Hereward and Flanders

Abstract

Hereward ‘the Wake’ is renowned as one of the leaders of the English resistance to the Normans in the late 1060s and early 1070s. His involvement in the resistance is noted by all main sources, even though the extent to which he was responsible for actions in Ely and Peterborough remains to be elucidated. He is listed as a pre-Conquest Lincolnshire landholder and tenant in Domesday Book, which is the only contemporary source to mention, but not date, his outlawry. Hereward's career as an outlaw is shrouded in mystery, due to the lack of detail in contemporary sources and also to the rise of stories incorporated in theGesta Herewardi (The Deeds of Hereward), written in the twelfth century, which claim that he went as a mercenary to Cornwall, Ireland and Flanders. Two sections of theGesta Herewardiare devoted to his exploits in the county of Flanders, and there is a curious third passage describing his relationship to Gilbert of Gent, the richest post-Conquest Flemish settler in England, who is said to have been Hereward's godfather. The purpose of this article is to take a fresh look at these passages and to assess them in the light of sources written on the Continent which seemingly confirm theGestasections on Flanders.