with Normandy in 991 and

1000.

CHAP. VII. England and Normandy.1 The Northmen are again plundering England, and a continental power again gives them so much of help and comfort as is implied in letting them sell their plunder in his havens. This time the offending power was not Normandy but Flanders, and Eadward, unlike his father, had no lack of powerful friends on the continent. The great prince who had, a year before,2 Emperor been raised to the throne of the world was, as we have Henry.

Alliance

with the

seen,3 on the most intimate terms with his English brother, and it is plain that close alliance with the Empire formed part of the policy of the patriotic party. The illustrious Cæsar had filled the Papal chair with a Pontiff like-minded with himself. A series of German Popes of Imperial nomination had followed one another in a quick succession of short reigns, but they had had time to show forth in their virtues a marked contrast to the utter degradation of the Italian Pontiffs who had gone immediately before them. The throne of Peter was now filled, at the Imperial 1048-1054. bidding, by Bruno, Bishop of Toul, a native of Elsass

Leo the
Ninth.

and a kinsman of the Emperor, who had taken the name
of Leo the Ninth. He was now in his second year of
office, having been appointed in the year of the peace
between England and Norway. It was perhaps only a
later legend which told how, on his way to Rome, he fell
in with the famous Hildebrand, then in exile, how he
listened to his rebukes for the crime of accepting a
spiritual office from an earthly lord, how he entered Rome
as a pilgrim, and did not venture to ascend the Pontifical
throne till he was again more regularly chosen thereto by
the voice of the Roman clergy and people. But, in any

The German Popes.

1 See vol. i. pp. 283, 300, 632.

3 See above, p. 17.

* See the Life of Leo by the contemporary Archdeacon Wibert, in Muratori, iii. 282.

2 Lamb. Herz. 1047.

The intervention of Hildebrand, as told by Otto of Freisingen in his Annals, lib. vi. c. 33, seems apocryphal, as Muratori remarks in his note,

ALLIANCE WITH THE EMPIRE.

of Godfrey

the Em

1047.

case, this concession to ecclesiastical rule or prejudice had CHAP. VII. abated nothing of Leo's loyalty to his Teutonic sovereign, nothing of his zeal for the welfare, both spiritual and temporal, of lands which the Italian Pontiffs so seldom visited. The Pope was now at Aachen, ready with his spiritual weapons to help the Emperor against a league Rebellion of his rebellious vassals. They had waged war against and Baldtheir suzerain; they had burned the city and church of win against Verdun; they had destroyed the noble palace of the peror. Emperor at Nimwegen. Foremost among the offenders were Theodoric of Holland, Baldwin of Flanders, and Godfrey of Lotharingia. Godfrey was specially guilty. After a former rebellion he had been imprisoned and released, and now he was foremost in the new insurrection, especially in the deed of sacrilege at Verdun.1 The Pope therefore did not hesitate to issue his excommunication Leo excommuniagainst him. Godfrey yielded; the ban of the Father of cates GodChristendom bent his soul; he submitted to scourging, frey. he redeemed his hair at a great sum, he contributed largely to the rebuilding of the cathedral which he had burned, and himself laboured at the work like a common mason. But Baldwin of Flanders, possibly trusting to his Continued ambiguous position as a vassal both of the Empire and of the French Crown, was more obstinate, and still continued his ravages. The Emperor accordingly called on his vassals and allies for help against a prince whose power might well seem dangerous even to Kings and Cæsars. King Swegen of Denmark-so low had Denmark fallen Swegen since the days of Cnut obeyed the summons as a vassal. Eadward

1049.

ravages of Baldwin.

and

iii. 292. But the germ of the story is to be found in Wibert; Leo entered Rome barefoot, and though he announced his appointment by the Emperor, be demanded the assent of the clergy and people before he entered on his office.

97

1 On this war see Appendix O.

2 Florence (1049) seems pointedly to distinguish the relations in which Swegen and Eadward stood to the Emperor. "Suanus . . . ut Imperator

VOL. II.

H

CHAP. VII. King Eadward of England contributed his help as an ally, join the and as one who was himself an injured party. The reEmperor against ception of English exiles at Baldwin's court, the licence Baldwin. allowed to Scandinavian pirates of selling the spoils of England in Baldwin's havens, caused every Englishman to look on the Count of Flanders as an enemy. The help which had been refused to Swegen was therefore readily granted to Henry. The King of the English was not indeed asked to take any part in continental warfare by land. The share of the enterprise assigned to him was to keep the coast with his ships, in case the rebellious prince should attempt to escape by sea. Again, as in the days of Æthelstan and Eadmund, an English fleet appeared in the Channel, ready, if need be, to take a part in continental warfare. But now, as in the days of Æthelstan and Eadmund, nothing happened which called for its active service. Eadward and his fleet watched at Sand

Baldwin defeated

without

wich, while the Emperor marched against Baldwin by land. actual Eng- But the Count of Flanders, instead of betaking himself to lish help.

the sea, submitted in all things to the will of the mighty over-lord whom he had provoked.3

lets loose the Eng

The immediate object for the assembling of the fleet had been attained; but the events which immediately followed showed that the fleet was just as likely to be lish exiles. needed for protection at home, as for a share in even just and necessary warfare abroad. The submission of Baldwin to the Emperor seems to have let loose the English exiles who had been flitting backwards and forwards between Flanders and Denmark, and who had possibly taken a part on Baldwin's side in the last

The sub

mission of Baldwin

illi mandârat, cum suâ classe ibi affuit, et eâ vice fidelitatem Imperatori juravit. Misit quoque ad Regem Anglorum Eadwardum et rogavit illum ne Baldwinum permitteret effugere, si vellet ad mare fugere."

1 Flor. Wig. 1049; Chronn. Ab. and Wig. ib. "pæt he ne gebafode þæt he him on watere ne ætburste."

2 See vol. i. pp. 202, 219. 3 See Appendix 0.

* See pp. 88, 90.

SUBMISSION OF BALDWIN.

reconcilia

Eadward. 1049.

campaign. Both Osgod Clapa and Swegen the son of CHAP. VII. Godwine now appeared at sea. Swegen had only eight Swegen and Osgod ships; but Osgod had-we are not told how-gathered return. a force of thirty-nine. While the King was still at Sandwich, Swegen returned to England. He sailed first to Bosham, a favourite lordship of his father, and one whose name we shall again meet with in connexion with events of still greater moment to the house of Godwine. He there left his ships, and went to the King at Sandwich, and offered to become his man. His natural allegiance Swegen's as an English subject was perhaps held to be cancelled tion with by his outlawry or by his having become the man of Swegen of Denmark or of some other foreign prince. A new personal commendation was seemingly needed for his reconciliation with his natural sovereign. He seems to have asked for his Earldom again; at any rate, he was tired of the life of a sea-rover, and asked that his lands which had been confiscated might be given back to him for his maintenance. He seems to have found favour, either with the King personally or with some of those who were about him, for it was proposed, if not actually resolved, that Swegen should be restored to all his former possessions. But the strongest opponents of such a course Harold and were found in the kinsmen to whom his confiscated lands had been granted, his cousin Beorn and his brother Harold, reconciliaThey both refused to give up any part of what the King had given them.3 Swegen's petition was accordingly re

2

Beorn op

pose his

tion.

1 Chron. Ab. 1049. "He com hider mid hiwunge, cwæð þæt he wolde his man beon."

2 Chron. Petrib. 1046. "And com Swegn eorl in mid vii. scypum to Bosenham, et gridode wið þone cyng, and behet man him þæt he moste wurde [beon] æle bæra þinga þe he ær ahte."

99

3 Ib. "Da wiðlæg Harold eorl his brotor and Beorn eorl þæt he ne moste beon nan þære þinga wurde be se cyng him geunnen hæfde." So Chron. Ab. 1049. The Worcester Chronicle and Florence do not mention this opposition of Harold and Beorn.

CHAP. VII. fused; his outlawry was confirmed; only, as seems to have Swegen's been usual in such cases, he was allowed four days to get outlawry is renewed. him out of the country. How far Harold and Beorn were

actuated in this matter by mere regard to their own interests, how far by a regard to the public good, how far by that mixture of motives which commonly determines men's actions, we have no means of judging. This is not the only act of Harold's early life which may be taken to show that he had not yet acquired those wonderful gifts of conciliation and self-restraint which mark his more mature career. Of the character of Beorn we know nothing except from this story; what we hear of him directly afterwards certainly sets him before us in a generous and amiable light. The tale is told us in a perfectly colourless way, without any hint how the conduct of the two cousins was judged of in the eyes of contemporaries in general or in the eyes of Earl Godwine. At all events, Swegen went away from Sandwich empty-handed. He thence went to Bosham, where his ships were lying in the land-locked haven of that place. This was just at the moment when the fleet, no longer needed for service against Baldwin, was beginning to disperse. We see that this fleet also had been gathered in the ancient way by the contingents or contributions of the shires,' and that only a small number of the ships were in the King's permanent service. Those of the crews who had come from distant, especially inland, districts were naturally weary of tarrying when there was no prospect of active service, and the contingent of Mercia was accordingly allowed to return home.2 The King remained at Sandwich with a few ships only. Meanwhile a rumour came that hostile ships had been seen ravaging

1 See vol. i. p. 337.

"Foron fela scypa hám," says the Worcester Chronicle; but Abingdon puts it more distinctly; "And pa se cing lyfde eallon Myrceon ham; and hig swa dydon,"