Page:Dictionary of National Biography volume 16.djvu/395

 She was as greedy as the rest of her family, and was probably not less violent or unscrupulous than the worst of them. She was extremely humble in her behaviour to the king, never taking her seat beside him except at church or at the royal table, but sitting at his feet until he signed to her to sit by his side (Vita Eadw. 922). Eadward is said to have loved her, but when her father and brothers were outlawed in September 1051 he made no objection to the proposal of Archbishop Robert, the head of the foreign faction, that he should divorce her (ib. 486). Nevertheless the archbishop modified his proposal; all her lands and treasures were seized, and she was sent away weeping, though with honour and royal attendance (ib.; or perhaps in disgrace and with but one attendant, ), to the monastery of Wherwell (A.-S. Chron.; ), or, according to the panegyrist, to Wilton (Vita Eadw. 491). As the panegyrist adds that the monastery to which she was sent was that in which she had been brought up, it is perhaps going far to assume, on the strength of the evidence in favour of Wherwell, that Wilton is a ‘clerical error’ (Norman Conquest, ii. 156, n. 4); it seems probable that the queen was first sent to Wherwell with every mark of disgrace, and committed to the keeping of the abbess, who is said to have been the king's sister (A.-S. Chron., Peterborough; Gesta Regum, ii. 199), and that she was afterwards transferred with royal honour, and possibly at her own request, to Wilton, the house in which she had passed her childhood and for which she evidently retained a strong affection. On the reconciliation of the king and Earl Godwine in September 1052 she was brought back to the court, and her lands and treasures were restored to her. She held considerable property. Winchester and Exeter came to her on her marriage as her ‘morning-gift,’ and she also held lands in Buckinghamshire, Berkshire, Devonshire, and Somerset (see references to ‘Domesday’ in Norman Conquest, iv. 34, 139, 753, 754, v. 803). Like her husband, she made gifts to foreign monasteries. Among these was the monastery of St. Riquier in Picardy. The abbot, Gervinus, was a special favourite of Eadward, and seems to have often come over to England to get money from him. Eadgyth shared her husband's admiration for the abbot, and on one of his visits advanced to welcome him, according to the English custom, with a kiss. The abbot thought this unseemly and drew back, whereat the queen was greatly offended. The king and divers nobles, however, pointed out to her that his self-denial was worthy of praise because he had acted in accordance with the rules of his order, and Eadgyth was appeased, presented him with a cloak wondrously adorned with gold and silver which he gave to his church, and further obtained the abolition of the custom, which enabled bishops and abbots to receive kisses from ladies (Chron. Centulense, iv. 22;, ii. 345; the story is quoted at length, Norman Conquest, ii. 535). Eadgyth's donations to English churches do not seem to have been large. She gave certain lands to the church of Wells (, Codex Dipl. 917, 918, where there is a curious notice of the stealing of her horse at Wedmore, Somerset), and towards the end of Eadward's reign, while he was rearing the abbey of Westminster, she was engaged in building a stone church at Wilton in place of the wooden one that had hitherto stood there (Vita Eadw. 1014 sq.).

Of all her brothers Tostig, earl of Northumberland, appears to have been specially dear to Eadgyth. He was a violent and treacherous man, and on 28 Dec. 1064 Gospatric, one of the thegns of his earldom, was assassinated in the king's palace. The murder was said to have been planned by the queen at the instigation of her brother the earl It was one of the chief causes of the revolt of Northumberland, which broke out the next year. This revolt and the bitter quarrel that ensued between Tostig and Harold cost the queen many tears, and she had to see her favourite brother banished from England (Vita Eadw. 1203 sq.). Her church at Wilton was consecrated in 1065, and at the Christmas festival (28 Dec.) of that year she represented the king, who was then too ill to attend in person, at the consecration of Westminster Abbey (, 399). Before the festival was past she stood by the deathbed of her husband, and is represented as cherishing the feet of the dying man. She trembled at his prophecy of coming evil, for it is said that she had often spoken of the general decay of religion. Eadward thanked her for all her dutifulness to him, and declared that she had ever been at his side like an affectionate daughter. He commended her to the care of her brother Harold, and charged him that she should lose none of the honour that he had bestowed upon her (Vita Eadw. 1555 sq.), a charge that gains significance when connected with the queen's adherence to the cause of Harold's enemy Tostig. On the death of Eadward she retired to her city of Winchester, and there hoped for the success of Tostig's expedition against Harold, which she is said to have counselled. Moreover we are told that she was anxious that William should be king rather than her brother Harold (