Transcriber's Note: Minor typographical errors have been corrected without note. Irregularities and inconsistencies in the text have been retained as printed. Words printed in italics are marked with underlines: _italics_. The cover of this ebook was created by the transcriber and is hereby placed in the public domain. WAGER OF BATTLE; A TALE OF SAXON SLAVERY IN SHERWOOD FOREST. BY HENRY W. HERBERT, AUTHOR OF "HENRY VIII AND HIS SIX WIVES," "THE CAPTAINS OF THE GREEK AND ROMAN REPUBLICS," "THE ROMAN TRAITOR," "MARMADUKE WYVIL," "OLIVER CROMWELL," ETC. ETC. ETC. NEW YORK: PUBLISHED BY MASON BROTHERS, 23 PARK ROW. 1855. Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1855, by MASON BROTHERS, In the Clerk's Office of the District Court for the Southern District of New York. STEREOTYPED BY THOMAS B. SMITH, 82 & 84 Beekman St. PRINTED BY JOHN A. GRAY, 79 Cliff St. TO ISRAEL DE WOLF ANDREWS, ESQ., OF EASTPORT, MAINE, THIS HISTORICAL ROMANCE, "Wager of Battle," Descriptive of the manners, customs and institutions of our mutual ancestry, Saxon and Norman, at the period of their fusion into the great race, speaking the English tongue, by whatever name, in distant and widely severed isles and continents, it is destined to be known, and illustrative of the nature of Saxon serfdom in the twelfth century of our era, is dedicated, as a slight token of great esteem, of gratitude for many good offices, and of friendship, which, he hopes and wishes, will stand all tests of time and change, unaltered, By his sincere friend and servant, HENRY WM. HERBERT. THE CEDARS, July 20, 1855. PREFACE. It is, perhaps, unfortunate that the period and, in some degree, the scene of my present work, coincide nearly with those of the most magnificent and gorgeous of historical romances, Sir Walter Scott's Ivanhoe.