BoAr:
FNQ: Hereward XXXV
http:// boar.org.uk/ariwxo3FNQsupXXXV.htm Latest
edit 30 Nov 2007
Web page © 2007 R.J.PENHEY With thanks to Lincolnshire
Library Service.
The Bourne Archive
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 et Robertus
Malet atque Ivo Taillebois 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 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. 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 sed acceptis a suo domino signis militibus illicus et suis omnibus
ista patefecerunt et designantes locum, simul omnes in unum convenerunt die
adventus eorum, silvam per quam transire deberent clam observantes. 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 Deacon4 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 Buckingham5,
Oh! that those men who 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 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.
1. William of Warenne did not become Earl
of Surrey until 1088. This is consistent with the way the Lincolnshire Domesday
Book ranks him as William of Warenne, behind Ivo Taillebois at number 15 as
opposed to Ivo’s fourteen. They are both behind Count Alan (12) and Earl Hugh
(13). In
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. The old road from