登陆注册
20408300000018

第18章 ENGLAND UNDER HAROLD HAREFOOT,HARDICANUTE,AND EDWA

Accordingly,he thought the time was come for fitting out a great expedition against the Norman-loving King.With it,he sailed to the Isle of Wight,where he was joined by his son Harold,the most gallant and brave of all his family.And so the father and son came sailing up the Thames to Southwark;great numbers of the people declaring for them,and shouting for the English Earl and the English Harold,against the Norman favourites!

The King was at first as blind and stubborn as kings usually have been whensoever they have been in the hands of monks.But the people rallied so thickly round the old Earl and his son,and the old Earl was so steady in demanding without bloodshed the restoration of himself and his family to their rights,that at last the court took the alarm.The Norman Archbishop of Canterbury,and the Norman Bishop of London,surrounded by their retainers,fought their way out of London,and escaped from Essex to France in a fishing-boat.The other Norman favourites dispersed in all directions.The old Earl and his sons (except Sweyn,who had committed crimes against the law)were restored to their possessions and dignities.Editha,the virtuous and lovely Queen of the insensible King,was triumphantly released from her prison,the convent,and once more sat in her chair of state,arrayed in the jewels of which,when she had no champion to support her rights,her cold-blooded husband had deprived her.

The old Earl Godwin did not long enjoy his restored fortune.He fell down in a fit at the King's table,and died upon the third day afterwards.Harold succeeded to his power,and to a far higher place in the attachment of the people than his father had ever held.By his valour he subdued the King's enemies in many bloody fights.He was vigorous against rebels in Scotland-this was the time when Macbeth slew Duncan,upon which event our English Shakespeare,hundreds of years afterwards,wrote his great tragedy;and he killed the restless Welsh King GRIFFITH,and brought his head to England.

What Harold was doing at sea,when he was driven on the French coast by a tempest,is not at all certain;nor does it at all matter.That his ship was forced by a storm on that shore,and that he was taken prisoner,there is no doubt.In those barbarous days,all shipwrecked strangers were taken prisoners,and obliged to pay ransom.So,a certain Count Guy,who was the Lord of Ponthieu where Harold's disaster happened,seized him,instead of relieving him like a hospitable and Christian lord as he ought to have done,and expected to make a very good thing of it.

But Harold sent off immediately to Duke William of Normandy,complaining of this treatment;and the Duke no sooner heard of it than he ordered Harold to be escorted to the ancient town of Rouen,where he then was,and where he received him as an honoured guest.

Now,some writers tell us that Edward the Confessor,who was by this time old and had no children,had made a will,appointing Duke William of Normandy his successor,and had informed the Duke of his having done so.There is no doubt that he was anxious about his successor;because he had even invited over,from abroad,EDWARD THE OUTLAW,a son of Ironside,who had come to England with his wife and three children,but whom the King had strangely refused to see when he did come,and who had died in London suddenly (princes were terribly liable to sudden death in those days),and had been buried in St.Paul's Cathedral.The King might possibly have made such a will;or,having always been fond of the Normans,he might have encouraged Norman William to aspire to the English crown,by something that he said to him when he was staying at the English court.But,certainly William did now aspire to it;and knowing that Harold would be a powerful rival,he called together a great assembly of his nobles,offered Harold his daughter ADELE in marriage,informed him that he meant on King Edward's death to claim the English crown as his own inheritance,and required Harold then and there to swear to aid him.Harold,being in the Duke's power,took this oath upon the Missal,or Prayer-book.It is a good example of the superstitions of the monks,that this Missal,instead of being placed upon a table,was placed upon a tub;which,when Harold had sworn,was uncovered,and shown to be full of dead men's bones-bones,as the monks pretended,of saints.This was supposed to make Harold's oath a great deal more impressive and binding.As if the great name of the Creator of Heaven and earth could be made more solemn by a knuckle-bone,or a double-tooth,or a finger-nail,of Dunstan!

Within a week or two after Harold's return to England,the dreary old Confessor was found to be dying.After wandering in his mind like a very weak old man,he died.As he had put himself entirely in the hands of the monks when he was alive,they praised him lustily when he was dead.They had gone so far,already,as to persuade him that he could work miracles;and had brought people afflicted with a bad disorder of the skin,to him,to be touched and cured.This was called 'touching for the King's Evil,'which afterwards became a royal custom.You know,however,Who really touched the sick,and healed them;and you know His sacred name is not among the dusty line of human kings.

同类推荐
  • 律抄手决

    律抄手决

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。
  • 花间集新注

    花间集新注

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。
  • 一报还一报

    一报还一报

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。
  • 台湾杂咏合刻

    台湾杂咏合刻

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。
  • 佛说弟子死复生经

    佛说弟子死复生经

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。
热门推荐
  • 有个女鬼伴身旁

    有个女鬼伴身旁

    四九城里出了名“无所不能”的私生子,步家七少在救了一个小女孩之后发现自己的生活完全变了样。身边多了一个变化无常的暴力萝莉小鬼身体里还多了一个异常吝啬的小鬼系统最最重要的是,步七发现自己居然变成了一个不人不鬼的存在,一个全新的世界在步七眼前逐渐掀开了神秘的面纱。
  • tfboys之欣心相知

    tfboys之欣心相知

    那是一个盛夏,那是我与他的初见,只是那一眼,我便爱上了他,从此我为他疯狂······
  • 东茶记

    东茶记

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。
  • 向南向北少年不归

    向南向北少年不归

    一群即将追梦的孩子们,将要分离.花开花落又是一年。又是一个夏天又是一个毕业季。当清晨的第一缕阳光射向大地。我不自觉的向旁边望去。望着初三不可能在全的班级。想着我们的对面即将是一座空楼,心中的伤感油然而生。明天他们都会奔赴考场,去见证这些年来的努力,结束三个春秋的初中生活。那幢楼里已没有了平日活力四射的情景。或是低头奋战。或是环顾四周。想记下这校园美好的一切。仿佛昨天还在打闹,突然想起那句歌词,“你总说毕业遥遥无期转眼就各奔东西。”是啊,还有一年我也将离开这个陪伴我三个春秋的校园。莳花易谢,光阴难留。时光若水。就是这样天下没有不散的宴席。p
  • 最强狂暴系统

    最强狂暴系统

    左手诛仙剑,右手灭神刀。身穿九龙甲,脚踏至尊鞋。张天昊无意间穿越真武大陆。觉醒最强狂暴系统。他的口号是,打爆各种天才,专治各种不服。醒掌天下权,醉卧美人膝。收尽天下美女,做这个大陆最强男人。不服,统统踩爆。
  • 妖孽别跑:女皇陛下万万岁

    妖孽别跑:女皇陛下万万岁

    什么叫运气好?买本书都能穿越就叫运气好!什么叫运气差?穿越之后宫斗宅斗一起来就叫运气差!什么叫桃花运?走到哪里都有美男环绕就叫桃花运!什么叫桃花劫?因为美男无数次险象迭生就叫桃花劫!什么叫女皇养成手册?把一个单纯善良的萌妹子变成一个坐拥天下高冷狠绝的女皇就叫女皇养成手册!小剧场~苏颜一直都很好奇这个总以天下为重的妖孽为什么会在她与天下之间选择了她。苏颜:“你老实回答我,我和天下到底谁重要?”某妖孽:“江山如画,不及美人如花。”苏颜(黑了脸色):“说,如花是谁?!”某妖孽:“………”
  • 萤火之森

    萤火之森

    你们都看过漫画的啦,我只是写成小说罢了。
  • 中国寓言

    中国寓言

    寓言是文学作品的一种体裁,通常采取比喻性的故事寄寓意味深长的道理,集说理、劝诫、嘲讽、讽刺、诙谐于一体,给人以启示。同时还用短小精悍的话把十分深奥的道理讲得通俗易懂,使得读者喜闻乐见,容易接受。
  • 神魔之墓

    神魔之墓

    神魔之墓本为上古神魔之战时陨落的神魔埋葬之所,风云突变,将诸神魔的尸体分列两旁,并幻化神魔法相。林府废人林言被传送至此,治好了体内隐疾。且看他如何强者归来并纵横天下。
  • 契约达令

    契约达令

    她是“契约达令”的受约者,她说了算,她叫艾莎。在她的身边,有青梅竹马的蒋俊,乐于助人的崔凌月,单纯阳光的丘少宇以及难以捉摸的北奕辰。是他成为她的摇钱树,还是她成为他的囊中物呢?当一切都向“钱”看齐的元气少女遇到世上最大的困难时,他们会有怎样的结局呢?