He had married one of his daughters, Matilda, to
William of Normandy, afterwards the Conqueror; and another, Judith, to
Tosti Godwinsson, the son of the great Earl Godwin of England. She
afterwards married Welf, Duke of Bavaria; whereby, it may be, the blood of
Baldwin of Flanders runs in the veins of Queen Victoria.
And thus there were few potentates of the North more feared and respected
than Baldwin, the good-natured Earl of Flanders.
But one sore thorn in the side he had, which other despots after him
shared with him, and with even worse success in extracting it,--namely,
the valiant men of Scaldmariland, which we now call Holland. Of them
hereafter. At the moment of Hereward's arrival, he was troubled with a
lesser thorn, the Count of Guisnes, who would not pay him up certain dues,
and otherwise acknowledge his sovereignty.
Therefore when the chatelain of St. Omer sent him word to Bruges that a
strange Viking had landed with his crew, calling himself Harold
Naemansson, and offering to take service with him, he returned for answer
that the said Harold might make proof of his faith and prowess upon the
said Count, in which, if he acquitted himself like a good knight, Baldwin
would have further dealings with him.
So the chatelain of St. Omer, with all his knights and men-at-arms, and
Hereward with his sea-cocks, marched northwest up to Guisnes, with little
Arnulf cantering alongside in high glee; for it was the first war that he
had ever seen.
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