Deliverance of Worcester.
Action of Wulfstan.
Position of Worcester. minster reave, and the King's castle win to their hands."[1] But Worcester was not doomed to see in the days of the second William such a day as Hereford had seen in the days of Eadward, as Worcester itself had seen in the days of Harthacnut. The port was not burned, the minster was not reaved, nor was the King's castle won into the hands of his enemies. And the deliverance of Worcester is, with one accord, assigned by the writers of the time to the presence within its walls of its bishop, the one remaining bishop of English blood, whose unshaken loyalty had most likely brought the special wrath of the rebels upon his city and flock. The holy Wulfstan was grieved at heart for the woes which seemed coming upon his people; but he bade them be of good courage and trust in the Lord who saveth not by sword or spear.[2] The man who had won the heart of North-*humberland for Harold,[3] who had saved his own city for the first William,[4] was now to save it again for the second. At Worcester, castle, minster, and episcopal palace rose side by side immediately above the Severn. But Worcester is no hill city like Durham or Le Mans. The height above the stream is slight; the subordinate buildings of the monastery went down almost to its banks. The mound, traditionally connected with the name of Eadgar the Giver-of-peace, has now utterly vanished;
- ↑ Chron. Petrib. 1088. "Þa men . . . comon and hergodon and þærndon on Wiðreceastrescire forð, and hi comon to þam porte sylfan, and woldon þa þæne port bærnen, and þæt mynster reafian, and þæs cynges castel gewinnan heom to handa." Florence adds, "grandem de regis incolis fidelibus sumpturos vindictam." On the deliverance of Worcester, see Appendix D.
- ↑ Florence brings in his own Bishop with a panegyric; "Vir magnæ pietatis et columbinæ simplicitatis, Deo populoque quern regebat in omnibus amabilis, regi, ut terreno domino, per omnia fidelis, pater reverendus Wlstanus." In the Chronicle he is simply "se arwurða bisceop Wlfstan." He goes on to make his exhortation after the manner of Moses.
- ↑ See N. C. vol. iii. p. 61.
- ↑ Ib. vol. iv. p. 579.
