Bourne Archive: FNQ: Hereward VII

http://boar.org.uk/ariwxo3FNQsupVII.htm Latest edit 6 Dec 2010.

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De Gestis Herwardi Saxonis.

VII.

Uti Naufragium pertulit de Hibernia reversus et in Flandria iterum tempestate dejectus ibi nomen mutavit.

Igitur Herwardus visitare parentes¹ ac patrem* et matrem animo valde accensus, duas naves a rege armis et omni cum navali² apparatu onustas tandem obtinuit, licet multum nimis ut illa in patria commaneret ipse venerabilis rex resisteret, accepta una de neptibus ejus in conjugem, vel filia cujuscumque vellet divitis terræ ipsius in matrimonio et terra. Quibus non acquievit antequam a paterna patria si reverteretur. Sed ascensa navi, tempestate ventorum ad Orcadem appulit insulam, ubi in littore maris unam perdidit navem³. Hinc inde per turbinem maris ejectus iterum in Flandriam secundum Bertinum⁴ naufragium pertulit. At comes terræ illius Manasar⁵ vocatus nomine et nobiliores patriæ illuc mittentes coram omnibus illos perduxerunt, præcursores exercitus alicujus istos æstimantes aut potius exploratores patriæ, armamenta navis et viros præclaros armisque ornatos dum conspiceret. Verum mox interrogatur genus et patriam ac nomen et causam adventus. Quibus respondit Herwardus, ex Anglorum gente originem duxisse, et in multis locis ac terris armis forte serviturum vel potius negotiaturum esse, seu qualicumque arte sibi fortuna tribueret, prosecuturum, et ex nomine Haraldus, in illis regionibus tempestate de Hibernia compulsus, ac naufragium ibi perpessus. Præcepit enim ut nullus e suis nomen Herwardi⁶ profiteretur vel dignitatem vel magnanimitatem promeret. Tandem ipsum cum suis honeste interdum prædictus comes custodire [?custodiri] jubet, quis ipse vel unde sit dubitans.

The Exploits of Hereward the Saxon.

VII.

How he endured shipwreck on his return from Ireland, and in Flanders, being a second time overwhelmed by a storm, he there changed his name.

And how Hereward much inflamed with a desire of visiting his dependants ¹ and his father* and mother, at last obtained from the king two ships fitted out with arms and all naval ² equipment, although the aged king himself long objected, so that he might remain in that country and take one of his grand-daughters in marriage, or the daughter of any rich man that he liked of that land, and receive a grant of land. But Hereward would not accept these offers before he returned from his own country. Having embarked he was driven by a storm to the Orkneys ³. [Where, on the sea shore, he lost a ship] And being driven hence by a hurricane to Flanders, he a second time suffered shipwreck near Bertinum ⁴. But the count of that land, by name Manasar ⁵, and the nobles of the country, sending to the place, led them out before all, regarding them as the precursors of some army, or rather spies of the country, when they saw the equipment and the splendid men and that they were all armed. But soon he was asked his family and country and name and the cause of his arrival. Hereward replied, that he was of the race of the English, and that he was going to serve perchance as a soldier in many places and lands, or rather was going to do business, or would pursue any profession that fortune might assign to him, and that his name was Harold, and that he had been driven to those regions by a storm from Ireland and that he had there suffered shipwreck. For he gave orders that no one of his men should utter the name of Hereward ⁶, or should disclose his rank or dignity. At length the aforesaid Count orders him and his men for a time to be kept in honourable custody, doubting who he was or whence he came.

Commentary

* [Sweeting’s footnote] Qy. patriam. His father was dead : see § 5.

Leofric died in September 1057 so, allowing time for the military expedition of Chapter VI, this journey is likely to have been undertaken in the winter of 1057-58 or the spring of 1058. Perhaps the season accounts for the weather. However, there is an indication in Chapter VIII (note3) that events were more slow-moving and that Hereward arrived in Flanders in 1060.

In keeping with the Scandinavian sea routes, in heading for his Mercian home, Hereward passed from Ireland via Orkney. Coventry was a centre of Leofric’s estates and may have been more easily reached by way of the Mersey. The northern sea route might have made more sense if he was aiming for Bourne, a centre of estates in south Lincolnshire, in eastern Mercia. The story makes it clear that he did go to Bourne eventually. It is also possible that he had to choose a route on which a ship would be travelling.

However, Hereward could not arrive openly in England as his state of exile made him an outlaw in that country. It may have been that he was heading for south-east Scotland, to travel secretly overland to Bourne as he ultimately did from a landing somewhere in southern of England. Once he had been blown past the Scottish coast, landing without precautions against being detected would be dangerous. So, since an eleventh century ship would have been unable to beat back against even the dying remains of the storm, he continued past England, to a landfall in western Flanders. In this chapter he and his companions are clearly in moderately good order on landing, with their arms and armour. They have not been reduced to crawling out of the surf.

1. ↑ Parens is the present participle of pareo. Used as an adjective, it means ‘obedient’. In the masculine plural, as here (parentes), and regarded as a noun, it means ‘subjects’ [Langenscheidt & Collins]. Sweeting has translated it as ‘dependants’ but it might equally be seen as ‘supporters’. However, if we are looking at the third declension noun parens, ‘visitare parentes’ means ‘to visit (his) parents, relations or kindred’. Within the range of the meaning of Ac patrem et matrem, the most appropriate translation would be ‘and especially his father and mother’[Langenscheidt], though as Sweeting reminds us (*), this journey arose from Hereward’s having reliably been told that his father was dead.

2. ↑ This is a good translation provided the modern association of the word ‘naval’ with marine warfare is forgotten and it is remembered that navali and naval mean; ‘pertaining to a ship’.

3. ↑ They set out with two ships and the Latin tells us that one was lost on the coast of Orkney ‘ubi in littore maris unam perdidit navem’. Sweeting missed this in his translation so the double shipwreck mentioned in the heading summary and in connection with the arrival in Flanders is not Ruïnes van de Sint-Bertinusabdij (13 juli 2005) explained.

4. ↑ It is tempting to think of ‘in Flandriam secundum Bertinum naufragium pertulit’ as ‘near Bertinum, in secondary Flanders, he suffered shipwreck’. This might be a way of describing their arrival in the county of Guînes, regarded as subsidiary to Flanders. This would fit with the supposed (but anachronistic) interest of Robert of Manassès and the later rivalry between the counts of Flanders and Guînes. Unfortunately for this view, ‘secundum’ is in its neuter form so agrees with ‘naufragium’. The meaning is ‘near Bertunum, in Flanders, he suffered a second shipwreck’.

Bertinum: this is written by a man of religious vocation so we might expect him to tend to take his bearings from religious landmarks. This is likely to be the place we know as Saint-Omer. The seventh-century saint, St. Bertin founded an abbey here under the direction of his bishop, St. Audomare (Saint Omer). The picture (with thanks to Wikimedia) shows the ruins of its later church building.

5. ↑ Manasar: Saint-Omer was on the boundary between the counties of Flanders and Guînes. In 1058, the Count of Guînes was probably Eustace I but later in the century, there was a Robert Manassès de Guînes. He was born about 1080 and was still alive in 1140. He was Count of Guînes from to 1091 to 1137, a period during which Leofric the Deacon was writing his version of the Hereward story. See a list of the Counts of Guînes. In Chapter VIII Hereward seems to be associating with the Flemish side in a war between Flanders and Guînes so there does seem to be some confusion, if not in the writer’s mind then in the reader’s.

6. ↑ Here, Hereward is showing the caution which would have been necessary in England but it is interesting that he should have found it wise also in Flanders. Possibly, he wanted to be sure that none of Gilbert of Ghent’s household had been speaking ill of him, back in their homeland. In Chapter III he left Gilbert’s house in Scotland, because staying had become too dangerous.