Master Wace, His Chronicle of the Norman Conquest From the Roman De RouWace
History
Master Wace, His Chronicle of the Norman Conquest From the Roman De Rou
Wace
Great Britain -- History -- William I, 1066-1087
The life of Harold in the Harl. MSS. 3776, will, we believe, be given in
the _Chroniques Anglo-Normandes_, now publishing at Rouen. It is a very
interesting story; though, as to the tale it records of Harold's escape,
we may say with _Knyghton_, 'de istâ opinione fiat qualiter poterit.' It
may be worth while to quote the following summary of that part of the
legend which relates to this subject. "Harold was thought by his
companions to be mortally wounded, and was, to all appearance, dead; but
when the field of battle was examined, by some women searching for their
friends, it was discovered that life still lingered in the body. By the
care of two English franklins he was removed to Winchester, where his
wounds were healed by the surgical skill of a certain cunning woman of
oriental extraction; and, during two long years, he remained in
concealment in an obscure dwelling. With the return of his wonted
strength of body and energy of mind, a melancholy spectacle presented
itself to him. He saw his kingdom under the dominion of a foreign enemy;
he noticed the firmness with which the policy and courage of William had
established him on the throne; and he every where marked the
wide-spreading ramifications of the feudal system; attaching, by
military tenure and self-interest, a sturdy Norman holder to each rood
of subjugated England. His nobles were now petty franklins; his subjects
were hereditary bondsmen. They had lost much of that independence of
spirit which is born and dies with liberty; and they were contented
hewers of wood, and drawers of water, for their new masters. They had
made no effort to throw off the yoke which had been placed on their
necks; town after town, and county after county, had submitted without
opposition; and William, the conqueror of England, was now its crowned
and acknowledged sovereign. Harold saw that foreign assistance was
necessary, ere he could hope to redeem his country from the bondage of
the invaders. His first attempt was to obtain aid from Saxony: in this
he was unsuccessful. Thence he proceeded to Denmark, but found that a
mission from William had secured the good graces, or, at least, the
neutrality of that kingdom. The bitter disappointment originating in
this ruin of his hopes was succeeded by another feeling; he recognised,
in these baffled attempts, the workings of a superior power, admonishing
him to abandon all idea of a restoration to the throne of England. New
ideas and feelings awoke in his heart; his dreams of ambition and
revenge were succeeded by humiliation and penance; he threw the helmet
from his brow, and the mail from his breast, and went, a barefooted
pilgrim, to the land of Palestine. During many years spent in this pious
occupation, he subjected himself to the greatest privations and
austerities. Warned by the approaching weakness of old age that his
dissolution was at hand, he yielded to the desire which now haunted him
of dying in the island which gave him birth.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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