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Britannia: The AngloSaxon Chronicle

1092-94
A.D. 1092 . In this year the King William with a large army went
north to Carlisle, and restored the town, and reared the castle,
and drove out Dolphin that before governed the land, and set his
own men in the castle, and then returned hither southward. And a
vast number of rustic people with wives and with cattle he sent
thither, to dwell there in order to till the land.

A.D. 1093 . In this year, during Lent, was the King William at
Glocester so sick, that he was by all reported dead. And in his
illness he made many good promises to lead his own life aright;
to grant peace and protection to the churches of God, and never
more again with fee to sell; to have none but righteous laws
amongst his people. The archbishopric of Canterbury, that before
remained in his own hand, he transferred to Anselm, who was
before Abbot of Bec; to Robert his chancellor the bishopric of
Lincoln; and to many minsters he gave land; but that he
afterwards took away, when he was better, and annulled all the
good laws that he promised us before. Then after this sent the
King of Scotland, and demanded the fulfilment of the treaty that
was promised him. And the King William cited him to Glocester,
and sent him hostages to Scotland; and Edgar Etheling,
afterwards, and the men returned, that brought him with great
dignity to the king. But when he came to the king, he could not
be considered worthy either of our king's speech, or of the
conditions that were formerly promised him. For this reason
therefore they parted with great dissatisfaction, and the King
Malcolm returned to Scotland. And soon after he came home, he
gathered his army, and came harrowing into England with more
hostility than behoved him; and Robert, the Earl of
Northumberland, surrounded him unawares with his men, and slew
him. Morel of Barnborough slew him, who was the earl's steward,
and a baptismal friend (115) of King Malcolm. With him was also
slain Edward his son; who after him should have been king, if he
had lived. When the good Queen Margaret heard this -- her most
beloved lord and son thus betrayed she was in her mind almost
distracted to death. She with her priests went to church, and
performed her rites, and prayed before God, that she might give
up the ghost. And the Scots then chose (116) Dufenal to king,
Malcolm's brother, and drove out all the English that formerly
were with the King Malcolm. When Duncan, King Malcolm's son,
heard all that had thus taken place (he was then in the King
William's court, because his father had given him as a hostage to
our king's father, and so he lived here afterwards), he came to
the king, and did such fealty as the king required at his hands;
and so with his permission went to Scotland, with all the support
that he could get of English and French, and deprived his uncle
Dufenal of the kingdom, and was received as king. But the Scots
afterwards gathered some force together, and slew full nigh all
his men; and he himself with a few made his escape. (117)
Afterwards they were reconciled, on the condition that he never
again brought into the land English or French.

A.D. 1094 . This year the King William held his court at
Christmas in Glocester; and messengers came to him thither from
his brother Robert of Normandy; who said that his brother
renounced all peace and conditions, unless the king would fulfil
all that they had stipulated in the treaty; and upon that he
called him forsworn and void of truth, unless he adhered to the
treaty, or went thither and explained himself there, where the
treaty was formerly made and also sworn. Then went the king to
Hastings at Candlemas; and whilst he there abode waiting the
weather, he let hallow the minster at Battel, and deprived
Herbert Losang, the Bishop of Thetford, of his staff; and
thereafter about mid-Lent went over sea into Normandy. After he
came, thither, he and his brother Robert, the earl, said that
they should come together in peace (and so they did), and might
be united. Afterwards they came together with the same men that
before made the treaty, and also confirmed it by oaths; and all
the blame of breaking the treaty they threw upon the king; but he
would not confess this, nor even adhere to the treaty; and for
this reason they parted with much dissatisfaction. And the king
afterwards won the castle at Bures, and took the earl's men
therein; some of whom he sent hither to this land. On the other
hand the earl, with the assistance of the King of France, won the
castle at Argence, and took therein Roger of Poitou, (118) and
seven hundred of the king's knights with him; and afterwards that
at Hulme; and oft readily did either of them burn the towns of
the other, and also took men. Then sent the king hither to this
land, and ordered twenty thousand Englishmen to be sent out to
Normandy to his assistance; but when they came to sea, they then
had orders to return, and to pay to the king's behoof the fee
that they had taken; which was half a pound each man; and they
did so. And the earl after this, with the King of France, and
with all that he could gather together, went through the midst of
Normandy, towards Ou, where the King William was, and thought to
besiege him within; and so they advanced until they came to
Luneville. There was the King of France through cunning turned
aside; and so afterwards all the army dispersed. In the midst of
these things the King William sent after his brother Henry, who
was in the castle at Damfront; but because he could not go
through Normandy with security, he sent ships after him, and
Hugh, Earl of Chester. When, however, they should have gone
towards Ou where the king was, they went to England, and came up
at Hamton, (119) on the eve of the feast of All Saints, and here
afterwards abode; and at Christmas they were in London. In this
same year also the Welshmen gathered themselves together, and
with the French that were in Wales, or in the neighbourhood, and
had formerly seized their land, stirred up war, and broke into
many fastnesses and castles, and slew many men. And when their
followers had increased, they divided themselves into larger
parties. With some part of them fought Hugh, Earl of Shropshire,
(120) and put them to flight. Nevertheless the other part of
them all this year omitted no evil that they could do. This year
also the Scots ensnared their king, Duncan, and slew him; and
afterwards, the second time, took his uncle Dufenal to king,
through whose instruction and advice he was betrayed to death.

Notes:

(115) Literally a "gossip"; but such are the changes which words
undergo in their meaning as well as in their form, that a
title of honour formerly implying a spiritual relationship
in God, is now applied only to those whose conversation
resembles the contemptible tittle-tattle of a Christening.
(116) From this expression it is evident, that though preference
was naturally and properly given to hereditary claims, the
monarchy of Scotland, as well as of England, was in
principle "elective". The doctrine of hereditary, of
divine, of indefeasible "right", is of modern growth.
(117) See the following year towards the end, where Duncan is
said to be slain.
(118) Peitevin, which is the connecting link between
"Pictaviensem" and "Poitou".
(119) Now called Southampton, to distinguish it from Northampton,
but the common people in both neighbourhoods generally say
"Hamton" to this day (1823).
(120) The title is now Earl of Shrewsbury.

Chronicle Years: 1088-91
Chronicle Years: 1095-99