Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 11.djvu/519

Rh of messages, the decisive battle was fought on October 14th. As the English were wholly infantry, while the Normans were strongest in cavalry and archers, Harold’s object was simply to hold the hill against all attack. As long as he was obeyed, his tactics were completely successful. But a part of his troops, disobeying his orders, left the hill to pursue, and the English array was broken. The Normans could now get up the hill, and, after a fight which lasted from morning till evening, they had the victory. The king and his brothers Gyrth and Leofwine were killed. As Harold was condemned by the pope, William at first refused him Christian burial, and caused him to be buried on the rocks at Hastings. But it seems most likely that he afterwards allowed the body to be removed to Harold’s own church at Waltham. The tale which represents Harold as escaping from the battle, living a life of penitence, and at last dying at Chester, is a mere romance. Harold left several children, but there is a good deal of uncertainty as to his marriage or marriages. He had two sons by Ealdgyth, Harold and Wulf; but they must have been twins born after their father’s death. He had also three sons, Godwine, Eadmund, and Magnus, and two daughters, Gytha and Gunhild. It will be seen how strong the Scandinavian element is in these names. These five were not children of Ealdgyth, and the sons were grown up, or nearly so, when their father died. They may have been the children of an unrecorded first wife. But the local history of Waltham represented Harold’s body as being found after the battle by a former mistress of his, Eadgyth Swanneshals (Swansneck). Some have thought that this Eadgyth is the “‘ Eddeva pulcra” of Domesday, who appears as the former holder of great estates in the east of England. This, though not unlikely, is quite uncertain ; but there seems evidence enough to show that Eadgyth Swanneshals is a real person, and to connect her with Harolkd’s East-Anglian earldom. It seems most likely that she was the mother of Harold’s earlier children, and that the connexion between them was that intermediate state between marriage and concubinage called the Danish marriag2, of which we not uncommonly hear in those days. The character of Harold is blackened with many, but mostly very vague, charges by the Norman writers. The English, on the other hand, paint him as the perfect model ofaruler. With regard to his accession to the crown, the conimon charge of usurpation springs from ignorance of the English law of the time. Harold was beyond all doubt regularly nominated by Eadward, regularly chosen by the witan, and regularly crowned by Ealdred. This last point is of importance in those days, when the rite of coronation was deemed of such moment. The Normans try to represent the ceremony as invalid, by saying that Harold was crowned by Stigand, archbishop of Canterbury, whose canonical position was doubtful. That Harold crowned himself, instead of receiving the ecclesiastical consecration, is a mere fable, arising from a misunderstanding of some of the rhetorical invectives of the Norman writers. It should be noticed that those contemporary writers who speak of Harold as an usurper do so wholly on the ground of the alleged right of William, and of Harold’s oath to William. That Harold’s accession was a wrong done to young Eadgar is an idea which we first hear of in the next century, when the doctrine of hereditary right had taken firmer root. In Domesday the reign of Harold is passed by; he is regularly spoken of as earl; the doctrine of the Norman lawyers was that William, though of course not full king till his coronation, had the sole right to the crown from the moment of Eadward’s death. The military skill of Harold is plain, both from the Welsh war, when he overcame the mountaineers by making his English soldiers adopt the Welsh tactics, and from his conduct both at Stamfordbridge and at Senlac. He clearly understood the difference between his two enemies, when it was wise to attack and when it was wise to await the attack. At Stamfordbridge his strategy was perfectly successful; it failed at Senlac only because of the dis- obedience of part of his army. The best witness to his civil government is the general peace and good order of England during that part of the reign of Eadward which was virtually his reign. When the peace is broken, it is always by the act of others, and Harold is always called on to make the settlement. He appears throughout as singularly mild and conciliating, never pressing hard upon any enemy. The later Norman writers indeed have an elaborate tale which represents Harold and Tostig as enemies from their childhood. But this is mere romance, with no ground in any contemporary writer. The relations of Harold to the church, always an im- portant feature in the character of a prince of that age, suggest several questions. He is charged in Domesday with several encroachments on ecclesiastical property, chiefly in Herefordshire, and the like charge is brought against him in a deed of Leofric, bishop of Exeter. But it must be remembered that this kind of charge is brought against every leading man of the time, and that we very seldom hear more than one side. The most distinct and detailed charge, that which represents Haroid as a whole- sale spoiler of the church of Wells, can be refuted, not by hearing the other side, but by going back to the charge as brought by the original complainant, Bishop Gisa. We here find that Harold took nothing from the church, but simply hindered the bishopric from receiving a bequest to which there is some reason for thinking that he may have had a right as earl. On the other hand, Harold appears as the friend and protector of several ecclesiastical bodies, and above all as the founder of Waltham. Here we may remark that, when monks were all the fashion, he preferred the secular clergy. He was the firm friend of the best pre- late of his time, Bishop Wulfstan, and he appeared on good terms with most of the leading churchmen.

1em  HAROUN AL RASCHID, more properly Hartin er Rashid, ‘‘ Aaron the Orthodox,” was the fifth of the “Abbaside caliphs of Bagdad. His full name was Hartin ’bn Mohammed ibn Abdallah ibn Mohammed ibn Ali ’bn ‘Abdallah ibn Abbis. He was born at Ray the last day of Dhi 1 Heggah, (20th March ) according to some accounts, and according to others 1st Moharrem (15th Feb. ). Haroun al Raschid was twenty-two years old when he ascended the throne. His biographers unanimously speak of him as “the most accomplished, eloquent, and generous of the caliphs ;” but, though his name is a household word, and few figures stand out more grandly prominent in the history of their times, little is really popularly known about his private life ; and personal history.