Christian antiquities -- Great Britain; Folklore -- Great Britain; Great Britain -- Social life and customs; Manners and customs
In Domesday Book is mentioned an English thane named Ulf, who, in the
reign of Edward the Confessor, had held large possessions in Northumbria,
which, at the time of the Domesday Survey, had become the property of the
see of York. It is further stated, that large territories which were held
by the Archbishop of York, at the time of the Conquest, had also been
owned by this same Ulf. In Kirkby's "Inquest" (_temp._ Edward I.), these
lands are again noted to be the gift of Ulf. Thus far, the tradition is
corroborated by history, but the statement that Ulf's sons were
disinherited is incorrect, for Ulf had a large extent of property left
after making his munificent gift to the Church, which his sons in due time
inherited. These two sons, Archil and Norman, are included among the
King's thanes in Domesday Book. There was also another Ulf, who lived in
the time of the King Canute, dying in 1036, but, though confounded with
the Ulphus of our story, he was not the same, and had nothing to do with
the charter horn of York.
[Illustration: THE PUSEY HORN.]
The Pusey Horn, preserved at Pusey House, near Farringdon, has a curious
traditional history, carrying us back to the days of the warlike Canute,
and his struggles with the Saxons. It is related, that, on one occasion,
the king's soldiers and the Saxons were encamped near each other, in the
neighbourhood of Pusey. An ancestor of the Pusey family, serving as an
officer under the king, discovered an ambuscade, formed by the Saxons, to
intercept the king's army. He gave Canute a timely intimation of their
intentions, and thus enabled him to foil their plans. For this important
information, Canute gave to his informant and his heirs the manor of
Pusey, and as a ratification of the grant, a horn was presented. It is the
horn of an ox, measuring two feet and half-an-inch in length, and at the
larger end is a foot in circumference. The colour of it is dark brown.
Round the middle is a ring of silver-gilt, and the horn is supported on
two hound's feet. The small end has a screw stopper, also of silver-gilt,
in the form of a hound's head. It forms with the stopper a drinking horn,
and without it a hunting horn. The silver ring bears the following
inscription:
[Illustration: kyng knowde geue wyllyam pewse [thorn]us horne to holde by [thorn]y
lond]
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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