Hereward the Wake
Early Life, Outlaw, & The attack on Peterborough
Hereward the Wake was the leader of the last organized Saxon resistance to William the Conqueror.
In many ways, Hereward the Wake is a writer's dream and a historian's nightmare. There are just enough historical facts about the man to confirm his existence and his importance in the years following the Norman Conquest of England, but not near enough to construct any kind of full biography. Most of what we know for sure comes from a few lines in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle and some sketchy accounts given by later French medieval writers. There is an English medieval biography, but this it is full of strange happenings, that the stories it tells have to be considered very carefully. Still, I'll construct the story as best I can using all of the sources available.
Hereward was probably born around the year 1040 in Lincolnshire. Legend gives his parents as Earl Leofric of Mercia and Lady Godiva, although given his name it is more likely his father was one of the many Danes who had settled in the area. Hereward's childhood is a complete mystery, although it is thought that sometime in his late teens or early twenties, he managed to get himself outlawed by King Edward the Confessor. Being an outlaw, Hereward left England and went adventuring. There are many tales from this time, such as his travels to the Orkneys, his fight with a giant named Ironhook, and his most famous exploit, the slaying of the white bear. During his adventures, he became a mercenary in the service of the King of Flanders and fought many battles for the king. While in Flanders he may, or may not, have got married to a woman who may, or may not, have been a witch.
Whatever the truth to most of those tales, it is commonly thought that Hereward was not in England in 1066 when William of Normandy invaded. As the tales go, Hereward returned to England in secret a year later, ambushed and killed the Normans who had taken up residence in his ancestral home, and raised the surrounding countryside into rebellion. With a group of loyal followers, Hereward led a guerilla war against the Normans from the swampy fen-country in Anglia.
In 1070, Hereward and his men joined up with a small invading army sent by King Swein Estrithson of Denmark, who had a claim to the English throne that was probably more legitimate than William. It is said in some tales that it was Hereward that actually sent for this army, but either way, the fact that he joined forces with them is a strong argument toward his Danish roots.
Later that year, the army of Swein attacked the abbey at Peterborough. The justification for this was to keep the treasures of the English Church out of the hands of the Normans, but this argument is a bit weak considering most of those treasures sailed away with the Danes, never to return. What is interesting is that according to the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle this attack was led by Hereward. It is strange that a man without some noble blood would lead a mixed force of Danes and Anglo-Saxon-Danish.
This attack caused William the Conqueror to consider Hereward a major threat. William bribed king Swein to give up his claim to the throne, and the Danish Army sailed away. Still, Hereward did not give up his fight. He rallied more of the oppressed Anglo-Saxon population to his banner and made a base at the island monastery of Ely, a solid chunk of rock in the midst of a vast bog. Several famous personages joined his cause including Earl Morcar of Northumbria.
Continued in Part II
http://britishhistory.suite101.com/article.cfm/hereward_the_wake_part_2
