Days of Yore
Crowland Abbey Lincolnshire
Following the Harrowing of the North, William the Conqueror set his sights on East Anglia, where men like Waltheof and Hereward the Wake were resisting the Norman forces, eventually though Waltheof accepted Norman authority and was rewarded for this with an adventurous marriage to the Conqueror's niece Judith of Lens.
Five years later Waltheof was suspected of being involved in what has come to be known as the Revolt of the Earls. Historians differ over what exactly his involvement, the Anglo Saxon Chronicle state that he one of its ringleaders, while Orderic Vitalis and William of Malmesbury suggest that he knew of the revolt but had to swear an oath to keep quiet. It was inevitable though, that news of Waltheof's actions would come to the Conquerors attentions, and when it did Waltheof confessed his guilt to the conqueror in person.
Ignoring the Earl's words, William the Conqueror ordered that he be tried, he was found guilty and sentenced to death. Following a year in prison he was executed this day 1076 at St. Giles's Hill, near Winchester. His decapitated body was thrown in a ditch but was later recovered and buried in the chapter house of Croyland Abbey where it lay, untouched, for sixteen years until in 1092.
That year a fire in the chapter house forced Ingulph, Abbot of Croyland, to have Waltheof’s body moved elsewhere. On opening the coffin it was said that the Earl's corpse was found to be intact, his severed head re-joined to the trunk.
You can see Waltheof in the bottom lefthand corner of my image.
Crowland Abbey Lincolnshire
Following the Harrowing of the North, William the Conqueror set his sights on East Anglia, where men like Waltheof and Hereward the Wake were resisting the Norman forces, eventually though Waltheof accepted Norman authority and was rewarded for this with an adventurous marriage to the Conqueror's niece Judith of Lens.
Five years later Waltheof was suspected of being involved in what has come to be known as the Revolt of the Earls. Historians differ over what exactly his involvement, the Anglo Saxon Chronicle state that he one of its ringleaders, while Orderic Vitalis and William of Malmesbury suggest that he knew of the revolt but had to swear an oath to keep quiet. It was inevitable though, that news of Waltheof's actions would come to the Conquerors attentions, and when it did Waltheof confessed his guilt to the conqueror in person.
Ignoring the Earl's words, William the Conqueror ordered that he be tried, he was found guilty and sentenced to death. Following a year in prison he was executed this day 1076 at St. Giles's Hill, near Winchester. His decapitated body was thrown in a ditch but was later recovered and buried in the chapter house of Croyland Abbey where it lay, untouched, for sixteen years until in 1092.
That year a fire in the chapter house forced Ingulph, Abbot of Croyland, to have Waltheof’s body moved elsewhere. On opening the coffin it was said that the Earl's corpse was found to be intact, his severed head re-joined to the trunk.
You can see Waltheof in the bottom lefthand corner of my image.