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ENGLISH GRAMMAR 
 
 BY C. P. MASON, B.A., F.C.P., 
 
 Fellow of University College. London 
 
 Wiw Examination Papers by W. Houston, M.A. 
 PBICE 75 CENTS. 
 
 the oiroSt.^' to rnHe Z^hLr''"*^ " «^™«- «=hool inspector in 
 mediately sen^me Eo" * ^"""" published there. He ii2 
 
 A. P. KNIGHT, M.A., H-M-TKingston Colle^ate Institute 
 
 Ma^nni* ^^^^' *'"^" '^•^•' Principal, Caledonia. H. S. 
 
 peciairfor%KsTructS^ofliZcVH"''S"^^^^^^ ^'""^■books e. 
 on the Analysis of difficult ^L^n„» ^? '''f?.^^ " English. The chapter 
 
 As a nhr"^^." ^^^'^' ^- M^D»fferin School Toronto 
 
 exce^:;tS°hX^ SSnl ^ST.uV'''''''^' ^'^^ -«» i*" 
 the estimation of the best judge" of such JniL t^""^ 't* ^'«^ ""^^ '" 
 the country, it has reached a twentvfi«?!^T*''® ■''^^''^ teachers of 
 have no doubt it will meet wif h ♦l.^ ™* edition in England and I 
 Province. "^' "^'^^ *h« ««ne high appreciation in this 
 
 JOHN SHAW. H~^.H.S..Omemee. 
 
 been- hoping to seViSt^oZced Vn"t? lu?.^^'f '^."''"^ *««hers have 
 teach the subject by exnlanaf inn H»fl "f- ^'^''oo'?. '^ method being to 
 
 D. 0. MaoHENRY, B.A., H. M. Cobourg Col Inslltate 
 
 ♦*«-^ has yet »np<MrwL 
 
 
HOW TO READ; 
 
 A DRILL BOOK 
 
 FOR CORRECT AND EXPRESSIVE READING 
 
 ADAPTED FOR THE USE OP SCHOOLS. 
 
 By Richard Lewis, Teacher of EiocuUon, Author of " Domin^ 
 ion ElocuUonist," dc. 
 
 PRICE 76 CENTS. 
 
 ever- inWduced into ourVanaS 'sctr V'J"^^' »"'« book, 
 fail to have his senior classerup';^red'Slt°h"t e worffirce!''"''^' "*" 
 
 LTTT""' *'-^' **•»■• H^M. High School, Newmarket 
 
 JOHN SHAW. Head M^r High School. Omemee 
 
 earliest opportTni'^y'^^T'hr'^ubli^^^^^^^^ at the 
 
 teacher and pupil alike P^'^'caMon cannot but be profltoble to 
 
 R. N^RODGERS. Inspect";rof P. Schools. Colli„g.-ood. 
 
 j.>tr^ucedinTo%'v?rys?hooL'V:'l!rSflv'b^^^^^^^ '^IT'^ ^^'^her. an« 
 better spent, than in learning the shSn^n nrfn.^' ^^at.no time could be 
 practising the suKgestions it ^ves foi^fffiS"°'''P'f^'* ^a^s ^own and 
 pleasiflg and efifective. ^ ^ attainu^ a style of reading both 
 
 E. M. EIGG, M.A. 
 
 .S so MUCH nLZ'.;; ZKlc\t^TAZl,^XoT' "'*^"' '^«™''«' 
 
 JOHN MACOUN, --.^e. ^^^^^^^^^ eCege Grammar 
 
 be imrnediateVTnto"d"u'c1^Ki; 'Z'X^Li!Zt?'\'^ «'- *« 
 o7ftt'eVily';^'^^ ''-'- *« obtain-ra^ti^nSSf ta;^tru^ 
 
 J. MiLLER, B.A., H. M"r7lgh School. St. Thomas, 
 •eivo mor; attenlion:'"** '''***'' *"**''^ ^ » «"bject that should r^ 
 
ID; 
 
 FADING 
 
 r II 
 
 Domln- 
 
 little books 
 teacher will 
 
 arket. 
 
 8 been sup- 
 
 our junior 
 
 e it at the 
 >fltable to 
 
 wher, anfl 
 B could be 
 down and 
 ding both 
 
 Epochs of English History 
 
 EDITED DY THE 
 
 REV. M. CREIGHTON, M.A. 
 
 EAULV ENGLAND 
 
 NOTUINO 
 
 Grammar 
 
 Rkad to 
 8 compel 
 I the use 
 
 ould n- 
 
Entered according, to Act of Parliament of Canada, In the Office of the 
 Minister of Aj-riculture, by Ada,, Mu.ler & Co., in the year 1877. 
 
^ 
 
 4«Ulcr & Co.'s €bnt;itioniiI Sciico. 
 
 EPOCHS OP ENOUSH HISTOEY. 
 
 T- 
 
 EARLY ENGLAND 
 
 67* T-C THE \ORMAX CONQUEST. 
 
 )ffice of the 
 Jar 1877. 
 
 BY 
 
 FREDERICK YORK POWELL, 
 
 LAW LECTURER CII. CH. OXFORD, 
 HI8T0BICAT. LECTL'RER TRIN. COLL. OXFORD. 
 
 WITH FOUR MAPa 
 
 Atcthonzed hy the Minister of Edumtim, 
 
 TORONTO : 
 Adam Miller & Co. 
 
^ 
 
 X 
 
 L 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 Pedigrees 
 
 PAOB 
 
 vil 
 
 i6 
 sa 
 
 BOOK I. 
 
 CHAPTER """"^ ^'^'■'^'^^ ^'^^ ROMANS (8.C. 5S-A.D. 449). 
 
 I. The Britons . 
 
 n. The Roman Conquest , 
 
 ni. The Roman Rule in Tiritain ' 
 
 BOOK II. 
 THE ENGLISH CONQUEST (449-600). 
 
 I. The English 
 
 n. The English Conquest * * 
 
 
 
 BOOK III. 
 
 I. Kent . . 
 
 n. Northumberland . * 
 
 
 
 BOOK IV. 
 
 WESSEX AND THE MARCHLAND (68<-8c»). 
 
 1. The Rise of Wessex 
 
 n. The Church . . * .39 
 
 III. Wessex and ♦»- "-^bland ** 
 
 44 
 
 I 
 
 5 
 to 
 
 38 
 
 30 
 
VI 
 
 Contents. 
 
 \ 
 
 BOOK V. 
 
 CHAPTEK """^ ^''''^'^^ ^^° ™^ DANES (8oa-90l). 
 
 I. Egbert (802-837) . 
 
 II. Ethelwolf and his Elder Sons (837-871) ' 
 III. Alfred the Truth-teller (871-901) . . '. ' 
 
 BOOK VI. 
 THE GREAT OLD-ENGLISH KINGS (901-979). 
 
 I. Edward the Elder (901-925) 
 II. Ethelstan the Steadfast (925-940)' 
 HI. Edmund the Deed-doer (940-046) 
 IV. Edred the Chosen (946-955) ' " * ' 
 V. Edwy (9SS-9S9) • 
 VI. Edgar the Peace-winner (959-975) 
 VI. Edward the Martyr (975-979) . . ' . ' 
 Vill. Changes in England under the Great Kings 
 
 BOOK VII. 
 
 THE DANISH CONQUEST (979-1042). 
 
 I. Ethelred the Unready (979-1016) 
 II. Edmund Ironside (1016) . . 
 
 III. Canute the Mighty (1016I1035') 
 
 IV. Harold Harefoot and Hardi-Canute (1035-1042) 
 
 PAGE 
 48 
 
 55 
 
 66 
 
 69 
 
 ^^ 
 
 73 
 74 
 75 
 78 
 80 
 
 83 
 90 
 9a 
 96 
 
 BOOK VIIl. 
 
 THE TWO LAST OLD-ENGLISH KINGS (l04a-to66). 
 
 I. Edward the Confessor (1042-1066) 
 
 II. Harold Godwin's son (1066) . * * ' • 99 
 III. Changes in England '°^ 
 
 xuue^ of Persons 
 II Places 
 
 
 119 
 '"3 
 
PAGE 
 48 
 
 SS 
 
 66 
 
 69 
 
 72 
 
 73 
 74 
 75 
 78 
 80 
 
 8a 
 90 
 9a 
 96 
 
 99 
 Z06 
 114 
 
 "9 
 
 KINGS OF ENGLAND. 
 
 Egbert 
 
 ngDert 
 
 (sprung from Cerdic} 
 
 8021838 
 
 Etkehvolf 
 + |8s8 
 
 •I- 860 
 
 EtheidUB 
 K. of Kent 
 
 Ettulbtrt 
 -»■ 866 
 
 Eihelred 
 + 871 
 
 Alfred tluGrtat 
 
 Edward, Elder Ethelfled. Lady of the Marchland 
 
 Sthebtam 
 + 940 
 
 9*5 
 
 + 9a» 
 
 Edmund 
 
 + 946 
 
 Edrtd 
 + 955 
 
 Edwy 
 + 959 
 
 Edgar 
 + 975 
 
 J 
 
 Edward tfu Martyr Ethelred the Unready 
 
 + 979 (mar. Emma of Normandy) 
 
 + 1016 
 
 
 Edmund 
 ■f before 1056 
 
 Et 
 
 Edgar Etheling 
 
 Edward 
 + »o57 
 
 1 
 
 Margaret 
 (mar. Malcolm Bigliead 
 King of ScotlaadX 
 
THE DA^ ^,;h kings. 
 
 Harold Bluetooth 
 •^"ig of IDennufk 
 
 (King ofBenourk a^ngland) 
 + iai4 
 
 Gunkild 
 (mar. PaUlig) 
 
 + 1035 
 
 (son of Em^a) (»„ E„p. „,„^ ,„ , 
 
 TO4O 
 
 104a 
 
 (dtr. of Emma) 
 
 THE HOUSE OF GODWIN, 
 
 \ 
 
 . _ Godwin 
 
 (mar. Canute's sister's daughter) 
 + 1053 
 
 I 
 
 Wfgars dtr.) Baldwin's dtr) ■*" **^ 
 
 + XOOe J. rrJU^ 
 
 + ro66 
 
 Wolfnotb 
 
 THE HOUSE OF LEOFRIC. 
 
 Lec&jc 
 
 war 
 
 El/l 
 
 .'•^S5!rV_^i°f Wales 
 
 S^dwia 
 
 Morcar 
 
THE HOUSE OF NORMANDY 
 
 ^oif Ganger 
 
 (son of Earl Ronwald) 
 
 + 927 
 
 IViiltam Longs-Word 
 + 943 
 
 Richard, Fearless 
 + 99S 
 
 Richard, Good r. ' 
 
 »°»«* (mar. «. Etkelred the Unre.uiy 
 
 I '• Canute the Mighty 
 
 lickard ^o6ert,Jagni^,ZZl^,Z ^j, 
 
 •*■ 035 („.ar. Herlwin) („.. Bald^Hai^beard 
 
 \ \ of Flanders) 
 
 >»^«///««« th^ Conqueror oL ~l 
 
I 
 
 THE HOUSE OF FLANDERS. 
 
 , - . Baldwin I, 
 
 (mar. Judith, Jghtr. of Charles Bald 
 widow of I. Ethel-wolf 
 
 2. Et/ulbald) 
 
 + 879 
 
 . . . Baldwin II. 
 
 (mar. dghtr. o{ Alfred tJ^t Great) 
 
 + 91.J 
 
 I 
 
 Amulf, Bad 
 
 Baldwin III. 
 
 (nited with his father) 
 
 + 062 
 
 I 
 
 Amulf, Younz 
 
 + 988 
 
 t ^ . Baldwin IV,, Fairh^ntvi 
 
 (««. Ogive, dghtr. of Rich^^^tltf Norn«u.dy) 
 
 Baldwin V., Kind 
 + 1067 
 
 BttUmimyj.GMd 
 
 . . Matilda 1 J. . 
 
 i^.WiUia^tk, Conqueror) i^. ^^^t% 
 
 •.WolfofBawia. 
 
LIST OF MAPS. 
 
 Roman Britain .... 
 
 The First Home of the English .... 
 
 England after the English Conquest 
 
 PACB 
 
 England under the Great English Kings . . . 65 
 
 anuria. 
 
EARLY ENGLAND. 
 
 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 The chief things which we have to notice in this part 
 of the History of England are : 
 
 1. What England was hke and who dwelt in it before 
 our forefathers came here and called it England. 
 
 2. How our forefathers built up the kingdom of Eng- 
 land, driving out the folk that dwelt here before them. 
 
 3. How this kingdom grew so weak that it was con- 
 quered by foreign kings. 
 
 BOOK 1. 
 
 THE BRITONS AND ROMANS. 
 
 B.C. 55— A. D. 409. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 THE BRITONS. 
 
 I. We do not know much of the fir:it dwellers in Eng- 
 land, as no history tells us about them •, but from the re- 
 luains of themselves, their tools and weapons, ^^ 
 which are sometimes dug up, we have been llltrl in 
 able to find out something. They were rather ^"s'*"**- 
 small people, like the Esquimaux, and used flint and 
 
Early England. 
 
 BK. I. 
 
 The Britons. 
 
 bone weapons. They were great hunters, and some of 
 them were cannibals. They lived in caves and on the 
 banks of the seas and rivers ; and it is in caves and the 
 great heaps of shells, which lie near where their huts stood, 
 that we find the bones and remains that tell us about them. 
 
 In their days England was much colder than it ii 
 now, and much wilder. A great many wild beasts lived 
 here, such as hyaenas, lions, rhinoceroses, and elephants 
 which have long since disappeared. 
 
 VVe do not know when these people came to England, 
 but it must have been a very long while ago. 
 
 2. The first people we hear about in history as dwelling 
 in England, which they called Britain, were very different 
 folk. The land in their time, though not so 
 cold and wild as before, was still very unlike 
 the England of to-day. The greater part of it was covered 
 with thick woods or broad heaths ; and whore the rivers 
 now run fast there were often great fens and lakes. 
 There were still many wild beasts, bears, wolves, and 
 beavers, great elks and wild cattle, though most of those 
 we spoke of before had died out. It was hotter in summer 
 and colder in winter than it is now. 
 
 The people were not English at all, but of the same 
 race as the Irish and Welsh of to-day, who are descended 
 from them. They were a rude people, but were not 
 savages, like the first folk. They lived in wattled huts 
 half-sunk in the ground, without windows or chimneys. 
 These huts were set together in villages, which had often 
 a wooden paling and earthen wall round them, and were 
 placed in the midst of woods, or on islands in the rivers 
 or marshes, or on hills, so as to be safer against foemen. 
 Their wealth was in cattle, and they tilled the ground 
 near their villages, and grew barley. They were great 
 hunters ; but they did not fish in the sea. In the south 
 and west of Britain they worked to find tin and lead. 
 
BK. I. 
 
 1 some of 
 nd on the 
 s and the 
 luts stood, 
 )out tliem. 
 than it it 
 ;asts lived 
 elephants 
 
 England, 
 
 s dwelling 
 Y different 
 gh not so 
 2ry unlike 
 IS covered 
 the rivers 
 nd lakes. 
 >lves, and 
 it of those 
 n summer 
 
 the same 
 iescended 
 were not 
 :tled huts 
 :himneys. 
 had often 
 and were 
 the rivers 
 t foemen. 
 e ground 
 ere great 
 the south 
 md lead. 
 
 CH. I, 
 
 T/ic Britons. 
 
 and sold the metal to the Phccnicians, wno wcrr the 
 great merchants of that day and the fu'st civilise 1 fk 
 who knew of Britain. The Britons also used to traffic 
 w.t the:r kinsfolk in (;aul. They had horses whh he 
 only used for war, when they drove them n chariots 
 
 for hunt ng. The Br.tons were very clever at all kinds 
 of basket-work and knew how to make pottery for house 
 hold use, and large earthenware vesse s in which they 
 buned the,r dead. They did not know how to work iron or 
 copper but used Hint and bone and horn for their wrpons 
 
 They ^er..^^^:^::::^^^-^;;;^^ 
 
 blue eyes and hght hair. They left their'hair long and 
 the men wore large mouslachios, but shaved their be'a ds 
 The rnen wore shirts and hose and long cloak of pi fd 
 and the women k.rtles of the same stuff Rut when the 
 men went to war they used to throw off their cloakTand 
 rush mto baule half-naked, painted blue with the u ce o1 
 a herb called woad, just as is the habit of some i^age 
 
 Sa I; Th? v^^' "'^^ ^""^ ^""^-^^ -^^ spears and 
 darts. Their shields were of wood covered with hide and 
 strengthened with metal. ^ 
 
 3- They were brave in battle, but were never Ion? of 
 one mind, and so their bravery availed them little They 
 did not live together as a nation, under one The' 
 rule, as we see the peoples of Europe do now • ---f „". 
 
 chtf an7fono'"^'f "'' ''■''^^- ^''^'^^ ^^^^^ '^-d ^ts own 
 chief and followed its own customs. These tribes were 
 
 always at war with each other, and this was one grel! 
 cause of the misfortunes that fell upon them ^ 
 
 they Hket" Wh"^ "'"^"^ °' '^'''' ^"^^^ ^^^^^ "°^ ^o as 
 they hked When any great thing was to be done the 
 
 free men of the tribe were all called together to .ons^er it 
 
 Ba ' 
 
Early England. 
 
 >K. I. 
 
 and what they wished was done : but the chi^f, i.^ ,t 
 .0 war ana had much power o.eV th^m fn p toe' fmt 
 
 Brit „": ;r;:a';f s """^° *^ °"'" --"- ^n 
 
 steadfast JkTand theylo I Zl co"l " ";"'' ""' ™'^ 
 were dark-haired and da^k eved T^'r '?™"'' ''"'' 
 now South Wales, andtretltd JuuTes "' '" """ " 
 
 4- We do not know how or when nil thoe« ♦ u 
 .0 Britain -. U,ough .here are sotner;:: ir , " rTsh :™ 
 
 S.t...o ktw'whttt"""™^"'"'"^- «-'°- 
 BriiaiJ. f "7 "'>i«her the savages who first dwelt in 
 
 ;Usveryh^:;;ryS.^''ronTkt:r-;S 
 
 :^tr^o-r:^;trrri^rB^^^^^^^ 
 
 who drove the Irish forward to the west Lh .."''"?.'; 
 
 Religion. °°Vi prophets, priests, and teachers. Thev 
 had great power among the Britons h„f f],« 
 Insh do no. seem to have given thL so m h amhor tv 
 They taught men to worship the gods and thT if' 
 
 of meT' The" d":; °".' "I""' '""^ ^"^ fron, "e ab'odt 
 ot men The Dru.ds had no temples, but worshiotKH 
 
 the,r gods m dark oak groves or on high hills '^'"'' 
 
 scholars pii tw *k" V '"' '°°^^ ^^"g^t bands of 
 
 scholars all that they knew about the stars, the healing 
 
BK. I. 
 
 5 led them 
 :e-time. 
 Iwellers in 
 , but very 
 Tient, and 
 n what is 
 
 bes came 
 Irish and 
 or do we 
 dwelt in 
 ime ; but 
 tain that 
 he Irish, 
 IS came, 
 rth. Of 
 50 years 
 
 There 
 lo were 
 
 They 
 but the 
 thority. 
 fiat the 
 passed 
 mished 
 I in the 
 
 They 
 
 ds. If 
 
 at the 
 
 ibodes 
 
 dipped 
 
 ids of 
 ealing 
 
 B.C. 55. 
 
 The Britons. 
 
 5 
 
 ^Zl" T. v'/"^ ^'^ °'^ ^°"^^ ^"d Stories of the 
 
 spoU whicTlhT '"'• '''" ^''' ^"' ^ ^-^^ P-^ -f the 
 spoil which they won m war. The Druids were hel ' as 
 
 holy men, and no man dare hurt or rob one 
 
 In many places in England, there are, still standing 
 large stones set up in circles or rows, wio et thern nn 
 we do not know, but that they have been h re a very 
 
 drde which r^H '''r^ '^ ^ ^^°^^ ^^^^ °^ --ton^ 
 circle, which is perhaps the most famous of all Stone 
 
 henge, that it was set up by the Britons, about 460 ad 
 ButSto^h ''"' ^'"'^ "^°"^- trekcherouslysh^n' 
 
 ":^;^hKi;r^;f-^:--^^^ 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 THE ROMAN CONQUEST. 
 
 I. Now, the mightiest folk in the world about .h. 
 nme we begin to hear much about the Briton's lere th! 
 Romans, who had conquered all the nat^ns' 
 
 rnV"^""?""'^"- Th^i^ greatest man SS^'""' 
 M<y-five years before the birth of Christ was ■' «■ 
 
 StI-'aUheG7i"K°'t'''f"''s''''"8i"Ga"'.andhad 
 because the Belgian's^' sZrB^urhVdTe: ^ 
 
 bekrer" "fp^nrr 'u "^'"^' ^'" ^ brave standard- 
 
 Bntons. When the Roman soldiers .aw him in the midst 
 
Early Efiglavid 
 
 was alraui of ,„e bad ^^l^lntl^^T-, "' 
 
 into Brita n w th . ' ^ •■"«■■"'" """ =">""'" 
 
 cntam w.th a larger army than before. Due the 
 
 c^,s tnbes of the South-east had united unde a 
 
 c.„i„g brave pnnce, named Caswallawn (whom the 
 
 Romans overcame th m'at h , '!/'"'' ""? °' "■<= 
 
 Cassivelatmus^ strongho'irVer u,,nf ^"t 7,1"' !"""" 
 taken and burnt Th. n .,, <'"• Albans), was 
 
 forcedtomak pace But!heRoV'"''r ^"' "«''" 
 what a poor countrv IW '"'' ™''™ "''J' f""""! 
 
 rich pluX and m'uch hari fiSt™' '""' "-'"^ '^"^ "° 
 t" stay longer 0^,7,0^^ / ^"^' ^'" "'" "<^''"'d 
 
 <';uil. lieconW nnf .ff iJrtner with h-s plans n 
 
 to keep .^4 over hf^e ""^ "'""'"■' '^^ •>« "»''<• 
 not .is'h to be'trrfar'Lmyor"^;!: ;- «-'' »« -^iO 
 back again, and when C»sar wTs next in RomTTT"' 
 
 ^:::^::!^^s^ft-r-°--^- 
 
 for ^".-r^v'tea*^ '^t" .-ITT '^'' '° *--'- 
 with Gaul, v,hi, r: no7a L'^ '' "" "'" '"'^ 
 
 -IvusJ^elai--^;^-:^-^- 
 
B.C. 54. 
 
 "idard, and 
 Britons up 
 jh most of 
 lattles and 
 ind make 
 cess. He 
 for it was 
 aul. 
 
 not do as 
 t summer 
 Kut the 
 under a 
 'horn the 
 i resisted 
 Jr of the 
 il battles 
 ns), was 
 re again 
 iy found 
 ■ was no 
 inclined 
 jhtening 
 plans in 
 wanted 
 and did 
 ns went 
 le hung 
 oddess, 
 
 Tiselves 
 ir trade 
 id they 
 Roman 
 eyhad 
 
 5V. 
 
 A. P. 43 61. T/ie Roman Conquest. 
 
 Oncedurinu this time the Roman Emperor Caius, sur- 
 named Cali^rul.i, yatl^cred together a large army with which 
 to ronqiirr iiritain. He marched as far as the coast of 
 Gaul, faung Ilritain, but he never crossed the Channel, 
 and the only spoils he brought back to Rome were peb- 
 bles and shells from the seashore. 
 
 3. In the reign of Claudius, the fourth Roman Em- 
 peror, a Roman general was sent with an army jhc con- 
 of Romans and Gauls. He landed in the yi"es'of 
 south, and after much hard fighting Vectis a'd"^ 
 (the Isle of Wight) was taken, and the whole of South 
 Bniain submitted tc Claudius, who came ovei to receive 
 the new conquest. Camulodun (Colchester) was taken 
 and settled witi. Roman soldiers, and became a Roman 
 town. South Britain was taken under the Roman rule 
 and was made a province of the Roman empire, as Gaul 
 had been. These Roman provinces were governed by 
 officers sent out by the Emperor. 
 
 4- But in the north and midst of Britain, Caradawe 
 whom the Romans called Caractacus, still held out 
 against the Romans. After fighting bravely caractacus 
 he was at last overcome and driven to seek ^•«- 47 " 
 shelter with his mother-in-law, who betrayed him to the 
 Romans, to gain their favour, and he was taken cap- 
 tive to Rome, with his wife and children. When he saw 
 tht .plend.d buildings and all the glory of the great city 
 he said to the Emperor, ' How is it that you who dwell 
 in such grand palaces envy us poor Britons our thatched 
 CO s.? And the Emperor, who was pleased with his 
 boldness and bravery, treated hin. kindly at the prayer of 
 he Empress. Nevertheless, the Silures, though they had 
 lost their great leader, would not yield, and the Roman 
 general is said to h" " ' ' ■ " 
 able to subdue them 
 years 
 
 ave died of grief and rage at not being 
 n. 
 
 5. Some years after, whih Nero was Emperor, 
 
£arfy England. 
 
 Suetonius Paulli„u3 was appointed Go ''"■"' 
 
 Sfc (Anglesey), which „asl I ^°.™''' '° ^ona 
 
 =fnge sight and the dr^adt „„ ''' '"'S'''™^'' -' "■' 
 
 of the Druids. There weret-L.Tr r"" .*^ "''^'■'="ft 
 
 andmanywomenwithtorchesr^shin^ I.t along the shore 
 
 wWethe Druids cahed on heir L !, ""^ *'" ^'>™'<i'>g. 
 
 help their warriors and overth'^ 1' "'* '°"'' "'« S 
 
 however.theRomanslandedanSr'"-'" '°''' ^' ''='' 
 •he groves, and slew the Druids """"'""' "^"'down 
 
 fires which they had kindled o 'burn i'h^ """'" '""> *« 
 
 Th.s IS noteworthy, because the R„m ^"■ ''P">'« '"• 
 to destroy or change the faltW f ,1 •>"<«>■ ever tried 
 
 quered. They did fo in tht Drl'v k*"""™ "-^^ ""■ 
 that ,f the Druids were aLwed ,„ r^""^' *=>'==»' 
 "use the Britons against he ',h ^'? '^^" '^'^^ and 
 the country quietly *"" '^^y ""W "ever govern 
 
 the Romans, who were left nearlv d f 'f ' ""'' ^?^in« 
 was the widow of a king of SL ""''"• ^°^*cea 
 fnend of the Romans and h,^ '"'^"'' "ho had been a 
 sessions. Butwhe„h;d^',tS"'""^°'"-^his;:s 
 ance of his daughters, a„1 when I^'h'"''" ">" '''^^"^■ 
 "as seized and scourged and h^ 5 .'"^ P™'«'ed she 
 ■" the cruellest way. iuC r ^" '''"'«''"« »ere treated 
 wongatthe hand ofthe p/r"' **" ''^'^ ^"ff^'d any 
 soon had a great host unSer tr cVT " •■"- -»d ^he 
 
 ,ed™r;",r°''"^""' an^^thef^R^'r i"",''™ -« 
 ail avmg souis therein, bo'th'-R^^-r^'^ 
 
A.D. 6l. 
 
 in Britain, 
 -r to Mona 
 land of the 
 ad received 
 d fled from 
 lim stoutly, 
 troops, and 
 led at the 
 witchcraft 
 
 ■ the shore 
 shrieking, 
 id cries to 
 
 At last, 
 cut down 
 
 into the 
 Ptives in. 
 -ver tried 
 hey con- 
 they saw 
 aith and 
 
 ■ govern 
 
 >■ queen, 
 
 against 
 oadicea 
 
 been a 
 ^is pos- 
 nherit- 
 ed she 
 reated 
 edany 
 id she 
 n and 
 nents, 
 and 
 
 A.D. 61-85. The Roman Conquest. ^ 
 
 into his camp Then a™t """ "■""'"^ "'- driven 
 
 settlements. '^All who col Z'" ^tt 1" '" ** «°"'-" 
 and many even crossed ,0 r^ ,"■* ^^°'^ ** Tritons, 
 all that was haoDeninl t '''" *' ''"Ph "ews of 
 
 came up with hTr and sef his T" '" *«'" '''""''«^' ^"^ 
 And Boadicea went through 1 "' '" "''"■ ^S^inst her. 
 battle array inTwl. .1 ? ''" *™>'- "^'n i' was in 
 
 »ore a he£ on hTr wT I'* '^ ''^"«'"^"- Se- 
 ller neck, and bore „,.* "■ *"""• ^"'^ " e"" "liar on 
 
 prayed hi people" feh7brr '"."" '■^"^' ='"" =>•« 
 and .heir own.^^ B„Xn ^^ K^'r^^'^ *•" "™"«^ 
 Romans, after a hard firhtwonth.. T J"'""" '"' 
 the Britons would no.Tee " „d ^^ r' ''''■■ ^ '™S '™e 
 nearly aU on the field • but B„,^- T"' '''" ">«"> 
 
 capture worse than death w ,ri!°°'' '""=''"■ ^'^^% 
 ceased, and the proving ^h„,^, *J ''"■''" ">' '«»'' 
 peace. Now wh'en Ne™' hearf oftf:"' "^^"''' ™' «' 
 the causes of it he recalled S ^'■^^' '«™" ^nd 
 
 governor in his room '"'' ''"' °'" ^"o*" 
 
 very\oXv:r t" ;s:[r °i •'t "= -■" ^ 
 
 served under Suetonius fiftj' -^ "' Agricola, who had 
 He was the fathe ..n. "aw of T? ^"'1 '^''"'- *-^°'» 
 historian, who wr^ ^ 'ht hfe Zm' w P^" --"■ 
 'earn a great deal about M.lnat^tlf "' * "■ '"^ 
 'von all South Britain for .l,rR„ .'^ """'• ^gricola 
 
 that the Caledonians fas S! r*"u ^nd when he found 
 called) were alwarhaS-it r ? '^^ "' *' ''°"^ "'« 
 had submitted T the^l ' 'T"^' "'""'=« J*"'""'' "ho 
 ■gains, them acrlste Ha "', '' '""' ' ''"' "' '""^ 
 ^.i>cie, and Sarnishedi ^i^'rildl™;",^,^ f'''"'' '"^ 
 '- government he marchedrrrhU-f^uUT^SItri 
 
10 
 
 Early England. 
 
 A.D. 121. 
 
 his good govej™ r h/ sTo" : r?' "•" ^"^ 
 
 take up Roman vvav.nn^ . ^^' ^^'^ "^niom to 
 
 and wisdom. By showini^hj n , ? "^ language 
 as evil wa. to be Cfrn^,^ J "' *"' ^ood as well 
 
 to conquer tlie Calednni, t^ ^"' ''°' "«" '^7 
 
 wild and poor l^tZTl I '*'"'' ™"""->' ™' very 
 Romansu^ec^ in pel A ,""''■'= "'^■" '^"<= '"e 
 Brimin to sirvey heToasis a„T' * 'f '"= "'" """'d 
 the far north was like p^omlhTr " ""= """'^^ '» 
 firs, account, of the geogra^h^ Xrirn""^ '"' 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 THE ROMAN RULE IN BRITAIN. 
 
 HadH.„„s borders inTs,te"'f ;■?""■'- ""'' ?" ="' ">« 
 
 nr„l^Ss. .0 Ii:uain h bull a t^lTf '""T "-^ ""<= 
 « .>..«-.4a solwav Fir,r J y '^""" 'h« Tyne .o 
 
 the province But some' ,"""'' " *= ''"""d^X of 
 Emperor, the go r o"ofSV f '7'"=" Antoninus was 
 cola's li„; of Lts were and rnr,^ ?."",' """^ ^«"- 
 the walls. Pieces of ll,A»7 ^ '^f'='^ *' 'and , between 
 
 2. Nevertheless ,Lrr 7°, ™"= '■'=™^™ '^ ">is day. 
 were now cal e " e t.S^tf "■\"=' "' ^j"'' ^ *«y 
 
 S..™. until 'the^Romrior^fs Zot ZT""-'' 
 ''•''■ ''°- them off ^h- ^, ^^"°^s took to buym? 
 
 oftener. At laTt th. v """'{ "'"^^ '^^"^ come" the 
 At last the Emperor himself had to be sent 
 
A.D. 121. 
 
 their king, 
 
 after this 
 
 he ruled in 
 
 eral but for 
 
 Britons to 
 
 ■ eat trouble 
 n language 
 )od as well 
 le brought 
 ot even try 
 ' was very 
 
 leave the 
 leet round 
 country to 
 
 ■ have the 
 
 >f Rome 
 ; all the 
 he came 
 
 Tyne to 
 idary of 
 in us was 
 ire Agri- 
 between 
 is day. 
 as they 
 ithward, 
 
 buying 
 me the 
 ^e sent 
 
 A.D, 303. The Roman Rule in Britain. \\ 
 
 for. His name was Severus ; he was an old man, but 
 very wise and brave. He was too ill to ride, and was 
 borne in a litter at the head of his army. He marched 
 right through North Britain to the Pentland Firth; and 
 though he lost a greaj part of his army through the bad 
 weather and rough ground and the continual fighting vet 
 he made the Caledonians beg for peace and took away a 
 great part of their land. When he had had the earthen 
 wall of Hadnanus strengthened with a wall of stone 
 he vv^s carried back to Eboracum (York), the capital of 
 Britain, and there he died. 
 
 3. About seventy years after this new foes began to 
 trouble the Romans. These were the Scots, a tribe from 
 the north of Ireland, which they called Scotia. The Scots 
 These Scots now ravaged the west and north ^.d. 286; the 
 of Britain. English. 
 
 A.D. 290. 
 
 The east also of Britain was laid waste by the attacks 
 of the English, whom the Britons called Saxons. This 
 IS the first time we hear of Englishmen coming to Britain, 
 though many Germans had been in Britain as soldiers in 
 the Roman armies. 
 
 4- The next great man we hear of in Britain was Con- 
 stantine, who afterwards became Emperor. His mother 
 was a British princess. He was the first Em- 
 peror who made the Christian faith the faith Sd ChJlr 
 of the Roman Empire. He became a Christian '•^''"y- 
 himself, and after him all the Emperors save one were 
 Christians. We hear of British Christians before. When 
 there was a persecution in a.d. 303 it is said that many 
 were put to death in Britain for the faith, for the Emperor 
 believed the Christians to be traitors, and persecuted 
 them. Alban, who was slain at Verulam, is said to 
 have been the first martyr who died in Britain. In 
 after days the great monastery of S. Albans arose at 
 Verulam, where he was slain. Now, this bringing in of 
 
THE TRIBES OF BRITAIN. 
 
 The Romans caUed all the tribes that dwelt in Britain BrUoiis • 
 but they were not all of one race. ' 
 
 The SiLURES were not akin to the other folks, but rather per- 
 haps to the Bcu^ks who dwell in Spain and the South of 
 France to this day. 
 
 The other tribes were all Keltic. Of these the Gaelic tribes 
 were akin to the Irish and Highlanders of our times. These 
 were the 
 
 Caledonians (afterwanis called Picts) 
 
 Brigantes 
 
 Ordffvites. 
 
 j 
 
 The Welsh or Kymric tribes are the same folk as the Welsh 
 people of to-day. These were the 
 Coritanians 
 Trinobantes 
 Icenians 
 Cantians 
 Damnontam 
 Belgians 
 
 marks the Roman roads, 
 the divisions of the tribas 
 
tain Britotu ; 
 
 it rather per- 
 the South of 
 
 Gaelic tribes 
 mes. These 
 
 s the Welsh 
 
'4 
 
 Early England. 
 
 A, I). 409, 
 
 Christianity is one of the most important things that the 
 Roman rule did for Britain. Christianity also gave the 
 Roman Empire new strength for a while. Through the 
 conversion of the German tribes, a very different fate 
 befell the Roman Empire and the people under it than 
 would have overtaken them had the Germans been still 
 heathen. 
 
 5. After the days of Constantino, in spite of all that 
 the Romans could do, things got worse. At last the Picts 
 The^kaving and Scots ravaged the whole of Britain as 
 Romans. ^^'* ^^ London. They were driven out by 
 A.D. 409. Theodosius, who got back the country be- 
 tween the walls and called it Valentia, in honour of 
 Valentmian, who was then Emperor. And so he gave 
 the land peace for a while. 
 
 Soon after this the heart of the Roman Empire was 
 invaded by the German tribes, who at length overthrew 
 It altogether in the West of Europe. And the Emperors 
 could not do much to keep the far-off provinces safe, for 
 they wanted all their troops nearer home. As legion after 
 legion went away the Britons were at last left to them- 
 selves. Once or twice a legion was sent back for a while 
 to help them against their heathen foes, but at length no 
 more help could be got. Though the Britons, especially 
 those who hved in the towns and had learned Roman 
 ways, had been weakened by not having had to fiaht 
 for themselves, yet they levied soldiers after the Roimn 
 fashion, and defended themselves very stubbornly for 
 some time. Especially they tried to keep the walls. But 
 what had been their bane before was so again, for the 
 chief men, now again kings, quarrelled among themselves 
 Many did evil deeds, and some even called in the Picts 
 and Scots against their brethren. At last, it is said 
 Gwerthigern (or Vortigern), who was the greatest king in 
 Britain, resolved to copy the plan the Romans had used 
 
A. I). 409. 
 
 lings that the 
 ilso gave the 
 Through the 
 lifferent fate 
 mder it than 
 ms been still 
 
 2 of all that 
 
 1st the Picts 
 
 Britain as 
 
 ven out by 
 
 country be- 
 
 honour of 
 
 so he gave 
 
 Empire was 
 '' overthrew 
 2 Emperors 
 :cs safe, for 
 legion after 
 ft to them- 
 for a while 
 : length no 
 especially 
 sd Roman 
 d to fight 
 le Roman 
 bornly for 
 walls. But 
 in, for the 
 lemselves. 
 I the Picts 
 t is said, 
 St king in 
 had used. 
 
 A.D. 
 
 409. T/ie Roman Ride in Britiwi. 
 
 IS 
 
 They had kept off the Germans a long time by playin^. 
 off one lot of barbarians against another. So he'caTlecl 
 two Enghsh ch.efs, brothers-Hengist and Horsa by 
 name-to help hmi against the Picts and Scots 
 
 6. The Romans had been four hundred years in 
 Bntam when they left, and had made great changes in 
 the land They were great builders and engineers 
 Besides the camps and walls they had built many walled 
 owns wuh houses of brick and stone, and large temple 
 and churches, and theatres and public baths, what 
 The villas or country-houses of the great men <=hanges the 
 too were often splendidly decorated. It was l^o^^. 
 through their walls that the towns came off better in the 
 conquest by the English than the rest of the country 
 
 The Romans made good roads across the countrv 
 running straight from town to town, and it was on these 
 roads that all the traffic of Engl'and was 'Irr^d o" 
 
 canals?nd?h "'"''^' ^" *'^ "^^^' '^' '^^ - ""' ^f 
 canals and the invention of railways. Moreover if thl 
 map of England of to-day is compared with the ^1 of 
 Rom^n Britain we see that the raLays ofllitl^the 
 ne of the Roman roads. The Romans also taught the 
 Bruons many other arts. They also worked mines of i on 
 and lead and tin, and made fine pottery. So much c"rn 
 vvas grown in Britain that it was called the ' G^anarv of 
 the North ' Much trade also was carried on at Son 
 
 speech and customs except in the towns, ahhough hey 
 learned much from the Romans and I,»d Une- w->n^ 
 and tools than before. This is why the' We Uh "s.m ' p'e'k 
 the,r own tongue, and not a Romance tongue thaUs 
 a tongue learnt from the Romans, as the f1 h and 
 
10 
 
 Early England. 
 
 BK. II 
 
 ^^Ztt, \Zt' P-P'eof Gaul and Spain learned 
 
 BOOK II. 
 BOW THE ENGLISH WON BRITAIN. 
 
 ) A.D. 449-600. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 , living each in his own homestead, tiUine the 
 -»^ Stro"l?;"^^n'^- They did' n* 
 
 together intwe' k r ';f'";L:r "'-^ r"?,'j" ■i-" 
 
 viUages after .he name of [r^ thafd:: t*:! 
 Ashmgham .he home of the Ashings, or fam^ y "sh 
 
 ,...=.f f".."" "«'.""»^g''J i»^ own affairs, bu. onrfor 
 tTTi^e a-ycar au tne yeomen wpnt nr. f« .> . - ui 
 
 called the/<.«.«„., „r meeting of ,he tribe. A ^oup of 
 
BK. II. 
 
 CH. I. 
 
 The English. 
 
 'o^''^t:^:T^ZT r'"" V-'^-". because'! 
 Every /}« JJhad ! 1 ^ * '"'"'''■''' households. 
 y "lud had a hundred-moot which raet three or 
 
 four times a year and settled matters that were of « ,11 
 ««u„t and only concerned those who hvedtthlt i«f 
 <lr^d.^ The men of .he tribe were either genrte or sL;^ 
 
i8 
 
 Early England. 
 
 BK. n. 
 
 eorls or ceorls, that is, either of noble birth or just simDlv 
 free men But though the gentlemen were looked up to 
 they had no power over other free men. There were 
 slaves, too, whom they called thralls, who used to work 
 
 . when they were not foreigners, or men who had lost their 
 freedom through debt or wrong-doing, but captives from 
 some tribe akm to them. 
 
 There were no kings among the English ; but when 
 they went to war they chose leaders whom they swore to 
 Obey Some of their gentlefolk, whom they called elders 
 or aldermen, acted as magistrates, and sat in the chief 
 places m their meetings and presided over their affairs 
 ihe great men, too, kept many followers about them 
 Who used to guard them and fight for them, to whon hey 
 gave rings of gold and silver, and sometimes farms and 
 cattle. Many gentlemen even used to take service with 
 the chiefs to win riches and honour. 
 
 3- The English were a very warlike race, and were 
 often fighting against the neighbouring tribes in Ger- 
 Their many and Denmark. They were good seamen 
 
 manners. too. In the spring, before the summer field- 
 work came on, and in the autumn, after the harvest 
 was carried, they used to sail out and plunder all round 
 the coasts of the North Sea. It is said that it was while 
 Hengist and Horsa were on one of these voyages that 
 they were asked to help Vortigern against his foes. 
 
 When the whole people went to war one free man at 
 least from every household had to go to the meeting-place 
 and fight under the great men who were chosen as war- 
 leaders, and led them to battle, beside their guards. 
 
 And when the tribe conquered any land or spoil it was 
 dealt out by lot, a share to every free man, after the share 
 oi the gods had been taken. But the chiefs had bigger 
 shares than other men, because they had to reward 
 
BK. n. 
 
 just simply 
 ooked up to 
 There were 
 scd to work 
 , especially 
 id lost their 
 ptives from 
 
 ; but when 
 ey swore to 
 ailed elders 
 n the chief 
 lieir affairs, 
 bout them, 
 whom hey 
 farms and 
 ervice with 
 
 and were 
 ;s in Ger- 
 od seamen 
 mier field- 
 lie harvest 
 
 all round 
 was while 
 ^'ages that 
 3es, 
 
 :e man at 
 ting-place 
 n as war- 
 rds. 
 
 poil it was 
 
 the share 
 
 ad bigger 
 
 o reward 
 
 CH. r. 
 
 TAe English, 
 
 their followers, who did not take a lot like the re.f h«t 
 looked to the chief for their share. ' "* 
 
 The ICnglish were very just folks and loved the law 
 
 eve'rvonf H ""^' "''^"^ ^''^^"^^^ ^' ^^^'^ -eedngs' where 
 everyone who was wronged could bring his comnhint 
 
 wh,ch was judged by the people there, aL the evilu "s 
 were punished. But if a man liked he could alwrvs f. Z 
 agamst him who had wronged him, or agist h^kin 4d 
 so seek redress for himself by main force F liM 
 fined anr? \( fi,» ij ^ ^- -f^vildoers were 
 
 protection InH ^ "°u ^'^ ^"''^ P"^ °"^ ^^ ^^e law's 
 
 protec ,on, and any man who would might slay them with 
 
 man's"! 'a""'^';'" ^\"^ ^'^^ ^ ^^^^ fixe'd 'reTry 
 man s 1 fe accordmg to his rank, which, if a man were 
 
 slam unlawfully was paid to his kinsfolk by hTs slayer 
 
 tho'sr:ho'f '/ ;'•' --^^•/^,or pnce of a' man. Bm 
 those who had slam men secretly and done the wors 
 deeds were hanged or drowned. 
 
 resntc^'to"""'' °^ '^t '"'" '^' ^"^"^^^ ^^°^ed great 
 respect to women and the housewife had the ordering 
 of the house and the women-servants. The husband 
 might not interfere in those matters, but he ruled n all 
 greater things. The English, too, were kind to the" 
 children and treated them as men and women when they 
 
 and Bntons kept theirs, in strict obedience all their lives 
 4. The free men were well armed with swords and 
 
 Thru r^'u^"^ ^'°"'^"^ '^-^^^' of linden-wood. 
 The chiefs often had mail-shirts and helmets 
 
 of bronze or iron, with the image of a wild ^l^eTs.""' 
 boar on the top as a crest, and some had helmets of the 
 skins of the heads of wild beasts, bears, and wolves. 
 They were well clad in linen or woollen raiment, and the 
 rich folk worp rpH nnd hi.— -_-v— M j - 
 
 ,^».,* ij -— --- ••^-' »'"<. cmbiuidured tunics, and 
 great gold and silver rings on their arms. They were 
 shod in leather, and wore leathern belts round their waists 
 
 c a 
 
20 
 
 Early England. 
 
 IIK. II. 
 
 With a sheath-knife in the n, as the Norwegians do now 
 
 When the free man went from home he used always to 
 bear h,s sword and shield, and when he rode on hors ! 
 ba k he would carry a spear also. The men used to 
 tattoo the.r arms and breasts with curious patterns as 
 our sailors often do still. P'^uerns, as 
 
 all kinder ^?^ ^'"'^hsand carpenters, and good at 
 all kinds of work ,n metal and wood. The women were 
 
 l^n^'^hrEn'r^ht °f "-^^-^>-cl woveTauT^! 
 
 naa great halls. They were also good ship-builders and 
 
 taTdrr^""'"' ^'^^^^"^^ '^-'^' --"wuh' 
 stand the fierce storms of the North Sea. They had 
 
 p enty of horses, and dogs, and cattle, and sheep T^ey 
 
 th:y^,s:^ox::: ^^' ^-^ ^°^ ^^^^^'""^' ^- ^- ^'— rk 
 
 Though the English worked very hard they were a 
 very merry folk, fond of singing and feasting. They were 
 also fond of sports, such as hunting and\orse-rac"ng 
 K K^r *°^.^ P^'"'"''^ '" ^^'"^""g ^nd horse-fight nf 
 stnitlthL'"' "°^ '"^^ ^^^ -•^^^^ -^^ °^' ^- ^4 wel' 
 5. The English had no Druids, like the Britons but 
 every man was priest in his own household, and the chief 
 Religion. Z^l P"est for the tribe. In some places thev 
 had women priests and soothsayers Their 
 mples were m the great woods or on lonely islands or 
 at the meetmg-places of the people. Thi^er Ly used to 
 bnng a great part of their spoil, and burn or burv k n 
 
 n sacrifice to the gods to gain victory or power or lon^ 
 I.fe, but this did not happen often. SometimTr^en ^^ 
 even slay themselves. fh;,f ti.^„ ^.-^V --^ ".'"«" would 
 by the sword, like men slain in battle. ' 
 
UK. u. 
 
 gians do now. 
 i at their waist, 
 jsed always to 
 ode on horse- 
 men used to 
 s patterns, as 
 
 , and good at 
 women were 
 'ove beautiful 
 nd the chiefs 
 builders, and 
 would with- 
 • They had 
 heep. They 
 )r farm-work 
 
 they were a 
 They were 
 lorse-racing. 
 Tse-fighting, 
 3r they were 
 
 Britons, but 
 nd the chief 
 places they 
 'ers. Their 
 ' islands, or 
 hey used to 
 r bury it in 
 offered men 
 iVer or long 
 men would 
 in bed, but 
 
 CH. I. 
 
 T/ie English. 
 
 21 
 
 Their gods were Thunder and Hertha, and Tew and 
 Woden and Frey, and the white sun-god Balder. Some of 
 these gods' names we still keep in the days of the week,— 
 as Tuesday and Wednesday, the days of Tew and Woden. 
 In their temples the holy ring was kept, on which men 
 swore oaths to tell the truth at trials, or vowed before they 
 went to battle to fight bravely. These temples were hal- 
 lowed, and no man dared fight or quarrel in them. The 
 English faith was that if a man did his duty bravely to 
 himself and his family and his tribe, and fought his foes 
 and bore trouble and danger stedfastly without flinching, 
 his soul would dwell above the rainbow-bridge in the gods* 
 bright halls, and pass the time there in fighting, hunting, 
 and feasting by their side. But if a man was cruel or base 
 or cowardly they thought he would dwell with the dark 
 goddess Hell, in cold caverns full of serpents, in the midst 
 of ice and snow. 
 
 When a great man died his tribesmen used to raise a 
 pile of firewood on some high place and set his body 
 on it, with his sword in his hand and his helmet on his 
 head and his shield by his side, and his horse under him. 
 Then they slew the horse and burnt its body with its 
 master's. The ashes they put in an urn of earthenware, 
 which they covered round with huge stones. Then they 
 heaped a high mound of earth over it as a mark for ever. 
 Sometimes a man's wife and slaves were slain and buried 
 with him. But some of the English buried their dead with- 
 out burning them. It is from the graves in England and 
 abroad that we have found out a great deal about our 
 forefathers. 
 
 The English knew how to write ; but they had no 
 books, and only used writing to mark their weapons and 
 houses and boats and rings and cups with. They wrote 
 also on the great stones which they raised on the grave 
 mounds the name ai^d c^eath of the body that lay below. 
 
22 
 
 Early England. 
 
 BK. II. 
 
 6. There were three tribes of Englishmen who came to 
 Britam. They all called themselves and their tongue 
 English, but the Welsh and Irish called them all Saxons 
 The first tribe, which dwelt in the north of Denmark and 
 over the south of Sweden were also called Jutes, or Goths 
 The next, who dwelt in the south of Denmark and in what is 
 Tribes of "ow Called Slesvik Holsten, called themselves 
 English. Angles, or English. The southernmost tribe 
 who dwelt in Friesland and Hanovci, were called Saxons! 
 It was because the Welsh met with them first that they 
 called all Englishmen Saxons. Very often peoples have 
 been called by another name than that by which they call 
 themselves ; thus the Romans called the Welsh Britons 
 but the Britons called themselves by the names of their 
 tribes, or when they wished to speak of all their race they 
 called themselves Cymry. But the English called them 
 'Welsh,' or Strangers, as the Gennans now call the Italians 
 * Welsh.' But it is to be kept in mind that they never 
 called themselves by that name. 
 
 5ju 
 Ke 
 
 win Kent 
 
 A.D. 451 
 
 CHAPTER II * 
 
 THE ENGLISH CONQUEST. 
 
 I. The English under their two leaders, Hengist and 
 Horsa (Horse and Mare), agreed to help Vortigern, and 
 The Jutes '^^y fought for the Welsh, against the Picts, 
 and won several battles. But, just as had hap- 
 pened before in other parts of the Roman Em- 
 pire, the plan of using one foe against another failed. The 
 English quarrelled with the Welsh, and sent over sea 
 for more of their kinsfolk, telling them what a good land 
 Britain was, and how badly it was guarded. So, many 
 more came over, with their wives and rhilHrpn and ^-o^tu 
 They settled first in Thanet island, whence they came 
 Qver into Kei^t to conquer it, that they might dwell there. 
 
BK. II. 
 
 ivho came to 
 heir tongue 
 
 all Saxons, 
 enmark and 
 s, or Goths, 
 id in what is 
 
 themselves 
 most tribe, 
 led Saxons. 
 It that they 
 ioples have 
 :h they call 
 ih Britons, 
 les of their 
 r race they 
 ailed them 
 he Italians 
 hey never 
 
 :ngist and 
 igern, and 
 the Picts, 
 
 had hap- 
 man Em- 
 iled. The 
 
 over sea 
 jood land 
 So, many 
 
 ley came 
 rell there. 
 
 A.D. 45 « -5 77. The English Conquest. 23 
 
 The Welsh fought against them ; but the English won. In 
 one of their fights Horsa was slain, and his folk raised a 
 great mound of earth over his burying-place which may 
 still be seen. At last the Welsh fled out of the land of 
 Kent, and the English made two kingdoms there, and set 
 up Hengist and his kin as kings to rule over them. 
 
 2. Not long after this a band of Saxons under a leader 
 named Ella landed in the South of Britain, near Regnum 
 (Chichester) ; and they fought against the Welsh ^^ g^^^ 
 and set up a little kingdom. But the great ofSusMx."' 
 Roman town Anderida (Pevensey), at the end *^'^' ■*''• 
 of the South Downs, long held out against them; but they 
 took it at last and slew every soul within it and made it a 
 waste (A.D. 491). This kingdom of Ella was afterwards 
 called the kingdom of the South Saxons or Sussex. 
 
 3. Another band of Saxons landed at Portsmouth 
 and fought against the Welsh, and took the city of Win- 
 chester, and made the kingdom of the West ^^ g^ 
 Saxons, or Wessex, in the land that is now of Wessex"* 
 called Hampshire. And they set their leader '*°" '*'^' 
 Cerdic as king over them, of whose blood nearly all the 
 kings that ruled over all England have come. 
 
 So the South of Britain was conquered, and from 
 Wessex there afterwards went out bands of settlers to the 
 west and north, and drove out the Welsh and founded 
 Dorset and Wiltset. Their leaders obeyed the king of 
 Wessex. But these settlers did not win their way easily, 
 and it was not till 577 that the West Saxons got to the 
 Bristol Channel. In that year their king Ceawlin won 
 a battle at Dyrham and got Bath city. He founded 
 Somerset, and cut off the Welsh of Cornwall from their 
 kinsfolk the Welsh of Wales. About the same time the 
 West Saxons conquered the valley of the Severn, and sat 
 down in the lands which are now called Herefordshire an4 
 Worcestershire, 
 
34 
 
 Early England, 
 
 A.D. 547. 
 
 4. In 547 the Angles, who had for some time been 
 
 Sn'° T^ 'I ^"^^^"' '^^^^ '- build up three 
 
 tne land of the Braes/ stretched from the north of whi 
 we call Yorkshire to the Firth of Forth, and from the coa^l 
 
 umberiand ^^^^^^ ^f Cumberland. The second, Deira, ' the 
 EnS: f °"^^ ^nd,' spread from the south of Bemicia 
 
 Hills Th. J .f''. ^""^ '^" ^""'^ '^ '^^ Pennine 
 
 H lis. These were called North English or Northum- 
 
 crdSTv '''^ ?^^' ^"^^ ^-^^°-' -h-J; X 
 
 ft h.H^ ^"^^'^'^' ^^'' England, lay further south. 
 
 5- Two other Saxon bands came up the Thames in 
 
 "-the East Saxons (Essex) and the Midrtk 
 Saxons (Middlesex), of which. he two chW town^we e 
 the old Roman Cities of Colchester and London. 
 
 6. Still fresh bands of English came to Britain • and 
 »hen they found all the land to the east and south laken 
 "m-IS-^' fc^' "".r".*' ^^='=™ kingdom into 
 
 it aU Tom ft. w '/ ^f'"- '-'"'' ">' "'"^ '"«)' -on 
 t all from the Welsh as far as the Severn valley and 
 
 lolk called It the March, or border land, because thev 
 dwelt next the Welsh. And when they gew strong hev 
 
 ^t tITw 7'° ""'" '" "■' Severn Valleyi„o'*elr 
 rule. Their chief city was Leicester. 
 
 The English also made settlements in Gaul as well as 
 
 mBn,am.and many villages round Bayeux »d Calais 
 
 tnese t.nglish we do not know much. 
 
 Now, these conquests took a very long time-over ico 
 year. For the Welsh, divided among themselves Tt^^; 
 
A.D. 547. 
 
 time been 
 up three 
 Bernicia, 
 th of what 
 1 the coast 
 le and the 
 )eira, ' the 
 " Bernicia 
 ! Pennine 
 Northum- 
 hich they 
 er south, 
 uth folks' 
 
 dames in 
 
 jdoms of 
 
 Middle 
 
 r^'ns were 
 
 lin ; and 
 th taken 
 lorn into 
 hey won 
 ley, and 
 he other 
 ise they 
 •ng they 
 ito their 
 
 well as 
 
 Calais 
 
 story of 
 
 ver 150 
 as they 
 
 A.D. 547-600. The English Conquest. 2$ 
 
 were, yet resisted the English very stubbornly, and still 
 held a great part of Britain. 
 
 7. The Welsh had three kingdoms in the west of the 
 island: i. Cumberland, or the Clyde Valley The Welsh 
 kingdom, from the Clyde to the Mersey. 2. •''"s^o'" 
 Wales, or Cambria. 3. West Wales, that is Scots. 
 Devon and Cornwall. 
 
 But their chief power lay in the Clyde Valley, in the 
 North, between the Walls. There the great king 
 Arthur is said to have gathered a band of brave warriors 
 and to have fought many battles against the English. 
 But after his death (520) the English could not be 
 checked any longer, and the Welsh had hard work to 
 hold their own in the west. They lost, too, all the land 
 they still held in the east, round Elmet and Leeds, which 
 was added to Mercia and Northumberland. 
 
 The English never went beyond the North Wall, but 
 about 550 there came Scots from the North of Ireland 
 into Caledonia and took all the West lands and settled 
 in them. For many years there was war between the 
 Scots and Picts. At last the Picts were forced to take a 
 Scottish king, and Caledonia was called Scotland. 
 
 8. The towns which the Romans had walled and forti- 
 fied held out longer than the country. Though many of 
 them were taken and destroyed, yet some 
 remained and became the chief towns of the of th™*™" 
 English kingdoms. But it was long before '=°"'i""'- 
 many English folk dwelt in towns, for they still liked 
 farm life best and loved to dwell in the country. 
 
 When the English came over to Britain they brought 
 with them their wives and children and all their goods 
 and cattle. When they won the land they parcelled it out 
 into farms such as they had in their own country. 
 
 Now, as the English were always fighting in their new 
 land, they wanted war-leaders to be always ready to lead 
 
26 
 
 Early England. 
 
 The three Keltic peoples :— 
 Picts. 
 
 Scots (from Ireland). 
 IVdsh: 
 
 W. I. Kingdom of Cumberland, or Clyde Vallev 
 W. 2. Kingdom of Wales. ^' 
 
 W. 3. West Wales (Devon and ComwaU). 
 
 The English Kingdoms :— 
 The ^tes: 
 
 J. I. Kingdom of A'ent. 
 J. 2. Kingdom of Isle of Wight. 
 The Saxons: 
 
 S. I. West Saxon Kingdom, or /Tm.^. 
 ^. 2. ^«j/ ^a^^« Kingdom, or Essex. 
 X ^' ZlJ'^"'" ^'"gdom, or Sussex. 
 i>^ 4. Middle Saxon Kingdom, ox Middlesex. 
 The i5'«^/w,4 or y^«^/<» .. 
 
 Ei. ^,^«^i, the Kingdom of 'the Braes.' 
 iJ-. 2. Detra, the Kingdom of the ' South ' 
 
 (These two made up Northumberland ) 
 Ihe Kmgdom of Lincoln 
 The Middle English Kingdom, Aferc^a or the 
 ^^rchland, tliat is land of 'the Border.' 
 The ^«M/^«^/^^ Kingdom. 
 
 E.3. 
 E.4. 
 
NCLAND. 
 
 AFTBR THE 
 
 iQOSaCONQVEST.j 
 
r 
 
 as Early England. ..n. 528-600. 
 
 them. So they made their aldermen into kings and gave 
 them more power than they had had before; but the 
 
 'n;tn\fa:a!r '' ''-' ^^^ ^'^ ^ ^^ htd 
 th. F"^^l"'^ ""^^'^^ ^^^'^"^ ^^^^ «« fierce was that 
 Welsh, and burnt their churches and slew their priests 
 wherever they could. So the Welsh and English neve 
 were at peace ; but nearly all the Welsh in thf east wire 
 am or dnven into the west, save a few that were made 
 
 BOOK III. 
 
 CHRISTIANITY IN KENT AND 
 NORTHUMBERLAND. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 CONVERSION OF KENT. 
 
 -the comt7nrA"^ a great thing happened in England 
 the coming of Christian priests from Rome into Ke„, 
 
 .bSr- '"PJ^r^'^h' Gospel to the English. For the 
 
 Jinglish would never learn the ChriQUnn r,;.i, 
 
 from .he Welsh, Aough the Welsh had Cgr * 
 
 missionaries to other folks. S. Patrick, a man from The 
 
 tak'n'thelifr ^° v'"'""' ="" ""= J™" ^-^ ^adly 
 ,w V? l*- ^- '^'"'='" l-ad preached to the Picts in 
 
 Cospe. w^ich the^LpUtrwlt t'hroT^Tfhl^ 
 that the Picts were at last turned to the faith. 
 
 Th^e^a's fCof'rt\?::f!- j-.r^f .r 
 
 and he took ,o wife Bertha, the da-ugi:;:;of IheU^^ifS 
 
A.D. 597. 
 
 Kent. 
 
 29 
 
 EninH k'J" ?"'• ^^" '^••^"S^^ >» her train to 
 
 she^ ho m\ '^?' ^'' ""^^ ^"^^"'^^ h^d promised that 
 she should keep her own way of belief. She „ 
 
 built up a little church that had been ruined, g^.?^^ 
 
 and used to worship there ; but none of the ^"«'*"'^- 
 
 English vyould leave their old faith. Then came a company 
 
 of Christian monks from Rome, and at their head one 
 
 called Augustine. They were sent by Pope Gregory I 
 
 and there is a story told of the way by which he came to 
 
 take such care for the souls of the heathen English. 
 
 Before he was Pope, about 574, he saw one day for sale 
 
 m the market of Rome some beautiful children with fair 
 
 skins and yellow hair; for the Romans kept slaves, and 
 
 hough the English had very few slaves themselves, yet 
 
 they sometimes sold people abroad into slavery. When 
 
 Gregory saw the children he was astonished at their 
 
 beauty, and asked the dealer who they were. He said 
 
 they were heathen Angles, or English, from Britain, and 
 
 Gregory answered 'They should be angels, they a;, so 
 
 said Ella;' and Gregory said, 'Alleluia should be the 
 song of those Angles, as it is of the angels in heaven.' 
 fnll .h' ^^^"^^/.^•■y so"-owful for pity that such fair 
 folk should dwell m the darkness of sin, and he went 
 to the Pope and prayed him to let him go to England and 
 preach to the English. The Pope gave him leave, but 
 the people of Rome would not let him go, for he was much 
 
 ^iZ V r ?^'" 5' ^""^"'^ ^°P"''" 590, he was mindful 
 of the English heathen, and he sent his friend Augustine 
 to H-ngland, because he could not now go himself 
 
 3. Augustine came to king Ethelbert and begged him 
 to hearken to his Gospel. The queen was glad of his 
 coming, and the kinff and TiJq nenr.i- h^.>i. 
 ened to the words of^the monks'^ and^ in\ime ^"^"S': .■ 
 were baptized. Augustme crossed to Gaul to be made a 
 
30 
 
 Early England. 
 
 A.D. 597. 
 
 bishop, that he might govern the Church in Kent. He 
 built up again an old church in Canterbury, the chief 
 town of Kent, and called it Christ Church, and made it 
 his cathedral ; and he built an abbey also, and set monks 
 therein. He laboured very hard to spread the Gospel 
 all over England, and Ethelbert helped him much ; for he 
 was a mighty king, and the other kings of the English 
 looked up to him and were glad to win his favour. 
 
 4. Once Augustine went to the West to meet the 
 Welsh bishops, to try and get them to help him. 
 Augustine They met under a great oak, at a place now 
 Wdsh" called Aust, after the name of Augustine ; but 
 
 priests. the Welsh and Roman priests could not agree 
 
 in every point ; for though they both held the same faith 
 yet in small matters they differed. So this meeting came 
 to not^ ng, and Augustine was very angry with the Welsh 
 because they would not join him in his work. He went 
 on all his life's day trying to make the English Christians, 
 and men called him 'the Apostle of the English.* 
 
 But though the Kentish men and the kings of East 
 Anglia and Essex were Christian yet the rest of England 
 was still heathen ; and it was not till the great Northern 
 kingdom was converted that the success of the Christian 
 faith was certain. 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 NORTHUMBERLAND. 
 
 I. We see England was made up of seven little king- 
 doms ; and it was the same with the Northmen and 
 „. ,^ Danes at this time. But little by little in 
 
 Rise of Nor- •' 
 
 thumber- England, as in Denmark and Norway, one 
 ^'^' kingdom got power over the others and joined 
 
 them to itself. For a long time it was not certain which 
 of the little kingdoms would be the one to rule at last. 
 In England Northumberland was the first that tried to 
 
 
597. 
 
 A.D. 593-607. Northumberland. 
 
 become 
 wards 
 
 31 
 
 i!^^j'''''f'.""'' '^ ^""^ '■*'^"y ^° '■o'* a w^»e. After- 
 
 tried 
 
 the Marchland, and at last the West Saxon king 
 
 S will ho Cz-inn I l_. t . . O 
 
 Others 
 
 dom as will be scon, brought about what the 
 
 m vain to A^ 
 
 had 
 
 
 rnlH ^ ? ''X i Northumberland to power must be 
 
 told; and ,t will be seen that this is mixed up great^ 
 
 with the change of faith that took place in the Nor!h ^ 
 
 Perhaps Northumberland rose first because it was the 
 
 sifof the"R "• '"'''^^l ^^^ ^^^ ^-^ '"^^^ ^^^"j^ief 
 thl . A u^" P"""" ^"^ '^^^'^ ^t York had some- 
 hmg to do with it. There was much good land Ivin. 
 together m the North which many men might till ' ' 
 berhnd n^^'I'/r'ri?'^"'^ '" 593 a king in Northum 
 days all the other kmgs feared Northumber- 
 and and did its king's will, save Ethelbert, ^^f'^^' 
 kmg of the Kentishmen. Ethelfrith fought «'7- 
 against the Scots, who had come with a host into his 
 kingdom, and beat them. They were so discomfited tha 
 for many years after they dared not attack the English 
 This battle was at Dawston, in the North 
 nnA" ^7 ^^^^'^"th^entdown into the Welsh country 
 and fought a great battle near Chester ; and the Welsh 
 fled before h.s face. In that battle were slain many Zks 
 who had corne to pray that the Welsh might win L day 
 Lthelfnth said that although they had not fought 
 they had done as much to defeat him by their prayers 
 as the fightmg men with their swords and spears, and he 
 gave orders to slay them. And men said that the words 
 
 'LTTT "''' ^"''^"'^ ^^^" ^' P^°Ph^^>ed evil on 
 the Welsh pnests at Aust, because they would net 
 help hmi m his good work. By this battle Ethelfrhh 
 pushed his kingdom tn »»^p ^xr„%_„- o.. ^meuritn 
 
 ^ , , , , " " ~ ^Ttaiciu oca, ana cut off 
 
 Cumberland from the kingdoms of Wales so that they 
 were never jomed again : just as Dyrham battle had cut 
 
(t 
 
 !l 
 
 33 
 
 Early England. 
 
 A.D. 607-^2<i. 
 
 • off Cornwall from the Welsh kingdoms and brought the 
 West Saxons to the British Channel. And now Ethel- 
 frith was still more feared than before. But Redwald, 
 king of the East English, would not give up Edwin to 
 Ethelfrith, his kinsman, who had outlawed him. So 
 Ethelfrith came against him, and the battle was joined on 
 the banks of the river Idle, and there Ethelfrith fell. 
 
 3. Then the outlaw Edwin was made king of Nor- 
 thumberland. ; and of him many famous stories are told. 
 Edwin. He became even mightier than Ethelfrith ; and 
 
 A.D.617.633. though he did not rule over the king of Kent 
 yet he bade him give him his sister in marriage, and he did 
 so. This, most likely, Edwin did that he might not be 
 stopped in his plans by the men of Kent, now that he and 
 their king were kinsmen. And Edwin sent ships from 
 Chester to fight against the Welsh in Anglesey and Man; 
 and in the North he built a new city on a hill and called 
 it Edwin's-borough (Edinborough), after his name. And 
 he had a plume of feathers borne before him when he 
 went abroad, after the fashion of the Roman eniperor, 
 and was called Brytenwalda, which seems to mean * wide 
 ruler,' and so to be the same sort of name as Emperor. 
 But the West Saxons hated him ; and Cwichelm, their 
 king, sent a servant of his named Eomer with a message 
 of peace to Edwin, but he meant evil. And when Eomer 
 came before the king he suddenly drew a dagger and 
 struck at him. When Lilla, one of Edwin's men, saw 
 him lift his hand he threw himself before the king to 
 shield him, and the blade passed right through Lilla's 
 body, so hard was the blow, and wounded the king. Then 
 the king's followers fell on Eomer and slew him in their 
 wrath ; but the king was little hurt, owing to the faithful- 
 ness of Lilla. 
 
 4. Now Edwin's Kentish wife, Ethelburg, had brought 
 with her a comrade of Augustine's named Paullinus. 
 
A.D. 627. Northumberland. 
 
 ■wide 
 
 saw 
 
 ihe very night the kin? wa«5 <^\^\^\^^a .u 
 a daughter, who was bfpS b '^au'lut" """ "'" 
 She was the first Christian child in North ■■"""'"°• 
 ■ s".ni h ?.'• '" '"* """^ =>"<• Ws folk were F""!. 
 h~l"- ^■"'^^"-''sofPauUinusTnd ^'X 
 
 baptW^'hrm froT' " '^'"'"""^ "-" "•""y days 
 
 .oSimi^^rgt^Terr^ '" '"^'"''° ■"-^^-x^o 
 -Ji'^ch^Lntoto-Vctirr*^-- 
 
 the Wa°„^ V '■'I''","''"' ^" "'<' »<■ "'is' man, while 
 
 spo,ctVdlit4'''^„r;ti"^f ^""^ ^ ™" '^^'^ 
 on this earth, i'f we set it bv 1. .T T"^'? "" '="°« 
 not of, seems to m. . v ' '''^^ '"^"'^ »'= '"'ow 
 
 at .eai-tidTliTh ":„ Trds^^- ,.?'" 7°" "' ^'""^ 
 
 great fire in the midst of the haU-so .rtT'™'' "'"■ ' 
 bright within butn„f „f !, "all— so that it is warm and 
 
 sonetimes a soal" fl *"° '' "'"' ='«' or snow- 
 
 and ouT^ttlfe other wh-r'f'" through one door 
 peace and unhurt bv^'l,.' " '= '" "" >"all it is at 
 but it «,es ou.'again'mo .retold ir ""I ""'^ =P^« '' 
 and your eyes b'e hold t mte' ^ ThX ","""' 
 seems to us and «.« i, ^"® ^'^"^ °* "lan 
 
 whither itgoes TWe'rifTH-""'"" " '=™'^ "" 
 us aught of this we o^S,?' i ,""'" ''"''" "^a" tell 
 words/ ' ^'" '""'""''' 'o hearken to his 
 
 was'"pr":.7.tne;;';ri.tT "™^ "- ^"■•«. -0 he 
 
 hearlthe wor^nrSirust'^^d "ill .^k" "= 
 
 more Whv TC T '' ''^'°'''' "^ and prospering 
 
 ZldwT'en- them"' Th" ?' ^""^ """"' ''^P -^ 
 ^^ sen e them? Th™ he prayed the king to give 
 
34 
 
 Early England, 
 
 A.D. 633-5. 
 
 II 
 
 him a horse and lance, and he arose and took them and 
 rode to the temple and flung the lance over the pale of 
 the temple, where no weapon might come. And the 
 people thought that he was mad, and marvelled, thinking 
 .hat the gods would surely slay him. But he bade them 
 break down the temple and burn the gods. And when 
 they saw that he got no harm they did so, and believed 
 no more in the old gods. 
 
 5. Now there was a king in Marchland, or Mercia, 
 named Penda. He and his folk were heathen, and he 
 Edwin's warred against Edwin. And because Edwin 
 dwth! *"'* ^^s strong Penda made peace with the king 
 
 A.D. 633. of the Welsh, Cad walla ; and though Cadwalla 
 was a Christian he joined him for hatred of the Enghsh. 
 These two kings fought against Edwin and slew him at 
 Heathfield (Hatfield), in the Nor.th. When Edwin fell his 
 people forsook the faith and went back to their old gods ; 
 and PauUinus and Ethelburg fled to Kent, and many with 
 them. 
 
 6. But Penda became a mighty king, and he joined to 
 his kingdom the Saxons who dwelt on the Severn. But 
 Penda and ^^^^^ ^^ ^^^ fighting in the South, Oswald, 
 Oswald. the new king of Northumberland, fought 
 A.D.633-642. against Cadwalla and slew him (635), and 
 cleared the North lands of his foes. He was a Christian, 
 but he had not learnt the Christian faith from the Roman 
 priests, but from the Irish missionaries in lona, whither 
 he had been driven in Edwin's time because he was the son 
 of Ethelfrith. When he came to the kingdom he brought 
 in Irish priests to teach his people anew the faith they 
 had forsaken. The chief of these priests was Aidan ; 
 and Oswald went about with him and put his words into 
 English for the people, and they soon became Christians 
 again. And from Norlhumberland there went forth 
 preachers to the rest of England and taught the Gospel 
 
f 
 
 A.D. 635-644 Northumberland. 
 
 35 
 to many. In Mercia they did much good. In East Eht 
 
 .0 get all his peopt'o ^"e^elt ™"" ''^^'"' ^-^ '^"' 
 
 wa.d'^^iirbir;:i„':rhtrf 'ir p^^^™" "'- 
 
 ..at i„ a d .avag^d .h» iX^P.r^""' 
 
 fo.;;o"hii^i?:r„ To^^ ; ti:-' r? 4r -^^ 
 
 mocked him Tif ^ ^'"'- ^"t Penda A.D.64,-670. 
 ™t:^atgiJ^rei?e-^^^^^^^^ 
 
 the river which ra„ by the p"ace of h,"! "' ** °'" 
 
 ^^^^.^ih^B\ ^^^'^-^^^^ 
 
 -ting up W„,rerra'S„t:trraX°"'' 
 
 Ha/pe„ed in"hi/:ly"CU:S Bir^uf "' "■"' 
 
 ^r^eTctl^hlta "e"," '^ t ^=' "'« ""■ '^'°^?' 
 ha, r-i" , ' ^^ ^'"- ^^o had souffht to *'^- «V 
 
 S: Werat'Ste'; "I"? ^ J^^^op'- Dorchester . 
 was sen. by AMa„ in 6„ ;1"^"'''^" P»0» "ied S. Chad 
 Mercians ,o Vhrchris.hn toh"?'A"^ ^l """''' ">= 
 Lichfield, only the Sol'laUf „t tm1 T ^' 
 But some of the EnHi«v, i,.^ k ^^"^ heathen, 
 
 as Mercia. F.tf 5i'j\!'f.^,'^='r°">'^«»<' by the Irish, 
 
 by the Rom"an"p;i;s';s "nZZTT^' ^^"^ ""* ''*^" 
 pHests,di.ered iLa„yc,r.XL":hVRlt%:r 
 
3« 
 
 Early England. a.d. 644-668. 
 
 But though Oswy held to the Irish customs he had wed 
 the daughter of Edwin, who had been brought up in Kent 
 under the Roman customs. So Oswy called a great meet- 
 ing of all the bishops and chief priests to settle which 
 customs should be followed throughout England, Among 
 others there came Wilfrith, a Northern man by birth, and 
 he persuaded the king to take the Roman customs, and 
 all the people agreed. But Colman, the bishop of Holy 
 Island, when the meeting had given their votes against 
 his wishes went away with many of his brethren and left 
 Northumberland. So the king asked the Roman priests 
 to send him, in their stead, teachers to order the churches 
 in his kingdom. But the new bishop the king had made 
 soon died, and Oswy sent another priest to Rome to be 
 made bishop, and there he died. So the Pope sent him a 
 priest of Tarsus, named Theodore, who went to England 
 in 668, and with the help of Wilfrith set the Church in 
 order. He set bishops in each kingdom, who were under 
 the chief bishops (archbishops) of York and Canterbury. 
 He also set priests in each district, as far as he could, to 
 dwell among the people. Theodore worked so hard and 
 so well that when he died he left the Church in England 
 ordered in the sort of way that it ever afterwards kept to, 
 
 9. Though many of the Irish priests and their dis- 
 ciples had departed some still remained. Of these the 
 s. Cuth- chief was Cuthbert, who had been a mis- 
 Hnd^and sionary in Bernicia. After the Synod of 
 Caedmon. Whitby, he went to the islands on the coast 
 and continued there steadfast in good works, so that ^ j 
 was counted a saint. 
 
 At Whitby, Hild, a lady of royal blood, built a con- 
 vent, and it became a holy place, and the kings of the 
 
 ^.T.-v»•••^• 
 T vfi til 
 
 uUiiCu. tnsrc ^o ixitcl 
 
 11 was iiicii \Ji 
 
 Wy had 
 
 sent his daughter when he fulfilled his vow. Near Whitby 
 lived Caedmon the poet, of whom this story is told. He 
 
 
A.D. 644-670. Northumberland. .» 
 
 was but a poor cowherd, and knew not how to sine or 
 £ AnT T "^'^ ^""^' ^^ "^- -- -ed tfdo a 
 
 t^u d leave t^ '' "'k '" *"^" ^° ^^"^ ^* ^ ^^ast he 
 would leave the room, because he was ashamed of his 
 
 ittle knowledge. Once when he had thus gone sorrowfu 
 
 to the cattle-shed, where he slept, he had a Lam.wit 
 
 he woke he went to Hild, the abbess, nd told her tha" 
 
 he had been bidden in a vision to s; of holy thints 
 
 and sung it, and all were astonished at the beautiful son« 
 that he sung And he became a great poet. I^^e p^^^^^^^^ 
 stones out of the Bible into verse, so that the me^n who 
 
 ^ ^::t^^'--^- ^'^-' -^r ^- sot: 
 
 10. Wolfere, the son of Penda, ruled very well and 
 wisely, d he joined Essex and kiddlesex and au'he 
 land as far as the Thames to his kingdom, wdfcre 
 The South Saxon king too obeyed his will, and ^-£7-675. 
 was often at his court ; and he gave him the island of 
 W,ght to rule under him. In his feign many Ibbtys an J 
 houses of monks were founded ; and he built Peterbur^h 
 one of the most famous abbess in England, aowknd 
 Abbey, too, was built about this time. The West S^ons 
 at this nme had a brave king also, under whom they fougS 
 many battles against the Welsh in the West and Ion 
 nearly all the land by the Mendip m^lrL^Z 
 
 of. ' ^'^.r^l ^'"^^ ^'^^ ^^^"^^ *«°k the kingdom. Soon 
 after Wilfnth was banished. Then he went to Sussex 
 and taught the people, for though their king L 1 
 was Christian, they were still heathen. Thev Sits. 
 listened gladly to him, for he was very wisi as well as 
 good, and taught them many useful things ; amongst 
 others how to ftsh in the deep sea ,fter the NorS 
 
38 
 
 \ 
 
 Early England. 
 
 A.D. 670-685. 
 
 fashion, for before they only used to fish in the rivers. 
 And men called Wilfrith the Apostle of Sussex. 
 
 Egfrith and Wolfere were not very good friends, for 
 Wolfere wished to become free from the overlordship of 
 Northumberland. They warred against each other, and 
 Egfrith put Wolfere's host to flight, and made him make 
 peace and give up Lincoln and the land round it. 
 
 When he had made peace with the Marchmen he 
 warred against the Welsh in Cumberland, and took Car- 
 lisle, and over it he set S. Cuthbert, whom he called from 
 his cell in Northumberland. Moreover, he made himself 
 overlord of the Vale of the Clyde ; and sent ships also to 
 ravage Ireland, where they got great spoil. At last he 
 went against the Picts, beyond the North Wall, and there 
 he fell, with 111 his host, in a great battle near Fife (685). 
 And S. Cuthbert fell ill when he heard the news and went 
 back to his cell, where he died two years after. 
 
 When Egfrith was dead the power passed from Nor- 
 thumberland, and Wessex and Mercia became great in 
 its stead. 
 
 12. There are several things to notice in this part of 
 English History:— 
 
 (i.) It is hard to see why, when the greater part of 
 Northum- England had been converted by the Irish, all 
 the'chl.rd^ the English took up the Roman customs in 
 e KfMxz Church matters. But the Romans certainly 
 kept the Church in better order than the Irish. Moreover, 
 the rest of Western Europe had taken the Roman custom. 
 Kent, too, which was a strong kingdom, and had many 
 dealings with the Franks, helped the Romans very much. 
 (2.) We see that the English were not made Christians 
 by force, as many heathen nations were, but they were 
 
 ^> — .,;. v,,v l^.«^.lll^^ ui ^.i.i.^ vjuspci. 1 HIS maQC 
 
 them love the Faith more, and keep it more steadfastly 
 afterwards, though they wavered a little at first. 
 
 I 
 
 tl 
 w 
 \ 
 S 
 L 
 tl 
 
 01 
 
 o^ 
 
 OJ 
 
 th 
 
A.D. 68s. 
 
 Northumberland. 
 
 39 
 
 (3.) Though neither Northumberland or Kent was ever 
 strong enough to bring all England into one, yet it was a 
 help towards this that all the English became of one faith 
 and one rule. The Church also tried to stop cruel war 
 and draw all men together peacefully. 
 
 (4.) When the English became Christians they did not 
 kiU or enslave the Welsh as they had done before ; but 
 when they conquered them they suffered them to remain 
 among them, and made laws to protect them. So it 
 comes about that, though in the rest of England the 
 Welsh names of places were nearly all lost, those parts of 
 England which the English won after their conversion 
 are still called by Welsh xmes. 
 
 BOOK IV. 
 
 WESSEX AND THE MARCHLAND. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 A.D. 685-728. 
 THE RISE OF WESSEX. 
 
 I. After the death of Egfrith the strongest of the 
 three great kingdoms was Wessex, which was under Cead- 
 walla. His forerunners had beaten back the The rise of 
 Welsh, and had won hew lands for the West Wessex. 
 Saxons, till their realm reached the borders of Devon 
 Under them Wessex had become so great a kingdom^ 
 that it was able, as time went on, to gain the overlordship 
 of all England, and at last its kings became not only 
 overlords but kings over all the land. And it is th^ ^Mry 
 of the steps by which the kings of Wessex made the 
 Marchmen's kings their servants that will be written in 
 this part of the history. 
 
40 Early England, a.d. 685-688. 
 
 2. Ceadwalla r "gned but a short while ; then he re- 
 Ceadwalla. pen*:ed iiim of his sins, laid down his crown, 
 A.D.685-688. and went to Rome There he was baptized 
 by the Pope, and there soon afterwards he died. He 
 had been a Christian and so had his brother who reigned 
 with him, but he had not been baptized before, nor did 
 he seem to understand the life of a true Christian. For 
 when he found that the Jutes in the Isle ot Wight were 
 still most of them heathen he fought against them to 
 make them Christians. And he prevailed against them 
 and *ook their kin, ^ and slew him, with all his kin and 
 niost of his pe9ple. When Wilfrith heard of it he begged 
 him to spare some of them, and he did so, and Wilfrith 
 by kindness converted them. But Ceadwalla would not 
 spare the lives of the Jute king's two children, for he 
 feaied that when they were grown up they would avenge 
 their father's death upon him; so when they were baptized 
 he slew them also. Perhaps it was for this evil deed that 
 he was sorry, and so left his kingdom. This was the 
 only time that an English king ever tried to turn people 
 to the Gospel by the sword ; though in other lands there 
 were kings who did so, not knowing that they were doing 
 an evil work. 
 
 3. But Ini, who reigned after him, was a good man and 
 mild of heart, and a very mighty king. He was obliged 
 Ini. to wage many wars. Especially he fought 
 
 A.D.688-728. with the Cornish men, who had then a brave 
 king at their head, who tried to drive the English back. 
 But Ini prevailed against him. 
 
 Ini took great care to rule well the lands that he won. 
 When he saw that the bishop of Winchester had too 
 great a charge, he set up a bishop in Sherborne to help 
 him. And he built a house for holy men at Glaston- 
 bury, whsre there was a ruined British church, and this 
 bQuse became very famous in after days. 
 
 I 
 
A.n 688. 
 
 Rise of Wessex. 
 
 41 
 
 Ini fought too with the men of Kent, and got from 
 them a fine for slaying Ceadwalla's brother, whom they 
 had burnt in his house. And he made the men of Essex 
 and the East Enghsh bow to his rule. But the king of 
 the Marchmen fought against him, so that he was not 
 able to become overlord of that land also. 
 
 And Ini made good laws with the help of the wise men 
 
 of his kingdom, so that his people might dwell in peace; 
 
 and in all that he did his wife Ethelburg helped him. 
 
 She was a wise and brave woman ; and once when the 
 
 Cornish men had taken Taunton, which Ini had built, 
 
 she went down with a host against them and took 
 
 back the town. When they had both reigned long 
 
 and gloriously she won over her husband to lay down 
 
 his crown, as Ceadwalla had done, and go to Rome, to 
 
 live there in peace, praying and doing good works till 
 
 they both died. There is a story told of the way she 
 
 did this. In those days the kings' palaces were not all 
 
 garnished with furniture, but when the kings went from 
 
 one of their great houses to another they took all their 
 
 household goods with them, and left the house empty 
 
 behind them. For they used to travel all over their 
 
 realm, and stay awhile at each of their houses to do 
 
 justice to the folk of each part of their kingdom and 
 
 hear all complaints. One day when king Ini had left 
 
 one of his houses, and his servants had packed up all 
 
 the household goods, the queen prayed him after a while 
 
 to ride back to the hall with her, and he did so. 
 
 When they came there the house was bare, and cattle 
 
 and pigs had been driven into the empty hall. And the 
 
 king was astonished at the changes since the day before, 
 
 when the hall was fairly decked out, and he and all his 
 
 valiant men had sat there at meat in great state. Then 
 
 the queen said to him, ' After this manner the glory and 
 
 pleasant things of this world pass away , so that I hold 
 
42 
 
 Early England. 
 
 A. a 688-728. 
 
 him foolish who cleaves to the things of this world and 
 takes no thought of the life everlasting. And we, who 
 fare gloriously in this world, should not forget the world 
 that is to come.' And the king was won by her words 
 to do as she wished. 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 THE CHURCH. 
 
 I. In the days ot Ini there went forth from England 
 many good men to preach the Gospel to the heathen 
 Mission- Germans and Frisians. For just as the Irish 
 *"**• whfen they had heard the Gospel wished that 
 
 all men would hearken to it, and sent many mission- 
 aries to the heathen in Germany and the land we now 
 call Switzerland, so the English did in their turn. And 
 they were the more moved to do this because the Ger- 
 mans were near of kin to themselves. Wilfrith, when he 
 was cast on the coast of the North Sea, had preached the 
 Gospel to the Frisians and the Saxons who had stayed 
 behind when their brethren went to England. Chief 
 amongst the English missionaries were Willebrord and 
 Winfrith (who in the Latin tongue is called Boniface). 
 When Boniface had converted the Germans in their own 
 )and, set bishops over them, and put priests among them 
 in their villages, as Theodore had done in England, he 
 was made their first archbishop, and lived at Mainz, on 
 the Rhine, in their midst, and did much good. But after 
 nearly forty years' work, when he heard that many of the 
 Frisians were still heathen, he set out to visit them and 
 preach to them also, and soon after he died (757). And 
 men numbered him among the saints, and called him the 
 Apostle of the Germans. 
 
 2. In England also there were many great Churchmen 
 in those days, and chiefly in Northumberland, where at 
 
'. 688-728. 
 
 vorld and 
 i we, who 
 the world 
 her words 
 
 A.D. 728-757. 
 
 The Church. 
 
 43 
 
 England 
 heathen 
 he Irish, 
 ihed that 
 mission- 
 we now 
 n. And 
 the Ger- 
 when he 
 ched the 
 d stayed 
 Chief 
 ord and 
 oniface). 
 leir own 
 ng them 
 land, he 
 ainz, on 
 Jut after 
 y of the 
 em and 
 ). And 
 him the 
 
 rchmen 
 Inhere at 
 
 this time there was peace for a short while. One called 
 Benedict taught the English how to build The 
 fair churches of stone, for the English before Churchmen 
 used to build chiefly with wood, and were North. 
 not skilled in stonework. He also brought over glass for 
 the church windows, which the English did not know of 
 before, but used horn and parchment instead. And he 
 built houses for monks to dwell in to do good works ; and 
 m one of these, at Jarrow, lived Bede, the first great Eng- 
 lish scholar. He was learned in all the wisdom of the 
 time, and taught many disciples and wrote many books of 
 those things which he wished them to know, some in Eng- 
 lish, and some in Latin ; he wrote songs and hymns also. 
 And it is from one of his books, ' A History of the English 
 Church,' that we learn much about the Early English. 
 He put the Gospel of S. John into English that all men 
 might read it ; this was his last work. When he died 
 (754) all the wise men in England mourned for him. 
 He had many friends who helped him in his work, and 
 the king of Northumberland was among them. And the 
 good king Alfred, many years after, put some of his 
 Latin books into English, so useful did he think them for 
 all men to know. Of other English Churchmen, Wilfrith 
 was perhaps the greatest. He had made the first library 
 in England at York. He was also much beloved, though 
 he was quick of temper, for he did many good deeds and 
 was never idle, but always would be doing what he could 
 to help the people and preach the Gospel. He was a great 
 traveller, and had seen many lands, and everywhere he 
 went men honoured him for his goodness. He died 709. 
 3. In Ireland too at this time were many good and 
 wise men, and it was from the Irish that the iHsh 
 Northumberland men had got much of their Chorchmen. 
 learning. For this reason Ireland was called the ' Isle 
 of Saintij.' 
 
iK 
 
 44 
 
 Early England, 
 
 A.D. 728. 
 
 i ■ 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 A.D. 728-802. 
 WESSEX AND THE MARCHLAND. 
 
 1. After Ini, there reigned other kings over the 
 Ethelbald ^^^* Saxons, of whom it is not needful to speak 
 
 Mli^Wand ^^''®' '^^^^ ^^^^ "°' ^^^y powerful, and in 
 their days Ethelbald, king of the Marchmen, 
 was the mightiest man in England. 
 
 But of one of these kings, whose name was Sebert, it 
 is to be noted that he reigned ill and so lost his king- 
 dom. For his folk, who had chosen him to be kmg, took 
 his crown from him and gave it to Cynwulf. 
 
 2. Cynwulf was a brave king and ruled well. He 
 overcame Ethelbald in battle and slew him. But Offa, 
 Cynwulf. who reigned next in the Marchland, forced 
 A.D. 757-86. Cynwulf to bow to him and do his will, Cyn- 
 wulf was slain after a long reign, and his death happened 
 in this way. One day he went to stay at the house of a 
 lady at Merton, and took few men with him. And when 
 Cynhard, brother of Sebert, who wished to be king himself, 
 heard of it he gathered together a band of those men 
 who hated Cynwulf and loved him, and suddenly beset 
 the house where Cynwulf was. When Cynwulf was ...vara 
 of them he went out to the door and kept it bravely 
 with his sword, and he wounded Cynhard ; but he was 
 borne down by Cynhard's men, for he was alone, and 
 slain. And when his men heard the cries of the lady they 
 ran up and found their king dead, and Cynhard standing 
 by. He offered them gold rings and lands and goods if 
 they would follow him and help him to be king, and 
 death if they would not. They chose death, for they 
 would never help their master's slayer. So Cynhard and 
 
A.b. 757. tVessex and the Marchland. 45 
 
 I his men fell upon them, and they fought till they were all 
 
 1 slam save one a Welshman, a hostage, and he was badly 
 
 wounded. Then Cynhard locked the gates anH kept the 
 hall fast that n.ght. But news was brought to Osric, 
 Cynwulf s alderman, that Cynhard had slain the king, and 
 was at Merton, and some of his own kinsfolk with him 
 So he gathered all the men he could and rode to 
 
 Cynhard offered h.m and those with him to be their king, 
 but they would not, though Osric's kinsmen, who were 
 with Cynhard, prayed him to listen to him. And Osric 
 offered his kmsmen peace if they would leave Cynhard • 
 but they said they would stand by Cynhard to the death! 
 as Cynwulf^ men had done by him. Then Osric and his 
 
 folk .nH ti. Tn'^^ ^^'? ^"^ ^^" "P^'^ ^y^^^^d and his 
 folk, and they fell there fighting to the last, and only one 
 was saved, Osric's godson. ^ 
 
 And Bertric was chosen king by the Wise Men of the 
 kmgdom, and he reigned seventeen years (786-802) 
 
 3. When Ethelbald fell Bernred took the March 
 kingdom He reigned but a short while, for Offa, who 
 was of the royal blood, and alderman in the 
 Severn valley, drove him out and took the SaaiSl 
 crown. He had the most power of any man ''■°- "7-96- 
 that had yet been in England, for all the other kings 
 
 firsTtL" O^ ', '* A"' r ^"^^^"^ ^^' - -<^ f- the 
 ont ofTvi • K^ ^'^ ^'' ^°'' ^^^'"'^ '^^ W^JsJ^ ^nd took 
 one of their chief towns. He called it Shrewsbury, and 
 
 made it strong against them. And he drew a ereat dvke 
 across Wales from the Dee to the Wye, that 1^1 
 
 Roman walls. He married one of his dauahtPrc v^b,, ° 
 
 L.T"' ^"? T'^'' '° '^' ^^S of NorthumierianT 
 Aat they might be the more easily ready to do hi wm 
 Now, Edburg, who married Bertric, was'an e^^l woxnan; 
 
46 
 
 Early England. a.d. 757. 796. 
 
 and she hated those whom her husband loved, for she 
 wished him to Hsten only to her. She put poison in a 
 cup for a friend of the king to drink, and by chance Bert- 
 ric drank of it also, and they both died. When this was 
 known the West Saxons drove out Edburg, and made a 
 law that no other king's wife should hive power or be 
 called queen. As for Edburg she went to the court of 
 Charles the Great, and he gave her an abbey to rule, but 
 she ruled it as ill as she had ruled the West Saxons, so 
 he took it from her. And she went to Italy and wandered 
 about in great need there, begging her bread till she 
 died. 
 
 At this time Charles the Great was the king of the 
 Franks, and was the mightiest man in West Europe. 
 He and Offa were friends at first, but afterwards they fell 
 out because Charles was jealous of Offa's power and 
 would always help Offa's foes, for he wished to be over- 
 lord in England himself. Egbert also, who fled from 
 Bertric— for he was of the royal blood of the West Saxon 
 kings — was received at his court, and there learned many 
 things which were afterwards of use to him. 
 
 And when Offa and the men of Kent quarrelled 
 Charles stirred up the archbisop of Canterbury against 
 Offa, and promised to help him with soldiers. But Offa 
 put down the men of Kent and set up an archbishop at 
 Lichfield to rule over the Marchmen's Church, as the 
 archbishop of Canterbury ruled over the Church in 
 Wessex, and the archbishop of York in Northumberland. 
 But the archbishop of Canterbury was sorely grieved at 
 this. 
 
 But Charles and Offa were made friends once or 
 twice by Alwin or Alcwin, a scholar of Northumberland, 
 whom Offa had sent to Charles to teach him the learning 
 of the English. 
 
 In Offa's days there lived in England a great poet 
 
757- 796. 
 
 i, for she 
 lison in a 
 nee Bert- 
 I this was 
 1 made a 
 i^er or be 
 ; court of 
 rule, but 
 axons, so 
 wandered 
 1 till she 
 
 ig of the 
 Europe. 
 ; they fell 
 >wer and 
 be over- 
 led from 
 :st Saxon 
 ted many 
 
 uarrelled 
 r against 
 But Ofifa 
 bishop at 
 1, as the 
 lurch in 
 iberland. 
 rieved at 
 
 A. P. 8o2. Wessex and the Marchland. 47 
 
 named Cynwolf, some of whose songs we have nov We 
 have, too, other poems written about this time by men 
 whose names are lost. So it would seem that in Offa's 
 days men found peace and leisure for writing and makiuK 
 poetry, which they had not again till long after his death. 
 Offa ruled his land very well, and cared much for the 
 good of his people, and made laws for them by the help 
 of his wise men, as Ini had done. He was good to men 
 of learning and Churchmen, and built a great abbey at 
 \^erulam, where S. Alban was slain in the Roman time 
 and the town is called S. Albans to this day. But one 
 abbey he built because of an evil thing he did. He slew 
 Ethelbert, king of the East English, by craft, for he 
 asked him to come and see him and marry his daughter, 
 and when he came he had him murdered; but men say 
 that the queen persuaded him to do this evil. And 
 Ethelbert was held a saint and martyr for his cruel death. 
 But Offa repented sorely afterwards, and sent gifts to the 
 Pope. Soon after this he died, and his son Cenwolf 
 ruled after him. He made friends with the archbishop of 
 Canterbury, and when the archbishop of Lichfield died 
 he never made another. He fought with the Welsh, and 
 went far into Wales, both North and South, after his 
 enemies. He also fought with the men of Kent. But 
 after his days Egbert became king of Wessex, and brought 
 the Marchland into his own kingdom ; and those kings 
 who reigned there after Cenwolf he drove away. 
 
 once or 
 
 iberland, 
 
 learning 
 
 eat poet 
 
48 
 
 Early England. 
 
 A.D. 8o3. 
 
 ^ 
 
 BOOK V. 
 THE ENGLISH AND THE DANES. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 A.D. 802-838 
 EGBERT. 
 
 1. Egbert came to the throne of Wessex in 802, and 
 reigned many years. He put all the kings in England 
 under him, as Offa had done ; but he was so power- 
 ful, and things fell out so well for him, that the kings 
 Egbert's never got free again at his death, as they had 
 wo'J'- done when Offa died. So he gained at last for 
 Wessex the overlordship of Jilngland which the Northern 
 kings had tried to win for Northumberland, and the 
 kings of the Marchmen for Marchland. So under Egbert 
 England became one in rule, as it had at Whitby become 
 one in faith. Moreover, the kings of Wessex now brought 
 the kings of the Welsh and Scots under them, and so 
 became overlords of all Britain. There were still Scotch 
 and Welsh kings ; but they obeyed the English kings and 
 acknowledged their rule. So with the reign of Egbert 
 finishes this part of English History, in which has been 
 told the story of the kingdoms which the English founded. 
 The history which follows is the history of England under 
 one king, and its struggles against foes who came from 
 without. 
 
 2. For in Egbert's reign the Danes began to show 
 themselves bitter foes to the English, as will afterwards 
 _,. ^ be seen. The year that Bertric married Offa's 
 
 The Danes ' 
 
 and Nor- daughter Edburg three Northern ships came 
 wegians. ^^ ^^^ English coast, and when the alderman 
 of the place where they landed came down to see who 
 
A.D. 802. 
 
 A. D. 802-838. 
 
 Egbert. 
 
 49 
 
 NES. 
 
 n 802, and 
 n England 
 so power- 
 
 the kings 
 s they had 
 I at last for 
 ; Northern 
 I, and the 
 der Egbert 
 by become 
 3W brought 
 m, and so 
 ;till Scotch 
 > kings and 
 
 of Egbert 
 h has been 
 sh founded, 
 land under 
 came from 
 
 ,n to show 
 afterwards 
 rried Offa's 
 ships came 
 \ alderman 
 to see who 
 
 they were they slew h.m. This is the first time we hear 
 of the Danes and Northmen plundering in England. 
 They hved on the eastern coasts of the North Sea, in the 
 
 E?In7 V^^ ^"^'''^ ^^^ ^°"^ ^^f°^<^ ^hey came to 
 England. They were of the same kin and spoke the 
 
 same tongue though little by little it grew different, till 
 Frir ^"f ^^"^^'^ ^^^ ^° Je^rn Dan^.h a. he wiuld 
 
 called them (or the Norwegians plund re chief! ^ Scot- 
 land and Ireland and the Western Isla. \i h^.gan to 
 come about this time, is partly because of ,neir troubles 
 at home, and partly because of the wars which Charles 
 the Great and his house waged against the heathen 
 Saxons and Danes iu the North. 
 
 In Denmark and Norway, just as in England, there 
 
 were many small kingdoms, and now one king i^ each 
 
 and was trymg to put the small kings under him. So 
 
 there were many wars, and men fought cruelly with each 
 
 other, because they were still heathen. So many of the 
 
 L^I^H h f'n^"^ '^'"^^ '°°^ '" '^^ '^^' ^'^d sailed about 
 with their followers plundering everywhere they came, only 
 sometimes going back to Norway and Denmark 
 
 But after about a hundred years, when the head kings 
 were firmly set on their thrones, they ruled more strictly. 
 Then niany great men, with their followers, left their homes 
 altogether. Some settled in the islands of the North 
 bea, Iceland and the Faroes, and lived there as they 
 had done at home, only they would have no king, but 
 the chiefs ruled. Others went to England and Ireland 
 and Scotland and fought against the people of the land, 
 and took part of their land and dwelt in it. 
 
 3. Egbert had been long at the court of Charles the 
 Great while Bertric was king of the West Egbenand 
 baxons. And no doubt what he had seen there cSaries. 
 helped him when he became king in England. For Charles 
 
50 
 
 Early Englatid. 
 
 A.D. 802-838. 
 
 IB 
 
 was a great warrior and statesman, and conquered many 
 peoples, and built up a mighty empire, and of him, his 
 valiant men, and the deeds they did, many stories are told. 
 And just before Egbert, by Charles's help, became king of 
 the West Saxons, Charles was crowned by the Pope Em- 
 peror after the old Roman fashion, for he was now ruler 
 over great part of the old Roman Empire. Henceforth 
 there were two Emperors, one in the West, the Frank 
 Emperor, who lived a great deal at Aken (Aachen) ; and 
 the other ruling the Eastern part of the old Roman 
 iCmpire from Constantinople. 
 
 4- Egbert had a very busy reign. First he fought 
 with the Welsh of Cornwall, the old foemen of the West 
 Egbert's Saxons, in 815 ; then against the king of the 
 **"• Marchmen at EUandune (825). This was a 
 
 very great battle, and many men fell there, so it is said 
 in the old rhyme :* 
 
 Ellanduue flood ran red with blood. 
 
 After this battle the Marchmen were obliged to bow to 
 Egbert's rule ; and though they resisted him again they 
 never could free themselves. Perhaps this was be- 
 cause the Frank kings hated the Marchmen and would 
 not help them, but also it was through the hatred of the 
 East English, for when they found the March kingdom 
 growing weak they rose against it, and sent to Egbert 
 and took him as their overlord. \/hen the March king 
 came against them they slew him. And afterwards, when 
 the next king with a great host and five aldermen sought 
 to avenge him, they slew him and his aldermen with 
 him. So they became free from their old overlords ; but 
 they were obliged to ike Egbert as overlord in their stead. 
 Egbert also sent his son to Kent with an army, and he 
 drove out the Kentish under-king, and was made king by 
 
L.D. 802-838. 
 
 uered many 
 of him, his 
 ies are told, 
 ame king of 
 i Pope Em- 
 s now ruler 
 Henceforth 
 , the Frank 
 chen) ; and 
 Did Roman 
 
 he fought 
 f the West 
 king of the 
 rhis was a 
 it is said 
 
 A.D. .S02-83S. 
 
 Egbert. 
 
 51 
 
 i to bow to 
 again they 
 ) was be- 
 and would 
 :red of the 
 1 kingdom 
 to Egbert 
 larch king 
 ards, when 
 len sought 
 men with 
 lords ; but 
 heir stead, 
 ly, and he 
 le king by 
 
 his father in his stead, and over Sussex and Essex alio 
 
 J oaw liis mignt did likewise. The nf»v^ „«.o 1 
 while .here was peace " "'■'"''• ^"""O" ''"''^''or. 
 
 all the cattle, and takint all th. 1/"'!f '' ' ^"^'"^ °^ 
 cious things. Most of all th.v^ f / T^ '"^^^^"^ P^^' 
 them, and\urn?and otbe/'h^fh ^ ^'T ^"' '''^ 
 could ; for they remembered hoVchat: tt'c'V'^^ 
 his kin had warred on their h^I ^^f ^^^ ^^^ Great and 
 them cruelly because th.v ^? '" ^''^'"" ^"^ ^^^'^ 
 
 5^ Afte^^TheV™ ^^ 
 three vears nn.« if .^"^^^^ ^ ^°"^^ country two or 
 
 cre»sT=Charif^^ tftr„ tr^ =-'-• 
 
 Moreover, the Danes joined with the Welsh ^^^''^Down. 
 
 against him, but he s-ath*^rpH a u . T 
 
 them and h./!u ■ ^ ^°^' ^"^ ^ent against 
 
 tftem, and had the victory over them at Hengist's Down 
 
 {837). Soon after this he died (S-^S) f„ii r t 
 
 and when he died he nart.H l^fillT^ ^"" , «f^^°"«"r, 
 
 of Charles was mr^*.^\A "- -"xgduiw, as me kingdom 
 
 wolf took Wess'Tx and ^^^^^^^^^ ^"f"^ ^'^ ^-^- ^thel- 
 ic wessex and became overlord of Britain, and 
 
 Ba 
 
52 
 
 Early England. 
 
 A.D. 802-855. 
 
 II 
 
 liii 
 
 iKf 
 
 Ethelstan took the land which Ethelwolfhad ruled before, 
 Kent and Sussex and Essex, as under-king, 
 
 Egbert is called in the old books by the title of Bry- 
 tenwalda, as Edwin had been. This title is only given to 
 seven kings before Egbert. 
 
 6. In Egbert's days lived a great Danish king named 
 Ragnar Rough Breeks, because he once clothed himself 
 Ragnar ^^ skins to fight a wild beast. Of him it is said 
 
 Rough that he was shipwrecked in England, and that 
 
 the under-king of Northumberland took him 
 and cast him alive into a pit full of snakes, where, in spite 
 of his sufferings, he sang a wonderful song telling of all 
 his great deeds, till the snakes stung him to death. It 
 was to revenge his death, some say, that his sons after- 
 wards came to England and waged a cruel war against 
 the English. 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 A.D. 839-871. 
 
 ETHELWOLF AND HIS ELDER SONS. 
 
 I. Ethelwolf reigned many years, and nearly all his 
 time, like his father's, was taken up by war. First, he had 
 Ethelwolf. t° ^^^^ the Danes all along the South coast. 
 A.D.839-858. Then a band of them landed in Kent, broke 
 into London and Canterbury, and drove the March 
 king away. In 851 Ethelwolf and his son Ethelbald 
 fought the greatest >^T.ttle that had been fought in the 
 memory of man, at Oaklea, in Surrey. There the 
 Danes tied before them, and they cleared the land of 
 them for a while, though they came back again ; and 
 not long after a band of them wintered in Sheppey, just 
 as the English had once stayed in Thanet before they 
 began to conquer Britain. In 855, Ethelwolf, seeing that 
 his kingdom was at rest for a little — for he had won a 
 
1 
 
 A.D. 802-855. 
 
 ruled before, 
 
 ! title of Bry- 
 only given to 
 
 1 king named 
 3thed himself 
 " him it is said 
 and, and that 
 md took him 
 /here, in spite 
 telling of all 
 to death. It 
 lis sons after- 
 1 war against 
 
 NS. 
 
 nearly all his 
 
 First, he had 
 
 South coast, 
 
 Kent, broke 
 
 the March 
 
 )n Ethelbald 
 
 ought in the 
 
 There the 
 
 the land of 
 
 again ; and 
 
 Sheppey, just 
 
 t before they 
 
 f, seeing that 
 
 ; had won <; 
 
 A.D. 858. Ethelwolf and his Elder Sons. 53 
 
 battle against the Welsh also- went to Rome as a pilgiim. 
 Two years before he had sent thither his little son Alfred 
 and the Pope had received him very kindly, and made 
 him his godson and hallowed him as a king. After he 
 had stayed a year at Rome, Ethelwolf brought him back 
 with him to England. He gave the Pope gifts, and pro- 
 mised to set aside a tenth of his land for the Church and 
 the poor. On his way back Ethelwolf married Judith, the 
 daughter of Charles the Bald, king of the West Franks, 
 and grandson of Charles the Great. This Charles after, 
 wards became Emperor, like his grandfather ; but now he 
 was ruling over only a part of the realm of Charles, which 
 had been divided between him and his brothers by their 
 father, Louis. It is said that when Ethelwolf was coming 
 home his son Ethelbald and bishop Alstan made a plot 
 against him, and he was obliged to give Ethelbald Wes- 
 sex ; taking Kent, Sussex, and Essex for himself, for his 
 brother Ethelstan was now dead. So his oueen Judith 
 reigned over Kent with him, but over Wessex since 
 Edburg's days there was no queen. Soon after Ethel- 
 ivolf died ; and before his death, with the goodwill of his 
 wise men, he divided his realm among his sons. To 
 Ethelbert he gave Kent, and to the others Wessex, and 
 the head-kmgship to Ethelbald, Ethelred, and Alfred, 
 one after another; but Ethelbert was never to be head- 
 king. 
 
 2. So Ethelbald was made king, and he ruled for two 
 years only. He married Judith, his stepmother, after the 
 custom of the heathen kings, who used to Ethelbald 
 marry the widow of the king who reigned a.d.SsS-Soo. 
 before them. When he died all the people mourned 
 greatly for him, so that though we know little of him we 
 may behcve he ruled his people well. But Judith after 
 fier husband's death, went to Gaul and married the Count 
 Dt Flanders, and from her are sprung many famous folk 
 
54 
 
 Early Enghmd. 
 
 AD, 870. 
 
 i 
 
 3, Ethelbert, king of Kent, now became head-king, 
 though his father had bid him be content with his own 
 Ethelbert. realm. In his days the Danes began to 
 A.D.860-866. plunder again. Once they broke into Win- 
 chester, the royal c'ty of the West Saxons ; but the alder- 
 men came upon them and put them to flight. They also 
 plundered Kent sorely. Ethelbert reigned but a short 
 while, and then he died, and Ethelred was made king. 
 
 4. Soon after he began to reign the sons of Ragnar 
 Rough Breeks came with ships and men, plundered the East 
 and North, and set up a king over part of Northumber- 
 land who ruled under them ; but at York one of Ragnar's 
 sons reigned. The sons of Ragnar also plundered Ireland 
 Ethelred. ^""^ Scotland, and set up a kingdom at Dublin, 
 •*°-S^^-87i. on the coast of Ireland. Soon after the taking 
 of York the Danes went south into the Marchland. Tae 
 people, when the Danes came, now began to try and 
 make peace with them, for they could not withst.^-^d 
 them. But though the Danes would make peace fc a 
 while they soon began to plunder again. 
 
 In 869, Alfred the Etheling (which is the old English 
 word for Prince) married a daughter of a Lincoln alder- 
 man, who was of the blood-royal. On the day of his 
 wedding he was smitten with a disease which harassed 
 him all his life after, so that it is very wonderful that he 
 was able to do so much in spite of his illness. 
 
 In 870 the Danes took horse and rode into East 
 England, where they took the under-king Edmund pri- 
 soner, and because he would not become under-king to 
 them nor forsake his faith they slew him with arrows. 
 His body was buried in a town near, which has been since 
 called by liis name, S. Edmundsbury. For he w ■ 
 counted a saint, because he died through fightin? wi\i 
 his folk against the heathen. And the Da: es took iiast 
 England and settled in it, and it became a Danish Vii)g- 
 
AD, 870. 
 
 le head-king, 
 vith his own 
 es began to 
 :e into Win- 
 )ut the alder- 
 They also 
 
 but a short 
 nade king. 
 IS of Ragnar 
 ered the East 
 Northumber- 
 ! of Ragnar's 
 lered Ireland 
 »m at Dublin, 
 ter the taking 
 hiand. Tae 
 I to try and 
 3t withstc-^d 
 
 peace fc a 
 
 old English 
 ncoln alder- 
 ■ day of his 
 ich harassed 
 erful that he 
 
 i into East 
 Idmund pri- 
 ider-king to 
 vith arrows. 
 LS been since 
 or he w • 
 ghting wi\j 
 s took jLast 
 anish Virig- 
 
 A.D. 877. Ethelwolf and his Elder Sons. 55 
 
 dom. Yet they did not drive out the English, but the 
 East English became, as it were, Danes. 
 
 5. The Danes next came into the middle of England 
 where Ethelred and Alfred, his brother, fought oft- 
 times with them. Of one of these battles A»hdown 
 there is a story told. Two Danish kings and b*"'*- 
 five earls with a great host were plundering Middl- Eng- 
 land. Against them came Ethelred and Alfred ; and the 
 Danes set their battle in array by a hawthorn that was on 
 Ashdown, in Berkshire ; but the English were below, 
 l^thelred s men were set against the two kings, and Alfred 
 and his men against the earls. Before the battle Ethel- 
 red went to prayers, and when the battle began he was 
 still praying. They called him out to the fight, but he 
 would not go till his prayers were done, for he said he 
 must first serve God and then his fellow-men. When 
 his prayers were finished he went to help Alfred, who was 
 fighting like a wild boar against the hunters. And he 
 brought him great help, and slew one of the Danish kings 
 with his own hand. And at last the Danes fled before the 
 English, who chased them many miles. There fell also 
 the five Danish earls. 
 
 But the Danes were so many and strong that they 
 fought two battles soon after against the king, in one of 
 which he is said to have got his death-wound ; and Alfred 
 his brother, was made king in his stead. ' 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 ALFRED THE TRUTH-TELLER. 
 
 I. Alfred's reign falls into two parts, the first down to 
 880, in which he was fighting chiefly with the 
 Danes who were settling in the North and "S-leiler. 
 East of England under Ragnar's sons and A.D.871-901.* 
 Gorm ; the last part (881 to 901), when he was chiefly 
 
 I 
 
56 
 
 Early England. 
 
 A.IJ. K75. 
 
 it was ha';no.kfi7h"«'Mr*d ''-^ '"^^ *a. 
 
 went away and plundered ^l„ ! ' '" '""^ "^ *"" 
 
 did not withslandth, ' ^, "'"'''' "'""^ *« P^ople 
 ui wunstand them so well. Then Alfre-' &, ^. .. 
 
 d.e.ded .hen, ,.,::r„°::i'';,i .t„r.atr ^"^ ■"^^" 
 
 Half*u,„d a"'' *••■•'■ ..led it as their own And ^h. „?. 
 and they swore^ath, , \ ""'^^ P'"" "'* 'h'"' 
 
 .hat'^tf^d S'tTfln^m fh™ irs"^""^ ■"'° ^'-« 
 lived in a little i.l;,nV n i^ . , ^° Somerset, where he 
 
 a^on, t^pSettL^rer^^^^^^^^^^^^ 
 
 here was Wd „1 ? ° °' '^"^'^"<' ^8^'"- Near 
 loneedto a?t^ff "^ *«°' ^ J^"''' "hich had be- 
 
 here hiding, thtt' a s^r^i ot'o/hL'-^Set^l'^™^ 
 
 king.' She toiler: .ri."!' "?',''T *■' "" '"^ 
 *eroo..s„.eca.es;h-i;h^;;;r:hf^--V 
 
 i';^:!!.^ 
 
A.D. K75. 
 
 tying to soctle, 
 etimes. 
 
 ght the Danes 
 ties found that 
 fi'any of them 
 sre the people 
 ed foi; iht the 
 h was a great 
 I'ps, and men 
 d. 
 
 1, settled with 
 t among them 
 ^nd the otiier 
 m, the Dane 
 : to plunder 
 e with theni, 
 ing, heathen 
 s oath. But 
 1 not attack 
 hat still held 
 
 into Wessex 
 2t, where he 
 es' Island), 
 and. There 
 -t together 
 ain. Near 
 :h had be- 
 ds, 'Alfred 
 ben he was 
 ook refuge 
 1 for some 
 le was the 
 vas out of 
 i; hui the 
 
 A.i>. 878. Alfred the Truth-teller, 
 
 57 
 
 ki 'g ti.>rgot the cakes for he was thinking and mending 
 his cow and arrows. When the good-wife came back 
 he rakes were spoilt. Then she was very an^ry, and 
 told the kmg that he was ready to eat them when they 
 were done but was too lazy to help to do them properly. 
 V or she knew not that he had been thinking of greater 
 mmgs. " 
 
 3. Soon things began to look brighter, and Alfred 
 was able to come forth as a king again. First one of 
 Kagnars sons was slain in Devon, and his magic banner, 
 that had been worked in one day by his sisters, was taken. 
 It was the image of a raven embroidered and fixed on a 
 pole ; Its wmgs waved in the wind, and wherever it went 
 It was said to bring victory to those who owned Edington 
 It. Soon after this victory Alfred gathered a ^^ ^'d- 
 great host at a place he fixed, and then To. 878. 
 he went after the Danes, and they fought at Edington. 
 in the West Saxon land, and Alfred won the day ; and 
 there is still to be seen the figure of a horse cut in the 
 turf, on the side of the hill, which is said to be a mark of 
 this great battle. And after this battle he followed the 
 Danes and shut them up in a fortress which they had 
 made, till they promised to make peace and take the 
 Christian faith. For Alfred could not trust their oaths 
 as long as they were heathen. So the Danes and 
 their king were baptized, and Alfred was godfather to 
 Gorm, and gave him a new name, Ethelstan, which had 
 been the name of his own father's brother. Peace also 
 was made between the two kings at Wedmore. Gorm- 
 Ethelstan was to keep East Anglia and the north half of 
 the Marchland above Watling Street, and be Alfred's 
 
 TJl' \"/ ^^^'^"^ '"^^^ ^"^ ^^^^ ^" the rest. And that part 
 of the Marchland which Alfred had he ?ave to Eth*.lr«H 
 an aldei-man of his, for there were no longer kings there \ 
 and he gave Lthelfled, his eldest daughter, to him to wife. 
 
58 
 
 Early England. 
 
 A. b. 885. 
 
 ... u. 00^, 
 
 VVaSrg's';S."b:[m„!,1i'V?^"'= ^^^y-^ -u.h of 
 Ethelsmn's realm Tho ° ^ ''"'"''"' ""' "> Gom,- 
 join Hasting, : Lou ' .rovlTh:""""*^" "'"' '» 
 
 So there was peace in VTIf 'T u"^' ""^ '" <^»'"'- 
 abroad would stilfpTunier ,hf ' ""' '"" ''^^^ f"-" 
 ATred fought once aSt'htTs'ea™" ^"'^ "■"' ^"^ 
 
 panonhe' MafcW::d"''Tl,e"'"f1'L^''=''=' ^"«'-. -" 
 all south of Wa.w'st~et^^ ".'"■"'"■"''"'='"'' and 
 
 aldermen, BuMhe Danef T', ""f" '^''■•''' ="«' ^^ 
 now Christians That wa,, '""■ '" ^"S'^"'' ""C 
 
 'hey no longed pt^d^d fru'f'burbe: ''"^"*' ^"^ 
 down quietly with the Enghsh ^ '° ''"'= 
 
 peace SlfredaXl'^t'" "\'^'^ '" ""« »='<'' 
 A>... .histno^rnUreL r''';'\™''''--'''"?=.-d 
 
 rtt' .he Ba.d\"eclm/-Emp:it,.''h: ^""'^.^ 
 
 h;:;s .og:r -i'''^^-™^^^^^^ 
 
 Countsof Paris JuS who f, J° ""'■"' "^ G^"' 'he ' 
 
 in this way. He fellin 1 ^ ^'"^ 8°' h'^ name 
 
 proud that sie would nl^ ' """" ^ '^''>' "ho was so 
 then, but laughld i' hta 2"^ "/T" ''"«■ ''^ >•' ""' 
 
 When he was^inVof'aT, No^ay/'anfort^ '''.'" 
 earnest and swore hp wn„w ^ ^^^'^ ^^'^ m 
 
 he was head kinTof^N^It "'3 Si."!':"" ^'^ "t "'" 
 
 wor. he became so. Then he-c-om*^Vr^hfsTalrtd 
 
A. U. 885. 
 
 ayed south of 
 went to Gomi- 
 eathen went to 
 now in Gaul, 
 le Danes from 
 and then, and 
 
 t Angh'a, and 
 tnberland and 
 Ifred and his 
 -ngland were 
 5 English, for 
 ran to settle 
 
 ' have made 
 2r-kings, and 
 ime Charles 
 he reigned 
 ;d and never 
 3f Gaul the ' 
 iars became 
 saved Gaul 
 
 great king 
 small kings 
 i he had a 
 lelped him 
 t his name 
 ho was so 
 
 as he was 
 
 wed him 
 'k this in 
 is hair till 
 ears' hard 
 > hair and 
 
 A. D. 891. A If red the Trutk-teller. 59 
 
 iifbdf JV".^ '' ^'^ ^° ^°"^' '^-' ho could tuck it under 
 
 P oud iadf and" T 'T " ^^'^^ '^^^ ^^ ^-^eTt 
 words Nn 'rl ^''''^"'" ^"^^"' according to her 
 
 w :hru^sr jmTu: o'rc t ^^ ^° ^"^'^-^^ ^^ 
 
 he was caUed Ganger or W.,1.' u "^""^ ^"' ^°''"' ^"^ 
 and heavv fhofK^ ' ,. ^^'^^^' because he was so bi- 
 
 hfm Rolf tool . '°"'^ "°' '"^'^y «"^ ^ horse to bear 
 
 and they could g^no further "'"">'= "'*="'°'' '"'">' 
 6. Once before 893 the Danes came over from Hoi 
 land where they were plundering, and tried ,0 utl" 
 Rochester, and ravaged Essex; but Alfred 
 
 Frank kmg, who discomfited th.^. ^.^ „„ /"^ ^^'^^ 
 a great slaughter so .. ::" "-;- ,^"" ="'"'^ ^hem with 
 
 the Frank land ir man .^s' Th "^ 'T'' ^" 
 
 ">an/ /cars. This made them go 
 
6o 
 
 Bnrly Enp-land. 
 
 m\ 
 
 A.D. 893-6. 
 
 VI - A.D. »93-6. 
 
 back to England and rv .„' ^^tH« m 
 f'^ycame back under ^;a tm^ the '^ '° '" «93 
 forts of earthwork =.: Kent and f ' } '^^"^^^r, built 
 The Danes of I. orthumC j '"^ !° ^°^^ *^« ^^nd- 
 helped them, anci M^XhL I"' ""''' ^"^^^"^ 
 them b,,,,^. Next yrar,rhn^ '"^^' '"^ ^^ ^^^ 
 one band in the West another k °' ■'"^' agn.nst 
 
 of England up the Tham- ^""^ '^'"' ^'""^ '^' ^^^^* 
 Alfred pursued them and ^""^ [°^^ "^^^^^ ^^e land, 
 back to E..st Enrnd tr" I ^""^'' ""^ ^^^^^ went 
 
 wives and children-?"; thlvc??^^^^^ ^'"^ ^P< ^"^ 
 all their goods, wishbg toilT: '"' ?' ^"^"^^' ^^^ 
 rode across England to ChTst ^'"^ ^^"^e-and then 
 easily be driven But in «.f ' T^"""" '^"^ ^°"^d not 
 
 %htonebandthatlmeup outt%H""^ '°^' P"' ^^ 
 year the Danes broughuhe£ T I ''^''' ^^^ "^« 
 
 a fort and sat down ther ' 5^^^": "^n^ ^^^''^ ' "^^^ 
 cuttmg and turned the water .Vn.t ^^ '^ ""^^^ ^ ^'^^^ 
 ships were left drv rlt u'' ""^^^^ '" '^^ Danish 
 
 he had.ome there^;o pTo ctTho ' ""^'""'^ ^°""^^^' ^^r 
 for it was harvest-time' When t^e d''" ^^"^^' 
 
 could not go back by the river thtv fooH''" ''^'' ^^^^ 
 across to the Severn Valley a^/t?. ''/ ^"^ ''"^^ 
 
 fort and waited for ships But thl .""^^^ '^^^^^^^r 
 
 up to fetch the ships th!' Danes fa!??"/ ' ':?'^'"" ^^"^ 
 were seaworthy they ken W.,, ''"'* ^^^'^e t^at 
 
 Soon after the ^Danish host tft I'freT J'*^^. '"'^ "P" 
 went off to their brethren nteEa^^^ ^^'°"^' ^°"^^ 
 went over sea to the Seine,' vhereo'ir''' ^"^ '"^^^" 
 his earldom. ' ^^^ ^°'^ was setting up 
 
A.D. 893-6, 
 
 re. So in 893 
 5ea-rover, built 
 hold the land. 
 Eiast England 
 but he faced 
 o- uij agn.'nst 
 from the East 
 ross the land, 
 md they went 
 'eir spoil, and 
 English, with 
 lie— and then 
 ley could not 
 c folk put to 
 5t. The next 
 ea, and made 
 made a great 
 
 the Danish 
 counsel, for 
 
 it the Danes, 
 aw that they 
 rse and rode 
 ide another 
 'Ondon went 
 d Iho e that 
 V broke up. 
 dom; some 
 , and some 
 ' setting up 
 
 •eep off the 
 s to fight 
 
 1 the coast, 
 e ships ol 
 nd swifter. 
 
 A.D. 897-901. A//red the Truth-teller. 
 
 61 
 
 s'hinf •i'/"^^'^^''- "" ^^^'"^ ^° ^^^^ been his own 
 shipb Ider, for we are told that he did not copy the 
 Danish nor Fns.an ships, but made them as he thought 
 bes for the work of keeping the coasts. Through the 
 unskilfulness of their crews they were not able to heat the 
 Danes who came and plundered the Isle of Wight and 
 Devon. Yet, though the Danes escaped once from them, 
 they were not wUhng to risk themselves as they did 
 be ore Alfred had a good tkct ; and soon he was bettlr 
 able by this means to keep the coast. 
 
 In 9or he died, and his son Edward wa. made king. 
 
 8. Besides these wars of Alfred and the great troubles 
 ot his reign he found time for many things, so that he io 
 as great a name as ever English king before ' h 
 or after got. He was called the Truth-teller, dSactcr. 
 
 tToublel 't ^".T ^ ""''' J"^^ ^•"^' ^"d took great 
 Tf EthVib!: '^' f ?^-^'"5 "''^^ ^^ ^^°^- °"t of the Uws 
 of Ethelber nd Im and Offa. Some of his own laws 
 
 tnf. A ? ""^^ ''"^' ^^^^ ^S^i"^' robbery, vio- 
 lence, and evil aomg, ...d against those who broke the 
 commandments of the mrch and the Bible 
 
 schotrsTo!h\7 vT"' "-^^ '°'" ^'^ ^^y' ^"^ P^o^ected 
 scholars, so that his fame spread abroad. In 8qi there 
 
 came to see him four of the chief scholars ofl e and 
 which was then a great place for learnin... He always 
 
 Frfni'""?."^'" "'^"^ ^""' ^"^b as Grimbald the 
 IrftLn ^"^^^^^^,?,^ Welshn.an, who is said to have 
 
 wartH .' '•, ^^'"^ ^''^'^^ ^°""d ^^^t the Danish 
 war had driven learning out of the North and destroyed 
 the schools which had been there from the days of 
 
 h'I'^J! .t'r..,f ".^"^.^ ^!-^- ^- ^i^ people. 
 
 coula 
 
 teach them himself, for he 
 
 CA«- r«-.« u 1 ->-"v,x^ iiiciu uimseii, lor he 
 
 that they m.ght learn wisdom ; and :« added td 
 
62 
 
 Early England. 
 
 these books what he thought useful out of his own 
 knowledge He Englished Bede's Church History, the 
 
 and a book by Orosms, no wrote of the world and its 
 geography In h,s reign too the English Chronicles were 
 
 Trittrthtr ^"' ^ '"" "^"^^ °^ ^'^-^'^ -" ^-e 
 
 Alfred was very careful of the Church. He often sent 
 messengers and gifts to the Pope, and there wem mes 
 sengcrs from him to the Churches in India and JcrusaTer^ 
 SLh. "monasteries, and over one he put his second 
 
 ffT Tr? ^^""T' ^^' ""'^'^ ^' b""* at Athelney, out 
 of hankfulness for the great deliverance he had afte the 
 
 evil days he passed there in hiding 
 
 He was fond of hearing about foreign lands, and in 
 his translation of Orosius he tells us of the travels of two 
 ^ea-captains whom he sent to the North Sea and Z 
 Baltic. He was also very fond of music 
 
 He was very hard-working, and never lost a moment 
 but always had something to do, and he carried a S 
 
 to rerJl "^ V' '""" ^"^^^""^ ^^^' ^--ed usea^ 
 to remember. He governed wisely and chose good 
 officers, and took care of rich and poor alike, pfr he 
 said that in a well-ruled kingdom the'priest, the soldier 
 and the yeoman should each be taken care of, that each 
 might do his appointed work as well as possible 
 
 Hasdnrhld'h^ T""* t ^'"'■^"^ ^"^^^^^"S- ^^^^ -hen 
 Hasting had broken his oath to him and was fighting 
 
 against him he took his wife and children prisoners^ 
 
 ?n L H i'''"' ^r^ *° ^^"^ ^"^ -°"1<^ "ot keep S 
 in bonds He was loved for his good heart as welUs f^r 
 
 9. Though the Danes were still troublesome after 
 
of his own 
 History, the 
 y of Boethius, 
 vorld and its 
 ronicles were 
 d's own time 
 
 ie often sent 
 re went mes- 
 d Jerusalem. 
 Lit his second 
 Uhelney, out 
 lad after the 
 
 ands, and in 
 avels of two 
 Jea and the 
 
 a moment, 
 ried a httle 
 ;med useful 
 :hose good 
 ce. For he 
 the soldier, 
 f, that each 
 le. 
 
 Once when 
 as fighting 
 prisoners ; 
 keep them 
 well as for 
 ten wished 
 I's darling/ 
 
 Alfred the Trnth-tdler. 
 
 63 
 
 Alfred s death they were not able to do much harm for a 
 long tmie, and under the kings who reigned 
 for the next hundred years England was '^'"^*""- 
 greater and more peaceful than it had been before The 
 reasons why the Danes had been able to conquer and 
 settle down m so much of the land were : 
 
 (I.) They were able to move about more swiftly in their 
 ship, than the English could move along the roads, and 
 so they often took the English unawares. 
 
 (2,) The land of England, though it was under one over- 
 lord was not yet quite one kingdom. Each part of the 
 country st.ll acted by itself a good deal, and so the Danes, 
 though not strong enough to beat the great king, could 
 often drive away the under-kings or aldermen. 
 
 (3-) The Danes were near akin to the English. So 
 though the English fought very bravely for their land and 
 their homes, yet they felt that if the Danes would only 
 maKe peace and dwell among them quietly as neighbours 
 they would be safer than if they had them as foes 
 
 (4.) In the first days of the Danish inroads the English 
 king had no regular fleet nor army, like our armies of 
 to-day always ready to fight any foe. He had only his 
 own guards, and when he wished to go to war he had to 
 send round and summon all the armed men of the king- 
 dom and wait till they came together before they could do 
 anything. They would not stay together very long, but 
 went back to their business whenever they had won a 
 battle or lost one, or had served as long as they thought 
 fit. But at the end of Alfred's reign most of the Danes 
 who had been seeking a fresh home had found one, or 
 Had gone back, or had been slain, and so there was rest 
 
 ome after 
 
64 
 
 Early England, 
 
 % 
 % 
 
 la 
 
 The Keltic Peoples : 
 
 Scotland 
 
 C";»j>^land (now put under the Scottish Kings) 
 Wales (North ^nd South) 
 
 The English : 
 E. 1. Essex 
 E. 2. Marchland 
 E. 3. IVessex 
 E. 4. Sussex 
 E. 5. A««/ 
 
 The Danish Settlements: 
 D. I. Northumberland 
 D. 2. 7"^ /TjiV^ Boroughs and Zi«<:<7/« 
 D. 3- East England 
 
 The Zt;/'-4/i.«j, where the Danes did not hold rule was nut 
 at last under the Scottish Kings. ' ^^ 
 
 The Northmen's Settlements : 
 
 M ^ r^'f '''^T ^'"'^''^'''' *"^ ^^^ ^'"Sdom of Man 
 N. 2. Northmen's Irish Kingdom 
 
 N. 3, Normandy. 
 
iings) 
 
 I rule, was put 
 
 >m of Man 
 
66 
 
 Early England, 
 
 A.D. 901. 
 
 f 
 
 I- 
 
 BOOK VI. 
 
 THE GREAT OLD- ENGLISH KINGS. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 EDWARD THE ELDER.— A.D. 90I-925. 
 
 I. King Edward, called the Elder, is said to have 
 been in learning less, in honour and worth equal, in glory 
 Edward and greater than his father, for he spread his king- 
 ' '' "*='^- dom much farther than Alfred had done. 
 At first he had much trouble ; for one of his cousins, 
 Ethelwald, son of Ethelred, wished to be king in his 
 stead. Though Edward drove him out of his kingdom 
 the Northern Danes made him their king. He made an 
 alliance with Yorick, king of the Danes in East England, 
 and ravaged Kent and the Marchland. So Edward went 
 up against him, and many Kentishmen with him, and 
 there was a great battle fought. When Edward was 
 obliged to give way the men of Kent would not draw 
 back, they were so angry at the wasting of their land, 
 but though Edward sent seven times to them to tell them 
 of their danger, they stayed and fought on. They could 
 not win the battle, but Ethelwald and Yorick and many 
 of the chief Danes fell ; and so the danger was stayed. 
 Next year Gorm, the son of Yorick, and Edward made 
 peace, as Alfred and Gorm-Ethelstan had done. They 
 also set Watling Street as a boundary between their 
 lands, and agreed to put down heathendom among their • 
 people. 
 
 Now, Edward and his sister Ethelfled, the Lady of 
 Mercia, set about fortifying all the towns along the border. 
 The Lady built up Chester, which was a waste city, and 
 
A.D. 901. 
 
 A.D. 912-922. Edward the Elder. 
 
 67 
 
 H KINGS, 
 
 1-925. 
 
 ., is said to have 
 h equal, in glory 
 spread his king- 
 red had done. 
 
 of his cousins, 
 be king in his 
 of his kingdom 
 . He made an 
 I East England, 
 )0 Edward went 
 with him, and 
 ti Edward was 
 ould not draw 
 
 of their land, 
 im to tell them 
 n. They could 
 rick and many 
 ;^er was stayed. 
 Edward made 
 d done. They 
 between their 
 n among their • 
 
 d, the Lady of 
 )nc the border. 
 i^aste city, and 
 
 Th.f f \ ' ^^ ^i'«!^r& did the like in his land 
 
 2. in 913 Charles the Simple kinjr nf fh« \xt 
 Franks, gave Normandy to Rolf and mf^. ^ ^.^f 
 him nffi,„ , -^ ^^^ made peace with 
 
 mm. Ofthe peace between Charles and Rolf 
 
 It IS told that whpn RnJf /'"''^'^^^^faKolt RoIfinNor- 
 
 man on^ c t ^^ became Charles's -n^ndy. 
 
 lord. But he said he would never do that anH h« k a 
 one of his men do it for him tk ' ^^ ^"""^^ 
 
 ^toopinff down lifflV .u , ^^ "'^''' instead of 
 
 th.^T^^''^'^.^^^''^^ Danish fleet came to Endand nnH 
 the Danes tned to land, but they were driven^ ' ^ 
 offand went to Ireland. The Danes 
 
 andZer„t;B:r"b:s ^r- ">^ ^'■«"'- 
 
 victorious, and she took all thl n f'l "? ''"inhere 
 make peace-first Qnm« n "''^' /"«""'ei uiey came to 
 
68 
 
 Early Eftgland. 
 
 A.D. 922-925 
 
 the Welsh, who had tried in vain to get hold of Chester, 
 took him as father and lord. So did the Dane king of 
 York, and the Welsh of the Clyde Valley, the English 
 lord of the North who ruled in Bamborough, and the king 
 of the Scots. So now Edward ruled o/er all Britain as 
 overlord, and over a great part as his own kingdom. This 
 happened in 923, and soon after he died, and his sons 
 took his kingdom after him, and first Ethelstan or Athel- 
 stan, who was also a mighty king. Men called Edward 
 the Unconquered, because of his glory in war. 
 
 4. Edward had many children, and some of his 
 daughters became queens also, for they were married 
 Edward's to the great kings over-sea— one to Otto the 
 c . dren. Emperor, another to Charles the Simple, 
 another to the king of Aries, and one to the great Count 
 of Pans. But one was married to Sigtric, the Dane king 
 m the North. When Charles the Simple, king of the 
 West Franks, was driven from his kingdom, Edgif,his wife, 
 came to England with her little son Lewis, who was after' 
 wards king in his father's land, and he was called Lewis 
 'from over-sea,' because he was long at the English court. 
 This shows that the English kings were now great 
 people, and were thought much of abroad. Also it shows 
 that the kmgs after Egbert took much care to be friends 
 with the kings abroad. Thus England was no more shut 
 out from the rest of the Western world, as it had been 
 when there were many small kings in England. 
 
 Edward, like his father, took great care of the Church, 
 and one of his daughters became a nun. And he set a 
 new bishop in the west of his land, at Wells. Edward 
 died in 925, and his son Ethelstan was made king, and 
 tlicre was great joy when he was crowned. 
 
 < 
 
A.D, 922-925 
 
 hold of Chester, 
 he Dane king of 
 lley, the English 
 igh, and the king 
 /er all Britain as 
 1 kingdom. This 
 id, and his sons 
 helstan or Athel- 
 1 called Edward 
 1 war. 
 
 d some of his 
 !y were married 
 -one to Otto the 
 es the Simple, 
 the great Count 
 :, the Dane king 
 pie, king of the 
 ijEdgif, his wife, 
 s, who was after- 
 as called Lewis 
 le English court. 
 vere now great 
 . Also it shows 
 ire to be friends 
 is no more shut 
 as it had been 
 :land. 
 
 5 of the Church, 
 
 And he set a 
 
 ^''ells. Edward 
 
 tiade king, and 
 
 A.D. 925-937. Ethelstan the Steadfast. 
 
 69 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 ETHELSTAN THE STEADFAST. -A.D. 925-940. 
 
 rp.Vn f^""^^^"^^^ ^^d some trouble at the be, inning of his 
 reign for a cousm of his tried to get made k.ng instead, 
 but he was driven away. Soon the Dane Ethel . • 
 kmg S.gtnc died, and the Danes' war b^oke -S 
 
 l?nH f '" '^".^^'^^ ' ^"^ ^*^^^^t^" took Northumber- 
 and and jomed it to his own kingdom, though the En'- 
 isn men of Bamborough tried to withstand him The 
 
 sons of Sigtnc fled to Ireland and Scotland and^ried to 
 
 f n. ke'en r '"""^ '^"' '"^ ^^^^'^^^ ^^^^ ^h" Scot 
 kmg keep the peace. And now Ethelstan took Exeter 
 
 and ^ade it strong, and set Englishmen in it ; so he 
 Welsh had only Cornwall in the West. 
 
 But in 937 there gathered a great host against him for 
 the Scots and Welsh of Strath Clyde joined the D^^es 
 
 them anY th '^^.'T" ^'"^""^ "^^^^^^ ^^^^ ^o meet* 
 them, and they fought at Brunanburg. Of this battle 
 
 w 1^' i °"' '°"^ ^^'^^ *""^ ^°^ Ethelstan slew the 
 Scot kmg's son, and five Dane sea-kings (kings of fleets) 
 and many great men. All day they'foughf, but when 
 evenmg came the English won the fight 
 
 Before the battle it is said that Olaf, one of the Dane 
 Ws. disguised himself as a harper and went into Ethel 
 Stan s camp o spy out his array. But a soldier who had 
 
 Wh m S "h'^T^ '^^^ '^^ "^^ -^ *^-ght he 
 forh^. n^* • r '"^ '^' Englishmen gave him money 
 for his playing he -vatched him, and when he saw him 
 bury the money-for Olaf thought it not kinglto tak^ 
 m.3ney from the English when he was acting as 1 spy- 
 he was sure it was th^ \.w^ \xru„ rs^.r ^ , ^^, . 
 FfVi^ic* , . £•= •'"6'^ ^-'liii was gone he told 
 
 let h,ra go, and the sold.er said, • If I had betrayed hin, 
 
70 
 
 Early England. 
 
 A.D. 937-940. 
 
 and his 
 brother. 
 
 whom I once served how shouldst thou have trusted me, 
 whom I serve now ? ' And Ethelstan was pleased with his 
 answer. But Olaf gathered his men and fell upon Ethel- 
 stan's camp that night, and slew a bishop who lay where 
 Ethelstan had lain. For Ethelstan moved his tent when 
 he knew that Olaf had spied out his camp. But the 
 Englishmen woke up, and at last drove out the Danes 
 and slew many of them. After this great battle the Scot 
 and Welsh kings made peace with Ethelstan again, for 
 they feared his might. 
 
 2. Ethelstan was a very good king, and we never hear 
 of any evil deed of his doing, save that some say he 
 Ethelstan causcd his brother Edwin to be put in a boat 
 
 with one servant and turned adrift at sea, 
 because he had plotted against him. Edwin 
 threw himself overboard in despair and was drowned, and 
 the servant came to land and told of his death. We 
 do not know certainly that this is true j and as we find 
 Ethelstan very kind to all his other kinsfolk it is rather 
 unlikely. 
 
 3. Ethelstan had many friends abroad, as his father 
 and grandfather had, and it was in his days that mes- 
 Etheistan sengers came from the great Count of Paris 
 and^foreign to ask the hand of the fairest of his sisters. 
 
 They brought him many splendid gifts, one of 
 which was the sword of Constantine, the Emperor, with 
 his name in gold letters graven on it ; they brought also 
 the spear of Charles the Great and a beautiful cup 
 carved marvellously with figures, and horses with fine 
 trappings, and many fair jewels. The like of these trea- 
 sures had never been seen in England before. The 
 Northern books say too that Harold Fairhair sent his 
 little son Hakon to be brought up by Ethelstan. He sent 
 too as a presei^t to Ethelstan a great ship with a gilded 
 prow and a purple sail, and around the bulwarks was a 
 
A.D. 937-940. 
 
 have trusted me, 
 s pleased with his 
 i fell upon Ethel- 
 Dp who lay where 
 /ed his tent when 
 camp. But the 
 e out the Danes 
 It battle the Scot 
 lelstan again, for 
 
 nd we never hear 
 at some say he 
 be put in a boat 
 ;d adrift at sea, 
 ast him. Edwin 
 ras drowned, and 
 his death. We 
 ; and as we find 
 isfolk it is rather 
 
 ad, as his father 
 i days that mes- 
 : Count of Paris 
 It of his sisters, 
 ndid gifts, one of 
 J Emperor, with 
 hey brought also 
 a beautiful cup 
 horses with fine 
 ke of these trea- 
 d before. The 
 airhair sent his 
 ulstan. He sent 
 ip with a gilded 
 bulwarks was a 
 
 A.D. 940. Ethels tan the Steadfast. 71 
 
 row of shields, gilt and painted. 1 1 is certain that Hakon 
 was brought up in England, and that he was called from 
 that Ethelstan's foster- son ; but some men say that 
 he was with Gorm-Ethelstan, the Dane king of East 
 England, and not with Ethelstan, the English king. 
 Hakon afterwards became king in Norway, and tried 
 to make his people Christian, as he was ; but they would 
 not. 
 
 4. The mother of Ethelstan was a poor girl, who was 
 brought up by the nurse of his father, Edward. One day 
 while Edward was on a journey he passed Etheistar.'. 
 near the house of his old nurse, and stopped '''"h- 
 and went to see her ; there he met this poor girl, and fell 
 m love with her for her great beauty. When Ethelstan 
 was born his grandfather Alfred was still alive ; and when 
 he saw him grow up a good boy he became very fond of 
 him, and often prayed that he might be a good and great 
 kmg. He gave him a purple cloak and a beautiful sword 
 with a golden sheath that hung from a jewelled belt. It 
 was then the custom that when a boy grew up and be- 
 came a young man he was girt with a sword and belt 
 like a soldier, and was allowed to fight by the side of the 
 men in the day of battle. But Ethelstan was made a 
 soldier when he was yet a boy only six years old. 
 
 5- He was very handsome, like his mother, and had 
 long hair that shone like gold. He was very kind and 
 good-natured to the poor people, and very „ , , , 
 ready to listen to the priests, to his nobles he char'iS^.' 
 behaved as a king should, and towards his enemies he 
 was very brave and steadfast. He was open-handed, and 
 when he took spoil in war he dealt it out among his 
 followers. He would never hoard up riches, but all he 
 had he gave away that it might be used as wis^^lv ac ^«ce: 
 ble. When he died all men mourned for him, and his 
 days, though few, were glorious. 
 
;a 
 
 Early England. 
 
 A. D. 940-944, 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 EDMUND THE DEED-DOER.— A.D. 940-946. 
 
 I. Edmund, his brother, was made king after him; but, 
 by the counsel of the archbishop of York, the Danes in 
 Edmund *^^ ^o''^^ '■ose against him, and took Olaf of 
 olfnstan. ^^^^^"d for their king. Edmund went against 
 them and won back the five great towns in the 
 north of the Marchland. The English that dwelt therein 
 and had been so long ruled by the Danes were very glad, 
 and there was a fine song written on this great deed. 
 
 In 943 Olaf made peace with Edmund and was bap- 
 tized, and Edmund gave him great gifts. In the same 
 year Dunstan was made abbot of Glastonbury. He was 
 the son of a great man who lived near Glastonbury, and 
 was brought up at the abbey there. He had been at the 
 court of Ethelstan; but some folks there hated him, so he 
 did not stay long with the king, but was persuaded to 
 become a monk. And now Edmund took him into his 
 favour and gave him Glastonbury to rule. He ruled it 
 well, rebuilt the church, and kept the monks in good 
 order. He was a very wise man and skilled in all things, 
 for he played and sung well, was a good smith, and painted 
 very well. He was also wise in ruling men. 
 
 2. In 944 Olaf of Ireland died, and Olaf, son of Sigtric, 
 ruled in his stead. He fought against Edmund ; but 
 Edmund's Edmund drove him out, and joined all North- 
 wars, umberland to his own kingdom, so that there 
 were no more kings there, but only earls, or governors who 
 ruled for the kings of England. 
 
 In the next year Edmund took Cumberland, and gave 
 it to the king of the Scots to rule, and the king of Scots 
 promised in return to be his man and help him in all that 
 
 h- J! J • 
 
 C UiU. 
 
 
A.D. 940-944. 
 
 . 940-946. 
 
 ng after him; but, 
 )rk, the Danes in 
 ind took Olaf of 
 und went against 
 reat towns in the 
 lat dwelt therein 
 5 were very glad, 
 great deed, 
 id and was bap- 
 s. In the same 
 nbury. He was 
 Jlastonbury, and 
 had been at the 
 lated him, so he 
 LS persuaded to 
 )k him into his 
 
 e. He ruled it 
 monks in good 
 ed in all things, 
 ith, and painted 
 in. 
 
 f, son of Sigtric, 
 
 Edmund ; but 
 
 ined all North- 
 
 t, so that there 
 
 governors who 
 
 land, and gave 
 king of Scots 
 him in all that 
 
 A.D. 946. 
 
 Edred the Chosen. 
 
 73 
 
 3. In 946 Edmund was slain in *•; . way. He was 
 sitting at meat with his men, and there came in Leof, an 
 outlaw, for it was the feast-day of S.Augustine, ^^ ,, 
 and no man would hurt him on that day, and l^C^^ 
 he sat dowTi with the rest. But the king was wroth when 
 he saw his boldness, and bade his cup-bearer turn him out. 
 When he tried to do so Leof withstood him and would 
 have slain him ; but the king leaped up from his seat and 
 caught Leof by his hair and threw him down. Then 
 Leof drew a knife and wounded the king to the death • 
 but the king's followers slew Leof on the spot. Dunstan 
 had the king buried at Glastonbury, and mourned greatlv 
 for him. Edmund, though he reigned for so i^^ years 
 did many great deeds, so that men called him Edmund 
 the Deed-doer. 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 EDRED THE CHOSEN.— A.D. 946-955. 
 
 I. Then reigned Edred, his brother. He was a pious 
 man and ruled well, though he was infirm of ^ . .. 
 body. He hearkened to the words of Dunstan waS 
 and did what he counselled. 
 
 The Danes in the North rose against him, and the 
 archbishops with them ; but Edred fought against them 
 for three years, till they asked for peace and became his 
 men. They had chosen Eric, son of the king of Den- 
 mark, to be their king ; and he withstood Edred, but 
 Edred drove him out. And Edred put the archbishop of 
 York in bonds for the harm he had wrought against him- 
 but after a little while he set him loose. 
 
 Edred set two earls over Northumberland, one in 
 the north, Jhe other in the south of it, to keep it for 
 him ; but that pari of it which is called the Lothians 
 between the Firth and Tyne, he gave to the king of Sco^' 
 
74 Early England. ^.o. 955-958. 
 
 la«d already. Edred was as generous as his brother, and 
 fnTan EnV,' 'h' '''""'; '" ^" he died, and Dunstan 
 Th.^ rl ^ ? .'S°"'"''^ ^°'' ^'"^- "^ has been called 
 the 'Chosen,' or Excellent,' for his goodne.., and the!e 
 have been few kings like him. For he was like h s 
 grandfather, humble and brave and hard-working 
 
 Edwy's 
 
 troubled 
 
 reign. 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 EDWY.-A.D. 955-959. 
 
 I. When Edred died, Edwy, the son of Edmund, was 
 crowned kmg, and his brother Edgar was made 
 under-kmg in the North. Edwy was very 
 K A K ^headstrong, and quarrelled with those who 
 had been the greatest friends of Edred. 
 
 He married Elfgif ; and Oda, the archbishop, did not 
 hke this marriaT'^ for he held it was against the law. 
 On the day of ; : l.vy's crowning, when there were many 
 gathered togf. ., -^x the feast, suddenly the king arose 
 from the mid.si, of them and left the hall and went to his 
 wifes bower, wher.: he sat with her, leaving his nobles by 
 Uiemselves. They were very wroth at this, and bade 
 Dunstan go and fetch the king back, and he did so 
 
 Soon after this the king drove out Dunstan, who went 
 to Flanders; but Edgar sent for him, and made him a 
 bishop in his part of England. Edwy had another reason 
 for his dishke of him : Dunstan and the best men of the 
 Church at this time were trying to make the monks 
 hve better, for they had grown lazy and gluttonous, 
 ^dgar and the men of the North were pleased with this • 
 but Edwy and the men of the South set themselves' 
 against it. At last the quarrel rose so hi?h abnut t»>is 
 and also because of Edwy's foolish actsi that Edgar 
 
AiJ. 955-95^. 
 
 IS he held Cum.<er- 
 as his brother, and 
 died, and Dunstan 
 ^e has been called 
 Jodnc; 3, and there 
 ■ he was, like his 
 rd-working. 
 
 n of Edmund, was 
 
 r Edgar was made 
 
 Edwy was very 
 
 with those who 
 
 :hbishop, did not 
 against the law. 
 there were many 
 i the king arose 
 1 and went to his 
 ing his nobles by 
 this, and bade 
 1 he did so. 
 mstan, who went 
 md made him a 
 I another reason 
 best men of the 
 ake the monks 
 md gluttonous. 
 ;ased with this ; 
 set themselves 
 
 \\(r\\ ahnnt f-KJc 
 
 — O — — — ^«^ titifcj, 
 
 ts, that Edgar 
 
 A.D. 958-960. Edgar the Peace-ivinner. 75 
 
 not'tilf oh'' ^'" ^'■°i'!f ""^ ^°"'^' "°^ °bey him. It w.s 
 
 as he wChX'rl'' ^^^' ^° P"^ ^^^y h'^ -'f- -^ do 
 1 J u ^^^^ '^^y ^^''^ reconciled. Some sav that 
 
 uelwThat"!" 7\ '" P"^""^^ -^ treated h'e so 
 
 o de of Od/n'. '.^' '"/ '°"^^ ^^y ^*^'^ -'^^ done by 
 order of Oda, but others deny it. Soon after this Edwv 
 
 d.ed, or was slain, we do not know how, and his brouTer 
 became kmg of all England 
 
 CHAPTER VI 
 
 EDGAR THE PEACE-WINNER -A.D. 959-975. 
 
 I. Edgar's rule was very prosperous, and he had 
 peace for the most part of his reign". Th^ first year of 
 his reign Dunstan was made archbishop of 
 Canterbury, and he continued the king's friend fnd"hir 
 and adviser all the days of his life. With him '"^'^^'^^ 
 
 and Ethelwold, bishop of Winchester. These men also 
 did rnany good works, for they were very wise and skiLd 
 in all aits, as Dunstan was. But one plan they had, 
 which was 10 turn out from the cathedrals the priests 
 who were not monks and put monks in their stead, for 
 they thought that the monks from their strict life wiuld 
 do more good. But the parish priests and those priests 
 who were not monks did not like this, so that there was 
 a quarrel m the Church. 
 
 Wefsh^'^Hr' ^;'\^'^ '° ^^^' "^"^"^* '^^ Scots and 
 Welsh. He made the greatest of the Welsh kings sue 
 
 for peace, which he gave on condition of his Ed. ' 
 promising to pay him three hundred wolves' -^ "' 
 iS::? V^-^:^^ '^y^ ^^- were still wolves 
 
 I in England, and th 
 
 [Air ti*^v^ 
 
 ^y TT u 
 
 
 anH ci, u ' J r.' —^ ti'cat trouble to the farmers 
 
 and shepherds. Once the men of the North revolted 
 
 but Edgar ravage their land; and some say it wS 
 
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1^ 
 
 Early England. 
 
 A. a 973. 
 
 he, and not Edred, that gave the Lothians to Kenneth to 
 govern. 
 
 3. In 973 Edgar was solemnly crowned. Some say 
 that the reason he had not been crowned before was that 
 The crown. ^^ ^^^ ^^^^ an evil thing. When he repented 
 Elgi ^^ confessed his sin the archbishop had told 
 
 him that he should not be crowned for seven 
 years, as a sign of repentance. However this was it is 
 certam that there was a very grand feast ; and after it 
 Edgar went with his fleet to Chester. There he was met 
 by the kings over whom he was over-lord— five Welsh 
 kmgs, and Kenneth, the king of Scots, and the under- 
 king of Cumberland, and the Danish king of the Southern 
 Isles. These eight rowed him on the river in his bar^e 
 and he sat and steered. So Edgar held greater state 
 than ever any English king had held before. Even the 
 Danish kings of Dublin bowed to him, and money was 
 struck there m his name. Every year while Edgar lived 
 hi. fleet sailed round England to guard it, so that no foes 
 could land without a fight. 
 
 4- When he was dead there began evil days for the 
 Enghsh, so that men looked back to his reign when 
 Edgar's *^«^e was peace and good laws. Edgar like 
 c'&Ser. f great kings, was very careful about good 
 laws, and, with the help of Dunstan and the 
 wise men of England, he made many such, and saw 
 that they were kept, and anyone who broke them was 
 sternly punished. Once the men of Thanet plundered 
 some foreign merchants, and when Edgar heard of it 
 
 isk^T* ^" ^'""^ '"^ ^""''^ '^^""^ ^""^ ^^'^ "^^'^^ ^" *^^'^ 
 In his days Peterborough was built up again, which 
 Wotfere had founded, but it had fallen into decay through 
 the long Danish wars. He made it so Hrh with r,.«.:„:.„ 
 gifts and lands that it was called the Golden Borough""' 
 
A. I). 973. 
 ians to Kenneth to 
 
 3wned. Some say 
 ed before was that 
 When he repented 
 chbishop had told 
 crowned for seven 
 !ver this was, it is 
 east ; and after it 
 There he was met 
 -lord— five Welsh 
 5, and the under- 
 ig of the Southern 
 river in his barge, 
 leld greater state 
 lefore. Even the 
 , and money was 
 vhile Edgar lived 
 it, so that no foes 
 
 evil days for the 
 his reign when 
 Lws. Edgar, like 
 reful about good 
 Dunstan and the 
 ' such, and saw 
 broke them was 
 hanet plundered 
 igar heard of it 
 id waste all their 
 
 up again, which 
 :o decay through 
 
 en with rtfa/^lrx.,- 
 
 den Borough. 
 
 A.D. 975. £c/^ar the Peace-winner -- 
 
 nc was a little man, but verv ttfrono. r,^A r -j 1 
 nothing. One day ^hile the kin^ of' ? m T^ °^ 
 sitting at drink with'his men h sL'Sf^ondetut ^7 
 me that so many lands should obey onTlut " l„ ' A 
 
 wouldst no. hold o iraXy- A^d K?nlT^''*°'-' 
 tonished and fell ai hi, f„/ , J Kenneth was as- 
 
 ;[;f.X';.r^;re'r:^hrd"atvr:s 
 Sh-et^'^r rs:h^^;„'rsr rr^i *=' *« 
 
 was Ethelwold,to ask her hand f v '■/'"''" "™= 
 But when Ethilwold st hthe feU " °""=^ff•■ -. 
 himself; so he told the kingthat she -a" nof 7'f '" 
 
 KaJ::d^ ^^^::r^^ ^^^ 
 
 to.d the king, anHfwas'^r^rth^'TJt-? "^ 
 show It, and spoke kindly to Ethelwold an^f , n J'° 
 he would co.e and see l^ ^Tk^^:^Z^, 
 
78 
 
 Early England. 
 
 A.D. 975. 
 
 that he was sore afraid. So he went home and told his 
 wife Elfthrith the whole truth, and begged her to make 
 herself as ugly as she could, and dress herself in mean 
 raiment, that the king might not suspect his deceit. But 
 she was very angry because he had prevented her from 
 being a king's wife ; so when the king came to the house 
 of Ethelwold she dressed herself in fine raiment and 
 niade herself look as handsome as she could. When the 
 king saw how fair she was he was the more enraged, and 
 while he was hunting with Ethelwold he thrust a speai 
 through him so that he died. 
 
 Ethelwold had a son before he married Elfthrith, and 
 the young man was by when his father was slain. When 
 the king saw him he said to him, ' What think you of this 
 kmd of hunting .' ' for he was very angry. And the young 
 man answered * My lord, how should I be displeased at 
 what pleases you ?' The king was appeased by his ready 
 answer, and his anger left him. Afterwards he was very 
 kind to him, and gave him great gifts, that he might 
 atone for the slaying of his father. Edgar sent for 
 Elfthrith and married her, so that she became a king's 
 wife after all. She founded a house for nuns also where 
 Ethelwold was slain, that the sin of Edgar might not faU 
 upon her. 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 EDWARD THE MARTYR.— A.D. 975-978. 
 
 I. When Edgar died he left two sons. Elfthrith was 
 
 the mother of the younger, whose name was Etheh-ed ; 
 
 Dunstan ^^ ^^me of the other was Edward. By his 
 
 ^ Ed- will he desired that Edward should be king ; 
 
 and though Elfthrith wished that her little 
 
 ISAM WnA \l/oc nnKf ^^-mw^^ . -1-1 » «jt^ s» — 
 
 — , .,„^ „,„j. acvcii ycaii uiu, snouid be king, Uun- 
 
 stan and the Wise Men chose Edward. Before he was 
 
A.D. 97S-979. Edward the Martyr. 79 
 
 crowned there arose a great quarrel between the North 
 and South of England about the monks ; for Elfhere, 
 alderman of the English March, drove out the monks 
 and filled their places with simple priests ; but the great 
 aldermen of Essex and East England gathered a host to 
 defend them. It was the Northern folk that had helped 
 Edgar against his brother ; so now they stood out for 
 Edward, while the Southern folk wished for Ethelred. 
 But Dunstan and Oswald, the two archbishops, prevented 
 a war, though Elfhere did many evil deeds against the 
 monks all the days of Edward. 
 
 There were many meetings of the great men of Eng- 
 land throughout this reign to try and settle things peace- 
 fully. At one of these a strange thing happened. While 
 the elders of England were sitting together in an upper 
 chamber the floor suddenly fell, save one beam on 
 which Dunstan was standing. So he was not hurt ; but 
 of the others some were sore hurt and others killed. 
 After this men believed more in Dunstan than they did 
 before, for they thought that God had kept him from 
 harm for a sign to them. 
 
 2. In 979 an evil deed was done, so that the song of 
 that day says ' no worse deed was done among the English 
 since they first sought the land of Britain.' It Edward^s 
 is said that it happened in this way. Edward '^**'''- 
 had been out hunting, and as he was riding home weary 
 from the chase he came near the house of his stepmother 
 and rode to it. There she met him and received him 
 weU, and gave him to drink, for he was very thirsty ; but 
 as he was drinking she bade one of her followers' stab 
 him in the back, and he did so. When the king felt that 
 he was wounded he spurred his horse and rode off as 
 fast as he could ; but he was so faint that he rould not 
 Sit in his saddle. So he fell off, and his foot caught 
 the stirrup, and he was dragged along by the frightened 
 
8o 
 
 Early England. 
 
 A. D. 979. 
 
 horse through the rugged wood till he died. Men said 
 that Elfthrith and Elfhere had plotted to slay him as they 
 best could. But Edward was held a martyr; and soon 
 Elfthrith repented her of her evil deed and went into a 
 house of nuns, where she stayed all her days praying for 
 the forgiveness of her sins. Elfhere afterwards brought 
 the body of the king in great state to Shaftesbury Minster, 
 which Alfred had built. Soon after he died of a dreadful 
 disease, and men said God so punished him for his sin 
 
 Edward is said to have been a good king on earth, 
 and after his death a saint in heaven. He was fair to 
 look on, like most of the men of his race. 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 CHANGES IN ENGLAND UNDER THE GREAT KINGS. 
 
 I. Under the great English kings many changes had 
 
 come about in England, which had made it different from 
 
 TheChureh. England as it was in the days of the small 
 
 k.ngdoms. First, the Church had brought 
 
 men together. Moreover the monks, who lived together in 
 
 large houses, with great lands round them, had kept alive 
 
 the learning which king Alfred restored, and had taught 
 
 the Enghsh many useful things, so that building and the 
 
 arts and trades were all improved. The monks too were 
 
 great gardeners, and brought into England many new 
 
 herbs and plants which were useful for medicine or for 
 
 food. 
 
 2. Next the kings had grown more powerful ; for not 
 only did they rule over a people instead of over a tribe, 
 The King. ^^ *^^y ^^^ ^^o^e at first, but they had got 
 
 ^ greater power over their people, and were more 
 
 looKed up to. Edward and Ethelstan had divided the 
 Marchland into shires, for the old tribe kingdoms in the 
 
cH. VI I r. Changes in England. 
 
 AT KINGS. 
 
 8f 
 
 Marchland had been swept over by the Danes and their 
 governments destroyed. So these kings divided the land 
 round the g -eat towns which they had fortified, and put a 
 shertffox shire-steward over each shire by the side of the 
 alderman to look after its rule. The towns too had grown 
 more important, and more people dwelt in them. More- 
 over, now that so many kingdoms were joined together 
 there was one great council which helped the king to 
 govern the land. This council was made up of the wise 
 and great men out of all England, and was above all the 
 httle councils which each small kingdom and each shire 
 
 1 St '' ^^l ^'"^ ^"^ '^^ archbishop presided, just 
 as the bishop and the aldermen and sheriff presided at the 
 ;r;T*i^f °' folk-meetings. This great council was 
 called the Witena-gemot, or Meeting of the Wise Men 
 
 It met usuaHy once or twice a year, and made laws 
 and chose the kings, and if a king behaved badly turned 
 nim out and put another in. 
 
 3. The great men of the kingdom were different too 
 from wuat they had been. The officers of the king's 
 household became great nobles, and the ser- 
 vants of the king became nobles also ; so that '^'^^ "°'''«'- 
 the nobles were no more called eorls, but thanes, that is to 
 say servants. It was no longer gentle birth that made 
 men nobles, but service done to the king. Out of these 
 thanes the king and the wise men chose the sheriffs and 
 aldermen for the shires and under-kingdoms. The nobles 
 00 had grown more powerful, for many poor men sought 
 the help of them and their followers, and to gain this they 
 gave their lands to the nobles, who gave them back to 
 them on condition that they worked for them ; so that 
 few small men now held their lands quite freely. 
 
 4. In the villages and small towns the old family ^ 
 feeling of the clan had died out ; and the villagers often 
 made clubs, which managed their business, as the old 
 
 E. H. Q 
 
82 
 
 Early Englaud. 
 
 UK. VII. 
 
 council of elders had done. These clubs were called 
 Thevii- 'guilds. They were made for helping each 
 *«"• other, and for safety against robbers and the 
 
 like. They held a pastime in every year, which became 
 the village feast. 
 
 5. The coming of the Danes and their settling among 
 the English helped also to change England. It bound the 
 The Danes. ^^S^'^h more together, for they were all ob- 
 liged to work together against their common 
 foe. The Danes stirred up the minds of the English 
 among whom they settled, for they were more active 
 and restless than they. They also prevented the Eng- 
 lish where they settled from becoming too much the 
 servants of the great men, for they were too fond of their 
 freedom to let it go easily. 
 
 BOOK Vlf. 
 
 THE DANISH CONQUEST. 
 
 CHAPTER I, 
 
 ETHELRED THE UNREADY.— A.D. 979--IOI6. 
 
 I. ETHELRED, the next king, was not at all like the 
 great kings before him. He was cruel and foolish, and, 
 
 Etheired ^^°^^ ^"' ^^"^^ "^^ take good advice, but 
 and Dun- always listened to those who pleased him 
 
 *"■ at the time. He was called the ' Unready,' 
 
 which did not mean then what it would now mean, but 
 
 Ill-advised.' Men said that his reign was cruel at its 
 outset, wretched in its course, and disgraceful in its end. 
 
 In the first ten years of his reign Dunstan was alive ; 
 and though when he crowned him he is said to have pro- 
 phesied evil of him, because of the cruel deed by which 
 
A. o. 979-99 «. ^^thdrcd ihc Unready. §3 
 
 so ZVo° T^ ''"'"'' ^ '^ '^' '^^'P^^ '^''" -'^'^ his advice. 
 ^ that he d.d no very evil thing while Dunstan lived 
 
 When he was crowned the South English were very glad 
 
 be ause they were against the monks, and because^he 
 
 last two k,ngs had been chosen by the Northern Eng! 
 
 hsh. But the Northern English were very wroth, for they 
 
 d.d not hke the South Englishmen to rule over 'them so 
 
 they broke away from Ethelred's government. 
 
 Marchn,cn. He was a bad man and a traitor, and did 
 httle good to England. The king had a quarrel too during 
 his tm.e with the bishop of Rochester, and Dunstan tried 
 to pacify the kmg; but he would not be stayed. Then Dun- 
 stan sent h,m a gift of money, and he made peace with 
 the bishop. Dunstan was very wroth, and sent to the 
 
 to"rihl"'''''^\^ '^/'""^' *^°" ^^^^ preferred silver 
 to r ghteousness therefore those evils of which I spake 
 
 T i ?S^ "P?"" *^^^' ^"* "°* ^h^^« J ^i^e, for so hath the 
 Lord told me ' Dunstan died three years'after this (99) 
 And the words which he spake were fulfilled 
 .u "'/r^^"^^!^^ ^^"^' ^"^ Northmen had begun to 
 
 came to England with a great host and did 
 
 much evil. But in 991 Bertnoth, the alder- T^«'°*""- 
 
 man of Essex, fought a great battle with the Danes at 
 
 ov^ hh h J'" '.' ''"; '"' ^'^ ^'^ ^^-d -d fough 
 his Lh f ^I^u "' ^^'' *^^y ^°" '^^ day and saved 
 his body from the heathen, as the Song of Maldon tells us. 
 In Uiis same year the Wise Men, by the advice of 
 archbishop Sigric, did a very foolish thing-they laid a 
 tax on the people and raised 10,000/., which they gave to 
 
 Dane Hm' ^ n''"' *''"^ ''^' ^^'^ '^^ ^^^ --"^^ the 
 o«^ " ." •" -..^..xv;r. ihui^anes took the money 
 
 and went away for awhile, but next year came back 
 and ravaged England again to get more, and so it went 
 
 a 3 
 
84 
 
 Early England. 
 
 % 
 
 Olaf, the 
 
 Norwegian 
 
 king. 
 
 A. 1). 991-997. 
 
 on. There was a fleet gathered ; but Elfric sent word to 
 the Danes of it and joined himself to them when they 
 came to London to fight the English. The English beat 
 them, and Elfric fled. Then Ethelred put out the eyes 
 of Elfric's son for the evil deeds of his father, which was 
 a cruel and unkingly deed. 
 
 3. Soon after Olaf, the Northman, was joined by 
 Sweyn Fork-beard, the king of Denmark. He had passed 
 all his early days in fighting with his father, but now 
 that his father was dead and he was king be began to 
 make war upon England, and a sore foe he was. He and 
 Olaf beset London with ships, but the London- 
 ers beat them off. Soon after, by the good 
 advice of Elfheg, bishop of Winchester, Ethel- 
 red made peace with Olaf, who was confirmed, and 
 Ethelred became his god-father. Olaf had been baptized 
 in the Scilly Islands ; but the Norwegians were still 
 heathen. Ethelred gave him great gifts, and Olaf swore 
 to him that he would never ravage England more. He 
 kept his word, and departed to Ireland, and there he 
 married, and soon after was made king of Norway. His 
 rule was stormy, for he tried to make his folk Christians 
 by force; and they would not. In the end he fell in a great 
 sea-fight against his former friend Sweyn, whom his people 
 had called in to help them against Olaf Olaf was the 
 strongest, handsomest, and most accomplished man of his 
 time. He was very steadfast to his word; but he was 
 cruel and headstrong. To the host of Sweyn and Olaf 
 16,000/. was given to bribe them to sail away when peace 
 was made with Olaf. 
 
 4. In 997 and the next two years Sweyn came again 
 and plundered Wessex, Sussex, and Kent. At last the 
 
 Ethcircd's 
 Other wars 
 
 \Kl 
 
 ise 
 
 iTlen tooic counsel and got together a 
 large fleet ; but the captains fell to quarrelling 
 among themselves, so nothing was done. 
 
A.D.I00O-IOO2. E their ed the Unready. 85 
 
 Next year Ethelred, instead of making his realm safe 
 agamst the Danes, sent his fleet to fight the Normans. 
 There it sped ill and was driven back. This he did 
 because the Normans had received the Danish ships in 
 their ports. He himself and his army went north and 
 laid waste Cumberland, because Malcolm, the under-king, 
 would not pay him money to help buy off the Danes \ 
 for Malcolm said that he was bound to fight for the Eng- 
 lish king, and would gladly do so, but he would not pay 
 money. Ethelred was wroth, and perhaps ashamed, and 
 so he warred against him. 
 
 5. The quarrel with Normandy was soon made up, for 
 in the year 1002 Ethelred married Emma, whom the 
 Enghsh called Elfgif, the sister of the duke of Nor- 
 mandy. She was very fair, but she was not a good 
 woman. 
 
 That year the English paid 24,000/. to the Danes for 
 peace. So we see they had to give more and more each 
 time, and it was of little avail. Then the king 
 did a very evil deed, by the advice of one of his S^T 
 favourites, Edric Streona (the Gainer). He ^- """• 
 had aU the Danes slain who had remained in the South of 
 England on the day of S. Brice. It fell on Saturday, the 
 day the Danes used to bathe ; so many were slain defence- 
 less in the evening while they were in their baths. Among 
 the rest was slain Gunhild, sister f Sweyn Foikbeard, who 
 was married to an earl in Englan i.amed Pallig. They took 
 her and slew her husband before her, and thrust spears 
 through her son so that he died also. She never turned 
 pale, but bore the dreadful sight bravely, and told the 
 English that this deed of theirs would bring great evils 
 
 on their land also. Wh"" sb^ """' -'W-r- "- i 
 
 that her face was not altered by death, but that she looked 
 as fair as if she were alive. 
 
 6. When Sweyn heard the news of this he was wroth. 
 
Hi 
 
 n 
 
 M 
 
 86 £ar/y England. a. d. 1002-1006. 
 
 and got together a mighty host to avenge her and fulfil 
 
 ^3e" ^J^ ^?^ ''^'''^ ^^ "^^^^ °"^^ at a great feast 
 
 • that he would drive out Ethelred or die him- 
 self. He laid siege to Exeter, and Hugh, the French- 
 man, whom queen Emma had set over it (for the kine 
 had given it to her as a marriage gift), betrayed it to 
 him, and he took and plundered the city and broke down 
 the wall. Thence he went on to Wessex, where Elfric 
 came agamst him. Here again was treason, for when the 
 arm.es were in array Elfric feigned to be suddenly taken 
 
 h L?^ q' r T"^"^ ^"i "°'^'"^- ^^^y" P^^^^d by and 
 burned Salisbury, and ravaged the West Saxons' land 
 
 7. But Wolfkettle, alderman of the East Engl'sh 
 
 resisted the Danes in the East. When they broke thei/ 
 
 Wolfkettle. promise and would not go awry, but left their 
 
 A.D. ,004. ships and rode up the country, Wolfkettle 
 
 ordered men to go to the Danish ships to burn them. 
 
 Sweyn was just hurrying back to them, when Wolfkettle 
 
 fell upon him, and there was a hard fight, so that the 
 
 Danes said they had never had harder work since thev 
 
 came to England ; but neither side could beat the other. 
 
 o? wJlf W°l^i ?''"' "^- . ^"* ^'^""^^ °^ '^^ disobedience 
 of Wolfkettle's men the Danish ships were left whole 
 
 and the Danes sailed off in them to Denmark. ' 
 
 8. There was a great famine all over England the next 
 
 year, so that much folk died of hunger, and that famine 
 
 Danes and was long remembered. In 1006 the Danes 
 
 came again, and went up to a place caUed 
 
 Scots. 
 
 o— -7 — - "x-"v yxy. lu a. piace called 
 Cuckhamsley, far into England, to defy the old prophecy 
 which said that any foe who got as far as that spot should 
 never come back alive. The king and tha Wise Men 
 gave them 36,000/. to go away that year. In these days 
 Elfheg became archbishop, and Elfhelm. the Northum- 
 bnan earl of York, was treacherously slain by Edric • but 
 the king made Edric earl of the Marchland. 
 
I002-I006. 
 
 A.D. I006-I009. Ethelred the Unready. 
 
 87 
 
 Utrld'of T'^K ^'"^ u^'° '""^^'^ ^"S^^"^' b"^ the earl 
 Utred of liamborough drove the Scots from Durham 
 
 which they had attacked, and slew many of them He 
 
 walls of Durham for a sign ; and it is said that he gave 
 the women who washed the heads before they were set 
 up a cow for a reward. 
 
 9.- In 1008 Ethelred gathered a great fleet again, and 
 ordered that many new ships should be built, and that all 
 those who held land should pay for them, and this seemed 
 good to the wise men. Indeed, if Ethelred had only 
 kept a strong fleet like Edgar's he might have e.m 
 often stopped the landing of the Danes. But ««« 
 a great quarrel broke out in the fleet, and the chief men 
 fought among themselves. There came too a grea^ to^ 
 which destroyed many ships, and some were burn in t^ 
 stnfe 1009) so all the people's trouble was brought to 
 naught. Th^ was the last chance which Ethelred had If 
 beating the Danes, for from now till he fled away to Nor- 
 
 Thorkel! nf"'' ^c' '"^ ^"'^^^^ ^'^'^ ^horkettle, or 
 Thorkell, till m 1013 Sweyn came back. 
 
 10. Many towns were taken and burnt, and many men 
 
 Elfheg was taken pnsoner by Thorkell's host, . 
 and they would have him pay a great sum for Elfhi??"'^ 
 his ransom; but he said that he would not rob *''^'''- 
 the poor for the sake of himself. They were very angry 
 
 Tn f )!^' u^'f °"^ ^^y *^"y ^'■^^ght him to a feast, 
 and after the feast when they were heated with wine theC 
 
 .r^^^l"" ^°"^' ^"^ *he heads of the beasts which 
 they had feasted on, till one of them pitying him slew 
 him with a blow of his axe. This happened at Green- 
 wich so the London people sent for his body, which 
 the Danes gave up to them. It is said that Thorkell 
 offered the soldiers all that he had, except his ships, if 
 
ss 
 
 :l ;M' 
 
 Earfy England. 
 
 A.D. IOO9-IOI3. 
 
 Aey would let Elfheg go unhurt; but they would not 
 When Thorkell saw his holy death he went over to Ethel- 
 red with forty-five ships and a great host, and served him 
 for he would no more be with heathen men, and he be- 
 came a Christian. 
 
 Then the king sent Edric against the Welsh, and he 
 marched through South Wales and laid it waste. And 
 so Ethelred would ever do : when the Danes came he 
 would do nothing but buy them off; but he would always 
 be ready to fight with the other princes of Britain who 
 were his own under-kings, with whom he should have 
 been at peace. 
 
 II. When;Sweyn heard that Thorkel! had joined 
 Ethelred he was iU-pleased. So he came again to Eng- 
 land with his son Canute, and they now set about con- 
 quering England, according to Sweyn's vow. First he 
 got the men of the North to submit to him. They had 
 
 ISard T'^l "1"^?^ ^'^^^ Ethelred, though they had 
 winsEng. tought hitherto against the Danes when they 
 ^ • came as pli nderers or settlers to oust them 
 
 from their homes. Now that Sweyn came with fair 
 promises wishing to be king of England, they took him 
 as their king. Leaving his son to rule them while he 
 went south Sweyn rode right across England and over 
 the Marchland and took Winchester ; but Thorkell and 
 Ethehed drove him from London. He went on into 
 the far South and took all the West Saxons' land, and 
 now he was king over all England save London. When 
 Eaielred saw that he fled in Thorkell's ships, with his 
 wife and children, to his brother-in-law's court in Nor- 
 mandy; and the people of London took Sweyn for kinr 
 
 Thorkell stayed with part of his fleet and still took 
 king Ethelred's part : but all he rouM d- 'va- to '-■ 
 taxes on the English to keep his fleet, so that they lik^d 
 
A.D.1013-1014. Ethelred the Unready. 
 
 89 
 
 Sweyn Forkbeard was not long king, but died as he 
 was on his way to plunder S. Edmundsbury. He thought 
 he saw S. Edmund ride against him and smite him 
 because of his evil errand ; but no man saw that sight 
 save the king only, who fell off his horse and was never 
 whole again, but died that night in great pain. 
 
 12. Then the Wise Men sent over to Ethelred, in 
 Normandy, to ask him to come back. They told him 
 that they would be glad to have him as king again if he 
 would promise to rule them better; and he promised that 
 he would do as they wished in all ma'*<»rs. The Wise Men 
 said that no Danish king should ru.. England 
 again, but that if any tried he should be held Sd&'lte. 
 an outlaw, and any man who could might ^.d. 1014. 
 slay him. Yet the chief men of the Danish host chose 
 Canute to be their king ; but he was driven out by Ethelred 
 and his brave son Edmund, who was called Ironside, and 
 went away to Denmark. Ethelred gave the Danes 'who 
 had served him so well under Thorkell a great sum of 
 money, so that men said the Danes were as greedy and 
 evil friends as they were foes. 
 
 13. In this year there was fought on Good Friday a 
 battle in Ireland, at Clontar^, hard by Dublin, between 
 the Northmen of Dublin and the Western 
 Islands and the head king of Ireland, Brian. Stui* 
 There were many heathen among the North- *-d-»om 
 men, but Brian and his folk were Christians. The North- 
 men fled before the Irish, and as they fled one of them 
 broke into the tent where Brian was praying for his men, 
 for he was an old man and stricken in years, and there he 
 slew him. So the prophecy was fulfilled which was in 
 
 men's mouths, that thp Nr>rthm»»n clirviiM lf%c..> ♦!,- U-..X1- 
 
 but that Brian should fall. There was a great slaughter, 
 for it was a very high tide, and many men were drowned 
 in the Liffey. which ran very high. This battle also the 
 
1'^ 
 
 Early England. 
 
 %%"■ 
 
 90 ^'-'-j j^n^iana. A.D.1014-1015. 
 
 Northmen took for a sign that the Christian faith was the 
 
 tll:.^ Il'^'l '^°'' "^° "^^^ ^^'" h^-then turned 
 from their old gods and were baptized 
 
 Oxfltd ^ITl '^^'^7.''' ^ '''^"''"^ «^ ^^^ Wise Men at 
 Oxford, and there Edr.c wrought another wicked deed. 
 
 The bum. He Slew the two chiefs of the five ^eat 
 
 K-- boroughs of the North Marchland, and fhen 
 
 minster he ^Zl' 1 T^"^ ^^^ '° '^" ^'^^^ '^^e'" ^^ the 
 b^rnf PM K V° ''' ^"^ ^^^'^ ^^'•e they all slain or 
 spared anH^^'''' *'' "''^^ "^ °"^ °^ ^^^ <^hiefs, was 
 EdmunrT ^^^ "'' '"^ '^^^P^"^ ^^ ^ P"«oner. When 
 n/rsfh-.T'v 5 '^' '^"^^ ^°" ^^^ ^^^ h^ "tarried her 
 
 fn L , '*"'' '' '^'^ *° have hated Edmund and 
 
 to have always acted treacherously towards him. Now 
 
 EdricanTh'^H^^^^^^^ 
 
 UtZT^ hjs brothers always advised the king ill; but 
 
 Utred helped h.s brother-in-law Edmund. ^ ' 
 
 IS- Then Ethelred fell sick ; so Edric led the West 
 Saxo ,,,j ^^^^^^^^ ^^^^.^^ Jed t^he Wes 
 
 Ethelred s Soon he went over to Canute, who now came 
 over the lan^^Lring tt^J^S^^:^^ 
 rnTef EtLrt; llTe^ " ''^ ^^ '^^^ ^^ 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 EDMUND IRONSIDE.--A.D. I016. 
 
 1 onH "^"f '^^ Marchmen chose Edmund king at 
 London ; but some of the EngHsh chose Canute as Lg 
 
 Edmund at Southampton. IJtrPrl .r^JnpH 1;..,. . ^ 
 
 and Canute. .,»„ • • , ' t- , s'^smea hiuc oy not 
 
 «. if y. ,7'"^ T^ ^'^"'""^' ^°^ Ca""te sent for him 
 
 as If he would speak with him; and when he was com^ 
 
A.D.I0I6. 
 
 Edmund Ironside. 
 
 91 
 
 to the king's haU, there suddenly sprang out upon him a 
 band of men who slew him and the men that were with 
 him, forty souls ; and his earldom was given to his 
 
 eT"!; J'^'" ^f' ^"^"^^ ^°""^ ^g^i^^nd joined 
 ^ZTf' I' T °^""^' "^^ *° ^''"' C^""te and Ed- 
 mund fough five pitched battles this year, all along the 
 borders of Wessex ; but Edmund nearly always won, for 
 
 L'tn"' ? 1 ^""-^l ^"^ ''^"^"^' ^"^^ b^ met Canut; in 
 .tT 1\ u^ ^r ^'' '^^^^^ •" *^« ^'th I^is sword. But 
 the fifth battle at Assandun in Essex was the most 
 tamous. Both kings were there, and fought each under 
 his own banner. Edmund's was the golden dragon, and 
 Canutes the magic raven. The raven's wings mov^d in 
 the wind, which the Danes took for a sign of victory; but 
 when the battle was joined the Danes at last gave way 
 before the English, and they would have been defeated 
 entirely, had not Edric with his men left the battle. Then 
 the Danes came on again, and in the end the English 
 were obliged to leave the field to them. In that fight 
 many good men fell, and among them Wolfkettle, the 
 l^ast English alderman, brother-in-law of Edmund 
 
 2. There would have been another battle, but the two 
 kings, by the advice of the Wise Men of England, agreed 
 to make peace, and to divide the kingdom 
 between them. Edmund was to be the head 0"^.°' 
 king, and to have the East and South, while ''•''• "*^ 
 Canute was to have the Marchland and Northumberland. 
 It IS said that the two kings at first agreed that they 
 two should fight alone, to see who should have all Eng- 
 land ; but, when they had fought a short while Canute 
 offered to share the realm with Edmund, and he agreed 
 thereto, and thev exchanp-ed swrirHc r,r,A r.\r.^\,^ j ^ 
 
 - o •"••! •v.i'j'apLO aJlU were 
 
 made sworn friends. This peace which was made at 
 Olney-on-Severn, lasted only a short while, for Edmund 
 died suddenly, and men said that Edric slew him by craft 
 
92 
 
 Early England. 
 
 A.D.1016 
 
 to gain the favour of Canute ; and this was the worst of 
 all his evil deeds. 
 
 Edmund Ironside was a very big man, bold, quick, 
 persevering and never discouraged ; but in one thing he 
 seems to have been foolish, in that he trusted Edric, the 
 alderman of the Marchland, though he knew what evil 
 deeds he had wrought. Perhaps this was because he 
 could not help it, but was afraid of his going over to 
 Canute again. For though Edric was so bad he seems 
 to have been very powerful in his own earldom, and 
 he was a man of such guile that Edmund may have 
 thought it better to have him as a friend than as a foe. 
 It is to be remembered too that we only have the story as 
 lold by Edric's enemies. So that after all he may not 
 have been so bad as they would make out For that he 
 should have been so wicked, and yet so much trusted, it 
 is very hard to believe. 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 CANUTE THE GREAT.— A.D. IOI6-IO35. 
 
 I. Canute began his reign by trying to settle his 
 English kingdom, for of all the kingdoms that he had 
 Canute and *^®" ^^^ afterwards he loved England best. 
 Edmund's First he outlawed those of the English blood- 
 children. j.Qy^j ^^^ ^gj.^ jj^ England; and when the 
 
 wise men gave him the care of the children of Edmund 
 Ironside he sent them to Sweden, to his half-brother 
 king James. It is said that he asked him to slay them ; 
 for he would not slay them himself for the brotherhood 
 that he had sworn with their father. But king James 
 would not, and sent them to Stephen, who was the first 
 Christian king of Hungary, that he might take care of 
 them. And they abode a long time at his court. 
 
A.D.1016-1017. Canute the Great. 
 
 93 
 
 2. Canute set earls as governors over the land ; but 
 he kept Wessex himself, for there he chiefly lived. 
 He gave the Marchland to Edric ; to Thorkell he gave 
 East England ; to Eric, when he had mar- Edric's 
 ned his sister, he gave Northumberland ; '•'^^'h. 
 and these great men ruled the land under him. But 
 Edric .vas angry because the king did not give him more 
 power, and it is said that he told the king that he had 
 slain Edmund Ironside for his sake. When Canute 
 heard these words he bade his followers slay Edric, 
 saying that he who had betrayed his lord for lands and 
 gold would never be faithful to him. So Edric was 
 slam in the king's sight, and was cast out of the window 
 into the river that ran below. Men held that Canute had 
 done very rightly, for through the evil deeds of Edric 
 many good men had met their death ; and he was so 
 crafty and powerful that he was able to do much evil. 
 Canute also soon sent Thorkell from England into Den- 
 mark, for he was so great a man that he feared lest he 
 should do evil. 
 
 3. In the same year, 1017, Canute sent to Normandy 
 and asked the duke to give him Emma, Ethelred's 
 widow, in marriage, for she had fled thither p . 
 with her children. He did so ; and Emma Emm^ 
 came back and was again Lady of the English ; and she 
 bore Canute two children, Gunhild and Hardi-Canute. 
 Gunhild married king Henry, who was afterwards made 
 Emperor ; but Hardi-Canute became king. 
 
 4. Canute now set two Englishmen in power, who 
 became very famous men, Leofric and Godwin. Leofric 
 was made earl of the Marchmen, and God- 
 win was made earl of Wessex, under the king. S^^eT'* 
 Leofric was a good man, and tried to bring *"'^ 
 ibout peace in England whenever the great men fell out. 
 Godwin was a very wise man, and became the greatest 
 
94 
 
 Early England. a. d. 1017-1027. 
 
 man in England next the king, and his sons became 
 earls as well as himself, Canute was so ple^ised at his 
 wisdom and bravery in a war which he had in the Baltic, 
 one time when he was away from England, that he 
 singled him out and trusted him with an earldom. 
 
 5. Canute was not only king of England and Den- 
 mark but he also drove out the king of Norway, and 
 _ , was chosen king there also ; and over the 
 mighty Swedish king his will had great weight. The 
 power. Scots also acknowledged him as their over- 
 lord ; but he had to make war with them for attacking 
 England whilQ he was away at Rome. Then they made 
 peace and submitted to his commands. 
 
 6. Canute went twice to Rome, it is said, to atone for 
 his evil deeds. While he was there in 1027 he wrote a 
 Canute's ^^^^S letter home to the English people, in 
 "lie- which he told them all about his journey and 
 the kings whom he had met, and how he had spoken 
 with" the Pope. He also promised to rule them well, and 
 never take money unjustly from them, and to make all 
 his great men do right also. He said too that he had never 
 spared any trouble for his people's good, and that he 
 never would. These promises he fulfilled ; for though he 
 had done some cruel things to the great men he had 
 never done harm to his people since he was made king. 
 He set good laws very strictly against all evildoers, so 
 that in after-days his name became famous as a law-giver. 
 To the Church he was very open-handed, and he gave a 
 splendid altar covering, embroidered with peacocks, to 
 Glastonbury, where the body of king Edmund Ironside 
 lay. He built a church at Assandun, and set Stigand, 
 who after^vards became a famous man, to pray and preach 
 in it. This he did as a token of thankfulness and remem- 
 brance of the battle that he had fought there. Canute 
 was a great friend of the monks also. 
 
A.n. I027-IOJ5 Canute the Great. 
 
 9S 
 
 It IS said that when Emma's brother was dead his 
 son, duke Robert, who soon after reigned in Normandy, 
 gathered together a fleet to conquer England, drive out 
 Canute, and put on the throne Emma's two sons, who 
 were still in Normandy ; but the weather was bad, and 
 such of the ships as were not destroyed were obliged to 
 put back. 
 
 7. Canute was a little man, but strong of body, and 
 exceeding wise and crafty, so that no man knew his real 
 mmd. He was very good to strangers, but Canute's 
 careful of his money, and not fond of useless ch^yter. 
 spending, for he was not willing to burden his people. 
 He was more loved by the English than by the Danes, for 
 he set Englishmen, and not Danes, as earls in England • 
 and he would not suffer the Danes to spoil England, as 
 they wished, but he ruled as an English king and not like 
 a foreign conqueror. He was fond of music and singing, 
 and made verses. One day while he was being rowed in 
 his barge to Ely he heard the song of the monks at their 
 service m the minster ringing across the water, so he 
 made a song : — 
 
 Merry the monks of Ely sing 
 As by them rows Canute the King- 
 Row, men, to the land more near, 
 That we these good monks' song may hear. 
 
 Other verses also he put to it ; and this song was held in 
 remembrance by the monks of Ely, for he was a good 
 friend to them and gave them many gifts. 
 
 He was a very godly man at the end of his reign. 
 It is told of him that one day he ordered his chair to be 
 set on the sand by the sea when it was low water. 
 When the tide began to rise he spoke to the sea and 
 forbade it to rise ; but the water rose till it washed round 
 his chair and wetted his feet and garments. Then he 
 
96 
 
 Early England. 
 
 A.D. IO27-IO35. 
 
 arose and said to those that were with him, * Though 
 kings be mighty and rule wide realms yet will not thr 
 seas obey them ; therefore to God alone be honour ami 
 praise, for he rules all things, and the wind and the seas 
 obey Him.' This he did as an example, lest men shoiihl 
 honour man and forget God w^jo made them. And 
 never after that day would he wear his crown ; but he set 
 it on the head of the image of Jesus on the Cross that was 
 in the old church at Winchester. 
 
 Canute was very fond of hunting, and made laws 
 that no man should hunt in the lands which were under 
 the care of the king. 
 
 8. Canute kept a great many men always about him, 
 like a little army, and men came from all the North lands 
 
 Canute's f° '^^'^ '" ^'^ guards, SO that there were not 
 guards and in all the world at that time such soldiers as 
 pnests. jj^^y j^^ m^At. rules for them also that 
 
 all things might be done in order ; and it was by help 
 of this guard that he was able to do such great deeds in 
 war. He sent to Denmark many English priests, who 
 taught his own people several English customs which he 
 thought would be useful to them ; for the English were 
 not so rude a folk as the Danes were. 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 HAROLD-HAREFOOT AND HARDI-CANUTE. 
 A.D. 1035- 1042. 
 
 I. Canute had two other sons besides Hardi-Canute, 
 Harold, called Harefoot for his swiftness, and Sweyn; but 
 Canute's Emma was not their mother. He divided his 
 *^- kingdoms among the three. To Sweyn he 
 
 gave Norway, and to Hardi-Canute, Denmark, but he 
 gave England to Harold. Wlien Canute was dead it 
 
027-1035. 
 
 * Though 
 II not thr 
 mour and 
 I the se.is 
 311 shoiihl 
 m. And 
 )ut he set 
 
 that was 
 
 ade laws 
 ;re under 
 
 )Out him, 
 rth lands 
 were not 
 >ldiers as 
 ilso that 
 by help 
 deeds in 
 ;sts, who 
 vhich he 
 ish were 
 
 -Canute, 
 eyn; but 
 ided his 
 veyn he 
 but he 
 dead it 
 
 A. 0.10315-1040. Harold Barefoot, &c. 97 
 
 was not at all sure what men would do ; for Godwin and 
 Emma and the English in the South were for Hardi 
 Canute ; but the men of the North and Leofric and the 
 seamen of London, who were most of them Danes, would 
 have Harold for their king, as Canute had wished. It 
 was settled at last, by Leofric's advice, that Harold should 
 rule m the North, and Hardi-Canute in the South. But 
 Hardi-Canute stayed in Denmark, and his mother and 
 Godwm ruled for him in England. 
 
 2. Next year, 1036, Alfred and Edward the Ethelings 
 sons of Ethelred, came to England out of Normandy, and 
 a train of Normans with them. It is not cer- The death 
 tain why they came, for their mother loved of Alfred. 
 Hardi-Canute rather than them. Some say it was to gain 
 the kingdom of the south part of England, as Hardi- 
 Canute was away. But Godwin stopped them, and Alfred 
 was seized by some men of Harold, who blinded him 
 and brought him to Ely, where he died ; and his men 
 they slew cruelly with torments. But his mother sent 
 Edward back to Normandy. It was said that both God- 
 win and Emma had a hand in this evil deed, though it 
 was done by Harold's men. And there was a song made 
 about It which says no darker deed had been done in 
 England since the Danes came. 
 
 3- At last men grew weary of waiting for Hardi- 
 Canute and his mother was not much liked; so the South 
 English also chose Harold as their king, and 
 drove Emma out of England. She went to baniXd. 
 Flanders, where Baldwin ruled,and he received ''°- "37- 
 her kindly, and thither came her son Hardi-Canute to 
 visit her. Not long after this Harold died (1040), and 
 the great men of England sent messengers to Flanders 
 to pray Hardi-Canute to come and reign over them; and 
 he came over, and was crowned king; and he brought his 
 mother back with him. 
 E. H. H 
 
II 
 
 II 
 
 98 
 
 Early England. 
 
 A. D. 1040. 
 
 1 
 
 4. Hardi-Canute did not reign long. He was a very 
 
 btem king, and not much liked. He ordered the body ol 
 
 his brother to be dug up and cast out into a 
 
 Canute. fen, that he might dishonour it as much as he 
 
 A.D. 1040. could. A heavy tax was laid upon England to 
 
 pay for the Danes of the fleet which he brought with him. 
 
 At that time Godwin was accused of having caused 
 the death of Alfred the Etheling ; but he denied it on 
 oath, and most of the great men took an oath that they 
 believed him guiltless. So nothing was done to him ; and 
 he gave the king a great ship as a gift, that he might not 
 bear any anger against him. It was beautifully painted 
 and gilt ; in it were eighty soldiers, clothed in red, with 
 gold rings on their arms and gilt helmets on their heads, 
 and on one shoulder they bore a Danish axe (for the 
 Danes at that time used to fight with great axes, which 
 they wielded with both hands), and in their right hand a 
 spear of iron. Round about the ship were laid their 
 shields, painted and gilt. This was the finest ship that 
 had been seen in England since the ship that Harold 
 Fairhair sent to Eth^lstan. 
 
 The king sent his guard to gather in the tax which 
 had been laid upon England; but the people at Worcester 
 rose against them and slew two of them. When the 
 king heard it he was very angry, and bade Godwin and 
 Leofric and Siward, the Danish earl of the North, for earl 
 Eric was now dead, ravage Worcester. So they burnt 
 the city; but they let the people go. 
 
 Soon after this Hardi-Canute sent for his half-brother 
 Edward to come to England to live with him and his 
 mother, and he came over. 
 
 One day king Hardi-Canute went to the wedding 
 feast of one of his great men, and while he was standing 
 up to drink he was seized with an illness and fell to the 
 earth and never spoke word more. 
 
A. D. 1040. 
 
 was a very 
 the body ot 
 t out into a 
 much as he 
 England to 
 It with him. 
 'ing caused 
 enied it on 
 h that they 
 him ; and 
 e might not 
 illy painted 
 n red, with 
 :heir heads, 
 xe (for the 
 ixes, which 
 ight hand a 
 
 laid their 
 t ship that 
 lat Harold 
 
 tax which 
 
 Worcester 
 
 When the 
 
 rodwin and 
 
 rth, for earl 
 
 they burnt 
 
 lalf-brother 
 m and his 
 
 e wedding 
 IS standing 
 [ fell to the 
 
 A.D. 1042 Harold Harefoot, &c. 
 
 99 
 
 He was a king of whom we know very little, and not 
 much good. Neither he nor his brother Harold left any 
 children. 
 
 BOOK VIII. 
 7ffE TWO LAST OLD-ENGLISH KINGS, 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 EDWARD THE CONFESSOR.— A.D. l042-!o66. 
 
 t. When Hardi-Canute died, Edward, his half-brother, 
 was chosen king. This was chiefly done by the help of 
 Godwin and his men ; for some would have 
 had Sweyn, king of Denmark, cousin of fimy^'^of 
 Hardi-Canute, as king. Many of those who '"'*• 
 had been against Edward were outlawed when he be- 
 came king. Edward took away a good part of his mother 
 Emma's riches because she had not helped him in his 
 need; but he suffered her to live quietly at Winchester. 
 
 In 1045 Edward married Edith Godwin's daughter, 
 and thus bound himself closer to the house of Godwin. 
 At this time the three greatest men in England were 
 Godwin, Leofric, and Siward the Big, the earl of North- 
 umberland ; and they ruled all England under the king. 
 But Edward did not long remain friendly to the house of 
 Godwin ; for he was too fond of foreigners, and especially 
 of the Normans, and from this arose great trouble after- 
 wards. 
 
 There was now reigning in Norway king Magnus, 
 w.iv nati LTccii a iiiciiu ui nardi-v^anuie. They two 
 had agreed that whichever of them died first the other 
 should h^ve his kingdom. When Magnus got neither 
 
 If 3 
 
r 
 
 rot) 
 
 Early England. a. d. lo ta- 1046. 
 
 Earl 
 
 Sweyn's 
 
 outlawry. 
 
 Denmark nor Englancf he was angry and gathered a 
 great fleet to come to England ; but Sweyn, the Danish 
 king, stopped him ; so the English fleet which Edward 
 had summoned had nothing to do, 
 
 2. Godwin had many children ; and of these the two 
 eldest, Sweyn and Harold, were now earls in England, 
 
 Harold over the East English, and Sweyn 
 over the West border over against the Welsh. 
 Sweyn kept his earldom well, and defeated 
 the Welsh when they attacked the English ; but in 1046 
 he took the abbess of Leominster away from her abbey 
 and wished to marry her. This shocked people very 
 much, because it was against the laws of the Church ; so 
 he was forced to leave England and went off to Flanders, 
 and his earldom was given to Harold his brother, and to 
 his cousin Biorn or Bear, brother of Sweyn, king of Den- 
 mark, who had had an earldom in the middle of England. 
 After he had been away but a little while he came home 
 and prayed the king to forgive him and give him back 
 his earldom. But Harold and Biorn would not give 
 up the rule of it to him, so the king would not let him 
 stay in England. Then Sweyn enticed Biorn to come 
 on board his ship and go with him to plead for him 
 to the king. But when Biorn was on board he slew him. 
 For this evil deed Sweyn was outlawed by all the people, 
 and most of his friends forsook him. And Harold had 
 Biorn buried in great honour. But Sweyn ':pp:t;ed of 
 the treacherous deed that he had done in his VvTa b, .md 
 the good bishop Eldred prayed the king and ;iie »> ise 
 Men to forgive him, so he was inlawed, and his earldom 
 was given back to him. 
 
 3. Now, Sweyn king of Denmark and king Edward 
 X-ngSweirn were friends; for they were related through 
 
 ' "»c*.j laiik. ^|jg house of Godwin, and Sweyn had helped 
 E«. 78"? against Magnus ; but king Magnus gathered 
 
gathered a 
 , the Danish 
 lich Edward 
 
 bese the two 
 in England, 
 
 and Sweyn 
 5t the Welsh, 
 tnd defeated 
 ; but in 1046 
 11 her abbey 
 
 people very 
 
 Church ; so 
 to Flanders, 
 other, and to 
 king of Den- 
 I of England. 
 
 came home 
 vre him back 
 lid not give 
 
 not let him 
 )m to come 
 Bad for him 
 he slew him. 
 1 the people, 
 Harold had 
 
 T?pe- led of 
 s vr'A h, .md 
 iid the v^-'ise 
 his earldom 
 
 :ing Edward 
 Lted through 
 1 had helped 
 us gathered 
 
 A. a 1046-1050. Edward the Confessor, iqi 
 
 another great host against Sweyn, so that he wm hard put 
 to It to hold his own. So he sent to pray Edwa«i to help 
 him. Godwm spoke for his kinsmen, and would have fifty 
 ships sent ; b-it Leofric and most of the Wise Men were 
 aj; unsr thi.s. So no help was sent to Sweyii ; but when 
 Henry, the Emperor, quarrelled with Baldwin of Flanders 
 the English sent him help. Sweyn was driven from his 
 kingdom ; but Magnus died not long after, and his uncle 
 Harold Hardrada (the stern of counsel), who had reigned 
 with him part of his reign, reigned alone in his stead. 
 Then Sweyn soon got back his kingdom. 
 
 4- In Wales about this time there were two great 
 kings called Griffith, who were nearly always fighting 
 against each other and against the English. weUh^d 
 wnue Sweyn Godwin's son was away, the E'dred. 
 South V^elsh king joined the fleet of the Danish sea- 
 rovers and made a raid into England. But Eldred 
 gathered together against them all the men who dwelt on 
 the border ; but the Welsh that were with him turned 
 upon him and joined their brethren when the battle 
 began, and he was defeated and most of his men slain. 
 
 5. In 1050, Edward made Robert,, a Norman monk 
 archbishop of Canterbury. He had before been bishop 
 of London. He was a great foe to Godwin ™, 
 and his house, so that he filled the ears of the foreigners 
 king with stories against them. By his advice codwfn*"'*' 
 many Normans were set in bishoprics and outlawed, 
 high places in England. They did no good, but built 
 castles and strongholds, that they might be safe against 
 any attack from the English, and could oppress them as 
 they would. 
 
 One day the king's brother-in-law Eustace, who was 
 a Frenchman, had been to see the king, and was riding 
 back to the sea to pass over to his own earldom of 
 Boulogne. When he and his men came to Dover 
 
3P^. 
 
 i 
 
 102 
 
 Early England. 
 
 A.U. 105a 
 
 
 m ' 
 
 they behaved lawlessly and wished to make the towns- 
 men lodge> them where they would. And one of them 
 struck a townsman. Then a fight began, and many were 
 slain on either side ; but at last the men of Dover drove 
 them out of the town. Then Eustace rode back to the 
 king and complained of the Dover folk, and told the story 
 his own way. The king was very angry, and bade God- 
 win the earl go and punish them. But Godwin said he 
 would not till they also had been heard, and he told the 
 king that the Frenchmen ought to be punished. Then 
 the kmg sent for Leofric and Siward ; and Godwin sum- 
 moned his folk, and it was like to have come to a battle 
 between the two armies. But Leofric thought it better 
 that the Wise Men should be called together to settle the 
 matter. When the Wise Men met they outlawed Sweyn 
 again, and called Godwin and Harold, his son, to come 
 alone before them; but they would not come unless safe- 
 conducts were given them. So the Wise Men outlawed 
 Godwin and his kin. Then Godwin, Sweyn, and Gurth, 
 his sons, went to Flanders, where Tostig, another son of 
 his, had just been married to Judith, Baldwin's daughter. 
 But Harold went to Ireland, to Dermot, king of Leinster, 
 a great friend of the house of Godwin. And Edward sent 
 his wife, Godwin's daughter, into a nunnery, and Harold's 
 earldom he gave to Elfgar Leofric's son. 
 
 6. While Godwin was away William duke of Nor- 
 mandy came to visit Edward in England, and the king, 
 William f ^^° ^^^ childless, is said then to have pro- 
 Normandy mised him the kingdom at his death. This 
 "> ng and. wjiijam came to the dukedom when he was 
 but seven years old, after his father Robert who died 
 while he was away on a pilgrimage to Jerusalem. He had 
 hard work to keen his dukedom when he was vounf for 
 the Norman nobles were very proud and restless, and 
 looked down on him because his mother was the daughter 
 
A.V, lO$0. 
 
 ; the towns- 
 me of them 
 1 many were 
 Dover drove 
 back to the 
 jld the story 
 I bade God- 
 [win said he 
 he told the 
 ihed. Then 
 iodwin sum- 
 e to a battle 
 ?ht it better 
 to settle the 
 iwed Sweyn 
 ion, to come 
 unless safe- 
 en outlawed 
 , and Gurth, 
 )ther son of 
 l's daughter, 
 of Leinster, 
 lldward sent 
 nd Harold's 
 
 ke of Nor- 
 id the king, 
 ) have pro- 
 eath. This 
 hen he was 
 t who died 
 n. He had 
 
 5 vnnncr. for 
 
 - J 07 
 
 estless, and 
 tie daughter 
 
 A. D. 1 050. Edward the Confessor. 1 03 
 
 of a tanner. And when he grew older, his neighbour 
 the king of France coveted his duchy, though at first he 
 had helped him, because he thought he could do as he 
 liked seeing that William was so young. But by his great 
 skill and bravery he had overcome all his foes, and was now 
 one of the greatest men of the age. He was very tall and 
 strong, and a strict but just ruler, who had the gift of 
 choosing good men for his servants, unlike Edward in 
 this. He was very good to the Church, and built splen- 
 did minsters. But he was very stern, and when he wished 
 anything he would have it, and recked of no man or thing 
 that stood in his way. He was very fond of hunting, and 
 passed as much of his time as he could spare in that 
 sport. He was a great archer, and his bow few men but 
 he could bend. In this taste Edward was like him ; 
 for though he was a pious man he thought more of hunt- 
 ing than anything else but the Church. 
 
 7. Things went ill while Godwin was away. Griffith 
 of North Wales broke into England and did much 
 damage ; and Harold ravaged the South coast, q^^^-^ 
 At last Godwin and Harold gathered a great inkwed 
 fleet and sailed to London ; and the king gathered all the 
 men he could against them. But Stigand proposed as 
 before that the Wise Men should judge between them. 
 They inlawed Godwin and his kin, and the queen was 
 taken back by the king. But Robert the Norman and the 
 Frenchmen, whom Edward loved, took horse when they 
 heard this news and rode through London, cutting and 
 hewing at all in their way tiU they got to the river ; then 
 they took ship and went to Normandy. Stigand was 
 made archbishop in Robert's room, for he was a great 
 friend of Godwin. But Robert was very angry at this, 
 uiid never ceased complaining to the Pope and the 
 duke and the princes abroad of the loss which he had 
 suffered. And as he told the story his own way many 
 
104 
 
 Early England. 
 
 A.n. 1053-1053 
 
 thought the Enghsh had done wrong and that they were 
 impious folk. 
 
 8. Soon after this, in 1053, it is said that Godwin was 
 sitting at meat with the king, and the king was being 
 served by Harold and Tostig, Godwin's sons. One of 
 them slipped, and the other helped him. Then said 
 Godwin, < So brother helps brother.' But the king said, 
 Godwin's * My brother would have helped me hadst thou 
 death. not slain him.' And Godwin said, ' If I slew 
 
 thy brother or had a hand in his death may this piece of 
 bread choke me.' Then he broke a piece of bread and put 
 it in his mouth, but it stuck in his throat and choked him, 
 and he fell down and never spoke again. And all men 
 marvelled that the words which he had spoken were ful- 
 filled. Then the king bade them cast his body out like a 
 dog's for his false oath and his evil deed. But this story 
 is told by the Normans, who hated Godwin, and it is not 
 likely to be true. The English mourned greatly for Godwin, 
 for he upheld England and did right while he ruled, and 
 advised the king well ; and he hated the foreigners, whom 
 they also hated. Now that he was dead all men's eyes 
 were turned to Harold, and he was made earl of Wessex 
 after his father, and had the greatest power all Edward's 
 days, so that no man did anything against his will, and 
 he advised the king well. 
 
 9. In those days Macbeth slew king Duncan and 
 became king of all Scotland in his place. But Duncan's 
 kin went to Siward the Big, who received them well, and 
 fought for Malcolm against Macbeth. In the end Mac- 
 beth was slain, and Malcolm Big-head became king of 
 Scotland. In 1055 Siward died. When he felt that his 
 death was near he arose from his bed and called for his 
 coat of mail, and nut it on. and ^ncXc Viic cwr,fri ir, 1,;^ 
 hand, and died so, sitting in his chair ; for he said he 
 would not die like a cow, but like a soldier in mail His 
 
 
I053-I055 
 they were 
 
 Godwin was 
 was being 
 s. One of 
 Then said 
 king said, 
 hadst thou 
 * If I slew 
 is piece of 
 ad and put 
 loked him, 
 nd all men 
 1 were ful- 
 ^ out like a 
 t this story 
 td it is not 
 3r Godwin, 
 ruled, and 
 lers, whom 
 nen's eyes 
 of Wessex 
 I Edward's 
 s will, and 
 
 ncan and 
 Duncan's 
 I well, and 
 end Mac- 
 le king of 
 ilt that his 
 led for his 
 
 'I »-t ill liu 
 
 e said he 
 nail His 
 
 A.I). 1055-1063. Edward the Confessor, 105 
 
 earldom was given to Tostig Godwin's son, for Waltheof 
 the Big, Siward's son, was as yet a child. 
 
 10. About this time earl Elfgar, son of Leofric, was 
 twice outlawed, and twice he got the Welsh king to join 
 him in attacking England. But peace was made by his 
 father, who soon after died ; and Griffith, king of Wales, 
 married Elfgar's daughter Edith. Earl Harold 
 was at this time on a pilgrimage to Rome. ^' ^*'**** 
 
 And now Edward, son of Edmund Ironside, and his 
 children came home to England. But he died soon after 
 he landed, and his children were brought up by the king. 
 
 In 1063 there was a great war with Griffith, the Welsh 
 king, who was now king of all Wales, for he would not 
 keep the peace, but plundered the English border ; so 
 Harold and Tostig went against him with a fleet and an 
 army. At last they beat him, and he bowed to the Eng- 
 lish king. But his own folk slew him soon after because 
 of the trouble he had brought upon them. His head and 
 the prow of his ship were sent to king Edward ; and his 
 realm was given to his brothers, and they swore to be 
 faithful to the English king. 
 
 11. About this time Harold was out in a ship with his 
 brother, and was driven to the coast of France. The 
 earl of the place where he was wrecked put 
 
 him in prison. But William, the Norman DiTewU 
 duke, made the earl set Harold free, and ''»"»'* co"". 
 brought him to his court. There he stayed some while 
 and helped William in his war against the people of 
 Brittany. And William made him swear that he would 
 help him to be king of England when Edward died, and 
 Harold had to swear this, for he was in William's power. 
 
 12. Soon Tostig and the Northumbrians fell out, foi 
 they were a very wild and lawless folk, and Earl Tostig 
 Tostig was over-stern, and at last slew some outlawed. 
 of them at a feast to which he bade them. So the men 0^ 
 
106 Early England. a. d. 1063-1066. 
 
 Northumberland chose Morcar Elfgar's son to be their earl 
 m Tostig's stead. Then Tostig went to king Edward, to 
 pray for his help: for Edward and Edith loved him best ot 
 all the houseof Godwin. AndEdwin,Morcar's brother, who 
 had succeeded his father Elfgar in his earldom, brought 
 an arrny of Marchmen and Welshmen to help Morcar 
 Harold tried to make peace, and get the Northumber- 
 land men who had marched South to take back Tostig- 
 but they would not. When the Wise Men judged the 
 matter they outlawed Tostig; and he went away to Bald- 
 win, his father-in-law ; but Edward was very wroth at this. 
 13- In 1066 Edward died, and he was buried in West- 
 Edward's minster Abbey, which he had built. And all 
 *''=*'*»• men held him a saint, and he was called Con^ 
 
 fessor for his zeal for the Church. 
 
 Edward was a handsome man and of goodly presence; 
 his hair and his beard were white as snow. He was very 
 pious, and did his best to rule weU, and in his days 
 England was mighty and at peace from foreign foes. But 
 he was weak and often took bad advice ; he was quick- 
 tempered also, and through this sometimes unjust. But 
 men loved his memory, for they remembered the good 
 days when he was a king in the evil days that feU on 
 England after his death. 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 HAROLD GODWIN'S SON.— A.D. I066. 
 
 I. Before Edward died he advised the Wise Men to 
 choose Harold king after him, and they did so, and Eldred 
 Hajjoldand archbishop of York, crowned him king. Soon 
 ' "^ after he married Griffith's widow, the sister of 
 Edwin and Morcar. When William heard all this he was so 
 imgry that he could hardly speak, for he remembered th«? 
 
o63-io66. 
 
 their earl 
 dward, to 
 m best ot 
 ther,who 
 , brought 
 ' Morcar. 
 thumber- 
 Ic Tostig; 
 dged the 
 to Bald- 
 li at this, 
 in West- 
 And all 
 led Con- 
 
 resence; 
 ivas very 
 lis days 
 »es. But 
 s quick- 
 st. But 
 he good 
 X fell on 
 
 A. D. 1066. 
 
 Harold Godwin's Son, 
 
 107 
 
 Men to 
 [ Eldred 
 <;. Soon 
 sister of 
 e was so 
 ;red th? 
 
 promise of king Edward and the oath that Harold had 
 sworn. And he determined to be king of England and 
 thrust Harold out. So he persuaded his nobles to join 
 him ; and he fitted out a large fleet and hired soldiers from 
 all parts till he had a large army. And he sent to the 
 Pope and told him how Harold had broken his oaths. 
 Also, he promised the Pope great gifts and much gold when 
 he became king of England, if he would bless his enter- 
 prise. The Pope, hearing these things and the complaints 
 of Robert, and all the evil stories that the Normans told 
 of the English and the house of Godwin, blessed Wil- 
 liam's undertaking and sent him a holy banner. 
 
 Harold, also, gathered a large fleet to defend England, 
 and it is said that the two fleets fought a battle, and that 
 the English drove the Normans back. 
 
 2. When Harold was made king, Tostig went to 
 William to ask help to get back his earldom, which 
 
 Tostig and 
 
 Harold would not give him. But William 
 would promise nothmg ; so he went or to the Kings of 
 king of Sweden and prayed him to try and Sd"^''' 
 conquer England, as his kinsman Canute had Norway. 
 done. But Sweyn said he had much ado to keep Den- 
 mark. Then Tostig went to Harold Hardrada, king of 
 Norway, and prayed him to try and conquer England, 
 which had been promised to his nephew Magnus. 
 Harold Hardrada at last consented ; though some of his 
 great men advised him not to try this great deed and 
 jeopard his life and kingdom ; for they said the guard of 
 Harold Godwin's son were the best soldiers in the world, 
 and that one of them was as good as any two other men. 
 3. King Harold Hardrada was a very famous warrior ; 
 he had fought by the side of his brother when he was 
 only fourteen, and was wounded in the great Harold 
 battle where he fell. He had passed a great Hardrada. 
 p^rt of his youth in Russia, where kings of Swedish bloo4 
 
T 
 
 io8 
 
 £ar/y Englattd. 
 
 A, D. 1066. 
 
 m 
 
 then ruled. Afterwards he had gone into the service of 
 the Emperor of the East at Constantinople and had com- 
 manded his guards. He had been to Jerusalem also, and 
 fought with the heathen in the Mediterranean, and had 
 slain a great snake or crocodile. He was a very big man 
 and wise as well as brave ; and he was so strong and 
 active that there were few men his match. He was also 
 very rich, for he had brought great spoil from his sea- 
 rovmg; and he got great riches while he served the 
 Emperor of the East. 
 
 4. Harold, with a great fleet, set sail for the Orkneys, 
 and Tostig met him off Northumberland. They landed 
 at the Tyne-mouth, a mighty host. Then Edwin and 
 Morcar met them ; but Harold beat them in a fierce fight, 
 and the men of York then made peace with him. 
 
 But when Harold Godwin's son heard of this he 
 gathered his guard and such men as he could and 
 Stamford marched north up the Roman Way against 
 "**«*• his brother and the king of Norway. He 
 
 came on them unawares, as most of the Northmen were 
 at their ships, and those that were with the king and 
 Tostig had not their coats of mail on, for the day was very 
 hot. When the English host came in sight Tostig coun- 
 selled Harold to go back to the ships to the rest of the 
 army and fight the English there. But Harold Hard- 
 rada would not give way, but he sent messengers to 
 Eystein, his marshal, to bring up his men. Then he 
 rode through his host on a black horse and set his men 
 in array. As he rode his horse slipped and he fell ; but 
 he got up and said a verse from an old song, ' A fall is 
 lucky for a traveller.' But when Harold Godwin's son saw 
 him fall and knew who it was, he said, ' That is a big man 
 and fair of face, but his luck has left him.' Then he and 
 a few men with him rode between the two hosts up to the 
 Northmen's army, and called out, ' Is Tostig Godwin's 
 
i 
 
 A. D. 1066. Harold Godwin's Son. 109 
 
 son here?' And Tostig came forth. Then he said, * Harold 
 offers Tostig peace and a third of his kingdom, for he 
 would not that brother should fight brother.' Tostig 
 answered, 'What shall be given to Harold of Norwav for 
 his journey hither.?' And Harold said, ' Seven feet of 
 English ground, or a foot over, for he is taller than other 
 men.' But Tostig answered, « It shall never be said that 
 Tostig left his friends in the lurch for the offers of his 
 foes, y/e will either win England by our swords or die 
 here like men.' Now, Harold Hardrada was by them 
 and heard ali that was said, and he asked who it was 
 that spoke so well. Tostig told him, ' It was my brother 
 Harold. Then said the king, ' If I had known this he 
 should not have gone back to tell of our folks' death.' 
 But Tostig said, * He did unwisely in this ; but I might 
 not betray my brother who offered me such great things- 
 and 1 would rather that he should slay me than I him 
 If one of us two must die.' Harold Hardrada said 
 to them that were with him, 'That was a little man, but 
 he sat well in his stirrups.' Then he put on his coat 
 of mail and took his sword in both hands, and stood in 
 tront of his banner, which was called Land Waster. And 
 the English fell upon the N^orthmen ; but they kept their 
 array till the fight waxed so fierce that they grew too 
 eager and broke their ranks. Then the English drove 
 them back to the River Derwent behind them, and they 
 fell back across the river as well as they could. And the 
 English pressed hard on them. But one Northman kept 
 the bridge against the English till most of his fellows 
 were across, and many Englishmen he slew, till one got 
 under the bridge and thrust up a spear through the 
 plank, and it struck him under the belt, and then he fell 
 When tne English got over the bridge, the Northmen 
 formed up again, and king Harold Hardrada went in 
 front of his host and fought so fiercely that no man 
 
no 
 
 Early England, 
 
 /v.r>.!066. 
 
 could stand before him, for he slew all that he could 
 strike at. At last an arrow hit him in the throat over his 
 mail coat, and that was his death-wound. Then Tostig 
 went up to the banner in his place. Harold Godwin's son 
 again offered his brother peace and quarter to the North- 
 men. But they all cried out, * We will take no peac^ from 
 the English, but rather fall one man over another where 
 we stand.' And now Eystein came tip from the ships 
 and the fiercest fight began, and the English were hard 
 put to it, till the Northmen grew so wroth that they threw 
 down their shields and fought like madmen. But the 
 English kept cool and fought on warily; and at last when 
 Tostig and the chief men were slain the Northmen gave 
 way and fled to their ships. And it was now evening. 
 Next day Harold Godwin's son made peace with Harold's 
 sons. Then they put to sea and went back home. And 
 Harold king of England went to York and kept a feast 
 there. 
 
 5. Four days after this battle William landed with all 
 his hosf at Pevensey, for the English fleet was up North 
 William's with Harold. He set up a castle of wood 
 landing. ^j. Hastings and ravaged the land all round. 
 When news of this was brought to Harold, he marched 
 South to London with his guard, bidding Edwin and 
 Morcar gather their men and follow him. But they held 
 back ; for they thought that if Harold was slain they 
 would share England with William. Then Harold 
 gathered the men of Kent and of London and many 
 country folk, and marched from London to Senlac, near 
 Hastings, and lay on the hill there by a hoar apple-tree. 
 There were with him Gurth and Leofwin, his brothers, and 
 most of his kin. Gurth begged Harold to lay waste the 
 laTiu.. Lxiat. TT iiiiciTn. TTii^xxt not 3d. xOOvt Of iTtcircn on^ riivi. 
 then go back himself to London and gather forces there 
 and leave him to fight William, instead of Harold, because 
 
A. D. 1066. Harold Godwin's Son. 1 1 1 
 
 I was made king to cherish this folk ; how shall I lav 
 waste th. land of their. ? Nor does it' befit an Engl h' 
 king to turn from his fo-.s. But thy advice is wise.' 
 
 below A^ndh^r/'^ ^" "^'" ^^y'" '^' °P«" 1-nd 
 below. And both hosts made ready for the fight that 
 
 was to be fought on the morrow. The Eng! T 7 
 lish spent the night watching by their fires hS^ . 
 singing merrily, and eating and drinking. The Normms 
 did not feast; but Odo, bishop of Bayeux, wZm" 
 brother, went through the host praying with i\^eZn 
 On the morrow both hosts were set in array LToTd 
 had made a strong pale of stakes along the front of h^ 
 line, and m the centre, by his two standards ( he go^^^^^^^ 
 dragon of England, and Lis own with the image of a 
 fighting man on it) he set his guard and the men of Kent 
 and London. They were all armed in coats of ma I and 
 had great two-handed axes and broadswords andXel!^s 
 But at the back and sides of the hill he put his worsf o ' 
 diers and the country folk, who were ill-Led with darts 
 and s^^ngs and clubs. The English all fought on foot a 
 was the custom in the North. Harold bade\is men kiep 
 he pale and drive off their enemies r but he told them no? 
 to leave their posts, or the Normans would get insTdTand 
 drive them off the hill. ^ ^^ 
 
 William set his men in order also. In the midst he 
 and his brother were with the Norman kn ghtra on 
 horseback clad in coats of mail, with long Sn heTr 
 hands, and broadswords by their sides; there too was the 
 banner which the Pope had hallowed. In front wl^ h! 
 archers of whom he had a great many? but hTyw^re 
 ".,^1^ ^^^ r'^h^ he put the French kniehLrh" 
 we.c .vi.h him, and on the left the men of Brittany • fo'r 
 he was over-lord of Brittany. The first man that b^ean 
 the attack was a Norman minstrel, who roae up aS 
 
112 
 
 Early England. 
 
 A. D. 1066. 
 
 the English, throwing up his sword and catching it, and 
 singing a war-song of Charles the Great Emperor's mighty 
 deeds. He slew two Englishmen who came forth against 
 him before he was slain himself. Then the battle was 
 joined. The Normans charged up against the English; 
 but the English kept the pale and cut do^vn man and 
 horse with their great axes. In vain the Normans 
 tned twice over to break their line. Then they began to 
 give back, and men cried out that William was slain ; but 
 he threw ofif his helmet, that all might know him and cried. 
 I live, and will yet win the day by God's help.' And he 
 and his brother Odo again got their men in array and 
 charged again up the hill William and Odo fought ever 
 foremost, and at last they got close up to the English 
 standards. Gurth threw a spear at William, which missed 
 him and slew his horse. But William slew C-nrth with 
 his sword ; there fell also Leofwin, his brother, and many 
 Normans and English. But the Normans got on best on 
 the right, for there they broke down the pale. 
 
 Then William, to make the English leave their post, 
 ordered his men to pretend to flee. And when the Eng- 
 lish saw them turn they disobeyed Harold and rushed 
 down after them, leaving the hill bare. Then the Normans 
 
 Tu u n '"""^^ ^^^"^ •" ^^^ °P«" field and pressed on 
 to the hiU-top, where Harold and his guard were nearly 
 alone; but though they were now fighting on level ground 
 Aey could not drive back Harold and his guards. So 
 William ordered his archers to shoot up into the air, that 
 the arrows might fall upon the English; for they could not 
 use their shields, as they had both hands to their : .es 
 One arrow struck Harold in the eye, and he fell dying ai 
 the foot of his standard. Then the Normans made a last 
 rush, beat off the English and broke down the stan- 
 dards anu Eustace and three other knights slew Harold 
 as He lay on the ground and mangled his body. But the 
 
A.D. io66. 
 
 ling it, and 
 or's mighty 
 >rth against 
 
 battle was 
 
 le English; 
 
 J man and 
 
 Normans 
 
 ■y began to 
 
 slain ; but 
 I and cried, 
 .' And he 
 
 array and 
 ought ever 
 e English 
 ich missed 
 -urth with 
 and many 
 on best on 
 
 their post, 
 
 the Eng- 
 
 nd rushed 
 
 Normans 
 
 )ressed on 
 
 ere nearly 
 
 -^el ground 
 
 ards. So 
 
 e air, that 
 
 could not 
 
 heir i ..es. 
 
 1 dying at 
 
 ade a last 
 
 the stan- 
 
 w Harold 
 
 But the 
 
 A-a 1066. //aro/r^ Godwin's Son. 
 
 "3 
 English drew off Hehtinp- fo fKo i . 
 
 Nolans ehat follow^Them wer, si l^f T' "' "" 
 on them in a swamnv ni7. V , ' '°'' "''>' '"■'ned 
 no use. ^^ ^^'"'' "*«■•' ">"■• horses were of 
 
 aUx'ed.here:,/Sr,rr.%''a;Ve're1k„^"<' "'' "- 
 
 it her. But S "^°^ '°'' 1"= "^dy he would not give 
 
 dead by an ErglishTdXl^h'f ' "."'■"'''■='•' °' 
 Harold had dearly ,oved-h- bal thi' K ""''' ""'•"■ 
 stone-heap on !he cliffs, for he said .H.^ "v"""" " 
 weU while he lived- let him T ' * '"'P' 'he shore 
 c 1-1. ° ^°- '" him keep It now he is dcaH ■ 
 
 Etheling, Edmund Vro^sfdefsfol' h'"" "' ^^^'^^ ' 
 have made king, was S old """° "°"" 
 
 even^if they c<^W havt-trourwTar"^" '" ""- 
 
 shor^:eirHewr/v^;"1:-tr "f '■"''"« -'» 
 When anything was to hJ^ x? "' ^"^^ "^^^r rested 
 
 and the way in which hi ^?. a . °'' ^'' ^°°d ^"^e 
 them into pelce But i^k 7u'" ^"^^^ ^'^^ ^^''ced 
 well with thTSurctfo \?di'^^^^^^^^ ^'^T ^" °" 
 priests and bishops, Ld did no f! T^' ^°''^'^" 
 shows what a good mler th. F r k ' '^^ '"°"^^- ^^ 
 him that they ^de him k t tf "\T^^ ^^^^ ^^-^^^ 
 
 royal bloodof the En^sh kTn;;i°"i'4^ ^ 
 
 whom men worshioDerf in :" -°-, ""•;^i^^"^irom Woden. 
 
 kin to the Danish k^ts '" ''^^' '"^ °"^^ ^^ 
 
' 
 
 i't 
 
 114 Early England, book vrn. 
 
 :hapter in. 
 
 CHANGES IN ENGLAND. 
 
 I. The battle of Hastings, though it only made 
 William ruler at first over part of England, yet by the 
 Kd '^°'" ^^^^^ ^^ Harold really gave him his crown. 
 Harold's Though parts of England held out against 
 death. him for years, yet in the end he brought it 
 
 all under him. The battle of Hastings was not a battle 
 that the English need be ashamed of, for they fought 
 steadfastly r and if Harold hadonly lived no doubt William's 
 army would have been too weak to stand against the fresh 
 English levies which he could have brought up. Now, 
 too, the English had no great leader, for no other English- 
 man was as good a commander as Harold. If Harold 
 had lived the English would have had some centre 
 to rally round ; but as it was each man looked to his 
 own interest. The Northmen stood by Edwin and Mor- 
 car, the South English wished for Edgar Etheling, and 
 the East English would fain have had a Danish king. 
 It was this want of union, and no want of bravery, that 
 overcame them. 
 
 2. For though the great English kings had brought 
 the smaller kingdoms under their power, yet it was the 
 Fate of the foreign kings, and William most of all, that 
 doras!^"^'' ^^^^ England one. Even Canute founded 
 the power of the great families whose quarrels 
 still kept the different parts of the country separate 
 during Edward's reign. But with Harold the power of 
 Godwin's sons fell. Edwin r.nd Morcar were forced 
 to submit ; and Waltheof Siward's son was still very 
 young. So that William, taking care to prevent the rise 
 of any new families which might get a like power, at last 
 made England completely one. Really the whole history 
 
BOOK vrn. 
 
 CHAP. III. 
 
 only made 
 
 yet by the 
 
 his crown. 
 
 »ut against 
 
 brought it 
 
 lot a battle 
 
 hey fought 
 
 )t William's 
 
 St the fresh 
 
 up. Now, 
 
 er English- 
 
 If Harold 
 
 )me centre 
 
 ked to his 
 
 I and Mor- 
 
 tieling, and 
 
 inish king. 
 
 avery, that 
 
 id brought 
 it was the 
 3f all, that 
 e founded 
 5e quarrels 
 y separate 
 i power of 
 tre forced 
 still very 
 nt the rise 
 ver, at last 
 ole history 
 
 of 
 
 the 
 
 England, ^ 
 
 Norman Conques 
 
 Changes in England. 
 
 "5 
 
 lays when it became Christian 
 It, is the story of 
 
 till 
 
 struggU 
 , . .. „.,^i ,ve nave tried to trace. 
 
 only bTairinlV'"^ ''''' ''"^'*'"^' ^^""^^ b<^ -e ; for 
 could tL Engl'shmen standing and working toge her 
 
 ^^^^:::^:^:r' '-- '-^ '- - ^-"-^ 
 
 .fJ: T^t-^"^"''' ^^^ ^^^" gradually getting from a 
 
 fre y:niX'sh"''^' ""^ "^^" ^'^^^-^ -"'-^ 
 n?cc K y ^"^ managed its own busi- 
 
 ness by Itself to what is called a feudal ^«"^»'"'"- 
 
 of^Thorhl f r;\.^T^ "^- -^ -^- some lord 
 Of whom he held h.s land, and the lords were under 
 
 1 ;"\°^. ^^^'^ '^^y ^'^^ *h«'"» on condidon "ha[ 
 hey fought for him and helped him in every way As fhe 
 or^s grew powerful they became unjust iroppted 
 
 1 comXn'tate j'', ^'"^"^ People gradually^f^lH^o 
 
 many evU Bu^ w ,r 7 '" '^' ^°^^^' "^ich caused 
 many evils. But William knew the mischief of this and 
 did his best to stop it in England, by keeping up he older 
 English laws. Thus he ordered that ev«>rv nZ 
 whose man he was, should swea to o^Tthe kinrT 
 the feudal lords held that if they made w'ar on th'e ^Z 
 all their servants must fight in their lords' quarre though 
 
 woL ."r ;'' '^"^'^ ^"'J^^^^' b"^ this'king C"am 
 
 and h "f .K^r^' t"^ '" '""^^ ^" ^'^ ---^ to obey ^m 
 and be faithful to him whosever lord's they were 
 
 wJ ^"f "J,"""^ °*^^' S:ood which the coming of 
 WiUiam did, will be told in the story of his reign ^ 
 
 4. We have brought the History of England and rh^ 
 Enghsh folk do™ through .ix hu/dred yet"' And we 
 see that our forefathers were very like the 
 
 i^nglisn of tO-daV. ThAro ,«o» jU- i-_ j ,., England 
 
 the squire and rich folk of to-dry; a^dThe'yeo! ^^^ 
 man, lie our former ; and the thralls and landless men. 
 
 I a 
 
ii6 
 
 Early England. 
 
 BOOK VIII. 
 
 like our labourers and workmen. There were traders too, 
 for the English under their later kings began to go abroad 
 much more and trade with other lands. 
 
 The cities, also, by the time of the Norman Con- 
 quest were filled with folk; for the English as they 
 became less rude began to live in towns, and to trade 
 more with foreign countries. Moreover, the coming of the 
 Danes and the great empire of Canute on the coasts of 
 the North Sea had brought the English to take more to 
 the sea and a seafaring life, which they had given over a 
 good deal when they came ar d settled in England. The 
 Danes who settled here were great sailors, and at London 
 there were ihany of them, so that it soon became the 
 mightiest city in England. 
 
 There were parish priests in every village, and besides 
 these there were many houses of monks; so that the 
 Christian religion had quite as much power as it has 
 to-day, and perhaps more. 
 
 But the great change that took place during the time 
 we have written of is, that the Englishman became the 
 citizen of a great nation instead of merely the member of 
 a tribe ; that he learnt to care not only for the welfare of 
 his family and his tribe but for the good of the whole 
 state and of every other Englishman. 
 
 \ 
 
 To finish, we see in this part of English History, as 
 in all times afterwards, that all the real good work that was 
 done lasted, and brought good with it ; and that good men, 
 though they often fared ill in their lives and died evil 
 deaths, yet did not die in vain. For others took courage 
 by their example and carried on the work they had been 
 forced to leave unfinished. We see too that every evil 
 deed bore its fruit in hindering the good and lessening 
 
BOOK VIII. 
 
 ;raders too, 
 go abroad 
 
 man Con- 
 sh as they 
 d to trade 
 ling of the 
 e coasts of 
 ke more to 
 ven over a 
 and. The 
 at London 
 ecame the 
 
 c«Ai». m. Changes in England. hh 
 
 the happiness of men. But when the wicked died their 
 names were held in hate and their deeds were loathed • 
 
 TnH ?K ^"""^^ ^^^^^ °^ '^" "S^*^*^"^ ^ere held in honour,' 
 and their mistakes and sins were forgiven them by those 
 that hved after them, because they had done their best, 
 "trough good report and evil, through dark days and 
 dangers, for the good of their fellow-men. 
 
 nd besides 
 
 D that the 
 
 as it has 
 
 g the time 
 ecame the 
 nember of 
 welfare of 
 the whole 
 
 listory, as 
 k that was 
 good men, 
 
 died evil 
 tk courage 
 
 had been 
 every evil 
 
 lessening 
 
I 
 
 Bi 
 Be 
 Be 
 Br 
 Br 
 
 Cai 
 Cai 
 
119 
 
 INDEX OF PERSONS. 
 
 A. 
 
 Aid. 
 B. 
 
 Archbishop 
 
 Alderman 
 
 Bishop 
 
 C. 
 D. 
 £. 
 
 Count I Emp. = Emperor 
 Duke Eth. =EtheUng 
 
 Earl M. = Monk 
 
 P. -Priest 
 
 g. = Queen 
 = Saint 
 
 AGR 
 
 A GRICOLA, Julius, 9 
 ■' ^ Aldan, S. 34 
 Alban, S. II, 47 
 Alcwin, 46 
 ^''"=D, K. 43, S3, 55, 7, 
 
 , Jc,tn. 97 
 
 Alstan, B. 53 
 Arthur, K. 25 
 Asser, P. 61 
 Augustine, S. ap, 73 
 
 RALDER, God, 21 
 
 ^ Baldwin I., C. < 
 Bede, P. 43 ' • 
 
 Benedict, P. 43 
 
 Bernred, K. Ms 
 
 97 
 
 -—...«„, »». „/arch. 45 
 Bertha. Q. Kent. 28 
 Bertnc, g West Saxons, 4s, 48 
 Bertnoth, Aid. 83 ' ^^' *° 
 
 Biom. E. 100 
 Birinus, P. 35 
 
 Boadicea (Bodug), Q. Icenians. 8 
 
 isoethius. 62 
 
 Brian, K. Ireland, 80 
 
 Bnce, S. 85 
 
 r;*mvALLA. K. Welsh. 34 
 ^ Cadmon, 36 
 Cassar, Caius Julius, Emp. 5 
 Crnus Caligula, Emp. 7 
 Cakutk. R. 89, 90, 92, 96, 114 
 
 EDM 
 
 r^/''*!*'"' ^^J^dawg). K. Britons, 7 
 Cassivelaunus (Caswallawn). K. Bri- 
 tons, 6 
 
 Ceadwalla^K West Saxons, 39 
 
 Ceawlin K. West Saxons. 23 
 
 Ccawolf, K March. 47 
 
 J^^dic K. West Saxons, 23 
 
 <-nad. S. j5 
 
 Charles. Bald, Emp, 53, 58 
 
 Charles. Great, Emp. 46. 51, 70 112 
 
 Coifi, P. 33 *^ ' 
 Colman. 6. Holy Island, 36 
 Constantme. Emp. n, 70 
 Cuthbert. S. 36 
 
 r^K'^'If'A ^'« Saxons. 3a 
 Cynhard, Eth. 44 ^ 
 
 Cynwolf. K. West Saxoa% 44 
 
 £)ERMOT, K. Leinster. ,02 
 
 ;r Druids, 4, 8 
 
 Dunstan, S. 72, 73, 74, 75, ^g, 8a 
 
 EDBURG.Q. West Saxons, 4.. 4» 
 
 J liiij. 113, 1x4 
 Edgif. Q West Franks, 68 
 Edith, Q. 99, ,05 
 — — , Swan s neck. 113 
 Edmund, S. K. East Eng. 54. fc 
 Edmund, K. 69, 73 • a* 'v 
 
120 
 
 Index of Persons. 
 
 
 »l 
 
 m' 
 
 SDM 
 
 Edmund, Ironside, K. go, 03 
 Edrkd, K. 73, 76 
 Edric Streona. E. 85, 91 
 Edward, Elder, K. 66, 71, 78 
 Edward, Martyr, K. 78 
 Edward, Confessor, K. 99, ,06 
 Edward, Eth. 97 
 Edwin, K. Nonh. 3a. 53 
 
 , Eth. 70 
 
 — — , E. 106, 108. 114 
 
 Edwv, K. 74 
 
 Egbert, K. 47, 48, 68 
 
 Egfrith. K. North. 37 
 
 Eldgyth, Q. 90 
 
 Eldred, A. xoo, io6 
 
 Elfgar, E. 105 
 
 Elfcif, Q. 74 
 
 Eifheg, ti I; 
 
 Elfhelm, E. 86 
 Ejfhere. Aid. 80, 83 ^ 
 Elfric, Aid. 83 
 Elfthrith, Q. 77, -8 
 
 E„MA(E.r,ir),d%l93.97, 
 
 Enc, K. North. 73 
 
 Ethdbald, K. March, 44 
 Ethelbald, K. 53. 61 
 tthelbert^ KL Kent, 20. 3, 
 r — . S. K. East EngUsh, 35 
 Ethelbert, K. 54 
 Ethelburg, Q, North. 32 
 
 ~r',9- ."^est Saxons, 41 
 
 Ethelfled, 66 
 
 Ethelfrith, K. North. 31 
 
 Ethelred, K. 54, 67 
 
 ijrTHKLRED, Unready. K, 78. 89 
 
 Ethtired, Aid. 67 
 
 Ethelstan, K. Kent, 52 
 
 Ethelstan, K. 6q, 80. 08 
 
 Ethelwald, ^th, 66 ' 
 
 Ethelwold, B. 75 
 
 Zr~' A- 77 
 
 Ethelwolf. K. 5x, 59 
 Eustace, C. lox, iia 
 Eysteb, xo8 
 
 99 
 
 pREY, God, 91 
 Fureey, M. ; 
 
 35 
 
 QALGACUS^ K. Cftledon. 10 
 , Yorick's son, K, East Eng. 66 
 
 OtA 
 Griffith, K. Welsh, loi 
 Grimbald, M., 6i 
 Gunhild, 85 
 Gunhild, Q. 93 
 Gurth, E. 101, no 
 Gytha, Q. viii. 9 
 
 1-1 ADRI ANUS, Emp. 10 
 „* ^Hakon, K. Norway, 70, /i 
 Halfdan, K. North. 54. 56 
 Harold Fairhair. K. Norway, 58, 70, 97 
 HAROLD Godwmson, K. lor, 106, 114 
 Hakold Harefoot, K. 96 
 Harold Hardrada, K. Norway, 107 
 Hardi-Canutb, K. 93, 96, 99 
 
 Hell, Goddess, ax 
 
 Hengist Aid. Kent, xs. x8, 93 
 
 Henry III. Emp. 93, loi 
 
 fiertha, Goddess, ax 
 
 Hild, S. 36 
 
 Horsa, Aid. Kent, xs, x8. 93 
 
 Hugh, 86 
 
 JNI, K. West Sajfons, 40, 44, 61 
 
 TAMES, K. Sweden, 99 
 J Judith, Q. 53 
 
 , xoa 
 
 •K_ENNETH.K. Scotland, 76 
 
 T EOF. 73 
 
 Leofnc, E. 93, 97, 9, 
 Lrsofwin, E. XX2 
 
 Lewis from-over-Sea. K. Ffanks.68 
 LJlla, 39 
 
 MACBETH. K. Scotland, 104 
 
 Ml ,^*^"5< K- Norway, xoa 
 Malcohp. K. Cumberland. 8« 
 — -, Bidjead, K. Scotland, to i 
 Morcar, E. xo6, xo8. 114 
 
 TVJERO. Emp. 7 
 ^ ^ Ninian, S. 28 
 
 Odo, B. XXI 
 
Index of Persons. 
 
 121 
 
 OLA 
 
 Olaf, K. Ireland, 7a 
 
 , Sigtric's son, K. North, ja 
 
 — — , K. Norway, 84 
 Orosius, 62 
 Osric, Aid. 45 
 Oswald, K. North. 34 
 - — , A. 79 
 Oswolf, A. 75 
 Oswy, K. North. 35 
 Otto, Emp. 68 
 
 pALLIG, E. 8s 
 •*■ Patrick, S. 28 
 Paullinus, S. 32 
 Penda, K. March. 34 
 Pope Gregory, S. 99, 6a 
 Pope Hadrian I. 47 
 
 Leo III. so 
 
 Leo IV. 53 
 
 John XIX. 04 
 
 Alexander if. 107 
 
 D AGNAR. Rough Breeks. K. Den- 
 *^ mark, 52, S4 
 Redwald, K. East English, 3a 
 Robert, Magnificent, D. 95 
 
 , A. loi 
 
 Rolf, Ganger, D. 59, 67 
 Ronwald,!:. s8 
 
 CEBERT, K. West Saxons, 44 
 •^ Severus, Emp. n 
 Sigric, A. 83 
 
 Sigtric, K. North. 68, 69, 73 
 Siward, Big, E. 98, 99 
 
 YOR 
 
 Stephen, S. K. Hungary, 93 
 
 Stigand, A. 94, 103 
 
 Suetonius Paullinus, 8 
 
 Sweyn, K. Denmark, 96, 99, 107 
 
 Sweyn, E. loi 
 
 SwEVN, Forkbeard, K. 88 
 
 'TACITUS. 9 
 J- Tew, God, 21 
 Theodore, A. 36, 42 
 Theodosius, Emp. 90 
 Thorkell, E. 87, 03 
 Thunder (Thor), God. ai 
 Tostig, E. 103, 107 
 
 IJTRED, E. 87 
 
 yALENTINIAN, Emp. 14 
 
 Vortigem (Gwerthigem), K. Bri 
 tons, 14, 18, 22 
 
 WALTHEOF, E. los. 114 
 ^V Wilfrith, S. 36, 42 
 Willebrord, P. 42 * 
 William, Conqueror. 102, 106, 114 
 Wmfrith (Boniface), .4. 4» 
 Wise Men, 83, 91, 102, 106 
 Woden, 113 
 
 Wolfere, K. March. 37, 76 
 Wolf kettle. Aid. 86. 91 
 
 yORICK, K. East Eagliib. M 
 
123 
 
 INDEX OF PLACES. 
 
 AKE 
 
 A KEN (Aachen), 50 
 
 1. Anglesey (Mona), 8, 32 
 Aries, 68 •* 
 
 Ashdown, Berks, 55 
 
 Assandun, Essex, 91, 94 
 
 Atheliiey, Somerset, 56 
 
 Auit, Gloucester, 30 
 
 BAM BOROUGH, 68 
 Bath a3 
 Bayeux, 24, m 
 Bnttany, 105, m 
 Bnuianburg, 69 
 
 CALAIS, 24 
 r- I- Canterbury, 3^ 4S 
 Carlisle, 38 
 Charmouth, 51 
 Chester, 31, 66, 76 
 Chichester (Regnum). 23 
 Clontarf, Ireland, 89 
 Colchester (CamulodunX 7. 8 
 Constantinople, 50, 108 
 Crowland, 37 
 Cuckhamsley, 86 
 
 r)AWSTON,« 
 *-^ Derwrent, R. T09 
 Dover, lox 
 Dublin, 54, 89 
 Durham, 87 
 Dyriiam, 23, 31 
 
 gDINBOROUGH. ,q 
 
 Edington, 57 
 Edmundsbury, 54, 89 
 iMiandune, 50 
 
 S'V' 95, 97 
 Exeter, 86 
 
 MM 
 
 PAROES, 49 
 t. Fife, 38 
 Five Burghs, 90 
 Flanders, 97, loi, iob 
 
 QAFULFORD, 51 
 y" Glastonbury, 79, 94 
 Greenwich, 87 
 
 fJASTINGS, no, 114 
 ^ Hatfield, 34 
 Hengist's Down, 51 
 Holland, 16 
 Hungary, 9a 
 
 ICELAND, 40 
 ^ Idle, R. 32 
 lona, iii. 2 
 Ireland, 54, 69 ; 89, io« 
 
 T ARROW, 43 
 
 J Jerusalem, 6t, lol 
 
 T EA. R.60 
 
 ^- Leeds, as , 
 
 Leicester, 24 ' 
 
 Lichfield, 46 
 
 Liffey, R. 89 
 
 London, 8, 24, 84, no 
 
 LiOthians, 7^ 
 
 Louvain (LoewcnX 59 
 
 MAINZ, 4a 
 Maldon, 83 
 Atterton, 4 
 
 il. 
 
: ■ 
 
 1^4 
 
 Index of Places. 
 
 NOft 
 
 NORMANDY. 59. 67. 85. 95. 97. 
 
 O^^LEA Surrey, 5, 
 
 Offa s Dyke, 45 
 Olney-on-Sevem, gi 
 Orkneys, 108 
 Oxford, 90 
 
 PARIS, s8 
 
 Peterborough, 76 
 
 Russifxo;' '' "' ^ 
 
 C ALISBURY, 86 
 •^ Scilly Islands, 84 
 
 Se^K'.^' ''• '^' '^ '«* 
 Shaftesbury, r. 3 ; vi. 6 
 anerbome, 4c 
 Shrewsbury, 45 
 
 YOR 
 
 xo 
 
 Soissons, 29 
 Southampton, 90 
 Southern Islands, 76 
 Stamford Bridge, 108 
 
 yAUNTON, 41 
 
 Thanet 6, 93, 59, 76 
 Tyne, R. 108 
 
 y-ERULAM (S. Alban's), fl. 4, 
 
 ^^75^ 88,",V' ''• ''■ ''' ''• ^ 
 
 Watling Street, 56, 66 
 
 Wedmore, S7 
 
 Wells, 68 
 
 Western Islands (Hebadet), 49 
 
 Westmmster, xo6 
 
 Whitby, 36 
 
 Worcester, 98 
 
 Y°f^^,g'>o"«»«X K. 43, 4«k tfy. 
 
HOW TO READ; 
 
 A DRILL BOOK 
 
 FOR CORRECT km EXPRESSIVE READING- 
 
 ADAPTED FOR THE USE OF SCHOOLS. 
 
 By Richard Lewis, Teacher of Elocution, Author of "Domin- 
 ion Elocutionist," dc. 
 
 PRICE 76 CENTS. 
 
 J. M. PLATT, M.D., P. S. Inspector. Picton. Ont 
 
 ever^nWduSSto ou?cl*'na"d1^'Schnr °l ^'^^Z^'^^* little book, 
 fail to have his senior cl"aLe?sCred'2ltr ?he worfa^rce!^'"*'" "^ 
 
 J MORRISON. M A.. M.D.. ^M. High School. Newmarket. 
 JOHN SHAW. Head Master High School. Omemee. 
 
 R. N. RODGERS, Inspector of P. Schools. Collingwood 
 
 introduced i,I%'l?rysSoo'l°°V?!!rSv*'bS^ to every teacher. artO 
 better spent, than il SSg the^^e pSples it'^.alTL'"^ ^. 
 CS^rd^Sf -« ^^ ^'- '- a?t^iSS;,i'oftai^7&' 
 
 E. M. BIGG, M.A. 
 .»««*.■ ' ^ ^* '* ^^^^^ ^^ introduced into everv sohool 
 
 18 so MUCH NKBDKD IN OUR SCHOOLS AS SUCH A WORK. 
 
 NoTHiaa 
 
 JOim MACOUN. *^A Head Ma..«r of Albert College Grammar 
 School, Prof, of Botany. &c. "» " ««uj»r 
 
 . •• ■,: .',™?''* ""'^^^'ta*'ingly recommend Lkwib' How Tr>Tj.i« *^ 
 of U every day. — ' '"'"' '"■" "■""" ^" '"6 U5« 
 
 J. MILLER, B.A.. H. M. High School, St. fhomM. 
 •eivi mori aJtemlo^:***" *'***•' *°**''^ ^ * '"^'^'"^ *»»* '^^^ «- 
 
■ 
 
 ENGLISH GRAMMAR 
 
 BY C. P. MASON, B.A., F.C.P., 
 
 Fellow of University College, London 
 
 WlHH EXAMINATIOir PAPERS BY VV. HOUSTON, M.A. 
 
 PftlCE 75 C PINTS. 
 
 ALKX. SIM, M.A., H. M., H. S., OakWlIe. 
 
 the old^couily S^H^U'^thf h.r'^''^ ^ fiTamiaar school inspector in 
 niedlaeirseK mLo™ *^™"""*'" P"'>"«»>«d there. He ira- 
 
 A. P. KNIGHT. M.A.. H.M.. Kingston Collegiate institute 
 .chortrL^'^^e!^^-^^^^^^^^ 
 
 J. KING, M.A., LL.D., Principal, Caledonia, H. S. 
 
 public ^ ^ ""^ ^"^""'^ grammar hitherto before the Canadian 
 
 RICHARD LEWIS, H. MTDufferin School Toronto. 
 
 excen^nt?^ hod?iS defiSon'. ^fT-.1 ^^"''H '' P<''"*^ »"d it« 
 the estimation of the best 1ud^P«nf^,n^* '""'l ^'^ Fu" "' ** * '^'«'^ ""^ in 
 the country It has rlphVn ^o , 8"<=h «rorks-the school teachers of 
 
 have no doubt it will rncetw^th^^^^^^^^^ '" ^"^^""^ ^"'^ ^ 
 
 Province. ^' "^'*^ ^''^ «^^ ^'Sl^ appreciation in this 
 
 JOHN SHAW. H. M.. H. S., Omemee. 
 
 been hoping ^oTe'^nt'roTcJd 'iSn* ^""'^ ".I'^f ^ "''">' ^«=''«" have 
 teach the (subject by Sanation H^fTn'^r- "''^"''^ '^ '?«*h°'^ ^eing to 
 Without stereitypetrlTelrrrb^^^^^^^^ 
 
 D. C. MacHENRY, B. a, H. M. Cobourg Col. Institute 
 t.rci!e;iardSaXiS"''' "^'•'- " ""' ^« -«" "-'-«* ''r 
 
 JOHN JOHNSTON. P. S. I.rB~elIevilIe and South Hastings. 
 Of all the grammars that I have seen, I consider Mason's toe best. 
 
 ''■ ^hfv^?' f.^- "•''•' ««'^'"t«'-. High School, Newmarket. 
 »"« rieminsr notPino' more q«em« ♦^ h« HA«Tt«d 
 
BEATTY & .i^ARE'S 
 
 BOOK-KEEPING; 
 
 A Trbatwr on Sinolk and Doublb Entrt Book-Kmpino. 
 FOR USE IN HIGH AND PUBLIC SCHOOLS. 
 By S G. Beatty, Principal Ontario Commercial College. Belle- 
 ville, and Samuel Clare, Book Keeping and Writing 
 Master, Normal School, Toronto. 
 
 PRICE 70 CENTS. 
 
 T. O. STEEL, Inspector, P. S. Co., Prescott. 
 
 WM. TASSEE. LL.D., H. M., Gait Col. Institute, 
 practickl t'hrouyut."""' """"'^ '' •^°"'"^^« ^^^A'"^'""' »"d ^^rj 
 
 J. W. CONNOR, B.A.. H. M., H. S.. Berlin. 
 I haVe yet' seJn.°"'**^"" " *''" ^""^ «'ementary work on the subject that 
 
 D. C. MCHENRY, M.A.. Principal Cobourg Collegiate Institute. 
 I consider Beatty & Clare's Bool<-keeping an excellent text bcok. 
 
 A; YOUNG, Principal of Berlin, C. S 
 .yer'Sw.'''°'*' "^ Book-keeping by Beatty & Clare is the best that I 
 
 JOHN WILSON, Math. Master, Port Hope H S 
 
 teachers ihrLghLf t1,e V'orc^'^f "oL'tu'aSL?. T ''""^^ 
 thoroughness in the art of Book-keeping '"^"^^^'^ ^ *'""• 
 
 HUGH J. STRANG, B.A., H. M, H. S., Goderich. 
 ., , --.., '**"•" '■"0 pi mcipica oi Book-Keepiiig, 
 
 J. S. CARSON, Inspector, Middlesex. 
 «votM.rUk7orTu';^gaanTch^or'"'^"^° *'^* '' '' '"^-^^ ^ 
 
Miikt & €0/0 (Ebui:ational ^ems. 
 
 LANGUAGE LESSONS 
 
 zc 
 
 R. DAWSON, B.A., T. C. D., Head Master High School. Belleville. 
 Ihave been very much pleased bj' the introduction of " Swinton'i 
 Languapo Lesson's," into the list of Canadian School Books. It is 
 dmplo, comprehensive, and reliable; and shows very clearly how easdy 
 the study of grammar may be made to go hand in hand with the prac- 
 tice of Composition, the great end for which grammar ought to be 
 taught. We have at last an elementary text book which may be en- 
 truat«d into the hands of the most inexperienced teacher without any 
 fear of its bsing abused. 
 
 JOHN JOHNSTON, P. S. I., South Hastings. 
 I have carefully examined "Swinton's Language Lessons," and am 
 convinced from what I have seen of it, and from what I have heard from 
 some of my most experienced teachers, that it is by far the best 
 Elementary text book on the subject that has yet been placed within 
 reach of our Canadian children. The simultaneous exercises in com- 
 position are an admirable feature. I shall recommend the book for use 
 in all the schools in my district. 
 
 m 
 
 J. M. PLATT, M,D., P. S. Inspector, Picton. 
 I am greatly pleased with this little work. Our best and most ex- 
 perienced teachers teach grammar to junior classes orally, after thf 
 same fashion. Young and inexperienced teachers can do as well with 
 " Language Lessons " as the oldest and best can do without it Foi 
 pupils Just entering upon this important branch, this little book in 
 question haa no superior in the market. 
 
 W. S. CLENDENJNG, Inspector East Bruce, Walkerton. 
 . . . With its valuab!" aid the teacher will fin^ it no difficult 
 task to make the study of lanj,'uage agreeable to even junior pupils. ) 
 esteem it so highly that I will use my influence to get it into the handj 
 of every teacher in my district, and, if authorized, into every school 
 likewise. 
 
 ROBERT MATHESON, MA, H, M. High School, Walkerton. 
 
 . . . Language Lessons will assuredly prove a boon to teachen 
 of composition. 1 find that for teaching English Grammar it is superior 
 to the usual treatises, as it treats of Grammar in a practical manner. 
 
 C. MOSES, P. S. I., County Haldimand, Caledonia. 
 I have carefully examined Swinton's language Lessons for Junior 
 classes and consider it one of the best yet published, being admirably 
 adapted fur use in our public schools. 
 
 .