyopiGuy, he 
n9]QeiB«daobBBperac;idikfa]^]Bioim. HeneTer eiMmged 
Gtsmn^^teoaace atbear fzom joy or somnr. £mhxied with the 
Stoie phOMK^lgr, of the fforeet aDacalSraiid the hii^beat er«> 
ditioii,hewas pBofbuiidly Tcned hodiia Gveekimd latitk 
litecaluse: never dated, ho wes covteoiis to afl; hislibe- 
in^tty was pwomfi, and his admiiaBtnitiea of iiie {nrof iiieaa 
mSUk and bfwifgnanfc. He fou^ saoeeiaiidiy afsaixat ^le 
Gennana; and waged the Mactwannie war agaoBst the 
I^oedesy the Yaadala, the fienifialagas, die BoebBs^ and the 
whcde hacberifflOD.: na other audi fiKorth wu^ to eqoai the 
PonieriezBearded. The hero cftfajegicat conflict tmnnfdwwl 
as cosifnecoc, wilh his seit Commodbs. The tnennfy beb^g 
esJiaus^ed* he was eooipelled to se& tiie bnpenai iBgaibi^ 
whieh he afterwards redeemed fsem. those who were wShng 
to reatote» tahiag zko mnfafsige at Hubs who chose to istaiBi, 
what they had poxcfaaaed. He alkrwed ilheftiioos men to 
63diibii£ ihe like spkadoer, and ta< be serred with aoniter 
eesenoBy in their eotortainineotB, as MEBseif. TSnenia^Bi- 
ficence of the games he celebrated in honour of his 'neh»> 

^ TiKre if Mne eoafuuoii xft th* nmet of tkaw cnyerocB^ whwh Umtj 
of Hnatkigdom borrowa from Bede» Antonmai tiia philawpher was ah* 
eaBed Mamu Anrellus. His asaodate in tbe empire was named Ladiu 
Veruf. 

' HUt. MiMell. X. 



S4 HEMBX OI" aUKTINODON. ; [BOOK X- 

ries was such that a hundred lions xire said to have been 
exhibited at one tima" 

Oommodus, son of the last-named Oommodus, wets em^ 
peror during thirteen years. He was fortunate in war 
against the Germans ; and having caused the head of the 
Colossus to be removed, hie replaced it by one taken from his 
own statue, ^lius Pertinax having reigned six months^ 
was assassinated in his t)wn palace by Julum a lawyer. 

Severus Pertinax having put to death Julian the lawyer, 
reigned seventeen years. • An AMcan by birth from Lepti, 
a town of Tripoli, he was of a savage <Usposition and pro*- 
yoked by continual wars, but he ruled the state by vigorous 
eflforts fortunately. Victorious in the civil wars, whidi were 
very harassing, and Didius Albinus, who had proclaimed him* 
sell' Csesarat Lyons, in Gaul, being slain, he passed into the 
British Islands. There, after many £erce batUes, he resolved 
on dividing the part of the island he had recovered from 
that held by the unconquered tribes, not, as some consider, by 
a wall, but by a rampart. For a wall is built with stones, but 
a rampart for defence of a fortified camp is constructed of 
turfs, which, being cut from the soil, are built up like a wall; 
having in front a trench from which the turfs are raised^ 
and in which stakes of stout wood are planted. Severus 
thus made a deep trench with a very strong rampart, fortified 
besides with frequent towers, firom one sea to the other. 
He afterwards fell sick and died at York. He left two sons, 
Bassianus and Geta, of whom Geta was adjudged a public 
enemy, and died. Bassianus becoming emperor assumed 
the surname of Antoninus. Eutropius thus eulogizes Se* 
verus^: **He was engaged in various and successfiil wars ; 
^conquering the Parthians, the Arabs, and the Azabenians, 
whence he was sumamed Parthicus, Arabicus, Azabenicus* 
He restored the honour of the Boman name throughout 
the world ; but he was illustrious also for civil pursuits, and 
was called Divus from his learning and cultivation of philo^ 
fiophy." 

Antoninus Oaracalla, the son of Severus, held the empire 
iseven years. Macrinus, having reigned one year at Arche- 
lais, was slain, with his son, in a military tumult Marcus 

* Satrop. Yiii. 9. 



A»I>» 219.] ELAQABALUS,— K3UIUDIUS H. S5 

Amelius Antoninus^ was empetor fotir yean; Aureliiid 
Alexander^ thirteen. The latter was unifonnly dutiful to 
2us mother Mammea, and on that account was universally 
esteemed. '* In the war which he carried on against the 
Persians^ he conquered with glory their king Xerxes. He 
severely regulated the military discipline, cashiering enture 
legions which were insubordmate. At Eome he was very 
popular. He was slain in a militaiy tumult in Gaul." ^ 

Maximin the First reigned three years, and gained a 
victoiy over the Germans ; Gordian, who conquered the Per- 
sians, reigned five. At this time Origen flourished, who wrote 
£ve thousand books, as Jerom relates. Phihp, and his son 
Philip, reigned seven years. He was the first Christian 
^emperor. In the third year of his reign, a thousand years 
firom the building of Home were completed, and this most 
migust of all preceding eras was celebrated by the Christian 
emperor with magnificent games. *' The temper of Philip 
;the youngs was so severe, that he was never provoked to 
merriment, and he turned his face away from his own £either 
when he indulged in laughter. He continually resisted 
vice, and struggled in the upward path of virtue."^ Decius 
reigned one year and three months. He persecuted the 
dhristians from hatred to the two Philips, father and son, 
whom he had slain. Gallus, with Yolucianus his son, 
reigned two years and four months. Valerian, with his son 
GsIUenus, reigned fifteen years. Having raised a persecu- 
tion against the Christians, he was soon afterwards taken 
j[>ri8oner by the Persian king, and, being deprived of sight, 
wore out the rest of his days a wretched captive. 

Claudius the Second reigned one year and nine months. 
He subjugated the Goths who had devastated Ulyrium and 
Macedonia for fifteen years ; for which a shield of gold was 
dedicated to him in the senate-house, and a golden statue in 
the Capitol. Aurelian reigned five years and six months. 
He being a persecutor of the Christians, a thunderbolt fell 
near him, to the great horror of the bystanders, and shortly 
afterwards he was slain by the soldiers. The eulogy of 
Aurelian from the Acts of Bemarkable Mm^: '*As the 

> Known as Elagalnliu. ' Alexander Sereras. ' Eatrop. viii. 18. 
« AuieL Victor. » Ibid. 



M BsaoBi 09 mnmmiaomr [book t. 

ymxAA -WBS sobdaed hj Akssnder in tbirteext, by Cwweet 
m fomte&a. jeeBts, Amc^kn zestored peace to the tmir^se 1^ 
thirtfiesL battks. He &rst of tlie Bomuos assmned tb» 
diadem «Bd robes sdomed with gold and jewels. Firm in 
eorrectbig militaEy ikence and di8SoiiEfe«3«ss ci manners; 
his tcanfier was somewhat morose and han^ity, and he was 
habitoaMy crueL'' Tacitus rdgned m montbus, amd, being 
killed at Pontas^ was sacceeded hy Floiian, whd three mcrnHia 
afterwards was shun at Taisus. I^bos, wbo was €3ii|ieror 
six years and four months, completdy lii>erated Craul from 
the hostile barbaEians who infested it '' He was a pvmee 
illnstrions: for his acthitf, vigour, and jnstio&; seareelf 
equal to Aixrdian in gtoiy, but exceUinghim in ei^ virtoea. 
Having bud tbe foimidations of peace by htinmierable waia^ 
he said that sbortiy these would be no need of soldiears."^ 
Cams^ who reigmed two yeaars, hafing been ^ietorioas ofer 
the Flersktns, Mi near the river Tigris; 

Bioeletian was jokit emperor i^ Hercolius MazinnsB 
for twenty yeaos. In their fame a eertain Canni^s, a aaaaa 
of low origin, bat hold in coanad and action, had tiie ssper- 
intendeuce of the shores of the oeean which wore infested 
by the franks and Saxons. But his adminktration was 
more to the loss t^ian the adrantage of the slate ; lor he 
applied the pbmder taken from the pinrtes to his own pri- 
vate use, in^sead of restonng it to the owners, and he was 
snapeeted oi aik)wiog the mnemy of^Mnrtcmities oi saakmg 
incursions by^ designed negligence. His exeestkm ior 
these deiinqaeneies haymg he&k ovdeied by Maxumeia» 
Carausius seized Britain, assoming tiie pmpLe, and masn- 
tained his power to seven yeaarswitil great det»mzEiftdon 
and eooragek At l^igth, he was t^tam by Allectaa^ one of 
bis foUow^s^ who, tism|»ng the government, retuned it to 
three yean, until the prefect Aselepiodotas vanquished Mm 
in bis palace,, and recov^ed Biitain afler a revolt of ten 
yeanL in coosequenee of the wars;, the ^mperiHS asso^ 
eiated with ^emsehres Constontiw; in the West, smd Gaie^ 
rias Masamas in the East. In their time a most erwel pcs^ 
seeutLon of the Christians raged thnmghont thewoi^. in 
the course of it St Alban devoted himself a sacrifice to 

' Eutrop. iz. 11. 



4U>. d05-] BAJWt 4XB«]r.— DiOGUlLni. if 

God; d i^om PortaDcte, ia fas poeniin psakie of Tir- 
gmity, ihna speaks : — 

" ¥be nmted Albsa frnkiid BHUun bean.* 

He was a citizen of Yerulam, who gave shelter to a pxiest 
escaping firom the Pagans, and ha;dng been converted hj him 
whil^ he lay concealed, offered himself in his stead when 
the persecutors came to search the h4>use. Haying been 
subjected to torture^ Alban was led out to be beheaded. 
Then the river was dried up, at the prajer of the saint» 
because the concourse was too great for Ihe people to cross 
the bridge. "When the executioner, among otibiers,. witnessed 
this, he threw himself at his feet, believing, and was 
martyred with him. A fountain also bmsl forth at his 
martyrdom,^ which was afterwards dried up. M(»reover, tbe 
eyes of the headsman rolled on the ground with the head 
of the saint. St. Alban was martyred near Yerukoir i e, 
Wirlamcester or Wadlingcester, where afterwards a mag- 
nificent church, with a noble abb^,. were erected; and to 
this day the sid^ are cured and miracka wrought. There 
suffered during the same persecuti<m twocitizensof CaerLeon» 
Aaron and Julius^ with a multitude of both sexes who bore 
witness to Almighty God when torn hmb from limb, and 
exposed to unheard-of tortures. Sa violent was the pexse^ 
cution, that in the course of one month, 17,000 martyrs 
suffered far Chxist*s sake. But when DioeKetian had laid 
aside the purple at Nicomedia, and Maxhnian at Milan, in 
the twentieth, year of their reign, the persecution was 
abated for a time. Arrius thus writes- of Diocletian: 
*' He was shrewd, but crafty^ and of & sagacious^ though 
subtle spirit; disposed, withal, to vent his own ill humouxs 
in malice towards other people. Still he was a moat in- 
dxtstrious and politic prince, thougjh„ contrary to the free 
habits of the Eomans» he required them to adore him, 
whereas his predecessors had onl^ been saluted. He wore 
jewels on his robes and sandals, md yet with unprecedented 
self-denial, he abdicated his lofty raxuL far a private station. 
There occurred in his case,whathadzKever before beenknown 
smce the existence of man, that a private individmd received 
divine honours. His coadjutor, Maximlan, was a prince of 
a most cruel disposition and a mast forbidding aspect."^ 

^ Batrop. iz. 1^ 



88 .HENBT OF HUKTINGDON* [boOKT fr 

Cbnstahtius, who, under the late emperord, ruled Gaul, 
Britain^ and Spam, for fifteen years, eontmued his reign for 
one year afterwards over the whole emph^ in the West, 
Maximin heing emperor in the East. He founded Cou- 
tances in that part of Gaul which is now called Normandy, 
and received in marriage the daughter of the British king 
of Colchester, whose name was Hoel or Helen, our Saint 
Helena, by whom he had Constantino the Great. Con- 
stantius, a great and accomplished prince, died at York. 
** He was studious to advance the prosperity of the pro- 
vinces and of private individuals ; he was unwilling to avail 
himself of the power of taxing them severely, saying that 
the public weallh was better in individual hands than locked 
up in a single coflfer. His own expenses were moderate, 
his temper gentle. He was not only beloved, but venerated, 
by the Gauls."* 

Constantino, who reigned thirty years and ten months, 
was the flower of Britain ; for he was British both by birth 
and coimtry ; and Britain never produced his equal, before 
or afterwards. He led an army firom Britain and Gaul into 
Italy, for Moximian had proclaimed Maximin his son 
Augustus at Kome. When marching against him, being 
yet a heathen, he beheld an angel of God exhibiting to him 
the sign of the cross, and calling upon him to have fedth in 
the Crucified, and he believed instantly, and God overwhelmed 
Maxentius in the river's flood. Constantine then, having 
twice overcome Maximian in battle, became sole emperor of 
the world, and having been, as we find it written, cleansed 
from his leprosy by St. Sylvester in the water of baptism, 
he founded at Bome, on the spot where he was baptized, the 
Basilica of John the Baptist, which is called the Constantine 
church. He also founded the basilica of St. Peter and St. Paul, 
on the site of the temple of Apollo, surrounding their bodies 
with a tomb of brass five feet in breadth. He also founded 
a basilica in the Sosorian Palace, which is named Jerusalem, 
where he deposited a piece of the wood of the cross. He 
-also dedicated a basilica to St. Laurence, on the land of 
Veranus, near the Tiburtine Eoad ; and another, on the 
Lavican Way, to Peter and Marcellus, martyrs ; where he 

^ Bnttop. X* u 



A.D. 307.] G0N8TA1}TINE.^-JULIAN. 20 

fixed the mausoleum of his mother, with a sarcophagus of 
red marble. He also founded a church at Ostia, near the 
Boman gate ; with one at Albano, dedicated to St. John 
Baptist; and another in the city of Naples, Constantino, 
founded a city, called after his own name, in Thrace, which 
he made the seat of the imperial power and the capital of 
the East*. Kebuilding the city of Deprana in Bithynia, in 
honour ^f the martyr Lucian, who was there buried, he 
changed its name to Helenopolis, in memoiy of his motiier. 
Tradition says that Helen, the illustrious daughter of 
Britain, surrounded London with the wall which is still 
standing, and fortified Colchester also with walls. But more 
especially she rebuilt Jerusalem, adorning it with many 
basilica purified firom idols. The praises of Constantino^ ; 
" Constantino may be compared to the best princes of the first 
i^e of the empire ; to the ordinary ones of the last. His 
natural endowments both of mind and body were brilliant 
Eaised to the highest pitch of military glory and fortune, he 
devoted himself assiduously to the ai-ts of peace and liberal 
studies. He was distinguished for cultivating a sincere re- 
gard for his friends; but the pride of his great prosperity 
tended in some degree to diminish that amiable disposition.'* 
Constantius, with whom were associated his brothers Con- 
stantine and Constans, reigned twenty-four years and five 
months. The Arian heresy, patronized by Constantius, 
caused many and great troubles to the Catholics. 

Julian, the Apostate, who reigned two years and eight 
months, justly perished, as the enemy of God, in fighting 
with the barbarians. .His eulogy by Paulus*: "He re- 
sembled Marcus Antoninus, who was die object of his emula- 
tion. His learning was profoimd and extensive, his memoiy 
powerful and comprehensive, his eloquence prompt and 
fertile, such as become a philosopher. Courteous to all, he 
was covetous of glory to a degree that firequently overpowered 
his natural equanimity." Jovian, an excellent and pious 
emperor, reined only eight months; a premature death 
cutting short his early promise. Valentinian, with his 
brother Valens, possessed the imperial authority only two 

1 Constantinople^ the ancient Bjzantiom. 
' Batrop. z. i ' Hist MiMell. 



90 HSKBT t» HtJ3ITXSiefiOK. £bOOK T.' 

jaaraL His dianeter is thus described in ^be history of 
BftolTis : " Eesembling Axireliax], his aspeet k^s comely, his 
\vst shrewd, his judgment sooiid ; he was aastere, impetoous, 
a great enemy tOTice, ei^ecially to avacriee. He was sMlM 
in painting beaiztifttlly, in designing new implements of art, 
and in modeUing stBtaes both in wax and in plaster. His 
discourse was p(^3shed, sagacious, and astate.*' 

Val^iB, with his brotiiers 6rxatian aod Yalentiman, sons 
of his brodier jast named, rdgned iofor years. Having 
been baptized by the Arians, he persecuted the Christians, 
and issued a decree that monks should ^erre as soldiers, 
said, those who refased fihocdd be scourged to dealh. In 
thisTeign the nadon of the Huns issued suddenly from 
their mountain fastnesses, and iJtirew themselves on iAie 
€k>di8, roudng azkd exp^ling them from their ancient seats. 
13ie Goths, who fled acitss Ihe Danube, were received by 
Yakais, without bdng disarmed; but afterwards a &mine, 
oecadfcmed by the avaiiee of Maximus, the ^vemor, havii^ 
driven tikem to rebellion, they defeated the acrmy of Valens, 
and cv^eanran all Hiraee witii slaughter, fire, and rapine. 
Gratian continued for six years, fiom a.v, 377, the reign, 
which he had commenced jointly with his uncle Yaiens. 
Drivsen by necessity in die troubled and well-nigh ruined 
state of the Tepublic, he invested with the purple, at Sermia, 
Theodosius, a Spazdard, allotting to him Thrace and the 
East for his ^as?e of the empire. Theodosius, in several 
campaigns, reduced the gi^eat Scythian nations, the Alani, 
the Huns, and the Goths. Meanwhile, Maximus, who was 
of British origin, an active and meritorious ofl&cer, except 
that he broke his oa4h of allegiance and declared himself 
emperor in Britain, passed into Gaul, and by a sudden 
attack destroyed Gratian, Ihe Augustus, and then expelled 
from Italy his brother Valentinian, also Augustus, who took 
refiige with Theodosius in the East The eulogy of 
Gratian^ : " He was not wanting in erudition, wrote veraes, 
and discoursed elegantly, devoting his days and nights to 
apply the keen edge of rhetorical disquisition to questions 
of the deepest interest Sparing of iood and sleep, he con- 
trolled his passions." 

^ Hist Miscell. 



d7d.] !l3IBCnD08I»B. Si 

TheodosidS, after the deatth of GratiaD, mgned eLevett 
jears jointly mth Yalentinian, whom he remstated, having 
afaot up wiaan isbe ivsidls of Aqaiiffla, and alam, dke tyrant 
fgyi^««Mg ^Qie BxiliDiis who ^silowed Maumns remaan. to 
dm day in Assnaacs^ GbuL, to the great loss of Britain: 
soliiat the AnBodeans me nov called Brotons. The praise 
of l^eodoBius : ** His «iefenee aod extenaiiHi of the empire 
nndefed Mm MiffitrioiiSL lie xesemhlad Tajan, from 
whom he usas desc^ided, bodi in di^Kwitiom and person, as 
me haom both iroai ancient wiitzngs and portraits. H<e -was 
like him m being tali in stiiuie, in the shape of his limbs, 
■ad the ool(nir of his hair; hot his eyes were ncft so full, 
but perhaps there was not so mudi gniee aad gaiety in his 
countenance, nor so much dignity in his motions. But in 
disposition, so great was the resemblance, ttat there is 
nothing which the old writers say of Trajan which does not 
apply to Theodossas. Deeiaring that he only differed from 
other men in the accidents of his rank, he was pitiful to the 
imfortonate, i^espectlol to all, having the highest regard for 
Ab good. He loved men of ingenuous depositions, and 
jadmmd iinen of kammg, being liberal in his bounty to 
those most worthy of it. The ^Eralts which stained the 
«ixKmeter of Trajan, excessive ^conviviality and lust of 
-victory, he so detested, that he nev«r engi^ed m war unless 
compelled, and made an edict prohibiting lascivious exhibi- 
tions and franale daooers at entertainments. He was bat 
XEMMLeiatdy learned, but had a iaige share of common sense, 
and delisted in becoming acquainted with the acts of his 
predecessors, execrating "fiie perfidy and the heardessness 
of tiiose who were haughty tyi«ntB ; for he was easily moved 
to an^r fey unworthy anions, though quickly appeased. He 
had &e rare moit of meting restitution in many instances 
from his own fortune of the wealth which in the course of 
years tyrannical emperors had wrung from private individuals. 
He regarded his uncle in the light oi a fether ; his nephews 
and cousins as sons. He invited to his table men of worth 
and eminence, engaging them in familiar conversation, in 
which sense was seasoned with an agreeable hilarity. A 
kind father and a loving husband, he preserved his health 
ky an abstemious diet and moderate exe«;ise. Thus kind 



33 HENRY OF HUNTINGDON. [BQOK I4 

aod gende to man, his devotion to God was still more 
exemplary."^ 

Arcadius, the son of Theodosius, reigned thirteen years 
jointly with his brother Honorius. During their reign, the 
Goths invaded Italy, the Vandals and Alaric Gaul< Then 
also Pelagius in Britain ^ and Julian in Campania, planted 
widely the seeds of that heresy which Saint Augustine and 
many other orthodox fathers attacked with innumerable 
authorities from Catholic writers, without succeeding in 
correcting their folly« Indeed their assurance seemed 
rather to be augmented by Ihe controversy, than to be 
abated by listening to the truth. Whence the rhetorician 
Prosper poetically says :— i 

" InsidionB, with the serpent's hellish spite, 
A scribbler 'gainst Augustine dar*d to write ; 
Sure he was fed on Britain's sea-girt plains. 
Or else Gampanian plenty swell'd his veins." 

Honoiius reigned fifteen years with Theodosius the 
younger, son of his brother Arcadius. In whose times, 
when the Alani, the Suevi, and the Vandals desolated all 
Gaul, Gratian was elevated to the provincial sovereignty 
of Britain, but was speedily killed. In his stead was elected 
Constantine, a man taken from the lowest ranks of the 
army, and having no other merit than the promise of his 
name. Passing into Gaul to invade the empire, he did 
great mischief to the affairs of the state by suffering himself 
to be deluded by the Gauls into pretended treaties, till at 
last, under the orders of Honorius, the Count Constantine 
shut him up in the city of Aries, seized and put him to 
death. His son also, Constans, whom, from having been a 
monk, he had proclaimed Csesar, was by the Count Geron- 
tius dispatched at Yienne. In these times also, A.n.G. 1164, 
Alaric, King of the Goths, besieged and took Eome, and 
having plundered the city and burned part of it, evacuated 
it after six days. This happened about 470 years after 

> Hist Miscell. 

' Pelagius was of British extraction, being a native of Wales. Hif 
patronymic name seems to have been Morgan, in Welsh tea-bom, Pelagiui 
(IliXiyMf) signifying the same in Greek. 



A.T). 412-421.] INCURSIOKS OF PICTS ANJ) SCOTS. 33 

Julius Csesar subdued * Britain. The Romans had settled 
its southern region within the wall built by Severus, as the 
remains of their cities, bridges, watch-towers, and roads, 
testify to this day. They also claimed the dominion of the 
parts of Britain beyond the wall, and the neighboiu"ing 
islands. The Eoman forces being thus withdrawn from 
Britain, with the flower of her youth, who principally 
followed the tyrant Maxiipus, the rest being exhausted by 
the expedition of Constantine just before named, the pro- 
vince lay open to the incursions of those barbarous tribes 
the Scots and Picts. It was separated from them by two 
friths, or arms of the sea, one entering from the east, the 
other from the west, which approach each other very nearly 
without forming a junction. About the middle of the 
eastern frith lies the city of Guidi ; the western frith has 
on its further, i. e, its right shore, the city called Alcluith*, 
which in their language signifies the rock Cluith, and near 
it is a river of the same name^. Terrified by the inroads 
of these fierce tribes, the Britons sent messengers to Eome 
bearing letters imploring assistance. One legion was 
marched to their aid, which, after slaughtering vast numbers 
of the enemy, drove the rest beyond tiie border, and retired 
in great triumph. It was recommended to the Britons to 
build a wall of stone on the rampart of Severus, so that they 
might be defended by it where the protection of the friths 
failed. But as they constructed it with turf instead of stone, 
it. answered no good purpose. The remains of this wall, 
which was of great height as weU as breadth, may be seen 
at the present time. It commences about two miles from 
a place called Peneltune^, and terminates westward near the 
city of Alcluith. As soon as the enemy heard that the 
Bomans were withdrawn, they embarked in boats and made 
a still more fierce irruption. Again the Eomans returned 

* Henry of Huntingdon, who is following Bede, changes the expression 
of his author^ which runs, "after Julius Caesar entered the island." Bede 
adds, " from this time the Bomans ceased to rule in Britain.'' 

* Alcluith is now Dumbarton. The situation of Guidi is not exactly 
known; but from the description it must be somewhere about Leith or 
Queensferry. 

» The Clyde. 

* Near Abercom (Abeicumig), a Tillage on the south bank of the Frith of 
Perth, where formerly was a monastery. 

D 



84 HENBT OF HDHIDMiDOII. [BOOK Z. 

at the prayer of ihe Britons, and drove the barbuians with 
great slaughter over the frith. They also aided ihe Britons 
in constructing Ihe wall of stone, not as be£are di tucf, and 
carrying it from one sea to the other. Tl^y also built at 
intervals on the southern shore watdi-towers, from which 
the approach of the enemy might be discerned. Then 
they bid £Eurewell to their alhes, giving them to understand 
that they should return no more, £ox SoBy could not exhaust 
themselves in such distant expeditions. When the Boman 
fi>rce8 were thus withdrawn, the ^^emy agam flew to arms, 
and possessed themselves of all the islimd as far as the 
wall. Nor was it long hefc^e they laid that in juins, as weH 
as the nei^bouring towns. Th^ soon began to devastate 
the country within the wall, so that the Britons themselves 
were driven by &mine to resort to thieving and plunder^ 
and nothing was Left in the whole countiy for the siustenaQoe 
of life, but what ytm procured by hmadang. The eology dT 
Honorius : " In his n^ral and rehgiaiis character he greatly 
resembled his father Theodositts, and, although in his times 
there were many wars, holda foreign aiad civil, Ihey oocsr 
sioned a very small •e^km.on of blood." 

Theodosius XL, dso called the Younger, lost the dcK 
minion of Britain. fieheUL, however, the eaqnire of the Bo- 
mans 28 years. In the twen^-third year of his reign, .^tins^ 
an illustrious ma^ was <}onsul together with fiymmadhus. 
To him the remnant of the Bzitans tcansmitted an epostle; 
in the sequel of which (addressed ^ to .^tkus, Oonaol for 
the third time") they thus unfold iheir lamentable Gstoiy: 
*' The barbarians drive us to the sea, the sea throws us back 
to the barbarians; between both we have tibe choioe of 
death in two shapes, either to be massacred or drowned/' 
But their prav^rs wero of no avail; .ZBtius oould affozA 
Ihem no i^elie^ as he was at thos time embarrassed by 
serious wars with Bledda and Attila, kings of the Hims. 
And although the year afterwards Bledda, -the brother of 
Attila, fell into an ambush and was slain, Attila was him- 
self so formidable an enemy to the x-epubHc that he laid 
waste nearly the whole of Europe, overthrowing everywhero 
cities and castles. At the same time a severe famine jHPe- 
vailed at Constantinople, followed by a pestilence, and 
great part of the city walls, with 5B towers, fell down. So 



JLJ>. 4JI1-448.] TH£ BdCniKS JlfiKT S> imKMSELYES. M 

ako in maaj of tiie mined cities f«mk>e sad a fieetifeKHit 
AtmoEqplifiTO fileBivoyed ihousandfi l^oiib of men and of bfisste. 
Xhe faaaine fifieeted Biitaia, as well as tibbe xast of tiie {pro- 
vinces, so ihftt tbe Bri^ionB, pepeeivlBg ibat all human aid 
£Bal0d, mToked Ihe divine. Tlten &e Almighty, haviag 
tried them, had icomipasskm cm ihem, giving ^ta-engih to 
Iheir anus land pcdstt io their swcnds. Thej horsl; tbeie- 
fiare, from iheir &stnesBes in ihe moontmns and the woodiE^ 
and, mshittg lon the Scots aiid Pkta, routed and slew them 
in e^^eiy opiaacter; while the enemy's assaulte were sm loatg/Bt 
what ihe^ had been, toid tibeir arms wei^e IfeehLe, exposed to 
those of Ihe JBiiioiis. Ihus their heart &jled them, their 
Btres^ wm hrok^ and they fled in their tocror, giraat 
juamhexs heing slaughtered. The Bcots, mih ^lansa, re- 
traced to IreLand; ^e Hcts^ Sieeking refuge in the re- 
motest parts of the island, ^b^ forst and for ever diseoo- 
timied thek inaroads. Thus the Lord gave victoiy to his 
peopk, and oonloonded their eaesaaea. About ihxs time, 
t. e, in the eighth year of Theodosaus; PaUadnis was seot 
by Pope CelestiBe to the Scots, as their ikst l»sbop. 
Theodosius also iket &e doimflMoa of Graul, £^ain, and 
Africa, which the Vandals, the Aims, aad tiawe <G>oths laid 
waste all lands with fire and sword. In the third year of 
the siege of Hippo by the fierce Genseric, Augustine, 
its bishop, departing in the Lord, was spared the grief of 
witnessing its fall. 

After the victory of the Britons had restored peace, they 
were blessed with an harvest of such extraordmaiy abun- 
dance as was in the memory of no prior times, so that as 
their triumph had restored order, this plenty relieved the 
famine; the Almighty making trial whether, when adver- 
sity had failed to correct them, prosperity would render 
them thankful. But excess was followed by every kind of 
wickedness, without respect of God; and so much did 
barbarism and malice and falsehood prevail, that whoever 
manifested a more gentle and truthful disposition was con- 
sidered the enemy of Britain, and became the common 
mark for hatred and persecution. Not only secular men, but 
the pastors of the Lord's flock, casting off his light and 
easy yoke, became the slaves of drunkenness, revenge, 
litigious contention, animosities, and every kind of wicked- 

n ^ 



86 HENRY OF HUNTINGDON. [BOOK I* 

ness. Then the anger of the Lord was moved, and He 
visited the corrupt race with a terrible plague, which in a 
short time carried off such great multitudes that those 
who survived scarcely sufl&ced to bmy the dead. But not 
even the sight of death, nor the fear of death, were suffi- 
cient to recall the survivors from the more fatal death of 
the soul into which their sins had plimged them. The 
righteous judgment of God was therefore openly shown 
in his determination to destroy the sinful nation ; and He 
stirred up against them the Scots and Picts, who were 
ready to avenge their fonner losses by still fiercer attacks. 
They rushed on the Britons, like wolves against lambs, 
driving them again into the fastnesses of the woods in 
which it was then' custom to take refuge. There they took 
counsel what was to be done, and in what quarter protec- 
tion was to be sought against these repeated irruptions of 
the northern tribes. It was agreed, therefore, by common 
consent, with the concurrence of their king Vortigem, that 
the nation of the Saxons should be invited to come to their 
aid from over the sea ; a coimsel disposed by divine Pro- 
vidence to the end that punishment should follow the wicked, 
83 the issue of events sufficiently proved. 



A.D. 449.] ARRIVAL OF THE SAXONS. 37 



BOOK II. 1 

In the former book we have treated of the forty-five emperors 
who reigned m Britain, as well as the rest of the world, of 
whom, if any now possess heavenly glory, it is because they 
are no longer in possession of earSily. Our discourse of 
them has indeed been meagre, but a longer narrative of 
their actions would have been wearisome, tedious, and 
disgusting. Let us rather reflect, from the contemplation 
of those for whose majesty and dominion the whole world 
barely sufficed, how worthless is all the glory and power 
and loftiness for which men toil and sweat and are frantic. 
If they desire glory (I speak after the manner of men), let 
them seek that which is true ; if fame, that which does not 
vanish ; if honour, that which will not fade : not that of 
the emperors we have spoken of, all whose glory is now an 
empty tale. That true glory and fame and honour will be 
ours, if we follow Him who alone is the Truth with joy 
and gladness, and if we rest our whole trust and hope in 
God, and not on the children of men, as the Britons did, 
who, rejecting Him, and having no fear of his great ma- 
jesty, sought for aid from Pagans, and obtained that which 
befitted them. 

For the nation of the Saxons or Angles, being invited by 
the aforesaid king, crossed over to Britain, in three long 
ships, in the year of grace 449*, when Martian and Vale- 
rian, who reigned seven years, were emperors, and in the 
twenty-fourth year after the foimdation of the kingdom of 

^ This Second Book of Henry of Huntingdon's History is principally 
founded on Bede, with the assistance occasionally of the Saxon Chronicle. 
It relates the arrival of the Saxons and Angles in Britain, and the establish- 
ment, teriatim, of the several kingdoms of the Heptarchy, the history of 
which it pursues to the year 685, when all the English kings and nationi 
2iad been converted to Christianity. 

* See Bede, book i c. 15. 



38' HENHT OP HUNTIWGDOIT. [bOOK tt^ 

the Franks, of whom Pharamond was the first king. The 
Saxons, therefore, were settled by the British king in the 
eastern part of the island, that thus they might fight for a 
coimtry which was to become their own, while in truth 
their object was to subjugate the whole. 

A battle was fought by the Saxons against the Scots and 
Picts, who had penetrated as fiuraa Stamford^, in the south 
of Lincolnshire, 40 miles fi:om the town of that name. 
Bttt 9S lire Nortin«nis fou^i4 ivitii dairts and spems?. while 
€i& Sflxona plied Insiily their battle*axes; and loiig swordsy 
the Pieta weie mmble to wiMiatand the wdght of their 
MLaet» and sa^ed thenofifilves by flight The Saxons gained 
file ^tOKy and sis spoils; tikteir countrymen zeceiving 
tkbngs oi idiidB, as weA aa of the fertili^ of the isks&d 
and difi eowardice of the Bkiions^ a larger fieet was imme- 
diatidy aent of^^^er with. a. greater body of armed m^n, whicli, 
viiea added to the fiiisit de^aushment, resdeared the army 
ianriDcibkL The new comers reeeiyed horn the Biitoiis an 
aHotowjad; e^ temtony on the teims that they shooM defend 
l^ arms the* peace and secuiirity (^ the eountry against their 
caenodes, while the Britons engaged to pay the- aiudliary 
iutce. The inimigraaats belonged to thisee of the moat power- 
fid ixationa of Crermaaiyy the Saxons, the Angles, and Jutes. 
From ihe Jutes sprung the pec^>le of Kettt and the Isle of 
Wi^it^ with th£0e ^o are still called Jutes in tha ponmnce 
of the West Sazons» opposite to the Isle of Wight From 
the SffiBcms^ that is,. &om the country wiuck is now dis- 
trngrashed as that of the Old Sasons, are descended the East 
Saxons, the South Saxons, and the West Saxona. From 
liie Anigies, that: is, tbe people of the eountiy et^d Aogle, 
which has remaoned a desert from that time to the presait, 
and is situated between the districts of the Jutes and the 
SoxoBis, ace desceaaded the East Angles, the Middle Ai^ 
^iasisv tbe MercianSs. all the raee of the NorthunLbrians^ 
that is, the tribes which settled to the north of the river 
Humber, with tile rest of tike English pec^Ie. Their prin- 
cipal chiefs are reported to have been two brothers, named 

' Tbis scemmt of Ike battle of Stamford, and tbe int Mtttemeiit of tiM 
Saxons in Britain, Henry of Huntingdon intiodncOT from •omo' other aatfifw 
ritj, now unknown, into his history, in which he genemlly ibUoiPfr Bade. 



ik.f>. 450] BAVAGBS OF THE BlXOVa. 811 

Hengist and Hoisa, who wero sons of Yictgils, who was 
samof Wicta, who was aon of Yectai, who was son of Woden» 
w6awas son of Frealof, who was son of Eredulf, who was 
son of Fin, it^o wa» son of Floewald, who was son of 
Jeta, who, they said, was son of God, that is, of some ixioL 
From this stock the Toyal race of many naiioiis derived its 
origin. Before long such swarms of the nations we have 
just mentioned spread themselves throughont the island, 
that the foreign population increased exceedingly, and be- 
gan to alarm the native inhabitants who had invited them 
over. A certain author says that King Yortigem, from 
sqpfprehension of their power, married the daughter of Hen- 
gist, a heathen ; others, that, as a climax to his wickedness, 
he married his own daughter, and had a son by her ; for 
which he was excommunicated by St Gennanus and the 
whole episcopal syaod^. 

The king Yortigem was called upon by his son-in-law and 
the whole array, who, Gt>d permitting, sought an occasion 
for quarrel, to furnish larger supplies ; and they threatened 
that, imless these were forthcoming, they would break the 
treaty, and ravage the whole island. Nor were they slow in 
canying Iheir treats into execution ; for they formed an 
alliance with the Picts, and having collected an immense 
army there remained no one able to resist them. So that 
the fire kindled by the hands of the Pagans executed 
the just judgment of God for the sins of the people, as 
tiiat formerly lighted by the Chaldfeons consumed the 
walls and buildings of Jerusalem. So here by the agency 
of the heathen conqueror, but by ^e disposition of the 
righteous Judge, tiiey ravaged the neighbouring cities and 
kmds, and the conflagration extended from the eastern to 
the western sea, there being none to oppose it, and spread 
ffwer almost the whole faae of the devoted idand. Pubhc 
and private buil<Hng6 were levelled to the ground; the 
priests were everywhere skin before the altars ; the prdates 
and the people, without respect of persons^ were destroyed 
with fire and sword ; nor were there any to bury those who 
were thus cruelly slaughtered. Some who were taken in 
the mountains were instantly butchered ; some, eishausted 

> See Neninns, ee. 87 and 89i . 



40 HENKY OP HUNTINGDON, [BOOK n, 

by famine, delivered themselves up to the enemy, willing 
to undergo perpetual slavery in return for food, if they 
escaped slaughter on the spot. Some, with grief, sought 
refuge beyond the sea; others, cleaving to their native 
country, prolonged a wretched existence among the moun- 
tains, woods, and inaccessible cliffs, in want of everything, 
and continually trembling for their lives, Meanwhilfs, the 
king Vortigem concealed himself in the forests and moun- 
tain fastnesses of the west of Britain, hated by all. It is 
reported S also, that when the king withdrew himself to 
avoid hearing the exhortations of St. Germanus, who fol- 
lowed him in his flight, fire from heaven struck the castle 
in which he was secluded, and the king, perishing in the 
ruins, was never more seen. 

When, however, the army of the Saxons, having entirely 
routed the natives, returned to their own territory, the Bri- 
tons, emerging from their hiding-places, began to take 
heart, and, assembling a great force, marched into Kent 
against Hengist and Horsa. They had for their leader at 
that time Ambrosius Aurelian, an able man, the only 
one of Koman extraction who had chanced to survive the 
late troubles, in which his parents, who had been invested 
with the name and the ensigns of royalty, both perished. 
Two sons of Vortigem, Gortimer and Catiger, acted as 
generals under him. Ambrosius himself led tibe first rank/ 
Gortimer the second, Catiger the third ; while Horsa and 
Hengist, though their troops were inferior in numbers, led 
them boldly against the enemy, dividing them into two bodies, 
of which each of the brothers commanded one. 

[a.d. 455.] The battle was fought at Aeillestreu^, in the 
seventh year after the arrival of ttie Saxons in Britain. At 
the first onset, Horsa charged the troops of Catiger with 
such fiiry that they were scattered like dust before the 
wind, and the king's son was dashed to the earth and slain. 
Meanwhile, his brother Gortimer, a most resolute soldier, 
throwing himself on the flank of Horsa's band, routed it, 
and, their brave leader being slain, compelled the sur- 

' See NenniuB. 

* Sax. Chron., ^gclestbrep, " a thorp, or Tillage, near Aylesfotd," in 
Kent — Ingram, See Nennius, c. 46, and Bede, book i. c. 16. 



A.D. 456.] VICTORY OF AMBB08IU8. . 41 

Yivors to retreat on the division of Hengist, which was en- 
gaged unbroken with the van of the British army com- 
manded by Ambrosius. The brunt of the battle now fell 
on Hengist, who, straitened by the skilful advance of Gor- 
timer, ^ough he made a long resistance and caused a 
great loss to the Britohs, at length, what he had never done 
before, fled. It is reported by some writers that Hengist 
subsequently fought three bat&es in the same year against 
the Britons, but could not make head against the proved 
valour of Gortimer and the superior number of his forces ; 
so that once he was driven into the Isle of Thanet and once 
to his ships, and dispatched messengers to recall the Saxons 
who had returned to their own country. 

The year following, when Leo was emperor, who reigned 
seventeen years, Gortimer, the flower of the youth of Britain, 
fell sick and died, and with him ended the victories and the 
hopes of his countrymen. Encouraged by his death, and 
strengthened by the recall of his auxiliaries, who had for a 
time left the island, Hengist, with his son Esc, prepared 
for war at Creganford^; while the Britons mustered foiur 
powerful bodies of men, imder four of theh* bravest chiefs^. 
But when the game of war commenced they were disheart- 
ened by the unusual superiority of the Saxons in number. 
Besides the newly-arrived were chosen troops, who dread- 
fully gashed the bodies of the Britons with their battle-axes 
and long swords ; nor was there any respite till they had 
cut down and slain all the four leaders, and the Britons 
fled in the greatest terror out of Thanet, as far as London. 
They never again appeared in arms in Kent, where Hen- 
gist and his son Esc thenceforth reigned, the kingdom of 
Kent dating from the eighth year after the arrival of the 
Angles. 

In those times [a.d. 429] Germanus, bishop of Auxerre, 
who was illustrious for his sanctity and miraculous powers, 
together with Lupus, bishop of Troyes, came into Britain 

* Crayford, the ford of the riyer Cray, near Bexley, in Kent. 

' The Saxon Chronicle says nothing of this division ; but states that fonr 
thousand Britons were slain. Henry of Huntingdon, who seems to have had 
before him some of the worst MSS. of the Saxon Chronicle, ingeniously 
perverts the text, but very naturally kills the four leaders of the four diyi- 
fions he has conjured up. — See Ingram,, Sax. Chron, 



4S5 * HENRT OP HinsTiNCrDoic. [booe n, 

to eztmgoisli the P^[i^iaH herespy. In eonfirmatioii of thdr 
arguments, to- convince the assembled people, he restored 
sa^t tf> the daeu^ter of a tribiHie, who had been, blind ten 
years ; and he also stopped the hwrnrng of a cottage wrapt 
in &ane, in which laj a sick mm, who was thus reseoed 
&om Hie conflagration. He placed' in the tomb of Bt. 
Alban the relies of sevexal odier martyrs, carrying away 
firom it a particle of dust s^l red with ^ Mood of ik& 
saint ,' on tiie seaae day, and at that place, ccoiTerting to the 
Eord a vast crowd of people. Ikfeanwhile, the Saxons and 
Hds haying nnited lixeir forces, made war upon the Bri- 
tons, who implored the md of the hotj- QenBaxni». The 
saint promised to be himself tj^ekr leader. Acting, tlifflre* 
fare, as general, he drew up the «my in a valley smrouBded 
by hills, posting It m the quarter at v^iich ^ en^eay was 
expected to approach ^ And now the sooots amionnced 
that thebr savage ^es w«rB in sight Immediately Hhe holy 
man, raising t£e standard aloft, exhorted them all to repeat 
his words with a load voice. The enemy was advancing 
carelessly, thinking to take them by surprise, when thrice 
he cried " Hallelujah," and thrice the priests repeated it. 
Hie word was resounded by all the pe<^e. Their shouta 
were midtiplied by the echoes of tbe s ur i wmdm g hills, and 
the enemy was struck vrith t«Tor, beKeving^ tiiat not only 
the overhanging diflfe, but the very gfees themselves, wens 
Mting upon them. Such was their terror that they fled in 
d^order ; and their feet bemg hardly svnit enough to carry 
them; £rom the sceaoe of their alarm they threw away their 
arms^, well satisfied if th^ could escape the damger with 
only thehr naked bodies. Many in their retreat, blinded 
by their fears, plunged mta the river which they had 
crossed, and were swept away by the torrent. The !E^toBS 
imhm^ looked on while they were aveiiged of their ene- 
mies; and joyfully collected tiie spoils which their heaven- 
wrought victory had secured. The prelates exulted in a 
triumph gained without bloodshed, by faith, and not by 
human strength. The foe thus conquered, the prelates, 
blessed both in body and mind, returned to their own 

^ Tfaiff battle wn fbaght near Mold, in Flintfllme. See Nofte to Bedi^ 
History, p. 31 of the present i 



A.I>. 46S.] BiOTLE OF lEBBFIXBT. 4S 

cowitry. Not long aforwsFds, ihe Pelagian iief«S7 blast- 
ing foikk again, Gennanas, al the entrealjof all the pnealB 
of firitam, returned again, acisompanied bj Sevanis, Bishop 
of Treves, and, Fe-estid>HBhisg the orthodox &ith, healed 
the son of Elafias, a chief, ^i^ was lame from a eontractioii 
of the te]!id(m& of the knee, in the sight of all ihe people. 
Haring restored order he then weaat to Earenna, to im- 
plore peaee f<Mr Ihe Armorican juaikcm. There, having been 
received with the greatest honoor bjYakntinian, he d^artod 
to Christ. Not long afterwards Yalentinian was murdered 
hj the followers oi ^tinsy liie patrician, v^om he had put 
to death; Ihe same to whom the Britcms addxessed the 
letter before quoted. With Yalentinian ended the empire of 
the West. 

Afber a Htde time Hengist the king and £se his soii!i» 
supported by the aus^iaries from bejond the sea,, colleeted 
an invincible armj m the seventeenth year after their acmai 
kiBritaan^ Agamst Ihis was gati!iered the whc^e strength <^ 
Britain, in twelve cohimns, admirably anrayed. The armiea 
met at Wippedesflede^, where the battle was long and ob- 
stinate, until at length Hengiat overthrew the twelve ehiefis, 
6&ing Hmr standa^, and putting tbeor followers to flight 
He, too, lost many of has troops and principal leaders ; one 
espeeiaEPjr, called Wipped, from whom the plaee where the 
battle was fought took its name. This victory was there- 
fore a source of regret and lamentatieaii im both sidesy so 
that for a long time neither 1^ Saxons invaded the terri- 
tories of the Britons, nor the Britons ventured to come 
into Kent. But stiQ, thoi^ Hiere was a respite from 
foreign, there was none from internal, war^. Amidst the 
ruins of lite cities which &e enemy had destroyed, the 
inhabitants who had escaped the ruin fought with one 
another. While, indeed, ^e calamities th^ had suffered 
were fresh in their memories, both kings and priests^ 
cMefs and people, maintained their respective ranks ; but 

* [a.d. 465.] From this date to the year 527, Henry of Huntingdon 
introduces many ledti&t for whkk it » not known -wksnee ha cofiected 



* Wippedflee^ orEhbfleet, Sent. 
^ Bede, book l 22. 



44 HENRY OF HUNTINGDON. [BOOK II, 

-when a younger generation grew up, which had no expe- 
rience beyond the present settled state of affairs, all the 
sanctions of truth and justice were violated and sub- 
verted, so that, not to say all traces of them, the very 
memory of their existence, remained to very few indeed. 
God, therefore, sent over from time to time from amongst 
the German nations most cruel chiefs, to be destroyers of 
the nation which was hateful to Him. Among the princi- 
pal of these was the chief -Mia, with his three sons, Cymen, 
PletingS and Cissa. 

[a.d. 477.] -^Ua and his sons having fitted out a fleet, in 
which a large body of troops was embarked, appeared off 
Cymenesore^, where their landing was opposed by vast 
numbers of the Britons, who flew to arms from the neigh- 
bouring districts, and with loud shouts gave them batde. 
The Saxons, who were vastly superior in stature and 
strength, received their attacks with much coolness ; while 
the onset of the natives was disorderly, as rushing on with- 
out concert, and in desultory bands, they were cut down by 
the serried ranks of the enemy, and those who escaped in- 
creased the confusion by reports of their disaster. The 
defeated Britons fled to the shelter of the neighbouring 
forest, which is called Andredsleige'*; while the Saxons 
possessed themselves of the sea-coast of Sussex, continually 
occupying more territory from time to time, until the ninth 
year of their descent on that coast. Then, however, their 
further advance was so audacious that the kings and chiefs 
of the Britons assembled fet Mercredesbume, where they 
fought a battle with -^Ua and his sons. The issue was 
doubtftd, both armies being greatly crippled and thinned, 
and, vowing against a continuation of the conflict, retired to 
their own districts, while M11& sent messages to his com- 
patriots entreating aid. .Mia came into Britain about the 
thirtieth year after the arrival of the Angles. 

[a.p, 488.] Hengist, King of Kent, died in the fortieth 

* Wlencing. 

^ Shoreham, in Sussex ; some, however, place it near Selsey. 

' The Anderida SyWa of the Romans, and Ooed-Andred of the Britons ; 
the yast forests of which the wealds of Sussex and Kent are the present 
xemains* 



A.l>. 488*495.] EINOBOM OF SUSSEX. 45 

year after his invasion of Britain, and his son Esc reigned 
34 years \ in the time of the Emperor Zeno, whose reign 
lasted 17 years. Esc, inheriting his father's valour, firmly 
defended his kingdom against the Britons, and augmented 
it hy territories conquered from them. 

[a.b. 490.] The kingdom of Sussex, which iEUla founded, 
he long and valiantly maintained. In the third year after 
the death of Hengist, in the time of Anastasius, Emperor 
of Kome, who reigned 27 years, -^lla was joined by aux- 
iliaries from his own coimtry, with whose assistance he laid 
siege to Andredecester, a strongly-fortified town*. The 
Britons swarmed together like wasps, assailing the be- 
siegers by daily ambuscades and nocturnal sallies. There 
was neither day nor night in which some new alarm did 
not harass the minds of the Saxons ; but the more they 
were provoked, the more vigorously they pressed the siege. 
Whenever they advanced to the assault of the town, &e 
Britons from without falling on their rear with their archers 
and slingers drew the Pagans away from the walls to resist 
their own attack, which the Britons, lighter of foot, avoided 
by taking refuge in the woods ; and when they turned 
again to assault the town, again ihe Britons hung on their 
rear. The Saxons were for some time harassed by these 
manoeuvres, till, having lost a great number of men, they 
divided their army into two bodies, one of which carried on 
the siege, while the other repelled the attacks from without. 
After this the Britons were so reduced by continual famine 
that they were imable any longer to withstand the force of 
the besiegers, so that they all fell by the edge of the sword, 
with their women and children, not one escaping alive. 
The foreigners were so enraged at the loss they had sus- 
tained that they totally destroyed the city, and it was never 
afterwards rebuilt, so that its desolate site is all that is now 
pointed out to travellers. 

[a.d. 495.] In the forty-seventh year from the arrival of 

* Saxon Ohronicle, 24 years. 

' Saxon Chronicle. Pevensey Castle is supposed to stand on the site 
of Andred-cester, though some antiquarians place it elsewhere on the coast 
of Sussex. Its name, and the subsequent details of Henry of Huntingdon, 
Bhow that it stood on the Terge of the great wood mentioned in a preceding 
note. 



46 BJEMss &e Muwsatsafoan. {book il 

&e Angles in Bntedn, Oer^c aad his bob. Oemic appeared 
off Oerdice-BOFe ^ with five !i^p& The sacke day the people 
of the nd^bondiood assembled in gveat nuiiibers Jaid 
fought agamst them. The Saxoiis atotod fum in order of 
batde before their ships, r^eiiing thevttadcs g£ the isknders 
mthoot pcmsaing them, far they nei^er j^iifibted l^ieir ranks. 
Hie day was speat in these attemote aifelai^s and reitreoto 
IftQ night put an end to the conflict Finding how nesolttte 
the Saxons were, the Britons retired, Mod neith^ party 
elaimed a Tiict<»y. Oerdic, howevser; «kd Ms -son made 
good their occupation of the hostile temioiy, from time t» 
time enlar^g Iheir poBSffis^iKB along tbe «C0ast, ^oiogh 
not without frequent w«ts with the natures. 

{a.d. 501.] Seven years after the invas^ni^f Gerdic, Port, 
witibL his sons Beda and Megla, disemiraiked £rom two stout 
ships at Portsmouth. An alarm was immediately spr^id. 
throu^KRit the neighhouihood, and (the goivienior of the 
district with the whole population ioa^lai the inrAders. 3tA 
as the attack was disorderly, as eadh tsciwed on the spot» 
they were routed in the twmii&ag of an eye. The Britons 
int^ed rushed hddlj on the enemy, but the steady ¥alour 
of the Saxons threw them izEto confusion. The cMef and 
ikte people being eiither slain or put to tiight, the yictoay 
remained with Port and his sons. Ehasm hdm the pla^se 
was called Poitsmouth. 

[±.j>. 508.] I now proceed i© describe tiie war between 
Ne^aileod, ihe greatest of the Briti^ i^:m@8, and Cerdic, witii 
his son Kenric, in ^e sixtieth year of the immigratiaiaL 
of ihe Angles. Nazaleod was a king of high renown and 
exsdted rads, from whom the otNintry BOw«ealled Oerdiches- 
forde^ was th^i named Nasaieali, «nd as he had eollected 
under his banner ^e whole ^sroe ef the Britons, Oerdic 
and his scm entreated aid -feom Esc, the king of iKent, and 
from JEUa, the great king of the ^South-Saxisins, and from 
Port and his boos, the last who had eoBoe ovec Their 

^ Cerdice-sore, the shore of Cerdic^ now Taanouft, Hie month of th& 
Yar, or €kir, in Norfolk. 

^ Saxon Ofaronicle, Natanleod; OfaBrfbrd^ near Pordmgkidge, Hants. 
!rhe Bazon Chronicle reads ; " The land was named Netley &om hira tA fiir 
as Charford." Henry of Huntingdon confuses the passage by a mistakm 
translation of the Saxon word ''as far as^" which he renders ''now." 



▲a>. 506-514.] coi?9Q3SSB or cbh»o. 47 

foicesivere mrruyod m ifim-mtDgB, of vvlikli Cevlie •com- 
mmded iiie right, Kenric, Mb son, iS^ left In Hib first 
Offfiet, Nazateod o^bsenrmg tint the ri^t iimig iras the 
stpoagest, charged it *with his i^^le foree for the purpose cf 
rcmting at onoe the most fomiidable part of the enemy's anoay: 
HiB impetaoos attack in a momenot overduew the standanhs, 
pierced the Tanks, and put Cerdie to flight, 'with gre«t 
fibcaghter of his right wmg. Meanivhale Kemie, perceiving 
his &ther% defeat, afidtherontof histroDp8,led theleftming^ 
which was under his eemmand, against the rear of the 
enesBy, who were puisning the fogitiyes. The hattle was 
then renewed with :&esh Tigonr, tmlfl the king Naadeod 
was slain, and his wh(^ army rooted. ¥vre ^ousand of 
his troops fell cm the *hM. The rest saved themselves hy 
a precipitate retreat. The Saxons gained the honour of a 
victoty which seoared to them peace for some years, and 
allnred to them many and powerM axmliarieB. 

[a.d. 514.] Among 1hese, in the sixth year after the war» 
Stof and Witgar came wilh Ihnee ships to Cerdicesoze^. 
At daybreak the British chiefs aorayed iheir Ibroes againsrt 
the im^aders with mnoh military sioJl. Th^ led one body 
along ^OB ridges of the h^s, aaad anotfa^ m the valley with 
silenoe and caution, xmtil the rays <0f the risi&g sun. glancing 
from iheir ^ded shields, the hill tops and the irery sky 
«^ve them ghstened with <he bright array. The Saxons 
were strockwith tearor as #iey adva&eed to battde; but 
when &e two strong armies came into collision, the courage 
of the Britons failed, because God despised them. The 
triumph cf the BBxxm chiefs was Bignal, and the result 
fiecm-ed them large posBessions. Thus the juone of Oerdie 
was rei^ered terrible, and in the sla^ngtiti of it he overran 
the coiBEiftiy. 

About this thne died JElia, *Eing<^ the Souib-SazonB, who 
«9ijoyed all the prerogatives of Skkglish royalty, having under 
him kings and nobl^ and governors. His ison Oiaea buc- 
vseeded hhn, and their posterity afterwaids. But in prooess 
^ time, &eir power was mudi diminished, and at length 
th^ were borou^t under subjection by otber ka&gs. 

' Saxon Obronicle. Mvtthew of Weitminster says two. 



48 HENRY OP HUNTINGDON. [bOOK II. 

The kingdom of Wessex was founded in the year 71 of 
the Angles in Britain, a.d. 519, in the time of the Emperor 
Justinian the elder, who reigned eight years. In the course 
of time the kings of Wessex subjugated all the other king- 
doms, and established a monarchy over the whole of Eng- 
land, so that we may reckon the times of all the other kings 
with reference to those of the kings of Wessex, by whose 
growing power the others may be noted. When Cerdic had 
jeigned seventeen years in Wessex, that same year some of 
the most powerful of the British chiefs joined battle against 
him. It was fought bravely and obstinately on both sides, 
till when the day was declining, the Saxons gained the vic- 
tory; and there was great slaughter that day of the inha- 
bitants of Albion, which would have been still more terrible 
had not the setting of the sun stayed it Thus was the 
name of Cerdic glorified, and the fame of his wars, and of 
his son Kenric was spread over all the land. From that 
day is reckoned the beginning of the kingdom of Wessex, 
which, absorbing all the rest, has continued to our times. 
Cerdic and Kenric, his son, in the ninth year of his reign 
[a.d. 527], fought another battle against the Britons at Oer- 
dicesford, in which there was great slaughter on both sides. 
At that time large bodies of men came successively from 
Germany, and took possession of East-Anglia and Mercia ; 
they were not as yet reduced under the government of one 
king ; various chiefs contended for the occupation of dif- 
ferent districts, waging continual wars with each other ; but 
they were too numerous to have their names preserved. 

In those times Arthur the mighty warrior, general of the 
armies and chief of the kings of Britain, was constantly vic- 
torious in his wars with the Saxons. He was the com- 
mander in twelve battles, and gained twelve victories. The 
first battle was fought near the mouth of the river which is 
called Glenus ^ The second, third, fourth and fifth battles 
were fought near another river which the Britons called 
Duglas, in the country of Cinuis : the sixth on .the river 
called Bassas. The seventh was fought in the forest of 
Chelidon, which in British is called " Cat-coit-Celidon." The 
eighth battle against the barbarians was fought near the 
» Or Glenn. 



A.D. 527-530.] KiNjaDOM of essex founded. 49 

castle Guinnion, during which Arthur bore the image of St. 
Maiy, mother of God and always virgin, on his shouldere, 
and by the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ and the blessed 
Mary his mother, the Saxons were routed tlie whole of that 
day, and many of them perished with great slaughter. The 
ninth battle he fought at the city LeogisS which in the 
British tongue is called " Kaerlion." The tenth he fought 
on the bank of a river which we call Tractiheuroit ; Jhe 
eleventh, on a hill which is named Brevoin, where he routed 
tlie people we call Cathbregion. The twelfth was a hard- 
fought battle with' the Saxons on Mount Badon, in which 
440 of the Britons fell by the swords of their enemies in 
a single day, none of their host acting in concert, and 
Arthur alone receiving succour from Sie Lord. These 
battles and battle-fields are described by Gildas the histo- 
rian'^, but in our times the places are imknown, the Pro- 
vidence of God, we consider, having so ordered it that 
popular applause and flattery, and transitory glory, might be 
of no accoimt. At this period there were many wars, in 
which sometimes the Saxons, sometimes the Britons, were 
victors ; but the more the Saxons were defeated, the more 
they recruited their forces by invitations sent to the people 
of all the neighbouring countries. 

The kingdom of Essex, that is, of the East-Saxons, was 
founded, as £ar as we can collect from old writers, by Erchen- 
win, who was the son of Offa, who was the son of Biedcan, 
who was the son of Sigewlf, who was the son of Spoewe, 
who was the son of Gesac, who was the son of Andesc, who 
vras the son of Saxnat. Slede, the son of Erchenwin, suc- 
ceeded his father in the kingdom of Essex ; he married the 
daughter of Ermeric, king of Kent, and sister of Ethelbert. 
His son by her, Sibert, was the first king of Essex con- 
Terted to the Christian faith. 

[A.D. 530.] Meanwhile, Cerdic, with his son Kenric, having 
assembled a great army, fought at Wit-land, and being suc- 
cessful in the war, reduced the whole island after a prodi- 

' Or Legionis, of the legion. 

* Henry of Huntingdon quotes Nenniug under ihiB name. See cc. 63-4 
of the Hitt Nenn* 



M ZEEENKT GW H9NTSN01!K»(. [BOOK II. 

^oii3 Hhmgliter of the eaemj in bottHe at Wi4^ace8i»arg^r kk 
^e thirteenth year of his reign. Four years afterwaardss, 
Certi<3 conferred the island, which in Latin is esJied " Vecta^" 
<m his nephews, Stud and Witgar. Cerdic, the first king' of 
Wessex, reigned eighteen years'*. On his dea(±L [a.i>. 5^] 
Kenrie, his son, reigned flfter him 2& years, ian the tunes 
of the Emperor Justinian, wiaose reign lasted 38 years^ and 
when Vigilias was Pbpe. 

[a.d. S'SB.] In the fifth year of Kenric, the sun waseeMpsed 
from daylight to the third hour, in the mon4Is of Mardi ; 
and in the seventh year of his reign [a.d. 540], it was ecLipsed 
from the €iird to almost the ninth hoar, on tbe^ xii. kaL 
July [20di June], so- that the stars were visible. In the 
tenth yeaa* of Kenric's reign, died Witgar, and was buried 
at Witgaresburg, which derived its name from hinu. 

The kingdom of the Northumbrians dates from tiie 
thirteenth^ year of the reign of Kecffic. The chiefs of tiie 
Angles who subdued that province, after a series of severe 
battles, elected Ida, ayo^ungnoblemaik of the highest rank, 
king. He was the son of Eoppe* the son of Es(&*, the son 
of Laguim, the son of Angenwite, the son of Aloe, the seat 
of Beonoc, t&e son of Brand, the son oi BeeMset, the son 
of Woden, the son of Fredelaf, the son of Eredewlt the 
son of Fin, the son of Godwlf, the son of Heotse^. Ida, a 
valiant prince, reigned twelve years, inde^tigab^ and always 
in arms. He built Bebanburgh', fortifying it by surround-- 
ing it with an earthen mound, and afterwards witk a walL 
He began his reign in the year of grace 647. 

[a.i>. 652.] Kenric, in the ei^teentii year of hi» rdgn 
§)ught £^ainst the Britons, who advaneed with a great army 
as &r as Salisbuiy; but havmg assembled an ausLiflzj&»ee 
from all quarters, he engaged them triumphantly, over- 
ihrowing their numerous army, and completely routiBg 
and dispersing it In the twenty^second year of his reign 

^ Ottriftbrook? ^ Sixteen) » BoutMiiAJil 

* This genealogy follows the Saxon Chronicle. 

■ iBscwine. • Or Geatse. 

'^ Bamborough Castle, in Northumberland. See Bttzon Chrwmk. Henry 
<lf Hontingdon, who attnbvtey both the bridge and tib«. wall to King Ida, is 
followed by M. of Westminster, an. 548. 



.JLIK 556.] . BAXZLB OF BANBDBX. H 

[a-d. 556], Eenric, widL bis aon Ceanim, had Miother batOe 
ipidi the Britons, which was a£ter this mamier : to aTenge 
the defeat which, thej had sustained five yean before, the 
.^tons assemhied vast numbers of their bravest wairiois, 
and drew them np near Banbury. Their battle array wie 
fermed in nine battalions, a convenient number jbr mihtaiy 
iaeties, three being posted in the van, three in the centre, 
and three in Hie rear, wilh chosen commanders to eadi, while 
Hie archers and slingafs and cavalry were disposed after the 
Soman order. But the Saxons advanced to the attack in 
one compact body wi& sudbt fury, that the standards being 
dashed together and borne down, and the ^ears being 
brokai, it became a hand-to-hand fi^t with the sword. 
The battle lasted till night-Mi without eithi^ party being 
aUe to daim the victory. Nor is that wonderful, cansider- 
ing Ihat the wamors were m^i of extraordinary stature, 
strength, and resohition ; while in our days diey are so de- 
^nerate, that when armies come into collision, one or 
ether of them is put to flight at the first onset Senric, hav- 
ing reigned 36 years, died [A.n. 560], and CeauHn his son 
re^ed in his stead 80 years. In the same year, Ida, 
kmg of Northumbria, also died, and after him Ella reigned 
SO years, thoiugh he was not the son of Ida, but the son 
of Iffa, Ihe son of Uscfrea, the son of Witgils, the son of 
Westrefalcna, the son of Sefugil, the son of Seabald, the 
son oi Sigegeat, the son of Wepdeg, the son of Woden, the 
JKm of Fredealaf. 

In the sixth year of €eaulin*s reign in Wessex, Ethdbert, 
that great king, began to reign in Kent^. He was the third 
of the English kings who ruled all their eastern provinces 
vd^h are divided by the river Humber, and the neighbour- 
ing boundaries, from the northern kingdom. The first who 
possessed this supreme power^ was JEUa, king of the East- 
Saxons ; the second, Ceaulin, king of the West-Saxoos ; the 
Ihird, as just stated, Ethelbert, king of Kent ; the fourth, 

*■ The Sazoo Cfaronide fixes the acceauon of Bthelbert in Ae fibnt year of 
Ceaulin, instead of the sixth, in which it appears to agree with the computa- 
tion of Bede. See book i. c. 5. 

• * ThtM panDnoQBt kings were called Bretwalda. The sank wm pesKmal 
and not hereditary. 

E 2 



.63 BSNBY OF HUNTINGDON. [BOOK H. 

Bedwald, king of the East^Angles, who, durmg the life- 
time of Ethelbert, held the govemment of his own state. 
The fifth monarch was Edwin, king of the Northumbrians, 
the most powerful people of all who inhabited Britain. 
His dominion extended over all the tribes both of the 
English and Britons, with the exception of the people of 
Kent He also reduced to the dominion of the English, 
the Isle of Man and the other islands which lie between 
Britain and Ireland. Sixthly, Oswald, king of Northum- 
bria, a prince of great sanctity, held the sovereignty of the 
various nations within the same boundaries. Seventhly, 
Oswy, his brother, in a short time established his rule with 
almost equal limits ; and he also subjugated and rendered 
tributary most of the tribes of Scots and Picts who occu- 
pied the northern districts of Britain. The eighth was 
Egbert, king of Wessex, whose rule extended as far as the 
Humber. The ninth was Alfred, his grandson, who esta- 
blished his authority in all parts of &e kingdom. The 
tenth was Edgar, great-grandson of Alfred, a brave though 
peaceful king, whose dominion, or at least his ascendancy, 
extended over all the English and Scottish people ; which 
his successors inherit to the present day. It was in the 
time of Ethelbert that the English were converted to tJie 
Christian faith, which will be diligently treated of in die 
sequel of our history^. - 

[a.d. 568.] Ceaulm, in the ninth year of his reign, with 
his brother Chuta, two very valiant men, were compelled 
by various causes to engage in war with Ethelbert, who had 
arrogantly intruded himself into their kingdom. In a 
battle fought at Mirandune^, his two generals, Oslap and 
Cneban, tihiunderbolts of war, with a vast number of their 
followers, were slain, and Ethelbert himself was pursued as 
far as Kent. This is remarkable as the first international 
war among the English kings. 

[A.D. 571.] In the twelfth year also of Ceaulin, his brother 
Gutha fought a battle with the Britons at Bedeanford, now 
called Bedford, the chief town of the neighbouring dis- 

^ In Book iii. following. 

' Query, Merton, in Surrey. Some MSS. read Wipandnne or Wibbaa- 
dune. 



A.D. 571-590.] EAST-ANGLTA AND MERCIA. 53^ 

trict. In this battle he was victorious, and the fruits of his 
arms were four fortified places, namely, Lienbirig, Aelesbuiy, 
Benesintune, and ^cgnesham ^ ; but Cutha, a great man, the 
king's brother, died the same year. 

The founder of the kingdom of East-Anglia, which in- 
cludes Norfolk and Suffolk, was Uffa, from whom the kings 
of the East-Angles were called UflSngas. It was afterwards 
held by his broSier Titulus, the bravest of the East-Anglian 
kings. 

[a.d. 577.] Ceaulin, with his son Cuthwine, in the eigh- 
teenth year of his reign fought a battle with the Britons at 
Deorham^. Three British kings, Commagil, Gandidan, and 
Farinmagil, led their followers against them splendidly and 
skilfully arrayed, so that the conflict was very obstinate. 
But the Almighty gave the victory on that day to his enemies, 
and discomfited his own people, who had foolishly offended 
Him, so that the three Christian kings were slain, and the 
survivors from the slaughter were put to flight. The Saxons 
pursued them fiercely, taking three important towns, Glou- 
cester, Cirencester, and Bath. 

[a.d. 684.] In the twenty-fifth year of his reign, Ceaulin 
and Cuthwine again fought with the Britons at Fedhanlea^ 
The battle was fought with great loss and fury on both 
sides. Cuthwine, overcome by numbers, was struck down 
and skdn ; and the English were routed and put to flight. 
But the king Ceaulin succeeded in rallying his troops, and 
snatched the victory from those who had been at first victors, 
and, pursuing the vanquished, gained much laud and great 
booty. 

Crida, as far as we learn from old records, was the first 
king of Mercia. Such were the beginnings of the several 
English kingdoms, of which I have pointed out the dates 
and revolutions as clearly as I could from what we find in 
the books of ancient writers, bringing them into relation 
with the fleras of the kings of Wessex. 

[a.d. 590-596.] Ceaulin died in the thirtieth year of his 

' Lygcanburh {Petrie), Lenbury (Ingram). The three last places axe 
dearly Ailesbury, Benson, and Ensham. — See Sax, Chron, 
* I>yrham, in Gloucestershire. 
' Frethem, near the Severn in Gloucestershire. 



1^ HERBT OF HUNXmOBOH. [BOOK II. 

Bsign S and after bim Geoliic reigned five years. EUa, king 
of the Northumbrians, died the sazne yeaa:^ and after him 
Ethddc reigned also five years. In the third year after 
this, the Britons and Saxrais fonght a battle at Wodnes- 
borie^ The British army advaneed in close order, after fhe 
Boman fashion, but die Saxons rushed forward ^th de^[^e- 
rate, butdisordedy, conrage, and the conflict ivas very severe. 
Grod gave the victory to l^e Britons ; and die Saxons, wIk> 
commonly were as much superior to the Britons in fight, as 
they were slower in "flight, snflfered miich in their retreat. 
After these times Crida, king of Mercia, departed liiis life, 
and his son Wippa [or Pybba] succeeded him. About this 
time also Ethelfeit, who is named the fierce, sucoeeded 
Ethelric in Northumbria. Now also the Lombards invaded 
Halj; and not long afterwards Gregory introdiiced the word 
of Grod into England. 

[a.d, 697.] Biaing t^e reign of Ceolric in Wessei, of 
Eti^elfert in Northumbria, and of Wippa in Mercia, Ethd- 
bert, the king of Eent, and the KenlMi people, were con- 
verted to the faith, as will be shown in the Book following**. 
Wippa was Bocceeded by £ieori% who was not his son, but 
his kinsman. Geolric departed this life after a leign of five 
' years, after v^rhom Oeolwtdf reigned in Wessex fourteen 
years, through all of w&ich he was engaged m wai^, either 
with the English, or the Soofcs, or -flie Picts. fCeolwolf was 

' The Saxon Chronicle states that Ceaulm '' was dnren irom his king^ 
dom" in 590 \ot 591]^ and died in 598. It does not speak of his haTmg 
been restored, and dates the accession of Ceolric from his expulsion. Henry 
ef Hmitingdon, ho^wcver, confuses the two events, thoi^h he competes 
Dieaaii&'s rei^ correetly at $0 ytan. 

^ Henry of Huntingdon also ears in fixing the death of Ella and the acoe»- 
sienof Ethelric the same year as the death of Ceaulin. The Saxon Chronicle^ 
the "better authority, places it in 588. 

* "Wansborongh, or "Wanfeorough, Wilts, Accordio^ to ^e Sason 
Chronicle, it was after this battle, which was m. S^l, tiist CeKoHn wo* 
ft^Iled. 

* Book iii. 

^ ** £lor. of Woreester makes £eorl thfi jame person as Crida ; but as tae 
name of 'Keorl' does not appear in the genealogies of the kings, Henry • 
Huntingdon considers him a different person, and describes him as a a 
man, and not a son, of Wipj)a,"— -Retrw. 



A:B. 404.] 8AS0JBI AND BlUlSOliS. f^ 

son of €lmte, iiviio was son of Kenric, who wa3 son of 

in the seventh year of Oeolwulf ', which was the £i8t of 
die £mpCTor Phocfis, who governed the Eomaoi Empire eight 
jeers, iEtheibert, the fierce king of the Northumhmns, who 
WMB more pow^tilaaid more ambitious than all the English 
kings, made great havoe of tlie Britons. No one of their 
geiierals, bo one of their kings, reduced more of the land 
to the condition of "beiikg •either tribntazy to the Saxons or 
ooioniised bj Ihem, after the native inhabitants were either 
exterminated or enslaved. What was said of Benjamin 
mxf trulj ha ^plied io him : " Bei^amin shall ravin as a 
wolf; in the monsdng he shall devour Ihe prey, and at night 
be shall <divide the spoil."^ Wherefore, soused by his ^- 
gres^ns, iEdaa, king of the BcoIb who had settled in 
Brtem, maidaed agamst Mm with u XLiunerous and power-* 
M arsBj, tot was ^defeated acid ^ed with a veay few fol- 
lowers. [a.b. d03.] In ibis bottle, whidi was fcoi^ht at a well- 
Imown place •called DegBfan5tazI^ ahnost the whole armj 
ef tte Scots was slaughtered. Ti^ald also, the brother oi 
£i3iel&id, was slaiii wilti the body of iroops which be com- 
man/ied. From ihat time none of Ihe Scottish kings ven- 
tured to engage m war with the En^^ish nation. 

[a.d. m7,] In the ninth year of OeolwulC the king Edbf^ 
Md obtained a victory over Ihe Britons at Carlisle ; of the 
ev^ents -of litis, ihe greatest of his wars, we propose to 1a«eat 
in fhe Book wbidi fcdlows, respeetio:^ the ccmversion of 
theEngls^. A]iK>ng tfaevack^aswaisinidiichCeoIwu^ 
engaged, whid^ we omit to notice &>t liie «ake of brevify« 
there was a verymemorable battle agaisist the snen of Sussex* 
in which bolh eimies suffered grievously, that of Sussex 
1i»e most seventy, Caolwulf died after a reign of fourteen 
years, aind afber him Eingik was king ijd Wessez during 
%l years, in tiMlazne of HeracHixs, who was eanp&ror 26 
years. Emigils was son of Ceoirie, the son of C^iute, tha 
son of Oerdic. In the fourth year of Ms rei^ [a.d. Qll} 
he associated with himself in the regal dignity his brother 
Sae3!feehn^ and they assembled an army stgadust the Brit£»us 

' Bede, i. 34. ^ Gen. xlix. 27. ' Danston ] in Cumberland. 

* Saxon Chronicle, Cwichelm. 



66 HEKBT OF HUNTINaDON. [BOOK n, 

at Beandune'. As soon as it was formed into sections, 
companies, and battalions, with centurions, generals, and 
commanders in due order, it was led against the enemy. 
But when the Britons saw it advance in terrible array, wifli 
the gay standards pointed towards them, the long spears 
advanced, and the edges of the heavy battle-axes gleaming 
in their eyes, they were struck with a sudden panic, and at 
once had recourse to flight ; but not in time to save them- 
selves. The Saxons were victorious without any loss on 
their side, and on numbering the slain they counted two 
thousand and sixty-two bodies of the Britons. 

[a.d. 616-17.] In the sixth year of Einigils, died 
Ethelbert, king of Kent, and was succeeded by his son 
^dbold. In the following year, Ethelfrid, king of the 
Northumbrians, and Bedwald, king of East-Anglia, levied 
numerous armies on both sides, in consequence of provoca- 
tions mutually received. A battle was fought between them 
on the borders of Mercia, on the eastern bank of the river 
Idle^ : from whence, it is said ** the river Idle was stained 
with English blood." The fierce king Ethelfrid, indignant 
that any one should venture to resist him, rushed on the 
enemy boldly, but not in disorder, with a select body of 
veteran soldiers, though the troops of Bedwsdd made a 
brilliant and formidable display, marching in three bodies, 
with fluttering standards and bristling spears and helmets, 
while their numbers greatly exceeded their enemies. The 
king of the Northimibrians, as if he had found an easy 
prey, at once fell upon the close colimms of Bedwald, and 
put to the sword Eainer, the king's son, with the 
division he commanded, his own precursors to the shades 
below. Meanwhile Eedwald enraged, but not appalled, by 
this severe loss, stood invincibly firm with his two remain- 
ing columns. The Northumbrians made vain attempts to 
penetrate them, and Ethelfiid, charging among the enemy's 
squadrons, became separated from his own troops and was 
struck down on a heap of bodies he had slain. The death 
of their king was the signal for imiversal flight. Ethelfrid 
was succeeded by Edwin, who was afterwards converted to 
Christianity'. So great was the peace in Britain dm*ing his 

^ Bampton, in Oxfordshire. 
* See Sax. Chron. ^ See Bede^ il 16. 



A.i>. 617-638.] WASS OF the saxons. 57 

reign, as far as his dominion extended, that a woman would 
trarel with a little child from sea to sea without apprehension 
of danger. The king also caused posts to he fixed on the 
highways near clear fountains, and caused hrazen cups to 
be suspended from them for the refreshment of travellers, 
hr which either fear or love secured a safe respect. En- 
signs were constantly home before the king ; and on the 
roads that kind of standard which the Bomans call ** Tufh," 
and the English, Tuff ^, was earned before him wherever 
he went. 

[a.d. 626.] In the sixteenth year of Einigils, he, to- 
gether with Kichelm, made war on Edwin, whom they had 
before attempted to assassinate; but they were deservedly de- 
feated, as will hereafter appear. In the same year Penda the 
Strong began to reign over Mercia. He was the son of Wippa, 
the son of Crida, the son of Oinewald, the son of Cnibba, the 
son of Icil, the son of Eomer, the son of Angeltheau, the 
son of OfiEiE^ the son of Weremund, the son of Witlac, the 
son of Woden. The same year died Sebert, king of Essex, 
whose two sons succeeded him in his kuigdom. Not long 
afterwards they engaged in war with Kinigils and Kichelm, 
bravely, indeed, for their army was inferior in numbers, but 
unfortunately, for both the young men were slain, and of 
their entire army scarcely a man effected his flight over the 
masses of the slain and the torrents of their blood. 
Sigebert, siunamed " the Little," succeeded them ; and to 
him Sigebert, a holy and virtuous king, who was assassinated 
by his own followers. 

[a.d. 628.] The third year after this, Kinigils and 
Kichelm fought a battle against Penda at Cirencester, 
where a powerful army was assembled on both sides. Both 
having vowed not to turn their backs on their enemies, each 
firmly maintained its groimd until they were happily sepa- 
rated by the setting of the sun. In the morning, as they 
were sensible that, if they renewed the conflict, the destruc- 
tion of both armies must ensue, they listened to moderate 
counsels, and concluded a trealy of peace. 

> Probably a tuft of feathers, mentioned by Yigetius, b. ii. c 5, among 
tbe standards of the Romans ; and afterwards used as an armorial ensign, a« 
in the plume of the Prince of Wales, and the crests of the Scropes and othei 
fiunilies* 



58 Hsinnr of HUNX[Ne2>oN. [booe: ru 

[a.d. SSS.] In &e twenty-third j^rear of Kimgils, King 
Edwin was killed by Peaada tbe Strong as will be fuUj sod 
properly related in the following Book. The year followkig, 
Oswald, a holy king, mounted the throne of ^bte Nc»ihiim- 
brians, which he £lled nine years. The year following, 
Kinigils was converted to ihe OhnstLan £ai(&, and the next year 
Eichelm wsb baptized, who I^eign0d jointly with his father 
Ejniglls, who died Hiat year. About liie same tiaie, Eaip- 
wald^, king of tiie East-Angles, und brotbea: of Bedwald, 
was converted to the true faith ; and when, shortly after- 
wards, he was skin by Penda the Strong, his brodier and 
successor Sigbert was oorcverted by Eelix, the bishop; 
and the whole nation of the EastrAngles at the sama 
time. Eadbaid, Jdng of Kent, died four years 4&£t;erwand« 
[aj). 640J, after a reign of 23 years. He was succeeded 
by Ercombeirt^ his son, who reigned 36 years, and 
Hved in ihe ' time of Heracl^xnas, -vdio was emperor two 
years. 

[a.d. 64Su] Kim^ls, aflter reigmng 61 years, departed 
this life in the tim^e of ^be Emperor OoDStantine, who 
had Teigned 83 years, snd wos the son of the elder 
Gonstantine, whose ireign lasted half a year. Kinigils 
was succeeded by his son Kenwald, who held the king<« 
dam of Wessez 81 years, as his fa^er had doae. Tha 
same year was slain the holy king Oswald, as will be xe- 
lalted in the Book following, and a^er him his brother Oswy 
reigned 126 yeaars. Kenwald, in the £f1h year of his reign 
[a.d. 645], was attacked by Penda, who had divorced his 
sister, and, not hemg abke to resist him as his faJhear had 
dcHie, he was routed before him in battle, and driven out of 
his kingdom. Becovezing it three years sfterwards, Kenwald 
granted to Oedred^ his kinsman and ally, three thousand 
fanns, situate near Esesdune^. About this time, Sigebert, 
a servant of God, succeeded his hrother EaxpwaM, long of 
the Ea6t-Ai]^les ; whose devotion was su^h tha% havii^ 
seHiMloidied his kingdcRn to his oonsin Ee^ric, he entrnvedl 

* Or Carpwald. * Or Brclieiil)rilit 

' Or Cothsed ; Sbuc, Chrm, Tbe <lhitaMde ciaia thie gnmt « three 
thoMBDd hides of laiid by Ashdmni," -wbkik Ingani MoggMds may he Cwi* 
^whnee-beea^ CiidE8maley*hill, Betks, freiaCwiobdni, faAet of Cnthittd. 

* Or iQscendime. 



A.D. 6&5.] KEKIXA., Xnm OF JOEBtSA. M^ 

a monasteij and recelyed the tonsure. After many jeara, 
however, they compelied him to go out against the king 
Penda ; but he would only cany a staff in the hatde, in 
whidi he was slam. The king Ecgric and his whole anny 
&11 with him. Anna succeeded, who was son of Eni, of 
tiie royal race, an excellent man, and the father of an excel- 
lent son. 

In the thirte^ith year of Kenwald's reign, Penda the 
Strong attacked Anna, the king of the East-A]^les, before 
luuned, to whom the verse of Lucan may be applied' : 

*' But Penda for destractioii eager liixrm, 
Free pusages and Uoodleu mys be lenms.** 

Thus he rose with threatening aspect before the doomed 
host of King Anna : — 

** Tierce as b ^mAf, by Imnger lendeied bold, 
O'erkaps tbe fenee, and rainm m tlie IbM, 
HJBDgiiiig the fleecy flock, beemearad with blood; 
fik jamn, his shi^gy bide, reek in the gory flood. 
Some he devours, insatiate; some he tears ; 
Nor one of all the quivering crowd he spares. 
Bo mighty Penda, dealing fnxiom blows, 
Frostratas the Joremost of ha eoweriiigfBM.^' 

So King Anna and. his army fell quickly at the edge of the 
sword, and there was scarcely one who survived. Elhelhece 
succeeded his brother Anna, and was slain in his turn 
by Penda, Ethelwailf succeeding. The kingdom of East- 
Auglia having been plundered^ Penda the Strong withdrew 
his army into Northumbria. In the fourteenth year cS 
SenwaLd [ajd. 655], Penda, who had slain others witfai the 
sword, himself fell by the sword ; as it is written, " He who 
smitelh with the sword, shall perish by the sword." ^ Penda 
was slain by King Oswy near the river "Wiowed^ wlionce it 
is said: — 

'^ At ibe 'Wmwed -was svenged ihe slavg^iier o£ Ijoia, 
T^ slangfater of -Am "kxaga Sigbect snd Heg^ 
The slaughter of Hm kings Oswald Jind EdbndxL" 

He was succeeded by bis son Peda, the first of iSbe kings dT 

1 Phars. ii. 48fi. » MML xm, £SL 

' The river Aire, near Leediu 



60 HENBY OP HUNTINGDON, [BOOK U. 

Mercia who was baptized ; and the people of Mercia, also 
called Midel-engle, that is, Middle-England, were by him 
and with him converted to the faith. He was slain shortly 
afterwards [a.d. 657], upon which Wulfere, his brother, 
reigned in his stead twenty years ; a king who inherited 
the virtues of his family. At that time also was baptized 
Sigbert, king of Essex, that is, of the East-Saxons, who 
succeeded to that kingdom upon the death of Sigbert, sur- 
named the Little. 

[a.d. 658.] Eenwald, king of the West-Saxons, was com- 
pelled to fight the Britons near Pen *. For, learning that 
he had been conquered and driven from his kingdom by 
Penda the Strong, and concluding that he was ill-prepared for 
war, they mustered a great army, and commenced hostilities 
with great insolence. At the first onset, the Enghsh, for a 
time, gave way ; but, as they dreaded flight more tiian death, 
and stood on their defence, the Britons were exhausted, 
their strength melted away like snow, and, turning their 
backs on the enemy, they fled from Pen even to Pedred*, 
and an incurable woimd was inflicted that day on the race 
of Brute {a.d. 661]. Kenwald also, in the twentieth year of 
his reign, engaged in war with Wulfere, king of Mercia, 
who was son of Penda. For the king of Mercia*, in- 
heriting his father's valour and good fortune, having put to 
flight and expelled the king of Wessex, marched through 
the enemy's country with a numerous army, and reduced 
and took possession of the Isle of Wight, which lies oppo- 
site. By his influence, Ethelwulf, king of Sussex, was first 
converted to the faith ; and, receiving him from the laver of 
baptism, he conferred on him the Isle of Wight in token of 
his adoption ; and that he might convert the inhabitants to 
the faith of Christ, he sent to him Eppa, a presbyter, to 
preach the Gospel : but at first he was unsuccessful. The 
third year afterwards [a.d. 664], on the 3rd of May, 
there was an eclipse of the sun, followed by a grievous 
pestilence both in Britain and Ireland. That year, Erchen- 
bert, king of Kent, together with Deusdedit, archbishop of 
Canterbury, died the same day. After that, Egbeii;, the 

' See Saxon Chronicle. Pen, near GHllingham^ Dorset 
' Fetherton, on the Farret, in Somersetshire. 
3 See Sax. Chnnu 



A.D. 670.] SAXON SINGS. 61 

son of this king, reigned nine years in Kent ; and Egbert 
king, and Oswy king, sent Wighard, the priest, to Rome, 
that he might be appointed archbishop [a.d. 667]. But, 
Wighard, dying while he was at Rome, the Pope Yitalian, 
consecrated in his stead Theodore the Great, archbishop, 
whose vigorous administration will be noticed in its place. 

[a.i>. 670.] In the twenty-ninth year of the reign of Ken- 
wald, the great king of Northumbria, Oswy, fell sick and 
died. Egfert, his son, who succeeded him, reigned fifteen 
years. Kenwald himself died in the thirty-first year of his 
reign [a.d. 672]. Upon his death, his wife Sexburgh, reigned 
one year. The preceding year, flights of birds in England 
encountered each other in a desperate fight. The same 
occurrence was repeated in my own time in Normandy 
during the reign of Henry [a.d. 1119], who is th'e first 
of the kings of England so named, and is thus distinguished 
firom any future king of the same name. Birds were dis- 
tinctly seen engaged in flight near Bouen, in such 
numbers that m3rriads of their dead bodies were found ; 
and the foreign birds appeared to have been put to flight. 
This prodigy was considered to portend the battie between 
Heniy, sovereign Lord of England and Normandy, and 
Lewis, son of Philip, king of France, in which the powerful 
King Henry was victorious, and Lewis was defeated and put 
to flight ^ 

During Sexburgh's short reign, Egbert, king of Kent, 
died, and was succeeded by his son Lothaire, who reigned 
twelve years. In his time, Theodore the archbishop held 
a council at Thetford^. Escwin also succeeded to the throne 
of Essex, but his reign was cut short by premature death. 
In his second year, however, he had a terrible battle with 
Wulfere, king of the Mercians^. [a.d. 675.] Inheriting the 
valour of his father and grandfather, the Mercian king had 
rather the better of it in the conflict, though both armies 
were severely handled, and on either side many thousand 
soldiers were sent to the shades below. We are led to reflect 
how worthless are human achievements, how perishable 
the warlike triumphs of kings and nobles, when we find that, 

' The "battle of Noyon, in which Henry was nearly killed by CrispiD, a 
l^onnan officer. 

* Or " Hcortford." • See Saac Chron. 



•d HENB? OF mniTDIGDON [BOOK I^. 

cf the two kings, who, for the sake of vain pomp and eseaptf 
^rj, inflicted such grievous sufferings on their country, 
Hie one, Wulfere, died from dkease th« same year, the other 
the year following: El^bed sneeeeded him in the king- 
dom of Mereia. Escwin's reign in Wessex lasted onfy two 
years: Kentwin, who succeeded him, reigned nine years. 
The same year, Ethebed, the new king of Mercia,. engaged 
in an expedition against Lotisaire, Mng of Kent; upon 
which liOthaire, ternfied by the hereditary renown of the 
Mercian king, shrmik from his approach, and did not 
venture to march against 1dm. Edielred, therefore, de> 
stroyed the city of Bochester, and, halving overrun the 
whole of Kent, retired with an enarmoxta booty. 

[aj>. 678.] In liie third year of King Kentwin, a comet 
was seen during three months, which, every morning ^one 
with a brightness like that of tiie sun. The year following, 
Egfert, king of Northumbria, and Ethehred, king of Mercia, 
had a fierce battle near the Trent; in which was shdn 
Alwin, brother of Egfert, a young nobie^ dear to the people 
of both kingdoms, inasmuch as Ethelred had married his 
lister Osrith. It seemed now that the seeds were sown of 
a fierce contest and protracted hostilities between the two 
warlike nations and kings ; but Theodore, a prelate beloved 
of God, by divine assistance succeeded by his salutary 
counsels in altogether extinguishing the flames which 
threatened to burst forth, so that the kings and people on 
both sides were i^peased, without the fi»feitnre of a single 
life for the death of the brother of the Northumbrian king, 
vviiose revenge was satisfied by the payment of the regur 
lated fine. For a long tame afterwards the treaty of peace 
eoneluded between the two kings and their respective king- 
doms continued unbroken. The same year died ^theldrida, 
who was married to King Egfert, but continued to observe 
h£rr vow of perpetual virginity. 

[a.i>. 680.] In the seventh year of his reign, Kentwin 
engaged in war witii the Britons, who, making a feeble de- 
fence, were furioiHdy driven vnth fire and sword as far as 
the sea. About this time a council was held at Hatfield, 
by Theodore the archbishop. After the death of Kentwin, 
Cedwalla became king of Wessex [a.d. 686], who caused 
» « The Etheling." 



▲.D. 985.] THE HEPTABCHT CSRISTIiJaZED. M 

the ccmquered Isla of Wi^ to be conyerted to the 
jbftb, to whieh he himself beeame a convert. All the 
iiagB ef England, therefore, were now believers, and all 
|Mirts of the land were blessed with Ihe light and grace of 
Canriat. 

In this Book, wHch mi^t bare for its tide, *' Of the 
arrival of the En^^ish," I have traced, so to spesiky Ihe 
labyrinth of English affairs while the people w^e still 
heathens, bringing them down £rom the time of the first 
mva^on of Britain by the Saxons, m:itil each of the king- 
doms caald boast of &eir illnstrioas Icings, and each of the 
kings were illuminated by the glorious hght of the goepel. 
And here I hrmg to a dose the present Book, which, 
though the narrative is contaLned in a few words, jet 
describes a long succession of events, achievements, and 
wars. In the Bo<^ following, I propose to relate partico- 
lazly yifbB were the missionaries, by what exhortations, by 
what miracles, by what preachiDg, ^at kings, and in what 
order, oin: comitrymen ware converted to the faith of the 
Liord. 

. The wars which hove been described were carried 
on dming th& reigns of fourteen emperora, comprising 
a peiiod of about 218 years: in the time <^ Marcian, 
who reigned 7 years; of Leo, who reigned 17 years; 
of Zeno, who also reigned 17 years ; of Anaatasius, who 
reigned 18 years; of Justbi the dder, idio reigned 8 
yeais ; of JustiniiEUi the elder,, who reigned dd years ; of 
Justin the younger, who reigned 11 years; of Tiberius, 
who reigned 7 years; of Maurice, who reigned 21 years; 
of Phocas, who reigned 8 years ; c^ Heraehua, who reigned 
26 years ; of Heracleon, who reigned 2 years ; of Ccmstan- 
tine, who reigned half a year ; and oi Gonstantine, his son, 
who reigned 38 years. 

I now propose to collect the names of all the kings of 
England to ^ia £Bra, which are scattered throu^out the 
history, in short tables referring to each kingdom ; which, 
it appears to me,, so &r from being tedious, will be clear 
and satisfactcay to the reader^. 

1 ^ In this recapitulation, the total of each urns naithir aneea with itaelf; 
nor with the truth. The kinga of Kent, horn H«Dgiat to B«lted, fiUei » 



64 HENBY OF HUNTINGDON. [BOOK H. 

The following are the kmgs of Kent, in succession : — 

Hengist, the first king, was 8 years in making the con- 
quest, and reigned afterwards 32 years ; Esc his son reigned 
gloriously 34 years ; Octa reigned obscurely about 20 years ; 
Irmiric feigned in like manner about 25 years ; Ethelbert, 
son of Irmiric, and the first Christian king, had a glorious 
reign of 56 years; Eadbald, 34; Erchenbert, 34; Egbert, 
; Lothaire, the ninth king, 12. 

The following are the kings of Wessex, in succession : — 

The first king Cerdic, from the twentieth year after the 
arrival of the Saxons, reigned 17 years; Kenric, son of 
Cerdic, reigned 26 years ; Ceaulin, son of Kenric, reigned 
30 years ; Ceolric, son of Ceaulin, reigned 5 years ; Ceolwulf, 
son of Cutha, brother of Ceaulin, reigned 14 years ; Kini- 
gils, son of Ceola, son of Cutha, reigned 31 years, the first 
who was converted to the faith; Kenwald, son of KinigUs, 
also reigned 31 years ; Sexbrn-gh, wife of Kenwald, reigned 
1 year ; Escwin, son of Kenwald, reigned 2 years ; Ken- 
win, kinsman of Escwin, reigned 9 years. 

The following are the kings of Essex, in succession : — 

Erchenwin, &e first king; Slede; Sebert, first received 
the faith ; Sigebert ; Sibert ; Swithelm ; Sebbi ; Sigard. 

The following are the kings of Northumbria, in succes- 
sion: — 

Ida, the first king ; .Mia; Ethelfert; Edwm, first received 
the faith; Oswald; Oswy; Egfert 

The following are the kings of East-Anglia, in succes- 
sion : — 

UflGa, the first king; Titulus; Eedwald; Erwald, first 
received the faith; Sigebert; Ecgric; Anna; Ethelhere; 
Ethelwulf; Aldulf. 

The following are the kings of Mercia, in succession : — 

Crida, the first; Wippa; Ceorl; Fenda; Peda, first re- 
ceived the faith; Wulfhere; Ethelred. 

The following are the kings of Sussex, in order : — 

iBlla, the first king ; Scisse. 

The other kings of Sussex are unknown, through the 
paucity of their chroniclers, or the obscurity of their annals, 

period of 876 yean ; but according to Henry of Huntingdon, their reigns 
laated either 867 or 897 years ; and so of the teit^—Peti-ie, 



A.D. 685.] OONCLUDINO REFLECTIONS. 6S 

except the king Ethelwold, who is justly had in remembrance, 
because he was the first who adopted the Christian faith. 
Let this then suffice. And now, reader, observe and reflect 
how soon great names are lost in oblivion ; and since there 
is nothing enduring in this world, seek, I pray you, carefully 
to obtain a kingdom and treasure which wUl not fail, a 
name and honour which shall not pass away, a memorial 
and glory which shall never grow old. To meditate on this 
is the highest wisdom, to attain it the highest prudence, to 
enjoy it the highest felicity. 



HEVBT OF HmiXEMGDOK. [BOOK HI- 



BOOK m.! 

In the year of grace 58^, Maurice, the fifty-fourth of the 
Roman emperors from Augustus, began his reign. In the 
fourteenth year of this prince, about 150 years after the 
arrival of the Saxons in England [a.d. 596], Gregory, the 
servant of God, commissioned Augustine, witili several other 
monks, to preach the gospel to the English nation 2. In 
obedience to the Pope's commands, they proceeded on their 
journey, and had arrived in the neighbourhood of Britain, 
when they became so alarmed for their safety among a 
barbarous people, of whose very language they were igno- 
rant, that tiiey determined to abandon the undertaking and 
retiun to Rome. In short, they sent back Augustine, who 
was to have been consecrated bishop in case they were 
received by the English, that he might humbly entreat 
their release from the obligation to prosecute so perilous, 
so toilsome, and so hopeless a mission. In reply, tiie Pope 
addressed to them an epistle, exhorting them to proceed in 
the work confided to them, in reliance on the word of God, 
and to put their trust in his divine aid. The purport of 
this letter was as follows : — 

" Gfregory, the servant of the servants of God, to the servants 
of our Lord. 

" Forasmuch as it would have been better not to begin a 

^ In this third Book, Henry of Huntingdon relates the conversion to 
Christianity of the Angles and Saxons settled in England. It is wholly an 
abridgment of Bede's Ecclesiastical History; but by reducing it to order, 
and describing the conversion of the several kingdoms of the Heptarchy 
seriatim, confining his narrative to the principal events, he has avoided the 
prolixity and concision of Bede's History. The Archdeacon has better pre- 
served the thread of his narrative, by judiciously omitting, in general, to 
insert the accounts of the miracles with which the history of Bede is largely 
interspersed. These he reserved for a separate Book. On the other hand, 
our historian sometimes indulges his rhetorical vein in embellishing and ex- 
patiating on incidents which Bede relates simply and succinctly. 

' Bede'g Sod. Hist, book I c. 28. 



A.i>. 5M.] POPE caaraoKY'i uxebl 97 

good irork, dan to Hunk of vidulEawing from liiat -whkh 
has been begun, it behoyes jou, my mU-belored sons, to 
filial Hiat good work 'vrfaich hj the help of the Lord jou 
have now entered on. Let, therefore, neithar the toil of the 
joiiTEkey, nor the tongoes of evil-speaking men, deter you, 
but peisist with all p^tseyerance and wilii all zeal in what 
you have u&dertaloen by the will of Grod, knowmg that the 
greater the suffering ihe greater is the glorf oi t£e eternal 
reward. When, therefore, Augustme your chiefs whom we 
also appoint your Abbot, returns to you, humbly obey him 
in an ^ongB ; being assured that whaterer ye shall do by 
his direction will in aU respects be profitable to your souls. 
May Almi^y God defend you with his gracious assistance, 
and grant that I may behold the fruits of your labours in 
tiie heavenly country; inasnuich as aithoiigh it is not per- 
mitted me to labour with yon, I shall be found with you in 
the joys of the reward, because I am willing to partake of 
your labours. God have you in his holy keying, my wett- 
beloved sons ! Dated on the tenth of the kalends of August* 
in the lourteenth year of the reign of our Lord Mtuiritius 
Tiberias, the most pious Augustus; and in the fourteenth 
indietion.'' 

Beassured by this message from the holy Father, the mis- 
sionaries pursued their journey to Britain ^ At that time 
Ethelbert was king of Kent, and possessed of great power ; 
for be had extended the frontier of bis dominions to the 
Humb^, a great river which is the boundaiy between the 
southern and noribem tribes of the Saxons. On the eastern 
side of Kent lies Thanet, an island of oonsiderable size, 
c<Hitaining after the En^sh way of reckoning 600 families. 
The river Wantsum, winch separates it from the main-land, 
is about three fmioiigs wide, and is fbrdable in two places 
cmiy, both ends of it being lestuaries. Ajogastine, the ser- 
vant of God, with his companions, being, as is reported, 
nearly forty men, having landed on this island, they an- 
noonced to ibe king by their interpreters, that they werp 
come from Borne, and were bearers of a joyM message, 
winch beyond aQ doubt assinred to Ihom -wtbo obeyed jt 

' Bede,bMki2fL 

F 2 



68 HENBY OF BUNTIKODON. [BOOK IH^ 

eternal joys in heaven, and an everlasting kingdom with the 
living and true God. The King, upon hearing this, com- 
manded them to remain in the island in which they had 
landed, where they should he supplied with all things 
necessary, till such time as he should consider how he 
should deal with them. For he had some cognizance of 
the Christian religion, his wife, a princess of the nation of 
the Franks, Bertha byname, being a Christian: having been 
given to him by her parents upon the express condition, 
Siat she should have fuU liberty to preserve her faith in- 
violate, and to practise the rites of her religion under the 
ministration of Luidhard, a bishop who attended her. In a 
few days time the King crossed over to the island, and, seat 
ing himself in the open air, ordered Augustine and his 
companions to be invited to a conference with him. For 
he was cautious not to meet them in any house, lest, accord- 
ing to an ancient superstition, if they practised any magical 
arts, they might imawares gain an advantage over him. 
But they came endowed with divine, not with magical virtue, 
a silver cross and a picture of Our Lord and Saviour being 
carried before them as their ensigns, while they chanted 
litanies makmg supplications to God for the eternal salva- 
tion of themselves, and of those for whom and to whom 
they were come. By the King's command, they then sat 
down and preached to him and his attendants, and all who 
were present, the word of life. After which the King thus 
replied : — " Yoin: words and the promises you hold out to 
us are indeed specious ; but as much as they are a novelty 
and hard of comprehension, I cannot assent to them, for* 
fiaking that which I have so long held in common v^th the 
whole English nation. But because you have travelled 
hither from a far distant country, and, as far as I can judge, 
for the purpose of commimicating to us the benefit of what 
you believe to be excellent and true, so far from molest- 
ing you, it is our wish to receive you with generous hospi- 
tality, and to take care you are supplied v^ith whatever is 
necessary for your subsistence. Nor do we prohibit you 
from converting all whom you are able to persuade by your 
preaching to the belief of your religion." 
Accordingly he assigned them a residence in the city of 



A.I>. 597.] ST. AUGUSTINE ENTERS CANTERBURT. 69 

Canterbury, which was the metropolis of all his dominions, 
and, pursuant to his promise, while he made provision for 
their maintenance, did not withhold the hberty of preaching. 

It is reported that as they drew near to the city, carrying, 
according to their custom, the holy cross and the image of our 
Sovereign Lord and King Jesus Christ, they sung in concert 
this litany : " We beseech thee, O Lord, of thy infinite 
mercy, that thy wrath and thy anger be turned away from 
this city, and from us thy holy family, notwithstanding we 
have sinned against thee. Hallelujah ! " 

As soon as they were settled within the city ^, they devoted 
themselves to the course of life practised in the primitive 
church from apostolical times, and by their heavenly-minded 
fhime and conversation, and the sweetness of tiieir doc- 
trine, brought many to beUeve and be baptized. They ad- 
ministered baptism and said mass in the chiurch of St. 
Martin^, to the east of the city built in former times by the 
Britons, in which the Queen Bertha, already mentioned, had 
been accustomed to pray. But when the King, attracted, 
like others, by the pure life of these holy men, and by the 
miracles they wrought, became a convert to the faith, great 
numbers were added to the church of Christ. But though 
he embraced these with more affection, yet he compelled 
none to embrace Christianity ; for he had learnt from the 
authors of his own salvation, that the service of Christ 
ought to be voluntary, and not by compulsion. Nor was it 
long before he granted them a fixed abode, and conferred 
on them whatever possessions their new society required. 
And now Augustine, the man of God, repaired to Aries, 
and was consecrated archbishop by iEtherius, archbishop of 
that city, in compliance with the command of our Lord the 
Pope. On his rettun to Britain, he sent to Bome Lauren- 
tins the priest, by whom he transmitted to the Pontiff ao- 
cotints of what had taken place, and also consulted him as 
to his future conduct, by submitting to him nine questions ; 
for the answers given to which by the Pope, as they are 

' Bede, book I 25, 26. 

^ The cimrch of St. Martin, near Canterbury, which has been recently 
restored, presents an appearance of great antiquity ; and if the walls and 
fbnndations are not the identical structure here mentioned, the masonry is 
composed of the same materials, Boman bricks being worked up in it. 



90 Sanaa &w bustzihidon. [boos hi. 

somewhat loitg, the reankr is Tefenred to the hooks ia which 
Ihe ecclesiastical cainms and decrees are contaaDed. 

[iLj>. 601.]^ MoreoTer^ ike same Vape Gregorj seat £com 
Bome at the Sfane time to Augustiiie the hishop several 
fellow-lahourers and ministers of the wofd, of whom the 
first and chief were MeUitie, JnstiiSy Paulinas, and Bufianns ; 
and with them sacred vessels and vestments, hodis, and 
Ihe necessary ornaments for the churches. He sent also a 
lett«r, of wluch Hie idlkmmg is a copy: — 

"To his most reverend ami holy hraiher and fdlow4nshiqi 
Auffustme^ Gregory, ihe servant of ihe eermnia of God, 

" Althouj^ we are assured that the luii^f^eakahle rewards 
of the eternal kingdom are reserved ior those who lahour 
for Almighty God^ yet it is le^isite that we invest tham 
with honourahle distiiictioais, to the &Dd that hy this reward 
they may be qualified for meore abimdant labours in the 
performance of their i^iritaaL daty. And in regard that the 
newly^mided English chmreh haa been brought to enjoy 
the &vour of Almighty God, by hi& BMrey and your labours, 
we grant you. the use of the pall in the same during the 
p^fermanee only of the service of the mass : so that you 
ordain twelve bislu^ in so niany several sees who shall be 
subject to your jurisdiction. Thus the bishop of London' 
diall for the future always be consecrated by his own synod, 
nmd will receive the honour of the pall from this holy and 
apostolicsd see, whaeh, by the grace of God,, I now serve. 
But we will have you sexid to Yoi^ a bi£dbu>p, to be chosen 

^ Bede^booki.29. 

' It would appenr to !»▼• beoi Pope Gkegoiy^s intention that, after the 
deatk of St. Augustine at least, Iiondon should be the metropolitan see 
of the sooth of England, and York of the north, as those two cities were in 
the tisaes of the sacieBt British, chmreh. Angnstine Mooadf is said, by 
Parker, in his Antiquities a£ Britain, to have been consecrated by the general 
title of ** Bishop a[ tha English." This, however, was contsarj to the 
primitive and usual custom which derived the title of a bishop from some 
particular city. We shall find presently that St Augustine is said to hare 
fixed tile episcopal seat of himself and his suocetsors in Christ GSMiseh, then, 
as it still is, the cathedral of Canterbury. In compliance, therefore, with 
this designation, and from respect to St. Augustine's me»ory,as haviag^ there 
laboued aad ||ovemedy aa well aa probably from the carcuDostaBca oi that 
city being the capital •£ the first wad greatest of the Angla-Sazon hang- 
dona, the originai chums of Londeii and the sescript of Pope Qxegsry veiB 
disregacdad^ and the prinucj waa fixed at Canterbuy. 



4..I>. 597.] POPE OXSGOByS UETIEB lO ffT. AUGUSTINE. 71 

^Bod ardained by yon, so that, if that citj, with the places 
in its n^ghbourhood, shall receire the word of God, 
sash iHshop shall also ordain twelve sufin^ans, and hare 
metropolitui nmk. On him also, if we live, it is our design, 
by tte beip of God, to confer the pallium, and yet we mU. 
bsve him to submit to your anthority. But after your de- 
eeasei, he shail so preside orer the bishops he shall ordain, 
as to be no wise subject to the jurisdiction of the bishop of 
London, But for the future let the distinction of rank 
between the bishops of the cities of London and York be 
this, that he shall have the precedence -who is iaist ordained. 

^'Let tfaera, however, take order with unanimity, by 
common counsel and uniform proceedings, for whatever is 
to be done, with Christian zeal. Let them determine rightly, 
and what they detennine let them carry into execution 
without disagreement with each other. Meanwhile, you, 
my brother, shall have subject to you in our Lord Jesus 
Christ not only the bishops who shall be ordained by you, 
«D.d those wbuD shall be ordakied by the bishop of York, 
but all the priests in l^itsdn, to the end that from your 
mouth and your example of a holy life they may be taught 
hodi to believe rightly and to live well, and thus fdlfiUing 
their office with a true faith and right conversation, they 
may, when it shall please the Lord, attain to the heavenly 
kxD^om. May God have you, most reverend brother, in 
his safe keeping, 

'' Dated the 10th of the Kalends of July, in the 17th year 
of the reign of our Lord Mauricius Tiberius, most pious 
Augustusk" 

While the before-named delegates were on their way to 
Britain, the Apostolical Father sent after them letters, 
wherein he plfonly shows how concerned he was for the 
^iritual welfiore of our nation^. Thtis he wrote : — 

'* To kU mogt hdoved son MdUim, the Abbot ; Gregory the 
tenant of the senanis of God, 

" Since the departure of those we associated with you, 
we have been veiy anxious because no tidings have reached 
OS of the success of your journey. When, however, Al- 

* Bede, book I 30. 



73 HENBY OF HUNTINGDON. [bOOK IIT. 

mighty God shall have conducted you safely to the most 
reverend Bishop Augustin, our brother, tell him what, after 
long deliberation on EngUsh affairs, I have determined 
upon, viz. that the temples of idols in that nation ought 
by no means to be pulled down ; but let the idols that are 
in them be destroyed; let holy water be consecrated and 
sprinkled in the said temples ; let altars be raised and reHcs 
deposited under them. For if these temples are well built, 
it is requisite that they be converted fixjm the worship of 
devils to the service of the true God; that the people 
seeing that their temples are not destroyed may cast out 
error from their hearts, and knowing and adoring the true 
God, may the more famiharly resort to places at which they 
have been used to worship. And inasmuch as they have 
been accustomed to slaughter many oxen in their sacrifices 
to devUs, some solemnity ought to be substituted for this : 
on the anniversary of the feast of dedication, or the nativi- 
ties of the holy martyrs whose reUcs are there deposited, 
they may erect booths with the boughs of trees rpund those 
churches which have been converted from temples, and 
celebrate the commemoration with reUgious feasting. Let 
them no more offer victims to the devil, but slaughter cattle 
to the praise of God in their eating, rendering thanks in 
then- fiiness to the Giver of all things ; that so while some 
fleshly *enjoyments are outwardly permitted, they may more 
readily be moved to inward and spiritual joys. For it is, 
doubtless, impossible to extinguish the desire for such in- 
dulgences from obdurate minds, and he who endeavours to 
mount to a lofty summit, ascends by degrees or steps, and 
not by leaps. Thus Ihe Lord revealed himself to the 
people of Israel in Egypt ; but, permitting the use of sacri- 
fices, He reserved to his own worship what before they 
were accustomed to offer to devils; conunanding them to 
sacrifice animals in the worship of Himself, to the end that, 
changiQg their hearts, one thing in sacrifice they might 
abohsh, another they might retain; that although the 
animals were the same they were wont to offer, yet now 
being offered to God and not to idols, the sacrifices were no 
longer the same. These things, beloved, we require you to 
commimicate to our brother aforesaid, that he being now 



A.X>..601.] GBEGOBY's LETTEB BB8P£CTnfG MIBACLES. . 73 

present on the spot may consider bow he may order all 
things. May God have you, most beloved son, in bis holy 
keeping. 

'* Dated this 15th of the Kalends of July, in the 19th 
year of the reign of the Emperor our Sovereign Lord Mau- 
ricius Tiberius, most pious Emperor; the 18th year after 
the consulship of our said Lord; the fourth indiction." 

At the same time he sent Augustine a letter ^ concerning 
miracles wrought by him, warning him against being puffed 
up by reason of them. The letter was in these words : — 

'* I leam, most dearly beloved brother, that Almighty 
God works miracles by your hands in the midst of the 
nation which it has been his will to choose for himself. 
Wherefore it is necessary that you rejoice with trembling, 
and fear in rejoicing for this heavenly gift ; that you should 
rejoice because the souls of the Enghsh are by outward 
signs drawn to inward grace; but that you should fear, lest, 
amidst the miracles wMch are wrought, the weak mind be 
lifted up with presumption, and as it is externally raised to 
honour, it may thence inwardly fall through vain glory. 
For we must call to mind that when the disciples returned 
rejoicing from preaching the word, and said to their 
heavenly Master, * Lord, in thy name, even the devils are 
subject to us,' they were forthwith told, * Bejoice not for this, 
but rather rejoice for that your names are written in heaven.* 
For they fixed their thoughts on selfish and temporal joy 
while they rejoiced in miracles, but they were recalled from 
rejoicing in tiiiemselves to joy for others, fi:om transitory to 
eternal joys, when it was said, * Bejoice for this, that your 
names are written in heaven.' For not all the elect work 
miracles, and yet the names of all are written in heaven.' 
For the disciples of the truth ought not to rejoice save for 
the good which they have in common with others, and their 
enjoyment of which is without end. 

" It remains, therefore, brother most beloved, that amidst 
those outward signs, which by the operation of the Lord 
you openly work, you inwardly judge yourself and clearly 
understand both what you are yourself, and how much grace 
there is in that nation for whose conversion you have even 
received the gift of working miracles. And if you remem- 
> Bede, book i. 31» 



74 BSRBT cor HOKmiaDOK. [book in. 

ber that yon hay« at anj time offended our Creator, either 
by woid or deed, yon inll contnoiaily call these things to 
mind, that the memory of your guilt may suppress the 
pride which rises in j&ar heart; and whatever joa shall 
zeceive, dr have received, in relation to working mirades, 
that you coDsider the same not as eonfiarred on yon, bat on 
those for whose salvatkm these gUto have been vaucfasafed 
toyoa." 

Pope Grogoiy sent a letter also to King £thelbert\ with 
presents of wious kinds, that he mighthonour with wcxrldlj 
<^fezings him whom he had been the means of widowing 
vnth spiritual Uessings: — 

" To the moit iUustriaut lard, and owr most eaxMent 9on^ 
Eihdbertj kmff of Ike English, Oregory, bishop, 

<* It is &>r this purpose thai Almighty God promotes the 
good to be ruiefs ai ihe feapie, that by them He may impart 
the boonties of his ma%y to those over whom they are set. 
This we know ta h«fe been doiie in Hie English nation 
oyer whom yonr majesty was placed in order that by means 
of the privilege which has b^n voiiehsafed to us, heavenly 
benefits may be confined on the people your subjects. 
Preserve, tfewrefoie, with care, my iQ:i^strious son, the grace 
which has been diving givai you, and haiiten to extend 
the Christian fiiith among the nations subject to your rule. 
Let the earnestness of your zeal £»* their conversion be 
increased; suppress the wcnrship of idols, overthrow their 
temples ; edify the minds of yffor subjects, and purify their 
morals by exhortation, by threatenings, by gentleness, by 
correction, and by setting them an example of good con- 
duct, that you may have your reward in heaven from Him 
whose name and whose Imowledge you shall i^nad abroad 
upon earth. For He vnll render your name glorious even 
to future generations, whose honour yon sedc snd defend 
among the nations. 

^ For thus in old 'foies Ccmstantine, the most pious 
emperor of Eome, leeovering the eommoarwealth firom ihe 
perverted warship oflfered to idols, subjected it, together 
with himself, to Aladghty God and our Iioid Jesus Christ, 
and was with his whole heart and wi& the nations his 

> Bede^ Wok i S2. 



A.l>. 661.] LETTEB TO XlXa ETHSI9BBT. 75 

subjects eonTerted to Him. Wbence it folkmed tkat liie 
gjoiy <^ this pzinee tnuieeeiided that of former em|>er(M:s, 
Mad he as mneh tsee^ed hxs predecesaors in reiKywn as he 
did in good -wcdks. tkw, thei^ore, let yovnr ilhistrioasness 
Insten to k^ase tfafi knowledge of the one God, Father, 
Son, and Holy Spirit, among &e kings and people Hiat are 
snirieet to yon, tlurt you may hoSn snrpass the former kings 
of your nation in fame and merit, and- the more yon vripe 
acmy the ass of other meai amcmg your subjects, by so 
muck the more jm. may find security against your own 
ains hefare the tanrible judgmait of Ahni^ty God. 

^ Our most reverend brother Augustine, your bishop, is 
well mformed in the monastie rules, full of the knowle^e 
«f the Holy Scriptuxes, and by the grace of God endued 
-mdi good works; whatever admonitions, therefore, you 
receiye £r(»n him, hear willingly/ devoudy follow, and caie- 
laQy retain in jma memory. For if you listen to him in 
what he ^>eaks for Almi^^ God, he will be mcHre readily 
heard by Almi^ty God when he prays for you. But k 
(which God forbid I) yon disregard his words, how can 
Akni^ty God listoi to him on your bdhalf whom you 
n^lect to hesor for God*s sake ? Unite yoors^, therefore, 
wi& him in the fervour of faith with all your mind, and in 
reiianee on that grace whidi has been diyindy communi- 
cated to you ^ongh him ; further his endeavours that he 
Boay make yxm a partaker of this kingdom whose &ith you 
eanse to be received and maintained in your own. 

•* Moreover, we would have you, illustrious king, to 
ffliderstaad that as we find in Holy Scripture from the 
wcftds oi the Almighfy Jjord, that &e end of ishe present 
world is near, and the kingdom of the saints which can 
never end is about to come. But as this end of the world 
draws near, manj things are at hand which have not before 
happened, as changes in the air, terrible signs in the 
havens, tempests out of the ci^omon order of ^ seasons, 
wsrs, imtiiiiesy pestilenees, earthquakes m various places ; 
2^ lAdeh. wis not indeed happen in omr days, but after our 
days all will come to pass. If you, then, find any of these 
things to happen in your country^ let not your mind be any 
way disturbed, for these tokens of the end of the woxld are 
sent before in order that we may be carefiil for oar souls. 



76 HENRY OF HUNTINGDON. [BOOK TO, 

looking for the hour of our death, and that we may he 
found prepared by good works to meet the impending judg- 
ment. Thus much, my illustrious son, I have now shortly 
spoken, that when the faith of Christ shall have further 
increased in your kingdom, our discourse to you may grow 
more full, and it will be our pleasure to say the more, in. 
proportion as the joys of our heart for the entire conversioa 
of your people are multiphed. 

" I have sent you some presents, which are small indeed, 
but which will not be trifling if liiey are accepted by you 
accompanied with the benediction of the blessed apostle 
Peter, May Almighty God perfect his grace which he has 
begun in you, prolonging your life here for the course of 
many years, and after a lengthened period receive you into 
the society of the blessed in the heav^y country. May 
the divine fevoiur preserve your excellency in safety, 

'' Given the lOtib day of the Kalends of July, in the 10th 
year of the reign of our Sovereign Lord Mauritius Tiberius, 
our most pious Emperor, in the 18th year after the consul- 
ship of our said Lord ; the fourth indiction." 

There had been a church built formerly by the Boman 
Christians in what was now become the royal city^. This 
church Augustine dedicated to the honour of our blessed 
Saviour % and made it the episcopal seat of himself and his 
successors. The King also erected to the east of the city 
the church of St, Peter and St. Paul, in which the bodies 
of the archbishops of Canterbuiy and the kings of Kent 
might be buried. The first abbot of this church was the 
priest Peter ^ who, having been sent ambassador to France, 
was drowned in a creek of the sea which is called Amfleat*, 

* Bede, book i. 83. 

' Christ Church, still the cathedral of Canterbury. The oldest part of 
the present structure was founded in 1085, on the site of the ancient Eoman- 
British church, restored by St. Augustine. 

^ Henry of Huntingdon does not, except by naming the first abbot, men* 
tion, as Bede does^ the monastery which was attached to this church, and 
founded at the same time by Ethelbert. It was afterwards called St Au« 
gustine's Abbey, and was for many ages one of the most magnificent and 
celebrated in the kingdom. After bemg rumed and long desecrated, the 
aite, with part of the remains^ has recenSy been restored to sacred uses, as 
H missionary college. 

* Ambleteuse, near Boulogne. 



A.I>. 605.] DEATH AND CHABACTEB OF OBEOOBT THE GREAT. 77 

and being unknown was hmnbly interred by the inhabitants 
of the place. But Almighty God, to show the merit of such 
a man, caused a light from heaven to appear over his grave 
every night, until the neighboiurs noticing it understood 
that he who was there buried was a holy man, and making 
inquiries who and whence he was, they disinterred the 
body, and carried it to the city of Boulogne, where they 
deposited it in the chiurch with the honour due to so great 
a person. 

In the year of grace 605, the second of the reign of the 
Emperor Phocas, Pope Gregory the Great exchanged this 
life for that which is true^. He was a Boman by nation 
and noble by buih, but, surrendering the wealth attached 
to his rank, he devoted himself to a monastic life. In 
course of time, however, he was withdrawn from his 
monastery and sent to Constantinople as his surrogate by 
Pope Felix ^. While there he commenced his commenta- 
ries on the Book of Job, which he completed after he 
became pope. While there he also refuted the Eutychian 
heresy in the presence of the emperor'*. He composed 
also an excellent book called ** The Pastoral," and four 
books of Dialogues, and forty Homilies ; with an explana- 
tion of the first and last parts of the prophecy of EzekieL 
Through all his youth he was tormented with pains in the 
bowels, and weakness of the stomach, and was constantiy 
suffering from a slow fever. Thus much may be said of 
his immortal genius, which could not be restramed by such 
severe bodily pain. Other popes busied themselves in 
embellishing churches; but Gregory bestowed all wealth 
on the poor; so that the words of holy Job may be applied 
to him : — " When the ear heard me, then it blessed me ; 
and when the eye saw me, it gave witness to me : because 
I delivered the poor that cried, and the fatherless, and him 
that had none to help him. The blessing of him that was 
ready to perish came upon me : and I caused the widow's 
heart to sing for joy. I put on righteousness and clothed 

1 Bede, book ii. 1. 

* Felix lY. was Bishop of Borne A.i>. 526. 

^ Bede calls liun ** Tiberius Constantine/' but tbere was no such emperor. 
St Gregory was at Constantinople in the early part of the reign of Jus- 



78 BBBBY OF MDHUB&DOK. [bOOK HL. 



mjBetf as with a gaffmexit, and my jnsdoe mbs as a diadem. 
I was an eje to i£be blind, and a ioot to tbe lame. I was a 
ficther of the poor, and the cause which I knew not I dili- 
gently searched out I bzake ihe jaws of the wicked, and 
plucked the piey froio. his teeth." And a little after h» 
says : — *^ if I ha^s disregarded the desire of the poor, and 
hare caused the eyes of &e widow to wait in Tain, if I hate 
eaten my morsel selfishly, and die fstheiless ha<(h not par- 
taken thereof with me, for from my youth piiy grew np 
with me, and from my molher's womb it came forth with 
me. ' 

Among other things whidi this holy j^ofpe did, he caused 
masses to be celebrated over die relies of St Peter and 
St Paul; and in the service of the mass he added three 
sentences of the highest perfection : — ** Dispose our da;ys 
in dxy peace; preserve va from eternal damnation; and 
rank ns in the numb^ of thine elect!"' It is r^orted 
also, as Bede tells ns, that this man of God, going one day 
into the maiket-plaee, saw there some English youths 
whose bodies and eountenances and hair were exceedingly 
fiiir. He learned, npon inquiry, that Ihey were just arrived 
from Britain, and also that they were heathens. Upon 
which he exclaimed with a sigh : — ^^^ Alas I how sad that the 
author of darkness has in his power men of so £Eur a conn- 
texumce." Again he in<|uired, ** what was the name of that 
nation?" and was answered that Ihey were called Angles. 
" It is well," he said, *' for they ham an angelic face, and 
such fs tfaey ou^ to be coheirs with die angels in 
heaven : " adding, ^ What is the name of the prorince from 
which they are brougjbt?" It was replied that the natives 
of that pxrvince were called 3>eiri*. "Truly," said he^ 
" they are plucked oat from wrath, * De irft,* and called to 
the mercy of Christ: How is the king of that {oovince 
called?" They told him that his name was £lla; upon, 
which, in alhision to the name, he said, '' Allehijah must 
be song to the praise of God in those regions." Present* 

1 Job zxiz. 11-17 ; and zzzi. 16-18. According to tl» Yidgate. 

^ These words still form part of the Onon of & man ued in mil the 
AaaAm of th« BonuDi oonmnnkB, oeoRrng in the OfEertory, jut before 
llw conKcntioB. 

' The ancient name of the kingdom of Northnmbria. 



AJD. 606.] TOMB ABD SSIXAPH OF OSBflOBY THE GBEAT. 79 

ijQ^ himself, thereforep to the bishop who then governed the 
Eoman church^, for he himself was not yet pope, he 
entreated that he would commission him to preach the 
gospel in that coimtiy; but not being able to accomplish 
his desire, as soon as he was advanced to the primacy he 
carried into execution, by means of others, the work on 
vhieh his heart had long been set. 

Gregoiy was interred in the church of St Peter the 
Apostle before the sacristy, where this epitaph is inscribed 
on his tomb : — 

" Barth t take tiiat body wUch at fint yott gKv% 
Tin God agiun shall laise it from tiie giaye. 
The sonl moimts upwards to the reafans of day. 
Yanly ike pow'n of darkness itriie to stay 
Him, eVm whose death but leads to life the wsy. 
He, best of pielates, to the tomb descends; 
Bat &me his good deeds through the world extends. 
The Saxon race he taught the way of peace. 
And to the fold of Ohnst brovgfat freA ioeican. 
Hail, Chregory; Soman, Ghristkm, soNte, hnli 
The lamels ef thy triunphs ne'er siiAil faiL" ' 

Meanwhile St. Augustine ordained Justus bishop in 
Donibievi, a cilyof E^it, which the Knglwh cill Bofeoester, 
from one of Iheir dnefs named Bof . King Etiidbert founded 
there a church dedicated to St. Andrew the aposde. The 
place is distant from Canterbury 24 miles. 

We have now completed our task of showing how the 
king and people of Keni were converted to the &itli of 
Cbnst; and here the second part begins, in which is shown 
how the king and people of Essex, that is, the East-Saxons, 
leceived the word of God. They were erangelized by 
Mellitos, a £uthfui and holy man, who was sent to them by 
Augustine; being at that time governed under Ethdbert, 
whose rule, as we have said before, extended over the vdiole 
country as £ar as the Humber, by his nephew Sebert Tlie 
ims8i0n pioving suocesafial, and the king Sebert, with his 
people, being converted to the faith, Eiag Edielbert fovnded 
in London tide chordbL of St. Paul ^r an episeopal see, and. 



IL Gtt|0wjhi9dwlf was nade Bishop of Seine AA 51^0. 
' Heniy of Huntingdon omits some lines of this epitaph giveii Igr Bedft. . 



80 HENBT OF HUNTINGDON. [BOOK in; 

munificently endowing it, Mellitus was worthily appointed 
bishop. 

[a.d. 603.] Meanwhile^ Augustine, with the assistance of 
King Ethelred, assembled the bishops or doctors of the 
largest and nearest province of the Britons at a place which 
is to this day Called in the English tongue Augustine's Ac, 
that is, ** Augustine's oak," on the confines of the Wiccii 
and the West-Saxons^. There was a controversy with 
the Scots and Picts respecting the celebration of Easter', 
and when they refused their assent to the unanswerable 
reasoning of Augustine, it was mutually agreed that the 
confirmation of their several opinions should rest on the 
healing of a blind man of the English race, who was brought 
into the assembly. When, therefore, the priests of the 
Britons were imable to cure him, Augustine bending his 
knees in prayer before them all, restored sight to the blind 
man, that through him he might give light to the whole 
nation. Afterwards* the Britons and Scots, for their greater 
satisfaction, sought advice as to what they should do from a 
certain man who was esteemed to be wise and holy. He 

> Bede, book IL 2. 

' The Wiccii, Hnicdi, or Jnganteg, were a tribe of Britons who inhabited 
Woioestenhire, Warwickshire, and the north of (Gloucestershire. On the 
porth was a kindred tribe, the Ordovices, or noble Viccii [from Ftc, a war- 
rior, and Ord, honourable], who originally possessed Salop, and part of 
Cheshire and North Wales ; and afterwards conquered Worcestershire, &c., 
from the Wiccii proper. — Whiiaker^s Hittory of Manchester, Hennr of 
Huntington might, therefore, justly describe this country as one ot the 
largest provinces of the ancient Britons, being divided on the south-east 
from the kingdom of the West-Saxons by the river Avon. Aust, a village 
which is situated just above the confluence of that rivftr with the Severn, 
where the synod is supposed to have been held, answers the Archdeacon*8 
description of St. Angnstine's oak ; being on the confines between the two 
provinces. 

^ The ancient British and Irish churches kept the feast of Baster by a 
cycle, in which the improvement adopted at Eome in the fifth century had 
not been introduced. The controversy was not, as generally supposed, be^ 
iween the practice of the Boman and the ancient Bastem churches. See noto' 
to Bede's Bcclesiastical History, p. 104 of the present series. 

* This incident is rehited by Bede to have occurred at a second synod, 
held at Banchor, now Bangor-Iscoed, in Flintshire, where there was a cele- 
brated British monastery. Henry of Huntingdon, in his imperfect notice of 
these occurrences, omits to mention the latter synod, and confiues the 
two accounts. 



A.l>. 603.] 87K0D AT BANOOB 81 

replied, " If he is a servant of God, agree mth him." But 
they said, " How shall we know this ? " To which he an- 
swered : " If he is meek and humhle of heart, he will 
appear to be a servant of God." Upon which they rejoined, 
" How shall we know that he is humble ?" " If," said he, 
" he rises up when you approach him, consider that he 
receives you in the spirit of hmnihty ; but if, you being 
more in number, he shall yet disdain to stand up to you, do 
you disdain to submit to him." When, therefore, they met, 
and Augustine, who was seated in a chair after the Eoman 
fashion, did not rise up to receive them, they departed with 
indignation and clamorous reproaches. To whom Augustine 
predicted that since they would not accept the peace o£fered 
them by their brethren, they would have war with them as 
enemies, and that if they would not preach the way of life 
to the English nation, they would undergo by their hands 
the penalty of death. All which was by agency of Divine 
Providence accomplished just as he foretold. 

¥or afterwards Ethelfrid, the formidable king of the 
English, of whom we have spoken^, having assembled a 
vast army, made an immense slaughter of the perfidious • 
nation at the city of the legions which is called by the 
English people Lege-cester, but by the Britons, more cor- 
rectly, Kxier-legion'*. When about to give battle, observing 
their priests, who had gathered together to offer prayers to 
God on behalf of the soldiers engaged in the conflict, 
standing in a place of some safety, he inquired who they 
were, and for what purpose they were thus assembled? 
Most of them belonged to the monastery of Bangor, in 
which, it is reported, the nmnber of the monks was such, 
that when the monastery was divided into seven parts, with 
a superintendent for each, none of these divisions con- 
tained less than 300 men, who all lived by manual laboiu*. 
Many of these having completed a three-days' fast, had 
now, among others, joined 4ie army to offer their prayers, 
having one named Brocmail as their champion to pro- 
tect them while they were thus engaged from the swords 

^ ETog of Northumbria. 

^ Chester, the Bera of the Romans, which was garrisoned by the legion 
called the twentieth Yalerian, one of its eight auxiliary cohorts, the Frisiani 
beiog stationed at Manchester. — WkUaher'i Hittory. 

a 



B2 HENsar of HnNTiNGiK>N. [book m. 

of the bflsrbamns. 'When King EtbelMd was informed of 
the oeeasion of liieir coming, he aaid, " If, then, th^ invoke 
thetr God against ns; imly they fight agamst us, though 
they are imarmed, inasmuch as they oppose us with their 
hostile imprecations.'" He therefotre commanded that the 
first attack should he made on them, and then destroyed 
the remainder of the impious army, not without great loss 
of his own troc^s. Of those who came to pray^ it is said 
that about ISKK)^ were slain, and 50 only esca|»ed hy 
flight. Brocmail and his followers, turning their backs 
on the enemy at the first attack, left those whom he ought 
to have protected, unarmed and defaioeless, to the swords of 
ihe assailants. Thus was fulfilled the prediction of Augus- 
tine, the holy bishop, thou^ he himself had been tran5l£U;ed 
long before to the celestial kingdom ; that those perfidious 
men should suffer the punishment of temporal death also, 
because they had despised the ofiGers made them of eternal 
salvation. 

Augustine, beloved of God, was, indeed, now dead, and had 
been buried near the church of St Peter and St Paul, but 
outside the walls, because it was not yet finished nor con- 
secrated. But after its consecration by his successor Lauren- 
tius, the remains were transferred with due honour to the 
uortii porch of the churdi, in which the bodies of all the 
archbidiops to the time of Theodore were interred, after 
which the porch could contain no more. The following 
^itaph is inscribed on the tomb of Rt Augustine: — 

'* Here lies the Lord Augustine, first archbishop of Can- 
terbury, who, having been formerly directed here by the 
blessed Gregory, bi^op of the city of Bome, and strength- 
ened by God with the power of working miracles, brought 
King £thelred and his people fi:om the worship of idols to 
the fiuth of Christ, and having ended the days of his o£&ce 
in peace, departed this life tibe seventh of tiie kalends of 
Joae, during the reign of the same king." 

While Augustine was yet alive he had consecrated Lau- 

1 See Saxon Chronicle, A.D. 607. The number there stated is 200. " It 
was originally perhaps in the MSS. icc, the abbreviation for 1200 ; which 
ia th« nomber of the slain in Bede. The monks of Bangor are said to have 
nambefed 2100 ; most of whom appear to have bean employed in piayBr, 
and only 50 escaped by flight" — Ingram. 



A3. 665-616.] UkWBEliCSU SBDOVD' ABCHBISHOP. 83 

renthis as loss successor in the aiehbifihopric, following iJae 
^cample of St Feter, who ordained Clemens in like manner, 
lest upon his owni death the state of the church, as yet un- 
settled, sho«dd totter even for a single hour. Laurentius 
inde£fttigal)l7 btolt up the religion winch had been founded, 
not only superintendmg witk care the new church of the 
!En^sh nation, but also those of the ancient Britons imd 
Scots, who were mistaken in the time of keeping Easter. 
To them he sent a letter, the beghming of which is as 
follows*: — 

" To WMT most dsar brothen the lorda^ hiskopSy and abboU, 
through all Scotland, LainrentmSy MeUxtm, and JustuSy bishops ; 
the servants of the servants of God. 

" When the apostolic see, according to its custom through- 
out the world, s^at us to these western parts to preach to 
beath^i nations, it happened that we came into this island 
without any prerious knowledge of its inhabitants ; but we 
held both ihe Britons and Scots in great esteem for sanctity, 
believing that they had proceeded according to the custom 
of the umy^*sal church. And when we became acquainted 
with the usages of the Britons, we thou^t that those of the 
Scots were better. But we found from Baganus the 
bishop, and Columban the abbot, that the Scots no way 
differ from the Britons in their customs. For Dagan the 
bishop, when he came to us, refused not only to eat with 
ns, but in the smne house of entertainment in which we 
were." 

Mellitus, bishop of London, going to Borne, was present 
at a council held by Pope Boniface, in which he made re- 
gulations concerning tbe peace and ord^ of the monks. It 
was this Pope B(»iiface, the fourth after Pope Gregoiy, who 
obtained from the Emper<Mr Phocas the temple called the 
Pantheon, that he might dedicate it to All Saints. 

King Ethelbert died A.D. 616, and in the fifty-sixth year 
of his own reign, and was buried in the church of St Peter 
snd St. Padl before mentioned^. This great and excellent 
man, sxooDg other benefits which he conferred on his people, 
compiled a book of judicial decrees. After the death of 

> Bedfr, \mk ii. c. 4. > Bcde, book ii. c. 6. 

2 



84 HENRY OF HUNTINGDON. [bOOK lU. 

EthelbiBrt, Eadbald, his son, who was a heathen, took his 
father s wife. From his example many relapsed into their 
former imcleanness ; but the king was pimished by frequent 
fits of madness. On the death also of the king of the 
East-Saxons he left three sons the heirs of his kingdom who 
were heathens. Being idolaters, they said to the bishop, 
when he was celebrating the mass : ** Why do you not offer 
to us also that white bread which you used to give to our 
father, and still hand to the people?" To which he an- 
swered : "If you consent to be washed in that laver of re- 
generation, in which yom: father was washed, you also may 
be partakers of the holy bread of which he partook ; but if 
you despise the water of life, you can by no means partake 
of the bread of life." Whereupon they replied, " We will 
not enter that laver, because we do not know that we have 
any need of it, and yet we choose to eat of that bread." 
And being often diUgently admonished by him, that it could 
by no means be permitted that any one should partake of the 
holy eucharist without the holy pmification, at last they said 
in a rage, " If you will not comply with our wishes in so 
small a matter, you shall no longer dwell in our countiy." 
And they banished him and his followers from the kingdom. 
Being thus expelled, he came into Kent to consult with his 
fellow bishops, Laiurentius and Justus, what was to be done 
in this jimcture. Whereupon it was unanimously agreed 
that they should all return into then* own countiy, where 
they might serve God in freedom, than continue to reside 
among barbarians who had renoimced the faith. Accord- 
ingly, MeUitus and Justus departed first, withdrawing into 
Gaul with the intention of waiting there the issue of affairs. 
But the kings who had driven from them the preachers of 
the truth, did not long continue their heathenish worship 
impimished, for, going forth to battle with the nations of 
the Gewissse, they were all slain, together with their army. 
However, though the leaders, in their wickedness, were cut 
off, the people who had fallen into it could not be reclaimed 
and restored to the simpHcity of the faith and charity which 
is in Christ. 

Laurentius being about to follow Mellitus and Justus, 
and to quit Britain, ordered his bed to be laid the night 



A-D. 616-619.] lawbence's vision, and death. 85 

before in the church of the blessed apostles Peter and Paul, 
which has been often mentioned \ Here, after pouring 
forth many tears and supphcations to God for the state of 
his church, he composed himself to rest. While he was 
yet sleeping in the dead of the night, the blessed prince of 
the apostles appeared to him and chastising him for a long 
time with sharp stripes ^ demanded with apostolical seve- 
rity, " Why he was forsaking the flock which he had com- 
mitted to him? or to what shepherds he would intrust 
Christ's sheep that were in the midst of wolves? Hast 
thou," said he, ** forgotten my example, who, for the sake 
of those little ones whom Christ commended to me in 
token of his love, suffered at the hands of infidels, his 
enemies, bonds, stripes, imprisonment, afflictions, and in 
the end death itself, the death of the cross, that I might 
thereafter share his crown ?" Thus admonished, Laurentius 
forthwith related all this to the king, who, struck with alarm, 
dissolved his illegitimate marriage, and was baptized. He 
likewise sent to recall MelUtus and Justus from Gaul. The 
people of Kochester received Justus, but the Londoners 
rejected MeUitus, preferring to be under their idolatrous 
high-priests ; for King Eadbald had not so much authority 
as his father, so that he was unable to restore the bishop 
against the will of his subjects. 

[a.d. 619.] Laurentius died in the reign of Eadbald'*, 
aud was succeeded by Mellitus, bishop of London, who with 
the co-operation of Justus, bishop of Eochester, governed 
the English church vdth much diligence. Mellitus, indeed, 
was afflicted with gout, but his mind was sound. He was 
noble by birth, but much more noble in mind. For one 
instance of his virtue, when a fire broke out in the city of 
Canterbury, he ordered himself to be carried to the raging 
flames, and by his prayers extinguished the conflagration. 
Justus, bishop of Eochester, succeeded to the archbishopric 
after the death of Mellitus, who held it five years. 

* Bede, book u. c. 6. 

' In Saxon CLfonicle, literally, *'win^«<?, or icoTirged him.*' The expression 
#f King Alfred, in his transhition of Bede, is still stronger. But both Bede 
and Alfred begin by recording the matter as a vision, or a dream, whence the 
transition is easy to a matter of fact, as it is stated by Henry of Huntingdon 
and all their copiers. 

• Bede, book ii. c. 7. 



86 HENBT or HuxrniQDCffir. [book hi, 

[a.d. 624.] Pope Bo&ifistce, Hie sucoeesor of Deus^ledit^ 
sent him the pallium with the letter foliowing ^ : — 

*' Bonifetce to his dearly behwd brother Justus. 

^ How deyouUj md <liligeiiti3r your fratBrmt^ has labom^d 
for the gospel of Christ, I have leamt not only from the 
contents of your ^sHe, hut from the success of your work. 
Almighty God hath not widihekl the blessing of his sacra- 
ments n(»* the frnit of your labours, having regard to his 
sm'e promise to the ministers of his gospel, ' Lo ! I am 
with you alway, even unto the end of Uie world/ For we 
have received accounts from our son Eadbaid, the king, by 
which we perceive with how much wisdom of hdLy elo- 
quence your fraternity has led his mind to embrace a piu« 
life and an undoubtingly sincere faith 

"We have, therefore, beloved brother, sent you the pallium 
by the bearer of this letter, granting yon lieenise to wear it 
in the celebration of the holy mysteries, and also permitting 
you to ordain bidiops, the grace of our Lord directing you, 
as occasion may require ; that so the go^el of Christ may 
be made known by the preaching of maaoy toall the nations 
which are not yet converted. God have you in his safe 
keeping, most beloved brother !^* 

Our third section commences with the conversum oC 
the Northimibrians, that is, of the pe<9le who inhabit the 
country to the n£»th of the Humber. Their king, Edwin, 
had been raised to a pitdi of temporal power such as Ji» 
English king had enjoyed belbrB^ ; for his role extended 
througluMit the bounds of &itam, and ail the provinces 
which were inhabited difaer hj Engiii^ or Britons vr&» 
under his dominion. He also reduced to his subjectacm 
the Menavian Islands'; the first of which, the one lying to 
the south, is the largest in size, and, frxim its iertality^ most 
productive of ocnn. It contains the fnms of 960 £Guiiili€s; 
the other, of 900 and more. 

[a.d. 625.} This king, when yet & lieathen, had maxzied 
Ethelburga, a Christian, and the daughter of King Ethel- 
bert, who was also called Tate, ^e was attended by 
Paulinus, ordained bi^op by Justus the archbishop, that 

^ Bede, book ii. c. 8. ' Bede, bosk ii. c. S 

' Mona, or Anglesey, and the Isle of Man. 



A.B. d^.] COHCTEBBlOm OF XING J31IIN. 67 

he mi^t propagate llio gospel in that region. The follow- 
ing year there arrived a ceartain assasun named Eumer, who 
was employed by Chid^elm, king of Wessex, to miuder 
Edwin. This man, pretending that he brought a message 
from his master, msde a sadden attack on King Edwin, 
near the river D^rwont, with a poisoned and two-edged 
dagger. LdUa, an officer of the king, observing it, inter- 
cepted the stroke by interposing Ms own body, which it 
transfixed, at the same time sU^tly wounding the king. 
The assas^ was immediatdty cat down by the swords of 
the king's attendants, but not before he h$d slain another 
officer. 

The same ni^t the queen gave birth to a daa^ter, 
whose name was Eanfled, upon which the king gave thanks 
to his gods ; bnt Panlinus asserted that his prayers to God 
had obtained lor the ^een a safe delivenmce. The king, 
delisted vrith his words, vowed that he vraold become the 
servant of C^irii^ if he granted him victoiy over Ohichefan ; 
and as a pledge for the ftdfilment of his promise he com- 
manded that has daaghter dionld be baptised, which was 
done, eleven others of his family receiving baptasm at the 
same time, ^^iien, however, he i«tamed victorigns ii^ his 
<pwn conntry, his enemies being either lEdain or reduced to 
sali^ection, he did not immediately become a Christian; 
bxtt, being naturally a man of great sagacity, he oflben y/hext 
akme, aoMl <»ften in company with otiiers, having heard the 
aaqgoments for the new religion, delib^ ated what was to be 
done. 

Bope BomiiEiee addressed to him a lettra*^ exiiorting him 
to embrace the faith, and therewith he sent preseaals, which 
he mentions at the close of his jostle in these words: 
** We have, moneover, sent you the blessing of your pro- 
tector, the blessed Peter, l^nee of the Apostles, viz. one 
shirt, with an omam^it of gold, and one cloak of Ancyra, 
which v^e pray yom* mightiness to aec^ wilh the same 
Ifeeling of regard with which you are assured it is offered 
hj us.** The Pope sent also a letter to Ethelburga, accom- 
pomed by presents, of whidi he thus speaks at ^e dose of 
Jhis letter : •* We have, moreover, sent you the blessing of 

^ Bede, book ii.«e. 10,11. 



88 HSUBY OF HUNTINGDON. [BOOK UI, 

your protector, the blessed Peter, Prince of the ApOstles, 
viz. a comb of gilt ivoiy and a silver mirror, which we en- 
treat your highness to accept with the same feeling of 
regard with which you are assured it is offered by us." 

Meanwhile^, the Holy Spirit revealed to Paulinus a 
vision which had been formerly presented to King Edwin 
after this manner. When Ethefirid, his predecessor, per- 
secuted him so that, becoming a fugitive, he had sought 
refuge at the court of King Bedwald, he received informa- 
tion through one of his friends that Redwald, corrupted by 
the gifts of King Ethelfrid, meant to put him to death ; 
his friend, at the same time, offering to conduct him out of 
the province. To which he replied, •* Whither shall I now 
flee, when I have been so long a wanderer through all the 
provinces of Britain, to escape the snares of my enemies ? 
But if I must die, I would rather fall by his hwd than by 
that of any meaner person." Having said this he remained 
alone, brooding over his misfortunes in distress of mind, 
when he suddenly saw a stranger, in the silence of the 
night, who said to him, " Fear not, for I am not ignorant 
of the cause of your grief. What, then, will you give to 
one who will deliver you from it, and influence Bedwald to 
restore his regard to you ? " Upon his replying that he would 
give all he was worth, the other added, " What if he should 
also piously engage that you should become a more power- 
ful king than any of your predecessors, and that all your 
enemies shall be destroyed?" Edwin making the same 
reply as before, the stranger added again, " But in case he 
should propose to you a better way of life than any of your 
fathers knew, would you submit to his coimsel ? " Upon 
Edwin's faithfully promising this, the stranger laid his 
hand on his head, saying, ** When this sign shall be given 
you, remember this hour and this discourse." Having said 
this he suddenly vanished, that the king might understand 
it was not a man, but a spirit. While the royal youth sat 
there alone, the firiend before mentioned came to him and 
said, ** Bise and be joyful ; the king s resolution is altered, 
and the queen's persuasion has induced him to keep faith 
with you." In short. King Bedwald ivssembled an army, 

' Bede^ book ii. c. 12. 



>.P. 627.] THE I70BTHUMBBIAK8 OONTXBTED. 89 

and slew EtbelMd, who was advancing against him on 
the borders of the kingdom of Mercia, on the eastern 
bank of the river which is called Idle. In this battle the 
son of Eedwald, Regnhere by name, was slain. In this 
manner Edwin obtained possession of the kingdom of 
Northumbria. 

[a.d. 627.] When Paulinus reminded the king of the 
vision, laying his hand on his head, the king would have 
thrown himself at hia feet if the other had not prevented 
him. The king being now ready to acknowledge the faith, 
conferred with his followers, that he might iaduce them to 
accept it with him^ ; upon which Coifi, the chief of the 
heathen priests, said : " O king, no one has more devotedly 
served our Gods than I have done, in the hope of the 
worldly advantages I might obtain through them. But 
there are many who have received from you richer gifts 
than I have, and therefore I am satisfied that our Gods are 
good for nothing." Another of the king's chief men pre- 
sently added, " The present life of man, O king, on this 
earth, seems, in comparison of that time which is unknown 
to us, as when you are sitting at supper with your warriors 
and coimsellors in the season of "winter, the hall being 
warmed by a fire blazing on the hearth in the centre, the 
storms of the wintry rains or snow raging meanwhile in 
gusts without; and then a sparrow entering the house 
should swiftly flit across the hall, entering at one door, and 
quickly disappearing at the other; for 3ie time that it is 
within it is safe from the wintry blast, but the narrow 
hounds of warmth and shelter are passed in a little mo- 
ment, and then the bird vanishes out of your sight, retinm- 
ing again into the winter's night from which it had just 
emerged. So this life of man appears for a short interval ; 
but of what went before, or what is to follow, we are utterly 
ignorant. If, therefore, this new doctrine conveys to us 
any more assured promise, it has just claims that we should 
embrace it.'* 

When others had also spoken to the same effect, Coifi 
added, that he wished to hear Paulinus himself discoursing 
of his God ; after listening to whom, he exclaimed that he 

. Bede, book ii. c. 18. 



to HESBT IHT HmriKODON. [BOOK III. 

and llie rest were lost in «rror, aoicL thej all agreed to em- 
brace the Mih of Christ together. Coifi himself, Ihe chief 
priest, having procured fiom the king a dharg^ which ms 
a stalUon (for it was not la^v^ for ihe pagan high-piiest to 
ride on any but a mare), and seizing a sword aod ^>ear 
(which also it was not lawful for him to wield), galloped to 
the ten^le in the sight of all, and burnt and destroyed the 
shrines which his own hands had eonseomted. The spot 
where this idoVtemple stood is stiH shown in the neighr 
bouxiiood of York, to the eastward beyond tlie river Dora- 
eneion, that is, the Derwent, and die place is now called 
Godmundham^ 

King Edwin, therefore, was baptized^, with many others 
at the same time, in the diureh of St. Peter'*, which he 
had constructed of timber for the seat of the episcopate of 
PaoliQus. Before long he began to build there a lai^r 
church of stone, which Oswald afterwards finished. There 
were baptized also Ofrid and EadMd, King Edwin's sons^ 
both of whom were bom to him while he was in exile, of 
Quenburga, the daughter of Cearl, king of the Mercians. At 
a later period his children by Queen Ethelburga were also 
baptized, two of idiora were snatched away wfaHe they were 
yet in their white baptismal robes, and were buried in the 
church at York. So great then was the iaith in the gospel, 
and so eager the desire for Ihe water of salvation among 
the people of Northumbria, that at one time when Padllnus 
came with the Mng and queen to Ihe Toytl viUa called 
Adgebrin^ he stayed with them there 36 days, wholly 
engaged in the offices of catedhissng and administering 
baptism. The people were baptized in the river Gkn, 
near the town of Melmin*, in the province of Bemicia. He 

^ Now GoodmaohaiBy in the Jbut SidiDg of Yank* 
^ Bede, book b. c 14. 

* At Tork, on the site of the present cathedral, where parts of the oiigi- 
nal fiEtbric of stone, built by Paulinns, have been recently discovered benndi 
liie preKot ehoir ; and A* poiitkm ai the first tiadwr cfawch is pointed out 
bja ipriog, suFposed to be that wfaiek ei^plied the baptistery of Kk^ Ed- 
win. Panlinos also built a chnreh at Gkradaianhain, whare Stukelej sajos 
the font is shown in which the heathen priest Coifi was baptized. 

* Yeverin in Glendall, near Wooler. 
■ AioyalTin; MilfieMlin] 



bsptized also in the nver Swsle, which rans hj the tillage 
of CBte«ct^ 

[A.B. 6^28^.] Faidmns aJso iXBOwrted tiie provinoe of lot- 
dissey^, ivbich lies on the soatb of the nrer Hnmber, 
beghming ividi the governor of the city of LdDcoln, iduaae 
name wsa Bleeca, lAio was ooQTerted irith all his house- 
hold. He huilt in that cily a cluwch of heaotifiil iroiiEniaii- 
diip, in which he consecrated Honorhis ajchhishop. Hie 
city of Lincoln, which was thea catted lindocotin, with tiie 
nei^hooring district of Lmdissey, wftiich is surroiinded on 
all sides either by risers or mandies or the sea, belongs to 
the kingdom of M^«ia. The city is nobly sitoftted, and 
the dis&d; abounds in ivealth ; so Ihat it is somewhere 
written : 

^On a higli lull the noble city stands, 
'Fadng Ibe south." 

The abbot of Peartajxeu* reported that he had seen an old 
man who was baptized by Paulmus with a crowd of pe<^le, 
in the presence of £ing Edwin, in the river Trent, near 
the town sow called Fingecester^. £[e described the per- 
son of FMilinos as being tail <^ statunB and a little bent ; 
his hair black, his face meagre, his nose slender and aqui- 
line, his aspect both vcasierabk and majestic. 

[aj>. 6S4.J Yfhesa. P<^ Hononus was in&ormed of what 
had oocurced, he addressed a letter of exhortation to King 
Edwin, of which I have thought it proper to extract the 
latter clause, viz. that in whidi the carcumstances of 1^ 
EngHs^ ardiihishops are elaarly handled in the following 
words'^: — 

^ Catterick, in ike STorth Biding of Yorkshire 7 a place of great aa- 



*?ta^ 



bDak]i.£.lfi. 



' Idadsey;, a dittriet <cfimpnsing the eaatam pait of LmcolBdiire, ly^imi^i'!! 
hf the Trent and the sea, the Hnmber, and &e Wash, which in early tiiaes 
-vras a separate state, subordinate to Lfaicohi, and dependent on the longs of 
Jaeraa. 

^ His name wu Oeda, and be ynu the Srst ri>bot «f Paitney, a cell to 
Bnrdaef Abbey. Bede ssfi that Ous anedbote vas trid him by Deda 



' In Bede, Tynl-fingacaestir. The place is supposed to be Southwell in 
Kottinghamshire, remarkable for its andent collegiate church. 
• Bede, book iL c 17. 



S2 HBNRY OF HUNTINGDON. [bOOK III, 

*♦ Employ yourself in frequently reading the works of my 
Lord Gregory, of apostolical memory, "who first caused the 
•gospel to he preached among you, having before your eyes 
Sie savour of his doctrine, which he zealously employed for 
your spiritual good ; to llie end that his prayers may be- 
nefit your kingdom and people, and present you blameless 
before Almighty God. But concerning those things which 
you have requested us to regulate respecting your priests^ 
being moved by the sincerity of your faith, of which we 
have been satisfactorily assured by a variety of information 
from the bearers of our present letters, we are disposed to 
make provision with a willing mind and without any delay. 
We have therefore sent two palls to the two metropolitans, 
Honorius and Paulinus, in order that, when either of them 
is called out of this world to his Creator, the survivor may, 
pursuant to this our authority, substitute another bishop in 
the place of the one that is deceased. And this privilege 
we are induced to grant as well on account of your loving 
regard to us, as of the vast distance through so many pro- 
vinces which intervenes between us and you ; tliat we may 
in all things manifest our concurrence with your devoted- 
ness in conformity to your wishes. May God's grace keep 
your Excellency in safety ! " 

[a.d. 627.] Our fourth section^ begins with the conver- 
sion of the East-Angles, whose king, Erpwald, the son of 
Eedwald, accepted the faith at the instance of King Edwin, 
with whom he maintained the most fiiendly relations. 
His father, Eedwald, indeed, had long before adopted the 
Christian religion, but to no purpose; for returning home 
he was seduced by his vdfe and certain false brethren, so 
that he set up altars to Christ and to the devil in the same 
chapel, which, as Aldulf, king of that same province, who 
lived in the time of Venerable Bede, testifies, were standing 
in his time. Not long after his conversion, Erpwald was 
slain by one Bigbert, a pagan. He was succeeded by his 
brother Sigebert, a Christian himself and zealous in chris- 
tianizing others, with the aid of the bishop Felix, who 
being a Burgundian by origin, Honorius, the archbishop, 
had sent there to preach the gospel. This bishop Felix, 

^ Bede, book ii. c. 15. . 



A.i>. 634.] LErrER op pope honobiub. 9S 

fixing his episcopal seat in the city of Domoc ^ occupied it 
with a felicity appropriate to his name for seventeen years, 
and there ended his days in peace. 

[a.d. 627-30.] In the meantime, on the death of the 
archbishop Justus, Pauhnus consecrated in his stead Ho- 
norius, who repaired to him at the city of Lindocohi, which- 
is now called Lincoln, and was ordained in the church 
which Paulinus built there, as before related. Whereupon. 
Pope Honorius sent the pall to Honorius the new arch- 
bishop, with a letter concerning the ordering and the pre- 
cedence of the two archbishops, of which the following is 
the tenor : — 

" Honorius to his dearly beloved brother Honorius, 
"Among the many good gifts which the mercy of our 
Bedeemer is pleased to bestow upon his servants, the full* 
ness of his loving-kindness is largely shown as often as He- 
permits us by brotherly intercoiu^e, as it were face to face, 
to make known our mutual regard. For which gift we 
continually return thanks to his Divine Majesty ; and we, 
humbly beseech Him that He will confirm you with con- 
tinual strength while you labour, and are firuitfiil in preach- 
ing the gospel, and in following the rule of your master 
and head, the blessed Gregory, and that He may, through 
you, raise up firesh instrmnents for the enlargement of his 
church : so that tlie increase gained by you and your pre- 
decessors, beginning in the time of our lord Gregory, being 
in conlmual growth, may be multiplied and strengthened 
both in faith and works in the love and fear of the Lord.* 
Thus the promise of our Lord shall hereafter have respect 
to you, while those words of his shall call you to everlasting 
happiness, * Come unto me all ye that labour and are 
heavy laden, and I will give you rest* And again, * Well 
done, thou good and faithfiil servant ; thou hast been faith- 
ful over a few things, I will make thee ruler over many 
things; enter thou into the joy of thy Lord.' And we, 

^ Afterwards Dnnwich, but now no longer in existence, it having been 
waahed away by the sea. The name of tMs bishop appears to be still pre- 
ferred by the village of Felixstow, *Hhe dwelling of Felix, on the Suffolk 
coast "—IfoU in Bede't EccUs, HiO., Bohn't ediixon, 

^ Bede, book il c. 18. He does not mention the date of this archbishop'g 
death. The Saxon Chronicle places it in 627, end Dr. Smith in 680. 



Hi BESKT OF HmnniGDON. |BO(Mt HI. 

most beloved broikers, offering joti these words of ezhor- 
taction out of our abundant love, do not hesitate to grant 
you what we perceive is poss^le to consist with the pri- 
vileges of your churdies. 

^^ According, therefore, to your petition^ and the requests 
of the kings our sons, we have granted you by these jh^- 
sents, by authority as vicar of the blessed Peter, Prince oE 
ihe Apostles, anthocity, that when the Divine grace shall 
call one of you to himseH, the survivor ^all ordain another 
bi^K)p in die place of the deceased. For which purpose 
we have sent to each of you a paU for your use in such 
consecrations, that by the authority of our precept you may 
make an ordination acceptable to God. Considering liie 
wide space of sea and land which lies between us and you, 
we find ourselves compelled to make this concession, in 
order that no loss may under any cireuxi^tances occur to 
your churches, but that the devotion of the people com- 
mitted to your diarge may be freely furthered. Gk)d have 
you in his safe keeping, most beloved brother ! 

" Griven the third day of the Ides of June, in the re^ of 
our most pious emperors, the Lords HeracHus, that is» 
in the 24th year of the reign, the 23rd year after the con- 
sulship of the Emperor Heraclins> ; and in the third year 
of the most illustrious Csesar, his son HeracHus; the 
seventh indiction ; that is, in the year of the incarnation c^ 
our Lord 634." 

The same Vape Honorius wrote letters also^ to the Scots, 
correcting iheir practice with respect to keeping the feast of 
Easter, tharl; they md^t not, few as they were, pretend to be 
wiser than the churches of Christ establi^d throughout 
flie world. John, likewise, who became pope after the 
death of Severinus, the suecessor of Honorius, addressed 
l^;ters-to tiiem for the purpose of correcting the same eirar, 
and combating the Pelagracn heresy, which he had heea. in- 
formed was revived among them, asserting that man could be 
without sin, of his own free will, independently of the grace 
<rf God*. " No man," he said, " can be without sin, except 

^ There is nams cMfiinoii in, Henry of Huntingdon's quotation of the 
date of this epistle. Bede aids, "in tibe 23rd year of has son Constaaftkiey 
and the third after his eonsDlsh^." 

> Bedc^bookiL& 19. 



A^. 63d.] FENBA FBUEOUTEB THS GEBISHANS. 95 

Jesus Christ, who was eoDoeiyed and bom withont sin;** 
for all other men, thou^ they may be free £t>m actual 
tFBnf^ression, have the taint of origmal sm, according to 
the saying of David : ' B^old I was shsqien in iniquity, 
and in sm did my mother conceive me.' ** 

[aj>. 638.} After Edwin ^ had reigned seventeen years, he 
was slaon in a desperate battle in the plain which is called 
HethMd^, by Cedwall, king of the Britons, supported by 
Peoda the Strong, at that time king of the Mercians. In 
this battle his wbole anny was either pnt to the sword or 
dispersed. His wailike son, Osrid, was slain befiare him ; 
another son, EanMd, was compelled by necessity to take 
reftige with Penda, by whom he was afterwards, during the 
rei^ of Oswald, treacherously put to death. Beport says 
that in the battle just mentioned, the plain of Hethfeld 
reeked throughout with red streams of noble blood ; it was, 
indeed, the scene of a sudden and deplorable slau^ter of 
the bravest warriors \ For Cedwall, who was a most power- 
ful king, was at the head of an immense army ; and Penda 
the Strong was truly the strongest At this time, therefore, 
there was a general massacre of the Northumbrian Chris- 
tians; for Penda was a pagan, and Cedwall (though he 
professed himself a Christian) was worse than a pagan, 
sparmg neither women nor children, and threatening to 
exterminate all the English who were in Britain. Nor was 
it the custom of the Britons to communicate with the 
flngiiah any more than with the pagans^ paying no respect 
to their profession of Christianity. 

"ging Edwin's head was carried to York, and deposited in 
Hie church of St. Peter, which he had began to erect, and 
Oswald finished. And now the Northumbrians, finding no 
safety but in flight, Paulinas, taking with him the queen 
Ethdburga, whom he had fonneriy conducted thither, 
letiuned into Kent by sea, where he was honoumbly re- 
ceived by the Archbishop Honorhis and King Eadbald. He 
brou^t with him also the son and daughter of Edwin, 
wdiom their mother afterwards, for fear of the kings Ead- 
iiold and Oswald, sent into France to*be bred up by Sing 

* Bede, book ii. c 20. 
^ Heathfield, now Hatfield, near Boncarter. 
^ ' ThiB passage is an addition by Henry of Huntingdon to the more 
sample narratiye of Bede 



^6 HENBT OF HUNTINGDON. [BOOK lU. 

Dagobert, who was her friend ; and there they both died 
young. He brought with him also the precious vessels of 
Edwin, with a cross of gold and a golden chaUce, which are 
still preserved in the cathedral at Ganterbuiy. 

Bomanus, bishop of Kochester, having been drowned in, 
the ItaUan sea while he was on his way to Borne on a mission 
from Honorius, Faulinus took charge of that bishopric,' 
which he held for the rest of his life, and, there dying, left 
the pall, which he had received from the pope. He had 
left behind him in his church at York, James the Deacon, 
a holy man, who, from that time, employed himself in. 
baptizing and teaching, imtil peace being restored in the 
province, and the number of the faithful increasing, he 
became precentor or master of church song, after the Boman 
custom ^ And being old, and full of days, as the Scripture 
says, he went the way of his fathers*. 

Edwin was succeeded in the kingdom of the Deiri by his 
cousin Osric ; while Eanfrid, the son of Ethelfrid, obtained 
the kingdom of the Bemicii. These were the two provinces 
into which the Northumbrian nation was anciently divided. 
The two young princes had been baptized while they were 
in exile among the Scots and Picts in the time of King 
Edwin; but when they became kings they relapsed to 
heathenism. They were justly, but treacherously, slain by. 
King CedwaJl. First, the very next summer, he slew. 
Osric; for, being besieged by him in a free town^ Cedwall 
made a sudden sally, and, taking him by surprise, destroyed 
him and his whole army. The year afterwards he put to 
death Eanfrid, who came to him with only twelve soldiers to 
sue for peace. It was a disastrous year, both on account of 
the apostacy of the English kings, and the tyranny of 
Cedwall, who ravaged, as with a pestilence, the Iwids which 
he had ingloriously acquired. Hence that year is passed 
over and added to the reign of his successor Oswald. This 
king, after the murder of his brother Eanfrid, advanced with 
a small army, before which he carried aloft the standard of 
the holy cross. Having planted it in a hole dug in the 
ground, and secured it with turfs, he said, ** Let us kneel 

* What 18 now called the Gregorian chaont. 

* Bede, book lii. c. 1. 

' '' Honicipiens, probably York. 



A.D. 635.] AIDAN PREACHES IN NOBTHUMBRIA. 07 

doivn, and let us pray together, that the living and trae 
Almighty God may of his mercy save us from our cruel and 
proud enemy; for He knows that we are engaged in a 
righteous war for the safety of our country." After which, 
at hreeik of day, they gave battle to CeadwaU and his army, 
vaunting that no one was able to resist them. But they 
were defeated and slain at Denises-bum \ that is, Denis's- 
brook, so that it is said, " The corpses of Ceadwall's soldiers 
filled the channel of the Denis." The place is held in 
great veneration, as shall be related in the "Book of 
Miracles."^ 

Oswald, becoming king, for the furtherance of the faith, 
sent into Scotland, where he had been exiled, and obtained 
the assistance of Aidan, an excellent man, though he kept 
Easter incorrectly according to the usage of the northern 
Scots. However, the Scots, who dwelt in the south of 
Ireland, had long since, by the admonition of the pope, 
observed Easter correctly. On the arrival of the bishop, 
the king fixed his episcopal seat in the island of Lindisfame. 
The faith now began to spread; and it was a beautiful 
spectacle, when Aidan was preaching in the English tongue, 
which he spoke imperfectly, to see the king himself inter- 
preting, as he often did, to his officers and counsellors. 
For, dining his long exile, he had perfectly learnt the 
language of the Scots. Thus the faith grew, and some 
monks, coming from Scotland, zealously taught the people ; 
for the bishop himself was a monk of the island called Hii, 
where there is a monastery which was for a long time the 
chief of all that were among the northern Scots and the 
Picts. This island properly belongs to Britain, being di- 
vided from it only by a narrow strait; but it had been 
granted by the Picts, who inhabit those parts of Britain, to 
9ie Scottish monks, because they had received from them 
the faith of Christ^ 

For in the year of grace 566, when Justin the younger, 

* The place has not been identified. 

' Henry of Huntingdon added a Ninth Book to his History, containing 
an aoeoimt of the miracles related by Bede, and also of some modem sainta 
who flourished in Britain after the time of Bede. 

* Bede, book iii. c. 8. Henry of Huntingdon here, following Bede, breaks 
the thread of his narrative to introduce an account of the conversion of the 
Picts by Columba, one of whose followers^ the fourth abbot^ was Aidan, the 

H 



98 HENBY OF HUNTINQDON. [BOOK DI 

who succeeded Justinian, was emperor, there came OYer 
from Ireland an abbot who was named Colmnba, to preach 
to the Picts of the north, those I mean who are separated 
from the southern Picts by lidges of loffy and n^ed 
momitains. For the southern Picts had been already con- 
Terted by Ninian, a British bishop, who was instructed at 
Bome, whose episcopal see, named after St Martin, wheie 
Oolumba himself was buried, is now possessed by the 
English. The place lies in the province of Bemicia, and 
is commonly called " The Whiterhouse,"^ because he there 
erected a church of stone, which was not the usual practice 
of the Britons. 

Columba arrived in Britain in the twenty-first year of the 
reign of Bride, the son of Meilochon, a very powerful king 
of the Picts; and having converted the people, received 
from them the aforesaid island, which contains about five 
families, according to the English mode of reckoning. 
His successors possess it to this day ; and there Golum^ 
himself was buried. There was also another noble monas- 
tery in Ireland, which is called De-Armach, or the Field of 
Oaks. From tliese two monasteries, many others, both in 
Ireland and Britain, were ofifeets, that of Hii having the 
rule over them all. For to the abbot of that island, the 
whole province and even the bishops, contrary to the usual 
order, are wont to be subject, because the missionary 
Columba was not a bishop, but a priest and a monk. His 
successors, imitating his example, became very celebrated, 
though they were in error respectmg the observance of 
Easter, till they were set right by Egbert the English king, 

[a.d. 635.] From this monastery, Aldan earned and was 
appointed bishop of Northumbria. King Oswald, having 
his mind formed by such a man, was more proficient in 
knowledge, and more prosperous in his af&drs, than all his 
progenitors. For he brought under his dominion all the 
nations who inhabited Britain, viz. the Britons, the En^ish, 
the Picts, and the Scots. But though he was so exalted, he 
continued humble, and was liberal and kind to the stranger 
and the poor. 

apostle of the Northumbrians, whose conyersioxi Henry of Huntingdon then 
proceeds to notice. 

^ Whitheme, or Candida Casa, in Galloway. ' Bede, book ill c 5. 



A.I>. 635.] CONVEBSIOK OF THE WEST-SAXOKS. 90 

Here follows our fiftih section^, which treats of the con- 
Tersiom of the West-Saxoiis, who were formerly called Ge- 
wiss£&. It was accomplished by Birinus, a bishop, who 
came into Britain by the advice of Pope Honorius ; for 
which purpose he was ordained bishop by Asterius, bishop 
of Genoa. Having arrived among the Gewissse, a nation 
plmiged in the darkest heathenism, he brought to baptism 
the people and their king KinigUs [a.d. 635]. It happened 
fortunately that the holy king Oswald was visiting JBjnigils, 
whom he held in the laver of baptism, and took his 
daughter in marriage. The two kings gave to Birinus the 
city of Dorcie^ for the seat of his episcopacy, where, having 
built churches, he was buried ; but many years afterwards, 
when Hedda was bishop, his remains were translated thence 
to the city of Went, which is now called Winchester, and 
were laid in the church of St. Peter and Paul. 

Kinigils also departing tins life was succeeded by his 
son Kenwalch, who held the truth, but imperfectly ; for 
having divorced his wife, who was sister of Penda king of 
Mercia, and married another, he was conquered and driven 
out of his kingdom by Penda, and became for three years 
an esdle inthe court of Anna, the Christian king of the East- 
Angles, wh^re Kenwalch was restored to the faith. But when 
he had recovered his kingdom, he chose for bishop a 
Frenchman named Agilbert, who then came fix)m Ireland, 
where he had resided for the sake of study. Afterwards 
the king, who knew no laE^uage but English, growing 
weaiy of the bishop's barbarous tongue, brought iato the 
province another bishop of his own nation, whose name 
was Wine, who had been ordained in France, and, dividing 
his kingdom into two dioceses, gave one to Wini, with 
Went, or Winchester, for his episcopal seat Upon this 
Agilbert, being offended that the king had so done vdthout 
consulting him, returned into France, and, accepthag the 
bishopric of Paris, held it till his death. Afterwards, the 
same king drove Wini from his bishopric, who, taking 
refuge vyithWulfhere, king of the Mercians, purchased from 
him for money the see of London, and continued in that 

' Bede, book iii. c. 7. 

' Borchetter, near Ojrford. Tbe tee was afterwards transferred to 
Lincoln. 

H 3 



100 HENRY OF HUNTINGDON. [BOOK IH. 

bishopric till his death. The province being thus without 
a bishop, and the king imdergoing much suffering from his 
enemies, and many hindrances on that account, he sent 
to Paris for Agilbert. But he being unwilling to relinquish 
that bishopric, sent to the king his nephew Eleutherius, 
who having been consecrated by Theodore the archbishop, 
for a long period had the sole government of the entire 
diocese of the Gewissee. 

[a.d. 640.] Meanwhile^, after Eadbald, king of Kent, 
Erconbert his son reigned in honour 24 years. He was 
the first of the English kings who utterly destroyed idols 
throughout his dominions. He also commanded the fast 
of the 40 days of Lent to be kept, and ensicted penalties 
on those who broke it: He married Sexberga, the eldest 
daughter of King Anna, who had sent his youngest daugh- 
ter Ethelberga, and his wife's daughter Sethred, to be ser- 
vants of the Lord in the monastiery of Brie*, both of whom, 
though foreigners, were for their vu'tues elected abbesses of 
Brie. For at that time the English nobles were accustomed 
to send their daughters to be brought up in the convents of 
Brie, of Challes^ and Andelys. Erconbert also sent to Brie 
his daughter Erchengote, a holy and venerable virgin, whose 
virtuous acts, and the wonders of whose miracles, are to this 
day related by the inhabitants of that place. We shall set 
forth her merits in the " Book of Miracles."* 

[a.d. 642.] About the same time Oswald V after a reign of 
nine years, including the year which has been before re- 
ferred to^ was slain by Penda the Strong, in a great battle 
at Mesafeld, on the 5th of August, in the thirty-eighth year 
of his age. Wlience it is said, "The plain of Mesafeld^ 

* Bede, book iii. c. 8. 

' Or Faremoutier, annonastery founded by St Fara, A.i>. 616, according 
to the rule of St. Columba. 

' Ghelles, four leagues from Paris. It was founded by St Clotilda. 
Bede says that the noble English ladies were sent to these convents, to be 
educated, from there being few such in England. 

* See note, p. 97. 

' Bede, book iii. c. 9. 

* See before, p. 96, for the reason this year was erased from tho> calen- 
dar of the Christian kings, as Bede expresses it 

"^ Antiquarians differ about tlie site of Mesafeld, or Hasetfield, as Bede 
names it ; Camden phicing it at Oswestry, in Shropshire ; and others at 
Winwick, in Lancashire. 



A.D. 642.] HUBDKB OF OSWIN. 101 

was whitened with, the hones of saints." By an inscrutable 
providence, the foes of God were allowed to massacre his 
people, and give them for food to the fowls of the air. On 
the spot where Oswald was slain, miracles are wrought to 
the present day. 

[a.d. 642.] This holy king was succeeded in the province 
of Bemiciaby his brother OswyS who reigned 28 years; 
but Oswin, the son of King Osric already named, reigned 
seven years in the province of Deira. Between tiiese two 
kings tiiere were causes of disagreement, which became so 
aggravated that they were on the point of encountering 
each other at Wilfares-dune, that is, " Wilfar's hill," distant 
almost ten miles from the. village called Cataract^ about 
the autumnal solstice. Oswin, however, finding himself 
inferior in force, dismissed his army, and, attended only by 
a single soldier, whose name was Tondhere, sought conceal- 
ment iu the house of Earl Himwald, whom he imagined to 
be his surest Mend ; but he was betrayed by the Earl to 
Oswald, and was put to death, with the trusty follower, by 
an officer of Oswy's named Ethelwin, a murder universally 
execrated, at a place called Getlingum^, where afterward^ 
a church was bmlt, for the sake both of him that was mur- 
dered and of him by whose command he was slain. King 
Oswin was of a graceful aspect, and tall of stature, affable 
in discourse, courteous and hberal, and so beloved that his 
court was frequented by the nobles of both the provinces 
[of Northumbria]. Of his humility we propose to give 
memorable instances from the acts of St. Aidan, who was 
much beloved by him. 

[a.d. 644.] In the second year of the reign of Oswy*, 
Ithamar succeeded the most reverend Father Faulinus in 
the see of Eochester. At this time^ the kingdom of the 
Eas^Angles, after the death of Earpwald, the successor of 
Bedwald, was governed by his brother Sigebert, a religious 

* Bede, book iii. c. 14. 

' Catterick, in the West Biding, mentioned before. The spot called Wil- 
&r*s Hill cannot now be pointed out. 

* GiUing, in the North Biding of Yorkshire. Bede calls it Ingeth- 
lingham. 

* Bede, book iii. cc. 14. 18, 19, 20. 

* Sigebert became king of Kent a.d. 685, long before the death of Pan- 
liniu. Henry of Huntingdon is frequently confused in his chronology. 



lOfi HENBT OF HUNTINGDON. [BOOK HI. 

man, who had been baptized in IFnmce, where he had fled 
j&om the persecution of Bedwald^ After he became king 
he established a school for youths, such as he had observed 
in France; in which he was assisted by Bishop Felix. A 
holy man from Ireland, named Fursey, was also nobly en- 
tertained by him. This king was so devoted to God that, 
resigning his crown to his cousin Ecgric, he entered a mo- 
nastery and received the tonsure. Many years afterwards 
he was compelled to quit it, that he might take the field 
against King Penda; but he would not consent to bear 
anything but a staff in his hand during the battle ; where- 
upon he was slain, together with King Ecgric, and most of 
his army. Anna, the son of £ni, of tibe royal race, a good 
man and the father of a worthy offspring, succeeded. He 
also was afterwards slain by Fenda. Felix, bishop of the 
East-Angles, was succeeded by Thomas, after whom was 
Boniface. They were all consecrated by Honorius, on 
whose death Deus-dedit became the sixth archbishop of 
Canterbury [a.d. 655]. He was consecrated by Ithamar, 
bishop of Eochester, who was succeeded in that see by 
Damianus. 

[a.d. 653.] The sixth part, which JGdUows, relates the 
conversion of the Middle-Angles^, that is, the Angles of the 
midland district, under their prince Peada, who governed 
that people for his fether Penda. King Oswy had given 
his daughter in marriage to Peada, on condition that he 
would become a Christian ; but he was mainly influenced 
to this by the persuasion of Alfrid, a son of Oswy's, who 
had married his sister, the daughter of Penda. Accordingly 
Peada was baptized, with his family, by Bishop Finan, at a 
village which is called At-the-Wall ; and having secured the 
help of four priests, Cedda and Adda, Betti and Duma, he 
retmned with them to his own country. Nor did King 
Penda oppose the conversion of those of his own nation, 
that is, the Mercians who were so disposed, but he treated 
with contempt believers who were iU-Uvers. Two years 
afterwards the general conversion of the people of Mercia 
took place in this way : King Oswy, being unable to bear 
the intolerable inroads of King Penda, offered him an enor- 
mous tribute; but Penda the Strong, having resolved on 
1 Bede, book iii. c. 21. 



AJD. 655.] THE TYRANT PEMDA 8LA1N. lOB 

exterminating the people of Oswy, rejected the Oiffenng. 
Upon this Oswy, driven to despair, exclaimed, "If this 
heathen refuses to accept our gifts, let us offer them to him 
that nvill, even God."* Thereupon he made a vow that he 
would dedicate his daughter to the Lord, and would give 
twelve farms to the monasteries. Then with a few troops 
he attacked a multitude; indeed it is reported that the army 
of the heathens was thrice as great as his, as they had 30 
legions in battle array under renowned generals. Against 
these Oswy and his son Alfiid mustered but a very small 
force, but, trusting in Christ as their leader, they joined 
battle with the pagans. Oswy's other son, Egfrid, was at 
that time detained as a hostage among the Mercians, by 
the Queen Gynwise; and Ethelwald, King Oswald's son, 
who ought to have come to their aid, was on the side of 
their enemies, and was one of their leaders agaiast his 
country and his uncle. However, during the battle he 
withdrew from the fight, and waited the issue in a place of 
safety. In this engagement the pagans were defeated, and 
all the 30 commanders were slain ; for the God of battles 
was with his faithful people, and broke the might of King 
Penda, and imnerved the boasted strength of his arm, and 
caused his proud heart to fail, so that his assaults were not 
as they were wont to be, and the arms of his enemies pre- 
vailed against them. He was struck with amazement at 
finding that his foes were now become to him what he had 
formerly been to them, and that he was to them, what they 
had been to him. He who had shed the blood of others 
now suffered what he had inflicted on them, while the earth 
was watered with his blood, and the groimd was sprinkled 
with his brauis. Almost all his aUies were slain, amongst 
whom w^ Ethelhere, brother and successor of Anna, kmg 
of the East- Angles, ihe promoter of the war, who fell with 
the auxihary troops he led. The battle was fought near 
the river Winwed^, the waters of which, from excessive 
nuns, were not only deep, but overflowed its banks, so that 
many more were drowned in the flight than fell by the 
sword. 

In consequence, Ethelfreda, King Oswy's daughter, be- 

* Bedc, book ill c. 24. ^ The Aire, near Leeds. 



104 HENRY OF HUNTINGDON. [BOOK III. 

came a nun in the convent of Herteu, that is, " the Isle of 
the Hart."^ Afterwards she founded a monastery in 
Streaneshalch ^, of which she became the abbess, and there 
died. In it were interred her father Oswy, with her mother 
Eanfleda, and her mother's father, Edwin. King Oswy go- 
verned the people of Mercia and the other southern pro- 
vinces for three years after the death of Fenda, and also 
reduced to submission great part of the nation of the Picts. 
He conferred on his kinsman Peada, the son of Penda, the 
government of the southern Mercians, containing 5000 
families, divided by the river Trent from the northern 
Mercians, who amounted to 7000 families. Peada, however, 
was soon after murdered, through the treachery of his wife. 
The Mercian tribes were for three , years subject to King 
Oswy, who freed them from their impious tyrant, and con- 
verted them to the Christian faith. Diuma became the 
first bishop of the Middle-Angles, as well as of Lindisfame 
and the Mercians. He died and was buried in Mercia, 
and was succeeded by Ceollach, who, however, retired to 
the Scots from whom he came. But after the three years 
before mentioned, the chiefs of the Mercians rebelled against 
King Oswy, setting up Wulfhere, the son of Penda, for 
king. He reigned seventeen years, during which Trumhere 
was the first bishop, Jaruman the second, Chad the third, 
and Wilfrid the fourth. 

[a.d. 653.1 At that time also the East-Saxons^, who had 
formerly expelled Mellitus, returned to the faith. For 
Sigebert, who reigned next to Sigebert, sumamed the 
Little, was then king of that nation, and an ally of King 
Oswy. He often visited him, and being instructed by him, 
was baptized by Bishop Finan, in the royal village called 
At-the-Wall, which is distant twelve miles from the eastern 
sea. Cedd, invited from Middle-Anglia, became the 
bishop in Essex, and baptized multitudes in the town of 
Itancester*, which is on the bank of the river Pente,and in 
Tilaburgh^, which lies on the bank of the Thames. There 

' Now Hartlepool. 

2 " The bay of the Lighthouse."— ^<fo. Now Whitby, in the North 
Aiding of Yorkshire. 
» Bede, book iii. c. 22. 

* Near Maldon, in Essex : the river Fente is now called the Bhickwater. 
^ Tilbury, in Essex, opposite Gfravesend. 



A.D. 652.] CHUBCH BUILT AT LINDISFABNE. 105 

-was a certain nobleman with whom commmiion was for- 
bidden, because he had contracted an unlawful marriage. 
The king, however, slighting the prohibition, partook of an 
entertainment at his house. On his return he met the 
bishop, and threw himself at his feet The bishop in- 
censed, touched the king, thus humbled before him, with 
his rod, and foretold his death in the same house in 
which he had offended. It happened soon afterwards that 
the nobleman and his brother assassinated the king in 
that house, saying they did it because he was too gentle 
and forgiving to his enemies. 

Sigebert was succeeded by Suidhelm, who was baptized 
by Cedd himself in East^Anglia, at Eendlesham, that is, 
Bendle's-House ; and Ethelwald, king of that nation, and 
brother of Anna, king of the same people, was his god- 
father. Ethelwald, king of the Deiri, and son of Oswald^ 
granted to this same Cedd an estate at Lestingau^ for 
building a monastery. After its erection he often retired 
there from his bishopric in Essex, and happening to do so 
in the time of a mortality, he there died. 

[a.d. 652.] In the meantime Finan the bishop erected 
a church of hewn timber in the Isle of Lindisfame*. It 
was afterwards consecrated by the Archbishop Theodore, 
and Eadbert, bishop there, covered the walls and roof 
with lead. When Einan died, he was succeeded by Col- 
man, who kept Easter irregularly, as Aidan and Finan had 
done. Whereupon a conference was held in the presence 
of Kin g Oswy and King Alfrid his son. On one side were 
Colman and Cedd before named ; on the other was Agil- 
bert, bishop of the West-Saxons, who had come to hiis 
Mend King Alfrid, with James, a deacon of Paulinus. Of 
whom the right part prevailed. Cedd afterwards observed the 
Feast of Easter properly; while Colman, being imwilling to 
change the usage of Father Aidan, returned to his own 
country, carrying part of his relics with him. Tuda suc- 
ceeded him in tiie see of Northumbria ; but Eata was ap- 
pointed, first abbot, and then bishop, of Lindisfame. 
The three Scottish bishops — ^Aidan, Finan, and Cohnan — 
were extraordinary patterns of sanctity and frugality. They 

1 Lastingham, in Yorkshire. ' Bede, book iiL cc 25, 26. 



106 HENBT OF HUNTINGDON. [BOOK UI. 

never entertained the great men of the world, for such 
never visited Hiem except to pray. The king himself, when 
he came to prayer, had only five or six attendants, and 
either at once departed, or partook of the repast of the 
brethren. So iree from avarice were the priests of that 
age, that they refused to accept grants of land, unless they 
were forced upon tJiem. 

[a.d. 664.] Not long afterwards there was an eclipse of 
the sun, on the 3rd of May, about the tenth horn: of the 
day^ It was followed by a grievous pestilence, which de- 
populated Britain and Ireland witli its ravages. Bishop 
Tuda died of this pestilence, and was buried at Wemalet^. 

In the meantime ^ Alfdd, the son of Oswy, who already 
governed part of his father's dominions, sent Wil&id the 
priest to the king of the Franks^ to be consecrated bishop. 
Accordingly, he was solemnly ordained by Agilbert already 
mentioned, who presided over the see of Paris, assisted by 
many other bishops, at the royal villa of Compeigne. King 
Oswy also, imitating the prudent policy of his son, when 
the Archbishop of York died, sent the priest Geadda [Chad] 
to Wini, bishop of the East-Saxons, by whom be was 
ordained bishop of the church of York. Chad being con- 
secrated bishop, set himself to follow the rule of his master 
Aidan, and the example of his brother Cedd, travelling not 
on horseback, but on foot, devoted to leaai:iing, studying 
the truth, continent and humble. Wilfrid also returning 
into Britain after his consecration, added many things to 
the teaching of the Enghsh chin:ch. 

[a.d. 665.] Sighere and Sebbi succeeded King Suidhelm 
in Essex ^ but Sighere and his people rel£^sed to idolatiy in 
consequence of the mortality which has been already men- 
tioned. Whereupon King Wulfhere sent to them Bishop Jam- 
man, who happily succeeded in recovering them to the faith •. 
At that time Pope Vitalian addressed letters to Oswy and 

* Bcde, book iiL c. 27. 

' Bede calls this place Pegnaktii ; the Saxon Ohionicle, Wagele. It was 
probably Finchale, in the parish of St Oswalds, on the western bank of the 
Wear, near Dorbam. 

® Bade, book iii. c 28. * Clotaire, king of Neustria. 

* Bede, book iii, c. 30 ; and book it. c. 1. 

* Sighere and Sebbi were two petty kings, subject to Wulfhere, paramount 
king of all Mercia. Jaruman was bishop of Litchfield. 



A.D. 669.] THBODdBE ABGHBIBHOF, 107 

Egbert, the greatest of the English kings, who had con- 
sisted him on the state of the church, and the question re- 
garding the feast of Easter. Soon afterwards he sent over 
Theodore, whom he had consecrated archbishop [of Can- 
terbury]. 

[a.d. 669.] Theodore^ ordained Putta to the see of Bo- 
Chester in the place of Damianus, and at the request of 
King Wulfhere he translated Cedd from the monastery of 
Leslingham to the see of Lichefeld^, where he became 
celebrated for miracles, which will be related in their proper 
place. King Oswy falling sick and dying, he was suc- 
ceeded by his son Egfrid, in the third year of whose reign 
Theodore assembled a council of bishops, the decrees of 
which will have a place in our last Book. After this, 
Theodore deposed Winfrid, bishop of the Mercians, for 
some act of insubordination, and ordained Sexwulf in his 
stead. He also made Erconwald bishop of London in 
the time of the kings Sebbi and Sighere. The miracles 
wrought by Erconwald will be mentioned in their place. 
At that time [a.d. 676 % Ethelred, king of the Mercians, 
ravaged Kent, and laid Bochester in ruins. Putta, the 
bishop, retired, and Ohichelm was appointed to the see in 
his place ; he also was compelled to relinquish it from the 
penury to which it was reduced. He was succeeded by Geb- 
mund. That same year [A.n. 678^] a comet was visible 
every morning for three months. 

Egfrid, king of Northumbria, expelled Wilfrid from 
his bishopric*. In his place Bosa was appointed to the 
diocese of Deira, and Eata to that of Bemicia, the one 
having his cathedral at York, the other at Haugulstad or at 
Ldndisfame. At that time also Eadhed was ordained bishop 
over the province of Ldndsey, which King Egfrid had lately 
wrested from Wulfliere. Eadhed was the first bishop, Ethel- 
win the second, Edgar the third, and Kinebert the fourth ; 
who, according to Bede> held it in his time. Before Eadhed, 
it was governed by Serwulf, who was also bishop both of 
the Mercians and ihe Middle-Angles ; so that when he was 

* Bede, book iv. cc. 2. 6. 15. 

* '* The field of the dead." The see of Lichfield, now founded, was for 
a short time, in the reign of OfEa, an archbishopric. 

* Sax. Chron. * Bede, book iv. c 12. 



108 HENBY OF HUNTINaDON. [BOOE IH. 

expelled from Lindsey, he retained his jurisdiction over 
those provinces. Archbishop Theodore consecrated Eadhed, 
Bosa, and Eata at York; and three years after the de- 
parture of Wilfrid, he added two other bishops to their 
number, Tumbert for the church of Haugulstad, Eata re- 
maining at Lindisfame ; and Trumwine to the province of 
the Ficts, which was at that time subject to the English. 
Eadhed returning from Lindsey, because King Ethehed 
had recovered that province, governed the church of Eipon. 
[a.d. 681.] Our seventh division relates to the conver- 
sion of the South-Saxons S which was accomplished by 
Wilfrid, who when he was expelled from his bishopric, as 
already mentioned, after visiting Eome, returned into 
Britain, and converted to the fail£ the South-Saxons, con- 
sisting of 7000 families. Ethelwalch, their king, had been 
baptized shortly before in the province of Mercia by the 
persuasion of King Wulfhere, who was his godfather, and in 
token of adoption gave him the Isle of Wight and the dis- 
trict of Meanwara^ in the nation of the West^Saxons. With 
the concurrence, therefore, or rather to the great satisfaction 
of the king, the preaching of Wilfrid brought first the 
nobles and soldiers, and then the rest of the people, to the 
sacred fount of ablution. On that very day rain fell, the 
failure of which for three years had caused a grievous 
famine, by which the coimtry was depopulated. So much 
so, that it is reported, that forty or fifty men, exhausted 
with hunger, would go together to some precipice over- 
hauging the sea, and hand-in-hand cast themselves over to 
perish by the fall or be swallowed up by the waves. But 
the rain thus concurring with the baptism, the earth re- 
vived again, fresh verdure was restored to the fields, and 
the season became prosperous and fruitful. Thus the 
hearts and the flesh of all rejoiced in the living God. The 
bishop also taught the people to fish in the sea ; for, up to 
that time, they had fished only for eels. Having collected 
nets, he had tiiem cast in the sea, and 300 fishes being 
taken, he gave 100 to the poor, 100 to the owners of the 
nets, reserving 100 for his own disposal. Seeing which, 
the people listened more willingly to the promises of spiri- 

^ Bede, book iv. cc 13-15. ^ Part of Hampsliire. 



A.D. 681-6.] ISLES OF SELSEY AND WIGHT 109 

tual good from one from whom they derived . temporal 
benefits. King Ethelwalch had granted him an island con- 
taining 87 families called Selsey> or the island of the Sea- 
Calf. It is smrounded on all sides by the sea, except the 
space of a sling's-cast towards the west. Such a place is 
called by the Latins a peninsula, by the Greeks a cherso- 
nesus. Here Wilfrid founded a church and monastery, 
where he lived for five years, that is, until the death of 
King Egfrid ; having converted and given freedom to 250 
men and women slaves who were attached to the land '. 

[a.d. .685.] Meanwhile, Ceadwalla, a young man of the 
royal race of the Gewissse, being banished from his country, 
invaded Sussex and slew King Ethelwalch ; but he was soon 
afterwards expelled by the king's commanders, Berthun 
and Andhun, who before- held the government [of that 
province]. When, however, Ceadwalla became king of the 
GewissfiB, he put Berthun to death, and both he and his 
successors grievously ravaged that province ; so that during 
the whole period, Wilfrid having been recalled home, it was 
without a bishop of its own, and was subject tg the Bishop 
of Winchester. 

Ceadwalla likewise*^, when he became king, conquered 
the Isle of Wight, the inhabitants of which were still idola- 
ters, and in fulfilment of a vow granted the fourth part of 
the island to Bishop Wilfrid, who happened to be there 
on a visit from his own nation. The island is of the mea- 
surement belonging to 1200 famiUes, so that the posses- 
sion given to the bishop included 300. The two sons 
of Atwald, the king of the island who had been afready 
slain, being also about to be put to death, the Abbot of 
Retford*, diat is "the Ford of Reeds," obtained leave from 
King Ceadwalla to baptize them first. Thus the Isle of 
Wight was the last district of Britain which was converted; 

* This church and monastery, shortly afterwards, in 711, were made the 
seat of the first bishop of the South-SaxonsL hi 1070 Bishop Stigand 
translated it to Chichester. There are no vestiges remaining of the former 
cathedral, Selsey Island itself having entirely disappeared, from the gradual 
encroachments of the sea on the Sussex coast. 

' Bede says " afterwards," which seems a better reading than Henry of 
Huntingdon's. 

' Bede, book iv. c. 16. 

* Kedbridge, at the head of the Southampton Water. 



110 HSNBT OF HUimNODON. [BOOE IH. 

and when all the proyinces of Britain had receiyed the 
Christian faith, the Archhishop Theodore, that he might 
confirm the fiEuth hoth of the old and new converts, held a 
comicil of the bishops of Britain to ezpomid the Catholic 
belief; and what they declared was committed to writing 
for a perpetual memorial. Which synodal letter I have 
judged it right to prefix to the beginning of the following 
Book, in which is purposed a continuation of the acts of 
the Christian kings of the English to the time of the arrival 
and wars of the Danes ; all the divisions of this present 
Book being now completed in the order I proposed. 



AJ>. 680.] gfSOD OF HATFIELD. Ill 



BOOK IV. ^ 

*' In the name of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ : 
m the reigns of our most pious lords, Egfrid, king of the 
Humbrians, his tenth year; Centwine, king of Wessex, 
the fifth year of his reign ; Ethebed, king of the Mercians, 
the sixth year of his reign; Aldulf, king of the East- 
Angles, the seventeenth year of his reign; and Lothaire, king 
of Kent, the seventh year of his reign ; on the 17th day of 
[the kalends of] October, the seventh indiction ; Theodore, 
by the grace of God Archbishop of Canterbury and of the 
whole island of Britain, presiding, and the other bishops of 
the British Island, venerable men, sitting with him at the 
place which in the Saxon tongue is caQed Hethfeld^; the 
holy gospels being placed before them. 

" Having consulted together, we have set forth the true 
and orthodox belief, as our Lord Jesus Christ, when incar- 
nate, delivered it to his disciples who saw him present and 
heard his words, and as it has been handed down to us by 
the creed of the holy Fathers, and, in general, by all the 
holy and universal councils, and with one voice by all the 

' Henry of HnntingdoD, in tliu Fonrtli Book, retnmg to the general his- 
tory of the English kings and people, the thread of which he had broken, to 
introdnce in his Third Book an account of their conyernon, and of ecclesiasti- 
cal affiurs generally, to the time when the hist of the kings of the Heptarchy 
embsaeed the Christian &ith ; the period ranging from the arrival of St. 
Angnstine and the conversion of Ethelbert and the kingdom of Kent, a.p. 
597^ to that of the South-Saxons, ▲.p. 681. Henry of Huntingdon, how- 
ever, commences this Fourth Book by inserting a document, ^e synodal 
letter of the Council held at Hatfield [a.d. 680], which properly belongs to 
the subject of the Third Book ; and as it would have formed a fitter con- 
clusion to that part of his history, one does not see why it was reserved for 
the commencement of this. Henry of Huntingdon still follows Bede, as 
his main authority, to the point where Bede's History ends, in 731 ; making 
also occasional use of the Saxon Chronicle. 

3 This Council was held a.p. 680^ at BishopVHatfield, in Hertfordshire. 



112 HENBT OF HUNTINGDON. [BOOK IV. 

approved doctors of the Catholic Church. We, therefore, 
following them religiously and orthodoxly, in conformity 
with their divinely-inspired doctrine, do profess that we 
firmly believe and confess, according to the holy Fathers, 
properly and truly, the Father and the Son and the Holy 
Ghost, a Trinity consubstantial in unity, and unity in 
trinity; that is, one God subsisting in three consubstantial 
persons of equal glory and honour." 

And after more of this sort appertaining to the profession 
of the true faith, the holy Council added this to its synodal 
letter : " We accept the five holy and general councils of the 
blessed Fathers acceptable to God; viz., that of Nice, where 
318 bishops were assembled against the heretic Arius and his 
most impious doctrines ; that of Constantinople, composed 
of 150 bishops, against the insane tenets of Macedonius 
and Eudoxius ; the first council of Ephesus, of 200 bishops, 
against the wicked subtlety of Nestorius and his doctrines , 
that of Chaicedon, composed of 480 bishops against Euty- 
ches and Nestorius and their tenets ; and the fifth council 
which was again assembled at Constantinople in the reign 
of Justinian the younger, against Theodore and Theodoret, 
as well as the epistles of Iba and their controversies with 
Cyril." And a little afterwards: "We receive also the 
council held at Eome, when the most holy Martin was Pope, 
the first indiction, and in the ninth year of the most pious 
Emperor Constantino : and we glorify our Lord Jesus Christ 
as the holy Fathers glorified Him, neither adding nor dimi- 
nishing anything; and we anathematize with heart and 
mouth those whom they anathematized, and whom they 
received we receive, giving glory to God the Father, who 
was without beginning, and to his only-begotten Son, be- 
gotten by the Father before all ages, and to tihe Holy Ghost, 
proceeding fi:om the Father and the Son in an ineflFable 
manner, as they taught who have been abready mentioned, 
the holy apostles, prophets, and doctors. We also, who 
with Theodore, archbishop, have thus set forth the Catholic 
faith, have subscribed our names thereto." 

There were present at this synod, John, the precentor 
of the church of St. Peter at Eome, and abbot of the mo- 
nastery of St. Martin, who had lately come from Rome by 
order of Pope Agatho, as also the venerable Abbot Bene- 



A.I>. 686.] WEST SAXONS INVADE KENT. 113 

diet who had founded a monastery dedicated to St. Peter 
near the mouth of the river Were ^ He had gone to Bome 
io obtain a confirmation of the privileges granted to that 
monastery by King Egbert, and now returned in company 
with the said John the precentor. Benedict was succeeded 
by Abbot Ceolfrid, under whom Bede Uved. John taught 
them to sing in this monastery after the Boman practice. 
He also left there a copy of the decrees of the council 
held by Pope Martin, at which he was present. As he was 
returning to Kome, carrying with him the testimony of the 
conformity of the faith of &e English bishops, he died on 
the way at Tours, where he was buried*. 

Having now treated of these [ecclesiastical] affairs, I 
return to a continuation of the history of the English 
kings, from which we broke off at the end of the Second 
Book^ : and the sequel of our narrative must be connected 
with that context, that it may now proceed in regular order. 

[a.d. 686.] After the death of Kentwin, king of the 
West-Saxons, OeadwaU, who succeeded him, with &e aid of 
his brother Mul, obtained by force possession of the Isle 
of Wight. This Mul, his brother, was a man of courteous 
and pleasing manners, of prodigious strength, and of noble 
aspect, so that he was generally esteemed, and his renown 
was very great. These two brothers made an irruption into 
the provrace of Kent for the sake of exhibiting their prowess 
and augmenting their glory. They were not yet baptized, 
though their predecessors, and the whole nation, had be- 
come Christians. They met with no opposition in their 
invasion of Kent, and plundered the whole kingdom. For, 
at this time, the throne was vacant by the death of Lothaire, 
king of Kent. This enterprising king had been wounded 
in a battle with the East-Saxons, against whom he had 
marched in concert with Edric, son of Egbert, and so 
severe were his wounds, that he died in the hands of those 
who endeavoured to heal them. After him Edric reigned 

^ Now Monk-Wearmouth^ where Venerable Bede passed the early part of 
his monastic life. 

» Bede's Eccles, Hist., book iv. cc. 17, 18. 

' Book II. concludes with the year 681, the period of the conversion 
of the last of the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms, and with a summary of the reigns 
of all the kings of the Heptarchy to that time. See p. 63. 

I 



114 HENBY OF HUNTINGDON. [BOOK IV. 

one year in Kent without the love and respect of his 
peopled Meanwhile [a.». 684] died Egfrid, king of 
Northumhria. The year hefore he had sent an army intd 
Ireland under his general Beorht, who miserahly wasted the 
inoffensive inhabitants, though they had been always friendly 
to the English. However, tibe Irish made all the resistance 
they could, and, imploring the aid of the divine mercy, 
invoked the vengeance of God on their enemies wifii 
continual imprecations. Those, indeed, who curse cannot 
inherit the kingdom of heaven ; but it is believed that 
those who were thus justly cursed, on account of their 
cruelty, did soon suffer the penalty of their guilt under the 
avenging hand of God. For the very next year afterwards, 
that same king, rashly leading his army to ravage the country 
of the Picts, much against the advice of his friends, and 
particularly of Cuthbert, of blessed memory, lately ordained 
bishop (for the same year the king had made him bishop 
of Lindisfame), he was drawn by a feigned retreat of the 
enemy into the recesses of inaccessible mountains, where he 
was cut off with the greatest part of his army. It was his 
lot to fail of hearing the shouts for his recall raised by his 
friends, as he had refused to hear the voice of Father 
Egbert, dissuading him from the invasion of the Irish who 
had done him no wrong. 

From that lime the hopes and courage of the English 
began to fail, and, " tottering, to slide backwards : " for on 
the one hand, the Picts recovered that part of their territory 
which had been occupied by the English, and on the other, 
the Britons regained some degree of liberty, which they 
still enjoy^. Amcaig the fugitives was a man of God, 
named Trumwine, abbot of Abercom, a place just within 
the English pale, but near the straits which divide the 
country of the English from that of the Picts. He retired 
to the monastery of Streneshalch '\ often mentioned before, 
and there he died. On King Egfrid's death he- was suc- 
ceeded by Alfrid, a man very learned in the Scriptures, who 
is reported to have been Egfrid's brother, and the son of 

* Bede, book iv. c. 26. 

' ^. e. in the time of Bede, from whom Henry of Huntingdon is quoting ; 
" which they have now enjoyed," says Bede, " for about 46 years." 
Book iv. c. 26. » Whitby. 



A.i^. 687.] mul's death revenged. 115 

King Oswy: he nobly retrieved the ndned condition of 
the kingdom, though it was now reduced within narrower 
bounds. 

[a.d. 687.] Ceadwall, in the second year of his reign, 
gave permission to his brother Mul, a l»ave warrior, to 
make a predatory excursion into Kent, followed by a band 
of brave youths. He was allured by the rich booty which 
had been gained the preceding year \ nor did he despise 
the reward of a glorious renown. On this irruption into 
Kent, finding no one able to resist him, the country was 
reduced to a solitude by his ravages, and he cruelly afflicted 
the inoffensive servants of Christ But he was made to 
feel the justice of their curses. For believing the enemy to 
be quite enervated, and foreseeing no opposition to his 
violence, he made an attempt to plunder a certain mansion 
remote fi-om his camp, followed Ijy only twelve soldiers. 
Finding himself, however, here surrounded by numbers he 
had not expected, he fought desperately, and slew many of 
the enemy; but resistance was vain, for though he stood 
his ground against their assaults, they had recourse to 
setting fire to the house, and Mul, with eveiy one of his 
twelve followers, perished in the flames. Thus fell the 
flower of the youth of Wessex, upon which his band of 
joimg warriors dispersed ; and thus it appears how vain 
is all confidence in human might, when opposed to the 
almighty power of God. When this reverse was reported 
to Ceadwall, he again entered Kent, and after a fearful 
slaughter and immense pillage, when there was no longer 
any one to slay or anything to plunder, he retired to his 
own dominions, exulting in his triumphant success and 
eruel revenge. 

[a.d. 688.] Afker reigning two years *, Ceadwall abdicated 
his kingdom for the sake of God, and of a kingdom which 
is everlasting, and went to Home ; considering that it would 
be a singular honour for him to be baptized there and then 
die. Accordingly, Pope Sergius baptized him, giving him 
the name of the apostle Peter. Seven days afterwards, on 
the 20th day of April, according to his wish, the 

1 CeadwaU himself, attended by Mul^ led the inroad the year before. — See 
Sax. Ch/ron, ^ Bede, book v. c. 7. 

I 2 



116 HENRY OF HUNTINGDON. [bOOK W. 

king died, while he yet wore the white baptismal robes. 
He was buried in the church of St. Peter, and the following 
epitaph was inscribed on his tomb : — 

" Higli state and place, kindred, a royal crown, 
The spoils of war, great triumphs and renown; 
Nobles, and cities walled to guard his state, 
His palaces and his fiuniliar seat ; 
Whatever skill and yalour made his own. 
And what his great fore&thers handed down ; 
Ceadwall annipotent, by heayen inspired. 
For love of heav'n left all, and here retired; 
Peter to see, and Peter's holy seat. 
The royal stranger tum'd his pilgrim feet ; 
Brew from the fount the purifying streams. 
And shar'd the radiance of celestial beams ; 
Ezchang'd an earthly crown and barb'rous name 
For heav'nly glory and eternal £ime ; 
While, following Peter's rule, he from his Lord 
Assum'd his name at Father Sergius' word : 
Washed in the font, still cloth'd in robes of white, 
' Christ's yirtne rais'd him to the realms of light 

Great was his &ith, Christ's mercy greater stiU, 
Whose counsels far transcend all human skill. 
From Britain's distant isle his yent'rous way. 
O'er lands, o'er seas, by toilsome jonmeyings lay. 
Borne to behold, her glorious temple see. 
And mystic ofiferings make on bended knee. 
White-rob'd among the flock of Christ he shone ; 
His flesh to earth, his soul to heaVn is gone. 
Sure wise was he to lay his sceptre down. 
And 'change an earthly for a heav'nly crown." 

Next to CeadwaJl, Ina reigned in Wessex 37 years. Ina 
was son of Cenred, who was son of Ceolwold, who was 
brother of Cinewold ; and both * [Ceolwold and Cinewold] 
were sons of Cudwine, who was son of Ceauling, who w«is 
son of Cenric, who was son of Cerdic. In the second year 
of Ina's reign, Theodore, the archbishop, departed this life, 
in the twenty-second year of his episcopacy. In his place, 
Berthwald, abbot of Reculver, was elected and consecrated 
archbishop. Up to this time, the archbishops had all been 
Eomans, henceforth they were of English race. Berthwald 
ordained to the see of Eochester Tobias, a man well 

^ See Saxon Chronicle, and the genealogy of the kings of Wessex in 
Florence of Worcester. 



A.D. 694.] PEACE BETWEEN KENT AND WESSEX. 117 

taught in the Latm, Greek, and Saxon tongues. At that 
tune there were two kmgs in Kent, reigning not by right of 
royal descent, but by conquest, Withred and Suoebhard. 

[a.d. 694.] In the sixth year of King Ina, Withred, the 
legitimate king of Kent, being established on the throne, 
freed his nation by his zeal and piety from foreign invasion. 
Withred was the son of Egbert, who was son of Erchen- 
bert, who was son of Eadbald, who was son of Ethel- 
bert He held the kingdom of Kent 32 years in honour 
and peace. The same year King Ina marched a formi- 
dable and well-arrayed army into Kent to obtain satisfaction 
for the burning of his kinsman Mul. King Withred, how- 
ever, advanced to meet him not with fierce arrogance, but 
with peaceful supplication, not with angry threats, but with 
the honeyed phrases of a persuasive eloquence ; and by 
these he prevailed on the incensed king to lay aside his 
arms and receive from the people of Kent a large sum of 
money as a compensation for the min-der of the young 
prince. Thus the controversy wsis ended, and the peace 
now concluded was lasting. Thenceforth the King of Kent 
had a tranquil reign. The third year after this [a.d. 697], 
the Mercians, who are also called South-Humbrians, per- 
petrated a scandalous crime, for they barbarously murdered 
Ostrythe, the wife of their King Ethelred, and sister of King 
Egfrid. 

[a.d. 699.] In the eleventh year of Ina, Beorht, the 
general of Egfrid, already named, became a victim to the 
maledictions of the Irish, whose churches he had destroyed, 
just as his master had before suffered. For in like manner 
as Egfrid invading the territory of the Picts fell there, so 
Beorht marching against them to revenge the death of his 
lord was by them slain. About this time 700 yeai's are 
reckoned from our Lord's incarnation. Ethelred, the son of 
Penda, king of Mercia, under the influence of divine grace, 
became a monk in the twenty-ninth year of his reign, and 
was buried in peace at Bardenic ^. He was succeeded by his 
kinsman Kenred, who was like him in piety and fortune; for 
when he had nobly reigned for five years, he still more nobly 
resigned his crown, and going to Kome, became a monk, in 

1 Bardney Abbey, in Lincolnshire. 



118 HENRY OF HUNTINGDON. [BOOK IV. 

the pontificate of Pope Constantine, and remained there to 
the end of his days. With him went Offa, son of Sighere, 
king of the East-Saxons, who would otherwise have suc- 
ceeded to the kingdom, hut coming to Kome in the same 
spirit of devotion, he also submitted to the monastic rule. 
We may well imitate the blessed resolve of these two kings, 
Etheh-ed and Kenred, whose names are held in everlasting 
remembrance. Relinquishing their crowns, their wives, their 
cities, tlieir kindred, and all they possessed, they became 
an example to thousands for doing the like. O, gracious 
God! how glorious wiU be the crowns which Thou wilt 
restore to them, and which Thou, the great high priest, wilt 
Thyself place on their heads in the day of joy and triumph, 
when all the millions of the heavenly hosts, and of saints 
from the earth, accompanying those holy kings, and desiring 
to see their faces, they shall bear fruit, not a hundred, but 
a thousand-fold, fruit of a sweet savour, fruit much to be 
desired, and which shall be grateful even in thy sight, O 
merciful God ! Who, even now, kindled by the fire of the 
Holy Spirit, would not follow the example of those kings 
who are kings indeed, that their joy may be still increased 
by fresh fruits, and that they may present to Thee richer 
offerings of those who follow them in righteousness, with 
holy triutnph ! Alas ! I must cut short my discourse con- 
cerning these kings of heaven, but I pray that it may be 
fixed in our abject and sluggish souls. Returning now from 
heaven to earth, we find that Ceolred succeeded these 
kings in the kingdom of Mercia, which he governed with 
honour for eight years, inheriting his father's and grand- 
father's virtues. 

[a.d. 705 *.] In the twentieth year of his reign, Ina divided 
the bishopric of Wessex, which had formed one diocese, 
into two ^. The eastern part from the woods [the Weald], 
was held by Daniel, the western byAldhelm^ who was suc- 

* Bede, book y. c. 18. 

3 Henry of Huntingdon here Ms into two errors : first, tlie division of 
the diocese of Wessex vraa made in the seventeenth year of King Ina^ 
A.D. 705; secondly, Aldhelm died a.d. 709, in the twenty-first, not the 
twentieth year of Ina. His dates are erroneous to the year 726. — Tetne, 

^ Daniel was Bishop of Winchester, the see of which included the 
counties of Hants, Surrey, Sussex, and the Isle of Wight. Aldhelm was 



A.D. 705.] DEATH OF WELFBXD, 119 

ceeded by Fortliere. The same year Bishop Wilfrid, who 
vill not be forgotten in my Book of Miracles, died at 
Omidle, in the forty-fifth year of his episcopacy, and was 
buried at Ripon^ The next year, Ina, and Nim his kins- 
man, fought with Gerent, kmg of Wales ^. In the be- 
ginning of this battle Sigbald, a general, was slain; at 
length, however, Gerent and his followers were put to 
flight, leaving their arms and spoils to the enemy who pur- 
sued them. At that time also, Beorhtfrith, the ealdorman, 
cheeked the arrogance of the Picts, engaging them between 
Heefeh and Osere, and by the numbeira that were slain he 
revenged the deaths of Kmg Egfrid and his general Beorht 
Acca, his priest, succeeded Wilfrid as bishop. Alfrid, king 
of Northiunbria, had died four years before [a.d. 705] at 
Driffield, having not quite completed the twenty-foiuHi year 
of his reign. He was succeeded by his son Osred, a youth 
only eight years old. He reigned eleven years, and fell in 
bat^e by the chance of war near Mere [a.d. 716]. Cenred 
his successor reigned two years ; after whose death, Osric 
reigned there eleven years. All these four kings, therefore, 
governed Northumbna in the time of King Ina. 

[a.d. 715.] There was a battle between £ia, in the twenty- 
sixth year of his xeign, and Ceolred, king of Mercia, the 
son of Ethelred, near Wonebirih*, where tibte slaughter was 
so great on both sides, that it is difficult to say who sus- 
tained the severest loss. The year following the same 
Ceolred, king of Mercia, departed this life, and was buried 
at Litchfield. He was succeeded in the kingdom of Mercia 
by Ethelbald, a brave and active prince, who reigned vic- 
toriously 41 years. That same year Egbert, a venerable 

tppointed to the new liisbopric of Sherborne, consisting of the counties of 
Dorset, Somerset, Wilts, Devon, and Cornwall. This see continued for 
more than three centuries, when it was removed first to Wilton, afterwards 
to Old Sarum, and finally to New Sarum, or Salisbury. — Cfiles, 

» Bede, book ▼. c. 19. 

' Henry of Huntingdon means ComwalL Higbald was slain the same 
year, but not in this battle. — See Sax. Ckr<m., A.i>. 710. 

• Or Wodnesbeorg (Woden's town) ; Wanborongh, on the Wiltshire 
downs, mentioned in a former note. " There is no reason to transfer the 
■eene of action to Woodbridge, as some have supposed, from an erroneous 
reading." — Ingram, 



IJJO HENRY OF HUNTINGDON. [BOOK IV. 

man, brought over the monks of Hii^ to the Catholic ob- 
servance of Easter and the Catholic tonsure. Having lived 
with them fourteen years, and being fully satisfied with the 
reformation of the brotherhood, during the paschal solemni- 
ties on the feast of Easter he rejoiced that he had seen the 
day of the Lord, " he saw it, and was glad." At that time^ 
Naiton, king of the Picts, was converted to the true Pasch 
by a letter of admonition addressed to him by Abbot Ceol- 
frid, who, after the death of Benedict before mentioned, 
presided in the monastery which is situated at the mouth of 
the river Wear, and near the river Tyne, at a^ place called 
Ingirvus^. The letter which he wrote to the king concern- 
ing the Pasch and the greater tonsure was full of weight, 
so that what the abbot recommended in his letter, the king 
enforced by his royal authority throughout his kingdom \ 
About this time Cuthburh, sister of Cwenburh, who had 
been married to EgMd, king of Northumbria, but sepa- 
rated from him during his life, foimded an abbey at Wine- 
bume*. 

[a.d. 725.] Ina, in the thirty-sixth year of his reign, 
marched his army into Sussex, and fought against the South- 
Saxons with vigour and success. In this battle he slew 
Ealdbert, whom he had before compelled to flee from a 
castle called Taimt^n, which Ina had built. This same 
Eadbert, the Etheling, who was the king's enemy, had got 
possession of the castle, but Ina's Queen Ethelburga 
stormed and razed it to the ground, compelling Eadbert 
to escape into Surrey. The same year, Withred, king of 
Kent, died, after a reign of almost 34 years, leaving three 

* lona, or Icomkill. 

' Henry of Huntingdon transposes the acts of Egbert and Ceolfrid in this 
controversy. Bede, book y. c. 21^ makes the letter of Ceolfrid to Naiton pre- 
cede the conversion of the monks of lona. Its supposed date is a.]>. 710. 

' Jarrow, between the Wear and the Tyne. 

** This long epistle is given in full by Bede, book v. c. 21. See an expla- 
nation of the controversy concerning Easter by Professor de Morgan, of 
University College, London. As to the tonsure, see Dr. Giles's note in 
Bede's Ecclesiastical History, book iii. c. 26. The Roman clergy shaved the 
crown of the head in a circle ; the Scottish priests permitted the hair to grow 
on the back, and shaved the forepart of the head from ear to ear, in the fgcm 
of a crescent. ' "Wimbum, Dorsetshire. 



A.D. 728.] INA GOES TO. BOME. ISl 

sons his heirs, Ethelhert, Edhert, and ALric. Ahout this 
time Tohias, hishop of Eochester, the disciple of Arch- 
hishop Theodore and Ahhot Adrian, departed this life, and 
was succeeded by Aldwulf. 

[a.i>. 728.] Ina, ihat powerful and prosperous king, re- 
signing his crown to Ethelward, his kinsman, went to Home \ 
and there, a pilgrim upon earth, was enrolled in the service 
of heaven. How rapid are the . changes of the world may 
be remarked from what occurred in the time of this king. 
During his reign* the emperors were, Justinian the younger, 
who reigned ten years ; Leo, three years ; Tiberius, seven 
years ; Justinian II., six years ; Philip, one year and a half; 
Anastasius, three years ; Theodosius, one year ; Leo, nine 
years ; and Constantino, in the third year of whose reign 
Ina went to Eome. The successors of the apostles in 
his time were these : Popes Sergius, John, another John, 
Sisinnius, Constantine, and Gregory, in whose pontificate 
Ina, voluntarily relinquishing worldly ambition, became an 
exile. The line of the kings of the Franks, in the time of 
Ina was this : King Ghilderic, King Theodoric, King Clo- 
vis, . King Childebert, King Dagobert. In the time of 
Ina, there were admitted to the heavenly mansions, St. 
Heddi, bishop of Winchester; St. Guthrac, hermit of 
Croyland ; and St. John, archbishop of York. The two 
kings nearly connected, Ceadwall and Ina, excelling in 
strength, which they possessed in common with brutes, but 
more excellent in their sanctity, in which they were par- 
takers of the nature of angels, acted nobly, whence " all 
generations shall caH them blessed." So also two nearly 
connected kings of Mercia, Ethelred and Kenred, had done 
before ; who, resigning all false pretensions to good, gained 
the true and highest good, which is God. Let, then, the 
kings who are now ndmg imitate these wise and blessed 
kings, instead of insane and unhappy princes, the difference 
of whose lives, and of the end of their lives, my present 

* Bede, book y. c. 7 ; Saxon Chronicle U.j>, 728], "This year King Ina 
went to Eome, and there gave up the ghost." The establishment of the 
'' English School " at Rome is attributed to Ina ; a fall account of which, 
and of the origin of Rome-Scot, or Peter-pence, for the support of it, may be 
«een in Matthew of Westminster. 

* Ina reigned in Wessez 37 years. — Bede. 



1^2 HENBY OF HUNTINGDON. [bOQK IV, 

work exhibits. Wherefore the four kings I have named are 
lights to all the kings of the earth, affording them examples 
:for imitating the good, and leaving them no excuse for imi- 
tating the evil. And you who are not kings, imitate them, 
that ye may become kings in heaven. For, if indeed, they 
resigned their great estate, while you are unwilling to re- 
sign your lesser advantages, those holy kings will be judges 
of your just condemnation. 

[a.d. 728.] In the first year of Ethelward, king of Wessex, 
he fought a battle with Oswald, a young prince of the royal 
blood^ , who aspired to the crown. For Oswald was son of 
Ethelbald, who was son of Kinebald, who was son of Cud- 
wine, who was son of Ceaulin, who was son of Kinric. 
But the followers of the young prince being outnumbered 
by the royal troops, though for some time he stoutly bore 
the brunt of the battle and resisted to the utmost, he was 
compelled to flee, abandoning his pretensions to the crown. 
The aforesaid king was therefore firmly established on the 
throne. 

In the third year of King Ethelward, two * portentous 
comets appeared near the sun, one preceding its rising, the 
other following its setting, presaging, as it were, dreadful 
calamities both to the east and the west ; or assuredly one 
was the percursor of day, the other of night, to signify that 
misfortunes threatened mankind at both times. The 

1 The Saxon Chronicle calls him "the JBtheling." Henry of H-ontingdoa 
iDTariably renders this word "a young maD," or a "young noble.'* But 
JSStheling was among the Anglo-Saxons a designation of rank, generally ap- 
plied to the heir apparent to the throne, though sometimes extended to the 
more distant branches of the royal race ; and, more rarely, to youths of 
noble blood. The word is deriyed from csdel, noble; and linff, expressing 
condition, as we say, hireling, &tling, and also diminutives, as in duckling, 
suckling, &c. We use this title of honour in the translation, instead of the 
inexpressive phrases by which Henry of Huntingdon has rendered it ; 
as tdso of ealdormcm for " dux," thane for " consul," grieve for " vice- 
comes," &c. 

I ' The Saxon Chronicle, in its established reading, speaks of only one 
" comet star." Some of the MSS., however, describe two comets, a version 
adopted by Bede, book v. c. 28. Henry of Huntingdon follows his amplifi* 
cation of the story, which was probably founded on this various reading. 
The Saxon Chronicle and Bede give the date of A.i>. 729, which was, at 
£irthest, the second, and not, as Henry of Huntingdon says, the tMrd year 
of Ethelward'^ reign. 



A.1>. 7f29.] BEMARKABLE COMET. 12S 

comets tamed their blazing tails towards the north, as if to 
set the pole on fire. Their first appearance was in the month 
of January, and they remained yisible for nearly a fortnight. 
At which time, the Saracens, like a fell pest, spread de- 
stmction far and wide in France and Spain ; but not long 
afterwards they met in the same country the fate their im- 
piety deserved \ The same year, Osric, king of Northum- 
bria, departing this life, left that kingdom, which he had 
governed fourteen years, to Ceolynilf, brother of King 
Kenred, who had reigned before him. Ceolwulf filled the 
throne ei^t years. It was for this king that Bede, that 
holy and venerable saint, a man of cultivated genius, and a 
Christian philosopher, wrote the Ecclesiastical History of 
the En^sh, with what advanti^e to the king his happy end 
shows. 

[a.d. 731.] In the fifth year of Ethelward's reign Berth- 
wsdd, who had been ar<dibishop' nearly 38 years, de- 
parted this life, and Tatwine, who had been a priest at 
Bredune^ in Mercia, was appointed archbishop. He was 
consecrated by those prelates of blessed memory, Ing- 
wald, bishop of London; Daniel, bishop of Winchester; 
Aldulf, bishop of Rochester ; and Aldwin, bishop of Litch- 
field. Two years afterwards, Ethelbald, the very powerful 
king of Mercia, assembling a formidable army, besieged 
Sumerton^, investing it with camps formed all round, and as 
there was no force to throw in succours to the besieged, 
and it was impossible to hold out against the besiegers, the 
place was surrendered to the king. Ethelward, indeed, who 
was distinguished by his great qualities above all the con- 
temporary kings, resolved to reduce all the provinces of 
England, as far as the river Humber, with their respective 

1 The importaiit battle of Toon, in which Charles Martel defeated the 
Arabs of Spain, and delivered Western Europe firom that desokting scourge, 
was fought A.D. 782. Bede closed his History with the year 731, in the 
reign of Ceolwulf, king of Northumberland, to whom it was dedicated. The 
reference, therefore, to the victory of Charles Martel, in 782, must have been 
either an interpolation, or an addition made by the author after the conclu- 
sion of his History ; which latter is probable, as Bede survived till 785, or, 
according to the computation of the Saxon Chronicle, 784. 

* Of Canterbury. 

' A monastery near the Breedon Hills, Worcestenhire. 

* Somerton, in Somersetshire. 



124 HENBT OF HUNTINGDON. [bOOK IV. 

kings, which he accomplished. There was an eclipse of 
the sun the same year. 

In the eighth year of Ethelward, Archbishop Tatwine, a 
prelate of exemplary piety and wisdom, eminently versed in 
sacred literatm-e, was taken from among men. Egbert^ was 
raised to the vacant dignity, and received the pallium from 
Kome. The same year, Venerable Bede was raised to the 
heavenly mansions, where his heart had always dwelt. This 
great man, who, with royal virtue, held the reins over his 
own evil propensities and those of others, was not inferior 
even to kings, and therefore may most worthily be esteemed 
a king, and placed in the ranks of kings. 

Bede, a priest of the monastery at Wiremundham and 
Ingurvus 2, having been educated and brought up by Bene- 
dict, abbot of that place, and his successor Ceolfrid, con- 
tinually devoted himself to the study of the Scriptures. He 
was talcen from the world in the sixty-second year of his 
age, mature in years and in wisdom, ftdl of days not spent 
in vain, as appears by the number of his works. Amongst 
these he composed three books of commentaries, from tiie 
beginning of Genesis to the birth of Isaac; three books 
concerning the tabernacle, its vessels and vestments ; four 
books on the early part of Samuel to the death of Saul ; 
two books in which he treated allegorically of the building 
of the Temple ; a book containing 30 questions out of the 
Books of Kings ; three books on 3ie Proverbs of Solomon ; 
three on the Canticles ; two books of Homilies on the 
Gospels ; three on Esdra and Nehemiah ; one on the 
Prophecy of Habakkuk ; one on the Book of Tobias ; a col- 
lection of Lessons from the Old Testament ; four on the 
Gospel of St. Mark ; two on St. Luke. Whatever he found 
in the minor works of St. Augustine, concerning the apostle, 
he transcribed in order; two books on the Acts of the 
Apostles ; seven books on the Seven Apostolical Epistles ; 
three on the Apocalypse; also chapters of Lessons from 
the New Testament, except the Gospels ; also a book of 

I Henry of Huntingdon here makes two mistakes. Egbert was made 
archbishop of York the same year that Tatwine died [a.d. 734], and re- 
ceived the pallium the year following. Nothelm succeeded Tatwine in th© 
aee of Canterbury, receiving the pall in a.d. 736. — See Sax, Chron. 

• Or *' In Guroum." Jarrow. 



A.D. 734.] VENEEABLE BEDE's WOBKS. 125 

Epistles to various persons ; also a book on the Histories 
of the Saints; also on the life of St. Cuthbert, first in 
heroic verse, afterwards in prose ; two books also of the 
Lives of the Abbots of his own Monastery ; also a M8ui;yro- 
logy; also a book of Hymns; also a book concerning 
Times ; also a book on the Art of Poetry ; and lastly, the 
Ecclesiastical History of the English, in five books, in the 
conclusion of which he devoutly entreats that he may have 
the benefit of the prayers of all who read it. 

Concerning the state of ecclesiastical affairs in his time, 
Bede thus speaks^: "At this time, Tatwine is archbishop 
of Canterbury; Aldulf, bishop of Kochester; Ingwald, 
bishop of London ; Aldbert and Hadulao preside as bishops 
over the East-Angles ; Daniel and Forthere are bishops in 
the province of the West-Saxons*; Aldwin is bishop in 
Mercia^; over the people who live to the west of the river 
Severn, Walstod is bishop*; in the province of the Huiccii, 
Wilfrid is bishop * ; in the province of Lindsey, Cimebert*' ; 
the Isle of Wight belongs to Daniel, bishop of Winchester, 
and he administers the province of the South-Saxons, 
which has been for some years without a bishop of its own'. 
Subject to the King Ceolwulf there are four bishops, Wilfrid,, 
of York ; Ethelwald, of Lindisfame; Acca, of Haugulstad**; 
Pecthelm, of * Candida Casa,'^ in which newly- erected see 
he is the first bishop. 

" Moreover, Eadbert is king of Kent ; Ethelward, king of 
Wessex; Selred, king of the East-Angles^^; Ceolwulf, king 
of Northumbria ; and Ethelbald, king of Mercia, who is the 
greatest of them all. Such is the state of affairs in the 
year since the coming over of the English about the 288th ; 

* Eccles. Hist, book v. c. 28. 

^ The one having his seat at Winchester, the other at Sherborne. 

3 At Litchfield. * The see of Hereford. 

^ As to the Hniccii, see note, p. 80. Worcester was the seat of this- 
bishopric. ' Sidnacester. 

"^ The original seat of the bishops of the Sonth-Sazons was at Selsey,. 
which was then vacant 

' Hexham. 

' Whitheme, where indeed St Ninios founded a bishopric among the 
Picts, A.i>. 412 ; but Fecthclm was the first Saxon bishop. 

*® Selred was king of the East-Saxons. Flor. of Wore. He succeeded 
Ina. 



136 HENBT OF HUNTINGDON. [BOOK IV. 

in the 734th year of the incamation of our Lord^, in whose 
never-ending reign let the earth rejoice, and Britain being 
united with them in the joys oi the true flEtith, ' let the mul- 
titude of the isles be glad, and rejoice in remembrance of 
his holiness ! "' 

Thus far I have relied on the authoriiy of Venerable 
Bede, the priest, in weaviag the thread of this my history, 
but chiefly in all those passages in which I have treated of 
ecclesiastical affairs, and in oti^er matters also as much as I 
could. Henceforth, it will be my endeavour to commit to 
writing, for the instruction of posterity, whatever I have 
been able to find , by diligent inquiry coUected in the works 
of old authors; for, as our learned Bede asserts, in the 
preface to his History of the English, " The true rule of 
history is to commit to writing with simplicity, for the 
instruction of posterity, what is gathered fix>m common 
report" 

[A.D. 736.] In the tenth year of King Ethelward, Nothelm, 
the archbishop, received the pallium firom the Pope. Not 
long afterwards, Forthere, the bishops aud the queen 
Fnthogitha, leaving her splendid possessions and luxurious 
pleasures, went to Eome. In those times very many of the 
English nation, both nobles and common people, clerks 
and laymen, men and women, vied with each other in so 
doing. The same year Ethelwald, bishop of Lindisfame, 
depajrted this life, and Gonwulf was advanced to the episcopal 
dignity. Not later, the venerable Acca, priest and afterwards 
bishop of Haugulstad, put off this mortal coil. 

In the eleventh year of King Ethelward, CeolwuK, the 
most illustrious king of Northumbria, performed a most 



1 Henry of Huntingdon alters this date in Bede, which aie An. 285 of 
the Saxon era, and 781 of the Christian. This error is the more extra- 
ordinary, as he is here quoting yerbatim from Bede's History ; and as Bede 
died in 734, he could hardly have brought up his history to, and dated it in 
that year. Henry of Huntingdon had the Saxon Chronicle befoi^ him, which 
gives this date ; and he himself places the death of Bede in the eighth 
year of King Ethelward, which coincides with a.d. 733, or 734. I per- 
ceive that Dr. Giles, on the authority of Cuthbert's letter, gives the death of 
Bede in 736.— See his life of Bede, prefixed to the History, in Bohn*s 
Edition, p. 21. 

* Of Winchester. 



A.D. 737.] ceolwulf's piety. 127 

memorable deed. Now Oeolwulf was son of Cutha, son of 
Cuthwin, son of Ledwold, son of Egwold, son of Aldelm, 
son of Ocche, son of King Ida. Oeolwulf, then, who fre- 
quently conversed with Bede while he was yet living, and 
often studied, both before and after the death of Bede, 
the History which he had dedicated to him, began to 
ponder with himself diligently on the lives and deaths of 
various kings. He saw, as clear as light, that earthly king- 
doms and worldly possessions are gained with toil, are pos- 
sessed in fear, are lost with regret. And while, to persons 
of inferior judgment and less experience, it might appear 
foolish and irrational, seeing how Mr and delightful worldly 
things are, to be told that fiiese must be relinquished and 
despised, not yet understanding how disquieting is this 
world's wealth, how it comes to an end, producing no £ruits 
but a late repentance, yet no temptations entangled the 
wise and experienced king. He felt within himself that his 
royal power had been established with difiO^cidty, and was 
maintained in fear, while he was unwilling to lose it in 
sorrow. As the lord, therefore, and not the slave of his 
high estate, he magnanimously cast from him what he 
considered worthless. Especially he was excited by the 
thought, that while women and boys, and even the better 
sort, thronged to behold him and admire his grandeur, he 
himself was inwardly tormented with horrible fears of 
murder and treason, by which he was consumed both in 
mind and body; so that while others counted him most 
fortunate, he, who alone knew the secrets of his heart, 
esteemed himself most wretched. When, then, his reign 
had lasted a short period, that is, eight years, it became 
very evident to him, and he bitterly lamented, that for such 
an interval he had wasted his life in vain cares and frivolous 
pursuits, and he resolved to dedicate at least the rest of his 
days, not to mistaken foUy, but to wisdom and his own best 
interests. Imitating, therefore, the examples he found in 
the History of the holy man just named, this truly illus- 
trious king followed in the track of six illustrious kings. 
These were Ethelred, king of Mercia, and Kenred, his suc- 
cessor ; Ceadwall, king of Wessex, and Ina, his successor ; 
as also Sigebert, king of East-Anglia, who became a monk, 
and was afterwards killed by Penda ; with Sebbi, king of 



128 HENRY OF HUNTINGDON. [bOOK IV. 

Essex, who, also becoming a monk, foresaw with joy the day 
of his death — " he saw it, and was glad ! " They wasted not 
their substance with harlots, but spent their days in tribu- 
lation, sowing good seed, that they might come again with 
joy, and bring 3ieir sheaves with them, an offering to God. 
Accordingly, Ceolwulf filled up the number of seven perfect 
kings, and having assumed the monastic habit, the Lord 
set a crown of precious stones upon his head. He resigned 
his throne to Edbert, who was his kinsman; for he was 
the son of Eata, the son of Ledwold; and he reigned 21 
years. 

[a.d. 737.] Ethelbald, the haughty king of the Mercians, 
a prince of a different character in this royal fellowship, and 
therefore destined to a different end, despising holiness, and 
setting might above right, invaded Northumbria, where, meet- 
ing with no resistance, he swept away as much booty as he 
could transport with him to his own country. 

[a.d. 741.] King Ethelward died in the fourteenth year of 
his reign, and Cuthred, his kinsman, who succeeded him, 
reigned over Wessex sixteen years. Meanwhile, the proud 
king Ethelbald continually harassed him, sometimes by in- 
surrections, sometimes by wars. Fortune was changeable ; 
the events of hostilities were, with various results, now 
favourable to the one, then to the other. At one time 
peace was declared between them, but it lasted but for 
a short interval, when war broke out afresh. The same 
year^ Egbert was consecrated archbishop, during the pon- 
tificate of Zachaiy, and Dun was ordained to the see of 
Kochester. 

[a.d. 743.] In the fourth year of his reign, Cuthred joined 
his forces with those of Ethelbald, king of Mercia, with whom 
he was then at peace, against the Britons, who were assem- 
bled in immense multitudes. But these warlike kings, 
with their splendid army, falling on the enemy's ranks on 
different points, in a sort of rivalry and contest which 
should be foremost, the Britons, imable to sustain the brunt 
of such an attack, betook themselves to flight, offering their 
backs to the swords of the enemy, and the spoils to those 

* That is, the year of Cuthred's accession. For " Egbert," read Cuthbert, 
according to the Saxon Chronicle. He was Archbishop of Canterbury, suc- 
ceeding Nothelm. 



A.D. 743-752.] cuthred's reign in wessex. 129 

"who pursued them. The victorious kmgs, retummg to 
their own States, were received with triumphant rejoicings. 
The year following died Wilfrid, who had been "bishop 
of York* 30 years. That same year [a.d. 744] there 
was a remarkable appearance in the heavens; stars were 
seen shooting to and fro in the air, which seemed a pro- 
digy to all beholders. The year following Daniel de- 
ceased, in the forty-third year after he became bishop*. 
The next year King Seldred was slain, as we leam from 
old writers, but they do not tell us how or by whom he 
was slain. 

[a.d. 748.] In the ninth year of Cuthred, Kinric, his son, 
was slain, a brave warrior and bold himter, tender in age, 
but strong in arms, little in years, but great in prowess ; who, 
while he was following up his successes, trusting too much 
to the fortune of war, fell in a mutiny of his soldiers, suf- 
fering the punishment of his impatient temper^. The same 
year died Eadbert, king of the Kentish men, who wore the 
diadem 22 years. 

[a.d. 750.] In the eleventh year of his reign Cuthred 
fought against Ethelhun, a proud chief, who fomented a 
rebeUion against his sovereign, and although he was vastly 
inferior to his lord in number of troops, he held the 
field against him for a long time with a most obstinate re- 
sistance, his exceeding caution supplying the deficiency of 
his force. But when victory had well nigh crowned his 
enterprise, a severe woimd, the just judgment of his traitor- 
ous intentions, caused the royal cause to triumph. 

[a.d. 752.] Cuthred, in the thirteenth year of his reign, 
being imable to submit any longer to the insolent exactions 
and the arrogance of King Ethelbald, and preferring liberty 

^ So also the Saxon Chronicle and Florence of "Worcester. He is there 
called ** Wilfrid the Younger ; *' but Wilfrid, bishop of Worcester, is pro- 
bably meant, as Wilfred II. of Tork was succeeded by Egbert in 734. 

• Daniel was Bishop of Winchester, which see he resigned the year be- 
fore his death. 

* The Saxon Chronicle states simply that Kinric, who is called " the 
Etheling of the West Saxons, was slain." From what source Henry of Hun- 
tingdon gathered the particulars of his death, and the traits of his character, 
we are, as in many other instances, unable to discover. In this case, how- 
ever, there is an air of truth and genuineness in the stor}'. 

S 



130' HENBY OP ETONZHiGDON. [bOOK Z?* 

to the hope of life, encountered him at Bereford^ with 
bannered legions. He was attended by Ethelhim, the afore- 
said chief, with whom he was now reconciled, and, supported 
by his valour and counsels, he was able, to try tine chances 
of war. On the other side, fithelbald, who was king of 
king)s, had in his army the Kentish men, tiie East-Saxons, 
and the Angles, with a numerous host. The armies beiiig 
drawn up in battle airay, and, rushing forward, having nearly 
met, Ethelhun, who led the West-S«^ons^ bearing the royal 
standard, a golden dragon, transfixed the standard-bearer of 
the enemy. Upon this, a shout arose, and the followers of 
Outhred being much encouraged, battle was joined on both 
sides. Then the thunder of war, the clash of arms, tii0 
dang of blows, and the cries of the wounded, resounded 
terribly, and a desperate and most decisive battle "began^ 
according to the issue of which, either the men of Wessex, 
or the men of Mercia, would for many generations be sub- 
ject to the victors. Then might be seen the troops vdth 
jTusding breastplates and pointed helmets and glistening^ 
spears, with emblazoned standards shum^with gold; but a 
^ort time afterwards stained with blood, bespattered with 
brains, their spears shattered, and their ranks broken, a 
horrible spectacle. The bravest and boldest on both sides 
gathering about their standards, rank rushed desperately (m 
rank, deaUng slaughter with their swords and Amazoniaa 
bstHe-axes. There was no thought of flight, confidence m 
victory was equal on both sides. The arrogance of their 
pride sustained the Mercians, the fear of slavery kindled 
the courage of ihe men of Wessex. But wherever the 
chief before mentioned feU on the enemy's ranks, there he 
cleared a way before him, his tremendous battle-axe cleaviag; 
swift as lightning, both arms and limbs. On the other 
hand, wherever the brave King Ethelbald turned, the enemy 
were slaughtered, for his invincible sword rent armour as if 
it were a vestment, and bones as if they were flesh. When, 
therefore, it happened that the king and the chief met ea^ 

* Burford. " This tattle has been much amplified by Henry of Hnntingw 
don ; and after him by Matthew of Westminster. The former, among odior 
absurdities, talks of Amazonian battle-axes. They both mention the boimer 
of the golden dragon, Sid'— Ingram, note to Sax, Ckron, 



A.l>. 75S.] WESSEX BECOIIBS POWERFUL. 131 

other, it was as when two fires from opposite quarters con- 
sume all that opposes them. Each of them, to excite 
terror in the other, came on with threatening mien, thrust- 
ing forth the right hand, and gathering themselves up in 
their arms struck furious blows, the one against the other. 
But the God who resists the proud, and from whom aU might, 
courage, and valour proceed, made an end of his favour to 
King Ethelbald, and caused his wonted confidence to faiL 
Since then he no longer felt courage or strength. Almighty 
G-od inspiring him with terror, he was the first to flee while 
yet his troops continued to fight. Nor from that day to the 
day of his death was anything prosperous permitted by 
divine Providence to happen to him. Indeed, four years 
afterwards, in another battle at Secandune \ in which the 
carnage was wonderful, disdaining to flee, he was slain on 
the field, and was buried at Kipon. So liiis very powerful 
king paid the penalty of his inordinate pride, after a reign 
of 41 years. From that time the kingdom of Wessex was 
firmly established, and ceased not continually to grow pre- 
eminent. 

[a.d. 75 B.] In the fourteenth year of his reign, Cuthred 
■fought against the Britons, who, being unable to withstand 
the conqueror of King Ethelbald, soon took to flight and 
justly suffered a severe defeat without any loss to their 
enemy. The year following, Cuthred, this great and power- 
ful king, after a prosperous and victorious career, ended his 
^ory in death. 

Sigebert, a kinsman of the late king's, succeeded him on 
the throne, but he held it only for a short time. For his 
pride and arrogance on account of the successes of his pre- 
decessors became intolerable even to his friends. But when 
he evil-entreated his people in every way, perverting the^ 
laws for his own advantage or evading them for his own 
purposes, Cimabra, the noblest of his ministers % at the- 
entreaty of the whole people, made their complaints known 
to tile inhuman king, counselling him to rule his subjeets- 
with greater leniency, and, abating his cruelty, to be more- 
amiable in the sight of God and man. For this counsel 

* Saxon Chronicle, " Seckington," "Warwicksbire T 

' "Consul," Henry of Huntingdon ; " Earldorman," Saxon Chronicle; 



\ 



k2 



132 HENBY OF HUNTINGDON. [BOOK IV. 

the king most unrighteously put him to death, and, be- 
coming still more inhuman and insupportable, his tyranny 
increased. 

[a.d. 755.] In the beginning of the second year of King 
Sigebert's reign, when his pride and wickedness appeared 
incorrigible, tiie nobles and people of the whole kingdom 
assembled, and, after a careful deliberation, he was by 
unanimous consent expelled from the throne. Cynewulf, 
an illustrious youth of the royal race ^ was elected king. 
Upon which, Sigebert, driven from his States, and fearing no 
less than he deserved, fled into the great wood called An- 
dredeswald^, where he concealed himself There, a swine- 
herd of Cumbra, the ealdorman, whom he had iniquitously 
put to death, as I before mentioned, found the king lying 
in concealment, and, recognising him, slew him on the 
spot in revenge for his master^s death. Behold the just 
judgment of the Lord ! See how his justice recompenses 
men according to their deserts, not only in the world to 
come, but even in this life ! Kaising up wicked kings for 
the merited chastisement of their subjects, one is permitted 
to continue long in his mad career, that a depraved people 
may be the longer oppressed, and the king, becoming still 
more depraved, may be more severely tormented hereafter, 
as in the case of Ethelbald, the king of Mercia, lately spoken 
of; another, Providence visits with swift destruction, to give 
room to breathe for the people ground down by his tyranny, 
and that they may not quickly inciu", through the imbridled 
wickedness of their prince, the just doom of eternal retri- 
bution, as in the case of this Sigebert, of whom we are now 
speaking. As for him, indeed, the greater his crimes, the 
lower he sunk in his pimishment, which was inflicted by 
the hand of a vile swineherd, being plunged from a depth 

* The Etheling, or heir apparent. 

' Andredes-wald, now the Weald of Sussex. The account given by the 
Saxon Chronicle, though shorter, is more graphic and precise. It tells us 
that "Cynewulf and the West-Saxon 'Witan' depriTed his kinsman Sige- 
bert of his kingdom, except Hampshire, for his unjust doings ; and that he 
held, until he slew the Ealdorman, who longest abode by him. And then 
Cynewulf drove him into Andred, and he abode there until a swineherd 
stabbed him at Privets-flood [Privett, Hampshire], and avenged the Ealdoi^ 
man Cumbra." The Archdeacon of Huntingdon would have done better if 
he had given the details with more precision, and spared us the homily. 



A.D. 755.] OFFA, KING OF MEBOIA. 133 

of woe, to woe still deeper. Wherefore, to the eternal 
justice of God he praise and glory, now and ever ! Amen. 

[a.d. 755.] In the first year of King Cynewulf, Beorhred 
succeeded Ethelhald in the kingdom of Mercia ; but his 
reign was short. For OfFa dethroned him the same year, 
and filled the throne of Mercia 39 years. He was a 
youth of the noblest extraction, being the son of Thing- 
ferih, who was son of Eanwulf, who was son of Osmod, the 
son of Epa^ the son of Wippa^, the son of Creoda, the son 
of Cynewald, the son of Cnebba, the son of Icel, the son of 
Eomser, the son of Ageltheow, ^e son of OflFa, the son of 
Weremund, the son of Withleeg, the son of Woden. OflFa 
proved a most warlike king, for he was victorious in succes- 
sive battles over the men of Kent, and the men of Wessex, 
and the Northumbrians. He was also a very religious man, 
for he translated the bones of St. Alban to the monastery 
which he had built and endowed with many gifts. He also 
granted to the successor of St. Peter, the Eoman pontiflF, a 
fixed tax for every house in his kingdom for ever. 

In the third year of King Cynewulf, Eadbert, king of 
Northumbria, reflecting on the troubled lives and the un- 
happy deaths of the kings before named, Ethelhald and 
Sigebert, and on the meritorious life and the glorious end 
of his predecessor Ceolwulf, he chose the better part which 
shall not be taken away from him. For, resigning his 
crown, he submitted to the tonsure which would seciu'e to 
him an everlasting diadem, and put on the black gown 
which would be turned into a robe of celestial splendour. 
He makes the eighth of the kings who volimtarily abdicated 
their kingdoms for the sake of Christ ; nay rather, to speak 
more correctly, exchanged them for an everlasting kingdom ; 
in the blessedness of which eight kings joy without end 
exults in manifold and unspeakable delights, while it is 
most blessed to imitate their determination. Eadbert was 
succeeded by his son Oswulph, who only reigned one year, 
being treacherously murdered by his own household. Moll 
Ethelwald, his successor, reigned six years. About this time 
Cuthbert the archbishop^ died. 

[a.d. 760.] Ethelbert, the Kentish king, attained the 

> Bswa; Fybba; Sax. Chron. > Of Canterbury. 



184 HENBT OF HtnSTINGDON. [bOOK XY. 

term of life in the sixth year of the reign of Cynewulf. 
The same year Ceolwulf, formerly king, but now a monk, 
died, or rather was translated to the fruition of his un- 
speakable reward. The following year, Moll, king of North- 
ranbria, slew at Edwins-cliff, Oswin, the most powerful of 
his nobles, who, rebelling against his sovereign, in contempt 
of ihe law of nations, was justly punished according to the 
law of God. The year afterwards Lambert was ordained 
archbishop of York^ ; and Frithwald, bishop of Whitheme, 
who had been consecrated in the sixth year of the reign of 
Ceolwulf, ended his days. At the same time, Petwin was 
made bishop of Whitheme. Alchred succeeded to the king- 
dom of Northumbria on the demise of Moll, in the six& 
year of his reign, and held it eight years. In his second 
year, Egbert, archbishop of York, died, who had been arch- 
bishop S6 years, and Erithbert, bishop of Hexham, in 
the thirty-fourth year of his episcopate. Ethelbert suc- 
ceeded Egbert in the archdiocese, and Alcmimd obtained 
Frithbert's bishopric. In the fourth year of King Alchred, 
died Pepin, king of the Franks, and Stephen, pope of Eome, 
as well as Eadbert, the son of Eata, the most illustrious 
of the English nobles. 

In the year of our Lord 769, the fifteenth of the reign of 
Cynewulf, the operations of the right hand of the Most 
High began to change ; for the Eoman Empire, the summit 
of power for so many years, became subject to Charlemagne, 
king of the Franks, after the thirtietii year of his reign, 
which commenced this year-, and has continued in the Ime 
of his posterity from his time to the present day. 

[a.d. 773.] In the twentieth year of the reign of Cyne- 
wulf, King Offa fou^t a battle with the Kentish men at 
Ottanford*, in which, after a dreadful slaughter on both 

1 Henry of Huntingdon calls him " Jamljetli,*' bishop of " Ceastre." It 
should have been Archbishop of Canterbury- in the place of Bregowin, vrho, 
A.D. 759, succeeded Cuthbert. — See Sax. Chron. Henry of Huntingdon 
confuses Lambert with Frithwald, bishop ofWhitheme, the Scottish diocese, 
who also died this year, having been consecrated long before at ** Geaatie/' 
meaning York. 

^ Charlemagne succeeded Fepin in the kingdom of the Franks, a.d. 768, 
became king of Lombardy in 774, and was crowned emperor of Some 
A.D. 800. 

» Or Orford, in Kent One MS. readi " Oxen&rd," Oxford. 



A.D. 777.] opfa's bei&k. ]85 

gides, Offa gained tiie honour of victory. The same year 
the Northumbrians drove their King Alchred from Eoverwic 
[York] in the Paschal week, Meeting as their king, Ethehed, 
idle son of Moll, who reigned four years. The same year 
red signs appeared in the heavens after sunset^, and horrible 
snakes were seen in Sussex, to the wonder of all. Two 
years afterwards, the Old-Saxons, from whom the English 
nation is descended, were converted to Christianity: the 
•same year, Petwin, bishop of Whitheme, died, in the twenty- 
fourth year of his episcopate. 

[a.d. 777.] In the twenty-fourth year of his reign, King 
Oynewulf fought against Oflfa roimd Benetune^ ; but by the 
fcHTtune of war he was worsted and evacuated the town, so 
that Oifa took the castle. The same year Ethelbert was 
consecrated at York, bi^op of Whitheme. The following 
year Ethelbald and Herbert, officers* of the King of North- 
umbria, rebelling against their master, slew Aldulf the son 
nf Bosa, the commander-in-chief of the royal army, in a 
^bfiEttle at King's-cliff, and afterwards the officers above 
named slew Cynewulf and Eggan, also royal officers, in a 
^groat battle at Hela-thym. The King Ethelred, losing toge- 
fiier his officers and his hopes, fled from the face of fiie 
rebels ; upon which they raised Alfwold to the throne, and 
he reigned ten years. The year following*, the chief men 
and governors of Korthumbria burnt a certain justiciary and 
chief officer^ for unjust severity. The same year, archbishop 
Edbert^ died at York, and was succeeded by Eanbald. That 
year also Kinebold was made bishop of Lindisfame, and the 
Old-Saxons and Franks fought a battle, in which the Pranks 
4M>nquered. The year following, Alfwold king of Noithum- 
ln*ift, sent to Borne for a pall, which he delivered to Eanbald 
liie archbishop. Then, on the death of Alchmund, bishop 
of Hexham, he was succeeded by Tilberht. The same year 

* The Saxon Chronicle calls this appearance " a fiery cmcifix." 

* *' BensingtoD," Saxon Chronicle ; Benson, Oxfordshire. This battle was 
fought in the twenty-second year of Cyue wolf's reign. 

^ Henry of Huntingdon calls them " duces;" the Saxon Chronicle, "high- 
ffrieres," or sheriffs, i. e. shire-grieves, stewards of the shire. The date there 
» A.D. 778. 

* Saxon Chronicle dates it in 780. 

* Saxon Chronicle, '' ealdorman." 

* It should be " Ethelbert." 



136 HENRY OF HUNTINGDON. [BOOK IV. 

Charlemagne was at Eome ; and about this time there was 
a synod at Acle^. 

[a.d. 784.] After Cynewulf had been king 26 years ^ 
and had fought many battles against the Britons [Welsh], 
in which he was always victorious, subduing them in every 
quarter, he took it into his head to banish a yoimgman * [the 
Ethehng] named Cyneard, Sigebert's brother. But he beset 
the king at Merton, where he had gone privately to visit a 
certain woman [a.d. 786]. On the first alarm, the king went 
to the door, where he manfully defended himself, till re- 
cognising the Etheling, he rushed forth and wounded him ; 
but the whole band of his followers surrounded the king 
and slew him. Cries being raised, the king's thanes ^ who 
were in the town ran to the spot, and, refusing the offers of 
lands and money made by the Etheling, fought with him 
till they were all killed except one, a British hostage, who 
was desperately wounded. The next morning the king's 
thanes of the neigbom:hood beset the Etheling and his 
party in the house where the king was slain. Upon which 
he said to them, " Your kindred are with me, and I will 
bestow on you land and money, as much as you desire, if 

' Acley, in Durham. 

* The Saxon Chronicle says "about one-and-thirty years." Heary of 
Huntingdon, as Fetrie remarks, gives the date of Cynewulf's accession cor- 
rectly, A.D. 755 ; but he considers that our historian has fixed a wrong date 
for his death, by confusing his calculation of the intermediate years. It 
appears, however, to have escaped the observation of the learned editor 
that Henry of Huntingdon himself, in the latter part of this same paragraph, 
expressly states that the reign of Cynewulf lasted 31 years, in agree- 
ment with the Saxon Chronioje. The reading, therefore, which gives the 
twenty-sixth year as the date of Cynewulf 's death, must either be a mere 
inadvertence, or an error of the transcribers of the MSS. ; unless, as the 
sense seems to allow, the latter era applies to the termination of this king's 
wars with the Britons, or to his banishment of the Etheling ; the latter nou- 
rishing his revenge for five years, till he had an opportunity of fatally taking 
it. — See note, p. 731 of Petries Monumeiita Historica. It may be ob- 
served, however, that the Saxon Chronicle places the death of Cynewulf in 
784, while 81 years from 755 would make it 786. Perhaps he was not 
called to the throne for some time after Sigebert was expelled. 

^ Henry of Huntingdon calls him " Juvenis," unmeaningly. The Saxon 
Chronicle, *' The Etheling." Matthew of Westminster says, that Cynewulf 
suspected Cjneard of aspiring to the kingdom, or revenging his brother's 
death. 

* Henry of Huntingdon, '' milites ; " Saxon Chronicle, " theigns." 



A.D. 784.] BEBT^IC SUCCEEDS IN WESSEX. 137 

you will not fight against me ; the same offer I made to 
your friends, but they rejected it and all perished." They 
replied that no money was dearer to them than their lord, 
and that they would avenge him and their kinsman. Then 
after a severe struggle, they burst in through the gate, 
and slew the Ethelmg and 84 persons, his followers, 
with him. One only survived, a young lad, but he was 
wounded^. Cynewulf, who was slain in fiie thirty-first year 
of his reign, was buried at Winchester, and the Etheling at 
Axminster. 

Bertric, who was of the race of Cerdic, often. mentioned, 
succeeded Cynewulf in the kingdom of Wessex, over which 
he reigned sixteen years. In his second year Pope Adrian 
sent legates to Britain to renew the faith which Augustine 
had preached. They were honourably received by the 
kings and people, and established it on a soimd foundation, 
the grace of God happily aiding them. They held a synod 
at Chalk-hythe, at which Lambert* gave up some portion 
of his bishopric, and Higbert was elected by King Offa. 
The same year Egfert was consecrated king of a province 
of Kent^. The year following, being the year of grace 786, 
men's garments bore the appearance of being marked with 
the cross ; a prodigy which must appear wonderful in the 
sight and hearing of all ages. Whether it prefigured the 
crusade to Jerusalem, which took place 309 years after- 
wards, in the time of WiUiam II., when the badge of the 
cross was assumed ; or whether it was sent for the warning 

' Henry of Huntingdon seldom loses an opportunity of amplifying the 
accounts he borrows from others ; but in this instance he has spoiled an in- 
teresting narrative, by omitting some of its most graphic details, given in 
the Saxon Chronicle. "Its minuteness and simplicity^'' says Ingram, 
" proves that it was written at no great distance of time from the event. 
It is the first that occurs of any length in the older MSS. of the Saxon 
Chronicle." The reader will do well to refer to the original account, p. 327 
of BdhiCi Edition, 

* This relates to Ofh's temporary division of the province of Canterbury 
into two archbishoprics ; one of which he placed at Lichfield, in his ov^n 
kingdom of Mercia, under Bishop Higbert. — See William of Malme^ury, 
^ ^ I have adopted the indefinite instead of the definite article, *' a pro- 
vince^'' as, though both the Saxon Chronicle and Florence of Worcester men- 
tion the coronation of Egfert in his father's lifetime, neither of them call 
him king of Kent. He may have had a district granted to him with the 
title of king^ as was common in those times. 



138 BJEJmY OV HDISTZKGDOV. [BOOK IT. 

of ihe nations, that they might escape by reformation the 
seom'ge of the Danes ^viiich speedily followed, it is not for 
me r£ishly to detenuine. The secrets of the Lord I leave to 
ihe Lord. 

[a.d. 787.] In the fourth year of his reign, Bertric took to 
wife Eadburga, daughter of OSa, king of Mercia, by which 
alliance the king's power was stre^glJiened, and his arro- 
gance increased. Zn those days the Danes landed in 
Britain, from icbaree ships, to plunder the country. The 
king's ofl&cer^, descrying them, set upon them incautiously, 
making no doubt but he should carry them captives to the 
king's castie ; for he was ignorant who the people were who 
had landed, or for what purpose they had come. But he 
was instantly slain in the throng. He was the £rst Eng- 
Ushman killed by the Danes, but after him many myriad 
were slaughtered by them ; and these were the Srst ships 
that the Danes brou^t here. The following year a synod 
was convened at Pincenhall^. 

[a.d. 789.] In the sixth year of Bertric's reign a synod 
was assembled at Acley. Likewise, Bigga infamously and 
treasonably murdered Alfwold, king of Northumbria, and a 
heavenly light was often seen in the place where the king, 
the servant of the Lord, was buried, ^^ch was at Hexham. 
Osred succeeded him, but the year afU^nvards he was be- 
trayed and driven out of the kingdom, and Moll, the son of 
Ethehred, was restored to the throne. But four years after- 
wards, Osred, returning with a force 'he had collected to 
expel Ethelred, by whom he had been dethroned, was sur- 
rounded, seized, and put to death. He was buried at 
Tynemouth ^. Truly it is said, " How blind to the future 
is the mind of man ! " For when the young Osred ascended 
the tiff one with a light step and a merry heart, he little 
thought that in two years he should vacate the royal seat, 
and in four should lose his life ; so that in prosperity we 
should be always thoughtful, not knowing how near adver- 
sity is at hand. At that time OfEa, king of Mercia, gave 
orders that St. Ethelbert * should be beheaded. Lambert 

* The " reere.** — Sax, Chrtm, 

* Fingfdl, Bpelmui Ooncil., i. 304. 

' ** In the abbey at the raooth of the liTtr Tme "~-Flor. IFor« 

* He was king of the East-Angiei. 



AJ>. 795.] JOMa OFFA DDSB. Id9 

did not surviye this period, and Abbot ^thelard was elected 
archbishop^. Also Eanbald, the archbishop of York, eouse- 
cated Baldulf bishop of Whitheme^. 

[A.D. 793.] In the tenth year of Bertric*s reign, fiery- 
dragons were seen flying in the air, and this prodigy was 
MLowed by two calamities. The first was a severe famine ; 
the second was an irruption of the heathen nations from 
Hoorway and XMnmark, who first cruelly butchered the 
people of Northumbna, and then, on the 14th pf January, 
destroyed the diurches of Christ, with the 'inhabitants, in 
the province of Lindis£Bme. At the same time, Sigga, the 
thane, who had foully betrayed the holy king Alf^old, pe- 
jished as he deserved. 

Jn the eleventh year of Bertric's reign, the Northumbrians 
jslew their king Etheked, who, the same year that King 
Osred was killed, elated with pride, had put away his wife, 
and married another ; imconscious that within two years he 
also would be cut ofiT, and soon end the joy of a short reign 
in the desolation of the grave. Eardulf succeeded him in 
the kingdom of Northumbria. He was anointed king, and 
installed in the royal seat at York, by Archbishop EanbaM, 
and bishops Ethelbert, Higbald, and Baldulf. Not long 
afiberwards Archbishop Eanbald died at York, and was suc- 
ceeded by another of the same name. About this time 
JPbpe Adrian, as well as the powerful king OfiGa., departed 
iMs-life [a.d. 796]. Egfert, llie son of Offii, became king 
of Mercia, but he died 141 days afterwards, and was suc- 
ceeded by King Kenulf. The same year Eadbert, whose 
other name was Pren, obtained the kingdom of Kent. 
Then, also, the heathens ravaged Northumbria, and pillaged 
Egfert*s monastery at "Donemuth."^ But the bravest and 
most warlike of the English meeting them in battle, their 
leaders were slain, and tiiey retreated to their ships. Pur- 
suing their flight, some of their ships were wrecked by a 
storm,- and many men were drowned ; but some were taken 
alive, and beheaded on the beach. Not long afterwards, 

* Of Canterbury. 

* "Beadoi^" Flor, Wor.s ihe Mine ai Badulph, Biddalpli, ^.— 

* ** That is to ny, Weazmouth. Henry of Hantingdon ii aittaken, as 
well as Simeon of Durham; see him^A.i>. 794." — Peint, 



140 HENRY OF HUNTINGDON. [BOOK IV. 

Kenwulf, the king of Mercia, over-ran and ravaged the 
country of the Kentish men, and took prisoner and carried 
off witii him their king Pren^, who was miable to resist his 
victorious arms, and was lurking in the winding glens and 
fastnesses. 

[a.d. 797.] In the fom:teenth year of the reign of Bertric, 
the Romans cut out the tongue aad put out the eyes of 
Pope Leo, and drove him from his see. But he, as writers 
report, was by the mercy of God again able to see and 
speak, and became again pope. Three years afterwards 
[a.d. 800], King Charles being made emperor, and conse- 
crated by Pope Leo, condemned to death those who had so 
disgracefully treated the pope, but at his intercession he 
changed the sentence of death for banishment. Three 
years afterwards, also, Bertric, king of Wessex, died. At 
this time there was a great battle at Hweallege^, in North- 
imibria, in which fell Alric, the son of Herbert, and many 
others. But I should be too prolix if I were to relate aU 
the particulars of these wars, their nature and results ; for 
the English people were naturally rude and turbulent, and 
thus were incessantly torn by civil wars. 

In the year of grace 800, Egbert, the eighth in order of 
the ten kings mentioned in the Second Book for their high 
and singular prerogative '\ began his reign over Wessex, 
which lasted 37 years, and 6 months. In his youth he 
had been driven into banishment by King Bertric, his 
predecessor, and Offa, king of Mercia, and spent two years 
of exile in the court of the king of the Franks*, where he 

* See Saxon Chronicle for the cruelties Eenwulf is alleged to haye in- 
flicted on his captive. But ** this wanton act of harbarity," says Ingram, 
" seems to have existed only in the depraved imagination of the Norman 
interpolator of the Saxon annals. Hoveden, and Wallingford, and others, 
have repeated the idle tale ; but I have not hitherto found it in any his- 
torian of authority." — Notes to Sax, Chron, Our historian, Henry of Hun- 
tingdon, to his credit, rejects it. He also omits the account which follows, of 
a synod of small importance, and which Ingram considers to have been also 
an interpolation. 

' Whalley, in Lancashire, then included in the great kingdom of Nor- 
thumbria. 

^ See before, pp. 61, 62 ; Egbert was the eighth Bretwalda, or para- 
mount king of the Heptarchy. 

* Charlemagne, by whom Egbert was admitted to familiar intimacy, and 
intrusted with important employments. 



A.D. 800.] EGBERT, KINGh OF WES8EX. 141 

was honoxmibly distinguished. After the death of Bertric 
he returned, and succeeded to the throne. That same day, 
Ethelmund, the " ealdorman,"^ rode over from Wic^ and 
coming to Kinemeresford [Kempsford] met Weoxtan, the 
ealdorman, with the men of Wiltshire. There was a great 
fight between them, in which both the chiefs were slain, but 
the Wiltshire men got the victory. Four years afterwards, 
-ffithelard, the archbishop of Canterbury, died, and Wulfred 
was consecrated in his place. Two years after that 
[a.d. 805], Cuthred, the king of Kent, died also ; and the 
next year, Eardulf, king of Northumbria, was driven a fugi- 
tive from his kingdom. 

[a.d. 813.] Egbert, in the fourteenth year of his reign, 
ravaged the dominions of the ,Welsh kings from east to 
west, there being no one able to resist his power. The 
year afterwards, Charles, king of the Franks and emperor of 
Rome, departed this life ; and the following year, the vene- 
rable Pope Leo was a corpse. He was succeeded by Ste- 
phen^, and Stephen by Paschal. Two years afterwards 
[a.d. 819] Kenuif, king of Mercia, died ; and Ceolwulf was 
raised to the throne, which he fiUed only three years, when 
he was driven from it by Bemwulf. 

[a.d. 823.] In the twenty-fourth year of Egbert's reign, 
he fought a battle against Bemwulf, king of Mercia, at 
Ellendune*, from whence it is said, " Ellendune's stream 
was tinged with blood, and was choked with the slain, and 
became foul with the carnage." There, indeed, after a pro- 
digious slaughter on both sides, Egbert obtained a dearly- 
bought victory. From thence, pushing his advantage and 
following up his success, he detached his son Ethelwulf, 
who afterwards became king, with Ealcstan his bishop ^ 
and Wulfheard his ealdorman, and a large force into Kent, 

' Saxon Ohronicle ; Henry of Huntingdon Latinizes the title by the word 
"consul." 

* The country of the "Wiccii (see before, p. 80), of which Worcester was 
the capital. Eempsey, on the Severn, a short distance from that city, may 
have been the scene of this combat. Ingram, mistranslating the Saxon 
Chronicle, says that Ethelmund rode oyer the Thames. Dr. Giles's tranfr* 
lation is correct. Wick- war, in Gloucestershire, retains the name it derived 
from its British founders. 

» Popes Leo III. and Stephen IV. 

* Wilton. » Of Sherborne. 



143 HENBT OF HUNTINCUDGaf- [BOOK IV. 

-who drove Baldred over the Thames. Then the men of 
Kent, Surrey, Sussex, and Essex, submitted to King Eg- 
bert's government, having been unjustly deprived some 
years before of that of his kinsman Pren^. The same year 
the king and people of East-An^ia acknowledged Kmg^ 
Egbert as their sovereign, after which, in the course of the 
year, the East-Anglions slew Bemwulf, the Mercian king. 
He was succeeded by Ludeeen. The same year there was 
a great battle between the Britons * and the men of Devon- 
shire at Camelford, in which several thousands fell on both 
sides. The year following, Ludeeen, king of Menna, and 
^\e ealdormen with him, were slain. 

[a.d. 827.] Egbert, in the twenty-seventh year of his 
reign, expelled Withlaf, who had succeeded Ludeeen, from 
his kingdom of Mercia, and amiexed it to his own domi- 
nions. When he had thus established his power a?er all 
England south of the Humber, he led an army against tilie 
Northumbriaas to Dore. But they humbly offering tins 
powerful king submission and allegiance, parted in peace. 
The year foUowing, King Egbert, from motives of com- 
miseration, yielded to Withlaf the kingdom of Mercia, to 
be held in subjection to himself. Next, King Egbert led 
an army into North Wales, and by the power of his arms 
reduced it to submission. The year foUowing these events, 
on the death of Wulfred, archbishop of Canterbmyy he was 
succeeded by Ceohioth. 

[A.D. 833.] In the thirty-third year of King Egbert's reign 
the Danes again made their appearance in England, 38 
years after they had been defeated at '* Thone-muth."* The 
first place they ravaged was "Sepeige."* The next yeaor 
they came over in 35 veiy large ships, and Egbert, with his 
army, fought against them at Oharmouth, and there by 
chance of war tiie Danes gained the day, and two bishops 
fell, Herefrith and Wigfrith, with two ealdormen, Dudda 
and Osmod. The year following, the Danes landed in 
West-Wales, and the Welshmen joined them, and revolted 
against King Egbert. The king, however, with his ustnl 
good fortune, soundly beat both the Danes and the Welsh- 

' See p. 140. Of Pren's relationship to Egbert there is no account 
« Of Cornwall. * See note, p. 138. 

* The Isle of Sheppey, In Kent. 



A.D. 886.] PSAZH OF EQBEBT. 143 

men at Hengest-down, triumpfaantly roating^ the bravest of 
their bands. The year aitierwards [a.d. 836], Egbert^ king 
[of Wessex] and paramoimt monarch of aU Britain, yielded 
to fate and died. He left to his sons the inheritance of the 
kingdoms which were mider his immediate gOTemment, 
Ethelwulf succeeding him in the kingdom of Essex ; while 
he gave to Athelstan, Kent, Snssex, and Essex 

We are now arrived at a period when England was miited 
under one paramount king, and the terrible scourge of the 
Danes was introduced. It is fitting, therefore, that this: 
new state of affairs should be reserved for a separate Book. 
But as was done in Ihe Second Book of this History, it 
may be well shortly to recapitulate the contents of the pre- 
sent Book. The succession of the several kingdoms shall, 
therefore, be arranged in regular ord^, that this summary 
may clearly elucidate any confusion caused by the names of 
such a number of kings being mixed up together. If by so 
doing I may be serviceable to the restder, I shall, through 
God*s mercy, reap the desired fruit of mj labour. 

A summary of the kings of Kent, of whom the present 
Book treats : — 

LoTHAiBE reigned xii. years, and met his death in battle 
with the East-Saxons. 

Edric, who was not of the royal race, reigned one year 
amd a half. 

NrrHBED and Wibbehard, neither of whom also were of 
the blood royal, reigned vi. years, and then were expelled. 

WiTHBED, in whom the royal line was restored, reigned 
peacealbly xsxiv. years, and made an alliance with King 
Ina. 

Eadbert, son of Withred, with his two brothers, reigned 
xxii. years. 

Eithelbebt's reign lasted xii. years. 

Eofebt reigned, as fetr as I can gather firom former 
writers, xxxiv. years. 

Eadbebt Pren reigned iii. years, when he was carried away 
C£^tive by Kenwulf, king of Mercia. 

OuTHBED wore the diadem ix. years. 

Baldbed reigned xviii. years, when he was driven from 
his kingdom by Egbert, king of Wessex. 

Egbert, king of Wessex, retained the kingdom he had 



144 HENRY OF HUNTINGDON [BOOK IV. 

conquered as long as he lived, and at his death left it to 
his son Athelstan. The royal race of the kings of Kent 
then failed, and their right to the kingdom passed into 
o^er hands. 

A summary of the kings of Wessex, of whom this Book 
treats : — 

Ceadwal, in the second year of his reign, obtained 
possession of the Isle of Wight; twice he ravaged Kent, 
and, going to Rome, died there in his garments of baptism, 
having exchanged for them the ensigns of royalty. 

Ina reigned xxxvii. years. He conquered in battle 
Gerent, king of the Welsh, and subdued in his wars the 
East-Saxons. Piously resigning his crown, he went to 
Home. 

Ethelhabd, a kinsman of "Kiag Ina, governed the king- 
dom he resigned to him, peaceably, for xiv. years. 

CuTHRED reigned xvi. years, and twice conquered the 
Britons by the laws of war, as also King Ethelbald. 

SiGEBERT, a cruel king, reigned one year and a httle 
more, when he was justly deposed, and afterwards slain. 

Cynewulf reigned xxiii. years, who was put to death by 
the king's [Sigebert's] brother. 

Bertric reigned xvi. years. In his time the barbarities 
of the Danes were first inflicted on Britain. 

Egbert's reign lasted xxxvii. years. He overran Britain 
[Wales?] from east to west, and was victorious in his wars 
against Bemwulf, king of Mercia, and Baldred, king of 
Kent, together with King Whitlaf and the Danes. 

A summary of the kings of Northumbria mentioned in 
this Book : — 

Alfrid, brother of King Egfrid, learned in the Scrip- 
tures and warlike, reigned xx. years. 

OsRED, his son, reigned xi. years, and was killed in battle. 

Kenred reigned ii. years, and falling sick shortly died. 

OsRic [II.] reigned xii. years till his death. 

Ceolwulf, brother of King Kenred, just named, after a 
reign of viii. years, became a monk. In whose time Bede, 
the venerable priest and Christian philosopher, made a 
blessed end. 

Egbert, a kinsman of Ceolwulf, after a reign of xxi. years, 
made a feeble life illustrious by a glorious end. 



SUMMARY OF KINGS. 145 

OswuLF, his son, reigned one year, and was traitorously 
murdered by his household. 

Mol-Ethelwold reigned vi. yeai-s, and was*compelled to 
abdicate. 

AxRiD reigned viii. years, and was driven out and de- 
posed by his people. 

Ethelred, the son of Mol, reigned iii. years, and fled 
from the face of his rebellious nobles. 

AxFwoLD reigned x. years, and was traitorously slain by 
Sigga, one of his officers. 

OsRED [11.], the nephew of the last-named king, after 
reigning one year, was driven from his kingdom by his peo- 
ple, and three years afterwards was killed. 

Ethelred, the son of Mol, was restored to the throne ; 
but, after reigning iv. years, was slain by his ever turbulent 
people. 

Ardulf, after a reign of xii. years, was expelled by his 
subjects. Afterwards, the Northimibrian people, actuated, 
as it appears, by an insane spirit of insubordination, were 
for some time without any king, and submitted by treaty to 
King Egbert. 

A summary of the kings of Mercia mentioned in this 
Book :— 

Ethelred, son of Penda, after a reign of xii. years, 
nobly submitted to the monastic rule. 

Kenred, his kinsman, reigned v. years, and then, going 
to Kome, triumphantly joined a society of monks. 

Ceoldred, son of King Ethelred, reigned viii. years, 
and fought stoutly against King Ina. 

Ethelbald the Proud reigned xii. years. He ravaged 
Northumbria, and subdued the people of Wales, and be- 
came paramount over all the kings of England ; but at last 
he was conquered by King Cuthred, and was afterwards 
slain. 

Bernred held the kingdom one year, but OfiFa the 
powerful expelled him. 

Offa reigned xxxix. years. In his wars he worsted 
Cynewulf, king of Wessex, and the Kentish men, and 
the Northumbrians. 

Eofert, the son of Oifa, scarcely survived him one year. 

L 



146 HENBT OF HUNTTNODON. [bOOE IY. 

Kenxtlf reigned xxvL years in peace, and died ihe com- 
mon deatli of mortals. 

CEOLWDiiF held the kingdom iii. years, but it was then 
wrested from him by Bemulf the ferocious. 

Bebisulf reigned one year, and, being overcome by King 
Egbert, disappeared. 

Lm)ioEN was slain in the first year of his reign, with his 
five principal officers. 

WiTHLAF, having been conquered in the war with King 
Egbert, was restored to his kingdom as a trlbutaiy. 

As to the kingdom of East-Angua, it had already been, 
by various means, annexed to the other kingdoms ^. 

> These tables^ which embrace a period of little more than a century and 
a balf, extending from A.i>. 681 to 836, contain a melancholy record of the 
muettled Btate of the times. Wars, revelations, treason, and murder so did 
their work, that, of the 45 kings of the Hezarchy enumerated in these listt^ 
fifteen only, and three of these after very short reigns^ died peaceably^ 
and in possession of their kingdoms. Of the remainder, eleven were driven 
from the throne ; eleven died violent deaths, some in battle, but most of 
them murdered by their xebellioos subjects ; and eight became monks, as 
much, Henry of Huntingdon admits, to escape a violent death as from mo- 
tives of piety. The kingdom of Northumbria presents the worst spectacle. 
There, of thirteen kings daring the period above mentioned, three only died 
possessed of the throne, one of them falling sick and dying in the second 
year of his reign. It is remarkable also that all the three died in less than 
half a century of the period referred to. Afterwards, for a century and a 
quarter, not one of the kings who sucoesiively filled the throne of Northum- 
bria died in it. Four were expelled by their subjects; and of four who were 
killed, one only fell in battle ; the rest were traitorously murdered^ and two 
became monks. 



ZEE BANISH INTAfilON. 14T 



BOOK V. 

THE PREFACE. 

Ik the beginning of tliis Hisfcorj I lemarked that Britain had 
been ajfflicted with five scourges ; the fourth of which — that in- 
dicted by the Banes — ^I propose to treat of in the present Book : 
indeed this infliction was more extensive as well as vastly more 
severe than the others. For the Romans subjugated Britain in a 
short time^ and governed it magnificently by right of conquest. 
!Fhe Picts and Scots made frequent irruptions from the northern 
districts of Britain, but tiieir attacks were confined to that 
quarter, and they were never very destructive ; and, being re- 
pelled, their invasions quickly ceased. The Saxons, as their strength 
increased, gradually took possession of the country by force of 
arms ; they then settled <m the lands they conquered, established 
themselves in their possessions, and were governed by fixed laws. 
!Fhe Kormans, again, suddenly and rapidly subjugating the island, 
granted to the conquered people life and liberty, with their just 
Tights, according to the ancient laws of the kingdom. Of them I 
shall have to speak hereafter. 

The Danes, however, overran the country by desultory inroads ; 
their object being not to settle but to plunder it, to destroy rather 
than to conquer. If they were sometmies defeated, victory was of 
no avail, inasmuch as a descent was made in some other quarter 
by a larger fleet and a more munerous force. It was wonderful 
how, when the Bngiish kings were hastening to encounter them 
in the eastern districts, before they could fall in with the enemy's 
bands, a hurried messenger would arrive and say, ''Sir king, 
whither are you marching ? The heathens have disembarked 
from a countless fi«et on the southern coast, and are ravaging the 
towns and villa^s, canrying fire and slaughter into every quarter." 
The same day another messenger would come running, and say, 
** Sir king, whither are you retreating ? A formidable army has 
landed in the west of England, and if you do not quickly turn 
your face toward them, they will think you are fleeing, and foUow 
in your rear with fire and sword." A^ain, the same day, or on the 
morrow, another messenger would arrive, saying, " What place, 
noble chiefs, are you makinff for ? The Banes have made a 
descent in the north ; already they have burnt jour mansions, 

L 3 



148 HENRY OF HUNTINGDON. [BOOK V. 

even now they are sweeping away your goods, they are tossing 
your young children raised on the points of their spears, your 
wives, some they have forcibly dishonoiired, others they have car- 
ried off with them." Bewildered bv such various tidings of bitter 
woe, both kings and people lost tneir vigour both of mind and 
body, and were utterly prostrated ; so that even when they de- 
feated the enemy, victory was not attended with its wonted tri- 
umphs, and supplied no confidence of safety for the future. 

The reason why the anger of God was inflamed against them 
with such fuiy is this. In the early days of the English church 
religion flourished with so much lustre, that kings and queens, 
nobles and bishops, as I have before related, resigned their dig- 
nities, and entered into the monastic life '. But in process of time 
all piety became extinct, so that no other nation equalled them for 
impiety and licentiousness ; as especially appears in the history of 
the Northumbrian kings. This impiety was not only manifest in 
the royal annals, but extended to every rank and order of men. 
Nothing was held disgraceful except devotion, and innocence was 
the surest road to destruction. The Almighty, therefore, let loose 
upon them the most barbarous of nations, like swarms of wasps, 
and they spared neither age nor sex* ; viz. the Danes and Goths, 
Norwegians and Swedes, Vandals and Frisians. These desolated 
this country for 230 years, from the beginning of the reign of 
King Ethelwulf, until the time of the arrival of the Normans 
under the command of King William. France also, from its con- 
tiguity to England, was often invaded by these instruments of the 
divine vengeance, as it richly deserved. With these explanations 
I will now resume the course of my history. 



[a.d. 837.] While Etlielwulf himself, in tlie first yeai- of 
his reign, opposed the enemy just spoken of in one part of 

^ It did not occur to Henry of Huntingdon that the practice he extols, of 
abandoning the duties of their station for the cloister, common among all 
ranks at this time, was at least one of the causes of that national enervation 
which laid the kingdom open to the successful irruptions of the Northmen. 

^ Henry of Huntingdon, in common with most of the early annalists, 
overstates both the atrocities of the Northmen, as compared with other in- 
vaders, and the duration of their ravages. His account in this Preface of 
the progress of the Saxons in subduing and settling the country, would as 
fitly apply to that of the Danes and Norwegians. Long before the Norman 
conquest the first immigrants had settled down into peaceable and industrious 
habits ; and though we must receive cum grano salis some recent attempts 
to place the civilization of the Northmen, in the ninth and tenth centuries, on 
a high footing, there is sufficient evidence that the unmitigated barbarism 
attributed to them by such writers as Huntingdon, must be a very exag- 
gerated representation. 



A.D. 837.] DANES LAND IN SOUTH AND EAST. 149 

his kingdom, as the heathen hordes were overrunning 
every quarter he detached the ealdorman Wulf herd, with 
part of liis army, to attack the Danes who had landed 
near Hamton [Southampton], out of 33 ships ; whom he 
triumphantly defeated with great slaughter. King Ethel- 
wulf also dispatched the ealdorman Ethelhelm, with the 
Wessex forces, against another band of the enemy, at 
Port^ ; but after a long fight Ethelhelm was slain, and the 
Danes gained the day. The year following, Herebert, the 
ealdorman, fought with them at " Mercsware ;"* but the 
Danes defeated and routed his troops, and he was slain. 
The same year the heathen army reduced all the eastern 
coast of England, in Lindsey, East-Anglia, and Kent, put- 
ting vast numbers of the inhabitants to the sword. A year 
later, the army of the Danes, penetrating further into the 
country, made great slaughter about Canterbury, Rochester, 
and London. 

[a.d. 840.] In the fifth year of his reign, Ethelwulf having 
divided his army, fought with one division against the 
men who disembarked from 35 ships at Charmouth, where 
he was defeated by the Danes, for, though their fleet was 
small, the largest ships were crowded with men. The 
fifth year afterwards, Elcstan, the venerable bishop [of 
Sherbum], and Emwulf, the ealdorman, with the Somer- 
setshire men, and Osric, the ealdorman, with the men of 
Dorset, fought with the Danes at the mouth of the Parret, 
and, by God's help, gained a glorious victory, having slain 
great numbers of the enemy [a.d. 851]. In the sixteenth 
year of his reign, Ethelwulf, with his son Ethelbald, collect- 
ing his whole force, fought a battle with a very great army, 
which, landing from 250 ships at the mouth of the Thames, 
had taken by storm two noble and famous cities, London 
and Canterbury, and routed Berthwulf, king of Mercia, 
with his army, a defeat which he never recovered. He was 
succeeded by Burhred in the kingdom of Mercia. The 

' Portland Island. The Saxon Chronicle says that Ethelhelm headed the 
men of Dorset 

* Matthew of Westminster mistakes the name of a people for the name 
of a place. Both Ingram and Giles translate it '' among the marshlanders." 
Florence of Worcester interprets the passage "quamplures Merscuario- 
rmn,'* some of the Mercians 



150 HENBT OP HUlfriNGDON. [BOOK Y. 

Danes, entering Surrey, encountered the royal troops at 
Ockley, where ensued between the two numerous armies 
one of the greatest battles ever fought in England. The 
warriors fell on both sides like com in harvest, and the 
bodies and limbs of the slain were swept along by rivers of 
blood. It would be tedious and wearisome to describe 
particulars. God vouchsafed the victory to the faithftd, 
and caused the heathen to suffer a disgraceful defeat ; so 
King Ethelwulf signally triumphed. The same year, Atliel- 
Stan, king of Kent, and EaJhere, the ealdorman, had a 
naval action with the Danes, at Sandwich, in which they 
took nine ships, and put the rest of the fleet to flight, with 
great slaughter of the enemy. An ealdorman named Ceorl, 
also, with the men of Devonshire, fought against the 
heathens at Wieganbeorge^, slaying many and obtaining* 
the victory. This year, therefore, was fortunate to the 
English nation ; but it was the first that the heathen army 
remained in the country over winter^. 

[a.d. 853.] In the eighteenth year of his reign, Ethelwulf 
gave powerful assistance to King Buihred in reducing tibe 
North- Welsh to subjection : he also gave him his daughter 
in marriage. The same year, King Ethelwulf sent his scm. 
Alfred to Kome, to Leo the pope, and Leo afterwards conr 
secrated him king, and adopted him for his son. Thi& 
year, the ealdormen Ealhere, with the men of Kent, and 
Huda, with the men of Surrey, fought against the army of 
the pagans in the Isle of Thanet, and great numbers were 
slain and drowned on both sides, and both the ealdormen. 
were killed. 

In the nineteenth year of his reign, Ethelwulf gave the 
tenth of all his land^ to ecclesiastical uses, for the love of 
God and for his own salvation. Afterwards he went to 
Eome in great state, and abode there a year. On hi» 
return, he obtained in marriage the daughter of Chariest 
the Bald, king of France, and brought her with him to his 

1 Wembury, near Plymoutk 

^ One MS. of Henry of Huntingdon's adds " in Thanet," which agieeft 
with the Saxon Chronicle. 

^ Not only the tenth of the royal domains, hut the tenth of all the landa 
in th« kingdom. See the Saxon Chronicle, and Matthew of Westmiustec 
who tranaciibes the original charter. 



A.D. 858.] DEATH OF BTHELWUi;?. 161 

own country. Two years after his marriage he departed 
tibis life, and was buried at Winchester [a.d. 858]. At first 
he had been bishop of Winchester^ ; but on the death of 
^ father Egbert, horn the necessity of the ease, he was 
made king. He had by his [first] wife four sons, all of 
whom, in turn, succeeded him in the kingdom. About this 
time the heathens wintered in Sheppey. 

This illustrious king Ethelwulf left his hereditary king- 
dom of Wessex to his son Ethelbald ; and to his other son, 
Ethelbert, he left the kingdoms of Kent, Essex, and Sussex. 
Both brothers were young men of princely rirtues, and 
ruled their kingdoms well as long as they lived. Ethelbald, 
the king of Wessex, held his peaceably fire years, and then 
prematurely died of disease. All England lamented the 
royal youth and mourned over him deeply, and they buried 
him at Sherborne [a.d. 860], and the English people felt 
what they had lost in him. 

Ethelbert, the brother of the last-namied king, succeeded 
him in the kingdom of Wessex, having been before king of 
Kent. In his time a large fleet came over, and the crews 
stormed Winchester. Thus it was that 

" The ancient dty, long the seat of power, 
Toruinfell.'*' 

Then Osric, the ealdorman, with the men of Hampshire, 
and Ethelwulf, the ealdorman, with the men of Berkshire, 
fought against this army, and, routing it with great slaughter, 
remained the victors. 

[a.d. 865.] In the fifth year of Ethelbert's reign, the 
army of the heathens came into Thanet, and the Kentish 
men came to terms with them, promising money; but, 
pending the treaty, the enemy stole away by ni^t, and 
ravaged all the eastern part of Kent. The same year, 
Ethelbert, after a reign of ^ve years in Wessex and ten 
years in Kent, departed this life [a.d. 866] ; upon which, 
Ethelred, his brother, ascended tiie throne. The same 
year a great army of pagans landed in England, under the 

' Henry of Hantingdon is the only authority for Ethelwulfs having re- 
ceiyed ordination as a bishop. Some of the old writers describe him as a 
8ub-deacon. See Goscelin's Life of Swithim. Roger of Wendovcr agrees 
■with HmttbgdoiL— P^em. * ** Urbi aatiqua rnit," Tirg. jffin. iL 368. 



153 HENEY OF HUNTINGDON. [BOOK V. 

command of their chiefe, Hinguar and Ubba, most yaliant 
but cruel men ; Hinguar being of great ability, and Ubba 
of extraordinary courage. They spent the winter in East- 
Anglia, entering into a treaty and receiving horses from the 
inhabitants, who, being awed into tranquility by the enemy's 
force, were spared for the present. 

In the second year of Ethelred's reign, this army, under 
the command of Hinguar and Ubba, marched into North- 
umbria as far as York. There was great dissension among 
the people of that province, they having, with their usual 
fickleness, ejected their king Osbert, and set up one named 
Ella, who was not of the roysd blood. Being at length 
reconciled, they assembled an army and came to York, 
where the pagan army lay. Having effected a breach in 
the wall, they entered the town, fighting boldly, and both 
kings, Osbert and Ella, were slain, with a vast number of 
the Northumbrians within and without the city : the sur- 
vivors made a treaty with the heathens. This year died 
Bishop Elcstan, and he was buried at Sherborne, where he 
had been bishop 50 years. 

[a.d. 868.] King Ethelred, in the third year of his reign, 
went to Nottingham, with his brother Alfred, to the help of 
Burhred, king of Mercia ; for the army of the Danes had 
marched to Nottingham, and there wintered. Hinguar, 
seeing that the whole force of the English was assembled, 
and tiiiat his army was besieged and inferior in strength, 
had recourse to smooth words, and with dangerous cun- 
ning obtained terms of peace from the Enghsh. He then 
retu-ed to York, and with great cruelty maintained posses- 
sion one year. St. Edmimd was taken to heaven in the 
year of our Lord 870, the fifth of the reign of Ethelred. 
For the army, mentioned before, under the command of 
their King Hinguar, marching through Mercia to Thetford, 
established itself there for t£e winter, causing entire ruin 
to the wretched inhabitants. Whereupon Edmimd, the 
king, preferring rather to suffer death tibian to witness the 
sufferings of his people, was seized by the infidels, and his 
sacred body was fastened to a stake, and transfixed by their 
arrows in every part. But God, in his mercy, honoured the 
spot with nimaerous miracles. 

[a.d. 871.] In the sixth year of King Ethelred there came 



A,D. 871.] NINE BATTLES THIS TEAS. 153 

a new and immense army, which, rushing like a torrent, 
and carrying all before it, advanced as far as Eeading. 
Their numbers were so great that as they could not march 
in one body they advanced in troops by separate routes. 
They were led by two kings, Boegsec and Healfdene. Three 
days after this, Ethelwulf, the ealdorman, attacked two of 
the enemy's chiefs^ at Englefield, and slew one of them 
who was called Sidroc. Four days afterwards, King Ethel- 
red, with his brother Alfred and a great host, arrived at 
Eeading, and gave battle to the army of the Danes. Great 
numbers fell on both sides, but the Danes gained the vic- 
tory. Four days afterwards. King Ethelred and his brother 
Alfred fought the whole army assembled at Ashdown. It 
was formed in two divisions : one, headed by the pagan 
kings Boegsec and Healfdene, was encountered by King 
Ethelred, and Boegsec was slain ; the other division was 
led by the pagan earls, and Alfred, the king's brother, 
attacked them, and killed the five earls, Sidroc the elder, 
and Sidroc the younger, and Osbem, and Frena, and 
Harold. The army was routed and many thousands were 
slain, the battle lasting till night-faU. Fourteen days after- 
wards. King Ethelred and Alfred his brother again engaged 
Hie enemy at Basing, but there the Danes obtained the 
victory. Again, in the course of two months. King Ethel- 
red and his brother Alfred fought another battle with this 
same army at Merton, in which numbers fell on both sides ; 
and the Danes, though they gave way for a time, in the 
end remained victors. In this battle were slain Heahmimd, 
bishop [of Sherborne], and many other great men of the 
English. After this battle the great army came in the 
summer to Reading. This year King Ethelred died after 
Easter ; he had reigned five years, and was buried at Wim- 
bum Minster. Then Alfred, his brother, the son of Ethel- 
wulf, began his reign over Wessex ; and one month after- 
wards, he fought with a small band against the united army 
at Wilton, and put them to flight for a time, but afterwards 
the Danes gained the day. This year, therefore, there were 
nine pitched battles with the Danish army in that part of 

* Henry of Huntingdon calls them "consuls," the Saxon Chronicle 
" earls," the Norwegian " jarls." 



154 HENRY OF HUNTINGDON. [BOOK T. 

the kingdom lying south of the Thmmes, besides the sudden 
inroads which AJfred, the king's brother, and the king's 
officers, frequently made into the enemy's quarters. In tibos 
year were slsdn one king and nine earis ; and the chief mea 
of Wessex made a truce with the army oi the pagans. 

[a.d. 872.] In the first year of King Alfred, the army^ 
came from Beading to London, and there wintered; and 
the Mercians made peace with the army. The second year, 
King Healfdene led the same army into Lindsey, and they 
wintered at Torksej; and the tlurd year they had their 
winter qum-ters at Repton, There were confederated with, 
him three other kings, Guthrun,. and Oskytel, and Anwynd, 
so that they became irresistible, and drove beyond the sea 
Sang Burlu-ed, who had reigned 32 years over Mercia. He 
went to Bome, and, there dying, he was buried in the. 
church of St. Mary, at the English school. But the Danes 
transferred the kingdom of Mercia to one Ceolwulf, a weak 
long, who was to do their bidding. For he gave them bea- 
tages, and swore that he would yield up the kingdom to 
them whenever they desired, and that he would be always 
ready to aid them in his own peraon and with all the force 
he could muster. 

[a.d. 875.] In ihe fourth year of King Al&ed the army 
broke up firom Bepton in two divisions, with one of which 
King HealMene marched into Northumbrian and fixed his 
winter quarters on the Tyne ; and he took possessicm of 
the land, and divided it among his followers, and they cul- 
tivated it two years ^. He also made predatory excurfflons 
against the Bicts^. But the larger diviaioa of the army^ 

* By " the anny," Henry of Huntingdon, following the Saxon Chronide^ 
means tbronghout this narrative the main My of the invading Northmen, 
-who had now permanently quartered thenuelYes in BngUmd ; wintering 1ha», 
and not retiring, like the first piratical bands, at the close of summer. 

2 The Saxon Chronicle says, an. 8T5, when "the army" took up their 
winter quarters on the Tyne, ** the army subdued the land ; " and, an. 876, 
"that year Healfdene apportioned the lands of Northumbria, and they 
thenceforth," — not merely cropping it for two years, as Henry of Hunting- 
don ieemv to intimate, — ^ continued ploughiag aad tilling it." Thi» early 
ooloaization of the north of England is an important fwt in reference to 
recent disquisitions on the progress of the Northmen. 

' The Saxon Chronicle adds, " and the Strathclyde Britons ;*' the Danes 
l^ns turning their arms against the common enemieftof the BngUsh and of 
themselves as now settlers in the country. 



A.D. 875-878.] THK DANES PARAMOUNT. 155' 

followed the before-mentioned three kings to Cambridge, 
where they sat down one year. This year King Alfred fou^t 
a naval battle against seven ships, one of which he took 
and the rest he put to flight The year following, tikie army 
of the three kings came^ to Warebam, in Wessex; and 
King Alfred made a truce with them, taking some of their 
chief men as hostages. They also swore to him, as they 
bad. never before done to any one*, that they would shortly 
depart the kingdom. Notwithstanding ^?^ch, those of the 
army who had horses stole away a few nights afterwards, 
and made for Exeter. This year [876], Bollo, with his £ol 
lowers, landed in Normandy. The year following, the 
[remainder of the] perjured army marched from Warebam 
to Exeter ; and t±ie fleet, sailing round, was overtaken by a 
storm, so that 120 ships were wrecked at Swanage. But 
King Alfred had pursued, with a large force, liie part of 
the army which was mounted ; but he could not come up with 
them before they reached Exeter; and there they gave hian 
hostages, as many as he would, and swore to keep the 
peace, which they did faithfuUy. Afterwards the army 
marched into Mercia, and took possession of some part of 
that kingdom ; part they gave up to Ceolwulf. 

[a.d. 878.] In the seventh year of King Alfred, the 
Bane's were in possession of the whcde kingdom, from the 
north bank of the Thames ; Eang Healfdene reigned in 
Northumbria, and his brother in East-Anglia, while the 
three other kings before named, with Ceolwulf, tiie king 
they had appointed, reigned in Mercia, the country about 
London and Essex ; so tiliat there only remsdned to King 
Alfred the country south of the Thames, and even that was 
grudged him by the Danes. The three kings therefore 
advanced to Chqppenham in Wessex, with fresh srwarms of 
men arrived from Denmark ; they spread over the country 
like locusts, and there being- no one able to resist them, 
they took possession of it for themselves. Some of the 
people fled beyond sea, some to King Alfred, who concealed 
himself in the woods with a small band of foUowCTS ; others 
submitted to the enemy. But when King Alfred neither 

' Saxon Cbronkle, '' stole into," took by SBrpriae. 

* Saxon Chronicle, *' upon the holy ring or bracelet.'^ See Petrie'g luiteb. 

' Saxon Chronicle^ ''t^^portioned." 



156 HENBY OP HUNTINGDON. [BOOK V. 

possessed any territoiy, nor had any hope of possessmg it, 
the Lord had regard for the remnant of his people. 
For the brother of King Healfdene, coming with 23 ships 
to Devonshire in Wessex, King Alfred's people slew him, 
with 840 men of his army, and their standard, called the 
Kaven, was there taken. Upon which King Alfred, who 
had constructed a fortified post at Athelney, encouraged by 
this success, sallied forth from thence with the men of 
Somersetshire who were nearest to it, and had frequent en- 
coimters with the army. Then in the seventh week after 
Easter, he rode to Brixton, on the eastern side of Selwood, 
and there came to meet him all the Somersetshire and 
Wiltshire men, and the residue ^ of the Hampshire men, 
and they were glad at his coming. The day following he 
went to Iley ^, and in another day to Heddington ; and tiiere 
he gave battle to the army and routed and pursued it to 
their place of strength, before which he sat down fourteen 
dayg. Then the army delivered hostages to the king, and 
promised on oath to quit the kingdom. Their king also 
agreed to be baptized ; and it was done. For Guthrun, the 
chief of their kings, came to Alfred for baptism ; and Alfred 
became his god-father, and, having entertained him for 
twelve days, dismissed him with many gifts. 

[a.d. 879.] In the eighth year of Alfred, this same army 
went from Chippenham to Cirencester, and there wintered 
peaceably. The same year the foreigners, that is the 
Vikings ^ assembled a new force and sat down at Fulham 
on the Thames. There was an eclipse of the sun this 
year [a.d. 880]. The year following, the before-named 
army of King Guthrun retired from Cirencester and 
marched into East-Anglia, where they settled on the land 
and apportioned it among them*. The same year the army 

> Saxon Chronicle^ ''that portion of the men of Hampabire which was 
on this side of the sea." 

^ Iley-mead, near Melksham, Wilts. 

' The word " Yicinga '* is nsed in the Saxon Chronicle, but all the trans- 
lators render it "pirates." Spelman derives the appellation from vie, a bay or 
barboor, as well as a camp or fortress, which the vic-ing either dwelt in, or. 
plundered. 

* East-Anglia, comprising Norfolk and Suffolk, was now settled perma- 
nently, as Northumbria had been before. Alfred's treaty with Guthrun, 
defining the boundaries, is extant. — See Wilkins, Leges Anglo-Sax, 



A.D. 883.] Alfred's successes. 157 

which had been posted at Fulham crossed over the sea, and 
was stationed one year at Ghent. The year afterwards they 
fought with the Franks, and overcame fiiem ; and the third 
year they went along the banks of the Maese into France ; 
at which time King Alfred took four Danish ships in a naval 
battle, destroying the crews. In the fourth year [a.d. 883], 
the army went up the Scheldt to Conde, and tiiere esta- 
blished itself for a year. This year Pope Marinus sent to 
King Alfred a piece of the wood of the Holy Cross ; and 
Alfred sent alms to Home, and also to the shrine of St. 
Thomas in India, in performance of a vow which he had 
made when the enemy's army wintered at London. 

[a.d. 885.] In the fourteenth year of King Alfred, part of 
the army which was in France came over to Rochester, and 
besieging the city began to construct another fortress ; but 
on Alfred's approach they fled to their ships, and crossed 
over tlie sea. King Alfred also sent a naval expedition 
from Kent to East-Anglia, and when the fleet was off the 
mouth of the river Stoiu", it encoimtered sixteen ships of 
the Vikings, and obtained the victory in the engagement. 
On their return with the booty in triumph, they were met 
by a large fleet of the Vikings, and a battle ensued, in 
which they were worsted. The same year Charles ^ king 
of the Franks, was killed by a wild boar. He was a son of 
Lewis, the son of Charles the Bald, whose daughter Judith 
was married to King Ethelwulf. Then also Pope Marinus 
feU asleep. The year following the army of the Danes 
ascended the Seine to the bridge at Paris, and there 
wintered^. King Alfred besieged London, the greatest 
part of the Danish force having joined their army in France ; 
and the Danes being departed, all the EngUsh submitted 
to him and acknowledged him king. And he committed 
the city to the keeping of Ethelred the ealdorman'. The 

Meaning Garlomao, second son of Lewis le Begue. He died in 884. 

' " This celebrated siege of Paris is' minutely described by Abbo^ abbot of 
Flenry, in two books of Latin hexameters, which, however barbarous, con- 
tain some curious and authentic matter relating to the history of that pe- 
riod."— Jw^ran?. The bridge, the most ancient of Paris, called " le grand 
pont,'* or '' pont du change," was built by Charles the Bald, to prevent the 
Danes from making themselves masters of Paris so easily as they had often 
done before. 

' Bx>ger of Wendover calls this Ethelred earl of Mercia, and says that he 
was of the royal stock of that nation, and had married Elfleda, the king's 



158 HEKBT OF HUNTINGDON. [bOOK V. 

year fcdlowing ihese, the army breaking up j&om the bridge 
at Paris, went alcHig the Seine as far as the Mame, asMl 
along the Mame as far as Chezy^, and sat down there and 
on the Yomie two years. About this time, by the act of 
Amulf, ^ye kings were created in France^. 

[a.d. 890.] In liie nineteenth year of King Alfred, Oiztii- 
ron, tiie Danish king, who was god-son of King Alfred, and 
governed East-Anglia, departed this life. The same year 
&e army went from the Seine to St Loo, which is betweai 
dittany and France ; and the Bretons fighting with them 
and driving them into a river, many were drowned. Now 
Plegmxmd was chosen of God and all the people to be 
archbishop [of Canterbury]. The year following the army 
went eastward, and King Amnlf, with the Franks, Saxons, 
and Bavarians, fought against it and routed it. Afterwards 
this great army returned into England, with all tiiat be- 
longed to it, disembarking from 250 ships at Limne-mouth, 
a port in the eastern part of Kent, near the great wood of 
Andred^ wbich is 120 miles long and 30 miles broad. On 
landing, they threw up a fortified camp at "Awldre."* 
Mean^widle Hasteng came with 80 ships into Thames 
harbour, and ccMistructed a camp at Milton. Afterwards, 
however, he swore to King Alfred that he would never 
injure him in any matter. The king, therefore, conferred 
upon him, and his wife and sons, many gifts ; one of them 
the king had held in baptism, and his great general Edred 
the other. Hasteng, however, always faithless, constructed a 

(Alfred's) daughter. Acc<«ding to Ilim, Alfred now lelraHt London, and le- 
paired tl>e walls. 

^ A cormption of eaz-reiy casa regia, softened by tbe French into Cliezy. 

^ i, e, the empire of Charlemagne was dismembered^ and thus divided. 

® See a previous note, p. 44. 

^ Appledore, near Eomney, in Kent. These fortified places were merely 
earth-works surrounding the camps. Such works are thus described :— 
'* The Northmen eecured their station by a fortification constructed of turfs 
in their usual manner." — Ann. Fuldens. CotiL '* Tbe Northmen fortified 
themselves, according to their custom, with stakes' and mounds of earth." — 
Ann, Mettens, Botiguet, viii. 53, 73. Henry of Huntingdon, in speaking of 
these ** works," generally says, " conatruit castrum," which might be Kte- 
xally, but improperly, translated huilt a castle. All the translators of tbe 
Saxon Chronicle use liie phrase " constructed a fortress," or " wrought a for- 
tress." I have preferred, in interpreting Henry of Huntingdon, to call these 
field-works fortified campi^ or simply " camjMS." Every one knows what a 
Danish camp^ or a Boman camp, means. 



A.D. 805.] BANKS ])BIV£N FROM TSB LEA. liO 

camp at Bamfleet ; and when he issued forth to plunder the 
king's country, the king stcnnned the castle and took there 
his wife, with his sons, and his ships. But he restored his 
wife and sons to Hasteng, hecause he was their godfather. 
And now a messenger came to King Alfred saying, *' A 
hundred ships have come from Northumhria and East- 
Anglia, and are hesieging Exeter." While, therefore, the 
king was marching there, the army which was at Appledore 
invaded Essex and constructed a camp at Shoehury. Pul- 
ing on from thence they reached Buttington near the 
Severn, and there they threw up a fbrtil&cation ; hut hemg 
driven from it they took refiige in their camp in Essex. 
Meanwhile the acmy which had Isdd siege to Exeter, when 
the king's approach was known, hetook &emselves to their 
ships and carried on pia'acy hy sea; A fourth army came 
Ihe same year from Northumhria to Chester, hut they were 
there hesieged, and suffered so much from hunger that they 
were compelled to eat most of their horses. 

[a.d. 896-] In the twenty-third year of King Alfred, the 
Danes who were in Chester made a circuit by North 
Wales and Northumhria to Mersey, an island of Essex ; and, 
ai£terwards, in winter, they towed their ships up the Thames 
into the river Lea. But the army which had hesieged 
Exeter was overtaken plundering near Chichester, where 
hu^e numbers perished, and they lost some of their ships. 
The year following the army which was (m the river Lea 
made a sort of entrenchment near that river, 20 mil.es 
from London. The Londoners^ issued forth to attack it, 
and fighting with the Danes, slew four of their leaders. 
Almighty God giving them the victory in time of need. 
The Danes retreated to their camp, whereupon the king 
caused the waters of the Lea to be diverted into three 
channels, that they might not be able to bring out their 
ships ; which the Danes perceiving, they abandoned their 
diips and went across the country to Bridgenorth, near the 
Severn, where they fortified their camp and established their 
winter quarters ; having committed their vdves to the care 
of the East-Angles. The king pursued them with his 
army, while the Londoners brought some of the deserted 
ships to London, and binut the rest. Li the three years, 
therefore, which I have mentioned, that is, from the time 



160 HENBY OF HUNTINGDON. [BOOK V. 

the Danes entered the port of Limne-mouth, they mflicted 
great losses on the English, but they suffered far greater 
fiiemselves. In the fourth year "the army" was divided, 
one part going into Northumbria, another into East-Anglia, 
and a part of it crossed the channel and entered the Seine ; 
afterwards, however, some ships of the Danes came on the 
coast of Wessex, and by frequent descents for the sake of 
plimder, and continual skirmishes, caused no small loss to 
the provincials of Wessex. Of these numerous conflicts I 
will relate one, because it was out of the common course. 
King Alfred caused long ships, of 40 oars or more, to be 
fitted out against this Danish fleet. There were six of the 
Danish vessels, in a harbour of the Devonshire coast, which 
nine of the royal ships attempted to surprise. However, 
the Danes, becoming aware of it, launched three of their 
vessels to engage tibe enemy, the others being agroimd, 
high on the beach, and the tide being out. Six, tiberefore, of 
the Englisl;i ships engaged with these three Danish, and the 
other three English ships made for the three Dani^ vessels 
which lay on the shore. Though the odds were six to 
three, the Danes fought bravely and desperately, maintain- 
ing the unequal conflict a long time. But numbers pre- 
vailed, and two of the Danish ships were taken ; the third 
sheered off, after all that manned them had fallen, except 
five. After this success, in attempting to join their consorts 
near the Danish ships on shore, the English got agroimd. 
Upon observing which the Danes from lie three vessels on 
the beach attacked the three EngUsh ships that were op- 
posed to them. Then those who were on board the other 
six ships might be seen beating their breasts and tearing 
their hair^ while they looked on imable to afford as- 
sistance. But the English defended themselves man- 
fully, while the attack of the Danes was bold and spirited. 
Forty-two fell on the side of the English, and 120 on 
that of the Danes. Among these was Lucumon, the com- 
mander of the royal force, who fell fighting bravely ; upon 
which the English gave way by degrees, and the Danes 
might almost claim the victory. And now by the return of 

* This IB an interpolation, in Henry of Huntingdon's nsnal style, in the 
unaffected narrative of the Saxon Chronicle^ while he omits some cha- 
racteristic details ; but the whole episode is extremely interesting. 



A.D. 901.] DEATH OF KING AI.FBED. 161 

the tide, the Danes were enabled to put to sea, pursued too 
late, and to no purpose, by the nme English ships. But 
the victorious Danes were met by a contrary wind, which 
drove two of their ships on shore, and the crews were made 
prisoners and brought to the king, who commanded them 
all to be hanged at Winchester. Those who were in the 
third ship sailed to East-Anglia, though severely woimded. 
The same year twenty ships witli their crews perished on 
the south coast. 

[a.d. 901.] King Alfred died, after a reign of twenty-eight 
years and a half over all England, except those parts which 
were under the dominion of the Danes. His indefatigable 
government and endless troubles I cannot worthily set 
forth except in verse : — 

" Toilsome thy onward path to high renown, 
Thorny the chaplet that entwin'd thy crown, 
Unconquer'd Alfred ! Thine the dauntless mind, 
That in defeat coold fresh resources find. 
What though thy hopes were ever dash'd with care^ 
Still they were never clouded with despair: 
To day, yictorious, future wars were plann'd, 
To day, defeated, future triumphs scann'd. 
Thy way-Boil'd garments, and thy blood-stain*d Sword, 
Sad pictures of the lot of kings afford ; 
Who else, like this, throughout the wide world's space, 
Bore in adversity so brave a face 1 
The sword, for ever bare in mortal strife, 
Fail'd to cut short thy destin'd thread of life ; 
Peaceful thy end : may Christ be now thy rest ! ^ 

Thine be the crown and sceptre of the blest ! 

[a.d. 901.] Edward, the son of King Alfred, succeeded 
to his father's kingdom, which he held 24 years. His 
younger brother ESielwald^ married .a wife and seized on 
Wimbome^ without leave of the King and the great men of 
the realm ^, whereupon King Edward led a body of troops 
as far as Badbury near Wimbome. But Ethelwald and his 
men held possession of the place, and closing the gates he 
declared that he would either hold it or there die. How- 

^ The Saxon Chronicle calls him '' the Etheling^' (see note, p. 122), and 
brother's son of Edward. ' Wimbome, in Dorsetshire. 

' Saxon Chronicle^ ** His Witan/' the great council of the nation. 

M 



16S HENBY OF HUNnKODON. [bOOE V, 

ever, he sallied forth by night and made tor the army which 
was in Northumbria. His illustrious birth caused him to 
be received with open arms, and he was elected king and 
paramount lord over the vice-kings and chiefs of that 
nation. King Edward, however, arrested the woman i^om 
the young prince had married contrary to the will of the 
bishop, because she had been consecrated a nun. The 
same year died Ethelred, ealdorman of Devonshire, one 
month before the death of King Alfred, to whom he had 
been a faithful servant and follower in many of his wars. 

[a.d. 905 ^1 In the third year of King Edward, Ethelwald, 
the king's brother^, assembled an army, which he trans- 
ported in a numerous fiotilla into Essex, the people of 
which were speedily reduced to submission. The yeap 
following, he led a powerful army into Mercia, and com- 
pletely ravaged it as far as Cricklade. There he crossed 
the Thames, and swept off all the plunder he could find in 
Brseden^ and the neighbourhood. After accomplishing 
this, they retmmed home in triumph. King Edward, how- 
ever, having hastily collected some troops, followed their 
rear, ravaging the whole territory of the Mercians between 
the Dyke and the Ouse, as far northward as the Fens. 
After which he resolved to retreat, and commanded his 
whole army to retire together; and they all withdrew, 
except the Kentish-men, who remained contrary to the 
king's order, though he sent seven messages after them. 
Then the army of the Danes intercepted the Kentish-men, 
and a battle was fought, in which fell Siwulf and Sighelm, 
ealdormen ; and Ethelwald, a king's thane ; and Kenwulf, 
the abbot; and Sigebert, son of Siwulf; and Eadwold, son 
of Acca, and many others, though the most eminent are 
named. On the side of the Danes were slain King Ehoric, 
and the Etheling Ethelwald, whom they had elected king ; 
and Byrtsige, son of Brithnoth the Etheling ; and Ysop, 

* The date taken from the Saxon Chronicle does not agree with Henry of 
Hnntingdon's chroBology. There is mnch confiunon in his dates throitgkoBt 
Edward's reign, hy the years which he reckoned. 
'■ ^ Bee note ea preceding page. 

^ Florence «l Wozoester describes it as a wood or forast. called in SaczMi 
^^BradeM." 



Ji.D. 906.] KUSa EirWABD THE ELDEB. 168 

the Hold^; and Osketel, the Hold, with many others; for 
I cannot name them all. There was great slaughter on 
both sides, most on that of the Danes, tiiough they claimed 
ihe victory. This same year died Elswitha, wife* of King 
Edward. 

[a.d. 906.] King Edward, in the fifth year of his reign, 
concluded a peace with the East- Angles and Northumbrians 
at Hitehingford. The year following'*, the Ifing levied a 
powerful army in Wessex and Mercia, which took great 
spoils, both in men and cattle, from the Northumbrian 
army, and, slaying numbers of the Danes, continued to 
ravage the country for ^ve weeks. The nert year** the 
Danish army entered Mercia, with intent to plunder ; but 
the king had collected 100 ships, and dispatched them 
i^ainst the enemy. On their approach they were mistakai 
for allies^, and the Danish army supposed that they might 
Hierefore march securely wherever they would. Presenfly, 
the king sent troops against them out of Wessex and 
Mercia, who fell on their rear, as they were retiring home- 
wards, and engaged them in fight. A pitched battie ensued^ 
in which the Lord severely chastised the heathen, many 
thousands of them meeting a bloody death, and their 
chiefs were confounded, and, falling, bit the dust. There 
were slain King HeaJfdene and King Ecwulf [Ecwils], and 
the earls* Uthere and Scurf; with the "Holds" Otimlt 
Benesing, Anlaf [Olave] the Black, Thurferth, and Osferth, 
tiie collector of tiie revenue ; and Agmund the Hold, and 
Guthferth the Hold, with another Guthferth*. The ser- 
vants of the Lord, having gained so great a victory, rejoiced 
in the living God, and gave thanks with hymns and songs 
to die Lord of hosts. The year following [a.d. 911-12], 

' Hold, a Danish title (^ office^ the signifixation of which is unknowa. 
It seems to have been inferior to that of Jarl. Was it the custody of ft 
castle or fortified town 2 

* " Queen mother of King Edward."— -A)^. W&uhv. 

^ The Saxon Chronicle gives these dates as A.i>. 910-911, the ninth and 
tenth years of Edwacd. 

* Henry of Huntingdon's account of this armament seems confused, and 
that of the Saxon Chronicle is not more satisfactory. 

' The Norwegian " Jail," a dignity or office not as yet introduced aasog 
ih* Anglo-Saxons. 
' The Saxon Chronicle places this battle under jLD. 9X1. 

H 2 



164 HENBY OF HUNTINGDON. [bOOK V. 

on the deatli of Ethered, ealdorman of Mercia, King Edward 
took possession of London and Oxford, with all the land 
belonging to the province of Mercia ^ 

King Edward, in the ninth ^ year of his reign, built Hert- 
ford, a very fair, though not a large castle ', between the 
Benwic, the Memer, and the Lea, very clear, though not 
deep, rivers. The same year he built a town at Witham, 
in Essex, meanwhile remaining at Maldon ; and great part 
of the neighbouring people, who were before in subjection 
to the Danes, submitted to him. The following year*, 
the Danish army issued forth from [North] Hampton 
and Leicester, breaking the truce which they had with the 
king, and made great slaughter of the English at Hocker- 
ton, and thence round in Oxfordshire. As soon as they 
returned to their quarters, another troop marched out and 
came to Leighton ; but the people of that country, having 
intelligence of their approach, gave them battle, and, rout- 
ing them, regained the plimder which they had collected, as 
well as took the horses of the troop. 

In the eleventh*^ year of King Edward, a great fleet came 
from the south out of Lidwic [Britany], imder two earls, 
Ohter and Rahold, and they steered west about till they 
reached the Severn shore ; and they pillaged the country 
in NorfJb** Wales, wherever they could, near the coast, and 
took prisoner Camcleac the bishop [of Llandaff ], and car- 
ried him off to their ships. However, King Edward ran- 
somed him for forty pounds. Afterwards, the army landed 
in a body, intending to pillage the neighbourhood of Arch- 
enfield', but they were met by the men of Carleon^ and 
Hereford, and other neighbouring burgs, who fought and 
defeated them, with the loss of Earl Rahold, and Geolkil, 

* Probably tbe neighbouring districts, certainly not the whole province of 
Mercia, in which we find Ethelfleda exercising rights of sovereignty after her 
-Inuiband's death. 

« Saxon Chronicle, a.d. 913. * The Saxon Chronicle calls it a '^bnrg.-' 

* The Saxon Chronicle places this irruption under the year 917. 
^ Saxon Chronicle, a.d. 918. 

' The Saxon Chronicle agrees with Henry of Huntingdon in calling it 
"North Wales ; but it appears clearly to be an error, as all the places men- 
tioned border on SotUh Wales ; access being obtained to them through the 
estuary of the Severn. * In Herefordshire. 

* The Saxon Chronicle has " Gloucester ; " but Henry of Huntingdon is 
probably right, Oarleon being so much nearer the scene of action. 



A.D. 918.] THE DANES IN THE SEVERN. 166 

the brother of Earl Ohter, and great part of the araiy, and 
they drove the rest into a certain fortified camp, where 
they besieged them till they gave hostages and solemnly 
swore to depart the king's territories. Then the king 
caused the shores of the Severn to be guarded, from the 
south coast of Wales roimd to the Avon ; so that the Danes 
durst nowhere attempt an irruption in that quarter. Twice, 
however, they contrived to land by stealth; once to the 
eastward, at Watchet*, the other time at Porlock* ; but on 
both occasions very few escaped destruction besides those 
who could swim to their ships. These took refuge in the 
Isle of Stepen [and Flatrholm^], in the greatest distress for 
want of food, which they were unable to procure, so that 
numbers died from himger. Thence they retreated into 
Demet^ and from thence crossed over to Ireland. The 
same year King Edward went with his army to Bucking- 
ham, where he sat down fom* weeks, and made an entrench- 
ment on both sides of the water before he went thence. 
Earl Thurkytel submitted to him there, and all the earls 
and chief men that belonged to Bedford, with some of those 
belonging to Northampton. 

The old chronicles * mention a battle between the Kent- 
ish men and the Danes at the Holme, in the twelfth year of 
King Edward* ; but they leave it uncertain who were the 
conquerors. The second year afterwards, the moon was 
eclipsed, to the great consternation of the beholders ; the 
third year, la comet appeared ; the fourth year, Chester was 

* Watchet and Porlock are two small harbours on the Somersetshire coast 
of the Severn Sea, or Bristol Channel. 

' The Steep and Flat-holms are two islets off the same coast 

* Demet or Divet, Pembrokeshire, where, from Milford Haven, is the 
nearest passage to Ireland from the west of England. 

* Henry of Huntingdon here introduces a series of events of an earlier 
date than that to which he had arrived. 

^ The Saxon Chronicle, which contains no further particulars of this 
battle, gives the date of it a.d. 902; the second, instead of the "twelfth," 
year of Edward's reign. As Henry of Huntingdon notices the events of 
the succeeding years in a tolerably accurate sequence, we might suppose that 
the numeral x. had crept in before ii., by an error of the transcribers, did not 
all the MSS. agree with the received text, and were it not plain, from sub- 
sequent entries, that Henry of Huntingdon himself is generally at fault in 
his chronology of this period. 



186 HBNBT OF HUNTINGDON. [BOOK V. 

rebuilt ; the fifth year, the body of St. Oswald was trans- 
lated from Bardeney into Mercia ; the sixth year the Eng- 
lish and Danes fought at Totenhall. Who can find language 
to describe tlie fearful encounters, the flashing arms, the 
terrible clang, the hoarse shouts, the headlong rush, and 
liie sweeping overthrow of such a conflict? In the end, the 
divine mercy crowned the faithful with victory, and put to 
shame the heathen Danes by defeat and flight The same 
year, Ethelfleda, lady of the Mercians, who governed them 
in the name of Ethered, her infirm father^, built the fortress 
at Bramsbury. 

* Ethered was the husband, not the &ther, of Bthelfleda. Mr. Petrie 
remarks : ** The Saxon Chronicle nowhere tells ns who Ethelfleda was, ez- 
oept as it describes her to be the lady of the Mercians. When, therefore," 
he continues, " Henry of Huntingdon found that she succeeded Ethered, 
but did not know why, he had recourse to the fiction of her being big 
daughter. And what he tells us of the infirmity of Ethered is invented 
to account for her being so warlike a woman." Henry of Huntingdon has 
certainly fallen into the error of calling Ethelfleda the daughter, instead of 
the wife of Ethered ; and the Saxon Chronicle is singularly silent as to the 
femily history of so distinguished a character as this daughter of Alfred, 
though it recounts her great achievements. But it has escaped Mr. Petrie's 
observation, that in one passage, under the year 922, the Saxon Chronicle 
does describe her as the " sister " of Kini^ Edward, with which the chronicle 
of Ethelwerd, as well as Florence of Worcester, agree. Ethered may or 
may not have been infirm, as Henry of Huntingdon describes him ; but the 
character given him by Florence of Worcester points rather to excellence 
suited to less troublesome times. There was, however, no necessity for 
Henry of Huntingdon to invent the story of his infirm health, in order to 
account for the active part taken by Ethelfleda in those wars ; for there is 
no record of her having done so in his lifetime. The first act attributed to 
her, the building of the burgh of Bremesbury, bears date the very year, or 
according to one MS., the year before the death of Ethered. My own im- 
pression is, that the great fief of the province of Mercia, formerly a kingdom 
of the Heptarchy, was granted to Ethelfleda and her husband jointly, her 
royal birth giving her pretensions to be associated with him in the govern- 
ment, he himself, though a high and trusty officer of her father King Alfired, 
being of inferior rank, though of the blood royal of the Mercian kings, as 
BiOger of Wendover describes him. At his death the sole government fell to 
her as a matter of right ; and it is so described by Florence of Worcester, 
though Edward usurped part of her dominions. It may be remarked also, 
that he mentions an act of their joint government, just as we should speak 
of an act of " William and Mary ;" — "the city of Carlisle was rebuilt by 
command of Ethered and Ethelfleda." This was ▲.». 908, two years he* 
fore Ethered's death. 



A.I>. 910-12.] ETHEMXEDA* LADT OF MERCIA. 167 

, In the ei^teenth * year of King Edward, Ethered ^, lord 
of Mercia, tiie father [hushand^] of EtheMeda, having been 
long in£rm, departed this hfe, and as he had no son he 
left his territories to his daughter [wife]. Two years after- 
wards, Ethelfleda, lady of Mercia, built a burg at Scsergate, 
aad the same year another buj^ at Bridgnorth ; the third 
year, Ethelfleda, lady of Mercia, built a burg at Tamworth, 
in the early part of the summer ; and before August, that of 
iStafford. The fourth year, in the beginning of summer, 
she built a burg at Edderbury ; and at the end of August, 
the bui^ at Warwick. The fifth year, she built a burg at 
Cherbury, after Christmas ; and that at Warburton, in the 
summer; and the same year also that at Buncom. The 
sixth year, she sent an army into Wales, which, having 
defeated the Welch, stormed Brecknock; they took pri- 
soners the wife of the King of Wales, with thirty-three 
of her attendants. The seventh year, Ethelfleda, lady of 
Mercia, got possession of Derby, with the country depen- 
dant upon it ; there was a numerous garrison in the town 
of Derby, but they dm-st not sally forth against her. 
Whereupon she commanded a vigorous assault to be made 
on the forti'ess, and a desperate conflict took place at the 
veiy entrance of the gate, where four of Ethelfleda's bravest 
thanes were slain; but, notwithstanding, the assailants 
forced the gate, and made a breach in the walls. The 
eighth year *, Ethelfleda, lady of Mercia, reduced Chester, 



* Henry of Huntingdon liai recorded Ethehed't death before, see p. 163. 
It occurred, according to different MSS. of the Saxon Chronicle, betweem 
A.D. 910-912. It may have been in the eighth instead of the eighteenth 
year of Edward's reign, erroneously given by Henry of Huntingdon ; and 
tbe mistake would be explained by the interpolation of the numeral, similar 
to that suggested in a former note. But Henry of Huntingdon seems t» 
have fallen into the mistake of substituting the death of Ethered for that of 
Blfleda, which may concur with the 18th year of Edward, being noted in 
the Chronicle as A.D. 918 or 919. 

* See note on p. 166. 

* Henry of Huntingdon has collected the acts of the eiirht vean of 
Ethelfleda's government from various entries in the Saxon Chronicle into 
one continued series, and has coupled them with an erroneous calculation of 
periods in Edward's reign. Not only so, but this has led him to extend the 
reign to 26 years, though he states at the commencement that it lasted 24 
only. 



168 HENBX OF HUNTINGDON. [BOOK V. 

and most of the troops stationed there submitted to her ; 
the Yorkshire people also promised her tlieir alliance, to 
which some gave pledges, and some confirmed them with 
their oaths. After this convention, she died at Tamworth 
[a.d. 918-922 ^], twelve days before the feast of St. John, 
and in the eighth year of her government of Mercia. She 
was buried at Gloucester, in the porch of St. Peter's. This 
princess is said to have been so powerful that she was 
sometimes called not only lady, or queen, but kmg also, 
in deference to her great excellence and majesty ®. Some 
have thought and said that if she had not been suddenly 
snatched away by death, she would have surpassed the most 
valiant of men. The memory of so much eminence would 
supply materials for endless song ; it demands, at least, a 
short tribute in verse : — 

** Heroic Elflede ! great in martial iame, 
A man in yaloor, woman though in name ; 
Thee warlike hosts, thee, nature too obey'd, 
Gonqu'ror o'er both, though bom by sex a maid. 
Chang'd be thy name, such honour triumphs bring, 
A queen by title, but in deeds a king. 
Heroes before the Mercian heroine ^ quail'd : 
Caesar himself to win such glory fiul'd." 

King Edward, in the twenty-sixth* year of his reign, 
deprived Elfwina, the sister* of Ethelfleda, of the lordship 
of Mercia, to which she had succeeded ; the king regarding 
more the policy than the justice of the act. Subsequently, 

* Two MSS. of the Saxon Chronicle place it in 918; the version gene- 
rally received is 922. 

^ Ethelfleda seems to have possessed a large share of her brother Alfred's 
spirit. She was indeed an extraordinary woman, at a period when even 
manly Virtues were rare. Henry of Huntingdon does justice to her great 
qualities, respect for which must be my apology for the length at which I 
jbave attempted to clear up her history. 

3 t* Virgo virago." Our author unaccountably lost sight of her real po- 
sition. 

* Edward's reign lasted only 24 years ; see note 3 on p. 167. From the 
death of King Edward, knovm in History as Edward the Elder, to the year 
1000, very few chronological notices are found in Henry of Huntingdon's 
History. 

^ Elfwina was the daughter of Ethelfleda, by Ethered. She is named 
Elgiva by Roger of Wendover, who calls her the only child, and gives a 
curious reason for it. — Bag. of Wendover, £oJm*8 Edition, voL i. p. 248. 



A.D. 924.] KINO ATHELSTAN. 169 

he built a burg at Gladmuth^. He died not long after- 
wards at Ferandune^, and Edward, his son, expired very 
shortly after, at Oxford ; and they were both buried at 
Winchester. Not long before, Sihtric, king of Northumbria, 
had slain his brother Nigel; after which outrage King 
Keginald won York. 

[a.d. 924.] Athelstan, the son of Edward, was elected 
king of the Mercians, and crowned at Kingston ; whose 
reign was short, but not the less illustrious for noble deeds ; 
who fought with the bravest, but was never conquered. 
For in the course of the year following'*, Guthfrith, king of 
the Danes, brother of Reginald, the king aheady named, 
having provoked him to war, was defeated and put to flight, 
ftnd slain. Not long afterwards, by a stroke of adverse 
fortune, Athelstan lost his brother Edwin, the Etheling, a 
young prince of great energy and high promise, who was 
unhappily drowned at sea. After these events^, King 
Athelstan, resolving to subjugate entirely the heathen 
Danes and faithless Scots, led a veiy large army, both by 
sea and land, into Northumbria and Scotland, and as there 
was no one able to offer resistance, he overran the country, 
pillaging it at his will, and then retired in triumph. 

In the year of grace 946', and in the fourth year of 
his reign. King Athelstan fought at Brunesbiu'h* one of 
the greatest battles on record against Anlaf, king of 
Ireland, who had united his forces to those of the 
Scots and Danes settled in England. Of the grandeur of 
this conflict, English writers have expatiated in a sort of 
poetical description^, in which they have employed both 

' Or Clede-muth, the month of the Cleddy, in Pembrokeshire. Henry of 
Huntingdon strangely takes no other notice of the three last busy years of 
Edward's reign. 

* Famdon, in Northamptonshire, which was in Mercia ; not Farringdon, 
in Berkshire, and part of Wessex, as GHbson and others interpret it. 

* The expulsion of Guthfrith (from York 1) did not take place till 927. 

* Edwin was drowned a.d. 938. The expedition into Scotland took place 
the same year. 

' This should be 937, the fourteenth, not the fourth, year of Athelstan. 
' Ingram in his map places Brunebnrg or Brunanburg in Lincolnshire, 
near the Trent. Ingram and Giles call it Brumby. 

* Henry of Huntingdon refers to the metrical account of this battle, in- 



170 HENBT OF HUHTINGDON. [BOOK V. 

foreign words and metaphors. I therefore give a faithfdl 
version of it, in order that, hy translating their recital 
almost word for word, the majesty of the language may 
exhibit the majestie achievements and the heroism of the 
English nation. 

" At Brunesbnrh, Athelstan the king, noblest of chiefs; 
giver of collars^, emblems of honour, with his brother 
Edmimd, of a race ancient and illustrious, in the battle, 
smote with the edge of the sword. The offspring of 
Edward, the dqoarted king, cleft through the defence of 
shields, struck down noble warriors. Their innate valour, 
derived from their &thers, defended their country, its trea- 
sures and its hearths, its wealth and its precious things, 
from hostile nations, in constant wars. The nation of &e 
Irish, and the men of ships, rushed to the mortal fight; 
the hills re-echoed their shouts. The warriors struggled 
from the rising of the sim, illuminating depths witi^ its 
dieerful rays, the candle of God, the torch of the Creator, 
till the hour when the glorious orb sunk in the west. 
There numbers fell, Danish by race, transfixed with spears, 
pierced through their shields ; and with - them fell the 
Scottish men, weazy and war-sad. But chosen bands of 
the West-Saxons, the live-long day, unshrinking from toil, 
struck down the ranks of their barbarous foe ; men of high 
breeding handled the spear, Mercian men hurled their 
sharp darts. There was no safety to those who with 
Anlaf, coming over the sea, made for the land in wooden 
ships, fated to die 1 Five noble kings fell on the field, in 
the prime of their youth, pierced with the sword ; seven 
earls of King Anlaf, and Scots without number. Then 
were the Northmen quelled in their pride. For not a few 
came over the sea to the contest of war ; while but a few 
heard their king's groans, as, borne on the waves, he fled 

sertpd in the Saxon Chronicle, which contains several other such relics of 
ancient poetry. His *' version " is tolerably " faithful," as fiir as it goes, ex- 
hibiting the character and much of the spirit of the original poem ; but it is 
much curtailed. The historian adopts a sort of rythm suited to the short 
lines of the Anglo-Saxon poem, which it is attempted to preserve in the pre- 
leut trannlation. 

' ** Torquium dator.** The Anglo-Saxon phrase ii beals-giva, ** giver of 
Iffacelets.'* 



A.D. 937.] BATTLE OF BBUNEBUBCh. 171 

from the rout Then was fierce Froda^, chief of Iha 
Northmen, Constantine with him, king of the Scots, stayed 
in his hoasting, when corpses were strewed on that haUle- 
fidid, sad remnant left of kindred bands, relations and 
Mends, mixed with the common folk slain in the fight; 
there, too, his dear son was stretched on the plain, man- 
gled with womids. Nor ccnild Danish Gude^ hoaiy in 
wisdom, soft in his words, boast any longer. Nor could 
Anlaf himself, with the wreck of his troops, vaunt of suc- 
cess in the conflicts of war, in the clashing of spears, in 
crossing of swords, in councils of wise men. Mothers 
and nurses wailed for their dear ones, playing the game of 
ill-fated war with the sons of King Edward. 

" The Northmen departed in their nailed barks, and 
Anlaf, defeated, over the deep sought his own land, sorrow- 
ing much. Then the two brothers Wessex regained, leav- 
ing behind them relics of war, the flesh of the slain, a 
bloody prey. Now the black raven with crooked beak, the 
livid toad, and eagle and kite, the dog and the wolf, with 
tawny hide, gorged themselves fireely on the rich feast. No 
battle ever was fought in this land so fierce and so bloody, 
since the time that came hither, over the broad sea, Saxons 
and Angles, the Britons to rout; famous war-smiths, who 
struck down the Welsh, defeated their nobles, seized on 
the land." 

I now return to the histoiy, which has been interrupted 
for the sake of introducing this interesting record. 

[a.d. 940.] King Athelstan, after a reign of fourteen 
years, was no more seen among men. He was succeeded 
by his son [brother] Edmund, who reigned six years and a 
half. In the fourtii year of his reign, the king of the 
Franks treacherously put to death WiUiam, the son of 
RoUo, who obtained possession of Normandy, a province of 
France, and was the founder of the Norman nation. 

King Edmund led his army into that part of Mercia 

^ Hylde-rine is the name giren to this worthy in the original poem. 
Henry of Huntingdon has transferred another word from its place and made 
it a proper name. 

* The old chief* is called Inwidda-Inwood in the Saxon poem. Henry 
of Huntingdon, probably not very well versed in the old English tongue^ 
makes Gude^ "fight/* into one of the heroes. 



172 HENBY OF HUNTINGDON. [bOOK V. 

which had been long subject to the heathens, as far as the 
broad river Humber, conquering the Danes, and trium- 
phantly recovering the "Five Burghs," Lincoln, Leicester, 
Stamford, Nottingham, and Derby ; and, utterly extirpating 
the Danes, who even at that time were called Normans, he 
purified those towns from heathenism, and, by God's grace, 
restored to them the light of the gospel At that time 
[a.d. 942] died King Anlaf, before mentioned. Afterwards, 
King Edmund received another Danish king, named Anlaf, 
in baptism ; who yielded as much to the force of arms, as 
to his convictions of the truth of the faith. A few days 
afterwards, he also received, from the hand of the bishop, 
Keginald king of York, who is already spoken of as having 
subjected that city. 

After King Edward's return into Wessex, where he was 
received in great triumph, these Danish kings, Anlaf, son 
of Sihtric, and Keginald, son of Guthfrith, broke the treaty 
of peace they had entered into, and ravaged that part of the 
kingdom which they had ceded to Edward ; therefore that 
most warlike king declared war against them, and having 
assembled an army, marched into Northumbria, from which 
he not only expelled both those kings, but for the first 
time annexed the kingdom of Northumbria to his own 
kingdom of Wessex. The year following, he ravaged and 
overran the whole of Cumberland; but inasmuch as he 
was unable permanently to subjugate the people of that 
province, a treacherous and lawless race, he made it over to 
Malcolm, king of Scotland, on the terms of his granting 
him aid both by land and sea. 

[a.d. 946.] When Edward, this victorious king, had 
reigned gloriously six years and a half, all things happening 
prosperously, and he being sole king of all England, he 
was traitorously stabbed on St. Augustine's day; an im- 
pious murder, which will be held in detestation through all 
ages. Thus snatched away by a sudden death, may Christ, 
in his mercy, be gracious to him ! 

Edred, brother of King Edmund S and son [brother, also] 
of King Athelstan, succeeded, and the same year he led a 
strong party of troops into Northumbria, the people of 

* Edmund's children were minors. 



A.D. 946-955.] KiNa edbed*s reign. 173 

whicTi submitted with impatience to the yoke of his do- 
minion, and completely subjugated it. He then advanced 
his standards into Scotland ; but the Scots were so terrified 
at his approach, that they submitted, without recourse 
being had to arms. Both the Northumbrians and the 
Scots confirmed by oaths the fealty due from them to their 
liege lord ; oaths which were not long respected : for after 
E(&ed's return to the southern part of his dominions, Anlaf ^i 
who had been expelled from Northumbria, returned thither 
[a.d. 949] with a powerful fleet. He was welcomed by his 
adherents, and reinstated in his kingdom, which he held 
by the strong hand for four years. But in the fourth year, 
the Northmnbrians, with their usual fickleness, expelled 
Anlaf, and raised to the tlirone Eric, the son of Harold. 
His tenure of the kingdom was also short. For the glorious 
king, Edred, resumed again his sway in Northumbria, in 
the eighth year of his reign ; as the people of that coimtry, 
never long submissive to the same master, after Eric, the 
son of Harold, had been king three years, dismissed him 
as carelessly as they had received him ; and, inviting King 
Edred, voluntarily replaced him on the throne. 

[a.d. 955.] Edred, an exemplary and powerful king, 
having at length become sole king over all the provinces of 
England, yielded to fate in the eighth year from that in 
which he had assumed the crown. Edwy, the son of King 
Edmund, succeeded Edred in the monarchy of all England^. 
For Edmund was the son [brother] of Athelstan, a most vir- 
tuous king, who was son of Edward, whose reign was prosper- 
ous, the son of Alfred the unconquered warrior, the son of 
Ethelwulf of paternal excellence, who was son of Egbert, 
who first raised the kingdom of Wessex to the ascendancy, 
exalting it by his valour and policy to the monarchy of 
all Englatid. Edmund had two sons, Edwy the first-bom, 
and Edgar the youngest, who succeeded to the throne in 

^ The third of the Danish kings of this name in these times : Anlaf^ son 
of Giithfrith, Anlaf, son of Sithric, and this one, Anlaf Cuaran. 

' One MS. of the Saxon Chronicle allots Wessex to Edwy, and Merda 
to Edgar ; and the latter may have held his kingdom in some sort of sub- 
jection to his elder brother, as the paramount king. Roger of Wendoyer 
says that the Mercians revolted from Edwy, and chose Edgar king. 



174 HISNBY OF HUNTINODON. [bOOE Y. 

the order of their birth. In the second year of Edwy's 
reign, Wulfstan, the Archbishcfp [of York], departed this 
hfe. This king wore the di&dem not unworthily^; but 
after a prosperous and becoming ecMnmencement of his 
reign, its happy promise was cut short by a premature 
death. 

[a.d. 959.] Edgar the peaceful, the brother of the last- 
named king, reigned sixteen years. In his days this land 
received great benefits, and through the mercy of God, 
which he merited to the best of his power, his whole reign 
was tL^aaquil. For he widely established the Christian faith 
in his dominions, and, by his bright example, encouraged 
fruitfulness in good works. Beloved boUi by God and 
man, his great concern was to promote peace among all 
the nations of his realm, nor did any of his predecessors 
hold the reins of power so quietly and so happily. Honour- 
ing God's name, and studying his law, he willingly learnt 
and gladly taught it, and was ready both by word and deed 
to invite his people to the practice of virtue. But the 
Divine Pirovidence rewarded his servant Edgar for his good 
deeds, not in the next life only, but even in the preset ; 
for the several subordinate kings, and ihe chiefs and people 
of all the nations of the land, submitted to him volimtanly 
in fear and love without a struggle, and without any hostile 
movements. Meanwhile, the Sme of ihe king's illustrious 
character was spread through all countries, and foreigners 
came to witness his glory and to hear the words of wisdom 
from his mouth. In one thing only he erred, estabhshing 
too securely the heathens who were settled under him in 
this country, and being too partial and giving too much 
countenance to strangers who were attracted here^. But 
nothing human is altogether perfect. 

[A.D. 963.] In the fifth year of the reign of Emg Edgar 

^ Both Henry of Hnntingdon and the Saxon Chronicle are silent on the 
snhject of the unhappy and tragic passages of Edwy's reign^ related or invented 
by later writers. Roger of Wendover blackened his memory with all the 
yirulence with which some of the monkish writers treated it 

* It was Bdgar^s wise policy to conciliate the Northmen settled in Eng- 
huid; mnl to encourage colonization by their countrymen. The panegyric is 
borrowed from a metrical composition in honour of King Edgar in the SazoB 
Chronicle. 



A.IX 959-975.] EEian of edoab. 175 

the peaceful, the v^ierable Edielwold was happily raised to 
the see of Winchester. This prelate, in the second year of 
his episcopacy, ejected some canons from the old monastery 
of Winchester, who observed the rules of their order with 
sloth and negligence, and introduced monks in their stead. 
This [conventual] church has been taken down in my time, 
because it was too near to the mother-chmrch, which is the 
bishop's cathedral: with the consent, therefore, of the 
bishop and abbot, a newmonasteiy^ has been founded with- 
out the city walls. This excellent prelate, Ethelwold, was 
diligent in fencing about the Lord's vineyard, and, setting 
deep the roots of charity, in diverting from it the paths of 
unrighteousness. For he sowed good counsels, so that by 
his advice. King Edgar made new plantations, and nursed 
up ofishoots of young growth most acceptable to God. The 
king built the abbey of Glastonbury; he ornamented 
the abbey of Abingdon, near the Thames ; he built up the 
abbey at Burch, near Stamford, and founded an abbey at 
Thomey, near Burch, on a very pleasant spot, though in 
the midst of the Fens. At the instance also of Bishop 
Ethelwold, Ailwin, the king's ealdorman, founded Eamsey 
Abbey on a fair island in the same Fens. These Fens are 
of wide extent, and the prospect is beautiful ; for they are 
watered by numerous flowing streams varied by many lakes, 
both great and small, and are verdant with woods and 
islands. Within them are the church of Ely, Eamsey 
Abbey, Catteric Abbey, Thomey Abbey, and the abbey of 
Croyland. In the neighbourhood are the abbey of Peter- 
borough, Spalding Abbey, the church of St Ivon upon the 
Ouse, a river in Huntingdonshire, and the church of St. 
Egidius on the Granta in Cambridgeshire, with the church 
of the Holy Trrnity at Thetford. 

Ia.d. 968.] In the eleventh year of his reign. King Edgar 
commanded the Isle of Thanet to be wasted, because &e 
inhabitants had treated his royal rights wiUi contempt 
But it was done not as by a raging enemy, but by a king 
inflicting punishment for evil deeds. In the thirteenth 
year of his reign. King Edgar was crowned at Bath on the 
day of Pentecost ; and soon afterwards he went at the head 

> The " new monaatery " was bulk A3b 1110. 



176 HENRY OF HX7KTINGD0N. [BOOE T. 

of his army to Chester, where six^ kings came to meet him, 
all of whom were subordinate to him, and who pledged 
him their fealtj, and the service, due both by land and sea, 
to his imperial crown. 

[a.d. 975.] Edgar the peaceful, that glorious king, that 
second Solomon, in whose time no foreign army landed in 
England, to whose dominion the EngHsh kings and chiefs 
were subject, to whose power even the Scots bent their necks, 
after a reign of sixteen years and two months, died as hap- 
pily as he had lived. For he could not die unhappily who 
had lived well, who had dedicated so many churches to 
God, and who had in a short time founded so many 
estabhshments consecrated in perpetuity to pious uses. 
The more zealously the societies of his foundation offer 
without ceasing their praises to God, the higher will be the 
degree of glory to which the blessed king will be advanced 
in heaven ; in whose praise my Muse prompts some short 
verse, which his worth demands : — 

" Blest in his kingdom's wealth, his people's love. 
The royal Edgar soars to realms ahove. 
Just laws he gave, and with the arts of peace. 
Made crime, and violence, and war to cease. 
Another Solomon, his fame extends 
To distant lands, and time that never ends. 
New temples crown'd the hills at his command, 
Heap'd with rich gifts the sacred altars stand ; 
And hoary minsters own'd his lib'ral hand. 
Wisely he learnt the true and Mse to scan. 
And with eternity weigh life's short span." 

[a.d. 975.] Edward, the son of Kmg Edgar, who is 
called St. Edgar, succeeded to his father's kingdom. In the 
beginning of his reign there appeared a comet which, 
doubtless, foretold the great famine which followed in the 
year ensuing. For at that time a certain dissolute noble, 
Elfhere by name, with the consent and the help of a powerful 
faction^, destroyed some of the abbeys which Kmg Edgar 
and Bishop Ethelwold had founded. Wherefore the Lord 

' Other accounts make the number of these tributary princes eight ; the 
kings of the Scots, Cumbrians, Mona and the Isles, South Wales, two of 
North Wales, Galway, and Westmorehind. 

* Elfhere was earldorman or governor of the late kingdom, and now im- 
portant province, of Mercia. 



A.D. 978.] MUBDER OF ST. EDWARD. 177 

was moved to anger, and, as of old, brought evil on the 
land. 

In the fourth year of the reign of St. Edward, all the 
great men of the English nation fell from a loft at Calne, 
except St. Dunstan, who supported himself by taking hold 
of a beam. Some of them were much hm% and some were 
killed. It was a sign from the Most High of the impending 
forfeiture of his favour by the assassination of the king, and 
of the evils it would bring on them from various nations. 

[A.D. 978.] St. Edward, the king, after reigning five years, 
was treasonably slain by his own family at Corfe-gate, at 
even-tide ; and, carrying to the gi'ave their malice towards 
him in life, he was buried at Wareham without royal 
honours, that his name might perish also. But here it was 
found that the depraved and dark counsels of man are of 
no avail against the Divine Providence. For he who was 
was rejected by traitors on earth was received with glory by 
God in heaven, and he whose name his murderers sought to 
obHterate had his memory made for ever illustrious by the 
Lord. Whereupon the Lord was again moved to anger, 
more than He was wont, and determined to visit the wicked 
nation with a grievous calamity. It is reported that his 
stepmother, that is the mother of King Edielred, stabbed 
him with a dagger while she was in the act of offering him 
a cup to drink. 

Ethelred, son of King Edgar, and brother of Edward, 
was consecrated king before all the nobles of England at 
Kingston. An evil omen, as St. Dunstan interpreted it, 
had happened to him in his infancy. For at his baptism 
he made water in the font; whence the man of God pre- 
dicted the slaughter of the English people that would take 
place in his time. In the early part of Ethelred's reign, the 
ealdorman Elfere, by Divine command, translated the body 
of St. Edward from Wareham to Shaftesbury. In the 
third year of King Ethelred's reign, there came seven ships 
of the Danes, the precursors of future ravages ; and they 
plundered Hampshire. After that Elfere, Sie ealdorman 
before named, died and was succeeded by Alfric, whom the 
king harshly banished. At that time St. Ethelwold, the 
bishop [of Winchester], father of the monks and the star 
of the English church, obtained the vision of the Lord, 

N 



178 HSTKBY OF HTJNTIN<3a)0N. [BOOK V. 

which he had earnestly desu-ed. Not long afterwards, St 
Dunstan was translated from the darkness of earth to the 
glory of heaven. When these two great lights of the Eng- 
Hsh nation were removed, England lost the armour of her 
defence, and was exposed, in her desolation, to the 
threatened wrath of the Almighty. The successor of St 
Dunstan was Ethelgar, who was succeeded by Siric the 
year following ; and King Ethelred unmercifully wasted the 
bi^opric of Rochester. Then the IxM'd, again provoked to 
wrath, no longer deferred what He had designed ; and the 
Danes landed in various quarters and overshadowed Eng- 
land like the clouds of heaven [a.d. 988]. In one quarter 
Watchet was plimdered, and the Danes, advancing from 
thence \ fell in with a body of English troops, and, engaging 
them, slew Goda their leader, and crushed that part of the 
army [a.d. 991]. In another quarter, Ipswich was plimdered, 
and Brithnoth, the ealdorman, who opposed them with a 
great force, was defeated in battle and slain, and his troops 
dispersed. 

It was in the thirteenth year of King Ethelred, that the 
pernicious coimsel of Archbishop Siric was adopted by the 
English, that tribute should be paid to the Danes to induce 
them to refrain from plunder and slaughter. The sum paid 
was ten thousand pounds. And this infliction has con- 
tinued to this present day, and, imless God's mercy inter- 
poses, will still continue. For we now pay to our kings, 
from custom, the tax^ which was levied by the Danes from 
intolerable fear. After this, the king contrived a stratagem 
against the Danes ; but Aifric, the ealdorman, who was 
banished by the king and c^ain restored, forewarned them 
of it. It is truly said, "The man whom you have once 
seriously injured, you should not afterwards easily trust" 
When, therefore, the royal fleet, under the command oi 
Ehric, the ealdorman, and Eorl Thorold®, sailed from 
London to intercept the Danes, they, having been fore- 
warned, made their escape. Then a more powerful Danish 

> Into Devonshire. ' This tax was called Dane-gtld, 

^ Thorold was a Dane or Norwegian, as appears both by his name and 
title. Long before this time naturalized Northmen fought in the English 
sanks against new invasions of their countrymen, as well as filled the higheit 
offices in church and state under the English kings. 



A.D. 994.] INVASION OF OLAVE AND SWETN. 179 

fleet fell in with the royal fleet, and a naval battle ensued, 
in which many of the Londoners were slain, and the 
Danes captured the whole armament, with Elfric, who was 
on board and had the command. That same year, St 
Oswald, archbishop of York, passed to his heavenly reward, 
and Aldulf succeeded him. Afterwards Bamborough was 
stormed and pillaged, and the Danish fleet sailed up the 
Humber and ravaged the shores on both sides, in Lindsey 
and Northumbria. An English force was collected and 
marched against them, but as soon as the two armies met, 
Frene, Godwin, and Erithegist, the English commanders, 
gave the signal for flight. At this time Ethelied ordered 
Elfgar, son of Elflic the ealdorman, to be deprived of sight, 
thereby increasing the odium in which his cruelty was 
held. Now, also, Kichard the Second succeeded his father, 
Bichard the Elder, in Normandy. After these transactions 
[a.d. 994], Olave and Sweyn came up to London on the 
nativity of St. Mary, with ninety-four ships ; but by the aid 
of the blessed Virgin, the Christians were deUvered from 
their heathen foes ; for the city being assaulted, and prepa- 
zations made to set it on fire, the assailants were repulsed in 
great confusion. Frustrated in this enterprise, they spread 
&emselves through Essex, Kent, Sussex, and Hampshire, 
procunng horses and overrunning the country more fiercely 
than usual, and carrying everywhere fire and sword. Where- 
upon the king sent messengers to them with a promise of 
ransom and provisions, which they accepted, and spent the 
winter peaceably at [South] Hampton. King Ethelred 
also sent for King Olave, giving hostages for Ins safe con- 
duct, and entertained him honom^bly at Andover, where 
he received him at confirmation from the bishop's hands, 
and gave him many rich presents. Upon this, Olave pro- 
mised the king that he would never again appear in arms 
on the English territory, which promise he kept. About 
that time, Siric, archbishop [of Canterbury], died.; after 
whom Elfric received the pall. 

[a.1). 995.] In the nineteenth year of King Ethelred, the 
Danes sailed round the cosist of Oomwall into the Severn, 
and pillaged Devonshire and South Wales. They also landed 
at Watchet, laying wajste the country with fii^ and sword. 

N 8 



180 HENRY OF HUNTINaDON. [bOOK V.. 

Eetuming from thence they sailed round Penwith-stert^ to 
the south coast and entered the Tamar, which they went 
up as far as Liddjrford, committing everything to the 
flames, and burning Ordulfs Minster at Tavistock. After 
this the enemy sailed to Frome-mouth, and, landing, over- 
ran Dorsetshire with their usual success, there being no 
resistance. This year also [a.d. 998] they estabhshed 
themselves for a time in the Isle of Wight, drawing their 
supplies from Hampshire and Sussex. Afterwards they 
entered the Thames and sailed up the Medway to Ko- 
chester. There the Kentish men assembled and gave 
them battle ; their attack was spirited, but the Danes, who 
were inured to constant war, repulsed it and remained 
masters of the field. 

[a.d. 1000.] Now King Ethelred assembled a powerftd 
army and marched into Cumberland, which was at that 
time the stronghold of the Danes, and he vanquished them 
in a great battle, and laid waste and pillaged almost all 
Cumberland. After this a party of the Danes landed at 
Exmouth and assaulted the town, but, meeting with a de- 
termined resistance, they drew off". Then they spread them- 
selves over the country under their constant leaders. Mars 
and Vulcan. The Somersetshire men assembled to oppose 
them, and engaged with them at Penhoe, but the Danes, 
whose only business was war, had the advantage. 

This Book, which relates to the Danes, though not too 
large for the importance of the subject, will now be brought 
to a close. I must, however, according to my custom, care- 
fully set before the reader, as a Hght for his guidance, a 
short summary of the contents of 'the present Book. 

Of the kingdom of Kent, there is little to be said ; inas- 
much as Egbert, the king of Wessex, after expelling Bal- 
dred, retained it in his own hands, and at his death left it 
to his [second] son, Athelstan. After the death of Athel- 
stan, the kingdom of Kent reverted to Ethelwulf, his [elder] 
brother, who was also king of Wessex ; and he left it to his 
[youngest] son, Ethelbert, who, on the death of his brother 
EthelbaJd, five years afterwards, inherited also the kingdom 
of Wessex, in which Ethelbald had succeeded Ethelwulf; 
£0 that both kingdoms were again united under the rule of 
1 The Land's End. 



A.D. 1000.] THE KINGS OF WESSEX. 181 

Eihelbert, and were never again separated. This suffices 
with respect to the kingdom of Kent. 

The following siunmary will elucidate the history of the 
kingdom of Wessex : — 

Ethelwulf reigned xix. years. He was defeated by the 
Panes at Charmouth, but gained a great victory over them 
at Ockley. 

Ethelbald, his son, reigned v. yeai-s. He was buried at 
Sherbum. 

Ethelbeet, his brother, reigned v. years. His officers 
and army defeated the Danes at Winchester. 

Ethelked, Uie brother of the two last kings, reigned v. 
years and a little more. He and his brother Alfred had a 
sharp encoimter with the Danes at Beading. 

Alfred, his brother, reigned laviii. years and a half. 
His acts were so numerous and so marvellous that nothing 
can be said of them in a short compass. 

Edward, the son of Alfred, reigned xxiv. years. He 
fought against the Danes in Northumbria; and again as 
they evacuated Mercia, when he gained a glorious victory 
and slew valiant kings. He also defeated the Danes at 
Tettenhall, and reduced Mercia. 

Athelstan, the son of Edward, reigned xiv. years. In his 
time was fought the great battle of Bruneburh. 

Edmund, tlie son of Athelstan, reigned vi. years and a 
half. He took from the Danes the "Five Burghs," and, 
reducing them to subjection, added Northumbria to his 
dominions. 

Edbed, the brother of Edmund, for ix. years governed 
fortimately all the divisions of England. 

Edwt, the son of Edmund, for iv. years possessed the 
same dominions, and the same extent of power. 

Edgar, son of Edmmid, reigned xvi. years in peace and 
greater glory than all the rest. 

St. Edward, the son of Edgar, reigned v.^ years ; his 
death (though sudden) was happy. 

Ethelred, his brother, suffering under the wrath of 
God, had a troublesome reign. Much of it I have still to 
relate. 

' It should be three years ; Edward succeeded his father A.D. 975> and 
was killed a.d. 978. 



182 HENRY OF HUNTIHaDON. [BOOK V. 

A short notice must now be given of the kingdom of 
NoRTHUMBRiA. In the time of Ethelwulf, Osbert was king 
there ; but his subjects ejected him, as their custom was, 
and elected Mlla. king. Both of them were killed by the 
Danes, and for many years a succession of Danish kings 
reigned in Northumbria. These were Healfdene, Godfred, 
Nigel, Sitric, Keginald, and Olaf. But their history is con- 
fdsed ; at one time we find a single king, at anotiiier two, 
at another several inferior kings. In the end, the kingdom 
fell under the dominion of Edred, king of Wessex, and his 
successors. Thus much is clear concerning the kingdom 
of Northumbria. 

A short account must be given of the kingdom of Meroia. 
Berthwulf, king of Mercia, in the third* year of his reign, 
was driven out by the Danes. Burrhed, also, after reigning 
xsii. years, was driven from his kingdom. The Danes 
having thus subjugated it, they allowed Ceolwulf to hold it ; 
but afterwards they divided it into several small portions. 
Part of the territory, and the lords of it, were still subject 
to the laws of Wessex. At length, Edmund, king of 
Wessex, reduced the whole of it under his dominion. We 
find, then, that the kingdom of Mercia became altogether a 
dependency of the crown of Wessex. 

The kingdom of East-Anglia, which, as we have already 
observed, had by various means been long subjugated, was 
either held by the kings of Kent or of Wessex, and at other 
times by some one or by various persons to whom they 
granted it. Thus there was sometimes a single king, at 
others many subject kings. St Edmund was the last of 
the English kings who governed East-Anglia under the 
king of Wessex ; when he was slain, Guthrum, the Dane, 
became king there ; and afterwards the Danes divided the 
kingdom into small portions, and it continued under their 
government imtil King Edward reduced the greatest part 
of it to submission to himself. Thus it appears how the 
kingdom of East-Anglia became annexed to the crown of 
Wessex. 

I now come to treat of the origin and the causes of the 
coming of the Normans into England. 

1 Thirteentb year. 



A.D. 1000.] FOLITIOAL STATE OF ENGLAND. 183 



BOOK VI. 

In the year 1000 from our Lord's incarnation. King Ethel- 
red, before mentioned, in order to strengthen himself on 
the throne, formed the design of demanding in marriage 
the daughter of Richard, duke of Normsuady. For he was 
a valiaQt prince, and all-powerful in the kingdom of France; 
while the English king was deeply sensible of his own and 
his people's weakness, and was under no small alarm at 
the calamities which seemed impending. It is clear that 
these were the work of God, who brings evil on tlie repro- 
bate. For it was the purpose of the Almighty to distract 
and afflict the English nation, whose wickedness called for 
ptmishment ; just as before He had humbled the Britons, 
when their sins accused them. He therefore prepared a 
double chastisement aud a snare, as it were, into which 
they might fall as the device of an enemy. And thus it 
was that while on the one hand the Danish invasion was 
raging, and on the other the Norman alliance was springing 
up, if they escaped the open attacks of the Danes, they 
might not have the firmness to break the meshes in which 
the subtlety of the Normans would entangle them un» 
awares. And so it appeared in the sequel, when from this 
union of the king of England with Ihe daughter of the 
Duke of Normandy, the Normans justly, according to the 
law of nations, established a footing in England, while 
they vilified it Indeed, a certain man of God had pre- 
dicted to them that, on accoimt of the enormity of their 
offences, not only because bloodshed and rebellion were 
ever in their thoughts, but also because they abandoned 
themselves to gluttony and to the neglect of the temples of 
the Lord, a tyranny lliey httle expected would come upon 
them from France, which should for ever trample their 
greatness in the dust, and scatter their glory to the winds, 
never to be recovered. He also predicted that not only 



184 HENKT OF HUNTINGDON. [bOOK VI. 

that nation, but the Scots whom they despised, would lord 
over them to their merited confusion. He predicted, no 
less, the revolutions of the coming age ; as the inconstancy 
which liu-ked in men's minds, and became apparent in 
their acts, was exhibited by the endless changes of their 
apparel and ornaments. The English king having there- 
fore, with the policy before adverted to, dispatched an 
embassy to the Duke of Normandy, and his proposals 
being accepted, English nobles of high rank, fitting such 
an employment, were sent into Normandy at the appointed 
time to receive and bring over their future lady; and 
they accordingly conducted her with royal pomp into 
England. 

In the year 1002, Emma^, the flower of Normandy, came 
into England, and was crowned and received the title of 
queen. After her arrival the king was so elated with pride 
tiiat he committed a breach of faith by giving clandestine 
orders that all the Danes who were living peaceably in 
England should be treacherously massacred in one and the 
same day; on the feast of St. Brice. I have heard in my 
youth some very old persons^ give an account of this 
flagrant outrage. They said that ttie king sent with secrecy 
into every town letters, according to which the English 
suddenly rose on the Danes, everywhere on the same day 
and at the same hour, and either put them to the sword, or, 
seizing them unawares, burnt them on the spof*. The 
same year, the king banished Leofsy, the ealdorman, because 
he had slain Effic, the king's high-grieve. 

In the year 1003, the fury of the Danes was inflamed, 

* Emma was called by the Saxons Elfgiva. — Flor. of Wor, 

* Henry of Huntingdon now approaches his own times, and this is the 
earliest instance of his referring to what may be called contemporary au- 
thority ; but as he was bom at the close of the tenth century, his informants 
must have been from 80 to 90 years of age. In his next Book he professes 
to relate only what he had seen himself or heard from eye-witnesses ; but, 
as it has been elsewhere observed, it is not until his eighth and last Book 
that he has the merit of being an original and contemporary writer. 

' Henry of Huntingdon does not mention the motives assigned by the 
Saxon Chronicle to Ethelred for this treacherous massacre, viz. that the 
Danes were conspiring to murder the king and his " witan." It may there- 
fore be concluded that he did not believe the story, and he conveys the im- 
pression that the massacre was a wanton and unjustifiable cruelty. 



A.D. 1003-4.] NEW DANISH INVASIONS. 186 

like fire when any one should attempt to extinguish it with 
1 blood. Overspreading the country hke a swarm of locusts, 
some of them came to Exeter, which they stormed and 
sacked, carrying off all the booly, and leaving nothing but 
its ashes. Hugh, the Norman, Emma's bailiff^ in the 
town, was the cause of its destruction. Then the people of 
Hampshire and Wiltshire assembled to combat the enemy ; 
but when they were closing for battle, Elfric, their leader, 
feigned sickness, and pretended to vomit, and thus be- 
trayed those whom he should have led; so true is the 
proverb, " When the general fails, the army quails."^ The 
Danes, taking advantage of the enemy's weakness, pursued 
them as far as Wilton, which they pillaged and burnt, and 
thence went to Salisbury, and then retired in triumph to 
their ships with much booly. 

In the fourth year ^, Sweyn, one of the most powerful of 
the Danish kings, for whom the kingdom of England was 
destined by Providence, brought over a numerous fleet, 
and came to Norwich, which he sacked and burnt. Then 
Ulfcytel, the chief governor of the province^, who was taken 
unawares, and unprepared to offer any defence, made a 
treaty with the invaders ; but three weeks afterwards, during 
the truce, the enemy's army decamped privately, and 
marched to Thetford, which they also phmdered and burnt. 
Upon learning this, Ulfcytel took post with a small band 
in ambush for the enemy, as at break of day they were 
retiring to their ships ; but though he attacked them reso- 

* Henry of Huntingdon calls him ** Vicecomes ; " the Saxon Chronicle, 
" grieve," and a *' churl," which Florence of Worcester amplifies into *' eorl." 
We see here the first fruits of the Norman alliance. 

^ An old English proverb. The reader may like to see the original text, 
with its rhyme, antithesis, and alliteration : — 

" Donne se heretoga vacad, 

Donne bith eall se here gehindrad.'^ 
Literally — 

** When the army-leader is sick, 

Then all the army are hindered." — See Sax. Ckron, 

* Henry of Huntingdon, for the sake of brevity, reckons from A.D. 
1000 during the rest of Ethelred's reign. 

* East-Anglia. Ulfcytel was of Danish extraction ; the Danish colonists 
were still predominant in the east, the centre, and the north of England. 



186 BEMBT OF HUNTINGDON. [BOOK VI 

lately, and held them long in check, his force was too weak 
to cut off their retreat 

In the fifth year, the Danes sailed for their own country; 
hut meanwhile there was no lack of calamity to the Eng- 
lish, for they were visited with a desolating famine, beyond 
any known in the memory of man. 

In the sixth year, the audacious Sweyn reappeared off 
Sandwich, with a powerful fleet. He was accompanied by 
his three usual attendants, fire, slaughter, and pillage ; and 
all England trembled before him, like the rustling of a bed 
of reeds shaken by the west wind. The king, however, 
assembled an army, and kept the field all t^e autumn, 
without any results; for the enemy, playing their usual 
game, eluded his attacks by taking to their ships, and 
making descents in other quarters. But in the beginning 
of winter they stationed themselves in the Isle of Wight; 
and as it was said by the prophet*, " I will turn your feasts 
into mourning," at Christmas they overran Hampshire and 
Berkshire, as far as Beading ; fi*om thence to Cholsey ; and 
fix)m thence by Ashdown to Cuckamsley Hill'-^. Feasting 
merrily wherever they went on what was set before them, 
on their departure tiiey recompensed their entertainment 
by the slaughter of their hosts, and by burning the houses 
in which Siey had received hospitality. The Danes re- 
tiring to the sea-coast were encoimtered by the anny of 
Wessex, which gave them battle. What, however, was the 
result, but that the Danes were enriched with the spoQs of 
the conquered ! So the people of Winchester beheld the 
enemy's army passing boldly and insolently by the gates of 
their city, and conveying to the sea the supplies of food 
which they had collected 50 miles inland, together with the 
booty which had been the fruit of their victories. Mean- 
while, King Ethelred lay in sorrow and perplexity at his 
manor in Shropshire, where he was often sharply wounded 
with rumours of these disasters. 

In the seventh year, the king and "witan" of the Eng- 
lish, perplexed what to do and what to leave imdone, at 
length resolved, by common consent, to make terms with 

' Amos viii. 10. ' In Berkshire. 



AJ). 1009.] THE ENGLISH FLEET WBEGKED. 187 

tine enemy. They accordingly paid him 30,000Z.^ to 
secure a peace. The same year, Edric was appointed 
ealdorman over Mercia; a new traitor, but one of the 
highest class. 

In the eighth year, which was the thirtieth of Etheh-ed*s 
reign, the king caused a fleet to be fitted out, to which the 
whole of England contributed in the proportion of one ship 
for every estate of 310 hides ; and for every eight hides, a 
helmet and breastplate were to be furnished. A hide of 
land means so much land as can be tilled in a year by one 
plough. 

In the ninth year, the king sent messengers to the Duke 
of Normandy, to intreat for counsel and aid. Meanwhile, 
the fleet just mentioned assembled at Sandwich, with well- 
armed crews ; there had never before been so large a naval 
armament in Britain in the time of any man. But Pro- 
vidence frustrated it. Thus it happened: the king had 
banished Child- Wulnoth*, the South-Saxon, upon which he 
collected 20 ships, and began to pillage the country near 
the [south] coast. Then Brightric Ednc, the ealdorman's 
brother, thinking to acquire renown, took with him 80 
ships of the fleet which had been assembled, and vowed to 
the king that he would bring him his enemy either alive or 
dead. But after he had sailed, a most tempestuous wind 
drove all his ships ashore as wrecks, and Wulnoth presently 
landed and burnt them. Struck by the evil tidings, the 
rest of the fleet returned to London ; the army also broke 
up; and thus the toil of the whole English nation was 
fruitless. And now, at harvest time, a fresh and innume- 
rable army of the Danes arrived at Sandwich, and, march- 

> Florence of Worcester and Sim. Durham, 36,000^. So the Saxon 
Chronicle, according to one MS. and Dr. Giles's Tersion. 

' Henry of Huntingdon's expression is " a noble youth.'* Ingram trans- 
lates the phrase, in his version of the Saxon Chronicle, "the South Saxon 
knight *' [father of Earl Gbdwin], which he corrects in the Appendix, ob- 
serving that child was a title given to an heir of noble rank, as stheling 
was properly applied to those of royal birth. The title is familiarized to the 
modern reader by the pilgrimage of " Childe Harold." It occurs again 
repeatedly in the Saxon Chronicle, and is applied to the heir apparent to the 
throne ; at least it is given to Bdgar ^theling. Wnlfnoth or Wolnof is 
called Ulfnadr by the old Scald or Saga writer, who gives a romantic account 
of the early fortunes of Earl GK>dwin, who afterwards became so powerful. 



188 HENRY OF HUNTTNGDOK. [BOOK VI. 

ing to Canterbury, would soon have taken it, unless the 
citizens had obtained peace by payment of a ransom of 
3000^. The Danes then came to the Isle of Wight, and 
pillaged Sussex, Hampshire, and Berkshire. But King 
Ethelred, having mustered the whole force of England, 
marched to intercept them as they returned ; and then an 
end would have been put to their savage inroads, had not 
Edric, the ealdorman, again traitorous, dissuaded the king 
from fighting, by false reports and fictitious alarms. After- 
wards, the Danes, countermarching, fixed their winter 
quarters near the Thames, fi'om whence they made frequent 
assaults on London, and were as frequently repulsed. After 
Christmas they crossed the Chiltem^ to Oxford, which 
place they burnt, and then retiring estabhshed themselves 
in Kent. Their ships were brought roimd to meet them, 
and, dinnng Lent, lliey employed themselves in putting 
them in repair. • 

[a.d. 1010.] In the tenth year the Danes landed at 
Ipswich on Ascension day, and their army attacked Ulfcytel, 
who governed the province ; but the East-Anglians incon- 
tinently fled. The Cambridgeshire men, however, made a 
brave resistance ; and for this they were highly honoured 
as long as the English kings filled the throne. Their 
ranks being unflinchingly engaged, fe&rless of death, 
Athelstan, 3ie king's son-in-law, and Oswy, and Edwy 
Efy's brother, with Wulfric the thane, and many other 
chief men, were slain. But while the English gave no 
thought to flight, Turketil Myre-head, that is, " Ant-head," 
first began it, thereby deserving endless disgrace. The 
Danes, being victorious, held possession of East-Anglia for 
three months, as well as the Fens described in the pre- 
ceding Book, with the churches, which they either plundered 
or burnt. They also destroyed Thetford and burnt Cam- 
bridge; and retreating thence over the hills, through a 
very pleasant coimtry near Balsham, they massacred all 
whom they found in that place, tossing the children on 
the points of their spears. One man, however, whose name 
ought to have been recorded, mounted the steps to the 
top of a church-tower, which is still standing there, and on 

V The Chiltern Hill>^ on the south-east of Ozfordsbire. 



A.D. 1011.] DAI7ISH ASCEKDANC7. 189 

this vantage post, by his great courage, he defended him- 
self, single handed, against the enemy \ Then the Danes, 
passing through Essex, reached the Thames, and without 
lingering there pushed their advance into Oxfordshire and 
Buckinghamshire, and so to Bedford on the Ouse and to 
Tempsford. The river Ouse washes three fortified places, 
which are the chief towns of the counties of Bedford, 
Buckingham, and Huntingdon. Huntingdon, that is, 
" the hill of himters," stands on the site of Godmanchester, 
once a famous city, but now only a pleasant village on both 
sides of the river. It is remarkable for the two castles 
before mentioned, and for its simny exposure, as well as for 
its beauty, besides its contiguity to the Fens, and the 
abundance of wild fowl and animals of chase ^. At the 
feast of St. Andrew they proceeded to Northampton, which 
they burnt; and at Christmas they crossed the Thames, 
and rejoined their fleet. 

In the eleventh year, the Danes, after ravaging the north 
side of the Thames, Cambridgeshire and Oxfordshire, 
Buckinghamshire, Essex and Middlesex, Hertfordshire and 
Bedfordshire, with the part of Huntingdonshire which is 
on that [south] side the river [Ouse] ; and after plimdering 
on the south of the Thames, Kent and Surrey, Hastings 
and Sussex, Berkshire and Hampshire, and great part of 
Wiltshire, laid siege to Canterbury, the metropolis of Eng- 
land, which was treacherously surrendered to them by 
Aylmer, whose life Elphege, the archbishop, had saved. 
Having gained an ent^, &ey took prisoners Elphege, the 
archbishop, and Bishop Godwin^ and the Abbess Le^ine*, 

1 This anecdote, though in itself unimportant, seems to indicate, among 
other such incidental notices, that Henry of Huntingdon, in compiling his 
history, occasionally made use of traditionary reports, or of written docu- 
ments now lost. The attentive inquirer will easily discover where his addi- 
tions to the Saxon Chronicle, the staple of his narrative, are merely rhetorical 
embellishments, and where new facts are introduced. In the present 
instance, the retreat over the hills from Cambridge^ and the defence made 
from Balsbam church-tower, are not, we believe, noticed by any other 
ancient writer. At the same time the account of the proceedings of the 
Danes in the present year is otherwise less circumstantial, as is often the 
case, than that of the Chronicle^ 

' The Archdeacon of Huntingdon takes occasion to celebrate the praisea 
-of the town from which he derived his ecclesiastical title. 

' Of Bochester. * Of St. Mildred's, in the Isle of Thanet 



190 HENEY OF HUNTINGDON. [BOOK TI. 

with Elfward, the king's grieve, and numbers of men and 
women, and then they returned in triumph to their ships. 
It was terrible to witness the spectacle of an ancient and 
noble city reduced to ashes, its streets heaped with the 
corpses of the citizens, the ground and the river discoloured 
with blood, to hear the shrieks of women and boys led 
away captives, and to see the head of the English church, 
the source of its doctrine, shamefiilly dragged away, bound 
in fetters. 

In the twelfth year, on Saturday in Easter week, the 
Danes were in a rsige with the Archbishop, because he 
refused to be ransomed, aud they were at the time drunk 
with wine, which had been brought from the south. They 
therefore dragged him into the middle \ and casting stones 
and horns of oxen upon him, at last, when he had offered 
an earnest prayer and thanksgiving to Almighty God, they 
dashed out his brains with a battle-axe. Thus fell the man 
of God, his sacred blood sprinkhng the earth, while his 
beatified soul was received within the heavenly temple. 
On the morrow, the Bishops Ednoth and Elfhun* received 
the body, which they carried with due honour, and buried 
in St. Paul's Minster, where God manifests the merit of 
the holy martyr. Lefwing succeeded as archbishop. Too 
late the king made peace with the Danish army, paying 
them as tribute 8000Z. ; but it was just in time to save the 
countiy from being wasted by intolerable suffering. Forty- 
five of the Danish ships took service under the king, en- 
gaging to defend England, the king finding them in food 
and clothing. 

In the thirteenth year, Sweyn, king of Denmark, entered 
the Humber as far as Gainsborough, and Uhtred the earl, 
and all the Northumbrian nation, quickly submitted to 
him. The people, also, of Lindsey and the Five Burghs', 
and all to the north of the Watling Street*, gave him 

^ The Saxon Chronicle says ** hnstinge/' the hwit-thing being the popular 
assembly, as well as the court of judicature, of the If orthmen. The name is 
Btill preserved in our courts of hustings and elective assemblies. 

^ Bishops of Dorchester and London. ^ See p. 172. 

^ The Watling Street, the great highway between London and Chester, 
^WBs by treaty the boundary line between the Danelag, the Danish territory 
comprising all England east and north of that liae, and the remaining poi- 
sessiaau of the kings of WesMZ. 



A.D. 1013-14.] SWETN AND OANUTB, KINGS. 191 

hostages. The king intrusted the hostages and ships to 
the guardianship of his son Canute, and marched himself 
to Oxford and Winchester, receiving the submission of the 
people of those parts. On his return to London, many of 
his troops were drowned in the Thames, because ihej 
would not cross it by the bridge. The citizens, encouraged 
by the presence of King Ethelred, made a stout resistance, 
and Sweyn was forced to draw off his troops. He retreated 
to Wallingford, and from thence marched on Bath, where 
all Wessex gave in their submission to him. The Lon- 
doners, also, on his return with the fleet, gave him their 
allegiance, being in alarm lest he should utterly destroy 
their city. Upon this King Ethelred sent his queen, 
Emma, to her brother Eichard, in Normandy, and after- 
wards his sons Edward and Alfred. Sweyn was now 
acknowledged king by the whole nation, and he ordered 
provisions and pay to be levied for his army throughout all 
England ; as Thurketil did for his troops at Greenwich. 
Meanwhile, King Ethelred went to Whitland^, where he 
spent Christmas, and then crossed over the sea, and took 
refuge with Bichard, duke of Normandy. 

[a.d. 1014.] In the fourteenth year, Sweyn, now become 
king of England, died suddenly; and the Danish army 
elected his son Canute* king. The English, however, 
dispatched messengers to King Ethelred, giving him to 
understand that if he would govern them more clemently 
than he had done before, they would willingly acknowledge 
him king. Upon which he sent over his son Edward, to 
promise on his part all that was fitting for the king and 
the people ; and, following himself, he was received with 
joy by the whole English nation. Meanwhile, Canute 
remained at Gainsborough, with his army, till Easter, and 
he made a certain agreement with the people of Lindsey'*; 
upon hearing which, King Ethelred came with a great 
army, and taking the country by surprise, laid it waste 
with fire, and put most of ti^e provincials to the sword. 

» Isle of Wight 

^ The name is properly "Cnnte," or "Knute;" l)ut I have thought it 
most advisable to follow the ^miliar form. 

' They were to find bones, rad the king wm te join them in plmidering 
the English. The Danes had been long paramoimt in Lindsey. 



193 HENRY OF HUNTINGDON. [bOOK VI. 

Canute, however, who was very crafty, left the people he 
had deceived to their fate, and sailed on board his fleet to 
Sandwich, and there he put on shore the hostages given 
to his father, having cut off their hands and noses. Besides 
all these evils, the king ordered that 21,000^. should be 
paid to the army stationed at Greenwich ^ To these ordi- 
nary evils the Lord added an extraordiriary calamity ; for 
the tide rising unusually high, many villages and much 
people werp washed away. 

In the fifteenth year, Edric, the ealdorman, foully be- 
trayed Sigeferth and Morcar, chief thanes [of the Five 
Burghs], inviting them into his chamber, where he had 
them murdered. Whereupon Edmund, the king's son-, 
took Sigeferth's wife and married her, and seized the lands 
of the two thanes. Meanwhile, Canute, returning from 
Denmark, landed at Sandwich; from thence he sailed to 
Frome-mouth, in Wessex, and from thence pillaged Dor- 
setshke, Somersetshire, and Wiltshire. King Ethelred lay 
sick at Corsham ; but Edmund, the Etheling, and Edric, 
the ealdorman, levied an army to oppose Canute. When 
they came together, Edric attempted to betray the Ethe- 
ling; so they parted, and the contest was abandoned, and all 
Wessex submitted to Canute, the Danish king. 

In the fifteenth year, Edric, who had gone over to the 
side of Canute, joined him with 40 ships, with which the 
king's fleet of 160 ships united in the Thames. Thence 
the army crossed the river to Cricklade, and they laid 
waste all Warwickshire with fire and sword. Then King 
Ethelred issued a proclamation that every able man 
throughout England should join his army. But when vast 
numbers had been thus assembled, the king was informed 
that his followers were ready to betray him ; he therefore 
disbanded the army, and retired to London. Edmund, 
however, joined Utred, earl of Northumbria, and they plun- 
dered in company throughout Shropshire, Staffordshire, 
und Leicestershire. On the other side, Canute went 
through Buckinghamshire into Bedfordshire, and so into 
Huntingdonshire, stnd by the Fens to Stamford. He then 

> Stationed there, probably, to overawe the Londoners, 
a The "Etheling." 



JL,J>. 1016.] ZING EDMUND IE0NSIP5. 193 

passed through Lincolnshire and Nottinghamshire, and 
entered Northumbria in his way to York. When Utred 
heard this, he gave up his plundering, and, returning north- 
ward, was compelled to submit to Canute, as did all North- 
umbria ; but though he gave hostages, he was put to death. 
Edmund retreated to London, where his father lay ; while 
Canute, having made Eric earl over Northumbria, in the 
place of Utred, went back to his fleet before Easter. After 
Easter he sailed to London. 

[a.d. 1016.] Ethelred, the king, had died there before 
the arrival of the enemy's fleet, his reign of thirty-seven 
years having been attended with almost incessant toil and 
perplexities. His son Edmimd, sumamed " Ironside," on 
account of his prodigious strength and his extraordinary 
resoluteness in war, was chosen king. After his elec- 
tion he went into Wessex, where all tihe people rendered 
him their allegiance. Meanwhile, the Danish fleet sailed up 
to Greenwich, and thence to London ; and they dug a 
great canal on the south, and dragged their ships through 
it to- the western side above the bridge. They likewise dug 
a trench round the city, so that no one could go in or go 
out. They also made frequent and desperate assaults 
against it, but the citizens offered a stout^ and wary re- 
sistance. 

Of the wars of King Edmund and his great prowess, the 
following accoimt is given in ancient histories which celebrate 
his praise. Edmund's first battle with the Danish army 
was at Pen, near Gillingham, where fortune inclined to the 
side of Edmimd ; his second battle was fought with CsUiute 
at Sherston, and was severely contested. In this battle 
Edric, the ealdorman, and Aimer the beloved*, took part 
against King Edmund, and there was great slaughter on 
both sides, and the armies separated of themselves *. In 

' Henry of Hantingdon*g text bas Aimer Dyrling, which Ingram and 
Giles, in their translations of the Saxon Chronicle, render "Aimer the 
Darling." 

^ Ingram gives an opposite torn to the parallel passage in the Saxon 
Chronicle ; ** and the leaders came together in the fight." He remarks in a 
note, " This is a new interpretation, but the word Ae^'tu, the plural of hera, 
will justify it ; and it points at once to the distinguishing feature of this 
battle^ which was .the single combat between Canute and £dmund. See an 

o 



104 ASKKT OF HtnmNGBON; [book vx. 

the third, he marched to La&doai with a chosen hand of 
troops, and, drivhig the hesieging army to theh- s^ps^ 
raised the siege and entered the city with the triumph hd 
had won. The fourth^ hattle was fou^t against the dame 
army two days afterwards on their retr^it to BrentfonL 
Here many of his soldiers, in their too great haste to crosft 
the river, were drowned, hut notwithstanding he ohtaaned 
the victo^. Upon this, King Canute became alarmed, said 
drew together a number of troope to increase his force. 
Canute also and Edric laid their plans for obtaining by 
treachery the succei^ which they could not gain by arms^ 
and Edric undertook to betray King Edmund, In ecob^ 
sequence, by his advice, the king went into Wessex to lead 
a very powerful army against Canute, who, meanwhile, hsA 
laid siege to London, which he fbrioudly assaulted both by 
land and water, but the citizens delended it manfully. Tfaie 
fiflh times King Edmund again fording ihe river Thames 
at Brentford, went into Kent to give battle to the Danes, 
but at Hie first encounter of the standard-bearers in the van 
of the armies, a terrible panic seized the Danes, and they 
took to flight. Edmund followed them with great slau^tee 
as far as Aylesford, and if he had continued &e pursuit, the 
Danish war would have been ended that day. But the 
traitorous counsel of the ealdorman Edric induced him to 
halt Never had m<H*e fatal counsel been given in England. 
The sixth battle was fought between Edmund, at the head 
of a powerful army, and Canute, who had assembled the 
whole force of the Danes at Esesdune^. The engagement 
was obstinate and decisive, for both armies stood theis 
j^ound undaunted and despising death. Then the young 
King Edmimd disthiguished himself for his valom:. For 
perceiving ^at the Danes were fighting with more ttea 
Ordinary vigour, he quitted his royal station whkh, as wwi 
wont, he had taken between the dragon and the ensign 
eaUdd the Standard, and rushed impetuously on the fore- 

fiktiereflting de8eri|ytidn of tbe eAga^fiatmt, with tattny mnrate fftrtioilaa^^ 
Antiq. Celto-Scand., p. 130." 

^ The Saxon Ghroniclo doei not T«ckMi tlio first fight at Brentford, irfaich 
ttppeara to have been only a flkirmisb, in the number of Sldmiind's batttei^ 
•0 that it makes this engagement at BMBtford the fourUi, while Heuiy «f 
Huntingdon calls it the fifth. 

Saxon Chronic^ ** Atma^im ;** AtsittgAon, in Ssmx. 



A.D. 1016.] EDMUND HbONSIDfi's BATTLES. IM 

most rank. He fell on it like lightning, wielding a dftoa^ 
sword fit for the hand of the royal youth, and hewing a 
passage through the centre, esposed himself and those who 
followed him to be cut off by the enemy. But he charged 
right on to King Canute's body-goard, wh^si a fearful out- 
cry and horrible shrieks were heard, and tiie ealdcmnoA 
Edric, seeing that the rout of Ihe Danes was imminent, 
shouted to the English : " Flet Engle, det Engle, ded is 
Edmund," which means "Mee English, flee English, Ed- 
mund is dead." Thus shooting, he fled with, his own troops, 
followed by the whole English army. A dreadful slaughter 
of the English was made in this batde ; there fell in it the 
ealdormen Ednod, ElMc, and Godwin [of Lindsey], and 
UHcitel of EaslrAnglia, and Ailward, son of Ethelsy ^ the 
ealdorman, and the flower of the English nobility. King 
Canute after this victory took London, and obtained po&> 
session of ^e regalia of Engiand. The seventh time, the 
two armies met in Glouceste^sh]Ie^ but the great men t^ 
the realm, fearing on one side Ihe power of Kmg Edmund^ 
and on the other that of King Canute, said among them- 
selves, " Why are we such fools as to be so often putting 
our lives in peril? Let those who wi^ to reign sio^y 
decide the quarrel by single combat."* The proposal wak 
approved by the kings, for Oanute was not wanting in 
courage. Lists were erected in (Hney, add the duel of 
the kings began. Their spears on both sides were shattered 
against the highly-wrought armour &ey wore, aodd the ^iSskt 
Came to be decided by &e sword. Bcrtib nations heard and 
saw with groans azid shouts the fearful clang aiid the 

> Some MSS. of the Saxon Chronicle call him Slfvnne and Kthelme. 

• Near Deerhnnrt^ <m the Serem. 

^ There ia nothing in the Siizoa Obronicb sbost thii dedaioa of thir 
qurrd by single combat of the kinga ; the stakment there being, that the 
neblea interfered to procure peace by an amicable diviuon of the kingdom, 
Soger of WendoTer copies and amplifies Henry of Huntingdon's details of 
the mngle combat The silence of the Saxon Cfaronide is important^ ^1 
itill^ considering how mneh the dud -was in vogue among Caontc's eoaatiy* 
men, and the character of Bdmund Inmside, tlnre ia nothing improbable in 
the two kings having adopted this mode of deciding the contest. An ex- 
amination of the Icelandic Saj^ would probably throw some liffht on thiff 
subject. An adventure of so romantic a character could* hardly have e»> 
caped the notice of the Scalds and writers of that class, whose compositions 
were current in the cearta of the Neman king. 

O 2 



196 HENBT OF HUNTINGDON. [bOOK VI. 

gleaming flash of their arms. But at length the incompara* 
hie strength of Edmund [Ironside] dealt thunder on his 
rival, and Canute, though he defended himself stoutly, 
beginning to quail, cried out, "Bravest of youths, why 
should either of us risk his life for the sake of a crown ? 
Let us he brothers by adoption, and divide the kingdom, so 
governing that I niay rule your affairs, and you mine. Even 
file government of Denmark I submit to your disposal." 
The generous mind of the young king was moved to gentle- 
ness by these words, and the kiss of peace was mutually 
given. The people assenting with tears of joy, the king- 
dom of Wessex was allotted to Edmund, and the kingdom 
of Mercia to Canute, who then returned to London. 

[a.d. 1016.] King Edmund was treasonably slain a few 
days afterwards. Thus it happened : one night, this great 
and power^l king having occasion to retire to the house 
for relieving the csdls of nature, the son of the ealdorman 
Edric, by his father's contrivance, concealed himself in the 
pit, and stabbed the king twice from beneath with a sharp 
dagger, and, leaving the weapon fixed in his bowels, made 
his escape. Edric then presented himself to Canute, and 
saluted him, saying, '* Hail ! thou who art sole king of 
England !" Having explained what had taken place, Canute 
replied, "For this deed I wiU exalt you, as it merits, 
higher than all the nobles of England." He then com- 
manded that Edric should be decapitated and his head 
placed upon a pole on the highest battlement of the tower of 
London ^. Thus perished King Edmund Ironside, after a 
short reign of one year, and he was buried at Glastonbury, 
near his grandfather Edgar. 

[a.d. 1017.] Canute, now king of England, married 
Emma, the daughter of the Duke of Normandy, who was 
before the wife of King Ethehed. He quickly paid to the 
English nobles the just reward of their treason ; for whereas 
he assumed the government of Wessex, while Eric held 
that of Northumbria, Thurkill of East-Anglia, and Edric of 
Mercia, Edric was put to death, Thurkill banished, and 
Eric compelled to flee. Moreover, his displeasm*e fell on 
some other nobles of the highest rank : he put to death 

' The Saxon Chronicle says nothing of the mode of Edmund's death. 



A.D. 1017-24.1 REIGN OP CANUTE. 197. 

Norman the ealaorman; Edwy the Etheling was driven into 
exile; Ethelwold was beheaded; Edwy, king of the Chiu"ls\ 
was banished; and Britric was slain. He also levied an 
enormous tax throughout the whole of England, to the 
amount of 73,000Z., besides ll,000i. paid by the Londoners. 
So severe a task-master did the justice of God inflict on the 
English. 

In the third year of his reign Canute, with an army 
composed both of English and Danes, went over to Den- 
mark to war with the Vandals. He had come up with the, 
enemy and was prepared to give battle the day following, 
when Earl Godwin, who commanded the English troops, 
made a night attack on the enemy's camp, without the king's 
knowledge. Taking them by surprise, he made great slaugh- 
ter and entirely routed lliem. At daybreak the king, 
finding that the EngHsh were gone, supposed that they had 
either taken flight or deserted to the enemy. However, he 
marshalled his own force for the attack, but when he 
reached the camp, he found there only the corpses of the 
slain, blood, and booty. Whereupon he ever afterwards 
held the English in the highest honour, considering them 
not inferior to the Danes. After this he returned to Eng- 
land. About this time, on the death of Archbishop Lyfwing, 
Ethelnoth, his successor, went to Rome; he was accom- 
panied by Leofwine, abbot of Ely, who had been unjustly 
deprived of his abbey, but was now restored by command 
of Pope Benedict. On his return from Rome, the arch- 
bishop caused the body of St. Elphege* to be translate*' 
fi:om London to Canterbury. 

[a.d. 1024.] In the eighth year of Canute's reign, Bichard 
the Second, duke of Normandy, father of Emma, queen of 
England, departed this life. Richard, his son, who suc- 
ceeded him, lived about a year, and then his brother Robert, 

1 " Oeoria cyneg,** Saxon Chronicle. None of the translators have ofiered 
any comment on this singular title. Was Edwy the Robin Hood of those 
times? 

* The Archbishop of Canterbury, martyred by the Danes a.d. 1012. 
The Saxon Chronicle gives an account of the pomp with which his remains 
were translated from St. Paul's Cathedral to Canterbury. St. £lphege*8 
name is retained in our calendars on the 19th of Aprils the day of his 
martyrdom. 



128 HE]KBT OF HUNTINGDON. [BOOK VI. 

• 

eight years. The year following, the king went into Den- 
xnark with English troops against Ulf and Eglaf, who had 
iBYaded it hoSi hy sea and land with a great force of the 
Swedish nation. In that war numbers both of the Eng- 
lish and Danes fell on the side of Canute ; and the Swedes 
were victorious. 

King Canute, id the twelfth year of his reign, sailed from 
England with 50 ships for Norway, and, li^ving defeated 
Clave \ the Norwegian king, reduced that country to sub- 
jection. On his return to England, Clave endeavouring to 
reinstate himself was slain by the people, and Canute re- 
tained the kii^dcnn till his death. About this time Eobert» 
king of the Franks, was succeeded by his son Henry. 

JJLD. 1031.] In the fifteenth year of Canute's reign, Eoberfc, 
ce of Normandy, died during his pilgrimage to Jeru< 
salem, and was sueeeeded by his son William the bastard, of 
tender age : Canute also went to Borne ^ with gi'eat pomp, and 
granted m perpetait?yr the alms called " Eoanscot," which his 
predecessors had given to the Roman Church. No king of 
the western parts displayed so much magnificence in his 
j^grimage to Borne. Who can reckon the alms, and the 
e^erings, and the costly banquets which the great king 
gave during his pilgrimage? The year he returned he 
went into Scotland, and Malcolm, king of the Scots, paid 
him aUegianee, as did also two other kings, Melbeathe and 
Jermarc. 

[ajd. 1035.] £ii^ Canute died at Shaftesbiny, after a 
reign of 20 years \ and was buried at Winchester in the 
old minster. A few particulars of his grandeur must be 
collected, for before him there was never so great a king of 
Sngland. He was lord of the whole of Denmark, England, 
and Norway; as also of Scotland. Be^des the various wars 
in which he gained bo much gloiy, his nobleness and 

' St Clave, who first introduced ChriBtianity in Norway, and fell in 
fighting with bis heathen rabjects at the battle of Stikkdistad, near Drontheim. 
He was afterwards caDonised, and esteemed the patron saint of Norway j 
and many churches in England were dedicated to him. 
. ' " Canute's journey to Some is placed by Wippo, a centemporaneons 
writer, in the year 1027. Pistonus, iii. 472.''—- P€fre«. 

' Tlie date given fer Canute's death is that of the Saxon Chronicle. 
Benry of Huntingdon reckons his reign at 20 years ; one MS. of the Saxon 
Chronicle says, ** He was king over all England very nigh 20 years." 



A.i>. 1035.] Canute's death and chabacteb. 1M 

greatness of mind were <eminentij displayed on three ocoor 
filons. First, when he married his daughter to the Bomaa 
emperor with an immense dowry. Secondly, when, during 
his journey to Borne, he reduced the oppressive tolls ^ 
exacted from pilgrims on Ihe roads through France hy the 
redanption of one-half of them at his private ei^ense. 
TMrdly, when at the summit of his power, he ordered a 
seat to he placed for him on the sea-ehore when the tide was 
ooming in; thus seated, he shouted to the flowing sea, 
** Thou, too, art suhject to my command, as the land on 
which I am seated is mme ; aaad no <me has ever resisted 
toj commands with ]mpunit)r. I conmiand you, then, not 
to ^ow over my land, nor presume to wet the feet and the 
robe of your lord." The tide, however, continuing to rise 
as usual, dashed over his feet and legs without respect to 
bis royal person. Then the king leaped backwards, saying: 
" Let all men know how empty and worthless is the power 
el kings, for Hiere is none worthy of the name, but He whom 
heaven, earth, and sea obey by eternal laws." From 
thenceforth King Canute never wore his crown of gold, but 
placed it for a lasting memorial on the image of our I^ord 
affixed to a cross, to &e houour of God the almighty King : 
through whose mercy may the soul of Canute, the king^ en* 
joy everlasting rest*. 

Harold, the mm of King Canute, by Elfgiva, daughter of 
^felin, the ealdorman, was chosen king. For there was a 
great council^ held at Oxford, where Earl Leofric and all 
tfie thanes north of the Thames, with the Londoners ^ 

" Tolonea vel traversa,*' droits de trawrte, — Du Cketne, Olossar, 

* This story, which is not Cound m the Saxon Chronicle, appears to rest 
on the authority of Henrj of Huntingdon, from whose History it was 
itdopted by succeeding writers. The reader's opinion of its authenticity wifl 
depend upon the degree of credit he is diq»osed to attach to Henry of Hun* 
tingdon's statements when diey are unsupported by other testimony. Those 
irito feel unwilling to surrender a very interesting story, which has become 
as ftmiliar to us as '' household words," will be pleased to remember that 
our author lived within 90 years of the death of Canute, and expressly 
Kftn that he collected information of Ibrmer events from eye-witnessea 
■till living. We have already had an anecdote so obtained of a date 30 
yean earlier than the present one ; tee note p. 184. 

» « Witan," Saxen Chronicle. 

* The " Lithsmen of London," Saxon Chnmick : « Dani^ term for tht 



UOO HENBY OF HUNTCNODON. [BOOK YI, 

chose Harold in order to preserve the kingdom for his 
brother Hordecanute, who was then in Denmark. But 
Earl Godwin, father of Harold, who afterwards became king, 
with the principal thanes of Wessex, opposed the election, 
though to no purpose. But it was resolved that the Queen 
Emma should occupy Winchester with the household of the 
deceased king, and hold all Wessex on behalf of her son 
[Hardecanute], Godwin being the commaDder of her army« 
However, Harold drove Queen Emma, his stepmother, into 
banishment, and she sought refuge with Baldwin, earl of 
Flanders, who assigned to her the town and castle oi 
Bruges, where she thenceforth dwelt; for Normandy, her 
native country, was a royal fief, and William the Duke, 
being a minor, was being brought up at the court of the 
king of the Franks. The year after, Ethelnoth, the Arch- 
bishop of Canterbury, died and was succeeded by Bishop 
Edsy. 

[a.d. 1040.] King Harold died at Oxford, after reigning 
four years and four months. He was buried at Westminster. 
In his time, sixteen ships were found by each of the ports, 
at the rate of eight silver marks [for every steersman ^], as 
in the time of his father. Hardecanute, the son of King 
Canute and Queen Emma, coming from Denmark, landed 
at Sandwich, and was unanimously chosen king both by the 
Enghsh and Danes. In his second year a tribute was paid 
to the Danish army of 21,0892. ; and after that there 
was paid for 32 ships, 11,0482. The same year Edward, 
the son of King Elhelred, came from Normandy to King 
Hardecanute, his [half] brother, for they were both sons 
of Emma, daughter of Duke Bichard. 

Hardecanute was snatched away by a sudden death in the 

fireemen of Danish-Norwegian origin and extraction, who appear to have 
heen so numerous and powerful in London as to have tumeid the scale in 
&Tour of the princes of the Danish line. 

1 Henry of Huntingdon omits saying what this pay covered ; certainly 
not the whole equipment or wages of the crew. The Saxon Chronicle says 
it was for the " hamelan," which Petrie and Giles translate rowers. I have 
preferred adopting Ingiam's version of " steersman,** supported by Florence 
of Worcester, who renders it ** unicuique yadema/ort." Eight silver marks 
is too much for a common sailor of those days. The mark, a Danish coin, 
was worth in the time of Alfred 1 00 pennies ; afterwards it rose to 160 
pence, or ISx. id., a computation not altoffether lost even now. 



A.D. 1040.] HARDBOANGTE SUCCEEDS HABOLD SOI 

flower of his age at Lambeth S after a short reign of two 
years. He was of an ingenuous disposition, and treated his 
followers with the profusion of youth. Such was his liberalily 
that tables were laid four times a day with royal sumptuous* 
ness for his whole court, preferring that fragments of the 
repast should be removed after those invited were satisfied, 
than that such fragments should be served up for the enter- 
tainment of those who were not invited. In our time it is 
the custom, whether from parsimony, or as they themselves 
say from fastidiousness, for princes to provide only one 
meal a day for their court. Hardecanute was buried in the 
old minster at Winchester, near his father Canute. And 
now the chief men of the English nation, released from the 
tluuldom of the Danes, joyfully dispatched messengers to 
Alfred, the eldest son of King Ethelred, inviting him to 
accept the crown. And he, being English on his father's 
side, and Norman by his mother's, brought with him into 
England many of his mother's Norman kinsmen, as well as 
others of his own age who had been with him in the wars. 
Meanwhile, Godwin, the bold earl and consummate traitor, 
thought within himself that it might be possible to make his 
daughter queen by giving her in marriage to Edward, who was 
the younger and the more simple of the two brothers ; but 
he foresaw that Alfred by reason of his primogeniture and 
his superior ability would disdain such a marriage. God- 
win, therefore, whispered in the ears of the English nobles, 
that Alfred had brought over with him too many Norman 
followers; that he had promised them the lands of the 
English ; that it was not safe for them to allow a bold and 
crafty race to take root among them ; that these foreigners 
must be punished, in order that others might not thereafter 
presume to intrude themselves among the English on the 
strength of their being of kin to the royal race. So the 
Normans who came over with Alfred were seized and 

* One of the Sagas of the northern literature mentions Clapham as the 
place of Hardecannte*8 death, so called from Osgod Clapa, one of his chiefs, 
at whose house the king died suddenly from excess of drinking. The 
Saxon Chronicle, which gives the same account of his death, says that " he 
did nothing royal during his whole reign." Henry of Huntingdon, who deals 
more favourably with Hardecanute's character than other writers, glosses over 
his gluttony by giving it the colour of a generous hospitality. 



1102 HSNBY OF BCJKTIKGPOSr. [BOOK yi, 

bound, and, being seated in a rai^ at Guilford, nine were 
beheaded, and each tenth mam onljr spared. But when the 
whole, exe^t the tenth part, were slain, the English wera 
dissatisfied that so many still survived, and they reduced the 
number by a seccmd decimation, so that very few indeed 
escaped. They also took Alfred prisoner and earned him 
to Ely, where they prut out bis eyes, and be died K They 
then sent messengers and hostages into Nonnandy for 
Edward the younger, offering to e^sblish liim firmly on the 
throne, but stipulating that he should bring very few of the 
Normans witih him. Edwaird made his appearance accord- 
ingly with a small retinue oi N<»rmans, and he was elected 
king by all the people, aud consecrated at Winchester on 
Eai^r day by Eadsige« the arehbislPK>p [of Oanterbunrj. 
Soon afterwards he resigned ^e primacy on account of his 
infirm health, and consecrated Siward tp it in his stead. 
Stigand also was made bishop of East-Anglia. 

[a.d. 1044.} King Edward, under obligation for his king- 
dom to the powerfid Earl Godwin, married his daughter 
Edgitha, sister of Harold* who aflberwajrds became kijog. 
About this time there was so great a famine in Eio^lan^ 
that the sester of wheat, which is reckoned a horse4oad9 
was sold for five shillings, and even mare- Afterwaxds 
Stigand, who was bishop in East*Anglia, was made bishop 
of Winchester. And the king banished Sweyn, the son of 
Earl Godwin, who xetired to Baldwin, earl of Flanders, 
and wintered at Bruges. 

In the sixth year o£ King Edward, a batde was fought at 
Wallsdune between Heniy, king of the French, and the 
barons of Normandy, because they refused ttieir allegiance 
to William their duke. They weare defeated, and William 
banished some df them and punished others in life or limb. 
At that time two Banish duefe, Lotben and Irling, landed 
at Sandwich, whem they collected an immense booly^ with 

I The cruel death of Alfred, and the massacre of his Norman followers, is 
asfligaed to the year 10d6, hoth by tfee ^azon Chronicle and Florence of 
Worcester. Kiag Hardd was then Hving. Henry of Huntingdon qgreei 
^th these anthorities in. making Edward (aft«rward« King Edward the 
tConfessor) eome ioto Bogkod, ▲.». 1040, to the court of his half-brother 
Hardecanute, which oannoi he reconciled with his being sent for after 
ihe death of Alfred, voIbm he had left the kiogdon in the interval, of whidh 
there is no accooat 



A.D. 1042-51.] EDWABD THE C0NJ<X880B. 309 

mudi gold and silver, and then going round by sea they 
pillaged Essex also. From thence they sailed for Flanders» 
^ere they sold their plunder, and then returned to their 
own country. The foDowmg year, Earl Sweyn returned to 
England to procure the king*s pardon, but whfin his brother 
Harold and Eaii Beom prevented it, he then had reoourse 
to his father Godwin at Pevensey, and humbly intreAting 
him, as also his brothers Harold and Tosti, and Earl Beam, 
be prevailed with them that Beom should accompany hiia 
to Sandwich to reoomm^d him to the king's fistvour. Beom, 
therefore, having embarked in Sweyn's Jieet as a mediator, 
was foully murdered and his body cast forth ; but it was 
buried by his &imds at Winchester, near King Canute, his 
uncle. Bweyn then returned to Flanders; but the year 
following he was restore to the king's favour liurough ib/9 
mediation of his father, Godwin. At that time Pope Leo 
held a synod at Yercelli, at which Ulf^ bishop of Dorchester, 
was present; and his episcopal staff w<^d have beem 
broken, if he had moit paid a great bribe ; for be did not 
know his duty as became a bishop. Eadsige, the arch« 
bishop, died, as did also his successor, Siward. 

fA.D. 1051.] Edward, in the tenth year of his rei^, made 
Bobert, bishop of London, Archbishop of Canterbury. It 
was now reported to the king titiat Godwin, his father-in-law, 
with his sons Sweyn and Harold, wexe conspiring against 
him. Upon his summoning them to appear, and their re- 
fusing to do so unkss they received hostages, the king 
banished them. Godwin and Sweyn went to Flanders, 
and Harold to Ireland K The king, much exaggerated, seoc^ 
away the Queen Emma, and seized her treasure and bar 
lands. He granted to Odda the earldoms of Devonshire, 
Somersetshire, and Dorsetshire, and gave the earldom of 
Harold to Algar, son of Earl Leofiric ^ 

* The Saxon Chronicle giTds a mnch fuller aecoant than Henry of Brnt- 
tingdon does of the disturbances created by the turbulent Earl Godwin and 
hU eons. See a.d. 1046 and the Bubsequeat jesat. 

* When Godwin and kis sons were At the senith ef their power, Godwin 
kimself held the earldoms of Weasex, of Sussex, and Kent; his sou Sivtejn 
the earldoms of Oxford, Gloucester, Hereford, Somersetshire, and Berksh re; 
and his son Harold tiMse of Btaex, Bast-Anglia^ Huntingdon, and m- 
biidgeshire. 



904 HENRY OF HUNTINGDON. [BOOK VI. 

[a.d. 1052.] In the eleventh year of Edward's reign, 
Emma the Norman, the mother and wife of kings, sub- 
mitted to the fate common to all. Then came Earl God- 
win and his son Sweyn, with full sails from Flanders to the 
Isle of Wight, which they plundered, as well as Portland. 
Harold also sailing from Ireland ravaged the country about 
Porlock \ and then joining his father at the Isle of Wight, 
they made descents upon Ness ^, and Komney, and Hy the, 
and Folkstone, and Dover, and Sandwich, and Sheppey, 
everywhere collecting ships and taking hostages. A party 
landing at Milton, burnt the royal vill ; but the fleet 
steering by North-mouth [the Nore] towards London, met 
the royal fleet of 50 ships in which the king had embarked. 
A parley ensued, during which hostages were given ; and by 
the counsel of Bishop Stigand, the king and his father-in- 
law were reconciled; the king reinstated him in all his 
possessions and honours, and took again the queen his 
wife ; but Robert the archbishop and all the Frenchmen, by 
whose advice the king had outlawed the Earl, were banished; 
and Stigand was made Archbishop of Canterbury. About 
this time [a.d. 1054], Siward, the powerful Earl of Nor- 
thumbria, a giant in stature, whose vigour of mind was 
equal to his bodily strength, sent his son on an expedition 
into Scotland. He was slain in- the war, and when the 
news reached his father, he inquired : " Was his death- 
wound received before or behind ? " The messengers replied, 
"Before." Then said he, "I greatly rejoice; no other 
death was fitting either for him or me."'* Whereupon, 
Siward led an army into Scotland, and having defeated the 
king and ravaged the whole kingdom, he reduced it to sub- 
jection to himself. 

[a.d. 1053.] In the tweKth year of Edward's reign, when 
the king was at Winchester, where he often resided, and 
was sitting at table, with his father-in-law, Godwin, who had 
conspired against him by his side, the Earl said to him, 

1 A small port on the Bristol Channel, in Somersetshire. ^ Dungeness. 

' This anecdote of the stout Earl Siward, immortalized by Shakspeare, 
and the subsequent one of the manner in which the Karl himself met his 
death, rest on the authority of Henry of Huntingdon, like others for which 
we are wholly indebted to him. The Saxon Chronicle informs us of Si ward's 
expedition into ScoUand against the usurper Macbeth. 



A.D. 1053-7.] DEATHS OF EARLS GODWIN AND SIWARD. 205 

"Sir king, I have been often accused of harbouring traitorous 
designs against you, but as God in heaven is just and true, 
may this morsel of bread choke me, if even in thought I 
have ever been false to you." But God, who is just and 
true, heard the words of the traitor, for the bread stuck in 
his throat and choked him, so that death presently followed, 
the foretaste of the death which is eternal ^ His son 
Harold received a grant of his father's earldom ; and Algar, 
earl of Chester, succeeded to the earldom of Harold. 

In the thirteenth year of King Edward's reign, the barons 
of Normandy fought a battle with the French at the castle 
which is called " Mortmar," in which Balph, the chamber- 
lain, who commanded the French army, was slain ; and the 
Normans gained the victoiy. But Henry the French king, 
and WiUifiun, duke of Normandy, were not present at the 
battle. The year following, the stout Earl Siward being 
seized with dysentery, perceived that his end was approach- 
ing ; upon which he said, " Shame on me that I did not 
die in one of the many battles I have fought, but am re- 
served to die with disgrace the death of a sick cow ! At least 
put on my armour of proof, gird the sword by my side, place 
the helmet on my head, let me have my shield in my left 
hand, and my gold-inlaid battle-axe in my right hand, that 
the bravest of soldiers may die in a soldier's garb." Thus 
he spoke, and when armed according to his desire, he gave 
up the ghost *. As Waltheof, his son, was of tender years, 
the earldom was conferred on Tosti, son of Earl Godwin. 
The same year Algar, earl of Chester, was banished, being 
convicted of treason before the king's council. He took 
refuge with Griffith, king of North Wales, and returning 
with him, they binut Hereford and the church of St 
Ethelbert. 

[a.d. 1057.] Afterwards, Edward [Etheling], the son of 
Edmund Ironside, came into England, and he died very 
soon, aadwas buried in St. Paul's Minster at London. He 

^ This storymay perhaps be considered more questionable than others 
wbich rest on Henry of Huntingdon's sole authority. The Saxon Chronicle 
relates that Earl Godwin was seized with sudden indisposition and became 
qieechless at the king's table, and died a few days afterwards ; but it is 
•ilent about the circumstances which give the alleged judicial character to hii 
death. ' See note, p. 204. 



906 HHanrr ov mmmixeDGK, [book tk 

was the falber of M«rgavet, queen of Sootland, and of Edgar 
Edieling: Mai^aret wad the mother of Matilda, queen of 
England, and of Daind^ the accomplished king of l£e Scots, 
At that time also died Leofric, ^e renowned earl of Chester, 
whose wife Godira, a name meriting endless fame, was of 
distingaished wor^, and fomided an ahhey at Coventrj, 
which ^e enriched with immense treasm^s of silver and 
gold. She also hnilt the church at Stow, under the hill at 
Lincoln \ and many others. The earldom of Chester was 
gxnnted to his son Algar. 

[a.d. 1063.] In the twenty-second year of King Edward's 
reign, when Philip was king of France, om the death of his 
feither Henzy, William, duke of Nonuandy, suhjugated 
Maine. Harold crossing the sea to Flanders, was driven by 
a storm on the coast of Ponthieu. The Earl of that pro- 
Tince arrested him, and brought him to William, duke of 
Nonnandy. Whereupon Harcdd took a solemn oath to 
William upon the most holy relics of saints that he would 
marry his daughter, and on i^e deadi of King Edward would 
aid his designs upon England. Harold was entertained 
with great honour aasd reoeived many magnific^it ^fts. 
However, after his return to England, he was guilty <^per* 
juiy^. The year foUovring, Haroki and his brother Tosti 
made an irruption into Wales ; and the people of that country 
were reduced to submission and delivered hostages. After 
that they slew their king Griffith, and brought his head to 
Harold, who app(Hnted another king. It happened the 
same year that, m the king's palace at Winchester, Tosti 
seized his brother Harold by the hair in the royal presence^ 
and while he was serving the king with wine ; for it had 
been a source of envy and hatred that the king i^bu>wed a 

^ " Sub promontflfrio.*' Bisbop Taimer fays, " From ihiM expression one 
would guess that Henry of Huntingdon places Stowe under Lincoln HiU> 
but it is pretty evident tbat it was in the bishop's manor by Trent side." 
The priory of Stowe* or tfari Stowe was annexed to Bynsham Abbey in Ox*- 
fordshire. 

' Thoiqth lb* SaaoD Gbronicle is somewliat difiose in its acoount <if 'the 
acts of Earl €h>dwin and his sons, it contains no referenoe at all to HaioliijS 
visit to the court of William, dake of Normandy, daring which this soietan 
renunciation of any claims to the crown of Bng^d is alleged to have tahio 
plaee. William of Mahnsbnry gives a detailed aocemi* of Hat^'a advai* 
tures in Normandy^ 



a:ii. 1064->5.] yiolbkcs of sa;r7« goid^win^ sons. fl(S7 

bigber regard for Harold, though Tosti was the eMer brotlier. 
fV^reibre in a sudden paroiP^m of passion he could not 
refrain from this attack on his brother. But the king pre- 
dicted that their ruin was at hand, and that tlie vengeance 
c^ the Almighty would be no longer de£»r»d. Buch was 
ti^e cruelty of these brolbers that when they saw a weD- 
cvdered farm, they ordered the owner to be killed in the 
Bight with his whole family, and took possession of the 
property of the deceased : and these men were the justici- 
Iffies of the realm I Tosti departed from the kii^ and his 
brother in great anger and went to Hereford, whero Ha]:x)ld 
lidd purveyed large supplies for the royal use. Hiere he 
butchered all his brother's servants, aadi inelDsed a head or 
an arm in each of the vessels contaiamg wine, mead, ale, 
pigment, mulbeny wine, and cider, sesidMg a message to 
the king that when be came to his^ fbrm he would find 
plenty of salt meat, and that he would 1»xng more with him \ 
For this horrible crime, the Jdng commasided him to be 
banished and outlawed. 

[a.i>. 1065.] In the twenty-fourth year of Kmg Edward, 
the Northumbrians heanng these accounts eipelled Tosti» 
1l:ieir earl, who had caused much Mood^ed and ruin among 
them. They slew all his household, both Danes and Eng- 
Hsbv a»d seized his treasrures and anns at York, and they 
made Morkar, the son of Earl Algar, tiienr earl. Then he 
led the Northumbrians, and with them tiie men of Lincoln- 
i^re, Nottinghamshire, and Derbyshire, as far as North- 
ampton ; and his brother Edwin joined him with the men of 
his earldom and many Welsh. When Earl Harold met 
them, they sent him to the king, with messoogers of their 
own, intreating lliat they might have Morkar for their earl. 
This the king granted, and eocnmissumed Harold to return 
to Northampton to ^ve tiiem assurance of it Meanwhile^ 
they did not spare &at district, burning, slaying, plundering, 

■ Kr. Petrie reamrks : ** Tbis stovy seeng an iai«ntiaD ; it is cfrtamly 
nntrae m far as relates to tW btaiishmeiit of Tosti» which took place iiiid«s 
iai different circiunstances ; for this reference may be made to the life of 
King Edward by an anonymous writer of his owtl age. The story of the 
eotting oiF men's heads, Su^ seems to be bortowed from a h^rid cruelty 
pevpttmied by Garadoc, the son of Griffith, related by Floraice of WercM' 
ter under the year 1065." — Petrie Monument. BrUan, 



5)08 HENBT OF HUNTINGDON. [BOOE YT. 

and cairymg off with them, after their petition was 
granted, many thousand souls, so that this part of the king- 
dom was impoverished for many years. Tosti and his wife 
fled to the court of Baldwin, in Flanders, and there wintered. 
In the year of our Lord 1066, the Lord, who ruleth all 
things, accomplished what He had long designed with re- 
spect to the English nation ; giving them up to destruction 
by the fierce and crafty race of the Normans. For when 
the church of St. Peter at Westminster had been conse- 
crated on Holy Innocents' day, and soon afterwards King 
Edward departed this life on the eve of Epiphany, and was 
interred in the same church, which he had buUt and en- 
dowed with great possessions, some of the EngUs}:i sought 
to make Edgar Etheling king ; but Harold, relying on his 
power and his pretensions by birth, seized the crown ^. 
Meanwhile, William, duke of Normandy, was inwardly 
irritated and deeply incensed, for three reasons. First, 
because Godwin and his sons had dishonoured and mur- 
dered his kinsman Alfred. Secondly, because they had 
driven out of England Kobert the bishop, and Odo the 
earl, and all the other Frenchmen. Thirdly, because 
Harold, committing peijury, had usurped the kingdom, 
which by right of relationship belonged to himself. Duke 
William, therefore, assembling the principal men of. Nor- 
mandy, called on them to aid him in the conquest of 
England. As they were entering the council chamber, 
William Fitz-Osbert, the Duke*s steward, threw himself in 
their way, representing that the expedition to England was 
a very serious undertaking, for the English were a most 
warlike people; and argued vehemently against the very 
few who were disposed to embark in the project of invading 
England. The barons, hearing this, were highly delighted, 
and pledged their faith to him that they would all concur 
in what he should say. Upon which he presented himself 
at their head before the Duke, and thus he addressed him : 
" I am ready to follow you devotedly with all my people in 
this expedition." All the great men of Normandy were 
thus pledged to what he promised, and a numerous fleet 

' Florence of Worcester founds Harold's pretensions on the choice of the 
late King Edward : *' Haraldus — qnem rex ante suam decessionem r«giii 
•nccesiorein elegerat" 



A.D. 1066.] BATTLE OP STANFOUD BBIDOE. 209 

was equipped at the port called St. Valery. Upon hearing 
this, the warlike Harold fitted out a fleet to meet that of 
Duke William. Meanwhile, Earl Tosti entered the Hum- 
ber with 60 ships ; but Earl Edwin came upon him with 
his troops and put him to flight. He escaped to Scotlaud, 
where he fell in with Harold, king of Norway \ with 300 
ships. Tosti was overjoyed, and tendered him his alle- 
giance. Then they joined their forces and came up the 
Humber, as far as York, near which they were encoun- 
tered by the Earls Edwin and Morcar ; the place where 
the battle was fought is still shown on the south side 
of the city. Here Harold, king of Norway, and Tosti, 
his ally, gained the day. When this intelligence reached 
Harold, king of England, he advanced wi3i a powerful 
army, and came up with the invaders at Stanford Bridge. 
The battle was desperately fought, the armies being en- 
gaged from daybreak to noonday, when, after fierce attacks 
on both sides, the Norwegians were forced to give way 
before the superior numbers of the English, but retreated 
in good order. Being driven across the river^, the living 
trampling on the corpses of the slain, they resolutely made 
a firesh stand. Here a single Norwegian, whose name 
ought to have been preserved, took post on a bridge, and 
hewing down more than forty of the English with a battle- 
axe, his country's weapon, stayed the advance of the whole 
English army till the ninth hoiu'. At last some one came 
under the bridge in a boat, and thrust a spear into him, 
through the chinks of the flooring. The English having 
gained a passage, King Harold and Tosti were slain ; and 
Sieir whole army were either slaughtered, or, being taken 
prisoners, were burnt ^. 

Harold, king of England, returned to York the same 
day, with great triumph. But while he was at dinner, a 
messenger arrived with the news that William, duke of 
Normandy, had landed on the south coast ^ and had built 
a fort at Hastings. The king hastened southwards to 

1 Harald Hard-raad, bo called to distingaish him from Harald-Har&ger^ 
who was contemporary with Alfred the Great. ' The Ouse. 

' The battle of Stanford Bridge was fought on the eve of St. Matthew^ 
20th September, 1066. 

* William landed at Perensey on Michaelmas eve of the same year. 

P 



$ilO HSKRT ^F HXmilKOBOV. {BOOK Yl. 

oppose bim, and drew up his army <hi level ground in tl^at 
neighbourhood: Duke William commenced the attack 
with £ve squadrons of his splendid cavaliy, a terrible onset; 
but first he addressed them to this effect: " What I hflve 
to say to you, ye Normans, the bravest of nations, does 
not spring from any doubt of your valour or uncertainty of 
victory, which never by any chance or obstacle escaped 
your efforts. If^ indeed, once only you had failed of con* 
quering, it might be necessary to inflame yoiur courage by 
exh<»rtation. But how little does the inherent spuit of 
your race require to be roused! Most valiant of men, 
what availed the power of the Frank king, with all his 
people, firom lionauie to Spain, against Hastings, my 
predecessor ? What he wanted of the territory of France 
he apprc^nated to himself; what he chose, only, was left 
to the king; what he had, he held during his pleasure; 
when he was satisfied^ he relinqmshed it, and looked f<Hr 
something better. Did not Hollo, my ancestor, the founder 
of our nation, with your progenitors, conquer at Paris the 
king of the Franks in the heart of his dominions; nor 
could he obtain any respite until he humbly offered pos^ 
session of the country which from ycMi is called Normandyj 
with the hand of his daughter ? Did not your fathers take 
prisoner the king of the French, and detain him at Bouen 
till he restored Normandy to your Diike Bichard, then a 
boy; with this stipulation, that in every conference between 
the King of France and the Duke of Normandy, the duke 
should have his sword by his side, while the king should 
not be allowed so much as a dagger? This concession your 
others compelled the great king to submit to, as billing 
for ever. Did not the same duke lead your fathers to 
Mirmande, at the foot of the Alps, and enforce submission 
from the lord of the town, his son-in-law, lo his own wife, 
the duke's daughter ? Nor was it enough to conquer mor- 
tals; for he overcame the devil himself with whom he 
wrestled, and cast down and bound him, leaving him a 
shameful spectacle to angels. But why do I go back to 
{avmer times ? When you, in our own time, engaged the 
French at Mortemer, did not the French prefer flight to 
battle, and use their spurs instead of their swords ; while 
— Ealph, the French <K>mmander, being slain — you reaped 



JL.1>. 1066.] BATTLE OF BASTINGS. 211 

the fruits of victoiy, the honour and the spoil, as natural 
results of your wonted success ? Ah ! let any one of the 
English whom our predecessors, bolh Daii«s and Nor- 
wegians, have defeated in a himdred battles, come forth 
and show that the race of EoUo ever suffered a defeat from 
his time until now, and I will submit and retreat. Is it not 
shameful, th^i, <iiat a people accustomed to be conquered, 
a people ignorant of the art of war, a people not even in 
possession of arrows, should make a show of being arrayed 
in order of battle against you, most valiant ? Is it not a 
i^ame that this King Harold, perjured as he was in joar 
presence, shoidd dare to show his face to you? It is 
a wonder to me that you have been allowed to see those 
who by a horrible crime beheaded your relations and 
Alfred my kinsman, and that their own accursed heads 
are stiU on their shoulders. Eaise, th^i, your standards, 
my brave men, and set no bounds to your merited rage. 
Let the lightoing of your gloiy £ash, and the thunders of 
yotff onset be heard from east to west, and be the avengers 
of the noble blood which has been spilled." 

Duke William had not concluded his harangue, when all 
the squadrons, inflamed with rage, rushed on the enemy 
with indescribable impetuosity, and left the duke speaking 
to himself! Before fiie armies closed for the fight, one 
Taillefer, sportively brandishing swords before the Eng- 
lish troops, while they were lost m amazement at his gam- 
bols, slew one of their standard-bearers. A second time 
one of the enemy fell. The third time he was slain himself K 

' This Beri(H;oinic prelude to the battle ifl also noticed in the Konnan- 
French metrical History of Geoffry Gaimar, as well as in a Latin poem oa 
the battle of Hastings^ both of which are published in M. Fetrie's collection* 
It IS also mentioned in Waoe, '' Histoire des Docs de Normandie," p. 214. 
It might be supposed that Taillefer was Duke William's jester ; indeed the 
Latin poem calls him " Histjlo," the Norman " Joglere/' The latter i» 
worth quoting : — 



" Un des Francois done se hasta 
,I)eYant les altres chevalcha. 
Taillefer art dl apelez, 
Joglere estait, hacdi asses. 
Armes avoit e bon cheyal ; 
8iert hardiz e noble vassal. 
DoTant les altres cil se mist ; 
Peyant Engleis merveilles fist 



La lance pris par le tuet 
Comme si «e fust un bastnnet : 
Encontremoiit, halt Ten geta, 
S par le fer reoere la. 
Trais fez issi geta sa lance : 
La quarte feiz, mult pr^s s'aTancOi 
Entre les Engleis la lanca, 
Parmi le cors en un nafira/' &c. 

p 2 



212 HENRY OF HUNTINGDON. [BOOK VI. 

Then the ranks met; a cloud, of arrows carried death 
among them; the clang of sword-strokes followed; hel- 
mets gleamed, and weapons clashed. But Harold had 
formed his whole army in close column, making a rampart 
which the Normans could not penetrate. Di&e William, 
therefore, commanded his troops to make a feigned retreat 
In their flight they happened unawares on a deep trench, 
which was treacherously covered, into which numbers fell 
> and perished. While the English were engaged in pursuit 
the main body of the Normans broke the centre of the 
enemy*s line, which being perceived by those in piursuit 
over the concealed trench, when they were consequently 
recalled most of them fell there. Duke William also com- 
manded his bowmen not to aim their arrows directly at the 
enemy, but to shoot them in the lur, that their cloud might 
spread darkness over the enemy *s ranks; this occasioned 
great loss to the English. Twenty of the bravest knights 
also pledged their troth to each other that they would cut 
through die English troops, and capture the royal ensign 
called The Standard. In this attack the greater part were 
slain ; but the remainder, hewing a way with their swords, 
captured the standard. MeanwhUe, a ^ower of arrows fell 
round King Harold, and he himself was pierced in the eye. 
A crowd of horsemen now burst in, and the king, already 
wounded, was slain. With him fell Earl Gm-th and Earl 
Leofric, his brothers. After the defeat of the English 
army, and so great a victory, the Londoners submitted 
peaceably to WUliam, and he was crowned at Westminster, 
by Aldred, archbishop of York. Thus the hand of the 
Ijord brought to pass the change which a remarkable comet 
had foreshadowed in the beginning of the same year ; as it 
was said, " In the year 1066, all England was alarmed by 
a flaming comet" The battle was fou^t in the month of 
October, on the feast of St Calbrtus [Oct 14]. King Wil- 
liam afterwards founded a noble abbey on the spot, which 
obtained the fitting name of Battle Abbey. 

King William crossed the sea the year following, carrying 
with hun hostages and much treasure. He came back tho 

However, the spirited ballad of Ludwiff TJUand represents TaiDefer as a 
groom, who for his minstrelsy was knitted by William. See the Poems 
«f Ludwig Uhland, tnuodated bv Fktt Lttpsic, 1848. 



A.D. 1067-71.] WILUAM TkE CONQUEBOB. 213 

same year, and divided the land amongst his soldiers. And 
now Edgar the Etheling went into Scotland, with many 
followers, and his sister Margaret was betrothed to the 
king of the Scots [a.d. 1068]. The king having given the 
earldom of Northmnberland to Earl Robert, the provincials 
slew him and 900 of his men; upon which Edgar the 
Etheling, with all the people of Northmnberland, mardhed 
to York, and the townsmen made peace with him ; but the 
king advancing northward with an army sacked the city, 
and made great slaughter of the rebellious inhabitants, and 
Edgar retired to Scotland. 

La the third year of King William, the two sons of Sweyn, 
king of Denmark, and his brother. Earl Osbert, sailed up 
the Humber with 300 ships, and were joined by Earl 
Waltheof and Edgar the Etheling. The forces of the 
Danes and English being united, they took York Castle, 
and having slain numbers of the French, they carried off 
their chief men prisoners to their ships, with the treasure 
they had taken, and wintered in the country between the 
Ouse and the Trent. However, the king coming upon 
them drove them out, and reduced the English of tiiat 
province, and Earl Waltheof made his peace with the king. 
The year following, on the death of Baldwin, earl of 
Manders, whose daughter King William married, he was 
succeeded by his son Amulph, who was supported by 
William, king of England, and Philip, king of France. 
But his brother Robert, the Frisian, made war upon him 
and slew him, together with William Fitz-Osbert, be- 
fore-mentioned, and many thousand troops of both the 



[a.d. 1071.] In the fifth year of King William, the Earls 
Morcar and Edwin took to plundering in the open country 
and the woods ^ Edwin was slain by his own followers, 
and Morcar, with Hereward and Bishop Elwine, took refuge 
in Ely. The king came there with an army, and beset it 
both by land and water ; and having constructed a bridge 
and bmlt a fort with great skill, which stands at the pre- 

1 *' t. 0. Threw off their allegiance to the Norman usurper, and became 
voluntary outlaws. The habits of these outlaws, or at least of their de« 
scendants in the next century, are well described in the romance of ' Ivan- 
hoe.* " — Ififfram, 



S14 HENKT OP HUOT:iNOD0ir. [bOOK Vlv 

sent time^, he gained an entrance into the island, and took 
prisoners those I have named, except Hereward, who drew 
off his people with great resolution*. The year following, 
the king led an army into Scotland, both by land and sea ; 
find Malcolm, king of the Scots, did him fealty and delivered 
hostages. The next year, the king led an army of English 
and iVeneh into Maine, which the English wasted, burning 
^e villages and destroying the vineyards, and the province 
Bubmitted to the king. The year after, ihe king went into 
N<MWiandy; and Edgar the Etheling was reconciled with 
him, and abode some time in his court. 

[a.d. 1075.] In the ninth year of King "^^^iam, Ralph, 
who had been made earl of East-Ang^ia^ consph-ed with 
Earl Waltheof, and Roger, son of William Fitz-Osbert, to 
dethrone the king. Earl Ralph had married his sister, at 
whose nuptials the rebellion was contrived. But the prin- 
eipal men of the realm strenuously opposed it ; and Earf 
Ralph, embarking at Norwich, sailed for Benmaik*. Wben 
the king came over to England, he threw his kinsman Earl 
Roger into prison, but Earl Waltheof was beheaded • iai; 
Winchester, and he was buried at Croyland. Of the rest 
who were present at the ill-fated marriage feast, many were 
Irtuaished and many deprived of sight. Meanwhile, Eai4 
Ralph, accompanied by Canute, son of Sweyn, king of 
Denmark, and Eari Haco, returned to England with a fleet 
of 900 ships, but not daring to attack King WiUiam, they 
sailed for Flanders. The- same year Queen Edith died, 
and was buried near her husband, King Edward, at West- 
Xdinster. 

[a.d. 1076.] The year following. King William went over 
the sea, and laid siege to Dol ; but the Bretons defended 
the castle stoutly, till the King of France came to their 
relief Soon afterwards the King of France and King Wil- 
liam came to terms. The King of the Scots, also, ravaged 

^ Probably constructed of timber, but it was built less than 40 yean be- 
fan this was written. 

' Tlie exploits of this famous outlaw are eelebfttte^ ia a GaBo-Normm 
poem, printed by Sparke in Caenob. Burg. Hist 

* The ancient kingifom of fiast-An^ was now reieivied into- the earl- 
ikoms of Norfolk aitd Snffolk. 

* Accnrding to Fterence of Worcester and Saneett of Durham, he soikcl 
first to Brittany. 



A.D. 1076-84.] EBIGW OF WILLIAM THE CONQUEROB. 219 

Korthumberland as f ar &s the Tyne, and earned off a great 
iinmber of captives and much bootf . Bobert, son of King 
William, haTing raised troops ag£^st his father, the kii^ 
was thrown from his horse in an engagement at the castii 
of Gerbervy, in !France, where also William, the king's son, 
and many of his followers were womided, and tibe king 
em^ed his son Bohert. Moreover, the Nortbnmbrians 
treacherously killed Walcher, bishop of Ihiriiam, and \0& 
men, at a certain court (gemot) peaceably assembled on Hae 
Tyne. 

[a,d. 1081.J 'Kmg William, in the fifteenth year of his 
reign, led an army into Wales, and reduced it to submis- 
sioQ. Afterwards he threw his brother, Bishop Odo, inta 
prison ; his queen, Matilda, also died [a.i>. 1083] ; and the 
king levied a tax of six shillings on every hide of l^and 
throughout England. At this time Thurstan, abbot of 
Glastonbury, perpetrated an atrocioas crime, causing three 
ixkonks to be shun, though they dung to the altar; and 
eighteen others were wounded, so ^aat the blood ran down 
the steps of the sanetuaiy, on the floor of the church. 

In the ei^teenth year of £jng William's reign, he brought 
ovesr such an immense army of Normans, French, and T^ce- 
tcms, that it was a wond^ how the land could supply them 
with food. He had heard reports that Canute, king of 
Denmark S and Bobert the Frisian, earl of Flanders, had 
formed the design of invading and subduing England ; but 
when, hy God's will, the armament was dispersed^, he dis- 
missed the greatest part of his troops to tiieir own coun- 
tries. The lung being now all powerfiil, he sent justiciaries 
trough eveiy ^ire, that is, every county of England, and 
caused them to inquire on oath how max^ hides, that is, 
acres sufficient for one plough for a year, there were in 
every vill, and how many cattle ; be made them also 
inquire how much each city, castle, village* vill, river, 
marsh, and wood was worth in yeariy rent. All these par- 
tici^iars having been written on pcuuhment, the record was 

> " With Olave Kyrre, king of Norway. Vide Antiq. Celto-Scand., p. 

' By a mutiny in the Danish fleets which ended in the murder of Canute 
after his return to Demaark. 



216 HENRY OF HUNTINGDON. [BOOK VI. 

brought to the king^, and deposited in the treasury, where 
it is preserved to this day. The same year [1085], Maurice 
was made bishop of London ; he began the building of the 
great church which is not yet completed*. 

The noble King William, in the nineteenth year of his 
reign, held his court as usual at Gloucester during Christ- 
mas, at Winchester during Easter, and during Whitsimtide 
at London (Westminster), where he knighted his youngest 
son Heniy. Afterwards^ he received the homage of all the 
principal landowners of England, and received their oaths 
of fealty without regard to those under whom they held 
their lands. And then the king, having amassed large sums 
of money upon every pretext he could find, just or unjust, 
passed over to Normandy. 

[a.d. 1087.] Li the twenty-first year of the reign of King 
William, when the Normans had accomplished the righteous 
will of God on the English nation, and there was now no 
prince of the ancient royal race living in England, and all 
the EngHsh were brought to a reluctant submission, so 
that it was a disgrace even to be called an Englishman, 
the instrument of Providence in fulfilling its designs was 
removed firom the world. God had chosen the Normans 
to humble the English nation, because He perceived that 
they were more fierce than any other people. For their 
character is such tliat when they have so crushed their 
enemies that they can reduce them no lower, they bring 
themselves and their own lands to poverty and waste ; so 
that the Norman lords, when foreign hostilities have 
ceased, as their fierce temper never abates, timi their hos- 
tiUties against their own people; which is apparent, with 
continually increasing distinctness, in Normandy as well as 
in England, in ApuHa, Calabria, Sicily, and Antioch, those 
fine countries which the Almighty has subjected to them. 
In England, at this time, extortionate tolls and most bur- 
thensome taxes were multiplied, and all the great lords 
were so blinded by an inordinate desire of amassing 

' At Winchester ; whence the Doomsday book is called also " Botulus," 
or " Liber Wintoniae." 
> The Old St. Paul's. < At Salisbury. 



A.D. 1087.] DEATH AND CHABACTEE OF KING WILLIAM. 217 

wealth, that it might be truly said of them, "Whence it 
was got no one asked, but get it they must ; the more they 
talked of right, the more wi-ong they did." Those whose 
title was justiciaries were the fountains of all injustice. 
The sheriffs and judges, whose office it was to administer 
the law, were more greedy than thieves and robbers, and 
more violent than the most desperate culprits. The king 
himself, when he had let his lands to farm at the dearest 
rate he could, broke his agreements, and, never satisfied, 
granted them to any one who bid higher, and then to 
another who offered ^e highest rent ; nor did he care what 
injury his officers inflicted on the poor. This year the 
Lord had afflicted England with the two calamities of 
pestilence and famine, so that those who escaped the pes- 
tilence died of himger. King William had crossed over to 
France the same year, and had ravaged the territories of 
King Philip, and put to death many of his subjects. He 
also burnt a stately castle called Mantes, and destroyed all 
the churches in the town, with much people, and two holy 
hermits were burnt there. Wherefore God in his anger 
visited him on his return with sickness, and afterwards 
with death. We must glance at both the good and evil 
deeds of this powerful king, in order that we may take ex- 
ample from the good and warning from the evil 

William was the most valiant of all the dukes of Nor- 
mandy, the most powerful of all the kings of England, more 
renowned than any of his predecessors. He was wise, but 
crafty ; rich, but covetous ; glorious, but his ambition was 
never satisfied. Though humble to the servants of God, 
he was obdurate to those who withstood him. Earls and 
nobles he threw into prison, bishops and abbots he deprived 
of their possessions : he did not even spare his own brother; 
and no one dared to oppose his will. He wnmg thousands 
of gold and silver fi-om his most powerful vassals, and 
harassed his subjects with the toil of building castles for 
himself. If any one killed a stag or a wild boar, his eyes 
were put out, and no one presumed to complain. But 
beasts of chace he cherished as if they were his children ; 
so that to form the hunting ground of the New Forest he 
caused churches and villages to be destroyed, and, driving 
out the people, made it an habitation for deer. When he 



818 hi&nk; of huntinoi^on. [book y%. 

plundered his subjects, not urged hy his wants, but by 
excessive avarice, however they ndght enrse him in the 
bitterness of their hearts, he set at noa^t their muttered 
revenge. It behoved every one to submit to his will who 
had any regard for his fiGivour, or £ql* his own mon^ or 
hauls, or even his life^. 

Alas ! how much is it to be deplored that any man, 
seeing that he is but a worm of the dust, should so swell 
with pride as, forgetful of death, to exalt hhnself thus above 
all his fellow-mortals. Normandy was his by right of 
inheritance ; Maine he subdued by Ibvce of arms ; Brittany 
paid him fealty ; he was monarch of all ikigland, so that 
there was not a sin^e hide of land in it of which he had 
not an account of the owner's name and what it was worths 
Scotland he reduced to subjection, and Wales submissively 
rendered him allegiance. Yet he so firmly preserved the 
peace, that a girl laden with gold could pass in safety from 
one end of England to the oSier. Homicide, under what- 
ever pretext, was punished by death ; violent assaults, by 
the loss of limbs. He built the abbey at Battle, which has 
been already mentioned, and one at Caen, in which he was 
buried. His wife, Matilda, also buih there a convent for 
nuns, in which she was interred. May He have mercy on 
their souls who alone can heal them pitex death ! And you, 
my readers, notii]^ well the virtues and vices of so great a 
man, leam to follow what is good and eschew what is evil, 

' Heorj of Hantingdon, in Bumming up tb« Conqaeror's character, acbpta 
much the same language as that whkh is found in the Saxon Chronicle. From 
hh position in Boeiety, and his living so near the times of which he is no-n^ 
speidting^ he must have hsd opportunities of forming opinions of his own, 
-^hich, doibtlsssy coiaeBded with those the czpieBsioa of whicb he has tbtw 
borrowed. It appears, ficem the language used in the Chronicle, that the 
character there drawn ei William I. was written by one who was a elo«e>. 
observer of his administration, and had been in his court But he wrote 
anonymously, and probably with no view to publicity, while the inde- 
pendent 8f»zit with wiiich Henry of Huntingdon ezhilnts the tyranny of 
the Conqnerar in tine history, given to the wcsid dunng the eeign of hm aeiB 
Henry I., a prince equally arhitrary, is, a» I have elsewhere taken ocoaaiMr 
to remark, worthy of commendation. William of Malmabury, a writer of 
nearly the same age, whatever be his general merit, speaks of the Con- 
queror in much mere courtly phrase, descants on his liberality to the churchy 
and siimft up with attributing to kim ene only £iult — avarice. 

^ Befefring to the fammu Doomsday Book. 



jt.». 1087.] wiLi-uar the <j<warjEBcaB'fl wiij:i. 21© 

^d Hais walk in tiie straight paifh which leads to eternal 
Hfe! 

The same year, the TnMds in Spain made a plundering' 
ineux^ion on the Christian States, and seized large portions 
of their territory. But the Christian king Alphonso, col- 
lecting forces from the faithful in all parts, recoyered his 
dominions, slaying and expelling the Infidels, and repairing- 
&e losses eansed hy their inro^s. In Demoaii:, ako, an. 
event happened which had never hefore occnrred. The 
Banes were guilty of treason, and &ithlessly murdered their 
king, Canute, in a monastery. 

William, king of Englabd, hequeathed Normandy to Im 
eldest son Bohert; the kingdom of England to William, 
his second son; and the treasure he had amassed to his 
third son, Henry, hy means of which, having pm:diased & 
past of Normandy from his brother Bobert^ li^ succee^d 
in depriving him of his dominions ; a thing displeasing to 
God^ but the pmui^ment was deferred for a time* William 
^fivided his fa&er's treasures, which he found at Winchester,, 
according to his bequest. There were in the treasury 
60,000 pounds of silver, besides gold and jewels, and his. 
plate and wardrobe. He distributed part of this wealth, 
giving to some chinches ten golden mari^, to others six, 
and to the church of. eveiy viU five shillings ; and he sent 
to each county 1002., to be given in alms ; Mkewise, accord* 
ing to his father's will, all prisoners were set at liberty,. 
The new king h^d Ms court at London during Christmas. 
There were present Lan&anc, the archbishop [of Canter- 
bury}, who had consecrated the king ; and Thomas, arch- 
bishop of York; together with Maurice, bishop of London^; 
Walchelm, of Winchester ; Godfrey, of Chester ; Wulnoth,. 
the holy bishop of Worcester ; William of Tbetford, Bo- 
bert of Chester, William of Durham, and Odov bishop oi 
Bayeux, principal justiciary of all Ei^Land ; as also Bemi, 
bishop of Lincoln, of whom I am kd to give a short 
aecounl 

The kmg [William I.] had given to Bemi, who was s 
monk of Fecamp, the bishopric of Dorchester, which is 
ntoated en the Thames. But as that see is larger than 
any other in England, extending from the Thames to the 
Humber, it seemed to the bishop to be inconvenient that 



5220 HENBY OF HUimilGDON. [BOOE VI. 

his episcopal seat should be placed at the veiy extremity of 
his diocese. It was also unsatisfactory to him that it was 
fixed ip a poor town, while there was in the diocese so 
noble a city as Lincoln, which seemed more worthy to be 
the episcopal seat. He therefore bought some fields on 
the top of the hill, near the castle, die lofty towers of 
which commanded the city ; and on that elevated spot he 
built a cathedral church, which for strength and beauty 
was both fitting for the service of God, and, as the times 
required, impregnable to hostile attacks. The district of 
Lindsey, in which it was placed, had from ancient times 
been claimed as part of the archbishopric of York. But 
Eemi, disregarding the archbishop's remonstrances, urged 
forward the work he had undertaken, and when it was com- 
pleted he supplied it with clerks of approved learning and 
morals. Eemi was small in stature, but great in heart ; 
his complexion was dark, but his conduct was clear. He 
was, indeed, on one occasion accused of treason against the 
king, but one of his followers cleared him of the charge by 
the ordeal of red-hot iron, and thus restored him to the 
royal favour unsullied by any stain of disgrace. By this 
founder, at this time, and for these reasons, the modem 
cathedral of the diocese of Lincoln was begun. 

And now the course of events being brought down to my 
own times, it is fitting that I should commence a new Book 
with those that followed. If any recapitulation be required, 
according to my practice hitherto, for the more clear under- 
standing of what has been set forth in this present Book, 
it may be so short as not to detain the reader. Here, then, 
follows a summary view of the kings' reigns included in the 
Book now brought to an end. 

Ethelred reigned xxxvii. years, in continual disturbance, 
over the whole extent of England. 

Edmund, the young and the brave, was treacherously 
murdered, after a reign of one year. 

Canute the Great reigned xx. years, with more glory than 
any of his predecessors. 

Harold, his son, reigned iv. years and xvi. weeks. 

Habdeoanute, the mimificent son of King Canute, was 
cut off by sudden death, after a reign of six months short 
of ii. years. 



▲.D. 1087.] SUCCESSION OF EINOSw 221 

Ebwabd, a pious king, reigned in peace xxiv. years. 

Harold, the perjured, reigned scarcely one year, falling 
a sacrifice to his breach of faith. 

William, the last and the greatest of all that have been 
enumerated, had a glorious reign of xxi. years. It has been 
said of him : — 

" What thongli, like Caesar, nature fiul'd 
To give tby brow its fairest grace 1 
Thy bright career a comet hail'd. 
And with its lustre wreath'd thy face" 



^222 mSHBY OF HUHIINaJMN. , [BOOK TO. 



BOOK VII. 

Thus far I have treated of matters which I have either 
found recorded by old writere, or have gathered from com- 
mon report ; but novr 1 have to deal vnSi events which have 
passed under my own observation, or which have been told 
me by eye-witnesses of them. I have to relate how the 
Almighty alienated both favom* and rank from the Eng- 
lish nation as it deserved, and caused it to cease to be a 
people. It will also appear how He began to afflict the 
Normans themselves, the instruments of his will, with 
various calamities. 

The greater nobles, breaking their oaths of allegiance to 
William the younger, stirred up war against him for the 
purpose of placing his brother Kobert on the throne, and 
each of them revelled in rebellion and tumults within 
his own domains [a.d. 1088]. Odo, bishop of Bayeux, the 
chief governor of England, who was their leader, raised an 
insurrection in Kent ^, where he seized and burnt the vills 
of the king and the archbishop. Koger, earl of Morton, in 
like manner, ravaged the country about Pevensey. GeoflOy, 
the bishop [of Coutances], set forth from Bristol and 
pillaged Bath and Berkeley, and the neighbourhood. Koger, 
[earl of Montgomery,] was not slow in beginning the work 
of mischief throughout East-Anglia from his castle at 
Norwich. Hugh [de Grantmesnil] was not backward in 
the counties of Leicester and Northampton. William, 
bishop of Durham, made a similar movement on the bor- 
ders of Scotland. The chief men also of Herefordshire and 
Shropshire, with the Welshmen, burnt and pillaged the 
coimty of Worcester up to the city gates. They were pre- 
paring to assault the cathedral and castle, when Wulstan, 
the venerable bishop, in his deep necessity, implored the 
aid of his greatest friend, even God the Most High-; by 

1 The king had granted him the earldom of Kent 



A.i>. 1088.] wmucAM II. 223 

whose help, while the bishop lay prostrate in prayer befoie 
lihe altar, a small party of soldiers who sallied forth against 
the enemy, was able either to slay or capture 5000^ of 
l^m, and the rest miraculously took to flight. 

The king, therefore, Bununoned an assembly of his Eng* 
lifiii subjects and promised that he would restore the free- 
dom of chace and of the woods, and that he would confirm 
the ancient laws t^ey loved. He then sat down before 
Tunbridge Castle, where Gilbert was in rebellion against 
him ; but upon being reduced to straits by the royal army, 
he made peace with the long. Marching thence, the king 
laid siege to Pevensey Castle, in which were Bishop Odo and 
Earl Eoger, and invested it six weeks. MeanwhUe Robert, 
duke of Normandy, hastened to embark for England and 
take advantage of Ihe movement in his favour ; he therefore 
sent forward a body of troops to support his friends, pre- 
paring himself to follow with a powerful army. But the 
EngUsh, who guarded the sea, attacked the advanced force, 
and immense numb^'s of them were either pub to sword or 
drowned. Whereupon those who were besieged in Pevensey 
£iastle, provisions Ruling them, suirendered it to the king. 
Bishop Odo solemnly swore to depart the realm and deliver 
^p his casde at £U>dbyester. But when he eame there with 
a party of the king's troops to cause it to be surrendered. 
Earl Eustace and the other great men who were in the city 
s&zed the king's officers, at the bishop^s secret instigation, 
«nd threw them into prison. Upon hearing this the king 
laid siege to Kochester, which ^oMy capitulated, and Bishop 
Odo went beyond sea never to return. The l^ing also sent 
an army to Durham and besieged the city : upon its sur* 
render the bishop and many of the rebels were driven into 
banishment. The king distributed the laads of those who 
broke their fealty among such as continued &ithful to 
him. 

The year following [a-d. 1089], Archbishop Lanfrane, thd 
lenlightened doctor of the chiurch and the kmd father of ^e 
jnoi^, departed this life ; and there was a great earthquake 
.the sam/O year. William the younger, preparing the means 
of taking vengeance on his brother for the injury he had 

' The Saxon Chronicle says fiye hundred. 



224 HENBY OP HUNTINGDON. TboOK Vn, 

done him, in the third year of his reign ohtained possession 
by bribes of the castles of St. Vallery and Albermarle, from 
whence the knights he placed in garrison began to plmider 
and bum his brother's territory. Following them himself 
the next year, he came to terms with his brotiier, and it was 
agreed that the castles which the king held in despite of his 
brother should still be his. The kmg also engaged to aid 
him in the recovery of all the places his father possessed 
beyond sea. And it was agreed between them that if either 
of them died without a son, the survivor should be his heir. 
This treaty was guaranteed by the oaths of twelve chief men 
on the king's part, and twelve on the duke's. 

Meanwhile, Malcolm, king of the Scots, made an irrup- 
tion into England for the purpose of plunder, and did 
grievous injury; whereupon the king having returned to 
England, accompanied by his brother, they marched an 
army against the Scots. Upon this Malcolm was greatly 
alarmed, and did homage to the king, taking the oath of 
fealty to him. Duke Eobert remained some time with his 
brother, but finding that he was insincere in his professions 
of amity, he crossed over to his own States. The year fol- 
lowing, the king rebuilt Carlisle, and peopled it with in- 
habitants drawn from the south of England. Bishop Bemi 
also sickened and died just as he had completed the church 
at Lincoln, and was about to consecrate it. 

[a.d. 1093.] William, the younger, fell sick at Gloucester 
during Lent, in the sixth year of his reign. He then gave 
the archbishopric of Canterbury to Anselm the abbot [of 
£ec], a holy man, and the bishopric of Lincoln to his chan- 
cellor, Robert Bloet \ who excelled other men in grace of 
person, in serenity of temper, and in courtesy of speech. 
The king also promised at this time to amend bad laws, and 
protect the Lord's household in peace ; but as soon as he 
got well he repented of his promises, and acted worse than 
before. Regretting that he had not sold the bishopric of 
Lincoln, when the Archbishop of York preferred his claims 
against JBishop Robert for the city of Lincoln and the dis- 
trict of Lindsey, as appertaining to his archiepiscopal see, 

^ Henry of Huntingdon was brought np from childhood in the fiunily of 
thit biihop. 



A,D. 1093-5.] AFFAIRS IN SCOTLAND AND NORMANDY. 225 

the cause was not decided until Eobert became bound to 
the king for 60001. to secure the liberties of his church. 
The guilt of simony lay on the king and not on the bishop. 
The same year Malcolm, king of die Scots, making a pre- 
datory inroad into England, was intercepted unawares and 
slain, together with his son Edward, who would have in- 
herited his crown. When Queen Margaret received these 
tidings, her heart was troubled even unto death at her 
double loss; and going to the church she confessed and 
communicated, and commending herself in prayer to God 
gave up the ghost. The Scots elected Duvenal, Malcolm's 
brother, king; but Dimcan, the late king's son, who was 
residing as a hostage in the court of King William, by the 
help of that king drove out Duneval and was received as 
king: the following year the Scots, at the instigation of 
Duneval, treacherously put Duncan to death. 

William the younger, in the seventh year of his reign, 
being provoked that his brother had not observed his oath, 
passed over into Normandy. When the brothers met the 
jurators who had sworn to the observance of the treaty, laid 
all the blame on the king ; disregarding this he departed in 
a rage, and attacked the castle of Bures, which he took On 
the other hand, the duke took the castle of Argences, in 
which was an earl of the king's named Koger of Poitou, with 
700 soldiers ; and he afterwards took the castle of Hulme. 
Meanwhile, the king levied 20,000 foot soldiers in England 
to be transported to Normandy, but when they arrived at 
the sea-coast he took from them the allowance they had 
received, which was ten shillings per man, and disbanded 
them. Meanwhile, Duke Kobert, joined by the King of France 
and a large force, was proceeding to lay siege to Eu, where 
King William lay. However, the intrigues and the bribes 
of iSng W^illiam induced the King of France to abandon the 
enterprise, and thus the whole army dispersed in a cloud of 
darkness, which money had raised. King William had sent 
for his brother Henry, who was at Damfront, to meet him 
in England by Christmas ^ whereupon he came to London. 
The king spent Christmas day at Whitsand, from whence 
he sailed to Dover. 

The beginning of the next year [a.d. 1095], he sent his, 
brother [Henry] over to Normandy with a large sum of 

Q 



1836 RS]SrB7 OF HtmrtKdBON. [sOOKtlt* 

iitoney to be employed in eontintEal inroads on the kiiig*3 
behalf. Bobert, earl of NoiHiimibeiiand, dated at having 
defeated the King of the Scots, refVised to attend the king's 
eonrt; whereapon Hie king marched an army into Nor- 
thumberland, and took prisoners ail the earl's principal 
adh^ents in a fortress called New Castle. He then re^ 
dnced the castle of Tynemonth, in which was the earTs 
brother. Afterwards be besieged the earl himself in Bam^ 
borough Castle, which being impregnable by assault, he 
bttilt a castle against it which he called Malveisin', in which 
he left part of his army, and retired with the rest. Bat one 
xught the earl escaped, and though pnrsued by the king's 
troops, got into Tynemouth. There, endeavonring to de- 
fend himself, he was wonnded and taken, and being 
brought to Windsor, was tliere kept a prisoner. The castle 
of Bamborough was surrendered to the king, and those who 
had joined the earl were s©\'erely treated; for William 
d^Ea had his eyes put out, and Odo, earl of Champagne, 
with many others, was deprived of his lands. 

The same year, the indelatigable king led his army into. 
Wades, because the Welsh had slain numbers of the Fr«ich 
the year before, and stormed the castles of the nobles, and 
carried fire and sword along the borders. The present 
year also they had taken Montgomery Castle, and put all 
who were in it to tiie sword. The king overran the bor^ 
ders of Wales, bnt as he could not penetrate into the fast- 
nesses of the mountains and woods, he retired, having 
aeeomplished little or nothing. About this time falling 
stars were seen in the heavens in such numbers that they 
could not be counted. 

In the year 109d began the great moTement towards 
Jerusalem on the preaching of Pope Urban*. Kobert; 

» " The tad neighbour." 

^ The notice of this Crusade in the Saxon Chronicle is confined to a very 
faief reference to " Earl Robert's" departure for it a.d. 1096. William of 
Halmsbury's accotiiit is more circnmsbRntial than Henry of Hunting- 
d«o's, but it does not Appetr that our historian made mie of it From what* 
aver sooices Henry of Huntingdon ddriyed bia infonnation, this episode^ 
which contains a rapid sketch of the progress of the Crusaders from Con- 
stantinople to Jerusalem, keeping in especial view the achievements of the 
Anglo- Norman prince Eobert, appears to be an original composition. It was 
smttm within aboat 60 yeaif after the events it relates. Henry of Hun- 



A.D. 1096-7.] THE aECOSD CRUSADK. 93^ 

dttke of Normandy, joining it, gave Normandj in pledge to 
his brother William. There went -with him Robert, duke 
[earl] of Flanders, and Eustace, count of Boulogne. From 
another quarter went also Duke Godfrey* and Baldwin, 
count de Mont, together with another Baldwin, both of 
whom were afterwards kings of Jerusalem. From a third 
quarter went Raymond, count of Thoulouse, and the Bi- 
shop of Puy. "Who would omit Hugh the Great, brother of 
the King of France, and Stephen, count de Blois? Who 
would not remember Bohemond^ and his nephew, Tancred? 
It was the Lwd^s doing, a wonder unknown to preceding 
ages and reserved for our days, that such different nations, 
so many noble wamors, should leave their splendid pos- 
sessions, their wives and children, and that all with one 
accord should, in contempt of death, direct their steps to 
regions almost unknown. The vastness of the movement 
must be my apology to the reader for a digression from the 
regular course of Ihis History ; for if I were willing to be 
silent concerning this wonderful work of the Lord, my sub- 
ject would compel me to treat of it, as it concerns Robert, 
the duke of Normandy.. 

[a.d. 1097.] Alexius was empwor at Constantinoplej. 
whed, with his cons«it, either forced or voluntary, all the 
chiefs above named assembled there, and crossing over the 
narrow arm of the sea, which was anciently called the Hel- 
lespont, but now bears the name of the Strait of St. George, 
proceec^d to lay siege to the city of Nice, the capital of' 
Romania. Robert, duke of Normandy, sat down before 
the east gate, and near him was the Earl of Flanders. 
Duke Bohemond took post at the north gate, and Tancred 
near him. At the west gate was posted Godfrey, and next 
to him lay Hugh the Great and Earl Stephen. At the 
south was Earl Raymond, with the Bishop of Puy. Immense 
multitudes were hare assembled from England, Normandy^ 

tingdon does not notice the first Crusade, Iiis subject not requiring him to d& 
00. For the Crusades geoemBy, William of Malmsbury may be consulted. 
It is scarcely necessary to remind the reader l^at very interesting a^ 
tounts of the third Cnuade are contained, in a volume of Mr» Bohn's " Anti* 
quarian Library/' entitled ** Chronicles of the Crusaders.** 

* Godfrey of Bouillon. 

' Son of Bobert Guiscard, prince of Tarentnnk 

as 



Ji28 HENBT OF HUNTINGDON. [BOOK VH 

Brittany, Aquitaine, Spain, Pi-ovence, Flanders, Denmark, 
Saxony, Germany, Italy, Greece, and other countries. The 
light of the Sim from the world's creation never shone on 
so splendid an array, so dread, so numerous an assem- 
blage, so many and such valiant chiefs. The siege of 
Troy is not to be named in comparison, nor the heroes 
who caused the fall of Thebes. Here were to be found the 
most illustrious men that the western world had given birth 
to in any age; all bearing the sign of the cross, all the 
bravest of their several countries. 

On Ascension day, at the sound of the trumpets in the 
several camps, a general assault was made on the city. 
Then shouts filled the air, the sky was darkened with 
clouds of arrows, the earth shook witib the stamp of men, 
the water echoed the noise ; the foot of the wall is reached, 
the sappers begin their work. The Infidels plied arrows 
and darts, logs and stones, fragments and masses, fire and 
water, to no purpose ; skill, and valour, and machine-hm-led 
missiles were of no avail. And now the powerful army of 
the Saracens appeared in well-ordered ranks, with gleaming 
standards, on the south of the city. They were gallantly 
encountered by the troops of Coimt Eaymond and the 
Bishop of Puy, depending on the divine protection and 
their own bright arms. The Christians rushed on the 
enemy, who, struck with sudden fear, the Lord confound- 
ing them, gave way. Great numbers of the fugitives were 
slain, and missiles thrown into the city by machines in- 
creased the alarm of the inhabitants. Thus, beyond mea- 
sure terrified, they surrendered the city to our army; and 
it was given up to the emperor, according to promise. The 
army was detained before Nice seven weeks and three 
days. Its course was then directed to Antioch; and on 
the third day's march it was divided into two bodies ; at 
the head of one of them were Kobert, duke of Normandy, 
Bohemond, Kichard of the Principality, Tancred, Everard de 
Puisat, Achard de Mont Merloy, and several others. They 
were surrounded by 360,000 PfuiJiians, who are now called 
Turks, Persians, Publicans, Medes, Cilicians, Saracens, 
and Augulans, besides Arabs, of whom there were not 
many. A messenger was dispatched by the chiefs before- 
named to the other part of the army, but meanwhile tliey 



A.D. 1097.] BATTLE WITH THE SARACENS. 229 

became fiercely engaged with the enemy. The Turks, 
Persians, and Medes discharged arrows ; tiie Cilicians and 
the Augulans, javelins; the Saracens and Arabs used spears; 
and the Publicans, iron maces and swords, all with deadly 
effect, so that the Christians suffered terribly; for theu* 
horses became unsteady under the strange shouts of the 
Saracens, and the braying of their trumpets, and the beat- 
ing of their tambours, and refused to obey the spur. Our 
men, also, amidst this confused din, hardly knew what it 
meant. The Christians, therefore, meditated flight, and 
some had begun to turn their backs, when Kobert, duke of 
Normandy, rode up to them, shouting, " Where, soldiers, 
where are you fleeing? The Turkish horses are swifter 
than ours ; flight will not save you, it is better to die here : 
if you think as I do, follow me." As he spoke he charged 
the chief of the Infidels, and with a single thrust of his 
lance pierced through his shield and armour, and the next 
moment struck down a second and a third of the Saracen 
troops. Then the fierce Tancred, and the valiant Bohe- 
mond, and Richard of the Principality, and Robert de 
Ansa, one of the bravest knights, were not slack in dealing 
furious blows. The Christians regained their courage, and 
the renewed conflict was long and desperate. While it was 
yet raging, Hugh the Great and Aiiselm de Ripemont 
came up at the top of their speed with only twenty knights * 
from the other division of the army. Thus fresh, they 
charged and scattered the weary Infidels ; for the lance of 
Hugh was like the lightning's flash, the sword of Anselm 
like the dividing flame. Two of our princes fell ; while the 
Arabs, with their numbers, filled the places of their slain. 
Of the two princes, William, Tancred's brother, in the act 
of piercing a Saracen chief, received a mortal wound from 
his enemy's lance ; while Godfrey de Dur-mont, as he 
struck off an Arab's head, was shot by a Persian arrow 
through the body, which his heated sm^coat could no longer 
protect. The Franks would have been unable to make a 
further resistance against the dense masses with which 

' This seasonable aid from the advanced gnard of Godfrey of Bouillon's 
diTision is not mentioned by William of Malroesbury, nor in the fuller ac- 
count of this action compiled by Boger de Wendoyer. 



230 HBSSY OF HUNIINGDOK. [BOOS YII. 

they were engaged, when suddenly the standards of the 
other division we]% seen advancing from a neighbcmring 
wood. The batik had now lasted till nine o'clock, and 
great numbers of ti!ie first division had fallen, nor woRikl 
any have escaped if the remainder of the army had noi 
eome up. Never afterwards did the InMels fight so despe- 
rately. Godfrey led tiiie van of the rdieving army, w*h 
the two Baldwins in •command on the nght ; on the left 
w<ere Earl Stephen and Osward de Nulsioai. The division 
of Baldwin was followed &t some distance by Count Ray- 
mond and his people; Khat of Stephen, by Robert, the 
valiant earl of Flanders, with his vassals. A cloud of 
iaiights, and an eadiess crowd of infantry, were in the resr 
of "Godfrey's line ; while the Bishop of Pnj showed himself 
on a hiU with a i^solute force of men-at-arms. The Infidels 
were iaitent on ilbe fight, when, sedug so large a force 
unexpedtedly advaacEog, they were terrified, as jf the very 
heaveais were falling upon thean, and todk to fiight, vriji. 
Sohman thdr prince. This victoiy, which, though dearly 
bought, secured inmiie&se spoils, was gained on &e Lst a£ 
Jttly. 

Pursuing their plan of marching on Antiodb, the Ghris- 
tian chiefs proceeded by Heradea to Tar^is, which was 
given up to the iioble Eaii Baldwin. Adama imd Mamistra 
were subjugated by the brave Tancred. The noble Diike 
of Normandy gave a city <of the Turks to Simeon ; and 
llaymoaid, tdhe powerful count, and Bc^^emond, the thundeiv 
bolt of war, bestowsed another city on Peter de Alpibus. 
The Christians then advanced to Oca, which dty they took ; 
and Peter de Eoisssillon took Bufa and several strongholds. 
At length they laid siege to Antioch, the capital of Syria« 
on the lath of the kalends of November [the ^8th of Octo- 
ber]. It having been reported to Bohemond tha4; the 
Turks were assembled in numbers at a castle called Areg, 
he led an expedition against Ihem, aod by the merc^ of 
God, Ihough his tro^^s were few in number^ he defeated 
the enemy, brin^g back n^any prisoners, whose heads he 
cut off before the gates of Antioch, to strike terror among 
the citizens. 

The Christians celebraited Ihe festival of the Nativity 
while they lay before the besieged torwn. After whidi, 



A.Z). 1098.] filSGU OF ANTIOCH. 281 

Bohemond and the Count of Flanders mairched ai the head 
of 20,000 men into the cawatry of the Saracens ; for they 
had assembled numerous foroes from Jerusalem, and Da 
mascu8» and Aleppo, and other plaees, for the relief of 
Antioch. Bohemood attadced this combined force, and 
routed it with great slaxighter ; and the cbiefs of the expe- 
dition returning to the camp with rich booty were received 
yrijSa. the * triumph they had merited. Meanwhile, those 
who were shut up within the walls made vigorous sallies 
agamst the besieging army, in which they killed the 
standard-bearer of the Bishop of Puy, with many ot|;Lers. 
In the month of Februasy, the Infidels assembled a large 
force at the bhdge over the Fer\ at the castle of Areth. 
The Christian priaces, th^e£c>re, iieaving the foot soldiers 
to maintain the siege, drew out the knights, and detached 
them i^ainst the enemy in six dimions. The first was led 
by the Duke of Normandy ; the second by Godfrey, the 
German duke ; the third by the noble Count Eaymond ; 
the fourth by Bobort, the pride of Flanders ; the fifth by 
the most excellent Bishop of Puy ; and the sixth, which 
was the stirongest, by Bohemond and Tancred. Battle was 
joined with- great braveiy, the war-cries reaching to heuven 
aoad the air being darkkied with clouds of arrows, while 
fierce assaults were made on both sides. There shortly 
advanced fr(»n the rear a great body of Parthians, who 
made so shiSacp an onset on the Christian knights that they 
feU back a little. Then Bohemond, the aihiter of war and 
judge of battles, charged with his division, hitherto unen* 
gaged, the centre of the ememy; and Bobert, son of GemraU 
a good knight and Bohemond's standard bearer, dashed 
among the Turkish troops, as a lion among lambs, and tha 
points of his pennon were for ever fiuttering ov&o the heads 
of the Turks. The rest, hdbiolding this, regained their 
eoumge, and simultaneously bore 4own on the enemy. 
Then the Duke of Normandy cut one man down with a 
blow from his sword, which severed head, teeth, neck, and 
shoulders, down to his breast. Duke Godfrey, also, clove 

' Roger of Wendover says, *' over the Cronies, otberwise called the Fer;" 
bat the bridge mentiaiied in the text is on the Ifrin, not on the Orontes. — 
Bee Gibbon, zi p. 62. 



282 HENEr OF HUNTINGDON. [bOOK VII 

another in two through the middle of his body, so tliat 
one part fell to the ground, the other was carried by the 
horse he rode through the Turkish troops, to the terror of 
all who saw it ; and thus was hurried to everlasting punish- 
ment. The heads of many of the slain were carried to 
Antioch in triumph. This battle was fought in the begin- 
ning of Lent. 

Meanwhile, many of the tribe of the "Amiralii,"^ coming 
from Babylon % had got into Antioch. Now our army had 
built a fort before the gate where there is a bridge and a 
mosque, and Eaymond and Bohemond had gone to the 
gate of St. Simeon for provisions, when the garrison of the 
town made a desperate sally, and kiUing many of our men, 
drove the rest before them as far as their camp. The day 
following they attacked Eaymond and Bohemond, and put 
to the sword a thousand of their troops ; the chiefs escaped 
by a precipitate retreat. The Franks, enraged at these two 
defeats, drew up* their forces in order of batfle on the plains 
before the city gates. The Infidels were not slow in draw- 
ing out their troops to meet them. The Christians, raising 
the battle-cry of ftie cross, charged the enemy so furiously 
at the very first onset that they at once gave way and fled 
to the city. But when they reached the narrow bridge, 
numbers either fell by the sword or were drowned in tiie 
river ; for few were able to pass the bridge, and the stream 
flowed with blood. There twelve of the Amiralii were 
killed, and the Lord gave his people a great victory. The 
day following, when Ihe citizens had buried the dead, om* 
soldiers dug up the corpses, and despoiling them of their 
palls, with &e gold and silver ornaments, they hurled their 
heads over the city walls. 

And now all the hopes and haughtiness of the citizens 
had vanished; for Tancred, carefully guarding the fort 
already mentioned before the city gate, cut off all chance 
of their obtaining supplies of victuals. Then Firouz, one 
of the AmiraUi^ of the Turkish nation, with whom Bohe- 

' Henry of Huntingdon appears to have miainterpreted the authority 
firom which he obtained hit information. See note below. 

* The Egyptian Babylon, built by Oarobyfles. 

* It has been conjectured that the *' Amiralii'* were not a tribe or a 
£unily ; but that the Latin writers have thus travestied the Arabian title ef 



A.D. 1098.] THE CRUSADERS BESIEGED IN ANTIOCH. 233 

mond had encouraged an intimacy, foreseeing the fate that 
awaited his friends, delivered to Bohemond those towers 
which were in his power. Accordingly, when flags were 
hoisted on the towers, the Franks broke down the gates 
and burst into the city. Those of the Turks who made 
any resistance were slaughtered ; others made their escape 
from the city; some got into the upper hold. Axianus^, 
the lord of the city, attempting to escape, was made 
prisoner by the Arminians, and his head was brought to 
Bohemond. Antioch was taken on the 3rd of Jime 
[A.D. 1098]. 

Then Corboran, commander-in-chief of the army of the 
Sultan of Persia, with the kings of Damascus and Jeru- 
salem, assembled Turks, Arabs, Saracens, Azimites, Curts, 
Persians, and Augulans, in numbers like the sand of the 
sea, to encompass the Franks. So Antioch was again 
besieged. Corboran posted part of his troops in the higher 
fort, who kept our army in alarm night and day. With the 
rest of his force he blockaded the city, so that no provisions 
could be brought in. On the third day the Christians 
sallied forth against the enemy, thinking that they could 
meet them fairly in the field ; but the number and strength 
of the enemy were such that our people were compelled to 
retreat within the walls, not without great loss from the 
enemy's arms, ^s well as from the crush at the city gate. 
On the morrow, four of the Christian leaders, William [of 
Grantmesnil] and another William, and Alberic and Lam- 
bert, Jhade their escape secretly to the sea, by the gate of 
St. Simeon, and by their contrivance aU the victuallmg 
ships went with them. Meanwhile, the Franks were so 
galled by the attacks of the garrison in the upper fort, that 
tiiey built a wall to shut them in. Hope increased on the 
side of the Infidels, and famine on that of the Christians. 
While they were in expectation of the supplies promised 
by the emperor, a hen was sold for fifteen shillings, an egg 
for two shillings, and a nut for one penny. They cooked 
and ate leaves of trees and thistles, and greedily devoured 

Amen or Emirs. Boger of Wendover substitutes Emifer for Firouz, as the 
proper name of this individual. 

1 It is difficult to discover imder this Latinized version the Oriental nam^ 
of this lord of Antioch* It has been giren as Akky-Sian. 



U$i BZNST OF HUKIINaiMSSr. [booc.vh. 

the Bofibened hides of horses and asses. Moreover, Stephen* 
eoimt of Cfaartres, deserting his fiiends with unmanly 
weakness, met the emperor advancing, and induced him to 
retire by telling hbn with tears that all the Franks had 
perished. The faithful, therefore, were in. the utmost 
despair, being so reduced by famine that they could not 
even bear the weight of their armoiur. And now a fieiy 
light flasfaed from heaven over the Turkish army, and ^ 
Lord appeared in a vision to one of his faithM servants, 
and said, ^'Cany this message to the children of the 
West. Behold, I have given the city of Nice into your 
hands, and have covered you in all your battles with the 
Infidels ; and I gave you also the city of Antioch. But 
when you had takeai triumphant possession, you committed 
fornication both with the strange women and the Christians^ 
so that your ill savour has ascended on high." Then the 
man of God ieH at Ms feel, saying, '' £Lelp, Lord., thy 
people in their great affiictiQga."' And ihe Lord answered, 
" I hare helped them, and will yet help iheaoL Tell my 
people, that if they lelum to me, I wiU return to them ; 
and withan five digrs I myself will he their defender." 
There also a,ppeaiied a visioa of St Andrew the apostle to 
a certain priest, arevealing to him where the ^ear which 
pieroai our Saviour would he found; the truth of which the 
pnest confiitmed to ihe people by an "Oath. 

The Christians, then, after fasting lor three days, and 
sdLemn processions, and the celebration of masses and 
giving of afans, wiih tears and confessicm of their sins, 
marched against the enemy, the Lord himself being their 
leadar. The first rank was commanded by Hugh the 
threat and the Ead of Flanders ; the second by Duke God- 
firey and Baldwin ; the thi^l by Bobert, the brave Norman ; 
the fouarth division, under <the command of the Bishc^ of 
Puy and William of Montpelier, including the followers of 
C;ount Baymoad, was left to guard the city ; the fifxh was 
mider Taacred and Count Biehard ; the sixth was under 
Bohemond azkd the Count de Boussillon ; the seventh, dedi- 
cated to the honour of the Holy Spirit, was under the 
command of Begmald. Meanwhile, the bishops and priests, 
And clerks and monks, in their sacred vestments, were to 
be seen on the ihattkanentB chantii^g lit^oiies to God; and 



▲.B. 1098*] THE 6ASACBKS BEFEAXKD. 386 

dtere appeared to them a heayenly host, moimted on white 
horses, and i^th flaming arms, their leaders being St. 
Creorge, St. Mercarius, and St Demetrius. Corfooran drew 
out his countless army, exulting in anticipated triumph; 
he also caused large qpiontities of straw to be set on fife 
upon an c^posite hiU, ihat 4he dense smoke might blind 
tibe Christian troops; but the liori, who zidies die elements, 
made the wind to ehaage, so that the InfideLs were suffo- 
cated with the smoke, and took to flight. The Christians 
pursued them wiQi great slaughter, and the booty was 
greater than any taken in these wars. Upon seeing this, 
tiie Amiralian ^ who had the custody of the higher fort sur- 
rendered it, and became a Christian. This viotoiy the 
Lord wrought on ibe feast of St Peter and St. Paul, and 
his name only was exalted on that day. The Christians, 
rgoieing, remained in this eouatiy until the kalends [the 
1st] <£ November. 

Meanwhile, one <£ HhB chiefs named Baym<»kd Pilet, 
^adng himself at the head of some troops, took a castle 
called Thalamama. JVom thence he marched to a town 
named Marra, which was foM of Saracens who came £:om 
Alef. The Infidels attacked him, and at first were obliged 
to give way, but, rafiying, the Franks were at length de- 
feated with great loss. In the month of November ^ all 
the Christian priiKses collected their forces to march to 
Jerusalem. The fourth day before the be^nning <^ 
October^ they reached Maira, and having constructed a 
wooden tower on four wheels, with other devices, they took 
tiie place by assault on the 11th of December. They 
halted there over Christmas, being detained a month and 
four days, and their march to Jerusalem was mtormpted 
by the disputes whkh arose between Bohemond and Bay- 
mond for ^ possession of Antiodi. This delay occasioned 
so gseat a scarcity of provisions that the Christians were 
eampelled to cook And eat portions q£ tlM dead bodies of 
;the Infidels. Departing on ^e 14th of January, they took 

"^ The Emir ? See note 2, p. 282. 

' Eoger de Wencknwr saje " S^rtembei," both in regard to this and tlm 
preceding paragraph. It woald appear from the sabsequent dates that Henry 
of Huntingdon is here correct; but for October we must read Decem- 
ber, in the next aentwwii. 



236 HENKY OF HUNTINGDON. [BOOK VII, 

two towns, full of all necessaries ; they then took Zaphaila, 
and next a rich town in the valley of Desem. In the middle 
of February they sat down before the castle of Archis, the 
siege of which detained them three months, and there they 
celebrated the feast of Easter ; and there, also, Ansehn de 
Kipemont, a brave knight, was killed by the hurling of a 
stone, as were also William of Picardy, and many others. 
The King of Camela made his peace with the invading 
army. Meanwhile, part of it took Tortosa and Maraclea; 
but the Emir of Gibel came to terms. They then appeared 
before Tripolis, and slaughtered so many of the citizens 
that all the waters of the city and the very cisterns were 
red with X blood. Upon this the Prince of Tripoli gave 
15,000 bezants and 15 valuable horses, releasing also 300 
foreign pilgrims, to induce the Franks to spare Tripoli, 
and Archis which also belonged to him ; they therefore 
passed through his territories by the castle of Bethelon, 
and arrived on Ascension day at a town on the sea-coast 
called Beyrout. From thence they marched to Sidon, 
thence to Tyre, thence to Acre, thence to Caiaphas, and 
reached Csesarea at Whitsuntide. From thence they 
marched to the town of St. George \ and thence to Jeru- 
salem, to which they laid siege on the 8th of the ides of 
Jime [6th of June, 1099]. The Duke of Normandy took 
post on the north. Count Robert on the east, Duke God- 
frey and Tancred on the west, and Count Raymond on the 
south, on Mount Sion. After many assaults, the besiegers 
constructed a veiy lofty tower of wood; but the Infidels 
having built against it stone forts, our people took down 
the wooden tower, and rebuilt it on another side of the city 
which was less defended. From thence they made their 
last assault, and, mounting the walls with scaling-ladders, 
they stormed the city. Many of the Infidels were slain in 
the court of the Temple. Then the faithful servants of the 
Lord purified the holy city from the abominations of tlie 
unbelieving people, and Duke Godfrey of Bouillon was 
created king of Jerusalem. He was succeeded by Baldwin, 
his valiant brother; and, after him, Baldwin 11., their 

' Eamula, where there was a famous church dedicated to this saint. 



A.D. 1097-8.] WILLIAM n. IN NOBMANDT. ft87 

nephew, was chosen king. GeoSrej^, duke of Anjou, was 
the next king of Jerusalem, and his son Geoffi*ey succeeded 
him. They were engaged in numerous and terrible wars, 
and reduced much territory to subjection to the Christians, 
with all the neighbouring towns, except Ascalon, which still 
persists in its impiety ^ 

[a.d. 1097.] William the younger, in the ninth year of 
his reign ^, was in Normandy, which had been left in pledge 
to him by his brother Robert, on his going to Jerusalem. 
Having disposed of all affairs there at his own will, he 
returned to England on the eve of Easter, landing at 
Arundel. He kept the feast of Whitsuntide, wearing his 
crown, at Windsor ; afterwards he undertook an expedition 
into Wales, with a large army, in which he often routed the 
enemy's forces, but as often lost many of his own in the 
mountain passes. Finding, therefore, that the Welsh were 
better defended by the nature of the country than by their 
prowess in arms, he ordered castles to be built on the 
borders, and returned into England. Archbishop Anselm 
now went abroad, because Sie perverse king suffered 
nothing right to be done in England. The country was 
heavily burthened by taxes without end for building the wall 
round the Tower of London and for the works of the royal 
palace at Westminster, besides the rapacity which the king's 
household exercised in the royal progresses, like an invad- 
ing army. At the feast of St. Martin the king crossed over 
to Normandy, having first dispatched Edgar the Etheling 
with an army into Scotland, where he defeated the king, 
Duvenal, in a great battle, and estabhshed his kinsman 
Edgar, the son of King Malcolm; on the throne. A comet 
appeared this year. 

[a.d. 1098.] William the younger spent the eleventh year 
of his reign in Normandy, continually occupied by rebellions 
and hostile encounters. Meanwhile, his English subjects 
were oppressed and ground down by the most infamous 

* Fulk, not GteoSrej, earl of Anjou. See note afterwards nnder the 
year 1128. 

* This was the state of affairs in Palestine at the time Henry of Hun- 
tingdon wrote, a few years before the third Crusade, in which Richard Coeur 
de Lion bore so distinguished a part. 

^ Henry of Huntingdon now returns to the series of English history, 
which he had interrupted to introduce an account of the second Crusade. 



SS3S HKITBY OF HUHTIKaBON. [BOOK TEt 

taxes and exaeticms. In the summer, blood was seen to 
burst forth from a spring at FisK^iamstead, in Bei^shire ; 
and after titat the heavens seemed to be on fire for almost 
the whoie of a night. The same year died Walkelin, 
bishop of Winchester, and Hugh, earl of Shropslrire\ vme 
killed by the Irish*. His brother, Eobert de Belesme, 
succeeded him. 

WiUiam the younger came over to England in the twelfOi 
year of his reign, and kept court for the first time in the 
new palace at Westminster. Upon his entering the hall to 
inspect it, some of his attendants observed that it was large 
enough, others that it was much larger tiian was necessary; 
to which the king replied, that it was not half large enough^: 
a speech fitting a great kmg, though it was little to his 
credit. Soon afterwards, news was brou^t to him, while 
hunting in the New Forest, that his family were besieged 
in Maine. He instantly rode to ^e coast, and took ship, 
whereupon the swlors said to him, "Wherefore, great 
king, will you have us put to sea in this violent storm ? 
Have you no fear of perishing in the waves?" To which 
the king replied, " I never yet heard of a king who was 
drowned." He had a safe passage, and on his landing 
gamed more honour and glory than he had done before in 
all his life ; for he mardied into Maine, and drove out the 
Earl Elias, and reduced the whole province to subjection ; 
afker which he retmned to England. That year die king 
gave the bishopric of Durham to Banuif, his pleader ^ or, 

1 The title was tSteevnads Earl of Shrewtbiay. 

^ The Saxon Chronicle lays ** by foreign piratea in Anglesey;" Florence of 
Worcester, " by the king of Norway and hu men." 

' Other chroniclers report the king to have added that " it would only be 
a bed-room in proportion to the palace which he intended to bnild." 

* The Saxon Ghionidie calk him the king's chi^Dlatn, who held his oovrti- 
(gemot) over all England. The administration of the law was now and for a 
loDg period in the hands of ecclesiastics. One of the bishops was generally 
the king's chancellor or justiciary. This Banuif appears to have been a sort 
.of judge in eyre or of circuit, and a very cormpt one. Ingram quotes a 
curious notice of him from the Chronicle of Peterborough, published by 
Sparke, typis Bowyer, 1723, which informs ns that he wrote a book (now 
lost)^ "on the laws or EsaLAND.'* Ingram says, ''He may therefore 
be safely called the father of English lawyers, or at least hiw-writer-s. It 
was probably the foimdation of the later worki of Biacton, Fleta, Fortescue, 
and othen." 



J..©. 1100.] wiLLiAir II. gLAur. Ji3tl 

ratlier, his perverter of justice, the instnnnent of his exae- 
tioDs, whieh exhansted all £ngliiad. This year also died 
Osmond, bishop of Salisbury. 

In the yesur of our Lord 1100, in the thirteenlh year of his 
fseign, King WiUiam's cruel life was brought to an end by 
an unhappy death. For alter holding his court in great 
splendour, according to the custom of his predecessors, at 
Oloacester during Christmas, at Winchester during Easter, 
and during Whitsuntide at Loncbn, he went to hunt in 
tbe New Forest on the morrow of the kalends [the 3nd] of 
August While he was hunting, Walter Tyrrel uninten- 
tionally shot the king with an tarrow ainted at a stag. The 
king, who was pierced through the Iraart, fell dead without 
uttering a woid. A short time before, blood had been seen 
to spring from the ground in Berkshire. The king was 
rightiy cut off in the midst of his injustice. For he was 
savage beyond i^l men ; and by the advice of evil coimsel- 
lors, and such he always chose, he was Mse to his subjects, 
and worse to himself; he ruined his nei^bours by extor- 
tions*, and his own. people by continutd levies for his 
armies, and endless fines and exactions. England could 
not breaAe under Ihe burdens laid upon it. For the king*s 
• minions seized on and subverted everything ; so that they 
even committed the most violent adidteries with impunity. 
Whatever wickedness existed before was now brought to 
the highest pitdi; whatever had no existence before sprung 
up in these times. The impious king, hatful alike to God 
and the people, on the day that he died held in his own 
hands the archbishopric of Canterbury and the bishoprics 
of Winchester and Salisbury, besides eleven abbeys, which 
were fanned out In short, whatever was pleasing to Cod 
was displeasing to this king and his minions ; nor did he 

' " "Werra ; " the Anglo-Saxon, Were-gelt ; CSapitU estimation Dvfrexne^ 
tlie fine or penalty paid for homicide^ &c., which, by the old Anglo-Saxon 
laws was defined in a graduated soile according to the rank of the party 
cuncerned. Henry of Hmrtingdon seems in this and other instances to apply 
the word ** wena " to the fines or ** reliefs" payable to the king on the re- 
newal of their homage by those holding nnder him^ and on other accidents 
of the feudal tenure; but I cannot find any authority for such a use of the 
word werra in Dufresne or the other GHosa&ries. It need hardly be remarked, 
that all these dues were, by the tyranny of the Norman kings, made an 
instrument of arbitrary exactions. 



240 HENRY OF HUNTINGDON. [BOOK VII. 

practise his infamous debauchery in secret, but openly in 
the light of day. He was buried on the morrow at Win- 
chester, and Henry, his brother, was there chosen king; 
and he bestowed the bishopric of Winchester on William 
Giffard. Then, going to London, the king was there con- 
secrated by Maurice, bishop of London, having first pro- 
mised to restore good laws, and to observe the cherished 
customs of the nation. WTien Anselm, the archbishop, 
heard of these events, he returned to England, and soon 
afterwards celebrated the king's nuptials wiUi Maud, daugh- 
ter of Malcolm king of Scotland and Margaret his queen. 
After the city of Jerusalem was taken, as before related, 
and a great victory subsequently gained against the army of 
the emirs of Babylon, Robert, diie of Normandy, returned 
to his States in titie month of August, and was received by 
all his people with great rejoicings. Thomas, archbishop of 
York, a prelate of great genius and a friend to the Muses, 
was taken from among men. 

King Henry held his court during Christmas at West- 
minster, and during Easter at Winchester. Soon afterwards, 
the great men of titie realm became disaffected towards him 
in consequence of his brother Eobert's claims on the crown, 
which he was preparing to assert at the head of an army. 
The king fitted out a naval armament to prevent his land- 
ing, but part of it went over to the duke, on his arrival. 
He landed at Portsmouth on the 1st of August, and the 
king levied a large army to oppose him. But the great 
men on both sides, being averse to a fi^tricidal war, 
established peace between them upon the terms that Robert 
should receive firom England 3000 silver marks ^ annually; 
and that the survivor of the two brothers should be heir to 
the otherj dying without issue male. To the performance 
of this treaty, twelve nobles of the highest rank on both 
sides solemnly swore. Robert then remained peaceably at 
his brother's court till the feast of St. Michael, and then 
returned to his own dominions. Ranulph, the crafty bishop 
of Durham^, who had been thrown into prison by King 
Heniy, at the instance of the " witan " of England, having 

*^ The silver mark was worth in these times 160 pennies ; and a poond 
weight of silver was coined into 240 pennies. 
' The corrupt jadge and minister of William Bufus, before mentioned. 



A.D. 1103.] REIGN OF HENRY I. 241 

made his escape from the Tower of London, went over to 
Nonnandy, and was the means of fomenting the designs of 
Eobert against his brother. 

King Henry justly banished the traitorous and perfidious 
Earl Eobert de Belesme. The king had laid siege to his 
castle of Arundel, but finding it difficult to reduce, he built 
forts against it, and then went and besieged Bridgenorth, 
till that castle was surrendered. Eobert de Belesme then 
departed to Normandy in great sorrow. At the feast of St. 
Michael, the same year, Anselm, the archbishop, held a 
synod at London, in which he prohibited the English 
priests from living with concubines*, a thing not before 
forbidden. Some thought it would greatly promote pmity ; 
while others saw danger in a strictness which, requiring a 
continence above their strength, might lead them to fall into 
horrible imcleanness, to the great disgrace of their Chris- 
tian profession. In this synod, several abbots, who had 
acquired their preferment by means contrary to the will of 
God, lost them by a sentence conformable to his will. The 
year following, Eobert, duke of Normandy, came over to 
England, and by the king's craftiness was induced, for 
various reasons, to release him from his obligation of pay- 
ing the pension of 3000 marks. This year also blood was 
seen to spring forth from a field at Hampstead^ in Berk- 
shire. In the course of the next year, quarrels arose again 
on several accounts between the king and his brother; 
whereupon the king sent some knights over to Normandy, 
who were harboured by the duke's rebellious nobles, and, 
plimdering and burning on his territories, did no small 
damage to the duchy. William, earl of Morton^, also, 

^ " Uxores/' a term commonly applied to either the wives or concubines 
of priests, the former being regarded as no better than the latter. ** The 
histories of these times are full of the commotions excited by those priests 
who had either concubines or wives" — MurdocKt MoskHm, vol. ii. p. 342, 
Henry of Huntingdon, as the son of an ecclesiastic, speaks with some re- 
serve of the decree of the synod, which, an archdeacon himself, he could not 
directly impugn. See also p. 252. 

^ Finchamstead ? See the year 1098. 

® This word is always written in Henry of Huntingdon's MSS. Morteuil 
or Moretuil, and generally by the Latin Chroniclers " de Moritono." The 
name was taken from a town in Normandy, formerly written Moretaine, now 
Mortaigne. 

B 



342 HENBT OF HUKOSKODON. [bOOE TIL 

whose possessicx&s were confiscated by the king for treason, 
departed to Normandy. He was a man of lii^h oharaotex; 
consummate in coimsel and energetic in action, so that hfi 
imposed and infiicted on the royal troops a most c^pressiye 
ransom ^ This year there appeared four white cirdsB 
roimd the sun. 

[a.d. 1105.] King Henry, in tiie fifth year of his reign, 
sailed over to Normandy, to make war on his brothcxr. He 
won Caen by bribery, and Baieux by force, witOi the laid of 
the Count of Anjon. He took also many other towns ; and 
all the principal men of ^oitmandy submitted to him. 
After this, in the month of August, he cetumed to {Eng- 
land. The year following, Idie Duhe of Normandy came 
amicably to the king at Northampton, entreating to be 
zestoved to his brotherly fEtvour ; but iProvidence not peiv 
mitting their reconciliation, the duke sailed for Norrnxoui^ 
in great Anger, the king following htm before AngiiBt 
Upon his laying siege to the castle of Tenerchebrai^ thB 
Duke of Normandjz:, having with him Hobert de Bele^ne 
and the Earl of iMoiton, with all their ^adherents, ad:vmioed 
against him. The king, on his side, was not xmprepaned; 
for there were with jhim almost all the diief .men €tf Ncav 
mandy, and the 'fiower of Aie forces of England, Anjon, 
and Brittany. The B^ill trampete sounded, and the duke, 
wiih his few followers, boldly charged the khig's numerous 
troops, and, well trained in the wans of Jerusalem, hm 
terrible onset repulsed ibe royal army. "William, earl of 
Morton, also attacking it feom poiat to point, threw it into • 
eon&sion. 'The king and the duke, with great part of 
their troops, fought on foot, that they nright make a deter- 
mined stand; but the Breton knights bore down on the 
flank of the duke's force, which, unable to sustain liie 
shock, was presently routed. Eobert de Bdlesme, perceiv- 
ing this, saved himself by 'flight; but Hobert, duke of 
Normandy, and William, earl of Morton, were made prir 
soners. Thus the Lord took vengeance on Duke Eobert; 
because when He had exalted him to great glory in the 
holy wars, he rejected the offer Of the kingdom of Jeru- 
salem, preferring a service of ease and sloth in Normandy 

* '* Weriam." See note just before^ p. 239. > Now Tincli«biSL 



JfLD. 1107-8.] BOBEBT, DUBS OF NOBMAIIDY, PBISONEB. 4248 

to serving like Loord zealously ^in the defence of the holjr 
.city. The Lord, therefore, condeimned him to lasting 
.inactivity .and perpetual .impnsonment. On llhe day of our 
liOrd^B supper S -two moons £^ypeared in ihe ^eawens, caie in 
ithe east and one in the -west. 

In the seventh year of King Henry's reign, his eoemieB 
d»eing now destroyed or reduced to sahmission, the king 
(Settled affairs in Normandy at his own will and pleasure, 
land then returned to En^amd. His illustrious brother 
JU>b6rt and the Earl of Morton were thrown into dungeons ; 
land then the king, now triumphant and his power undis- 
puted, held his court si, Windsor diving Easter, .^^ieh was 
attended by the great nobles both of England and Nom 
mandy with great Teverence and fear. For, before that, 
:while he was young, and even aliter he became king, he 
!was held in the greatest contempt. But God, who judges 
far otherwise than the sons of men, who exalteth the hum- 
ble and snbduetti thetproud, stsipped Eobert of the honour 
for which he was ^veiywhere celebrated, and caused the 
name of the deqiised Henry to be fsmous throt^hout the 
world ; and the Almighly bestowed on him three gifts-*- 
wisdom, yictoiy, and wealth, whidi made him more pros- 
perous than all his predecessors, and he was able to .enndi 
all his adherents. This year died Bishop Maurice, the 
founder of the new (diuroh of London ^ and Edgar, king 
of the Scots, who, with the consent of King Henry, was 
succeeded by his brother Alexander. 

[a.d. 1108.] King Henry went over to Normandy in the 
eighth year of his xeign, on the decease of Philip, king of 
France, to resist his son Philip, the new .king, who de- 
manded an enormous contribution®. The same year, ,on 
ihe death of G-erard, urchbishop of York, lie was succeeded 
by Thomas. In the course of the year fbflowing, there 
came ambassadors, remarkable for their great stature and 

* .Maundy Tbnnday^ihe day on wHidh libe Encharift was establisliod. 

^ St. Paul's OathedMl, hvaast toth? ground in .1087, and which was now 
Mng'KbaiU. 

' " Werra/' again, aee before, pp. 289 and 242. Was it here the tax, fine, 
or " relief" due to the now King of France from the Duke of Normandy on 
tenewing 'his liomage 1 The Saxon Chronide says there were ** many 
ctruggles" between the two kings at this time, but we are indebted to 
Henry of Huntingdon ferinfbiming vb whtft was the disputed matter. 

B 2 



244 HEXBY OF HUNTINGDON. [bOOK Vn 

splendid attire, from Henry, the Koman emperor \ de- 
manding the king's daughter in marriage for their master. 
He received the envoys at London, where he held his court 
during Whitsimtide, with extraordinary magnificence, and 
the betrothal of his daughter to the emperor was confirmed 
by oath. Anselm, the archbishop and Christian philosopher, 
died in Lent The year following, the nuptials of the 
queen's daughter^ with the emperor were solemnized, to 
speak briefly, with fitting splendour. The king taxed every 
hide of land in England three shillings for his daughter's 
marriage^. The same year, the king held his court during 
Whitsuntide at New Windsor, which he had himself bmlt ; 
and he deprived of their estates those who had been traitors 
to him, namely, Philip de Braiose, William Malet, and 
William Bainard ; but Elias, the count of Maine, who held 
it as a fief imder King Henry, was put to death. Upon 
this, the Coimt of Anjou got possession of his daughter, 
with the county of Maine, which he kept against King 
Henry's will. This year a comet made a very unusual 
appearance ; for, rising in the east, when it had moimted in 
the sky it seemed to take a retrograde course. The same 
year, Nicholas, the father of the author of this Book, de- 
pjgiied this life, and was buried at Lincoln ; of him it is 
said : — 

"Star of the churchy that set in gloom. 
Light of the clergy, to the tomb 
Quench'd in its darkness, Lincoln's son. 
The honour'd Nicholas, is gone. 
But the light bursts forth the heart to cheer. 
And the star, seen through the dimming tear. 
Dawns in a brighter hemisphere." 

The writer has inserted this notice in his work, that he 
may obtain firom his readers some equivalent for his in- 

^ Henry V. [of Lorraine], emperor of Germany. 

' Matilda, better known to the reader of English history as the Empress 
Maud. Henry the emperor died shortly afterwards, without her having 
any children by him ; and she then married Geo&ey Flantagenet, count of 
Anjou, by whom she had Henry, afterwards king of England. 

^ One of the three especial taxes, to which the kings of England were 
entitled by ancient custom, was this on the marriage of his eldest daughter. 
There was a similar levy on the knighthood of his eldest son. The third 
was due for the king's ransom when he was taken prisoner by the enemy* 



A.D. 1111-16.] HENRY I. 246 

dustry, so far as they may be disposed, with a feeling of 
pious regard, to join him in the prayer, " May his soul rest 
in peace! Amen."^ 

[a.d. 1111.] In the eleventh year of his reign, King 
Henry went over to Normandy, because the Count of 
Anjou held Maine against his wUl, and he wasted his terri- 
tories with fire and sword, according to the laws of war. 
Kobert, earl of Flanders, now died, who gained distin- 
guished honour in the Jerusalem expedition, whose me- 
mory will remain for ever. He was succeeded by his son 
Baldwin, a young and valiant prince. The next year the 
king banished from Normandy the Count of Evreux and 
WiUiam Crispin ; and he took prisoner Eobert de Belesme, 
the great offender mentioned before, and the year following, 
on his return to England, condemned him to imprisonment 
for life at Wareliam. In the succeeding year, the king gave 
the archbishopric of Canterbury to Ealph, bishop of Ko- 
chester; and then, also, on the death of Thomas, arch- 
bishop of York, he was succeeded by Thurstan. There 
arose between liie two archbishops, Balph and Thurstan, 
a violent controversy, Kalph refusing submission to the 
archbishop of Canterbury, according to ancient custom. 
The cause was often heard before the king, and the subject 
was canvassed at Rome, but no decision has been yet made. 
This year the king led an army into Wales, and liie Welsh 
submitted to his will, his power being so overwhelming. 
A bright comet appeared towards the end of May. The 
king crossed over to Normandy, and the next year 
caused all the chief men of the duchy to take the oatii of 
allegiance to his son William, and afterwards he returned 
to England. 

[a.d. 1116.] King Henry, in the sixteenth year of his 
reign, was present at Christmas at the dedication of the 
church of St. Albans, which was consecrated by Robert, 
the very reverend bishop of Lincoln, on the request of 
Richard, the well-known abbot. When the king crossed 
over the sea to Normandy, at Easter, a violent quarrel 
arose between him and the King of France. This was the 

' This notice does hononr to our historian's filial piety. Nicholas, his 
father, was probably archdeacon of Oxford. See Memoirs of Henry of Hun- 
tingdon in the Preface fo this volume. 



fM HENRY Off HDIJttlNGDON. [BOOK VH. 

origin of it: Tkeobald\ eoimt of Blois, nephew of King 
JHEeniy, had. taken' arms against Ins liege, lord the King of 
France, and the King of England had sen* troops to his 
sidy to the no' small' annoyance of the French king. In the 
course of the yeas' Mowing, therefore, King Henry was in 
great diffibnify'r ^^ the King ef Finnce, and the Ooimt of 
Fkndersv and: tiie Conn^ of Anjou had' sworn together to 
vnseat Nomnandy from King Henry; and give it to Wiiliam; 
the- son of the late dsoke. Many; also, of his own nobility 
levoltcd agaanst tiae king, much to his detriment. How- 
ever,, he wae^ not tmprepared; for he had^ secured' the alhance 
«£ Theobald, already named, and iSte Count of Brittany. 
The King of France and the Earl of Flsmders entered 
Normandy ot the head of an a^rmy, but after staying there 
one night, they were struck with pania at ihe approach of 
King Henry witir the troc^s of England, Normandy, and 
Brittany, and theyrelares^ed to their own dominions without 
fighting a battle. This year the English' were grievously 
burdened with contiaual taxes' and various exactions occa- 
sioned by tiae king's wants* There were thimder and 
hailstorms on? tfie kalends [the 1st] of December, and in 
the same months the heavens a-ppeared red, as if they were 
on fire. At Ihe same time there was a great earthquake in 
Lombardy, which tiirew down, overwhelmed, and destroyed 
churches and towers, and hotises and men. In the course 
oi the year following, the king was grievously troubled by 
the continuance of tiae warfaa*e of the before-mentioned 
prinees, until the valiant Count of Flanders was unfortu- 
JMitely wounded inr a mutiny of his troops at Eu, in Nor- 
mandy, and retired to his own States. Moreover, Eobert, 
earl of Mellent, the greatest politician among all those who . 
had dwelt at Jerusalem, and chancellor of King Henry, 
exhibited his fblly in the end ; for when he would neitiier, 
at the persuasioH of the priests, give up the lands which he 
liad^ approprfatedv nor make the confession which it was his 
duty to dS)-, be fell away and died, as it were, of inward 
Weakness* Well then was it said, "The wisdom of ihis 
world is fooKshness with God." Then, also, Queen Matilda 
ended her days; of whose gentleness and excellence of 
mind it has been said : — . 



A^D. 1118-10.] DEATH OF QUBEN MAXILDA. 2^ 

" Undeceived faj fbrtone*t wflei) 
Ci^ when afae withdrew; her smiley 
Miith and joy were all her fears ; 
Groases never cost her tears. 
Lftdj &ir! a chastened grace 
Beck'd wiih modieity tiiy five. 
Quean ! yet lowlinesi in tbee^ 
Tempered thy great majesty. 
At the earliest dawn of May ' 
Entering on. an endless day. 
Thou wert wrapt in cloud» of ligfit^ 
We were left in dukeit night." 

[jLJ)» 1119.] EjiDg Henry, in the fifly-secoiid year a&ar 
the Normans conquered England, and in the nineteenth 
year of his reign, fought a great battle with the King of 
France*. That king, placed the first division of his army 
under the command of William, the sou of Robert, King 
Henry's brother, supporting kim.- with the main body of his 
army. On the other side. King Henry posted his [Norman] 
vassals in the first line ; the second, consisting of his 
household troops, he led himself on horseback; in the 
third, he placed his sons; with the. main body of infantry. 
At the outset, the first line of the iVench unhorsed and 
quickly dispersed the Norman knights. B afterwards 
attacked the division which. Henry himself commanded, 
and was itself routed. The* tcoops under the command of 
the two kings now met, and the battle Bag«d fiercely ; the 
lances were shivered, and Aey fought with swords. At 
this time, William Crispin^ twice struck King Henry on 
the head, and though hia hehnet, was aword-proof, the 
violence of the blow forced it a little into the king's fore- 
head, so that blood gushed forth. The king, howevar^ 
retusned the blow on his assailant with such force,, that 
though his helmet was- impenetrable, the horse and its 

^ Qaeen Matilda died on the 1st of May, 1118. 

^ Henry of Huntingdon omits mentioning in the text of hii history where 
tfie battle was fought, but the yerses which follow supply the name of the 
place, Noyon. We are indebted to Henry of Huntingdon for a fiiU account 
of this very important and decisive action, of which the Saxon. Chxonicl* 
gives only a slight notice. Indeed, ficom this time, or shortly afterwards, 
Henry of Huntingdon assumes the character of an original historian of 
events contemporary witii the period in which he lived, 

* Count of Bvteuz. 



248 HENRY OK HUNTINGDON. [BOOK VII. 

rider were struck to the ground; and the knight was pre 
sently taken prisoner in the king's presence. Meanwhile, 
the mfantry, with whom the king's sons were posted, not 
being yet engaged, but waiting for the signal, levelled their 
spears, and charged the enemy. Upon which the Frencb 
were suddenly daunted, and broke their ranks, and fled. 
King Heniy, thus victorious, remained on the field until 
all Sie nobles of the defeated army were taken prisoners 
and brought before him. He then returned to Eouen, 
while the beUs were ringing, and the clergy were chant- 
ing hymns of thanksgiving to the Lord God of hosts. 
This glorious victory has been thus celebrated in heroic 
verse : — 

** Where Noyon's tow'ra rise o'er the plain, 
And Oise flows onward to the Seine, 
Two banner'd hosts in ranks advance : 
Here, Lewis leads the pow'rs of France ; 
Henry of England, there, commands 
His English and his Norman bands. 
See his arm the foremost crush. 
The island spearmen onward rush ; 
While the bold chivalry of France 
Becoils before the Norman lance ; 
And muttered oaths reveal their shame. 
As they curse the conqueror's name. 
So distant ages long shall tell 
Of gallant Henry, first to quell 
On his own soil the Frenclunan's pride, 
Where Noyon's field with blood was dyed ; 
And conq'ring England's mighty son 
The spoils and laurell'd trophies won.'* 

The same year, Pope Gelasius died, and was buried at 
Cluny. Then Guy, archbishop of Vienna, was elected 
pope, and took the name of Calixtus. He held a council 
at Kheims, from whence he journeyed to Gisors to meet 
King Henry, and the great pope and great king conferred 
together. Baldwin, count of Flanders, died of Sie woimds 
which he received in Normandy, and was succeeded by his 
kinsman Charies, son of Canute, king of Denmark. 

In the year of our Lord 1120, all his enemies being sub- 
dued, and peace restored in France, King Henry came over 
to England. But in the passage, the king's two sons, 



A.D. 1120-1.] SHIPWRECK OF HENRY I.*S SONS. 249 

William and Eichard, and his daughter and niece, with the 
Earl of Chester, and many nobles, were shipwrecked, be- 
sides the king's butlers, stewards, and bakers, all or most 
of whom were said to have been tainted with the sin of 
sodomy. Behold the terrible vengeance of God ! Sudden 
death swallowed them up unshnven, though there was 
no wind and the sea was calm. Of whom the poet thus 
wrote- — 

" When England's chiefs, with joyous hoasts, 
Exulting BOQght her sea-girt coasts, 
The French chastisM, the Normans quell'd ; 
Homeward their prosperous course they held. 
And o'er the tranquil straits they steer'd, 
While yet no adverse sign appeared ; 
Th' horizon lowering suddenly, 
By the Almighty's stem decree, 
The bark which bore a royal freight 
Was tempest torn ; and, woful fate ! 
Henry's brare sons and daughter fair, 
With England's chiefest, perish'd there, 
(Where now was mirth and rerelry?) 
Engulph'd beneath the raging sea." 

[a.d. 1121.] King Henry spent Christmas at Bramton, 
witii Theobald, coimt de Blois. After that he married at 
Windsor, Alice, daughter of the Duke of Louvain, on account 
of her beauty. At Easter he was at Berkeley ; and at Whit- 
suntide, he and the new queen wore their crowns at Lon- 
don. In the summer, he led an army into Wales, and the 
Welsh came humbly to meet him, and agreed to all which 
his royal pleasure required. At Christmas, such a violent 
wind as has scarcely ever been known not only blew down 
houses, but towers built with masonry. 

An elegy written in praise of the queen's beauty : — 

" Why, royal Alice, does the Muse 
To aid my song of thee refuse 1 
What if thy radiant charms amaze. 
And we, in awe and silence, gaze ! 

*' Not dazzt'd by thy diadem. 
And many a sparkling precious gem^ 
We veil our sight in mute surprise. 
But 'neath the lustre of thy eyes. 



SfiO MBisBS' OE HDNinsRXDoir; [book til 

" All aids' of oBuuBent! ace Kai&'d, 
When cbarmg ara bcighteat uDadom'd ; 
But nature stamp'd her choicest grace 
On thy ikir fonn and beannng- faice. 

" Hhengli poor my lay,.y«t.atill I oiaTef 
Y.Qtt.'ll reckon me ;our hnmblest sUve." 

[a.d. ItSS'.] The year followmg, IQng Heniy spent 
Christmas at Noi-wich, Easter at Northampton, and "Whi*- 
simtide at Windsor.. From, thence ha. went to London and 
into Kent, and afterwards h« mada. a. progress through 
Northumherland to Durham. Thaftr year died Ralph, arch- 
hishop of Canterbury, and Jbhn, bishop of Bath. The 
next year the king spent Christmas at Dunstable, and 
from Uience went to Berkhampstead. There the Almighty 
showed forth his righteouB jcu^uenl& in a remarkable 
manner. There was a certain diancellor of the king's, 
named Ralph, who had laboured irndfer an infirmity of 
body for twenty years, but was constantly in. court, more 
ready for any rogu^y than youngier men, oppressing the 
innocent, and robbing many of their inherifcaiice, while he 
boasted that, though his body was feeble, his mind was 
rigorous. This man, having to entertain the king, was 
conducting him to his house, when, on reaching the summit 
of a hni from which the mansion could be seen, he was so 
elated, that he fell from his horse, and a monk rode over 
him^, so that he received such bruises that he died a few 
days afterwards. What a fall had tids man's pride when 
God willed it ! From thence the king went to Woodstock, 
that delightftil place, which was both a royal residence and 
a preserve of beasts of chase. Robert,, bishop of Lincoln^ 
died while he was there with the king^, whose epitaph runs 
thus : — 

1 Another account relates that it wbb a monk q£ St. Albans, whose lands 
he had unjustly seized. — JRoger qf Wendovar, 

^ Bobert de Bloet, the author's patvMiy already mentioned, see p. 224. 
The circumstances of his death are thus rekted in Henry of Huntingdon's 
Book, " De Contemptu Mundi ;" and nearly in tiie same words in the Saxon 
Chronicle : *' The king was riding in his deer-park, and B.oger, bishop of 
Salisbury, was on one side of him, and Bobert Bioet, bishop of Lincoln, on 
the other ; and they rod& there talking. Then tile Bishop of Lincoln sank 



MJS. I1(S3L] BlfSCAJBfm Off HISBDF SUXBT. 351 

'^ Ihiniortal boneixr and oidiiring- hme 
Peck Ebberf^B, best of Idslu^^. reyerend oame. 
Wealth, imion. rare ! with lowlineae he jein'd,, 
And pow'r with humble^piety combin'tL 
Patient amidirtf tite- advene stroftet of fiite, 
JK jad|[e^ to nnners ev^n, compaasianfllfe.; 
ISb ffock ne^ found him an impnionft lerd, 
Xhey bow'd gnhmiiwye to their fiUhsi/a word; 
Hu purpoae thern^ with sympathizing care,. 
To gfaielcT from eyfl, or their soirows share; 
The tenth of Jttn'iy dos'd titis fiilbs worid^s dreams^ 
And snp faun, wake to 1cntfa'» etenial besmsi" 

Afterwards, at the feast of the Purification, Uie king gscve 
the archbishJopric of Canterbray to William of Curboii, 
prior of Chick ^. During Master, he was at Wrrichester, 
where he gave the bishopric of Lihcohi to Alexander, an 
excellent man, who was nephew to Eoger, biishop of Safis* 
buiy*. Roger waff justiciary of all En^and, and second 
only to the kmg. The king also gave the bishopric of 
B&ib. to Godfrey, the queen's chaplain. About Whitsim- 
trde he crossed Uie sea. Robert, earl of Meflent, had 
revolted from him after a public quarrel; and the king 
besieged and* took his castle of Pont-Audemer. The next 
year, the king had a glorious triumph; for "William de 
Tankerville, his chamberlain, fought a pitched battle with 
the Earl of Mellent,. in which he took prisoners the Earl of 
Mellent and Hugh de Montfbrt, his brother-in-law, and 
Hugh, the son of Gervase,, and delivered them to the king, 
who committed them to close custody. The same year 
died Teulft bishop of Worcester, and Emidf, bishop of 
Rochester. The year following the king was in Normandy, 

down and said to the kia^ ' My loxd king; I am dying- ! ' And the king 
alighted &om his korse^ and took him between, his armSy and bade them bear 
kim to his inn, and he soon lay there dead ; and they took his body with 
mnch pomp to Lincoln and buried him befbre St Mary's altar.*" 

* " St. Ogythe, in Baser, a priory pebuilt A.^. 111? Ibr canons of the An- 
gnstine order, of which these are considerable remains*"^— .Sij^rmfli. 

' So in the text of Henry of Huntingdon, though Ingram says that the 
use of tiiis name (in the Saxon Chronicle) " may appear rather an anticipa- 
ticm of the modem [title of tbej see of SaUsbiuy, wUch waa not tiien in 
cadslsnee, the borough of Old &ivum, or Sares-berie, being ^n the episeo» 
pd scat; but as 'Samm' is a barbarous and unanthorizect conniption of 
'Sorbiodunum ' or ' Sav^wn/ that appdlatini wonid ba equally improper."' 



d5$) HEiiBY OF mfKnsQDov. [book yn. 

and while there he gave the bishopric of Worcester to 
Simeon, the queen's chaplain, and the bishopric of Chi- 
chester to Sifrid, abbot of Glastonbur}'. Moreover, Wil- 
liam, the archbishop, gave the bishopric of Eochester to 
John, his archdeacon. At Easter, John of Crema^, cardinal 
of Home, came into England, and visited all the bishoprics 
and abbeys, not without having many gifts made him. At 
the feast of the nativity of St. Mary he held a synod at 
London. Now as Moses, God's scribe, records in Holy 
Writ the sins as well as the virtues even of his own an- 
cestors, for instance, the incest of Lot, the wickedness of 
Beuben, the treacherous murders of Simeon and Levi, and 
the cruelty of Joseph's brothers, it is fit that I should con- 
form to the true rules of history in speaking of the evil as 
well as the good. If in so doing I shall give offence to any 
Boman, even though he be a prelate, let him hold his 
peace, lest he should be thought to be a disciple of John 
of Crema. This cardinal, who in the coimcil bitterly in- 
veighed against the concubines of priests, saying that it 
was a great scandal that they should rise from ihe side of a 
harlot to make Christ's body, was the same night surprised 
in company with a prostitute, though he had that very day 
consecrated the host. The fact was so notorious that it 
could not be denied, and it is not proper that it should be 
concealed. The high honour with which the cardinal had 
been everywhere received was now converted to disgrace, 
and, by the judgment of God, he turned his steps home- 
wards in confusion and dishonour ^ The same year died 
the Emperor Henry, who was son-in-law of King Henry. 
The severity which the king exercised towards offenders is 
worth mentioning ; for he caused almost all the moneyers 
of England to be mutilated of certain members, and Iheir 
hands to be struck off because they surreptitiously debased 
the coinage. It was the year of greatest scarcity in our 
times ; a horse-load of com was sold for six shillings. This 

> Cremona? Bat there is a town called Crema, in the Bolognese. 

* The cardinal's visitation is mentioned in the Saxon Chronicle, but we 
are indebted to Henry of Huntingdon for the bit of scandal with which hia 
own account of it closes. Our archdeacon evidently enjoys the story, though 
he thought it necessary to introduce it with an apology. 



A.D. 1135-6.] ALEXANDER, BISHOP OF LINCOLN. 253 

year, William, arcljbisliop of Canterbury, and Thurstan, 
archbishop of York, and Alexander, bishop of Lincoln^, 
journeyed to Kome. Bishop ^Alexander's noble hberaUty 
and enduring reputation have been celebrated in heroic 
verse : — 

** niustrions Alexander, thy great name 
Centres not in thyself alone its fiune ; 
Widely difFus'd, thy nobleness of mind 
Sheds its bright lustre over human kind. 
Not for himself of wealth he gathers store ; 
The prelate gathers but to giro the more ; 
Freely he gires, anticipating pray'rs, 
Counting the people's wealth not his, but theirs. 

The glory of his W, his clergy's pride. 
His people's kind director, teacher, guide ; 
His yoke is light, love is with pow'r combin'd. 
And liberty with decent order join'd. 
His doctrines mild are drawn from holy writ. 
His converse seasoned with a modest wit. 
Long may he Lincoln's noble temple grace. 
And higher raise her jproud and ancient race ! " 

[a.d. 1136.] In the twenty-sixth year of his reign, King 
Heniy spent Christmas, Easter, and Whitsuntide in Nor- 
mandy, where he procured the ratification of the covenants 
of his great vassals in a manner befitting so powerful a 
king 2. Ketuming to England, he brought with hun his 
daughter the empress, the widow of the great prince before 
mentioned. Kobert, bishop of Chester ^ now died. The 
year following, the king held his court during Christmas at 
Windsor, from whence he proceeded to London. During 

> To whom Henry of Huntingdon dedicated this History. It is supposed 
that our author accompanied his patron to Bome. 

^ The sense is very obscurely expressed, and there is nothing of the sort 
in the Saxon Chronicle under this year ; but as it appears that the Empress 
Maud had now returned to her father after the emperor's death, Henry of 
Huntingdon probably means that the king obtained from his Norman barons 
an acknowledgment of the fealty due to her as his heir apparent ,* more 
especially as we find him taking the same course with the '' head men of 
England, both clergy and laity," the year following. — See Sax. Chron. 

■ The present bishopric of Chester was one of the new sees founded after 
the Eeformation ; but the seat of the bishopric of Lichfield was remored in 
1075 to Chester, and the bishops of Lichfield, who for a short time sat 
there^ are sometimes styled bishops of Chester. 



254 fiSSNBY OF HT3NTINGB0K [BOOK TU. 

Lent and Easter he was at Woodstedk. While he was 
there he received this meesage : " Charles, earl of ^Flanders, 
your dearest friend, haB heen treacherously assassinated 
hj his ndhles in a ohurch at Bruges ; and the King of 
France has bestowed the earldom of Flanders on your 
nephew and enemy, William; whose .power being esta- 
bhshed he has revenged the death of Charles by subjecting 
his mmrderers to various kinds of torture." Upon hearing 
this the king was in great trouble, and held a council at 
London diuring the !Eogation days; and William, archbishop 
of Canterbiuy, was there also at his vill in Westminster. 
When the long went to Winchester at Whitsuntide, he 
sent his daughter to Normandy, to be married to the son 
of the Earl of Anjou^, and the king himself followed her in 
the month of August. Kichard, bishop of London, having 
died, the king conferred the bishopric on Gilbert, a man of 
universal learning,. iEliohard, bishop of Hereford, also now 
died. 

[a.d. 1128.] Henry, ihe wise king, spent the whole of the 
next year in Normandy, and made a hostile inclusion into 
France, because the French king sypported his nephew and 
enemy. He encan^ped eight days at Epemon as securely 
as if he had been in his own dominions, and compelled 
King Lewis to withdraw his succour from the Earl of 
Flanders. While King Henry abode there he made in- 
quiries oonceming the origin and progress of the reign of 
the Franks ; upon which some one present, who was not 
ill-informed, thus spiled: ''Bread king, the Franks, like 
most European nations, sprung from the Trqjans. For 
Antenor and his followers, becoming fugitives after the fall 
of Troy, founded a city on the borders of Pannonia, called 
Sicambria. After the death of Antenor, these people set 
up two of their chiefs as governors, whose names were 
Turgot and Franction, from whom the Franks derived 
iheir name. After their deaths, Marcomirus was elected; 
he was the father of Pharamond, the first king of the 
Franks. King Pharamond was the fetther of Clovis the 
Long-hairecl, from whence the Frank kings were called 

' The EmpKfB ttatilda now oontinoted a weoBd mwriage with Ckoffirey^ 
eldest ion of Fulk, count of .Adjinl 



iuD. 1128.] THE JONGS OF THE FBiOIXS. S55 

'long-haired.' On Hhe death of GloVis he uras eucoeeded 
by Merove, from -whom the Frank kings iwece called Me- 
^rovingiatnB. Meco^e begat Childaric; Ghilderic, Glovis, 
who -was baptized bj 6t Beimi ; Clovis, 'Ckrihaire ; Clo- 
rthaire, Chilpeiic; Ohilpenic, Olothaire 11.^ Glothaire XL 
begat Dagobert, a king of great renown and much beloved ; 
Dagobert begat Olovis [11.] ; CloTig had ti^ee sons by his 
pious queen Bathilde, viz. Ciothaire, Ghildeiic, and Theo- 
done; T^Citig Theodoiic begat CSuldebert.; Childebert, Da- 
gobert [II. ?] ; Dagdbert, Theodoric [II. ?] ; Theodoric, 
C/lothaire [III. ?], the last king of this line. Hilderic, the 
next king, xeoeived the tooasnre, and was shut up. in a 
monastery. In another line, Osbert was the fatiier of 
Arnold, by a daughter of "Kmg Olothaire ; Arnold begat St. 
Amulf, who was afterwards bishop of Mete ; St. Amulf, 
Anchises ; Anchises, Pepin, liie mayor of the palace ; Pepin, 
Charles Martel; Charles, King Pepin ; King Pepin, Charles 
the Great, the emperor, a bright star, "Which eclipsed the 
lustre of all his predecessors and all his posterity ; Charles 
begat Lewis the emperor ; Lewis the emperor, Charles the 
Bald ; Charles, King Lewis, father of Oiarles the Simple ; 
Charles the Simple, Lewis [11.]; Lewis, Lothaire; Lo- 
thaire, Lewis, the last king of ^s line. On the death of 
Lewis, the Frank nobles chose for their king, Hugh, who 
was son of Hu^ the Great. Hugh begat the pious King 
Kobert. Kobert had three sons, Hugh, the beloved duke ; 
Henry, a most clemexvt king.; and Eobert, duke of Bur- 
gundy. Henry begat King Philip, who ultimately •become 
A monk, and Hugh the Great, who in the holy wars joined 
Ihe other princes of Europe, and rescued Jerusalem from 
the Infidels, in the year of our Lord 1095. Philip was the 
father of Lewis, the kii^g at present xmgning. If he trod 
in the footsteps of his warlike ancestors, you, king, would 
not now be so safe within his dominions." After this. King 
Heniy withdrew into Normandy, And now, by the king!s 
mtrigues, a certain duke .named Theodoric^ came &om out 
of Germany, having n/vith him some Flemish nobles, and 
set vup false pretensions to the possession <of Flanders. 
Willitun, the earl of Flanders, assembled troops, and 

^ Landgraye of AlBwe. 



266 HENRY OF HUNTINGDON. [bOOK VII 

mai'ched to oppose him. The battle was fought with great 
bravery. Earl William supplied his inferiority in numbers 
by his irresistible valour. His armour aU stained with the 
enemy's blood, his flaming sword hewed down the hostile 
ranks ; and, imable to withstand the terrible force of his 
youthful arm, they fled in consternation. The victorious 
earl shut up the enemy in their camp S which would have 
been surrendered on the morrow, but he received a slight 
wound in the hand, of which, by the will of God, he died, 
just as he had completed the destruction of the invaders. 
The noble youth, short as his life was, earned immortal 
renown ; the poet Walo thus speaks of him : — 

" Let stars a bright star, from its orbit tom^ 
And Deities, a god-like hero mourn ! 
Can they be mortal] See the Qod of war, 
A prodigy, fall lifeless from his car. 
'T is one, at least, diTinity inspires, 
Filling his manly soul with martial fires. 
Dauntless he turns to flight from no attack ; 
No winged arrows pierce him in the back ; 
Onward he rushes with the storm of war, 
His foes, with wonder startled from afior, 
As from the clouds receive the coming crash, 
Himself the thunder's bolt, the lightning's flash. 

In Normandy his infuit cradle stood. 

And Flanders raised his tomb beside her oozy flood ,* 

One saw him rise in smiles, the other set in blood." 

The same year, Hugh Paganus, master of the order of 
the Knights Templars of Jerusalem, visited England. On 
his retmn he was accompanied by many nobles, among 
whom was Geoffrey ^ duke [cotmt] of Anjou, afterwards 
king of Jerusalem. Randulph Flambard, bishop of Dur- 
ham, and WilUam Giffiard, bishop of Winchester, died the 
same year. 

' The Saxon Chronicle is silent as to the Gferman invasion, but says that 
the earl died in war with his uncle King Henry, being wounded in battle by 
a servant, of which he died, after being received at the monastery of St. 
Bertin, where he became a monk four days before his death. Eoger of 
Wendover agrees with Henry of Huntingdon, only that he says the earl waa 
besieging Eu against King Henry when he was wounded and died. 

' It was Fuik, count of Anjou, who took the cross and went to Jerusa- 
lem, relinquishing his county to his son Geoffirey, who married the Empress 
Maud, 



A.D. 1 129.] REIGN OF HENRY I. . 267 

The year following [a.d. 1129], Lewis, king of France, 
raised his son Philip to the throne ; and King Henry re- 
turned with joy to England, leaving all things in tranquil- 
lity in France, Flanders, Normandy, Brittany, Maine, and 
Anjou. He then held a great council at London on the 
first of August regarding Sie prohibition of priests having 
concubines ^ There were present at this council William, 
archbishop of Canterbmy, and Thurston, archbishop of 
York, Alexander, bishop of Lincoln, Koger, bishop of Salis- 
bury, Gilbert, bishop of London, John, bishop of Rochester, 
Sigefrid, bishop of Sussex [Chichester], Godfrey, of Bath, 
Simon, of Worcester, Everard, of Norwich, Bernard, of 
St. David's, and Hervey, the first bishop of Ely. The sees 
of Winchester, Durham, Chester, and Hereford were vacant. 
The bishops were the pillars of the State, and bright beams of 
sanctity at that time. But the king deceived them through 
the simplicity of William, the archbishop, inasmuch as 
they gave the king jurisdiction in the matter of priests* 
concubines ; imprudently as it afterwards appeared, when 
the aflfair ended disgracefiilly. ' For the king received large 
sums of money from the priests for licence to live as before. 
Then, when it was too late, the bishops repented of the 
concessions they had made, it being apparent to all that 
they had been deceived, and had subjected the clergy to 
exactions. The same year those who had followed Hugh 
Paganus to Jerusalem, as before mentioned, met with a 
serious disaster. For the new settlers of the Holy Land 
had offended the Almighty by their lust and robberie^, and 
all kinds of wickedness. But as it Is written in Moses and 
the Book of Kings, " Their wickedness in those places shall 
not long remain impunished," on the eve of St. Nicholas a 
large body of the Christians were overcome by a very few of 
the imbelievers, contrary to what generally occinred. During 
the siege of Damascus, when the greatest part of the Chris- 
tian army had marched out to collect provisions, the Lifidels 
were astonished at seeing those who were so numerous and 
brave take to flight at their approach. They pursued and 
slaughtered great numbers of them, and those who escaped 
the sword, and sought refuge in the mountains, suffered 

> See note before^ page 241. 



258 hbnb;y op HUKnoffiuoN. [book vn. 

ao severely from a snow storm and exoessive cold, the 
iastruments of Providence, that scarceJj any oiia suttivckL 
It happened also the same year that the son of PhiHp^. 
king of France, who had been crowned king as ahrea^ 
mentioned, when riding out for sport, hia borse'& feet stuon^ 
hling over a boar he met wim, he was. thrown to Use- 
ground, and, breaking his neck, died on the spot. What & 
sad, singular, and wonderful casually! In what a little 
moment, and by how trivial an accident, was such great 
majieaty brought to its end ! 

[a.1). 1130.] In thj© tlurtielii yeair of his reign. King 
Henry was at Winchester durLog Chrisimas, and during 
Easter at Woodstock, where Geoffirey de Clinton was 
acraigned on a false charge of treason i^ainst the king. 
At the Bogations he went to Canterbury, to be present at 
Hie consecration of the new c^edral church. At the feast 
of St. Michael he onoBsed over to Normaady. The aonae. 
year Pope Hononu& deceased. The year following thd 
king entertained Pope Innocent at Cbairtres^ refusing to 
acknowledge Anadete. These pop<e& were chosen by con- 
tending parties at Borne ; but Innocent having been expelled 
frora tibe city by the violence of Anaclete, who before waa 
called Peter of Lew«s, waa, by the influence of Bang Henry,, 
acknowledged by all the States of Franca After liiat, ia 
the summer, he returned to England, bringing his daoi^t^ 
with him. There was then held, on the feast of the Na- 
tivity of the Blessed Yirgin, a great council at Koriham^n, 
in which were asaembiled all the great men of Bngland, and 
(m deliberation, it was determined that the king's daughter 
should be restored to her husband, the Count of Anjou, as. 
he demanded. She was ai^cordingly sent, aod received, 
with, the pomp due to so great a. prineesg. After Easter 
died. Beguiald, abbot of Bamsey, the founder of the new 
church Qiere, In the beginning of winter died Hervey, 
first bishop of Ely. The year following the king waa at 
Dunstable during Christmas, and at Woodstock during 
Easter* After that, there was a great plea at London^ 
where, among other matters, the main subject was the 
dispute, between the Bishop of Bt Baivid's said the BishDp' 
of Glamorgan^ respecting the boundaries of their dioceses. 
1 UudsdS^ 



A.I>. Il'S^i] mSATH OF HEKBCT' I. ^f^ 

BalcTwin, king of Jerusalem, died, ancE was succeeded by 
G^eoffrey^. 

In the thirty- third year of his reign King Henry, dur- 
ing Christmas, lay sick at Windsor. In the end of Lent 
there was a meeting at London respecting the Bii^ops 
of St. D^avid's and Glamorgan*, and also the contention 
Between the Archbishop of York and the Bi^op of Lin- 
coln. The king spent iEaster in the New Hall at Oxford' ; 
and at the Rogations there was another meeting at Win- 
chester about &e above matters. After Whitsuntide tiie 
king gave the bishopric of Ely to Nigel, and the bishopric^ 
of Durham to God&ey the Chameellor, Thfi king also 
erected a new bishopric at CarMsie'*, and tJien he crossed 
over the sea. There was an eclipse of the sun on the 10th 
of August. The year following King Henry remained in 
Normandy, by reason of his gsreat delight in his grand- 
children, bom of his daughter by tiie Cotuott of Anjou. 
Gilbert, bishop of London, and th« Bishop of Llandajffdied 
this year on their way to Borne, respecting their cause sa 
long pending. This year, also, Archbishop William, and 
Alexander, bishop of Lineoln^ went OT€£r the sea to the- 
king, on the controv^^iiiere was between them respecting; 
certain customs of their dioceses. 

In his thirty-fifth year King Henry still continued in 
Normandy, though he often proposed to return to England, 
an intention which was never fulfilled.. His daughter 
detained him on accoimt of sundry disagreements, which 
had their origin in various causes, between the king and 
the Count of Anjou, and which were fomented by the arts: 
of his daughter. These disputes irritated the king, and 
roused an ill feeling, which some have said resulted in a 
natural torpor, which was the cause of his death. For, re- 
turning from hunting at St.Denys in the "Wood of Lions," 
he partook of some lampreys, of which he was fond, though 
they always disagreed with him ; and though his physician 
recommended him to abstain, the king would not submit 
to his salutary advice ; according to what is written : — 
*' Men striye 'gainst rnles, and seek forbidden things." 

1 Fulk 'i see note, p. 256. « Llandaff. 

^ The Saxon Chronicle does not mention the foundation of this bishopric. 
Ethelwnlf^ prior of St. Oswalds, the king's confessor, was the first bishop. 

S 2 



260 HENRY OF HUNTINGDON. [BOOK Vn, 

This repast bringing on ill hvimours, and violently exciting 
similar symptoms, caused a sudden and extreme disturb- 
ance, vmder which his aged frame sunk into a deathly 
torpor ; in the reaction against which. Nature in her strug- 
gles produced an acute fever, while endeavouring to throw 
off the oppressive load. But when all power of resistance 
failed, this great king died on the first day of December 
[1135], after a reign of thirty-five years and three months. 
And now, with the end of so great a king, I propose to end 
the present Book, entreating tlie Muse to furnish such a 
memorial of him as he deserved : — 

Hark ! how unnumbered tongues lament 
HsNBT> the wide world's ornament. 
Olympus echoes back the groan^ 
And Gods themselves his fate bemoan. 
Imperial Jove from his right hand 
Might take the sceptre of conmiand ; 
Mercury borrow winged words, 
Mars share with him the clash of swords 
Alddes' strength, Minerva's wit, 
Apollo's wisdom, him befit : 
Form'd like the Deities to shine. 
He shar'd their attributes divine. 
England, his cradle and his throne, 
.Mourns, in his glory lost, her own ; 
Her great duke, weeping, Normandy 
Saw in her bosom lifeless lie. 



A.D.1185.] CHAEACTEB OF -HENRY I. 261 



BOOK Villi 

On the death of the great King Henry, his chai'acter was 
freely canvassed by the people, as is usual after men are 
dead. Some contended that he was eminently distinguished 
for three brilliant gifts. These were, great sagacity, for 
his counsels were profound, his foresight keen, and his 
eloquence comman^g ; success in war, for, besides other 
splendid achievements, he was victorious over the king 
of France ; and wealth, in which he far surpassed all his 
predecessors. Others, however, taking a different view^, 
attributed to him three gross vices: avarice, as, though 
his wealth was great, in imitation of his progenitors he 
impoverished the people by taxes and exactions, entangling 
them in the toils of informers ; cruelty, in that he plucked 
out the eyes of his kinsman, the Earl of Morton, in his 
captivity, though the horrid deed was unknown until death 
revealed the king's secrets : and they mentioned other in- 
stances of which I will say nothing ; and w^antonness, for, 

^ This Book of Huntingdon's History has been collated for the purpose of 
the present translation, with two MSS., from which a number of corrections 
of Savile's text, besides those mentioned in the notes, and several additions, 
have been made. In Savile's arrangement, which has been followed, it 
forms the eighth Book ; but in the order of the two MSS. the lenth ; two 
others being inserted before it, and forming the eighth and ninth. See the Oh- 
tervaiions in the Pr^ace. 

^ The Royal MS. differs here from the Arundel MS. and Savile's printed 
text. After '* others taking a different view," it reads as follows : — 

" For their poisoned minds led them to humiliate him, [and they alleged 
that his extreme avarice induced him to oppress the people with taxes and 
exactions, entangling them in the toils of informers.] But those who asserted 
this did not recollect, that although his character was such that it struck 
terror into all his neighbours, yet this very affluence contributed, in no small 
degree^ to make him formidable to his enemies ; and that he governed his 
sea-girt territories in great peace and prosperity, so that every man's house 
was his castle. [Thus men's opinions were divided.]" 

In the Royal MS. the portions in brackets are crossed through in red, and 
there is the following note in the margin : " This is borrowed from Horace 
in his Epistles, who calls the secret robbery of the poor a low poison." 



d^ HEHE7 ioc maimmaxfs, [book roL 

like Solomon, he was perpetually enslaved by female seduc- 
tions. Such remarks were freely bruited abroad. But in 
the troublesome times which succeeded from the atrocities 
of the Normans, whatever King Henry had done, either 
despotically, or in the regular exercise of his royal autho- 
rity, appeared in compavison most excellent. 

For in all haste came Stephen, the youngest brother of 
Theobald, oount de Blois, a resolute and audacious man, 
^ho, disregarding his oath of fealty to King Henry's daugh- 
ter, tempted God by seizing the crown of England with 
ihe boldness and eJ&ontery belonging to his character. 
WilHam [CorboH], archbishop of Canterbury, who had 
been the ^st to swear alle^ance to ithe late king^s daugh- 
ter, consecrated, alas ! the new king^ ; wherefore, the Lord 
visited him with the same judgment which he had inflicted 
on him who struck Jeremiah, the great priest: he died 
witiiin a year. Boger, also, the powerful »ishop of Salis- 
bury, who had taken a similar oath, and .persuaded otheK 
to do the same, eonirib¥ited all in his .power to raise 
Stephen to the throne. He, too, by the just judgment of 
God, was afterwards thrown into prison, and miserably 
^L^cted by the very king he had assisted to make, m 
«hort, all the earls and great barons who had thus sworn 
fealty, transferred their allegiance to Stephen, and did him 
homage. It was a bad sign, lliat liie whole of England 
should so quickly, without nesitation or straggle, as it were 
on the twinkling of an eye, isubmit to Stephen. After Im 
Doronatiofla, he held his eoust at London. 

Meanwhile, the temaisis of King lB.mty hsjTfS^ anburied 
.in Normandy; for he died on the Iflt x>f December, 
[a.d. 1135.] His coipse was carried to Bouen, where his 
^wels, with Ills brain and eyes, were deposited. The body 
being slashed by kniines, ^aiad oopieiisfy sjadiikkd <mth salt» 
was sown up in ok hides to prevent tihe ill effluvia, whitsh 
so tainted liie air as to be pestilential to the bystanders. 
J)ven the man who was hired by a large xseward to sever 

' Henry of Huntiagdoii omits to notice tbe debates v/hi^ took place 
amoog the>great ecclesiastics respecting tlie validity of Ste|>hen''8, pretensions 
and the propriety of crowning him, which are relate in the " Acts of Ste- 
phen : " see them under the year 11^6. 



A.I).11S5.] EH^ B^XPHEn's A6CBSBI0N. fHS3 

Ihe head wiili ten ase fmd extract the bmn, ^whidi itm very 
o£BBn9ive, died in conseqoence, fdtheugh he t^ore a dsiijk 
linen veil; so that his -wages were deadly earned. [He 
1793 the last of that great multitade Ktng Henry slew.^] 
The coipse being then cazried to Caen, was deposited in 
Ihe ohfircih where his father was inteired.; btrt notwi& 
standing ihe quamtaty of salt whieh had heexi used, and the 
folds of skins in which it was wrapped, bo much foul lEwefcter 
4W(5ntinually exuded, that it was caught in vessefe placed 
imder the bier, in emptying wMch the attendants were 
a£^eted with Itorror and famtdngs. Observe, then, readar, 
how the corpse of thss mighty king, whose head was 
etow&ed wilh a dkidem of precious jewels, sparkling with a 
t«pightness almost diyine, who held glittering sceptres in 
l)otibL his hands, the rest 6f whose hodj was robed in cloth 
of gold, whose palate nvas gratified by sixch deHcious and 
exquisite viands, whom ail men bowed down to, all men 
feared, congrattdated, and admired ; observe, I say, what 
'h(HTible decay, to what a ^loathsome state, his body was 
redueed ! Mark how things end, from whidi only a true 
judgment can be formed, and learn to despise what iso 
j^rishes and comes to nothing! At last, the royal remains 
were brought over to Enghmd, and interred, wi&in twelve 
days of Christmas, in tite abbey at Reading, which King 
Henry had founded and ridily endowed. There, 32ing 
Stephen, after holding his court at London durin g €hrist- 
mas, came to meet 3ie body of his uncle, and WiBiam, 
archbishop of Canterbury, witli many earls and great men, 
buried Kmg Henaty with the honours due to so great a 
prince. 

From thex^e ihe king went to Oxford, whtere he recorded 
wad ratified the trolemn promises whidi he Ixad made to 
C^od and the people, and to holy church, on the day of his 
•tortmation®. They were these: — First, he vowed that he 
would never retain in his own hands the churches of 
'deceased bishops, but forthwith consenting to a canonical'® 

' XhiB seatenoe a* ^onUted ki tke Royal 3IS.; l»iit it is found in the 
J^aro&del MS., «nd occsrs im lUiger de WiadoYet. 

^ The obarter ib gitea. in WUUam of Halaaesburj'a Modem fiiatory. fltt 
p. 493 of the tcaasktion in '* Bohn's AiitiqpAriaa Jjabtary.'' 

' The Boyal MS. omito << canonical" 



264 HENBT OF HUNTINGDON. [BOOK VUI. 

election, would invest those "who were chosen. Secondly, 
that he would not lay hands on the woods either of clerks 
or laymen, as King Henry had done, who continually im- 
pleaded those who took venison in their own woods, or 
felled or diminished them to supply their own wants. 
This kind of pleading was carried to so execrable a length, 
that if the king's supervisors set eye from a distance on a 
wood belonging to any one whom they thought to be a 
moneyed man, they forthwith reported that there was waste, 
whether it was so or not, that the owner might have to 
redeem it, though the charge was groundless. Thirdly, 
the king promised that the Dane-gelt, that is two shillings 
for a hide of land, which his predecessors had received 
yearly, should be given up for ever. These were the prin- 
cipal things which, among others, he promised in the pre 
sence of God ; but he kept none of them. 

Stephen, coming in the first year of his reign to Oxford, 
received intelligence that the king of the Scots, pretending 
to pay him a friendly visit, had marched to Carlisle, and 
taken Newcastle by stratagem. The king replied to the 
messenger, ** What he has gained by stratagem I will com- 
pel him to yield." King Stephen, therefore, immediately 
assembled one of the greatest armies levied in England 
within the memory of man, and led it against King David ^ 
They met at Durham, where the king of the Scots came to 
terms, surrendering Newcastle, but retaining Carlisle by 
permission of Stephen ; and King David did not do ho- 
mage to King Stephen, because he had been the first of 
all the laymen to swear fealty to the late king's daughter, 
who was his own niece, acknowledging her queen of Eng- 
land after her father's death. But Henry, King David's son, 
did homage to Stephen, and that king gave him in addition 
the town [and earldom] of Himtingdon. King Stephen 
returning from the north, held his court during Easter at 
London, in a more splendid manner than had ever been 
before known, both for the number of attendants, and the 

' Henry of Huntingdon does not notice an expedition of Stephen's against 
some insurgents in the neighbourhood of London in the first days of his 
reign, nor one under his brother Baldwin, into Wales, where disturbances 
arose after the death of Henry I. — See the Acts of King Stephen, 



A.D. 1186.] SIEGE OF EXETEB. 265 

magnificent display of gold, silver, jewels, costly robes, and 
everything that was sumptuous. At Eogation days it was 
reported that the king was dead; upon hearing which 
Hugh Bigod seized Norwich Castle, nor would he sur- 
render it except to the king in person, and then very 
reluctantly. Breach of fealty and treason now began to 
spread rapidly among the Normans. The king took the 
castle of Bathenton ', which belonged to one Robert, a rebel. 
Then he laid siege to Exeter, which was shut against him 
by Baldwin de Rivers, who held out a long time, till the 
king had constructed machines for the assault, and expended 
much treasure. Then, at last, the castle was surrendered; 
but being ill advised, he permitted the rebels to go without 
punishment, whereas if he had inflicted it, so many castles 
would not have been afterw£u*ds held against him. From 
thence the king went to the Isle of Wight, which he took 
from this Baldwin de Rivers, whom he banished from Eng- 
land-. Elated by these successes, the king went to himt at 
Brampton, which is about a mile distant from Huntingdon'*, 
and there he held pleas of the forests with his barons, that 
is, concerning their woods and himting, in violation of his 
promise and vow to God and the people. 

In the second year of his reign, King Stephen spent 
Christmas at Dimstable, and in Lent he saoled over to Nor- 
mandy*. Alexander, bishop of Lincoln, and many nobles 

' Eo^ral MS., Bachentune ; Anindel MS., Bakentune. In the translation 
of Roger of Wendover, in " Bohn'a Antiquarian Library," this place is 
named '' Badington.'* There is a full account of Robert the Rebel and the 
siege of his castle of " Bathenton," in the " Gksta Stephani/' in a subsequent 
part of the present Yolume. Dr. Sewell calls it Bath. That city certainly 
lay in Stephen's road to Exeter, and one of its suburbs still retains a similar 
name, Bathampton : but it is to be observed that the author of " C^esta 
Stephani," who subsequently gives a particular account of Bath, and of 
transactions there, invariably calls it Batta, and, as it appears to me, entirely 
disconnects Robert de Bathenton from Bath. 

3 The " Acts of Stephen'' contains a circumstantial account of the siege 
of Exeter and other transactions in the west of England. 

' MS. Arundel, " Branton."- We probably owe this local reference to 
Henry's connection with Huntingdon. 

* The Saxon Chronicle; Malmesbury, and Roger of Wendover, notice this 
expedition to Normandy ; but there is no account of it in the '' Acts of 
King Stephen." 



W6 HBmstT or BmrmnssoN. Ibqchk txd. 

<ei!osaed indth iiim. Tivere the king, ftcfm Ibb experience in 
'mwr, sucoeedad in all he undertook, defeated the seheoieB ' 
>of ibis eneraies, reduced iheir castles, «nd obtained the 
highest gloiy. He sasfde ^^eace with tiie king of the 
Frendi, to whom his soaa Ihifltace did honuige for Nor- 
msas4y, which is « fief of the Erench cxown. The Oacmet 
of Anjou vms his mortal enemy, for he had nasnied King 
Hemy's daughter, \oho had Ib^een empress of Germany, find 
had received joaftis of fealty for the kingdom 'of England; 
80 ihat the hosband and ^vnfe laid claims to the crown. 
But seeing that at present he could not make bead again^ 
King Stephen, on account of his nusoierous 1&>rces, and of 
the abundance of money fotmd in tihe tr^asmy of the late 
king, which stJli remamed, the Count of Anjou came to 
terms with King St^hen^. Thus successful, the king 
xetamed to Englaiid in tnumph on the very eve of Ghri^- 
mas. These two £rst years of King Stephien's xeign -weVB 
completely prosperous ; for the next ^^ear, of ^which I have 
now to speak, his fortunes were moderate and tfitfol ; for 
the two last, they were ruined and desperate. 

Ia.i>. 11S8.] King Stephen in theihird year of his reign, 
wi^ his usual activity, flew to Bedford, and, sitting down 
before it on Christmas eve, pressed the siege dttcring the 
whole festival, which was displeasing to ^od, isasmnch 
«s it made that holy season of little orno aecdunt. Afier 
the surrender of Bedford, King Stephen led his army into 
Scotland, for King David, in consequence of the oath which 
he had taken to King Henry's daughter, and under colour 
of religion, caused his followers to deal most barbarously 
vdth ^ English. They ripped open pr^nant women, 
tossed childmi ^etn the points of their spears, butchered 
priests at the altars, and, cuttmg off the heads from the 
images on crucifixes, placed them on ^e bodies of &e 
slain, while in exchange, they fixed on the crucifixes the 
heads of their victims. Wherever the Scots came, there 
was the same scene of horror and eraehy ; wom^en shriek- 
ing, old mem lamenting, amid {he groans of the dying 

' fltepliflii cmuMnted to pny 5900 bmiIdi a year to tk» Cwnt of Anjon; 
•ti:f«eiiig at tke «aiie time to allow ^000 naikB aiunnUy to his own elder 
brother Theobald^ oount de BloU. 



1..D.1138.] THE BASONS Bovm^s. S67 

snd the despair of tbe lining, King Stephen, therefore, 
making an irruptkm into Soodand, earned fire and sword 
Ihrough the soiiEdiem part of the dominioBS <^ King David, 
^ho was uxnahle to oppose him. After Easter the treason 
sof the English nobles huaast forth with great furf. Talbot, 
one cf the rebds, held Bierelord Gastibe in Wales against Ihe 
Idbg, which, however, the king besieged und took. Bobert, 
:ihe earl [of Gloucester], bastaid son of King Henry, mam- 
tained himself in the strongly ibrtified ea^e of Eiistol, 
^Bi^ in ihxA, of Leeds. William Lovell^ held Castle-Oaiy ; 
Baganus held Ltidiow Castle ; William de Mah13n^ Bnnster 
<3astle ; Bobert de Nkhole, WarehamOastle ; Eustace Fitz- 
John held Melton; and William Fitz-Alan, Bhrewsbmy 
<3asile; which last the king stormed, and himg some of 
ihe pmoners; «^cibl hearing which Walkeline, who held 
.Dover Oskstle, sarraidened it to the qneen, who was besieging 
it. While the long was thus engaged in the aotuth, David 
of Scotland led an immense army iitto the north of 
^England, against which :the nortfaeni nobles, at the exiskor- 
tation and nnder the command of Thurstan, ardibishop of 
York, made a resdlute stand. The royal standard was 
planted at Alverton^ and as the aatthbo^Kiep was preraented 
by illness from being present at the battle, he commissioned 
Balph, bishop of Duzham^ to fill his place, who, standix^ 
ie»n an eminence in the centre €f the acmy, romsed their 
comage with words to this effeet : — 

*' Brave nobles of Eng^d, Normans by birfli ; for it is 
well thait on ihe «v« of battle you should call to mind who 
you are, an^d from whom you are sprung: no one ever 
withstxKid you with success. GraUant France fell beneath 
your arms; fertile England you subdtied; rich Apulia 

1 Arundel KS., " ^\pk LvreV* ^ " MoiHn," Anmddl Ma 

' Allerton. This fiunons htdthb of the Standard is also folly ^escidbed by 
Itoger of Wendoyer. See also William of Newbuiy and Trivet ; but the 
HS. of the ** 6esta Stephanie" after relating the irmption mto Norditimber- 
land^ becomes imperfect just in this place. 

* Beth the MS8. which I hwre eonsnltad tsoncor widi Savife's printed 
^estmtbeiiHUliiig e£ ''Oecadntt;" but as Jiteger of Wendofer oalk Salph 
^isho^ of Jhtrham, and he was etidestly a suffingan of the Archbishop of 
York, I have ad^ted that nadidf . Pethoys the iMshofs of Duhun had 
jurisdiction in the Orkneys 1 



268 HENRY OF HUNTINGDON. [BOOK VIII. 

flourished again under your auspices ; Jerusalem, renowned 
in story, and the noble Antioch, both submitted to you. * 
Now, however, Scotland which was your own rightly, has 
taken you at disadvantage, her rashness more fitting a 
skirmish than a battle. Her people have neither military 
skill, nor order in fighting, nor self command. There is, 
therefore, no reason for fear, whatever there may be for 
indignation, at finding those whom we have hitherto sought 
and conquered in their own country, madly reversing the 
order, making an irruption into ours. But tliat which I, a 
bishop, and by divine permission, standing here as the 
representative of our archbishop, tell you, is this: that 
those who in this land have violated the temples of the 
Lord, polluted his altars, slain his priests, and spared 
neither children nor women with child, shall on this same 
soil receive condign punishment for their crimes. This 
most just fulfilment of his will God shall this day accom- 
plish by our hands. Rouse yourselves, then, gallant soldiers, 
and bear down on an accursed enemy with the courage of 
your race, and in the presence of God. . Let not their 
impetuosity shake you, since the many tokens of our 
valour do not deter them. They do not cover themselves 
with armour^ in war; you are in the constant practice of 
arms in times of peace, that you may be at no loss in the 
chances of the day of battle. Your head is covered with 
the helmet, your breast with a coat of mail, your legs with 
greaves, and your whole body with the shield. Where can 
file enemy strike you when he finds you sheathed in steel ? 
What have we to fear in attacking the naked bodies of men 
who know not the use of aimour ? Is it their numbers ? 
It is not so much the multitude of a host, as the valour of 
a few, which is decisive. Numbers, without discipline, are 
an hindrance to success in the attack, and to retreat in 
defeat. Your^ ancestors were often victorious when they 
were but a few against many. What, then, does the renown 

1 " Nesciunt armare se ; " and just afterwards the historian calls them 
"nudos et inermes !" Not that they went to battle unarmed, as the passage 
has been rendered, but the rank and file of the Scots used no defensiye ar< 
mour, and perhaps, like their posterity, they only wore the kilt. 

* Arundel MS., "our." 



A.D 1138.] BATTLE OF THE STANDARD. 269 

of your fathers, your practice of arms, your military disci- 
pline avail, unless they make you, few though you are in 
numbers, invincible against the enemy's hosts? But I 
close my discourse, as I perceive them rushing on, and I am 
delighted to see that they are advancing in disorder. Now, 
then, if any of you who this day are called to avenge the 
atrocities committed in the houses of God, against the 
priests of the Lord, and his little flock, should fall in the 
battle, I, in the name of your archbishop, absolve them 
from all spot of sin, in the name of the Father, whose crea- 
tures the foe hath foully and horribly slain, and of the Son, 
whose altars they have defiled, and of the Holy Ghost, 
from whose grace they have desperately fallen." 

Then all the EngUsh replied with a shout, and the 
mountains and hills re-echoed, " Amen ! Amen!" At the 
same moment the Scots raised their country's war-cry, 
"Alban ! Alban!'* till it reached the clouds. The sounds 
were drowned amid the crash of arms. In the first onset 
the men of Lothian, to whom the king of the Scots had 
reluctantly granted the honour of striking the first blow, 
bore down on the mailed English knights with a cloud of 
darts and their long spears, but Ihey found their ranks 
impenetrable as a wall of steel ; while the archers mingled 
witiii the knights, pierced the unarmed Scots with a cloud 
of an'ows. The whole army of English and Normans 
stood fast round The Standard^ in one solid body. Then 
the chief of the men of Lothian fell, pierced by an arrow, 
and all his followers were put to flight. For the Almighty 
was offended at them, and their strength was rent like a 
cobweb. Perceiving this, the main body of the Scots, which 
was fighting bravely in another quarter, lost courage, and 
retreated also. King David's chosen body of soldiers also, 
which he had selected from various tribes, when they saw 
this, began to flee, first singly, and then in troops, imtil the 
king stood almost alone ; upon which his friends compelled 
him to moimt a horse and escape. But his brave son, 
heedless of what his coimtrymen were doing, and inspired 
only by his ardour for the fight and for glory, made a fierce 

> Ftcm which thi« battle vat called •' The Battle of the Standard." 



^7Q BMSXS OF BUITEniOlMIK; [booh YUL 

attack, with the vemnant of the fagi-tives, on the aiemy-sp 
ranks. The hoSrf under his ovn onmDAiid, eomposed oi 
English and I^om^ns aittached to his fether's household, 
had retamad their horses. But Ihis hodj of eavahj could h3r 
no means make asnj imptession agamst men sheared in 
armoTxr, and fighting on ibet in a cIosB' cohnnn ; so that 
&ey were eonq^led to retire with womMibd horses an^ 
shattered^ lanees, after a hrSOliant hnt unsutccessftd attadt. 
It is reported that 11,060 of the Sects fell on the fbeM 
of hatde, besides, those who wore ibund in the woods 
and com-£elds, and there slain. Our army gained ths». 
victory with very little effusion of Mood. Its leaders w&m 
William Peperel, of Nofctingham, Walter Espec,. and Gilbert 
de Lacy, whose brother was liie only kn%ht slain. When 
the issue of the batd® was reported to King Stephen, he 
and all who were wiih him oiered solemn thanks t» 
Almighty God. It was fonght in the month oi Augixst 
During Advent, Alberie, the pope's legate, and Bishop of 
Ostia, held a synod at Lendion, in which Theobald, abbot 
of Bee, was made Archbishop of Canterbniy, with the con- 
currence of King Stephen*. 

In the fburth jear of his reign, when Clmsfanas was past; 
King Stephen besieged and took Leeds Castle ; aHleridaeh 
he went into Seodand, and by fire and swerd comp^ed 
the king of tj^ Scots to come to term% and brou^t awa^ 
to England his son Henry. Be then besieged Ludlow, 
where this Henry was dragged fiom his horse by an ire© 
hook, and neaiiy taken prisoner, hut was gaUiantiy rescued 
firom the en^my by King Stephen?. As soon as^ the castle 
surreadered' he went to Oxford, i^ere he perpetrated a 
deed of great infamy and out of all precedent. For, after 
receiving amicably Roger, bishop of Salisbury; and hm 
nephew Alexander; bishop of Lincoln, he violently arrested 
them m his own palace, ^ough they refused nothing whieh 
jiistice demanded, and earnestly appealed to it. The king 

^ Savile's text has " sbortened,*^ but both the MSS. collated for contracti$ 
lead cenfracti^, ahsfetered. 

' See the *' Acta, of King Bt^faen/' fat a loog aeceunt of ttBOsaotiofHEm 
the -west of England this year, not even referred to by Huntingdon. 

^ Savile's text haa it, '* le impeifoct^" but, lua t'lw^T**^ reiuding and both 
the HSS. collated have ''perfeeta." 



JU>. 1139.] STEFOEN IMFBIS0I7S THK BISHOPS. 271 

ijasGw Bishop Alexftuder into piisoa* amd carried the Bislu^ 
of Salisboxy witk huaa to his own caslie ol Denizes, one ot 
the moat stately m all Europe. ThfiOKt hst tomieaiiied him. 
by starvation, and put to the tortuxe his son, the king's 
chancellor S who had a rope fastened round his neck, and 
uras led to the gallows^ Thus he. extorted from him the 
surrender of his caade,. uomindful of the services which th& 
l»fihop had rendered him, moi® than aU others, in the 
heginniag of hia reign. Such was the return for his devo^ 
tedness^. In a fflaoojlar manner he obtained possession of 
Si]terbome CastLe, which was litUe xoferior to Devizes.. 
Having got hold of the bishop's treasunes, he used them to* 
obtain in marriage for his sosl Euatooe the hand of Con- 
stance^ Lewis the French king's suiter. Betuming thence,, 
the king took with him to Newark, Alexander, bishq» of 
Lincoln, whom he had befoi% thrown into prison at Oxford. 
The bishop had built at Newark a casitile in a florid; style of 
anehitecture, oan a chaimiQg site, among Hm meadows 
washed by the river Trent. Having inspected this castle, 
the king eojoixted the bishop a &st not authorized by the 
rubric, swearing that he shimKd be deprived of food, until 
he gave up his right: to the castle. But the bishop had: 
some difficulty in persuading his gacrison with, prayers and: 
team to deliver it into the custody of strangers. Another 
oi Jaos castles, called Slea£ord, not inferior in beauty and 
site, was surrenderad in a sinular manner. Not long after- 
wards, when Henry, bishop of Winchester, the king's 
brother and the pope's legate^ held a synod at Winchester; 
Theobald, archhish^^. of Canterbury, and all the bishops 
prefient*. joined him in imploring the king on their bended 
knees to restore ikiai possessions to the bishops above 

^ " Soger, the Clmieellor of Baglaod, -war the* bod of* Koger, bishop of 
Salisbury, by Maud of Bainsbury, his concubine." — ffardy*. 

^ CoBupare Henry of Huiitia|^ioB'o Moowit of thi& ]^ig'« piDoeedings 
agaitut the bieheps wi«k thai gires by William oT IbibMsbiiry sa hia 
Modem History, p. 48S, BohnV ABtiquaiiaii Library; and with that, 
in the ** Aets of EingStepheft," in the latter part of tho pveeeat yoIubuu. 
Henry of Huntingdon evidently leans to the side of his patrons the bishops, 
vAS\» iA» view of the feing^a policy by th^snomyawiia av^or of th» *' Oesta 
Stephani;* though an eodeaiaelie, is just and stateonaA-liiBe, whatevsr nmj 
be thought of the kingfs harshnoM and bceadi. of fiuth. HaloMsbiiry abo> 
treats the subject yery fairly. 



5272 HENRY OF HUNTINGDON. [BOOK VHI. 

named, with the understandiBg that they should overlook 
the indignities to which they had been subjected. But 
unmoved by the supplications of such an august assemblage, 
the king, following evil counsels, refused to grant their 
petitions ^ 

This prepared the way for the eventual ruin of the house 
of Stephen. For forthwith, the Empress Maud, the daughter 
of the late King Heniy, who had received the fealty of tlie 
English, came over to England, and was received into 
Arundel Castle^. There she was besieged by the king, 
who, listening to perfidious counsel, or finding the castle 
too strong to be taken, granted her a safe conduct to 
go to Bristol. The same year died Roger ^, the bishdp of 
whom I have lately spoken, worn out by trouble and weight 
of years. My readers may well marvel at his sudden 
change of fortune. For from his youth upwards her 
favours had so accumulated, that we might say that for 
once she had forgotten to turn her wheel ; nor in his whole 
career did he meet with any adverse events, imtil a cloud 
of miseries gathered about him, and overwhelmed him at 
the last. Let no one, then, depend on the continuance of 
Fortune's favours, nor presume on her stability, nor think that 
he can long malutain his seat erect on her revolving wheel. 

In the fifth year of his reign King Stephen expelled from 
his see Nigel, bishop of Ely, because he was the nephew 
of the late bishop of Salisbury, against whom he was so 
incensed that his anger extended to all his kindred. Where 
the king spent Christmas and Easter it matters not; for 
now all that made the court splendid, and the regalia 
handed down from the long line of his predecessors, had 
disappeared. The treasmy, left well filled, was now empty ; 

* See a full account of the proceedings of tliis synod in Malmesbniy's 
" Modem History." 

^ By William d' Aubeney, husband of Queen Alice, who had in dowry from 
the late King Henry the castle and earldom of Arundel. See the *' Acts of 
King Stephen " and William of Malmesbury, for a full account of the pro- 
gress of the Empress and her brother Kobert, earl of Gloucester, after their 
airiYal. 

^ Boger, bishop of Salisbury, was one of the greatest statesmen and most 
powerfud prelates of his time. See farther particulars of him in Hunting- 
don's Treatise, ** Pe Contemptn Mundi," in the hitter part of the present 
volume. 



A.D. 1141.] SIEGE OF LINCOLN. 973 

the kingdom was a prey to intestine wars^; slaughter, fire, 
and rapine spread ruin throughout tl^e land ; cries of dis- 
tress, horror, and woe rose in every quarter. The state of 
affairs is described in the following elegy : — 

" Oh ! for a fount of tears to flow. 
And weep my country's bitter woe. 
Clouds shroud her in the darkest gloom, 
And thicken round her day of doom; 
Fated intestine wars to see, 
Fire, fury, blood, and cruelty. 
Bapine stalks boldly through the land, 
Buthlessly baring the strong hand ; 
A castle's walls are no defence 
Against the sons of violence; 
All truth is fled ; unblushing fraud 
And flaunting treason walk abroad : 
Churches, in vain, and holy ground 
Which erst religion fenced round. 
Open their gates to shelter those 
Who. refuge seek from bloody foes. 
The monks and nuns, a helpless train. 
Are plundered, tortured, ravish'd, shiin. 
Gaunt fiunine, following, wastes away 
Whom murder spares, with slow decay. 
Who for the dead shall find a grave 1 
Who England's hapless children save ? 
The cup of mingled woe she drains. 
All hell *s broke loose, and chaos reigns." 

[a.d. 1141.2] In the sixth year of his reign, diu:ing the 
season of Christmas, King Stephen laid siege to Lincoln, 
the defences of which Eanulph, earl of Chester, had fraudu- 
lently seized. The king sat down before it, till the feast of 
the Purification of the Blessed Virgin Mary [Mother of 
God.^] Then the earl aforesaid, with Robert, Kmg Henry's 

' The " Acts of King Stephen " largely supply details of the movements 
which Huntingdon thus briefly notices, particularly those in the west of 
England. 

' Roger of Wendover notices the battle of Lincoln under the year 1140. 
The Saxon Chronicle under the date of that year describes it as " after- 
wards." "Several HSS. of William of Malmesbury, as well as the printed 
copy, read 1142 ; but one has 1141, which is right." — Note to the " Modem 
History/' p. 613, " Bohn's Antiquarian Library." The date in Huntingdon, 
" the sixth year of Stephen's reign," agrees with this. 

' ''Mother of Qod," not found in either of the MSS. collated. 

T 



S74 HEK»7 &f HUKTZKOftON. [SOOE ¥IIZ. 

fMHi, hifi<>jwn father-inJftw^ aikd otlter powei&ilaiobies, asHseub- 
b^d to mse tbe siege. Xfae ssme dajr ^he easSL, boldlj 
arosdon^ a marsh which was al«iost iinpassablfi, drew up 
his troops, and ofSdr<»d ^e kisrg battle. Be faomseif Led 
the first line, composed of his own retainers; the second 
was headed by the nobles exiled hj King Stephen; 
Eobert, the pow^nd leaii [of Glmieester], commanded the 
third. The Welsh, ill anned, but fidl -of spirits, were dis- 
posed on the wings of the anny. And now the Earl of 
Chester, a man of great prowess, in bright armour, thus 
addressed Earl Robeict .and liie other barons : " Receive 
my hearty thanks, most puissant earl, and you, my noble fel- 
low-soldiers, for that you Are prepared to risk your hves in 
testimony of your devotion to me. But since it is through 
me you are called to encounter this perils it is fitting that 
I should myself bear the bnmt of it, and be foremost in 
the attack on this faithlefss king, who has broken the peace 
to which he is pledged. While I, therefore, animated by 
my own valour, and the remembrance of 'fhe king's perfidy, 
throw myself on the king's troops, and .hew a road tiirough 
the centre of his army, it will he your pai*> brave soldiers, 
to follow up my success. I have a strcaig presage that we 
shall put the king's troops to the rotrt, trample under foot 
his nobles, and stnke himself with the sword." When he 
had spoken. Earl Robert thus replied to the yoimg earl, 
"Vtrhile, standing <m an eminence, he Bpoke to this «i£Eect : 
** It is fitting £at yon ^lacmkd have the honour of striking 
itxe fiist blow, both on lacoount -of your hig^ ramk ax»l y&ax 
^xcee^img valour. If, indeed, it were a question of Tank 
tinly, no one btas higher fmslensions than onysself^ the boil 
and nephew of mighty kings ; and for valour, there arfe 
many here who stand among ihe most renowned, to whom 
^o man living can Ije preferred. But I am actuafeted by 
considerations of a very different kind. The king lias 
inhumazi^ usmsped xthe ^crown, faithless to the fealty which 
he -swore to my sister, and by l^e disorder he has 'Occ»- 
fiixmed has caused the slaughter of man^ thousands ; and 

^ Arundel MS. "mmnmf* tke text fif S«rile nm^ **^gm€nm,"imm' 
in-law, incoimftly'. 



A.D. 1141.] »i¥tl£ or LINCOUir. 275 

by the example he has set of an illegal distribution of lands, 
bfts destroyed the rigfate of property. .The £rst oose t ought* 
tberefore, to be made by those he has disinherited, with 
"whom the God of justioe will co-operate, and make them 
the ministers of his just pmnshmieat. He who judgeth the 
people with equity will look diown £rom his habitation in 
tihe heavens above, And will not desert those who are seeking 
for justice, in this their hour of need. There is one thing, 
however, brave nobles and soldiers all, which I wish to 
impress oft your minds. There is no possibility of retreat 
over the marshes whidi you have just crossed with diffi- 
cuhy. Here, ther^ore, you .must either conquer or die ; 
for there is no hope of iwfety in flight The only course 
that remains is, to open a way to the city with your swords. 
If my mind coigectures truly, as flee you cannot, by God's 
help you will this day triumph. Those must rely wholly 
on their valour who have no other refuge. You, victorious, 
will see the citizens of Lincoln, who stand in array nearest 
iheh* walls, give way before the impetuosity of your attack 
and, with famt hearts, seek the shelter of their houses. 
Listen, while litell you wdth whom you have to do. There 
is Alan, earl of Bnttacy, in arms against us, nay against 
<jod himself; a rnioi so execrable, so polluted with every 
"Sort of wickedness, that has equal in crime cannot be found; 
who never lost an oppoirtunity of doing evil, and who would 
think it his deepest disgrace, if any one else could be put 
in comparison wi:^ ham lor crue%. Them, we have op- 
posed to us the Earl of Mellent, crafty, pearfldious ; whose 
heart is naturally imbued -with dishonesty, his tongue with 
&»Qd, his bearing with cowardice. Yainrglorious in tem- 
per and boastful in words, he is pusillanimous in deeds ; 
slow in advance, quick in retreat, ^e last in flght, tlie flrst 
in. flight INPext, we have JBgainst us Earl Hugh^, who not 
only makes light of his boeach oi £eaUy agai&st ^e empress, 
but has perjured himself most patently a second time ; 
affirming that KingHeniy conferred the crown on Stephen, 
and that the king's daughter abdicated in his favour ; and 
this man considers fraud to be a virtue, and perjiny to be 
admired. Then we have the Earl of Albemai^, a man 

1 Hugh Bigod, earl of N<fzfo]k. 

T 2 



ii76 HENRY OF HUNTINGDON. [BOOK VIU. 

singularly consistent in his wicked courses, prompt to em- 
bark in them, incapable of relinquishing them ; from whom 
his wife was compelled to become a fugitive, on accoimt of 
his intolerable filthiness. The earl also marches against 
us, who carried off the countess just named; a most 
flagrant adulterer, and a most eminent bawd, a slave to 
Bacchus, but no friend to Mars ; redolent of wine, indolent 
in war. With him comes Simon, earl of Northampton, 
who never acts, but talks, who never gives, but promises, 
who thinks that when he has said a thing he has done it, 
when he has promised he has performed. [Hitherto I have 
said nothing of that runaway, William de Ypres ; for words 
have not yet been found to describe fitly the wiles and 
crooked paths of his treasons, and the disgusting lo'ath- 
someness of his impurities.]^ So of the rest of Stephen's 
nobles : they are like their king ; practised in robbery, 
rapacious for plunder, steeped in blood, and all alike 
tainted with perjury. You, brave nobles, whom the late 
King Henry exalted, this Stephen has humbled; whom 
the one raised, the other ruined. Eouse yoiuselves, and 
relying on yoin* valour, nay rather on God's justice, take 
the vengeance which He offers you on these iniquitous 
men, and gain for yourselves and your posterity immortal 
renown. If you are of one mind in executing the divine 
judgment, swear to advance, execrate retreat, and, in token 
of it, unanimously raise your hands to heaven." 

The earl had scarcely finished speaking, when the whole 
army, raising their hands to heaven, abjured flight with 
tremendous shouts, and closing the ranks, marched against 
the enemy in excellent order. Meanwhile King Stephen, 
in much tribulation of mind, heard mass celebrated with 
great devotion ; but as he placed in the hands of Bishop 
Alexander the taper of wax, the usual royal offering^, it 
broke, betokening the rupture of the kings. The pix also, 
which contained Christ's body, snapt its fastening, and fell 
on the altar, while the bishop was celebrating ; a sign of 



I The sentence within the brackets, omitted in Savile's text, is inserted 
from the Royal MS. 

^ On the Feast of Farification, when the blessing of candles is part of 
the office of the Koman chorcb. 



A.D. 1141.] BATTLE OF LINCOLN. • 277 

the king's fall from power ^. Nevertheless, he pet forth 
with great firmness, and drew up his army with much 
caution. He took post himself in the centre of the men-at- 
arms, a numerous body, whom he caused to dismoimt, and 
drew up in the closest order. His earls and then* knights 
retained their horses and formed, by his order, two lines ; 
but this part of his force was smaU. For his false ^ and 
factious earls had few retainers ; but the king s own followers 
were very niunerous, and one body of them was entrusted 
with the royal standard. Then, as King Stephen's voice 
was not clear, Baldwin Fitz-Gilbert, a man of the highest 
rank, and a brave soldier, was deputed to address a word 
of exhortation to the assembled army. Placed on a com- 
manding spot^ where' the eyes of all were directed to him, 
after arresting their attention by a short and modest pause, 
he thus began : — 

" All ye who are now about to engage in battle must 
consider three things : first, the justice of your cause ; 
secondly, the number of your force ; and thirdly, its bra- 
very : the justice of the cause, that you may not peril yoiu: 
souls ; the number of your force, that it may not be over- 
whelmed by the enemy ; its valoiu:, lest, trusting to num- 
bers, cowardice should occasion defeat. The justice of 
your cause consists in this, that we maintain, at the peril 
of our lives, our allegiance to the king, before God, against 
those of his subjects who are peijured to him. In num- 
bers, we are not inferior in cavalry, stronger in infantiy. 
As to the valour of so many barons, so many earls, and of 
our soldiers long trained to war, what words can do it 
justice ? Our most valiant king will alone stand in place 

1 William of Malmesbury does not notice these omens, which, how- 
eyer, we find mentioned in Boger of Wendorer ; and the breaking of the 
taper in '' Gesta Stephani." 

^ Stephen was the first who created merely titular earls, called by another 
old writer Pseudo-comites ; the earls or counts having hitherto had jorisdic- 
tion over the counties from which they took their titles, and from which 
they derived certain revenues. * 

^ The Royal MS. has a clever pen and ink drawing at the foot of the 
page, representing Baldwin leaning on his sword, and standing on a hillock 
in the act of addressing a group of knights in chain armour, at the head oY 
whom King Stephen is distinguished by a royal circlet on his helmet, and 
others by the devices on their shields. 



$WS HERBT OF HmmHCroOK. [book Vljff. 

of a host. Your soTonelgD, the aanom^ of the Lord,. 'vnOu 
be in tbe mii^ of you; to him, then» to whom you hftro^ 
smom fealty, keep your oaths in the si^t of God, persuaded 
ibjBst He will grant you his aid awarding as you &iibhfiill3r 
saxd steadfaatly figbb lor your king, «& ti:ue men against 
the peijured, as loyal men against traitersv Fearing nothing,, 
then, aad filled with the utmost oonfidencer learn against 
wbonr you have to fight* The power of Earl Bohert is: 
well known ; but. it is his custom to threalen much and do 
little ; witii the mouth of a lion and the heart of a hare, he/ 
is bud in talk, but dull in action. The Earl of Chester is 
a man of reckless audacity, ready for a plot, not to be 
d^ended on in carrying it out, rash in battle, careless of 
danger ; with designs beyond his powers, akning at impos- 
sibiiltiea; having few steady foBowers, but collecting a. 
confused multitude; there is nothing to be feared from 
him. None of his undertakings prosper; he is either 
defeated in batde, or, if by any (Siance he obtains a victory, 
his losses are grea^r than &ose of the conquered. You: 
may despise the Welsh he has beought with him» as ill 
armed and recMessly rash; and being un&ddlled and un;- 
practised in the art of war, they are ready to fall like wild 
beasts into the toils. For the o4her nobles and- knights,, 
tb^ axe traitors and turncoats, [and I would that tbefe- 
wei» more of them, for] ^ the more th^r© are the le^ arc. 
tibfiy to be feared* Ye, then, earls, and meaa. having preten- 
sions to that raiEkk, ought to be mindful of your i^our andT 
nenown. Baise your miJj.taiy viarlues this day to the highest 
pitc^, and, following the esampLes of your fathers, leave to 
your children undying ^ory. Let the detesRninatkm to; 
conquer be your incentive to fight, while the certainty of 
defeat is theks to fiy. Already, if X am not mistaken^ &ey 
refpent of Iheir coming; and their tiwmght is of retreat, if 
ihQ difiiculties of their position permit it Sinee, then, 
they can neither fight nor fly, what remains but. that, by 
God's wilL they surrender themselves, and their baggage iGt 
you ? Lift up then your hearts, and stireteh out your hmot^ 
soldiers, exultingly, to take Ihe prey which God' Mmself 
oflfers to you.'** 

> The words within the brackets an. Maitttd im 1k» B^jral MB, 



A.]). 1141.] KING «nCFSlSSr KAfiB FBIflfiOfEB. 29(8 

Bdfom the elbse oUSub speeds the siu>i^ of the adfvaiiciog 
ea^m^ i9ev» beaodl mingkd witii thQ. blasts ef tlueir tsiua* 
pete, and the tcampling of the homses, maleiQg:the gfiooBA 
to q^uake. in the hegimuag of Uia battie, tb& exiles who 
were in the- van fell on. the xoyal wmj» iii: vrbifh. were Earl 
Ailan» Ihe £larl of MeUent, with Hu^, the eaii of Easir 
Anglia [Norfolk], and Earl S^oton, jmdithe Earl ef Wacr^te, 
with so much in^tuosit}?, tibat it was routed in ih^ iyf'uik* 
Hng of an eye, ooe part being slain, aasuediear taloen pn9oaer9, 
and the third put to ffight. The diiiri^ion commanded b^ 
the Earl of Albeioaiie and William de Ypres, eharged the 
Welsh as tliey advanced on the flank, and complet^y routed 
th^sa. Bui the followers of th» Earl of Cheater attacked 
this body of horse, and it was scattered in a saomemt lika 
the rest Thus sill the king's horsa fled, ajod with them 
William of Ypres, in Flanders^ who had ransed as an ead, 
and was a valiant soldier ; bu^ as an aq>erieneed gaaeral* 
perceiving the impossibility ef supporting the kwg» he^ 
deferred his aid for better times* Knag Sti^hen, therefore* 
with his infantry, stood alone in. ih^. midst of tiike enemy^ 
These surrounded &e royal troops^ attaddng the ci^mnna 
Ott all sides> as if they were assaidthig a oastie. Then th^ 
battle raged terribly round this circle ; helmets aad sworda 
gleamed as th^ clawed, and the feaiful er&es and shouta 
re-e(^ed from the neighhouriDg hills and the city walls; 
The cavsdrv, fmiotisly charging^li^. royal column, slew some 
and trampled- down others; some were made priaonen^ 
^ recite, no^ l»esthing time,, was allowied^ ^cept in tiEU9 
quarter in which the king himself had taken his stand, 
where the assailaiits recoiled from the unmatched foree of 
his terrible arm. The Eaii of CheBter seeing 1his» asnd 
envious of the g!bry the king was gaining, threw histsetf 
upon him. with the whole weight of hre men-afe-arms. Evea 
th«i. the king's courage did not fail, but his heavy battle-ase 
gleamed like lightning, striking di9wn sosne, bearing back 
others. At length vi was^ ^aittered by repeated blows ; then 
he drew his wefi-tried sword, with which he wrought wo» 
dors, until that, too, was broken. Perceiving' which, William 
I^akafiitfi ', a bri^a soldier^ rushed em. hims,. and, seizing him 
« Jh KiOniii^ M8Sw Bayal Mid ArwideL 



280 HMNBT OF HUNTINGDON. [BOOK VUI. 

by his helmet, shouted, " Here, here ; * I have taken the 
king !" Others came to his aid, and the king was made 
prisoner. Baldwin, who had exhorted the troops, was also 
taken, having received many wounds, and, by his determined 
resistance, gained immortal honour. Bichard Fitz-Urse 
was likewise made prisoner, who had also fought manfully 
and gained great glory. Until the king was taken his 
troops continued to fight, for they were so hemmed in that 
retreat was impossible. All were, therefore, slain or siu*- 
rendered. The city was given up to plimder, according to 
the laws of war, the king having been conducted to it in 
miserable plight ^ 

The judgment of God on King Stephen having thub been 
executed, he was brought before the empress, and com- 
mitted to clos^ custody in Bristol Castle. The whole 
English nation now acknowledged her as their sovereign*, 
except the men of Kent, who, with the Queen and William 
de Ypres, made all the resistance in tiieir power. The 
empress was first recognised by the Legate, bishop of Win- 
chester, and the Londoners. But she was elated with 
insuflferable pride at the success of her adherents in the 
unceiiain vicissitudes of war, so that she alienated fi'om 
her the hearts of most men. Therefore, either by some 
secret conspiracy, or by the providence of God — indeed, all 
human affairs are directed by Providence — she was driven 
out of London. In revenge, with a woman's bitterness, 
she caused the Lord's anointed to be bound with fetters**. 
After some time she, with her uncle the King of the Scots, 

* This accoimt of the battle of Lincoln may be compared with William 
of HalmesburyX at p. 515 of his works in Bohn's series, and with the 
*' Gesta Stephani " in the sequel of the present Tolame. Of these Henry of 
Huntingdon's is the fullest and most exact. 

* Henry of Huntingdon passes over very briefly the events connected 
with the short period during which the Empress Maud was acknowledged 
queen of England, and gives no account of her rupture with the Legate- 
bishop of Winchester. William of Malmesbury gives considerable details; 
and see hereafter further particulars in the ** Acts of King Stephen." 

^ Malmesbury relates that Stephen was at first treated with every mark of 
honour, and, through the kindness of his relative Robert, earl of Gloucester, 
was not fettered — until, by bribing or eluding his keepers, he had been 
found beyond the appointed limits, especially in the night-time. 



A.D. 114LJ KING STEPHEN . LIBEBATED. 281 

and her brother Kobert, collecting their forces, sat down 
and besieged the castle of the Bishop of Winchester^. The 
bishop summoned to his relief the queen, and William ot 
Ypres, and almost all the barons of England. Large 
armies were therefore assembled on both sides ; and there 
were daily engagements, not indeed regular battles, but 
desultory skirmishes. In such encounters vaUant deeds 
were not lost, as in the confusion of battle, but every man's 
gallantry was seen by all, and he gained renown according 
to his deserts. This interval was therefore universally 
pleasing, as exhibiting the splendour of their illustiious 
achievements. At length the arrival of the Londoners so 
increased the army opposed to the empress, that she was 
compelled to retreat ^. Many of her adherents were taken 
prisoners in their flight ; among others Robert, her brother, 
in whose castle the king was imprisoned. His capture 
secured the king's release, by a mutual exchange. Thus 
the king who, by God's judgment, had been exposed to a 
painful captivity, was by God's mercy liberated; and the 
English people received him with great rejoicings. 

In the seventh year of his reign, King Stephen built a 
castle at Wilton, but the enejny assembled in numbers, 
and the royal troops not being able to repel them by the 
sallies they made, the king was compelled to make his 
escape. Many of his adherents were taken prisoners, among 
whom was WUliam Martel, who gave up for his ransom the 
strong castle of Sherboum. The same year the kjng 
besieged the empress at Oxford, from after Michaelmas till 
Advent. At the end of which, not long before Christmas, 
Hie empress escaped across the Thames, which was then 
frozen over, and, wrapped in a white cloak, deceived the 
eyes of the besiegers, dazzled by the reflection of the snow. 
She got into the castle of Wallingford, and Oxford was 
surrendered to the king'^ 

' Savile's text reads " London/' but both the MSS. now collated have 
"Winchester." 

' See a very circumstantial account of the siege of Winchester Castle, 
and the rout of the empress's army, in the ** Acts of King Stephen " in the 
present volume. 

' There is an interestmg account of the escape of the empress in th» 
« Acts of King Stephen." 



389: mssassx of mmimGj>9iL [book vhl 

I& the eigjbitli year of his zogov Khig*SI»pfaeo: was^reseofe 
at a. synod in Londoa in Mid-Lent^ whMh wa» heldlihave h^ 
tbe Legate-biehop oi Wxaehastex; eai aaeouftt ei the ejslBft^ 
niitie& to which the elecgy w£re sedJucedL For do resj»ect 
was pasd to them or to^ Gi<»d'^ hohp Gkmceh by mavaKideKS^ 
aad the dUergy^w^re ncuie prisoners, aod aBbmitted' tor 
rafQSom just as if tfaey* were te-ymam. The; synod ^&teGt3sm 
decreed that so one yi^ kid TuolenI hands en a ctok 
Should be a^crolyed, eseept by the. pope hiix»elf ki person;. 
This decree obtained for t&em some relief. 

The same year the kisig arrestedi (BiMf&y de Mt>Dde»- 
vine, in his covirt at St. ijban's^ aaa act more fitting^ 1^ 
eaii's deserts than public rifght, mops* expedtentt than just; 
'Btxt if he had not taJken this step* the king would have been.* 
driven from the throne: To obtain his liberty he stiFren«- 
dered the Tower of London, and the castle of Walden^ 
witih that oi Piessis. The eaa:l, thus slaripped of his pos- 
sessions, seized ^be Abbey of IBiujasey^ and, expelling- tibie^ 
monks, garrisoned it witb retainers, tuming liie house of 
God into a den of thieves. He was a msn^ indeed, Gi great 
determdnation, but resolute in ungodtinese; diligi^it in 
worldly affairs, but negligent in sparitual. The same year, 
before Christmas, the Bishop of ^\^ehester, and after- 
wards tfee Archbishop of Canterbury, went to Eome on th©> 
affair of tlie anointment of the legate. Pope Innocent 
was then diead^ aiid was sueoeeded by Celestine. 

King Stephen in. &e nioth yeax of his reign laid siege to> 
Lincoln. While he was preparing a work for ^e attack of 
the castle, w^ich the Ear! of Chester- had taken possession 
of by ftwce, eighty of his workmem were suffocated in the 
tarenches, whereupon the kiaag broke rsp' the siege in eoa^ 
fusion. The same year God&ey, eaerl erf' Maadeiille^ gave 
the king mueh> troubla^ and distiBgoished himself mam 
than others. In the month of August, IVovidence displayed 
its justice in a remarkable manner ; for two of the nobles 
who had eonvertedmonasieries into.foaiifieations, espeMing 
the monks, their sin being the same, met with a simSar 
punishment. Ebbert Marmion was one, who had com- 
mitted this iniquity in the church of Coventry ; Godfrey de 
MottdewUa had pe:i^tDatied. iS^ smnei. as. I hav^e swd be- 
fore, in Eamsey Abbey. Bobert Manam issuing- Ibitft 



against ihe enemy was slain under tbe> mUs of the uonas- 
tesyj being tiie oofy one who feil, tikonghhe was surreuiuled. 
bj his troops. I>7iiig ezoommuniiated, he beoasae subject 
to death e^eerlasting: la like mamev EaH God&ey waa 
singled out among his fbHowexs^ and ^lotwith an aixow by 
a common £x>t sokLiei:. He madfi lighii of the wound, but 
he died of it in a few days, uxbdfir eKCommumcajtkon. See 
here the like just judgnuaut of God;, xnemorahle tbarougjai all 
ages! While that abbey was coniMrted into a feartess^ 
blood exuded from the waUs of the church and the doister 
adjoining, witnessing the dxvina iodignation^.and pnogaosti- 
eating the destruction of the impious. This was seen by 
many persons^ and I observed it wiih my own eyes. How 
then can the wicked saty that the Alnugbty sleeps? He 
woke indeed in this stgn^ and that which it. signified. 
Moreover, the same year Amulf, the earFs son, who afber 
his father's death continued in possession of ^e forti&ed 
abbey, was taken priscmes and bandshed, and the leader of 
bis horsemen being thrown &om hiiS horae at his iim, died 
of a concnssion of the brain. The commaiader of hi& foot 
soldiers, Beiner by name, who was employed in Inreaking 
open and burning chucches^ tbss crossing the s^^ mth his 
1^, whett, as manyxelate, the ship stack fast* The saika?Sr 
in amazement, east lots to discover the cause, of the stnange 
occurrence, acid the lot fell upon Eeinflc He» howevepr,. 
vehemently resisting the decision,, iho lot was agaijat. cast, 
and a second and third time it £ell to hiim« He was there- 
£^re put in a boat, with his w4f6 and. tlska money he had 
iniquitoufily amassed, upon which tha ship xesumed its 
course rapidly, plou^iing the waves as it had dooe before ; 
but the lioat with its. imgodly burtfaea waa ^piftdily sw^ 
lowed up and ifer ever lost. The saudi year Laeiiis was 
ekioted pope in. i^ place of GeLestine deceased. 

In the teath year of "Kmg Ste^^en, Huig^ Bigotd w«fi tha 
&rBt to make a morement ; but in the summer Earl. Bobezt 
axid the whole body of tiW king's enamiee set to wodt. ta 
build a castle at Faringdon. The king lost no time in 
collecting troops and marching there at the head of a 
numerous and formidable body of Londoners. After daily 
assaults on the castle, whUe £ui Bobert and his adherents 
were, with great resolution, waiting for fresh forces, not &r 



284 HENRY OF HUNTINGDON. [BOOK VIII. 

from the king's army, the castle was taken with much 
slaughter. At this time the king's fortune began to change 
for tibe better ^ The same year Alexauder, bishop of Lin- 
coln, went to Rome, where he exhibited the same munifi- 
cence which he had done before. He was therefore honour- 
ably entertained by Pope Eugenius, who was recently 
elevated to his high dignity. The bishop's disposition 
was at all times courteous, his discretion sdways just, his 
countenauce good-humoured and cheerful. On his return 
the following year, in high favour with the pope and 
his whole court, he was received by his people with 
great reverence and joy. His church at Lincoln, which 
had been disfigured by a fire, he restored in so exquisite a 
style of architecture, that it appeared more beautiful than 
when it was first built, and was surpassed by none in all 
England. 

King Stephen in the eleventh year of his reign assem- 
bling a great army, built an impregnable castle at Walling- 
ford, where Eanulph, earl of Chester, who had now joined 
the royal side, was present with a large force. Afterwards, 
however, when the earl came peaceably to attend the king's 
court at Northampton, fearing nothing of the sort, he was 
arrested and kept prisoner, till he gave up the strong castle 
of Lincoln, which he had seized by a stratagem, as well as 
all the other castles which belonged to him. Then the 
earl was set free to go where he pleased. 

In the twelfth year of King Stephen, he wore his crown 
during Christmas at Lincoln, which no king, from some 
superstitious feeling, had before ventured to do. This 
showed the great resolution of King Stephen, and how 
little importance he attached to such superstitions. After 
the king's departiu-e, the Earl of Chester came to Lincoln 
with an armed force to assault the castle ; but the chief 
commander of his troops, a man of great courage and 
fortune, was slain at the entrance of the north gate of the 
town, and the earl himself, having lost many of his followers, 

* The powerful Earl of Chester came oyer to the king's side for a time, 
and great consternation prevailed among the adherents of the empress. 
This probably led to a meeting which now took place between her and Ste- 
phen; but the treaty for a reconciliation was fruitless. See the "Acts of 
King Stephen." 



A.D. 1147.] THE CB17SADE FAILS. 285 

was compelled to retreat ; upon which the citizens, rejoicing 
in their successful defence, offered signal thanks to the 
most blessed Virgin, their patron and protectress. At 
Whitsimtide Lewis, king of France, and Theodorie, earl of 
Flanders, and the Count de St. Egidius, with an immense 
multitude from every part of France, and numbers of 
the English, assiuned the cross and journeyed to Jerusalem, 
intending to expel the Infidels who had taken the city of 
Eohen. A still greater .number accompanied Comud, 
emperor of Germany ; and both armies passed through the 
territories of the Emperor of Constantinople, who afterwards 
betrayed them. . In ^e month of August, Alexander, bishop 
of Lincoln, proceeded to Auxerre to meet Pope Eugenius, 
who, after some stay at Paris, was residing there. He 
was honourably entertained by the pope, but from the 
Extraordinary heat of the weather the seeds of a low fever 
were sown in his constitution, and he brought it with him 
to England. Shortly afterwards he fell into a state of 
infirmity and languor, which ended in death. 

Alexander, bishop of Lincoln, died in the thirteenth year 
of King Stephen's reign, and was buried at Lincoln towards 
the end of Lent. Of the character of this prelate, following 
the example of Moses, I will say nothing that is not true. 
Nurtm'ed in great affluence by his uncle Robert, bishop of 
Salisbury, he contracted habits which were beyond his 
means. Kivalling, therefore, other men of rank in his mu- 
nificence and the splendour of his appointments, his own 
incomings being inadequate to his expenditm'e, he care- 
fully drew from his friends the means by which, comparing 
his wants with the superfluity in which he was bred, the 
deficiency might be supplied. But this was out of the 
power of one who the more he had the more he gave. He 
was at the same time a man of prudence, though so gene- 
rous, that in the court of Rome he was smuamed the 
Magnificent^. 

The same year the armies of the Emperor of Germany 
and the King of France were annihilated, though they were 
led by illustrious commanders, and had commenced their 

^ Oar author dedicated his History to this bishop. Some account of him 
is given in a note appended to Hmitingdon's Frefiice to the History. 



?186 HBKKT OP HCBOTNifflBON. [BOOK VHT. 

mardi in the pmuiest c(!Hifidenoe. Est Ckwi despised 
them, amd their iaoontinenee came up h&iope Him ; for 
tkey abandemed themselves to opea fornication, and to 
adtdteries hateM to God, «nd to robbery and every sort of 
wickodness. First they wei'e wasted by famine, throu^ 
the false oonduct of the Emperor of Constantinople ; aod 
afterwards they^ere destroyed by the enemy *8 sword. Tbe 
king aoad the emperor took vefage at Autioch, and afiber- 
w«u^ at Jemsalem, with the renmant of their followers.; 
and t^e King >of France, wishing to do somethmg to i^es^^ 
Ms ohfittBcter, laid sdege to Damasotts, having the assistanoe 
of the Knights Templars of Jerussdem, and a force collected 
fWffifSL aU qnarteis. But wanting the ^ottr of God, and 
therefore having no success, he returned to Fmnee. Mean- 
while a naeval armame&t, contai&ifig no men of raiik, aiid 
trusting in no leader of renown, but in God only, beghming 
humbly, prospered greatly. !For though few in fiumber, 
SEnd opposed by a numerous force, God being ^eir hdlper, 
they reduced to subjection the city of liishon in Spain, 
with emother place ceJbd Almeria, and all the neighbouring 
conBftey. Thus truly " God resisteth the proud, fflid giveth 
grace to the humhle." For the army of the King of France 
and the Emperor of ^Germany was more nmnerous and 
splendid than that which had formerly besieged and taken 
Jerusalem ; but, notwithstanding, it w«s crushed by inferior 
numbers, and destroyed aod d^a|^eared like a spider's 
web. BtJt the humhle expedition of which I have just 
spoken overcame, all who opposed it, however great their 
multiitude. The larger part of it was stq)plied from 
England. 

The same year, at ihe a^jf^oach of C^istmas, Robert, 
sumamed De Querceto^, the young archdeacon of Leices- 
ter, a man worthy of idl praise, was chosen bishop of Lin- 
coln. He was esteemed by afl men worthy of this great 
dignity, and the king, the clergy, and the people joyftifly 
^assenting, he was eonsecrafted by ^e Archbishop of Canter- 
hmy. Amdoudy expected, his arrival at Lincoln was wel- 
comed [on our Lord's Epiphany]* by ^e clergy and peeiple 
with great reverence and rejoicings. May God prosper 

1 GrfHea'aliD " ]>e Cbosaey.*' 

^ 9%e ^imtia wMun kack^ci aftin^tke 9liffftl JUS. enly. 



AJ>. 1148.] HENRY pi,) ABB ex»tjlce :enighted. 1^7 

iiim in tiiese evil tknes, ^saai. cheer his youth with the dew 
0f wisdom, jmd make i»is hce to shhse with holy joy ^ ! 

In ^e fourteenth year of King Stephen's reign David, 
fcmgofSeotB, knigfaMl his nefdiew Hemy. Asdtiringtkas 
solemnity a large force was assembled, David being nume- 
'naoosly attended, and 'his xiephew having in his retinue the 
nobles of the west of Skigland, King Stephen was alarmed 
lest they should :proeeed to attack York; he )therefore 
«staMidhed himself in ihat <nt^ with a large army, and 
i?emain«d liieite all Hie mondk of August .Meanwhile 
Stephen's siam Emstace, who was also Imighted the samie 
year, made lan irnq)tion into the terratones of the barons 
who W0^ in attendance on Hemy, ihe empress's son, and, 
as there was no one io oppose him, he laid them waste 
with :&re and sword. But ^e kings of England and Scot- 
land, the one at York, the other at Caiiisle, fearing a 
rapjbure, mutuaily avoided meeting, and thus separated 
peaceably, «ach 40 his home. 

iKhstg Stephen, in the:fifteenth year of his reign, collecting 
troops, made a bidlEant assault on the city of Worcester, 
«&d, having taken st, committed it to 1he flankes ; but he 
vras unable to redture ^e casile vduch ovedooked the city. 
It belonged to Waiei^n, earl of Mellent, to whom King 
Stephen had graid»d it nmch to his own disadvantage. 
The royal army, havisg plundered the city, overran ^ 
territories of the iiostile lords, and, !no one resisting them, 
•earned off an immensBe booty. 

In the sixteenth year of the king's reign, Theobald, arch- 
hishop of Oonteibiury and legale apostolical, hdd a gieneral 
i^od at London, in «tbe miiddle of lient, at whdch were 
present King Stephen, with his son Eustace, and the great 
men of En^and. Its pKMseedings were disturbed by new 
appeals, loncHiy preferred. They iFrem not in use in Eng- 
land until Henry, bishop of Winchester, while he was 
legate, mercilessly introduded them, as it turned out to his 

' This l)i8hop of Xincofe, of whom the Archdeacon, now on old man, 
iipeaks BO affectionately, was the third he had been contemporary with in 
^tet flee, fiexe Henry *ef finsKingdon^ Histny cdnelvaes in the Arundel 
ICS., and there is ihe Mlowing note in ibt Hoyal US. : ^ Many copies faftTe 
no more^** We ttay^eeMlode, tbieMm, that irtiatifoUDWfl isa Motinnation 
tftnrwsnls added «o ^ >w«ky vnd^idiudi ^d sot fad to iray iitto the 
tttlier copies. 



288 HEKBY OP HUKHNGDON. [BOOK Vni. 

own injury. In the present synod there were three appeals 
to the judgment of the Eoman pontiff. The same year, 
King Stephen again attacked Worcester^ ; and, having heen 
unahle to reduce the castle the year before, he now assaulted 
it with the utmost determination. The gan'ison making 
an obstinate resistance, he constructed two forts to cover 
the attack, and leaving some of his nobles there he himself 
departed. But it was the king's habit to imdertake many 
projects with zeal, but to pursue them indolently; and 
now by the management of the Earl of Leicester, who was 
brother of the Earl of Mellent, the two forts erected by the 
king were demolished, and the siege was skilfully raised : 
thus the king's project failed, and his labour was lost. 
The same year, the Earl of Anjou, brother-in-law of the 
late King Henry, and son of the King of Jerusalem, a man 
of great eminence, ended his days. He left to Henry, his 
eldest son, Anjou and Normandy, together with the here- 
ditary right to the kingdom of England, which he had 
never reduced to possession. It now happened also that 
Lewis, king of France, was divorced from his wife, the 
daughter of the Earl of Poitou, by reason of alleged con- 
sanguinity. Henry, therefore, the young duke of Nor- 
mandy, married her, and with her obtained the coimty of 
Poitou, a great accession to his honours and power. But 
the marriage caused great dissensions, fomented into hatred, 
between the King of France and the duke. 

Upon this, Eustace, King Stephen's son, with the King 
of France, made formidable attacks on Normandy, while 
the duke obstinately resisted both of- them, and the whole 
strength of the French army. However, the king, collect- 
ing ^1 his large forces, assaulted an almost impregnable 
castle called Neuf-Marche, which he took and gave up^ to 
Eustace, son of the King of England, who had married his 
sister. 

King Stephen, in his seventeenth year, wished^ to have 
his son Eustace crowned*, and he required Theobald, arch- 

' The text of Savile reads " Winchester ; ** but it is clearly an error, inde- 
pendently of the authority of the Boyal MS., which has *' Worcester.'* 

* Savile, reddidit ; Koyal HS., (radidtt, * Boyal MS., " proposed." 

* Eustace died the following year. — Roger de Wendover. The anony- 
mous author of " The Acta of King Stephen'' speaks highly of his character. 



A.D. 1152.] HENRY [n.] LANDS tN ENGLAND. 28^ 

bishop of Canterbury, and the other bishops whom he had 
assembled with that design, to anoint him king, and give 
him their solemn benediction ; but he met with a repulse, 
for the pope had by his letters prohibited the archbishop 
from crowning the king's son, because King Stephen 
appeared to have broken his oath of fealty in moimting 
the throne. Upon this, both father and son, greatly disap- 
pointed and incensed, ordered the bishops to be shut up 
together, and by threats and hardships endeavoured to 
compel them to comply with their demand. But although 
they were very much alarmed, for Stephen never much 
liked the bishops, and had some time before imprisoned 
two of them\ they remained firm in spite '^ of the danger 
they incurred. However, they escaped imhurt in their 
persons, though they were deprived of their possessions, 
which the king afterwards penitentially restored. The 
same year, the king besieged and reduced the castle of 
Newbury, not far from Winchester. He then laid siege to 
the castle of Wallingford, building a fort, to beleaguer it, 
on the bridge at the entrance, which prevented all ingress, 
80 that provisions could not be introduced. Beginning to 
feel the pressure, they petitioned their lord the Duke of 
Normandy that he would either send them relief, or that 
they might have licence to smxender the castle into the 
king's hands. 

In the eighteenth year of King Stephen, the Duke of 
Normandy, impelled by the necessity of the case, made a 
sudden descent on England. That wretched country, be- 
fore reduced to ruin, but now regaining new life by the 
prospect of his coming to her assistance, may be supposed 
to address him, weeping, in such language as this : — 

Heir to thy j^ndsire'i name and high renown, 
Thy England calls thee, Henry, to her throne : 
Now, fallen from her once imperial state. 
Exhausted, helpless, ruined, desolate. 
She sighs her griefs, and feinting scarcely lires : 
One solitary hope alone survives. 

' See before, p. 270. 

* The reading in the margin of Savile's text, confirmed by the Eoyal MS., 
Is liere followed. The word " nihil/* omitted in the printed text, gives it 
a diifcrent turn. 



%90 HEHBY QF HUMXDsODON. [BOOK Vin.. 

Site turns to tbee her dim and feeble eye. 
Bat Marce can raise the suppliant's plaintive cry ; 
" Save me, oh save me 1 Henry ; or I die : 
Come, saviour, to thy own ; by right divine 
Fair England's royal diadem is thine." 

What dawning light bursts through the lurid gloom 1 

What echoing shout resounds, '' I come, I come ? " 

Who stands on Normandy's wave-beaten strand, 

List'ning to voices from his fiithers' land ? 

*T is he, the duke, the flower of chivalry, 

His mien commanding, lightning in his eye ; 

Scarce twenty summers mantle o*er his brow. 

Yet hoary years ho wiser gifts bestow : 

And hark ! with life-reviving words he cries, 

" Else from thy death-swoon, prostrate England, rise ! " 

High on her beetling cliffs the island queen 

Beck'ning her hero to the shore is seen, 

As the fierce tempest's baffling sucge he braves : 

And thus her voice comes hostrsely o'er the waves; 

" I breathe, I live again at thy command ; 

But ah I how few thy barks, how small thy band ! 

Before thee, Stephen's countless hosts advance, 

Behind thee, lowers the mighty pow'r of France." 

" Fear not for me," the hero answering cried, 

** Be mine the glory, mine the noble pride. 

Though kings o*er hosts their flaunting banners fling, 

Conquering with few, to earn the name of king." 

" What banner thine t Fain would my aching eye 

Midst baffling winds its bright device descry." 

'* Thy own led-cross, proud England, leads me on. 

To fields where glory, freedom, shall be won ; 

Fit emblem ours to consecrate the fight. 

Of suffering innocence with lawless might. 

I come to cause the tyrant's rule to cease, ' 

And o'er the gasping land spread smiling peace ; 

Land of my sires I thy blest deliverer be, 

And, Christ me aiding, give thee liberty, 

Or lifeless <m thy blood-stained soil to lie. 

For thee to conquer, or fi>r thee to die.* 

When now the illustrious duke, making the passage in a 
violent gale, was landed on the English shore, ttie kingdom 
was suddenly agitated by the mutterings of rumours, like a 
quivering bed of reeds swept by the blasts of the wind. 
JKeports, as usual, rapidly spreading, disseminated matter 



A.D. 1152.] henbt's successes. 291 

of joy and exultation to some, of fear and sonx)w to others; 
But the delight of those who rejoiced at his arrival was 
somewhat abated by the tidings that he had so few fol- 
lowers \ while the apprehensions of their enemies were by 
the same reports not a little relieved. Both parties were 
struck at his encountering the dangers of a tempestuousr 
sea in mid-winter ; what the one considered intrepidity, the 
other called rashness. But the brave young prince, of aU 
things disliking delay, collected his adherents, both thosev 
he found and those he brought with him, and laid siege tc»^ 
Malmesbury Castled The excellences of such a man are; 
so many and gi'eat that they must not be enlarged upon, 
lest the extended narrative of his achievements should lead 
to wearisome prolixity. In short, then, having invested 
this castle, for he was not long in executing what he under- 
took, he presently took it by storm. ' After the place was, 
taken, the strong keep, which could only be reduced by 
fiamine, was still held for the king by Jordan, who sallied 
from it, and, making all haste, informed him of what had^ 
taken place. Disturbed by messengers of the evil tidings^ 
the king's countenance changed from dignity to grief; 
nevertheless, he lost no time in collecting all his forces^ 
and pitched his camp near Malmesbuiy. The day after hi» 
arrival, he drew out his army in battle array. It included 
a great body of distinguished knights, and made a splendid 
and formidable appearance, with its noble chiefs, and their, 
banners glittering with gold; but God was not with them,, 
in whom only there is entire safety. For the floodgates of 
heaven were opened, and heavy rain drove in their faces,, 
with violent gusts of wind and severe cold, so that God 
himself appeared to fight for ihe duke. The royal army, 
however, marched in good order, though suffering greatly^ 
and contending with the elements, whidi seemed to be in 
arms against them. The young duke's aimy trusted moire 

. ' Roger of Wendoyer aays that Henry brought with him a fleet of SG 
sail and a large army. 

^ ^ The '* Acts of King Stephen " represent the young prince as havinff on 
his first landing attacked succes&ively Cricklade and Bourton, from ho.th of 
which places he was repulsed ; after which his force dwindled away, and he 
was reduced to great extremities. Roger of Wendover says he took HalmetH 
bury on the eye of the Epiphany, and then besieged Grawmarsk, near 
WaUingford. ■• I 

u 3 



99*2 HENBT OF HITNTINODON. [BOOK Vm; 

to its valour than its nmnbers, but its especial dependence 
was on the mercy of God and the justice of the cause for 
which it stood in arms. It was drawn up on the bank of a 
Stream of water, not far from the walls of the town just 
named, which was so flooded by the torrents of rain and 
snow that no one could venture to ford it without shrink- 
ing from the attempt, and, once committed to the current, 
there was no gaining the bank. The young and illustrious 
duke was at the head of his troops in splendid armour, 
which set off his noble person, so that we may say his 
arms did not so much become him as he his arms. He 
and his followers had the tempest of wind and rain at then: 
backs, while it drove in the faces of the king and his army, 
so that they could hardly support their armour and handle 
their spears, dripping with wet. It was the Almighty's 
design that his child should gain possession of the kingdom 
without the effusion of blood ; so that when neither party- 
could cross the river, and the king could no longer endure 
the severity of the weather, he marched back to London, 
his operations having failed, and his discomfiture being com- 
plete. The tower, therefore, which the duke was besieging, 
being speedily surrendered, he lost no time in following out 
with alacrity his main object of marching to the relief of 
the garrison of Wallingford Castle, now almost exhausted by- 
famine. Having collected a large body of troops to convey 
a supply of provisions to the beleaguered garrison, he 
effected his design without opposition, under favour of 
Providence ; for diough there were several castles in the 
neighbourhood held by strong parties of the king's troops, 
they offered him no molestation either in going or return- 
ing. This having been speedily accomplished, the valiant 
duke, assembling all the militia of the country, which, 
flocked to his standard, laid siege to the castle of Craw- 
marsh, commencmg the difficult and important enterprise 
by diggu?g a deep trench round the walls and his own 
camp, so that his army had no egress but by the castle of 
Wallingford, and the besieged had none whatever. Upon 
hearing this, the king, assembling the whole force he could 
muster throughout his territories, seriously threatened the 
duke's position. But the duke, under no alarm, though 
his forces were inferior to the king's, caused the work 



AJD. 1163.] TBUCE WITH KTSQ STEPHEN. 203 

which he had thrown up for the protection of his camp to 
be levelled, and, raising the siege, marched in good order 
against the enemy. The royal troops, when, unexpectedly, 
they perceived the duke's army drawn up in battle array in 
their front, were struck with a sudden panic, but the king, 
not disheartened, gave orders that his troops should march 
from their camp prepared for battle. Then the traitorous 
nobles interfered, and proposed among themselves terms of 
peace. They loved, indeed, nothing better than disimion ; 
but they had no inclination for war, and felt no desire to 
exalt either the one or the other of the pretenders to the 
crown, so that by humbling his rival they themselves 
might become entirely subject to the other. They pre- 
ferred that, the two being in mutual fear, the royal audiority 
should, with respect to themselves, be kept in abeyance. 
The king and the duke, therefore, being sensible of the 
treachery of their adherents, were reluctantly compelled to 
make a truce between themselves. God, as usual, was the 
protector of the yoimg duke. The royal camp to which he 
had laid siege was raised in consequence of the truce ; and 
the king and the duke had a conference without witnesses, 
across a rivulet, on the terms of a lasting accommodation 
between themselves, during which the faithlessness of their 
nobles was anxiously considered. At this meeting the 
business of the treaty was only entered upon, its comple- 
tion being deferred to another opportunity. After each 
had returned to his quai'ters, thek quarrel still unsettled, 
light dawned from an unexpected quarter on the fortunes 
of the great duke. For it happened that his two most 
determined and powerful enemies, Eustace, the king's son, 
and Simon, eaii of Northampton, were suddenly snatched 
away. Providence so ordering it, at tlie same moment ; in 
consequence of which the hopes and the courage of all who 
were opposed to the duke vanished at once. Earl Simon, 
who exemplified all that was licentious, and practised all 
that was unbecoming, was buried at Northampton. The 
king's son was buried in the abbey foimded by his mother 
at Feversham ; a good soldier, but an ungodly man, who 
dealt harshly with the rulers of the church, being their 
determined persecutor. The Almighty having removed 
these formidable adversaries of Henry, his beloved, He had 



^4 hexht of HumiKODON* [book no, 

iiow in his mercy prepared the way for his reigning in 
tranquillity. 

The third siege undertaken was that of Stamford. The 
town surrendered immediately, but the garrison of th0 
castte resisted, and sent messengers to the king intreating 
his aid against the besiegers. At that time the king had 
laid siege to the castle of Ipswich, which Hugh Bigod held 
Bgainst him, and being unwilling to raise the siege and 
relieve the garrison of Stamford, that castle was surrendered 
to Prince Henry, while Ipswich was given up to the king* 
"The Duke of Normandy, departing from Stamford, marched 
to Nottingham, which he took possession of; but the enemy, 
who held the castle, set the town on fire [and tlie duke was 
so afflicted at the burning of the town, that he drew o£f his 
army].^ 

Meanwhile, Archbishop Theobald had frequent consulta- 
tions with the king, in which he urged him to come to 
terms widi the duke, with whom also he communicated by 
messengers. He found a coadjutor in Henry, bishop of 
"Winchester, who had taken the lead in disturbing the Idng- 
dom, by giving the crown to his brother Stephen. Of this 
he now repented, and binding the whole kingdom desolated 
"by robbery, fire, and slaughter, he proposed to find a re- 
medy in the concord of fiie chiefs. Moro especially, the 
providence of God, which makes peace, and is the giver 
of good, withdrew the scourge which tormented England, 
•causing their undertaking to prosper, so that by its blessing 
on their efforts the peace was solemnly ratified. What 
boundless joy, what a day of rejoicing, when the king him- 
self led the illustrious young prince through the streets of 
Winchester, with a splendid procession of bishops and 
nobles, and amidst the acclamations of the tlironging 
people ; for the king received him as his son by adoption, 
and acknowledged him heir to the crown ! From thence he 
accompanied the king to London, where he was received 
with no less joy by the people assembled in countless 
' numbers, and by brilliant processions, as was fitting for so 
' great a prince. Thus, tiirough God's mercy, after a night 
of misery, peace dawned on the ruined realm of England. 

^ The words within t|M brocketo are imerted from the Uojtl MS. 



A.D. 1164.]. HENRT BETUBKS TO NORMANDY. ^96 

These rejoicings ended, the king and his new son parted, 
■i9oon to meet again; for the peace was ratified before 
Christmas, and on the octave of the Epiphany they met 
at Oxford. The duke had then just spent a year in the 
^(mquest, yea, rather, the recovery, of England. There all 
the great men of the realm, by the king's command, did 
homage, and promised the fealty due to their liege lord to 
4he Duke of Noimandy, saving only their allegiance to 
King Stephen during his life. New rejoicings took placlB 
at this magnificent assembly, after which all departed wiHi 
joy and gladness to their homes. After a short interval 
4here was another meeting at Dunstable, where a slight 
cloud overshadowjed the day of gladness ; for the duke was 
dissatisfied that the castles, which after the death of King 
Heory were built in every part of the country with the 
worst designs, had not been demolished, according to the 
provisions of the treaty so solemnly made and ratified. 
Some of them indeed had been razed, but others were 
spared, by the indulgence or tiie policy of the king, and 
this appeared to weaken the obligations of the tr^ty. 
Upon the duke's complaining of it to the king, he met wiA 
a repulse ; but, wishing to preserve a good understanding 
with his new father, he reluctantly deferred the matter, 
lest it should disturb their concord, and they parted ami- 
cably. Not long afterwards, the duke, having obtained the 
king's licence, returned to Normandy, flushed with his 
success. 

These were the acts of Heniy, the most illustrious of 
youths, during his second visit to England. Let me not 
be censured for having committed to writing so few par- 
ticulars of his splendid career^. Having to tell of so many 
and great kings, and the series of events for many ages, if 
I had attempted to give fulness to my History I must have 
written volumes. I have, therefore, chosen rather to collect 
into one volume an abridgment of history, so that posterity 
may not be altogether ignorant of former events. I now 

The anonymous amthor of the " Acts of King Stephen '* represents tbe 
'canqpaign of Henry II. after his landing in EngUnd, and the character of 
■HiB young prince, altogether in a different light See the account towards 
'Ae clota of St«^en's reign in the latter part of thin TolttiBe. 



5296 HENBT OF hukhnodon. [book Tm. 

return to my subject. Returning into France triumphant, 
the duke was joyfully received by his mother and brothers, 
and the people of Normandy, Anjou, Maine, and Poitou, 
with the honours due to him. King Stephen, also, now 
for the first time reigning in peace, was, thanks to his 
adopted son, powerful enough to maintain the authority of 
his royal station. But ! the desperate fury of mortals I 
O their unaccountable perversity 1 Certain sons of men, 
'' whose teeth were spears and arrows, and their tongue a 
sharp sword," made zealous attempts to sow the seeds of 
discord between the king who was present and the duke at 
a distance. The king could hardly resist their persuasions, 
and some thought he was already yielding to them, and 
that he listened to their evil coimsels with a secret pleasure, 
and, though he affected to discountenance them, more than 
was right. But the counsels of these sons of men were 
one thing, the counsels of the ^mighty another ; and He, 
as was fitting, perfected his own, and made the counsels of 
the wicked and their perverse machinations of no effect* 
Thfe king having besieged and taken the castle of Drake, 
near York, and triumphantly taken and. razed many other 
castles, he went to Dover, to hold a conference with the 
£arl of Flanders. While talking with him, the king fell 
sick ; of which sickness he died eight days before the feast 
of All Saints ['24th of October], after a distracted and un- 
fortunate reign of nineteen years. He was interred in the 
abbey of Feversham, near his wife and son, Theobald, 
archbishop of Canterbury, with many of the English nobles, 
dispatched messengers in all haste to tlieir now lord the 
Duke of Normandy, intreating him to come over without 
delay, and receive the crown of England. Hindered, how- 
ever, by contrary winds and a stormy sea, as well as other 
circumstances, it was not till six days before Christmas 
that, accompanied by his wife and brothers, with a retinue 
of great nobles and a strong force, he landed in the New 
Forest. England, therefore, was left for six weeks without 
a king ; but by God's providence it was in perfect tranquil- 
lity, the love or the fear of the expected king securing it. 
Upon his landing he proceeded to London, and, ascending 
the throne of England, was crowned and consecrated witk 



A.D. 1154.] HENBY JI. INAUGUBATED. 297 

becoming pomp and splendour, amidst universal rejoicings, 
which many mingled with tears of joy. The happiness of 
thigr period I have thus described in heroic verse : — 

Low lies the head that wore fiiir England's crown, 

Henry delays * to mount the vacant throne ; 

Yet marvel not that wars and tumults cease. 

And factions strife is hushed in waiting peace. 

Stephen grasped feebly, through his troubled reign. 

What absent Henry's name, alone, can gain : 

If such when lingering in a foreign Und, 

What with the reins of empire in his hand 1 

If thus the early dawn with distant light 

Can pierce the clouds and chase the shades of night. 

What then the gloiy when the noontide sun 

Fours its full radiance from the senith won 1 

Then shall beam forth, in England's happier' hour, 

Justice with mercy, and well-balanced power ; 

CTnblemished loyalty, and honour bright 

And love with chastened pleasure shall unite. 

Such gems shall sparkle in thy jewelled crown, 

And deck it with a lustre all thy own. 

Fresh genial warmth shall burst the icy chain. 

In which, benumbed and bound, the land has lain ; * 

England with tears of joy shall lift her head, 

And thus shall hail her saviour from the dead : 

" A thing of earth — a lifeless body mine; 

The soul, the vivifying spirit, thine ; 

Ee-entering now the frame inanimate. 

The soul shall, out of death, new life create." 

[The accession of a new king demauds a new Book.] ^ 

1 " Henry's power was so well established in England, that he continued 
and concluded the siege of a castle which he was investing before he came 
over." — Hume. 

' Savile's printed text of thb history concludes with the verses ; but 
the sentence within the brackets follows in the Eoyal MS., in the same 
handwriting as the rest of the History ; whence it may be infeired that 
it was Henry of Huntingdon's intention to add another Book, in continua^ 
tion, containing some account of the reign of Henry II. It is probable that 
he did not long survive that king's accession, and death thus frustrated his 
design. There is a short continuation added to the Royal MS. in a different 
hand, as follows : — " This Henry II., son of the Countess of Anjou, 
reigned xzziv. years. Enacting unjust laws, he was opposed by St. Thomas 
of Canterbury, who received the crown of martyrdom. He crowned his 
son Henry, who was called Henry III., in his own lifetime ; but he died 
before his father. Henry II. had four sons by Eleano^ viz. Henry III., 
Bichard, John, and Geof&ey, whose eon Arthur was murdered by John." 



HENRY, 
ARCHDEACON OF HUNTINGDON, 



OH 

con]:empt of the woeld; 

OB OH 

THE BISHOPS AND OTHER ILLUSTRIOUS MEN OF HIS AGE. 
IN A LETTER TO WALTER. 

FOBMUra OBiaiHALLT THE EIOHIH BOOK OF HIS HISTOBT. 



HENRY OF HUNTINGDON'S 

LETTER TO WALTERS 



Walter ^ my friend, once the flower of our youth and the 
ornament of our times, now alas! you are worn by a 
lingering disease, and languish under a painful disorder. 
When we were in the prime of our age, I dedicated to you 
a Book of poetical epigrams, and I dso proffered for your 
acceptance a poem which I. composed on love. Such 
trifles were fitting our youth, but now that we are old men 
what I offer you is becoming our years. I have, therefore, 

^ In the MSS. which have been collated, thia epistle, with three others, 
form the Eighth Book of Henry of Huntingdon's History. The first 
edition, so to speak, of the History concluding with the reign of Henry I., 
in the year 1185, the epistle, which was written in that year, and treats 
principally of persons connected with the narrative of the Seventh Book, 
was a regular sequel to it In the original order, the Ninth Book comprised 
an account of the miracles related by Bede ; and afterwards Huntingdon 
composed a Tenth Book, continuing his History through the reign of Stephen 
to the accession of Henry II. But it appears that the transcribers of the 
MSS. still continued to insert the epistles and the account of the miracles as 
the Eighth and Ninth Books, though these interrupted the progress of the 
History, which proceeds consecutively from the reign of Henry I., with 
which the first edition closed, to the reign of Stephen, which is the subject 
of Huntingdon's continuation of his work in his last Book. Sir Henry 
Savile, in his, which was the first, printed edition of Huntingdon's history, 
calls this the EigMh Book ; stating that some MSS. omit the two intervening 
ones, which he did not publish. Not to interrupt the tenor of the narrative, 
I have followed Savile's arrangement ; but for the reasons given in the Pre* 
face, I have thought it desirable to add the " Epistle to Walter " as an ap- 
pendix to the History. 

* Savile states that Walter was Archdeacon of Oxford. ^ Henry of Hun- 
tingdon does not insert his name in the list of dignitaries of the church of 
Lincoln, given in this epistle ; but that may be accounted for from its being 
addressed to Walter himself 



302 HENRY OF Huntingdon's 

written something on the contempt of the world, for yoiu* 
use and my own, which may occupy your hom-s of languor, 
and to which I myself may recur with profit. I do not 
intend a rhetorical or philosophical dissertation ; the pages of 
holy writ speak throughout of this one thing in a voice of 
authority, and the philosophers have made it their earnest 
study ; but I shall treat the subject in the simplest manner, 
so as to make it plain to the multitude, that is, the un- 
learned, and to draw from what has passed under our own 
observation, reasons for contemning, now that we are old 
men, what is really contemptible. I will not, therefore, 
have recourse to former Histories ; I shall relate nothing that 
has been told before, but only what is within my own 
laiowledge, the (Jnly evidence which can be deemed au- 
thentic. But if the great names of our times should 
appear uncouth to posterity, or my treatise should seem, 
indigested and wandering, and be considered wearisome^ 
because so many such names are introduced, at least it 
may be profitable to you and myself. 

The first chapter shall have reference to matters concern- 
ing our Church. As, then, in youth the seeds of all 
manner of vices bud luxuriantly, that which rears itself 
most vigorously, and overtops the rest, is the love of this 
present world. But from the simplicity natural to the age, 
youth is fi^e firom many errors, such as scepticism, fickle* 
ness, and the like, whfle the tendency I have spoken of; 
being more seductive than the rest, abides and gains 
strength. As age advances, things which once charmed 
lose &eir reUsh, and the sweet becomes bitter. Evil habits 
fasten on the mind, as with a hook which cannot be extri- 
cated ; and men are led captive by the love of wealth and 
of fleeting pleasures. This I have learnt by my own expe; 
rience. For when I was a mere child, in my growing npi 
and while I was a young man, I had o|^ortunities of closely 
observing the splendour in which our Bishop Robert lived ^ 

* Robert de Bloet, bishop of Lincoln, in whose household Heiizy vas 
brought np from his earliest years. We have here a liyely picture of the 
Kumptttons mode of living of the great ecelesiastici of those times. Bishop 
Bobert wu also justiciary of all England, and much employed by Henry L 
in secular afiairs. See the preceding History^ p. 250. 



LETTER TO WALTKB. 303 

I saw his retinne of gallant knights and nohle youths ; his 
horses of price, his vessels of gold or of silver-g^t ; the- 
splendid array of his plate, the gorgeousness of his servi- 
tors ; the fine linen and purple robes, and I thought within 
myself that nothing could be more blissful. When, more- 
over, all the world, even those who had learnt in the schools 
the emptiness of such things, were obsequious to him, and 
he was looked up to as the father and lord of all, it was no 
wonder that he valued highly his worldly advantages. If at 
that time any one had told me that this splendour which 
we all admired ought to be held in contempt, with what face^ 
in what temper, should I have heard it? I should have 
thought him more insensate than Orestes, more querulous 
than Thersites. It appeared to me that nothing could 
exceed happiness so exalted. But when I became a man, 
and heard the scurrilous language which was addressed to 
him, I felt that I should have fainted if it had been used to 
me, who had nothing, in such a presence. Then I began 
to value less what I had before so highly esteemed. 

It is very common for worldly men to experience tha 
most painful reverses before the end of their career. I will 
relate what happened to Bishop Kobert before his death. 
He, who had been Justiciary of aU England, and imiver-^ 
sal]y feared, was in the last year of his life twice impleaded 
by ^e king before an ignoble judge, and both times con- 
demned with disgrace in heavy penalties. His anguish of 
mind in consequence was such, that I saw him shed tears 
during dinner, while I, then his archdeacon, was sitting 
near him. On the cause being asked, he replied, '^For- 
merly my own attendants were sumptuously apparelled; 
but now the fines extorted from me by the king, whose 
favour I have always cultivated, serve to clothe a base 
crew." After this, he so entirely despaired of the royal 
favour, that when some one repeated to him the high com- 
mendations which the king had made of him in his absence,: 
he exclaimed, " The king praises no one whom he has not 
resolved utterly to ruin." For King Heruy, if I may v^- 
ture to say so, practised consummate duplicity, and his 
designs were inscrutable. A few days afterwards the bishop 
was at Woodstodc, where the king had appointed a gpeai 



804 HENBT OF HUNTINGDON 8 

hunting-match; and while conversing with the king and 
the Bishop of Salisbury, the two prelates being the greatest 
men in the kingdom, our Bishop [of Lincoln] was struck 
with apoplexy. He was carried speechless to his inn, and 
there presently expired in the king's presence^. Then the 
powerful monarch whom he had always faithfully served, 
whom he both loved and feared, whose favour he highly 
valued, and in whom he once placed such confidence, could 
not help him in his last extremity. " Cursed be he that 
trusteth in man, and maketli flesh his arm."* When, 
therefore, the child, or the stripling, or the young man 
looks up to those who are at the summit of fortime, let 
them recollect how uncertain may be their end, and that 
even in this world affliction may come upon and consiune 
them. Bishop Kobert was humane and humble, he raised 
the fortimes of many, and crushed no one's ; he was the 
orphan's father, and beloved by all who surroimded him ; 
hut we have seen what was his end. 

Something should be said of his predecessor Bemi', who 
came to England with William the First, and was present 
in his wars. He was raised to the bishopric of Dorchester 
by 4hat king, and changing its seat to Lincoln, he founded 
our church tliere, endowed it with ample possessions, and 
attached to it men of worth. I speak only of what I have 
seen and heard. Him, indeed, I never saw, but I knew all 
the venerable men to whom he gave appointments in his 
new church. I will mention a few of the number. He 
chose Balph, a venerable priest, for dean, and appointed 
Bayner treasurer, whose place is now fiUed by his nephew 
Geoffrey. Bayner was so pious a man, that he often 
chaunted psalms over the tomb which he had built to 
receive his remains, and there prepared himself by con- 
tinual prayers for his eternal home; that when the days 
of his devotion were ended, and he was laid there, he 
might be partaker of the mercy of God. Felix was an 

» The Saxon Chronicle adds iorae little details, whicli Henry of Hun- 
tingdon, who would seem to have the best Information, omite, both here and 
in his History ; see note, pp. 260-1. The Chronicle, with which Hunting, 
don agrees, fixes his death in 1123; Ordericus Vitalis in 1118. 

» Jer. XV. 6. ' See the preceding History, pp. 219-20. 



LETTER TO WALTER. 305 

exemplar of the highest excellence. I must not omit Hugh 
the priest, a man indeed wortliy to he remembered ; for he 
was tlie first, and the prop of the whole Chapter. He was 
succeeded by Osbert, a most agreeable and amiable man. 
"William, a youth of great promise, now fills his place. 
Guemo was appointed Precentor, whose ofiice Ralph the 
chaunter now holds. I must not pass over Albinus of 
Anjou, who was my o^vn master; whose brothers were 
most worthy men, and my associates. They were graced 
by the triple robe of the most profound leammg, the 
strictest continence, and perfect purity ; but, by the inscru- 
table judgment of God, they were afflicted with leprosy, 
from .which they are now cleansed by the purification of 
the grave. Remi placed archdeacons over the seven coun- 
ties comprised in his bishopric. Richard was made Arch- 
deacon of Lincoln, and was succeeded by Albert the Lom- 
bard, who was succeeded by William of Bayeux, and now 
by Robert tlie younger, who is the richest archdeacon hi 
England. Nicholas^ was Archdeacon of Cambridge, Hun- 
tingdon, and Hertford, distinguished no less by the graces 
of his person than by those of his mind. About the time 
of his death, when Cambridgeshire was detached from our 
see, and attached to a new bishop, I myself succeeded to 
the archdeaconry of the two remaining counties. Bishop 
Remi appointed Nigel, archdeacon of [North] Hampton; 
he was succeeded by Robert, and, in turn, by W^illiam, the 
excellent nephew of our present Bishop Alexander *. Ralph 
was appointed to Leicester, and was succeeded by Godfrey^ 
a man worthy of all praise, whose place is now filled by 
Robert de Merceto, a man not to be forgotten. Oxford 
was given to Alfred, an eminent rhetorician. Buckingham 
received Alfred the little, who was succeeded by Gilbert^ 
distmguished by his courtly manners, and writmgs both in 
verse and prose. Their successor was Roger, now made 
Bishop of Chester. Then came Richard; but it is now 
held by David, the brother of your venerable Bishop 

* It is not improbable that Nicholas was the £ither of Henry of Hun- 
tingdon. See the preceding History, p. 245. 

'^ To whom Huntingdon dedicated his History. See note to the dedic^ 
tion at the beginning of this Tolume, and the account of this bishop's death 
and character given in the Eighth Book of the History. 

Z 



806 HEURr OF HUiniKGDON s 

Alexander, the fifth in succession. Bedford, the seventh 
archdeaconry, was given to Osbert, who was succeeded by 
Kalph, unhappily killed. Hugh was appointed to his office, 
■and then Nicholas, who is flae fourth in succession. I 
must pass over the rest of the clergy, excellent men, lest I 
should be prolix. Consider, then, how many of these reve- 
rend meii are now dead, and will shortly be lost in oblivion. 
Beckon also in your mind's eye all those we have formerly 
seen, on the ri^t of the choir, and on the left ; not one of 
them now survives. These men loved what we love, sou^it 
'what we seek, desired what we desii'e; but death has 
buried them all in oblivion. It is our duty to reflect that 
the same fate awaits ourselves, and it should be our earnest 
care to seek that which is durable, that which has foun- 
dation, and is not a mere dream ; in short, that which has 
a real existence, for things here are nought. 

The second chapter, on tiie contempt of the world, con- 
cerns those I have seen, who being nurtured in the highest 
prosperity, have been subjected to the severest calamities. 
I have seen Heniy, the king's son, habited in robes of silk 
interwoven with gold, surrounded by troops of attendants 
and guards, and brilliant with almost celestial splendour. 
He was the only son of the king and Ihe queen, and looked 
with confidence to the inheritance of the throne. In truth, 
I know not whether the assurance of succeeding to the 
crown was not better to him, than the present possession 
of it to his father ; because the father had already spent a 
•long period of his term of reigning, while the son might 
count on the entire period of his own. His father, indeed, 
had to reflect with sorrow on the time when it would be no 
longer his, while the son could anticipate its possession 
with unmixed joy. But unpleasing thoughts suggested 
themselves to my mind, the presage of future calamity, 
when I observed the excessive state with which he was 
surrounded, and his own pride. I said to myself, " This 
'prince, so pampered, is destined to be food for the fire ! " 
He, indeed, from his proud eminence, fixed his thoughts 
on his future kingdom ; but God said, " Not so, unrigh- 
teous man^ not so !" And it came to pass that the head 

* Huntingdon seems to indulge his cynical humour in treating of this 
young prince. Except the pride and indulgence, natural to his station, which 



' LETTEB TO WALTEB. 807 

which should have worn a crown of gold, was rudely dashed 
against the rocks ; instead of wearing embroidered robes, 
he floated naked in the waves ; and instead of ascending a 
lofty throne, he found his grave in the bellies of fishes at 
the bottom of the sea. Such was the change wrought by 
the right hand of the Most High ! ^So also ifcchard, earl of 
Chester, the only son of Earl Hugh, nurtured in the greatest 
splendour, in the fall prospect of inheriting his father's high 
honours, perished, while still young, in the same ship, and 
shared the same burial. Bichard, also, the king's bastaid 
son, who had been splendidly brought up by our Bishop 
Bobert, and treated widi distinction by me, and others of 
the same family of which I was then a member^ ; one 
whom we admired for hiB talents, and &om whom we 
expected great things, he too was dashed on the rocks iii ^ 
the same ship, when no wind ruffled the sea, and, being 
plimg^d in its depths, met with a sudden death. Again, 
when William, the king's nephew, that is, son of Bobert, 
duke of Normandy, who now remained sole heir to the 
crown, and was judged worthy of it in the opinion of all 
men, had, by his consummate ability, acquired the earldom 
of Flanders, and by his indomitable valoin: defeated Theo- 
daric in a pitched battle, he perished firom a slight wouiad. 
Thus the hopes of all who looked up<Mi him as tideir future 
king were disappointed. 

If I were to dwell on such examples, my letter would 
swell to a large book. But I must not omit to mention 
our dean Symon, the son of our Bishop Bobert, bom to 
him while he was Chancellor of the great King William. 
He being educated at court, was, while yet yoimg, appointed 
our dean, and made rapid advances in the royal favour and 

onr historiaxi bad opportunities of observing, I am not aware of any blemish on 
bis character, unless there is any ground for including him in the foul impu- 
tation which Huntingdon attaches to the memory of most of those who 
perished in the shipwreck. But I have not foond any other authority for 
it than the passage in Huntingdon's History. See p. 249 ; and oar author 
there mentions it onfy as a report. The gallantry with which the prince at- 
tempted to rescue his sister, the Countess of Perche, from the wreck, and in 
80 doing perished himself, leaves a fiivonrable impression. See in Malmes- 
bnry, book v. p. 455, a fuller account of this disaster than is given by 
our author. 

^ See the eaili^ part of this letter, p. 302. 



308 HENKY OF Huntingdon's 

in courtly honours. He was gifted with a lively genius^ 
and a brilliant eloquence ; his person was noble, and his 
manners were graceful ; liiough yoimg in years, he was old 
in wisdom : but these qualities were tainted by his pride. 
From pride springs envy, from envy hatred, from hatred 
slanders, quarrels, and secret accusations. He spoke truly 
of himself when he said, "I mix with the courtiers like salt 
among live eels ;" for as the salt excruciates them, so he 
tormented by his calumnies all who were attached to the 
royal household : but as the salt loses its pungency by the 
moisttire exuding from the eels, so the universality of his 
slander deprived it of its acrimony, and nullified his 
malice. One part of this adage he understood very well, 
but the other did not occur tq him. He spoke the truth 
of himself without knowing it: for, from having been 
among the highest at court and in the royal favour, after a 
time he fell under the king's extreme displeasure, and 
being thrown into prison, from which it is reported he 
escaped through a sewer, he became an exile and a ruined 
man while he was still young. In him, therefore, was well 
exemplified the proverb, " Those who are brought up among 
flower beds are not far from dung." We must not be 
siuprised, then, when we see that noble youths, brilliant 
with personal graces and fortune's favours, frequently fall 
into the greatest misery. Then all their vain hopes vanish^ 
and that which was nothing is reduced to nothing. 

My third observation on the contempt of this fleeting- 
life — I would it were despised by me as I could wish, and 
as it deserves — ^relates to the wisdom of this world, or that 
which is most desirable in it. That, indeed, is more 
precious than the riches of the whole earth, and all that is 
coveted in the world cannot be compared witli it : for it is 
written S "The wisdom of this world is foolishness with 
God." "Wliich saying of the Apostle I propose to exemplify 
from instances within my own knowledge. I will mention 
the Earl of Mellent, the most sagacious in political affairs 
of all who lived between tliis and Jerusalem^. His mind 
was enlightened, his eloquence persuasive, his shrewdness 
acute; he was provident and wily, his prudence never 

1 1 Cor. iii. 19. ' See the Histoiy, p. 246. 



LETTER TO WALTER. 30^ 

failed, his counsels were profound, and his wisdom great. 
He had extensive and noble possessions, which are com- 
monly called honours ^, together with towns and castles, 
villages and farms, woods and waters, which he acquired by 
the exercise of the talents I have -mentioned. His domains 
lay not only in England, but in Normandy and France ; so 
that he was able, at his will, to promote concord between the 
kmgs of France and England, or to set them at variance, and 
provoke wars between them. If he took umbrage against 
any man, his enemy was humbled and crushed; while 
those he favoured were exalted to honour. Hence his 
coffers were filled with a prodigious influx of wealth in gold 
and silver, besides precious gems, and the contents of his 
ward-robe^. But when he was in the zenitli of his power, 
it happened that a certain earl carried off the lady he 
had espoused, either by some intrigue, or by force and 
stratagem. Thenceforth, even to his declining years, his 
mind was disturbed and clouded with grief, nor did he, te 
the time of his death, regain composure and happiness. 
After days absmdoned to soitow, when he was labouring 
under an infirmity which was the preciu^or of death, and 
the ai'chbishops and priests were performing their office 
for the confessional purification, they required of him that 
as a penitent he should restore the Ifinds which, by force or 
fraud, he had wrung from others, and wash out his sins 
wi til tears of repentance; to which he replied, "Wretched 
man that I am ! if I dismember the domains that I have 
got together, what shall I. have to leave to my sons?" 
Upon this, ihjd ministers of the Lord answered, "Your 
hereditary estates, and the lands which you have justly 
acquired, are enough for your sons ; restore the rest, or 
else you devote your soul to perdition." The earl replied, 
" My sons shall have all. I leave it to them to act merci- 
fully, that the defunct may obtain mercy." But after his 
death his sons were more careful to augment, by fresh 

* An '' honour" was a law term not merely signifying personal rank or 
title, but feudal rights of a superior kind over large territories, including 
manors, &c., dependent upon the " honour.** Thus the domains dependent 
npion the castle of Pevensey were erected into the Honour of the Eagle. 

^ The " wardrobe " included not only wearing apparel; but the hanging* 
and movable furniture of pahices and castles. 



^10 HEKBT C^ HONTIirGDOH's 

injustice, the possessions their father had acquired, than to 
distribute any part of them for the good of his soul. It is 
evident, therefore, that a man's highest wisdom may, in 
the end, degenerate not only to sheer folly, but to blind 
insanity. 

Need I mention Gilbert, sumamed the Universal, bishop 
of London? His equal for learning was not to be found 
even at Rome. He was an accomplished master of the 
liberal arts, and in speculative knowledge he had no equaL 
liiving in France, he was rector of the school of Nivemois, 
when the bishopric of London was proposed to him, and 
he accepted the offer. Notwithstanding the great expec- 
tations which were formed of him, he soon began to yield 
to the temptations of avarice; amassing much, spending 
little. At his death he bequeathed nothing; but King 
Henry found immense hoards of wealth in his coffers. 
Even the bishop's boots, well stuffed with gold and silver, 
were brought into the royal treasury K So that this man of 
consummate learning was universally admitted to be the 
greatest of fools. 

I will say a word of Balph, the king's chancellor. He ' 
was a man of the greatest sagacity, astute and crafty; and* 
he applied all the powers of his intellect to disinheriting 
simple folk, and easing them of their money. During this 
course of life he became subject to habitual infinnity. 
But such was his passion for accumulating, that, even then». 
resisting God, as it were, and overcoming nature, he did 
not cease to ruin and plunder those he could. His greed 
grew with his grief, his sins with his sickness, his pecu- 
lations with his pains ; until at last, happening to fall from 
his horse, a monk rode over him- ; so that he met his death 
in an extraordinary way. These examples, selected from a 
crowd of others, may serve to exhibit the folly of this world's 
wisdom. 

In the fourth place, I will address myself to the fortunes, 
of men whose names are great, such as the Lord spoke of 
when He said to David, " And I have made thee a great 

* The chattelB and treasures of the bisIwpB were held to lapse to the 
a»wiL e« their death. 
^ See the story in Henry of Huatingdon's History, p. 250 of this volume. 



J.RTTER TO WALTEB. 311 

name, like unto the name of the great men that are in 
the earth. "^ David's prosperity, indeed, was blessed; theirs 
of whom I speak was otherwise. For in these times no 
one can acquire a great name except by gi*eat wickedness. 
A gi'etft name was obtained by Thomas, duke of Louvain, 
in France, because he was great in crime. In hostility to 
all the neighbouring churches, he extorted from them con- 
tributions to his money-bags. When any one, by fraud or 
force, fell into his hands, the captive might truly say, 
" The pains of hell compassed me round." Homicide was 
his passion and his glory. He imprisoned his own coun- 
tess, an unheard-of outrage ; and, cruel and lewd at once, 
while he subjected her to fetters and torture by day, to 
extort money, he forced her to cohabit with him by night, 
in order to mock her. Each night his rude followers 
dragged her from her prison to his bed, each morning 
they conveyed her from his chamber back to her prison. 
Amicably addressing any one who approached hun, he 
would plunge a sword into his side, laughing the while. 
For this he wore his sword naked under his cloak, more 
frequently than sheathed. Men feared him, bowed down 
to him, worshipped him. Beports concerning him were 
spread throughout France. Meanwhile, his possessions, 
his wealth, his followers, daily increased. Do you desire 
to hear the end of this abandoned man ? When mortally 
wounded, he rejected the sacrament of penance, turned his 
head away from the consecrated host, and so died. It 
may well be said of him, " His life was follow'd by a 
fitting end." 

You knew Eobert de Belesme, the Norman earl who 
was thrown into prison^. He was a very Pluto, Megaera, 
Cerberus, or anything that you can conceive still more hor- 
rible. He preferred the slaughter of his captives to their ran- 
som. He tore out the eyes of his own children, when in sport 
they hid their faces under his cloak '. He impaled persons 
of both sexes on stakes. To butcher men in the most 
horrible manner was to him an agreeable feast. His name 
was the theme of general discourse, and the fearful freaks 

> 2 Sam. vii. 9. * See the Historr in this volanM*^ p. 245. 

^ William of HalxneBbury gives rather a dii/ereiit accoant of this bus 
terity. 



312 HENRY OF Huntingdon's 

of Robert de Belesme became common proverbs. At lengtli 
we come to his end ; a thing much to be desired. This 
cruel man, who had been the gaoler of others, was thrown 
into a dungeon by King Henry, where he died after a long 
imprisonment. Of him, whose fame had been spread'every- 
where, no one knew, after he was in prison, whether he was 
alive or dead ; and report was silent of the day of his death. 
I have given an account of two out of many such monsters. 
Such as these might be a terror to the devils themselves, 
and I refrain from saying any more about them. 

Fifthly, I purpose to treat of those who, elevated far 
above all other mortals, are in human affairs as the sum of 
a problem. For kings are to tlieir subjects a sort of gods. 
Men devote themselves to them by solemn oaths, and the 
very stars of heaven appear to do them service. So great 
is the majesty of tliese rulers of tlie world, that men are 
never weary of looking on them, and their subjects regard 
them as something more than mortal. It is not, therefore, 
to be wondered at tliat not only women and children, but 
men of light minds, should eagerly rush to gaze at them. 
But even the wise, and men of grave discretion, after 
repeated views, are drawn by some indescribable impulse 
to their presence. What is the reason of this ? What can 
be more full of bliss than their state ? What more radiant 
with glory? Would that one of tliese favoured mortals 
could talk to you freely, and pour into your ear the secrets 
of his heart ! You would then form a very different judg- 
ment. While others count them most happy, they are 
consumed with trouble, tormented with fear. No man in 
their dominions is equally wretched, equally wicked. Hence 
it is said, the royal state is wickedness. King Henry 
threw his brother, the Lord Robert, into a dungeon, and 
kept him there till he died. He caused his nephew's eyes 
to be torn out ; numbers fell into his hands by his breach 
of faith ; numbers he put to death craftily ; he broke 
many solemn oaths. He was a slave to ambition and 
avarice. What alarm seized him when his brother Robert 
led an army against him out of Normandy to England ! 
He was tenified into making peace ; but tlie result was that 
he caused his highest nobles to commit perjury, because 
he broke the treaty and took his brother prisoner. What 



LETTEH TO. WALTEB 31? 

was his alarai when the Count of Anjou took his castles, 
and he dared not march to oppose him ! What his alarm 
when Baldwin, earl of Flanders, carried fire through Nor- 
mandy to his very face, and he was unable to check him [ 
What was his anguish of mind when his sons, and daughters, 
and nobles were engulfed in the sea ! With what anxiety was. 
he devoured when his nephew William, having obtained 
the earldom of Flanders, it seemed certain that he him- 
self would lose his crown ! He was reckoned the most 
fortunate of kings, but, truly, he was the most miserable. 

Need I speak of Philip, king of France, and Lewis, his 
son, both of whom reigned in my time, whose god was 
their belly, and indeed a fatal enemy it was ; for such was. 
their gluttony, that they became so fat as not to be able to 
support themselves. Philip died long ago of plethora; 
Lewis has now shared the same fate, though a young man. 
What can we say of their fortunes ? Was not Phihp often 
defeated ? Was he not frequently forced to fly before the 
vilest of the people? Was not Lewis expelled by King 
Henry from the Field of Mars ; and driven out, as is appa- 
rent, by his own subjects? Again, the King of Norway 
was lately taken prisoner in battle by his own brother, who 
put out his eyes, dismembered him, cut off the head of his 
sucking child, and hung his bishop, AU of these kings 
were alike ill-fated. 

But you will allege in contradiction, Why have you so 
highly extolled King Henry in your History S while here 
you bring against him such serious accusations? My 
answer is this : I said that this king was of great sagacity^, 
that his comisels were profound, that his foresight was 
keen, and that he was renowned in arms, that his achieve- 
ments were glorious, and that his wealth was extraordinary. 
Notwithstanding this^ all that I have said to his disadvan- 
tage is but too true ; would it were otherwise '*, But per- 

P ^ See Book vii. p. 261 of the present volnine. 

' It is singular that Henry of Huntingdon, both here and in his History,, 
is silent on the literary accomplishments of Henry I., which, obtained for 
him the surname of Beavrclerc. 

^ The free manner in which Henry of Huntingdon treats of the character 
of this Norman king, while be was still living, and notwithstanding his 
eyident personal attachment to him, is creditable to bis own chazacter fot 



SI4 HEKBX OF HUKTIKGDON's 

haps you ivill still aver. His reign has now lasted thirty-five 
years ^ ; and the instances of his good fortune, if you count 
them, are more in number than adverse events. To this 
I reply, Yes, but not even a thousandth part of his good 
f(Htune can be admitted as evidence of his happiness ; for 
the very occurrences which seemed fortunate were always 
mingled with disappointment. When he gained a victory 
over the French king, with what protracted anxieties was 
that short triumph followed ! Because, in a word, another 
army was immediately raised, wliich caused him fresh un- 
easiness. You speak with admiration of his length of days, 
and the many years of his reign ; but a man of God has 
predicted that it shall not last two years longer. Soon you 
will see the miserable end of a miserable Ufe. Would it 
could be otherwise ! But so it will be*. Thus, you must 
not fix your regards on these unhappy kings, but on God, 
who alone is blessed, and opens the kmgdoms of bliss to his 
faithM sen'ants. 

My sixth and last treatise concerns those great men and 
peers of the realm who, not long since, were most potent, 
and still are not powerless. But tliey are nothing, they 
are nowhere; I may almost say, with some extravagance, 
they never were •'. Scarcely any one remembers them now ; 
all memory of them has begun to vanish ; presently it will 
be entirely lost; they will vanish like milling water. 
Listen, then, my dear Mend Walter, to my discourse con- 
cemiDg those illustrious men whom we have ourseives 
seen, &ough it may be somewhat tedious. In our time 
flourished Lanfranc, archbishop of Canterbury, a jMlo- 
sopher and a politician ; he was succeeded by Anselm, a 
wise and most religious prelate. After them we saw Balph, 
who was worthy of his high dignity. Next, the see of Can- 

impArtiality as an historiaii. Perhaps it also exhibits the spirit of inde- 
pendence felt by the ecclesiastics of those times. 

1 This computation fixes the date of Huntingdon's Letter to Walter^ whicli 
has been assigned to a later period. See the obsfarationft in the Pre£M» to 
this Tolnme. 

' This prediction was singularly verified, if wo soay suppose that King 
Henry's state of health at this time was not such as to render it £ur from 
hazardous. The king died before the end of the year in which this epistle 
was written, ** the day after the feast of St. Andrew," the 2&th of Deoem- 
het, liafiL . ^ Sic The writer explains himself a little further oq. 



I^ETTKR TO WALTEB. 816 

terbuiy was filled by William, of whose merit nothing can 
be said, fdr he had none^ ; at present it is filled by Theobald, 
a man worthy of all praise. In our time, also, Walkeline 
was bishop of Winchester ; he was succeeded by William 
Giffard, a man of true nobility. Both these are dead, and 
have come to nothing. Their seat is occupied by Heniy,. 
the king's son, who promises to exhibit a monstrous spec- 
tacle, compoimded of purity and corruption, half a monk, 
half a knight-. In our time, also, Ingulfus was bishop 
of Eochester; after whom came Balph, then Amulf, then 
John. All these are dead; and Asceline, who now fills the 
see, cannot hold it long*\ In our time, Maurice, bishop of 
London, died ; he was succeeded by Kichard, and after- 
wards by Gilbert, the great philosopher. At present, the 
see is filled by Robert, a man of enlarged mind. These 
two are dead. John, the physician, held the see of Bath*^ 
and then Godfrey ; Eobert now fills it ; and these also are 
nothing. At Worcester I saw Samson, a prelate of great 
eminence ; after him came Teulf ; now we see Simon there. 
At Chester we saw Robert bishop; then another Robert, 
sumamed Pecceth ^ ; now the see is filled by Roger, who 
will soon be nothing. Herbert had Norwich, a mild and 



' In the " Acts of King Stephen,*' this prelate is described as grasping 
and covetom. 

'^ This was the Bishop of Winchester, and papal legate, of whom Hun- 
tingdon here shrewdly predicts the extraordinary part he took in the troa- 
hles of the succeeding reign. 

' Dacher, in his edition of this epistle, inserts in the text the name of 
Baldulf, as Bishop of Rochester, between those of Ingulfus and Ralph. 
There was a bishop of Whiteme in GbUoway of that name, a.d. 791. See 
<' Huntingdon's History," p. 139. Dacher adds in a note, *' Gundulf " [or 
Ingulf] ** died in 1170 ; and we might suppose that Asceline, the fourth in 
succession, was dead in 1147 ;" which is most probable from what Hunting- 
don here says ; but it is clear that the " Letter to Walter " was written ia 
1135, notwithstanding that Wharton and Fetrie bare assigned to it a much 
later date. See the observations on this subject in the Pre&ce to the pre- 
sent work. 

* Having removed it from Wells. See the character of this bishop in 
William of Mahnetbiirf. 

^ Malmesbury says that Robert Pecceth r«noyed the see of Litchfield 
from Coventry to Chester. The modem bishopric of Chester was founded 
at the Reformation in 1541. 



816 HENRY OF Huntingdon's 

learned bishop, whose writings we possess^. He was suc- 
ceeded by Everard, who was deposed for his excessive 
cruelty. William now fills that see. Hervey was the first 
bishop of Ely, and was succeeded by Nigel. Osmond was 
bishop of Salisbury, succeeded by Koger, a great statesman, 
who is now tlie king's justiciary. Kobert filled the see of 
Exeter ; he became blind, and is now dead, and his nephew 
Eobert has it. Ralph was bishop of Chichester ; in whose 
place Pelochin was appointed, a great rogue, who was con- 
sequently deposed. Williaip, who had the bishopric of 
Durham, was killed; after him -came Ralph, who set all 
England on fire by his rapacity^; they were succeeded by 
Geoffrey, and William now fills it. We have seen Gerard, 
archbishop of York, and after him was Thomas ; then came 
Thurstan, a most excellent man ; it is now held by William, 
who was treasurer of tliat church. Remi, bishop of Lin- 
coln, lived in our days : he was succeeded by Robert, a 
prelate of mild virtues ; Alexander, a faitliful and munificent 
prelate, now fills the see^. - Thus far of the bishops. 

Among oin' cotemporaries were Hugh, earl of Chester, 
and Richard his son, and Ral^h their successor, and now 
another Ralph ; all who preceded him are gone. You knew 
that able but abandoned man, Robert, earl of Mellent^, of 
whom I have before spoken, and now his son Robert, in 
praise of whom little can be said. Have you not seen 
Henry, earl of Warwick, and his son Roger, who is now 
living, men of ignoble minds? You knew also William 
Earl Warrenne, and Robert de Belesme, earl [of Shrews- 

' Herbert, snmamed Losingay from a French word, signifying to cozen, 
removed the see of East Anglia from Thetford to Norwich. He was nt one 
time the greatest simonist in England. William of Malmesbury gives a 
long character of him, representing him to have repented and become, as 
Huntingdon intimates, an excellent bishop as well as scholar. The *' writings " 
here referred to. are probably his letters, the MS. of which was lately dis- 
covered at Brussels, and they have since been published there and in Lon- 
don. See William of Malmesbury's History, " Bohn's Antiquarian Library," 
p. 352. He died i.D. 1100.— iSaar. Chron. 

' This distinguished prebite is frequently mentioned in the Eighth Book 
of Huntingdon's History. See also the *' Acts of King Stephen " in the 
present volume. 

3 See the notes tq this letter^ pp. 308, 311. 



LETTER TO WALTER. 817 

biiry], with Robert, earl of Morton, of whom I have spoken 
in my History of England^; as also Simon, earl of Him- 
tingdon; Eustace, count of Boulogne, and many others: 
tlieir very memory is wearisome. In their day they had 
great power, and appeared worthy of the closest scrutiny; 
now they scarcely deserve mentioning. The very parch- 
ment on which their names are wi'itten seems ready to 
perish, nor are eyes to be found which would be willing to 
read it. My own letter 'is witness, which no one or 
.scarcely any one, will read, though it contains the names 
of so many powerful men, worthy to be rescued from ob- 
livion. Why should I mention Aid wine ^, my own master, 
who was abbot of Ramsey, and Bernard, his successor; 
after whom came Remald, a clever but intemperate man ; 
who was succeeded by Walter, the present dignified abbot. 
Where, now, are these ? Thorold, abbot of Peterborough ; 
and Amulf, and Mathias, and Goodric, and John, and Martin, 
all whom I knew, are dead and come to nothing. But you 
ask why I include the living with the dead, and say that 
they all are come to nothing ? For this reason : as the 
dead are come to nothing, the others soon will, or, to 
speak freely, have already come. For that which is called 
our life is, as Tully says, death. When you begin to 
live, you begin to die. I pass over those celebrated men, 
Ralph Bassett and his son Richard, with Geoffrey Ridel, 
who were justiciaries of all England, and others out of 
number, to offer whom respectful homage was once a plea- 
sure to me ; but now that they are dead it seems labour in 
vain to write even the slightest notices of them. 

Reflect, then, my fiiend Walter, how worthless is this 
present life ; and since we see that even the most powerful, 
who were in possession of the fullest measure of its wealth, 
accomplished nothing, and that we ourselves accomphsh 
nothing, let us seek another way of life in which we may 
expect happiness and shall not fail. Rouse yourself, my 
brother ; rouse yourself and look about you, for what you 
have sought for in this life you have never found. Did not 
Alexander, a king, so to speak, all but omnipotent, die at 

» Pp. 242, 248. 

3 Probably the aame person as AlbixuU; mentioned before as a member of 
the Chapter of Lincoln. 



318 HENRY OF Huntingdon's 

last of a Utile poison? Did not Julius CflBsar, a man 
equally or still more powerful, after he had heoome master 
of the world, fall by the stroke of a small poignard ? What 
he auned at he did not obtain. Seek, therefore, that which 
you can find ; seek the life that comes after this life, fca* 
life is not to be found in the present life. Almi^ty God ! 
how truly are we called mortals ! For death clings to us 
while we live ; but our diss<dution, which we call deatli, 
puts an end to death. Whatever we do, whatever we say, 
perishes from the moment it is said or done. The rememr 
brance of them, indeed, as in the case of the deceased, 
survives for a while ; but when that also has vanished, all 
our acts and words are annihilated, as it ware, by a second 
death. Where is now what I did yesterday? where what I 
said ? They are swallowed up in the death of endless ob- 
livion. Let us then hope for the death of this hving death, 
since we cannot escape it but by the death of our bodies;, 
whidi is the middle term between life and death. 

I had scarcely fini^ied this l^;ter when it was announced 
to me that the fiiend to whom it is addressed had ceased to 
live. What is the lot of mortals, but to be helpless at their 
birth, wretched during life, painful at their end ? O death, 
how sudden is thy grasp, how unexpected thy attack, how 
relentless thy stroke ! May He, Walter, who is the phy- 
sician of the soul after this life is ended, vouchsafe to ad- 
minister to thee Ihe healing antidote of his mercy, that thou 
mayest attain the hfe of enduring health. My letter now 
will never reach you: a E^ort epitaph is all that I can 
offer, a memorial of you on which my tears will fall while 
I write : — 

Satires, once, and songs of Ioyo 
"Woke the echoes of the grove; 
Then my youthful minstrelsy, 
Walter, was addressed to thee. 
Now my heart, oppress'd with grief. 
Teams to find some short relief 
While I deck thy ftm'ral hier, 
And, bedew'd with many a tear, 
Fondly weaving mournful verse, 
Wreathe a chaplet for thy hearse. 

He, my better half, is fled, 
Lying numbered with the dead ; 



LETTER TO WALTER. 319 

He, ray light, my joy, my crown. 

Whose fond love retum'd ftiy own. # 

Chiird the heart that freely gave. 

Cold the hand oatstretch'd to save ; 

Deeming what he gave as naught, 

In his modesty of thought. 

Twice bless'd was his charity, 

Open hand and beaming eye 

Met, to stay, the suppliant's cry. 

Walter, of unrivall'd worth, 

Sleeps in consecrated earth ; 

Numbered now among the blest, 

May his soul have grateful rest! 



THE END OF THE LETTER TO WALTER. 



THS 

ACTS OF STEPHEN, 

KING OF ENGLAND AND DUKE OF NOEMANDI. 

BY AN UNKNOWN BUT COHTKMPOBANEOUS AUTHOE. 



9H3 

ACTS OF KING STEPHEN. 



BOOK L 



•On the death of King Henry, who had given peace to the 
realm, and was the father of his people, his loss threw the 
whole kingdom into trouble and concision. Dmdng his 
reign the law was jpurely administered in -the seats of jus- 
tice; but whsen he was removed, iniquity prevailed, and 
they became the seed-beds of corruption. Thenceforth, 
^England, before the xesting-place of nght, the habitation of 
peace, and the mirror of piety, was converted into an abode 
of malignity, a theatre of stnfe, and a school of rebellion. 
The sacred bonds of mutual concord, before reverenced by 
the nation, were rent asunder ; the ties of near relationship 
were dissolved; and the people, long clothed in the gar- 
ments of peace, clamoured, and became frantic for war. 
Seized with a new fury, they began to run riot against each 
other ; and the more a man injured the innocent, the high^ 
he thought of hunself. The sanctions of tiie law, which 
form the restraint of a rude population, w^e totally disre- 
gai'ded and set at nought; and men, giving the xeins to bR 
iniquity, plunged without hesitation into whatever crimes^ 
their inclmations prompted. In the words of the prophet». 
**^ There was no soundness from the sole of the foot to "die 
crown, of the head ; " for from the lowest to the highest 
their minds were diseased and wrought violence, or sanc- 
tioned the violence of others by silent asseM. JSven the 
wild animals, which in former times were preserved peace- 
ably in parks and inclosures tbrou^xoBt the country, were 
now turned loose, and harassed, every one hunting them 

T 2 



824 ACTS OF KING STEPHEN. [BOOK I. 

without reserve. This, indeed, was a minor calamity, 
not much to he complained of; and yet it was wonderful 
how so many myriads of wild animals, which in large herds 
before plentifully stocked the country, suddenly disappeared, 
so that outof this vast number scarcely two could now be found 
together. They seemed to be entirely extirpated, insomuch 
that it is reported a single bird was a rare sight, and a sti^ 
was nowhere to be seen. The people also tinned to plun- 
dering each other without mercy, contriving schemes of 
craft and bloodshed against their neighbotirs ; as it was 
said by the prophet, " Man rose up wiSiout mercy against 
man, and every one was set against his neighbour." For 
whatever the evil passions suggested in peaceable times, 
now that the opportunity of vengeance presented itself, 
was quickly executed. Secret grudgings burst forth, and 
dissembled malice was brought to light, and openly 
avowed. 

While the English were in this state of turbtdence 
and trouble, and the reins of justice now being relaxed, 
gave loose to every sort of wickedness, Stephen, count of 
Boulogne, a nobleman of illustrious lineage, landed in 
England with a small retinue. He was the best beloved 
by Hemy, the late pacific king, of all his nephews, not only 
because he was of near kindred to him, but on account of 
the virtues by which he was eminently distinguished. In 
him, what is rare in our times, wealth was joined with 
humility, mimificence with courtesy; while in all warlike 
■undertakings, every encoimter with the enemy, he was bold 
fuid valiant, cautious and persevering \ Thus gifted, when 
the report of King Henry's death reached him he was 
beyond sea; but instantly conceiving a great design, he 
hastened to the coast, and embarking, with fortunately a 
fair wind, he sailed for England, on which his thoughts 
were fixed. Landing, as I have said before, with few 
followers, he proceeded ta London, the royal metropolis *. 

* The character given of Stephen by William of Malmesbury corre- 
sponds with this ; but he adds, that *' he was kind as far as promise went, 
but was sure to disappoint in its truth and execution." See "Modem History," 
Bohn's Edition, p. 401. 

' " Gervase of Canterbury says, that, coming over in a swift-sailing ship, 
the people of Dover repulsed him, and the inhabitants of Canterbury shut 
their gates against him. — Colo^h. iO, 10." — SewelL 



A.D. 1135.] STEPHEN ELECTED KINO. 325 

At his arrival, the city, which had heen in mourning for 
the death of King Henry, came out to meet him with 
shouts of joy, and received him in triumph ; regaining in 
Stephen what they had lost in their protector Henry. The 
men of rank and experience, assembled in council^ to pro- 
vide for the welfare of the nation, unanimously resolved 
to elect him king. For they said that the kingdom was 
exposed to danger when the som'ce of order and justice 
failed ; and that it was therefore of the utmost importance 
to choose a king at once, who might re-establish peace for 
the common good, punish malcontents by force of arms, 
and administer the laws justly. They claimed it also as 
their undoubted right and especial privilege^, when the 
throne was vacant by the king's death, to provide that 
another should take his place and follow in his steps ; and 
they said that there was no one, as it appeared to them, 
who could fulfil the duties of a king, and put an end to the 
dangers of the kingdom, except Stephen, who seemed sent 
to them by Divine Providence, and who appeared to all 
worthy, both from his illustrious birth and his great quali- 
ties. These allegations being fevourably received, at least 
no one openly controverting them, the assembly came to 
the resolution of offering the crown. to Stephen, and he 
was chosen king by common consent ; this proviso being 
first made, and, as commonly reported, ratified by oath, 
that as long as he lived the citizens should aid him by 
their wealth, and support him by their arms, and that he 
should bend his whole energies to the pacification of the 
kingdom^. 

* Stephen having thus secured the name and dignity of 
king in so fortunate a manner, took arms with the resolu- 

1 Malmesbnry says that very few of the nobles attended ; Huntingdon, 
that most of them gave in their adhesion, but that probably was afterwards. 
Stephen owed his election to the influential bishops of Salisbury and Win- 
chester, and the acclamations of the Londoners. 

' According to the free Anglo-Saxon institutions; which, it appears, were 
not forgotten after three reigns of Norman kings. 

^ Our author, neither here, nor in subsequently relating the circumstances 
of Stephen's coronation, takes any notice of the charter of liberties promised 
by him, and afterwards granted and ratified by his solemn oath, as Himting- 
don says, at Oxford. Malmesbury has preserved the document, and charges 
Stephen with having, through evU counsels, violated his oath. 



8%6 ACTS OF KI»G STEPBE^H [boOE I. 

tioB of restormg-tranquiliily ; and, successftdly encomitermg- 
tiie bands of robbers who ravaged that part of the kingdom, 
he made his name great at Hie veiy beginning of his reign. 
At that time there was a man of low condition, for he was^ 
King Henry's porter, but ready at mischief, and greedy to- 
plmider the poor: This man, at the head of a band o^ 
rude comitry {oVt and some hired soldiers, kept the whole^ 
neighbourhood in alarm By Ms endless depredations with.' 
fire and sword. Stephen, however, encountered him boldly; 
killing his comrades or throwing them into prison; and' 
tikking their leader^ also, he after a while hung him on a 
gallows. After this, suddenly coUectmg a strong force from 
all quarters, he hastened to join Henry, the bishop, on 
whom hiis chief reliance was placed. He was Stephen's- 
brother, both on his fether and mother's side, and a man 
of extraordinary prudence and persuasive eloquence, and, 
fortune favouring him, had become Abbot of Glastonbury, 
Bishop of Winchester, and Apostolical Legate in England. 
The bishop, extremely pleased with his brother's success^ 
came to meet him with the principal citizens of Winchester, 
and after a short conference conducted him with great pomp 
into the second city of the kingdom. 

There was at that time in the city of Winchester a maar 
named William \ who, being the trusty treasurer of King 
Henry, had been frequently tampered with by the bishop, 
with oflFers of a bribe, to give up the castle and the 
treasure it contained ; but the more he was pressed, the 
less he was disposed to yield. As soon, however, as he 
heard of the king's coming, whether through love or fear of 
him I know not, he presented himself b^ore him witii a 
cheerful aspect, and made him master of King Henry's- 
treasure, containing great hoards, gathered throughout all 
England from the time of the oldest kings, together wilh 
the castle. Eeports of the new king's arrival spreading 
throughout the kingdom, he was joyfully acknowledged by 
numbers, those especially who were before in friendly rela- 
tions with himself and his brothers, and these seconded hia 
efforts with all their power. Among these was William, 
archbishop of Canterbury, a man wiSi a smooth face and 

'- Sttmamed' Font de T Acobe* 



AiD. 1135.] STEEHES'S. THEE GAN¥AS£{ED. 827 

stzictly religious manners, but much more ready to amasa 
money than to dispense it. Eor at his deadi the king'a 
ofi&eers found immense sums secretly hoarded in his coffers, 
which if he had distribated for charitable: uses when alive, 
m imitation of the stemsd in the Gospel, who made him^ 
aelf Mends of the mammon of unrighteousness, and dis- 
persed abroad and gave to the poor, so that his name should 
be had in everlasting remembrance, he would have better 
£alfilled the character of a good shepherd. . The archbishop 
being m^ed by the king's, adherents to anoint and conse- 
crate, the king, and thus supply by the exercise of hia 
sacred functions, what seemed to be wanting, he met their 
instances with the reasonable an&wer that it ought not to. 
Be done lightly or suddenly, but should be furst maturely 
considered, and careful inquiry made whether it was wise 
and expedient. For the king, he argued, is chosen for the 
purpose of governing all, and that when elected he may 
enforce the rights of his government on all; so then it is 
plain that all should make common agreement in con- 
firming his election, and that it should be determined by 
common consent whether it shall be ratified or annulled. 
He added that King Henry in his lifetime had bound all 
the principal men ^ the realm, by a most solemn oath, not 
to acknowledge the title of any one after his own death but 
his daughter, who was married to the Count of Anjou, or, if 
he himself survived her, his daughter's heir. Therefore 
there was great presiunption in endeavouring to set aside 
tliis engagement, the more especially as not only was King 
Henry's daughter living, but she was &voured in having 
heirs of her body. To this the king's partisans replied 
with confidence, " We do not deny that King Henry'a 
policy in the marriage of his daughter was wise, as it led to 
a firm and stable peace between the people of Normandy 
and Anjou, between whom there were frequent disturbances. 
With respect to the succession, tiiat iinperious king, whom 
no one could resist, with a voice of thunder compelled, 
mther than persuaded, the great men of the kingdom to 
take the oadi of fealty; for tiiough he foresaw that aa 
ihvolimtary oath would not be considered binding, still he 
wished, like Ezekiel, to have peace in his days, and by the 
marriage of one woman create a bond of union between 



328 ACTS OF KOXa STEPHEN. [BOOK I. 

countless multitudes. We willingly admit that this thing 
was agreeable to him while he lived, but we say that he 
would not have been satisfied that it shotdd be unalterable 
after his death ; for those who stood round him when he 
was at the last extremity, and hstened to his true confes- 
sion of his sins, heard him plainly express his repentance 
for the oath which he had enforced on his barons. Since,, 
therefore, it is evident that an oath extorted by violence 
jfrom any man cannot subject him to the charge of perjury, 
it is both allowable and acceptable that we should freely 
acknowledge for king him whom the city of London, the 
metropolis of the kingdom, received without opposition, 
aud who founds his claims on his lawful right, through his 
mother, the late king's sister. We are also firmly convinced 
that by acknowledging him and supporting him with all 
our power, we shall confer the greatest benefit on the 
kingdom, which, now torn, distracted, and trodden down, 
will in the very crisis of its fate be restored to order, by the 
efforts of a man of firmness and valour, who, being exalted 
by the power of his adherents and the wisdom of his bro- 
thers, whatever was wanting in himself would be fiilly 
supplied by then- aid."^ 

Impelled by these and other considerations, which for 
brevity I omit, the archbishop anointed and consecrated ^ 
Stephen king, both in England and Normandy, with a large 
attendance of the clergy, which being known, and the re- 
port spreading throughout England, almost all the great 
men of the langdom willingly and reverently gave their 
adhesion, and many of them, receiving presents and grants 
of land from the king, did homage to him, and liberated 
themselves from the fealty they had before sworn. Among 

* The particularity with which the anonymous author states the discus- 
sions in this assembly, as well as in the previous council at London and on 
other occasions, confirms the idea suggested in another place that he was 
in a position to be familiar with all that passed. 

^ It would appear that the several events before related, the two coun- 
cils, with the expedition against the insurgents, and the seizure of ,the late 
king's treasure at Winchester, were all crowded into a few weeks. William 
of MaLnesbury says that Stephen was crowned on the 20th Dec, 1135^ 
22 days after the decease of his uncle. Others state that it took place on 
the 26th of December. It is remarkable that our author does not give a 
single date throughout his narrative. I shall add the dates of the more im- 
p)rtant events from contemporary writers. 



A.D. 1136.] EXPEDITION AGAINST THE WELSH. 399 

these was Eobert, earl of Gloucester, the l)astard son of 
Kmg Henry, a man of great ability, and the highest pru- 
dence. On his father's death, report says, that the crown was 
offered him, but with sound judgment he did not acquiesce 
in the proposal ; observing that it was more just to leave 
the kingdom to his sister's son, who had a better title to it, 
than to have the presiunption to usurp it himself. After 
being frequently summoned by messages and letters from 
the king to attend his court, at last he came, and was re- 
ceived with^ extraordinary favour, everjrthing he required 
being granted on his doing homage ^ His submission, at 
lengSi gained, was followed by that of almost all the rest of 
England. 

Upon this, the king, attended by a large body of troops, 
made a royal progress through the kingdom, influencing 
those who were favourable to his pretensions to give him 
their allegiance freely and dutifully in the various monas- 
teries, cities, and churches, and listening with courtesy and 
deference to all who laid their wants before him. To create 
ti'anquillity throughout the realm required great efforts, to 
restore union among his subjects great sacnfices ; and the 
pacification not only of England but of Wales, was a work 
of much labour and vast expenditure. Wales is a woody 
and pastoral country, running parallel with the borders of 
England on one side, and bounded by the sea through its 
whole extent on the other. It is stocked with game and 
fish, and feeds large herds of milch-kine and beasts of 
burthen. The men it rears are half-savage, swift of foot, 
accustomed to war, always ready to shift botli their habita- 
tions and their allegiance. When the Normans had con- 
quered England, they established their power in the country 
bordering on their territories by erecting numerous castles. 
Keducing the natives to subjection, and settling colonies of 
their own followers, they introduced laws and courts of 
justice to promote order, and the coimtry became so fruitful 
and aboimding in plenty, that it might be considered not 
inferior to the most fertile part of Britain. But on King 
Henry's death, when the peace and concord of the kingdom 

' ''He dissembled for a time his secret mieniiom "-^William of 

Malmesburi/, 



380 ACTS OF KLKG 8TEFHBK. [BOOK I. 

was buried wiiii him, liie Welsh, who always sighed for 
deadly revenge against their masters, threw off tib.e yoke 
which had been imposed on them by treaties, uid, 
issuing in bands firom all parts of the countiy, made hostile 
inroads in different quarters, laying waste the towns with 
robbery, fire, and sword, destroying houses and butchering 
the population. The first object of their attack "was the 
district of Gower^ on Ihe sea-coast; a fine and abundantly 
fruitful country, and, hemming in with their levies on foot, 
the knights and men-at-arms who, to the number of 516, 
were collected in one body, they put them all to the sword. 
After whichj exultuig in the success of their first under- 
taking, they overran all the borders of Wales, bent on every 
sort of mischief, and ready for any crime, neither sparing 
age nor respecting rank, and su&nng neither place nor 
season to be any protection fi*om their violence. When the 
king received intelligaice of this rebellion, he raised, for 
the purpose of quelling it, a considerable force of cavalry and 
archers, whom he took into pay at a great expense, and dis- 
patched them against the insurgents*. But of this force, 
after many of their number were slain fighting gloriously, 
the rest, shrinking to encounter the ferocious enemy, re- 
treated in disgrace after fruitless toil and expense. 

There lived at that time in Wales one Eichard Fitz- 
Gilbert, a man of distinguished gallantry, surrounded by 
wealthy kinsmen and vassals, possessed himself of vast 
domains and numerous castles, who kept all his neighbours 
in check by leches to which they were bound by hostages, 
so that the country became so peaceable and affluent, tiiat 
it might have been easily taken for a second England. This 
man having demanded of the king some great favour which 
was reftised him, disparted, it is said, with the intention of 
-sommencing hostilities. On his entering Wales with a 
Arge retinue, he was waylaid and slain by the Welsh, his 

* A well-known district of Soutb Wales, which nearly corresponds with 
l&ft present county o£ Glamorgan. 

' Neither Malmesbury nor Huntingdon notice this expedition into Walev, 
which was not led by the king in person, while they mention Stephen's 
excursion into the north of England against the King of the Scots, shortly 
after his corronation, in Lent of the same year, which is passed over by the 
author of *' The Acts of King Stephen." 



A.D. 1136.] SXTCCBSSES OF THE WELSBS. 331 

escort escaping. It becoming bruited abroad that the 
greatest man in Wales had fallen, the people of several dis- 
iaicts, assembling in great numbers, entered his territories, 
and being divided ir.lo three bodies, in military order, these 
Ibot-soldiers attacked Eichard*s horsemen, who, joined bj 
others who came to .their aid from the neighbouring towns 
and castles, made a force of 3000 men. The attack being 
made in three quarters, liiey were defeated by the iQSui> 
gents, who pursued them shouting and pouring in flights of 
an-ows. Many were miserably sMn, some were driven into 
a river and drowned, and others were burnt in churches and 
houses. The whole district, xxxvi. miles in extent, was 
CFverrun and plundered till nothing was left ; the old were 
exposed to death or derision ; the young of both sexes were 
bound and dragged into slavery; women of every age were 
openly and shamefully ravished. They stormed the castles 
of some barons^ and closely beleaguered others, under whose 
yoke they had hitherto bowed, but over whom they now- 
lorded in turn. One of Richard's castles, which was impreg- 
nably fortified, and in which his wife, the Earl of Chester's, 
sister, had sought shelter, wias elosely invested. She, de- 
prived of her husband's protection, with the despondency 
of her sex, was tortured with anxiety. Thus strictly inclosed,, 
and short of provisions, for numerous bands of tiie enemy^ 
patrolled the country, and without hope of relief, she was 
worn out with grief ~and care. But still holding oul^ when, 
her immediate neighbom^ were unable to offer her any 
assistance, Milo, who was lord of Grloucester*^ and after- 
wards obtained an earldom rather by his crafty genius thaiL 
his right of inheritance, devoted himself and his followers 
to the peril of effecting her release. He was impelled to 
undertake it as much by compassion and his natural feel- 
ing for the distressed lady, as by the king's command, who 
had written to enforce the enterprise. Tracking his way, 
therefore, through the enemy's posts, among the gloomy^ 
recesses of the woods and over ^e moimtaih tops, he re~ 
solutely approached the besieged castle, and wi^drawing 

^ Babert, bastard son of Henry 1., had tbe earldom of Gloucester^ o£ 
nhich he made Bristol the chief seat, and where bis tomb has been dis* 
covered in the former priory of St. James. Milo of GHoncester was after* 
wards created by Stephen earl of- Hereford. 



833 ACTS OF KING STEPHEN. [BOOK I. 

the lady and her people in safety, returned triumphantiy to 
his own territories. 

^The king having learnt that the Welsh were endeavouring 
to excite rebellion in this neighbourhood, resolved to offer 
further resistauce to their rash presumption. He therefor© 
sent for Baldwin, the brother of Eichard [Fitz- Gilbert] already 
mentioned, and entrusting him with a large sum of money, 
commanded him to carry relief, as soon as possible, to his 
brother's territorities, and resolutely strive to crush the 
enemy. On receiving the money he got ready a body of 
cavahy, and with the addition of 500 stout bowmen reached 
the castle of Brecknock with all his forces. There he heard 
that the enemy had advanced to meet him in vast multi- 
tudes, and, blocking up the roads by felling trees across 
them, had summoned their confederates to assemble 
from every quarter. Alarmed by this intelligence, he in- 
terrupted his march and halted for a long time, hoping 
that the enemy would be wearied out, or exhausted by 
famine. Meanwhile, he abandoned himself to gluttony and 
sloth, until he had prodigally spent all his supplies ; when 
he withdrew in poverty and disgrace.. 

Eobert Fitz-Harald, also, a man of the noblest descent, 
was employed in subjugating the Welsh, but with better 
results. For gaining a great victory over a numerous body 
of them, he added impregnable fortifications to a deserted 
castle, and placing in it a chosen garrison resolute to hold 
it to the last extremity, after these successful events he re- 
turned to England with a few followers to recruit his forces. 
Meanwhile the enemy, taking advantage of his absence, and 
apprehensive of his speedy return, gathered together in 
one body, and after a long siege, when provisions failed in 
the garrison, and Bobert could not arrive in time to resist 
their furious assaults, they compelled its surrender. The 
Welsh creating these disturbances, the king thought that he 
was struggling in vain, and throwing away his money in 
attempting to reduce them, and that the better plan was to 
suffer for a while their unbridled violence, until, ceasing to 
oppose them, they should quarrel among themselves, and 
perish by famine or cut one another's throats. And this 
soon happened ; for, thinking of nothing but robbery and 
murder, the country was left without men, the fields with- 



A.D. 1136.] ORDER RESTORED IN ENGLAND. 333 

out tillage, so that scarcely any means of life was left to 
those who came after ; and the wild animals which followed 
the footsteps of their ravages perishing from mmrrain and 
starvation, men themselves died amongst them of the pesti- 
lential atmosphere. I have thus collected in one series all 
the events which occurred in Wales at diflferent times, in a 
short account, in order that I may not wander from my 
regular narrative as often as some remarkable action re- 
quires to be related in its proper place. 

The king thus actively employed, as I have before men- 
tioned, in tranquillizing the kingdom and consolidating its 
peace, was courteous and obliging to all men ; he restored the 
exiles to their estates ; in conferring ecclesiastical dignities he 
was free from the sin of simony; and justice was administered 
without bribe or reward. He treated with respect church- 
men of all ages and ranks ; and so kind and gentle was his 
demeanour, that, forgetful of his royal dignity, on many 
occasions he gave way, in others he put himself on an 
equality with, and sometimes even seemed to be inferior to 
his subjects. And now England had assumed its ordinary 
state of repose, and all men, by the grace of God, through 
whom kings reign, quietly submitted without force or any 
sort of persecution, except certain of the principal and 
nearest friends of King Henry, whom he had raised from 
low degree to the highest offices in his court. These per- 
sons he attached to him in course of time by the strictest 
obligations, conferring on them the highest honours and 
large estates, making them earls and sherifiEs of counties, 
and appointing them judges of all causes in the courts smn- 
moned by the king's command. They were now summoned 
to attend his court, and were promised a continuance of the 
same favours and the same honours which had been con- 
ferred on them by King Henry. For a while, confining 
themselves to the neighbourhood of their castles, they de- 
clined to obey the king's summons, partly on account of the 
fealty which they had sworn to his cousin. King Henry's 
daughter, and partly because, as the great nobles of the 
realm, they were disgusted at the pride and pomp of those 
who, though sprungfrom nothing, had been raised above them 
in rank and possessions, and exceeded them in power. There 
was anotlier reason for their dreading to come to the king's 



B34 ACTS OF EIKG STEPHEN. [BOOXX. 

court—lest, hsving to answer in his presence 1iie eomplamts 
of the poor, and ^e cries of the widows whose lands they 
^ad seized, they might he compelled to yield to justice y^hat 
they had unjustly acquired. But &e king inclined to great 
forhearance, and wishing to tiy £Edr means before he resorted 
to force, sent some of &ose peorsons he most trusted to the 
malcontents with a commission to use every means, either 
by gentle words, ot, if they fwled, by threats, forxeconcihiig 
them to his government The threats prevailed, and a safe 
conduct being granted them for going to and returning 
from court, and all their demands heing conceded, they did 
liomage to the king, and, taking the oath of allegiance, 
ibound themselves faithfully to his service. Among the rest 
were Payne Fitz-John and Milo, already mentioned ; the first 
having the counties of Hereford and Shrewsbury, the other 
that of Gloucester, under liis jurisdiction. These nobles 
had so str€Etched their power during King'fi Henry's reign, 
that, from the river Severn to the sea, throughout Si© 
borders between England and Wales, no one was safe from 
their litigation and extortion. After his death, actuated 
more by apprehension of King Stephen than by any feeling 
of their own weakness, when they were watching an oppor- - 
tunity of making disturbances, both came to a wretched end 
without having time for repentance. Payne, while he was 
chastising the Welshmen, was pierced through the brain by 
an arrow, the only one of his party who fell. Milo, sur- 
viving to cause the king and the realm great trouble by his 
crafty policy, as will he fully related in the sequel, was at 
last transfixed by an arrow in his breast, by one of his 
att^adants while he was hunting deer; and died on the 
spot 

All the great lords having ihm sworn fealty to the king, 
the rulers of the dim-ch, with the principal laymen, were 
summoned to a synod at London^ ; assembling with one 
accord, and the pillars of the church being arranged in 
order, and the conomonalty also, as is their custom, intrud- 
ing themselves in an uregular manner, various matters cC 

^ This flynod is not mentioned by Halmesbnry, whoeeems to substitute far 
its proceedings one at Oxford. The present synod was probably held at 
Easter of this same year, 1136^ which Huntingdon tells us was spent l>y 
the king at London. 



^JD.1186.] BTAXE W THS, (SSUBXm, 335 

impartance to Hie church a&d kingdom mete brought 
iorward and well debated. Moquont speeches were made 
3n Ihe Mng'^ presence on inxproving the Biake -of the chmroh 
And restoring her liberties. It wus said that, in King 
Henry's time, the chnarch Altered like a humbled and 
suffering handmaid, and was sul^ected to manj rinsults: 
'and that her pastors, the stewards of the word of God and 
the sen'ants at his altars, weire hwohred in pleas and law- 
suits, and were exposed to Tiolent extortions and taxed 
Tinder pretence of yearly gifts ; while her gates were more 
'frequently unlocked by the key of Simon Magus than by 
Ihat of St. Peter. The bond of marriage, which God had 
pronounced good, was dissdlyed on sli^t pretences ; the 
king abandoned himself to adulterous courses, and tolerated 
ihem ih others ; took possession of the church lands on the 
death of the dergy, and appropriated the offerings at the 
altar to laymen, or compelled those to whom they rightly 
belonged to pay for their redemption. If any one offered 
liimself for the defence of the House of Israel, and opposed 
ihese scandalous practices with the rigour of the ecclesias- 
tical laws, he was forthwith repelled with injustice by the 
terror of the king's name, and exposed to grievous persecu- 
tion by him and his sateUites, and was not permitted to be 
heard as plaintiff or complainant, until he had previously 
acknowledged and purged himself of his presumption by 
confession in open court. Vehement complaints were made 
to the king of these indignities offered to the church, and 
he was entreated to restore its lib^ties and jurisdiction, to 
place its laws above the decision of the secular courts, and 
not to suffer their infringement on any pretence whatever. 
The king heard all this with great patience, and freely 
acceding to their demands, commanded that the liberties 
of the d^urch should be safe and inviolable, that its decrees 
should be maintained, and that its miuisters, whatever was 
their rank or order, should be treated with reverence. 
He would have fulfilled his engagements, had not evil 
counsel, which perverts the best disposition, and his 
necessities, which were above law and reason, induced him 
to break them, as I ^all relate hereafter. These discussions 
being concluded with great unanimity, the synod was 
dissolved. 



336 ACTS OF KING 8T£PHEN. [bOOE I. 

There lived at that time one Kobert de Badington^, 
a knight of good extraction and plentiful estate, but a 
glutton and a wine-bibber, who in time of peace abandoned 
himself to sensual indulgences. But after the death of 
King Henry, changing this gluttonous course of life for one 
of turbulence, he got together a band of soldiers and archers, 
and, sall3dng fordi from his castle, harassed the whole 
neighbourhood with fire and sword. After a time he did 
homage to Kmg Stephen, but, instead of desisting &om his 
evil courses, he became more ferocious and malevolent than 
before. Upon being summoned to court to answer for 
breaking the peace of the kingdom, he made his appeai-ance 
reluctantly and in great tributation, well knowing that he was 
guilty of treason. Several persons brought forward against 
him charges of his having pillaged their property with 
violence, and, as he had no defence, judgment was 
pronounced against him that he should place his castle at 
the king's disposal, and that all his possessions should be 
at the royal mercy — a most just sentence, that one who had 
unjustly invaded the property of others, should, by a 
fitting retribution, lose his own. It was therefore resolved 
by the king, the necessity of the case requiring it, that 
Robert himself should accompany a troop of soldiers who 
were to take possession of his castle. Jle heard this 
decision with a lurking smile, turning in his mind how he 
might best seduce the king's soldiers and keep possession 
of his property. Accompanying them on their march as 
their leader and guide, he brought them to one of his farms, 
where he ofifered to entertain them, and, causing his servants 
to set before them a plentiful repast, with abundance of 
wine, when they had feasted, and, night coming, were 
buried in sleep, he mounted his horse and stole away. 
Fortifying his stronghold against the king, he wandered 
about from place to place, concealing himself in the woods, 
and sometimes acting in concert with outlaws ; but at last 
he perished miserably in a foreign land. The king's 
soldiers, when they woke in the morning and found theur 
companion fled, were in great trouble at their own negli- 
gence and his escape; and returned to the court in 

1 See Huntingdon's History, and the note in p. 265. 



A.D. 1136.] SIEGE OF EXETEB CASTLE. S3T 

disgrace. Meanwhile, Bobert's retainers overran the neigh- 
bourhood with fire and sword, collecting large quantities of 
provisions to store the castle, until the king, receiving 
intelligence of these disorders, put himself at the head of a 
large body of troops and hastened to the spot. On his 
arrival he pitched a camp round the castle, setting a watch 
of archers by night, while others lay in ambush by day ; and 
vigorously applying all his means to the attack of the place. 
Not long afterwards the nightrwatch arrested a wretched 
lad who had been let down from the castle walls, and was 
trying to escape. They brought him to the king, who 
commanded him to be hung on a lofty gallows in sight of 
the garrison ; swearing that they shoidd all share the same 
fate, unless they quickly obeyed his commands, and came to 
an agreement for the smrender of the castle. In teiTor at 
the king's threats, and thinking it was time to provide for 
their own safety — ^for what will not a man give in exchange 
for his life? — they consented to surrender under hard 
conditions; for they were banished the kingdom during 
the king's pleasure. They took refuge for a long tune, as 
I have heard, with the King of the Scots. 

The king had scarcely completed this enterprise, when 
messengers from Exeter brought intelligence of great 
tumults which had broken out Siere. Baldwin de Bivers, 
a man of the highest rank and descent, was breaking the 
king's peace in a most imusual manner. He had brought 
armed bands into the city among the peaceable inhabitants, 
and was reducing not only them, but all the neighbom-hood 
under his dominion — and, storing the king's castle which 
he had seized with provisions swept from the country, 
loudly threatened with fire and sword all who resisted his 
unjust pretensions. The messengers tlierefore implored 
the king that he would come to the help of the citizens in 
their present distress, and afford them the only succour they 
could expect ; so that, strengthened by his aid, they might 
oppose Baldwin's power, and maintain tiiek allegiance to the 
king their only lord. On hearing this, the king was enraged 
at tibe presiunption of Baldwin, more especially as it was as 
clear as day that the castle of Exeter had always been a 
royal castle, and that he was justly entitled to its custody. 
Allowing, therefore, no time for Baldwin's retainers to 

z 



338^' AC1S OF KING STEPHEN. [BOOKIIi 

overrun the country, he dispatched to Exeter an advanced 
guard of 200 horse, with orders to march all night anof 
prevent, if poaeible, the enemy's egress ; but if they found 
armed men mixed among the citizens, diey should prevent; 
their committing any outrages in the town. At break of 
day the following morning, a band of Baldwin's troopers^ 
issued from the castle incensed against the citizens because 
they had sent to liie king for help, and intending to plunder 
and set on fire the town ; when, behold, the king's horse 
were seen drawing near the city with glancing arms and fly- 
ing colours, and boldly marohing in at the city gates ; and m 
the midst of the dreadful confusion, they drove the garrison 
back to the castle. Not long afterwards tiie king himself 
arrived with his troops in regular and brilliant order; and 
the citizens, going out to meet him with offerings and joy^ 
brought him into the town in great triumph. 

Exeter ifr a large city, ranking, they say, the fourth in 
England. It is surrounded by ancient Koman walls, and 
is femous for its sea-fisheries, for abundance of: meat, and 
for its trade and commerce. Its castle stands on a lofty 
mound protected by impregnable walls, and towers of hewn 
stone. Baldwin had thrown into it a strong garrison 
chosen from the flower of the youth of England, who wqbt 
bound by oatlis to resist the king to the last extremity. 
Baldwin himself, with his wife and sons, shut himself up 
in the citadiel, prepared for the worst; and the garrison, 
manning the battlements and towers witii glittering arms, 
taunted the king and his followers as they approached the 
walls. Sometimes they made unexpected sallies and fell 
foriously on the royal army ; at oiheis they shot arrows and 
launched missiles against tJiem from above ; using all the 
means in their power to molest the enemy. Meanwhile the 
king, with his barons, who had accompanied him, or who 
afterwards gathered their forces and joined his army, m£ide 
every exertion to press ihe siege. With a body of foot- 
soldiers heavily armed, he drove tile garrison from the 
outer wall, which was built on a high mound to defend the 
citadel, and retained possession of it . He also succeeded in 
breaking down the inner bridge which gave access to the city 
firom the castle, and with surprising address raised lofty 
wooden towers^ frx>m which the defeiiders of tiae castle wena 



A.D. 1136.] PLYMPTON CASTLE 8UBBENDBBED. 339 

assailed. Day and night he perseveiingly pushed the siege, 
at one time mounting the hill with his troops, on horse- 
back, and challenging the besieged to the fight, at another 
causing his slingers to annoy them by hurling stones. 
He also employed miners to sap the fortifications, and had 
all manner of machines constructed, some of great height, 
to overlook what was passing within the garrison, and 
others on a level with tiie foundation of the walls which 
liiey were intended to batter down. The besieged, on their 
side, lost no time in destroying the machines, and aU the 
ingenuity employed in their construction was wasted. 
Thus the contest was maintuned with great vigour and 
ability on both parts. 

Whilst they were thus actively engaged in the siege, 
Baldwin's soldiers, who were intrusted with the defence of 
his castle of Plympton,. in- despair for their lord, &om the 
accounts they heard of the king's power, and fearing for 
their own lives, from mere cowardice and want of firmness, 
privately sent messengers to the king to treat for the 
surrender of the castle, and make terms for themselves. 
The king was desirous, if possible, to crush these disorders 
witliout having recourse to arms,, and he therefore readily 
granted aU. they required^, if only they submitted to him. 
and became peaceable subjects. The agreement being 
ratified, the king detached two hundred horse, with a large 
body of archers, who early in. the morning made their 
appearance before Plympton,. to the great dismay of the 
provincials, and especially of those who were not of the 
faction. The traitors delivered up the castle to the king's 
troops on the pretence that they were not strong enough to 
defend it. It was razed to the ground by the king's com- 
mand, and Baldwin's domains, which were very extensive 
in that district, and were fertile and well stocked, were 
stripped of everything ; so that the expedition returned to 
the king at Exeter with many thousand sheep and cattle. 
The intelligence spreading through the whole of Devonshire, 
the other adherents of Baldwin, fearing the loss of their 
property from the king's e35)editions, offered their submis- 
sion ; with the exception of Alfred, son of one Joel, a man 
of eminence, who was a familiar and intimate friend of 
Baldwin's, and his sworn, comrade in the contest with the 

z 2 



840 ACTS OF KING STEPHEN. [BOOK I- 

king. His mansion, however, was small, and not suifi- 
ciently fortified to afford protection* to his people ; so that, 
leaving it empty, and drawing off all his retainers, his 
brother led a strong band to Exeter, and joined the king*& 
troops unobserved, and under colour of coming to their 
aid ; for it was impossible among so many armed men to 
make out clearly who or what he was. Then getting a 
messenger into the castle (for prisoners and monks were 
occasionally allowed the privilege of ingress), he announced 
to Baldwin's guard, that from love of him, and fidelity to 
his engagements, he had left all, and was come to share his 
fortunes whatever they might prove to be. The garrison 
rejoiced greatly at their comrades* arrival, and opening the 
gates they sallied forth in strong force, and joining their 
friends, brought them safe into the castle, in the sight of 
the king and his principal officers. The royal army was 
thrown into consternation, and especially those who had 
the superintendence; because they had permitted the 
intruders to mix among the troops unobserved ; and they 
were still more mortified that they had been able to go 
over to the enemy in open day, and unopposed. The king,, 
however, took the affair in good part, saying it would turn, 
out well, if it was so ordered by divine Providence, that all 
the disturbers of peace were shut up in one hold. 

Meanwhile, the issue was long doubtful between the 
assailants and the besieged ; for the king had been detained 
before the castle nearly three months, and had paid as 
much as 15,000 marks in various expenses. Then, how- 
ever, the Almighty Disposer of events, being willing to 
bring his labomrs to an end, dried up the springs which, 
fed two wells within the castle with water in abimdance ; 
so that, though before they fm:nished a plentiful supply for 
all the men and beasts of burthen in the garrison, there 
was not enough now to slake the thirst of a single man. 
Some say that the springs failed in consequence of the 
extraordinary heat of the season. Others, that their coiuse 
in the bowels of the earth was diverted by some accident 
in tlie deep and hidden channels through which they 
flowed. For myself, I neither attribute the failm-e to the 
drought, nor to any chance accident ; but I plainly assert, 
that the exhaustion of the springs was the work of Provi- 



A.D. 1J36.] EXETER REDUCED TO EXTREMITIES. 841 

dence. For if during all the preceding ages, with so many 
diy summers, there had always been a plentiful supply of 
water, the failure now can be attributed to nothing but the 
interference of Providence ; more especially as, before the 
castle was besieged, and immediately after its surrender, 
tlie springs flowed abundantly, and there was no want, 
but during the continuance of the siege. So that the 
suflFering of thirst seemed to be a scourge sent by the 
Almighty, to compel them to give up what they had unjustly 
and arrogantly held. 

The wells being dry, they had recourse to wine to supply 
their necessities ; and that, too, was speedily exhausted, as 
they were forced to use the wine in making bread, and in 
cooking their food. They consumed it, also, in extin- 
guishing the firebrands which the king's engineers threw 
into the castle to fire their warlike machines and barracks ; 
so that the wine soon failed as the water had done. Having 
now nothing to drink, their sufferings were extreme, 
and they were reduced to a state of the utmost debility. 
For man's body can only be maintained in health and 
vigour by a sufficiency of nutriment; without which it 
becomes feeble and weak. Worn to extremity with con- 
stant watchings, fainting with the warfare of various kinds 
which they carried on against the besiegers fi:om the battle- 
ments, and exhausted by insufferable thirst, the garrison, 
held consultations as to surrendering the castle on their 
lives being spared ; and they commimicated their distress 
to their secret friends in the royal camp, at whose insti- 
gation Baldwin had taken arms against the king. Shortly, 
therefore, two of the principal men in the castle, who were 
gifted with a prudent and persuasive eloquence, were dele- 
gated to treat with the king; but by the advice of his 
brother, the Bishop of Winchester, he hardened his heart 
against them, and drove them from his presence with 
threats, without hearing their message. For the bishop 
bad remarked their emaciated appearance, their parched 
and gaping lips, and difficulty of breathing ; from which 
he inferred that tliere was no necessity to treat for a sur- 
render, which the garrison must shortly make at discretion. 
Upon this repulse, Baldwin's wife was in great distress, 
and went herself to supplicate the king, witli naked feet. 



342 ACTS OF KING STRFHBN. [BOOK J. 

ashes on her head, oad sheddmg a flood of tears. The 
king received her graciously, both out of pity at seeing one 
of her sex in such afl&iction, and out of respect to the 
kinsmen and friends of that noble woman, who were en- 
gaged with him in the siege. But though he listened to 
what then she proposed, in much tiibulation, respecting 
the surrender of the castle, he continued inexorable, and 
dismissed her without granting her petition. After these 
repulses, death began to stare the besieged in the face, 
and some of the barons of the king's party who were allied 
to them by blood, were deeply concerned for their kindred 
shut up in the citadel; others, who were of Baldwin^ 
faction, complained to their fellows that the siege was too 
harshly pressed. All these came in a body to the king, 
and by tiieir forcible arguments, mingled mth soothing 
appeals to his humanity, caused him suddenly to change 
his mind. 

They represented, that he would have obtained a suffi- 
cient triumph, by forcing his enemies to surrender to him 
what he justly claimed ; but that it was more fitting his 
dignity, and more becoming the royal clemency, to grant 
their lives to the prisoners who supplicated him, than, by 
an act of extreme vengeance, mercilessly to deprive them 
of what remained of Sieir lives. They added, also, that 
their adversaries had never sworn fealty to the king, and 
had only taken up arms in obedience to the commands of 
iheir own liege-lord ; and that they, the remonstrants, had 
claims on the king, for having enabled him to establish his 
rights to what he claimed. They considered, therefore, 
that it would be more wise, and more for the kingdom^ 
good, that an end should be put to this protracted siege, 
which had occasioned them all so much inconvenience ; so 
that, having obtained the glory of recovering his castle, he 
might be at liberty to prosecute other enterprises. The 
king was so pressed by the importunities of the barons, 
who mingled arguments with their intercessions, that he 
was forced at last to give way, and grant what they required. 
To do them the greater tavom*, and attach them moiB 
closely to his interest, he not only allowed the garrison to 
evacuate the castle without molestation, but permitted 
them to retain their arms and property, and to take service 



A.D. 1136.] BALDWIN X>E BIVESS IN ISLE OF WIGHT. 348 

with any lord they might choose. As they inarched out, 
^emaciated and dying with thirst, they formed a wretched 
spectacle, and their iirst object was to rush eagerly, wherever 
.they could, to procure the means of allaying it. 

When Baldwin understood that the king had declared 
;b11 his estates forfeited to himself, as the lord paramount, 
he was by no means humbled, nor did he abandon himself 
to despair ; but, repairing his losses, he betook himself to 
-the Isle of Wight, which was part of his territories, and 
.turned his whole attention to the means of renewing his 
rebellion. The Isle of Wight, which is of considerable 
length on the sea-board, but veiy narrow, is greatly ire- 
^quented by sailors, and has good fisheries, but does not 
ju-oduce much com. It lies between England and Nor- 
mandy, but nearest to England ; and the whole island was 
Baldwin's patrimony. He had in it a stately castle, built 
jof hewn stone, and very strongly fortified ; from which it 
was. his design to weaken the king's resourees, by collecting 
a large piratical fleet, and, taking advantage of every wind, 
to intercept the .merchant ships which plted between Eng- 
land, and Normandy, and infiict losses on both countries by 
every effort in ills power. But the king, anticipating this 
stroke of policy \ .left Exeter and the .nei^bouring country 
to the care of the Bishop of Winchester, and followed up 
.Baldwin with the utmost dispatch. Hastening therefore to 
ihe port called Hampton [Southampton], which is contiguous 
.to the island, and easier of access, he commanded ships td 
he fitted for sendee. JBaldwin, hearing of the king-s sudden 
.and unexpected arrival, was so alarmed, that, by the urgent 
Jidviee of his friends, iie presented himself before him, and 
'phsaded for mercy. For though his castle of Wight^ was 
strongly and impregnably fortified, and stored with an 
jibundant supply of provisions to stand a mege agamst the 
jroyal forces, the supply of water was (not sufficient for the 
mumber of the ^^urison. By the intorposition of J^ovi- 
dence, the springs had been dried up by a sudden drought, 
and Baldwin and his adherents, embarking in a fresh 
struggle with the kmg, were utterly ruined. For, having 
demanded in vain that his possessions should be restored, 

' "Stropham, vulgo 'artful dodge.'" — Sewell, ^ Cariabrook? 



844 ACTS OP KING STEPHEN. [BOOK I. 

he went into exile, and took refuge with the Count of 
Anjou, intending to recommence hostilities against the 
king. The count was delighted to receive him, and enter- 
tained him and his followers with distinguished honom's ; 
assuring him that he was ready to comply with his wishes, 
whether he was inclined to enter into military service at 
his court, or to dispute the rights of King Stephen to the 
crown of England. 

But Baldwin, spuming for the time the allurements of a 
court, devoted himself to promote discord in the king's 
dominions. He made complaints to his Mends and kins- 
men of the king's persecution, of his having heen driven 
from his country and disinherited ; that he was unjustly 
suffering banishment, and that nothing was left him but to 
have recourse to arms, in conjunction with his friends, and 
using all the means in their power to mend their fortunes. 
These great barons, deeply compassionating his sufferings, 
rendered him such zealous aid both by word and deed, 
that, receiving him into their castles, among their own 
followers, they even yielded him the honour of placing 
them entirely at his command. With numbers thus -in 
league with him, he began to organize hostilities through 
tbe whole of Normandy, and especially against the king's 
adherents. No acts of violence and rapine were unprac- 
tised; fire and sword were not spared. Making sudden 
irruptions, he mercilessly swept the coimtry of plunder, 
and became formidable by canying alarm into every quarter. 
He was continually stimulated to proceed in these outrages 
by the entreaties and counsels of the Coimtess of Anjou ', 
the daughter of King Henry, who had applied to her own 
use her father's treasures, which would have been better 
bestowed in alms for the good of his soul. She had forti- 
fied certain castles of her own, and used her influence, not 
only with Baldwin but with as many others as she could, 
to bring them to own her authority, claiming the kingdom 
of England as her just right, by inheritance from her 
father. 

* Roger of Wendover shortly notices tlie successful irruption into Nor- 
mandy, without relating that Baldwin de Rivers was the leader of it ; but 
he mentions his having taken refuge with the Count and Countess of 
Anjou. 



A.D. 1138.] SIEGE OF BEDFOBD. 845 

When the king came fully to understand what was gomg 
on m Normandy, he sent over the sea envoys of rank ; for 
he was prevented by the importance of the movement, 
against which he had to take measures, from going imme- 
diately himself \ The envoys were commissioned to em- 
ploy entreaties * . . . . 

. . . . created him earl of Bedford. The king, 
having held his court during Christmas [at Dunstable] witii 
becoming splendour, dispatched messengers to MUo de 
Beauchamp, who by roysd licence had the custody of the 
castle of Bedford, with orders that he sliould hold the castle 
of Hugh, and do service to him instead of the king. If he 
readily obeyed this command, he should have honour and 
reward ; but if he withstood it in any manner, he was to be 
assured that it would be his ruin. On receipt of the royal 
message, Milo replied that he was willing to serve the kmg 
as his true knight, and to obey his commands, unless he 
attempted to deprive him of the possessions which belonged 
to him and his heirs by hereditary right. But if that was 
the king's intention, and he endeavoured to execute it by 
force of arms, he must bear the king's displeasure as best 
he could ; and as for the castle, he would never yield it, 
unless he was driven to the last extremity. Fincfing how 
things stood, the king's indignation was roused against 
Milo, and he raised an army from all parts of England to 
lay siege to Bedford. Aware of his approach, Milo swept 
off all the provisions he could lay his hands on, making 
violent seizures both from the townsmen and the inhabitants 
of the neighbourhood, with whom before he had been on 
good terms, as belonging to his lordship. These supplies 
he stored in the castle, and securely closing the gates, he 
for this time excluded the king's people without any loss 

^ Stephen shortly followed in person, at the beginning of Lent, in com- 
pany with Alexander, bishop of Lincoln, and many of his great nobles, and 
remained in Normandy till the following Ghristmafl. 

* The MS. of the " Acts of King Stephen " here fails ; but we learn from 
Huntingdon's History, see before, p. 266, that he recovered Normandy, con- 
cluded a peace with the King of France, and made a truce with the Count 
of Anjou. Such were the principal transactions of the year 1137. Our 
MS. takes up the narrative with the siege of Bedford which commenced 
at Christmas the same year. 



:846 ACTS <»* KLSO BIBPHEN. [BOOKI. 

on his own side. The king, however, after carefully recon- 
noitring the fortifications, placed under cover hands of 
archers, at convenient posts, with directions to roaintATn 
such a constant discharge of arrows against those who 
joianned the hattlements and towers as should prevjent 
their keeping a good look-out, and hold them always in a 
state of confusion. Meanwhile, he exerted aU his energies 
to have engines constructed for filling the trenches and 
hattenng the walls. All that skill and ingenuity, lahour 
and expense could compass, was ejffiected. Night watches 
were posted at all the castle gates to prevent any comnm- 
nication hy the hesieged to their Mends without, or pro- 
visions or necessaries heing introduced within the fortress. 
JBy day, every effort that skill could devise was made to 
distress and annoy the enemy. Sut the castle stood on a 
yerj high mound, and was stmcounded hy a solid and lofty 
waU, and it had a strong and impregnable keep, and con- 
tained a numerous garrison of stout and resolute men, so 
that the expectation of soon taking it proved abortive; and 
the king having other affairs on his hands which required 
.immediate attention, he withdrew, leaving the greatest part 
of his army to carry on the siege. His orders were, that ii 
the engines could not effect the reduction of the place, a 
blockade should be maintained, till want and hunger com- 
.pelled its surrender. After the king's departure the be- 
sieging army continued their hostihties, till, their provisions 
being exhausted and their strength Ruling, the garrison 
confessed that they could hold the place no longer. They 
therefore surrendered it to the king, according to the laws 
of war. But whatever might be their present humiliatioix, 
it was not long before they returned with increased pride 
and animosity; for they not only recovered the castle, bnt, 
by God's ordinance, they reduced Koger himself from being 
:an earl to his simple knighthood, and from being a knight 
to be a penniless man^ But of this more fully in the 
csequeL 

1 "n?fais passage is almost uDmtelligiUe. It is' conjectured ibat Boger ^wbb 
tlie person created earl of Bedford, and left in oommand of the king, who, 
on losing the castle, was reduced from his rank to that of a plain man-at- 
arms, and from that to a poor man." — Sewell, It seems 4o:]nv« escaped tiw 



A.I). 1138.] SIGNS IN THE HEAVENS. M7 

Bedford being at lengfli taken, it might have been sup- 
posed that order was restored, and that all disturbances and 
insurrections were quelled and put an end to ; but the root 
x>f all evil sprung up in the part of England called North- 
umberland, producing robbery and Incendiarism, insurreo- 
tion aad war. So stupendous was this calamity that not 
only mankind Irembled at it, but the heavens betokened it 
as something awfiiL For, shortly before it commenced, a 
large quarter of the heavens was seen to emit fiery sparks 
like a Aunace, and balls of fire of wondeiful brightness, 
like the sparks of live coals, shot through the air in more 
places than one. This visible appearance of a flaming sky 
portended either the great efiusion of blood which speedily 
followed, or denoted the burning of towns and villages. 
For the great Creator, Himself invisible, graciously conde- 
scends to instruct our ignorant minds concerning what is 
about to happen by visible appfearances, and sometimes, in 
veiy deed, gives us a sign fi*om heaven to teach u§ ; at 
others, He certifies and forewarns our undisceming spinte 
by the accidents which by his providence occur on earth. 
JFrom heaven, for instance, as we find in the Book of 
Kings, when one part of the sky appeared unusually red, 
a sign firom tiie Almighty of impending vrar, and to explain 
what was meant they said, "it is the Mood of the sword. "^ 
<Also in the Book of Maccabees, when flaming ranks were 
seen flitting across the sky, and celestial hosts breathing 
flames in mutual encounters, it was undouhtingly acknow- 
ledged to be a sign of coming evil, and the history itself 
clearly makes out that such it was. On earth, too, the 
Almighty shows many things which are evident tokens of 
events about to happen; such as the Tending of Saul's 
garment^, which prefigured the ruin of his kingdom ; and 
the ten shreds, which the prophet^ sommondAd Jeroboam 

notice of the learned editor that oiir tmtkor again Tetnms, as lie bere pro- 
mises, to tlie surrender of Bedford Castle (see afterwards, where he enumerates 
the losses whieh followed Stephen's imprisonment), speaking of the fortmies 
of its lord in nearly the some terms he uses here, but calling him Hu^h, 
sumamed the Poor, and expressly stating that the earldom of Bedford had 
been conferred upon him on the forfeiture of Milo de Beauchamp. By rec- 
tifying what appears to be an error of the scribe, and substituting Hugh for 
Boger in the former passage, all the difficulty is rem<rred. 

* 2 Kings iii. 22, 23. ' 1 Sam. xxir. 4. ^ Ahijah, 1 Kings zl 31. 



348. ACTS OF KING STEPHEN. [BOOK I. 

to take, signified that he should have the dominion over 
the ten trihes. No less, all the acts of the prophets, and 
the writing on the wall^ in the presence of Belshazzar, and 
Daniel's dreams*, what were liiey hut presages of future 
events, by which men, being forewarned, might humble them- 
selves before God, and be cautious in the midst of evils ? 
Let not, therefore, the reader taunt me with telling an idle 
tale when I say that, having myself witnessed the [northern] 
hemisphere ^ in a flame, and seen with my own eyes lumi- 
nous flakes floating densely in the blazing sky, I con- 
sidered these portentsf to be the precursors of coming evils, 
and to portend that dreadful scourge which soon afterwards 
devastated Northumberland. Let him who will hear and 
take account of it. 

The King of Scotland, which country borders on Eng- 
land, only a river dividing the two kingdoms, was a prince 
of great humanity, who was bom of religious parents, and 
had 'not degenerated from them in goodness and piety. 
He had with the other great men, the first * indeed of them 
all, taken the oath of allegiance to King Heniy's daughter^ 
in that king's presence, and he was therefore deeply grieved 
that Stephen had usurped the crown of England ; but as 
that was settled by the barons without his concurrence, he 
prudently waited tiie result, watching in silence the course 
of events. At length he received letters from King Henry's 
daughter, complaining that she had been excluded from, 
her fatlier's will, robbed of the crown which had been 
secured to her and her husband by solemn oaths ; that the 
laws were set aside, and justice trodden imder foot ; and 
the sworn fealty of the English barons was broken and dis- 
regarded. She therefore earnestly and sorrowfully implored 
him, as her kinsman, to succour her in her need ; as her 
liege vassal, to aid her in her distress. The king was 
deeply grieved ; and inflamed with zeal for a just cause, the 
ties of blood and regard for his oath induced him to foment 
» Daniel v. 6. ^ Daniel vii. 1, &c., &c 

■ " Polum." These phenomena, more fully described just before, were 
apparently an exhibition of the aurora borealis, the northern lights. 

* " According to William of Malmesbury, Stephen was the second to 
flwear fealty to Matilda." — SeicelL 

* Our author never calls the Empress Maud, or Matilda, by her name, 1/ak 
always " King Henry's daughter," or " the Countess of Anjou." 



A.D. 1138.] IRRUPTION OF THE SCOTS. 349. 

insurrections in England, that by so doing, by God's help, 
Stephen might be compelled to resign the crown, which it 
appeared to him had been unjustly acquired, to the rightful 
owner. The King of Scots entertained at his com-t the Eng- 
lish exiles, who continually urged him to these measures. 
Among these were Eobert de Baddington's son, and his 
collateral kinsmen, who have been mentioned before as 
having, on their banishment, taken refuge in Scotland^ 
with the hope of re-establishing themselves in their own 
country. There were also Eustace Fitz-John, an intimate 
friend of King Henry, with some others, who, in the desire 
of advancing themselves, or of defending what appeared to- 
them the right cause, sought every opportunity of promoting 
a rupture. King David, therefore, for that was his name, 
published an edict throughout Scotland calling his people 
to arms, and, changing his line of conduct, let loose without 
mercy a most fierce and destructive storm on the English 
people. 

Scotland, called also Albany, is a country overspread by 
extensive moors, but containing flourishing woods and 
pastures, which feed large herds of cows and oxen. It has- 
safe harbours, and is surrounded by fertile islands. The 
natives are savage, and their habits uncleanly; but they 
are neither stunted by extremity of cold, nor debilitated by 
severe want. Swift of foot and lightly armed, they make 
bold and active soldiers. Among themselves, they are so 
fearless as to think nothing of death ; among strangers, 
their cruelty is brutal, and Siey sell their lives dearly. A 
confused multitude of this people being assembled from 
the lowlands of Scotland, they were formed into an 
irregular army, and marched for England. Crossing the 
borders they entered the province of Northmnbria, which 
is very extensive, arid abounds with all necessary supplies, 
and there they pitched their camp. Being now mustered 
in regular companies [incursions were made] over the face 
of the country, which extended round in great fertility ^ 



* Here again the MS. of the " Acts of King Stephen ** nnfortnnately faila. 
The blank is well supplied by Huntingdon's History, which describes at 
length the battle of the Standard, to which oar author's account of thi» 



350 ACTS OF KING ST3EX*HEN. [bOOK I, 

The confference between the king and the envoys haTing: 
tfius terminatedi they parted; the king direct for London,, 
the envoys for Bristol, the eaii's pnncipal seat. They 
brought to their friends orders full of trouble for tlie realm, 
of England, viz. that the castle of Bristol must be pro- 
visioned and recruits obtained from all quarters, and lliat. 
hostilities should immediately commence with all vigour 
against the king and his adherents, as the earl's enemies. 

Bristol is the most opulent city of all those parts, as its 
shipping brings merchandise to it fi'om the neighbouring' 
coasts and from foreign parts. It is situated in the most 
fertile part of England, and its position is stronger than 
that of any other English, town.. Like what we read of 
Brundusium, it stands where a. tongue of land, extending, 
between two rivers which wash it on both sides, forms a. 
flat at the confluence of the rivers, on which the city is 
built. The tide flows fresh- and. strong from the sea every 
day and night, and drives back the waters of the river on; 
both sides of the city; forming a basin in which a thousand 
ships can conveniently and saMy ride, and so encompassing^ 
the circuit of the town tfaat.it may be. said to float on the. 
waters, and appears in every quarter to touch the river 
banks. On one side, where it hes more open to attack, 
the castle stands on a raised mound, fortifled with a wall 
and outworks and towers, and furnished, with engines of 
various kinds, to defend it against assaults. In this castla 
was collected so numerous a band of knights and men-at- 
arms, with their attendants on foot (I ou^t rather to call 
them freebooters and robbers), that it not only appeared 
vast and fearful to the beholaers, but actually terrible and 
incredible. They were drawn together from different comi- 
ties and districts, perfectly satisfied to serve a wealthy lord 
in so well-fortified a castie, witii permission to work their 
will in the richest part of England. 

imiption of the Scots seems to be the prelude. Huntingdon also mention* 
the general revolt of the barons -at this time, which was connected with the 
invasion of the King, of Scots : see before, p. 267. When the MS. again 
serves us, it may be concluded that our author is speaking of some treaty 
which had taken place between the Eari of Gloucester, who was still in 
Normandy, and King Stephen, which terminating unfavourably, Eobert'* 
envoys had orders to put the earVs castle of Bristol into a state of defence.. 



A'.D. 1138.] CITIES OF BRISTOL AND BATH. 351 

Among others came that Geoffrey Talbot who, having 
been banished, as ahready mentioned, spread the venom of 
a poisoned mind wherever he went, and was ready to im- 
dertake any barbarity that his uncontrolled and. outrageous 
temper suggested. Biit by the providence of God his 
malice recoiled on himself; for while he was contemplating 
the slaughter and condemnation of others, he was the £rst 
who was taken prisoner and thrown into a dimgeon, where 
he barely escaped the sentence of death. There is a city^ 
six^ miles from Bristol where the hot springs, circulating 
in channels beneath the surfiEkce, are conducted by channels 
artificially constructed, and are collected into an arched 
reservoir, to supply the warm baths which stand in the 
middle of the place, most delightful to see and beneficial 
for health. This city is called ** Batta," the name being 
derived from a word in thfr English tongue which signifies 
bath ; because infirm people resort to it from all parts of 
England, for the purpose of washing themselves in these 
salubrious waters; and persons in healtii also assemble 
there, to see the curious bubbling up of the warm springs, 
and to use the ballis. This city the Bristol men were 
anxious to get into their power, the more especially as it 
could be easily fortified. For that purpose a party of them 
marched stealthily in the dusk of the momiog, carrj^ing 
with them ladders and other li^t implements for scaling 
the wall, and took post under cover of a hollow, while their 
scouts reconnoitred the place and the most advisable point 
for making an assault, upon which the whole body was to 
rush to the attack. Geoffrey Talbot, and his cousin Gilbert 
de Lacy, a man of prudence, and cautious and indefatigable 
in military undertakings, were chosen to reconnoitre, and 
make the circuit of llie town stealthily, and, as they hoped, 
unobserved. But, lo ! the governor's guard espying them, 
came upon them, and although Gilbert got away from the 
middle of the band, being more wary and resolute than the 
other, they surrounded and took Geoflfrey, and threw him 

' An inadvertence, or a mistake of the tnmseriber ; Batli is twelve mileB 
{rem Bristol. Oar author has described both cities so well that it may be 
inferred that he wrote from his own observation, for which he must have 
had opportttnities, if, as we suppose, he was attached to the person of 
Stephen. 



85/i ACTS OF KINa STEPHEN. [BOOK I. 

in fetters into the deepest dungeon of the castle. Gilbert 
having thus unhappily lost his cousin, returned to his 
comrades, and told them, sorrowfully, the mischance that 
had befallen him. StiU they did not despair, but deter- 
mined to persevere, exhorting each other, and bmding 
themselves unanimously to liberate Geofl&:ey. Approaching 
Bath, they smnmoned the bishop to treat with them, imder 
a solemn engagement for his safe conduct coming and 
returning. The bishop, worthy man, who gave credit to 
every word, and dwelt in his house with simplicity, like 
another Jacob, was triumphantly seized by a stratagem of 
these impious men. They laid their sacrilegious hands on. 
the preacher of the Gospel, the servant of the Lord's altars ; 
and that reverend minister of their common faith, whose 
ofl&ce it was to dispense the bread of hfe, they covered with 
abuse, and threatened to hang, unless GeoflGrey was released. 
The bishop, therefore, was in a great strait, since his adver- 
saries could neither be softened by rehgion or by natural 
compassion; and his own party within the city (who as soon, 
as the bishop was captured, closed the gates, and hastened 
to defend the walls) could afford him no relief. He was, 
therefore, obliged to yield to their violence, and to give 
orders that the prisoner should be unbound and given up 
to them ; whereas if he had reserved him to be delivered 
into the king's hands, the prisoner would have been subject 
to the punishment of death, and the bishop himself might 
have been exposed to reproach, or even run the risk of his 
own life : nor was it right or becoming a bishop to return 
evil for evil, and to be himself an ill-doer in order to injure 
ill-doers ; neither did reason require tliat for the sake of 
bringing another to disgrace he should expose himself to 
insult, since it is plain that no one is dearer to a man than 
himself, and that no one is required to sacrifice his own life 
in exchange for that of ano^er. The man, then, being 
surrendered, or, to speak more con-ectly, being by God's 
providence reserved for the punishment of his soul here- 
after, in order that the longer and more freely he persisted 
in his course of cruelty, the more severe might be his futinre 
torments, the bishop, assuming his pastoral authority, began 
to demand the fulfilment of their pledge, and to inquire, 
what became of their solemn oath; to charge them with 



A.D. 1138.] FBEEBOOTEBS OF BAISTOL. 853 

the violation of both, and to threaten them with discomfiture 
in their other enterprises, because, casting aside all reve- 
rence and shame, they appeared to have offended God in 
the present one. In reply to the bishop's allegations they 
denied that they were sworn or pledged to him, as all rea- 
sonable persons must allow that the oaths of perjured men 
went for nothing, and that men who had broken faith could 
give no pledges. They said this jeering at the simplicity 
of the bishop, who had given credit to men who were steeped 
in perjury and perfidy. 

The Bristolians having licence for every sort of villainy, 
wherever they heard that the king or lus adherents had 
estates or property of any description they eagerly flocked 
to them, like hounds snatching rabidly at the carrion 
thrown into a kennel ; yokes of oxen, flocks of sheep, what- 
ever their hearts coveted or they cast their eyes on, was 
carried off, and sold or consiuned. And when they had 
thrown into the lowest pit of destruction all that was im- 
mediately within their reach and under their hands, they 
quickly found their way into eveiy part of England where 
^ey heard there were men of wealth and substance, and 
either violently laid hold of them, or got them into their 
power by fraud; then, bandaging their eyes and stopping 
their mouths, either by cramming something into them, or 
inserting a sharp and toothed bit, they conducted their 
eaptives, thus blinded, into the middle of Bristol, as we 
read of the robbers of Elisha, and there, by starvation and 
torture, mulcted them of their property to tlie last farthing. 
Others, pursuing a more crafty course, betook themselves 
to the quieter parts of the countiy, where peace and plenty 
prevailed, and the population lived in ease and security. 
They firequented the beaten and pubUc highways in open 
day, disguising their names, their persons, and business ; 
they wore no kind of armour nor any distinguishmg dress, 
nor did they swear and use violent language, as robbers 
generally do ; on the contrary, their appearance was hum- 
ble, their gait gentle, and they entered into courteous 
conversation with all persons they met, wearing the mask 
of this hypocrisy until they chanced to light upon some 
wealthy man, or could steal upon him in a lone place, upon 
which he was hurried off to Bristol, the dry nurse of all 



364 ACTS OP JQVG sisFHBir. [book I* 

England. This kind of robbezy, under oolontr of false pve* 
tencee and hypocritical appearances, so prevailed throughout 
the greatest part of England that there was scarcely a toum 
or village where these frauds were not practised, where 
traces of this abominable felony were not left. Thus 
neither Ihe king's highways were safe, as they used to be» 
nor was there the accustomed conMence between man and 
man ; but as soon as a traveller espied a stranger on the 
road, he trembled with apprehension, and, fleeing fix>m 
the alarming apparition, took refuge in a wood, or struck 
into a cross road, until he recovered courage enough to 
continue his journey with more resolution and in greater 
security. 

Reports reaching Hie king's ears that the Bristolians 
were disturbing the kingdom by their open and secret 
robb^ies, though he had enough to do in other parts of 
the kingdom, he summoned the militia from all parts of 
England, and came unexpectedly to Bath, meaning to lay 
siege to Bristol. On his arrival being announced, ih^ 
bishop went out of the city to meet him. In the outset 
of the conference, the king manifested great indignatioa 
against the bishop, for having set free from his custody the 
traitor Geoffirey, the enemy of peace and of his counlay. 
But the bishop satisfied him by concurrent witnesses that 
he had been grossly abused and well nigh hanged, and had 
borne the violence of the marauders with dignity ; so that 
the king was pacified, and, restoring the bishop to favour* 
was conducted by him into Bath. The king having ex* 
amined the entire circuit of the city, and siurveyed it all 
round, marked a spot very capable of defence, and which 
defied assault; he therefore commanded the walls to be 
raised higher and outworks to be constructed, and intrusted 
it to the guard of a strong body of soldiers, for the purpose 
of being a check on the Bristol people, who were ordered, 
to be narrowly watched. From thence he marched to 
Bristol, the seat of fraud, and, halting his army near the 
city, he called a coimcil of the barons, to consult with them 
how best the siege could be laid, how the place could be 
most skilfully assaulted, and how soonest reduced. The 
advice he received was various and uncertain, some giving 
it in good faith, others treacherously. The one party r^ 



A.D. 1138.] SIEGE OF BBI8T0L BELIKQUISHED. 855 

commended ifcat the approach to the city should be blocked 
up in its narrowest part with a pile of huge stones, timber, 
and earth, to close the entrance of the port, so that succour 
by sea, on which the citizens principally relied, might be 
cut o£^ and that the current of the rivers which, as I said 
before, surround the ciiy, being dammed up, Ihe waters 
might stagnate and be collected in a deep pool, as in a sea, 
and quickly overflow and drown the place. They recom- 
mended also that forts should be constructed in botii 
quarters of the city, to prevent ingress or egress by the 
bridges connecting them, while the king himself should sit 
down before the castle for a time, and distress the ganisom 
by famine and other sufferings. But this wise and prudent 
counsel was opposed by the other party, consisting princi- 
pally of those who, though they were in Stephen's camp, 
were secretly the earl's adherents. These said Hiat it 
would be a work of time, and indeed a bootless und^- 
taking, to attempt to dam up the channel with timber and 
stones and any such materials; for it was certain that 
» whatever was thrown in would be swallowed up in the great 
depth of the bed of the river, or would be swept away and 
lost in the reflux of the tide^ 

Swayed by these representations, the king abandoned 
the proposed siege, and having laid waste the country 
round Bristol, and destroyed or carried off the plunder, he 
set on foot expeditions against two castles, Carith and 
Harpetreu*, the one belonging to * * * named Luvel, 
the other to William Fitz John. Both were in dose 
alliance with the earl*, and so confederated with him by 
oaths and leagues, and bound by their homage, that no 
sooner were they informed of his intention to make head 
against the royal power, than they flew to arms to second 
his cause. Beceiving also information that the king pro- 
posed to sit down before Bristol, and being of opinion that 
the siege would be long protracted, tiiey agreed together 
faithfully to aid the earl by making hostile inroads, and 

' Tfafire vnM some reason in this, conndering the extraordinary rise and 
streneth of the tides in the river Avon, as well as in the river Wye ; and in 
the Severn, into which these rivers flow. 

^ Gastle-cary and Harptree, two villages in Somersetshire south-west «tf 
Briftel and Bath. « Of Glowester. 

AA 2 



356 ACTS OF KDXa STEPHEN. [BOOK It 

harassing the inhabitants of all the nei^boormg districts* 
But the king lost no time in investing Oarith, and pressing 
the siege with vigour, throwing, by his machines, showers 
of missiles and fire without intermission among the gani" 
son, and reducing them! to starvation; so that at last he 
forced them to surrender on terms of submission and 
alliance. They could -not .' hold out any longer, as : they 
were weakened by want of food, neither had the earl, their 
hope and refuge, arrived in. England; nor could the Bris- 
tol men march to their relief,* in consequence of the supe- 
riority of the royal force. 'The terms of the treaty .being 
ratified, the king marched to Harptree, where he proposed to 
erect a fort and place in it a proper garrison ; but it' was 
suggested to him that the garrisonof this castle coiild^also 
be conveniently held in check by the .troops he had- star 
tioned at Bath, as the distance was short, and the commu- 
nication between the two easy; whereas it would be a 
costly and troublesome undertsddng to establish the warlike 
engines required for a siege in several places at once. At a 
subsequent period, however, when the king was passing this* 
castle in his advance with a large force to lay siege to Bristol, 
the garrison sallied forth and hung on his rear ; whereupon 
he instantly coimtermarched his troops, and, spurring their 
horses, they made a detour, and reached the castle in time 
to find it almost deserted. Without a moment's delay, 
Bome set fire to the castle gates, others raised scaling 
ladders against the walls, and all being encouraged by the 
king to the utmost exertions, the castle, having few defend- 
ers, was stormed, and left under a guard of his own troops 
and the protection of Providence. 

After his success at Carith, the king's attention was 
called, without intermission, to the state of affairs in some 
part or other of England, and he was constantly in arms 
leading his troops from one quarter to another. As it is 
fabled of the hydra of Hei*cules, that as fast as one of its 
heads was lopped off more sprung forth, so it was, in a 
special manner, with the labours of King Stephen; one 
ended, others still more difficult succeeded, and, like another 
Hercules, he apphed himself to the task with invincible 
energy. We read of the endless wars and difficulties, and j 
toils of Saul, and many other kings ; but they are not to be i 



▲.D. 1138.] Stephen's difficulties. 857 

compared to the pressure of those ia which Stephen was 
involved by his attacks on others, by the loss of his adhe^ 
rents, and by the accidents of fortune. Such and so vast 
were his labours, that they must appear fearful and almost 
incredible to the reader. We read also of the great struggles 
of the Maccabean kings for restoring their country to tran- 
quillity ; we have heard of the wonderful wars of Alexander 
against foreign nations,. and of the various conflicts of other 
kings in defence of their own subjects ; but the struggles 
and contests of King Stephen will be found to have been 
still more severe and harassing ; and the more vexatious, 
because they were with his own countrymen, and with his 
subjects conspiring against him. The word of God beareth 
witness, that the persecutions of familiar friends are the 
most painful and bitter, where it complains most of 
one " who did eat of his Mend's bread," and yet " lifted 
up his heel against him." ^ So in another place, it saith, 
*' A man's enemies are those of his own household."^ One 
of the philosophers also remarks, '' There is no mere grie- 
vous plague than a faithless Mend." Let those, then, who 
wish to read and understand the marvels of history, care- 
fully consider what it teaches. 

Meanwhile, the troops left at Bath by £ing Stephen, to 
make it good against the men of Bristol, maintained them- 
selves vigorously, using every means their art could devise 
to render the walls and ramparts impregnable, manning 
them by night with armed warders, who changed the watch 
by turns ; and sometimes issuing forth in the dead of the 
night, and placing parties in ambush at posts suitable for 
concealment. By day, also, large bodies of country folk 
and men-at-arms marched out, and pverrun the lauds of the 
Bristolians, now in one quarter, then in another ; and 
sometimes they made their appearance on a sudden with 
their whole force at the very city gates, as if they were 
going to give an assault, setting Are to churches and houses^ 
and whatever it was possible to reduce to ashes* 

1 P«alm xli. 9. ' « Matt. x. 36. ' 

3 Our ^S. Laving supplied ns with Teiy circumstantial details of trans- 
actions in the vest of England^ on vUcli both Malmesbury and Huntingdoii 
are silent, it here fidls. When we find it again perfect, ihe author is evi* 
dently speaking, though the name is not mentioned, of the astute and 



318 ikOTB OF KIN0 a T gPHEII . [BOOK I. 

supp<»rted by his numeious Mends, and the vaBt 

pcywer of his lordly dominioii, was considered second only to 
the kmg in the government of the kmgdom. Though he stood 
high in the royal ftyoor, being the king's justiciary, and was 
consulted by Htm on all special affairs-, he was more attached 
to the children of tiie late King Henry, and disposed to serve 
them MthfuUy, and assist them effectually. For he promised 
them, but secretly, that he might not offend the king, to place 
at their disposal the castles which he had elaborately orna- 
mented and fortified, and profusely stored with arms and 
provisions, watching Ihe opportunity, while in the interval he 
prudently submitted to the king, of rendering them prompt 
and vigorous aid on their landing in England. Expecting 
their speedy arrival (for they often apprised him of their 
intention from Normandy), he strengiliened himself, by 
enlisting large bodies of troops to be turned over to their 
service, and wherever he journeyed, and especially when he 
went to court, he was attended by a vast body of friends 
and retainers ; and while, in the mean time, he satisfied the 
king on this head, and others to whom he made himself 
agreeable and welcome, he was prepared forthwith to take 
the side of those whose arrival was expected. Of the same 
faction were his nephews, the Bishops of Lincoln^ and Ely, 
lordly men of daring pretensi(ms, who, neglecting the 
duties befitting the purity and simplicity of their christian 
profession, surrounded themselves with military and secular 
pomp, so that when they went to court, the number of 
their escort became the wonder of all beholders. The Earl 
of Mellent, and others of the king's private and most inti- 
mate friends, were offended at tibe munificence thus chs- 
played by the bishops; and, setting no bounds to their 
jealousy and hatred, they instilled into the king's mind 
many weighty charges against them. They alleged that 
these bishops used their pre-eminence in the kingdom, the 
influence of their wealth, and the power of their retainers, 

powerful Bishop of SaliBbuiy, ao often mentioned in the latter portion! of the 
present Yolume. 

' Alexander, bishop of Lincoln, was the king's chancellor, and, after the 
Bishop of Salisbury, the most powerfnl prelate in England. Alexander built 
the strong castles of Newark and Sleafbrd, and Boger those of Sherborne, 
Derizes Hahnesbuy, and Salisbury. 



A.D. ii99.J ARBESX OF THB BISHOPS PROPOSED. S59 

not to «Mfcfntftm the king's dagtdijf but to forward their own 
pride and profit; and that they had erected stately and 
strongly-fortified castdes, not to secure the king's throne, 
hot to enable them to strip him of his dignity, and to plot 
against the honour of his crown. Wherefore, they said, it 
would be advisable, and the peace of the kingdom required, 
diat th^ should be kid hold of and kept in custody, until 
they surrendered into the king's hands, as pertaining to 
the royal honours, their castles, and whatever other means 
they had of creating war and disturbances ; but whatever 
rights belonged to tbem as ecdesiastics, to religion, and 
their episcopal fdnctions, should be left to their own dis- 
posal, as due reverence and calhohc usi^e required. If, 
therefore, the king, relying on his own coarage and pru- 
dence, i^ionld be djspos^ to acquiesce in their suggestions, 
he ^lould privately arrest these persons, not as bishops, but 
sa transgressors of the episcopal rule, and as under sus- 
pidon of practising against the peace of the king and the 
realm; and they should be detained in custody until they 
gave up their strongholds, rendering imto CsBsar the things 
ivhieh were GsBsar's : the king would thus be rendereid 
secure, and the country tranquil, when relieved from the 
BQE^icions of ereaiing distorbances imputed to the bishops. 
On receiving this advice, continuallv instilled more from 
«nvy and suspicion than the love of holiness and justice, 
the king was in great distress of mind, both because it was 
a grave affiur, and illegal to lay violent hands upon men of 
the sacred order, and because it was unjust and wrong not 
to give a fair hearing to men who were his privy counsel- 
lors, and filled the highest offices in his court. At last, 
however, overcome by the importunities of those who so 
«<HitinuaIly and boldly urged him^ he consented to take tiie 
measures against the bishops which they represented to be 
for his ovm honour and tiie peace of the reakn. He was 
led to this by foolish, not to ssf mad counsels ; ftn* if it is 
wrong and forbidden to injure any man, according to what 
is written, " Do not to others what you would not have 
•done to yourself;" much more is it dis^aceful and un- 
allowable to exhibit violence of any sort against the highest 
minister of the holy altars. In men's eyes it appears a gross 
transgression, but in the sight of God the greatest sin. 



860 ACTS OF EIKa 8TEFHEK [BOOK 2. 

For the Lord said by the prophet, "Whoso toucheth yon 
touchetli the pupil of mine eye ;" and in the Gospel, " He 
who despiseth you, despiseth me." And that no such pre- 
sumptuous dishonour, or dishonourable violence be done 
to the servants of his holy altar. He admonishes by the 
prophet, saying, " Touch not my anointed." For my part, 
I boldly and assuredly declare, tiLat no oflfence draws down 
more sharply and suddenly the Almighty's vengeance, than 
insult by word or deed against those who officiate at his 
holy altars. Thus the sons of Korah, because they set 
themselves up with pride and arrogance against their priests, 
were not only reprobate before God, but were swallowed up 
alive, and perished. Saul, also, who impiously persecuted 
the Lord's priests, was not only in the eyes of the Lord 
rejected from his Idngdom, but was slain in a bloody battle. 
With these few woids, employed for the correction of the 
contemners of God's ministers, I return to my subject. 

The bishops having come to court S as before observed, 
with great pomp, a sudden quarrel was raised between 
their followers^ and the king's soldiers, upon which the 
Earl of Mellent, the crafty conspirator, wifii some 'others 
who belonged to the royal party, particularly those who 
were privy to the scheme before mentioned, seized their 
arms, and, collecting their partisans, threw themselves on 
the bishops' followers ; slaying some, taking others priso- 
ners, and shamefully putting ^e rest to flight, leavmg all 
they possessed in their adversaries' hands. Eetuming to 
the kmg, as if they had triumphed over an enemy, the mal- 
contents, having held counsel together, hastened in a body 
to arrest the bishops as traitors. Keport says, that the 
bishops having heard of the shameful treatment of their 
people, they were preparing for flight, when the king's 
guards forcibly entering their inn, and finding the Bishops 
of Salisbury and Lincoln, while all present were in amaze- 
ment at the violence, they hastily brought them to the 

^ Malmesbury and Hnntiogdon inform us that King Stephen was then 
at Oxford. The former tells ns that a great assemblsr of the nobles was 
held there on the 24th of June, 1139, at which probably the discussions 
just related in the text took place, ending in the arrest of the bishops soon 
after their arriva]. 

^ Malmesbury gives some further details. See his " Modem History/* p. 
499, " Bohn's Antiquarian Library." 



A.D. 1139.] THE BISHOPS SX7BBENDEB THEIB CASTLES. 361 

king's presence. Meanwhile, the Bishop of Ely, hearing 
what was going on, and being more wary and active, made 
his escape, after a long and hasty journey, to his uncle's 
castle at Devizes, where he prepared to offer a stout resistance 
to the king. Upon hearing that the Bishop of Ely had taken 
arms, the king was persuaded that what had been repre- 
sented to him jOedsely and maliciously was true, and became 
inflamed with so much greater resentment against the 
bishops, that he determined to dispossess them entirely of 
their fortresses. . He went, therefore, to Devizes, the Bishop 
of Salisbury's castle, of admirable architecture, and impreg- 
nably fortified, bringing with him the two bishops strictly 
guarded, and commanding them to be separately confined 
in two foul places^, and to be subjected to severe fastings ^ 
Eoger, the king's chancellor, and son^ of the Bishop of 
SaHsbury, being arrested and thrown into chains, would 
have been hung on a. lofty gallows before the castie gate, 
if the Bishop of Ely had not, in the end, yielded up the 
castle and admitted the royal troops. The bishops were 
tortured with extreme anguish of mind, while it was evident 
to al^ that they would be the general laughing-stock, and 
that even their. lives were in danger, if they did not yield 
the castles, which they had taken great pains in erecting, 
and which they highly valued, to the king's disposal. By 
the advice of their mends, of whom there were but few 
about the royal person, they were recoromended and strongly 
enjoined that, to obtain their release from the unseemly 
confinement in which they were detained, they should sub- 
mit themselves entirely to the king's will ; more especially 
since the things of ICsesar were to be given to Geesar, and 
that life must be purchased at any cost. 

This castle, therefore, and the others they possessed, 
being surrendered to the king's hands, the bishops, humbled 
and mortified, and stripped of all pomp and vain gloiy, 
were reduced to a simply ecclesiastical life, and to the pos- 
sessions belonging to them as churchmen ; being compelled 

^ " The continuator of Flor. Yigorn. add9, that one was confined in the 
crib of an oz-lodge, the other in a vile hovel." — Sewdl, 

^ Malmesbury says that the Bishop of Salisbmy voluntarily enjoined him- 
self abstinence from food. 

^ By Mande of Bamsbury, his concubine. Malmesbnry calls him " the 
nephew, or, as it was reported, more than the nephew, of the bishop." 



S6d AOVB OF KCNO STXPHBK. [BOOK I. 

also to give up, thoagh with an iU grace, the arms and 
mon^ whidi were stored in their castles. Mattecs being 
so settled, we cannot but admire the king*a unejq>ected 
turn of fortune ; for when he had neady exhausted his 
treasury in the defence of bis crown, he suddenly entered 
into the labours of others, and what report said was stored 
in the castles, for his injury and detriment, fell into his 
hands, to his honour and profit, without any care of his 
own. After this, a synod was held^ in £ngland, in which 
it was decreed that all munitions of war, and asylums ai 
disaffection belonging to the bishops, should pass to the 
king as his own property. At this synod the king, having 
been'publicly accused of the violence offered to the bishops, 
defended himself and his officers by what he considered 
valid and sufficient reasons. But whereas it was justly 
declared, and clearly adjudged, by the whole clergy, that it 
was unlawful, under any pretence, to lay hands on the 
Lord's servants, the king abated the rigour of ecclesiastical 
discipline by making humble submission; and, laying aside 
his royal robes, with a sorrowful mind and contrite spirit, 
he humbly acknowledged the guilt of his offence. 

At that time ^ ^Villiam de Mohun, a man not only of the 
highest rank but of illustrious descent, raised a formidable 
insurrection against the king; for, getting together some 
bands of foot-soldiers in his strong-hold, which was plesr 
aantly situated on the se^ehore and strongly fortified, he 
made fierce inroads and swept, as with a storm, aU that part 
of England. At all times and in all places humanity was 
forgotten, and cruelty had full scope : he reduced to subjec- 
ticMQ by violence not only his neighbours but the inhabitants 
of remote districts ; whoever resisted was relentlessly pur- 
sued with rapine and plunder, and fire and sword ; when men 
of substance fell into his hands they were put in chains and 

* Tkif Bjnod was hM at Wmchester in the end of August the same 
year. See Malmesbnry and Huntingdon. The fonner giyes a long account 
of the controversy between tiie bishope and the king, but myB nothiiig of 
Stephen's submission. In thb instanfie his narrative is at total variance 
with that of our anonymous author. Huntingdon's short account of the 
affiiir agrees with Halmesbury. 

^' Our author now turns again to the west of England, and furnishes de- 
tails of transactions there, in the autumn, we suppose, of the year 1139> of 
which no other Bnglish writer of that day has given any account. 



A.D. 1189.] DE MOHUN AT DUN8TEB CASTLE. SM 

miserablj tortured; and by such acts he changed the &ce 
of the eountiy, from peace and quiet, and joj and mernment^ 
into a scene of grief Boad lamentation. When, after a time, 
these proceedings were reported to the king, he collected his 
followers in great forpe, and proceeded by forced marches to 
check the barbarities of William de Mohun^. But when he 
halted before the entrance of the castle, and saw the 
immense strength of its position, inaccessible on one side 
where it was washed by ^e sea, and fortified on the other 
by towers and walls with a ditch and outworics, he totally 
dei^aired of carrying it by storm ; and, a wiser counsel 
prevailing, he established a fortified post within sight of the 
enemy, by means of which he proposed to restrain their 
incursions and give security to the neighbouring countzy. 
The king, therefore, gave orders to Henry de Tracy, a good 
knight of much experience in war, Ihat, acting on his bdialf, 
as he himself was wanted in other quarters, he should with 
all speed and vigour make head against the enemy. Heniy, 
therefore, in the king's absence and furnished with tbe 
royal hcence, drew out from Barnstaple, his own town, 
and made such resolute attacks on Wilham de Mohun's 
retainers, that he not only checked their usual expeditions 
through the country, and restrained Iheir plundering inroads, 
but he took 104 horse-soldiers in a single encounter. At 
length he so reduced and humbled William, that he desisted 
from attacking him any more, and left the country in tran- 
quillity and entirely free from his disturbances. 

Henry de Tracy, by his valour, not only reduced William 
de Mohun, but other obstinate perverters of the country 
and disturbers of the king's peace. Among these, espe- 
cially, was William Fitz-Odo, a man of vast possessions 
and great wealth, who frugally managed his estates as long 
as there was peace, taking not even a twig from his neigh- 
bours, nor even the smallest customary gift from any man 
whatever; but when the troubles broke out, he also took 
arms t^inst the king along with tbe rest But Henry, 
acting with vigour on the king's behalf, enfeebled him by 
frequent encounters, and after a time it was reported to him 

^ Williain de Mohnn, or Moiun, was lord of Bimster castle, the sitoatioii 
of which on the shore of the Bristol Channel is weU described in this and 
a preceding paragraph, as its ruins still show. 



804 ACTS OF KXSG STEPHEN* [bOOK X* 

by his scouts that William's castle was left emply by his 
soldiers who had gone out to plunder. Approaching it, 
therefore, with a paiiy of his followers in the silence of 
the night, and evaiding the watch, he stealthily crept close 
to the castle, and, throwing lighted brands through the 
apertures of the towers, set fire to the chambers within. 
The lord of the castle was taken half burnt, and all his 
possessions, with immense hoards of money, by the king's 
permission, fell to the lot of Heniy. On many other 
occasions he encountered the king's adversaries with 
coun^e and fidelity, as I shall relate in this history in the 
proper place. 

While these disturbances of different kinds were taking 
place throughout England, Baldwin,^ a man it is said of 
gentle birth, and an Englishman, who had been driven into 
banishment by the king, landed at Wareham with a bold 
and spirited band of soldiers, and being let into Corfe Castle, 
one of the strongest places in all England, he and his 
followers prepared themselves to hold it stoutly against the 
king, who, report said, was at hand. No sooner, indeed, was 
the king informed by his adherents of Baldwin's arrival, 
than he put himself without a moment's delay at the head 
of such of his people as could be soonest mustered, and 
appeared suddenly before the castle for the purpose of 
besieging Baldwin. He spent much tune there in the 
attempt to distress the enemy willi his engines of war, or to 
reduce them by famine ; but at last, on good counsel, ha 
raised the siege and permitted Baldwin to go unmolested, 
the more so as he received intelligence that Bobert, earl of 
Gloucester, and his sister, the determined pretenders to his 
kingdom, had combined their forces and were on the point 
of invading England. Being anxious that they should not 
effect a landing imawares, he gave orders that all the ports 
should be watched day and night, thinking it of more 
importance to oppose with his utmost efforts the chiefs of 
the enemy's party, than that, while devo&g his whole 
attention to Baldwin, he should suffer them to obtain a 

1 Baldwin de Rivers, whose conduct during and after the siege of Bzeter 
forms a leading feature in the early part of our author's narrative. See 
before, pp. 837 to 344. It will be recollected that he was exiled and took 
refuge at the court of the Count of Anjou. 



A.D. 1139^0.] ANABCHT OF THE KINGDOM. 365 

footing against him. But it is written, learning and wisdom, 
and prudence and counsel, axe nothing against the Lord ; 
^ind human cunning cannot escape what has heen ordained 
by Providence. We know that subjects are scourged some- 
times for their own, sometimes for their rulers' transgres- 
sions; as it is recorded that the people of Israel, who had 
often offended God, were frequently punished by wars and 
pestilence, and that for the adulteries of Solomon and 
David the people were in the one case plagued by the hand 
of an angel, in the other grievously vexed by their enemies. 

The English nation, lost in luxury and idleness, enervated 
by excess and drunkenness, and puffed up with pride and 
arrogance, had often provoked God's anger ; and tiieir great 
men, pursuing this scandalous coinrse of life, abandoned 
themselves still more grossly to every sort of illicit connec- 
tion, and to all superfluity of eating and drinking, to every- 
thing, in short, which is most vicious and most destructive 
to the soul, without restraint and without penitence. Thus 
the Almighty was greatiy displeased with them, and his 
wrath was stirred up against tiiem, and it was no wonder 
that England was torn by so many dissensions, wasted by 
internal wars, and stained everywhere by crimes : for it is 
an admitted truth that grievous sins can only be expiated 
by severe punishments, and that the more a man is aban- 
doned to wickedness, the more he is fitted for suffering its 
consequences. Thus it was said to Babylon, " Forasmuch 
as she was highly exited and in great prosperity, so shall 
be her torments and her lamentations." Hence it arose 
that although Stephen had devoted all his military skill to 
tlie restoration of peace in his realm, although he had been 
indefatigable in leading his troops against the enemy, all his 
unceasing efforts were of no avail ; because, to use the words 
of the prophet, in all that had happened, <*the anger of the 
Lord was not turned away, and his hand was stretched out 
still ;" and his grievous indignation vexed them more and 
more, until Gomorrah should flU her cup of offences, and 
the Ethiopian change his skin; so He hardened Himself 
without mercy against all the inhabitants of England. 

While the king's attention was directed to other quarters, 
though he had given orders that the harbours on tiie coast 
should be strictiy guarded, Bobert, earl of Gloucester, and 



S66 A.CT8 OF SlNOt STEPHEN. [bQOK I. 

his sister the Countess of Anjou, landmg &t Arundel with a 
strong body of soldiers, were received into the castle and 
hospitably entertained \ All England was struck with alarm, 
and men's minds were agitated in various ways : those who 
either secretly or openly favoured the invaders were roused 
to more than usual activity against the king, while his own 
partisans were terrified as if a thunderbolt had faUeo. 
But the king, who had never despaired in all the mischances 
of the wars and insurrections, now with unshaken firmness, 
and without a moment's delay, put himself at the head of a 
light-armed and disciplined body of troops, and by forced 
marches appeared boldly before the castle of ArundeL 
There, learning from his trusty scouts that the earl had got 
away by night, and was on his road to Bristol, but that his 
sister, with her followers fi-om Anjou, still remained in the 
castle where she had disembarked, he left part of his troops 
to prevent her escape during his absence, and pursued the 
earl with the rest, intent on making him prisoner. 
Finding, however, that he could not accomplish his purpose 
— ^for &e earl had not gone by ihe high road, but had 
betaken himself to bye ways — ^he quickly retraced his steps 
for the purpose of continuing the siege of those who were 
blockaded in the castle. Meanwhile, the Bishop of Win- 
chester, hearing of their arrived, caused all ihe cross-roads to 
be beset by troops, and at last, as report was, encountering 
the earl, entered into amicable rdations with him, and 
allowed him to proceed without opposition. This report, 
however, contradicts all sound conclusions ; and it is utterly 
incredible that the king's brother should receive with a 
Mendly embrace the in'rader of his brother's kingdom, and 
should permit him to pass unmolested while he was bent on 
urging the most serious pretensions to the crown. The 
bishop, however, joined the king with a numerous retinue of 
knights and men-at-arms, as if he had not fallen in with the 
eaii; and finding that the king was determined on pressing 

1 The earl and his nbrter tlie countess landed^ Angnat 31, at Arundel, 
where »he was kindly received, at first, by her mother-in-law, the queen- 
dowager of Henry I. Malmesbury says that the earl had only 150 horse- 
men with him, of whom twelve "scarcely" formed his retinne in his subse- 
quent march across the country to Bristol. Mabnesbury considers the earl 
to have been not inferior in undaunted bravery to JuUui Caesar. 



A.D. 1140.] THE EMPBEflS HAUD AI BBISTOL. S67 

the siege, he represented that his policy was as unacceptable 
to him as it would be to the kingdom. For while the king 
sat down to blockade the Countess of Anjou in one comer 
of the kingdom, her brother would speedily raise an insur- 
rection and disturb the countiy in another quarter ; so that 
it would be more advisable for himself, and tend more to 
the public advantage, to allow her to join her brother with- 
out hindrance, that both, with their respective forces, being 
thus united at one pomt, he might attempt to crush them 
with greater facility, and might combine all his own troops 
in an immediate and sharp attack of their position. A S£^e 
conduct was therefore given, ratified by oaths, &>r the 
countess to hare free passage to her brother; the king 
trusting that he could defeat ^em witibi greater ease when 
both were confined to one part of the countiy. On their 
arrival at Bristol they announced their arrival to all the 
barons of the realm, intreating them, devoutly and sorrow- 
fully, to come to their aid, and promising honorary rewards 
to some, to others an augmentation of their domains, while 
they required all to accomplish their object by every means 
in dieir power. Accordingly, all their adherents, who had 
hitherto paid a faithless and hollow submission to the king, 
breaking their oadis and the fealiy they had pledged him, 
came over to the earl and countess, and with one mind 
entering into a league against the king, rose against him in 
all quarters with great vehemence. 

There was at that time one Brian Fit&Count, a man of 
iUustrious descent and high dignity, who, being greatly 
elated at the late arrival, strengthened his castle at Walling- 
ford with a numerous body of troops, and broke into active 
and determined rebellion against the king. Milo, also, 
lord of Gloucester, of whom I have ahready given a short 
notice, falsifying the fealty which he had sworn to the 
king, set himself against him vnth great resolution, and 
taking into his service all the king's enemies who flocked to 
him, desolated the whole of the districts adjoining the 
county of Gloucester. And now as far as the remotest 
borders of England, vast herds of cattle were driven off, and 
all those who were known to be faithfal and loyal to the 
king were harassed with fire and sword : in one place the 
king and his adherents were continually betrayed by 



868 ACTS OF EIKa STEPHEN. [BOOK I. 

treachery, in another the lands of his supporters, with tiieir 
substance, were cruelly denuded and made a desert. Not 
only the persons I have named, but some others also, who 
were before sworn confederates of the king, now bursting 
the ties of amity and concord, set no bounds to their 
aggressions; but, rising with fuiy in all parts of England, 
perpetrated everywhere without remorse whatever their 
savage humour suggested. Meanwhile, King Stephen, 
unappalled at the tide of evils with which he was sur- 
roimded, with indomitable courage collected his forces into 
one powerful army, and was bent on crushing each of his 
enemies in turn. First, therefore, marching to Walling- 
ford with a great force, he proposed to reduce it by a close 
blockade; but, listening to the better counsel of his barons, 
he postponed that design for the present. They asserted, 
as tiiie fact was, that the castle was so strongly fortified as 
to defy an assault from any quarter ; that it was stored with 
provisions for the supply of many years ; that it • was 
garrisoned by troops in the flower of youth, and confident in 
&eir strength ; and that he could not maintain his present 
position without the greatest peril, as his army was both 
liable to daily assaults by the garrison of the castle, and it 
was also exposed to open or secret attacks from the enemy 
who were in arms against him on all sides. They therefore 
said that it would be the wisest counsel, that, having erected 
two forts and placed in them a sufficient number of troops 
to maintain a blockade, he should divert his attention to 
other quarters, by which means he might at the same time 
coerce the besieged troops, and make an immediate and 
xmexpected attack on some other body of the insurgents. 

Having therefore in all haste run up two forts over 
against the castle, the king marched with the utmost expe 
dition towards the town of Trowbridge, which Humphrey 
de Mohun, by the advice and at the instigation of Milo, 
had fortified with impregnable works against the king. 
In the course of his march he had the great good fortune 
to take by assault the castle of Ceme^, which Milo had 

' William of Malmesbury relates that this Fitz-Hubert bad seized this 
casde, one of those founded hj Bishop Bo^er, only a fortnight before. This 
historian gives a shorter acoonnt of Stephen's successes and reverses in this 
ejqpedition, which took pUice in the month of October, than our author, wkt> 



A.D. 1139.] BLOGKADB OF WAUJNOFOBD OASTLE. 369 

built to encourage the mBurrection; and also to receive 
the surrender of the strongly-fortified town of Malmesbury, 
in which he took prisoner Eobert Fitz-Hubert, with his 
followers, a man of great cruelty, unequalled in villainy and 
crime. But the &ite of war is uncertain, and the changing 
fortune of our i^e now raises a man high, and presently casts 
him down to the lowest depth : thus, after these successful 
events, the king met with a sudden and imezpected mis- 
chance. For while he was on his march to Trowbridge, 
Milo, a man of a most active mind, and always ready for bold 
deeds, rode to Wallingford by night with a chosen body of 
soldiers, and fell with so much impetuosity on the troops 
left there by the king, that they were forced to yield, so 
that some being wounded and otihers slain, and all the rest 
being made prisoners and bound with fetters, he returned 
to his own castle with the gloiy of a brilliant victory. This 
severe reverse to the king's troops at that spot may clearly 
be attributed to his having converted the church, from a 
seat of religion and house of prayer, into a fortified post, 
and allowed it to be made a place of war and slau^ter. 
For a church is built to be the house of God and the house 
of prayer; and to make it the habitation of men of war, 
must certainly be offensive to Him. Wherefore, since it is 
written, that no sin shall go unpunished, and that with 
the measure with which we measure, it shall be measured 
unto us again, we do not speak foolishly when we assert 
that this befell the king, because he converted the house of 
peace and mercy into an asylum for war and discord. 

After this successful enterprise, Milo turned his whole 
attention to the means of annoying the king and bis adhe- 
rents ; he therefore assembled at Gloucester all those whose 
possessions the king had wasted, or who were for any 
reason hostile to him ; both because the place was strong 
and well stored with, all necessaries, and numbers thus 
embodied from different quarters could make more bold and 
secure attacks ; and thus he engaged in many enterprises 
with glory and success. I will not recount the immense, 
booty which he collected from every quarter, the villages in 

appears to hare been paiticolarly well infonned of all that pasted in the- 
west of Bngland, often the pimcipal seat of war duing these troublesome 

BB 



870 AGtS or KOM SZBFHBBL [BOOK. X. 

fiiimes, and towns deserted, the population of all donees 
batdiiered or bound with thongs until they were ransomed: 
it is better to mourn over tliese ealamittes than to relate 
them. But it is worthj of notice respecting the royal castles 
in the counties of Gloucester and Hereford, the garrisons 
of which crashed the people with featful tyramiy, ^tsome 
he took by assault amd razed to the ground, while he gave 
others into the possession of hia adherents : in one instance 
making prisoners of part of the garrison and driving out 
the rest, as at Winchccxmb ; in others by surrender aJBber a 
vigorous assault, as at Ceme and the city of Hereford. 
Nor must it be omitted, that he was so faithful and constant 
to the familv of King Henry, that he was not only their 
abettor, but he entertained the Countess of Anjou and her 
retinue, filling the place of a &ther to her botii in coimcil 
and action \ unt^ the king being in the end a captive and a 
prisoner, as I shall show in the sequel, he established her 
as queen throughout aU England. Meanwhile, the king 
arriving at Trowl»idge, and finding the place carefully forti- 
fied, and the garrison prepared for all extremities, nor likely 
to surrender without a desperate strug^, he set to work to 
construct engines with great toil, that he might press the 
siege with vigour. But his efforts were firuitless, for the 
besieged were neither injured by his machines, nor at all 
daunted by his blockade, though it was long and strict. 
The barons, therefore, who were present at the siege, some 
wearied out by its being long protracted, and others who 
were their false and treacherous comrades, imited in appre- 
hensions that the Ead of Gloucester would collect all his 
forces and suddenly attack them. The king, therefore, con- 
sulting his Mends, retired to London to rally his straigth, 
and then advance where fortune summoned him to some 
safer enterprise. He left, however, in the eastie at Devizes 
for the annoyance of Trowbridge, to which it was near, a 
chosen and disciplined body of soldiers, and the two parties, 
alternately, by their hostile incursions reduced all the neigh- 
dounng countiy to a desolate solitude. 

In these days died Boger, bishop of Salisbury, who while 
he excelled aU. the great nobles of the kingdom in wealth 

^ Malmedbnry, wbo giret^ a high ehazactet of the Earl of Glouoestor, 
asserts that he magnaDimously refiued the crown, when it was offered him* 



A.D.1139.] DEATH eV KBB BfSIEK)? OV SALISBUBT. 371 

and magni^cenee as well as in bis great i^i£ties» yet he 
was broken down and eompletely enervated bj bixory ; and 
a single vice, imptirity, tainted whateyer Tirtoes he pos- 
sessed^. He left in tbe chimdk at Balisbuiy imm^ise sums 
of money, and a vast qnantitir of plate, both of gold and 
sdrer, exquisitely and splendidly wrou^t, all which, the 
canons approving, nay, even making the offer^ fell into the 
king's hands, with many other articles which the bishop 
had collected in his treasury; not knowings as the PsaUnist 
observes, for whom he heaped them np, and like the ridii 
man in the Gospel to whom it was said, " This night thy 
sonl shall be required of thee; whose then shall those 
things be which thou hast gotten ?" The king applied part 
of the money to roofing ^e chufds, part he bestowed for 
relieving the wants of the canons ; and the chtirches, lands, 
and possessions, which the bishop had appropriated, turn- 
ing the nuns, deprived of their pastors, into haridmaids — ^all 
these he freely restored to the churches and to ecclesiastical 
uses, and, reinstating the two churches of Malmesbury and 
Amesbuiy in their anei^it splendour, caused the abbots 
of those monasteries to be eanonically enthroned. 

When the Bishop of My was io&Hrmed of his uncle's 
deaths he determined to put in execution what he had long 
plotted against the king, both that he might, as far as was 
in his power, have satisfaction for the injuries his uncle 
had suffered at like king's hands, as I have before related, 
and also aid the children of King Henry in recovering the 
erown, to the utmost of his power. Laying aside, therefore, 

1 Our author probably alludea to the oonnection with Maude of Banubury. 
See p. 861. William of Malmesbury has treated this bishop's character fully 
and impartially. See his '' Modem History," p. 507. Henry of Huntingdon, 
who, on the whole, speaks fayouiably of him, sayt that he died worn out 
with age, and grief for ike severity with which Stephen had recently 
treated him, with which MalmMbBzy agrees. He died in the month of 
December, 1139. 

• The year on which we are now entering, a.d. 1140, the sixth of Ste- 
phen's reign, was most disastrous to that king and the kingdom in general. 
Huntingdon gives no detaib^ but, suoraung up the horrors of the times in a 
few words, Tents his feelings in an ekgy ; see before, p. 273. Malmesbury, 
alter taking a general view of the miserable state of afiairs, notices 
cursorily one or two of the occurrences related by our author, to whom we 
are indebted for a circumstantial account of the transactions of this 
peiiod. 

BB S 



87d ACTS OF KDXa 8TBFHEN. [BOOK I. 

his spiritual weapons and the warfare of ecclesiastical dis- 
cipline, he became a man of blood, and taking into his pay 
at Ely bands of soldiers willing to engage in any service 
however villainous, he molested all his neighboiurs, those 
especially who were the kmg's partisans. Ely is a pleasant 
island, extensive and well peopled, with a fertile soil and 
rich pasturage ; it is surrounded on all sides by marshes 
and fens, and can be approached on one side only, where a 
strait and narrow road leads to the island and the castle, 
which from ancient times has stood above the waters at the 
very entrance in a singular manner; so that the whole 
island is one impregnable fortress. Thither the king, when 
he heard that the bishop had actually revolted, hastened 
with a large body of troops, and having surveyed the extra- 
ordinary and impregnable strength of the place, he anxiously 
consulted many persons how he could best invest it with 
his troops. It was advised, and he approved the counsel, 
that a number of boats should be collected where the cui- 
rent of water roimd the island appeared to be slackest, and 
that a bridge should be constructed across them formed of 
bundles of wattled rods laid lengthways to the bank of 
the island. The king, being highly ddighted, ordered the 
work to be immediately executed ; so that shortly he and 
his followers easily passed over to the island on the bridge 
thus ingeniously constructed with boats. After crossing 
the water by these means, some slim^ marshes were still to 
be passed ; but the king received pnvate information of a 
ford which was sound at bottom and offered a safe passage. 
It is said that a clever monk of Ely suggested the mode of 
crossing the water, and was the guide who pointed out the 
way to cross the marsh; and we saw him afterwards for 
this service, thanks not to St. Peter's key but to Simon's, 
admitted into the church and made Abbot of Bamsey; and 
we know that afterwards he was subjected to much trouble 
and affliction, the Almighty justly punishing secret offences, 
on account of his unlawfid intrusion into tibe church. But 
of this hereafter. Meanwhile, the royal troops, penetrating 
into the interior of the island, were permitted to overrun 
every part of it, and having taken prisoners some of the 
bishop's soldiers, with a great booty and large sums of 
money, they got possession also of the small castle which 



A.D. 1140.] ELT TAKEN.— GOBNWALL BE007EBBD. 373 

Stood at the entrance to the island in which the bishop and 
his soldiers had taken refuge. This great success very 
much damped the courage of the enemy throughout Eng- 
land. The bishop, who had some difficulty in making his 
escape from the royal troops, fled in poverty and distress to 
Gloucester, which all who were harassed by the king made 
their common receptacle : there, in his indigence, he dis« 
covered what he had not learnt in the days of his wealth 
and pride, that '' the Lord bringeth down the mighty from 
their seaV' and humbleth to the lowest pitch tihose who 
exalt themselves. 

While this was doing in Ely, William Fitz-Eichard, a 
man of noble descent, and who held the county of Cornwall 
in fiill lordship under the king, traitorously broke his oath 
of fealty, and admitting Reginald, son of King Heniy into 
a castle which had always belonged to the royal juris- 
diction, gave him his daughter, with the whole county of 
Cornwall. In possession of this principality, Reginald con- 
ducted himself with more courage than prudence, com- 
pelling the inhabitants to submit to him by force of arms, 
garrisoning all the castles with his own partisans, and 
grievously oppressing the king's adherents in his neighbour- 
hood. And so far did he cany his insane audacity, that he 
did not even spare ecclesiastical property, nor restrain his 
freebooters from robbing the churches. For this cause it was 
not long before we saw him suffering under the infliction of 
the wrath of God, having been excommunicated by the 
bishop ; for the wife of his bosom was driven to madness 
and became subject to demoniacal influence, and he lost 
the greatest part of the land the traitor his father-in-law had 
given him, which was recovered by the king ; so that he 
was reduced to the castle in which he lived, his enemies 
becoming so powerful that even there he was in great 
straits. For the king, having intelligence of this rebellion 
in Cornwall, hastened thither before he was expected, and 
retaking the castles which Reginald had seized, he entrusted 
the coimtry to Earl Alan, a cruel and crafty man, with whom 
he left an active body of soldiers, commanding him to allow 
Reginald no repose until he had driven him out of the 
country. 

Meanwhile, Robert, who was Earl of Gloucester, but in 



S74 ACTS OF OKO STBISBV. [BOOK I. 

arms against the natives of that county, who were enzoUed 
in great strength for the king's service, was greatly delighted 
when he learnt that the king had Altered Oomwall, inas- 
much as he exposed himself to a successfiil attack wkuLe 
cooped up in a c(»ner of England at a distance £K>m his 
main force ; where he trusted, by God's help, to be able to 
crush him. Having, thereloie, asseml^ed a large body o£ 
troops, with stores of ail kinds, he was proceeding to Gc»m- 
wail by hasty maidies, whai he heard rcunours that the 
king was on his retoni, halving successfully accomplished 
all his purposes, and would shortly make his appearanoe at 
the head of a powerful force. This was no false or lan- 
founded r^ort, for the Ismg, receiving seciet intelligenoe of 
the earUs advance, had siunmoned all the barons of Devour 
shire to his aid, and was prepared to engage ihe earl that 
v^y day. The two parties were already so near each other 
that they might have fulfilled their wishes, had not the 
earl, listening to the pnident advice of his friends, been 
persuaded to draw off his troops and commence a retreat 
towards Bristol with all expedition. The king, continuijoig 
his march without molestation, reduced several traitorous 
castles, some of which were evacuated at the mere tidings 
of his approach, and others were assaulted and stormed, 
(deanng and tranquillizing all the surrounding districta 
over which the lords of the castles and their followeis 
tyrannized. 

About this period, Bobert Fitz-Hubert\ a man of Flemish 
extraction, both bold and wily, who, as it is said of the jud^ 
in the Gospel, feared nether God nor man, with a detach- 
ment of Eobert the earl's soldiers, for he was in his 
pay, carried by a stealthy night attack the royal castle of 
Devizes, a stately and strongly-fortified place, by means cf 
scaling ladders strongly and cleverly formed of th(»^8, 
which he threw over the battlem^its, and which reached U> 
the foot of the wall. Having thus ^fected an entrance^ 
escaping the vigilance of the guard, he secured in their 
sleep the royal garrison, except a fow who, roused by the 
noise in the dead of the ni^t, hastily betook themselves to- 

' Our author hasinentioned this mffiaiL before ; flee p. S69. MalmedMBy 
gives some strange anecdotes of his barbarity. He took Devizes Gutlft bj 
•nrprise in Faetion week. 



A.I>.1140.] DZTCZISS CikSILE BEIKBa). 87ft 

tike ke^ of the castle ; but as jthey had not carried provi- 
fidons with them, and no Bacconr arriyed from the king's 
party, after a few days they surrendered the keep. 

The report of this bold achievement gettii^ abroad, tine 
Earl of Gloucester sent his son with a strong band of 
soldiers to ^tare with Bobert iSae custody of the castle ; but 
he was driv^i from the gate wilii foul and menadng woids^ 
and returned to his fa£er with a message from Eobert, 
that he had taken die castie for his own benefit, and not for 
the purpose of giving it up to a stronger party. Things 
turned out as this wfly plotter had calculated, for neilher 
adhering to the side of ^e earl, nor submitting to the king, 
he drew about him a strong band of his own people, and 
by force or franad got possession of all the eountiy round. 
But Providence converted his enterprise to his own ruin, 
according to the divine sentence, by the sins that a man 
Gommitteth, he shall be punished. For as he had circum- 
vented others by his cunning, he also fell a victim tofr^ud; 
and, being taken and thrown into chfuns, died in tortures. 
There was in the nei^bourhood a man named John\ 
equally crafiby, and ready for any enterprise to be accom- 
plished by ETtratagems, who forcibly held the royal castle oi 
Marlborough. This castle Bobert marked for his own, in- 
asmuch ae it was contiguous, and a convenient appendage 
to his own, and if he could reduce it he should be better 
able to promote discord throughout England. He therefore 
sent a message to Jdm that he wished to come to terms of 
peace and alliance with him, ajud sought admittance to his 
castle for Ihe sake of ^ving and receiving mutual advice, 
and would maintadn their league unbn^en and their amitjr 
entire. John, however, detected in these proposals a stra- 
tagem for surprising his caflde, and, affecting to receive his 
orders with joy and to giant all that was desired, he ad- 
mitted Eobert into the castle, but, immediately closing the 
gate, he threw him into the dnnfeon to die of hunger and 
suffering. He then sallied forth on Kobert's comrades, who 
w«re waiting without to second his attempt, and, capturing 
some of them, imprisoned tbem with their leader, while tb^ 
rest were forced to flee to Devizes in disgrace. 

' John ** TiiZ'Qilhert."—Malmes!)wy. 



876 ACTS OF JONG STEPHEN. [BOOK I. 

When the Earl of Gloucester heard that the miscreant 
had fallen into the hands of John, who was at this time his 
faithful partisan, he rejoiced much, and, attended by a 
forilliant retinue, went to Marlhorough, and talking Robert, 
brought him to Devizes, where he had hhn hanged in the 
sight of his own people ; a just and divine retribution, by 
which one who had brought to death so many thousands by 
cruel inflictions, perished himself by a disgraceful punish- 
ment Aft^ his execution, his kinsmen and comrades in 
Devizes, whom he had solemnly adjured not to surrender 
the caslJe though he should himself be hanged, gave it up, 
for a large sum of money paid by the kmg, to his son-in-law 
Hervey of Brittany, a man of rank and a brave soldi^*. 
For some time he mdntamed an incessant and vigorous 
conflict with the king's enemies ; but in the end he was 
hemmed in by the country folk, and the castle was block- 
aded by the whole population of the neighbourhood, so that 
he had no option but to quit it, and he became an exile : 
but of this in the sequel ^ 

After these occurrences, GeoflErey Talbot, who has been 
akeady noticed in fitting places, made an attempt to reduce 
the garrison which the kmg left in the fortified city of 
Hereford to defend the country and protect his rights. 
Taking possession, therefore, of the cathedral church of 
Mary, Mother of God, he irreverently expelled the servants 
of the altar, and rudely filled it with armed men, converting 
the house of prayer and ghostly propitiation into an abode 
of confusion, warfare, and blood. It was a scene of insuf- 
ferable horror to all pious minds when the habitation of life 
and holiness was made to harbour robbers and cut-throats. 
The citizens ran about wailing when they saw the church- 
yard dug up to make a rampart for the fortified post, and 
the moiddering or newly-interred corpses of their parents 
and relations rudely thrown up firom their graves, — a horrid 
spectacle. They mourned, also, at seeing the tower, fi-om 
whence they had been accustomed to hear the peaceM and 
harmonious sounds of the church beUs, now converted into 
a station for engines of war, from which missiles were hurled 

' Our author has here anticipated the coune of events. See hereafter^ 
under the year 1141. 



AJ>. 1140.] 8IEGE OF HEBEFOBD. 377 

to crush the king's troops. While Geoffirey was making 
desperate attacks on the royal garrison from the church, 
Milo of Gloucester, having laid siege to the castle from 
another quarter, was also occasioning them great annoyance 

by his siege artillery.^ 

that he would make 

amends for all in which he had offended. Wherefore the 
king resolved that» renewing his agreement and re-estabUsh- 
ing peace with this man ^ he would silently observe whether 
his actions fulfilled his promises, and so he turned his 
attention to other matters. After considerable time when 
there was no appearance of the earl being more devoted to 
the king than before, and, Uving in the castle of Lincoln 
with his wife and children, he oppressed the townsmen and 
people of the neighbourhood, they privately sent messen- 
gers to the king, repeatedly imploring him to take the 
earliest opportunity of besieging ^e earl and his people in 
the castle. The king, arriving unexpectedly, was received 
by the citizens, but he found the castle almost deserted, 
except that it was tenanted by the wife and brother of the 
earl, with a few of their attendants ; he himself on the 
king's approach having made his escape almost alone. The 
king, therefore, laid siege to the castle with determined 
vigour, grievously annoying those who remained in it by 
engines for throwing missiles and other warlike machines. 
Meanwhile, ihe Earl of Chester summoning to his aid 
Bobert, earl of Gloucester', with Milo and all the rest who 
were in arms against the king, with whom came a formi- 
dable but ill-conditioned body of Welshmen, they unani- 
mously agreed to make a united attack on the king's army. 

^ The MS., again fiuling, tlirows no further light on the transactions of 
this year. Malmesbnry relates that, soon after Whitsuntide, a conference 
took place near Bath between the Barl of Gloucester and the legate and 
others on the part of the king, in which terms of peace were discussed, 
which, he sajs, Stephen rejected, as he did another proposal in the mouth of 
Beptember following. 

* When the MS. serves us again, the author is speaking of Ranulf, 
earl of Chester, who bore a distbgnished part in subsequent erents. ' The 
time is the latter end of the year 1140, or the beginning of 1141. Malmes- 
bury says that King Stephen had peaceably departed from the county of Lin- 
coln before Christmas, having augmented the honours of the Earl of Chester. 

* Mabnesbury describes &e earl's feelings and policy at this period. 



S78 AfiTB OF xrsot sTEnoN. {book X 

It was the feast of the Purificatum, and iMle mass -was 
being celebrated at da^m of dajr, aa^ the king, acoording to 
the order and office of the festival, was holding a candle of 
wax in his hand, it was suddenlj extinguished, the eandlcp 
as it is said, being broken short ; but, retaining it in his 
hand, it was stuck together again and relighted ; a token 
that for his sins he d^ionld be deprived d his €rown, but 
on his repentance, through God's mercj, he ^ould won- 
derfnllj and glorionsly cecov^ it For inasmuch as he 
still hdid the ^candle in his hand, aithoa^ it was broken, that 
was a sign that he should not resign the crown, nor lose ^e 
name of king, thou^ he became a captive ; and it was so 
ordered in the wonderful dispensations of Providence, that 
though he fell ioto the hands of his greatest enemies, 
they were never able to deprive him of his kingdom. 

Upon hearing that the enemy were at hand, and that 
unless he retreated a battle was inevitable, ihe king shrunk 
from staining his r^utation by an ignominious flight, and, 
putting his troops in battle array in excellent order, drew 
them out of the city to meet the attack. A strong body 
of horse and foot was detached in advance to oppose the 
passage of a ford ^ ; but the enemy, by a prudent disposition 
of their forces and an impetuous chaise, obtained posses- 
sion of the ford, and boldly routing "^e detachment and 
putting it to flight, they fell irresistibly, by a combined 
movement, on ^ royal army, slaying some, and reserving 
others as prisoners to be ransomed; while many, among 
whom w^e ihe Earl of MeUent and William de Ypres, 
flying shamefully before battle was joined, the victors took 
the king prisoner, fighting stoutly to ihe last. The dtLaens 
who fled to seek refuge in the town were closely pursued, 
and many were slaughtered ; the houses and churches were 
pillaged and burnt, and lamentable scenes of destruction 
were exhibited in every quarter. Others congregated near 
the crowd of captives, and especially about the king. While 
he was being disarmed, he frequently exclaimed, in humi* 
liatign and grief, that this shameful disaster had befallen 

' 07«r the Trent, "which, wbs now in flood from hesLvy tains ; but tlie 
Earl of Oloocester swam over tho rapid river with his whole army, Holmes- 
hury ;— whose account of the battle of Lincoln is very short S%uUinffdofCs is 
much more circumstantial than that of our present author ; see before, p. 274. 



A.D. 1140.] STEPHEN PBISONEB IN BRXSTOL CASTLE. 370 

him as a punishment for his sins ; but that diose also were 
gnilty of a very great crime who, breaking their fealty and 
^sregarding their oaths, and noaking no accomit of the 
homage which had been voluntarily pledged to him their 
king and lord, had so fouUy and de^erately rebelled agaimtt 
him. Upon this the surrounding multitude wei^ moved with 
pity, shedding tears and uttering cries of grirf, and with 
heart and mouth compassionating his distzess. 

The Ead of Gloucester carried the king^ with him to 
his sister, the Countess of Anjou, in Gloucestershire, and, 
having held council, committed him to close custody in 
Bristol Castle for the remainder of his days. The eaarl was 
mistaken, and knew not the secret counsels of the Almighty, 
in whose hand, as it is written, are the hearts of kings, and 
He tumeth them whithersoeva* He willeth. He reduced 
the King of Babylon, who proudly exalted himself against 
Him, to the condition of a beast, that by the sense of his 
humiliation, and his better knowledge of God, He might 
in the end accept and raise him up. He also drove David 
from the throne, on account of his sins, by the persecution 
of his son, and allowed him to wander about in strange 
hiding-places, htimbled and dishonoured, that th^^after Ha 
might restore him to his kingdom with marvellous honour. 
He likewise, who does nothing in vain, determined in his 
secret counsels to cast down King Stephen for a little time, 
in order that afterwards he might be more hi^y and won- 
derfully exalted. How singularly that came to pass I shall 
disrtinctly relate in the sequel. 

When the king was in captivity, and, as I mentioned 
before, condemned, by God's pennissi<m, to imprisonment 
in Bristol Castle, all England was struck with astonish* 
ment To some, who hoped that in consequence the war 
would be ended, a day of rejoicing and a new light appeared 
to dawn ; others, who thought deeper, were of <^inion that 
the crime of which they were guilty against their king and 
lord could not be expiated without great damage to the 

' lEalmesbnry speaka in strong tenns of the respect sliown bj the earl to 
the king immediately after the battle ; and sajs tbat on his first imprison- 
ment in Bristol Castle he was treated with eyery honour^ but, abusing his 
ftmlegH, he was tfaeo eonfined with fetteff. 



380 ACTS OF KING STEPHEN. [BOOK I. 

kingdom and themselves, and that the internal wars would 
not be so easily terminated, considering tliat the majority 
of the people were on the king's side, and that the strongest 
castles were in the hands of his adherents. It will presently 
be seen that thus it turned out. Now, however, the greatest 
part of the kingdom gradually submitted to the countess 
and her supporters ; and some of the royal party, surprised 
by sudden disasters, were either taken prisoners or violently 
expelled from their territories; others, quickly falsifying 
the allegiance which they owed to the king, voluntarily 
offered to her themselves and their property. They were a 
servile and despicable crew, who, when their king and lord 
was borne down by a sudden disaster, but had not lost all, 
so quickly transferred the fealty they had pledged him. 
Earl Alan, a man, it is said, of a most savage disposition 
and of deep guile, while he was endeavouring to entrap the 
Earl of Chester, in revenge for the disgraicefiil captivity he 
had inflicted on his lord and master, was foiled by the 
enemy and taken himself. Bound vdth fetters, and im- 
mured in a foul dungeon, he was compelled to bow his 
head with forced humility and to a dishonourable servitude, 
doing homage to the Countess of Anjou, and placing his 
castles at her disposal ; meanwhile, he ceded the county of 
Cornwall, which had been granted to him by the king, to 
Beginald, who was now in his native country. Earl Hervey, 
also, the king's son-in-law, who was long beleaguered in the 
castle of Devizes^ by a rude multitude of country people 
banded together for his ruin, at last gave up the castle into 
the coimtess*s hands, and being driven from England by this 
dishonour went beyond sea with only a few followers. Hugh, 
also, sumamed The Pauper, who by royal licence possessed 
the earldom of Bedford after the expulsion of Milo de Beau- 
champ, conducted his affairs with so much negligence, like 
the careless and effeminate man he was, that, willing or 
not willing, he gave up the task to Milo, becoming, by the 
righteous judgment of God, from an earl, a simple man-at- 
arms, and from that, shortly, a penniless man^. 

These and other adherents of the king, compelled 

^ See before; p. 876. ^ See before^ p. Zi6, and tlie note iqppendedL 



A.D. 1140.] lUTTD PBOCLAIMED QUEEN. 881 

by misfortune, some also voluntarilj and without compul- 
sion, transferred their allegiance to the countess ; among 
these were Kobert de Oly, warden of Oxford under the 
king, and the Earl of Warwick, weak men, more addicted 
to pleasure than gifted with courage. The countess now, 
elated with pride, assumed an air of extreme haughtiness ; 
instead of the gentle and graceful manners becoming her 
sex, she carried herself arrogantly, her languc^e became 
imperious, and she took measures for being shortly de- 
clared queen of England, and honoured by the royal titte in 
the capital of her lord. She took counsel how she might 
attach to her cause Heniy, the bishop of Winchester, the 
king's brother, who ranked higher than all the nobles of 
England in wisdom, in policy, in coun^e, and in wealth. 
If he should be willing to espouse her cause, he should be 
first in honour and in council ; but if he should oppose her, 
and manifest any symptoms of rebellion, she would rally 
the whole power of England against him. The bishop was 
much perplexed : on the one hand, there was the greatest 
difficulty in supporting the king's cause and restoring it to 
its former pitch, chiefly because the royal castles were not 
stored with provisions nor sufficiently garrisoned; on the 
other hand, it was a serious affair, and indecent in the eyes 
of the world, while his brother was alive to desert h\m 
suddenly in his adversity. In his doubts an,d difficulties 
between these two courses, but inclining to the more tempt- 
ing policy, he determined to temporize, entering into a 
league of peace and amity with the enemy, by which he 
would secure himself and his adherents from molestation, 
and be in a situation quietly to observe the state of the 
kingdom and how affairs were tending, so that, if oppor- 
tunity offered, he might promptly and freely stand up for 
his brotlier. 

A treaty of peace and concord having been accordingly 
concluded, tJie coimtcss was received and conducted with 
great festivities into the city of Winchester, where the 
bishop placed at her disposed the king's castle, with the 
royal crown, which she had always ardently desired, and 
the treasure, small in amount, which the king had left; 
causing her to be proclaimed sovereign lady and queen 



9&S^ ACn. OF KIKG 8IEPHEM. [BOOK I. 

m the macket-pkce befcne the people ^ Having now arrived 
at tlie summit of her ambition^ ^ began to conduct her 
afturs imperiously and raahlj. Some ci those who were 
attached to the long, but had now agreed to submit tbeai' 
selves and all tbej had to her, were received with coldness* 
and at times with manifest displeasure ; others she drove 
from her, overwhelmed with reproaches and threats. Indis- 
ereetlj changing the order of things, she began to diminish 
or to d^nrive ^em of those koids and possessions which 
the king allowed them to hold; and to declare forfeited^ 
and bestow cd. others, the fiefis and honours, of the few 
nobles wiM> still adhered to the king's cause. Whatever 
the king had enacted bj rojal ordinances, she despotically 
revffl'sed by word of mouth ; and the grants which he had 
firmly and irrevocably made to churches and his followers 
in the wars, she at once revoked and bestowed on her own 
partisans. But she gave the most flagrant proof of her 
superciliousness and arrogance in her conduct to tJiie King 
<^ the Scots, the Bishop of Winchester, and her brother 
the Earl of Gloucester, tike most powerM men in England. 
When these, who were in constant attendance on her, 
having any petition to present, bent the knee as they came 
into the presence, so hi from desiring them to rise, when 
bowing before her, as would have been becoming, or grant- 
ing their requests, she repeatedly refused to hear them, 
and dismissed them, slighted, with some haughty replj. 
She did not rely on their counsels, as would have been 
fitting and she had promised, but ordered all affairs at her 
own wiU and mere motion. The Bishop of Winchester, per- 
ceiving that some things were done without his assent, and 
others without his being consulted, was much disgusted; 
but, cautiously dissembling what he felt, he watched in 
silence the turn of affairs. 
Having now obtained the submission of the greatest part 

1 On the 2nd of March. Malmesbuiy gives a full account of the negoti- 
ationB between the earl and the biihop wluch preceded the proelamatioa of 
the empress-queen ; as well as of the proceedings of a council held at Win- 
chester the week after the ensmng Easter, which lasted for seyeial days, and 
tanainated in a general acknowledgment of her claims. 



A.D. 1140.] THE EMPBE8S MAITD COMBS TO LONDON, S89 

of the kingdom ^, iakai bostagies amd recd^rod homage, and 
being, as I have jast said, elaled to the hi^eat pitch of 
arrogance, she came witli vast imlitary display to London, 
at the hmnble request ci the citizens^. They fancied that 
they had now aarrived at happy days, when peace and trsax- 
qnillity would prera^, and the kingdom's inifiTerings would 
be followed by a change for the better. She, however, sent 
for some of the more wealthy, and demanded of them, not 
with gentle courtesy but in an imperious tone, an immense 
sum of money. Upon this they made complaints that thdr 
former wealth had been diminished by the troubled state 
of the kingdom, that they had liberally ccoitributed to the 
relief of the indigent against the severe famine which was 
impending, and &at they had subsidiged the king to their 
last farthing ; they therefore humUy implored her clemency 
— ^that in pity for their losses and distress she would show 
some moderation in levying money from them, and that in 
imposing a new and vexatious tax she would at least allow 
a httle time to the exhausted citizens : when the disturb- 
ances arising out of the wars entirely ceased and tranquil- 
lity was restored, wealth would return, and they should 
be better able to supply her wants. When the citizens 
had addressed her in tiiis manner, she, without any of the 
gentleness of her sex, broke out into insufferable n^e> 
while she replied to them, with a stem eye and frowning 
brow, ^'that the Londoners had often paid large sums to 
the king ; that they had opened their purse-strings wide to 
strengthen him and weaken her ; that they had been long 
in confederacy with her enemies, for her injury ; and that 
they had no claim to be spared, and to have tiie smallest 
part of the fine remitted." On hearing this, the citizens 
departed to their homes, sorrowfrd and unsatisfied. 

In this juncture, the queen, who was a woman of cleaf 
understanding and masculine firmness, sent messengers to 

^ Hnntingdon eayi tliat the whole Bnglish natioii flnbmitted to her, ex- 
cept the men of Kent, who had with them Stephen's queen and her ad- 
herent William d'Yprea. 

' Malmesbury observes that it was a work of great difficulty to soothe the 
minds of the Londoners to receive the empress, for thoagh the afiair was 
settled at Winchester immcdiatelj after Easter, it was only a few days be- 
fore the nativity of St. John that they consented to do so. 



884 ACTS OF KINa 8TBPBBN. [BOOK I. 

the countess, earnestly imploring the release of her husband 
from a foul dungeon, and the restoration of her son*s in- 
heritance under his father's wilL But when neither she 
nor her envoys succeeded in their petition, but were an- 
swered with words of cruel and shameful abuse, the queen 
resolved on gaining by arms what she had failed to do by 
her prayers ; she ^erefore assembled a splendid body of 
troops, and, marching them to London \ stationed them 
over the river, with orders to harass the countess's sup- 
porters round the city with pillage and assault and fire and 
sword. The Londoners were thrown into great distress at 
seeing the country wasted before their eyes, and being 
driven to their houses, like hedgehogs, by ihese hostilities, 
with no one ready to resist them ; and also because their 
new mistress exceeded all bounds in her cruel treatment of 
them, and there was no reason to expect in time to come 
gentleness and bowels of mercy from one who in the first 
days of her reign was pitiless in extorting from them in- 
tolerable exactions. They therefore entered into consulta- 
tion on the fitness of forming a confederacy with the queen 
for the restoration of peace and obtaining tilie king's release 
from imprisonment ; since, they justly remarked, they had 
unwisely deserted his cause too soon, and subjected them- 
selves to the tyranny of new masters while he was yet 
living. 

Accordingly, when the countess, feeling secm*e that her 
will would be obeyed, required an answer to her demands, 
the whole city flew to arms at the ringing of the bells, 
which was the signal for war, and all wi2i one accord rose 
upon the coimtess and her adherents, as swarms of wasps 
issue from their hives. The countess was just sitting down 
to dinner, in unconscious security, when she heard the 
noise of the tumult, and, receiving private information that 
she was to be attacked, she sou^t safety for herself and 
her followers in instant flight. Putting their horses to a 
gallop, they had scarcely left behind them the houses of 
die suburbs, when a countless mob of the townsfolk burst 
into the quarters they had quitted, and pillaged everything 

^ This expedition of Stephen's queen, which is not mentioned by the 
other hiitorianS; agrees with what I haye quoted from Huntingdon in a for- 
mer note. 



▲.B. 1140.] THE EHPBE8S EXPELLED FBOH LONDON. 885 

which their unpremeditated departure had left in them. 
Several of the harons, impelled hy their fears, had fled with 
the countess, but they were not long the companions of 
her flight; for so great was the alarm occasioned by the 
sudden outburst of the insurrection, that, forgetting their 
mistress, and thinking only of their own escape, they took 
the first turnings of the road which presented opportunities 
for effecting it, and made for their own estates by various 
bye-ways, as if the Londoners were in close pursuit. Not 
only the Bishop of Winchester, who is said to have been 
privy to and at the bottom of this conspiracy, but some 
other bishops and belted knights, who had come to 
London with great pomp and pride for the coronation of 
their mistress, quickly sought shelter wherever they could 
find it. The countess herself, with her brother the Earl 
of Gloucester, and a few other barons whose course best 
lay in that direction, hastened to Oxford at their utmost 
speeds 

When they were in this manner frightened out of Lon- 
don, all those of the king's party who had been himibled 
and crushed by his captivity, inspired with new hopes, flew 
eagerly to arms amidst mutual congratulations, and rose 
upon ihe countess's adherents in all quarters. The queen, 
having been received by the Londoners, lud aside all 
female weakness and the softness of her sex, and bore her- 
self manfully and resolutely. She worked upon her sup- 
porters who had still held out, and the king's friends, 
wherever they were dispersed throt^out the country, both 
by her entreaties and offers, to join her in compassing the 
kings dehverance. Still more earnestly she supplicated 
the Bishop of Winchester^, the papal legate, that, pitying 
his brother s captivity, he should unite his endeavours with 
hers for the king's release, and thus restore her husband 
to her, the king to his people, a protector to the kingdom. 
The bishop was moved as well by the sorrowful intreaties 
of the woman constantly urged, as by the strong ties of 

' M almesbnry states in few words that the empress, haying notice of the 
plot, quietly withdrew her followers in good order ; but the graphic account 
of the whole affidr given by our author has every appearance of truth. 

* The empress and the bishop had a finendly conference at Quiidford. — 
MaUnetbury, 

c 



986 ACflB OF KINd 8TBFBSX. [30OX I. 

blood, to consider doeplj how he might best effect ins 
brother's release from imprisonment^, and reinstate him 
on the throne. But the Countess of Anjou, shrewdly sus- 
pecting the bishop's secret intentions, hastened to Wm- 
Chester with a body of disciplined troops, to endeav<mr to 
forestall his moyements ; and as ^e was entering one gate 
of the town with a numerous retinue, her arnTal bekig^ 
wholly unexpected, the bishop, moonttng a swifb horse, 
escaped at another gate^ and nuide ail haste to secure hisa- 
self in one of his own castles. Upon this ^ conntess^ 
summoning her partisans by proclamation throughomt £ii^> 
land, collected a vast army, and formed a close blockade of 
the bishop's castle, a stately edifice in the cenrtre of the 
town, and of his palace, which he had converted int» a 
strong fortress. 

I think fit to give here a short aeeount of those who, col> 
lecting their forces, joined the countess in this raege, im, 
order that the reader may reflect that it was not by man's 
strength, but by the marvellous power of iSbe Almighty, 
that so vast and so mighty a host was quickly subdued ami 
dispersed, made captive and annihilated, as will be shomi 
in what follows. There was David, king of the Scots, who, 
as I have before related, had been already twioe driveii 
from England in shamefal discomfiture, and was ncrw a 
third time, to his deep disgrace and with great peril to his 
followers, forced to flee, as were many others. There weie 
also Robert, eaii of Gloucester; Ranulf, earl of Chester*; 
Baldwin, earl of Exeter; Reginald, bastard son of King 
Hemy, and earl of Cornwall ; Milo of Gloucester, who was 
now made earl of Hereford, to the satisfaction of aU; 
Roger, earl of Warwick ; William de Mohun, who was rum 
made earl of Dorset; and also Botterel, earl of Britany^ 
The barons were nowise inferior to the earls in faithiufaiesB 
«ttd merit, in courage and gallantry. There were Brian, 
mentioned before ; John, sumamed the Marshall ; Roger 
de Oleo; Roger de Nunant; William Fits-Alan, with otheiB 

' Himthigdon relstei fliat tlie emprew wag m c Awp e mte J hf her ^xpal- 
'loon from London, that she ordered the king to he hoond in fettem 8ae 
Ifalmeshnry's acconnt of Stephen's treatment in note, p. 879. 

^ Hslmesbury doei liot mention this. 

' Malmetbiiry says he came too late to he of any service. 



A.D. 1140.] THE BIECB OP WHWHESTER. ^7 

whom it would be tedioafi to eonmerate All Hiese, having 
mustered their followers in great force, vied with each 
other in joint and inde&tigable efforts to reduce the bi- 
shop's castle. 

Meanwhile, the bish(^ had summoned the bai*ons of the 
king's party from every quarter of England, and had also 
taken into his pay, at great expense, a number of stipex^ 
diary soldiers, and with these he harassed those who lay 
outside the city by all the means in his power. The queen, 
also, with a gallant body of men-at-arms, and the stout 
array of the Londoners, a thousand in nxunber, well armed 
with helmets and breastplates, besieged from without the 
besiegers of the castle inside the city with great spirit ajod 
vigour. The king had also on his side certain great mea 
who were of his privy counsels and admitted to his familiar 
intimacy, but not being endowed with great domains, pos- 
sessed merely of castles. The most distingui^ed of these 
were Boger de Casnet, and William, his brother, men 
accustomed to war, and second to none in military skill 
and every kind of excellence. When the rest of the king's 
adherents flocked to Winchester to encounter his enemies, 
these brothers, also, with a well-equipped troop of covahy 
and ardiers, threatened the city in one quarter with a 
fermidable attack. The siege wi» therefore of aa extraor^ 
dinary character, such as was unheard of in our days. AM 
£ngland was there in arms, with a great conflux of £ch 
reigners; and their position against each other was sudi 
that the forces engaged in the siege of the bishop's castle 
were thems^ves besieged by the royal army, which clos^y 
hemmed them in from without, so that there were per- 
petually skirmishes, attended with great losses on both 
ffldes. Not to speak of the soldiers who in these daily 
conflicts were taken prisoners on the one part or the other, 
or who perished by ^^ous mischances and in various 
ways, the position of the troops led to serious losses ; for 
while the countess's party pressed the siege of the castle 
by every invention of skill and art, the garrison from within 
i^t lighted brands, with which they reduoed to aedies the 
greatest part of the city and two abbies^ On the other 

1 " An abbey vf inni» within tb« city [fit. Majiy'*], and tho aw ymtoj •! 
Hyde^ without the walls." — Malmeshwry, 

00 2 



888 ACTS OF KINO STEPHEN. [BOOK I. 

hand, the royal army cantoned without the city, carefully 
watched all approaches hy the cross-roads, to prevent sup- 
plies of provisions heing thrown into the town ; and thus 
severe famine was inflicted on thereat numbers now shut 
up within the walls. It was therefore decided in council 
by common consent to be desirable that a fort should be 
constructed at Wherwell, which is distant vi. miles from 
the city, as a station for 300 soldiers, &om whence they 
might straiten the king's troops, and facilitate the entrance 
of supplies into the city. But the royalists, alive to the 
danger they incurred by this manceuvre, made a sudden 
and unexpected attack on Wherwell in great force, and, 
assaulting the post on all sides, many of its defenders were 
taken or slain, and the rest were compelled to evacuate it, 
and seek for shelter in the church ^ There, using the 
church as a fortress, they defended themselves, until brands 
were thrown upon it an4 it was set on fire, and they were 
compelled, half-burnt, to come forth and surrender at dis- 
cretion. It was a horrid and lamentable spectacle : mailed 
soldiers trampled recklessly on the floor of the church, the 
seat of religion, the house of prayer ; in one quarter tibere 
was butchery, in another the prisoners were dragged along 
bound with thongs; here, the flames burst forth in the 
church, and consumed the roofs of -the monastery; there, 
the consecrated virgins, reluctantly compelled by the fire 
to issue from their inclosure, filled the air with shrieks and 
lamentations. 

When Bobert, earl of Gloucester, and the rest of his 
party, learnt the disastrous termination of thjis affair, they 
entirely despaired of success in prosecuting the siege, and 
consulted how best they might secure their own safety by 
retreat. For it seemed unwise and inexpedient to hold 
out any longer after the serious loss they had sustained ; 
when the bishop's troops had burnt the town, the citizens 
were wasting with ^eunine and want, and they themselves 
were threatened with the same calamity unless they made 
a speedy retreat OoUecting, therefore, their light baggage, 
they threw open the gates and marched out in a body, and 

^ '' The abbey of nuns at Wherwell was burnt by one William de Yprei, 
becavM aome of the partiwani of the empreit had tecnred themselvea within 
it:*— Maimmbmy. 



A.D. 1140.] THE ROUT OF wincheshsb. 389 

the troops being skilfully formed by diyisions in close order, 
the whole army commenced the retreat But they were 
met by the king's troops, who poured in upon them from 
all sides in countless numbers with so much impetuosity 
that they were routed and dispersed, and the Earl of Glou- 
cester, who commanded the rear-guard, was cut off from 
the rest, and taken prisoner with all his followers*. The 
royal army spread itself over all the neighbouring coimtry 
in pursuit of the vulgar crowd of fugitives, and not only 
captured the soldiers wherever they could be met with, but 
obtained an immense booty in valuables, which had been 
cast away, and lay scattered about. * Coursers of high 
mettle, which had thrown their riders, were to be seen 
galloping about ; others, exhausted with fatigue, were 
drawing their last breath. Shields and coats of mail, with 
all sorts of weapons and armour, strewed the ground ; rich 
robes, precious vessels, and valuable ornaments, lying in 
heaps, were everywhere ready to the hand of the first comer. 
Need I speak of the knights and even the greatest barons, 
who, throwing off all the distinguishing marks of their 
rank, ffed on foot, disguising even their names in shame and 
fear? Some fell into the hands of the country people, 
and underwent the severest torments; others, concealing 
themselves in loathsoYne caves, half-starved and full of 
alarm, either lay there until an opportunity of escape pre- 
sented itself, or, being discovered by the enemy, they were 
dragged out without shame or decency. Need I speak of 
the King of the Scots, who, a third time captive, as they 
say, but always ransomed, was set at liberty, and returned 
to his own coimtry sorrowful and worn mth fatigue, with a 
few only of his followers ? What shall I say of the Arch- 
bishop of Oauterbury, with other bishops and eminent men 
from all England, who, separated from their attendants, 
their horses and clothes carried off, or barbarously torn 
from them, were scarce able to creep to some safe hiding- 
place after the fearful rout ? The Countess of Anjou her- 
self, always superior to womanly weakness, and with a 

* According to Mafanesbnry, the earl, who coyered the rear of the retreat- 
ing army, disdained to ilj, and, being thus the chief object of attack, waa 
made captive. Malmetbury's account of the siege and rout is by no means 
80 drciunstantial at our aathor'i ; and Hnntingdou's is very impeirfect. 



^0 ajcts or xiNa stbkixn, [book i. 

beurt of iron in times of adversily, made her esct^ before 
titem all to Devizes, attended only by Brian ^ and a smaU 
ntinue. She and Brian gained the honour that, as their 
attaclunent was previously mutual and undivided, so tbey 
w«re not separated in danger and adversity. 

While such were the events and circumstances attending, 
in various quarters, the dispersion and flight of the coun- 
tess's army, the Londoners, with the greatest part of the 
royal tixMps, sacked Winchester in a fearful manner, break- 
ing into houses and stores, and even some of the churches ; 
and having obtained much booty and many valuables, 
they departed with it, and Avith a number of captives, in 
great triiunph, to their own homes. Such, then, was 
the rout of Winchester^ ; so fearful and marvellous that 
aoaircely any age has handed down any similar account to 
o«r times. 

The Earl of Gloucester being now a prisoner, after a 
short interval a convention was agreed to between the 
adherents of both parties fac an exchange of the king for 
the earl, the one for the other, the affairs of the civil war 
returning to their former state ; a cruel and unwise conclu- 
sion, pregnant with evil for every part of the land. But at 
present there was no possibility of a mutual concurrence 
between the parties on terms of peace and amity, each be- 
traying much arrogance in negotiating the treaty, although 
the eonvention for the exchange was cheerfully ratified on 
both sides ^. On the king's release he vms met by a splendid 

1 ProbnUy Brian Fits-Count, lord of the strong castle of WalGngford ; 
see before, p. 367. Does our author, who seems to have known everything; 
delicately intimate what may have been a bit of court scandal in his time! 
Mnnd could not now havte been more than 40 years old, and if Brian- 
nts^unt or Fite-oazj, was the sen of JBorl Allan Fei^saii, the attach- 
meat may have been of an early date, for this Brian was selected from all 
the nobles of flngland to accompany the empress and her half-brother Robert, 
earl of Gloucester, on her marriage with GeoflTey, count of Anjou, in 112T. 
— See the Saxon ChronicU under that year. 

* It commenced on Holy Cross day, 14th October. 
'' Malmesbuiy gives a v«ry inieresting accouDt of the negotiations for this 
exchange, in which the earl displayed his usual prudence, firmness, and 
disinterestedness. The whole character of this great man, as given by this 
author, who seems to have been jiistly attached to him, is worthy of the at- 
tention of the student of our national history. See particiilar^ p^ 1^4*31 
•f the " Modem History," in Behn's Antiquarian lihcary. 



.A.IL 1140.] ffnSFHlSN ZJBEBATED. .iSdi 

<;ompan7 of the barons and others, who accompanied him 
in procession, piety mingling with their rejoicings and 
heightening their festivity; some shedding tears of religions 
thankfulness at the wonderful mercy of God so powerfully 
«xarted on the long's behalf, while others burst into cries of 
jubilee aaad exultation at his safe deliyezy^. 

^ The king^s liberation was effected about tbe Feast of All Saints, 1st 
^Koyember ; and then ended Maud's shoit reign of eight months, reckoning 
froifi the 2nd March of the same year, when she was prochiimed at Winches- 
•Uti- But «a, ailthevLgli she bore the tide of Qneen, she was not crowned, and 
fitopheD^tboii^ a priaoner, never abdicated, Maad is net ineiadadin the list 
«f tk» hiBgaand queeu of Sng^aod. 



• 89d ACTS OF KINO 8TBPHBN. [BOOK H. 



BOOK n'. 

When the king was at length released £rom captiTitjr, it 
mi^t have been supposed that the troubles which afflicted 
the kingdom would have been now ended, and that both 
parties, moved by their regrets for such calamities, would 
have united in measures for the restoration of peace. But 
the hand of the Lord was still heavy on the English nation, 
and because they had offended Him in many ways they were 
scourged, as it is written, with many stripes. The Countess 
of Anjou, always betraying a fierce and inflexible temper, 
though she had been much shaken and almost worn to 
death by the retreat from Winchester, no sooner found 
herself in safely and recovered her strength, than, with a 
strong body of troops, she moved to O^oid, which was 
well affected to her cause. Encouraging and supporting 
her Mends in opposition to the king, she sent out several 
troops of horse to scour the coimtry, she stirred up those 
who owed her fealty, both by her letters and messengers* 
to furnish all possible aid, and she strengthened the castles 
by all the means in her power, some to control the royalists 
with more effect, others more thoroughly to protect her own 
dependents. One of these, at Woodstock, was the favourite 
seat of privacy and retirement of King Heniy ; another 
was at the viU of Radcot*? surrounded by marshes, and 
inaccessible on account of the waters; a third was at Ciren- 
cester close to the abbey of monks, like another Dagon 
near the ark of the Lord; a fourth was in the village of 
Benton^ in the chimih tower, an ancient structure of admi- 

* Our author begini this Second Book with the eyenti of the year 1141. 
The old printed text of Mahnesbnry, who here commences his Third Book, 
calls it 1142, following leTeial of the MSS., but the date has been corrected 
in our English translation of that author from a MS. which gives the right 
one, which is 1141. 

' '' Batrotam,'' probably a corruption. I have inquired in vain for any 
place bearing a similar name in the neighbourhood, and have suggested 
Radcot, because there is a bridge so called, once probably a ford over the 
Thames, five miles from Bampton, on the road to Farringdon and Cirencester. 

' Query, Bampton in Oxfordshire, where such a tower is still standing. 
The church tower may have been fortified, in order to fitake a strong post of 
Bampton, the castle there not haying been built till the reign of King John. 



A.D. 1141.] SIEGE OF OXFORD. 303 

rable design, and of massive and most skilful architecture ; 
with some others which in various parts of England she 
permitted her adherents to fortify. In these were planted 
the seeds of the grievous oppression of the people, of the 
universal devastation of the kingdom, and of the wars and 
insurrections which sprung up on all sides ^. 

King Stephen hecoming aware of this, and, as it were, 
roused from sleep and waking to life and new activity, sum- 
moned his adherents, with whom were joined a strong band 
of his standing army, and came suddenly to Cirencester. 
Finding the castle deserted, for the guards had dispersed 
and concealed themselves, he set it on fire, and razing the 
wall and outworks to the ground, continued his march 
to Benton, taking the one by storm, the other by volun- 
tary surrender. Like Csesar, he "thought nothing done 
while aught was left undone," and he therefore proceeded 
from thence to Oxford boldly to tiy issues with the Countess 
of Anjou. Oxford is a place strongly fortified, and almost 
inaccessible from the deep waters which flow round it ; on 
one side it is narrowly guarded by a wall and ditch, on the 
other by an impregnable castle with a lofty keep of great 
strength and stateliness. 

' Here the countess had established herself with a gallant 
body of men-at-arms in false security, relying on her pos- 
sessing the castle and all the neighbouring coimtiy, and on 
the strength of the position which adds to an enemy's glory, 
when the king with a numerous body of veteran soldiers 
suddenly took his ground on the opposite side of the river. 
Seeing the enemy running in crowds from the city to ob- 
serve him, some assailing him and his people with abuse 
across the river, and others, shaking their arrows out of their 
quivers, sharply annoying them over the water, he crossed 

' Malmetbnry itates that both parties remained quiet from Christmas 
till Lent ; and King Stephen was afflicted with a dangerous disease from 
Easter until nearly Whitsuntide. Soon after the festival of St John, the 
Earl of Gloucester crossed over the sea to solicit assistance from the Count 
of Anjou, and the king, taking advantage of his absence, and before his 
expedition to Oxford, seized Wareham, Earl Eobert's castle, and port of 
embarkation. Malmesbury briefly notices the siege of that city, his history 
concluding abruptly with % short account of the empress's escape from the 
castle. Huntingdon treats very summarily of the events of this and the two 
following years. 



d94 ACTS er sDia btefbon. [book re 

ilM mcr^aji anciant and veiy deep ford which was pointed 
out to him. He boldly plunged into the stream hixnself at 
the head q£ his troops, and, swimming rather than wading 
Across, they chained the enemy with impetuosity, driving 
Ihem back to the city gates afiber a sharp engagement Thue 
rest of his troops had now crossed the liver, and, being 
formed in one column, the whole advanced against the 
enemy, who, flying throo^ the open gates into the city, and 
the royalists being mingled with them, found themselves 
within the walls without opposition, and, throwing firebrands 
among the houses, obtained a signal success. None escaped 
suffering the consequences of this severe disaster; those 
who resisted eaJ&ier fell by the sword or were fettered and 
reserved for ransom ; somo had s^ain to hide themselves 
in the coverts which had lately sheltered them ' ; and others, 
with their lady, in all haste shut themselves up in the castle. 
After this success, the king pressed the siege of the 
•como^tess and her followers in the castla with the utmost 
vigour; perceiving clearly that the civil wars would be 
brought to a dose, if he were able to subdue her with whom 
they originated. He therefore posted vigilant guards from 
place to place round the castle, wKh orders to keep a 
strict watch on all the avenues by day and by night Tiu:ee 
months he was detained before it with a large force, and 
the garrison were reduced to great extremities by ikmine^ 
But blind man is unconscious of what the providence of 
€rod determines ; for the design which the long was bent oa 
manfully aocompliriiing; the Almighty frustrated. It was 
the king*s purpose to press the siege until the countess 
became his prisoner ; but notwithstending the host of the 
besiegers, and the s^itries carefully posted round the castle, 
and watdbang in the dead of the ni^t, she escaped out of 
it uniojured in an extraordinary way. For provisions and 
ihe means of subsistence beginoing to fail in the garrison, 
and the king exhausting every effort to reduce it by violent 
assaulte and by his military engines, she became much 
straightened, and despairing of any relief coming from 
without '^ she issued forth one night, attended only by three 

' After th« root of WincKester. 
■ ' The Bari <if GiMcester, her brother, and naia fupp«rt» wa« naw, it w3X 
he recollected, absent in Anjou. 



A.D. 1141.] THE KMFBIBBS KAUD ESGAPXS. 995 

IdiigbtB dioseii for tbeir w&vj puidence. T&e gtoniid was 
irhite with snow, which lay deep over the whole country, the 
mers were frozen hard, and for six miles she and her com^ 
pinions had to make their toilsome way, on foot, over ^niow 
sai, ice. What was very remarkable, and indeed truly 
Buraculous, she crossed dry-shod, and without wetting her 
garments, ijie veiy waters into which the king azui his troops 
hftd plunged up to the neck on their advance to attack the 
<nty^; she passed too throu^ the royal pdsts, while the 
Silence of night was broken all around, by the clang of 
trompets and the cries of the guard, without losing a single 
man of her escort, and observed^ only by one man of the 
king's troops who had been wrought with to favour her 
escape. Having thus got out of ^e castle undiscovered 
sod unmolested, she reached Wallingford in the course of 
t3ke night, after a very toilsome journey. I know not 
whether it was for her future elevation to the hi^iest 
honour, or whether, by the judgment of God, to aggravate 
the distress of .the kmgdom, but certainly I have never 
heard of any woman having such marveUous escapes from 
so many enemies threatening her life, and from such ex* 
eeeding pexils. We kamt, £rst, that she was allowed to 
depart unmolested from Arundel Castie throu^ the enemy's 
army: thea she fled in safety from London, where tiie 
pc^ulace rose wi^ fiiry i^rainst her : next, after the rout 
St Winchester, idien almost all her adherents were inter- 
cepted^ she only made good her retreat ; and now we have 
seen how she escaped in safety from the beleaguered casde 
at Oxford'. 

1 Huntingdon mentions ber croasing the Tluunea^at that time frocen oror. 
We gather from Malmesbnry that the empress escaped shortly before Christ- 
nn, in the season of AdTent. Aceordmg to him, Oxford was mrested three 
days before Michaelmas, and our author says that Stephen was detained be- 
lofe it three months. 

' AccordiBg to Boger de Wendorer, the empreis was dressed in white, 
Ike better to dnde obsenFBtxen when paesing over the snowy sarfiice. 

' Xalmesbnry states that the countess "went to Abingdon on foot, and 
liieBee to Walling&rd on boieebaek. Bat this," he says, in concladki^ hk 
toy brief aooeunt of her escape, ** I purpose describing mere fully, i^ l^ 
€bd'» permission, I shall ever leam the truth of it from those present." Our 
anon3rmous author of the '' Acts of King Stephen " has well supplied n^al 
his careful eontemporary did not acoemplish, Hidmesbury's History end- 
ing with the words just quoted. 



800 ACTS OF KIK6 STRPHEN. [BOOK II 

When the king found that the great distarher of his 
Qvm and the kingdom's peace, notwithstanding his having 
exhausted eyery effort to secure her person, had been 
cunning enough to escape from her imminent peril, be 
thought it would be with a bad omen and waste of time 
that he should prolong the siege. With so many enemies 
pressing him on all sides, he might be exposed to some 
disastrous reverse of fortune ; and, in particular, he was 
aware that Bobert, earl of Gloucester, as soon as he heard 
that his sister was blockaded, though he was not in suf- 
ficient strength to come to her relief, had besieged and 
taken Wareham Castle, into which a body of royalists had 
thrown themselves, and that he was fully determined to 
push his advantages against him with spirit and obstinacy^ 
Listening, therefore, to the advice of his friends, he ac- 
cepted the terms of surrender proposed by the countess* 
troops in Oxford GasUe, and placing in it a gairison of his 
own, established his power over a great extent of countiy 
in those parts. Shortly afterwards, putting himself at the 
head of a well-appointed body of troops, he marched to 
Wareham S which castle the Earl of Gloucester had much 
strengthened ; and finding the place so strongly fortified, 
wasting all the country through which he passed with fire 
and sword, and pillaging whatever came in his way, he pro- 
ceeded to Wilton for the purpose of making that castle 
strong enough to check the earl's incursions through those 
districts. He had with him the Bishop of Winchester, 
with a strong body of military, to support his enterprise ; 
and the barons who had been summoned from all parts of 
England either joined the king on his march, or were close 
at hand hastening to support him mth their contingents. 
The Earl of Gloucester' bemg informed of this by trusty 

' Halmesbury relates, that the earl baviog returned to England on receiT- 
ing tidings of his sister's being beleaguered in Oxford Castle, and, landing at 
Wareham, laid siege to that castle in the hope of inducing Stephen to drav 
off from Oxford, but that the king was so intent on pressing the countess to 
surrender, that he refused to march to the assistance of the garrison in 
Wareham Castle. Malmesbury indeed [see a former note, p. S9S] mentions 
an expedition of Stephen to Wareham, but before, not after, he inTsited 
Oxford. 

' In the mean time the earl had reduced Portland Island and Lnlwortb 
Castle. — Ma Imetbury, 



A.D. 1141.] THE EABL DEFEATS STEPHEN AT WILTOI^. 897 

messengers, gave notice to all his principal adherents, and 
prepared to give hattle to the king at Wilton. The lining 
drew up his army in order of batfie by regular divisions 
close to the city, while the earl skilfully formed his troops 
in three divisions, and makiag the attack with spirit forced 
the king to retreat ; and imless he had fled precipitately in 
company with the Bishop of Winchester, he would have 
been subjected to the disgrace of being again captured. 

However, William,, sumamed Martel, a distinguished 
man who was closely connected with the king by duty and 
regard^, made a. stout resistance for some time with the 
troops under him ; but the main body of the royal army 
having dispersed and fled along with tiie king, the enemy, 
victorious, surrounded him in such nimibers, that at length 
he and many others were taken prisoners. Then the earl 
following up his success, hotly pursued the routed royalists, 
who endeavoured to conceal themselves in the houses and 
churches* of the town^ ; but, setting the place on fire, he 
filled it with tears and blood, spaiing neither the citizens 
nor the remnant of the royal troops, but pillaging and 
killing, insulting and burning in every quarter. What caused 
most lamentations was their forcing the convent of nuns de- 
dicated to the Mother of God and St Ethelreda the virgin, 
by violently bursting the gates open, and, without regard to 
the sanctity of the place, binding with thongs some persons 
who had taken refuge in it, and dragging them forth. And 
though in dealing with adversaries, it may be allowable to 
use them harshly, and with what measure they mete to 
measure to them again, yet the Earl of Gloucester and his 
partizans were veiy culpable and guilty of great pre- 
sumption in not only violating the holy temple, the known 
refuge of the oppressed in all ages, but also in dragging 
from the altar with naked swords, and leading into capti- 
vity, those who fled for safety to the church. But they did 
not go unpunished ; for Gqd, who has respect to the suf- 
ferings of his people unjustly inflicted,* and recompenses 
the wicked according to their deserts, did not sufler them to 
escape without severe punishment, as a son of Eobert the 

1 Huntingdon calls him the king's steward, and says that he gaye the 
castle of Sherborne for his ransom, when he was taken prisoner in this 
battle. « Wilton. 



MS ACTS OF KING 8TBPBBN. [BOOK H. 

esrl of Gloucester, who was the gloiy and ornament of his fa- 
mily, soon after prematurely died. Milo, the earl of Here- 
fcnrd, also, who fomented and instigated so maay disturhanees, 
was slain hy an arrow the same year ; likewise William,. 
at that time mayor ^ of Salisbury, was scared in his sleep by 
frightful dreams, the Virgin herself, they say, appearing to 
him ; and was seized with an incurable disease of which be 
perished by slow tortures. Robert Fitz-Hildebrand, also, a 
man of low origin, but an eminent mischief-maker, came to 
his end by a virulent disorder, unknown in our days, as I 
shiill hereafter fiilly relate. Some others, also, experienced 
the visitations of the divine wrath for their shore in the im- 
pious sacrilege already mentioned, of whom I would be 
at the pains to give further particulars in the present woirk, 
if it would not be tiresome to the reado*, and lead me to 
wander far from my subject 

Eobert, earl of Gloucester, after his victory at Wilton, 
returned to Bristol with splendid trophies, taking with bim 
William Martel, as well as many other priscmeis. He was 
kept in close confinement until he was ransomed, when be 
lost the lordship of Sherborne Oasile, and a great tract of 
country which was attached to it All the king^s frierads 
were at this time reduced to great bumiliatbn, l)oth on ac- 
count of the king s having ignominiously fled at the battJe 
of Wilton, leaving his adherents to be made prisoners, and 
because the Earl of Gloucester had got possession a£ tbe 
castle before named ^, which was the key of the kingdom. 
The earl and his coadjutors were in high spirits, reduciag 
the countiy far and near to subjection, utterly destroying 
the royal castles, and proudly strengthening their own to 
overawe the enemy; so that one-half of all England, from 
sea to sea, obeyed their ordinances and precepts without ai^ 
one daring to resist them. They embellished their possea> 
sions in s^ quarters, restoring peace and tranquilliiy, ^:- 
cept that the labours of the people were exacted for building 
castles, and that whenever they had to engage the enemy, 
all the people were compelled to lend their aid, either by 
furnishing soldiers, or by payments in lieu of enrolment 

^ " Fneceptor ;" a word which k eTidentlf used to detigmte the chief of 
the miinicipality, whateier his English title of office at that time may have 
been. « Sherborne Castle. 



A.D. 1141.] MAUDES PABT7 AGAIN IN THE ASCENDANT. 8^99 

England, therefore, was under the shadow, but did noit 
possess the substanee, of peace; for nothing was moare 
grievous to fellow-countrymen than the feeling that ihey 
were not toiling for themselFes, but for othera, and diat 
their swords were drawn to keep alive civil wars. 

While all others in his part of the country gave their ad- 
hesion to the earl, Henry de Tracy alone ^ maintained the 
king's cause, and, firmly opposing the rest, w£^ed on in- 
testine war, and was continually engaged in conflicts with 
the enemy, either together or separately, until he had 
almost crushed them by the inveteracy of his sharp attacks. 
Then be made a truce with th^n, until such time as the 
king should be more powerful in that quarter, ai»l tkke 
eountiy should become better subjected to him by the 
hostile tumults being checked. 

About this time William d^ Pont de TArche, a most faith- 
ftil servant, as it is said, to King Henry ^ and his children, 
had a desperate quarrel with the Bishop of Winchester. The 
bishop having resolutely opposed him with a strong militaij 
force, and withstood all his efforts, not only by arms but by 
his great address, he addressed a letter to his liege ladj,. 
the Countess of Anjou, entreating her to send to lus assist 
ance a troop of horse, with a commander well versed in 
military tactics at their head. The countess and her Mends- 
were well pleased with this application, because they believed 
it would open the way both to lessen the bishop's power, 
and to strengthen their own position, William being not 
only faithfully devoted to the cause he espoused, but also 
possessed of large sums of ready money. They therefore 
dispatched Bobert FitzHildobitrnd, a soldier of experience, 
though of low extraction ; but his military virtues were 
stained by lust and drunkenness. On his arrival at the 
hestd of a brilliant troop, he was graciously entertained by 
William, who confidentially entrusted him with all his- 
secrets. Having thus obtained the hberty of access to the 
castle whenever he pleased, he ahused it to debauch 
William's wife; and, by a horrible knd abomnmble plot 
concerted between them, William was bound in fetters and 

' Henry de Tracy was active before in the west of England ; see p. 868.. 
^ He hnd been keeper of the treaaury of Henry I. at Winchester ; see 
before, p. 826. 



400 AOTs OF ung Stephen. [boos u. 

thrown into a dungeon. Having thus obtained possession 
of his castle, his treasures, and his wife, Robert spumed the 
alliaiice of the countess, to whom he owed his honourable 
mission, and entered into league with the king and bishop. 
But as I have before remarked, the infamy and audacity of 
this base seducer did not remain unpunished; for, after 
forming this adulterous connection, the just God avenging 
his perfidy, a worm grew in his vitals, which, gradually 
gnawing its way through his intestines, fattened on the 
abandoned man, till, tortured with excruciating sufferings 
and venting himself in bitter moans, he was by a fitting 
punishment brought to his end. This was ordered by the 
judgment of God, not only on account of his faithless and 
wicked life, but because he had violated the monastery of 
the holy virgin St. Ethelreda^ 

At this period England was in a veiy disturbed state ; 
on the one hand, the king and those who took his part 
grievously oppressed the people, on the other frequent tur- 
moils were raised by the Earl of Gloucester ; and, what with 
the tyranny of the one, and the turbulence of the other, 
there was universal turmoil and desolation. Some, for 
whom their country had lost its charms, chose rather to 
make their abode in foreign lands; others drew to the 
churches for protection, and constructing mean hovels in 
their precincts, passed their days in fear and trouble. 
Food being scarce, for there was a dreadful famine through- 
out England, some of the people disgustingly devoured Sie 
flesh of dogs and horses ; others appeased their insatiable 
hunger wiSi the garbage of uncooked herbs and roots; 
many, in all parts, sunk under the severity of the famine 
and died in heaps ; others with their whole families went 
sorrowfully into voluntaiy banishment and disappeared. 
There were seen famous cities deserted and depopidated by 
the death of the inhabitants of every age and sex, and 
fields white for the harvest, for it was near the season of 
autumn, but none to gather it, all having been struck down 
by the famine. Thus &e whole aspect of England presented 
a scene of calamity and sorrow, misery and oppression. It 
tended to increase the evil, that a crowd of fierce strangers 

* At the siege of Wilton ; see before, p. 398. 



Jk.D. 1141.] MISERABLE STAXB OF THE XINGDOM. 401 

• 

who had flocked to England in bands to take service in the 
wars, and who were devoid of all bowels of mercy and feel- 
ings of humanity, were scattered among the people thus 
suffering. In aU the castles their sole busmess was to 
contrive the most flagitious outrages ; and the employment 
on which all the powers of their malicious minds were 
bent» was to watch eveiy -opportimity of plundering the 
weak, to foment troubles, and cause bloodshed in every 
direction. And as the barons who had assembled them 
from the remotest districts were neither able to discharge 
their pay out of their own revenues, nor to satisfy their in- 
satiable thirst for plunder, and remunerate them by pilli^e 
as they had. before done, because there was nothing Idft 
anywhere whole and undamaged, they had recourse to the 
possessions of the monasteries, or the neighbouring muni- 
cipalities, or any others which they could send forth troops 
enough to infest At one time they loaded their victims 
with false accusations and virulent abuse ; at another they 
ground them down with vexatious claims and extortions ; 
some they stripped of their property, either by open rob- 
bery or secret contrivance, and others they reduced to 
complete subjection in the most shameless manner. If 
any one of the reverend monks, or of the secular clei*gy, 
came to complain of the exactions laid on church property, 
he waj9 met with abuse, and abruptly silenced with out- 
rageous threats; the servants who attended him on his 
journey were often severely scourged before his fiuse, and he 
himsebf, whatever his rank and onier might be, was shame- 
fully stripped of his effects, and even his garments, and 
driven away, or left helpless, from the severe beating to 
which he was subjected. These unhappy spectacles, these 
lamentable tragedies, as they were common throughout 
England, could not escape the observation of the bishops. 
But they, bowed down by base fears, like reeds before tiie 
wind, their salt having lost its savour, did not rear them- 
selves like a tower of strength for the protection of the 
House of Israel. They ought, indeed, to have opposed these 
carnal men with the sword of the Spirit, which destroys the 
flesh ; and to have resolutely set their face like Jeremiah, 
or like the radiant brow of Moses, against the sons of Belial, 
who plundered the church, and, tearing in pieces the gar* 

I)D 



409 AOTS Of mm fiaa&HBx. [book u. 

laient of Hia Lofd, kft it rent and torn aad scKttered ^^vei^^ 
iriiere. The bisbops are figured by the columns on ^vkaeh. 
the houee of God was buik, hj i^e lions vJuch supported 
the laver of Solom<A, by the pillars on wbidi stood the 
table of shew-bread ; inasmueh as it is their duty to be xiot 
eoly the support and bulwuk, but the strong defence, i^^inst 
aU enemies of the chnrdbi; *whidi is tnily the bouse of 
God, which is represented in the laver, because these all 
the guilt of sixers is washed away, and is figured by the 
fal^e, because on that the bread of etenud life is offered. For 
from tids, when robbers laid violent hands on the posses* 
sions of the church, as I hav« oflen related, the bishops, sozne, 
yielding to their feais, either acquiesced or pronoixnced with 
mildness and hesitation the sentence of excomTnupicfttion, 
qoiddy withdrawn; otiiers, not indeed acting as became 
bishops, -nctaalled their castles and fiUed them with men* 
atarms and ardicnrs, imder pretence of restraining the ma- 
landers and robbers of churches, while they proved them- 
sehes more inhuman, more merciless, than those sons of 
Tiolence in oppressing their neighbours and pillaging their 
property. The bishops themselves, shameful to say, not all 
indeed, but several of them, assumed arms, and, girt with 
the sword and sheathed in bright armour, rode on metde* 
some T^-horses beside the ravi^ers of the country, received 
their share of the booty, and subjected to imprisonment 
ttud torture soldiers who fell into their hands by chance of 
war, and men of wealth wherever they met with them ; and 
while they were at the bottom of all this flagitious wicked* 
ness, they ascribed it not to themselves, but to their soldiers 
only. To be silent for the present, respecting others, for it 
would be wrong to accuse all alike, common report stigma- 
tized the Bishops of Winchester, Lincoln, and Chester, as 
more forward than others in these unchristian doiugs. 

Though the strictness of ecclesiastical disciplme, yielding 
to the iniquity that generally prevailed, was thus loosened, 
Robert, bishop of Hereford, a man of deep piety and de- 
termined resolution, did not depart from the laws of re- 
gion and the path of justice ; but, taking the arms wxth 
which the apostle carefully invests ^e Christian, he inter- 
posed the shi^d of his defence against the distui*bets of 
the general peace. For when the fiarl of Hei^oid, being 



A.D. li4'2.] ECCLlSSIASKICe FOBCIBI.Y HHXUD. 408 

in much want of monej to pay l&e troope vthkh he bad 
levied against die king, foroed the eisuiches in his lorddiif 
io submit to new esaief^oae, and reqoliied the Bishop oi 
Hereford to pay liie tax tyrajmieaUy imposed, claiming 
it as his right, and enfbseing it bj ^iupeots; being thus 
l&eqnendy pressed, ihe bisbx»p delibersfcdy and positiveiy 
refused to pay the demand, aes^img that ecclesiastical 
-property, assigned to the al4ar by Ihe pious offerings 
of devout people, belonged, in p^etnai Irsmkahnoin, i» 
the service of God asEtd the efanreh, and thai; no layman 
could intei^ere with them, any smmps ^iiaoL he oould in the 
fraered rites ; so dmt by luring hands on ^bem. he inaarred 
the guih of saerilege, as much as af he had violated die 
ailtar itself. Wherefore, he lequired ihe eari to withdraar 
hfs presnmptuons demand, and to restnun his people, or he 
4J)reatteDed him and th^n widi immediate exconununicatuui. 
This resoluiaion of dae bishop in&uxied Milo to the 
ihtghest pitch of rage, and he sent his iblIow«rs to seiae the 
liisftiop's goods and lands, and lay them waste wherever they 
were. Upon which the bis^p, assembling his cLergy, who 
wSlingly odiended his snammons, prosaounced the terrible 
flenteusce ef eacommunication against MMo and his adhe> 
reots. He farther layed an interdict on the whole countiy 
which was sat^jact to Milo, by the rigour of whidh it was 
prohibited tkaft any of the eaeved ol&oes of the church 
«li^uki be performed, and no corpse was to be buried in d!ie 
'earth, or eonnxritted to the virators, or consumed by fire, or 
Tsasoved fretn the place where it expiated, until the author 
of the sacrilege restored ail diat he had seized, to the last 
ftrthing as vfdued by sworn men, and, doing penance, was 
veconeiled to the church. But as after he had promised to 
make restitution, the jury had to take an aacotoot, so thait 
while «ati^M;tion was made to one churdi, others were 
injured by delay, and their ministers were involved in 
pleadings between thems^ves and the bifihop, he perished 
miserably within the year, without Teeeivii:^ absidution!; 
having l^fsen pierced throuj^ die bxeast with an arrow shot 
by a soldier at a stag, whUe the earl was hunting deer on 
Christmas eve. His death struck the covetous with some 
alarm, and leerbraJned them from laying hands so freely on 

DD 2 



404 ACTS OF KINO SIEPHEK. [BOOK II. 

church property ; and it made the other bishops bolder in 
afterwanls resisting such sacrilegious attempts. Boger, 
Mile's son, succeeded him in the earldom of Hereford, and, 
young as he was, displaced great abilities. 

There was, at this time, among the king's adherents, one 
Geoffirey de Mandeville, a man remarkable for his great 
prudence, his inflexible spirit in adversity, and his military 
skill. His wealth and his honours raised him above all the 
nobles of the realm ; for he held the Tower of London, 
and had built castles of great strength round the city, and 
in every part of the kmgdom which submitted to the king ; 
being everywhere the king's representative, so that in public 
afffurs he was more attended to than the king himself, and 
the royal commands were less obeyed than his own. This 
occasioned jealousy, particularly among those who were 
familiarly and intimately connected with the king, as 
Geofirey, it appeared, had managed to usurp all the rights 
of the kmg : and, moreover, report said that he was inclined 
to confer the crown on the Countess of Anjou. They, 
therefore, secretly persuaded the king to arrest Geoffi'ey on 
the charge of treason, and to obtain the forfeiture of his 
castles, for his own. security and his kingdom's peace. The 
king hesitated for some time, being unwilling to involve 
the royal majesty in the disgrace of false accusations, when 
a sudden strife arose between GeofiErey and the barons, in 
which abuse and menaces were exchanged between the 
parties. The king interfered to settle the dispute, but 
while he was endeavouring to do so, some persons came 
forward and accused Geoffirey boldly of a conspiracy against 
the king and his party. Instead of taking the least pains 
to clear himself of the charge, he treated it with ridicule, as 
an infamous falsehood ; whereupon the king and the barons 
present arrested him and his followers. This happened 
atStAlban's. 

ITie king brought Geoflfrey to London in close custody, 
and threatened to hang him if he did not give up the 
Tower of London, and the castles he had erected with 
wonderful skill and labour^. By the advice of his friends, 

1 Huntingdon mentions the castles of Walden and Flessis, in Essex. 



A.T>. 1142.] THE TOWEB OP I^ONDON GIVEN UP TO STEPHEN. 405 

to escape an ignominious death, he submitted to the king's 
will, and agreed to the surrender ; and being thus set at 
liberty, he escaped out of the hands of his enemies, to the 
great injury of the whole kingdom. For, being turbulent 
and fierce, by the exercise of his power he gave strength 
to rebellion through all England; as the king's enemies, 
hearing that he was in arms against the royal cause, and 
relying on the support of so great an earl, began, with new 
spirit, to raise insurrections in every quarter; and even 
those who appeared to be the king's supporters, as if they 
had been struck by a thunderbolt, were more and more 
humiliated by his secession from the king's party. 

Geoffrey now assembled all his dependents, who were 
bound to him by fealty and homage, in one body, and he 
also levied a formidable host of mercenary soldiers and of 
freebooters, who flocked to him gladly from all quarters. 
With this force he devastated the whole country by fire 
and sword; driving off flocks and herds with insatiable 
cupidity, sparing neither age nor profession, and, freely 
slaking his thirst for vengeance, the most exquisite cruel- 
ties he could invent were instantly executed on his ene- 
mies. The town of Cambridge, belonging to the king, was 
taken by surprise, when the citizens were off their guard, 
and, being plundered, and the doors of the churches being 
forced with axes, they were pillaged of their wealth, and 
whatever the citizen^ had deposited in them ; and the town 
was set on fire. With the same ferocity Geoffirey devas- 
tated the whole neighbom*hood, breaking into all the 
churches, desolating the lands of the monks, and carrying 
off their property. The abbey of St. Benedict, at Bamsey, 
he not only spoiled of the monks' property, and stripped 
the altars and the sacred relics, but, mercilessly expelling 
the monks from the abbey, he placed soldiers in it and 
made it a garrison. 

As soon as the king heard of this bold irruption, and the 
lawless invasion by Geoffrey of a wide extent of country, he 
hastened with a powerful array of troops to check the 
progress of the sudden outbrei^E. But Geofi&^y skilfully 
avoided an encounter with the king, at one time betaking 
himself hastily to the marshes, with which that country 



4M ACTS OF KDIft STBEHKK. [BOOK! II. 

abounds, where he had before found shelter in his flight; 
at another, leaving the district where the king waft per- 
suing him, he appeared, at the head of hi& fbllowersy in 
another quarter, to stir up fresh disturbances. Howerex; 
fotr the purpose of cheeking his usual inroads into that 
country, the king caused castles to be buih in suitable 
places, and placing garrisons in them, to overawe the saa- 
rauders, he went elsewhere to attend to other afiEisurs. Aa 
soon as the king was gone, Geoffi'ey devoted all his cDer- 
gies to reduce ^ gaxrisonfr which the king had left ior 1h» 
annoyance, supported by the king's enemies, who flocked 
to him from all quarters ; and, forming a ccHifederacjr witk 
Hugh Bigod, a man of note, who was very powe^uL in 
those parts, and had disturbed ihe peace of the kingdom, 
and oppos^ the king's power, as before mentioned, h» 
ravaged the whole conutzy, sparing, in hk crueltiesy neither 
sex nor condition. But at ^ength God, the just avenger of 
all the grievous persecutiona, aad all the calamities which 
he had inflicted, l»ought him to an end worthy of his. 
Climes. For, bemg too bold, and depending too much on 
his own address, he often beat up the quarters of the royal 
garrisons ; but at last was outwitted by them and slain ; 
and as while he lived he had disturbed the church, and 
troubled the land, so the whole English church was a party 
to his punishment ; for, having been ^communicated^ he 
died unabsolved, and the sacrilegious man was deprived of 
Chiistian burial 

Such having been the end of (xeoSrej [de Mandeville]^ 
the prospects of the king's enemies became gloomy ; for 
those who trusted that the royal cause would be mneh 
weakeaGied by his secession, now thought that by his death 
the king would be more at hberty, and, as it turned out^ 
better prepared to molest them. But they set no bounds 
to the malevolence and impiety with which they were 
imbued, but, th^ bed spirit actuating them to every sort 
of wickedness, they devoted themselves to the prosecution o£ 
their rebellion, and engaged, with increased eagerness, in 
every destructive enteiprise through all parts of England. All 
the northern coimties were subject to the tyranny of the Earl 
of Chester, who sul^ected the king's barons in the neigh- . 



AJX 114^.] TmASVT OF TOR BABOIKS. 407 

IxNJchood to hi& joke, surpnsed their eastUes by ckodestKiM 
assaults, and wasted their lands bj hostile incursions; 
and^ breathing id his rage nothing bat wair and devastatioD, 
ivas the terror of all men. John, als<K that child of hell, 
and root of aH evit the lord of Mall)orofiigh Castle, was 
mdefatigable in his eficurts to create diaturbanees. He 
built castko of strong masonij^ on spots he thought advan- 
tageons ; he got into his power the lands (md possessiosis 
of the inoinasteries^ espelhng the Hkonks of every order; 
and when Ihe swosd of eeclestastieal disci{toe was un- 
^)eathed» he was in no wise deterred, but became stUl 
more hardened. He even ccnnp^led like monks of the 
highest order to come to his cattle m a body, on certain 
fixed days, when, assummg episcopal power, he issued 
irreversible decrees for the payment of taxes, or for compul- 
sory labour. The sons of Robert, earl <rf Gloucester, also, 
active young men, and well practised in all military exer* 
eises, as well as animated by their father's valour and 
constancy, kept the south of the kingdom in aUucm ; building 
castles in advantageous positions, surprising others h^ 
by thdr neighboiurs, engaging in frequent expeditions againfi^t 
the enemy, slaying, and plundering, and wasting theit 
lands. With activity like their father's;, they had spread 
their hostilities over a great breadth of coun^, extending 
across from one sea to the other, and, having at length 
acquired the lordship of an ample domain, they affected 
peace, and promulgated laws and ordinances ; but though 
their vassals might seem relieved from hostilities and 
pillage, their lords' avarice subjected tbem to endless taSr 
ation, and involved them in vexatious suits. 

Stephen de Mandeville, likewise, a man of note, and a 
persevering soldier, who gi^atly exalted the earldom of 
Devon, actively fomented the civil war in those parts. 
He repaired the old castles, which the necessities of a 
former age had planted on the summits of precipitous 
rocks, subjected wide districts to his tyrannical rule, and 
was a most troublesome neighbour to the king's adherents 
wherever he established himself. All these, and others 
whom I omit, not to be tedious, were busily employed in 
undermining the king's power ; and when he was anxiously 
engaged in allaying these distorbonees, somelimes in one 



408 ACTS OF KING STEPHEN. [bOOK IT. 

quarter, sometimes in another, they would suddenly unite 
in a hody, and vigilantly defeat his designs. In like man- 
ner, the royalists, in the several counties of England, 
attacked the castles whenever a fit opportunity offered, at 
one time by open hostilities, at another by surprise; so 
that, by these mutual depredations and alternate excursions 
and encounters, the kingdom, which was once the abode of 
joy, tranquillity, and peace, was everywhere changed into 
a seat of war and slaughter, and devastation and woe. 

At that time William de Dover, a skilful soldier, and an 
active partisan of the Earl of Gloucester, with his support, 
took possession of Gricklade, a village delightfully situated 
in a rich and fertile neighbourhood. He built a castle for 
himself there with great diligence, on a spot which, being 
surrounded on all sides by waters and marshes, was very 
inaccessible, and having a strong body of mercenary troops, 
including some archers, he extended his ravages far and 
wide, and, reducing to submission a great extent of country 
on both banks of the river Thames, he inflicted great 
cruelties on the royal party. At one time fiercely sweeping 
round their castles in a bold excursion, at another, lurking 
by night in some concealed ambush, his restless activity 
never ceased to harass them, and no place could be con- 
sidered free fix>m danger. Ceaseless as were his efforts to 
annoy the royalists, the citizens of Oxford and the principal 
burgesses of the town of Malmesbiuy, suffered most fre- 
quently from his predatory expeditions ; because his neigh- 
bours in their encounters frequently defeated him. The 
Earl of Gloucester, also, hastily running up three forts 
close to Malmesbury, while the king was detained by hostile 
movements in another direction, was not only able to 
restrain their usual inroads through the coimtry, but 
reduced them to famine by his close blockade. 

But when the king received exact informaticHi of the 
desperate state of affairs in that quarter, he instantly mus- 
tered a large body of troops, and, coming unexpectedly to 
Malmesbuiy, threw into it provisions enough to last for 
a considerable time, and having wasted and pillaged the 
country round the earFs forts, he encamped near Tetbuiy, 
a castle distant three miles from Malmesbury, which he 
used his utmost endeavours to take. Having stormed the 



A.D. 1142.] THE KABL OFF£BS BATTLE NEAR TETBUBY. 409 

outer defences of the castle, some of the garrison being slain 
and taken prisoners, and the rest being driven by degrees 
into a narrow space within the inner court, with many of 
them wounded, he lost no time in bringing up his war 
engines with the intention of inclosing and besieging them 
there. Meanwhile, the Earl of Gloucester, on the first 
intelligence of the king's coming, gathered an overwhelming 
force from his numerous castles in the neighbourhood, 
some his own people, others true to the fealty they owed 
him. Having increased his army by levying large bodies of 
foot soldiers, fierce and undisciplined bands of Welshmen, 
and of recruits drawn from Bristol and other towns hi 
the neighbourhood, he marched to offer the king battle. 
Boger, earl of Hereford, also, and other powerful barons, 
with one consent, collected their forces, and speedily joined 
him, and, advancing within two miles of the royal camp, 
they lay waiting undl other troops who were preparing to 
join them reinforced the army. 

The barons in the king's camp learning that such hordes 
of the enemy had flocked together to offer them battle, and 
dreading the headlong rush of the fierce Welsh, and the 
disorderly crush of the Bristol mob, assembled by the earl 
in such vast numbers to overwhelm the royal troops, they 
wisely advised the kmg to raise the siege, and, for a while, 
draw off his army, on some other enterprise. They repre- 
sented that it was rash and dangerous to expose his small 
band of men-at-arms among such a crowd of butchers, 
fighting on foot ; more especially, as the king's troops were 
at a great distance from their resources, and were worn by 
a long march, while, on the contraiy, the enemy, assembled 
from the neighbouring towns and castles, came to the 
battle hi full vigour, fresh fix)m their homes, and with theu: 
strength undiminished by sufferings on the road. They, 
therefore, said that it would be prudent to abandon the 
siege at present, lest they should suffer a reverse in en- 
gaging with the fierce multitudes who now threatened to 
surround them. The king assented to this judicious 
advice, and, withdrawing in great haste from that neigh- 
bourhood, marched to Winchcombe, arriving unexpectedly 
before the castle which Roger, the new earl of Hereford, 
had built there to overawe the royal party. The king found 



410 Acrrs of wma cthphsv. [bookii. 



it saiTOunded by a yery high wall on the top of a 
hank, and strongly fortified on all sides ; bnt thare were 
few men left for its defence, for the rest had quitted it in « 
panic the moment they were i^rised of llie king's unex- 
pected approach. He therefore ordered it to be instantly 
stormed, selecting ihe boldest men-at-amns for the assanlj^ 
who were to mount the walls, while the ardiers covend 
them with showers of arrowi^ and the main body, attacking 
the castle on all sides, poured into the place whatever 
missiles were at hand. 

The assault was so impetuoos and well supported, that 
the party within the c«sde were unable to mthstand it^ 
and, throwing down their arms, surrendered ilie place. 
After encouraging his adherents, who had ereetod many 
castles in G-loucester^ire, and h^ good part of the 
country, the king marched against Hn^ Bigod» the most 
turbulent of his enemies, who, when he understood thai; 
the king was gone into Gloucestershire, as report said, to 
undertake a siege, counting on his being l(mg detained, 
engaged with great activity in predatory excinrsions roond 
the royal castles. But the king, attacking him unawares 
with great energy, put a total end to his enterprise, taking 
prisoners some of his troops, disper^g tiie rest, and even 
making great deirastation on his lands. He abo built three 
castles in that countiy, to dhr^t, at least, Hugh's regular 
excursions, and there tiie king rested a considemble time. 

About this time one Turgis, of Norman eoEtraction, and 
bom, they said, at Orleans, revolted against the khkg, a 
thing so absurd that it was hardly credited. Fc^ he was 
of the king's privy counsels, and was reckoned the most 
trusty of all his courtiers, and though of low origin, and of 
a mean house, his connection with t&e king had raised him 
to great riches and honours. It, therefore, struck, every 
one with astonishment that, after receiving so many proofs 
of the king's favour and friendship, he could possibly 
be induced to rebel against him. The origin of the quarrel 
was this : the king had granted him the custody of tihe 
castle of Walden, with the surrounding territory, reservixi^ 
the ownership to hhnself ; but whai the king wished to 
pay his usual Visit to the castle, as b<»ng his own property, 
and the &uit of his own labours, Turgis, fearing that the 



A.D. 1142.] A BEBITL CJLPTUVBD T^HILIS HUNTING. 411 

possession of it might be transferred to soma one else* 
forbad the king's entrance, and withdrew privately firofm 
the royal presence and froxa court, doubtiul ifboA might 
happen, and not foreseeing that Providence, which disposes 
aU things as it willeth, and to whom it wiileth, wocdd 
shoitly remove him from inhabiting the cas^. It ks^ened 
that on a certain occasion he had left the castle to hant,^ 
and was following in great glee, sodnding Ms horn, the 
hounds which were in ptirsmt of the game, some oi the- 
pack running an scent, and others dependmg an their 
swiftness of foot, w^en, behold I the king himseJf snddecily 
made his sq>pearaace at the bead of a streoig troop of hoarse^, 
his good fortune, or rather Providence, seconding his 
wishes. The king, being informed that his enemy h&d 
come forth from the casUe, and was now in his power, 
gave orders that he sbonld Ibe surrounded and made priso- 
ner, and, being bound in fetters, should be at once hanged: 
on a lofty gallowB before the castiLe g£Ete, unless he saved 
his life by its immediate surrender. Hugh was now in a. 
great strait; on the one hand, it was very painfbl to give 
up that on which he had set his hopes, and which was now 
his only refuge ; on ti^ other, there was no possibility of 
escape unless by surrendering the castle. To save his life,, 
therefore, he submitted to the kmg's wilL 

While these events were occurring in that quarter, and> 
the king went elsewhere to restore order in other districts, 
the partisans of the Earl of Gloucester, viz. William de 
Dover and his followers, whose crueltiea I have briefly 
mentioned, carried on perpetual bostrlities against t^e 
royalists. At one time, he made furious altadcs <m the 
troops the king had left at Oxford to protect the coimtiyv 
which, notwithstanding, was pillaged and devastated vriitb 
fire and sword. At another time, his ruinous exeursions 
were directed agarnsl those who kept ward for the king at 
Malmesbury, to the great injury of tibie' ncighfaouring 
country, and the severe loss of both parties. Nor did 
William de Dover cease from xneessant hostilities against 
the royalists, until he had taken by stratagem Walter^ a 
stout soldier, experienced in war, who had been appointed 
by the king commander of the troops at. Mahnesbuiy, 
Having committed him to the custody of the Countess of 



412 ACTS OF KING STEPHEN. [BOOK U. 

Anjou and her son, William de Dover, repenting of the 
great evils and cruelties which he had mercilessly inflicted 
on the people, joined the crusade to Jerusalem^ to obtain 
pardon for his sins ; and there, after many valiant and glo- 
rious achievements against the Infidels, he was at length 
slam, and died happily. 

The Countess of Anjou, having now in her power the 
man whom of all others she most hated, strove, both by 
her blandishments, and by threats of torture and death, to 
induce him to surrender Malmesbury Castle ; but he, re- 
sisting with constancy all the seductions of female influ- 
ence, and regardless of her menaces, could not be induced 
to comply with her demand. Indeed, if he had agreed to 
the surrender, as far as he was concerned, it would not 
have availed ; for his comrades of the royal force who, on 
his capture, had retired into the castle, would by no means 
have assented; and the king, when he heard of William's 
being made prisoner, came in all haste, and having rein- 
forced the garrison, and well victualled it, tinned his atten- 
tion to other afliairs. The countess, her hopes thus frus- 
trated, had nothing left but to exercise her utmost cruelty 
against her prisoner ; and, loading him with chains, he was 
thrown into a loathsome dungeon. 

William, just before mentioned, having resigned the 
custody of Cricklade Casde, Philip, son of the Earl of 
Gloucester, a quarrelsome man, of great cruelty, ready for 
the most desperate enterprises, and consummately malig- 
nant, took possession of it with a strong body of soldiers. 
This Philip made violent attacks on the royalists wherever 
he could find them ; pillaging, devastating, and burning their 
possessions, and, at other times, giving battle to the holders 
of their castles. On one hand, he widened the range of 
his tyranical power; on the other, he invaded the rights 
of others by his indiscriminate attacks ; and wherever his 
fierce ravages extended, his hand was heavily laid on the 
property of the church. At that same time William de 
Chamai was governor of Oxford, and the king's commis- 
sioner and commander of the royal force. He had often 

* Otir author here somewhat anticipates the coarse of events. The third 
Crusade, which it is most probable William de Dover joined, assembled at 
VThitsuntide, a.d. 1146, some two years afterwards. 



A.D. 1142.] FABBINGDON CASTLE BUILT AKD TA£EN. 413 

checked the inroads of Philip, by enga^g him with some 
light troops ; so that their mutual encounters in that part 
of the country made it a spectacle of strife and desolation. 
Philip had sometimes the superiority, because he had his 
father's support, and was reinforced by the followers of the 
Countess of Anjou, who flocked to his aid as often as there 
was occasion. He now recommended his father to draw 
nearer to Oxford, and, erecting castles in suitable places, 
to confine the sallies of the king's troops within narrower 
bounds. The earl, listening readily to this advice, collected 
his whole force, and, coming to a Htde town which in English 
bears the name of Farringdon, a most agreeable situation 
and abimdantly supplied, he built there a castle^ well forti- 
fied with a waU. and outworks, and placed in it a garrison, 
chosen out of the flower of his troops, which severely checked 
the incursions of the king's soldiers from Oidbrd, and 
other castles round about, by which his adherents had been 
infested. The garrisons of the royal castles were now greatly 
straitened, being hemmed in by the enemy, and confined 
within narrow limits, and nothing was left them but to 
implore succour fix)m the king, which they did by letters, 
which the bearers were to deliver with the utmost haste. 

Upon receiving intelligence of the straits tp which his 
garrisons were reduced, and of the enemy's superior power, 
leaving other pressing affairs imfinished, he put himself 
without a moment's delay at the head of a large body of 
troops, and, marching to Oxford, rested there a few days, 
until he had obtained reinforcements. His army being 
then swelled to a powerful force, he marched to Farringdon, 
where he pitched his camp, intending to lay siege to the 
castle. But first he gave orders for the unusual but not 
unprofitable undertaking of fortifying his camp, by carefully 
surrounding it with a trench and outworks, to protect it 
from the enemy's sallies ; so that having this refuge to fall 
back on, their own safety might be secured, and when it 
was prudent they might attack the enemy with better cer- 
tainty and comrage. There was no delay in erecting war 

' Hiyitingdon assigns the tenth year of Stephen's reign for the building 
of Farringdon Castle, and the king's expedition against it. This date an- 
swers to A.D. 1144. 



414 ACTS OF xnio ffrETBBEK, {book o. 

engines of ivo&derM powers agunst the eesde, and tisese, 
viSi are^rs skilfiiyj posted ronmd the waJis, eeverdj 
aimoyed the Iroops within. The engines cnished tbem 
with stones, or iduttever else iSkey projected, fejlixig on tbeir 
lieads ; the bovmen showered fiigh4s of srrows so thidk in 
their fikces as greatly to distress them ; at one tinoe, mis- 
ales of ereiy description poised on high were hurled 
liirough d&e air, and &lUDg wiliiin the place thinned tiie 
ranks of the hesieged ; at anotiier, the bravest of the jouth, 
holdly dimbmg the steep declivity of the rampart, e&ga^jed 
i&arply those within, from whom they were only separated 
hy the palisades. The royalisis harassed the besieged hj 
daily attacks of this kind ; while they, on their part, znade 
a stoat resistance, till the chief m^i in the gairrison, un- 
known to the rest, had a secret communication with the 
king, and proposed to cf^itnlate upon terms agreed betweoi 
them. The possession of this castle was, under God, the 
crown of his fortune and the height of his gknyS as it not 
only enahlef^ him munificently to enrich his comrades ^rom 
the nmsoms paid by the eaptiyes, and the stores of arms 
and treasure wiih which it was abundantly sk>red, but 
because the enemy was deeply disheartened by his success. 
Consternation spread gradually amongst them ; some taking 
arms against him with less readiness and with reluctance ; 
while others, in ahum for Ihesr own safety, made terms of 
peace and concord with him as soon as they could. Thus, 
the Earl of Chester, who was in possession of neady a third 
of the kingdom, humbly sought the king, and, cooifessing 
his cruelty and breach of faith towards him, so that' at the 
battle of Lincoln he had even made his lord and king 
prisoner, and had eveiywbere usurped the royal domains, 
their old alliance was renewed, and the earl was again 
admitted to favour. He supported the king in many enter- 
prises with more vigour and with much better good faith than 
he had done before ; for, accompanying him to Bedford, a 
town which had always been a trouble to ^e royal causey, 
he took it by storm, and gave it up to the king. Next he 
applied himself with alacrity to discomfit the rebels who 
had possession of WaUingford Castle, and thence sowed 

' Huntingdon also remarks that, after the capture of this castle, the king's 
fortunes changed for the better 



AJ>. 11^.] BANULF, TSX TOMnSXSVL ElSIi OF CHESTEB. 41S 

tibe seeds of ivazs ind distuitences thnn^^^at the kiDgdckm. 
Hie was tbe king's ecmstMot oompanion, at the head of « 
gallaat body of 900 kmghts and men-ad>^rms, uQtil thej 
bad with great skiU and labour erected a casde within sight 
<j£ WaUifigford, fviiidfci somewhat sleekened the usual in- 
v&sians of the skeighbouring districts. But notwithstanding 
that liie earl, from fba time he had -renewed his alliazioe 
with 1i» king, appeared to be his firm and useful supporter^ 
he was bekL in sospkion by tbe king and the great men 
of the realm ; because he had neglected to discharge the 
voyal taxes end to give np i^e castles which he had forcibly 
seized, and be had iwver compensated for that fickleness 
aad isoonstmcy of ZEdnd and purpose which all mast knew 
to be iHLtacal to himL, by giving pledges and hostages for 
bis good conduct Thns ncidw the king nor the heads of 
his cooncil reUied much on tbbe earl ; bat while j£fsurs were 
in so much ocmfosum th&f prudaitly watched the issue of 
«(9ents, until eidier the «ail, abandoDing entirdy his pre- 
tensions to tbese royalties, should attach himself more 
&i!inly and iu£hPally to the Idng, or, if he should eventually 
vefiise this, some opportunity should oeeor for the king's 
laying hands on him and making him prisoner ; which in 
the «iid happened, as will be hareafter nelated in its proper 
pliKoe. 

Philip, -ftie son of Bobert, eail of Gloucester, also, who 
has be^ sboitiy mentioned before, seeing at this time that 
^be king's power wis predominant, ent^ed into a treaty of 
peace and conoord with him, and obtaining large grants of 
castles and lands, with many ms^ific^it g^ts, he did 
boamge to the king and gave him hostages. And now 
breathing threats and hostilities against the Idng's enemies, 
he carried fire and sword, violence and pilk^^, into all 
quarters. Not only did he thus attack the hostile barons, 
tat he devastated even his father's lands, converting them 
ittto a desert, and was eveiywhere held in abhorrence for 
his insufferable batbarity. He maint(uned a powerful body 
of troops, and possessed a number of castles, some of whi<^ 
were granted him by the king, and others conquered from 
the enemy by his own prowess. He took prisoner Bobert 
Mosard, who had thou^dessly, and, to a»fess the trutk, 
hn]»ndendy, gone fortih from his castle, M^hen Philip, who 



416 ACTB OF KIKG STEPHSN. [BOOK H. 



lying in ambush, chanced to light upon him, and 
twisting a horse's bridle round his neck, and threatening to 
hang Mm, bj this violence got possession of his castle. 
He seized likewise Reginald, earl of Cornwall, with his 
countess and a numerous retinue, as he was on his journey 
to court to make peace with the king, and furnished mith a 
safe conduct. But the capture was made without the king's 
privity, and notwithstanding the pledges ^en on both sides ; 
Philip, therefore, was obliged to release his prisoners, an<t. 
by so doing appeased the king's anger. 

And now the king with his adherents, and the countess 
with hers, had a meeting to treat of peace; but as the 
demands of both parties were arrogant, there was dissatis- 
faction both on one side and the other, and the meeting 
was ineffectual. The countess's supporters contended that 
the king having usurped the throne, which was hers by 
right, he should abdicate it, and be deprived of the style 
and title of king ; while he not only asserted his right to 
what he possessed, but vowed that, however he had ac- 
quired it, nothing should induce him to relinquish it ; so 
that, with this difference in the views of the parties, affidrs 
returned to their former position. 

At this time, Heniy de Caldoet and his brother Ralph, 
two brave soldiers, of great experience in war, created great 
disturbances in Gloucestershbe. They were deeply imbued 
with fraud and perfidy, always ready for rapine and conflict, 
unsparing in crime and sacnlege. Obtaining possession of 
castles, sometimes by stratagem, at others by force of arms, 
they oppressed all Ihelr neighbours, and especially robbed 
the churches in various ways ; not only imposing on them 
severe biuthens in the shape of forced labour, and many 
other extortions, but making themselves universally ab- 
horred by their thefts and robberies, and rapine and mur- 
ders. They had often incurred the sentence of excommu- 
nication, for plundering the possessions of the church in 
several places ; and at length the Divine wrath inflicted on 
them the pimishment due to their offences. For the one 
was hung before his own castle, and perished thus horribly; 
the other, yielding up the castle he possessed, and being 
reduced to poverty and distress, was at last obliged to quit 
the kingdom in disgrace. Here, traly, the words of Scrip- 



JL.B. 1145.] BERKELEY CASTLE SEIZED. 417 

tore were verified, where God is described as a judge 
patient in punishing the sins of wicked men ; for when He 
had long borne witti their stiffnecked obstinacy, that they 
might be converted to a better state, when He had pa- 
tiently suffered the tyranny and violence which they exer- 
cised everywhere, and especially over the possessions of 
the church, at length reducing each of them to the lowest 
pitch of ignominy and disgrace, He inflicted righteous 
judgment on both. For these men, who seemed not only 
to rival the neighbouring barons in glory and power, but to 
extend their pretensions widely in the land, fell by a sudden 
change of fortime, and, witli all belonging to them, came to 
nothing. God, who punished the guilty, be praised for 
all things! The castles and ample possessions they had 
acquired passed quickly into many hands; some to those 
who plotted against them, others to those who purchased 
the domains for money ; but all tended to the same wretched 
end, the extension of licentious tyranny over the people, and 
the loosening of the bonds of peace. 

About this time, also, Walter, the Earl of Hereford's 
brother, with the concurrence, it is said, of the earl himself, 
seized Roger de Berkeley, an inoffensive man, who was not 
only allied to him by the terms of a mutual confederacy, 
but was his near kinsman by blood : stripped of his gar- 
ments, and exposed to mockery, they bound him tightly, 
and, putting a halter round his neck, hung him thrice 
before his own castle ; the third time, they loosened the 
rope and let him fall on the -ground. Threatening him 
with death in this shocking way, unless he gave up hj,s 
castle to the earl, nay, bringing him to the very point of 
death, when he could no longer hear them, they took their 
departure, carrying with them the body of the wretched 
Robert; and, as he still breathed, and there were some 
faint symptoms of returning life, they reserved it for further 
torture in the dungeon to which it was consigned ^ 

* The empress is said to have granted the confiscated lordship of Berkeley 
to Bobert Harding, a wealthy merchant and Mayor of Bristol, who aided her 
cause with his money and influence. He was consequently in great favour 
both with her and the earl her brother. Henry II. is said to have been at 
school in Bristol with this Harding's son, the future Lord of Berkeley. 
The Fitzhardings were Danes of royal descent, as appears by an inscription 
over the gatehouse of the Abbey of St Augustine, in Bristol, now the ca- 

B £ 



410 Aon OF Knro taMtJtM, (^book a 

Philip, hotrerer, of ivticm tatiMoii waB naie belbrci^ 
being much enrftged at Die Tiolenoe done to Boger, as wdi 
beeanse be bad ta^en biro under bis protectioxi, ad that 
be bad married bis niece, fiew lo arms', committhig great 
rarages, and in bis fierce indignation de^ratftati&g tbe irhole 
district, -wbidi be proposed to i^tace tmdev bk own power. 
Wbile success attended bis entert^se, be was soddenlj 
taken ill, and, being feeble in boajr tbe cmel spurit wilb 
wbicb be bad been animated was sp^it with bia exhanated 
strength, and be made a tow to undertake a pilgrimage to 
Jerusalem, with the faithAil servants wb^aitt^ded him, and 
Tisit tbe holy places. 

At this time, uncivilized hordes of Infidels, the enemies 
of our religion, acqttired so much power over the Christians, 
that thej not only reduced to submission, by force of arms, 
their Imdn and flourishing cities, but even assaulted in 
great force Jerusalem itsdf, tbe city of cities, the priae and 
glory of the crusades, putting tbe Christiana to tbe sword, 
or shamefully carrying them away captives, and,^ with 
dreadful impieiy, mining the cbureheSv trampling mider 
foot sacred things, and aiming to blot out tbe yery name 
of Christ Beport spreaed the tidings of tbis^ disgraoe and 
intolerable persecution through all Christendosn. King- 
doms were in commotion, the powers of tbe world were 
shaken, and afi nations were roused to a commoa effort to 
avenge the scandid^ And although tbe fiower of the Eng- 
Hsh youth, all manly hearts, and the most distmguished. for 
Talour and resolution, flew with eag^^mess to wipe out the 
disgrace, so tbftt it might have been supposed that'England 
was depopulated and exhausted by the emigration of pil- 
grims in Budi numbers and of such ekssea, still civil war 
and rapine, the sword and tbe adversary, did not cease in 
England; because when some departed others took their 
places, not the less ripe for doing evil, because they bad 
been late in addicting themselves to it. 

Taking every opportunity of exercising cruelty and doing 
violence, they rivalled each other in crime and flAgitk>us- 

tbedr&l, which they founded. Their hi«tory illustrates the high commercial 
character of the Northmen, whose aetflemeht in England, despite of their 
ferocity, had important and pevmanebt resuktb 
1 Thii, th« leoond. Grande^ cMuiitnced at Whiamitide^ ajk 1146, 



A,r). 114$.] EABL OF CBX8TSB COAJSLGBD WITH TBlilACHEBY. 419 

ticss, bdaraying and murdering one another with the utmost 
T^alr justice was trodden under foot, law was abolished, 
jnrisdiiitioii and poiwer were everywhere contended for. 
The general and usual prractiee was, to attack, with avidity 
the ecdesifislicdl possessdona ; another was, to take castles 
by surprise ; another, to defraud those with .whom they were 
Connected by the ties of fealty. Thus, the Earl of Chester, 
when he had usurped many of the ri^s of royalty, and 
was Hierefore become suspected, gave himself up entirely 
to his habitual treachery, secretly devising means how 
beert, without open shame, he could betray the king to his 
enemies. With this object, he came to court with a very 
small retinue, in order to allay suspicion, and made com* 
plaints that he wh» suffering greatly from the enemy, espe- 
cially from numerous bands of savage Welshmen ; that his 
lands were miserably pillaged and wasted ; that the cities 
were some of them burnt, and others closely beleaguered ; 
that he and his people would be driven out of his earldom, 
unless the king came to his succour quickly, as he had 
relieved others. He also declared that the enemy would 
be alarmed at merely bearing the king's .name, and tlmt 
his pfesence would strike them with more terror, than if, 
without ym, he led thousands oi soldiers against them. 
The earl engaged to advance large sums of money to pay 
the ki»g*s troops, promising also to provide subsistence, 
and whatever should be thought necessary. He said, also, 
that the king would not be long detained; but that his 
presenee hi a transitoiy expedition would serve to confound 
ibe rebels, and that he would speedily return with the 
honour <ii a glorious victory. 

Induced by these representations, ihe king had agreed to 
accompany the earl, and was cheerfully engaged in making 
preparations for the expedition, when his principal cour- 
tiers, believing that there was treachexy in the earl's pro- 
posal, persuaded the king suddenly to change his mind. 
They suggested tliat it was inexpedient for the king to 
withdraw to the remote districts of Wales at a time when 
he was wanted to allay the evil dissensions which were 
bursting forth in all parts of England ; that it was not safe 
to lead an army through the passes of the moimtains and 
the fastnesses of the woods, where he would continually 



426 A0T8 OF Kino BTAPBiCN. [BOOK n. 

ran the risk of ambuscades by the wild natives^ ood where 
neither water to relieve their thirst would always be found, 
nor sufficient suf^lies of proYisions for a royal army could 
be procured. It was therefore certain that the expedition 
would be attended with much peril and great difficulties, 
and it was a question whether, after all, th^y could be sure 
of success. Besides, it was too rash and daring a scheme 
for the king to commit himself so carelessly in the territories 
of the earl, who had before raised the greatest part of the 
kingdom in arms against him, and^ although he might 
affect to espouse the royal cause, had given no securities 
for his fidelity by offering pledges for his good conduct ; 
but that if he wished the king to comply with his demand, 
and embark with him in an expedition against the enemy, 
he ought in the first place to restore all that he had unjustly 
usurped, and, renewing his fealty, confirm it by giving 
hostages for keeping it faithfully : if he refused to do this 
at once, they declared that, so far firom complying with his 
wishes and going to his aid, he ought to be treated as an 
open enemy, and instantly arrested and committed to close 
confinement until he gave the king satisfaction. 

When the king at last acquiesced reluctantly in this pru- 
dent advice, his friends^ went in a body to the earl, who sus- 
pected nothing of the sort, and assured him that the king 
was prepared to accede to his request, whatever might be 
the result, on his consenting to the terms on the king's 
part which have been just stated. The earl replied that 
this was not his object in coming to court ; that it was not 
notified to him before ; and that he. had no opportunity of 
consulting his friends. Upon this they quarrelled, and 
words of defiance were used on both sides ; the courtiers 
accusing the earl of fraud and treason, and a conspiracy 
against the king, whUe he, reddening with confusion, as 
though he felt himself guilty, first stoutly denied it, and 
then had recourse to subterfuges. It ended in their laying 
violent hands upon him, and handing him over to the royal 
guard, who fettered him and conducted him to prison '. 

^ " Trivet, who speaks of the taking of the Earl of Chester, accuses Ste- 
phen of treachery, Ann. 20. The scene is laid by him at Northampton.** — 
Sewell. Huntingdon also states that the earl came to Northampton peaceably, 
and fearing nothing of . the sort. 



A.D, 1145.] THE BARL OF CHESTER LIBERATED. 431 

After this, when the barons of the earl's party, whom he 
had left disper^d in their several castles, heard that their lord 
was a captive, they assembled their vassals and flew to 
arms, deteitnined to rise against the king, and attack his 
adherents ; proclaiming their resolntion to fight to the last 
extremity for the earl's liberation. Others, who considered 
the affair more deeply and prudently, reflecting that it was 
a serious and perilous thing to engage in hostilities in the 
absence of their leader, and that it would be more advisable 
to give up to the king whatever the earl held belonging to 
him, that having obtsdned his freedom they might be in a 
position to follow his fortunes, whatever they might be, 
without reserve, — sought an interview with the king in com- 
pany with the eaii's friends. They offered to surrender the 
castles which the king claimed to be his own by right, on 
the earFs release, and pledged themselves, both in private 
and publicly, to give hostages and sureties, and whatever 
was required for greater security. Whereupon the king 
held a council, at which it was resolved that it would be 
advantageous to him and the kingdom to accept the terms 
proposed ; viz. that all rights admitted to be royalties being 
resigned, the earl should be liberated, on his giving 
hostages, and solemnly swearing, in presence of the court, 
that he would not again oppose Sie king, retaining only the 
honoiu-s of his earldom ^ 

The earl being thus set at liberty, though he ought to 
have preserved the peace and kept faithfully the promises 
he had made, yet, following the bent of his mind, he flew to 
arms, and, breaking his engagements and disregarding the 
sanctity of his oath, he engaged with his followers in hos- 
tilities against the king. Indignant with rage, he mustered 
his men-at-arms from all quarters, and, assembling bands 
of vulgar ruffians, ready for every kind of mischief^ he in- 
flicted rapine, fire, cruelty, and slaughter on his enemies, 
and sometimes on his own adherents; and, what was a 
greater calamity, the peaceful seats and domains of the 
chiu-ch did not escape his ravages, while he' exercised a 

* Honours, it has been observed before, in law phrase, signify high 
seigiiorial rights, superior to manorial, but not extending to royalties, which 
were not conferred except by express grants. These latter, which had 
been usurped by the Earl of Chester, he was now required to renounce. 



423 ACTS OF KING STEPHEN. [BOOK II« 

l^rranny equal in tnieulence to tbat of Herod or Nero, -re- 
gardless of age or sex. These manj and enormous crimes' 
drew upon him the sentence of excommunication ; but it 
had no effect in moderating his aggressions, or obtaining 
indulgence for any profession. At one time be was en- 
gaged in reducing tfaie king s castles by fraud or Ibrce ; at 
another, in building new ones before the eyes of those he 
pillaged ; and thus, making predatory excursions from one 
part of Ihe country to another, he reduced the whole by 
his devastations to a desert and a solitude. He often made- 
his appearance with his armed bands before Lincoln', 
which he had given up to the king for his ransom, and in 
which the flowier of the royal army was stationed, at one^ 
time with adverse fortune, at others with triumphant suc- 
cess against the royal troops. The earl also established a 
strong post in face of the castle of Coventiy, in wbich 
the roysdists had taken refuge, thus checking their in- 
cursions through the country. Whereupon the king, 
marchmg there at the head of a gallant force, tlu-ew a 
convoy of provisions into the garrison, which were much 
needed, though he had frequent skirmishes with the. earl, 
who lay in wait for him at places on his march, where the 
roads were difficult. In these some of the king's troops 
were captured, and others driven to flight ; and the king 
himself, receiving a slight wound, was for a time disabled. 
But shortly afterwards, recovering his strength, he had an 
engagement with the earl, in which he took many prisoners, 
and some of the enemy were wounded ; and the earl him- 
self flying shamefully, and scarcely escaping with his life, 
his fortified post was taken and destroyed. The king also 
attacked several other castles of the eatVs with resolution 
and success ; sometimes pressing the besieged garrisons 
with desperate attacks ; at others, devastating the country 
round them with fire and slaughter, and never relaxing his 
hostilities i^inst the earl and his adherents. 

At the commencement of this insurrection, the king had 
made prisoner Eich^d Fitz-Gilbert, a man of hi^ descent^ 

* Hantingdon telk as that Stephen spent the Christmas of tbe y««r 1H5 
at Lincoln, and that after the king's departure the Earl of Chester made faia 
Itppearance before this eity, but his assault was repulsed vitb great loss. 
See the Hiatory, p, 284 of the present volume. 



A.D, 1146.] riT^-#fl»|»MP3 GAS^mS laiREN. 4^ 

wbo was hostage for ihe 'ead, and had ple^dd his easAles 

for his release, beix^ his oephew. He ^«as eommitted to 

close custody aod atiiody guarded, wo^l, fiurrendenng into 

the king's bands all his ca^tjes, ae hi^ only way of escape, . 

he hastened to join his anele. aad, disttirlung the peace of 

the kingdom bj every meana he coi:dd, he olten defeated 

the roy4 troops. £arl &Ubejrt\ his vinid^ required -these 

castles to be givea up io him by the king, edfeging that 

they weiie his by inberitanee ; but the king not being pre*- 

paj^ at pjtreseat to grant his request* he vilhdrew privately 

from court, intending to brei^ entirely with ike king, and, 

fordfying has numei'ous eaatles m that paort of the kingdom, 

to join Sa^ Earl of Obest^ and the rest of die king's en^ 

mies, who were in arms against him in all quarters, that 

so, as he could not obtain his rights by justice, he might 

by arms. But hearing that (jilbeart had privately withdrawn 

^om court, and it being plain that he intended to desert 

his cause, the ku»g readyiy listening to liiose who persuaded 

him of this, and the more because he had himself before 

suspected him, he instantly mustered his whoie guard, and 

body pursued the fugiiive. "It is monstrous,^' he said, 

" that this Gilbert, who has been raieed by me to opulence; 

who, being « penniless knight, I elevated to the summit of 

honour by making him an earl ; to whom I have over and 

again made grants of large and rich domains^ all that his 

heart could wii&h,-— that this man should now of a sudden 

fly to arms against me, without a thought, and, joining my 

adversaries, strengthen their opposition. Where is faith, 

where is shame, when he who ought to have maintained his 

allegiance unbroken, and have thought himself branded 

with disgrace if he had in any particular disregarded my 

favour, neither respects his fealty to myself his only lord, 

nor shrinks at all from the public infamy of his conduct? 

IfCt us, then, foUow the runaway in hot pursuit, and render 

all his plans for our injury abortive, by the speed with which 

we follow his flight/* 

No time was lost ; for when the earl r^eached his nearest 
castle, with the intention of victualling it, and leaving a 
garrison with orders to resist the king, lo ! to his great 

< Of the powerfiil family of De Clare, and Barlof Hertford John Fits* 
Gilbert seized the royal castle •£ Marlborough. See ^ 376« 



424 ACTS OF KIKO BTKPHEIf, [BOOK If. 

astontshment, the king himself wa^ seen on the other side 
of the castle, where his troops were drawn up in regular 
order ; and the earl would have been intercepted and taken, 
had he not, by disguising his person and concealing his 
face, managed, in the confusion which ensued, to make his 
escape with a few of his followers. The king ordered the 
eastle to be instantly stormed, and, the, garrison being terri- 
fied and Tigorously pressed, it was shortly surrendered. 
Two other castles of Gilbert's being quiddy, and, as it were, 
in the course of the same attack, carried by storm, the king 
marched without delay to a fourth, called Pevei^ey Castle, 
which, built on an elevated moomd, is surrounded by a 
stately wall, and is rendered impregnable by the sea which 
flows up to its the tide filling the ditch, so that its position 
makes it almost inaccessible. On the king's arrival at the 
head of his troops, perceiving the difficulty, from the natnre 
of the ground, of carrying the castle by assault, and that 
those who had thrown themselves into it were prepared for 
resistance, he left there the faithful and regular body of 
troops, on which he mainly relied, to blockade the place ; 
giving them strict orders to use every art and device, and 
to spare no labour or expense, in pressing the siege on the 
seaboard from the ships, and on the landside by the troops, 
until at length the garrison, wearied out, exhausted, should 
own themselves unable to make a longer resistance. 

While these events were in progress^, Henry, son of the 
Countess of Anjou, the right heir and pretender to the crown 
of England, landed in England fi-om beyond sea with a 
gallant band of soldiers'. The kingdom was struck with 

* The sea has receded on this part of the coast of Sussex, and no longer 
washes the hillock or ** monnd " on which the ruins of Pevensey Castle are 
still to be seen ; the nature of the site, and the existing remains, fully justify- 
ing what our author says of its former strength. 

^ No date is assigned to the siege of Pevensey Castle, which seems, how- 
ever, to have quickly succeeded the rupture with the Earl of Chester and his 
adherents, the Gilberts. From the last date we are able to fix, that of the 
assault on Lincoln, a period of six years is passed over by our author in 
silence, though many stirring events occurred in the interval. This chasm 
may, in some degree, be filled by reference to Huntingdon's History in the 
present volume, from p. 284 to his account of the arrival in Bngland of the 
young prince, Henry Plantagenet, with which Huntingdon's narrative con- 
cludes, and our author here again takes up the thread of his. 

' Henry came over to assert his claim to the crown in mid-winter of the 



A.D. 116Q.] HENRT H. LANDS IN ENOLAND. 429 

perturbation at bis arriyal, for the tidings, as wont is, spread- 
ing wider and wider, idle tales were bruited abroad, such 
as, that he had brought many thousand men with him, and 
more were riiortly to follow ; that he was furnished with im- 
mense sums of mcmey ; now, that he had overrun one district, 
and then, that he had burnt and wasted another. His adhe- 
rents, lending a ready ear to these reports, rejoiced as if a new 
light had burst upon them ; while the royalists, on the other 
hand, were for a time depressed, as if a thunderbolt had 
crushed them. But when it appeared certain, and was 
distinctly ascertained by faHL inquiry, that he had brought 
with him not an army, but, a small body of troops ; that 
these had no ready pay, but were to look to the future for 
their hire; and that he engaged in no brilliant enterprises 
but was wasting his time in sloth and negligence, they took 
courage and made a determined resistance. Thus, when he 
came near to the town of Gricklade, and the borough called 
Bourton which then belonged to the king, as if he were 
about to force an entrance without any obstacle, his troops 
were driven in disgrace from the one, and, taken with panic, 
precipitously fled from the other. Not long afterwards, he 

on many occasions felt the king's power to carry 

himself more resolutely, inasmuch as he had rashly and 

year 1152, according to Huntingdon. I am aware that Malmesburj sayg 
he accompanied his uncle on his return from the Continent, at the time of 
the siege of Oxford, in 1141, and Huntingdon says he was knighted by 
King David, at Carlisle, in 1148; but on the former visit to England he 
was a mere stripling, and he certainly returned to Normandy after his se- 
cond, for he was married there in 1151, so that I take it to be clear that his 
expedition for establishing his rights in 1152 is wholly disconnected with 
his visit in company with his uncle, though a learned editor of the Latin text 
of our author appears to connect them. 

' Compare Huntingdon's History, text, p. 291. He gives a very dif- 
ferent account of the campaign of the young Duke of Normandy immediately 
after his landing; representing him to have marched at once on Malmes- 
bury, which he took, and that, after throwing supplies into Wallingford 
and reducing the castle of Crawmarsh, he was on the eve of fighting a pitched 
battle with Stephen, who had assembled his whole force, when the nobles 
on both sides interfered, and ultimately, after some further successes of the 
young prince, effected the accommodation which prevented the further effu- 
sion of blood and restored peace to the kingdom. Huntingdon's narrative 
appears entirely trustworthy, and is supported by Roger of Wendover. Their 
account differs very materially from that given by our author : neitlier of 
them mentions the repulses at Cricklade and Bourton. 



496 Acn OF EiKO wmpj^Bss, [book n* 

ineonsiderstely invaded Englftod uoBerved by 

slotii and ia&ctMty\ and enfeebled by weak 

their gallant and the right heir to the crown of 

Engluid, with whom they came ov^, being deserted . * . . 
they at length dispersed. The young prince, oxer- 
whelmed with such a cloud of misfortune, ...... waa 

worn out with shame and distress; and, henee hecftufie 

the faithful bands he had selected ibr his support 

with him as he intended and because 

the aid he expected from the barons of his pturty , 

could find the means of paying his troops, who 

in the castles, and were ^igaged in daily eonfliets with ib» 
enemy. 

Checked, not without reason, by this misfortune .... 
consulted his mother; but her treasiuy was e:sh:fti}sted, 
and she had no means of supplying his pressing necessities. 
He also had recourse to his uncle the Earl of Gloucester, 
but he was too fond of his money bags, and chose to 
reserve them for his own wants ; so tbat all in whom he 

trusted fBuling him in the extremity of his ne* 

cessity, at last, report says he made appUcation to the 
king his cousin, sending messengers to him privately to 
implore him humbly, that of his goodness he would make 
provision for his pressing wants, and, remembering their 
near relationship, listen kindly to his request. The king 
hearing this, as he was always compassionate and overflow- 
ing with kindness, listened to the young man's entreaties, 
and, sending him money ^ generously relieved the man, 
from whom, of all others, he ought to have withheld assist- 
ance, as the pretender to his crown, and his most inveterate 

1 It may be remarked that theae sentence!, fragmentary as they are, convey 
an impression by no means coinciding with the idea w« are led to form of 
the character of Henry II. from bis general conduct. 

* " It is only right to say that this noble trait in Stephen's character is 
not confirmed by other evidence. At the same time, it is perfectly consistent 
with all his actions ; and the inherent evidence of tmth, which is apparent 
in all the writings of the author of this chronicle, may fairiy entitle it to 
credit." — Sewett. Agreeing with the learned editor as to the general cha- 
racter of our author, I am unable to reconciie his aecouirt with that of 
,Huntingdon, in which there is great circumetantiality and apparent trnth- 
^nlness. It is also supported by the testimony of Roger of Wendover, and 
by the circumstance of Stephen's having: so speedily cxmie to terms with an 



AJD. 115B.] EUSTACK, Stephen's son; 45S7 

enemy. But although the long was blamed for thk, as- 
as haTing acted -with imprudence and even folly, I am of 
opinion that he did it &om wise and noble. views; for 
the more kindly and himianely a man treats his adyersary, 
the more he humbles him, and lessens his power. Thus 
according to the Psalmist, he did not return evil for evil ; 
but, as the Apostle enjoins us, he overcame evil witibt good, 
that by well-doing to his enemy he might heap coals of fire 
on his head. 

About the same time' the king, in the presence of his 
nobles, knighted his son Eustace, a young man of high 
character, endowing him with ample domains, and distin- 
guishing him by a splendid mihtary retinue : he also con- 
ferred on him tibie high rank of an Earl. Young as Eus- 
tace was, his manners were grave ; he excelled in warlike 
exercises, had great natural courage, and stood high in 
mihtary fame; above all, he was com'teous and alEable^ 
scattering his gifts with a generous munificence, and pos- 
sessed much of his £Either's spirit,. being in some things at 
times his equal, in others Im superior : on the one hand, 
be was ever ready to draw close the bonds of peace; on 
the other, he ^ never shrunk from presenting a resolute 
and indoipitable front to his enemies^. Engaging in 
conflict with the Earl of Chester, and also with o^ers, 
he bore off the prize of victory with such brilliant suc- 
cess, that the achievements of a stripling (for the first 
down hardly clothed his cheeks) became the admiration 
of meaa. who were perfect in military exercises. So that 
the son was indefatigable in crushing his enemies in 

enemy who is represented by our author to* hare been se feeble wad destitute. 
Fart of the statement mmt be incorrect, as Henry had left the empress, his 
mother, at Rouen, and the earl, his uncle, was now dead. 

* Our author, as before remarked, supplies us with no dates, but we migkk 
oonclnde from this passage that Euitace was knighted about the tine of 
Prince Henry's expedition ; Whereas Huntingdon informs us that the cere- 
mony took place a.i>. 1148, the sauie year in which Henry was knighted by 
the King of Scots ; see before, p. 287. 

* Compare the character of this young prinoe, given by Huntingdon, p. 
298 of the present vohime. The dilapidated state of the MS. doubtlesa 
acconnts for our not learning from it t^ death «f Eustace, recorded by 
Huntingdon, and which Roger of Wcndover places in the lame year in 
which Henry came orer. It greatly &eilttated, of coune, the ama^ments 
between ILaarj and Stephen. i 



428 ACTS OF KINO STEPHEN. |^B06K It 

one part of the kingdom, while the father returned with 
his usual success from another. He took by sudden 
assault the castle named " Of the Wood," where the foes of 
peace and tranquillity had taken refuge, infesting incessantly 
all the neighbourhood; and, placing in it a. garrison of his 
own, he reduced the whole district under his power. At 
this time also triumphantly he took the castle of Lideley, 
which was delivered up to him, to his great glory. For this 
caslle in those parts, to restrain predatory excur- 
sions and defend the lands of the church which the bishop 
possessed in that neighbourhood. 

And now. the Earl of Gloucester, the of the 

king's enemies, and always ready to undertake any great 
achievement, again and again ...... his army, rousing 

his adherents by continual exhortations and admonitions, 
using threats to induce some, and the offer of rewards others 
to join him. By these means all were brought to be of .one 
mind, and, the dissensions in the army being healed, the 
troops, collected from different quarters, were full of ardour 
to be led against the king. But as "there is neither wisdom, 
nor prudence, nor counsel against the Lord," while the earl 
was scattering the seeds of confusion and civil war more 
widely than before, suddenly drawing near his end, he died, 
as they say, without the grace of repentance, at his city of 
Bristol*. His son William succeeded to the earldom; he 

' Robert, the great Earl of Gloucester, who bore so distinguished a part 
in the events of these times, was evidently no favourite of our anonymous 
author, though he occasionally does justice to the earl's great merits. William 
of Malmesbury, who dedicated his ** Modem History** to him, and devotes a 
considerable portion of its latt«r fMiges to his personal history, places his 
character in the true light. The earl was a natural son of Henry I. by Nesta, 
daughter of Rhys ap Tudor, prince of South Wales, which accounts for his 
influence in the principality. He married Mabel, daughter and heiress 
of Robert Fitahammon, through whom he derived his vast possessions and 
honours in Gloucestershire. He died at Bristol Slst August, or the be- 
ginning of September, 1147, though our author speaks of him as living at 
ike time of Henry's expedition, and was buried in the priory of St. James, 
which he founded there. The earl built or rebuilt the castles of Bristol and 
Cardi£ The former, as appear^ from the present history, was impre;^ 
nable ; and it was of a magnificence which fitted it to become a royal 
ahode, having been the residence of the empress for many years, as well as 
of King Stephen during his captivity. The Empress Maud lived for some 



AJ3, 1158.] DEATH OF WALTER DE PINCHENT. 4^9 

YiBS somewhat advanced in years, but effeminate, a chamber- 
knight rather than a brave soldier. However, soon after 
coming to the earldom, he happened for once to obtain a 
more brilliant success than any one would have given him 
credit for. For Henry de Tracey, a man of great experience 
in war, who was on the king's side, had fortified the castle 
of Gary, to straiten more conveniently the Earl of Gloucester, 
and extend his own power in the district; upon which the 
earl hearing of it, marched there suddenly with a large 
force, I and demolished the works which Henry had com- 
menced, compelling him to make a retreat. 

At that time Walter de Pincheny, who has been men- 
tioned before^, being released from his dungeon, mainly 
by the asistance of the Earl of Hereford, again flew to aims, 
and, assembling a gallant band of troops, he made an entry 
by a surprise into the castle of Christchurch, and killing 
some of tliose he found within, and putting others in chains, 
he ravaged the neighbourhood, and secured tlie lordship of 
a large distidct. But though he ought to have forsaken his 
old habits of cruelty and violence, lest through his sins he 
should fall once more into his enemies' hands, he con- 
tinued to be still fierce and tyrannical ; to plunder without 
mercy the possessions of the church; to worry his neigh- 
bours with quarrels, and continually to extort money and 
other oflferings from all around, tormenting some and 
putting others to death for the mere love of cnielty. But 
God, the just judge, at length recompensed these grievous 
wrongs by a righteous judgment. For the inhabitants of 
this place, with some of the country folk, no longer able to 
bear his barbarity, forming a conspiracy with the soldiers 
on the lordship to which they belonged, and ...... about 

the castle Walter and his followers who had gone 

fi:om the castle to the church of and implored 

. him humbly to his exactions; but he replying 

with an indignant power nay, that he would be 

more imperious than ever, one of them sprung forward and 
[severed] his neck with a single blow of a sharp axe. His 

years after her son Henry II.'s accession to the throne, dying at Rouen 
A.D. 1167. Her character is pourtrayed throughout this narrative in a just 
and vivid manner* 
'See p. 411. 



480 ACTS OF Kma stefbexc. [book ii, 

comrades wete instantly despatched those who 

weie lying in ambush making their appearance 

those who held the castle forthyi^ith ; at last 

terms (^ peace were i^eed on« and the castle was recovered. 

Aboat the same [time] seized, by su]3>ri9e the 

castle of Downton, which belonged of right to £arl 
Patrick, and gained by stratagem the possessions of the 

church of the castle was plentifully victualled 

furnished with munitions of war, and a band of 

freebooters and other was quartered in it^ 

^ The imperfect state of the latter pages of our aiithor*8 MS. and the Toss 
of the conclusion of his memoirs, are much to be regretted. *£htj probsbly 
extended to the deetth of Stephen, on the 25th of Octobtt, 1154, Aarti^ 
after the pacification with Prince Henry. A short notice oiF the principal 
«oearrences to that time will be fonnd in the last pages of Huntingdon's 
History; but had our M8. been perfect, it would probably have thrown 
additional light on the important transactions which secured the reTOsiui 
of the crown of Bngbmd to Heniy I. 



THE EKD. 



INDEX. 



ABBiujimsiQ (Abercom), monastery, 

33. 114. 
Acca, bishop of Hezbam, 119. 12^. 

Acley, synod o( 136. 138. 

Adda, a priest, 102. 

Adgefrin, Korthambeiland, a royal 
riU,9a. 

Adkelm, bisbop of Sberboum, 118. 

Adrian, emperor of Kome, 22. 

Adrian, pope, 137. 139. 

iBlla, king of the South-SazoM, 44. 
46, 47. 

Aellistreu, battle witb tie Saxons, 40. 

iBsc, king of Kent, 45, 46. 

^theriuB, bishop of Aries, consecrates 
St. Augnstine, 69. 

Otitis, groans of the Britont to him, 
34. 

Agilbert, a Frenchman, bishop of Win- 
chester, 99. 105. 

Aidan, bishop of Lmdisfame, 97, 98. 
105. 

Ahiric sacks Eome, 32. 

Alban, St, martynftom, 26. 

Alban*8, St, monastery, 27. 183. 

Albhms of Anjon, Huntingdon's mas- 
ter, 306. 817. 

Alchred, king of Northumbria, 134, 
135. 

Alclnith (Dnnbatton), 83. 

Alcmond, bishop of Hexham, 134. 

AMnlf, king of Bast-Anglia (in Bede's 
time), 92. 

AldnK, aithbishop of York, 179. 

Aldulf, bishop of B^hester, 121. 

Alexander Sevems, emperor, 25. 

Alexander de Blois, bishop of Lin- 
coln, raised to the see, 251; his 



journey to Borne, and eulogy Sn 
Terse, 253 ; arrested by King Ste- 
phen, and surrenders his castles', 
270. 360 ; goes to Rome again, and 
on his return restores Lincoln Ca- 
thedral, 284; meets Pope Eugenin^ 
at Auxerre, and death, 285; his 
character, 284, 285; see also the 
Dedication prefixed to Hunting- 
don's History. 

Alfred, king, consecrated by*Fope 
Leo, at Borne, 150 ; succeeds to the 
throne, 154 ; wars with the Banes, 
154, 155; retreats to Athelney, 
156; victory at Heddington, ibr, 
settles Guthrum in Eas^ Anglia, t5. ; 
takes London, 157; treaty with 
Hastings, 158; drives the Danes 
from the river Lea, 159 ; naval ar- 
maments, 157. 160; his death, and 
verses to his memory, 161. 

Alfred, son of King Ethelred, 2^01, 
202. 

Alfric, archbishop of CanteAury, 179. 

Alfric, ealdorman of Mercia, banished, 
177, 178. 

Alfrid, king of Deira, 106. 114. 119. 

Alfwold, king of Northumbria, 135. 
138, 139. 

Algar, earl of Chester, 203, 204. 

Alice, second queen of Heniy t., her 
grace and beauty, verses addressed 
to her, 249; marries William B^Au- 
bigny, and receives the Empress 
Maud in Arundel Castle, h» dower, 
277. 366, and the notes. 

Allectins, usurper in Britain, 26. 

Alric, killed in Northumbria, 140. , 



432 



INDEX. 



Ambroiiui Anreliiu, 40, 41. 

Anattuias, emperor, 45. 

Antoninus, Pius, emperor, 22. 

Anderida Sylva, the weald of Sussex, 
44. 132. 

Aniaf Ourran, 173. 

Anlaf, king of Nortbumbria, 172. 

Anna, king of the Bast- Angles, 59. 
99. 102. 

Anselm, archbishop of Canterbury, 
224. 240, 241. 

Appeals to Borne introduced, 287. 

Arcadins, emperor, 32. 

Arthur, king of the Britons, 48. 

Arundel Castle, the Empress Maud 
entertained there by Queen Alice, 
366. 

Athelard, archbishop of Canterbury, 
139. 141. 

'Athelney, Isle of, 156. 

Athelstan, king of Kent, 143 ; defeats 
the Danes in a naval action at Sand- 
wich, 150. 

Athelstan, king of Mercia, crowned at 
Kingston, 1 69 ; gains a great victory 
over the Scots and Danes at Brunes- 
burg, 169; his death, 171. 

At-the-Wall, a royal vill in North- 
umberland, 102. 

Attila, king of the Huns, 34. 

Augustine, St., his mission to convert 
the English, 66 ; lands in the Isle 
of Thanet, 67 ,* archbishop of Can- 
terbury, 69 ; controversies with the 
British Christians, 80; death and 
epitaph, 82. 

Augustine, St., abbey of, 76. 82. 

Aurelian, emperor, 25. 

B.idington, Kobert de, a freebooter, 

266. 336. 
Bagsac, a Danish king, 153. 
Baldred, king of Kent, 142, 143. 
Baldulf, or Beadulf, bishop of Whit- 

herne, 139. 
Baldulf, bishop of Rochester, 315. 
Baldwin, earl of Flanders, 202. 208. 

213. 248. 313. 
Baldwin de Rivers, 265. 337. 343, 

344. 364. 



Baldwin Fiti-Gilbert, 277. S32. 

Bamborough Castle. 179. 226. 

Bangor, slaughter of monks^ 81, 82. 

Bath, description of, 851. 357. 

Battle Abbey founded, 212. 

Bede, Venerable, 92. 128, 124. 126. 

Bedford, siege of, 346. 

Belesme, Robert de, 241, 242. 245 ; 
his character, 311. 

Benedict, abbot of Wearmouth, 113. 

Beort, Egfrid's general, 113. 117. 

Berkeley, Roger de, 417. 

Bemred, king of Mercia, 133. 

Bemulf, king of Mercia, 141. 

Bertha, Ethelbert's queen, 68. 

Berthwald, iirst English archbishop 
of Canterbury, 116. 123. 

Berth wulf, king of Mercia, 149. 

Bertric,king of Wessex,137. 139,140. 

Birinus, bishop of Dorchester, 99. 

Blecca, governor of Lincoln, 91. 

Blois, flenry de, brother of King 
Stephen, bishop of Winchester and 
papal legate, 27 ; holds a synod, 
282. 287; proclaims Stephen, 326; 
temporizes with the pretender, 366; 
comes to terms with the empress, 
and proclaims her at Winchester, 
381 ; takes offence, and watches the 
turn of affairs, 384 ; cabals for King 
Stephen s deliverance, 385 ; is be- 
sieged at Winchester, 386.387; 
mediates between King Stephen 
and Henry II., 294 ; his character, 
" half monk, half knight," 315. 

Boniface, pope, 83 ; his letter, with 
the pallium, to Justus, archbishop 
of Canterbury, 86 ; letters to King 
Edwin and Queen Etbelburga, 87. 

Bosa, archbishop of York, 107. 

Brian, Fitz-Count, 367. 390. 

Bristol, description of, 350; the strong- 
hold of the freebooters, 353 ; siege 
proposed, 354; abandoned in de^ 
8pair,565; annoyed by the garrison 
from Bath, 357; head-quarters of 
the empress and her brother Robert^ 
earl of Gloucester, 267. 367 ; King 
Stephen imprisoned in the castle, 
379. 



HIDBX. 



#SS 



Britain, deseriptioa of^ 1. 
Britons, the origin of, 9. 
Bmneburh, great battle of, 169-171. 
Buribrd, battle of, 13Q. 
Burrhed, Idng of JBleim, 149, 150, 
154. 

0»dwalla, king of the West-Britons, 

96, 96, 97. 
Ocedwalla, king of WesseK, 62. 118. 

116. 
Oaldoet, Henry and Balph, insuxgenlB 

in Gloncesterfthire, 416. 
Oaligula, emperor, 18. 
Canterbury Cathedral, 76. 88. 258. 
Canterbury, Boman church of St 

Martin, 69. 
Canterbory, rity, burnt by the Danes, 

190. 
Canute, king of Denmark and Norway, 
his struggle for the crown of Eng- 
land, 191 ; sails up the Thames, 
192; battles with Edmund Iron- 
sides, 193, 194; duel with him, 
195; Canute acknowledged king, 
196; marries Emma, the Norman, 
ih.; wars in Sweden and Norway, 
197; goes to Eome ; his death, 198; 
his greatness ; story of his chiding 
the wayes, 199. 

Caracalla, emperor, 24. 

Oarausius, 26. 

Cassibelaun, a British king, 13. 

Castle Gary taken, 356. 

Cataract (Catterick), 91. 101. 

Ceaulin, king of Wessex, 51, 52, 53. 

Cedd, bishop of the East-Saxons, 104, 
105. 

Celibacy of the clergy enjoined, 241 
252. 257. 

Cenric, or Kenric, king of Wessex, 
48. 50. 

Ceolfrid, abbot of Wearmouth, 113. 

Ceollach, bishop of Repton, 104. 

Ceolnoth, archbishop of Canterbury, 
142. 

Ceobred, king of Mercia, 118, 119. 

Ceolric, king of Wessex, 54. 

Ceolwulf, king of Northumbria, 123. 
126. 128. 134. 



Ceolwulf, king of Wasiex, 54, 55. 
Ceolwulf, king of Mercia, 141. 155. 
Cerdic, king of Wessex, 46, 47, 48. 
Chad, or Cedd, archbishop of Torli^ 

106. 
Chalk-hythe synod, 137. 
Charlemagne, emperor, 134. 140. 
Charles, earl of Fknders, 254. 
Channouth, Danes defeated at, 149. 
Chiche (St Osyth), monastery, 251, 
Chichelm, or Kichelm, kingof Wessex, 

55. 58. 87. 
Child- Wulnoth, the South-Saxon, 187. 
Cissa, king of the South-Saxons, 47. 
Claudius invades Britain, 18. 
Claudius II., 25. 
Coenred, see Eenred. 
Coifi, high-priest of Northnmbria, 89, 

90. 
Coinwalch, see Eenwalk. 
Colman, bishop of Lindisfiime, 106. 
Columba, abbot of lona, 33. 98. 
Commodus, emperor, 24. 
Constantine, emperor, 28. 
Constantius, emperor, 28. 
Crema, John, cardinal of, 252. 
Crida, king of Mercia, 53, 54. 
Crispin, William, count of Evreux, 

245. 247. 
Crusade, the first, 226-236 ; the se- 
cond, 418. 
Cumbra, ealdorman of Wessex, 131, 

132. 
Cuthbert, St, bishop of Lindisfame 

and Hexham, 114. 
Cuthbert, archbishop of Canterbury, 

128. 138. 
Cuthred, king of Wessex, 128, 129. 

131. 
Cutfawine, king of Wessex, 55. 
Cyneard, etheling of Essex, slain, 186, 
Cynegils, king of Wessex, 99. 
Cynewulf, king of Wessex, 133. 136, 

137. 

Dagobert, king of the Franks, 96. 255. 
Damian, archbishop of Canterbury, 

102. 
Danegelt first leried, 178 ; aboHshed, 

264. 

F F 



484 



INDEX. 



Danes, firit irruptions of, 138, 139. 
142; first wintered in England, 
150; massacre of, 184. 

Daniel, bishop of Winchester, 118.1 25. 

David, king of Scotland, 206. 264. 
266. 348. 

Denis-bum, or Denis s brook, 97. 

Deus dedit, archbishop of Canterbory, 
60. 102. 

Diocletian, emperor, 26. 

Diuma, bishop of Repton, 104. 

Domesday book, 215. 

Domitian, emperor, 21. 

Dorchester, see of, removed to Lin- 
coln, 219, 220. 304. 

Dun, bishop of Rochester, 128. 

Dunstan, St., archbishop of Canter- 
bury, 177, 178. 

Dunster Castle, 363. 

Sadbald, king of Kent, 56. 58. 84, 85. 

100. 
Eadbert, bishop of Lindisfiime, 105. 
Eadbert, king of Kent, 129. 
Eadbert, king of Northumbria, 128. 

133. 
Eadbert Pren, king of Kent, 129. 139, 

140. 142. 
Eadburga married to Bertric, 138. 
Eadhed, bishop of Sidnacester, 107, 

108. 
Eadsige, archbishop of Canterbury, 

202, 203. 
Balcstan, bishop of Sherborne, 141. 
Eanbald, archbishop of York, 185, 

136. 139. 
Eanfleda, daughter of King Edwin 

and Ethelburga, 87. 104. 
Eanfrid, king of Bernicia, 90. 96. 
Earchenbert, king of Kent, 58. 60. 100. 
Earchengota, daughter of Earchonbert, 

100. 
Earconwald, bishop of London, 107. 
Eardulf, king of Northumbria, 139. 
East-Anglia, kingdom of, founded, 58. 
Easter controversy, 80. 105. 120. 
Eata, bishop of Lindisfarne, 105. 107. 
Eerie, king of the East- Angles, 58, 59. 

102. 
Edbert, son of King Withred, 121. 



Edgar, king of England, Bumamed 
The Peaceful, promotes religion, 
174 ; builds and restores minsters, 
175; his death and character, 176; 
verses to his memory, ih, 

Edgar Etheling, 207, 208. 213, 214. 
237. 

Edgitha, or Edith, Edward's queen, 
202. 214. 

Edmund, St., king of East-An^lia, 152. 

Edmund, king of Wessex, 171, 172. 

Edmund Ironsides, 192,193.195, 196. 

Edred, king of Wessex and all Eng- 
land, 172, 173. 

Edric, king of Kent, 113, 114. 

Edrie, ealdorman of Mercia, a traitor, 
187. 192. 196. 

Edward, the elder, king, 161 ; routs 
the Danes in a great battle, 163; 
builds castles at Hertford, &c., 164 ; 
Danes defeated in the Bristol 
Channel, 165; dies at Famdon, 
169. 

Edward, king and martyr, 176,' 177. 

Edward, the Confessor, elected king, 
and marries fidgitha, 202 ; turbu- 
lence of Earl Godwin's sons, 203, 
204; Godwin's death, 205; Ed- 
ward's death, 208. 

Edward Etheling, 205. 

Edwin Etheling drowned, 169. 

Edwin, king of Northumbria, 56, 57. 
86, 87, 88. 90. 93. 

Edwy Etheling, banished by Canute, 
197. 

Edwy, king of Wessex and all Eng* 
land, 173. 

Egbert, king of Kent, 60, 61. 

Egbert, king of England, banished, 
and at court of Charlemagne, 140; 
succeeds to the throne of Wessex, 
and gains battle of Ellendune, 141; 
reduces all England south of the 
Humber, 142; Northumbria and 
North-Wales submit, ih,; defeats 
Danes and Welsh at Hengestdown, 
143 ; dies paramount king of Eng- 
land, ih. 

Egbert, archbishop of York, 134. 

Egbert, bishop of lona, 120. 



INDEX. 



43 



Egfert, king of Mercia, 139. 

Egfert/king of Northumbrian 62. 114. 

Elcstan, bishop of Sherborne, 149. 152. 

Eleutherius, bishop of Winchester, 
100. 

Elfhere, ealdorman of Mercia, 176, 
177. 

Elfric, archbishop of Canterbury, 179. 

Elfwina, duke of Ethelfleda, 168. 

Ella, king of Northumbria, 51. 54. 152. 

Elphege, St, archbishop of Canter- 
bury, 189, 190. 199. 

Elswitha, Alfred's queen, 163. 

Ely, isle of, 372. 

Emma (Elgiva), queen of Ethelred 
and Canute, 183, 184. 191. 196. 
200. 204. 

England, state of, on the arrival of the 
Saxons, 35, 36 ; at the invasion of 
the Danes, 147, 148; just before 
the Norman conquest, 183. 208; 
under the first Norman kings, 21 6 ; 
in the civil wars between the em- 
press and King Stephen, 273. 323. 
365. 400. 

Eorpwald, king of East-Anglia, 58. 
92. 

Erchenwin, king of the East-Saxons, 
49. 

Erchonbert, king of Kent, 58.60. 100. 

Eric, king of Northumbria, 173. 

Emulf, bishop of Rochester, 251. 

Escwin, king of Wessex, 61, 62. 

Essex, kingdom of, founded, 49. 

Ethelhard, king of Wessex, 121, 122. 
128. 

Ethelbald, king of Mercia, 119. 123. 
128. 130. 

Ethelbald, king of Wessex, 151. 

Ethelbert, archbishop of York, 134. 

Ethelbert, king of Kent, 51. 56. 66. 
83. 133. 

Ethelbert, king of Northumbria, 65. 

Ethelbert, St., king of East-Aoglia, 
138. 

Ethelbert, king of Kent, Essex, &c., 
161. 

Ethelburga, Ina's queen, 86, 87. 120. 

Ethelfleda, lady of Mercia, daughter I 
of King Alfred, wife of Ethered, 



166 ; builds fortresses, 167 ; re- 
duces Derby and other towns, with 
Yorkshire, 168; death and cha- 
racter ; verses to her memory, 168. 

Ethelfreda, daughter of King Oswy, 
103, 104. 

Ethelfrid, king of Northumbria, 65, 
56. 81, 82. 89. 

Ethelgar, archbishop of Canterbury, 
succeeds St. Dunstan, 178. 

Ethelhem, a West-Saxon chief, 129, 
130. 

Etheihere, king of the East- Angles, 
59. 103. 

Ethelmund, ealdorman of Mercia, 141, 
142. 

Ethelnoth, archbishop of Canterbury, 
197. 

Ethekedjking of Mercia, 62. 107. 11 7. 

Ethelred, son of Moll, 135. 

Ethelred, king of Wessex, 151 ; op- 
poses Hinguar and Hubba, 152; 
relieves King Burrhed in Mercia, i&. ; 
with his brother Alfred fights nine 
battles with the Danes in one year, 
153. 

Ethelred II., king of England, 177 ; 
pays tribute to the Danes, 178; 
opposes them with ill-success, 179, 
180; alliance with the Normans 
by marriage with Emma, 183, 184; 
the Danes, under Sweyn and Ca- 
nute, gain the ascendancy, 188, 
189 ; takes refuge in Normandy, 
191 ; raises and disbands an Eng- 
lish army, 192 ; his death, 193. 

Ethelric, king of Northumbria, 64. 

Ethel walch, king of the South-Saxons, 
108, 109. 

Ethelwald, king of Deira, 105. 

Ethelwald, brother of King Edward 
the elder, seizes Wimbome, 161 ; 
marries a nun, and retires into 
Northumbria, where he is chosen 
king, 162. 

Ethelwald, bishop of Winchester, 176. 
177. 

Ethelward, king of Wessex, 122. 128. 

Ethelwin, bishop of Sidnacester, 107. 

Ethelwulf, king of East-Anglia, 59. 
FT 2 



436 



INDEX. 



Bthelwnlf, king of Weiaez, 59. 143 ; 
defeats the Danes at Charmouth, 
149 ; again at Ockley, in Surrey, 
150 ; marches to the relief of King 
Burrhed, in Mercia, ih.; goes to 
Rome with his son Alfred, marries 
Judith, and death, 151. 

Ethered, ealdorman of Mercia, 157. 
163. 167. 

Eustace, son of King Stephen, 287, 
288. 293. 427. 

Exeter, siege of, 265. 338. 340. 

Farringdon Castle taken, 414. 
Felix, pope, 77. 
Felix, hishop of Dunwich, 92. 
Finan, bishop of Lindisfame, 104, 

105. 
Fitz-Gilbert, family of, 886. 422, 428. 
Fitz-Osbert, William, steward of the 

Conqueror, 208. 213. 
Five Burghs, the, 172. 190. 192. 
Florian, emperor, 26. 
Forthere, bishop of Winchester, 119. 

126. 
Foss-way, an ancient British road, 8. 
Franks, succession of kings, 255. 
Frithbert, bishop of Hexham, 134. 
Frithogitha, queen of King Ethelward, 

126. 
Frithwald, bishop of Whitheme, 134. 
Fursey, «ibbot, 102. 

Valerius, emperor, 26. 

Gallienus, emperor, 25. 

Gebmund, bishop of Rochester, 107. 

Geoffrey, count of Anjou, 254. 259. 
288 

Geoflrey Talbot, 351. 876. 

Gerard, archbishop of York, 243. 

Gerent, British king of Cornwall, 119. 

Germanus, bishop of Auxerre, 41, 
42. 

Gessoriacum (Boulogne), 3. 

Gevissae, or West-Saxons, 99. 

Gilbert, the Uniyersal, bishop of Lon- 
don, 254 ; his character, 311. 

Gilbert, lord of Tunbridge Castle, 225. 

Gilbert de Lacy, 351. 

Godfrey de Mandeville, 282.404. 406. 



Godiva, wife of Earl Leofric, 206. 

Godwin, earl, 197. 201. 204. 

Godwin, bishop of Rochester, 189. 

Gordian, emperor, 25. 

Gortimer, or Vortimer, a British chief, 
40, 41. 

Gower, a district in Sonth Wales, part 
of Robert, earl of Gloucester's do- 
mains, 330. 

Gratian, emperor, 30. 

Ghregory, St., pope, forms the design 
of conyerting the English, 78; com- 
missions St. Augustine, 66; letter 
to the missionaries, 67; instructions 
to the bishops, 71, 72 ; letter to St 
Augustine, on miraculous gifts, 73; 
letters to King Ethelbert and Queen 
Bertha, 74, 75; his works, 77; 
death and epitaph, 79. 

Griffith, king of North Wales, 205. 

Gurth, brother of King Harold, 212. 

Guthrum, Danish king in East Anglia, 

154. 156. 158. 182. 

Hardicanute, king of England, 200, 

201. 
Harold Hardraade, king of Norwar, 

209. 
Harold I., king of England, 199, 

200. 
Harold II., king of England, seizes 

the crown, 208 ; battle of Stamford 

Bridge, 209 ; battle of Hastings, 

210, 211 ; Harold slain, 212. 
Harptree, a castle in Somersetshire, 

taken, 356. 
Hartlepool Abbey, founded by Bthel- 

freda, 104. 
Hastings, a Danish chief, 158. 
Hastings, battle of, 210-212. 
Healfdeane, a Danish chief, 153, 154, 

155. 163. 

Heathfield (Hatfield), 62. 95; acts 

of synod. 111. 
Helena, or Hoel, marries Constan- 

tius, 28. 
Hengist, chief of the Saxons, 38. 40. 

43. 45. 
Henry I., king of England, cHosen 

king in his brother Robert's ab- 



INBBX. 



487 



sence, 240; comes to terms with 
him, 241 ; battle of Tenerchebrai, 
in which Robert is defeated and 
made prisoner, 242; marries his 
daughter Matilda to the emperor 
Henry V., 244 ; wars in Maine and 
Normandy, 245^ 246; battle of 
Noyon, 247 ; verses in celebration 
of, 248 ; loses his only legitimate 
son by shipwreck, 249 ; marries 
his daughter, the empress, to Geof- 
frey, count of Anjou,' 254; his 
death, and verses to his memory, 
260 ; his character, 261. 316. 

Henry XL, knighted by David, king 
of Scots, 287 ; lands in England 
to assert his claims, 289. 424 ; 
state of the kingdom, 290. 425 ; 
reduced to straits, 426 ; campaign 
against Stephen, 291,292; offers 
battle, but the barons mediate 
a truce, 293 ; fealty sworn to him 
as successor to the throne, 294; 
hi« accession, 296. 

Henry V., emperor of Germany, 244. 
262. 

Heraclius, emperor, 55. 94. 

Herbert Losange, bishop of Thetford, 
816. 

Hereward, the outlaw, 213, 214. 

Hereford cathedral garrisoned, 876. 

Hervey, first bishop of Ely, 258. 
816. 

Hervey of Brittany, 376. 

Higbert, bishop of Lichfield, 187. 

Hinguar and Hubba, Saxon chie£s, 
152. 

Honorius, emperor, 32. 

Honorius, pope, his letter to king 
Edwin, 91 ; to archbishop Ho- 
norius, 93; to the Scots, on the 
Pelagian heresy, 94. 

Honorius, archbishop of Canterbury, 
93. 

Horsa, a Saxon chief, 38. 40. 

Hugh Faien, master of the Templars, 
256. 

Hugh the Poor, earl of Bedford, 346. 
380. 

Hugh Bigod, 283. 406. 410. 



Huntingdon, town of, 189. 

Ida, king of Northnmbria, 50. 

Ina, king of Wessex, 116. 119, 120, 

121. 
lona, monastery of, 97, 98. 
Ireland described, 10. 
Isle of Man, 86. 
Ithamar, bishop of Rochester, 101, 

102. 

Jarrow, monastery, 120. 

Jaruman, bishop of Repton, 104. 106. 

Jovinian, emperor, 29. 

Judith, Etbelwulfs queen, 150. 157. 

Julian, the apostate, 29. 

Julius Cawar invades Britain, 12. 

Justinian, emperor, 48. 

Justus, first bishop of Rochester, 78. 

Justus, archbishop of Canterbury, 85. 

Kenred, king of Mercia, 117. 
Eenred, king of Northumbria, 119. 
Eenric, Etheling of Wessex, slain, 

129. 
Kentwin, king of Wessex, 62. 113. 
Kenulf, king of Mercia, 189, 140, 

141. 
Kenwald, king of Wessex, 58. 60, 

61. 99. 
Keort, king of Mercia, 54. 

Lambert, archbishop of Canterbury, 

184. 139. 
Lanfranc, archbishop of Canterbury, 

219. 223. 
Lastingham monastery, 105. 107. 
Laurentius, archbishop of Canterbury, 

69. 82, 83, 84, 85. 
Leo, emperor of Rome, 41. 
Leo, pope, 140. 

Leofric, eari of Chester, 199. 207. 
Leofwine, archbishop of Canterbury, 

190.197. 
Lincoln, church founded, 91. 
Lincoln, see of Dorchester removed to, 

219, 220. 304. 
Lincoln, battle of, 274. 377. 
Lindisfame, monastery, 97, 105. 107. 
liindsey, province of, 91. 



i38 



INDlBX. 



Lisbon taken by an expedition from 
Bngland assisting Alphonso, king 
of Portugal, against the Moon, 
286. 

Lothaire, king of Kent, 62. 

Ludecan, king of Mercia, 142. 

Malcolm, king of Scotland, 213, 214, 
215. 224, 225. 889. 

Marches of Wales, castles bailt, 237. 

Marcus Aurelius, emperor, 23. 

Margaret, queen of Scotland, 208. 
213. 225. 

Maseriield, 100. 

Matilda, William the Conquerors 
queen ; her death, 215 ; founded 
a conrent at Caen, where she was 
buried, 218. 

Matilda, Henry I.'s. queen ; her death 
and character, 246; verses ad- 
dressed to her, 247. 

Matilda, daughter of Henry I., mar- 
ried to the emperor Henry V., 244 ; 
to Geoffrey, count of Anjon, 264 ; 
received the fealty of the English, 
258. 266; comes to England to 
claim the crown, 272 ; takes up 
her quarters in Bristol Oastle, 366 ; 
imprisons King Stephen there, 280. 
379 ; proclaimed queen at Win- 
chester, 381 ; received at London, 
but quickly expelled, 383. 386; 
besieges Stephen's brother, the 
bishop at Winchester, 386; her 
forces routed, she flees to Devizes, 
390; besieged at Oxford, 393; 
makes her escape, 395 ; her arro- 
gant demands for Stephen to abdi- 
cate, 416 ; her character, 382. 

Matilda, King Stephen's queen, after 
the king's imprisonment retains 
possession of Kent, 280 ; her cha- 
racter, 383 ; intercedes for her hus- 
band's relief, 384 ; marches on Lon- 
don and rouses the citizens and the 
king^s adherents, 385 ; gains over 
the bishop of Winchester, 386; 
marches to his relief, 387. 

Maurice, bishop of London, 240. 
243. 



Maurice, emperor, Q6. 

Maximian, emperor, 88. 

Maximin, emperor, 25. 

Maximus, usurper, 30. 

Mellent, eari of, 246. 251 ; his cha- 
racter, 308. 

Melitus, archbishop of Canterbury, 
70, 71. 80. 85. 

Mercia, kingdom of, founded, 53. 

Metropolitan sees, their precedence 
settled by Pope Gregory, 70. 

Milo, earl of Hereford, 831. 334. 
869. 370. 403. 

Milo do Beauchamp, 345. 

Mohun, William de, 362. 

Moll Ethelwald, )king of Nortbum- 
bria, 133, 134. 138. 

Monair, earl of Northumbria, 207; 
b^omes an outlaw, 213. 

Morton, eari of, 241, 242, 243. 

Mull, brother of Caedwalla, 113. 115. 

Naiton, king of the Picts, 120. 

Nazaleod, a British king, 46. 

Nero, emperor of Borne, 19. 

Nerva, emperor, 21. 

New Forest made, 219. 

Nicholas, &ther of Henry of Hun- 
tingdon, 244. 805. 

Nigel, bishop of Ely, 259. 272. 361. 
371. 

Ninian, bishop, converts the Picts, 
98. 

Northumbria, kingdom founded, 60. 

Northnmbria divided into two, Deira 
and Bemicia, 96. 

Northumbria, bishopric, divided, 107. 

Nothelm, archbishop of Canterbury, 
^126. 

Norwegian, a single man kills 40 
English at Stamford bridge, 209. 

Noyon, battle of, 247; lines descrip- 
tive of, 248. 

Odda, made earl of Devon by Ed- 
ward the Confessor, 203. 

Odo, bis*hop of Bayeux, 215. 219. 
222, 223. 

Offa, son of King Sighere, 118. 



INDEX. 



439 



Offii, king of Mercia, 133, 134, 135. 

139. 
Olave, king of Norway, 179. 
Olave (St.) defeated and slain, 19S. 
Orcjides (Orkney Islands), 3. 
Orcades, bishop of, 267. 
Osbert, king of Northiimbria, 152. 
Osfrid, son of Edwin, 95. 
Oskytel, a Danish 'king, 154. 
Osiic, king of Northiimbria, 96. 113. 

119. 138. 
Ostrith, queen of Mercia, 117. 
Oswald, archbishop of York, 179. 
Oswald, king of Northumbria, 59. 

61. 102. 104. 
Oswulph, king of Ifcrthumbria, 183. 
Oswy, king of Northumbria, 101. 
Oxford, siege of, 281. 393. 395. 

Faien, or Paganus, Hugh, 256. 
Palladius, his mission to Ireland, 35. 
Pallium, or pall, of Metropolitans, 70. 

SQ, 
Paschal, pope, 181. 
Paulinus, archbishop of York, 70. 86, 

87, 88. 91. 95. 98. 
Paul's (St.) Cathedral founded, 79; 
. rebuilt, 243. 

Peada, king of Mercia, 59. 102. 104. 
Pearteneu, orParteney, cell, 91. 
Pecceth, Robert, bishop of Chester, 

315. 
Penda, king of Mercia, 57. 59. 95. 

99. 102, 103. 
Pelagian heresy, 82. 41, 42. 94. 
Pepin, king of the Franks, 134. 255. 
Petwine, bishop of Whitheme, 134. 
Pevensey Castle, 45. 223. 424. 
Pharamond, king of the Franks, 37. 

255. 
Philip, emperor, 25. 
Philip, king of France, 213. 217. 

318. 
Phocas, emperor of Rome, 55. 77. 
Picts, their origin, 9. 
Port, a Saxon chief, 46. 
Portsmouth, 46. 
Putta, bishop of Rochester, 107. 

Quenburgay Edwin's queen, 90. 



Ralph, archbishop of Canterbury, 
245. 250. 

Ralph, chancellor of Henry I., 250 ; 
his character, 310. 

Ramsey Abbey founded, 175. 

Ranulf, bishop of Durham, the crafty 
and rapacious judge of William Ru^ 
fus, 238 ; escapes from the tov^er, 
246. 

Ranulf, earl of Chester, 273. 278. 
284. 377. 414. 419 ; his character, 
278. 

Redwald, king of East-Anglia, 56. 88. 

Reginald, earl of Cornwall, 373. 
416. 

Remi, bishop of Lincoln, 219, 220. 
224 ; his character, 304. 

Rendlesham, or Rendel's Mansion, 
105. 

Reuda, leader of the Scots, 10. 

Richard, bastard son of Henry I., 
drowned, 249. 307. 

Robert, archbishop of Canterbury, 
203, 204. 

Robert Bloet, bishop of Lincoln, 224. 
250. 251. 302, 303. 

Robert de Querceto, bishop of Lin- 
coln, 286. 

Robert earl of Flanders, 245. 

Robert (Curthose), eldest son of Wil- 
liam I., pledges his duchy of Nor- 
mandy to William II., 219 ,* joins 
the crusade, 227 ; his achiere- 
ments, 228. 236 ; claims the crown 
of England, 240; makes terms 
with Henry I. ; recommencing 
hostilities, is defeated at Tener- 
chebrai, 242 ; made prisoner for 
life in Cardiff Castle, 243. 312. 

Robert, earl of Gloucester (bastard 
son of Henry I.), does homage to 
King Stephen, 329 ; provisions 
and fortifies his castle of Bristol, 
350 ; lands at Arundel, with the 
empress, 365; marches to Bris- 
tol and declares against Stephen, 
369 ; tries to intercept the king, 
347 ; defeats him at Lincoln, 274. 
378 ; takes the king prisoner and 
confines him in Bristol Castle, 379, 



440 



IKPEX. 



880; taken priioner lumaelf at 
Winchester, and exchanged for 
Stephen, 281. Sl^O ; defeats Ste- 
phen at Wilton, 397; offers him 
battle near Tetbury, 409; con- 
tinues hostilities, 411. 416 ; his 
death and character, 428, and note. 

£ol)ert FitE-Hubert» a freebooter, 
-859. 374. 

Robert, bishop of Hereford, 402. 

Koger, bishop of Salisbury, justiciary 
and prime minister of Henry I., 
251 ; espouses the cause of Ste- 
phen, 2d2; secretly fevours the 
empress Maud, 358; seized by 
King Stephen, and his castles sur- 
rendered, 270. 360; death and 
character, 272. 370. 

Koger, chancellor of Henry I., 861. 

Boffer, earl of Hereford, 404. 409, 410. 

SoUo lands in Normandy, 155. 

Bomans first invade Britain, 12. 

Bomans withdraw from the ishmd, 
34. 

Bomanns, bishop of Bochester, 98. 

Boman Wall, of Severus, 33. 

Bomescot, or Peter's pence, 133. 198. 

Butubi-portus (Bichborough), 2. 

Saxons, Jutes, and Angles arrive, 38. 
Scots and Picts attack the Britonsi, 84. 
Sebbi, king of the East^Saxons, 57. 

106. 
Sebert, king of Essex^ 57. 
Selred, king of Bssex, 125. 129. 
Selsey, isle and bishopric, 109. 
Serwulf, bishop of Lichfield, 107. 
Severn, Danes defeated in, 164, 165. 

178, 179. 
Sexburgh, queen of Wessex, 61. 100. 
Sigebert, king of Wessex, 131, 182. 
Sigebert, king of the East-Angles, 58. 

92. 101. 
Sigebert the Gk>od, king of the East- I 

Saxons, 57. 60. 104. | 

Sighere, king of the East Saxons, 106. 
Sine, archbishop of Canterbury, coun- j 

sels the Bane-geld, 178. j 

Siward, archbishop of Canterbury, i 

203. i 



Siward, earl of Northmnbria, 204, 
205. 

Standard, battle of the, 267. 270. 

Stephen, pope, 141. 

Stephen de Blob, nephew of Henry 
I., on his death, seises the crown, 
262« 324; grants a charter of 
liberties, 264; the noblea rebel, 
265. 267; he defeats the insur- 
gents and the King of Scotland, 
268, 269 ; taken prisoner at Lin- 
coln, and confined in Bristol Castle, 
275. 280 ; released in exchange for 
Bobert^ earl of Gloucester, 281 ; 
civil wars with the party of the 
empress continued, 2S2. 288w 293. 
424 ; treaty with Henry, duke 
of Normandy, for the soccesaion, 
293-295 ; his death, 296. 

Stephen de Mandevil^ 407. 

Stigand, bishop of Winchester, 202 ; 
translated to Canterbury, 204. 

Suidhelm, king of the EastrSaxens, 
105. 

Sussex, kingdom of, founded, 45» 

Sweyn, earl, 202, 203. 

Sweyn, king of Denmark, invades 
England, 179; fresh invasioBS, 185. 
190 ; becomes king of England, 
and death, 179. 

Tacitus, emperor, 26. 
Taillefer, a Norman jester, 211. 
Tatwine, archbishop of Canterbury. 

123, 124. 
Tenerchebrai, battle of, 242. 
aiianet, isle of, 67. 
Theobald, archbishop of CanterbtHT, 

270. 287. 289. 294. 
Tbeobogild, archbishop of Canterbury. 

61, 62. 107. 111. 116. 
Theodosius, emperor, 31. 
Theodosius the younger, 34. 
Thomas, archbishop of York, 240. 
Thurkytel, a Danish earl, 188. 191. 
Thurstan, archbishop of York, 245. 

267. 316. 
Tiberius, emperor of Borne, 17. 
Titus, emperor, 20. 
Tobias, bishop of Bochester, 116. 121. 



INSrEX. 



^41 



Tonsure^ ecclesiastical, 120. 

Tosti, earl, son of Godwin^ 203. 205. 

207. 209. 
Tower of London surrendered by 

Geoffrey de MaRdeville, 404. 
Tracy, Henry de, 363. 395. 428. 
Trajan, emperor, 21. 
Trinobantum (London ?) 14. 
Trumhere, bishop of Eepion, 104. 
Trumwine, bishop of the Picts, 108. 

114. 
Tuda, bishop of Lindisfame, 10^, 

106. 
Tumbert, bishop of Hexham, 108. 
Torgis of Orleans, 410. 

Ufia, king of East-Anglia, 53. 

Uffingas, 53. 

Uhtred, earl of Northwal^ 190. 

193. 
Ulf, bishop of Dorchester, 203. 
Ulfkytel, earl of Eni-AngUa, laSL 

189. 

Valens, enperor, 36. 

Valentinian, emperor, 30. 

Valerian, emperor, 25. 

Veralam (St. Alban'»), 27. 

Vespasian, emperor,, 18> 19. 

Vigilius, pope, 50. 

Vikings, l>ani8h, 167. 

Vitalian, pope, 107. 

Vortigern, a Saxon chief, 39, 40, 41. 

Walcher, bishop of Durham, 215. 
Waleran, earl of Mellent, 287. 
Wales (South), description and state 

of, 329. 
Walkelin, bishop of Winchester, 238. 
Wallingford Castle, 368. 415. 
Walter, archdeacon of Oxford, 301. 

318. 
Walter de Pincheney, 411. 428. 
Waltheof, earl of Northumberland, 

213, 214. 
Watling Street, 8. 
Wearmouth monastery, 113. 
Welsh, insnrrections of, 215. 237. 

330. 332. 419. 



Welskmen, irregular troop% 274. 2T9. 

409. 
Wessex, kingdom of, founded, 48. 
Westminster Abbey founded, 208. 
Westmtnater Hall axid PaUuse buUt, 

238. 
Whitherne, bishopric founded, 98. 125. 
Wicoii, a British tribe, 80. 141. 
Wight, Isle of, 50. 109. 343. 
Wilfere's dun, or Wilfar's Hill, 101. 
Wilfrid, archbishop of York, 106. 

119. 
Wilfrid, bishop of Selsey, 108, 109. 
Wilfrid, bishop of Worcester, 129. 
William Curboil, archbishop of Can- 
terbury, 251. 254; his character, 
. 315. 326. 
William Gii!ard, bishop of Winchester, 

240. 256 ; bis character, 315. 
William I., duke of Normandy, 198; 
pretensions to England, 208; 
speech before the battle of Hast- 
ings, 210 ; crowned, 212 ; in Scot- 
land, 214 ; in Wale% 215 ; cautcs 
the Doomsicbay book to be made, 
ib, ; death and character, 217. 
William II. (lufes), 222. 225. 237. 

239. 243. 

William, prince, son of Henry I., 

drowned, 2i9; hia character, 33ft. 

WiUkat, earl of iFiasderB, inradea 

Normandy, 246 ; .gaiaa •m battle 

against Theodoric, 255 ; dies 

young ; Walo the poet's eulogy of 

him, 256 ; his character, 307.' 

William, earl of Gloucester, succeeds 

Robert ; his character, 428. 
William Pont de I'Arche, 826. 399. 
William de Dover, 408. 411, 412. 
Wilton, battle of, 281. 397. 
Winchester stormed by the Danes, 
151; siege and rout of, 281.JB86, 
387. 
Windsor Castle built, 244. 
Winfrid, bishop of Lichfield, 107. 
Wini, bishop of Winchester, 99. 
Wippa, or Pyba, king of Mercia, 54. 
Witlaf, king of Mercia, 142. 
Withred, king of KenV 117. 120. 



442 



INDEX. 



Witgftr, lord of the Isle of Wigbt, Wul&tan, archbishop of York, 174 



47. 50. 
Woodstock, a roval hunting seat, 

260. 
Worcester, burnt and pillaged, 287. 
Wulfhere, king of Mercia, 60, 61. 

104. 106. 
Wnlfredy archbishop of Oanterbary, 

141, 142. 



Wulstan, bishop of Worcester, 222. 

Ypres, William de, 276. 279. 378 

his character, 276. 
York minster founded, 90. 94. 

Zachary, pope, 128. 

Zeno, emperor of Borne, 45. 



INDEX 



HENEY OF HUNTINGDON'S POEMS. 



Alfred the Great, 161. * 

Ethelfleda, lady of Mercia, 168. 
King Edgar, 176. 
Elegy on his father Nicholas, 244. 
Matilda, queen of Henry I., 247. 
The battle of Noyon, 248i 
Shipwreck of Henry I.'s children, 

249. 
Verses to queen Alice, 249. 
Epitaph on Robert Bloet, bishop of 
. Lincoln, 251. 



To Bishop Alexander de Bloia, Pre* 

fiice, and 258. 
On the death of William, earl of 

Flanders, from the poetWalo, 256. 
To the memory of Henry I., 260. 
Elegy on England's woes, 273. 
England implores succour from the 

young Duke of Normandy, 289, 

290. 
England's welcome to Henry II., 297. 
Elegy on his friend Walter* 318, 319. 



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