Bourne Archive: FNQ: Hereward XXXVI
http://boar.org.uk/ariwxo3FNQsupXXXVI.htm Latest edit 2 Jul 2010
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De Gestis Herwardi Saxonis.
XXXVI.
Quomodo Robertus de Horepol de
Herwardo regi bona intimavit.
Prædictus
autem Robertus de Horepol dehinc statim ad regis curiam perrexit, innotescens
regi per omnia quæ facta fuerant, et quomodo per suos Herwardus liberatus est.
Subjunxit etiam in fine mandata ab eo delata, ut mansuetudine regia usus, reminsceretur
quomodo sub protectione sua et pace ad curiam suam veniens in carcere et
custodia super hoc non recte missus fuerit. Tamen si illa quæ tunc illi
promiserat saltem nunc faceret ut domino carissimo modis omnibus serviret,
sciens sibi hanc injuriam per eum factam non fuisse, sed persuasione et versutia
inimicorum. Quæ verba secum ipse venerabilis rex modicum retractans, non recte
in eum fuisse peractum respondit. Qui dum in gratiam regem suscepisse verba
agnosceret, multa repente de Herwardo et suis atque prædicanda regi peroravit,
subjugens pro parva causa non leviter tantum militem a se et de regno suo
expelli non debere, in quem magna fiducia esset sinceritas contigeret [contingeret].
Ipsum enim pro certo assuerit magis antiquis instare opibus, iterum perturbata
terra, nisi in oculis ejusdem regis gratiam magis quam servitutem inveniret,
terra patris sui ex benignitate regis suscepta. Quam recipere recte debere
protinus rex subjunxit, mandans per literas suas etiam hoc Herwardo et
provincialibus terram patris sui recipere debere et quiete possidere, ac deinceps
pacem velle sectari, non stultitiam, si regis de cætero amicitiam optaret
possidere 1.
Herwardus
igitur, miles insignis et in multis locis expertus et cognitus, a rege in
gratiam susceptus, cum terris et possessionibus patris sui multis postmodum
vixit annis, regi Willelmo 2 fideliter serviens ac devote3 compatriotis
placens et amicis; ac sic demum quievit in pace, cujus animæ propicietur Deus.
Amen.
EXPLICIT
VITA HERWARDI INCLITI MILITIS. 4
The Exploits of Hereward the
Saxon.
XXXVI
How Robert of Horepol made a good report of Hereward to
the King.
Then the aforesaid
Robert of Horepol after this immediately went off to the King’s court,
signifying to the King everything that had been done, and how Hereward had by
his own men been set free. Finally he delivered the message he had brought,
that he should avail himself of the King’s kindness, and call to his mind how
he had come to his court under his protection and safe conduct, and that he had
not rightly after that been put into prison and custody. But yet if he would
even now perform what he had then promised him, Hereward would serve his most
dear lord in every way, since he knew that this wrong had not been done by him,
but through the persuasion and craft of his enemies. After a little reflection
on these words the King replied that Hereward had not had right treatment. And
when Robert saw that the King had taken his words in good part, he straightway
related to the King many things worth the telling about Hereward and his men ;
adding that for a little cause such a warrior ought not lightly to be driven
from him and his realm, in whom there might be found great fidelity and trust.
And he declared for certain that he was rather inclined to rely on his old
resources, if a new disturbance arose in the land, unless in the King’s eyes he
could meet with favour rather than imprisonment, and should receive from the
King’s goodness his father’s land.
Thereupon the King declared that he ought by rights to have it, and gave
command by his letters to Hereward and the men of his district that he ought to
have the land of his father and to retain quiet possession of it; but that from
henceforth he must be willing to cultivate peace, not folly, if he wished
hereafter to retain the King’s friendship 1.
And so Hereward,
the famous warrior, in many places proved and well known, was received into
favour by the King, and with his father’s lands and possessions lived
afterwards for many years, faithfully serving King William 2,
and wholly devoted3 to his neighbours and friends ; and so at last he rested in peace, and upon his
soul may God have mercy. Amen.
END OF THE LIFE OF HEREWARD THE RENOWNED KNIGHT.
4
Commentary. This is compiled with
the help of suggestions from FWP.
1. The
question which this leaves in one’s mind is that of when this event took place.
If it was before 1086, why is Hereward so little mentioned in the Domesday
Book? In Chapter XXV, we were apparently,
in the year 1075. There have been ten clear chapters of episodes since,
including Chapter XXXV in which we were told of a year-long imprisonment at
If this pattern of events is the explanation, then these negotiations
will have ended late in 1086 or very early in 1087, before William went to
2. ↑ If this refers to
William I, the many years of service mentioned in the translation, call the
construction which note 1 placed on events, into question – William was not to
live many further years, in which people could serve him. However, there are
other ways of viewing the final paragraph when translating it. The differences
lie in the concept with which the second multis (the ablative plural form
of many) is associated. Sweeting has Hereward living many years with an
implication that those years coincided with service to William. Another
possibility is that we are considering the many lands and possessions of
Leofric, Hereward’s father. Accepting this view, given the word order, with the
multis
right at the end of the phrase, would rather strain the Latin idiom, so it is
suspect. Thirdly, if we read fideliter serviens as ‘having faithfully served’, an
interpretation acceptable in Medieval Latin [Sidwell
G.20(a)], the many years of Hereward’s life can extend beyond
those of William.
Though, in Classical Latin, postmodum means ‘soon after’, in
Medieval Latin, as here, it means afterwards. Again, though serviens strictly means
‘serving’, in Medieval Latin, it is used to express ‘having served’.
A suggested translation of the second paragraph is as
follows: So Hereward, a famous soldier, tried and approved on many
a field (and) having been received into favour by the king, with the lands and
possessions of his father (restored to him), afterwards lived for many years,
having faithfully served king William (during the king’s lifetime) and always
taking care to keep on good terms with his neighbours and friends. And at last
he rested in peace: may God have mercy on his soul. Amen [FWP].
If the ‘many’ additional years of
Hereward’s life were twenty, he will have died aged about seventy in around
1107. This will have been early enough to have allowed Leofric the Deacon time
to write his encomium, in time for it to have been caught in the 1116 fire in
the library of Peterborough Abbey. It also means that Leofric the Deacon is not
likely to have been old enough during Hereward’s youth, to have been serving in
holy orders in Hereward’s father’s household at that stage.
This is the end of the last chapter, so reference to his
neighbourliness is closing a circle onto Chapter II, where the youthful
Hereward antagonized his father’s neighbours.
3. ↑ (Devote seems to be an
example of an adverb formed by adding ‘e’ to the stem of an adjective. Devotus is the past participle of devoveo [Collins]. For our
purpose, it means (having been) consecrated/devoted, so stands as an adjective.
Collins has it as 1. faithful or 2. accursed and Langenscheidt as 1. devoted or
2. accursed. Devote would therefore
mean ‘devotedly’, ‘faithfully’ or ‘with constancy’ but the adverb is not a word
readily to be found in dictionaries.)
4. In
principal, miles means soldier and eques means specifically, a mounted soldier.
In view of for example, chevalier, the
French word, originally for horseman but by extension, for knight we might
expect eques to be used in Medieval
Latin to mean the same but when meaning knight, Hugh uses miles and eques,
apparently indiscriminately, except in Chapter XVI, where he tends to use eques for a knight of feudal, Norman
making and miles for one of
ecclesiastical, English making. However, this has little bearing on the story.