Bourne Archive: FNQ: Hereward XXVII
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De Gestis Herwardi Saxonis.
XXVII.
Ubi Herwardus sic coarctatus est quod propriis manibus suum optimum equum
occiderit, et quomodo porro exercitum quinque provinciarum devicerit.
In prædicto
mare nunc Herwardus a gravi persequutione commoratus, a comprovincialibus et a
quibusdam regalibus graviter obsessus est, ubi sic coarctatus est quod propriis
manibus suum optimum equum de seipso desperans occiderat, ne aliquis
imperfectus1 gloriaretur se adquivisse equum
Herwardi. Ac denique de isto periculo
tandem cum suis profugam2 evadens, in Brunneswald3
transivit, et similiter in magnis silvis Northamtunæ4
exhabitavit, terram igne et ferro devastans.
Qua de re denique ex jussu regis coacto simul exercitu istarum novem*
provinciarum, Northamtunæ, Cantebrigiæ, Lincolniæ, Holandiæ, Leycestræ,
Hunteduniæ, et de Warwic, qui aggressi sunt pariter statuto die cum militari
agmine capere Herwardum et suos, undique in silvis juxta Burch5 eum
requirentes, ubi tunc temporis commoratus est, et ibi vallatus hostibus quum
effugere manum eorum omnino tempus non haberet, in remotioribus partibus
silvarum provinciæ ipsius hinc inde decessit, expectans suos et amicos, pro
quibus ad auxilium suum miserat. Interim
ergo transverso modo pedibus equorum suorum ferrum fecit imponere6, ut
[non] perciperetur e vestigio eorum ubi pergere vellent aut ubi essent. Hoc etiam amicis et commilitonibus mandavit pro quibus tunc miserat, ut sic facerent. Quibus quidem unus
post unum prout poterant venientibus,
quum jam Herwardus intellexisset amplius non esse locum divertendi, quod bellum imminebat ei in circuitu, bonum ei visum
est inire contra eos modicum certamen ad persequendum eos a tergo vel ante aut a latere eorum, antequam præparentur ad bellum quum jam centum electi milites essent et ducenti robustissimi viri cum eo, præter balistarios
paucos et sagittarios. Habebat enim tunc Herwardus
illis diebus forte multos tam ex alienigenis
quam ex provincialibus qui
ad eum propter exercendam militiam venerant et in ea instruendi, relictis etiam dominis et amicis audita fama suorum confugerant, et nonnullis ex eis regis curialibus, ut experirentur an forte vera essent quæ de eo
audierant, ex fide et sacramento ab Herwardo tamen caute susceptis. Nam maxima multitudo
militum et peditum illarum provinciarum ibi erat, et Turoldus abbas de Burch7 et
Ivo Taillebois ducebant exercitum regis ut omnes neci traderent.
‡ Tum Herwardus et sui ob multitudinem non exterriti, et licet undique graviter obsessi, præparaverunt se et omnes suos sagitarios et balistarios inter arbores statuentes
absconderunt, et telis prosequentes desuper clam inter robora lignorum statuerunt ut subtus bellantes in his protegerentur et sic defensarent,
ne nimis super illos multimode irruentes ferre manus eorum non possent. Ipsi vero sub
saltu nemoris eminus progressi sunt in protectione sagittariorum suorum, Herwardo semper et ad cuncta præeunte. Quem statim sequebatur Rahenaldus dapifer de Rameseia et
ad cuncta signifer ejusdem collega exercitus, aliique præclarissimi milites a dextris et a sinistris directi consortiti, quorum enim præclarissimorum nomina et virtutem in tam præclaro certamine contra tantos pauci ob memoriam dignum duximus memorari. Horum igitur primus
et recte in militia et virtute animi prior
habendus quidam Winter nomine a sinistro
latere erat. Hi igitur
non inconsulte super equos
in primis ad percutiendum egressi essent. At in expeditione belli dum illi nimis confidentes dissociati contra in eos irruerent, primam aciem perforarunt et multos percusserunt, et sic in silvas suas damno peracto sicut in præsidio revertentes, ne nimis super eos aggressi ferre multitudinem eorum nequirent. Tamen e vestigio ad eundem illi conversi
pede tenus, sic tota die alio modo semper multoties egredientes et regredientes innumerabiles persequuti sunt, suis eos desuper telis semper protegentibus et in reversione conservantibus bene8, dum valde usque
ad nonam sic laborarent, equi adversariorum suorum et togati milites9 nimis lacesserentur, in fuga sequentes eos et armati tota
die expectarent egressuros,
castra tandem ab obsidione diverterunt10. In quos enim statim Herwardus
cum suis omnibus uno impetu
a tergo eorum veniens magnum certamen inierunt, ex quibus nonnullos quidem et majores quinque acceperunt et captos tenuerunt. Inter quos prædictus Abbas de Burch captus est et alii præclarissimi. Qui vero ex adverso erant, hoc intelligentes debellare
eos cessarunt, licet pariter congressi
essent, ne illos quos acceperant male tractarent vel occiderent. Adhuc quidem progressionis
eorum ad pugnam ut supra modum contexuimus, ultimum certamen major plaga est facta in adversariis et cædes non minima,
quo fessi valde erant a labore, et a suis castris dissociati jam reclinare inceperant.
The Exploits of
Hereward the Saxon.
XXVII
How Hereward was reduced to such
straits that he slew with his own hands his excellent horse :
and how next he overcame the army of five provinces.
Hereward, after a
period of freedom from severe pursuit in the aforesaid sea, was urgently
besieged by some of his own province and of the King’s men, and reduced to such
straits that in despair he slew with his own hands his excellent horse, so that
no man of lower rank1 should boast that he had got Hereward’s
horse. At last he escaped2 with his men
from this peril, and passed over into Brunneswald3
; and in like manner went on to dwell in the great woods of Northamptonshire4,
laying the land waste with fire and sword. Wherefore at last by the King’s
command an army was collected from these nine*
provinces, Northampton, Cambridge, Lincoln, Holland, Leicester, Huntingdon, and
Warwick, which all together on an appointed day with a host of soldiers
attempted to take Hereward and his men, searching for him all about the woods
near Bourne5, where at the time he was
staying. Hereward, surrounded by his enemies, when he had no opportunity of
escaping their hands, moved about from place to place in the more remote parts
of that district, awaiting the arrival of his men and the friends for whom he
had sent to help him. Meanwhile he caused the shoes on his horses’ feet to be
reversed6, so that it could not be discovered from
their track where they were going or where they were. He gave instructions also
to his friends and fellow soldiers for whom he had just sent, to do the same.
His friends having arrived one by one as they were able, when now Hereward had
seen that there was no place to turn to, because war was close upon him all
around, it seemed good to him to make an attack upon the enemy with a small number,
either in their rear or van, or flank, before they could be prepared for
fighting, since now there were with him a hundred picked soldiers, and two
hundred very sturdy men, besides a few slingers and archers. For as it happened
Hereward in those days had several men both foreigners and natives, who came to
him for military training, and who, in order to be instructed in warfare, had
left their masters and friends and betaken themselves to Hereward on hearing
the fame of his men : and some men came even from the
King’s own courtiers, to find out if what they had heard of him could perchance
be true ; but Hereward received these with great caution, and imposed an oath
of fidelity. For there was there a very great multitude of soldiers and
foot-soldiers of those provinces ; and Turoldus, Abbot of Burgh7,
and Ivo Taillebois were
leading the King’s army, so as to kill them all. ‡ Then Hereward and his
men, not alarmed at their numbers, and notwithstanding that they were
grievously beset on all sides, got themselves ready, and concealed all their
archers and slingers among the trees, discharging their weapons from above, and
secretly stationed themselves among the trunks of the trees, that when fighting
below they might be protected by them and so make a defence, lest they should
be unable to endure the onset when the violent rush was made upon them.** And so they advanced from cover of the thicket under
the protection of their archers, Hereward in everything always leading the way.
Immediately after him came Rahenaldus, steward of
Ramsey, who always acted as standard-bearer in Hereward’s army, and other most
renowned soldiers had positions given on right and left : the names of which
most renowned men, and their valour in so famous a contest, in memory of what a
few achieved against so many, we think it proper to record. The first then of them, and rightly held first both in knowledge of warfare
and in courage, a man named Winter, was on the left side. These had gone forth
on horseback not inconsiderately, to take the lead in the attack. But in the
enterprise while they, becoming separated from the rest, were making a rush
upon the enemy, they broke through their first line, and slew many ; and so, having inflicted some damage, returned to the
woods for cover, for fear they should be unable to withstand the host of the
enemy, if they attacked in force. But still after a time they retraced their
steps and returned, and so all day long over and over
again they came out and went back gain, attacking great numbers of the enemy,
their own friends protecting them with their weapons hurled from above, and
securing their safety when they retreated.8
While they thus strove up to the ninth hour, the horses of their adversaries as
well as the soldiers in uniform9 were
exceedingly provoked, pursuing them as they fled and waiting in arms all day
long for them to come out ; until at last they withdrew from blockading the
camp10. And then immediately Hereward with
all his men came upon them from the rear in one rush, and came to a severe
engagement, and of the enemy they captured some, including five men of great
importance, and kept them as prisoners. Among these the aforesaid Abbot of
Burgh was captured, as well as others of the greatest renown. The adversaries,
seeing this, ceased fighting, although they had got to close quarters, for fear
they would illtreat or even slay those whom they had
captured. We have previously described the extraordinary progress of their fighting : this last engagement proved a great blow and no
small destruction on the adversaries, and they were utterly worn out with it
and the fatigue, and being at a distance from their camp now began to make
their way back to it.
Commentary
* [Sweeting’s note] Novem:
but only seven are named.
** [Sweeting’s note] Grammatical construction in the
Latin quite hopeless.
[Bearing in mind the tactical situation at the
time, the Latin might be fairly translated as ‘Hereward and his men were
undaunted by the large (enemy) force, and although hard pressed on all sides,
they got ready and concealed themselves and all their archers and slingers by
positioning them among the trees; and they secretly placed those who
accompanied them (armed) with missile weapons up above in the tree tops so that
those fighting down below among the trees could be supported (by a shower of
missiles from above) and so could (i.e.
would have been given time to) adopt a defensive posture should they (i.e. those on the ground) have been
unable to withstand some powerful onset made upon them, whatever tactics had
been adopted (by the enemy).’ FWP]
1. ↑ As translated, this might be an
indication of Hereward’s rank, therefore by implication, of his father’s. An
outlaw may acquire notoriety, loyalty or affection, even power but he does not
acquire social rank of the kind implied here by the translation. So far as he
has it, he had it before his outlawry. However, the text says aliquis imperfectus,
which means something like ‘any base churl’ or ‘any scruffy lout’. It is a matter
of status rather than formal rank. Hereward would not have to be of very high
status to be above this level.
2. ↑ Profuga
(from the verb profugio)
seems to be a Mediaeval Latin noun meaning ‘flight’ or ‘fleeing’ but here it
should be in the ablative (profuga). We therefore have the translation ‘escaping by
flight’.
3. In upland Northamptonshire, between the rivers Ouse and
Nene.
4. ↑ Brunneswald (Bromswold) and
5. The
Latin says Burch, which elsewhere in this text (see note 7 below) and others,
means [Peter]borough. Where Bourne is intended, Hugh uses the word
‘Brunne’. See for example, Chapters XIV and XIX.
6. ↑ An oft-quoted trick which would not have
fooled a competent tracker for a moment. It would not in the least, have helped
the horse, though.
7. ↑ Thurold was the man from Fécamp, introduced by William I as
abbot of
8. ↑ Though the term was not coined until the early nineteenth century,
this is typical guerrilla warfare, used by weak forces against strong,
particularly where the weaker side has local support.
9. The
Latin of this part of the text is harder to follow. It includes ambiguous use
of pronouns and some obscure Middle Latin expressions. Sweeting gets the
meaning across except in two points. In Classical Rome, the toga was the
distinctive dress of a civilian. Therefore ‘togatus’ means ‘not in
military uniform’, although here, it is probably ‘without armour’; hence the
wounds suffered by the foot soldiers on the Norman side, inflicted by the
English missiles. Armour was expensive
so the ordinary soldiers probably wore a steel cap and leather jacket. The
second point is discussed under note 10.
10. Sweeting
translates ‘castra tandem ad obsidione
diverterunt’ as ‘at last they withdrew form
blockading the camp’. Since ‘the camp’ must refer to the
·
castra is accusative plural (but
singular in meaning) it would indicate motion towards and so mean ‘to their
camp’ (Sidwell
G.16);
·
Though
the root meaning of obsidio
is ‘blockade, siege’, here the context suggests ‘attempt to hem in/surround’,
then the passage can be translated as
‘they (the Normans) desisted from their attempt to hem in (the English) and
returned to their camp’. This makes good sense in the sequence of events from ‡
to the end of the chapter, which is thus:-
·
Hereward
has already hidden his knights, archers and slingers among the trees at ground
level, and concealed a party armed with some form of missile weapon up in the
tree tops.
·
The
English made an attack on the
·
The
English then made a series of hit-and-run attacks on the
·
The
Norman horses and un-armoured men were much galled by the missiles and chased
the English back to their position in the woods, where they waited the rest of
the day, still under arms, for the English to come out again.
·
But
the English failed to make another attack, so the
·
Whereupon
Hereward and the English came out and attacked the
·
The