Stories from English History Part 4

Then the people went home, and were baptized by Paulinus.

CHAPTER III

ENGLISH AND NORMAN

In England there was an old King called Edward; a gentle pious man who disliked the trouble of governing, and who left his brother-in-law to rule the country while he himself spent his time in praying and in reading good books and going to church.

Harold, Earl of Wess.e.x, the king's brother-in-law, was one of the most able men then living; a true Englishman, wise and honourable. The people of England loved and trusted Harold; and as Edward had no children to succeed to the throne, they hoped that after his death Harold would become their king.

On the other side of the strip of sea which divides England from France, there lived at this time a very proud and ambitious man, William, Duke of Normandy.

William was descended from a great pirate who had come from the North, many years before, and had compelled the King of France to give him part of his dominions for himself and his followers to settle in. Ever since then, this part of France has been called Normandy; and the descendants of these Northmen are living there to this day.

The pirate was made a duke; but his great grandson William of Normandy wanted to become a king.

William's father had been a friend of King Edward of England, and when he was a young man William came from Normandy to spend some weeks at the Court of England. In after years William declared that during this visit Edward had promised that he, and not Harold, should be the next King of England.

If Edward really made this promise he must have known that he was undertaking what he had no power to fulfil, for the English people had the right of choosing their own king, and they did not wish to have a proud Norman rule over them.

But William had made up his mind to be a king; and he was a man who never let anything stand in the way of what he wanted.

One day Earl Harold went sailing in the English Channel, when a storm arose and drove his vessel out of her course.

Night came down, thick and foggy, and the captain did not know where they were. All remained on deck, keeping an anxious look-out; and in the darkness the vessel suddenly struck.

Before them they could see some ma.s.ses of rock; and the men had just time to scramble out before the little s.h.i.+p filled with water and sank.

The unlucky pleasure-seekers found themselves clinging to a little rocky islet which would scarcely afford them foothold; and all night they remained there drenched with rain and spray.

At daybreak they were able to make out the coast of France, not very far away from them. By the side of the reef lay their little vessel, half in, half out of the water, with a large hole in her side. There was nothing that they could do but wait until some one should see them from the sh.o.r.e, and come off with a boat to rescue them.

In a little while Harold and his men saw a stir upon the coast. Men were coming and going; looking towards the rock and then running to fetch other men. After a while a party came down to the beach, launched a boat and rowed towards the wreck.

How thankful were the hungry, s.h.i.+vering castaways to get into the boat and be rowed ash.o.r.e by these st.u.r.dy Norman-French fishermen!

They entered one of the cottages; and as they were warming themselves before a blazing fire the door was suddenly burst open, and a man in a s.h.i.+ning coat of mail stood in the doorway. Behind him were grouped a dozen or so of stout men-at-arms.

'Aha,' said the mail-clad knight, looking around him with restless, glittering black eyes; 'if I am not mistaken it is a great man whom the wind and waves have done me the honour to waft to my sh.o.r.es.--I am Guy, Count of Ponthieu; and you, if I am not mistaken,' he said to Harold, 'are Earl Harold, brother-in-law to the King of England.'

'I thought so,' muttered Harold as he gravely inclined his head in answer to the count; 'our troubles are only beginning.'

'This is not a fitting spot in which to receive the kinsman of King Edward of England,' said Guy in mock courtesy. 'I must trouble you, Sir, to come to my poor dwelling, where I hope a short stay may be rendered as pleasant as possible to yourself and your followers.'

Harold groaned in spirit as he realised that the count was going to keep him in prison in the hope of getting a ransom for him from King Edward. With these st.u.r.dy men-at-arms in the doorway it was no use for the unarmed Englishmen to try to resist.

'My poor countrymen,' said Harold to himself; 'I wonder how much money he will force them to hand over before he consents to give me up? It grieves me to think of the good English gold which will go to the enriching of this greedy hawk.--And how is the kingdom going to be governed in my absence?--Alack the day!'

The count's dark mocking face was all aglow with triumph as he led his prisoner where some horses were ready waiting for them.

After a short ride they were in the courtyard of the grim frowning castle of Ponthieu, with the drawbridge raised behind them.

'You will allow some of my men to go to England and tell King Edward that I am here?' said Harold to the count.

Once more Guy smiled his mocking smile.

'I was going to ask the whole party to accept my hospitality for a few weeks,' he said. 'His majesty of England will be the more pleased to welcome his brother-in-law after he has lacked tidings of him for a s.p.a.ce.'

Harold fumed with anger and indignation. He saw that Guy meant to keep the king and his own family in ignorance of his fate in order that they might be more eager to ransom him once they heard that he was still living.

But one day Guy, Count of Ponthieu, was in a very bad humour. He strode up and down the courtyard with an angry scowl upon his handsome, haughty face; muttering to himself and reading a letter which had been brought to the castle by a mounted messenger. His mailed boots made a noisy clattering upon the pavement, and the men-at-arms felt that it would be safe to keep at a respectful distance that morning.

'Ha!' shouted Guy; 'I am grossly insulted!--What traitor has dared to carry to the duke news of my prisoner? Had I that man, he should hang by the heels for his presumption!--Here is a letter from William of Normandy to say that if I do not instantly release Earl Harold, he will send an army against me and raze my castle to the ground. What right has the duke to interfere, I should like to know? The Earl was wrecked upon my land, not upon his; and if a man may not do as he likes with a prisoner whom the wind and waves have brought to his very door, things have come to a pretty pa.s.s!'

The count thought of the large sum of money which he had made so sure of getting; and rage and defiance swelled in his heart. Then he recollected the great power of William, and reflected that there was nothing for it but to make the best of things.

'Hey, Giles!' he called to his seneschal, who with a somewhat faltering step was venturing to cross the courtyard; 'ask Earl Harold to have the goodness to speak with me.'

'Raze my castle to the ground!' stormed the count as he paced the flagstones; 'ay, and he would do it too; the tanner's grandson!'

Duke William's mother had been the daughter of a tanner; and his enemies were never tired of reproaching him with this circ.u.mstance when they thought they could do so without fear of punishment.

Presently the Englishman stood before the angry count; and with a very bad grace, Guy told him that he was a free man, and that he owed his release to the Duke of Normandy.

Harold was very glad to find himself at liberty; and he felt that it would not be courteous for him to return to his own country until he had thanked the Duke for his generous help. Some of his men were sent to England to tell King Edward of his safety; and with only a few followers he set out for the court of Duke William.

Soon the earl and the duke met; Harold short and strong, with his good honest English face and steadfast blue eyes; William almost a giant in height, stern and proud, with steely eyes, and a face that had never yet shown pity to any that opposed him.

The two men had been friends of old; and they liked and admired each other.

William gave Harold a warm welcome to his dominions. At the court of the duke Harold found his youngest brother Wulfnoth, who had been sent to Normandy as a hostage many years before. Each day was made a festival; the duke held tournaments in honour of his guest, and went hunting and hawking with him; and the Englishman showed such skill in all manly exercises that William learned to respect him more and more.

One day something happened which made him feel more than ever what a pity it was that this man must one day become his enemy.

Harold was walking on the sea-sh.o.r.e with his brother and the duke and a train of n.o.bles, when several of the knights became caught in a quicksand and would have been lost had not Harold rushed forward, and with his unaided strength dragged each one of them into safety upon firm ground.

The duke said to himself that the short, st.u.r.dy Englishman was the bravest knight he had ever seen, and the one best fitted to become a king. Yet all the time that he was outwardly showing the greatest friends.h.i.+p for his guest he was secretly making plans by which he might compel Harold to help him to become King of England.

One day he asked Harold whether he knew that King Edward had promised that he should succeed him on the throne.

'No,' replied Harold quietly; 'I did not know that.'

The duke put his band upon the Englishman's shoulder.

'It is an old promise,' he said, 'and for many years I have looked upon myself as the future King of England.'