Page:Cassell's Illustrated History of England vol 1.djvu/115

[TO A.D. 1074. cut off, or were otherwise horribly mutilated. The only indulgence he showed was to the Earl of Hereford, who was condemned to lose his estate, and to be kept a prisoner during pleasure. The king appeared willing to remit the last part of the sentence, probably from the recollection of his father's services, and the dread of increasing the discontent of the Norman barons; but the haughty and unbending spirit of the earl provoked William to extend the sentence to a perpetual confinement.

Waltheof, being an Englishman, was not treated with so much humanity; though his guilt, always much inferior to that of the other conspirators, was atoned for by an early repentance. William, instigated by his niece Judith, as well as by his rapacious courtiers, who longed for the forfeiture of so rich an estate, ordered the thane to be tried, condemned, and executed. The English, who considered Waltheof as the last hope of their nation, grievously lamented his fate, and fancied that miracles were wrought by his relics, as a testimony of his innocence and sanctity. The infamous Judith, falling soon afterwards under the king's displeasure, was abandoned by all the world, and passed the rest of her life in contempt, remorse, and misery.

Nothing remained to complete William's satisfaction but the punishment of Ralph de Gaël, and he hastened over to Normandy in order to gratify his vengeance on that criminal; but though the contest seemed very unequal between a private nobleman and the King of England, Ralph was so well supported both by the Earl of Brittany and the King of France, that William, after besieging him for some time in Del, was obliged to abandon the enterprise, and make with those powerful princes a peace, in which Ralph himself was included. England, during his absence, remained in tranquillity, and nothing remarkable occurred, except two ecclesiastical synods, which were summoned, one at London, another at Winchester. In one of these the precedency among the episcopal sees was settled, and the seat of some of them was removed from small villages to the most considerable town within the diocese.



CHAPTER XXXI. Insurrection at Durham—Death of the Bishop—Expedition of William against Scotland—Invasion and Retreat of the Danes. to the end of his reign no longer had any serious difficulties to contend with from the Saxons, the national spirit being broken and subdued beneath his iron yoke. The conspiracies which ensued were now those of the Normans, and the partial insurrections that took place were instigated chiefly by private vengeance against some local oppressor.

In one of these insurrections perished Walcher, Bishop of Durham, a prelate originally from Lorraine, and elevated by the new king to the see of St. Cuthbert. Historians who have written of this remarkable man agree in describing him as no less distinguished for his attainments than the excellence of his moral character: he was good but feeble, and lacked the energy necessary to restrain the evil-doers in the troublesome times in which he lived. His tragical death is said to have been predicted by the widow of Edward the Confessor, who resided at Winchester, where the bishop was consecrated. When she saw him conducted in great pomp to the cathedral, struck by his venerable air and majestic demeanour, she exclaimed to those around her, "Beheld a noble martyr!'" Like many other prophecies, it doubtless might have been forgotten, had not circumstances afterwards caused its fulfilment.

On the death of Waltheof, the government of Northumberland was confided by William to this venerable prelate, who thus united in his hands the temporal as well as the spiritual power; repressing by the sword the excesses of the barbarous people whom he was called to govern, and instructing them by the word.

His own disposition being good, he suspected no ill in others; and giving much time to study, delegated a great share of his authority to one Gilbert, his archdeacon, an ecclesiastic of ardent character, who committed great crimes and exactions, and permitted the soldiers to pillage and slay the inhabitants of the diocese, without listening to their prayers for redress.

It was in vain that the good bishop tried to temper the harshness of this man by associating with him a relative of his own, one Leob, who sided with the archdeacon in all his exactions; or took to his councils a noble Saxon, Leulf, uncle to the deceased Waltheof. The two tyrants disregarded the remonstrances of the latter, and continued their career of crime and oppression. Leob, enraged at the remonstrances of Leulf, demanded his life of his confederate Gilbert, who entered the house of the Saxon, and slew him with most of his followers.

The murdered man not only held vast possessions, but was greatly esteemed on account of the justness of his character; and the crime excited such unusual indignation that the people, excited by his relatives and friends, flew to arms, demanding vengeance on the criminals. The bishop, in an agony of fear, sent messengers to say that justice should be done; that he would place out of the pale of the law Gilbert and his accomplices; that he himself was innocent of the death of Leulf, and offered to purge himself by oath of all suspicion of the deed. This offer was accepted, and the two parties met at a church near Durham, a ferocious and armed multitude on one side, frantic for vengeance. They had seen, they said, the assassins received and sheltered in the episcopal palace directly after the commission of the crime.

Walcher, alarmed by their cries, refused to trust himself amongst them, but offered to take the oath in the church, where he was surrounded, together with Leob and Gilbert, the actual murderers. In the midst of the tumult, the Saxon cry of "Short rede—good rede," signifying "Short words—good words," was raised, and their leader called out "Slay the bishop!" The multitude, delighted with the order, rushed to the sacred edifice, and attempted to set it on fire.

In this peril the prelate commanded Gilbert, who had actually committed the offence, to quit the church, lest, as he said, the innocent should perish with the guilty; the archdeacon obeyed, and was speedily torn in pieces by the Saxons. Leob refused to quit the place, which he vainly hoped would shelter him, although the flames had begun to penetrate in every part. Then it was the bishop took the resolution of quitting the building, in the hope that the lives of his companions might be spared. Covering his face with his mantle, he advanced amongst the crowd, but soon fell, pierced by a hundred wounds. His guilty relative, and those who were with him, perished in the flames.

