INROAD OF GRUFFYDD AP RHYDDERCH. י7 Osgod Clapa was, as has been already said,' at sea with a much larger number of ships. He first appeared at Wulpe near Sluys on the coast of Flanders, and the news of his arrival there was brought to Eadward at the moment when the King was left at Sandwich at the head of a very small force. The Mercian contingent had just been dismissed, and Godwine, with the force of Wessex, had sailed westward. Eadward was therefore nearly defenceless. He therefore countermanded the orders for the dismissal of the Mercian vessels, and as many of them as was possible were brought back. Osgod however did not act personally as the enemy of England. He merely took his wife from Bruges, where she had been left, and sailed back to Denmark with six ships. The remainder of his fleet took to piracy off Eadulfsness in Essex, and there did much harm. But a violent storm arose and destroyed all the vessels except four.2 These were chased and captured, and the crews slain, whether by Eadward's own fleet in pursuit or by some of the foreign allies of England is not very clear.3 The rumour which had called Godwine westward from Sandwich was not wholly a false one. The ships which were then said to be ravaging the south coast were doubtless Danish pirate vessels from Ireland, the same which, in the course of July, sailed up the Bristol Channel as far as the mouth of the Usk. There they were welcomed by the South-Welsh King Gruffydd, who was doubtless rejoiced at the prospect of such allies, alike against the English and against his Northern namesake, the momentary confederate of England. After a certain amount of harrying along the coast of the Channel, the combined forces of Gruffydd and the pirates crossed the Wye, and slew and plundered within the diocese of Worcester. It is not clear who was the Earl responsible for the safety of the country since the banishment of Swegen. It was probably the King's nephew, Ralph the Timid, whose name begins about this time to appear in the charters with the title of Earl," and who seems to have been invested The rivers of the same name in Somersetshire and Devonshire had ceased to be looked on as Welsh. 5 On the details of this perplexing campaign see Appendix P. Ralph's signatures seem to begin in 1050. See Cod. Dipl. iv. 123, 125. That in 121 is more doubtful. The document in 113 Mr. Kemble marks as doubtful, but refers it to 1044-1047. But it must be spurious. It makes Eadsige Archbishop and Ælfgar Earl at the same time, as also Tostig, who was not an Earl till long after. See Appendix G. with the government of Worcestershire. If this be so, this was the first appointment of a foreigner to a great temporal office, a further step in the downward course, still more marked than that of appointing foreign Prelates. Under such a chief as Ralph no vigorous resistance was to be looked for, and the person who really took upon himself the defence of the country was Bishop Ealdred. He gathered a force from among the inhabitants of Gloucestershire and Herefordshire; but part of his army consisted of Welshmen, whether mere mercenaries hired for the occasion, or Welshmen living as immediate subjects of England. But whoever these Welshmen were, their sympathies lay wholly with Gruffydd and not with Ealdred. They sent a secret message to the Welsh King, suggesting an immediate attack on the English army. Gruffydd willingly answered to the call. With his twofold force, Welsh and Danish, he fell on the English camp (July 29, 1049) early in the morning, slew many good men, and put the rest, together with the Bishop, to flight. Of the further results of this singular and perplexing campaign, especially when and how the retreat of the invaders was brought about, we hear nothing. Everything which happened about this time sets before us the great and increasing intercourse which now prevailed between England and the Continent. Our fathers were now brought into a nearer connexion with both the spiritual and the temporal chiefs of Christendom than they had ever known before. We have already seen England in close alliance with the Empire; we have now to contemplate her relations with the Papacy. The active and saintly Pontiff who now presided over the Church held at this time a series of Councils in various places, at most of which English Prelates attended. Leo, after receiving the submission of Godfrey at Aachen, entered France, at the request of Heremar, Abbot of Saint Remigius at Rheims, to hallow the newly-built church of his monastery." He then held a synod, which sat for six days, and passed several canons of the usual sort, against the marriage of priests and against their bearing arms.3 The days of Otto the Great seemed to have returned, when the Pope and the Emperor, seemingly without reference to the Parisian King, 1 Chron. Wig. 1050. "And hi comon unwar on heom, on ealne ærue morgen, and fela godra manna þær ofslagon; and pa opre ætburston forð mid þam biscope." 2.66 þæt micele mynster æt Remys," says the Worcester Chronicle, which might seem to mean the Metropolitan church; but Florence makes it plain that the Abbey is meant; "Rogatu eximiæ religionis Abbatis Herimari sancti Remigii Francorum apostoli monasterium, Remis constitutum, maximo cum honore dedicavit." Cf. Will. Gem. vii. 15. An unusual amount of the The presence of the Emperor is asserted by the Worcester Chronicle; "pær wæs se Papa Leo and se Casere." Florence does not speak of the Emperor, but says that Leo took with him "præfectum et digniores quosdam Romuleæ urbis." SYNOD OF RHEIMS. 73 held a Council on French ground, attended by a vast multitude of Prelates, clergy, and laity from the Imperial Kingdoms and from other parts of Europe. There, besides the Metropolitan of the city in which the synod was held, was the Archbishop of Burgundy, as our Chronicles call him,' that is, the Archbishop of the great see of Lyons, Primate of all the Gauls, but no subject or vassal of the upstart dynasty of Paris. There were the Archbishops of Trier and Besançon; and from England came Duduc, the Saxon Bishop of the Sumorsætas, and the Abbots Wulfric of Saint Augustine's and Elfwine of Ramsey, whom King Eadward had sent to bring him word of all that should be done for the good of Christendom.2 It does not appear that any English Prelates were present at the synod which Leo held soon after at Mainz ;3 but the two Italian synods which were held soon after were, as we shall see, connected in a singular manner with English affairs. There seems to have been about this time a kind of mortality among the English Prelates. Among those who died was the Abbot of Westminster or Thorney, the humbler foundation which was soon to give way to the great creation of the reigning King. He bore the name of Wulfnoth, a name which suggests the likelihood of kindred with the house of Godwine. Another was Oswiu, the Abbot of the other Thorney in the fen land, the neighbour of Peterborough and Crowland. This year too died Siward the Coadjutor-Archbishop, and Eadsige again resumed his functions for the short remainder of his life. Eadnoth too, the good Bishop of Dorchester, the builder of Stow-in-Lindesey, died this year, and his death offered a magnificent bait to Norman ambition and greediness. The great Bishoprick stretching from the Thames to the Humber, was conferred by the King on one of his Norman chaplains, who however bore the Scandinavian name of Ulf. As to the utter unfitness of this man for such an office there is an universal consent among our authorities. The King, even the holy Eadward, did evil in appointing him; the new Prelate did nought bishoplike; it were shame to tell more of his deeds." The year which followed was one of great note in ecclesiastical history. In England the first event recorded is the usual meeting of the Witan in London at Midlent. The proceedings of this Gemót, like those of many others about this time, give us a glimpse of that real, though very imperfect, parliamentary life which was then growing up in England, and which the Norman Conquest threw back for many generations. Then, as now, there were economists who pressed for the reduction of the public expenditure, and what we should now call the Navy Estimates were chosen as being no doubt a popular subject for attack. The narrative of the naval events of the last year shows that, on special occasions, naval contingents were called for, according to the old law,1 from various parts of the Kingdom, but that the King still kept a small naval force in constant pay. This force had, under Cnut and Harold, consisted of sixteen ships; it seems now to have consisted only of fourteen. The experience of the last year showed that England was still open to attack from the West; but the great fear, fear of invasion from the North, had now quite passed away. It seemed therefore to be a favourable moment for further reductions. By the authority of this Gemót nine ships were accordingly paid off, the crews receiving a year's pay, and the standing force was cut down to five. It was in this same assembly that Swegen was inlawed, that is, his outlawry was reversed, by the intercession of Bishop Ealdred. That Prelate, as we have seen, seems to have gone over to Flanders, and to have brought Swegen back with him.5 But Ealdred had soon to set forth on a longer journey. He and the Lotharingarian Bishop Hermann were now sent to Rome on the King's errand. What that errand was we learn only from legendary writers and doubtful charters, but, as their accounts completely fit in with the authentic history, we need not scruple to accept the general outline of their story. The King had in his youth vowed a pilgrimage to Rome, and the non-fulfilment of this vow lay heavy on his conscience. It probably lay heavier still when he saw so many of his subjects of all ranks, led by the fashionable enthusiasm of the time, making both the pilgrimage to Rome and also the more distant pilgrimage to Jerusalem. A broken vow was a crime; still Eadward 1 See vol. i. p. 228. 2 See vol. i. p. 342. 3 Chron. Petrib. 1047. "Her on pisum geare was mycel gemôt on Lundene to midfestene, and man sette ut ix. litsmanna scipa, and fif belifan wið æftan." The Abingdon Chronicle, 1049, to much the same account as that just quoted, adds the words, "and se cyng heom behet xii. monas gyld." 4 Chron. Ab. 1050 (the chronology of this Chronicle is utterly confused); and man geinlagode Swegen Eorl." 5 See above, p. 70. 6 Chron. Ab. 1049. "On þæs cinges. ærende." 7 See the charter in Cod. Dipl. iv. 173, and the accounts in Æthelred of Rievaux, 379; Estorie de S. Edward, 65 et seqq. Besides the many exalted persons who EADWARD'S MESSAGE TO ROME. 75 had enough of political sense and right feeling left to see that his absence from his Kingdom at such a time as the present would be a criminal forsaking of his kingly duty. The Great Cnut might venture on such a journey; his eye could see and his hand could act from Rome or Norway or any other part of the world. But the personal presence of Eadward was the only check by which peace could be for a moment preserved between the true sons of the soil and the strangers who were eating into its vitals. The King laid his case before his Witan; the unanimous voice of the Assembly forbade him to forsake his post; the legend adds that the Witan further counselled him to satisfy his conscience by obtaining a Papal dispensation from his vow. This was the King's errand on which Ealdred and Hermann were sent to attend the great synod1 which was held this year at Rome. They made good speed with their journey; starting at Midlent, they reached the Holy City on Easter Eve.2 In that synod they stood face to face with a man then known only as a profound scholar and theologian, the bulwark of orthodoxy and the pattern of every monastic virtue, but who was, in years to come, to hold a higher place in the English hierarchy, and to leave behind him a far greater name in English history, than either of the English Prelates whose blessing he may now have humbly craved. In that synod of Rome the doctrines of Berengar of Tours were debated by the assembled Fathers, and the foremost champion of the faith to which Rome still cleaves was Lanfranc of Pavia. Suspected of complicity with the heretic, he produced the famous letter in which Berengar had maintained the Eucharist to be a mere figure of the Body of Christ. How far Ealdred or Hermann took part in these theological debates we know not; but they are said to have successfully accomplished their own errand. The King's vow of pilgrimage was dispensed with on condition of the rebuilding and endowment on a grander scale of that renowned West Minster whose name was to be inséparably bound together with that of the sainted King. Before the year was out the followed the example of Cnut, some of whose pilgrimages are of historical importance, the prevalence of the fashion is shown by its incidental mention in more than one charter. Thus in Cod. Dipl. iv. 140 we find the mention of the Roman pilgrimage of a Lincolnshire Thegn whose name of Anskill or Anscytel witnesses to his Danish origin. The signature of Wulfwinus Lincolniensis episcopus "need not throw any doubt on the genuineness of the document, as such descriptions, sometimes, as in this case, involving an anachronism, were often added at a later time to a simple signature of the At p. 141 also we find "Leofgyva name. |