Danes, Saxons, and Normans; or, Stories of our Ancestors by J. G. Edgar, author of “Boyhood of Great Men,” “Cavaliers and Roundheads,” etc. 1863[From the Preface.] In the following pages I have endeavoured to tell in a popular way the story of the Norman Conquest, and to give an idea of the principal personages who figured in England at the period when that memorable event took place; and I have endeavoured, I hope not without some degree of success, to treat the subject in a popular and picturesque style, without any sacrifice of historic truth.With a view of rendering the important event which I have attempted to illustrate, more intelligible to the reader, I have commenced by showing how the Normans under Rolfganger forced a settlement in the dominions of Charles the Simple, whilst Alfred the Great was struggling with the Danes in England, and have recounted the events which led to a connexion between the courts of Rouen and Westminster, and to the invasion of England by William the Norman.It has been truly observed that the history of the Conquest is at once so familiar at first sight, that it appears superfluous to multiply details, so difficult to realize on examination, that a writer feels himself under the necessity of investing with importance many particulars previously regarded as uninteresting, and that the defeat at Hastings was not the catastrophe over which the curtain drops to close the Saxon tragedy, but “the first scene in a new act of the continuous drama.” I have therefore continued my narrative for many years after the fall of Harold and the building of Battle Abbey, and have traced the Conqueror’s career from the coast of Sussex to the banks of the Humber and the borders of the Tweed.For the same reason I have narrated the quarrels which convulsed the Conqueror’s own family--have related how son fought against father, and brother against brother--and have indicated the circumstances which, after a fierce war of succession in England, resulted in the peaceful coronation of Henry Plantagenet, and the establishment of that great house whose chiefs were so long the pride of England and the terror of her foes.J. G. E.CONTENTSPrefaceCH 1. Rolfganger and His ComradesCH 2. William the ConquerorCH 3. The Danes in EnglandCH 4. Earl GodwinCH 5. Edward the ConfessorCH 6. The King and the King-MakerCH 7. Matilda of FlandersCH 8. Siward the DaneCH 9. Harold, the Saxon KingCH 10. Duke William and His DifficultiesCH 11. Tostig, Son of GodwinCH 12. Harold HardradaCH 13. The Alarm in EnglandCH 14. The Battle of Stamford BridgeCH 15. Philip of FranceCH 16. The Norman ArmamentCH 17. Harold’s HostCH 18. The Battle of HastingsCH 19. The Body of HaroldCH 20. The Conqueror and the KentishmenCH 21. Edgar AthelingCH 22. Coronation of the ConquerorCH 23. The Siege of ExeterCH 24. Matilda and BrihtrikCH 25. The Normans in NorthumberlandCH 26. Cospatrick and the ConquerorCH 27. Saxon Saints and Norman SoldiersCH 28. The Reduction of ChesterCH 29. Lanfranc of PaviaCH 30. Edwin and MorkarCH 31. Ivo Taille-BoisCH 32. Hereward the SaxonCH 33. Building of Battle AbbeyCH 34. Malcolm CanmoreCH 35. The Death of CospatrickCH 36. Atheling and His AlliesCH 37. Fitzosborne and de GaelCH 38. Waltheof, Son of SiwardCH 39. Wulstan, Bishop of WorcesterCH 40. Robert CurthoseCH 41. The Conqueror and His HeirCH 42. Odo, Bishop of BayeuxCH 43. Doomsday BookCH 44. The Conqueror’s DeathCH 45. The Burial at CaenCH 46. The Red KingCH 47. Rufus and the JewsCH 48. Rufus and the ScotsCH 49. Robert de MoubrayCH 50. Henry BeauclercCH 51. The Death of RufusCH 52. A Change of FortuneCH 53. Curthose at the CrusadeCH 54. Beauclerc and CurthoseCH 55. After Tinchebray