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Read Ebook: Master Wace His Chronicle of the Norman Conquest From the Roman De Rou by Wace Taylor Edgar Translator
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Ebook has 446 lines and 53946 words, and 9 pages
HOW WILLIAM BECAME DUKE; AND HOW HIS BARONS REVOLTED AGAINST HIM
HOW THE KING OF FRANCE CAME; AND THE BATTLE THAT WAS FOUGHT AT VAL DES DUNES
ILLUSTRATION--Group from the Bayeux Tapestry, p. 17.
HOW CANUTE DIED, AND ALFRED FELL BY TREASON; AND HOW EDWARD AFTERWARDS BECAME KING
THE REVOLT OF WILLIAM OF ARQUES; AND HOW HE AND THE KING OF FRANCE WERE FOILED BY DUKE WILLIAM
HOW THE KING OF FRANCE INVADED NORMANDY, AND WAS BEATEN AT MORTEMER
ILLUSTRATION--Guy count of Ponthieu, from the Bayeux Tapestry, p. 52.
HOW THE KING OF FRANCE CAME AGAIN AGAINST DUKE WILLIAM, AND WAS DEFEATED AT VARAVILLE
ILLUSTRATION--Group from the Bayeux Tapestry, p. 57.
HOW WILLIAM PROSPERED, AND WENT TO ENGLAND TO VISIT KING EDWARD; AND WHO GODWIN WAS
OF HAROLD'S JOURNEY TO NORMANDY; AND WHAT HE DID THERE
HOW KING EDWARD DIED, AND HAROLD WAS CROWNED IN HIS STEAD; AND HOW DUKE WILLIAM TOOK COUNSEL AGAINST HIM
HOW THE BARONS MET, AND WHAT AID THEY AGREED TO GIVE
HOW THE NORMAN HOST MET AT ST. VALERY, AND SAILED THENCE
HOW THE DUKE AND HIS HOST LANDED NEAR HASTINGS, AND MADE THEMSELVES A FORT
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
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, p. 148.
HOW EACH HOST PASSED THE NIGHT, AND MADE READY FOR BATTLE; AND HOW THE DUKE EXHORTED HIS MEN
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, p. 166.
HOW THE MEN OF ENGLAND MADE READY, AND WHO THEY WERE
ILLUSTRATION--Saxon armour,--compiled from various sources in Planch?'s 'British Costume,'--p. 173.
HOW THE NORMAN COMPANIES MOVED TO THE ATTACK
HOW TAILLEFER SANG, AND THE BATTLE BEGAN
HOW THE ARCHERS SMOTE HAROLD'S EYE; AND WHAT STRATAGEM THE NORMANS USED
ILLUSTRATION--Engagement between the Normans and English, from the Bayeux Tapestry, p. 196.
THE ROLL OF THE NORMAN CHIEFS; AND THEIR DEEDS
THE ROLL OF THE NORMAN CHIEFS CONTINUED
WHAT DEEDS OF ARMS DUKE WILLIAM DID; AND HOW HAROLD WAS SLAIN AND THE ENGLISH FLED
HOW WILLIAM WAS CROWNED KING; AND HOW HE AT LAST FELL ILL AT ROUEN
HOW WILLIAM DIED, AND WAS BURIED AT CAEN
ILLUSTRATION--St. Stephen's, Caen, p. 277.
CONCLUSION.
KING WILLIAM'S CHARACTER, FROM THE SAXON CHRONICLE
INDEX
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; ; 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.
In speaking of the numbers which composed William's invading fleet, Wace says,
--jo o? dire a mon pere, Bien m'en sovint, mais varlet ere;
and it has been in consequence supposed that he intended to represent his father as a cotemporary and even an eye witness of the expedition. It will, however, be easily seen that this is extremely improbable. Wace lived and wrote as late as at least 1173, and could hardly have been born earlier than the commencement of the eleventh century. The assumption that his father was adult in 1066 would give to the latter an improbable age at his son's birth, and a very great one at the time when the 'varlet' could have listened to the tale of his parent's experience. The probability, therefore, is, that Wace only meant to refer to his father as a suitable authority, conveying information which he might easily have derived from living among those who actually shared in the expedition. It is clear, however, that in another place, p. 115, he directly asserts his own communication with persons adult at the conquest; for, in speaking of the comet that preceded it, he refers to the report of eye-witnesses as his personal authority:
His chronicle continues down to 1106; and ends in apparent ill humour at Benoit de Sainte-More's being employed upon a similar task. His concluding words are,
Ci faut li livre maistre Wace, Qu'in velt avant fere--s'in face!
He is reported to have died in England as late as 1184. He certainly wrote after 1173, for his ascending chronicle of the dukes of Normandy speaks of events which occurred in that year.
The earlier portions of his chronicle, like the pages of Ordericus Vitalis, teem with wonders. His principal sources of these materials were Dudo de St. Quintin, and William of Jumieges. But, as M. Guizot observes in vindication of the latter, the reproach is certainly not, that having truth and error within his reach he selected the latter, but that with no choice about the matter he used the only materials that were in his power. When he reached the era of the conqueror, more complete and authentic information was within his reach; and the perusal of this later portion of his work will perhaps leave no unfavorable impression as to the judgment and fidelity with which he has used his materials, especially with regard to the narrative of the great english expedition. There is an obvious desire to represent the truth, and to state the doubt when certainty was not attainable; and it may not escape the reader, that though Wace is far from wanting in poetic spirit, he sometimes rejects precisely those ornaments of his story which were most attractive for a poet's purpose, and for the use of which grave example might be pleaded.
He is particularly interesting whenever his subject leads to local description applicable to his more immediate neighbourhood. From that part of Normandy in particular his list of the chiefs present at the battle of Hastings has its principal materials. The allusions, in which he abounds, to the personal history and conduct of many of these leaders give great value to this portion of his chronicle. Anachronisms no doubt are easily to be discovered, from which none of the chroniclers of the day were or could be expected to be exempt. His christian names are sometimes incorrect; an error which he certainly might have avoided had he followed the safer policy of Brompton, who covers his inability to enter upon that branch of his work, by roundly asserting that truth was unattainable.
If Wace is followed on the map, it will readily be seen to what extent the fiefs in his own district of Normandy predominate in his catalogue. He even commemorates the communes of neighbouring towns; and the arrangement throughout is determined by circumstances of propinquity, by rhyme, or other casual association.
But with all the drawbacks which may be claimed, Wace's roll, partial and confined in extent as it is, must always be considered an interesting and valuable document. Even if it be taken as the mere gossip and tradition of the neighbourhood, it belongs to a period so little removed from that of the immediate actors, that it cannot be read with indifference. It bears a character of general probability in the main, of simplicity and of absence of any purpose of deception. It puts together much local and family information, gathered by an intelligent associate of those whose means of knowledge was recent and direct; and it may be read, so far as it goes, with far less distrust, and is in fact supported by more external authority both positive and negative, than those lists which were once of high pretension, but are now universally abandoned as fabricated or corrupt.
The narrative of the english expedition is the main object of the present volume: but it seemed desirable to prefix the leading passages of William's early history; not only for the purpose of introducing many of the persons with whom the reader is afterwards to become better acquainted, but with the view of exhibiting a lively picture of the difficulties attending William's opening career--of the energy with which he triumphed over his enemies, and directed his turbulent subjects to useful purposes--and of the hazards he incurred, in attempting so bold an expedition in the presence of such dangerous neighbours. The narratives of the revolt quelled at Valdesdunes, and of the affairs of Arques, Mortemer, and Varaville, are among the most picturesque and graphic portions of Wace's chronicle, and derive much interest from their bearing upon local history and description.
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