with affection on the more direct representatives of their ancient Earls. Oswulf is spoken of as a youth at this time, but as it was now twenty-four years since the murder of his father, he must have been a grown man. Waltheof, the son of Siward, so eminent only two years later, could not have been much younger. If Siward's memory had been at all popular in Northumberland, Waltheof, rather than Oswulf, would surely have been chosen for this important subordinate government, even if it was not thought proper to entrust him with the command of the whole of the ancient Kingdom. Thus far the Northumbrian Assembly, however irregularly called together, had acted in something like the character of a lawful Gemót. To depose and elect an Earl was a stretch of power beyond the constitutional authority of a local Gemót; still the unconstitutional character of the act consisted solely in the Gemót of a single Earldom taking upon itself functions which lawfully belonged only to a Gemót of the whole Kingdom. But the Thegns who were assembled at York went on to acts which showed that, however guilty Tostig may have been, they at least had small right to throw stones at him. Slaughter and plunder were soon shown to be quite as much their objects as the redress of grievances or the punishment of offenders. On Monday, the first day of the Assembly, two of Tostig's Danish Housecarls, Amund and Reavenswart, who had fled from York, were overtaken, and were put to death without the walls of the city.1 How far these men deserved their doom, how far their doom was the sentence of anything which even pretended to be a lawful tribunal, we have no means of knowing. But it is hardly possible that there can have been even the shadow of lawful authority for the acts of the next day (October 4). As many of Tostig's personal followers, English and Danish, as could be found, two hundred in number, were massacred.2 The Earl's treasury was next broken open, and all its contents, weapons, gold, silver, and other precious things, were carried off. This may have been a rough and ready way of repaying themselves for the unjust tax of which they complained; otherwise any notion of policy would rather 1 The names come from Florence, who (see Appendix TT) describes them as " illius [Tostii] Danicos huscarlas, Amundum et Reavensvartum." "Danicus "" is an ambiguous word, and does not show whether they were mere adventurers from Denmark or sons of followers of Cnut. The name would hardly be applied to descendants of the elder Danish settlers. At any rate, one of these men was a considerable landowner, and both, from their special mention, must have been men of some importance, proba bly officers in command of the force. Reavenswart is doubtless the man who, under several spellings, occurs as a landowner T. R. E. in Yorkshire, Shropshire, and Cheshire (Domesday, 257, 266, 268 b, 301 b). The Amund of Suffolk, 433, 433 b, and 441 b, is a different person, but may not " Anand huscarl R. E." in Hertfordshire, 140 b, be a corrupt form of our Amund? 2 See Appendix TT. IMPORT OF THE ELECTION OF MORKERE. 325 have bidden them to hand over the treasures of their enemy to the chief whom they had themselves chosen.1 The real character of the revolt, as far at least as the sons of Elfgar were concerned, soon showed itself. Morkere did not sit down quietly to reign in Northumberland; he does not seem to have even demanded the consent of the King and of the national Witan to his usurpation. He at once marched southwards. On his march he was 3 joined by the men of the shires of Lincoln, Nottingham, and Derby.2 It is not clear whether Nottinghamshire was part of Tostig's Earldom; but all three shires were districts in which the Danish element was strong, especially in their three chief towns, which were reckoned among the famous Five Boroughs.* At the head of this force Morkere reached Northampton. This town was probably chosen for the headquarters of the rebels, as being, like Northumberland itself, under the government of Tostig. Whatever were their designs as to the Earldoms of Northampton and Huntingdon, it was in any case important to win over their inhabitants to the cause of the revolt. At Northampton Morkere was met by his brother Eadwine, at the head of the men of his Earldom, together with a large body of Welsh. Were these last simply drawn thither by the hope of plunder? Were they followers of the last Gruffydd, faithful to the old connexion between Elfgar and their slain King? Or are we to see something deeper in the matter? It may well be that the movement in Gwent and the movement in Northumberland were both of them parts of one scheme devised in the restless brain of the Mercian Earl. The way in which one event followed on the other, the significant remark made by the Chronicler on the deed of Caradoc," the suspicious appearance of Welshmen in the train of Eadwine, all look the same way. Caradoc and Gamel-bearn are not likely to have any direct communication with one another; but it is quite possible that both of them may have been little more than puppets moved by a single hand. At all events, a great force, Northumbrian, Mercian, and Welsh, was now gathered together at Northampton. The Northumbrians were in what they doubtless expected to find a friendly country, but it would seem that they found the men of Northamptonshire and Huntingdonshire less zealous in the cause than they had hoped. At least we find that Morkere's Northern followers dealt with the country about Northampton as 1 Chronn. Wig. Petrib. 1065. "And naman ealle his wæpna on Eoforwic and gold and seolfer and ealle his sceattas, pe hig mihton ahwær þær geacsian." Fl. Wig. "Erarium quoque ipsius fregerunt, et omnibus quæ illius fuerant ablatis, recesserunt.' Will. Malms. (ii. 200). "Homines ejus, et Anglos et Danos, obtruncâ runt, equos et arma, et supellectilem omnem corradentes." 2 See Appendix TT. "And eac fela 4 See vol. i. pp. 33, 42, 251. if it had been the country of an enemy. They slew men, burned corn and houses, carried off cattle, and at last led captive several hundred prisoners, seemingly as slaves.1 The blow was so severe that it was remembered even when one would have thought that that and all other lesser wrongs would have been forgotten in the general overthrow of England. Northamptonshire and the shires near to it were for many winters the worse.2 It seems to have been at Northampton that the first attempts at negotiation began between the King and the insurgents. Eadward and Tostig were still in their woodland retreats, enjoying the slaughter of unresisting animals, while half England was in confusion, and while whole shires were being laid waste. The Earl of the West-Saxons was most likely as keen a hunter as either of them, but he at least did not let his sport interfere with his duty to his country. While his brother and brother-in-law still tarried in the woods, Earl Harold hastened to Northampton with a message from the King. Eadward, who had once been so wrathful at Godwine's appeal to Law on behalf of the men of Dover, had now, under Harold's guidance, better learned the duties of a constitutional King. Through the mouth of the great Earl, he called on the men of Northumberland to lay down their arms, to cease from their ravages, and, if they had any matter against their own Earl, to bring it forward for discussion in a lawful Assembly. We may conceive the feeling of triumph with which Harold now put into the King's mouth the very words which, in the mouth of Godwine, had led to the temporary overthrow of himself and his house. But the Northumbrians would not yield to any proposal which implied even the possibility of Tostig's return to power. They were freemen born and bred, they would not bow to the pride of any Earl; they had learned from their fathers to bear no third choice besides freedom or death. If the King wished to retain Northumberland in his allegiance, he must confirm the banishment of Tostig from Northumberland and from all England, he must confirm the election of Morkere to the Northern Earldom. If he persisted in forcing Tostig upon them, they would deal with him as an enemy; if he 1 Chron. Wig. "And þa Ryðrenan dydan mycelne hearm abutan Hamtune, ægþær þæt hi ofslogon menn, and bærndon bus and corn, and namon eall þæt orf þe hig mihton to cuman, þæt was feola pusend, and fela hund manna hi naman, and læddan norð mid heom." I do not know that the word "Ryðrenan occurs elsewhere; but any hope that it might mean Welshmen is dispelled by the word "norð," and still more clearly by the words of the Peterborough Chronicler, who, for "pa Rydrenan" reads "pa norðerne menn." 2 Chronn. Wig. Petrib. 1065. "Swa 5 Will. Malms. ii. 200. "Se nullius Ducis ferociam pati posse." See Appendix TT. NEGOTIATIONS AT NORTHAMPTON. 327 yielded to their demands, he would see what loyal subjects Northumbrians could be, when they were gently ruled by a ruler of their own choice.1 Brave words truly, if they really came from the heart of the Northumbrian people, and were not simply put into their mouths by two ambitious Earls. More than one message passed to and fro; messengers from the rebel camp accompanied Harold to the royal presence; 2 but there was no sign of yielding on the part of the host encamped at Northampton. At last the matter became so serious that Eadward left. his hunting to apply himself personally to the affairs of his Kingdom. At a royal abode called Bretford, near Salisbury, a place whose name suggests memories of warfare five hundred years older, Eadward called an Assembly together. It probably professed to be a Witengemót of the whole realm, but it could hardly have been more than a meeting of the King's immediate counsellors, or at most of the local Witan of Wessex. This Assembly at once began to discuss the state of the nation;3 and the record of their debates at least shows what full freedom of speech was allowed in our ancient national Councils. Some speakers boldly accused Tostig of cruelty and avarice; his severities had been caused, not by any love of justice, but by a wish to seize on the wealth of the rich men of Northumberland.1 It was affirmed, on the other hand, that the revolt against Tostig had been simply got up by the secret machinations of Harold. No charge could be more unjust, and we may suspect that it was brought forward by no mouth but that of Tostig himself.5 Harold throughout tried in vain to reconcile the revolters to his brother. Up to this time no trustworthy account gives us the slightest sign of any quarrel between the two brothers. Now that the revolt had broken out, it was undoubtedly Harold's interest to settle matters without bloodshed, even at the expense of his brother; but he had no interest, but quite the contrary, in stirring up the revolt in the first instance. It was prudent, under the circumstances, to yield to the demands of the Northumbrians, and to allow the aggrandizement of the rival house; 1 Will. Malms. ii. 200. "Proinde, si subditos velit, Markerium filium Elgari eis præficiat, re experturum quam dulciter sciant obedire, si dulciter tractati fuerint." 2 Chronn. Wig. Petrib. "And eac ærendracan mid him sendon." 3 Vita Eadw. 422. "Accitis undique regni primatibus, habebat ibi consilium quid super tali negotio esset opus." 4 Ib. " Culpabant nonnulli eumdem gloriosum Ducem nimiæ feritatis, et magis amore justitiæ inquietos punisse arguebatur cupiditati invadendæ eorum facultatis." I hope that I have caught the general meaning of this stiff bit of Latin. but Harold could have no motive for seeking, of his own accord, to transfer Northumberland from a son of Godwine to a son of Ælfgar. But Tostig doubtless expected his brother to support him, right or wrong, at all hazards and against all foes, and he could not understand any cause for Harold's hesitating so to do except his being art and part with his enemies. Before the King and all his Court, Tostig so vehemently charged Harold with having kindled the Northumbrian revolt, that Harold thought it necessary to deny the charge, in the usual solemn form, upon oath.1 It appears that the Earl's own oath was thought enough, and that compurgators were not called for. But the question how to quell the revolt was still more urgent than the question how the revolt arose. The King was as vehement against the real rebels of Northumberland as he had been, fourteen years before, against the fancied rebels of Dover. He was as eager to avenge the wrongs of his English favourite Tostig as he had been to avenge the wrongs of his foreign favourite Eustace. He would, doubtless by deputy, chastise their insolence with the edge of the sword; it would almost seem that the royal summons went out, calling the whole force of England to the royal standard. But Eadward had counsellors about him who were wiser than himself. They, Harold doubtless at their head, shrank as soldiers from a winter campaign and as patriots from a civil war. They pleaded that, with these two great difficulties in the way of immediate action, it would be impossible to collect an army able to cope with the insurgents. The Housecarls of the King and of the Earl were doubtless ready to march at their command; but, of all courses in the world, none could be so unpopular as to employ this force to put down a popular insurrection. It would be a renewal of the days of Harthacnut and of the march against Worcester. The King was so eager for battle that his advisers could not, after all, persuade him formally to revoke his orders for war; but they took means to hinder the expedition from actually taking place. So to do would be no very hard task, when the feeling of the chiefs and of the people was doubtless exactly the same. So great was Eadward's 1 Vita Eadw. 422. "Ipse tamen Dux Tostinus, coram Rege ejusque frequentibus palatinis publice testatus, hoc illi imposuit, sed ille citius ad sacramenta nimis (proh dolor) prodigus [on this most remarkable allusion, see above, p. 27], hoc objectum sacramentis purgavit." 2 Ib. 423. "Multotiens ergo a Rege per legatos consulti quum non adquiescerent, sed potius inceptâ dementiâ amplius furerent, ferro disponit eorum contumacem proterviam compescere, commotis regali edicto universis totius reliquiis Angliæ." 3 Ib. "Sed quia ex asperiori hieme jam tunc aëris incumbebat inæqualitas, tum non facile erat ad contrariam expeditionem sufficientes educere exercituum copias, et quia in eâdem gente horrebat quasi bellum civile, instabant quidam ferventem Regis animum sedare, et ne expeditio procederet, suadere." See vol. i. p. 347. 5 This seems implied in the words of the Biographer (423); “Obluctatique diutius Regem proficisci volentem non tam avertunt, quam eo invito perperam deficiunt.” |