1 823.] Elucidations of Portions of English History. 



For the Mantldy Magazine. 



ELUCIDATIONS o/" PORTIONS o/'ENGLISH 



HISTORY, improperly represented 

 in our general histories. 



History of the Invasion of England by 

 the Normans in the Eleventh Century, 

 and the Consequences of that Invasion 

 down to the Thirteenth. 



{Continued from pa^e 205.) 



393 



1069. — W N the northern part of the 

 Jl. county of Cambridge there 

 is a great extent of low marshy land, 

 intersected by rivers : all the streams 

 from the centre of England, wliich do 

 not fall into the valley of the Thames, 

 or that of the Trent, find their way 

 into these swamps ; in winter they 

 overflow their banks, cover a large 

 portion of the country, and are loaded 

 with vapours and fogs. One part of 

 this damp and miry region Was, and 

 is still, called the isle of Ely, another 

 the isle of Thorney, and a third the 

 isle of Croyland.* The marshes, be- 

 ginning a few miles from Cambridge, 

 extended on the north-east to the 

 moullis of the Ouse and Glen, over 

 part of the three counties of Cam- 

 bridge, Norfolk, and Lincoln. In these 

 tracts, inaccessible to the cavalry and 

 heavy-armed foot which composed the 

 strength of the Normans, bands of 

 Saxons assembled, organized them- 

 selves, and formed a camp of refnge.f 

 Many chiefs, deprived of their inheri- 

 tances, successively repaired thither 

 with their adherents \\ some going by 

 land, othe's in boats up the months of 

 tiie rivers. The foreigners dared not 

 set foot upon the treacherous soil on 

 which they were encamped, so that 

 they had time to send messages (o 

 various places both in and out of the 

 country, conveying intelligence to the 

 friends ofoid England. When they had 

 become suflicieiitly strong, they com- 

 menced a partisan- warfare by land and 

 sea, or, as the Normans called it, pi- 

 racy and robbery .§ 



Every day, however, brought to the 

 camp of these robbers and pirates in a 

 good cause, some Saxon of high rank, 

 layman or priest, with the remnant of 



• Crulamliu — cruda et cicnosa terra. 

 (Ord. Vit.64.) 



t (^astra refiigii facientes. ( Anglia Sacra, 

 i. 256.) 



i Cum aiiis magiiotibiis cxhaMedatis. 

 (Ingidf, 702.) 



$ I'iratai maris et latroncs rcgionis. 

 (Monast. Ang. i. 981.) 



Monthly Mao. No. 382. 



his fortune, or the contribution of his 

 church. Among many others, came 

 Egelric bishop of Lindisfarn, and 

 SitJjric, tlie head of a rich convent in 

 Devonshire. The conquerors, and the 

 friends of the conquerors, accused 

 them of outraging religion, and disho- 

 nouring the Holy Church, by attach- 

 ing themselves to an infamous calling;* 

 but the cry raised through interested 

 scruples had no power to terrify them. 

 The sight of tiie insurgent prelates 

 was an encouragement to many; and 

 their ascendancy over the minds of 

 men, in good and in evil, was favour- 

 able to the cause of the vanquished. 

 The ecclesiastics, who until then had 

 shown but little ardour in this cause, 

 united themselves with it more frank- 

 ly : many of them, it is true, had de- 

 voted themselves to it from the first ; 

 but the great mass had bowed under 

 the yoke. They had suffered less 

 from the conquest than the rest of the 

 nation : their lands had not all been 

 seized, their houses had not every- 

 where been violated. In the great 

 halls of the monasteries, where the 

 Norman spies had not yet penetrated, 

 the Saxons, assembled as for acts of 

 religion, conversed and conspired with 

 freedom. There they deposited the 

 gold which they had saved from the 

 perquisitions of the conquerors, leaving 

 it in reserve for the exigencies of the 

 common cause, and the maintenance 

 of the children of such as fell in battle. 

 Sometimes the old chief of a convent 

 would breakup the plates of gold, and 

 remove the jewels, with which ancient 

 kings had decorated the altars and 

 shrines, conscious that he did not the 

 less fulfil thtir latest wishes, in dis- 

 posing of their gifts for that country 

 which they had loved during their 

 lives. Brave and faithful messengers 

 were employed to convey the products 

 of these common contributions tiirough 

 the Norman posts to the camp of the 

 refugees ; but these patriotic transac- 

 tions could not long remain secret. 



In the month of April, 1069, (O. S.) 

 King William, by the advice of Wil- 

 liam the son of Osbert, his favourite, 

 ordered perquisitions to be made in 

 all the convents of England. j- The 

 money which the rich English^ had 



* Piraficam adoisns. (Will. Malms. 277.) 

 t Monasteria totins Angliae prescrutori 

 fecit. (Matt. West. 226.) 

 t Ditiores Angli. (Hist. Eliensis, 516.) 

 3E deposited 



