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of Æthelwulf, nothing at all answering to a King of the Romans had been seen in England.1 And if there were some reasons which, under present circumstances, might make such an unusual course specially desirable, there were other reasons which told against it with nearly equal force. With the royal house on the verge of extinction, with such a competitor as William carefully watching the course of events, it was most desirable to settle the succession with as much certainty as the laws of an elective monarchy allowed. It was most needful that the successor to the throne should be the man best fitted for the highest of offices, the man of the wisest head and the stoutest arm in the land. It was, in a word, the wish of every clearsighted patriot that the successor of Eadward should be no other than Earl Harold. But on the other hand, the choice of Earl Harold, or of any other man not of kingly blood, was something strange and unprecedented, something which might well shock the feelings and prejudices of men. The choice of a new King would in fact be the choice of a new dynasty; it would be to wipe out a sentiment as old as the days when the first West-Saxon set foot on British ground; it would be to transfer the Crown of Wessex, of England, of Britain, from the house of Cerdic, of Ecgberht, and of Æthelstan to the house of Godwine the son of Wulfnoth. Men might not as yet be so ready for so momentous a change as they certainly were nine years later. And an irrevocable decision in favour of Harold might well be looked on as a wrong done to a third possible competitor. The royal house, though on the verge of extinction, was not yet extinct. The Ætheling had left a son, the young Eadgar. The son was undoubtedly not entitled to the same constitutional preference as his father. But in some respects he was a more promising candidate than his father. Like the renowned Bastard himself, he was little, but he would grow.2 If a vacancy happened at once, his claims could hardly be pressed. But the King might live many years, and Eadgar might succeed his great-uncle in all the vigour of early manhood. He was not indeed, like his father, an Englishman born, the son of an English King by an English mother. But then he might be, as his father had not been, brought up with the feelings of an Englishman, of a destined ruler of England. Nine years before the death of Eadward, men might well deem that it was not expedient, by any premature declaration in favour of the great Earl, to cut off the chances of a succession in many ways

1 Compare on the other hand the joint kingship of Hugh and Robert in France (see vol. i. p. 167). So in England in after times we find Henry the son of Henry the Second crowned in his father's lifetime.

In the Empire the cases are endless. See above, p. 248, for that of the reigning King Henry the Fourth.

2 See above, p. 123.

SPECIAL POSITION OF HAROLD.

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so desirable as that of the young Ætheling. If King Eadward lived long enough to make Eadgar's succession possible and expedient, that succession might, like that of his father, form a better check to the ambition of William than the succession of Harold.

On the whole then it is perhaps safer not to suppose any formal act of the Witan on behalf of Harold. The circumstances of the case may be explained by supposing that Eadward promised to recommend Harold as his successor in case of his own death during Eadgar's childhood. It would be a sort of understood thing that, in case of such an event, the Earl of the West-Saxons would be a candidate for the Crown with every chance of success. As Harold's renown increased, as the chances of Eadward's life grew weaker, as Eadgar's unfitness became more and more manifest, men would look with more and more certainty to the great Earl as their future King.1 Without any formal decree, he would, by common consent, step into the position, or more than the position, of a born Ætheling, and he would find himself insensibly sharing the powers, and even the titles, of royalty. And we cannot doubt that 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 land to his cause; it was to obtain what was virtually an abdication from one who was virtually the destined heir.

The famous oath of Harold is so uncertain as to its date and all its circumstances that it might be treated without impropriety at almost any stage of my narrative. But, as 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 Ælfgar, 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.

1 De Inv. c. 14. "Quem [Haroldum] indigenæ præ cæteris postulabant et ardenter sitiebant post sanctum Regem Edwardum, ipsius morum et vitæ hæredem. Quod quidem divinâ miseratione processu

temporis videre meruerunt qui tunc præsentes fuerunt." When the Waltham writer wrote, "Eadwardus Simplex" had become a canonized saint.

CHAPTER X.

THE REIGN OF EADWARD FROM THE DEATH OF THE ETHELING
TO THE DEATH OF THE KING.1

1057-1066.

§ 1. The Ecclesiastical Administration of Earl Harold.
1058-1062.

We 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 the King, and he was, in all probability,

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 Walt

ham, 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 history, it is a mere romance, but like other local romances, it has its value for points of local description, and even for purely local facts. The De Inventione is a work of higher character. It was written by an anonymous Canon of Waltham, who was born in 1119, who entered the College in 1124, who was made a Canon before 1144, and who wrote, or perhaps enlarged his work, after 1177, when he lost his prebend at the change in the foundation of Waltham under Henry the Second. This tract contains a good deal of legend, but no romance. The author writes in evident good faith, and with a manifest desire to be fair and accurate. He repeats the legends of his house as he heard them from his childhood; he was inclined, like the rest of his contemporaries, to see, and even to expect, miracles where we see only natural causes. But when the necessary

HAROLD'S PILGRIMAGE TO ROME.

287

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 of this period form a time of unusual quiet, a time in which, as is usual in times of quiet, our attention is almost wholly occupied with ecclesiastical affairs. The great Earl now appears as something like an ecclesiastical reformer, as 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 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, 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 West-Saxons 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 Etheling 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 country. He had, we are told, been for a long time watching 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. His name was well known in the country; he was doubtless received everywhere with honour; he did not go on till he had gained such a thorough insight deductions on these scores are made, he is distinctly more trustworthy than the average of local historians. On his general character as an historian, and especially on the miraculous element in his narrative, see the remarks in Professor Stubbs' Preface, p. xxvii.

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 "Ecclesiasti cal 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.

See Appendix MM.

2 Ib.

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. One longs to know whether Harold was at this time personally received at the Court of Rouen, and what was the general result of his inquiries into the policy of his great rival. And the question at once forces itself upon the mind, Was this the 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.

When Harold had finished his political inquiries in 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 Lotharingia, Abbot of Monte Casino, died after a reign of only one year1 (1057-1058). On his death, Mincius, Bishop of Velletri and Cardinal, was placed in an irregular manner on the pontifical throne by the influence of the Counts of Tusculum.2 He took the name of Benedict the Tenth (1058-1059). 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 Benedict was driven out, and the new Pope, Gerard of Burgundy, Bishop of Florence, was enthroned by the name of Nicolas the Second (1059-1061). But, for the space of a year, Benedict had actual possession of the Papal throne, and was seemingly generally recognized in Rome. A Roman, of the house of the famous Consul

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.

3 Our Chronicles (Worcester and Peterborough) record the fact in nearly the same words under the year 1059. "Her on þisum geare was Nicolaus to Papan gecoren; se was biscop at Florentie pære burh; and was Benedictus ut adrifen, se wæs ær Papa." These last words may seem to imply a certain cleaving to Benedict. It is a pity that the strict and orthodox Abingdon writer (see above, pp. 227, 233) is silent, as he might have employed some other formula.

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