YORK HISTORY CONTENTS:
Source=h:/!Genuki/RecordTranscriptions/ARY/YorkHistoryBaines.txt
A History of York
from Baine's Gazetteer (1823)
Part 2
YORK IN THE DARK AGES
Picts, Scots, Saxons and Danes
The decline of the Roman power, obliged them to abandon their
distant conquests, and in the reign of Theodosius, the younger,
the empire sunk so fast, that Britain, and of course York, the
city of the Brigantines, as it was called, was no longer a residence
for the "lords of the universe." Rome and York both
declined together, and to them might be applied the reflection
of the old poet, on the fall of Carthage:
Unhappy men! to mourn our lives short date,
When cities, realms, and empires share our fate.
During the period between the evacuation of Britain, by the
Romans, and the conquest of this island, by the Normans, the city
of York, partook largely in the vicissitudes to which the country
was exposed. The Picts and the Scots, the Saxons and the Danes,
each in succession, erected their standards before its gates,
and obtained possession of the city. The general history of Northumbria,
during these early ages, is already sketched in this work, under
the head of YORKSHIRE; and it will suffice here, to remark of
this epoch, that York, though shorn of that splendour which imperial
Rome conferred, still maintained a distinguished rank as a metropolitan
city, and as the centre of commercial attraction. The celebrated
instructor of Charlemagne, who wrote in the ninth century, thus
speaks of York:-
Quo variis populis et regnis undique lecti,
Spe lucri venunt qurentes divite terra,
Divitias, sedem sibimet lucrumque laremque."
" Hither for gain from various foreign parts
Come trading people seeking opulence,
And a secure abode in wealthy land."
At this period, York was the seat not only of trade, but of
letters; she was indeed, the Athens of that dark age, and the
library collected by Archbishop Egbert, and placed in the cathedral,
ranked amongst the first in Christendom. Alcuin, in one of his
letters to his royal pupil, Charlemagne, requests that scholars
may be sent from France, to copy the works deposited here, "that
the garden of letters may not be shut up in York; but that some
of its fruits may be placed in the paradise of Tours." (Ref:
Epist. Alcuini ad Carolum Regem. Lel. Coll. I. page 399.) William,
of Malmsbury, speaking of this library, says, "it is the
noblest repository, and cabinet of arts and sciences in the whole
world."
King Arthur
Among the most celebrated of the British monarchs before the
conquest, was King Arthur. This monarch expelled the Saxons from
York, and almost from the Island, in the year 520, by the sanguinary
battle of Baden Hills, in which 90,000 of the enemy were slain.
Arthur, after the defeat of the Saxons, undertook an expedition
into Scotland, with a determination to destroy that ancient seat
of enmity from one end to the other. From this purpose he was
dissuaded by the Bishops. The Scots had just received the gospel,
and it was represented to the King, by his spiritual guides, in
the true spirit of that religion which he professed, that Christians
ought not to spill the blood of Christians - a maxim, that has
unfortunately for the world, not been sufficiently inculcated
in modern times. Arthur, after his expedition to Scotland, returned
to York, where he convened an assembly of the clergy and people,
to heal the divisions, and to regulate the affairs of the church.
At this time, this great monarch, and his clergy, with the nobility,
and the soldiers, kept their Christmas, in York. This was the
first festival of the kind ever celebrated in Britain, and from
which, all those ever since held have taken their model. "The
latter end of December, says the historian," (Buchanan.)
" was spent in mirth, jollity, drinking, and the vices that
are too often their consequences, so that the representations
of the old heathenish feasts, dedicated to Saturn, were here again
revived. Gifts were sent mutually from one to another, frequent
invitations passed between friends, and domestic offenders were
not punished. All this, was to celebrate the nativity of Christ,
then, as they say, born." Arthur, after all his glory, had
the misfortune to be slain in a rebellion of his own subjects,
and by the hands of his own nephew. From his death, violent dissentions
arose among the British princes, and the Saxons again so completely
prevailed, as to gain an entire conquest over the whole kingdom.
Those Britons, who would not submit to pass under the Saxon yoke,
sought shelter in the Cambrian mountains, where their posterity,
according to Welsh history, have ever since maintained their station.
It does not belong to this work to trace the events of the
Heptarchy, of which period it has been observed, with some justice,
that if "the old wives' tales and friars' dreams" be
expunged, this volume of history will be reduced to a page. But
it is proper to record, that in the year 867, the Danes, who had
long envied the happiness of their neighbours, the Saxons, in
the possession of the greatest and the wealthiest island in Europe,
fitted up a mighty fleet, and entered the Humber in the spring,
with a strong invading army, under the command of Hinguar and
Hubba. Their first operation was against York, where a sanguinary
battle was fought in the midst of the city, and the two Saxon
kings, Osbert and Ella, being slain in the engagement, the city
fell into the hands of the Danish invaders. In the conflict, York,
was reduced to a heap of ruins, by the enraged Barbarians, who
spared neither palace nor cottage, age, or sex. "Matrons
and virgins," says Hoveden, "were ravished at pleasure.
The husband and wife either dead or dying, were tossed together.
The infant snatched from its mother's breast was carried to the
threshold, and there left butchered at its parents' door, to make
the general cry more hideous." For some ages the struggle
was maintained in England between the Saxons and the Danes, but
in the year, 1010. the power of the former was extinguished. The
Danes, under Sweyn, their sovereign, advanced into Northumbria,
with a powerful army, and pitched their tents on the banks of
the Ouse. To this place, Ethelred, the Anglo-Saxon monarch, with
an army strengthened by a number of Scots, marched to give them
battle. The engagement, which took place near York, was bloody
and well contested. Ethelred fought to retain, and Sweyn to obtain
a kingdom. Victory at length declared for the Danes, and Ethelred,
with a few of his followers, seizing a boat, passed over the Ouse,
and fled into Normandy, leaving his crown and his kingdom to the
conqueror. The Danish viceroys, or Comites Northumbri, took up
their residence at York, while their sovereigns not unfrequently
made this city the royal residence. The death of Sweyn, who breathed
his last at Gainsborough, took place in the year, 1014, and he
was succeeded by his son, Canute, the most powerful monarch of
his time. The reproof given by this King to his fawning courtiers,
is so just and impressive, that its memory has survived through
eight centuries. Some of these flatterers breaking out in expressions
of admiration of his power and grandeur, exclaimed, that to him
every thing was possible. Upon which, Canute ordered his chair
to be placed upon the sea-shore, while the tide was rising; as
the waters approached, he commanded them with a voice of authority
to retire, and to obey the lord of the ocean. For some time he
feigned to sit in expectation of their submission, but the sea
still advanced towards him, and began to wash him with its billows;
on which he turned to his courtiers, and said, "Behold how
feeble and impotent is man. Power resideth in one Being alone,
in whose hands are the elements of nature, and who alone can say
to the ocean; Thus far shalt thou go and no further, and
who can level with his nod the most towering piles of pride and
ambition."
Harold
On the death of Canute, in 1035, Harold, his second son, surnamed
Harefoot, succeeded to his British dominions; this monarch was
succeeded by Hardicanute, a licentious tyrant, who died two years
after his accession, at the nuptials of a Danish lord. Edward,
the Confessor, though not the hereditary descendent, was raised
to the throne by the voice of the people, to the exclusion of
Sweyn, the Danish claimant, and was the last of the Saxon line
who ruled in England. Harold, the son of Godwin, succeeded Edward,
but was opposed by his brother Tasti, at whose instance, Harfager,
the King of Norway, undertook the invasion of this kingdom, with
a numerous and well appointed army, embarked on board a kind of
Norwegian armada, This mighty armament entered the Humber, in
the autumn of 1066, and the ships sailed up the Ouse, as far as
Riccall, within ten miles of York; where they were moored. Having
landed their forces, the invaders marched to York, which city
they took by storm, after a desperate conflict, fought at Fulford,
on the eve of St. Matthew, with Morchar, the governor, and Edwin,
Earl of Chester. Harold no sooner heard of the arrival of the
Norwegians, than he marched to York, at the head of a powerful
army. On his approach, the invaders quitted the city, and took
up a strong position to the East of York, having the Derwent in
front, the Ouse to the right, and their navy on the left. Harold,
disregarding the advantageous position of the enemy, determined
to cross the wooden bridge which passed over the river, and to
attack them in their trenches. His army was put in motion early
in the morning, but an impediment, as the historians say, was
interposed by a champion, in the Norwegian army, who placing himself
on the bridge, kept by his own individual prowess the whole British
army at bay for three hours! This hero being at length slain by
a dart, the English army passed the bridge, and attacking the
enemy in their trenches, sword in hand, victory declared on the
side of Harold. The King of Norway, and Tasti were both slain;
and their army, which consisted of sixty thousand men, suffered
so complete an overthrow, that though from five to six hundred
vessels were necessary to bring them to England, twenty vessels
were sufficient to carry back the miserable remains that survived
the slaughter. This battle, which commenced at sun rise, and did
not terminate till three o'clock in the afternoon, was fought
at Stamford Bridge,(Note:- See Stamford Bridge in this volume.)
on the 23d of September, 1066. The spoil taken by the victors
was immense, and it is represented, that the gold alone which
the Norwegians left behind them, was as much as twelve men could
carry on their shoulders. (Ref:- Camden) Harold's triumph was
of short duration. Returning to York, on the night of the battle,
he gave orders for solemn feasts and rejoicings to begin the next
day. Scarcely had these demonstrations of public joy commenced,
when a messenger arrived from the South, and announced to Harold,
as he sat in state, at a magnificent entertainment, that Duke
William of Normandy, had landed with a mighty army, at Pevensey,
in Sussex. The recently acquired victory of Harold, though great
and honourable, proved in the main prejudicial to his interests,
and may be regarded as the immediate cause of his ruin. He had
lost many of his bravest officers and soldiers in the action;
and he had disgusted the survivors, by refusing to distribute
among them the Norwegian spoils. On receiving the intelligence
of the arrival of William, the King marched at the head of his
army, through London, to Sussex, in order to expel the invaders.
Here the sanguinary battle of Hastings was fought, only nine days
after the battle of Stamford Bridge, and here Harold lost both
his kingdom and his life.
Data transcribed from:
Baines Gazetteer 1823
Scan, OCR and html software by Colin Hinson.
Checking and correction by Richard Tetley.
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