Extract from Merefin Swanton (ed.),
The Great Chronicle Vol. 20: St Wæburh’s Recension, (Grantbridge: Grantbridge University Press, 2010).
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1097: Here on the Feast of Candlemas Archbishop Sæman removed Benedict from Selby abbey; the monks chose Gamal the provost to be the new abbot
[1].
Then after Michaelmas, on
4 October, a strange star appeared, shining in the evening and soon going to rest. It was seen in the south-west, and the ray that stood from it shining south-east seemed to be very long, and appeared in this way well-nigh the whole week. Many men considered it a
comet.
Also in this same year, soon after Michaelmas, the æthelings Eadmund and Ethelred with English support
[2] travelled into Scotland with an army, and won that land with a fierce fight and drove out Donalbane
[3]; and there Eadmund, who was the second son of King Malcolm and the queen Margaret, was crowned king. And afterwards Sæman consecrated Cathróe as the new bishop for St. Andrews
[4].
And following that, after Martinmas, Harold gedwæ and his companions did the most harm within the shires where they lay than a court ever ought to do in a land at peace
[5]. This was a heavy year in all things, and over laborious in bad weather both when tilling should have been done and again when the produce should be gathered in, and in excessive taxes that never ceased.
And in this year at Christmas Baldwin, abbot in St Edmunds, passed away; the monks chose the sacristan Wulfred to be the new abbot
[6].
Here King Edgar fought at Gvozd Mountain[7].
1098: Here in this year Æthelnoth passed away
[8]; he held for three years less 14 days. The canons at St Peter’s chose Ordwulf and Ælmær
[9] consecrated him on
1 July. Also in the summer of this year, in Berkshire at Finchampstead, a pool welled up blood, as many trustworthy men said who have seen it.
Also in this year, the head men[10] travelled into Wales with an army, and through some of the Welsh who came to them and were their guides, went deeply through that land with the army, and stayed there from midsummer well-nigh unto August; but there was no success in that, but the waste of money and the loss in men and horses
[11].
Before Michaelmas the heaven appeared as if it were burning well-nigh all the night. This was a very laborious year through great rains which did not cease all the year; well-nigh all produce on marsh-land perished.
The English crusaders arrive at Antioch[12].
[1] Benedict deposed 2 February for over-stepping his authority by castrating two monks for theft. He died as a simple monk at Winchester (New Minster) in 1103. For further details of his deposition see: Æthelwold,
History of Not So Recent Events, ed. Merefin Stanton (London: Writers and Readers Publications, 1930).
[2] The English army was led by the ætheling Æthelred and Earl Waltheof II of Huntington.
[3] King Donald III (
c.1032-99), after being captured in October was blinded and imprisoned.
[4] The scribe has described events back to front; Sæman consecrated Cathróe prior to the invasion which allowed the new bishop to crown Eadmund king at Scone.
[5] Not long after 11 November, Harold Haroldson and his companions, while at New Romney waiting for gales to pass so they could commandeer a ship, committed various outrages that saw the death of two slaves.
[6] Abbot Baldwin of St Edmundsbury died 29 December.
[7] King Edgar and the crusader army assisted his kinsman King Coloman (
c.1070-1116) of Hungary in his invasion of Croatia. Interpolation.
[8] Formerly archdeacon of Cornwall he succeeded to Exeter on the death of Bishop Robert 26 June 1095. Æthelnoth unknowingly found himself in the middle of a bloodfeud and was murdered 13 June in the churchyard at St Kew.
[9] Æthelmær I (1057-1120), archbishop of Canterbury.
[10] That is the æthelings Edmund, Edward and Æthelred.
[11] The scribe is only partially correct. The army may not have achieved its objectives in regard to Gwynedd but it did defeat a Norse incursion of Angelsey on 22 July. At the Battle of Menai Straits, King Magnus III ‘Barelegs’ (1073-1103) was forced to retreat with the loss of four of his six ships.
[12] King Edgar arrived in Antioch on 4 March bring crucially needed reinforcements (some 3500-4000 troops, mainly English but also Welsh, German and Hungarians) and supplies. Interpolation.