Hereward the Wake

 FLOURISHED 1070

Hereward leaving home after being outlawed - from a Victorian engraving

The exploits of Hereward the Wake continue to delight and intrigue and Bourne has taken him to its bosom. But much of what we know today about this young Saxon outlaw is fiction and comes from the romantic historical novel Hereward the Wake, written in 1866 by the Rev Charles Kingsley (1819-1875), clergyman, novelist and poet, while staying at Edenham vicarage. He embellished the legends of the titular hero by painting him as a reckless gallant who for some time successfully opposed the Norman Conquest.

But although Hereward's story may be mainly fiction, his existence does have a solid core of truth. After the Battle of Hastings in 1066, William the Conqueror had little trouble imposing his rule on the country and most of Lincolnshire capitulated with little effort except in the fens and Kingsley makes great play of his hero's part in ridding Bourne of the Normans with a highly charged account of events that are straight from the realms of fiction. 

A similarly colourful account of Hereward's exploits was written in 1926 by Christopher Marlowe (not to be confused with the 16th century dramatist of the same name) in his book Legends of the Fenland People in which he appears to have drawn heavily on Kingsley, and as these works were available in schools for several years afterwards and were used as teaching aids, which was my experience, this would explain why so many of the older generation today firmly believe in our hero's fictional rather than his factual pedigree and background. The conquest of England by William was bound to have its repercussions in every part of the kingdom but the changes in our county were mainly quite undramatic and peaceable. Two years after the invasion, William took possession of Lincoln, entering the city from the north. There seems to have been little resistance and the king allowed twelve lawmen to retain their powers in the town but he took the precaution of building a castle to overawe the citizens. Stamford appears to have been treated in much the same way and nine of its twelve lawmen remained and a castle was also erected. It is therefore likely that the arrival of the Normans in Bourne and its immediate neighbourhood was not accompanied by any great disturbance. 

Charles Kinglsey, classical scholar and Cambridge graduate, has done more than anyone else to perpetuate the mythical tales about Hereward the Wake that persist to this day. He wrote his famous book on the Saxon hero while staying at Edenham vicarage during the mid-19th century, inspired by local features such as Bourne Wood which he used as the setting for his death at the hands of the Normans.

Kingsley, who was a distinguished classical scholar and graduate of Magdalene College, Cambridge, had access to the great libraries of England and based his book on the romantic tales recounted in certain mediaeval chronicles, making Bourne the scene of his account of the resistance lead by Hereward and his supporters. According to these tales, Hereward was the son of the Earl of Leofric of Mercia and his wife Lady Godiva who owned the manor of Bourne and the castle in the Well Head field which was Hereward's birthplace. After being outlawed for the rough treatment of certain monks at Peterborough, young Hereward is alleged to have had numerous incredible adventures in Britain and the Low Countries before returning home to challenge the Normans and clearing them from Bourne. 

In May 1070, a Danish fleet had sailed up the River Ouse to Ely and the men of fenland joined it there to help in the Danish re-conquest of England. Hereward, the leader of this revolt, was then a Lincolnshire thane, the Anglo-Saxon title given to a member of the aristocratic classes who held land from the king or other noblemen in return for services rendered. He set up camp in the Isle of Ely and from there, with the help of the Danes, his men plundered and burned the abbey at Peterborough. He was joined by Morcar and Ethelwin, Bishop of Durham, and continued to lead a futile resistance against the Normans until 1071 after the Danes had withdrawn and sailed for home and eventually his supplies were blockaded by the Normans who laid siege to his camp of refuge which they overran three months later. Morcar and Ethelwin surrendered but Hereward managed to escape with some of his followers. He eventually made peace with William, an action that has somewhat lessened his reputation. 

It is worth mentioning at this point the validity of mediaeval chronicles. This was the great age of forged charters, bulls and decrees. Early mediaeval men did not share our squeamish understanding of the nature of historical evidence. These documents did not always begin as deliberate forgeries but as the careful collection and expansion of remembered tradition, usually in the pursuit of proving ownership of land and chattels because the security of any community in Norman England depended on the possession of documentary evidence and when documents were lost or destroyed, they were replaced and as a result many have been found to have a large fictional content. The Chronicle of Crowland, a fictionalised history of the monastery from the time of St Guthlac in 699 A D to the age of the Tudors, and one of the most important surviving mediaeval sources, is an example of such forgeries. 

Hereward's life came under close scrutiny by historians in the mid-19th century when the noble lineage assigned to him was shown to be unfounded and it is now clear that there is no firm evidence to assume that he was a native of Bourne, nor to have been the son of Earl Leofric. In fact, in the reign of Edward the Confessor immediately prior to the Conquest, it was Earl Morcar, not Leofric, who was the principal landowner in Bourne. Hereward's origins and exact identity are shrouded in obscurity but he appeared to have had some connections with the area because the Domesday Book refers to him having held lands under the Peterborough fief at Witham-on-the-Hill, Manthorpe and Toft, as well as at Barholm-with-Stowe, these lands in 1086 having passed into the tenure of a knight called Ansford. Two other places which the Domesday Book connects with Hereward are Rippingale and possibly Laughton and it has been suggested that his attack on the abbey at Peterborough was not simply a buccaneering adventure but one designed to retain his lands after the Normans had appointed a new abbot. 

He may therefore have been active in the locality during these years but his title of "the Wake" was bestowed by John of Peterborough and has no connection with the de Wake family who were to claim him as an ancestor. The de Wakes were Lords of Bourne at a later date and had a large castle with two moats in the town where Edward III was entertained. This castle that once stood in the Well Head gardens was their stronghold. It consisted of a massive keep with square towers, a moat surrounding its low man-made mound and a second outer moat enclosing a bailey of almost eight acres. The moats were filled with water from Bourne's famous springs at the Well Head, or St Peter's Pool, issuing from a natural fissure in the limestone, and provided a safeguard against attackers but all that remains today is a maze of mounds. Given the prominence of the Wakes, it is natural that Hugh de Wake should sometimes be credited with founding an abbey at Bourne in 1138 although other accounts give the honour to his son-in-law, Baldwin Fitzgilbert. 

The Wake name is perpetuated today by the Northamptonshire Wake baronetcy, created in 1621, but Sir Hereward Wake, the 14th baronet, was known to remark: "We used to be called Charles or Hugh or Baldwin until the family read Charles Kingsley." But what happened to Hereward? The chronicles suggest that he met an untimely death at the hands of the enemy in the woods near Bourne but this is also most unlikely. There is no conclusive evidence about Hereward's activities after his route by the Normans in 1071 and his fate is unknown although ancient tradition suggests that he was buried in the chancel at Bourne Abbey but there is no evidence of such a tomb existing, any possible remains having been destroyed during demolition and reconstruction work in 1807.

Crowland Abbey also claims him and his wife Torfrida and perhaps his mother Lady Godiva but there is no firm evidence from this location either. It is most likely that he was buried in France because after he was pardoned by William, he accompanied him to Maine where he was murdered by the Normans. The research on Hereward leads us to conclusions very different from the traditional story yet the old legends are well rooted and refuse to die and it is doubtful if they will. An old tale well told is often more acceptable and far more enjoyable than the truth.

See also Hereward and the Barony of Bourne    Bourne Castle - fact or fiction?

Go to:     Main Index