Transcript

29 - Popular History of France from the Earliest Times by Francois Pierre Guillaume Guizot · Popular History of France from the Earliest Times

0:00
Speaker 1: Section twenty nine of Volume one of A Popular History
0:03
Speaker 1: of France from the Earliest Times. This is a LibriVox recording.
0:08
Speaker 1: All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more
0:11
Speaker 1: information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox dot org. Volume
0:16
Speaker 1: one of A Popular History of France from the Earliest
0:19
Speaker 1: Times by Francoisiseeau, translated by Robert Black, Chapter fifteen, Conquest
0:25
Speaker 1: of England by the Normans, Part two. From the time
0:28
Speaker 1: of Ralealh's settlement in Normandy, the communications of the Normans
0:32
Speaker 1: with England had become more and more frequent and important
0:35
Speaker 1: for the two countries. The success of the invasions of
0:38
Speaker 1: the Danes in England in the tenth century and the
0:41
Speaker 1: reigns of three kings of the Danish line had obliged
0:44
Speaker 1: the princes of Saxon Race to take refuge in Normandy,
0:47
Speaker 1: the duke of which Richard the first had given his
0:50
Speaker 1: daughter Emma in marriage to their grandfather ethel Read the second.
0:54
Speaker 1: When at the death of the last Danish king, Hartcanut,
0:58
Speaker 1: the Saxon prince Edward ascended the throne of his fathers.
1:01
Speaker 1: He had passed twenty seven years of exile in Normandy,
1:04
Speaker 1: and he returned to England almost a stranger, in the
1:07
Speaker 1: words of the Chronicles, to the country of his ancestors,
1:10
Speaker 1: far more Norman than Saxon in his manners, tastes, and language,
1:14
Speaker 1: and surrounded by Normans, whose numbers in prestige under his
1:17
Speaker 1: reign increased from day to day. A hot rivalry nationally
1:22
Speaker 1: as well as courtly, grew up between them and the Saxons.
1:26
Speaker 1: At the head of these latter was Godwin, Count of
1:28
Speaker 1: Kent and his five sons, the eldest of whom Harold
1:32
Speaker 1: was destined before long to bear the whole brunt of
1:34
Speaker 1: the struggle between these powerful rivals. Edward the Confessor, a pacific, pious, gentle,
1:40
Speaker 1: and undecided king, wavered incessantly, at one time trying to resist,
1:46
Speaker 1: and at another compelled to yield to the pretensions and
1:48
Speaker 1: seditions by which he was beset. In ten fifty one,
1:52
Speaker 1: the Saxon party and its head, Godwin, had risen in revolt.
1:56
Speaker 1: Duke William, on invitation perhaps from King Edward, paid a
2:00
Speaker 1: brilliant visit to England, where he found Normans everywhere, established
2:04
Speaker 1: and powerful in church as well as in state, in
2:07
Speaker 1: command of the fleets, ports, and principal English places. King
2:11
Speaker 1: Edward received him as his own son, gave him arms, horses, hounds,
2:16
Speaker 1: and hawking birds, and sent him home full of presents
2:18
Speaker 1: and hopes. The chronicler Ingolf, who accompanied William on his
2:23
Speaker 1: return to Normandy and remained attached to him as private secretary,
2:27
Speaker 1: affirms that during this visit, not only was there no
2:30
Speaker 1: question between King Edward and the Duke of Normandy of
2:33
Speaker 1: the latter's possible secession to the throne of England, but
2:36
Speaker 1: that never as yet had this probability occupied the attention
2:40
Speaker 1: of William. It is very doubtful whether William had said
2:44
Speaker 1: nothing upon the subject to King Edward at that time,
2:47
Speaker 1: and it is certain from William's own testimony that he
2:50
Speaker 1: had for a long while been thinking about it. Four
2:53
Speaker 1: years after this visit of the Duke to England, King
2:56
Speaker 1: Edward was reconciled to and lived on good terms with
2:58
Speaker 1: the family of the Godwins. Their father was dead, and
3:02
Speaker 1: the eldest son, Harold, asked the King's permission to go
3:05
Speaker 1: to Normandy and claim the release of his brother and nephew,
3:08
Speaker 1: who had been left as hostages in the keeping of
3:10
Speaker 1: Duke William. The King did not approve of the project.
3:14
Speaker 1: I have no wish to constrain THEE, said he to Harold.
3:17
Speaker 1: But if thou go, it will be without my consent,
3:20
Speaker 1: and assuredly thy trip will bring some misfortune upon THEE
3:23
Speaker 1: in our country. I know Duke William and his crafty spirit.
3:26
Speaker 1: He hates THEE and will grant THEE not unless he
3:29
Speaker 1: see his advantage therefrom The only way to make him
3:32
Speaker 1: give up the hostages will be to send some other
3:34
Speaker 1: than thyself. Harold, however, persisted and went. William received him
3:40
Speaker 1: with apparent cordiality, promised him the release of the two hostages,
3:44
Speaker 1: escorted him and his comrades from castle to castle and
3:47
Speaker 1: from entertainment to entertainment, made them knights of the Grand
3:50
Speaker 1: Norman Order, and even invited them, by way of trying
3:53
Speaker 1: their new spurs, to accompany him on a little warlike
3:56
Speaker 1: expedition he was about to undertake in Brittany. Gerold and
4:00
Speaker 1: his comrades behaved gallantly, and he and William shared the
4:04
Speaker 1: same tent and the same table. On returning. As they
4:07
Speaker 1: trotted side by side, William turned the conversation upon his
4:11
Speaker 1: youthful connection with the King of England. When Edward, and
4:14
Speaker 1: I said he to the Saxon were living like brothers
4:17
Speaker 1: under the same roof. He promised, if he ever became
4:20
Speaker 1: King of England, to make me heir to his kingdom.
4:23
Speaker 1: I should very much like thee Harold to help me
4:25
Speaker 1: to realize this promise, and be assured that if by
4:29
Speaker 1: thy aid I obtain the kingdom, whatsoever thou askest of me,
4:33
Speaker 1: I will grant it forthwith Harold, in surprise and confusion,
4:37
Speaker 1: answered by an assent which he tried to make as
4:39
Speaker 1: vague as possible, William took it as positive, since thou
4:43
Speaker 1: dost consent to serve me, said he, Thou must engage
4:46
Speaker 1: to fortify the castle of Dover, dig a well of
4:49
Speaker 1: fresh water there, and put it in the hands of
4:51
Speaker 1: my men at arms. Thou must also give me thy
4:54
Speaker 1: sister to be married to one of my barons. An
4:57
Speaker 1: thou must thyself espouse my daughter Adele. Harold, not witting,
5:01
Speaker 1: says the chronicler, how to escape from this pressing danger,
5:05
Speaker 1: promised all the Duke asked of him, reckoning doubtless on
5:08
Speaker 1: disregarding his engagement, and for the moment William asked him
5:11
Speaker 1: nothing more but a few days Afterwards he summoned at
5:15
Speaker 1: Avranche according to some, and at by You according to others,
5:20
Speaker 1: and more probably still at Bonville Surthouc his Norman barons.
5:25
Speaker 1: And in the midst of this assembly, at which Harold
5:27
Speaker 1: was present, William, seated with his naked sword in his hand,
5:31
Speaker 1: caused to be brought and placed upon a table covered
5:33
Speaker 1: with the cloth of two gold reliquaries. Harold said, he
5:37
Speaker 1: I call upon thee in presence of this noble assemblage,
5:40
Speaker 1: to confirm by oath the promise thou didst make me
5:43
Speaker 1: to wit, to aid me to obtain the kingdom of
5:46
Speaker 1: England after the death of King Edward, to espouse my
5:49
Speaker 1: daughter Adele, and to send me thy sister to be
5:51
Speaker 1: married to one of my people. Harold, who had not
5:54
Speaker 1: expected this public summons, nevertheless did not hesitate any more
5:58
Speaker 1: than he had hesitated in his private conversation with William.
6:02
Speaker 1: He drew near, laid his hand on the two reliquaries,
6:05
Speaker 1: and swore to observe in the best of his power
6:08
Speaker 1: his agreement with the Duke should he live, and God Help,
6:11
Speaker 1: God Help, repeated those who were present. William made a sign,
6:15
Speaker 1: the cloth of gold was removed, and there was discovered
6:18
Speaker 1: a tub filled to the edge with bones and relics
6:20
Speaker 1: of all the saints that could be got together. The
6:23
Speaker 1: chronicler poet Robert Ways, who alone and long afterwards recounts
6:28
Speaker 1: this last particular, adds that Harold was visibly troubled at
6:31
Speaker 1: the sight of this saintly heap, but he had sworn
6:35
Speaker 1: it is honorable to human nature not to be indifferent
6:37
Speaker 1: to oaths, even when those who exact them have but
6:40
Speaker 1: small reliance upon them, and when he who takes them
6:43
Speaker 1: has but small intention of keeping them. And so Harold
6:46
Speaker 1: departed laden with presents, leaving William satisfied but not over confident.
6:52
Speaker 1: When on returning to England, Harold told King Edward what
6:55
Speaker 1: had passed between William and himself. Did I not warn thee?
6:58
Speaker 1: Said the King that I knew William, and that thy
7:01
Speaker 1: journey would bring great misfortunes upon thyself and upon our nation.
7:05
Speaker 1: Grant Heaven that those misfortunes come not during my life.
7:09
Speaker 1: The King's wish was not granted. He fell ill, and
7:12
Speaker 1: on the fifth of January ten sixty six, he lay
7:15
Speaker 1: on his couch almost at the point of death. Harold
7:19
Speaker 1: and his kindred entered the chamber and prayed the King
7:21
Speaker 1: to name a successor by whom the kingdom might be
7:24
Speaker 1: governed securely. Ye know, said Edward, that I have left
7:27
Speaker 1: my kingdom to the Duke of Normandy, and are there
7:30
Speaker 1: not here among ye those who have sworn to assure
7:32
Speaker 1: his succession. Harold advanced and once more asked the King
7:37
Speaker 1: on whom the crown should devolve. Take it if it
7:39
Speaker 1: is thy wish, Harold, said Edward. But the gift will
7:42
Speaker 1: be thy ruin against the Duke and his barons. Thy
7:45
Speaker 1: power will not suffice. Harold declared that he feared neither
7:49
Speaker 1: the Norman nor any other foe. The King, vexed at
7:52
Speaker 1: this importunity, turned round in his bed, saying, let the
7:56
Speaker 1: English make king of whom they will Harold or another.
7:59
Speaker 1: I consent, and shortly after expired. The very day after
8:03
Speaker 1: the celebration of his obsequies, Harold was proclaimed king by
8:07
Speaker 1: his partisans amidst no small public disquietude, and Aldred, Archbishop
8:12
Speaker 1: of York, lost no time in anointing him. William was
8:16
Speaker 1: in his park of Rouvray, near Rouon, trying a bow
8:19
Speaker 1: and arrows for the chase, when a faithful servant arrived
8:22
Speaker 1: from England to tell him that Edward was dead and
8:25
Speaker 1: Harold proclaimed. King William gave his bow to one of
8:28
Speaker 1: his people, and went back to his palace at Rouron,
8:31
Speaker 1: where he paced about in silence, sitting down, rising up,
8:35
Speaker 1: leaning upon a bench, without opening his lips, and without
8:38
Speaker 1: any one of his peoples daring to address a word
8:40
Speaker 1: to him. There entered his Seneschal William de Bretonniel, of
8:44
Speaker 1: whom what ails? The Duke asked, They who were present,
8:48
Speaker 1: you will soon know, answered he. Then, going up to
8:51
Speaker 1: the Duke, he said, wherefore conceal your tidings, my lord?
8:54
Speaker 1: All the city knows that King Edward is dead, and
8:57
Speaker 1: that Harold has broken his oath to you and had
8:59
Speaker 1: him so crown king. Ay, said William. It is that
9:03
Speaker 1: which doth weigh me down. My lord, said William fitz Osborne,
9:06
Speaker 1: a gallant knight and a confidential friend of the Duke.
9:09
Speaker 1: None should be wroth over what can be mended. It
9:12
Speaker 1: depends but on you to stop the mischief Harold is
9:14
Speaker 1: doing you. You shall destroy him if it please you.
9:18
Speaker 1: You have right, You have good men and true to
9:20
Speaker 1: serve you. You need have but courage. Set on boldly
9:24
Speaker 1: William gathered together his most important and most trusted counselors,
9:28
Speaker 1: and they were unanimous in urging him to resent the
9:31
Speaker 1: perjury and injury he sent to Harold. A messenger charged
9:34
Speaker 1: to say, William, Duke of the Normans, doth recall to
9:37
Speaker 1: thee the oath thou swearest to him with thy mouth
9:40
Speaker 1: and with thy hand on real and saintly relics. It
9:43
Speaker 1: is true, answered Harold that I swore, but on compulsion
9:47
Speaker 1: I promised what did not belong to me. My kingship
9:50
Speaker 1: is not mine own. I cannot put it off from
9:52
Speaker 1: you without the consent of the country. I cannot any
9:55
Speaker 1: the more without the consent of the country espouse a foreigner.
9:59
Speaker 1: As as for my sister, whom the Duke claims for
10:02
Speaker 1: one of his chieftains, she died within the year. If
10:05
Speaker 1: he will, I will send him the corpse. William replied,
10:08
Speaker 1: without any violence, claiming the conditions sworn, and especially Harold's
10:12
Speaker 1: marriage with his daughter Adele. For all answer to this summons,
10:16
Speaker 1: Harold married a Saxon sister of two powerful Saxon chieftains,
10:21
Speaker 1: Edwin and Morcar. There was an open rapture, and William
10:25
Speaker 1: swore that within the year, he would go and claim
10:27
Speaker 1: at the sword's point payment of what was due to him,
10:30
Speaker 1: on the very spot where Harold thought himself to be
10:32
Speaker 1: most firm on his feet, and he set himself to
10:36
Speaker 1: the work. But being as far sighted as he was ambitious,
10:39
Speaker 1: he resolved to secure for his enterprise this sanction of
10:42
Speaker 1: religious authority and the formal assent of the Estates of Normandy,
10:46
Speaker 1: not that he had any inclination to subordinate his power
10:49
Speaker 1: to that of the Pope. Five years previously, Robert de Grandsmenil,
10:54
Speaker 1: abbot of Saint Evroule, with whom William had got embroiled,
10:57
Speaker 1: had claimed to re enter his monastery as massister by
11:00
Speaker 1: virtue solely of an order from Pope Nicholas the Second.
11:03
Speaker 1: I will listen to the legates of the Pope, the
11:06
Speaker 1: common father of the faithful, said William, if they come
11:09
Speaker 1: to me to speak of the Christian faith of religion.
11:11
Speaker 1: But if a monk of my estates permit himself a
11:13
Speaker 1: single word beyond his place, I will have him hanged
11:16
Speaker 1: by his cowl from the highest oak of the nearest forest.
11:20
Speaker 1: When in one thousand he denounced to Pope Alexander the
11:23
Speaker 1: Second the perjury of Harold, asking him at the same
11:26
Speaker 1: time to do him justice. He made no scruple about
11:29
Speaker 1: promising that if the Pope authorized him to right himself
11:32
Speaker 1: by war, he would bring back the Kingdom of England
11:35
Speaker 1: to obedience to the Holy See. He had Lonfrank for
11:39
Speaker 1: his negotiator with the Court of Rome, and Pope Alexander
11:42
Speaker 1: the Second for chief councilor the celebrated Monk Kildebrand, who
11:46
Speaker 1: was destined to succeed him under the name of Gregory
11:48
Speaker 1: the seventh. The opportunity of extending the empire of the
11:52
Speaker 1: Church was too tempting to be spurned, and her future
11:55
Speaker 1: head too bold not to seize it, whatever might be
11:58
Speaker 1: the uncertainty and danger of the issue, And in spite
12:01
Speaker 1: of hesitation on the part of some of the Pope's advisers,
12:04
Speaker 1: the question was promptly decided in accordance with William's demand.
12:08
Speaker 1: Harold and his adherents were excommunicated, and on committing his
12:12
Speaker 1: bull to the hands of William's messenger, the Pope added
12:14
Speaker 1: a banner of the Roman Church and a ring containing,
12:17
Speaker 1: it is said, a hair of Saint Peter set in
12:19
Speaker 1: a diamond. The estates of Normandy were less easy to manage.
12:23
Speaker 1: William called them together at Livemont, and several of his
12:26
Speaker 1: vassals showed a zealous readiness to furnish him with vessels
12:29
Speaker 1: and victual and to follow him beyond the sea. But
12:32
Speaker 1: others declared that they were not bound to any such service,
12:35
Speaker 1: and that they would not lend themselves to it. They
12:38
Speaker 1: had calls enough already and had nothing more to spare.
12:41
Speaker 1: William fitz Osborne scouted these objections. He is your lord,
12:45
Speaker 1: and hath need of you, said he to the recalcitrants.
12:48
Speaker 1: You ought to offer yourselves to him, and not wait
12:51
Speaker 1: to be asked. If he succeed in his purpose, you
12:54
Speaker 1: will be more powerful as well as he. If you
12:56
Speaker 1: fail him and he succeed without you, he will remember it,
13:00
Speaker 1: show him that you love him, and what ye do
13:02
Speaker 1: do with a good grace. The discussion was keen. Many
13:06
Speaker 1: persisted in saying, true, he is our lord, but if
13:09
Speaker 1: we pay him his rents, that should suffice. We are
13:12
Speaker 1: not bound to go and serve beyond the seas. We
13:15
Speaker 1: are already much burdened for his wars. It was at
13:18
Speaker 1: last agreed that fitz Osborne should give the Duke the
13:21
Speaker 1: Assembly's reply, for he knew well, they said, the ability
13:24
Speaker 1: of each. If ye mind not to do what I
13:27
Speaker 1: shall say, said fitz Osborne, charge me not therewith we
13:31
Speaker 1: will be bound by it and will do it. Was
13:32
Speaker 1: the cry amidst the general confusion they repaired to the
13:36
Speaker 1: Duke's presence. My Lord, said fitz Osborne. I trow that
13:40
Speaker 1: there be not in the whole world such folk as these.
13:42
Speaker 1: You know the trouble and labor. They have already undergone
13:45
Speaker 1: in supporting your rights, and they are minded to do
13:48
Speaker 1: still more and serve you at all points this side
13:51
Speaker 1: the sea and t'other go you before, and they will
13:54
Speaker 1: follow you, and spare them in nothing. As for me,
13:57
Speaker 1: I will furnish you with sixty vessels manned with good fire. Nay, nay,
14:01
Speaker 1: cried several of those presents, prelates and barons. We charged
14:05
Speaker 1: you not with such reply. When he hath business in
14:07
Speaker 1: his own country, we will do him the service we
14:10
Speaker 1: owe him. We be not bound to serve him in
14:12
Speaker 1: conquering another's territory, or to go beyond the sea for him.
14:16
Speaker 1: And they gathered themselves together in knots with much uproar.
14:20
Speaker 1: William was very wroth. Says the chronicler. He retired to
14:23
Speaker 1: a chamber of part summoned those in whom he had
14:25
Speaker 1: most confidence, and by their advice, called before him as barons,
14:29
Speaker 1: each separately, and asked them if they were willing to
14:32
Speaker 1: help him. He had no intention, he told them of
14:35
Speaker 1: doing them wrong, nor would he, in his now or
14:37
Speaker 1: hereafter ever cease to treat them in perfect courtesy, and
14:41
Speaker 1: he would give them in writing such assurances as they
14:44
Speaker 1: were minded to devise. The majority of his people agreed
14:47
Speaker 1: to give him more or less according to circumstances, and
14:50
Speaker 1: he had everything reduced to writing. At the same time,
14:54
Speaker 1: he made an appeal to all his neighbors, Bretons, Manceaux
14:57
Speaker 1: and Aljervin's, hunting up Sould wherever he could find them,
15:01
Speaker 1: and promising all who desired them lands in England if
15:04
Speaker 1: he effected its conquest. Lastly, he repaired in person, first
15:08
Speaker 1: to Philip, the first King of France his suzura, and
15:11
Speaker 1: then to Baldwin, the fifth Count of Flanders, his father
15:14
Speaker 1: in law, asking for their assistance for his enterprise. Philip
15:19
Speaker 1: gave a formal refusal. What the Duke demands of you,
15:22
Speaker 1: said his advisers, is to his own profit. And to
15:25
Speaker 1: your hurt. If you aid him, your country will be
15:27
Speaker 1: much burdened, and if the Duke fail, you will have
15:30
Speaker 1: the English or foes forever. The Count of Flanders made
15:34
Speaker 1: a show of a similar refusal, but privately he authorized
15:37
Speaker 1: William to raise soldiers in Flanders and pressed his vassals
15:40
Speaker 1: to follow him. William, having thus hunted up and collected
15:44
Speaker 1: all the forces he could hope for, thought only of
15:46
Speaker 1: putting them in motion, and of hurrying on the preparations
15:49
Speaker 1: for his departure. Whilst in obedience to his orders the
15:54
Speaker 1: whole expedition troops and ships were collected. At deed, he
15:58
Speaker 1: received from Conan, the second Duke of Brittany, this message.
16:02
Speaker 1: I learn that thou art now minded to go beyond
16:04
Speaker 1: sea and conquer for thyself the Kingdom of England. At
16:07
Speaker 1: the moment of starting for Jerusalem, Robert, Duke of Normandy,
16:11
Speaker 1: whom thou fainnest to regard as thy father, left all
16:14
Speaker 1: his heritage to allah my father and his cousin. But
16:18
Speaker 1: Thou and thy accomplices slew my father with poison at
16:20
Speaker 1: Vimeux in Normandy. Afterwards, thou didst invade his territory, because
16:25
Speaker 1: I was too young to defend it, and contrary to
16:27
Speaker 1: all right, seeing that thou art a bastard, thou hast
16:30
Speaker 1: kept it until this day. Now. Therefore, either give me
16:34
Speaker 1: back this normandy which thou owest me, or I will
16:36
Speaker 1: make war upon thee with all my forces at this message,
16:40
Speaker 1: say the Chronicles. William was at first somewhat dismayed. But
16:44
Speaker 1: a Breton lord, who had sworn fidelity to the two
16:46
Speaker 1: counts and bore messages from one to the other, rubbed
16:49
Speaker 1: poison upon the inside of Conan's hunting horn, of his
16:53
Speaker 1: horse's reins, and of his gloves. Conan, having unwittingly put
16:57
Speaker 1: his gloves and handled the reins of his horse, lifted
16:59
Speaker 1: his hands to his face, and the touch having filled
17:02
Speaker 1: him with poisonous infection, he died soon after, to the
17:05
Speaker 1: great sorrow of his people, for he was an able
17:08
Speaker 1: and brave man, and inclined to justice, And he who
17:11
Speaker 1: had betrayed him quitted before long the army of Conan
17:14
Speaker 1: and informed Duke William of his death. Conan is not
17:18
Speaker 1: the only one of William's foes whom he was suspected
17:21
Speaker 1: of making away with by poison. There are no proofs,
17:24
Speaker 1: but contemporary assertions are positive, and the public of the
17:27
Speaker 1: time believed them without surprise. Being as unscrupulous about means
17:32
Speaker 1: as ambition and bold a name, William was not of
17:35
Speaker 1: those whose character repels such an accusation. What, however, diminishes
17:40
Speaker 1: the suspicion is that after and in spite of Conan's death,
17:44
Speaker 1: several Breton knights, and amongst others, two sons of count
17:47
Speaker 1: Udies his uncle, attended at the trysting place of the
17:50
Speaker 1: Norman troops, and took part in the expedition. Deves was
17:54
Speaker 1: the place of assemblage appointed for fleet and army. William
17:57
Speaker 1: repaired thither about the end of August TENSIGXONXI, but for
18:01
Speaker 1: several weeks contrary winds prevented him from putting to sea.
18:05
Speaker 1: Some vessels which made the attempt perished in the tempest,
18:08
Speaker 1: and some of the volunteer adventurers got disgusted and deserted.
18:12
Speaker 1: William maintained strict discipline amongst this multitude, forbidding plunder, so
18:17
Speaker 1: strictly that the cattle fed in the fields in full security.
18:21
Speaker 1: The soldiers grew tired of waiting in ildness and often
18:23
Speaker 1: in sickness. Yon is a madman said they who is
18:27
Speaker 1: minded to possess himself of another's land, God is against
18:30
Speaker 1: the design, and so refuses us a wind. About the
18:34
Speaker 1: twentieth of September, the weather changed. The fleet got ready,
18:37
Speaker 1: but could only go an anchor at Saint Valerie, at
18:40
Speaker 1: the mouth of the Summe. There it was necessary to
18:43
Speaker 1: wait several more days. Impatience and disquietude were redoubled, and
18:47
Speaker 1: there appeared in the heavens a star with a tail,
18:50
Speaker 1: a certain sign of great things to come. William had
18:53
Speaker 1: the shrine of Saint Valerie brought out and paraded about,
18:56
Speaker 1: being more impatient in his soul than anybody, but ever
19:00
Speaker 1: confident in his will and his good fortune. There was
19:03
Speaker 1: brought to him a spy whom Harold had sent to
19:05
Speaker 1: watch the forces and plans of the enemy, and William
19:08
Speaker 1: dismissed him, saying, Harold hath no need to take any care,
19:11
Speaker 1: or be it any charges, to know how we be
19:13
Speaker 1: and what we be doing. He shall see for himself,
19:16
Speaker 1: and shall feel it before the end of the year.
19:19
Speaker 1: At last, on the twenty seventh of September ten sixty six,
19:22
Speaker 1: the sun rose on a calm sea with a favorable wind,
19:26
Speaker 1: and Towards evening the fleet set out the Morah, the
19:29
Speaker 1: vessel on which William was and which had been given
19:32
Speaker 1: to him by his wife Matilda, led the way, and
19:35
Speaker 1: a figure in gilded bronze, some say in gold, representing
19:38
Speaker 1: their youngest son William, had been placed on the prow,
19:42
Speaker 1: with the face towards England. Being a better sailor than
19:45
Speaker 1: the others. This ship was soon a long way ahead,
19:48
Speaker 1: and William had a mariner sent to the top of
19:50
Speaker 1: the mainmast to see if the fleet were following. I
19:53
Speaker 1: see naught but sea and sky, said the mariner. William
19:57
Speaker 1: had the ship brought to and the second time the
19:59
Speaker 1: mariner said, I see four ships. Before long he cried,
20:03
Speaker 1: I see a forest of masts and sails. On the
20:06
Speaker 1: twenty ninth of September, Saint Michael's Day, the expedition arrived
20:09
Speaker 1: off the coast of England at Pevensey, near Hastings, and
20:13
Speaker 1: when the tide had ebbed and the ships remained aground
20:16
Speaker 1: on the strand, says the chroniclers, the landing was effected
20:19
Speaker 1: without obstacles, and not a saxon soldier appeared on the coast.
20:24
Speaker 1: William was the last to leave his ship, and on
20:26
Speaker 1: setting foot on the sand, he made a false step
20:28
Speaker 1: and fell bad. Sign was muttered around him. God have
20:31
Speaker 1: us in his keeping. What say you lords, cried William,
20:35
Speaker 1: by the glory of God, I have grasped this land
20:37
Speaker 1: with my hands. All that there is of it is ours?
20:41
Speaker 1: With what forces William undertook the conquest of England? How
20:44
Speaker 1: many ships composed his fleet, and how many men were
20:47
Speaker 1: aboard the ships are questions impossible to be decided with
20:50
Speaker 1: any precision, As we have frequently before had occasion to
20:53
Speaker 1: remark amidst the exaggerations and disagreements of chroniclers. Robert Waste
20:59
Speaker 1: reports in his Romance of Rue, that he had heard
21:02
Speaker 1: from his father, one of William's servants on this expedition,
21:05
Speaker 1: that the fleet numbered six hundred and ninety six vessels,
21:09
Speaker 1: but he had found in divers ridings that there were
21:11
Speaker 1: more than three thousand. Monsieur Augustine Tieri, after his learned researches,
21:16
Speaker 1: says in his History of the Conquest of England by
21:19
Speaker 1: the Normans that four hundred vessels of four sails and
21:23
Speaker 1: more than a thousand transport ships moved out into the
21:26
Speaker 1: open sea to the sound of trumpets and of a
21:29
Speaker 1: great cry of joy raised by sixty thousand throats, it
21:33
Speaker 1: is probable that the estimate of the fleet is pretty accurate,
21:36
Speaker 1: and that of the army exaggerated. We saw in eighteen
21:39
Speaker 1: thirty what efforts and pains it required, amidst the power
21:42
Speaker 1: and intelligent ability of modern civilization, to transport from France
21:46
Speaker 1: to Algeria thirty seven thousand men aboard three squadrons comprising
21:50
Speaker 1: six hundred and seventy five ships of all sorts. Granted
21:54
Speaker 1: that in the eleventh century there was more haphazard than
21:57
Speaker 1: in the nineteenth, and that there was less care for
21:59
Speaker 1: human life on the eve of a war, still, without
22:02
Speaker 1: a doubt, the armament of Normandy in ten sixty six
22:05
Speaker 1: was not to be compared with that of France in
22:07
Speaker 1: eighteen thirty. And yet William's intention was to conquer England,
22:11
Speaker 1: whereas Charles the tenth thought only of chastising the day
22:14
Speaker 1: of Algiers. Whilst William was making for the southern coast
22:17
Speaker 1: of England, Harold was repairing by forced marches to the
22:21
Speaker 1: north in order to defend against the rebellion of his
22:23
Speaker 1: brother Tostig and the invasion of a Norwegian army. His
22:27
Speaker 1: short lived kingship. Thus menaced at two ends of the
22:30
Speaker 1: country by two formidable enemies. On the twenty fifth of
22:34
Speaker 1: September ten sixty six, he gained at York a brilliant
22:37
Speaker 1: victory over his northern foe, and wounded as he was,
22:40
Speaker 1: he no sooner learned that Duke William had, on the
22:43
Speaker 1: twenty ninth pitched his camp and planted his flag at Pevensey,
22:46
Speaker 1: than he set out in haste for the south. As
22:49
Speaker 1: he approached, William received, from what source is not known,
22:53
Speaker 1: this message. King Harold hath given battle to his brother
22:56
Speaker 1: Tostig and the King of Norway. He hath slain them both,
22:59
Speaker 1: and had destroyed their army. He is returning at the
23:02
Speaker 1: head of numerous and valiant warriors, against whom thine own
23:06
Speaker 1: I trove will be worth no more than wretched curs.
23:09
Speaker 1: Thou passest for a man of wisdom and prudence, be
23:12
Speaker 1: not rash, plunge not thyself into danger. I adjure thee
23:16
Speaker 1: to abide in thy intrenchments, and not to come really
23:18
Speaker 1: to blows. I thank thy master, answered William for his
23:22
Speaker 1: prudent counsel, albeit he might have given it to me
23:25
Speaker 1: without insult. Carry him back this reply, I will not
23:28
Speaker 1: hide behind ramparts. I will come to blows with Harold
23:31
Speaker 1: as soon as I may, and with the aid of
23:33
Speaker 1: Heaven's good will, I would trust in the valor of
23:36
Speaker 1: my men against his, even though I had but ten
23:39
Speaker 1: thousand to lead against his sixty thousand. But the proud
23:42
Speaker 1: confidence of William did not affect his prudence. He received
23:46
Speaker 1: from Harold a message wherein the Saxon affirming his right
23:49
Speaker 1: to the kingship by virtue of the Saxon laws, and
23:52
Speaker 1: the last words of King Edward, summoned him to evacuate
23:55
Speaker 1: England with all his people, on which condition alone he
23:58
Speaker 1: engaged to preserve friendship with him and all agreements between
24:02
Speaker 1: them as to Normandy. After having come to an understanding
24:05
Speaker 1: with his barons, William maintained his right to the crown
24:08
Speaker 1: of England by virtue of the first decision of King
24:11
Speaker 1: Edward and the odes of Harold himself. I am ready
24:14
Speaker 1: said he to uphold my cause against him by the
24:17
Speaker 1: forms of justice, either according to the law of the
24:20
Speaker 1: Normans or according to that of the Saxons, as he pleases,
24:24
Speaker 1: If by virtue of equity, Normans or English decide that
24:27
Speaker 1: Harold has a right to possess the kingdom. Let him
24:29
Speaker 1: possess it in peace. If they acknowledge that it is
24:32
Speaker 1: to me that the kingdom ought to belong, Let him
24:34
Speaker 1: give it up to me if he refuses these conditions.
24:38
Speaker 1: I do not think it just that my people or his,
24:40
Speaker 1: who are not a whit to blame for our quarrel,
24:42
Speaker 1: should slay one another in battle. I am ready to maintain,
24:45
Speaker 1: at the price of my head against his, that it
24:48
Speaker 1: is to me and not to him, that the Kingdom
24:50
Speaker 1: of England belongs. At this proposition, Harold was troubled and
24:55
Speaker 1: remained a while without replying. Then, as the Monk was urgent,
24:59
Speaker 1: let the Lord go, God said he judge this day
25:01
Speaker 1: betwixt me and William as to what is just. The
25:05
Speaker 1: negotiation continued, and William summed it all up in these terms,
25:09
Speaker 1: which the Monk reported to Harold in presence of the
25:11
Speaker 1: English chieftains. My lord, the Duke of Normandy biddeth you
25:15
Speaker 1: to do one of these things. Give up to him
25:18
Speaker 1: the Kingdom of England and take his daughter in marriage,
25:20
Speaker 1: as you swear to him on the holy relics. Or
25:23
Speaker 1: respecting the question between him and you, submit yourself to
25:26
Speaker 1: the Pope's decision, or fight with him body to body,
25:29
Speaker 1: and let him who is victorious and forces his enemy
25:32
Speaker 1: to yield, have the kingdom. Harold replied, without opinion or
25:36
Speaker 1: advice taken, says the chronicle, I will not seed him
25:39
Speaker 1: the kingdom. I will not abide by the Pope's award,
25:42
Speaker 1: and I will not fight with him. William, still in
25:46
Speaker 1: concert with his barons, made a farther advance. If Harold
25:49
Speaker 1: will come to an agreement with me, he said, I
25:51
Speaker 1: will leave him all the territory beyond the Humber towards Scotland,
25:55
Speaker 1: my lord, said the barons to the Duke, make an
25:58
Speaker 1: end of these parleys. If we must fight, let it
26:00
Speaker 1: be soon, for every day come folk to Harold. By
26:04
Speaker 1: my faith, said the Duke. If we agree not on
26:06
Speaker 1: terms to day tomorrow, we will join battle. The third
26:10
Speaker 1: proposal for an agreement was as little successful as the former.
26:13
Speaker 1: To on both sides, there was no belief in peace,
26:16
Speaker 1: and they were eager to decide the battle once for all.
26:19
Speaker 1: Some of the Saxon chieftains advised Harold to fall back
26:22
Speaker 1: on London and ravage all the country so as to
26:25
Speaker 1: starve out the invaders by my faith, said Harold. I
26:28
Speaker 1: will not destroy the country I have in keeping. I
26:31
Speaker 1: with my people will fight abide in London, said his
26:34
Speaker 1: younger brother Girth. Thou canst not deny that perforce or
26:38
Speaker 1: by free will. Thou didst swear to Duke William. But
26:41
Speaker 1: as for us, we have sworn not. We will fight
26:43
Speaker 1: for our country. If we alone fight, thy cause will
26:46
Speaker 1: be good In any case. If we fly, thou shalt
26:49
Speaker 1: rally us. If we fall, thou shalt avenge us. Harold
26:53
Speaker 1: rejected this advice, considering it shame to his past life
26:56
Speaker 1: to turn his back, whatever the peril certain of his people,
27:00
Speaker 1: whom he had sent to recognoiter the Norman army, returned
27:04
Speaker 1: saying that there were more priests in William's camp than
27:06
Speaker 1: warriors in his own. For the Normans at this period
27:09
Speaker 1: wore shaven chins and short hair, whilst the English let
27:13
Speaker 1: hair and beard grow. Ye do air, said Harold. These
27:16
Speaker 1: be not priests, but the good men at arms, who
27:18
Speaker 1: will show us what they can do. On the eve
27:21
Speaker 1: of the battle, the Saxons passed the night in amusement, eating, drinking,
27:25
Speaker 1: and singing with great uproar. The Normans, on the contrary,
27:29
Speaker 1: were preparing their arms, saying their prayers, and confessing to
27:32
Speaker 1: their priests all who would. On the fourteenth of October
27:36
Speaker 1: ten sixty six, when Duke William put on his armor,
27:39
Speaker 1: his coat of mail was given to him the wrong way,
27:42
Speaker 1: bad omen, cried some of his people. If such a
27:45
Speaker 1: thing had happened to us, we would not fight to day.
27:48
Speaker 1: Be Ye not disquieted, said the Duke. I have never
27:50
Speaker 1: believed in sorcerers and diviners, and I never liked them.
27:54
Speaker 1: I believe in God, and in him I put my trust.
27:57
Speaker 1: He assembled his men at arms, and setting himself upon
28:00
Speaker 1: a high place, so that all might hear him, he
28:02
Speaker 1: said to them, my true and loyal friends, YE have
28:05
Speaker 1: crossed the seas for love of me, and for that
28:08
Speaker 1: I cannot thank ye as I ought. But I will
28:11
Speaker 1: make what return I may, and what I have ye
28:13
Speaker 1: shall have. I am not come only to take what
28:16
Speaker 1: I demanded or to get my rights, but to punish felonies, treasons,
28:20
Speaker 1: and breaches of faith committed against our people by the
28:22
Speaker 1: men of this country. Think moreover, what great honor ye
28:26
Speaker 1: will have to day if the day be ours? And
28:29
Speaker 1: bethink ye that if ye be discomfited ye be dead
28:32
Speaker 1: men without help, for ye have not whither. Ye may retreat,
28:35
Speaker 1: seeing that our ships be broken up and our mariners
28:38
Speaker 1: be here with us. He who flies will be a
28:41
Speaker 1: dead man. He who fights will be saved. For God's sake.
28:44
Speaker 1: Let each man do his duty. Trust we in God,
28:47
Speaker 1: and the day will be ours. The address was too
28:50
Speaker 1: long for the Duke's faithful comrade, William fitz Osborne. My
28:53
Speaker 1: Lord said he we dally. Let us all to arms,
28:56
Speaker 1: and forward forward the army God in motion. Start from
29:00
Speaker 1: the hill of Telham or Heathland, according to mister Freeman,
29:03
Speaker 1: marching to attack the English. On the opposite hill of Senlac.
29:07
Speaker 1: A Norman called Telfair, who sang very well and rode
29:10
Speaker 1: a horse which was very fast, came up to the Duke.
29:13
Speaker 1: My Lord said, he, I have served you long, and
29:16
Speaker 1: you owe me for all my service. Pay me to
29:18
Speaker 1: day an it please you grant unto me for recompense
29:21
Speaker 1: and full to strike the first blow in the battle.
29:23
Speaker 1: I grant it, quoth the Duke. So tell Fair darted
29:27
Speaker 1: before him, singing the deeds of Charlemagne, of Roland, of Oliver,
29:31
Speaker 1: and of the vassals who fell at ronsk bal and.
29:34
Speaker 1: As he sang, he played with his sword, throwing it
29:37
Speaker 1: up into the air and catching it in his right hand,
29:40
Speaker 1: and the Normans followed, repeating his songs and crying God Help,
29:43
Speaker 1: God Help. The English, entrenched upon a plateau towards which
29:47
Speaker 1: the Normans were ascending, awaited the assault, shouting and defying
29:51
Speaker 1: the foe. The battle thus begun, lasted nine hours, with
29:56
Speaker 1: equal obstinacy on both sides, and varied success from hour
29:59
Speaker 1: to hour. Harold, though wounded at the commencement of the fray,
30:03
Speaker 1: did not cease for a moment to fight on foot,
30:05
Speaker 1: with his two brothers beside him and around him. The
30:08
Speaker 1: troops of London, who had the privilege of forming the
30:11
Speaker 1: King's guard when he delivered a battle rudely repulsed at
30:14
Speaker 1: the first charge. Some bodies of Norman troops fell back
30:17
Speaker 1: in disorder, and a rumor spread amongst them that the
30:20
Speaker 1: Duke was slain. But William threw himself before the fugitives,
30:23
Speaker 1: and taking off his helmet, cried, look at me here
30:26
Speaker 1: I am, I live, and by God's help will conquer.
30:29
Speaker 1: So they returned to the combat, but the English were firm.
30:33
Speaker 1: The Normans could not force their entrenchments, and William ordered
30:36
Speaker 1: his men to feign a retreat and all but a flight.
30:40
Speaker 1: At this sight, the English bore down in pursuit, and
30:42
Speaker 1: still Norman fled, and Saxon pursued until a trumpeter, who
30:46
Speaker 1: had been ordered by the Duke thus to turn back
30:49
Speaker 1: the Normans, began to sound the recall. Then were seen
30:52
Speaker 1: the Normans turning back to face the English and attacking
30:55
Speaker 1: them with their swords. And amongst the English, some flying,
30:58
Speaker 1: some dying, some asking mercy in their own tongue. The
31:02
Speaker 1: struggle once more became general and fierce. William had three
31:06
Speaker 1: horses killed under him, but he jumped immediately upon a
31:09
Speaker 1: fresh steed, and left not long avenge the death of
31:12
Speaker 1: that which had but lately carried him. At last, the
31:15
Speaker 1: entrenchments of the English were stormed. Harold fell mortally wounded
31:19
Speaker 1: by an arrow which pierced his skull. His two brothers
31:22
Speaker 1: and his bravest comrades fell at his side. The fight
31:25
Speaker 1: was prolonged between the English dispersed, and the Normans were
31:28
Speaker 1: morselessly pursuing. The Standards sent from Rome to the Duke
31:31
Speaker 1: of Normandy, had replaced the Saxon fag on the very
31:34
Speaker 1: spot where Harold had fallen, and all around the ground
31:38
Speaker 1: continued to get covered with dead and dying, fruitless victims
31:41
Speaker 1: of the passions of the combatants. Next day, William went
31:45
Speaker 1: over the field of battle, and he was heard to say,
31:47
Speaker 1: in a tone of mingled triumph and sorrow, here is
31:50
Speaker 1: verily a lake of blood. There was, long after the
31:54
Speaker 1: Battle of Senlac, or Hastings, as it is commonly called,
31:58
Speaker 1: a patriotic superstition in the country, to the effect that
32:01
Speaker 1: when the rain had moistened the soil, there were to
32:04
Speaker 1: be seen traces of blood on the ground where it
32:06
Speaker 1: had taken place. End of Chapter fifteen, Part two,