Citizendia
Your Ad Here

Hereward the Wake, known in his own times as Hereward the Outlaw or Hereward the Exile, was an 11th century Anglo Saxon leader in the Kingdom of England who led resistance to the Norman Conquest, and was consequently labelled an outlaw. For their language see Anglo-Saxon language. Anglo-Saxon is the term usually used to describe the invading Tribes in the south The Kingdom of England was a State (927-1707 located in Western Europe dating from the ninth or tenth century to the early eighteenth century when it was legally An outlaw or bandit is a person living the lifestyle of outlawry; the word literally means "outside the Law " by folk-etymology from the original According to legend, Hereward's base was the Isle of Ely and he roamed the Fens that surround what is now Lincolnshire, leading popular opposition to William I of England. The Isle of Ely is a historic region around the city of Ely now in Cambridgeshire, England but previously a county in its own right The Fens, also known as the Fenland, is a geographic area in eastern England, in the United Kingdom. Lincolnshire (abbreviated Lincs) is a county in the east of England. William I of England ( 1027 His reign which brought Norman culture to England had an enormous impact on the subsequent course of England in the Middle Ages It is said that the title the Wake was popularly assigned to him many years after his death and is believed to mean the watchful, however, some believe the name was given to him by the Wake family, the Norman landowners who gained Hereward's land after his death, in order to imply a family connection and therefore legitimise their claim to the lands. In the Old English language, 'Hereward' means "guardian of the herd/in the army", and is cognate with Old High German 'Heriwart' and modern German 'Heerwart'. New High German (NHG is the term used for the most recent period in the history of the German language.

Contents

Life and legend

Hereward's birth is conventionally dated as 1035/6 because the Gesta Herewardi indicates that he was first exiled in 1054 at the age of 18. However, since the account in the Gesta of the early part of his exile (in Northumberland, Scotland, Cornwall and Ireland) appears to be largely fictitious, it is hard to know if we can trust this. Northumberland is a county in the North East of England. The non-metropolitan county of Northumberland borders Cumbria to the west Scotland ( Gaelic: Alba) is a Country in northwest Europethat occupies the northern third of the island of Great Britain. Cornwall ( Kernow ˈkɛɹnɔʊ is the most southwesterly county of England, on the Peninsula that lies to the west of the River Tamar Ireland (pronounced /ˈaɾlənd/ Éire) is the third largest island in Europe, and the twentieth-largest island in the world Peter Rex, in his 2005 biography of Hereward, points out that the campaigns he is supposed to have fought on in Flanders seem to have begun around 1063, and suggests that Hereward in fact went straight to Flanders - meaning that, if he was 18 at the time of his exile, he was born in 1044/5. Flanders (Vlaanderen Flandre Flandern is a geographical region located in parts of present day Belgium, France, and the Netherlands.

Partly because of the sketchiness of evidence for his existence, his life has become a magnet for speculators and amateur scholars. The earliest references to his parentage make him the son of "Leofric of Bourne" and his wife Edith. Alternatively, it has also been argued that Leofric, Earl of Mercia and his wife Lady Godiva were Hereward's real parents. Leofric (born 968 died 31 August or 30 September 1057) was the Earl of Mercia and founded Monasteries at Coventry and Godiva (or Godgifu) (c 980-1067 was an Anglo-Saxon noblewoman who according to Legend, rode naked through the streets of Coventry There is no evidence for this - and Abbot Brand of Peterborough, stated to have been Hereward's uncle, does not appear to have been related to either Leofric or Godiva. History Early history Present-day Peterborough is the latest in a series of settlements which have at one time or other benefited from its situation where the Nene Some modern research suggests him to have been Anglo-Danish with a Danish father, Asketil: since Brand is also a Danish name it makes sense that the Abbot may have been Asketil's brother.

His place of birth is supposed to be in or near Bourne in Lincolnshire. Bourne is a Market town on the western edge of the Fens, in southern Lincolnshire, England. Lincolnshire (abbreviated Lincs) is a county in the east of England. It is claimed that he was a tenant of Peterborough Abbey, from there he held lands in the parishes of Witham on the Hill and Barholme with Stow in the south-western corner of Lincolnshire, and of Croyland Abbey at Crowland, eight miles east of Market Deeping in the neighbouring fenland. Peterborough Cathedral, or the Cathedral Church of St Peter St Paul and St Andrew, is the seat of the Bishop of Peterborough, is dedicated to Saint Peter Witham on the Hill is a well-maintained village in the Civil parish of the same name Croyland Abbey (usually spelled Crowland Abbey) is a Church of England parish church, formerly an Abbey church in Crowland in the English Crowland (modern usage or Croyland (medieval era name and the one still in ecclesiastical use is a small town in south Lincolnshire, England, positioned Market Deeping is an historic town in Lincolnshire, England, on the north bank of the River Welland and the A15 road. In those times it used to be a boggy and marshy area. Since the holdings of abbeys could be widely dispersed across parishes, the precise location of his personal holdings are uncertain, but were certainly somewhere in south Lincolnshire.

It is thought that he had already rebelled against Edward the Confessor before 1066, whom he saw as already aligning England with the Normans, and that he was declared an outlaw as a result. King Edward the Confessor (c 1003 &ndash 5 January 1066 son of Ethelred the Unready, was the penultimate Anglo-Saxon King of England and the last It has been suggested that, at the time of the Norman invasion of England, he was in exile in Europe, working as a successful mercenary for the Count of Flanders, Baldwin V, and that he then returned to England. counts of Flanders were the Rulers over the county of Flanders from the 9th century until the abolition of the Countship by the French revolutionaries Baldwin V of Flanders (died 1 September 1067 was Count of Flanders from 1036 until his death

In 1069 or 1070 the Danish king Swein Estrithson sent a small army to try to establish a camp on the Isle of Ely. Sweyn II Estridsson Ulfsson (c 1019 &ndash April 28, 1074 or 1076 was the King of Denmark from 1047 until his death They were joined by many, including Hereward. His first act was to storm and sack Peterborough Abbey in 1070, in company with local men and Swein's Danes. Peterborough Cathedral, or the Cathedral Church of St Peter St Paul and St Andrew, is the seat of the Bishop of Peterborough, is dedicated to Saint Peter His justification is said to have been that he wished to save the Abbey's treasures and relics from the Normans.

In 1071 he and many others made a desperate stand on the Isle of Ely against the Conqueror's rule. Some say that the Normans made a frontal assault, aided by a huge mile-long timber causeway, but that this sank under the weight of armour and horses. It is said that the Normans, probably led by one of William's knights named Belasius (Belsar), then bribed the monks of the island to reveal a safe route across the marshes, resulting in Ely's capture. Hereward is said to have escaped with some of his followers into the wild fenland, and to have continued his resistance.

The 15th century chronicle, Gesta Herewardi, by Ingulf of Croyland, says Hereward was eventually pardoned by William. Generally a chronicle (chronica from Greek (from) is a historical account of facts and events in chronological order Ingulph or Ingulf died 16 November, 1109 as a Benedictine Abbot of Croyland Abbey at Crowland, Lincolnshire It was said that after his pardon he moved to France where, according to Geoffrey Gaimar, in his Estoire des Angleis he was murdered by a group of Normans. Geoffrey Gaimar (flourished 1140? was an Anglo-Norman Chronicler Gaimar's most significant contribution to medieval literature and history is as a translator from [1]

Hereward in Popular Culture

See also

References

[1]Hindley, G. Robin Hood is an archetypal figure in English folklore, whose story originates from medieval times but who remains significant in popular culture where Hereward FM is the Independent Local Radio station for Peterborough and Cambridgeshire. (2006) The Anglo-Saxons: the Beginnings of the English nation London: Robinson, p. 343

Fiction

External links

© 2009 citizendia.org; parts available under the terms of GNU Free Documentation License, from http://en.wikipedia.org
 Dapyx Software network: MP3 Explorer | Ebook Manager | Zenithic