Part 2

‘Apres ceo regna meyme cely Haueloke, q~ mult fuit prodhomme, et droiturelle, et bien demenoit son people en reson et ley. Cel Roy Haueloke reigna xlj. aunz, si engendroit ix fitz et vij filis, dount trestoutz murrerount ainz q~ furunt d’age, fors soulement iiij de ses feitz, dont l’un out a noum Gurmound, cely q~ entendy auoir son heire en Engleterre; le secound out a noun Knout, quen fitz feffoit son pere en le regne de Denmarche, quant il estoit del age de xviij aunz, et ly mesme se tynt a la coroune Dengleterre, quel terre il entendy al oeps son ainez fitz Gurmound auoir gardé. Mes il debusa son col auxi comme il feu mounté vn cheval testous q~ poindre volleyt, en l’an de son regne xxiij entrant. Le tiers fitz ont a noun Godard, q~ son pere feffoit de la Seneschacie Dengleterre, q~ n’auo~ut (sic) taunt come ore fait ly quart. Et le puisnez fitz de toutz out a noum Thorand, q~ espousa la Countesse de Hertouwe en Norwey. Et par la reson q~ cely Thorand feut enherité en la terre de Norwey, ly et ses successours sont enheritez iekis en sa p~ce (sic) toutdis, puis y auoit affinité de alliaunce entre ceulx de Denmarche et ceulx de Norwey, a checun venue q~ vnkes firent en ceste terre pur chalenge ou clayme mettre, iekis a taunt q~ lour accion feut enseyne destrut par vn noble chevallere _Guy de Warwike_, &c. Et tout en sy feffoit Haueloke sez quatre fitz: si gist a priorie de _Grescherche_ en Loundrez.’ --f. 6 b.

“The _Estorie de Grimesby_ therefore, referred to above, is the identical English Romance before us, and it is no less worthy of remark, that the whole of the passage just quoted, with one single variation of import, has been literally translated by Henry de Knyghton, and inserted in his Chronicle.[7] Of the sources whence the information respecting Havelok’s sons is derived, we are unable to offer any account, as no trace of it occurs either in the French or English texts of the story.”

[Footnote 6: “The Chronicler writes of him, f. 6. ‘Il feu le plus beau bacheleir q{e} vnqes reigna en Engleterre, _ceo dit le Bruit_, par quoy ly lays ly apellerunt _King Adelstane with gilden kroket_, pour ce q’il feu si beaus.’ We have here notice of another of those curious historical poems, the loss of which can never be sufficiently deplored. The term _crocket_ (derived by Skinner from the Fr. _crochet_, uncinulus) points out the period of the poem’s composition, since the fashion alluded to of wearing those large rolls of hair so called, only arose at the latter end of Hen. III. reign, and continued through the reign of Edw. I. and part of his successor’s.”]

[Footnote 7: See below, § 16.]

§ 8. “About the same time at which Rauf de Boun composed his Chronicle, was written a brief Genealogy of the British and Saxon Kings, from Brutus to Edward II., preserved in the same MS. in the Heralds’ College which contains the French text of the Romance. The following curious rubric is prefixed:-- _La lignée des Bretons et des Engleis, queus il furent, et de queus nons, et coment Brut vint premerement en Engleterre, et combien de tens puis, et dont il vint. Brut et Cornelius furent chevalers chacez de la bataille de Troie, M. CCCC. XVII. anz deuant qe dieus nasquit, et vindrent en Engleterre, en Cornewaille, et riens ne fut trouee en la terre fors qe geanz, Geomagog, Hastripoldius, Ruscalbundy, et plusurs autres Geanz._ In this Genealogy no mention of Havelok occurs under the reign of Constantine, but after the names of the Saxon Kings Edbright and Edelwin, we read: ‘ATHELWOLD auoit vne fille _Goldeburgh_, et il regna vi. anz. HAUELOC esposa meisme cele Goldeburgh, et regna iij. anz. ALFRED le frere le Roi Athelwold enchaca Haueloc par Hunehere, et il fut le primer Roi corone de l’apostoille, et il regna xxx. anz.’ --fol. 148 b. By this account Athelwold is clearly identified with Ethelbald, King of Wessex, who reigned from 855 to 860, whilst Havelok is substituted in the place of Ethelbert and Ethered.”

§ 9. “Not long after the same period was written a Metrical _Chronicle of England_, printed by Ritson, Metr. Rom. V. ii. p. 270. Two copies are known to exist,[8] the first concluding with the death of Piers Gavestone, in 1313 (MS. Reg. 12. C. xii.), and the other continued to the time of Edw. III. (Auchinleck MS.). The period of Havelok’s descent into England is there ascribed to the reign of King Ethelred (978-1016), which will very nearly coincide with the period assigned by Rauf de Boun, viz. A.D. 963-1004.”

‘_Haueloc_ com tho to this lond, With gret host & eke strong, Ant sloh the Kyng Achelred, At Westmustre he was ded, Ah he heuede reigned her Seuene an tuenti fulle ȝer.’

MS. Reg. 12. C. xii.

“This date differs from most of the others, and appears founded on the general notion of the Danish invasions during that period.”

[Footnote 8: The poems in MSS. Camb. Univ. Lib. Ff. 5. 48 and Dd. 14. 2 resemble this Chronicle, but do not mention Havelok’s name.]

§ 10. Before proceeding to consider the _prose_ Chronicle of the Brute, it is better to speak first of the translation of Peter de Langtoft’s Chronicle by Robert of Brunne, a translation which was completed A.D. 1338. At p. 25 of Hearne’s edition is the following passage:

‘Ȝit a nother Danes Kyng in the North gan aryue. Alfrid it herd, thidere gan he dryue. _Hauelok_[9] fader he was, _Gunter_ was his name. He brent citees & tounes, ouer alle did he schame. Saynt Cutbertes clerkes tho Danes thei dred. The toke the holy bones, about thei tham led. Seuen ȝere thorgh the land wer thei born aboute, It comforted the kyng mykelle, whan he was in doute ¶ Whan Alfrid & Gunter had werred long in ille, Thorgh the grace of God, Gunter turned his wille. Cristend wild he be, the kyng of fonte him lift, & thritty of his knyghtes turnes, thorgh Godes gift. Tho that first were foos, and com of paien lay, Of Cristen men haf los, & so thei wend away.’

“This is the whole that appears in the original, but after the above lines immediately follows, in the language of Robert of Brunne himself (as noted also by Hearne, Pref. p. lxvii.), the following curious, and to our inquiry, very important passage:”

‘Bot I haf grete ferly, that I fynd no man, That has writen in story, how Hauelok this lond wan. Noither _Gildas_, no Bede, no Henry of Huntynton, No William of Malmesbiri, ne Pers of Bridlynton, Writes not in ther bokes of no kyng Athelwold, Ne Goldeburgh his douhtere, ne Hauelok not of told, Whilk tyme the were kynges, long or now late, Thei mak no menyng whan, no in what date. Bot that thise _lowed men vpon Inglish tellis_, Right story can me not ken, the certeynte what spellis. Men sais in Lyncoln castelle ligges ȝit a stone, That Hauelok kast wele forbi euer ilkone & ȝit the chapelle standes, ther he weddid his wife, Goldeburgh the kynges douhter, _that saw is ȝit rife_. & of Gryme a fisshere, _men redes ȝit in ryme_, That he bigged Grymesby Gryme that ilk tyme. Of alle stories of honoure, that I haf thorgh souht, I fynd that no compiloure of him tellis ouht. Sen I fynd non redy, that tellis of Hauelok kynde Turne we to that story, that we writen fynde.’

“There cannot exist the smallest doubt, that by the ‘Ryme’ here mentioned ‘that lowed men vpon Inglish tellis,’ the identical English Romance, now before the reader, is referred to. It must therefore certainly have been composed prior to the period at which Robert of Brunne wrote,[10] in whose time the traditions respecting Havelok at Lincoln were so strongly preserved, as to point out various localities to which the story had affixed a name, and similar traditions connected with the legend, as we shall find hereafter, existed also at Grimsby. The doubts expressed by the Chronicler, as to their authenticity, or the authority of the ‘Ryme,’ are curious, but only of value so far as they prove he was ignorant of the existence of a French Romance on the subject, or of its reception in Gaimar’s historical poem.”

[Footnote 9: This proof is rendered unnecessary by the citations from it by Rauf de Boun in 1310, and by the age of our MS. itself.]

[Footnote 10: _Hanelok_ in Hearne, throughout, but undoubtedly _contra fidem_ MSS.]

§ 11. “But on consulting the Lambeth copy of Rob. of Brunne, in order to verify the passage as printed by Hearne from the Inner Temple MS. we were not a little surprised to ascertain a fact hitherto overlooked, and indeed unknown, viz. that the Lambeth MS. (which is a folio, written on paper, and imperfect both at the beginning and close)[11] does not correspond with the Edition, but has evidently been revised by a later hand, which has abridged the Prologues, omitted some passages, and inserted others. The strongest proof of this exists in the passage before us, in which the Lambeth MS. entirely omits the lines of Rob. of Brunne respecting the authenticity of the story of Havelok, and in their place substitutes an abridged outline of the story itself, copied apparently from the French Chronicle of Gaimar. The interpolation is so curious, and so connected with our inquiry, as to be a sufficient apology for introducing it here.”

‘¶ Forth wente Gounter & his folk, al in to Denemark, Sone fel ther hym vpon, a werre styth & stark, Thurgh a Breton kyng, th^t out of Ingeland cam, & asked the tribut of Denmark, th^t Arthur whylom nam. They wythseide hit schortly, & non wolde they ȝelde, But rather they wolde dereyne hit, wyth bataill y the felde. Both partis on a day, to felde come they stronge, Desconfit were the danes, Gounter his deth gan fonge. When he was ded they schope brynge, al his blod to schame, But Gatferes doughter the kyng, _Eleyne_ was hure name, Was kyng Gounteres wyf, and had a child hem bytwene, Wyth wham scheo scapede vnethe, al to the se with tene. The child hym highte HAUELOK, th^t was his moder dere, Scheo mette with grym atte hauene, a wel god marinere, He hure knew & highte hure wel, to helpe hure with his might, To bryng hure saf out of the lond, wythinne th^t ilke night. When they come in myd se, a gret meschef gan falle, They metten wyth a gret schip, lade wyth outlawes alle. Anon they fullen hem apon, & dide hem Mikel peyne, So th^t wyth strengthe of their assaut, ded was quene Eleyne. But ȝyt ascapede from hem Grym, wyth Hauelok & other fyue, & atte the hauene of Grymesby, ther they gon aryue. Ther was brought forth child Hauelok, wyth Grym & his fere, Right als hit hadde be ther own, for other wyste men nere. Til he was mykel & mighti, & man of mykel cost, Th^t for his grete sustinaunce, nedly serue he most. He tok leue of Grym & Seburc, as of his sire & dame, And askede ther blessinge curteysly, ther was he nought to blame. Thenne drow he forth northward, to kynges court Edelsie, Th^t held fro Humber to Rotland, the kyngdam of Lyndesye. Thys Edelsy of Breton kynde, had Orewayn his sister bright Maried to a noble kyng, of Northfolk Egelbright. Holly for his kyngdam, he held in his hand, Al the lond fro Colchestre, right in til Holand. Thys Egelbright th^t was a Dane, & Orewayn the quene, Hadden gete on Argill, a doughter hem bytwene. Sone then deyde Egelbright, & his wyf Orewayn, & therfore was kyng Edelsye, bothe joyful & fayn. Anon their doughter & here Eyr, his nece dame Argill, & al the kyngdam he tok in hande, al at his owene will. Ther serued Hauelok as quistron, & was y-cald Coraunt, He was ful mykel & hardy, & strong as a Geaunt. He was bold Curteys & fre, & fair & god of manere, So th^t alle folk hym louede, th^t auewest hym were. But for couetise of desheraison, of damysele Argill, & for a chere th^t the kyng sey, scheo made Coraunt till, He dide hem arraye ful symplely, & wedde togydere bothe, For he ne rewarded desparagyng, were manion ful wrothe. A while they dwelt after in court, in ful pore degre, The schame & sorewe th^t Argill hadde, hit was a deol to se. Then seyde scheo til hure maister, of whenne sire be ȝe? Haue ȝe no kyn ne frendes at hom, in ȝoure contre? Leuer were me lyue in pore lyf, wythoute schame & tene, Than in schame & sorewe, lede the astat of quene. Thenne wente they forth to Grymesby, al by his wyues red, & founde th^t Grym & his wyf, weren bothe ded. But he fond ther on Aunger, Grymes cosyn hend, To wham th^t Grym & his wyf, had teld word & ende. How th^t hit stod wyth Hauelok, in all manere degre, & they hit hym telde & conseilled, to drawe til his contre, Tasaye what grace he mighte fynde, among his frendes there, & they wolde ordeyne for their schipynge, and al th^t hem nede were. When Aunger hadde y-schiped hem, they seilled forth ful swythe, Ful-but in til Denemark, wyth weder fair & lithe. Ther fond he on sire Sykar, a man of gret pousté, Th^t hey styward somtyme was, of al his fader fe. Ful fayn was he of his comyng, & god help him behight, To recouere his heritage, of Edulf kyng & knyght. Sone asembled they gret folk, of his sibmen & frendes, Kyng Edulf gadered his power, & ageyn them wendes. Desconfyt was ther kyng Edulf, & al his grete bataill, & so conquered Hauelok, his heritage saunz faille. Sone after he schop him gret power, in toward Ingelond, His wyues heritage to wynne, ne wolde he nought wonde. Th^t herde the kyng of Lyndeseye, he was come on th^t cost, & schop to fighte wyth hym sone, & gadered hym gret host. But atte day of bataill, Edelsy was desconfit, & after by tretys gaf Argentill, hure heritage al quit. & for scheo was next of his blod, Hauelokes wyf so feyr, He gaf hure Lyndesey after his day, & made hure his Eyr. & atte last so byfel, th^t vnder Hauelokes schelde, Al Northfolk & Lyndeseye, holy of hym they helde.’

MS. Lamb. 131. leaf 76.

[Footnote 11: The writing in the earlier portion (concerning Havelok) is hardly later than A.D. 1400.]

§ 12. We now come to the prose Chronicle called The Brute, which became exceedingly popular, and was the foundation of “Caxton’s Chronicle,” first printed by Caxton A.D. 1480, but of which Caxton was not the author, though he may have added some of the last chapters. The original is in French, and was probably compiled a few years _before_ Robert of Brunne’s translation of Langtoft was made, as it concludes with the year 1331, or, in some copies, with 1332. The author of it is not known, but it was probably only regarded as a compilation from the Chronicles of the earlier Historians. “In this Chronicle, in all its various shapes, is contained the Story of Havelock, _engrafted on the British History of Geoffrey of Monmouth_, and in its detail, following precisely the French text of the Romance. The only variation of consequence is the substitution of the name of Birkabeyn (as in the English text) for that of Gunter, and in some copies, both of the French and English MSS. of the Chronicle, the name of _Goldeburgh_ is inserted instead of _Argentille_; which variations are the more curious, as they prove the absolute identity of the story. For the sake of a more complete illustration of what has been advanced, we are induced to copy the passage at length, as it appears in the French Chronicle, taken from a well-written MS. of the 14th century, MS. Reg. 20 A 3, fol. 165 b.”[12]

‘_Des Rois Adelbright & Edelfi_, Cap. IIIJ^xx. XIX.

Apres le Roi Constantin estoient deux Rois en graunt Brutaigne, dount li vns out a noun Aldelbright, & fust Danois, & [tint] tut le pais de Norff’ & de Suffolk, & ly altre out a noun Edelfi, q{e} fust Brittone, & tint Nicol & Lindesey, & tote la terre desqes a Humber, Ceux deux Rois soi entreguerroierent, [& moult s’entrehaierent] mais puis furent il entre acordez & soi entreamerent, taunt com s’il vssent estee freres de vn ventre neez. Le Roi Edelfi out vne soer, Orewenne par noun, & la dona par grant amour al Roi Aldelbright a femme. Et il engendra de ly vne fille q{e} out a noun Argentille. En le tierez an apres vne greue Maladie ly suruint, si deuereit morrir, & maunda par vn iour al Roi Edelfi, soun frere en lei, q’il venist a ly parler, & cil ly emparla volentiers. Donqe ly pria le Roi Aldelbright et ly coniura en le noun [de] Dieu, q’il apres sa mort preist Argentille sa fille, & sa terre, & q’il la feist honestement garder [& nurrir] en sa chambre, & quant ele serreit de age, q’il la feist marier al plus fort hom & plus vaillaunt q’il porroit trouer, & q{e} a donqe ly rendist sa terre. Edelfi ceo graunta, & par serment afferma sa priere. Et quant Adelbright fust mort, & enterree, Edelfi prist la damoysele, & la norrist en sa chambre, si deuynt ele la plus beale creature q{e} hom porreit trouer.

_Coment le Roi Edelfi Maria la damoisele Argentille a vn quistroun de sa quisine._ Cap^m. C.

Le Roi Edelfi, q{e} fust vncle a la Damoysele Argentille, pensa fausement coment il porreit la terre sa Nece auoir par touz iours, & malueisement countre soun serment pensa a deceiure la pucelle, si la maria a vn quistroun de sa quisyne q{e} fust apellée Curan, si esteit il le plus haut, le plus fort, & le plus vaillaunt de corps, q{e} hom sauoit nulle part a cel temps, & la quidoit hountousement marier, pur auoir sa terre a remenaunt, Mais il fust deceu. Car cest Curan fust [le Roi] Hauelok, filz le Roi Kirkebain de Denemarche, & il conquist la terre sa femme [en Bretaigne], & occist le Roi Edelfi, vncle sa femme, & conquist tote la terre, _si com aillours est trouée plus pleinement_ [_en l’estorie_], & il ne regna q{e} treis aunz. Car Saxsouns & Danoys le occirent, & ceo fust grant damage a tote la grant Brutaigne. Et les Brutouns le porterent a Stonhenge, & illoeqes ly enterrerent a grant honour.’

[Footnote 12: Sir F. Madden adds-- “collated with another of the same age, MS. Cott. Dom. A. x, and a third, of the 15th century, MS. Harl. 200.” I omit the collations; the words within square brackets are supplied from these other copies.]

§ 13. “With the above may be compared the English version, as extant in MS. Harl. 2279, which agrees with the Ed. of Caxton, except in the occasional substitution of one word for another.”[13]

‘MS. Harl. 2279, f. 47._ Of the kinges Albright & of Edelf._ Ca^o IIII^xx. XI^o.

After kyng Constantinus deth, ther were .ij. kynges in Britaigne, that one men callede Adelbright, that was a Danoys, and helde the cuntray of Northfolk and Southfolk, that other hight Edelf, and was a Britoun & helde Nichole, Lindeseye, and alle the lande vnto Humber. Thes ij. kynges faste werred togeders, but afterward thei were acorded, and louede togedere as thei had ben borne of o bodie. The kyng Edelf had a suster that men callede Orewenne, and he yaf here thurghe grete frenshipe to kyng Adelbright to wif, and he begate on here a doughter that men callede Argentille, and in the .iij. yeer after him come vppon a strong sekenesse that nedes he muste die, and he sent to kyng Edelf, his brother in lawe, that he shulde come and speke with him, and he come to him with good wille. Tho prayed he the kyng and coniurede also in the name of God, that after whan he were dede, he shulde take Argentil his doughter, and the lande, and that he kepte hir wel, and noreshed in his chambre; and whan she were of age he shulde done here be mariede to the strongest and worthiest man that he myȝt fynde, and than he shulde yelde vp her lande ayen. Edelf hit grauntid, and bi othe hit confermede his prayer. And whan Adelbright was dede and Enterede, Edelfe toke the damesel Argentil, and noreshid her in his chambre, and she become the fayrest creature th^t myȝt lif, or eny man finde.

_How kyng Edelf mariede the damysel Argentil to a knaue of his kichyn._ Ca^o IIII^xx. XII.

This kyng Edelf, that was vncle to the damesel Argentil, bithought how that he myȝte falsliche haue the lande from his nece for euermore, and falsly ayens his othe thouȝte to desceyue the damysel, and marie here to a knave of his kichon, that men callede Curan, and he become the worthiest and strengest man of bodie that eny man wist in eny lande that tho leuede. And to him he thouȝt here shendfully haue mariede, for to haue had here lande afterward; but he was clene desceyuede. For this Curan that was Hauelokis son that was kyng of Kirkelane in Denmark, and this Curan Conquerede his wifes landes, and slow kyng Edelf, that was his wifes vncle, and had alle here lande, as in a-nother stede hit [MS. but] telleth more oponly, and he ne regnede but iij. yeer, for Saxones and Danoys him quelde, and that was grete harme to al Britaigne, and Britouns bere him to Stonehenge, and ther thei him interede with mochel honour and solempnite.’

“It must not be concealed, that in some copies, viz. in MSS. Harl. 1337, 6251, Digby 185, Hatton 50, Ashmole 791 and 793, the story is altogether omitted, and Conan made to succeed to Arthur. In those copies also of the English Polychronicon, the latter part of which resembles the above Chronicle, the passage is not found.” “Among the Harl. MSS. (No. 63) is a copy of the same Chronicle in an abridged form, in which the name of _Goldesburghe_ is substituted for that of Argentille.” Sir F. Madden now adds--that “the story occurs also in some interpolated copies of Higden (the Latin text, viz. MSS. Harl. 655, Cott. Jul. E. 8, Reg. 13 E. 1). In an earlier form it is found in a Latin Chronicle of the 13th century, MS. Cott. Dom. A. 2, fol. 130.”

[Footnote 13: I omit the collations with MSS. Harl. 24 and 753. Sir F. Madden proves that this English version was made A.D. 1435, by _John Maundevile_, rector of Burnham Thorp in Norfolk.]

§ 14. “It was, in all probability, to this Chronicle also, in its original form, that Thomas Gray, the author of the _Scala Cronica_ (or _Scale Cronicon_), a Chronicle in French prose, composed between the years 1355 and 1362, is indebted for his knowledge of the tale.” The original MS. is No. 132 in the library of Corpus Christi College, Cambridge, and was edited by Stevenson for the Maitland Club in 1836. The passage relative to Havelok is translated by Leland, _Collectanea_, vol. i. pt. 2, p. 511. This account resembles the others, and involves no new point of interest.