Master Wace, His Chronicle of the Norman Conquest From the Roman De Rou. Wace
it was again decimated, and all that was at last saved was this second tithe.
Herout soon after died, and went the way he deserved; whereupon the men of England assembled to consider about making a king in his place. They feared Edward who was the right heir, on account of the decimation of the Normans, and the murder of his brother Alvred; and at last they agreed to make Hardekenut king of England. So they sent for Hardekenut, the son of Emma and Kenut, and he repaired thither from Denmark, and the clergy crowned him: but he sent for Edward his brother, the son of Emma his mother, and kept him in great honour at his court, and was king over him only in name. Hardekenut was king twelve years, and then fell ill. He did not languish long, but soon died. His mother lamented over him exceedingly; but it was a great comfort to her that her son Edward was come; and he obtained the kingdom59, the English finding no other heir who was entitled to the crown.
Edward was gentle and courteous, and established peace and good laws. He took to wife Godwin's daughter, Edif60 by name. She was a fair lady, but they had no children between them, and people said that he never consorted with her; but no man saw that there was ever any disagreement between them61. He loved the Normans very much, and held them dear, keeping them on familiar terms about him; and loved duke William as a brother or child. Thus peace lasted, and long will last, never I hope to have an end62.
CHAPTER IV.
THE REVOLT OF WILLIAM OF ARQUES; AND HOW HE AND THE KING OF FRANCE WERE FOILED BY DUKE WILLIAM
William of Arches was a brave and gallant knight63, brother to the archbishop Maugier, who loved him well. He was also brother on one side to duke Robert, being the son of Richard and Papie, and uncle of William the bastard. He was versed in many a trick and subtlety, and plotted mischief against the duke, claiming a right of inheritance, inasmuch as he was born in wedlock. On account of his relationship, and to secure his fealty, the duke had given him, as a fief, Arches and Taillou64; and he received them and became the duke's man; promising fealty, though he observed it but for a very brief space of time. To enable him the better to work mischief to his lord, he built a tower above Arches, setting it on the top of the hill65, with a deep trench around on every side. Then confiding in the strength of his castle, and in his birth in wedlock, and knowing that the king of France had promised to succour him in case of need, he told William he should hold his castle free from all service to him; that he was in wrongful possession of Normandy, being a bastard and without any title of right.
But the duke had now great power; for he was very prudent, and no man is weak who possesses wisdom. He sent for William of Arches, and summoned him to attend, and do his service: but he altogether refused, and defied the bastard, relying on aid from the king of France. He plundered the country round of provisions and stores of every sort, heeding little whence it came, and thus supplied his castle and tower.
The duke bore with this behaviour but a very little while, and without further 'parlement' sent for his people from all sides. Then with ditches and stakes and palisades he quickly formed a fort66, at the foot of the hill in the valley, so as to command all the country round, and prevent those in the castle from obtaining either ox, or cow, or calf: and the fort was so strong, and was garrisoned by so many knights, the best of the chivalry of all Normandy, that no effort of either king or earl to take it, was likely to be of any avail. So the duke, having thus completed his work, went his way to attend to his affairs elsewhere.
The king of France soon knew that the duke had fortified his post, and blockaded the tower, so that no provisions could enter therein. Then he assembled a great chivalry, and got together much store of provisions and arms, intending to relieve the tower of Arches, where the supply of corn began to fail. Having reached Saint-Albin67, with an ample store both of corn and wine, the king made a halt, ordering sumpter horses to be made ready to carry the stores onward, and providing a troop of knights to form the convoy.
Those in the besiegers' fort soon heard of the great preparations waiting at Saint-Albin to provision and relieve Arches. Then they selected their strongest and best fighting men, and privily formed an ambuscade in the direction of Saint-Albin. Having done this, they sent out another party with orders to charge the king's force, and then to turn back, making as if they would flee. But when they had passed the spot where the ambuscade lay, they turned quickly round on those who were pursuing, and fiercely attacked the French; those also who were lying in ambuscade riding forth, and joining in the assault.
The Frenchmen were thus grievously taken in; and being separated from the rest of their army, the Normans charged them boldly, and took and killed many. Hue Bardous68 was taken early in the affray; Engerrens count of Abevile69, was killed, and all suffered greatly. The king of France was in great grief; he mourned heavily, and was sorely vexed for the knights that had been thus surprised, and for his brave barons who had fallen. He made ready the baggage horses, and carried the stores to the town of Arches; and when he had so done, he returned back to Saint-Denis with no small shame and disgrace, as it seems to me.
The duke was sojourning at Valognes, for the sake of the woods and rivers which abound there, and on other affairs and business of his own, when a messenger came spurring on with pressing speed, and hastening unto him, cried out and said, "Better would it be for thee to be elsewhere! they who guard the frontiers have need of thy aid; for thy uncle William of Arches hath linked himself by oath and affiance to king Henry of France. The king hasteth to relieve and store Arches, and William will do him service for it in return."
Then the duke tarried not till the varlet should speak further, nor indeed till he had well said his say; but called for his good horse. "Now I shall see," said he, "who of you is ready, now I shall see who will follow me." And he made no other preparation, but forthwith crossed the fords70, passed Baieues and then Caen, and feigned as though he would go to Rouen. But when he came to Punt-Audumer, he crossed over to Chaudebec, and from Chaudebec rode on to Bans-le-Cunte. What need of many words? He hasted and galloped on till he joined his people before Arches; but none of those who took horse at the same time at Valognes kept up with him; and all wondered how he had come so soon from such a distance, when no one else had been able to do as much71.
Then he rejoiced greatly to learn what had happened; how the French had been discomfited, and their people routed and taken prisoners. William of Arches however kept close, defending his castle bravely and long; and he would have held it longer still, had not provisions failed him. So at length he abandoned land, and castle, and tower; and surrendering all up to duke William, fled to the king of France.
CHAPTER V.
HOW THE KING OF FRANCE INVADED NORMANDY, AND WAS BEATEN AT MORTEMER
The French had often insulted the Normans by injurious deeds and words, on account of the great dislike and jealousy which they bore to Normandy. They continually spoke scornfully, and called the Normans BIGOZ and DRASCHIERS72; and often remonstrated with their king, and said, "Sire, why do you not chase the Bigoz out of the country? Their ancestors were robbers, who came by sea, and stole the land from our forefathers and us." By the persuasion of these felons, who talked thus because they hated the duke, the king undertook the enterprise73; though it was disliked by many of his men. He said he would go into Normandy, and would conquer it; he would divide his army into two parts, and invade in two directions. And what he said, he endeavoured to execute; summoning his people from all sides.
He
Hardicanute died 10th July, 1042. Edward's conduct to his mother was not consistent with any sense of obligation towards her, nor indeed with his own generally received character. See an anecdote in
Or Editha. 'Sicut spina rosam genuit Godwinus Editham.' Ingulfs account of her kindness, literary tastes, and liberality, in giving him money, as well as access to the royal larder, may be seen in his chronicle, and is quoted in the collection of Norman historians by
Wace seems not aware that Editha, at the time of the disgrace of her family, was stripped of all she had, and sent to a convent.
Wace would appear here to be merely translating some cotemporary chronicle;—perhaps the same, as he begins this part of his story by quoting.
The adventure of William of Arques is out of chronological order in
Arques is the capital of the district around, formerly called Tallou, Tellau, or Tallogium.
The MSS. differ; we follow Duchesne's. M. Pluquet's text reads 'La tur rut fete el
'Chasteillun,' afterwards 'Chastelet.'
St. Aubin-le-Cauf, on the other side of the valley. There is another St. Aubin, south of Arques.
Hugh Bardolf, a distinguished name in Norman and English history. In the roll of Norman fees in the red book of the Exchequer, we find Doon Bardulf returned as one of those, 'qui non venerunt nec miserunt nec aliquid dixerunt.'
Enguerran, count of Ponthieu, the second of the name, nephew of Guy the bishop, who afterwards wrote the latin poem on the battle of Hastings, which is now in the press at Rouen. He succeeded his father, Hugh II. in 1052; and was himself succeeded by his brother Guy, afterwards taken prisoner at the battle of Mortemer, their brother Valeran being killed there. Mr. Stapleton has, in the
The fords of St. Clement, which have been before noticed. The places next mentioned are Bayeux, Pont-Audemer, Caudebec, and Bans or Baons-le-Comte, near Ivetot.
BIGOT has been supposed to have its origin in the BY-GOD of a northern tongue; and to have been used as a war cry by early Normans, answering to the later DEX-AIE. Anderson, in his
The affair at Mortemer, next related, took place in 1054, after the siege and retreat of Arques; which this attack was probably meant to revenge.