107The value of the mancus is doubtful; sometimes it appears to mean the same with the mark, at others it is supposed equal to thirty pence of the money of that time. The gold manca is supposed to be eight to the pound, which was probably the coin sent to the pope.

108See this entire, Usserii Veterum Epistolarum Hibernicarum Sylloge, epist. 18. p. 36; and Alcuini Opera, tom. i. p. 6, epist. 3.

109The dalmatic was a garment worn by the clergy, and sometimes by princes. Its name is said to have been derived from its invention in Dalmatia. The pall here apparently signifies an upper vesture also, in form resembling a cloak without sleeves; but it has a variety of meanings. See Du Cange, and note at p. 44, of Bede’s Eccles. History.

110Kenulf made Cuthred king of Kent, A.D. 798. Eadbert had been dreadfully mutilated by having his eyes put out and his hands cut off. See chap. i.

111“Qui agros non habebant.” These words refer to an inferior class of gentry, as he mentions the people at large, “populus,” afterwards.

112Redwald was not the first king of East Anglia, but the first who became distinguished. In the year 571, Uffa assumed the title of king: he was succeeded by his son, Titil, in 578 who was followed by Redwald, his son. See Bede, b. ii. c. 15.

113According to the Saxon Chronicle, A.D. 921, that is, the 21st of Edward the Elder, and the fiftieth from the murder of king Edmund. Now following this statement, as Edward succeeded his father, Alfred A.D. 901, the expulsion of the Danes would be the twentieth of his reign. In Florence of Worcester the union of the kingdoms under Edward the Elder is assigned to the year 918.—Hardy.

114Sleda was not the first, but their times are uncertain. See Florence of Worcester, who calls him the son of Escwine, whom Henry of Huntingdon considers to have been the first king of Essex.

115Brother to St. Chad, bishop of Lichfield. See Bede, b. iii. c. 22.

116Here seems an oversight which may be supplied from Florence of Worcester. “Swithed succeeded Selred, and held the sovereignty some years; after whom few native kings ruled in Essex, for in the same year that Egbert conquered Kent, they surrendered to his power.” Selred died 746; their submission took place 823. It would appear, however, from the authorities adduced by Mr. Turner, Hist. of Anglo-Saxons, vol. i. p. 318, that Selred was in fact king of East Anglia.

117The kingdom of Sussex was founded by Ælla, who arrived in Britain with three vessels, and accompanied by his three sons, A.D. 477. He seems to have attained a very high degree of power, and was succeeded by his son Cissa.—The affairs of this kingdom are extremely obscure; it appears to have been sometimes dependent on Kent and sometimes on Wessex until finally united to the latter by Egbert, A.D. 823.

118The early adventures of Egbert are found only in Malmesbury. He does not observe the order in which these events happened.

119The printed text of the former editions places the battle of Hellendun, A.D. 806. Several MSS. have 826, one 825, and two only appear to adopt the correct year 824, as inserted above. These are—The Arundel MS. No. 35, Brit. Mus. and the MS. in Trinity Coll. Cam. R. 14. The place is variously conjectured: Wilton in Wiltshire; Hillingdon in Middlesex; and near Highworth in Wilts.

120Malmesbury, in following the Saxon Chronicle, is two years earlier than the Northern Chronicles.

121See Saxon Chronicle, A.D. 823–825.

122Roger, bishop of Salisbury, seized it in like manner to his own use, A.D. 1118, and held it till his death, 1159.

123Alluding to the Rome-scot, or Peter’s-pence, a penny from each house, paid on the festival of St. Peter. Its origin and application seem obscure: Higden interpolates Malmesbury, as assigning its first grant to Ina: Henry of Huntingdon says, Offa. This grant is supposed by Spelman to have been made in a General Council of the nation. A similar payment appears to have been made by other nations. It is to be observed that Asser mentions only Ethelwulf’s donation of three hundred mancuses.

124Asser relates that pope Leo stood sponsor for, and confirmed Alfred, who had been sent to Rome by his father the preceding year.

125The conflagration here named seems that mentioned by Anastasius, who tells us, that, shortly after the accession of Pope Leo the fourth, a fire broke out in the Saxon street, but the pope, making the sign of the cross with his fingers, put a stop to it. (Anastas. Biblioth. p. 319.) From this author’s account it appears to have been a street or quarter of considerable extent, and near to St. Peter’s. There were schools of this kind belonging to various nations at Rome. Matt. Westminster says it was founded by Ina, with the consent and approbation of Pope Gregory, that priests, nobles, prelates, or kings, of the English nation, might be entertained there during their stay for the purpose of being thoroughly instructed in the Catholic faith; for that, from the time of Augustine, the doctrine and schools of the English had been interdicted by the popes on account of the various heresies which had sprung up among them; that, moreover, Ina bestowed a penny from each house, or Rome-scot, for the support of these persons. (Matt. West. A.D. 727.) It was destroyed by fire in the year 816, and partially again A.D. 854. Our text, therefore, is at variance with the account given by Anastasius, and the latter is probably incorrect.

126The divisions of France were liable to considerable variation: but it may be sufficient to observe, that Aquitaine lay between the Garonne and Loire; Vasconia, from the Garonne to the Pyrenees; Gothia, from the Pyrenees along the coast to the eastward; Austrasia or East France, besides various tracts beyond the Rhine, lay between that river and the Meuse; Neustria or West France, from the Channel to the Loire with the exception of Brittany.

127The battle of Fontenai is considered as the most calamitous in the French annals; more than one hundred thousand men having, it is said, perished in it. It was fought on the 25th of June, A.D. 841, a memorable month in the annals of France.

128Cornu-guallia, i.e. the Horn of Gaul from the projection of Brittany.

129Some pretend that he was accidentally wounded by Bertholde, one of his attendants; and that the story of the boar was invented in order to screen him from punishment. Malmesbury, however, follows Asser, the Saxon Chron., &c.

130This vision is copied from Hariulfe’s Chronicle, lib. iii. cap. 21. The Annals ascribed to Asser also recite the vision, sub anno 886.—See Mr. Hardy’s Note, vol. i. p. 160.

131Asser had conversed with many persons who afterwards saw her begging for a subsistence in Pavia, where she died.

132One hundred were for the pope, and the other two hundred to be divided between the churches of St. Peter and St. Paul, to provide lights on Easter-eve.

133Ingulf, who likewise gives this charter, reads, “laicis miseris,” the poor laity.

134Manse implies generally a dwelling and a certain quantity of land annexed; sometimes it is synonymous with a hide, or plough-land.

135Ingulf has A.D. 855: 3 indict, which agrees with Asser, who assigns that year for the grant. It appears to be the charter which Malmesbury before referred to on the king’s going to Rome, and has given rise to much controversy; some holding that it conveyed the tithes of the land only, while others maintain that it was an actual transfer of the tenth part of all lands in the kingdom. See Carte, vol. i. 293. Both opinions are attended with considerable difficulties. Mr. Carte very inadvertently imagines this charter and the copy in Ingulf to be distinct grants: the latter being, he says, a confirmation and extension of the former, after Ethelwulf’s return from Rome: but the false date in Malmesbury is of no importance, some MSS. having even 814, and 855 was the year of his departure, not of his return.

136Jordanes, or Jornandes, was secretary to the kings of the Goths in Italy. He was afterwards bishop of Ravenna, and wrote, De Rebus Gothicis; and also, De Regnorum et Temporum Successione.—Hardy

137A similar list of the genealogy of the West Saxon kings, will be found in the Saxon Chronicle, A.D. 855.

138Malmesbury’s Chronology to the accession of Edward the Elder, is a year later than the Saxon Chronicle, Asser, and Florence of Worcester. His computation rests on fixing the death of Ethelwulf in 857, who went to Rome in 855, stayed there a year, and died in the second year after his return. Allowing ten years for Ethelbald and Ethelbert, it brings the accession of Ethelred to 867, and five years added to this give 872 for Alfred’s accession. After the death of Ethelbald Judith returned to France. She left no children; but marrying afterwards Baldwin, count of Flanders, she bore him Matilda, wife of William the Conqueror.

139Supposed Aston, near Wallingford, Berks. Others think Ashendon in Bucks. The Latin and Saxon names, Mons Fraxini, and Eschendun, seem to favour the latter.

140This legend will be found in the curious “account of the translation of the body of St. Cuthbert from Lindisfarne to Durham,” which we shall give in “Anglo-Saxon Letters, Biographies,” &c. It is taken from the Acta Sanctorum, iii. March, p. 127.

141This story rests upon the authority of Ingulf and William of Malmesbury. Asser does not notice it.

142This seems a mistake as far relates to Northumbria. The Saxon Chronicle has “Northerna,” and Florence of Worcester “Rex Northmanicus,” which at a first glance might easily be converted into Northumbria.

143Asser, the faithful friend and biographer of this great king. His Life of Alfred, alike honourable to his master and himself, is free from flattery. It is given in one of the volumes of our Series.

144It has been printed by Gale, Oxon, 1681.

145John the Scot is generally supposed to have died in France before A.D. 877, as the letter of Anastasius (Usher’s Sylloge, Ep. 24,) addressed to Charles the Bald, who died in that year, seems strongly to imply that he was not then living. There is, however, no positive notice of the time of his death. The story indeed has so much the air of one told in Asser of John abbat of Athelney, that one would almost suspect it was formed from it: especially as Malmesbury seems to speak in a very hesitating manner on the subject. V. Asser, À Wise, p. 62.

146Asser says he first began his literary education, Nov. 11, 887.

147Alfred’s Manual, from the description which Asser gives of it, appears to have contained psalms, prayers, texts of Scripture, etc.: Malmesbury, however, in his Lives of the Bishops, quotes anecdotes of Aldhelm from it also.

148Plegmund is said to have written part of the Saxon Chronicle; Asser was archbishop of St. David’s, and biographer of Alfred; Grimbald, abbat of St. Omers; and John of Corvey, a German Saxon, whom Alfred invited into England.

149Asser says he devoted one half of his income “to God;” which part was afterwards subdivided for the poor, for the two monasteries he had founded, for the school he had established, for other monasteries and churches, domestic and foreign.

150This proportion was for both teachers and pupils in the school he founded for the young nobility.—Lappenberg, vol. i. p. 340.

151Matilda, queen of William the First, was daughter of Baldwin earl of Flanders, the fifth in descent from Ethelswitha. See note, p. 110.

152On its removal called Hyde Abbey.

153The popular notion was, that the devil re-animated the corpse, and played a variety of pranks by its agency; and that the only remedy was to dig up and consume the body with fire. See Will. Neubrig v. 22.

154Virg. Æneid, x. 641.

155By West-Angles he probably intends the people of Essex or East-Saxons. See Florence of Worcester.

156Charles the Simple had one son by her, Louis II., surnamed D’Outremer.

157Surnamed the Great: father of Hugh Capet: she had no issue by him.

158Henry, surnamed the Fowler, father of Otho the Great. She had a son and daughter by him. One of Edward’s daughters, called Adela, is said to have been married to Ebles, earl of Poitiers, by whom she had two sons. See L’Art de Verifier les Dates, ii. 312.

159This seems to have been Lewis the Blind, king of Arles: and if so, she must have been one of the elder daughters, as he appears not to have survived A.D. 930. She had, at least, one son by him, Charles Constantine, earl of Vienne. See L’Art de Verifier les Dates, ii. 429.

160This is a mistake: Hugh is confounded with his father, who married Edward’s daughter. There is no notice of this exploit of Hugh’s in Bouquet, though Isembard is mentioned as the nephew of Lewis, who, being unjustly banished, returns accompanied by a large body of Danes and Normans, but is defeated. Bouquet, Recueil, &c. tom. ix. 58. Lewis, however, left issue, and it was on the death of his grandson Lewis, that Hugh Capet became king of France.

161This story of pope Formosus and the seven bishops is to be found verbatim in a MS. (Bodley, 579) which was given to the cathedral of Exeter by bishop Leofric, who died A.D. 1073. Its difficulties therefore are not to be imputed to our author. But though it may not be easy to assign a rational motive for the invention of such an instrument, it is a decided forgery; and all the ecclesiastical writers, from Baronius to Wilkins, [See Concilia, i. p. 201,] have utterly failed in their conjectural attempts to uphold it: even the temperate, the acute, the learned Henry Wharton [Anglia Sacra, i. 554, 5], who rejects decidedly the epistle, gives but an unsatisfactory solution of the seven vacant sees. Its repugnancies will be seen at a glance, when it is recollected, that Formosus died A.D. 896; Edward did not reign till A.D. 901; and Frithstan did not become bishop of Winchester before A.D. 910.

162Matt. ix. 37.

163In the Saxon Chronicle it is called Brumby. [See Chronicles of the Anglo-Saxons, in Bohn’s Antiquarian Library, pp. 376, 377.] Its site is not exactly known, but it was probably not far from the Humber.

164Said to be Werstan, bishop of Sherborne. See Malmesbury’s Gesta Pontificum; or, Lives of the Bishops, to be hereafter translated and published in this series.

165This passage is thought to prove the existence of knights as a distinct order among the Saxons; and, coupled with the case of Hereward, it has very much that air. See Mr. Turner’s Anglo-Saxons, 4, 171, et inf. But perhaps in the present instance, it may amount to nothing more than bestowing his first arms on him. Lewis the Debonnaire received his arms, “ense accinctus est,” at thirteen years old.—Duchesne, t. ii. 289.

166Cornu GalliÆ, a fanciful etymology.

167Improperly called king: it was Hugh the Great, father of Hugh Capet. Malmesbury was probably deceived by a blunder of Ingulf’s.

168This is a mistake, she was daughter of Alfred. See chap. iv. p. 117.

169The legend of St. Longinus makes the centurion mentioned in the Gospel, the person who pierced the side of our Lord; with many other fabulous additions. See Jac. a Voragine, Legenda Sanctorum.

170The Theban legion refusing, in the Diocletian persecution, to bring the Christians to execution, were ordered to be decimated; and on their persisting in the same resolution at the instigation of Maurice, the commander of the legion, they were, together with him, put to cruel deaths. V. Acta Sanctor. 22 Sept.

171He has, apparently, the oppressions of bishop Roger constantly before him.

172Reginald was not the son of Gurmund, but of Guthferth, who was driven out of Northumberland by Athelstan. See Saxon Chronicle, A.D. 927–944.

173The exact meaning of some of these terms is not easily attainable, but they are generally understood to imply—jurisdiction over the burgh, or town—hundred court—oaths and ordeals—thieves taken within the jurisdiction—housebreakers—breach of peace—offences committed on the highways, or forestalling—tolls—warranty, or a right of reclaiming villains who had absconded. The charter therefore conveys a right to hold various courts, and consequently to try, and receive all mulcts arising from the several offences enumerated, which being generally redeemable by fine, produced considerable sums; besides, what was perhaps of more importance, exemption from the vexations of the king’s officers.

174Duke is often used in charters, &c. as synonymous with earl.

175In Gloucestershire.

176See Will. Gemeticensis, lib. iii. c. 11.

177These were a woollen shirt and cowl. Will. Gemet. lib. iii. c. 12.

178Edred is described by Bridferth as being constantly oppressed with sickness; and of so weak a digestion, as to be unable to swallow more than the juices of the food he had masticated, to the great annoyance of his guests. Vita Dunstani, Act. Sanct. 19 Maii.

179A quibble on his name, as compounded of “hill” and “stone.”

180Much variation prevails among the earliest writers concerning Elfgiva. Bridferth (Act. Sanct. 19 Maii) says, there were two women, mother and daughter, familiar with Edwy. A contemporary of Bridferth (MS. Cott. Nero, E.I.) asserts, that he was married, but fell in love with, and carried off, another woman. A MS. Saxon Chron. (Cott. Tib. b. iv.) says, they were separated, as being of kin. Osberne, Edmer, and Malmesbury, in his Life of Dunstan (MS.), all repeat the story of the two women.

181Dunstan, learning that he was dead, and that the devils were about to carry off his soul in triumph by his prayers obtained his release. A curious colloquy between the abbat and the devils on the subject, may be found in Osberne’s Life of Dunstan, Anglia Sacra, ii. 108.

182The Mercians had revolted, and chosen Edgar king.

183Osberne’s Life of St. Dunstan is published in the Anglia Sacra, vol. ii.

184Wulstan’s Life of Ethelwold is printed by Mabillon, and in the Acta Sanctorum, Antwerp. Aug. tome i.

185He erected another church at Worcester, in which he placed monks. The canons finding the people desert them in order to obtain the favour of the new comers, by degrees took the monastic habit. See Malmesbury de Gest. Pontif. lib. iii.

186Some MSS. omit from “Edgar of glorious memory, &c.” to “spoken of another. The monastic order,” &c. in page 155, and insert the charter at length, together with what follows it, thus:

“In the name of our Lord Jesus Christ: although the decrees of pontiffs and the decisions of priests are fixed by irrevocable bonds, like the foundations of the mountains, yet, nevertheless, through the storms and tempests of secular matters, and the corruptions of reprobate men, the institutions of the holy church of God are often convulsed and broken. Wherefore I perceive that it will be advantageous to posterity that I should confirm by writing what has been determined by wholesome counsel and common consent. In consequence, it seems proper that the church of the most blessed mother of God, the eternal virgin Mary, of Glastonbury, inasmuch as it has always possessed the chief dignity in my kingdom, should be honoured by us with some especial and unusual privilege. Dunstan, therefore, and Oswald, archbishops of Canterbury and York, exhorting thereto, and Brithelm, bishop of Wells, and other bishops, abbats, and chiefs assenting and approving, I, Edgar, by the grace of God, king of the English, and ruler and governor of the adjacent nations, in the name of the blessed Trinity, for the soul of my father who reposes there, and of my predecessors, do by this present privilege decree, appoint, and establish, that the aforesaid monastery and all its possessions shall remain free and exonerated from all payments to the Exchequer now and for ever: they shall have soc and sac, on stronde and on wude, on felde, on grithbrice, on burgbrice, hundredsetena, and mortheras, athas, and ordelas, ealle hordas bufan eorthan, and beneothan: infangenetheof, utfangenetheof, flemenefertha, hamsocne, friderbrice, foresteal, toll and team, just as free and peaceably as I have in my kingdom: let the same liberty and power also as I have in my own court, as well in forgiving as in punishing, and in every other matter, be possessed by the abbat and monks of the aforesaid monastery within their court. And should the abbat, or any monk of that place, upon his journey, meet a thief going to the gallows, or to any other punishment of death, they shall have power of rescuing him from the impending danger throughout my kingdom. Moreover, I confirm and establish what has hitherto been scrupulously observed by all my predecessors, that the bishop of Wells and his ministers shall have no power whatever over this monastery, or its parish-churches; that is to say, Street, Miricling [Merlinge], Budecal, Shapwick, Sowy, or their chapels, or even over those contained in the islands, that is to say, Beokery, otherwise called Little Ireland, Godney, Martensia, Patheneberga, Adredseia, and Ferramere, except only when summoned by the abbat for dedications or ordinations, nor shall they cite their priests to their synods or chapters, or to any of their courts, nor shall they suspend them from their holy office, or presume to exercise any right over them whatever. The abbat shall cause any bishop of the same province he pleases to ordain his monks, and the clerks of the aforesaid churches, according to the ancient custom of the church of Glastonbury, and the apostolical authority of archbishop Dunstan, and of all the bishops of my kingdom; but the dedications of the churches we consign to the bishop of Wells, if he be required by the abbat. At Easter let him receive the chrism of sanctification, and the oil from the bishop of Wells, according to custom, and distribute them to his before mentioned churches. This too I command above all other things: on the curse of God, and by my authority, saving the right of the holy Roman church, and that of Canterbury, I inhibit all persons, of whatever dignity, be they king, or bishop, or earl, or prince, or any of my dependants, from daring to enter the bounds of Glastonbury, or of the above named parishes, for the purpose of searching, seizing, holding courts, or doing any thing to the prejudice of the servants of God there residing. The abbat and convent shall alone have power in causes known and unknown, in small and in great, and in every thing as we have before related. And whosoever, upon any occasion, whatever be his dignity, whatever his order, whatever his profession, shall attempt to pervert or nullify the pre-eminency of this my privilege by sacrilegious boldness, let him be aware that he must without a doubt give account thereof, with fear and trembling, before a severe Judge, unless he first endeavour to make reparation by proper satisfaction.” The charter of this privilege the aforesaid king Edgar confirmed by his own signature at London, in the twelfth year of his reign, with the common consent of his nobles; and in the same year, which was the 965th of our Lord’s incarnation, and the 14th of the indiction, pope John, in a general assembly, authorized it at Rome, and made all the men of chief dignity who presided at that council confirm it; and also, from motives of paternal regard, sent a letter to the following effect to earl Alfric, who was then grievously persecuting the aforesaid church:—

“Bishop John, servant of the servants of God, to Alfric the distinguished earl, and our dearly beloved son in the Spirit, perpetual health and apostolical benediction. We have learned, from the report of certain faithful people, that you commit many enormities against the church of the holy mother of God, called Mary of Glastonbury, which is acknowledged to belong solely to, and to be under the protection of, the Roman Pontiff, from the earliest times; and that you have seized with boundless rapacity upon its estates and possessions, and even the churches of Brent and Pilton, which, by the gift of king Ina, it legally possesses, together with other churches, that is to say, Sowy, Martine, Budecal, Shapwick, and that on account of your near residence you are a continual enemy to its interests. It would, however, have been becoming, from your living so near, that by your assistance the holy church of God might have been much benefited and enriched; but, horrible to say! it is impoverished by your hostility, and injured by your deeds of oppression; and since we doubt not that we, though unworthily, have received from St. Peter the apostle the care of all the churches, and solicitude for all things; we therefore admonish your affection, to abstain from plundering it, for the love of the apostles Peter and Paul, and respect to us, invading none of its possessions, churches, chapels, places, and estates; but if you persist, remember, that by the authority of the chief of the apostles, committed unto us, you shall be excommunicated and banished from the company of the faithful, subjected to a perpetual curse, and doomed to eternal fire with the traitor Judas.”

187Glastonbury is situated on land which was once an island formed by a stagnation of inland waters, in a low situation.

188The twelfth of Edgar was 971.

189Here is an omission, apparently, which may be supplied from the Ang. Sac. ii. p. 33. “A piece of ground, to wit, of ten farms (or manors), called Estotun,” &c. G. Malm. de Vita Adhelmi.

190Edgar’s laws for the punishment of offenders were horribly severe. The eyes were put out, nostrils slit, ears torn off, hands and feet cut off, and, finally, after the scalp had been torn off, the miserable wretches were left exposed to birds or beasts of prey. V. Acta Sanctor. Jul. 2, in Vita Swythuni.

191Whorwell, Hants.

192This seems to have been founded on the singular circumstance of his not having been crowned till within two years of his death.

193Virg. Æn. ii. 169.

194When the question was agitated, whether the monks should be supported or the canons restored, the crucifix is said to have exclaimed, “Far be it from you: you have done well; to change again would be wrong.” See Edmer, and Osberne, Angl. Sacra, ii. 219, 112.

195The life of Elphege, by Osberne, is in the Anglia Sacra, ii. 122.

196Ulfkytel attacked the Danes near Thetford, A.D. 1004, and though compelled to retreat, yet occasioned so severe a loss to the enemy, that they are said to have acknowledged that they had never endured a more powerful attack. See Flor. Wigorn., and the Saxon Chronicle, A.D. 1004.

197At Assingdon in Essex, A.D. 1016.

198In several of the manuscripts there is an omission of several words which has made nonsense of the whole paragraph. Its restoration is due to Mr. Hardy, in whose edition of William of Malmesbury it is given correctly from MS. authority.

199That is, when he had attained that age when a man settles, or chooses his future line of conduct; or, to years of discretion. This Pythagoras represented by the form of the letter Y, or the Greek gamma.

200Hermenegild the eldest son of Leovigild. He was invested by his father with the royal diadem and the principality of Boetica, and contracted an alliance with Ingundis, daughter of Sigebert, king of Austrasia. Ingundis was persecuted, and at length killed by her husband’s mother, on account of her Catholic faith. Leander, archbishop of Seville, easily persuaded Hermenegild to resent the treatment of his bride, and assisted him in an attempt to dethrone his father. Hermenegild was taken and sentenced to death for his rebellion. The inflexible constancy, with which he refused to accept the Arian communion, from which he had been converted by Leander, as the price of his safety, procured for him the honour of being enrolled among the saints of the Romish church.—Hardy.

202An instrument for making celestial observations. The reader who is conversant with the Arabian Nights’ Entertainments will remember its being frequently mentioned in that amusing book.

203The abacus was a counting table: here it seems used metaphorically for arithmetic, Gerbert having written a treatise on arithmetic with that title. The authors of the Hist. Litt. de la France, t. vi. understand him literally, as stealing a book containing the principles of the science, and then confound this supposed book with the conjuring treatise mentioned below. They also seem very much displeased with Malmesbury for relating these tales of their countryman, and attribute them to cardinal Benno; but there is nothing of this kind in his work published by Goldastus, and in Brown’s Fasciculus, t. i.

204Ovid. Amor. iii. iv. 17.

205This was perhaps a necessary precaution, according to the rules of the necromantic art.

206His treatise so called.

207Macrob. in Somn. Scip. i. 20.

208Josephus Antiq. Jud. 1. vii. c. 15. viii. 2.

209In the fabulous Itinerary of St. Peter, falsely attributed to Clemens Romanus, Simon is represented as causing Faustinianus to assume his countenance, by rubbing his face with a medicated unguent, to the great alarm of his sons, who mistook him for Simon, and fled until recalled by St. Peter.

210Other MSS. read Otbert.

211“Living, formerly called Elfstan, was translated from Wells to Canterbury in the year 1013; he died, 12th June, 1020.”—Hardy.

212Malmesbury seems to have fallen into some confusion here. The murder of the Danes took place on St. Brice’s day, A.D. 1002, and accordingly we find Sweyn infesting England in 1003 and the following year (see Saxon Chronicle): but this his second arrival took place, A.D. 1013: so that the avenging the murder of his sister Gunhilda could hardly be the object of his present attack.

213Matins were sometimes performed shortly after midnight.

214It was customary to hold a chapter immediately after primes.

215Sweyn died Feb. 3, A.D. 1014.

216The monastery of St. Edmundbury.

217He here considers Ledo to imply the spring tide; but others say it means the neap, and express the former by Malina. See Du Cange.

218Corsham, in Wiltshire?

219March 12th, but the Saxon Chronicle says St. George’s day, 23d April.

220In Somersetshire?

221Sceorstan is conjectured to be near Chipping Norton.—Sharp. Supposed to be a stone which divided the four counties of Oxford, Gloucester, Worcester and Warwick.—Hardy.

222He passed the Thames at Brentford, followed them into Kent, and defeated them at Aylesford. Saxon Chron.

223Thought to be either Assingdon, Ashdown in Essex, or Aston in Berkshire.

224Henry Huntingdon says they actually engaged, and that Canute finding himself likely to be worsted, proposed the division.—H. Hunt. 1. 6.

225“Florence of Worcester and the Saxon Chronicle place his death on the 30th of November, 1016. Florence, however, adds the year of the indiction, which corresponds with A.D. 1017.”—Hardy.

226The Danish chiefs were apprehensive that he would excite commotions in their country; in consequence of which he was ultimately despatched.—Ang. Sac. ii. 144.

227He returned by the way of Denmark. Florence of Worcester.

228St. Angelo in Calabria.

229The several princes, through whose territories their passage lay, exacted large sums for permission to pass; apparently in the defiles of the Alps.

230A penny for every plough, that is, for as much land as a plough could till, to be distributed to the poor: it was payable in fifteen days from Easter.

231Payable at Whitsuntide.

232A certain quantity of corn. Though it also implies, occasionally, other kinds of offerings.

233A forfeiture to the king, but varying according to the nature of the offence.

234This seems to be the meaning: he has probably in view the practice of the early princes of the Norman line, who swore to observe the laws of king Edward.

235Dean of Canterbury.

236This appears merely intended to express that he received the pall from the pope. The two transactions are inverted; he went to Rome A.D. 1021, and translated Elphege’s body A.D. 1023.

237Augustine, bishop of Hippo.

238He was bishop of Selsey, which see was afterwards removed to Chichester.

239The whole country round Glastonbury is flat and marshy, bearing evident marks of having formerly been covered by water.

240“See the letter of Fulbert to king Canute (an. 1020 aut 1021.) No. xliv., p. 466. tom. x. Rec. des Hist. de la France. Fulberti Carnot. Episc. Op. Var. 8vo. par. 1608. Epist. xcvii. p. 92.”—Hardy.

241Though several French chronicles give nearly the same account of Odo being the elder brother, the learned editors of the Recueil des Historiens de France insist that the assertion is false.

242“After the death of Canute, the kingdom was at first divided: the northern part fell to the share of Harold, and Hardecanute obtained the southern division. In the year 1037, Harold was chosen to reign over all England, (Flor. Wigorn.)”—Hardy.

243This he notices, because there was a suspicion that she had imposed the children of a priest and of a cobbler on Canute as her own. V. Flor. Wigorn.

244The Saxon Chronicle says March 17: it also makes Hardecanute arrive on the 18th of June.

245The printed Saxon Chronicle has no mention of this transaction, but there are two manuscripts which relate it. The story appears true in the main, but it is told with so much variety of time, place, &c., that it is difficult to ascertain its real circumstances. See MSS. Cott. Tib. b. i. and iv.

246It seems to mean a page, or personal attendant: some MSS. read “alumnus sturni;” apparently the keeper of her starling. There appears to have been a sort of romance on this subject. The youth is said to have been a dwarf, and therefore named Mimicon: his gigantic adversary was Roddingar. V. Matt. West. and Joh. Brompton.

247These people inhabited the country on and near the southern coast of the Baltic.

248Clerk was a general term including every degree of orders, from the bishop downwards to the chanter. A story near similar has been told of the celebrated Eginhard and the daughter of Charlemagne. V. Du Chesne, Script. Franc. T. ii.

249This brief allusion to Macbeth rather disproves the historical accuracy of Shakespere. See the Saxon Chronicle.

250This seems the foundation of the fable of Emma and the Ploughshares: as the first apparent promulgator of it was a constant reader and amplifier of Malmesbury. See Ric. Divisiensis, MS. C.C.C. Cant. No. 339.

251“Eadsine was translated from Winchester to Canterbury in 1038. The Saxon Chronicle (p. 416) states, that he consecrated Edward, at Winchester, on Easter day, and before all people well admonished him.”—Hardy.

252Eustace II, surnamed Aux Grenons. He succeeded his father, Eustace I, in 1049; and married, in 1050, Goda, daughter of king Ethelbert, and widow of Gauthier comte de Mantes, by whom he had no issue; but by his wife Ida he left three sons; Eustace, who succeeded him, Godefroi, created, in 1076, marquis d’Anvers by the emperor Henry IV, and afterwards duc de Bouillon, was elected king of Jerusalem in 1099, (23rd July); and, dying 18th July, 1100, was succeeded by his brother Baudouin, comte d’Edesse.—Hardy.

253He means Dover; according to the Saxon Chronicle, from which he borrows the account. Eustace stopped at Canterbury to refresh himself, and his people, and afterwards set out for Dover.—Sax. Chron. page 421.

254Earl Godwin’s second wife’s name was Gytha. (Saxon Chron. and Flor. Wigorn.)—Hardy.

255Sweyn had debauched an abbess, and being enraged that he was not allowed to retain her as his wife, he fled to Flanders. Shortly after he returned, and intreated Bruno or Beorn to accompany him to the king, and to intercede for his pardon: but it should seem this was a mere pretence; as he forced him on ship-board, and then put him to death. V. Flor. Wigorn, A.D. 1049. Chron. Sax. A.D. 1046, p. 419.

256“Pagi places the commencement of Gregory’s papacy in May 1044, but Ughelli cites a charter in which the month of August, 1045, is stated to be in the first year of his pontificate. He was deposed at a council held at Sutri, on Christmas-day, A.D. 1046, for having obtained the holy see by simony. Mr. Sharpe remarks that Malmesbury’s character of this pope is considered as apocryphal. Compare Rodul Glaber, lib. v. c. 5.”—Hardy.

257“Steteruntque comÆ, et vox faucibus hÆsit.”—Virgil, Æneid iii. 48.

258There are various stories of this kind in Gregory’s Dialogues.

259The original is as follows:

I am unable to say who was the author of this epigram, but it is not too hazardous to assert that it was not composed either by Ennius or by any other ancient poet.

260There seems no reason to doubt the truth of this circumstance, since the exhibition of the Siamese twins, the most extraordinary lusus naturÆ that has occurred in the nineteenth century. Medical science, aided by comparative anatomy, has ascertained that the bodies of both man and the brute creation are susceptible of combinations—not usually occurring in the course of nature,—which in former times were thought impossible, and as such were universally disbelieved.

261Sometimes called St. Audry. She was abbess of Ely monastery. St. Werburga was patroness of Chester monastery.

262Archbishop of Canterbury, from A.D. 1006 to 1012. See Sax. Chronicle, pp. 402, 403.

263Bede, book iv. chap. 14. There are some MSS. which want this chapter. The former editor of Bede accounts for it very satisfactorily; stating that a very ancient MS. in the Cotton Collection has a note marking that a leaf was here wanting; and that those which want the chapter were transcripts of this imperfect MS.

264Acca, bishop of Hexham, A.D. 710, and a great friend of venerable Bede, who inscribed to him many of his works.

265Or Elbert. See b. i. c. i. p. 15.

266He was at the same time bishop of Worcester, and archbishop of York.

267See b. i. c. 4, p. 78.

268“Concerning St. Wistan, consult MSS. Harl. 2253. De Martyrio S. Wistani.”—Hardy.

269Repton.

270Thought to be the Devil’s Dyke, on Newmarket Heath.

271He was tied to a tree, and shot to death with arrows. Abbo Floriacensis.

272This boundary is said to have been formed by Canute, in consequence of his father Sweyn having been killed by St. Edmund in a vision for attempting to plunder his territory. See Malm. de Gest. Pontif. lib. ii. f. 136, b. edit. Lond.

273Faremoutier in Brie.

274Hist. Eccl. b. iii. c. 8, p. 122.

275In b. i, c. 1, p. 15, it is said the compensation for their murder was made to their mother; but here she is called their sister, which is the general account. When it was left to her to estimate this compensation (i. e. their weregild), she asked as much land as her stag should compass, at one course, in the Isle of Thanet; where she founded the monastery of Minster. Vide W. Thorn. col. 1910, and Natale S. MildrythÆ; (SaxonicÈ), MS. Cott. Calig. A. xiv. 4.

276“Mild” gentle.

277In Shropshire.

278The Seven Sleepers were inhabitants of Ephesus; six were persons of some consequence, the seventh their servant. During the Decian persecution they retired to a cave, whence they despatched their attendant occasionally to purchase food for them. Decius, hearing this, ordered the mouth of the cave to be stopped up while the fugitives were sleeping. After a lapse of some hundred years, a part of the masonry at the mouth of the cave falling, the light flowing in awakened them. Thinking they had enjoyed a good night’s rest, they despatched their servant to buy provision. He finds all appear strange in Ephesus, and a whimsical dialogue takes place, the citizens accusing him of having found hidden treasure, he persisting that he offered the current coin of the empire. At length the attention of the emperor is excited, and he goes in company with the bishop to visit them. They relate their story and shortly after expire. In consequence of the miracle they were considered as martyrs. See Capgrave, Legenda Nova.

279On the Norman conquest many English fled to Constantinople, where they were eagerly received by Alexius, and opposed to the Normans under Robert Guiscard. Orderic. Vitalis, p. 508.

280Victor II. succeeded Leo IX. in 1056, and died in 1057. Stephen or Frederic, brother of duke Godefroi, succeeded Victor II. on the second of August, 1057, and Nicolaus became pope in 1059.

281That is, of Malmesbury. This Elmer is not to be confounded with Elmer or Ailmer prior of Canterbury.

282Died and was buried at St. Paul’s. Sax. Chron. A. 1057.

283It is hardly necessary to observe, that the succession of William is one of the most obscure points in our history.

284Near Chichester.

285It was customary for the king to wear his crown on the solemn festivals of Easter, Whitsuntide, and Christmas: it being placed on his head in due form by the archbishop.

286“Westminster Abbey was consecrated on the 28th of December, 1065. Ailred of Rievaulx, in his Life of Edward, states that the church had been commenced some years before, in performance of a vow the king had made to go to Rome; but being dissuaded from it, he sent to the pope to obtain his dispensation from that journey; the pope granted it, on condition that Edward should, with the money he would have spent in that voyage, build a monastery in honour of St. Peter.”—Hardy.

287The battle of Stanford-bridge was fought on the 25th of September, 1066. See Saxon. Chron. p. 440.

288What Malmesbury here relates is highly probable, from the shortness of the time which elapsed from William’s landing, to the battle of Hastings,—only fifteen days. In this period, therefore, the intelligence was to be conveyed to York, and Harold’s march into Sussex to be completed; of course few could accompany him, but such as were mounted.

289Will. Pictaviensis, to whom he seems here to allude, asserts that Harold had collected immense forces from all parts of England; and that Denmark had supplied him with auxiliaries also. But the circumstances mentioned in the preceding note show the absurdity of this statement.

290“Robert’s expedition to Jerusalem was in 1035,” (Bouq. 14, 420.)

291Ecclesiast. x. 16.

292Geoffrey II., son of Foulques III., earl of Anjou, whom he succeeded, A.D. 1040.

293“He was the son of Hugh de Montgomery and Jemima his wife, daughter of Turolf of Pont-Andomare, by Wora, sister of Gunnora, great-grandmother to the Conqueror. He led the centre of the army at the battle of Hastings, and was afterwards governor of Normandy. William the Conqueror gave him the earldoms of Arundel and Shrewsbury. See more of him in Sir H. Ellis’s Introduction to Domesday, vol. i. p. 479.”—Hardy.

294“For an account of the earls of Anjou consult the Gesta Consulum Andegavensium, auctore Monacho Benedictino Majoris Monasterii (apud Acherium, tom, iii.)”—Hardy.

295To carry a saddle was a punishment of extreme ignominy for certain crimes. See another instance in W. Gemeticensis, Du Chesne, p. 259, and Du Cange, in voce “Sella;” who very justly supposes the disgrace to arise from the offender acknowledging himself a brute, and putting himself entirely in the power of the person he had offended.

296“From this passage it is clear that Foulques IV. was still the reigning earl of Anjou, which therefore proves that Malmesbury had finished this work before 1129, in which year Geoffrey le Bel, better known as Geoffrey Plantagenet, son of Foulques, became earl of Anjou.”—Hardy.

297Terent. Andr. iv. 1.

298“These words seem to imply that the Great Council of the kingdom had never agreed to any settlement of the crown on the duke; and without such sanction no oath made by Harold in favour of William would have been binding.”—Hardy.

299Some copies omit from “it is wonderful,” to “But,” and substitute as follows:— ... “that in the course of a very few years, many, if not all, things were seen changed in either order. The former became, in some respects, more dull but more liberal: the latter, more prudent in every thing, but more penurious; yet both, in defending their country, valiant in battle, provident in counsel; prepared to advance their own fortune, and to depress that of their enemies.”

300This passage enables us to ascertain nearly the year in which William of Malmesbury’s work was written.

301“There are two places called St. Valeri; one in Picardy, situated at the mouth of the Somme, and formerly called Leugonaus; the other is a large sea-port town, situated in Normandy, in the diocese of Rouen, and was formerly called S. Valeri les Plains, but now S. Valeri en Caux. It seems to be the former place to which Malmesbury here refers, ‘In Pontivo apud S. Walericum in ancoris congrue stare fecit,’ writes William of JumiÈges.”—Hardy.

302This was said in allusion to the feudal investiture, or formal act of taking possession of an estate by the delivery of certain symbols. “This story, however, is rendered a little suspicious by these words being in exact conformity with those of CÆsar, when he stumbled and fell at his landing in Africa, Teneo te, Africa. The silence of William of Poitou, who was the duke’s chaplain, and with him at his landing, makes the truth of it still more doubtful.”—Hardy.

303“Whatever may have been the conqueror’s orders, to restrain his army from plundering, it is conclusive, from the Domesday Survey, that they were of no avail. The whole of the country, in the neighbourhood of Hastings, appears to have been laid waste. Sir Henry Ellis, in the last edition of his General Introduction to Domesday, observes, that the destruction occasioned by the conqueror’s army on its first arrival, is apparent more particularly under Hollington, Bexhill, &c. The value of each manor is given as it stood in the reign of the conqueror; afterwards it is said, ‘vastatum fuit;’ and then follows the value at the time of the survey. The situation of those manors evidently shows their devastated state to have been owing to the army marching over it; and this clearly evinces another circumstance relating to the invasion, which is, that William did not land his army at one particular spot, at Bulwerhithe, or Hastings, as is supposed,—but at all the several proper places for landing along the coast, from Bexhill to Winchelsea.”—Hardy.

304Lib. v. c. 14.

305This is from W. Pictaviensis, who puts it in the mouth of the conqueror, but it is evidently false; for Godwin died A.D. 1053, Siward A.D. 1055, and in 1054 we find Edward the Confessor sending for his nephew from Hungary, to make him his successor in the kingdom, who, accordingly, arrives in A.D. 1057, and dies almost immediately after. He could not, therefore, have made the settlement as here asserted.

306As the armour of that time was of mail, this might easily happen.

307What this was is not known; but it is supposed to have been a ballad or romance, commemorating the heroic achievements of the pretended nephew of Charlemagne.

308“There seems to have been a fabulous story current during the twelfth century, that Harold escaped from the battle of Hastings. Giraldus Cambrensis asserts, that it was believed Harold had fled from the battle-field, pierced with many wounds, and with the loss of his left eye; and that he ended his days piously and virtuously, as an anchorite, at Chester. Both Knighton and Brompton quote this story. W. Pictaviensis says, that William refused the body to his mother, who offered its weight in gold for it, ordering it to be buried on the sea-coast. In the Harleian MS. 3776, before referred to, Girth, Harold’s brother, is said to have escaped alive: he is represented, in his interview with Henry II. to have spoken mysteriously respecting Harold, and to have declared that the body of that prince was not at Waltham. Sir H. Ellis, quoting this MS., justly observes, that the whole was, probably, the fabrication of one of the secular canons, who were ejected at the re-foundation of Waltham Abbey in 1177.”—Hardy.

309Four manuscripts read Exoniam, and one, namely, that which was used by Savile, read Oxoniam. But Matthew Paris also seems to have read Exoniam, for such is the text of the two best MSS. of that author. (Reg. 14, c. vii. and Cott. Nero, D.V.) Upon a passage in the Domesday Survey, describing Oxford as containing 478 houses, which were so desolated that they could not pay gold, Sir H. Ellis remarks: “The extraordinary number of houses specified as desolated at Oxford, requires explanation. If the passage is correct, Matthew Paris probably gives us the cause of it, under the year 1067, when William the Conqueror subdued Oxford in his way to York:—‘Eodem tempore rex Willielmus urbem Oxoniam sibi rebellem obsidione vallavit. Super cujus murum quidam, stans, nudato inguine, sonitu partis inferioris auras turbavit, in contemptum videlicet Normannorum; unde Willielmus in iram conversus, civitatem levi negotio subjugavit.’ (Matt. P. ed. Watts, sub ann. 1067, p. 4.) The siege of Exeter in 1067 is also mentioned by Simeon of Durham, col. 197; Hoveden, col. 258; Ralph de Diceto, col. 482; Flor. of Worces. fol. Franc. 1601, p. 635; and by Ordericus Vitalis, p. 510.”—Hardy.

310Domesday Book bears ample testimony to this statement; and that which closely follows, viz. that the resources of this once-flourishing province were cut off by fire, slaughter, and devastation; and the ground, for more than sixty miles, totally uncultivated and unproductive, remains bare to the present day. The land, which had belonged to Edwin and Morcar in Yorkshire, almost everywhere in the Survey is stated to be wasta; and in Amunderness, after the enumeration of no fewer than sixty-two places, the possessions in which amounted to one hundred and seventy carucates, it is said, ‘Omnes hÆ villÆ jacent ad Prestune, et tres ecclesiÆ. Ex his 16 a paucis incoluntur, sed quot sint habitantes ignoratur. Reliqua sunt wasta.’ Moreover, wasta is added to numerous places belonging to the archbishop of York, St. John of Beverley, the bishop of Durham, and to those lands which had belonged to Waltheof, Gospatric, Siward, and Merlesweyne!—Hardy.

311Fordun has a story of Edgar’s being cleared from an accusation of treason against W. Rufus, by one Godwin, in a duel; whose son, Robert, is afterwards described as one of Edgar’s adherents in Scotland. L. v. c. 27–34. “The Saxon Chronicle states, that in the year 1106, he was one of the prisoners taken at the battle of Tinchebrai, in Normandy. Edgar is stated, by Dr. Sayers, in his Disquisitions, 8vo, 1808, p. 296, upon the authority of the Spelman MSS., to have again visited Scotland at a very advanced period of life, and died in that kingdom in the year 1120. If this date can be relied upon, the passage above noted would prove that Malmesbury had written this portion of his history before the close of that year.”—Hardy.

313“Harold’s master of the horse. He was killed in 1068, in opposing the sons of Harold, when they came upon their expedition from Ireland.”—Hardy.

314“W. Fitz-Osberne was only the father-in-law of Ralph de Guader.”—Hardy.

315There is considerable difficulty in distinguishing exactly the various meanings of the term “miles.” Sometimes it is, in its legitimate sense, a soldier generally; sometimes it implies a horseman, and frequently it is to be taken in its modern acceptation for a knight; the latter appears to be the meaning here.

316“Charles, called the Good. He was the son of Canute IV, king of Denmark, and Adele, daughter of Robert le Frison. He succeeded Boudouin VII, as earl of Flanders (17th June, 1119,) and died 2nd March, 1127.”—Hardy.

317“King William now went over sea, and led his army to Brittany, and beset the castle of Dol; but the Bretons defended it, until the king came from France; whereupon king William departed thence, having lost there both men and horses, and many of his treasures, (Sax. Chron. A.D. 1076.) This event is more correctly attributed by Florence and others to the preceding year.”—Hardy.

318Domesday book. This invaluable record, which has been printed by order of the House of Commons, contains a survey of the kingdom, noting, generally, for there are some variations in different counties, the proprietors and value of lands, both at the time of the survey and during the reign of Edward the Confessor, the quantity of arable, wood, and pasture, &c. the various kinds of tenants and slaves on each estate, and, in some instances, the stock; also the number of hides at which it was rated, for the public service, with various other particulars.

319Sweyn succeeded to the kingdom of Denmark on the death of Magnus in 1047.

320Man and Anglesey.

321Nicolas reigned from A.D. 1105 to A.D. 1135, June 25, when he was murdered.

322“Hoveden, who follows Malmesbury, adds that Alexius married, crowned, and then burnt alive his female accomplice.”—Hardy.

323Archdeacon, and afterwards chancellor. Baronius, x. 289.

324He was elected pope the 22nd of April, 1073, and died 25th May, 1085.—Hardy.

325Investiture was a symbolical mode of receiving possession of a benefice, dignity, or office.

326This seems intended to denote his absolute submission, and willingness to undergo any kind of penance which might be enjoined upon him. Sometimes excommunicated persons wore a halter about their necks; sometimes they were shorn or scourged prior to receiving absolution. Vide Basnage, pref. in Canisium, p. 69, 70.

327“The abbey of St. Stephen’s, Caen, is stated to have been completed in 1064, but when it was dedicated is not accurately known: some fix the dedication in 1073, others in 1081, and Orderic in 1077. There was, however, a foundation charter granted subsequently to 1066, for in it William styles himself King.”—Hardy.

328“The convent of the Holy Trinity was founded by Matilda 1066, and its church dedicated on the 18th of June in that year. Duke William on the same day, presenting at the altar his infant daughter Cecilia, devoted her to the service of God in this monastery, where she became the second abbess.”—Hardy.

329“This disgraceful contention happened in the year 1083. It seems to have arisen from the abbat (Thurstan) attempting to introduce a new chant, brought from Feschamp, instead of the Gregorian, to which the monks had been accustomed.”—Hardy.

330Bracton says (lib. ii. c. 8, sec. 4), that the bishop of Durham had as full power in the county of Durham as the king in his own palace. The privileges of the see of Durham trace back to the time of St. Cuthbert.

331Walker offered to purge himself by oath from all participation in the murder. See Flor. Wig. A.D. 1080.

332“Matilda died 2nd Nov. 1083. She bequeathed to this monastery her crown, sceptre, and ornaments of state. A copy of her will may be seen in the Essais Historiques, by the AbbÉ de la Rue, tom. ii. p. 437.”—Hardy.

333Some MSS. omit from “a dreadful spectacle,” to the end of the paragraph, and substitute thus, “Here he willingly passed his time, here he delighted to follow the chase, I will not say for days but even months together. Here, too, many accidents befell the royal race, which the recent recollection of the inhabitants supplies to inquirers.”

334Agatha and Adeliza were their names, according to Ordericus Vitalis, (lib. iv. 512.)

335Some MSS. omit from “money,” to “I have,” and substitute, This he sought all opportunities of collecting, provided he could allege that they were honourable, and not unbecoming the royal dignity. But he will readily be excused, because a new government cannot be administered without large revenues. I have, &c.

336The Romish ritual directs the woman to kneel, with a lighted taper in her hand, at the church door, where she is sprinkled with holy water, and afterwards conducted into the church. The practice seems connected with the festival of the Purification. Vide Durand, lib. vii. c. 7.

337Sixty shillings down, and as much more afterwards. Orderic. Vital.

338... lanistarum vel pellificum. It seems a sneer at the sanguinary disposition of the Roman people, and at the bulls of the pope. In a dispute on the credibility of evidence adduced, it is observed, that the oral testimony of three bishops was certainly to be preferred “to sheep-skins blackened with ink and loaded with a leaden seal.” Edmer. Hist. Nov. p. 65.

339Marianus was born in Ireland A.D. 1028, and was compiler of a celebrated chronicle, which is the basis of Florence of Worcester. His imagined correction of Dionysius is founded in error.

340See the letters which passed on this subject between Lanfranc and Thomas archbishop of York in Lanfranci Opera, ed. J.A. Giles, 2 vols. 8vo. forming vols. 21 and 22 of Patres EcclesiÆ AnglicanÆ.

341Two of the MSS., used by Mr. Hardy, place here the dedicatory epistle of the author to Robert Earl of Gloucester, which we have placed at the commencement of the work.

342“At this period the custom of receiving knighthood from the hands of bishops or abbats yet obtained. There is a law of Henry I., prohibiting abbats from making knights.”—Hardy.

343The 27th of September.

344Persius, Sat. i. 85.

345On their own lands, it should seem from Sax. Chron., p. 465.

346Nidering is supposed by Somner to denote such as were infamous enough to rifle a dead body. Gavelk. 65. Lye renders it, nequam, exlex,—infamous, outlaw. MS. Nithing. Spelman derives it from nidus: but there is no authority for either interpretation; and in such cases it is safer, to confess ignorance than to mislead the reader by fanciful etymologies.

347This crucifix was very celebrated; it being pretended that it was the work of Nicodemus. “See further on this subject in the Rev. J.E. Tyler’s interesting volume, entitled, ‘Oaths, their origin, nature, and history.’ London: 8vo, pp. 289–296.”—Hardy.

348Cicero de Officiis, ii. 15. Much of the argument is borrowed from the same source.

349Some read, “The king used to laugh,” &c.

350This is unintelligible to the English reader. The author uses the word “firmarius,” which certainly would not have conveyed the idea of a “farmer” to the mind of either Cicero or Horace.

351Those who followed the court, being under no kind of control, were in the habit of plundering and devastating the country wherever they went. When they were unable to consume whatever they found in their lodgings, they would sell it to the best bidder, or destroy it with fire; or if it were liquor, after washing their horses’ legs with a part, they let the remainder run. “As to their cruelty towards their hosts, or their unseemly conduct towards their wives and daughters, it is shameful even to remember.”—Edmer. Hist. Nov. p. 94.

352These shoes, which gave occasion for various ordinances for their regulation or abolition, during several successive centuries, are said to have owed their invention to Fulk, earl of Anjou, in order to hide his ill-formed feet. Orderic. Vitalis, p. 682: who also observes, that the first improver, by adding the long curved termination, was a fellow (quidam nebulo) in the court of William Rufus, named Robert.

353Others read, “The palace of the king was not the abode of majesty, but the stews of pathics.”

354Edmer, besides constant mention of Anselm in his Historia Novorum, wrote his life also, in a separate form.

355A Jewish youth imagined that St. Stephen had appeared to him, and commanded him to be baptized: this he obeyed. His father immediately flew to the king, earnestly entreating an order for his son to be restored to the faith of his ancestors. The king not discovering any advantage as likely to accrue to himself, remained silent: on this the Jew offers him sixty marks, on condition that he would restore his son to Judaism. William then orders the youth to be brought before him; relates his father’s complaint, and commands him to renounce his baptism. The lad, astonished, replies, “Your majesty is joking surely.” “I joke with thee,” exclaims the king, “thou son of ordure! begone, and obey my commands instantly, or by the cross at Lucca I will have your eyes torn out.” The young man remaining inflexible, he drove him from his presence. The father was then ordered before the king, who desired him to pay down the money he had promised; but, on the Jew’s remonstrating that he had not reconverted his son, and the king’s declaring that his labour was not to go unrewarded, it was agreed that he should receive half the sum. Edmer, Hist. Novor. p. 47.

356“Compater” sometimes means a friend or companion.

357Pharsalia, lib. ii. 515—v. 580.

358“It has been inferred from this passage, that Malmesbury states the tower of London was built by William Rufus. There appears, however, little doubt that the principal building, now called the White Tower, was commenced by the Conqueror, and finished by Rufus, under the superintendence of Gundulph, bishop of Rochester.”—Hardy.

359“The tradition of William having met his death by the hand of Sir Walter Tirel, whilst hunting in the New Forest, is generally received; but Suger, a contemporary historian, and, as it seems, a friend of Tirel, in his Life of Louis le Gros, king of France, alluding to the death of Rufus, observes, ‘Imponebatur a quibusdam cuidam nobili Gualtero Tirello quod eum sagitta perfoderat: quem, cum nec timeret nec speraret, jurejurando sÆpius audivimus quasi sacrosanctum asserere, quod ea die nec in eam partem silvÆ, in qua rex venebatur, venerit, nec eum in silva omnino viderit.’ See also Edmer, Hist. Nov. p. 54, and Ord. Vit. Hist. Eccles. lib. x. p. 783.”—Hardy.

360It fell A.D. 1107. An. Winton.

361By this probably is to be understood the payment of Peter-pence. Anselm had offended the king, by acknowledging Urban without consulting him.

362Juvenal, Sat. i. 37.

363A kind of woollen shirt.

364The concluding psalms of the matin service.

365The HorÆ, or canonical services, were matins, primes, tierce, sexts, nones, vespers, and complines.

366The Ambrosian ritual prevailed pretty generally till the time of Charlemagne, who adopted the Gregorian. Durandus (lib. v. c. 1) has a curious account of an experiment, on the result of which was founded the general reception of the latter, and the confining the former chiefly to Milan, the church of St. Ambrose.

367The learned Mabillon appears much displeased with Malmesbury, for the motives here assigned for abbat Robert’s quitting Citeaux. Vide Ann. Benedictinor.

368From the French “losenge,” adulation.

369Alluding to the legend of St. Peter and Simon Magnus; who having undertaken by means of enchantment, to fly, was, by the adjuration of St. Peter, dashed to the earth and killed. Vide Fabricius, Codex Apocryphus.

370His letters, long supposed to be lost, were found by the editor of this work in a MS. belonging to the Burgundian library at Brussels, and have been since published by R. Anstruther, 8vo. Bruxellis, 1845.

371Joscelyn’s “Life and Translation of St. Augustine” is printed in the “Acta Sanctor. Antwerp. 26 Maii.” See the Preface to Bede, p. xxxix.

372Another famous writer of Lives of Saints, several of which exist still in MS.

373“The council of Clermont, in Auvergne, continued from 18th to 28th of Nov. A.D. 1095; wherein the decrees of the councils held by pope Urban at Melfe, Benevento, Troie, and Plaisance, were confirmed, and many new canons made. Malmesbury’s is perhaps the best account now known of that celebrated council. See the acts of the council of Clermont; Conc. tom. xii. p. 829, &c.”—Hardy.

374The practice of private wars; for an account of which, see Robertson’s Hist. of Charles V. vol. i.

375If orders could not be completely conferred on Saturday, the ceremony might be performed on Sunday; and the parties continuing to fast the two days were considered as one only.—Durand.

376The Truce of God, was so called from the eagerness with which its first proposal was received by the suffering people of every degree: during the time it endured, no one dared infringe it, by attacking his fellows. See Du Cange: and Robertson’s Charles V. vol. i. It was blamed by some bishops as furnishing an occasion of perjury, and was rejected by the Normans, as contrary to their privileges. The Truce of God was first established in Aquitaine, 1032.

377There are other orations, said to have been delivered by Urban in this council, remaining; and L’Abbe (Concil. T. x.) has printed one from a Vatican MS.; but they are all very inferior to Malmesbury.

378He alludes to St. Augustine and the fathers of the African church.

379This gratuitous insult on a brave and noble people is unworthy a writer like William of Malmesbury; but the monkish historians were as deficient in taste as in style. The cloister was a useful seminary to teach the plodding accuracy which is required to write a chronicle; but for elevation of mind and diffusion of liberal sentiment, it was as inefficient as it is still.

380The rustic, observes Guibert, shod his oxen like horses, and placed his whole family on a cart; where it was amusing to hear the children, on the approach to any large town or castle, inquiring, if that were Jerusalem. Guib. Novigent. Opera, p. 482.

381Fulcher says, those who assumed the cross were estimated at that number; but that multitudes returned home ere they passed the sea. Fulcherius Carnotensis ap. Gesta Dei per Francos, p. 387.

382However repugnant this representation may be to the generally received opinion, it is that of an eye-witness, when describing the army assembled at Constantinople. Fulch. Carnot. p. 389.

383It should probably be the Elbe, as he appears to describe the people of northern Germany.

384Virgil, Æneid i. 281.

385“Hildebert was translated to Tours, A.D. 1125, upon the death of Gislebert, who died at Rome about the middle of December, 1124, in the same week with pope Calixtus. (Ord. Vit. lib. xii. p. 882.)”—Hardy.

386For a very interesting account of the walls and gates of Rome, see Andrew Lumisden’s “Remarks on the Antiquities of Rome and its Environs, London, 4to. 1797.”

387Now called Porta del Popolo.

388Porta Pinciana.

389The Two Hundred and Sixty are said to have been shot with arrows in the amphitheatre, by order of Claudius. The Thirty suffered under Diocletian.

390Porta Salaria.

391Porta Pia.

392Porta di San Lorenzo.

393Porta Maggiore.

394The Forty Soldiers suffered martyrdom under Licinius at Sebastia in Armenia.

395So called, because for a long time after they had suffered martyrdom (martyrio coronati) their names were unknown; and though afterwards their real names were revealed to a certain priest, yet they still continued to retain their former designation.

396Porta di San Giovanni.

397There is no notice of this in Lumisden: it is probably now destroyed.

398Porta Latina.

399Porta di San Sebastiano.

400Porta di San Paolo.

401Aquas Saluias, now Trefontane. The tradition is, that St. Paul was beheaded on this spot: that his head, on touching the ground, rebounded twice, and that a fountain immediately burst forth from each place where it fell. See Lumisden.

402Porta Portese.

403Porti di San Pancrazio.

404Sacred places and bodies of saints long since deceased, are but feeble safeguards against the outbreak or even moderate agency of human passions, which, in every country and under every form of superstition, act always in the same way.

405Aldhelmi Opera, page 28.

406The story of Silvester’s having baptized Constantine is considered as altogether unfounded. See Mosheim, vol. i.

407This, in Aldhelm, is the Labarum, or imperial standard.

408The place of his birth is contested.

409Geor. i. 103.

410“The Danube empties itself through six mouths into the Euxine. The river Lycus, formed by the conflux of two little streams, pours into the harbour of Constantinople a perpetual supply of fresh water, which serves to cleanse the bottom, and to invite the periodical shoals of fish to seek their retreat in the capacious port of Constantinople.”—Hardy.

411After all the researches of the last fifty years, the “Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire,” by Gibbon, will be found to contain the best history of these Byzantine emperors.

412His Turkish name was Killidge-Arslan: his kingdom of Roum extended from the Hellespont to the confines of Syria, and barred the pilgrimage of Jerusalem. (See De Guignes, tom. iii. p. 2, pp. 10–30.)—Hardy.

413When Urban II addressed the multitude from a lofty scaffold in the market-place of Clermont, inciting the people to undertake the crusade, he was frequently interrupted by the shout of thousands in their rustic idiom exclaiming “Deus lo vult!” “It is indeed the will of God!” replied the pope; “and let those words, the inspiration surely of the Holy Spirit, be for ever adopted as your war-cry.”—Hardy.

414Hegesippus, a Greek author of the second century, wrote an account of the Jewish war, and of the destruction of Jerusalem; said to have been translated into Latin by St. Ambrose. He also wrote an ecclesiastical history, in five books, a fragment of which only remains.

415“The siege of Antioch commenced on the 21st of October, 1097, and ended 3rd June, 1098.”—Hardy.

416Pharsalia, iv. 579.

417The balista was a warlike engine for casting either darts or stones: the petrary, for throwing large stones only.

418Owing to the scarcity of fuel.

419“Phirouz, a Syrian renegade, has the infamy of this perfidious and foul treason.”—Hardy.

420“In describing the host of Corbaguath, most of the Latin historians, the author of the Gesta, (p. 17,) Robertus monachus, (p. 56,) Baldric, (p. 3,) Fulcherius Carnotensis, (p. 392,) Guibert, (p. 512,) William of Tyre, (lib. vi. c. 3, p. 714,) Bernardus Thesaurarius, (c. 39, p. 695,) are content with the vague expressions of ‘infinita multitudo,’ ‘immensum agmen,’ ‘innumerÆ copiÆ,’ ‘innumerÆ gentes.’ The numbers of the Turks are fixed by Albertus Aquensis at two hundred thousand, (lib. iv. c. 10, p. 242,) and by Radulphus Cadomensis (c. 72, p. 309) at four hundred thousand horse. (Gib. Decl. Rom. Emp. vii. pp. 364, 5.)”—Hardy.

421The greatest part of their march is most accurately traced in Maundrell’s Journey from Aleppo to Jerusalem.—Hardy.

422The church of St. Mary, at Bethlehem, contained within its walls a sort of grotto, in which it was pretended Christ was born.—See Bede, de Locis Sanctis.

423“Jerusalem was possessed only of the torrent of Kedron, dry in summer, and of the little brook or spring of Siloe, (Reland, tom. i. pp. 294, 300). Tacitus mentions a perennial fountain, an aqueduct, and cisterns of rain-water. The aqueduct was conveyed from the rivulet Tekoe, or Etham, which is likewise mentioned by Bohadin, (in Vit. Saladin. p. 238.)”—Hardy.

424It was pretended that the lamps in the church of the Holy Sepulchre were miraculously ignited on Easter Eve.

425Bernard, with two companions, sailed from Italy to Alexandria, and travelled thence by land to Jerusalem in the year 870. Their travels are printed in “Mabillon’s Acta Benedictinorum.” The account is short, but has several interesting particulars. There is also a good MS. in the British Museum, Bib. Cott. Faust, b. 1, where, by a mistake of the scribe, it is dated A.D. 970, but this is clearly wrong, for Bernard mentions Lewis, king of Italy, as then living, and he died A.D. 875.

426Some MSS. insert the name of another John after Juvenalis, but no patriarch of this name is known to have lived at that period. Malmesbury has, moreover, omitted the names of eleven patriarchs, between Juvenal, who died A.D. 458, and Zacharias who died A.D. 609.

427Cosroes, or Chosroes the Second, king of Persia.

428“The church of Jerusalem was vacant after the death of Sophronius, A.D. 644, until the year 705, when John V succeeded, whom Theodorus followed, A.D. 754.”—Hardy.

429“The tower of David was the old tower Psephina or Neblosa; it was likewise called Castellum Pisanum, from the patriarch Daimbert. (D’Anville, pp. 19–23.)”—Hardy.

430That is to say, with several floors or apartments, one above the other; each of which contained soldiers.

432In allusion to the custom of painting and gilding the ceilings.

433Godfrey would not, however, accept the name of king, nor wear a crown of jewels in a city where his Saviour had been crowned with thorns. He therefore contented himself with the title of “Defender and Baron of the Holy Sepulchre.”

434Pope Urban however died fourteen days after the taking of Jerusalem. Daibert was appointed patriarch of the captured city.

435The church of Golgotha contains within it the rock on which the cross was fixed for the crucifixion. Bede, Eccles. Hist. p. 264.

436Fulcher wrote an account of the transactions in Syria, where he was present, from A.D. 1095 to 1124. Malmesbury condenses much of his narrative with his usual ability. It is printed in the Gesta Dei per Francos, and, ap. Duchesne Hist. Franc. Scriptor. tom. iii.

437Paul was bishop of Antioch in the third century. “He was better pleased with the title of ducenarius than with that of bishop. His heresy, like those of Noetus and Labellius in the same century, tended to confound the mysterious distinction of the Divine persons. He was degraded from his see in 270, by the sentence of eighty bishops, and altogether deprived of his office in 274 by Aurelian (Mosheim’s Ecc. Hist. vol.i. p. 702, &c.)”—Hardy.

438The sugar cane. “This kind of herb is annually cultivated with great labour. When ripe they pound it in a mortar, strain off the juice, and put it in vessels until it coagulates, and hardens in appearance like snow or white salt. This they use scraped and mixed with bread, or dissolved in water. The canes they call Zucra.” Albertus Aquensis, ap. Gesta Dei, p. 270.

439In token of victory, or the completion of their purpose, by having visited the holy sepulchre. Vide Albert. Aquens. ubi sup. p. 290.

440See note, p. 384.

441“Lord have mercy upon us,” thrice repeated, three times.

442Bernard the monk notices the custom of imparting the holy light, in order that the bishops and people might illuminate their several residences from it. Fulcher describes this event at great length, and observes that each person had a wax taper in his hand for the purpose of receiving the holy fire. Gesta Dei, p. 407.

443Engines made to cast stones.

444Fulcher relates, with great coolness, that he saw the bodies of the Turks, who were slain at CÆsarea, piled up and burned, in order to obtain the bezants which they had swallowed. Hist. Hierosol. ap. Du Chesne, tom. iv. 845. This practice of swallowing money is referred to by pope Urban, and, by his account, the merely burning dead bodies to obtain the hoard was a very humble imitation of the Saracen custom, with respect to those who visited Jerusalem before the crusades; which was to put scammony in their drink to make them vomit, and if this did not produce the desired effect, they proceeded to immediate incision! Guibert Abbas. Opera, p. 379.

445Juvenal, Sat. i. 43.

446Among a variety of instances adduced of her wealth, it is stated, that the mast of the vessel which conveyed her to Palestine, was covered with pure gold. Alb. Aquens. ap. Gesta Dei, p. 373.

447Fulcher assigns a different reason for her being divorced. The king, being extremely ill and thinking he should not survive, recollected that he had another wife living, to whom he had been previously married at Edessa. Du Chesne, t. iv. 864. He had been twice married before. His first wife, an English woman, accompanied him on the Crusade, and died in Asia: the second, daughter of Taphnuz, an Armenian nobleman, following him, by sea, to Jerusalem, was taken by pirates; and being suspected of improper conduct during her absence, was, on her arrival at Jerusalem, about A.D. 1105, repudiated, and shut up in the convent of St. Anne. Alb. Aquens. ubi sup. Guib. Abbat. Opera, p. 452.

448“Roger, prince-regent of Antioch, son of Richard, seneschal of Apulia, married Hodierna, sister of Baldwin II. He was slain in 1119.”—Hardy.

449This account appears in some measure incorrect. Gozelin and the king were both confined in the same castle. On its being seized Gozelin escaped, and collected troops to liberate his friends, who were now themselves besieged. But ere his arrival, the Turks had made themselves masters of the fortress and carried off the king, who did not recover his liberty for some time, and then only by paying a considerable ransom. Fulch. Carnot. et Will. Tyr. ap. Gesta Dei.

450Baldwin died 21st August, A.D. 1131.—Hardy.

451Boamund was baptized Mark; but his father hearing a tale related of a giant named Buamund, gave him that appellation. When, after his captivity, he returned to France, many of the nobility requested him to stand for their children; this he acquiesced in, and giving them his own name, it became frequent in these parts, though before nearly unknown in the West. Ord. Vital. p. 817.

452There is a play here on the words Mollucium and Durachium, intended to imply soft and hard, “mollis” and “durus,” which it is not easy to translate.

453Orderic. Vital. p. 797, gives a different account of his deliverance, and which has quite a romantic air.

454Leonard was godson to Clovis king of France, and obtained, through the favour of that monarch, that, whenever he should see any one who was in chains, he should immediately be set at liberty. At length it pleased God to honour him to that degree, that, if any person in confinement invoked his name, their chains immediately fell off, and they might depart; their keepers themselves having no power to prevent them. Vide Surius, VitÆ Sanct. Nov. 6.

455He is called Pontius in Bouquet, Rec. 13, 7.

456Helena, daughter of Otho I. duke of Burgundy. Bouquet, Rec. 13, 7.

457None of the original historians of the crusade mention Robert, by name, as refusing the crown. Henry of Huntingdon however records it, and Albertus Aquensis observes, that it was first offered to Raymond, earl of Toulouse, who declining to accept it, and the other chiefs in succession following his example, Godfrey was, with difficulty, prevailed on to ascend the throne. Alb. Aquens. 1. vi. c. 33. and Villehardouin, No. 136.

458“Sibilla, duchess of Normandy, died by poison, according to Ordericus Vitalis, and the Continuator of William of JumiÈges. Malmesbury’s account does not appear to be supported by any contemporary testimony.”—Hardy.

459“Normandy was only mortgaged for 10,000 marks, about the 100th part of its present value.”—Hardy.

460Cicero de Offic. 1. iii. But Malmesbury seems to have thought it necessary to soften it; as CÆsar’s axiom says, “for the sake of power.”

461Instead of these words “nor was he liberated, &c.,” another manuscript reads, “and whether he ever will be set free, is doubtful.” Upon which Mr. Hardy observes that these various readings of the MSS. seem to mark the periods when the author composed and amended his history. In other words, the reading in the text was substituted by the author, when he revised his work after Robert’s death, for the reading in the note, which is copied from a MS. written whilst Robert was still in prison.

462“Henry was born in 1068, not in 1070, as stated by Ordericus Vitalis, (Annal. Burton, apud Fell, inter Rer. Anglic. Script. v. p. 246.)”—Hardy.

463“William the Conqueror was abroad at Pentecost in the 21st year of his reign, A.D. 1087. Henry undoubtedly received knighthood in the year 1086, in the 20th year of his father’s reign.”—Hardy.

464Wilkins, Leges Anglo-SaxonicÆ, 233.

465This has been taken to mean the abolition of the Curfew, by which it is said, all fires were ordered to be extinguished at eight o’clock; but it may be doubted, whether it does not rather refer to some regulation of the court merely.

466Those called the Confessor’s.

467Matilda having taken the veil, though only for a purpose, scruples were raised as to the propriety of her entering the marriage state: a synod was therefore called at Lambeth by archbishop Anselm, and it was there determined that Matilda, not having voluntarily become a nun, might marry according to the law of God. See Edmer, pp. 56, 57.—Hardy.

468These appellations seem intended as sneers at the regular life of Henry and his queen. Godric implies God’s kingdom or government.

469For the particulars of the bishop’s escape, see Ordericus Vitalis p. 787.

470“There is no vestige of this exhortation in any letter of pope Paschal to king Henry now known. Indeed Paschal, writing to archbishop Anselm, enjoins him to effect a reconciliation between the king and his brother. See Anselmi Opera, edit. nov. p. 382, col. 2.”—Hardy.

471Orderic. Vital. [p. 815.] relates a circumstance highly indicative of the troubled state of Normandy. Henry, on his arrival, was immediately welcomed by Serlo bishop of Sees; who, on conducting him into the church, pointed out the area nearly filled with boxes and packages brought thither for security from plunderers, by the inhabitants.

472His daughter Mabil became the wife of Robert earl of Gloucester, to whom Malmesbury dedicated this work.

473Robert de Belesme was seized by order of king Henry in 1112, having come to him in Normandy as ambassador from the king of France to treat of peace. Robert was in the following year sent over to England, and confined in Wareham Castle until his death.—Hardy.

474“The laws of Henry I. have lately been reprinted in the ‘Ancient Laws and Institutes of England,’ under the able editorship of Mr. Thorpe.”—Hardy.

475“It appears from two charters, printed in Rymer’s Foedera, vol. i. pp. 6, 7, that Henry agreed to pay a pension of four hundred marks, annually, to Robert, earl of Flanders, for the service of one thousand knights.”—Hardy.

476“William, surnamed Clito [the Clito], son of Robert, duke of Normandy, and Sibilla de Conversano, succeeded to the earldom of Flanders upon the death of Charles le Bon, A.D. 1127.”—Hardy.

477He probably intended a joke on the custom of ringing the bells to scare evil spirits.

478“Ordericus Vitalis attributes this act to Odo, bishop of Bayeux; but Pope Urban II., in his Epistle to Raynald, archbishop of Rheims, ascribes it to Ursio, bishop of Senlis.”—Hardy.

479“Although king Philip, a few years before his death, entertained some notion of embracing a monastic life, as is seen in the epistle written to him by Hugh, abbat of Cluni, yet it appears that he never carried his design into effect.”—Hardy.

480“Pope Calixtus met king Henry at Gisors on his return from the council at Rheims, held in October 1119.”—Hardy.

481This practice is referred to by Henry Huntingdon, when speaking of Hardecanute, who had four repasts served up every day, “when in our times, through avarice, or as they pretend through disgust, the great set but one meal a day before their dependents.”—H. Hunt. lib. vi. p. 209.

482“Henry of Huntingdon, in his epistle to Walter (Anglia Sacra, pars ii., p. 695) gives a flattering character of Robert. Ordericus Vitalis places his death on the first June, A.D. 1118.”—Hardy.

483Roger had a church in the neighbourhood of Caen, at the time that Henry was serving under his brother William. Passing that way, he entered in, and requested the priest to say mass. Roger began immediately, and got through his task so quickly that the prince’s attendants unanimously declared, “no man so fit for chaplain to men of their profession.” And when the royal youth said, “Follow me,” he adhered as closely to him, as Peter did to his heavenly Lord uttering a similar command; for Peter, leaving his vessel, followed the King of kings; he, leaving his church, followed the prince, and appointed chaplain to himself and his troops, became “a blind guide to the blind.” Vide G. Neubrig, 1. 6.

484“Paulus Diaconus, also called Winfrid, was secretary to Desiderius, last of the native princes of Lombardy. Paulus wrote his History of the Lombards, in six books, before the empire by Charlemagne was founded.”—Hardy. Malmesbury seems to imply that the vessel was lost in the Mediterranean; but if so, he misunderstood Paulus Diaconus, who is speaking of the race of Alderney. Vide Paul. Diac. lib. i. c. 6, ap. Muratori. Rer. Ital. Script. t. 1.

485Of Henry’s prudent accommodation to the times, a curious anecdote is related by Ordericus Vitalis, p. 815. When Serlo bishop of Sees met him on his arrival in Normandy, he made a long harangue on the enormities of the times, one of which was the bushyness of men’s beards which resembled Saracens’ rather than Christians’, and which he supposes they would not clip lest the stumps should prick their mistresses’ faces; another was their long locks. Henry immediately, to show his submission and repentance, submits his bushy honours to the bishop, who, taking a pair of shears from his trunk, trims his majesty and several of the principal nobility with his own hands.

486Virg. Æn. vi. 853.

487Whilst endeavouring to distinguish good coin from counterfeits, the silver penny was frequently broken, and then refused. Henry’s order, therefore, that all should be broken, enabled any one immediately to ascertain the quality, and, at the same time, left no pretext for refusing it on account of its being broken money.—Vide Edmerum Hist. Novor. p. 94.

488Suger relates, that Henry was so terrified by a conspiracy among his chamberlains, that he frequently changed his bed, increased his guards, and caused a shield and a sword to be constantly placed near him at night: and that the person here mentioned, who had been favoured and promoted in an especial manner by the king, was, on his detection, mercifully adjudged to lose only his eyes and his manhood, when he justly deserved hanging.—De Vit. Lud. Grossi. Duchesne, iv. 308.

489“Compare Malmesbury’s character of Henry in this particular with that given of him by Henry of Huntingdon.”—Hardy.

490The ceremony of giving possession of lands or offices, was, by the feudal law, accompanied with the delivery of certain symbols. In conformity to this practice, princes conferred bishoprics and abbeys by the delivery of a crozier and a ring, which was called their investiture: and as consecration could not take place till after investiture, this, in fact, implied their appointment also. The popes at length finding how much such a practice tended to render the clergy dependent on the temporal power, inhibited their receiving investiture from laymen by the staff and ring, which were emblems of their spiritual office. The compromise of Henry with Paschal enacted, that in future the king would not confer bishoprics by the staff and ring; but that the bishops should perform the ceremony of homage, in token of submission for their temporals: the election by these means, remaining, nominally, in the chapter, or monastery.

491The printed copy, as well as such manuscripts as have been consulted, read, “investituras consecrationum:” evidently wrong; the true reading, as appears from Edmer, p. 72, where the whole instrument is inserted, being “investituram vel consecrationem.”

492On Anselm’s return, shortly after Henry’s accession, it was agreed that all matters should remain in abeyance, until both parties should have sent messengers to the pope, for his decision on the subject of investitures. See Edmer, p. 56.

493He had been recalled on the king’s accession, but afterwards quitted the kingdom again.

494“Henry married Adala, daughter of Godfrey, conte de Louvain, in February, 1121.”—Hardy.

495“Bromton (col. 1013, x. Scrip.) ascribes to Malmesbury words which are no where to be found in this author, ‘Willelmus Malmesbiriensis dicit, quod ille Willelmus regis primogenitus palam Anglis fuerat comminatus, quod, si aliquando super eos regnaret, faceret eos ad aratrum trahere quasi boves: sed spe sua coruscabili Dei vindicta cum aliis deperiit.’”—Hardy.

496“The nuptials of prince William with Matilda, daughter of the earl of Anjou, were celebrated in June, 1119, before the council of Rheims.”—Hardy.

497See page 252.

498Virgil Æneid. v. 206.

499He is called a butcher by Orderic Vitalis, p. 867, who has many particulars of this event.

500“The marriage of William, son of the duke of Normandy, with Sibilla, in 1123, was dissolved, at the instance of king Henry, in the following year, by the pope’s legate.”—Hardy.

501“Matilda was betrothed to the emperor Henry V. in 1109, but was not married to him until the 7th January, 1114.”—Hardy.

502The church of St. Maria, in Scuola GrÆca, is so called, from a tradition that St. Augustine, before his conversion, there taught rhetoric.—See Lumisden, 318.

503Trastevere, that part in which St. Peter’s is situated.

504Three beautiful columns, supposed to be remains of the temple of Jupiter Stator.

505The principal entrance to St. Peter’s church, so called by way of pre-eminence.

506The Rota, which seems to have been a part of St. Peter’s church, is not enumerated by Fontana, de Basilica Vaticana.

507The chapel, in which the tombs of the apostles are said to be placed.

508The patrician of Rome appears to have been its chief magistrate; derived from the office of prefect or patrician under the emperors of Constantinople.

509As pope Calixtus II.

510The church of St. Saviour, or St. John Lateran, built by Constantine the Great.

511MS. pravilegium, a play on the words privilegium and pravilegium.

512Cosenza, L’Abbe, tom. x.

513Another MS. reads Troianus instead of Turianus.

514“Septimo decimo. More correctly octavo decimo, as the emperor went before Easter in the year 1117.”—Hardy.

515“Paschal died in Jan. 1118.”—Hardy.

516“Maurice Bourdin, archbishop of Brague, was elected pope by the influence of the emperor Henry V, on the 9th of March, 1118, and took the name of Gregory VIII.”—Hardy.

517“Gelasius II, died at Clugny, 29th Jan. 1119.”—Hardy.

518A monastery near Salerno, inaccessible, except by one passage. Here were kept such as from their conduct had become either dangerous or scandalous: they were supplied with every thing necessary, according to their order, but were held in close confinement. Its name was given from the untameable disposition of its inmates. See Orderic. Vital. 870.

519This was a high compliment to the ancient Briton.

520Guibert of Nogent excuses himself from commemorating the valour of many of the crusaders, because, after their return, they had run headlong into every kind of enormity. Opera, p. 431.

521Robert de Arbrisil founded the monastery of Fontevrault in 1099, and died in 1117.

522“Bernard founded the abbey of Tyron in 1109, and died in 1116.”—Hardy.

523At Lewes in Sussex.

524The uppermost garment of the priest, covering the rest entirely.

525Those who officiated were enjoined to fold up their garments.

526It was customary to hold a short chapter immediately after primes.

527Odo, second abbat of Clugny, was founder of the Clugniac rule in the tenth century. Odilo was elected the fifth abbat of Clugny in 994.

528Godfrey was prior of Winchester from A.D. 1082 to 1107. His verses in commendation of the chief personages of England are in the manner of those already inserted on Serlo abbat of Gloucester. Many of his epigrams have very considerable merit.

529He probably has Henry Huntingdon in view, who wrote a History of England shortly after him.

530Terentii Andria, i. 1.

531What these were is unknown, as it is believed there is no MS. of them now to be met with.

532“The emperor Henry V. died on the 23rd of May, A.D. 1125; and in September, A.D. 1126, king Henry returned from Normandy, with his daughter the empress.”—Hardy.

533“The union of the kingdoms under Egbert did not take place for several years after his accession in 802.”—Hardy.

534This must be understood with the exception of Canute and his sons, between Edmund Ironside, and Edward the Confessor.

535Here seems a mistake. Margaret was given to Malcolm by her brother Edgar Atheling, while in exile in Scotland, A.D. 1067. See the Saxon Chronicle.

536“Robert was created earl of Gloucester in the year 1119. On the Pipe-roll, 31 Hen. I., this entry occurs: ‘Gloececestrescire. Et comiti Gloec. xxii. numero pro parte sua comitatus.’”—Hardy.

537“The nuptials of Matilda with Geoffrey Plantagenet, afterwards earl of Anjou, were celebrated in the presence of her father, in Sept. 1127.”—Hardy.

538“Henry completed the twenty-eighth year of his reign the 4th of August, 1128; but the Saxon Chronicle places his return from Normandy during the autumn of 1129.”—Hardy.

539It is very remarkable what excessive pains were employed to prevail on the young men to part with their locks. In the council held at London by archbishop Anselm, A.D. 1102, it is enacted, that those who had long hair should be cropped, so as to show part of the ear, and the eyes. From the apparently strange manner in which this fashion is coupled in Edmer, p. 81, one might be led to suspect, it was something more than mere spleen which caused this enactment. See also Orderic. Vitalis.

540An allusion to his name, which signifies a lion.

541Pope Innocent died A.D. 1143.

542“Philippe, eldest son of Louis VI, was consecrated by command of his father on the 14th April, 1129; but meeting with an accidental death on the 13th October, 1131, the king, twelve days afterwards, caused his second son, Louis, to be crowned at Rheims by the Roman pontiff, Innocent II.”—Hardy.

543Both the printed copy and the MSS., which have been consulted, read here tricesimo primo, ‘thirty-first,’ [1131]; but it should be the thirty-second, 1132.—See Hen. Hunt.

544“Malmesbury seems to have committed two oversights here. Henry went to Normandy for the last time on the third before the nones of August, (that is, third, instead of fifth), A.D. 1133. This is evident from the eclipse he mentions, which took place on that day, as well as from the testimony of the continuator of Florence of Worcester, a contemporary Writer.”—Sharpe. “Although all the MSS. read ‘tricesimo secundo,’ yet it is evident, from the context, that it should be ‘tricesimo tertio;’ the completion of Henry’s thirty-third regnal year being on the 4th of August, 1133. This, and other passages show, that Malmesbury reckoned Henry’s reign to commence on the 5th of August, the day of his consecration, and not on the 2nd of that month, the day of his brother’s death.”—Hardy.

546From what has been said above this should be two.

547“Liberationes,” signifies, sometimes, what we now call liveries, that is garments; sometimes money at stated periods, or, as we should say, wages: it is here rendered in the latter sense, as being distinct from “solidatÆ,” pay or stipends. Perhaps it was intended to distinguish two orders of persons by this bequest; servants and soldiers: otherwise it may mean garments and wages.

548“The majority of contemporary writers state that Stephen’s coronation took place on the 26th December.”—Hardy.

549“The author of the Dialogus de Scaccario states that for some time after the Norman conquest there was very little money in specie in the realm, and that, until the reign of Henry the First, all rents and farms due to the king were rendered in provisions and necessaries for his household; but Henry I ordered the payments to be made in money: they were consequently made ‘ad scalam,’ and ‘ad pensum;’ ‘in numero,’ or by tale; and ‘per combustionem,’ or melting, which latter mode was adopted to prevent payment being made in debased money; hence perhaps it was that Henry’s money was of the best quality.”—Hardy.

550The progress of some of Henry’s treasure is curious. Theobald, earl of Blois, gave many jewels, which had been bestowed on him by Stephen, his brother, to certain abbeys, and these again sold them for four hundred pounds to Suger, abbat of St. Denis. Henry, Suger observes, used to have them set in most magnificent drinking vessels. Suger, ap. Duchesne, t. iv. p. 345.

551Church-yards were, by the canons, privileged, so that persons in turbulent times conveyed their property thither for security.

552It had been the practice to seize, to the king’s use, whatever property ecclesiastics left behind them. Henry of Huntingdon relates, that on the death of Gilbert the Universal, bishop of London, who was remarkable for his avarice, all his effects, and among the rest, his boots crammed with gold and silver, were conveyed to the exchequer. Anglia Sacra, ii. 698. Sometimes, even what had been distributed on a death-bed, was reclaimed for the king. Vide G. Neub. 3, 5. “This practice of seizing the property of ecclesiastics at their death seems subsequently to have settled down into a claim on the part of the king of the cup and palfrey of a deceased bishop, prior, and abbat. See Rot. Claus. 39 Hen. III, m. 17, in dorso.”—Hardy.

553It seems to have been a vexatious fine imposed on litigants when, in their pleadings, they varied from their declaration. Murder is sometimes taken in its present acceptation; sometimes it means a certain fine levied on the inhabitants where murder had been committed.

554Earls, till this time, had apparently been official; each having charge of a county, and receiving certain emoluments therefrom: but these created by Stephen, seem to have been often merely titulary, with endowments out of the demesnes of the crown. Rob. Montensis calls these persons Pseudo-Comites, imaginary earls, and observes that Stephen had completely impoverished the crown by his liberalities to them. Henry the Second, however, on being firmly seated on the throne, recalled their grants of crown lands, and expelled them the kingdom.

555The term “miles” is very ambiguous: sometimes it is a knight; sometimes a trooper; sometimes a soldier generally. In later times it signified almost always a knight; but in Malmesbury, it seems mostly a horseman, probably of the higher order.

556“Roger, the chancellor of England, was the son of Roger, bishop of Salisbury, by Maud of Ramsbury, his concubine.”—Hardy.

557The author of the “Gesta Stephani,” says, the king ordered both bishops to be kept without food, and threatened, moreover, to hang the son of bishop Roger. Gest. Stephani, 944. The continuator of Flor. Wigorn. adds, that one was confined in the crib of an ox-lodge, the other in a vile hovel, A.D. 1138.

558It has before been related that Stephen made many earls, where there had been none before: these seem the persons intended by Malmesbury in many places, when speaking of some of the king’s adherents.

559It would seem from this passage that he had seen Livy in a more complete state than it exists at present.

560Horat. Epist. i. 1, 100.

561The meaning of vavassour is very various: here it seems to imply what we call a yeoman.

562This he effected by means of scaling ladders, made of thongs of leather. Gest. Stephani, 951.

563Several MSS., as well as the printed copy, read 1142, but one has 1141, which is right.

564“Ranulf, earl of Chester, and his uterine brother, William de Romare, were the sons of Lucia, countess of Lincoln.”—Hardy.

565The joust signifies a contest between two persons on horseback, with lances: each singled out his opponent.

566That is, as appears after, to acknowledge her publicly as their sovereign.

567Marchio: this latterly signified marquis in the sense we now use it; but in Malmesbury’s time, and long after, it denoted a guardian of the borders: hence the lords marchers on the confines of Scotland and Wales; though it does not appear very clearly how this should apply to Wallingford, unless it was his place of birth.

568This seems an oversight: as he had before related, more than once that Stephen preceded Robert in taking the oath to Matilda.

569Virgil, Æn. i. 33.

570The garrison having sallied out against him, he suddenly passed a ford which was not generally known and, repelling the enemy, entered the town with them. Gesta Regis Stephani, 958.

571One of the MSS. omits from, “This circumstance,” to the end, and substitutes, ... “but these matters, with God’s permission, shall be more largely treated in the following volume.”