Page:Dictionary of National Biography volume 16.djvu/379

 more, and spent the winter there (A.-S. Chron. 1067, Worcester; ii. 2;, p. 511). Early in 1069 the North broke out into revolt, and Eadgar, accompanied by the nobles who shared his exile, left Scotland, and was received at York, and there all the Northumbrians gathered round him. The rebels besieged the Norman castle, and the king was forced to march to its relief; he crushed the revolt, and the ætheling again took shelter in Scotland. When he heard that the Danish fleet had entered the Humber in the September of the same year, he and the other English exiles joined it with a fleet that they had gathered. He narrowly escaped falling into the hands of the enemy, for while the Danish ships were in the Humber he sailed with a single ship, manned by his own followers, on an independent plundering expedition. The king's garrison from Lincoln fell upon his company, took them all save him and two others, and broke up his ship (, p. 514). He and his party seem to have remained with the Danish fleet during the winter as long as it stayed in the Humber (Norman Conquest, iv. 505), and when it sailed away he, his mother, his sisters, and the Northumbrian lords set sail for Scotland, and put in at Wearmouth, where they found Malcolm, who was ravaging the district, and who again gave them a hearty welcome, promising them a safe shelter as long as they chose to remain with him. They returned with him to Scotland, and Malcolm sought to make Margaret his wife. Eadgar and all his men long refused their consent, though at last they yielded, ‘because they were come into his power’ (A.-S. Chron. Worcester, 1067). In 1074 Eadgar was in Flanders. He had, perhaps, been obliged to leave Scotland after Malcolm had done homage to William at Abernethy, two years before (Norman Conquest, iv. 518), and no doubt chose Flanders as his place of refuge on account of the hostility between Count Robert and William. In the summer of that year he came over to Scotland to visit Malcolm and his sister, the queen. While he was with them Philip of France wrote to him, bidding him come to him and offering to give him the castle of Montreuil, which from its situation would have enabled him to give constant annoyance to their common enemy, William, and to act in conjunction with the Count of Flanders. When he set sail the king and queen gave him and his men many rich gifts, vessels of gold and silver, and cloaks of ermine and other skins. They were shipwrecked apparently on the coast of England, their ships and almost all their treasures were lost, and some of them fell into the hands of the ‘Frenchmen’ [Normans]. Eadgar and the rest returned to Scotland, ‘some ruefully going on foot, and some wretchedly riding’ (A.-S. Chron. Worcester, 1074). Malcolm advised him to send over to William, who was then in Normandy, and make his peace. This he accordingly did, and the king and queen, having again given him many treasures, sent him from their kingdom with honour. He was met at Durham by the sheriff of York, who escorted him to Normandy. William received him graciously and gave him some means of sustenance. It was probably about this time that he received two small estates which he held in Hertfordshire at the time of the Domesday Survey (Norman Conquest, iv. 571, 745; Domesday, 142 a). He also had an allowance of a pound of silver a day. It is said that at William's court he was held to be indolent and childish, and that he was foolish enough to give up his pension to the king in exchange for a single horse (Gesta Regum, iii. 251). At last, in 1086, finding that he was slighted by the king, he obtained leave to raise a force of two hundred knights, and with them he went to serve with the Normans in Apulia

On Eadgar's return from Apulia he resided in Normandy, where Duke Robert gave him lands and treated him as a friend. In 1091 William Rufus, who was then reigning in England, compelled the duke to take away his land and to send him out of the duchy (ib.) He again took shelter in Scotland, and accompanied Malcolm when he invaded Northumberland the same year. William and Malcolm met on the shores of the Firth of Forth, and Eadgar on the side of the Scottish king, and Duke Robert on the side of his brother, arranged a peace between them (A.-S. Chron.) Eadgar was reconciled to William, and returned to Normandy with the duke on 23 Dec. He was in England in the spring of 1093, and was sent by the king to invite Malcolm to a conference at Gloucester. When Malcolm was slain on 13 Nov., his kingdom was seized by Donald Bane, and his children were forced to flee to England, where, it is said, they were sheltered by their uncle, the ætheling (, v. 21). To this period of his life probably belongs the story which tells how he was accused by a certain English knight named Ordgar of plotting against the king. William believed the accusation, and its truth was to be decided in Norman fashion by combat. Eadgar had some difficulty in finding a champion. At last an English knight, Godwine of Winchester, was moved by the thought of his descent from the ancient line of kings, and offered to do battle as his