heraldryofyorkmi01custuoft

298 THE HERALDRY OF YORK MINSTER.
the royal guards in the very presence of the King, escaped, in spite of
all their efforts to take him. Even William admired his prowess, and but
for Earl Warrenne would have made peace with him.
But treachery did what valour could not accomplish, and the crafty
monks, thinking to make better terms with the Normans, pointed out the
way to the camp of refuge to the Earls of Warrenne and Clare. From
amidst the awful carnage which ensued, however, Hereward escaped to
Northamptonshire, devastated the forest with fire and sword, carried on
a system of guerilla warfare, and for several years resisted the whole force
of the Conqueror. But like many another warrior, invincible in war, he
was conquered by love. His wife Turfrid having retired to a convent, the
fair Alftrude consented to be his second wife only if he would make
peace with the King. Of course he did so after many and unavailing
protestations, and, as of course also, the fiery spirit, unsubdued, blazed
out again at some provocation from his Norman neighbours, fighting
manfully against overwhelming assailants,
he fell.
It was a wild, desultory life, a life like Samson's in some respects,
a life of spasmodic efforts unsupported, to protect the weak against the
strong, and to save the peaceful and unoffending from the power of the
invader. He did not hinder the inevitable progress of the Norman rule,
but he did his best to provide at least temporary alleviation. He made
himself a name which, even at this long distance, is associated with
courage and magnanimity and in more than one instance the same name
;
has added lustre to the future history of that nation whose destinies he
was not suffered to mould according to his pleasure.
In the reign of Henry I. the name of Wake again appears on the page
of history, though
it is impossible to say whether or not Hugh Wac or Wake
who married Emme, daughter of Baldwin FitzGilbert, was lineally descended
from him. Baldwin de Wake assisted at the coronation of Richard I., and
his daughter married Peter de Trehous, whose name I have already mentioned
in the history of the family of Mauley.
John Wake was summoned to Parliament as a baron, 1295. His
name occurs in the Parliament 26th of Edward I., but he is not mentioned
in the Caerlaverock roll, nor amongst the signatories to Boniface VIII. ;
but he was one of the commissioners appointed with the Archbishop of
York to see to the fortification of castles in Scotland. His son, Thomas
Wake, the second baron, is mentioned in the Parliament i2th and isth of
Edward II., and obtained license to make a castle of his manor-house at
Cottingham, near Hull. He married Blanche, eldest daughter of Henry
Earl of Lancaster, son of Thomas Earl of Lancaster, beheaded at Pontefract,
who was the eldest son of Edmond, surnamed " Crouchback," brother
of Edward I. Her mother was Maud, daughter and heir of Sir Patrick