38 XIV. Edward the Confessor. 1053. this impediment to their success, and commanded C H A P. them to use leathern armour and lighter weapons. By this arrangement, wherever the Britons could retreat, his men could pursue. He crossed their snowy mountains, defeated them on their plains, and spread destruction around, till terror and feebleness produced general subjection. 3 He raised heaps of stones wherever he had obtained victory, with this inscription: "Here Harold conquered." Such a depopulation of Wales ensued from his invasion, that to this disastrous cause Giraldus ascribes the tranquil acquiescence of the Britons under the Norman yoke. 39 Harold closed his efforts by a law, that every Briton found beyond Offa's Dike with a missile weapon, should lose his right hand. 40 defeated by Siward. Macbeth, the usurper of Scotland, condemned Macbeth by the genius of Shakspeare to share for ever our sympathy and our abhorrence, was partly contemporary with Edward. In 1039, Duncan, after a five years' reign, was assassinated by Macbeth. 41 THE two sons of Duncan, Malcolm, surnamed Cean-more, or the Great-head, and Donald, called Bane, or the fair, fled from Scotland. Malcolm 38 Ingulf, 68. This invasion is fully stated by the elegant John of Salisbury, whose writings reflect so much credit on the twelfth century. See his De Nugis Curialium, lib. vi. c. 6. p. 185. 3 Giraldus Cambriensis de illaudab. Walliæ, c. vii. p. 431. 40 Joan Salisb. de Nugis Cur. p. 185. 41 Mailros, 156. Duncan, in 1035, had been foiled in an attack upon Durham. Sim. Dun. 33. Lord Hailes says: "It is probable that the assassins lay in ambush, and murdered him at a smith's house in the neighbourhood of Elgin." Annals, p. 1. BOOK sought refuge in Cumberland, and Donald in the VI. Hebrides. 42 Edward the Confessor. 1054. ELEVEN years after his usurpation, Macbeth is mentioned by the chroniclers of England, as distributing money at Rome. 43 In 1054, while Macduff, the thane of Fife, was exciting a formidable revolt in Scotland, the celebrated Siward, by some called the Giant, from his large size, and whose sister had been Duncan's queen, conducted his Northumbrians against Macbeth. A furious conflict followed, in which thousands of both armies perished; but Siward, though he lost his son and nephew, defeated the usurper. He returned with great plunder, having made Malcolm king. THE glory of a warrior was the felicity most precious to Siward. On his return, at York, he felt that internal disease was consuming his vital principle, and he sighed for the funereal trophies 42 Haile's Annals of Scotland, p. 2. 431050. Rex Scotorum Machethad Romæ argentum spargendo distribuit." Flor. Wig. 409. So Sim. Dun. 184. and Hoveden, 441. Mailros, who names him Macbeth, p. 157., has a similar passage. 44 MS. Chron. Tib. B. 4. Lamb. MS. Flor. Wig. 416. MS. Tib. B. 1. Lord Hailes, from Fordun, states, that "Macbeth retreated to the fastnesses of the North, and protracted the war. His people forsook his standard. Malcolm attacked him at Lunfanan in Aberdeenshire. Abandoned by his few remaining followers, Macbeth fell, 5th of December, 1056." Annals, p. 3. Until this period the ancient kings of Scotland usually resided in the Highlands. It was this Malcolm Ceanmore who removed the capital to the Lowlands. Dumstaffnage, on the north-west coast of Argyleshire, whose ruins still remain, is supposed to have been his Highland palace. From this place, he removed his court to Scone, in the lowlands of Perthshire; an important revolution, which made the southern provinces of Scotland to assume in time so distinct a character, and such a superior civilisation as they have since displayed. XIV. the of a field of battle. "I feel disgraced that I CHAP. should have survived so many combats, to perish Edward now like a cow: clothe me in my mail, fasten on my sword, and give me my shield, and my battleaxe, that I may expire like a soldier.” 45 IN 1057, England lost Leofric, the duke of Mercia, by whose wisdom the reign of Edward was preserved from many perils and disorders, which the ambition of others would have introduced. His councils and government have been much celebrated. 46 His son Algar succeeded to his dukedom. 47 ON Siward's death, in 1055, Tostig, the brother of Harold, was appointed earl of Northumbria. By inducing the queen to cause some Northumbrian nobles to be treacherously killed; by repeating the same atrocity himself at York, and by exacting a large tribute from the county; Tostig so alienated the minds of the provincials, that they revolted in 1065, expelled him, and seized his treasures. The insurgents invited Morcar, the son of Algar, and chose him for their earl. At the head of the men of Northumberland, Morcar marched southward, and was joined by an armed force from other counties, and from Wales. Harold met him at Northampton with military array, but it was deemed prudent to comply with a request so powerfully supported; Morcar was confirmed in the earldom, and the laws of 45 Rad. Dic. 477. 46 Flor. Wig. 419. Ingulf, 66. 47 Leofric had another son, named Hereward, whose life seemed devoted to the task of supplying incidents to the genius of romance and heroic song.-See a further account of him in the chapter on the Anglo-Saxon chivalry, in the third volume of this work. Hereward is also mentioned in the book de Pontificibus, 3 Gale, 372. Confessor. 1054. 1057. BOOK Canute were restored. Tostig fled with his wife VI. and friends to Flanders, where Baldwin entertained them. 46 Edward the Confessor. 1066. EDWARD, whose passive and peaceful disposition seems to have left his nobles to their own quarrels without any interposition from himself, soon after these transactions began to sicken. At Christmas he held his court in London, and dedicated the church of St. Peter at Westminster, which he had rebuilt. On the eve of the Epiphany his malady assumed a fatal aspect, and he was buried the day following at Westminster. 49 50 IN person, Edward was tall and well made; his hair and skin were remarkably white; his complexion rosy. His mind was gentle, if not weak; but, in general, unless acted upon by others, his disposition was well meaning. He was averse to the imposition of taxes; abstinent in his diet; and on the public feast days, though, by the care of the queen, he was sumptuously arrayed, he assumed no haughtiness of manner in his pomp. His piety was sincere and fervent. His time was chiefly divided between his prayers and hunting, to which he was greatly attached. His charities were frequent and extensive 51; and though his reign displayed no intellectual energies, and reflected no honour on his ancestry, he was so fortunate as to escape any striking disgrace. 48 See the printed Saxon Chronicle, p. 171. Flor. Wig. 427. the MS. Chronicles, Tib. B. 1. and B. 4. 49 MS. Tib. B. 1. and 4.; Flor. Wig. 427.; and Sax. Chron. 171. Both the MS. Chronicles have a long addition in Saxon, which follows his death. It begins, "Dep Espans kinge, Engla hlafond, rende forhfeste," &c. This is not in Lamb. MS. 50 Malsmb. 91. Rossi Hist. Reg. Angl. 105. 51 Malsmb. 91. His memory was canonized, and many monkish miracles have been appended to it. CHAP. XV. The Reign of HAROLD the Second, the Son of GODWIN; and the last of the ANGLO-SAXON Kings. EDWARD had intended to appoint his cousin CHAP. Edward, the son of Edmund Ironside, the successor to his crown. This prince had continued in Hungary since Canute had sought his life. Called from thence by Edward the Confessor, he came to England in 1057, but died soon after his arrival. ' XV. Harold the Second. tion be THE death of this prince confirmed in two men Competi the hopes of attaining the Anglo-Saxon sceptre. Harold, and William duke of Normandy, after Harold this event, looked forward to the splendid prize liam. with equal ardour. HAROLD had sworn to William to assist him in ascending the throne of England; but afterwards pleaded that his oaths had been extorted by irresistible force, as William, having had him in his power, compelled him to swear. This charge thus repelled, the rivals were in other respects on a level. Both claimed from Edward a gift or testamentary appointment in his favour 2; 1 Flor. Wig. 419. 2 That Harold was appointed by Edward to succeed him, is asserted or intimated by the printed Saxon Chronicle, 172. By Flor. Wig. 427. Hoveden. 447. Sim. Dun. 194. Al. Bev. 122. Malmsbury informs us that this was the statement of the English (Angli dicant a rege concessum, 93.) but he thinks it was rather the rumour of partiality than of judgment. On the other side, the Annales Margenses, p. 1.; Wike's Chron. p. 22.; Malmsb. 93. ; and the Norman writers, declare, that Edward gave the kingdom to William. The and Wil |