Christmas
in the time of William the Conqueror
By
J.P. Reedman
William’s
Christmas Coronation.
1066 was a strange
year for England. It was a year of three Kings, Edward the Confessor,
Harold—and Harold’s successor, William the Bastard, who had defeated him at Hastings.
William was the
illegitimate son of Robert, Duke of Normandy and a woman named Herleva or
Arlette, thought to be a tanner or embalmer’s daughter. In 1051, the childless
King Edward the Confessor was said to have named him as heir to England as he
was Edward’s cousin once removed. And so, a bloody battle for the crown ensued
when Edward died with William believing his claim was superior to that of King
Harold.
By December of
1066, many were eager to see the new King crowned. Numerous prominent nobles
had bent the knee to their new overlord and Edgar the Atheling, a rival claimant,
was firmly in William’s possession.
A date for the
Coronation was set. An auspicious date within the religious calendar. The new
King of England would be crowned at Westminster Abbey on Christmas Day.
The ceremony was unusual;
a blend of English and Norman rituals in an attempt to appease both sides. It took
place at the Confessor’s grave and the words were read out both in English by
Aeldred, Archbishop of York, and in French by Geoffrey, Bishop of Coutances.
The ancient English rite of Saint Dunstan was enacted, but also a rite known to
the Kings of France—the anointing of the king with the holy Chrism.
Since rebellion
from the English was still a possibility, William had made sure the Abbey was
ringed by a band of metal-clad Norman knights, watching for any trouble.
And trouble
came—although, as it happened, it was the over-suspicious knights who cause it.
Not English rebels.
As the crown about
to be settled on William’s Chrism-slick brow, the attendees inside the church began
giving out great shouts of acclaim for the new monarch. Their cries shook the
vast stone dome, echoing between the pillars. To the Norman knights stationed
outside, this shouting sounded like an out-and-out riot, an attack upon their
lord from within the church.
Without waiting to
find out what was really happening, the Norman knights swarmed into the streets
around the Abbey, putting the nearby houses to the torch. Flames leapt into the
cold December air.
Inside the Abbey,
the congregation smelt the acrid smoke and heard screams from those caught in
the conflagration beyond. Panicking, they began to surge out of the doors and
ran through the smoke-furled streets. Some, seeing the true situation, quickly
began to loot the burning shops and houses.
Back within Westminster,
William was left with the unnerved bishops, monks and clergy. Apparently even the
mighty Conqueror was ‘pale faced and trembling’ in fear, believing that his
knights had taken on an unexpected enemy out to dethrone him before he had even
been fully crowned.
The Bishops
hastily completed the consecration rites while the fires in the houses were extinguished
before they could spread further across London. William, now an anointed king, trembled
in fear no more but proceeded on his way to the traditional coronation banquet.
However, the
events of this day fostered further mistrust between William and the English.
Feeling their dissatisfaction, within a few weeks of Christmas, William ordered
the beginnings of a huge, impregnable fortress—the edifice that would become
the Tower of London.
William’s Coronation
was not his only memorable Christmas, either. In 1069, on Christmas Day, three
years after his Coronation in Westminster, he stood wearing his crown in the
roofless, war-ravaged ruins of York Minster—a symbolic act. He then proceeded
with the ‘Harrowing of the North’ which left northern England in ruins, with
famine gripping the land and thousands homeless or dead. William’s initial
tentative peace with the English was over; upon that unhappy Christmas Day in
1069, a new harsher phase of Norman rule had begun.
J.P. Reedman
J.P. Reedman was
born in Canada but has lived in the U.K. for 27 years.
Interests include
folklore & anthropology, prehistoric archaeology (Neolithic/Bronze age
Europe; ritual, burial & material culture), as well as The Wars of the Roses
and other medieval periods. Novels include I, Richard Plantagenet, The Man Who
Would be King, Secret Marriages (Wars of the Roses), The Hood Game (Robin
Hood), The Stonehenge Saga (Bronze Age), and Medieval Babes, an ongoing series
about little-known Medieval women.
J.P.’s most recent
release is MY FATHER, MY ENEMY, about William the Conqueror’s granddaughter,
Juliane Fitzroy, illegitimate daughter Henry I of England. Married to a Norman
noble, life seems set for Juliane until her husband Eustace causes trouble with
the castellan of Ivry. Hostages are exchanged by the King's order, Ralph's son
for Juliane's daughters. A terrible tragedy happens and Juliane wants
vengeance...she wants to kill the King.
My
Father, My Enemy:
Juliane,
Daughter of Henry I
(Medieval
Babes, Tales of Little-Known Ladies Book 6)
By
J.P Reedman
Juliane Fitzroy is
the illegitimate daughter of Henry I--one of his twenty-two bastards.
When her father
weds her to a young Norman lord, Eustace de Breteuil, she thinks she has done
well in life for the daughter of a Saxon concubine.
But Eustace wants
a castle he cannot have. He starts hostilities with its castellan, Ralph
Harenc, egged on by the dubious Amaury de Montfort.
To keep the peace,
King Henry orders a hostage exchange between Eustace and Ralph. Juliane's
pretty young daughters for Ralph's son.
In a drunken rage,
fuelled on by Amaury, Eustace breaks the truce and blinds Harenc's boy.
Furious, the King allows Ralph to take his own brutal vengeance upon Henry's
own granddaughters.
Crazed with grief,
Juliane plots revenge for the maiming of her children.
The Wheel of Fate
spins. The King must die, his own daughter judge, jury, executioner...
Pick
up your copy of
My
Father, My Enemy
What a fascinating piece, JP!
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