Master Wace, His Chronicle of the Norman Conquest From the Roman De Rou

1

The list in the printed 'Chronique de Normandie,' though very inaccurately given, is based upon Wace's. It may be found much more correctly in the fine MS. Chronicle of Normandy, (which ought to be printed.) in the British Museum, Bibl. Reg. 15 E. vi. fol. ccccx.

2

A much more correct copy is printed in the french translation of Ducarel, published in 1823.

3

The list in the printed 'Chronique de Normandie,' though very inaccurately given, is based upon Wace's. It may be found much more correctly in the fine MS. Chronicle of Normandy, (which ought to be printed.) in the British Museum, Bibl. Reg. 15 E. vi. fol. ccccx.

4

A much more correct copy is printed in the french translation of Ducarel, published in 1823.

5

These laments are frequent in the minstrels' songs of that age in all countries. Walther von der Vogelweide, the German minnesinger, by for the most varied and interesting poet of his day, is often very plaintive in his lamentations;

'Hie vor do was diu welt so schöne,Nu ist si worden also höne,'The world was once so beautiful,And now so desolate and dull.'

See notice of his life and works in Lays of the Minnesingers, London, 1825. At the conclusion of his Chronicle, Wace mentions Maistre Beneit (de Sainte-More) as commissioned to undertake a similar task, and expresses himself by no means satisfied with his patron, Henry II.

Mult me duna, plus me pramist:E se il tot duné m'eustÇo k'il me pramist, mielx me fut.

6

The names and values of the forty-nine prebends of Bayeux appear in the Mémoires des Antiq. Norm. viii. 458-467. Seven of them were created by Bishop Odo, out of the forfeited lands of Grimoult du Plessis after mentioned.

7

These three Henrys were Henry I. and Henry II. of England, and Henry the latter's son, who died in 1182, in his father's lifetime, but was living when Wace wrote. He was expectant heir of England and Normandy, and was then in the possession or government of the latter, so as in some measure to justify Wace's epithets.

8

Roul is of course the personage usually called Rollo. The sentence in brackets comprises a few words, added by the translator; condensing the intervening part of the Chronicle, so as to introduce that portion of the work which he proceeds to translate.

9

This combat is mentioned by William of Jumieges. Vauquelin or Vauclin is a name still common in Normandy. See as to Ferrieres Mémoires des Antiq, Norm. iv. 434. Vauquelin de Ferrieres left two sons, William and Henry, who distinguished themselves at the conquest, and were liberally rewarded. We shall find the name hereafter.

10

The Montforts will be noticed afterwards.

11

See as to this state of anarchy William of Jumieges, and Ordericus Vitalis. We pass over a portion of the Chronicle, as to the French king's demand of the destruction of Tillieres, and Gilbert Crespin's defence of it, and other disputes with the king.

12

This date is correct; Neel de Saint Sauveur, Viscount of the Cotentin, will be further noticed hereafter. Renouf, Viscount of the Bessin, is afterwards called by Wace Renouf de Bricasard, from the castle of Bricasard, which formed the caput of the barony of the viscounts of the Bessin. Either this Renouf, or a son, married the sister of Hugh Lupus; and their son Ranulpb, of Bayeux or Bricasard, succeeded to the earldom of Chester and other possessions of the Avranche family, on the death of Earl Richard, about 1121. As to the cry of St. Sever, it looks very like an anachronism; unless this Renouf was the one who married the sister of Hugh Lupus, and, being already so married, was sufficiently connected with St. Sever to adopt that war-cry.

13

Guy of Burgundy, or of Maçon, see Wace, i. 352.

14

Brionne, a small town in the arrondissement of Bernay. An account of it and its possessions, and of the acquisition of the castle by Guy of Burgundy, may be seen in Mém. Ant. Norm. iv. 415. It is also described in William of Poitiers.

15

Hamon with the teeth, Lord of Thorigny, in the arrondissement of Saint Lo, father or grandfather of Robert Fitz Hamon, who settled in England, and held lands there. In the roll of Norman fees under Henry II. in the red book of the Exchequer, we find, among the knights of the see of Bayeux, 'Robertus filius Ham. 10 mil. tenebat de honore Ebr.' See as to Thorigny M. de Gerville's Recherches in the Mém. Ant. Norm. v. 220.

16

Grimoult du Plessis, lord of the place still called Plessis-Grimoult, in the arrondissement of Vire. M. de Gerville, in his Recherches, states that besides this Plessis the fief and castle of Plessis in the arrondissement of Coutances, also belonged to Grimoult. He does not determine which of the two gave him his name. We know nothing of his family, except that his sister married William de Albini, great grandfather of the first Albini, Earl of Arundel, whose Cotentin estates were near Plessis.

17

William of Jumieges calls him Gallet; and says he was of Bayeux.

18

The church of St. Clement, a commune at the embouchure of the Vire, near Isigny. The fords of Vire are also mentioned by Wace again in narrating William's rapid journey from Valognes to Arques. He seems to have crossed by the route (abandoned under Louis XIV.) called the Grand-vey (ford), by Montebourg, Emondeville, Surqueville, the Chaussée d'Audouville, and St. Marie du Mont, where the water was entered near Brucheville for Saint Clement, and thence to Rye. Froissart mentions it as the road by which the Earl of Arundel returned to Cherbourg in 1388, after ravaging the Bessin. The great Talbot narrowly escaped by the same road, from an unfortunate expedition. Mém. Ant. Norm, v. 295.

19

Rye, three leagues north of Bayeux. The church of Rye is very ancient and curious. Hubert was the father of five sons—Ralf, Hubert, Adam, Eudo (called Eudo the Dapifer in Domesday,) and Robert, a Bishop.

20

'Entre li mostier es a mote,' the mound or elevation on which the castle or mansion of Hubert stood; a sense very different from that in which we use the word moat, namely, the surrounding fosse.

21

What spot or stream is here indicated is now, we believe, unknown. It is said there is a Foupendant in the environs of Moutiers, but that there is no stream there.

22

Of Vire.

23

It was, according to Ordericus Vitalis, at Poissy (Pexeium), that William met the King of France, to seek his aid.

24

Rouen, and the district attached.

25

The pays de Lisieux. Oismeiz is the pays d'Exmes.

26

Argences and Mezidon, both situate in the pays d'Auge.

27

Laison.

28

All the topographical details concerning this battle of Val-des-dunes are stated to be perfectly correct, and to show Wace's acquaintance with the neighbourhood.

29

A small district, of which Harcourt-Thury is the principal place.

30

Valmeray, near Croissanville.

31

'Li cumunes,' the troops brought by the barons from their villages and towns. See the very curious passage in Wace, vol. i. page 307, as to another sense of 'cumune,' in his account of the popular insurrection against Duke Richard II.

32

One of the greatest proprietors in Normandy: we shall find his son subsequently, as one of those present at Hastings.

33

Tuit aloent lances levéesEt en totes guimples fermées.

M. Pluquet in his notes interprets guimples as 'cornettes de taffetas attachées à la lance:' for which purpose the knights may have already learned to adopt the colours or tokens of their ladies.

34

'Thor-aide,' according to M. Pluquet, which he considers may have been derived from the ancient North-men. Another MS. reads 'Turie:' and M. Le Prevost considers the latter to be the true reading, and that the cry was really Thury, and most probably referred to the chief seat of Raol Tesson.

35

Congnoissances u entre-sainz,De plusors guises escuz painz.

36

The cry of Saint Sever! has been noticed in a preceding note.

37

The church of the commune called le vieux Thorigny is stated to have been dedicated to St. Amand; but see the observations in Mém. Ant. Norm. v. 221.

38

Men of the Cotentin, a district comprehended in, though not so large as, the present department of La Manche.

39

De Costentin iessi la lance,Ki abati le rei de France.

40

Maissy, arrondissement of Bayeux.

41

Creully, Croleium, or Credolium, in the arrondissement of Caen; celebrated for its castle, and the lords of the name, who also held among others the chateau de Gratot. Mém. Ant. Norm. ii. 251. Thorigny and Creully passed with one of Robert Fitz Hamon's daughters to Robert, Earl of Gloucester, natural son of Henry I.

42

The Chronicle of Normandy says it was Guillesen, uncle of Hamon, who overthrew the king; William of Malmesbury says it was Hamon himself. There is some obscurity in the account of this assault on the king. The passage marked with brackets looks like merely another version of the incident just before related; thus incorporating perhaps the various readings of two MSS. instead of selecting one.

43

Notre dame d'Esquai is on the banks of the Orne, near Vieux. There is, however, another Esquai, a league from Bayeux.

44

The Chronicle of Normandy calls him Bardon; Dumoulin says he was nephew to Grimoult. Another MS. reads Hardré.

45

The Orne.

46

Allemagne and St. André de Fontenay, both in the arrondissement of Caen. There was an abbey of ancient foundation at the latter.

47

The Chronicle of Normandy reports the same.

48

Brionne is on the Risle. The castle here described must not be confounded with the one whose remains still exist. There is no vestige of the old castle on the island. See an article on Brionne in Mém. Ant. Norm. iv. 415. Ordericus Vitalis says the siege lasted three years.

49

Burgundy.

50

The name Salle and Saulz occurs in this district in Gallia Christiana. There is a Saulx-mesnil near Valognes, the scene of the treachery planned against William.

51

The charter of donation to Bayeux is in Gallia Christiana, and is dated 1074. Among the witnesses are Robert Fitz Hamon, son of one of the traitors, and Eudo Dupifer, one of Hubert de Rie's sons. The curious inquest of the possessions of the see of Bayeux, (taken temp. Hen. I. and printed in Mém. Ant. Norm. vol. viii.) of which the list of Bayeux knights in the Norman Roll of the Red book is only an abridgement, says, in speaking of Grimoult, 'in carcere regis apud Rothomagum mortuus est; et sepultus in cimiterio Sti. Gervasii extra villam; habens adhuc tibias in compedibus ferreis, in signum proditionis, de quâ erat ab ipso rege accusatus.' In the roll, which agrees with the inquest, is this entry, 'Feodum Grimundi de Plesseiz erat fœdum 8 mil. cum terrâ de Bougeio et de Danvou, quam Grimundus dederat Willelmo de Albinneio cum sorore sua in maritagio.' Further particulars are given in the inquest, and in the Bull of Eugenius III. 1144, also printed in Mém. Ant. Norm. viii. The word 'abbey' is probably only used here by Wace to suit his rhyme; though the Chronicle of Normandy, improving upon the error, says the abbey of Caen. Wace meant to allude to an appropriation of Grimoult's lands among the prebends; and in fact, in the Bayeux inquest, it is stated that Odo created out of them seven prebends; retaining in demesne Plessis, and the forest of Montpinçon.

52

Canute died 12th November, 1035, or four months and a half after Duke Robert; so that Wace here retraces his steps to take up English affairs.

53

Ethelred, Edward and Alfred are spelt by Wace, Ewart and Alvred.

54

Harold.

55

Barfleur. This expedition took place in 1036. Hantone is Hampton, probably Southampton.

56

This port seems to have been Wissant, between Calais and Boulogne: see William of Jumieges and the Encomium Emmæ. Alfred went by land to the Boulognese.

57

Spelt Gwine by Wace.

58

Guildford, in Surrey.

59

Hardicanute died 10th July, 1042. Edward's conduct to his mother was not consistent with any sense of obligation towards her, nor indeed with his own generally received character. See an anecdote in Roger Hoveden, 1043.

60

Or Editha. 'Sicut spina rosam genuit Godwinus Editham.' Ingulfs account of her kindness, literary tastes, and liberality, in giving him money, as well as access to the royal larder, may be seen in his chronicle, and is quoted in the collection of Norman historians by Mascres. As to her matrimonial position with her husband, Wace's words are

E ço alouent la gent, disantKi charnelment od li ne jut,Ni charnelment ne la conut:Maiz unkes hom ne l'aparçut,Ne mal talent entrels ne fut.

61

Wace seems not aware that Editha, at the time of the disgrace of her family, was stripped of all she had, and sent to a convent.

62

Wace would appear here to be merely translating some cotemporary chronicle;—perhaps the same, as he begins this part of his story by quoting.

63

The adventure of William of Arques is out of chronological order in Wace, who, however, follows William of Jumieges.

64

Arques is the capital of the district around, formerly called Tallou, Tellau, or Tallogium.

65

The MSS. differ; we follow Duchesne's. M. Pluquet's text reads 'La tur rut fete el pié del munt.'

66

'Chasteillun,' afterwards 'Chastelet.'

67

St. Aubin-le-Cauf, on the other side of the valley. There is another St. Aubin, south of Arques.

68

Hugh Bardolf, a distinguished name in Norman and English history. In the roll of Norman fees in the red book of the Exchequer, we find Doon Bardulf returned as one of those, 'qui non venerunt nec miserunt nec aliquid dixerunt.'

69

Enguerran, count of Ponthieu, the second of the name, nephew of Guy the bishop, who afterwards wrote the latin poem on the battle of Hastings, which is now in the press at Rouen. He succeeded his father, Hugh II. in 1052; and was himself succeeded by his brother Guy, afterwards taken prisoner at the battle of Mortemer, their brother Valeran being killed there. Mr. Stapleton has, in the Archæologia, vol. 26, shown that this Enguerran married Adelidis, sister of the whole blood to the Conqueror; and that Adelidis, wife of Odo, Count of Champagne, was one of her daughters; the other being Judith, wife of Waltheof.

70

The fords of St. Clement, which have been before noticed. The places next mentioned are Bayeux, Pont-Audemer, Caudebec, and Bans or Baons-le-Comte, near Ivetot.

71

William of Poitiers varies somewhat from Wace's account; he gives William six attendants on this occasion.

72

BIGOT has been supposed to have its origin in the BY-GOD of a northern tongue; and to have been used as a war cry by early Normans, answering to the later DEX-AIE. Anderson, in his Genealogical Tables, says, without quoting his authority, that Rollo was called By-got, from his frequent use of the phrase. See our subsequent note on Bigot as a family name. DRASCHIERS is understood to mean consumers of barley, probably as the material of beer.

73

The affair at Mortemer, next related, took place in 1054, after the siege and retreat of Arques; which this attack was probably meant to revenge.

74

Laon.

75

Meulan.

76

Ponthieu, and the country of Amiens.

77

Beaumont-sur-Oise.

78

Guy, count of Ponthieu, successor of the one killed at Arques.

79

Eudes, or Odo, fourth son of King Robert.

80

Mantes, Touraine, Blois, Orleans, Gâtinais.

81

Bourges.

82

The country of Evreux, of Rouen and Lisieux, and of Auge, not that of Eu; the latter, being called in Latin Augum, is sometimes confounded with Auge.

83

WALTER GIFFARD, who will be further noticed hereafter.

84

WILLIAM CRESPIN, son of Gilbert I. and eldest brother of Gilbert II. whom we shall meet at the battle of Hastings. Wace does not mention Roger de Mortemer, who was a prominent leader in this affair, according to Ordericus Vitalis, p. 657; and fell into disgrace with the Duke, on account of the favour shown by him to Raol de Montdidier, one of the French leaders. See note below on Hue de Mortemer.

85

The Vexin.

86

Mortain, in La Manche.

87

The pays d'Hyèmes or Exmes.

88

C'est une chose ke novele,Ki mult est errant et isnele,E ki bone novele porteSeurement bute a la porte.

89

Mortuum-mare in the latin of the day. The chronicle of Normandy and Dumoulin cite the following verses, as popular on the subject of this battle:

Réveillez vous et vous levez,François, qui trop dormi avez!Allez bientôt voir vos amys,Que les Normans out a mort mys,Entre Ecouys et Mortemer!Là vous convient les inhumer.

But it seems admitted that the battle nevertheless was not at Mortemer-en-Lyons near Ecouys, where the abbey was, but at Mortemer-sur-Eaulne, in the arrondissement of Neufchâtel. Wace's account of the proclamation by the varlet—or herald, as others call him—(William of Jumieges naming him Ralf de Toeny), runs in the original thus:

Là ù li reis fu herbergiez,Ki en sun liet ert jà cochiez,Fist un home tost envéier,Ne sai varlet u esquier;En un arbre le fist munterE tute nuit en haut crier—'Franceiz! Franceiz! levez! levez!'Tenez vos veies, trop dormez!'Alez vos amiz enterrer,'Ki sunt occiz a Mortemer!'Li reis oi ke cil cria,Merveilla sei, mult s'esmaia;Par cels ke li plout envéia,Demanda lor è conjuraS'il unt mile novele oïe,De ço ke cil en l'arbre crie.Endementres k'al rei parloent,E des noveles demandoent,Eis vus! la novele venueE par tute terre espandue,Be tut li mielx de lor amizEsteit à Mortemer occiz;E cil ki erent remez vifEn Normendie erent chetif,Miz en anels et en gaoles.

90

We have seen that after the battle of Mortemer, the king of France abandoned Jeffery Martel 'un quens d'Angou,' a deadly enemy to the duke. Wace narrates the feuds between them; and among the rest William's terrible revenge on those who, in defending Alençon, had annoyed him by allusions to his birth, crying out, 'La pel, la pel al parmentier!' These passages of the chronicle we pass over as not material to our present purpose.

91

Hyèmes or Exèmes, now in the arrondissement of Argentan.

92

The abbey of St. Pierre-sur-Dives was founded before 1040, by Lesceline, wife of William, count d'Eu.

93

In the arrondissement of Caen, near the Dives.

94

A small river passing near Bayeux to the sea at Bernières.

95

The Orne.

96

Huet cites this passage in his Origines de Caen. Quesnel (translated above fence) seems properly a wooden barricade, being derived from quesne, or chêne.

97

A little south of Varaville, along the Dives.

98

Philip I. was, at Henry's death, in 1060, an infant of seven years old. Baldwin, count of Flanders, William's father-in-law, was Philip's guardian; having married Henry's sister. Wace calls her Constance, instead of Adela; but Constance was in fact the name of her mother, king Robert's queen. See Chap. VII.

99

The marriage was, it is supposed, in 1053. See the last note to Chapter VI.

100

Matilda. The anonymous continuer of Wace's Brut says of her;

Ceste Malde de Flandres fu née,Meis de Escoce fu appelée,Pur sa mère ke fu espuséAl roi de Escoce ki l'out rové;Laquele jadis, quant fu pucele,Ama un conte d'Engleterre.Brictrich-Mau le oï nomer,Apres le rois ki fu riche ber.A lui la pucele enveia messagerPur sa amur a lui procurer:Meis Brictrich Maude refusa,Dunt ele mult se coruça.Hastivement mer passaE a Willam bastard se maria.

He then relates that after the conquest, Matilda revenged herself on this Brictrich-Mau, by seizing him 'a Hanelye, a sun maner,' and carrying him to Winchester, where he died 'par treison.' See, as to this Brictrich, Dugdale, Monasticon, title TEWKESBURY; and Palgrave, English Commonwealth, vol. i. ccxciv.

101

Eu.

102

The churches of each of these celebrated foundations remain; we shall find William interred in his church; while Matilda's remains rested in the other.

103

The 'Truce of God' was introduced in Normandy in 1061. If Wace meant to assert that the institution originated there, it is of course erroneous. It had existed in other countries twenty years before; but the Normans resisted its introduction among them, till enforced by William's authority, as a measure of restraint on their excesses. See Jolimont, Monuments de Calvados, page 42, and plate xx, as to the ruins of the church of St. Paix.

104

Saint Ouen.

105

Carreau, or carrel—squared, quadrated, or quarried stones, for which the neighbourhood of Caen became celebrated.

106

All-Saints.

107

This journey took place in 1051, during the exile of Godwin and his sons; see Higden, Polychronicon. Most of the old historians are silent about it; but it admits of little question, and had important influence on subsequent events. See Thierry, i. 220.

108

In 1052.

109

Benoit de Sainte-More thus describes Edward:

Ewart li juz e li verais,Qui Engleterre tint en pais,Cume hauz reis, veirs crestiens,Pleins de duçur et de toz biens.

110

The pope.

111

Wace's Saxon, where it occurs, is very imperfect, and probably his French transcribers (we having no original MSS.) have made it worse than it was. Zonee or Zon-ey is of course Thorn-ey; the Saxon 'th' being turned into 'z.' An old Latin chronicle, quoted by M. Pluquet, has, 'in loco qui Thornie tune dicebatur, et sonat quasi—spinarum insula,' One of William's first religious donations was to this his predecessor's favourite establishment; and he records in the charter his title to the kingdom of England, and the mode he adopted for vindicating it. 'In nomine sanctæ et individuæ Trinitatis, anno Dom. incarn. mixº vijº. Ego Willelmus Dei gratiâ dux Normannorum, per misericordiam divinam, et auxilium beatissimi apostoli Petri pii fauctoris nostri, favente justo Dei judicio, Angliam veniens, in ore gladii regnum adeptus sum, anglorum devicto Haroldo rege, cum suis complicibus; qui michi regnum, providentiâ Dei destinatum, et beneficio concessionis domini et cognati mei gloriosi regis Edwardi concessum, conati sunt auferre,' See MSS. Cott. Faust. A. III. fol. 37, quoted in Ellis, Domesday, i. 312.