CHAP. VII. successfully invaded, and the old royal line was 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. Character of the years 1043-1051. § 3. From the Coronation of Eadward to the Remission of the War-Tax. 1043-1051. This first period of the reign of Eadward is not marked by any very striking events till we draw near to its close. At home we have to mark the gradual expulsion 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 disposal 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 first period they all unite in that tale of crime and misfortune which led to RELATIONS BETWEEN EADWARD AND EMMA. 59 the disgrace and downfall of the eldest son of Godwine, CHAP. VII. but which thereby paved the way for the elevation of the second. between mother. The first act of the new King was one which was per- Relations haps neither unjust nor impolitic, but which, at first Eadward sight, seems strangely incongruous with his character for and his sanctity and gentleness. With all his fondness for Normans, there was one person of Norman birth for whom 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-that she had 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 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 1 "Forðam heo hit heold sér to fæste wið hine," say the Abingdon, Peterborough, and Canterbury Chronicles. Worcester is more explicit ; "Forpan þe heo was æror pam cynge hire suna swide heard, þat heo him læsse dyde ponne 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 valde 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, 5 CHAP. VII. she had seemingly wished her first marriage to be wholly forgotten.' But there seems to be no ground for the scandal which represented her as having acted in any way a hostile part to her sons after the death of Cnut.2 All the more probable versions of the death of Ælfred represent Emma as distinctly favourable to his enterprise.3 She had herself suffered spoliation and exile in the days of Harold; she had returned with Harthacnut, and, in his days, she seems almost to have been looked on as a sharer in the royal authority. That authority she had at least not used to keep back her favourite son from the recall of his banished half-brother. Still it is not wonderful if, under all circumstances, there was little love between mother and son. But there does not, up to the death of Harthacnut, seem to have been any unpardonable offence committed on the part of Emma. But the charge that she had done less for Eadward than he would, since he came to the Crown, seems to have a more definite meaning. It doubtless means that she had refused to contribute of her treasures to the lawful needs of the State. It may also mean that she had been, to say the least, not specially zealous in supporting Eadward's claims to the Crown. She is described as dwelling at Winchester in the possession, not only of great landed possessions, the morning-gifts of her two marriages, but of immense hoarded wealth of every kind. Harthacnut had doubtless restored, and probably increased, all that had been taken from her by Harold. Of her mode of employing her wealth we Probable offence of Emma. 1 See vol. i. p. 717. 3 See vol. i. p. 487 et seqq. 2 See vol. i. pp. 494, 762, 763. 5 See the writ quoted at vol. i. p. 507, which cannot belong to the first reign of Harthacnut in Wessex only. • Besides land, the Abingdon Chronicle speaks of her wealth " on golde and on seolfre and on unasecgendlicum þingum." So that of Worcester says of her treasures, "pa wæron unatellendlice." So Florence; "quicquid in auro, argento, gemmis, lapidibus, aliisve rebus pretiosum habuerat." EMMA SPOILED OF HER TREASURES. gemót 61 Gloucester. find different accounts; putting the two statements to- CHAP. VII. gether, we may perhaps infer that she was bountiful to churches and monasteries, but niggardly to the poor.' But neither this bounty nor this niggardliness was a legal crime, and it is clear that some more definite offence must have lurked behind. Her treasures, or part of them, may have been gained by illegal grants from Harthacnut; it is almost certain, from the language of our authorities, that they had been illegally refused to the public service. But what happened seems to imply some still deeper offence. The conduct of Emma became the subject of debate in Witenaa meeting of the Witan; her punishment was the result get of of a decree of that body, and all that was done to her was November, done with the active approval of the three great Earls, Godwine, Leofric, and Siward.2 In the month of November after Eadward's coronation, a Gemót—perhaps a forestalling of the usual Midwinter Gemót-was held at Gloucester. That town seems now to take the place which was held by Oxford a little earlier3 as the scene of courts and councils. It became during this reign, what it remained during the reign of the Conqueror, the place where the King wore his Crown at the Christmas festival, as he wore it at Winchester at Easter. It was convenient for such purposes as lying near at once to the borders of two of the great Earldoms and to the borders 1 Will. Malms, ii. 196. Congestis undecumque talentis crumenas infecerat, pauperum oblita; quibus non patiebatur dari nummum ne diminueret numerum. Itaque quod injuste coacervârat non inhoneste ablatum, ut egenorum proficeret compendio et fisco sufficeret regio." Though accepting this account ("hæc referentibus etsi plurimum fides haberi debeat"), he goes on, as he does elsewhere (ii. 181; see vol. i. p. 437), to speak of her bounty to monasteries, especially at Winchester. 2 A meeting of the Witan is implied in the language of the Worcester Chronicle, "Man gerædde pan cynge peet he rád of Gleawcestre," and in the presence and consent of the three Earls-"ut illi [Leofricus, Godwinus, et Siwardus] consilium ei dederant," as Florence says. See vol. i. p. 482. 4 See vol. i. p. 522. 1043. Eadward Earls despoil and the CHAP. VII. of the dangerous Welsh. Their motions, under princes like the two Gruffydds, it was doubtless often expedient to watch with the whole wisdom and the whole force of the realm. The result of the deliberations of the Wise Men was that the King in person, accompanied by the three great Earls,1 rode from Gloucester to Winchester, came unawares 2 upon the Lady, occupied her lands,3 and November seized all that she had in gold, silver, jewels, and precious 16, 1043. stones. They left her however, we are told, enough for her maintenance, and bade her live quietly at Winchester.* She now sinks into utter insignificance for the remainder of her days.5 Emma of her treasures. Now the last order, to live quietly at Winchester, seems to imply some scheme or intrigue on the part of Emma more serious than even an illegal refusal to contribute of her wealth to the exigencies of the State. Is it possible that she had been one of the opponents of her son's election? A woman who had so completely transferred her affection to her second husband and his children may, even 1 So says the Worcester Chronicle, followed by Florence; "He rád of Gleawcestre, and Leofric eorl and Godwine eorl and Sigwarð eorl mid heora genge, to Wincestre;" "Festinato Rex cum comitibus Leofrico, Godwino, et Siwardo de civitate Glawornâ Wintoniam venit." The other Chronicles do not imply the King's personal presence; "se cyng let geridan," &c. 2 Chron. Wig. "On únwær on pa hlæfdian." Flor. Wig. "Venit improvise." 3 Chronn. Ab. Petrib. Cant. "Se cyng let geridan ealle þa land þe his modor ahte him to handa." The Worcester Chronicler says nothing of the land. Flor. Wig. "Verumtamen sufficienter ei ministrari necessaria præcepit et illam ibidem quietam manere jussit." 5 Emma signs a charter of her son during this year 1043 (Cod. Dipl. iv. 74), which therefore belongs to an earlier Gemót than this of November, probably to the one held at Winchester at the time of the coronation. From this time we find her signing only a few private documents (Cod. Dipl. iv. 86, 116) and documents connected with the Church of Winchester (iv. 90, 93). After her son's marriage she seems not to sign his charters at all. The documents at iv. 80, 99 are doubtful or spurious. On the Legend of Emma see Appendix H. |
