Cannibal Narratives: An Introduction

Abstract

On the eve of the Norman Conquest, the brothers Harold and Tostig quarrel. In the Historia anglorum, Henry of Huntingdon tells the story of this quarrel in the midst of his swiftly paced account of the events leading up to the Battle of Hastings: he inserts it into his history between Harold’s oath to support William of Normandy and Edward the Confessor’s childless death. As Henry recounts the episode, Tostig is overcome by jealousy while watching Harold pour the king a glass of wine and so maliciously pulls his brother’s hair. Tostig then flees the court for Hereford, where Harold has prepared a banquet for the king. There, Tostig ministros fratris omnes detruncans, singulis uasis, uini, medonis, ceruisie, pigmenti, morati, cisere, crus humanuni, uel caput, uel brachium imposuit. Mandauitque regi quod ad firmam suam properans cibos salsatos sufficienter inueniret, alios secum deferre curaret. [dismembered all his brother’s servants, and put a human leg, head or arm into each vessel for wine, mead, ale, spiced wine, wine with mulberry juice, and cider. Then he sent to the king, saying that when he came to his farm he would find enough in salted food, and that he should take care to bring the rest With him.]p1