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Gaimer is the second near-contemporary source to name Fuleford
as the place of the battle.[i]
Three of the surviving four manuscripts of Gaimar’s history were lodged
in Durham, Lincoln and Peterborough. These locations might be significant
because the texts add local information to some parts of our story and these
details are not related elsewhere.
Gaimar adds that the Norse fleet consisted of 460 or 470
vessels (depending upon the copy consulted) and mentions a landing at St
Wilfrid’s as a stopping place for the Norse invasion fleet as it made its way
up the river Humber to the base at Riccall.
The place name of Fuleford matches the name used in the
Domesday survey although spelling consistency was not an issue until recent
centuries. Gaimar refers to the English as Engeleis, Engelis and Engeles in his
Norman-French history.
Pending a good translation of Gaimar, this is a crude
attempt which makes no effort to follow the original metrical format, but only
to capture the historical content of his ‘History of the English’. (lines
5199 to 5222 from L'Estoire des Engles)
“Earl Edwin
with a great army came quickly into Lindsay and afterwards defended this place
from them but they had already done much damage in it. Earl Morcar on the
other side [of the Humber] defended his land. Tostig was upon the Humber near
the sea on which Morcar had forbidden the arrival of the Flemish.
“When they saw
him [Morcar] they stole away and failed to fight. They returned to their own
country laden with the plunder of the unfortunate English. Tostig turned from
those who went away. Afterwards he went to Scotland to Malcolm who received
him. Malcolm presented him with fine gifts.
“The King of
Norway arrived with a great fleet and Tostig allied himself with Harald 'Halflage'
[Fairhair] which was the name of the Dane and joined him. They had spoken so
much together that each pledged to the other that whatever they conquered they
would divide all equally. They wished by their attack to divide all England
between them. The two had a great fleet of 400 ships and sailed forward.
“They steered
and sailed a great way until they entered the river Humber. From the Humber
they went to the Ouse and disembarked at St Wilfrid's. On the morrow they set
sail for York and arrived there in the evening. But the two earls met with all
the people of six ‘counties’ at Fulford. The Norwegians were masters of
the field but on both sides there were many killed.
“Afterwards the
Norwegians took the land. They desolated all the territory and seized many
spoils. Whoever does not know, let him remember that it was 12 days within
September [?].”
His history was written in rhyming couplets about 1140.
Gaimar’s origins are a matter of speculation. His name is Germanic but
scholars say the style of his language suggests a Provencal connection. Gaimar
was a writer and translator, rather than a historian, but his willingness to
include older oral sources should not lead us to dismiss the detailed story that
he tells us about Fulford.
Some of the stories he includes are of Norse origin. His
familiarity with these stories has led scholars to speculate about his
background and might explain why he was a linguist. He was employed to translate
the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle for the benefit of Normans, which accounts for his
access to these documents that we believe were held inside monastic buildings.[ii]
His translations were probably done after all of
the sources studies for the research so his work could have influenced
them.
[i]
Gaimar History of the English line
5204 5209
[ii]
A Bell, Introduction to L’Estoire
Des Engleis p x
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