All the countries of the world have their legendary heroes and the small group of islands that make up the United Kingdom have their fair share. One of those heroes was Hereward the Wake (wary) who led a group of resistance fighters against the forces of William the Conqueror who subjugated England in 1066. Hereward's group a mixture of Saxons and Danes and even the monks from the Abbey held the island of Ely deep in the marshland swamps of the Fens. The island was a place of thick reeds, disappearing paths and drowning pools, surrounded by forested areas of land and an ideal base for the resistance fighters.
As a youth Hereward was a bit of a hell-raiser (possibly because his father married his mother under Danelaw and as the son of a second wife he would have been considered the bastard son of a concubine in the eyes of the Christian community) and caused so much trouble that his father Earl Leofric of Mercia approached the then king, Edward the Confessor and asked him to exile his wayward son. The king agreed and sometime after his eighteenth birthday Hereward was declared an outlaw. (Meaning that the law gave him neither rights nor protection within his own country).
Outlawed in England, Hereward travelled first to the Scottish borders and after various adventures in Scotland, Cornwall and Ireland, his ship was nearly wrecked in a storm and he ended up in Flanders. Going under an assumed name he fought in the Flemish war and twice in other wars.
In the year 1066 the Norman William the Conqueror or (Duke William the Bastard) ended Anglo Saxon Rule in England by defeating Harold Godwinson at he battle of Hastings. To the victors go the spoils of war and after usurping the English throne, William seized many of lands and titles belonging to the English lords and doled them out to his Norman followers.
In 1067/8 Hereward returned to Bourne where his family held land. His father had died ten years before and now he found that in seizing his father's lands, the Normans had beheaded his young brother and mounted his head above the door. In retaliation Hereward slew fourteen Normans including their lord and mounted their heads in place of his brother's.
As soon as the news of the killings spread men came to join him and help defend his land against the French. Altogether he collected a sizable band of over forty men and on hearing that resistance fighters held the Isle of Ely he joined them and became their leader. From Ely Hereward would send raiding parties out to attack Norman travellers and soldiers, then disappeared back into the swamps again. One of those raids was carried out after the death Abbot Brand. On hearing that the abbot was to be replaced by a Norman, Hereward and his men attacked the Abbey of Peterborough and stripped it of its riches. Back in the swamp Hereward let it be known that he had stolen the treasure to prevent it falling into the hands of the Normans.
Three times William tried unsuccessfully to build causeways out to Ely but failed and he didn't try again. What he did instead was threaten to confiscate the lands belonging to the Abbey and one of the monks led the Norman forces along a secret path to the island. Hereward and some of his men escaped and continued their resistance to the Norman. But eventually William and he made peace. Legend has it that Hereward died as heroes' death some time later. He was attacked by sixteen men and killed them all with his famous sword Brainbiter, but was overpowered and stabbed to death by four men who came at him from behind.
Copyright Fred Watson 2008
Fred Watson published his first book, a fantasy adventure novel aimed at the 8-12 age group in November 2006. A grandfather of four, he loves to write for all age groups, has an abiding interest in history and continues on a regular basis to add new stories etc to his website.www.footprintpublishing.co.uk/history.html”> Footprint Publishing
