a saint.

HIS LOVE OF HUNTING.

hunting.

25

The devotion to the pleasures of the chase was CHAP. VII. so universal among the princes and nobles of that age His love of that it is needless to speak of it as a feature in any man's character, unless when some special circumstance forces it into special notice. We remark it in the two Williams, because it was their love of hunting which led them into their worst acts of oppression; we remark it in Eadward, because it seems so utterly incongruous with the other features of his character. There were men even in those times who could feel pity for animal suffering and who found no pleasure in the wanton infliction of pain. Ten- Contrast derness for animals is no unusual feature in either the humanity real or the legendary portraits of holy men. Anselm, the true saint, like Ceadda in earlier times, saved the life of the hunted beast which sought his protection, and made the incident the text of a religious exhortation to his companions. He saw a worthy object for prayer in the sufferings of a bird tortured by a thoughtless child, and his gentle heart found matter for pious rejoicing in the escape of the feathered captive.2 Humanity like this met with very little response in the breast of the saintly monarch. The piercing cry, the look of mute agony, of the frightened,

Vita Eadw. 414. "Benignissimus Rex Edwardus . . . plurimum temporis exigebat circa saltus et silvas in venationum jocunditate. Divinis enim expeditus officiis, quibus libenter quotidianâ intendebat devotione, jocundabatur plurimum coram se allatis accipitribus vel hujus generis avibus, vel certè delectabatur applausibus multorum motuum canibus. His et talibus interdum deducebat diem, et in his tantummodo ex naturâ videbatur aliquam mundi captare delectationem." So William of Malmesbury (ii. 220), in a passage which, like several others, makes one think that he had this Life of Eadward before him. "Unum erat quo in sæculo animum oblectaret suum, cursus canum velocium, quorum circa saltus latratibus solebat lætus applaudere; volatus volucrum quorum natura est de cognatis avibus prædas agere. Ad hæc exercitia continuis diebus, post audita manè divina officia, intendebat." He retained these tastes to the last. In 1065 Harold built a house at Portskewet as a hunting-seat for the King. Chronn. Ab. and Wig., and Flor. Wig. in anno.

For these two beautiful stories of Saint Anselm, see his Life by John of Salisbury, Anglia Sacra, ii. 165.

with the

of Anselm.

CHAP. VII. Wearied, tortured beast awakened no more pity in the heart of the saintly King than in that of the rudest Danish Thegn who shared his savage pastime. The sufferings of the hart panting for the water-brooks, the pangs of the timid hare falling helpless into the jaws of her pursuers, the struggles of the helpless bird grasped in the talons of the resistless hawk, afforded as keen a delight to the prince who had never seen steel flash in earnest, as ever they did to men whom a life of constant warfare in a rude age had taught to look lightly on the sufferings and death even of their own kind.1 Once, we are told, a churl, resisting, it well may be, some trespass of the King and his foreign courtiers on an Englishman's freehold, put some hindrance in the way of the royal sport. An unsaintly oath and an unkingly threat at once rose to the lips of Eadward; "By God and his Mother, I will hurt you some day if I can."2 Had Anselm, in the might of his true holiness, thus crossed the path of his brother saint, he too, as the defender of the oppressed, might have become the object of a like outburst of impotent wrath. A delight in amusements of this kind is hardly a fair subject of blame in men of any age to whom the rights of the lower animals have perhaps never been presented as matter for serious thought. But in a man laying claim to special holiness, to special meekness and gentle

1 It is not clear whether Eadward did not take the same delight as Queen Elizabeth in another form of animal torture. There is something suspicious in part of the royal dues paid by the city of Norwich, ursum et sex canes ad ursum [a very business-like phrase]." Domesday, ii. 117. Cf. Will. Fitz-Stephen, Giles, i. 180.

2 Will. Malms. ii. 196. "Dum quâdam vice venatum isset, et agrestis quidam stabulata illa quibus in casses cervi urgentur confudisset, ille suâ nobili percitus irâ, 'Per Deum' inquit 'et Matrem ejus, tantumdem tibi nocebo si potero."" William's whole comment is very curious. This story has been made good use of by Lord Lytton, in his romance of " Harold," which, if the sentimental and supernatural parts be struck out, forms a narrative more accurate than most so-called histories of the time. For a somewhat similar tale see Motley, United Netherlands, iii. 172.

HIS PERSONAL HABITS AND APPEARANCE.

27

ness of character, we naturally look for a higher standard, CHAP. VII. a standard which a contemporary example shows not to

have been unattainable even in that

age.

and habits

ward.

In person Eadward is described as being handsome, of Personal moderate height, his face full and rosy, his hair and beard appearance white as snow. His beard he wore long, according to what of Eadseems to have been the older fashion both of England and of Normandy. Among his younger contemporaries this fashion went out of use in both countries, and the Normans shaved the whole face, while the English left the hair on the upper lip only. He was remarkable for the length and whiteness of his hands. When not excited by passion, he was gentle and affable to all men; he was liberal both to the poor and to his friends; but he had also the special art of giving a graceful refusal, so that the rejection of a suit by him was almost as pleasing as its acceptance by another.3 In public he preserved his kingly dignity intact; but he took little pleasure in the pomp of royalty or in wearing the gorgeous robes which were wrought for him by the industry and affection of his Lady. In private company, though he never forgot his rank, he could unbend, and treat his familiar friends as an equal. He avoided however one bad habit of his

1 Vita Eadw. 396. "Hominis persona erat decentissima, discretæ proceritatis, capillis et barbâ canitie insignis lacteâ, facie plenâ et cute roseâ, manibus macris et niveis, longis quoque interlucentibus digitis, reliquo corpore toto integer et regius homo." William of Malmesbury (ii. 220) seems again to copy the Biographer; "Erat discreta proceritatis, barbâ et capillis cygneus, facie roseus, toto corpore lacteus, membrorum habitudine commodâ peridoneus." Eadward was seemingly an albino.

"In the Bayeux Tapestry Eadward and one or two others are represented with long beards. William and Harold, and the mass of their respective countrymen, are represented according to the later fashions described in the text.

3 Vita Eadw. 396. "Cunctis poscentibus aut benignè daret aut benignè negaret, ita et ut benigna negatio plurima videretur largitio."

Ib. 415. So Will. Malms. ii. 220.

5 Ib. 396. "In frequentiâ verè se Regem et dominum, in privato, salvâ quidem regiâ majestate, agebat se suis ut consocium."

CHAP. VII. age, that of choosing the time of divine service as the

rites at

different periods of his reign.

time for private conversation. It is mentioned as a special mark of his devotion that he scarcely ever spoke during mass, except when he was interrupted by others.

The His favou- mention of his friends and familiar companions leads us directly to his best and worst aspects as an English King. Like his father, he was constantly under the dominion of favourites. It was to the evil choice of his favourites during the early part of his reign that most of the misfortunes of his time were owing, and that a still more direct path was opened for the ambition of his Norman kinsman. In the latter part of his reign either happy accident, or returning good sense, or perhaps the sheer necessity of the case, led him to a better choice. Without a guide he could not reign, but the good fortune of his later years gave him the wisest and noblest of all guides. The most honourable feature in the whole life of Eadward is that the last thirteen years of his reign were virtually the reign of Harold.

Eadward's fondness for foreig

ners.

But in the days before that great national reaction, in the period embraced in the present Chapter, it is the peculiar character of the favourites to whose influence Eadward was given up which sets its special mark on the time. The reign of Eadward in many respects fore

1 Vita Eadw. 415. "Inter ipsa divinorum mysteriorum et missarum sacrosancta officia agninâ mansuetudine stabat, et mente tranquillâ cunctis fidelibus spectabilis Christicola, inter quæ, nisi interpellaretur, rarissimè cui loquebatur." Compare the opposite description given of Henry the Second, who always talked of public affairs during mass (Gir. Camb. Exp. Hib. i. 46. p. 305 Dimock), and the curious story of his holding a discourse at such a moment with Saint Thomas of Canterbury himself, as told by Roger of Pontigny (Giles, i. 132). It is however somewhat differently told by William Fitz-Stephen (ib. i. 218). See Gentleman's Magazine, April, 1860, p. 386.

The Ayenbite of Inwyt (p. 20 ed. Morris) reproves this practice as a common fault. "And huanne be ssoldest yhere his messe ober his sermon at cherche, bou iangledest and bourdedest to-vor God."

HIS LOVE OF FOREIGNERS.

nexion

29

stalls the reign of Henry the Third. The part played by CHAP. VII. Earl Godwine in many respects forestalls the part played by Earl Simon of Montfort. Eadward was by birth an His conEnglishman; but he was the son of a Norman mother; with Norhe had been carried to Normandy in his childhood; he mandy. had there spent the days of his youth and early manhood; England might be the land of his duty, but Normandy was ever the land of his affection. With the habits, the feelings, the language, of the people over whom he was called to rule he had absolutely no sympathy. His heart was French. His delight was to surround himself with companions who came from the beloved land and who spoke the beloved tongue, to enrich them with English estates, to invest them with the highest offices of the English Kingdom. Policy might make him the political ally of his Imperial brother-in-law, but a personal sentiment made him the personal friend of his Norman cousin. The needs of his royal position made him accept Godwine as his counsellor and the daughter of Godwine as his wife. But his real affections were lavished on the Norman Promotion of Norpriests1 and gentlemen who flocked to his Court as to the mans to land of promise. These strangers were placed in im- high office. portant offices about the royal person,2 and before long they were set to rule as Earls and Bishops over the already half-conquered soil of England. Even when he came over as a private man in the days of Harthacnut, Eadward

1 Vita Eadw. 414. "Abbates religiosos et monachos, potissimum autem transmarinos. . quam benignè susceperit." So Will. Malms. 220; Pauperibus hospitibusque, maximè transmarinis et religiosis, benignus appellando, munificus dando." See Appendix C.

2 Vit. Eadw. 399. "Quum prædictus sanctæ memoriæ Edwardus Rex repatriaret à Franciâ, ex eâdem gente comitati sunt quamplures non ignobiles viri, quos plurimis honoribus ditatos secum retinuit idem Rex, utpote compos totius regni, ordinariosque constituit secretorum consilii sui, et rectores rerum regalis palatii." It is remarkable how seldom, especially in the early part of Eadward's reign, the foreigners appear to sign charters. They were doubtless jealously watched.