The Siege of Norwich Castle: A story of the last struggle against the Conqueror
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APPENDIX.
NOTE A. THE MARRIAGE OF RALPH DE GUADER.
The bridal of Ralph de Guader to Emma Fitzosbern is very fullydescribed by the chroniclers, and I have endeavoured to keep as closelyas possible to history. But though I have searched at leasthalf-a-score authorities, ancient and modern, every one of whom statesthat many abbots and bishops were among the company, in no case is thename of any ecclesiastic recorded. I have therefore taken a libertywith the Abbot of St. Albans, of whom Freeman says: 'All that certainhistory has to say about Frithric is, that he was Abbot of St. Albans,and that he died or was deposed some time between 1075 and 1077.' Thesedates would make it not impossible that he attended the bridal, andtradition represents him as a very active worker in the patriotic causeof the Saxon Church, and the untiring opponent of Lanfranc.
NOTE B. NORWICH CASTLE.
Harrod, _Castles and Convents_, p. 145. Some later archaeologists are ofopinion that the castle built by William the Conqueror was so injuredin the siege that it had to be rebuilt, and the chronicler, Henry deKnyghton, under date 1100, ascribes its erection to William Rufus. Allagree that a fine Norman castle was built on the old Saxon earthworksby the Conqueror, though they differ as to whether the existing keep isthe one then erected.
NOTE C. DE GUADER'S DEFEAT.
It is to be remarked that none of the chroniclers, Norman or English,say anything of this encounter of Odo and Ralph. Nor do they noticeRalph's wound. What they do say is that De Guader was defeated at aplace called Fagaduna. Lingard suggests that this name is probably atranslation of Beacham, in Norfolk, and the theory is rendered moreprobable by the fact that Beachamwell St. Mary was anciently dividedinto two parishes, Beacham and Welle. But eight miles from this is thevillage of Fouldon, which name, according to Blomefield, is acorruption of its old Saxon cognomen. 'At the Great Survey, this townoccurs by the name of Fulgaduna, Fulendon and Phuldon, and takes itsname from the plenty of wild fowl which frequented it, it being seatedin the midst of fens and morasses. _Fugol_, in Saxon, signifies wildfowl, and in some antique writings 'tis wrote Fugeldune.' What a slightmisunderstanding of a strange name, or slip of the pen, might changethis word into Fagaduna!
NOTE D. DE GUADER AND WALTHEOF.
The chroniclers called Ralph's embarkation from Norwich a flight; whilemodern historians accuse the stout earl of not _daring_ to stand thesiege in his own person, and of leaving the bride for whom he hadrisked so much to sustain dangers he feared to face.
Ralph was unfortunate in offending all parties. Chroniclers of Normansympathies hated him for his rebellion against William; Saxons forfighting against his people at Senlac: neither had any motive to say agood word for him, while they canonized Waltheof as a saint,--Waltheof,who surely earned the name of traitor as richly as ever did Ralph,since he entered in the conspiracy against William, after havingvoluntarily accepted the hand of the Conqueror's niece in marriage, andbinding himself under a solemn form of fealty; then, to shield himself,acted the ever-hateful part of an informer.
Hugh and Roger Bigod, Ralph's successors in the earldom of Norfolk, arespoken of as worthy bearers of the title. Yet Hugh rebelled, firstagainst King Stephen, and afterwards against Henry II.; and Rogerwrested a charter from Richard I., in which the inhabitants of Norwichwere first recognised as citizens, and afterwards joined the baronsagainst King John, being one of the foremost of those who forced him tosign Magna Charta. It may be said that the treasons of the Bigods werejustified by their ends, to obtain liberty for the people; but it mustnot be forgotten that Ralph de Guader alleged as his motive theintolerable oppression of the Saxons under the _regime_ of William'ssubordinates.
Victor Hugo, writing of the good service done to English liberty by thejealous watch kept by the barons on the crown, and by their determinedresistance of all royal encroachments, says: 'Des 1075 les barons sefont sentir au roi. Et a quel roi! A Guillaume le Conquerant!' The datethus given is that of the rebellion of De Guader and Hereford.
NOTE E. THE SIEGE OF NORWICH CASTLE.
All that certain history has to tell of this siege of Norwich Castle,is that De Guader left it in the hands of his countess and knights, thenames of the latter not being given; that they were attacked by theking's forces under the leaders named in the text, armed with all themechanical inventions of the day; that the countess held it for threemonths, and gave it up on the terms related through lack of provisions;and that she rejoined her husband in Brittany. Why he had not appearedto relieve his castle is not recorded.
These details may be found in Orderic Vitalis, Matthew Paris, Florenceof Worcester, the Chronicles of Worcester and Peterborough, and in allmodern historians who deal with the period, perhaps the best accountbeing that of Freeman in the fourth volume of his _Norman Conquest_, awork abounding in interest and spirited description.
MORRISON AND GIBB, PRINTERS, EDINBURGH.