seduces

Abbess of

Leomin

ster.

He seeks

marry her.

CHAP. VII. awhile with him, and then sent her home. Like the Swegen Hamor of patriarchal story, he next sought, with a Eadgifu, generosity as characteristic of his wayward temper as any of his worst deeds, to make reparation by marriage. But the law of the Church stood in his way. Richard of in vain to Normandy, as we have seen, found it easy to raise his mistress to all the honours due to a matron and the wife of a sovereign. The Lady Emma herself, wife and mother of so many Kings, was the offspring of an union which the Church had thus hallowed only after the fact. But no such means of reparation were open to the seducer He throws of a consecrated virgin. The marriage was of course forEarldom, bidden, and Swegen, in his disappointment, threw up his and goes to Earldom, left his country, and betook himself, first to

up his

Denmark.

Flanders, the usual place of refuge for English exiles, and thence to the seat of war in the North. A formal sentence of outlawry seems to have followed, as the lord

1 Chron. Ab. 1046. "þa he hamwerdes wæs, þa het he feccan him to þa abbedessan on Leomynstre, and hafde hi þa while þe him geliste, and let hi sydðan faran ham.”

2 Florence does not mention the affair of Swegen and Eadgifu in its chronological order, but refers to it when he describes the return of Swegen in 1049. "Suanus . . . qui, relictâ prius Angliâ, eo quod Edgivam Leonensis monasterii abbatissam, quam corruperat, in matrimonium, habere non licuerit, Danemarciam adierat." So the Worcester Chronicle, which does not mention Eadgifu, says, under 1050, "Swegen Eorl, þe fór ær of bisan lande to Denmarcon, and þær forworhte hine wið Denum." Abingdon, the only Chronicle which mentions Eadgifu, does not speak directly of Swegen's departure, but implies it under 1049. Mr. St. John (ii. 148 et seqq.) works up the story into an elaborate romance, with a glowing description of the beauty, accomplishments, and wickedness of Eadgifu and of nuns in general. M. de Bonnechose (ii. 85) tells us, "Sweyn cinquième fils de Godwin, fit violence (?) à Elgive, abbesse de Leominster ; banni par le roi pour ce crime," &c. 3 See vol. i. p. 279.

Chronn. Petrib. 1045. Cant. 1046. "On dam ilcan geare ferde Swegen eorl ut to Baldewines lande to Brycge, and wunode þær ealne winter, and wende pa to sumere út." "Út" means, of course, to Denmark. William of Malmesbury says (ii. 200), "Swanus, perversi ingenii et infidi in Regem, multotiens à patre et fratre Haroldo descivit, et pirata factus, prædis marinis virtutes majorum polluit." Whom did William look on as the forefathers of Swegen?

SWEGEN AND EADGIFU.

Leomin

89

ships of Swegen were confiscated, and divided between his CHAP. VII. brother Harold and his cousin Beorn. On Eadgifu and her monastery the hand of ecclesiastical discipline seems to have fallen heavily. The nunnery of Leominster, one Fate of of the objects of the bounty of Earl Leofric,2 now vanishes ster monasfrom history. The natural inference is that the miscon- tery. duct of Eadgifu led, not only to her own disgrace, but to the dissolution of the sisterhood over which she had so unworthily presided. We hear of no later marriage on the part of Swegen, but in after years we shall meet with a son of his, probably a child of the frail Abbess of Leominster. Born under other circumstances, he might Hakon son of Swegen. have been head of the house of Godwine. As it was, the son of Swegen and Eadgifu was the child of shame and sacrilege, and the career to which he was doomed was short and gloomy.

ment of

The banishment of the Staller Osgod Clapa, at the Banishbridal of whose daughter King Harthacnut had come to Osgod his untimely end, took place this year. Like the banish- Clapa. ment of Gunhild, this measure was evidently connected

1 Chron. Petrib. 1046. 2 Will. Malms. ii. 196.

Swegen on his return asks for their restoration. "Leofricus. . . monasteria multa constituit... Leonense, et nonnulla alia." So Flor. Wig. 1057. On Leominster see Monasticon, iv. 51.

3 Leominster Monastery had no existence in the time of Henry the First, when it was a "dirutum monasterium" which that King granted to his new Abbey of Reading (Will. Malms. Gest. Pont. Scriptt. p. Bed. 144). I infer also from Domesday (180) that the house had no corporate being at the time of the Survey. Leominster was then held by the King; in King Eadward's time it had been held by Queen Eadgyth. The monastery is only casually mentioned; it holds no land, but a rent seems to be reserved for the "victus monialium." These facts together seem to me to show that the society was dissolved, a certain rent being set aside for the surviving members, like the pensions granted at the general Dissolution under Henry the Eighth. See Appendix E.

↑ Chronn. Ab. 1046. Wig. 1047. "Man utlagode Osgod stallere." Chron. Petrib. 1044. "On þis ilcan geare wearð aflemed ut Osgot Clapa." Chron. Cant. 1045. "And Osgod Clapa wærð ut adriven." The difference of expression in the different Chronicles is remarkable. On "ut adriven," see vol. i. p. 561. Florence, 1046, says, "Osgodus Clapa expellitur Angliâ."

1046.

1066.

CHAP. VII with the movements in the North of Europe. Osgod was doubtless one of those who had been marked men ever since the election of Eadward,' and who, in the present state of Scandinavian affairs, were felt to be dangerous. The immediate peril came from Magnus; but there could be little doubt that, of the three princes who were disputing the superiority of Scandinavia, the successful one, whether Magnus, Harold, or Swend, would assert some sort of claim to the possession of England. Magnus had done so already. Harold lived to invade England and to perish in the attempt. It was only the singular prudence of Swend which kept him back from any such enterprise till he was able to interfere in English affairs in the guise of a deliverer. Partisans of any one of the contending princes were clearly dangerous in England. Osgod was driven out, seemingly by a decree of the Christmas Gemót, and he presently, after the usual sojourn in Flanders, betook himself to the seat of war in Denmark.3

1069.

Affairs of Scandinavia.

Osgod and Swegen most probably took service with Swend Estrithson. The presence of Swegen would doubtless be welcome indeed to that prince's partisans. The nephew of Ulf, the cousin of their own leader, the son of the great English Earl, renowned in the North as the conqueror of the Wends,4 was a recruit richly to be prized. And the cause of Swend Estrithson just then greatly needed recruits. His hopes, lately so flourishing, had been again dashed to the ground. Magnus had contrived to joins Mag- gain over his uncle Harold to his side, by the costly bribe of a share in the Kingdom of Norway. The gift indeed

Harold

Hardrada

nus and

receives a

1 See above, p. 7.

2 The Abingdon Chronicle says 'on bis ylcan geare man geútlagode Osgod Clapan foran to middanwintre.”

3 This is implied in the narrative of Florence, 1049. "Osgodus autem ... Danemarciam rediit."

See vol. i. p. 466.

WAR BETWEEN SWEND AND HAROLD HARDRADA.

share of

91

the King

Norway.

asks for

is discussed

was not quite gratuitous. Besides cooperating in the war CHAP. VII. with Swend, Harold was to share with Magnus the treasures which he had gathered in his Southern warfare.1 dom of The two Kings now joined their forces, and drove Swend 1047. out of Jütland and the Danish Isles. He retained only Scania, that part of the old Danish realm which lies on the Swedish side of the Sound, and which is now politically part of Sweden. In the next year Swend was again aiming at the recovery of his Kingdom. It was Swend probably the presence of English exiles in his camp, English which suggested to him the idea of obtaining regular help. help from England as an ally of the English King. He sent and asked for the help of an English fleet. In those His request days questions of peace and war were not decided either by the by the Sovereign only, or by the Sovereign and a few Witan; secret counsellors; they were debated openly by the Witan of the whole land. The demand of Swend was discussed in full Gemót. Swend had certainly acted, whether of set purpose or not, as a friend of England; the diversion. caused by him had saved England from a Norwegian invasion. But, setting aside any feelings of gratitude on this account, any feelings of attachment to the kinsman of Cnut and of Godwine, it does not appear that England had any direct interest in embracing the cause of Swend. A party which sought only the immediate interest of England might argue that the sound policy was to stand aloof, and to leave the contending Kings of the North to wear out each other's power and their own. Such however was not the view taken by Godwine. In the Gemót Godwine in which the question was debated, the Earl of the West- the claim Saxons supported the petition of his nephew, and proposed that fifty ships should be sent to his help. It is clear that such a course might be supported by plausible arguments.

1 Snorro, Harold, 21 (Laing, iii. 19).

2 Ibid. 26, 28 (Laing, iii. 25, 27).

supports

of Swend;

CHAP. VII. It is clear that equally plausible arguments might be brought forward on the other side. And if, as is possible, this question was discussed in the same Gemót in which sentence of outlawry was pronounced against Swegen the son of Godwine, it is clear that the father of the culprit would stand at a great disadvantage in supporting the request of the prince with whom that culprit had taken service. It marks the still abiding influence of Godwine that he was able to preserve the confiscated lordships of Swegen for Harold and Beorn. But in his recommendation of giving armed support to Swend Estrithson all his eloquence utterly failed. The cause of non-intervention is opposed was pleaded by Earl Leofric, and his arguments prevailed. by Leofric, All the people, we are told-the popular character of the

but his

demand

and re

jected. 1047.

Assembly still impresses itself on the language of history -agreed with Leofric and determined the proposal of Godwine to be unwise. The naval force of Magnus, it was said, was too great to be withstood.1 Swend Estrithson had therefore to carry on the struggle with his own unaided forces. Against the combined powers of Magnus Magnus and Harold those forces were utterly unavailing. Swend Swend and was defeated in a great sea-fight; Magnus took possession occupies of all Denmark, and laid a heavy contribution upon the realm.2 Swend again took refuge in Sweden, and now began to meditate a complete surrender of his claims upon Denmark. Just at this moment, we are told, a messenger appeared, bringing the news of the sudden death of

defeats

Denmark.

1 The application of Swend and the refusal by the Witan come from the Worcester Chronicle, 1048. "And Swegen eac sende hider, bead him fylstes ongeon Magnus Norwega cyng; þæt man sceolde sendan L. scypa him to fultume; ac hit puhte unræd eallum folce; and hit wearð þa gelet, þurh þæt þe Magnus hæfde mycel scypecraft." The personal share of Godwine and Leofric in the debate comes from Florence, 1047. "Tunc comes Godwinus consilium Regi dedit ut saltem L. naves militibus instructas ei mitteret; sed quia Leofrico comiti et omni populo id non videbatur consilium, nullam ei mittere voluit."

2 Flor. Wig. 1047.