488 
bishop of Canterbury, Wulfstan bishop 
of Worcester, and the principal men 
of London,*—humiliated by misfor- 
tune,—hastened to the camp of the 
stranger, took the oath of peace, and 
delivered to him their hostages. ‘They 
received, in return, promises of kind- 
ness and protection,+ which were ful- 
filled by the general devastation which 
accompanied the march of William 
towards the capital. {He sent to his 
friend, to his auxiliary of Rome, the 
spoils of the rich churches and edi- 
fices, consisting of large sums of 
money, magnificent vases, and orna- 
ments of gold, with the standard of 
Harold, over which that of the suc- 
cessor of St. Peter had just tri- 
umphed.|| 
William availed himself of the booty, 
pillaged in his march upon London, 
to render the trembling Saxons more 
submissive. By money he made men 
traitors, and by terror be made them 
vile ;§ and the Saxon patriots soon 
found that their ranks were polluted 
by the presence of recreants. It seems 
that William consulted his Norman 
and French chiefs as to the best 
means of consolidating and comple- 
ting his conquests, and one of them, 
Aimery de Thouars, an Aquitain by 
nation, gave him the ingenious adyice 
to cause himself, above all, to be pro- 
claimed king by the small band of 
Saxons whom he had succeeded to 
alarm and to corrupt.¢ The Norman 
was pleased with this counsel, and he 
summoned Stigand, the archbishop of 
Canterbury, who had taken the oath 
of peace, to anoint hjm in Westmin- 
ster Abbey,** where it had long been 
the custom to anoint the kings of Eng- 
land: Stigand refused to give his be- 
nediction to a man covered with the 
blood of his fellows, the invader and 
* And ealle tha bestan men of Lundene. 
(Frag. of a Saxon Chronicle, published by 
Ehyr.) 
t Promisit quod fidus dominus (hold 
Liaford) esset. 
+ Alramen fusena elle fassarunt omne 
quod persiarsibant. (Ib.) 
|| Ecclesia Romane St. Petri in auro 
et argento ultra quam credibili sit. (Guil. 
Pict.) 
§ Dolo et pecunia corrumpero. (Will. 
Malm.) 
q Aymericus Thoarcensis, ubi regnare 
ceperit, rebellem quamque minus ansn- 
ram. (Guil. Pict.) 
** In Basilico S. Petri que Westmonas- 
teritim nominatur. (Ord. Vid.) 
2 
Elawcidations of Portions of English Héstory. 
[Jan. 1, 
destroyer of their rights;* but Elred 
archbishop of York, timid and eau- 
tious, who saw (as the old historians 
relate,) that there was no opposing the 
current of events, nor that Divine 
Will which makes and unmakes au- 
thority,t consented to perform this 
office towards the threatening stranger. 
The church was prepared as in those 
days when the free suffrages of the 
best men of England{ summoned the 
king of their choice|| to receive the in- 
vestiture of the power they confided 
to him; but this previous election,— 
without which the claim to be a king 
could be but a yain mockery, a bitter 
insult of strength towards weakness, 
—this election did not take place for 
the Norman duke. He left his camp 
of strangers, and marched through 
their triple ranks towards the Abbey, 
where a few timid Saxons awaited 
him, who put on, indeed, an unembar- 
rassed countenance, and an appear- 
ance of freedom in their base and ser- 
vile office. All the avenues of the 
church to a great distance/the squares 
and streets of the city, were covered 
with armed soldiers. Two hundred 
and sixty military chiefs, the staff of 
the conquerors, entered the Abbey 
with their leader.¢ The ceremony 
began ; and the Bishop of Bayeux en- 
quired, in the French language, whe- 
the Normans were of opinion that their 
leader should assume the title of King 
of the English; on which the Arch- 
bishop of York appealed to the Eng- 
lish, in the Saxon language, to decide 
whether they would have the Norman 
for their king. Violent acclamations 
burst from the church, which vibrated 
through the gates, and reached the 
horsemen who were stationed in the 
neighbouring streets. They imagined 
these cries were cries of alarm, and 
in their fury they set fire to the sur- 
rounding houses, whose inhabitants 
they massacred. Others rushed to- 
wards the church, which the flames 
had nearly reached. 
(To be continued in our next. ) 
* Viro cruento et alieni jurie inofore. 
(Guil, Henb.) 
+ Cedendum esse tempori et divine 
non pecaieayan ordinationi. (Sax. Bromp- 
ton. 
+t Bestan men. (Chr. Sax.) 
|| Eall fole yeacas Eadward to cynge. 
(Chr. Sax.) 
§ Guill. Pict. 206. 
§ Monas, Ang. 11, 220. 
For 
