Godric of Finchale

“ Godric's steed reared and pitched headlong, throwing his rider with a clash of armor. Under the lashing hoofs and the shower of blades, the knight struggled clear and rose, without his shield, blood starting from every joint in his armor. He reeled, bracing himself; he fought not these foes alone, but the long grinding days behind -- the days and days of hard riding and ceaseless fighting.
Godric thrust upward and a man died. A scimitar shivered on his crest, and the wielder, torn from his saddle by a hand that was still iron, spilled his entrails at Godric's feet. ”

“ When the first transports of joy at meeting again were over, they gazed on each other and rejoiced at the changes they saw, from weak boys to be sold and beaten, to powerful young warriors who were able to defend themselves. Forthere was nearly mad with rage and anxiety when he heard of the abduction of his young cousin. He had become a strong and muscular youth, a most formidable antagonist, as impulsive as ever, and otherwise unchanged—a vigorous foe, but a true and faithful friend. Little Godric was still a boy. ”

“ Godric stared at him. "I thought you false," he growled. "You have said what a true man should say. To the court I will go." He trust out his big hard hand and took Bran's.
"Godric, Godric," the woman clutched at him. "This is a fool's word. It is to go to your death. There is another way, Godric Here we rest safe. Hide here in the hills."
"You are no friend to me," Godric said and she cried.
ON THE low green hill which stands out from the great hills into the vale, the folk of the manor were met. Over against it the new castle of Watlington glimmered white in the dawn. ”

“ A giant form surged through the ranks, flinging men right and left as spray is flung by a charging galley. Subotai of the frozen tundras stood before his foe at last.
Godric took in the height of the man, the mighty sweep of chest and shoulder, and the massive arms which wielded the sword that had more than once, during the fight, sheared clear through the torso of a mailed Jahaduran. ”

“ A man could scarce be killed, not easily wounded, but he might be beaten to the ground or wearied out with bruises, and the man who fell, the man who gave up the fight, was adjudged craven and infamous.
So with their wooden weapons the two fell on and fought fiercely and fast, and Godric had something the advantage, for though the forester was strong and stubborn, Godric had a longer reach than he. ”

“ I will make good upon his body. That is my claim," and he flung down his forester's leather glove.
"Stand, man, stand," Bran hissed as Godric started forward. But Godric picked up the glove.
"He takes your challenge, Eudo. You are answered," the steward smiled. "By the saints, a bold fellow and sure. Nay, then, we may not deny him. You go to the ordeal of combat."
Then Bran laughed "God have mercy, is this a court? Is this England? By the thorn, you have strange customs in this manor."
"We suffer no fools, fellow. ”

“ A strong and healthy man must Godric have been, to judge from the accounts (there are two, both written by eye-witnesses) of his personal appearance—a man of great breadth of chest and strength of arm; black-haired, hook-nosed, deep-browed, with flashing grey eyes; altogether a personable and able man, who might have done much work and made his way in many lands. But what his former life had been he would not tell. Mother-wit he had in plenty, and showed insight into men and things which the monks of Durham were ready enough to call the spirit of prophecy. ”

“ Sivel is the adopted son of your valorous father, Brand of Ulfskelf. You must follow the quest for him until his rescue is achieved. The loss to me is greater than I can tell you. But our Godric is growing to be a man, and a brave one. He will be my faithful companion and true soldier in your absence." Young Godric's face flushed with pleasure, while Hereric and Forthere clasped each other in a long, silent embrace. "But," added the Atheling, as he gazed into Forthere's [Pg 198] eyes, "you must follow the rede of Porlor, and the guidance of Coelred and Lilla. ”

“ Goderic was perhaps the commonest of this class—its usual dress in our registers being ‘Gooderick,’ ‘Goderiche,’ ‘Godrick,’ and ‘Godric.’ An early Saxon abbot was exalted into the ranks of the saints as ‘St. Goderic,’ and this would have its influence in the selection of baptismal names at that period. ‘Guthlac,’ not without descendants, too, though less easily recognisable in our ‘Goodlakes’ and ‘Goodlucks,’ and ‘Geoffrey,’ or ‘Godfrey,’ whom I shall have occasion to mention again, belong to the same category. ”

“ The fight rages. Byrhtnoth is wounded. He slays the foe. He is wounded again. He prays to God to receive his soul, and is hewn down by the heathen men. Godric flees on Byrhtnoth's horse. His brothers follow him. Ælfwine encourages the men to avenge the death of their lord. So does Offa, who curses Godric. Leofsunu will avenge his lord or perish. Dunnere also. Others follow their example. Offa is slain and many warriors. The fight still rages. The aged Byrhtwold exhorts them to be the braver as they become the fewer. So does another Godric, not he who fled. * * * *
The Dream of the Rood. ”

“ So the steward, seeking safety still, wrote a letter to Sir Gilbert in Risborough saying that the matter was tangled, for Godric had come boldly into court and the court had been hard to drive and strange folk watched it, so that he could do no more than put Godric to the ordeal, whereof he hoped a good issue.
The while Bran sat in Watlington Church, and when the priest came into vespers, out of the half light Bran plucked at his gown. The priest cried out.
"Fie, fie, what should a priest fear but God?" said Bran.
"In the name of God, what is it that you are?" The priest shrank from him. ”

“ Chapter III
"To grow old cowed in a conquered land, With the sun itself discrowned, To see trees crouch and cattle slink -- Death is a better ale to drink, And by high Death on the fell brink, That flagon shall go round." -- Chesterton Godric's armor had been mended cleverly, he found, the rents in hauberk and helmet fused with such skill that no sign of a gash showed. ”

“ Hereric had grown into a youth of singular grace and beauty. He was now sixteen, and he had an air of cultivation [Pg 195] and breeding, due partly to his high rank, but also to the knowledge he had acquired. He could read and write, and had become a sincere Christian. If he had a fault, it was that he relied too much on the probity of others, and was easily deceived by designing men. Forthere and Godric were devoted to the Atheling, as indeed were all his companions. No one could know the Deiran Prince without loving him. To the sons of Seomel and to Lilla he was almost a brother. ”

“ The steward started up in a hurry. "Hold, hold. We judge him vanquished. Eudo is proven true man and Godric is craven."
But Bran flung himself upon the forester and wrenched up the hand which was fumbling to put away the knife and held it with the bloody knife in it aloft in the sun. "The steel! He has used the steel. He is false and dastard."
That shattered the court. Men cried out: "The steel! The steel!" and broke from their places all talking together.
Bran fell down on his knees by Godric and began to bind about his neck the bandage which had held his hand, and to him came the priest. ”

“ To all which Eudo made oath. Then Godric swore that he had never stolen nor handled the horn and that if Eudo found it in his hut Eudo himself put it there. Whereat the two men turned to call each other liar and the steward had much ado to stay them. "You, Godric," said he at last, "this is a wild tale you tell. Why should this honest man do a villainy and forswear himself to work you wrong? ”

“ Godric gone; and not one in ten thousand, perhaps, who visit those crumbling walls beside the rushing Wear, has heard of the sailor-saint, and his mother, and that fair maid who tended them on their pilgrimage.
Meanwhile there were hermits for many years in that same hermitage in Eskdale, from which a Percy expelled St. Godric, possibly because he interfered with the prior claim of some protégé of their own; for they had, a few years before Godric’s time, granted that hermitage to the monks of Whitby, who were not likely to allow a stranger to establish himself on their ground. ”

“ Godric growled. "I come of a race that sell their swords for gold -- but we are no jackals to turn on men that have bled beside us. These warriors and I have already killed more than our own number and wounded many more of your warriors. There are still three hundred of us left and the strongest of the barricades. We have slain over a thousand of your wolves -- if you enter Jahadur you ride over our corpses. Charge in now and see how desperate men can die." ”

“ Roogla slumped slowly to the earth and Chepe Noyon wheeled to meet the knight's furious charge. He flung up his sword to parry the whistling mace, but the giant Norman in his berserk rage dealt a blow that made nothing of skill or tempered steel. The scimitar flew to singing sparks, the helmet cracked and Chepe Noyon was dashed to earth like a pole-axed steer.
"Bear Roogla back!" roared Godric, leaping forward and swinging his mace up again to dash out the prostrate Mongol's brains as a man kills a wounded snake. ”

“ Said Sir Godrick: "If I am become a mighty ruler, thou hast become a warrior such that I well think the worlds holds none other so mighty; and true it is that I love thee no worse for all the hard and troublous days. And hard and troublous have they been forsooth; so that oft have I bethought me of that old man the king of the kine, and his welcome and his bidding, in the wide green valley by the river whereby we passed when we were wending to Longshaw that first time, though well I wot that earth has no such refuge for me. I say thou art great, and I love thee ”

“ Nay, let me go back to my folk and the land that I know, and that endures before me when others have faded out; there will I abide whatso may come to me. Then he said: Moreover there is this last month at Longshaw; who knows what may there betide? I shall keep my eyes and ears open I promise thee. Ah! said Sir Godrick, but beware, Red Lad, beware! thou knowest how much hatred thou hast drawn upon thee for thy dealings with the rascaile of the Wood. Be sure that traps will be laid for thee, and look to it that thou walk not into one! ”

“ When King Athelwold was dead, Godrich ruled England. In every castle he set some knight of his own, whom he could trust: all the English folk he caused to take an oath to be faithful to him; and in a little while Athelwold's realm was altogether in his power.
In the meantime Goldborough was kept at Winchester, and brought up as befitted a king's daughter. Every day she seemed to grow in wisdom and fairness, till when she was twenty years old there was none like her in the land. But Godrich, when he saw how good and how fair she was, grew jealous of her. "Shall she be queen over me?" ”

“ So now when Sir Godrick and the Council of the Lesser Crafts had met in divers motes with Osberne and other captains of the Longshaw host, it yet seemed a great matter that they had to deal with; and that if they had won many victories, they had yet to win the great one. And all men saw what would have befallen if the Barons' League had not been so utterly broken up the year before. But now the greatest gain which Sir Godrick and the Lesser Crafts had was, that they by no means lacked men, and those of the best ”

“ How far the more admirable traits of Highland character may be attributed to the assimilating influence of the idea of Fingal we cannot decide. That our character as a people has been largely influenced for good by the power of his example we have no doubt. The bards, an order of the old Druidic hierarchy, became the priests of the Fingalian hero-worship. Songs, elegies, and poetic legends formed their service of praise. To induce their countrymen to reverence and imitate so great and glorious a Gael as Fingal was the object of many of their bardic homilies. ”

“ Then the king bade the priest bring the holy vessels, and earl Godrich swore on them that he would be faithful and true in peace and in war to Goldborough; and, further, that he would seek out a man who was better and fairer and stronger than all others to be her husband, so that the land might have peace, as in the days of Athelwold. ”

“ But she is yet a child, and I am fain to make some true man her guardian till she be a woman grown: I will that Godrich, Earl of Cornwall, do guard her and bring her up. He is a true man, wise in counsel and wise in deed, and men have him in awe."
They brought a holy book to the king. On it he made Earl Godrich swear a solemn oath to keep Goldborough well and truly, till she was of age to rule and to order the realm of England wisely. Then the little maid was given to the earl, her new guardian. Athelwold thanked the earl, and bade him to be true to his charge ”

“ He was a Celt to the very core, and Celtic character has been in no small degree moulded by copying his example. He was, in truth, not the ultimus but the Primus Gaelorum.
Nevertheless, it must be confessed that to many English readers Fingal is nothing but a name, and that even to most of them he looms dark and dim through the mist of years. Unhappily, a nature so transcendently humane and heroic as his is not the sort to win the admiration of the vulgar. ”