Bourne Archive: FNQ: Hereward XXXV
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FNQ
This thread begins with the title page
De
Gestis Herwardi Saxonis.
XXXV.
Quomodo
Herwardus accusabatur, unde custodiæ tradebatur ab Roberto de Horepol.
Ista
ergo dum ad notitiam quorundam inimicorum ejus pervenissent, boni illius
invidentes, curiam adeunt multa de eo regi et non vera afferentes, ac illum
dolo commonefacientes, ne amplius tales viros quasi proditores regni sui et
inimicos juxta se haberet, nec in curia sua amodo recipi debere, nec ad
concordiam, sed magis pœnis tradi, seu perpetualiter in carcere claudi. Quæ
verba ipse rex venerabilis quidem penitus non obaudiens, ut eis tamen
satisfaceret, in custodiam ad horam eum jussit constitui, tradens eum cuidam
venerabili viro Roberto de Horepol apud Bedford, ubi pene totum anni spatium
fuit, solummodo compede vinctus. At semper comes de Warenne 1 et Robertus
Malet 2
atque Ivo Taillebois 3
resistentes, dissuadebant regi ne illum e custodia dimitteret, nec terram
pacificatam esse per hoc asserentes. Quod audientes sui dispersi sunt. Tamen ad
suum dominum sæpe dissimulato habitu quendam suum clericum miserunt, Lefricum
diaconum 4
nomine, qui astutus semper erat in omni suo opere, et stultitiam loco simulare
docti et sapienter agere. Cum illo quidem quodam tempore illuc, ut lac cocus emendum
perrexit, vir equidem in omni loco cautus, et inter externos facetiosus. Coram
quibus quodam die ipse memoratus custos Herwardi inter cætera illi condolens
adjecit, Heu! heu! quondam catervis militum insignis et tantorum
præclarissimorum ductor et dominus nunc in proximo dehinc sublatus dolo Ivonis
Taillebois, et in manibus invisi hominis illius traditur, in castella de
Buckingham missus 5.
Utinam illi, quos olim donis ditabas et honoribus extollebas, magistri vestigia
in hoc sequerentur, obviantes nos itinere vel insula, sic liberantes magistrum
suum et dominum. Quo audito illi duo præfati homines Herwardi ea quæ audierant
non poponentibus [postponentibus] sed acceptis a suo domino signis militibus illicus
[illius] et
suis omnibus ista patefecerunt et designantes locum, simul omnes in unum convenerunt
die adventus eorum, silvam per quam transire deberent clam observantes 6. Quibus
venientibus confestim in illos ex insperato irruerunt, et multos prius quam
saltem levia arma arripere potuerunt oppresserunt. Tamen resumptis armis
fortiter restiterunt quod multi fuerunt, videlicet omes milites circum
castellorum. Ac tandem hoc illis omnibus pene mortis fuit occasio, dum effugere
possent noluerunt, et in fine circumvallari ab eis non potuerunt. Porro inter
nonnullos qui adhuc supererant, a vinculis denis absoluto Herwardo, semper
clamavit diligenter observare collegam venerabilis magistri sui et illæsos
dimitti cum ipso Roberto huc illucque inter suos adhuc bellantes incidens et
liberatorem animæ suæ eum denuncians, qui statim a persequutione cessaverunt.
Nam in extremis prout terga omnium venientes processerant, et Herwardus ante
illos in medio eorum vinculatus ducebatur, tandem ipse quidem præfatus custos
ejusdem cum sociis suis qui remanserant discedere volens, innumeras grates et
gratias refert, eo quod in custodio eum honorifice tenuerit et diligenter
honoraverit ; rogans etiam ut de eo domino regi suggereret.
The Exploits of Hereward the
Saxon.
XXXV
How Hereward
was accused by Robert de Horepol and put into prison.
While then these
things had come to the knowledge of some of his enemies, grudging his success,
they came to the court and brought to the King many false reports of Hereward ;
and they craftily impressed upon him not to have near him any longer such men,
traitors of his realm and enemies, and that they ought not henceforth to be
admitted even to the terms of agreement, but rather to be handed over to
punishment, or else be kept in perpetual imprisonment. These words the
respected King did not indeed wholly listen to, but in order to satisfy them he
ordered him at once to be taken into custody, delivering him to a certain
worshipful man, Robert de Horepol, at Bedford, where he remained for nearly a
whole year, merely bound with fetters. And always the Earl
Warenne 1 and Robert Malet 2 and Ivo Taillebois 3 opposed him and dissuaded the King from letting
him out of custody, declaring that the country was not pacified because of him.
And when they heard of it his men became dispersed. But yet they often sent to
their lord in disguise a certain clerk of his, Leofric the Deacon 4 by name, who was ever shrewd in all his doings,
and able to feign folly in the place of a man of learning, and all the time to
act with wisdom. With him once there went to the place, disguised like a cook
going to purchase milk, a man of excessive caution and among strangers full of
humour. In their presence one day the guardian of Hereward before mentioned,
among other things was commiserating him and said, “Alas! Alas! a man formerly famous for his bands of soldiers, and the
leader and lord of so many very eminent men, is tomorrow to be taken hence,
through the subtlety of Ivo Taillebois, and delivered into the hands of a
hateful man and sent to the castle at Buckingham 5,
Oh! that those men whom formerly he enriched with
presents, and raised with honours, would follow the traces of their master,
coming against us on the march or in the Isle, and so set free their master and
lord.” Hearing this these two men of Hereward’s aforesaid, disclosed what they
had heard, after receiving tokens from their lord, to his soldiers and all his
men ; and fixing upon a spot, they all assembled there on the day of their
passing for they had taken secret observations of a wood through which they
would have to pass6. And on their arrival
immediately Hereward’s men rushed upon them unexpectedly, and overthrew many
before they could even take up their light arms. But yet when others had taken
their arms they made a brave resistance, because they were numerous, in fact
all the soldiers from the castles around. And at last to nearly all this was
the cause of death, when they could escape they refused to do so, and in the
end they could not be surrounded by them. And then among some who still
survived, Hereward being set free from ten chains, he shouted out that they
must carefully save the band of his respected master, and that his men must be
let go unharmed, with Robert himself, Hereward walking hither and thither among
his men who were still fighting, saying that Robert had saved his life, and so
they at once ceased from the pursuit. For as they came, they had marched last,
forming the rear, and Hereward was led in front surrounded and chained. At last
his keeper aforesaid wishing to depart with his comrades who had remained,
Hereward returned him very many thanks, because he had kept him in custody
courteously, and had uniformly treated him with honour : and he asked moreover
that he should intercede for him to the King.
Commentary.
In the title of this
chapter, Sweeting’s translation is a little misleading. The Latin title makes
no mention of an accusation by Robert de Horepol. It says ‘How Hereward
was accused, whereupon he was handed over to the custody of Robert de Horepol’.
In the text of the chapter, neither Latin nor English says that Robert was
among Hereward’s accusers, making no mention of him until he becomes Hereward’s
custodian. On the contrary, he is obviously regarded with favour by the text’s
original, English writer, Leofric or perhaps Hugh. Leofric has an active rôle
in this chapter working on behalf of his secular master, Hereward, so may be
relied upon to know something of Hereward’s assessment of Robert. In any case,
Hugh’s Latin refers to him as ‘venerabili
viro Roberto de Horepol’ and it is he, ‘ipse
memoratus custos Herwardi’ who is even treacherous towards his own, Norman
side by encouraging the English to make an attack to free Hereward. Added to
which, Hereward ensures that the lives of Robert and Robert’s own men are
spared in the field and finally asks Robert to intercede with the king on
Hereward’s behalf.
1. ↑ William
of Warenne did not become Earl of Surrey until
1088. This is consistent with the way the Lincolnshire Domesday Book (1086) ranks
him as William of Warenne, behind Ivo Taillebois; fifteenth as opposed to Ivo’s
fourteenth. They are both behind Count Alan (12) and Earl Hugh (13). In
Varenne was once a castle and is now a
hamlet, on the River Varenne and 9km south-east of
2. Robert
Malet was some way down the order of seniority in
3. Ivo
had 101 entries in the
4. Hugh Candidus’s principal
source (see Chapter I).
5. ↑ Bedford, Buckingham, Cambridge, Huntingdon, Lincoln, Norwich: each of the
county towns of the region had its new, Norman castle.
6. Both
Bedford and Buckingham are on the River Great Ouse. The road between them skirts
the former Bromswold, passing through the breadth of the northern part of the
modern Milton Keynes.
Most of the soil over which it passes is chalky till (Soil
Survey), which
was generally unsuited to medieval arable and pastoral use. It is the ground on
which uncleared woodland is most likely to be found. Blaeu (p.124) shows one area
of woodland to the south of Stagsden and Astwood and to the west of Wooton. It
would be around grid ref. SP9746.
Peter Rex (p.150) says that a correct transcription of the Buckingham name
is Rockingham. That castle is at grid reference SP866914, at the top of an escarpment
overlooking the