others of the chief men of England, also his brother Odo, bishop of Bayeux, and William FitzOsbern, whom he had made earl of the province of Hereford; and leaving garrisons in England, he ordered the fortresses throughout the country to be strengthened.

In this year, Wulsy, bishop of Dorchester, departed this life at Winchester, but was buried at Dorchester.

At this period, there was a certain very powerful thane, Edric surnamed "the Woodsman,"31 son of Alfric, the brother of Edric Streona, whose lands, because he disdained to surrender to the king, the men of the castle at Hereford, and Richard the son of Scrob, frequently laid waste; but as often as they attacked him, they lost many of their knights and esquires. Therefore, having called to his aid the kings of the Welch, namely Bleothgent and Riward, about the time of the Assumption of Saint Mary, the said Edric laid waste the province of Hereford, as far as the bridge over the river Lug,32 and carried off a great quantity of plunder.

Afterwards, on the approach of winter, king William returned to England from Normandy, and imposed on the English an intolerable tribute, and then, going into Devonshire, hostilely attacked the city of Exeter, which the citizens and some English thanes held against him; on which he laid siege to it, and speedily took it by storm. However, the countess Githa, the mother of Harold king of England, and sister of Sweyn king of Denmark, flying with many others from the city made her escape and went to Flanders; but the citizens with assurances of friendship submitted to the king.

In the year 1068, there were two popes at Rome, namely, the bishop of Parma, who was expelled, and the bishop of Lucca, who continued to be pope.

After Easter, the countess Matilda came from Normandy to England, and on the day of Pentecost, Aldred, archbishop of York, consecrated her queen. After this, Marleswein and Cospatric, and the other nobles of Northumbria, in order to avoid the king's severity, and fearing lest like some others they might be placed in confinement, taking with them the Clito Edgar, his mother Agatha, and his two sisters Margaret and Christiana, went by ship to Scotland; and, with the per

31 "Silvaticus:" probably corresponding to our surname "Atwood." He is more generally called Edric the Outlaw.

32 The Avon.

mission of king Malcolm, passed the winter there. On this, king William came with his army to Nottingham, and having strengthened the castle, proceeded to York, and fortifying the two castles there, placed in them five hundred soldiers, giving orders for the castles to be strengthened in the city of Lincoln and other places.

While these things were going on, the sons of king Harold, Godwin and Edmund the Great, returning from Ireland landed in Somersetshire; where being met by Eadnoth, who had been master of the stables 33 to king Harold, with some troops, a battle was fought, in which he, with many others, was slain. Having gained the day, they collected considerable spoil in Devonshire and Cornwall, and then returned to Ireland.

In the year 1069, being the third year of his reign, king William sent earl Robert Cummin against the Northumbrians of the country north of the Tyne; for they had all united in one determination, not to submit to the rule of a foreigner, and had resolved either to slay him, or else, all of them, to fall by the edge of the sword. On his approach, Egelwin, bishop of Durham, met him, and warned him to be on his guard against treachery; but he, thinking that no one dared this, despised the warning, and, entering Durham with a large body of soldiers, allowed his men to act with hostility in all quarters, even to slaying some peasants belonging to the church; still, he was received by the bishop with all kindness and honor. But the Northumbrians hastening onward all night, at daybreak broke through the gates with the greatest violence, and slew the followers of the earl in every direction, they being quite unprepared for the attack. The contest was waged most fiercely, the soldiers being struck down in the houses and streets, and the combatants attacked the house of the bishop in which the earl was entertained; but finding that they could not endure the darts of those who defended it, they burned the house together with those who were therein. So great was the multitude of the slain, that nearly every spot in the city was filled with blood, and out of seven hundred men only one escaped. This slaughter took place on the fifth day before the calends of February, being the fourth day of the week.

33 44 'Stallarius." There is some doubt as to the correct meaning of this word.

In this year, shortly before the nativity of Saint Mary, the sons of Sweyn, king of Denmark, Harold, Canute, and their uncle earl Osborn, came from Denmark with two hundred and forty ships, and landed at the mouth of the river Humber. Here they were met by the Clito Edgar, earls Alde and Marleswein, and many others, with a fleet which they had assembled; earl Cospatric also came with all the forces of the Northumbrians, and with one accord they determined to oppose the Normans. Being greatly distressed at their approach, Aldred, archbishop of York, was attacked with a severe illness and ended his life, as he had requested of God, in the tenth year of his archiepiscopate, on the third day before the ides of September, being the sixth day of the week; he was buried in the church of Saint Peter, on the eighth day after, being Saturday, the thirteenth day before the calends of October.

The Normans, who garrisoned the castles, fearing lest the houses which were in their vicinity, might be used by the Danes for the purpose of filling up the fosse, began to set them on fire; and the flames, increasing, raged throughout all the city, and together with it, burned the monastery of Saint Peter. But the Divine vengeance most speedily exacted a heavy retribution at their hands; for, before the whole city was destroyed, a Danish fleet came on the second day of the week to the aid of the besiegers, and the Danes making an attack upon the castles on the one side, and the Northumbrians on the other, stormed them on the same day; more than three thousand of the Normans being slain, the Danes sparing the lives of William de Malet, who was then sheriff of the province, with his wife and two children, and of Gilbert de Ghent with a few others, repaired to their ships with their innumerable forces, and the Northumbrians returned home.

When king William was informed of this, being greatly enraged, he swore that he would pierce the whole of the Northumbrians with a single spear, and shortly afterwards, having assembled an army hastened with feelings of extreme irritation to Northumbria, and did not cease throughout the whole winter to ravage it, slay the inhabitants, and commit many other acts of devastation.

In the meantime, sending a message to Osborn, the Danish earl, he promised that he would privately present him

with no small sum of money, and give his army free licence to seize provisions in the neighbourhood of the sea-shore, upon condition that, after the close of winter, they should depart, without any further hostilities. To these propositions Osborn, being greedy for gold and silver, to his great disgrace, assented. While the Normans, in the preceding year, were laying waste England, throughout Northumbria and some other provinces, but in the present and succeeding year, throughout almost the whole of England, but especially Northumbria and the provinces adjoining to it, a famine prevailed to such a degree, that, compelled by hunger, men ate human flesh, and that of horses, dogs, and cats, and whatever was repulsive to notions of civilization; some persons went so far as to sell themselves into perpetual slavery, provided only they could in some way or other support a miserable existence; some departing from their native country into exile, breathed forth their exhausted spirits in the midst of the journey.

It was dreadful to behold human corpses rotting in the houses, streets, and high roads, and as they reeked with putrefaction, swarming with worms, and sending forth a horrid stench; for all the people having been cut off, either with the sword or famine, or else having through hunger left their native country, there were not sufficient left to inter them. Thus, during a period of nine years, did the land, deprived of its cultivators, extend far and wide a mere dreary waste. Between York and Durham there was not one inhabited town; the dens of wild beasts and robbers, to the great terror of the traveller, were alone to be seen.

While the king was doing these things in the neighbourhood of York, Egelwin, bishop of Durham, and the chiefs of the people, being fearful that, on account of the death of the earl35 at Durham and the slaughter of the Normans at York, the sword of the king would involve both innocent and guilty in a like destruction, unanimously disinterred the holy and incorruptible body of the blessed father Cuthbert and took to flight, on the third day before the ides of December, being the sixth day of the week. They first rested at Girwine,36 next at Bethlingtun," the third time at Tughale, and the fourth at 35 Robert Cummin. 36 Jarrow, in Durham. 38 Tughall, in Northumberland.

37 Bedlington, in Northumberland.

38

Ealande. Here, towards nightfall, their further progress was impeded by the sea being at high water, when lo! suddenly withdrawing, it left them free access, so that when they hastened on, the waves of the ocean followed in the rear, at a similar pace, and when they sometimes moved more slowly, the waves did not overtake them by speeding on at a faster pace, but, as soon as they had touched the shore, behold! the sea flowed back again and covered all the sands as before.

In the meantime, the king's army, dispersing in all directions, between the rivers Tees and Tyne, found nothing but deserted houses, and a dreary solitude on every side; the inhabitants having either sought safety in flight, or concealed themselves in the woods and among the precipices of the hills. At this period also, the church of Saint Paul the Apostle, at Girwine, was destroyed by fire. The church of Durham was deprived of all its guardians and all ecclesiastical care, and had become like a desert, as the Scripture says, a refuge for the poor, the sick, and the feeble. Those who were unable to take to flight, turning aside thither, sank there under the influence of famine and disease. The resemblance of the cross, which was the only one of the church ornaments remaining there, (as on account of its large size it could not be easily removed by them in their haste) was robbed of its gold and silver, which were torn off by the Normans.

On this, the king, who was not far off, hearing of the deserted state of the church, and the spoliation of the crucifix, was very indignant, and gave orders for those to be sought for who had been guilty of it. Shortly after, he happened to meet these very persons, and on seeing them turn out of the public road, immediately felt convinced that these men were conscious of having committed some misdeed; whereon, being seized, they immediately made discovery of the gold and silver which they had taken from off the crucifix. On this, he immediately sent them for judgment to the bishop and those who were with him, who were now returning from their flight; but they, acquitting them of the charge, let them escape with impunity. For, upon the approach of spring, the king having returned to the country south of the Humber, bishop Egelwin, after having, with all his people, passed three months and some days at Ealande, returned to the church of Durham, with the treasure of the holy body of Saint Cuthbert.