Anglo-Normandes, ii. xii, from a Cotton. MS.) This story, though accepted by Sir Henry Ellis (Introd. &c. to Domesday, ii. 146), would be rejected for its absurdity, even if it came from a less suspicious source.
Hugo Candidus (Hist. Burg. p. 49) says that Hereward was the ‘man’ of the monks of Peterborough. We also learn from Domesday that Hereward owned lands in several places in Lincolnshire. Along with a certain Toli he had once possessed four bovates at Laughton (‘Loctone’), which afterwards belonged to Oger the Breton (f. 364 b). The same Oger, who at the time of Domesday held Bourn itself, was also tenant of the ‘land of St. Guthlac’ (i.e. of Crowland Abbey) in Rippingale (‘Repinghale’) which had been once part of the monks' domain, but had been let out to Hereward to farm by Abbot Ulfcytel on terms to be agreed on between themselves. This must have been after 1062, the date of Ulfcytel's appointment. But as Hereward did not keep his agreement Ulfcytel took the land back into his own hands (Domesday, f. 377). The unruly character ascribed in the legends to Hereward is borne out both by this and by another passage in the ‘Survey,’ which refers to a claim raised by him, or on his behalf, for the land of Asford in Barholm (‘Bercham’) hundred in Kesteven, Lincolnshire. But the wapentake men certified that this land did not belong to Hereward on the day of his flight (ib. f. 376 b). Hereward also appears in ‘Domesday’ as a landowner in the distant shires of Warwick and Worcester in the days of King Edward. He had four librates of land at Marston Jabbett (‘Merstone’) in Hemlingford (then called Coleshill) hundred (ib. f. 240), three virgates of land at Barnacle (‘Bernhangre’) in the same neighbourhood (ib. f. 240 b), and three virgates at Ladbrooke (‘Lodbroc’) (ib. f. 241), all within Warwickshire. Hereward also held five hides of land at Evenlode in Worcestershire (ib. f. 173). It is, however, very possible that the Hereward of the midlands is another Hereward.
Nothing more is heard of Hereward in real history after his flight from England until he reappears to fight against the Normans. The false Ingulf (in Gale, i. 67) makes him banished at his father's request for his violence, and says that he visited Northumberland, Cornwall, Ireland, and Flanders, in which latter country he married the beautiful Turfrida. But the ‘Gesta Herewardi’ give a long and plainly mythical account of his wanderings. This story makes him first go to Northumberland, where Gilbert of Ghent, said to be his godfather, had summoned him. This is, of course, wrong, as Gilbert only came over with the Conqueror; but it may possibly represent in a distorted form some real connection with Gilbert, because in ‘Domesday’ Gilbert held the soke over Oger's lands in Laughton, part of which had once belonged to Hereward. The ‘Gesta’ go on to tell so many wonderful tales of Hereward's feats in Flanders, that the Canon de Smet, disgusted that no Flemish historian except M. Kervyn de Lettenhove had mentioned so great a hero, consecrated a long article to Hereward's Flemish exploits. The canon complained that he could get no help from Flemish authorities (‘Hereward le Saxon en Flandre’ in Bulletins de l'Académie de Bruxelles, vol. xiv. pt. ii. pp. 344–60). Of course the whole story has no historical basis.
In the spring of 1070 the Danish fleet of Osbeorn and Christian, allowed by William under a treaty to winter in England, appeared in the Humber and Ouse, and roused the country to revolt. At last they came to Ely, when ‘the English folk of all the fenlands came to them, weening that they should win all the land’ (Anglo-Saxon Chron. s.a. 1070). About the same time the stern rule of the new Norman abbot Turold drove into revolt the tenants of Peterborough Abbey, hitherto under the milder government of Abbot Brand, who was, according to the legend, Hereward's uncle. Hereward put himself at their head, and joined with the Danes, whom he incited to plunder Peterborough (Hugo Candidus, p. 48). On 2 June 1070 Hereward and his gang of outlaws sailed up to Peterborough with many ships. They soon put down the weak opposition of the monks, and burnt all the monks' houses and all the town save one house. They then rushed through the burning streets to the monastery church, climbed up to the holy rood and to the steeple, in their greedy search for booty, and ‘went away with so many treasures as no man may tell to another, saying that they did it from love to the monastery’ (ib.) But the approach of Turold drove them all back to their ships, and they went to Ely, whence the Danes soon departed with the spoil, leaving the outlaws to resist the Normans as best they could.
For a whole year nothing is heard of ‘Hereward and his gang,’ but there can be no doubt that they continued to hold out in the isle of Ely. The fame of their resistance gradually gathered the few who still dared to remain open foes of King William. The brothers Eadwine and Morkere now finally broke from the king. After Eadwine's death in an attempted flight to Scotland, Morkere found a refuge with Hereward. Siward Barn, the Northumbrian thegn, and Æthelwine, bishop of Durham, came there from the north. The fame of Ely as a camp of refuge became so
