WARREN 1 DE WARRENNE Bibliogr2 ~ hy of Sources: AUGUSTAN SOCIETY (Vol X, Pgs 211 & 212) PEDIGREES OF SOME OF THE EMPEROR CHARLEMAGNE'!> DE SCENDANTS (Buck, BMrd & C:.ib~niss) A.t.fERI CANS OF GENTLE BIRTH (Pittman) GENERAL INTRODUCTION TO DOMESDAY BOOK ( Vol I, sir Henry Ellis) SONS OF THE CONQUEROR (Leslie G. 'Pine) WILLIAM THE CONQUEROR (Davin C. Douglas) MAGNA CHARTA (John S. Wurts) PRECEDING THE MAYFLOWER (James P. Leynse) ENGLISH ANCESTRY OF THE PILGRIM FATHERS (Banks) CAPE COD SERIES (Vol II, Hills) COLONIAL FAMILIES OF THE US OF A (MAcKenzie) GENEALOGY OF MARY WENTWORTH (Mrs 'Perle Lee) WITCHCRAFT AND HERALDRY (Forebears Vol 16) TOPOGRAPHICAL INDEX OF ENGLISH EMIGRANTS TO NEW ENGLAND (Banks) l?ARI SH MA 0 OF MIDDLESEX COUNTY GENERAL ARMORY (Burke) LINEAGE CHARTS ,... __ -~· .,... :·\ ;::. i. L 1-\ . _-:,_ t \.~ ·,,.,.. .::... 1. : 'o; .~ · '~·. I. •'-• ( ..." ;,, .;,. ·(., ".,,.. /,:-, ,1':'•".: .• " -~-·~·. 1!be kugustan, Vol. X, No, 5, J"une-July, 1967 Page 211 · THE CONQ,UESr OF ENGLAND, NINE CENTURIES ~GO By Luis Leon de le Barra, F.A.s. The commemoration of this event bas been held in all of Great Britain and of l course with special splendour at · Hastings and other pl aces uhere the events of 1066 ..i ..: and 1067 were enacted; and it is s ince then that the English nation we kncv.r was for med, following the merging of the civilizations of the Saxons and the Normans• lfith the natural intermarriages and the living in common during so long e period of time. Also. it was for this country the lest occasion to be invaded by foreign forces. We ell know that it was not ·aue to any lack of trying. but the fact is that ~ . n0 ither the Grand Armada of Phillip II of Spain, nor the Napoleonic armies concen.. trc1t ed at the Camp of Boulogne, or the Nazi.a after their victory at Dunkirk were ·~ ~b le to l and on the island. j The Normans, under several chiefs and different names, were knovm and dreaded •· throughollt the northern. Ii:uropean continent; the valiant Viking novigators not only •. Ettecked the coasts, but using the rivers went up at great distances inland and I·1'. ~ o und e d ne,·! nations 1 big, strong0 worshippers of the bloody god Odin, nothing could Ji ;top their continuous advance. I :!{ ·it....:. England at that time, divided in some eight different kingdoms often fighting ~:ongs t themselves for the complete dominion of the country, offered apparentl y a :::ocd opportunity for an invasion. Nevertheless, King Edbert. in 827, had already ;~nyed at the Court of Charlemagne, and returned well learned in the sciences of war f rnd peace, and became sole sovereign. His SllCcessors had to sustain constant strug- ·.1.·· .·... ;les oeainst the Danish invaders. but \!ere lead by iJ.lustriOllS figures, as that of (:!.ng ~lfred the Great, in the year 871, end of Edward the Confessor. son of Ethel red . ;~o , when enthroned in 1040 by the rising of the Saxons, issued laws which have i .·.--·:or t alized his memory. J - Edward was visited by William, tile bastard son and successor of the Duke of ~~11wndy 1 Robert 1tthe .LJevil" , . and it is certain that from that time he formed the ,, ·,d ition of taking over Ed':mrd' s kingdom; it was also thea that Ha rold was ship­ ;: ecked and imprisoned by Guy. Count of ..:.'onthieu. es was the custom cf the epoch; he 'i·~ S rescued by \"/illiao, who paid a heavy rnnsom, but it was not a disint9rested act, ,, he pressured him to recognize him as his heir to the th;..~one of Engla nd. when it u a s :..:.s turn to reign on it• and that he marriedHarold' s daughter J.dela. He thus had ~ici 1 ts to be asserted a bllt he waa no·t satisfied in having to wait so l ong , and to ;:1Jcipitate matters he succeeded in having Harold excorm.'lunicoted, and to be authori­ :d by the Pope to occupy his terti tory, in proof of which he received as investi t1..:te , . 1 stc ncle rd from the Roman Church and a ring containing a more or less authentic re.. ' ll~ of St .. Peter. [ Bet<18en times, the Saxon king had repelled other invasions: firstly, that of ::;stig, and later on, none the less that of King Harold of Norway, who had come with , .:: h" hundred sails and was . glad to b e able to leave with only twenty-five vessels • .511t those victories, -·glorious as they were, had nevertheless weakened greatly t:.'ll Saxon monarch, when a few days later he had news that on 20th Se ptember 1066, :· i; i ~ Uia.'ll with a thousand knights and their followers, forming a host of sixty thousar.d . •,, . :flrricrs, had landed on the Sussex coast. This figure has been discussed, but any- The Augustan. Vol •. X, No. 5, June-July, 1967 Page 212 way, the invasion was a powerful one for the c entury. It ha s often been told how ~lilli am, when l a nding. fell down, a nd to a void hL people taking it a s a bad omen, exclaimed; tt \r'/hat do you f e.o r'f .... all t he ea rth heri to be ours" 1 s howing a t the sa me time handfulls of it. He s ent by a monk a message to Harold, offer~'lg him t hree choices; t ha t he aba ndon t h e kingdom, t hat the question be subrni tte cl to the Pope, or t hat t hey fiC: in single combat so t hat it was God fiimself' who de cide d between them,. Ha r old pre· f err ed t o ba ttle with thG f orces s t ill at his comma nd. which arrived exhaust ed by t he long ma rch to t he battlefield. The fight was at Hastings on October 14th. I t wa s bl oody, and both sides ace plished va liant f eats; but es it was ·to be fore-seen, t he Nor mans won and Harold. with the best of his men. was s lain in t he course of the battle . \· ·rhe victor, s ince known a s Willi am the Conqueror, followed the day by t he occupation of citi es a nd castles, all of which r esis t ed a s well a s they coul d. un~ til be ing procla i med on Chris t mas Eve a s King of Engl a nd. and crowned a t Vle stmi!'lst Ab bey by t hree Pontificol De l egates. He had t he famous ·rowe r of London . built , ar, when sevent y three year s old was thrown by a horse.. Ho died in 1067, nine hundred years tl.go. Ther e is a r emarkable tapestry,. that of Baye ux , a very l ong strip whic h besid1 being a work of art, furnishes val uable data of historical a nd hera l dic i nte r es t a bout these eve nts . Pres ent l y a new one,. patiently embroide r ed on a l engt h of t wo hundred and f orty-thr ee f ee t . shows t he same theme of tb.e Conq_uest of Engl and 3 bas~ on the l atest hi storical findings. and a s pecia l pavillion f or its exhi bition has been erected at Ha stings. There are s ome who still deplore t he f a ct of t he conquef but it was the origin of one of the most wonderful na tions of t b.e ,.,orld, and bosidE nearly a l l of the Englis hmen of our day s have acq uired Nor man b l ood in t heir ve ins. In a r ecent study by J~ nthony Haden-Gue st. t he aut hor s tates t ha t t he kni ghts who f ought a t Ha stings with 1.1i lliam number ed only about f ive -thousand, and t hat no more tha n t we nty-five ha ve been definite l y ide ntifie d by now; a nd t hat a t most two hundr e d Brit ish families can t race desce nt from Normans who arrive d ·.-Ti th the con­ quest, and only four of t hem can prove that a knightly a ncestor f ought a t Ha stingsi But soon a fte r, mor e tha n one -hundred t housand Norman and Frenc h crossed the Channe a nd set tled in Engl a nd, a nd so, in our time s, the ir blooi "f l ows through t he l and by t he bucketful.• 1~11 lnglishruen ere then well entit led to celebrate now the l ast and event f uJ conquest of their justly proud Island. Irate Norman wife to husband-kni ght buckling on sword: anon 1 t give me that off-to-the-Crusa des r outine- you're going dri nking a nd wenc hing wit h t hose Norman bums from ?ar i s a gaini• Contributed by David A.. Tr us sell, New Yor K •P'·N- CO"N:rv G' '., U'G1CAL ) v~IK· c-1t -....-~ 1 , • } t SOCIETY OF CAL .... !\NIA NO: T19&- DATE: 7-iJ PEDIGREES OF SOME OF THE EMPEROR CHARLEMAGNE'S DESCENDANTS Volume III i-•f'l" t· ,,_, :,, v~r;_.'.)J':il.J1 \ _~ L~i:i)i ;,:,; ,_ .