BoAr:
FNQ: Hereward XXI
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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 rex ista cognovit, nimium est præ ira commotus, et, gravi indignatione
extimulatus, vehementius aggressus est expugnare insulam, verum omnem suum ad
Alrehede amovit exercitum, [ubi] minus aquis et palude præcingitur :
tantum latitudo ibi quatuor stadiorum extenditur. Ubi adductis instrumentis et
structuris lignorum et lapidum et ex omni genere struis, aggregationem in
palude, viam licet nimis sibi perinutilem et angustam, straverunt, ad magnum
quippe flumen apud prædictum locum, silicet Alrehede, etiam in aqua maximas
arbores et trabes conjunctas collocaverunt, subterius connexis pellibus
bidentium integre et versipelles 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 lutum6 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 vidimus. Et ex illis omnibus de quibus supra mentionem fecimus, nec unus
quidem in insulam ingressus est præter unum insignem militem fortuiter, Deda
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 spedeposita 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, turned 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 sand6.
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 seen7. And of all those of whom
we have above made mention, not one got into the Isle, except by chance a
single eminent knight, Dada 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 an extremity of the Isle
of Ely at grid reference TL4473. 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.
5. The River
Great Ouse, which at that time passed to the south, east and north of the Isle;
from Earith to Wisbech.
6. Per lutum would be better translated as
‘through the mire’, ‘through the mud’ or ‘through the clay’, rather than
‘through the sand’. (Langenscheidt)
7. This
reads as though Hugh Candidus is summarizing the reports of his informants.
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.
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