BY EDGAR TAYLOR ESQ. F.S.A.
LONDON
WILLIAM PICKERING
1837
I VINT LI VIEL HUE DE GORNAI,
ENSEMLE O LI SA GENT DE BRAI.
Page 217.
TO HUDSON GURNEY, ESQ.
THIS CHRONICLE OF THE NORMAN CONQUEST
IS DEDICATED, IN TESTIMONY OF THE
TRANSLATOR'S RESPECT
AND REGARD.
CONTENTS AND ILLUSTRATIONS.
ILLUSTRATIONS Frontispiece, the oath administered to Harold; from the Bayeux Tapestry. Title page vignette, including a coin of William, from Ruding, vol. iv. Dedication vignette, a group after the Bayeux Tapestry.
CONCERNING THE AUTHOR OF THIS BOOK, SETTING FORTH HIS INTENT AND DEGREE
ILLUSTRATIONS Baptism of Rollo, from the Museum MS. of Benoit Sainte-More, to face ,) from Bocherville.]
HOW WILLIAM BECAME DUKE; AND HOW HIS BARONS REVOLTED AGAINST HIM
ILLUSTRATIONS Norman knights, from a capital in the church of St. Georges de Bocherville, .
HOW THE KING OF FRANCE CAME; AND THE BATTLE THAT WAS FOUGHT AT VAL DES DUNES
ILLUSTRATION Group from the Bayeux Tapestry, .
HOW CANUTE DIED, AND ALFRED FELL BY TREASON; AND HOW EDWARD AFTERWARDS BECAME KING
ILLUSTRATIONS Two illuminations from the Cambridge MS. Estoire de Seint dward le Rei, representing the dispatch of messengers for Edward, .
THE REVOLT OF WILLIAM OF ARQUES; AND HOW HE AND THE KING OF FRANCE WERE FOILED BY DUKE WILLIAM
ILLUSTRATIONS Messengers to William, from the Tapestry, .
HOW THE KING OF FRANCE INVADED NORMANDY, AND WAS BEATEN AT MORTEMER
ILLUSTRATION Guy count of Ponthieu, from the Bayeux Tapestry, (going there to receive Harold,) .
HOW THE KING OF FRANCE CAME AGAIN AGAINST DUKE WILLIAM, AND WAS DEFEATED AT VARAVILLE
ILLUSTRATION Group from the Bayeux Tapestry, (representing there the Duke embarking at St. Valery,) .
HOW WILLIAM PROSPERED, AND WENT TO ENGLAND TO VISIT KING EDWARD; AND WHO GODWIN WAS
ILLUSTRATIONS Abbey church of the Holy Trinity at Caen, from Cotman, .
OF HAROLD'S JOURNEY TO NORMANDY; AND WHAT HE DID THERE
ILLUSTRATIONS Harold taking his leave of king Edward, .
HOW KING EDWARD DIED, AND HAROLD WAS CROWNED IN HIS STEAD; AND HOW DUKE WILLIAM TOOK COUNSEL AGAINST HIM
ILLUSTRATIONS Edward naming Harold his successor, from the Cambridge MS..
HOW THE BARONS MET, AND WHAT AID THEY AGREED TO GIVE
ILLUSTRATIONS Remains of the great hall at Lillebonne, from Cotman, .
HOW THE NORMAN HOST MET AT ST. VALERY, AND SAILED THENCE
ILLUSTRATIONS Ship-building, ; all from the Tapestry.
HOW THE DUKE AND HIS HOST LANDED NEAR HASTINGS, AND MADE THEMSELVES A FORT
ILLUSTRATIONS Unloading and dismantling the ships, ; all from the Bayeux Tapestry.
HOW AN ENGLISH KNIGHT RODE TO HAROLD; AND WHAT MESSAGE WAS SENT BY THE DUKE
HOW THE ENGLISH CONSULTED, AND WENT TO MEET THE NORMANS; AND HAROLD AND GURTH RECONNOITRED
ILLUSTRATIONS Figure from a Saxon MS. now in the King's library at Paris, representing Harold, (according to Montfaucon,) .
WHAT FURTHER PARLEY WAS HAD BETWEEN THE KING AND DUKE WILLIAM BEFORE THE BATTLE
ILLUSTRATION Fort at Hastings, with a messenger coming to William, from the Bayeux Tapestry, .
HOW EACH HOST PASSED THE NIGHT, AND MADE READY FOR BATTLE; AND HOW THE DUKE EXHORTED HIS MEN
ILLUSTRATIONS William and his half brothers, from the Bayeux Tapestry, ; also from the Tapestry.
WHO WAS CHOSEN TO BEAR THE DUKE'S GONFANON
ILLUSTRATION A Norman baron, with gonfanon, coming out of Hastings to take horse, from the Tapestry, .
HOW THE MEN OF ENGLAND MADE READY, AND WHO THEY WERE
ILLUSTRATION Saxon armour,compiled from various sources in Planch's 'British Costume,'.
HOW THE NORMAN COMPANIES MOVED TO THE ATTACK
ILLUSTRATIONS William enquiring news of the English from Vital one of his officers looking out, from the Bayeux Tapestry, .
HOW TAILLEFER SANG, AND THE BATTLE BEGAN
ILLUSTRATIONS Attack by the Normans on the English placed on an eminence, and defended by a fosse, from the Bayeux Tapestry, .
HOW THE ARCHERS SMOTE HAROLD'S EYE; AND WHAT STRATAGEM THE NORMANS USED
ILLUSTRATION Engagement between the Normans and English, from the Bayeux Tapestry, .
THE ROLL OF THE NORMAN CHIEFS; AND THEIR DEEDS
ILLUSTRATIONS Norman Knights advancing 'ad prelium contra Haroldum,' from the Bayeux Tapestry, .
THE ROLL OF THE NORMAN CHIEFS CONTINUED
ILLUSTRATIONS William knighting Harold at La Lande, from the Bayeux Tapestry, .
WHAT DEEDS OF ARMS DUKE WILLIAM DID; AND HOW HAROLD WAS SLAIN AND THE ENGLISH FLED
ILLUSTRATIONS Deaths of Lewin and Gurth, .
HOW WILLIAM WAS CROWNED KING; AND HOW HE AT LAST FELL ILL AT ROUEN
ILLUSTRATIONS Seal of William as king and duke, .
HOW WILLIAM DIED, AND WAS BURIED AT CAEN
ILLUSTRATION St. Stephen's, Caen, (Cotman,) .
KING WILLIAM'S CHARACTER, FROM THE SAXON CHRONICLE
ILLUSTRATIONS Initial letter from the Battle abbey chronicle, p. 283. Dutchy arms, .
A shield of pure sable is appended to the principal figure, with full notice of our liability, on that account, to the charge of heraldic anachronism. Waving any defence on the scientific point, we merely observe that when Wace tells us of 'escuz painz de plusors guises,' it may safely be presumed that there was at least one of sable hue; and that our fancy may not be considered as running very wild, if it presumes that the lord of the Marches was wont so to distinguish himself; and if it connects the subsequent use of so simple an heraldic bearing by the norman Gornais, with its previous use as a mere badge, a cognoissance or entre-sain; see p. 22, 172, 302.
INTRODUCTION.
A detailed narrative of events so interesting as those which preceded and attended the conquest of England by William, duke of Normandy, needs little apology for its introduction, for the first time, to the english reader. If his feelings are at all in unison with those of the translator, he will welcome the easy access thus afforded to this remarkable chronicle;by far the most minute, graphic, and animated account of the transactions in question, written by one who lived among the immediate children of the principal actors. The historian will find some value in such a memorial of this great epoch in english affairs;the genealogist will meet in it some interesting materials applicable to his peculiar pursuits;and the general reader will hardly fail to take a lively interest in such an illustration of the history of the singular men, who emerged in so short a time from the condition of roving barbarians into that of the conquerors, en noblers, and munificent adorners of every land in which they settled, and to whom the proudest families of succeeding ages have been eager to trace the honours of their pedigree.
MASTER WACE, the author of the ROMAN DE ROU and chronicle of the dukes of Normandy, from which the ensuing pages are extracted, tells concerning himself, in his prologue, all that is known with any degree of certainty. His name, with several variations of orthography, is not an unusual one in early norman history, though he has not claimed an identification with any known family distinguished by it. The name of Robert, which has been usually assigned to him as an addition, has no sufficient warranty. It certainly occurs in connection with that of Wace in the charters of the abbey of Plessis-Grimoult; (see the Mmoires des antiquaires de Norm, viii.); but Richard Wace, a priest whose name occurs in the chartulary of the abbey of St. Sauveur le Vicomte, has been speculated upon by the Abb de la Rue as having a more probable claim of identification.
