Note 473 — Chapter VII · FROM THE ELECTION OF EADWARD TO THE BANISHMENT OF GODWINE.[1] 1042–1051. (continued 3)

Vita Eadw. 404. “Hiemati sunt à Rege Dermodo in Hiberniam.” These words at once explain the whole matter, and give us the true explanation of the otherwise difficult expression in the Peterborough Chronicle, “Harold eorl gewende west to Yrlande, and wæs þær ealne þone winter, on þes cynges griðe.” Sir Francis Palgrave (Hist. Ang. Sax. 342) takes this King to be Eadward, and says, “Harold crossed to Ireland, and he was so far favoured as to be allowed to remain in that country under the king’s protection. This fact should be noticed, because it seems to show that he was not considered as being out of the king’s dominions; or, in other words, that the opposité coast of Ireland was part of Eadward’s realm.” This is rather slight evidence, even with the further support of a spurious charter (see vol. i. p. 66), to prove that Ireland, or its eastern coast, was part of the English Empire. Lappenberg (510; Mr. Thorpe’s version, ii. 250, again does not represent the original) saw that, odd as the expression is, an Irish King must be meant, and now the Life of Eadward puts the matter beyond doubt. The “grið” of Diarmid answers to the “grið” of Baldwin.