Bourne Archive: Hereward XV

http:// boar.org.uk/ariwxo3FNQsupXV.htm Latest edit 29 Jan 2010.

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FNQ

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De Gestis Herwardi Saxonis.

XV.

Qua de re nonnulli de eo obstupefacti fugerunt, vel unde bellatores viros ei elegit.

Mane autem facto, provinciales et vicini ex facto obstupefacti mirabantur, et omnes Francigeni pene ipsius provinciæ perterriti dudum terras sibi traditas delinquentes [relinquentes] fugerunt, ne similia sibi a tanto viro, si vicinus eorum fieret, contingerent. Concives vero patriæ et sui cognati comperto de eo ad eum confluebant, congratulantes et in patriam et ad hæreditatem paternam reversum, atque monentes interdum se cautius custodire, iras regis dum ista perciperet de eo pertimescentes. Ipse vero istorum non immemor, xlix. fortissimos viros ex paterna hæreditate et cognatis ibi collucavit omni cum militaris armaturæ apparatu præditos et munitos, interdum illis paucis diebus aliquibus propinquorum, qui adhuc supererant, de suis inimicis juxta suas mansiones ultionem faciens.

XV.

For what reason some fled from him in alarm ; and whence he chose for himself men of war.

But in the morning the men of the district and the neighbours were filled with astonishment at what was done; and almost all the French of that district, in alarm abandoned the lands that had been assigned to them and fled, lest something similar should happen to them at the hands of such a man, if he should become their neighbour. But the inhabitants of the country, and his own kinsfolk having heard about him, flocked to him, congratulating him upon his return to his country and to his paternal inheritance, and advising him to guard it with caution, dreading the anger of the king when he should become acquainted with his doings. And Hereward, not unmindful of these things, established in the place 49 of the bravest men from his paternal inheritance, and from his kinsfolk, equipped with all the requirements of military armour, while he himself for a few days would proceed to take vengeance upon some of his enemies in the neighbourhood, who still remained at their own abodes.

Commentary.

Here as in several other places, Hereward’s inheritance is specifically mentioned. Neither Hugh’s text nor Sweeting’s translation attempts to hide Hereward’s interest in his family’s property behind any nineteenth century idea of Anglo-Saxon nationalism. They do however; fairly explicitly draw attention to the loyalty of his family’s supporting people and by implication, Hereward’s loyalty to them. They needed each other in order to carve out a living space for themselves.

What is said here is quite consistent with the idea that Edwin, Earl of Mercia and Morcar, Earl of Northumbria, two sons of Hereward’s deceased elder half brother, Ælfgar, joined him in the forthcoming campaign leading to the Siege of Ely.

Contents Chapter XVI