constitutional check on an English king that he allowed the The Norman highest dignity of the English Church to remain throughout his rule in a state of suspension. But if we acquit him of a purpose which would be a crime, it can only be on the plea of an indifference to the true relations of the State which was even worse than a crime. In all other respects his civil administration during his first ten years of rule is the mere continuation of his father's. There is the same scheme of family aggrandizement, carried out in even a less scrupulous way. To gain the paternal earldom of Wessex, indeed, Harold had been compelled to resign his own lordship of East-Anglia to the rival power of Mercia. But two years after, when he was firm in his saddle and the death of Siward had added the north to the domain of his family, Harold dealt a sharp blow at the one house that held him in check. . . . There are but four accounts left of the banishment of Earl Elfgar in 1055, and of these three agree in declaring the earl guiltless, or nearly guiltless. The fourth, which avers that he publicly confessed his guilt, but that the confession escaped him unawares, is that of the chronicler who is most distinctly a partisan of Harold's.' . . . Harold was forced, indeed, to consent to his victim's restoration; but when Leofric's death threw his father's earldom into his hands, he wrested back East-Anglia and girded Mercia round with the chain of the possessions of his house. It is impossible, in the absence of facts, to explain the change of policy that followed. It may have been that the house of Leofric, confined now to a few central counties of the realm, was no longer dangerous as a foe, and might be useful as a friend. It may have been that Harold was jealous of the power of Tostig and of his influence with the king. All that we know is that Harold suddenly reversed his whole previous policy, and in spite or in consequence of his brother's feud with the sons of Elfgar, intermarried with their house. The marriage was quickly followed by the rising of Northumbria against its earl, and the rising was clearly prompted by Mercian instigation. But was the instigation simply Mercian ? Harold was now the fast friend of Eadwine and Morkere; the expulsion of Tostig removed the only possible rival to his hopes of the Crown; the division of Northumbria into two earldoms, so evidently stipulated as the price of Morkere's accession, told only to Harold's profit. It is certain that when the two brothers
stood face to face the charge was openly made that the revolt had been owing to the machinations of Harold. It is certain that the charge was so vehemently urged and received so much credence, that Harold thought it needful to purge himself legally by oath. Anyhow, in spite of the violent opposition of the king, the royal minister yielded every point to the insurgents, and his brother fled over sea. It is, we repeat, impossible from sheer dearth of information to disentangle the threads of this complicated web of intrigue and revolution, or to pronounce with any certainty on the character of Harold's course in the matter. If Harold was simply using England as a vast chess-board, and moving friends and foes in an unscrupulous play for power, he was amply punished. The revenge of Tostig proved the ruin of Harold. The victory of Stamford Bridge was the prelude of the defeat of Senlac. ... Even hero-worship can hardly err in its praises of that final struggle, and the critic who rates Harold lowest may own that there are supreme moments when even the commonplace gather grandeur ere they pass away. But the character of the man and of his rule is to be gathered, not from the hour of heroic struggle, but from the years that preceded it. A policy of mere national stagnation within and without sprang from the natural temper, the poverty of purpose, the narrowness of conception, of a mind which it is impossible to call great."
The Norman
Conquest.
1053-
1071.
Abbo of Fleury writes the life of
St. Eadmund, 340
Abingdon, Ethelwold made abbot
of, 295 and note 2; school at, 296;
Northumbrians visit Eadred at,
298, note; Eadwig's benefactions
to, 312, note 2; clerks from Glas-
tonbury accompany Ethelwold
to, 343, note 2; dealings of its
abbots with the burghers of Ox-
ford, 439; Chronicle of, 370, note 2
Aclea, battle of, 74, 79, 80
Adela, sister of King Henry of
France, marries Baldwin, Count
of Flanders, 513, 516; betrothed
to Richard III. of Normandy,
Adelard of Ghent, his life of S.
Dunstan, 281, note
Administration, royal, 542; its de-
velopement under Ethelred, 429-
431; under Cnut, 493, note; under
Eadward, ib.
Efic made High Reeve, 394 and
note 4 ; slain by Leofsige, 395 and
note 1
Elfgar, ealdorman of Essex, father-
in-law of King Eadmund, 261
Elfgar, son of Leofric, made earl
of East-Anglia, 530, 536; makes
alliance with Gruffydd of North-
Wales, 564; outlawed, ib.; re-
stored, ib.; succeeds Leofric in
Mercia, ib.
Elfgar, son of Ælfric, blinded, 378
Elfgifu, daughter of Ethelgifu,
marries Eadwig, 311; parted
from him by sentence of Arch-
bishop Odo, 312; seized and carried
out of the realm, 314, 315, note 1
Elfgifu, daughter of Ethelred II.,
marries Earl Uhtred of North-
umbria, 399, 496, note
Elfheah, St., bishop of Winchester,
carries on the policy of Elfric,
377, note; negotiates a truce with
Swein and Olaf, 380; negotiates
a treaty between Olaf and Ethel-
red, 381; translated to Canter-
bury, 402, note 1; his injunctions
for the observance of religious
duties, 402; seized by Thurkill
as hostage for the Danegeld, 409;
his martyrdom, ib.; his body
translated to Canterbury, 433
Ælfheah, kinsman of Eadwig, 306;
made ealdorman of Central
Wessex, 316
Elfhelm, ealdorman of the North-
umbrian Provinces,372,note; made
earl of Deira, 373; slain, 398 and
note 2; Florence's legendary
account of his murder, ib., note 2
Elfhere, kinsman of Eadwig, be-
comes one of his chief counsellors,
306 and note 4; made ealdorman
of Mercia, 309; his rise traced
in the charters, 310, note 3; revolts
against Eadwig, 312; his influence
with Eadgar, 316; his independ-
ence of the Crown, 348 and note
2; his title of "Heretoga," ib.
heads the anti-monastic party,
352; supports the claim of
Eadward to the Crown, ib.; trans-
lates the body of Eadward from
Wareham to Shaftesbury, 357;
his death, ib.
Elfled, daughter of Elfgar, ealdor-
man of Essex, marries his suc-
cessor, Brihtnoth, 261
Elfred, King of Wessex, his birth
at Wantage, 99; his visit to Rome
in early childhood, ib. ; authorities
for his life, ib., note 2; visits
Rome and Gaul with his father,
99; his early love of letters, ib. ;
becomes next heir to the Crown
by the accession of Ethelred,
101; becomes Secundarius, 87,
note 2, 101; his marriage, 101;
his sickness, ib.; marches with
Ethelred against the Danes
at Nottingham, ib.; leads the
van at Ashdown, 103; succeeds
Ethelred as king, 104; first King
of Wessex who was also King of
the Mercians, 48; defeated by
the Danes at Wilton, 105; buys
their withdrawal from Wessex,
ib.; sends alms to Rome and
India, ib. and note 2; doubtful
story of his besieging the Danes
at London, ib., note 2; marches
upon Guthrum's camp near Ware-
ham, 108; makes a treaty with
the Danes, ib. ; besieges them in
Exeter, ib. ;
falls back upon
Somerset, 109; encamps at Athel-
ney, 110; musters the West-Saxon
host at Ecgberht's stone, 111;
defeats the Danes at Edington,
ib.; treaty of Wedmore, 112; his
work of restoration, 131-132;
founds abbeys at Winchester,
Shaftesbury, and Athelney, 133;
his military reforms, 133-135; his
extension of the thegn-service,
135, 136; his reorganization of
the fyrd, 136, 137; creates a na-
tional fleet, 137, 138 and note 2;
his conception of public justice,
139 and note 2; his difficulties in
enforcing justice, 140-141; be-
comes King of Mercia, 143; sets
up a mint at Oxford, 144, 438; at
Gloucester, 440; his laws, 26, 146
and note 1, 338; drives the Danes
from the siege of Rochester, 149;
his struggle with Guthrum, ib. ;
his [second] peace with Guthrum,
125; its true date, 151; its terms,
151 and note; becomes master of
London, 150 and note 2; restores
and peoples it, ib.; renews
its walls, 197, 459; rise of
national sentiment under, 153-
154; his intellectual work, 156-
158; his chaplains, 157; educa-
tion of his children, 157 and not?
2, 190 and note 2; of his nobles,
157, note 2, 160; his zeal for
learning, 157 and notes, 158;
sends for scholars from over-sed,
158; learns Latin, 158 and note
1; story of Asser's visit to, 158-
160; his work in the creation of
English prose, 160, 161; his
translations, 162-164, 168; work
in the English Chronicle, 166
and note 3, 167; its effects, 167
and note 2; holds Hasting at
bay for a year, 171; his negotia-
tions with Hasting, ib.; rising
of the Danelaw against him, ib. ;
defends Exeter, 172; cuts off the
retreat of the Danes on the Lea,
173; his mode of life, 174, 175
and notes; his love of strangers,
176 and notes; his court, 180; his
budget, 181, 182; his foreign
policy, 182, 183; his dealings
with the North-Welsh, 183; his
alliance with the Scot kingdom,
186; his death, ib. ; his character,
186-188; officers of the royal
household in his time, 542
Elfred, son of Ethelred, his resi
dence at the Norman Court, 472;
prepares to invade England with
Robert the Devil, 474; lands at
Dover, 482; seized at Guildford,
ib.; blinded, ib. ; dies at Ely, ib.
Elfred, an English fugitive from
Deira, settles in Westmoringa-
land, 276
Elfric, archbishop of Canterbury,
his death, 402, note 1
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