MACBETH AND GRUFFYDD.

55

Roman pilgrimage. The words however in which the CHAP. VII. gifts of Macbeth are spoken of might almost imply that his bounty had a political object. It is possible that, even at this early time, the Scottish King may have thought it desirable to get the Roman Court on his side, and he may have found, like later princes and prelates, that a liberal distribution of money was the best way of winning the favour of the Apostolic See. The high character of the reigning Pontiff, Leo the Ninth, puts him personally above all suspicion of unlawful gain; but then, as afterwards, subordinates were probably less scrupulous. The few notices which we find of Scottish affairs during the early years of Eadward might suggest that Macbeth felt his position precarious with regard to his English overlord. He had done homage to Cnut, but there is no record of his having renewed it to Eadward. There is however no sign of open enmity for many years.

of North

In Wales a remarkable power was growing up, which Gruffydd will often call for notice throughout the whole of the Wales. reign of Eadward. The year before the death of Harold, 1039-1063. Gruffydd the son of Llywelyn became King of Gwynedd or North Wales, a description which now begins to be used in its modern sense. He ruled with great vigour and ability. He gradually extended his dominion over the whole of Wales, not scrupling to avail himself of Saxon help against enemies of his own race. On the other hand, he more than once, sometimes alone, sometimes in concert with English traitors, proved himself a really formidable enemy to England. He was the last prince under whom any portion of the Welsh nation played a really important part in the history of Britain. He was, for Wales in the narrower sense, pretty well what Cadwalla had been, ages before, for Strathclyde.2 In the 633.

CHAP. VII. very first year of his reign, he made an inroad into Mercia, His victory which has been already spoken of. He penetrated as far at Rhydd- as Rhyd-y-Groes, near Upton-on-Severn, a spot still re

y-Groes.

1039.

His wars

in South Wales.

1042.

powers.

taining its British name,2 and there he fought the battle in which Eadwine, the brother of Earl Leofric, was killed. At the time of Eadward's accession he was busily engaged in various conflicts with the princes of South Wales, who did not scruple to call in the help of the heathen Danes of Ireland against him.3 In the year of Eadward's election, he had just won a great victory over a combined host of this kind at Aberteifi or Cardigan.4 Eadward's The relations of King Eadward to foreign powers were, friendly relations with for the most part, friendly. With Normandy and other foreign French states they were, as we have seen and shall see, only too friendly. But this was a time of growing intercourse, not with France only, but with Continental nations generally. Pilgrimages to Rome, and other foreign journeys and embassies, were becoming far more usual than before among eminent Englishmen, both clergy and laity. Earl Harold's travels, undertaken in order to study the condition and resources of foreign countries on Connexion the spot, form a memorable example. The connexion between England and Germany was now very close; the great Emperor Henry the Third sedulously sought the friendship of his English brother-in-law; and there is, as we have seen, little doubt that the German connexion was cultivated by the patriotic party as a counterpoise to the French tendencies of the King. The promotion of German churchmen began early in Eadward's reign, when it could hardly have taken place except with the sanction of Godwine. The only danger that seemed to threaten 1 See vol. i. p. 564. 2 Ann. Camb. 1039. Brut y Tywysogion, 1037. Ann. Camb. 1039-1047. In one battle in 1040 Gruffydd seems to have been taken prisoner by the Danes of Dublin. But the whole narrative is very confused. See the entries under 1041 and 1042.

with Ger

many.

3 Brut. 1040, 1042.

Brut, 1042. Ann. Camb. 1045?

5 See above, p. 40.

See above, p. 41.

RELATIONS WITH GERMANY AND THE NORTH.

with the

57

lay in the North. Magnus of Norway conceived himself CHAP. VII. to have acquired, by virtue of his agreement with Hartha- Relations cnut, a claim on the Crown of England; but his wars North; with Swend hindered him from putting it forward for Magnus. some years to come.

claims of

of Ead

The reign of Eadward was, on the whole, a reign of peace. The reign His admirers use somewhat exaggerated language on the ward comsubject, as his reign was certainly more disturbed than paratively peaceful. those of either Eadgar or Cnut. Still, compared with most periods of the same length in those troubled times, the twenty-four years of Eadward form a period of unusual tranquillity. Foreign war, strictly so called, there was none. England was threatened by Norway, and she herself interfered in the affairs of Flanders; but no actual fighting seems to have taken place on either occasion. Within the island matters were somewhat less quiet. Scotland was successfully invaded, and the old royal line restored. A few incursions of Scandinavian pirates are recorded, and Gruffydd of Wales remained for many years a thorn in the side of his English neighbours. But the main interest of this reign gathers round domestic affairs, round the revolts, the banishments, and the reconciliations of the great Earls, and, still more, round that great national movement against French influence in Church and State, of which Godwine and his family were the representatives and leaders.

1 See above, p. 18. 2 Æthel. R. 375. "Tunc elevatus est sol et luna stetit in ordine suo, quando, Edwardo gloriâ et honore coronato, sacerdotes sapientiâ et sanctitate fulgebant, monasteria omni relligione pollebant, clerus in officio suo, populus stabat in gradu suo; videbatur etiam terra fecundior, aer salubrior, sol serenior, maris unda pacatior. Quoniam diu Rege pacifico regnante in uno vinculo pacis omnia convenirent, ut nihil pestilentiosum esset in aere, nihil in mari tempestuosum, in terrâ nihil infecundum, nihil inordinatum in clero, nihil in plebe tumultuosum." It would be endless to contrast all these details with those found in the Chronicles and the Biographer. Even William of Malmesbury, comparatively sober as he is, goes too far when he says (ii. 196), “Denique eo regnante, nullus tumultus domesticus qui non citò comprimeretur, nullum bellum forinsecus, omnia domi forisque quieta, omnia tranquilla."

CHAP. VII.

Character

of the years

§ 3. From the Coronation of Eadward to the Remission

This first period of the reign of Eadward is not marked 1043-1051. by any very striking events till we draw near to its close. At home we have to mark the gradual expulsion, already spoken of, of those who had been conspicuous in opposing Eadward's election, and, what is of far more importance, the gradually increasing influence of the foreign favourites. This is most easily traced in the disposition of ecclesiastical preferments. The foreign relations of England at this time lay mainly with the kingdoms of the North, where the contending princes had not yet wholly bidden farewell to the hope of uniting all the crowns of the Great Cnut on a single brow. But the relations between England and the Empire were also of importance, and the affairs of Flanders under its celebrated Count Baldwin the Fifth form a connecting link between those of England, Germany, and Scandinavia. The usual border warfare with Wales continues; with the renowned usurper of Scotland there was most likely a sort of armed truce. These various streams of events seem for some years to flow, as it were, side by side, without commingling in any marked way. But towards the end of our period they all in a manner unite in the tale of crime and misfortune which led to the disgrace and downfall of the eldest son of Godwine, but which thereby paved the way for the elevation of the second.

Relations between Eadward

and his

mother.

The first act of the new King was one which was perhaps neither unjust nor impolitic, but which, at first sight, seems strangely incongruous with his character for sanctity and gentleness. With all his fondness for

RELATIONS BETWEEN EADWARD AND EMMA.

59

Normans, there was one person of Norman birth for whom CHAP. VII. he felt little love, and to whom indeed he seems to have owed but little gratitude. This was no other than his own. mother. It is not very easy to understand the exact

relations between Emma and her son. We are told that she had been very hard upon him, and that she had done less for him than he would-contributed too little, it would seem, from her accumulated hoards-both before he became King and since. Now it is not clear what opportunities Emma had had of being hard upon her son since the days of his childhood. During the greater part of their joint lives, Eadward had been an exile in Normandy, while Emma had shared the throne of England as the wife of Cnut. Her fault must rather have been neglect to do anything for his interests, refusal, it may be, to give anything of her wealth for the relief of his comparative poverty, rather than any actual hardships which she could have inflicted on him. She had, as we have seen, altogether thrown in her lot with her second husband, and had seemingly wished her first marriage to be wholly forgotten.2 But there seems not to be the slightest ground for the scandal which represented her as having acted in any way a hostile part to her sons after the death of Cnut.3 All the more probable versions of the death of Ælfred represent her as distinctly favourable to his enterprise.1

"Forðam heo hit heold er to fæste wið hine," say the Abingdon, Peterborough, and Canterbury Chronicles. Worcester is more explicit ; Forban be heo was æror þam cynge hire suna swide heard, þæt heo him lasse dyde bonne he wolde, ær þam þe he cyng wære, and eac syððan.” This is translated by Florence; "Vel quia priusquam Rex esset effectus, vel post, minus quam volebat illi dederat, et ei valdè dura exstiterat ;" and by Roger of Wendover, "eo quod priusquam Rex fuerat, nihil illi contulerat quod petebat" (i. 482). William of Malmesbury says (ii. 196), “Mater 'Angustos filii jamdudum riserat annos,' nihil umquam de suo largita." He then gives the reason, namely her preference for Cnut over Æthelred. 2 See vol. i. p. 454. See vol. i. pp. 544, 555, 559.

See vol. i. p. 545 et seqq.