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THE NORMANS 
 
THE STORY OF THE NATIONS 
 
 THE NORMANS 
 
 TOLD CHIEFLY IN RELATION TO THEIR CON- 
 QUEST OF ENGLAND 
 
 BY 
 SARAH ORNE JEWETT 
 
 NEW YORK 
 
 G. P. PUTNAM'S SONS 
 
 LONDON: T. FISHER UNWIN 
 1898 
 

 52504 
 
 Copyright. 1886 
 
 BV 
 
 G. P. PUTNAM'S SONS 
 
 Ube lRnfcfeerbocfeer press, Ittew l^orfe 
 
TO 
 
 MY DEAR GRANDFATHER 
 
 Doctor WILLIAM PERRY, of Exeter 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 The Men of the Dragon Ships . . . 1-29 
 The ancient Northmen, 1-3 — Manner of life, 4-6 — Hall- 
 life and hospitality, 7 — Sagamen, 8 — Sea-kings and vikings, 
 9— Charlemagne and the vikings, II — Viking voyages and 
 settlements, 12-22 — The Northmen in France, 23-27 — Mod- 
 ern inheritance from the Northmen, 28. 
 
 II. 
 
 Rolf the Ganger ...... 3°~5 I 
 
 Harold Haarfager, 30— Jarl Rognwald, 32— Rolf's outlawry, 
 33 — Charles the Simple, 35 — The Archbishop of Rouen, 37 
 — Hasting, 38 — Siege of Bayeux, 40 — Rolf's character, 41 
 — The founding of Normandy, 43 — The king's grant, 45 — 
 Rolf's christening, 46 — Law and order, 48 — Rolf's death, 50, 
 
 III. 
 
 William Longsword 52—65 
 
 French influences ; Charlemagne ; Charles the Fat, 52-54 — 
 Feudalism, 55 — The Franks, 55 — Norman loyalty to France, 
 57 — Longsvvord's politics, 60 — The Bayeux Northmen, 61 
 — Longsword's love of the cloister, 63 — Longsword's char- 
 acter, 64. 
 
 IV. 
 
 Richard the Fearless ..... 66-89 
 
 Longsword's son, 66 — A Norman castle, 67 — News of 
 Longsword's death, 69 — His funeral, 70 — Richard made 
 
Vlll CONTENTS. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 duke, 70— The guardianship of Louis of France, 72 — De- 
 tention of Richard and escape from Laon, 73-75 — Hugh of 
 Paris, 76 — Louis at Rouen, 77 — Norman plots, So — Harold 
 Blaatand, 81 — Normandy against France, 82 — Indepen- 
 dence of Normandy, 84 — Normandy and England, 85— Ger- 
 berga, 85 — Alliance with Hugh of Paris; with Hugh Capet, 
 86-88— Death of Richard, 89. 
 
 V. 
 Duke Richard the Good .... 90-114 
 Richard the Good's succession, 90— French influences, 91 
 — Lack of records, 91 — Prosperity of the duchy, 92 — Rich- 
 ard's love of courtliness and splendor, 92 — Wrongs of the 
 common people ; their complaint, 93-95— Raoul of Ivry, 
 96 — The Flemish colony ; the Falaise fair ; Richard's 
 brother William, 97, 98 — Robert of France, 99— Richard's' 
 marriage, 101 — /Ethelred the Unready, 102 — The Danes in 
 England, 103 — Emma of Normandy, 105 ; Trouble with 
 Burgundy, 107 — The lands of Dreux, 109 — The Count- 
 Bishop of Chalons, no ; Norman chroniclers, 112 — Ermen- 
 oldus ; the third Richard and his murder, 112-114. 
 
 VI. 
 Robert the Magnificent . . 1 15-129 
 
 Power and wealth of Normandy, 115 — The English princes, 
 118 — Cnut of England and Queen Emma, 119— Robert's 
 lavishness ; Baldwin of Flanders, 120-122 — The tanner's 
 daughter, 122 — Norman pride and Robert's defiance of pub- 
 lic opinion, 124 — Robert's pilgrimage to Jerusalem, 125 
 — His death at Nicsea, 129. 
 
 VII. 
 
 The Normans in Italy .... 130-148 
 
 Hasting the pirate, 130 — Early Norman colonies in the 
 south of Europe, 132 — The Norman character, 134 — Tan- 
 cred de Hauteville, 135 — Serlon de Hauteville, 136 — Sicily, 
 139 — Pope Leo the Tenth, 140 — Robert Guiscard, 141 — 
 Rapid progress of the Norman-Italian States and their 
 prosperity, 142 — Norman architecture in Sicily, 145. 
 
CONTENTS. IX 
 
 VIII. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 The Youth of William the Conqueror . 149-170 
 Typical character of William, 149 — Loneliness of his child- 
 hood, 151 — William de Talvas, 152 — The feudal system, 
 153— Christianity and knighthood, 156 — Ceremonies at the 
 making of a knight, 157 — The oaths of knighthood, 161 — 
 The Truce of God, 166-170. 
 
 IX. 
 
 Across the Channel .... 171-194 
 
 Changes in England, 171 — ^Ethelred, 172 — The Danegelt, 
 173 — The Danes again, 175 — Swegen, 177 — Cnut, 178 — 
 Eadmund Ironside, 180 — Cnut's pilgrimage, 181 — Godwine, 
 184 — Eadward the Confessor, 187 — The Dover quarrel, 189 
 — Normans in England, 192 — Castles, 193. 
 
 The Battle of Val-es-Dunes . . . 195-214 
 
 Roger de Toesny, 196 — William's boyhood, 198 — Escape 
 from Valognes, 199 — The Lord of Rye, 200 — Guy of Bur- 
 gundy, 201 — Rebellion, 202 — Val-es-Dunes, 204 — Ralph of 
 Tesson, 206 — Neal of St. Saviour, 208 — William's leniency, 
 211 — His mastery, 213 — The siege of Alencon, 213. 
 
 XL 
 
 The Abbey of Bec ..... 215-231 
 
 Cloistermen, 215 — Soldiery and scholarship, 216 — Building 
 of religious houses, 218 — Cathedrals, 220 — Benedictines, 
 222 — Herluin and his abbey, 223 — Lanfranc, 226 — His 
 influence in Normandy, 229. 
 
 XII. 
 
 Matilda of Flanders .... 232-254 
 Flanders, 232 — Objections to William's marriage, 234 — 
 Marriage of William and Matilda at Eu, 236 — Mauger, 237 
 — Rebuilding of churches, 239 — William's early visit to 
 England, 242 — Godwine's return, 244 — His death, 245 — 
 
X CONTENTS. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Jealousy of France, 246 — The French invasion of Nor- 
 mandy, 247 — Battle of Mortemer, 248 — The curfew bell, 
 251 — Battle of Varaville, 252 — Harold of England's visit, 
 254- 
 
 XIII. 
 
 Harold the Englishman . . . 255-274 
 
 Causes and effects of war, 255 — Relations of William and 
 Harold, 256 — Harold's unfitness as a leader of the English, 
 257 — His shipwreck on the coast of Ponthieu, 260 — Wil- 
 liam's palace in Rouen, 261 — News of Harold's imprison- 
 ment by Guy of Ponthieu, 262 — Harold's release, 264 — His 
 life in Normandy, 265 — His oath, 267 — Eadward's last ill- 
 ness, 269 — Harold named as successor, 272. 
 
 XIV. 
 
 News from England .... 275-294 
 
 Harold made king, 275 — William hears the news, 276 — 
 The Normans begin to plan for war, 278 — William's em- 
 bassy, 280 — The council at Lillebonne, 280 — The barons 
 hold back, 282 — Lanfranc's influence at Rome, 286 — Tos- 
 tig, 287 — Harold's army, 290 — Harold Hardrada, 291- 
 The battle of Stamford Bridge, 293. 
 
 XV. 
 
 The Battle of Hastings .... 295-311 
 
 Normandy makes ready for war, 295 — The army at St. 
 Valery, 297 — William crosses the Channel, 298 — The camp 
 at Hastings, 300 — Harold of England, 302 — Senlac, 304 — 
 The battle array, 306 — The great fight, 308 — The Norman 
 victory, 310. 
 
 XVI. 
 
 William the Conqueror .... 312-344 
 
 Norman characteristics, 312 — William's coronation, 314 — 
 His plan of government, 316 — Return to Normandy, 320— 
 Caen, 322 — The Bayeux tapestry, 323 — Matilda crowned 
 
CONTENTS. xi 
 
 I'AGE 
 
 queen, 325 — Difficulties of government, 327 — The English 
 forests, 330 — Decay of learning in Eadward's time, 331 — 
 William's laws against slavery, 332 — His son Robert, 333 — 
 The queen's death, 335 — Odo's plot, 335 — William's injury 
 at Mantes, 337 — His illness and death, 339 — Description 
 from Roman de Roti, 341. 
 
 XVII. 
 
 Kingdom and Dukedom .... 345~358 
 William Rufus, 345 — Robert of Normandy, 346 — William 
 Rufus in England, 349 — Duke Robert goes on pilgrimage, 
 351 — Murder of William Rufus, 353 — Henry Beauclerc 
 seizes the English crown, 355 — Death of Prince William, 
 358. 
 
 XVIII. 
 
 Conclusion ...... 359~~366 
 
 Development of Norman character, 360 — Northern influ- 
 ences, 362 — The great inheritance, 365. 
 
?*-*&jGj 
 
 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. 
 
 BIRTHPLACE OF WILLIAM THE CONQUEROR. FALAISE. 
 
 Frontispiece 
 
 MAP EUROPE AT CLOSE OK ELEVENTH C 
 
 IRON SPEAR AND CHISEL 
 
 VIKING SHIP . 
 
 ViKING .... 
 
 NORSE BUCKLE 
 
 NORWEGIAN FIORD 
 
 FLAILS AS MILITARY WEAPONS 
 
 ABBEY CHURCH OF ST. OUEN. (ROUEN) 
 
 QUEEN EMMA OR /ELFGIFU 
 
 NORMAN COSTUMES 
 
 ROBERT, DUKE OF NORMANDY, CARRIED 
 
 TER TO JERUSALEM 
 NORMAN PLOUGHMAN 
 ARMING A KNIGHT .... 
 CONFERRING KNIGHTHOOD ON THE FIELD 
 KING CNUT ..... 
 DOORWAY OF CATHEDRAL, CHARTRES 
 CANTERBURY CATHEDRAL 
 CRYPT OF MOUNT ST. MICHEL 
 
 xiii 
 
 ENTURY 
 
 IN A LIT 
 
 OF BATTLE 
 
 I 
 
 5 
 
 17 
 
 21 
 31 
 
 77 
 
 37 
 
 io 5 
 117 
 
 127 
 
 153 
 
 157 
 
 167 
 
 179 
 217 
 221 
 241 
 
XIV LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. 
 
 NORMAN ARCHER ... 
 
 GUY, COUNT OF PONTHIEU 
 
 MOUNT ST. MICHEL .... 
 
 OLD HOUSES, DOL 
 
 FUNERAL OF EADWARD THE CONFESSOR.. 
 STIGAND, ARCHBISHOP OF CANTERBURY 
 MAP — NORMANDY IN 1066 
 
 MAP ENGLAND ..... 
 
 NORMAN VESSEL ..... 
 
 WILLIAM THE CONQUEROR 
 
 NORMAN MINSTREL .... 
 
 SOLDIER IN CLOAK ..... 
 
 ATH OF HAROLD .... 
 
 RMAN LADY . 
 
 TTLE-AXES . 
 ODO. BISHOP OF BAYEUX 
 
 PAG ft 
 
 2 53 
 
 2 59 
 263 
 
 26 
 
 27 
 
 277 
 
 281 
 
 289 
 
 297 
 
 301 
 
 3°5 
 309 
 
 3 2 5 
 326 
 
 3 2 9 
 335 
 
 The ten illustrations in this volume which are from designs by 
 Thomas Macquoid, have been reproduced (through the courtesy of 
 Messrs. Chatto & Windus) from Mrs. Macquoid's "Pictures and 
 Legends from Normandy and Brittany," the American edition of 
 which was published by G. P. Putnam's Sons. 
 
DUKES OF THE NORMANS. 
 
 ROLF, 
 
 First Duke of the Normans, 
 
 r. 911-927. 
 
 I 
 WILLIAM 
 
 LONGSWORD, 
 r. 927-943. 
 
 I 
 
 RICHARD 
 
 THE FEARLESS, 
 
 r. 943-99°- 
 
 I 
 
 RICHARD 
 
 THE GOOD, 
 r. 996-IO26. 
 
 I 
 
 Emma, 
 
 m. 1. ^Ethelred II. 
 
 of England ; 
 
 m. 2. Cnut of England 
 
 and Denmark. 
 
 RICHARD III. 
 r. 1026-1028. 
 
 ROBERT 
 
 THE MAGNIFICENT, 
 
 r. 1028-1035. 
 
 I 
 
 WILLIAM 
 
 THE CONQUEROR, 
 
 r. 1035-1087. 
 
 I 
 
 ROBERT II., 
 
 r. 1 08 7- 1 096 
 (from 1096 to 1100 
 the Duchy was 
 held by his 
 brother William), 
 and 1100-1106 
 (when he was over- 
 thrown at Tinche- 
 brai by his 
 brother Henry). 
 
 I 
 WILLIAM 
 
 RUFUS, 
 
 r. 1096-1100. 
 
 HENRY I., 
 r. 1106-1135. 
 
 I 
 
 Matilda 
 m. GEOFFRY 
 
 COUNT OF 
 
 ANJOU 
 
 AND 
 
 MAINE 
 
 (who won the 
 Duchy from 
 
 Stephen). 
 
 HENRY II., 
 
 invested with the 
 
 Duchy, 1 1 50, 
 
 d. 1189. 
 
 i 
 
 I 
 Adela, 
 m. Stephen, 
 Count of Bloi.^ 
 
 I 
 STEPHEN 
 
 OF BLOIS, 
 
 s. H35- 
 
 RICHARD 
 
 THE LION-HEART, 
 
 r. 1189-1199. 
 
 JOHN, 
 r. 1199-1204 
 
 (when Normandy 
 
 was conquered 
 
 by France). 
 
THE 
 
 STORY OF THE NORMANS. 
 
 i. 
 
 THE MEN OF THE DRAGON SHIPS. 
 
 " Far as the breeze can bear, the billows foam, 
 
 Survey our empire and behold our home." — Byron. 
 
 The gulf stream flows so near to the southern 
 coast of Norway, and to the Orkneys and Western 
 Islands, that their climate is much less severe than 
 might be supposed. Yet no one can help wonder- 
 ing why they were formerly so much more populous 
 than now, and why the people who came westward 
 even so long ago as the great Aryan migration, did 
 not persist in turning aside to the more fertile coun- 
 tries that lay farther southward. In spite of all their 
 disadvantages, the Scandinavian peninsula, and the 
 sterile islands of the northern seas, were inhabited 
 by men and women whose enterprise and intelli- 
 gence ranked them above their neighbors. 
 
 Now, with the modern case of travel and trans- 
 portation, these poorer countries can be supplied 
 from other parts of the world. And though the 
 
 i 
 
2 THE STORY OF THE NORMANS. 
 
 summers of Norway are misty and dark and short, 
 and it is difficult to raise even a little hay on the bits 
 of meadow among the rocky mountain slopes, com- 
 merce can make up for all deficiencies. In early 
 times there was no commerce except that carried 
 on by the pirates — if we may dignify their under- 
 takings by such a respectable name, — and it was 
 hardly possible to make a living from the soil 
 alone. The sand dunes of Denmark and the cliffs 
 of Norway alike gave little encouragement to tillers 
 of the ground, yet, in defiance of all our ideas of suc- 
 cessful colonization, when the people of these coun- 
 tries left them, it was at first only to form new set- 
 tlements in such places as Iceland, or the Faroe or 
 Orkney islands and stormiest Hebrides. But it does 
 not take us long to discover that the ancient North- 
 men were not farmers, but hunters and fishermen. 
 It had grown more and more difficult to find food 
 along the rivers and broad grassy wastes of inland 
 Europe, and pushing westward they had at last 
 reached the place where they could live beside wa- 
 ters that swarmed with fish and among hills that 
 sheltered plenty of game. 
 
 Besides this they had been obliged not only to 
 make the long journey by slow degrees, but to fight 
 their way and to dispossess the people who were al- 
 ready established. There is very little known of 
 these earlier dwellers in the east and north of Eu- 
 rope, except that they were short of stature and 
 dark-skinned, that they were cave dwellers, and, in 
 successive stages of development, used stone and 
 bronze and iron tools and weapons. Many relics of 
 
THE MEN OF THE DRAGON SHIPS. 3 
 
 their home-life and of their warfare have been dis- 
 covered and preserved in museums, and there are 
 evidences of the descent of a small proportion of 
 modern Europeans from that remote ancestry. The 
 Basques of the north of Spain speak a different lan- 
 guage and wear a different look from any of the sur- 
 rounding people, and even in Great Britain there are 
 some survivors of an older race of humanity, which 
 the fairer-haired Celts of Southern Europe and Teu- 
 tons of Northern Europe have never been able in the 
 great natural war of races to wholly exterminate and 
 supplant. Many changes and minglings of the in- 
 habitants of these countries, long establishment of 
 certain tribes, and favorable or unfavorable condi- 
 tions of existence have made the nations of Europe 
 differ widely from each other at the present day, but 
 they are believed to have come from a common 
 stock, and certain words of the Sanscrit language 
 can be found repeated not only in Persian and In- 
 dian speech to-day, but in English and Greek and 
 Latin and German, and many dialects that have 
 been formed from these. 
 
 The tribes that settled in the North grew in time 
 to have many peculiarities of their own, and as their 
 countries grew more and more populous, they needed 
 more things that could not easily be had, and a fash- 
 ion of plundering their neighbors began to prevail. 
 Men were still more or less beasts of prey. Invaders 
 must be kept out, and at last much of the industry 
 of Scandinavia was connected with the carrying on 
 of an almost universal fighting and marauding. 
 Ships must be built, and there must be cndleLj 
 
4 THE STORY OF THE NORMANS. 
 
 supplies of armor and weapons. Stones were easily 
 collected for missiles or made fit for arrows and 
 spear-heads, and metals were worked with great 
 care. In Norway and Sweden were the best places 
 to find all these, and if the Northmen planned to 
 fight a great battle, they had to transport a huge 
 quantity of stones, iron, and bronze. It is easy to 
 see why one day's battle was almost always decisive 
 in ancient times, for supplies could not be quickly 
 forwarded from point to point, and after the arrows 
 were all shot and the conquered were chased off the 
 field, they had no further means of offence except 
 a hand-to-hand fight with those who had won the 
 right to pick up the fallen spears at their leisure. 
 So, too, an unexpected invasion was likely to prove 
 successful ; it Avas a work of time to get ready for a 
 battle, and when the Northmen swooped down upon 
 some shore town of Britain or Gaul, the unlucky citi- 
 zens were at- their mercy. And while the Northmen 
 had fish and game and were mighty hunters, and 
 their rocks and mines helped forward their warlike 
 enterprises, so the forests supplied them with ship 
 timber, and they gained renown as sailors wherever 
 their fame extended. 
 
 There was a great difference, however, between 
 the manner of life in Norway and that of England 
 or France. The Norwegian stone, however useful 
 for arrow-heads or axes, was not fit for building 
 purposes. There is hardly any clay there, either, 
 to make bricks with, so that wood has usually been 
 the only material for houses. In the Southern coun- 
 tries there had always been rude castles in which 
 
IRON CHISEL FOUND IN AAMOT 
 PARISH, OESTERDALEN. 
 
 IRON POINT OF A SPEAR WI'IH INLAID WORK OF SILVER, 
 FOUND AT NESNE, IN NORDLAND. 
 
6 THE STORY OF THE NORM A MS. 
 
 the people could shelter themselves, but the North- 
 men could build no castles that a torch could not 
 destroy. They trusted much more to their ships 
 than to their houses, and some of their great cap- 
 tains disdained to live on shore at all. 
 
 There is something refreshing in the stories of old 
 Norse life ; of its simplicity and freedom and child- 
 ish zest. An old writer says that they had " a hank- 
 ering after pomp and pageantry," and by means of 
 this they came at last to doing things decently and 
 in order, and to setting the fashions for the rest of 
 Europe. There was considerable dignity in the 
 manner of every-day life and housekeeping. Their 
 houses were often very large, even two hundred 
 feet long, with the flaring fires on a pavement 
 in the middle of the floor, and the beds built next 
 the walls on three sides, sometimes hidden by wide 
 tapestries or foreign cloth that had been brought 
 home in the viking ships. In front of the beds were 
 benches where each man had his seat and footstool, 
 with his armor and weapons hung high on the wall 
 above. The master of the house had a high seat on 
 the north side in the middle of a long bench ; oppo- 
 site was another bench for guests and strangers, 
 while the women sat on the third side. The roof 
 was high, there were a few windows in it, and those 
 were covered by thin skins and let in but little light. 
 The smoke escaped through openings in the carved, 
 soot-blackened roof, and though in later times the 
 rich men's houses were more like villages, because 
 they made groups of smaller buildings for store- 
 houses, for guest-rooms, or for workshops all around, 
 
THE MEN OF THE DRAGON SHIPS. 7 
 
 still, the idea of this primitive great hall or living-room 
 has not even yet been lost. The later copies of it in 
 England and France that still remain are most inter- 
 esting; but what a fine sight it must have been at 
 night when the great fires blazed and the warriors 
 sat on their benches in solemn order, and the skalds 
 recited their long sagas, of the host's own bravery 
 or the valiant deeds of his ancestors ! Hospitality 
 was almost made chief among the virtues. There 
 was a Norwegian woman named Geirrid who went 
 from Heligoland to Iceland and settled there. She 
 built her house directly across the public road, and 
 used to sit in the doorway on a little bench and in- 
 vite all travellers to come in and refresh themselves 
 from a table that always stood ready, spread with 
 food. She was not the only one, either, who gave 
 herself up to such an exaggerated idea of the duties 
 of a housekeeper. 
 
 When a distinguished company of guests was 
 present, the pleasures of the evening were made 
 more important. Listening to the sagas was the 
 best entertainment that could be offered. " These 
 productions were of very ancient origin and entirely 
 foreign to those countries where the Latin language 
 prevailed. They had little or nothing to do with 
 either chronology or general history ; but were lim- 
 ited to the traditions of some heroic families, relat- 
 ing their deeds and adventures in a style that was 
 always simple and sometimes poetic. These compo- 
 sitions, in verse or prose, were the fruit of a wild 
 Northern genius. They were evolved without mod- 
 els, and disappeared at last without imitations ; and 
 
S THE STORY OF THE NORMANS. 
 
 it is most remarkable that in the island of Iceland, of 
 which the name alone is sufficient hint of its frightful 
 climate, and where the very name of poet has al- 
 most become a wonder, — in this very island the 
 skalds (poets) have produced innumerable sagas and 
 other compositions during a space of time which 
 covers the twelfth, thirteenth, and fourteenth cen- 
 turies." * 
 
 The court poets or those attached to great fam- 
 ilies were most important persons, and were treated 
 with great respect and honor. No doubt, they often 
 fell into the dangers of either flattery or scandal, but 
 they were noted for their simple truthfulness. We 
 cannot help feeling such an atmosphere in those 
 sagas that still exist, but the world has always been 
 very indulgent towards poetry that captivates the 
 imagination. Doubtless, nobody expected that a 
 skald should always limit himself to the part of a lit- 
 eral narrator. They were the makers and keepers of 
 legends and literature in their own peculiar form of 
 history, and as to worldly position, ranked much 
 higher than the later minstrels and troubadours or 
 trouveres who wandered about France. 
 
 When we remember the scarcity and value of 
 parchment even in the Christianized countries of the 
 South, it is a great wonder that so many sagas were 
 written down and preserved ; while there must have 
 been a vast number of others that existed only in 
 tradition and in the memories of those who learned 
 them in each generation. 
 
 If we try to get the story of the Northmen from 
 * Depping: " Mantimes Voyages des Normands." 
 
THE MEAT OF THE DRAGON SHIPS. Q 
 
 the French or British chronicler, it is one long, dreary- 
 complaint of their barbarous customs and their hea- 
 then religion. In England the monks, shut up in 
 their monasteries, could find nothing bad enough to 
 say about the marauders who ravaged the shores of 
 the country and did so much mischief. If we believe 
 them, we shall mistake the Norwegians and their 
 companions for wild beasts and heathen savages. 
 We must read what was written in their own lan- 
 guage, and then we shall have more respect for the 
 vikings and sea-kings, always distinguishing between 
 these two ; for, while any peasant who wished could 
 be a viking — a sea-robber — a sea-king was a king in- 
 deed, and must be connected with the royal race of 
 the country. He received the title of king by right 
 as soon as he took command of a ship's crew, though 
 he need not have any land or kingdom. Vikings 
 were merely pirates ; they might be peasants and 
 vikings by turn, and won their name from the inlets, 
 the viks or wicks, where they harbored their ships. 
 A sea-king must be a viking, but naturally very few 
 of the vikings were sea-kings. 
 
 When we turn from the monks' records, written 
 in Latin, to the accounts given of themselves by the 
 Northmen, in their own languages, we are surprised 
 enough to find how these ferocious pagans, these 
 merciless men, who burnt the Southern churches 
 and villages, and plundered and killed those of the 
 inhabitants whom they did not drag away into slav- 
 ery, — how these Northmen really surpassed their 
 enemies in literature, as much as in military achieve- 
 ments. Their laws and government, their history 
 
IO THE STORY OF THE NORMANS. 
 
 and poetry and social customs, were better than those 
 of the Anglo-Saxons and the Franks. 
 
 If we stop to think about this, we see that it 
 would be impossible for a few hundred men to land 
 from their great row-boats and subdue wide tracts of 
 country unless they were superior in mental power, 
 and gifted with astonishing quickness and bravery. 
 The great leaders of armies are not those who can 
 lift the heaviest weights or strike the hardest blow, 
 but those who have the mind to plan and to organ- 
 ize and discipline and, above all, to persevere and be 
 ready to take a dangerous risk. The countries to 
 the southward were tamed and spiritless, and bound 
 down by church influence and superstition until they 
 had lost the energy and even the intellectual power 
 of their ancestors five centuries back. The Roman 
 Empire had helped to change the Englishmen and 
 many of the Frenchmen of that time into a popula- 
 tion of slaves and laborers, with no property in the 
 soil, nothing to fight for but their own lives. 
 
 The viking had rights in his own country, and 
 knew what it was to enjoy those rights ; if he could 
 win more land, he would know how to govern it, 
 and he knew what he was fighting for and meant to 
 win. If we wonder why all this energy was spent 
 on the high seas, and in strange countries, there are 
 two answers : first, that fighting was the natural 
 employment of the men, and that no right could be 
 held that could not be defended ; but beside this, 
 one form of their energy was showing itself at home 
 in rude attempts at literature. It is surprising 
 enough to find that both the quality and the quan- 
 
THE MEN OF THE DRAGON SHIPS. II 
 
 tity of the old sagas far surpass all that can be 
 found of either Latin or English writing of that time 
 in England. These sagas are all in the familiar 
 tongue, so that everybody could understand them, 
 and be amused or taught by them. They were 
 not meant only for the monks and the people who 
 lived in cloisters. The legends of their ancestors' 
 beauty or bravery belonged to every man alike, and 
 that made the Norwegians one nation of men, work- 
 ing and sympathizing with each other — not a mere 
 herd of individuals. 
 
 The more that we know of the Northmen, the 
 more we are convinced how superior they were in 
 their knowledge of the useful arts to the people 
 whom they conquered. There is a legend that 
 when Charlemagne, in the ninth century, saw some 
 pirate ships cruising in the Mediterranean, along 
 the shores of which they had at last found their 
 way, he covered his face and burst into tears. He 
 was not so much afraid of their cruelty and barbar- 
 ism as of their civilization. Nobody knew better 
 that none of the Christian countries under his rule 
 had ships or men that could make such a daring 
 voyage. He knew that they were skilful workers in 
 wood and iron, and had learned to be rope-makers 
 and weavers ; that they could make casks for their 
 supply of drinking-water, and understood how to 
 prepare food for their long cruises. All their 
 swords and spears and bow-strings had to be made 
 and kept in good condition, and sheltered from the 
 sea-spray. 
 
 It is interesting to remember that the Northmen's 
 
12 THE STORY OF THE NORMANS. 
 
 fleets were not like a royal navy, though the king 
 could claim the use of all the war-ships when he 
 needed them for the country's service. They were 
 fitted out by anybody who chose, private adven- 
 turers and peasants, all along the rocky shores. 
 They were not very grand affairs for the most part, 
 but they were all seaworthy, and must have had a 
 good deal of room for stowing all the things that 
 were to be carried, beside the vikings themselves. 
 Sometimes there were transport vessels to take the 
 arms and the food and bring back the plunder. 
 Perhaps most of the peasants' boats were only thirty 
 or forty feet long, but when we remember how 
 many hundreds used to put to sea after the small 
 crops were planted every summer, we cannot help 
 knowing that there were a great many men who 
 knew how to build strong ships in Norway, and how 
 to fit them out sufficiently well, and man them and 
 fight in them afterward. You never hear of any 
 fleets being fitted out in the French and English 
 harbors equalling these in numbers or efficiency. 
 
 When we picture the famous sea-kings' ships to 
 ourselves, we do not wonder that the Northmen 
 were so proud of them, or that the skalds were 
 never tired of recounting their glories. There were 
 two kinds of vessels : the last-ships, that carried car- 
 goes; and the long-ships, or ships-of-war. Listen to 
 the splendors of the " Long Serpent," which was 
 the largest ship ever built in Norway. A dragon- 
 ship, to begin with, because all the long ships had a 
 dragon for a figure-head, except the smallest of 
 them, which were called cutters, and only carried 
 
% i lit ?'*pp|;1 1 
 
14 THE STORY OF THE NORMANS. 
 
 ten or twenty rowers on a side. The " Long Ser- 
 pent " had thirty-four rowers' benches on a side, and 
 she was a hundred and eleven feet long. Over the 
 sides were hung the shining red and white shields 
 of the vikings, the gilded dragon's head towered 
 high at the prow, and at the stern a gilded tail went 
 curling off over the head of the steersman. Then, 
 from the long body, the heavy oars swept forward 
 and back through the water, the double thirty-four 
 of them, and as it came down the fiord, the " Long 
 Serpent " must have looked like some enormous cen- 
 tipede creeping out of its den on an awful errand, 
 and heading out across the rough water toward its 
 prey. 
 
 The crew used to sleep on the deck, and ship- 
 tents were necessary for shelter. There was no deep 
 hold or comfortable cabin, for the ships were built 
 so that they could be easily hauled up on a sloping 
 beach. They had sails, and these were often made of 
 gay colors, or striped with red and blue and white 
 cloths, and a great many years later than this we 
 hear of a crusader waiting long for a fair wind at the 
 Straits of the Dardanelles, so that he could set all 
 his fine sails, and look splendid as he went by the 
 foreign shores. 
 
 To-day in Bergen harbor, in Norway, you are 
 likely to see at least one or two Norland ships that 
 belong to the great fleet that bring down furs and 
 dried fish every year from Hammerfest and Trond- 
 hjem and the North Cape. They do not carry the 
 red and white shields, or rows of long oars, but they 
 are built with high prow and stern, and spread a great 
 
THE MEN OF THE DRAGON SHIPS. I 5 
 
 square brown sail. You are tempted to think that 
 a belated company of vikings has just come into 
 port after a long cruise. These descendants of the 
 long-ships and the last-ships look little like peaceful 
 merchantmen, as they go floating solemnly along the 
 calm waters of the Bergen-fiord. 
 
 The voyages were often disastrous in spite of much 
 clever seamanship. They knew nothing of the mari- 
 ner's compass, and found their way chiefly by the aid 
 of the stars — inconstant pilots enough on such foggy, 
 stormy seas. They carried birds too, oftenest ravens, 
 and used to let them loose and follow them toward 
 the nearest land. The black raven was the vikings' 
 favorite symbol for their flags, and familiar enough 
 it became in other harbors than their own. They 
 were bold, hardy fellows, and held fast to a rude 
 code of honor and rank of knighthood. To join 
 the most renowned company of vikings in Harold 
 Haarfager's time, it was necessary that the champion 
 should lift a great stone that lay before the king's 
 door, as first proof that he was worth initiating. 
 We are gravely told that this stone could not be 
 moved by the strength of twelve ordinary men. 
 
 They were obliged to take oath that they would not 
 capture women and children, or seek refuge during 
 a tempest, or stop to dress their wounds before a 
 battle was over. Sometimes they were possessed by 
 a strange madness, caused either by a frenzy of rivalry 
 and the wild excitement of their rude sports or by 
 intoxicating liquors or drugs, when they foamed at 
 the mouth and danced wildly about, swallowing burn- 
 ing coals, uprooting the very rocks and trees, destroy- 
 
1 6 THE STORY OF THE NORMANS. 
 
 ing their own property, and striking indiscriminately 
 -nt friends and foes. This berserker rage seems to 
 have been much applauded, and gained the possessed 
 viking a noble distinction in the eyes of his com. 
 panions. If a sea-king heard of a fair damsel any- 
 where along the neighboring coast, he simply took 
 ship in that direction, fought for her, and carried her 
 away in triumph with as many of her goods as he 
 was lucky enough to seize beside. Their very gods 
 were gods of war and destruction, though beside 
 Thor, the thunderer, they worshipped Balder, the 
 fair-faced, the god of gentle speech and purity, with 
 Freyr, who rules over sunshine and growing things. 
 Their hell was a place of cold and darkness, and 
 their heaven was to be a place where fighting went 
 on from sunrise until the time came to ride back 
 to Valhalla and feast together in the great hall. 
 Those who died of old age or sickness, instead of 
 in battle, must go to hell. Odin, who was chief of 
 all the gods, made man, and gave him a soul which 
 should never perish, and Frigga, his wife, knew the 
 fate of all men, but never told her secrets. 
 
 The Northmen spread themselves at length over 
 a great extent of country. We can only wonder 
 why, after their energy and valor led them to found 
 a thriving colony in Iceland and in Russia, to even 
 venture among the icebergs and perilous dismal 
 coasts of Greenland, and from thence downward to 
 the pleasanter shores of New England, why they did 
 not seize these possessions and keep the credit of 
 discovering and settling America. What a change 
 that would have made in the world's history ! His- 
 
iS THE STORY OF THE NORMANS. 
 
 torians have been much perplexed at the fact of 
 Leif Ericscn's lack of interest in the fertile Vin- 
 land, New England now, which he visited in 986 and 
 praised eloquently when he left it to its fate. Vi:i- 
 land waited hundreds of years after that for the hardy 
 Icelander's kindred to come from old England to 
 build their houses and spend the rest of their lives 
 upon its good corn-land and among the shadows of 
 its great pine-trees. There was room enough for all 
 Greenland, and to spare, but we cannot help sus- 
 pecting that the Northmen were not very good 
 farmers, that they loved fighting too well, and would 
 rather go a thousand miles across a stormy sea to 
 plunder another man of his crops than to patiently 
 raise their own corn and wool and make an honest 
 living at home. So, instead of understanding what 
 a good fortune it would be for their descendants, if 
 they seized and held the great western continent 
 that stretched westward from Vinland until it met 
 another sea, they kept on with their eastward 
 raids, and the valleys of the Elbe and the Rhine, of 
 the Seine and Loire, made a famous hunting-ground 
 for the dragon ships to seek. The rich seaports and 
 trading towns, the strongly walled Roman cities, the 
 venerated abbeys and cathedrals with their store of 
 wealth and provisions, were all equally exposed to 
 the fury of such attacks, and were soon stunned and 
 desolated. What a horror must have fallen upon a 
 defenceless harbor-side when a fleet of the North- 
 men's ships was seen sweeping in from sea at day- 
 break ! What a smoke of burning houses and 
 shrieking of frightened people all day long ; and as 
 
THE MEN OF THE DRAGON SHIPS. 10 
 
 the twilight fell and the few survivors of the assault 
 dared to creep out from their hiding-places to see 
 the ruins of their homes, and the ships putting out 
 to sea again loaded deep with their possessions ! — we 
 can hardly picture it to ourselves in these quiet 
 days. 
 
 The people who lived in France were of another 
 sort, but they often knew how to defend themselves 
 as well as the Northmen knew how to attack. There 
 are few early French records for us to read, for the 
 literature of that early day was almost wholly de- 
 stroyed in the religious houses and public buildings 
 of France. Here and there a few pages of a poem 
 or of a biography or chronicle have been kept, but 
 from this very fact we can understand the miserable 
 condition of the country. 
 
 In the year 8iothe Danish Norsemen, under their 
 king, Gottfried, overran Friesland, but the Emperor 
 Charlemagne was too powerful for them and drove 
 them back. After his death they were ready to try 
 again, and because his huge kingdom had been 
 divided under many rulers, who were all fighting 
 among themselves, the Danes were more lucky, and 
 after robbing Hamburg several times they ravaged 
 the coasts and finally settled themselves as comforta- 
 bly as possible at the mouth of the Loire in France. 
 Soon they were not satisfied with going to and fro 
 along the seaboard, and took their smaller craft and 
 voyaged inland, swarming up the French rivers by 
 hundreds, devastating the country everywhere they 
 went. 
 
 In 845 they went up the Seine to Paris, and plun- 
 
20 THE STORY OF THE NORMANS. 
 
 dered Paris too, more than once ; and forty years 
 later, forty thousand of them, led by a man named 
 Siegfried, went up from Rouen with seven hundred 
 vessels and besieged the poor capital for ten months, 
 until they were bought off at the enormous price of 
 the whole province of Burgundy. See what power 
 that was to put into the hands of the sea-kings' 
 crews ! But no price was too dear, the people of 
 Paris must have thought, to get rid of such an army 
 in the heart of Gaul. They could make whatever 
 terms they pleased by this time, and there is a tradi- 
 tion that a few years afterward some bands of Dan- 
 ish rovers, who perhaps had gone to take a look at 
 Burgundy, pushed on farther and settled themselves 
 in Switzerland. 
 
 From the settlements they had made in the prov- 
 ince of Aquitania, they had long before this gone 
 on to Spain, because the rich Spanish cities were too 
 tempting to be resisted. They had forced their way 
 all along the shore of the sea, and in at the gate of 
 the Mediterranean ; they wasted and made havoc as 
 they went, in Spain, Africa, and the Balearic islands, 
 and pushed their way up the Rhone to Valence. We 
 can trace them in Italy, where they burned the cities 
 of Pisa and Lucca, and even in Greece, where at last 
 the pirate ships were turned about, and set their sails 
 for home. Think of those clumsy little ships out on 
 such a journey with their single masts and long oars! 
 Think of the stories that must have been told from 
 town to town after these strange, wild Northern foes 
 had come and gone ! They were like hawks that 
 came swooping down out of the sky, and though 
 
THE MEN OF THE DRAGON SHIP?. 
 
 21 
 
 Spain and Rome and Greece were well enough 
 acquainted with wars, they must have felt when the 
 Northmen came, as we should feel if some wild beast 
 from the heart of the forest came biting and tearing 
 its way through a city street at noontime. 
 
 NOKSE BUCKLE WITH BYZANTINE DECORATION. 
 
 The whole second half of the ninth century is taken 
 up with the histories of these invasions. We must 
 follow for a while the progress of events in Gaul, or 
 France as we call it now, though it was made up 
 
22 THE STORY OF THE NORMANS. 
 
 then of a number of smaller kingdoms. The result 
 of the great siege of Paris was only a settling of 
 affairs with the Northmen for the time being ; one 
 part of the country was delivered from them at the 
 expense of another. ■ They could be bought off and 
 bribed for a time, but there was never to be any such 
 thing as their going back to their own country and 
 letting France alone for good and all. But as they 
 gained at length whole tracts of country, instead of 
 the little wealth of a few men to take away in their 
 ships as at first, they began to settle down in their 
 new lands and to become conquerors and colonists 
 instead of mere plunderers. Instead of continually 
 ravaging and attacking the kingdoms, they slowly 
 became the owners and occupiers of the conquered 
 territory ; they pushed their way from point to point. 
 At first, as you have seen already, they trusted to 
 their ships, and always left their wives and children 
 at home in the North countries, but as time went on, 
 they brought their families with them and made new 
 homes, for which they would have to fight many a 
 battle yet. It would be no wonder if the women had 
 become possessed by a love for adventure too, and 
 had insisted upon seeing the lands from which the 
 rich booty was brought to them, and that they had 
 been saying for a long time : " Show us the places 
 where the grapes grow and the fruit-trees bloom, 
 where men build great houses and live in them 
 splendidly. We are tired of seeing only the long 
 larchen beams of their high roofs, and the purple and 
 red and gold cloths, and the red wine and yellow 
 wheat that you bring away. Why should we not go 
 
THE MEN OF THE DRAGON SHIPS. 2$ 
 
 to live in that country, instead of your breaking it to 
 pieces, and going there so many of you, every year, 
 only to be slain as its enemies ? We are tired of our 
 sterile Norway and our great Danish deserts of 
 sand, of our cold winds and wet weather, and our 
 long winters that pass by so slowly while the fleets 
 are gone. We would rather see Seville and Paris 
 themselves, than only their gold and merchandise and 
 the rafters of their churches that you bring home for 
 ship timber." One of the old ballads of love and 
 valor lingers yet that the women used to sing : 
 " Myklagard and the laud of Spain lie wide away 
 o'er the lee." There was room enough in those fat- 
 countries where the ships went — why then do they 
 stay at home in Friesland and Norway and Denmark, 
 crowded and hungry kingdoms that they were, of the 
 wandering sea-kings? 
 
 As the years went on, the Northern lands them- 
 selves became more peaceful, and the voyages of the 
 pirates came to an end. Though the Northmen still 
 waged wars enough, they were Danes or Norwegians 
 against England and France, one realm against 
 another, instead of every man plundering for him- 
 self. 
 
 The kingdoms of France had been divided and 
 weakened, and, while we find a great many fine 
 examples of resistance, and some great victories 
 over the Northmen, they were not pushed out and 
 checked altogether. Instead, they gradually changed 
 into Frenchmen themselves, different from other 
 Frenchmen only in being more spirited, vigorous, 
 and alert. They inspired every new growth of the re- 
 
24 THE STORY OF THE NORMANS. 
 
 ligion, language, or manners, with their own splen- 
 did vitality. They were like plants that have grown 
 in dry, thin soil, transplanted to a richer spot of 
 ground, and sending out fresh shoots in the doubled 
 moisture and sunshine. And presently we shall 
 find the Northman becoming the Norman of his- 
 tory. As the Northman, almost the first thing we 
 admire about him is his character, his glorious en- 
 ergy ; as the Norman, we see that energy turned in- 
 to better channels, and bringing a new element into 
 the progress of civilization. 
 
 The Northmen had come in great numbers to set- 
 tle in Gaul, but they were scattered about, and so it 
 was easier to count themselves into the population, 
 instead of keeping themselves separate. Some of 
 these settlements were a good way inland, and every- 
 where they mixed their language with the French 
 for a time, but finally dropped it almost altogether. 
 In a very few years, comparatively speaking, they 
 were not Danes or Norwegians at all ; they had for- 
 gotten their old customs, and even their pagan gods 
 of the Northern countries from which their ancestors 
 had come. At last we come to a time when we be- 
 gin to distinguish some of the chieftains and other 
 brave men from the crowd of their companions. 
 The old chronicles of Scandinavia and Denmark and 
 Iceland cannot be relied upon like the histories of 
 Greece or Rome. The student who tries to discover 
 when this man was born, and that man died, from a 
 saga, is apt to be disappointed. The more he 
 studies these histories of the sea-kings and their 
 countries, the more distinct picture he gets of a 
 
THE MEN OF THE DRAGON SHIPS. 25 
 
 great crowd of men taking their little ships every 
 year and leaving the rocky, barren coasts of their 
 own country to go southward. As we have seen, 
 France and England and Flanders and Spain were 
 all richer and more fruitful, and they would go ashore, 
 now at this harbor, now that, to steal all they could, 
 even the very land they trod upon. Now and then 
 we hear the name of some great man, a stronger and 
 more daring sailor and fighter than the rest. There 
 is a dismal story of a year of famine in France, when 
 the north wind blew all through the weeks of a leaf- 
 less spring, the roots of the vines were frozen, and 
 the fruit blossoms chilled to the heart. The wild 
 creatures of the forest, crazed with hunger, ventured 
 into the farms and villages, and the monks fasted 
 more than they thought best, and prayed the more 
 heartily for succor in their poverty. But down from 
 the North came Ragnar Lodbrok, the great Danish 
 captain, with his stout-built vessels, " ten times 
 twelve dragons of the sea," and he and his men, in 
 their shaggy fur garments, went crashing through 
 the ice of the French rivers, to make an easy prey 
 of the hungry Frenchmen — to conquer everywhere 
 they went. And for one Ragnar Lodbrok, read fifty 
 or a hundred ; for, though there are many stories 
 told about him, just as we think that we can picture 
 him and his black-sailed ships in our minds, we are 
 told that this is only a legend, and that there never 
 was any Ragnar Lodbrok at all who was taken by 
 his enemies and thrown into a horrible dungeon 
 filled with vipers, to sing a gallant saga about his 
 life and misdeeds. But if there were no hero of 
 
26 THE STORY OF THE NORMAN'S. 
 
 this name, we put together little by little from one 
 hint and another legend a very good idea of those 
 quarrelsome times, when to be great it was necessary 
 to be a pirate, and to kill as many men and steal as 
 much of their possession as one possibly could, 
 These Northmen set as bad an example as any 
 traveller since the world began. More than ninety 
 times Ave can hear of them in France and Spain and 
 the north of Germany, and always burning and ruin- 
 ing, not only the walled cities, but all the territory 
 round about. Shipload after shipload left their 
 bones on foreign soil ; again and again com- 
 panies of them were pushed out of France and Eng- 
 land and defeated, but from generation to genera- 
 tion the quarrels went on, and we begin to wonder 
 why the sea-coasts were not altogether deserted, until 
 we remember that the spirit of those days was war- 
 like, and that, while the people were plundered one 
 year, they succeeded in proving themselves masters 
 the next, and so life was filled with hope of military 
 glory, and the tide of conquest swept now north, 
 and now south. 
 
 From the fjords of Norway a splendid, hardy race 
 of young men were pushing their boats to sea every 
 year. Remember that their own country was a very 
 hard one to live in with its long, dark winters, its 
 rainy, short summers when the crops would not 
 ripen, its rocky, mountainous surface, and its natural 
 poverty. Even now if it were not for the fishing the 
 Norwegian peasant people would find great trouble 
 in gaining food enough. In early days, when the 
 tilling of the ground was less understood, j f must 
 
THE MEN OF THE DRAGON SHIPS. 27 
 
 have been hard work tempting those yellow-haired, 
 eager young adventurers to stay at home, when they 
 could live on the sea in their rude, stanch little 
 ships, as well as on land ; when they were told great 
 stories of the sunshiny, fruitful countries that lay to 
 the south, where plenty of food and bright clothes 
 and gold and silver might be bought in the market 
 of war for the blows of their axes and the strength 
 and courage of their right arms. No wonder that it 
 seemed a waste of time to stay at home in Norway ! 
 
 And as for the old men who had been to the 
 fights and followed the sea-kings and brought home 
 treasures, we are sure that they were always talking 
 over their valiant deeds and successes, and urging 
 their sons and grandsons to go to the South. The 
 women wished their husbands and brothers to be as 
 brave as the rest, while they cared a great deal for 
 the rich booty which was brought back from such 
 expeditions. What a hard thing it must have seemed 
 to the boys who were sick or lame or deformed, but 
 who had all the desire for glory that belonged to any 
 of the vikings, and yet must stay at home with the 
 women ! 
 
 When we think of all this, of the barren country, 
 and the crowd of people who lived in it, of the 
 natural relish for a life of adventure, and the hope of 
 splendid riches and fame, what wonder that in all 
 these hundreds of years the Northmen followed their 
 barbarous trade and went a-ravagi ng, and finally took 
 great pieces of the Southern countries for their own 
 and held them fast. 
 
 As we go on with this story of the Normans, you 
 
28 THE STORY OF THE NORMANS. 
 
 will watch these followers of the sea-kings keeping 
 always some trace of their old habits and customs. 
 Indeed you may know them yet. The Northmen 
 were vikings, always restless and on the move, steal- 
 ing and fighting their way as best they might, daring, 
 adventurous. The Norman of the twelfth century 
 was a crusader. A madness to go crusading against 
 the Saracen possessed him, not alone for religion's 
 sake or for the holy city of Jerusalem, and so in all 
 the ages since one excuse after another has set the 
 same wild blood leaping and made the Northern 
 blue eyes shine. Look where you may, you find 
 Englishmen of the same stamp — Sir Walter Raleigh 
 and Lord Nelson, Stanley and Dr. Livingstone and 
 General Gordon, show the old sea-kings' courage 
 and recklessness. Snorro Sturleson's best saga 
 has been followed by Drayton's " Battle of Agin- 
 court " and Tennyson's " Charge of the Light Brig- 
 ade " and " Ballad of Sir Richard Grenville." I 
 venture to say that there is not an English-speaking 
 boy or girl who can hear that sea-king's ballad this 
 very day in peaceful England or America without a 
 great thrill of sympathy. 
 
 " At Flores in the Azores Sir Richard Grenville lay, 
 And a pinnace, like a fluttered bird, came flying from far away : 
 1 Spanish ships of war at sea ! We have sighted fifty-three.' " — 
 
 Go and read that ; the whole of the spirited story ; 
 but there is one thing I ask you to remember first in 
 all this long story of the Normans : that however 
 much it seems to you a long chapter of bloody wars 
 and miseries and treacheries that get to be almost 
 
The men of the dragon ships. 29 
 
 tiresome in their folly and brutality ; however little 
 profit it may seem sometimes to read about the 
 Norman wars, yet everywhere you will catch a gleam 
 of the glorious courage and steadfastness that have 
 won not only the petty principalities and dukedoms 
 of those early days, but the great English and Ameri- 
 can discoveries and inventions and noble advance- 
 ment of all the centuries since. 
 
 On the island of Vigr, in the Folden-fiord, the 
 peasants still show some rude hollows in the shore 
 where the ships of Rolf-Ganger were drawn up in 
 winter, and whence he launched them to sail away 
 to the Hebrides and France — the beginning of as 
 great changes as one man's voyage ever wrought. 
 
II. 
 
 ROLF THE GANGER. 
 
 Far had I wandered from this northern shore, 
 Far from the bare heights and the wintry seas, 
 Dreaming of these 
 
 No more." —A. j?. 
 
 TOWARD the middle of the ninth century Harold 
 Haarfager did great things in Norway. There had 
 always been a great number of petty kings or jarls, 
 who were sometimes at peace with each other, but 
 oftener at war, and at last this Harold was strong 
 enough to conquer all the rest and unite all the 
 kingdoms under his own rule. It was by no means 
 an easy piece of business, for twelve years went by 
 before it was finished, and not only Norway itself, 
 but the Orkneys, and Shetlands, and Hebrides, and 
 Man were conquered too, and the lawless vikings 
 were obliged to keep good order. The story was 
 that the king had loved a fair maiden of the North, 
 called Gyda, but when he asked her to marry him 
 she had answered that she would not marry a jarl ; 
 let him make himself a king like Gorm of Denmark! 
 At this proud answer Harold loved her more than 
 ever, and vowed that he would never cut his hair 
 
 30 
 
ROLF THE GANGER. 
 
 3 1 
 
 until he had conquered all the jarls and could claim 
 Gyda's hand. 
 
 The flourishing shock of his yellow hair became 
 
 : 
 
 A NORWEGIAN FluUD. 
 
 renowned ; we can almost see it ourselves waving 
 prosperously through his long series of battles. 
 When he was king at last he chose Jarl Rognwald of 
 
32 THE STORY OF THE NORM AH S. 
 
 More to cut the shining locks because he was the 
 most valiant and best-beloved of all his tributaries. 
 
 Jarl Rognwald had a family of sons who were 
 noted men in their day. One was called Turf-Einar, 
 because he went to the Orkney islands and discov- 
 ered great deposits of peat of which he taught the 
 forestless people to make use, so that they and 
 their descendants were grateful and made him their 
 chief hero. Another son was named Rolf, and he 
 was lord of three small islands far up toward the 
 North. He followed the respected profession of sea- 
 robber, but though against foreign countries it was 
 the one profession for a jarl to follow, King Harold 
 was very stringent in his laws that no viking should 
 attack any of his own neighbors or do any mischief 
 along the coasts of Norway. These laws Rolf was 
 not careful about keeping. 
 
 There was still another brother, who resented 
 Haarfager's tyrannies so much that he gathered a 
 fine heroic company of vikings and more peaceable 
 citizens and went to Iceland and settled there. This 
 companycame in time to be renowned as the begin- 
 ners of one of the most remarkable republics the 
 world has ever known, with a unique government 
 by its aristocracy, and a natural development of liter- 
 ture unsurpassed in any day. There, where there were 
 no foreign customs to influence or pervert, the Norse 
 nature and genius had their perfect flowering. 
 
 Rolf is said to have been so tall that he used to 
 march afoot whenever he happened to be ashore, 
 rather than ride the little Norwegian horses. He 
 was nicknamed Gang-Roll (or Rolf), which means 
 
ROLF THE GANGER. 33 
 
 Rolf the Walker, or Ganger. There are two legends 
 which give the reason why he came away from Nor- 
 way — one that he killed his brother in an unfortunate 
 quarrel, and fled away to England, whither he was 
 directed by a vision or dream ; that the English 
 helped him to fit out his ships and to sail away again 
 toward France. 
 
 The other story, which seems more likely, makes 
 it appear that the king was very angry because Rolf 
 plundered a Norwegian village when he was coming 
 home short of food from a long cruise in the Baltic 
 Sea. The peasants complained to Harold Haarfager, 
 who happened to be near, and he called the great 
 Council of Justice and banished his old favorite for 
 life. 
 
 Whether these stories are true or not, at any rate 
 Rolf came southward an outlaw, and presently we 
 hear of him in the Hebrides off the coast of Scotland, 
 where a company of Norwegians had settled after 
 King Harold's conquests. These men were mostly 
 of high birth and great ability, and welcomed the 
 new-comer who had so lately been their enemy. 
 We are not surprised when we find that they banded 
 together as pirates and fitted out a famous expedi- 
 tion. Perhaps they did not find living in the 
 Hebrides very luxurious, and thought it necessary to 
 collect some merchandise and money, or some slaves 
 to serve them, so they fell back upon their familiar 
 customs. 
 
 Rolf's vessels and theirs made a formidable fleet, 
 but although they agreed that there should not be 
 any one chosen as "captain, or admiral, as we should 
 
34 THE STORY OF THE NORMANS. 
 
 say nowadays, we do not hear much of any of the 
 confederates except Rolf the Ganger, so we may be 
 sure he was most powerful and took command 
 whether anybody was willing or not. 
 
 They came round the coast of Scotland, and made 
 first for Holland, but as all that part of the country 
 had too often been devastated and had become very 
 poor, the ships were soon put to sea again. And 
 next we find them going up the River Seine in 
 France, which was a broader river then than it is 
 now, and the highway toward Paris and other cities, 
 which always seemed to offer great temptations to 
 the vikings. Charles the Simple was king of France 
 by right, but the only likeness to his ancestor Charle- 
 magne was in his name, and to that his subjects had 
 added the Simple, or the Fool, by which we can tell 
 that he was not a very independent or magnificent 
 sort of monarch. The limits of the kingdom of 
 France, at that time, had just been placed between 
 the Loire and the Meuse, after many years of fight- 
 ing between the territories, and Charles was still con- 
 testing his right to the crown. The wide empire of 
 Charlemagne had not been divided at once into dis- 
 tinct smaller kingdoms, but the heirs had each taken 
 what they could hold and fought for much else beside. 
 Each pretended to be the lawful king and was ready 
 to hold all he could win. So there was naturally 
 little good-feeling between them, and not one could 
 feel sure that his neighbor would even help him 
 to fight against a common enemy. It was " Every one 
 for himself, and devil take the hindmost ! " to quote 
 the old proverb, which seldom has so literal an ap- 
 
ROLF THE GANGER. 35 
 
 plication. King Charles the Simple, besides defend- 
 ing himself from his outside enemies, was also much 
 troubled by a pretender to the crown, and was no 
 doubt at his wit's end to know how to manage the 
 province of Neustria, lately so vexed by the foreign 
 element within its borders. It might be easy work 
 for the troop of Northmen* that had followed Rolf. 
 Besides the fact that they need not fear any alliance 
 against them, and had only Charles the Simple for 
 their enemy, one of his own enemies was quite likely 
 to form a league with them against him. 
 
 The fleet from the Hebrides had come to anchor 
 on its way up the Seine at a town called Jumieges, 
 five leagues from Rouen. There was no army near 
 by to offer any hindrance, and the work of pillaging 
 the country was fairly begun without hindrance 
 when the news of the incursion was told in Rouen. 
 There the people were in despair, for it was useless 
 to think of defending their broken walls ; the city 
 was already half ruined from such invasions. At any 
 hour they might find themselves at the mercy of 
 these new pirates. But in such dreadful dismay the 
 archbishop, a man of great courage and good sense, 
 whom we must honor heartily, took upon himself 
 the perilous duty of going to the camp and trying to 
 save the city by making a treaty. He had heard 
 stories enough, we may be sure, of the cruel tortures 
 of Christian priests by these Northern pagans, who 
 still believed in the- gods Thor and Odin and in Val- 
 halla, and that the most fortunate thing, for a man's 
 life in the next world, was that he should die in 
 battle in this world. 
 
36 THE STORY OF THE NORMANS. 
 
 There was already a great difference in the hopes 
 and plans of the Northmen : they listened to the 
 archbishop instead of killing him at once, and Rolf 
 and his companions treated him and his interpreter 
 with some sort of courtesy. Perhaps the bravery of 
 the good man won their hearts by its kinship to their 
 daring ; perhaps they were already planning to seize 
 upon a part of France and to forsake the Hebrides 
 altogether, and Rolf had a secret design of founding 
 a kingdom for himself that should stand steadfast 
 against enemies. When the good priest went back 
 to Rouen, I think the people must have been sur- 
 prised that he had kept his head upon his shoulders, 
 and still more filled with wonder because he was 
 able to tell them that he had made a truce, that he 
 had guaranteed the assailants admission to the city, 
 but that they had promised not to do any harm 
 whatever. Who knows if there were not many 
 voices that cried out that it was only delivering them 
 to the cruel foe, with their wives and children 
 and all that they had in the world. When the 
 ships came up the river and were anchored before 
 one of the city gates near the Church of St. Morin, 
 and the tall chieftain and his comrades began to 
 come ashore, what beating hearts, what careful peep- 
 ing out of windows there must have been in Rouen 
 that day ! 
 
 But the chiefs had given their word of honor, and 
 they kept it well ; they walked all about the city, and 
 examined all the ramparts, the wharves, and the sup- 
 ply of water, and gave every thing an unexpectedly 
 kind approval. More than this, they said that Rouen 
 
ROLF THE GANGER. 37 
 
 should be their head-quarters and their citadel. 
 This was not very welcome news, but a thousand 
 times better than being sacked and ravaged and 
 burnt, and when the ships had gone by up the river, 
 I dare say that more than one voice spoke up for 
 Rolf the Ganger, and gratefully said that he might 
 not prove the worst of masters after all. Some of 
 the citizens even joined the ranks of the sea-king's 
 followers when they went on in quest of new adven- 
 ture up the Seine. 
 
 Just where the river Eure joins the Seine, on the 
 point between the two streams, the Norwegians 
 built a great camp, and fortified it, and there they 
 waited for the French army. For once King Charles 
 was master of his whole kingdom, and he had made 
 up his mind to resist this determined invasion. Pi- 
 rates were bad enough, but pirates who were evi- 
 dently bent upon greater mischief than usual could 
 not be sent away too soon. It was not long before 
 the French troops, under the command of a general 
 called Regnauld, who bore the title of Duke of 
 France, made their appearance opposite the encamp- 
 ment, on the right bank of the Eure. 
 
 The French counts had rallied bravely ; they made 
 a religious duty of it, for were not these Norwegians 
 pagans? and pagans deserved to be killed, even if 
 they had not come to steal from a Christian country. 
 
 There was one count who had been a pagan him- 
 self years before, but he had become converted, and 
 was as famous a Christian as he had been sea-kingf. 
 He had declared that he was tired of leading a life 
 of wild adventure, and had made peace with France 
 
38 THE STORY OF THE NORMANS. 
 
 twenty years before this time ; and the kingdom had 
 given him the county of Chartres — so he mu>t have 
 been a powerful enemy. Naturally he was thought 
 to be the best man to confer with his countrymen. 
 There was a council of war in the French camp, and 
 this Hasting (of whom you will hear again by and 
 by) advised that they should confer with Rolf before 
 they risked a battle with him. Perhaps the old sea- 
 king judged his tall successor by his own experience, 
 and thought he might like to be presented with a 
 county too, as the price of being quiet and letting 
 the frightened Seine cities alone. Some of the other 
 lords of the army were very suspicious and angry 
 about this proposal, but Hasting had his way, and 
 went out with two attendants who could speak 
 Danish. 
 
 The three envoys made their short journey to the 
 river-side as quickly as possible, and presently they 
 stood on the bank of the Eure. Across the river 
 were the new fortifications, and some of the sea- 
 kings' men were busy with their armor on the other 
 shore. 
 
 "Gallant soldiers!" cries the Count of Chartres; 
 " what is your chieftain's name ? " 
 
 " We have no lord over us," they shouted back 
 again ; " we are all equal." 
 
 " For what end have you come to France ? " 
 
 " To drive out the people who are here, or make 
 them our subjects, and to make ourselves a new 
 country," says the Northman. " Who are you ? — 
 How is it that you speak our own tongue? " 
 
 "You know the story of Hasting," answers the 
 
ROLF THE GANGER. 39 
 
 count, not without pride — " Hasting, the great pi- 
 rate, who scoured the seas with his crowd of ships, 
 and did so much evil in this kingdom ? " 
 
 "Aye, we have heard that, but Hasting has made 
 a bad end to so good a beginning"; to which the 
 count had nothing to say ; he was Lord of Chartres 
 now, and liked that very well. 
 
 "Will you submit to King Charles ?" he shouts 
 again, and more men are gathering on the bank to 
 listen. " Will you give your faith and service, and 
 take from him gifts and honor? " 
 
 "No, no !" they answer ; " we will not submit to 
 King Charles — go back, and tell him so, you messen- 
 ger, and say that we claim the rule and dominion of 
 what we win by our own strength and our swords." 
 
 But the Frenchmen called Hasting a traitor when 
 he brought this answer back to camp, and told his 
 associates not to try to force the pagan entrench- 
 ments. A traitor, indeed ! That was too much for 
 the old viking's patience. For all that, the accusation 
 may have held a grain of truth. Nobody knows the 
 whole of his story, but he may have felt the old fire 
 and spirit of his youth when he saw the great en- 
 campment and heard the familiar tones of his coun- 
 trymen. It may be wrong to suspect that he went 
 to join them ; but, at all events, Count Chartres left 
 the French camp indignantly, and nobody knows 
 where he went, either then or afterward, for he for- 
 sook his adopted country and left it to its fate. 
 They found out that he had given good advice to 
 those proud comrades of his, for when they attacked 
 the enemy between the rivers they were cut to 
 
40 THE STORY OF THE NORMANS. 
 
 pieces ; even the duke of France, their bold leader, 
 was killed by a poor fisherman of Rouen who had 
 followed the Northern army. 
 
 Now there was nothing to hinder Rolf, who begins 
 to be formally acknowledged as the leader, from go- 
 ing up the Seine as fast or as slow as he pleased, and 
 after a while the army laid siege to Paris, but this 
 was unsuccessful. One of the chiefs was taken 
 prisoner, and to release him they promised a year's 
 truce to King Charles, and after a while we find them 
 back at Rouen again. They had been ravaging the 
 country to the north of Paris, very likely in King 
 Charles's company, for there had been a new division 
 of the kingdom, and the northern provinces no longer 
 called him their sovereign. Poor Charles the Sim- 
 ple ! he seems to have had a very hard time of it 
 with his unruly subjects, and his fellow-knights and 
 princes too, who took advantage of him whenever- 
 they could find a chance. 
 
 By this time we know enough of Rolf and his 
 friends not to expect them to remain quiet very long 
 at Rouen. Away they went to Bayeux, a rich city, 
 and assaulted that and killed Berenger, the Count of 
 Bayeux, and gained a great heap of booty. We 
 learn a great deal of the manners and fashions of 
 that early day when we find out that Berenger had 
 a beautiful daughter, and when the treasure was 
 divided she was considered as part of it and fell to 
 Rolf's lot. He immediately married her with ap- 
 parent satisfaction and a full performance of Scandi- 
 navian rites and ceremonies. 
 
 After this the Northmen went on to Evreux and 
 
kOLF THE GAtfGEfc. 41 
 
 to some other cities, and their dominion was added 
 to, day by day. They began to feel a certain sort of 
 respect and care for the poor provinces now that 
 they belonged to themselves. And they ceased to 
 be cruel to the unresisting people, and only taxed 
 them with a certain yearly tribute. Besides this, 
 they chose Rolf for their king, but this northern 
 title was changed before long for the French one of 
 duke. Rolf must have been very popular with his 
 followers. We cannot help a certain liking for him 
 ourselves or being pleased when we know that his 
 new subjects liked him heartily. They had cursed 
 him very often, to be sure, and feared his power 
 when he was only a pirate, but they were glad 
 enough when they gained so fearless and strong a 
 man for their protector. Whatever he did seemed 
 to be with a far-sightedness and better object than 
 they had been used to in their rulers. He was a man 
 of great gifts and uncommon power, and he laid his 
 plans deeper and was not without a marked knowl- 
 edge of the rude politics of that time — a good gov- 
 ernor, which was beginning to be needed more in 
 France than a good fighter even. 
 
 Fighting was still the way of gaining one's ends, 
 and so there was still war, but it was better sustained 
 and more orderly. These Northerners, masters now 
 of a good piece of territory, linked themselves with 
 some of the smaller scattered settlements of Danes 
 at the mouth of the river Loire, and went inland on 
 a great expedition. They could not conquer Paris 
 this time either, nor Dijon nor Chartres. The great 
 walls of these cities and several others were not to 
 
42 THE STORY OF THE NORMANS. 
 
 be beaten down, but there is a long list of weaker 
 towns that fell into their hands, and at last the 
 French people could bear the sieges no longer, and 
 not only the peasants but the nobles and priests 
 clamored for deliverance. King Charles may have 
 been justly called the Simple, but he showed very 
 good sense now. " We shall starve to death," the 
 people were saying. " Nobody dares to work in the 
 field or the vineyard ; there is not an acre of corn 
 from Blois to Senlis. Churches are burnt and peo- 
 ple are murdered ; the Northmen do as they please. 
 See, it is all the fault of a weak king ! " 
 
 King Charles roused himself to do a sensible thing ; 
 he may have planned it as a stroke of policy, and 
 meant to avail himself of the Northmen's strength 
 to keep himself on his throne. He consulted his 
 barons and bishops, and they agreed with him that 
 he must form a league with their enemies, and so 
 make sure of peace. As we read the story of those 
 days, we are hardly sure that Rolf was the subject 
 after this rather than the king. He did homage 
 to King Charles, and he received the sovereignty 
 over most of what was to be called the dukedom of 
 Normandy. The league was little more than an obli- 
 gation of mutual defence, and King Charles was lucky 
 to call Rolf his friend and ally. The vigorous Nor- 
 wegian was likely to keep his word better than the 
 French dukes and barons, who broke such promises 
 with perfect ease. Rolf's duty and his interest led 
 him nearly in the same path, but he was evidently 
 disposed to do what was right according to his way 
 of seeing right and wrong. 
 
ROLF THE GANGER. 43 
 
 All this time he had been living with his wife 
 Popa, the daughter of Count Berenger, who was slain 
 at Bayeux. They had two children — William, and a 
 daughter, Adela. According to the views of King 
 Charles and the Christian church of that time, the 
 marriage performed with Scandinavian rites was no 
 marriage at all, though Rolf loved his wife devot- 
 edly and was training his son with great care, so that 
 he might by and by take his place, and be no inferior, 
 either, of the young French princes who were his 
 contemporaries. As one historian says, the best had 
 the best then, and this young William was being 
 made a scholar as fast as possible. 
 
 For all this, when the king's messenger came to 
 Rolf and made him an offer of Gisla, the king's 
 daughter, for a wife, with the seigneury of all the 
 lands between the river Epte and the border of Brit- 
 tany, if he would only become a Christian and live 
 in peace with the kingdom, Rolf listened with pleas- 
 ure. He did not repeat now the words that Hasting 
 heard on the bank of the Eure, " We will obey no 
 one ! " while with regard to the marriage he evi- 
 dently felt free to contract a new one. 
 
 It was all a great step upward, and Rolf's clear 
 eyes saw that. If he were not a Christian he could 
 not be the equal of the lords of France. He was 
 not a mere adventurer any longer, the leader of a 
 band of pirates; other ambitions had come to him 
 since he had been governor of his territory. The 
 pagan fanaticism and superstition of his companions 
 were more than half extinguished already ; the old 
 myths of the Northern gods had not flourished in 
 
44 THE STORY OF THE A'OA'MANS. 
 
 this new soil. At last, after much discussion and 
 bargaining about the land that should be given, Rolf 
 gave his promise once for all, and now we may begin 
 to call him fairly the Duke of Normandy and his 
 people the Normans ; the old days of the Northmen 
 in France had come to an end. For a good many 
 years the neighboring provinces called the new duke- 
 dom " the pirate's land " and " the Northman's 
 land," but the great Norman race was in actual 
 existence now, and from this beginning under Rolf, 
 the tall Norwegian sea-king, has come one of the 
 greatest forces and powers of the civilized world. 
 
 I must give you some account of the ceremonies 
 at this establishment of the new duke, for it was a 
 grand occasion, and the king's train of noblemen 
 and gentlemen, and all the Norman officers and 
 statesmen went out to do honor to that day. The 
 place was in a village called St. Claire, on the river 
 Epte, and the French pitched their tents on one 
 bank of the river and the Normans on the other. 
 Then, at the hour appointed, Rolf came over to 
 meet the king, and did what would have astonished 
 his father Rognwald and his viking ancestors very 
 much. He put his hand between the king's hands 
 and said : " From this time forward I am your vassal 
 and man, and I give my oath that I will faithfully 
 protect your life, your limbs, and your royal honor." 
 
 After this the king and his nobles formally gave 
 Rolf the title of duke or count, and swore that they 
 would protect him and his honor too, and all the 
 lands named in the treaty. But there is an old 
 story that, when Rolf was directed to kneel before 
 
ROLF THE GANGER 45 
 
 King Charles and kiss his foot in token of submis- 
 sion, he was a rebellious subject at once. Perhaps 
 he thought that some of his French rivals had re- 
 vived this old Frankish custom on purpose to humble 
 his pride, but he said nothing, only beckoned quietly 
 to one of his followers to come and take his place. 
 Out steps the man. I do not doubt that his eyes 
 were dancing, and that his yellow beard hid a 
 laughing mouth ; he did not bend his knee at all, but 
 caught the king's foot, and lifted it so high that the 
 poor monarch fell over backward, and all the pirates 
 gave a shout of laughter. They did not think much 
 of Charles the Simple, those followers of Rolf the 
 Ganger. 
 
 Afterward the marriage took place at Rouen, and 
 the high barons of France went there with the bride, 
 though it was not a very happy day for Gisla, whom 
 Rolf never lived with or loved. He was a great 
 many years older than she, and when she died he 
 took Popa, the first wife back again — if, indeed, he 
 had not considered her the true wife all the time. 
 Then on that wedding-day he became a Christian 
 too, though there must .have been more change of 
 words and manner than of Rolf's own thoughts. He 
 received the archbishop's lessons with great amia- 
 bility, and gave part of his lands to the church be- 
 fore he divided the rest among his new-made nobles. 
 They put a long white gown or habit on him, such 
 as newly baptized persons wore, and he must have 
 been an amusing sight to see, all those seven days 
 that he kept it on, tall old seafarer that he was, but 
 he preserved a famous dignity, and gave estates to 
 
46 THE STORY OF THE NORMANS. 
 
 seven churches in succession on each day of that 
 solemn week. Then he put on his every-day clothes 
 again, and gave his whole time to his political affairs 
 and the dividing out of Normandy among the Nor- 
 wegian chieftains who had come with him on that 
 lucky last voyage. 
 
 It is said that Rolf himself was the founder of the 
 system of landholding according to the custom of 
 feudal times, and of a regular system of property 
 rights, and customs of hiring and dividing the landed 
 property, but there are no state papers or charters 
 belonging to that early time, as there are in England, 
 so nobody can be very sure. At any rate, he is said to 
 have been the best ruler possible, and his province was 
 a model for others, though it was the most modern 
 in Gaul. He caused the dilapidated towns and cities 
 to be rebuilt, and the churches were put into good 
 repair and order. There are parts of some of the 
 Rouen churches standing yet, that Rolf rebuilt. 
 
 There is a great temptation to linger and find out 
 all we can of the times of this first Count of Nor- 
 mandy — so many later traits and customs date back 
 to Rolf's reign ; and all through this story of the Nor- 
 mans we shall find a likeness to the first leader, and 
 trace his influence. His own descendants inherited 
 many of his gifts of character — a readiness of thought 
 and speech ; clear, bright minds, and vigor of action. 
 Even those who were given over to ways of vice and 
 shame, had a cleverness and attractiveness that made 
 their friends hold to them, in spite of their sins and 
 treacheries. A great deal was thought of learning 
 and scholarship among the nobles and gentle folk of 
 
ROLF THE GANGER. 47 
 
 that day, and Rolf had caught eagerly at all such 
 advantages, even while he trusted most to his North- 
 ern traditions of strength and courage. If he had 
 thought these were enough to win success, and had 
 brought up his boy as a mere pirate and fighter, it 
 would have made a great difference in the future of 
 the Norman people and their rulers. The need of a 
 good education was believed in, and held as a sort of 
 family doctrine, as long as Rolf's race existed, but 
 you will see in one after another of these Norman 
 counts the nature of the sea-kings mixed with their 
 later learning and accomplishments. 
 
 We cannot help being a little amused, however, 
 when we find that young William, the grandson of 
 old Rognvald, loved his books so well that he begged 
 his father to let him enter a monastery. The wise, 
 good man Botho, who was his tutor, had taught him 
 to be proud of his other grandfather, Count Beren- 
 ger, who belonged to one of the most illustrious 
 French families, and taught him also to follow the 
 example of the good clergymen of Normandy, as 
 well as the great conquerors and chieftains. By and 
 by we shall see that he loved to do good, and to do 
 works of mercy, though his people called him Wil- 
 liam Longsword, and followed him to the wars. 
 
 Normandy was wild enough when Rolf came to 
 rule there, but before he died the country had 
 changed very much for the better. He was very 
 careful to protect the farmers, and such laws were 
 made, and kept, too, that robbery was almost un- 
 known throughout the little kingdom. The peas- 
 ants could leave their oxen or their tools in the 
 
48 THE STORY OF THE NORMANS. 
 
 field now, and if by chance they were stolen, the 
 duke himself was responsible for the loss. A pretty 
 story is told of Rolf that has also been told of other 
 wise rulers. He had gone out hunting one day, and 
 after the sport, while he and his companions were 
 resting and having a little feast as they sat on the 
 grass, Rolf said he would prove the orderliness and 
 trustiness of his people. So he took off the two 
 gold bracelets which were a badge of his rank, and 
 reached up and hung them on a tree close by, and 
 there they were, safe and shining, a long time 
 afterward, when he went to seek them. Perhaps 
 this story is only a myth, though the tale is 
 echoed in other countries — England, Ireland, and 
 Lombardy, and others beside. At any rate, it gives 
 an expression of the public safety and order, and 
 the people's gratitude to their good kings. Rolf 
 brought to his new home some fine old Scandinavian 
 customs, for his own people were knit together with 
 close bonds in Norway. If a farmer's own servants 
 or helpers failed him for any reason, he could de- 
 mand the help of his neighbors without paying 
 them, and they all came and helped him gather his 
 harvest. Besides, the law punished nothing so se- 
 verely as the crime of damaging or stealing from a 
 growing crop. The field was said to be under God's 
 lock, with heaven for its roof, though there might be 
 only a hedge for its wall. If a man stole from 
 another man's field, and took the ripe corn into his 
 own barn, he paid for it with his life. This does not 
 match very well with the sea-kings' exploits abroad, 
 but they were very strict rulers, and very honest 
 
ROLF THE GANGER. 49 
 
 among themselves at home. One familiar English 
 word of ours — hurrah, — is said to date from Rolfs 
 reign. Rou the Frenchmen called our Rolf ; and 
 there was a law that if a man was in danger himself, 
 or caught his enemy doing any damage, he could 
 raise the cry Ha Rou ! and so invoke justice in Duke 
 Rolf's name. At the sound of the cry, everybody 
 was bound, on the instant, to give chase to the of- 
 fender, and whoever failed to respond to the cry of 
 Ha Rou ! must pay a heavy fine to Rolf himself. 
 This began the old English fashion of " hue and 
 cry," as well as our custom of shouting Hurrah ' 
 when we are pleased and excited. 
 
 We cannot help being surprised to see how quickly 
 the Normans became Frenchmen in their ways of 
 living and even speaking. There is hardly a trace 
 of their Northern language except a few names of 
 localities left in Normandy. Once settled in their 
 new possessions, Rolf and all his followers seem to 
 have been as eager for the welfare of Normandy as 
 they were ready to devastate it before. They were 
 proud not of being Norsemen but of being Normans. 
 Otherwise their country could not have done what 
 it did in the very next reign to Rolf's, nor could 
 Rouen have become so much like a French city 
 even in his own lifetime. This was work worthy of 
 his power, to rule a people well, and lift them up 
 toward better living and better things. His vigor 
 and quickness made him able to seize upon the best 
 traits and capabilities of his new countrymen, and 
 enforce them as patterns and examples, with no 
 tolerance of their faults. 
 
SO THE STORY OF THE NORMANS. 
 
 From the viking's ships which had brought Rolf 
 and his confederates, all equal, from the Hebrides, 
 it is a long step upward to the Norman landholders 
 and quiet citizens with their powerful duke in his 
 palace at Rouen. He had shared the lands of Nor- 
 mandy, as we have seen, with his companions, and 
 there was a true aristocracy among them — a rule of 
 the best, for that is what aristocracy really means. 
 No doubt there was sin and harm enough under the 
 new order of things, but we can see that there was 
 a great advance in its first duke's reign, even if we 
 cannot believe that all the fine stories are true that 
 his chroniclers have told. 
 
 Rolf died in 927, and was a pious Christian ac- 
 cording to his friends, and had a lingering respect 
 for his heathen idols according to his enemies. He 
 was an old man, and had been a brave man, and he 
 is honored to this day for his justice and his courage 
 in that stormy time when he lived. Some say that 
 he was forty years a pirate before he came to Nor- 
 mandy, and looking back on these days of sea- 
 faring and robbery and violence must have made 
 him all the more contented with his pleasant fields 
 and their fruit-trees and waving grain ; with his 
 noble city of Rouen, and his gentle son William, who 
 was the friend of the priests. 
 
 Rolf became very feeble in body and mind, and 
 before his death he gave up the rule of the duchy to 
 his son. He lingered for several years, but we hear 
 nothing more of him except that when he lay dying 
 he had terrible dreams of his old pirate days, and 
 was troubled by visions of his slaughtered vie- 
 
ROLF THE GANGER. $1 
 
 tims and the havoc made by the long-ships. We 
 are glad to know that he waked from these sorrows 
 long enough to give rich presents to the church and 
 the poor, which comforted him greatly and eased his 
 unhappy conscience. He was buried in his city of 
 Rouen, in the cathedral, and there is his tomb still 
 with a figure of him in stone — an old tired man with 
 a furrowed brow ; the strength of his fourscore years 
 had become only labor and sorrow, but he looks like 
 the Norseman that he was in spite of the ducal robes 
 of French Normandy. There was need enough of 
 bravery in the man who should fill his place. The 
 wars still went on along the borders, and there must 
 have been fear of new trouble in the duchy when 
 this old chieftain Rolf had lain down to die, and his 
 empty armor was hung high in the palace hall. 
 
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 III. 
 
 WILLIAM LONGSWORD. 
 
 " For old, unhappy, far-off things 
 And battles long ago." — Wordsworth. 
 
 BEFORE we follow the fortunes of the new duke, 
 young William Longsword, we must take a look at 
 France and see what traditions and influences were 
 going to affect our colony of Northmen from that 
 side, and what relations they had with their neigh- 
 bors. Perhaps the best way to make every thing 
 clear is to go back to the reign of the Emperor 
 Charlemagne, who inherited a great kingdom, and 
 added to it by his wars and statesmanship until he 
 was crowned at Rome, in the year 800, emperor not 
 only of Germany and Gaul, but of the larger part of 
 Italy and the northeastern part of Spain. Much of 
 this territory had shared in the glories of the Roman 
 Empire and had fallen with it. But Charlemagne 
 was equal to restoring many lost advantages, being 
 a man of great power and capacity, who found time, 
 while his great campaigns were going on, to do a 
 great deal for the schools of his country. He even 
 founded a sort of normal school, where teachers 
 were fitted for their work, and his daughters were 
 
 52 
 
WILLIAM LONGSWORD. 53 
 
 busy in copying manuscripts ; the emperor himself 
 was fond of being read to when he was at his meals, 
 and used to get up at midnight to watch the stars. 
 Some of the interesting stories about him may not 
 be true, but we can be sure that he was a great 
 general and a masterly governor and lawgiver, and a 
 good deal of a scholar. Like Rolf, he was one of 
 the men who mark as well as make a great change 
 in the world's affairs, and in whose time civilization 
 takes a long step forward. When we know that it 
 took him between thirty and forty years to com- 
 pletely conquer the Saxons, who lived in the north- 
 ern part of his country, and we read the story of the 
 great battle of Roncesvalles in which the Basque 
 people won ; when we follow Charlemagne (the 
 great Charles, as his people love to call him) on 
 these campaigns which take up almost all his history, 
 we cannot help seeing that his enemies fought 
 against the new order of things that he represented. 
 It was not only that they did not want Charlemagne 
 for their king, but they did not wish to be Christians 
 either, or to forsake their own religion and their own 
 ideas for his. 
 
 When he died he was master of a great association 
 of countries which for years yet could not come to- 
 gether except in name, because of their real un- 
 likeness and jealousy of each other. Charlemagne 
 had managed to rule them all, for his sons and 
 officers, whom he had put in command of the various 
 provinces, were all dictated to by him, and were not 
 in the least independent of his oversight. His fame 
 was widespread. Embassies came to him from d'*- 
 
54 THE STORY OF THE NORMANS. 
 
 tant Eastern countries, and no doubt he felt that he 
 was establishing a great empire for his successors. 
 Thirty years after he died the empire was divided 
 into three parts, and thirty-four years later it was all 
 broken up in the foolish reign of his own great- 
 grandson, who was called Charles also, but instead of 
 Charles the Great became known as Charles the Fat. 
 From the fragments of the old empire were formed 
 the kingdoms of France, of Italy, and of Germany, 
 with the less important states of Lorraine, Bur- 
 gundy, and Navarre. But although the great em- 
 pire had fallen to pieces, each fragment kept some- 
 thing of the new spirit that had been forced into it 
 by the famous emperor. For this reason there was 
 no cdVner of his wide domain that did not for many 
 years after his death stand in better relation to 
 progress, and to the influence of religion, the most 
 potent civilizer of men. 
 
 All this time the power of the nobles had been in- 
 creasing, for, whereas, at first they had been only 
 the officers of the king, and were appointed to or 
 removed from their posts at the royal pleasure, they 
 contrived at length to make their positions heredi- 
 tary and to establish certain rights and privileges. 
 This was the foundation of the feudal system, and 
 such a growth was sure to strike deep root. Every 
 officer could hope to become a ruler in a small way, 
 and to endow his family with whatever gains and 
 holdings he had managed to make his own. And as 
 these feudal chiefs soon came to value their power, 
 they were ready to fight, not only all together for 
 their king or over-lord, but for themselves ; and one 
 
WILLIAM LONGSWORD. 55 
 
 petty landholder with his dependents would go out 
 to fight his next neighbor, each hoping to make the 
 other his tributary. France proper begins to make 
 itself heard about in these days. 
 
 If you have read " The Story of Rome," and " The 
 Rise and Fall of the Roman Empire," you can trace 
 the still earlier changes in the old province of Gaul. 
 The Franks had come westward, a bold association 
 of German tribes, and in that fifth century when the 
 Roman rule was overthrown, they swarmed over the 
 frontiers and settled by hundreds and thousands in 
 the conquered provinces. But, strange to say, as 
 years went on they disappeared ; not because they 
 or their children went away again and left Gaul to 
 itself, but because they adopted the ways and 
 fashions of the country. They were still called 
 Franks and a part of the country was called France 
 even, but the two races were completely mixed to- 
 gether and the conquerors were as Gallic as the con- 
 quered. They even spoke the new language ; it 
 appears like an increase or strengthening of the 
 Gallic race rather than a subjugation of it, and the 
 coming of these Franks founded, not a new province 
 of Germany, but the French nation. 
 
 The language was changed a good deal, for of 
 course many Frankish or German words were added, 
 as Roman (or Romance) words had been added be- 
 fore, to the old Gallic, and other things were changed 
 too. In fact we are not a bit surprised when we 
 find that the German kings, Charlemagne's own de- 
 scendants, were looked upon as*foreigners, and some 
 of the French leaders, the feudal lords and princes, 
 
56 THE STORY OF THE NORMANS. 
 
 opposed themselves to their monarchs. They were 
 brave men and ready to fight for what they wanted. 
 Charles the Fat could not keep himself on his un- 
 steady throne, and in Rolf's day France was con- 
 tinually at war, sometimes at home, and almost al- 
 ways with the neighboring provinces and kingdoms. 
 Rolf's contemporary, Charles the Simple, lost his 
 kingship in 922, when his nobles revolted and put 
 another leader in his place, who was called Hugh the 
 Great, Count of Paris. Charles the Simple was kept 
 a prisoner until he died, by a Count of Vermandois, 
 of whom he had claimed protection, and whose 
 daughter William Longsword had married. 
 
 There was a great deal of treachery among the 
 French nobles. Each was trying to make himself 
 rich and great, and serving whatever cause could 
 promise most gain. There was diplomacy enough, 
 and talking and fighting enough, but very little 
 loyalty and care for public welfare. In Normandy, 
 a movement toward better things showed itself more 
 and more plainly ; instead of wrangling over the 
 fragments of an old dismembered kingdom, Rolf 
 had been carefully building a strong new one, and 
 had been making and keeping laws instead of break- 
 ing laws, and trying to make goodness and right 
 prevail, and theft and treachery impossible. We 
 must not judge those days by our own, for many 
 things were considered right then that are wrong 
 now; but Rolf knew that order and bravery were 
 good, and that learning was good, and so he kept 
 his dukedom quiet, though he was ready enough to 
 fight his enemies, and he sent his son William 
 
WILLIAM LONGSWORD. 57 
 
 Longsword to school, and made him a good 
 scholar as well as soldier. This was as good train- 
 ing as a young man could have in those stormy 
 times. 
 
 Under Rolf, Normandy had held faithfully to the 
 king, but under his son's rule we find a long chapter 
 of changes, for William was constantly transferring 
 his allegiance from king to duke. When he suc- 
 ceeded his father, Normandy and France were at 
 war — that is, Rolf would not acknowledge any king 
 but Charles, who was in prison, while the usurper, 
 Rudolph of Burgundy, was on the French throne. 
 It is very hard to keep track of the different parties 
 and their leaders. Everybody constantly changed 
 sides, and it is not very clear what glory there was 
 in being a king, when the vassals were so powerful 
 that they could rebel against their sovereign and 
 make war on him as often as they pleased. Yet 
 they were very decided about having a king, if only 
 to show how much greater they were by contrast. 
 Duke Hugh of Paris takes the most prominent place 
 just at this time, and with his widespread dominions 
 and personal power and high rank, we cannot help 
 wondering that he did not put himself at the head 
 of the kingdom. Instead of that he chose to remain 
 a subject, while he controlled the king's actions and 
 robbed him of his territory and kept him in personal 
 bondage. He had no objection to transferring his 
 strange loyalty from one king to another, but he 
 would always have a king over him, though at three 
 different times there was nothing except his own 
 plans to hinder him from putting the crown of 
 
58 THE STORY OF THE NORMANS. 
 
 France upon his own head. He had a stronger 
 guiding principle than some of his associates, and 
 seems to have been a better man. 
 
 From Charles the Simple had come the lands of 
 Normandy, and to him the first vow of allegiance had 
 been made, and so both Rolf and William took his 
 part and were enemies to his usurper and his foes. 
 When William came into possession of his dukedom, 
 one of his first acts was to do homage to his father's 
 over-lord, and he never did homage to Rudolph the 
 usurper until Charles was dead, and even then waited 
 three years ; but Rudolph was evidently glad to be 
 friends, and presented Longsword with a grant of 
 the sea-coast in Brittany. The Norman duke was a 
 formidable rival if any trouble should arise, and the 
 Normans themselves were very independent in their 
 opinions. One of Rolf's followers had long ago 
 told a Frenchman that his chief, who had come to 
 Neustria a king without a kingdom, now held his 
 broad lands from the sun and from God. They kept 
 strange faith with each other in those days. Each 
 man had his own ambitious plans, and his leagues 
 and friendships were only for the sake of bringing 
 them about. This was not being very grateful, but 
 Rolf's men knew that the Breton lands were the 
 price of peace and alliance, and not a free gift for 
 love's sake by any means. 
 
 As we try to puzzle out a distinct account of 
 William's reign, we find him sometimes the enemy 
 of Rudolph and in league with Hugh of Paris, some- 
 times he was in alliance with Rudolph, though he 
 would not call him king, and oftener he would have 
 
WILLIAM LONGSWORD. 59 
 
 nothing to do with either. It is very dull reading, 
 except as we trace the characters of the men them- 
 selves. 
 
 Most of the Normans had accepted Christianity 
 many years before, in the time of Rolf, and had been 
 christened, but a certain number had refused it and 
 clung to the customs of their ancestors. These 
 people had formed a separate neighborhood or 
 colony near Bayeux, and after several generations, 
 while they had outwardly conformed to the prevail- 
 ing observances, they still remained Northmen at 
 heart. They were remarkable among the other 
 Normans for their great turbulence and for an 
 almost incessant opposition to the dukes, and some 
 of them kept the old pagan devices on their shields, 
 and went into battle shouting the Northern war-cry 
 of " Thor aide ! " instead of the pious " Dien aide ! " 
 or " Dex aide ! " of Normandy. 
 
 Whatever relic of paganism may have clung to 
 Rolf himself, it is pretty certain that his son, half 
 Frenchman by birth, was almost wholly a Frenchman 
 in feeling. We must remember that he was not the 
 son of Gisla the king's sister, however, but of Popa of 
 Bayeux. There was a brother or half-brother of hers 
 called Bernard de Senlis, who in spite of his father's 
 murder and the unhappy beginning of their acquaint- 
 ance with Rolf, seems to have become very friendly 
 with the Norse chieftain. 
 
 The fortunes of war were so familiar in those days 
 and kept so many men at fierce enmity with each 
 other, that we are half surprised to come upon this 
 sincere, kindly relationship in the story of the early 
 
60 THE STORY OF THE NORMANS. 
 
 Normans. Even Rolf's wife's foolish little nickname, 
 " Popa," under cover of which her own name has 
 been forgotten, — this name of puppet or little doll, 
 gives a hint of affectionateness and a sign of home- 
 likeness which we should be very sorry to miss. As 
 for Bernard de Senlis, he protected not only the 
 rights of Rolf's children and grandchildren, but their 
 very lives, and if it had not been for his standing 
 between them and their enemies Rolf's successors 
 would never have been dukes of Normandy. 
 
 With all his inherited power and his own personal 
 bravery, William found himself in a very hard place. 
 He kept steadfastly to his ideas of right and might, 
 and one thinks that with his half French and half 
 Northman nature he might have understood both of 
 the parties that quickly began to oppose each other 
 in Normandy. He ruled as a French prince, and he 
 and his followers were very eager to hold their place 
 in the general confederacy of France, and eager too 
 that Normandy should be French in religion, 
 manners, and customs. Yet they did not wish Nor- 
 mandy to be absorbed into France in any political 
 sense. Although there were several men of Danish 
 birth, Rolf's old companions, who took this view of 
 things, and threw in their lot with the French party, 
 like Botho, William's old tutor, and Oslac, and Ber- 
 nard the Dane, of whom we shall hear again, there 
 was a great body of the Normans who rebelled and 
 made much trouble. 
 
 William's French speech and French friends were 
 all this time making him distrusted and even disliked 
 by a large portion of his own subjects. There stil' 
 
WILLIAM LONGSWORD. 6 1 
 
 remained a strong Northern and pagan influence in 
 the older parts of the Norman duchy; while in the 
 new lands of Brittany some of the independent 
 Danish settlements, being composed chiefly of the 
 descendants of men who had forced their way into 
 that country before Rolf's time, were less ready for 
 French rule than even the Normans. Between these 
 new allies and the disaffected Normans themselves a 
 grand revolt was organized under the leadership of 
 an independent Danish chief from one of the Breton 
 provinces. The rebels demanded one concession after 
 another, and frightened Duke William dreadfully ; he 
 even proposed to give up his duchy and to beg the 
 protection of his French uncle, Bernard de Senlis. 
 We are afraid that he had left his famous longsword 
 at home on that campaign, until it appears that his 
 old counsellor, Bernard the Dane, urged him to go 
 back and meet the insurgents, and that a great vic- 
 tory was won and the revolt ended for that time. 
 The account of William's wonderful success is made 
 to sound almost miraculous by the old chronicles. 
 
 The two Norman parties held separate territories 
 and were divided geographically, and each party 
 wished to keep to itself and not be linked with the 
 other. The Christian duke who liked French speech 
 and French government might keep Christian Rouen 
 and Evreux where Frenchmen abounded, but the 
 heathen Danes to the westward would rather be inde- 
 pendent of a leader who had turned his face upon the 
 traditions and beliefs of his ancestors. For the time 
 being, these rebellious subjects must keep their 
 grudges and bear their wrongs as best they might, 
 
62 THE STORY OF THE NORMANS. 
 
 for their opponents were the masters now, and 
 William was free to aim at still greater influence in 
 French affairs as his dominion increased. 
 
 Through his whole life he was swayed by religious 
 impulses, and, as we have known, it was hard work 
 at one time to keep him from being a monk. Yet 
 he was not very lavish in his presents to the church, 
 as a good monarch was expected to be in those days, 
 and most of the abbeys and cathedrals which had 
 suffered so cruelly in the days of the pirates were 
 very poor still, and many were even left desolate. 
 His government is described as just and vigorous, 
 and as a general thing his subjects liked him and 
 upheld his authority. He was very desirous all the 
 time to bring his people within the bounds of Chris- 
 tian civilization and French law and order, yet he 
 did not try to cast away entirely the inherited speech 
 or ideas of his ancestors. Of course his treatment of 
 the settlements to the westward and the Danish party 
 in his dominion must have varied at different times 
 in his reign. Yet, after he had made great efforts to 
 identify himself with the French, he still found him- 
 self looked down upon by his contemporaries and 
 called the Duke of the Pirates, and so in later years 
 he concerned himself more with his father's people, 
 and even, so the tradition goes, gave a new Danish 
 colony direct from Denmark leave to settle in Brit- 
 tany. His young son Richard was put under the 
 care, not of French priests, but his own old tutor, 
 Botho the Dane, and the boy and his master were 
 sent purposely to Bayeux, the very city which young 
 Richard's grandfather, Rolf, had helped to ravage. 
 
WILLIAM LONGSWORD. 63 
 
 At Rouen the Northman's language was already 
 almost forgotten, but the heir to the duchy was sent 
 where he could hear it every day, though his good 
 teacher had accepted French manners and the re- 
 ligion of Rome. William Longsword had become 
 sure that there was no use in trying to be either 
 wholly Danish or wholly French, the true plan for a 
 Duke of Normandy was to be Dane and Frenchman 
 at once. The balance seems to have swung toward 
 the Danish party for a time after this, and after a 
 troubled, bewildering reign to its very close, William 
 died at the hands of his enemies, who had lured him 
 away to hold a conference with Arnulf, of Flanders, 
 at Picquigny, where he came to a mysterious and 
 sudden death. 
 
 The next year, 943, was a marked one in France 
 and began a new order of things. There was a birth 
 and a death which changed the current of history. 
 The Count of Vermandois, the same man who had 
 kept the prison and helped in the murder of Charles 
 the Simple, was murdered himself — or at least died 
 in an unexplained and horrible way, as men were apt 
 to do who were called tyrants and were regicides be- 
 side. His dominion was divided among his sons, 
 except some parts of it that Hugh of Paris seized. 
 This was the death, and the birth was of a son and 
 heir to Hugh of Paris himself. His first wife was an 
 Englishwoman, Eadhild, but she had died childless, 
 to his great sorrow. This baby was the son of his 
 wife Hadwisa, the daughter of King Henry of Ger- 
 many, and he was called Hugh for his father; Hugh 
 Capet, the future king. After this Hugh of Paris 
 
64 THE STORY OF THE NORMANS. 
 
 changed his plans and his policy. True enough, he 
 had never consented to being a king himself, but it 
 was quite another thing to hinder his son from 
 reigning over France by and by. Here the French- 
 man begins to contrast himself more plainly against 
 the Frank, just as we have seen the Norman begin 
 to separate himself from the Northman. Under 
 Rolf Normandy had been steadily loyal to King 
 Charles the Simple ; under William it had wavered 
 between the king and the duke ; under Richard we 
 shall see Normandy growing more French again. 
 
 Under William Longsword, now Frenchman, now 
 Northman was coming to the front, and everybody 
 was ready to fight without caring so very much what 
 it was all about. But everywhere we find the 
 striking figure of the young duke carrying his great 
 sword, that came to be the symbol of order and 
 peace. The golden hilt and long shining blade are 
 familiar enough in the story of William's life. 
 Somehow we can hardly think of him without his 
 great weapon. With it he could strike a mighty blow, 
 and in spite of his uncommon strength, he is said to 
 have been of a slender, graceful figure, with beautiful 
 features and clear, bright color like a young girl's. 
 His charming, cheerful, spirited manners won friend- 
 ship and liking. " He had an eye for splendor," 
 says one biographer ; "well spoken to all, William 
 Longsword could quote a text to the priest, listen 
 respectfully to the wise sayings of the old, talk mer- 
 rily with his young friends about chess and tables, 
 discuss the flight of the falcon and the fleetness of 
 the hound." 
 
WILLIAM LONGSWORD. 65 
 
 When he desired to be a monk, he was persuaded 
 that his rank and duties would not permit such a 
 sacrifice, and that he must act his part in the world 
 rather than in the cloister, for Normandy's sake, but 
 in spite of his gay life and apparent fondness 
 for the world's delights and pleasures, when he 
 died his followers found a sackcloth garment and 
 scourge under his splendid clothes. And as he lay 
 dead in Rouen the rough haircloth shirt was turned 
 outward at the throat so that all the people could 
 see. He had not the firmness and decision that a 
 duke of Normandy needed ; he was very affectionate 
 and impulsive, but he was a miserly person, and had 
 not the power of holding on and doing what ought 
 to be done with all his might. 
 
IV. 
 
 RICHARD THE FEARLESS. 
 
 " By many a warlike feat 
 Lopped the French lilies." 
 
 -Drayton. 
 
 AROUND the city of Bayeux, Mere the head- 
 quarters of the Northmen, and both Rolf's followers 
 and the later colonists had kept that part of the 
 duchy almost free from French influence. There 
 Longsword's little son Richard (whose mother was 
 Espriota, the duke's first wife, whom he had married 
 in Banish fashion), was sent to learn the Northmen's 
 language, and there he lived yet with his teachers and 
 Count Bernard, when the news came of the murder 
 of his father by Arnulf of Flanders, with whom 
 William had gone to confer in good faith. 
 
 We can imagine for ourselves the looks of the 
 little lad and his surroundings. He was fond even 
 then of the chase, and it might be on some evening 
 when he had come in with the huntsmen that he 
 found a breathless messenger who had brought the 
 news of Lonsgword's death. We can imagine the low 
 roofed, stone-arched room with its thick pillars, and 
 deep stone casings to the windows, where the wind 
 came in and made the torches flare. At each end of 
 
 66 
 
RICHARD THE FEARLESS. 67 
 
 the room would be a great fire, and the servants 
 busy before one of them with the supper, and there 
 on the flagstones, in a dark heap, is the stag, and 
 perhaps some smaller game that the hunters have 
 thrown down. There are no chimneys, and the fires 
 leap up against the walls, and the smoke curls along 
 the ceiling and finds its way out as best it can. 
 
 One end of the room is a step or two higher than 
 the other, and here there is a long table spread with 
 drinking-horns and bowls, and perhaps some 
 beautiful silver cups, with figures of grapevines 
 and fauns and satyrs carved on them, which the 
 Norse pirates brought home long ago from Italy. 
 The floor has been covered with rushes which the 
 girls of the household scatter, and some of these 
 girls wear old Norse ornaments of wrought silver, 
 with bits of coral, that must have come from 
 Italy too. The great stag-hounds are stretched 
 out asleep after their day's work, and the little Rich- 
 ard is tired too, and has thrown himself into a tall 
 carved chair by the fire. 
 
 Suddenly there comes the sound of a horn, and 
 everybody starts and listens. Was the household to 
 be attacked and besieged ? for friends were less 
 likely visitors than enemies in those rough times. 
 
 The dogs bark and cannot be quieted, and again 
 the horn sounds outside the gate, and somebody 
 has gone to answer it, and those who listen hear the 
 great hinges creak presently as the gate is opened 
 and the sound of horses' feet in the courtyard. 
 The dogs have found that there is no danger and 
 creep away lazily to go to sleep again, but when the 
 
68 THE STORY OF THE NORMANS. 
 
 men of the household come back to the great hall 
 their faces are sadly changed. Something has hap- 
 pened. 
 
 Among them are two guests, two old counts 
 whom everybody knows, and they walk gravely with 
 bent heads toward the boy Richard, who stands by 
 the smaller fire, in the place of honor, near his fath- 
 er's chair. Has his father come back sooner than he 
 expected ? The boy's heart must beat fast with 
 hope for one minute, then he is frightened by the 
 silence in the great hall. Nobody is singing or talk- 
 ing ; there is a dreadful stillness ; the very dogs are 
 quiet and watching from their beds on the new- 
 strewn rushes. The fires snap and crackle and throw 
 long shadows about the room. 
 
 What are the two counts going to do — Bernard 
 Harcourt and Rainulf Ferrieres ? They are kneeling 
 before the little boy, who is ready to run away, he 
 does not know why. Count Bernard has knelt be- 
 fore him, and says this, as he holds Richard's small 
 hand : " Richard, Duke of Normandy, I am your 
 liegeman and true vassal " ; and then the other count 
 does and says the same, while Bernard stands by and 
 covers his face with his hands and weeps. 
 
 Richard stands, wondering, as all the rest of the 
 noblemen promise him their service and the loyalty 
 of their castles and lands, and suddenly the truth 
 comes to him. His dear father is dead, and he must 
 be the duke now ; he, a little stupid boy, must take 
 the place of the handsome, smiling man with his 
 shining sword and black horse and purple robe and 
 the feather with its shining clasp in the high ducal 
 
RICHARD THE FEARLESS. 69 
 
 cap that is as splendid as any crown. Richard must 
 take the old counts for his playfellows, and learn 
 to rule his province of Normandy ; and what a long, 
 sad, frightened night that must have been to the 
 fatherless boy who must win for himself the good 
 name of Richard the Fearless ! 
 
 Next day they rode to Rouen, and there, when the 
 nobles had come, the dead duke was buried with 
 great ceremony, and all the people mourned for him 
 and were ready to swear vengeance on his treacher- 
 ous murderer. After the service was over Richard 
 was led back from the cathedral to his palace, and 
 his heavy black robes were taken off and a scarlet 
 tunic put on ; his long brown hair was curled, and 
 he was made as fine as a little duke could be, though 
 his eyes were red with crying, and he hated all the 
 pomp and splendor that only made him the surer 
 that his father was gone. 
 
 They brought him down to the great hall of the 
 palace, and there he found all the barons who had 
 come to his father's burial, and the boy was told to 
 pull off his cap to them and bow low in answer to 
 their salutations. Then he slowly crossed the hall, 
 and all the barons walked after him in a grand pro- 
 cession according to rank — first the Duke of Brittany 
 and last the poorest of the knights, all going to the 
 Church of Notre Dame, the great cathedral of 
 Rouen, where the solemn funeral chants had been 
 sung so short a time before. 
 
 There were all the priests and the Norman bish- 
 ops, and the choir sang as Richard walked to his 
 place near the altar where he had seen his father sit 
 
70 THE STORY OF THE NORMANS. 
 
 so many times. All the long services of the mass 
 were performed, and then the boy-duke gave his 
 promise, in the name of God and the people of Nor- 
 mandy, that he would be a good and true ruler, 
 guard them from their foes, maintain truth, punish 
 sin, and protect the Church. Two of the bishops 
 put on him the great mantle of the Norman dukes, 
 crimson velvet and trimmed with ermine ; but it was 
 so long that it lay in great folds on the ground. Then 
 the archbishop crowned the little lad with a crown so 
 wide and heavy that one of the barons had to hold 
 it in its place. Last of all, they gave him his father's 
 sword, taller than he, but he reached for the hilt and 
 held it fast as he was carried back to his throne, 
 though Count Bernard offered to carry it. Then all 
 the noblemen did homage, from Duke Alan of Brit- 
 tany down, and Richard swore in God's name to be 
 the good lord of every one and to protect him from 
 his foes. Perhaps some of the elder men who had 
 followed Rolf the Ganger felt very tenderly toward 
 this grandchild of their brave old leader, and the 
 friends of kind-hearted Longsword meant to be loyal 
 and very fatherly to his defenceless boy, upon whom 
 so much honor, and anxiety too, had early fallen. 
 
 See what a change there was in Normandy since 
 Rolf came, and what a growth in wealth and order- 
 liness the dukedom had made. All the feudal or 
 clannish spirit had had time to grow, and Normandy 
 ranked as the first of the French duchies. Still it 
 would be some time yet before the Danes and Nor- 
 wegians of the north could cease to think of the 
 Normans as their brothers and cousins, and begin to 
 
RICHARD THE FEARLESS. J\ 
 
 call them Frenchmen or Welskes, or any of the 
 other names they called the people in France or 
 Britain. It was sure to be a hard dukedom enough 
 for the boy-duke to rule, and all his youth was spent 
 in stormy, dangerous times. 
 
 His father had stood godfather — a very close tie — 
 to the heir of the new king of France, who was 
 called Louis, and he was also at peace with Count 
 Hugh of Paris. Soon after Longsword's death King 
 Louis appeared in Rouen at the head of a body of 
 troops, and demanded that he should be considered 
 the guardian and keeper of young Richard during 
 his minority. He surprised the counts who were in 
 Rouen, and who were just then nearly defenceless. 
 It would never do for them to resist Louis and his 
 followers ; they had no troops at hand ; and they 
 believed that the safest thing was to let Richard go, 
 for a time at any rate. It was true that he was the 
 king's vassal, and Normandy had always done hom- 
 age to the kings of France. And with a trusty 
 baron for protection the boy was sent away out of 
 pleasant Normandy to the royal castle of Laon. 
 The Rouen people were not very gracious to King 
 Louis, and that made him angry. Indeed, the 
 French king's dominion was none too large, and 
 everybody knew that he would be glad to possess 
 himself of the dukedom, or of part of it, and that he 
 was not unfriendly to Arnulf, who had betrayed 
 William Longsword. So the barons who were 
 gathered at Rouen, and all the Rouen people, must 
 have felt very anxious and very troubled about 
 Richard's safety when the French horsemen gal- 
 
J 2 THE STORY OF THE NORMANS. 
 
 loped away with him. From time to time news 
 came that the boy was not being treated very well. 
 At any rate he was not having the attention and care 
 that belonged to a duke of Normandy. The duke- 
 dom was tempestuous enough at any time, with its 
 Northman party, and its French party, and their 
 jealousies and rivalries. But they were all loyal to 
 the boy-duke who belonged to both, and who could 
 speak the pirate's language as well as that of the 
 French court. If his life were brought to an un- 
 timely end what a falling apart there would be among 
 those who were not unwilling now to be his subjects. 
 No wonder that the old barons were so eager to get 
 Richard home again, and so distrustful of the polite 
 talk and professions of affection and interest on 
 King Louis's part. Louis had two little sons of his 
 own, and it would be very natural if he sometimes 
 remembered that, if Richard were dead, one of his 
 own boys might be Duke of Normandy instead — that 
 is, if old Count Hugh of Paris did not stand in the way. 
 So away went Richard from his pleasant country 
 of Normandy, with its apple and cherry orchards 
 and its comfortable farms, from his Danes and his 
 Normans, and the perplexed and jealous barons. A 
 young nobleman, named Osmond de Centeville, was 
 his guardian, and promised to take the best of care 
 of his young charge, but when they reached the 
 grim castle of Laon they found that King Louis' 
 promises were not likely to be kept. Gerberga, the 
 French queen, was a brave woman, but eager to 
 forward the fortunes of her own household, and 
 nobody took much notice of the boy who was of so 
 
RICHARD THE -FEARLESS. 73 
 
 much consequence at home in his own castle of 
 Rouen. We cannot help wondering why Richard's 
 life did not come to a sudden end like his father's, 
 but perhaps Osmond's good care and vigilance gave 
 no chance for treachery to do its work. 
 
 After a while the boy-duke began to look very pale 
 and ill, poor little fellow, and Osmond watched him 
 tenderly, and soon the rest of the people in the 
 castle had great hopes that he was going to die. 
 The tradition says that he was not sick at all in 
 reality, but made himself appear so by refusing to 
 eat or sleep. At any rate he grew so pale and feeble 
 that one night everybody was so sure that he could 
 not live that they fell to rejoicing and had a great 
 banquet. There was no need to stand guard any 
 longer over the little chief of the pirates, and nobody 
 takes much notice of Osmond even as he goes to 
 and from the tower room with a long face. 
 
 Late in the evening he speaks of his war-horse 
 which he has forgotten to feed and litter down, and 
 goes to his stable in the courtyard with a huge 
 bundle of straw. The castle servants see him, but 
 let him pass as usual, and the banquet goes on, and 
 the lights burn dim, and the night wanes before any- 
 body finds out that there was a thin little lad, keep- 
 ing very still, in the straw that Osmond carried, and 
 that the two companions were riding for hours in the 
 starlight toward the Norman borders. Hurrah ! we 
 can almost hear the black horse's feet clatter and 
 ring along the roads, and take a long breath of relief 
 when we know that the fugitives get safe to Crecy 
 castle within the Norman lines next morning. 
 
74 THE STORY OF THE NORMANS. 
 
 King Louis was very angry and sent a message 
 that Richard must come back, but the barons re- 
 fused, and before long there was a great battle. 
 There could really be no such thing as peace be- 
 tween the Normans and the kingdom of France, 
 and Louis had grown more and more anxious to rid 
 the country of the hated pirates. Hugh the Great 
 and he were enemies at heart and stood in each 
 other's way, but Louis made believe that he was 
 friendly, and granted his formidable rival some new 
 territory, and displayed his royal condescension in 
 various ways. Each of these rulers was more than 
 willing to increase his domain by appropriating Nor- 
 mandy, and when we remember the two parties in 
 Normandy itself we cannot help thinking that Rich- 
 ard's path was going to be a very rough one to 
 follow. His father's enemy, Arnulf of Flanders, was 
 the enemy of Normandy still, and always in secret 
 or open league with Louis. The province of Brittany 
 was hard to control, and while William Longsword 
 had favored the French party in his dominions he 
 had put Richard under the care of the Northmen. 
 Yet this had not been done in a way to give com- 
 plete satisfaction, for the elder Danes clung to their 
 old religion and cared nothing for the solemn rites 
 of the Church, by means of which Richard had been 
 invested with the dukedom. They were half insulted 
 by such silly pageantry, yet it was not to the leaders 
 of the old pirate element in the dukedom, but to the 
 Christianized Danes, whose head-quarters were at 
 Rouen, that the guardianship of the heir of Nor- 
 mandy had been given. He did not belong to the 
 
RICHARD THE FEARLESS. 7$ 
 
 Christians, but to the Norsemen, yet not to the 
 old pagan vikings either. It was a curious and per- 
 haps a very wise thing to do, but the Danes little 
 thought when Longsword promised solemnly to put 
 his son under their charge, that he meant the Chris- 
 tian Danes like Bernard and Botho. There was one 
 thing that all the Normans agreed upon, that they 
 would not be the vassals and lieges of the king of 
 France. They had promised it in their haste when 
 the king had come and taken young Richard away 
 to Laon, but now that they had time to consider, 
 they saw what a mistake it had been to make Louis 
 the boy-duke's guardian. They meant to take fast 
 hold of Richard now that he had come back, and so 
 the barons were summoned, and when Louis ap- 
 peared again in Normandy, with the spirit and 
 gallantry of a great captain, to claim the guardian- 
 ship and to establish Christianity, as well as to 
 avenge the murder of Longsword, if you please ! — 
 he found a huge army ready to meet him. 
 
 Nobody can understand how King Louis managed 
 to keep such a splendid army as his in good condi- 
 tion through so many reverses. He had lost heavily 
 from his lands and his revenues, and there were no 
 laws, so far as we know, that compelled military 
 service, but the ranks were always full, and the 
 golden eagle of Charlemagne was borne before the 
 king on the march, and the banner of that great em- 
 peror, his ancestor, fluttered above his pavilion when 
 the army halted. As for the Danes (which means 
 simply the Northern or Pirate party of Normandy), 
 they were very unostentatious soldiers and fought 
 
76 THE STORY OF THE NORMANS. 
 
 on foot, going to meet the enemy with sword and 
 shield. Some of them had different emblems on their 
 shields now, instead of the old red and white stripes 
 of the shields that used to be hung along the sides 
 of the long-ships, and they carried curious weapons, 
 even a sort of flail that did great execution. 
 
 We must pass quickly over the long account of a 
 feigned alliance between Hugh of Paris and King 
 Louis, their agreement to share Normandy be- 
 tween themselves, and then Hugh's withdrawal, and 
 Bernard of Senlis's deep-laid plot against both the 
 enemies of Normandy. It was just at this time that 
 there was a great deal of enmity between Normandy 
 and Brittany, and the Normans seem to be in a more 
 rebellious and quarrelsome state than usual. If 
 there was one thing that they clung to every one of 
 them, and would not let go, it was this : that Nor- 
 mandy should not be divided, that it should be kept 
 as Rolf had left it. Sooner than yield to the plots 
 and attempted grasping and divisions of Hugh and 
 Arnulf of Flanders, and Louis, they would send to 
 the North for a fleet of dragon ships and conquer 
 their country over again. They knew very well that 
 however bland and persuasive their neighbors might 
 become when they desired to have a truce, they al- 
 ways called them filthy Normans and pirates behind 
 their backs, and were always hoping for a chance to 
 push them off the soil of Normandy. There was no 
 love lost between the dukedoms and the kingdom. 
 
 After some time Louis was persuaded again that 
 Normandy desired nothing so much as to call him 
 her feudal lord and sovereign. Bernard de Senlis as- 
 
RICHARD THE FEARLESS. 
 
 77 
 
 sured him, for the sake of peace, that they 
 were no longer in doubt of their un- 
 happiness in having a child for a ruler, 
 that they were anxious to return to 
 the old pledge of loyalty that Rolf 
 gave to the successor of Charle- 
 magne. He must be the over-lord 
 again and must come and occupy his humble 
 city of Rouen. They were tired of being har- 
 ried, their land was desolated, and they would 
 do any thing to be released from the sorrows 
 and penalties of war. Much to our surprise, 
 and very likely to his own astonishment too, we 
 find King Louis presently going to Rouen, and 
 being received there with all manner of civility 
 and deference. Every- 
 body hated him just as 
 much as ever, and dis- 
 trusted him, and no 
 doubt Louis returned 
 the compliment, but to 
 outward view he was be- 
 loved and honored by 
 his tributaries, and the 
 Norman city seemed 
 quiet and particularly 
 servile to its new ruler 
 and his bragging troops. 
 Nobody understood ex- 
 actly why they had won 
 their ends with so little 
 
 FLAIL AS A MILITARY 
 
 weapon (i). trouble, and everybody 
 
7 8 THE STORY OF THE NORMANS. 
 
 was on the watch for some amazing counterplot, and 
 dared not trust either friend or foe. As for Louis, 
 they had shamed and tormented him too much to 
 make him a very affectionate sovereign now. To be 
 sure he ruled over Normandy at last, but that brought 
 him perplexity enough. In the city the most worth- 
 less of his followers was putting on the airs of a 
 conqueror and aggravating the Norman subjects un- 
 bearably. The Frenchmen who had followed the 
 golden eagle of Charlemagne so long without any 
 reward but glory and a slender subsistence, began to 
 clamor for their right to plunder the dukedom and 
 to possess themselves of a reward which had been 
 too long withheld already. 
 
 Hugh, of Paris, and King Louis had made a bold 
 venture together for the conquest of Normandy, 
 and apparently succeeded to their heart's content. 
 Hugh had besieged Bayeux ; and the country, be- 
 tween the two assailants, had suffered terribly. Ber- 
 nard the Dane, or Bernard de Senlis either, knew no 
 other way to reestablish themselves than by keeping 
 Louis in Rouen and cheating him by a show of com- 
 plete submission. The Normans must have had 
 great faith in the Danish Bernard when they sub- 
 mitted to make unconditional surrender to Louis. 
 Could it be that he had been faithless to the boy- 
 duke's rights, and allowed him to be contemptuously 
 disinherited ? 
 
 Now that the king was safely bestowed in Rouen, 
 his new liegemen began to say very disagreeable 
 things. Louis had made a great fool of himself at a 
 banquet soon after he reached Rolf's tower in the 
 
RICHARD THE FEARLESS. 79 
 
 Norman city. Bernard the Dane, had spread a fa- 
 mous feast for him and brought his own good red 
 wine. Louis became very talkative, and announced 
 openly that he was going to be master of the Nor- 
 mans at last, and would make them feel his bonds, 
 and shame them well. But Bernard the Dane left 
 his own seat at the table and placed himself next the 
 king. Presently he began, in most ingenious ways, to 
 taunt him with having left himself such a small 
 share of the lands and wealth of the ancient province 
 of Neustria. He showed him that Hugh of Paris 
 had made the best of the bargain, and that he had 
 given up a great deal more than there was any need 
 of doing. Bernard described in glowing colors the 
 splendid dominions he had sacrificed by letting his 
 rival step in and take first choice. Louis had not 
 chosen to take a seventh part of the whole duke- 
 dom, and Hugh of Paris was master of all Nor- 
 mandy beyond the Seine, a beautiful country watered 
 by fine streams whose ports were fit for commerce 
 and ready for defence. More than this ; he had let 
 ten thousand fighting men slip through his hands and 
 become the allies of his worst enemy. And so 
 Bernard and his colleagues plainly told Louis that he 
 had made a great mistake. They would consent to 
 receive him as their sovereign and guardian of the 
 young duke, but Normandy must not be divided ; to 
 that they would never give their consent. 
 
 Louis listened, half dazed to these suggestions, 
 and when he was well sobered he understood that he 
 was attacked on every side. Hugh of Paris had de- 
 clared that if Louis broke faith with him now h a 
 
8o THE STORY OE THE NORMANS. 
 
 would make an end to their league, and Louis knew 
 that he would be making a fierce enemy if he lis- 
 tened to the Normans ; yet if he refused, they 
 would turn against him. 
 
 On the other hand, if he permitted Hugh to keep 
 his new territory, he was only strengthening a man 
 who was his enemy at heart, and who sooner or later 
 would show his antagonism. Louis's own soldiers 
 were becoming very rebellious. They claimed over 
 and over again that Rolf had had no real right to 
 the Norman lands, but since he had divided them 
 among his followers, all the more reason now that 
 the conquerors, the French owners of Normandy, 
 should be put into possession of what they had won 
 back again at last. They demanded that the victors 
 should enforce their right, and not only expressed a 
 wish for Bernard the Dane's broad lands, but for his 
 handsome young wife. They would not allow that 
 the Normans had any rights at all. When a rumor 
 of such wicked plans began to be whispered through 
 Rouen and the villages, it raised a great excitement. 
 There would have been an insurrection at once, if 
 shrewd old Bernard had not again insisted upon 
 patience and submission. His wife even rebelled, 
 and said that she would bury herself in a convent ; 
 and Espriota, young Richard's mother, thriftily re- 
 solved to provide herself with a protector, and mar- 
 ried Sperling, a rich miller of Vaudreuil. 
 
 Hugh of Paris was Bernard's refuge in these 
 troubles, and now we see what the old Dane had 
 been planning all the time. Hugh had begun to be- 
 lieve that there was no use in trying to hold his new 
 
RICHARD THE FEARLESS. 8 1 
 
 possessions of Normandy beyond the Seine, and 
 that he had better return to his old cordial alliance 
 with the Normans and uphold Rolf the Ganger's 
 dukedom. So the Danish party, Christians and pa- 
 gans, and the Normans of the French party, and 
 Hugh of Paris, all entered into a magnificent plot 
 against Louis. The Normans might have been con- 
 tented with expelling the intruders, and a renuncia- 
 tion of the rights Louis had usurped, but Hugh the 
 Great was very anxious to capture Louis himself. 
 
 Besides Hugh of Paris and the Norman barons 
 who upheld the cause of young Richard, there was 
 a third very important ally in the great rebellion 
 against King Louis of France. When Gorm a 
 famous old king of Denmark had died some years 
 before, the successor to his throne was Harold 
 Blaatand or Bluetooth, a man of uncommonly fine 
 character for those times — a man who kept his 
 promises and was noted for his simplicity and good 
 faith and loyalty to his word. Whatever reason may 
 have brought Harold to Normandy at this time, there 
 he was, the firm friend of the citizens of the Bayeux 
 country, and we find him with his army at Cherbourg. 
 
 All Normandy was armed and ready for a grand 
 fight with the French, though it appears that at first 
 there was an attempt at a peaceful conference. This 
 went on very well at first, the opposing armies being 
 drawn up on either side of the river Dive, when who 
 should appear but Herluin of Montreuil,the insolent 
 traitor who was more than suspected of having 
 caused the murder of William Longsword. Since 
 then he had ruled in Rouen as Louis's deputy and 
 
82 THE STORY OF THE NORMANS. 
 
 stirred up more hatred against himself, but now he 
 took a prominent place in the French ranks, and 
 neither Normans nor Danes could keep their tempers 
 any longer. So the peaceful conference was abruptly 
 ended, and the fight began. 
 
 Every thing went against the French : many counts 
 were killed ; the golden eagle of Charlemagne and the 
 silk hangings and banners of the king's tent had only 
 been brought for the good of these Normans, who 
 captured them. As for the king himself, he was 
 taken prisoner; some say that he was led away from 
 the battle-field and secreted by a loyal gentleman of 
 that neighborhood, who hid him in a secluded 
 bowery island in the river near by, and that the poor 
 gentleman's house and goods were burnt and his wife 
 and children seized, before he would tell anything 
 of the defeated monarch's hiding-place. There is 
 another story that Harold Blaatand and Louis met 
 in hand-to-hand combat, and the Dane led away the 
 Frank as the prize of his own bravery. The king 
 escaped and was again captured and imprisoned 
 in Rouen. No bragging now of what he would do 
 with the Normans, or who should take their lands 
 and their wives. Poor Louis was completely beaten, 
 but there was still a high spirit in the man and in 
 his brave wife Gerberga, who seems to have been his 
 equal in courage and resource. After a while Louis 
 only regained his freedom by giving up his castle of 
 Laon to Hugh of Paris, and the successor of Charle- 
 magne was reduced to the pitiful poverty of being 
 king only of Compiegne. Yet he was still king, and 
 nobody was more ready to give him the title than 
 
RICHARD THE FEARLESS. 83 
 
 Hugh of Paris himself, though the diplomatic treach- 
 eries went on as usual. 
 
 Harold had made a triumphant progress through 
 Normandy after the great fight was over, and all the 
 people were very grateful to him, and it is said that 
 he reestablished the laws of Rolf, and confirmed the 
 authority of the boy-duke. We cannot understand 
 very well at this distance just why Harold should 
 have been in Normandy at all with his army to make 
 himself so useful, but there he was, and unless one 
 story is only a repetition of the other, he came back 
 again, twenty years after, in the same good-natured 
 way, and fought for the Normans again. 
 
 Poor Louis certainly had a very hard time, and 
 for a while his pride was utterly broken ; but he was 
 still young and hoped to retrieve his unlucky for- 
 tunes. Richard, the young duke, was only thirteen 
 years old when Normandy broke faith with France. 
 He had not yet earned his title of the Fearless, 
 which has gone far toward making him one of the 
 heroes of history, and was waiting to begin his real 
 work and influence in the dukedom. Louis had 
 sympathy enough of a profitless sort from his Ger- 
 man and English neighbors. England sent an em- 
 bassy to demand his release, and Hugh of Paris 
 refused most ungraciously. Later, the king of the 
 Germans or East Franks determined to invade 
 Hugh's territory, and would not even send a message 
 or have any dealings with him first ; and when he 
 found that the German army was really assembling, 
 the Count of Paris yielded. But, as we have already 
 seen, Louis had to give up a great piece of his king- 
 
84 THE STORY OF THE NORMANS. 
 
 dom. As far as words went, he was king again. He 
 had lost his authority while he was in prison, but it 
 was renewed with proper solemnity, and Hugh was 
 again faithful liegeman and homager of his former 
 prisoner. The other princes of Europe, at least those 
 who were neighbors, followed Hugh's example — all 
 except one, if we may believe the Norman historians. 
 On the banks of the Epte, where Rolf had first done 
 homage to the French king, the Norman duchy was 
 now set free from any over-lordship, and made an in- 
 dependent country. The duke was still called duke, 
 and not king, yet he was completely the monarch of 
 Normandy, and need give no tribute nor obedience. 
 
 Before long, however, Richard, or his barons for 
 him — wily Bernard the Dane, and Bernard de 
 Senlis, and the rest — commended the lands and men 
 of Normandy to the Count of Paris, benefactor and 
 ally. The Norman historians do not say much about 
 this, for they were not so proud of it as of their 
 being made free from the rule of France. We are 
 certain that the Norman soldiers followed Hugh in 
 his campaigns, for long after this during the reign of 
 Richard the Fearless there were some charters and 
 state papers written which are still preserved, and 
 which speak of Hugh of Paris as Richard's over-lord. 
 
 There are so few relics of that time that we 
 must note the coinage of the first Norman money in 
 Richard's reign. The chronicles follow the old 
 fashion of the sagas in sounding the praises of one 
 man — sometimes according to him all the deeds of 
 his ancestors besides ; but, unfortunately, they refe/ 
 little to general history, and tell few things about the 
 
RICHARD THE FEARLESS. 8$ 
 
 people. We find Normandy and England coming 
 into closer relations in this reign, and the first men- 
 tion of the English kings and of affairs across the 
 Channel, lends a new interest to our story of the 
 Normans. Indeed, to every Englishman and Ameri- 
 can the roots and beginnings of English history are 
 less interesting in themselves than for their hints and 
 explanations of later chapters and events. 
 
 Before we end this account of Duke Richard's 
 boyhood, we must take a look at one appealing frag- 
 ment of it which has been passed by in the story of 
 the wars and tumults and strife of parties. Once 
 King Louis was offered his liberty on the condition 
 that he would allow the Normans to take his son 
 and heir Lothair as pledge of his return and good 
 behavior. No doubt the French king and Queen 
 Gerberga had a consciousness that they had not been 
 very kind to Richard, and so feared actual retalia-' 
 tion. But Gerberga offered, not the heir to the 
 throne, but her younger child Carloman, a puny, 
 weak little boy, and he was taken as hostage instead, 
 and soon died in Rouen. Miss Yonge has written a 
 charming story called " The Little Duke," in which 
 she draws a touching picture of this sad little exile. 
 It makes Queen Gerberga appear very hard and 
 cruel, and it seems as if she must have been to let the 
 poor child go among his enemies. We must remem- 
 ber, though, that these times were very hard, and 
 one cannot help respecting the poor queen, who was 
 very brave after all, and fought as gallantly as any 
 one to keep her besieged and struggling kingdom 
 out of the hands of its assailants. 
 
86 THE STORY OF THE NORMANS. 
 
 We must pass over the long list of petty wars be- 
 tween Louis and Hugh. Richard's reign was stormy 
 to begin with, but for some years before his death 
 Normandy appears to have been tolerably quiet. 
 Louis had seen his darkest times when Normandy 
 shook herself free from French rule, and from that 
 hour his fortunes bettered. . There was one disagree- 
 ment between Otto of Germany and Louis, aided by 
 the king of Burgundy, against the two dukes, Hugh 
 and Richard, and before Louis died he won back 
 again the greater part of his possessions at Laon. 
 Duke Hugh's glories were somewhat eclipsed for a 
 time, and he was excommunicated by the Archbishop 
 of Rheims and took no notice of that, but by and by 
 when the Pope of Rome himself put him under a 
 ban, he came to terms. The Normans were his 
 constant allies, but there is not much to learn about 
 •their own military enterprises. The enthusiastic 
 Norman writers give a glowing account of the failure 
 of the confederate kings to capture Rouen, but say 
 less about their marauding tour through the duchies 
 of Normandy and Hugh's dominions. Rouen was a 
 powerful city by this time, and a famous history be- 
 longed to her already. There are some fragments 
 left still of the Rouen of that day, which is very 
 surprising when we remember how battered and 
 beleaguered the old town was through century after 
 century. 
 
 Every thing was apparently prospering with the 
 king of France when he suddenly died, only thirty- 
 three years of age, in spite of his tempestuous reign 
 and always changing career. He must have felt like a 
 
RICHARD THE FEARLESS. 
 
 87 
 
 very old man, one would think, and somehow one 
 imagines him and Gerberga, his wife, as old people 
 in their Castle of Laon. Lothair was the next king, 
 and Richard, who so lately was a child too, became 
 the elder ruler of his time. Hugh of Paris died two 
 
 ABBEY CHURCH OF ST. OUEN (ROUEN) 
 
 years later, and the old enemy of Normandy, Arnulf 
 of Flanders, soon followed him. The king of Ger- 
 many, Otto, outlived all these, but Richard lived 
 longer than he or his son. 
 
88 THE STORY OF THE NORMANS. 
 
 The duchy of France, Hugh's dominion, passed 
 to his young son, Hugh Capet, a boy of thirteen. 
 When this Hugh grew up he did homage to Lothair, 
 but Richard gave his loyalty to Hugh of Paris's son. 
 The wars went on, and before many years went over 
 Hugh Capet extinguished the succession of Charle- 
 magne's heirs to the throne of France, and was 
 crowned king himself, so beginning the reign of 
 France proper ; as powerful and renowned a kingdom 
 as Europe saw through many generations. By 
 throwing off the rule of German princes, and achiev- 
 ing independence of the former French dynasty, 
 an order of things began that was not overthrown 
 until our own day. Little by little the French 
 crown annexed the dominions of all its vassals, even 
 the duchy of Normandy, but that was not to be for 
 many years yet. I hope we have succeeded in 
 getting at least a hint of the history of France from 
 the time it was the Gaul of the Roman empire ; 
 and the empire of Charlemagne, and later, of the frag- 
 ments of that empire, each a province or kingdom 
 under a ruler of its own, which were reunited in one 
 confederation under one king of France. All this 
 time Europe is under the religious rule of Rome, and 
 in Richard the Fearless's later years we find him the 
 benefactor of the Church, living close by the Minster 
 of Fecamp and buried in its shadow at last. ' There 
 was a deep stone chest which was placed by Duke 
 Richard's order near one of the minster doors, where 
 the rain might fall upon it that dropped from the 
 holy roof above. For many years, on Saturday 
 evenings, the chest was filled to the brim with 
 
MCBAkb THE FEARLESS. 89 
 
 wheat, a luxury in those days, and the poor came 
 and filled their measures and held out their hands 
 afterward for five shining pennies, while the lame 
 and sick people were visited in their homes by the 
 almoner of the great church. There was much talk 
 about this hollowed block of stone, but when Richard 
 died in 996 at the end of his fifty-five years' reign, 
 after a long, lingering illness, his last command was 
 that he should be buried in the chest and lie " there 
 where the foot should tread, and the dew and the 
 waters of heaven should fall." Beside this church 
 of the Holy Trinity at Fecamp he built the abbey of 
 St. Wandville, the Rouen cathedral, and the great 
 church of the Benedictines at St. Ouen. New struc- 
 tures have risen upon the old foundations, but 
 Richard's name is still connected with the places of 
 worship that he cared for. 
 
 " Richard Sans-peur has long been our favorite 
 hero," says Sir Francis Palgrave, who has written 
 perhaps the fullest account of the Third Duke ; " we 
 have admired the fine boy, nursed on his father's 
 knee whilst the three old Danish warriors knelt and 
 rendered their fealty. During Richard's youth, 
 adolescence, and age our interest in his varied, 
 active, energetic character has never flagged, and we 
 go with him in court and camp till the day of his 
 death." 
 
V. 
 
 DUKE RICHARD TPIE GOOD. 
 
 " Then would he sing achievements high 
 And circumstance of chivalry." — SCOTT. 
 
 Richard the Fearless had several sons, and 
 when he lay dying his nobles asked him to say who 
 should be his successor. " He who bears my name," 
 whispered the old duke, and added a moment later : 
 " Let the others take the oaths of fealty, acknowl- 
 edge Richard as their superior ; and put their hands 
 in his, and receive from him those lands which I 
 will name to you." 
 
 So Richard the Good came to his dukedom, with 
 a rich inheritance in every way from the father who 
 had reigned so successfully, and his brothers Geoffry, 
 Mauger, William, and Robert, accepted their por- 
 tions of the dukedom, to which Richard added more 
 lands of his own accord. 
 
 During this reign there were many changes, some 
 very gradual and natural ones, for Normandy was 
 growing more French and less Scandinavian all the 
 time, and the relationship grew stronger and stronger 
 between vigorous young Normandy and troubled, 
 failing England. Later we shall see how our Nor- 
 
 90 
 
DUKE RICHARD THE GOOD. 91 
 
 mans gave a new impulse to England, but already 
 there are signs and forebodings of what must come 
 to pass in the days of Richard the Good's grandson, 
 William the Conqueror. 
 
 We first hear now of many names which are great 
 names in Normandy and England to this day. "It 
 seems as if there were never any region more 
 peopled with men of known deeds, known names, 
 known passions and known crimes," says Palgrave ; 
 and the Norman annals abound with historical titles 
 "rendered illustrious by the illusions of time and 
 blazonry which imagination imparts." It is very 
 strange how few records there are, among the 
 state papers in France, of all this period. Ever}' 
 important public matter in England was caref un- 
 recorded long before this, but with all the proverbial 
 love of going to law, and all the well-ordered priest- 
 hood, and good education of the upper classes, there 
 are only a few scattered charters until Normandy is 
 really merged in France. This almost corresponds 
 to the absence, in the literary world, of papers 
 relating to Shakespeare, which is such a puzzle 
 to antiquarians. Here was a man well-known and 
 beloved both in his native village and the world of 
 London, a man who must have covered thousands 
 of pages with writing, and written letters and signed 
 his name times without number, and yet not one of 
 his manuscripts and very few signatures can be found. 
 Only the references to him in contemporary litera- 
 ture remain to give us any facts at all about the 
 greatest of English writers. Of far less noteworthy 
 men, of his time and before that, we can make up 
 
$2 THE STORY OF THE NORMANS. 
 
 reasonably full biographies. And Normandy is 
 known only through the records of other nations, 
 and the traditions and reports of romancing chroni- 
 clers. There are no long lists of men and money, and 
 no treasurer or general of Rolf's, or Longsword's 
 time has left us his accounts. Rolf's brother, who 
 went to Iceland while Rolf came to Normandy, 
 in the tyrannical reign of Harold Haarfager, estab- 
 lished in that storm-bound little country a nation 
 of scholars and record-makers. Perhaps it was easier 
 to write there where the only enemies were ice and 
 snow and darkness and the fury of the sea and wind. 
 
 Yet we can guess at a great deal about the condi- 
 tion of Normandy. There was so much going to 
 and fro, such a lively commerce and transportation 
 of goods, that we know the old Roman roads had 
 been kept in good repair, and that many others must 
 have been built as the population increased. The 
 famous fairs which were held make us certain that 
 there was a large business carried on, and besides the 
 maintenance and constant use of a large army, in 
 some years there was also a thrifty devotion to mer- 
 cantile matters and agriculture. Foreign artisans 
 and manufacturers were welcomed to the Norman 
 provinces, and soon formed busy communities like 
 the Flemish craftsmen, weavers and leather-makers, 
 at Falaise. The Normans had an instinctive liking 
 for pomp and splendor ; so their tradesmen flourished, 
 and their houses became more and more elegant, 
 and must be carved and gilded like the dragon ships. 
 
 A merry, liberal duke was this Richard ; fond of 
 his court, and always ready to uphold Normandy's 
 
DUKE RICHARD THE GOOD. 93 
 
 honor and his own when there was any fighting to 
 be done. He had a great regard for his nobles, and we 
 begin to find a great deal said about gentlemen ; the 
 duke would have only gentlemen for his chosen fol- 
 lowers, and the aristocrats make themselves felt 
 more distinctly than before. The rule of the best is 
 a hard thing to manage, it sinks already into a rule 
 of the lucky, the pushing, or the favored in the Rouen 
 court. The power and reign of chivalry begins to 
 blossom now far and wide. 
 
 We begin to hear rumors too on the other side 
 that there were wrong distinctions between man and 
 man, and tyranny that grew hard to bear, and one 
 Norman resents the truth that his neighbor is a 
 better and richer man than he, and moreover has the 
 right to make him a servant, and to make laws for 
 him. The Norman citizens were equal in civil rights 
 — that is to say, they were not taxed without their 
 own consent, need pay no tolls, and might hunt and 
 fish ; all could do these things except the villeins* and 
 peasants, who really composed the mass of the native 
 population, the descendants of those who lived in 
 Normandy before Rolf came there. Even the 
 higher clergy did not form part of the nobility and 
 gentry at first, and in later years there was still a 
 difference in rank and privileges between the priests 
 of Norwegian and Danish race and the other eccle- 
 siastics. 
 
 Before Richard the Good had been long on his 
 throne there was a great revolt and uprising of the 
 peasantry, who evidently did not think that their new 
 * Farm laborers ; countrymen. 
 
94 THE STORY OF THE NORMANS. 
 
 duke deserved his surname at all. These people 
 conceived the idea of destroying the inequality of 
 races, so that Normandy should hold only one na- 
 tion, as it already held one name. We cannot help 
 being surprised at the caieful political organization 
 of the peasantry, and at finding that they established 
 a regular parliament with two representatives from 
 every district. In all the villages and hamlets, after 
 the day's work was over, they came together to talk 
 over their wrongs or to listen to some speaker more 
 eloquent than his fellows. They " made a commune," 
 which anticipates later events in the history of France 
 in a surprising way. Freeman says that " such a con- 
 stitution could hardly have been extemporized by 
 mere peasants," and believes that the disturbance was 
 founded in a loyalty to the local customs and rights 
 which were fast being trampled under foot, and that 
 the rebels were only trying to defend their time- 
 honored inheritance. The liberty which they were 
 eager to grasp might have been a great good, 
 scattered as it would have been over a great extent 
 of country, instead of being won by separate cities. 
 The ancient Norman constitutions of the Channel 
 Islands, Jersey and Guernsey and the rest, antiquated 
 as they seem, breathe to-day a spirit of freedom 
 worthy of the air of England or Switzerland or Nor- 
 way. 
 
 The peasants clamored for their right to be equal 
 with their neighbors, and no doubt many a small land- 
 holder joined them, who did not wish to swear fealty 
 to his over-lord. In the Roman de Ron, an old chron- 
 icle which keeps together many traditions about early 
 
DUKE RICHARD THE GOOD. 95 
 
 Normandy that else might have been forgotten, we 
 find one of these piteous harangues. Perhaps it is 
 not authentic, but it gives the spirit of the times so 
 well that it ought to have a place here: 
 
 " The lords do nothing but evil ; we cannot obtain 
 either reason or justice from them ; they have all, 
 they take all, eat all, and make us live in poverty and 
 suffering. Every day with us is a day of pain ; we 
 gain nought by our labors, there are so many dues 
 and services. Why do we allow ourselves to be thus 
 treated ? Let us place ourselves beyond their power ; 
 we too are men, we have the same limbs, the same 
 height, the same power of endurance, and we are a 
 hundred to one. Let us swear to defend each other ; 
 let us be firmly knit together, and no man shall be 
 lord over us ; we shall be free from tolls and taxes, 
 free to fell trees, to take game and fish, and do as 
 we will in all things, in the wood, in the meadow, on 
 the water! " 
 
 At this time the larger potion of Normandy was 
 what used to be called forest. That word meant 
 something more than woodland ; it belonged then 
 to tracts of wild country, woodland and moorland 
 and marshes, and these were the possession of the 
 crown. The peasants had in the old days a right, or 
 a custom at any rate, of behaving as if the forests 
 were their own, but more and more they had been 
 restricted, and the unaccustomed yoke galled them 
 bitterly. Besides their being forbidden to hunt and 
 fish in the forests, the water-ways were closed from 
 them, taxes imposed, and their time and labor de- 
 manded on the duke's lands. There had been grants 
 
96 THE STORY OF THE NORMANS. 
 
 of these free tracts of country to the new nobility, 
 and with the lands the new lords claimed also the 
 service of the peasantry. 
 
 The people do not appear to have risen against 
 the duke himself, so much as against their immedi- 
 ate oppressors, and it was one of these who was to 
 be their punisher. You remember that Richard the 
 Fearless' mother, Espriota, married, in the troublous 
 times of his boyhood, a rich countryman called 
 Sperling. They had a son called Raoul of Ivry, 
 who seems to have been high in power and favor 
 with the second Richard, his half-brother, and who 
 now entered upon his cruel task with evident liking. 
 He had been brought up among the country-folk, 
 although he stood at this time next to the duke in 
 office. 
 
 He was very crafty, and sent spies all through 
 Normandy to find out when the Assembly or Parlia- 
 ment was to be held, and then dispersed his troops 
 according to the spies' report, and seized upon all the 
 deputies and these peasants who were giving oaths of 
 allegiance to their new commanders. Whether from 
 design or from anger and prejudice Raoul next treated 
 his poor prisoners with terrible cruelty. He maimed 
 them in every way, putting out their eyes, cutting 
 off their hands or feet ; he impaled them alive, and 
 tortured them with melted lead. Those who lived 
 through their sufferings were sent home to be pa- 
 raded through the streets as a warning. So fear 
 prevailed over even the love of liberty in their brave 
 hearts, for the association of Norman peasants was 
 broken up, and a sad resignation took the place, for 
 
DUKE RICHARD THE GOOD. 97 
 
 hundreds of years, of the ardor and courage which 
 had been lighted only to go out again so quickly. 
 
 There was another rebellion besides this, of which 
 we have some account, and one man instead of a 
 whole class was the offender. One of Richard's 
 brothers, or half-brothers, the son of an unknown 
 mother, had received as his inheritance the county 
 of Exmes, which held three very rich and thriving 
 towns. These were Exmes, Argentan, and Falaise 
 in which we have already learned that there was a 
 colony of Flemings settled, skilful, industrious 
 weavers and leather-makers and workers in cloth 
 and metals. Falaise itself was already very old 
 indeed, and there remain yet the ruins of an old 
 Roman camp, claimed to belong to the time of 
 Julius Caesar, beside the earliest specimen of that 
 square gray tower which is really of earlier date 
 though always associated with Norman feudalism. 
 The Falaise Fair, which was of such renown in the 
 days of the first dukes, is supposed to be the sur- 
 vival of some pagan festival of vast antiquity. The 
 name of Guibray, the suburb of Falaise which gave 
 its name to the Fair, is said to be derived from the 
 Gaulish word for mistletoe, and wherever we hear of 
 mistletoe in ancient history it reminds us, not of 
 merry-makings and Christmas holidays, but of the 
 grim rites and customs of the Druids. 
 
 William, Duke Richard's brother, does not seem 
 to have been grateful for these rich possessions, and 
 before long there is a complaint that he fails to re- 
 spond to the royal summons, and that he will not 
 render service or do homage in return for his hold- 
 
98 THE STORY OF THE NORMANS. 
 
 ing. Raoul of Ivry promptly counselled the Duke 
 to take arms against the offender. 
 
 It was not long before William found himself a 
 prisoner in the old tower of Rolf at Rouen. He 
 was treated with great severity, and only avoided 
 being hanged by making his escape in most romantic 
 fashion. A compassionate lady contrived to supply 
 him with a rope, and he came down from his high 
 tower-window to the ground hand over hand. Lucki- 
 ly he found none of his keepers waiting for him, and 
 succeeded in getting out of the country. Raoul had 
 been hunting his partisans, and now he had the 
 pleasure of hunting William himself, by keeping 
 spies on his track and forcing him from one danger 
 to another until he was tired of his life, and boldly 
 determined to go to his brother the Duke and beg 
 for mercy. He was very fortunate, for Richard not 
 only listened to him, and was not angry at being 
 stopped on a day when he had gone out to amuse 
 himself with hunting, but he pardoned the suppliant 
 and pitied his trials and sufferings, and more than 
 all, though he did not give back the forfeited county 
 of Exmes, he did give him the county of Eu. We 
 hear nothing of what Raoul thought of such a 
 pleasant ending to the troubles after he had shown 
 such zeal himself in pursuing and harassing the 
 Duke's enemy. 
 
 We must take a quick look at the relations be- 
 tween Richard the Good and Hugh Capet, Hugh of 
 Paris's successor, and Robert of France, Hugh Ca- 
 pet's son, who was trying to uphold the fading dig- 
 nities and power of the Carlovingian throne. Truly 
 
DUKE RICHARD THE GOOD. 99 
 
 Charlemagne's glories were almost spent, and the 
 new glories of the great house of the Capets were 
 growing brighter and brighter. Our eyes already 
 turn toward England and the part that the Norman 
 dukes must soon play there, but there is something 
 to say first about France. 
 
 Robert and Richard were great friends ; they had 
 many common interests, and were bound by solemn 
 oaths and formal covenants of loyalty toward and 
 protection of each other. Robert was a very honor- 
 able man ; his relation to his father was a most 
 curious one, for they seem to have been partners in 
 royalty and to have reigned together over France. 
 Richard the Fearless had done much to establish the 
 throne of the Capets, and there was a firm bond be- 
 tween the second Richard and young Robert, to 
 whom he did homage. There were several powerful 
 chiefs and tributaries, but Richard the Good out- 
 ranks them all, and takes his place without question 
 as the first peer of France. The golden lilies of 
 France are already in flower, and though history is 
 almost silent through the later years of Hugh Capet's 
 life, there are signs of great activity within the king- 
 dom and of growing prosperity. There is an old 
 proverb : " Happy is that nation which has no his- 
 tory!" and whenever we come to a time that the 
 historians pass over or describe in a few sentences, 
 we take a long breath and imagine the people busy 
 in their homes and fields and shops, blest in the 
 freedom from war and disorder. 
 
 Robert of France was a famous wit and liked to 
 play tricks upon his associates. He was a poet too, 
 
IOO THE STORY OF THE NORMANS. 
 
 and wrote some beautiful Latin rhymes which are 
 still sung in the churches. There is a good story 
 about his being at Rome once at a solemn church 
 festival. When he approached the altar he held a 
 chalice in his hands with great reverence, and every- 
 body could see that it held a roll of parchment. 
 
 There could be no doubt that the king meant to 
 bestow a splendid gift upon the church, perhaps, 
 a duchy or even his whole kingdom ; but after the 
 service was over, and the pope and cardinals, full of 
 expectation, hurried to see what prize was put into 
 their keeping, behold ! only a copy of Robert's 
 famous chant " Cornelius Centurio ! " It was a sad 
 disappointment indeed when they looked at this 
 unexpected offering ! 
 
 But Robert was more than a good comrade, he 
 was a remarkably good king, as kings went ; he kept 
 order and was brave, decided, and careful. It was 
 true that he had fallen heir to a prosperous and well- 
 governed kingdom, but it takes constant effort and 
 watchfulness and ready strength to keep a kingdom 
 or any lesser responsibilities up to the right level. 
 He had one great trial, for his wife Bertha, being his 
 first cousin, should not have been his wife according 
 to the laws of the Roman Church. For the first time 
 there was a pope of Rome who was from beyond the 
 Alps, a German ; and Robert and he were on bad 
 terms, which resulted in the excommunication of the 
 king of France and the queen, and at one time they 
 were put so completely under the ban that even 
 their servants forsook them and the whole kingdom 
 was thrown into confusion. The misery became so 
 
DUKE RICHARD THE GOOD. 1 01 
 
 great that the poor queen presently had to be sep- 
 arted from her husband, and this was the more 
 grievous as she had no children, and so Robert was 
 obliged to put her away from him and marry again 
 for the sake of having an heir to the throne. Bertha's 
 successor was very handsome, but very cross, and in 
 later years King Robert used to say : " There are 
 plenty of chickens in the nest, but my old hen pecks 
 at me! " 
 
 In spite of the new queen's bad temper there 
 are a good many things to be said in her praise. 
 She was much better educated than most women of 
 her day, and she had a great admiration for Robert's 
 poetry, and these things must have gone far to make 
 up for her faults. 
 
 Duke Richard's marriage was a very fortunate 
 one. His sister Hawisa, of whom he was guardian, 
 was asked in marriage by Duke Godfrey of Brittany, 
 and this was a very welcome alliance, since it bound 
 the two countries closer together than ever before, 
 and made them forget the rivalries which had some- 
 times caused serious trouble. Especially this was 
 true when a little later Richard himself married 
 Godfrey's sister Judith, who was distinguished for 
 her wisdom. They had a most splendid wedding at 
 the Abbey of St. Michael's Mount, and in course of 
 time one of their daughters married the Count of 
 Burgundy and one the Count of Flanders. 
 
 In spite of much immorality and irregularity in 
 those days, there was enough that was proper and 
 respectable in the alliances of the noble families, 
 and we catch many a glimpse of faithful lovers and 
 
102 THE STORY OF THE NORMANS. 
 
 gallant love-making. It was often said that Nor- 
 mandy's daughters did as much for the well-being of 
 the country as her sons, and when we read the lists 
 of grand marriages we can understand that the 
 dukes' daughters won as many provinces by their 
 beauty as the sons did by their bravery in war. 
 
 It is hard to keep the fortunes of all these races 
 and kingdoms clear in our minds. We cannot help 
 thinking of England, and looking at all this early his- 
 tory of the Normans and their growth in relation to 
 it. Then we must keep track of the Danes and 
 Northmen, who have by no means outgrown their 
 old traits and manners, though their cousins in Nor- 
 mandy have given up privateering and the long ships. 
 The history of France makes a sort of background 
 for Normandy and England both. 
 
 These marriages of which I have just told you 
 greatly increased the magnificence and the power of 
 the Norman duchy and widened the territory in 
 every way. The Norman dukes could claim the 
 right to interfere in the affairs of those states to 
 which they were allied, and they improved their op- 
 portunities. But the most important of all the alli- 
 ances has not been spoken of at all — the marriage of 
 Richard the Fearless' daughter Emma to vEthelred 
 the Unready of England. 
 
 yEthelred himself was the black sheep of his illus- 
 trious family — a long line of noble men they were 
 for the most part. In that age much of the 
 character of a nation's history depended upon its 
 monarch, and it is almost impossible to tell the for- 
 tunes of a country except by giving the biographies 
 
DUKE RICHARD THE GOOD. I03 
 
 of the reigning king. This ^Ethelred seems to have 
 had energy enough, but he began many enterprises 
 and never ended them, and wasted a great deal of 
 strength on long, needless expeditions, and does not 
 appear to have made effective resistance to the ene- 
 mies who came knocking at the very gates of Eng- 
 land. He had no tact and little bravery, and was 
 given to putting his trust in unworthy and treacher- 
 ous followers. ^Ethelred was the descendant of good 
 King ^Elfred and his noble successors, but his own 
 kingdom was ready to fall to pieces before he reigned 
 over it very long, and his reign of thirty-eight years 
 came near to being the ruin of England. There 
 were two or three men who helped him in the evil 
 work, who were greater traitors at heart than ^Ethel- 
 red himself, and we can hardly understand why they 
 were restored to favor after their treason and sel- 
 fishness were discovered. As one historian says, if 
 we could only have a few of the private letters, of 
 which we have such abundance two or three cen- 
 turies later, they would be the key to many diffi- 
 culties. 
 
 The Danes were nibbling at the shores of Eng- 
 land as rats would gnaw at a biscuit. They grew 
 more and more troublesome. Over in Normandy, 
 Richard the Good was treating these same Danes 
 like friends, and allowing them to come into his 
 harbors to trade with the Norman merchants. In 
 the Cotentin country they found a people much like 
 themselves, preserving many old traditions, and 
 something of the northern speech. The Cotentin 
 lands were poor and rocky, but the hills were crowded 
 
104 THE STORY OF THE NORMANS. 
 
 with castles, well armed and well fortified, and the men 
 were brave soldiers and sailors, true descendants of 
 the old vikings. They sought their fortunes on the 
 sea too, and we can trace the names of these Cotentin 
 barons and their followers through the army of 
 William the Conqueror to other castles in the broad 
 English lands that were won in less than a hundred 
 years from ^Ethelred's time. Very likely some of 
 these Cotentin Normans were in league with the 
 northern Danes who made their head-quarters on 
 the Norman shores, and went plundering across the 
 Channel. Soon yEthelred grew very angry, which 
 was to be expected, and he gathered his fleets at 
 Portsmouth, and announced that he should bring 
 Duke Richard back a captive in chains, and waste 
 the whole offending country with fire, except the 
 holy St. Michael's Mount. 
 
 The fleet obeyed vEthelred's foolish orders, and 
 went ashore at the mouth of the river Barfleur, 
 only to find the Normans assembled from the whole 
 surrounding country — not a trained army by any 
 means, but an enraged peasantry, men and women 
 alike, armed with shepherds' crooks, and reaping- 
 hooks and flails, and in that bloody battle of Sang- 
 lac, they completely routed the English. All the 
 invaders who escaped crowded into six of their 
 vessels and abandoned the rest, and hurried away as 
 fast as they could go. This was a strong link in the 
 chain that by and by would be long enough to hold 
 England fast, and put her at the mercy of the Nor- 
 mans altogether. There was peace made before 
 very long, though the Normans considered them- 
 
DUKE RICHARD THE GOOD. 
 
 I05 
 
 selves to have been grievously insulted, and laughed 
 at the English for being so well whipped. Perpetual 
 peace, the contract unwisely promises, and the pope 
 interfered between the 
 combatants, to prevent the 
 shedding of innocent 
 blood. After the promises 
 were formally made, .^Eth- 
 elred tried to make the 
 alliance even closer. He 
 had children already — 
 one, the gallant Eadmund 
 Ironside, who might have 
 saved the tottering king- 
 dom if he had only held 
 the authority which was 
 thrown away in his father's 
 hands. The name of ^Eth- 
 elred's first queen has been 
 lost, but she was " a 
 noble lady, the daughter of 
 Thored, an Ealdorman," 
 and had been some time 
 dead, so with great diplo- 
 macy King /Ethelred the 
 Unready, " by the grace 
 of God Basileus of Albion, 
 King and Monarch of all the British Nations, of the 
 Orkneys and the surrounding Islands," as he liked to 
 sign himself, came wooing to Normandy. Emma, 
 the duke's sister, married him and went to England. 
 iEthelred gave her a splendid wedding-present of 
 
 QUEEN EMMA OR /ELFGIFU (FROM 
 THE REGISTER OF HYDE AB- 
 bEY). 
 
106 THE STORY OF THE NORMANS. 
 
 wide domains in the counties of Devon and Hants, 
 part of which held the cathedral cities of Winchester 
 and Exeter, the pride and defence of Southern 
 Britain. Queen Emma gave the governorship of 
 Exeter to her chief adviser and officer, Hugh the 
 Norman, and her new subjects called her the Gem 
 of Normandy, and treated her with great deference. 
 She had the beauty of her race and of Rolf's de- 
 scendants, and her name was changed to vElfgifu, 
 because this sounded more familiar to the English 
 ears. At least that is the explanation which has 
 come down to us. 
 
 Things were in a very bad way in England — the 
 Anglo-Saxon rule of that time was founded upon 
 fraud and violence, and the heavy misfortunes which 
 assailed the English made them fear worse troubles 
 later on. The wisest among them tried to warn 
 their countrymen, but the warnings were apparently 
 of little use. The make-believe rejoicings at Queen 
 Emma's coming were quickly over with, and soon we 
 hear of her flight to Normandy. Many reasons were 
 given for this ominous act. Some say that yEthelred 
 disgusted her by his drunkenness and lawlessness, 
 and others that Hugh the Norman was treacherous, 
 and betrayed his trust to the Danes, and that the 
 queen was a partner in the business. There is still 
 another story, that vEthelred was guilty of a shocking 
 massacre, and that Emma fled in the horror and 
 confusion that it made. Yet later she returned to 
 England as the queen of Cnut the Dane. 
 
 Now we must change from England to France 
 altogether for a few pages, and see how steadily the 
 
DUKE RICHARD THE GOOD. I07 
 
 power of the Normans was growing, and how widely 
 it made itself felt. We must see Richard the Good 
 as the ally of France in the warfare waged by King 
 Robert against Burgundy, which was the most im- 
 portant event of Robert's reign. Old Hugh of Paris 
 had carefully avoided any confusion between the 
 rights of Burgundy and the rights of France when 
 he established the foundation of his kingdom. He 
 was a wise politician, and understood that it would 
 not do to conflict with such a power as Burgundy's, 
 which held the Low Countries, Spain, and Portugal 
 and Italy within its influence. Since his day Bur- 
 gundy had been divided, but it was still distinguished 
 for its great piety and the number of its religious 
 institutions. Robert's uncle was Duke of Burgundy, 
 and he was a very old man ; so Robert himself had 
 high hopes of becoming his successor. His chief 
 rival was the representative of the Lombard kings in 
 Italy — Otho William, who was son of Adalbert, a 
 pirate who had wandered beyond the Alps, and Ger- 
 berga, the Count of Chalons' daughter. After Adal- 
 bert died Gerberga married old Duke Henry of 
 Burgundy, and prevailed upon him to declare her 
 son as his successor. This was illegal, but Otho 
 William was much admired and beloved, and the 
 great part of the Burgundians upheld his right. 
 
 Behold, then, Richard the Good and his Norman 
 soldiery marching away to the Avars ! Duke Henry 
 was dead, and King Robert made haste to summon 
 his ally. Thirty thousand men were mustered under 
 the Norman banner, and the black raven of war went 
 slowly inland. What an enterprise it was to trans- 
 
I08 THE STORY OF THE NORMANS. 
 
 port such a body of men and horses across country! 
 Supplies could not be hurried from point to point as 
 readily as in after-times, and the country itself must 
 necessarily be almost devastated as if a swarm of 
 locusts had crept through it. Normandy was over- 
 flowing with a military population anxious for some- 
 thing to do, with a lingering love for piracy and 
 plundering. They made a swift journey, and Rich- 
 ard and his men were at the gates of the city of 
 Auxerre almost as soon as the venerable duke was 
 in his grave. 
 
 There was a tremendous siege ; Robert's rival 
 had won the people's hearts, and in the natural 
 strongholds of the mountain slopes they defended 
 themselves successfully. Besides this brave opposi- 
 tion of the Burgundians, the Normans were fought 
 against in a more subtle way by strange phenomena 
 in the heavens. A fiery dragon shot across the sky, 
 and a thick fog and darkness overspread the face of 
 the earth. Auxerre was shrouded in night, and the 
 Norman archers could not see to shoot their arrows. 
 Before long the leagued armies raised the siege of 
 the border city and marched on farther into the 
 country up among the bleak, rocky hills. Only one 
 of the Burgundian nobles — Hugh, Count of Chalons 
 and Bishop of Auxerre — was loyal to the cause of 
 King Robert of France. Presently we shall see him 
 again under very surprising circumstances for a 
 count, not to speak of a bishop ! The country was 
 thoroughly ravaged, but some time passed before it 
 was finally conquered. At last there was a compro- 
 mise, and Robert's son was elected duke. His 
 
DUKE RICHARD THE GOOD. IO9 
 
 descendants gave France a vast amount of trouble 
 in later years, and so Burgundy revenged herself 
 and Otho William's lost cause. 
 
 Richard of Normandy had kept his army well 
 drilled in this long Burgundian campaign, but before 
 his reign was over he had another war to fight with 
 the Count of Dreux. The lands of Dreux were 
 originally in the grant made to Rolf, but later they 
 were held by a line of counts, whose last representa- 
 tive disappeared in Richard the Fearless' reign. We 
 find the country in Richard's possession without any 
 record of war, so it had probably fallen to the 
 crown by right. There was a great Roman road 
 through the territory like the Watling Street that ran 
 from Dover to Chester through England, and this 
 was well defended as the old Roman roads always 
 were. Chartres was joined to Dreux by this road, 
 and Chartres was not at peace with Normandy. So 
 a new fort and a town sprung up on the banks of 
 the river to keep Chartres in check : Tillieres, or the 
 Tileries, which we might call the ancestor of the 
 famous Tuileries of modern Paris. 
 
 There were several fierce battles, and sometimes 
 gaining and sometimes losing, the Normans found 
 themselves presently in a hard place. We are rather 
 startled to hear of the appearance of king Olaf of Nor- 
 way and the king of the Swedes as Richard's allies. 
 The French people had not wholly outgrown their 
 hatred — or fear and distrust either — of the pirates, 
 and when the news came that bands of Northmen 
 were landing in Brittany there was a wild excitement. 
 Richard and the Chartres chieftain were makine alto- 
 
IIO THE STORY OF THE NORMANS. 
 
 gether too much of their quarrel, and King Robe-rt, 
 as preserver of the public peace, was obliged to 
 interfere. After this episode everybody was more 
 afraid of Normandy than ever, and Chartres was the 
 gainer by the town of Dreux, with its forest and 
 castle, that being the king's award. We cannot help 
 wondering why Richard was persuaded to yield so 
 easily, with all his Northmen eager enough to fight 
 — but they disappear for the time being, and many 
 stories were told of their treacherous warfare in 
 Brittany; of the pitfalls covered with branches into 
 which they tempted their mounted enemies on the 
 battle-field of D61. All this seems to have been a 
 little private diversion on their way to the Norman 
 capital, where they were bidden for the business with 
 Chartres. 
 
 Then there was a fight with the bishopric of 
 Chalons, which interests us chiefly because Richard's 
 son and namesake first makes his appearance. Re- 
 naud, the son of Otho William, who had lost the 
 dukedom of Burgundy, had married a Norman dam- 
 sel belonging to the royal family of Rolf. This 
 Renaud was defeated and captured by the Count- 
 Bishop of Chalons, of whom we know something 
 already. He was loyal to King Robert of France, 
 you remember, in the war with Burgundy, and now 
 he treated Renaud with terrible severity, and had 
 broken his vows, moreover, by getting married. 
 
 King Robert gave the Normans permission to 
 march through his dominions, and seems to have 
 turned his back upon the Count-Bishop. There was 
 a succession of sieges, and the army burned and de- 
 
DUKE RICHARD THE GOOD. Ill 
 
 stroyed on every side as it went through Burgundy, 
 and finally made great havoc in one of the chief 
 towns, called Mirmande in the chronicles, though 
 no Mirmande can be heard of now in that part of the 
 world, and perhaps the angry Normans determined 
 to leave no trace of it for antiquarians and geograph- 
 ers to discover. The Count-Bishop flees for his life 
 to Chalons, and when he was assailed there, he was 
 so frightened that he put an old saddle on his back 
 and came out of the city gates in that fashion to 
 beg for mercy. The merry historian who describes 
 this scene adds that he offered Richard a ride and 
 that he rolled on the ground at the young duke's 
 feet in complete humiliation. One might reasona- 
 bly say that the count made a donkey of himself in 
 good earnest, and that his count's helmet and his 
 priestly, shaven crown did not go very well together. 
 
 The third Richard covered himself with glory in 
 this campaign, however, and went back to Normandy 
 triumphant, to give his old father great pleasure by 
 his valor. But Richard the Good was very feeble 
 now, and knew that he was going to die ; so, like 
 Richard the Fearless, he went to Fecamp to spend 
 his last days. 
 
 When he had confessed to the bishops, he called 
 for his faithful barons, and made his will. Richard 
 was to be his successor, and his courage and honesty 
 deserved it ; but the old father appears to have had 
 a presentiment that all would not go well, for he 
 begged the barons to be loyal to the good youth. 
 Robert, the second son, fell heir to the county of 
 Exmes, upon the condition that he should be faithful 
 
112 THE STORY OF THE NORMANS. 
 
 to his brother. There was another son, Mauger, a 
 bad fellow, who had no friends or reputation, even 
 at that early day. He was a monk, and a very low- 
 minded one ; but later he appears, to our astonish- 
 ment, as Archbishop of Rouen. No mention is 
 made of his receiving any gift from his father ; and 
 soon Richard the Good died and was buried in the 
 Fecamp Abbey. In after years the bones of Richard 
 the Fearless were taken from the sarcophagus out- 
 side the abbey door, and father and son were laid in 
 a new tomb near the high altar. 
 
 All this early history of Normandy is told mainly 
 by two men, the saga-writers of their time — William 
 of Jumieges, who wrote in the lifetime of William 
 the Conqueror, and Master Wace, of Caen, who was 
 born on the island of Jersey, between thirty and 
 forty years after the conquest of England. His 
 " Roman de Rou " is most spirited and interesting, 
 but, naturally, the earlier part of it is not always 
 reliable. Both the chroniclers meant to tell the 
 truth, but writing at a later date for the glory of 
 Normandy, and in such a credulous age, we must 
 forgive them their inaccuracies. 
 
 They have a great deal more to say about Richard 
 the Good than about his two sons, Richard and 
 Robert. Richard was acknowledged as duke by all 
 the barons after his father's death, and then went in 
 state to Paris to do homage to King Robert. This 
 we learn from the records of his contract of marriage 
 with the king's daughter, Lady Adela, who was a 
 baby in her cradle, and the copy of the settlements 
 is preserved, or, at least, the account of the dowry 
 
DUKE RICHARD THE GOOD. 113 
 
 which Richard promised. This was the seigneurie 
 of the whole Cotentin country, and several other 
 baronies and communes; Cherbourg and Bruot and 
 Caen, and many cities and lands besides. Poor little 
 Lady Adela ! and poor young husband, too, for that 
 matter; for this was quite a heartless affair of state, 
 and neither of them was to be any happier for all 
 their great possessions. 
 
 In the meantime Robert, the Duke's brother, was 
 not in the least satisfied, and made an outcry be- 
 cause, though he was lord of the beautiful county of 
 Exmes, the city of Falaise was withheld from him. 
 There was a man from Brittany who urged him to 
 resent his wrongs, and made trouble between the 
 brothers; Ermenoldus he was called, the tJieosophist ; 
 and there is a great mystery about him which the 
 old writers stop to wonder over. He was evidently 
 a sort of magician, and those records that can be 
 discovered give rise to a suspicion that he had 
 strayed far eastward with some pirate fleet toward 
 Asia, and had learned there to work wonders and to 
 compass his ends by uncanny means. 
 
 There was a siege of Falaise, which Robert seized 
 and tried to keep by main strength ; but Richard's 
 army was too much for him, and at last he sued for 
 peace. The brothers went back to Rouen appar- 
 ently the best of friends ; but there was a grand 
 banquet in Rolf's old castle, and Richard was sud- 
 denly death-struck as he sat at the head of the feast, 
 and was carried to his bed, where he quickly breathed 
 his last. The funeral bell began to toll while the 
 banquet still went on, and the barons made them- 
 selves merry in the old hall. 
 
"4 
 
 THE STORY OE THE NORM A MS. 
 
 There was great lamentation, for Richard was al- 
 ready much beloved, and nobody doubted that he 
 had been poisoned. So Robert came to the throne 
 of Normandy with a black stain upon his character, 
 and during all the rest of his life that stain was not 
 overlooked nor forgotten. 
 
 As for the baby-widow, she afterward became the 
 wife of the Count of Flanders, Baldwin de Lisle, and 
 she was the mother of Matilda, who was the wife of 
 William the Conqueror. 
 
 
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 VI. 
 
 ROBERT THE MAGNIFICENT. 
 " What exile from himself can flee ?" — Byron. 
 
 BEFORE we begin the story of the next Duke of 
 Normandy whose two surnames, the Devil, and the 
 Magnificent, give us a broad hint of his character, 
 we must take a look at the progress of affairs 
 in the dukedom. There is one thing to be re- 
 membered in reading this history, or any other, that 
 history is not merely the story of this monarch or 
 that, however well he may represent the age in 
 which he lived and signify its limitations and devel- 
 opment. 
 
 In Normandy one cannot help seeing that a power 
 has been at work bringing a new Northern element 
 into the country, and that there has been a great 
 growth in every way since Rolf came with his 
 vikings and besieged the city of Jumieges. Now 
 the dukedom that he formed is one of the fore- 
 most of its day, able to stand on equal ground 
 with the royal kingdom and duchy of France, for 
 Robert's homage is only the homage of equals and 
 allies. Normandy is the peer of Burgundy and of 
 Flanders, and every day increases in strength, in 
 
 "5 
 
Il6 THE STORY OF THE NORMANS. 
 
 ambition, in scholarship and wealth. The influence 
 and prestige of the dukedom are recognized every- 
 where, and soon the soldiers of Normandy are going 
 to take hold of English affairs and master them with 
 unequalled strength. Chivalry is in the bloom of its 
 youth, and the merchants of Falaise, and Rouen, 
 and their sister cities, are rich and luxurious. The 
 women are skilled in needlework and are famous for 
 their beauty and intelligence. Everywhere there 
 are new castles and churches, and the land swarms 
 with inhabitants who hardly find room enough, 
 while the great army hardly draws away the over- 
 plus of men from the farms and workshops. There 
 are whole districts like the Cotentin peninsula, that 
 are nearly ready to pour out their population into 
 some new country, like bees when they swarm in 
 early summer, and neither the fashion of going on 
 pilgrimage to the holy shrines, nor the spirit that 
 leads to any warlike adventure, are equal to the need 
 for a new conquest of territory, and a general 
 emigration. 
 
 There are higher standards everywhere in law and 
 morals and customs of home-life. The nobles are 
 very proud and keep up a certain amount of state in 
 their high stone castles. In the Cotentin alone the 
 ruins of more than a hundred of these can yet be 
 seen, and all over Normandy and Brittany are relics of 
 that busy, prosperous time. The whole territory is 
 like a young man who has reached his majority, and 
 who feels a strength and health and ambition that 
 make him restless, and make him believe himself 
 capable of great things. 
 
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Il8 THE STORY OF THE NORMANS. 
 
 From followers of the black ravens and worshippers 
 of the god Thor, the Normans have become Chris- 
 tians and devout followers of the Church of Rome. 
 They go on pilgrimage to distant shrines and build 
 churches that the world may well wonder at to-day 
 and try to copy. They have great houses for monks 
 and nuns, and crowds of priests and scholars, and it 
 would not be easy to find worshippers of the old 
 faith unless among old people and in secluded neigh- 
 borhoods. There is little left of the old Northman's 
 fashions of life but his spirit is as vigorous as ever, 
 and his courage, and recklessness, his love of a fight 
 and hatred of cowardice, his beauty and shapeliness, 
 are sent down from generation to generation, a surer 
 inheritance than lands or money. We grow eager, 
 ourselves, to see what will come of this leaven of 
 daring and pride of strength. There is no such 
 thing for Normandy now, as tranquillity. 
 
 Duke Robert's story is chiefly interesting to us 
 because he was the father of William the Conqueror, 
 and in most of the accounts of that time it is hard 
 to find any thing except various versions of his 
 course toward his more famous son. But in reality 
 he was a very gifted and powerful man, and strange 
 to say, the conquest of England was only the carry- 
 ing out of a plan that was made by Duke Robert 
 himself. 
 
 The two young sons of Emma and yEthelred 
 were still in Normandy, and the Duke thought it was 
 a great pity that they were neglected and apparently 
 forgotten by their countrymen. He undertook to 
 be their champion, and boldly demanded that King 
 
ROBERT THE MAGNIFICENT. II9 
 
 Cnut of England should consider their rights. He 
 sent an embassy to England and bade Cnut "give 
 them their own," which probably meant the English 
 crown. Cnut disdained the message, as might have 
 been expected, and Duke Robert armed his men 
 and fitted out a fleet, and all set sail for England to 
 force the Dane to recognize the young princes. It 
 sounds very well that the Normans should have been 
 so eager to serve the Duke's cousins, but no doubt 
 they were talking together already about the possi- 
 bility of extending their dominions across the Chan- 
 nel. They were disappointed now, however, for 
 they were beaten back and out of their course by 
 very bad weather, and had to put in at the island of 
 Jersey. From there they took a short excursion to 
 Brittany, because Robert and his cousin Alan were 
 not on good terms, Alan having refused to do hom- 
 age to Normandy. There was a famous season of 
 harrying and burning along the Breton coast, which 
 may have reconciled the adventurers to their disap- 
 pointment, but at any rate the conquest of England 
 was put off for forty years. One wonders how 
 Cnut's Queen Emma felt about the claims of her 
 sons. It was a strange position for her to be put 
 into. A Norman woman herself who had virtually 
 forsaken her children, she could hardly blame her 
 brother for his efforts to restore them to their Eng- 
 lish belongings, and yet she was bound to her new 
 English interests, and must have different standards 
 as Danish Cnut's wife from those of Saxon y£thel- 
 red's. There is an announcement in one of the Nor- 
 man chronicles that Cnut sent a message to the 
 
120 THE STORY OF THE NORMANS. 
 
 effect that he would give the princes their rights 
 at his death. This must have been for the sake of 
 peace, but it is not very likely that any such thing 
 ever happened. 
 
 A new acquaintance between the countries must 
 have grown out of the banishment of some of the 
 English nobles in the early part of Cnut's reign, and 
 they no doubt strengthened the interest of the Nor- 
 mans, and made their desire to possess England 
 greater than ever before. We shall be conscious of it 
 more and more until the time of the Conquest comes. 
 The Normans plotted and planned again and again, 
 and their intrigues continually grew more dangerous 
 to England. It is plain to see that they were al- 
 ways watching for a chance to try their strength, 
 and were not unwilling to provoke a quarrel. Ead- 
 ward, one of the English princes, was ready to claim 
 his rights, but he had learned to be very fond of 
 Normandy, and his half-heartedness served his 
 adopted country well when he came at last to the 
 English throne. For the present we lose sight of 
 him, but not of Alfred his brother, who ventured to 
 England on an expedition which cost him his life, 
 but that failure made the Norman desire for revenge 
 burn hotter and deeper than before, though the 
 ashes of disappointment covered it for a time. 
 
 Duke Robert's reign began with a grand flourish, 
 as if he wished to bribe his subjects into forgetful- 
 ness of his brother Richard's death. There were 
 splendid feasts and presents of armor and fine clothes 
 for his retainers, and he won his name of the Mag- 
 nificent in the very face of those who whispered 
 
ROBERT THE MAGNIFICENT. 121 
 
 that he was a murderer. He was very generous, and 
 seems to have given presents for the pleasure it gave 
 himself rather than from any underhand motives of 
 gaining popularity. We are gravely told that some 
 of his beneficiaries died of joy, which strikes one as 
 being somewhat exaggerated. 
 
 The old castle of Rolf at Rouen was forsaken for 
 the castle of Falaise. No doubt there were unpleas- 
 ant associations with Rolf's hall, where poor Richard 
 had been seized with his mysterious mortal illness. 
 Falaise, with its hunting-grounds and pleasant woods 
 and waters and its fine situation, was Robert's favorite 
 home forever after. There he brought his wife Es- 
 trith, Cnut's sister, who first had been the wife of 
 Ulf the Danish king, and there he lived in a free 
 companionship with his nobles and with great con- 
 descension towards his inferiors, with whom he was 
 often associated in most familiar terms. 
 
 There were chances enough to show his valor. 
 Once Baldwin the elder, of Flanders, was attacked by 
 his son Baldwin de Lisle, who had put himself at the 
 head of an army, and the poor Count was forced to 
 flee to Falaise for shelter and safety. Any excuse 
 for going to war seems to have been accepted in 
 Normandy ; the country was brimming over with 
 people. There was almost more population than the 
 land could support, and Robert led his men to Flan- 
 ders with great alacrity, and settled the mutiny so 
 entirely that there was no more trouble. Flanders 
 was brought to a proper state of submission, as if in 
 revenge for old scores. At last the noblemen who 
 had upheld the insurrection all deserted the leader of 
 
122 THE STORY OF THE NORMANS. 
 
 it, and both they and young Baldwin besought Rob- 
 ert to make the terms of peace. After this, Flan- 
 ders and Normandy were very friendly together, 
 and before long they formed a most significant alli- 
 ance of the royal houses. 
 
 In Robert's strolls about Falaise, perhaps in dis- 
 guise, like another Haroun al Raschid, his beauty- 
 loving eyes caught sight one day of a young girl 
 who was standing bare-footed in a shallow brook, 
 washing linen, and making herself merry with a 
 group of busy young companions. This was Arlette, 
 or Herleva, according as one gives her the Saxon or 
 the Norman name ; her father was a brewer and tan- 
 ner, who had been attracted to Falaise from Ger- 
 many by the reputation of its leather manufactures 
 and good markets. The pastures and hunting- 
 grounds made skins very cheap and abundant, but 
 the trade of skinning of beasts was considered a most 
 degrading one, and those who pursued it in ancient 
 times were thought less of than those who followed 
 almost any other occupation. If we were not sure of 
 this, we might suspect the Norman nobles of casting 
 undue shame and reproach upon this man Fulbert. 
 
 Duke Robert seems to have quite forgotten his 
 lawful wife in his new love-making with Herleva. 
 Even the tanner himself objected to the duke's no- 
 tice of his daughter, but who could withstand the 
 wishes of so great a man ? Not Fulbert, who ac- 
 cepted the inevitable with a good grace, for later in 
 the story he shows himself a faithful retainer and 
 household official of his lord and master. Robert 
 never seems to have recovered from his first devo- 
 
ROBERT THE MAGNIFICENT. 1 23 
 
 tion to the pretty creature who stood with slender, 
 white feet in the brook, and turned so laughing a 
 face toward him. They showed not long ago the 
 very castle-window in Falaise from which he caught 
 his first sight of the woman who was to rule his life. 
 He did not marry her, though Estrith was sent 
 away; but they had a son, who was named William, 
 who himself added the titles of the Great and The 
 Conqueror, but who never escaped hearing to his 
 life's end the shame and ignominy of his birth. 
 We cannot doubt that it was as mean an act then as 
 now to taunt a man with the disgrace he could not 
 help ; but of all the great men who were of illegiti- 
 mate birth whom we know in the pages of history, 
 this famous William is oftenest openly shamed 
 by his title of the Bastard. He won much ap- 
 plause ; he was the great man of his time, but from 
 pique, or jealousy, or prejudice, perhaps from some 
 faults that he might have helped, he was forever ac- 
 cused of the shame that was not his. The Bastard, 
 — the Tanner's Grandson ; he was never allowed to 
 forget, through any heroism or success in war, or fur- 
 thering of Norman fortunes, that these titles be- 
 longed to him. 
 
 The pride of the Norman nobles was dreadfully 
 assailed by Duke Robert's shameful alliance with 
 Herleva. All his relations, who had more or less 
 right to the ducal crown, were enraged beyond con- 
 trol. Estrith had no children, and this beggarly lit- 
 tle fellow who was growing plump and rosy in the tan- 
 ner's house, was arch-enemy of all the proud lords and 
 gentlemen. There was plenty of scandal and mockery 
 
124 THE STORY OF THE NORMANS. 
 
 in Falaise, and the news of Robert's base behavior 
 was flying from village to village through Nor- 
 mandy and France. The common people of Falaise 
 laughed in the faces of the barons and courtiers as 
 they passed in the street, and one day an old 
 burgher and neighbor of the tanner asked William 
 de Talvas, the head of one of the most famous Nor- 
 man families, to go in with him to see the Duke's 
 son. The Lord of Alencon was very angry when he 
 looked at the innocent baby-face. He saw, by some 
 strange foreboding and prevision, the troubles that 
 would fall upon his own head because of this vigor- 
 ous young life, and, as he cursed the unconscious 
 child again and again, his words only echoed the fear 
 that was creeping through Normandy. 
 
 Robert was very bold in his defiance of public 
 opinion, and before long the old tanner sheds his 
 blouse like the cocoon of a caterpillar, and blooms 
 out resplendent in the gay trappings of court cham- 
 berlain. Herleva was given the place as duchess 
 which did not legally belong to her, and this hurt the 
 pride of the ladies and gentlemen of the court and 
 the country in a way that all Robert's munificence 
 and generosity could not repay or cure. The age 
 was licentious enough, but public opinion demanded 
 a proper conformity to law and etiquette. All the 
 aristocratic house of Rolf's descendants, the valor 
 and scholarship and churchmanship of Normandy, 
 were insulted at once. The trouble fermented more 
 and more, until the Duke's uncle, the Archbishop of 
 Rouen, called his nephew to account for such open 
 sin and disgrace of his kindred, and finally ex- 
 
ROBERT THE MAGNIFICENT. 12$ 
 
 communicated him and put all Normandy under a 
 ban. 
 
 Somehow this outbreak was quieted down, and 
 just then Robert was called upon, not only to settle 
 the quarrel in Flanders above mentioned, but to up- 
 hold the rights of the French king. For his success 
 in this enterprise he was granted the district of the 
 Vexin, which lay between Normandy and France, 
 and so the Norman duchy extended its borders to 
 the very walls of Paris. Soon other questions of 
 pressing importance rose up to divert public com- 
 ment ; it was no time to provoke the Duke's anger, 
 and there was little notice taken of Herleva's aggra- 
 vating presence in the ducal castle, or the untoward 
 growth and flourishing of her son. 
 
 At length Duke Robert announced his intention 
 of going on a pilgrimage to Jerusalem. He wished 
 to show his piety and to gain as much credit as pos- 
 sible, so the long journey was to be made on foot. 
 The Norman barons begged him not to think of 
 such a thing, for in the excited condition of French 
 and Norman affairs nothing could be more impru- 
 dent than to leave the dukedom masterless. " By my 
 faith ! " Robert answered stoutly, " I do not mean to 
 leave you without a lord. Here is my young son, 
 who will grow and be a gallant man, by God's help ; 
 I command you to take him for your lord, for I make 
 him my heir and give him my whole duchy of 
 Normandy." 
 
 There was a stormy scene in the council, and how- 
 ever we may scorn Robert's foolish, selfish present- 
 giving and his vulgarity, we cannot help pitying him 
 
126 THE STORY OF THE NORMANS. 
 
 as he pleads with the knights and bishops for their 
 recognition of his innocent boy. We pity the Duke's 
 shame, while his natural feeling toward the child 
 wars with his disgust. With all his eloquence, with 
 all his authority, he entreats the scornful listeners 
 until they yield. They have warned him against the 
 danger of the time, and of what he must expect, not 
 only if he goes on pilgrimage and leaves the duke- 
 dom to its undefended fate, but also if he further 
 provokes those who are already his enemies, and who 
 resent the presence of his illegitimate child. But he 
 dares to put the base-born lad over the dukedom of 
 Normandy as his own successor. He even goes to 
 the king of France and persuades him to receive 
 the unworthy namesake of Longsword as vassal and 
 next duke, and to Alan of Brittany, who consents to 
 be guardian. Then at last the unwilling barons do 
 homage to the little lord — a bitter condescension 
 and service it must have been ! 
 
 After all the ceremonies were finished, Robert lost 
 no time in starting on his pilgrimage. He sought 
 the shrine of Jerusalem, many a weary mile away, 
 over mountain and fen, past dangers of every sort. 
 Nothing could be more characteristic than his per- 
 formance of his penance or his pleasure journey — 
 whichever he called it — for although he went on 
 foot, he spent enormous sums in showering alms 
 upon the people who came out to greet him. Her- 
 alds rode before him, and prepared his lodging and 
 reception, and the great procession of horses and 
 grooms and beasts of burden grew longer and longer 
 as he went on his way. Once they blocked up the 
 
ROBERT THE MAGNIFICENT. 
 
 127 
 
 gateway of a town, and the keeper fell upon the 
 pilgrim Duke, ignorantly, and gave him a good 
 thrashing to make him hurry on with his idle crowd. 
 Robert piously held back those of his followers who 
 
 ROBERT, DUKE OK NORMANDY, CARRIED IN A LITTER TO JERUSALEM. 
 (FROM AN OLD ILLUMINATED MANUSCRIPT.) 
 
 would have beaten the warder in return, and said 
 that it was well for him to show himself a pattern of 
 humility and patience, and such suffering was meant 
 for the good of one's soul. 
 
128 THE STORY OF THE NORMANS. 
 
 The Duke did a great many foolish things ; for 
 one, he had his horses shod with silver shoes, held 
 on by only one nail, and gave orders that none of 
 his servants should pick up the shoes when they 
 were cast, but let them lie in the road. 
 
 At last the pilgrims reached Constantinople, and 
 Robert made a great display of his wealth, not to 
 speak of his insolent bad manners. The emperor, 
 Michael, treated his rude guests with true Eastern 
 courtesy, and behaved himself much more honorably 
 than those who despised him and called him names. 
 He even paid all the expenses of the Norman pro- 
 cession, but, no doubt, he was anxious not to give 
 any excuse for displeasure or disturbance between 
 the Northerners and his own citizens. When the 
 visit was over, and Robert moved on toward Jerusa- 
 lem, his already feeble health, broken by his bad 
 life, grew more and more alarming, and at last he 
 could not take even a very short journey on foot, and 
 was carried in a litter by negroes. The Crusades 
 were filling the roads with pilgrims and soldiers, and 
 travellers of every sort. One day they met a Coten- 
 tinman, an old acquaintance of Robert's. The Duke 
 said with grim merriment that he was borne like a 
 corpse on a bier. " My lord," asked the Crusader, 
 who seems to have been sincerely shocked and dole- 
 ful at the sight of the Duke's suffering ; " my lord, 
 what shall I say for you when I reach home ? " " That 
 you saw me carried toward Paradise by four devils," 
 said the Duke, readier at any time to joke about life 
 than to face it seriously and to do his duty. He kept 
 up the pretence of travelling unknown and in dis- 
 
ROBERT THE MAGNIFICENT. 120. 
 
 guise, like a humbler pilgrim, but his lavishness 
 alone betrayed the secret he would really have been 
 sorry to keep. Outside the gates of Jerusalem there 
 was always a great crowd of people who were not 
 able to pay the entrance-fee demanded of every pil- 
 grim ; but Robert paid for himself and all the rest 
 before he went in at the gate. The long journey was 
 almost ended, for on the way home, at the city of 
 Nicaea, the Duke was poisoned, and died, and was 
 buried there in the cathedral with great solemnity 
 and lamentation. He had collected a heap of relics 
 of the saints, and these were brought safely home to 
 Normandy by Tostin, his chamberlain, who seems to 
 have served him faithfully all the way. 
 
VII. 
 
 THE NORMANS IN ITALY. 
 
 " And therefore must make room 
 Where greater spirits come." — Marvell. 
 
 THERE is a famous old story about Hasting, the 
 viking captain. Once he went adventuring along the 
 shores of the Mediterranean, and when he came in 
 sight of one of the Tuscan cities, he mistook it for 
 Rome. Evidently he had enough learning to furnish 
 him with generous ideas about the wealth of the 
 Roman churches, but he had brought only a handful 
 of men, and the city looked large and strong from 
 his narrow ship. There was no use to think of such 
 a thing as laying siege to the town ; such a measure 
 would do hardly more than tease and provoke it : so 
 he planned a sharp stroke at its very heart. 
 
 Presently word was carried from the harbor side, by 
 a long-faced and tearful sailor, to the pious priests of 
 the chief church, that Hasting, a Northman, lay sick 
 unto death aboard his ship, and was desirous to re- 
 pent him of his sins and be baptized. This was 
 promising better things of the vikings, and the good 
 bishop visited Hasting readily, and ministered eager- 
 ly to his soul's distress. Next day word came that 
 the robber was dead, and his men brought him early 
 
 130 
 
THE NORMANS IN ITALY. 131 
 
 to the church in his coffin, following him in a de- 
 fenceless, miserable group. They gathered about 
 the coffin, and the service began ; the priests stood 
 in order to chant and pray, their faces bowed low or 
 lifted heavenward. Suddenly up goes the coffin-lid, 
 out jumps Hasting, and his men clutch at the shi- 
 ning knives hidden under their cloaks. They strip the 
 jewelled vestments from the priests' backs ; they 
 shut the church doors and murder the poor men like 
 sheep ; they climb the high altar, and rob it of its 
 decorations and sacred cups and candlesticks, and 
 load themselves with wealth. The city has hardly 
 time to see them dash by to the harbor side, to hear 
 the news and give them angry chase, before the evil 
 ships are standing out to sea again, and the pirates 
 laugh and shout as they tug at the flashing oars. 
 No more such crafty converts ! the people cry, and 
 lift their dead and dying priests sorrowfully from the 
 blood-stained floor. This was the fashion of Italy's 
 early acquaintance with the Northmen, whose grand- 
 children were to conquer wide dominions in Apulia, 
 in Sicily, and all that pleasant country between the 
 inland seas of Italy and Greece. 
 
 It must have seemed almost as bad to the Romans 
 to suffer invasion of this sort as it would to us to 
 have a horde of furious Esquimaux come down to 
 attack our coasts. We only need to remember the 
 luxury of the Italian cities, to recall the great names 
 of the day in literature and art, in order to contrast 
 the civilization and appearance of the invader and 
 the invaded. Yet war was a constant presence then, 
 and every nation had its bitter enemies born of race 
 
132 THE STORY OF THE NORMANS. 
 
 prejudice and the resentment of conquest. To be a 
 great soldier was to be great indeed, and by the time 
 of the third of the Norman dukes the relation of 
 the Northmen and Italians was much changed. 
 
 Yet there was not such a long time between the 
 time of Hasting the pirate, and that of Tancred 
 de Hauteville and Robert Guiscard. Normandy had 
 taken her place as one of the formidable, respectable 
 European powers. The most powerful of the fiefs 
 of France, she was an enemy to be feared and hon- 
 ored, not despised. She was loyal to the See of 
 Rome ; very pious and charitable toward all religious 
 establishments ; no part of Southern Europe had 
 been more diligent in building churches,- in going on 
 pilgrimage, in maintaining the honor of God and her 
 own honor. Her knights prayed before they fought, 
 and they were praised already in chronicle and song. 
 The troubadours sung their noble deeds from hall to 
 hall. The world looked on to see their bravery and 
 valor, and when they grew restless and went a-roving 
 and showed an increasing desire to extend their pos- 
 sessions and make themselves lords of new acres, the 
 rest of the world looked on with envy and approval. 
 Unless the Normans happened to come their way ; 
 that of course was quite a different thing. 
 
 We cannot help thinking that the readiness of the 
 Englishman of to-day to form colonies and to adapt 
 himself to every sort of climate and condition of for- 
 eign life, was anticipated and foreboded in those 
 Norman settlements along the shores of the Medi- 
 terranean sea. Perhaps we should say again that 
 the Northmen of a much earlier date were the true 
 
THE NORMANS IN ITALY. 133 
 
 ancestors of all English colonists with their roving 
 spirit and love of adventure, but the Normandy of 
 the early part of the eleventh century was a type of 
 the England of to-day. Its power was consolidated 
 and the territory became too narrow for so much 
 energy to be pent up in. The population increased 
 enormously, and the familiar love of conquest and 
 of seeking new fortunes was waked again. The bees 
 send out new swarms when summer comes, and, like 
 the bees, both Normans and Englishmen must have 
 a leader and centralization of the general spirit, else 
 there is scattering and waste of the common force. 
 
 We might go on with this homely illustration of 
 the bees to explain the way in which smaller or 
 larger groups of pilgrims, and adventurers of a less 
 pious inclination, had wandered southward and east- 
 ward, toward the holy shrines of Jerusalem, or the 
 rich harvest of Oriental wealth and luxury. Not 
 much result came from these enterprises, though as 
 early as 1026, we find the Duke of Naples allowing a 
 company of Norman wanderers to settle at Aversa, 
 and even helping them to build and fortify the town, 
 and to hold it as a kind of out-post garrison against 
 his enemies in Capua. They were understood to be 
 ready for all sorts of enterprises, and the bitter flow- 
 ers of strategy and revolt appeared to yield the 
 sweetest honey that any country-side could offer. 
 They loved a fight, and so they were often called in 
 by the different Italian princes and proved them- 
 selves most formidable and trustworthy allies in 
 case of sudden troubles. This is what an historian of 
 that time says about them : 
 
134 THE STORY OF THE NORMANS. 
 
 " The Normans are a cunning and revengeful peo- 
 ple ; eloquence and dissimulation appear to be their 
 hereditary qualities. They can stoop to flatter; but 
 unless they are curbed by the restraint of law they 
 indulge the licentiousness of nature and passion, and 
 in their eager search for wealth and dominion they 
 despise whatever they possess and hope whatever 
 they desire. Arms and horses, the luxury of dress, 
 the exercises of hawking and hunting, are the delight 
 of the Normans ; but on pressing occasions they can 
 endure with incredible patience the inclemency of 
 every climate, and the toil and abstinence of a mili- 
 tary life." 
 
 How we are reminded of the old vikings in this 
 striking description ! and how we see certain changes 
 that have overlaid the original Norse and Danish 
 nature. There are French traits now, like a not very 
 thick veneering of more delicate and polished wood 
 upon the sturdy oak. 
 
 Aversa was quickly made of great importance to 
 that part of the world. The Norman colony did 
 good missionary work, and Robert Guiscard, the 
 chief Norman adventurer and founder of the king- 
 dom of Naples, was leader and inspirer of great 
 enterprises. In following the history of the time 
 through many volumes, it is very disappointing to 
 find such slight reference to this most interesting 
 episode in the development of Norman civilization. 
 
 In one of the green valleys of the Cotentin, near 
 a small stream that finds its way into the river Dove, 
 there are still standing the crumbling walls of an 
 ancient Norman castle. The neighboring fields still 
 
THE NORMANS IN ITALY. 1 35 
 
 keep their old names of the Park, the Forest, and 
 the Dove-Cot ; and in this way, if in no other, the 
 remembrance is preserved of an old feudal manor- 
 house. Not long ago some huge oaks were clustered 
 in groups about the estate, and there was a little 
 church of very early date standing in the shade of a 
 great cedar tree. Its roof had a warlike-looking 
 rampart, and a shapely tower with double crosses 
 lifted itself high against the sky. 
 
 In the early years of the eleventh century there 
 lived in this quiet place an old Norman gentleman 
 who was one of Duke Richard the Good's best 
 soldiers. He had wandered far and wide in search 
 of gain and glory. The Duke had given him com- 
 mand of ten armed men who formed his body-guard, 
 and after a long service at court this elder Tancred 
 returned to his tranquil ancestral home to spend the 
 rest of his days. He was poor, and he had a very 
 large family. His first wife, Muriel, had left several 
 children, and their good step-mother treated them all 
 with the same tenderness and wise helpfulness that 
 she had shown to her own flock. The young de 
 Hautevilles had received such education as gentle- 
 men gave their children in those days, and, above 
 every thing else, were expert in the use of arms and 
 of horses and the pleasures of the chase. They 
 trained their falcons, and grew up brave and strong. 
 There were twelve sons, all trained to arms. Three 
 of the elder family were named William, Drogo, and 
 Humphrey, and the sixth, their half-brother, was 
 Robert, who early won for himself the surname of 
 Guiscard, or the Wise. Tall fellows they were, these 
 
136 THE STORY OF THE NORMANS. 
 
 sons of the Chevalier de Hauteville. One of the old 
 French historians tells us that they had an air of 
 dignity, and even in their youth great things were 
 expected of them ; it was easy to prophesy their 
 brilliant future. 
 
 While they were still hardly more than boys, 
 Serlon, their eldest brother, who had already gone 
 to court, killed one of Duke Robert's gentlemen who 
 had offered him some insult, and was banished to 
 England where he spent some time in the dreariness 
 of exile, longing more and more to get back to 
 Normandy. This brought great sorrow to the 
 household in the Cotentin valley ; it was most likely 
 that a great deal depended upon Serlon's success, and 
 the eager boys at home were looking to him for their 
 own advancement. However, the disappointment 
 was not very long-lived, for at the time when Henry 
 of France was likely to lose his throne through the 
 intrigues of his brother and his mother, Constance 
 of Provence, and came to the Duke of Normandy for 
 aid, Serlon came home again without being asked, 
 and fought like a tiger at the siege of Tillieres. You 
 remember that this siege lasted a long time, and it 
 gives us a good idea of the warfare of that age to 
 discover that every day there came out of the city 
 gate an awesome knight who challenged the con- 
 queror to single combat. The son of brave old 
 Tancred was not frightened by even the sight of 
 those unlucky warriors who lay dead under the 
 challenger's blows, and one morning Serlon went to 
 the gate at daybreak and called the knight out to 
 fight with him. 
 
THE NORMANS IN ITALY. 1 37 
 
 The terrible enemy did not wait ; he presently 
 appeared in glistening armor and mounted upon a 
 fiery steed. He asked Serlon who he was, and as if 
 he knew by instinct that he had met his match at 
 last, counselled the champion of Normandy to run 
 away, and not try to fight with him. 
 
 Nobody had recognized the banished man, who 
 carefully kept the visor of his helmet down over his 
 face, and when the fight was over and the enemy's 
 head was off and borne at the head of his victorious 
 lance, he marched silently along the ranks of the 
 Norman knights, who were filled with pride and 
 glory, but for all their cheering he was still close- 
 helmeted. Duke Robert heard the news of this 
 famous deed, and determined that such a valiant 
 knight must not hide himself or escape, so he sent 
 a messenger to command the stranger to make him- 
 self known. When he found that Serlon himself 
 had been the hero, he ran to meet him, and embraced 
 him and held him to his heart, and still more, gave 
 back to him all the lands and treasures which had 
 come to him by his marriage and which had been 
 confiscated when he was sent into exile. All these 
 glories of their elder brother made the other sons 
 more eager now than ever to show their prowess, 
 but there was slight chance in Normandy, for the 
 war lasted but little longer. But when Robert had 
 put the French king on his throne again, he deter- 
 mined, as we have seen already, to go on a pilgrim- 
 age. There was not much prospect of winning 
 great fame at home while young William the heir 
 was so unpopular and Alan of Brittany was his care- 
 
I3 8 THE STORY OF THE NORMANS. 
 
 ful guardian. The de Hautevilles were impatient at 
 the prospect of years of petty squabbles and treach- 
 erous intrigues ; they longed for a broader field for 
 their energies. There was no such thing as staying 
 at home and training the falcons ; their hungry young 
 brothers and sisters were pushing their way already, 
 and the ancient patrimony was growing less and less. 
 So William and Drogo and Humphrey went away 
 to seek their fortunes like fairy-book princes, and 
 hearing vague rumors of Rainulf's invitation to his 
 countrymen, and of his being made count of the 
 new possessions in Aversa, they turned their faces 
 towards Italy. We cannot help lingering a moment 
 to fancy them as they ride away from the door of 
 their old home — the three brave young men together. 
 The old father looks after them wistfully, but his 
 eyes are afire, and he lives his own youth over again 
 and wishes with all his heart that he were going too. 
 The little sisters cry, and the younger brothers long 
 for the day when their turn will come to go adven- 
 turing. The tame falcons flutter and peck at their 
 hoods, there where they stand on their perches with 
 fettered claws ; the grass runs in long waves on the 
 green hill-sides and dazzles the eyes that look after 
 the sons as they ride towards the south ; and the 
 mother gives a little cry and goes back into the dark 
 hall and weeps there until she climbs the turret 
 stairs to see if she cannot catch one more look at 
 the straight backs and proud heads of the young 
 knights, or even one little glint of their horses' 
 trappings as they ride away among the orchard 
 leaves. 
 
THE NORMANS IN ITALY. 1 39 
 
 They would have to fight their way as best they 
 could, and when they reached Apulia at last they 
 still found work enough for their swords. South 
 of Rome were the territories of the independent 
 counts of Naples and the republic of Amalfi. South 
 of these the Greek possessions of Lombardy, which 
 had its own governor and was the last remnant of 
 the Eastern empire. 
 
 The beautiful island of Sicily had been in the 
 hands of the Moslems and belonged to the African 
 kingdom of Tunis. In 1038 the governor of Lom- 
 bardy believed he saw the chance that he had long 
 been waiting for, to add Sicily to his own dominions. 
 The Arabs were fighting among themselves and were 
 split up already into several weak and irreconcilable 
 factions, and he begged the Normans to go and help 
 his own army to conquer them. After a while Sicily 
 was conquered, but the Normans were not given 
 their share of the glory of the victories; on the con- 
 trary, the Lombard governor was too avaricious and 
 ungrateful for his own good, and there was a grand 
 quarrel when the spoils were divided. Two years 
 afterwards the indignant Normans came marching 
 back to attack Apulia, and defeated the Greeks at 
 Cannae so thoroughly that they were only left in 
 possession of a few towns. 
 
 This was in 1043, an d we cannot help feeling a 
 great satisfaction at finding William de Hauteville 
 president of the new republic of Apulia. Had not 
 the three brothers shown their bravery and ability? 
 Perhaps they had only remembered their old father's 
 wise talk, and profited by his advice, and warning 
 
140 THE STORY OF THE NORMANS. 
 
 lest they should spend their strength by being great 
 in little things instead of aiming at nobler pieces of 
 work. All the high hopes which filled their hearts 
 as they rode away from Normandy must have come 
 true. They were already the leaders in Apulia, and 
 had been foremost in the organization of an aristo- 
 cratic republic. Twelve counts were elected by 
 popular suffrage, and lived at their capital of Melfi, 
 and settled their affairs in military council. And 
 William, as I have said, was president. 
 
 Presently from East and West envious eyes began 
 to look at this powerful young state. Europe knew 
 well enough what had come from giving these Nor- 
 mans foothold in Gaul not so very long ago, and the 
 Pope and the emperors of the West and East formed 
 a league to chase the builders of this new Normandy 
 out of their settlements. The two emperors, how- 
 ever, were obliged to hurry back to defend their own 
 strongholds, and Leo the Tenth was left to fight his 
 neighbors alone, with the aid of some German sol- 
 diers, a mere handful, whom Henry the Third had left. 
 The Normans proposed fair terms to his Holiness, 
 but he ventured to fight the battle of Civitella, and 
 was overpowered and beaten, and taken prisoner 
 himself. Then the shrewd Normans said how grieved 
 they had been to fight against the Father of the 
 Church, and implored him, captive as he was, to 
 receive Apulia as a fief of the Holy See. This 
 seems very puzzling, until we stop to think that the 
 Normans would gain an established position among 
 the Italian powers, and this amounted to an alliance 
 with the power of the papal interests. 
 
THE NORMANS IN ITALY. I4I 
 
 William de Hauteville died, and the office of presi- 
 dent, or first count, passed to his next brother, 
 Drogo, and after him to Humphrey. One day, while 
 Drogo was count, a troop of pilgrims appeared in 
 Amalfi, with their wallets and staves. This was no 
 uncommon sight, but at the head of the dusty com- 
 pany marched a young man somewhere near twenty- 
 five years of age, and of remarkable beauty. The 
 high spirit, the proud nobility in his face, the tone 
 of his voice even, showed him to be an uncommon 
 man ; his fresh color and the thickness of his blond 
 hair gave nobody a chance to think that he had 
 come from any of the Southern countries. Suddenly 
 Drogo recognized one of his step-brothers, whom he 
 had left at home a slender boy — this was Robert, 
 already called Guiscard. He had gathered a re- 
 spectable little troop of followers — five knights and 
 thirty men-at-arms made his escort, — and they had 
 been forced to put on some sort of disguise for their 
 journey, because the court of Rome, jealous of the 
 growing power of the Normans in Italy, did every 
 thing to hinder their project, and refused permission 
 to cross their territories to those who were coming 
 from the North to join the new colony. Humbert de 
 Hauteville was with Robert — indeed the whole 
 family, except Serlon, went to Italy sooner or later 
 after the old knight Tancred died ; even the mother 
 and sisters. 
 
 Robert arrived in time for the battle of Civitella, 
 and distinguished himself amazingly. Indeed he 
 was the inspirer and leader of the Norman successes 
 in the South, and to him rather than to either of his 
 
I4 2 THE STORY OF THE NORMANS. 
 
 elder brothers belongs the glory of the new Nor- 
 mandy. 
 
 His frank, pleasant manners won friends and fol- 
 lowers without number, who loved him dearly, and 
 rallied to his standard. He was well furnished with 
 that wiliness and diplomacy which were needed to 
 cope with Southern enemies, and his wild ambition 
 led him on and on without much check from feelings 
 of pity, or even justice. Like many other Normans, 
 he was cruel, and his acts were those of a man who 
 sees his goal ahead, and marches straight toward it. 
 While William the Conqueror was getting ready to 
 wear the crown of England, Robert Guiscard was 
 laying his plans for the kingdom of the two Sicilies. 
 
 After a while Drogo was assassinated, and then 
 Humphrey was put in his place, but he and Robert 
 were always on bad terms with each other apparently. 
 Robert's faults were the faults of his time, and yet 
 his restlessness and ambition seem to have given his 
 brother great disquietude ; perhaps Humphrey feared 
 him as a rival, but at any rate he seems to have kept 
 him almost a prisoner of state. The Guiscard gained 
 the votes of the people before long, when the count 
 died and left only some young children, and in 1054 
 he was made Count of Apulia and general of the 
 republic. We need not be surprised to find his 
 title much lengthened a little later ; he demanded 
 the ducal title itself from Pope Nicholas, and styles 
 himself " by the grace of God and St. Peter, Duke 
 of Apulia, Calabria, and hereafter of Sicily." " The 
 medical and philosophical schools of Salerno, long 
 renowned in Italy, added lustre to his kingdom, and 
 
THE NORMANS IN ITALY. 143 
 
 the trade of Amalfi, the earliest of the Italian com- 
 mercial cities, extending to Africa, Arabia, India, 
 with affiliated colonies in Constantinople, Antioch, 
 Jerusalem, and Alexandria, enriched his ample do- 
 main. Excelling in the art of navigation, Amalfi is 
 said to have discovered the compass. Under her 
 Norman dukes, she held the position of the queen 
 of Italian commerce, until the rise of the more famous 
 cities of Pisa, Genoa, and Venice.* 
 
 Roger de Hauteville, the youngest brother of all, 
 who was much like Robert in every way, was the 
 conqueror of Sicily, and the expedition was piously 
 called a crusade against the unbelievers. It was 
 thirty years before the rich island was added to the 
 jurisdiction of Rome, from which the Mussulmans 
 had taken it. Roger was given the title of count, 
 but his dominion was on a feudal basis instead of 
 being a republic. This success induced Robert to 
 make a campaign against the Eastern empire, and 
 the invasions continued as long as he lived. They 
 were not very successful in themselves, but they 
 were influential in bringing about great changes. 
 The first crusade was an outcome of these plans of 
 Robert's, and all the altered relations of the East 
 and West for years afterward. 
 
 We must go far ahead of the slow pace of our story 
 of the Normans in Normandy and England to give this 
 brief sketch of the Southern dukedoms. The story of 
 the de Hautevilles is only another example of Nor- 
 man daring and enterprise. The spirit of adventure, of 
 conquest, of government, of chivalry, and personal 
 
 * A. H. Johnson : "The Normans in Europe." 
 
144 THE STORY OF THE NORMANS. 
 
 ambition shines in every page of it, and as time goes 
 on we watch with joy a partial fading out of the 
 worse characteristics of cruelty and avarice and 
 trickery, of vanity and jealous revenge. " Progress 
 in good government," says Mr. Green in his preface to 
 A Short History of England, " is the result of social 
 developments." The more we all think about that, 
 the better for us and for our country. No doubt the 
 traditions of Hasting the Northman and his barba- 
 rous piracies had hardly died out before the later 
 Normans came, first in scattered groups, and then in 
 legions, to settle in Italy. One cannot help feeling 
 that they did much to make amends for the bad 
 deeds of their ancestors. The south of Italy and 
 the Sicilian kingdom of Roger were under a wiser 
 and more tolerant rule than any government of their 
 day, and Greeks, Normans, and Italians lived to- 
 gether in harmony and peace that was elsewhere 
 unknown. The people were industrious, and all sorts 
 of trades flourished, especially the silk manufacture. 
 Perhaps the soft air and easy, luxurious fashion of life 
 quieted theNorman restlessness alittle. Who can tell? 
 Yet we get a hint of a better explanation of the 
 prosperity of the two Sicilies in this passage from an 
 old chronicle about King Roger : " He was a lover 
 of justice and most severe avenger of crime. He 
 abhorred lying ; did every thing by rule, and never 
 promised what he did not mean to perform. He 
 never persecuted his private enemies, and in war 
 endeavored on all occasions to gain his point without 
 shedding of blood. Justice and peace were univer- 
 sally observed throughout his dominions." 
 
THE NORMANS IN ITALY. 145 
 
 A more detailed account of the reigns of the De 
 Hautevilles will be found in the " Story of Sicily," but 
 before this brief review of their conquests is ended, it 
 is only fair to notice the existing monuments of 
 Norman rule. The remains of Norman architecture, 
 dating back to their time, may still be seen in 
 Palermo and other cities, and give them a romantic 
 interest. There are ruins of monasteries and con- 
 vents almosts without number, and many churches 
 still exist, though sometimes more or less defaced by 
 modern additions and ignorant restoration. The 
 Normans raised the standard of Western forms of 
 architecture here as they did elsewhere, and their 
 simpler buildings make an interesting contrast with 
 Eastern types left by the Saracens. Outside the 
 large cities almost every little town has at least some 
 fragments of Norman masonry, and in Aderno — to 
 note only one instance of the sort — there is a fine 
 Norman castle in excellent preservation, which is 
 used as a prison now. At Troina, a dreary moun- 
 tain fortress, there is a belfry and part of the wall of 
 a cathedral that Roger I. built in 1078. It was in 
 Troina that he and his wife bravely established their 
 court fifteen years earlier, and withstood a four 
 months' siege from the Saracens. Galfridus, an old 
 chronicler, tells sadly that the young rulers only had 
 one cloak between them, and grew very hungry and 
 miserable ; but Eremburga, the wife, was uncom- 
 plaining and patient. At last the count was so dis- 
 tressed by the sight of her pallor and evident 
 suffering, that he rallied his men and made a des- 
 perate charge upon his foes, and was happily victo- 
 
I46 THE STORY OF THE NORMANS. 
 
 rious. Galfridus says of that day : " The single hand 
 of Roger, with God's help, did such execution that 
 the corpses of the enemy lay around him on every 
 side like the branches of trees in a thick forest when 
 strewn by a tempest." Once afterward, when Roger 
 was away fighting in Calabria, Eremburga was form- 
 ally left in command, and used to make the round 
 with the sentinels on the walls every night. 
 
 We must look in Palermo for the noblest monu- 
 ments of Norman days, and beside the churches and 
 palaces, for the tombs of the kings and archbishops in 
 San Rosario Cathedral. There lies Roger himself, 
 " mighty Duke and first King of Sicily." Mr. Symonds 
 says * : " Very sombre and stately are these porphyry 
 resting-places of princes born in the purple, assembled 
 here from lands so distant, from the craggy heights 
 of Hohenstauffen, from the green orchards of Coten- 
 tin, from the dry hills of Aragon. They sleep and 
 the centuries pass by. Rude hands break open the 
 granite lids of their sepulchres to find tresses of yel- 
 low hair, and fragments of imperial mantles em- 
 broidered with the hawks and stags the royal hunter 
 loved. The church in which they lie changes with 
 the change of taste in architecture and the manners 
 of successive ages. But the huge stone arks remain 
 unmoved, guarding their freight of mouldering dust 
 beneath gloomy canopies of stone, that tempers the 
 sunlight as it streams from the chapel windows." 
 
 And again at Venosa, the little town where the 
 poet Horace was born, and where William de Haute- 
 ville with his brothers Drogo, Humphrey, and 
 
 *" Studies in Southern Italy," 
 
THE imORMANS iN ITALY. 14/ 
 
 Robert Guiscard are buried, we cannot do better 
 than quote the same charming writer : 
 
 " No chapter of history more resembles a romance 
 than that which records the sudden rise and brief 
 splendor of the house of Hauteville. In one gener- 
 ation the sons of Tancred de Hauteville passed from 
 the condition of squires in the Norman vale of C6- 
 tentin to Kinghood in the richest island of the 
 Southern Sea. The Norse adventurers became 
 sultans of an Oriental capital. The sea-robbers 
 assumed, together with the sceptre, the culture 
 of an Arabian court . . . lived to mate their 
 daughters with princes and to sway the politics 
 of Europe with gold. . . . What they wrought, 
 whether wisely or not, for the ultimate advan- 
 tage of Italy, endures to this day, while the 
 work of so many emperors, republics, and princes, 
 has passed and shifted like the scenes in a panto- 
 mime. Through them the Greeks, the Lombards, 
 and the Moors were extinguished in the South. The 
 Papacy was checked in its attempt to found a prov- 
 vince of St. Peter below the Tiber. The republics 
 of Naples, Caeta, Amalfi, which might have rivalled 
 perchance with Milan, Genoa, and Florence, were 
 subdued to a master's hand. In short, to the Nor- 
 man, Italy owed that kingdom of the two Sicilies, 
 which formed one third of her political balance ; and 
 which proved the cause of all her most serious 
 revolutions." 
 
 Much has been lost of the detailed history of the 
 Norman-Italian states, and lost especially to English 
 literature. If the development of Southern Italy 
 
I48 THE STORY OF THE NORMANS. 
 
 had gone steadily forward to this time, with the 
 eagerness and gathering force that might have been 
 expected from that vigorous impulse of the eleventh 
 century, no doubt there would have been a perma- 
 nent factor in history rather than a limited epi- 
 sode. The danger of the climate, to those born 
 and reared in Northern or Western Europe, was un- 
 doubtedly in the way of any long-continued prog- 
 ress. To-day the Norman buildings look strangely 
 different from their surroundings, and are almost 
 the only evidence of the once brilliant and pros- 
 perous government of the Normans in the South. 
 One enthusiastic historian, who wrote before the 
 glories of the de Hautevilles had faded, would have 
 us believe that " there was more security in the 
 thickets of Sicily than in the cities of other king- 
 doms." 
 

 VIII. 
 
 THE YOUTH OF WILLIAM THE CONQUEROR. 
 
 " One equal temper of heroic hearts 
 
 Made weak by time and fate, but strong in will 
 
 To strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield." 
 
 — Tennyson. 
 
 There was one man, famous in history, who more 
 than any other Norman seemed to personify his race, 
 to be the type of the Norman progressiveness, firm- 
 ness, and daring. He was not only remarkable among 
 his countrymen, but we are forced to call him one of 
 the great men and great rulers of the world. Nobody 
 has been more masterful, to use a good old Saxon 
 word, and therefore he came to be master of a power- 
 ful, venturesome race of people and gathered wealth 
 and widespread territory. Every thing would have 
 slipped through his fingers before he was grown to 
 manhood if his grasp had not been like steel and his 
 quickness and bravery equal to every test. " He was 
 born to be resisted," says one writer ; * " to excite 
 men's jealousy and to awaken their life-long ani- 
 mosity, only to rise triumphant above them all, 
 and to show to mankind the work that one man 
 can do — one man of fixed principles and resolute 
 
 * Johnson : " The Normans in Europe." 
 149 
 
1$0 THE STORY OF THE NORMANS. 
 
 will, who marks out a certain goal for himself, 
 and will not be deterred, but marches steadily 
 towards it with firm and ruthless step. He was a 
 man to be feared and respected, but never to be 
 loved ; chosen, it would seem, by Providence . . . 
 to upset our foregone conclusions, and while oppos- 
 ing and crushing popular heroes and national sympa- 
 thies, to teach us that in the progress of nations 
 there is something required beyond popularity, 
 something beyond mere purity and beauty of char- 
 acter — namely, the mind to conceive and the force 
 of will to carry out great schemes and to reorganize 
 the failing institutions and political life of states. 
 Born a bastard, with no title to his dukedom but the 
 will of his father ; left a minor with few friends and 
 many enemies, with rival competition at home and a 
 jealous over-lord only too glad to see the power of 
 his proud vassal humbled, he gradually fights his 
 way, gains his dukedom, and overcomes competition 
 at an age when most of us are still under tutors and 
 governors ; extends his dominions far beyond the 
 limits transmitted to him by his forefathers, and then 
 leaves his native soil to seek other conquests, to win 
 another kingdom, over which again he has no claim 
 but the stammering will of a weak king and his own irre- 
 sistible energy, and what is still more strange, secur- 
 ing the moral support of the world in his aggression, 
 and winning for himself the position of an aggrieved 
 person recovering his just and undoubted rights. 
 Truly the Normans could have no better representa- 
 tive of their extraordinary power." 
 
 William was only seven years old or a little more 
 
WILLIAM THE CONQUEROR. 1 5 I 
 
 when his father left him to go on pilgrimage. No 
 condition could have appeared more pitiable and 
 desperate than his — even in his childhood we become 
 conscious of the dislike his character inspired. Of- 
 ten just and true to his agreements, sometimes 
 unexpectedly lenient, nothing in his nature made 
 him a winner and holder of friendship, though he 
 was a leader of men and a controller of them, and an 
 inspirer of faithful loyalty besides the service ren- 
 dered him for fear's sake. His was the rule of force 
 indeed, but there is one thing to be particularly 
 noted — that in a licentious, immoral age he grew up 
 pure and self-controlled. That he did not do some 
 bad things must not make us call him good, for a 
 good man is one who does do good things. But his 
 strict fashion of life kept his head clearer and his 
 hands stronger, and made him wide-awake when 
 other men were stupid, and so again and again he 
 was able to seize an advantage and possess himself 
 of the key to success. 
 
 While his father lived, the barons paid the young 
 heir unwilling respect, and there was a grim acquies- 
 cence in what could not be helped. Alan of Brittany 
 was faithful to his trust, and always able to check 
 any dissensions and plots against his ward. The old 
 animosity between him and Robert was quite for- 
 gotten, apparently; but at last Alan was poisoned. 
 Robert's death was the signal for a general uprising 
 of the nobles, and William's life was in peril for a 
 dozen years. He never did homage to the king of 
 France, but for a long time nobody did homage to 
 him either; the barons disdained any such alle- 
 
I$2 THE STORY OF THE NORMANS. 
 
 giance, and sometimes appear to have forgotten their 
 young duke altogether in their bitter quarrels, and 
 murders of men of their own rank. We trace Wil- 
 liam de Talvas, still the bastard's fierce enemy, 
 through many plots and quarrels ; — it appears as if 
 he were determined that his curse should come true, 
 and made it the purpose of his life. The houses of 
 Montgomery and Beaumont were linked with him 
 in anarchy and treachery ; it was the Montgomeries' 
 deadly mischief to which the faithful Alan fell vic- 
 tim. William himself escaped assassination by a 
 chance, and several of his young followers were not 
 so fortunate. They were all in the strong castle of 
 Vaudreuil, a place familiar to the descendants of 
 Longsword, since it was the home of Sperling, the 
 rich miller, whom Espriota married. The history of 
 the fortress had been a history of crime, but Duke 
 Robert was ready to risk the bad name for which it 
 was famous, and trust his boy to its shelter. There 
 had never been a blacker deed done within those 
 walls than when William was only twelve years old, 
 and one of his playmates, who slept in his chamber, 
 was stabbed as he lay asleep. No doubt the Mont- 
 gomery who struck the cruel blow thought that he 
 had killed the young duke, and went away well sat- 
 isfied ; but William was rescued, and carried away and 
 hidden in a peasant's cottage, while the butchery of 
 his friends and attendants still went on. The whole 
 country swarmed with his enemies. The population 
 of the Cotentin, always more Scandinavian than 
 French, welcomed the possibility of independence, 
 and the worst side of feudalism beeran to assert itself 
 
WILLIAM THE CONQUEROR. 
 
 153 
 
 boldly. Man against man, high rank against low 
 rank, farmer against soldier, — the bloody quarrels 
 increased more and more, and devastated like some 
 horrible epidemic. 
 
 There were causes enough for trouble in the state 
 of feudalism itself to account for most. of the uproar 
 and disorder, let alone the claim of the unwelcome 
 young heir to the dukedom. It is very interesting 
 
 A NORMAN PLOUGHMAN. 
 
 to see how, in public sentiment, there was always an 
 undertone of resentment to the feudal system, and 
 of loyalty to the idea, at least, of hereditary mon- 
 archy. Even Hugh the Great, of France, was gov- 
 erned by it in his indifference to his good chances 
 for seizing the crown years before this time ; and 
 though the great empire of Charlemagne had long 
 since tottered to its fall and dismemberment, there 
 
154 THE STORY OF THE NORMANS. 
 
 was still much respect for the stability and order of 
 an ideal monarchical government. 
 
 The French people had already endured some 
 terrible trials, but it was not because of war and 
 trouble alone that they hated their rulers, for these 
 sometimes leave better things behind them ; war 
 and trouble are often the only way to peace and 
 quietness. They feared the very nature of feudalism 
 and its political power. It seemed to hold them 
 fast, and make them slaves and prisoners with its 
 tangled network and clogging weights. The feudal 
 lords were petty sovereigns and minor despots, who 
 had certain bonds and allegiances among themselves 
 and with each other, but they were, at the same time, 
 absolute masters of their own domain, and their sub- 
 jects, whether few or many, were under direct con- 
 trol and surveillance. Under the great absolute 
 monarchies, the very extent of the population and 
 of the country would give a greater security and less 
 disturbance of the middle and lower classes, for a 
 large army could be drafted, and still there would be 
 a certain lack of responsibility for a large percentage 
 of the subjects. Under the feudal system there 
 were no such chances; the lords were always at war, 
 and kept a painfully strict account of their resources. 
 Every field and every family must play a part in the 
 enterprises of their master, and a continual racking 
 and robbing went on. Even if the lord of a domain 
 had no personal quarrel to settle, he was likely to be 
 called upon by his upholder and ally to take part 
 with him against another. In the government of a 
 senate or an ecclesiastical council, the common peo- 
 
WILLIAM THE CONQUEROR. 155 
 
 pie were governed less capriciously ; their favor was 
 often sought, even in those days, by the different 
 factions who had ends to gain, and were willing to 
 grant favors in return ; but the feudal lords were 
 quite independent, and could do as they pleased 
 without asking anybody's advice or consent. 
 
 This concerns the relation of the serfs to their 
 lords, but among the lords themselves affairs were 
 quite different. From the intricate formalities of obli- 
 gation and dependence, from the necessity for each 
 feudal despot's vigilant watchfulness and careful prep- 
 aration and self-control and quick-sighted decision, 
 arose a most active, well-developed class of nobles. 
 While the master of a feudal castle (or robber-strong- 
 hold, whichever we choose to call it) was absent on 
 his forays, or more determined wars, his wife took 
 his place, and ruled her dependents and her house- 
 hold with ability. The Norman women of the 
 higher classes were already famous far and wide 
 through Europe, and, since we are dealing with the 
 fortunes of Normandy, we like to picture them in 
 their castle-halls in all their dignity and authority, 
 and to imagine their spirited faces, and the beauty 
 which is always a power, and which some of them 
 had learned already to make a power for good. 
 
 No matter how much we deplore the condition of 
 Normandy and the lower classes of society, and 
 sympathize with the wistfulness and enforced pa- 
 tience of the peasantry ; no matter how perplexed we 
 are at the slowness of development in certain direc- 
 tions, we are attracted and delighted by other as- 
 pects. We turn our heads quickly at the sound of 
 
156 THE STORY OF THE NORMANS. 
 
 martial music. The very blood thrills and leaps 
 along our veins as we watch the Norman knights 
 ride by along the dusty Roman roads. The spears 
 shine in the sunlight, the horses prance, the robber- 
 castles clench their teeth and look down from the 
 hills as if they were grim stone monsters lying in 
 wait for prey. The apple-trees are in blossom, and 
 the children scramble out of the horses' way ; the 
 flower of chivalry is out parading, and in clanking ar- 
 mor, with flaunting banners and crosses on their 
 shields, the knights ride by to the defence of Jerusa- 
 lem. Knighthood was in its early prime, and in this 
 gay, romantic fashion, with tender songs to the ladies 
 they loved and gallantly defended, with a prayer to 
 the Virgin Mary, their patroness, because they rever- 
 enced the honor and purity of womanhood, they 
 fought through many a fierce fight, with the bitter, 
 steadfast courage of brave men whose heart is in 
 their cause. It was an easy step from their defiance 
 of the foes of Normandy to the defence of the 
 Church of God. Religion itself was the suggester 
 and promoter of chivalry, and the Normans forgot 
 their lesser quarrels and petty grievances when the 
 mother church held up her wrongs and sufferings to 
 their sympathy. It was to Christianity that the 
 mediaeval times owed knighthood, and, while his- 
 torians complain of the lawlessness of the age, the 
 crimes and violence, the social confusion and vulgar- 
 ity, still the poetry and austerity and real beauty of 
 the knightly traditions shine out all the brighter. 
 Men had got hold of some new suggestions ; the 
 best of them were examples of something better than 
 
WILLIAM THE CONQUEROR. 
 
 157 
 
 the world had ever known. As we glance over the 
 list of rules to which a knight was obliged to sub- 
 scribe, we cannot help rejoicing at the new ideal of 
 christian manhood. 
 
 Rolf the Ganger had been proud rather than 
 ashamed of his brutal ferocity and selfishness. This 
 new standard demands as good soldiery as ever ; in 
 fact, a greater daring and utter absence of fear, but 
 
 ARMING A KNIGHT. 
 
 it recognizes the rights of other people, and the sin- 
 gle-heartedness and tenderness of moral strength. 
 It is a very high ideal. 
 
 A little later than the time of William the Con- 
 queror's youth, there were formal ceremonies at the 
 making of a knight, and these united so surprisingly 
 the poet's imaginary knighthood and the customs of 
 military life and obligations of religious life, that we 
 cannot wonder at their influence. 
 
I58 THE STORY OF THE NORMANS. 
 
 The young man was first stripped of his clothes 
 and put into a bath, to wash all former contamina- 
 tions from body and soul — a typical second baptism, 
 done by his own free will and desire. Afterward, he 
 was clothed first in a white tunic, to symbolize his 
 purity ; next in a red robe, a sign of the blood he 
 must be ready to shed in defending the cause of 
 Christ ; and over these garments was put a tight 
 black gown, to represent the mystery of death which 
 must be solved at last by him, and every man. 
 
 Then the black-robed candidate was left alone to 
 fast and pray for twenty-four hours, and when even- 
 ing came, they led him to the church to pray all 
 night long, either by himself, or with a priest and his 
 own knightly sponsors for companions. Next day 
 he made confession ; then the priest gave him the 
 sacrament, and afterward he went to hear mass and 
 a sermon about his new life and a knight's duties. 
 When this was over, a sword was hung around his 
 neck and he went to the altar, where the priest took 
 off the sword, blessed it, and put it on again. Then 
 the candidate went to kneel before the lord who was 
 to arm him, and was questioned strictly about his 
 reasons for becoming a knight, and was warned that 
 he must not desire to be rich or to take his ease, or 
 to gain honor from knighthood without doing it 
 honor; at last the young man solemnly promised to 
 do his duty, and his over-lord to whom he did homage 
 granted his request to be made a knight. 
 
 After this the knights and ladies dressed him in 
 his new garments, and the spurs came first of all 
 the armor, then the haubert or coat of mail ; next 
 
WILLIAM THE CONQUEROR. 159 
 
 the cuirass, the armlets, and gauntlets, and, last of all, 
 the sword. Now he was ready for the accolade ; the 
 over-lord rose and went to him and gave him three 
 blows with the fiat of the sword on his shoulder or 
 neck, and sometimes a blow with the hand on his 
 breast, and said : " In the name of God, of St. Michael 
 and St. George, I make thee knight. Be valiant and 
 fearless and loyal." 
 
 Then his horse was led in, and a helmet was put 
 on the new knight's head, and he mounted quickly 
 and flourished his lance and sword, and went out of 
 the church to show himself to the people gathered 
 outside, and there was a great cheering, and pranc- 
 ing of horses, and so the outward ceremony was 
 over, and he was a dubbed knight, as the old phrase 
 has it — adopted knight would mean the same thing 
 to-day ; he belonged to the great Christian brother- 
 hood of chivalry. We have seen how large a part 
 religion played in the rites and ceremonies, but we 
 can get even a closer look at the spirit of knighthood 
 if we read some of the oaths that were taken by 
 these young men, who were the guardians and 
 scholars of whatever makes for peace, even while 
 they chose the ways of war and did such eager, de- 
 voted work with their swords. . M. Guizot, from 
 whose " History of France " I have taken the greater 
 part of this description, goes on to give twenty-six 
 articles to which the knights swore, not that these 
 made a single ritual, but were gathered from the ac- 
 counts of different epochs. They are so interesting, 
 as showing the steady growth and development of 
 better ideas and purposes, that I copy them here. 
 
l6o THE STORY OF THE NORMANS. 
 
 Indeed we can hardly understand the later Norman 
 history, and the crusades particularly, unless we 
 make the knights as clear to ourselves as we tried to 
 make the vikings. 
 
 We must thank the clergymen of the tenth and elev- 
 enth centuries for this new thought about the duties 
 and relationships of humanity, — men like Abelard 
 and St. Anselm, and the best of their contempor- 
 aries. It is most interesting to see how the church 
 availed herself of the feudal bonds and sympathies 
 of men, and their warlike sentiment and organization, 
 to develop a better and more peaceful service of 
 God. Truthfulness and justice and purity were 
 taught by the church's influence, and licentiousness 
 and brutality faded out as the new order of things 
 gained strength and brightness. Later the pendu- 
 lum swung backward, and the church used all the 
 terrors of tyranny, fire, and sword, to further her 
 ends and emphasize her authority, instead of the 
 authority of God's truth and the peace of heavenly 
 living. The church became a name and cover for 
 the ambitions of men. 
 
 Whatever the pretences and mockeries and rival- 
 ries and thefts of authority may be on the part of 
 unworthy churchmen, we hardly need to remind 
 ourselves that in every age the true church exists, 
 and that true saints are living their holy, helpful 
 lives, however shadowed and concealed. Even if 
 the harvest of grain in any year is called a total loss, 
 and the country never suffered so much before from 
 dearth, there is always enough wheat or corn to plant 
 the next spring, and the fewer handfuls the more 
 
WILLIAM THE CONQUEROR. l6l 
 
 precious it is sure to seem. In this eleventh cen- 
 tury, a century which in many ways was so disor- 
 derly and cruel, we are always conscious of the pres- 
 ence of the "blameless knights' who went boldly 
 to the fight ; the priests and monks of God who hid 
 themselves and prayed in cell and cloister. " It was 
 feudal knighthood and Christianity together," says 
 Guizot, " which produced the two great and glorious 
 events of that time — the Norman conquest of Eng- 
 land, and the Crusades." 
 
 These were the knight's promises and oaths as 
 Guizot repeats them, and we shall get no harm from 
 reading them carefully and trying to keep them our- 
 selves, even though all our battles are of another 
 sort and much duller fights against temptations. It 
 must be said that our enemies often come riding 
 down upon us in as fine a way and break a lance with 
 us in as magnificent a fashion as in the days of the 
 old tournaments. But our contests are apt to be 
 more like the ancient encounters with cruel treach- 
 ery of wild beasts in desert places, than like those at 
 the gay jousts, with all the shining knights and 
 ladies looking on to admire and praise. 
 
 The candidates swore : First, to fear, reverence, 
 and serve God religiously, to fight for the faith with 
 all their might, and to die a thousand deaths rather 
 than renounce Christianity ; 
 
 To serve their sovereign prince faithfully, and to 
 fight for him and fatherland right valiantly; 
 
 To uphold the rights of the weaker, such as 
 widows, orphans, and damsels, in fair quarrel, ex- 
 posing themselves on that account according as need 
 
1 62 THE STORY OF THE NORMANS. 
 
 might be, provided it were not against their own 
 honor or against their king or lawful princes. 
 
 That they would not injure any one maliciously, 
 or take what was another's, but would rather do bat- 
 tle with those who did so. 
 
 That greed, pay, gain, or profit should never con- 
 strain them to do any deed, but only glory and vir- 
 tue. 
 
 That they would fight for the good and advan- 
 tage of the common weal. 
 
 That they would be bound by and obey the orders 
 of their generals and captains, who had a right to 
 command them. 
 
 That they would guard the honor, rank, and order 
 of their comrades, and that they would, neither by 
 arrogance nor by force, commit any trespass against 
 any one of them. 
 
 That they would never fight in companies against 
 one, and that they would eschew all tricks and 
 artifices. 
 
 That they would wear but one sword, unless they 
 had to fight against two or more enemies. 
 
 That in tourney or other sportive contests, they 
 would never use the point of their swords. 
 
 That being taken prisoner in a tourney, they 
 would be bound on their faith and honor to perform 
 in every point the conditions of capture, besides 
 being bound to give up to the victors their arms and 
 horses, if it seemed good to take them, being also 
 disabled from fighting in war or elsewhere without 
 their victor's leave. 
 
 That they would keep faith inviolably with all the 
 
WILLIAM THE CONQUEROR. 1 63 
 
 world, and especially with their comrades, upholding 
 their honor and advantage wholly in their absence. 
 
 That they would love and honor one another, and 
 aid and succor one another whenever occasion offered. 
 
 That having made vow or promise to go on any 
 quest or adventure, they would never put off their 
 arms save for the night's rest. 
 
 That in pursuit of their quest or adventure, they 
 would not shun bad and perilous passes, nor turn 
 aside from the straight road for fear of encountering 
 powerful knights, or monsters, or wild beasts, or 
 other hindrance, such as the body and courage of a 
 single man might tackle. 
 
 That they would never take wage or pay from any 
 foreign prince. 
 
 That in command of troops or men-at-arms, they 
 would live in the utmost possible order and disci- 
 pline, and especially in their own country, where they 
 would never suffer any harm or violence to be done. 
 
 That if they were bound to escort dame or dam- 
 sel, they would serve, protect, and save her from all 
 danger and insult, or die in the attempt. 
 
 That they would never offer violence to any dame 
 or damsel, though they had won her by deeds of 
 arms. 
 
 That being challenged to equal combat, they 
 would not refuse without wound, sickness, or other 
 reasonable hindrance. 
 
 That, having undertaken to carry out any enter- 
 prise, they would devote to it night and day, unless 
 they were called away for the service of their king 
 and country. 
 
164 THE STORY OF THE NORMANS. 
 
 That, if they made a vow to acquire any honor, 
 they would not draw back without having attained 
 it or its equivalent. 
 
 That they would be faithful keepers of their word 
 and pledged faith, and that, having become prisoners 
 in fair warfare, they would pay to the uttermost the 
 promised ransom, or return to prison at the day and 
 hour agreed upon, on pain of being proclaimed infa- 
 mous and perjured. 
 
 That, on returning to the court of their sovereign, 
 they would render a true account of their adventures, 
 even though they had sometimes been worsted, to 
 the king and the registrar of the order, on pain of 
 being deprived of the order of knighthood. 
 
 That, above all things, they would be faithful, 
 courteous, and humble, and would never be wanting 
 to their word for any harm or loss that might accrue 
 to them." 
 
 It would not do to take these holy principles, or 
 the pageant of knight-errantry, for a picture of 
 Normandy in general. We can only remind our- 
 selves with satisfaction that this leaven was working 
 in the mass of turbulent, vindictive society. The 
 priests worked very hard to keep their hold upon 
 their people, and the authority of the church proved 
 equal to many a subtle weakness of faith and quick 
 strain of disloyalty. We should find it difficult to 
 match the amazing control of the state by the 
 church in any other country, — even in the most 
 superstitiously devout epochs. When the priest- 
 hood could not make the Normans promise to keep 
 the peace altogether, they still obtained an astonish- 
 
WILLIAM THE CONQUEROR. 1 65 
 
 ing concession and truce. There was no fighting 
 from Wednesday evening at sunset until Monday 
 morning at sunrise. During these five nights and 
 four days no fighting, burning, robbing, or plunder- 
 ing could go on, though for the three days and two 
 nights left of the week any violence and crime were 
 not only pardonable, but allowed. In this Truce of 
 God, not only the days of Christ's Last Supper, 
 Passion, and Resurrection were to remain undese- 
 crated, but longer periods of time, such as from the 
 first day of Advent until the Epiphany, and other 
 holy seasons. If the laws of the Truce were broken, 
 there were heavy penalties: thirty years' hard pen- 
 ance in exile for the contrite offender, and he must 
 make reparation for all the evil he had committed, 
 and repay his debt for all the spoil. If he died un- 
 repentant, he was denied Christian burial and all the 
 offices of the church, and his body was given to wild 
 beasts and the fowls of the air. 
 
 To be sure, the more ungodly portion of the citi- 
 zens fought against such strict regulations, and 
 called those knights whom the priests armed, " cits 
 without spirit," and even harder names, but for 
 twelve years the Truce was kept. The free days for 
 murder and theft were evidently made the most of, 
 and from what we can discover, it appears as if the 
 Normans used the Truce days for plotting rather 
 than for praying. Yet it was plain that the world 
 was getting ready for great things, and that great 
 emergencies were beginning to make themselves 
 evident. New ideas were on the wing, and in 
 spite of the despotism of the church, sometimes by 
 
1 66 THE STORY OF THE NORMANS. 
 
 very reason of it, we can see that men were breaking 
 their intellectual fetters and becoming freer and 
 wiser. A new order of things was coming in ; there 
 was that certain development of Christian ideas, which 
 reconciles the student of history in every age to the 
 constant pain and perplexity of watching misdirected 
 energies and hindering blunders and follies. 
 
 " It often happens that popular emotions, however 
 deep and general, remain barren, just as in the 
 vegetable world many sprouts come to the surface 
 of the ground, and then die without growing any 
 more or bearing any fruit. It is not sufficient for 
 the bringing about of great events and practical 
 results, that popular aspirations should be merely 
 manifested ; it is necessary further that some great 
 soul, some powerful will, should make itself the 
 organ and agent of the public sentiment, and bring 
 it to fecundity, by becoming its type — its personifi- 
 cation." * 
 
 In the middle of this eleventh century, the time of 
 William the Conqueror's youth, the opposing ele- 
 ments of Christian knighthood, and the fighting 
 spirit of the viking blood, were each to find a cham- 
 pion in the same leader. The young duke's early 
 years were a hard training, and from his loveless 
 babyhood to his unwept death, he had the bitter 
 sorrows that belong to the life of a cruel man and 
 much-feared tyrant. It may seem to be a strange 
 claim to make for William the Conqueror — that he 
 represented Christian knighthood — but we must re- 
 member that fighting was almost the first duty of 
 * Guizot. 
 
WILLIAM THE CONQUEROR. 
 
 167 
 
 man in those days, and that this greatest of the 
 Norman dukes, with all his brutality and apparent 
 heartlessness and selfishness, believed in his church, 
 
 CONFERRING KNIGHTHOOD ON THE FIELD OF BATTLE. 
 
 and kept many of her laws which most of his com- 
 rades broke as a matter of course. We cannot 
 remind ourselves too often that he was a man of 
 
1 68 THE STORY OF THE NORMANS. 
 
 pure life in a most unbridled and immoral age, if we 
 judge by our present standards of either purity or 
 immorality. There is always a temptation in reading 
 or writing about people who lived in earlier times, to 
 rank them according to our own- laws of morality 
 and etiquette, but the first thing to be done is to get 
 a clear idea of the time in question. The hero of 
 Charlemagne's time or the Conqueror's may prove 
 any thing but a hero in our eyes, but we must take 
 him in relation to his own surroundings. The great 
 laws of truth and justice and kindness remain, while 
 the years come and go ; the promises of God endure, 
 but while there is, as one may say, a common law of 
 heavenly ordering, there are also the various statute 
 laws that vary with time and place, and these forever 
 change as men change, and the light of civilization 
 burns brighter and clearer. 
 
 In William the Conqueror's lifetime, every landed 
 gentleman fortified his house against his neighbors, 
 and even made a secure and loathsome prison in his 
 cellar for their frequent accommodation. This seems 
 inhospitable, to say the least, and gives a tinge of 
 falseness to such tender admonitions as prevailed in 
 regard to charity and treatment of wayfarers. Yet 
 every rich man was ambitious to go down to fame 
 as a benefactor of the church ; all over Normandy 
 and Brittany there was a new growth of religious 
 houses, and those of an earlier date, which had lain 
 in ruins since the Northmen's time, were rebuilt 
 with pious care. There appears to have been a new 
 awakening of religious interest in the year iooo, 
 which lasted late into the century. There was a 
 
WILLIAM THE CONQUEROR. 1 69 
 
 surprising fear and anticipation of the end of the 
 world, which led to a vast number of penitential 
 deeds of devotion, and it was the same during the 
 two or three years after 1030, at the close of the life 
 of King Robert of France. 
 
 Normandy and all the neighboring countries were 
 scourged by even worse plagues than the feudal 
 wars. The drought was terrible, and the famine 
 which followed desolated the land everywhere. The 
 trees and fields were scorched and shrivelled, and the 
 poor peasants fought with the wild beasts for dead 
 bodies that had fallen by the roadside and in the 
 forests. Sometimes men killed their comrades for 
 very hunger, like wolves. There was no commerce 
 which could supply the failure of one country's crops 
 with the overflow of another's at the other side of the 
 world, but at last the rain fell in France, and the 
 misery was ended. A thousand votive offerings were 
 made for very thankfulness, for again the people had 
 expected the end of the world, and it had seemed 
 most probable that such an arid earth should be near 
 its final burning and desolation. 
 
 In the towns, under ordinary circumstances, there 
 was a style of living that was almost luxurious. The 
 Normans were skilful architects, and not only their 
 minsters and monasteries, but their houses too, were 
 fit for such proud inhabitants, and rich with hangings 
 and comfortable furnishings. The women were 
 more famous than ever for needlework, some of it 
 most skilful in design, and the great tapestries are 
 yet in existence that were hung, partly for warmth's 
 sake, about the stone walls of the castles. Some- 
 
170 THE STORY OF THE NORMANS. 
 
 times the noble ladies who sat at home while their 
 lords went out to the wars, worked great pictures on 
 these tapestries of various events of family history, 
 and these family records of battles and gallant 
 bravery by land and sea are most interesting now 
 for their costume and color, beside their corrobora- 
 tion of historical traditions. 
 
 We have drifted away, in this chapter, from Wil- 
 liam the Conqueror himself, but I believe that we 
 know more about the Normandy which he was to 
 govern, and can better understand his ambitions, his 
 difficulties, and his successes. A country of priests 
 and soldiers, of beautiful women and gallant men ; 
 a social atmosphere already alive with light, gayety, 
 and brightness, but swayed with pride and supersti- 
 tion, with worldliness and austerity ; loyal to Rome, 
 greedy for new territory, the feudal lords imperious 
 masters of complaining yet valiant serfs ; racked 
 everywhere by civil feuds and petty wars and in- 
 stinctive jealousies of French and foreign blood— this 
 was Normandy. The Englishmen come and go and 
 learn good manners and the customs of chivalry, 
 England herself is growing rich and stupid, for 
 Harthacnut had introduced a damaging custom of 
 eating four great meals a day, and his subjects had 
 followed the fashion, though that king himself had 
 died of it and of his other habit of drinking all 
 night long with merry companions. 
 
IX. 
 
 ACROSS THE CHANNEL. 
 
 -One decree 
 
 Spake laws to them, and said that, by the soul 
 Only, the nations should be great and free." 
 
 — Wordsworth. 
 
 It is time to take a closer look at England and at 
 the shameful degradations of ^ithelred's time. The 
 inroads of the Danes read like the early history of 
 Normandy, and we must take a step backward in the 
 condition of civilization when we cross to the other 
 side of the Channel. There had been great changes 
 since yElfred's wise and prosperous reign, or even 
 since the time of /Ethelred's predecessor, Eadgar, 
 who was rowed in his royal-barge at Chester by 
 eight of his vassal kings — Kenneth of Scots, Mal- 
 colm of Cumberland, Maccus of the Isles, and five 
 Welsh monarchs. The lord of Britain was gracious 
 enough to do the steering for so noble a company of 
 oarsmen, and it was considered the proudest day 
 that ever had shone upon an English king. 
 
 We must remind ourselves of the successive waves 
 of humanity which had overspread England in past 
 ages, leaving traces of each like less evident geologic 
 
 171 
 
172 THE STORY OF THE NORMANS. 
 
 strata. From the stone and bronze age people, 
 through the Celts with their Pictish and Scottish 
 remnant, through the Roman invasion, and the 
 Saxon, more powerful and enduring than any from 
 our point of view, we may trace a kinship to our 
 Normans across the water. But the English de- 
 scendants of Celts, Danes, Angles, Saxons, and Jutes 
 needed to feel anew influence and refreshing of their 
 better instincts by way of Normandy. 
 
 Perhaps each one of the later rulers of Britain 
 thought he had fallen upon as hard and stormy 
 times and had as much responsibility as anybody 
 who ever wielded a sceptre, but in the reign of 
 the second yEthelred, there are much greater dramas 
 being played, and we feel, directly we get a 
 hint of it, as children do who have been loitering 
 among petty side-shows on their way to a great play. 
 Here come the Danes again, the kings of Denmark 
 and the whole population of Norway one would 
 think, to read the records, and this time they attack 
 England with such force and determination that 
 within less than forty years a Danish king is master 
 of Britain. 
 
 If ^Ethelred had been a better man this might 
 never have happened, but among all the Saxon 
 kings he seems to have been the worst — thoroughly 
 bad, weak, cowardly, and cruel. He was sure to do 
 things he had better have left alone, and to neglect 
 his plain duty. Other kings had fallen on as hard, 
 perplexing times as he, but they had been strong 
 enough to keep some sort of control of themselves at 
 any rate. Dunstan the archbishop warned the peo- 
 
ACROSS THE CHANNEL. 1 73 
 
 pie, when ^Ethelred was crowned, that they had no 
 idea of the trouble that was coming, and through 
 the whole reign things went from bad to worse. 
 Dreadful things happened which we can hardly blame 
 the silly king for — -like a plague among cattle, and 
 the burning of London in 982 ; and a few years after- 
 ward there was a terrible invasion of the Norwegians, 
 and we have seen that aid and comfort were ready for 
 them over in Bayeux and the pirate cities of Nor- 
 mandy. 
 
 Now we first hear of the Danegelt, great sums of 
 money, always doubling and increasing, that were 
 paid the Northmen as bribes to go away and leave 
 England in peace. The paying of this Danegelt be- 
 came a greater load than the nation could carry, for 
 the pirates liked nothing better than to gather a 
 great fleet of ships every few months and come to 
 anchor off the coast, sending a messenger to make 
 the highwayman's favorite request, your money or 
 your life ! One of the first sums boldly demanded 
 of yEthelred's aldermen was ten thousand pounds. 
 We can see how rapidly the wealth of England 
 had increased, for in Alfred's time the fine for 
 killing a king was a hundred and twenty shillings, 
 and this was considered a great sum of money; the 
 penalty for taking a peasant's life was only five 
 shillings, which makes us understand, without any 
 doubt, the scarceness and value of money. Here 
 are some extracts from the English chronicle, which 
 had been kept since Bede's time and for many years 
 after this, which will show how miserably every thing 
 was going on : 
 
174 THE STORY OF THE NORMANS. 
 
 iooi. "The army [the Danes of course] went 
 over the land and did as was their wont. Slew and 
 burned ... it was sad in every way for they 
 never ceased from their evil." 
 
 1002. " In this year the king and his witan resolved, 
 that tribute would be paid and peace made with 
 them, on condition that they should cease from their 
 evil. This they accepted and were paid, ;£ 24,000. 
 
 1006. "At midwinter the Winchester folk might 
 see an insolent and fearless army as they went by 
 their gate to the sea, and fetched them food and 
 treasure over fifty miles from the sea. Then was 
 there so great awe of the army that no one could 
 think or devise how they should be driven from the 
 country. Every shire in Wessex had they cruelly 
 marked with burning and with harrying. The king 
 began then with his witan earnestly to consider what 
 might seem most advisable to them all, so that the 
 country might be protected ere it were at last un- 
 done." This time the tribute was ^"36,000, and an- 
 other time the ships put to sea with a Danegelt of 
 ^48,000. 
 
 England grew more and more miserable and 
 shamefully unable to defend herself, the captains 
 of her fleet were incapable or treacherous, and 
 at last, when some of the ships had been wrecked 
 and there had been some sad disasters at sea, the 
 chronicle has a more despairing tone than ever. " It 
 was as if all counsel had come to an end," the writer 
 says, " and the king and aldermen and all the high 
 witan went home, and let the toil of all the nation 
 lightly perish." 
 
ACROSS THE CHANNEL. 17$ 
 
 ^Ethelred the Unready won for himself, in his 
 reign of thirty-eight years, the hearty contempt and 
 distrust of all his people. There is a temptation to 
 blame him for the misery of England, and to at- 
 tribute it all to his faults and to the low aims and 
 standards of his character, to his worthless ambitions. 
 But, in a general way, the great men, or notorious 
 men of history, who stand out before a dim and half- 
 forgotten background, are only typical of their time 
 and representative of it. One very good man, or 
 bad man, cannot be absolutely a single specimen of 
 his kind ; there must be others who rank with him, 
 and who have been his upholders and influencers. So 
 while the story of any nation is in its early chapters, 
 and seems to be merely an account of one ruler or 
 statesman after another, we must not forget that 
 each symbolized his day and generation, — a brave 
 leader of a brave race, or a dull or placid or serene 
 representative of a secure, inactive age. 
 
 Although there was blundering enough and 
 treachery in ^Ethelred's reign, there was a splendid 
 exception in the victories and steadfastness of the 
 city of London, which was unsuccessfully attacked 
 again and again by the Danes. The heathen, as 
 the English called their enemies, were lucky in their 
 two leaders, the king of Norway, and the king of 
 Denmark. Olaf, the first-named, was converted 
 after a while, and going from the islands of Orkney 
 to England, he was baptized there, and the English 
 bishops were very kind to him, and ^thelred gave 
 him some presents, and made him promise that he 
 would not come plundering to England any more. 
 
176 THE STORY OF THE NORMANS. 
 
 We are quite surprised to hear that the promise was 
 kept. Swegen the Dane promised too, but he ap- 
 peared again after a while, and ^Ethelred thought he 
 would improve upon the fashion of paying Dane- 
 gelt by ordering a general massacre of all the Danes 
 instead. Afterward somebody tried to excuse such 
 a piece of barbarianism by saying that the Danes had 
 plotted against the king, but even if they had, 
 yEthelred showed a wretched spirit. It was a time 
 of peace, but he sent secret messengers all through 
 the country, and as the English were only too glad 
 to carry out such orders, there was a terrible 
 slaughter of men, Women, and children. 
 
 Next year Swegen came back to avenge the wrong, 
 all the more readily because his own sister and her 
 husband and son were among the murdered, and the 
 poor woman had made a prophecy, as she fell, dying, 
 that misery and vengeance should fall upon the Eng- 
 lish for their sins. For a long time afterward the 
 Danes were very fierce and kept England in fear and 
 disorder. Once they laid siege to Canterbury, and 
 when it had fallen into their hands they demanded 
 Danegelt from the Archbishop, a very good old 
 man. He had a heart full of pity for his poor 
 people already so abominably taxed and oppressed 
 in every way, and was brave enough to squarely re- 
 fuse, so the Danes slew him with horrible torture ; 
 one might tell many such stories of the cruelty 
 and boldness of the invaders. ^Ethelred was per- 
 fectly helpless or else cowardly and indifferent, and 
 presently Swegen, who had gone back to the North 
 returned with a great fleet and a swarm of followers, 
 
ACROSS THE CHANNEL. l"JJ 
 
 and not long afterward he conquered every sort of 
 opposition, even that of the brave Londoners, and 
 was proclaimed king of England. Here was a 
 change indeed ! the silly Saxon king and his wife 
 and children fled across the sea to Normandy, and 
 Swegen sat upon the throne. He began to reign in 
 splendid state ; he had the handsomest ships afloat, 
 all decked out with figures of men and birds and 
 beasts wrought in silver and amber and gold, and 
 fine decorations of every sort. No doubt he had 
 made fine plans and meant to do great deeds, but he 
 died suddenly within a very short time, and the peo- 
 ple believed he was frightened to death by a vision. 
 yEthelred was in Normandy at the court of Richard 
 the Fearless. You remember that Richard's sis- 
 ter Emma went over to England to marry the un- 
 ready king. yEthelred had one older son, Eadmund 
 Ironside, beside the two boys who were Emma's 
 children, and the hearts of the English turned to 
 their old king, and at last they sent for him to come 
 back, in spite of his faults. He made many fine 
 promises, and seems to have done a great deal better 
 most of the time during the last two years that he 
 lived. Perhaps he had taken some good lessons from 
 the Norman court. But Cnut, Swegen's son, came 
 back to England, just before he died, as fearless as a 
 hawk, and led his men from one victory to another, 
 and yEthelred faded out of life to everybody's relief. 
 When he was dead at last, the witan chose Cnut 
 for king in his stead, but the Londoners, who were 
 rich and strong, and who hated the Danes bitterly — 
 the Londoners would have none of the pirates to 
 
17^ THE STORY OF THE NORMANS. 
 
 reign over them, and elected young Eadmund Iron» 
 side, a valiant soldier and loyal-hearted fellow who 
 feared nothing and was ready to dare every thing. 
 The two young kings were well matched and fought 
 six great battles, in most of which Ironside gained 
 the advantage, but at last the Danes beat him back- 
 and though everybody was ready for a seventh bat- 
 tle, the witan showed their wisdom for once and for- 
 bade any more fighting, and somehow managed to 
 proclaim peace. The young kings treated each other 
 most generously, and called each other brother, and 
 were very cordial and good-natured. They agreed 
 to divide the kingdom, so that Eadmund Ironside had 
 all England south of the Thames — East Anglia and 
 Essex and London. Cnut took all the northern 
 country and owned Eadmund for his over-lord, but 
 within the year Cnut reigned alone. Eadmund 
 died suddenly — some say that he was murdered, and 
 some that he had worn himself out with his tremen- 
 dous activity and anxiety. It is a great temptation 
 to follow out the story of such a man, and especially 
 because he lived in such an important time, but we 
 must hurry now to the point where Norman and 
 English history can be told together, and only stop 
 to explain such things as will make us able to under- 
 stand and take sides in the alliance of the two vigor- 
 ous, growing nations. 
 
 Cnut's life, too, is endlessly interesting. He be- 
 gan by behaving like a pirate, and the latter part 
 of his reign was a great reform and a very comforta- 
 ble time for England, so scarred and spoiled by war. 
 In the beginning there was a great question about 
 
ACROSS THE CHANNEL. 1 79 
 
 the kingship. In those days it was a matter of great 
 importance that the king should be able to rule and 
 able to fight, and the best and most powerful mem- 
 ber of the royal family was the proper one to choose. 
 
 KING CNUT. 
 (From the Register of Hyde Abbey.) 
 
 The English for a long time had elected their kings, 
 and Cnut, though he held half the country, was 
 very careful not to seize the rest by force. We 
 
l8o THE STORY OF THE NORMANS. 
 
 watch with great interest his wielding of rude poli- 
 tics before the witan ; he called them into council 
 and laid his claim before them. 
 
 Eadmund Ironside had left two little sons, but no- 
 body thought of their being his successors. Indeed 
 Cnut showed a great fear of the royal family, and 
 took care that his rivals should be disposed of ; he 
 knew that the witan and everybody else were tired 
 of the everlasting war and bloodshed. He was fierce 
 and downright in his demands, and in the end the 
 heirs of Ironside were all passed over — the Athelings 
 or princes were all set aside, and Cnut the Dane 
 was king of England. 
 
 Ironside's brother, Eadwy, of whom the best things 
 are said, was outlawed, and died within a few months 
 under very suspicious circumstances. The two little 
 boys, Ironside's sons, were sent out of the country 
 to Cnut's half-brother, the king of Sweden, with 
 orders that they should be put out of the way. The 
 king felt such pity for the innocent children, that he 
 sent them away to Hungary instead of having them 
 murdered. The Hungarian king, Stephen, was a 
 saint and a hero, and he was very kind to the poor 
 exiles, and brought them up carefully. One died 
 young, but we shall hear again about the other. 
 
 Cnut did a very surprising thing next. He sent 
 for Queen Emma to come back again from the Nor- 
 man court to marry him. She must have been a 
 good deal older than he, but she was still a beautiful 
 woman, and marked with the famous Norman 
 dignity and grace. Cnut promised that if they 
 should ever have a son born, he should be the next 
 
ACROSS THE CHANNEL. l8l 
 
 king of England. Emma's two elder sons, Alfred 
 and Eadward, were left in Normandy, and there they 
 grew up quite apart from their mother, and thinking 
 much more of their Norman descent and belonging 
 than of their English heritage. 
 
 Cnut now appears in the light of a model sov- 
 ereign for those days. He had renounced all his 
 pagan ideas, and been christened and received into 
 the Church. We might expect that he would have 
 pushed his own countrymen forward and all the Dan- 
 ish interests, but it was quite the other way. At 
 the beginning of his reign he had executed several 
 powerful English nobles whose influence and antago- 
 nism he had reason to fear; but now he favored the 
 English in a marked way, and even ordered his ships 
 and all the pirates and fighting men back to the 
 North. It seems very strange, now, that a king of 
 England ever reigned over Sweden and Denmark, 
 and Norway beside, but it seems as if Cnut were 
 prouder of being king of England than of all his 
 other powers and dignities. He was not only very 
 gracious and friendly with his English subjects at 
 home, but he sent them abroad to be bishops, and 
 displeased the Danish parishes by such arrange- 
 ments. 
 
 We all know the story of the rising tide, and 
 Cnut's reproof to his courtiers on the sea-shore. 
 As we read about him we are reminded a little of 
 Rolf the Ganger, and his growth from pirate fashions 
 to a more gentle and decent humanity. The two 
 men were not so very unlike after all, but I must 
 confess that I think with a good deal of sympathy 
 
1 82 THE STORY OF THE NORMANS. 
 
 of Cnut's decision to go on a pilgrimage to Rome. 
 It was expecting a good deal of the young sea-rover 
 that he should stay quietly at home to rule his king- 
 dom. The spirit of adventure stirred in his veins, 
 and we may be sure that he enjoyed his long and 
 perilous overland journey to Italy. He made the 
 road safer for his countrymen who might also have 
 a pious desire to worship at the famous foreign 
 shrines. He complained to the emperor and the 
 priests at Rome about the robber-chiefs who pounced 
 down upon travellers from their castles in the Alps, 
 and they promised to keep better order. The 
 merchants and pilgrims were often laden with rich 
 offerings for the churches, besides goods which they 
 wished to sell, and the robbers kept watch for them. 
 Their ruined fortresses are still perched along the 
 Alpine passes, and one cannot help hoping that 
 Cnut had some exciting disputes with his enemies, 
 and a taste of useful fighting and proper discipline 
 among the bold marauders. 
 
 He wrote a famous letter about his pilgrimage, 
 directed to the archbishops, and bishops, the great 
 men, and all the people. He tells whom he saw in 
 Rome — the Pope, and the German Emperor, and 
 other great lords of the earth ; and says, with pride, 
 that every one has treated him handsomely, and what 
 fine presents he has had given him to carry home. 
 He had come to Rome for the good of his people, 
 and for the salvation of his own soul, he tells them 
 seriously; and one thing he did for England was to 
 complain of the heavy taxes the church had put 
 upon it, and the Pope promised that such injustice 
 
ACROSS THE CHANNEL. 1 83 
 
 should not happen any more. There is something 
 very touching in the way that he says he had made 
 a great many good resolves about his future life, and 
 that he is not ashamed to own that he has done 
 wrong over and over again, but he means, by God's 
 help, to amend entirely. He vows to Heaven that 
 he will govern his life rightly, and rule his kingdom 
 honestly and piously, and that neither rich nor poor 
 shall be oppressed or hardshipped. There never 
 was a better letter, altogether, and Cnut kept his 
 promises so well that the old Anglo-Saxon chronicle, 
 which aches with stories of war and trouble, grows 
 quite dull now in the later years of his reign. There 
 was nothing to tell any more, the monks thought 
 who kept the record ; but we know, for that very 
 reason, that the English farms flourished, and the 
 wheat fields waved in the summer wind, the towns 
 grew rich, and the merchants prosperous ; and when 
 the English-Northman king died, it was a sad day 
 for England. Cnut was only forty years old, but 
 that was a long time for a king to live. His son, 
 Harold Harefoot, reigned in his stead, and many 
 of the old troubles of the country sprang up 
 at once, as if they had only been asleep for a 
 little while, and were by no means out-grown or 
 ended. 
 
 Harold Harefoot was not in the least pious, and 
 behaved himself with most unreasonable folly, and 
 fortunately died at the close of four years of insult 
 and unworthiness. Then Harthacnut, the younger 
 brother, was made king, and he promptly demanded 
 a Danegelt, the most hateful of taxes, and did 
 
184 THE STORY OF THE NORMANS. 
 
 a great many things which only reopened the breach 
 between Dane and Englishman, though it had seemed 
 to be smoothed over somewhat in his father's time. 
 Harold had done one brutal thing that towered 
 above all the rest. The two princes who had been 
 living in Normandy thought there might be some 
 chance of their gaining a right to the throne, and the 
 younger one, ^Elfred, had come over to England with 
 his knights and gentlemen. Harold seized them and 
 was most cruel ; he first blinded his half-brother and 
 then had him put to death. This made a great 
 noise in Normandy, and there is one good thing to 
 be said about Harthacnut, that he was bitterly angry 
 with his brother, and also with Earl Godwine, a fa- 
 mous nobleman, who was the most powerful man in 
 England next the king. He was Cnut's favorite 
 and chief adviser, but Harthacnut suspected that he 
 had a hand in yElfred's murder. Nobody has ever 
 been quite clear about the matter. Godwine and all 
 his lords swore that he was innocent, and gave the 
 king a magnificent ship with all sorts of splendors 
 belonging to it, besides nearly a hundred men in full 
 armor, and gold bracelets to make them as grand as 
 could be. So the king accepted Godwine's oath in 
 view of such a polite attention, but he asked Eadward 
 to leave the Norman court and come over to live 
 with him. Eadward came, and in two years he was 
 king of England, Harthacnut having died a wretched 
 drunken death. 
 
 So again there was a descendant of ^Elfred the 
 Great and the house of Cerdic on the throne. Ead- 
 ward was the last of the line, and in his day began 
 
ACROSS THE CHANNEL. 185 
 
 the most exciting and important chapter of English 
 history — the Norman Conquest. 
 
 We have come quickly along the line of Danish 
 kings, and now it is time to stop and take a more 
 careful look at the state of manners and customs in 
 England, and make ou/selves sure what the English 
 people of that time were like, how they lived in their 
 houses, and what changes had come to the country 
 in general. There were certain hindrances to civili- 
 zation, and lacks of a fitting progress and true 
 growth. Let us see what these things were, and 
 how the greater refinement of the Normans, their 
 superior gifts and graces, must come into play a little 
 later. There was some deep meaning in the fusion 
 of the two peoples, and more than one reason why 
 they could form a greater nation together than either 
 Normans or Englishmen could alone. 
 
 First, the dwellers on English soil had shown a 
 tendency, not yet entirely outgrown, to fall back into 
 a too great indulgence in luxurious living. When 
 the storm and strain of conquest, of colonization, had 
 spent itself, the Englishmen of Eadward's and Cnut's 
 time betook themselves to feasting and lawlessness, 
 of the sort that must undermine the vigor of any 
 people. The fat of the land tempted them in many 
 ways, and they sank under such habits as quickly as 
 they had risen under the necessities that war makes 
 for sacrifices and temperance. They were suffering, 
 too, from their insularity ; they were taken up with 
 their own affairs, and had kept apart from the prog- 
 ress of the rest of Europe. There was a new wave 
 and impulse of scholarship, which had not yet reached 
 
1 86 THE STORY OF THE NORMANS. 
 
 them. It was ebb-tide in England in more ways 
 than one ; and time for those Normans to appear 
 who, to use the words of one of their historians, 
 " borrow every thing and make it their own, and 
 their presence is chiefly felt in increased activity and 
 more rapid development of institutions, literature, 
 and art. Thus . . . they perfect, they organize 
 every thing, and everywhere appear to be the master 
 spirits of their age." 
 
 The English people had become so impatient of 
 the misrule of Cnut's sons, that the remembrance 
 of Cnut's glories was set aside for the time being, 
 and no more Danish kings were desired. " All folk 
 chose Eadward to king," says the chronicle, and evi- 
 dently the hearts of the people were turned, full of 
 hope and affection, to the exiled son of ^Ethelred and 
 Emma, who had been since his childhood at the 
 Norman court. His murdered brother Alfred had 
 been canonized by the romantic sympathy of his 
 English friends ; he was remembered now as a saint- 
 ly young martyr to English patriotism, and the dis- 
 reputable reign of Cnut's sons had made the vir- 
 tues of the ancient race of English kings very bright 
 by comparison. The new king must be of English 
 blood and a link with past prosperity. The son of 
 Eadmund Ironside was an exile also in the distant 
 court of Hungary, but Eadward, a gentle, pious man, 
 was near at hand, and there were a thousand voices 
 ready to shout for him even while Harthacnut lay 
 unburied in the royal robes and trappings. 
 
 There was an opposition on the part of the Danes, 
 who were naturally disinclined to any such change, 
 
ACROSS THE CHANNEL. 187 
 
 and when the formal election and consecration of the 
 new king took place, some months after this popular 
 vote, all Earl Godvvine's power and influence were 
 brought to bear before certain important votes 
 could be won. Indeed, at first Eadward himself was 
 apparently hard to persuade to accept his high office. 
 He seems to have been much more inclined to a 
 religious life than to statesmanship, but between 
 much pushing from behind in Normandy and the 
 eager entreaties of his English friends, he was forced 
 to make his way again across the Channel. There 
 are interesting accounts, which may or may not be 
 true, of his conversations with Godwine; but the 
 stronger man prevailed. The very promise he made 
 to uphold the new king's rights might make Eadward 
 feel assured and hopeful of some stability and quiet- 
 ness in his reign. England was far behind Normandy 
 in social or scholarly progress ; to reign over English- 
 men did not appear the most rewarding or alluring 
 career to the fastidious, delicate, cloister-man. The 
 rough-heartiness and red-cheeked faces of his sub- 
 jects must have contrasted poorly with his Norman 
 belongings, so much more refined and thoughtful, 
 not to say adroit and dissembling. England was 
 still divided into four parts, as Cnut had left it. 
 His scheme of the four great earldoms had proved a 
 bad one enough, for it had only made the nation 
 weaker, and kept up continual rivalries and jealousies 
 between the lords of Northumbria, Mercia, East 
 Anglia, and Wessex. The northern territory was 
 chiefly Danish in its traditions, and though there was 
 a nominal subjection to the king, Northumbria was 
 
1 88 THE STORY OF THE NORMANS. 
 
 almost wholly independent of any over-rule. In 
 Mercia, Lady Godiva and Earl Leofric were spending 
 their lives and their great wealth, chiefly in further- 
 ing all sorts of religious houses and gOod works of 
 the churches. 
 
 The greatest earl of all was Godwine of Wessex, 
 the true leader of the English and a most brave and 
 loyal man. Cnut had trusted him, and while there 
 were enough jealous eyes to look at his kingly pros- 
 perity, and malicious tongues ready to whisper about 
 his knowledge of young Alfred's murder, or his favor 
 and unrighteous advancement of his own family to 
 places of power, Godwine still held the confidence 
 of a great faction among the English people. His 
 son Harold was earl of East Anglia, and they were 
 lawful governors, between them, of the whole south- 
 ern part of the kingdom. It was mainly through 
 Godwine's influence that Eadward was crowned king, 
 and we may look to the same cause for his marriage 
 with the earl's daughter Edith, but the line of Eng- 
 lish princes, of whom Godwine hoped to be ancestor, 
 never appeared, for the king was childless, and soon 
 made an enemy of his father-in-law. Some people 
 say that Godwine did not treat his royal son with 
 much respect having once put him on the throne. 
 Eadward too never was able to forget the suspicion 
 about Alfred's murder, so the breach between him and 
 the great earl was widened year by year. Eadward was 
 not the sturdy English monarch for whom his peo- 
 ple had hoped ; he was Norman at heart, as a man 
 might well be who had learned to speak in the for- 
 eign tongue, and had made the friendships of his 
 
ACROSS THE CHANNEL. 1 89 
 
 boyhood and manhood in the duke's court and cloi- 
 sters. Priestcraft was dearer to him than statecraft, 
 and his name of The Confessor showed what almost 
 saintly renown he had won from those who were his 
 friends and upholders. 
 
 It did not suit very well that one Norman gentle- 
 man after another came to London to fill some high 
 official position. Eadward appeared to wish to sur- 
 round himself wholly with Normans, and the whole 
 aspect of the English court was changed little by 
 little. The king proved his own weakness in every 
 way — he was as like yEthelred the Unready as a good 
 man could be like a bad one. 
 
 Godwine grew more and more angry, and his de- 
 termination to show that England could do without 
 the crowds of interlopers who were having every 
 thing their own way worked him disaster for a time. 
 There was a party of the king's friends journeying 
 homeward to Normandy, who stopped overnight in 
 the city of Dover and demanded its hospitality in inso- 
 lent fashion. The Dover men would not be treated 
 like slaves, and a fight followed in which the French- 
 men were either killed or driven out of the town. 
 Eadward of course sided with his friends, and was 
 very indignant ; he sent orders to Earl Godwine, who 
 was governor of the region, to punish the offenders, 
 but Godwine refused squarely unless the men should 
 have been fairly tried and given a chance to speak 
 for themselves. This ended in a serious quarrel, and 
 the king gained a victory without any battle either, 
 for there was a sudden shifting of public feeling in 
 Eadward's favor — God wine's own men forsook him 
 
I90 THE STORY OF THE NORMANS. 
 
 and were loyal to the crown, and the great earl was 
 banished for conscience sake, he and all his family, 
 for the king even sent away his own wife, though he 
 kept all her lands and treasures, which was not so 
 saint-like and unworldly as one might have expected. 
 One of Godwine's sons had proved himself a very 
 base and treacherous man, and the earl had shielded 
 him ; this was one reason why his defence of Eng- 
 lish liberty was so overlooked by his countrymen, 
 but the Normans had a great triumph over this de- 
 feat, and praised the pious king and told long stories 
 of his austere life, his prayers, and holy life. After 
 he was canonized these stories were lengthened still 
 more, but while he was yet without a halo some of 
 his contemporaries charge him with laziness and in- 
 capacity. He certainly was lacking in kingly quali- 
 ties, but he gained the respect and love of many of 
 his subjects, and was no doubt as good as so 
 weak a man could be. After his death Englishmen 
 praised him the more because they liked William the 
 Conqueror the less, and as for the Normans they 
 liked anybody better than Harold, who had been a 
 much more formidable opponent in his claim to the 
 
 English crown. Mr. Freeman says : " The 
 
 duties of secular government . . . were . . . 
 always something which went against the grain. 
 His natural place was not on the throne of England, 
 but at the head of a Norman abbey. . . . For 
 his virtues were those of a monk ; all the real man 
 came out in his zeal for collecting relics, in his 
 visions, in his religious exercises, in his gifts to 
 churches and monasteries, in his desire to mark his 
 
ACROSS THE CHANNEL. IOJ 
 
 reign as its chief result, by the foundation of his 
 great abbey of Saint Peter at Westminster. In a 
 prince of the manly piety of Alfred things of this 
 sort form only a part, a pleasing and harmonious part, 
 of the general character. In Eadward they formed 
 the whole man." 
 
 The chronicler who writes most flatteringly of him 
 acknowledges that he sometimes had shocking fits 
 of bad temper, but that he was never betrayed into 
 unbecoming language. On some occasions he was 
 hardly held back by Godwine or Harold from civil 
 war and massacre ; though he was conscientious within 
 the limit of his intelligence, and had the art of giving 
 a gracious refusal and the habit of affability and good 
 manners. William of Malmesbury, the chronicler, 
 tells us that he kept his royal dignity, but that he 
 took no pleasure in wearing his robes of state, even 
 though they were worked for him by his affectionate 
 queen. Like his father, he was ever under the do- 
 minion of favorites, and this was quickly enough 
 discovered and played upon by Norman ecclesiastics 
 and Norman and Breton gentlemen in search of ad- 
 venture and aggrandizement. It makes a great 
 difference whether we read the story of this time in 
 English or in French records. Often the stories are 
 directly opposite to each other, and only the most 
 careful steps along the path keep one from wander- 
 ing off one way or the other into unjust partisan- 
 ship. Especially is this true of Godwine, the confes- 
 sor's great contemporary. He seems, at any rate, to 
 have been a man much ahead of his time in knowl- 
 edge of affairs and foresight of the probable effects 
 
1 92 THE STORY OF THE NORMANS. 
 
 from the causes of his own day. His brother earls 
 were jealous of hint ; the Church complained of his 
 lack of generosity ; even his acknowledged eloquence 
 was listened to incredulously ; and hio good govern- 
 ment of his own provinces, praised though it was, did 
 not gain him steady power. His good government 
 made him, perhaps more than any thing else, the fore- 
 most Englishman of his time, and presently we shall 
 see how deep a feeling there was for him in Eng- 
 land, and how much confidence and affection were 
 shown in his welcome back from exile, though he 
 had been allowed to go away with such sullen disap- 
 proval. Godwine's wife, Gytha, was a Danish wo- 
 man, which was probably a closer link with that 
 faction in the northern earldom than can be clearly 
 understood at this late day. Lord Lytton's novel, 
 called " Harold," makes this famous household seem 
 to live before our eyes, and the brief recital of its 
 fortunes and conditions here cannot be more than a 
 hint of the real romance and picturesqueness of the 
 story. 
 
 The absence of Godwine in Flanders — a whole- 
 year's absence— had taught his countrymen what it 
 was to be without him. They were sadly annoyed 
 and troubled by the king's continued appointment 
 of Normans to every place of high honor that fell 
 vacant. Bishoprics and waste lands alike were 
 pounced upon by the hangers-on at court, and castles 
 were lifting their ugly walls within sight of each 
 other almost, here and there in the quiet English 
 fields. Even in London itself the great White 
 Tower was already setting its strong foundations ; 
 
ACROSS THE CHANNEL. 1 93 
 
 a citadel for the town, a fort to keep the borderers 
 and Danes at bay were necessary enough to a coun- 
 try, but England was being turned into another 
 Normandy and Brittany, with these new houses that 
 were built for war, as if every man's neighbor were 
 his enemy. The square high towers were no fit 
 places for men to live in who tilled the soil and 
 tended their flocks and herds. There were too many 
 dark dungeons provided among the foundation 
 stones beside, and the English farmers whispered 
 together about their new townsfolk and petty lords, 
 and feared the evil days that were to come. 
 
 The ruined Roman houses and strange tall stones of 
 the Druid temples were alike thrown down and used 
 to build these new castles. Men who had strayed 
 as far as the Norman coasts had stories enough to 
 tell ; what landmarks of oppression these same castles 
 were in their own country, and how the young Duke 
 William had levelled many of them to the ground in 
 quarrelsome Normandy. There was no English 
 word for this awesome new word — castles ! The 
 free and open halls of the English thanes were a 
 strange contrast to the new order of dwelling-places. 
 Robert of Jumieges had been made Archbishop of 
 Canterbury, and a host of his countrymen surround- 
 ed the king more and more closely and threatened 
 to deprive the English of their just rights. It was 
 this monk Robert who had " beat into the king's 
 head " that his brother ^Elfred had come to his 
 death through Earl Godwine. 
 
 It is very easy to tell the story of the Normans 
 from the English side. Let us cross the Channel again 
 
194 THE STORY OF THE NORMANS. 
 
 to Rouen and see what effect the condition of Eng- 
 lish affairs was having upon the young duke. It would 
 not be strange if his imagination were busy with 
 some idea of enlarging his horizon by a look at his 
 neighbors. Eadward had no heir, they had talked 
 together oftentimes, perhaps, about the possibility of 
 making one noble great kingdom by the joining of 
 England and Normandy. Every day more stories 
 reached his ears of the wealth and fruitfulness of 
 the Confessor's kingdom. 
 
THE BATTLE OF VAL-ES-DUNES. 
 
 " Who stood with head erect and shining eyes, 
 As if the beacon of some promised land 
 Caught his strong vision, and entranced it there." 
 
 —A. F. 
 
 THE Viking's grandchildren had by no means lost 
 their love for journeying by land or sea. As in old Nor- 
 way one may still find bits of coral and rudely shaped 
 precious stones set in the quaintly wrought silver 
 ornaments made by the peasants, so in Normandy 
 there are pieces of Spanish leather and treasures from 
 the east and from the south, relics of the plundering of 
 a later generation. Roger de Toesny, one of Wil- 
 liam's fiercest enemies, does not become well-known 
 to us until we trace out something of his history as 
 a wanderer before he came to join Talvas in a well- 
 planned rebellion. 
 
 In Duke Richard the Good's time there was a 
 restless spirit of adventure stirring in Norman 
 hearts, and the foundations were laid of the South- 
 ern kingdoms which made such a change in Europe. 
 A Norman invasion of Spain came to nothing in 
 comparison with those more important settlements, 
 but in 1018 Roger de Toesny carried the Norman 
 
 195 
 
I9 6 THE STORY OF THE NORMANS. 
 
 arms into the Spanish peninsula. A long time be- 
 fore this Richard the Fearless had persuaded a large 
 company of his Scandinavian subjects to wander that 
 way, being pagan to the heart's-core and hopelessly 
 inharmonious. Roger followed them on a grand 
 crusade against the infidel Saracen, and also hoped 
 to gain a kingdom for himself. He was of the 
 hoblest blood in Normandy, of Rolf the Ganger's 
 own family, and well upheld the warlike honor of 
 his house in his daring fights with the infidel. Al- 
 most unbelievable stories are told of his cannibal- 
 like savagery with his captives, but the very same 
 stories are told of another man, so we will not stop to 
 moralize upon Roger's wickedness. He married the 
 Spanish countess of Barcelona, who did homage to 
 the king of France, and every thing looked prosper- 
 ous at one time for his dominion, but it never really 
 took root after all, and de Toesny went back again 
 to Normandy, and blazed out instantly with tremen- 
 dous wrath at the pretentions of William the Bastard. 
 He could not believe that the proud Norman barons 
 and knights would ever submit to such a degradation. 
 De Talvas was only too glad to greet so sympa- 
 thetic an ally, and the opposition to the young duke 
 took a more formidable shape than ever before. 
 
 All through William's earliest years the feudal 
 lords spent most of their strength in quarrelling with 
 each other, but de Toesny's appearance gave the 
 signal for a league against the ruler whom they de- 
 spised. William was no longer a child, and rumors 
 of his premature sagacity, and his uncommon strength 
 and quickness in war, were flying about from town 
 
THE BATTLE OF THE VAL-kS-DUNES. 197 
 
 to town and warned his enemies that they had no time 
 to lose if they meant to crush him down. He was a 
 noble-looking lad and had shown a natural pref- 
 erence for a soldier's life ; at fifteen he had demand 
 ed to be made a knight of the old Norman tradi- 
 tion in which lurked a memory of Scandinavian cere- 
 monies. None save Duke William could bend Duke 
 William's bow, and while these glowing accounts 
 of him were written from a later standpoint, and his 
 story might easily be read backward, as a fulfilment 
 of prophecy, we can be sure, at least, that his power 
 asserted itself in a marked way, and that he soon 
 gained importance and mustered a respectable com- 
 pany of followers as the beginning of a brilliant and 
 almost irresistible court and army. Even King 
 Henry of France was jealous of his vassal's rising 
 fame and popularity, and felt obliged to pay William 
 a deference that his years did not merit. All 
 through the first twelve years men felt that the boy 
 William's life was in danger, and that, whatever re- 
 spect Henry paid him, was likely to be changed to 
 open animosity and disdain the moment that there 
 was a good excuse. We have a glimpse now and 
 then of the lonely lad at his sport in the forest about 
 Falaise and Valognes, where he set apart preserves 
 for hunting. We follow him from Alan of Brittany's 
 wardship, to the guardian he chose himself, who held 
 the place of tutor with that of captain-general of the 
 Norman army, but, guardian or no guardian, he 
 pushed forward single-handed, and mastered others, 
 beside himself, in a way that the world never will 
 cease to wonder at. 
 
I98 THE STORY OF THE NORMANS. 
 
 Roger de Toesny refused allegiance to begin with, 
 and with loud expressions of his scorn of the Bas- 
 tard, began to lay waste his neighbors' lands as if 
 they, too, had been Saracens and merited any sort 
 of punishment. We first hear the name of De Beau- 
 mont, famous enough ever since, in an account of a 
 battle which some of Roger's outraged victims waged 
 against him. Grantmesnil, too, is a name that we 
 shall know very well by and by, when William has 
 gone over to England with his Norman lords. Nor- 
 mandy never got over its excitement and apparent 
 astonishment at William's presence and claims ; but 
 even in his boyhood he was the leader of a party. 
 " So lively and spirited was he, that it seemed to all 
 a marvel," says one of the old chroniclers, with 
 enthusiasm. When he began to take deep interest 
 in his affairs, the news of revolts and disorderliness 
 in the country moved him to violent fits of irritation, 
 but he soon learned to hide these instinctively, and 
 the chronicle goes on to say that he " had welling up 
 in his child's heart all the vigor of a man to teacn 
 the Normans to forbear from all acts of irregularity." 
 In this outbreak against de Toesny he found an irre- 
 sistible temptation to assert his mastery, and boy as 
 he was, he really made himself felt ; De Toesny was 
 killed in the fierce little battle, and his death gave a 
 temporary relief from such uprisings ; but William 
 comes more and more to the front, and all Normandy 
 takes sides either for or against him. This was no 
 insignificant pretender, but one to be feared ; his 
 guardians and faithful men who had held to him for 
 good or bad reasons, were mostly put out of the way 
 
THE BATTLE OF THE VAL-kS-DUNES. 1 99 
 
 by their enemies, and there was nobody at last who 
 could lead the Bastard's men to battle better than he 
 could himself. 
 
 Henry of France had been biding his time, and 
 now Guy of Burgundy, the son of William's cousin, 
 whom he had welcomed kindly at his feudal court, 
 puts in a claim to the dukedom of Normandy. He 
 helped forward a conspiracy, and one night, while 
 William was living in his favorite castle at Valognes, 
 the jester came knocking with his bauble, and crying 
 at the chamber door, begging him to fly for his life : 
 " They are already armed; they are getting ready; 
 to delay is death ! " cried poor Golet the fool ; and 
 his master leaped out of bed, seized his clothes, and 
 ran to the stables for his horse. Presently he was 
 galloping away toward Falaise for dear life, and to 
 this day the road he took is called the Duke's road. 
 This was in 1044, and William was nineteen years 
 old. He was not slow to understand that the rebels 
 had again risen, and that the conspiracy was more 
 than a conspiracy; it was a determined insurrection. 
 All the night long, as he rode across the country in 
 the bright moonlight, he was thinking about his 
 plans, no doubt, and great energies and determina- 
 tions were suddenly waked in his heart. This was 
 more than a dislike of himself and the tan-yard in- 
 heritance ; it was the old rivalry of the Frenchmen 
 and Northmen. The old question of supremacy and 
 race prejudice was to be fought over once more and 
 for the last time with any sort of distinctness. This 
 was not the petty animosity of one baron or another ; 
 it was almost the whole nobility of Normandy against 
 their duke. 
 
200 THE STORY OF THE NORMANS. 
 
 There was one episode of the duke's journey which 
 is worth telling: He had ridden for dear life, and 
 had forded many a stream, and one, more dangerous, 
 tide inlet where the rivers Oune and Vire flowed out 
 to sea ; and when he got safe across, he went into 
 the Church of St. Clement, in the Bayeux district, 
 to kneel down and say his prayers. 
 
 As the sun rose, he came close to the church and 
 castle of Rye, and the Lord of Rye was standing at 
 the castle gate in the clear morning air. William 
 spurred his horse, and was for hurrying by, but this 
 faithful vassal, whose name was Hubert, knew him, 
 and stopped him, and begged to be told the reason 
 of such a headlong journey. The Lord of Rye was 
 very hospitable, and the tired duke dismounted, and 
 was made welcome in the house ; and presently a 
 fresh horse was brought out for him, and the three 
 brave sons of the loyal house were mounted also to 
 ride by his side to Falaise. This hospitality was not 
 forgotten. Later, in England, their grateful guest 
 set them in high places, and favored them in princely 
 fashion. Guy, of Burgundy had been brought up 
 with William as a friend and kinsman, and had been 
 treated with great generosity. He was master of 
 some great estates, and one of these was a powerful 
 border fortress between Normandy and France. His 
 friends were many, and he found listeners enough 
 to his propositions. Born of the princely houses of 
 Burgundy and Normandy, he claimed the duchy as 
 his inherited right ; and while so many in court and 
 camp were ashamed of their lawful leader, and ready 
 to deny his authority, came Guy's opportunity. 
 
THE BATTLE OF THE VA L-E-S-DUNES. 201 
 
 William was cautious, and not without experience. 
 When he was only a baby he had caught at the straw 
 on which he lay, and would not let go his hold, and 
 this sign of his future power and persistence had been 
 proved a true one. The quarrelsome, lawless lords 
 felt that their days of liberty for themselves, and 
 oppression of everybody else, would soon be over if 
 they did not strike quickly. They dreaded so strong 
 and stern a master, and rallied to the standard of 
 the Bastard's rival, Guy of Burgundy. 
 
 There were some of the first nobles of the Coten- 
 tin who forsook their young duke for this rival who 
 was hardly Norman at all, as they usually decided 
 such points. His Norman descent was on the spin- 
 dle side rather than the sword, to use the old dis- 
 tinction, and his mother's ancestors would not have 
 prevented him in other days from being called al- 
 most a Frenchman. There is a tradition that Guy 
 promised to divide the lands of Normandy with his 
 allies, keeping only the old French grant to Rolf for 
 himself, and this must have been the cause of the 
 treason of the descendants of Rolf's and William 
 Longsword's loyal colonists. It would amaze us to 
 see the change in the life and surroundings of the 
 feudal lords even in the years of William's minority. 
 The leader of the barons in the revolt was the 
 Viscount of Coutances, the son of that chief who had 
 defeated ^Ethelred of England and his host nearly 
 half a century before. He lived in a castle on the 
 river Oune, near which he afterward built his great 
 St. Saviour's Abbey. This was the central point of 
 the insurrection, and from his tower Neal of St. Sa- 
 
202 THE STORY OF THE NORMANS. 
 
 viour could take a wide survey of his beautiful 
 Cotentin country with its plough-land and pastures 
 and forests, the great minster of Lessay, and the 
 cliffs and marshes ; the sturdy castles of his feudal 
 lords scattered far and wide. There came to Saint 
 Saviour's also Randolf of Bayeux, and Hamon of 
 Thorigny and of Creuilly, and Grimbald of Plessis, 
 and each of them made his fortress ready for a siege, 
 and swore to defend Guy of Burgundy and to use 
 every art of war and even treachery to subdue and 
 disgrace William. I say " even treachery," but that 
 was the first resort of these insurgents rather than 
 the last. They had laid the deep plot to seize and 
 murder him at Valognes, and Grimbald was to have 
 struck the blow. 
 
 King Henry of France was another enemy at 
 heart. It is difficult at first to understand his course 
 toward his young neighbor. He never had fairly 
 acknowledged him, and William on his part had 
 never put his hands into the king's and announced 
 with the loyal homage of his ancestors that he was 
 Henry's man. While Normandy was masterless in 
 William's youth, there was a good chance, never 
 likely to come again in one man's lifetime, for the 
 king to assert his authority and to seize at least part 
 of the Norman territory. The discontent with the 
 base-born heir to the dukedom might not have been 
 enough by itself to warrant such usurpation, but 
 then, while the feudal lords were in such turmoil 
 and so taken up with, for the most part, merely 
 neighborhood quarrels ; while they had so little na- 
 tional and such fierce sectional feeling, would have 
 
THE BATTLE OE THE VAL-fcS-DUNES. 203 
 
 been the time for an outsider to enrich himself at 
 their expense. It was not yet time for Normandy 
 to be provoked into a closer unification by any out- 
 side danger. The French and Scandinavian factions 
 were still distinct and suspicious of each other, but 
 it was already too late when King Henry at last, 
 without note or warning, poured his soldiers across 
 the Norman boundary and invaded the Evrecin ; too 
 late indeed in view of what followed, and in spite 
 of the temporary blazing up of new jealousies 
 and the revival of old grievances and hatreds. 
 Henry won a victory and triumph for the time 
 being ; he demanded the famous border castle of 
 Tillieres and insisted that it should be destroyed, 
 and though the brave commander held out for 
 some time even against William's orders, he finally 
 surrendered. Henry placed a strong garrison there 
 at once, and after getting an apparently strong hold 
 on Normandy there followed a time of peace. The 
 king seemed to be satisfied, but no doubt the young 
 duke's mind was busy enough with a forced survey 
 of his enemies, already declared or still masked by 
 hypocrisy, and of his own possible and probable re- 
 sources. A readiness to do the things that must be 
 done was making a true man of Duke William even 
 in his boyhood. For many years he had seen revolt 
 and violence grow more easy and more frequent in 
 his dukedom ; the noise of quarrels and fighting 
 grew louder and louder. In his first great battle at 
 Val-es-dunes the rule of the Cotentin lords and Guy 
 of Burgundy, or the rule of William the Bastard, 
 struggled for the mastery. 
 
204 THE STORY OF THE NORMANS. 
 
 It was a great battle in importance rather than in 
 numbers. William called to his loyal provinces for 
 help, and the knights came riding to court from the 
 romance-side of Normandy, while from the Bessin 
 and the Cotentin the rebels came down to meet 
 them. It seems strange that, when William repre- 
 sents to us the ideal descendant of the Northmen, 
 the Scandinavian element in his dukedom was the 
 first to oppose him. For once King Henry stood 
 by his vassal, and "when William asked for help in 
 that most critical time, it was not withheld. Henry 
 had not been ashamed to take part with the Norman 
 traitors in past times, and now that there was a 
 chance of breaking the ducal government in pieces 
 and adding a great district to France, we are more 
 than ever puzzled to know why he did not make the 
 most of the occasion. Perhaps he felt that the rule 
 of the dukes was better than the rule of the mutinous 
 barons of the Cotentin, and likely, on the whole, to 
 prove less dangerous. So when William claimed 
 protection, it was readily granted, and the king came 
 to his aid at the head of a body of troops, and helped 
 to win the victory. 
 
 We hear nothing of the Norman archers yet in the 
 chronicler's story of the fight. They were famous 
 enough afterward, but this battle was between 
 mounted knights, a true battle of chivalry. The 
 place was near the river Orne, and the long slopes of 
 the low hills stretched far and wide, covered with 
 soft turf, like the English downs across the Channel, 
 lying pleasantly toward the sun. Master Wace 
 writes the story of the day in the " Roman de Rou," 
 
THE BATTLE OF THE VAL-kS-DUNES. 205 
 
 and sketches the battle-field with vivid touches of 
 his pen. Mr. Freeman says, in a note beneath his 
 own description, that he went over the ground with 
 Mr. Green, his fellow-historian, for company, and 
 Master Wace's book in hand for guide. In the 
 " Roman de Rou " there is a hint that not only the 
 peasantry, but the poorer gentlemen as well, were 
 secretly on William's side, that the prejudice and 
 distrust toward the feudal lords was very great, and 
 that there was more confidence in a sovereign than 
 in the irksome tyranny of less powerful lords. 
 
 The barons of Saxon Bayeux and Danish Cou- 
 tances were matched against the loyal burghers of 
 Falaise, Romanized Rouen, and the men of the 
 bishop's cities of Liseux and Evreux. King Henry 
 stopped at the little village of Valmeray to hear 
 mass, as he came up from the south with his fol- 
 lowers, and presently the duke joined them in the 
 great plain beyond. The rebels are there too ; the 
 'horses will not stand in place together, they have 
 caught the spirit of the encounter, and the bright 
 bosses of the shields; the lances, tied with gay rib- 
 bons, glitter and shine, as the long line of knights 
 bends and lifts and wavers like some fluttering gay 
 decoration, — some many-colored huge silken splendor 
 all along the green grass. The birds fly over swiftly, 
 and return as quickly, puzzled by the strange appear- 
 ance of their country-side. Their nests in the grass 
 are trampled under foot — the world is alive with 
 men in armor, who laugh loudly and swear roundly, 
 and are there for something strange, to kill each 
 other if they can, rather than live, for the sake of 
 
206 THE STORY OF THE NORMANS. 
 
 Normandy. Far away the green fields stretch into 
 the haze, the cottages look like toys, and the sheep 
 and cattle feed without fear in the pastures. Church 
 towers rise gray and straight-walled into the blue 
 sky. It is a great day for Normandy, and her best 
 knights and gentlemen finger their sword-hilts, or 
 buckle their saddle-girths, and wait impatiently for 
 the battle to begin on that day of Val-es-dunes. 
 
 Among the Cotentin lords was Ralph of Tesson, 
 lord of the forest of Cinquelais and the castle of 
 Harcourt-Thury. Behind him rode a hundred and 
 twenty knights, well armed and gallant, who would 
 follow him to the death. He had sworn on the holy 
 relics of the saints at Bayeux to smite William 
 wherever he met him, yet he had no ground for 
 complaint against him. His heart fell when he saw 
 his rightful lord face to face. A tanner's grandson, 
 indeed, and a man whose father and mother had 
 done him wrong ; all that was true, yet this young 
 Duke William was good to look upon, and as brave a 
 gentleman as any son of Rolf's, or the fearless Rich- 
 ard's. Ralph Tesson (the Badger they called him), 
 a man both shrewd and powerful, stood apart, and 
 would not rank himself and his men with either fac- 
 tion, and his knights crowded round him, to remind 
 him that he had done homage once to William, and 
 would fight against his natural lord. The Cotentin 
 lords were dismayed and angry, they promised him 
 great rewards, but nothing touched him, and he 
 stood silent, a little way from the armies. The 
 young duke and the king noticed him, and the six- 
 score-and-six brave knights in his troop, all with their 
 
THE BATTLE OF THE VAL-tS-DUNES. 207 
 
 lances raised and trimmed with their ladies' silk 
 tokens. William said that they would come to his 
 aid ; neither Tesson nor his men had any grudge 
 against him. 
 
 Suddenly Tesson put spurs to his horse, and came 
 dashing across the open field, and all the lords and 
 gentlemen held their breath as they watched him. 
 "Thury! Thury!" he shouted as he came, and 
 "Thury! Thury !" the cry echoed back again from 
 the distance. He rode straight to the duke ; there 
 was a murmur from the Cotentin men ; he struck the 
 duke gently with his glove. It was but a playful 
 mockery of his vow to the saints at Bayeux ; he had 
 struck William, but he and his knights were Wil- 
 liam's men again ; the young duke said, " Thanks to 
 thee ! " and the fight began, all the hotter for the an- 
 ger of the deserted barons and their desire for re- 
 venge. The day had begun with a bad omen for 
 their success. " Dexaide ! " the old Norman war-cry, 
 rang out, and those who had followed the lilies of 
 France cried " Montjoie Saint Denis ! " as they 
 fought. 
 
 Nowadays, a soldier is a soldier, and men who 
 choose other professions can keep to them, unless in 
 their country's extremity of danger, but in that day 
 every man must go to the wars, if there were need 
 of him, and be surgeon or lawyer, and soldier too ; 
 yes, even the priests and bishops put on their swords 
 and went out to fight. It would be interesting to 
 know more names on the roll-call that day at Val-es- 
 dunes, but we can almost hear the shouts to the 
 patron saints, and the clash of the armor. King 
 
208 THE STORY OF THE NORMANS. 
 
 Henry fought like a brave man, and the storm ol 
 the battle raged fiercest round him. The knights 
 broke their lances, and fought sword to sword, 
 There was no play of army tactics and manoeuvring, 
 but a hand to-hand fight, with the sheer strength ol 
 horse and man. Once King Henry was overthrown 
 by the thrust of a Cotentin lance, and sprang up 
 quickly to show himself to his men. Again he was 
 in the thickest of the encounter, and was met by 
 one of the three great rebel chiefs and thrown upon 
 the ground, but this Lord of Thorigny was struck, in 
 his turn, by a loyal French knight, and presently his 
 lamenting followers carried him away dead on his 
 shield like any Spartan of old. And the king hon- 
 ored his valor and commanded that he should be 
 buried with splendid ceremonies in a church not far 
 from the battlefield. Long afterward the Norman 
 men and women loved to sing and to tell stories 
 about the young Duke William's bravery and noble 
 deeds of arms in that first great fight that made him 
 duke from one end of Normandy to the other. He 
 slew with his own hand the noblest and most daring 
 warrior of Bayeux. Master Wace, the chronicler, 
 tells us how William drove the sharp steel straight 
 through his hardy foe, and how the body fell be- 
 neath his stroke and its soul departed. Wace was a 
 Bayeux man himself, and though he was a loyal 
 songster and true to his great duke, he cannot help 
 a sigh of pride and sorrow over Hardrez' fate. 
 
 Neal of St. Saviour fought steadily and cheered his 
 men eagerly as the hour went on, but Randolf of 
 Bayeux felt his courage begin to fail him. Hamon 
 
THE BATTLE OE THE VAL-fcS-DUNES. 200, 
 
 was dead. Their great ally, Hardrez, had been the 
 flower of his own knights, and he was lying dead of 
 a cruel sword-thrust there in plain sight. He lost 
 sight of Neal, perhaps, for he was suddenly afraid of 
 betrayal, and grieved that he had ever put his helmet 
 on. There is a touching bit of description in the " Ro- 
 man de Rou " just now. The battle pleased him no 
 more, is told in the quaint short lines. He thought 
 how sad it was to be a captive, and sadder still to be 
 slain. He gave way feebly at every charge ; he 
 wandered to and fro aimlessly, a thing to be stum- 
 bled over, we fancy him, now in the front of the 
 fight, now in the rear ; at last he dropped his lance 
 and shield. " He stretched forth his neck and rode 
 for his life," says Master Wace, quite ashamed of his 
 countryman. But we can see the poor knight's 
 head drooping low, and his good, tired horse — the 
 better man of the two — mustering all his broken 
 strength to carry his master beyond the reach of 
 danger. All the cowards rode after him pell-mell, 
 but brave Saint Saviour fought to the last and held 
 the field until his right arm failed and he could not 
 strike again. The French pressed him hard, the 
 Norman men looked few and spent, and the mighty 
 lord of the Cotentin knew that all hope was lost. 
 There on the rising ground of Saint Lawrence the 
 last blow was struck. 
 
 Away went the rebels in groups of three or four — 
 away for dear life every one of them, riding this way 
 and that, trying to get out of reach of their enemies 
 and into some sort of shelter. The duke chased 
 them like a hound on the track of hares on, on tow- 
 
210 THE STORY OF THE NORMANS. 
 
 ard Bayeux, past the great Abbey of Fontenay and 
 the Allemagne quarries, until they reached the river 
 Orne with its deep current. Men and horses floun- 
 dered in the water there, and many hot wounds 
 tinged it with a crimson stain. They were drawned, 
 poor knights, and poor, brave horses too. 'They 
 went struggling and drifting down stream ; the banks 
 were strewn with the dead ; and the mill-wheels of 
 Borbillon, a little farther down, were stopped in 
 their slow turning by the strange wreck and floating 
 worthless fragments of those lords and gentlemen 
 who had lost the battle of the Val-es-dunes. 
 
 And William was the conqueror of Normandy. 
 Guy of Burgundy was a traitor to his friends, and 
 won a heritage of shame for his flight from the field. 
 We hear nothing of him while the fight went on, 
 only that he ran away. It appears that he must have 
 been one of the first to start for a place of safety, 
 because they blame him so much ; there is nothing 
 said about all the rebels running away together a 
 little later. That was the fortune of war and in- 
 evitable ; not personal cowardice, they might tell us. 
 Guy of Burgundy was the man who had led the three 
 Cotentin lords out by fair promises and taunts about 
 their bastard duke, and he should have been brave 
 and full of prowess, since he undertook to be the 
 rival of so brave a man. He did not go toward the 
 banks of the fateful river, but in quite another 
 direction to his own castle of Brionne, and a troop 
 of his vassals escaped with him and defended them- 
 selves there for a long time, until William fairly 
 starved them out like rats in a hole. They held 
 
THE BATTLE OF THE VAL-kS-DUNES. 2ll 
 
 their own bravely, too, and no man was put to death 
 when they surrendered, while Guy was even allowed 
 to come back to court. Master Wace stoutly main- 
 tains that they should have been hung, and says long 
 afterward that some of those high in favor at court 
 were the traitors of the great rebellion. 
 
 Strange to say, nobody was put to death. Mr. 
 Freeman says of this something that gives us such 
 a clear look at William's character that I must copy 
 it entire. " In those days, both in Normandy and 
 elsewhere, the legal execution of a state criminal 
 was an event that seldom happened. Men's lives 
 were recklessly wasted in the endless warfare of the 
 times, and there were men, as we have seen, who 
 did not shrink from private murder, even in its basest 
 forms. But the formal hanging or beheading of a 
 noble prisoner, so common in later times, was, in the 
 eleventh century, a most unusual sight. And, strange 
 as it may sound, there was a sense in which William 
 the Conqueror was not a man of blood. He would 
 sacrifice any number of lives to his boundless ambi- 
 tion ; he did not scruple to condemn his enemies to 
 cruel personal mutilations ; he would keep men for 
 years as a mere measure of security, in the horrible 
 prison-houses of those days ; but the extinction of 
 human life in cold blood was something from which 
 he shrank." 
 
 At the time of the first great victory, the historian 
 goes on to say, William was of an age when men 
 are commonly disposed to be generous, and the 
 worst points of his character had not begun to show 
 themselves. Later in life, when he had broken the 
 
212 THE STORY OF THE JV OR MANS. 
 
 rule, or perhaps we must call it only his prejudice 
 and superstition, we find that the star of his glory is 
 already going down, pale and spent, into the mists of 
 shame and disappointment. 
 
 None of the traitors of the Val-es-dunes were 
 treated harshly, according to the standard of the 
 times. The barons paid fines and gave mortgages, 
 and a great many of them were obliged to tear down 
 their robber castles, which they had built without 
 permission from the duke. This is the reason that 
 there are so few ruins in Normandy of the towers of 
 that date. The Master of St. Saviour's was obliged 
 to take himself off to Brittany, but there was evi- 
 dently no confiscation of his great estates, for we find 
 him back again at court the very next year, high in 
 the duke's favor and holding an honorable position. 
 He lived forty-four years after this, an uncommon 
 lifetime for a Norman knight, and followed the Con- 
 queror to England, but he got no reward in lands 
 and honor, as so many of his comrades did. Guy of 
 Burgundy stayed at court a little while, and then 
 went back to his native province and devoted himself 
 to making plots against his brother, Count William. 
 Grimbald de Plessis fared the worst of all the conspira- 
 tors; he was taken to Rouen and put into prison 
 weighted down with chains, and given the poorest of 
 lodgings. He confessed that he had tried to murder 
 William that night at Valognes, when the court 
 jester gave warning, and said that a knight called 
 Salle had been his confederate. Salle denied the 
 charge stoutly and challenged De Plessis to fight a 
 judicial combat, but before the day came the schem- 
 
THE BATTLE OF THE VAL-ES-DUNES. 213 
 
 ing, unlucky baron from the Saxon lands was found 
 dead in his dungeon. The fetters had ground their 
 way into his very bones, and he was buried in his 
 chains, for a warning, while his estates were seized 
 and part of them given to the church of Bayeux. 
 
 Now, at last, the Norman priests and knights knew 
 that they had a master. For some time it was sur- 
 prisingly quiet in Normandy, and the country was 
 unexpectedly prosperous. The great duchy stood 
 in a higher rank among her sister kingdoms than 
 ever before, and though there was another revolt 
 and serious attacks from envious neighbors, yet the 
 Saxons of the Bessin and the Danes of the Cotentin 
 were overthrown, and Normandy was more unitedly 
 Norman-French than ever. There had been a long 
 struggle that had lasted from Richard the Fearless' 
 boyhood until now, but it was ended at last, to all 
 intents and purposes. Even now there is a differ- 
 ence between the two parts of Normandy, though so 
 many years have passed ; but the day was not far 
 off after this battle of Val-es-dunes when the young 
 conqueror could muster a great army and cross the 
 channel into England. " The Count of Rouen," 
 says Freeman, " had overcome Saxons and Danes 
 within his own dominions, and he was about to weld 
 them into his most trusty weapons, wherewith to 
 overcome Saxons and Danes beyond the sea." 
 
 Perhaps nothing will show the barbarous cruelty of 
 these times or William's fierce temper better than the 
 story of Alengon and its punishment. William Tal- 
 vas, the young duke's old enemy, formed a rebellious 
 league with Geoffry of Anjou, and they undertook 
 
214 THE STORY OF THE NORMANS. 
 
 to hold Alencon against the Normans. When Wil- 
 liam came within sight of the city, he discovered 
 that they had sufficient self-confidence to mock at 
 him and insult him. They even spread raw skins 
 over the edge of the city walls, and beat them vigor- 
 ously, yelling that there was plenty of work for the 
 tanner, and giving even plainer hints at what they 
 thought of his mother's ancestry. 
 
 William was naturally put into a great rage, and 
 set himself and his army down before the walls his 
 enemies thought so invincible. He swore " by the 
 splendor of God " that he would treat them as a man 
 lops a tree with an axe, and, sure enough, when the 
 siege was over, and Alencon was at the Conqueror's 
 mercy, he demanded thirty-two captives of war, and 
 nose, hands, and feet were chopped off, and present- 
 ly thrown back over the walls into the town. 
 
 i£^ 
 
XL 
 
 THE ABBEY OF BEC. 
 
 " He heard across the howling seas, 
 Chime convent bells on wintry nights." 
 
 — Matthew Arnold. 
 
 The only way of escaping from the obligations of 
 feudalism and constant warfare was by forsaking the 
 follies of the world altogether for the shelter of a 
 convent, and there devoting one's time and thought 
 to holy things. A monastic life often came to be 
 only an excuse for devotion to art or to letters, or 
 served merely to cover the distaste for military pur- 
 suits. It was not alone ecclesiasticism and a love 
 for holy living and thoughts of heaven that inspired 
 rigid seclusion and monkish scorn of worldliness. 
 Not only popular superstition or recognition of true 
 spiritual life and growth of the Church made up the 
 Church's power, but the presence of so much secu- 
 lar thought and wisdom in the fold. Men of letters, 
 of science, and philosophy made it often more than 
 a match for the militant element of society, the sol- 
 diery of Normandy, and the great captains, who 
 could only prove their valor by the strength of their 
 strategy and their swords. William was quick to 
 recognize the vast strength of the clergy and the 
 
 215 
 
2l6 THE STORY OF THE NORMANS. 
 
 well-protected force of cloistered public opinion. A 
 soldier and worldly man himself, he arrayed himself 
 on the side of severe self-repression and knightly 
 chastity and purity of life, and kept the laws of the 
 convent in high honor ; while he mixed boldly with 
 the rude warfare of his age. He did not think him- 
 self less saintly because he was guilty of secret crimes 
 against his rivals. A skilful use of what an old 
 writer calls " the powder of succession " belonged as 
 much to his military glory as any piece of field-tac- 
 tics and strategy. He was anxious to stand well in 
 the Pope's estimation, and the ban and malediction 
 of the Church was something by all means to be 
 avoided. The story of his marriage shows his bold, 
 adventurous character and determination in a marked 
 way, and his persistence in gaining his ends and win- 
 ning the approval of his superior, in spite of obstacles 
 that would have daunted a weaker man. To gain a 
 point to which the Church objected he must show 
 himself stronger than the Church. 
 
 So there were two great forces at work in Nor- 
 mandy : this military spirit, the love of excitement, 
 of activity, and adventure ; and this strong religious 
 feeling, which often made the other its willing serv- 
 ant, and was sometimes by far the most powerful of 
 the two. Whether superstition or true, devout ac- 
 ceptance and unfolding of the ideas of the Christian 
 religion moved the Normans and their contempora- 
 ries to most active service of the Church, we will not 
 stop to discuss. The presence of the best scholars 
 and saints in any age is a leaven and inspiration of 
 that age, and men cannot help being more or less 
 
THE ABBEY OF BEC. 
 
 217 
 
 influenced by the dwelling among them of Christ's 
 true disciples and ministers. That there was a large 
 amount of credulity, of superstitious rites and ob- 
 servances, we cannot doubt, neither can we ques- 
 tion that these exercised an amazing control over 
 
 DOURWAY OF CATHEDRAL, CHAKTKLS. 
 
 ignorant minds. Standing so near to a pagan ances- 
 try, the people of large, and, relatively speaking, 
 remote districts of Normandy, were no doubt con- 
 fused by lingering vestiges of the older forms of 
 belief. As yet, religion, in spite of the creeds of. 
 
218 THE STORY OF THE NORMANS. 
 
 knighthood, showed itself more plainly in stone and 
 mortar, in vestments, and fasts, and penances, and 
 munificent endowments, than in simple truth and 
 godliness of life. A Norman nobleman, in the time 
 of the Conqueror, or earlier, thought that his estate 
 would lack its chief ornament if he did not plant a 
 company of monks in some corner of it. It was the 
 proper thing for a rich man to found a monastery or 
 religious house of some sort or other, and this was a 
 most blessed thing for the scholars of their time. 
 The profession of letters was already becoming dig- 
 nified and respectable, and the students of the Ven- 
 erable Bede, and other noble teachers from both 
 north and south, had already scattered good seeds 
 through the states of Europe. It was in this time 
 that many great schools were founded, and in the 
 more peaceful years of the early reign of the Con- 
 queror, religion and learning found time to strike a 
 deeper root in Normandy than ever before. There 
 was more wealth for them to be nourished with, 
 the farms were productive, and the great centres of 
 industry and manufacture, like Falaise, were thriving 
 famously. It was almost as respectable to be a monk 
 as to be a soldier. There is something very beauti- 
 ful in these earlier brotherhoods — a purer fashion of 
 thought and of life, a simplicity of devotion to the 
 higher duties of existence. But we can watch here, as in 
 the later movements in England and Italy, a gradual 
 change from poverty and holiness of life, to a love 
 of riches and a satisfaction with corrupt ceremonies 
 and petty authority. The snare of worldliness finds 
 its victims always, and the temptation was easy then, 
 
THE ABBEY OF BEC. 2IO, 
 
 as it is easy now, to forget the things that belong to 
 the spirit. We have seen so much of the sword and 
 shield in this short history that we turn gladly away 
 for a little space to understand what influences were 
 coming from the great abbeys of Bee and Saint 
 Evreuil, and to make what acquaintance we can 
 with the men who dwelt there, and held for their 
 weapons only their mass-books and their principles 
 of education and of holy living. Lanfranc we must 
 surely know, for he was called the right-hand man of 
 the Conqueror ; and now let us go back a little way 
 and take a quick survey of the founding of the Ab- 
 bey of Bee, and trace its history, for that will help 
 us to understand the monastic life, and the wave of 
 monasticism that left so plain a mark upon the 
 headlands and valleys of Normandy. Both in Eng- 
 land and Norman France, you can find the same red- 
 roofed villages clustered about high square church 
 towers, with windows in the gray stone walls that 
 look like dim fret-work or lace-work. The oldest 
 houses are low and small, but the oldest minsters 
 and parish churches are very noble buildings. 
 
 The first entrance into one of the old cathedrals is 
 an event in one's life never to be forgotten. It 
 grows more beautiful the longer one thinks of it ; that 
 first impression of height and space, of silence and 
 meditation ; the walls are stored with echoes of 
 prayers and chanting voices ; the windows are like 
 faded gardens, with their sober tints and gleams of 
 brighter color. The saints are pictured on them 
 awkwardly enough, but the glory of heaven beams 
 through the old glass upon the worn tombstones in 
 
220 THE STORY OF THE NORMANS. 
 
 the floor ; the very dust in the rays of sunlight that 
 strike across the wide, solemn spaces, seems sacred 
 dust, and of long continuance. We shut out this 
 busy world when we go into the cathedral door, 
 and look about us as if this were a waiting-room 
 from whence one might easily find conveyance to 
 the next world. There is a feeling of nearness to 
 heaven as we walk up the great aisle of what our 
 ancestors called, reverently enough, God's house. 
 One is suddenly reminded of many unseen things 
 that the world outside gives but little chance to 
 think about. We are on the journey heavenward 
 indeed. There where many centuries have worn 
 away the trace of worldliness and the touch of 
 builders' tools, so that the building itself seems al- 
 most to have grown by its own life and strength, 
 you think about the builders and planners of such 
 dignity and splendor more than any thing, after all. 
 Who were the men that dared to lift the roof and 
 plant the tall pillars, and why did they, in those 
 poor, primitive times, give all they had to make this 
 one place so rich and high. The bells ring a lazy, 
 sweet chime for answer, and if you catch a glimpse 
 of some brown old books in the sacristy, and even 
 spell out the quaint records, you are hardly satisfied. 
 We can only call them splendid monuments of the 
 spirit of the time (almost uncivilized, according to 
 our standard) when nevertheless there was a profound 
 sentiment of worship and reverence. 
 
 Besides this, we are reminded that the lords of 
 church and state were able, if it pleased them, to 
 command the entire service of their vassals. All the 
 
ItA. ,. 
 
222 THE STORY OF THE NORMANS. 
 
 liberties and aids and perquisites that belonged to 
 rank ceased where the lowest rank ended, at the 
 peasant. He was at anybody's command and mercy 
 who chanced to be his master ; he had but precious 
 few rights and claims of his own. When Christ 
 taught his disciples that whosoever would be 
 chief among them must become as a servant, he 
 suggested a truth and order of relationship most as- 
 tonishing and contrary to all precedent. He that 
 would be chief among Hebrews or Normans, chief, 
 alas, even in our own day, is still misled by the old 
 idea that the greatest is the master of many men. 
 Wordly power and heavenly service are always apt to 
 be mistaken for each other. 
 
 In an age when every man claimed the right of 
 private war against ever)- other man, unless he were 
 lord or vassal, we naturally look for ferocity, and un- 
 derstand that the line between private war and sim- 
 ple robbery and murder was not very clearly kept. 
 Those who were comparatively unable to defend 
 themselves were the chief sufferers, and of course 
 many peace-loving men were obliged to take on the 
 appearance of fighters, and be ready for constant 
 warfare in all its shapes. There was only the one al- 
 ternative — first to the universal dissension of a 
 nationality of armed men, and later to the more or- 
 derly and purposeful system of knighthood, — simply 
 to retreat from the world altogether and lead a strictly 
 religious life. The famous order of the Benedictine 
 monks was built up in Normandy with surprising 
 devotion. A natural love and respect for learning, 
 which had long been smouldering half-neglected, 
 
THE ABBEY OF BEC. 223 
 
 now burst into a quick blaze in the hearts of many 
 of the descendants of the old Norse skalds and Saga- 
 men. While the Augustinian order of monks is 
 chiefly famous for building great cathedrals, and the 
 mendicant friars have left many a noble hospital as 
 their monuments, so the Benedictines turned their 
 energies toward the forming of great schools. The 
 time has passed when the Protestant world belittled 
 itself by contemptuously calling the monks lazy, 
 sensual, and idle, and by seeing no good in these an- 
 cient communities. Learning of every sort, and the 
 arts, as well, would have been long delayed in their 
 development, if it had not been for such quiet re- 
 treats, where those men and women who chose 
 could turn their thoughts toward better employments 
 than the secular world encouraged or even allowed. 
 The Benedictines were the most careful fosterers of 
 scholarship; their brethren of monastic fame owed 
 them a great deal in every way. 
 
 There was a noble knight named Herluin, who 
 lived in the time of Duke Robert the Devil, and who 
 was for thirty-seven years a knight-at-arms. He was 
 a descendant of one of Rolf's companions, his lineage 
 was of the very best, and his estates made part of 
 the original grant of Charles the Simple. Herluin 
 was vassal to Count Gilbert of Brionne, and had 
 proved himself a brave and loyal knight, both to his 
 overlord and the duke. He was high in favor, and 
 unusually tender-hearted and just to those in trouble. 
 We cannot help wishing that it had seemed possible 
 to such a man that he should stay in the world and 
 leaven society by his example, but to a thoughtful 
 
224 THE STORY OF THE NORMANS. 
 
 and gentle soul like Herluin the cloister offered 
 great temptations. There was still great turbulence 
 even among ecclesiastics — the worst of them "bore 
 arms and lived the life of heathen Danes. . . . 
 The faith of Herluin nearly failed him when he saw 
 the disorder of one famous monastery, but he was 
 comforted by accidentally beholding the devotions 
 of one godly brother, who spent the whole night in 
 secret prayer. He was thus convinced that the salt 
 of the earth had not as yet wholly lost its savor." * 
 
 Our pious knight forsook the world, and with 
 a few companions devoted himself to building a 
 small monastery on his own estate at Burneville, 
 near Brionne. The church was consecrated, and 
 its founder received benediction from his bishop, 
 who ordained him a priest and made him abbot 
 of the little community. Herluin was very diligent 
 in learning to read, and achieved this mighty 
 task without neglecting any of the work which he 
 imposed upon himself day by day. Soon he grew 
 famous in all that part of Normandy for his sanctity 
 and great wisdom in explaining the Bible. But it 
 was discovered that the site of his flourishing young 
 establishment was not well chosen ; an abbey must 
 possess supplies of wood and water, and so the 
 colony was removed to the valley of a small stream 
 that flows into the Lisle, near the town of Brionne. In 
 the old speech of the Normans this brook was called 
 a beck; we have the word yet in verse and provincial 
 speech ; and it gave a name to the most famous and 
 longest remembered perhaps of all the Norman 
 * Freeman. 
 
THE ABBEY OF BEC. 22$ 
 
 monasteries. Mr. Freeman says: "The hills are 
 still thickly wooded ; the beck still flows through 
 rich meadows and under trees planted by the water- 
 side, by the walls of what was once the renowned 
 monastery to which it gave its name. But of the 
 days of Herluin no trace remains besides these im- 
 perishable works of nature. A tall tower, of rich 
 and fanciful design, one of the latest works of 
 mediaeval skill, still attracts the traveller from a dis- 
 tance ; but of the mighty minster itself, all traces, 
 save a few small fragments, have perished. 
 The truest memorial of that illustrious abbey is now 
 to be found in the parish church of the neighboring 
 village. In that lowly shelter is still preserved the 
 effigy with which after-times had marked the resting- 
 place of the founder. Such are all the relics which 
 now remain of the house which once owned Lanfranc 
 and Anselm as its inmates. 
 
 " In this valley it was that Herluin finally fixed his 
 infant settlement, devoting to it his own small 
 possession." 
 
 " By loving this world," he said, when he pleaded 
 for his poor peasants in Gilbert of Brionne's court — 
 " By loving this world and by obeying man I have 
 hitherto much neglected God and myself. I have 
 been altogether intent on training my body, and I 
 have gained no education for my soul. If I have 
 ever deserved well of thee, let me pass what remains 
 of life in a monastery. Let me keep thy affection 
 and with me give to God what I had of thee." 
 
 Herluin was not left alone in his enterprise ; one 
 companion after another joined him, and presently 
 
226 THE STORY OF THE NORMANS. 
 
 there was a busy company of monks at Bee. They 
 subjected themselves to all sorts of self-denials and 
 privations, working hard at building their new home, 
 at ditching, gardening, or wood-cutting, and chant- 
 ing their prayers with entire devotion. Herluin 
 allowed himself one scanty meal a day, and went 
 about his work poorly dressed, but serving God in 
 most humble fashion. This was the story of many 
 small religious houses and their founders, but we 
 cannot help tracing the beginning of the abbey of 
 Bee with particular interest for the sake of Lanfranc, 
 who has kept its memory alive and made it famous 
 in Norman and English history. 
 
 The story of this friar of Bee, who came to be 
 archbishop of Canterbury, and whose influence and 
 power were only second, a few years later, to 
 William the Conqueror's own, reads like a romance, 
 as indeed does many another story of that romantic 
 age. He was born at Pavia, the City of the Hun- 
 dred Towers, in Lombardy, and belonged to an 
 illustrious family. He was discovered in early boy- 
 hood to be an uncommon scholar, and even in his 
 university course he became well known by his bril- 
 liant talents and fine gift of oratory. He was looked 
 upon as almost invincible in debate while he was 
 still a school-boy, and when he left college it was 
 supposed that he would give the benefit of his 
 attainments and growth to his native city. For 
 a little while he did stay there, and began his career, 
 but he appears to have been made restless by a love 
 of change and adventure, and a desire to see the 
 world, and next we find him going northward with a 
 
THE ABBEY OF BEC. 227 
 
 company of admiring scholars, as if on pilgrimage, 
 but in the wrong direction ! The enthusiastic little 
 procession crossed the St. Bernard pass into France 
 and for some reason went to Avranches, where Lan- 
 franc taught a school and quickly became celebrated. 
 In spite of the more common profession or trade of 
 righting, there was never a time when learning or the 
 profession of letters was more honored, and the 
 Normans yielded to none of their contemporaries in 
 the respect they had for scholars. 
 
 Lanfranc became dissatisfied with the honor and 
 glory of his success at Avranches ; and presently, in 
 quest of something more deep and satisfying — more 
 in accordance with the craving of his spiritual nature, 
 left his flourishing school and again started north- 
 ward. The country was very wild and unsafe for 
 a solitary wayfarer ; and presently, so the tradition 
 runs, he was attacked by a band of robbers, beaten, 
 and left tied to a tree without food or money or any 
 prospect of immediate release. The long hours of 
 the night wore away and he grew more and more 
 desperate ; at last he bethought himself of spiritual 
 aid as a last resort, and tried to repeat the service 
 of the church. Alas ! he could not remember the 
 prayers and hymns, and in his despair he vowed 
 a pious vow to God that he would devote himself to 
 a holy life if his present sufferings might be ended. 
 In good season some charcoal burners played the 
 welcome part of deliverers and Lanfranc, yet aching 
 with the pinch of his fetters and their galling knots, 
 begged to know of some holy house near by, and 
 was directed to Herluin's hermitage and the humble 
 brotherhood of Bee. 
 
228 THE STORY OF THE NORMANS. 
 
 The little colony of holy men was all astir that 
 day. Soldiers and sober gentlemen were tilling the 
 soil and patiently furthering their rural tasks. Her- 
 luin himself, the former knight-at-arms, was clad in 
 simple monkish garb, and playing the part of master- 
 mason in the building of a new oven. Out from the 
 neighboring thicket comes a strange figure, pale yet 
 from his uncomforted vigil, and prays to be numbered 
 with those who give their lives to the service of 
 God. " This is surely a Lombard ! " says Herluin, 
 wonderstruck and filled with sympathy ; and when 
 he discovers the new brother's name and eager 
 devotion, he kneels before him in love and rever- 
 ence. It was a great day for the abbey of Bee. 
 
 Such learning and ability to teach as Lanfranc's 
 could not be hidden ; indeed the church believed in 
 using a man's great gifts, and each member was bound 
 to give of his bounty in her service. The brothers 
 who could till the ground and hew timber and build 
 ovens kept at their tasks, and all the while Lanfranc, 
 the theologian and teacher, the man of letters, 
 gathered a company of scholars from far and wide. 
 Bee became a famous centre of learning, and even 
 from Italy and Greece young men journeyed to his 
 school, and, as years went by, he was venerated more 
 and more. His quick understanding and cleverness 
 saved him many a disaster, and we recognize in him 
 a charming inheritance of wit and good humor. He 
 had the individuality and characteristics of his Italian 
 ancestry, while he was that rare man in any social 
 circle of his age, or even a later age, — a true man of 
 the world. A Norman of the Normans in his adopted 
 
THE ABBEY OF BEC. 220, 
 
 home, he was yet able to see Normandy, not as the 
 world itself, but only a factor in it, and to put it and 
 its ambitions and possessions in their true relation to 
 wider issues. There was no such churchman-states- 
 man as Lanfranc in the young duchy, and his fame 
 and glory were felt more and more. William the 
 duke himself might well set his wits at work to 
 conquer this formidable opponent of his marriage, 
 and win him over to his following, and the first attack 
 was not by conciliatory measures. Lanfranc received 
 a formidable order to quit the country and leave his 
 abbey of Bee on penalty of worse punishment. 
 
 The future archbishop of English Canterbury 
 meekly obeyed his temporal lord, and set out through 
 the forest with a pitiful straggling escort affectingly 
 futile in its appearance. He himself was mounted 
 on the worst old stumbling horse in the despoiled 
 abbey stables, and presently they meet the duke out 
 hunting in most gallant array with a lordly follow- 
 ing of knights and gentlemen. It looks surprisingly 
 as if shrewd Lanfranc had arranged the scene before- 
 hand. Along he comes on his feeble steed, limping 
 slowly on the forest path ; he, the greatest prior and 
 book-man of Normandy, turned out of the house and 
 home that his own learning had made famous through 
 Christendom. " Under Lanfranc," says the chron- 
 icler, " the Normans first fathomed the art of letters, 
 for under the six dukes of Normandy scarce any one 
 among the Normans applied himself to liberal 
 studies, nor was there any learning found till God, 
 the provider of all things, brought Lanfranc to Nor- 
 mandy." All this, no doubt, flashed through Wil- 
 
230 THE STORY OF THE NORMANS. 
 
 Ham's mind, and the prior of Bee's Italian good- 
 humor proved itself the best of weapons. " Give me 
 a better horse," he cried, " and you shall see me go 
 away faster." The duke laughed in spite of himself, 
 and Lanfranc won a a chance of pleading his cause. 
 Before they parted they were sworn friends, and the 
 prior's knowledge of civil law and of theology and of 
 human nature (not least by any means of his famous 
 gifts) were for once and all at the duke's service. He 
 supported the cause of the unlawful marriage, and 
 even won a dispensation from the Pope, long desired 
 and almost hopeless, in William's favor. 
 
 But the abbey of Bee was a great power for good 
 in its time, and carried a wonderful influence for 
 many years. In the general scarcity of books in 
 those days before printing, the best way of learning 
 was to listen to what each great scholar had to say, 
 and the students went about from school to school, 
 and lingered longest at places like Bee, where the 
 best was to be found. The men here were not only 
 the patrons of learning and the guarders of their 
 own copies of the ancient classics, but they taught the 
 children of the neighborhood, and sheltered the rich 
 and poor, the old people and the travellers, who wan- 
 dered to their gates. They copied missals, they cast 
 bells for churches, they were the best of farmers, 
 of musicians, of artists. While Lanfranc waged his 
 great battle with Berengarius about the doctrine of 
 the Eucharist, and came out a victorious champion 
 for the church, and won William's cause with the 
 Pope with most skilful pleading of the value of Nor- 
 man loyalty to the See of Rome, his humbler brethren 
 
THE ABBEY OF BEC. 23 I 
 
 tended their bees and ploughed straight furrows and 
 taught the country children their letters. Such a 
 centre of learning and of useful industry as Bee was 
 the best flower of civilization. Lanfranc himself 
 was true to his vow of humility. We catch some 
 delightful glimpses of his simple life, and one in par- 
 ticular of his being met on a journey by some rever- 
 ential pilgrims to his school. He was carefully car- 
 rying a cat behind him on the saddle, comfortably 
 restrained from using her claws, and Lanfranc ex- 
 plained that he had sometimes been grievously an- 
 noyed by mice at his destination, and had provided 
 this practical ally. One can almost see the twinkle 
 in the good man's eyes, and the faces of the sur- 
 prised scholars who had been looking forward with 
 awe and dread to their first encounter with so re- 
 nowned a man. 
 
XII. 
 
 MATILDA OF FLANDERS. 
 
 " It had been easy fighting in some plain, 
 Where victory might hang in equal choice ; 
 But all resistance against her is vain." 
 
 — Marvell. 
 
 We have occasionally had a glimpse of Flanders 
 and its leading men in the course of our Norman 
 story ; but now the two dukedoms were to be linked 
 together by a closer tie than either neighborhood, 
 or a brotherhood, or antagonism in military affairs. 
 While Normandy had been gaining new territory 
 and making itself more and more feared by the 
 power of its armies, and had been growing richer and 
 richer with its farms and the various industries of the 
 towns, Flanders was always keeping pace, if not 
 leading, in worldly prosperity. 
 
 Flanders had gained the dignity and opulence of a 
 kingdom. Her people were busy, strong, intelligent 
 craftsmen and artists, and while her bell-towers 
 lifted themselves high in the air, and made their 
 chimes heard far and wide across the level country, 
 the weavers' looms and the women's clever fingers 
 were sending tapestries to the walls of the Vatican, 
 and frost-like laces to the ladies of Spain. 
 
 232 
 
Matilda of flanders. 233 
 
 The heavy ships of Flanders went and came with 
 the richest of freights from her crowded ports; her 
 picture-painters were at work, her gardens were green, 
 and her noblemen's houses were filled with whatever 
 a luxurious life could demand or invent. As the 
 country became overcrowded, many of the inhabi- 
 tants crossed over to Scotland, and gained a foot- 
 hold, sometimes by the sword, and oftener by the 
 plough and spade and weaver's shuttle. The Doug- 
 lases and the Leslies, Robert Bruce and all the fam- 
 ilies of Flemings, took root then, and, whether by art 
 or trade, established a right to be called Scotsmen, 
 and to march in the front rank when the story is 
 told of many a brave day in Scottish history. 
 
 The Count of Flanders was nominally vassal of 
 both Rome and France, but he was practically his 
 own man. Baldwin de Lisle, of the Conqueror's 
 time, was too great a man to need anybody's help, 
 or to be bought or sold at will by an over-lord. He 
 stood well as the representative of his country's 
 wealth and dignity. A firm alliance with such a 
 neighbor was naturally coveted by such a far-seeing 
 man as the young duke ; and besides any political 
 reasons, there was a closer reason still, in the love that 
 had sprung up in his heart for Matilda, the count's 
 daughter. In 1049, ne ^ ac ^ Deen already making suit 
 for her hand, for it was in that year when the Coun- 
 cil of Rheims forbade the banns, on some plea of rela- 
 tionship that was within the limit set by the Church. 
 William's whole existence was a fight for his life, for 
 his dukedom, for his kingdom of England, and he 
 was not wanting in courage in this long siege of 
 
234 THE STORY OF THE NORMANS. 
 
 church and state, when the woman he truly loved 
 was the desired prize. If history can be trusted, she 
 was a prize worth winning ; if William had not loved 
 her, he would not have schemed and persisted for 
 years in trying to win her in spite of countless hin- 
 drances which might well have ended his quest if he 
 had been guided only by political reasons for the 
 alliance. 
 
 His nobles had eagerly urged him to marry. Per- 
 haps they would have turned their eyes toward Eng- 
 land first if there had been a royal princess of Ead- 
 ward's house, but failing this, Flanders was the best 
 prize. The Norman dukedom must not be left with- 
 out an heir, and this time there must be no question 
 of the honesty of the heir's claim and right to succes- 
 sion. Normandy had seen enough division and dis- 
 sension, and angry partisanship during the duke's 
 own youth, and now that he had reached the age of 
 twenty-four, and had made himself master of his pos- 
 sessions, and could take his stand among his royal 
 neighbors, everybody clamored for his marriage, and 
 for a Lady of Normandy. He was a pure man in 
 that time of folly and licentiousness. He was al- 
 ready recognized as a great man, and even the daugh- 
 ter of Baldwin of Flanders might be proud to marry 
 him. 
 
 Matilda was near the duke's own age, but she had 
 already been married to a Flemish official, and had 
 two children. She was a beautiful, graceful woman, 
 and it is impossible to believe some well-known old 
 stories of William's rude courtship of her, since her 
 father evidently was ready to favor the marriage, and 
 
MATILDA OF FLANDERS. 235 
 
 she seems to have been a most loyal and devoted 
 wife to her husband, and to have been ready enough 
 to marry him hastily at the end of a most trouble- 
 some courtship. The great Council of Rheims had 
 forbidden their marriage, as we have already seen, 
 and the pious Pope Leo had struck blows right and 
 left among high offenders of the Church's laws ; a 
 whole troop of princes were excommunicated or put 
 under heavy penances, and the Church's own officials 
 were dealt justly with accordingto their sins. When 
 most of these lesser contemporaries were properly 
 sentenced, a decree followed, which touched two 
 more illustrious men : the Count of Flanders was 
 forbidden to give his daughter to the Norman duke 
 for a wife, and William, in his turn, was forbidden to 
 take her. For four long years the lovers — if we may 
 believe them to be lovers — were kept apart on the 
 Pope's plea of consanguinity. There is no evidence 
 remaining that this was just, yet there truly may 
 have been some relationship. It is much easier to 
 believe it, at any rate, than that the count's wife 
 Adela's former child-marriage to William's uncle 
 could have been put forward as any sort of objec- 
 tion. 
 
 We must leave for another chapter the affairs of 
 Normandy and William's own deeds during the four 
 years, and go forward with this story of his marriage 
 to a later time, when in the course of Italian affairs, 
 a chance was given to bring the long courtship to a 
 happy end. Strangely enough this came by means 
 of the De Hautevilles and that Norman colony whose 
 fortunes we have already briefly traced. In the con- 
 
2$6 THE STORY OF THE NORMANS. 
 
 flict with Pope Leo, when he was forced to yield to 
 the Normans' power and to recognize them as a 
 loyal state, William either won a consent to his wed- 
 ding or else dared to brave the Pope's disapproval. 
 While Leo was still in subjection the eager duke 
 hurried to his city of Eu, near the Flemish border, 
 and met there Count Baldwin and his daughter. 
 There was no time spent in splendid processions 
 and triumphal pageants of the Flemish craftsmen ; 
 some minor priest gave the blessing, and as the duke 
 and his hardly-won wife came back to the Norman 
 capital there was a great cheering and rejoicing all 
 the way ; and the journey was made as stately and 
 pompous as heart could wish. There was a magnifi- 
 cent welcome at Rolf's old city of Rouen ; it was 
 many years since there had been a noble lady, a 
 true duchess, on the ducal throne of Normandy. 
 
 But the spirit of ecclesiasticism held its head too 
 high in the pirates' land to brook such disregard of 
 its canons, even on the part of its chief ruler. There 
 was an uncle of William's, named Mauger, who was 
 primate of the Norman church. He is called on 
 every hand a very bad man — at any rate, his faults 
 were just the opposite of William's, and of a sensual 
 and worldly stamp. He was not a fit man for the 
 leader of the clergy, in William's opinion. Yet Mau- 
 ger was zealous in doing at least some of the duties 
 of his office — he did not flinch from rebuking his 
 nephew ! All the stories of his life are of the worst 
 sort, unless we give him the credit of trying to do 
 right in this case, but we can too easily remember 
 the hatred that he and all his family bore toward the 
 
MATILDA OF FLANDERS. 237 
 
 bastard duke in his boyhood, and suspect at least 
 that jealousy may have taken the place of scorn and 
 despising. One learns to fear making point-blank 
 decisions about the character of a man so long dead, 
 even of one whom everybody blamed like Mauger. 
 His biographers may have been his personal enemies, 
 and later writers have ignorantly perpetuated an un- 
 just hue and cry. 
 
 Perhaps Lanfranc may be trusted better, for he too 
 blamed the duke for breaking a holy law, — Lanfranc 
 the merry, wise Italian, who loved his fellow-men, 
 and who was a teacher by choice and by gift of God. 
 All Normandy was laid under a ban at this time for 
 the wrong its master had done. Lanfranc rebuked 
 the assumed sinner bravely, and William's fierce stern 
 temper blazed out against him, and ordered a vicious 
 revenge of the insult to him and to his wife. The 
 just William, who kept Normandy in such good 
 order, who stood like a bulwark of hewn stone be- 
 tween his country and her enemies, was the same 
 William who could toss severed hands and feet over 
 the Alengon wall, and give orders to burn the grain 
 stacks and household goods of the abbey of Bee. 
 We have seen how the duke and the abbot met, and 
 how they became friends again, and Lanfranc made 
 peace with Pope Leo and won him the loyalty of 
 Normandy in return. Very likely Lanfranc was glad 
 to explain the truth and to be relieved from uphold- 
 ing such a flimsy structure as the church's honor 
 demanded. At any rate, William gladly paid his 
 Peter's pence and set about building his great abbey 
 of St. Etienne, in Caen, for a penance, and made 
 
238 THE STORY OF THE NORMANS. 
 
 Lanfranc its prelate, and Matilda built her abbey of 
 the Holy Trinity, while in four of the chief towns of 
 Normandy hospitals were built for the old and sick 
 people of the duchy. We shall see more of these 
 churches presently, but there they still stand, facing 
 each other across the high-peaked roofs of Caen ; 
 high and stately churches, the woman's tower and 
 the man's showing characteristics of boldness and of 
 ornament that mark the builders' fancy and carry us 
 in imagination quickly back across the eight hundred 
 years since they were planned and founded. Anselm, 
 Maurilius, and Lanfranc, these were the teachers and 
 householders of the great churches, and one must 
 have a new respect for the young duke and duchess 
 who could gather and hold three such scholars and 
 saintly men to be leaders of the church in Nor- 
 mandy. 
 
 There were four sons and three daughters born to 
 William and Matilda, and there is no hint of any 
 difference or trouble between the duke and his wife 
 until they were unable to agree about the mis- 
 conduct of their eldest son. Matilda's influence for 
 good may often be traced or guessed at in her hus- 
 band's history, and there are pathetic certainties of 
 her resignation and gentleness when she was often 
 cruelly hurt and tried by the course of events. 
 
 Later research has done away with the old idea of 
 her working the famous Bayeux tapestry with the 
 ladies of her court to celebrate the Conqueror's great 
 deeds ; but he needed no tribute of needle-work, nor 
 she either, to make them remembered. They have 
 both left pictures of themselves done in fadeless col- 
 
MATILDA OF FLANDERS. 239 
 
 ors and living text of lettering that will stand while 
 English words are spoken, and Norman trees bloom 
 in the spring, and Norman rivers run to the sea, and 
 the towers of Caen spring boldly toward the sky. 
 
 We cannot be too thankful that so much of these 
 historic churches has been left untouched. When it 
 is considered that at five separate times the very 
 fiends of destruction and iconoclasm seem to have 
 been let loose in Normandy, it is a great surprise 
 that there should be so many old buildings still in 
 existence. From the early depredations of the 
 Northmen themselves, down to the religious wars of 
 the sixteenth century and the French revolution of 
 the eighteenth, there have been other and almost 
 worse destroying agencies than even the wars them- 
 selves. Besides the natural decay of masonry and 
 timber, there was the very pride and growing wealth 
 of the rich monastic orders and the large towns, who 
 liked nothing better than to pull down their barns 
 to build greater and often less interesting ones. 
 The most prosperous cities naturally build the best 
 churches, as they themselves increase, and naturally 
 replace them oftenest, and so retain fewest that are 
 of much historical interest in the end. The most 
 popular weapon in the tenth and eleventh centuries 
 was fire; and the first thing that Norman assailants 
 were likely to do, was to throw burning torches over 
 the walls into the besieged towns. Again and again 
 they were burnt — houses, churches, and all. 
 
 The Normans were constantly improving, how- 
 ever, in their fashions of building, and had made a 
 great advance upon the Roman architecture which 
 
24O THE STORY OF THE NORMANS. 
 
 they had found when they came to Neustria. Their 
 work has a distinct character of its own, and perhaps 
 their very ignorance of the more ornate and less ef- 
 fective work which had begun to prevail in Italy, 
 gave them freedom to work out their own simple 
 ideas. Instead of busying themselves with petty or- 
 namentation and tawdry imagery, they trusted for 
 effect to the principles of height and size. Their 
 churches are more beautiful than any in the world ; 
 their very plainness and severity gives them a beau- 
 tiful dignity, and their slender pillars and high arches 
 make one think of nothing so much as the tall pine 
 forests of the North. What the Normans did with 
 the idea of the Roman arch, they did too in many 
 other ways. They had a gift of good taste that was 
 most exceptional in that time, and especially in that 
 part of Europe ; and whatever had been the power 
 and efficiency of the last impulse of civilization from 
 the South, this impulse from the North did a noble 
 work in its turn. Normandy herself, in the days of 
 William and Matilda, was fully alive and pervaded 
 with dreams of growth and expansion. 
 
 Nobody can tell how early the idea of the conquest 
 of England began to be a favorite Norman dream. 
 In those days there was always a possibility of some 
 day owning one's neighbor's land, and with weak 
 Eadward on the throne of England, only too ready to 
 listen to the suggestions and demands of his Norman 
 barons and favorite counsellors, it must have seemed 
 always an easier, not to say more possible, thing to 
 take one step farther. There was an excellent ante- 
 chamber across the Channel for the crowded court 
 
CRYPT OF MOUNT ST. MICHEL. 
 
242 THE STORY OF THE NORMANS. 
 
 and fields of Normandy, and William and Eadward 
 were old friends and companions. In 105 1, when 
 Normandy w r as at peace, and England was at any 
 rate quiet and sullen, submissive to rule, but lying 
 fast, bound like a rebellious slave that has been sold 
 to a new master, William and a fine company of 
 lords and gentlemen went a-visiting. 
 
 All those lords and gentlemen kept their eyes very 
 wide open, and took good notice of what they saw. 
 
 It was not a common thing by any means, for a 
 great duke to go pleasuring. He was apt to be too 
 busy at home ; but William's affairs were in good 
 order, and his cousin of England was a feeble man 
 and more than half a Norman ; besides, he had no 
 heir, and in course of time the English throne would 
 lack a proper king. The idea of such a holiday 
 might have pleased the anxious suitor of Matilda of 
 Flanders, too, and have beguiled the hard time of 
 waiting. Nobody stopped to remember that English 
 law gave no right of succession to mere inheritance 
 or descent. Ralph the Timid was vEthelred's grand- 
 son ; but who would think of making him king in- 
 stead of such a man as William? The poor banished 
 prince at the Hungarian court, half a world away, 
 was not so much as missed or wished for. Godwine 
 was banished, Harold was in Ireland ; besides, it 
 must be urged that there was something fine in the 
 notion of adding such a state as Normandy to Eng- 
 land. England was not robbed, but magnificently 
 endowed by such a proposal. 
 
 Eadward was amiably glad to see this brave Duke 
 of the Normans. There was much to talk over to- 
 
MA TILDA OF FLANDERS. 243 
 
 gether of the past ; the present had its questions, 
 too, and it was good to have such a strong arm to 
 lean upon ; what could have been more natural than 
 that the future also should have its veil drawn aside, 
 not too rashly or irreverently? When Eadward had 
 been gathered to his fellow saints, pioneered by vi- 
 sions that did not fade, and panoplied by authentic 
 relics — nay, when the man of prayers and cloistered 
 quietness was kindly taken away from the discordant 
 painfulness of an earthly kingdom, what more easy 
 than to dream of this warlike William in his place ; 
 William, a man of war and soldiery, for whom the 
 government of two great kingdoms in one, would 
 only harden and employ the tense muscles ajid heavy 
 brain ; would only provide his own rightful business? 
 And, while Eadward thought of this plan, William 
 was Norman, too, and with the careful diplomacy of 
 his race, he joined the daring and outspokenness of 
 old Rolf the Ganger ; he came back with his lords 
 and gentlemen to Normandy, weighed down with 
 presents — every man of them who had not stayed 
 behind for better gain's sake. He came back to 
 Normandy the acknowledged successor to the Eng- 
 lish crown. Heaven send dampness now and bleak 
 winds, and let poor Eadward's sufferings be short ! 
 There was work for a man to do in ruling England, 
 and Eadward could not do it. The Englishmen were 
 stupid and dull ; they ate too much and drank too 
 much; they clung with both hands to their old no- 
 tions of state-craft and government. It was the old 
 story of the hare and the tortoise, but the hare was 
 fleet of foot and would win. 
 
244 THE STORY OF THE NORMANS. 
 
 Win ? Yes, this race and that race ; and yet the 
 tortoise was going to be somehow made over new, 
 and keep a steady course in the right path, and learn 
 speed, and get to be better than the old tortoise as 
 the years went on and on. 
 
 Eadward had no right to will away the kingship of 
 England ; but this must have been the time of the 
 promise that the Normans claimed, and that their 
 chroniclers have recorded. All Normandy believed 
 in this promise, and were ready to fight for it in after 
 years. It is most likely that Eadward was only too 
 glad, at this date, to make a private arrangement 
 with the duke. He was on the worst of terms just 
 then with Godwine and his family, and consequently 
 with the displeased English party, who were their 
 ardent upholders. Indeed, a great many of these 
 men were in Ireland with Harold, having turned their 
 backs upon a king and court that were growing more 
 friendly to Normandy and disloyal to England day 
 by day. 
 
 The very next year after William's triumphal visit 
 the Confessor was obliged to change his course in the 
 still stormier sea of English politics. The Normans 
 had shown their policy too soon, and there was a 
 widespread disapproval, and an outcry for Godwine's 
 return from exile. Baldwin of Flanders, and King 
 Henry of France, had already been petitioning for 
 his pardon, and suddenly Godwine himself came sail- 
 ing up the Thames, and London eagerly put itself 
 under his control. Then Eadward the Confessor con- 
 sented to a reconciliation, there being no apparent 
 alternative, and a troop of disappointed and dis- 
 
MATILDA OF FLANDERS. 245 
 
 placed foreigners went back to Normandy. Robert 
 of Jumieges, was among them. The Anglo-Saxon 
 chronicle tells us gravely, that at Walton-on-the- 
 Naze, " they were lighted on a crazy ship, and the 
 archbishop betook himself at once over the sea, leav- 
 ing behind him his pall and all his Christendom here 
 in the land even as God willed it, because he had 
 taken upon him that worship as God willed it not." 
 The plea for taking away his place was " because he 
 had done more than any to cause strife between 
 Godwine and the king " ; and Godwine's power was 
 again the strongest in England. 
 
 The great earl lived only a few months longer, 
 and when he died his son Harold took his place. 
 Already the eyes of many Englishmen were ready to 
 see in him their future king. Already he stands out 
 a bold figure, with a heart that was true to England, 
 and though the hopes that centred in him were 
 broken centuries ago, we cannot help catching some- 
 thing of the hope and spirit of the time. We are al- 
 most ready to forget that this brave leader, the 
 champion of that elder English people, was doomed 
 to fall before the on-rushing of a new element of 
 manhood, a tributary stream that came to swell the 
 mighty channel of the English race and history. 
 William the Norman was busy at home, meanwhile. 
 The old hostility between Normandy and Flanders, 
 which dated from the time of William Longsword's 
 murder, was now at a certain end, by reason of the 
 duke's marriage. Matilda, the noble Flemish lady, 
 the descendant of good King Alfred of England, had 
 brought peace and friendliness as not the least of 
 
246 THE STORY OF THE NORMANS. 
 
 her dowry, and all fear of any immediate antagonism 
 from that quarter was at an end. 
 
 By the alliance with the kings of France, the Nor- 
 man dukes had been greatly helped to gain their 
 present eminence, and to the Norman dukes the 
 French kings, in their turn, owed their stability upon 
 their own thrones ; they had fought for each other 
 and stood by each other again and again. Now, 
 there was a rift between them that grew wider and 
 wider — a rift that came from jealousy and fear of the 
 Normans' wealth and enormous growth in strength. 
 They were masters of the Breton country, and had 
 close ties of relationship, moreover, with not only 
 Brittany, but with Flanders and the smaller county 
 of Ponthieu, which lay between them and the Flem- 
 ings. Normandy stretched her huge bulk and 
 strength between France and the sea ; she com- 
 manded the French rivers, the French borders ; she 
 was too much to be feared ; if ever her pride were to 
 be brought down, and the old vassalage insisted 
 upon, it could not be too soon. Henry forgot all 
 that he owed to the Normans' protection, and pro- 
 voked them by incessant hostilities — secret and 
 open treacheries, — and the fox waged war upon the 
 lion, until a spirit of enmity was roused that hardly 
 slept again for five hundred years. 
 
 There were other princes ready enough to satisfy 
 their fear and jealousy. The lands of the conspira- 
 tors stretched from Burgundy to the Pyrenees. Bur- 
 gundy, Blois, Ponthieu, Aquitaine, and Poictiers all 
 joined in the chase for this William the Bastard, the 
 chief of the hated pirates. All the old gibes and 
 
matilda of flanders. 247 
 
 taunts, and contemptuous animosity were revived ; 
 now was the time to put an end to the Norman's 
 outrageous greed of power and insolence of posses- 
 sion, and the great allied army divided itself in two 
 parts, and marched away to Normandy. 
 
 King Henry's brother, Odo, turned his forces tow- 
 ard Rouen, and the king himself took a more south- 
 erly direction, by the way of Lisieux to the sea. 
 They meant, at any rate, to pen the duke into his 
 old Danish region of the Cotentin and Bessin dis- 
 tricts ; all his eastern lands, the grant from Charles 
 the Simple, with the rest, were to be seized upon and 
 taken back by their original owners. 
 
 Things had changed since the battle of Val-es- 
 dunes. There was no division now among the Nor- 
 man lords, and as the word to arm against France 
 was passed from one feudal chieftan to another, 
 there was a great mustering of horse and foot. So 
 the king had made up his mind to punish them, and 
 to behave as if he had a right to take back the gift 
 that was unwillingly wrung from Charles the Simple. 
 Normandy is our own, not Henry's, was the angry 
 answer ; and Ralph of Tesson, and the soldiers of 
 Falaise, the Lord of Mortain, the men of Bessin, and 
 the barons of the Cotentin were ready to take the 
 field, and stand shoulder to shoulder. There had 
 been a change indeed, in Normandy ; and from one 
 end of it to the other there was a cry of shame 
 and treachery upon Henry, the faithless ally and 
 overlord. They had learned to know William as a 
 man not against their interests but with them, and 
 for them and the glory of Normandy ; and they had 
 
248 THE STORY OF THE NORMANS. 
 
 not so soon forgotten the day of Val-es-dunes and 
 their bitter mistake. 
 
 The king's force had come into the country by 
 the frontier city of Aumale, and had been doing 
 every sort of damage that human ingenuity could in- 
 vent between conqueror and vanquished. It was 
 complained by those who escaped that the French 
 were worse than Saracens. Old people, women, and 
 children were abused or quickly butchered ; men were 
 taken prisoners; churches and houses were burnt or 
 pulled to pieces. There was a town called Morte- 
 mer which had the ill-luck to be chosen for the 
 French head-quarters, because it was then a good 
 place for getting supplies and lodging, though now 
 there is nothing left of it but the remains of an an- 
 cient tower and a few dwellings and gardens. Here 
 the feasting and revelry went on as if Normandy 
 were already fallen. All day there were raids in the 
 neighboring country, and bringing in of captives, and 
 plunder; and William's spies came to Mortemer, and 
 went home to tell the duke the whole story of the 
 hateful scene. There was a huge army collected 
 there fearless of surprise ; this was the place to strike 
 a blow, and the duke and his captains made a rapid 
 march by night so that they reached Mortemer be- 
 fore daylight. 
 
 There was no weapon more cherished by the pi- 
 rates' grandchildren than a blazing fire-brand, and the 
 army stole through the town while their enemies still 
 slept, stupid with eating and drinking, or weary from 
 the previous day's harrying. They waked to find 
 their houses in flames, the roofs crackling, a horrid 
 
MATILDA OF FLANDERS. 249 
 
 glare of light, a bewilderment of smoke and shouts ; 
 the Normans ready to kill, to burn, to pen them 
 back by sturdy guards at the streets' ends. There 
 was a courageous resistance to this onslaught, but 
 from early morning until the day was well spent the 
 fight went on, and most of the invaders were cut to 
 pieces. The dead men lay thick in the streets, and 
 scattered everywhere about the adjacent fields. 
 " Only those were spared who were worth sparing 
 for the sake of their ransom. Many a Norman sol- 
 dier, down to the meanest serving-man in the ranks, 
 carried off his French prisoner; many a one carried 
 off his two or three goodly steeds with their rich 
 harness. In all Normandy there was not a prison 
 that was not full of Frenchmen." * All this was 
 done with scarcely any loss to the Normans, at least 
 so we are told, and the news came to William that 
 same evening, and made him thank God with great 
 rejoicing. It would seem as if only a God of battles 
 could be a very near and_welcome sovereign to this 
 soldier-lord of Normandy. 
 
 The victor had still another foe to meet. The 
 king's command was still to be vanquished, and per- 
 haps it might be done with even less bloodshed. 
 The night had fallen, and he chose" Ralph of Toesny, 
 son of that Roger who sought the Spanish kingdom, 
 the enemy of his own ill-championed childhood, to 
 go as messenger to the king's tent. The two chief- 
 tains cannot have been encamped very far apart, for 
 it was still dark when Ralph rode fast on his errand. 
 He crept close to where the king lay in the darkness, 
 
 * Freeman. 
 
250 THE STORY OF THE NORMANS. 
 
 and in the glimmer of dawn he gave a doleful shout: 
 " Wake, wake, you Frenchmen ! You sleep too long ; 
 go and bury your friends who lie dead at Morte- 
 mer" ; then he stole away again unseen, while the 
 startled king and his followers whispered together 
 of such a terrible omen. Ill news travels apace ; 
 they were not long in doubt ; a panic seized the 
 whole host. Not for Rouen now, or the Norman 
 cities, but for Paris the king marched as fast as he 
 could go ; and nobody gave him chase, so that be- 
 fore long he and his counts were safe at home again 
 with the thought of their folly for company. Craft 
 is not so fine a grace as courage ; but craft served the 
 Normans many a good turn ; and this was not the 
 least glorious of William's victories, though no blood 
 was spilt, though the king was driven away and no 
 sword lifted to punish him. The Normans loved a 
 bit of fun ; we can imagine how well they liked to 
 tell the story of spoiling half an army with hardly a 
 scratch for themselves, and making the other half 
 take to its heels at the sound of Ralph de Toesny's 
 gloomy voice in the night. There were frequent 
 hostilities after this along the borders, but no more 
 leagues of the French counts ; there was a castle of 
 Breteuil built to stand guard against the king's cas- 
 tle of Tillieres, and William Fitz-Osbern was made 
 commander of it ; there was an expedition of the 
 Count of Maine, aided by Geoffrey Martel and a 
 somewhat unwilling Breton prince, against the south- 
 ern castle of Ambrieres. But when William has- 
 tened to its relief the besiegers took to flight, except 
 the Lord of Maine, who was captured and put into 
 
MATILDA OF FLANDERS. 2$ I 
 
 prison until he was willing to acknowledge himself 
 the duke's vassal ; and after this there were three 
 years of peace in Normandy. 
 
 It had grown to be a most orderly country. Wil- 
 liam's famous curfew bell was proved to be an effi- 
 cient police force. Every household's fire was out at 
 eight o'clock in winter, and sunset in summer, and 
 its lights extinguished ; every man was in his own 
 dwelling-place then under dire penalty ; he was a 
 strict governor, but in the main a just one — this son 
 of the lawless Robert. He upheld the rights of the 
 poor landholders and widows, and while he was feared 
 he was respected. It was now that he gave so much 
 thought to the rights of the Church, or the following 
 out of his own dislike, in the dismissal of his Uncle 
 Mauger, the primate of the duchy. 
 
 There is still another battle to be recorded in this 
 chapter, — one which for real importance is classed 
 with the two famous days of Val-es-dunes and Hast- 
 ings, — the battle fought at Varaville, against the 
 French king and his Angevine ally, who took it into 
 their silly heads to go a-plundering on the duke's 
 domain. 
 
 Bayeux and Caen were to be sacked, and all the 
 surrounding country ; besides this, the allies were 
 going to march to the sea to show the Bastard that 
 he could not lock them up in their inland country 
 and shake the key in their faces. William watched 
 them as a cat watches a mouse and lets the poor 
 thing play and feast itself in fancied security. He 
 had the patience to let the invaders rob and burn, 
 and spoil the crops ; to let them live in his towns, 
 
252 THE STORY OF THE NORMANS. 
 
 and the French king himself hold a temporary court 
 in a fine new abbey of the Bessin, until everybody 
 thought he was afraid of this mouse, and that all the 
 Normans were cowards ; then the quick, fierce paw 
 struck out, and the blow fell. It is a piteous story of 
 war, that battle of Varaville ! 
 
 There was a ford where the French, laden with 
 their weight of spoils, meant to cross the river Dive 
 into the district of Auge. On the Varaville side the 
 land is marshy ; across the river, and at no great dis- 
 tance, there is a range of hills which lie between the 
 bank of the Dive and the rich country of Lisieux. 
 The French had meant to go to Lisieux when they 
 started out on their other enterprise. But William 
 had waited for this moment ; part of the army under 
 the king's command had crossed over, and were even 
 beginning to climb the hills. The rear-guard with 
 the great baggage trains were on the other bank, 
 when there was a deplorable surprise. William, with 
 a body of trained troops, had come out from Falaise ; 
 he had recruited his army with all the peasants of the 
 district ; armed with every rude weapon that could 
 be gathered in such haste, they were only too ready 
 to fall upon the French mercilessly. 
 
 The tide was flowing in with disastrous haste, and 
 the Frenchmen had not counted upon this awful foe. 
 Their army was cut in two ; the king looked down 
 in misery from the height he had thoughtlessly 
 gained. Now we hear almost for the first time of 
 that deadly shower of Norman arrows, famous enough 
 since in history. Down they came with their sharp 
 talons ; the poor French were huddling together at 
 
MATILDA OF FLANDERS. 
 
 253 
 
 the river's brink; there was no shelter; the bowmen 
 shot at them ; the peasants beat them with flails and 
 scythes ; into the rushing water they went, and 
 floated away writhing. There was not a man left 
 alive in troop after troop, and there were men enough 
 of the Normans who knew the puzzling, marshy 
 ground to chase and capture those other troopers 
 who tried to run away. 
 Alas for the lilies of France ! 
 how they were trailed in 
 the mire of that riverside at 
 Varaville ! It was a mas- 
 sacre rather than a battle, 
 and Henry's spirit was hum- 
 bled. " Heavy-hearted, he 
 never held spear or shield 
 again," says the chronicle. 
 There were no more ex- 
 peditions against Norman- 
 dy in his time ; he sued 
 for a truce, and paid as 
 the price for it, the castle 
 of Tillieres, and so that 
 
 stronghold came back to its rightful lords again. 
 Within two years he died, being an old man, and we 
 can well believe a disappointed one. Geoffrey Mar- 
 tel died too, that year, the most troublesome of the 
 Bastard's great neighbors. This was 1060 ; and it 
 was in that year that Harold of England first came 
 over to Normandy — an unlucky visit enough, as time 
 proved. His object was partly to take a look at the 
 political state of Gaul ; but if he meant to sound the 
 
 A NORMAN ARCHER. 
 
254 THE STORY OF THE NORMANS. 
 
 hearts of the duke's neighbors in regard to him, as 
 some people have thought, he could not have chosen 
 a more unlucky time. If he meant to speak for sup- 
 port in case William proved to be England's enemy 
 in days to come, he was too late ; those who would 
 have been most ready to listen were beyond the 
 reach of human intrigues, and their deaths had the 
 effect of favoring William's supremacy, not dis- 
 puting it. 
 
 There is no record of the great earl's meeting the 
 Norman duke at all on this first journey. If we had 
 a better account of it, we might solve many vexed 
 questions. Some scholars think that it was during 
 this visit that Harold was inveigled into taking oath 
 to uphold William's claim to the English crown, 
 but the records nearly all belong to the religious 
 character of the expedition. Harold followed King 
 Cnut's example in going on a pilgrimage to Rome, 
 and brought back various treasures for his abbey of 
 Waltham, the most favored religious house of his 
 earldom. He has suffered much misrepresentation, 
 no doubt, at the hands of the monkish writers, for he 
 neglected their claims in proportion as he favored 
 their secular brethren, for whom the abbey was de- 
 signed. A monk retired from the world for the ben- 
 efit of his own soul, but a priest gave his life in teach- 
 ing and preaching to his fellow-men. We are told 
 that Harold had no prejudice against even a married 
 priest, and this was rank heresy and ecclesiastical 
 treason in the minds of many cloistered brethren. 
 
XIII. 
 
 HAROLD THE ENGLISHMAN. 
 
 " The languid pulse of England starts 
 And bounds beneath your words of power." 
 
 — Whittier. 
 
 JUST here we might well stop to consider the true 
 causes and effects of war. Seen in the largest way 
 possible, from this side of life, certain forces of devel- 
 opment are enabled to assert themselves only by 
 outgrowing, outnumbering, outfighting their op- 
 posers. War is the conflict between ideas that are 
 going to live and ideas that have passed their ma- 
 turity and are going to die. Men possess themselves 
 of a new truth, a clearer perception of the affairs of 
 humanity ; progress itself is made possible with its 
 larger share of freedom for the individual or for na- 
 tions only by a relentless overthrowing of outgrown 
 opinions. It is only by new combinations of races, 
 new assertions of the old unconquerable forces, 
 that the spiritual kingdom gains or rather shows its 
 power. When men claim that humanity can only 
 move round in a circle, that the world has lost many 
 things, that the experience of humanity is like 
 the succession of the seasons, and that there is re- 
 production but not progression, it is well to take a 
 
 255 
 
256 THE STORY OF THE NORMANS. 
 
 closer look, to see how by combination, by stimulus 
 of example, and power of spiritual forces and God's 
 great purposes, this whole world is nearer every year 
 to the highest level any fortunate part of it has ever 
 gained. Wars may appear to delay, but in due time 
 they surely raise whole nations of men to higher 
 levels, whether by preparing for new growths or by 
 mixing the new and old. Generals of battalions 
 and unreckoned camp-followers alike are effects of 
 some great change, not causes of it. And no war 
 was ever fought that was not an evidence that one 
 element in it had outgrown the other and was bound 
 to get itself manifested and better understood. The 
 first effect of war is incidental and temporary ; the 
 secondary effect makes a link in the grand chain of 
 the spiritual education and development of the 
 world. 
 
 We grow confused in trying to find our way 
 through the intricate tangle of stories about the 
 relation of Harold and William to each other, with 
 their promises and oaths and understanding of each 
 other's position in regard to the throne of England. 
 Of course, William knew that Harold had a hope of 
 succeeding the Confessor. There was nobody so fit 
 for it in some respects as he — nobody who knew and 
 loved England any better, or was more important 
 to her welfare. He had fought for her; he was his 
 father's son, and the eyes of many southern English- 
 men would turn toward him if the question of the 
 succession were publicly put in the Witanagemot. 
 He might have defamersand enviers, but the Earl of 
 the West Saxons was the foremost man in England. 
 
HAROLD THE ENGLISHMAN. Itf 
 
 He had a right to expect recognition from his coun- 
 trymen. The kingship was not hereditary, and Ead- 
 ward had no heirs if it had been. Eadward trusted 
 him ; perhaps he had let fall a hint that he meant to 
 recommend his wise earl as successor, even though 
 it were a repetition of another promise made to 
 William when Harold was a banished man and the 
 house of Godwine serving its term of disgrace and 
 exile. 
 
 It appears that Eadward had undergone an inter- 
 mediate season of distrusting either of these two 
 prominent candidates for succession. But the mem- 
 ory of Eadward Ironside was fondly cherished in 
 England, and his son, Eadward the Outlaw, the law- 
 ful heir of the crown, was summoned back to his 
 inheritance from Hungary. There was great rejoi- 
 cing, and the Atheling's wife and his three beautiful 
 children, a son and two daughters, were for a time 
 great favorites and kindled an instant loyalty all too 
 soon to fade. Alas ! that Eadward should have re- 
 turned from his long banishment to sicken and die in 
 London just as life held out such fair promises; and 
 again the Confessor's mind was troubled by the 
 doubtful future of his kingdom. 
 
 On the other hand, if we trust to the Norman 
 records now, — not always unconfirmed by the early 
 English historians, — we must take into account many 
 objections to, as well as admissions of, Harold's 
 claim. Eadward's inclination seems often to swerve 
 toward his Norman cousin, who alone seemed able 
 to govern England properly or to hold her jealous 
 forces well in hand. The great English earls were 
 
2 $8 THE STORY OF THE NG/?Af.4A T S. 
 
 in fact nearly the same as kings of their provinces. 
 There was much opposition and lack of agreement 
 between them ; there was a good deal of animosity 
 along the borders in certain sections, and a deep race 
 prejudice between the Danes of Northumberland 
 and the men of the south. The Danes from over- 
 sea were scheming to regain the realm that had be- 
 longed to their own great ruler Cnut, and so there 
 was a prospect of civil war or foreign invasion which 
 needed a strong hand. Harold's desire to make 
 himself king was not in accordance with the English 
 customs. He was not of the royal house ; he was 
 only one of the English earls, and held on certain 
 grounds no better right to pre-eminence than they. 
 Leofric and Siward would have looked upon him as 
 an undeserving interloper, who had no right to rule 
 over them. " The grandsons of Leofric, who ruled 
 half England," says one historian, " would scarcely 
 submit to the dominion of an equal. . . . No 
 individual who was not of an ancient royal house 
 had ever been able to maintain himself upon an 
 Anglo-Saxon throne." 
 
 Before we yield too much to our natural senti- 
 ment over the story of this unfortunate " last of the 
 Saxon kings," it is well to remember the bad and 
 hindering result to England if Harold had conquered 
 instead of fallen on the battle-field of Hastings, 
 The weakness of England was in her lack of unity 
 and her existing system of local government. 
 
 There are two or three plausible stories about 
 Harold's purpose in going to Normandy. It is 
 sometimes impossible in tracing this portion of his- 
 
HAROLD THE ENGLISHMAN. 
 
 259 
 
 tory through both English and Norman chronicles 
 to find even the same incidents mentioned. Each 
 historian has such a different proof and end in view, 
 and it is only by the closest study, and a good deal of 
 
 GUY, COUNT OF PONTHIEU, BAYEUX TAPESTRY. 
 
 guesswork beside, that a reasonable account of Har- 
 old's second visit, and the effects of it, can be made 
 out. We may listen for a moment to the story of 
 his being sent by Eadward to announce that the Eng- 
 lish crown was to be given to the Norman duke by 
 
200 THE STORY OF THE NORMANS. 
 
 Eadward's own recommendation to the council, or we 
 may puzzle our way through an improbable tale that 
 Godwine's son, Wolfnoth, and grandson, Hakon, 
 were still held by William as hostages between 
 Eadward and Godwine, though Godwine's family 
 had long since been formally reinstated and re-en- 
 dowed. Harold is supposed to have gone over to 
 demand their release, though Eadward mournfully 
 warned him of danger and treachery. 
 
 The most probable explanation is that Harold 
 was bound on a pleasure excursion with some of his 
 family either to Flanders or some part of his own 
 country, and was shipwrecked and cast ashore on the 
 coast of Ponthieu. All accounts agree about this, 
 though they differ so much about the port he meant 
 to make and his secret purpose. 
 
 In those days wrecking was a sadly common prac- 
 tice, and the more illustrious a rescued man might 
 be, the larger ransom was demanded. When we re- 
 flect that much of the brutal and lawless custom of 
 wrecking survived almost if not quite to our own 
 time in England, we cannot expect much from the 
 leniency of the Count of Ponthieu's subjects, or in- 
 deed much clemency from that petty sovereign him- 
 self. Harold was thrown into prison and suffered 
 many things there before the Duke of Normandy 
 could receive his message and come to his relief. 
 
 We might imagine for ourselves now a fine histori- 
 cal picture of William the Conqueror seated in his 
 palace at Rouen, busy with affairs of church and 
 state. He has grown stouter, and his face shows 
 marks of thought and care which were not all there 
 
HAROLD THE ENGLISHMAN. 26 1 
 
 when he went to England. His hair is worn thin 
 by his helmet, and the frank, courteous look of his 
 youth has given place to sternness and insistance, 
 though his smile is ready to be summoned when oc- 
 casion demands. He is a man who could still be 
 mild with the gentle, and pleasantry was a weapon 
 and tool if it were not an unconscious habit. Greater 
 in state and less in soul, says one historian, who 
 writes of him from an English standpoint at this 
 hour in his career. A Norman gentleman lived deli- 
 cately in those days ; he was a worthy successor of 
 a Roman gentleman in the luxurious days of the 
 empire, but not yet enfeebled and belittled by ease 
 and extravagance — though we do listen with amuse- 
 ment to a rumor that the elegant successors of Rolf 
 the Ganger were very dependent upon warm baths, 
 and a good sousing with cold water was a much 
 dreaded punishment and penance. The reign of the 
 valet had become better assured than the reign (in 
 England) of the offspring of Woden and the house 
 of Cerdic. 
 
 But we forget to watch the great Duke of the Nor- 
 mans as he sits in his royal chamber and listens to a 
 messenger from the prisoned Earl of the West 
 Saxons. It is a moment of tremendous significance, 
 for by the assistance of winds and waves Harold has 
 fallen into his power. He must tread carefully now 
 and use his best cleverness of strategy and treacher- 
 ous artifice. How the bystanders must have watched 
 his face, and listened with eager expectation for his 
 answer. The messenger pleads Harold's grievous 
 condition ; hints of famine, torture, and death itself 
 
262 THE STORY OF THE NORMANS. 
 
 have been known to escape this brutal Count of Pon- 
 thieu who keeps the great Englishman in his dun- 
 geon as if he were a robber. Perhaps he only wishes 
 to gain a greater ransom, perhaps he acts in traitor- 
 ous defiance of his Lord of Normandy's known friend- 
 ship for England. 
 
 William replies at last with stern courtesy. He is 
 deeply grieved, we can hear him say, for the earl's 
 misfortune, but he can only deal in the matter as 
 prince with prince. It is true that Guy of Ponthieu 
 is his vassal and man, but Guy is governor of his 
 coast, and makes his own laws. It will cost great 
 treasure to ransom this noble captive, but the matter 
 must be carefully arranged, for Guy is hot-tempered 
 and might easily be provoked into sending Harold's 
 head to Rouen without his body. Yet half the 
 Norman duchy shall be spent if need be for such 
 a cause as the English earl's release. 
 
 Fitz-Osbern, the duke's seneschal and Malet de 
 Graville, and the noble attendants of the palace mur- 
 mur a pleased assent as the half-satisfied messenger 
 is kindly dismissed. They detect an intrigue worthy 
 of the best Norman ability, and know by William's 
 face that he has unexpectedly gained a welcome 
 control over events. 
 
 The liberation of Harold was effected after much 
 manoeuvring, necessary or feigned, and when he ap- 
 peared before William it was as a grateful man who 
 was in debt not only for his release from danger and 
 discomfort, but for a great sum of money and a tract 
 of valuable landed property. 
 
 It is impossible not to suspect that Guy of Pon- 
 
264 THE STORY OF THE NORMANS. 
 
 thieu and William were in league with each other, 
 and when the ransom was paid, the wrecker-count 
 became very amiable, and even insisted upon riding 
 with a gay company of knights to the place where 
 the Norman duke came with a splendid retinue to 
 meet his distinguished guest. William laid aside 
 the cumbrous forms of court etiquette and hurried 
 to the gates of the Chateau d'Eu to help Harold to 
 dismount, and greeted him with cordial affection, as 
 friend with friend. Harold may well have been 
 dazzled by his reception at the most powerful court 
 in that part of the world. To have a welcome that 
 befitted a king may well have pleased him into at 
 least a temporary acknowledgment of his entertain- 
 er's majestic power and rights. No doubt, during 
 that unlucky visit it seemed dignity enough to be 
 paraded everywhere as the great duke's chosen 
 companion and honored friend and guest. At any 
 rate, Harold's visit seems to have given occupation 
 to the court, and we catch many interesting glimpses 
 of the stately Norman life, as well as the humble, 
 almost brutal, condition of the lower classes, awed in- 
 to quietness and acquiescence by the sternness and 
 exactness of William's rule. It must be acknowledged 
 that if the laws were severe they prevented much dis- 
 order that had smouldered in other times in the lower 
 strata of society ; men had less power and oppor- 
 tunity to harm each other or to enfeeble the state. 
 
 No greater piece of good luck could have befallen 
 the duke than to win the post of Harold's benefac- 
 tor, and he played the part gallantly. Not only the 
 duke but the duchess treated their guest with un- 
 
HAROLD THE ENGLISHMAN. 26$ 
 
 common courtesy, and he was admitted to the 
 closest intimacy with the household. If Harold had 
 been wise he would have gone back to England as 
 fast as sails could carry him, but instead of that he 
 lingered on, equally ready to applaud the Norman 
 exploits in camp and court, and to show his enter- 
 tainers what English valor could achieve. He went 
 
 OLD HOUSES, DOL. 
 
 with the duke on some petty expedition against the 
 rebellious Britons, but it is hard to make out a 
 straight story of that enterprise. But there is a char- 
 acteristic story of Harold's strength in the form of a 
 tradition that when the Norman army was crossing 
 the deep river Coesnon, which pours into the sea un- 
 der the wall of Mount St. Michel, some of the 
 troops were being swept away by the waves, when 
 
266 THE STORY OF THE NORMANS. 
 
 Harold rescued them, taking them with great ease, 
 at arm's length, out of the water. 
 
 There is a sober announcement in one of the old 
 chronicles, that the lands of Brittany were included 
 in Charles the Simple's grant to Rolf, because Rolf 
 had so devastated Normandy that there was little 
 there to live upon. At the time of William's expe- 
 dition, Brittany itself was evidently taking its turn 
 at such vigorous shearing and pruning of the life of 
 its fertile hills and valleys. The Bretons liked nothing 
 so well as warfare, and when they did not unite 
 against a foreign enemy, they spent their time in 
 plundering and slaughtering one another. Count 
 Conan, the present aggressor, was the son of Alan 
 of Brittany, William's guardian. Some of the 
 Bretons were loyal to the Norman authority, and 
 D61, an ancient city renowned for its ill luck, and 
 Dinan were successively vacated by the rebels. 
 Dinan was besieged by fire, a favorite weapon in 
 the hands of the Normans ; but later we find that 
 both the cities remained Breton, and the Norman 
 allies go back to their own country. There is a hint 
 somewhere of the appearance of an army from 
 Anjou, to take the Bretons' part, but the Norman 
 chroniclers ignore it as far as they can. 
 
 It is impossible to fix the date of this campaign ; 
 indeed there may have been more than one expedi- 
 tion against Brittany. Still more difficult is it to 
 learn any thing that is undisputed about the famous 
 oath that Harold gave to William, and was after- 
 ward so completely punished for breaking, ^et, 
 while we do not know exactly what the oath was, 
 
HAROLD THE ENGLISHMAN. 267 
 
 Harold's most steadfast upholders have never been 
 able to deny that there was an oath, and there is no 
 contradiction, on the English side, of the whole 
 affair. His best friends have been silent about it. 
 The most familiar account is this, if we listen to the 
 Norman stories : Harold entered into an engage- 
 ment to marry one of William's daughters, who 
 must have been very young at the time of the visit 
 or visits to Normandy, and some writers claim that 
 the whole cause of the quarrel lay in his refusal to 
 keep his promise. There is a list beside of what 
 appears to us unlikely concessions on the part of the 
 English earl. Harold did homage to the duke, and 
 formally became his man, and even promised to ac- 
 knowledge his claim to the throne of England at the 
 death of the Confessor. More than this, he promised 
 to look after William's interest in England, and to 
 put him at once into possession of the Castle of 
 Dover, with the right of establishing a Norman gar- 
 rison there. William, in return, agreed to hold his 
 new vassal in highest honor, giving him by and by 
 even the half of his prospective kingdom. When this 
 surprising oath was taken, Harold was entrapped in- 
 to swearing upon the holiest relic of Norman saints 
 which had been concealed in a chest for the express 
 purpose. With the superstitious awe that men of 
 his time felt toward such emblems, this not very re- 
 spectable act on William's part is made to reflect 
 darkly upon Harold. Master Wace says that " his 
 hand trembled and his flesh quivered when he 
 touched the chest, though he did not know what was 
 in it, and how much more distressed he was when he 
 
268 THE STORY OF THE NORMANS. 
 
 found by what an awful vow he had unwittingly 
 bound his soul." 
 
 So Harold returned to England the tluke's vassal 
 and future son-in-law, according to the chronicles, 
 but who can help being suspicious, after knowing how 
 Harold was indebted to the duke and bound with 
 cunningly contrived chains until he found himself a 
 prisoner ? William of Poitiers, a chronicler who 
 wrote in the Conqueror's day, says that Harold was 
 a man to whom imprisonment was more odious than 
 shipwreck. It would be no wonder if he had made 
 use of a piece of strategy, and was willing to make 
 any sort of promise simply to gain his liberty. 
 
 The plot of the relic-business put a different face 
 upon the whole matter, and yet, even if Harold was 
 dazzled for the time being by William's power and 
 splendor, one must doubt whether he would have 
 given up all his ambition of reigning in England. He 
 was already too great a man at home to play the sub- 
 ject and flatterer with much sincerity, even though 
 his master were the high and mighty Duke of the 
 Normans, and he had come from a ruder country to 
 the fascination and elegance of the Norman court. 
 Whatever the oath may have been that Harold gave 
 at Bayeux, it is certain that he broke it afterward, 
 and that his enemies made his failure not only an 
 affair of state, but of church, and waged a bitter war 
 that brought him to his sad end. 
 
 Now, the Norman knights might well look to it 
 that their armor was strong and the Norman soldiers 
 provide themselves with arrows and well-seasoned 
 bows. It was likely that Harold's promise was no 
 
HAROLD THE ENGLISHMAN. 269 
 
 secret, and that some echo of it reached from one 
 end of the dukedom to the other. There were great 
 enterprises on foot, and at night in the firelight 
 there was eager discussion of possible campaigns, 
 for though the great Duke William, their soldier of 
 soldiers, had bent the strength of his resistless force 
 upon a new kingdom across the Channel and had 
 won himself such a valuable ally, it was not likely 
 that England would be ready to fall into his hand 
 like a ripe apple from the bough. There was sure 
 to be fighting, but there was something worth fight- 
 ing for ; the petty sorties against the provincial 
 neighbors of Normandy were hardly worth the no- 
 tice of her army. Men like the duke's soldiers were 
 fit for something better than such police duty. Be- 
 sides, a deep provocation had not been forgiven by 
 those gentlemen who were hustled out of England 
 by Godwine and his party, and many an old score 
 would now stand a chance of repayment. 
 
 Not many months were passed before the news 
 came from London that the holy king Eadward was 
 soon to leave this world for a better. He was 
 already renowned as a worker of miracles and a seer 
 of visions, and the story was whispered reverently 
 that he had given his ring to a beggar who appeared 
 before him to ask alms in the middle of a crowd as- 
 sembled at the dedication of a church. The beg-gar 
 disappeared, but that very night some English pil- 
 grims on their way to Jerusalem are shelterless and 
 in danger near the holy city. Suddenly a company 
 of shining acolytes approach through the wilderness, 
 carrying two tapers before an old man, as if he were 
 
2^0 THE STORY OF THE NORMANS. 
 
 out on some errand of the church. He stops to 
 ask the wondering pilgrims whence they come and 
 whither they are going, and guides them to a city 
 and a comfortable lodging, and next morning tells 
 them that he is Saint John the Evangelist. More 
 than this, he gives them the Confessor's ring, with a 
 message to carry back to England. Within six 
 months Eadward will be admitted to paradise as a 
 reward for his pure and pious life. The message is 
 carried to the king by miraculous agency that same 
 night, and ever since he prays and fasts more than 
 ever, and is hurrying the builders of his great West- 
 minster, so that he may see that holy monument of 
 his piety dedicated to the service of God before he 
 dies. 
 
 The Norman lords and gentlemen who listened to 
 this tale must have crossed themselves, one fancies, 
 and craved a blessing on the saintly king, but the 
 next minute we fancy also that they gave one an- 
 other a glance that betokened a lively expectation of 
 what might follow the news of Eadward's translation. 
 
 Twice in the year, at Easter and Christmas, the 
 English king wore his crown in the great Witanage- 
 mot and held court among his noblemen. In this 
 year the midwinter Gemot was held at the king's court 
 at Westminster, instead of at Gloucester, to hallow 
 the Church of St. Peter, the new shrine to v/hich so 
 much more of the Confessor's thought had gone than 
 to the ruling of his kingdom. 
 
 But in the triumphant days to which he had long 
 looked forward, his strength failed faster and faster, 
 and his queen, Edith, the daughter of Godwine, had 
 
HAROLD THE ENGLISHMAN. 27 1 
 
 to take his place at the ceremonies. The histories of 
 that day are filled with accounts of the grand build- 
 ing that Eadward's piety had reared. He had given a 
 tenth part of all his income to it for many years, and 
 with a proud remembrance of the Norman churches 
 with which he was familiar in his early days, had 
 made Westminster a noble rival of them and the 
 finest church in England. The new year was hardly 
 begun, the Witan had not scattered to their homes, 
 before Eadward the Confessor was carried to his 
 tomb — the last of the sons of Woden. He had 
 reigned for three and twenty years, and was al- 
 ready a worn old man. 
 
 " Now, in the falling autumn, while the winds 
 Of winter blew across his scanty days 
 He gathered up life's embers " 
 
 But as he lay dying in the royal palace at Westmin- 
 ster everybody was less anxious about the king, than 
 about the country's uncertain future. Harold had 
 been a sort of under-king for several years, and had 
 taken upon himself many of the practical duties of 
 government. He had done great deeds against the 
 Welsh, and was a better general and war-man than 
 Eadward had ever been. Nobody had any hope of 
 the Confessor's recovery, and any hour might find the 
 nation kingless. The Atheling's young son was a 
 feeble, incompetent person, and wholly a foreigner ; 
 only the most romantic and senseless citizen could 
 dream of making him Lord of England in such a 
 time as that. There were a thousand rumors afloat ; 
 every man had his theory and his prejudice, and at 
 last there must have been a general feeling of relief 
 
272 THE STORY OF THE NORMANS. 
 
 when the news was told that the saint-king was dead 
 in his palace and had named Harold as his successor. 
 The people clung eagerly to such a nomination ; now 
 that Eadward was dead he was saint indeed, and 
 there was a funeral and a coronation that same day 
 in the minster on the Isle of Thorney ; his last word 
 to the people was made law. 
 
 No more whispering that Harold was the Duke of 
 the Normans' man, and might betray England again 
 into the hands of those greedy favorites whom the 
 holy king had cherished in his bosom like serpents. 
 No more fears of Harold's jealous enemies among 
 the earls ; there was a short-sighted joy that the 
 great step of the succession had been made and 
 settled fast in the consent of the Witan, who still 
 lingered ; to be dispersed, when these famous days 
 were at an end, by another king of England than he 
 who had called them together. 
 
 The king had prophesied in his last hours ; he had 
 seen visions and dreamed dreams ; he had said that 
 great sorrows were to fall upon England for her sins, 
 and that her earls and bishops and abbots were but 
 ministers of the fiend in the eye of God ; that within 
 a year and a day the whole land would be harried 
 from one end to another with fire and slaughter. 
 Yet, almost with the same breath, he recommends 
 his Norman friends, " those whom in his simplicity 
 he spoke of as men who had left their native land 
 for love of him," to Harold's care, and does not seem 
 to suspect their remotest agency in the future harry- 
 ing. True enough some of the Norman officers were 
 loyal to him and to England. This death-bed scene 
 
HAROLD THE ENGLISHMAN, 
 
 --> -i ■} 
 
 is sad and solemn. Norman Robert the Staller 
 was there, and Stigand, the illegal archbishop ; 
 
 Harold, the hope of England, and his sister, the 
 queen, who mourns now and is very tender to her 
 
274 THE STORY OF THE NORMANS. 
 
 royal husband, who has given her a sorry lot with his 
 cold-heartedness toward her and the dismal exile 
 and estrangement he has made her suffer. He loves 
 her and trusts her now in this last day of life, and her 
 woman's heart forgets the days that were dark be- 
 tween them. He even commends her to Harold's 
 care, and directs that she must not lose the honors 
 which have been hers as queen. 
 
 There is a tradition that when Eadward lay dying 
 he said that he was passing from the land of the 
 dead to the land of the living, and the chronicle 
 adds: "Saint Peter, his friend, opened to him the 
 gates of Paradise, and Saint John, his own dear one, 
 led him before the Divine Majesty." The walls that 
 Eadward built are replaced by others ; there is not 
 much of his abbey left now but some of the founda- 
 tion and an archway or two. But his tomb stands 
 in a sacred spot, and the prayers and hymns he 
 loved so devoutly are said and sung yet in his own 
 Westminster, the burying-place of many another 
 king since the Confessor's time. 
 
XIV. 
 
 NEWS FROM ENGLAND. 
 
 " Great men have reaching hands." 
 
 — Shakespeare. 
 
 So Harold was crowned king of England. Our 
 business is chiefly with what the Normans thought 
 about that event, and while London is divided be- 
 tween praises of the old king and hopes of the new 
 one, and there are fears of what may follow from 
 Earl Tostig's enmity ; while the Witan are dis- 
 persing to their homes, and the exciting news travels 
 faster than they do the length and breadth of the 
 country, we must leave it all and imagine ourselves 
 in Normandy. 
 
 Duke William was at his park of Quevilly, near 
 Rouen, and was on his way to the chase. He had 
 been bending his bow — the famous bow that was 
 too strong for other men's hands — and just as he 
 gave it to the page who waited to carry it after him, 
 a man-at-arms came straight to his side ; they went 
 apart together to speak secretly, while the by- 
 standers watched them curiously and whispered that 
 the eager messenger was an Englishman. 
 
 " Eadward the king is dead," the duke was told, 
 275 
 
276 THE STORY OF THE NORMANS. 
 
 but that not unexpected news was only half the 
 message. " Earl Harold is raised to the kingdom." 
 
 There came an angry look into the duke's eyes, 
 and the herald left him. William forgot his plans 
 for the hunt ; he strode by his retainers ; he tied and 
 untied his mantle absent-mindedly, and presently 
 went down to the bank of the Seine again and 
 crossed over in a boat to his castle hall. He entered 
 silently, and nobody dared ask what misfortune had 
 befallen him. His companions followed him and 
 found him sitting on a bench, moving restlessly to 
 and fro. Then he became quieter; he leaned his 
 head against the great stone pillar and covered his 
 face with his mantle. Long before, in the old Norse 
 halls, where all the vikings lived together, if a man 
 were sick or sorry or wished for any reason to be un- 
 disturbed, he sat on his own bench and covered his 
 head with his cloak; there was no room where he 
 could be alone ; and after the old custom, in these 
 later days, the knights of William's court left him 
 to his thoughts. Then William Fitz-Osbern, the 
 "bold-hearted," came into the quiet hall humming a 
 tune. The awe-struck people who were clustered 
 there asked him what was the matter ; then the 
 duke looked up. 
 
 " It is in vain for you to try to hide the news," said 
 the Seneschal. " It is blazing through the streets 
 of Rouen. The Confessor is dead, and Harold holds 
 the English kingdom." 
 
 The duke answered gravely that he sorrowed both 
 for the death of Eadward and for the faithlessness of 
 Harold. 
 
NEWS FROM ENGLAND. 
 
 277 
 
 "Arise and be doing," urges Fitz-Osbern. "There 
 is no need for mourning. Cross the sea and snatch 
 the kingdom out of the usurper's hand," and in this 
 
 STIGAND, ARCHBISHOP OF CANTERBURY. 
 
 way stern thought and dire purpose were thrown 
 into the duke's holiday. The messenger had brought 
 a lighted torch in his hand that was equal to kindling 
 great plans that winter day in Normandy. 
 
278 THE STORY OF THE NORMANS. 
 
 William and all his men, from the least soldier to 
 the greatest, knew that if they wished for England 
 the only way to get it was to fight for it. There had 
 never been such a proof of their mettle as this 
 would be. The Normans who went to Italy had 
 no such opponents as Harold and the rest of the 
 Englishmen fighting on their own ground for their 
 homes and their honor; but Norman courage shone 
 brightest in these days. This is one of the places 
 where we must least of all follow the duke's personal 
 fortunes too closely, or forget that the best of the 
 Normans were looking eagerly forward to the pos- 
 session of new territory. Many of their cleverest 
 men, too, were more than ready to punish the 
 English for ejecting them from comfortable positions 
 under Godwine's rule, and were anxious to reinstate 
 themselves securely. There was no such perilous 
 journey before the army as the followers of the 
 Hautevilles had known, while their amazing stories 
 of gain and glory incited the Normans at home to win 
 themselves new fortunes. It is a proof that civiliza- 
 tion and the arts of diplomacy were advancing, when 
 we listen (and the adventurers listened too) while 
 excuse after excuse was tendered for the great 
 expedition. The news of Harold's accession was 
 simply a welcome signal for action, but the heir of 
 Rolf the Ganger was a politician, an astute wielder of 
 public opinion, and his state-craft was now directed 
 toward giving his desire to conquer England and 
 reign over it a proper aspect in the eyes of other 
 nations. 
 
 The right of heritage was fast displacing every- 
 
NEWS FROM ENGLAND. 279 
 
 where the people's right to choose their kings. The 
 feudal system was close and strong in its links, but 
 while Harold had broken his oath of homage to 
 William, that alone was not sufficient crime. Such 
 obligations were not always unbreakable, and were 
 too much a matter of formality and temporary ex- 
 pediency to warrant such an appeal to the common 
 law of nations as William meant to make. As nearly 
 as we can get at the truth of the matter, the chief 
 argument against Harold the Usurper was on reli- 
 gious grounds — on William's real or assumed promise 
 of the succession from Eadward, and Harold's vow 
 upon the holy relics of the saints at Rouen. This at 
 least was most criminal blasphemy. The Normans 
 gloried in their own allegiance to the church. Their 
 duke was blameless in private life and a sworn de- 
 fender and upholder of the faith, and by this means 
 a most formidable ally was easily won, in the charac- 
 ter of Lanfranc the great archbishop. 
 
 Lanfranc and William governed Normandy hand 
 in hand. In tracing the history of this time the 
 priest seems as familiar with secular affairs, with the 
 course of the state and the army and foreign rela- 
 tions, as the duke was diligent in attending ecclesi- 
 astical synods and church services. It was a time of 
 great rivalry and uncertainty for the papal crown ; 
 there was a pope and an anti-pope just then who 
 were violent antagonists, but Archdeacon Hilde- 
 brand was already the guide and authority of the 
 Holy See. Later he became the Pope famous in 
 history as Gregory VII. We are startled to find 
 that the expedition against England was made to 
 
280 THE STORY OF THE NORMANS. 
 
 take the shape of a crusade, even though England 
 was building her own churches, and sending pilgrims 
 to the Holy Land, and pouring wealth most gener- 
 ously into the church's coffers. " Priests and prel- 
 ates were subject to the law like other men," that 
 was the trouble ; and " a land where the king and 
 his Witan gave and took away the staff of the bishop 
 was a land which, in the eyes of Rome, was more 
 dangerous than a land of Jews or Saracens." " It 
 was a policy worthy of William to send to the thresh- 
 old of the apostles to crave their blessing on his in- 
 tended work of reducing the rebellious land, and it 
 was a policy worthy of one greater than William 
 himself, to make even William, for once in his life, 
 the instrument of purposes yet more daring, yet 
 more far-sighted, than his own. On the steps of the 
 papal chair, and there alone, had William and Lan- 
 franc to cope with an intellect loftier and more 
 subtle than even theirs." * 
 
 William sent an embassy to Harold probably very 
 soon after the receipt of the news of his coronation. 
 The full account of both the demand and its re- 
 ply have been forgotten, but it is certain that what- 
 ever the duke's commands were they were promptly 
 disobeyed, and certain too that this was the result 
 that William expected and even desired. He could 
 add another grievance to his list of Harold's wrong- 
 doings, and now, beside the original disloyalty, Wil- 
 liam could complain that his vassal had formally re- 
 fused to keep his formal promise and obligation. 
 Then he called a council of Norman nobles at Lille- 
 bonne and laid his plans before them. 
 
 * Freeman : " The Norman Conquest." 
 
NORMANDY (iN I066). 
 
282 THE STORY OF THE NORMANS. 
 
 It was a famous company of counsellors and made 
 up of the duke's oldest friends. There were William 
 Fitz-Osbern, and the duke's brother Odo of Bayeux, 
 whose priesthood was no hindrance to his good 
 soldiery ; Richard of Evreux, the grandson of Rich- 
 ard the Fearless ; Roger of Beaumont and the three 
 heroes of Mortemer ; Walter Giffard ; Hugh de 
 Montfort and William of Warren ; the Count of 
 Mortain and Roger Montgomery and Count Robert 
 of Eu. All these names we know, and familiar as 
 they were in Normandy, they were, most of them, to 
 strike deeper root in their new domain of England. 
 We do not find that they objected now to William's 
 plans, but urged only that they had no right to 
 speak for the whole country, and that all the Nor- 
 man barons ought to be called together to speak for 
 themselves. 
 
 This was a return to the fashions of Rolf's day, 
 when the adventurers boasted on the banks of the 
 Seine that they had no king to rule over them, and 
 were all equal ; that they only asked for what they 
 could win with their swords. We do not find any 
 other record of a parliament in Normandy ; perhaps 
 nothing had ever happened of late which so closely 
 concerned every armed man within the Norman bor- 
 ders. The feudal barons had a right to speak now 
 for themselves and their dependants, and in the 
 great ducal hall of the castle at Lillebonne William 
 duke told them his story and called upon them 
 for help. He had a great wish to revenge Harold's 
 treatment of him by force of arms, and asked the 
 noble company of barons what aid they would ren- 
 
NEWS FROM ENGLAND. 283 
 
 der ; with how many men and how many ships and 
 with what a sum of money they would follow him 
 and uphold the weighty and difficult enterprise. 
 
 Now we find many of the barons almost unwilling ; 
 even doubtful of the possibility of conquering such 
 a kingdom as England. After insisting that they 
 had longed to go plundering across the Channel, and 
 that the old love for fighting burned with as hot a 
 fire as ever within their breasts, the chronicles say 
 that this Norman parliament asked for time to talk 
 things over in secret before the duke should have any 
 answer. We are given a picture of them grouped 
 around this and that pleader for or against the duke, 
 and are told that they demurred, that they objected 
 to crossing the sea to wage war, and that they feared 
 the English. For a moment it appears as if the 
 whole mind of the assembly were opposed to the 
 undertaking. They even feared if they promised 
 unusual supplies of men and treasure that William 
 would forever keep them up to such a difficult stand- 
 ard of generosity. I must say that all this does not 
 ring true or match at all with the Norman character 
 of that time. It would not be strange if there were 
 objectors among them, but it does not seem possible 
 when they were so ready to go adventuring before 
 and after this time; when they were after all sepa- 
 rated by so short a time from Rolf the Ganger's 
 piracies, that many could have been so seriously 
 daunted by the prospect of such limited seafaring 
 as crossing the Channel. It appears like an ingenious 
 method of magnifying the greatness and splendor 
 of the Norman victory, and the valiant leadership of 
 the duke and his most trusted aids. 
 
2 §4 THE STORY OF THE NOkMANS. 
 
 William Fitz-Osbern was chosen to plead with 
 the barons, and persuade them to follow the duke's 
 banner. He reminded them that they were Wil- 
 liam's vassals, and that it would be unwise to disap- 
 point him. William was a stern man and fearful as 
 an enemy. If any among them loved their ease, and 
 wished to avoid their lawful tribute of service, let 
 them reflect that they were in the power of such a 
 mighty lord and master. What was their money 
 worth to them if the duke branded them as faithless 
 cowards, and why did they wish to disgrace their 
 names and take no part in this just and holy war 
 against the usurper? 
 
 These were the arguments we can fancy brave 
 Fitz-Osbern giving them one by one if indeed they 
 hung back and were close-fisted or afraid. They 
 commissioned him at last to speak for them at the 
 next hearing, and when he boldly promised for each 
 man double his regular fee and allotment — for the lord 
 of twenty knights forty knights, and " for himself, of 
 his love and zeal, sixty ships armed and equipped 
 and filled with fighting men," the barons shouted 
 at first " No, no ! " and the hall at Lillebonne echoed 
 with the noise. 
 
 But it was all settled finally, and we are told that 
 the duke himself talked with his barons one by one, 
 and that at last they were as eager as he. The whole 
 objection seems to have been made for fear that 
 their doubled and extraordinary tribute should be 
 made a precedent, but the duke promptly gave his 
 word of honor that it should not be so, and their 
 estates should not be permanently weighted beyond 
 
NEWS FROM ENGLAND. 285 
 
 their ability. The scribes took down the record of 
 the knights and soldiers that each baron had prom- 
 ised, and from this time there was a hum and stir of 
 war-making in Normandy, and that spring there were 
 more women than men in the fields tending the 
 growing crops. 
 
 The duke set himself seriously to work. All the 
 barons of his duchy and all their men were not 
 enough to depend upon for the overthrowing of 
 England. William must appeal to his neighbors for 
 help, and in this he was aided by the Pope's approval, 
 and the blessing that was promised to those who 
 would punish Harold and his countrymen, traitors 
 to the Holy Church. The spoils of England were 
 promised to all who would win a share in them, and 
 adventurers flocked from east, north, and south to 
 enroll themselves in the Norman ranks. Alan of 
 Brittany was ready to command his forces in person 
 and to come to William's assistance, and so was 
 Eustace of Boulogne, but the French nobles who 
 gathered about their young King Philip, still under 
 Baldwin of Flanders's guardianship, were by no mean::, 
 willing to help forward any thing that would make 
 their Norman rivals any more powerful than they 
 were already. From Flanders there were plenty of 
 adventurers, and some high noblemen who needed 
 little urging to join their fortunes to such an expedi- 
 tion, and William sent embassies to more distant 
 countries still, with better or worse results. There 
 is a tradition that even the Normans of Sicily came 
 northward in great numbers. 
 
 The most important thing, next to carrying a suf- 
 
286 THE STORY OF THE NORMANS. 
 
 ficient force into England, was to leave the Norman 
 borders secure from invasion. If they were repulsed 
 in England and returned to find they had lost part of 
 Normandy, that would be a sorry fate indeed, and 
 the duke exerted himself in every way to leave his 
 territory secure. 
 
 The most powerful alliance was that with the 
 papal court at Rome. Here Lanfranc could serve 
 his adopted country to good effect. Hildebrand's 
 power was making itself felt more and more, and it 
 was he who most ardently desired and fostered the 
 claim of the Church to a mastery of all the crowns 
 of Christendom. " The decree went forth, which 
 declared Harold to be a usurper and William to be 
 the lawful claimant of the English crown. It would 
 even seem that it declared the English king and all 
 his followers to be cut off from the communion of 
 the faithful. William was sent forth as an avenger 
 to chastise the wrong and perjury of his faithless 
 vassal. But he was also sent forth as a missionary, 
 to guide the erring English into the true path, to 
 teach them due obedience to Christ's vicar, and to 
 secure a more punctual payment of the temporal 
 dues of his apostle. The cause of the invasion was 
 blessed, and precious gifts were sent as the visible 
 exponents of the blessing. A costly ring was sent, 
 containing a relic, holier, it may be, than any on 
 which Harold had sworn — a hair of the prince of the 
 apostles. And with the ring came a consecrated 
 banner." * These were, after all, more formidable 
 weapons than the Norman arrows. They inspired 
 * Freeman, " The Norman Conquest." 
 
NEWS FROM ENGLAND. 2%J 
 
 not only courage, but a sense of duty and of right- 
 eous service of God. Alas for poor humanity that 
 lends itself so readily to wrongdoing, and even hopes 
 to win heaven by making this earth a place of blood- 
 shed and treachery. Now, William had something 
 besides English lands and high places for knight and 
 priest alike on conquered soil — he could give security 
 and tminence in the world to come. Heaven itself 
 had been promised by its chief representative on 
 earth to those who would fight for the Duke of Nor- 
 mandy against England. Hildebrand had made a 
 last appeal to the holy assembly of cardinals when he 
 told the story of the profaned relics and Harold's 
 broken oath, and had urged the willing fathers of 
 the church to consider how pious and benevolent it 
 would be to Christianize the barbarous and heathen 
 Saxons. Nobody took pains to remember that the 
 priesthood of England owned a third of the English 
 lands, and ruled them with a rod of iron. So long as 
 England would not bend the knee to Rome, what 
 did all that matter ? 
 
 One significant thing happened at this time. Who 
 should make his appearance at the duke's court but 
 Tostig, the son of Godwine, eager, no doubt, to plot 
 against Harold, and to take a sufficient revenge for the 
 banishment and defeat by means of which he was 
 then an outcast. He did not linger long, for the 
 busy duke sent him quickly away, not uncommis- 
 sioned for the war that was almost ready to begin. 
 
 Harold also had set himself at work to gather his 
 forces and to be in readiness for an attack which was 
 sure to come. Another enemy was first in the field, 
 
288 THE STORY OF THE NORMANS. 
 
 for in the spring Tostig appeared in the Isle of 
 Wight, the captain of a fleet of ships that were 
 manned by Flemish and Norman men. He had re- 
 ceived aid from William, and proceeded to wreak 
 his vengeance upon the Kent and Sussex villages 
 over which his father had once ruled. He does not 
 appear to have gained any English allies, except at 
 the seaport of Sandwich, where he probably hired 
 some sailors ; then he went northward from there 
 with sixty ships and attacked the coast of Godwine's 
 earldom. He made great havoc in the shore towns, 
 but Eadwineand Morkere of Northumberland hurried 
 to meet him with their troops and drove him away, 
 so that with only twelve ships left he went to Scot- 
 land, where Malcolm, the Scottish king received him 
 with a hearty welcome, and entertained him politely 
 the rest of the summer. They had lately been sworn 
 enemies, but now that Tostig was fighting against 
 England, Malcolm put aside all bygone prejudice. 
 In the summer of that eventful year, Tostig first 
 proposed to the king of Denmark that he should 
 come to England and help him to recover his earldom. 
 Swegen had the good sense to refuse, and then the 
 outlaw went on to Norway to make further proposals 
 to Harold Hardrada, who also listened incredulously, 
 but when Tostig suggested that Harold should be 
 king of England, and that he would only ask to be 
 under-king of the northern territory, that he would 
 do homage to Harold and serve him loyally, the great 
 Norwegian chieftain consented to make ready for 
 an expedition. He seems to have been much like 
 Rolf the Ganger, and a true, valiant viking at heart. 
 
scale: 
 H4-ooaooo 
 
 ENGLAND. 
 
29O THE STORY OF THE NORMANS. 
 
 The old saga whence the story comes makes us for- 
 get the plottings and claims of Rome and the glories 
 of Norman court life ; the accounts of Harold Har- 
 drada's expedition are like a breath of cold wind 
 from the Northern shores, and the sight of a shining 
 dragon-ship stealing away between the high shores 
 of a fiord, outward-bound for a bout of plundering. 
 But the saga records also the fame and prowess of 
 that other Harold, the son of Godwine, and magnifies 
 the power of such an enemy. 
 
 Perhaps the English king trusted at first in the 
 ability of the northern earls to take care of their 
 own territory, and only tried to stand guard over the 
 southern coast. 
 
 He gathered an army and kept it together all the 
 latter part of the summer, a most unprecedented and 
 difficult thing in those days ; and with help from the 
 local forces, or what we should call the militia, his 
 soldiers kept guard along the shores of Sussex and 
 Kent. We cannot estimate what a troublesome step 
 forward in the art of warfare this was for English- 
 men, who were used to quick forced marches and de- 
 cisive battles, and a welcome dispersion after the 
 cessation of whatever exciting cause or sudden sum- 
 mons had gathered them. 
 
 Harold's ships patrolled the Channel and the foot- 
 soldiers paced the downs, but food, always hard to ob- 
 tain, became at last impossible, and in September the 
 army broke ranks. Harold himself went back to Lon- 
 don, whither the fleet was also sent, but on the way 
 it met with disaster, and many of the ships were lost 
 and many more began to leak and were reluctantly 
 
NEWS FROM ENGLAND. 29 1 
 
 judged unseaworthy. The whole southern coast was 
 left undefended ; it was neither the king's fault nor 
 the subjects' fault. Both had done their best, — but 
 the crops must be gathered then or not at all, and at 
 any rate, the army was weakened by famine and a 
 growing belief in the uncertainty of attack. 
 
 Alas for Harold's peace of mind ! In those very 
 days William the Norman's host was clustering and 
 gathering like bees just ready to swarm, on the coast 
 of Normandy, and from the mouth of the Bergen 
 fiord came Harold Hardrada with a great company, 
 with a huge mass of treasure, such as had not for 
 years and years floated away from a Northern haven. 
 It seems as if he had determined to migrate, to crush 
 the English usurper, and then to establish himself as 
 Cnut had done in the richer southern kingdom. 
 There must have been some knowledge in Norway of 
 the state of things in England and Normandy, but 
 this famous old adventurer was ready to fight who- 
 ever he met, and the Black Raven was flying at his 
 masthead. Bad omens cast their shadows over this 
 great expedition of the last of the sea-kings, but 
 away he sailed to the Shetland Islands and left his 
 wife and daughters there, while he gained new allies ; 
 and still farther south, Tostig came to meet him 
 with a new army which he had gathered in Flan- 
 ders. An Irish chieftain and a great lord from Ice- 
 land were there too, and down they all came upon the 
 defenceless country that was marked as their prey, 
 burning and destroying church and castle and humble 
 homestead, daring the Englishmen to come out and 
 fight and drive them away again. We have no time 
 
292 THE STORY OF THE NORMANS. 
 
 to trace their lawless campaign. The two northern 
 earls summoned their vassals, but in a few days after 
 the Northmen had landed they had taken, without 
 much trouble it appears to us, the city of York, and 
 news was hurriedly sent to the king of England. 
 
 What a grievous message ! Harold, the son of 
 Godwine, was ill, his southern coast was undefended, 
 still he could not forget the message that William 
 had sent to him late in the summer by a spy who had 
 crossed to Normandy, that the Normans would soon 
 come and teach him how many they were and what 
 they could do. But a holy abbot consoled the king 
 by telling him that Eadward the Confessor had shown 
 himself in a vision and assured his successor of cer- 
 tain victory. 
 
 The prophecy was proved to be true ; the king sum- 
 moned his strength and his soldiers and marched 
 to York. There King Harold was to set up his new 
 kingdom ; he had not the desire for revenge that 
 filled Tostig's breast, and was anxious to prove him- 
 self a generous and wise ruler. As he came toward 
 the walls which had been so easily won, the rival 
 Harold's army comes in sight — first a great cloud of 
 dust like a whirlwind, and next the shining spears 
 prick through and glitter ominously. A little later 
 Harold of England sends a message to his brother 
 Tostig. He shall have again his kingdom of North- 
 umberland if he will be loyal ; and Tostig sends back 
 a message in his turn to ask what shall be the portion 
 of Harold Hardrada. " Seven feet of_ English ground 
 for his grave," says the other Harold, and the fight 
 begins. 
 
NEWS FROM ENGLAND. 293 
 
 Alas for the tall Northman, the winner of eighty 
 castles from the Saracens, the scourge of Moslem 
 and robber in Palestine ; the ally of Sicily, of Rus- 
 sia, and the Greeks ! Alas for the kingdom he had 
 lightly lost in Norway ! Alas for the wife and 
 daughters who were watching all through those 
 shortening September days in the Orkneys for the 
 triumphant return of the fleet — for Harold the saga- 
 man and sea-king, who built his hopes too high. He 
 may be fierce with the old rage of the Berserkers, and 
 lay sturdily about him with his heavy two-handed 
 sword ; he may mow down great swaths of English- 
 men like grain, but the moment comes when an 
 arrow flies with its sharp whistle straight at his 
 throat, and he falls dead, and his best fighters fall in 
 heaps above him ; the flag of the Black Raven of 
 Norway is taken. Tostig is dead, and Harold of 
 England is winner of that great day at Stamford 
 Bridge, the last great victory that he and his men 
 would ever win, the last fight of England before the 
 Conquest. Out of the crowd of ships that had come 
 from the North only four a*nd twenty sailed away 
 again, and Harold made peace with the Orkney-men 
 and the Icelanders and the rest. Since that day 
 there has been peace between England and the coun- 
 tries of the Northern Seas. Harold's last victory 
 was with the past, one might say, with the North- 
 men of another age and time, as if the last tie of his 
 country were broken with the old warfare and earlier 
 enemies. New relationships were established, the 
 final struggle for mastery was decided. The battle 
 of Stamford Bridge might have been called a deadly 
 
294 THE STORY OF THE NORMANS. 
 
 game at jousting, and the English knight receives 
 the prize and rides home the victor of the tourna- 
 ment. Yet that very day of triumph saw the ap- 
 proach of a new foe — the Norman ships full of horses 
 and men are ready to put out for the English shore. 
 Harold must fight another battle and lose it, and a 
 new order of things must begin in Britain. The 
 Northmen and the Normans ; it is a long step be- 
 tween the two, and yet England's past and her future 
 meet ; the swordsmen's arms that ache from one 
 battle must try their strength again in another ; but 
 the Normans bring great gifts at the point of their 
 arrows — without them " England would have been 
 mechanical, not artistic ; brave, not chivalrous ; the 
 home of learning, not of thought." 
 
 Three days after the fight Harold sits at a splendid 
 banquet among his friends, and a breathless mes- 
 senger comes in fleet-footed with bad news. Muster 
 your axemen and lances, Harold, King of the Eng- 
 lish ; the Normans have come like a flight of locusts 
 and are landing on the coast of Kent. 
 
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 XV. 
 
 THE BATTLE OF HASTINGS. 
 
 " I see thy glory, like a shooting star, 
 
 Fall to the base earth from the firmament ! 
 Thy sun sets weeping in the lowly west." 
 
 — Shakespeare. 
 
 Early in the summer there was a sound of wood- 
 chopping and a crash of falling trees in the forests of 
 Normandy, and along her shores in the shipyards 
 the noise of shipwrights' mallets began, and the 
 forging of bolts and chains. The hemp-fields enlarge 
 their borders, and catch the eye quickly with their 
 brilliant green leafage. There is no better trade now 
 than that of the armorer's, and many a Norman knight 
 sees to it that the links of his chain-mail jerkin and 
 helmet are strongly sewn, and that he is likely to be 
 well defended by the clanking habit that he must 
 buckle on. Horses and men are drilling in the 
 castle yards, and every baron gathers his troop, and 
 is stern in his orders and authority. The churches 
 are crowded, the priests are urging the holy cause, 
 and war is in everybody's mind. The cherry blos- 
 soms whiten and fall, the apple-trees are covered 
 with rosy snow, mid-summer sees the young fruit 
 greaten on the boughs, the sun rides high in the sky, 
 
 2 95 
 
296 THE STORY OF THE NORMANS. 
 
 and the soldiers' mail weighs heavy ; through the 
 country-lanes go troops of footmen and horsemen. 
 You can see the tips of their unstrung bows moving 
 above the hedges, and their furled banners with 
 heraldic device or pious seal. They are all going 
 toward the sea, toward the mouth of the river Dive, 
 The peasant women and children stand in their cot 
 tage doors and watch the straggling processions on 
 their way. It is indeed a cause to aid with one's 
 prayers, this war against the heathen English. 
 
 All summer long, armed men were collecting at 
 William's head-quarters from every part of Normandy, 
 or wherever his summons had wakened a favorable 
 response. If we can believe the chroniclers, the army 
 was well paid and well fed and kept in good order. 
 It became a question which army would hold its 
 ground longest ; Harold's, on the Sussex downs, or 
 William's, by the Dive. At last, news was brought 
 that the Englishmen were disbanded, then the French- 
 men — as we begin to hear our Normans called, — the 
 Frenchmen begin to make ready for their expedition. 
 There may have been skirmishes by sea in the hot 
 weather, but it was not until early autumn that Wil- 
 liam gave orders to embark. There are different sto- 
 ries about the magnitude of the force. The defeated 
 party would have us believe that they were enor- 
 mously overpowered, and so set the numbers very 
 high ; the conquerors, on the other hand, insist that 
 they had not quantity so much as quality to serve 
 them in the fight, and that it was not the size of 
 their army but the valor of it that won the day. 
 We are told that there were six hundred and ninety- 
 
THE BATTLE OF HASTINGS. 
 
 297 
 
 six ships and fourteen thousand men ; we are told 
 also that there were more than three thousand ships 
 and sixty thousand men, all told ; and other accounts 
 range between these two extremes. 
 
 For a month the Norman army waited at the 
 mouth of the Dive for a south wind, but no south 
 wind blew, while an adverse storm scattered them 
 and strewed the shore with Norman bodies. At last, 
 
 NORMAN VESSEL. (FROM BAYEUX TAPESTRY.) 
 
 the duke took advantage of a westerly breeze and 
 set sail for St. Valery, off the coast of Ponthieu, from 
 whence he hoped to go more easily over to England. 
 At the famous abbey of St. Valery he was saying his 
 prayers and watching the weather-cocks for fifteen 
 days, and he and his captains made generous offer- 
 ings at the holy shrines. The monks came out at 
 last in solemn procession bearing their sacred relics, 
 and the Norman host knelt devoutly and did homage. 
 
298 THE STORY OF THE NORMANS. 
 
 At Caen, in June, the two great minsters had been 
 dedicated, and William and Matilda had given their 
 young daughter Cecily to the service of God, to- 
 gether with rich offerings of lands and money. 
 In their own churches, therefore, and at many an- 
 other Norman altar beside, prayer and praise never 
 ceased in those days while Harold was marching to 
 Stamford Bridge. 
 
 At last, on Wednesday, the twenty-seventh of 
 September, the wind went round to the southward, 
 and the great fleet sailed. The soldiers believed 
 that their prayers had been answered, and that they 
 were the favorites of heaven. They crowded on 
 board the transport-ships, and were heedless of every 
 thing save that they were not left behind, and had 
 their armor and weapons ready for use. The trum- 
 pets were playing, their voices cried loud above the 
 music that echoed back in eager strains from the 
 shore. The horsemen shouted at their horses, and 
 the open ships were plainer copies of the dragon- 
 ships of old ; they carried gayly dressed gentlemen, 
 and shining gonfanons, and thickets of glittering 
 spears. The shields were rich with heraldic blazon- 
 ing, and the golden ship, Mora, that the Duchess 
 Matilda had given to the duke, shone splendid on 
 the gray water, as just at evening William himself 
 set sail and turned the gilded figure of a boy blowing 
 an ivory trumpet, like some herald of certain vic- 
 tory, toward the shore of Kent. The Pope's sacred 
 banner was given to the welcome breeze, and WiK 
 liam's own standard, figured with the three lions of 
 Normandy, fluttered and spread itself wide. The 
 
THE BATTLE OF HASTINGS. 299 
 
 colored sails looked gay, the soldiers sang and 
 cheered, and away they went without a fear, these 
 blessed Normans of the year 1066. On the Mora's 
 masthead blazed a great lantern when the darkness 
 fell. It was a cloudy night. 
 
 In the early morning, the Mora being lighter-laden 
 than the rest, found herself alone on the sea, out of 
 sight of either land or ships, but presently the loiter- 
 ing forest of masts rose into view. At nine o'clock 
 William had landed at Pevensey on the Sussex 
 shore. As he set foot for the second time on Eng- 
 lish soil, he tripped and fell, and the bystanders 
 gave a woful groan at such a disastrous omen. " By 
 the splendor of God," cried the duke, in his favorite 
 oath, " I have taken seizin of my kingdom ; see the 
 earth of England in my two hands ! " at which ready 
 turn of wit a soldier pulled a handful of thatch from 
 a cottage roof and gave it to his master for a further 
 token of proprietorship. This also was seizin of all 
 that England herself embraced. 
 
 There was nobody to hinder the Normans from 
 landing or going where they pleased. At Pevensey 
 they stayed only one clay for lack of supplies, and 
 then set out eastward toward Hastings. In the 
 Bayeux tapestry, perhaps the most reliable authority 
 so far as it goes, there is an appealing bit of work 
 that pictures a burning house with a woman and 
 little child making their escape. The only places of 
 safety, we are told elsewhere, were the churchyards 
 and the churches. William's piety could hardly 
 let him destroy even an enemy's sacred places of 
 worship. 
 
300 THE STORY OF THE NORMANS. 
 
 The next few days were filled with uncertainty 
 and excited expectancy. Clearly there was no army 
 in the immediate neighborhood of Hastings; the 
 Normans had that part of the world to themselves 
 apparently, and hours and days went by leaving 
 them undisturbed. Many a voice urged that they 
 might march farther into the country, but their 
 wary leader possessed his soul in patience, and at 
 last came the news of the great battle in the north, 
 of Harold's occupation of York, and the terrible dis- 
 aster that had befallen the multitude of Harold 
 Hardrada and Tostig, with their allies. Now, too, 
 came a message to the duke from Norman Robert 
 the Staller, who had stood by the Confessor's death- 
 bed, and who kept a warm heart for the country of 
 his birth, though he had become a loyal Englishman 
 in his later years. Twenty thousand men have been 
 slain in the north, he sends word to William ; the 
 English were mad with pride and rejoicing. The 
 Normans were not strong enough nor many enough 
 to risk a battle ; they would be like dogs among 
 wolves, and would be worse than overthrown. But 
 William was scornful of such advice — he had come 
 to fight Harold, and he would meet him face to 
 face — he would risk the battle if he had only a sixth 
 part as many men as followed him, eager as himself 
 for his rights. 
 
 Harold had bestirred his feasting and idle army, 
 and held council of his captains at York. Normans 
 and French and the men of Brittany had landed at 
 Pevensey in numbers like the sand of the sea and 
 the stars of heaven. If only the south wind had 
 
302 THE STORY OF THE NORMANS. 
 
 blown before, so that he might have met these in- 
 vaders with his valiant army, too soon dispersed ! 
 To have beaten back William and then have marched 
 north to Stamford Bridge, that, indeed, would have 
 been a noble record. Now the Normans were burn- 
 ing and destroying unhindered in the south ; what 
 should be done ? And every captain-baron of the 
 English gave his word that he would call no man 
 king but Harold the son of Godwine ; and with little 
 rest from the battle just fought, they made ready to 
 march to London. They knew well enough what 
 this new invasion meant ; a prophetic dread filled 
 their hearts, for it was not alone out of loyalty to 
 Harold, but for love of England, that these men of 
 different speech and instincts must be pushed off 
 the soil to which they had no lawful claim. 
 
 The fame of the northern victory brought crowds 
 of recruits to the two banners, the Dragon of Wessex 
 and Harold's own standard, the Fighting Man, as 
 they were carried south again. Nothing succeeds 
 like success ; if Harold could conquer the great Har- 
 drada, it were surely not impossible to defeat the 
 Norman duke. So the thanes and churchmen alike 
 rallied to the Fighting Man. The earls of the north 
 half promised to follow, but they never kept their 
 word ; perhaps complete independence might follow 
 now their half-resented southern vassalage. At 
 least they did not mean to fight the battles of Wes- 
 sex until there was no chance for evasion. But while 
 Harold waited at London, men flocked together from 
 the west and south, and he spent some days in his 
 royal house at Westminster, heavy-hearted and full 
 
THE BATTLE OF HASTINGS. 3°3 
 
 of care in his great extremity. He was too good a 
 general, he had seen too much of the Norman sol- 
 diery already to underrate their prowess in battle ; 
 he shook his head gloomily when his officers spoke 
 with scorn of their foes. One day he went on a pil- 
 grimage to his own abbey at Waltham, and the 
 monks' records say that, while he prayed there be- 
 fore the altar and confessed his sins and vowed his 
 fealty to God, who reigns over all the kingdoms 
 of the earth ; while he lay face downward on the 
 sacred pavement, the figure of Christ upon the cross 
 bowed its head, as if to say again, " It is finished." 
 Thurkill, the sacristan, saw this miracle, and knew 
 that all hope must be put aside, and that Harold's 
 cause was already lost. 
 
 Next, the Norman duke sent a message to West- 
 minster by a monk from the abbey of Fecamp, and 
 there was parleying to and fro about Harold's and 
 William's rival claims to the English crown. It 
 was only a formal challenging and a final provocation 
 to the Englishmen to come and fight for their leader, 
 there where the invaders had securely entrenched and 
 established themselves. " Come and drive us home 
 if you dare, if you can ! " the Normans seemed to say 
 tauntingly, and Harold saw that he must make haste 
 lest the duke should be strengthened by reinforce- 
 ments or have time to make himself harder to dis- 
 lodge. William's demand that he should come down 
 from the throne had been put into insolent words, 
 and the Kentish people were being pitifully dis- 
 tressed and brought to beggary by the host of 
 foreigners. Yet Gyrth, the son of Godwine, begged 
 
304 THE STORY OF THE NORMANS. 
 
 his royal brother to stay in London ; to let him go 
 and fight the Normans; and the people begged Har- 
 old, at the last moment, to listen to such good 
 counsel. But Harold refused ; he could never play 
 coward's part, or let a man who loved him fight a 
 battle in his stead ; and so when six days were spent 
 he marched away to the fight where the two greatest 
 generals the world held must match their strength 
 one against the other, hand to hand. The King of 
 England had a famous kingdom to lose, the Duke 
 of Normandy had a famous kingdom to win. 
 
 On the night before the fourteenth of October, the 
 armies stood before each other near Hastings, on the 
 field of Senlac, now called Battle. They made their 
 camps hastily ; for hosts of them the rude shelters 
 were a last earthly dwelling-place and habitation of 
 earthly hopes or fears. Through the Norman en- 
 campment went bands of priests, and the Normans 
 prayed and confessed their sins. The Bishop of 
 Coutances and Duke William's half-brother Odo, 
 Bishop of Bayeux, both these high officials of the 
 Church were there to stay the hands of their parish- 
 ioners, and uphold the devout fighters in this cru- 
 sade. Odo made the soldiers promise that whoever 
 survived the morrow's battle would never again eat 
 meat on Saturday; by such petty means he hoped 
 to gain success at the hands of God who rules bat- 
 tles on a larger scope, and who, through the quarrels 
 and jealousies of men, brings slowly near the day 
 when justice shall be done on earth as it is in heaven. 
 They sang hymns; the watch-fires flickered and 
 faded ; the gray morning dawned, and there in the 
 
THE BATTLE OF HASTINGS. 
 
 305 
 
 dim light stood the English on a hillside that jutted 
 like a promontory into the marshy plain. A wood- 
 land lay behind them, as if the very trees of the Eng- 
 lish soil had mustered with the men ; in the thickest 
 of the ranks was Harold's 
 royal banner, the Fighting 
 Man, and Harold himself 
 stood close beside it with 
 his brothers. The awful 
 battle-axes, stained yet 
 with the blood of those 
 who died at Stamford 
 Bridge, were in every 
 man's hand, and every 
 man was sheltered by 
 his shield and kept si- 
 lence. The Normans 
 saw their foes stand wait- 
 ing all together shoulder 
 to shoulder, yet there was 
 silence — an awful stillness 
 in which to see so vast a 
 host of men, and yet not 
 hear them speak. The 
 English had feasted that 
 night, and sung their 
 songs, and told the story 
 of the northern fight. 
 
 How their battle-axes looked gray and cold as the 
 light dawned more and more ! The Normans knew 
 that they might feel the bitter edges and the cleaving 
 steel of them ere the day was spent. 
 
 A NORMAN MINSTREL. 
 
306 THE STORY OF THE NORM A MS. 
 
 Archers first, behind them the lancers, and behind 
 all, the horsemen ; so the Normans were placed, high- 
 hearted and bold with their great errand. To gain is 
 better than to keep ; by night this England might be 
 theirs in spite of the battle-axes. While the day 
 was yet young, Taillefer, the minstrel, went riding 
 boldly out from the ranks singing the song of Roland 
 and Charlemagne at Roncesvalles, tossing his sword 
 lightly and fast into the air and catching it deftly 
 as he galloped to the English lines. There sat the 
 duke on his horse that was a present from the king 
 of Spain. His most holy relics were hung about his 
 neck ; as he glanced from Taillefer along his army 
 front he could see the Cotentin men, led by Neal of 
 Saint Saviour, and his thoughts may have gone back 
 quickly to the battle of his early youth at Val-es- 
 dunes. What a mighty host had gathered at his 
 summons ! All his Norman enemies were his follow- 
 ers now ; he had won great championship, and if this 
 day's fortune did not turn against him, the favor of 
 the Holy Mother Church at Rome, the church of the 
 apostles and martyrs, was won indeed ; and no gift in 
 Christendom would be more proudly honored than 
 this kingdom of England made loyal to the papal 
 crown. William the Bastard, the dishonored, in- 
 sulted grandson of a Falaise tanner, — William, the 
 Duke of proud Normandy, at the head of a host, 
 knocking at the gates of England ; nay, let us set the 
 contrast wider yet, and show Rolf the Ganger, wet 
 by salt spray on the deck of his dragon-ship, steering 
 boldly southward, and William, Duke of the Nor- 
 mans, rich and great, a master of masters, and soon 
 
THE BATTLE OP HASTINGS. 30? 
 
 to be king of a wide and noble land, and winner 
 of a great battle, if the saints whom he worshipped 
 would fight upon his side. 
 
 Taillefer has killed his two men, and been killed 
 in his turn ; his song has ended, and his sword has 
 dropped from his hand. The Normans cry " Dex 
 aide ! Dex aide ! Ha Ron ! " and rush boldly up the 
 hill to Harold's palisades. The arrows flew in show- 
 ers, but the English stand solid and hew at the 
 horsemen and footmen from behind their shields. 
 Every man, even the king, was on foot ; they shouted 
 " Out ! out ! " as the Normans came near ; they cried 
 " God Almighty ! " and " Holy Cross ! " and at this 
 sound Harold must have sadly remembered how the 
 crucifix had bowed its head as he lay prone before 
 it. And the fight grew hotter and hotter, the Nor- 
 mans were beaten back, and returned again fiercely 
 to the charge, down the hill, now up the hill over 
 the palisades, like a pouring river of men, dealing 
 stinging sword-thrusts — dropping in clumsy heaps of 
 javelin-pricked and axe-smitten lifelessness ; from 
 swift, bright-eyed men becoming a bloody mass to 
 stumble over, or feebly crying for mercy at the feet 
 that trampled them ; so the fight went on. Harold 
 sent his captains to right and left, and William 
 matched his captains against them valiantly. The 
 Norman arrows were fallingblunted and harmless from 
 the English shields, and he told the archers to shoot 
 higher and aim so that the arrows might fall from 
 above into the Englishmen's faces. There was no 
 sound of guns or smoke of powder in that day, only 
 a fearful wrangling and chopping, and a whir of 
 
308 THE STORY OF THE NORMANS. 
 
 arrow and lance and twang of bowstring. Yes, and 
 a dolorous groaning as closer and closer the armies 
 grappled with each other, hand to hand. 
 
 Hour after hour the day spent itself, and the fight 
 would never be done. There was a cry that the 
 duke was dead, and he pulled off his helmet and hur- 
 ried along the lines to put new courage into his men. 
 The arrows were dropping like a deadly rain, the 
 axemen and lancers were twisted and twined together 
 like melted rock that burns and writhes its way 
 through widening crack and crevice. The hot 
 flood of Normans in chain-mail and pointed helmets 
 sweeps this way, and the English with their leathern 
 caps and their sturdy shoulders mailed like their 
 enemies, swinging their long-handled weapons, pour 
 back again, and so the day draws near its end, while 
 the races mix in symbolic fashion in the fight as they 
 must mix in government, in blood, in brotherhood, 
 and in ownership of England while England stands. 
 
 Harold has fallen, the gleaming banner of the 
 Fighting Man, with its golden thread and jewelry, is 
 stained with blood and mire. An arrow has gone 
 deep into the king's eye and brain ; he has fallen, 
 and his foes strike needless blows at his poor body, 
 lest so valiant a spirit cannot be quieted by simple 
 death. The English have lost the fight, there is a 
 cry that they are flying, and the Normans hear it and 
 gather their courage once more ; they rally and give 
 chase. All at once there is a shout that thrills them 
 through and through — a glorious moment when they 
 discover that the day is won. William the Bastard 
 is William the Conqueror, a sad word for many 
 
THE BATTLE OF HASTINGS. 
 
 309 
 
 English ears in days to come ; to us the sign of 
 great gain that was and is England's — of the further 
 advance of a kingdom already noble and strong. 
 The English are strongest, but the Normans are quick- 
 est. The battle has been given to Progress, and the 
 Norman, not the Saxon, had the right to lead the way. 
 
 But the field of 
 Senlac makes a sad 
 and sorry sight as the 
 light of the short Oc- 
 tober day is fading 
 and the pale stars 
 shine dimly through 
 the chilly mist that 
 gathers in from the 
 sea. It is not like 
 the bright Norman 
 weather ; the slow 
 breeze carries a faint, 
 heavy odor of fallen 
 leaves, and the very 
 birds give awesome 
 cries as they fly 
 over the battle-field. 
 There are many of 
 the victors who think 
 of the spoils of Eng- 
 land, but some better 
 men remember that 
 it is in truth a mighty 
 thing to have con- 
 quered such a country. What will it mean in very 
 truth that England is theirs ? 
 
 SOLDIER IN CLOAK. 
 
3IO THE STORY OF THE NORMANS. 
 
 Later, William the Conqueror and his knights am 
 resting and feasting and bragging of their deeds, 
 there where Harold's standards were overthrown and 
 the banner of the Three Lions of Normandy waves in 
 the cool night wind. The living men look like 
 butchers from the shambles, and the dead lie in 
 heavy heaps ; here and there a white face catches a 
 ray of light and appeals for pity in its dumb loneli- 
 ness. There are groans growing ever fainter, and 
 cries for help now and then, from a soldier whose 
 wits have come back to him, though he lay stunned 
 and maimed among those who are forever silent. 
 There go weeping men and women with litters — they 
 cannot find the king, and they must lead the woman 
 who loved him best of all the earth, Edith the Swan- 
 throated, through this terrible harvest-field to dis- 
 cover his wounded body among the heaps of slain. 
 He must be buried on the sea-shore, the Norman 
 duke gives command to William Malet, and so guard 
 forever the coast he tried to defend. 
 
 The heralds of victory set sail exultantly across 
 the brown water of the Channel ; the messengers of 
 defeat go mourning to London and through the sor- 
 rowful English towns. Harold the son of Godwine, 
 and his brother, Gyrth the Good — yes, and the flower 
 of all Southern England ; no man of Harold's own 
 noble following lived to tell the story and to bewail 
 this great defeat. There were some who lived to 
 talk about it in after days ; — and there was one good 
 joy in saying that as the Normans pursued them 
 after the day was lost, they hid in ambush in the 
 fens and routed their pursuers with deadly, unex- 
 
THE BATTLE OF HASTINGS. 31 1 
 
 pected blows. But the country side looked on with 
 dismay while William fought his way to London, 
 not without much toil and opposition, but at last the 
 humbled earldoms willingly or unwillingly received 
 their new lord. Since Eadgar the underwitted Athel- 
 ing was not fit for the throne, and the house of God- 
 wine had fallen, William the Norman was made mon- 
 arch of England, and there was a king-crowning in 
 Westminster at Christmas-tide. 
 
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 XVI. 
 
 WILLIAM THE CONQUEROR. 
 
 " Then in his house of wood with flaxen sails 
 She floats, a queen, across the fateful seas." 
 
 —A. F. 
 
 RATHER than follow in detail the twenty-one 
 years of William's English reign, we must content 
 ourselves with a glance at the main features of it. 
 We cannot too often remind ourselves of the re- 
 semblance between the life and growth of a nation 
 and the life and growth of an individual; but while 
 William the Conqueror is in so many ways typical of 
 Normandy, and it is most interesting to follow his 
 personal fortunes, there are many developments of 
 Norman character in general which we must not 
 overlook. William was about forty years old when 
 the battle of Hastings was fought and won ; Nor- 
 mandy, too, was in her best vigor and full develop- 
 ment of strength. The years of decadence must 
 soon begin for both ; the time was not far distant 
 when the story of Normandy ends, and it is only in 
 the history of France and of England that the 
 familiar Norman characteristics can be traced. Fore- 
 most in vitalizing force and power of centralization 
 and individuality, while so much of Europe was un- 
 
WILLIAM THE CONQUEROR. 313 
 
 settled and misdirected toward petty ends, this 
 duchy of Rolf the Ganger seems, in later years, like 
 a wild-flower that has scattered its seed to every 
 wind, and plants for unceasing harvests, but must 
 die itself in the first frost of outward assailment 
 and inward weakness. 
 
 The march to London had been any thing but a 
 triumphant progress, and the subjects of the new 
 king were very sullen and vindictive. England was 
 disheartened, her pride was humbled to the dust, and 
 many of her leaders had fallen. In the dark winter 
 weather there was sorrow and murmuring ; the later 
 law of the curfew bell, a most wise police regulation, 
 made the whole country a prison. 
 
 A great deal of harrying had been thought neces- 
 sary before the people were ready to come to William 
 and ask him to accept the crown. William had a 
 great gift for biding his time, and in the end the 
 crown was proffered, not demanded. We learn that 
 the folk thought better of their conqueror at last, 
 that Cnut was remembered kindly, and the word 
 went from mouth to mouth that England might do 
 worse than take this famous Christian prince to rule 
 over her. Harold had appealed to heaven when 
 the fight began at Senlac, but heaven had given the 
 victory to other hands. The northern earls had for- 
 saken them, and at any rate the Norman devasta- 
 tions must be stopped. If William would do for 
 England what he had done for his own duchy and 
 make it feared for valor and respected for its pros- 
 perity like Normandy, who could ask more? So the 
 
3 14 THE STORY OF THE NORMANS. 
 
 duke called a formal council of his high noblemen 
 and, after careful consideration, made known his 
 acceptance ! There was a strange scene at the coro- 
 nation in Westminster. Norman horsemen guarded 
 the neighboring streets, a great crowd of spectators 
 filled the church, and when the question was put to 
 this crowd, whether they would accept William for 
 their king, there was an eager shout of "Yea! yea! 
 King William ! " Perhaps the Normans had never 
 heard such a noisy outcry at a solemn service. 
 Again the shout was heard, this time the same ques- 
 tion had been repeated in the French tongue, and 
 again the answer was " Yea ! yea ! " 
 
 The guards outside thought there was some 
 treachery within, and feared that harm might come to 
 their leader, so, by way of antidote or revenge, they 
 set fire to the buildings near the minster walls. Out 
 rushed the congregation to save their goods or, it 
 might be, their lives, while the ceremony went on 
 within, and the duke himself trembled with appre- 
 hension as he took the solemn oath of an English 
 king, to do justice and mercy to all his people. 
 There was a new crown to be put on, — what had be- 
 come of the Confessor's ? — but at last the rite was 
 finished and William, king of the English, with his 
 priests and knights, came out to find a scene of ruin 
 and disorder; it was all strangely typical — the make- 
 shift splendors, the new order of church and state, 
 the burning hatred and suspicions of that Christmas- 
 tide. Peace on earth, good-will to men ! alas, it was 
 any thing but that in the later years of William's 
 reign. 
 
WILLIAM THE CONQUEROR. 31 5 
 
 No doubt he built high hopes and made deep 
 plans for good governance and England's glory. He 
 had tamed Normandy to his guiding as one tames a 
 wild and fiery horse, and there seemed to be no 
 reason why he could not tame England. In the be- 
 ginning he attempted to prove himself lenient and 
 kind, but such efforts failed ; it was too plain that 
 the Normans had captured England and meant to 
 enjoy the spoils. The estates belonging to the 
 dead thanes and ealdormen, who fought with Harold, 
 were confiscated and divided among the Normans: 
 this was the fortune of war, but it was a bitter 
 grievance and injustice. O, for another Godwine! 
 cried many a man and woman in those days. O, 
 for another Godwine to swoop down upon these 
 foreign vultures who are tearing at England's heart ! 
 But even in the Confessor's time there was little 
 security for private property. We have even seen 
 the Confessor's own wife banished from his side 
 without the rich dowry she had brought him, and 
 Godwine's estates had been seized and refunded again, 
 as had many another man's in the reign of that pious 
 king whom everybody was ready to canonize and 
 deplore. 
 
 After the king had given orders to his army 
 to stop plundering and burning, there was a good 
 deal of irregular depredation for which he was hardly 
 responsible. He was really king of a very small part 
 of England. The army must not be disbanded, it 
 must be kept together for possible defence, but the 
 presence of such a body of rapacious men, who 
 needed food and lodging, and who were not content 
 
316 THE STORY OF THE NORMANS. 
 
 unless they had some personal gain from the rich 
 country they had helped to win, could not help 
 being disastrous. Yet there is one certain thing- 1 - 
 the duke meant to be master of his new possessions, 
 and could use Englishmen to keep his Norman fol- 
 lowers in check, while he could indulge his own 
 countrymen in their love of power and aggrandize- 
 ment at England's expense. There are touching 
 pictures of his royal progress through the country in 
 the early part of his reign ; the widows of thanes 
 and the best of the churls would come out with their 
 little children, to crave mercy and the restitution of 
 even a small part of their old estates to save them 
 from beggary. Poor women ! it was upon them that 
 the heaviest burden fell ; the women of a war-stricken 
 country suffer by far the most from change and 
 loss ; not the heroes who die in battle, or the 
 heroes who live to tell the story of the fight, and 
 who have been either victors or vanquished. Men 
 are more reasonable ; they have had the recompense 
 of taking part in the struggle. If they have been in 
 the wrong or in the right, great truths have come 
 home to them as they stood sword in hand. 
 
 The Norman barons, who had followed their 
 leader beyond the Channel, had been won by prom- 
 ises, and these promises must be kept. They were 
 made rich with the conquered lands, and given 
 authority, one would think, to their heart's content. 
 They were made the king's magistrates and counsel- 
 lors, and as years went by there was more and more 
 resentment of all this on the part of the English. 
 They hated their Norman lords ; they hated the 
 
WILLIAM THE CONQUEROR. 317 
 
 taxes which the king claimed. The strong point of 
 the Saxon civilization was local self-government and 
 self-dependence ; but the weak point was the lack of 
 unity and want of proper centralization and superin- 
 tendence. William was wise in overcoming this ; 
 instead of giving feudalism its full sway and making 
 his Norman barons petty monarchs with right of 
 coinage and full authority over their own dominion, 
 he claimed the homage and loyalty, the absolute 
 allegiance of his subjects. But for his foresight in 
 making such laws, England might have been such 
 a kingdom as Charles the Simple's or Hugh Capet's, 
 and hampered with feudal lords greater than their 
 monarch in every thing but name. 
 
 In England, at last, every man held his land 
 directly from the king and was responsible to him. 
 The Witanagemot was continued, but turned into 
 a sort of feudal court in which the officials of the 
 kingdom, the feudal lords, had places. The Witan 
 became continually a smaller body of men, who were 
 joined with those officers of the royal power higher 
 than they. It must be remembered that the Con- 
 queror did not make his claim to the throne because 
 he had won his right by the sword. He always 
 insisted that he was the lawful successor to 
 Eadward, and the name of Harold the Usurper 
 was omitted from the list of English kings. Follow- 
 ing this belief or pretence he was always careful 
 to respect the nationality of the country, and made 
 himself as nearly as possible an Englishman. His 
 plans for supplanting the weakness and insularity of 
 many English institutions by certain Continental 
 
318 THE STORY OF THE NORMANS. 
 
 fashions, wrought a tremendous change, and put the 
 undeveloped and self-centred kingdom that he had 
 won, on a footing with other European powers. The 
 very taxes which were wrung from the unwilling 
 citizens, no doubt, forced them to wider enterprise 
 and the expansion of their powers of resource. Much 
 of England's later growth has sprung from seed 
 that was planted in these years — this early spring' 
 time of her prosperity, when William's stern hands 
 swept from field and forest the vestiges of earlier 
 harvests, and cleared the garden grounds into leafless 
 deserts, only to make them ready for future crops. 
 
 The very lowest classes were more fortunate under 
 William's rule than they had been in earlier times. 
 Their rights and liberties were extended, and they 
 could claim legal defence against the tyrannies of 
 their masters. But the upper ranks of people were 
 much more dissatisfied and unhappy. The spirit of 
 the laws was changed ; the language of the court 
 was a foreign language ; and the modified feudalism 
 of the king put foreigners in all high places, who 
 could hold the confiscated estates, and laugh at the 
 former masters now made poor and resourceless. 
 The folk-land had become Terra Regis ; England 
 was only a part of Normandy, and the king was 
 often away, busier with the affairs of his duchy 
 than of his kingdom. Yet, as had often happened 
 before in this growing nation's lifetime, a sure process 
 of amalgamation was going on, and though the fire 
 of discontent was burning hot, the gold that was 
 England's and the gold that was Normandy's were 
 being melted together and growing into a greater 
 
WILLIAM THE CONQUEROR. Z l 9 
 
 treasure than either had been alone. We can best 
 understand the individuality and vital force of the 
 Norman people by seeing the difference their coming 
 to England has made in the English character. We 
 cannot remind ourselves of this too often. The 
 Norman of the Conqueror's day was already a man 
 of the world. The hindering conditions of English 
 life were localism and lack of unity. We can see al- 
 most a tribal aspect in the jealousies of the earldoms, 
 the lack of sympathy or brotherhood between the 
 different quarters of the island. William's earls were 
 only set over single shires, and the growth of inde- 
 pendence was rendered impossible ; and his greatest 
 benefaction to his new domain was a thoroughly or- 
 ganized system of law. As we linger over the ac- 
 counts of his reign, harsh and cruel and unlovable 
 as he appears, it is rather the cruelty of the surgeon 
 than of a torturer or of a cut-throat. The presence 
 of the Normans among the nations of the earth must 
 have seemed particularly irritating and inflammatory, 
 but we can understand, now that so many centuries 
 have smoothed away the scars they left, that the 
 stimulus of their energy and their hot ambition 
 helped the rest of the world to take many steps 
 forward. 
 
 While we account for the deeds of the fighting 
 Normans, and their later effects, we must not forget 
 their praying brethren who stood side by side with 
 them, lording it over the English lands and reaching 
 out willing hands for part of the spoils. We must 
 thank them for their piety and their scholarship, and 
 for the great churches they founded, even while we 
 
320 THE STORY OF THE NORMANS. 
 
 laugh at the greed and wordliness under their monk- 
 ish cloaks. Lanfranc was made bishop of Canter- 
 bury, and wherever the Conqueror's standard was 
 planted, wherever he gained foothold, as the tide of 
 his military rule ebbed and flowed, he planted 
 churches and monasteries. Especially he watched 
 over his high-towered Battle Abbey, which marked 
 the spot where the banner of the Fighting Man was 
 defeated and the banner of the Three Lions of 
 Normandy was set up in its place. 
 
 Before we go further we must follow the king back 
 to his duchy in the spring after that first winter in 
 England. Three Englishmen were chosen to attend 
 his royal highness, and although they might easily 
 guess that there was something more than mere 
 compliment in this flattering invitation, these 
 northern earls, Eadwine, Morkere, and Waltheof 
 (the Bear's great-grandson), were not anxious to 
 hurry forward the open quarrel which William him- 
 self was anxious to avoid. Nothing could have been 
 more unsafe in the unsettled condition of England 
 than to have left these unruly leaders to plot and 
 connive during his absence ; besides, it would be a 
 good thing to show such rough islanders the splen- 
 dours of the Norman court. 
 
 The Norman chroniclers are not often willing to 
 admit that England was in any respect equal to 
 their own duchy, but when they have to describe 
 William's triumphant return, they forget their pru- 
 dence and give glowing accounts of the treasure of 
 gold and silver that he brings with him, and even 
 the magnificent embroideries, tapestries and hang- 
 
WILLIAM THE CONQUEROR. 321 
 
 ings, and clerical vestments, — though they have so 
 lately tried to impress upon their readers that heath- 
 en squalor of social life across the Channel which 
 the Christian had sought to remedy. Church after 
 church was richly endowed with these spoils, and 
 the Conqueror's own Church of St. Stephen at Caen 
 fared best of all. Beside the English wealth we 
 must not forget the goods of Harold Hardrada, 
 which had been brought with such mistaken confi- 
 dence for the plenishing of his desired kingdom. 
 There is a tradition of a mighty ingot of gold won 
 in his Eastern adventures, so great that twelve 
 strong youths could scarcely carry it. Eadwine and 
 Morkere of Northumberland must have looked at 
 that with regretful eyes. 
 
 Whatever the English prejudice might have 
 been, the Normans had every reason to be proud 
 of their seventh duke. He had advanced their for- 
 tunes in most amazing fashion, and they were proud 
 of him indeed on the day when he again set his 
 foot on Norman ground. The time of year was 
 Lent. Spring was not yet come, but it might have 
 been a summer festival, if one judged by the way 
 that the people crowded from the farthest boundaries 
 of the country to the towns through which William 
 was to pass. It was like the glorious holidays of 
 the Roman Empire. The grateful peasants fought 
 and pushed for a sight of their leader. The world is 
 never slow to do honor to its great soldiers and con- 
 querors. The duke met his wife at Rouen, and that 
 was the best moment of all ; Matilda had ruled 
 Normandy wisely and ably during his five or six 
 
322 THE STORY OF THE NORMANS. 
 
 months' absence, with old Roger de Beaumont for 
 her chief counsellor. 
 
 The royal procession trailed its gorgeous length 
 from church to church and from city to city about 
 the duchy ; the spoils of England seemed inex- 
 haustible to the wondering spectators, and those who 
 had made excuse to lag behind when their bows and 
 lances were needed, were ready enough now to clutch 
 their hands greedily in their empty pockets and fol- 
 low their valiant countrymen. William himself was 
 not slow in letting the value of his new domain be 
 known ; the more men the better in that England 
 which might be a slippery prize to hold. He had 
 many a secret conference with Lanfranc, who had 
 been chief adviser and upholder of the invasion. 
 The priest-statesman seems almost a greater man 
 than the soldier-statesman ; many a famous deed of 
 that age was Lanfranc's suggestion, but nobody 
 knew better than these two that the conquest of 
 England was hardly more than begun, and long and 
 deep their councils must have been when the noise 
 of shouting in the streets had ended, and the stars 
 were shining above Caen. 
 
 No city of Normandy seems more closely con- 
 nected with those days than Caen. As one walks 
 along its streets, beneath the high church towers and 
 gabled roofs of the houses, it is easy to fancy that 
 more famous elder generation of Normans alive 
 again, to people Caen with knights and priests and 
 minstrels of that earlier day. The Duchess Matilda 
 might be alive yet and busy with her abbey church 
 of Holy Trinity and her favorite household of nuns; 
 
WILLIAM THE CONQUEROR. 323 
 
 the people shout her praises admiringly, and gaze at 
 her lovingly as she passes through the street with 
 her troop of attendants. Caen is prosperous and gay. 
 " Large, strong, full of draperies and all sorts of 
 merchandise ; rich citizens, noble dames, damsels, 
 and fine churches," says Froissart years afterwards. 
 Even this very year one is tempted to believe that 
 one sees the same fields and gardens, the same 
 houses, and hears the same bells that William the 
 Conqueror saw and heard in that summer after he 
 had become king of England. 
 
 And in Bayeux, too, great portions of the ancient 
 city still remain. There where the Northmen made 
 their chief habitation, or in Rouen or Falaise, we can 
 almost make history come to life. Perhaps the great 
 tapestry was begun that very summer in Bayeux ; 
 perhaps the company of English guests, some of 
 those noble dames well-skilled in " English work " 
 of crewel and canvas, were enticed by Bishop Odo 
 into beginning that " document in worsted " which 
 more than any thing else has preserved the true his- 
 tory of the Conquest of England. Odo meant to 
 adorn his new church with it, and to preserve the 
 account of his own part in the great battle and its 
 preliminaries, with the story of Harold's oath and 
 disloyalty, and William's right to the crown. There 
 is an Italian fashion of drawing in it — the figures are 
 hardly like Englishmen or Normans in the way they 
 stand or make gestures to each other in the rude 
 pictures. Later history has associated the working 
 of these more than fifteen hundred figures with 
 Matilda and her maidens, as a tribute to the Con- 
 
324 THE STORY OF THE NORMANS. 
 
 queror's valor, but there are many evidences to the 
 contrary. The old idea that the duchess and her 
 women worked at the tapestry, and said their 
 prayers while the army had gone to England, seems 
 improbable the more one studies the work itself. 
 Yet tradition sometimes keeps the grain of truth in 
 its accumulation of chaff. There is no early record 
 of it, and its historical value was rediscovered only 
 in 1724 by a French antiquary. The bright worsteds 
 of it still keep their colors on the twenty-inches wide 
 strip of linen, more than two hundred feet in length. 
 Odo is said to have given it to his chapter at 
 Bayeux, and it has suffered astonishingly little from 
 the ravages of time. 
 
 But we must return to Norman affairs in England. 
 Odo himself and William Fitz-Osbern had been 
 made earls of the Counties Palatine of Kent and 
 Hereford, and were put in command in William's 
 absence. The rapacity of these Norman gentlemen 
 was more than their new subjects could bear. The 
 bishop at least is pretty certain to have covered his 
 own greedy injustice by a plea that he was following 
 out the king's orders. Revolt after revolt troubled 
 the peace of England. Harold's two sons were 
 ready to make war from their vantage-ground in 
 Ireland ; the Danes and Scots were also conspiring 
 against the new lord of the English. At last some 
 of the Normans themselves were traitorous and 
 troublesome, but William was fully equal to such 
 minor emergencies as these. He went back to Eng- 
 land late in 1067, after spending the summer and 
 autumn in Normandy, and soon found himself busy 
 
WILLIAM THE CONQUEROR. 
 
 325 
 
 enough in the snarl of revolt and disagreement. One 
 trouble followed another as the winter wore away, 
 The siege of Exeter was the most conspicuous event. 
 but here too William was conqueror, and South- 
 western England was forced to submit to his rule. 
 At Easter-tide a stately embassy was sent to bring 
 over the Duchess Matilda from Normandy, and when 
 it returned she was hallowed as Queen by Ealdred 
 
 DEATH OF HAROLD. BAYEUX TAPESTRY. 
 
 the archbishop. Let us hope that, surrounded by 
 her own kindred and people, she did not see the sor- 
 rowful English faces of those women who had lost 
 husband and home together, and who had been bereft 
 of all their treasures that strangers might be enriched. 
 There is a curious tradition that a little while after 
 this, much woe was wrought because those other Nor- 
 man ladies, whose lords had come over to England to 
 
326 
 
 THE STORY OF THE NORMANS. 
 
 fight and remained to plunder, refused to join them, 
 because they were not fond of the sea, and thought 
 that they were not likely to find better fare and 
 lodging. Very likely the queen's residence in her 
 
 new possessions had 
 a good effect, but 
 some of the Norman 
 men were obliged to 
 return altogether, 
 their wives having 
 threatened to find 
 new partners if they 
 were left alone any 
 longer. It may have 
 been an excuse or a 
 jest, because so many 
 naturally desired to- 
 see their own coun- 
 try again. 
 
 Both Saxons and 
 Normans paid great 
 deference to the in- 
 stinctive opinions ol 
 women. When such 
 serious matters as go- 
 ing to war were before 
 them, a woman's unreasoning prejudice or favor of 
 the enterprise was often taken into account. They 
 seem to have almost taken the place of the ancient 
 auguries! However, it is not pleasant to feminine 
 conceit to be told directly that great respect was also 
 paid to the neighing of horses ! 
 
 NORMAN LADY. COTTON MSS. 
 
WILLIAM THE CONQUEROR. 327 
 
 Henry, the king's youngest son, was born not 
 long after the queen's arrival, and born too in 
 Northern England the latest and hardest won at that 
 time of the out-lying provinces. The very name that 
 was given to the child shows a desire for some degree 
 of identification with new interests. William and 
 Matilda certainly had England's welfare at heart, for 
 England's welfare was directly or indirectly their own, 
 and this name was a sign of recognition of the here- 
 ditary alliance with Germany ; with the reigning king 
 and his more famous father. There is nothing more 
 striking than the traditional slander and prejudice 
 which history preserves from age to age. Seen by 
 clearer light, many reported injustices are explained 
 away. If there was in England then, any thing like the 
 present difficulty of influencing public opinion to quick 
 foresight and new decisions, the Conqueror and Bald- 
 win of Flanders' daughter had any thing but an easy 
 path to tread. Selfish they both may have been, and 
 bigoted and even cruel, but they represented a better 
 degree of social refinement and education and enlight- 
 enment. Progress was really what the English of 
 that day bewailed and set their faces against, though 
 they did not know it. William and Matilda had to 
 insist upon the putting aside of worn-out opinions, 
 and on coming to England had made the strange 
 discovery that they must either take a long step 
 backward or force their subjects forward. They 
 were not conscious reformers ; they were not in- 
 fallibly wise missionaries of new truth, who tried ac- 
 tually to give these belated souls a wider outlook 
 upon life, but let us stop to recognize the fact that no 
 
328 THE STORY OF THE NORMANS. 
 
 task is more thankless than his who is trying to go in 
 advance of his time. Men have been burnt and hanged 
 and disgraced and sneered at for no greater crime ; in 
 fact, there is nothing that average humanity so much 
 resents as the power to look ahead and to warn others 
 of pitfalls into which ignorant shortsightedness is 
 likely to tumble. Nothing has been so resented and 
 assailed as the thorough survey of England, and the 
 record of its lands and resources in the Domesday 
 Book. Yet nothing was so necessary for any sort of 
 good government and steady oversight of the na- 
 tion's affairs. We only wonder now that it was not 
 made sooner. The machinery of government was of 
 necessity much ruder then. No doubt William's tyr- 
 anny swept its course to and fro like some Jugger- 
 naut car regardless of its victims, yet for England a 
 unified and concentrated force of government was 
 the one thing to be insisted, upon ; Harold and his 
 rival earls might have been hindering, ineffectual 
 rulers of the country's divided strength and jealous 
 partisanship. 
 
 Yet the future right direction and prosperity of 
 England was poor consolation to the aching hearts 
 of the women of that time, or the landless lords who 
 had to stand by and see new masters of the soil take 
 their places. What was won by William's sword 
 must be held by his sword, and the more sullen and 
 rebellious the English grew, the more heavily they 
 were taxed and the faster the land was rid of them. 
 They were chased into the fens, and pursued with 
 fire and bloodshed. " England was made a great 
 grave," says Dickens, " and men and beasts lay dead 
 
WILLIAM THE CONQUEROR. 
 
 329 
 
 together." The immediate result of the Conqueror's 
 rule was like fire and plough and harrow in a piece 
 of new land. 
 
 It was a sad and tiresome lifetime, that of the 
 Conqueror ; just or unjust toward his new sub- 
 jects, they hated him bitterly ; his far-sighted plans 
 for the country's growth and development gave as 
 
 BATTLE AXES. BAYEUX TAPESTRY. 
 
 much displeasure as the smallest of his personal 
 prejudices or selfish whims. Every man's hand was 
 against him, and hardly an eye but flashed angrily at 
 the sight of the king. Eadward the Confessor, pious 
 ascetic, and relic-worshipper, had loved the chase as 
 well as this warlike successor of his ever loved it, 
 and had been very careful of his royal hunting- 
 
330 THE STORY OF THE NORMANS. 
 
 grounds, but nobody raised an outcry against his un- 
 saintly love of slaughtering defenceless wild crea- 
 tures, or thought him the less a meek and gentle 
 soul, beloved by angels and taught by them in 
 visions. But ever since, the Conqueror's love of 
 hunting has been an accusation against him as if he 
 were the only man guilty of it, and his confiscation 
 of the Hampshire lands to make new forest seemed 
 the last stroke that could be borne. The peasants' 
 cottages were swept away and the land laid waste. 
 Norman was master and Englishman was servant. 
 The royal train of horses and dogs and merry hunts- 
 men in gay apparel clattered through the wood, and 
 from hiding-places under the fern men watched them 
 and muttered curses upon their cruel heads. There 
 were already sixty-eight royal forests in different 
 parts of the kingdom before New Forest was begun. 
 Everybody thought that England had never seen 
 such dark days, but so everybody thought when the 
 Angles and Saxons and Jutes came, and even so 
 vigorous a pruning and digging at the roots as this 
 made England grow the better. 
 
 Large tracts of the hunting-grounds had been un- 
 fit for human habitation, and it was better to leave 
 them to the hares and deer. Wide regions of the 
 country, too, were occupied by the lowest class of 
 humanity, who lived almost in beastly fashion, with- 
 out chance of enlightenment or uplifting. They 
 were outlaws of the worst sort who could not be 
 brought into decent order or relationship with re- 
 spectable society, and it was better for these to be 
 chased from their lairs and forced to accept the com- 
 
WILLIAM THE CONQUEROR. 33 1 
 
 panionship of townsfolk. With these, however, there 
 were many who suffered undeserved. Among the 
 rank weeds of England there were plucked many 
 blooming things and useful growths of simple, long- 
 established home-life and domestic affection. When 
 fire was leaping high at the city gates it is impossible 
 not to regret its enmity against dear and noble 
 structures of the past, even though it cleared the 
 way for loftier minsters and fairer dwelling-places. 
 In criticising and resenting such a reign as William 
 the Norman's over England, we must avoid a danger 
 of not seeing the hand of God in it, and the evi- 
 dences of an overruling Providence, which works in 
 and through the works of men and sees the end of 
 things from the beginning as men cannot. There 
 may be overstatement in William of Malmesbury's 
 account of the bad condition of the country at the 
 time of the Conquest, but the outlines of it cannot 
 be far from right. " In process of time," he says, 
 " the desire after literature and religion had decayed 
 for several years before the arrival of the Normans. 
 The clergy, contented with a very slight degree of 
 learning, could scarcely stammer out the words of 
 the sacraments, and a person who understood gram- 
 mar was an object of wonder and astonishment. The 
 nobility were given up to luxury and wantonness. 
 The commonalty, left unprotected, became a prey 
 to the most powerful, who amassed fortunes by either 
 seizing on their property or selling their persons into 
 foreign countries ; although it be an innate quality 
 of this people to be more inclined to revelling than 
 to the accumulation of wealth. Drinking was a uni- 
 
33^ THE STORY OF THE NORMA NS. 
 
 versal practice, in which they passed whole nights, as 
 well as days. They consumed their whole substance 
 in mean, despicable houses, unlike Normans and 
 French, who, in noble and splendid mansions, lived 
 with frugality." " There cannot be a doubt," says 
 Mr. Bruce in his interesting book about the Bayeux 
 tapestry, " that by the introduction of the refine- 
 ments of life the condition of the people was im- 
 proved, and that a check was given to the grosser 
 sensualities of our nature. Certain it is that learning 
 received a powerful stimulus by the Conquest. At 
 the period of the Norman invasion a great intellectual 
 movement had commenced in the schools on the 
 Continent. Normandy had beyond most other parts 
 profited by it. William brought with him to Eng- 
 land some of the most distinguished ornaments of 
 the school of his native duchy ; the consequence of 
 this was that England henceforward took a higher 
 walk in literature than she had ever done before." 
 One great step was the freeing of the lower classes; 
 there was one rank of serfs, the churls, who were at- 
 tached to the land, and were transferred with it, 
 without any power of choosing their employer or 
 taking any steps to improve their condition. Another 
 large class, the thews, were the absolute property of 
 their owners. William's law that every slave who 
 had lived unchallenged a year and a day in any city 
 or walled town in the kingdom should be free for- 
 ever, was, indeed, "a door of hope to many," besides 
 the actual good effects of town life, the natural 
 rivalry and promotion of knowledge, the stimulus 
 given to the cultivation and refinements of social 
 
WILLIAM THE CONQUEROR. 333 
 
 life. He protected the early growth of a public 
 sentiment, which was finally strong enough to ven- 
 ture to assert its rights and to claim recognition. 
 He relentlessly overthrew the flourishing slave-trade 
 of the town of Bristol and no doubt made many 
 enemies by such an act. 
 
 Whatever may have been the king's better nature 
 and earlier purposes in regard to his kingdom and 
 duchy, as he grew older one finds his reputation 
 growing steadily worse. He must have found the 
 ruling of men a thankless task, and he apparently 
 cared less and less to soften or control the harsh- 
 ness of his underrulers and officers. His domestic 
 relations had always been a bright spot in his stern, 
 hard life, but at length even his beloved wife Matilda 
 no longer held him first, and grieved him by favoring 
 their troublesome son Robert, who was her darling 
 of all their children. Robert and his mother had been 
 the nominal governors of Normandy when he was 
 still a child and his father was away in England. 
 They seem to have been in league ever afterward, 
 for when Robert grew up he demanded Normandy 
 outright, which made his father angry, and the instant 
 refusal provoked Master Curt-hose to such an extent 
 that he went about from court to court in Europe 
 bewailing the injustice that had been shown him. 
 He was very fond of music and dancing, and spent a 
 great deal of money, which the queen appears to 
 have been always ready to send him. He was gifted 
 with a power of making people fond of him, though 
 he was not good for very much else. 
 
 After a while William discovered that there was a 
 
334 THE STORY OF THE NORMANS. 
 
 secret messenger who carried forbidden supplies to 
 the rebellious prince, and the messenger happily had 
 time to betake himself to a convenient convent and 
 put on the dress and give, let us hope, heart-felt 
 vows of monkhood. This is what Orderic Vitalis 
 reports of a meeting between the king and queen : 
 " Who in the world," sighs the king, " can expect to 
 find a faithful and devoted wife ? The woman whom 
 I loved in my soul, and to whom I entrusted my 
 kingdom and my treasures, supports my enemies; 
 she enriches them with my property ; she secretly 
 arms them against my honor — perhaps my life." 
 And Matilda answered : " Do not be surprised, I 
 pray you, because I love my eldest born. Were 
 Robert dead and seven feet below the sod, and my 
 blood could raise him to life, it should surely flow. 
 How can I take pleasure in luxury when my son is 
 in want ? Far from my heart be such hardness ! 
 Your power cannot deaden the love of a mother's 
 heart." The king did not punish the queen, we are 
 assured gravely ; and Robert quarrelled with his 
 brothers, and defied his father, and won his mother's 
 sympathy and forbearance to the end. He found 
 the king of France ready to uphold his cause by 
 reason of the old jealousy of William's power, and 
 while he was ensconced in the castle of Gerberoi, 
 and sallying out at his convenience to harry the 
 country, William marched to attack him, and the 
 father and son fought hand to hand without know- 
 ing each other until the king was thrown from his 
 horse. Whereupon Robert professed great contri- 
 tion, and some time afterward, the barons having 
 
WILLIAM THE CONQUEROR. 335 
 
 interceded and Matilda having prayed and wept, 
 William consented to a reconciliation, and even 
 made his son his lieutenant over Normandy and 
 Brittany. 
 
 In 1083 the queen died, and there was nobody to 
 lift a voice against her prudence and rare virtue, or 
 her simple piety. There was no better woman in any 
 convent cell of Normandy, than the woman who had 
 borne the heavy weight of the Norman crown, and 
 who had finished the sor- 
 ry task as best she could, 
 of reigning over an alien, 
 conquered people. The 
 king's sorrow was piteous 
 to behold, and not long 
 afterward their second 
 son, Richard, was killed in 
 the New Forest, a place 
 of misfortune to the royal „_^| 
 household. Another 
 trouble quickly followed, JL 
 which not only hurt the — "^ 
 king's feelings, but made ^~ -~ 
 him desperately angry. 
 
 1T7-11- u J t. ODO, BISHOP OF BAYEUX. 
 
 William had been very 
 kind to all his kinsfolk on his mother's side, and 
 especially to his half-brother, Odo, the Bishop of 
 Bayeux. He had loaded him with honors, and 
 given him, long ago, vice-regal authority in England. 
 Even this was not enough for such an aspiring ec- 
 clesiastic, and, under the pretence of gathering tax- 
 money (no doubt insisting that it was to serve 
 
33^ THE STORY OF THE NORMANS. 
 
 the miserliness and greed of the king), he carried 
 on a flourishing system of plundering. After a 
 while it was discovered that he had an ambition 
 to make himself Pope of Rome, and was using 
 his money for bribing cardinals and ingratiating 
 himself with the Italian nobles. He bought himself 
 a palace in Rome and furnished it magnificently, 
 and began to fit out a fleet of treasure-ships at the 
 Isle of Wight. One day when they were nearly 
 ready to set sail, and the disloyal gentlemen who 
 were also bound on this adventure were collected 
 into a comfortable group on shore, who should appear 
 among them but William himself. The king sternly 
 related what must have been a familiar series of cir- 
 cumstances to his audience : Odo's disloyalty when 
 he had been entirely trusted, his oppression of Eng- 
 land, his despoiling of the churches and the confisca- 
 tion of their lands and treasures, lastly that he had 
 even won away these knights to go to Rome with 
 him ; men who were sworn to repulse the enemies 
 of the kingdom. 
 
 After Odo's sins were related in detail, he was 
 seized, but loudly lamented thereat, declaring that 
 he was a clerk and a minister of the Most High, and 
 that no bishop could be condemned without the 
 judgment of the Pope. The people who stood by 
 murmured anxiously, for nobody knew what might 
 be going to happen to them also. Crafty William 
 answered that he was seizing neither clerk, nor prel- 
 ate, nor Bishop of Bayeux, only his Earl of Kent, 
 his temporal lieutenant, who must account to him 
 for such bad vice-regal administration, and for four 
 
WILLIAM THE CONQUEROR. 337 
 
 years after that Odo was obliged to content himself 
 with close imprisonment in the old tower of Rouen. 
 
 Those four years were in fact all that remained of 
 the Conqueror's earthly lifetime, and dreary years 
 they were. In 1087 William returned to Normandy 
 for the last time. The French king was making 
 trouble ; some say that the quarrel began between 
 the younger members of the family, others that 
 Philip demanded that William should do homage for 
 England. Ordericus Vitalis, the most truthful of 
 the Norman historians, declares that the dispute was 
 about the proprietorship of the French districts of 
 the Vexin. 
 
 The Conqueror was an old man now, older than 
 his years; he had never quite, recovered from his 
 fall when Robert unhorsed him at the castle of 
 Gerberoi ; besides he had suffered from other illness, 
 and had grown very stout, and the doctors at Rouen 
 were taking him in charge. The king of France 
 joked insolently about his illness, and at the end of 
 July William started furiously on his last campaign, 
 and no doubt took vast pleasure in burning the city 
 of Mantes. When the fire was down he rode through 
 the conquered town, his horse stepped among 
 some smouldering firebrands and reared, throw- 
 ing his clumsy rider suddenly forward against the 
 high pommel of the saddle, a death-blow from 
 which he was never to recover. He was carried 
 back to Rouen a worse case for the doctors' skill 
 than ever, and presently fever set in, and torture fol- 
 lowed torture for six long weeks. The burning fever, 
 the midsummer heat, the flattery or neglect of his 
 
338 THE STORY OF THE NORMANS. 
 
 paid attendants; how they all reminded him and 
 made him confess at last his new understanding and 
 sorrow for the misery he had caused to many another 
 human being ! Yet we can but listen forgivingly as 
 he says : " At the time my father went of his own 
 will into exile, leaving to me the Duchy of Nor- 
 mandy, I was a mere child of eight years, and from 
 that day to this I have always borne the weight 
 of arms." 
 
 The three sons, Rufus William, Robert Curt-hose, 
 and Henry Beauclerc, were all eager to claim their 
 inheritance, but the king sends for Anselm, the holy 
 abbot, and puts them aside while he makes confes- 
 sion of his sins and bravely meets the prospect 
 of speedy death. He gives directions concerning the 
 affairs of England and Normandy, gives money and 
 treasure to poor people and the churches ; he even 
 says that he wishes to rebuild the churches which 
 were so lately burnt at Mantes. Then he summons 
 his sons to his bedside and directs those barons and 
 knights who were present to be seated, when, if we 
 may believe Ordericus the Chronicler, the Conqueror 
 made an eloquent address, reviewing his life and 
 achievements and the career of many of his com- 
 panions. The chronicle writers had a habit of 
 putting extremely pious and proper long speeches 
 into the mouths of dying kings, and as we read 
 these remarks in particular we cannot help a suspi- 
 cion that the old monk sat down in his cell some 
 time afterward and quietly composed a systematic 
 summary of what William would have said, or ought 
 to have said if he could. Yet we may believe in the 
 
WILLIAM THE CONQUEROR. 339 
 
 truth of many sentences. We do not care for what he 
 expressed concerning Mauger or King Henry, the 
 battle of Mortemer or Val-es-dunes, but when he 
 speaks of his loyalty to the Church and his friendship 
 with Lanfranc, and Gerbert, and Anselm, of his 
 having built seventeen monasteries and six nun- 
 neries, " spiritual fortresses in which mortals learn 
 to combat the demons and lusts of the flesh " ; 
 when he tells his sons to attach themselves to men 
 of worth and wisdom and to follow their advice, to 
 follow justice in all things and spare no effort to 
 avoid wickedness, to assist the poor, infirm, and 
 honest, to curb and punish the proud and selfish, to 
 prevent them from injuring their neighbors, devoutly 
 to attend holy church, to prefer the worship of God 
 to worldly wealth ; — when he says these things we 
 listen, and believe that he was truly sorry at last for 
 the starving homeless Englishmen who owed him 
 their death, for even the bitter resentment he 
 showed for the slaughter of a thousand of his brave 
 knights within the walls of Durham. He dares not 
 give the ill-gotten kingdom of England to anybody 
 save to God, but if it be God's will he hopes that 
 William Rufus may be his successor. Robert may 
 rule Normandy. Henry may take five thousand 
 pounds' weight of silver from the treasury. It is 
 true that he has no land to dwell in, but let him rest 
 in patience and be willing that his brothers should 
 precede him. By and by he will be heir of every- 
 thing. 
 
 At last the king unwillingly gives permission for 
 Odo's release along with other prisoners of state. 
 
34° THE STORY OF THE NORMAN: . 
 
 He prophesies that Odo will again disturb the peace 
 and cause the death of thousands, and adds that the 
 bishop does not conduct himself with that chastity 
 and modesty which become a minister of God. For 
 a last act of clemency he gives back to Baudri, the 
 son of Nicolas, all his lands, " because without per- 
 mission he quitted my service and passed over into 
 Spain. I now restore them to him for the love 
 of God ; I do not believe that there is a better 
 knight under arms than he, but he is changeable and 
 prodigal, and fond of roving into foreign countries." 
 
 On the morning of the eighth of September the 
 great soul took its flight. The king was lying in rest- 
 less, half-breathless sleep or stupor when the cathe- 
 dral bells began to ring, and he opened his eyes ancf 
 asked what time it was. They told him it was the 
 hour of prime. " Then he called upon God as far 
 as his strength sufficed, and on our holy lady, the 
 blessed Mary, and so departed while yet speaking, 
 without any loss of his senses or change of speech." 
 
 " At the time when the king departed this world, 
 many of his servants were to be seen running up and 
 down, some going in, others coming out, carrying off 
 the rich hangings and the tapestry, and whatever 
 they could lay their hands upon. A whole day 
 passed before the corpse was laid upon its bier, for 
 they who were wont before to fear him now left him 
 lying alone. But when the news spread much people 
 gathered together, and bishops and barons came in 
 long procession. The body was well tended and 
 carried to Caen as he had before commanded. There 
 was no bishop in the province, nor abbot, nor noble 
 
WILLIAM THE CONQUEROR. 34 1 
 
 prince, who did not go to the burying if he could, 
 and there were besides many monks, priests, and 
 clerks." 
 
 So writes Master Wace in his long rhyme of the 
 Conquest ; but the rhyme does not end as befits the 
 Conqueror's fame. The chanting monks had hardly 
 set the body down within the church, at the end of 
 its last journey, when there was a cry of fire without, 
 and all the people ran away and left the church 
 empty save for the few monks who stayed beside 
 the bier. When the crowd returned the service 
 went on again, but just as the grave was ready a 
 vavasour named Ascelin, the son of Arthur, pushed 
 his way among the bishops and barons, and mounted 
 a stone to make himself the better heard — " Listen 
 to me, ye lords and clerks ! " he cries ; " ye shall not 
 bury William in this spot. This church of St. 
 Stephen is built on land that he seized from me and 
 my house. By force he took it from me, and I claim 
 judgment. I appeal to him by name that he do me 
 right." 
 
 " After he had said this he came down. Forth- 
 with arose great clamor in the church, and there 
 was such tumult that no one could hear the other 
 speak. Some went, others came ; and all marvelled 
 that this great king, who had conquered so much 
 and won so many cities and so many castles, could 
 not call so much land his own as his body might be 
 covered in after death." 
 
 We cannot do better than end with reading the 
 Saxon chronicle, which is less likely to be flattering 
 than the Norman records. 
 
;54 2 THE STORY OE THE NORMANS. 
 
 " Alas, how false and unresting is this earth's 
 weal ! He that erst was a rich king, and lord of 
 many lands ; had then of all his lands but seven feet 
 space ; and he that was once clad with gold and 
 gems, lay overspread with mold ! If any one wish 
 to know what manner of man he was, or what wor- 
 ship he had, or of how many lands he was the lord, 
 then will we write of him as we have known him ; 
 for we looked on him and somewhile dwelt in his 
 herd. 
 
 " This King William that we speak about was a 
 very wise man and very rich ; more worshipped, and 
 stronger than any of his foregangers were. He was 
 mild to the good men that loved God, and beyond 
 all metes stark to those who withsaid his will. On 
 that same ground where God gave him that he should 
 win England, he reared a noble minster and set 
 monks there and well endowed it. 
 
 " Eke he was very worshipful. Thrice he wore 
 his king-helm (crown), every year as oft as he was in 
 England. At Easter he wore it at Winchester ; at 
 Pentecost at Westminster ; at midwinter at Glou- 
 cester, and then were with him all the rich men over 
 all England : archbishops and diocesan bishops ; ab- 
 bots and earls ; thanes and knights. Truly he was 
 so stark a man and wroth that no man durst do any 
 thing against his will. He had earls in his bonds 
 who had done against his will. Bishops he set off 
 their bishoprics, and abbots off their abbacies, and 
 thanes in prison. And at last he did not spare his 
 brother Odo ; him he set in prison. Betwixt other 
 things we must not forget the good peace that he 
 
WILLIAM THE CONQUEROR. 343 
 
 made in this land, so that a man that was worth 
 aught might travel over the kingdom unhurt with 
 his bosom full of gold. And no man durst slay 
 another man though he had suffered never so mickle 
 evil from the other. 
 
 " He ruled over England, and by his cunning he 
 had so thoroughly surveyed it, that there was never 
 a hide of land in England that he wist not both who 
 had it and what its worth was, and he set it down in 
 his writ. Wales was under his weald, and therein 
 he wrought castles ; and he wielded Manncynn with- 
 al. Scotland he subdued by his mickle strength. 
 Normandy was his by kin — and over the earldom 
 that is called Mans he ruled. And if he might have 
 lived yet two years he had won Ireland, and without 
 any armament. 
 
 " Truly in his time men had mickle taxing and many 
 hardships. He let castles be built, and poor men 
 were sorely taxed. The king" (we might in justice 
 read oftener the king's officers) — " The king was so 
 very stark, and he took from his subjects many 
 marks of gold and many hundred pounds of silver, 
 and that he took of his people some by right and 
 some by mickle unright, for little need. He was 
 fallen into covetousness, and greediness he loved 
 withal. 
 
 "The king and the head men loved much, and over 
 much, the getting in of gold and silver, and recked 
 not how sinfully it was got so it but came to 
 them. 
 
 " He set many deer-friths and he made laws there- 
 with, that whosoever should slay hart or hind, him 
 
344 THE STORY OF THE NORMANS. 
 
 man should blind. And as he kept to himself the 
 slaying of the harts, so eke did he the boars. He 
 loved the high deer as much as if he were their 
 father. Eke he set as to the hares that they should 
 go free. His rich men bemoaned, and his poor men 
 murmured, but he recked not the hatred of them all, 
 and they must follow the king's will if they would 
 have lands or goods or his favor. 
 
 " Wa-la-wa ! that any man should be so moody, so 
 to upheave himself and think himself above all other 
 men ! May God Almighty have mild-heartedness 
 on his soul and give him forgiveness of his sins ! 
 These things we have written of him both good and 
 eVil, that men may choose the good after their good- 
 ness, and withal flee from evil, and go on the way 
 that leadeth all to heaven's kingdom. " 
 
XVII. 
 
 KINGDOM AND DUKEDOM. 
 
 " Yes, while on earth a thousand discords ring, 
 Man's senseless uproar mingling with his toil, 
 Still do thy quiet ministers move on." 
 
 — Matthew Arnold. 
 
 WILLIAM RUFUS hurried away to claim the king- 
 dom of England before his father died. Robert was 
 at Abbeville, some say, with his singers and jesters, 
 making merry over the prospect of getting the duke- 
 dom. Henry had put his five thousand pounds of 
 silver into a strong box and gone his ways likewise. 
 Normandy was in the confusion that always befell a 
 country in those days while one master had put off 
 his crown and the next had not put it on. There 
 were masses being said in the Norman churches for 
 the good of the Conqueror's soul, and presently, as 
 the autumn days flew by and grew shorter and 
 shorter, news was received that the English had 
 received William Rufus and made him king with 
 great rejoicing. There was always much to hope 
 from the accession of a new monarch ; he was sure 
 to make many promises, and nobody knew that he 
 would not keep every one of them. 
 
 But neither in England nor Normandy did the 
 345 
 
346 THE STORY OF THE NORMANS. 
 
 outlook promise great security. Robert was made 
 duke, and Robert had plenty of friends, whose love 
 and favor were sure to last as long as his money held 
 out. He had a better heart than his brothers, but 
 he was not fit for a governor. " Robert, my eldest- 
 born, shall have Normandy and Maine," the Con- 
 queror had told his barons on his death-bed. " He 
 shall serve the king of France for the same. There 
 are many brave men in Normandy ; I know none 
 equal to them. They are noble and valiant knights, 
 conquering in all lands whither they go. If they 
 have a good captain, a company of them is made to 
 be dreaded, but if they have not a lord whom they 
 fear, and who governs them severely, the service 
 they render will soon be but poor. The Normans 
 are worth little without strict justice ; they must be 
 bent and bowed to their ruler's will, and whoso holds 
 them always under his foot and curbs them tightly, 
 may get his business well done by them. Haughty 
 are they and proud, boastful and arrogant ; difficult 
 to govern, and needing to be at all times kept under, 
 so that Robert will have much to do and to provide 
 in order to manage such a people." 
 
 The dying king may have smiled grimly at the 
 thought that Robert's ambition knew not what it 
 asked. The gay gentleman had given his father 
 trouble enough, but the weight of Normandy should 
 be his to carry. The red prince, William, had been 
 a dutiful son, and he wished him joy of England 
 He was order-loving, and had a head for governing. 
 " Poor lads ! " the old father may have sighed more 
 than once. It was all very well to be princes and 
 
KINGDOM AND DUKEDOM. 2>47 
 
 knights and gay riders and courtiers, but the man 
 who has a kingdom to govern must wend his ways 
 alone, with much hindrance and little help. 
 
 The two courts bore little likeness to the Con- 
 queror's as time went on, and there was endless dis- 
 sension among the knights. In England the Nor- 
 mans complained greatly of the division of the 
 kingdom and the duchy. Odo, who had regained 
 his earldom of Kent, was full of mischievous, treach- 
 erous plans, and had no trouble in persuading other 
 men that they stood no chance of holding their 
 lands or keeping their rights under Rufus ; it 
 would be much better to overthrow him and to do 
 homage to Robert of Normandy in the old fashion. 
 Robert was careless and easy, and William was 
 strong and self-willed. Robert was ready to favor 
 this party at once, and after a while William dis- 
 covered what was going on, and found the rebels 
 under Odo were fortifying their castles and winning 
 troops of followers to their side — in fact, England 
 was all ready for civil war. The king besieged Odo 
 forthwith in the city of Rochester, and there was a 
 terrible end to the revolt. Robert had been too lazy 
 or too inefficient to keep his promise of coming to 
 the aid of his allies, and disease broke out in the gar- 
 rison and raged until Odo sent messengers to ask 
 forgiveness, and to promise all manner of loyalty and 
 penitence. The king was in a state of fury, and 
 meant to hang the leaders of the insurrection and 
 put the rest to death by the most ingenious tortures 
 that could be invented. At last, however, his own 
 barons and officers made piteous pleas for the lives 
 
348 THE STORY OF THE NORMANS. 
 
 of their friends and relatives, and in the end they 
 were driven out and deprived of their English 
 estates, and Odo was altogether banished from the 
 country. No longer an earl, he went back much 
 humbled to his bishopric of Bayeux, which Robert 
 had been foolish enough to restore to him. But the 
 intrigues went on. The Norman barons in England 
 were separated from their hereditary possessions in 
 Normandy, and William Rufus owed the safety of 
 his crown to the upholding of the English. Presently 
 he went over to Normandy, where things were get- 
 ting worse and worse under Robert's rule, and an- 
 nounced his intention of seizing the silly duke's 
 dominions. Robert had already sold the Cotentin 
 to Henry for a part of the five thousand pounds in 
 the strong box, and after a good deal of dissension, 
 and a prospect of a long and bloody war, which the 
 nobles on both sides did every thing they could to 
 prevent, the brothers made up their quarrel. They 
 signed an agreement that the one who outlived the 
 other should inherit all the lands and wealth, and 
 then they made a league to go and fight Henry 
 Beauclerc, who was living peaceably enough on his 
 honestly-got Cotentin possessions. They chased him 
 out of the country to the French Vexin, where he 
 spent a forlorn year or two ; but he could afford to 
 wait for his inheritance, as the Conqueror had told 
 him long before. 
 
 William Rufus went back to England, and in the 
 course of time there was a war with the Scotch, who 
 were defeated again and again and finally made 
 quiet. Then the Welsh rebelled in their turn and 
 
KINGDOM AND DUKEDOM. 349 
 
 were much harder to subdue. Robert got the king 
 of France to join forces with him soon afterward, and 
 that war was only avoided by the payment to France 
 by Rufus of an enormous sum of money. 
 
 All this time William Rufus was doing some good 
 things for his kingdom and a great many more bad 
 ones that there is not time to describe. After Lan- 
 franc's death the king grew worse and worse ; he 
 was apparently without any religious principle, and 
 there was always a quarrel between him and the 
 priests about the church money, which both of them 
 wanted. When bishops and abbots died the king 
 would not appoint their successors, and took all the 
 tithes for himself. His chief favorite was a low-born, 
 crafty, wicked man named Ralph Flambard, and the 
 two were well matched. William Rufus had little of 
 the gift for business that made his father such a 
 practical statesman and organizer, and, in fact, his 
 boisterous, lawless, indecent manner of living shocked 
 even the less orderly of his subjects. He had the 
 lower and less respectable of the Norman qualities, 
 and something of the rudeness of the worst of his 
 more remote ancestry crops out in his conduct. 
 Once when he was very ill and was afraid that he 
 was going to die with all his sins on his head, he sent 
 for Anselm, the holy prior, his father's friend and 
 counsellor, and appointed him to the archbishopric 
 of Canterbury, which had been vacant ever since 
 Lanfranc's death four years before. Rufus' guilty 
 conscience was quieted, and the people of England 
 were deeply thankful for such a prelate, but before 
 long the king and Anselm naturally did not find 
 
350 THE STORY OF THE NORMANS. 
 
 each other harmonious, and after a brave fight for 
 what he believed to be the right, Anselm appealed to 
 Rome and left England with orders never to return. 
 Robert was the same careless man that he had 
 been in his youth ; through war and peace, danger 
 and security, he lived as if there were no to-morrow 
 to provide for and no future to be dreaded. I have 
 sketched the course of affairs as briefly as possible in 
 both England and Normandy, as if the only men 
 within their borders were these two incompetent 
 brothers who so ill became the Conqueror's " kingly 
 helm," as Master Wace loves to call the crown. But 
 the church builders were still at work like ants busy 
 with their grains of sand, towers were rising, knights 
 were fighting and parading, ladies were ordering their 
 households, the country men and women were tilling 
 the green fields of both countries and gathering in 
 their harvests year by year. There had been trouble 
 now and then, as we have just seen, between the 
 kingdom and the duchy, between both of them and 
 their border foes, but almost ten years went by, and 
 the children who had played with their toys and 
 sighed over their horn books the summer that Wil- 
 liam the Conqueror died were now men and women 
 grown. It would not seem like the old Normandy 
 if the news of some new great enterprise did not run 
 like wildfire through the towns and country lanes. 
 The blood of the Northmen was kindled with the 
 blood of all Christendom at the story of the Turks' 
 capture of the Holy Sepulchre and the blessed city 
 of Jerusalem. The knights of Sicily were already on 
 their journey by sea and shore; the mother church 
 
KINGDOM AND DUKEDOM. 35 I 
 
 at Rome called to her children in every land to 
 defend her holiest shrines against the insolence of 
 the heathen. 
 
 Duke Robert was most zealous. To go on pil- 
 grimage had been many a knight's ambition, but this 
 was the greatest pilgrimage of all. Robert, as usual, 
 had no money, but to his joy he succeeded in making 
 a bargain with his more thrifty English brother, and 
 pledged Normandy to William Rufus for five years 
 for the sum of something less than seven thousand 
 pounds. Away he went with his lords and gentle- 
 men ; they wore white crosses on their right should- 
 ers, and sang hymns as they marched along. Not 
 only lords and gentlemen made up this huge proces- 
 sion of thousands and thousands, but men of every 
 station — from the poor cottages and stately halls 
 alike. If any better persuasion had been needed 
 than the simple announcement that the Turks had 
 taken Jerusalem, it had come by way of Peter the 
 Hermit's preaching. This had created a religious 
 frenzy that the world had never known ; from town 
 to town the great preacher had gone with an inex- 
 haustible living stream of persuasive eloquence al- 
 ways at his lips. Women wept and prayed and gave 
 their jewels and rich garments, and men set their 
 teeth and clenched their hands, armed themselves 
 and followed him. 
 
 England did not listen at first, and William Rufus 
 chuckled over his good bargain, and taxed his un- 
 willing subjects more heavily than ever to get the 
 money to pay his crusader brother. England would 
 listen by and by, but in this first crusade she took 
 
352 THE STORY OF THE NORMANS. 
 
 little part, while the Normans and Frenchmen and 
 all their neighbors spent three years of fearful suffer- 
 ing and hardship in the strange countries of the 
 East ; at last they won the Holy Sepulchre. The 
 Turks were still fighting to win it back again ; they 
 were dangerous enemies, and the Christian host was 
 dwindling fast. The cry was sent again through 
 Europe for more soldiers of the Holy Cross. 
 
 Here we come face to face again with the old vi- 
 king spirit : under all the fast-increasing luxury that 
 threatened to sap and dull the life of Normandy, the 
 love of adventure and fierce energy of character were 
 only sleeping. The most sentimental and pleasure 
 loving of Robert's knights could lightly throw off 
 his ribbons and gay trappings, and buckle on his 
 armor when the summons came. Quickly they 
 marched and fiercely they fought in the holy wars, 
 and so it came about that the Norman banners were 
 planted at the gates of Jerusalem and Antioch, and 
 new kingdoms were planted in the East. This is not 
 the place to follow the Crusaders' fortunes, or the 
 part that the Norman Sicilians played in the great 
 enterprise of the Middle Ages. At least it must 
 make but an incident in my scheme of the Story of 
 the Normans. 
 
 There is a familiar modern sound in thebewailings 
 of our old chroniclers over their taxes. Resentment 
 and pathos were blended then as they are now in 
 such complaints, but though William Rufus was not 
 the least of such extortionate offenders, he gave 
 much of the money back in fine buildings ; the 
 
KINGDOM AND DUKEDOM. 353 
 
 famous Great Hall of Westminster was built in his 
 day, and the stout wall that surrounded his father's 
 Tower of London, besides a noble bridge across the 
 Thames. 
 
 When people expected unfailing generosity and gold 
 thrown to the crowd oftener than in these days, it is 
 difficult to see how the king could satisfy popular 
 expectation without preliminary taxation. Yet the 
 wails of the chroniclers go up like the chirp of the 
 grasshopper. There was one mistaken scheme of 
 benevolence in the endowment of charities, which 
 have borne bitter fruit of pauperism ever since, for 
 which taxation might well have been spared. 
 
 William Rufus died in the year noo, in the New 
 Forest. The peasants believed that it was enchanted 
 and accursed, and that evil spirits flew about among 
 the trees on dark and stormy nights. There was a 
 superstition that it was a fated place to those who 
 belonged to the Conqueror's line. Another prince 
 had been killed there, named Richard, too — the son 
 of Duke Robert of Normandy. 
 
 The last year of the Red King's reign had been 
 peaceful. The Witan gathered to meet him at West- 
 minster and Winchester and Gloucester, and he 
 reigned unchallenged from Scotland to Maine, and 
 there was truce with the French king at Paris. One 
 August morning he went out to the chase after a jolly 
 night at one of the royal hunting-lodges. The party 
 scattered in different directions, and the king and Sir 
 Walter Tyrrel, a famous sportsman, were seen riding 
 away together, and their dogs after them. That 
 night a poor forester, a lime-burner, was going 
 
354 THE STORY OF THE NORMANS. 
 
 through the forest with his clumsy cart, and stum- 
 bled over the king's body, which lay among 
 the ferns with an arrow deep in the breast. He 
 lifted it into the cart and carried it to Winchester, 
 where it was buried next day with little sorrow. 
 There were few bells tolled and few prayers said, for 
 the priests owed little to any friendliness of William 
 Rufus. 
 
 There were many stories told about his death. 
 Tyrrel said that the arrow was shot by an unknown 
 hand, and that he had run away for fear that people 
 should accuse him of the murder, which they cer- 
 tainly did ! Others said that Tyrrel shot at a stag 
 and the arrow glanced aside from an oak, but nobody 
 knows now, and in those days too many people were 
 glad that the king was dead, to ask many questions 
 or to try to punish any one. 
 
 Robert might have claimed the kingdom now 
 because of the old agreement, but he was still in the 
 East fighting for Jerusalem. Henry Beauclerc had 
 been one of the huntsmen that fatal morning, so he 
 hurried to Winchester and claimed the crown. He 
 made more good promises than any of his predeces- 
 sors, and the people liked him because he was 
 English-born, and so they made another Norman 
 king. Henry Beauclerc reigned over England thirty- 
 five years, and won himself another name of the 
 Lion of Justice. He did not treat his brother 
 Robert justly, however he may have deserved his 
 title in other ways; but he had a zoological garden 
 and brought wild beasts from different quarters of 
 the earth, and he fostered a famous love of learning, 
 
KINGDOM AND DUKEDOM. 35$ 
 
 and put Ralph Flambard in the Tower as soon as he 
 possibly could, and more than all, chose an excellent 
 woman for his wife, Maud, the good daughter of the 
 Scottish King Malcolm. He was an untruthful man, 
 but a great man for all that, and made a better king 
 than some that England had already endured. In 
 many ways his reign was a gain to England. There 
 was a distinct advance in national life, and while the 
 English groaned under his tyranny they could not 
 help seeing that he sought for quietness and order 
 and was their best champion against the worse 
 tyranny of the nobles. Mr. Freeman believes that 
 the Saxon element was the permanent one in Eng- 
 lish history, and that the Norman conquest simply 
 modified it somewhat and was a temporary influence 
 brought to bear for its improvement. It is useless 
 to argue the question with such odds of learning and 
 thought as his against one, but the second invasion 
 of Northmen by the roundabout way of Normandy, 
 seems as marked a change as the succession of the 
 Celts to the Britons, or the Saxons to the Danes. 
 The Normans had so distinctly made a great gain in 
 ideas and civilization, that they were as much foreign- 
 ers as any Europeans could have been to the Anglo- 
 Saxons of that eleventh century, and their coming 
 had a permanent effect, besides a most compelling 
 power. It seems to me that England would have 
 disintegrated without them, not solidified, and a 
 warring handful of petty states have been the result. 
 Yet undoubtedly through many centuries of his- 
 tory writing the English of the Conqueror's day have 
 been made to take too low a place in the scale of 
 
356 THE STORY OF THE NORMANS. 
 
 civilization. As a nation, they surely responded 
 readily to the Norman stimulus, but the Normans 
 had never found so good a chance to work out their 
 own ideas of life and achievement as on English soil 
 in the first hundred years after the Conquest. In 
 many respects the Saxon race possesses greater and 
 more reliable qualities than any other race ; stability, 
 perseverance, self-government, industry are all theirs. 
 Yet the Normans excelled them in their genius for 
 great enterprises and their love of fitness and ele- 
 gance in social life and in the arts. Indeed we can- 
 not do better than to repeat here what has been 
 quoted once already. " Without them England 
 would have been mechanical, not artistic ; brave, not 
 chivalrous ; the home of learning, not of thought." 
 
 It has also been the fashion to ignore the influence 
 of five hundred years' contact between Roman civil- 
 ization and the Saxon inhabitants of Great Britain. 
 Surely great influences have been brought to bear 
 upon the Anglo-Saxon race. That the making of 
 England was more significant to the world and more 
 valuable than any manifestation of Norman ability, 
 is in one way true, but let us never forget that 
 much that has been best in English national life has 
 come from the Norman elements of it rather than 
 the Saxon. England the colonizer, England the 
 country of intellectual and social progress, Eng- 
 land the fosterer of ideas and chivalrous humanity, 
 is Norman England, and the Saxon influence has 
 oftener held her back in dogged satisfaction and 
 stubbornness than urged her forward to higher 
 levels. The power of holding back is necessary to 
 
KINGDOM AND DUKEDOM. 357 
 
 the stability of a kingdom, but not so necessary as 
 the 
 
 " Glory of going on and still to be " 
 
 The conjunction of Norman and Saxon elements has 
 made England the great nation that she is. 
 
 It is too easy as we draw near the end of this 
 story of the Normans to wander into talk about the 
 lessons of Norman history and to fall into endless 
 generalizations. Let us look a little longer at Henry 
 Beauclerc's time while Robert, under the shadow of 
 his name of duke, spends enough dreary blinded 
 years in prison to give him space to remember again 
 and again the misspent years of his youth and his 
 freedom ; while Henry plots and plans carefully for 
 the continuance of his family upon the throne of 
 England and Normandy, only to be disappointed at 
 every turn. His son is coming from France with 
 a gay company and is lost in the White Ship with 
 all his lords and ladies, and the people who hear the 
 news do not dare to tell the king, and at last send a 
 weeping little lad into the royal presence to falter 
 out the story of the shipwreck. What a touch of hu- 
 manity is there ! The king never smiled afterward, 
 but he plotted on and went his kingly ways, " the last 
 of those great Norman kings who, with all their 
 vices, their cruelty, and their lust, displayed great 
 talents of organization and adaptation, guided Eng- 
 land with a wise, if a strong, hand through the days 
 of her youth, and by their instinctive, though selfish, 
 love of order paved the way for the ultimate rise of 
 a more stable, yet a freer government." 
 
 The last Norman Duke of Normandy was really 
 
358 THE STORY OF THE NORMANS. 
 
 that young Prince William, who was drowned in the 
 White Ship off the port of Barfleur, whom Henry- 
 had invested with the duchy and to whom the 
 nobility had just done homage. After his death, the 
 son of Robert made claim to the succession, and the 
 greater proportion of the Normans upheld his claim, 
 and the king of France openly favored him, but 
 he died of a wound received in battle, and again 
 Henry, rid of this competitor, built an elaborate 
 scheme upon the succession of his daughter Matilda, 
 whom he married to Geoffrey Plantagenet, son of 
 the Count of Anjou. But for all this, after the king's 
 death, the law of succession was too unsettled to 
 give his daughter an unquestioned claim. Heredi- 
 tary title was not independent yet of election by the 
 nobles, and Matilda's claims were by many people 
 set aside. There were wars and disorders too intri- 
 cate and dreary to repeat. Stephen, Count of Bou- 
 logne, son of that Count Stephen of Blois who 
 married the Conqueror's daughter Adela, usurped 
 the throne of England, and there was a mis- 
 erable time of anarchy in both England and Nor- 
 mandy. And as the government passed away in 
 this apparently profitless interregnum to the houses 
 of Blois and of Anjou, so Normandy seems like 
 Normandy no longer. Her vitality is turned into 
 different channels, and it is in the history of England 
 and of France and of the Low Countries that we 
 must trace the further effect of Norman influence. 
 
XVIII. 
 
 CONCLUSION. 
 
 "I looked : aside the dust-cloud rolled, — 
 The Waster seemed the Builder too ; 
 Upspringing from the ruined Old 
 I saw the New." 
 
 — Whittier. 
 
 It will be clearly seen that there is great apparent 
 disproportion between certain parts of this sketch of 
 the rise and growth of the Norman people. I have 
 not set aside the truth that Normandy was not re- 
 united to France until 1204, and I do not forget that 
 many years lie between that date and the time when 
 I close my account of the famous duchy. But the 
 story of the growth of the Normans gives one the 
 key to any later part of their history, and I have 
 contented myself with describing the characters of 
 the first seven dukes and Eadward the Confessor, who 
 were men typical of their time and representative of 
 the various types of national character. Of the 
 complex questions in civic and legal history I am 
 not competent to speak, nor does it seem to me 
 that they properly enter into such a book as this. 
 With Mr. Freeman's learned and exhaustive work at 
 hand as a book of reference, the readers of this story 
 of Normandy will find all their puzzles solved. 
 
 359 
 
360 THE STORY OF THE NORMANS. 
 
 But I hope that I have made others see the Nor- 
 mans as I have seen them, and grow as interested in 
 their fortunes as I have been. They were the fore- 
 most people of their time, being most thoroughly 
 alive and quickest to see where advances might be 
 made in government, in architecture, in social life. 
 They were gifted with sentiment and with good 
 taste, together with fine physical strength and in- 
 tellectual cleverness. In the first hundred years of 
 the duchy they made perhaps as rapid progress in 
 every way, and had as signal influence among their 
 contemporaries, as any people of any age, — unless 
 it is ourselves, the people of the young republic 
 of the United States, who might be called the 
 Normans of modern times. For with many of the 
 gifts and many of the weaknesses (and dangers, too) 
 of our viking ancestry, we have repeated the rapid 
 increase of power which was a characteristic of our 
 Norman kindred ; we have conquered in many fights 
 with the natural forces of the universe where they 
 fought, humanity against humanity. Much of what 
 marked the Northman and the Norman marks us 
 still. 
 
 The secret of Normandy's success was energetic 
 self-development and apprehension of truth ; the 
 secret of Normandy's failures was the secret of all 
 failures — blindness to the inevitable effects of certain 
 causes, and unwillingness to listen to her best and 
 most far-seeing teachers. Carlyle said once to a 
 friend : " There has never been a nation yet that did 
 any thing great that was not deeply religious." The 
 things that are easy and near are chosen, instead of 
 
CONCLUSION. 361 
 
 the things that make for righteousness. When 
 iuxury becomes not the means, but the end of life, 
 humanity's best weapons grow rusty, and humanity's 
 best intelliget.ee is dulled and threatens to disappear. 
 The church forgets her purpose and invites wor- 
 shippers of the church instead of worshippers of God. 
 The state is no longer an impersonated administrator 
 of justice and order, but a reservoir from which to 
 plunder and by which to serve private ends. 
 
 I am not able to speak of the influence of the 
 Normans upon the later kingdom of France, the 
 France of our day, as I confess the writer of such a 
 book as this should have been, but there is one 
 point which has been of great interest as the south- 
 ward course of the Northmen has been eagerly 
 followed. 
 
 It has been the common impression that there was 
 a marked growth of refinement and courtliness, of 
 dignified bearing and imaginative literature con- 
 nected with the development of the French men 
 and women of early times, to the gradual widening 
 of which the modern world had been indebted for 
 much of its best social attainment. 
 
 I think that a single glance at the France of the 
 ninth and tenth centuries will do away with any be- 
 lief in its having been the sole inspirer or benefactor. 
 The Franks were products of German development, 
 and were not at that time pre-eminent for social 
 culture. They were a ruder people by far than the 
 Italians or even the people of Spain, less developed 
 spiritually, and wanting in the finer attributes of 
 human instinct or perception. Great as they already 
 
362 THE STORY OF THE NORMANS. 
 
 were, no one can claim that quickness of tact or 
 special intolerance of ill-breeding came from their 
 direction. Dante speaks, a little later than this, of 
 the "guzzling Germans," and though we must make 
 allowance for considerable race prejudice, there was 
 truth, too, in his phrase. Not from the Franks, 
 therefore, but from among the very rocks and 
 chasms of the viking nature, sprang a growth of 
 delicate refinement that made the yellow-haired 
 jarls and the " sea-kings' daughters " bring a true, 
 poetical, and lovely spirit to Normandy, where 
 they gave a soul to the body of art and letters 
 that awaited them. Each nation had something to 
 give to the other, it is true, but it was the Northern 
 spirit that made the gifts of both available and fruit- 
 ful to humanity. 
 
 It may rightly be suggested that the standard of 
 behavior was low everywhere in the tenth century, 
 according to our present standards, but it is true that 
 there was a re-kindling of light in the North, which 
 may be traced in its continued reflections through 
 Norway to Normandy, and thence to France and 
 England and the world. We have only to remind 
 ourselves of the development of literature in Iceland 
 and the building of governmental and social strength 
 and dignified individuality, to see that the Northmen 
 by no means owed every thing to the influence of 
 French superiority and precedence. We have only 
 to compare the tenth century with the eleventh, to 
 see what an impulse had been given. The saga- 
 lovers and the clear-eyed people of the North were 
 gifted with a spark of grace peculiarly their own. 
 
CONCLUSION. 363 
 
 There is a pretty story told by an English traveller 
 in Norway, who met a young woman leading an old 
 blind beggar through the street of a poor, plain 
 village. She was descended from one of the noble 
 families of ancient times ; it was her pleasure and 
 duty to serve the friendless old man. But the trav- 
 eller insists that never, among the best people he 
 has met, has he found such dignity and grace as this 
 provincial woman wore, who knew nothing of courts 
 or the world's elegance. There was a natural nobility 
 in her speech and manner which the courtliest might 
 envy, and which might adorn the noblest palace and 
 be its most charming decoration. It is easy to write 
 these words with sympathy, and perhaps the travel- 
 ler's half-forgotten story has been embellished uncon- 
 sciously with the memory in my mind of kindred 
 experiences in that country of the North. Plainness 
 and poverty make gentle blood seem more gracious 
 still, and the green mountain-sides and fresh air of 
 old Norway have not yet ceased to inspire simple, 
 unperverted souls, from whose life a better and 
 higher generation seems more than possible. 
 
 The impulses that make toward social develop- 
 ment are intermittent. There is the succession of 
 growing time and brooding time, of summer and 
 winter, in the great ages of the world. If we look 
 at the Normans as creatures of a famous spring 
 where Europe made a bold and profitable advance 
 in every way, I think that we shall not be far from 
 right. 
 
 In telling their story in this imperfect way I have 
 not been unmindful of the dark side of their charac- 
 
364 THE STORY OF THE NORMANS. 
 
 ter, but what they were is permanent, while what 
 they were not was temporary. The gaps they left 
 were to be rilled up by other means — by the slow 
 processes by which God in nature and humanity 
 evolves the best that is possible for the present with 
 something that forestalls the future. The stones 
 that make part of a cathedral wall are shaped also 
 with relation to the very dome. 
 
 Here, at the beginning of the Norman absorption 
 into England, I shall end my story of the founding 
 and growth of the Norman people. The mingling 
 of their brighter, fiercer, more enthusiastic, and 
 visionary nature with the stolid, dogged, prudent, 
 and resolute Anglo-Saxons belongs more properly 
 to the history of England. Indeed, the difficulty 
 would lie in not knowing where to stop, for one may 
 tell the two races apart even now, after centuries of 
 association and affiliation. There are Saxon land- 
 holders, and farmers, and statesmen in England yet 
 — unconquered, unpersuaded, and un-Normanized. 
 But the effect on civilization of the welding of the 
 two great natures cannot be told fairly in this or any 
 other book — we are too close to it and we ourselves 
 make too intimate a part of it to judge impartially. 
 If we are of English descent we are pretty sure to 
 be members of one party or the other. Saxon yet 
 or Norman yet, and even the confusion of the two 
 forces renders us not more able to judge of either, 
 but less so. We must sometimes look at England as 
 a later Normandy ; and yet, none the less, as the great 
 leader and personified power that she is and has been 
 these many hundred years, drawing her strength 
 
CONCLUSION. 365 
 
 from the best of the Northern races, and presenting 
 the world with great men and women as typical of 
 these races and as grandly endowed to stand for the 
 representatives of their time in days to come, as the 
 men and women of Greece were typical, and live yet 
 in our literature and song. In the courts and stately 
 halls of England, in the market-places, and among 
 followers of the sea or of the drum, we have seen the 
 best triumphs and glories of modern humanity, no 
 less than the degradations, the treacheries, and the 
 mistakes. In the great pageant of history we can 
 see a nation rise, and greaten, and dwindle, and dis- 
 appear like the varying lifetime of a single man, but 
 the force of our mother England is not yet spent, 
 though great changes threaten her, and the process 
 of growth needs winter as well as summer. Her life 
 is not the life of a harborless country, her fortunes 
 are the fortunes of her generosity. But whether the 
 Norman spirit leads her to be self-confident or head- 
 strong and wilful, or the Saxon spirit holds her back 
 into slowness and dulness, and lack of proper 
 perception in emergencies or epochs of necessary 
 change, still she follows the right direction and 
 leads the way. It is the Norman graft upon the 
 sturdy old Saxon tree that has borne best fruit among 
 the nations — that has made the England of history, 
 the England of great scholars and soldiers and 
 sailors, the England of great men and women, of 
 books and ships and gardens and pictures and 
 songs ! There is many a gray old English house 
 standing among its trees and fields, that has shel- 
 tered and nurtured many a generation of loyal and 
 
366 THE STORY OF THE NORMANS. 
 
 tender and brave and gentle souls. We shall find 
 there men and women who, in their cleverness and 
 courtliness, their grace and true pride and beauty, 
 make us understand the old Norman beauty and 
 grace, and seem to make the days of chivalry alive 
 again. 
 
 But we may go back farther still, and discover 
 in the lonely mountain valleys and fiord-sides of 
 Norway even a simpler, courtlier, and nobler dignity. 
 In the country of the sagamen and the rough sea- 
 kings, beside the steep-shored harbors of the viking 
 dragon-ships, linger the constantly repeated types of 
 an earlier ancestry, and the flower of the sagas 
 blooms as fair as ever. Among the red roofs and 
 gray walls of the Norman towns, or the faint, bright 
 colors of its country landscapes, among the green 
 hedgerows and golden wheat-fields of England, the 
 same flowers grow in more luxuriant fashion, but 
 old Norway and Denmark sent out the seed that has 
 flourished in richer soil. To-day the Northman, the 
 Norman, and the Englishman, and a young nation 
 on this western shore of the Atlantic are all kindred 
 who, possessing a rich inheritance, should own the 
 closest of kindred ties. 
 
 ~<5G<^ilf*fi&SK*>° 
 
INDEX. 
 
 Adela, 112 
 
 yElfred, the Confessor's brother, 
 184, 18S 
 
 /Elfred the Great, 103, T71 ; 
 fines, 173 
 
 /Elfgifu, see Emma of Nor- 
 mandy 
 
 /Ethelred the Unready, 102, 
 171 ; English contempt for, 
 175 ; flees to Normandy, 177 
 
 Alan of Brittany, 70, 126, 137 ; 
 death of, 1 5 1 
 
 Alencon, siege of, 213 ; Lord of, 
 see William de Talvas 
 
 Ambrieres, 250 
 
 Anglo-Saxons, 106, 365 
 
 Anjou, 35S 
 
 Anselm, 23S, 338, 349 
 
 Apulia, 131, 139 ; allegiance to 
 Rome, 140 
 
 Architecture, 239, 240 
 
 Argentan, 97 
 
 Arlette, 122 
 
 Arnulf of Elanders, 63, 71, 87 
 
 Arrows, 252, 307 
 
 Ascelin, 340 
 
 Aumale, 248 
 
 Auxerre, 108 
 
 Aversa, 133, 139 
 
 Avranches, 248 
 
 B 
 
 Baldwin of Flanders, 121 
 Battle, 304 
 Baudri, 340 
 
 Bayeux, Northmen in, 40, 59 ; 
 Richard the Fearless educated 
 in, 62 ; description of, 323 
 
 Bayeux tapestry, 238, 299, 323 
 
 Beaumont, house of, 152, 198, 
 282 
 
 Bee, abbey of, 219 
 
 Benedictines, 222 
 
 Berengarius, 230 
 
 Berenger, Count of Bayeux, 40 
 
 Bergen, 14, 291 
 
 Bernard the Dane, 60, 61, 75 
 
 Bernard Harcourt, 68 
 
 Bernard de Senlis, 59, 61 ; plot 
 of, 70 
 
 Bertha, wife of Robert of 
 France, 100 
 
 Bessin, 247 
 
 Blaatand Harold. 81 
 
 Borbillon, 210 
 
 Botho the Dane, 47, 60, 75 
 
 Breteuil, castle of, 250 
 
 Brionne, 224 
 
 Brittany, 58 ; Danish settle- 
 ments in, 61 ; enmity between 
 Normandy and, 76 ; tributary 
 to Normandy, 246 ; William's 
 expedition against, 265 ; aids 
 William, 285 
 
 Bruce, Robert, 233 
 
 Burgundy, 54, 246 ; king of, 80 ; 
 Henry of, 106 
 
 Burneville, 224 
 
 C 
 
 Caen, 113 ; William builds 
 Church of St. Stephen »«, 
 237 ; 29S, 321, 322, 340 
 
 3°7 
 
3 68 
 
 THE STORY OF THE N0J1MANS. 
 
 Canterbury, archbishop of, 176 
 Carloman, 85 
 Carl vie, 3(10 
 Cathedrals, 2ig 
 
 Celts, 172 
 
 Chalons, Hugh, Count of, 10S, 
 
 no 
 Charlemagne, n, 19; empire 
 
 of, 34, 52, 88 
 
 Charles the Fat, 54, 56 
 
 Charles the Simple, 34 ; resists 
 Rolfs invasion, 37 ; captivity 
 of, 5;) 
 
 Chartres, Count of, 38 ; siege 
 of, 41, 109 
 
 Chivalry, Norman, 93, 116 
 
 Civitella, battle of, 140, 141 
 
 Cloister life, 215 
 
 Cnut the Dane, io'i, 119 ; ban- 
 ishment of English nobles, 
 F20 ; chosen king, 177 ; his 
 improvement and England's, 
 r /8 ; pilgrimage to Rome, 
 1S2 ; letter of, 1S2 ; death, 183 
 
 Cotentin, 103, 113 ; castles of, 
 116 ; over-population of, 116 ; 
 home of the Hautevilles, 134 ; 
 rebellions, 152, 202 ; designs 
 of Henry of France toward, 
 247 ; men at Hastings, 306 ; 
 sold by Robert of Normandy, 
 343 
 
 Coutances, bishop of, 304 
 
 Crusades, 143, 351 
 
 Curfew bell, 251 
 
 D 
 
 Danegelt, the, 173 
 
 Danes in Bayeux, 74 ; in Eng- 
 land, 103 ; inheritance from, 
 in Northern England, 187 ; 
 schemes for regaining Eng- 
 land, 258 
 
 Dante, 362 
 
 Dickens' " Child's History of 
 England," 328 
 
 Dinan, 266 
 
 Dive, river, 297 
 
 D61, no, 206 
 
 h family of, 233 
 
 Domesday 15 
 
 Douglas, Si 
 Drayton, i\ 
 Dreux, county of, 109 
 Dunstan, 172 
 Durham, 339 
 
 E 
 
 Eadgyth (or Edith), the Con- 
 fessor's wife, 1 88, 270 
 
 Eadgyth the Swan -throated, 310 
 
 Eadmund Ironside, 104, 177 ; 
 poisoned, 178 
 
 Eadward the Confessor, 184 ; 
 pious character of, 186 ; weak- 
 ness of, 1S8, 240; likeness to 
 .Ethehed, 189 ; preference for 
 Normans, 191 ; promises the 
 crown to William, 242 ; also to 
 Harold, 257; illness and death. 
 269 ; love of hunting, 329, 
 
 Eadward the Outlaw, 257 
 
 Eadwine, Earl of Mercia, 320 
 
 Eadwy, 1S0 
 
 Emma of Normandy (or .Elf- 
 gifu), 102 ; marriage to /Eth- 
 elred, 105; flight to Normandy 
 of, 106 ; sons of, 1 1 S ; marries 
 Cnut of England, 180 
 
 England, Danes in, 103 ; low 
 condition of, 106 ; under mis- 
 rule of /Ethelred, 173 ; elec- 
 tion of kings in, 179 ; same 
 king as Denmark and Scandi- 
 navia, i3i ; under Cnut, i3r ; 
 behind Norman civilization, 
 185 ; division into earldoms, 
 187 ; building of castles in, 
 193 ; conquest of, planned in 
 Normandy, 240 ; Harold made 
 king, 272 ; conquest of, by 
 William, 30S ; English char- 
 acter, 365 
 
 Epte, St. Claire on, 44 
 
 Eremburga, 145 
 
 Ericson, Leif, 18 
 
 Ermenoldus, 113 
 
 Espriota, 66 ; second marriage, 
 3o, 96, 152 
 
INDEX. 
 
 3^9 
 
 Estrith, 121, 123 
 
 Eu, 236 
 
 Eustace of Boulogne, 285 
 
 Evreux, 40 
 
 Exeter, siege of, 325 
 
 Exmes, 97, m, 113 
 
 F 
 
 Falaise, 92 ; industries of, 97 ; 
 Robert in, 121; the Conqueror 
 in, 197 
 
 Fecamp, 89, III, 303 
 
 Feudal system, 54, 154 ; in Eng- 
 land, 316 
 
 Fitz-Osbern ; see William Fitz- 
 Osbern. 
 
 Flails used as weapons, 76 
 
 Flanders, Baldwin of, 1 21 
 
 Flanders, civilization of, 232 ; 
 aids William, 285 
 
 Fleming, Scottish families of, 233 
 
 Forests, Norman, 95 ; English, 
 330 
 
 France, 54, 361 
 
 Franks, 55, 361 
 
 Freeman's (E. A.) History .of the 
 Norman Conquest, 190, 205, 
 224, 225, 2S0, 2S6, 355, 359 
 
 Froissart, 323 
 
 Fulbert the Tanner, 122 
 
 G 
 
 ( iaul, 20 
 
 Geirrid the Norsewoman, 7 
 
 Geoffrey Martel, 250 ; dies, 252 
 
 Geoffrey Fiantagenet, 358 
 
 Gerberga, 72 ; courage of, 82-S5 
 
 Gerberoi, 334, 337 
 
 Germany, 54 ; sympathy fur 
 Louis Outremer, 83, 361 
 
 Gisla, 43 
 
 Godfrey of Brittany, 101 
 
 Godiva, Lady, 18S 
 
 Godwine, Earl of Wessex, 1S4 ; 
 character and gifts, 188 ; a 
 king-maker, 18S ; influence in 
 England and banishment, 192; 
 returns, 244 ; remembrance of, 
 in England, 315. 
 
 Golet the Fool, 199 
 
 Gorm of Denmark, 30, Si 
 
 Gottfried, 19 
 
 Grantmesnil, 19S 
 
 Greece, typical characters of, 365 
 
 Greenland, 16, 18 
 
 Gregory VIE, (or Hildebrand), 
 279, 285, 298 
 
 Grimbald of Plessis, 202 ; im- 
 prisonment of, 212 
 
 Guizot's history of France, 159 
 
 Guy of Burgundy, 199; pretends 
 to the ducal crown, 200 ; 
 beaten at Val-es-dunes, 210 
 
 Gyda, 30 
 
 Gytha, Godwine's wife, 192 
 
 Gyrth, son of Godwine, 303 
 
 11 
 
 Haarfager, Harold, 15 ; king- 
 dom and marriage, 30 ; tyran- 
 nies of, 32 
 Hainan of Thorigny, 202 
 Harold Blaatand, 81, S2 
 Harold Hardrada, 2SS, 290, 294 
 Harold, son of Godwine, 192; 
 in Ireland, 242 ; in Normandy, 
 253 ; desires to succeed Ead- 
 ward, 256 ; shipwrecked in 
 Ponthieu, 260; received In 
 William of Normandy, and 
 visits him, 264 ; at Mt. St. 
 Michel, 265 ; promises to 
 marry one of William's daugh- 
 ters, 267 ; oath on the relics, 
 267 ; again in Normandy, 267 •, 
 made king of England, 272 ; 
 battle of Hastings, 300 
 Ha Ron, 49 
 Harthacnut, 170 ; becomes king, 
 
 183 ; dies, 184 
 Hasting the pirate, 38; Italian 
 
 robberies, 130-144 
 Hastings, battle of, 299 
 Hauteville, Drogo of , 138 
 Hauteville, Humbert of, 141 
 Hauteville, Humphrey of, 13S 
 Hauteville, Roger of, 143 
 Hauteville, Serlon of, 130 ; bra- 
 very of, 138, 141 
 
370 
 
 THE STORY OF fllE XORMAXS. 
 
 Hauteville, Tancredof, 132, 135, 
 
 Hauteville, William of, presi- 
 dent of Apulia, 139 
 
 Hautevilles, Family of the, 236 
 
 Hebrides, 2, 29, 50 
 
 Henry Beauclerc, 327 ; his 
 father's legacy, 339, 348; seizes 
 the English crown, 354 ; death 
 of his son, 357 
 
 Henry of Burgundy, 137 
 
 Henry of France, 197, 199 ; 
 William's enemy, 202 ; God- 
 wine's partisan, 244 
 
 Herleva (or Arlette), 122 
 
 Herluin of Bee, 223 ; becomes 
 prior, 224 
 
 Herluin of Montreuil, 81 
 
 Hildebrand, archdeacon, see 
 Gregory VII. 
 
 Hugh Capet, 63, 88, 98 
 
 Hugh the Great, Count of Paris, 
 
 56. 63. 153 
 
 I 
 
 Iceland, colonization of, 16, 32 ; 
 expedition to England from, 
 291 ; literature, 32, 92, 362 
 
 Italy, 54 
 
 J 
 
 Jersey, island of, 93 
 
 Jerusalem, Robert's pilgrimage 
 to, 126 
 
 Jumieges, 35 
 
 K 
 
 Kent, 288, 290 
 
 Knighthood, 156; oaths of, 161 
 L 
 
 Land-holding, Norman system 
 of, 46 
 
 Lanfranc, 219, 226 ; met by pil- 
 grims, 231 ; brings about 
 William's marriage, 237 ; Wil- 
 liam's ally, 279 ; Bishop of 
 Canterbury, 320 
 
 Laon, castle of, 72 
 
 Leo, Pope of Rome, 235, 236 
 
 Leofric, 188 ; grandsons of, 258 
 
 Leslies, Scottish family of, 233 
 
 Lillebonne, 282 
 
 Lisieux, 247, 252 
 
 Lisle, Baldwin de, 233 
 
 London, 177, 192, 302 
 
 Long Serpent, 12 
 
 Longsword, see William Long- 
 sword 
 
 Lorraine, 54 
 
 Lothair, 86 
 
 Louis Outremer, 71 ; in Rouen, 
 77 ; loses the battle with 
 Normandy, 82 ; death of, 86 
 
 M 
 
 Maine, Count of, 280 
 
 Malcolm, 288 
 
 Mantes, 377 
 
 Matilda of Flanders, 233 ; mar- 
 ries William of Normandy, 
 237 ; builds Church of the 
 Holy Trinity in Caen, 238 ; 
 influence in Normandy, 245 ; 
 gives William a ^hip, 20,8 ; 
 rules Normandy in his ab- 
 sence, 325 ; favors her son 
 Robert, 334 ; dies, 335 
 
 Mauger, 90 ; Archbishop of 
 Rouen, 112, 124; opposition 
 to William and Matilda's mar- 
 riage, 236 ; dismissal of, by 
 William, 251 
 
 Mauritius, 238 
 
 Mercia, 187 
 
 Michael, Emperor of Constanti- 
 nople, 128 
 
 Mirmande, III 
 
 Monasticism, 215 ; value of, to 
 Normandy, 230 
 
 Montgomery, house of, 152 
 
 Morkere, 288, 320 
 
 Mortain, Count of, 282 
 
 Mortemer, battle of, 248 
 
 Mount St. Michel, 265 
 
 N 
 
 Navarre, 54 
 
 Neal of St. Saviour, 201 ; at 
 Val-es-dunes, 208 ; goes to 
 Brittany, 202 ; at Hastings, 
 306 
 
INDEX. 
 
 371 
 
 Neustria, 35, 79 
 
 Normandy, Rolf's voyage to, 29, 
 
 34 ; formerly called Neustria, 
 
 35 ; independence of, 44 ; 
 division of, 46 ; improvement 
 of, 47 ; loyalty to France, 57 ; 
 relations with France, 60 ; 
 holds its own against Louis 
 Outremer, 82 ; first money 
 coined in, 84 ; the Norman 
 character, 91 ; manufactures 
 of, 92 ; chivalry in, 93 ; at- 
 tacked by /Ethelred, 103 ; 
 changes in, 115 ; Christianity 
 in, 118 ; social progress of, 
 132 ; colonies in Southern 
 Italy, 133 ; feudalism in, 153 ; 
 knighthood of, 156 ; churches 
 of, 168 ; plague in, 169 ; 
 ^Ethelred escapes to, 177 ; 
 state of religion in, 217 ; archi- 
 tecture, 239, 240 ; enmity be- 
 tween Flanders and, 245 ; 
 victory at Mortemer, 248 ; 
 craftiness of, 250 ; victory 
 ta Varaville, 252 ; Harold in, 
 268 ; governed by William ami 
 Lanfranc, 279 ; preparation for 
 war in, 295 ; wins the battle 
 of Hastings, 300 ; influence of 
 Norman character, 356-360 
 
 Norman women, 323, 326 
 Northmen, voyages of, 4 ; litera- 
 ture of. 9 ; arts of the, 11 ; 
 ship-building of, i2;inBayeux, 
 
 59 
 Norway, coast of, I ; metals in, 
 4 ; home-life in, 6 ; reputation 
 of, 9 ; ships of, 12-14 ; colo- 
 nies of, 19 ; women in, 23 ; 
 pirates, 26 ; Haarfager's gov- 
 ernment of, 30 
 
 O 
 
 Odo of Bayeux, 2S2, 304, 323 ; 
 made Earl of Kent, 324 ; 
 Italian plot, 336 ; release from 
 prison, 339 ; plots of, 347 
 
 Odo of France, 247 
 
 Olaf of Norway, 109, 175 
 Ordericus Yitalis, chronicle- of, 
 
 334. 337 
 Orknevs, 1, 30, 293 
 0*lac,'6o 
 
 Osmond de Centevillt, 72 
 Otho William, 107 
 Otto of Germany, 86 
 
 Palermo, 146 
 
 Palgrave, Sir Francis, 89, 91 
 Paris, plundering of, 19, 40 ; 
 borders of Normandy near, 
 
 125 
 
 Pavia, Lanfranc born in, 226 
 
 Peasantry, Norman, 93 ; com- 
 plaint of, 95 ; parliament of 
 and commune, 96 ; in Eng- 
 land, 330 
 
 Peter the Hermit, 351 
 
 Pevensey, 299 
 
 Philip, King of France, 337 
 
 Poictiers, 246 
 
 Ponthieu, 246 ; Harold ship- 
 wrecked in, 260 ; William's 
 ships sail for, 297 
 
 Pupa, 43, 45, 60 
 
 Pyrenees, 246 
 
 Q 
 
 Quevilly, 275 
 
 K 
 
 Ragnar Lodbrok, 25 
 
 Rainulf of Ferrieres, 68 
 
 Ralph Flambard, 349 
 
 Ralph of Tesson, 206 
 
 Ralph of Toesny, 249 
 
 Randolph of Bayeux, 202 
 
 Raoul of Ivry, 96 ; against the 
 peasants, 97, 98 
 
 Ravens, black, 15 
 
 Renaud, 110 
 
 Richard of Evreux, 282 
 
 Richard the Fearless, 62 ; boy- 
 hood of, 66 ; made duke, 68 ; 
 sent to Laon, 71 ; charters of, 
 84 ; death of, 89 
 
THE STORY OF THE XOAW.I .VS. 
 
 Richard the Good, 90; character 
 <pf, 02 ; unruly subjects of, 96 ; 
 first peer of F ranee, 99 ; mar- 
 riage of, IOI ; war with Bur- 
 gundy, 1(^6, with Dreux, 108 ; 
 death at Fecamp, 1 r 1 
 
 Richard the Third I Hike, no; 
 becomes duke, 112; is poi- 
 soned, 113 
 
 Robert Curt-hose, 333 ; inherits 
 Normandy, 339. 345 ; his 
 character, 350 ; goes on pil- 
 grimage, 351 ; imprisonment, 
 
 357 
 Robert of Eu, 2S2 
 
 Robert of France, 98 ; wit of, 
 
 99 
 Robert Guiscard, 134 ; reaches 
 Anialfi, 141 ; becomes duke, 
 
 142 
 Robert of [umieges, 193 
 
 Robert the Magnificent, 112; 
 bad name of, 114; enemy of 
 England, 11S; marries the 
 tanner's daughter, 122; goes 
 on pilgrimage, 125 ; dies, 129 
 
 Robert the Staller, 273, 300 
 
 Roger of Beaumont, 2S2, 322 
 
 Roger of Toesny, 195 ; colony 
 in Spain, 196 
 
 Rognwald, Jail, of More, 31, 44 
 
 Rolf Ganger, ships, eg ; profes- 
 sion, 32 ; siege of Rouen, 35 ; 
 good government, 4t ; made 
 duke, 42 ; christened, 45 ; 
 married Gisla, 45 ; death, 50; 
 tomb at Rouen, typical char- 
 acter, 53 ; tower in Rouen, 
 73 ; hall in Rouen, I2r ; 
 Cnut's likeness to, 157 ; 278. 
 282, 306 
 
 Romance language, 55 
 
 Roman deRou, 94, 112, 204, 209, 
 267, 340 
 
 Roman roads, 92 
 
 Rome, Church of, 118 
 
 Rouen, 20 ; siege r>(, 35 ; Rolf's 
 wedding in, 45 ; Rolfs palace 
 in, 50 ; Richard the Fearless' 
 coronation in, 69 ; ruins in, 
 
 86 ; reception of William and 
 
 Matilda in, 236 
 Rudolph of Burgundy, 57 
 Rye, castle of, 200 
 
 S 
 Sagamen, 8 
 
 Sandwich, 288 
 
 Salle, 212 
 
 Sanglac, battle of, T04 
 
 Saxons, 287 
 
 Scandinavian peninsula, 1-3 
 
 Sea-kings, 9 
 
 Senlac, 304, 309 
 
 Shakespeare, 91 
 
 Sicily, 131, 139 ; Norman ruins, 
 
 in, T45 ; aids William, 285 ; 
 
 crusades of, 350 
 Siward of Northumberland, 25S 
 Slavery, William's suppression 
 
 of, 332 
 Spain, 20, 25, 306 
 Sperling, So, r52 
 Stamford Bridge, battle of, 293, 
 
 298, 305 
 Stephen of Blois, 358 
 Stephen of Boulogne, 358 
 Stigand, 273 
 St. Michel's Mount, ior 
 Sturlesson, Snorro, 2S 
 St. Valery, 297 
 Sussex, 258, 290, 299 
 Swegen, King of Denmark, 175 
 
 Taillefer the minstrel, 306 
 Taxes, 352 
 Tennyson, Lord, 28 
 Terra Regis, 31S 
 Thurkill the sacristan, 303 
 Tillieres, 109; siege of, 136 
 
 castle of, 250 
 Tostig, 2S7, 292 
 Truce of God, 165 
 Turf-Einar, 32 
 
 Val-es-dunes, battle of, 205 
 changes since, 247 
 
INDEX. 
 
 373 
 
 Yalmeray, 205 
 
 Valognes, William's escape from, 
 
 199 
 Varaville, battle of, 251 
 Vaudreuil, 152 
 Venerable Bede, the, 218 
 Venosa (tomb of the Haute- 
 
 villes), 146 
 Vermandois, Count of, 56; death 
 
 of, 63 
 Vexin, district of the, 125, 337, 
 
 34S. 
 Vigr, island of, 29 
 Vikings, 9, 366 
 Vinland, 18 
 
 W 
 
 Wace, Master, 112, see Roman 
 
 dc Ron. 
 Walter Giffard, 2S2 
 Walter Tyrrel, 353 
 Walthain, abbey of, 254, 303 
 Waltheof, 320 
 Westminster, igi, 2G9, 302, 311, 
 
 314. 353 
 
 Wight, isle of, 28S ; Odo's ren- 
 dezvous in, 336 
 
 William the Conqueror, 104, 
 114; father of, 116; mother 
 of, 122 ; homage of barons to, 
 126 ; typical character of, 
 149 ; purity of life, 167 ; 
 Roger of Toesny an enemy 
 to, 196 ; Guy of Burgundy's 
 rebellion, 199 ; not a man of 
 blood in a certain sense, 211 ; 
 mastery in Normandy, 213 ; 
 revenge upon Alencon, 214 ; 
 meets Lanfranc, 229 ; marries 
 Matilda, 237 ; goes to Eng- 
 land, 242 ; receives news of 
 Harold's shipwreck, 260; at 
 Chateau d'Eu, 264 ; hears of 
 Harold's coronation, 275 ; em- 
 
 bassy to Harold, 280 ; coun- 
 cil at Lillebonne, 2S2 ; at 
 Hastings, 299 ; inarch to Lon- 
 don, 313 ; coronation at West- 
 minster, 314 ; government of 
 England, 316 ; returns t< 
 Normandy in triumph, 321 , 
 at Mantes, 337 ; last illness 
 and death, 337 
 William Fitz-Osbern, 250; at 
 Rouen palace, 262 ; at Que- 
 villy, 277, 282 ; at Lillebonne, 
 284 ; made Count of Here- 
 ford, 324 
 William of Jumieges, 112 
 William Longsword, his youth, 
 43 ; education of, 56 ; his 
 wife, 56 ; lands in Brittany, 
 5S ; politics of, 60 ; govern- 
 ment of, 62 ; death, 63 ; char- 
 acter, of, 64 ; lingering enmity 
 toward Flanders caused by 
 hi-* murder, 245 
 William Malet, 310 
 William of Malmesbury, 331 
 William Rufus, 338 ; inherits 
 the English crown, 339 ; goes 
 to England, 345 ; is murdered, 
 353 ; is buried at Winchester, 
 
 353 
 William, son of Richard the 
 
 Fearless, 97 
 William de Talvas, 124; the 
 
 bastard's enemy, 152 ; rebels 
 
 against William, 213 
 William of Warren, 282 
 Witanagemot, 270, 275, 280, 
 
 317. 353 
 Women of Normandy, IOI, 323, 
 
 326 
 
 y 
 
 Yonge, Miss (Story of The Littk 
 
 Duke), 85 
 York, 292 
 
The Story of the Nations. 
 
 MESSRS. G. P. PUTNAM'S SONS take pleasure in 
 announcing that they have in course of publication, in 
 co-operation with Mr. T. Fisher Unwin, of London, a 
 series of historical studies, intended to present in a graphic 
 manner the stories of the different nations that have 
 attained prominence in history. 
 
 In the story form the current of each national life is 
 distinctly indicated, and its picturesque and noteworthy 
 periods and episodes are presented for the reader in their 
 philosophical relation to each other as well as to universal 
 history. 
 
 It is the plan of the writers of the different volumes to 
 enter into the real life of the peoples, and to bring them 
 before the reader as they actually lived, labored, and 
 struggled — as they studied and wrote, and as they amused 
 themselves. In carrying out this plan, the myths, with 
 which the history of all lands begins, will not be over- 
 looked, though these will be carefully distinguished from 
 the actual history, so far as the labors of the accepted 
 historical authorities have resulted in definite conclusions. 
 
 The subjects of the different volumes have been planned 
 to cover connecting and, as far as possible, consecutive 
 epochs or periods, so that the set when completed will 
 present in a comprehensive narrative the chief events in 
 the great Story of the Nations ; but it is, of course, 
 not always practicable to Issue the several volumes in 
 their chronological order. 
 
The "Stones" are printed in good readable type, and 
 in handsome i2mo form. They are adequately illustrated 
 and furnished with maps and indexes. Price, per vol., 
 cloth, $1.50. Half morocco, gilt top, $1.75. 
 
 The following are now ready : 
 
 GREECE. Prof. Jas. A. Harri- 
 son. 
 
 ROME. Arthur Gilman. 
 
 THE JEWS. Prof. James K. 
 Hosmer. 
 
 CHALDEA. Z. A. Ragozin. 
 
 GERMANY. S. Baring-Gould. 
 
 NORWAY. Hjalmar H. Boye- 
 sen. 
 
 SPAIN. Rev. E. E. and Susan 
 Hale. 
 
 HUNGARY. Prof. A. Vambery. 
 
 CARTHAGE. Prof. Alfred J. 
 Church. 
 
 THE SARACENS. Arthur Gil- 
 man. 
 
 THE MOORS IN SPAIN. 
 Stanley Lane-Poole. 
 
 THE NORMANS. Sarah Orne 
 Jewett. 
 
 PERSIA. S. G. W. Benjamin. 
 
 ANCIENT EGYPT. Prof. Geo. 
 Rawlinson. 
 
 ALEXANDER'S EMPIRE. 
 Prof. J. P. Mahaffy. 
 
 ASSYRIA. Z. A. Ragozin. 
 
 THE GOTHS. Henry Bradley. 
 
 IRELAND. Hon. Emily Law- 
 less. 
 
 TURKEY. Stanley Lane- 
 Poole. 
 
 MEDIA, BABYLON, AND 
 PERSIA. Z. A. Ragozin. 
 
 MEDIAEVAL FRANCE. Prof. 
 Gustave Masson. 
 
 HOLLAND. Prof. J. Thorold 
 Rogers. 
 
 MEXICO. Susan Hale. 
 
 PHOENICIA. Geo. Rawlinson. 
 
 THE HANSA TOWNS. Helen 
 Zimmern. 
 
 EARLY BRITAIN. Prof. Al- 
 free J. Church. 
 
 THE BARBARY CORSAIRS. 
 Stanley Lane-Poole. 
 
 RUSSIA. W. R. Morfill. 
 
 THE JEWS UNDER ROME. 
 W. D. Morrison. 
 
 SCOTLAND. John Mackin- 
 tosh. 
 
 SWITZERLAND. R. Stead 
 and Mrs. A. Hug. 
 
 PORTUGAL. H. Morse Ste- 
 phens. 
 
 THE BYZANTINE EMPIRE. 
 C. W. C. Oman. 
 
 SICILY. E. A. Freeman. 
 
 THE TUSCAN REPUBLICS. 
 Bella Duffy. 
 
 POLAND. W. R. Morfill. 
 
 PARTHIA. Geo. Rawlinson. 
 'JAPAN. David Murray. 
 
 THE CHRISTIAN RECOV- 
 ERY OF SPAIN. H. E. 
 Watts. 
 
 AUSTRALASIA. GrevilleTre- 
 garthen. 
 
 SOUTHERN AFRICA. Geo. 
 M. Theal. 
 
 VENICE. Alethea Wiel. 
 
 THE CRUSADES. T. S. 
 Archer and C. L. Kingsford. 
 
 VEDIC INDIA. Z. A. Ragozin. 
 
 BOHEMIA. C. E. Maurice. 
 
 CANADA. J. G. Bourinot. 
 
 THE BALKAN STATES.. 
 William Miller. 
 
 BRITISH RULE IN INDIA. 
 R. W. Frazer. 
 
 MODERN FRANCE. Andr< 
 Le Bon. 
 
 THE BUILDING OF THE 
 BRITISH EMPIRE. Al- 
 fred T. Story. 
 
Heroes of the Nations, 
 
 EDITED BY 
 
 EVELYN ABBOTT, M.A., 
 
 Fellow of Balliol College, Oxford. 
 
 A Series of biographical studies of the lives and work 
 of a number of representative historical characters about 
 whom have gathered the great traditions of the Nations 
 to which they belonged, and who have been accepted, in 
 many instances, as types of the several National ideals. 
 With the life of each typical character will be presented 
 a picture of the National conditions surrounding him 
 during his career. 
 
 The narratives are the work of writers who are recog- 
 nized authorities on their several subjects, and, while 
 thoroughly trustworthy as history, will present picturesque 
 and dramatic " stories " of the Men and of the events con- 
 nected with them. 
 
 To the Life of each " Hero " will be given one duo- 
 decimo volume, handsomely printed in large type, pro- 
 vided with maps and adequately illustrated according to 
 the special requirements of the several subjects. The 
 volumes will be sold separately as follows : 
 
 Large 12°, cloth extra $150 
 
 Half morocco, uncut edges, gilt top . . I 75 
 
The following are now ready : 
 
 Nelson, and the Naval Supremacy of England. By W. Clark Russell, author A 
 
 " The Wreck of the Grosvenor," etc. 
 Gustavus Adolphus and the Struggle of Protestantism for Existence. By C R. 
 
 L. Fletcher, M.A., late Fellow of All Souls College. 
 Pericles, and the Golden Age of Athens. By Evelyn Abbott, M.A. 
 Theodoric the Goth, the Barbarian Champion of Civilisation. By Thomas 
 
 Hodgkin, author of " Italy and Her Invaders," etc. 
 Sir Philip Sidney, and the Chivalry of England. By H. R. Fox Bourne, auth 
 
 of " The Life of John Locke,"'etc. 
 Julius Caesar, and the Organisation of the Roman Empire. By W. Ward 
 
 Fowler, M.A., Fellow of Lincoln College, Oxford. 
 John Wyclif, Last of the Schoolmen a:>d First of the English Reformers, By 
 
 Lewis Sergeant, author of " New Greet e," etc. 
 Napoleon, Warrior and Ruler, and the Military Supremacy of Revolutionary 
 
 France. By W. O'Connor Morris. 
 Henry of Navarre, and the Huguenots of France. By P. F. Willert, M.A., Fet 
 
 low of Exeter College, Oxford. 
 Cicero, and the Fall of the Roman Republic. By J. L. Strachan-Davidson, M.A 
 
 Fellow of Balliol College, Oxford. 
 Abraham Lincoln, and the Downfall of American Slavery. By Noah 3rooks. 
 Prince Henry (of Portugal) the Navigator, and the Age of Discovery. By C. R. 
 
 Beazley, Fellow of Merton College, Oxford. 
 Julian the Philosopher, and the Last Struggle of Paganism against Christianity. 
 
 By Alice Gardner. 
 Louis XIV., and the Zenith of the French Monarchy. By Arthur Hassall, 
 
 M.A., Senior Student of Christ Church College, Oxford. 
 Charles XII., and the Collapse of the Swedish Empire, 1682-1719. By R. Nisbet 
 
 Bain. 
 Lorenzo de' Medici, and Florence in the 15th Century. By Edward Armstrong, 
 
 M.A., Fellow of Queens's College, Oxford. 
 Jeanne d'Arc. Her Life and Death. By Mrs. Oliphant. 
 Christopher Columbus. His Life and Voyages. By Wachingyon Irving. 
 Robert the Bruce, and the Struggle for Scott i«h I independence. By Sir Herbert 
 
 Maxwell, M.P. 
 Hannibal, Soldier, Statesman. Patriot ; and the Crisis of the Struggle between 
 
 Carthage and Rome. By W. O'Connor Morris, Sometime Scholar of Oriel Col- 
 lege, Oxford. 
 Ulysses S. Grant, and the Period of National Preservation and Reconstruction, 
 
 1822-1885. By Lieut.-Col. William Conant Church. 
 Robert E. Lee, and the Southern Confederacy, 1807-1870. By Prof. Henry 
 
 Alexander White, of the Washington and Lee University. 
 The Cid Campeador, and the Waning of the Crescent in the West. By H. 
 
 Butler Clarke, Fellow of St. John's College, Oxford. 
 
 To be followed by : 
 
 Moltke, and the Military Supremacy of Germany. By Spencer Wilkinson, Lon- 
 don University. 
 
 Bismarck. The New German Empire, How it Arose and What it Displaced. 
 By W. J. Headlam, M.A., Fellow of King's Collage. 
 
 Judas Maccabaeus, the Conflict between Hellenism and Hebraism. By J}*ael 
 Abrahams, author of the " Jews of the Middle Ages." 
 
 Henry V., the English Hero King. By Charles L. Kingsf. ■-, joint-author of the 
 •* Story of the Crusades." 
 
 G. P. PUTNAM'S SONS. NEg-Ymwir amp London. 
 

 
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