ALLEGED PLOT AND SEIZURES. 441 plot, or conspiracy was organized for a general massacre of the Normans; and that the time. 1069 Sullen England. fixed for carrying it into effect was Ash-Wed- submission of nesday, the day of penitence and prayer. Concerning this plot, the English writers are entirely silent, but during this period, they are remarkably succinct and broken, betraying, by their fragmentary and incomplete notices, the confusion which prevailed. seizures of Whether true or not, this alleged conspiracy furnished the reason, or the pretence for great severity. Many English of distinction were cast Further into prison: others put to death, and far more land. extensive seizures of land without doubt ensued. We have a remarkable proof indeed that William had now abandoned his former just and equitable policy. If any could claim [possession for] his heirs, or next of kin, supposing they were not strictly heirs, [it should have been] Eadnoth the standard-bearer, who had lost his life for See p. 432. William's cause; yet all the domains of this great Thane were divided amongst the Conqueror's Norman followers. With Waltheof, Merlesweyn, and Gospatric, William had been afraid or unable to meddle, and these last relics of the English nobility now were in dread, lest the same fate should befal them which had visited their compeers,-captivity or death; and they determined to seek refuge under the protection of the Scottish king. But they contemplated more than their own safety. They contemplated rescuing the deposed royal family Saxon 1069 Scotland. from the invader:-nay more, the preservation of the royal authority, and its actual restoration in the antient right royal line. They therefore emigration to embarked with Edgar, the widowed Agatha, Margaret, and Cristina; and St. Margaret's Hope, on the banks of the Tweed, preserves by its traditionary name the memory of the spot where the fugitives touched the Scottish shore. Flight of the old Royal Family. 29. No fact in the history of the island is more prominent, for perhaps the event is even of more importance in the Scottish annals than in our own, than the flight of the Atheling, and the marriage of Margaret with the Scottish king; yet there are none in which the details are enveloped in greater uncertainty; but, when it is recollected that none of those who relate the event could have witnessed it, and that probably much precaution and some artifice may have been needed, to enable the children of England to escape from the Norman Conqueror, there will be less reason to be perplexed by discrepancies, which rather confirm than invalidate the general narrative. It is therefore not at all improbable, that there may be some foundation for the tale, that the Atheling, or rather his mother Agatha,—for he must certainly have been too young to form any plan for himself,-first spread the report that they intended to retire to Hungary, to a distance which would put an end to all suspicion of future rivalry; and the pic ture preserved of Malcolm meeting the maiden on the shore, was that species of embellishment which imagination gives to love in every age. 1069 marries Malcolm. It is very credible that the royal family of England may have been received in the palatial abbey of Dumferline; and still more, that, whether betrothed or not by her kinsman the Margaret Confessor, Margaret may have hesitated to accept the hand of the Scottish king. It is quite consistent with her character to believe that she would far more willingly have dedicated herself as a virgin to the service of the Lord. But it was destined that she should perform that service more effectually as a wife and as a mother. The assent of Edgar, young as he was, was required. Upon the urgent request of Malcolm, Margaret assented, unwillingly and reluctantly; but the extreme affection of which she was the object soon dispelled this, and she entered on that high and dignified station, which rendered her, in the truest sense of the word, a blessing to the realm. apply to Denmark. 10. If any doubt could be entertained that The English the plan of the escape to Scotland was purposed and deliberate, it would be removed by considering how entirely it falls in with the plans which the English were forming for the liberation of their race and country. They had been diligently despatching messengers to Sweno, urging him to carry on the war against William. Abbot Egelsine, having incurred William's displeasure, 1069 The Danes prepare a 444 FORCES GATHERED IN DENMARK. had fled to Denmark, and was without doubt one who most urgently pressed the request. Most willingly was it accepted. Sweno, and great army. Sweno's brothers, Canute and Osbern: Sweno's Jarls and Sweno's Bishops, full as warlike as they, entered heart and soul into the enterprize. A most powerful army and armada was prepared; where the name of England scarcely conveyed a definite idea, the fame of England's riches would be fully appreciated; and the summons given by Sweno excited the greatest activity in the north. In the forests of Lithuania, where Thor, and Woden, and Freia were yet worshipped, the Letts and the Vandals were arming themselves with their staves and gisarmes for the invasion. The Sclavonians, who subsequently assumed the name of Poles, were equally preparing for the fight. Still more so in the nearer Frisia, whence Hengist and Horsa came of old, now again ready to send forth her swarms of warriors to Britain, whilst all the adjoining nations and districts contributed their aid. Some of these tribes had been vanquished by Sweno-others were his alliesthey swelled his host and added to the terror which it inspired. § 11. The whole of the north of England was again in a state of insurrection. Since the death of Oswulf, Northumbria fully defied the power of the Conqueror. So did all the marches of Mercia; so did many of the remaining Thanes GENERAL RISING IN THE NORTH. 445 Great 1069 the Normans. of Yorkshire; so did the great fen country of Ely, in the heart of that portion of the kingdom which William might call his own; and even hostility to where the people dared not evince open hostility, the hostile feeling could not be concealed. It was much against William's interest that all the monasteries were the very strongholds of national feeling. They were truly English, and besides the influence which they possessed upon public opinion, they supported the native interest by those immunities, which as yet the Conqueror had not dared to attack: here the English had deposited much of that treasure with which, when occasion should serve, they might renew the war. discouraged. So eminent and so apparent were these They are dangers to the Normans, that they now lost heart. Very many threw up their English pos- Many By. sessions, and departed to their homes in Normandy; some of them never to return. William himself found it for once absolutely impracticable to govern: he could not enforce obedience to the laws. An extended and predatory warfare wasted and harassed both parties: sickness and scarcity prevailed: the soldiery became clamorous, and William, unwilling to be troubled, and perhaps endangered by a demoralized and discontented army, dismissed a large number of his retainers, but with munificent rewards. ? 12. But whilst troubles were encreasing around him, William's discouragement, so unlike |