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HAROLD AND LEOFWINE GO TO IRELAND.

151

For the Harold and

Leofwine

tol; growing import

ance of

that port.

above all others, it would be easy to engage warlike CHAP. VII. 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, with the fixed purpose of raising forces to effect their own return and to avenge their father's wrongs. port of their departure they chose Bristol, a town in go to BrisSwegen'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.2 In the haven of Bristol Earl Swegen had, for what cause we are not told, a ship made ready for himself.3 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

1 Vita Eadw. 404.

The

"Transfretaverant in Hiberniam, ut, inde adductâ militari copiâ, patris ulciscerentur injuriam."

See vol. i. p. 333. 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."

Ealdred sent to overtake them.

CHAP. VII. 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.1 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 carried them to Ireland.2 They were there favourably received by Dermot or Diarmid Mac Mael-na-mbo, King of Dublin and Leinster. He was a prince of native Irish 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 oððe hi noldon." Compare the unwillingness of the Earls under Harthacnut to act against Worcester, vol. i. p. 516. According to the Biographer (403), Godwine was also pursued, through the devices of Archbishop Robert.

They es

cape, reach

Ireland, and are well re

ceived by King Diarmid.

2 Chron. Wig. u. s.

3 Vita Eadw. 404. "Hiemati sunt a 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 was þær ealne bone winter, on þes cynges griðe.” 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 under the king's protection. This fact should he 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. 64), 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.

EADGYTH SENT TO WHERWELL.

1050.

153

descent, who had lately obtained possession of the Danish CHAP. VII. district round Dublin, and whose authority seems to have been acknowledged by the Danes as well as by the Irish.1 In such a state of things it would not be difficult to find bold spirits ready for any adventure, and a King whose position must have been somewhat precarious would doubtless welcome 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 re- The Lady Eadgyth mained to be disposed of. What had been the position sent to the or the feelings of Eadgyth during the scenes which have Abbey of been just described we have no means of knowing; but she too was doomed to have her share in the downfall 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, now that the reign of the Normans was about to set in. The language of one contemporary authority seems almost to 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; but he interfered at least

3

1 Diarmid conquered the Fine-gall or Danish district in 1052, according to the Four Masters (ii. 860) and Dr. Todd (Wars of Gaedhill 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.

2 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.

4

'Vita Eadw. 403. See above, p. 47. Florence says "repudiavit."

* The Worcester Chronicle, Florence, and the Biographer do not mention

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CHAP. VII. to save her from personal ignominy. Eadgyth was sent, with no lack of respect or royal attendance,' 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 Æthelred 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.

General character of the

difficulties.

4

The whole of this history of the fall of Godwine is most remarkable; and it is singular that, though it is told story; its in great detail in three distinct accounts, so much still remains which is far from being intelligible. The first point 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

the seizure of the Lady's property. The Peterborough Chronicle says, "pa 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."

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1 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, morens tamen perducitur." The narrative, addressed to Eadgyth herself, is here the better authority.

2 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.

3 The Worcester Chronicle, Florence, and the Biographer do not mention the kindred of the Abbess with the King; it is asserted by the Peterborough Chronicle and by William of Malmesbury.

671.

On the daughters of Ethelred, see vol. i. pp. 327, 331, 344, 412, 640, 5 See vol. i. p. 311.

DIFFICULTIES OF THE STORY.

155

with the good will of all England. This is of course CHAP. VII. 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 his honour is carefully guarded, and in which his party and the King's party are studiously put on equal terms. the London Gemót, a few weeks later, all is changed. followers gradually drop away from him; he does 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 dif

In Sudden His the power collapse of not of God

wine.

ficult to understand; it is hard to see how Godwine could have given fresh offence to any one in the time between the conference at Gloucester and his appearance at Southwark. Norman flatterers and talebearers may have fanned the King's prejudice against him into a still hotter flame; but there is at first sight nothing to account for the desertion of his own followers. As for the Northern Earls Position of and their followers, they had no ground of jealousy against ern Earls. Godwine in London which they had not equally at Gloucester; and at Gloucester they clearly were not disposed to

the North

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