A Literary History of the English People, from the Origins to the Renaissance. J. J. Jusserand
easy to conquer, now gains victories in its turn, and takes an unexpected rank among nations. David Bruce is made prisoner at Neville's Cross; Charles de Blois at Roche Derien; King John at Poictiers; Du Guesclin at Navarette. Hastings has made the defeat of the Armada possible; William of Normandy stamped on the ground, and a nation came forth.
FOOTNOTES:
[130] The romantic events in the life of Harold Hardrada Sigurdson are the subject of an Icelandic saga in prose, by Snorre Sturlason (born at Hvam in Iceland, 1178): "The Heimskringla Saga, or the Sagas of the Norse kings, from the Icelandic of Snorre Sturlason," ed. Laing and R. B. Anderson, London, 1889, 4 vols. 8vo, vols. iii. and iv. A detailed account of the battle at "Stanforda-Bryggiur" (Stamford-bridge), will be found in chaps. 89 ff.; the battle of "Helsingja port" (Hastings), is told in chap. 100.
Taillefer ki mult bien chantout,
Sor un cheval ki tost alout
Devant le duc alout chantant
De Karlemaigne et de Rolant
E d'Oliver et des vassals
Qui morurent en Rencevals.
"Maistre Wace's Roman de Rou," ed. Andresen, Heilbronn, 1877, 2 vols. 8vo, p. 349, a statement reproduced or corroborated by several chroniclers: "Tunc cantilena Rollandi inochata. … " William of Malmesbury, "Gesta Regum Anglorum," ed. Hardy, London, 1840, English Historical Society, book iii., p. 415.
[132] William of Poictiers, a Norman by birth (he derived his name from having studied at Poictiers) and a chaplain of the Conqueror, says that his army consisted of "Mancels, French, Bretons, Aquitains, and Normans"; his statement is reproduced by Orderic Vital: "Insisterunt eis Cenomannici, Franci, Britanni, Aquitani et miserabiliter pereuntes cadebant Angli." "Historia Ecclesiastica," in Migne, vol. clxxxviii. col. 298. Vital was born nine years only after the Conquest, and he spent most of his life among Normans in the monastery of St. Evroult.
[133] Charter of William to the city of London: "Will'm kyng gret … ealle tha burhwaru binnan Londone, Frencisce and Englisce, freondlice" (greets all the burghers within London, French and English). At a later date, again, Richard Cœur-de-Lion, in a charter for Lincoln, sends his greetings to his subjects "tam Francis quam Anglis," a.d. 1194. Stubbs, "Select Charters," Oxford, 1876, pp. 82 and 266.
[134] "Gunnlangs Saga," in "Three northern Love Stories and other Tales," edited by Erikr Magnusson, and William Morris, London, 1875, 12mo.
[135] "The old play of the Wolsungs," in "Corpus Poeticum Boreale," i. p. 34.
[136] "Maistre Wace's Roman de Rou," ed. Andresen, line 7749. The same story is reproduced by William of Malmesbury (twelfth century). "Arma poposcit, moxque ministrorum tumultu loricam inversam indutus, casum risu correxit, vertetur, inquiens, fortitudo comitatus mei in regnum." "Gesta Regum Anglorum," 1840, English Historical Society, book iii. p. 415.
[137] William of Malmesbury, Ibid.
[138] "Anglo-Saxon Chronicle" (Rolls), year 1066, Worcester text (Tib. B. IV.). Same statement in William of Malmesbury, who says of his compatriots that "uno prælio et ipso perfacili se patriamque pessundederint." "Gesta Regum Anglorum," English Historical Society, p. 418.
[139] So says William of Poictiers, and Orderic Vital after him: " … Nudato insuper capite, detractaque galea exclamans: me inquit conspicite; vivo et vincam, opitulante Deo." "Orderici Vitalis Angligenæ … Historiæ Ecclesiasticæ, Libri XIII.," in Migne's "Patrologia," vol. clxxxviii. col. 297.
[140] The inventory is carried down to details; answers are required to a number of questions: " … Deinde quomodo vocatur mansio, quis tenuit eam tempore Regis Eadwardi; quis modo tenet; quot hidæ; quot carrucæ in dominio; quot hominum; quot villani; quot cotarii; quot servi; quot liberi homines; quot sochemani; quantum silvæ; quantum prati; quot pascuorum; quot molendina; quot piscinæ," &c., &c. "Domesday for Ely"; Stubbs, "Select Charters," Oxford, 1876, p. 86. The Domesday has been published in facsimile by the Record Commission: "Domesday Book, or the great survey of England, of William the Conqueror, 1086," edited by Sir Henry James, London and Southampton, 1861–3, 2 vols. 4to.
[141] Peterborough text of the "Anglo-Saxon Chronicle," year 1086.
[142] To the extent that England resembled then Jerusalem besieged by Titus: "Quid multa? In diebus eis multiplicata sunt mala in terra, ut si quis ea summatim recenseat, historiam Josephi possint excedere." John of Salisbury, "Policraticus," book vi chap. xviii.
[143] "Videas ubique in villis ecclesias, in vicis et urbibus monasteria, novo ædificandi genere consurgere." The buildings of the Anglo-Saxons, according to the testimony of the same, who may have seen many as his lived in the twelfth century, were very poor; they were pleased with "pravis et abjectis domibus." "Gesta Regum Anglorum," ed. Hardy, 1840, book iii. p. 418.
[144] William of Malmesbury, ut supra, p. 420.
[145] The Conqueror was buried at Caen; Henry II. and Richard Cœur-de-Lion at Fontevrault in Anjou. Henry III. was buried at Westminster, but his heart was sent to Fontevrault, and the chapter of Westminster still possesses the deed drawn at the moment when it was placed in the hands of the Angevin abbess, 20 Ed. I. (exhibited in the chapter house).
[146] "Henry II.," by Mrs. J. R. Green, 1888, p. 22 ("Twelve English Statesmen").
[147] Stubbs, "Seventeen Lectures," 1886, p. 131.
[148] After having congratulated the king upon his intention to teach manners and virtues to a wild race, "indoctis et rudibus populis," the Pope recalls the famous theory, according to which all islands belonged of right to the Holy See: "Sane Hiberniam et omnes insulas, quibus sol justitiæ Christus illuxit … ad jus B. Petri et sacrosanctæ Romanæ Ecclesiæ (quod tua et nobilitas recognoscit) non est dubium pertinere. … " The items of the bargain are then enumerated: "Significasti siquidem nobis, fili in Christo charissime, te Hiberniæ insulam, ad subdendum illum populum legibus, et vitiorum plantaria inde exstirpanda velle intrare, et de singulis domibus annuam unius denarii B. Petro velle solvere pensionem. … Nos itaque pium et laudabile desiderium tuum cum favore congruo prosequentes … gratum et acceptum habemus ut … illius terræ populus honorifice te recipiat et sicut Dominum veneretur." "Adriani papæ epistolæ et privilegia.—Ad Henricum II. Angliæ