HAROLD AND LEOFWINE GO TO IRELAND. 153 mines to Leofwine with Harold and own go to BrisFor the tol; growing import which were brought against Harold, we never find any CHAP. VII. reference to this, which, according to our ideas, seems the worst action of his life. In company with his young He deterbrother Leofwine,' he despised the peaceful shelter of seek help Bruges, and preferred to betake himself to a land where, from the above all others, it would be easy to engage warlike Danes. adventurers in his cause. The eastern coast of Ireland, with the numerous towns peopled by Danish settlers, lay admirably suited for their purpose. Thither then the two brothers determined to make their way, the fixed purpose of raising forces to effect their return and to avenge their father's wrongs. port of their departure they chose Bristol, a town in ance of Swegen's Earldom, unknown to fame in the earlier days of our history, but which was now rising into great, though not very honourable, importance. The port on the Avon, the frontier stream of Wessex and Western Mercia, was the natural mart for a large portion of both those countries. Commanding, as it did, the whole navigation of the Channel to which it gives its name, Bristol was then, as now, the chief seat of communication between England and the South of Ireland. That is to say, it was in those days the chief seat of the Irish slave-trade.3 In the haven of Bristol Earl Swegen had, for what cause we are not told, a ship made ready for himself.1 "Harold eorl and Leofwine," says the Worcester Chronicle; the Biographer has "Haroldus et Leofricus." See Appendix F. The Peterborough Chronicle mentions Harold only. 2 Vita Eadw. 404. "Transfretaverant in Hiberniam, ut, inde adductâ militari copiâ, patris ulciscerentur injuriam.” See vol. i. p. 365. Compare also the passage about Bristol with which William of Malmesbury winds up his panegyric on Gloucestershire (Gest. Pont. in Scriptt. p. Bed. 161). "In eâdem valle est vicus celeberrimus Bristow nomine, in quo est navium portus ab Hiberniâ et Noregiâ et cæteris transmarinis terris venientium receptaculum, ne scilicet genitalibus divitiis tam fortunata regio peregrinarum opum fraudaretur commercio." Chron. Wig. 1052. "Harold eorl and Leofwine foran to Brycgstowe, on þæt scip be Swegen eorl hæfde him silfum ær gegearcod and gemetsod." that port. Ealdred sent to overtake them. CHAP. VII. The two brothers made the best of their way towards Bristol, in order to seize this ship for the purpose of their voyage to Ireland. Perhaps they had, wittingly or unwittingly, allowed their purpose of appealing to arms to become known. This would be the only excuse for an act on the King's part, which, in any other case, would be one of the most monstrous and unprovoked breaches of faith on record. It is not likely that the five days, which had been allowed the outlaws to leave the country, were yet passed. Harold and Leofwine would be sure to make better speed than that. Yet Bishop Ealdred, whose diocese of Worcester then took in the town of Bristol, was sent after them from London with a party to overtake them, if possible, before they got on ship-board. But the Bishop and his company were not zealous on an errand which had at least the appearance of shameless perfidy. They failed to overtake the fugitives; "they could not or they would not," says the Chronicler. Harold and Leofwine reached Bristol in safety. They went on board Swegen's ship; stress of weather kept them for a while at the mouth of the Avon, but a favourable wind presently ceived by carried them to Ireland. They were there favourably King Diarmid. received by Dermot or Diarmid Mac Mael-na-mbo, King of Dublin and Leinster.3 He was a prince of native Irish They escape, reach Ireland, and are well re 1 Chron. Wig. 1052. "And se cining sende Ealdred biscop of Lundene mid genge, and sceoldon hine ofridan ær he to scipe come. Ac hi ne mihton o de hi noldon." Compare the unwillingness of the Earls under Harthacnut to act against Worcester, vol. i. p. 581. According to the Biographer (403), Godwine was also pursued, through the devices of Archbishop Robert. 2 Chron. Wig. u. s. 3 Vita Eadw. 404. "Hiemati sunt à Rege Dermodo in Hiberniam." These words at once explain the whole matter, and give us the true explanation of the otherwise difficult expression in the Peterborough Chronicle, "Harold eorl gewende west to Yrlande, and wæs þær ealne bone winter, on þes cynges gride." Sir Francis Palgrave (Hist. Ang. Sax. 342) takes this King to be Eadward, and says, "Harold crossed to Ireland, and he was so far favoured as to be allowed to remain in that country HAROLD AND LEOFWINE PURSUED BY EALDRED. 1050. 155 escent, who had lately obtained possession of the Danish CHAP. VII. istrict round Dublin, and whose authority seems to have een recognized by the Danes as well as by the Irish.1 In uch a state of things it would not be difficult to find bold pirits ready for any adventure, and a King whose position nust have been somewhat precarious would doubtless velcome any chance of getting rid of some of them. Diarmid gave Harold and Leofwine as kind a reception at Dublin as the rest of the family had found from Baldwin at Bruges, and they stayed at his court through the whole winter, plotting schemes of vengeance. Wherwell. One member only of the family of Godwine still remained The Lady to be disposed of. What had been the position or the sent to the Eadgyth feelings of Eadgyth during the scenes which have been Abbey of just described we have no means of knowing; but she too was doomed to have her share in the misfortunes of her father's house. The English Lady, the daughter of Godwine, could not be allowed to share the honours of royalty, now that all her kinsfolk were driven from the land,2 now that the reign of the Normans was about to set in. The language of one contemporary authority seems almost to under the king's protection. This fact should be noticed, because it seems to show that he was not considered as being out of the king's dominions; or, in other words, that the opposite coast of Ireland was part of Eadward's realm." This is rather slight evidence, even with the further support of a spurious charter (see vol. i. p. 66), to prove that Ireland, or its eastern coast, was part of the English Empire. Lappenberg (510; Mr. Thorpe's version, ii. 250, again does not represent the original) saw that, odd as the expression is, an Irish King must be meant, and now the Life of Eadward puts the matter beyond doubt. The "grid" of Diarmid answers to the "grið” of Baldwin. 1 Diarmid conquered the Fine-gall or Danish district in 1052, accord ing to the Four Masters (ii. 860) and Dr. Todd (Wars of Gaedhil and Gaill, 291); in 1050, according to the Chronica Scotorum, 280. The incidental evidence of the Biographer shows the earlier date to be the right one. * Will. Malms. ii. 199. "Ne scilicet omnibus suis parentibus patriam suspirantibus sola sterteret in plumâ." This odd phrase sounds like a real sneer of some contemporary Frenchman. CHAP. VII. imply an actual divorce, of which Archbishop Robert was of course the main instigator. The lawfulness or possibility of divorce in such a case might form a curious subject of speculation for those who are learned in the Canon Law. Eadward consented, perhaps willingly, to the separation; he allowed the Lady to be deprived of all her goods, real and personal;2 but he interfered at least to save her from personal ignominy. Eadgyth was sent, with no lack of respect or royal attendance,3 to the royal monastery of Wherwell, and was there entrusted to the safe keeping of the Abbess. This Abbess was a sister of the King, no doubt one of the daughters of Ethelred by his first wife. One of the widows of the slain and banished Earls, the relict of the traitor Eadric or of the hero Ulfcytel, had taken the veil in the holy house of Eadgar and Ælfthryth, and she could there confer with her guest on the uncertainty of human happiness and the emptiness of human greatness. 1 Vita Eadw. 403. See above, p. 47. Florence says "repudiavit.” 2 The Worcester Chronicle, Florence, and the Biographer do not mention the seizure of the Lady's property. The Peterborough Chronicle says, "þa forlet se cyng þa hlæfdian, seo was gehalgod him to cwene, and let niman of hire eall þæt heo ahte on lande and on golde and on seolfre." So William of Malmesbury; "Omnis reginæ substantia ad unum nummum emuncta." 3 Both the Chronicles are quite colourless on this head; it is simply "man gebrohte," "betæhte." So William of Malmesbury. But Florence says cum unâ pedissequâ ad Hwereweallam eam sine honore misit." In the Life of Eadward (403), on the other hand, we read, "Cum regio honore et imperiali comitatu, mærens tamen perducitur." The narrative, addressed to Eadgyth herself, is here the better authority. * Wherwell, according to all our authorities, except the Biographer. He says Wilton. As he could hardly be mistaken on such a point, and as the evidence for Wherwell seems conclusive, we must set down Wilton as a clerical error. "The Worcester Chronicle, Florence, and the Biographer do not mention the kindred of the Abbess with the King; it is assumed by the Peterborough Chronicle and by William of Malmesbury. On the daughters of Ethelred see vol. i. pp. 358, 363, 378, 458. EADGYTH SENT TO WHERWELL. 157 character story; its The whole of this history of the fall of Godwine is most CHAP. VII. remarkable; and it is singular that, though it is told General in great detail in three distinct accounts, so much still of the remains which is far from intelligible. The first point difficulties. which at once strikes us is the strength of Godwine in the Gemót of Gloucester and his weakness in the Gemót of London. Next year indeed we shall see the tide turn yet again; we shall behold Godwine return in triumph with the good will of all England. This is of course no difficulty; it would be no difficulty, even if popular feeling had been thoroughly against Godwine during the former year. Englishmen welcomed Godwine back again, because they had learned what it was to be without him. But the change of Godwine's position during that eventful September of which we have just gone through the history is certainly perplexing. At Beverstone and at Gloucester he appears at the head of the whole force. of Wessex, East-Anglia, and part of Mercia. All are zealous in his cause, ready, if need be, to fight in his quarrel against the King himself. He is clearly not without well-wishers even in the ranks of the Northern Earldoms. A compromise is brought about in which Sudden collapse of his honour is carefully guarded, and in which his party the power and the King's are studiously put on equal terms. the London Gemót, a few weeks later, all is changed. His followers gradually drop away from him; he does not venture to take his place in the Assembly which he had so often swayed at his pleasure; he is dealt with as an accused, almost as a convicted, criminal; he is subjected with impunity to every sort of unjust and irritating treatment; and he is at last driven to flee from the land, without a blow being struck, almost without a voice being raised, in his behalf. Such a falling away is difficult to understand; it is hard to see how Godwine could have given fresh offence to any one in the time between In of God wine. |