BoAr: FNQ: Hereward XXXI

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De Gestis Herwardi Saxonis.

XXXI.

Quomodo uxor Herwardi habitum sanctimonialem accepit in Cruland.

Interveniente autem tempore, prædicta uxor Herwardi Turfrida ab eo jam declinare inceperat, eo quod tunc sæpissime legatos cujusdam præpotentissimæ mulieris opibus susceperat, quæ fuit uxor Dolfini comitis, ut eam in conjugem acciperet exquisita licentia a rege, dum hoc solummodo verbis impetrare posset, sicut ab ore regis audierat, si pacifice vellet et ei fidelitatem facere. Hujus igitur rei gratia et specie mulieris delectatus Herwardus, assensum præbuit, quod illi formosior nec opibus pene præclarior. Quapropter missis nunciis ad regem, prædictam mulierem postulavit, atque apud regiam majestatem se velle reconciliari. Quibus gratanter susceptis diem illi statuit acceptans quæ proposcerat, subjungens diu ante se velle illum gratia recipere. Propria vero uxor Herwardi, de qua paulo ante mentionem fecimus, hac de causa in Cruland discessit, et meliorem vitam elegit velamentum sanctimonialis accipiens. Qua de causa multa incommoda ei post evenerunt, quod sapientissima erat et in necessitate magni concilii. Postea enim sicut ipse sæpe professus est, non ei sicut in tempore ejus sic prospere contigerunt multa.

The Exploits of Hereward the Saxon.

XXXI

How Hereward’s wife¹ assumed the habit of a nun at Crowland.

In the interval the wife of Hereward before-named, Turfrida, had begum to turn away from him, because he had at that time very often received messengers from a lady most powerful from her wealth, (she was the wife of Earl Dolfinus,) asking him to take her to wife after asking for license from the King, which he could obtain for the mere asking, as she had heard from the King’s own mouth, if he were peaceably disposed and were willing to give him his adherence. For this purpose, and charmed with the beauty of the lady, Hereward gave his consent, because there was no one more beautiful or comely in the realm than she, and hardly any one more eminent in wealth. Wherefore he sent messengers to the King and demanded the lady aforesaid, declaring that he was willing to be reconciled with the King’s Majesty. The King received the messengers graciously, and appointed a day for him, agreeing to what he had demanded, adding that he had for a long time wishing to receive him into his favour. But the real wife of Hereward, about whom we have just above made mention, by reason of this went to Crowland², and chose the better life, taking the veil of a nun. On this account many evils happened to him, because she was very wise and helpful in giving advice (?) at an emergency. For afterwards, as he himself often admitted, many things happened not so fortunately as in the time of his success.

Commentary.

1. See Chapter X.

2. Unlike the abbey of the Gilbertine Order, established about sixty years later at Sempringham, Croyland was a Benedictine abbey and appears to have housed only men. The present text’s information on this point needs verifying but may indicate that in the immediate post-Conquest period there was a house for nuns there too. There is a feminine version of the Rule from the eleventh or twelfth century. If this story were just invention, neither the contemporaries of Leofric Deacon nor of Hugh Candius, in Bourne or Peterborough would have been so gullible as to have believed that a woman became a nun in an abbey full of men. Gilbert had trouble in getting his idea of the double house accepted in around 1130, even with a stone wall down the middle of his abbey church. See the history of double monasteries, Abbey of Croyland and Order of Gilbertines on the New Advent site.

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