the North

Northamp

CHAP. X. on the deed of Caradoc,1 the suspicious appearance of Welshmen in the train of Eadwine, all look the same way. Caradoc and Gamel-bearn are not likely to have had any direct communication with one another; but it is quite possible that both of them may have been little more than puppets moved by a single hand. At all events, a great force, Northumbrian, Mercian, and Welsh, was now Ravages of gathered together at Northampton. The Northumbrians humbrians were in what they doubtless expected to find a friendly about country, but it would seem that they found the men of Northamptonshire and Huntingdonshire less zealous in the cause than they had hoped. At least we find that Morkere's Northern followers dealt with the country about Northampton as if it had been the country of an enemy. They slew men, burned corn and houses, carried off cattle, and at last led captive several hundred prisoners, seemingly as slaves.2 The blow was so severe that it was remembered even when one would have thought that that and all other lesser wrongs would have been forgotten in the general overthrow of England. Northamptonshire and the shires near to it were for many winters the worse.3

ton.

Harold carries

It seems to have been at Northampton that the first messages attempts at negotiation began between the King and the insurgents. Eadward and Tostig were still in their wood

from the

King to

4

1 See above, p. 475.

2 Chron. Wig. "And þa Rydrenan dydan mycelne hearm abutan Hamtune, ægbær þæt hi ofslogon menn, and bærndon hús and corn, and namon eall þæt orf þe hig mihton to cuman, þæt was feola þusend, and fela hund manna hi naman, and læddan norð mid heom." I do not know that the word " Ryörenan" occurs elsewhere; but any hope that it might mean Welshmen is dispelled by the word "nord," and still more clearly by the words of the Peterborough Chronicler, who, for "pa Rydrenan" reads "pa norðerne menn." The evil doers were clearly the original Northumbrian revolters.

3 Chronn. Wig. Petrib. 1065. "Swa pat seo scir and pa oðra scira þæ Sær neah sindon wurdan fela wintra de wyrsan."

On the negotiations see Appendix TT.

NEGOTIATIONS AT NORTHAMPTON.

gents.

of Ead

487

land retreats, enjoying the slaughter of unresisting animals, CHAP. X. while half England was in confusion, and while whole the insurshires were being laid waste. The Earl of the WestSaxons was most likely as keen a hunter as either of them, but he at least did not let his sport interfere with his duty to his country. While his brother and brotherin-law still tarried in the woods, Earl Harold hastened to Northampton with a message from the King. Eadward, who had once been so wrathful at Godwine's appeal to Law on behalf of the men of Dover,1 had now, under Harold's guidance, better learned the duties of a constitutional King. Through the mouth of the great Earl, he Demands called on the men of Northumberland to lay down their ward. arms, to cease from their ravages, and, if they had any matter against their own Earl, to bring it forward for discussion in a lawful Assembly. We may conceive the feeling of triumph with which Harold now put into the King's mouth the very words which, in the mouth of Godwine, had led to the temporary overthrow of himself and his house. But the Northumbrians would not yield Answer of to any proposal which implied even the possibility of humbrians. Tostig's return to power. They were freemen born and bred, they would not bow to the pride of any Earl;2 they had learned from their fathers to bear no third choice besides freedom or death. If the King wished to retain Northumberland in his allegiance, he must confirm the banishment of Tostig from Northumberland and from all England, he must confirm the election of Morkere to the Northern Earldom. If he persisted in forcing Tostig upon them, they would deal with him as an enemy; if he yielded to their demands, he would see what loyal subjects Northumbrians could be, when they were gently

1 See above, p. 134.

2 Will. Malms. ii. 200. "Se nullius Ducis ferociam pati posse." See Appendix TT.

the North

CHAP. X. ruled by a ruler of their own choice.1 Brave words truly, if they really came from the heart of the Northumbrian simply put into their mouths by More than one message passed to

Eadward holds a

Bretford.

people, and were not
two ambitious Earls.

and fro; messengers from the rebel camp accompanied Harold to the royal presence; 2 but there was no sign of yielding on the part of the host encamped at Northhampton. At last the matter became so serious that Eadward left his hunting to apply himself personally to the affairs of his Kingdom. At a royal abode called Gemót at Bretford, near Salisbury, a place whose name suggests memories of warfare five hundred years older, Eadward called an Assembly together. It probably professed to be a Witenagemót of the whole realm, but it could hardly have been more than a meeting of the King's immediate counsellors, or at most of the local Witan of Wessex. Debate in This Assembly at once began to discuss the state of the nation; and the record of their debates at least shows what full freedom of speech was allowed in our ancient national Councils. Some speakers boldly accused Tostig of cruelty and avarice; his severities had been caused, not by any love of justice, but by a wish to seize on the wealth of the rich men of Northumberland.4 It was affirmed, on the other hand, that the revolt against Tostig had been simply got up by the secret machinations of Harold. No charge could be more unjust, and we may suspect that it was brought forward by no mouth but that

the Coun

cil; accusations against Tostig.

Tostig charges Harold

with stir. ring up the revolt.

1 Will. Malms. ii. 200. "Proinde, si subditos velit, Markerium filium Elgari eis præficiat, re experturum quam dulciter sciant obedire, si dulciter tractati fuerint."

2 Chronn. Wig. Petrib. "And eac ærendracan mid him sendon." 3 Vita Eadw. 422. "Accitis undique regni primatibus, habebat ibi consilium quid super tali negotio esset opus."

Ib. "Culpabant nonnulli eumdem gloriosum Ducem nimiæ feritatis, et magis amore justitiæ inquietos punisse arguebatur cupiditati invadendæ eorum facultatis." I hope that I have caught the general meaning of

this stiff bit of Latin.

DEBATE IN THE KING'S GEMÓT AT BRETFORD.

489

bility of the

of Tostig himself.1 Harold throughout tried in vain to CHAP. X. reconcile the revolters to his brother.2 Up to this time Improba no trustworthy account gives us the slightest sign of any charge. quarrel between the two brothers.3 Now that the revolt had broken out, it was undoubtedly Harold's interest to settle matters without bloodshed, even at the expense of his brother; but he had no interest, but quite the contrary, in stirring up the revolt in the first instance. It was prudent, under the circumstances, to yield to the demands of the Northumbrians, and to allow the aggrandizement of the rival house; but Harold could have no motive for seeking, of his own accord, to transfer Northhumberland from a son of Godwine to a son of Elfgar. But Tostig doubtless expected his brother to support him, right or wrong, at all hazards and against all foes, and he could not understand any cause for Harold's hesitating so to do except his being art and part with his enemies. Before the King and all his Court, Tostig so vehemently charged Harold with having kindled the Northumbrian revolt, that Harold thought it necessary to deny the Harold charge, in the usual solemn form, upon oath. It appears on oath. that the Earl's own oath was thought enough, and that compurgators were not called for. But the question how to quell the revolt was still more urgent than the question how the revolt arose. The King was as vehement against

1 Vita Eadw. 422. "Dicebatur quoque [mark the difference of the formula], si dignum esset credere, fratris sui Haroldi invidioso, quod absit, suasu, hanc dementiam contra Ducem suum aggressos esse.' The Biographer expresses his own disbelief; 'Sed ego huic detestabili nequitiæ a tanto principe in fratrem suum non audeo nec vellem fidem adhibere." The Biographer, the special apologist of Tostig, is here driven to his last shift. 2 Chron. Ab. and Florence. See Appendix TT.

3 See Appendix GG.

Vita Eadw. 422. "Ipse tamen Dux Tostinus, coram Rege ejusque frequentibus palatinis publice testatus, hoc illi imposuit, sed ille citius ad sacramenta nimis (proh dolor) prodigus [on this most remarkable allusion, see above, p. 43], hoc objectum sacramentis purgavit."

denies it

Eadward's

for war.

CHAP. X. the real rebels of Northumberland as he had been, fourteen eagerness years before, against the fancied rebels of Dover. He was as eager to avenge the wrongs of his English favourite Tostig as he had then been to avenge the wrongs of his foreign favourite Eustace. He would, doubtless by deputy, chastise their insolence with the edge of the sword; it would almost seem that the royal summons went out, calling the whole force of England to the royal standard.1 But Eadward had counsellors about him who were wiser than himself. They, Harold doubtless at their head, shrank as soldiers from a winter campaign and as patriots from a civil war. They pleaded that, with these two great difficulties in the way of immediate action, it would be impossible to collect an army able to cope with the insurgents.2 The Housecarls of the King and of the Earl were doubtless ready to march at their command; but, of all courses in the world, none could be so unpopular as to employ this force to put down a popular insurrection. It would be a renewal of the days of Harthacnut and of the He is hin march against Worcester.3 The King was so eager for dered by Harold and battle that his advisers could not, after all, persuade him formally to revoke his orders for war; but they took means to hinder the expedition from actually taking place. So to do would be no very hard task, when the feeling of the chiefs and of the people was doubtless exactly the

1041.

others.

1 Vita Eadw. 423. "Multotiens ergo a Rege per legatos consulti quum non adquiescerent, sed potius inceptâ dementiâ amplius furerent, ferro disponit eorum contumacem proterviam compescere, commotis regali edicto universis totius reliquiis Angliæ."

2 Ib. "Sed quia ex asperiori hieme jam tunc aëris incumbebat inæqualitas, tum non facile erat ad contrariam expeditionem sufficientes educere exercituum copias, et quia in eâdem gente horrebat quasi bellum civile, instabant quidam ferventem Regis animum sedare, et ne expeditio procederet, suadere." 3 See vol. i. pp. 514, 515.

This seems implied in the words of the Biographer (423); "Obluctatique diutius Regem proficisci volentem non tam avertunt, quam eo invito perperam deficiunt."