Bourne Archive: FNQ: Hereward XXI
http:// boar.org.uk/ariwxo3FNQsupXXI.htm Latest edit 25 Apr 2010.
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The Bourne Archive
FNQ
This
thread begins with the title
page
De
Gestis Herwardi Saxonis.
XXI.
Quomodo rex aggressus est expugnare insulam, ubi pene
totum suum exercitum perdidit, quum nullus præter
unum militem fortem in eam ingressus sit.
Postquam ergo rex1 ista
cognovit, nimium est præ ira commotus, et, gravi indignatione extimulatus, vehementius aggressus est expugnare insulam, verum omnem suum
ad Alrehede2 amovit exercitum, [ubi] minus aquis et palude præcingitur : tantum latitudo ibi quatuor stadiorum extenditur3. Ubi adductis instrumentis
et structuris4 lignorum et lapidum et ex omni genere struis, aggregationem in palude, viam licet nimis sibi
perinutilem et angustam, straverunt, ad magnum quippe flumen5 apud
prædictum locum, silicet Alrehede, etiam in aqua maximas arbores et
trabes conjunctas collocaverunt,
subterius connexis pellibus bidentium integre et versipelles6 excoriatis et aere plene infusis, ut onus supereuntium melius sustentaretur et pondus.
Quo facto, tanta multitudo irruens super congressa est,
inter alia auro et argento sitabundi
quod in insula non parum putabatur
absconsum, quatenus illi qui ante festinantes processerant cum ipsa via quam fecerant demersi
sunt, et qui in medio comitatu
erant in palude aquosa et profunda etiam absorpti sunt. Pauci quidem et ex his qui retro sequuti sunt, pene
egressis et projectis armis, ex unda volutantes per lutum7 evaserunt. Sic ergo, nemine vix persequente illos, in palude et aquis innumerabiles perierunt, ex quibus isti usque
in hodiernum diem multi adhuc
de profundis illarum aquarum
in armis putrefactis abstrahuntur. Quod nonnunquam ipsi vidimus8. Et ex illis omnibus de quibus supra mentionem fecimus, nec unus quidem in insulam ingressus est præter unum insignem militem fortuiter, Deda9 nomine, qui ante omnes processit, nec aliquis ex insulanis saltem plaga percussus
est. Fecerant enim eis quidam et acervationem cespitum super ripam prædicti fluminis ante muralia et propugnacula, nec non
a dextris et a sinistris ponentes insidias. Prædictus quoque rex hæc omnia
etiam eminus considerans, vidit videlicet ubinam sui ante cum in
palude et aqua absorpti sunt, unde ex alte
cordis dolore ingemiscens cum suis paucissimis
qui adhuc supererant ad numerum tantorum qui demersi sunt discessit,
omni spe deposita ulterius debellare insulam. Tamen custodiam ibi et in circuitu milites constituit, ne
liberos exitus ad devastandam
provinciam haberent.
The Exploits of Hereward the Saxon.
XXI.
How the King
attempted to
take the Isle, where he nearly lost his entire army ; while no man, except one brave knight, entered it.
And so after the
King1 heard of these things, he was
excessively angry, and impelled by great indignation, urgently attempted to
take the Isle ; but he moved all his army to Alrehede2,
where it was not so wholly surrounded by waters and swamp : the breadth of the
position extended only four furlongs3. After
bringing instruments and engines4 of logs and stones, and piles of all
sorts, they constructed a causeway in the swamp, though it was comparatively
useless and narrow, near to a great river5
by the aforesaid place, namely Alrehede : they also
put into the water very large trees and beams bound together, and beneath them
sheep-skins tied together, turned6 after
flaying and inflated with air, so that the weight of men going over it might be
better borne. When this was done, so great a multitude rushed and came together
on it, eager, among other things, for the gold and silver which was thought to
be hidden in plenty in the Isle, with the result that those men who in their
hurry had taken the lead were drowned together with the road itself that they
had made ; and those who were in the middle of the
company also were swallowed up in the watery and deep swamp. A few indeed of
those who followed last with the loss of their arms, escaped with difficulty,
tumbling out of the water through the sand7.
And so, though hardly a man pursued them, they perished in great numbers in the
waters and in the swamp ; and of them many, up to this
very day, are drawn out from the depths of those waters, in rotten armour. And
this we have sometimes ourselves seen8. And
of all those of whom we have above made mention, not one got into the Isle,
except by chance a single eminent knight, Dada9
by name, who went in the very front ; but no man of
the Isle was caught in the snare, for some men had made a heap of sods on the
bank of the river in front of the bulwarks and ramparts, laying ambushes on the
right and on the left. And the King observing all these things from a distance,
saw how his men in front were swallowed up in the swamp and in the water ; and groaning from deep heartfelt sorrow with those
of his men who still survived, very few compared with the number of those that
were drowned, departed, laying aside all hope of making any further attack on
the Isle. But still he put a guard on there, and soldiers round about, lest they should have free access to lay waste the
district.
Commentary.
2. Aldreth: the village is on the southern extremity of the Isle
of Ely at grid reference TL4473, in the
south-west of the Isle. William was presumably on the mainland facing it, in
the vicinity of Belsar’s Hill and Hempstals
Fen. TL4270 to TL4471 (OS Landranger 154)
3. As
translated, this is 805 metres or half a mile. A stadium was a race-course but also a distance of about 600 feet
which is about 183 metres. The army was therefore on a front of about 730 m. (Langenscheidt)
4. ↑ Here, the word is used in an old way –
devices produced by ingenuity, though when discussing medieval warfare, ‘siege
engines’ is the term used for the equipment today. Strictly, the Latin
translates as ‘Having brought there tools, structures of timber and of
stones, and heaps of every kind, they laid down a causeway in the fen ...’ Thus,
the structures of timber may have been brought in ready-assembled so that Sweeting’s view of them as (siege) engines would be
reasonable. However, this is not likely in the case of the stones. Either the stone and the timber structures were separate or
they were composite and largely, assembled on the site.
5. The
River Great Ouse, which at that time passed to the south, east and north of the
Isle; from Earith to Wisbech.
6. Versipelles would make better sense
without the final s.
7. Per lutum would be
better translated as ‘through the mire’, ‘through the mud’ or ‘through the
clay’, rather than ‘through the sand’. (Langenscheidt)
8. This
reads as though Hugh Candidus is not translating Leofric the Deacon’s damaged
English text but summarizing what he sees as sufficiently common knowledge in
his own time, as not to need further explanation. This would mean that people
reporting a hundred years after the event had seen these remains in their
lifetimes. It is quite reasonable to think that skeletons and armour, preserved
in the peat would be recognizable.
9. Here,
Miller’s Latin calls him Deda but he is Dada in both Latin and
English, in Chapter XXII.
Top of the text. Top of the English text Contents Chapter XXII