HAROLD CHIEF RULER OF ENGLAND. 427 and even the titles, of royalty. And we cannot doubt that CHAP. IX. the great rival beyond sea was carefully watching every step of this process. If we realize that Harold-the Duke of the English-was virtually, if not formally, the designated successor to the Crown, we can still better understand the eagerness of William to obtain by any means the Earl's recognition of his claims. It was not merely to bind the most powerful man in the obtain what was virtually an abdication from one who was virtually the destined heir. land to his cause; it was to now chief 1057-1066. The famous oath of Harold is so uncertain as to its date Harold and all its circumstances that it might be treated without ruler of impropriety at almost any stage of my narrative. But, as England. it is so uncertain, as it is recorded by no contemporary English writer, I prefer to put off its consideration till it is convenient to take up again the thread of Norman affairs, to examine fully into William's claims, and to show how he made ready to assert those claims. Meanwhile we have to see how Harold ruled over England, now that he was without any equal competitor within the land. Save the shires ruled by the turbulent Elfgar, the government of all England was now divided between himself and his brothers; and there was now nothing but the life of the reigning King between him and the English Crown. CHAPTER X. Dominant position of Harold. THE REIGN OF EADWARD FROM THE DEATH OF THE ETHELING 1057–1066. § 1. The Ecclesiastical Administration of Earl Harold. WE 1058-1062. E thus see Harold at the greatest height of real power which he ever attained while still a subject. He was Earl of the West-Saxons and principal counsellor of 1 The authorities for this chapter are essentially the same as those for the last. With regard to the Chronicles, it may be noticed that the Abingdon Chronicle, which must be looked on as in some degree hostile to Godwine, is in no sort hostile to Harold. The Peterborough Chronicler, who seems rather to keep himself for great occasions, is rather meagre during this period. As Welsh matters are still prominent, the Welsh Chronicles have still to be consulted, and, towards the end of the period, the Northern Sagas again become of some little importance. But the characteristic of the period is the prominence of ecclesiastical affairs, which brings several local and legendary writers into a position of some consequence. Thus, for the history of Westminster, the tales of Ethelred of Rievaux and his followers have to be compared with the authentic narratives of contemporary chroniclers, and, as the completion of Harold's great foundation comes within these years, we now begin to make use of the local Waltham writers. The main facts and fictions belonging to the local Waltham history are found in the two tracts, De Inventione Sanctæ Crucis and Vita Haroldi, which were first published by M. Francisque Michel in his Chroniques Anglo-Normandes (Rouen, 1840). From these I endeavoured in 1857 to put together the early history of Waltham, and of Harold in relation to Waltham, in a paper printed in the Transactions of the Essex Archæological Society, vol. ii. p. 34. But M. Michel's editions are by no means accurate, and of the De Inventione he left out many chapters altogether. I was therefore led into some errors of detail. Since that time, a perfect edition of the De Inventione has been published, with a Preface, by Professor Stubbs (Oxford, 1861). The Vita Haroldi was written after 1205. In its essence, as regards the main facts of English GREATNESS OF THE HOUSE OF GODWINE. 429 CHAP. X. the King, and he was, in all probability, already looked on as the practical heir presumptive to the Crown. Three other great Earldoms were in the hands of his three brothers. The greatness of the House of Godwine seemed now to be fully established. Save for a single moment, and that probably during Harold's absence from England, the authority of Harold and his family remained untouched till quite the end of Eadward's reign. The first few years Predomiof this period form a time of unusual quiet, a time in which, ecclesiastias is usual in times of quiet, our attention is almost wholly cal affairs. occupied with ecclesiastical affairs. The great Earl now Harold in appears as something like an ecclesiastical reformer, as the Church. a founder, a pilgrim, the fast friend of one holy Bishop, a rightful or wrongful disputant against another Prelate of less renown. But we have evidence that care for the history, it is a mere romance, but, like other local romances, it has its As we have to deal with Westminster and Waltham, we have also to deal in a less degree with Wells and Worcester, two churches which figure prominently in the ecclesiastical history of these years. For Wells we have Gisa's own narrative of his controversy with Harold, in the "Ecclesiastical Documents" published by the Camden Society. For Worcester we have the life of its great Bishop Saint Wulfstan, by William of Malmesbury, in the second volume of Anglia Sacra, and the shorter Life by the contemporary Heming. This last is given in Old-English in Hearne's edition of Heming's Worcester Cartulary (a book which ought to be reprinted), p. 403, and in Latin in the first volume of Anglia Sacra. nance of relation to CHAP. X. Church did not occupy the whole of the attention of Earl Harold. The Earldom of Wessex and the Kingdom of England had still to be watched over; and the candidate for a Crown which was likely to be disputed by the Duke of the Normans kept a diligent eye on all that was going on in the lands beyond the sea. Harold's pilgrimage to Rome 1058? of the French Princes. Harold, like Cnut and like a crowd of other persons great and small, fell in with the popular devotion of the day with regard to pilgrimages. The Earl of the WestSaxons went to pray at the tombs of the Apostles, and, though the date of his pilgrimage is not absolutely certain, there are strong reasons for believing that it happened in the year which followed the deaths of the Ætheling and of the Earls Leofric and Ralph.1 But Harold, like Cnut, did not, even while engaged in this holy work, wholly forget his own interests or the interests of his friends and his He studies country. He had, we are told, been for a long time watchthe politics ing the condition, the policy, and the military force of the princes of France, among whom we cannot doubt that the Duke of the Normans came in for the largest share of his attention. He therefore took the opportunity of his pilgrimage to go through France, and by personal examination to make himself thoroughly master of the politics of the land.2 His name was well known in the country; he was doubtless received every where with honour; he did not go on till he had gained such a thorough insight into all that he needed to know that no deception could for the future be practised upon him. This description is vague and dark; it is no doubt purposely vague and dark; but it doubtless veils a good deal. whether Harold was at this time the Court of Rouen, and what was the general result of his inquiries into the policy of his great rival. And the One longs to know personally received at HAROLD'S PILGRIMAGE TO ROME. 431 question at once forces itself upon the mind, Was this the CHAP. X. time of Harold's famous oath or homage to William? Did anything happen on this journey which formed the germ out of which grew the great accusation brought against him by his rival? I reserve the full discussion of all these questions for another occasion; but on the whole it seems more likely that the event, whatever it was, on which the charge of perjury against Harold was founded, took place at some time nearer to the death of Eadward. Rome. When Harold had finished his political inquiries in Harold at France, he continued his religious journey to Rome. If I am right in the date which I assign to his pilgrimage, he found the Holy See in the possession of a Pontiff whom the Church has since agreed to brand as an usurper. Early in this year Pope Stephen the Ninth, otherwise Frederick of Stephen Lotharingia, Abbot of Monte Casino, died after a reign of Pope. only one year.1 On his death, Mincius, Bishop of Velletri 1057-1958. and Cardinal, was placed in an irregular manner on the the Tenth the Ninth Benedict pontifical throne by the influence of the Counts of 1058-1059. Tusculum.2 He took the name of Benedict the Tenth. The Cardinals seem not to have acknowledged him; Hildebrand-the first time that great name occurs in our history-obtained the consent of the Empress Agnes to a new and more canonical election. In the next April Nicolas the Benedict was driven out, and the new Pope, Gerard of Pope. Burgundy, Bishop of Florence, was enthroned by the 1059-1061. 1 All our Chronicles save Abingdon, which is just now silent for a few years, mention the death of Stephen and the accession of Benedict. None of them imply any doubt as to Benedict's legitimacy, but they use three different words to express his appointment. He is "to Papan geset" in Worcester, "gehalgod to Papan" in Peterborough, "gebletsod parto" in Canterbury-in the last entry of that chronicle. 2 See the Cardinal of Aragon's Life of Nicolas, Muratori, iii. 301. He does not allow Benedict a place in his list. Yet the next Pope who took the name, in 1303, was called Benedict the Eleventh. Muratori, iii. 672. On these Popes, see Milman, Latin Christianity, iii. 47. Second |