B 364257
DUPL
N!:
MICH
M
NIV
FREEPOR
ETTERS
N
MIC
MIC
145)
INI
MIC
NIVE
UNIV
AN
ERSIT
43
11.
AN
UNID
MICA
HIG
INC
4118
AIN
V
All
LAUR
IN
a.
GUND
N
BACH
NOW
E
ONA
TW
UN
HIG
ན
Si
AN
комента
CHIG
MI
FO
NIVE
HOW
CHIG
Mir
STA
UNIVE
V
OIN
MIG
AN
N
ܝܐܐ
ER
MIC
AAAAAA
MIC
"N
C
V
NIV
CH
Ex
ܚܝܝ
MI
U
م
UNIV
16576
R
NW
C
HIG
C
JAA Â ÂÂ ÂÂ ÂÂ
Mi
Ne
MI
GAN
AN
THE
AN
CHIG
ALPHEUS FELCH HISTORICAL LIBRARY
UNIVER
BEQUEATHED
TO THE
BY THE
1896.
CAREER CENTE
UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN
HON. ALPHEUS FELCH.
الا انت ها
DIH
This
NIVERS
ERSIT
MICH,
AN
By per
GAN
AAA
AN
ERS
HIG
**
LIN
O
MI
MIC
N
CH
UNIVER
VER
DIH
SIT
DIV
UNIVER
SITY
AN
CHIG
VERSIT
MIC
OTW
CHIG
MICH
AN
AN
N
*******
OF
RSITY
DAL
G
ERSIT
HIC
AN
•*******
MIC
UNIVERSITY
MIC
MICHIG
Z
Rel
冷
​CHIG
MI
UNIVER
AN
NIVERSITY
CHIG
AN
AN
VERSI
MICHI
MICHIG
U
UNIVERSI
VERSITY
VERSI
AN
MICHIG
10.
ERSIT
CHIG
AN
CHIG
IG
AN
MI
IVERS
CH
ar
OF
SITY
AN
UNIV
NIVERSITY
AND
MI
(17%
CHIG
HIG
OF
MIC
NIV
AN
NIVERSIN
ERSITY
CH
CHIG
MICHIG
AN
AN
MINAMIC
OF
MICHIG
UNIVERSITY
RSITY
VERSITY
20
この
​NY
OF
AN
MICHIG
UNIV
ERSITY
BG
MIDIGA
AN
AN
CHIG
NIVERS
A
MIC
OF
HIG
OF
UNIVERSITY NO
UNIV
AN
HIG
OF
UN.
AN
RSITY
MI
UNIV
SERMICI
OF
MICHIG
G
OF
UNIVE
NIVERS
RSITY
OF
UNIVE
10
IGAN
p.138
DA
153
· G47

KING ALFRED'S JEWEL
SHIT
CMathews, fe
LFRED ME
AELFRED MECHEHCE VRLAN
Clements. OXFORD
THE
LIFE AND TIMES
REV. J
OF
ALFRED THE GREAT.
Y
BY THE
ALES, D. C. L.
LATE FELLOW OF C. C. C. OXFORD,
AUTHOR OF HISTORY OF THE ANCIENT BRITONS, LIFE AND LETTERS
OF THOMAS A BECKET, &c.
AND CURATE OF BAMPTON, OXON.
Græcos
Ausus deserere et celebrare domestica facta.
LONDON,
GEORGE BELL, 186, FLEET STREET.
1848.
BAXTER, PRINTER, OXFORD.
ΤΟ
GENERAL SIR JOHN SLADE, BARONET,
OF MONTYS COURT, NEAR TAUNTON,
AND PROPRIETOR OF THE ISLE OF ATHELNEY,
THIS
LIFE OF ALFRED THE GREAT
IS INSCRIBED,
IN ACKNOWLEDGMENT OF THE PIOUS CARE
Bampton, Oct. 26, 1848.
WITH WHICH HIS FAMILY
HAVE IDENTIFIED AND POINTED OUT TO FUTURE AGES
THE LONELY SPOT
WHERE
THE GREATEST OF ENGLISH KINGS
FOUND A TEMPORARY REFUGE FROM HIS ENEMIES.
J. A. G.
PREFACE.
To write the life of a King who was born a
thousand years ago, but whose name is as fresh in
the mouths of Englishmen as if he had lived in our
own times, is an undertaking which, at first sight,
may appear perilous to the writer, and more likely
to obscure than to illustrate the splendid achieve-
ments of his hero. It has been, perhaps, from a
feeling of this sort that, if we except one or two
short and hasty sketches, no one for more than two
hundred years has ventured to delineate, in a full
and elaborate work, the life and actions of our
favourite King, Alfred the Great.
Neither can it be pleaded in defence of the present
work that its author has had superior advantages, or
possesses any peculiar talents for succeeding in a
labour from which so many preceding writers have
shrunk. He may however be allowed to state, that
there is one circumstance, likely to have deterred
others, which has had a contrary effect upon himself.
The want of competent original records may deter
an abler pen from being employed on a subject
which would give little scope for historical talent,
vi
PREFACE.
though it might furnish ample subject for the Poet
or the Novelist. Such is the deficiency of original
evidence for the splendid deeds of King Alfred, that
no one but Sir John Spelman has made them the
subject of a separate study; and as his work, from
the length of time that has passed since it was written,
has become obsolete as regards the train of thought
which pervades it, and also, from his less perfect
knowledge of records which have been better deve-
loped since his time, is deficient in fact, there seems
to be a reasonable ground for believing, that a new
work on this subject may be favourably received by
those who wish to see the history of their country
illustrated with faithful adherence to the accounts
which our ancient Chroniclers have left us. Those
who know what patient research is required to thread
the mazes of a hundred old authors, to compare
their statements, to select one and to reject another,
will not lightly treat with contempt the contents of
this volume. Few writers can hope that the public
will take equal interest with themselves in the hero
whose life they have attempted to describe: but this
shall not deter me from inviting the attention of
those who read History, to a volume which contains
the fullest account that has yet appeared of the
actions of one of the greatest kings that the world
has ever seen. If, however, no more merit than that
of its completeness could be claimed for this work, it
ought not on that account to be thought a super-
fluous addition to our literary stores; for that which,
to all practical purposes, is new, may perhaps be any
PREFACE.
vii
•
thing but superfluous; nor can I be fairly censured as
having wasted the labour which has been bestowed
in writing a work that has not been written before.
But, though it might have been excusable if I had no
pretensions to have discovered any new facts on a
subject so trite as the present, yet it is my belief that
I have discovered a new fact, not only of importance,
but of the greatest importance, in explaining one of
the most interesting parts of Alfred's life. I allude
to the obscurity which hangs over the third invasion
of Wessex by the Danes in January 878, when
Alfred, from being at the head of a gallant army,
suddenly found himself a fugitive and an exile. As
it would be useless to explain this more fully in a
preface, the reader is referred to the fourteenth
chapter, where the subject is discussed at length.
It would be improper to dismiss the work without
saying something of the sources from which it is
drawn, and of the extent to which I have followed
the ancient authorities. The task is easy; for the
list of these authorities is short. The ancient writings
which come the nearest to the age of Alfred the
Great are the Life of Alfred by Asser, the Anglo-
Saxon Chronicle, and the Chronicle of Ethelwerd.
All these are so well known to those who are ac-
quainted with books, that they require but little
description. Asser, being contemporary with Alfred,
may be supposed to claim the greatest attention to
what he relates; his work will recur to our notice in
almost every page of this volume. The Anglo-
Saxon Chronicle is supposed to have been begun in
viii
PREFACE.
the time of Alfred, if not sooner, and to have received
additions in every following generation, down to the
year 1154. Ethelwerd was of princely birth, and
related to the family of King Alfred. His work,
though it contains little beyond what is to be found
in Asser or the Saxon Chronicle, is a valuable
commentary on their text, and occasionally notices
facts which are recorded no where else. He wrote
soon after the death of Alfred. The next writers in
point of time, to whom we are indebted for a know-
ledge of these early times, are Florence of Worcester,
Simeon of Durham, and Henry of Huntingdon, all
of whom lived soon after the Norman Conquest,
and have apparently more or less copied from
some common authority. Each of them, however,
contributes some new fact, and neither of them may
be rejected without loss to a subject, which can only
be satisfactorily developed by a reference to all the
authorities which have come down to us. These
six Chronicles appear to me of primary importance,
and have been always quoted before any other in
the following work, concerning events which either
or any of them have mentioned.
A valuable supplement to these six Chronicles
may occasionally be found in Ingulf of Croyland
Abbey, who is also next to them in time. William
of Malmesbury gives little additional information
concerning Alfred, but his mode of grouping facts
is sometimes of service. Roger de Wendover, Mat-
thew of Westminister, and John Brompton, who
lived many years later, must also not be despised
'PREFACE.
ix
or neglected. To these authors I have in general
confined myself for all that concerns facts and original
views of Alfred's life and actions; and a multitude
of other writers have been consulted on particular
subjects, whose names it is not necessary to enu-
merate.
But it would have been highly culpable not to
notice the valuable aid which has been derived from
Turner's History of the Anglo-Saxons, Lappenberg's
work on the same subject, and Spelman's old and
quaint, but useful, Life of Alfred. I have taken the
liberty of quoting, whenever it appeared necessary,
from all these writers, but seldom or never, without
affixing the name of the author quoted. If either of
the two first, or Dr. Lingard, the nature of whose
work would not allow him to devote more than a few
pages to the reign of Alfred, should find that I have
quoted them for the purpose of pointing out a supposed
error, there is little doubt that their enlightened minds
will approve rather than condemn such a mode of
weighing authorities and contrasting opinions, when
the discovery of truth, and not the propagation of a
theory, is the object which has been kept in view.
It is perhaps superfluous to mention, what will
occur to any one who reads a few pages of this
volume, that I have preferred, wherever it was pos-
sible, to make the ancient Chroniclers tell their own
story in their own words. This mode, which I have
adopted in former books, has attracted much notice
a
The Life and Letters of Thomas à Becket, and the History of
the Ancient Britons.
X
PREFACE.
from the Reviewers, some of whom have approved
whilst others have condemned it. Where ancient
authorities abound, such a mode would of course
involve much repetition, and cause many difficulties;
but where there is a single authentic account of a
particular event left us by an eye-witness, it is danger-
ous to depart from the exact form of words in which
that eye-witness has told his tale. The mode has been
adhered to in this "Life of Alfred;" and the reader
will not regret that I have adopted a plan, to which
he is indebted for the numerous little graphic scenes
from Asser, of something nearly resembling domestic
history, which are interwoven in this work.
J. A. G..
1
CONTENTS.
CHAP. I.
Introduction-Slow progress of migrations by sea-Saxon invasion
of Britain-Seven Saxon kingdoms-Their separate existence from
about A.D. 500 to 800-Their discords.
Page 1
CHAP. II.
The Heptarchy-One of the kingdoms generally predominant-The
eight Bretwaldas-Offa the powerful king of Mercia-Distracted
state of Wessex-Sigebert-Cynewolf-Cyneard-The combat
at Merton-Egfrid and Kenwulf, kings of Mercia; Bertric and
Egbert, of Wessex.
6
CHAP. III.
Reign of Egbert, king of Wessex, from A.D. 802 to 839.-Eighth
Bretwalda, or Lord Paramount of England, after A.D. 823.-His
exile in France, and return to England-His coronation-The
skirmish at Kempsford-His invasion of Cornwall-Revolutions
in Mercia-Treaty between Wessex and East Anglia-Battle at
Ellandune-Kingdoms of Kent, Essex, and Sussex, submit to
Egbert-Bernwolf and Ludecan, kings of Mercia, defeated and
slain by the East-Anglians-Wiglaf, king of Mercia, tributary to
Egbert-Northumberland submits-Egbert invades Wales-First
invasions of the Danes-Origin of the Danes, Saxons, and Nor-
mans-Egbert's death.
18
CHAP. IV.
The reign of Ethelwolf, from A.D. 839 to 858.—His wars with the
Danes and Welsh-His sons Ethelbald, Ethelbert, and Alfred-
His piety-Journey to Rome-Rebellion of Ethelbald-Division
of the kingdom-Ethelwolf's death.
44
xii
CONTENTS.
CHAP. V.
Ethelbald reigns over Wessex from 858 to 860.-Ethelbert over
the dependent kingdom of Kent, Sussex, and Essex-Ethelbald
marries Judith, his father's widow-Ethelbald dies—Judith returns
to France.
65
CHAP. VI.
Ethelbert succeeds Ethelbald, A.D. 860-Winchester sacked by the
Danes in 860-Death of St. Swithun in 861-Thanet invaded
by the Danes in 864-Ethelbert dies in 866.
69
CHAP. VII.
Ethelred succeeds to the throne-Osbert king of Northumberland—
His insult to the wife of Bruern, who flees to Denmark-Ella is
made king of Northumberland--Edmund king of East-Anglia—
Legend of Regner Lodbrok.
72
CHAP. VIII.
The parentage and early life of King Alfred-His education-Story
of the book of poems-Is afflicted with a severe disease.
80
CHAP. IX.
Accession of Ethelred in 866-The Danish chieftains, Hinguar and
Hubba, invade East-Anglia and Northumberland-They take York
on March 1, 867-Osbert and Ella are slain in April, 877-Death
of Alstan, Bishop of Salisbury-The Danes invade Mercia, and
take Nottingham in 868-Burrhed, king of Mercia, sends to
Ethelred for assistance-Alfred's marriage with Elswitha-the
Danes return to York-Their ravages in the adjacent country,
particularly at the monasteries of Bardney, Croyland, Peterborough,
and Ely.
91
CONTENTS.
xiii
CHAP. X.
The Danes enter Wessex, and fortify a camp at Reading-Battle of
Englefield Green, in which the Danes are defeated-Battle of
Reading, in which the English are defeated-Battle of Ashdown,
in which the Danes are defeated-Battle of Basing, in which the
English are defeated-Battle of Merton, in which the English are
defeated-Death of King Ethelred, Apr. 23, A.D. 871. 117
CHAP. XI.
View of the state of England at the time of Alfred's accession in 871
-Battle of Wilton-Nine battles in the year 871-In 872 the
Danes leave Wessex, and occupy London-In 873 they enter
Lincolnshire-in 874 they enter Mercia, expel Burrhed, and make
Ceolwulf king-In 875 they plunder the Northumbrians, the Picts,
and the Strathclyde Britons.
127
CHAP. XII.
The legend of the translation of St. Cuthbert's body, wherein are
related the flight of the monks of Lindisfarne from before the
Danish army, the conquest and settlement of Northumbria as a
Danish kingdom, until it finally was united to the dominions of
King Alfred.
143
CHAP. XIII.
Wessex the only Saxon kingdom remaining-Partial benefit of the
Danish invasions-Rollo baffled in his attempts on England-
Alfred takes one ship in a naval battle with tho Danes-Second
invasion of Wessex in 876-The Danes take Warham-Make a
treaty with Alfred-Break the treaty, and surprise Exeter-
Destruction of the Danish fleet at Swanage The Danes make a
second treaty at Exeter, and, leaving Wessex,
in 877.
retire to Mercia
157
xiv
CONTENTS.
CHAP. XIV.
Third invasion of Wessex in Jan. 878.-Seizure of Chippenham-
Retreat of the king to the wilds of Somersetshire-Opinions of
different writers on this event-Supposed discovery of a battle at
Chippenham, as related by John Brompton.
167
CHAP. XV.
Of the disease which seized Alfred at his wedding-Charges against
Alfred's character investigated-Reflections of Turner and Spelinan
on that subject.
193
CHAP. XVI.
Of Alfred's life in the wilds and marshes of Somersetshire-Adven-
ture of the cakes-Landing of the Danes in Devonshire-Defeat
of the Danes, and death of Hubba-St. Cuthbert said to have
appeared to Alfred in the shape of a pilgrim.
209
CHAP. XVII.
Alfred prepares to leave Athelney-As a glee-man he reconnoitres
the Danish camp-Summons his army at Egbert's stone-Marches
to Ethandune-Defeats the Danes-Takes their camp-Guthrum
becomes a Christian.
231
CHAP. XVIII.
Alfred's plan for converting the Danes into useful subjects-They
settle in East Anglia-The treaty between Alfred and Guthrum-
A new body of Danes under Hasting land at Fulham, but are
compelled to leave the kingdom-Their adventures and ravages
on the continent between 880 and 893.
241
CHAP. XIX.
Precautions of Alfred against future invasions of the Danes-Second
treaty with Guthrum-Skirmishes with the Danes still continue-
Alfred takes four Danish ships-Danes besiege Rochester, which
is relieved by the king-The king attacks the East-Anglian Danes
by sea-Defeats their fleet-His own fleet is defeated on the coast
of Essex.
252
CONTENTS.
XV
CHAP. XX.
Second period of Alfred's life-England enjoys comparative tran-
quillity during fifteen years, from 878 to 893.-Alfred's power
more extensive than before the Danish invasions-His endeavours
to amend the condition of his people-He invites Plegmund,
Werfrith, Ethelstan, and Werwolf out of Mercia, Asser out of
Wales, Grimbald and John of Corbey (not Erigena) out of
France.
261
CHAP. XXI.
Alfred's navy-His general officers-and fortresses-His admoni-
tions to build castles neglected-Of the cities which he built or
restored-The King's zeal for religion--His hearing the Scriptures-
Builds monasteries at Athelney, Shaftesbury, the new minster at
Winchester-Alfred's children-their education-The school for the
sons of the nobility-No Universities in those times-Supposition
that Alfred was not in favour at Rome.
276
CHAP. XXII.
Alfred's avocations as described by Asser reviewed-Hunting and
falconry-Working in gold and silver-Architecture-Services of
religion and private devotion-Devotes half his time to God-He
makes wax lights to measure time-Invents lanterns-His love of
books-All learning confined to the Latin tongue-Alfred learns
Latin-His literary works-His Enchiridion or Manual-Preface to
Gregory's Pastoral Care-Translation of Boethius-Translation of
Orosius, &c-Voyages of Othther and Wulfstan-Alfred's foreign
correspondence.
308
7
CHAP. XXIII.
Saxon laws of Ethelbert, Ina, Withred, and Offa-Alfred compiles a
code-Examples of his laws quoted-His strict administration of
justice-Numerous appeals to him from the inferior courts-His
mode of reprimanding and teaching his ignorant judges-His seve-
rity in punishing the corrupt-His reforms in the administration
of counties, hundreds, and tithings-Institution of judges and
sheriffs The institution of frankpledge-His absolute power-
division of his income, and economy of his time.
332
:
xvi
CONTENTS.
CHAP. XXIV.
Hasting, foiled on the continent, suddenly invades England in 893-
He forms two entrenched camps in Kent, at Appledore and
Milton-Alfred fortifies a position between the two camps-
Battle of Farnham-Alfred besieges the Danes in Mersey-Island,
but is called off to defend Exeter-Danish camp taken-Hasting's
wife and children made prisoners, but released-Hasting fortifies
Bemfleet and Shobury in Essex-The Danes cross England to
Buttington-Siege and battle of Buttington-The Danes, defeated,
escape to Essex-They again cross England to Chester-Ravage
Wales, and return to Essex-They encamp on the Lea-Alfred
obstructs their navigation-The Danes retire to Quatbridge in
Gloucestershire, where their army is broken up.
348
CHAP. XXV.
The East Anglian and Northumbrian Danes continue to infest the
southern coast.-Sea fight between six Danish and nine English
ships near the Isle of Wight-Tranquillity restored to England—
Mortality both of men and cattle-Alfred ends his days in peace on
the 26th of October, A.D. 901-Conclusion.
364
APPENDIX.
I. Alfred's Will in Saxon.
Translation of ditto.
II. Alfred's Proverbs, in Saxon.
Translation of ditto.
III. Description of Alfred's Gem.
IV. Treaty between Alfred and Guthrum, in Saxon.
V. Fulk's Letter to Alfred.
INDEX.
VI. Alfred's Preface to Gregory's Pastoral Care, in Saxon.
Translation of ditto.
VII. Chronological Summary of Anglo-Saxon History.
1
6
16
17
20
23
24
29
*223
33
35
THE
LIFE AND TIMES
OF
ALFRED THE GREAT.
CHAP. I.
INTRODUCTION—SLOW PROGRESS OF MIGRATIONS BY SEA-SAXON
INVASION OF BRITAIN-SEVEN SAXON KINGDOMS—THEIR SEPARATE
EXISTENCE FROM ABOUT A.D. 500 To 800-THEIR DISCORDS.
THE Ocean, placed by Nature as a barrier between
the nations of the earth, presented, in ancient times, a
formidable impediment to the migratory tendencies of
mankind. The newly-discovered country, which is
divided by the sea from the old-established habitations
of the human race, has many a chance of defending its
liberties, in the difficulty with which a large fleet,
capable of conveying a sufficient number of invaders,
can be constructed, or the stores be procured with
which they are to be maintained. This may account
for the disproportion, which we observe between those
migrations which have been conducted by land, and
others which have necessarily taken place by sea.
Whilst Gaul, Italy, Spain, and Greece, have been at
different times overrun, and their destruction threatened,
by millions of Goths, Gauls, Huns, and other northern
77
B
2
LIFE AND TIMES OF ALFRED THE GREAT. [CH. I.
barbarians, the island of Britain, protected by the
friendly Ocean, has never at any time been subjected
to the invasion of a mighty army, capable at one
stroke of crushing its liberties, and extirpating its
ancient inhabitants. It has, rather, been harassed
for centuries by small bodies of pirates, and other
plunderers, coming in such a number of vessels as
their means could provide them with; and in this
manner its population has, two or three times within
the period of authentic history, gradually been dis-
placed by new-comers.
When Julius Cæsar, the earliest civilized invader of
Britain, first reached our shores, he found all the
south of the island occupied by Belgic tribes, akin to
those which lined the opposite coasts of the continent,
from the Seine, nearly, to the Elbe. As Cæsar has
no where made mention of a diversity of language or of
manners, as coming within the range of his own ob-
servation, it is probable—and the tone of his narrative
makes it almost certain-that the Belgic tribes oc-
cupied a very large part of Britain, certainly much
more of it than that to which Cæsar's own operations
were confined. History does not inform us when the
Belgæ first began to encroach on the land of Britain ;
and it is useless to conjecture, where we have not a
single fact to form the basis of the enquiry. But we
shall be safe in referring the first arrival of Belgians
to an early date, because we find, that the more recent
changes which Britain has experienced, and of which
history furnishes the details, were only effected after
a long and painful series of wars and rebellions between
the natives and their invaders. Thus, when the
Romans had left Britain, and its inhabitants resumed
the exercise of their ancient liberty, the Saxon tribes,
• A. D. 600.]
3
INTRODUCTION.
which, even under the Roman dominion, had ap-
parently marked out this island as their future con-
quest, began to press with greater energy to effect its
subjugation. Yet a hundred and fifty years still inter-
vened before they gained secure possession of that
part of the island which is now called England, and
two large provinces of it, namely, Cumberland and
Cornwall, remained many years longer in the occupation
of the Britons.
At what period the Saxon adventurers first began
to commit depredations on the south coasts of Britain,
and what time elapsed before they established their
dominion in the island, it is not the province of this
work to relate. But it is of great importance to our
present purpose to shew, that the Saxon common-
wealth in Britain never enjoyed, for more than a few
years at a time, repose from intestine war or foreign
invasion.
In fact, the Saxon monarchs, who were most dis-
tinguished for their bravery and patriotism, can be
regarded in no other point of view than as serving, by
a continued struggle against wars and difficulties, to
uphold and maintain a state not yet settled on a firm
and lasting basis.
A hundred and fifty years after the first landing of
Hengist and Horsa, we find seven Saxon kingdoms
established in South Britain. And it is worthy of
remark, that the kings of these petty states often regarded
one another with more jealousy than the British chiefs,
who still maintained independence in Wales, Cumber-
land, and Cornwall. This fact seems to go far to con-
firm the theory, that there was less dissimilarity both
of language and manners between the Saxons and
Britons, than prevails at the present day between their
B 2
4
LIFE AND TIMES OF ALFRED THE GREAT. [CH. I..
descendants. However this may be, the same fact
leads us, at all events, to the melancholy inference,
which all history too sadly confirms, that the ties of
kindred are snapt asunder without difficulty, by nations
as well as by individuals, when they interfere with those
views of cupidity or aggrandisement, which are but too
familiar to the human breast.
The Saxon Heptarchy-as the seven kingdoms at
this time existing in England are commonly denomi-
nated-never shewed signs of durability: nor were
their chiefs ever possessed of an equal share of power.
It is probable, that jealousy of each other contributed
much to prolong their separate existence, until the
time of Egbert, a period of nearly three hundred years.
Another cause which served to produce the same effect
may be found in the scanty population which was at
that time spread over the country, and probably also
in the natural barriers, inlets of the sea, ridges of
chalk downs, woods, heaths, and morasses, which
separated the different states. Thus the western
frontier of Kent was protected by the dense wood of
Anderida-coeval with the Roman dominion-from
the South Saxons, who, occupying the cultivated parts
of Sussex close upon the south coast, were in their
turn separated by the Southampton water, and other
inlets of the sea near Portsmouth, from being easily
invaded by the inhabitants of Wessex. In a similar
manner the East Anglians, occupying the modern
counties of Norfolk and Suffolk, and protected on their
right by the Wash with its mighty inundations, and on
the left by the estuary of the Thames, were secure
from most of the discords which arose between the
other states, and seemed almost to form another island
by themselves. Again, the powerful northern kingdom:
A. D. 500-800.]
5
THE HEPTARCHY.
of Northumbria, safe from an enemy in its rear, because
there was at that time no people beyond it whose
power the Northumbrian monarchs could fear, was
exposed to hostility on the south and south-west by
the proximity of the native Britons, and the powerful
Saxon kingdom of Mercia, which occupying the centre
of the island, in the very middle of the other kindred
states, was at all times liable to come into contact with
each of them, and seldom, in fact, enjoyed a long
interval of tranquillity.
The duration of the Saxon Heptarchy is a subject
of much interest to the historian, because the records
which we possess concerning it, though much more
meagre than we could desire, are nevertheless by far
more ample and explicit than those which any other
country can produce of equal antiquity. The History
of the Heptarchy, in fact, presents us with a picture of
that intermediate state of national existence, which
occupies the interval between a patriarchal tribe, and a
state consolidated under a regular government. We
see in it the elements out of which a powerful society
was one day to be formed, and, if those elements had
not all been in such rapid motion-if they had exhibited
more of inertness or sooner settled into a passive state,
like some of the Asiatic communities, which for
thousands of years have suffered no variation of cha-
racter-the Saxon people of the seven kingdoms might
have been spared many sufferings, which were caused
them by the restlessness and ambition of their rulers,
but would scarcely have been the ancestors of that
mighty people, their present descendants, who have
covered the whole earth with their arts, arms, and
· civilization.
CHAP. II.
THE HEPTARCHY-ONE OF THE KINGDOMS GENERALLY PREDOMINANT-
THE EIGHT BRETWALDAS-OFFA THE POWERFUL KING OF MERCIA-
DISTRACTED STATE OF WESSEX-SIGEBERT-CYNEWOLF-CYNEARD
THE COMBAT AT MERTON—EGFRID AND KENWULF, KINGS OF
MERCIA; BERTRIC AND EGBERT, OF WESSEX.
BUT, though the kingdoms of the Saxon Heptarchy
in England continued for three hundred years to enjoy
a separate existence and sovereignty, there was gene-
rally one of their monarchs, who, from superior ability,
the favour of fortune, and many other causes, enjoyed
a sort of preeminence, not perhaps well ascertained
and marked out within certain limits, but rather a
virtual superiority over the other sovereigns. This
fact is evident from the agreement of all the historians,
and it is explicitly stated in that valuable record of
the times, the Saxon Chronicle; "King Egbert,"
such are the words of the Chronicle", "was the
eighth king who was Bretwaldab: Ælla, king of the
South Saxons, was the first who possessed this do-
minion: the second was Ceaulin, king of the West
Saxons; the third was Ethelbert, king of the Kentish
men; the fourth was Redwald, king of the East
Angles; the fifth was Edwin, king of the Northum-
brians; the sixth was Oswald, who reigned after him ;
λ
Saxon Chron. A.D. 827.
This word means Sovereign lord, or Emperor.
A. D. 500-800.]
THE HEPTARCHY.
the seventh was Oswy, Oswald's brother; the eighth
was Egbert, king of the West Saxons."
It must not, however, be supposed, that the number
seven accurately describes the separate Saxon mon-
archies established in this island. During a portion,
at least, of the time which the Heptarchy lasted, there
were eight separate states, whenever the two provinces
of Northumberland, Deur and Berneich-or, in their
Latinized form, Deira and Bernicia-were governed
each by its own sovereign. On the other hand, it
is equally certain, that, at different times, two
of the other Saxon states were occasionally united, by
a transient superiority of one or the other, under one
king, at whose death the ill-cemented union gave way,
and the separate states again enjoyed each its own
government.
Of the Saxon kingdoms established in Britain,
Kent, Sussex, Essex, and East-Anglia, though oc-
casionally contending with the others for the pre-
eminence, were on the whole so limited in extent,
that they had little chance of establishing a dynasty
which should unite the whole island under their
dominion. The contest therefore for ultimate supe-
riority lay between the larger states, Wessex, Mercia,
and Northumberland; and it seems difficult to discover
any peculiar advantages belonging to either of these,
which gave it a better chance than the others of
becoming predominant in the struggle. It remained
therefore for some lucky conjuncture of affairs, or
some prince of superior talents, to arise, who should
give one of these states a preponderance over the
other two, its rivals. Such a result seemed likely
to be brought about by the powerful Offa, who
governed Mercia during a long reign of thirty-nine
8
LIFE AND TIMES OF ALFRED THE GREAT. [CH. II.
years, from A.D. 755 to 794. The state of Wessex,
also, at this time was favourable to the designs-if the
Mercian king had formed any—of universal sovereignty.
The unhappy condition of the West-Saxon kingdom
may be gathered from the tragic scenes which were
enacted by its nobles. In 754-the year before Offa
succeeded to the throne of Mercia-Sigebert seized
on the government of Wessex, vacant by the death of
Cuthred, but before the end of the year, his cruelty
towards his subjects, together with that cowardice
which so often is united with tyranny, rendered his
rule no longer tolerable to his people, and Sigebert
was driven into exile. The insurrection was headed
by his own kinsman Cynewolf, and was sanctioned by
a solemn decree of the West-Saxon Witenagemot, or
Parliament, which deprived the exiled monarch for
ever of the crown. In compassion, however, for this
sudden reverse of fortune, there were still found some
who adhered to the cause of the deposed king, and
the county of Hampshire was given over to Sigebert
in separate sovereignty. But this unworthy man was
unable to cast off those habits which had before made
him obnoxious to the people, or he had not learnt
wisdom by experience. Among the very staunchest
of his followers was one Cumbra, or Cumbran, who
had adhered to him with unshaken fidelity; and the
wretch, for whom he had shewn so much zeal, now
requited his services by imbruing his hands in the
blood of his faithful servant. For this crime no
motive has been assigned; and we may therefore
believe that it was one of those wanton acts which
have in all ages occasionally occurred to give a deeper
• Saxon Chron. 754. William of Malmesbury.
C
d Saxon Chron. 755.
A.D. 777-784.] BATTLE OF BENSINGTON—AFFRAY AT MERTON. 9
dye to the iniquity of tyrants. But an avenger of the
murdered Alderman-for such was Cumbra's dignity-
was not wanting. Cynewolf, the West-Saxon king,
no doubt looked with satisfaction on an overt act,
which lent him an excuse for putting a finishing-
stroke to the career of his hated rival. Sigebert was
driven out from the province which had been assigned
to him, and in the forest of Andred, like the prodigal
son, is said to have found a subsistence in the com-
pany of the swine and the wild beasts. Here he
dwelt some time, until a swine-herd, provoked pro-
bably by some petulance of the degraded but savage-
minded prince, at a place called Privett's flood,
stabbed him to the heart with his knife.
The successful Cynewolf was thus the undisturbed
sovereign of the West-Saxon kingdom; but it was not
probable that a state, which had undergone so many
intestine convulsions, should be able to cope with its
powerful neighbour Mercia, led by a man of such
talents and vigour as king Offa. Accordingly, in the
twenty-fourth year of his reign, Cynewolf was worsted
in a great battle, fought at Bensington against Offa,
and the military power of the kingdom of Wessex was
much shattered by this defeat. In the year 784, which
was the thirty-first of Cynewolf's reign, another do-
mestic tragedy threw a deeper shade over the royal
family of Wessex. There was a prince-or Etheling,
as the Saxon phraseology describes him-among the
nobles of Wessex, whose increasing power gave alarm
to the reigning king. This was Cyneard, a brother of
the murdered Sigebert; and though so many years had
now passed away without any attempt on the part of the
Etheling to disturb the tranquillity of the state, yet
e Still called Privett, in Hampshire.
10
LIFE AND TIMES OF ALFRED THE GREAT. [CH. II.
Cynewolf, for no apparent cause, compelled Cyneard
to leave the country. The Etheling, yielding to the
emergency of the times, departed without delay, as if
acquiescing in his fate; but, as the sequel shewed, he had
already determined, when an opportunity should occur,
to take vengeance on his enemy for this unprovoked
aggression. Such an opportunity speedily presented
itself: Cynewolf was in the habit of paying visits to a
female who lived at Merton. Soon after the expulsion
of Cyneard, the king made a journey to Merton, ac-
companied by a very small escort. Tidings of this
were soon carried to Cyneard, who had already assem-
bled a band of desperadoes around him, and was only
waiting to strike a blow at the tyrant who had injured
him. The present opportunity was not to be let slip.
The Etheling, gathering his band, beset the housef
all sides, before the thanes and followers of the king
could prevent it. Cynewolf, hastily consulting with
those who were about him, shut the doors, and prepared
to parley with the enemy, whom he hoped to terrify by
threats of punishment, or to mollify by fair language.
Neither mode of acting succeeded, and Cynewolf per-
ceived that he must owe his safety to his sword, until
perchance his faithful thanes could come to his rescue.
Taking his stand, therefore, at the door, he manfully
defended himself for some time, until he beheld the
Etheling among those who were assailing him. His
indignation was roused at the sight, and he rushed
upon him with that courage in which, whatever were
his other failings, Cynewolf had never been deficient.
There is a slight difficulty here in reconciling the account given
in the Saxon Chronicle with that of William of Malmesbury. The
Chronicle says that Cyneard's band beset the very chamber in which
the king was: Malmesbury makes them beset the house generally.
:
A. D. 784.]
11
AFFRAY AT MERTON.
In the fury and suddenness of the assault Cyneard was
severely wounded, but he was saved from death by the
interposition of his followers, who, though with much
difficulty, and after a severe contest, at length slew the
king. Such of his attendants as were with him, re-
fusing to yield, and eager to avenge the death of their
lord, shared the same fate. But whilst this was passing,
the woman, who had been the occasion of all this, was
shrieking aloud for assistance: and the king's thanes,
who were not far off, hastened, each as quickly as he
was able, to the spot. The Etheling first attempted to
argue the case, and offered them their lives, and a sum
of money to each; but it was all to no purpose, not one
of them would listen to any compromise, and a general
battle took place. The king's followers were all slain
except one, a Briton, whom Cynewolf had formerly
received as a hostage from the Welsh, and he also was
severely wounded.
The next day, intelligence of the king's death was
spread far and near, and others of the king's thanes,
whom he had left behind him, hastened to the spot.
Among these was Osric, an Alderman, and a thane
named Wiferth. When they arrived at Merton, the
Etheling was still there, and the gates were closed
against them. Cyneard also began again to parley, for
his object now was, and probably had been so from the
first, to secure for himself the crown which had been
once worn by his brother. To this end, he made large
offers of land and money to the thanes, if they would
consent to his wishes; pointing out to them also, that
several of their kinsmen were on his side, ready to fight
This is the account given by the Saxon Chronicle: Malmesbury
has blended together the transactions of the two days, and he calls
Osric, "Eric, a man famous for his old age and prudence."
12
LIFE AND TIMES OF ALFRED THE GREAT. [CH. II.
in his cause. To this the king's party replied, that
they loved their deceased master better than all their
kinsmen, and they would never submit themselves to
his murderer; but they earnestly advised those of their
kinsmen who were with the Etheling, to leave him to
his fate. To which Cyneard's men answered, that this
proposition had been put the day before by themselves
to those who had fought for the king, and not one of
the king's men would accept it. Surely, therefore, they
could not now do otherwise than follow so brave an
example, and live or die with their lord.
These recriminations served only to exasperate the
two parties, and a struggle ensued about the gate.
The king's party at last forced their way in, and slew
the Etheling with all his men, except one, who was the
Alderman's godson: and even he hardly escaped with
his life, for he was wounded in several places¹.
i
The affray at Merton deprived of life both the rivals
for the crown of Wessex, which was immediately
occupied by Bertric, a descendant of the royal house
of Cerdic. Three years afterwards, in 787, the new
king married Edburga, daughter of Offa king of
The Saxon Chronicle mentions the Alderman's godson, and
William of Malmesbury gives us the account of the British hostage
who was saved alive from the battle of the preceding day. I have
introduced both accounts into the narrative, but I suspect they are
the same story.
In this massacre were slain no fewer than eighty-four persons,
besides king Cynewolf and his rival Cyneard: it took place in the
year 784; but it is curious, that both the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle and
Ethelwerd relate it by anticipation, under the year 755, proving, even
if the fact were otherwise doubtful, that these two chronicles have
been copied the one from the other, or that both are derived from a
common source.
The romantic history of this incontinent and wicked princess
A.D. 783.]
13
BERTRIC KING OF WESSEX.
Mercia, by which event the two most powerful of the
Saxon kingdoms were for a time cemented by an
has been handed down to us by Simeon of Durham in the following
narrative.
"As the honoured daughter of so great a monarch, Edburga
entertained the most ambitious views, living in kingly state like her
father, and treating every one who approached her with vituperation:
by which means she speedily became an object of detestation, not
only to the nobles and magistrates, but to the whole people. The
clergy in particular were the objects of her enmity, and she brought
continual accusations against them before the king her husband,
whom she had by her wiles so completely brought under her control,
that those who were accused seldom escaped without suffering banish-
inent or death. If at any time she ever found the king deaf to her
solicitations, she seized the earliest opportunity of taking off by
poison the object of her malice. An instance of her wickedness
occurred in the case of a young man who possessed great wealth,
and was a favourite with the king. Not being able to persuade her
husband to listen to her accusations, she mixed the fatal cup which
was to deprive the youth of life. But the king, unwittingly, tasted
of its contents, and the chief duke at his court also drank thereof, by
which means both of them perished from the effects of the deadly
draught. The wicked queen who had concocted the poison, alarmed
at the consequences, fled beyond the sea with all her treasures to the
court of Charles, the famous king of France. Here she was introduced
into his presence, and standing before him in the gallery of his
palace, offered him a rich present from the treasures which she
had brought. The king addressed her thus: Which would you
rather have, Edburg, me, or my son who stands with me in the
gallery?' Edburga, without thinking, replied hastily: If I had my
choice, I would rather have him than you, because he is younger.'
To which Charles is said to have answered: 'If you had chosen me,
you should have had my son; but as you chose him, you shall have
neither me nor him for your friend.' The king, however, on account
of her abandoned character, placed her at the head of a famous
convent, where she exchanged her secular robes for the habit of the
nuns; and she here for a few years, under a specious exterior,
discharged the duties of her station; but as her life had been depraved
and execrable in her own country, so did she become still more
"
14
LIFE AND TIMES OF ALFRED THE GREAT. [CH. II.
alliance, which probably saved Wessex from the sub-
jugation to which its distracted state would otherwise
naturally have exposed it. It would have been a
fortunate circumstance for all the Saxon kingdoms, if
this union could have been the nucleus of a general
combination; for it was at this very time that an enemy,
hitherto unknown, afterwards the harbinger of havoc
and desolation, first landed upon the island.
The account of this event is given by the historian
Ethelwerd', more fully than by the Anglo-Saxon
Chronicle. "Whilst the pious king Bertric was reign-
ing over the western parts of the English, and the
innocent people, dispersed throughout their fields,
were enjoying themselves in tranquillity, and yoking
their oxen to the plough, suddenly there arrived on the
coast a fleet of Danes, not large, but of three ships
only this was their first arrival. When this became
known, the king's officer, who was already stopping in
the town of Dorchester, leaped on his horse, and
gallopped forward with a few men to the port, thinking
wicked and abandoned in the country where she was a sojourner.
The poet says,
The summer's heat makes ripe the corn,
And fruits do autuinn's head adorn;
The storms descend, when winter reigns,
And deluges th' extended plains.
But this abandoned woman could not be restrained, either by summer's
heat or winter's cold, from the gratification of her passions. After a
short time, she committed adultery with one of her own countrymen,
…………………...and being expelled by king Charles, in much anguish and
tribulation of mind, from the holy place of her residence, brought her
life to a close in the midst of poverty, wretchedness, and contempt.
She withdrew, accompanied by a single servant, to Pavia, where,
after begging her bread from door to door in the cities and castles of
that country, she at last miserably perished."
Ethelw. Chron. lib. iii.
A. D. 802.]
15
BERTRIC-EGBERT.
"
that they were merchants rather than enemies, and,
commanding them in an authoritative tone, ordered
them to be made to go to the royal city; but he was
slain on the spot by them, and all who were with
him. The name of the officer was Beaduherd ".
This act of aggression roused the neighbouring people
to vengeance: the peasantry and others flocked to-
gether in large numbers, and the Danish marauders,
neglecting their booty, took refuge in their ships",
where they were safe from pursuit; for the Anglo-
Saxons, during the three hundred years which they
had spent in Britain, had lost all knowledge of mari-
time affairs.
After a reign of sixteen years, king Bertric died,
and was succeeded by Egbert, the last surviving mem-
ber of the royal house of Wessex. This young man,
as we learn from William of Malmesbury, had been
driven out of Wessex by the late king Bertric, who
looked upon him as an impediment to his peaceful
enjoyment of the sovereignty. "For both Bertric
himself, and all the other kings of Wessex since the
time of Ina, though justly proud of their royal origin
from Cerdic, had nevertheless deviated somewhat from
the right line of descent"," whereas Egbert, as it would
appear, was descended from an elder branch, and, if
the right of primogeniture were allowed, might be
thought to possess a better claim than Bertric to their
paternal sovereignty. It is not unlikely, also, that the
m
-
He is called reve, i. e. shire-reve or sheriff, by the Anglo-Saxon
Chronicle: the Danes also are termed Northmen, and their country
Hærethaland.
Will. Malmesb. lib. i. §. 43.
• In 802, for the generally received date, 800, is liable to many
difficulties, which need not here be mentioned.
" Will. Malmes. i. 43.
16
LIFE AND TIMES OF ALFRED THE GREAT. [CH. II.
abilities which Egbert afterwards developed, began
already to shew themselves; nor would the "piety ","
which the historian ascribes to Bertric, be deemed a
sufficient protection against aggression, or deter him
from ensuring his repose by the death or exile of a
competitor. More than twelve years, however, had
passed, and when Bertric, in 802, resigned his life and
his crown together, the injured Egbert succeeded to
the throne, which he speedily elevated, not only above
that of Mercia, by the strength of whose alliance he
had formerly been exiled', but also above that of every
other king in Britain. The affairs of Mercia, mean-
time, may be despatched in a short summary. Offa,
deservedly styled the Great, had died eight years before
Egbert came to the throne of Wessex; and his son
Egfrid, who was crowned during his father's lifetime,
made way by death, after a few months, for the accession
of their kinsman Kenwulf, grandson of Penda in the
fifth degree by his brother Kenwalck. The new king
was a brave and able man, and might have proved
a formidable antagonist to Egbert; but his attention
was called off to the kingdom of Kent, against which
he imbibed the feelings of hostility, which had formerly
been entertained by Offa, and already, in 796, four
years before the accession of Egbert, he had dethroned
Edbert Pren, and substituted Cuthred in his place
as sovereign of that kingdom. If we are to believe,
that Kenwulf reigned thirteen years without being
t
• Ethelwerdi Chron. lib. iii.
Cujus [i. e. Off] affinitate fultus, Egbertum solum regalis
prosapiæ superstitem, quem validissimum suis utilitatibus metuebat
obicem, Franciam fugandum curavit. Will. Malmes. i. 43.
I'
S Will. Malmes. i. 95.
B
* From 802 to 815. Altogether Kenwolf reigned 21 years, viz.
from 794 to 815.
A. D. 802.]
17
DECLINE OF MERCIA.
·
engaged in war with Wessex, of which Egbert was,
during all that time, the king, we may suppose that
the decline of Mercia, which after Kenwolf's death is
said to have manifested itself", had already com-
menced, whilst that king still lived. Neither is it
difficult to account for this fact: a state which is
entirely cut off from communication with the sea, and
is open on all sides to the attacks of enemies, seldom
attains to greatness, but is, on the contrary, exposed to
continual spoliation of its territories, because it has no
basis from which to direct its operations on any one
point, but must ever turn its attention to any quarter
on which its enemies may chance to make an attack *.
Keolwolf, the brother of Kenwolf, reigned one year
over the Mercian kingdom, and was then expelled by
Bernwolf, whose reign was terminated in its third year,
by the course of events which placed Egbert at the
head of all the Saxon kingdoms in England.
" Post illum regnum Merciorum nutabundum, et, ut ita dicam,
exangue, nihil quod litera dignetur comminisci habuit. Will.
Malmes. i. 96.
X
Many striking examples of this are furnished by the history of
modern Europe: Germany, Poland, and Hungary, have no frontier
defended by nature, and consequently are less stable than France,
Spain, England, &c.
}
с
CHAP. III.
REIGN OF EGBERT, KING OF WESSEX, FROM A.D. 802 to 839.—EIGHTH
BRETWALDA, OR LORD PARAMOUNT OF ENGLAND, AFTER A.D. 823.——
HIS EXILE IN FRANCE, AND RETURN TO ENGLAND—HIS CORONATION
-THE SKIRMISH AT KEMPSFORD-HIS INVASION OF CORNWALL-
REVOLUTIONS IN MERCIA-TREATY BETWEEN WESSEX AND EAST
ANGLIA-BATTLE AT ELLANDUNE-KINGDOMS OF KENT, ESSEX, AND
SUSSEX, SUBMIT TO EGBERT-BERNWOLF AND LUDECAN, KINGS OF
MERCIA, DEFEATED AND SLAIN BY THE EAST ANGLIANS-WIGLAF,
KING OF MERCIA, TRIBUTARY TO EGBERT—NORTHUMBERLAND
SUBMITS-EGBERT INVADES WALES-FIRST INVASIONS OF THE
DANES-ORIGIN OF THE DANES, SAXONS, AND NORMANS-EGBERT'S
DEATH.
THE talents of Egbert, and-what is of still more
importance to success-the necessity of strenuously
exerting them, were roused to vigour by the adversity
which attended his early life. As son of Almund, who
at this time reigned in Kent, Egbert might appear
more properly to be connected with Kent than Wessex,
but as descended from Inigils, brother of Ina, Egbert
could not forget that he might some day or other
possess the sovereignty of the West, which was far
more extensive and powerful than the narrow territory
which his father ruled, possibly as a mere tributary to
the king of Wessex. During the whole of Bertric's
reign, Egbert was an object of well-grounded suspicion
to the reigning prince, and was driven, by the perse-
cution of his rival, to take refuge in France at the
court of the emperor Charlemagne. This circum-
Sax. Ch. 784.
อ
A. D. 800.1
19
EGBERT IN FRANCE.
•
stance, however, was of inestimable advantage to the
exile. The court and camp of a monarch, who had,
by his own ability and exertions, restored the majesty
of the Western Empire to something like its ancient
elevation, were an admirable school to one, who had
already at home given proof that he possessed talents
hereafter to be actively developed. The ambition of
Egbert was probably fired by what he saw in France;
and he there laid the foundation of the success which
followed him in after life, both in war and government.
It is likely, too, that to Egbert was also due the
re-introduction of learning, which for seventy years
had slumbered in England since the days of Venerable
Bede'; for Charlemagne, like all other great princes,
had planted seminaries for learning, at the same time
that he trained his subjects in the science of war; and
so distinguished an exile as Prince Egbert could
hardly have passed several years in France without
conversing with the celebrated Alcuin, who, himself an
Anglo-Saxon by birth, but naturalised in France, was
ever desirous of maintaining a connection, by letter or
otherwise, with the land of his nativity. In conversation
with this sage, whose life had been spent in more
varied scenes than are generally witnessed by the
inmates of the cloister, Egbert might have derived
practical wisdom, which could not fail to be of use to
him in his future life d.
b Venerable Bede died A.D. 735.
• Alcuin was the most eminent writer in France, and indeed in all
Europe, during the 8th and the 9th centuries; his works treat of
almost every branch of human learning. He died Jan. 16, A.D. 804.
a There is an observation, made apparently without any intention
by the writer of the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, which seems to prove
that learning revived in England after the reign of Egbert.
C 2
20
LIFE AND TIMES OF ALFRED THE GREAT. [CH. III:
When therefore, in 802, the crimes of Queen
Edburga deprived her husband Bertric of life,
Egbert hastened from France, and was unanimously
received by the men of Wessex as the sole-surviving
descendant of the line of Cerdic, and the rightful heir
to the throne. The very day', also, on which Egbert
was admitted to his royal dignity, was signalised by an
engagement between some of his troops and a body of
soldiers from the rival kingdom of Mercia. Ethelmund,
the Alderman, or, as he would have been termed two
hundred years after, the Earl, of Gloucester, attempted
with a body of Mercians to pass the river Isis at
Kempsford but he was there encountered by Alder-
man Wextan at the head of the men of Wiltshire, who,
after a fierce battle, repulsed the invaders: both the
Aldermen fell in this battle.
This achievement was, however, rather an omen of
the success which would attend Egbert's reign, than
of any warlike dispositions in the breast of the new
king. His reign was, indeed, at first singularly
peaceful, and seems to have had for its object not
so much the extension of his dominions by the sword,
as their improvement and consolidation by the bless-
the year 784 we find the following passage: "At this time king
Almund reigned in Kent: this king Almund was the father of
Egbert; and Egbert was the father of Athulf [i. e. Ethelwolf]."
It may be inferred, that the writer was living in the reign of
Ethelwolf, when he wrote this passage; or he would probably have
carried the genealogy lower. If this be correct, the first part of that
valuable work, the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, is probably due to the
revival of literature introduced by king Egbert.
• See note k, in page 14.
This event is recorded by the SAXON CH., ETHELWERD,
FLORENCE, SIMEON, and HUNTINGDON; but Ethelwerd alone tells
us that it happened on the day of Egbert's coronation.
A. D. 813.]
21
EGBERT INVADES CORNWALL.
ings of peace and good government. In 805 died
Cuthred, king of Kent, probably the successor of
Egbert's own father, Almund. In the following year
King Ardwolf was expelled from Northumberland.
With the exception of these and other unimportant
facts, such as the death or appointment of several
obscure bishops, abbats, and other ecclesiastics, the
Saxon Annalists display a remarkable dearth of inci-
dents for some years, and, to fill up the void, they give
us notices of natural phænomena, some of which do as
much credit to the liveliness of their imagination, as to
the profundity of their scientific knowledge. In 806
the moon was eclipsed on the 1st of September, and in
809 the sun was obscured on the 16th of July. In the
former year a cross is said to have appeared in the
moon on the 4th of June, and the sun to have been
surrounded by a miraculous circle on the 30th of
August. If these and similar prodigies foretold wars
and tumults, their prophetic force was not immediately
evident to the Anglo-Saxons who witnessed them; for
eleven years passed away after Egbert's coronation
without intestine broils or foreign warfare.
The first military exploit which engaged Egbert's
attention was a campaign against the Britons of Corn-
wall, or, as they were termed by the Saxons, the West-
Welch, to distinguish them from the North-Welch,
who inhabited the country now called Wales. His
invasion of this district was so impetuous, that nothing
could resist his progress, and he probably compelled
the inhabitants of that rugged peninsula to be in
future tributary to the kingdom of Wessex.
• Sax. Ch. Ethel. Flor. Hunt.
h Saxon Chron.
i Sax. Chron. Ethel. Flor. Hunt.
22
LIFE AND TIMES OF ALFRED THE GREAT. [CH. III.
A year or two after this campaign died the great
Charlemagne, who had for many years attracted the
attention, and made himself the focus, of all Western
Europe. His ally, also, the spiritual head of his
extensive empire, Leo III., died not long afterwards,
leaving the Papal throne to Stephen IV., who, however,
did not outlive the year of his consecration.
In the natural course of human things the disruption
which befel the continent of Europe, after the death of
Charlemagne, diverted the attention of the world from
the point on which it had hitherto been fixed; other
actors appeared upon the stage, and the drama of
nations was found to be conducted according to the
same rules as those by which the fortunes of indi-
viduals are regulated in private life.
The deceased emperor had chosen Offa, the contem-
porary king of Mercia, for his friend and correspondent:
but a greater than Offa was now reigning in Wessex;
whose fame, passing beyond the narrow limits of his
native island, spread through the whole of Europe,
and filled the void which had been occasioned by the
death of Charlemagne. For if among nations, which
have already attained a high degree of civilization,
fortune is rarely found to smile for a long time
together on the same people, this is still more forcible
in the case of nations which have recently emerged
into political life, and are not yet established on a
firm and settled basis.
That Britain, separated from the rest of civilized
Europe, should have at this time attracted the notice
of the continental nations, might seem at first sight to
require explanation. But the influence of the Church,
continually increasing from the fifth to the twelfth
* Charlemagne died Jan. 28, A.D. 814.
A. D. 814.]
INTERCOURSE WITH ROME.
23
century, and grasping at every thing which seemed to
confirm or maintain the false position which she had
assumed, was readily lent to give importance to an
island, which from its easy conversion by the agency
of the Pope himself, seemed peculiarly to be an
appanage of the Apostolic See. The readiness with
which Ethelbert and his whole kingdom had submitted
to the spiritual control of a terrified' body of monks,
led the Popes of Rome for many hundred years to
pride themselves on the strength which had accrued to
the whole of Christianity by the exertions of their
predecessor Gregory: they looked upon Britain as one
of the brightest gems in their triple crown, and
repeatedly in after-ages shewed an inordinate desire to
rivet the chains which bound this distant insular
province more closely to the capital of St. Peter's
sovereignty. At a very early period we read of a
school™ having been established at Rome, for the
education of the young princes and nobles, who in
those days flocked in large numbers out of Britain, to
pay their vows at the "thresholds of the apostles
St. Peter and St. Paul." Large contributions were
also levied in Britain for the benefit of the Eternal
City and God's Vicegerent upon earth,-furnishing to
our simple ancestors, if they could have been enlight-
ened sufficiently to use their common sense, a con-
clusive argument against the pretensions of the fo-
reigners, who preached so loudly of the glory of the
Heavenly Kingdom, but in their own practice readily
1
¹ St. Augustine and his companions were more than once almost
induced to abandon their mission to Britain, from alarm at the
supposed dangers which they would have to encounter. See the
history of their journey and mission in Venerable Bede.
m
This school was burnt down in the year 816. SAX. CH. FLOR.
24
Life and TIMES OF ALFRED THE GREAT.
[CH. III.
exchanged all its most brilliant promises for that dross
which is only of value in the kingdom of this world.
But the low condition of the human intellect, which
prevailed among the people of the Heptarchy, encou-
raged the Heads of the Roman Church to carry on a
more wholesale system of extortion in Britain, it is
believed, than in any other country of Europe. Neither
can it be said that the Anglo-Saxons were unwilling
victims, for during the two hundred years which
passed immediately before the accession of Egbert, the
whole history of the English nation is merged in the
pilgrimages which were daily made by all classes to
Rome, for the purchase of pictures, reliques, and
rubbish, which the ecclesiastics exchanged for the
more substantial payment of gold and silver tendered
to them by the pilgrims".
Thus a perpetual stream of travellers kept up a
connection between Rome, the centre of European
civilization, and the country of the Anglo-Saxons; by
which all the political questions that arose in this
distant island became known to the Papal Court, and
were spread by means of the ecclesiastics and men of
letters, there assembled, through the whole of Europe.
That the empire of Rome over England would be
strengthened by the consolidation of the Heptarchy
into one monarchy, and be maintained with less
trouble to the reigning Pontiff, was a view likely to be
entertained in that age of limited intercourse between
nations, and we may easily conceive that, when Egbert
at length set about his work of conquest in good
n
See Bede's Lives of the Abbats of Jarrow and Wearmouth: his
letter to Egbert, and the whole mass of ecclesiastical legends of the
seventh and eighth centuries.
A. D. 819-821.]
25
REVOLUTIONS IN MERCIA.
1
earnest, there were many eyes directed upon his arms
from abroad, and many bosoms that expanded with
satisfaction, as they watched the rapidity of his con-
quests.
.
In 819 a revolution took place in Mercia, which
still further smoothed for Egbert the path of ambition
which he was to follow. Kenwolf, the king of that
province, died this year, leaving the throne to his son
Kenelm, a boy only seven years old. But the proverb
which augurs evil to the country whose sovereign is a
child, came true in the case of the hapless infant.
The princess Quendreda, sister to Kenelm, inflamed
with the desire to reign, concerted a plot against her
brother's life, and within a few months after the death
of the late king, the innocent youth was murdered by
his tutor Ascebert in a wood, where he was walking to
enjoy the coolness of the evening breezes. His life-
less body was found, we are told, by the aid of a
heavenly light, and buried at Winchelcombe near the
body of his father: so remarkable an interposition of
the Deity gave a hint to the piety of the Church, and
the loss of temporal sovereignty was compensated to the
murdered boy by a place in the calendar of the Romish
Church, which is still adorned by the name and virtues
of St. Kenelm. Keolwolf, who had perhaps been in
some way privy to the death of the young king his
nephew, succeeded to the throne of which, however,
he did not long maintain the possession: he was
driven from his kingdom in 821 and Bernwolf,
Florence of Worcester alone relates this story: the Saxon
Chronicle, Ethelwerd, and Henry of Huntingdon, place Keolwolf in
immediate succession to Kenwolf. See also J. Brompton.
r Saxon Ch. Ethel. Flor. Hunt.
26
LIFE AND TIMES OF ALFRED THE GREAT. [CH. III.
whether by force of arms or the consent of the people,
became king of Mercia in his stead'.
After another interval of two years, the dissensions,
which always existed between the various Saxon king-
doms, burst out into a general war, which covered the
whole country. The kingdom of East-Anglia, inferior
to Mercia, Wessex, and Northumberland, still main-
tained independence, and occasionally resisted in arms
the aggressions of Mercia its natural enemy. At the
beginning of the year 823, they apprehended an inva-
sion of their country by Bernwolf, and so urgent was
the case, that their king paid a hasty visit into Wessex,
and solicited assistance from Egbert'. Lest nego-
ciation alone should be ineffectual, a large bribe of
money was added, and the king of Wessex was pre-
vailed on to promise his powerful aid against the
Mercians. This treaty was no sooner made, than
acted upon the armies of Egbert and Bernwolf met at
Ellandune, and after a severe battle, the Mercians
were defeated and fled. Among those who fell on
this occasion was the Duke of Somerset, probably
one of the most influential of the nobles of Wessex.
His body was afterwards buried at Winchester.
About the same time that this engagement was
fought on the borders of Mercia, the Britons of
"Admitted to the throne," FLOR. " occupied the throne."
HUNT. Ingulf however states plainly, that Kenwolf was expelled by
Bernwolf, who possessed great riches, but was not connected with the
royal family.
I SAX. CH. Ethel.
S SAX. CH. Ethel. Flor. Hunt.
t
Ingulf. Historia Croyland.
Ethelwerd.
Ingulf. Sax. Ch. Ethel. Flor. Hunt.
u
X
A. D. 823.]
27
BERNWOLF SLAIN.—LUDECAN.
Cornwall rebelled, and assailed the West-Saxons in
the rear but the men of Devonshire mustered in
large numbers and met the enemy at Camelford: a
furious conflict ensued, apparently with little advantage
to either party, for, whilst most of the Chroniclers
omit to state on which side the victory fell, Florence
alone tells us that the Britons were defeated, and
Henry of Huntingdon says that many thousands were
slain on both sides.
The king of Mercia, exasperated by his defeat at
Ellandune, and burning with rage against the East
Anglians, by whom the West Saxons had been brought
into the field against him, now invaded East Anglia,
and commenced a war of extermination against its
inhabitants. But the battle of Ellandune had given
more than usual confidence to his enemies: the king
of East Anglia mustered his forces, and boldly met the
invaders. In the battle which followed, Bernwolf was
slain, and the greater part of his army cut in pieces.
In the course of the following year, A.D. 824, Ludecan,
a relation of Bernwolf, took possession of the vacant
Mercian throne.
The ambition of Egbert, now aroused to action, was
in no want of a field on which to display itself. Of the
three southern kingdoms, Kent, Sussex, and Essex,
Kent alone seems to have maintained a show of inde-
pendence, but the appearance of an army, headed by
Prince Ethelwolf, Bishop Alstan, and Alderman Wolf-
herd, whom Egbert had dispatched to invade Kent,
It is proper to mention, that all the Chroniclers except Ingulf
place the alliance between the kings of Wessex and East Anglia
after the battle of Ellandune: but I have the authority of Dr. Lin-
gard, besides the greater probability of the case, to support me in
preferring Ingulf's statement to that of all the others.
28.
LIFE AND TIMES OF ALFRED THE GREAT. [CH. III.
terrified the people of that kingdom: their king Baldred
fled beyond the Thames, and the whole of Kent sub-
mitted, without a battle, to the arms of the invaders.
At the same instant, the kingdoms of Sussex and
Essex resigned their separate independence, and thus
the whole of England south of the Thames fell an easy
acquisition to the abilities and good fortune of the con-
queror.
But whilst the arms of Egbert in the south met
with nothing that could resist their progress, the war
in Mercia still continued. Ludecan, to avenge the
death of Bernwolf, again invaded East Anglia, in the
early part of 825, but the evil fortune of Mercia was
still predominant: their army was again defeated, and
Ludecan with five of his nobles were left dead upon
the field. By the event of this battle, the throne of
Mercia was again vacant; but it was also thereby freed
from the usurpers, who, by the violence with which
they acquired and maintained their illegal sovereignty,
had brought calamity upon all their people. By the
universal consent of the Mercians, Wiglaf, a descendant
of the ancient royal line, was called to the throne, but
it was to a throne beset with difficulties and dangers.
His dominions were exposed to be continually ravaged
by the troops of Egbert, who now seemed bent on
reducing the whole of Mercia to subjection. In 827,
Wiglaf was driven from the throne, and pursued, like
a beast of the chase, by the officers of the West-Saxon
king. In this peril he was saved by the diligence of
the faithful abbat Seward, and placed in the cell of
Etheldrida, daughter of king Offa, and now a nun in a
convent attached to Croyland abbey. This noble
lady, whose name after death was inserted in the long
SAX. CH. Ethel. Flor. Hunt.
Z
A. D. 828.]
29
WIGLIF TRIBUTARY KING of Mercia.
catalogue of Saints of the Church, supported for four
months the fugitive monarch, and foiled all the endea-
vours of his enemies to obtain possession of his person.
In the following year 828, Egbert's fury relented
towards an enemy who could no longer be an impedi-
ment to his career. A circumstance also had happened
at the end of the preceding year, which was of much
influence in mollifying the mind of the conqueror. The
Northumbrians, who seemed not yet to have recovered
from the dissentions which ended in the expulsion of
their king Ardwolf, met the victorious armies of Egbert
at Dore, and with their king Enfrid took the oath of
allegiance. Thus, peace being reestablished, by the
mediation of the good abbat, Wiglaf was invited from
his hiding-place, to resume possession of his kingdom,
which from that time he governed for ten years longer,
as a tributary of the king of Wessex".
a
Thus, in five years, the seven kingdoms of the Saxons
were reduced to submission, and Egbert might now be
styled Bretwalda of the Heptarchy, with more propriety
perhaps than any of the seven who had before obtained
that title. His authority was more clear and deter-
mined than that of his predecessors, for the course of
events had made it impossible that so many petty
sovereignties should any longer exist together within
the limits of so small an island as Britain. The Saxons
were also more enlightened and less barbarous than
they had been during the first hundred and fifty years
of their residence in this country. With the introduc-
tion of learning and the arts, petty states will be con-
scious of their own weakness, which they will seek to
remedy by a confederacy, or by amalgamation into one
nation. To these causes may be added another, no
Ingulf gives the fullest narrative of these events.
30
LIFE AND TIMES OF ALFRED THE GREAT. [CH. III.
less powerful in producing an union of the seven states,
whenever a king should arise possessing sufficient
talents or good fortune to unite them. The Britons
had of late lost much of their territory, and were no
longer able, as of old, to promote and nourish strife
between the different Anglo-Saxon kingdoms. That
portion of them, who dwelt in Wales, had gradually
receded before the arms of Mercia, and the small
remnant who occupied Cornwall, had ceased to be an
enemy worthy to encounter the armies of Wessex.
The views of Egbert naturally expanded themselves,
as fortune smiled upon his arms. His course, bounded
in all other directions by the circumambient ocean;
burst, like a pent-up stream, over the Welsh frontier,
where alone it could now find a vent. Proceeding
towards the West, after the submission of Northumber-
land, Egbert invaded Wales, and speedily reduced
the inhabitants of that country to acknowledge his
sovereignty. After this campaign was ended, the
victorious king returned to his hereditary dominions,
and four years passed away, apparently of peace and
tranquillity to the whole of the island. From this
repose, Egbert was summoned again to arms by the
ravages of a foreign enemy, which had already, in the
reign of Bertric, visited the English coast, but had
This is the statement of all the Chroniclers. I should think,
however, that it is to be interpreted with considerable latitude; the
difficulties which so mountainous a country would present, would
hardly allow it to be reduced to more than nominal submission within
the space of one year. Dr. Lingard says, that Egbert planted his
victorious standard in the island of Anglesey, [England, vol. i. p. 144.
of the small London edition,] but I find no authority for this in the
ancient Chroniclers.
See p. 14.
▲. D. 832.]
31
THE DANES.
1
•
not yet made themselves known by the career of blood
and rapine on which they now entered.
In relating the deeds of these barbarians, who, even
in the reign of the powerful Egbert, ventured to land
and plunder on our island; the same narrative is again
and again to be repeated, with little variation to amuse
or interest the reader; still it is important to mark the
progress which the marauders made, the checks which
they from time to time experienced, and the audacity
with which they advanced, step by step, from plunder
to conquest, until they gained possession of the whole
country, and set their own kings upon the English
throne.
It is now admitted by historians, that the three
nations of marauders, who, in the eighth, ninth, and
tenth centuries, overran all the north of Europe, and
are commonly distinguished as Danes, Saxons, and
Normans, were in a great measure the same people.
It is, however, to be conceded, that the Saxons were
probably a Teutonic tribe, who, as they migrated
towards the northern coast, fell in with other maraud-
ing tribes of Scandinavian origin, with which they
insensibly became blended, and uniting a portion of
the Scandinavian with their original Teutonic character,
spread desolation by their incursions over the whole of
Europe bordering on the northern seas.
During the space of two hundred years, from 250
to 450, the Saxons had harassed the Britons, when
they were under the dominion of the Romans; and
though the acquisition of Britain furnished so great
a relief to the population in their native haunts on the
continent, that for 250 years they no longer molested
the island which was then in the possession of their
own countrymen, yet, at the end of that time, their
32
LIFE AND TIMES OF ALFRED THE GREAT. [CH. III.
depredations recommenced: they ravaged and alter-
nately conquered England, "they often invaded Scot-
land and Ireland, and made incursions on the coasts
of Livonia, Courland, and Pomerania. Already feared,
before the time of Charlemagne, they became still
more terrible as soon as this great monarch's eyes
were closed. He is known to have shed tears on
hearing that these barbarians had, on some occasion,
defied his name, and all the precautions he had made
to oppose them. He foresaw what his people would
suffer from their courage under his feeble successors.
And never was presage better founded. They soon
spread like a devouring flame over Lower Saxony,
Friesland, Holland, Flanders, and the banks of the
Rhine as far as Mentz. They penetrated into the
heart of France, having long before ravaged the
coasts; they every where found their way up the
Somme, the Seine, the Loire, the Garonne, and the
Rhone. Within the space of thirty years, they fre-
quently pillaged and burnt Paris, Amiens, Orleans,
Poitiers, Bourdeaux, Toulouse, Saintes, Angoulême,
Nantes, and Tours. They settled themselves in Ca-
margue, at the mouth of the Rhone, from whence they
wasted Provence and Dauphiny as far as Valence.
In short, they ruined France, levied immense tribute
on its monarchs, burnt the palace of Charlemagne at
Aix-la-Chapelle, and, in conclusion, caused one of the
finest provinces in the kingdom [Normandy] to be
ceded to them. They often carried their arms into
Spain, and even made themselves dreaded in Italy and
Greece. In fine, they no less infested the north than
the south with their incursions, spreading every where
desolation and terror: sometimes as furiously bent on
their mutual destruction, as on the ruin of other
A. D. 880.]
33
THE DANES.
nations; sometimes animated by a more pacific spirit,
they transported colonies to unknown or uninhabited
countries, as if they were willing to repair in one place
the horrid destruction of human kind occasioned by
their furious ravages in others...…………….
"If we reflect on the interior state of Scandinavia
during the times that its inhabitants were so un-
fortunately famous, we shall soon see the cause of that
amazing exterior power which they possessed. They
neglected agriculture, which, among a thousand other
good effects, extinguishes in a rising people the relish
for savage life, and inspires them with the love of
peace and justice, without which the cultivation of
their lands is useless. Their flocks being almost their
only income, they were neither obliged to a constant
abode on the same spot, nor to wait for the time of
harvest, and consequently such a people, though in
fact but few, were able, on short notice, to levy
numerous armies. Most of them, brought up in a
maritime country, and inured to the sea from their
childhood, had no fear of the dangers, or rather knew
not that there were dangers of any kind attending such
a life. What a boundless field for conquests was here
opened by the sole advantage of navigation! What
a free scope was here afforded a warlike people to
spread universally the terror of their arms! The
profession of piracy was so far from appearing dis-
graceful to them, that it was in their eyes the certain
road to honours and to fortune: for it was wisely
contrived that the word honour, to which so many
ideas are annexed, was among them solely confined
to a disregard of dangers. Hence it is that in the
ancient chronicles, more than one hero boasts of being
the most renowned pirate in the north; and that often
D
34
LIFE AND TIMES OF ALFRED THE GREAT. [CH. III.
the sons of the great lords and kings made cruising
voyages in their youth, in order to render them-
selves illustrious, and to become one day worthy of
command.....
.
"As soon as a prince had attained his eighteenth or
twentieth year, he commonly requested of his father
a small fleet completely fitted out, in order to achieve
with his followers some adventure that might be pro-
ductive of glory and spoil. The father applauded such
an inclination in his son, as indicating a rising courage
and heroic mind. He gave him ships, the com-
mander and crew of which mutually engaged not to
return, unless adorned with laurels and loaded with
plunder. That nation became the first object of their
resentment from whom they had received any injury;
and frequently their principal aim was to make reprisals
on some province which served for the retreat of other
corsairs. If the fleets of two different nations met by
chance in their voyage, this was also an occasion of
fighting which they never neglected.
"The vanquished party was commonly put to death,
though sometimes the conquerors were contented to
make them slaves, and often, by a singular strain of
generosity, which the love of glory was able to produce
in minds in other respects so ferocious, if the enemy
that fell in their way had fewer ships than themselves,
they set aside part of their own vessels, that so, en-
gaging upon equal terms, the victory might not be
attributed to superiority of numbers. Many of them
also considered it as dishonourable to surprise the
enemy by night. Sometimes the chiefs thought it
best to decide the dispute by single combat; in this
case they landed on the nearest shore: if one of them
happened to be disarmed or thrown down, he frequently
A. D. 830.]
35
THE DANES.
NES.
refused to receive quarter, and was killed on the spot;
but if he had defended himself gallantly, the victor granted
him his life, demanded his friendship, adopted him for a
kind of foster-brother, and they mutually swore to pre-
serve an eternal friendship. In token of this alliance
the two heroes made incisions in their hands or arms,
and besmeared their weapons with the blood, or mixing
it in a cup, each of them covering their heads with a
sod, drank of it, swearing that the death of the first of
them who fell in battle should not pass unrevenged.
Many of these piratical princes, whom success and
custom had attached and habituated to this profession,
never quitted it, but gloried in passing the remainder
of their lives on board their ships. We meet with
them sometimes, in their ancient histories, boasting
that they never reposed under an immovable roof, nor
drank beer in peace by their fire-side.
"The vessels of these corsairs were always well-
provided with offensive arms, such as stones, arrows,
cables, with which they overset small vessels, and
grappling irons to board them. Every individual was
skilful in swimming, and as their engagements were
seldom far distant from the shore, the vanquished
party often saved themselves by swimming to land.
Each band had its own peculiar stations, ports, places
of rendezvous, and magazines: and many cities in the
north owe their present prosperity to the advantage
they had of affording them retreats.
Such was
Lunden in Scania, which, according to Adam of
Bremen, contained great riches laid up there by
the pirates and for a long time the kings them-
selves countenanced and shared their plunder, by
selling them the liberty of retiring into their har-
Adam Bremen, de sit. Dan. cap. ccxiii.
D 2
36
THE GREAT. [CH. III.
Life LIFE ALFRED
and times of Alfred bours.....The manner in which the lands were par-
celled out in Denmark and Norway evidently shews,
that every thing there was directed towards this one
end, of having a powerful maritime force. Each
division, whether more or less considerable, derived
its name from the number of vessels it was capable of
fitting out, and these names still subsist in some
places. In the history of Denmark may be seen the
particular taxes imposed on each province for that
purpose, and the number of ships of which their fleets
were composed. At first they were inconsiderable,
but in proportion as the chiefs who followed this
piratical. profession were enriched by it, the northern
seas were seen covered with one or two hundred
vessels, or still more numerous squadrons. We read
in history of a fleet of seven hundred ships, com-
manded by Harald, surnamed Bluetooth, king of
Denmark, and a Norwegian Earl named Hakon. This
number is no greater than what we often find in the
fleets under the following reigns, and besides it is
certain that the vessels of which it consisted were but
small. The first we hear of were only a kind of
twelve-oared barks; they were afterwards built capable
of containing a hundred or a hundred and twenty
men, and these were very common in the eleventh and
twelfth centuries. The northern kings, also, some-
times constructed vessels of an extraordinary size, but
these were rather for show than defence. Such was
that of Harald Harfagra, a long ship, which the
chronicles mention with admiration, under the name
of the Dragon. King Olaf Tryggvason had one of
the same kind, named the Long Serpent: the chroni-
cles say it was very long, large, and high, and of a
most durable construction; a serpent or dragon was
A. D. 830.]
37
THE DANES.
carved on its prow, and both that and its poop were
gilded. It carried thirty-four banks of rowers, and
was, they add, the finest and largest ship that had
ever been in Norway.
"These piratical expeditions were not always con-
fined to the devastation of some province, or to a few
naval engagements; events
events which, producing no
farther consequence than the immediate misfortune of
the people who then suffered by them, were soon
forgot by posterity. I should digress from my subject
were I to relate all the conquests made by the in-
habitants of the north in their cruising voyages. I
will only take notice of the emigration of the Angles,
who, along with the Saxons, invaded Britain in the
fifth century, and gave it their name. As for the rest,
I shall only borrow from the old chronicles some facts
and relations little known to strangers, but which will
afford the best idea of the maritime power of these
ancient Northmen, formerly dreaded by so many
nations.
"It is well known, that the Britons, unable to defend
themselves from the northern inhabitants of their isle,
sought for assistance from the Danes and Saxons,
their allies. The ancient Saxon Chronicle informs
us, that those people who went over and settled in
Britain were originally of three different countries.
One party of them were the ancient Saxons, that is to
By this observation it is not meant to be implied that the whole
of the account, as it is generally given by the chronicles, concerning
Hengist, Horsa, and Vortigern, is to be received for true. The
details of the story are certainly legendary; but I have no doubt
that the Britons requested assistance from the roving Danish and
Saxon tribes against the equally fierce barbarians of Scotland, who
overran their country.
38
LIFE AND TIMES OF ALFRED THE GREAT. [CH. III.
say, the people of Lower Saxony; another were the
Angles or English, who inhabited that part of the
duchy of Sleswic in the neighbourhood of Flensbourg,
still called Anglen, and were consequently Danes.
Lastly, there passed over into Britain also a con-
siderable number of Jutes, which is the name given at
this day to the inhabitants of Jutland. From the
Jutes, says the chronicler, came the Kentishmen
and the Wightwarians, that is, the tribe which now
dwells in Wight, and that race among the West-
Saxons which is still called the race of Jutes. From
the Old-Saxons came the men of Essex, and Sussex,
and Wessex. From Anglia,
From Anglia, which has ever since
remained waste betwixt the Jutes and Saxons, came
the men of East Anglia, Middle Anglia, Mercia, and
all North-humbria." The same writer says that the
country, which the Angles originally occupied, was
entirely emptied of its inhabitants by the conquest of
Britain, and that it had ever since remained waste.
Thus it appears that one of these three nations, at
least the Jutes, came from Denmark, and that when
the Danes, at the period of our narrative, again in-
fested England, they waged war against their own
kinsmen, the descendants of their own ancestors.
Such is a brief outline of the character and origin
of those tribes which, in the thirtieth year of Egbert's
reign, began to commit serious depredations on the
coast of England. They had already landed on
our shores during the reign of Bertric; those visits,
however, had been transient, and occasioned no further
alarm than might at any time be produced by the
approach of a band of pirates. But from the period
at which our narrative has arrived, these plunderers
• Mallet's Northern Antiquities, ch. ix.
A. D. 830.]
39
THE DANES.
commenced a series of aggressions on a large and
formidable scale; year after year they renewed their
invasions, and whilst the ferocity, with which they
carried on their inroads, rendered them an object
of just apprehension to the simple peasants, whose
cattle they drove off to their ships, the faithlessness
with which they broke through all the most sacred
engagements, which from policy or necessity they
contracted with the kings or nobles of the countries
they were ravaging, spread terror among men of all
classes, and rendered them unable to defend their
lives, their property, or their country from the hands
of these relentless plunderers.
But there was another element of animosity which
contributed still more to inflame the contest between
the northern pirates and their victims. At the time
when these marauding fleets first appeared on the
coasts of northern Europe, the Christian Religion had
been long established, and its tendency in all cases was
undoubtedly to soften the warlike passions of mankind,
and to teach them, as brothers descended from the
same stock, and sons of God by baptism, to exercise
less cruelty in the contests which they carried on with
one another. This circumstance no doubt produced
an effect upon the military character of those people,
and it is plain, from the history of the Anglo-Saxons,
that the monastic institutions with all their accom-
paniments produced a sensible effect on the general
spirit of the nation, and rendered them less warlike
than their predecessors. But the Danes were still
Pagans, and when they came to make inroads into
the heart of England, France, or Belgium, the priests
would draw their strongest arguments in encouraging
their flocks to resistance from the unbelief of the
40
LIFE AND TIMES OF ALFRED THE GREAT. [CH. III
invaders. This naturally produced retaliation: the
Danes slew with unrelenting fury those whom they
looked upon as the leaders of the people, and the
principal impediment in their course of plunder. If
to this view we add the fact, that the Monasteries
were made the depositary of the wealth of the adjoin-
ing district, from the supposed sanctity of the place,
we cannot wonder that those establishments were
sought out with avidity by the barbarians, and plun-
dered without compunction. Their sanctity was no
protection to them; on the contrary, it may have been
an inducement to greater cruelties: for where has
been found a nation that would be restrained, in the
excitement which war produces, from treating with
contempt all that their enemies hold sacred, but
which to them appears as superstition, because it differs
from the forms which are sanctioned by their own
religious belief?
Nine years had passed since the defeat of the
Mercians at Ellandune, when the heathen-men ra-
vaged the isle of Sheppey, but we know nothing of
their numbers, or of any other circumstances of their
voyage. In the following year, 833, a fleet of thirty-five
ships came to land at Carrum, supposed to be Charmouth
in Dorsetshire: Egbert encountered them with such
troops as he could muster, and a fierce battle ensued.
After a great slaughter had been made on both sides,
the English retreated, and the Danes remained masters
of the field. In this engagement were slain two bishops
and two aldermen on the side of the Anglo-Saxons &;
Sax. Ch. Ethel. Flor. Hunt.
The two bishops were Wigthen and Hereferth, according to the
Saxon Chronicle; Wigberth and Hereferth, according to Henry of
[
A. D. 835-837.]
41
EGBERT DEFEATS THE DANES.
}
and the Danes-for the chroniclers do not mention
the ulterior results of the battle-probably retired with
the plunder which they had gained. This defeat must
have been galling to the mind of the West-Saxon
king, who had never before been worsted, and it added
to his indignation, that he himself, after a whole day's
doubtful fighting, with difficulty escaped from the
battle, aided by the darkness of the night. Two
years afterwards he had an opportunity afforded him
for retrieving his reputation: a large army of Danes
landed, in 835, on the coast of Cornwall, and finding
the people inclined to rebel against the dominion
of the Saxons, a treaty was speedily made between
them, and an united army of Danes and Britons was
led into the territories of Wessex. Now, however,
King Egbert was prepared to receive them at the
head of his army he encountered the enemy, though
superior to him in numbers, at Hengstone Hill, and
inflicted on their combined forces so serious a defeat,
that the Britons dispersed to their mountains, and the
Danes sought refuge in their ships. Notwithstanding
this defeat, the Northmen again made an attempt on
England in the year 837 in two separate places, but
with different success. One of their fleets, consisting
of thirty-five ships, came to land near Southampton,
where they were met by Alderman Wolfherd, and
defeated with much slaughter. Meanwhile their other
Huntingdon. Whatever were their names, they probably were the
bishops of Winchester and Salisbury, whose dioceses lay near the
scene of the battle. The aldermen were named Dudda and Osmond.
Sax. Ch. Ethel. Flor. Hunt.
h Will. Malmesbury, Book II.
i Sax. Ch. Ethel. Flor. Hunt.
k Sax. Ch. Ethel. Flor. Hunt.
42
LIFE AND TIMES OF ALFRED THE GREAT. [CH. III.
ઃઃ
division landed at Porchester in Dorsetshire, where they
found Alderman Ethelhelm, at the head of the men
of Dorset, waiting to receive them. This time, how-
ever, the star of the Anglo-Saxons was on the wane.
After making great exertions during the whole day,
which were partly successful, to obtain the victory, the
Danes finally prevailed: the Alderman was slain, and
his army defeated'. This disaster was speedily followed
by others; for in the ensuing year, " Alderman Herbert
was slain by the heathen-men, and many with him
among the Marsh-men; and afterwards, in the same
year, in Lindsey, and in East Anglia, and in Kent,
many men were slain by the enemy"." Thus the good
fortune of Egbert, which had borne him triumphant
through so many battles, seemed at length to have
deserted him; but he was mercifully spared by death
from witnessing the calamities which were coming upon
his country. He died at the end of 838, or the be-
ginning of 839", leaving his dominions to be divided
between his sons Ethelwolf and Ethelstan, the former
of whom inherited the paternal sovereignty of Wessex,
whilst the latter received a tributary kingdom, consist-
ing of the modern counties of Kent, Essex, Surrey,
and Sussex °.
-
'Sax. Ch. Ethel. Flor. Hunt.
Sax. Ch. Ethel. Flor. Hunt.
"The death of Egbert is placed in 835, by the Saxon Chronicle,
Ethelwerd, Florence, and Huntingdon; but there are two charters
bearing his signature dated in 838, which prove that he was then still
alive. See Mr. Hardy's edition of William of Malmesbury, vol. i.
p. 60, note ª, where this subject is considered. See also supra, p. 15,
note °.
0
• The obscure language of the old chroniclers leaves it doubtful
whether Ethelstan was the younger son of Egbert, or the son of
Ethelwolf. In the latter case, there appears to be no valid reason,
NOTES.
43
why Ethelbald, Ethelbert, and Ethelred, sons of Ethelwolf, should
have been passed over in the division of the kingdom, in favour of
their youngest brother Ethelstan. Rapin, in his History of England,
gives the two following notices of the family: the first from the
unpublished chronicle of J. Beaver; the second from John of
Tinmuth. "C
Redburg, his spouse, had never assumed the title and
port of a queen, because of the law made in Wessex, on account of
the death of Bertric. She is said to have persuaded the king to
forbid the Welsh, on pain of death, to come beyond Offa's dike, the
boundary of Mercia and Wales."
"Some say.he [Egbert] had also a daughter called Edgith, who
founded the abbey of Pollesworth, but this is uncertain.”
CHAP. IV.
THE REIGN OF ETHELWOLF, FROM A.D. 839 To 858.-HIS WARS WITH
THE DANES AND WELSH-HIS SONS ETHELBALD, ETHELBERT,
ETHELRED, AND ALFRED-HIS PIETY-JOURNEY TO ROME-
REBELLION OF ETHELBALD-DIVISION OF THE KINGDOM-ETHEL-
WOLF'S DEATH.
By the decease of Egbert, an arduous duty devolved
upon the shoulders of his successor. Concerning the
character of that successor, the opinions of historians
have long been divided. The historian of Malmesbury
has described him as an imbecile prince, more fit to be
a priest than a king; but this view of his character
is certainly not substantiated by any of the earlier
chronicles. In the battles which he fought, year after
year, against the Danish marauders, he displayed both
courage and good generalship; and if he gave too
much attention to the representations of the clergy to
exempt him altogether from the charge of superstition,
we must ascribe it to the temper of the age, which was
grossly sunk in superstition, and would have rejected,
as impious, a monarch who should treat with contempt
the forms and ceremonies of religion. When to this
we add, that the early education of Ethelwolf was
confided to the charge of Swithin, bishop of Win-
chester, who also in conjunction with Alstan, bishop
of Sherborne, were his principal advisers and ministers
of state, it is not surprising that he should have
displayed throughout his reign a steady attachment
to those ceremonies of religion, which he had been
Malmesb. de Gestis Pontificum.
a
A. D. 839.]
45
ETHELWOLF'S CHARACTER.
trained to reverence from his earliest years. It is
generally admitted by historians, that Ethelwolf was
educated in the monastic life at Winchester; but it
has even been asserted by some, that he received holy
orders, and was in due time promoted to the bishopric
of the Church in which he had received his education.
Malmesbury' indeed says, that at the time of Egbert's
death, his son Ethelwolf was a subdeacon, and was
allowed to change the cloister for the throne, by a
dispensation from Pope Leo the Third, because there
was no other heir to the throne. In refutation of this
story it is sufficient to observe, that Pope Leo the
Third had been dead twenty years; that Ethelstan, the
brother of Ethelwolf, was as well qualified to rule
Wessex as Kent; and, as Dr. Lingard has justly
observed, the historian Malmesbury, who has given
this story in his Lives of the Bishops, has made no
allusion to it in his general work on the History of
the English Kings. We have also seen, that several
years before his father's death, the young prince had
been chosen to command an army by which Kent,
Sussex, and Essex, were successfully invaded, and
reduced to permanent subjection: we shall also per-
ceive, as our narrative advances, that the son of
Egbert, in the wars which followed, conducted himself
like a brave prince, and deserved-if merit could
command success-to rescue his country from the
calamities which were coming thick upon her.
b Ibid.
"The tale of Ethelwolf having been bishop of Winchester
is still less entitled to credit. Both reports probably arose from
confounding together different persons with the same or similar
names. Thus in the ancient life of St. Neot, [Acta SS. Bened.
Sæc. iv. tom. ii. p. 325.] the bishop of Winchester his contemporary,
and Ethelwold, who was bishop a century afterwards, are both
described as the same person." Lingard, i. p. 148.
46
THE LIFE AND TIMES OF ALFRED THE GREAT. [CH. III.
Before the first year of Ethelwolf's reign had ex-
pired, the Danes again assailed, on more points than
one, the unfortunate Anglo-Saxons. The sufferings
which the terrible invaders brought with them are briefly
related by the chroniclers. "This year," says the
Saxon Chronicle, "there was great slaughter made by
the Danes at London, Canterbury, and Rochester."
-
In the following year, namely 840, the king himself
experienced a severe defeat at the hands of the in-
vaders. A fleet of thirty ships came to land at Char-
mouth in Dorsetshire: and, as each vessel was more
than usually crowded with men, the army that issued
forth to ravage the country was more formidable than
Ethelwolf had expected. He was unable to withstand
their fury, and, as none of the chroniclers relate the
events which ensued after the battle, we are left to
suppose that the king retreated, and the Danes pursued
their usual course of pillage without molestation over
the adjoining districts".
Notwithstanding this defeat, it would seem that the
resistance which the people made to their fierce plun-
derers was not unattended with advantage; for during
the space of five years after the battle of Charmouth,
the country enjoyed repose from the ravages of the
Danes. At the end of that time, one of their fleets
came to land at the mouth of the Parrot in Somerset-
shire. Here, however, they were disappointed in their
hopes of plunder. Alderman Enwolf, at the head of
the men of Somersetshire, with Bishop Alstan, and
Alderman Osric at the head of the troops of Dorset,
Nearly all the Mss. of the Saxon Chronicle have Quantavic for
Canterbury in this place, but this is evidently an error of the scribe.
One Ms. and Henry of Huntingdon have the correct reading.
d Sax. Ch. Ethel. Flor. Hunt.
A. D. 851.]
47
ENGLAND'S PROSPEROUS YEAR.
1
bravely met the invaders, and after a fierce battle,
defeated them with great slaughter, and struck such
terror into their roving bodies, that for six more years.
none of them ventured to land upon the English
coaste.
In 851, this peace was broken by the simultaneous
appearance of four Danish fleets: but by the favour of
fortune or the valour of the English, the ruin which
seemed to threaten the whole country was again
averted, and the invaders defeated more signally than
before. The first engagement was fought at Wenbury,
by Ceorl, the Alderman of Devonshire, and ended in
the triumph of the English. A second party of the
enemy landed on the eastern coast, where they for
the first time passed the winter. In the mean time a
third invading force, or a detachment from the army
which wintered in the island-for the language of the
Saxon Chronicle is rather obscure in this place-
approached the southern coast of Kent. Here they
were met by Ethelstan, the king of that province,
attended by Alderman Alchere. Not waiting for the
landing of the heathen forces, the English embarked
on board their ships, and advanced to meet the
invaders: a furious battle took place, the enemy were
defeated, and with the loss of nine ships retreated from
the island".
The fourth army of Danes which invaded England
Sax. Ch. Ethel. Flor. Hunt.
Sax. Ch. Ass. Ethel. Flor. Sim. Hunt.
* The Saxon Chronicle, Ethelwerd and Huntingdon fix their
wintering-place in the isle of Thanet; Florence and Simeon in the
isle of Sheppey. Some Mss. of Henry of Huntingdon omit the
name of the place altogether.
Sax. Ch. Ass. Ethel. Flor. Sim. Hunt.
48
[CH. III.
LIFE AND TIMES OF ALFRED THE great.
in the year 851, was much more formidable in numbers
than either of the other three. It was also more
signally discomfited: not, however, without having
first committed extensive ravages and inflicted severe
losses on the inhabitants. Their fleet, consisting of
three hundred and fifty ships, entering the mouth of
the Thames, landed a large body of men, who sacked
the cities of Canterbury and London; Berthwolf, king
of Mercia, marching to oppose them, was defeated,
and, if not slain by the enemy, he lost his throne in
consequence of the battle, and was succeeded by
Burrhed. The Danish army then crossed the
Thames, and marched into the county of Surrey, until
they reached Ockley. Here the West-Saxon monarch,
with his eldest son Ethelbald, had assembled all his
army and the two nations met in a fierce and
protracted engagement. Fortune again smiled on
the bravery of the English: the Danes were defeated,
with the slaughter of more than half their army; and
the Chroniclers, who have recorded the victory at
Ockley, agree in describing it as more disastrous to
the enemy than any which they ever received in
England, either before or sincek. "You might see
their men of war," says Henry of Huntingdon, " falling
on all sides like corn before the blade of the reapers;
streams of blood flowed around, with the heads and
limbs of the victims rolling in its swelling tide. If
I were to describe each particular of the battle, I
should weary the reader with my prolixity. Suffice
i Hunt.
* This observation which has been copied by the other writers
from the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, seems to indicate, that this portion
of that work was written before the victories of King Alfred, which
certainly were quite as bloody and decisive as the battle of Ockley.
As D. 853.]
49
THE DANES QUEEN OSBURGA.
it to say, that God granted the victory to those who
believed in Him, and reduced the enemy who despised
his Name to humiliation that cannot be described!"
Notwithstanding this terrible defeat, the Danes were
not deterred from pursuing their usual course of
piracy. In 853, two years after the battle of Ockley,
Alderman Alcher with the men of Kent, and Alderman
Huda with the men of Surrey, fought a severe battle
against the Danes in the isle of Thanet: at first they
were victorious, but in the end they were both slain or
drowned, and a large number of men fell on both sides:
the issue of the battle was apparently doubtful'.
Two years after this we read of the heathen men
again passing the winter in the isle of Sheppey", but
with these exceptions the rest of Ethelwolf's reign
was not again disturbed by the invading Danes, and
his only military achievement was to assist Burrhed,
king of Mercia, in reducing the North Welsh to sub-
mission. At the conclusion of this campaign, which
was brought to a successful issue, the West Saxon
monarch gave his daughter Ethelswitha in marriage to
king Burrhed, and the wedding was celebrated with royal
magnificence at the town of Chippenham, which had long
been famous as a résidence of the kings of Wessex".
From the account of wars and bloodshed, we turn
with satisfaction to the more peaceful events wh
mark the reign of Ethelwolf. The name of his queen
wás Osburga, she was a noble and pious lady, descended
from the ancient race of the Goths and Jutes. Her
father was Oslac, the butler or cup-bearer of king
Ethelwolf. His lineage was derived through the
1
prod
m
n
Sax. Ch. Ass. Ethel. Flor. Sim. Hunt.
Sax. Ch. Ass. Ethel. Flor. Sim. Hunt.
Sax. Ch. Ass. Ethel. Flor. Sim. Hunt.
E
50
LIFE AND TIMES OF ALFRED THE GREAT. [CH. IV.
>
Earls Stuph and Withgar, nephews of Cerdic the first
king of Sussex, and cousins to Kenric, Cerdic's son.
When their uncle first landed in Britain, he gave to
his brave nephews the Isle of Wight for an inheritance:
but the Britons, by whom it was inhabited, would not
be dispossessed of their country without fighting.
They met their invaders at Carisbrooke, and were
nearly all slaughtered. The survivors either fled from
the island, or were afterwards slain in detail by the
victorious Saxons. By his queen Osburga, Ethelwolf
had four sons, Ethelbald, Ethelbert, Ethelred, and
ALFRED, and one daughter Ethelswitha. The educa-
tion and early life of these princes have been passed
over by the Chroniclers, except a few particulars which
will hereafter be noticed concerning their youngest child
Alfred, and the affectionate tenderness which existed
between him and his mother Osburga. From this
omission of the contemporary writers we have lost much
valuable information on the subject of Ethelwolf's
private family and domestic arrangements. Sufficient
has been left us to shew, that the royal family at this
time were a family of love: but the writers of these
times, as an old author has well remarked, though
they lived at the same time with Alfred or in the age
immediately succeeding, and may therefore be pre-
sumed to have known many passages of his domestic
history, yet, as if they feared posterity would be less
disposed to value king Alfred's achievements than to
obtain a true account of them, have rather chosen to
use their declamatory powers in his praise, than to
give us a full narrative of his actions: they have
extolled his wisdom and his courage; they have
• Asser in Vita Alfredi, A.D. 859.
P
Spelman, Life of Alfred the Great, p. 14.
A. D. 819.]
51
ALFRED BORN AT WANTAGE.
:
lauded to the skies his consummate generalship and
the victories which he obtained, whilst in the mean
time they have neglected to describe many particulars
of his life, and especially of his early life; neither have
they given us a very exact account of the manner in
which he got through his greatest dangers, or even of
the dangers themselves through which he passed;
though these details would not only have excited and
gratified the reader's thirst for knowledge, but would
have raised their hero to the same height of repu-
tation, and have placed upon a broader and surer
basis the honours which posterity have awarded him.
The young ALFRED was born at Wantage in Berk-
shire, in 849, two years before that prosperous year, in
which four Danish invasions were checked or repulsed
by the victorious troops of his father. In 853, about
the same time that Ethelwolf aided Burrhed, king of
Mercia to invade the territory of the North Welch,
Alfred, being in the fifth year of his age, was sent by
his father, with a large retinue of nobles and com-
moners, on a pilgrimage to Rome. Expeditions of
this kind had been frequent among the Saxons, even
in the time of Venerable Bede, and they continued to
be made almost down to the Norman Conquest, and
there is little doubt that they exhausted the wealth,
lowered the manly courage, and enervated the whole
character of the Anglo-Saxon people.
King Ethelwolf was not exempt from the super-
stition, in which not only his own subjects, but all
Europe, at this time were sunk. To account for the
apparent preference shewn his fourth son Alfred, by
selecting him, in disparagement of his three elder
4 Asser. Flor. Sim.
E 2
52
LIFF AND TIMES OF ALFRED THE GREAT.
[CH. IV.
brothers, for the pilgrimage to Rome, it has been
observed, that he displayed from his infancy not only a
sweetness of countenance above the others, but also
an excellence of spirit, of wit, and of disposition.
It has also been supposed that Ethelwolf intended
at his death to bestow a tributary kingdom on his
favourite son, and with this view sent him to receive
the benediction of the Sovereign Pontiff. Whatever
Spelman. It is quite useless to conjecture what may have been
the motives of actions, when we have so very imperfect accounts of
the actions themselves. It could hardly be believed, in the present
day, that so able a writer as Spelman should have indulged in so
many reveries on this subject. "I find," says he, " in the Apology
for Oxford, lib. ii. §. 197, (for the MS. itself I have not seen,) that
an uncertain author in his marginal notes upon Ranulph Higden
affirms, that Æthelwolf had such direction from an angel in a dream,
in these words: " Atulphe rex dilecte Dei, quid moraris? mitte
filium tuum post-genitum ad Romanum Pontificem, ut ab ipso
inungatur in regem Anglorum, et sic ab ipso procedat unctio regalis
ad cæteros reges' ipsius regni in perpetuum duratura. Omnipotens
Dominus filium tuum elegit in principem super Anglos, quia regnum
Angliæ est regnum Dei in illo, et dic Swithuno quod ipse vadat cum
filio tuo ad Romanun pontificem quod ipse homo justus est in
conspectu Domini.”
In allusion to the same subject, I find in the same volume, [Spel-
man's Life of Alfred, page 17.] the following note: "Mr. Tyrrell,
[Gen. Hist. of Eug. vol. i. 1. v. p. 262.) is of opinion, that he, [i. e.
Alfred,] was not anointed king of any present dominions, which he
also thinks plain from an old MS. in the Cottonian Library, which
says he was anointed in successorem paterni regni. But since the
Welch Annals, published by Percy Enderbie in the year MDCLXI,
affirm [see lib. i. page 216,] that King Æthelwolf subdued a great
part of Wales; and since Huntingdon [Hist. lib. v. p 348. Ed.
Franc. MDCI.] asserts, that this happened the very year wherein
Ælfred was sent to Rome, I believe he was anointed king of South
Wales; which seems also plain from the Saxon Chronicle, which
mentions this conquest of the Welch. Now, though it be commonly
reckoned that Alfred was the first anointed king of England, and
À. D. 853.]
53
ALFRED IS SENT TO ROME.
may have been the motives of his father, the
young lad
was sent on this distant journey to Rome, where Leo
the Fourth was at that time pope. The Holy Pontiff
honourably received the young prince, anointed him
king, as all the Chronicles express it, and bestowing on
him the rite of confirmation", adopted him as his own
therefore Robert of Gloucester thus expresses [fol. 73. b.] his
journey and inunction at Rome:
"Alfrede this good man, in the year of grace nome
Eight hundred and sixty, and twelve the kingdome
Arst he had at Rome be, and for his great wisdome
The Pope Leon him blessed: when he thither come
And the king's crown of this land; that in this land yit is
Set him on and oiled him, or he king were I wis
And he was king of Engeland, of all that there come
That ever first anoiled was, of the pope of Rome
And sithe other after him, of the archbishop echone
So that before him, king anoiled was there none."
[agreeably to which it is said in a certain MS. in the Bodleian
Library, (Laud. C. 22.) Iste Alfredus fuit primus rex Angliæ, qui
regiam unctionem accepit, (for unctionem accepit in another MS. of
Archbishop Laud's, f. 10, b. it is coronatus erat) Romæ a Leone
IV.] I say, though this be the common opinion, yet there is
mention in some authors of kings being anointed before. For
Gildas, [de excidio Brit. c. xix.] speaking of the errors in religion
and of the wickedness of the old Britons, hath this passage of the
British kings of that age: ungebantur reges et non per Deum, sed
qui cæteris crudeliores exstarent: et paullo post ab unctoribus non
pro veri examinatione trucidabantur, aliis electis trucioribus. He
flourished above мc years since, and therefore could not [Selden's
Titles of Honour, part i. c. viii. p. 149. ed. Lond. MDCXXXI.]
deceive us herein by using the phrase of a later time, as perhaps it
may be thought the Monk of Malmsbury doth in his relation of
King Egfert, son and successor of King Offa in the kingdom of
Mercia, about the year DCCXC. Dulci, saith he, [de gestis Reg.
Angl. lib. i. c. iv.] tamen vitam consumpsit otio, et Egfertum
filium ante mortem suam in regem inunctum successorem dimisit.”
"The ceremony of Confirmation [Ham. L'Estrange's Alliance
54
LIFE AND TIMES OF ALFRED THE GREAT.
[CH. IV.
spiritual son. After which the young Alfred received
the pope's blessing, and returned to his native land.
Like some of his predecessors on the throne of
Wessex, king Ethelwolf had now imbibed a spirit of
devotion to the Church: though the scanty notices
which have reached us, concerning the mode in which
the king shewed his piety, have given rise to contro-
versies which will probably never be decided.
It is agreed by the consent of the Chroniclers and
the royal Charters still existing, that between the end of
853, when Alfred was but recently returned from Rome,
and the latter part of the year 855, his father Ethel-
wolf, with the advice and consent of his clergy and
nobles," gave by charter the tenth part of his land
throughout his realm for the glory of God and his own
eternal salvation." It has been considered by some
writers, that in this grant is to be found the first
origin of tithes in England; but it has been objected to
:
of Divine Offices, p. 262.] was considered by the Apostles and suc-
ceeding Fathers, as the completory and close of Baptism, not that
Baptism was ineffectual without it, but an assistant to it; and there-
fore in persons adult, it immediately succeeded the very act of
baptizing and dipping. In others it did not follow till they came to
years of discretion; which being later in some than others, there was
no set number of years: which is exactly agreeable to the rule of our
Church. But whether this was observed in the time of king Alfred,
is very uncertain, the Romanists having in this as well as other
matters very much altered the most ancient custom; insomuch that
about 400 years since we find that in England (Comber's Companion
to the Temple, part iii. p. 220. ed. 1684.] children were usually
confirmed at five years of age: and Aquinas informs us [Sum. 3.
quæst. 72. Artic. 9.] that in the Roman Church, infants were con-
firmed very soon after baptism, upon persuasion, that they were not
perfect Christians without it." SPELM. p. 20. From the words of
the Saxon Chronicle, it would appear that Alfred, being still at Rome,
was not consecrated king, until his father Ethelwolf was dead.
Sax, Ch. Ethel. Flor. Sim. Hunt.
:
A.D. 855.]
55
ETHELWOLF'S GRANT TO THE CHURCH.
}
this, that tithes certainly existed in England before the
reign of Ethelwolf, and the recent publication of the
Anglo-Saxon Charters proves that the grant, which
that monarch now made, was not one decided act, but
rather a series of grants, each amplifying or confirm-
ing the preceding, and in perfect harmony with the
character of an aged monarch, who hopes to provide
for the salvation of his soul by continued benefactions
to the Church".
I
C
"In the Codex diplomaticus Anglo-Saxonicus, 8vo. Lond. 1840.
vol. ii. p. 50—58. are four charters of king Ethel wolf, on the subject
of his donation to the Church: two of them are dated Ap. 22, 854;
the third, Nov. 5, 855; and the fourth also in 855, but with no men-
tion of the day or the month. The third of these charters seems to
be the principal, and is also the same as is quoted by Ingulph and
others. I therefore subjoin the text of it complete:
"REGNANTE
DOMINO NOSTRO IN PERPETUUM. Dum in nostris temporibus.
bellorum incendia et direptiones opum nostrarum, necnon et vastan-
tium crudelissimas hostium deprædationes barbarorum, paganarumque
nationum multiplices tribulationes, ad affligendum nos pro peccatis
nostris usque ad internecionem, tempora cernimus incumbere pericu-
losa; Quamobrem ego Ethelwulfus, rex West-Saxonum, cum consilio
episcoporum ac principum meorum, consilium salubre ac uniforme
remedium affirmantes, consensimus, ut aliquam portionem terrarum
hæreditariam, antea possidentibus omnibus gradibus, sive famulis et
famulabus Dei, Deo servientibus, sive laicis miseris, semper decimam
mansionem ubi minimum sit, tum decimam partem omnium bonorum,
in libertatem perpetuam donari sanctæ ecclesiæ dijudicare, ut sit tuta
et munita ab omnibus secularibus servitutibus, imo regalibus tributis,
majoribus et minoribus, sive taxationibus quæ nos dicimus Winterden
[Witereden ;] sitque libera omnium rerum, pro remissione animarum
et peccatorum nostrorum, ad serviendum Deo soli, sine expeditione,
et pontis extructione, et arcis munitione; ut eo diligentius pro nobis
ad Deum sine cessatione preces fundant, quo eorum servitutem in
aliqua parte levigamus. ACTA sunt hæc apud Wintoniam in ecclesia
sancti Petri, anno Dominicæ incarnationis 855, indictione 3, nonis
Novembris, ante majus altare, pro honore gloriosæ Virginis et Dei
genitricis Mariæ, sanctique Michaelis archangeli, et beati Petri Apo-
G
36
LIFE AND TIMES OF ALFRED THE GREAT. [CH. IV.
Of the origin of tithes so much has been said by
previous writers, that it may be thought presumptuous
stolorum principis, necnon et beati patris nostri Gregorii papæ :
PRÆSENTIBUS et subscribentibus archiepiscopis et episcopis Angliæ
universis, necnon Beorredo, rege Merciæ, et Edmundo, Estanglorum
rege: abbatum et abbatissarum, ducum, comitum, procerumque totius
terræ, aliorumque fidelium infinita multitudine, qui omnes regium
chirographum laudaverunt; dignitates vero sua nomina subscripse-
39
runt.
It is difficult to form a very exact notion of the meaning of this
charter: Mr. Selden, in his History of Tithes, [p. 206.] conjectures
that "the purpose of the charter was to make a general grant of
tithes payable freely; because it seems before, that [p. 207.] the pay-
ment of all tithes had commonly been omitted. Which, as it is
against the concurrent testimony of the greatest part of our ancient
writers, so is it contrary to the very words of the statute, and the fol-
lowing reasons, [Rich. Tillesley's Animadversions upon Mr. Selden's
History of Tithes, Lond. 1621, p. 186.] which evidently shew that
this grant was of the tenth part of lands, not of tithes properly.
For,
1. Ethelwolf could not give that first which had been given before
by Ethelbert, upon the preaching of Augustine the Monk, [see the
laws of Edward the Confessor,] Offa, king of Mercia, [see Selden,
ibid. page 201.] and Elfwold, king of Northumberland, [ibid.
p. 200.]
2. Whereas those kings gave tithes properly, and that not only
in themselves, but also in their subjects, and so should give more
than Ethelwolf, who gave but this Decima of his own land of inherit-
ance, as appears from his passing it per regium chirographum, (his
royal charter only, not any act of Parliament,) from Ethelwerd's de
omni possessione sua, the word hereditariam in the charter, his
Testament in Florence of Worcester, &c. yet Ethelwolf is extolled
by king Edgar [in his speech to the clergy in Ailredo Rievallensi de
Genealogia regum Angloruin, p. 359. apud Decem Scriptores] and
William of Malmesbury, [de Gestis Pontificum Angliæ, p. 242.] as
doing something extraordinary, and therefore this must be more than
tithes.
3. There was no need for Ethelwolf to have asked the consent of
his bishops and nobles, to give tithes out of his own lands, though
it might seem requisite to ask consent to convey so much land.
!
A. D. 855.]
57
ETHELWOLF's CHARTER.
>
to hope that any fresh information can be obtained.
I will however observe, because I do not remember
to have before seen the observation, that the decimal
proportion of tithes to the whole property, of which
they formed a part, arose perhaps originally from" the
obvious and acknowledged utility of the decimal
system, which in all civilized nations has been adopted
in almost all subjects of calculation. When Chris-
tianity was first introduced into Europe, tithes were
certainly unknown; but in the time of Ethelbert, king
of Kent, they already formed a part of the Christian
system, though Selden contends that they were not
introduced into England till the end of the eighth
century. About the year 795, Offa, king of the Mer-
cians, gave to the Church tithes of all his kingdom to
expiate the death of Ethelbert, king of the East
Angles, whom in the preceding year he had caused to
be murdered.
The grant of Ethelwolf therefore cannot be con-
4. Ethelwolf gave such a Decima as was liable not only to taxes
and exactions of state then, but also to that trinoda necessitas of
Pontis exstructio, expeditio, and arcis munitio: to which service
lands only, and not annual profits, were liable.
5. If Ethelwolf gave [Selden, p. 207.] the tithes of prædial and
mixed profits, and the tithe of every man's personal possessions were
at that time also included in the gift; then how could there be any
newly-consecrated tithes after? (as he endeavours to prove from
chartularies in the 11th chapter,) since all were now given by a
charter in Parliament, nay by Parliamentary authority, as he calleth
it.
6. If monasteries and nunneries (for so the charter and Edgar's
speech do express) did not at that time enjoy any tithes, (as his
history tells us they did not,) then nothing can be more certain than
that king Ethelwolf did not give them: and therefore our author had
good reason to say, that he gave the tenth of all his kingdom unto
the Church, &c." SPELM. LIFE OF ALF. p. 21.
58
LIFE AND TIMES OF ALFRED THE GREAT. [CH. IV.
sidered as an original gift, but as confirmatory of
preceding grants, though it probably surpassed all of
them in extent, and served in no slight degree to
confer upon the Church that inordinate wealth which
in a later age she possessed.
But the pious king of Wessex, finding that his
dominions were no longer assailed by the barbarians
who had so long harassed them, was now smitten with the
general desire of paying a visit in person to the city
of Rome. In the prosecution of this wish, he assem-
bled a numerous retinue, and taking with him his
youngest and favourite son Alfred, who now made the
journey for the second time, he set out for the Impe-
rial city. On arriving at the place of his destination,
he was honourably received by the Pope, who, no
doubt, looked on him with especial favour in con-
sequence of his late donation to the Church. We
could have wished that the Chroniclers had given us
some insight into the customs and modes of life which
at this time prevailed, and particularly of the oc-
cupations in which the Court of Rome were engaged.
It would be interesting to know how Ethelwolf could
have amused himself, or occupied his time during the
long sojourn which he made in that city. Neither would
it be without profit to learn the state of our own country,
which could allow its sovereign to absent himself so
long from the government. On these points, how-
ever, the contemporary chronicles are silent: what
they have told us concerning this journey does little
credit to the discretion of Ethelwolf, if we consider
the advanced age to which he must then have
arrived. As soon as the period of his stay was
X
* Ethelwolf must have been in England on Nov. 5, 855, the
date of his charter to the Church, and he was married to Judith on
!
A.D. 856.]
JUDITH-ETHELBALD'S REbellion.
59
expired, the king, having no doubt gratified his
curiosity, and refreshed his devotion by a sight of the
relics and sacred things which the city of Rome con-
tained, set out upon his return to England. Passing
through France, he paid a visit to the court of the
French king, Charles the Bald, and there was capti-
vated with the youthful graces of the princess Judith,
who could hardly at that time have been more than
thirteen years old. Though queen Osburga was
probably still alive, for the Chroniclers have, singularly
and unfortunately, been silent on the subject, the old
king was not deterred from gratifying his inclinations:
he married the young princess, and brought her to
England as his queen*.
But the state, whose sovereign has been so long
absent, will probably be, if not in open rebellion, at least
in a disaffected state, and ripe for insurrection. Such
was now the state of England. We are ignorant of the
manner in which the government was administered
during the absence of Ethelwolf; it is most probable
that it was confided to the charge of Ethelbald, the king's
eldest son. If so, the trust which the king placed in this
prince, nearly lost him the crown. Ethelbald was a
warlike prince, very acceptable to the people, and may
have been already anxious to possess some share in
the government of his father's dominions, as had been
before enjoyed by Ethelstane, now dead, his uncle, or
as some say his elder brother. A specious excuse for
the 1st of October, 856, [Bouquet, vii. 72.] as he was returning
through France. His stay therefore at Rome must have been about
nine or ten mouths.
Her mother Ermengarde was married to Charles the Bald on
the 12th of December, 842, and Judith was their eldest daughter.
Sax. Ch. Ass. Ethel. Flor. Sim. Hunt.
60
LIFE AND TIMES OF ALFRED THE GREAT. [CH. IV.
rebellion seemed now to present itself. The king had
been an unreasonably long time absent, and by his
marriage with the princess Judith, seemed to have
alienated his affections from his former family. To
this was added the offence which the nobles of Wessex
took at the queenly honours conferred upon the king's
new wife. Since the time of Edburga, the kings of
Wessex, in deference to the public indignation which
the crimes of that princess called forth, had never con-
ferred on their wives the appellation of queen, or in any
way allowed them to participate with themselves in the
honours of sovereignty. When therefore they heard
See page 14.
«Ethelwolf broke this custom, and the law against the king's
wife did not continue long in force; yet in the times of some of his
successors there was often a respect had unto it. For in somė
memoirs of the reign of king Edgar, the queen is styled only his
wife, or legitima regis conjux or Cynninges gemacca, that is, the
king's wife, and not queen. In the subscriptions of king Edgar's
charter of privileges to Hyde Abbey, by Winchester, yet remaining
in Sir Robert Cotton's Library, [sub effigie Vespasiani A, viii. See
the learned Dr. Smith's Catalogue thereof, p. 106.] and written in
letters of gold in a hand of the same age, his wife Elfthrith sub-
scribes thus: + EGO ELFTHRITH, legitima regis conjux, &c.
and also EGO EDGIFA, prædicti regis ava, &c. and there are
others of that nature of the same time, as will appear by consulting
the Monasticon. This Elfthrith is the same that our historians com-
monly call Elfrida or Elfthrida, daughter to Orgar, then Earl or
Duke (for those titles were not then distinguished) of Cornwall.
And Edgifa was the third and last wife of king Edward, son to king
Alfred, and grandfather to Edgar; yet perhaps by reason of this
severe law she durst not style herself otherwise than the king's
grandmother; for so Ava as well as Avia in those times denoted.
In the same library is also extant a reformation of the monastic life
of both sexes, entitled Regularis concordia Anglica nationis mo-
nachorum sanctimonialiumque, [Dr. Smith, who tells us 'tis a very fair
MS, gives us another title, in his catalogue, p. 151, sub Faustina,
B. iii.] and written in Edgar's time, wherein he takes care of the
A. D. 856.]
61
ETHELBALD'S REBELLION.
that king Ethelwolf, still at the court of the French
king, had crowned his bride, and placed her by his
monks, and his wife of the nuns, that is, his gemæccean Elfthrithe
or his wife Elfthrith. And perhaps hence it was, that the wives of
great dukes or earls of that time in the West-Saxon kingdom,
which after Egbert quickly swallowed up the rest, subscribed by the
name also of conjux, and not by any name of dignity, as if they
would abstain from receiving any communication of title from their
lords, as well as the king's wives did from the kings. For, anno 880,
when Ethelred or Ethered, duke or earl of Mercia under king
Alfred, by his charters [Regist. vetustiss. eccles. Wigorn. fol. 7, 29,
31,211, &c. in Bibl. Cotton.] gave lands to the Church of Worcester,
he subscribed by the name of dux and patricius; but his wife, being
otherwise a princess and daughter to king Alfred, expresses herself
in them only thus: + Ego Athelfled CONJUX subscribens confir-
mavi: and in other charters, + Ego Æthelfled consensi. Yet they
are both together styled, Æthred Aldorman and Ethelfled Mercna
hlafordas; that is, Ethred the alderman or duke, and Ethelfled
the lords of Mercia, in an instrument of Werfrid, bishop of
Worcester, in the year 904, made to the same Church. However,
notwithstanding, in expressing the title of the king's wife, such
respect were sometime after Æthelwolf had to that old law; yet it
also appears, that under the same king Edgar, the wife was likewise
sometimes styled queen or regina: which shews that the use of
regina, or legitima conjux, without the addition of regina, was grown
by this time promiscuous in the West-Saxonum kingdom. For the
same queen in a charter to the Church of Worcester subscribes [in
Pat. I. ed. iv. part 6, memb. 23.] + Ego Elfyred, or Alfthrithd, (as
in the Monasticon, vol. i. p. 141.) REGINA Consensi et signo crucis
confirmavi, which was in 864; and in another to the Church of Ely
occurs Alfthrith regina. [Cart. antiq. in arce Lond. B. num. 11.]
In other kingdoms of the Heptarchy of that age, the title of regina
was still given to the king's wives. Ego Elfthrith regina is
subscribed with Kenwolf king of Mercia in the subscriptions [Regist.
Wigor. MS. in Bibl. Cott. and Monast. Angl. tom. i. p. 122, &c.]
of his charters to the Church of Worcester, and + Sæthrith, or
Sethryth, regina, often subscribes with king Bertwolf to the same
Church. So + Ego Cynethryth Dei gratia regina Merciorum, in
some other, with king Offa. And among the coins of that age in
Sir Rob. Cotton's library, [see the excellent dissertation upon the
Saxon coins, written and published by the very curious and learned
62
life and tiMES OF ALFRED THE GREAT. [CH. IV.
own side on the throne, they construed it into a con-
tempt for their own customs and sentiments. Prince
Sir Andrew Fountaine, at the end of Dr. Hickes's Thesaurus Lingua-
rum Septentrionalium, tab. 3.] is one subscribed with Cynethryth,
(not Cenethryd, as Mr. Selden reads it,) regin. and with Eoba, (not
Eopa, with Selden,) on the other side. And thelswith, daughter
to king Æthelwolf, frequently subscribes Ethelswith regina with
Burghred king of Mercia, or Mercland, in the old register of
Worcester. And at her marriage, saith Matt. Westm. [sub anno
852.] reginæ nomen promeruit. There is also a singular example
of her in the chartulary of the abbey [Bibl. Cott. fol. 4. and in col.
Æd. Christi, Oxon.] of Abingdon, where she alone by charter gives
to one Cuthwolf her servant lands in Lacinge, in these words, + Ego
Æthelswith regina, Deo largiente, Merciorum cum consensu meorum
seniorum concedens donabo Cuthwolfo, &c. which is very properly
used by some [Sir Ed. Coke in præfat. ad lib. iv.] to shew, that the
law of England then was, that the queen in this island might, as at
this day, give or contract as a femme sole. After king Edgar, it
seems, the law of the West-Saxons also utterly vanished, and the
wives of the Saxon kings were always styled queens, or reginæ. In
an instrument [Regist. Wigorn. ecclesiæ vetust. fol. 166. MS. in
Bibl. Cotton] that testifies how Agelwin, dean of Worcester, (decanus
Wigorniensis ecclesiæ, so is his title of that time, but a prior and
convent then supplied what now the dean and chapter do,) and his
brother Ordric gave three cassats of land in Cundicotam to the monks
there, Edward the Confessor, ad confirmationem sermonum istorum,
subscribes, and then his queen Edgith thus; + Ego Edgith regina
consentio. So in a charter of king Cnout to the abbey [Cart.
4 Ed. III. num. 58.] of St. Edmondsbury, his wife Alfgifa calls
herself Ego Alfgifa (or Elfgiva, as in Monast. Angl. tom. i.
p. 287.) regina, and in a Saxon charter of his to the same Church,
he styles her [see Mon. Anglic. vol. i. p. 288.] myne queen Alfgif,
and regina mea Alfgifa in the Latin of it, where he speaks of her
giving to the Church a revenue of 4000 eels in Lakinghith. It
appears also clearly, that the Saxon queens were always, in the latter
times of that kingdom, crowned, anointed, and set with the kings in
their seats of state, as other queens, and so that law or custom which
proceeded from Queen Edburg was soon abrogated." Spelm. Life of
Alf. p. 24.
Asser (and Florence who has copied Asser) tells us, that
Ethelwolf made his wife Judith sit on the throne beside him, after
he returned to England, and that she did so to the day of his death.
A. D. 856.]
63
PARTITION OF THE KINGDOM.
Ethelbald, to suit his own purposes, fanned the flame
of sedition, and drew over to his own party Alstan,
Bishop of Salisbury, and Enwolf, Alderman of Somer-
setshire, with whom he now began to concert plans,
how they might keep his father, as imbecile, out of the
kingdom, and secure the possession of the crown for
himself. This conspiracy, however, was broken up by
the king's return; but by the moderation which Ethel-
wolf displayed, no evil effects resulted either to himself
or to the kingdom. Many of his faithful subjects
joined him on his arrival, and offered to expel from
the kingdom his son Ethelbald and those who had
espoused his cause: but the king would not attend to
these suggestions, and with commendable discretion
listened to the representations of his son. The event
of these counsels was the division of the kingdom into
two parts. The kingdom of Wessex, which was by far
the most valuable, was given to Ethelbald; and the
eastern portion, consisting of Kent, Surrey, and
Sussex, remained in the hands of Ethelwolf.
This settlement, by which the king's eldest son
obtained the object of his wishes, was not, however, of
long duration. Ethelwolf, though apparently still far
removed from what may be termed an advanced age,
did not long survive the partition of the kingdom. He
died on the 13th of January, A.D. 858ª, leaving a will,
which has attracted the notice of posterity. By this
instrument it was directed that the kingdom should be
divided between his two eldest sons, Ethelbald and
Ethelbert, his private inheritance between his sons,
his daughter, and his relations: his money was to be
applied, partly to charitable purposes, and in part to
the use of his sons and nobles. As regarded that
a Florence of Worcester.
64
THE LIFE AND TIMES OF ALFRED THE GREAT. [CH. IV.
portion which was devoted to charity, it was directed,
that in every ten of his manses, or royal residences,
should be maintained one poor man or a stranger, in
meat, drink, and clothing, for ever; and that three
hundred mancuses of gold should every year be carried
to Rome, one hundred to buy oil for St. Peter's Church
on Easter Eve, one hundred as an offering to St. Paul,
and one hundred for the use of the Pope himself'.
e
• Thorn says, the value of the mancus was about seven shillings
and sixpence.
f
For fuller particulars on this and similar subjects, the reader is
referred to Dr. Lingard's History and Antiquities of the Anglo-
Saxon Church, &c. They can only be incidentally mentioned in a
biographical work like the present.
CHAP. V.
ETHELBALD REIGNS OVER WESSEX, FROM 858 to 860.—ETHELBERT
OVER THE DEPENDENT KINGDOM OF KENT, SUSSEX, AND ESSEX-
ETHELBALD MARRIES JUDITH, HIS FATHER'S WIDOW-ETHELBALD
DIES JUDITH RETURNS TO FRANCE,
In accordance with their father's will, Ethelbald
continued to hold the principal sovereignty of Wessex,
whilst his brother Ethelbert received the government
of Kent, Essex, and Sussex. The first act of the new
king of Wessex gave great displeasure to his subjects.
Notwithstanding his former opposition to his father's
wishes, when that monarch brought with him the
princess Judith from the court of France, he now
contracted with her a marriage, which, according to
every law then in force, was looked upon as incestuous
both by the clergy and the laity. As this female, who
furnishes perhaps the only instance of one that has
been a wife to two kings who have stood in the relation
of father and son, was really, as we have before noticed,
only thirteen years old when she first contracted
marriage with Ethelwolf, we may infer that her union
with that monarch was rather nominal than real; but
the Church did not recognise such distinctions, and
we need not doubt that much scandal arose in the
minds of all the subjects of Ethelbald. It has even
been asserted by some of the later Chroniclers, that
⚫ Asser, Flor. Sim. Ingulf, Malmesb. Roger de Wendover.
F
66
LIFE AND TIMES OF ALFRED THE GREAT.
[CH. V.
;
the king repented of his incest, and put away his wife
but, if this be true, it was unknown to the contem-
porary writers, who have related the crime, but not the
repentance, of the king. Neither is it likely that the
queen herself would have been willing to remain two
years in the country which had witnessed her disgrace,
for it was not until the year 861, some months after
Ethelbald's death, that she returned to her own country
where she might be under her father's protection.
The character, moreover, of her second husband seems
to have been too resolute to have been easily guided
or overcome by the monks. It may furnish a favour-
able view of his military virtues, that, as long as he
was king, either alone or in conjunction with his
father, the Danes made no attempt to ravage his
dominions, and even before he became king, but
acted in aiding his father's arms, those restless plun-
derers met with no success, but were invariably re-
pulsed, whenever they landed on the island. Neither
do the Chroniclers fortify by examples the charge of
cr
cruelty and lawlessness" which they bring against
Ethelbald, and which those servile imitators have
repeated, the one copying from the other, almost in
the self-same words. I am more disposed to believe,
with the historian of Huntingdon, that "Ethelbald
was cut off by a premature death, after he had reigned
"A.D. 859. Rex West-Saxonum, Ethelbaldus, ab errore supra-
dicto resipiscens, dimissa Juditha noverca sua, cujus torum fœdaverat,
peracta pœnitentia, tempore quo supervixit regnum cum pace et
justitia temperavit." WENDOver.
Rudborne quotes these words of Wendover, adding that it was done
"sacris exhortationibus beatissimi patris nostri Swithuni." See Anglia
Sacra, vol. i. p. 204.
C
Wendover, copying from some of the earlier Chroniclers.
d Henry Hunt.
A. D. 860.]
67
DEATH OF ETHELBALD.
five years, that all England lamented his youth, and
made great mourning over him; for they knew well,
and afterwards experienced, what a champion they had
lost in him."
· King Ethelbald died in 860, having reigned alto-
gether five years, and was buried at Sherborne.
If we believe that the only act of his reign was, to
espouse his father's bride, we need not doubt that his
early death was regarded, in that age of superstition,
as a judgment from God for his offence. The same
censure, however, could hardly have been passed upon
him, if he hastened to atone, by a divorce, for the
crime which he had committed. The fortunes of
the lady, who has caused so much controversy among
writers, are singularly connected with this country,
and historians have taken delight in relating what
"A Ms. chronicle in the Public Library at Oxon. [Digby 196.]
says five years; and so also Robert of Gloucester, Ms. Digb. 305, f.
72, b. Asser [pag. 4.] two years and a half: Ingulfus two years:
Polydore Virgil only five months: I suppose from some Ms. history
that he had seen. For I find no longer time allowed to his reign in
a Ms. which I have consulted in the Bodleian Library. [super Art.
D. 19, f. 250, a.] Asser seems to be most exact; for if king
Ethelwolf returned from Rome in the year 855, and lived about two
years after, it is plain Ethelbald could not reign above two years and
a half: for the Saxon annals tell us, that he died in the next year
hut two, namely, A. D. 860, and that his body was buried at Shire-
burn. Thomas Rudborne [Hist. Maj. p. 204. vol. i. Ang. Sacra]
varies but half a year from the Saxon Annals, Ethelwerd and
Malmsbury, who make him to have reigned five years and a half;
but then he tells us, that two and a half of them were spent in
debauchery, and the remainder in virtue and piety, being persuaded
to repent by the exhortations of Swithun, bishop of Winchester.
This he had from Girardus Cornubiensis de gestis regum West-
Saxonum, lib. ii. a book which seems now to be lost."
Life of Alf. p. 28.
SPELM.
F 2
68
[CH. V.
LIFE AND TIMES OF ALFRED THE GREAT.
happened to her after her second husband's death.
Judith retired to France, where she was placed by
her father in a convent at Senlis, a few miles to
the north of Paris, where she was "treated at the
same time with the respect due to a queen. The
cunning of Judith was, however, more than a match
for the vigilance of her guards. By the connivance of
her brother she eloped in disguise with Baldwin, great
forester of France; and the fugitives were soon beyond
the reach of royal resentment. The king prevailed on
his bishops to excommunicate Baldwin, for having
forcibly carried off a widow; but the Pope disapproved
of the sentence; and at his entreaty Charles gave a
reluctant consent to their marriage, though neither he
nor archbishop Hincmar could be induced to assist at
the ceremony. They lived in great magnificence in
Flanders, the earldom of which was bestowed on them
by the king;" her son Baldwin II., who was the
second earl of Flanders, afterwards married the princess
Elfrida, youngest daughter of Alfred the Great, from
which marriage, through five generations, was de-
scended Maud or Matilda, the wife of William the
Conqueror, and ancestress of the present royal family
of Great Britain¹.
e
Lingard, Hist. of England.
f
See Annales Bertiniani, in Bouquet, tom. vii. p. 77.
CHAP. VI.
ETHELBERT SUCCEEDS ETHELBALD, A.D. 860-WINCHESTER SACKED
BY THE DANES IN 860-DEATH OF ST. SWITHUN IN 861-THANET
INVADED BY THE DANES IN 864-ETHELBERT DIES IN 866.
a
ETHELBERT, the second son of Ethelwolf, succeeded
without opposition to the throne of Wessex, on his
brother's death, and thus all the south of England was
again united under one king. The family of Egbert
were all warlike. The sovereign, who now sat upon
the throne, did not degenerate from the military
virtues of his predecessors. In the language of Ingulf,
the historian of Croyland Abbey, "Ethelbert was a
strenuous youth, and an invincible conqueror of the
Danes, and he bravely ruled his kingdom five years,
and defended it against all their attacks."
But of the battles and victories of Ethelbert the
Chroniclers have taken little notice, though enough
has been told to make it evident that their invasions
were beginning to assume a more fearful character than
before. The first attack to which the south of England
was subject happened in 860, the year of Ethelbald's
death. A large fleet of Danes came to land on the coast
of Hampshire: the crews of which stormed Winchester,
"Ut justum erat" is the expression of the Chroniclers. Dr.
Lingard observes, that, on the death of Ethelbald, the crown of
Wessex ought to have descended, in conformity with their father's
will, to Ethelwolf's third sou Ethelbert, but I find no authority for
this in the ancient writers.
70
LIFE AND TIMES OF ALFRED THE GREAT. [CH. VI.
the capital of Wessex, and carried off an immense
booty; but, as they were returning to their ships, they
were met by Alderman Osric with the men of Hamp-
shire, and Alderman Ethelwolf with the men of Berk-
shire, who defeated the enemy with great slaughter,
and drove them in confusion to their ships".
From this victory resulted three continuous years of
tranquillity, concerning which the Chroniclers are
silent, or they record nothing but the unimportant
transactions of the monasteries and episcopal Churches;
most of which had suffered severely by the Danish
invasions. The principal ecclesiastic of this age was
Swithun, bishop of Winchester, who, by his political
talents, rose to be one of the king's chief ministers,
whilst by his supposed piety he gained for himself the
designation and honours of a Saint.
He died in 861°,
whilst his country was still free from the calamities
which afterwards overwhelmed it.
The peace was disturbed in 865, when an army of
the heathens landed in Thanet, and having formed their
camp, entered into a treaty with the inhabitants. The
men of Kent unadvisedly promised them a sum of
money, on condition that their lands and property
should be spared. But whilst the negociations were
pending, the Danes, who probably only wished to
gain time, and to lull the English into security, stole
b Sax. Ch. Ass. Ethel. Flor. Sim. Hunt. Rudborne, quoting from
Girardus Cornubiensis de gestis regum West-Saxonum, and Vigilantius
de basilica Petri, cap. 13. [Ang. Sacra, vol. i. p. 206.] place the
capture of Winchester in the first year of Ethelred, A. D. 866—67.
adding that the Danes, whilst they were sacking the city, suddenly
entered the monastery, and destroyed all the inonks, leaving not one
of them alive.
Saxon Chronicle.
A. D. 866.]
71
DEATH OF ETHELBERT.
away by night, and ravaged all the eastern coast.
For according to the Chroniclers, the faithless traitors
knew that they should get more by plunder than the
natives had promised them, as was afterwards proved
by the event; for they returned with a considerable
booty to their ships. Ethelbert died in the early
part of 866, leaving the throne to his next brother
Ethelred, together with a load of troubles, from the
invasions of the Danes, which seemed now to menace
the destruction of the monarchy, and the entire sub-
jugation of the country.
G
d Simeon of Durham.
Roger de Wendover. Malmesbury alone tells us, that the
English, seeing the faithlessness of the Danes, assembled an army,
and drove them out of the country.
CHAP. VII.
ETHELBERT SUCCEEDS TO THE THRONE-OSBERT KING OF NORTH-
UMBERLAND-HIS INSULT TO THE WIFE OF BRUERN, WHO FLEES TO
DENMARK-ELLA IS MADE KING OF NORTHUMBERLAND-EDMUND
KING OF EAST-ANGLIA-LEGEND OF REGNER LODBROC.
THE reign of Ethelred began under less favourable
auspices than that of the two preceding kings his
brothers but our narrative must leave for a while the
kingdom of the West-Saxons, to notice events which
occurred in other parts of the Heptarchy, and which
were of no small importance, because they led to dis-
asters and sufferings that were felt by all the inhabitants
of Britain. It will be remembered that after the battle
of Ellandune, king Egbert, following up the tide of
victory, received the submission of the Kentish, East-
Saxon, and South-Saxon kingdoms, and that these
countries were afterwards formed into a subordinate
monarchy for his children. They never regained
independence, and, at the death of Ethelbald, became
finally merged in the kingdom of Wessex.
Mercia enjoyed a more happy fate under its king
Burrhed, who had married Ethelswitha the daughter of
Ethelwolf. Its central position, which had formerly
exposed it to continual wars, was now a sort of protec-
tion from the inroads of an enemy, who made their
approaches only by sea. Burrhed was, however, the
last lawful king of Mercia, and his territories were
A. D. 862.]
73
STORY.OF BRUERN BROCARD.
overrun, like those of the other kings, his neighbours,
by the common enemy, as we shall hereafter relate.
But whilst the southern states of the Heptarchy, though
harassed by a foreign enemy, nevertheless appear at
this time to have enjoyed internal tranquillity, North-
umberland alone suffered from intestine discords
though as yet almost untouched by the Danes. In
862, when Ethelbert was king of Wessex, Osbert was
king of Northumberland. He lost his throne, like
the Roman Tarquin, by an injury done to a noble
lady, which though not alluded to by the contemporary
writers, has been related by later historians, and by no
means appears to bear an improbable or legendary
character. The following account of it is given in the
words of John Brompton, abbat of Jorvaulx, who lived
about the year 1200, and has left valuable extracts
from earlier Chroniclers, some of which are now lost.
"King Osbert, during a residence at York, went out
one day to hunt in a forest not far distant from the
city, and on his return called at the house of Bruern
Brocard, one of his principal nobles, to refresh himself,
after the fatigues of the day. Bruern, knowing nothing
of the king's coming, was gone down to the sea-side to
secure the coast against pirates: and his wife, who
was a lady of incomparable beauty, and adorned with
all the accomplishments which belong to her sex,
entertained the king at dinner with due hospitality and
splendour. Osbert was charmed with her beauty and
her behaviour: as soon as dinner was over, he pretended
some secret business of great importance, and, attended
to the door by some of his own servants, who were
privy to his design, he led her to a private apartment,
where he treated her with violence, and committed a
shameful breach of the faith which had been reposed
74
LIFE AND TIMES OF ALFRED. THE GREAT. [CH. VII.
in him. Having thus had his will, he returned to
York, whilst the lady, whom he had abused, lamented
so bitterly, that her face was sore with weeping. Her
husband, upon his return, asked the cause of so sudden
a change, and such unusual sadness: upon which she
told him all that had happened to her by the violence of
the king. When she had finished the story, her husband
comforted her, and bade her not to afflict herself, since
she could not possibly have resisted so strong a man, and
he assured her, that because she had told him the
truth, he would not love her less than he had done
before; and, by God's good pleasure, would revenge
both himself and her for the wrong which had been
done them. Immediately after this he sent for all his
relations and friends, to whom he revealed the affront
which had been put upon him, and his intention to
take speedy vengeance for the same. To this they all
consented, and approving his design, took horse, and
rode with him to York. The king, when he saw him,
invited him in civil terms to draw near; but Bruern,
having all his relations at his back, defied the king,
and renounced his allegiance, giving up all his lands.
and whatever else he held of him. This done, without
any more words, Bruern withdrew, making no stay at
all at court. Taking leave of his friends, he sailed
straightway into Denmark, where he made a complaint
to Codrin ", king of the country, of the affront offered
to him and his wife by Osbert, and desired his speedy
succour, that he might be in a condition to take
vengeance for the injury. Codrin and the Danes were
rejoiced at this event, which gave them a sufficient
excuse to invade England, that they might avenge the
a
This name is clearly a corruption or Latinism for Guthrum, a
well-known Danish king.
A. D. 862 --6.]
75
BRUERN-OSBERT AND ELLA.
wrongs of Bruern, who was descended from their
blood."
In what way the Danish king proceeded to invade
England and punish the Northumbrian king, will be
presently shewn: but in the mean time, the friends of
the injured man had amply avenged the wrong done
to their kinsman. Osbert was driven from the throne,
and Ella substituted in his stead".
The new king was not, however, of royal blood, and
his subjects were soon discontented with his rule.
A party of them soon recalled Osbert; a civil war
commenced between the two kings, and was only
interrupted by the approach of the formidable enemy
which was to crush both of them.
Whilst these events passed in the other kingdoms
of the Heptarchy, East-Anglia, saved from subjection
to the Mercians by the victory of Egbert at Ellandune,
is almost lost to our sight for more than thirty years,
until the time of King Edmund, who reigned from
855 to 869. To him also is attached a tale, more
legendary than that of Bruern, and less worthy to be
credited, both because it is tinctured with the marvel-
D
b The six earlier authorities, Sax. Ch., Asser, &c. notice the
quarrel between Osbert and Ella, but they seem to have been
ignorant of the story of Bruern Bocard, (otherwise called Biorn
Butsekarl). They relate the event retrospectively under the year
867, but 863 is the generally received date of Ella's accession. See
"Geffrei Gaimar, v. 2591 sq. Douglas of Glastonbury, MS. Hamb.
Brompton, pp. 802, 809. Hector Boethii Hist. Scot. A nearly
similar adventure of king Elle with Ernulf, a rich merchant of
York, surnamed the sea-farer, and his beautiful wife at Beckwith, is
related by the editor of Gaimar, from a MS. of the 12th century,
(C. C. C. C, No. cxxxix.) as the cause of the coming of Ivar and
Ubba. See Corpus Hist. p. 795." Thorpe, note to Lappenberg,
vol. ii. p. 32.
76
LIFE AND TIMES OF ALFRED THE GREAT. [CH. VII.
lous, and because it is at variance with the generally
received history of the same individual—if they are
the same-who figures as the principal actor in the
narrative. The legend, as it appears in the chronicle
of John Brompton, from which it was copied by
Matthew of Westminster, is as follows:-
66
There was a man of royal birth in the kingdom of
Denmark, named Lodbroc, who had two sons, Hinguar
and Hubba. This man embarked one day with his
hawk in a small boat, to catch ducks and other wild
fowls on the adjoining sea coasts and islands. A
terrible storm at length arose, by which Lodbroc was
carried away, and tossed for several days over every
part of the Ocean. After numberless perils, he was
cast ashore on the coast of Norfolk, near the village
of Redham. Here he was found having his hawk
alone for his companion, and presented to king
Edmund. That monarch, struck with the manly
beauty of his form, retained him at his court, and
heard from his own mouth the recital of his adventures.
He was then associated with Berne the king's hunts-
man, and indulged in all the pleasures of the chase,
for in the exercises both of hunting and hawking he
was remarkably graceful, and succeeded in capturing
both birds and beasts according as he had a mind.
This, however, produced jealousy in the mind of Berne
the huntsman, who one day, as they were going out
together hunting, set upon Lodbroc unawares, and
having foully slain him, buried his body in the thickets
of the forest. But Lodbroc was the master of a small
dog of the harrier species, which he had nourished
from its birth, and which loved him much. When
Berne the huntsman returned home with the other
hounds, this little dog remained alone with its master's
A. D. 863-6.]
77
LEGEND OF REGNER LODBROC.
body. In the morning the king asked what had
become of Lodbroc; to which Berne replied, that he
had parted from him yesterday in the wood, and had
not seen him since. At that moment the harrier
entered the hall, and went round, wagging its tail, and
fawning on the whole company, and especially on the
king. When he had eaten his fill, he again left the
hall: this occurred repeatedly, until some one at last
followed the dog to see where he went, and, having
found the body of Lodbroc, they told the story to the
king. The affair was now diligently enquired into,
and when the truth was at last discovered, the hunts-
man was exposed on the sea without oars in the boat
which had belonged to Lodbroc. In a few days he
was cast ashore in Denmark, and brought before the
sons of Lodbroc, who putting him to the torture,
demanded him what had become of their father, to
whom they knew the boat belonged. To this Berne
replied, that their father Lodbroc had fallen into the
hands of Edmund king of East-Anglia, by whose
orders he had been put to death."
The story ends with the invasion of England, accom-
panied by those circumstances of rapine and bloodshed
which we know from authentic history to have occurred
in 866, the year in which Ethelred succeeded to the
throne of Wessex.
It will, perhaps, never be ascertained, how far we
may trust the stories above related as the principal
motives which induced the Danes at this time to
invade England on a larger scale than before. But it
has been observed, that the story of Lodbroc is dif-
ferently told by authentic historians. According to
the most credible accounts, Regner Lodbroc, a Danish
chieftain, and a man of extraordinary talents and
78
LIFE AND TIMES OF ALFRED THE GREAT. [CH. VII.
valour, was about this time induced by circumstances
to extend his expeditions beyond the limits of the
Baltic, to which the piracies of his countrymen had
previously been for the most part confined. The
adventurous sea-king spread terror over all the islands
of the northern ocean. He even carried his ravages
into the interior of France, as far as Paris, which he
took by storm, and ransomed for a large payment of
money. At last this free-booter was overcome by the
very means which he fancied would elevate him above
all his fellows. He had ordered some ships of a larger
size than usual to be constructed, without considering
that his men would be unable to navigate them through
the narrow seas and on the sloping beaches, where
their descents upon the land were effected. These
vessels were wrecked upon the coast of England, and
Regner, with a small band of men, forgetting that they
had lost the means of securing their plunder, com-
menced their usual career of devastation. Ella, king
of Northumberland, marched to meet him. The in-
vaders, after a fierce resistance, were overcome, and
Regner made prisoner. The unhappy captive was
placed by his captor in a dungeon, where he was slowly
stung to death by snakes.
When the news of Regner's death reached Den-
mark, his sons, two of whom were Hinguar and Ubba,
swore to avenge him. The bands of Scandinavia
tuned their harps to the praises of the fallen hero: his
actions were chaunted throughout the islands of the
north, and the death-song of Regner Lodbroc, a
curious remnant of Scandinavian verse, which has
Saxo Gram. p. 176. Sore 1654. Pet. Olaus, apud Langbeck,
p. 111. Hafniæ 1772.
A.D. 863-6.]
79
DEATH OF REGNER LODBROC.
come down to our own times, animated his country-
men to battle and to vengeance ª.
a On the subject of this Scandinavian warrior, see particularly
Turner's Hist. of the Anglo-Saxons, book iv. ch. iii. and the
authorities there quoted.
CHAP. VIII.
THE PARENTAGE AND EARLY LIFE OF KING ALFRED HIS EDUCATION
-STORY OF THE BOOK OF POEMS-IS AFFLICTED WITH A SEVERE
DISEASE.
:
THE Chroniclers have delighted to trace the lineage
of ALFRED THE GREAT into those early times of
obscurity, where the dispassionate historian declines to
follow them. He was the fourth son of Ethelwolf,
and grandson of Egbert, through whom his pedigree
ascended to Woden, and from thence upwards through
twenty-three generations, to Adam. The juvenile
years of Alfred were, no doubt, occupied with the
sports and recreations which generally engage the
minds of children. The first circumstance which has
been recorded of him, is his journey to Rome, as we
haye already described it, in the company of Swithun
bishop of Winchester: he was hardly seven years
old, when he again made the journey in his father's
company; and it has been remarked by a modern
historian, whose opinions generally deserve attention
from their soundness, whilst his writings are charac-
D
This pedigree, according to Asser, Florence, and Simeon, is as
follows: Adam, Seth, Enos, Cainan, Mahaleel, Enoch, Methusalem,
Lamech, Noah, Shem, Bedwig, Huala, Hathra, Itermod, Heremod,
Sceldwea, Beaw, Catwa, Geata, Fingodwolf, Frithwolf, Frealaf,
Frithowalde, Woden, Beldeg, Brond, Gewis, Elesa, Cerdic, Creoda,
Cynric, Ceaulin, Cuthwine, Cutha, Ceolwalde, Coenred, Ingild
brother of Ine, Eoppa, Eafa, Elmund, Egbert, Ethelwolf.
b S. Turner, Hist. of the Anglo-Saxons.
A. D. 861.]
81
ALFRED'S EDUCATION.
terised by the depth of his research, that to the im-
pressions made upon the child's mind at this time is
to be traced that strong bias towards improvement,
which throughout his whole life was the mainspring of
all his actions. But the impressions which were made
upon the tender age of Alfred must have been un-
usually strong to have outlived the rude and boisterous
scenes in which the next fifteen years of his life
were spent. With this question, however, is blended
another historical difficulty which arrests us in our
enquiry, too important to be overlooked. Was Os-
burga, Alfred's mother, still alive when her little
boy returned from Rome? His father king Ethelwolf,
as we have seen, took another wife, Judith, daughter to
the king of France; which would seem to imply that
queen Osburga was no longer living. But when we
remember that his mother-in-law was scarcely thirteen
years of age, at the time of her marriage with Ethel-
wolf, it seems improbable-in my own opinion, im-
possible that to her can be ascribed that maternal
solicitude, to which Alfred, scarcely six years younger
than herself, could have been indebted for the su-
periority of his attainments, his initiation in literature,
and the general amiability and worth of his character.
-
That we may be the better able to judge on this point,
it will be useful to listen to the narrative of the con-
temporary writer-and in his own words. "He was
loved by his father and mother, and even by the
people generally, above all his brothers, and was
educated altogether at the court of the king. As he
advanced through the years of infancy and youth, his
form appeared more comely than that of his brothers;
in look, in speech, and in manners, he was more
graceful than they. His noble nature implanted in
G
82
times of alfred thE GREAT. [CH. VIII.
LIFE LifÈ and AND
him from his cradle a love of wisdom above all things,
but--with shame be it spoken-by the unworthy
neglect of his parents and nurses, he remained illi-
terate even till he was twelve years old or more; but
he listened with serious attention to the Saxon poems
which he often heard recited, and easily retained them
in his docile memory. He was a zealous follower of
the chase in all its branches, and hunted with great
assiduity and success; for skill and good fortune in
this art, as in all others, are among the gifts of God,
as we have often also witnessed.
(C
own.'
Now, on a certain day, his mother was shewing him
and his brothers a Saxon book of poetry, which she
held in her hand, and said, 'Whichever of you shall
the soonest learn this volume, shall have it for his
Stimulated by these words, or rather by the
Divine inspiration, and allured by the beautifully illu-
minated letter at the beginning of the volume, Alfred
spoke before all his brothers, who, though his seniors
in age, were not so in grace, and answered, Will
you really give that book to one of us, that is to say,
to him who can first understand and repeat it to you?'
At this his mother smiled with satisfaction, and con-
firmed what she had before said: upon which the boy
took the book out of her hand, and went to his master
and read it to him, and in due time brought it to his
mother, and recited it "."
If we subject this story to the severe test which
criticism and chronology supply, we shall find it in-
volved in many difficulties; but the operation is neces-
sary for the cause of truth; and happily the conclusion,
to which the argument leads us, will re-unite the
Asser gives this account retrospectively under the year 864.
A. D. 861.]
83
OSBURGA-JUDITH.
connection that has been severed between Osburga
and her child between the greatest of English kings
and that fond mother, to whom he owed the real
virtues of his shining character. It will, then, bè
remarked, in the narrative which has been just recited,
that Alfred's education did not commence until he was
twelve years old or more; i. e. in the year 861, for
he was born in 849, as all our historians agree. It is
unimportant to our argument, whether he then began
first to read, or whether, having already acquired the
art of reading, he then learnt by heart the book which
his mother gave him. If the latter be the true state-
ment of the case, he must have been still older, and the
same observations apply with greater force. In the year
861, his father Ethelwolf had been dead five years;
his eldest brother Ethelbald had succeeded to the
throne, married his step-mother Judith, and after a
reign of between two and three years, had also descended
to the grave. In his stead was reigning Ethelbert,
the second brother, who, having already been king of
Kent, must have arrived at man's estate, and conse-
quently could not have been one of the children to
whom the queen displayed the Book of Poems which
caught the attention of Alfred. It is clear, therefore,
that Ethelred and Alfred only could have been residing
under the mother's care, when the little incident took
place in Alfred's life, which has attracted the notice of
all his biographers. But who was the mother that, in
a dark age, directed the minds of her children to the
only means by which they could emerge into a light
that should benefit themselves, their country, and the
world? It could not be Judith, for that princess, still
little more than seventeen years of age, retired in 861
to the court of her father the king of France, where she
G 2
84
life and times of alfred the GREAT. [CH. VIII.
soon after married Baldwin the First, surnamed Bras
de Fer, count of Flanders. The preceptress of Alfred
must, therefore, have been his own mother Osburga,
of whose previous death we have no record, and who
probably was living, like the empress Josephine, in
retirement, but engaged in training the mind of her
youngest child for the high duties which he was after-
wards to fulfil. We are justified, then, in forming for
ourselves a picture of domestic happiness under the
roof of queen Osburga, which will augment rather than
satisfy our desire to know more of the youthful years of
Alfred, and enhance the interest which every English-
man should take in his history.
The subject of Alfred's early education is of so
much importance to a correct view of his life and
character, that it is dangerous to indulge in specula-
tion, unsupported by the few records which the nar-
rative of his contemporary biographer supplies. After
the incident of the book, which seems to have first
given him a taste for study, "he learned," as his
biographer tells us, "the daily course, that is, the
celebration of the Hours; and afterwards certain
psalms and prayers, contained in a book, which he
kept day and night in his bosom, as we ourselves have
seen, and carried about with him to assist his prayers,
-
In my translation of Asser's Life of Alfred, page 51 of " Six
old Chronicles," pub. in Bohn's Antiquarian Library, I have added
a note, that Judith must have been meant, not Osburga, who was
dead. When that note was written, I took it for granted that the
usually received opinion was correct; but I have since examined for
myself, and have no hesitation in retracting the note as inaccurate.
• The Services of the Church, which belonged to the different
divisions of the day and night, were called “ HORE," Hours: thus
there were "Horæ beatæ Virginis Mariæ," "Hours of the Blessed
Virgin," &c.
A. D. 861.]
ARTS AND SCIENCES IN LATIN.
85
f
amid all the bustle and business of this present life.
But, sad to say, he could not gratify his most ardent
wish to learn the liberal arts, because, as he remarked,
there were no good readers at that time in all the
kingdom of the West-Saxons." By the liberal arts
were implied Grammar, Music, Geometry, and the
other Sciences, which were at that time to be learnt
through the medium of the Latin tongue only; for by
the universal sovereignty of Rome, the vernacular
languages of the conquered nations, however they
may have retained their place as the idiom of the
people at large, were in every case superseded by the
Latin as the language of the Court, and of Polite
Literature. Afterwards, also, when the whole of
Europe was ruled no longer by the sword of the
baron, but by the crozier of the bishop, the same
slavery of the mind was continued; nor, after the lapse
of so many centuries, has it entirely been removed, in
any country of the civilized world. The Anglo-Saxons,
even in the age of Alfred, and indeed earlier, as might
be easily shewn, if this were the place for the discus-
sion, speedily began to emancipate themselves from
the trammels of a foreign language, and they aspired,
as the numerous Manuscripts still existing fully prove,
to the honours of a national literature, in their own
dialect, and consequently accessible to all. But learn-
ing, like liberty, is a plant of slow growth, and does not
easily become rooted in a new soil: and by the storms
which assailed the young shoot, in the age of Dunstan,
and afterwards at the time of the Norman conquest,
the Anglo-Saxon literature was stifled even before it
' LECTORES, literally readers, probably in this passage designates
teachers, professors, or, as they would have been afterwards termed,
and are still called, at our Universities, Prælectores.
86
LIFE AND TIMES OF ALFRED THE GREAT. [CH. VIII.
had time to acquire maturity. But, when Alfred
began first to turn his thoughts towards learning, the
level even of Latin literature was so low, that the young
prince hardly knew where to find a teacher in all his
brother's dominions. The first impulse, which had been
given to Latin literature among the Anglo-Saxons by
the arrival of Archbishop Theodore, Abbat Hadrian, and
the scholars who accompanied them in the seventh cen-
tury, had been of short duration in proportion to the
rapidity of its growth. The most celebrated scholar,
who sprung from the seed thus planted in England,
was the Venerable Bede; whose works comprehend
almost every branch of the learning of his time. But
that which is confined to the cloister never can be
popular, nor can those writings which are consigned to
the keeping of a foreign tongue, ever be understood
by the great mass of the people. We have therefore
no proof that the school of Theodore produced any
sensible effect, such as a vernacular literature always
produces, in softening the manners or even in enlarging
the comprehension of those whom he came to enlighten.
In the next generation, learning fled from Britain as
rapidly as she had come. The court of Charlemagne
was now her favoured resting-place. Thither resorted
Alcuin and Dungal, the former from England, the
latter out of Scotland or Ireland, Fridugisus, and a
host of ecclesiastics, whilst our own island for many
years produced nothing but a tame retinue of monks,
whose missals, penitentials, and rituals of every kind,
still remain to convince us how unproductive was a soil
which had given promise to become so fruitful.
At a later period of Alfred's life, when the cares and
responsibilities of sovereignty, cooperating with the
suggestions of his own active and noble intellect, had
A. D. 861.] ALFRED'S PASSION FOR IMPROVEMENT.
87
taught him that which is more valuable than all the
rest, the knowledge of himself and of human things,
"he confessed with sighs and lamentations, that this
was one of the greatest difficulties and impediments of
his life, namely, that when he was young and had the
capacity for learning, he could not find teachers; but,
when he was more advanced in life, he was harassed
by so many diseases unknown to all the physicians of
this island, as well as by the internal and external
anxieties of sovereignty, and by the continual invasions
of the pagans, and had his teachers and writers also so
much disturbed, that there was no time for reading.
But yet, among the impediments of this present life,
from infancy up to the present time [890], and, as I
believe, even until his death, he continued to feel the
same desire of knowledge, and still aspires after itd."
But the passion for improvement, which burnt so ar-
dently in the mind of the young prince, and which will
always be prominent in every noble mind, was not
exempt from the common lot: on the contrary, it was
curbed and repressed by an infliction of Providence
more painful than generally falls to the share of man.
Whilst still a boy, he was seized with a severe com-
plaint, which harassed him for many years. The nature
and origin of this malady are unknown to us; but his
d ASSER. The last sentence of this quotation is a perfect specimen
of the clumsy and inartificial style of the Latin Chroniclers. If
Asser wrote this paragraph whilst Alfred still lived, how could he
say that Alfred, even until his death, felt the same desire, &c. &c. ?
If, however, Alfred was dead, how could the writer add the words,
"and still aspires after it ?" We must suppose him to mean, "to the
time of my writing, he still aspires to the desire of knowledge, and,
as I believe, will continue to do so, even until his death."
• The Latin name of it is 'ficus,' a kind of fistula,' or ' piles.'
88
LIFE AND TIMES OF ALFRED THE GREAT. [CH. VIII.
contemporaries, in the spirit of the age, ascribed it,
some to the Divine interposition, and others to the
agency
of the Devil. His biographer Asser has given
us the following account of it:
"In the flower of his youth, before he entered the
marriage-state, he wished to strengthen his mind in the
observance of God's commandments, for he perceived
that he could with difficulty abstain from gratifying his
carnal desires; and because he feared the anger of
God, if he should do any thing contrary to his will, he
used often to rise in the morning at the time of cock-
crowing, and go to pray in the Churches and at the
relics of the saints. There he prostrated himself on
the ground, and prayed that God in his mercy would
strengthen his mind still more in his service by some
infirmity such as he might bear, but not such as would
render him imbecile and contemptible in his worldly
duties; and when he had often prayed with much
devotion to this effect, after an interval of some time,
Providence vouchsafed to afflict him with the above-
named disease, which he bore long and painfully for
many years, and even despaired altogether of life, until
he at last got rid of it by his prayers." That the
disease which afflicted Alfred, either came or went by
a peculiar Providence, can no longer be admitted as a
subject even of speculation, but it shews the character
of the times, and is a valuable proof both of the
estimate formed of the piety of the young prince, and
of the interest which he possessed in the hearts of the
people, extending even to the affairs of his person and
private life. Another legend-for it rests on equal
improbability-informs us, that he was cured of his
infirmity, by Modwen, a female saint in Ireland, whose
A. D. 861.]
89
ALFRED FOLLOWS THE CHASE.
1
virtues at this time excited the wonder of the world,
and augmented the wealth and influence of the Church".
But it is scarcely doubtful that Alfred was never in
Ireland: we read of no such connection between the
sister islands in his time, as had existed in a previous
generation. If Ireland ever was distinguished for
learning in very early times, it had again become
unknown to the rest of the world, until it was annexed
to the English crown by Henry II, and certainly
furnished no temptation to the royal family of Ethel-
wolf to visit it for any purpose of either religion,
learning, or science.
Whilst, then, the mind of the young Alfred was
grasping at every available source of information, the
culture of his body by such exercises as were then
usual among his countrymen was not neglected. In
all nations, the chase has been looked upon as a
miniature representation of the art of war, for which it
is in fact a salutary mode of preparation. In its early
state, the military art could hardly be acquired with-
out the practical lessons which hunting affords the
evolutions of the field, which in modern times may be
partly learnt on paper, by the rules of the Geometric
art, could then only be acquired by actual experience
and much personal fatigue in the plains and in the
forest. That Alfred was not backward to learn the
first principles of so necessary an art, is evident from
all the history of his life. When he afterwards led the
Anglo-Saxon spearmen to battle, he was foremost in
exposing himself to danger, which in fact was familiar
to him under all its forms. As a youth he had led
the chase through the wilds of Selwood forest, in the
" Higden's Polychronicon in Gale and Fell, vol. iii. p. 256. Hist.
aur. Joan. Tinmuth MS. in the Bodl. Library.
90
LIFE AND TIMES OF ALFRED THE GREAT. [CH. VIII.
woods of Gloucestershire, of Kent, and of Sussex, and
had even passed the border of Cornwall, a country still
inhabited by the Britons, where perhaps the wild beasts
which he ardently followed, were not the only enemies
that he had to fear. It was, perhaps, in an excursion of
this kind¹ that he came to a church, near Liskeard, where
reposed the body of a holy man, St. Guerir, and where,
as tradition informs us, another holy man, St. Neot,
Alfred's own friend and adviser, afterwards was buried.
The prince dismounted from his horse, and entering
the house of prayer, threw himself prostrate before the
altar, and entreated of God's mercy, that he would
exchange the malady with which, at his own request,
he had so long been afflicted, for some lighter disease,
but still with the same condition annexed to it, that
such disease should not shew itself outwardly in his
body, lest he should be an object of contempt, and so
be the less able to benefit mankind; "for," says
the
Chronicler, "he had great dread of leprosy or blind-
ness, or any such complaint, as makes useless or con-
temptible those whom it afflicts. When he had
finished his prayers, he proceeded on his journey, and
not long after he felt within him that by the hand of
the Almighty he was healed according to his request
of his disorder, and that it was entirely eradicated."
.
We must now resume the thread of our narrative
at the point from which we digressed, in 866, when
Ethelred, surnamed the First, ascended the throne,
after the death of his brothers, Ethelbald and Ethel-
bert.
A
iSo, at least, Asser represents it, and is quoted by Turner, in his
Hist. of Anglo-Saxons, 6th edit. vol. ii. p. 503.
慘
​CHAP. IX.
ACCESSION OF ETHELRED IN 866-THE DANISH CHIEFTAINS, HINGUAR
AND HUBBA, INVADE EAST-ANGLIA AND NORTHUMBERLAND-THEY
TAKE YORK ON MARCH 1, 867-OSBERT AND ELLA ARE SLAIN IN
APRIL, 867-DEATH OF ALSTAN, BISHOP OF SALISBURY-THE DANES
INVADE MERCIA, AND TAKE NOTTINGHAM IN 868-BURRHED, KING
OF MERCIA, SENDS TO ETHELRED FOR ASSISTANCE-ALFRED'S MAR-
RIAGE WITH ELSWITHA—THE DANES RETURN TO YORK—THEIR
RAVAGES IN THE ADJACENT COUNTRY, PARTICULARLY AT THE
MONASTERIES OF BARDNEY, CROYLAND, PETERBOROUGH, AND ELY.
WHEN the third of Ethelwolf's children succeceded
to the inheritance of his family, the assaults of the
Danish invaders became more alarming, both for their
number and their magnitude. Of the causes which
have been adduced by the Chroniclers for this fact, we
have taken notice in a preceding chapter: all of them,
it must be admitted, are of a romantic character, and
would hardly be received as rational causes for such
important events, if they were to occur in an age so
practical as that in which we now live; but, as in visual
objects,
'Tis distance lends enchantment to the view,
And clothes the mountain in its azure hue,
so must we take the legends of antiquity as resting on
a groundwork of truth, though not wholly to be
received in all the colouring and imagery which time
has thrown around them. It is also worthy of remark,
that, as the smallest ripple in the water produces an
effect that is felt to a great distance, so kindred events,
92
LIFE AND TIMES OF ALFRED THE GREAT. [CH. IX.
proceeding probably from some chain of causation
still unknown to us, will often arise, and, floating
together down the tide of human things, cause sensible
changes in the fate of nations or on the surface of the
material world. The same causes which dispersed the
sea-kings with their crews of desperate followers over
the seas of the north, produced, no doubt, many
romantic adventures, worthy to be commemorated in
the popular ballads and songs of the time. It would
be too daring to question the existence of Regner
Lodbroc, or to deny that he carried the enterprises,
for which his countrymen had long been famous, to
a greater extent than had ever been done before.
}
It has been truly remarked, that some private
motives, such as the. legends before mentioned will
furnish, probably at this time influenced the Danish
leaders to renew their aggressions against the English
coasts on a much more extended scale. And this
motive could hardly have been furnished by their
entertaining a low estimate of the courage or abilities
of the new king. Ethelred was, certainly, in little or
nothing inferior to his two brothers who had gone.
before him; his reign of five years, from A.D. 866
to 871, was a succession of battles, in which he was
sometimes defeated, sometimes victorious, against
armies more numerous and ferocious than any which
had before appeared in England. In all these en-
counters, however, he displayed great personal valour;
and was ably seconded by his younger brother Alfred,
who now first bore arms against the invaders of his
country, and began now to shew, in the school of
adversity, that combined spirit of valour and patient
endurance, which enabled him at last to raise his
country from the ruin and desolation in which all the
A. D. 861.]
INVASION OF HINGUAR AND HUBBA.
93
rest of northern Europe was plunged. The series of
battles which are almost the only memorials of Ethel-
red's reign, cannot be thought unworthy of minute
attention, if they place before us in a stronger light
the calamitous state to which our country was reduced,
when Alfred was left alone, at his brother's death, to
vindicate, not the liberty of his countrymen, but the
very existence of the Anglo-Saxon name.
The new king was hardly seated on the throne, when
a large fleet of the Northmen approached the eastern
coasts of England, and entering the Wash, landed a
large army of warriors, commanded by Hinguar and
Hubba, sons of Regner Lodbroc, who had been put to
death. The large force, which their chieftains now
led to avenge their father's death, has been described by
modern writers' as collected out of every country of the
North, and burning to avenge the death of their kins-
men: but it is not equally clear in what part of the
island they first landed. Whilst the six earlier Chro-
nicles describe their descent in East-Anglia-where
king Edmund was now in the twelfth year of his reign—
the truce which they observed with the natives for a
year, on condition of being supplied with horses, and
Saxon Ch. Ass. Ethel. &c. &c. Some of these writers mention
Hinguar only as commanding the Danish fleet, others of them,
especially the Saxon Chronicle, do not mention the names of the
leaders.
b
"Jutes, Swedes, Norwegians, Danes, Russians, and others; all
the fury and all the valour of the North assembled for the expedition,
while none of the Anglo-Saxon kings even suspected the preparations."
TURNER, Hist. of the Anglo-Saxons, vol. i. p. 506.
"The use that the Germans made of their horse was much like
that the Britons did of their little chariots the Essedæ, by their
speed to get advantages, and to give sudden and unexpected assaults,
of which when once they found the opportunity, then quitting their
94
LIFE AND TIMES OF ALFRED THE GREAT. [CH. IX.
their subsequent march, in 867, to York, Brompton,
the historian of Jorvaulx, tells us, that the army first
landed on the south-eastern promontory of Northum-
berland, and, marching through the district of Holder-
ness, seized on the city of York, from which Hinguar,
one of the brothers, was dispatched with a separate
detachment to invade East-Anglia, and take vengeance
on Edmund its king.
When we consider the proximity of the North-
umbrian kingdom to Norfolk, which was the northern
part of East-Anglia, we can hardly fail to observe, that
so large a fleet would in all probability fill the narrow
seas into which they were crowded, and that descents
would take place on many points of the coast, as the
horse and casting themselves into the order of a foot-army, (which
they ever preferred to try their fortune, in committing their safety
rather to their own manhood, than the casualty of their horse,) they
so (as Cæsar speaketh) attained a great difficulty, to have at once
both the speed of horsemen and the stability of a foot-army. And
this kind of mixed practice aptly served the turn of these rovers: for
their war being mostly inroads, foraging, and spoil, subject to skir-
mishes and unexpected præliations, this changeable service was agreeable
to their uncertain occasions. But, for service on horseback, it had
been impossible for the champion and coasterly parts of the kingdom
(where they landed) to furnish such numbers of them with horses, for
strength and manage, fitting for the occasions of the field: neither
had these kind of people that manner of service in practice. So that,
whereas it often occurs in the stories of these rovers, that they got
horse and became horse-men, we must understand it only for their
speedy transport, and that their service was, like their ancestors, for the
most part ever on foot. The manner is somewhat to this day to be
observed in the German wars in the service of the horse-men called
Dragoons." SPELMAN, Life of Alfred, p. 32.
The county of Lincoln was sometimes part of Northumberland,
and sometimes part of Mercia, to which, I suppose, it at this time
belonged.
A. D. 861.]
95
YORK TAKEN BY THE DANES.
e
fancy or the avarice of the different chieftains might
suggest. Neither is it unlikely that the hostile leaders,
having two injuries to avenge, might be induced, by
confidence in the multitude of their men, to take
hostile occupation, from the first, of both the banks of
the rivers up which they had sailed. It appears, how-
ever, certain, that no further operations were taken for
a year against the East-Anglians, in consequence of
the truce which has been alluded to; and it is probable,
that if any portion of the Danes, according to the
statement of Brompton, landed in the kingdom of
Northumberland, they also suspended operations for
some months. How far this inactivity may have been
occasioned by a wish to deceive the English into
security, or that they might receive further reinforce-
ments from abroad, we are not informed: when, how-
ever, they at length moved from their camp, the whole
force of the invasion was directed against the North-
umbrians, who prepared manfully to defend themselves.
The first measure which was taken, in the general
danger, was to effect a reconciliation between Ella, king
de facto, and Osbert, who had been invited by a portion
of the people to resume the crown which he had lost.
Neither of the rivals was unmindful, in this emergency,
of the duties which they owed to their country. They
ceased to make war upon each other, and turned their
arms in the same direction for the common good.
The city of York, which was not at that time fortified
so strongly as afterwards in the reign of Alfred, had
yielded, on the first of March, 867, to the first attack
Namely, the insult done to the wife of Bruern Brocard, (see
page 73.) and the death of Regner Lodbroc, (p. 78.)
All the Chroniclers agree that the Danes remained inactive twelve
months in East-Anglia.
96
THE LIFE AND TIMES OF ALFRED THE GREAT. [CH. IX.
of the Pagans, and the two Northumbrian kings, uniting
their forces, marched in the beginning of April to
regain it. The Danes fled into the city at their
approach, and prepared to repel the invaders from the
battlements. But the walls were unable to resist the
fierce attack of the English, who broke through the
feeble barrier, and rushed into the city with the
fugitive Danes. This, however, proved their ruin:
the enemy, rallying in the streets, surrounded the
English on all sides, and cut them to pieces without
difficulty: those who were able to escape out of the
town, saved themselves by a hasty and disastrous flight.
In this battle, Osbert and Ella were both slain, and
the whole country fell into the possession of the Danes,
who placed over it one Egbert, bearing the name of
<<
Brompton, however, says, that Osbert only was slain in the battle
at York. Ella," he continues, "had been hunting that day in the
forest, and after the chase was over, was sitting at meat with his
attendants, to whom he observed that they had done well that day,
having taken four deer and six fawns." "It may be so," replied one
of the attendants, "but whilst you have been gaining them here, you
have lost a hundred times their value elsewhere; for the Danes have
taken the city of York, slain Osbert your partner in the kingdom,
and are now advancing into your dominions to attack yourself.”
Ella, hearing this news, summoned his men, and marched to attack
the enemy in York: but the Danes issuing out of that city, attacked
Ella at a place which, in memory of the event, has since been called
Ellescroft, and defeated him, after slaying a large number of his
men. The conclusion of the fortunes of Ella is found in the
Northern historians. He was taken prisoner, and treated by
Hinguar and Hubba with the cruelty which often ended the lives of
their captives. In vengeance for their father Lodbroc's sufferings,
these merciless chieftains cut the back of Ella in two, and dividing
his ribs, threw salt into the opening, to increase the agony of his
death. See Frag. Isl. 2 Lang. 279. Ragnar Saga, ib. The Scalld.
Sigvatr. ib. and Saxo Grammaticus, as quoted by Turner, H. Ang.
Sax. i.
p. 510.
A. D. 868.]
97
THE DANES INVADE MERCIA.
זי
king, but, in reality, as their own tool and vassal. The
real sovereign of Northumberland, from this moment,
was Hinguar the Dane, and the whole country began
more and more to assume the character of a Danish
settlement, for the native Anglo-Saxons, disturbed by
long sedition, and recently humbled by their severe
defeats in war, had no longer the ability, even if they
still had the will, to resist the invaders.
Such was the course of events in the kingdom of
Northumbria, in the year 867; and about the same
time in the south of England, died Alstan, bishop of
Salisbury, formerly one of the chief ministers of
Egbert, in whose reign, as in the reigns of his son and
three grandsons, he had been most active in repressing
the ravages of the Danes. It was also by his exertions,
principally, that all the Saxon kingdoms in the south
had been brought to acknowledge the supremacy of
the family of Egbert.
In the following year, 868, whilst a portion of the
Danes repaired the breaches in the walls of York,
which they now made their capital, the main body of
their troops invaded the neighbouring kingdom of
Mercia, and marched to Nottingham, which, the
Chroniclers tell us, was called in the British tongue
"Tiggo Cobauc," or the "House of Caves." Here
the Danes took up their residence for the winter. But
immediately on their approach, Burrhed, king of
Mercia, and all the nobles of that nation, sent messen-
gers to Ethelred, king of the West-Saxons, and his
brother Alfred, suppliantly entreating them to come
and aid them in fighting against the enemy'." This
request, sanctioned by the good understanding which
(6
h Matthew of Westminster, Asser.
i Sax. Chron. &c.
H
98
LIFE AND TIMES OF ALFRED THE GREAT. [CH. IX.
had for so many years existed between the two king-
doms of Wessex and Mercia, was also congenial to
the disposition of the West-Saxon brothers, who could
not avoid perceiving the advantage of combining to
crush the common enemy.
common enemy. There was, moreover,
another tie, but lately formed, which bound the two
countries in a bond of friendship and alliance. Os-
burga, probably, like Rachel in Holy Writ, wished
that her son Alfred might take a wife out of her own
country Mercia. Among the noblemen of that pro-
vince was a name-sake of the West-Saxon king,
Ethelred, Alderman of the Gaini, surnamed from
his size "Mickle," or "the Big." The wife of this
Ethelred was Edburga, descended from the Mercian
royal family, and probably a relative of Osburga. But
Edburga, unlike the former queen of that name, who
disgraced her family and rank, was a virtuous, and, in
the language of Asser, who saw her a few years before
her death, “a venerable lady, who survived her
husband, and passed the remainder of her life in
widowhood?" This lady by Ethelred, had a daughter
named Elswitha, whom Alfred now asked and obtained
in marriage. The union was a happy one, as has
been inferred by Turner, from the earnestness with
which Alfred in his translation of Boethius speaks on
the subject of connubial affection".
Obeying the summons of the Mercian king, Ethelred
accompanied by his brother, now in the twentieth year
of his age, marched with all the forces of Wessex to
Nottingham, eager to repulse the enemy. But the
pagans, perceiving the numbers of the English, retired
into the town; and the Christians on their part being
unable to force the strong walls with which Notting-
Turner, Hist. of the Anglo-Saxons, vol. ii. p. 511.
A. D. 869.]
99
EXCESSES OF THE DANES AT YORK.
ham was surrounded, both sides were of necessity
led to make terms. A pacification ensued; the
West-Saxon princes returned with their army into
Wessex, and the Danes, after remaining the rest of
the year at Nottingham, returned, in 869, with a large
booty' to York, which was the centre of all their
operations. Whilst the main body of the army remained
in this city, their marauding troops carried desolation
through the whole neighbourhood, and at the same
time a severe famine, attended by a mortality both of
men and cattle, combined with the atrocities of the
war, rendered the misery of the Northumbrians com-
plete". During the year which the Danes now spent
at York, they indulged in every possible kind of
licentiousness and cruelty, rioting in the blood of men,
women, and children, and making spoil of every thing
which fell into their hands. The atrocities which they
committed, are said to have exceeded the power of
1
¹ Ingulf.
m. Sax. Chron. Asser. &c. "In a charter of Burrhed ap. Ingulf.
that prince expresses his thanks to the bishops, abbats, and other
ecclesiastics, who, waving their exemption from military service
granted them by Ethelwolf, came to his aid on this occasion.
(
6
I gratias exsolvo speciales omni exercitui meo, maxime tamen viris
ecclesiasticis, episcopis et abbatibus aliis etiam inferioris status et
dignitatis, qui, licet piissimæ memoriæ rex quondam Ethelwolfus,
pater meus, per sacratissimam chartam suam, ab omni expeditione
militari vos liberos reddiderit, et ab omni servitio seculari penitus
absolutos; dignissima tamen miseratione super oppressiones Chris-
tianæ plebis, ecclesiarumque ac monasteriorum destructiones luc-
tuosas benignissime compassi, contra nefandissimos paganos in exer-
citum Domini prompti et spontanei convenistis,' &c. This charter is
dated from Nottingham, anno 868, cal. Aug.' Its genuineness is
of course questionable." Thorpe, note to Lappenberg, ii. p. 34.
n Asser.
Crudeliter uno anno permansit. H. HUNT.
H 2
100
LIFE AND TIMES OF ALFRED THE GREAT. [CH. IX.
description: young and old, clergy and laity, monks
and nuns, were all victims of their fury,-the last,
often, with such aggravated circumstances as the nature
of the case will suggest. But, if the worm will turn
upon the heel that crushes it, so also did the purity of
the cloister rebel against the contumelies which they
knew would follow from the unbridled passions of the
Danish robbers. In Coldingham, an abbey in York-
shire, Ebba, the lady abbess, foreseeing, from the
proximity of the enemy, that her own house would
shortly be attacked, and valuing her honour more than
life itself, called the nuns into the Chapter-house,
where she made to them such a touching address,
setting forth the wild passions and cruelty of the
Danes, that they all promised to listen to her words,
and implicitly follow her advice. Upon this the
abbess, seizing a knife, cut off with it her nose and
upper lip, and the whole sisterhood immediately re-
deemed their promise by mutilating themselves in the
same manner. The next day the Danish troops
invaded the monastery, and seeing the horrible spec-
tacle, recoiled from their victims, and gave orders that
the house should be fired. This command was imme-
diately executed, and the abbey was burnt to ashes,
together with the abbess and her nuns, who were
willing to suffer martyrdom for the preservation of that
which was dearer to them than their lives.
Nor did the Danes discharge their fury upon the
monastery of Coldingham alone, but upon all the other
monasteries in the kingdom of Northumberland. It
was not long since they had levelled to the ground the
monastery and Church of Lindisfarne, the abbeys of
Jarrow and Weremouth, together with the famous
nunneries of Streaneshalch, afterwards called Whitby,
A. D. 870.] THE DANES INVADE LINCOLNSHIRE.
101
and Tynemouth; most of these were never afterwards
rebuilt, or, if they were ultimately restored, it was not
until they had for ages presented to the eye a scene of
havoc and of ruins P.
When the winter of 869 was ended, the Danes took
ship and crossed the Humber into Lindsay, one of the
three divisions of the county of Lincoln, and landing
at Humberstan, ravaged the whole country: the ancient
and famous abbey of Bardney was burnt to the ground,
and all the monks, who inhabited it, slain in the
Church without mercy.
The plunderers remained in the neighbourhood
until Michaelmas, burning and ravaging whatever fell
in their way. During the month of September, Algar
the brave, Alderman or Earl of Hoiland, collected all
the youth of his province, and in conjunction with two
knights his seneschals, Wibert and Leofric, whose
lands in those parts were afterwards by the peasants
called Wibberton and Lefrington, in memory of their
brave possessors, took steps to check the progress of
the invaders. They were joined by a brave body of
two hundred men from Croyland abbey, led by one.
Toly, who was at this time a monk, but had formerly
been a soldier of much repute in the Mercian armies.
Three hundred stout and warlike men more came
from Deeping, Langtoft, and Boston, besides Morcar,
Lord of Brunne, with a large and numerous body of
retainers belonging to his own household, and a body of
500 troops headed by Osgot, the brave sheriff of Lincoln-
shire. All these mustered on the festival of St. Mau-
•
P The Saxon Chronicle and other early authorities do not mention
these cruelties of the Danes: the account above given is from
Matthew of Westminster.
9 Or Holland, the district in Lincolnshire so called.
102
LIFE AND TIMES OF ALFRED THE GREAT.
[CH. IX.
rice, [Sept. 22,] and attacking the enemy, defeated
them with the loss of three of their kings and a large
number of common soldiers; and afterwards pursued
them to the camp, where meeting with a resolute
opposition, they withdrew from the fight, the armies
being separated by the approaching darkness. This
victory inspired the English with new courage; but
unfortunately, in the course of the following night, the
chiefs of the enemy, who had divided the country
between them and gone out with their men to pillage,
now all returned to the camp, by which their army
completely outnumbered the Christians. The principal
of these Danish kings were Guthrum and Bagseg,
accompanied by the earls Hinguar and Hubba, and
a large number of soldiers, bringing with them a
multitude of captives and abundance of spoil. When
the English heard of this great accession to the
forces of the enemy, they were struck with alarm,
and most of them took to flight. Some, however, re-
solving to conquer or die, early in the morning heard
divine service and received the sacrament, after which
they marched out to meet the enemy. Earl Algar,
seeing how much his army was diminished in numbers,
made the best disposition of his troops in his power,
appointing Friar Toly with his five hundred men to
head the right wing, and Earl Morcar and the Sheriff
of Lincolnshire, with about five hundred men, to com-
mand the left, whilst he took his own station with his
two Seneschals in the centre, which would enable him
to assist either wing, if necessity should require. The
Danes, who had now buried their three kings at a place
called Laundon, but afterwards Trekyngham, were
exasperated at the loss which they had experienced,
and fully determined to avenge the slain: two of their
A. D. 870.] EARL ALGAR RESISTS THE DANES.
103
A
kings and eight earls marched to attack the English,
whilst the rest guarded the camp and captives. But
the Christians, on account of the smallness of their
number, drawing themselves up into one body, made
with their shields a strong rampart, called by the
ancients a testudo, against the arrows of the enemy,
whilst they kept off the cavalry with their pikes. By
this judicious arrangement they were enabled to keep
their ground the whole day, and night coming on,
they might without difficulty have maintained their
defence, and escaped in safety; for the enemy had shot
their arrows in vain, and their horses were now tired,
and began to flag; yet by their own imprudence they
lost all the advantages which they had gained. For
the Danes, feigning a flight, seemed to quit the field;
which the English no sooner perceived, than they broke
their ranks, in spite of all their commanders could do
or say to prevent them, and rushed forwards to the
pursuit without order, and heedless of their leaders'
commands. The Danes, seizing the opportunity, re-
turned with speed to the attack, and slaughtered them,
as if they had been a flock of sheep. Earl Algar and
Friar Toly, seeing the total defeat of their army,
withdrew with some soldiers to a rising ground, where
they formed themselves into a circle, and for a long
time resisted all the force and insults of the enemy:
and at length, mounting over the dead bodies of the
slain, and resolved to sell their lives as dearly as pos-
sible, they died honourably, covered with a multitude
of wounds. None survived but a few young men of
Sutton and Gedney, who, throwing away their arms,
fled into a neighbouring wood, and by these means
escaping from the battle, came the night following to
Croyland abbey, where they related the defeat of the
104
LIFE AND TIMES OF ALFRED THE GREAT.
[CH. IX.
Christians, and slaughter of all their men. This intel-
ligence caused the greatest lamentation and fear: the
abbat and monks, confounded at the news, resolved to
keep with them only the elder monks and some small
children, whose infirmity of age might tempt the enemy
to shew mercy, and sent away all the younger brethren,
together with the body of St. Guthlac, and the other
relics, jewels, and charters, of the kings Ethelbald
and Oslaf, belonging to the monastery, by water.
Among their treasures was a large silver table, the
gift of king Wiglaf, which they threw together with
ten chalices and other vessels into the fountain of the
cloister, but the length of the table was so great, that,
do what they would, one end of it always appeared
above the water; and the monks seeing by the fires
that the enemy were near at hand, were obliged to
leave the table with the abbat, and proceed in their
boat with the rest of the property, which they had
secured, to the wood of Ankaring, in the neighbour-
hood of the island on which Croyland abbey was built.
Here they remained four days with some hermits, one
of whom was named Toret, being in number forty
persons, ten of whom were priests, and thirty lay-
brethren. Meanwhile the abbat, whose name was
Theodore, assisted by two monks, conveyed the silver
table out of the Church towards the north, and buried
it so carefully, that it never afterwards could be found.
They then clothed themselves in their vestments, and,
entering the choir, chanted the services of the Hours,
and went through all the Psalms of David; after
which the abbat himself said the High Mass, attended
by Elfget the deacon, Savin the subdeacon, and two
boys, Egelred and Ulric, who carried the tapers.
When the Mass was finished, and the abbat and his
A. D. 870.] CROYLAND AND PETERBOROUGH SACked.
105
7
attendants had communicated, the Danes burst into
the Church, and their ferocious leader Osketyl with
his own hand slew the venerable abbat upon the altar;
his followers assaulted the rest of the brethren, who
endeavoured in vain to escape out of the Church, but
they were seized by their fierce assailants, and put to
the torture, that they might be forced to reveal where
their treasures were concealed. Asker the prior was
examined in the vestry, and Lethwin the subprior in
the refectory. The last was accompanied by a beautiful
boy named Turgar, only ten years old, who, seeing his
patron about to be put to death, entreated that he
might be allowed to perish with him. But earl Sidroc
the younger, taking compassion on the child, stripped
off his cowl and monastic dress, and putting on him
a Danish cloak, told him to keep near himself. In
this manner that boy alone was saved, out of all the
brethren, and as long as the Danes remained in the
monastery, he had free leave to come in and go out
without opposition on the part of any of them. All
the monks were slain by their tormentors, who, in
search of such treasures as they supposed were still
concealed, broke into the tombs and monuments of the
abbats and saints who had been buried in that monas-
tery, and, disappointed in their expectations, collected
the bodies into a heap, and burnt them with the
monastery and all it contained to ashes. This took
place on the 25th of September, which was the third
day after they came to the abbey.
The next morning the Danes, with an immense
quantity of booty, marched to Peterborough, then called
Medeshamsted, where finding the gates barred, and all
the people of the neighbouring country assembled to
defend the Church, they assailed the walls on all sides
106
LIFE AND TIMES OF ALFRED THE GREAT.
[CH. IX.
with their engines. At the second assault a breach
was effected, and the barbarians rushed into the abbey;
Lubba, a Dane, and brother to earl Hubba, was struck
down with a stone in the gateway, and carried back
almost dead by his companions into Hubba's tent.
The earl, enraged beyond measure at this event, put to
death with his own hand every one he met with wearing
the monastic dress: his example was implicitly followed
by his companions, who shewed no mercy to their
opponents. The venerable abbat Edda and all his
monks were slain: not one of them escaped alive, and
Sidroc even thought it necessary to caution the boy
Turgar, whom he had saved at Croyland, not to throw
himself in Hubba's way, until his wrath had in some
measure subsided. The altars in every part of the
Church were thrown down, the monuments broken, and
all the books and charters in the library were burnt;
the relics of the saints were trodden under foot, and
the monastery with its beautiful buildings reduced to a
heap of ashes, which still smouldered a fortnight after
the fire was first kindled!
From Peterborough the plunderers marched to
Huntingdon, carrying with them the plunder which
they had gathered. On their way they came to the
river Nene, which the main body passed in safety; but
as the two Sidrocs, who commanded the rear-guard,
were crossing it, two of the waggons, loaded with booty
of inestimable value, fell off the stone-bridge into the
water, and were lost. Whilst the servants of the
younger Sidroc were doing their utmost to draw out
the waggons, and to save the property contained in
them, the boy Turgar escaped into a wood which was
close at hand, and reached Croyland early the next
morning. Here he found the monks, who had retired
A. D. 870.] CROYLAND ABBEY SLOWLY REBUILT.
107
to Ancaring, when the Danes first approached, endea-
vouring by every means in their power to extinguish
the flames, which were still preying on the monastery.
They were delighted to see the boy safe and sound;
but, when he told them how the abbat and monks had
been murdered, and pointed out where their bodies
were still lying, the tombs and monuments broken, and
the holy volumes and bodies of the saints consumed
together by the flames, they were overwhelmed with
grief, and made the blackened walls echo with their
lamentations. They repaired the buildings of the
monastery by slow degrees, and consigned to Christian
burial such bodies as could be discovered, but half a
year or more elapsed before some of the corpses could
be found. Herbert and Paulinus, two old monks,
who had had their hands lopped off in the choir,
besides suffering other severe bodily tortures, were
now found lying dead in the Chapter-house. Grim-
ketyl and Agamund, two monks who were more than a
hundred
years of
age, had been slain in the Cloister,
and their corpses were now found in the Locutory or
Parlour. The boy Thurgar, who had witnessed the
whole murderous scene with his own eyes, told them
the history of each as the bodies were successively
drawn forth from the rubbish. But we must leave the
monks at Peterborough to repair their ruins', and
follow the authors of the deed, who still pursued without
tiring their course of blood and havoc.
This account of the ruinous march of the Danes from York is
given almost in the very words of Ingulf, the historian of Croyland
abbey. Matthew of Westminster says, that the abbeys of Thorney
and Ramesey were destroyed at the same time. The account given
in the Peterborough Chronicle is copied from Ingulf; its text is more
correct in many respects than that of either Gale or Savile.
108
LIFE AND TIMES OF ALFRED THE GREAT.
[CH. IX.
The Danish marauders proceeded from Huntingdon
towards the East, devastating the country as they went.
Entering Cambridgeshire, they came to Ely, and
destroyed its famous monastery, putting to death both
men and women, monks and nuns, without mercy, and
setting fire to the buildings after they had secured the
plunder. They were now on the borders of East
Anglia, whose sovereign Edmund, absorbed in his
care for the interests of religion, seems to have taken
no steps to provide against the storm which was
approaching.
Concerning the invasion and conquest of East
Anglia, the Chronicles in general give us but slender
notices; and their brevity has been hardly compen-
sated by the loquacity of the monks, who invariably
indulge in details, whenever their own order is more
than usually concerned in the events which they nar-
rate. From the six earlier Chronicles we learn, that
the army of the Danes, considerably increased in num-
bers by the arrival of reinforcements, entered East
Anglia, and fought a bloody battle with the inhabitants
at Thetford, the English were defeated, and their king,
Edmund, fell into the hands of the Danes, who tied
him to a tree, and shot him to death with their arrows.
This narrative, in the pages of Matthew of Westmin-
ster, is expanded into the following legend, in con-
tinuation of the account of Berne the huntsman, as
related in a preceding page of this work:
"The sons of Regner Lodbroc took with them
• Simeon alone of the six states this.
• The same account, at least in substance, is given by the earlier
Chronicler John Brompton, but it is not so full as Matthew of
Westminster's. Ingulf says, that earl Wolfketul commanded the
East Anglians at the battle of Thetford.
A. D. 870.] THE DANES INVADE EAST ANGLIA.
109
1
Berne the huntsman, to guide them in their voyage.
Assembling an army of twenty thousand men, they took
ship, and sailed towards East Anglia, to take vengeance
on king Edmund for their father's death; but they were
driven out of their course by contrary winds, and
landed at Berwick on the Tweed in Scotland, where
they began to ravage the country, and carrying death
and desolation with them, they at length entered the
kingdom of East Anglia.
"Here they made an encampment at the village of
Thetford, and put to death all they found there, whether
men or women. At length the wicked tyrant Hinguar,
when he had glutted his rage with the blood of his
victims, called into his presence some of his captives,
whose meanness of condition saved them from the
sword, and asked them where their king Edmund was
then residing. For he had heard by the mouth of
fame that Edmund was a brave and warlike king, and
that in stature and beauty of person no one could com-
pare with him. For this reason he took care to destroy
all the English he met with, that he might put it out
of their king's power to collect a large army for the
defence of his country. By these enquiries, that
wicked robber learnt that the glorious king Edmund-
soon to be a martyr-was residing at that time in a
royal village named Heglesdune, near to a wood bear-
ing the same name. Whereupon he privately sum-
moned one of his soldiers, and commissioned him to
go to king Edmund, and demand of him that he should
divide between them his treasures and hereditary wealth,
and retain the kingdom in vassalage to Hinguar. But
in making this demand for money, the Danish chieftain
acted a deceitful part, for it was the blood of the gentle
king and not his money that he coveted. The soldier
110
LIFE AND TIMES OF ALFRED THE GREAT. :
[CH. IX.
6
<
hastened to king Edmund, and coming into his pre-
sence, addressed him in these words: The dreadful
Hinguar, my master, and the invincible king of the
Danes, has come to winter in this country. If you
despise his power, you will be accounted unworthy to
rule, or even to live"! Then the messenger delivered
to the king the whole commission with which he was
charged, and the pious king Edmund, groaning in
spirit, and considering what answer he should make,
summoned to him Humbert, bishop of Helmham, and
thus addressed him: Humbert, servant of the living
God, and half of my own life, behold the hostile
barbarians are at hand, and they will soon destroy all
that remains to us of our dear country, so that it shall
be blotted out of the memory of those who come after
us. Alas, I would that by my own death, the people who
are under my charge might live! For the love of a
temporal kingdom, or the emoluments of this present
life, shall never induce me to submit to a heathen
tyrant, when I have it in my power, by dying in arms
for my people and my country, to become the standard-
bearer of the Eternal King.' To whom the Bishop
replied: Beloved king, whom do you hope to save
out of the ruin of your country, unless you take the
precaution to flee immediately? for these wicked
traitors will soon be here, and they will endeavour to
11
"Abbo Floriacensis, who lived in the tenth century, and wrote the
Life and Passion of St. Edmund, adds the following to the speech
of Hinguar's messenger: Who are you that you should insolently
dare to resist our power? The storm which roars over the ocean
bends in submission to our oars, nor deters us from putting in force
our enterprises. Neither the loud roar of the thunder, nor the light-
ning which darts across the sky, has ever injured us. Submit then
with all your people to a master, whom even the elements obey."
A. D. 870.]
EDMUND KING OF EAST ANGLIA.
111
î
<
<
destroy you and your people out of the land of the
living.' 'This,' replied the gentle king, is what I
desire above all things, that I may not survive my
faithful people and dear friends, whom the bloody
pirate has treacherously destroyed. Your suggestion
casts a stain upon my reputation in arms, which has
hitherto been free from censure. The King of Heaven
is my witness, that no fear of the barbarians shall
separate me, alive or dead, from the love of Christ.'
Then turning to the Danish messenger, You,' said
he, deserve death, because you are stained with the
blood of my subjects: but I, in imitation of my Master
Christ, do not fear to die for Him, if the occasion shall
require. Return, therefore, at once to your master,
and deliver to him my answer. The treasures, which
the Divine clemency have given me, may be spoiled
by the hand of power, but you shall never compel me
to bow beneath your infidelity. It is honourable to
defend to the last our liberties and the purity of our
faith, nor shall I, if required, decline to die in their
behalf. Persevere, therefore, in your barbarity, and
slay the king, whose subjects you have already put to
death; but the King of kings is looking down upon us,
and He will transport me after death to reign with Him
for ever in heaven.'
C
The barbarian messenger departed, and king
Edmund summoned his soldiers to arms, exhorting
them to die bravely for their religion and their country,
and not to desert their standards, or to betray the
common cause. At the instance, therefore, of bishop
Humbert, the nobles, and his fellow-soldiers, the
blessed king Edmund marched forth bravely, with all
the troops he could muster, against the enemy; and
coming up with them not far from the city of Thetford,
112
LIFE AND TIMES OF ALFRED THE GREAT. [CH. IX.
fought with them a severe battle, in which numbers on
both sides were slain. For when the fight had lasted
from the morning until the evening, and the field was
deluged with the blood of the slain, the pious king
Edmund not only grieved for the slaughter of his
fellow-soldiers who were contending for their country
and the faith of Jesus Christ, who, he was well aware,
would receive the crown of martyrdom, but bitterly
lamented also the deaths of the foreign infidels, who
were hurried down suddenly to the gulf of hell. The
pagans were the first to retreat from the scene of
slaughter, and the sainted confessor of Christ, king
Edmund, set out, accompanied by those of his fellow-
soldiers who survived, to the royal town of Heglesdon,
and came to a fixed determination in his own mind
never again to fight against the barbarians; for he
said that it would be necessary for him alone to die for
his people, and not for the whole nation utterly to be
destroyed.
"While Hingvar was grieving over the slaughter
caused amongst his followers at Thetford, his brother
Hubba, who had ravaged the whole of Mercia, came
to him there with ten thousand men, and the two,
uniting their forces to revenge themselves on the
sainted king Edmund, struck their camp, and hastily
marched to the town of Heglesdon, where he then was,
and the tyrant Hingvar at once ordered the king and
his followers to be surrounded, that not one of them
might escape alive. Finding himself thus hemmed in
by the enemy on all sides, St. Edmund, by the advice
of Humbert, bishop of Helmham, fled to the church,
in order to prove himself a member of Christ; and
casting away the armour of this world, he put on that
of heaven, and humbly prayed of the Father, Son, and
A. D. 870.]
LEGEND OF ST. EDmund.
113
Holy Spirit, to grant him firmness in his passion. He
was however cruelly dragged forth by those ministers
of iniquity, bound, and in the same manner as Christ
was led before Pilate the governor, so was Saint
Edmund led before the wicked chief, thus following in
the steps of him who was offered up a victim on our
behalf; and by orders of the chief he was secured to a
tree standing near, and flogged for a length of time,
and subjected to various kinds of derision and mockery.
This invincible champion, however, continued to call on
Christ in mournful accents, which excited his torturers
to madness, and at a given signal they aimed at him
with their bows, piercing his body with arrows and other
missiles, until there was not a vacant part of his body
to admit of a fresh wound being inflicted; for like the
hedgehog which is armed with thick quills in his skin,
so was the body of this invincible king transfixed with
arrows. At length this cruel murderer Hinguar, not
being able to make St. Edmund recede from the faith of
Christ and the confession of the Trinity, or to acquiesce
in his wicked persuasions, gave orders to his execu-
tioner to cut the martyr's head off with his bloody
sword; who accordingly, in the midst of the king's
prayers and invocations of the name of Christ, merci-
lessly severed his head from his body at one blow, on
the twentieth of November, and thus sent him to
heaven, an acceptable burnt-offering, proved by the
fire of suffering, and with the palm of victory and the
crown of justice. Those ministers of the devil then,
leaving the place, carried away the headless body of the
martyr to a wood called Heglesdon, and threw it
amidst the thick brambles; for it was the aim of those
evil ones to prevent the body of the martyr from being
consigned to the tomb in a proper manner with the
I
114
LIFE AND TIMES OF ALFRED THE GREAT,
[CH. X.
head by the Christians, of whom they had left a few
survivors. Those wicked pirates, Hinguar and Hubba,
had also learned, that their father Lodbroc had been
killed in that wood some time before; wherefore also,
by the traitorous suggestion of Berne the huntsman,
and wishing to retaliate upon the blessed martyr
Edmund, they threw his head ignominiously away in
that wood, and there left it to be devoured by the birds
of the air and the beasts of the forest. Together with
this most holy king, died also his inseparable com-
panion, Humbert, bishop of Helmham, who had raised
him to the throne of the kingdom, and who, being
encouraged by the firmness of the invincible king,
became a partaker of the heavenly kingdom together
with him. The Pagans, after having thus sent this
most blessed king to the regions of heaven, passed
the winter in that district amid much boasting and
exultation, driving away the few natives who had
escaped the late slaughter.
"When the brothers Hinguar and Hubba had passed
a great part of the winter, after the martyrdom of the
sainted king Edmund in the country of the East-
Anglians, indulging in rapine and pillage, one of the
most powerful of the Danish kings, named Gytro, came
to spend the rest of the winter with the aforesaid
brothers; and when the spring arrived, all the Pagans
left East-Anglia together. At hearing this, the Chris-
tians rushed forth from their hiding places in all
quarters, and endeavoured to find the head of the
blessed king Edmund, for the purpose of uniting it to
his body, and consigning it entire to the tomb with
royal ceremonies, and whilst all joined in the work with
like eagerness, and were diligently traversing the woods
in search of the martyr's head, an event occurred won-
A. D. 870.]
115
LEGEND OF ST. EDMUND.
derful to relate, and unheard of for many ages; for
when the different parties were scattered in the search
amongst the trees and bushes, and one cried out in
their country's language, 'Where art thou? Where art
thou?' the martyr's head replied in the same language,
'Here! Here!' nor did it cease repeating the cry, till it
had brought all the parties to the place where it lay;
and on their arriving there, they discovered a huge
frightful-looking wolf, who held the sacred head in its
paws, and kept watch over the sainted martyr. The
men then boldly took the head, and after pouring forth
their praises to God, carried it away, followed by the
wolf to the place of burial; they then joined the head
to the body, and placed the two united parts together
in a proper tomb, after which the wolf returned to his
haunts in the forest. At this same place, a small
Church of very poor structure was built by his faithful
followers, where during many years afterwards the holy
body reposed.
(c
This most blessed king and martyr Edmund suffered
in the year of grace 870, in the twenty-ninth year of his
age, and the sixteenth of his reign, on Monday, the
20th of November, the third indiction, and the moon
being twenty-two days old.
"After the lapse of many years, when the flames of
war were altogether extinguished, the piety of the
Christians began to breathe freely, and, when many
miracles had been performed in the place where the
martyr's body reposed, and which is now called Hoxon
by the inhabitants, they built a large church in a royal
x
"16 Kal. Decembris," in the text of M. of Westminster, page
165, is evidently a misprint; for in page 164 we find "12 cal.
Decemb." Florence of Worcester says, " Indictione II, die Dominico,"
which applies to the year 869.
1 2
116
LIFE AND TIMES OF ALFRED THE GREAT.
[CH. IX.
،
town called in the English tongue Bedrigsworth,' or
'Bedrig's Court,' i. e. the dwelling of Bedric',' and
transferred thither the body of the holy martyr with
great rejoicings. Here again a wonderful event oc-
curred; for when all expected, from the length of time
that had elapsed, to find the much-prized body of the
martyr rotten, they found it entire and uninjured; and
not only was the head reunited to the body, but not a
sign of a wound or scar appeared in it. Thus was this
martyr, worthy of God, translated to the aforesaid
place, in appearance like a living man, with the symbol
of martyrdom appearing round his neck like a crimson
thread", as has been generally declared by a certain
woman of blessed memory, named Oswen, who, for
many years, after the tomb of the blessed martyr was
destroyed, employed herself at his holy sepulchre in
prayer and fasting, cutting his hair and paring his
nails at the Lord's Supper, and all these things she
used carefully to collect and place in a jar on the altar
of that Church, where they are preserved with all due
reverence to this very day."
<
y Now called St. Edmundsbury.
The same story is told of Thomas à Becket, and, no doubt, of
many other martyrs.
CHAP. X.
THE DANES ENTER WESSEX, AND FORTIFY A CAMP AT READING-
BATTLE OF ENGLEFIELD GREEN, IN WHICH THE DANES ARE
DEFEATED-BATTLE OF READING, IN WHICH THE ENGLISH ARE
DEFEATED-BATTLE OF ASHDOWN, IN WHICH THE DANES ARE
DEFEATED BATTLE OF BASING, IN WHICH THE ENGLISH ARE
DEFEATED-BATTLE OF MERTON, IN WHICH THE ENGLISH ARE
DEFEATED-DEATH OF KING ETHELRED, APR. 23, A.D. 871.
• G
THE defeat and cruel death of Edmund laid the
kingdom of East Anglia at the feet of the invaders.
Edwold, brother to the murdered king, resigning all
the pleasures of the world and the hopes of succeeding
to a crown, took refuge in Dorsetshire, where he spent
the remainder of his days as a hermit, eating bread
alone, and drinking water from the spring. Mean-
while the country, which his brother had ruled, was
reduced to a Danish province, and received Guthrum,
one of the Danish chiefs, for its king. The terrible
Hinguar returned with his brother Hubba' into North-
• Brompton.
b
Brompton describes Hubba as having been left in Northum-
berland, when his brother Hinguar invaded Mercia: yet he occurs
among the chiefs who assaulted and burnt Peterborough Abbey.
Ethelwerd says, that Ivar, a Danish king, died in 870: [see also
Adam Bremen. lib. i.] Modern writers have supposed Ivar to be the
same as Hinguar; but, according to Regnar Lodbroc's Saga, [Rafu,
Nord. Kæmpe-Hist. Bd. i. p. 147.] Ivar " was his brother: he died
in 872. Inguar appears again in England in 877. . . . According to
Wallingford, (Gale, i. p. 535.) whose authority is of little weight,
118
LIFE AND TIMES OF ALFRED THE GREAT.
[CH. X.
umberland, which also now became a Danish king-
dom under the brothers, though our information is too
limited to enable us to ascertain the mode by which
that extensive province was governed.
It was now the evident purpose of the Danes not to
pillage, but to conquer, and to reduce into perpetual
subjection the several states of England. It must
excite the surprise of the reader, that no combina-
tion was made to resist an enemy, whose success
would be disastrous to all alike. But it is not diffi-
cult to find good reasons why such a combination
was not formed. From the account which Abbo of
Fleury gives of East Anglia in the tenth century,
it appears to have been in fact almost as distinctly
separated from the rest of England, as our island
is at this day separated from France. On the East
and South, it was washed by the German ocean: its
northern frontier was divided from Lincolnshire by
immense marshes, a hundred miles in extent, whilst
on the West it was protected by a mound of great
height and breadth, effectually cutting it off from the
communication which has in later times connected
Norfolk and Suffolk with the rest of the island. North-
umbria, owing to its distant position, was never
brought into close connection with Wessex, whose
kings never interfered in the affairs of so remote a
province. Mercia alone had received effectual succour
Inguar was slain by the Northumbrians. It is remarkable that
Hermann Corner, in his Chronicle, a. 868, has interpolated the
passage, Inguar.... non diu regnavit, quia propter suam
improbitatem a suis interfectus est, non relinquens post se semen."
THORPE'S Lappenberg, vol. ii. p. 40, note.
See the Cotton MS. Tib. B. 2. p. 3. as quoted by Turner,
Hist. of England, vol. ii. p. 521.
C
(<
A. D. 871.]
119
BURRHED SPOILS THE CHURCH.
A.
from Ethelred and Alfred against the Danes, and she
had since suffered the indignity of seeing her provinces
ravaged, her monasteries destroyed, and the neigh-
bouring state of East Anglia conquered: yet no
alliance was made to oppose the formidable foe that
was at hand: on the contrary, king Burrhed, who
had lately been engaged in hostilities with the Britons
on his western frontier, desisting from that war, came
to London, not to defend his own territories from the
Danes, but to spoil the lands of the unhappy monks,
who had lately suffered so grievously from those
marauders we read that he took into his own pos-
session the isle of Ely, with the whole of the lands
between Stamford, Huntingdon, and Wisbeach, belong-
ing to the Church of Peterborough, and distributed
the more remote districts among his soldiers. The
same spoliation was used towards other churches, in
particular the abbey of Croyland, where nothing was
left to the monks but their island, and the marshes in
which it stood. Such were the discords, jealousies,
and want of harmony existing at this time between the
Anglo-Saxon kings; and it is not to be regretted, that
they learnt by the teaching of adversity, how hard a
task it is for a disunited people to retrieve the loss of
its independence, which by unity and patriotism they
might so easily have defended.
Of the Danish chiefs who first conducted this in-
vading army, Guthrum, Hinguar, and Hubba, had now
secured to themselves large possessions in England.
Wessex alone, of the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms, was
free from their ravages, and the remaining Danish
kings, Halfdene and Bagseg, early in the year 871
Peterborough Chronicle and Ingulf.
d
120
LIFE AND TIMES OF ALFRED THE GREAT. [CH. X.
turned their arms against it. Leaving East Angliaº,
they speedily entered Berkshire, and surprised Reading,
which they fortified, constructing a rampart between
the rivers Thames and Kennet. On the third day
after their arrival, leaving part of their number to
carry on this work, the rest of them marched out
under the command of their earls, to plunder. But
Ethelwolf, alderman of Berkshire, who eleven years
before had defeated a party of Danes when they landed
in Sussex', was still at his post in the hour of danger.
Perceiving the number of the enemy, he exhorted his
men to take courage. "The enemy outnumbers us,"
said he, "but let us despise their superiority of number.
We have Christ for our leader, and He is stronger
than they are.
19
These words gave confidence to his soldiers, who
met the enemy at Englefield, and routed them after a
battle, in which many fell on both sides. Among the
slain was Sidroc, one of their earls: the residue of the
Danes saved themselves by flight, and the English
remained masters of the field, an omen of the final
issue of the war, of which this was the commencement,
and which Alfred, after a hundred battles, was destined
to bring to a close, by the total defeat and subjugation
of the invading foe.
Whilst the brave Ethelwolf was vindicating the
honour of his country at Englefield, king Ethelred,
and his brother Alfred, who at the end of 870 had
made a journey to Canterbury to appoint a new arch-
Henry of Huntingdon says, that the Danish army, on leaving
East Anglia, was divided into several bodies in consequence of their
numbers, and marched separately.
'See page 70.
Sax. Ch. Ass. Eth. Flor. Sim. Hunt.
A. D. 871.]
121
BATTLE OF READING.
bishop, and settle the affairs of that Church, were not
remiss in preparing to meet the invaders. Summoned
by the rapid march of the enemy, and their sudden
occupation of Reading, the gallant princes hastened
thither with the men of Wessex, and attacking the
enemy, defeated and cut to pieces all whom they found
outside the fortifications. But the Danes sallying in
numbers from the camp renewed the battle, and after
much fighting, the English retreated, leaving the brave
alderman, Ethelwolf, dead upon the field.
The account of this matter, in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, is as
follows: "The same year died Archbishop Ceolnoth. Then went
Ethelred and Alfred his brother, and took Ethelred, bishop of Wilt-
shire, and appointed him archbishop of Canterbury, because he had
formerly been a monk in the monastery of Canterbury. As soon as
Ethelred arrived and was established in his archbishopric, he began to
consider how he might expel the clerks, whom archbishop Ceolnoth
had placed in that Church. The occasion of their being placed there
was this. The first year of Ceolnoth's prelacy there was so great a
mortality, that of all the monks whom he found there at first, no more
than five survived. For which cause, being unable suddenly to pro-
cure enough monks to perform the service of the Church, he com-
manded his chaplains, and also some priests of the villages which
belonged to himself, to assist the few monks who survived, in discharge
of Christ's service, until God should restore peace to the land. For at
this time the country was distressed by frequent battles, so that the
archbishop could not effect his wishes, for there was warfare and
sorrow all his time throughout England; and the clerks remained
with the monks. But the Church never was without monks, who
always had superiority over the priests. And the archbishop reflected
in his own mind, and also said to those who were near him: "As soon
as God shall give peace in this land, either these priests shall become
monks, or I will find some other monks to place in this Church who
shall be enough to do the whole service themselves: for God knows
that I cannot do otherwise. Neither was his successor Ethelred
able, at this time, to effect the same object.”
i Sax. Ch. Asser, Ethel. Flor. Sim. Hunt.
*
122
LIFE AND TIMES OF ALFRED THE GREAT. [CH. X.
Stung with the feeling of dishonour at this repulse,
the Anglo-Saxon princes in an incredibly short space
of time were again in a condition to take the field.
The Danes had drawn their forces to a place called
Ashdown, so named either from a single tree, or from
a wood of Ash-trees, which stood there on the downs.
On the fourth day after the attack on the Danish camp
at Reading, the English army, commanded by its
princes, was here drawn up in hostile array against
them. The Danish forces were divided into two
bodies, one of which was commanded by the two
kings, Halfdene and Bagseg, the other by the earls
Sidroc, Harald, and the rest. Ethelred, observing
It is by no means agreed, among modern writers, where the site
of the battle is to be placed. Leland [MS. Collect. vol. i. f. 199. a.]
and Whitaker, p. 272, fix it at Aston in Berkshire. Dr. Kennett,
however, [Parochial Antiq. p. 35.] says Ashendon in the forest of
Bernwood, Buckinghamshire. Dr. Talbot seemed to be of opinion,
from some MS. notes preserved in Leland's MSS. Collect.
[vol. iii. f. 194. b.] that Ashdown forest in Sussex was meant.
There is also a place bearing a similar name, Assenton near Henley
in Oxfordshire. Dr. Lingard, [Hist. Eng. vol. i. p. 160.] observes,
"As the Saxon Chronicle says, that it lay in the road from Walling-
ford to Cuckhamsley hill, Gibson was probably right when he fixed
it at Aston." Turner [p. 529.] seems to agree with this view of the
question, adding, however, that Dr. Wise, in his letter to Dr. Mead,
concerning some antiquities in Berkshire, printed 1738, contends,
that the famous white horse on the hill was made to commemorate
this victory. He says, "I take Escesdune to mean that ridge of
hills from Letcombe and thereabouts, going on to Wiltshire, and
overlooking the vale with the town in it. The town formerly called
Ayshesdown, is now called Ashbury; the old name is still preserved
hereabouts, the downs being called by the shepherds, Ashdown; and
about a mile southward from Ashbury, is Ashdown Park." p. 20. I
am inclined to accede to the opinion of Dr. Wise, which is supported
by some interesting topographical remains, for which see Gough's
Camden, vol. i. p. 221. There is also a popular tradition concerning
the battle in the neighbourhood of Ashdown.
A. D. 871.]
123
BATTLE OF ASHDOWN.
this disposition of the enemy, divided his army also
into two bodies, one of which with Alfred at its head
was destined to attack the earls, whilst himself at the
head of the second division should try the chance of
battle against the Danish kings. The engagement
began early in the morning, whilst Ethelred was still
in his tent, hearing mass, for the division which
Alfred commanded, after waiting some time for the
king to join them, at length, provoked by the bravadoes
of the enemy, or fired with ambition to gain the victory
without the assistance of their comrades, advanced
against the foe, and surmounting the inequality of the
ground-for the Danes were posted advantageously on
an eminence-commenced a severe and well-contested
encounter. But the superiority of numbers and the
impediments of the ascent were too great for the young
prince, who perhaps in this single instance, being only
twenty-two years old, may have shewn more valour
than discretion in thus single-handed attacking the
whole force of the enemy. His men began to waver,
and at length retreated: this repulse would have ended
in a total rout, if at this critical juncture the other half
of the army had not come to their succour. It is of
course impossible at this distance of time to explain
why the issue of the battle and the safety of the
kingdom were put into jeopardy by this unwise division
of the English army. All the Chroniclers agree that
Ethelred was resolved not to enter the field until he
had finished his devotions, saying, that while he lived
no worldly occasion should make him forsake the
service of God; but whether this was a device to
inspire a superstitious soldiery with courage, or pro-
ceeded from the pious impulse of his own breast, we
cannot now hope to determine. It may have been
124
LIFE AND TIMES OF ALFRED THE GREAT.
[CH. X.
·
invented afterwards as a palliation for neglect, or to
conceal the real cause of the danger to which one half
of the army had been exposed in the battle. The
timely arrival of Ethelred gave a favourable turn to
the engagement: Alfred's troops rallied, and the
conquest was renewed. "There was," says Asser, "on
the field of battle, a single thorn-tree, of stunted
growth, but we have ourselves never seen it. Around
this tree the opposing armies closed with loud shouts,
the one party pursuing their wicked course, the other
fighting for their lives, their dearest ties, and their
country." When both parties had for a long time
maintained the conflict, the Danes were repulsed: many
of them were slain on the field of battle, and when
evening was closed in, the survivors saved themselves.
by flight'. This was the greatest battle which had yet
been fought in Wessex, and it was attended with severe
loss to the Danes: Bagseg, one of their kings", and
the earls, Sidroc the younger", Osbern, Frena, and
Harold, were among the slain, and Asser, the biogra-
pher of Alfred, who says that he had his account of
Alfred's impetuous charge in this battle from those whọ
were present, tells us also, that many thousands of the
Danes perished, and those who escaped were pursued
1 Saxon Chron. Asser, Ethel. Flor. Sim. Hunt.
Brompton and Matthew of Westminster say, that both the
Danish kings were slain.
"All the six Chroniclers state, that the two Sidrocs were both slain
in this battle, yet the Saxon Chron. and Henry of Huntingdon had
both recorded the death of the elder Sidroc at the battle of Englefield:
the other four Chroniclers do not name the earl who was slain at the
former battle. On the other hand, one MS. of the Anglo-Saxon Chro-
nicle [Cotton, Tib. B. iv.] mentions only Sidroc the younger as slain
in the battle of Ashdown.
m
A. D. 871.]
125
BATTLES OF BASING AND MERTON.
by the victorious English over the whole breadth of
the plains of Ashdown.
From the slender accounts which we find in the
original writers of the transactions of this period, it is
impossible to determine whether the victory at Ash-
down is to be attributed to Alfred or to the king. An
old poet, as Spelman has remarked, “looking nearer
into the deeds of either than we are now able to do,
has ascribed the victory to Alfred;" but, beyond the
success gained on the field of battle, it produced no
important result: fourteen days after, the Danes
again met the English at Basing, and after a long
contest gained the victory, which, however, did
them little good; for the Chronicler Ethelwerd con-
soles his readers for the defeat of the English with
the assurance, that the enemy gained no booty from
their victory. Within two months another battle took
place at Merton'; both sides fought with the utmost
• The lines are these,
Redingum nitidum, texendis nobile pannis.
Hoc docet Alfredi nostri victricia signa,
Bagsegi cædem, calcata cadavera Dani,
Utque superfuso maduerunt sanguine campi.
as found in Gough's Camden, v. i. p. 217. but neither Spelman nor
Camden tell us who is their author.
The locality of this battle is uncertain. According to Dr. Lin-
gard, it is Morton in Berkshire; there being much confusion in
ancient MSS. between the letters e and o. Such appears to be the
opinion of Turner," because the Chronicle of Melrose, 144, places
the battle at Reading; and, according to the map, Morton hundred
joins Reading, and contains both North Merton and South Merton."
Spelman makes it out to be Merden near Devizes in Wiltshire, to
which opinion Hearne adds this note : "Some say Merton in Surrey.
See the account of places at the end of Dr. Gibson's edition of the
Saxon Annals. Others Mertune in Oxfordshire, particularly Dr.
Plot, [Nat. Hist. of Oxfordshire, cap. x. §. 77.] and Dr. Kennett,
126
LIFE AND TIMES OF ALFRED THE GREAT. [CH. X.
bravery, and after a long contest the English were
repulsed, and the Danes remained masters of the
field. Edmund, bishop of Salisbury, was slain in
this battle, and was afterwards buried at Keynsham
in Wiltshire. At this time the army of the Danes
was augmented by a large reinforcement from the
Baltic, and thus became a match for any force that
the English could bring into the field against them.
Another event, also, now happened, which gave the
Danes a still greater advantage over the English.
King Ethelred, having "bravely, honourably, and
with good repute, governed his kingdom five years,
through much tribulation," died on the 23d of April,
A.D. 871, and was buried in Wimbourne Minster ".
[Parochial Antiq. p. 36.] who lay great stress upon a Danish spur
found here, which is now to be seen in the Physic-school at Oxford;
but, since this is but a very indifferent argument, (there having been
several of these spurs found in other places of England,) and since
most of our historians place it in Wilts, I cannot very readily yield
to either, especially the latter of these opinions." p. 43.
1 Sax. Ch. Etheld. Flor. Hunt.
r Sax. Ethel. Huut.
• Ethel.
* Asser omits to notice the battle of Merton, so that the reinforce-
ment falls, according to him, immediately after the battle of Basing.
This has led Lappenberg to place the reinforcement before the battle
of Merton, which is an error.
"Florence alone gives the date of his death: the other Chroniclers
say, after Easter, which in 871 fell on April 15. Hearne in a note to
Spelman, p. 43, says, that Ethelred died at Wittingham, and that
before the civil wars there was at Wimbourne, the place of his burial,
a plate bearing this inscription: "In hoc loco quiescit corpus
Sancti Etheldredi regis West-Saxonum, Martyris, qui anno Domini
DCCCLXXII, xxiii die Aprilis, per manus Danorum paganorum
occubuit."
Modern writers state, that Ethelred died of the wounds which he
had received in the battle of Merton: if there is authority for this in
the original writers, it has escaped all my endeavours to find it.
CHAP. XI.
VIEW OF THE STATE OF ENGLAND AT THE TIME OF ALFRED'S ACCES-
SION IN 871-BATTLE OF WILTON-NINE BATTLES IN THE YEAR
871-IN 872 THE DANES LEAVE WESSEX AND OCCUPY LONDON-IN
873 THEY ENTER LINCOLNSHIRE-IN 874 THEY ENTER MERCIA,
EXPEL BURRHED, AND MAKE CEOLWULF KING-IN 875 THEY FLUNDER
THE NORTHUMBRIANS, THE PICTS, AND THE STRATHCLYDE BRITONS.
IF I had taken in hand to write the life and reign.
of any of our kings who have lived since the full
growth and consistency of the Crown, or since the
general spread of European civilization has supplied
ample materials for the pen of the biographer and the
historian, it would have been only necessary to record
the death of the preceding sovereign, and to proceed at
once to recount the actions of his successorª. The
reader's general knowledge of the history of those times
would have enabled him at once to follow the author
into the very middle of the events which he had under-
taken to relate, without tracing back the slender
thread of a narrative which owes its consistency prin-
cipally to its length. But as it is my object to illus-
trate the life and times of a King who lived a thousand
years ago, long before the present tree of European
civilization had blossomed, when the storm occasioned
by the disruption of the Roman empire was still heaving
and swelling over all the civilized world, and the
These observations are mostly taken from Spelman's Introduction
to his Life of Alfred.
a
128
LIFE AND TIMES OF ALFRED THE GREAT. [CH. XI.
powerful empire to which we belong was not advanced
beyond its embryo state, it was absolutely necessary
to cast our eyes over the condition of the country, as
it existed before the birth of Alfred; and to pass in
review the events, as they are feebly told us by the
Chroniclers, until the time when he succeeded to the
throne, and saved it probably, at a great crisis, from
sinking back into the barbarism, from which it was
slowly emerging. When the course lies over a range
of country so wild and cheerless, and so far out of the
beaten track, the writer as well as the reader must find
advantage in taking notice of the slightest landmark,
to rectify the errors into which they continually will
fall. We may regard the history of those early times
in the same light as we view the huge and disjointed
bones of gigantic monsters, which are occasionally found
buried beneath the surface of the earth. Taken in-
dividually, they tell us no story, and are no more than
misshapen lumps of earth; but when they are brought
together and subjected to the examination which com-
parative anatomy supplies, they come out in a new
light, and overwhelm the imagination by the gigantic
pictures of antiquity which they bring before us.
We must also remember, that in a political point of
view the history of times so remote cannot be fairly
considered, unless we remove from our minds all that
bias which modern manners are calculated to produce.
On this subject, the observations of Sir John Spelman
seem so judicious, that I shall make no apology for
introducing them to the reader's attention.
"We must not expect such a solemn and steady
management of affairs then, as now in a full-grown
`state, furnished with the ministry of all her necessary
members: neither must we attribute so little to the
G
A. D. 871.]
129
STATE OF ENGLAND.
b
person of Alfred, (the prince whose life we here en-
deavour to collect,) as to judge the actions no other-
wise his, than as the actions of states are ordinarily
ascribed to the prince their head. Besides, we must
know, that the war itself (which at this time was the
whole affair) moved not on either side with that
design, nor yet with so deliberate advice, as at this
day, we know, it is necessary that it must do. The
policies and cunning of the former ages were, through
the barbarism that generally overran all Europe, long
before this time buried. And, though by the benefit
of letters they have been again revived to us, yet
were they but little known, until the discovery of
printing (long time after this) divulged them. So
as the world (at the time we speak of) was from
her own actions to get again experience, whence
for after ages she might draw conclusions to hold as
rules and principles of her proceedings; but unfur-
nished of them for the present, their business went an
open and a simple way in which as necessity (for the
most part) did advise them, so fortune generally did
determine of the event.
"There was then but little correspondence with
foreign parts, indeed no great intelligence of either
them or their affairs; whereby it often happened that
an unexpected enemy was encountered by an unpre-
pared people, infinite numbers were to be resisted by
b
"Though, through barbarism, the policies of former ages were
unknown at this time; yet the Saxons used a great deal of art in
their wars, as appears from the relations given by Witichind, [Annal.
Saxon. p. 1. ed. Franc. 1621. fol.] and several other authors: which
seem the rather to be credited, because the German nation (of which
the Saxons were a part) was never wholly conquered by the Romans,
as were Gallia, Spain, &c."
K
130
LIFE AND TIMES OF ALFRED THE GREAT.
[CH. XI.
a few and them taken on a sudden, continual new
supplies of assailants, sustained by the indefatigable
valour and industry of the same defendants, not other-
wise provided than necessity and the present advice of
the commander taught them. To say the truth, it
cannot properly be termed a war, but rather a continual
and universal rage of misery that the times brought
forth, through the spoil and rapine of a barbarous and
cruel people, who, being as destitute of faith and
honour as of humanity and religion, followed no other
rule of their proceeding, than as their licentious appe-
tite did lead; naturally false and fierce, bred in hard-
ness, and put upon necessities, unsatiably greedy of
the booty that was before them, and accordingly their
assaults every where, and the continuance of them, (at
least in expectation,) perpetual. No truce, no peace,
(the common respites or periods of an honourable war,)
but only when an overthrow had rendered them too
weak without new supplies to assail, or when a pros-
perous depredation had awhile delayed the appetite of
their insatiable covetousness. And then, although (as
to the form) they often came unto the conclusion of a
peace, yet were they but peaces in name and not in
deed, the barbarous enemy never suffering himself in
any thing to be restrained, but by the want of present
will or power."
During the life of Ethelred, the two brothers
maintained the independence of Wessex, and, though
several times defeated, still presented a formidable
opposition to the Danes, when all the subordinate
monarchies of England had been reduced to sub-
jection. By the death of Ethelred, the sovereignty
e
Spel. Life of Alfred, by Hearne, p. 2.
A. D. 871.]
131
ALFRED ELECTED KING.
fell into the hands of Alfred alone, for the children ª,
whom his brother left behind him, were too young to
oppose, or to guide the reins of government in a
country distracted by war, and almost on the point of
dissolution. There was however short time for delibe-
ration: the enemy were not only at their gates, but
had just defeated the English at Merton, and by large
reinforcements recently received, were become a just
cause of alarm to their enemies. In this situation of
affairs, and considering the acknowledged part which
Alfred had already played whilst secondary in autho-
rity to his brother, it is not likely that the slightest
reference was made either by him or by the people to
the intentions of his father Ethelwolff, or to any
e
a Ethelwold and Ethelm, sons of Ethelred, occur in Alfred's will.
See Appendix. The former of these laid claim to the throne at the
death of Alfred, and finding his claim overruled, fled to the North,
where he afterwards perished in battle.
e "Qui usque ad id temporis viventibus fratribus suis secundarius
fuerat,” are the words of Asser, which seem to imply no more than
that Alfred was in a subordinate station during the lives of his three
brothers, and not that he possessed any authority as a tributary or
provincial king.
f I consider the will of King Alfred, which is to be found at the
end of this volume, to apply, not to the kingdom and royal demesnes,
but to the private family-property of the kings of Wessex. Spel-
man also seems to have entertained the same opinion. His words
are as follows: "Ethelred being dead, it was now Ælfred's turn to
succeed, both by the will of Ethelwolf their father, and likewise by
the appointment of the last king Ethelred. For before that
Æthelred came to the crown, there had been a treaty between
him and Ælfred concerning their two fortunes. And Æthelred,
in the presence of divers of the nobility, (acknowledging Ælfred's
right in certain demesnes left him by his father, which were then, it
seems, withholden from him,) gave his faithful word, that if ever he
came to be king, he would not only permit Ælfred quietly to enjoy
the lands bequeathed him, but further would make him sharer with
K 2
132
LIFE AND TIMES OF ALFRED THE GREAT. [CH. XI.
appointment which his brother Ethelred might recently
have declared in his favour. The Saxons, at this time,
had no settled rule of succession, and if practically the
title, wealth, or honours of the deceased passed, con-
sistently with natural propriety, to his kindred, this
was a restriction of the widest interpretation, and
included not only his children, but his brothers,
cousins, and nephews, all of whom might take
advantage of circumstances, and occupy the throne,
if by their superior abilities, or the power of their
sword, they were able to maintain it. It was imperative
on the nobles of Wessex to act with speed and prompt-
ness; neither was it possible for Alfred to take long
time for consideration. Yet the circumstances were of
such a nature, that little advantage seemed likely to
accrue to him from the more elevated position to
which he was now invited. The crown, which should
have made him satisfaction for all that he had done
and suffered under his brothers, was now in a tattered
condition, and liable at the first shaking to be rent in
pieces. The election of both nobles and bishops, and
himself of all such territories as with his help he should at any time
recover from the enemy. Yet afterwards, when the crown fell unto
Æthelred, and that with Ælfred's assistance he had got divers pieces
to the crown, being theu demanded by Elfred to perform the agree-
ment, Æthelred refused, alleging reasons that he could break
nothing of what he had, but, as he kept all entire, so at his
death he would (if Ælfred survived) leave all entirely to him. And
Ælfred, though still delayed in his right, yet contenting himself, did
nevertheless faithfully assist Æthelred in all occasions of the kingdom,
so long as Ethelred lived: but when, at his death, the crown should
have made Ælfred satisfaction for all his sufferings under his several
brothers, that, mightily shaken, and in present danger to be rent to
pieces, fell as short in performing the long-expected recompense as
his brother's promises had formerly done." P. 44.
A. D. 871.]
133
BAD PROSPECTS OF THE KING.
the consent of the whole people, tendered the crown
of Wessex to Alfred, who justly hesitated to under-
take the arduous duties by which the office was
accompanied; but the necessity was too pressing, the
young prince, hardly twenty-two years old, bowed to the
general wish, and, preferring the good of his country
before the gratification of his own will, accepted the
sovereignty with all the responsibility which it imposed
upon him. And let no one think that the task, which
he so readily undertook, was one which permitted him
to affect reserve, whilst secret triumph was in his heart.
If the power and dignity of Wessex had been
enlarged, with unprecedented rapidity, by Egbert his
grandfather, it had been more lately so checked in its
growth by the Danish invaders, whilst all the adjacent
and subordinate states were annihilated, that it must
henceforth stand alone to meet the rude shocks which
the increasing multitudes of the enemy would inflict;
to uphold its shattered condition, an able man must be
seated on the throne, who shall be competent, not only
to determine on public measures in the cabinet, but to
execute them in the field; a skilful general, whom
the Anglo-Saxon soldiery might look up to with con-
fidence, and put forth that indomitable perseverance of
character which marks both themselves and their de-
scendants, with a fair chance of rescuing their country
from the atrocious slavery which was impending. All
eyes were therefore turned upon Alfred, with the heart-
felt wish that he might undertake to be their king; but
though he acceded to their request, he could view it
in no other light than as a diversion from the studies
and occupations in which he would willingly have
passed his life. It was, in fact, to him a compact of
broils and battles, for the kingdom which was offered
134
LIFE AND TIMES OF ALFRED THE GREAT.
[CH. XI.
to him, was rather to be won afterwards by the valour
of his sword than secured to him by the favour and
election of the people, and the enterprise of recovering
it out of the weak state in which it now was, seemed to
all appearances to furnish no probable mode by which
it could be effected. In spite, however, of these diffi-
culties, Alfred " by God's permission," in the words
of his biographer Asser-" undertook the government
of the whole kingdom, amid the acclamations of all the
people ; and, if he had chosen, he might have done
so before, whilst his brother before named was still
alive; for in wisdom and other qualities he surpassed
all his brothers, and, moreover, was warlike and victo-
rious in all his wars. And, when he had reigned one
month, almost against his will,-for he did not think
he could alone sustain the multitude and ferocity of
the Pagans, though even during his brothers' lives he
had borne the woes of many, he fought a battle with
a few men, and on very unequal terms, against all the
army of the Pagans, at a hill called Wilton, on the
south side of the river Wily, from which river the
whole of that district is named, and, after a long and
fierce engagement, the Pagans, seeing the danger they
were in, and no longer able to bear the attack of their
enemies, turned their backs and fled. But, O shame
to say! they deceived their too audacious pursuers, and
-
Spelman, [p. 45.] quoting Chron. MS. de regibus Angliæ in
man. illust. com. Arundel, says that Alfred was crowned a second
time at Winchester; to which Dr. Lingard adds, that the Archbishop
of Canterbury performed the ceremony. The Archbishop probably
did so, but the original Chroniclers make no mention of the fact.
This is a very inoffensive instance of the latitude to which modern
writers indulge their imagination, in enlarging the simple narrative
which the old Chroniclers have left us.
A. D. 871.] BATTLE OF WILTON-DANES LEAVE wessex. 135
again rallying, gained the victory. Let no one be sur-
prised that the Christians had but a small number of
men¹, for the Saxons had been worn out by eight
battles in one year against the Pagans, of whom they
had slain one king, nine dukes, and innumerable troops
of soldiers, besides endless skirmishes, both by night
and by day, in which Alfred and all his chiefs, with
their men, and several of his ministers, were engaged
without rest or cessation against the Pagans. How
many thousands fell in these numberless skirmishes,
God only knows, over and above those who were slain
in the eight battles above mentioned. In the same
year the Saxons made peace¹ with the Pagans, on con-
dition that they should take their departure; and they
did so."
The year 872 was, however, commenced before the
Ethelwerd also attributes the repulse of the English at Wilton
to the smallness of the English army, occasioned, he says, by the
absence of the king, who was occupied with the funeral of his brother.
But as the battle of Wilton was fought nearly a month after Ethelred's
death, the funeral had probably been completed long before; for they
would hardly have kept the corpse so long.
i Dr. Lingard says, that Alfred induced the Danes, "probably by
the offer of a valuable present," to withdraw out of his dominions.
On the other hand, Rapin makes Alfred to have augmented his army
with such incredible speed after the battle of Wilton, that he over-
awed the Danes, and compelled them to offer terms, which he, know--
ing that discretion is the better part of valour, readily accepted. This
seems also to be Spelman's view. "What was the execution," says
he," then (i. e. in the battle of Wilton) done by the Danes, appeareth
not, but the overthrow they gave was, it seems, not very great; and,
though they were reputed to have the better title to the victory, yet
might it well enough be a question whose indeed it was.
For, as
Alfred carried the matter, he found the means to bring the victors to
the conclusion of a peace, and upon such terms as that they them-
selves should, notwithstanding their victory, forthwith withdraw and
depart out of his dominion." LIFE OF ALFRED, p. 46.
136
LIFE AND TIMES OF ALFRED THE GREAT. [CH. XI.
Danes left Wessex, agreeably to their engagement;
marching to London, which was on the frontiers of
both kingdoms, they halted there, perhaps uncertain
whether to enter Mercia, or, in breach of their faith,
again after an interval to fall back upon Wessex. The
anxiety of Burrhed, king of Mercia, anticipated the
decision of his enemies. He gave way to his momentary
alarm, and made a truce with the invaders, of such a
nature that it could not possibly be lasting. A pay-
ment of gold was tendered to secure what can only be
secured by the sword, and the fierceness of the invading
hosts was once more turned aside from the fertile lands
of Mercia. In 873,--for the Chroniclers delight thus
to throw their plain narratives into the useful form of
annals—Halfdene, quitting London, marched with his
banditti to Torksey in Lincolnshire, where the Mercians
renewed their armistice, and perhaps again tendered a
sum of money, on condition that Mercia should be
spared¹.
The hopes, however, which these treatises inspired,
were brief and fallacious. It was seldom that the faith
of the Danes lasted a year at the utmost, and, if we
reflect on the numerous circumstances which, in so
disordered a condition of things, may continually arise,
leading to the infraction of agreements, it is more sur-
prising that the king of Mercia should have entered
into a treaty, than that his enemies should have infringed
Stipendiaque statuunt" is the phrase of Ethelwerd. Though
unsupported by the other five earlier Chroniclers, it is to be feared
that Ethelwerd has too truly described the nature of the armistice.
1
Simeon and Asser describe Lindsay as belonging to Northumber-
land at this time: perhaps it had been taken possession of by the
Dancs, during their former invasion, and annexed to Northumberland,
which was now become a Danish kingdom.
k
A.D. 874.]
137
BURRHED ABDICATES HIS THRONE.
}
it. The other southern states were perhaps, in their
devastated condition, unable to maintain Halfden's army,
much less to provide them with the plunder which
they so eagerly sought. If this be the case, it was
difficult to withhold a hungry army from invading a
province which held out to them the hope both of food
and plunder. The sequel shall be told in the words of
Asser, and of Ingulf, who, about two hundred years
after, may have found among the records of Croyland
abbey some authentic documents concerning the ruin
that fell upon his country. "The Pagans returned to
Mercia in 874, and wintering at Repton, utterly de-
stroyed that famous monastery, the hallowed burial-
place of the Mercian kings. Burrhed, the king, had
reigned two and twenty years to see the whole of
England filled by the barbarians with rapine and
slaughter. In this state of things, either despairing of
being able to conquer his enemies, or shrinking from
the labyrinth of toil and labour which lay before him,
he abandoned the sovereignty, and went to Rome,
where he died a few days after his arrival, and was
buried in the school of the English His wife
followed his example; but she died on her way to
Rome, and was buried in Ticino". The Pagans, after
Burrhed's expulsion, subjected the whole kingdom of
the Mercians to their dominion; but by a most
miserable arrangement, gave it into the custody of
a foolish man, named Ceolwulf, one of the king's
m
n
"In St. Mary's Church," Sax. Ch. and Asser.
Ingulf, from whom this paragraph is taken, says, that Alfred
was in his retreat at Athelney in 874, when Burrhed abdicated the
throne. This is an error; Alfred did not retreat to Atheluey until
four years afterwards.
138
LIFE AND TIMES OF ALFRED THE GREAT.
[CH. XI.
ministers, on condition that he should restore it to
them whenever they should wish to have it again;
and, to guarantee this agreement, he
gave them
hostages, and swore that he would not oppose their
will, but be obedient to them in every respect P."
This arrangement, fortunately for the abased Mer-
cians, was as brief and transient, as vigorous whilst it
lasted. The deputy-king, in the true spirit of an
oriental Pacha, and knowing that his power would not
be lasting, profited by the moment of sunshine which
was allowed him, to amass wealth out of the tears and
groans of his subjects; but, like many of the Turkish
Pachas, he overshot the mark, and drew down signal
destruction upon himself. His end, commensurate
with that of his country-for Ceolwolf was by birth an
Englishman, though "in impiety," as the chronicle
expresses it," he was a barbarian,”—is related by the
historian of Croyland abbey as follows.
"Ceolwolf went through the whole of the country
which was delegated to him, fleecing all the rustics
who were left, devouring the tradespeople, oppressing
widows and orphans, and putting the ecclesiastics to
every conceivable mode of torture, to make them
reveal their treasures. Among other evil deeds which
he perpetrated, he set a fine of a thousand pounds on
the venerable abbat Godric, and his wretched brethren,
by which the monastery of Croyland was well nigh
reduced to nothing. So poor was the place become,
that no one thought of entering its walls to qualify for
admission into the religious order. Abbat Godric was
He is called, in the Saxon Chronicle, an “unwise king's thane."
The dignity of thane was inferior to that of alderinan or earl, and
seems to have been equivalent to that of baron under the Anglo-
Normans.
P Asser.
1
A. D. 875.] CEOLWOLF'S DEATH-FRESH ARRIVAL OF DANES. 139
unable to maintain even those who had made profes-
sion, and distributed many of them throughout the
whole country among his relations and other friends of
their house. Few of them remained with him in
the monastery, and these dragged on their life in want
and misery. It was at this time that all the chalices
of the abbey except three, and all their silver vessels,
except the crucibole of King Witlaf, with all their other
valuable ornaments, were coined into money, or sold for
money, and even then they hardly satisfied the avarice
of Ceolwolf the deputy-king. At length he was
deposed by his own friends the Danes, who at least in
this particular observed the laws of justice, and with
hardly enough clothing left him to cover his naked-
ness, he miserably died. This took place after king
Alfred had prevailed in arms against the Danes, and
the kingdom of Mercia was united to Wessex, as it
has ever since been down to the present time. Such
was the end of Mercia, which had existed about
two hundred and thirty years, from Penda its first king,
to the reign of the wretched deputy-king Ceolwolf,
above mentioned."
Whilst the Danish army was still at Repton, they
had been joined by large bodies of troops, either from
some other part of England, or fresh from Denmark,
commanded by Guthrum, Osketel, and Amund. The
army was thus, apparently, too numerous any longer
to subsist together. Accordingly, early in 875, part
of them, under their three kings Guthrum, Osketel,
and Amund, marched to Cambridge, where they
remained twelve months inactive. Here we shall
* About 1120 when Ingulf wrote.
8 H. Hunt.
Sax. Ch. Ass. Ethel. Flor. Sim. Hunt.
140
LIFE AND TIMES OF ALFRED THE GREAT.
[CH. XI.
leave them for the present, and follow the footsteps
of
the other half of the army, who proceeded northwards
under Halfden their leader, upon one of their usual
expeditions of bloodshed and plunder. The king of
Northumberland, Egbert, had died in the year 873,
and was succeeded by Rigsig". The character of the
new king, the extent of his territories, and his abilities
to defend them, are alike unknown to us, for little
more than his name has been handed down by the
Chroniclers. The army of Halfdene, crossing the
more southerly province of Deira, pitched their camp
on the banks of the Tyne, and immediately began to
extend their ravages from thence, as from a centre,
over all the neighbourhood. The Scots, alarmed at
their near reproach, vainly attempted to make head
against them, and a "Welsh king fled to Ireland
for refuge from their attacks." The Picts, no longer
formidable, as of old, to the south, were scared at the
appearance of warriors fiercer than themselves, and the
Strathclyde Britons, whose kingdom had sprung out
Z
u
Simeon Dunelm, Hist. alt. Chron. Mailros.
x
× «Ethus rex, a pedum celeritate Alipes cognominatus, nulla alia
commendatione, rex electus, nisi quia reliquias exercitus a Danis
profligati reduxit." Buchanan. Hist. Scot. fol. 51. b. edit. in fol.
1583.
"Ann. Ulster, 65. These annals notice some dissensions of the
Northmen, in which Halfden killed by stratagem the son of Olaf,
one of the kings, or sea-kings, that accompanied Inguar." TURNER,
vol. i. 535.
"They are called in the Saxon Annals Stræcledweallas, and
Strætledweallas; by Matt. Westm. Wallenses; by Florence of
Worc. Stratdunenses; and by Ethelwerd, Cumbri. They were
certain Britons, [see Somner's Lexicon] some time inhabiting
Galloway in Scotland, but were driven thence by the Picts into
Wales, where they seated themselves about the banks and borders of
the river Cluid." SPELMAN'S LIFE OF ALFRED, p. 48. note 1.
A. D. 876.]
141
DANES SETTLE IN MERČIA.
1
of war in the midst of conflicting nations, felt their
tranquillity for the first time disturbed, and their lands
the object of depredation. The city of Carlisle, which
lay within their frontiers, and probably was their capital,
suffered the most: it was reduced to ruin by the Danes,
and lay desolate more than two hundred years, when
it was restored in 1092 by William the Conqueror ".
But here, as in Mercia, nature usurped her rights
over the fierce passions of the barbarians. Man is not
given to destroy that which he can convert to his own
use; and the minds of the most unsettled race of men
will, at one time or other, yield to the charms of enjoy-
ment and the luxury of repose. The Archdeacon and
historian of Huntingdon is doubtlessly correct, though
unsupported by the other five Chronicles, which are
our principal authority for these events, when he tells
us, that Halfdene "seized on the country, and divided
it among his men who occupied and cultivated it two
years." His followers, "settling among the Anglo-
Saxons there, and intermarrying with them, became in
the course of a few generations so mixed, as to form
almost one people. It is not easy, from the vagueness
of the old writers, to fix limits; but this fusion was
probably felt strongest along our north-eastern coast
between the Tees and the Tweed, where some Danish
peculiarities are still detected among the people"."
In the midst of these convulsions we hear nothing of
Rigsig, the obscure individual, into whose hands the
shadow of the Northumbrian sovereignty had fallen,
except that he died in 876, and was succeeded by a
" Simeon Dun. an. 1092.
"Saisivit terram, et divisit eam suis, et coluerunt eam duobus
X
annis."
y Pict. Hist. of England, vol. i. p. 157.
142
LIFE AND TIMES OF ALFRED THE GREAT. [CH. XI.
second Egbert, whose life and actions are as little
known to us as those of his predecessor'.
Hoveden. Chron. Mailros. Dr. Lingard and Lappenberg relate
the destruction of Coldingham, where the nuns mutilated their
faces, among the events of 875 and 876, but this is certainly a mis-
take. Hubba, not Halfdene, commanded the Danes, when those
barbarities were perpetrated, and it happened in 869 or 870, not in 875.
x
a
THE LEGEND ª OF THE TRANSLATION OF ST. CUTHBERT'S BODY, WHEREIN
ARE RELATED THE FLIGHT OF THE MONKS OF LINDISFARNE FROM
BEFORE THE DANISH ARMY, THE CONQUEST AND SETTLEMENT OF
NORTHUMBRIA AS A DANISH KINGDOM, UNTIL IT FINALLY WAS
UNITED TO THE DOMINIONS OF KING ALFRED.
CHAP. XII.
"ALMIGHTY GOD, who is justly merciful and mer-
cifully just, being willing to punish the English nation
for their manifold sins, permitted the Fresons and
Danes, pagan nations, to exercise their inhumanity
over them. These nations, under Hubba, duke of the
Fresons, and Halfdene, king of the Danes, arrived in
Britain, which is now called England, and, having
divided themselves into three bodies, ravaged the
country in three directions. One body of them rebuilt
•
a
The ecclesiastical legend, of which a translation forms the text
of this chapter, is found in the second volume of Bedæ Opera His-
torica, ed. Stevenson, and in the Appendix to vol. vi. of Bede Opera
Omnia, ed. J. A. G. 12 vols. 8vo. Lond. 1844. It was written
soon after the reign of William the Conqueror, as appears by its
concluding sentence, (not here given,) in which the writer states, that
he had some of his facts from eye-witnesses. It will give the reader
a much better picture of the state of things in Northumberland
between the years 875 and 894, than any abstract of its contents
that I could make in my own language. I have therefore intro-
duced it into the narrative, trusting that the reader will easily
distinguish the true from the fabulous. The same legend is found
also, in much the same language, but rather abbreviated, in Simeon
of Durham's work De Dunelmensi ecclesia, lib. ii. cap. 11.
144
LIFE AND TIMES OF ALFRED THE GREAT.
[CH. XII.
the walls of York', and, occupying the neighbouring
country on all sides, took up their abode there; the
other two, much more ferocious than the first, occu-
pied Mercia and the country of the South Saxons,
destroying every thing they came near, both sacred
and profane, with fire, rapine, and slaughter. Then
might be seen noble and excellent priests slain around
the altars on which they had solemnized the holy
mysteries of the body and blood of Christ, virgins
ravished, the respect due to matrons trodden under
foot, infants torn from their mothers' breasts and
dashed against the ground, or suspended by the feet,
or torn in pieces by the hands of the barbarians; in
short, no mercy was shewn by the cruel wretches, to
sex, age, or dignity. Yet even thus their brutal
ferocity could not glut itself, but they must needs
destroy every member of the royal family, from whom
they apprehended danger to their dominion. Alfred,
the father of King Edward the First, alone escaped
destruction..
"About the time of the persecution just mentioned,
an intolerable affliction arose of a sudden in North-
umberland, which grievously shook the Churches of
God in those parts. At that time, a certain man of
great abilities, named Eardulf, was ruling, in a praise-
worthy manner before God and man, the bishopric
of the Church of Lindisfarne, in which rested the
The writer of the legend here blends together all the principal
features of the Danish invaders which had occurred during many
years, by way of introduction to his subject, and without adhering
very accurately to the time and exact nature of the facts.
• The writer calls him Edward the First, to distinguish him from
Edward the Confessor: he is generally termed, " Edward the Elder.”
d Lindisfarne was at this time the episcopal city of the diocese of
Durham.
A. D. 875-881.]
145
LEGEND OF ST. CUTHBERT.
body of Christ's most holy confessor St. Cuthbert.
This man, remembering the last admonitions which
that holy father had given his brethren, as he was at
the point of death, chose to vacate his place rather
than be in subjection to the wicked. For, among
other precepts of love and peace which his paternal
affection dictated, Saint Cuthbert had thus warned
them'. "If you are ever obliged by necessity to choose
between the two, I would much rather that you should
remove my bones from the tomb, and taking them
with you leave this place, and stop where God shall
determine, than that you in any way be consenting to
iniquity, or submit your necks to the yoke of schis-
matics." There was at that time also a certain abbat,
Edred by name, of wonderful sanctity before God, and
of no little nobility among men, who had always as
much devotion towards God's holy confessor as the
bishop himself. When, therefore, this tribulation
came upon them, these two men, taking with them
some others of a religious character, carried away the
incorruptible body of the venerable father from the
monastery of Lindisfarne. When his own people heard
of this, they left their houses and household goods,
and immediately followed him with their wives and
children. For those who are properly called his own
people, inasmuch as he keeps them under his especial
protection, and they cannot live any where else save
g
• The Life of St. Cuthbert has been written by the Venerable
Bede, and exhibits a curious picture of the superstition and asceticism,
which abounded in the seventh century.
The passage, here quoted, occurs in Venerable Bede's Life of
St. Cuthbert, vol. iv. p. 335. edit. meæ.
That is, those persons who dwell upon the lands, or, as it was
generally termed, the "patrimony" of St. Cuthbert.
L
146
LIFE AND TIMES OF ALFRED THE GREAT. [CH. XII.
under him; these, I say, derive such security from
his safeguard, that they fear hardly any injury from
adversity. But his having so often with pious care
saved from their adversaries who took refuge with him
must by no means be referred to their own
merits, since all, except a very few, have done evil;
yet the question how a firm faith may be of avail to
salvation, is a question worthy of every one's consider-
ation.
"Now it happened by God's providence, that they
traversed nearly the whole land, carrying with them
the precious body of the holy Confessor. But the
bishop and the abbat, overcome at last by the fatigue
of this constant toil, deliberated for a long time between
themselves, whether they should seek a termination to
their labours, and a rest for the saint's body in Ireland,
particularly as they saw no hope of remaining in any
part of their own country. Wherefore they called
together the others who were wiser and older than
themselves, and the plan obtained the approbation of
all of them. "It is evident," said they, "that we are
advised to seek a place of repose in a foreign land
for, if such had not been the will of God, and of the
saint himself, we should long ago have had a proper
place provided for his own security, and for ourselves."
Such were their words; but the incomprehensible
wisdom of God disposed it otherwise. For when they
had come together at the mouth of the river Derwent",
because the passage to Ireland was shortest and easiest
from thence, a vessel was got ready, the holy body was
placed on board, the bishop and abbat embarked,
↳ The river Derwent rùns through Cumberland, and empties itself
into the sea near Workington: it has, also, the towns of Keswick
and Cockermouth on its banks.
A.D. 875-881.]
147
LEGEND OF ST. CUTHBERT.
together with a few who had been made acquainted
with the undertaking, whilst all the others were ignorant
of the reason of the voyage. But why do I multiply
words? They bade farewell to their friends who were
on the shore looking on, and spreading their sails
before a favourable wind, turned the ship's head towards
Ireland. What was at that moment, do you suppose,
the sorrow of those who remained behind? and what
was the lamentation which this sorrow gave birth to?
They threw themselves prostrate on the ground,
sprinkled their heads with dust, tore their garments,
and beat their breasts with stones, and with their fists;
and at length broke out all together into an exclama-
tion of this kind:-"O thou father and patron of ours,
how are we abandoned, wretches that we are, as
captives to the rage of our enemies, like sheep to be
devoured by wolves!" This was all they uttered.
"On a sudden the wind changed, the waves rose high,
and the sea, before tranquil, became dark and stormy;
the vessel was tossed this way and that way without
guidance, and those who were on board were struck
aghast like dead men. Three immense waves, coming
one after the other with dreadful sound, filled almost
half of the vessel; and, by a miracle unheard of since
those of Egypt, were immediately changed to blood.
This storm forced the ship on its beam-ends; and a
copy of the Evangelists, adorned with gold and jewels,
fell overboard into the sea. When they had a little
recovered their senses, and recollected who and where
they were, they bent their knees, and falling at full
length before the feet of the saint, asked pardon for
their foolish attempt. Then, seizing the helm, they
turned the vessel round to the shore where they had
left their friends, and, as they then had the wind
.
L 2
148
LIFE AND TIMES OF ALFRED THE GREAT. [CH. XII.
favourable, they very soon arrived there. Then those
who had before wept for sorrow, now wept for joy; but
the bishop with his companions, shedding tears for
shame and sorrow, prostrated himself on the ground,
and earnestly prayed forgiveness of his sins.
"Meanwhile the people, compelled by want and
hunger, after a long toil of many years', ceased to
attend upon the holy corpse, and dispersed themselves
through the parts of the country that were inhabited,
to support their lives in the best manner they were
able. For, except the bishop and the abbat, with a
few of their men, all departed, save those seven who,
as has been before said, were accustomed to attend on
the saint's body. These were they who had been
brought up and educated by the monks, and, when
their masters themselves were found wanting, had
undertaken to follow the holy body of the venerable
saint from Lindisfairne, and never from that time,
whilst they lived, to leave it. Four of these, who
seemed to be older than the others, were Hunred,
Stithard, Edmund, and Franco, from whose race many
of the province of Northumberland, both priests and
laymen, are the more proud of being descended, be-
cause these men, their ancestors, are said to have
attended with such fidelity on the body of the holy
Cuthbert. When, therefore, the others were gone,
and these were left alone with their treasure, they
suffered the greatest anguish from the difficulties of
their position, and were unable to determine how to
i
It appears from Matthew of Westminster and some other
Chroniclers, that the body of St. Cuthbert was carried about during
seven years. This is a most extraordinary fact, which could hardly
be believed, if it were not fully borne out by other similar instances
in the annals of the Church.
A. D. 875-881.]
149
LEGEND OF ST. CUTHBERT.
:
get out of them, or how to console themselves under
them. "What shall we do ?" said they, "whither
shall we carry the holy father's reliques ?" We have
been travelling seven years through the land, fleeing
from the barbarians and we have now no place of
refuge in our own country; and God has deterred us
from seeking rest elsewhere, by laying his scourge
visibly upon us. Add to this, that hunger is driving
us to seek sustenance wherein we can find it; but the
swords of the Danes will not permit us to pass with this
treasure in our possession. Lastly, if we abandon it,
and provide for ourselves, the people will hereafter ask
us for their father and patron-and what shall we answer
them? Shall we say that he was taken from us by theft or
violence? That he was carried into exile, or abandoned
in the deserts? Without a doubt we shall die, and justly
so, by their hands, and shall leave our infamy to future
ages, attended with the maledictions of all mankind."
"In this strait, they were at length relieved, both in
mind and body, by the aid of their pious patron; for
the Lord is the refuge of the poor, a very present
help in trouble. One of them, Hunred, saw the saint
in a vision, and was told by him, that, when the tide
was out, they should search for the book, which, as we
have already stated, had fallen into the sea, and
perhaps, if God took compassion on them, they might
find it, though they could not otherwise presume to
hope so. For the loss of this book had caused them
the greatest anguish of mind. Moreover, he spake
these words to him: "As soon as you rise, take a
bridle, which you will see hanging on a tree, and hold
it up before a horse which you will see not far off, and
he will come to you immediately; put the bridle on
him, and he will draw for you the carriage in which my
150
LIFE AND TIMES OF ALFRED THE GREAT. [CH. XII.
body is placed, and so you will be relieved from your
present labour, and be able to follow it." As soon as
Hunred awoke, he related the vision which he had
seen, and immediately sent some of his companions to
the shore, which was not far off, to search for the book
which they had lost. Now, by this time they had
reached the place called the "White House," or more
commonly "Whitherne." They went, accordingly,
down to the sea-shore, where they found that the water
had ebbed much farther than usual; and, when they
had gone three miles or more, they found the holy
Volume of the Gospels, with its gold gems and all its
outward splendour, as well as its letters, and leaves,
and all its inward beauty, so sound and perfect, that it
looked as if it had not been touched by the water.
At this event their minds, hitherto anxious, were filled
with no slight joy, and Hunred, whom I before men-
tioned, felt no doubt that all the rest would come true
also. Wherefore he went and saw the bridle, as he
had been told, hanging on a tree; and then, looking
on all sides round him, he saw a horse, of a chesnut
colour, a little farther off, though it was impossible to
say how or whence he could have come into such a
desert place. As soon as the man held up the bridle,
the horse ran up to him, and offered himself to be
bridled. Hunred led him off to his companions, who
now were the more encouraged to toil in the cause of
the holy saint's body, inasmuch as they saw that his
aid would never fail them. Therefore they harnessed
the horse to the cart, on which was placed the corpse
in a chest, and followed it fearlessly every where, as
they knew that they now had a horse provided for
them by God. Moreover, the book itself is still kept
to this day in the church, which has been thought
A. D. 875-881.]
151
LEGEND OF ST. CUTHBERT.
worthy to contain the body of the holy saint; and, as
I said before, it bears no mark of having been injured
by the sea-water. This was no doubt brought about
by the merits of St. Cuthbert himself, and of the
authors of the book, namely, Bishop Eadfrid of blessed
memory, who wrote it with his own hand, in honour of
the blessed Cuthbert, and his successor, the venerable
Ethelwald, who had caused it to be adorned with gold
and jewels; also of the hermit Bilfrid, whose skill in
workmanship, equalling the intentions of the designer,
had executed the splendid work, for he was one of the
first artists of his day. These three, burning with
zeal towards God's beloved confessor and bishop, left
this as a memorial of their devotion towards him to all
posterity.
"But it was now the wish of the saint to provide a
resting place for his body, and to release his servants
from their seven years' labour: wherefore the impious
king Halfdene was, by God's justice, made to pay the
penalty for the cruelty which he had shewn towards the
church of the saint himself, and the possessions of the
other saints. For his mind was struck with madness,
and at the same time his body was attacked with
dreadful torments, occasioning an intolerable stench,
which made him offensive to the whole army. All
therefore spurned him and cast him off; whereupon
he fled from the Tyne with three ships only, and not
long afterwards perished with all his men'. After
This identical book is, I believe, still preserved in the Library
of the British Museum, or in one of our other public collections of
Manuscripts.
'The Annals of Ulster, A. D. 876, place the death of Halfden in Ire-
land. "Battle at Lochraun, between the Fingals and Dubhgals, where
the latter lost Halfden their captain.” "These Annals notice some
152
LIFE AND TIMES OF ALFRED THE GREAT. [CH. XII.
this, the attendants of St. Cuthbert carried his body to
a monastery which was formerly in their village, called
Creca, and were there hospitably received by the abbat,
whose name was Geve, and they resided there four
months, quite as if they had been at home. Mean-
while, the army, and those who remained of the natives,
were in much commotion for want of a king, whereupon
the blessed St. Cuthbert appeared in a dream to the
pious abbat Edred, already before mentioned, and, to
provide rest for his people, told him to act as follows:
Go," said he, "to the Danish camp, and say that it
was I who sent you to them, and ask them where you
may find a boy named Guthred, son of Hardecnute,
whom they sold to a widow. When you have found
him and paid the widow her price for him, bring him
before the whole army, and express to them my wish
and command that he shall have the bracelet " placed
upon his right arm in Oswiesdune, (that is, Oswy's
mount,) and be elected their king." The abbat,
when he awoke, told all this to his companions, and
immediately went and did as he was commanded. He
produced the young man in public, and all, both
natives and barbarians, listened obediently to the words
of St. Cuthbert, and unanimously raised the youth
from slavery to a throne; which honour had no sooner
been thus obtained with the favour and good will of
all, than the disturbances were ended, tranquillity
m
(C
dissensions of the Northinen, in which Halfden killed by stratagem
the son of Olaf, one of the kings, or sea-kings, that accompanied
Ingwar." TURNER, Hist. of the Anglo-Sax. vol. i. p. 535.
The bracelet seems to have been an emblem of authority among
the Danes. See in the next chapter the oath sworn upon their
bracelets by the Danish leaders.
So called from Oswy, formerly king of Northumberland.
ni
n
L
A. D. 875-881.]
153
LEGEND OF ST. CUTHBERT.
restored, and the episcopal see, which was before at
Lindisfarne, was revived at Cuncacester. Thither,
therefore, they also brought the incorruptible body of
the saint, at the end of the four months, from Creca ;
and, at the same time were instituted certain
persons
to perform God's holy service there: the excellent
prelate Eardulf, a man who through good and evil had
adhered to St. Cuthbert, was the first who ascended
the episcopal throne in that place. King Guthred,
too, conferred no few honours and donations on that
Church, and with devout humility submitted to him,
who from a slave had made him a king. What-
ever therefore he ordained for the privileges and
liberties of his church, and for the sustenance of those
who served him, this faithful minister hastened to
fulfil. Lastly, the saint appeared in a vision to the
aforesaid abbat, and said to him, "Tell the king to
grant the perpetual possession of all the land between
the Were and the Tyne to me and to those who serve
in my church, that they may receive subsistence from
it, and not suffer from want. Bid him furthermore
make my church a place of asylum for those who flee
to it, so that whoever shall for my cause take refuge
with my corpse, shall have peace for thirty days, on no
account to be infringed."
"His faithful messenger, the abbat, having told this
to the king, both Guthred himself, and the powerful
king Alfred, of whom we have made mention above,
• Chester-le-Street was the second see of the diocese of Durham.
▸ The country which lies between the rivers Tyne and Were, is many
miles in extent, and contains at present numerous towns and villages.
Many churches formerly possessed the right of sanctuary: none
of them, however, were more favoured in this respect, or enjoyed
greater privileges, than the church of St. Cuthbert.
154
LIFE AND TIMES OF ALFRED THE GREAT. [CH. XII.
proclaimed it to their subjects, and established it as a
law for ever, with the consent and approbation not
only of the English, but also of the Danish army.
They ordained that those, who in any manner what-
ever broke the saint's peace, should pay, as a fine, a
sum of money equal to that which they paid for
breaking the peace of the king, namely, ninety-six
pounds at least. Moreover, the land, lying between
the two rivers above mentioned was afterwards given
to him as he commanded, and a decree was passed,
with the concurrence both of the kings above named
and of the whole people, that if any one should give
land to St. Cuthbert, or if land should have been
bought with the saint's money, no one, from that
time, should claim from it any service or custom
whatever, but the Church alone should possess it
for ever in peace, with all its liberties and customs,
and, as the saying is, with sac and socn and in-
fangentheofs. It was determined by all, that, if any
one should in any way infringe these laws and statutes,
they should be consigned for ever, unless they behaved
better for the future, to fire in hell and the malediction
of the Church. A short time after, the Scots assem-
bled a large army, and, among other deeds of cruelty,
attacked and plundered the monastery of Lindisfarne;
and whilst King Guthred, strengthened by the help of
St. Cuthbert, was fighting against them, on a sudden
r
• It is probable that all the Danes, who settled in England,
speedily became Christians; barbarous invaders generally adopt the
religion as well as the habits of the civilized vanquished.
“Græcia capta ferum victorem cepit.”
S
• For an explanation of these technical terms, denoting rights which
belong to persons in certain cases, sec Thorpe's Ancient Laws of
England, vol. i. p. 451.
A. D. 894.] END OF THE NORTHUMBRIAN KINGDOM.
155
the earth yawned and swallowed up all the enemy
alivet. Thus was re-enacted a miracle of ancient
times, whereby the earth opened and swallowed up
Dathan, and overwhelmed the congregation of Abiron.
But how this was done has been described elsewhere.
"In the year of our Lord's Incarnation 894, king
Guthred, having reigned many years in prosperity,
departed this life, and bequeathed the privileges of the
Church of St. Cuthbert, concerning its peace and
liberties, and the safety of those who should seek
refuge therein from all aggressors, with other statutes
in its behalf, to be preserved inviolate by all the kings
and bishops, and all people who should come after
him, and they are so preserved unto this very day.
Indeed, no one has ever ventured, with impunity, to
infringe them. Of such as have ventured, the Scots,
as I have said, having violated its peace, were suddenly
swallowed up alive. Others also, who committed the
same crime, were terribly punished for the same, as we
shall hereafter describe. When Guthred was dead,
king Alfred received the crown of the Northumbrians;
for, after St. Cuthbert had appeared to him, he added to
his paternal kingdom of the West-Saxons the province
of the East-Angles, and now, after Guthred's death,
that of Northumberland also","
This is, perhaps, the ecclesiastical version of the defeat of the
Scots before alluded to, page 140.
Cuthbert was probably only one of many saints, whose bodies-
an invaluable treasure in those days of popular ignorance and monkish
fraud-were removed by their votaries in consequence of the Danish
ravages. We read in the Chronicle of John Brompton, [fol. 810.]
"A. D. 875, the year in which Burrhed king of Mercia was expelled by
the Danes at Repton, some natives of Hamburg, who resided about
five miles from Repton, becoming terrified, removed the body of
St. Wereburg, the virgin which had long been buried there, and carried
it to Chester for safety."
156
LIFE AND TIMES OF ALFRED THE GREAT. [CH. XII.
From this legend we learn, that the Danes, con-
querors of Northumberland, blended peaceably with
the natives, under the patronage of St. Cuthbert the
tutelary saint of the North, and that both nations, after
the death of Guthred, the king of their common choice,
submitted to the arms of Alfred, when he had recovered
all the south of England from the slavery to which it
had been subject. But we are anticipating the order
of events, and must now return to that division of the
Danish army which we left quartered at Cambridge in
875, under its three leaders, Guthrum, Osketel, and
Amund.
-
CHAP. XIII.
WESSEX THE ONLY SAXON KINGDOM REMAINING-PARTIAL BENEFIT
OF THE DANISH INVASIONS-ROLLO BAFFLED IN HIS ATTEMPTS ON
ENGLAND-ALFRED TAKES ONE SHIP IN A NAVAL BATTLE WITH
THE DANES-SECOND INVASION OF WESSEX IN 876—THE
DANES TAKE WAREHAM—MAKE A TREATY WITH ALFRED-BREAK
THE TREATY AND SURPRISE EXETER-DESTRUCTION OF THE DANISH
FLEET AT SWANAGE—THE DANES MAKE A SECOND TREATY AT
EXETER, AND, LEAVING WESSEX, RETIRE TO MERCIA IN 877.
Of all the Saxon Heptarchy, Wessex alone was now
able to oppose any longer the invasions of the Danes:
yet even Wessex, though still unsubdued, and ever
found to present the most effectual resistance to those
plunderers, was almost exhausted by continual combats,
and was in the end compelled to bend for a time to
the storm, which it could no longer withstand. The
East-Anglian, Northumbrian, and Mercian kingdoms
ceased to exist as members of the Anglo-Saxon con-
federacy: they were either depopulated, or in absolute
subjection to the enemy, who every where abounded,
and, unawed by any force or combination of the
Saxons, vented their tyranny upon the natives to
the utmost many of them began now to settle and
inhabit for a permanence those lands which they had
formerly looked upon as hunting-grounds, or as a
field for rapine and plunder. This change, however,
brought with it one species of consolation to the
rustic. The enemies who forage for momentary booty,
slay the herdsman, and carry off his cattle; but those
158
LIFE AND TIMES OF ALFRED THE GREAT. [CH. XIII.
who conquer in order to become colonists and settlers,
reserve alive both the cow and her keeper; the former,
it is true, to provide the lordly victor with milk and
other luxuries; but a portion of what she yields is
necessarily bestowed upon the abject attendant, whose
services are indispensable to the prosperity of the
farms, which yield their yearly subsistence alike to the
master and to his slave. The Danes must soon have
discerned by experience, that wherever, in the excess
of their fury, they had destroyed the people upon
whose labours they had lived before, they must of
a necessity in the end sit down and learn to labour for
themselves.
In several towns of Mercia, the evil done by the
Danes was not wholly without its alloy of good in
a political point of view. A new vigour was infused
into the municipalities where they became permanently
settled, and several of the towns long continued to
enjoy peculiar privileges, exempting them, no doubt,
from burdens which pressed heavily on other com-
munities. Such were the Danish Burghs, as they were
called, or Boroughs; these were termed the Five
Burghs, and originally consisted of Lincoln, Notting-
ham, Derby or Deora-by,-the name given by the
Danes to the Saxon Northweorthig",-Leicester, and
Stamford. To these were sometimes added York and
Chester, in which case the community passed under
the name of the Seven Burghs. They had a court of
"Streoneshealh also received from the Danes its present name
of Whitby; and, in general, all the districts in England occupied by
them are distinguished by places bearing names ending in by,' i. e.
city, town." THORPE'S LAPPENBERG, vol. i. p. 48. On the subject
of the Danish burghs, see Laws of Ethelred III. Palgrave, vol. ii.
p. ccxcv.
A. D. 875.]
159
ROLLO INVADES ENGLAND.
justice, and institutions in common, arising from their
relationship in blood, which, in the midst of a country
but recently subdued, bound them together by common
necessities, if not by common fears.
Whilst the events which we have related were passing
in the North, and during the year 875-6, which
Guthrum, Osketel, and Amund passed at Cambridge,
we hear little of Alfred and his West-Saxons, but they
were no doubt fully occupied in repelling the smaller
bodies of invaders, who roamed about the northern
seas, landing on every coast, and carrying off whatever
booty could be extorted from the neglect or weakness
of the natives. One of the adventurers who landed
in Wessex in 875, was the famous Rollo, who after-
wards gained for his northern followers their settle-
b
Brompton, Asser. Asserii Annales, Chron. Mailros all seem to
agree in placing Rollo's invasion of England in 875. But the Chro-
nicle of Tours says that it happened in the first year of Charles le
Gros, i. e. in 877-8.
Spelman seems to have overlooked the passage in Brompton con-
cerning the defeat of Rollo's men in England: his account of it is
this: "The departure of Rollo argues not only the hard and busy
time that Alfred now had with the Danes, but the abundant surcharge
of them at this time within the land, and the misery that the natives
the whilst endured. For howsoever Rollo's departure hence is fathered
on a dream, whereby he is said to be called into France, yet question-
less the great and secret motive was, the infinite numbers of his
countrymen here in the land, and the universal waste he saw in every
part thereof committed by them, whereby he might well reckon, he
should have but a slender booty among such a multitude of sharers.
And not unlikely he might judge (and that with great reason) that in
some new place, less obvious to the visitation of those rovers, he
should find the first and unbroken bulk of plenty more weakly
guarded than here the bottoms of their rifled coffers were." LIfe of
ALFRED, p. 51.
In the time of King Ethelstan, Rollo made a second expedition
into England, being called in by that king to assist him [Tho. Wal-
singham's Hypodigma Neustriæ, sub initium] against some rebels.
160
LIFE AND TIMES OF ALFRED THE great.
[CH. XIII.
ments in France. Though almost all accounts of these
affairs have perished, yet that the star of this able
captain and freebooter was eclipsed by that of his more
illustrious contemporary, is a fact which has found its
way to the light through all the surrounding darkness.
Rollo passed the winter in England, and plundered the
country; but when they met the Anglo-Saxon army,
his troops were broken, and many of them were slain ;
the rest escaped to France, where better fortune awaited
them, and they laid the foundation of the Norman
power, afterwards so celebrated throughout Europe.
About the same time that Rollo was repulsed from
our shores, king Alfred, entering upon a new career,
put to sea, and meeting with a small fleet consisting of
seven Danish ships, captured one of them; the rest
saved themselves by flight. We are not told on
what part of the coast this sea-fight took place; but it
is a fact of some importance, because it seems to shew,
that the king already began to turn his attention to the
formation of a navy, as the only safeguard to the liberties
of a kingdom surrounded on all sides by the sea.
If, however, we should assert that this attack on the
Danish fleet was looked upon as a breach of the treaty
into which Alfred had formerly entered, and led to the
second invasion of Wessex, which was now about to
take place, such assertion, however seemingly just, if
we look only to the short interval between the provo-
cation and its supposed consequences, must however
be made with diffidence; for it is hard to say whether
the Danes quartered at Cambridge were the same as
those who had formerly left Wessex when they made
an armistice with the king. Neither is it certain
whether the attack alluded to was made upon the fleet
Sax. Ch. Ass. Ethel. Flor. Sim, Hunt.
C
A. D. 876.]
161
DANES SURPRISE WAREHAM.
belonging to the Danes quartered at Cambridge, or
upon some other smaller body of Danish pirates,
by whom the whole sea was then infested. In this
uncertainty we must again commit ourselves to the
guidance of the Chroniclers, who have given us a
catalogue of facts, unconnected indeed as cause and
effect, yet free from those erroneous views which history,
coloured by the imagination, so frequently exhibits.
e
In the dead of night, in 876, the three Danish
kings, Guthrum, Osketel, and Amund, with their
numerous army,
stole away" from the camp at
Cambridge, where they had been twelve months in-
active, and sailed round the coast of England till they
came to Dorsetshire. Here they landed, and took by
surprise the town of Wareham, situated near the
mouths of the rivers Trent and Frome. This place,
in ancient times, was defended on three sides by the
water; and the Anglo-Saxons, perceiving its natural
strength, had already converted it into a fortress. The
harbour of Poole formally washed its walls, and no
doubt afforded an advantageous anchorage for the
Danish fleet. The activity of Alfred was now em-
ployed to remedy the evil which no human forethought
could have anticipated. He presented himself with
a large army before the fortress where the Danish
army lay, and offered them battle. Both sides,
however, laboured under peculiar disadvantages: the
Danes were inferior in numbers, and did not dare
a Sax. Chron.
This river is now called the Piddle.
It would appear from the words of Ethelwerd, " conjecit statum
communem cum occidentali exercitu, quod ante non usi sunt," that
there was another army of Danes, at this time, in the West of
England.
M
162
LIFE AND TIMES OF ALFRED THE GREAT. [CH. XIII.
to hazard an engagement; the English were little
skilled in sieges, and ventured not to attack the
entrenchments of the Danes, which, as they had
already experienced several years before at Reading,
were always skilfully and strongly constructed. In
this position of affairs, the Danes had recourse to
their usual treachery, and began to treat with the
English, whom they hoped to deceive into a false
security, until their own army should be reinforced".
Having formed this determination, they entered with-
out scruple into all the sanctions and forms of
obligation which the ingenuity of Alfred could devise.
They made oath, not only on the Christian relics of
saints, “which Alfred," says Asser, "held in veneration
next to the Deity himself," but, also, on the holy
ringi, a bracelet, which was with them a solemn and
most unusual form of adjuration, that they would
depart the kingdom: and, as a guarantee of their
faith, they hesitated not to give as many hostages as
Alfred chose to select from the highest and most noble
h
• Matthew of Westminster gives this view of the matter: it is
highly probable, though not so related in either of the six earlier
Chronicles.
h Asser.
·
i Sax. Ch. Ethelw. "The beag,' or bracelet, appears to have
been of a somewhat oval form, and open on one side: but it also
signifies a ring. The ceremony here noticed may perhaps be elu-
cidated by the following passage from Arngrim Jonas: In ara
præterea annulus asservabatur argentens, vel ex orichalco, unciarum
xx, quem forensi aliquo munere fungentes, jusjurandum jam præsti-
turi, victimarum illinitum cruore, religiose inter jurandum contrec-
tabant.' Rer. Island. i. 7; and see Bartholinus, De armillis, p. 101."
PETRIE IN CORPUS HISTORICUM, p. 355, note. See also M. Adamus,
[Eccles. Hist. lib. i. cap. 33.] Olaus Mag. [lib. viii. c. 2.] and the
annals of Fuld. [sub an. 873.]
'
A. D. 876.]
THE DANES MARCH TO EXETER.
163
persons in their army. On the other hand, Alfred
may be supposed to have bargained, that he would not
molest them on their retreat, for nothing is said by
the Chroniclers concerning his part of the treaty
except by Ethelwerd alone, who adds, that their
departure was purchased with money. If the fact be
so, we cannot hesitate to condemn the king's policy,
which only served to furnish supplies to the enemy,
though it may have been deemed of advantage to the
English to procure a cessation, however short, from
the harassing warfare to which they were exposed.
The result, however, proved the fallaciousness of the
king's hopes; the enemy "practised their usual trea-
chery, and, caring nothing for the hostages or their
oaths, broke the treaty, and, sallying forth by night,
attacked and slew all the cavalry that were in attend-
ance upon the king." The horses belonging to the
slain were sufficiently numerous to mount a large body
of the Danes, who, having this rapid mode of transit,
crossed the borders of Devonshire, and occupied the city
of Exeter, which was surrounded by high and strong
walls. Alfred, indignant at this breach of faith, hanged
the hostages™, and followed with his army, but did not
overtake them until they were safe within the fortifications
of Exeter". The king was again baffled, and retired with
his troops: the Danes spent the winter in Exeter.
The rest of the year 876 seems to have passed without
any other achievement or event of importance; but the
Danish army was continually receiving reinforcements.
"The number of that disorderly crew," says Asser,
* Sax. Ch. &c.
1 Asser.
m
Brompton, fol. 809.
Matthew of Westminster is rather more explanatory here than
the six older Chronicles.
M 2
164
LIFE AND TIMES OF ALFRED THE GREAT.
[CH. XIII.
"increased every day, so that if thirty thousand of
them were slain in one battle, others took their places
to double the number." But King Alfred was not
deterred from his purpose by the increasing multitude
of his enemies. On the contrary, he at length per-
ceived in what manner their depredations could be
most effectually checked, and the arrivals of fresh
troops be prevented.
It was now his intention no longer to wait patiently
until they should be landed in his country, but to meet
them upon the sea, when, cooped in their narrow
vessels, and fatigued with their voyage, they would
present no formidable opposition; or even if they were
successful and should effect a landing, they would be
weakened by the previous encounter, and the less able
to prosecute their ravages. With these views the king
had for some time determined to create a navy: with a
clear conviction of the benefit which would result from
this plan, he caused to be built a large number of long
boats and galleys fit to serve along the coast. As the
Saxons, since their settlement in Britain, had entirely
abandoned naval pursuits, it was necessary for the
king to look abroad for sailors to supply his navy:
fortunately for this especial purpose the sea was
covered with pirates, i. e. adventurers who went about,
with larger or smaller bands of followers, according
to their means, in quest of what they could get,
and it was not difficult for the king to enlist as
many of these as he pleased in his service. Thus a
fleet was created, capable in some measure of contend-
ing with that of the enemy; and the first duty which
was imposed on the new navy was to guard the seas,
and prevent supplies from being thrown into Exeter,
which it was now the intention of the king to besiege.
A.D. 877.] SHIPWRECK AT SWANAGE-SIEGE OF EXETER. 165
1
.
In the beginning of 877, the army at Wareham re-
moved, partly by land, and partly on board their ships,
to Swanage, on the coast of Dorsetshire, intending to
sail from thence to Exeter: but a storm here sur-
prised them, by which they were so shattered, that
when the fleet of Alfred came suddenly upon them,
they were defeated at all points, and lost no less than
a hundred and twenty ships. Whilst these events
were passing, Alfred marched to Exeter, and laid siege
to that city. The Danish garrison, shut out from
reinforcements or supplies by the activity of the
English fleet, and disheartened by the loss of their
ships at Swanage, once more offered a capitulation,
apparently still more favourable to the English than
that which they before had violated. The English king
again received hostages from them, and compelled
them to promise on oath that they would leave his
territories. This time the Danes faithfully observed
their promise in the month of August, 877, the
• The account given in the text seems to me to be the only
possible mode of reconciling the discordant narratives of the Saxon
Chron. Asser, Ethelwerd, Flor. Sim. Hunt. and Matthew of West-
minster. A principal cause of the difficulty is the fact, that Asser
mentions two fleets of 120 ships, and he adds, that they were a fresh
arrival from Denmark. It may be doubted whether a similar
reduplication of events has not crept in concerning the attack on
Alfred's cavalry, the first march to Exeter, and the king's first pursuit
in 876. Those who mention only one march to Exeter, are not
agreed as to the year: some place it in 876, others in 877: the
expression in Asser hiemabant, makes it probable that it happened
on the confiues of the two years, viz. in Dec. 876, or in Jan. 877. It
should also be mentioned, that Swanwich in Hampshire, and not
Swanage in Dorsetshire, has been sometimes selected as the place
where the Danish fleet was destroyed. If that fleet was a fresh
arrival, both theories are tenable: if however it belonged to the army
at Wareham, Swanage in Dorsetshire has superior claims.
r Mense Augusto, ASSER. Iustanti autumni tempore, FLOR.
166
LIFE AND TIMES OF ALFRED THE GREAT. [CH. XIII.
whole army left Wessex and entered Mercia, which
had now been two years under the deputy-king
Ceolwolf. This miserable hireling, according to his
former agreement, surrendered to the Danes a portion
of the Mercian kingdom, and was allowed to retain
the remainder for a time in his own possession *.
That part which he gave up was speedily divided out
among the Danish soldiers, who settled upon their
allotments, and seemed likely, after the example of
their countrymen in East-Anglia and Northumbria,
to become peaceful occupiers of the lands which they
had once so fearfully ravaged".
"They fixed their huts in Gloucester after various turns," says
Ethelwerd, alone of all the Chroniclers.
q
* See the account of his cruelties and death in page 138.
“The conduct of Alfred, in the first years of his reign, seems to
have been imprudent. While acting with his brother, he was
energetic and indefatigable; but, after he became possessed of the
crown himself, instead of a system of vigilance and vigour against
his enemies, we find nothing but inert quietude, temporising paci-
fications, and transient armaments. The only plan discernible in
the first seven years of his reign, was to gain a momentary repose.
An interval of tranquillity was certainly obtained; but it was a
delusive slumber on the precipice of fate." TURNER, vol. i. p. 538.
After a careful perusal of the Chroniclers, I am not convinced that
these views of our able historian are well-founded, at least not to their
full extent. If we look to the result of Alfred's exertions, we find
that the second invasion of Wessex, which forms the subject of the
text above, was as unsuccessful as the former, begun in 871, whilst
king Ethelred was still alive.
1
CHAP. XIV.
THIRD INVASION OF WESSEX IN JAN. 878.-SEIZURE OF CHIPPEN-
HAM-RETREAT OF THE KING TO THE WILDS OF SOMERSETSHIRE-
OPINIONS OF DIFFERENT WRITERS ON THIS EVENT-SUPPOSED
DISCOVERY OF A BATTLE AT CHIPPENHAM, AS RELATED BY JOHN
BROMPTON.
WHEN the army of the three Danish kings, in
August 877, retired to Mercia, and presented the
appearance of converting their swords into plough-
shares for the cultivation of the lands which they had
conquered, the kingdom of Wessex, for aught that
the Chroniclers have told us to the contrary, was left
entirely free from the spoilers.
We may receive the account, which Henry of Hun-
tingdon has left us, as a true though brief summary
of the state in which things were at the period we are
describing :
Magn
a
"It was the seventh year of King Alfred's reign ;
and the Danes were in possession of all the kingdom
on the northern side of the Thames; Halfdene reigned
in Northumberland; the brother of Halfdene in East
Anglia; and the three kings [Guthrum, Osketel, and
Amund] above mentioned were with their deputy-king
Ceolwolf in Mercia; so that to Alfred nothing remained
but that part of the kingdom, which lies to the south
of the river Thames."
.
B
But this territory to the south of the Thames was
all that had ever belonged in separate sovereignty to
From the 23d of April 877, to the 23d of April 878.
168
LIFE AND TIMES OF ALFRED THE GREAT. [CH. XIV.
Alfred neither he nor his predecessors had ever
exercised personal and immediate jurisdiction over
Mercia, East Anglia, or Wessex, which at the utmost
had only acknowledged vassalage, as subordinate king-
doms, to Egbert. If, therefore, the war had now been
brought to a close, the kingdom of Wessex would
have been little the worse for its long conflict with the
Danes; and, in the course of a few generations, the
three more northern states would have borne but faint
marks of their violent change of masters.
But a
great crisis was impending, of more importance to our
History than all that we have yet related; and it
unfortunately happens, that our original records be-
come more than usually concise, nay almost silent,
upon subjects which would be of the greatest interest,
and about which we could not have known too much.
In consequence of this deficiency in our early autho-
rities, modern historians have laudably and ably endea-
voured by conjecture to supply the links which are
necessary to connect the narrative, and to weave it
into such a continuity, as to impart some portion of
interest, perhaps also of instruction, to the reader.
The different views, which different writers have
adopted on this portion of our history, have also been
promulgated with less personal violence than is some-
times unhappily found to exist between opposing
theories. It may also be observed, that those who
have lately treated of the interesting but obscure
events of the year 878, have adhered with much
fidelity to the old Chroniclers, and have exercised
the powers of their imagination by way of supplement,
and not as a substitute for the actual facts which those
Chroniclers supply. Thus a skilful architect, when he
is invited to restore an old and beautiful but dilapi-
A. D. 878.]
169
THIRD INVASION OF WESSEX.
dated building, preserves with scrupulous care all the
outline of its design, together with the symmetry of
such parts as time has saved, and, if he is compelled
by necessity to construct afresh any portions which
have entirely disappeared, he will mark such parts in
his plan as not original, but the offspring-perhaps
the beautiful offspring-of his own skill, not unworthy
to occupy the place which he has assigned them in the
venerable fabric.
Following the example of this prudent artist, I shall
endeavour to collect all that the original writers have
left us concerning the year which forms the crisis in
King Alfred's life, and with these accounts to compare
the additions and restorations which have been made
by modern historians; to reject such of these as appear
to be unwarranted by fact or probability, and to enlarge
or illustrate others which seem to be founded on an
acute discrimination of what is true or false in the
perplexing pages of history.
The evacuation of Wessex was, perhaps, one of those
perfidious feints, by which the Danes had so often
deceived their opponents; for a remarkably short space
of time-only four months-passed away, and we find
them again assailing the Saxons with equal fury, and
unfortunately with greater success. But the witnesses,
who can give us the original narrative of these events,
shall come before us in order, and tell their own story.
The first of these is Asser, who, as the personal
friend of the king, may have heard from those who
were present, probably from the king himself, what
took place in Wiltshire, in the month of January 878.
"In the year of our Lord's incarnation 878, which
was the thirtieth of King Alfred's life, the army above
mentioned, from Exeter, went to Chippenham, a royal
170
LIFE AND TIMES OF ALFRED THE GREAT. [CH. XIV.
villa, situated in the west of Wiltshire, and on the
eastern bank of the river, which is called in British
the Avon. There they wintered, and drove many of
the inhabitants of that country beyond sea by the force
of their arms, and by want of the necessaries of life.
They reduced almost entirely to subjection all the
people of that country.
b
"At the same time, the above-named Alfred, king of
the West Saxons, with a few of his nobles, and certain
soldiers and vassals, used to lead an unquiet life
among the woodlands of the county of Somerset, in
great tribulation; for he had none of the necessaries
of life, except what he could forage openly or stealthily,
by frequent sallies, from the Pagans, or even from
the Christians who had submitted to the rule of the
Pagans, and, as we read in the life of St. Neot, at
the house of one of his cowherds."
Similar to the foregoing is the testimony of the
Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, a portion of which perhaps
was written soon after the events it records:
"A. D. 878. This year, during midwinter, after
Twelfth night, [i. e. after Jan. 6.] the army stole away
to Chippenham, and overran the land of the West
Saxons, and sat down there; and many of the people
they drove beyond the sea, and of the remainder the
greater part they subdued, and forced to obey them,
except King Alfred, and he, with a small band,
↳ Perhaps miles may here be equivalent to knight, or some similar
order of men, as it often was after the Norman Conquest.
This sentence has been inserted, probably as a marginal note, by
a copyist, for we are not certain that St. Neot was dead when Asser
wrote this; and it is not probable that any life of him existed at that
time.
A, D. 878.]
171
DANES SURPRISE CHIPPENHAM.
retreated with difficulty to the woods, and to the fast-
nesses of the moors.'
Ethelwerd does little more than vary the language
of the two preceding authorities:
"A. D. 878. At the end of that year [877], this
foul mob broke the compact which they had before
solemnly made with the Western English, and they
take up their winter-quarters at Chippenham. The
people were every where unable to resist: some of
them were driven over the sea into the Gallic shores.
King Alfred, also, at this time was straitened more
than was becoming."
Of the three Chroniclers who wrote after the
Norman Conquest, Florence and Simeon add nothing
to the testimony already given. Henry of Huntingdon
slightly varies the account thus:
CC
Though nothing but the country on the south
side of the Thames remained to King Alfred, the
three kings who were in Mercia begrudged him even
that. They therefore came to Chippenham in Wessex
with a great multitude just arrived from Denmark®;
and covering the land like locusts, because there was
no one to resist them, they took possession of it for
themselves. Part of the Saxon people fled beyond
the sea; part followed Alfred, who concealed himself
with a few followers in the woods; another part of
them made submission to the enemy."
These passages give us all that remains of original
""
d
Gallia, Gualia, or Wallia. Does this mean France or Wales?
I am disposed to believe the latter.
• Other authorities assure us, that the Danes received a large rein-
forcement from Denmark. "Exercitus de Exancestre adiit Chipen-
ham cum mira multitudine quæ nuper venerat de Dania." [Chron.
Mailros, p. 144.]
172
Life and TIMES OF ALFRED THE GREAT. [CH. XIV.
testimony concerning the third invasion of Wessex at
the beginning of 878, and the temporary downfal of its
king. Let us next see what has been made out of
these accounts by modern writers.
First, Spelman introduces this part of the subject,
as follows:
The Danes who retired from Exeter to Mercia
"were but few in comparison of the great multitudes
of them, which scatteringly filled every corner of the
land, who after diverse dispersings by little and little
gathering together, enticed themselves into one body,
and being so much increased with new incomes, as
they were become a mighty army, like locusts (saith
Huntingdon) covering the face of the earth, they
despise any longer to be resisted by so poor a handful
as the Saxons now were grown unto, and, therefore,
contrary to faith, and oath, and the security of their
hostages, they enter the king's country, and like a
raging flood, bearing all before it, they chase the
away
natives. And at Chippenham, in Wiltshire, at that
time a principal town of the kings of the West-Saxons,
and in the heart of the country, they set them down,
not intending a wintering only (as at other times)
and away, but, seeing the other parts of the kingdom
either waste or already in dividend among their
countrymen, and this the only fresh part of the island,
and most to be desired for receipt of so great a
plantation, they choose that to be the lot of their
residence.
.
"The Saxons were before quite spent and done,
their late actions had utterly overthrown them; only
for the present they subsisted rather in the reputation
of their prince and credit of their former deeds, than
any real power that at this time survived in them; and
A. D. 878.]
173
ALFRED'S RETREAT.
the Danes (as it were afraid of the lion's skin) had
made a stand awhile, and forbore to attempt any
further against the king; but that fear quickly vanish-
ing, they no sooner now entered the king's country,
but the Saxons (that knew they wanted no more to
make an end of them, than that the enemy should
insist upon the advantage that he had) finding all
gone, began to think it time to look every one unto his
own safety; those of the best condition and truest to
their prince to fly into Wales, or to hide themselves in
the woods and safest places of the kingdom; the rest,
looking only on the present face of things, and pre-
ferring security, though upon the vilest terms what-
soever, before trouble and danger, revolted from the
king, and submitted themselves to the barbarous
enemy, doubly augmenting him thereby, to what like
number of others could have done, because it was
with his adversary's equal diminution.
"Alfred seeing his subjects fly, the enemy in the
midst of his country, and no means left either to unite
or solicit the few that remained unto him, being forced
to give way unto the rage of fortune and comply with
it, lays aside all kingly state and show of being a
prince, disposes of his family according to present
necessity, and taking the disguise of an obscure and
common soldier, he at first commits himself and his
safety to one who (according to the manner of those
times) had the charge and keeping of some of the
king's cows whether as a soldier only, and unknown,
or whether as king, and known unto the neat-herd
himself, appeareth not: but as to the neat-herd's wife,
it is clear, by a tale they tell of her, that she had no
suspicion who he was."
These views of Spelman have passed current in the
174
LIFE AND TIMES OF ALFRED THE GREAT. [CH, XIV.
writings of all our modern historians, until the begin-
ning of the present century, when rhetorical amplifica-
tion of what was at first concise and glowing pictures
of what was originally obscure, are no longer admitted
into the pages of authentic history. The want of
connection between the invasion of Wessex and the
retreat of Alfred as a fugitive and outcast did not
escape the notice of Turner, who, by his powerful
and extensive examination of original documents, has
led the public to regret that he did not make the life
of the great Alfred a subject of minute and specific
enquiry in a separate work. I may, without impro-
priety, in this trial of the witnesses, introduce the
whole passage in which he justly enumerates the
difficulties which assail us.
"These circumstances," he observes, namely, those
which are found in the narratives of the contemporary
writers above quoted,-" are so extraordinary, that it
is difficult to comprehend them. The Danes invade
Wessex, the country falls, undefended, into their
hands, and Alfred preserves his life by such a conceal-
ment, that his friends were as ignorant as his enemies,
both of his residence and fate.
"Such became his distress, that he knew not where
to turn; such was his poverty, that he had even no
subsistence but that which by furtive or open plunder
he could extort, not merely from the Danes, but even
from those of his subjects who submitted to their
government; or by fishing and hunting obtain. He
wandered about in woods and marshes in the greatest
penury with a few companions; sometimes, for greater
secresy, alone. He had neither territory, nor, for a
time, the hope of regaining any.
"To find Alfred and the country in this distress, and
A. D. 878.]
175
ALFRED'S RETREAT.
at the same time to remark, that no battles are
mentioned to have occurred between the arrival of the
Northmen at Chippenham and the flight of the king,
or the subjection of the country, are circumstances
peculiarly perplexing. It is not stated, on this in-
vasion, as it is on every other, that Alfred collected an
army, and resisted the Northmen; that he retired at
the head of his forces, though defeated; that he posted
himself in any fortress, or that he took any measures
to defend the country against its enemies. They
invade in January, and between that month and the
following Easter, a very short period, all this disaster
occurred.
"The power of the Danes had been formidable, but
it had never been found by Alfred to be irresistible;
and the events of a few months proved that it was
easily assailable. When they attacked his brother,
they met a resistance which has been recorded.
When they attacked himself in the preceding years,
his means of opposition, though not vigorous, are yet
noticed. But, on this invasion, a most remarkable
silence occurs as to any measures of defence. As far
as we can penetrate into such an obscured incident,
we can discern none; nothing appears but panic and
disaffection in the people; inactivity and distress in
the king.
"To suppose that the Northmen surprised him by a
rapid movement into Wessex is no diminution of the
difficulty, because they had been eight years in the
"This was remarkable," observes the same author in a note [7,
pag. 540,] "because Odun's defence in Kynwith [see hereafter] and
Alfred's subsequent fortification in Ethelingey, shew how such a
retreat would have protected the country. Hoveden says that his
ministers retired to Kynwith, p. 417."
176
LIFE AND TIMES OF ALFRED THE GREAT. [CH. XIV.
island, moving about as they pleased; and often with
celerity, for the purpose of easier victory. Rapidity of
motion was, indeed, a part of their usual tactics, both
in England and in France; and not to have prepared
against an event that was always possible, and always
impending over him, impeaches both the judgment
and patriotism of the king at this period of peril.
"Before Alfred, from a respected sovereign, would
have become a miserable fugitive, we should expect
to read of many previous battles; of much patriotic
exertion, corresponding with his character and dignity,
and the duties of his station, and worthy of his intel-
lect. If defeated in one county, we should look for
him in another; always with an army, or in a fortress;
always withstanding the fierce enemies who assaulted
him.
C
"What overwhelmed Alfred with such distress?
What drove him so easily from his throne? It
could not be, as Sir John Spelman intimates, that
the Saxons were before quite spent and done:'
because it is not true, that in 877 they fought seven
desperate battles ".' These battles have been placed
in this year hitherto erroneously. On comparing
every reputable Chronicler with Asser, the friend of
the king, we find them to have occurred in the last
year of Ethelred's reign, and the first of Alfred's.
Since that period, though the king sometimes headed
armies, no sanguinary conflict is mentioned to have
ensued in Wessex. Seven years had now elapsed
without one important struggle; the strength of West
Saxony was therefore unimpaired, because one third
of the juvenile population at Alfred's accession, would,
in 878, have attained the age of courageous manhood.
* See the extract from Spelman in page 172.
A. D. 878.]
177
OPINIONS OF TURNER AND LINGARD.
C
6
C
"That the arrival of new supplies from the Baltic,
could not have broken the spirits of the Saxons' so
suddenly, and have reduced them to despair,' is
probable, because the West Saxons had not, for the
last seven years, undergone a miserable havoc in
their persons and property, and had exerted no
'vigorous actions in their own defence.' So far from
being reduced to the necessity of despair, we shall
find that a single summons from their king, when he
had recovered his self-possession, and resolved to be
the heroic patriot, was sufficient to bring them eagerly
into the field, though the undisputed occupation of
the country for some months must have rendered the
collection of an adequate force more difficult, and its
hostilities far less availing, than before. The king is
not stated to have troubled them with exhortations, to
defend their prince, their country, and their liberties ¹,'
before he retired. And it is remarkable, that the
foes, whom he had left at Chippenham, he found near
Westbury, when he made the effort which produced
his restoration. Amid all the confusion, emigration,
and dismay, which his seclusion must have produced,
twenty miles composed the extent of their intermediate
progress. The invaders, whose conquests when unre-
sisted were so circumscribed, and whose triumphs were
afterwards destroyed by one well-directed effort, could
not have exhibited that gigantic port, which intimi-
dates strength into imbecility, and ensures destruction,
by annihilating the spirit that might avert it."
،
The next author in point of time who has treated of
this subject is Dr. Lingard, who has written a History
of England, characterised by elegance of skill, and, in
h "This is our Hume's mistaken account."
i Hist. Ang. Sax. vol. i. p. 539.
N
178
LIFE AND TIMES OF ALFRED THE GREAT.
[CH. XIV.
some parts of it, by much original research. In his
account of Alfred, for the year 878, he attempts to
smooth the difficulties which his predecessor had
pointed out, as follows:
"At the close of the last campaign, we left him in
the undisturbed possession of the kingdom of Wessex:
at the beginning of the next year, we discover him a
solitary fugitive, lurking in the morasses of Somerset-
shire. This sudden revolution arose from the policy
of Gothrun, the most artful of the Northmen. That
chieftain, on his retreat out of Wessex, had fixed his
residence at Gloucester, and rewarded the services of
his veterans by dividing among them the lands in the
neighbourhood. But, while this peaceful occupation
seemed to absorb his attention, his mind was actively
employed in arranging a plan of warfare, which threat-
ened to extinguish the last of the Saxon governments
in Britain. A winter campaign had hitherto been
unknown in the annals of Danish devastation: after
their summer expeditions, the invaders had always
devoted the succeeding months to festivity and repose;
and it is probable, that the followers of Gothrun were
as ignorant as the Saxons of the real design of their
leader.
"On the first day of the year 878, they received
an unexpected summons to meet him on horseback
at an appointed place: on the night of the 6th of
January, they were in possession of Chippenham, a
royal villa on the left bank of the Avon. There is
reason to believe that Alfred was in the place when
the alarm was given; it is certain that he could not be
at any great distance. From Chippenham, Gothrun
dispersed his cavalry in different directions over the
neighbouring counties: the Saxons were surprised by
A. D. 878.]
179
LINGARD-LAPPEnberg.
the enemy before they had heard of the war; and the
king saw himself surrounded by the barbarians, with-
out horses, and almost without attendants. At first
he conceived the rash design of rushing on the multi-
tude of his enemies: but his temerity was restrained
by the more considerate suggestions of his friends;
and he consented to reserve himself for a less dan-
gerous and more hopeful experiment. To elude
suspicion, he dismissed the few thanes who were still
near his person, and endeavoured, alone and on foot,
to gain the centre of Somersetshire. There he found
a secure retreat in a small island, situated in a morass
formed by the confluence of the Thone and the
Parret k”
k
"To account for the sudden retreat of Alfred," says
the same historian in a note to the foregoing passage,
"and the temporary extinction of the West-Saxon
powers, has perplexed most historians. I shall not
enumerate their different hypotheses, as the account
given in the text satisfactorily, in my opinion, explains
the whole difficulty, and is supported by authorities
which seem to have been." The author then proceeds
to quote the passage from the Saxon Chronicle, which
I have given in a preceding page'; and observes, in
conclusion, on the authority of Ethelwerd's expression
obequitando, gallopping over the country,' that the
success of the Danish army was owing to their
celerity.
<
Soon after the appearance of Dr. Lingard's History,
Lappenberg, an able and learned German, published
his History of the Anglo-Saxons. The author has
examined deeply into the sources upon which his work
is compiled, but he gives us no new light upon the
¹ Page 170.
1
Lingard, Hist. of England, vol. i. p. 169.
N 2
180
LIFE AND TIMES OF ALFRED THE GREAT. [CH. XIV.
subject of our present enquiry. Yet, that nothing
may be omitted, we will hear his testimony in his own
words.
"The condition of Wessex," says he, "was truly
deplorable. The Danes had penetrated so far into
the northern parts, and devastated the country so
cruelly, that the district of the brave Sumorsætas
alone remained free from their ravages. On many
of his subjects, particularly those of British race,
Alfred could place no reliance; and many of the
natives, driven by fear and want, had fled beyond the
sea, while others preferred subjection to the barbarous
pagans, and not only forsook, but even rebelled,
against the stedfast king. Had a hostile spear at that
time pierced him, had his noble heart been capable of
quailing, of prompting him to a weak desperate sacri-
fice, or of allowing him to seek safety among his conti-
nental kindred, then would both the royal race and
freedom have been extinguished in England, and the
country, turned into a desert, have fallen a prey to the
northern pirates. With a few of his nobles, warriors,
and vassals........the king, forsaken by and separated
from his people, passed some months during the winter
in the cottage of one of his cowherds, among the woods
and marshes of Somersetshire, where subsistence for
himself and his followers was only to be obtained,
either by force or stratagem from the Pagans, or from
the Christians under their subjection m.
""
I shall content myself with one more quotation from
the Pictorial History of England, a valuable work,
whose author evidently had before him the foregoing
paragraph from Dr. Lingard, when he wrote that
which follows:
m
Thorpe's Lappenberg, vol. ii. p. 52.
A. D. 878.] GUTHRUM'S INVASION CONsidered.
181
·
"Guthrum had no sooner retreated from Exeter,
than he began to prepare for another war: and this
he did with great art, and by employing all his means
and influence; for he had learned to appreciate the
qualities of his enemy, and he was himself the most
skilful, steady, and persevering of all the invaders.
He fixed his head-quarters at no greater distance from
Alfred than the city of Gloucester, around which he
had broad and fertile lands to distribute among his
warriors. His fortunate raven attracted the birds of
rapine from every quarter; and when every thing was
ready for a fresh incursion into the west, he craftily
proceeded in a new and unexpected manner. A winter
campaign had hitherto been unknown among the
Danes, but on the 1st day of January, 878, his choicest
warriors received a secret order to meet him on horse-
back at an appointed place. Alfred was at Chippenham,
a strong residence of the Wessex kings. It was the
feast of the Epiphany or Twelfth-night, and the Saxons
were probably celebrating the festival, when they heard
Guthrum and his Danes were at the gates. Surprised
thus, by the celerity of an overwhelming force, they
could offer but an ineffectual resistance. Many were
slain; the foe burst into Chippenham, and Alfred,
escaping with a little band, retired with an anxious
mind to the woods and the fastnesses of the moors.
As the story is generally told, the king could not make
head against the Danes; but other accounts state, that
he immediately fought several battles in succession.
We are inclined to the latter belief, which renders
the broken spirits and despair of the men of Wessex
more intelligible; but all are agreed in the facts, that,
not long after the Danes stole into Chippenham, they
rode over the kingdom of Wessex, where no army was
182
life and times of ALFRED THE GREAT. [CH. XIV.
:
left to oppose them; that numbers of the population
fled to the Isle of Wight and the opposite shores of
the continent, while those who remained tilled the soil
for their hard-taskers", the Danes, whom they tried to
conciliate with presents and an abject submission.
The brave men of Somerset alone retained some spirit,
and continued in the main true to their king; but even
in their country, where he finally sought a refuge, he
was obliged to hide in fens and coverts, for fear of
being betrayed to his powerful foe Guthrun °.
""
From these extracts it is evident, that those who
have written, either directly or incidentally, of this
portion of English history, have met with a stumbling-
block in the sudden vicissitude which Alfred's career
presents, apparently from no sufficient cause, in the
short space of three or four months at the beginning
of the year 878. The difficulty, slightly glossed over
by Spelman and other writers, has been put forward in
all its force by Turner, and runs more or less through
those who have followed him; and it will be noticed,
that they agree in supposing that a battle or battles
must have been fought at Chippenham before so brave
a king would resign his crown and retire to the woods
and the fastnesses of the moors.
"No battles," says
" I cannot approve of this mode of amplifying old histories. Does
it not strike the reader how very brief must have been the servitude
of the West-Saxons? They were overthrown by the invaders in
January, and in June King Alfred gave the Danes a total overthrow
at Ethandune, by which the kingdom of Wessex was reestablished
stronger than before. If the Saxons were in the interval compelled
to plant and sow, they ought afterwards to have been grateful to the
Danes for having been made to do a thing so necessary; for if they
planted in January, it was to their own benefit, as they reaped the
fruits themselves in July and August.
• Pict. Hist. of England, vol. i. p. 158.
A. D. 878.]
183
DIFFICULTY OF ALFRED'S RETREAT.
Turner, “are mentioned to have occurred between the
arrival of the Northmen at Chippenham and the flight
of the king!" and then, as if he anticipated Dr.
Lingard's reply, he observes, that the speed with which
the Danes surprised Alfred is no diminution of the
difficulty, for they had been eight years in the island,
and rapidity of movement was the prevailing feature of
their wars.
No fresh facts or new theories are
adduced by Lappenberg or by the author of the
last extract above quoted: though the latter of those
writers expresses his disposition to incline towards the
opinion of those who believe that a battle or battles
must have preceded the king's flight and the sub-
mission of the West-Saxons. As no more recent
writer has adopted the theory which Turner was the
first to propose, as an explanation of the king's sudden
downfall, namely, that his oppressive government
during the first seven years of his reign caused his
subjects to abandon him, I shall defer until the next
chapter the consideration of that subject, not as con-
nected with the occurrences of 878, but as a separate
matter of enquiry, that nothing may be omitted in
delineating the character and actions of a king whose
history belongs, not to England alone, but to the
world and to mankind.
Let us then at present enquire, whether there are
no original records still remaining of a battle fought at
Chippenham, in which Alfred was defeated, and com-
pelled to flee for safety to the "woods and fastnesses
of the moors." It will be noticed in the Saxon
Chronicle, that though no battle is described, yet
there is an allusion to a battle: they," i. e. the
Danes," subdued the greater part-except King Alfred,
who with difficulty retreated to the woods," &c. Kings,
184
LIFE AND TIMES OF ALFRED THE GREAT. [CH. XIV.
who have large armies, always ready for action, as King
Alfred had at this time, do not retreat with difficulty,
until those armies have been defeated. Notwith-
standing this strong probability, we look in vain
through the annals of Ethelwerd, Asser, Florence,
Simeon, and Henry of Huntingdon, for any account of
a battle at Chippenham leading to such a strange and
sudden vicissitude in King Alfred's life. It is equally
fruitless to look through the histories of Roger de
Wendover, Matthew Paris, William of Malmesbury,
and many others, who wrote about 150 years after
the Norman Conquest. The Chronicles of Melrose
abbey, of Peterborough, and of Croyland, supply
nothing to fill up the blank which has caused so much
difficulty. Yet the important fact, for which so strict
a search has been made, may, I believe, be found in
the Chronicle of John Brompton, the historian of
Jorvaulx abbey. This writer's historical work ends
in the year 1199, though it is supposed that he lived
a century later, in the reign of King Edward III. The
chronology of Brompton for the whole of Alfred's life
is clearly erroneous, and the facts which he relates are
not only in many cases perfectly irreconcileable with
those mentioned by other writers, but they are also put
into a different order, and told in a different manner,
as if he had not always seen the earlier writers, who, as
is well known, copy one from the other almost in the
same words. From this it results that Brompton,
though valuable as a subsidiary, cannot be depended
upon for the accuracy of his statements, when they are
in contradiction to the earlier contemporary writers.
When, however, these are silent, we may with propriety
examine his history for facts, which, though he wit-
nessed them not himself, he has nevertheless copied
A. D. 878.]
185
BROMPTON'S NARRATIVE.
from others who were eye-witnesses, but whose writings
in the lapse of centuries have perished. I shall, there-
fore, without more preface, lay before the reader John
Brompton's narrative of the first years of Alfred's
reign, and, I believe, we shall there find, though mis-
placed by an interval of several years, the battle of
Chippenham, for which historians have been so long
seeking.
"When King Etheldred' was dead, his brother, who
hitherto, during the life of his brothers, had been of
secondary rank, succeeded to the entire sovereignty of
Wessex in the year of our Lord 873, and he was the
first of all the kings of England who received regal
unction, which was administered to him, as it is written,
by Pope Leo at Rome. That same year the Danes
pursued the new king, and came up with him at Walton
in Sussex, where King Alfred, in the midst of the fight,
fled from the field of battle, and escaped to the wood.
From thence he went into Wessex, where he collected
all the people of his kingdom, and in a short time had
so large an army, consisting of his own subjects and
others, that the Danes did not dare to meet him in the
field. He then went to attack them in London, where
they had taken up their residence: but the Danes,
not venturing to give him battle, asked peace of him,
and offered to let him choose out of them whatever
hostages he pleased, on condition that they should leave
his dominions, and never again enter them. On that
same day, therefore, the hostages were given, and the
Danes leaving London, marched the whole night, and
never rested until they reached Exeter, which they
surprised and occupied. When King Alfred heard
this, he first hanged the hostages, and then followed
Another mode of spelling Ethelred.
186
LIFE AND TIMES OF ALFRED THE GREAT. [CH. XIV.
the Danes with all his army to Exeter. The Danes,
hearing that he was coming, abandoned the city, and
went as far as Chippenham in Wessex; where they
did much damage; plundering the country, and expel-
ling the people from their habitations. But King
Alfred came upon them there, and bravely encountered
them in a battle, where Hubba the brother of Hinguar,
and Bruern Bocard, who had first conducted them from
Denmark, were both slain, besides many others on
both sides. At last the Danes prevailed, and Alfred,
who had in too great haste marched against them with
too small an army, escaped from the battle in the best
manner that he could. The Danes finding the body
of Hubba among the slain, buried it amid loud lament-
ations, and placed over it a mound, which they called
Hubbelowe, as it is still so called to this very day in
the county of Devon, where it is to be seen"."
An old Chronicle, called Brute of England, [MS. in Bibl. Bodl.
inter codd. Digb. num. 185.] mentions Hinguar also among the
slain. "And when the Danes fond Hungar and Hubba deid, thei
bare theym to a mountain ther bysyde, and made upon bym a logge
and lete call it Hubbslugh. And so itt is to this day in Debenshire."
HEARNE'S NOTE TO SPELMAN, p. 60. but no confidence can be placed
in these English chronicles, which are mere compilations sometimes
at third or fourth hand from earlier Latin authorities.
Here it must be noted, that it was the common way of burial
with the Danes to raise Tumuli upon the bodies, of which there were
three sorts, [Olai Wormii monum. Dan. p. 40.] the first whereof was
with heaps of great stones, which was proper only to their kings.
These Tumuli were called Lowes in the old English language, either
from the British word Llehau, i. e. locare vel collocare, [see Dr. Davies's
Brit. Dictionary;] or from the Saxon word leg, lig, lige, or (according
to the pronunciation of the Danes) loge, signifying flame. As therefore
bustum denoted the place where a man was burned and buried, so did
our ancestors, in imitation of them, call the place of burial lowe,
whether the bodies were burned or not. And this latter seems to be
the more true etymology; because in Scotland and the Northern
A. D. 878.]
187
BROMPTON'S NARRATIVE.
"When the barons of the counties of Somerset, Wilts,
and Dorset, heard of the calamity that had befallen
their king Alfred, they all assembled in great force at
the place where he was; for they were rejoiced to see
him safe and sound, having believed that he was dead.
Wherefore the king and the barons immediately took
counsel about pursuing the Danes, and galloping after
them with an immense army all that night, the next
morning at the ninth hour they came up with them
at Abingdon. Alfred and his men immediately
assaulted them, and the battle which ensued was more
valorously contested than any they had fought before:
but the Danes resisted the English so bravely, that it
is impossible to say on which side the loss of life was
parts of England, the flame of any fire is called low to this day, the
common people [see Sir Will. Dugdale's Antiq. of Warwicksh. p. 4.
Dr. Skinner's Etymolog. vocum omnium antiquarum Anglic. and
Mr. Ray's Collection of English Words not generally used, Lond.
1691, 8vo. ed. second] usually saying, that the fire lows, when it
blazeth or flameth. For which reason Gawin Douglas, bishop of
Dunkel, in his old Scotch translation of Virgil's En. [lib. vii. fol.
CLIV. b, printed at Lond. MDLIII. 4to.] useth the word in the same
sense:
As King Latynus kindyllis on there gyse
Apoun the Altaris for the Sacrifice
The clere chidis [corrected schidis by Junius in his copy in
Bibl. Bodl.] of the dry fyre brandis.
Quhare that also by hir fader standis
Lavinia the maid, his douchter fare,
Ane selcouth thing to se, in hir hare
It semyth the hate fyre kindillit bricht,
And hir gay cleithing, all with lowis licht
Gan glete and sperkilland, birn up in ane bleis.
And for the same reason without doubt it is that law signifies an hill
amongst the hither Scotchmen, as Mr. Camden observes, [Remains,
pag. 98.]" SPELMAN'S LIFE OF ALFRED, p. 61, note.
188
LIFE AND TIMES OF ALFRED THE GREAT. [CH. XIV.
Che
greatest. Thus the English, after having slain many
of their enemies, were now reduced in numbers and
broken down by eight battles fought this same year³.
")
The relation of events which follow, for three or
four years, in the Chronicle of Bampton, does not
greatly differ from the accounts which other writers
have given, and with which the reader has already been
made acquainted: after these follows the account of
the capture of Wareham and Exeter, with the sub-
sequent march and surprisal of Chippenham in 878,
or, as the writer erroneously places it, in 877.
"The Danes from Warham, as they were going by
sea to join their companions in Exeter, lost their ships in
a storm. Part of them, however, surprised the royal
villa of Chippenham with the adjoining territory, after
they had either reduced to submission or driven away
many of the inhabitants.
of the inhabitants. About the same time, A.D.
877, which was the fifth year of King Alfred's life, the
same king was leading an uncertain and disturbed life
in the woodlands of Somersetshire t.
The first thing which will be noticed in the foregoing
narrative of Brompton, is the error in chronology which
it presents. Alfred succeeded to the crown in 871,
not in 873 and a similar error of being one year
behind the true date, runs through all the intervening
dates up to the surprisal of Chippenham and the flight
of Alfred, which are placed in 877, instead of 878, the
year in which they really happened.
In the next place we must remark the statement of the
writer, that in the first year of King Alfred's reign eight
battles had been fought, by which the Saxons were
completely exhausted. Now several of the other writers
S
Brompton, in Twysden, p. 809.
Brompton, p. 811.
A. D. 878.]
189
BROMPTON'S ACCOUNT CONSIDERED.
have recorded, that eight, some say nine, great battles
were fought in the year 871, when Alfred ascended the
throne. It is not certain that the chroniclers have
intended to record the names of all the eight; but it is
certain, that five of them, Englefield, Reading, Ashdown,
Basing, and Merton, were fought in the early part of
the year, whilst Ethelred was still alive. We may also
observe, that for Wilton in Wiltshire, where, according
to all the earlier writers, Alfred fought his first battle
after he became king, Brompton has substituted Walton
in Sussex. It is agreed too by all preceding writers,
that it was soon after the battle of Wilton, probably in
consequence of Alfred's army being reinforced, as
Brompton relates it, that the Danes came to terms
with the Saxons, and in the beginning of 872 vacated
Wessex, and took up their quarters at London. It is
immediately after the mention of the affair at Wilton
that the chroniclers sum up the eight battles, besides
skirmishes, which had been fought during that year.
Following this statement, Turner has remarked, that
the engagement at Wilton "was the ninth great battle
which had been fought this year in West-Saxony "."
What then, it may be asked, becomes of the infraction
of the treaty, the march of the Danish army to Exeter,
the hanging of the hostages, the march to Chippenham,
or the battles of Chippenham and Abingdon? Instead
of leaving Wessex for Mercia, as we learn the Danes
did by the concurrent voice of all the earlier chroniclers,
is it credible that they marched to Exeter, that their
hostages were hanged for the infraction of the treaty,
that Alfred then pursued them to Exeter, from
whence they withdrew to Chippenham, and afterwards
fought two other great battles, viz. at Chippenham
"Hist. Anglo-Sax. vol. i. p. 533.
•
190
LIFE AND TIMES of Alfred the GREAT. CH. XIV.
and Abingdon, before they left the dominions of the
West-Saxons? The surprisal of Exeter and the subse-
quent occupation of Chippenham took place, as we
know, in 877-8, but not, we may be assured, in 871
also the parallel is too close it has happened but
rarely, in the history of the world, that two battles, even
at long intervals, have been fought upon the same field :
but I cannot believe that the system of operations on
which the Danes proceeded in 878 was identically the
same as that which they had followed in 871, only
seven years before. The supposition would militate
against both the prudence of King Alfred, against
probability, which in all human things is the surest
test of truth, and against the positive testimony of
preceding and contemporary writers. It is not by
such strange accounts as this that the confusions of
Brompton may be allowed to supply the silence of his
predecessors. In the narratives of Asser, Ethelwerd,
and the rest, there is no room for two severe battles
and a long campaign to have intervened between the
fight at Wilton and the evacuation of Mercia. The
battles at Chippenham and at Abingdon, if we may
take Brompton's own account of them, were much
more serious than either the conflict of Basing, of
Merton, or of Wilton, and could hardly have been
excluded from a narrative, into which those three had
been admitted. Yet we find no notice has been taken
by either of the six chronicles of the battles of Chip-
penham and Abingdon among the events of 871.
Moreover, Brompton himself, when he comes to 877,
the year in which the Danes left Wessex for so brief
a period after their second invasion, and again
attacked it for the third time, so overwhelmingly, in
878, again travels over the same ground, and accom-
-
A. D. 878.]
191
PROBABLE BATTLE AT CHIPPENHAM.
panies the Danes to Exeter, where by treaty made
with the king they agree to leave his dominions; but
instead of doing so, they soon after surprise Chip-
penham, and bring on the king and his subjects the
calamities which are known then to have befallen them.
Here, however, Brompton is remarkably brief, even
more so than his predecessors; and when he proceeds
to tell us, that Alfred led an unquiet life among the
woodlands of Somersetshire, the connection of the
story is broken, and the mind meets with a shock as if
it would recoil from an issue of things so little to be
expected from any preceding events. If we suppose
that our chronicler, who is not generally very accurate
in his dates or even in his facts, has mistaken the year
in which the battles of Chippenham and Abingdon
occurred, all becomes comparatively intelligible, and
the disasters of the king flow no longer from some
mysterious source, but from the overwhelming oppo-
sition which he had to encounter, and from the defeat
which he met with in two great battles, fought one
after the other, with all the skill of an able general,
and the fortitude of a brave soldier, against odds that
were irresistible.
If we are required to account for this curious pre-
servation of so important a fact in the work of so late
a writer, and misplaced also in that work, I can only
reply, that there are many instances of facts being
preserved by single writers, some of them of a much
later period than the events which they relate. If this
were the place for such a disquisition, it would be easy
to shew, that every chronicler of the Middle Ages has
recorded at least one fact peculiar to himself. We
know that Brompton in his work has handed down to
us the most complete, if not the only, copy of King
192
LIFE AND TIMES OF ALFRED THE GREAT. [CH. XIV.
Alfred's laws; and it is far from improbable that he
should also have preserved to us the memory of the
battles of Chippenham and Abingdon, as fought by
Alfred in the beginning of the year 878, when his
troops were overwhelmed by numbers, his hopes ap-
parently crushed, and he fled, with a few nobles,
knights, and common soldiers, into the woods and
morasses, which at that time covered the length of
fifty miles in Somersetshire.
* A second and very legitimate enquiry would be, whether
Brompton has not written Abendune instead of Edandune. If so,
the battle at Abingdon, which he relates, and the battle of Ethandune,
which he omits, are one and the same.
1
CHAP. XV.
OF THE DISEASE WHICH SEIZED ALFRED AT HIS WEDDING—CHARGES
AGAINST ALFRED'S CHARACTER INVESTIGATED-REFLECTIONS OF
TURNER AND SPELMAN ON THAT SUBJECT.
It is generally believed, on the authority of Asser,
who was Alfred's bishop, biographer, and friend, that
our great king suffered much, through the whole of
his life, from some internal disease, the nature of which
was unknown to the physicians of his time. To enquire
into the nature of this complaint seems useless, because
science alone could explain it to us, and at that time
the medical science, perhaps, was at its lowest ebb:
and it is more consistent with the dignity of a name,
that has always borne on it a halo of reverence in the
eyes of mankind, to touch with a gentle hand the
infirmities from which even the body of the great
Alfred was not exempted by his Creator. It is sufficient.
for our purpose to observe, that although the original
disease, which he had borne about him, as we have
already related, from his childhood, left him whilst he
was still a youth, yet the relief was but temporary: for
when his nuptials were, in 868, "honourably celebrated
in Mercia, among innumerable multitudes of people of
both sexes," his former disease was replaced by another,
which incessantly tormented him night and day, from
the twentieth year of his age until his death. "If ever,'
R
Page 87.
0
•
""
1
194
LIFE AND TIMES OF ALFRED THE GREAT. [CH. XV.
says Asser, "he was relieved, by God's mercy, from
this infirmity for a single day and night, yet the
fear and dread of that terrible malady never left him,
but rendered him almost useless, as he thought, for
every duty, whether human or divine!" The approach
of this afflicting complaint was also as sudden as its
effects were lasting the wedding ceremony, as is
natural, was solemnized with great splendour, and with
fastings which lasted night and day, when, on a sudden,
in the presence of all the people, the young prince was
seized with immediate and excruciating pains, so that
no one, either of those who were then present, or who
afterwards witnessed the effects of his disorder, during
the many years that he suffered from it, could either
discover its origin, or devise a remedy.
"For many
thought that this was occasioned by the favour and
fascination of the people around him; others, by some
spite of the devil, who is ever jealous of the good; and
some believed that it was an unusual kind of fever."
Yet such was the vigour of Alfred's mind, such the
submission of his body to the control of his powerful
intellect and will, that the malady, from which he suf-
fered, seems never, after its first access, to have gained
dominion over him, or to have displayed itself in public.
On the contrary, his energy of mind was, if possible,
sharpened by the warnings of his bodily tormentor.
Nor does his disease seem to have affected even the
vigour of his body. An invalid can with difficulty go
through the hardships of an ordinary campaign in war.
b
The belief in fascination has prevailed in all ages and countries:
thus Virgil;
Nescio quis teneros oculus mihi fascinat agnos.
It is connected with the belief in magic. Did it arise from any obscure
manifestations of Animal Magnetism?
A. D. 878.]
ALFRED'S SUPPOSED FAILINGS.
195
But what did not Alfred encounter during the many
years that he upheld, first by the side of his brave
brother, and afterwards alone, the tottering condition
of the West-Saxon monarchy? We have traced his
reign, as minutely as our authorities will permit, through
seven years, and three Danish invasions, each more
formidable than the preceding. Twice the wave of
conquest was thrown back from the rock on which it
beat; and though at its third flow that rock was sub-
merged by the increasing mass of waters which assailed
it, yet Alfred still floated above the tide, and served as
a buoy on which the eyes of his people were fixed, that
they might regain their footing, and repel the hostile
inundation.
It has been said by some writers, that Alfred was
without a fault. If it were so, he would be no longer
to be regarded as a man, but as an especial creation of
the Deity, free, in his nature, from all those spots that
humanity is apt to derive from the hard and unpropitious
circumstances in which it is placed. But a specific
catalogue of charges has been drawn up against him,
and of such a nature, that they demand investigation.
It has been thought, that in his early years, and until
the seventh year of his reign, Alfred shewed an in-
clination to indulge in three odious vices, drunkenness,
voluptuousness, and tyranny. If these vices may with
truth be laid at the door of Alfred, they must seriously
detract from a character which in other respects is bright
and shining the first of these propensities would
sink him for a time to a level with the brute creation;
the second would imply, that he had less prudence and
self-control than the rest of his conduct leads us to
:
• Dr Whitaker, in his St. Neot, is indignant that any one should
find imperfections in the character of Alfred.
o 2
196
LIFE AND TIMES OF ALFRED THE GREAT. [CH. XV.
ascribe to him; but the last of those imperfections is
of odious import, and implies a character which nothing
can redeem, not even that experience of adversity,
which has so often taught wisdom, after all other
schoolings have failed: it shews an inherent incapacity
to discriminate between what is just and unjust; and
justice is the noblest virtue that enlightens the path
of mankind!
The charges to which allusion has been made, may
be all, I believe, traced to their proper origin. The
first of them may briefly be dispatched. It is said that
the disease which came on Alfred at his wedding was
occasioned by his intemperance at those continual
feastings, which were kept up for a time, night and day.
If the young man, then in his twentieth year, suffered
himself to be overtaken by inebriety, we need not stop
to comment on so ordinary an event; for there are few
persons, and those few not generally the most amiable
or most brilliant, who have not committed the same
fault as Alfred. But to attribute to this excess the
origin of his disease, is more than we can venture even
to suggest; for he was known to have had the same or
a similar complaint at an age before a taste for inebriety
usually begins to shew itself. We may therefore limit
the inculpations of Alfred's character to two specific
charges, of voluptuousness and tyranny; and these, I
believe, will be found to have no better foundation than
some reflections which Asser has made on the sudden
downfal of the king, when Guthrum, Osketel, and Amund
poured their impetuous troops into Wessex in January,
A. D. 878.
"The Almighty not only granted to the same
glorious king victories over his enemies, but also per-
mitted him to be harassed by them, to be sunk down
A. D. 878.]
197
ALFRED'S SUPPOSED FAILINGS.
by adversities, and depressed by the low estate of his
followers, to the end that he might learn that there is
one Lord of all things, to whom every knee doth bow,
and in whose hand are the hearts of kings; who puts
down the mighty from their seat, and exalteth the
humble; who suffers his servants, when they are
elevated and at the summit of prosperity, to be touched
by the rod of adversity, that in their humility they may
not despair of God's mercy, nor in their prosperity
boast of their honours, but may also know, to whom
they owe all the things which they possess.
"We may believe that the calamity was brought upon
the king aforesaid, because, in the beginning of his
reign, when he was a youth, and influenced by youth-
ful feelings, he would not listen to the petitions which
his subjects made to him for help in their necessities,
or for relief from those who oppressed them; but he
repulsed them from him, and paid no heed to their
requests. This particular gave much annoyance to the
holy man Saint Neot, who was his relation, and often
foretold to him, in the spirit of prophecy, that he would
suffer great adversity on this account; but Alfred
neither attended to the reproof of the man of God, nor
listened to his true prediction. Wherefore, seeing that
a man's sins must be corrected either in this world or
the next, the true and righteous Judge was willing that
his sin should not go unpunished in this world, to the
end that he might spare him in the world to come.
From this cause, therefore, the aforesaid Alfred often
fell into such great misery, that sometimes none of his
subjects knew where he was, or what had become of
him."
The writer, who has of late years most successfully
treated of Anglo-Saxon History, supposes, that in this
198
LIFE AND TIMES OF ALFRED THE GREAT.
[CH. XV.
passage is to be found the origin of Alfred's degrada-
tion, when, his tyranny having alienated his people, he
fled to the woods and marshes of Somersetshire. But
is it not obvious, that the evils which befel Alfred, are
said to have occurred more than once? Is it not
observable, that he " often fell into such misery, that
sometimes none of his subjects knew where he was, or
what had become of him?" The whole sentence, also,
seems to contradict what Asser himself had before told,
that after the march of the Danes to Chippenham,
King Alfred fled, not alone, but in company " with a
few of his nobles, and certain knights and vassals," into
the woodlands of the county of Somersetshire. It is
not probable that Alfred fled alone from Chippenham,
whether a battle was fought there or not, but it is
extremely probable, that he was accompanied by a
small body of men, who afterwards formed the nucleus
of an army, and that, during his retreat, the greater
part of his subjects were left in the dark about
the place of his residence, or his intended move-
ments. We
e must not forget, that Asser was an eccle-
siastic, and lived in an age of superstition, when all
events were ascribed to the immediate agency of the
Almighty, or, sometimes, to the interposition of the
devil. The monastic writers seize on every oppor-
tunity of attributing extraordinary events to the
agency of Heaven: hence the whole catalogue of
legends and miracles with which their writings are
filled. That Alfred may have acted, when a young
man, with less consideration than he ought, in repuls-
ing the petitions of his subjects, rests upon the
authority of Asser, as we have given it; nor is it pos-
sible on actual evidence to contradict his assertion; but
to extend its effects, and to make it the basis of
A. D. 878.]
199
Alfred's supPOSED FAILINGS.
national defeat, after a long interval of seven years,
during which there was many an occasion for deserting
their king, if his subjects had been so minded, seems
to be too large a structure to erect upon so small a
foundation.
But the good bishop blends his praise and blame
somewhat promiscuously; and without remembering
the age of the young man, who is the subject of his
remarks. When Alfred suffered from the first disease,
which he got rid of, as they tell us, by prayer in the
Church of Cornwall, he could have been not more,
perhaps, than sixteen years old.
At this early age, if we may believe Asser, "he
wished to strengthen his mind in the observance of
God's commandments, for he perceived that he could
with difficulty abstain from gratifying his carnal de-
sires; and because he feared the anger of God, if he
should do any thing contrary to his will, he used often
to rise in the morning at cock-crow, and go to pray
in the Churches, and at the relics of the Saints "." So
precocious an instance of early piety is indeed unusual,
and the young prince may have been thought unlikely,
with such a monitor in his bosom, to fall into the vices
with which he was charged. But it will set this sub-
ject in a clearer point of view, if we examine some
more witnesses, whose writings have kept alive through
a thousand years, not without additions and changes
of their own, the unlucky remarks in which Asser
innocently indulged about the character of his favourite
king.
For he was only twenty years old when he married: and before
then he had suffered from his first disease, and at last got rid of it.
Asser, anno 884.
200
LIFE AND TIMES OF ALFRED THE GREAT. [CH. XV.
The Saxon Chronicle-that venerable relic of
English antiquity-says nothing on the subject; and
its silence is the more remarkable, because it is almost
certain that the events preceding 890 were written
by Plegmund, (who was made archbishop by Alfred,)
or at all events by Plegmund's command. The next
authority, Ethelwerd, also says nothing about the faults
either of tyranny or want of self-control, which Alfred
evinced during the early years of his reign. The other
three chroniclers, Simeon, Florence, and Henry of
Huntingdon, are equally silent; and the first ancient
documents which contain a reference to the charges in
question are some biographies of St. Neot, supposed
to have been written before the Norman Conquest.
That full force may be given to these authorities, and
the argument which has been drawn from them, I shall
quote, at some length, the words of the historian, who
first brought them to light, and applied them to the
elucidation of this obscure period of Alfred's life.
"To understand this obscure incident"-Alfred's
flight and seclusion-" it is necessary to notice some
charges of misconduct, which have been made against
Alfred. The improprieties alluded to are declared to
have had political consequences, and have been con-
nected with his mysterious seclusion. It may be most
impartial to review the traditional imputations in all
their extent, and then to consider, from the confessions
of Asser, how much it is reasonable to believe or to
reject.
66
An ancient life of Saint Neot, a kinsman of Alfred,
exists in Saxon', which alludes, though vaguely, to
"It is in MS. in the Cotton Library, Vespasian, D. 14, intituled,
· Vita Sancti Neoti Saxonice.' It follows an account of Furseus, an
East-Anglian Saint, and some religious essays of Elfric, all in Saxon.
A. D. 878.]
201
EXTRACTS FROM ST. NEOT'S LIFE.
6
some impropriety in the king's conduct. It says, that
Neot chided him with many words, and spoke to him
prophetically: O king, much shalt thou suffer in this
life; hereafter so much distress thou shalt abide, that
no man's tongue may say it all. Now, loved child,
hear me if thou will, and turn thy heart to my counsel:
depart entirely from thine unrighteousness, and thy
sins with alms redeem, and with tears abolish ".'
"Another ancient MS. life of Saint Neoth is some-
what stronger in its expressions of reproach. It states,
that Neot, reproving his bad actions, commanded
him to amend; that Alfred, not having wholly followed
the rule of reigning justly, pursued the way of de-
pravity that one day when the king came, Neot
sharply reproached him for the wickedness of his
tyranny, and the proud austerity of his government.'
i
<
As Elfric wrote the lives of many Saints in Saxon, it is most pro-
bably his composition."
"After mentioning that Alfred came to Neot, emb his sawle
thearfe, it adds, he hine eac threade manega worden, and him to cw'
mid fore witegunge. “Eala thu king, micel scealt thu tholigen on
thissen life, on than towearden time swa micele angsumnisse thu
gebiden scealt tha nan mannisc tunge hit eall asecgen ne mœig.
Nu leof bearn gehor me gif thu wilt, and thine heorte to mine rede
gecerre. Gewit eallinge fram thiura unrichtwisnisse, and thine
sinnen mid ælmessen ales et mid tearen adigole." MSS. Vespas.
p. 145. From Asser's expressions, (ut in Vita Sancti patris Neoti
legitur,) it seems that a life of Neot had been written before Asser
died. The Saxon life above quoted seems to be an epitome of some
more ancient one. In this manner Elfric epitomized Abbo's life.
See MSS. JUL. E. 7."
<
"This is a MS. in the Cotton Library, Claudius, A. 5. It is in
Latin, and is intituled, Vita Sancti Neoti per Will. Abbatem Croy-
landensem, an. 1180.'”
"Pravos etiam ejus redarguens actus jussit in melius converti-
nondum ad plenum recte regnandi normam assequutus, viam deseru-
erat pravitatis.” CLAUD. MS. 154.
202
LIFE AND TIMES OF ALFRED THE GREAT. [CH. XV.
It declares, that Neot foresaw and foretold his mis-
fortunes. Why do you glory in your misconduct?
Why are you powerful but in iniquity? you have been
exalted, but you shall not continue; you shall be
bruised like the ears of wheat. Where then will be
your pride? If that is not yet excluded from you, it
soon shall be. You shall be deprived of that very
sovereignty, of whose vain splendour you are so
extravagantly arrogant."'
6
C
"It is in full conformity with these two lives of
Neot, that those others written by Ramsay in the
twelfth century¹ express also inculpations of Alfred.
The life composed in prose states, that Neot chided
him severely for his iniquitous conduct. You shall
be deprived of that kingdom in which you are swelling;
in which you are so violently exercising an immoderate
tyranny. But, if you withdraw yourself from your cruel
vices and inordinate passions, you shall find mercy.'
"The same author's biography, in Latin verse,
reproaches the king's conduct as dissolute, cruel,
<
k c
Quadam denique die solemni venientem ex more de tyrannidis
improbitate et de superba regiminis austeritate acriter eum increpavit
Neotus.-Apponebat ei Sanctum David-regum mansuetissimum et
omnibus humilitatis exemplar-afferebat et Saulem superbia repro-
batum. Spiritu attactus prophetico, futura ei prædixit infortunia.
'Quid gloriaris,' inquit, in malitia? Quid potens es in iniquitate,
elevatus es ad modicum et non subsistes, et sicut summitates spica-
rum conteris? Ubi est gloriatio tua? at si nondum exclusa est, ali-
quando tamen excludetur. Ipso enim regiminis principatu, cujus
inani gloriatione te ipsum excedendo superbis, in proximo privaberis,'
&c. Ms. Claud. p. 154."
1 "Dr. Whitaker has printed these from two MSS. at Oxford; one
at the Bodleian, the other in Magdalen College; in the Appendix to
his St. Neot. He thought them the oldest lives of St. Neot now
known. The two, which I have already quoted, are, however, more
ancient, especially the Saxon, which preceded the Norinan Conquest.
A. D. 878.]
203
EXTRACTS.
A
proud, and severe.' It adds, that the king promised
to correct himself, but did not; but only added to his
misdeeds, and became worse. That Neot again re-
proved him for wandering in depraved manners,' and
announced his impending calamities.
‹
"The same ideas are repeated in the fourteenth
century by Matthew of Westminster in his history, in
phrases like those of Ramsay; and John of Tinmouth,
about the same period, reiterates the charge in the
language of the Claudius MS. Another writer of
a Chronicle, Wallingford, asserts that Alfred, in the
beginning of his reign, indulged in luxury and vice;
and that the amendment of his conduct was a con-
sequence of his adversity ".
9
So much, then, for the charges of tyranny and
personal excess, which have been brought against
Alfred's character; and I confess that they are not
so strongly made out as to convince me that the king
can be justly accused of them. Let us next enquire in
what manner these faults, if he committed them, could
have contributed to the calamities which he suffered at
the period to which our history has brought us. The
same writer, who has so fully developed the accusations
against the king, shall shew, in his own words, how
they affected his fortunes at this crisis.
<<
m See pp. 535, 536, of Wallingford's Chronicle, printed in the
third volume of Gale and Fell's Collection of English Historians.
His words surpass all that preceding Chroniclers have ventured to
hint about the indiscretions of the king. Nihil, ut Christiani est,
de Christi passionibus in corpore suo vel portavit vel portare curavit,
sed e contra virgines et caste vivere volentes, suæ luxuriæ, vel invitas
vel voluntaneas, subdere omni studio festinavit." It is to be hoped,
that this account fully merits the contempt with which Dr. Lingard
treats it.
See Turner's History of the Anglo-Saxons, vol. i. p. 543, &c.
204
LIFE AND TIMES OF ALFRED THE GREAT. [CH. XV.
"Asser," he observes, "connects with the hints
about his faults, an intimation, that, in this important
crisis of his life, he suffered from the disaffection of
his subjects." It is expressed obscurely, but the words
are of strong import. He says, 'The Lord permitted
him to be very often wearied by his enemies, afflicted
by adversity, and to be depressed by the contempt of
his people".' He adds to these phrases, the paragraph
already quoted about his faults, and ends the subject
by declaring, 'Wherefore he fell often into such misery,
that none of his subjects knew where he was, or what
had befallen him ".'
،
“Asser had already declared, that, on the invasion of
Godrun, many fled into exile; and that, for the
greatest part, all the inhabitants of that region sub-
mitted to his dominion.' The inference, which seems
naturally to result from all his [these?] passages is,
that Alfred had offended his people, and in this trying
emergency was betrayed by them. Other authors also
declare, that it was their flight or disaffection which
produced his P."
The Chronicle of Melrose, as quoted by the same
writer in a note, says, that Alfred, " by reason of the
flight of his men, was left with only a few attendants,
and concealed himself in the woods "."
Wallingford is more specific: King Alfred," says
<<
"
n "Verum etiam ab hostibus fatigari, adversitatibus affligi, despectu
suorum deprimi, multoties eum idem benignus Dominus permisit."
"Quare ergo idem sæpedictus Alfredus in tantam miseriam
sæpius incidit, ut nemo subjectorum suorum sciret, ubi esset vel quo
devenisset."
0 (6
P Turner, vol. i. p. 550.
q
Fugientibus suis cum paucis relictus est et in memoribus se
abscondebat." CHRON. MAIL. p. 144.
"C
..
A. D. 878.]
205
ALFRED'S SUPPOSED Severity.
he, "chose rather to yield to the spirit of prophecy,"
in allusion, I suppose, to the warnings of St. Neot,
than, with the certainty of disunion among his men,
to march and meet the Danes in their fury '.
CC
r "
Ingulf adds, " Alfred was at last reduced to so low
a state, that the three counties of Hampshire, Wilt-
shire, and Somersetshire alone were with difficulty
retained in their allegiance"."
6
"We have endeavoured," continues Mr. Turner,
"to account for the neglect of his subjects mentioned
by Asser, but he is also charged with cruelty and
severity. ...... in the ancient lives of St. Neot.....
On this we may recollect some of his judicial punish-
ments, which are mentioned in the old law-book,
called the Mirroir des Justices,' written by Andrew
Horne in the reign of Edward the Second. He quotes
in this work, Rolls in the time of King Alfred, and
among many other inflictions of the king's love of
justice, he mentions several executions, which appear
to have been both summary and arbitrary, and, accord-
ing to our present notions, cruelly severe. It is true,
that the minds and habits of every part of society were
in those times so violent, that our estimation of the
propriety of these judicial severities cannot now be
accurately just. But yet, even with this recollection,
the capital punishments, with which Alfred is stated to
have visited the judicial errors, corruptions, incapacity,
dishonesty, and violence, which are recorded in the
I'
"Rex vero Alfredus elegit prophetiæ spiritui cedere quam cum
certo suorum dissidio sævientibus occursare." p. 537.
S
"Ad tantam tandem exilitatem deductus est ut tribus pagis
Hantoniensi, Wiltoniensi, et Somersata cegre in fide retentis," &c.
P. 46.
206
LIFE AND TIMES OF ALFRED THE GREAT. [CH. XV.
Mirror, strike our moral feeling as coming within the
expressions of the "immoderate tyranny," which he is
said to have at first exhibited.
"That Alfred should desire the improvement of his
people, was the natural result of his own improving
mind. But, if he at first attempted to effect this by
violence, and to precipitate, by pitiless exertions of
power, that melioration which time and adapted
education, laws, example, and institutions, only could
produce, he acted with as much real tyranny as if
he had shed their blood from the common passions
of ordinary despots; but his motives must not be
confounded with theirs: he meant well, though he
may have acted in this respect injudiciously. Yet no
motive can make crime not criminal. However men
may palter with the question to serve temporary pur-
poses, no end justifies bad means. Cruelty and
violence are always evils, and tend to produce greater
ones than those which they correct. We may there-
fore understand from the examples mentioned by
Horne, that even Alfred's better
Alfred's better purposes, thus
executed, may have attached to the beginning of
his reign the charges of tyranny and cruelty, and may
have produced the temporary aversion of his people.
They could not appreciate his great objects. They
saw what they hated. They probably misconceived,
for a time, his real character, and by their alienation
may have contributed to amend it. Virtue, without
intending it, will often act viciously from ignorance,
prejudice, wrong advice, or undue alarm. Wisdom
must unite with virtue to keep it from wrong conduct
or deterioration; but true wisdom arises from the best.
human and divine tuition, and the gradual concurrence
A. D. 878.]
207
SPELMAN'S OBSERVATIONS.
λ
of experience. Alfred possessed these in the latter
part of his life, but in its earlier periods had not
attained them "."
To comment upon these just remarks would be super-
fluous, nor is it necessary to shew that they can hardly
apply, by way of explanation, to the obscure events of
January, February, and March, 878, if the reader shall
consider that I have discovered in the Chronicle of
Brompton the narrative of a battle, which was the more
efficient instrument of Alfred's discomfiture. If there-
fore I trespass a little longer upon the patience of my
reader, it will be to lay before him the reflections of
Spelman upon this subject, rather as a matter of curio-
sity, than as if it were essential to this delineation of
Alfred's life. And yet it may be productive of benefit
to the minds of many; for there are numerous indivi-
duals, in the variety of the human race, who will turn
over and over again that which is in its nature in-
comprehensible or obscure, and will quit the examin-
ation, apparently satisfied, though they have gained
no additional knowledge by the enquiry. The reflec-
tions of Spelman upon Alfred's supposed improprieties
as a king are these: "Howsoever otherwise of great
merit and eminent virtues, yet, as of himself he had
no great desire to the crown, so neither could he, in
the beginning of his reign, well frame himself to
attend the function of so great a charge, his vehement
affectation of literature, (to which he had so natural
an inclination, and so little means of satisfaction,) his
desire of knowledge and experience, in all the faculties
of an universal wit; and again his hawking, hunting,
and other exercises, to which his youth, and the active
move of mind than body, did incline him, and in which
t Turner, vol. i. p. 550.
208
LIFE AND TIMES OF ALFRED THE GREAT. [CH. XV.
he was ever inventing or experimenting something or
other, these in that vacancy of molestation (which
after the battle of Wilton he for a year or two had at
the beginning of his reign) so much took up his mind
and thoughts, as that he but a little attended to the
occasions and complaints of his poor subjects. And
though (as they say) he were often admonished thereof
by one Neotus, a kinsman of his, of reverend esteem
in those days for exemplary life and holiness, yet so
little did it work upon him, as that the holy man,
having much lamented the king's averseness, sorrow
at length resolving itself into a spirit of prophecy,
foretold the king what crosses and afflictions he should
for that cause certainly encounter: that he should be
deprived of his kingdom, and live as it were an exile
in his own country. And these, howsoever predicted,
did assuredly (by the consent of all that have writ
his actions) now abundantly befal the king"."
D
Life of Alfred, p. 60.
CHAP. XVI.
of Alfred's LIFE IN THE WILDS AND MARSHES OF SOMERSETSHIRE
ADVENTURE OF THE CAKES-LANDING OF THE DANES IN DEVONSHIRE
-DEFEAT OF THE DANES, AND DEATH OF HUBBA-ST. CUTHBERT
SAID TO HAVE APPEARED TO ALFRED IN THE SHAPE OF A PILGRIM.
THE defeat of Alfred's army at Chippenham brought
the fortunes of the king to the lowest ebb. The field
of battle lay at some distance within the frontier of
Wessex, and the enemy was almost in the centre of
the kingdom. Knowing also the skill and resources
of Alfred, who required but a few days to repair his
losses and again to be ready for battle, the Danes
shewed the most extraordinary eagerness to capture
him, and pursued him with such energy, that escape
seemed almost hopeless. There could, however, be
no hesitation in the king's mind where he should take
refuge, and endeavour to rally and reinforce his dis-
comfited soldiers. The eastern part of his kingdom,
consisting of the counties of Kent, Surrey, and Sussex,
were recent acquisitions of his father Ethelwolf", and
may be supposed to have entertained but a lukewarm
allegiance towards a king to whom they were bound
by the ties of conquest rather than of affection.
Perhaps also from other causes, which are unknown
to us, there was no hope for Alfred from the east,
but behind him lay the extensive peninsula compre-
* See page 27.
P
210
LIFE AND TIMES OF ALFRED THE GREAT. [CH. XVI.
hending the counties of Somerset, Dorset, and part of
Devon, still faithful to his cause, and perhaps also not
much the worse for the Danish invasions, which had
either not reached to them, or had left but slight
impression. Within ten miles of the battle-field was
the forest of Selwood, occupying a large tract of
country, in which the town of Frome and several
others of much consequence are now situated. Behind
the forest lay the mountainous district of Mendip, the
fastnesses of which were once of a fearful character,
and may be the better understood from the fact, that
within the memory of persons still living, the commu-
nication between one place and another has been
impeded by many difficulties, and in certain seasons
of the year, if the weather is severe, has been alto-
gether cut off. That Alfred should enter this great
forest, with such troops as he could keep together,
or whose fidelity led them to share the fortunes of
their king, is in no wise remarkable in any age, where
the inhabitants are engaged in a contest for their lives
and possessions against a superior invading host: still
less may we wonder that such a course should be
adopted, at a time when the science of war was im-
perfect, the modes of destruction more simple, and the
whole system of a desultory and predatory character,
and based upon no established principles. But the
flight of Alfred from his royal villa of Chippenham is
as indistinctly and as differently told as all the other
particulars of his life, and it is almost hopeless that
we shall ever arrive at the exact truth of these most
interesting events. But we must not shrink from
examining all that has been left to enlighten this
obscure subject; for, if we have but few data to guide
us, it is consolatory to reflect, that nothing in history is
A. D. 878.]
211
ALFRED IN THE WOODS.
better attested, than that there is some basis of truth
in the story before us. It is certain that the West-
Saxon kingdom was brought to the verge of subjection
to a cruel foe, by whom nearly all the north of Europe
was subdued, and that the abilities and vigour of Alfred
alone reinstated it, and restored it to victory and to
independence. The contemporary records of this crisis
are few and brief, because the pen was at that time a
feeble instrument to record the acts, whether of glory
or of shame, which form the annals of mankind. But
the transactions of the year 878 were handed down
through the mouths of the people, as well as by the
pen of the writer; they have been attested and pane-
gyrized by a hundred chroniclers, who, living in
different ages, have delighted to recapitulate his deeds,
and have enlarged, with a loquaciousness, which is not
only pardonable but praiseworthy, on his warlike
achievements, his wisdom, his laws, his writings, and
even on the defeats and vicissitudes of his chequered
career.
In examining the ancient chroniclers, which come
nearest to the event itself, it is not a little remarkable
that their most ancient authorities do not support the
popular belief, as regards the place in which the king
concealed himself and his few followers. It is most
explicitly stated by all the six earliest writers, that the
isle of Athelney was the place, not where he at first
concealed himself, but where he afterwards constructed
a fortress. The short narrative, which has been
already quoted from Asser, contains almost all that
we know about the first few weeks of his retirement;
nor do the extracts which Turner has given us from
the two ancient biographies of St. Neot, afford us
b Sax. Ch. Ass. Ethel. Flor. Sim. Hunt.
P 2
212
LIFE AND TIMES OF ALFRED THE GREAT.
[CH. XVI.
much additional information, though they are the first
documents which make no distinction between the
preceding period of the king's exile, and his subse-
quent erection of a stronghold in Athelney. The
oldest of these, which is in Saxon, says of the king,
that when the army of the Danes approached," he was
soon lost; he took flight, and left all his warriors, and
his commanders, and all his people, his treasures and
his treasure-vessels, and preserved his life. He went
hiding over hedges and ways, woods and wilds, till
through the Divine guidance he came safe to the isle
of Athelney.
The second of these manuscripts, in Latin, gives
the following account of the same event.
« The king,
hearing that the rage and cruelty of the barbarians
were rushing immediately upon him, and considering
the dispersion of his people, began to fluctuate to and
fro in his mind. At length, yielding to his discreeter
judgment, he retired from his enemies alone and
unarmed, and exposed to be the sport of flight. As
he was entirely ignorant whither he should turn him-
self, or where the necessity of his flight should impel
him, he let fortune lead him, and came unexpectedly
into a place surrounded on all sides with extensive
marshes. This place was in the extreme boundary of
England, on the borders of Britain, which, in their
"Tha se here swa stithlic wæs, and swa neh Englelande, he sone
forthirht, fleames cepte, his cempen ealle forlet and his heretogen
and call his theode, madmes and madmfaten and his life gebearh.
Ferde tha lutigende geond heges and thegen, geond thudes and
theldes, swa tha he thurh Godes wissunge gesund become to Ætheling-
eye. Mss. BRIT. Mus. Vesp. D. 14." Turner, i. 553, 4.
d a i. e. Cornwall, called Britain from the Britons who inhabited it.
A. D. 878.]
213
ALFRED IN THE WOODS.
language, is called Ethelingai, and in ours (Latin)
means the royal island".
f
I do not attach much importance to these accounts,
though they help to fill up the circle of evidence, as
having been written at a very early period: but the
writings, in which they occur, being biographies of
Saints, are of a suspicious character, not so much for
their historical inaccuracy, where there was no motive
to depart from the truth, but from their declamatory
nature. The paragraphs themselves are manifestly
declamatory, and communicate no fresh fact, beyond
the flight of Alfred, and that he fled alone. But those,
who may have learnt the story from the lips of Alfred
himself, tell us that he did not flee alone; for he was
accompanied by a "few nobles, knights, and soldiers."
Ethelwerd also, the chronicler, whose princely birth
and connection with Alfred's family may have made
him acquainted with many facts, though they did not
enable him to relate them in very intelligible Latin,
has distinctly said, that "Ethelnoth, duke of Somerset,
was in a certain wood with a small band," and after-
wards constructed the fortress for the king: he must
therefore have been in Alfred's company, or in his
immediate neighbourhood; for it may have been prudent
that the king's faithful adherents should separate at
times, both to procure subsistence, and also to elude
the vigilance of the enemy. On this head, I am willing
to adopt the remarks of Spelman, though they are
based rather upon his just conception how the king
would act, than upon established facts handed down to
us by the chroniclers.
<<
During the time that the king (thus overpowered,
"
Claudius, A. 5. p. 157.
£ Asser, for example.
214
LIFE AND TIMES OF ALFRED THE GREAT. [CH. XVI.
with those ever-increasing multitudes of Danes) was
forced to withdraw and shelter himself from the open
violence of such a storm, yet even then, like one as
inexhaustible in courage as they in numbers, he, with
a small handful of men, sometimes in one place, some-
times in another, stealing upon them, often presented
himself in so smart demonstrations of his valour, as
gave them to understand that, howsoever overlaid with
their multitudes, they were not as yet to count him
Alfred, (saith Malmesbury,) even when
he was overthrown, and cast down, was always new to
be encountered with; so that when one would think
him trod to pieces, he, like a snake slipping out of the
hands of them that held him, would from his hiding-
places on the sudden set upon the triumphing enemy:
and after an overthrow, his fury was for the most part
insupportable".""
،
overcome.
We have already noticed, in a former chapter¹, on the
authority of Asser, that the king and his attendants
were obliged to forage for their subsistence, and that he
sometimes procured food in the house of one of his
own cowherds. It was, apparently, in this man's house
that the incident occurred, which is known to every
school-boy, and to almost every Englishman above
the condition of a peasant. It is, in fact, one of those
little incidents, which connect the king upon his throne
with the plodding rustic, whose labour supplies the
monarch with his daily bread. The circumstance is
one so simple in itself, and so inartificially told, that
the greatest historian, if he had witnessed the fact,
• Life of Alfred, p. 56.
"See page 170.
i We learn from Alfred's Will, (see Appendix,) that he possessed
large landed estates at Burnham and elsewhere in the co. of Somerset.
A. D. 878.]
215
ANECDOTE OF THE CAKES.
could hardly have told it better. Yet it is not known
on what authority the anecdote is related, and there is
a slight variation in the mode of telling it, not perhaps
greater than will be found in the narrative of much
more important events than this. The first account of
this anecdote occurs in Asser's biography; but the
passage (like many others) does not appear in several
manuscript copies of that work; it is found in another
similar work, called Asser's Annals, or the Chronicle
of St. Neot's, so named by Leland, who discovered it
in that monastery. It has been asserted that Asser
is the author of this work also, but this is a disputed
point, for the critics have not been able to decide upon
the question. The anecdote in both those works is in
the same words.
"It happened on a certain day, that the country-
woman, wife of the cowherd, was preparing some loaves
to bake, and the king, sitting at the hearth, was making
ready his bow and arrows, with other warlike instru-
ments. The unlucky woman, espying the cakes burning
at the fire, ran up to remove them, and rebuking the
king, exclaimed, 'Why don't you turn the cakes, when
you see them burning? you will be glad enough to eat
them when they are hot.' The blundering woman little
thought that it was King Alfred, who had fought so
many battles against the pagans, and gained so many
victories over them.'
k
C
* Asser, anno 878. " Although in the Cotton MSS. of Asser this
passage is wanting, yet it was in Camden's ancient MSS. and the
preceding words apud quendam suum vaccarium' are in the Cotton
MS. Dr. Whitaker, in his usual hasty manner, boldly calls it an
interpolation taken from Ramsay's life of St. Neot, which he has
printed. But Dr. W. did not know of the earlier life in the Claud.
MS, nor of the still more ancient Saxon life, Vesp. D. 14, both of
which contain the incident." Turner, Hist. Ang. Sax. i. p. 556.
216
life and TIMES OF ALFRED THE GREAT. [CH. XVI.
The next notice of this event is found in the Saxon
life of St. Neot, before mentioned.
"Alfred took shelter in a swain's house, and also
him and his evil wife diligently served. It happened
that on one day the swain's wife heated her oven, and
the king sat by it, warming himself by the fire. She
knew not then that it was the king. Then the evil
woman was excited, and spoke to the king with an
angry mind: Turn thou those loaves, that they burn
not; for I see daily that thou art a great eater.' He
soon obeyed this evil woman, because she would scold.
He then, the good king, with great anxiety and sighing,
called to his Lord imploring His pity'."
The Latin life of the same saint" gives a little more
detail. "Alfred a fugitive, and exiled from his people,
came by chance and entered the house of a poor herds-
man, and there remained some days concealed, poor
and unknown. It happened" that, on the Sabbath-day,
the herdsman as usual led his cattle to their accustomed
pastures, and the king remained alone in the cottage
with the man's wife. She, as necessity required, placed
a few loaves, which some call loudas, on a pan with
6
"And on sumes swanef huse his hleow gernde and eac swilce
him and his ifele wife georne herde. Hit gelamp sume deige tha
thas swanes wif hætte here ofen and se king thor big sæt hleow-
winde hine beo than fire. Than heo were niten the he king were.
Tha wearth tha ifele wis thæringe, astired and cwæth to than kinge
eorre mode, 'Wend thu tha hlafes, tha heo ne forbeorner: fortham ic
geseo deighamlice tha thu micel æte eart.' He was sone gehersum
than ifele wife; forthan the heo nede scolde. He tha, we gode king,
mid micelre angsumnisse and siccetunge to his Drihten clipode, his
mildse biddende. MSS. Vesp. D. 14.” TURNER, i. p. 556.
- Mss. Claud. A. 5. p. 157. Also quoted by Turner.
This is merely an allusion to the English name 'loaves,' the pas-
sage being in Latin.
?
A. D. 878.]
217
ANECDOTE OF THE CAKES.
6
fire underneath, to be baked for her husband's repast
and her own on his return. While she was necessarily
busied, like peasants, on other affairs, she went anxious
to the fire, and found the bread burning on the other
side. She immediately assailed the king with reproaches:
Why, man, do you sit thinking there, and are too
proud to turn the bread? Whatever be your family,
with such manners and sloth, what trust can be put in
you hereafter? If you were even a nobleman, you will
be glad to eat the bread which you neglect to attend to.'
The king, though stung by her upbraidings, yet heard
her with patience and mildness; and, roused by her
scolding, took care to bake her bread as she wished."
.
This incident is not mentioned by any of the chro-
niclers who lived within a century before or after the
Normans, until we come to Roger de Wendover, whose
history was afterwards embodied verbatim into that
of Matthew Paris. Roger's account' is a little more
circumstantial than that of Asser, and to the same
effect as we find in the Life of St. Neot.
"There is a place on the furthest extremities of the
English, towards the west, called Ethelingeye, or the
Isle of Nobles, surrounded on every side by marshes,
and so inaccessible, that it can be approached only in a
boat. The island contains a great grove of alder-trees,
wherein are stags, goats, and many animals of that kind:
it comprises scarcely two acres of solid ground. To
this island came Alfred alone, for in his dejection he
left behind him the few soldiers who accompanied him,
that he might the better avoid the enemy; and per-
ceiving there a cottage belonging to some unknown
• Turner has quoted this passage, as if written by Matthew of
Westminster, who is a well-known plagiarist, and has copied the
account, without altering a word, from Roger de Wendover.
218
LIFE AND TIMES OF ALFRED THE GREAT. [CH. XVI.
individual, he went up to it, and asked a lodging, which
was granted him. For he remained there some days,
a stranger and poor, doing what the peasant and his
wife told him, and content with the merest necessaries.
When asked who he was, or what business he had in
so lonely a place, he replied, that he was one of the
king's servants, who had been defeated with him in
battle, and had escaped to this spot from the enemy
who were pursuing them. The herdsman, trusting to his
words, took pity on him, and carefully supplied him with
the necessaries of life. Now it happened that the herds-
man went out one day, as usual, to drive his pigs to the
place where they fed, leaving the king at home with his
wife. The good woman had placed some loaves by the fire
under the ashes to bake, and whilst intent on other
business, she saw the loaves burning, upon which she
said indignantly to the king, "Why don't you move the
loaves, when you see them burning? you will be glad
to eat them when they are hot"." The king, with a
downcast look, and stung by the woman's reproaches,
not only turned the loaves, but also gave them back
to the woman well baked and without blemish."
The peasant, into whose rustic life fortune interwove
this golden episode, will again recur to our notice in
a future part of this work. His name, we learn from
Florence of Worcester, was Denulf".
The anecdote is clearly the same, under all the versions
in which it has been handed down to us; and we may
It is remarkable, that the housewife's rebuke of the king consists of
two Latin hexameter verses, both in Asser, Roger de Wendover, and
Matthew of Westminster:
Urere quos cernis panes, girare moraris ?
Quum nimium gaudes hos manducare calentes.
9 Yet Florence of Worcester takes no notice of the anecdote of
the cakes.
A. D. 878.] REFLECTION'S ON Alfred's ADVERSITY.
219
regret that it is the only incident that has been left us
of this interesting period of Alfred's life. The humble
life which Alfred led with the inhabitants of the rustic
farm-house in Somersetshire, and with his companions
in the woods, who subsisted by hunting and fishing,
was an admirable school for a prince, who was liable,
as is said of Alfred in the first part of his reign, to carry
his head on high, and to despise the petitions of his
people. A king, moreover, who had gained from books
a more extensive knowledge of men and things than
was usually acquired by others in that age, must
have felt much and reflected deeply upon the degra-
dation to which he was reduced. The prince who had
led the West-Saxons so often to battle, was at last
brought to so low a condition, that he was beholden
to a humble farmer, once his own servant, for his daily
bread. The few nobles, who had followed him, were
obliged to disperse, to procure themselves food. This
was a lesson of practical wisdom, not to be found in any
of the books which the king had studied so attentively.
It may have been delineated in figurative language in
some of the verses of that book of Poems, which his
mother had given him seventeen years before, but it
was now brought home to himself by a catastrophe which
fell like a thunderbolt upon him. Though we may
justly hesitate to ascribe such events to the visible
judgments of Heaven, or to believe that they occur as
direct modes of punishment for transgression, yet to
the wise man—and Alfred certainly was one-they will
always become real blessings to clear the understanding
from vain and unprofitable affections, to dispose the
will towards the path of prudence, and to strengthen
the heart and hands to struggle more effectually with
the difficulties which present themselves in life. Neither
did this mental discipline come on Alfred too early
220
LIFE AND TIMES OF ALFRED THE GREAT. [CH. XVI.
or too late for him to benefit by it. He was only
twenty-nine years, neither too old and seared to receive
the salutary lessons of adversity, nor too young and
yielding to retain them, but of that intermediate age,
which ushers in the prime and hale period of man-
hood, when it might be hoped that he would have
many years before him to mature his reflections, to
bring forth the true fruits of the wisdom which he had
gained, and to form that character of himself and of his
reign, which he would wish to go down to future ages.
But the residence of Alfred among the cowherds of
Somersethire was brought to an end by another vicis-
situde of fortune, no less sudden than that by which
he had been reduced to such straits. Whilst Guthrum
and his two fellow-chiefs were in Mercia, the sangui-
nary Hubba, whose barbarities we have recorded in an
earlier part of this work, had invaded South Wales,
where he wintered, and made a most miserable slaughter
of its inhabitants. It was probably in consequence of
a concerted plan between him and Guthrum, that,
whilst the latter should suddenly attack Alfred in his
royal villa of Chippenham, Hubba, sailing from Wales,
should divert the attention of the Saxons, and divide
their forces, by a descent on the opposite coast of
Devonshire. This division of the Danes, however,
did not execute their part of the agreement, until
Alfred, defeated at Chippenham, had retreated with his
handful of followers into the woods and marshes. The
account of their landing and its issue are given by
Asser thus.
The brother' of Hinguar and Halfdene, with twenty-
three ships, after much slaughter of the Christians,
Supposed to be Hubba, but none of the chroniclers specify him
so by name. In the confused narrative of Brompton, he is said to
have been slain at Chippenham; but this is a mistake.
A.D. 878.] DANES DEFEATED AT KINWITH CASTLE.
221
came from the country of Demetia", where they had
wintered, and sailed to Devon, where, with twelve
hundred others', he met with a miserable death, being
slain while committing his misdeeds, by the king's
servants, before the castle of Kynwith", into which
many of the king's servants, with their followers, had
fled for safety. The Pagans, seeing that the castle was
altogether unprepared and unfortified, except that it
had walls after our own fashion, determined not.
to assault it, because it was impregnable, and secure
on all sides, except on the eastern, as we ourselves
have seen.; but they began to blockade it, thinking
that those who were within would soon surrender,
either from famine, or want of water, for the castle
had no spring near it. But the result did not fall out
as they expected; for the Christians, before they began
to suffer from want, inspired by Heaven, judging it
best to gain victory or death, attacked the Pagans
suddenly in the morning, and from the first cut them
down in great numbers, slaying also their king, so
that few escaped to their ships; and there the Saxons
gained a large booty, and amongst other things cap-
tured the standard called the Raven; for they say
• The ancient name of South Wales.
The Saxon Chronicle and Huntingdon say 840 men: Ethelwerd
800: Simeon and Florence 1200.
"The locality of Kinwith or Cynuit is unknown.
Ræfen, Sax. Aunal. DCCCLXXVIII, but in one copy hrefn.
this famous banner, in all probability, Anlaf, king of Northumberland,
afterwards had a raven upon his banner, as appears from a coin
published by Sir Andrew Fountaine, tab. iii. And the story of the
achievements, performed by the help of it, was so remarkable, that it
gave original to a family, REFEN being the name of one of the
Monetarii in King Canute's coins, (tab. iv.) published by the same.
ingenious gentleman." SPELMAN'S LIFE OF ALFRED, p. 61.
x
"From
222
LIFE AND TIMES OF ALFRED THE GREAT. [CH. XVI.
that the three sisters of Hinguar and Hubba, daughters
of Lodbroch, wove that flag, and got it ready in one
day. They say, also, that in every battle, wherever
that flag went before them, if they were to gain the
victory, a live crow would appear flying on the middle
of the flag; but if they were doomed to be defeated, it
would drop down motionless; and the truth of this was
often proved"."
The news of this victory spread rapidly through
Wessex, and reached the ears of Alfred in his retreat;
whilst the Danes were proportionally depressed by the
loss of their standard. The nations of the North had
always great credulity in the efficacy of charms and
spells and their whole religion was but a tissue of
diablerie and magic. The standard of the Raven was
considered to be enchanted, and was the oracle of their
success or failure its capture, therefore, by the
Christians was an event of no little importance. For
with the loss of this sacred emblem, the Danes
naturally lost their hopes and their courage, whilst the
Saxons, though holding in no account the properties
which their prize was supposed to possess, acquired
confidence from the triumph which they had gained,
The Saxon Chronicle relates this invasion and its results with
great brevity, and, like Asser, mentions neither the name of the
Danish invader, the brother of Hinguar and Halfden, nor the name
of the Saxon general, by whom he was defeated. The latter inform-
ation is supplied by Ethelwerd, who relates the whole affair thus :
"The same year came the brother of Halfden and Hinguar, the
tyrant, with thirty vessels to the western parts of the English, and
besieged Oddan, duke of the province of Devon, in a certain castle,
and kindled up a war both within and without: the barbaric king
fell, and with him eighty decads." But Ethelwerd most unaccount-
ably adds, that at last, the Danes remained masters of the field of
battle!
A. D. 878.]
223
ALFRED FORTIFIES ATHELNEY.
and entertained new hopes of expelling the invaders,
from whom they had so cruelly suffered.
Z
The king now saw that the decisive moment for
action was at home. He had been nearly three months
in retirement, waiting for the turn of things which now
presented itself. "The same year, after Easter," says
Asser, and Easter-day was on the 23d of. March
in that year—" King Alfred, with a few followers, made
for himself a stronghold in a place called Ethelingaey
[Athelney], and from thence sallied with his vassals
and the nobles of Somersetshire, to make frequent
assaults upon the Pagans." The MS. life of St. Neot,
already quoted, and in point of antiquity next to Asser
and the Saxon Chronicle, gives the following account,
a little more detailed than the former:
"In a few days they constructed a place of defence
as well as they could; and here recovering a little of
his strength, and comforted by the protection of his
few friends, he began to move in warfare against his
enemies. His companions were very few in number,
compared with the barbarian multitude; nor could
they, on the first day, or by their first attacks, obtain
any advantages; yet they neither quitted the foe, nor
submitted to their defeats, but supported by the hope
of victory, as their small number gradually increased,
they renewed their efforts, and made one battle but
the preparation for another. Sometimes conquerors,
* Yet we find in Spelman's Life of Alfred, [pag. 57.] the following:
"A full year well nigh lay Alfred clouded under this adversity of
fortune. A long eclipse it was of so great a light, and which in
human judgment had been fatal to him, had it not then pleased God
to have looked with a more favourable eye upon him: and as He had
descended so far as to let him understand his offence and punishment
aforehand; so likewise was He pleased now to let him know that He
was pacified towards him, and had determined his restitution.”
224
LIFE AND TIMES OF ALFRED THE GREAT.
[CH. XVI.
and sometimes conquered, they learnt to overcome
time by chances, and chance by time.
The king,
both when he failed and when he was successful, pre-
served a cheerful countenance, and supported his
friends by his example."
The construction of this fort, impracticable perhaps
at first, when Alfred's people were still panic-stricken
after the battle of Chippenham, may have been sug-
gested to his mind by the success which the brave
Earl Odun had gained at Kinwith castle in Devon-
shire. The Saxons seem to have not been very skilful in
the erection of fortresses; and it is remarkable, that
there are few instances, in the whole course of their
wars with the Danes, of their having reduced those
enemies when they had once taken up a safe position
within their fortifications. We may observe in his-
tory, that every people, who have gained a military
reputation, have been famous for some peculiarity of
tactics, unknown until then, and by this novelty
causing embarrassment to the enemy. Fortification
was certainly the prevailing excellence in the Danish
system of warfare: their entrenchments were so many
walled towns, in which they were secure from surprise,
and where, if fortunate in their marauding excursions,
they stored their booty, or, if beaten in the field, they
rallied their flying troops, and waited until reinforce-
ments should arrive. The castle of Kinwith was
probably an old British fort; for Asser, who had seen
it, and says that it was fortified "after our fashion,"
came from Wales, and was consequently a Briton by
birth. The castle was surrounded by a loose wall,
which was its only mode of defence; but even this
protected the fugitive people of Devonshire from the
Claud. A. 5. p. 157 as quoted by Turner, p. 562.
ล
A. D. 878.]
ALFRED'S PREPARATIONS.
225
Danish arrows, until they found themselves sufficiently
strong to act again on the aggressive. This fact could
not be lost on the enquiring mind of Alfred; for it is
the prerogative of genius to gather materials from
every quarter to construct its works of greatness, and
the greatest military commanders of all ages have been
those who have turned the peculiar modes and in-
ventions of their enemies to the defeat of those
enemies themselves. It is probable, that other pa-
triotic aldermen and thanes throughout Wessex were
roused like their king to action, by the success which
fortune had granted to their arms in Devonshire, and
began to make preparation for a new campaign. Odun
also, the brave earl of Devon, was not likely to slumber
on the victory which he had gained: the remnant of
the Danes that had escaped fled to their ships, and we
read of nothing to prevent the victorious English from
marching eastward to join such troops as might be
still in attendance on their king, or otherwise disposed
to renew the war in Somerset and Wilts. To the
arrival of this triumphant body, perhaps, may be
attributed the fact, that an army of no small numbers
seems to have appeared at the king's summons in
a remarkably short space of time.
But this fact has received a very different solution
from the pious writer of the Translation of St. Cuthbert,
who has not lost the opportunity of administering a
lecture on the Providence of God, and the duty of
man's submitting to His will. The admonition is
doubtlessly of use to mankind; but the occasion which
calls it forth is no longer generally admitted to shew
marks of any peculiar intervention of the Almighty, or
deviation from the usual course of His Providence.
The legend to which we allude is found in two
Q
226
LIFE AND TIMES OF ALFRED THE GREAT. [CH, XVI.
different forms: the first occurs in the History of
Ingulf, and is confined to what may be looked on as
a dream of Alfred, and possibly may be true: the
second, more lengthy, in the tract on the Translation
of St. Cuthbert, before mentioned, ascribes to the
immediate agency and mercy of the Almighty, the
assembling of Alfred's army, and the rapid success
with which he regained his throne and kingdom. In
the former, it is the mother of Alfred who is brought
upon the stage, in the latter, his wife. There appears
to be no reason for preferring the one view of the case
more than the other, as both of these ladies may have
been alive at this time, and would probably have joined
the king as speedily as possible, if they knew where he was
to be found. Ingulf's version of the legend is as follows.
"The fortress which Alfred constructed in Athelney,
he afterwards converted into a monastery of monks, in
memory of the time which he had spent there, and to
the exaltation of the holy Church. One day, when
the whole household had gone out to fish in the
neighbouring marshes, and the king was sitting alone in
this fortress, engaged in studying the holy Scriptures,
or reading the exploits of illustrious men, as was his
constant custom, and the annals of the fathers, he
heard a poor man knock at the gate, and ask something
to eat for the mercy of God. Calling his mother, who
was then residing with him, he told her to go to the
cellar, and give something to the poor Christian man
for the love of Christ. She went to do as he bade her,
but finding only one loaf there, she came and told the
king that there was not enough for the household, who
would soon return from fishing. The king, hearing
This legend is given also in Brompton, Simeon of Durham's
History of the Church of Durham, and elsewhere.
•
A. D. 878.] ST. CUTHBERT APPEARS TO Alfred.
227
this, (that there should be such poverty in a king's
larder!) gave devout thanks to God, and commanded
that half of the loaf should be given to the poor servant
of Christ, adding these words, Blessed be God in
His gifts! He is able, if He so will, to increase that
half immensely, who, when He so willed it, was able
to feed five thousand men on five loaves and two
fishes.' He then dismissed the poor man, and after-
wards, fatigued by the weight of his cares, or by his
protracted reading, he went to rest, and saw the holy
bishop Cuthbert approach to him, and deliver this
message in the name of the Lord.
• Pious King
Alfred, the Lord is moved to pity at the misery of
the English, who have mourned long and deeply for
their sins: He has, moreover, this day, in the form of
a poor man, approved your patience, and gratefully
received the morsel which you gave Him in the midst
of your own great want. He promises you, through
me, that, though you are now a wretched exile, you
shall soon be victorious over your enemies, and
triumphantly regain the throne of your kingdom.
And this shall be a sign to you, that though your
household, who are gone out to fish, may find great
impediment to their success in the winter's ice, yet by
the Divine mercy, they shall gain the object of their
wishes, and about the third hour of the day, shall
return with a wonderful quantity of fish.' Saying these
words, the Saint disappeared, and the king awaking,
told the vision to his mother, who replied that she also,
whilst asleep in her chamber, had seen the same vision,
and the same Saint, appearing to her in like manner,
had addressed her in the same words. As they were
speaking, the fishermen came in from the marshes with
an abundance of fish, enough to feed a large army."
1
Q 2
228
LIFE AND TIMES OF ALFRED THE GREAT. [CH. XVI.
•
The form which this anecdote has received at the
hands of the monk, who wrote for the honour of the
Church of Durham, to which he probably belonged,
and for the credit of his patron Saint Cuthbert,
surpasses all that can be ascribed to natural causes
only, or such as act on the "fancy according to the
current of thoughts precedent." A literal translation of
it is given in the note belowª.
"In the Life of St. Neot, as I find by some Excerpta out of it
in the third vol. of Mr. Leland's Collections, (f. 11, a.) 'tis said, that
'twas not St. Cuthbert, but St. Neot, who appeared to Alfred, which
Mr. Leland has noted to be a mistake, and contrary to the authority
of other writers." SPELMAN'S LIFE OF ALFRED, p. 59, note.
d" When God, with His wonted mercy, had now decreed to put
an end to the barbarous cruelties of the Danes, it came to pass that
Alfred was sitting at home with his wife, and one servant only, for all
the others had been sent out to fish. Meanwhile a person in a
foreign habit approached him, and earnestly besought alms. Alfred
forthwith, with ready looks, ordered food to be given him; and
learning from the servant that no food remained for their daily con-
sumption, except one loaf and a measure of wine, said to him, with
joyful countenance, 'Thanks be to God, who hath thought worthy
to visit me, His poor servant, in the person of another of His servants,
who is as poor as I.' As he said these words with a cheerful look,
he ordered half of each to be given to the man, thereby fulfilling the
Apostolical precept, God loveth a cheerful giver.' The stranger,
apparently a poor mau, took it, and said, 'Do not delay to offer
repeated thanks to your lord, for his compassion towards me; for I
hope that this his benevolence will be abundantly compensated by
heavenly mercies.' He said this to the servant, who told it to his
master; but, when the servant returned to the place, he no where
could see the stranger, but he found the bread and wine whole, and
bearing no marks of having been divided. Astonished at this occur-
rence, he hastened to inform his master of it. The king recognised
the miracle, and both himself and his wife were no less lost in
astonishment, than their servant; and, although they minutely
examined, they could not find out which way he had come, or which
way he had gone; and this was the more remarkable, because the place,
being surrounded by water, could not be approached without a boat.
A. D. 878.]
229
LEGEND OF ST. CUTHBERT.
"Meanwhile, the ninth hour of the day [3 o'clock] was approaching,
and those, who had gone out to fish, brought home three boat-fuls,
and said, that they had never caught such an abundance during the
three years which they had passed in those marshes. Delighted at this
instance of God's mercy, they spent the day in greater glee than
usual, and at the approach of night, went each to rest after the labours
of the day. All the others were soon buried in sleep, but Alfred
alone lay awake in his bed, thinking with a sad heart on his sufferings
and his exile, and wondering much about the stranger and the
unexpected draught of fishes. On a sudden a light from heaven,
brighter than the beams of the sun, shone upon his bed. Struck
with awe, he forgot all his former anxieties, and looked in amazement
on the brightness of the light. In the midst of which appeared an
elderly man, bearing the pontifical fillet on his black locks, but having
a most benignant look, and bearing on his right hand a copy of the
holy Gospels, adorned most marvellously with gold and jewels. He
advanced, and calmed the fears of the astonished king with these
words: Let not the brilliancy of my coming disturb you, beloved
King Alfred, nor the fear of barbarian cruelty any longer harass you:
for God, who does not despise the groans of His poor servants, will
soon put an end to your troubles, and I, from henceforth, will be
your constant helper.' The king was comforted with these words,
and asked him earnestly who he was, and why he had come. Then
the elderly man, smiling, said, 'I am he, to whom you this day
ordered bread to be given: but I took not so much pleasure in the
bread and wine, as in the devotion of your soul. But, whereas you
ask me my name, know that I am Cuthbert, the servant of God,
and am sent to explain to you, in familiar terms, how you may be
relieved from the persecution which has so long afflicted you. In
particular, therefore, I advise you to cherish mercy and justice, and
to teach them to your sons above every thing else, seeing that at your
prayer God has vouchsafed to grant to you the disposal of the whole
of Britain. If you are faithful to God and me, you shall find me,
from this time, your invincible buckler, whereon all the strength of
your enemies shall be broken. Wherefore now put off all your fears
and inactivity, and, as soon as to-morrow's light shall dawn, cross
over to the nearest shore, and blow loudly with your horn three times.
And as wax melts before the heat of the fire, so by your blasts shall
the pride of your enemies, with God's will, be dissolved, and the
courage of your friends be aroused. About the ninth hour of the day,
five hundred of your dearest friends shall come to you fully armed;
230
Life and TIMES OF ALFRED THE GREAT. [CH. XVI.
and by this sign shall you believe me, that, at the end of seven days,
an army shall assemble together from the whole of this land to
Mount Assandune, prepared to follow you as their king, in adversity
as well as in prosperity: there shall you join battle with the enemy,
and, without a doubt, gain the victory.' Having said these words,
the saint disappeared from the king's eyes, and the light faded away.
Alfred, feeling certain that all he had heard would come to pass,
yielded himself wholly to the saint's protection and guidance. At
the dawn of day, he hastened with unusual activity to the shore, and
did as he had been directed. His horn was heard both by his
enemies and friends, and five hundred of his best adherents joined
him, well prepared with arms. He revealed to them the vision, and
said, 'We have now seen what punishment our fathers, who are
dead, have, by God's just ordinance, been suffered to receive from the
barbarians, for our crimes as well as theirs. We ourselves also are
sought out, day and night, for similar treatment; nor have we any
place of refuge to which we can trust. I beg you, therefore, let us
obey the admonitions of our patron, St. Cuthbert. Let us be faithful
to God, eschew evil, love the practice of virtue, and so shall we every
where experience the benefit of his protection.' In short, an army
from the whole country came with Alfred on the appointed day to
the mountain aforesaid; and on the other side there came that ill-
omened host of fierce barbarians, trusting to their superior numbers,
and to their success in former battles. They instantly engaged, but
the event of the contest was not the same to both. On the one side
the Christians proved, by their slaughter of the enemy, how wholesome
a thing it is to trust in heavenly aid: on the other hand, the Pagans
experienced, by their defeat, how detestable it is to presume on
human pride. Thus this battle was gained without much loss to his
army; and Alfred received dominion over the whole of Britain: and,
as at his court he always retained in his thoughts the precepts of the
saint which he had learnt in adversity, he at all times, and in all
places, prevailed over the machinations of his adversaries."
CHAP. XVII.
ALFRED PREPARES TO LEAVE ATHELNEY—AS A GLEE-MAN HE RE-
CONNOITRES THE DANISH CAMP-SUMMONS HIS ARMY AT EGBERT'S
STONE-MARCHES TO ETHANDUNE-DEFEATS THE DANES-TAKES
THEIR CAMP-GUTHRUM BECOMES A CHRISTIAN.
·
WILLIAM OF MALMESBURY tells us, that King Alfred
used often in later days to speak of the time which he
spent in the wilds of Somersetshire, of the hardships
which he daily suffered, and of the dangers which
continually encompassed him. It was now about five
months since his troops had been defeated by the
enemy, and himself obliged to become a fugitive and
an outcast. Yet I believe that the plan which King
Alfred adopted was what afterwards mainly conduced
to bring about his restoration, and the reestablishment
of his country's freedom. Many indications of this
appear in the narratives of the old chroniclers. It is
probable that the Danes owed their success at Chip-
penham in a great measure to the suddenness of their
attack, and the king now seems to have retaliated upon
them by a similar mode of operations. That he kept
up a communication with his faithful nobles throughout
the three neighbouring counties, is evident; for by a
hasty summons of a few days, a large army was speedily
brought together. Before, however, his standard was
again spread to the breezes, it was Alfred's policy to
obtain all the information in his power concerning his
enemies, to reconnoitre their position, their defences,
232
LIFE AND TIMES OF ALFRED THE GREAT. [CH. XVII.
and to examine where they were the most exposed to
attack from negligence, or the consciousness of security.
The story which is told of Alfred has been credited
by some, and rejected as fabulous by others. It
certainly is not found in Asser's Biography, nor in
the other five early chronicles; but it is told by Ingulf,
who lived at the time of the Norman Conquest, and
may have had access to other records which since have
perished. It is also found in the History of the Kings
of England by Malmesbury, who was not prone to
listen to fables, unless they were such as rested on the
authority of the Church. Neither does the anecdote
seem to be at all improbable, when we consider
the nature of the times, and the great simplicity of
kings, who mixed with their subjects without that
affectation of pomp and dignity, which at present are
used as a substitute for departed power. It was the
king's intention to assemble his troops and to surprise
the enemy unprepared, as they had before surprised
him at Chippenham. To strike a sure blow, it was
necessary that he should be able to depend upon the
accuracy of his information. If he failed at this crisis
of his fate, a second chance would probably never
present itself: he could not trust the eyes or ears of
an ordinary spy, and he determined to go himself and
inspect the motions of the enemy. Now it was that he
derived a practical benefit from the subjects of his
early education. The Saxon poems and ballads,
which he had drunk in with an attentive car in his
youth, were still fresh in his mind, and the harp, which
almost every person of decent condition in those days
could touch, was not silent in the king's hands. The
profession of a minstrel was held in general estimation
among the northern nations. Singing the deeds of
A.D. 858.]
233
ALFRED DISGUISED AS A MINSTREL.
war, they were themselves exempt from its terrors:
the sword and spear were lowered to greet the glee-
man who chanced to enter the tent of the warrior, and
many a time did the savage chieftain, melting at the
plaintive melody of song, verify the words of the poet
who sings, that
Music hath charms to sooth the savage breast!
To effect his purpose, Alfred adopted the costume of a
Saxon minstrel, and set out for the Danish camp,
which was still in the neighbourhood of Chippenham ;
for so total seems to have been the defeat of the
English, that the enemy imagined they were anni-
hilated, and gave themselves up to security and
enjoyment. The king was admitted without difficulty
to their camp, and had an opportunity of seeing every
thing which was passing within. He perhaps may
have been brought into the presence of Guthrum
himself, and witnessed the ease and confidence which
reigned in that chieftain's tent. When he had satis-
fied himself on all the points which he wished to know,
he returned to Athelney, a distance of thirty or forty
miles a.
Whitsuntide was now at hand; and the king pre-
pared to leave the fortress at Athelney. Asser gives
us the following account of the promptness of his
movements. "In the seventh week after Easter, he
rode to Egbert's Stone in the eastern part of Selwood",
or the Great Wood, called in the old British language
Coit-mawr. Here he was met by all the neighbouring
Ingulf; Will. Malmesb. Henrici de Silgrave Chronicon, ed. C.
Hook, 8vo. London 1848, pag. 45.
b Seal, in Saxon, is a willow tree. This was, therefore, a wood
of willows; and so the MS. Claud. names it, silvam salicis." Turner,
i. p. 566.
234
life and times of Alfred thE GREAT. [CH. XVII.
folk of Somersetshire, Wiltshire, and Hampshire, who
had not for fear of the Pagans fled beyond the sea©;
and, when they saw the king alive after such great
tribulation, they received him, as he deserved, with
joy and acclamations, and all encamped there for
the night. The next morning, the king struck his
tents, and went to Ecglea, where they again encamped,
and passed the night." At this place, the Annals of
Asser, a tract which we have already noticed, relate
that his relative St. Neot appeared to him in a dream,
and comforted him with the assurance, that the next
day would end all his calamities. "The next morning
he marched to Ethandune, and there fought a fierce
and well-contested battle against all the army of the
• The following passage, translated from Wallingford's account of
Alfred's campaign in 878, [p. 537.] is worthy of notice: "The
army which had fled out of the country, hearing that King Alfred
had renewed the war against the enemy, recrossed the sea in haste,
and joined his camp, by which means he became daily more and
more powerful and threatening to the enemy. Alfred, also, sent
ambassadors, and invited to his assistance Rollo, who had been
occupied in continual wars against the Gauls, except the interruption
which himself had caused to them. Rollo, remembering the benefit
which he had received, as we have before mentioned, when he for-
merly touched on the English coast, consented to his demands, and
breaking up the siege of Paris, crossed to England." As Turner
justly observes, it is not probable that Alfred asked help of Rollo,
and yet it is difficult to account for its invention, if false.
The mediation of this obscure Saint seems to have been as
necessary an episode to the career of Alfred, as the Goddess Egeria
was to King Numa Pompilius. He not only promised Alfred the
victory in the dream, but was seen the next day in the battle as a
standard-bearer, leading on one of the divisions of the army, and was
pointed out by Alfred to the soldiers, who were marvellously encou-
raged by the sight. The same MS. which records this miracle,
[Claud. A. 5. p. 159.] relates also, that Alfred addressed his soldiers
before the battle, and gave them the assurance of a glorious victory.
A. D. 878.]
235
GUTHRUM DEFEATED AT EDDINGTON.
Pagans, whom, with the Divine help, he defeated with
great slaughter, and pursued them flying to their
fortification. Immediately he slew all the men and
carried off all the booty he could find outside the
fortress, which he afterwards laid siege to with all his
army. When fourteen days were expired, the Pagans,
compelled by famine, cold, fear, and lastly by despair,
asked for peace, on condition that they should give
the king as many hostages as he pleased, but should
receive none from him in return, in which form they
had never before made a treaty with any one. The
king shewed them mercy, and received such hostages
as he chose, after which the Pagans swore also, that
they would immediately leave the kingdom; and their
king, Guthrum, promised to embrace Christianity, and
receive baptism at King Alfred's hands. All of which
articles he and his men fulfilled as they had promised.
For, seven weeks afterwards, King Guthrum himself,
with thirty chosen men of his army, came to Alfred at
a place called Aller, near Athelney, and there King
Alfred, receiving him as his son by adoption, raised
him from the holy laver of Baptism on the eighth day,
at the royal villa of Wedmore, where the holy ointment
was poured upon him. After his baptism, he remained
•
“In the Saxon Annals 'tis said they were baptized at Alre, and
that his crism-lising was at Wedmor, his chrism (or rather chrismal)
was pulled off at Wedmor. This was a white linen cloth put
upon their heads presently after they had been baptized and anointed,
that the oil might stay on, and taken off 8 days after. In MS.
Digby, n. 196, the place is called Westm., i. e.. Westmer or West-
minster, which one might conclude to be a mistake of the librarian
for Wedm, i. e. Wedmer or Wedmor, if immediately after the author
himself did not tell us that Guthrum and his company were enter-
tained these 12 days at London." SPELMAN'S LIFE OF ALFRED,
p. 66, note.
236
LIFE AND TIMES OF ALFRED THE GREAT. [CH. XVII.
twelve days with the king, who, with all his nobles,
gave him many fine houses."
So brief a narrative of the victory at Ethandune,
which replaced Alfred more firmly than before on the
throne of his kingdom, has naturally given much
subject for enquiry to the critics and commentators,
who have endeavoured to trace the movements of the
king's army in this rapid and glorious campaign.
There is nothing better established in history than
the identity of Ethelingeye, where Alfred's fortress
in the marshes was constructed, with the modern
Athelney. Capricious fortune has mercifully spared
the antiquary the greater mortification which a doubt
on this point would have produced.
produced. A beautiful
jewel was found many years ago on the spot; an
exact representation of which forms the frontispiece
to our work, and the original is still preserved in the
Ashmolean Museum at Oxford. Did the king drop
See the Appendix, for an account of this jewel. I subjoin the
following observations concerning the locality of Athelney.
"Dr. Whitaker, in June 1806, thought that the marshes on the
new road to Taunton, were those in which Alfred took his refuge.
This is the tradition of the country, where the ALFRED'S HEAD has
been taken for the sign of the inn: and an inscription has been set
up about a mile to the west to commemorate the belief. The farm-
house in this neighbourhood was then called Athelney, and at
Burrowbridge there was at that time a pass over the Perrot, which
had a rounded hillock near it, at which a line of raised road from the
east terminated. Mr. Collinson describes it as a very high and steep
mount, on the east side of the river Perrot, which had on it part of
the tower and walls of an ancient chapel. The river was navigable to
this hamlet, and further on to Langport, and had over it a stone
bridge of three high arches. Dr. Whitaker thinks, that on this
mount Alfred built his fortification. LIFE OF ST. NEOT, p. 245-8."
TURNER, p. 561. In 1832 I visited Athelney, and noticed the pillar
which has of late years been erected on the mount above mentioned.
A. D. 878.]
ALFRED'S JEWEL.
237
this gem in the hurry of his frequent sallies on the
enemy, and equally hasty retreats to his fortress?
Or, was it deposited in the Monastery; which Alfred
afterwards constructed there, as a precious personal
relic of the great king, and of the heroic stand which
he there made to defend the rights of his throne and
the liberties of his people? These are questions which
we cannot answer; for the speechless relic tells us no
more than that it is as old as the time of Alfred, which
is evident from the style of workmanship, and the
Saxon writing, ALFRED HAD ME WORKED, with which
it is inscribed.
Leaving Athelney, and following the route of the
king, we have no difficulty in identifying the place
called Egbert's or Egbricht's stone, on the east of
Selwood, where Alfred was met by the troops of his
subjects who flocked to him, with Brixton Deverill, a
I have since, by the kindness of General Sir John Slade, of Monty
House, near Taunton, and proprietor of Athelney, received a copy of
the inscription which is placed on the side of the pillar.
King Alfred the Great, in the year of our Lord 879, having
been defeated by the Danes, fled for refuge to the forest of Athelney,
where he lay concealed from his enemies, for the space of a whole
year. He soon after regained possession of his throne, and in
grateful remembrance of the protection he had received under the
favour of Heaven, erected a Monastery on this spot, and endowed it
with all the lands contained in the isle of Athelney. To perpetuate
the memorial of so remarkable an incident in the life of that illustrious
prince, this edifice was founded by John Slade, Esq. of Maunsel
House, the proprietor of Athelney Farm, and Lord of the Manor of
North Petherton. A.D. 1801." The date should be 878, not 879;
and five months instead of a whole year.
A farm-house stands at the foot of the mount, and I observed, in
the yard adjoining, a small heavy iron gate, apparently very ancient,
and perhaps belonging to the monastery which once stood on the
spot.
8 Ælfred mec heit gewyrcan.
""
238
LIFE AND TIMES OF ALFRED THE GREAT. [CH. XVII.
k
small village about half way between Hindon and
Warminster, and about thirty miles from Athelney.
From thence the army marched the next day to
Æglea, about the locality of which place writers are
not agreed. Whilst some have referred it to Higley,
near Whaddon; and others to Clay Hill, an eminence
rising boldly to the height of several hundred feet
between Frome and Warminster, and having marks of
a small encampment on its summit; a third opinion
has connected it with Leigh or Ley, near Westbury,
where tradition says, that there was once a palace of
the Anglo-Saxon kings. In support of this view,
Bishop Gibson admits that the name, as it appears
in the chronicles, may easily have arisen from the
corruption of the prefix Et or at, which is often found
placed before Anglo-Saxon names of places, and thus
Æt Lea would easily be converted into Ecglea. A
similar difference of opinion prevails, as to the place
of the battle in which the Danes were defeated.
It is variously written Ethandune, Edderandun, Assan-
dune, and Edendune. Dr. Whitaker thinks it is the
present Yatton, about five miles from Chippenham,
"but," says he, "the battle itself, was a little lower on
the Avon at Slaughterford," where, according to Gibson,
there still prevails a tradition, that a great number of
Danes were slain near that spot. But there is anothe
village, in the neighbourhood of Westbury, which
seems to have superior claims to be considered as the
Ethandune of the ninth century. This is Eddington,
ty
h The Saxon Chron. calls this place Iglea; Asser Ecglea;
Florence Eglea; and Huntingdon Eglea: it is not mentioned by
Simeon or Ethelwerd.
i
This is Dr. Whitaker's opinion. [St. Neot, p. 266.]
* Gough's Camden, i. p. 146.
A. D. 878.]
239
TOPOGRAPHY OF EDDINGTON.
or Edindon, about six miles from Leigh, and not more
than ten from Clay Hill, where consequently the Danes
might have been more easily surprised by the king
than at Yatton, which is ten miles further towards the
north. Eddington has also a stronger argument in
its favour, in its proximity to Bratton Castle, "the
fortification to which the Danes fled, and held out a
siege of fourteen days. It is situated on the point of
a high hill, commanding all the country, and is double-
ditched on the south and north sides, with very deep
trenches. It has two entrances, from the south-east to
the plain, and from the north-east to Edindon, both
guarded by a redoubt¹: on the west side is a spring. It
is oval, 350 paces long, by near 200 broad, and its
area 23 or 24 acres. Near the middle is a large oblong
barrow, 60 paces long, under which have been found
many human skulls and bones mixed with stags' horns,
fragments of urns, and pieces of iron weapons, and
mill-stones like the modern Scotch quernes, sixteen
and eighteen inches diameter.... Under the south side,
within the trenches, is a circular mound of earth, made
in the last century, called the TABLE, with a kind of
horseshoe in the centre. The soil of this hill is chalk,
abounding with petrifactions, belemnites, spines of
echini, &c. On the south-west face of the hill is a
most curious monument unnoticed by Bishop Gibson:
a white horse in a walking attitude, cut out of the chalk,
fifty-four feet high from his toe to his chest, and to the
¹ Yet Dr. Whitaker [p. 269.]" supposes the fortress to which the
Danes fled to have been the double entrenchment in Bury-wood,
which is thus described by Gough. 'On Colerne-down, on the fosse
near Wraxhall and Slaughterford, in Bury-wood, is North-wood, a
camp
of eighteen acres, double works, not Roman: the entrance from
Colerne-down.' p. 99." TURNER, i. p. 569.
240
LIFE AND TIMES OF ALFRED THE GREAT. [CH. XVII.
tip of his ear near one hundred feet high, and from ear
to tail one hundred feet long: an undoubted memorial
of this important victory, and similar to that by which
Alfred commemorated his first great victory in Berk-
shire eight years before"."
The whole country for many miles round those villages
abounds with ancient camps, barrows, and other relics
of the wars, which a thousand years ago were waged
with such persevering fury between the Saxons and the
Danes and it is to be lamented, that our historical
records are too brief and indistinct, to enable us to
distinguish very accurately between the monuments of
the different nations, who have combated on these fields
of battle. Time has passed his effacing hand over these
memorials, brushing away all the minute parts which
might have indicated a national style or the peculi-
arities of an individual people, and has left only gigantic
mounds and masses of earth, which prove that our fore-
fathers put forth the powers with which God has
endowed mankind in the construction of works, excel-
ling in magnitude, and perhaps equalling in skill, all
that the present age, of intellect and science, has been
able to produce.
The battle of Ashdown, see page 100. A large white horse, cut
out on the plains of Wiltshire, and visible for miles, is supposed to be
a memorial of this battle.
m
It may be added, that on the property of the late Sir Richard Colt
Hoare, Baronet, at Stourton, is a three-sided tower, called Alfred's
tower, erected in modern times, to mark the spot where the king is
said to have first set up his standard, after his departure from Athelney.
CHAP. XVIII.
ALFRED'S PLAN FOR CONVERTING THE DANES INTO USEFUL SUBJECTS-
THEY SETTLE IN EAST ANGLIA-THE TREATY BETWEEN ALFRED
AND GUTHRUM—A NEW BODY OF DANES UNDER HASTING LAND AT
FULHAM, BUT ARE COMPELLED TO LEAVE THE KINGDOM-THEIR
ADVENTURES AND RAVAGES ON THE CONTINENT BETWEEN 880 AND
893.
WHEN we take a just and comprehensive view of
human nature, and of the circumstances with which
man is surrounded, we detect so many cases in which
misfortune borders upon crime, and crime upon mis-
fortune, that it is often impossible to punish the trans-
gressor, without adding an undeserving weight of
affliction to him who already is sufficiently unhappy.
This observation applies to whole nations even more
than to individuals; for a national calamity falls upon all
alike in some sort, though probably in different degrees;
and whenever an entire nation or a large body of men
are driven by the all-powerful force of necessity", the
evils which they commit are to be judged by a different
standard from that which we apply to crimes, prompted
by no necessities, but springing from an inherent and
spontaneous love of evil. When we read in the Saxon
Chronicle, that, notwithstanding the total subjugation
to which Guthrum and his Danes were reduced, they
did not leave Alfred's dominion for a whole year
after their submission, and find no notice taken of any
The fate of the Ancients.
R
8
242
LIFE AND TIMES OF ALFRED THE GREAT. [CH. XVIII.
attempt on the king's part to compel them to perform
their agreement, the reflection may occur, that the
bodies of Danes who so long ravaged the northern
coasts of Europe, were not all of them led by a pure
and simple love of war and plunder, but in some cases,
perhaps, were driven by necessity, not choice, to procure
subsistence, clothing, and houses to cover them from
the cold, in other lands, less populous than their own,
or more abundant in producing the necessaries of life.
It is probable that England in the ninth century was
far less thickly peopled than the countries which
border on the German ocean, out of which the hosts
of Danish pirates had issued. It is also likely that
many of the Danish armies, when defeated by King
Alfred, were in consequence beholden to him for their
daily food, and having no home to return to, must have
perished, if he had not taken compassion upon their
destitute condition. Men do not wish to pass all their
lives in roving about the world, and gathering booty,
wherever booty is to be found. It is natural to them
to look forwards to retirement and ease from the bustle
and turmoil in which their lives have been spent. When,
therefore, the King proposed to embody the vanquished
Danes among his own subjects, and to assign them
lands for their maintenance, his policy was obviously
two-fold; first, to people more densely the country
over which he reigned, and to strengthen his power by
the accession of a brave body of men to defend it;
secondly, to free himself from the embarrassment which
the Danes left to themselves might have given him,
and mercifully to relieve them also from the terrible
sufferings, which in their forlorn condition would have
again provoked them to ravage, and have probably
carried them on to their own destruction.
A. D. 879.]
243
GUTHRUM REMOVES TO CIRENCESTER.
b
The army of Guthrum left Chippenham in 879, and
marched to Cirencester, where they remained twelve
months, after which they removed into East Anglia, and,
dividing the country among them, began to occupy and
cultivate their new possessions. This triumphant and
peaceful termination of a war, which had begun under
such disastrous circumstances, has always been con-
sidered as the culminating point of Alfred's policy, and
has attached to him that character for wisdom, by which
he has ever since been distinguished. But the accom-
modation with Guthrum was not complete until it could
be placed upon a broader basis than those temporary
arrangements which had formerly been effected between
the king and the Danes, to suit a momentary emergency,
and which had been broken without compunction. It
was now the intention of the king to blend the two
nations into one, and to ratify their union by a legislative
treaty, on the one hand, brief and intelligible to all
parties, and on the other hand, more liberal and compre-
hensive than had ever been before witnessed between
nations that had struggled one against the other in
bitter and unrelenting hostility. The treaty between
Alfred and Guthrum has come down to us entire. Two
copies of it exist in the original Anglo-Saxon language,
but with so little variation of phraseology, that it is
unnecessary to make a distinction between the two.
b Turner remarks, [vol. i. p. 574.] "It is said in the Saxon life of
Neot, that after the pacification, Godrun, with the remains of his
army, departed in peace to his own country, to his agenem earde
mid ealre sibbe.' MS. Vesp. D. 14. This seems to imply a return
to Denmark, as East Anglia was not properly his own country." I
should rather infer the loose and inaccurate character of the " Life,"
for few of these biographies have any direct historical value.
• Saxon Ch. Ass. Ethel. Flor. Sim. Hunt.
a The original of the treaty may be seen in the Appendix, No. IV.
R 2
244
LIFE AND TIMES OF ALFRED THE GREAT. [CH. XVIII.
The whole of this curious treaty is contained in five
paragraphs, as follows:
"ALFRED AND GUTHRUM'S PEACE.
"This is the peace that King Alfred and King
Guthrum, and the witan of all the English nation, and
all the people that are in East-Anglia, have all ordained
and with oaths confirmed, for themselves and for their
descendants, as well for born as for unborn, who reck
of God's mercy or of ours.
First, concerning our land-boundaries: up on the
Thames, and then up on the Lea, and along the Lea
unto its source, then right to Bedford, then up on the
Ouse unto Watling-Street.
66
“Then is this: if a man be slain, we estimate all
equally dear', English and Danish, at eight half-marks
of pure gold; except the churls who resides on gavel-
land and their liesings, they also are equally dear, at
two hundred shillings. And, if a king's thane be
accused of man-slaying, if he dare to clear himself, let
him do that with twelve king's thanes. If any one
accuse that man, who is of less degree than the king's
thane, let him clear himself with eleven of his equals
and with one king's thane. And so in every suit
which may be for more than four mancuses. And, if
• Wise men-equivalent to our modern Parliament.
This may appear singular to the modern reader, unless he is
aware that the punishment of death was not inflicted in such cases:
a sum of money called the were-gild was adjudged, according to the
rank of the deceased.
• Rustic, or farmer: certain lands in Kent are still subject to the
law of gavel-kind.
h In Iceland they still call a freedman a leysingi.
For an account of the mancus, see page 12 of the Appendix,
note m.
A. D. 879.]
245
alfred and GUTHRUM'S TREATY.
he dare not, let him pay for it three-fold, as it may be
valued.
<<
Of warranters.
"And that every man know his warrantor for men,
and for horses, and for oxen.
k
"And we all ordained on that day that the oaths
were sworn, that neither bond nor free might go to
the host without leave, no more than any of them to
us. But, if it happen, that from necessity any of them
will have traffic with us, or we with them, with cattle
and with goods, that is to be allowed in this wise; that
hostages be given in pledge of peace, and as evidence
whereby it may be known that the party has a clear
back."
(C are
ki. e. the army of the Danes. Lappenberg understands this
restriction in a very different sense, hardly (I think) to be justified
"The provisions," says he, of the treaty
by the language.
remarkable, which, by their contingent prohibition, shew that
Englishmen, both free and servile, were in the habit of passing over
to the Danish army; though of Christian fugitives, who even sought
aid from the Northmen against their own countryinen, many exam-
ples occur, and we meet with a very remarkable one at this time.
Isembard, seigneur of La Ferté in Ponthieu, having had a quarrel
with his mother's brother King Louis, the son of Louis the Stam-
merer, had renounced his faith, and fled to Guthrum before he had
become a convert to Christianity, and had been received with welcome.
He accompanied him on his expeditions in England, and conducted
him,-to whom the treaty with Ælfred had afforded leisure, but no
quiet,-back with him to his country, where, after many devastations,
and the burning of the rich abbey of St. Riquier on the Somme,
they were driven back at Saucourt in the district of Vimeu by King
Louis the Third." [vol. ii. p. 57.] "See Alberici Chron. a. 881.
Guthrum is here called Guormund, as in the passage there previously
extracted from Malmesbury. The Chron. S. Richarii, ap. Bouquet,
t. viii. p. 273. calls him Guaramund, and makes him fall at Sau-
court." IBID. note 2.
246
LIFE AND TIMES OF ALFRED THE GREAT. [CH. XVIII.
By this agreement, the offspring of a liberal policy,
the foundation was laid for future concord between two
nations, that had so lately been hostile; the boundaries
of the kingdom', which were assigned to Guthrum and
his Danes, were clearly marked out, and the rights of
both people were defined to be the same; whilst the
restriction on free intercourse between the two was
a wise precaution against private quarrels, robberies,
and even murder, which otherwise might have ensued.
The wisdom of the course which Alfred now adopted
for the pacification of the Danes, and the tranquillity
of England, was speedily apparent. A fresh fleet of
northern pirates, in 879, entered the mouth of the
Thames, and encamped at Fulham. Some of the
chroniclers tells us that they joined the army that was
¹ According to Spelman, [p. 66.] Northumberland also was
assigned to Guthrum; but evidently without much ancient authority
to support him in this opinion. All the six early chronicles mention
East Anglia only as occupied by Guthrum, and the treaty between
the two kings can hardly be explained in any other sense: the
frontiers which were to divide his kingdom from the rest of the island
are clearly marked out; the Thames, the Lea as far as Hertford,
the Watling-street to Bedford, and the Ouse as far as the sea.
Which is sufficient proof," says Hearne in a note to Spelman,
[p. 67.]" that the eastern parts of England then belonged to the
Danes; notwithstanding which, Polydore Virgil, calling this king by
the name of Gormon, vehemently contends, that that country was
not bestowed upon him, as is noted by Mr. Leland in the second
volume of his MS. collections in the Bodleian Library, f. 192. a.
Krantzius likewise denies that this Gormon was converted to the
Christian Faith; yet grants [de regibus Daniæ, lib. iv. c. 15.] that
about this time one Froto was converted. But, whatever these
authors say, the agreement itself plainly distinguisheth their terri-
tories; and the testimony of Asser, who lived at this time, (not to
mention the Saxon Annals, and the passage of John Picus, who
lived in the reign of Hen. I. cited by Mr. Lainbard,) is uncon-
trollable as to Guthrum's baptism."
A.D. 879.]
247
HASTING AT FULHAM.
already in the country, but this is certainly to be
understood no farther than to the effect that a com-
munication passed between the two. The plans of
Guthrum and those with him at Cirencester, were,
however, now peaceful, and did not suit the disposition
of the new comers. It is also not improbable that,
if they had persisted in their design of plundering,
they would have found the army of Guthrum drawn
out in array against them: for men do not scruple to
change sides in such cases, when they clearly see their
own interest in defending that which they before had
attacked and Guthrum was not likely to overlook the
dangers which must accrue to his new kingdom of
East Anglia, if any more bodies of his own piratical
countrymen were allowed to enter the island, and to
ravage for themselves. Thus, the new army of Danes,
finding no one willing to back them in their desires,
and that their course was not so smooth as they had
anticipated, and perhaps also in danger from the
provisions which Alfred would naturally have made
for the defence of his coasts, again put to sea in 880,
and crossed to Flanders, where they fortified them-
selves in the city of Ghent, and put in practice the
barbarities and outrages which they had intended to
perpetrate in England.
The leader of the freebooters who crossed the sea
in 880 is thought to have been the famous Hasting",
m
"The chronology of the earlier deeds of Hasting rests chiefly
on the Chronicon Turonense, ap. Du Chesne, Scriptt. rer. Norman.
(a work rarely named by modern writers,) according to which he
came as early as 841 (not 851, according to Guil. Gemmet.) with
Biorn to France. The years 856 and 858 in the said work, are to
be compared with Prudent. Trecens. an. 857 and 858, where the
treaty, which, according to Prudent., Hasting concluded with Charles
the Bald, is here related of Biorn. The expedition to Luna in
248
LIFE AND TIMES OF ALFRED THE GREAT. [CH. XVIII.
who afterwards made himself so formidable to the
northern countries of Europe, by the terrible calami-
ties which he inflicted upon the inhabitants of their
maritime districts. The terrific interest which not
only the continental nations but the English them-
selves felt in the proceedings of Hasting's army, is
evinced by the comparative minuteness with which
our national chroniclers have traced his ravages and
battles, though, by the wise precautions and successful
administration of Alfred, they suffered but little from
his attacks. We may be content to cast a cursory
glance over the career of that plundering army, during
the thirteen years" which intervened before they again
assailed the coasts of England, as it is briefly related
in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle.
"A.D. 881. This year the army went further into
Chron. Turon. becomes much more probable through Prudent., an.
859, who says, that the Danes already occupied the isle of La
Camargue and the mouth of the Rhone, whence the transit to the
gulf of Spezzia was very easy. The passage in Hincmar Rhemens.
a. 866 (whence Chron. Norm. a 869), where pagus Italiæ' is
excellently corrected by Pertz to 'pagus Isaliæ (Yssel),' may not
be referred to Hasting. Cf. also Rhegino, aa. 867, 874. Gesta
Domin. Ambazian. a. 877, ap. Du Chesne, p. 24, with the course of
our narrative. After this comparison it will be scarcely necessary to
mention, that I acknowledge but one historic Hasting, believing this
view to be better founded than Suhm's confused mass of citations
and the indefinite accounts of others would lead to suppose." LAp-
PENBERG, vol. ii. pp. 55-56.
An abstract of Hasting's career may be seen in Turner, [History
of the Anglo-Saxons, vol. i. p. 577, &c.] who observes, that "Dudo
has attempted to draw his character; but he has only recollected and
applied to him thirty-two vituperative epithets from the Latin lan-
guage, strung into hexameters. One of the historian's bright ideas
is, that Hastings should be
"
“Non atramento verum carbone notandus. p. 63,”
From 880 to 893.
A. D. 880—893.] HASTING Ravages france.
249
France, and the French fought against them: and
then was the army there horsed after the battle.
"A.D. 882. This year the army went up along the
banks of the Maese far into France, and there sate one
year.
"A.D. 883. The army went up the Scheldt to Condé,
and sate there one year.
"A.D. 884. The army went up the Somme to
Amiens, and there sate one year.
"A.D. 885. This year the army divided itself into two
parts and one of them went eastward°.
"That same year, before mid-winter, Carl king
of the French died; he was killed by a wild boar ;
and one year before this, his brother died: he too had
the western kingdom: and they were both sons of
Louis, who likewise had the western kingdom, and
died that year when the sun was eclipsed: he was son
of Charles, whose daughter [Judith] Ethelwolf, king of
the West-Saxons, had for his queen. And that same
year a large fleet drew together against the Old-
Saxons; and there was a great battle twice in that
year, and the Saxons had the victory, and the Fri-
sians were there with them. That same year Charles
succeeded to the western kingdom, and to all the
kingdom on this side of the Wendel-sea and beyond
this sea, in like manner as his great-grandfather had
it, with the exception of the Lidwiccas. Charles was
the son of Louis, who was brother to Charles, father
of Judith, whom King Ethelwolf had for his wife
and they were sons of Louis, who was son of the elder
Charles, whose father was Pippin. .
;
.
• Asser more correctly places the events which follow in 884.
P Carloman.
4 A. D. 879.
The Tuscan sea.
s The Bretons.
250
LIFE AND TIMES OF Alfred THE GREAT. [CH. XVIII.
“A. D. 886. This year the army, which before had
marched eastward, turned back to the west, and thence
up the Seine, where they took up their winter-quarters
near the town of Paris.
"A. D. 887. This year the army went up through the
bridge at Paris, and thence up along the Seine as far
as the Marne, and thence up the Marne to Chezy, and
then sate down, there, and on the Yonne, two winters
in the two places. And that same year Charles king
of the French died; and six weeks before he died,
Arnulf his brother deprived him of his kingdom. And
then was that kingdom divided into five, and five kings
were consecrated thereto. This, however, was done by
permission of Arnulf: and they said that they would
hold it from his hand, because none of them on the
father's side was born thereto except him alone. Arnulf
then dwelt in the land east of the Rhine and Rothulf
then succeeded to the middle kingdom", and Oda to
the western part, and Beongar and Witha* to the land of
the Lombards, and to the lands on that side of the moun-
tain: and that they held in great discord, and fought
two general battles, and oft and many times laid waste
the land, and each repeatedly drove out the other. . . .
:
“ A. D. 890. This year the army went from the Seine
to St. Lo, which is between Brittany and France; and
the Bretons fought against them, and had the victory,
and drove them out into a river, and drowned many of
them.
t
"A. D. 891. This year the army went eastward; and
King Arnulf, with the East Franks, Saxons, and Bava-
rians, fought against that part which was mounted before
the ships came up, and put them to flight."
In 892 nothing is recorded of the proceedings of
t Charles le Gros.
Burgundy.
u
* Guido, or Guy.
X
!
A. D. 893.] HASTING PREPARES TO INVADE ENGLAND.
251
Hasting's army, and in 893 we shall again follow them
to England, where this redoubtable chieftain once more
landed to measure his fortune or his skill with that of
Alfred, but failed more signally than his predecessors
to make an impression on his enemy, who was not only
the greatest monarch, but also the greatest warrior, of
the age.
!
CHAP. XIX.
PRECAUTIONS OF ALFRED AGAINST FUTURE INVASIONS OF THE DANES-
SECOND TREATY WITH GUTHRUM-SKIRMISHES WITH THE DANES
STILL CONTINUE-ALFRED TAKES FOUR DANISH SHIPS-DANES
BESIEGE ROCHESTER, WHICH IS RELIEVED BY THE KING—THE KING
ATTACKS THE EAST-ANGLIAN DANES BY SEA-DEFEATS THEIR
FLEET-HIS OWN FLEET IS DEFEATED ON THE COAST OF ESSEX.
THE conversion of Guthrum to Christianity could
have been but nominal at the best: the defeat at
Eddington, and the fortnight's siege which he endured
within the lines of Bratton castle, were no doubt able
instruments in compelling him to own allegiance to
an earthly superior, who could claim no more than the
homage of the lip; but they are altogether inefficient to
produce that obedience of the heart, which is alone
admitted in the service of the King of Heaven. Yet
the thought of uniting the vanquished foe with his own
people, not only under the same code of human laws,
but as members of the same Church and professors of
the same Faith, emanated from no other source than
the capacious mind of Alfred.
We have already noticed the first outline of a treaty
between the two kings. There exists, however, a
second document, of similar character but of greater
extent than the former, of which it is a sort of con-
firmation. Its object is principally to give laws to the
Danes, who, being new converts, could not be very
A. D. 880-890.] Alfred and GUTHRUM'S LAWS.
253
well informed concerning the observances, principally
religious, or at least intimately connected with religion,
which formed the greater part of the code in a country
where Christianity was established. But, for manifest
reasons, these new statutes were addressed to Saxons as
well as Danes, and for the most part the penalty for
the breach of them was higher. It is therein enacted,
that, forsaking Heathenism, they should worship One
God and Him alone: that the peace of the Church
should be inviolate, and the peace of the king unbroken:
that if any one should renounce Christianity or promote
heathenism, he should be punished, according to his
offence, with a fine or the confiscation of his property.
Then follow ordinances against misdemeanours in
religious men, against incest, against the withholding of
tithes, against buying, selling, or working on Sundays,
against the neglect or desecration of the fasts which
the Church enjoined, against trials of men on holidays
and solemn fasts, against executing men on Sundays,
against witches, against those who fors wear themselves,
or are guilty of many other similar crimes.
These ordinances bear the names not only of Alfred
and Guthrum, but of Alfred's son, who reigned after
him, under the name of Edward the Elder. This
circumstance has caused some embarrassment to critics
and historians; for, as Alfred was married in 868ª, his
eldest son Edward could have been scarcely ten years
old in 878, when Alfred defeated the Danes at Ethan-
dune. Guthrum also died in 890, which was ten years
before Edward the Elder succeeded to the throne, on
the death of his father Alfred. To explain this discre-
pancy it has been supposed, that the laws which form
the second treaty between Alfred and Guthrum, were
• See page 98.
254
LIFE AND TIMES OF ALFRED THE GREAT. [CH. XIX.
enacted a few years later, when Prince Edward was
growing into a young man, and was in some way or
other associated with his father in the sovereignty,
according to the ancient custom of the kings of
Wessex.
Whilst legislation was thus employing a portion of
the leisure which the king enjoyed, he was not ignorant
that peace is best secured by a constant preparation
for war.
The great army of Danes which had so long
over-run the island was now broken in battle, and had
submitted to become a part and parcel of his subjects.
His triumph was so complete, that the army of the
formidable Hasting was fearful of encountering him in
the flush of his victory, and after a short stay at Fulham,
they carried their enmity and their devastations to
foreign lands. That all the Danes in England were
now at least nominally under the superior dominion of
Alfred, is evident from the fact, that his name is con-
nected in all such legal instruments as have come down
to us, with the name of the local prince by whom the
particular territory was governed. The peace, which
Alfred's success against the Danes procured him, lasted
fifteen years, a long period, contrasted with the brief
breathing-time which they had formerly allowed him,
between their attacks, and every observation which
the contemporary writers have left behind them, seems
to indicate that this precious time was improved by the
king to the best advantage. For the Danes, though
broken and baffled of their principal object, which was
conquest or plunder on a large scale, yet continued in
small bodies to harass the English coasts, and to make
descents in particular places. There were also nume-
rous bodies of freebooters, who had occupied different
forts and strong places on the coast, from which they
C
A. D. 880-893.]
255
SKIRMISHES IN ENGLAND.
issued in their small fleets, and plundered English and
Danes alike; such piratical squadrons have always
sprung out of the contests which are carried on between
two states, in a half-barbaric age, and more especially
in a war between naval states, and in seas abounding
in islands which present superior facilities for the
growth and maintenance of a piratical navy".
The course of military and naval events in England
between the years 878 and 893 presents little of much
importance: no battles are recorded which could
endanger the safety of the kingdom, or interfere with
the plans of domestic utility which engaged the
attention of the king. The warlike enterprise which
the Danes undertook for the purpose of annoying
the English, or which the latter made in their own
defence, were few in number and of little magnitude,
compared with the struggle for national existence
from which they had escaped.
It may be convenient to follow the same mode in
relating these minor campaigns, which has been
adopted in describing the adventures of their old
enemies in France, and to throw them all into one
continuous narrative.
The first of these skirmishes took place by sea in
882; for Alfred, intent upon creating a navy, had
C
b Witness the buccaneers of the West Indian islands, who grew
out of the wars between the English and the Spaniards.
"About this time," says Turner, [p. 575, note 10.] "kings seem
to have thought of navies. In 888, Mahomet, the Saracen king in
Corduba, ordered ships to be built at Corduba, Hispali, and in other
places where wood abounded. Of this king it is said, that as he was
walking in his garden, a soldier exclaimed, 'What a beautiful place!
what a delightful day! How charming would life be if death never
>
came! You are wrong,' answered Mahomet; if death never had
TAMIN
256
LIFE AND TIMES OF Alfred THE GREAT. [CH. XIX.
shewn no want of care or vigilance to make the best
use of his prosperity, and continued to keep a watch-
ful eye upon the coasts, which would be the first to
suffer from the approach of a hostile fleet. It is not
very clear who were the enemy that this year engaged
the king's attention. Asser writes, that he "fought a
battle against the pagan fleet, of which he captured
two ships, having slain all who were on board; and
the two commanders of two other ships, with all their
crews, distressed by the battle, and the wounds which
they had received, laid down their arms, and submitted
to the king."
It has been supposed that these Danes were a part
of the army of Hasting, who with his fleet had held
the Loire in a state of blockade, and in consequence
of a treaty with Louis the Third of France, into which
they entered in 882, had nothing better to do than to
make an attempt on the English coastª.
These encounters with different bodies of the
Danes, probably afforded salutary exercise to the
fleets and armies of Alfred. So little knowledge could
he obtain beforehand of either their preparations or
their coming, that all his precautions were to a certain
come, I should not have reigned here.' Rod. Tol. Hist. Arab. c. 28.、
p. 24."
،
This is the opinion of Lappenberg, [vol. ii. p. 58.] who adds
the following note, " Annal. Vedast. a. 882. Hludowicus vero rex
Ligerim petiit, Nordmannos volens e regno suo ejicere, atque
Alstingum in amicitiam recipere, quod et fecit.' Hincmar. Rhem.
h. a. Hastingus et complices illius Nordmanni ex Ligeri egressi,
maritimas partes petierunt.' Depping has overlooked this negocia-
tion. As we know that Hasting or Alsting was in this movement,
we may with the less scruple recognise him as the king of the
Northmen, Hals, who in this year was present at the battle of Haslo.
See Annal. Fuld."
A. D. 884.]
+
DANES BESIEGE ROCHESTER.
257
•
degree ineffectual: whilst his troops were occupied in
resisting some of them in one place, other bodies.
succeeded in landing elsewhere. Among other causes
of alarm, an urgent demand for help reached the king
in 884 from the city of Rochester, which for a short
time was in danger of being taken by the enemy.
The occasion of its peril was this. We have seen
that the great Danish army which was in France had
divided into two bodies. One of them had marched
towards the East, "the other,"
other," says Asser, who
has given us the
the fullest account of this event,
"coming to Britain, entered Kent, where they be-
sieged a city called in Saxon Rochester, and situated
on the eastern bank of the river Medway. Before the
gate of the town the pagans suddenly erected a strong
fortress, but they were unable to take the city, because
the citizens defended themselves bravely until King
Alfred came up to help them with a large army. Then
the pagans abandoned their fortress, and all their
horses which they had brought with them out of France;
and leaving behind them at the fortress the greater
part of their prisoners, on the arrival of the king, they
fled immediately to their ships, and the Saxons seized
on the prisoners and horses which they had left: thus
the pagans, compelled by stern necessity, returned the
same summer to France."
e
Danes.
This success was followed up by a naval expedition,
which the king planned in the same year against
the piratical Danes, who occupied the coasts of East
Anglia. The army, which had relieved Rochester,
were speedily embarked, and the fleet, "full of fighting
men, proceeded out of Kent into East Anglia, for the
Probably slaves, who would be as useful to the Saxons as to the
S
258
LIFE AND TIMES OF ALFRED THE GREAT. [CH. XIX.
g
sake of plunder; and when they arrived at the mouth
of the river Stour', immediately thirteen ships of the
pagans met them, prepared for battle; a fierce fight
ensued, and all the pagans, after a brave resistance,
were slain; all the ships with all their money were
taken. But after this, while the royal fleet were re-
posing, the pagans, who lived in the eastern part of
England, assembled their ships, met the same royal
fleet at sea in the mouth of the same river, and, after
a naval battle, the pagans gained the victory"."
This defeat seems, however, to have produced no
serious results, and may perhaps have been nothing
more than a repulse occasioned by a surprise, or by the
superior numbers of the enemy. The war consequently
again languished or degenerated into small skirmishes,
which have not been thought worthy of notice by the
chroniclers and early historians. But the expressions
of that obscure writer Ethelwerd, as far as it is possible
to understand them, seem to corroborate the brief
statement, which is found in all the six chroniclers,
that in 884 or 885 the East-Anglian Danes broke the
treaty which they had made with Alfred. In the in-
flated language of Ethelwerd, the Danish army that
was besieging Rochester, was a "foul plague," which,
f
Spelman seems to have taken this for the river Stour in Kent.
But as Hearne in his note to the passage, [p. 74.] has justly re-
marked, "he that attentively reads the story, as related by Asser and
the Saxon Annals, will conclude, that 'twas in East Anglia, which
contained Norfolk, Suffolk, &c. Therefore Mr. Lambard [Perambu-
lation of Kent, p. 262.] thinks it happened at the same place now
called Harwich Haven. For that river which is of the same name
with this in Kent divideth Essex from Suffolk, and not far from the
head thereof in Essex standeth a town yet called Sturmore."
• Some of the chroniclers say sixteen.
b Asser.
A. D. 884.]
EAST-ANGLIA STILL TROUBLED.
259
--
when overcome by the king, looked round for rein-
forcements. Some of them made for the sea-coasts;
and the same year they renewed their league, and gave
hostages to the English, and twice in the year they
counted the spoil which they had obtained by fraud, in
the land which borders on the southern bank of the
Thames. The filthy crew, which were then in possession
of the East-Angles, suddenly removed to a place called
Bamfleet, and there the allied band divided; some of
them remained, and some of them went "beyond the
sea." To reduce these incoherent expressions to
sense and order, is perhaps impossible: they seem to
point to some combinations between the rebellious
East-Anglian Danes and the detachment from abroad,
which was compelled to raise the siege of Rochester:
but as the chroniclers have not transmitted to us any
evil consequences arising to Alfred or his kingdom
from this breach of the peace, it is probable that
tranquillity was soon restored.
i I subjoin a long extract from Lappenberg, in which he attempts
to clear up the obscurity which has always hung over the supposed
connection of Alfred with Rollo, which has been slightly alluded to
in page 159 of this volume. "Notwithstanding this misfortune"-
i. e. the defeat of his fleet in the mouth of the river Stour-" Ælfred
soon reestablished his feudal superiority in East-Anglia, and it even
appears that he would have driven Guthrum-Æthelstan from the
country, had not the latter received timely help from Rollo, the
first duke of Normandy. This chieftain, the exiled son of Rögnvald,
jarl of More, had come to England in the year 875, immediately
after the battle of Hafursfiord, which had reduced all the petty kings
of Norway under the subjection of King Harald Harfagr, had en-
tered into a friendly intercourse with Guthrum, and, as the saga tells
us, had, in consequence of a significant dream, [see Dudo,] betaken
bimself to the banks of the Seine. He had withdrawn from the siege
of Paris, at the period of Alfred's attack on Guthrum, for the purpose
of aiding the latter, in which he so fully succeeded, that Guthrum
S 2
260
LIFE AND TIMES OF ALFRED THE GREAT.
[CH. XIX.
"
made him the offer of the half of his kingdom, but which Rollo de-
clined, as well as his invitation to adopt the Christian faith."
In this manner we explain the extraordinary account of the later
historians, that Rollo was in alliance with King Alfred, and, for the
purpose of saving him, had hastened from the gates of Paris. The
oldest historian of Normandy, Dudo of St. Quentin, relates, that
these transactions took place between Rollo and Alstenius or Æthel-
stan king of the Angles. [In Dudo, p. 78. it is remarkable that he
calls the enemies of Alstan, king of the Angli, also Anglos. See
also Malmesb. de gestis Pont. ap. Gale, t. i. p. 363.] Under this
name the grandson of Ælfred had been understood by the followers
of Dudo, perhaps even by Dudo himself, and afterwards by an
uncritical writer, John Wallingford, who has made the remark, that,
as this Æthelstan lived later than Rollo, he must have been con-
founded with Ælfred, which supposition has been the cause of serious
difficulties. But if we call to mind that Guthrum at his baptism
assumed the name of Æthelstan, and must have been known under
that name to the Norman ecclesiastical writers, the riddle is simply
and satisfactorily solved, and we again see how a distorted tradition
may contain a valuable historic fact.
The passage of Wallingford (ap. Gale, t. i. p. 214.) is found under
the reign of Æthelstan: "Reservavit ad istum regem quod superius
dixi de Alfredo et Rollone scriptor Historia Normannorum (sc. W.
of Jumieges, lib. ii. c. 4. from Dudo,) quod nequaquam stare potest,
quum Rollo usque ad Ealstani regnum ex ipso ejus volumine et
chronicorum supputatione convinci possit non pervenisse. Sed et
multi alii historici, ob auctoritatem Ealstani, ad eum referunt quæ
ad eum constat non pertinere.' In the oldest Welsh annals we find
him or his successor called king of the Saxons: Annal. Camb. a.
898. Ealstan rex Saxonum obiit.'
(
LAPP. vol. ii. p. 60.
""
CHAP. XX.
SECOND PERIOD OF ALFRED'S LIFE-ENGLAND ENJOYS COMPARATIVE
TRANQUILLITY DURING FIFTEEN YEARS, FROM 878 TO 893.—
ALFRED'S POWER MORE EXTENSIVE THAN BEFORE THE DANISH
INVASIONS-HIS ENDEAVOURS TO AMEND THE CONDITION OF HIS
PEOPLE-HE INVITES PLEGMUND, WERFRITH, ETHELSTAN, AND
WERWOLF OUT OF MERCIA, ASSER OUT OF WALES, GRIMBALD AND
JOHN OF CORBEY (NOT ERIGENA) OUT OF FRANCE.
•
THE reign of Alfred may be divided into three periods,
according to the varied character of the events which
predominated at different times. The first period com-
prehends seven years, from his accession to the throne
in 871 to his defeat at Chippenham, and expulsion
from his throne in 878. This part of his life is diver-
sified by few occurrences, which were thought worthy
to be transmitted to posterity, though it comprises the
two last attempts which the Danes made to reduce
Wessex to the state of servitude, in which the rest of
the island was bound. The short and decisive campaign,
which first threw this able wrestler, and afterwards
raised him from his fall stronger and more vigorous
than before, may be looked on as one of those tests,
by which superior talents occasionally are tried. It
was a necessary discipline for the king's mind; for a
king must not engross himself too deeply in the arts of
peace alone; or devote the whole of his time to learning
and religion. If then Alfred had sunk under the trial
to which his firmness was exposed in 878, if he had
:
262
Life and TIMES OF ALFRED THE GREAT.
[CH. XX.
fled to a safer home, and left his kingdom a prey to
the barbarians, his name would have come down to us,
not as the focus of glories that will ever dazzle the eye
and fill the mind of those who contemplate them, but
as the worthy contemporary and equal of Burrhed king
of Mercia, and other kings, who in the age immediately
preceding that of Alfred, made no scruple to abandon
the high and useful stations in which Providence had
placed them.
But of those who read the achievements of Alfred
at the head of his army in the field, or in his fleet on
the bosom of the wave, who is there that cannot perceive
how uncongenial those fierce and brutalizing occupa-
tions must have been, to his fine and enlightened
intellect? How would he have rejoiced, if his lot had
been cast in an age when literary taste and the triumphs
of the mind outweighed all the victories that could be
achieved by the sword! A book was to King Alfred
an inestimable treasure, and learning was the greatest
enjoyment he could possess. So clear is this from the
whole history of his life, that even the legendary tale
which we have related concerning the vision of St.
Cuthbert, as he sat alone in the solitary island, repre-
sents him as engaged in the perusal of a book, and
with it almost reading himself to sleep! How then
must the king have rejoiced in the reality of that
peaceful time, which formed the second period of his
reign! His valour in the field against the enemies
of his country was at length amply rewarded with the
tranquillity which he coveted. The baffled enemies.
looked from a distance with an envious eye, but with
terror at their hearts, upon the exaltation of their
conqueror; or if they dared again to annoy him, it was
* See page 226-9.
A. D. 880—893.] HEPTARCHY At last destroyed.
263
in faint and ill-supported attacks, which kept his arms
brightened, and taught his soldiers their duty, without
in the slightest degree diminishing his prosperity or
dimming his glories. Now then may we expect to find
the real character of the king display itself: this is that
period of his reign which has conferred on him the title
of GREAT, or at least has given him a claim to that
title much stronger than that which he had earned by
his previous success in war. It does not appear,
indeed, that the first part of Alfred's reign exhibits
marks of any peculiar excellence beyond several of the
kings who reigned in Wessex before him. It is true
that he acted like a brave prince in the numerous
battles, where, in conjunction with the brother Ethelred,
he stemmed the torrent of the first Danish invasion.
He also displayed equal courage when he was left alone
by his brother's death to defend the liberty of his country;
and though his last campaign against Guthrum's
victorious host was as brilliant as a warrior who aspires
after military glory could desire, yet something was
still wanting to ensure for Alfred that epithet which is
now inseparably united with his name. If then we
would discover by what deeds Alfred has earned this
superior rank in the estimation of mankind, we must
view all his former deeds only as paving the view for
that which was to follow, and we must seek his true
glories in what he accomplished during the fifteen years
of tranquillity, which he gained by his former seven
years of war.
The first advantage which occurred to England from
the actions of her great king was the consolidation of
the states of the Heptarchy into one. Four independent
monarchies, Wessex, Northumberland, East Anglia,
and Mercia, still existed, when the violence of the Danish
264
LIFE AND TIMES OF ALFRED THE GREAT. [CH. XX.
invasions first fell upon the island. Three of the
separate kingdoms, East Anglia, Northumberland, and
Mercia, were successively and speedily humbled to the
dust by the fierce northmen; but when the victors
were in their turn subjugated by the king of Wessex,
the Saxon kingdoms which they had occupied fell also
with them into Alfred's hands, and thus was presented
an opportunity, which had never occurred before, of
uniting all England into one kingdom, and under the
sovereignty of one king. But there were still circum-
stances which prevented this union from instantly taking
effect. The rebellious spirits of the Danish soldiery,
though humbled by defeat, required gentle treatment;
and it was the king's policy to convert them into
husbandmen and useful citizens, not to drive them to
despair, or irritate them by bringing them continually
into contact with his own superior authority. Hence
the intermediate authority of their own king Guthrum
was useful for a time, to mould them into a more pliable
form, and to teach them by degrees to become his own
subjects. Guthrum died in 890, and one Eohric or
Eric becoming king, reigned fourteen years, until
905, when he was slain in battle against the army of
Edward the Elder, king of Wessex, and his kingdom
ceased to exist as a separate stateª.
The fortunes of Northumberland were similar to
those of East Anglia: the obscure Egbert who ruled
in Bernicia, and Guthred who governed Deira, were
the last kings of those northern provinces. Egbert
first disappears from our view, and Guthrede died
b Sax. Chron. Eth. Flor. Sim. Hunt.
Flor. Wig. p. 262.
a Sax. Ch. 905.
Ethelwerd [an. 896.] calls him Guthfridus, and says that he was
buried in York cathedral.
}
•
A. D. 884.]
at York, on St. Bartholomew's day, A. D. 894, just after
the commencement of the contest which Alfred waged,
as we shall presently relate, with Hasting, the most
skilful general of his enemies the Northmen. Guthred
left three sons, Niel, Sigtric, and Ragnald, who in
later days recovered their paternal rights in Northum-
berland, though, immediately after their father's death,
Alfred succeeded in establishing his supremacy over
that country.
MERCIA A DEPENDENCY OF Wessex.
265
The kingdom of Mercia, left vacant by the death of
Burrhed, and then held for a time by the imbecile
Ceolwolf, until he resigned it to the Danes, never reco-
vered its independence, or existed even as a subordinate
kingdom. Lying between the contending Danes and
Anglo-Saxons, it underwent that partition to which
its situation made it liable. The boundary settled by
the treaty of Alfred and Guthrum represents the
frontier between the two races of people who now
predominated in the two parts of the island. A con-
siderable portion of Mercia was resigned to the Danes,
though perhaps the greater part of it, namely its
western districts, which were called Hwiccas, were now
united to Wessex. But Mercia, even thus partitioned,
"This interesting information is found in the extracts from the
lost Gesta Anglorum in Adam of Bremen, lib. i. c. 35. (Nordmanni),
in Angliam quoque miserunt unum ex sociis Haldani, qui dum ab
Anglis occideretur, Dani in locum ipsius Gudredum constituerunt.
Ipse autem Northumbriam expugnavit, atque ex illo tempore Fresia
et Anglia in ditione Danorum esse feruntur. Scriptum est in Gestis
Anglorum.' Lib. ii. c. 15. Anglia autem, ut supra diximus, et in
Gestis Anglorum scribitur, post montem Gudredi a filiis ejus Analaf
(sic), Sightric et Reginold, per annos fere centum, permansit in
ditione Danoruin.' The usually received opinion, that Sihtric and
his brothers were sons of Ivar, rests on an interpretation of the
Annals of Ulster. See also Sax. Chron. a. 921. Sim. Dun. 914."
LAPPENBERG, ii. p. 62.
266
LIFE AND TIMES OF ALFRED THE GREAT. [CH. XX.
still retained so much of its original constitution,
that whilst the appellations Dena-lagu, or Dane-lagh,
and West-Saxena-lagu, respectively described the
kingdoms in which the Danish and Saxon laws severally
prevailed, the Mercians had their own denomination
Mercena-lagu; and these three names, applied ori-
ginally to different codes of laws, came now to mark
out the countries in which those laws were in force.
The Saxon part of Mercia was governed, not by a
king, but an alderman or earl, and the first officer of
this name was Ethelred, the son-in-law of Alfred,
who probably had large landed estates in Mercia, or
otherwise possessed influence in that country; for we
find that he assembled the witenagemot at Gloucester,
at which a large number of bishops and nobles were
present.
After the death of Ethelred, his wife h
governed the country under the title of Hlæfdige or
Lady of the Mercians, for the law which excluded
females from regal honours seems to have been limited
to Wessex, and not to have held good even in the
country of Edburga, whose crimes originated it.
But besides the states which lay within the limits
of our modern England, there were many petty kings
and princes beyond the Welsh frontier, who had
acknowledged submission to the superior power of
Alfred; this is attested by Asser, who was himself a
"I see no reason, with Wanley and Smith, to doubt the
genuineness of the document of 884, (Smith's Beda, p. 771,) in
which Æthelred speaks of himself, principatu et domino gentis
Merciorum suffultus, gentis Merciorum ducatum gubernans.'
What Asser, a. 886, says, is merely that the comes Merciorum at
that time received possession of London. Florence, a. 894, calls
him 'subregulus;' Ethelwerd, 'rex." THORPE'S LAPPENBERG,
9
vol. ii. p. 63.
h Alfred's daughter Ethelswitha.
A. D. 884.]
267
POWER OF ALFRED.
Welshman, and was afterwards advanced to great
favour at the court of that king.
"At this time, [884,]" says he," and long before,
all the countries on the right hand side of Britain
belonged to King Alfred, and still belong to him.
For instance, King Hemeid, with all the inhabitants
of the region of Demetia, compelled by the violence
of the six sons of Rotri, had submitted to the dominion
of the king. Howel, also, son of Ris, king of Gle-
guising, and Brocmail, and Fernmail, sons of Mouric,
kings of Gwent, fled of their own accord from the
tyranny and violence of Ethelred and the Mercians,
to King Alfred, that they might enjoy his government
and protection against their enemies. Helised also,
son of Tendyr, king of Brecon, compelled by the
force of the same sons of Rotri, voluntarily sought
the government of the aforesaid king; and Anarawd,
son of Rotri, with his brother, at length abandoning
the friendship of the Northumbrians, from which he
received no good but harm, came into King Alfred's
presence, and eagerly sought his friendship. The
king received him honourably, adopted him as his son
by confirmation from the bishop's hand, and presented
him with many gifts. Thus he became subject to the
king with all his people, on the same condition that
he should be obedient to the king's will in all respects,
in the same way as Ethelred and the Mercians. Nor
was it in vain that all these princes gained the friend-
ship of the king. For those who desired to augment
their worldly power, obtained power; those who
coveted money, gained money; and in like way, those
who wished for his friendship, or both money and
friendship together, succeeded in getting what they
wanted. But all of them gained his love and guar-
268
LIFE AND TIMES OF ALFRED THE GREAT. [CH. XX.
•
dianship, and defence from every quarter, even as the
king with his men could protect himself." It appears
then, from this cursory view of the state of England,
that the actual dominions of Alfred were augmented
by the wars which he had waged, and the jealousies,
which once existed between the rival Anglo-Saxon
states, were now consumed and reduced to a heap of
ashes, by the terrible conflagration which had swept
across the island. It behoves us now to consider by
what means the king succeeded in raising a fresh
vitality over the smouldering ruins, and to give a new
vigour to the sceptre which he transmitted to his
descendants, more powerful than he had received it
from the kings who reigned before him.
In this enquiry we shall have to consider both the
private and the public life of the king, the measures
which he took to regulate the finances of the country,
to protect it from foreign enemies and from domestic
tumults: the affairs of the Church, of religion generally,
and of literature, will all pass in review before us, for
there was no department of the public interest which
the king did not himself assist to regulate, whilst his
private life, as William of Malmesbury observes, was
beyond measure to be admired, and "celebrated with
the highest praise." To illustrate this subject, the
biography of Asser furnishes us with information of
the deepest interest, and is, in fact, the source, from
which all have drawn, who have written, directly or
indirectly, on the history of this king.
Of the difficulties, which lay in Alfred's path, when
he at last saw peace restored, and the opportunity
which he had so long desired, at last offered, for
improving the people, whom he was called upon to
govern, the isolated position, in which he stood, was
+
A. D. 884.]
269
PLEGMUND-WERFRITH.
by far the most formidable. Since the death of his
brothers, he stood alone in the world, and was removed
as far above his subjects in the qualities of the mind,
as by the regal authority which he held. When he
was a boy, he could not find teachers to direct his own
studies, and now that he possessed the power to pro-
mote the reforms which he meditated, and to improve
the social and political condition of his subjects, he
had difficulty in finding persons to cooperate with him
in this laudable work. This was then his first endeavour,
which he lost no opportunity of promoting, "to procure,"
as Asser¹ tells us, "coadjutors in his good designs, to aid
him in his strivings after wisdom, that he might attain
to what he aimed at; and therefore, like a prudent
bird, which, rising in summer with the early morning
from her beloved nest, steers her rapid flight through
the uncertain tracks of æther, and descends on the
manifold and varied flowers of grasses, herbs and
shrubs, essaying that which pleases most, that she may
bear it to her home, so did he direct his eyes afar, and
seek without that which he had not within, namely, in
his own kingdom."
It was from Mercia, principally, that Alfred obtained
the assistance which he sought. "As some encourage-
ment to his benevolent intentions," continues the bio-
grapher, "God, listening to his complaint, sent certain
lights to illuminate him, namely, Werfrith, bishop of
the Church of Worcester, a man well versed in the
Divine Scriptures, who, by the king's command, first
turned the books of the Dialogues of Pope Gregory
and Peter, his disciple, from Latin into Saxon, and,
sometimes, putting sense for sense, interpreted them
with clearness and elegance. After him was Pleg-
b Vita Alfredi, sub a. 884.
270
LIFE AND TIMES OF Alfred THE GREAT. [CH. XX.
mund, a Mercian by birth, archbishop of the Church
of Canterbury, a venerable man, and endowed with
wisdom with whom came Ethelstan and Werwolf, his
priests and chaplains, Mercians by birth, and men of
erudition. These four had been invited out of Mercia
by King Alfred, who exalted them with many honours
and powers in the kingdom of the West-Saxons,
besides the privileges which Archbishop Plegmund,
and Bishop Werfrith, enjoyed in Mercia. By their
teaching and wisdom the king's desires increased
unceasingly, and were daily gratified. Night and day,
whenever he had leisure, he commanded such men as
these to read books to him: for he never suffered
himself to be without one of them, wherefore he pos-
sessed a knowledge of every book, though of himself
he could not yet understand any thing of books, for he
had not yet learned to read any thing.'
"}
But it would seem that Mercia could not supply a
sufficient number of ecclesiastics and teachers to gratify
the" commendable avarice" of the king, the continent
of Europe was searched to increase the number," he
sent messengers to procure teachers out of Gaul, and
invited from thence Grimbald, priest and monk, a vene-
rable man, and a good singer, adorned with
every kind
of ecclesiastical discipline and good morals, and most
learned in holy Scripture. He also obtained from
thence John, also a priest and monk, a man of most.
energetic talents, learned in all kinds of literary science,
and skilled in many other arts. By the teaching of
these men the king's mind was greatly enlarged, and
he, in return, gave them much riches, and honoured
them with much influence." The ecclesiastics, whom
Alfred thus invited from abroad, were men who had
obtained a high reputation for learning in their own
A. D. 884.]
271
FULK'S LETTER TO ALFRED.
country. John of Corvey, in Old Saxony, was the
priest and monk so famous both in literature and
science, and Grimbald was Provost of St. Omer's in
France. To procure the grant of his services from
his ecclesiastical superior, Fulk, Archbishop of Rheims,
without whose consent he could not leave France,
Alfred dispatched an embassy, consisting of several
bishops and others, ecclesiastics and laymen. The
ambassadors bore with them large presents for the
archbishop, and pledged themselves in their master's
name, that Grimbald should be well received and highly
honoured in England as long as he lived. Fulk, the
archbishop, wrote back a letter to Alfred, in which he
signified his assent to the king's request, though the
loss of the eminent scholar would give much pain to
himself. These particulars have come down to us in
the letter itself which Fulk wrote to Alfred on this occa-
sion, and which is still preserved. It is a curious
supplement to the narrative which we have given above
from the biography of Asser.
It was about the same time that Asser, from whose
biography we are enabled to extract these interesting
reminiscences, was first introduced to the king. He
was a native of Wales, or, as he calls it, Western Britain,
and was now invited by the king to take up his resi-
dence in Saxony. Accordingly he traversed the many
intervening provices which lay in his road, and, under the
guidance of some Saxons, who had no doubt been sent
to escort him, he came into Sussex, and first saw the
king at the royal vill of Dene. His reception by Alfred,
and the sequel of their interview, shall be told in Asser's
own words.
i See the Appendix, No. V. William of Malmesbury tells us
[an. 893.] that Alfred was kindly entertained by this Fulk, when he
was a child on his way to Rome many years before: see page 51.
272
LIFE AND TIMES OF ALFRED THE GREAT. [CH. XX.
"He received me with kindness, and, among
other familiar conversation, he asked me eagerly to
devote myself to his service and become his friend,
to leave every thing I possesed on the left or western
bank of the Severn, and he promised to give me more than
an equivalent for it in his own dominions. I replied,
that I could not incautiously and rashly promise such
things; for it seemed to me unjust, that I should leave
those sacred places in which I had been bred, educated,
crowned, and at last ordained, for the sake of any earthly
honour and power, unless I was compelled to do so.
Upon which he said, 'If you cannot accede to this, at
least let me have your service in part: spend six
months of the year with me here, and the other six in
Britain.' To this I replied, that I could not even promise
that too easily or hastily, without the advice of my
friends. At length, however, when I perceived that
he was anxious for my services, though I knew not
why, I promised him that, if my life was spared, I would
return to him after six months, with such a reply as
should be agreeable to him, as well as advantageous to
me and mine.' With this answer he was satisfied, and,
when I had given him a pledge to return at the ap-
pointed time, on the fourth day we left him, and returned
on horseback towards our own country.
"After our departure, a violent fever seized me in
the city of Winchester, where I lay twelve months and
one week, night and day, without hope of recovery.
At the appointed time, therefore, I could not fulfil my
promise of visiting him, and he sent messengers to
hasten my journey, and to enquire the cause of my delay.
As I was unable to ride to him, I sent a second mes-
senger to him stating the cause of the delay, and to
assure him that, if I recovered from my infirmity, I
k i. e. received the monastic tonsure.
A. D. 884.]
273
ASSER'S INTRODUCTION TO Alfred.
+
would fulfil what I had promised. My complaint at
last left me, and by the advice and consent of all my
friends, for the benefit of that holy place, and of all
who dwelt therein, I did as I had promised to the king,
and devoted myself to his service, on the condition that
I should remain with him six months in every year,
either continuously, if I should find it possible to spend
six months with him at once; or alternately, three months
in Britain, and three in Saxony."
The motives which induced Asser's friends and the
brethren of the monastery to which he belonged, are
plainly told: "For my friends hoped that they should
sustain less annoyance and harm from King Hemeid,
who often plundered our monastery and the parish of
St. Deguus, and sometimes expelled the prelates, as
they expelled Archbishop Novis my relation, and my-
self; which would no longer be done, if in any manner
I could secure the notice and friendship of the king.”
The illness which fell on Asser at Winchester, as he
was returning to Wales, prevented him for more than
a year from fulfilling the promise which he had
made to the king. At length, however, he again came
into his presence at the royal vill of Leonaford; the
narrative proceeds thus:
"I was honourably received by him, and remained
that time with him at court eight months; during
which I read to him whatever books he liked, and such
as he had at hand; for this is his most usual custom,
night and day, in the midst of his many other occupa-
tions of mind and body, either himself to read books,
or to listen whilst others read them. And when I
frequently asked his leave to depart, and could in no
way obtain it, at length, when I had made up my mind
by all means to demand it, he called me to him at
T
274
LIFE AND TIMES OF ALFRED THE GREAT. [CH. XX.
twilight on Christmas eve, and gave me two letters,
in which was a long list of all the things which were
in two monasteries, called, in the Saxon tongue, Am-
bresbury and Banwell; and on that same day he de-
livered to me those two monasteries, with all the things
that were in them, and a silken pall of great value, and
a load for a strong man of incense; adding these words,
that he did not give me these trifling presents, because
he was unwilling hereafter to give me greater; for in
the course of time he unexpectedly gave me Exeter,
with all the diocese which belonged to him in Saxony,
and in Cornwall, besides gifts every day, without
number, in every kind of worldly wealth, which it would
be too long to enumerate here, lest they should make
my reader tired. But let no one suppose that I have
mentioned these presents in this place for the sake of
glory or flattery, or that I may obtain greater honour.
I call God to witness that I have not done so; but that
I might certify to those who are ignorant of it, how
profuse the king is in giving. He then immediately
gave me permission to ride to those two rich monas-
teries, and afterwards to return to my own country.
k "
ઃઃ
Besides the eminent scholars whose attendance on
Alfred is confirmed by the testimony of Asser, we are
told that the celebrated John Erigena, the Scot or
Irishman, came with the rest to adorn the court of
Alfred. This John had " long since," writes William
of Malmesbury, "from the continued tumult of war
around him, retired into France to Charles the Bald,
at whose request he had translated the Hierarchia of
Dionysius the Areopagite, word for word, out of the
Greek into Latin. He composed a book also, which
he entitled,' On the Division of Nature,' an extremely
* Vita Alfredi, an. 884.
:
:
A. D. 884.]
275
JOHANNES SCOTUS ERIGENA.
useful work for solving certain perplexing but neces-
sary questions, if we only pardon his having deviated a
little in some things from the doctrines of the Latins,
out of too great attention to the Greeks. In after times,
allured by the munificence of Alfred, he came into
England, and at our monasterý [Malmesbury], as
report says, was pierced with the iron styles' of the
boys whom he was instructing, and was even looked
upon as a martyr; which phrase I have not made use
of to the disparagement of his holy spirit, as though
it were matter of doubt, especially as his tomb on the
left side of the altar, and the verses of his epitaph,
record his fame. These, though rugged and deficient
in the polish of our own days, are not so uncouth
for ancient times:
Here lies a saint, the sophist John, whose days
On earth were graced with deepest learning's praise:
Deem'd meet at last by martyrdom to gain
Christ's kingdom, where the saints for ever reign."
But, notwithstanding that we have the authority of so
respectable a writer for believing that John Erigena
was at the Court of Alfred, yet it is more probable that
Malmesbury has confused him with John of Corbey,
before mentioned; for Asser, who had daily opportu-
nities of seeing and knowing all Alfred's ecclesiastics,
would hardly have taken notice of inferior scholars, to
the disparagement of one so deservedly celebrated as
Erigena".
ום
For writing on wax tablets.
Erigena is thought to have died in France before 877: but
nothing is certain on the subject.
T 2
CHAP. XXI.
ALFRED'S NAVY-HIS GENERAL OFFICERS-AND FORTRESSES-HIS
ADMONITIONS TO BUILD CASTLES NEGLECTED-OF THE CITIES WHICH
HE BUILT OR RESTORED-THE KING'S ZEAL FOR RELIGION_HIS
HEARING OF THE SCRIPTURES-BUILDS MONASTERIES AT ATHELNEY,
SHAFTESBURY, THE NEW MINSTER AT WINCHESTER—ALFRED'S
CHILDREN-THEIR EDUCATION-THE SCHOOL FOR THE SONS OF THE
NOBILITY-NO UNIVERSITIES IN THOSE TIMES-SUPPOSITION THAT
ALFRED WAS NOT IN FAVOUR AT ROME.
WHEN Alfred had secured the assistance of the
eminent men whom we have enumerated, he gave his
whole soul to the important subject which he had in
hand. His object was twofold: to set the kingdom,
which he ruled, in such a state of defence, that if the
enemies who had so terribly ravaged it should return,
his people might be in a state of preparation to receive
them; and also to improve their social condition, and
to raise them to a higher state of intellectual attainment
than had hitherto existed among themselves or their
rude ancestors. These objects, which are commensurate
with the distinction between peace and war, are the
greatest which the mind of a king can compass; and
that they now engrossed all Alfred's attention, is evident.
from the description which the ancient writers have
left us concerning this portion of his life. The most
important of these objects was doubtlessly the defence
A.D. 880—893.] ALFRED'S NAVAL IMPROVEMents.
277
and security of the kingdom against a recurrence of
the evils which for many years had afflicted it. The
king's prudent judgment would readily see, that all the
improvements of civilization would be premature, if
they were liable to be suddenly cast down by the assaults
of a barbarous enemy; and his acuteness of perception
could not but point out to him, that the enemy, although
repulsed, was still at his very gates, ready to take ad-
vantage of any opening which should be left in his
defences. Nor was the king's foresight bestowed in
vain, for, as we shall presently see, the Danish hosts
again fell upon him like a thunder-storm, and put the
existence of his kingdom in jeopardy, almost before his
means of opposing them were completed.
It was obviously necessary, to ensure the safety of
England from its foreign enemies, that Alfred should
possess an efficient fleet to guard the coasts, an able
body of officers to organize and command the forces of
each district, and a line of fortresses to serve as maga-
zines, or rallying points for his armies, and as a check to
the enemy, until reinforcements could arrive. Our know-
ledge of Alfred's navy is obtained less by its description
than by its results. It appears, that the improvement
which he introduced into ship-building, contributed prin-
cipally to the successes which he gained by sea. Asser
tells us, that he "commanded boats and galleys, i. e. long
ships, to be built throughout the kingdom, in order
to offer battle to the enemy as they were coming." The
peculiarities of these new galleys are pointed out by
Florence of Worcester: "they were twice as long,
twice as high, sailed more quickly, and were less
a
Asser, an. 877. His expression is, "cymbas et galeas, i. e. longas
naves."
278
[CH. XXI.
LIFE AND TIMES OF ALFRED THE GREAT.
some of
. they
unsteady than those of the Danes";"
these ships had sixty oars, some had more;
were shaped neither like the Frisian nor the Danish,
but as it seemed to Alfred that they would be most
efficient in the service for which they were designed.'
And to this novel construction may probably be
ascribed the success which Alfred almost always
experienced by sea, from the first moment that he
turned his thoughts to naval tactics. We have
(6
b Anno 897.
• Sax. Ch. an. 897.
a Sir John Spelman expresses his inability to comprehend the
advantages which Alfred's mode of construction are said to have
imparted to his ships. His remarks are worth noticing: "How the
ships should be so exceeding high as to double the height of the
Danish ships, (when they went not with sails but oars,) I cannot
well imagine, unless that, for the better receipt of soldiers, and their
greater advantage in fighting, (which in those grappling sea-
fights consisted wholly in the superiority of standing,) they had a
plain level deck, above the room that the rowers sat in, and from
thence with great odds of advantage annoyed those they sat upon:
otherwise their height, that so much advantaged them in fight, would
as much disadvantage them in speedy rowing. As for their
steadiness, that argues their greatness and burden, whereby they
drew the more water; which though it were an hindrance to their
speed, (for the greater the body, the slower the motion,) yet that
was borne out with an answerable number of rowers which their
length afforded.
"If this apprehension seem difficult, then may we reckon the height
spoken of to be meant of the height of their poops only, and not of
the height of the whole sides of the ships, and so we may think them
to have retained somewhat of the fashion of those of the Veneti, with
whom when Cæsar fought, the height of their poops exceeded the
tops of the fighting-turrets that were in Cæsar's ships: but those
ships of the Veneti went not with oars, but with sails of leather, and
these either only or chiefly with oars.
"If further we enquire after the form of shipping used by the
Saxons, Tacitus [De mor. Germ.] tells us, that the Suiones (who
were part of the Suevians, as the Saxons were) used a kind of
shipping in the Baltic sea very rude and plain, that was high before
1
A. D. 880—893.]
279
ALFRED'S MILITARY TACTICS.
'
already seen, that the difficulty which principally
attends the first construction of a navy, namely, to
procure sailors by whom the ships may be manned,
did not exist at this time, for there were swarms of
pirates and private adventurers, covering all the
face of the northern seas, and ready to take service
wherever a sufficient compensation was offered to them.
There can be no doubt that a large number of
sailors were included among the "
many Franks,
Frisons, Gauls, Pagans [i. e. Danes], Britons, Scots,
and Armoricans, noble and ignoble, who," as Asser
tells us,
"submitted voluntarily to his dominione;" and
as they "all of them, according to their nation and their
merits, were ruled, loved, honoured, and enriched
with money and power," it is not surprising that
Alfred's endeavours 'were successful, or that his fleet
speedily became equal to the task of defending his
coasts, and even of assailing the enemy upon their
own element.
As the creation and maintenance of a navy occupied
an important place in the king's thoughts, so has it also
been asserted by almost all succeeding writers, that he
improved the use and practice of arms, to the great
and behind, and made indifferent to go with either end forward, but
forced only with oars, which they did not use in any constant, fixed
seats of rowing, but removed to and fro to any end or part of their
ships, as occasion served, (as we may see them do in our cock-boats
and lighters.) These were slow for any service, though Tacitus
counts the Suiones to be somebody in shipping. Whether the
Saxons came over in such vessels, and whether they continued the
use of them, or found here a better form, I shall leave to the dis-
quisition of others. It is sufficient to our purpose to shew, that,
whatsoever they formerly were, the king augmented the use of them,
both in number and condition, over what they were before his coming
to the crown." LIFE OF ALFRED, p. 151.
! Ibid.
An. 884.
280
LIFE AND TIMES OF ALFRED THE GREAT. [CH. XXI.
advancement of military discipline: but, as has been
remarked by Sir John Spelman on this subjects, "had
the particulars of his ordinances in that behalf remained
unto us, there is no doubt but they would have afforded
matter both to his glory, and to the delight (and use
perhaps) of posterity: but such particulars failing,
there yet are manifest demonstrations, that he did much
in that kind, and to very good purpose." It is probable
that many institutions, already in existence before the
accession of Alfred, have been ascribed, by the fond
admiration of posterity, to the invention of their
favourite king; as instances of which we may adduce
the well-known and long-established dignity of earl or
alderman, and probably others whose origin is lost in
antiquity: yet that Alfred modified the military system
of the Anglo-Saxons and put it on a more efficient
basis, is evidently to be inferred from several passages
of the old chroniclers; it is probable that the ancient
officers of the kingdom, aldermen and others, were
• Life of Alfred, p. 147. "John Hardyng," observes Hearne,
[p. 149.] "sums up the king's military performances in the following
words: [Chron. f. 108. b.]
And in the year viii C. lxxx and eighteen
Then Alured this noble king so died:
When he had reigned xxix year clean
And with the Danes in battles multiplied
He faughten often, as Colman notified
In his Chronicle aud in his Catalogue
Entitled well, as in his dialogue.
That fifty battailles and six he smote,
Sometime the worse and sometime had the better,
Sometime the field he had, as it is note,
Sometime he fled away, as saith the letter,
Like as Fortune his cause left unfeter.
But nevertheless as oft when so they came,
He countered them and kept the land from shame."
I
A. D. 880-893.]
281
ALFRED'S MILITARY TACTICS.
entrusted with the care of defending their own particular
districts, and calling out the militia, whenever an
enemy should appear. The names of several of Alfred's
officers have come down to us; some of them have
obtained distinction, like Odun, alderman of Devonshire,
for their victories over the enemy. The division of the
kingdom into counties, for military purposes, begins
more fully to display itself: thus we read of Ethelelm,
the earl or alderman of Wiltshire", Bertwolf duke-or
earl, for the titles have the same meaning-of Essex'
Edwolf, the king's minister in Sussex, Earl Ceolmund
in Kent', Edred, duke of Devonshire, probably suc-
cessor to the brave Odun", and several others. We
even read of bishops, whose zeal, equalling that of their
more celebrated successors, after the Normans came to
England, prompted then-if they were not actually
employed by the king for that purpose,-to enter the
field and fight, like soldiers, in defence of their country's
freedom. It would be an obvious idea to a mind less
acute than that of Alfred, to employ these officers in
the defence of their own provinces, and we find that
they were so employed before Alfred became king;
but however this may be, it is left on record, that the
king adopted a more regular method than his prede-
cessors to ensure the speedy assembling an army, if
occasion should require. It was necessary that the
fortresses throughout the kingdom should be manned
• with sufficient garrisons; and a certain number of men
were yearly set aside for this important duty. The rest
Florence, p. 103. Sax. Ch. a. 898.
i Flor. p. 115.
k Flor. p. 115.
¹ Ibid. Matt. Westmin. an. 197. Godwin, fol 337.
Brompton, col. 832, n. 10. Hunt. an. 901.
111
282
AND
LIFE AND TIMES OF ALFRED THE GREAT.
[CH. XXI.
were divided into two bodies; half of them were left at
home to till the lands and attend to their domestic
concerns, whilst the other half were in attendance on
the king, and ready to take the field against the
enemy.
n
Closely connected with the necessity of having a
well-organized army, was the manifest utility of main-
taining the ancient fortresses of the kingdom, and
erecting others wherever they might be required. It
is to be lamented, that on this subject also the ancient
writers give us no precise information or details of any
kind. We may remark, that the Saxons were less
skilled than their enemies, the Danes, in the construction
and defence of fortresses. In fact, they appear to have
neglected that mode of defending their country alto-
gether, in consequence, perhaps, of the ease with
which they had first subjugated the Britons, and the
improbability of their being attacked in a country,
which had the natural protection of the Ocean. It is
observable, that the same city or fortress, which presents
no impediment to the Danish armies, becomes, in their
hands, a formidable barrier, which repels the assaults
of the Saxons, and cannot be recovered except by a
lengthened siege. Thus Reading, Exeter, Chippen-
ham, Wareham, and other towns, fall an easy prey to
the Danes, but when once fortified by those skilful
engineers, they repulse even Alfred from their gates.
This fact was not lost upon the capacious mind of the
king: and he continually endeavoured to point out to
his nobles the importance of this subject. In what
manner his exhortations were received is told us by
his biographer, and it is a sad example of the mortifi-
cation which a spirit, that essays to soar above its
n Flor. p. 101.
A. D. 880-893.1
283
ALFRED BUILDS CASTLES.
equals, is destined to suffer. "The king," says Asser,
"besides the bodily disease which afflicted him, as
I have before said,-was disturbed also by the quarrels
of his friends, who would voluntarily endure little or
no toil, though it was for the common necessity of the
kingdom; but he alone, sustained by the Divine aid,
like a skilful pilot, strove to steer his ship, laden with
its cargo of wealth, into the safe and much-desired
harbour of his country, though almost all his crew
were tired, and suffered them not to faint or hesitate,
whilst they were sailing amid the manifold waves and
eddies of this present life. For all his bishops, earls,
nobles, favourite ministers, and præfects, who, next to
God and the king, had the whole government of the
kingdom, as is fitting, continually received from him
instruction, respect, exhortation, and command; nay,
at last, when they were disobedient, and his long
patience was exhausted, he would reprove them
severely, and censure at pleasure their vulgar folly and
obstinacy; and in this way, he directed their attention
to the common interests of the kingdom. But, owing
to the sluggishness of the people, these admonitions
of the king were either not fulfilled, or were begun
late at the moment of necessity, and so ended less to
the advantage of those who put them in execution ;
for I will say nothing of the castles, which he ordered
to be built, but which, being begun late, were never
finished, because the hostile troops broke in upon
them by land and sea, and, as often happened, these
thwarters of the royal ordinances repented when it was
too late, and blushed at their non-performance of his
commands. I speak of repentance when it is too late,
on the testimony of Scripture, whereby numberless
persons have had cause for too much sorrow after
vigy
284.
LIFE AND TIMES OF ALFRED THE GREAT. [CH. XXI.
many
insidious evils have been wrought. But, though
by those means, sad to say, they may be roused to
sorrow, and bitterly afflicted by the loss of fathers,
wives, children, ministers, servant-men, servant-maids,
and furniture and household-stuff, what is the use of
hateful repentance when their kinsmen are dead, and
they cannot aid them or redeem those who are captive
from captivity? for they are not able even to assist
those who have escaped, as they have not wherewith
to sustain even their own lives. They repented, there-
fore, when it was too late, and grieved at their incau-
tious neglect of the king's commands, and they praised
the royal wisdom with one voice, and tried with all
their power to fulfil what they had before refused,
namely, concerning the erection of castles, and other
things useful to the whole kingdom."
But, whilst the king's ministers neglected to fulfil
their master's commands, and preferred, with true
Saxon blood, to face their enemies in an open field of
battle, rather than retire for safety behind the walls of
a fortress, the king himself zealously discharged such
of these duties which came under his own immediate
care, and restored the towns and cities, that were
dilapidated, to more than their former condition. In
Spelman seems to have thought that Alfred was the first to con-
struct buildings of hewn stones, if we may judge by the following
passage:
"Neither was the reparation notable in regard of the great-
ness and universality only, but it was also of an extraordinary kind,
both in regard of the materials, and of the new manner. You shall
hear Asser's own words: De civitatibus et urbibus renovandis, et
aliis, ubi nunquam ante fuerant, construendis ædificiis, aureis et
argenteis, incomparabiliter, illo edocente, fabricatis; de aulis et
cameris regalibus, lapideis et ligneis, suo jussu mirabiliter construc-
tis; de villis regalibus lapideis, antiqua positione mutatis, et in
decentioribus locis regali imperio decentissime constructis &c. For,
A. D. 886.]
285
ALFRED REBUILDS LONDON.
886, according to Asser, "after the burning of cities and
the slaughter of his people, he honourably rebuilt the
city of London, and made it again habitable. He
gave it into the custody of his son-in-law Ethelred,
earl of Mercia; for all the Angles and Saxons, who
had before been dispersed every where, or were in
captivity with the Pagans, voluntarily turned and sub-
mitted themselves to his dominion."
when the walls of towns and castles were but wood and combustible,
(as we may see by those of York and Rochester that they generally
then were,) stone buildings were very rare, till Alfred made them more
frequent."
"Notwithstanding
To which Hearne adds the following note.
there be no express mention in any author of the forts and castles
built by him, yet 'tis commonly reported that he was the founder of
Middleton and Balford in Kent, of the Devizes in Wilts, and of
Ælfreton in Derbyshire. Malmsbury also was restored by him after
'twas destroyed by the Danes. And I believe too that the city of
Norwich was either repaired after some devastation, or else that it
had some addition made to it by him. For in one of his coins, pub-
lished by the ingenious Sir Andrew Fountaine, [tab. i. n. 9.] there
is a monogram, which Mr. Edw. Thwaites, in his notes upon these
coins, has ingeniously guessed to be CIVITAS NORTHVICum: and I
believe it was occasioned by his benefaction to the place, unless we
rather think, with others, that it only denotes that 'twas coin'd here.
I know indeed that Mr. Walker and some others, with whom Sir
Andrew seems to agree, are of opinion that this coin belongs to
Ælfred king of Northumberland: but what overthrows this opinion is.
the head itself, which does not much differ from the heads of King
Ælfred the Great, which Mr. Walker himself has published. Nor,
indeed, was Norwich a place of any note in the time of Ælfred king of
Northumberland, as Mr. Camden has very well observed in his discourse
upon this place; not now to insist upon the wreath, which encircles the
head, and is more agreeable to the times of Ælfred the Great, than those
of Ælfred king of Northumberland: and for that reason Mr. Selden, in
his titles of honour, mentions it as his, and places it amongst his other
observations concerning coronation in the western parts after the time
of Charles the Great." LIFE OF ALFRED, p. 163.
286
LIFE AND TIMES OF ALFRED THE GREAT. [CH. XXI.
In his own palaces, farms, and country-seats, of
which he had a large number, the king set a laudable
example to his neglectful earls and thanes; his
architectural taste was lavishly displayed in the restor-
ations and new creations, which his genius called
forth in that department. These works were doubt-
lessly well known to his contemporaries, but the details
of them have perished, or have never been written.
The greatest works of man fall into obscurity, and
become utterly unknown, when those who saw them
with their own eyes, and were dazzled by their
brilliancy, have omitted to record those facts which
alone can preserve the memory of them to posterity.
"What shall I say," continues Asser, " of the cities and
towns which he restored, and of others which he built
where none had been before? of the royal halls and
chambers, wonderfully erected, by his command, with
stone and wood? of his royal vills constructed of
stone, removed from their old sites, and handsomely
rebuilt, by the king's command, in more fitting
places ?"
Such duties as these must have occupied a large
portion of the king's leisure, but there were others,
some of them no less important, which demanded
their share of his attention. The interests of Religion,
of Literature, the Legislative and Judicial depart-
ments of the State, were all left by the intestine wars
which had torn society in pieces, in a state more
easy to be deplored than to be remedied. Of these
we must now speak more fully. And first, of the king's
endeavour to promote the interests of Religion.
For the last hundred and fifty years, preceding the
reign of Alfred, and following the death of Venerable
r See his Will in the Appendix.
A. D. 880-893.] HIS ZEAL FOr learning anD RELIGION. 287
Bede, a great change, and not for the better, had been
gradually passing over the Anglo-Saxon mind. In
Literature and Religion, which in those days were
inseparably united, the zeal which was kindled in the
time of Venerable Bede, and fostered by his own
bright example, had long waxed cold: no name of
importance occurs during that long period, and, when
Alfred came to the throne, it was not the least
pressing of the arduous duties that devolved on him,
to raise his subjects from the inglorious apathy into
which they had fallen on all that regarded their
intellectual and moral culture. It was for this object
above all others that Alfred had gathered from every side
those pious and learned churchmen, whose names and
virtues have been already enumerated. Education was
the instrument by which Alfred hoped to conquer his
own subjects, as by arms he had conquered their
enemies; but education was confined entirely to the
Church, and as a necessary consequence of the ravages
of the Danes, the monasteries, which were the seats of
learning, had been destroyed, the libraries they con-
tained had been reduced to ashes, and the trembling
monks expelled from their habitations, or ruthlessly put
to death. Books also at this time, being for the most
part written in Latin, became useless, when those who
alone could read them, were either slain or exiled: and
the Services of the Church, which were also performed
in Latin, became an unmeaning form, or were inter-
mitted altogether.
These circumstances did not discourage the king;
it was not his intention to stand aloof and point out to
his subjects the rugged road which they were to take:
• Books in the Anglo-Saxon tongue were probably rare at this
time.
288
LIFE AND TIMES OF ALFRED THE GREAT.
[CH. XXI.
but to travel with them, and to share all its toils, nay to
take upon him more than an equal share of the labour
that must be borne. It is a wonderful fact, that the
king outstripped all his subjects in every branch of
human knowledge which was then cultivated, and no
sooner perceived that there remained something to be
acquired, than he started foremost in the race, and far
outstripped every competitor. In what manner he, by
his own example, which would naturally be more
powerful than all his precepts, advanced the cause of
Religion, we may learn from the faithful narrative of
Asser.
“The king was in the habit of hearing the divine
Scriptures read by his own countrymen, or, if by any
chance it so happened, in company with foreigners,
and he attended to the reading with sedulity and solici-
tude. His bishops too, and all his ecclesiastics, earls
and barons, ministers and friends, were loved by him
with wonderful affection, and their sons, who were bred
up in the royal household, were no less dear to him
than his own; he had them instructed in all kings of
good morals, and among other things, never ceased to
teach them letters, night and day'; but, as if he had no
consolation in all these things, and suffered no other
annoyance either from within or without, yet he was
harassed by daily and nightly affliction, so that he
complained to God, and to all who were admitted to
his familiar love, that Almighty God had made him
ignorant of Divine wisdom, and of the liberal arts; in
this he emulated the pious, wise, and wealthy Solomon,
king of the Hebrews, who, at first, despising all present
r
This expression occurs so often in Asser, as may be seen in the
passages quoted from him, that it seems to have no more than an
augmentative signification, and must not be taken literally.
A. D. 880-893.]
289
ALFRED'S DEVOTION.
glory and riches, asked wisdom of God, and found both,
namely, wisdom and worldly glory; as it is written, ‘Seek
first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and
all these things shall be added unto you.' But God,
Who always looks into the most inward thoughts of the
mind, Who is the instigator of all good intentions,
and a plentiful aider to the formation of good desires—
for He would not instigate a man to good intentions,
unless He also amply supplied that which the man
justly and properly wishes to have-instigated the
king's mind within; as it is written, I will hearken
unto what the Lord God shall say concerning me.'"
'
As a means of promoting a spirit of piety among
his subjects, and to make them better acquainted with
that which the king in his own person valued so highly,
he applied himself to remedy the destruction of the
monasteries, and to build others in which, like candle-
sticks, he might place the brilliant literary lights which
he had received from abroad. We proceed to describe,
in the language of Asser, the first measures which he
took in this behalf.
"Of his fixed purpose of holy meditation, which, in
the midst of prosperity and adversity, he never neg-
lected, I cannot with advantage now omit to speak.
For, whereas he often thought of the necessities of
his soul, among the other good deeds to which his
thoughts were turned night and day, he ordered that
two monasteries should be built, one for monks at
Athelney, which is a place surrounded by impassable
marshes and rivers, where no one can enter but by boats,
or by a bridge laboriously constructed between two
other heights; at the western end of which bridge was
erected a strong tower, of beautiful work, by the king's
command, and in this monastery he collected monks
U
1
290
LIFE AND TIMES OF ALFRED THE GREAT. [CH. XXI.
of all kinds, from every quarter, and placed them
therein.
"At first, because he had no one of his own nation,
noble and free by birth, who was willing to enter the
monastic life, except children, who could neither
choose good nor avoid evil in consequence of their
tender age, because for many previous years the love
of a monastic life had utterly decayed from that nation,
as well as from many other nations, though many
monasteries still remain in that country; yet, as no
one directed the rule of that kind of life in a regular
way, for what reason, I cannot say,-either from the
invasions of foreigners which took place so frequently
both by sea and land, or because that people abounded
in riches of every kind, and so looked with contempt
on the monastic life: it was for this reason, that King
Alfred sought to gather monks of different kinds, to
place in the same monastery.
.
"First, he placed there as abbat, John the priest
and monk, an old Saxon by birth; and besides him
certain priests and deacons from beyond the sea; of
whom, finding that he had not so large a number as
he wished, he procured as many as possible of the
same Gallic race, some of whom, being children, he
ordered to be taught in the same monastery, and at a
later period to be admitted to the monastic habit.
I have myself seen a young lad, of pagan birth, who
was educated in that monastery, and he was by no
means behindhand with any of them.
CC
There was also a deed once done in that monas-
tery, which I would utterly consign to oblivion, although
it is an unworthy deed; for, throughout the whole of
Scripture, the base deeds of the wicked are interspersed
among the blessed deeds of the just, as tares and
A.D. 880-893.]
JOHN ABBAT OF ATHELNEY.
291
darnel are sown among the wheat: good deeds are
recorded, that they may be praised and imitated, and
that their imitators may be held in all honour; wicked
deeds are there related, that they may be censured and
avoided, and their imitators be reproved with all
odium, contempt, and vengeance.
"Once upon a time, a certain priest and a deacon,
Gauls by birth, and two of the monks of the aforesaid
monastery, by the instigation of the devil, and excited
by some secret jealousy, became so embittered in
secret against their abbat, the above-mentioned John,
that like Jews they circumvented and betrayed their
master. For, whereas he had two servants, whom he
had hired out of Gaul, they taught these such wicked
practices, that in the night, when all men were enjoying
the sweet tranquillity of sleep, they should make their
way into the church armed, and shutting it behind
them as usual, hide themselves therein, and wait for
the moment, when the abbat should enter the church
alone. At length, when he should come alone to
pray, and, bending his knees, bow before the holy
altar, the men should rush on him with fury, and
endeavour to slay him on the spot. They were then
to drag his lifeless body out of the church, and throw
it down before the house of a certain harlot, as if he
had been slain whilst on a visit to her. This was their
machination, whereby they added crime to crime, as it
is said, The last error shall be worse than the first.'
"But the Divine mercy, which always delights to
aid the innocent, frustrated in great part the wicked
designs of these wicked men, so that it should not
turn out in every respect as they had proposed.
CC
When, therefore, the whole of the evil counsel
Or," like Judas, "" Judaico more."
"
8
U 2
292
LIFE AND TIMES OF ALFRED THE GREAT. [CH. XXI.
་
had been explained by those wicked teachers to their
wicked agents, and the night which had been fixed on
for the deed was come, the two armed ruffians were
placed, with a promise of impunity, to wait in the
church for the arrival of the abbat. In the middle of
the night, John, as usual, entered the church to pray,
without any one's knowing of it, and knelt before the
altar. The two ruffians rushed upon him with drawn
swords, and dealt him some severe wounds: but he,
being a man of a brave mind, and, as we have heard
say, not unacquainted with the art of self-defence, if
he had not been a follower of a better calling, no
sooner heard the sound of the robbers, before he saw
them, than he rose up against them before he was
wounded, and, shouting as loud as he could, struggled
against them, crying out that they were devils and not
men; for he himself knew no better, as he thought
that no men would dare to attempt such a deed. He
was, however, wounded before any of his people could
come to his help. His attendants, roused by the
noise, were frightened when they heard the word
devils, and both those two, who like Jews sought to
betray their master, and the others who knew nothing
of the matter, rushed together to the doors of the
church; but, before they got there, those ruffians
escaped, leaving the abbat half dead. The monks
raised the old man, in a fainting condition, and carried
him home with tears and lamentations; nor did those
two deceitful monks shed tears less than the innocent.
But God's mercy did not allow so bold a deed to pass.
unpunished; the ruffians who perpetrated it, and all
who urged them to it, were taken and put in prison,
where, by various tortures, they came to a disgraceful
end.
A. D. 880-893.] DEVOTES HALF HIS REVEnue to god. 293
"Another monastery, also, was built by the king as
a residence for nuns, near the eastern gate of Shaftes-
bury; and his own daughter, Ethelgiva, was placed in
it as abbess. With her many other noble ladies,
bound by the rules of the monastic life, dwelt in that
monastery. These two edifices were enriched by the
king with much land, as well as personal property.
"These things being thus disposed of, the king
began, as was his practice, to consider within himself,
what more he could do to augment and shew forth his
piety; what he had begun wisely, and thoughtfully
conceived for the public benefit, was adhered to with
equally beneficial results; for he had heard it out of
the book of the law, that the Lord had promised to
render to him ten-fold; and he knew that the Lord
had kept his promise, and had actually restored to
him ten-fold. Encouraged by this example, and
wishing to exceed the practices of his predecessors, he
humbly and faithfully vowed to devote to God half of
his service, both day and night, and also half of all his
wealth, such as should every year lawfully and justly
come into his possession; and this vow, as far as
human discretion can perceive and keep, he skilfully
and wisely endeavoured to fulfil. But, that he might,
with his usual caution, avoid that which Scripture
warns us against; If you offer aright, but do not
divide aright, you sin,' he considered how he might
divide aright that which he had vowed to God; and,
as Solomon had said, The heart of the king is in the
hand of God,' that is, his counsel, he ordered with wise
policy, which could come only from above, that his
officers should first divide into two parts the revenues
of every year."
،
C
294
LIFE AND TIMES OF ALFRED THE GREAT. [CH. XXI.
2.
Besides the monasteries of Athelney and Shaftesbury,
of which Asser has left us these interesting details, it
appears that Alfred built another religious house at
Winchester, called the "New Minster" Though
we find nothing about its foundation in the earlier
Chronicles, yet, as Winchester was the principal city of
Wessex, and the place where the king held his court,
it may be supposed that no pains or expense were
spared to construct it with becoming magnificence. As
the foundation of this monastery was only commenced
a short time before the death of Alfred, it is described
by the historian William of Malmesbury, as having
been designed rather than built by this king. It was
placed so near the Cathedral or Old Minster of Win-
chester, that the services which were chaunted in the
choir of the one, could be easily heard by the singing-
men who were officiating in the other; and King Edward
is said to have paid a mark of gold to the bishop for
every foot of land that he purchased, in order to have
sufficient ground for the offices and out-buildings of
the monastery". The inconveniences of this great
proximity were soon felt by the inhabitants of both
those religious houses, and before the time of Malmes-
bury the building was destroyed, and the materials re-
moved to the outside of the city, where was built the
•
"The annals of Winchelcomb [in Bibl. Cotton] and Roger Hove-
den [fol. 281, 6. n. 50.] say that his wife Elswith was foundress :
and so Leland also, [Collect. vol. i. p. 337.] only with this addition,
that neither Ælfred nor Ælswith could finish it before their death."
HEARNE, pag. 167, note 3. "In one of Sir Ken. Digby's MSS. [num.
11. f. 157. a.] it is positively said he [Alfred] founded this monas-
tery, and endowed it with large revenues." Id. p. 168. note 1.
a
“Ad hujus monasterii officinas instituendas." CAMDEN'S All-
An-
nales. "Ad unumquemque pedem marcam auri publico pondere
pensitavit." Malmes. de gest. pontif. lib. ii.
A. D. 880-893.]
295
REBUILDS THE MONASTERIES.
abbey of Hyde, of which King Alfred has, in conse-
quence, often been described as the founder.
It has been often vaguely stated by different writers,
-that Alfred was not only a benefactor to monasteries in
general, but also built many new ones: those however
which we have mentioned are the only ones which can,
on good and positive authority, be ascribed to him,
though he in a variety of ways made large and valuable
gifts to various other religious houses. For instance,
the Cathedral Church of Sherborne still possessed, in
Malmesbury's time, some jewels that were brought to
Alfred from the East Indies; and he is registered as
the first of the benefactors to the Church of Wilton'.
The abbey of Glastonbury seems also to have been much
benefitted by this king; for Henry II, in a charter of
confirmation to that Church, enumerates the charters of
Alfred among those of other kings his predecessors".
There is also still extant a charter dated 889, and
granted by Alfred to the Church of Worcester, the
occasion of which was as follows: "Alhune, bishop of
Worcester, had bought of Burrhed, king of Mercia, and
of Ceolmund, præfect of London, a certain portion of
a
B
•
* It is so stated in a Table of Collection of Monasteries, (with the
Dedication, founders, and values of them,) commonly ascribed to
Speed: but the author of this work was Burton, the Leicestershire
antiquary, as appears from Sir Henry Spelman's Councils, tom. 21.
p. 215. and Tanner's preface to his Notitia Monastica.
y ▾ “First built by St. Alburg, sister to King Egbert, for one abbess
and twelve nuus; but King Alfred increased them to twenty-six,
being excited to this piece of piety after his defeat of the Danes at
Waschesorne, near Wilton, [Leland's Coll. vol. ii. p. 195.] though
Mr. Hen. Crompe has assigned another reason. See Mon. Ang.
tom. ii. p. 857.” HEARNE.
. p. 170.
* See Matt. Paris, p. 21. who calls Alfred and Edward the Con-
fessor the founders of it.
In Kemble's Codex diplomaticus Anglo-Saxonicus, vol. ii. p. 118.
296
LIFE AND TIMES OF ALFRED THE GREAT. [CH. XXI.
the customs of the port there, with the liberty of using
a certain bushel with the weights and measures be-
longing. Alfred afterwards coming to be the lord of the
city, granted freely to the Church of Worcester a cer-
tain space of ground extending from the great street
(which then was next to the wharf) unto the walls of
the city, and contained twenty-six perches in length,
and thirteen perches and seven feet in breadth, free and
discharged of all public duties, together with the liber-
ties of a bushel and scales within that precinct, and all
forfeitures and duties thereof coming, to the benefit
of the Church of Worcester."
These gifts to the monastic houses flowed, no doubt,
from the intense love of mental culture which mani-
fests itself throughout all Alfred's life and from the
same motive he gathered round him at his own court
the sons of his nobility to receive, in conjunction with
his own children, a better education than their parents
would be able or willing to give them in their own
households. To this assemblage of pupils Asser has
attached the name of school, and a violent controversy
once distracted the literary world concerning the sense
in which the word was to be understood, and whether
it was not the beginning or origin of a learned institu-
tion still existing. In speaking of this subject, Asser
has taken occasion to enumerate and describe the
children who were born to Alfred from his wife Elswitha,
daughter of Ethelred the " Big," alderman of the Gaini,
and a noble of great wealth and influence in Mercia.
"The sons and daughters," says Asser, "which he
had by his wife above mentioned, were Ethelfled the
eldest, after whom came Edward, then Ethelgiva, then
Ethelswitha, and Ethelwerd, besides those who died
Spelman, p. 170.
b
-
A. D. 880-893.]
297
EDUCATES HIS CHILDREN.
•
in their infancy, one of whom was Edmund. Ethelfled,
when she arrived at a marriageable age, was united to
Ethelred, earl of Mercia; Ethelgiva was dedicated to
God, and submitted to the rules of a monastic life;
Ethelwerd, the youngest, by the Divine counsels and
admirable prudence of the king, was consigned to the
schools of learning, where, with the children of almost
all the nobility of the country, and many also who
were not noble, he prospered under the diligent care
of his teachers. Books in both languages, namely,
in Latin and Saxon, were read in the school. They
also learned to write; so that, before they were of an
age to practise manly arts, namely hunting and such
other pursuits as befit noblemen, they became studious
and clever in the liberal arts. Edward and Ethels-
witha were bred up in the king's court, and received
great attention from their servants and nurses; nay,
they continue to this day, with the love of all about
them, and shew affability, and even gentleness, towards
all, both foreigners and natives, and are in complete
subjection to their father; nor, among their other
studies which appertain to this life and are fit for
noble youths, are they suffered to pass their time idly
and unprofitably, without learning the liberal arts; for
they have carefully learned the Psalms and Saxon
books, especially the Saxon Poems, and are con-
tinually in the habit of making use of books." The
schools of learning, to which Asser alludes in this
passage, as formed for the use of the king's children
and the sons of his nobles, are again mentioned
elsewhere by the same author, as "the school which
с
A different person from Ethelred, the Big alderman of the Gaini.
a Asser wrote in 888, and died soon after.
Asser, sub an. 884.
298
LIFE AND TIMES OF ALFRED THE GREAT. [CH. XXI.
he had studiously collected together, consisting of
many of the nobility of his own nation':" and in a
third passage, Asser speaks of the "sons of the
nobility who were bred up in the royal household.”
It is clear, then, from these expressions, that the
king's exertions to spread learning among his
nobles and to educate his own children, were of a
most active and personal nature, unconnected with any
institutions of a more public character: the school
was kept in his own household, and not in a public
seat of learning. We may perhaps adduce these
expressions of Asser as militating against the notion,
that an University or Public Seminary of Learning
existed in the days of Alfred. Though it is most
probable that the several monasteries, and other
societies of monks and churchmen, would employ a
portion of their idle time in teaching youth, and
prosecuting their own studies; yet there is no proof
that an authorized seat of learning, such as the
Universities of Oxford or Cambridge, existed in
England, until many hundred years after the time of
Alfred. Yet an attempt was made in the sixteenth
century to prove, on the one side, that Cambridge had
been founded by Sigebert, king of East Anglia ; and
on the other, that the University of Oxford was in full
operation in the time of Alfred, who himself went
thither to settle one of the religious and literary
controversies, which have so often disturbed its tran-
quillity. The account of this dispute is first found in
the following passage, taken from Asser's biography.
"In the same year [886] there arose a foul and
deadly discord at Oxford, between Grimbald, with
those learned men whom he had brought with him,
& Anno 884.
↑ Anno 888.
f
A.D. 886.]
299
CONTROVERSY AT OXFORD.
and the old scholars, whom he found there, who, on
his arrival, altogether refused to adopt the laws,
modes, and forms of prælection instituted by the same
Grimbald. During three years there had been no
great dissension between them, but there was a secret
enmity, which afterwards broke out with great atrocity,
clearer than the light itself. To appease this quarrel,
the invincible King Alfred, having been informed of
the strife by a messenger from Grimbald, went to
Oxford to put an end to the controversy, and took
much pains to hear the arguments and complaints
which were brought forwards on both sides. The
substance of the dispute was this: the old scholars
contended that literature had flourished at Oxford
before the coming of Grimbald, though the number of
scholars was smaller than in ancient times, because
several of them had been driven away by the cruelty
and tyranny of the pagans. They also proved and
shewed, by the undoubted testimony of ancient annals,
that the orders and institutions of that place had been
sanctioned by certain pious and learned men, as for
instance by saint Gildas, Melkinus, Nennius, Ken-
tigern, and others, who had all grown old there in
literature, and happily administered every thing there
in peace and concord; and also, that Saint German
had come to Oxford, and stopping there half a year,
at the time when he went through Britain to preach
against the Pelagian heresy, wonderfully approved of
the customs and institutions above mentioned. The
king, with unheard-of humility, listened to both sides
carefully, and exhorted them again and again with
pious and wholesome admonitions to cherish mutual
love and concord. He therefore left them with this
decision, that each party should follow their own
300
LIFE AND TIMES OF ALFRED THE GREAT. [CH. XXI.
counsel, and preserve their own institutions. Grimbald,
displeased at this, immediately departed to the
monastery at Winchester, which had been recently
founded by King Alfred, and ordered a tomb to be
carried to Winchester, in which he proposed, after
this life, that his bones should be laid in the vault
that had been made under the chancel of St. Peter's
church in Oxford; which church the same Grimbald
had built from its foundations, of stone polished with
great care."
It is unfortunate for the authenticity of this passage,
that there never was known to exist more than one
Manuscript in which it is found, and the narrative
which it unfolds is entirely at variance with the whole
tenor of King Alfred's life. If learning had already
fixed its seat on the banks of the Isis, where would
have been the necessity of sending for those foreign
scholars, of whom the chroniclers have written? The
king was by no means addicted to foreign manners;
on the contrary, all his aims were directed to improve
and set forth the talent of his own country. It is not
the mark of a patriotic king to look abroad for the
talents which can be found at home: and though in a
state of barbarism, a monarch more enlightened than
his contemporaries will industriously procure teachers
b The new Minster, before mentioned, of which Grimbald was the
first abbat.
i Asser, an. 886.
j Dr. Lingard adduces an internal argument, which appears to me
to be very just and weighty, against the authenticity of this passage.
"What writer," says he," of the ninth or tenth centuries ever used
the expressions Divus Petrus, or Divi Gildas, Melkinus, &c. ?" Hist.
of Eng. i. p. 179.
For an account of this miserable controversy between the partizans
of Oxford and Cambridge, see Wise's Asser, Turner's History of the
Anglo-Saxons, ii. p. 155. and several other works.
A. D. 880-889.]
301
ALFRED'S CONNECTION WITH ROME.
from other countries, to instruct his ignorant people;
yet, where learning has already taken root, he will best
elicit its fruits by a just and fair distribution of its
rewards to all that may become competitors, and not
by depressing the minds of his own countrymen, or by
bestowing their inheritance upon strangers.
k
But these remarks lead us towards a train of thought,
which must be acknowledged to derive no authority,
except by inference, from the ancient writers; and it
is one which I should have been reluctant to promul-
gate, if it had not forced itself not only on my own
attention, but on that of a far more able judge of the
motives by which human actions are determined. Sir
John Spelman has remarked, that when we consider
the estimation in which King Alfred was held, even at
Rome itself, it appears remarkable that, after his death,
his memory was passed over without his receiving the
honours and title of a Saint; yet if the Church of Rome
had borne the same good will towards him that they
have done towards others, as, for instance, towards the
obscure Edmund his contemporary, king of East-
Anglia, it would not have been a hard task for them to
have detected in the manifold incidents of his life, as
good a ground for conferring on him canonization, as
they have had for many whom the Pope and Cardinals
have sainted. The very opening of Alfred's life was
remarkable, though we have lost the exact particulars;
and a future Pope might have with propriety adjudged
the honours which he had to bestow on Alfred, if
not for the benefits which he brought to mankind, yet
as a confirmation of the mysterious ceremony of unction
which he had received from one of that Pope's prede-
cessors. When, also, the king sat in the desolate
k
Page 219–221.
:
302
•
LIFE AND TIMES OF ALFRED THE GREAT. [CH. XXI.
island, and his affairs seemed to be in a hopeless state,
he was assured in a vision, as the monkish writers tell
us, that he should again sit upon his throne. Even
the malady with which he was bound partakes of the
same wonderful character, and might be taken as a
proof that Alfred was a chosen child, whom the Lord
would correct with stripes in the flesh, that He might
purify him for the posthumous honours of a Saint. If
more was wanting to prove his aptness for such honours,
it might be added, that he had exemplified in his own
practice the precept of the Gospel, and had given half
of his revenues to God, even whilst he still exercised
the functions of a king. His whole life was one con-
tinued aspiration and struggle after what was good,
impeded and kept back by the persecutions of a race
of heathens, whose success would have overset the bark
of St. Peter with its crew, the Pope and all his Cardinals.
It seems remarkable that no notice was taken of his
career, by those who were so amply benefitted by his
virtues; and it cannot be superfluous to enquire why
he was not canonized, in an age when this was the
highest honour which the Head of Christendom could
bestow.
Many indications have been left us, that the life and
actions of King Alfred were not in harmony with the
sentiments which have always prevailed at the Court
of Rome. "The king," says Spelman, "walked with
too much knowledge and understanding, and was not
so easy to be led by them as his father was; and, though
in spiritual matters he reverenced the Pope, (according
to the doctrine of the times,) as universal vicar, yet he
understood not the inferences that were afterwards built
upon that foundation, but exercised his regal authority
absolutely, for which cause they seem to have declined
A. D. 880-893.]
ALFRED NOT IN FAVOUR AT ROME. 303
striving with him, and therefore, though it had
happened that all the bishoprics of West-Saxony, viz.
Winchester, Cornwall, Sherborne, Wells, and Cridda,
were for three whole years vacant, and only under the
care of the archbishop of Canterbury until the time of
the king's death, yet we hear of no offence taken
therefore at Rome; but when after his death they con-
tinued as long vacant in his son Edward's time, the
first news of distaste that he heard thereof was a curse
and an excommunication'."
That the tendency of the Roman court and doctrines
was against the dissemination of learning in general,
would be an assertion as uncharitable as it is untrue;
but it would be difficult to defend the ecclesiastical system
of the middle ages from a charge, not so sweeping,
but based on a better foundation than the former.
The Roman Court never tolerated even learning or
virtue itself, if it in any way opposed their own favourite
opinions. It becomes, therefore, a matter of the greatest
probability, that some of the reforms and ameliorations
which Alfred introduced, especially as regards the
numerous translations from the Latin into the Anglo-
Saxon tongue, which were made by his command,
would meet with coldness, if not censure, but certainly
not with approbation, from the lips of the Sovereign
Pontiff. Many of these translations were, in their
subjects, closely connected with the Scriptures, which
the Romanists have never, but by compulsion, allowed
to be communicated to the vulgar by means of ver-
sions in the vernacular tongue.
It is not unworthy of remark, that, when the king
sought far and near in foreign parts for learned men
to assist him in his work of advancement, the Church
Spelman, p. 220. Malmesb. an. 904.
1
304
LIFE AND TIMES OF ALFRED the GREAT. [CH. XXI.
cessors m."
of Rome gave him no help, neither did any scholars
come to him from thence, though, from the days of
St. Augustine, the Apostolical City was a common
source at which all its spiritually dependent states were
in the habit of applying for assistance, whether in
the matter of religion, learning, or worldly counsel.
Yet, that Alfred maintained a connection with Rome
is evident from many observations of the chroniclers,
and it has been even said, that he "maintained a more
regular intercourse with Rome than any of his prede-
A curious instance of correspondence
occurs in Asser's biography, under the year 884.
Pope Martin, of blessed memory, died this year; it
was he who, in regard for Alfred, king of the Anglo-
Saxons, and at his request, freed the school of the
Anglo-Saxons resident at Rome from all tribute and
tax. He also sent many gifts on that occasion, and
amongst others, a large piece of the holy and venerable
Cross, on which our Lord Jesus Christ was suspended
for the salvation of mankind." That a king of so
enlightened a mind would attach little importance to
the worthless bit of wood, which derived all its value
from a falsehood, may be easily conceived; but the
exemption from tribute for the English school was a
more substantial gift, and that it was granted at the
king's urgent request, is in unison with every other
feature of his enlarged and thoughtful mind. "As,
like Solon, he ceased from learning only when he
ceased to live, so he anxiously provided for the educa-
tion of his children and his subjects"," even of that
part of them, who resided at the English seminary in
a distant city.
The writer, who has given his sanction to this view
Lappenberg, vol. ii. p. 72.
" Ibid.
(C
In
ALFRED'S EARLY ERRORS.
305
of Alfred's indisposition to fall in with the views of
Church Government which then prevailed, has further
argued, that the famous Johannes Scotus Erigena was
persecuted by the Roman Court for having written
something not altogether to their relish, and that, when
refused protection in Germany and France, he met with
countenance from Alfred, and was invited to England,
where he remained till his death. But it is doubtful
whether this famous scholastic writer ever came to
England, and the argument founded upon it falls to the
ground, or remains in abeyance until stronger con-
firmation can be found.
But we may here consider how far the observations
which Asser has written concerning the early part of
Alfred's reign may bear upon this subject. The reader
will have remarked the tendency of the biographer's
words: as they have before occurred to our notice*.
"The Almighty not only granted to the same glorious
king victories over his enemies, but also permitted him
to be harassed by them, to be sunk down by adversi-
ties, and depressed by the low estate of his followers,
to the end that he might learn that there is one Lord
of all things, to whom every knee doth bow, and in whose
hand are the hearts of kings, who puts down the mighty
from their seat, and exalteth the humble; who suffers
his servants, when they are elevated and at the summit
of prosperity, to be touched by the rod of adversity, that
in their humility they may not despair of God's mercy,
nor in their prosperity boast of their honours, but may
also know, to whom they owe all the things which they
possess.
""
If it were required to produce a passage from the
contemporary writers which most favours the suppo-
* See page 196.
X
1
306
LIFE AND TIMES OF ALFRED THE GREAT. [CH. XXI.
sition that Alfred's conduct was not in strict conformity
with the ecclesiastical notions of his time, none could,
I think, be produced of greater force than that which
has just been quoted. We must not forget that Asser
was an ecclesiastic long before he became the friend
and minister of Alfred, and though during the whole
time of their connexion, which was little more than
seven years, the king's conduct was such as neither
to merit nor to receive reproof from his spiritual
advisers, yet, if in the beginning of his reign he
had shewn a disposition not to be subservient, as
kings then generally were, to the dictation of his
bishops, or had even committed acts which, suppos-
ing they had the right to censure him, would have
been worthy of their censure, we cannot doubt that
not only Asser, but almost every person of influence,
in a system like that of Rome, bound together into one
body, would have soon heard, with sorrow or with
anger, of so unusual and dangerous a deviation from
their rule.
To reconcile these suggestions with the remarks with
which Asser follows up the subject, is perhaps not a
difficult task. Alfred "would not listen," continues he",
"to the petitions which his subjects made to him for
help in their necessities, or for relief from those who
oppressed them; but he repulsed them from him, and
paid no heed to their requests." If these petitions
proceeded from the monks as well as from the laity, the
neglect with which he treated them would no doubt be
more likely to receive exaggeration than palliation from
the greater means which these possessed, to complain of
the slight which had been shewn them. This particular
is said also to have "given much annoyance to the
" See page 197.
>
ALFRED REPROVED BY ST. NEOT.
307
holy man St. Neot, who was his relation, and often
foretold to him, in the spirit of prophecy, that he would
suffer great adversity on this account; but Alfred
neither attended to the reproof of the man of God, nor
listened to his true prediction." To those, who make
allowances for the difference of times and manners, and
can coolly view the whole system of canonization,
practised in those times, as being the only mode of
setting an outward stamp or impress upon virtues of
the highest kind, it may furnish a somewhat satirical
lesson on the perverseness of human things, that the
puny name of a Neot should have been inflated by
honours which hand him down to us as a sacred person,
whilst the greatest intellect that ever filled the royal
diadem, should appear in the light of a wayward child
neglecting the warnings of his instructor. If Alfred
erred at first in setting himself in opposition to a
system which was too powerful even for him, he was
sharp-sighted enough to perceive his mistake; he bowed
before that which could not be resisted, and, gathering
from every side such aids as presented themselves,
proceeded on that lofty flight which carried him beyond
all that went before him, to the wonder and admiration
of all who were to follow.
Let us now return from these reflections which have
flowed, not from the authority of eye-witnesses, but from
a wish to trace the principles of action which influenced
so noble a mind, and proceed to collect what still
remains to be said of Alfred from the narrative of him
who saw him with his own eyes, conversed with him in
the midst of his glory, and has, though with a weak pen
and in an imperfect style, recorded the most striking
anecdotes of his life.
x 2
CHAP. XXII.
ALFRED'S AVOCATIONS AS DESCRIBED BY ASSER REVIEWED-HUNTING
AND FALCONRY—WORKING IN GOLD AND SILVER-ARCHITECTURE-
SERVICES OF RELIGION AND PRIVATE DEVOTION-DEVOTES HALF
HIS TIME TO GOD-HE MAKES WAX LIGHTS TO MEASURE TIME-CONS
INVENTS LANTERNS-HIS LOVE OF BOOKS-ALL LEARNING CONFINED
TO THE LATIN TONGUE-ALFRED LEARNS LATIN-HIS LITERARY
WORKS-HIS ENCHIRIDION OR MANUAL-PREFACE TO GREGORY'S
PASTORAL CARE-TRANSLATION OF BOETHIUS-TRANSLATION OF
OROSIUS; &c.—VOYAGES OF OTHTHER AND WULFSTAN—ALFRED'S
FOREIGN CORRESPONDENCE.
P
THE avocations which now occupied the king's
thoughts, were sufficiently numerous and weighty to
furnish him full employment, and to fill up all his time.
They are gravely and seriously enumerated by Asser,
though the grouping may excite a smile in modern
readers.
"In the mean time," says the biographer,
"the
king, during the frequent wars and other trammels of
this present life, the invasions of the Pagans, and his
own daily infirmities of body, continued to carry on
the government, and to exercise hunting in all its
branches; to teach his workers in gold and artificers
of all kinds, his falconers, hawkers, and dog-keepers,
to build houses, majestic and good, beyond all the
precedents of his ancestors, by his new mechanical
ALFRED's Studies.
309
.
inventions; to recite the Saxon books, and more
especially to learn by heart the Saxon poems, and to
make others learn them also: for he alone never de-
sisted from studying, most diligently, to the best of his
ability; he attended the mass and other daily services
of religion: he was frequent in psalm-singing and
prayer, at the proper hours, both of the night and of
the day. He also went to the churches, as we have
already said, in the night-time to pray, secretly and
unknown to his courtiers; he bestowed alms and
largesses both on his own people, and on foreigners of
all countries; he was affable and pleasant to all, and
curious to investigate things unknown."
We may derive much instruction from a more
minute investigation of the pursuits which are enume-
rated in this list, as engaging the attention of so
great and good a king. They may be reduced under
the following heads. 1. Hunting and Falconry. 2. The
art of working in gold and silver. 3. Architecture.
4. Public Services of Religion. 5. Private Devotion.
6. Literature. 7. Liberality to the poor and to foreigners.
Besides, lastly, the occupation which belongs principally
to a king, the administration of the government, and the
equal distribution of justice among his subjects. On
some of these points all that has come down to us has
already been placed before the reader, but it will be
proper to review them all once more in order.
1. The biographer places, next to the government
of the country, the arts of hunting and falconry,
among the laborious pursuits of Alfred. The Saxons
brought with them, out of Germany, a strong liking
for the pleasures and dangers of the chase: hunting
was held to be a necessary part of a liberal education:
it enured the Saxon youth to hardihood, made them
310
LIFE AND TIMES OF ALFRED THE GREAT. [CH. XXI.
active, patient of toil, and prompt to extricate them-
selves from the dangers into which a headlong pursuit
after the wild beasts of the forest might lead them.
The king had been bred up from his boyhood to this
exercise, and continued to practise it, and to encourage
it among his subjects, as a means of raising their manly
courage, whilst it added to the state and magnificence
of his own court.
It may be added, that the breed of English dogs
has been remarkable from the days of Nemesian and
Oppiana: and was not likely to have escaped the atten-
tion of the observant king. The extensive marshes
also, and the inundations which so frequently deluged
the plains on the banks of the English rivers, fur-
nished great temptations and facilities for the success-
ful prosecution of falconry.
-
2. The art of working in gold and silver was a favourite
subject for the king's taste and patronage. A beautiful
specimen of workmanship occurs in his Jewel, which
has already been mentioned; and if we are to under-
stand literally his biographer's assertion, that the king
himself taught the artist to execute such works as this,
it considerably augments our respect for the master-
mind, which not only entered upon so many different
callings, but succeeded so completely in them all. The
working in gold and silver must however be interpreted
to comprehend a vast extent of art and science. The
mere manufacture of a bracelet, or any other ornament
of the person, will hardly describe the full operation
of this art the inlaying and setting of precious stones,
enamelling in all its branches, and the decorative
branches of carving and gilding, may all be included in
the name, and the introduction or improvement of these
a Nemes. v. 124. Oppian. 470.
ALFRED'S ARCHITECTURAL TASTE.
311
elegant embellishments to the residences of the king
and his nobles must have not only improved the taste,
but have added to the comforts, of his countrymen".
3. Of the architectural studies of Alfred we have already
had occasion to speak". They formed an important
branch, for on the situation and construction of towns
and cities depends much of the success of commerce :
on the adaptation of fortresses to the general defence of
the kingdom, must partly depend its safety from foreign
enemies, and with the style and usefulness of the
a In connection with Alfred's works in gold and silver, Spelman
hazards a conjecture which, I fear, has only the imagination of its
author for its support: "I know not," says he, "why we may not
conjecture, that the king (being by the return of his East-Indian
ship [see hereafter] stored with many eastern stones, and by his
especial industry upon that occasion provided also of workmen)
probably fell upon the composing of an imperial crown, which, though
not of the form, that by way of distinction we at this day call im-
perial, yet was it of a more august and imperial form than had been
formerly of use in this kingdom. For in the arched room in the
cloisters of Westminster Abbey, where the ancient regalia of this
kingdom are kept, upon a box, (which is the cabinet to the ancientest
crown,) there is (as I am informed) an inscription to this purpose:
Hæc est principalior corona cum qua coronabantur reges Elfredus,
Edwardus, &c. And the crown (which to this purpose were worth
the observing) is of a very ancient work, with flowers adorned with
stones of somewhat a plain setting. This by the inscription appearing
to have been the crown of Ælfred, and his successors, is to be supposed
to have been made by him, and that when he was become universal
king of the Heptarchy. In which respect, and for the value of the
jewels, (then and long after very rare in these parts,) as also for the
venerable esteem which (for the original and author) succeeding ages
have ever had of it, it seems deservedly to be accounted the most
principal crown." p. 200. Hearne remarks, that the coins of Alfred
do not represent that king's head as encircled with a crown, but
simply with a diadem. Edward the Confessor is the first English
king, on whose coins a crown occurs.
↳ Sec page 286.
312 LIFE AND TIMES OF ALFRED THE GREAT. [CH. XXI.
buildings where the king himself was to reside, and the
great officers of State were to discharge their duties,
would be connected, in a great measure, the dignity
and credit of the government.
4. and 5. Of the king's regard for the public ser-
vices of Religion and of his own private devotions,
sufficient has been said before to shew that he was not
deficient in either of these particulars. His division of
his revenues into two parts has been already stated. In
the same way he attempted to divide his own time, and
to devote half of it to the service of his Creator. The
account of this may be best told in the words of Asser.
"When the king had arranged these matters, he
remembered that sentence of divine Scripture, Who-
soever will give alms, ought to begin from himself;'
and he prudently began to consider what he could offer
to God from the service of his own body and mind;
for he proposed to consecrate to God no less out of
this, than he had done of things external to himself.
Moreover, he promised, as far as his infirmity and his
means would allow, to give up to God the half of his
service, bodily and mental, by night and by day, vo-
luntarily, and to the best of his power; but, inasmuch
as he could not equally distinguish the length of the
hours by night, on account of the darkness, and oft-
times during the day, on account of the storms and
clouds, he began to consider, by what means, relying
on the mercy of God, he might, without impediment, as
long as he lived, discharge the promised tenour of his vow.
"After long reflection on these things, he at length,
by an useful and shrewd invention, commanded his
chaplains to provide wax in a sufficient quantity; and
he caused it to be weighed in such a manner, that
• Does not this prove that sun-dials were then in use?
A. D. 880-893.]
313
ALFRED INVENTS LANTERNS.
when there was so much of it in the scale as would
equal the weight of seventy-two pence, he caused his
chaplains to make six candles out of it, each of equal
length, so that each candle might have twelve divisions
marked longitudinally upon it. By this plan, there-
fore, those six candles burned for twenty-four hours,
a night and a day, exactly, before the sacred relics of
many of God's elect, which always accompanied him
wherever he went but sometimes, when they would
not continue burning a whole day and night, till the
same hour that they were lighted the preceding
evening, owing to the violence of the wind, which blew
day and night without intermission through the doors
and windows of the churches, the fissures of the
partitions, the plankings, or of the wall, and the thin
canvass of the tents, they then unavoidably burnt out
and finished their course before the appointed time;
the king therefore considered by what means he could
shut out the wind, and so, by an useful and cunning
invention, he ordered a lantern to be beautifully
constructed of wood and white ox-horn, which, when
skilfully planed till it is thin, is no less transparent
than a vessel of glass. This lantern, therefore, was
wonderfully made of wood and horn, as we before said,
and by night a candle was put into it, which shone
as brightly without as within, and was not extinguished
by the wind; for the opening of the lantern was
also closed up, according to the king's command,
by a door made of horn. By this contrivance,
then, six candles, lighted in succession, lasted four
and twenty hours, neither more nor less, and when
these were extinguished, others were lighted in
their places.
.
When these things were properly arranged, the
}
314
LIFE AND TIMES OF ALFRED THE GREAT. [CH. XXII.
king, eager to give up to God the half of his daily
service, as he had vowed, and more also, if his ability
on the one hand, and his malady on the other, would
allow him, shewed himself a minute investigator of
the truth in all his judgments, and this especially for
the sake of the poor, to whose interest, day and night,
among other duties of this life, he ever was wonder-
fully attentive. For in the whole kingdom the poor
had few or no protectors besides him; all the power-
ful and the noble of that country had turned their
thoughts rather to worldly than to heavenly things:
each was more bent on secular matters to his own
profit, than on the public good."
6. We pass to the sixth division of Alfred's labours;
and in this department he did so much, that what he
has left behind him, if it had been the sole fruits of
his life, would shew that he had not spent his life in
vain. The occupations, which we have already de-
scribed, humble as some of them may be thought to
form the serious pursuits of a king, were of the utmost
importance in the great march of his country towards
civilization, and they put to shame the vain and
useless fancies to which the time of kings is sometimes
devoted. But the scheme, which Alfred had devised
for the improvement of his people, comprehended
another and higher element, without which all that he
had accomplished would be continually liable to
retrograde and decay. The knowledge of one age
may be delivered to the next by personal commu-
nication between the master and the pupil, the father
and his son; but this process of oral delivery will
very soon reach its limit. The progress of the human
intellect in discovery will outstrip its ability to retain;
and as new inventions are introduced, old ones will
·
A. D. 880-893.]
315
ALFRED'S LOVE OF LEARNING.
disappear it is only by means of some external
contrivance to retain the past, that man can hope
to improve his condition in the future. This valuable
aid to the memory is to be derived from books alone,
and the way to make a right use of books is to be
found in that which we call Literature. All this
was known, almost by intuition, to Alfred, or at least
by that wonderful peculiarity of character, which
turned him not to those studies that would have
degraded him to a level with the worst of his species,
but to such as raised him above all competitors, and
made him the benefactor and the admiration of
mankind.
When we consider that Alfred had reached his
twelfth year, before he could even read, it appears
surprising that he should ever have become a follower
of literature at all. Yet the love of book-learning
was so deeply rooted in the mind of Alfred, that it could
not be eradicated, even by the violence of the scenes
in which so many years of his intermediate life were
passed. We may conceive the delight with which the
king, in 880, at last relieved from his persevering
enemies the Danes, hailed the opportunity, which peace
would bring, for indulging in study, and encouraging
his people by his example to do the same. But the
vernacular literature of the Anglo-Saxons, consisting
principally of poems or ballads, was the only portion of
learning which as yet was open to the king. He began
to learn to read at the age of twelve, but his attempts
were still for many years confined to a very narrow
field of operations. The main part of learning was
contained in the foreign idiom of the Latin tongue, and
even the ecclesiastics, in Alfred's time, had almost
entirely forgotten the language in which they were
316
LIFE AND TIMES OF ALFRED THE GREAT. [CH. XXII.
required to perform all their services, and where all
their knowledge was to be gathered.
In 887 Alfred was thirty-eight years old, and in that
year, if we rightly understand the language of his
biographer, he began to read the Latin language, and
to apply it to the interpretation of the Scriptures. The
story is prettily related by Asser, and must be told in
his own words.
"In the same year also, Alfred, king of the Anglo-
Saxons, began, by Divine inspiration, on one and the
same day, to read and to interpret; but that I may
explain this more fully to those who are ignorant, I
will relate the cause of this long delay in beginning.
"On a certain day we were both of us sitting in the
king's chamber, talking on all kinds of subjects, as
usual, and it happened that I read to him a quotation
out of a certain book. He listened to it with the
utmost attention, and addressed me with a thoughtful
mind, shewing me at the same moment a book which
he carried in his bosom, wherein the daily courses, and
psalms, and prayers, which he had read in his youth,
were written, and he commanded me to write the same
quotation in that book. Hearing this, and perceiving
his ingenuous benevolence, and devout desire of studying
the words of Divine Wisdom, I gave, though in secret,
boundless thanks to Almighty God, who had implanted
such a love of wisdom in the king's heart. But I
could not find any empty space in that book, wherein
to write the quotation, for it was already full of various
matters; wherefore I made a little delay, principally
that I might stir up the mind of the king to a higher
acquaintance with the Divine testimonies. Upon his
urging me to make haste and write it quickly, I said
to him, 'Are you willing that I should write that
A. D. 887.]
317
ALFRED LEARNS LATIN.
quotation upon some leaf apart? For it is not certain
whether we shall not find one or more other such
extracts which will please you; and if that should so
happen, we shall be glad that we have kept them apart.'
'Your plan is good,' said he; and I gladly made haste
to get ready a sheet, in the beginning of which I wrote
what he bade me; and on that same day I wrote therein,
as I had anticipated, no less than three other quotations
which pleased him; and from that time we daily
talked together, and found out other quotations
which equally pleased him, so that the sheet became
full, and deservedly so; according as it is written.
The just man builds upon a moderate foundation, and
gradually passes to greater things.' Thus, like a
productive bee, he flew here and there, asking questions
as he went, until he had eagerly and unceasingly
collected many various flowers of the divine Scriptures,
with which he thickly stored the cells of his mind.
CC
Now, when that first quotation was copied, he was
eager at once to read and to interpret in Saxon, and
then to teach others; even as we read of that happy
robber, who recognised his Lord, yea the Lord of all
mankind, as he was hanging on the blessed cross, and,
saluting him with his bodily eyes only, because else-
where he was pierced all over with nails, cried Lord,
remember me when thou comest into thy kingdom;'
for it was only at the end of his life that he began to
learn the rudiments of the Christian faith.
C
C
"It was on the sacred solemnity of Saint Martin,
[Nov. 11.] that the king, inspired by God, began to
study the rudiments of divine Scripture, and he con-
tinued to learn the flowers collected by certain masters,
and to reduce them into the form of one book, to the
best of his ability, though they were mixed one with
another, until the book became almost as large as a
318
LIFE AND TIMES OF ALFRED THE GREAT. [CH. XXII.
psalter. This book he called his ENCHEIRIDION, Hand-
BOOK, or MANUAL, because he carefully kept it at hand,
day and night, and found, as he told me, no small
consolation therein."
The acquirement of the Latin tongue, however,
was an instrument in the king's hands for a more
extensive purpose than to enable himself to read the
Scriptures in that tongue. It has, indeed, been the
policy of the Western Church, to attach the highest
importance to the study of Latin, and to exalt that
version of the Scriptures, which they have adopted as
their own text-book. But even Alfred was not ignorant
that a Latin version of the Scriptures has no advantage
over one in the vernacular tongue, but is rather of less
value; for as it may in its first construction have failed
to express accurately the ideas of the original, so is it
also liable to fail of conveying to the reader, who studies
it as a foreign language, a correct apprehension even of
those ideas which it renders faithfully from the original.
Let us then proceed to consider the uses to which
Alfred put this new literary acquisition, which it must
assuredly have cost him much toil to gain. And this
subject brings us to take a nearer view of the colossal
dimensions which the character of Alfred displays.
The brief chronicles of that period have related his
actions in war with sufficient accuracy of date and
detail, and if we were guided by their descriptions
alone, we should perceive little to attract that notice,
which in every age has been fixed on his deeds. The
legends of the Church have essayed to attach a
miraculous character to certain portions of his life;
but the age of miracles was passed when Alfred reigned,
and the king did his best that the age of reason might
begin. But there is another species of testimony to
See his preface to Gregory's Pastoral Care.
ALFRED'S Works.
319
his merits, which after a thousand years is now more
highly prized than it was perhaps in his own day:
these are the literary works of Alfred himself, the
emanations of his own mind, speaking, not in the frigid
sounds of a language that had long been numbered
with the dead, but in the language which "all Saxons
knew," which the meanest peasant could understand,
in that tongue, which, though crushed and stifled by
Dunstan, by Lanfranc, Anselm, and other foreign
ecclesiastics, preserved its powers of life under all the
oppression which it suffered, and at length overpowering
its antagonist, broke out again into existence, and has
become that language which we now use; improved,
it is true, by additions from many sources, but still
bearing traces of its original condition in the time of
Alfred.
It may be observed of the Works of Alfred, that
they are all written in the Anglo-Saxon language, and,
with the exception of a few pages only, are translations
from the Latin. The ancient writer Ethelwerd says,
that he translated many books from Latin into Saxon,
but no one could tell their number; and William of
Malmesbury says, that he transferred into the English
tongue almost the whole of Roman literature. What
a sublime idea does this give us of a king endeavouring
to raise his people together with him out of the depths
of barbarism! "a king, though in nation, age, and
education, almost a barbarian himself, yet not merely
calmly planning to raise his people from their igno-
rance, but amid anxiety, business, and disease, sitting
down himself to level the obstacles by his own personal
labour, and to lead them by his own practice, to the
improvements which he wished!”
* Turner, vol. ii. p. 21.
320
LIFE AND TIMEs of alfred THE GREAT. [CH. XXI.
The first Latin work that arrested the attention of
Alfred, was the "Pastoral Care" of Pope Gregory,
which for a long time was much esteemed by all the
Western Church. The precepts which it delivers for the
better fulfilment of the episcopal duties, were thought
likely to be of use in instructing the ignorant minds of
Alfred's bishops and clergy; and though the miracles
ascribed to religious men in Italy formed the principal
part of its contents, yet it might still be of service,
when no better could be procured. The translation of
this book was entrusted to Bishop Werefrith, one of
the ecclesiastics whom Alfred had invited to his
Court, but the Preface was written by Alfred him-
self: it is addressed in the form of a letter to Wulfsig,
and is a noble specimen of plain and simple thoughts,
coming from the anxious breast of a patriot king, and
endeavouring to find their way to the hearts of his
people h.
Another book which was much valued throughout
Europe in the time of Alfred, was the work of Boethius
on the Consolations of Philosophy. Its writer, like
Alfred, had been suddenly transferred from prosperity
and success to abasement and misfortune. In the
prison, to which the capricious tyranny of Theodoric,
king of the Goths, consigned him, he possibly drew
that consolation from Philosophy which he has em-
bodied in the precepts of his delightful little treatise.
Alfred, aware perhaps of the sudden vicissitudes and
early death of the author, included the volume on the
i
h See this Preface with a translation in the Appendix. The
Cotton MS. [Tib. B. 11.] of the Pastoral Care is supposed to have
belonged to Plegmund, archbishop of Canterbury, in Alfred's reign.
There is also another early MS. of it in the Bodleian, Hatton, 88.
i Boethius was put to death in A. D. 524.
ALFRED'S TRANSLATION OF BOETHIUS.
321
Consolation of Philosophy among the works which
might instruct his own subjects. The object of the
treatise is to shew the vanity of riches, power, dignity,
and pleasure, and their inability to confer happiness on
their possessor. The construction of the work is sin-
gular, being partly in prose and partly in verse. There
can be no doubt that the Anglo-Saxon translation of
it is due to King Alfred: Ethelwerd, Malmesbury, and
others, attest the fact, and the Saxon preface which is
prefixed to the work states that "Alfred king was the
translator of this book, and from book-Latin turned
it into English, as it is now done." Two Manuscripts
of this work still exist, supposed to have been written
soon after, if not during the reign of Alfred, from a
collation of which the work has been printed within the
last few years, accompanied with an English translation.
In one of these Manuscripts the metrical part of the
original is rendered into Saxon prose; in the other'
the verses are translated in Anglo-Saxon metre.
k
In rendering this interesting moral treatise acces-
sible to his own subjects, Alfred has by no means shewn
himself as a mere translator or copyist. His version
is rather a paraphrase than a translation, and in many
parts, where the king's feelings seem to have been
more particularly in harmony with his subject, whole
sentences are introduced into the work not to be found
in the Latin original of Boethius™.
A MS. in the Bodleian library. See Wanley's Catal. p. 64, 85.
1 The Cotton MS. Otho A. 6. now burnt.
m As a minute criticism of Alfred's literary works would of itself
form a good-sized volume, I have declined to do more than make a
few general observations on each of them. The two principal works
of Alfred having been printed, may be read both in the Saxon ori-
ginal and in the English translation which accompanies them. Some
interesting remarks on these translations, accompanied with extracts
Y
322
LIFE AND TIMES OF ALFRED THE GREAT. [CH. XXI.
The next work which claims our notice is Alfred's
translation of Orosius, and is of considerably greater
value than either of the preceding. In executing
this work, the king has allowed himself even greater
latitude than in his version of Boethius. Some parts
of the original he has amplified; others he has com-
pressed; and others again he has omitted altogether.
To compensate, however, for these omissions, he has
inserted several new chapters altogether, two of which
have attracted considerable notice: they contain a
description of the principal tribes of Germany in his
own time, and an account of the voyages of Oththere
towards the North, and of Wulfstan to the Baltic,
which were achieved in Alfred's own time, and possibly.
by his command. These and other minor insertions
amount to several pages, and shew that Alfred took
pleasure in the study of Geography, of which also
they shew that he possessed a surprising knowledge,
if we consider the darkness of the age in which he
lived, and the distraction occasioned to his mind by
the number and variety of his studies".
The fourth work of Alfred, and perhaps the most
useful of all to his subjects, was a translation of Bede's
Ecclesiastical History of the English Nation. This
was an inestimable gift to those of his countrymen
who could read it, as it invested that great national
work with what alone it wanted, namely, that it should
be written in the language of the country of whose early
annals it treated. The translation was executed on
of the most striking passages, have appeared in Turner's History of the
Anglo-Saxons, vol. ii. p. 1-160.
The translation of Orosius is found in a Cotton MS. Tiber. B, i.
which is very ancient, and well-written. It was published in 1773,
8vo. by Daines Barrington.
ALFRED'S MINOR WORKS.
323
the same principles which guided the king in his other
works, and is of great use as a commentary on the
original text of Bede. There are several Manuscripts"
of it in existence, and the work has been twice printed,
both times as an accompaniment to the Latin original°.
Besides these great works, a variety of shorter
writings and tracts have been ascribed to King Alfred.
Some of these have perished by time: others are
still preserved in our public libraries, and have per-
haps not yet received that minute attention which they
demand.
William of Malmesbury says, that Alfred began to
translate the Psalms of David P, but died before it was
finished.
Florence of Worcester also tells us, that Alfred
translated the Bible or Testament into Anglo-Saxon,
but this statement has met with no confirmation; and
we may doubt whether Alfred's labours in this way
extended further than to the compilation of his
Enchiridion, Hand-book, or Manual, of which Asser
speaks in the passage we have before quoted.
n Two at Cambridge, and one in the Cotton library.
• First by Wheloc, and afterwards by Smith, folio, Cambridge,
1722.
p cc
Published," says Hearne, [p. 212. note 2.] "by our author, Sir
John Spelman, at London, 1640, 4to. from four MSS." But how
could a translation be published, which was never finished? There
are many Anglo-Saxon Psalters in our public libraries, see Wanley's
Catalogue: all of them are anonymous, and it is impossible to say
whether Alfred is the author of either of them.
"Flor. Wig. says, that in 887, on the feast of St. Martin, he
began it. It is clear, on comparing the passages, that he only meant
what Asser had mentioned, p. 57, that he then began to translate
some parts. The History of Ely asserts that he translated all the
Bible; but Boston of Bury says, that it was almost all the Testament."
TURNER, ii. p. 95. "Whether Alfred really translated the whole
Y 2
324
LIFE AND TIMES OF ALFRED THE GREAT. [CH. XXII.
There is an Anglo-Saxon Manuscript in the Cot-
tonian Library', containing some Flowers or Extracts
gathered out of St. Augustine's Soliloquies. At the
end of these Flowers is a sentence left imperfect by the
abrupt termination of the MS". "Here end the
sayings that King Alfred selected from those books
that we call
99
In the Harleian Library also is a collection of
Fables in Anglo-Norman verse. The authoress of
this work was Marie t, who lived in the thirteenth
century. She says, at the end of the work, that Alfred
had translated them from the Latin into English, i. e.
Anglo-Saxon, from which she had turned them into
French verse. Nothing more is known of the Fables
which are thus ascribed to the king.
It appears from a catalogue of the Christ Church
Bible is somewhat to be doubted, notwithstanding what is said in the
History of Ely. For, if he had translated all, there would have been
no need for Ælfric, abbat of Winchester, and afterwards archbishop
of York, (and different from Ælfric, archbishop of Canterbury, as is
evidently proved by Mr. Wharton, in his dissertation, De duobus
Elfricis, in Anglia Sacra, tom. i. p. 125. which had been also hinted
before, with an argument or two to confirm it by the learned Mr.
John Josselin, in his preface to A testimony of Antiquity,' &c. I say
there would have been no need for Elfric) to have translated any
part anew afterwards, as 'tis certain he did, and I believe was induced
to the task to supply and complete the version of King Alfred. See
more of the Saxon Version of the Old and New Testament at the
beginning of Dr. Marshall's Observationes in versionem Anglo-Sax.
of the New Testament, where he mentions several versions of parts
of the Scripture in this language." HEARNE, p. 213.
Vitell. A. 15.
• "A transcript of this MS. made by Junius, is in the Bodleian
library, Jun. 70. and this has the same abrupt ending. Wanley 96."
TURNER, ii. p. 94.
• See Archæologia, vol. xiii. pp. 36-37.
ALFRED'S PROVERBS.
325
library, in 1315*, that among its MSS. was one entitled,
"Liber Alured regis de custodiendis accipitribus."
"This book," observes Mr. Turner, to whom I am
indebted for these notices of Alfred's minor works,
"corresponds with the fact mentioned by Asser, that
Alfred was accustomed to teach his falconers, and
hawkers, and hound-trainers.'
9 99
Mention is also made by ancient writers of the
Proverbs and Parables of King Alfred". Something
of this kind has been preserved by Sir John Spelman
from a Cottonian MS.", which has been burnt since
his time, and is no longer legible. As the precepts
which have been preserved are curious and instructive,
the whole paragraph with which Spelman introduces
them to the notice of his readers is worthy of our
attention.
8
"There is in that well-known library, now Sir
Thomas Cotton's, a manuscript collection of diverse
precepts and instructions of King Alfred's, tending to
the purpose we now speak of; and by the courtesy of
Sir Thomas I am provided with a copy of them.
But, as they are, I cannot think it fit to offer them
unto the world, as an instance of what the king
composed. For they are not his very work in the
Saxon tongue, but a miscellaneous collection of some
later author, who, according to his own faculty, hath,
in a broken English, put together such of the sayings
of King Alfred, as he met withal, some of them
A
See Wanley's preface.
"So the MS. Chron. Joan. Oxenedes says, Parabolæ ejus
plurimum habentes edificationis, venustatis, jucunditatis et nobilitatis.'
Cott. Lib. MSS. Nero D. 2.-Ail. Riev., who lived then, [i. e. in
the reign of Hen. II.] declares, 'Extant parabolæ ejus &c. using
nearly the same words as Oxenedes, p. 355." TURNER.
Galba, A, 19.
Life of Alfred, p. 125.
326
LIFE AND TIMES OF ALFRED THE GREAT. [CH. XXII.
rhyming, and others (as perhaps the original was) in
prose and besides that in their order they somewhat
argue the collector's want of judgment. For mar-
shalling them no better, the copy is so faulty and
ill-written, in a mongrel hand, (as well as language,)
as that, unless I should, without regard, venture to
trespass the truth, I dare not publish it according to
the copy I have taken. Therefore, whereas there are
thirty-one heads of the sayings of the king, all
beginning with these words, THUS quoth Alfred,' I
take them not all, only the beginning of them, and
three or four of the first also, (which are the per-
fectest,) I have (to shew the style and manner of them)
set down, in the words that I have copied them,
together with the current sense they have in speech
at this day. For the residue I have taken such as
I presume I read right and understand, and I have
only set them down in English, noting them with
figures, according to the number or place they hold
among the rest.
C
·
"The beginning of them is very much to be
considered; for that it importeth as if there were
some assembly of the chief of both orders of the
kingdom called together at Sifford (or Seafford') in
Oxfordshire, and as if the king had there consulted
with his clergy, nobles, and others, about the manners
and government of the people, and had there delivered
some grave admonitions and instructions concerning
the same, to be (as one would think) divulged through-
out the kingdom. For it first mentioning the as-
-
b This is a mistake of Sir John Spelman. The Anglo-Saxon
name of Shifford is Scifford, which is pronounced, as we still pro-
nounce it, Shifford, and means the "sheep-ford," not "sea-ford." It
is in the parish of Bampton.
ABEL, PATRIARCH OF JERUSALEM.
327
sembly, and commending the king, it saith, that he
began to teach those that could hear him how they
should lead their lives; and then setteth down those
thirty-one heads as particulars of his teaching,
confirming thereby that which we have already (from
other authorities) alleged, concerning his care and
travail for the instruction and reformation of his
people."
Such is the list of books which have been ascribed
to this great intellect: others perhaps may have
perished by time, and even their names been lost to
posterity; at the same time it is probable, that from
his great literary reputation, many works may in
after-ages have been attributed to him which were
only written by his command, and perhaps also some
with which he was in no way connected.
The fame of so many labours, both physical, mental,
and political, spread widely throughout the world even
during Alfred's life: his own mind, also, expanded
beyond the limits of Britain, and even of the continent
of Europe. "We have seen and read letters," says
Asser, "accompanied with presents, which were sent
to him by Abel, the patriarch of Jerusalem;" and the
same writer speaks "of the daily embassies sent to
• Another collection of Proverbs is printed in Hickes's Anglo-
Saxon Grammar, p. 222. but it probably has nothing to do with
King Alfred.
"Amongst Sir Kenelm Digby's MSS. (num. iv.) in
the Bodleian library is another tract, called Alfred's Proverbs; which
however is of a late date, and contains certain rhapsodies about the
different conditions of man's life. The learned Dr Hicks has
printed some part of it in his Thesaurus Lingg. Sept. p. 222. to
whom I refer you for a farther account of it. This I take to be the
same sort of book that is mentioned in MS. Laud. G. 9, f. 43, b. where
'tis said that K. Alfred's Proverbs were extant at that time." HEARNe,
p. 131.
1
*+
328
LIFE AND TIMES OF ALFRED THE GREAT. [CH. XXII.
him by foreign nations, from the Tyrrhenian sea
to the farthest end of Ireland"." Even this was
not the limit of King Alfred's correspondence
with foreign parts. In 883, the year when Pope
Martin sent to him the piece of the holy Cross,
the king sent two of his nobles or ministers on a
mission to the East Indies. These emissaries, stopping
at Rome, deposited there the alms which the king had
vowed, and then proceeding on their voyage, conveyed
to India a similar present for the apostles St. Thomas
and St. Bartholomew, who were supposed to have evan-
gelized those countries. Such is the brief notice of
this embassy in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, which
adds, that the king had made a vow to this effect,
"when they sat down against the [Danish] army at
London," and when, "thanks be to God, they largely
obtained the object of their prayer after the vow.
e "
• Wise proposes to read Hiberiæ Spain, instead of Hiberniæ
Ireland: it is not of much importance.
Sax. Chron. Fl. Wigorn. a. 883. A siege or occupation of
London, in 883, is not here spoken of, but merely the fulfilling of a
vow made (in 872) when the Danes occupied London. Henry of
Huntingdon rightly understands the passage: Alfredus misit elee-
mosynam suam Romæ, et etiam in Indiam ad S. Thomam, secundum
votum quod fecerat quando hostilis exercitus hiemavit apud Lon-
doniam.' So also Alfred of Beverley." LAPPENBERG, ii. p. 71. note 3.
See page 136 of this volume. None of the chroniclers have men-
tioned a siege of London in 872: on the contrary, it would appear
from their narrative, that the departure of the Danes from London
was effected without Alfred's intervention. There is evidently an
omission of some fact necessary to connect the course of events. John
Brompton indicates something like a siege of London in 872-3, and
I have no doubt that his account contains some truth in it. But his
chronology for all Alfred's reign is erroneous, and his facts much
confused. A new edition of this author, carefully collated with the
MSS. is much wanted
H
ANNUAL EMBASSY TO ROME.
329
"Such a step," says the historian Lappenberg, "on
the part of a monarch of Alfred's character, will excite
in us but little surprise, and even that little will be
diminished, if we call to mind the pilgrimages that
had long been usual to the pillar of Simeon Stylites,
and many places regarded as holy, and every doubt
obviated by the oriental gems brought back by his
envoys, some of which were in existence after a lapse
of centuries. The splendid colouring given by later
historians to this mission, by making Sighelm bishop
of Sherborne, and calling Æthelstan an alderman¹,
has contributed much to create doubts of its reality.
Sighelm did not receive the bishopric of Sherborne till
the death of Asser, twenty-seven years later."
In 884, Pope Martin died, and was succeeded by
Adrian III. It seems as if his communications with
Alfred had ended in the more regular transmission of
gifts to Rome. Thus in 887 we read in the Saxon
Chronicle, "This year Alderman Æthelelm carried the
alms of the West-Saxons and of King Alfred to Rome."
The next year, also, i. e. in 888, "Beocca the Alderman
carried the alms of the West-Saxons and of King Alfred
to Rome." The following year we read, “there was no
journey to Rome, except that King Alfred sent two
couriers with letters:" but in 890 the mission is again
mentioned: "This year," says the Chronicle, "Abbat
Bernhelm carried the alms of the West-Saxons and of
King Alfred to Rome."
"""
↑ Ibid. vol. ii. p. 71.
«« W. Malm. ii. 4. 'Sigelinus . . . . . Indiam penetravit; inde
rediens, exoticos splendores gemmarum, et liquores aromatum, quo-
rum illa humus ferax est, reportavit.' Id. de Gestis Pontif. ii. adds,
'Nonnullæ illarum (gemmarum) adhuc in ecclesiæ monumentis
visuntur.'
Brompton calls him Comes Wiltoniæ.
330
LIFE AND TIMES OF ALFRED THE GREAT. [CH. XXII.
}
A curious anecdote, quite in unison with the super-
stitions of the age, is related in the Saxon Chronicle,
as happening in the year 891. "Three Scots came to
King Alfred in a boat without any oars from Ireland,
whence they had stolen away, because they desired for
the love of God to be in a state of pilgrimage, they
recked not where. The boat, in which they came, was
made of two hides and a half; and they took with
them provisions sufficient for seven days; and then
about the seventh day they came on shore in Cornwall,
and soon after went to King Alfred. Their names were
Dubslane, Macbeth, and Maclinmum."
A remarkable circumstance, illustrative of Alfred's
character, must not be passed over in silence, because
it shews the king's patronage of merit, wherever it was
to be found. The rustic, in whose cottage Alfred
passed some time in Somersetshire, made such an
impression on the king by his superior abilities, that,
when the land had peace, he was invited to Court,
received education, and was finally made bishop of
Winchesteri.
When we reflect on the extraordinary variety of these
cares and pursuits, together with the repeated attacks
on the Pagans, his wars, and the daily occupation of
carrying on the government, it is impossible too highly
to extol the character of Alfred. When we again
consider the thorn in the flesh, which he constantly
bore about him, that from his twentieth year to the end
of his life he "was constantly afflicted with the most
severe attacks of an unknown and incurable complaint,
and that he had not a moment's ease, either from the
pain which it caused him, or from the gloom which was
His name was Denulf. FLOR. WIG. See page 218.
ALFRED'S PERSEVERANCE UNDER SUFFERING.
331
i."
2
thrown over him by the apprehension of its coming
our admiration of his character is lost in astonish-
ment, and we may in vain search all history, ancient
or modern, to furnish his parallel.
There is, however, another field of action on which
Alfred's merits conspicuously displayed themselves—
the science of legislation and government, which, as it
is of the highest importance to mankind, because on it
in a great measure depends the happiness of our species,
we shall reserve for consideration in the next chapter.
i Asser, anno 888.
CHAP. XXIII.
SAXON LAWS OF ETHELBERT, INA, WITHRED, AND OFFA-ALFRED
COMPILES A CODE-EXAMPLES OF HIS LAWS QUOTED-HIS STRICT
ADMINISTRATION OF JUSTICE NUMEROUS APPEALS TO HIM FROM
THE INFERIOR COURTS—HIS MODE OF REPRIMANDING AND TEACH-
ING HIS IGNORANT JUDGES-HIS SEVERITY IN PUNISHING THE
CORRUPT HIS REFORMS IN THE ADMINISTRATION OF COUNTIES,
HUNDREDS, AND TITHINGS-INSTITUTION OF JUDGES AND SHERIFFS
-THE INSTITUTION OF FRANKPLEDGE-HIS ABSOLUTE POWER-
DIVISION OF HIS INCOME, AND ECONOMY OF HIS TIME.
A
K
-
THE remains of Anglo-Saxon legislation earlier
than the time of Alfred are few and imperfect. Ninety
short sentences contain all that has been preserved of
the laws of Ethelbert, king of Kent. Sixteen sentences
contain the Dooms of his successors Lothaire and
Edric, and twenty sentences comprise all the laws that
have survived of Withred, another king of the same
province. The subjects to which these ordinances
apply are a few of the most obvious injuries that occur
in a simple state of society. It is remarkable, that
almost every crime, from murder to the smallest petty
larceny, had its value, and might be compensated by the
payment of a sum of money. Another celebrated
legislator was Ina, king of the West-Saxons, and a few
They occupy from p. 1 to 43, of vol. i. of Thorpe's Ancient Laws
and Institutes of England.
Alfred's Laws.
333
pages of his laws also have been preserved. It must
not however be omitted, that the laws of Ina have come
down to us not in a separate and independent form, but
appended to those of Alfred, to whose care in collecting
and preserving the ancient jurisprudence of his country
we are indebted for all that we now know of the subject.
As the West-Saxons owed their principal code of
laws to Ina, so was Offa, the legislator of the Mercians :
but his laws have not been preserved; and if in later
times Alfred published a separate collection for the
use of Mercia with the laws of Offa annexed, as those
of Ina were attached to the laws of Wessex, that collec-
tion also has either perished, or has not yet been dis-
covered. It might be expected that the laws of a
people, emerging, under the auspices of the Church,
from barbarism, would be strongly tinged with the
opinions of the clerks who compiled them. In fact,
the whole of these legislative codes are based upon the
authority of the Scriptures and of the Church. The
first ordinance of Ethelbert enacts, that the abstraction
of any property belonging to God or to the Church
shall be compensated for by twelve-times its value.
The Laws of Alfred plead the authority of the
Apostolic Council held in Jerusalem, and of the Con-
stitutions which the Church had gradually collected
since the times of the Apostles.
"Wherefore I Alfred king"-continues the code to
which we refer" gathered these together, and com-
manded many of those to be written which our fore-
fathers held, those which to me seemed good; and
many of those which seemed to me not good, I rejected,
b From p. 102 to 151 of the same work; but half of these pages
is occupied by the English translation.
Ibid. p. 59.
e
C
334
LIFE AND TIMES OF ALFRED THE GREAT. [CH. XXIII.
by the counsel of my 'witan' [parliament], and in other
wise commanded them to be holden; for I durst not
venture to set down in writing much of my own; for it
was unknown to me what of it would please those who
should come after us. But those things which I met
with, either of the days of Ina my kinsman, or of Offa,
king of the Mercians, or of Ethelbert, who first among
the English race received baptism, those which seemed
to me the rightest, those I have here gathered together,
and rejected the others. I then Alfred, king of the
West-Saxons, shewed these to all my witan, and they
then said that it seemed good to them all to be holden.”
The nature of all the laws in Alfred's code is peculiar
and striking to our present notions. The principle of
compensation for offences, of values attached to dif-
ferent ranks, and of taking sanctuary in the Church
until the compensation could be assessed, engendered
a complicated system, which ramified into almost as
many precedents as there were cases. An instance or
two of these laws will set this in a stronger light.
"If any one, for whatever crime, flee to any of the
minster-hams, &c. let him have three days to protect
himself, unless he be willing to come to terms. If
during this space any one harm him by blow or by
bond, or wound him, let him make compensation, &c. for
each of these according to regular usage, &c. &c. and
to the brotherhood, 120 shillings as compensation for
the church-frith [breach of church privilege], &c."
"If a man be born dumb or deaf, so that he cannot
acknowledge or confess his offences, let his father
make compensation for his misdeeds."
"If a man, kinless of paternal relatives, fight, and
slay a man; then, if he have maternal relatives, let
them pay a third of the 'wer' [fine or compensation-
ALFRED'S LAWS.
335
money], his guild-brethren another third, and for a
third let him flee. If he have no maternal relatives,
let his guild-brethren pay half, and for the other half
let him flee."
The law concerning 'boc-lands' [No. 41.] seems to
shew, that a species of entail existed as early as the
days of Alfred.
"The man who has boc-land,"—i. e. land held by
deeds or writings," and which his kindred left him,
we ordain that he must not give it from his kinsfolk;
if there be writing or witness that it was forbidden by
those men who at first acquired it, and by those who
gave it to him, that he should do so; and then let that
be declared in the presence of the king and of the
bishop, before his kinsmen."
The laws of Ina, adopted by Alfred for his own, are
of the same general character: the following examples
may suffice.
"Let a child, within thirty days, be baptized. If it
be not so, let him make compensation with thirty
shillings: but, if it die without baptism, let him make
compensation for it with all that he has."
"If any one be guilty of death, and he flee to a
church, let him have his life, and make compensation
as the law may direct him. If any one put his hide
in peril, and flee to a church, let the scourging be
forgiven him."
" If
any one steal, so that his wife and his children
know it not, let him pay 60 shillings, as compensation:
but if he steal with the knowledge of all his household,
let them all go into slavery. A boy of ten years may
be privy to a theft."
It is manifest that such laws as these belong to an
infant state of things, and can be of no other use in
336
LIFE AND TIMES OF ALFRED THE GREAT. [CH. XXIII.
the present day than as illustrating the steps by which
legislation has progressed from its first simple elements,
to the long and laborious Acts of Parliament by which
our existing society is regulated.
It is of more importance to the character of Alfred,
that the laws, such as they were in his time, were
equitably administered. In every country and in
every age, those who possess wealth and influence
insensibly form themselves into a caste, from which
they endeavour to exclude those who have fewer
advantages than themselves. Almost all the revo-
lutions which have afflicted the world, have arisen out
of the difficulty of adjusting rights between the higher
and lower classes of society. It is to be believed, for
the credit of our nature, that these strifes would have
been prevented, if the contending parties could have
agreed beforehand that each should take charge of
the interests of the other. The practice of the truly
Christian rule, to do to others as you would they
should do unto you, would sever all the discords.
which are engendered among mankind. The rich,
even those who are most elevated and pampered by
their prosperity, have still a spark of kindly feeling
towards those who are struggling beneath them, and
to whose level they know they themselves, in the
vicissitude of things, are liable to be reduced. On the
other hand, the poor in general are unwilling to
destroy every thing above them, because, in a moment
of accidental prosperity, they may hope to rise to a
higher position and to enjoy a larger portion of the
goods of life. If reason could usurp her rights over
the minds of men, many of the evils which spring from
the collision of classes would vanish. But man is
mostly subject to the dictates not of reason, but of
ALFRED'S STRICT IMPARTIALITY.
337
passion, and that which reason would have guided into
the harbour of safety, becomes, under the conduct of
passion, an entangled maze, out of which nothing but
just and equitable laws can extricate mankind. In the
civil wars which so long afflicted England in the time
of Alfred, the nobles had attained to such a pitch of
lawlessness and self-will, that the rights of their
inferiors were little respected, and the courts of justice,
if not entirely suppressed, were merely legalized forms
of injustice, which, dictated from the mouth of igno-
rance, were carried into effect by the hand of oppres-
sion. To remedy this evil was the principal aim and
the highest glory of Alfred. He who pronounces a
just sentence, unbiassed by the frowns of power or the
allurements of favour, exalts himself above his equals,
and commands the respect of mankind.
"The poor,"
says Asser, and the poor in those days comprehended
probably every one but the king, the nobles, and the
church," had no other protector but the king."
What a comprehensive and magnificent idea of kingly
power is compressed into that sentence! With what
eagerness will all men strive to defend the throne,
which is built upon such a basis, the basis of equally
administering justice, and of protecting those who are
unable to protect themselves!
The king's courts, in those times, were more pro-
perly so called than at present. The sovereign himself,
like the eastern caliphs, often administered justice in
person: Alfred certainly did so; and Asser records to
his praise, that he strove, in his own judgments, to
hold the scales of justice even between all his subjects,
whether noble or ignoble. At the courts held by his
earls and prefects, the most unbecoming quarrels often
arose: the suitors seldom acquiesced in the sentence
Ꮓ
;
338
LIFE AND TIMES OF ALFRED THE GREAT. [CH. XXIII.
which those officers pronounced; and sought with the
greatest eagerness to carry their causes before the king
himself. "If any one," continues Asser, "was conscious
of injustice on his side in the suit, though by law and
agreement he was compelled, however reluctant, to go
before the king, yet with his own good will he never
would consent to go. For he knew that in the king's
presence no part of his wrong would be hidden; and
no wonder, for the king was a most acute investigator
in passing sentence, as he was in all other things.
He enquired into almost all the judgments which were
given in his own absence, throughout all his dominions,
whether they were just or unjust. If he perceived
there was iniquity in those judgments, he summoned
the judges, either through his own
own agency, or
through others of his faithful servants, and asked them
mildly, why they had judged so unjustly; whether
through ignorance or malevolence; i. e. whether for
the love or fear of any one, or hatred of others; or
perhaps for the desire of money. At length, if the
judges acknowledged they had given judgment because
they knew no better, he discreetly and moderately
reproved their inexperience and folly in such terms as
these: "I wonder truly at your insolence, that,
whereas by God's favour and mine, you have occu-
pied the rank and office of the wise, you have neg-
lected the studies and labours of the wise: either,
therefore, at once give up the discharge of the tem-
poral duties which you hold, or endeavour more
zealously to study the lessons of wisdom. Such are
my commands." At these words the earls and pre-
fects would tremble, and endeavour to turn all their
thoughts to the study of justice, so that, wonderful to
say, almost all his earls, prefects, and officers, though
-
ALFRED INSTRUCTS THE JUDGES.
339
unlearned from their cradles, were sedulously bent
upon acquiring learning, choosing rather laboriously
to acquire the knowledge of a new discipline, than to
resign their functions.
It sometimes happened that Alfred's earls and
prefects were too old or of too dense intellect to begin
to learn to read. In such a case, Alfred took their
sons or some more distant kinsman, whom he instructed
to read to them; or if no other person could be
found, he made one of his own men, whom he had
brought up to reading, undertake the office of teacher,
and recite Saxon books before the ignorant noblemen,
whenever they could find time for so doing. The
result of this useful but to us rather humourous process.
was, that the nobles, in the words of Asser, "lamented
with deep sighs, in their inmost hearts, that in their
youth they had never attended to such studies; and
they blessed the young men of our days, who happily
could be instructed in the liberal arts, whilst they
execrated their own lot, that they had not learned
these things in their youth, and now, when they were
old, though wishing to learn them, they were unable.
The ignorance and other deficiencies of Alfred's judges
were, however, leniently dealt with, in comparison with
the punishment which the king inflicted on partiality
and wilful injustice. His severity on this head has
been recorded in general terms by Asser, but we learn
from a work called the Miroir des Justices, written by
Andrew Horne in the reign of Edward II, that per-
version of justice met with no connivance from this
inflexibly upright king. "He hanged Cadwine, be-
cause he condemned Hachwy to death, without the
assent of all the jurors, in a case where he put himself
upon the jury of twelve men; and because Cadwine
-
Z 2
340 LIFE AND TIMEs of alfred THE GREAT. [CH. XXIII.
:
removed three who wished to save him against the
nine, for three others into whose jury this Hachwy did
not put himself."
"He hanged Markes, because he adjudged During
to death by twelve men not sworn.'
""
"He hanged Freberne, because he adjudged Harpin
to death when the jurors were in doubt about their
verdict; for when in doubt, we ought rather to save
than condemn *."
In all, the author of the Miroir des Justices has
recorded forty-four cases of punishment, more or less
severe, which Alfred inflicted on those who had per-
verted the integrity of the judgment-seat.
It has been said, that Alfred, for the better administra-
tion of justice, first divided the kingdom into counties,
each of which was subdivided into hundreds, and each
hundred into tithings. We find no trace of this in the
earlier chronicles, and it is unlikely that Asser would
have overlooked so important an institution, if it had
been introduced by the policy of Alfred. It is another
strong argument against the theory, that several of the
English counties occur in the chronicles long before
the time of Alfred: others were evidently carved out
of the ruins of the Heptarchy: and all of them came
into existence at different times, according to the
various circumstances which gave them birth. A
striking instance in support of this theory is, that during
the whole reign of Alfred, the counties of Norfolk and
Suffolk were still undivided, and both formed the
kingdom of East Anglia, whilst the whole of Mercia,
The Miroir des Justices has been published in a small volume,
London 1642, containing the original Norman French, and also in a
similar volume, containing an English translation, London, 1646.
See pages 296, 298.
COUNTIES 341
khal
HUNDREDS-TITHINGS.
or at least the greater part of it, became one large-
earldom, the several counties, into which it was after-
wards parcelled, not being yet in existence.
But, although several of the English counties are
certainly older than the time of Alfred, we must not
altogether hastily dismiss the express statement of
Ingulf, who is a very respectable chronicler, where he
is not misled by the charters of his own monastery.
"The king," says he, "wishing to check and restrain
robbers, was the first who changed the districts and
provinces of England into counties." We may per-
haps reasonably infer, that though not the original
author of the division into counties, yet the king
availed himself of that division to promote his own
views, and perhaps arranged the administration of
these counties on a more regular and systematic plan
than before. Whatever change he wrought in the
counties themselves, it is less a matter of doubt that
their subdivision into hundreds, and of hundreds into
tithings, is one of the features of his administration.
Both Ingulf and Malmesbury agree in this statement.
The words of the latter may be quoted on this subject.
"Amid the sound of trumpets and the din of war,
Alfred enacted statutes by which his people might
equally familiarize themselves to religious worship
and to military discipline. And since, from the ex-
ample of the barbarians, the natives themselves began
to lust after rapine, insomuch that there was no safe
intercourse without a military guard, he appointed
centuries, which they call Hundreds,' and decennaries,
or Tithings,' so that every Englishman, living ac-
cording to law, should be a member of both.
C
C
The custody of each province had been formerly in
the care of the earl or alderman, who had under him
342 life and timeS OF ALFRED THE GREAT, [CH. XXIII.
•
an assistant officer, called præfectus, or vicedominus.
These officers united the political with the judicial
functions. This anomaly was soon detected by Alfred,
who separated their duties, and appointed judges, or, as
they were called in Ingulf's time, justices, to decide
causes, whilst the sheriffs, as the other officers were
named, continued to exercise the duties which properly
belonged to them.
Springing out of the civil division of the county
into hundreds and tithings, is another institution,
that of Frank-pledge, as it is generally called, which
has been ascribed to Alfred, not by any of the earlier
chroniclers, but by Ingulf and Malmesbury, from whom
succeeding writers have mostly copied. "If any one
was accused of any crime, he was obliged immediately
to produce persons from the hundred and tithing to
become his surety, and if any one was unable to find
a surety, he had cause to dread the severity of the law.
If any one who was impleaded made his escape either
before or after he had found a surety, all persons of
the hundred and tithing paid a fine to the king. By
this regulation Alfred diffused such peace throughout
the country, that he ordered golden bracelets to be
hung up in the cross roads, tempting the cupidity
of those who passed, though no one dared to touch
them."
Nearly similar is what is related of king Edwin, (see
[Lappenberg,] vol. i. p. 153.) and also of Frothi king of Denmark,
(Saxo Gram. t. i. p. 247. Chron. Erici, No. 35.) of Rollo duke of
Normandy, (Dudo, p. 64.) and of Briant king of Munster, (Depping,
Expeditions, &c. t. i. p. 131.)" LAPP. vol. ii. p. 68.
"These are probably the fictions of a posterior age; but they serve
to shew the high estimation in which Alfred's administration of
justice was held by our forefathers." LINGARD, vol. i. p. 178.
h 66
ALFRED'S ABSOLUTE POWER.
343
We
When we consider the different occupations with
which the busy mind of Alfred was continually en-
grossed, the question naturally occurs, how he could
find time for accomplishing so many things. It may
be admitted, that he possessed external advantages
which had fallen to the lot of none of his predecessors,
but these advantages were all of his own acquirement,
and therefore, so far from explaining, they rather add
to the credit of his achievements. As he prevailed in
a war, which had destroyed all the other kingdoms of
the Heptarchy, there were no surviving rights of any
one, against which he could be a trespasser. And, as
there is no authority more complete than that which
follows conquest by the sword, so Alfred, having
wrested the land which he ruled out of the hands of an
enemy, found his authority unbounded except by the
limits of the island itself; and the tenure, by which he
held it, was in fact the law of his own will. He was
consequently, not only greater than any of his prede-
cessors, but possessed absolute power, if he thought
proper to use it. If, however, he was checked by a
sense of what was due to his subjects, and modifred
his own authority by enacting wise and equal laws :
this is a subject of panegyric, and leaves his fame
brighter than it otherwise would have been; for such
a mode of administering the kingly authority, so far
from enslaving Alfred, made him more truly powerful,
and gave him the good will of his people, which was
the ablest instrument he could employ for the accom-
plishment of his great and useful ends.
But we must ascribe the magnitude and number of
Alfred's deeds to the strict economy of his time and
of his revenue, and the wise adjustment of both to the
enterprises which he had in hand.
344
LIFE AND TIMES OF ALFRED THE GREAT. [CH. XXIII.
We have already noticed the king's annual division
of his income into two equal parts, one of which was
devoted to the expenses of the state and of his own
household, the other to pious uses, to charity, and the
service of God. The subordinate arrangements for
carrying into effect these intentions are told us by
Asser, in these words: "He assigned the first half of
his revenue to worldly purposes, and ordered that one-
third of this half should be paid to his soldiers and his
ministers, the nobles who resided at his court, where
they discharged various duties: for the king's house-
hold was at all times arranged in three classes. His
attendants were most wisely distributed into three
companies, so that the first company should be on
duty at court for one month, night and day, at the end
of which time they returned to their homes, and were
relieved by the second company. At the end of the
second month, the third company, in the same way,
relieved the second, who also returned to their homes,
where they spent two months, until their services were
again wanted. The third company gave place to the
first in the same manner, and also spent two months
at home. Such was the threefold division of the
companies arranged at all times in the royal house-
holdi.
.
i" I should conjecture that the king, for his more honourable
attendance, took this course in point of royalty and state, there being
(as it then stood with the state) very few men of quality fit to stand
before a king, who by their fortunes or dependency were not otherwhere
besides engaged; neither was there in those tiines any great assurance
to be had of any man, unless he was one of such condition, whose
service when the king was fain to use one month in the quarter, it
was necessary for the common-wealth, that he should remit them the
other two months unto their own occasions. Neither used he this
DIVISION OF ALFRED'S INCOME.
345
"To these therefore was paid the first of the three
portions aforesaid, to each according to their respective
dignities and peculiar service: the second was for the
payment of the operatives, whom he had collected out
of every nation, and kept about him in large numbers,
men skilled in every kind of construction; the third
portion was assigned to foreigners, who came to him
out of every nation far and near; whether they asked
money of him or not, he cheerfully gave to each with
wonderful munificence in proportion to their respective
merits, according to what is written, God loveth a
cheerful giver.'
،
"But the second part of all the revenues, which
came yearly into his possession, and was included in
the receipts of his exchequer, as we mentioned a little
before, he, with ready devotion, gave to God, ordering
his ministers to divide it again into four parts, with the
condition that the first of these four parts should be
bestowed on the poor of every nation who came to him;
and on this subject he said, that, as far as human
discretion could guarantee, the remark of Pope Gregory
should be followed: Give not much to whom you
should give little, nor little to whom much, nor some-
thing to whom nothing is due, nor nothing to whom
something.' The second of the four portions was given
<
course with some of his officers only, (as there are those that under-
stand it to have been a course taken only with those of his guard,)
but with all his whole attendance; neither used he it for a time only,
but for his whole life, as Ingulfus expressly tells us: and I little
doubt but that the use at Court at this day, of officers, Quarter-
waiters, had the first beginning even from this invention of the
king's." SPELMAN, p. 199.-" Hac revolutione servorum suorum
totiusque familiæ suæ rotatione usus est omni tempore vitæ suæ.”
INGULF.
346
ALFRED
life and times of Alfred the GREAT. [CH. XXIII.
to the two monasteries, which he had built, and to
those who therein had dedicated themselves to God's
service, as we have mentioned above. The third portion
was assigned to the school, which he had studiously
collected together, consisting of many of the nobility
of his own nation. The fourth portion was for the use
of all the neighbouring monasteries in all Saxony and
Mercia', and also during some years, in turn, to the
churches and servants of God dwelling in Britain™,
Cornwall, Gaul, Armorica, Northumberland, and some-
times even in Ireland, according to his means, he
either distributed to them beforehand, or proposed to
do so afterwards, if life and prosperity should not fail
him."
With equal exactitude, Alfred apportioned his own
time between his spiritual and temporal duties; but his
biographer has not been equally minute in describing
this particular, as in the division of his income. We
have noticed in a former chapter", the expedient of wax
lights, and lanterns, to which the king had recourse for
ascertaining the lapse of time. Asser informs us that
he dedicated half his service to the world, and half to
God; but William of Malmesbury says with more
minuteness, that he employed "eight hours in writing,
reading, and prayer, eight in the refreshment of his
body, and eight in dispatching the business of the
realm." This regularity of system must have been of
the greatest service to the king, and have enabled him
Athelney and Shaftesbury.
1
Saxony now became the general name for Wessex, Kent, and
Sussex combined. Mercia is added, because it was now no longer a
separate kingdom.
mi. e. Wales.
n
See page 313.
ALFRED'S REGULARITY OF SYSTEM.
347
to accomplish much more than he otherwise could have
done; and it set an example to his subjects, of the
utmost importance to a nation, which was saved from
destruction, that it might become a monument to pos-
terity of the greatness of their king.
CHAP. XXIV.
HASTING, FOILED ON THE CONTINENT, SUDDENLY INVADES ENGLAND
IN 893—HE FORMS TWO ENTRENCHED CAMPS IN KENT, AT APPLE-
DORE AND MILTON-ALFRED FORTIFIES A POSITION BETWEEN THE
TWO CAMPS-BATTLE OF FARNHAM-ALFRED BESIEGES THE DANES
IN MERSEY-ISLAND, BUT IS CALLED OFF TO DEFEND EXETER—
DANISH CAMP TAKEN-HASTING'S WIFE AND CHILDREN MADE
PRISONERS, BUT RELEASED-HASTING FORTIFIES BEMFLEET AND
SHOBURY IN ESSEX-THE DANES CROSS ENGLAND TO BUTTINGTON-
SIEGE AND BATTLE
BATTLE OF BUTTINGTON-THE DANES, DEFEATED,
ESCAPE TO ESSEX-THEY AGAIN CROSS ENGLAND TO CHESTER-
RAVAGE WALES, AND RETURN TO ESSEX-THEY ENCAMP ON THE
LEA ALFRED OBSTRUCTS THEIR NAVIGATION-THE DANES RETIRE
TO QUATBRIDGE IN GLOUCESTERSHIRE, WHERE THEIR ARMY IS
BROKEN up.
.
WHEN England had enjoyed fifteen years of peace,
and, under the administration of her wise and patriotic
king, was progressing with rapid strides in all that
tends towards national prosperity, her repose was
suddenly broken by the loud cry of war and of inva-
sion. It was a trying moment to the king, when he
found himself again called to arms, and was obliged to
interrupt both his own studies, and the plans which
he was daily forming for the amelioration of his
countrymen. The storm which fell on England in
893 was more violent than that which, fifteen years ago,
had swept before it, for a moment, both the king and
his throne. But if the enemy were strong to attack,
A. D. 890-1.]
349
HASTING IN FRANCE.
much more so was Alfred to defend, for he had im-
proved to the utmost every hour of the interval which
had passed, and the trial, to which he was now exposed,
only proved the wisdom and efficacy of the precautions
which he had taken against such an emergency.
As
a fitting introduction to the long campaign between
King Alfred and the new army of Danes which in 893
invaded England, we must notice the operations of the
famous Danish leader Hasting on the continent, the ill
success of which led to his landing in England “.
In 890, "Hasting with his Danes had encamped at
Argove, on the right bank of the Somme, and, in the
following year, after having, in contravention of his
word, attacked the abbey of St. Vedast, he took up his
quarters at Amiens. A detachment of his forces, con-
sisting of five hundred and fifty men, made an attempt
on the city of St. Omer's, the fortifications of which
were only just begun; but the brave inhabitants killed
more than half of them, and with equal good fortune
repelled another attack, in which the barbarians had
endeavoured to set fire to the place." The same year,
891, was still more disastrous to the Danes in Flanders.
Arnulf, king of Germany, inflicted on them a severe
defeat on the banks of the river Dyle, near Louvain":
* See the account of their proceedings in pages 248–250.
b Lappenberg, vol. ii. p. 75.
"On the 26th of June was the defeat of the Germans on the
river Geul. Cf. Depping, Expéditions, &c. t. ii. p. 35. In the
Annal. Fuldens. h. a. the deficiency after Kalendis is undoubtedly to
be supplied by Septembris, which was long after celebrated in com-
memoration of the defeat of the Northmen at Louvain on that day.
According to the Annal. Vedast. h. a. the battle did not take place
till the beginning of December. In the Annal. Fuldens. the account
of the death of the Danish kings, Sigfrid and Gottfrid, is probably
erroneous, as the Annal. Vedast. and Rhegino make mention of the
death of both kings under the years 885 and 887." LAPPENB. ii. 75.
350
life and times of Alfred the Great. [CH. XXIV.
this battle was fought on the 1st of September, but the
Danes, notwithstanding their defeat, kept possession of
Louvain more than fifteen months longer. Whilst this
ill success attended his countrymen in the East,
Hasting, more fortunate than they, repulsed Eudes
from Amiens, and afterwards attacked him in the
province of Vermandois. This variable fortune was
not to the taste of these Danish freebooters: though
they had done much mischief both to France and
Germany, yet they were continually driven back to the
mouths of the great rivers where their fleets were
moored, and their entrenched camps were generally
constructed. Here they resumed their vigour, and
acting on the offensive, maintained their positions
against all assailants. But in 893 a severe famine
visited the north of France, which made it inexpedient
for the Danes to remain any longer on a coast, where,
instead of gaining booty, they were in danger of being
starved. Collecting therefore their scattered bands,
they drew together at Boulogne, and determined to
try their fortune once more in an invasion of Englandª.
Nearly the whole of Sussex and the Weald of Kent were
covered at that time and long after with an immense
forest, called Anderida by the Romans and ancient
Britons, and afterwards abbreviated into Andred by
the Saxons. Its extent was a hundred and twenty
miles long from east to west, and thirty in breadth
from the sea-coast towards the inland country. On
the eastern side of this large forest, the river Limene,
•
a Ibid.
e
* "The Saxon Chronicle calls it Limene; and so, with a little varia-
tion, the other old writers; which, however, is not denied to be the same
with what is now called the Rother. But [Spelman] is certainly
mistaken in supposing the mouth of it in those times to be where
A. D. 893.]
351
DANES LAND IN ENGLAND.
now called the Rother, flows out of the Weald into
the sea, forming for a certain distance the frontier
between Sussex and Kent. The estuary of this river
is now choked up with soil, the accumulation of
centuries, but in the time of Alfred it formed a capa-
cious harbour. The Danish host, assembled at
Boulogne, embarked horses and men in two hundred
and fifty vessels, and the first news which the South-
Saxons and Kentish men received of the enemy's
intentions was the news of their having come to land
at the mouth of the river Limene or Rother, which we
have just described'.
،
...
Rye now stands. For there is no doubt to be made that 'twas at
New Romney, the channel being altered by a violent tempest in the
reign of Edward I. Indeed Antoninus places Portus Lemanis . . . .
but sixteen miles from Durovernum .. or Canterbury, whereas New
Romney is twenty-one. But it was easy for the transcriber to put a
V for an X: and though Appledore be six miles distant from
Romney, yet the estuary was then so very large, (however altered
since by the change of the channel,) that Appledore was not above
four miles, as hinted in the Saxon Annals, . . . from the river's mouth.
See more in Mr. Somner's History of the Roman ports and forts in
Kent, p. 37. &c." HEARNE, p. 78.
(
Sax. Ch. Ethel. Flor. Sim. Hunt. Lappenberg thinks, that
the commander of this detachment was Biörn Iærnside, an old
companion in arms of Hasting. "The English chroniclers," says he,
"make no mention here of Biörn, but speak only of a king.' My
assumption is founded on the following passage of Guido, ap.
Alberic. a. 895. Bier[n.] totius excidii signifer et exercituum rex,
iterum Gallias infestans, ad extremum ab Arnulfo imperatore et
Francis multis præliis victus, in Angliam, opportunum suæ tyran-
nidis suffugium, est expulsus, sed (ab) Anglis iterum victus, inde-
que Frisiam petens, mortuus est ibidem.' Will. of Jumièges (lib. i.
c. 11.) must, however, not be unnoticed: Bier, totius excidii
signifer exercituumque rex, dum nativum solum repeteret, nau-
fragium passus, vix apud Anglos portum obtinuit, quam pluribus de
suis navibus submersis. Indeque Frisiam repetens, ibidem obiit.
•
6
352
LIFE AND TIMES OF ALFRED THE GREAT. [CH. XXIV.
Towing their ships up this river as far as four miles
into the Weald, they came upon a fortress, defended
by a few peasants, and still only half finished. This
they immediately took and destroyed, after which they
constructed an intrenched camp near the small town
of Appledore¹. Soon after, Hasting himself, with
eighty ships, entered the Swale, a small arm of the
sea, which runs between the isle of Sheppey and the
Kentish coast, and landed at Midiltun, now Milton, where
he immediately constructed another of those intrenched
camps, which were the safeguard of the Danish forces
in these predatory invasions. It has been thought
that the formation of these two camps, at Appledore
and Milton, only twenty miles apart, and forming a
military cordon which cut off the greater part of Kent
from the rest of the island, was according to a precon-
ceived plan formed by the military genius of Hasting.
If this was the case, he was outgeneralled by the
mortem.' Dudo does not mention Biörn For contemporary
accounts concerning him, see also Prudent. Trecens. a. 858. Frag.
Chron. Fontan. a. 855-859." LAPP. ii. 75.
* Ethelwerd calls it an ancient fortress, and says nothing about its
unfinished state.
h Sax. Ch. Ethel.. Flor. Hunt.
i c
'Depping, ii. 39. says, that these eighty ships sailed from the
mouth of the Seine, where they had possessed themselves of the town
of Evreux. This error appears to have been occasioned by Asser's
Annals, an. 893, where the occupation of Evreux and the flight of
bishop Sebar are interpolated, which are copied from Dudo, 1. ii.
p. 77. If the above-given illustration is just, that event might have
taken place in the year 885." LAPPENBERG, vol. ii. p. 76.
k
* "Part of it is still remaining, being called Kemsley-castle, on
Kemsley-down, in the parish of Milton or Middleton, which is not
far distant from Sittingbourne, so named from the wells arising there,
&c. See Lambard's Perambulation of Kent, p. 204, 238." HEARNE,
p. 79.
A. D. 894.]
353
ALFRED'S CAMP IN KENT.
superior abilities, or overwhelmed by the greater power
of his adversary. Alfred first turning his attention to
the Danes of East Anglia and Northumberland, com-
pelled them to make oath that they would not join the
new army of their countrymen in Kent. The East
Anglians also gave six hostages for their good conduct,
and the king, having done all that was in his power in
that quarter, began to collect his forces, that he might
attack the enemy in the fortified positions which they
had taken up. Nearly a year, however, passed before any
decisive measures were attempted, and during this
interval it became manifest, that no reliance could be
placed on the neutrality of the East Anglians or
Northumbrians, and that Alfred must again save his
country and throne by arms alone from the danger
with which it was threatened. The armies in Kent
began to practise their usual course of robbery and
devastation, and their countrymen from the north and
east, disregarding their plighted troth, joined them in
these excursions, and even sometimes went out to
plunder by themselves. But the interests of the
kingdom were not wholly neglected in the north. The
brave earl of Mercia, true to the trust which Alfred
had reposed in him, "kept the East Anglians and
- Northumbrians, who were fomenting rebellion against
the king, within due bounds, and compelled them to
give hostages for their neutrality." Alfred, committing
to his care the charge of restraining or punishing their
breach of faith, marched with his forces between the
two armies, and availing himself of the woods and
marshes, took up a position", so as to command that
1
¹ Will. Malmesb. ii. 4.
"There are yet remaining the ruins of a small castle, called
Bavord castle, on the other side of the river, opposite to Kemsley
A a
m
354
LIFE AND TIMES OF ALFRID THE GREAT. [CH. XXIV.
of the enemy, and protect the country from their
ravaging bands. This bold measure, which was no
doubt justified by the strength of Alfred's military
preparations and the number of his men, seems to have
alarmed the enemy, and to have hampered them in
their movements: for "from this time," we read in the
Anglo-Saxon Chronicle," the enemy always went out
along the weald in bands and troops, by whichever
border was at this time without forces: and they were
also pursued by other bands, almost every day, either
by night or day, as well from the king's forces as from
the towns."
The system of military defence which Alfred had
devised during the interval of peace was now fully tested,
and its utility developed. The strong position which
he had taken up separated the two bodies of the Danes,
and prevented their acting in concert. The citizens, also,
of the different towns, as appears from the extract just
quoted, no longer fell an easy prey to those who attacked
them, but took measures in their own defence, and even
ventured to pursue their aggressors. The wisdom of
the king's arrangement, by which his army was divided
into two parts, so as to relieve one another, now became
apparent. Besides the garrisons of the towns, an effec-
tive army was always in the field, and the others who,
at the end of six months, were to succeed them, were
in the mean time occupied in cultivating their lands at
home. The Danes'" forces, we learn, "did not venture
castle; where some think 'tis probable Alfred encamped. But
others believe that 'tis more likely that 'twas towards the midland
parts of Kent, perhaps near Bocton, as being between both armies,
and affording a couvenient prospect into the two plains." HEARNE,
p. 80.
n From the Saxon Chronicle, which now begins to be much more
full in its details of these events.
A. D. 894.]
355
HASTING'S CHILDREN BAPTIZED.
out of their camps with their whole force more than
twice; once when they first came to land, before Alfred's
forces were assembled; and a second time, when they
attempted to leave their stations." It was now evident
to Hasting that success was hopeless in a country which
was defended by the arms and governed by the wisdom
of so excellent a king: his Danes had gained much
plunder by their excursions, whenever they could elude
the vigilance of the Saxons; but they were unable to
move in large numbers from their camps, in which they
were pent up, more after the manner of a besieged city
than of an invading army. Hasting, still in his camp
at Milton, was compelled to sue for peace, which was
granted him on condition that he should not molest
the dominions of Alfred. To ratify this compact, the
two sons of Hasting received baptism with their
father's consent, and at the request of Alfred, who was
sponsor for the one, and Ethelred, earl of Mercia, for
the other. This treaty, however, was no sooner entered
into than it was infringed: the faithless Dane, leaving
Milton, passed over to Bemfleet in Essex, where he
formed another camp of great strength, and placed in it
his wife, his children, and the spoil which he had gained.
In the mean time, the Danes at Appledore, finding
themselves also hemmed in by Alfred's troops, suddenly
left their camp, and marched northwards, as if to cross
the Thames, and join their countrymen in Essex; but the
king's forces outrode and overtook them, and in a battle
fought at Farnham, defeated the Danes, and retook all
the spoil which they were carrying off. From this point
it is rather difficult to trace their march, from the brevity
which the Chroniclers have used in describing it. "The
Danes fled," says the Saxon Chronicle," over the Thames,
where there was no ford, and then up along the Colne
A a 2
356
LIFE AND TIMES OF ALFRED THE GREAT. [CH. XXIV.
into an island." Here they were blockaded by the
English, as long as the besiegers could procure pro-
visions, but at length, when these failed, they were
obliged to abandon the attempt. The six months of their
service were also expired, and the king was not yet
arrived with the other division who were to replace them.
The Danes, however, prevented from moving by a wound
which their king had received, continued to occupy the
island, and as we hear no more of their proceedings, it is
probable that they joined their countrymen at Bemfleet.
Whilst these events were passing in the south, the
East Anglian and Northumbrian Danes collected
their troops, and manning two fleets, sailed to the coast
of Devonshire. One of the fleets, consisting of a
hundred vessels, sailed up the river Exe, and besieged
Exeter: the other, of forty ships, entered the Bristol
Channel, and attacked a small fortress on the northern
coast of the same county.
The news of these movements, which reached the
king's ears as he was marching to relieve the first
division of his army in Essex, did not for a moment
disturb his equanimity, or cause him to hesitate in
the active course which alone could save his country.
His conduct throughout the whole of this melancholy
campaign is described as praiseworthy in the extreme.
"With his usual activity," says the Monk of Malmes-
bury," the king was present in every action, ever daunt-
ing the invaders, and at the same time inspiriting his
subjects with the signal display of his own courage.
He would oppose himself singly to the enemy; and
Sax. Ch. an. 894. From the expression of Florence, intra meatum
Colniæ amuis, it is clear that this was Mersey island.
PI consider the "vertitur rex in furorem" of Florence to be a mere
figure of speech, indicating the vigour, not the fury, of the king.
0
A. D. 894.]
357
ALFRED RELIEVES EXETER.
by his own personal exertions rally his forces whenever
they were wavering. The very places are still pointed
out by the inhabitants, where he felt the vicissitudes of
his good or evil fortune."
Undismayed at the intelligence which arrived from
Devonshire, the king divided his forces into two bodies,
one of which he dispatched against the Danes in Bem-
fleet, whilst he hastened with the other to raise the
siege of Exeter. The party which was detached east-
ward arrived at London, where they were reinforced by
a body of the citizens and others from the west of
England, after which they pursued their march to
Bemfleet. The great army which had been at Apple-
dore was now within the Danish lines, but Hasting
was absent on a plundering excursion, which he was
making for the second time in breach of his treaty
with the brave Ethelred, in Mercia. The English
stormed the fortress, and took all the spoil that was
therein, besides all the women and children; they
broke in pieces or burnt many of the Danish ships:
the rest they carried into Rochester or to London,
together with all the prisoners and booty. Among
the captives were the wife and children of Hasting:
and this calamity having its due effect upon the mind
of the haughty Dane, a second treaty was entered into,
hostages for its observance were given, and the wife and
children sent back unhurt to the Danish camp.
In the mean time, Alfred arrived at Exeter, where
he found the enemy laying siege to the city: the
Danes decamped at his approach, and fled to their ships.
The king was thus at liberty to return into the eastern
.
The success of Alfred's system of fortification is remarkable in
this campaign: the English cities are no longer taken by a coup de
main, as in former years.
358 LIFE AND TIMES OF ALFRED THE GREAT. [CH. XXIV.
parts of the kingdom, but from some circumstances
which have not been handed down to us, we find that
he remained some weeks longer in Devonshire. During
this delay in the west, the broken armies of the enemy
had rallied from their late defeats, and again entrenched
themselves at Shobury in Essex', but soon after being
reinforced by a large body of East Anglian and North-
umbrian Danes, they marched inland, following the
course of the Thames; from thence crossing to the
Severn, they marched up the banks of that river to
Buttington, probably the small town which is still so
called, and is situated on a stream of the same name in
Gloucestershire. But their progress through Mercia was
not effected without rousing its inhabitants to arms.
The brave Ethelred, its ruler, together with the aldermen
• “Ethelwerd mentions that Sigefert came to him with a powerful
fleet from Northumbria, p. 847. The Annals of Ulster, p. 65. men-
tion Sigfred, the son of Ingwar, as roaming about the British isles at
this period. Ethelwerd notices the death of Guthfred, king of North-
umbria at this time, and his burial at York, p. 847. As Sigfred is
stated, in the Ulster Annals, to have killed his brother Godfred about
this period, p. 65, they are probably the Sigefert and Guthfred of
Ethelwerd." Turner, i. 589.
Buddigingtun or Buttingtun on Sæfern stathe, CHRON. SAX.
Budingtone juxta Severnam, HUNT. ad villam quandam super flumen
Sabrinæ sitam Buttingedune appellatam, MATT. WESTM. Mr.
Walker tells us that it is in Shropshire, Mr. Somner, in Montgomery-
shire. Upon which account Dr. Gibson asserts, that he knows
of no town of this name upon the Severn in Gloucestershire....But
upon consulting Mr. Adams's Index Villaris, and Mr. Speed's table
of this county, I find two towns in this shire answering to this name
in the old historians, one called Boddington in Tewkesbury Hundred,
and the other Bodendon upon a little branch of the Severn in
Cheltenham Hundred; but I do not deny that Buttington in
Shropshire, or rather Montgomeryshire, is the place where the
Danes intrenched themselves, there being some evident tokens of
fortification yet to be seen there." HEARNE, p. 85.
B
• •
A. D. 894.]
359
DANES OCCUPY CHESTER.
Ethelm and Ethelnoth, and the king's thane, who
were in custody of the fortresses in those parts,
assembled their troops from all the towns to the east
of the river Perrot, and joined by some forces from
Mercia and North Wales, they shut the Danish army
up in their fortified camp. Here they besieged them
several weeks, during the time that the king's army
was still at Exeter. At length the besieged began
to be in want of food, and were compelled to eat
their horses. Some of them died of starvation;
the rest, taking courage from despair, sallied out
upon the English, who lay upon the eastern side
of the Severn, and engaged them in battle. The
contest was fierce and bloody; Orthelm and many
other king's thanes were slain, but the Danes were
entirely defeated, and having lost a large number of
men, sought safety in flight. Those who survived
this defeat, took refuge at the fortress in Essex; where
before the winter they received such reinforcements out
of East Anglia and Northumberland, that they were
again able to move, and pursue their ravages as before.
Committing their ships, their wives, and all their effects
to the guardianship of the friendly East Anglians, they
"went at one stretch"-such is the expression of the
Saxon Chronicle-" day and night," until they arrived
at Chester, at that time uninhabited. This march was
conducted with such speed, that the English were
unable to come up with them: the Danes were already
safe within the city, and the troops of Alfred slew all
they found without the walls, took all the cattle, and
burnt or consumed all the corn in the fields. This
happened at the end of 894, not much more than
twelve months after Hasting first came over from France.
In the beginning of the following year, the Danes,
360 LIFE AND TIMES OF ALFRED THE GREAT. [CH. XXIV.
distressed for want of the provisions of which Alfred's
army had deprived them, entered North Wales, where
they ravaged several districts, and afterwards crossing
England so rapidly that they again distanced their
pursuers, they sought a secure position in the island
of Mersey, from which the preceding year the English
had in vain attempted to dislodge them. Their
countrymen also, who had left the siege of Exeter
when Alfred's army approached to relieve it, on
their voyage towards the same party, stopped on the
coast of Sussex, and attempted to plunder the country
near Chichester; but the brave inhabitants, sallying out
upon them, slew several hundreds of them, and took
some of their ships: the remnant with difficulty escaped.
This adventure was the last that happened in the year
895, and the Danes had now been more than two years
in England.
At the beginning of the following year, the Danes,
sailing up the Thames, turned to the right, and followed
the course of the river Lea, until they came to the neigh-
bourhood of the modern towns of Hertford and Ware,
about twenty miles from London. Here they constructed
their fortifications as usual; and the citizens of London,
alarmed at their proximity, marched out at the approach
"Annal. Camb. a. 895. Nordmanni venerunt et vastaverunt
Loyer (England) et Bricheniauc et Guent et Guinnliguiauc (the
marsh district between the Severn, the Wye, and the Tav.)' Mor-
ganwg and Buallt are added in Brut y Tywysogion." LAPPEN B. ii.
p. 78.
"Matt. West. 346. Bishop Gibson says of Mersey Island, which
contains eight parishes, It is a place of great strength, and may be
alinost kept against all the world; for which reason the Parliament
clapped in a thousand men to guard it from being seized by the Dutch,
about the beginning of the Dutch war.' Camd. 359." Turner,
vol. i. 585.
A. D. 896.]
361
DANES ON THE RIVER LEA.
of summer to attack them. In the battle which ensued
the Londoners were worsted, and, with the loss of
"some four king's thanes," obliged to retreat. The
king now arrived with his troops, and encamped near
London to protect the reapers as they were gathering
in the crops. One day the king, riding along the
banks of the river, observed a place, where the river
might be so obstructed that the ships of the Danes
would not be able to pass. The idea was immediately
put into effect, and two fortresses constructed on the
opposite banks of the river. The English had hardly
set themselves down to accomplish this work, before
the Danes saw the evil which would inevitably ensue to
their shipping. Abandoning these to their fate, they
hastily left their position on the Lea, and crossing the
country, arrived at Quatbridge', supposed to be the
modern Bridgenorth, or Quatford, on the Severn. Here
* Saxon Ch.
J "
Cwatbricge, SAX. CH. Cambricge, ETHEL. Quatbrig, FLOR.
WIG. Quantebrige, MATT. WESTM. [as in the printed copies; but
Cantebrigge in MS. Laud. L. 44. Cantebrege in MS. 193, Musei
Bodl. Cantebregge in MS. Hatton 97.] Quadruge, HUNT. Brugges
BROMT. Mr. Somner is of opinion, that 'tis the same town that is
now called Cambridge in Gloucestershire, not far from a branch of
the river Severn, called Cam. But this conjecture, as Dr. Gibson
[in explicat. nom. locorum ad fin. Chron. Sax.] has very well observed,
seems improbable from the distance between the Severn and Cam-
bridge, which is at least two miles, and consequently very badly
situated to answer the end of the Danes in raising this fortress, which
was to obstruct the passage of the king's ships up this river. Upon
which account, considering that one MS. of the Saxon Chron. calls
it Bricge, which is the name 'tis vulgarly called by now, and that
Quatford is not above a mile from it, he inclines to our celebrated
author's [Spelman's] opinion, that 'tis the same with Bridgenorth
and Quatford in Shropshire. And of this opinion likewise was Mr.
Leland, as appears from the first volume of his Collections, f. 199 a.
HEARNE, p. 89.
362
THE
life and times of Alfred ALFRED GREAT. [CH. XXIV,
the they speedily entrenched themselves, and the third year
of the campaign passed away with, apparently, little
prospect that a war against so active and vivacious an
enemy would ever come to an end.
But, in reality, the strength of the Danish invaders
was now departed from them. Though often reinforced
by their friends the old Danish settlers, the tide of
success was evidently setting against them, and the
policy or the mercy of Alfred was directed to separate
the interests of the Danes located in the island from
those of the new-comers. His armies, too, were more
than a match for the whole united army, which by its
frequent defeats were lessened in numbers and dis-
pirited in courage. Their fleet, also, by Alfred's
stratagem on the river Lea, was now lost to them.
The citizens of London took possession of the ships
in the Lea, whilst Alfred's army gallopped westwards
after the enemy: some of the best of the vessels were
towed to London, others were destroyed, and the
enemy's main dependence in all enterprises, their
fleet, was entirely annihilated.
In the summer of 897, the army at Quatbridge
broke up altogether: some of the soldiers retired to
East-Anglia, some into Northumberland, and others,
the most destitute, procured such ships as they could
get, and crossed over sea to the mouth of the Seine
in France. Long before this happened, we lose sight
of Hasting, the principal of the Danish leaders: his
object in coming to England, whatever it might have
been, whether to gain for himself a kingdom, or simply
to amass plunder, was clearly defeated by the superior
talents of his great opponent. But we may not suffer
ourselves to be deluded into an erroneous judgment on
the nature and result of this campaign: if Alfred's star
A. D. 897.]
363
THE DANISH ARMY DISBANDS.
was predominant over that of his baffled competitor, it
was less the difference between the kings, than between
the two systems of which they were the heroes: Alfred
was the champion of a settled society, of equal rights,
and of civilized life: Hasting represents the barbarian,
who, roving over the world, and with no law but that
of his sword, may inflict, for a time, the greatest woes
upon mankind, but will assuredly fall at last, the
victim of a ferocious system, which engulfs all that
enter into it.
CHAP. XXV.
THE EAST ANGLIAN AND NORTHUMBRIAN DANES CONTINUE TO INFEST
THE SOUTHERN COAST.-SEA FIGHT BETWEEN SIX DANISH AND
NINE ENGLISH SHIPS NEAR THE ISLE OF WIGHT—TRANQUILLITY
RESTORED TO ENGLAND-MORTALITY OF MEN AND CATTLE-ALFRED
ENDS HIS DAYS IN PEACE ON THE 26TH OF OCTOBER, A.D. 901.-
CONCLUSION.
THE departure of the foreign Danes restored to the
king the leisure of which their coming had deprived
him; but though the main body of his enemies was
dissipated, its fragmental parts were still dispersed
throughout his dominions, principally around the coasts,
where they perpetrated petty outrages, and alarmed the
peaceable inhabitants. In East Anglia also and North-
umberland, the surface of society continued to heave and
swell, before the storm, which had agitated those coun-
tries, could subside. Their taste for plunder and their
old habits of roving had been revived by the arrival of
Hasting's army, and perhaps their minds had not been
perfectly reconciled to the dominion of an Anglo-Saxon
king. Hence we find, that the south of England still
suffered from their piratical attempts, which the navy
of Alfred now employed their leisure to repress.
One of these adventures has been recorded, and may
serve as an instance of the predatory warfare in which
the campaign of 893-897 terminated. "Six Danish
ships," says the Saxon Chronicle," came to land at the
A.D. 897—8.]
365
SEA-FIGHT AT THE ISLE OF WIGHT.
a
outer sea.
:
Isle of Wight, where they did much damage, as well as
in Devonshire and elsewhere on the sea-coast. The king
then commanded nine of his ships to go thither, and
these obstructed the passage from the port towards the
Three of the enemy's ships came out to
meet the English ships, but the other three were lying
dry at the upper end of the port, and their crews had
gone ashore. The English then captured two of the
three ships which came out against them, and killed
all their crews the third ship, after all its crew but
five had been killed, effected its escape, because the
English ships ran aground also. They were aground
in a very disadvantageous manner, three of them being
on the same side of the channel as the Danish, and
the rest on the other side, so that neither party could
assist the other. When the tide had ebbed several
furlongs from the ships, the crews of the three Danish
ships attacked those of the three English which were on
the same side as themselves, and a combat ensued. They
slew Lucumon the king's reeve, Wulfheard, Ebb, and
Ethelhere, three Frisians, and Ethelferth the king's
neatherd, and in all, of Frisians and English, they
slew seventy-two men. Of the Danes a hundred and
twenty were killed. After this the flood-tide came in
and floated the Danish ships, so that they got out
before the Christians could shove theirs off; but they
were so damaged, that they could not row round the
coast of Sussex, and the sea cast two of them ashore:
their crews were carried to Winchester, and brought
before the king, who commanded them to be hanged
&
b
See page 277.
As pirates and rebels taken in arms, they deserved this sentence;
which, however, the king could not have justly inflicted on the other
Danes who came from abroad.
366
LIFE AND TIMES OF ALFRED THE GREAT. [CH. XXV.
on the spot; the men who were in the third Danish ship
escaped into East-Anglia, sorely wounded. That same
summer, no less than twenty ships with their crews
wholly perished on the south-coast of England."
It is manifest that these petty skirmishes, though
attended with a fearful loss of life in proportion to the
numbers engaged, could not endanger the throne of
England, or materially interfere with the wise plans of
her king. Neither had the invasion of Hasting, and the
three years' war which followed it, done much real
harm to the country which Alfred's care had so fully
provided with defences. The anonymous writer, who
has related the history of these times in the Saxon
Chronicle, bursts into raptures at the conclusion of the
war; but he tells us of another calamity which fell at this
time more severely than that of arms upon the English
people. "Thanks be to God," says he, "the army
had not utterly broken down the English nation; but
during the three years, it was much more broken down
by the mortality among cattle and among men, and
most of all by this, that many of the most eminent
king's thanes in the land died during the three years;
some of whom were, Swithulf, bishop of Rochester,
and Ceolmund, alderman of Kent, Bertwolf, alderman
of Essex, Wolfred, alderman of Hampshire, Elhard,
bishop of Dorchester, Edwolf, the king's thane in Sussex,
Bernwolf, governor of Winchester, Edwolf, the king's
horse-thane, and many others besides these, though
those I have named were the most distinguished."
It is therefore with a feeling of satisfaction, that we
here close the narrative of the Danish invasion, until
several generations had passed away, and they again
attacked England, when there was no Alfred to defend
it. Now then might we have hoped to accompany our
A. D. 901.]
367
ALFRED'S DEATH.
victorious king through a long and prosperous evening
to a reign, whose morning had burst forth through
clouds and storms into the splendour of so bright a
day. Alfred was only forty-eight years old when the
great Danish army at Quatbridge melted away like a
mist before him. His mind was at the very height of
intellectual vigour, and he might reasonably have
looked forward to a long enjoyment of the blessings
which his administration had procured for himself and
people. But, alas, his tale has been told, and is
finished! Alfred was one of those exalted spirits that
can live no longer than the occasion which produced
them. When the crisis which has called them into
existence is over, they die, frequently from the
exhaustion which the body, unable to follow the spirit
in its soarings, has derived from a long and continued
course of labour. Such was apparently the fate of
Alfred. The three years, 898, 899, and 900, are
passed over in silence by almost all the chroniclers.
We then read in the same venerable record of Saxon
antiquity which has principally guided us in our
narrative, that "in the year 901 died Alfred, the son
of Ethelwolf, six days before the Mass of All Saints,
[Oct. 26.] He was king over the whole English
nation, except that part which was under the dominion
of the Danes "."
T
С
"The year of his death is variously given. Matt. West. 350. Ing.
28. and Rad. Dic. 452. place it in 900. The Sax. Chron. 99, Malmsb.
46, Mailros 146, Florence 336, Petrib. Ch. 2, affix it to the year 901.
So Hen. Silgrave, MSS. Cleop. A. 12. [edited by C. Hook, Lond.
1848,] and others. He was buried at Winchester, in the abbey he
had founded there; but his remains were removed by Hen. I. to the
new abbey in the meadows at Hyde, on the northern quarter of the
city, and laid under the high altar. This building was destroyed at
368
LIFE AND TIMES OF ALFRED THE GREAT. [CH. XXV.
He reigned thirty years and six months, during
which the extent of his paternal kingdom became
threefold what it had been before he came to the
throne; the military, legislative, and judicial affairs of
the country were improved under his administration to
a degree which cast all former kings into the shade,
and the navy of England, that most certain mode of
defending it from foreign aggression, was entirely the
offspring of his creative genius. Besides all this, it
may be unhesitatingly asserted, that Alfred was the
first poet, the first historian, and the first philosopher,
which England for several hundred years produced:
his inventions in all the mechanical arts were of the...
greatest use to his countrymen: he found the cities
in ruins, and he left them newly built of hewn stone;
he found his subjects ignorant, and he left them a
studious and rising people: he taught them both
morality and religion; and when at last, worn out in
their service, at the early age of fifty-two he descended
to the grave, he bequeathed them that best inheritance
a king can give, the bright memory of himself, which
has continued to guide them during the thousand
years that since his birth are now on the point of
expiring; and which for another thousand years, if
the name of England shall last so long, will connect
with it the name of ALFRED!
the Reformation, and what is left of Alfred's body now lies' covered
by modern buildings or buried in the ruins of the old.' Rev. C.
Townshend's Winchester, p. 17." TURNER, vol. i. p. 599.
d From Apr. 23, 851, to Oct. 26, 901.
APPENDIX.
1. KING ALFRED'S WILL".
1. Ic Ælfred cinge, mid Godes gife, and mid getheahtunge
Ætheredes ercebisceopes, and ealra West-Seaxena witena
gewitnesse, smeade imbe minre sawle thearfe, and imbe min
irfe that me God and mine ildran forgeafon; and imbe thæt
irfe that Athulf cinge min fæder us thrim gebrothrum
becwath, Athelbolde, and Ætherede, and me; and swilc ure
swilce lengest wære that se fenge to eallum.
2. Ac hit gelamp that Æthelbold gefor; and wit, Æthe-
red [und ic,] mid ealre West-Seaxena witena gewitnesse,
uncerne dæ lothfæstan Æthelbirhte cingce uncrum mæge, on
&
King Alfred's Will was discovered in a MS. Register of the Abbey of
Newminster, founded at Winchester by King Alfred not long before his
death. This Register, which commemorated the foundation of the Abbey
on the north-west side of Winchester Cathedral, and its subsequent removal
about 1110 to Hyde, was probably written about the year 1030, or not more
than 130 years after Alfred's death. The Register was in the possession
of Mr. Astle in 1788, when the Will was first published in 4to, edited by
the Rev Owen Mauning, and printed at the Clarendon Press. The
original text was accompanied with a Latin translation, a free English
and a literal English translation. The Will has since been republished in
8vo. with the same literal English translation, a preface, and additional
notes, London, 1828. It is here reprinted from the text of the last edition,
but the English version has been made a little more literal, so as to be a
more exact representation of the Anglo-Saxon idiom.
* A
2
APPENDIX.
[APP. I.
tha gerædene the he hit eft gedide unc swa gefilde swa hit
tha was tha wit him othfæstan. And he tha swa dide, ge
that irfe, ge that he mid uncre gemanan begeat, and that he
silf gestrinde.
3. Tha hit swa gelamp that Æthered to feng, tha bæd ic
hine beforan urum witum eallum, that wit that irfe ged-
ældon, and he me ageafe minne dæl. Tha sæde he me thæt
he naht eathe ne mihte todælan, for thon he hæfde ful oft
ær ongefangen: and he cwæth thæs the he on uncrum ge-
manan gebruce, and [thes the he] gestrinde, æfter his dæge
he nanum menn sel me uthe thonne me. And ic thæs tha
was wel gethafa.
4. Ac hit gelamp that we ealle on hæthenum folce ge-
brocude wæron. Then spræce wit imbe uncre bearn, that hi
sumre are bethorftan sælde unc on tham brocum swa unc
sælde. Tha wæron we on gemote æt Swinbeorgum; tha
gecwædon wit on West-Seaxena witena gewitnesse, thæt
swather uncer leng wære, that he ge-uthe othres bearnum
thara landa the wit silfe begeaton, and thara land the unc
Athulf cinge forgeaf be Athelbolde lifiendum, butan tham
the he us thrim gebrothrum gecwæth. And thæs uncor
ægther othrum his wedd sealde swather uncer leng lifede,
thæt se fenge ægther ge to lande, ge to madmum, and to
eallum his æhtum, butan tham dæle the uncer gehwæther
his bearnum becwæth.
5. Ac hit gelamp that Æthered cinge gefor, tha ne cidde
me nan mann nan irfegewrit, ne nane gewitnesse, that hic ænig
other wære butan swa wit on gewitnesse ær gecwædon. Tha
gehirde we nu manegu irfe-geflitu. Nu tha lædde ic Athulfes
cinges irfe-gewrit on ure gemot æt Langandene; and hit man
arædde beforan eallum West-Seaxena witum. Tha hit aræd
was, tha bæd ic hi ealle for minre lufan, (and him min wedd
bead, that ic hira næfre nænne ne oncuthe for thon the hi
on riht spræcon) and thæt hira nan ne wandode ne for minan
lufan, ne for minum ege, that hi that folcriht arehton, thi læs
ænig man cwethe that ic mine mægcild, oththe ildran oththe
1
APP, I.]
3
ALFRED'S WILL.
gingran, mid wô fordemde. And hi tha ealle to rihte gereh-
ton and cwædon that hi nan rihtre riht gethencan ne mihtan,
ne on tham irfe-gewrite gehiran. "Nu hit eall agân is thær
on oth thine hand: thonne thu hit becwethe and sille swa
geribre handa swa fremdre swather the leofre si." And hi
ealle me thæs hira wedd sealdon, and hira hand-setene, thæt
be hira life hit nænig mann næfre ne onwende on nane othre
wisan butan swa swa ic hit silf gecwethe æt tham nistan dæge.
6. Ic Ælfred, West-Seaxena cinge, mid Godes gife, and
mid thisse gewitnesse, gecwethe hu ic imbe min irfe wille
æfter minum dæge.
7. Ærest ic an Eadweade, minum ildran suna, thæs landes
æt Stræt neat on Triconscire, and Heortigtunes, and tha
bocland ealle the Leof heah hilt, and that land æt Carumtune,
and æt Cilfantune, and æt Burnhamme, and æt Wedmor.
And ic eom firmdig to tham hiwum æt Ceodre, that hi hine
ceosan on tha gerad the we ær gecweden hæfdon; mid tham
lande æt Ciwtune, and tham the thær to hirath. And ic him
and thæs landes æt Cantuctune, and æt Bedewindan, and æt
Pefesigge, and Hisseburnan, and at Suttune, and æt Leo-
dridan, and æt Aweltune.
8. And ealle tha bocland tha ic on Cent hæbbe, and æt
tham Nither-Hisseburnan, and æt Ciseldene, agife man into
Wintai.ceastre on tha gerad the hit min fæder ær gecwæth,
and that min sundor feoh that ic Ecgulfe othfæste on tham
Neotheran Hisseburnan.
9. And tham gingram minan suna that land æt Eadering-
tune, and thæt æt Dene, und that at Meone, and æt Ambres
birig, and æt Deone, and æt Stureminster, and æt Gifle, and
æt Cruærn, and æt Hwitancirican, and æt Axanmuthan, and
æt Branecescumbe, and at Columtune, and æt Twifirde, and
æt Milenburnam, and æt Exanminster, and æt Sutheswirthe,
and æt Liwtune, and tha land the thær to hiran: thær sind
ealle the ic on Wealcinne hæbbe butan Triconscire.
10. And minre ildstan dehter thæne ham at Welewe.
11. And thære medemestan æt Clearan, and æt Cendefer.
·
* A 2
4
APPENDIX.
[APP. I.
12. And thære gingestan thone ham at Welig, and æt
Æsctune, and æt Cippanhamme.
13. And Æthelme mines brother suna thone tham æt
Ealdingburnan, and æt Cumtune, and æt Crundellan and
æt Beadingum, and æt Beadinga hamme, and æt Burnham,
and æt Thunresfelda, and æt Escengum.
14. And Athelwolde mines brother suna thone ham æt
Godelmingum, and at Gildeforda, and æt Stæningum.
15. And Osferthe minum mæge thone ham at Beccanlea,
and æt Hritheranfelda, and æt Diccelingum, and æt Suth-
tune, and at Lullingminster, and at Angemaringum, and
æt Fellhamme, and tha land the thær to hiran.
16. And Ealhswithe thone ham at Lamb burnan, and æt
Waneting, and at Ethandune.
17. And minum twam sunum an thusend punda, ægthrum
fif hund punda.
18. And minre ildstan dehter, and thære medemestan, and
thære gingstan, and Ealhswithe, him feowrum feower hund
punda; ælcum an hund punda.
19. And minra ealdormanna ælcum an hund mangcusa,
and Æthelme, and Athelwolde, and Ocferthe eac swa.
20. And Ætherede ealdormenn an sweord on hund teon-
tigum mancusum.
21. And tham mannum the me folgiath, the ic nu on
Eastertidum feoh sealde, twa hund punda: agife man him,
and dæle man him betweoh, ælcum swa him togebirian wille,
æfter there wisan the ic him nu dælde.
22. And tham ercebisceope an hund mancusa, and Esne
bisceope, and Wærferthe bisceope, and tham æet Scireburnan.
23. Eac swa gedæle for me, and for minne fæder, and for
tha frind the he forthingode: and ic forethingie, twa hund
punda, fiftig mæsse preostum ofer eall min rice, fiftig earmum.
Godes theowum, fiftig earmum thearfum, fiftig to thære
cirican the ic æt reste. And ic nat naht gewislice hwæther
thas feos swa micel is; ne ic nat theah his mare si: butan
swa ic wene. Gif hic mare si, beo hit him eallum gemæne
·
APP. I.]
5
ALFRED'S WILL.
the ic feoh becweden hæbbe. And ic wille that mine
ealdormenn and mine thenigmenn thær ealle mid sindan, and
this thus gedælan.
24. Thonne hæfde ic ær on othre wisan awriten imbe
min irfe, tha ic hafde mare feoh, and ma maga, and hæfde
monegum mannum tha gewritu othfæst, and on thas ilcan
gewitnesse hi wæron awritene. Thonne hæbbe ic nu for-
bærned tha ealdan, the ic geahsian mihte. Gif hira hwile
funden bith, ne forstent that naht: for tham ic wille thæt
hit nu thus si mid Godes fultume.
25. And ic wille tha menn the tha land habbath, tha word
gelæstan the on mines fæder irfe-gewrite standath swa swa
hi firmest magon.
26. And ic wille, gif ic ænigum menn ænig feoh unleanod
hæbbe that mine magas that huru geleanian.
27. And ic wille tha menn the ic mine bocland becweden
hæbbe, that hi hit ne asillan of minum cinne, ofer heora
dæg: ac ic wille [ofer] hira dæg that hit gange on tha
nihstan hand me: butan hira hwile bearn hæbbe: thonne is
me leofast that hit gange on that strined on tha wæpned
healfe. Tha hwile the ænig thæs wirthe si. Min ildra
fæder hæfde gecweden his land on tha spere healfe, næs on
tha spinl healfe. Thonne, gif ic gesealde ænigre wif handa
that he gestrinde, thonne forgildan mine magas, and gif hi
hit be than libbendan habban willan: gif hit elles si, gange
hit ofer hira dæg swa swa we ær gecweden hæfdon forthon
ic cwethe that hi hit gildan. for thon hi foth to minum the
ic sillan mot swa wif handa swa wæpned handa swather ic
wille.
:
28. And ic bidde on Godes naman, and on his haligra,
that minra maga nan, ne irfewearda ne gespence nan. nænig
cirelif thara the ic foregeald, and me West-Seaxena witan to
rihte gerehton that ic hi mot lætan swa freo swa theore,
swather ic wille: ac ic, for Godes lufan, and for minre sawle
thearfe, wille that hi sin heora freolses wirthe, and hira cires:
and ic on Godes lifiendes naman beode that hi nan man ne
6
APPENDIX.
[APP. I.
brocie, ne mid feos manunge, ne mid nænigum thingum,
that hi ne motan ceosan swilcne mann swilce hi willan.
29. And ic wille that man agife tham hiwum æt Domra
hamme hira land-bec, and hira freols swilce hand to ceosenne
swilce him leofast si, for me and for Æflæde, and for tha
frind the heo forethingode, and ic forthingie.
30. And sec man eac on cwicum ceape imbe minre sawle
thearfe, swa hit beon mæge and swa hit eac gefisne si, and
swa ge me forgifan willan.
Translation.
b
1. I, Alfred King, with God's grace, and with counsel of
Æthered archbishop, and all West-Saxon wise [men]'s*
witness, have thought about mine soul's health, and about
mine inheritance, that me God and mine elders [ancestors]
gave, and about that inheritance that Athulfª, king mine
father us three brothers bequeathed, Athelbolde, and
Æthered, and me; and, which of us soever longest were, that
he take to all.
2. But it happened that Æthelbold died'; and we two,
Æthered [and I], with all West-Saxon wise [men]'s witness,
our share entrusted to Ethelbirhte king our relation, on the
condition that he.it returned to us as entire as it there was,
when we two it to him entrusted, and he then so did, both that
b Ethelred, Archbishop of Canterbury, who died anno 888.
c The words inclosed in brackets are supplied to make sense: the witan
were the senate or parliament: witness means 'testimony' or 'concurrence.'
a Ethelwolf, father of Alfred, died Jan. 13, anno 857-8, leaving four sons;
1. Ethelbald, 2. Ethelbert, 3. Ethered, 4. Alfred; who were successively
kings of England; and one daughter, Ethelswith, who, anno 851, married
Burrhed, king of Mercia, and after his death, anno 873, became a nun
at Padua, where she died anno 889.
e King Ethelwolf made no mention in his will of his second son Ethelbert,
as some suppose, because in his lifetime, (on the death of Athelstan uncle
of Ethelbert,) anno 851, he had given him the kingdom of the South Saxons,
East Saxons, and Kent.
f Dec. 20, anno 860.
APP. I.]
7
ALFRED'S WILL.
inheritance, and that he with our joint concurrence got, and
that he self acquired.
3. When it so happened that Ethered succeeded, then
bade [prayed] I him before our wise [men] all, that we two
that inheritance divide, and he me give mine share. Then
said he me that he not easily nor might divide, for that he
had full often ere [before] taken possession, and he quoth
that which he of our joint concurrence enjoyed and [that which
he] acquired, after his days he to no man rather would give it
than me, and I therewith then was well content.
g
4. But it happened that we all of heathen folk spoiled were.
Then spake we two about our bairns, that they some support
would require from us of those estates, as to us was given.
Then were we in meeting at Swinburg: then declared we
two, in West-Saxon wise [men]'s witness, that which soever
of us longest were, that he give other's bairns these lands that
we two self got, and those lands that to us Athulf king gave
in Athelbolde's life-time; but [except] those that he us three
brothers bequeathed. And of this, of us two either to other his
pledge gave, whether of us longest lived, that he should take
both to the land and to the treasures and to all his possessions,
but that part that of us either to his bairns bequeathed.
5. But it happened that Æthered king died when nor
shewed to me no man no inheritance-writing, nor no witness,
that it any other was but as we two of witness ere [before]
declared. Then heard we now many inheritance-suits: now
then led I Athulf's king's inheritance-writing into our meeting
at Langdene, and it they read before all West-Saxon wisemen.
When it read was, then bade I them all for mine love, (and
them mine pledge bade, that I of them never to none would
bear ill will for that they of right speak,) and that of them
8 Omitted in original, but necessary to the sense.
h There are several places of the name of Langdon and Longdon; but
which of them this was it is impossible to say. If this point should be
settled, and the time at which the council was held, we could ascertain
the date of the will, as well as the place at which it was made,
1
8
APPENDIX.
[APP. I.
none would neglect, neither for mine love nor for mine fear,
that they the folk-right declare, lest any man quoth [say] that
I mine kinsfolk, either elder, either younger, with wrong
exclude. And they then all for right declared and quothed
[said] that they no righter right conceive might nor in the
inheritance-writing hear of. "Now it all delivered is there into
thine hand: wherefore thou it bequeath and give as [well
to] a relation as to a friend, whether to thee liefer be." And
they all me thereon their pledge gave, and their hand-setting,
that by their life, it no man never pervert in none other wise,
but so as I it self should say at the next day.
6. I, Alfred, West-Saxon King, with God's grace, and with
this witness, declare how I about mine inheritance will after
mine day.
7. First, I give to Edward mine elder son, the lands at Stræt-
neat', in Triconshire", and Heortigtune", and the book-land
all that Leofheah holds, and that land at Carumtune, and at
1 The comparative of lief, liefer, more agreeable.
j Alfred being king at the time he made his will, it must have been
made between A. D. 871, when he came to the crown, and A. D. 885, in
which Bishop Esne, one of the legates therein mentioned, died.
▲ I give—the lands &c.] Alfred describes most of the estates which he
devises, as 'land,' but in some places he uses the wordham.' The latter
word (the origiu of our home and hamlet) was used by the Anglo-Saxons
for a house, farm, town, or village, and generally an abode or habitation.
Somn. Dict.—Mr. Manning renders it 'manor,' meaning, it is presumed,
an entire township; for the word manor, if not the thing, is of Norman
introduction. But it is impossible to suppose that the numerous estates
devised by Alfred to his two sons, as 'land,' did not comprehend manors
in Mr Manning's acceptation of the term. It is much more likely that
'land' and 'hain' were considered by him synonymous, and that he in fact
possessed an entire township in most, if not all, of the places which he
mentions.
1 Probably Stratton in Cornwall.
m Doubtlessly Cornwall; it being but a small Saxon variation from
Trigshire, as it was called by the British inhabitants. See Borlase's
Cornish vocabulary.
n
Perhaps Hardington in the co. of Somerset, as most of the lands here
bequeathed are in that county or Wilts.
• Carhampton, in the co. of Somerset.
APP. I.]
.9
ALFRED'S WILL.
Cilfantune", and at Burnhamme, and at Wedmor, and I
am a claimant to the families at Ceodre", that they him choose
on the condition that we ere [formerly] expressed had; with
the land at Ciwtunet, and that that thereto belongeth. And I
him give the lands at Cantuctune", and at Bedewind, and
at Pefesigge, and Hysseburn', and at Suttune", and at
Leodride, and at Aweltune".
And all the Book-lands that I in Cent have, and at the
Nether-Hisseburn, and at Ciseldene, give they to Wintan-
› Chilhampton, co. of Wilts.
4 Burnham, co. of Somerset.
• Wedmore, co. of Somerset.
• Cheddar, co. of Somerset. These families were the ceorls or churls, who
occupied the tenemental lands there. They were so far analogous to those
who in the succeeding feudal times were called privileged villains, as that
they could not be compelled to hold their lands against their own consent.
Hence it was that Alfred had stipulated with them, on the ground of a
requisition on his part, to choose Edward, his son, to be their landlord,
i. e. to continue his Tenants, after he himself should be dead and gone.
* Chewton, co. of Somerset.
" Quantock, co. of Somerset.
* Beduin, co. of Wilts.
› Pewsey, co. of Wilts.
* Hussebourn, co. of Hants.
a There are so many places in England of the name of Sutton, that it is
hard to say which of them is here meant; but, doubtlessly, one of those of
this name in Somerset or Wilts.
b Probably Leathered, in Surrey.
Most probably Aulton in Wilts, which was given by some of his
successors to the Cathedral of Winchester, Cart. 29 E. I. n. 54. For
Aulton in Hants seems to have been given to that Church by Egbert, the
grandfather of Alfred. Dug. Mon. i. 979.
979. Yet Camden takes it for
granted to have been Aulton in Hants; and following the printed Latin
translation of the Will, says, that Alfred gave it to the keeper of Leodre.
Edit. Gibs. p. 146.
d Nether Husse bourne in Hants; which was afterwards given by
Edward to the Cathedral at Winchester.
e Chiseldon or Chistleton in Wilts; which was given to the old
Foundation at Winchester for the present; but, as it seems, for the bene-
fit of his intended New Minster, at that place, which appears to have
been possessed of it in 4 Ed. III. Rom. 4. E. 3. m. 4. apud Tann. Notit.
p. 156.
C
10
APPENDIX.
[APP. I.
ceastre, on the condition that it mine father ere gave, and
that mine sundry fee [estate] that I Ecgulf gave in trust at
the Nether Hisseburn.
e
And the younger mine son that land at Eaderingtune',
and at Dene, and at Meone, and at Ambresbury', and at
Deone, and at Stureminster', and at Gifle", and at Cruærn”,
and at Whitchurch, and at Axanmouth", and at Brances-
cumbe, and at Columtune¹, and at Twyford', and at Milen-
burnt, and at Exanminster", and at Sutheswerthe, and at
Liwtune, and the lands that thereto belong, that are all
that I in Weal-district have, except Triconshire.
Z
e Ethelward.
Adrington, co. of Somerset.
There are places of this name both in Hants and Wilts, as well as in
many other counties. But I take it to have been in one of those two, as
most of the estates here bequeathed lay amongst the West Saxons.
h East and West-Meon, co. of Hants.
1 Ambresbury, co. of Wilts.
* Down, co. of Dorset, or Devon.
1 Sturminster, co. Dorset.
m
Gidley, co. Devon.
n Crewkerne, co. Somerset.
• Whitchurch, co. Hants.
par Axmouth, Branscomb, Columbton, co. Devon.
• Twyford, co. Hants.
t Milbourn, co. Dorset or Somerset.
u Axminster, co. Devon.
× Of this I find nothing.
▾ Litten, of which name there is one in Dorset, and one in Somerset.
"ON WEALCYNNE." The author of the printed translation has
rendered this "sub cœlo;" as if Alfred had meant to say, 'under the
Welkin.' But besides that this word is always written, in the Saxon
language, 'weolcen', 'wolcen', or 'welen,' the very termination, ‘cynne,'
naturally refers us to some district. The only question is, what that
district was? Now the Britons, who retired into the West of England,
were called by our Saxon ancestors, 'wealas,' and their tribes, ‘weala
cynne,' i. e. 'Britannorum gentes.' The word indeed is, at present,
retained in the name of those only who retired to the extremity of the
island; who are to this day called 'Cornwealas.' But this does not
preclude the possibility of its having formerly extended further. And the
prefix, 'Corn,' applied to one set of the 'wealas', seems to imply that
there were other 'wealas' besides these, and bordering on them. Accord-
App. I.]
11
ALFRED'S WILL.
And mine eldest daughter, the ham at Welewe".
And the midmost at Cleare, and at Cendefer".
b
And the youngest, the ham at Welig', and at Esctune",
and at Cippanhamme".
And Æthelme¹, mine brother's son, the ham at Ealdingburn*,
and at Cumtune', and at Crundell", and at Beading", and at
Beadinghamme°, and at Burnham, and at Thunresfeld, and
at Æsceng'.
ingly I suppose that, by a latitude peculiar to common speech, the
inhabitants of Devon, or even of Somersetshire, might be called 'wealas'
also: and that, therefore, when Alfred had bequeathed his estates in these
parts, he finished with saying, 'thæt sind ealle the ic on weal-cynne
hæbbe butan Triconscire :' i. e. as we should express it now,
"which are
all I have in the West of England except in Cornwall." And, as a proof
of this, it is observable, that none of the lands hereafter kequeathed are
farther west than Wiltshire.
z Ethelfleda.
a Wellow, co. of Hants.
b His 'midmost daughter' was Ethelgeda, the Nun.
C
King's Clere, co. of Hants.
a Probably one of those places in Hampshire which still bear this addition
to their name, viz. Preston Candever, Chilton Candever.
e His youngest daughter was Elfrida, who married Baldwin II. earl of
Flanders, and dying on June 7, 929, was buried in the monastery of St.
Peter at Ghent.
f Willey, co. of Wilts.
* Ashton, co. of Wilts.
¹ Chippenham, co. of Wilts.
Æthelm, the eldest son of King Ethelbert, elder brother of Alfred.
k Aldingbourn, co. of Sussex.
1 Compton, co. of Sussex.
m
Crundal, co. of Hants.
" Beden, co. of Sussex.
n
• Bedingham, co. of Sussex.
P Barnham, co. of Sussex.
¶ I take this to have been the manor of Thunderfield, in the parish of
Horsey, near Reygate in Surrey, where was formerly a castle of considerable
strength.
• Probably Eashing in the parish of Godalming in Surrey, the manor
of which also belonged to Alfred.
12
APPENDIX.
[APP. I.
And Athelwoldes, mine brother's son, the ham at Godelming,
and at Gildeford", and at Stæning.
And to Osferth' my cousin, the ham at Beccanlea, and
Hritheranfeldª, and at Dicceling', and at Suthtune, and at
Lullingminster", and at Angmæring, and at Felhhamme, and
the lands that thereto belong.
And to Ealhswiths, the ham at Lamburn", and at Wane-
ting', and at Ethandune*.
17. And to mine two sons a thousand pounds, to each five
hundred pounds.
18. And to mine eldest daughter, and to the midmost, and
to the youngest, and to Ealhswithe, to them four, four hun-
dred pounds, to each a hundred pounds.
19. And to mine Aldermen', to each a hundred man-
cuses ™, and to Æthelm, and Athelwolde, and Osferthe, ekc so.
m
The youngest son of King Ethelbert, who died in arms against his
cousin Edward, the son and successor of Alfred, anno 905.
ta Godalming and Guildford, both in Surrey.
* Steyning in Sussex.
X
y Who this Osferth his cousin was I cannot find out.
z a b Beckley, Rotherfield, and Dichling, all in Sussex.
c def Sutton, Lullington, Angmering, and Felphame, all in Sussex.
Ethelswitha, the wife of Alfred, and daughter of Ethelred the Great,
earl of Mercia. She survived.
bi Lamburn and Wantage in Berks, at the latter of which places Alfred
was born.
k Edingdon, near Westbury in Wilts, where Alfred defeated the Danes
in 878.
The king's aldermen were his Justices itinerant, and other great
officers of his own appointment.
m Mr. Manning says, the "mancus was about 7s. 6d. of our present
currency." This may be correct; but the precise grounds of every
valuation of ancient money in modern currency should be stated. Mr. Tur-
ner, in his History of the Anglo-Saxons, vol. ii. p. 493. (6th. edit.) quotes
a passage from Elfric, which asserts, that five pennies made one shilling,
and thirty pennies one mancus. This, as he observes, 'would make the
mancus six shillings,' which is not very far from its value in present
currency,' according to Mr. Manning's calculation. But it must be recol-
lected, that these were Anglo-Saxon pennies and shillings, the relative
APP. I.]
13
ALFRED'S WILL.
20. And to Æthered alderman a sword of a hundred
mancuses.
21. And to the men that me follow, that I now at Easter-
tide fees gave, two hundred pounds: let them give to them,
and divide them between, to each as to him to belong they
shall judge; after the manner that I to them now have dis-
tributed.
22. And to the archbishop ", a hundred mancuses, and to
Esny bishop, and to Werferthe bishop, and to the [bishop]
at Sherborne ".
23. Eke so let them distribute for me, and for mine
father, and for the friends that he forethought for, and I
forethink for, two hundred pounds; fifty to the Mass-priests
over all mine kingdom, fifty to God's poor servants, fifty to
the distressed poor; fifty to the Church that I at rest [rest
at]. And I know not certainly whether fees [money] so
much is, nor I know but that thereof more may be: but so
I ween [think]. If it more be, be it to them all common
value of which to commodities was very different from that of our modern
pence and shillings. Mr. Turner supposes that two sorts of pennies were
the only coins of the Anglo-Saxons above their copper coinage; and that
all their other denominations of money (including the mancus) are to be
regarded as "weighed or settled quantities of uncoined metal."
n
■ Ethelred, archbishop of Canterbury, who died anno 888.
Esne, bishop of Hereford, who died, according to Godwin, anno 885.
Stevens and Willis place him a century higher. But, as a bishop Esne
is here expressly mentioned as a legatee, and no other of that name occurs
in the whole catalogue of bishops, this seems a full proof that Godwin is
right in the point of chronology.
P Werferth was bishop of Worcester, a man of singular learning, and
employed by Alfred in translating the Dialogues of Pope Gregory I. into
the Saxon language. He died, according to some, anno 911; according
to others, anno 915.
The bishop of Sherborne was Asser, the great friend and favourite of
Alfred; he wrote the Annals of that monarch's reign down to the year 893.
He died, according to the most probable accounts, anno 909, or 910. See
Fra. Wise de vitâ et scriptis Asserii, §. 12. prefixed to his edition of Asser's
Annals of Alfred.
14
APPENDIX.
[APP. I.
that I fee [money] bequeathed have. And I will that my
aldermen and my ministers there all together be, and this
thus distribute.
24. When had I ere [formerly] in other wise written con-
cerning mine inheritance, then I had more fee, and more
relations, and had to many men the writings intrusted, and
in [before] the same witnesses they were written. Then have
I now burned those old [deeds] that I recover might. If of
these any found should be, let it stand for nothing: for that
I will that it now thus be with God's help.
25. And I will the men that land have, the words to list
that in mine father's inheritance-writing stand, so as they
firmest [soonest] may.
26. And I will, if I to any men any fee unpaid have, that
mine relations that at least repay.
27. And I will the men to whom I my book-land be-
queathed have, that they it not give from mine kin, over
[after]" their day, that it go unto the nighest-hand to me;
unless of them any one bairns have; then it is to me most
eligible that it go to that issue on the male side, the while
that any of it worthy be. Mine elder father [grandfather]
hath bequeathed his land to the spear-half, and not to the
spindle-half. Wherefore if I have given to any female
what he had acquired, then let redeem it my relations if
they it while she is living have will: if it otherwise be, let
it go aft
their day, so as we before determined have. For
this reason I ordain that they it pay for, because they will
" The word 'ofer' appears to have been omitted in the original.
• "Spere-healfe . . . spinl-healfe." The sexes are here denominated
from the implements peculiar to their respective occupations; the male
from the spear, the female from the spindle. Hence I think it probable
that the word 'wæpened,' signifying also masculine, (though derived by
the authors of our vocabularies from 'wapen,' which they suppose to
have been a Saxon word corresponding to the 'veretrum' of the Latins,)
has its origin in the word 'wapen,' as it signifies arms; and it is therefore
only applied to the male sex, as the particular weapon the spear was,
because it was the sex that bore arms.
APP. 1.] ·
15
ALFRED'S WILL.
succeed to my [estate] that I give may, or to female hand,
or to male hand whether I will.
28. And I beseech in God's name, and in his Saints', that
of my relations none, nor of my heirs none, do obstruct
none of the freedom of those that I have redeemed. And
for me the West-Saxon nobles as lawful have pronounced
that I them may leave either free either or bond whether
I will. But I for God's love, and for my soul's advantage,
will that they be of their freedom masters, and of their will,
and I, in God the living's name intreat that them no man do
not disturb, neither by money-exaction, nor by no manner
of means, that they may not choose such man as they will.
29. And I will that they restore to the families' at Domer-
ham their land-deeds and their free liberty such person to
choose, as to them most agreeable may be; for me, and for
Elfleda', and for the friends that she did intercede for, and I
do intercede for.
30. And seek" they also, with a living price, for my
soul's health, as it be may, and as it also fitting is; and as
ye me to forgive shall be disposed.
The latter part of this compound lif' is put for leaf:" and the
whole world' cyrelif' is as much as to say, "arbitrii licentiam," that is,
the liberty of disposing of themselves.
• Alfred, having manumitted divers 'theowas' and put them into the
condition of 'ceorles,' desires that his heirs would not abridge them of
that liberty, but leave them to choose such man for their landlord as they
wished; which all ceorles,' by the Saxon constitution, might do.
<
The hiwas' of Domerham were the same sort of people as those of
Chedder spoken of in a former note, namely, the 'ceorles' who occupied
the tenemental lands there which they might relinquish when they pleased.
And as they were entreated, in that instance, to choose Edward for their
Lord, i. e. to continue to occupy those lands under him, as they had done
under Alfred: so here, the heirs are required to leave those of Domerbam
to choose such man for their landlord as they would; i. e. to continue to
occupy those lands, or relinquish them, as they should think proper.
› ‹Domra hamme,' the manor of Dummer, in the co. of Hants.
His eldest daughter.
'Sec man.' "Let them seek," or make application to, viz. God.
* ' On cwicum ceape.' With a living price; viz. by prayer and inter-
cession, and the usual offices of devotion.
16
[APP. II.
APPENDIX.
II. KING ALFRED'S PROVERBS, GIVEN AT SHIFFORD A.D. 890.
From an ancient Anglo-Saxon Manuscript, formerly in the Cottonian Library,
and quoted by Spelman in his Life of Alfred; but now supposed to be lost.
AT Sifford seten thaines manie,
Fele biscopes, and fele boclered,
Erles prude, cnihtes egloche.
There was erle Alfric, of the lage swuth wise;
And ec Alfred, Engle-hirde, Engle-derling.
On Engelond he was king: hem he gan leren
Swo hi heren mihten, hu hi here lif leden scolden.
THUS qwath Alvred, Engle frofre,
"Wolde ye nu liben and lusten yure louerd,
And he yu wolde wisen wiseliche thinges,
Hu ye mihten werlds wurthscipe welden,
And ec yure soule samne to Criste."
ALFRED he was on Engelond a king wel swithe strong;
He was king and clerk: wel he luvede God's werk:
He was wise on his word, and war on his speche;
He was the wisest man that was on Engelond.
:
Wise weren the cwethen the saide the king Alfred!
"Mildeliche I mune yu, mine dere frend, arme
And edilede luviende, that ye all drede yure
Drihten Christ, luviend him and licen; for he is
Louerd of Life; he is one God over all godnesse;
He is one blisse over alle blessedness ;
THUS cwath Alvred, Engle frofre,
"He mai no riht cing ben under Crist self,
But he be boclered, and wis o loage,
He is one manne, milde maister; he one folce fader,
And frofre: he is one riht wis and riche king,
That him ne scal be pane noht of his will
Hwo him here on werlde wurthend and eth."
App. II.]
17
King Alfred's proverbs.
And he hise writes wel icweme, and he cunne
Letres locen himselve hu he scal his lond
Lagelice helden."
THUS Cwath Alvred, Engle frofre :
"The erl and the atheling tho ben under the cing,
The lond to leden mid lagelic deden.
Bothe the clerc and the cniht demen evenliche riht:
For after that the man soweth,
Thereafter he scal mowen;
And efrilces mannes dom to his ogen dure charigeth."
THUS Cwath Alvred, " The cniht behoveth
Ceneliche to mowen vor to werce the lond
Of hunger, and of heregong,
That the Chureche have grith, and the chirl be in frith,
His sedes to sowen, hise medes to mowen,
His plowes to driven to ure alre bilif.
This is the cnihtes lage, to locen that it wel fare, &c.
Translation".
Ar Shifford sat thanes many,
Many bishops, and many book-learned [men],
Earls wise and knights awful.
There was earl Alfric, of the law so wise,
And eke Alfred, England's herd ['s-man], England's darling;
In England he was king; them he began [to] learn,
So him they might hear, how they their life should lead.
ALFRED, he was in England a king well so strong.
He was king and clerk: well he loved God's work.
He was wise in his word, and wary in his speech.
He was the wisest man that was in England.
a As far as the original is given, I have translated it afresh, more
literally than the version which Spelman has given. The remainder is
Spelman's free translation.
B
18
[APP. II.
APPENDIX.
THUS quoth Alfred, England's darling:
"Would ye now live and long after your Lord!
And He would you [make to] know wise things,
How you might world's worship obtain.
And eke your souls unite to Christ!"
Wise were the quotations that said the king Alfred.
Mildly I mind you, my dear friend, poor
And rich, loving, that ye all dread your
Lord Christ, love Him and like, for He is
Lord of life: he is one God over all goodness.
He is one bliss over all blessedness.
He is one man, mild master: He one folk's father [common
father],
And darling: He is one right wise and rich King,
That him not shall fail naught of his will
Who Him here in world worship and honour."
THUS quoth Alfred, England's comfort.
"He may no right king be under Christ's self,
But [unless] he be book-learned, and wise of law,
And he his writs well know, and he can
Letters look himself, how he shall his land
Lawfully hold."
THUS quoth Alfred, England's comfort :
"The earl and the atheling too be under the king,
The land to lead with lawful deed;
Both the clerk and the knight with evenly right :
For after that the man soweth,
Thereafter he moweth;
And every man's doom to his own door cometh."
THUS quoth Alfred: "The knight behoveth
Cunningly to mow for to work the land
Of hunger, and of death,
That the Church have grith [quiet], and the churl be in
frith [freedom],
His seeds to sow, his meads to mow,
APP. II.]
19
KING ALFRED'S PROVERBS.
His ploughs to drive to our all behoof:
This is the knight's law to look that it well fare."
So far the translation is equivalent to the original. Of
that which follows, Spelman has not given the original.
THUS quoth Alfred: "Without wisdom wealth is worth
little. Though a man had an hundred and seventy acres
sown with gold, and all grew like corn, yet were all that
wealth worth nothing, unless that of an enemy one could
make it become his friend. For what differs gold from a
stone, but by discrete using of it?"
THUS quoth Alfred: "A young man must never give him-
self to evil, though good befals him not to his mind, nor
though he enjoys not every thing he would: for Christ can
when He will give good after evil and wealth after grace.
Happy is he that is made for it."
THUS quoth Alfred: "A wise child is the blessing of his
father. If thou hast a child, while it is little, teach it the
precepts that belong to a man; and when it is grown up it
will follow them; then shall thy child become such as shall
recompense thee; but if thou lettest him go after his own
will, when he cometh to age it will grieve him sore, and he
shall curse him that had the tuition of him: then shall thy
child transgress thy admonition, and it would be better for
thee that thou hadst no child; for a child unborn is better
than one unbeaten."
THUS quoth Alfred: "If thou growest into age, hast
wealth, and canst take no pleasure, nor hast strength to
govern thyself, then thank thy Lord for all that he hath sent
thee, for thy own life, and for the day's light, and for all the
pleasures he hath made for man; and whatsoever becometh of
thee, say thou, come what come will, God's will be welcome.”
THUS quoth Alfred: "Worldly wealth at last cometh to
the worms and all the glory of it to dust, and our life is soon
gone. And though one had the rule of all this middle world,
* B 2
20
APPENDIX.
[APP. III.
and of the wealth in it; yet could he keep his life but a
short while. All thy happiness would but work thy misery,
unless thou couldest purchase thee Christ. Therefore, when
we lead our lives as God hath taught us, we then best serve
ourselves. For then be assured that He will support us; for
so said Salomon, that wise man; Well is he that doeth good
in this world, for at last he cometh where he findeth it."
THUS quoth Alfred: "My dear son, set thee now beside
me, and I will deliver thee true instructions. My son, I
feel that my hour is coming. My countenance is wan.
My. My days are almost done. We must now part.
I shall to another world, and thou shalt be left alone in all
my wealth. I pray thee (for thou art my dear child) strive
to be a father and a lord to thy people, be thou the children's
father and the widow's friend, comfort thou the poor and
shelter the weak; and with all thy might, right that which
is wrong. And, son, govern thyself by law, then shall the
Lord love thee, and God above all things shall be thy re-
ward. Call thou upon Him to advise thee in all thy need,
and so He shall help thee the better to compass that which
thou wouldest."
•
No. III. DESCRIPTION OF ALFRED'S GEM.
(See Frontispiece.)
THE author of this work has been kindly permitted to
insert, by way of frontispiece, an Engraving of a beautiful
Gem, formerly worn by King Alfred, and now preserved in
the Ashmolean Museum at Oxford. The Engraving was
made by order of the Rev. Dr. Silver, to embellish a small
volume which that Gentleman published several years ago
on the "Coronation Service, or Consecration of the Anglo-
Saxon Kings, as it illustrates the Origin of the Constitution,
by the Rev. Thomas Silver, D.C.L. of St. John's College,
Oxford; formerly Anglo-Saxon Professor. Oxford, printed
by W. Baxter, for J. Parker; and J. Murray, London. 1831."
APP. III.]
ALFRED'S GEM.
21
The same author, in a "Letter to the Duke of Marl-
borough and the Right Hon. Baron Churchill, Lay-Rectors
of the manor and parish of Charlbury, on the sacrilege and
impolicy of the forced Commutation of Tithes, &c. Oxford
1842," has made some further observations on the sub-
ject, modifying the explanation which he had given of the
Gem in the former work. The Gem is also engraved in the
Marmora Oxoniensia, and in Gough's Camden, vol. i. p. 97;
but both these representations are infinitely inferior to the
exact delineation of it which forms our frontispiece. The
main substance or setting of the Gem is of pure gold, con-
taining coloured stones, cased in a remarkably thick crystal,
and, though manufactured nearly a thousand years ago, it is
in perfect preservation, and only looks a little dull and dingy
for the great length of time that has passed over it. The
length of the Gem is about two inches, and it is about half an
inch thick. Round the edge are engraved the words ALFRED
MEC HEHT GEWYRCAN, Alfred had me worked, in pierced gold
letters. The narrow end of the Gem, at which the first and
last words of this inscription meet, is formed into the head of
a griffin, the national emblem of the Saxons, having in its
mouth a strong gold rivet, to which a chain was doubtlessly
attached; and its flat form indicates that it must have been
worn on the breast dependent from the chain that passed
round the neck, in a way similar to ornaments which are still
worn by kings and queens on state occasions.
The back of the Gem is quite flat, and ornamented with a
flower, wrought in gold, without stones.
The front or principal face of the relic is smaller than the
back, in consequence of the edge sloping inwards a little all
round, so that the words engraved on it do not stand upright, a
contrivance probably adopted, for the purpose of giving more
effect to the front of the jewel, and making it stand out in
stronger relief. The back-ground is composed of a blue stone,
on which appears a human figure clothed in the green Saxon
military vest or tunic, and girt with a belt, from which a strap
22
APPENDIX.
[APP. III.
for a sword depends towards the left side. The figure is
seated on the throne, with a cyne-helm or crown on its head,
and on either hand he holds a sceptre, branching out, over
the shoulders, into fleurs de lis. Dr. Hickes, in his The-
saurus, [vol. i. p. 144.]ª expresses his doubt whether the figure
may have been intended to represent Jesus Christ, or St.
Cuthbert, who was a patron of King Alfred, and is said in
an old legend' to have assisted him in his distress. On this
subject Dr. Silver observes, "I thought formerly, that the
figure in the Gem was a type of Alfred's office as king;
but I am now convinced, that the figure itself is that of Jesus
Christ, notwithstanding that it is clothed in the military vest
of the Saxons; for it was the custom of those times to draw
characters in their own dresses. The position of the image
is founded on a passage in the 45th Psalm, verse 3, and
which is still retained in the present Coronation Service;
where the Bishop says, ' Remember of whom it is said, Gird
thyself with thy sword upon thy thigh, O thou most Mighty.'
"This is therefore our Saviour, the belt of the sword
being seen surmounted with fleur de lis. Our Saviour, as
the Melchizedec, carries the double Sceptre, one on each
shoulder, the long Sceptre representing the invisible Church
in heaven, the shorter that on earth; both are surmounted
with fleur de lis, or lilies, and both Sceptres meet at a
given point. Alfred was the first sovereign who was crowned
with the Tithe inherent in it, as attached to the order of Mel-
chizedec. As the Anglo-Saxon Kings and also the Normans
considered themselves as the Gespelia or messengers of
Christ, or the Vicarii Christi in terra, Alfred, under these
impressions of his state, ordered this image of our Saviour
to be made, and He wore it round his neck, from which
probably it dropped.
"Connecting this picture of Christ as the Melchizedec,
a See also Musgrave, Phil. Trans. p. 247. Geta Brit. 1716, and Wise's Asser,
Vita Alf. p. 171.
b See page 227 of the present work.
༣
APP. IV.]
TREATY BETWEEN ALFRED AND GUTHRUM.
23
the Tithe of the King as the Vicarius Christi in terra, the
ancient Coronation Service of the Anglo-Saxon Kings, the
laws of Alfred, and his reference in them to the Apostolic
Council of Jerusalem, we may collect from the circumstances,
that Alfred considered that the Tithe had been granted by
himself, the State, and the landholders, to the invisible Mel-
chizedec in heaven, and that the Crown power was the great
trustee of the rights which all parties held on them."
Notwithstanding these observations, and the weight which
must always attach to the opinion of one so well versed in
Anglo-Saxon Literature; the opinion which Dr. Silver first
promulgated, that the figure was an image of the king
himself, and symbolical of the kingly office, seems quite as
tenable as the other. According to this view, the two
sceptres would aptly designate the spiritual and temporal
authorities, which were united in the king's hands.
No. IV. TREATY BETWEEN Alfred and Guthrum.
Elfredes and Guthrumes frith.
THIS is that frith that Ælfred cynincg and Gythrum
cynincg, and ealles Angel-cynnes witan, and eal seo theod the
on East-Englum beoth ealle gecweden habbath, and mid
athum gefeostnod for hy sylfe and for heora gingran ge for
geborene ge for ungeborene the Godes miltse recceoththe
ure.
1. Ærest ymb ure land-gemæra, up on Temese, and thonne
up on Ligan, and andlang Ligan oth hire a-wylum. thonne
on gerihte to Bedan forda. thonne up on Usan oth Wæt-
lingastræt.
For the translation of this document, see the text of the Life of Alfred,
page 244.
24
APPENDIX.
[APP. V.
2. That is thonne gif man ofslagen weorthe, ealle we
lætath efen dyrne, Engliscne and Deniscne, to eoht healf-
marcum asodenes goldes. buton tham ceorle the on gafol-
lande sit and heora liesingum tha syndan eac even dyre
ægther to twa hund scillinga.
3. And gif mon cyninges thegn beteo man-slihtes, gif he
hine ladian dyrre. do he that mid xii cininges thegnum.
Gif man thone man betyhth the bith lessa maga thone se
cyninges thegn. ladige he hine mid xi his gelicena, and mid
anum cyninges thægne. And swa ægehwilcre spræce the
mare sy thone IIII mancussas. And gyf he ne dyrre gylde
hit thry-gylde swa hit man gewyrthe.
Be Getymum.
4. And thæt ælc man wite his getyman be mannum, and
be horsum, and be oxum.
5. And ealle we cwædon on tham dæge the mon tha athas
swor. that ne theowe ne freo ne moton in thone here faran
butan leafe. ne heora nan the ma to us. Gif thonne gebyrige
that for neode heora hwile with ure bige habban wille. oththe
we with heora mid yrfe and mid æhtum that is to thafianne
on tha wisan that man gislas sylle frithe to wedde and to
swutulunge that man wite that man clæne bæc hæbbe.
No. V. EPISTOLA FULCONIS RHEMORUM ARCHIEPISCOPI
AD ALFREDUM REGEM.
Gloriosissimo ac Christianissimo Regi Anglorum Alfredo,
Folco gratia Dei Remorum archiepiscopus ac servorum Dei
famulus, et temporalis regni sceptra semper victricia, et cœ-
lestis imperii gaudia sempiterna.
Primum quidem gratias agimus Domino Deo nostro Patri
Luminum et Auctori omnium bonorum, a quo est omne
App. v.]
25
FULK'S LETter to alfred.
datum optimum et omne donum perfectum: qui per gratiam
Spiritus Sancti non solum splendescere in corde vestro voluit
lumen suæ cognitionis, verum etiam accendere dignatus est.
ignem sui amoris; quo illustrati pariter et accensi, et regni
vobis cœlitus commissi strenue administratis utilitatem, bel-
licis armis (cum divino adjutorio) illius exquirendo vel tuendo
pacem; et ecclesiastici ordinis (mente religiosa instante desi-
derando) spiritualibus armis amplificare sublimitatem. Unde
supernam clementiam indefessis precibus exoramus, ut ipse,
qui prævenit et accendit ad hoc cor vestrum, efficiat vos
compotem voti replendo in bonis desiderium vestrum ; qua-
tinus in diebus vestris et pax regno ac genti vestræ multi-
plicetur, et ecclesiasticus ordo (qui in multis, ut dicitis, sive
frequenti irruptione vel impugnatione Paganorum, seu ve-
tustate temporum, vel incuria Prælatorum, vel ignorantia
subditorum collapsus est) per vestram diligentiam et in-
dustriam quantocius reparetur, nobilitetur, ac dilatetur.
•
.
Et quum per nostrum adjutorium id potissimum fieri
desideratis, et a nostra sede, cui beatus Remigius Francorum
utique apostolus præsidet, hinc consilium ac patrocinium
quæritis, non sine divino instinctu hoc credimus actum: ut
sicut olim gens Francorum per eundem beatum Remigium
liberari a multimodo errore et unius veri Dei cultum meruit
cognoscere, sic gens Anglorum ex sede illius et doctrina
talem deposcat suscipere, per quem superstitiosa cavere,
superflua resecare, ac noxia quæque inolita consuetudine ac
more barbarico pullulantia noverit extirpare; et per agrum
Dominicum ambulantes discant flores legere et anguem
cavere.
Augustinus etenim Sanctus vestræ gentis primus episcopus
a beato Gregorio apostolo vestro vobis directus, nec omnia
decreta apostolicarum sanctionum potuit in brevi demonstrare,
nec rudem ac barbaram gentem voluit subito novis et incog-
nitis legibus onerare; noverat enim infirmitate illorum con-
sulere, atque cum Apostolo dicere tanquam parvulis in
Christo, Lac vobis potum dedi non escam. Et quemadmodum
26
APPENDIX.
[APP. V.
Petrus et Jacob, qui videbantur columnæ esse, cum Barnaba
et Paulo cæterisque senioribus congregatis, ecclesiam primi-
tivam de gentibus ad fidem Christi confluentem noluerunt
graviori jugo onerare, nisi ut præciperent eos abstinere ab
immolatis, fornicatione, suffocato et sanguine: ita et primitus
in vobis gestum esse cognoscimus.
Quin et rudimenta barbaricæ feritatis ad divinam cogni-
tionem enutrienda, hoc solo indigebant; et servi fideles
atque prudentes, super familiam Domini constituti, conservis
suis in tempore, hoc est, pro captu audientium, mensuram
tritici bene erogare noverant. Ac successu temporis crescente
religione Christiana, sancta Ecclesia his contenta esse nec
voluit nec debuit: sed sumpta forma ab ipsis apostolis ma-
gistris et fundatoribus suis qui post evangelicam doctrinam
ab ipso cœlesti magistro propagatam atque diffusam, non
superfluum et inutile sed commodum et salubre duxerunt
suarum epistolarum crebris commonitionibus fideles perfectius
instituere, et in vera fide solidius confirmare, tramitemque
vivendi et normam religionis eis abundantius contradere.
Nihilominus et ipsa, sive adversis exercitata sive prosperis
enutrita, nunquam cessavit utilitatem filiorum, quos quotidie
Christo parturit, exquirere, eorumque profectum sive priva-
tim sive publice, igne Spiritus Sancti inflammata, augmentare.
Hinc sunt consilia non solum ex vicinis civitatibus vel pro-
vinciis, sed etiam ex transmarinis regionibus totiens con-
tracta, hinc synodalia decreta sæpius edita, hinc sacri canones
sancto Spiritu conditi et consecrati, quibus et fides catholica
maxime roboratur, et ecclesiasticæ pacis unitas inviolata
custoditur, necnon ordo illius honeste disponitur: quos
equidem sicut transgredi omni Christiano illicitum est, sic
ignorare maxime clericis et sacerdotibus omnino nefarium
est: quorum salubris observatio et religiose semperque am-
plexanda traditio, quum, propter causas superius memoratas
apud gentem vestram, aut non pleniter innotuit, aut ex
maxima jam parte refriguit, optimo consilio et ut credimus
divinitus inspirato vestræ dominationi ac regali prudentiæ
App. v.]
27
FULK'S LETTER to alfred.
visum ac placitum fuit, et nostram parvitatem super hoc
consulere et beati Remigii sedem expetere, cujus meritis
atque doctrina eadem sedes, ut ecclesia super omnes ecclesias
Galliarum, ex ejus temporibus omni religione et doctrina
semper floruit et excelluit. Et quum talia a nobis quæsituri
ac petituri, noluistis quasi immunes et manu vacua apparere,
dignata est vestra regia dominatio nos maximo munere, et
necessario multum tempori, et congruo satis rei de qua agitur,
honorare: super qua re et supernam providentiam admirantes
nimium laudavimus, et vestræ regiæ munificientiæ grates
non modicos retulimus.
Misistis siquidem nobis licet generosos et optimos tamen
corporales atque mortales canes ad abigendam rabiem visi-
bilium luporum, quibus, inter cætera flagella justo Dei ju-
dicio nobis illata, plurimum abundat patria nostra: quæ-
rentes a nobis et ipsi canes non corporales sed spirituales,
non tales videlicet qualibus exprobrat Propheta dicens, Canes
multi, non valentes latrare, sed de qualibus dicit Psalmista,
Lingua canum tuorum ex inimicis, ab ipso. Qui utique no-
verint et idonei sint pro Domino suo magnos latratus fundere,
et gregem illius vigilantissimis ac sagacissimis excubiis jugiter
custodire, cruentissimosque lupos immundorum spirituum,
qui sunt insidiatores ac devoratores animorum, procul arcere;
de quorum numero unum a nobis specialiter deposcitis no-
mine Grimbaldum sacerdotem et monachum, ad hoc officium
destinandum, et curæ pastoralis regiminis præficiendum: cui
utique testimonium perhibet universa ecclesia, quæ eum ab
ineunte ætate nutrivit in vera fide et sancta religione, et quæ
illum per singulos gradus ecclesiastico more promovit usque
ad sacerdotii dignitatem, dignissimum esse illum proclamans
Pontificali honore, et idoneum qui possit et alios docere: sed
quum id in nostro regno magis fieri optabamus, et olim
Christo annuente opportunitate temporis adimplere dispone-
bamus (scilicet ut quem habebamus filium fidelem, haberemus
et ministerii nostri consortem et in omni utilitate ecclesiastica
fidissimum adjutorem), non sine ingenti, ut ita dixerimus,
28
APPENDIX.
[APP. V.
dolore patimur illum a nobis divelli, et per tanta spatia
terrarum ac maris, a nostris obtutibus separari.
Porro autem quia caritas non novit dispendium, nec fides
detrimentum, nullaque intercludunt intervalla terrarum quos
copulat veræ dilectionis vinculum, libentissime vestræ peti-
tioni annuimus, quibus nihil negare possumus, neque eum
vobis invidemus, quorum profectu sicut de nostro gratulamur,
et quorum lucra nostra deputamus. Scimus enim quia in
omni loco uni Deo servitur, et quia una est Catholica et
Apostolica Ecclesia sive Romana sive Transmarina; nostrum
igitur est vobis illum canonice concedere, vestrum autem
honorifice suscipere, ea scilicet ratione atque tenore tam ad
gloriam regni vestri, quam ad honorem ecclesiæ et præsulatus
nostri, eum ad vos mittendum cum suis electoribus, et cum
nonnullis regni vestri proceribus vel optimatibus tam epis-
copis scilicet, presbyteris, diaconibus, quam etiam religiosis
laicis, qui nobis viva voce in præsentia totius ecclesiæ nostræ
profiteantur atque promittant, eum condigno honore se habi-
turos omni tempore vitæ suæ ; nec non decreta canonica, et
sanctiones ecclesiasticas ab apostolis, et apostolicis viris ec-
clesiæ traditas, quæ tunc a nobis audire et videre, et postea
ab eodem suo pastore et doctore secundum formam a nobis
traditam discere poterint, cunctis diebus irrefragabiliter velle
custodire. Quod quum fecerint divina benedictione, et beati
Remigii auctoritate per nostrum ministerium, et impositionem
manuum more ecclesiastico decenter ordinatum, et in omnibus
plenissime instructum accipientes illum sibi cum debito
honore deducent ad propriam sedem alacres, et læti ipsi omni
tempore patrocinio illius fruituri, doctrinaque et exemplo
ejus jugiter instruendi.
Quia vero sollicita sunt pro se invicem membra et vel uno
gaudente congaudeant, vel uno patiente compatiuntur cætera
membra, vestræ regiæ celsitudini ac providentissimæ man-
suetudini deinceps illum attentius, ac specialius com-
mendamus, quatinus quicquid ad honestatem ecclesiæ, et
eruditionem gentis vestræ congruum, et utile secundum
App. vi.]
29
ALFRED'S LETTER TO GREGORY.
canonicam auctoritatem, et ecclesiæ nostræ consuetudinem
potuerit invenire, libera auctoritate absque ullius contradic-
tione semper possit docere et opere adimplere: ne forte,
quod absit, diabolico quispiam instinctu contra eum zelo
livoris et malivolentiæ ductus, controversiam moveat aut
seditionem concitet.
Vestrum itaque erit hoc omnino providere ac regia
censura tales, si qui forte exorti fuerint, omnimodis repri-
mere, barbariemque feritatem freno vestri moderaminis co-
hibere; illius autem pastorali solertia, sibi commissorum
saluti semper consulere et post se universos potius amore
trahere quam terrore cogere.
Gaudeat semper ac vigeat in Christo Rege regum, et
Domino dominorum vestra dignitas nobilissima, pietas
sanctissima, nec non fortitudo invictissima.
No. VI. ALFREDI REGIS PRÆFATIO AD PASTORALE SANCTI
GREGORII.
This is seo forespræc hu S. Gregorius thas boc gedighte the
man Pastoralem nemnath.
Ælfred kyning hateth gretan..... Bisceop his worthum
luflice and freondlice, and the kythan hate that me com
suithe oft on gemynd hwelce writan gio wæron geond Angel
kynn, ægther ge godcundra hada, ge woruldcundra, and hu
gesælig lica tida tha wæron geond Angelcynn: and hu tha
kyningas, the thone anwald hæfdon thæs folces, Gode and
his ærendwrecum hirsumedon: and hu hi ægther ge hiora
sibbe ge hiora sido ge hiora anwald innan borthes gehioldon,
and eac ut hiora cethel rymdon: and hu him tha spreow ægther
ge mid wige ge mid wisdome: and eac tha godcundan hadas
hu georne hie wæron ægther ge ymb lere ge ymb leornunga,
and ymb ealle tha theowutdomas the hie Gode don sceoldon,
and hu mon utan bordes wisdom and lare hider on lond
sohte, and hu we hi nu sceoldon ute begietan gif we hie
30
APPENDIX.
[APP. VI.
habban sceoldon, swa clæne hio was othfeallenu on Angel-
kynne, that te swithe feawe wæron behionan Humbre the
hiora thenunga cuthen understandan on Englisc, oththe
furthum an ærendgewrit of Lædene on Englisc areccan, and
hic wene that te nauht monige begeondan Humbṛe næren,
swa feawe hiora wæron, thætte ic furthum anne anlepone ne
mæg gethincean be suthan Temese: tha tha ic to rice feng,
Gode ælmichetegum sithone thætte we nu ænigne on stal
habbath lareowa. Fortham ic the bebeode that thu doo, swa
ic gelife that thu wille, that thu the thissa woruld thinga to
thæm ge æmettige, swa thu oftost mæge, that thu thone
wisdom, the the God sealde, thær thær thu hine befæstan
mæge, befeaste. Gethene hwelc witu us tha becomon for
thisse worulde, tha tha we hit no hwæther ne selfe ne lufedon,
ne eac othrum monnum ne lifdon, thone naman anne we
hæfdod that te we Cristene wæron, and swithe feawe tha
theawas. Tha ic tha this eall gemunde, tha gemunde ic eac
hu ic geseah, ær them the hit eall foreheregod wære and
forbærned, hu tha cirican geond eall Angell kynn stodon
mathma and boca gefylda, and eac micel menigu Godes theowa
and tha swithe lytle feorme thara boca wiston, forthæm the
hie heora nan wuht ongietan ne meahton, fortham the hie
næron on hiora ægen getheode awritene, swelce hie cwæden
ure ieldran, tha the thas stowa ær hioldon, hie lufedon wis-
dom, and thurh thone hi begeaton welan and us læfdon. Her
non mæg giet gesion hiora swæth, ac we him ne cunnon
æfter spyrigan, forthæm we habbath nu ægther forlæten
ge thone welan ge thone wisdom: fortham the we noldon
to them spore mid ure mode onlutan. Tha ic tha this
eall gemunde. tha wundrode ic swithe thara godena witena
the 'gui wæron geond Angel cynn, and tha bec be fullan
ealla geleornod hæfdon, thæt hi hiora tha nanne dæl noldon
on hiora ægen gethiode wendan. Ac ic tha sona eft me
selfum andwyrde and cwæth, hie ne wændon that te æfre
men sceoldon swa reccelease weorthan and sio lar swa oth-
feallan, for there wilnunga hie hit forleton and woldon thæt
App. VI.]
31
ALFRED'S LETTER TO GREGORY.
her thy mara wisdom on londe ware thy we ma gethioda
cuthon. Tha gemunde ic hu sio æ wæs ærest on Ebreisc
gethiode funden, and eft tha tha hie crecas geleornodon, tha
wendon hi hie on hiora ægen gethiode ealle, and eac ealle
othre bec. And eft Læden ware swa same, siththan hi hie
geleornodon, hi hie wendon ealle thurh wise wealh stodas on
hiora agen getheode, and eac ealla othra Cristena thioda
sumne dæl hiora on hiora agen gethiode wendon, forthy me
dyneth betre, gif iow swa thyncth, that we eac sum bec,
tha the nid bethyrfesta sien eallum monnum to witanne, thæt
we tha on that gethcode wenden the we ealle gecnawan
mægen, and gedon swa we swithe eathe magon mid Godes
fultume, gif we tha stilnesse habbath, thætte eal sio gioguth
the nu is on Angel kynne friora monna, thara the tha sweda
hæbben that hie them befeolan mægen, sien to leornunga
othfæste, tha hwile the hi to nanre otherre note ne mægen,
oth thone first the hie wel cunnen Englisc gewrit arædan,
lære mon siththan furthur on Læden getheode tha the mon
furthor læran wille and to hierran hade don wille. Tha ic tha
gemunde hu sio lar Læden getheodes ær thysum othfeallen
was geond Angel kynn, and theah monege cuthon Englisc
gewrit arædan, tha ongan ic on gemang othrum mislicum et
monigfaldum bisgum disses kynerices tha boc wendan on
Englisc the is genemned on Læden Pastoralis and on Englisc
Hirde boc, hurlum word be worde, hurlum ondgit of andgite,
swa swæ ic hie geleornode æt Plegmunde minum Arcebiscepe,
and æt Asserie minum Biscepe, and at Grimbolde minum
mæssepreoste, and æt Johanne minum mæssepreoste. Sith-
than ic hie tha geleornod hæfde, swæ swæ ic hie forstod, and
swæ ic hie andgitfullicost areccean mæhte, ic hie on Englisc
awende, and to alcum Biscepstole on minumrice wille ane on-
sendan, and on ælere bith an Estel se bith on fiftigum mon-
cessa. Ond ic bibrode on Godes noman that nan mon thone
Æstel from thære bec ne doe, ne tha boc from them mynstre,
uncuth hu longe thær swæ gelærede Biscopas sien, swæ swæ
nu Gode thone well hwær sindon. For thy ic wolde thætte
·
32
APPENDIX.
[App. VI.
hie ealneg æt thaære stowe wæren, buton se Biscep hie mid
him habban wille oththe hio hwær to læne sie, oththe hwa
othre bi write.
:
TRANSLATION".
Alfred the king, to Wufsig, his beloved bishop and friend,
Greeting! I wish you to know that it often occurs to my
mind to consider, what manner of wise men there were for-
merly in the English nation, both Spiritual and Temporal,
and how happy the times then were among the English, and
how the kings, who then had the government of the people,
obeyed God and His written will, how well they behaved
both in war and peace, and in their domestic government,
and how they prospered in knowledge and in wisdom. I
considered also how earnest God's ministers then were, as
well about preaching as about learning, and about all the
service which they did to God, and men came from foreign
countries to seek wisdom and doctrine in this land, and
how we who live in these times are now obliged to go abroad
to get them. To so low a depth has learning fallen among the
English nation, that there have been very few on this side of
the Humber, who were able to understand the English of
their service, or to turn an epistle out of Latin into English;
and I know there were not many beyond the Humber who
could do it. There were so few, that I cannot think of one
on the south side of the Thames, when I first began to reign.
God Almighty be thanked that we have always a teacher
in the pulpit now. Therefore I pray you to do what I
believe you will be ready to do, that you will bestow all the
wisdom, which God has given you, on all around you, as far
as you are able.
Think what punishment shall for this
world befal us, if we turn out to have neither loved wisdom
ourselves, nor to have taught it to others: if we have loved
only the name of Christianity, and very few of us have dis-
charged its duties. When I thought of all this, I fancied
d The translation is Spelman's, with the phraseology slightly altered.
APP. VI.]
33
ALFRED'S LETTER TO GREGORY.
also that I saw (before every thing was ravaged and burnt)
how all the Churches throughout the English nation stood
full of books, ornaments, and a multitude of ministers for
God's service: though at that time they gathered very little
fruit from their books, not being able to understand them,
because they were not written in their own language. They
told us, that our ancestors, who before us held those places,
loved wisdom, and through the same got wealth, which they
left to us.
A man may here yet see their Swath, but we
cannot enquire after it, because we have let go both wealth
and wisdom, neither would we stoop with our minds to the
seeking of it. When I thought of all this, then I wondered
greatly that their godly wise men, that were every where to
be found throughout the English nation, and had fully
learned all those books, would turn no part of them into
their own language; but to this I speedily found an answer,
and said, ' They thought not that men ever would become so
reckless, or that this learning would ever so decay: where-
fore they were glad to let it alone, and thought that there
would be the more wisdom in the land in proportion to the
number of languages that we understood. I then called to
mind that the Law was first written in the Hebrew tongue,
and that when the Greeks learned it, they translated it
entirely into their own language, besides many other books.
And after them the Latins, when they learned it, translated
it, by means of wise interpreters, into their own language, as
all other Christian people also have turned some part of it
also into their own tongue. For which reason I think it best,
if
you too think so, that we also should turn into the language
which we all of us know, soine such books as are deemed most
useful for all men to understand, and that we do our best to
effect, as we easily may, with God's help, if we have quietness,
that all the youth of free-born Englishmen, such as have wealth
enough to maintain them, be brought up to learn, that at an
age when they can do nothing else, they may learn to read
the English language then, and that afterwards the Latin
*C
34
APPENDIX.
[APP. VI.
"
"
tongue shall be taught to those whom they have it in their
power to teach and promote to a higher degree. When I
reflected how this learning of the Latin tongue had fallen
throughout the English nation, though many knew how to
read English writing, I then began, in the midst of the divers
and manifold affairs of this kingdom, to turn into English
this book, which in Latin is named Pastoralis,' and in
English the Herdsman's Book,' sometimes word for word,
and sometimes sense for sense, even as I learned them of
Plegmund my archbishop, of Asser my bishop, Grimbald my
mass-priest, and John my mass-priest. After I had learned
of them how I might best understand them, I turned them
into English, and will send one of them to every bishop's see
in my kingdom, and upon each of them there is a Style
[æstel] of fifty marks; and I command, in God's name, that
no man take the Style from the books, nor the books from
the Minster, seeing that we know not how long there shall be
such learned bishops, as now, God be thanked! there every
where are.
Therefore it is my wish that these remain every
where in their places, unless the bishop will have them with
him, or that they shall be lent somewhere or other until a
copy of them shall be written out.
APP. VII.]
35
SUMMARY OF ANGLO-SAXON HISTORY.
No. VII. CHRONOLOGICAL SUMMARY OF ANGLO-SAXON
HISTORY, FROM 802 to 900.
802. Egbert succeeds to the throne of Wessex on the death
of Bertric. See page 20.
802. was the 7th year of Cuthred, king of Kent.
the 4th of Sigered, king of Essex.
the 9th of Kenwolf, king of Mercia.
the 6th of Ardwolf, king of Northumberland.
805. Cuthred, king of Kent, dies. p. 21.
806. Ardwolf expelled from Northumberland. p. 21.
819. Kenwolf, king of Mercia, dies, and is succeeded by
Kenelm, who is murdered a few months after, and
his uncle Keolwolf succeeds. p. 25.
821. Keolwolf expelled, and Bernwolf becomes king of Mercia.
p. 25.
823. Battle of Ellandune, in which Egbert defeats Bernwolf,
king of Mercia. p. 26.
Bernwolf slain by the East Anglians. p. 27.
823 or 824. Ludecan becomes king of Mercia. p. 27.
823. Egbert sends an army under Prince Ethelwolf, Alder-
man Wolfherd, and Bishop Alstan, who conquer Kent,
Essex, and Sussex. p. 27.
Baldred, king of Kent, flees beyond the Thames. p. 28.
825. Ludecan, king of Mercia, is slain in East Anglia, and
Wiglaf becomes king. p. 28.
827. Wiglaf is driven from his kingdom by Egbert, but
is allowed to return. p. 28.
827. Egbert receives the submission of Enfrid, king of
Northumberland. p. 29.
838. (end of) or beginning of 839, Egbert dies, and is suc-
ceeded by Ethelwolf as king of Wessex, and Ethelstan
as king of a subordinate kingdom, consisting of Kent,
Essex, and Sussex. p. 42.
849. Alfred born at Wantage. p. 51.
855. Edmund becomes king of East Anglia. p. 75.
* c 2
36
APPENDIX.
[App. VII.
856. Ethelwolf divides the kingdom, and gives Wessex to his
eldest son Ethelbald, reserving Kent, Essex, and
Sussex for himself. p. 63.
858. Ethelwolf dies on the 13th of January. p. 63.
858. Ethelbert succeeds his father in Kent, Essex, and
Sussex. p. 65.
860. Ethelbald dies, and Ethelbert becomes king of all the
southern states. p. 67.
860. Ethelbert dies in the beginning of the year, and is suc-
ceeded by Ethelred. p. 71.
862. Osbert is expelled from Northumberland, and Ella
substituted in his place. p. 75.
867. Osbert and Ella both slain by the Danes, and Egbert
placed over Northumberland as king, tributary to
the Danes. p. 96.
870. Edmund, king of East Anglia, defeated at the battle of
Thetford, tied to a tree, and shot to death. p. 113.
871. First invasion of Wessex, p. 119.-Battles of Engle-
field, p. 120. Reading, p. 121. Ashdown, p. 122.
Basing, p. 125. and Merton, p. 125.-Ethelred dies
April 23, and is succeeded by ALFRED. p. 131.
Battle of Wilton. p. 134.
The
872. Burrhed leaves his kingdom, and goes to Rome.
Danes make Ceolwolf king, subordinate to themselves.
873. Egbert, king of Northumberland, dies, and is succeeded
by Rigsig. p. 140.
876. Rigsig, king of Northumberland, dies, and is succeeded
by a second Egbert. p. 141.
876. Second invasion of Wessex, capture of Wareham and
Exeter. p. 161.
878. Third invasion of Wessex, p. 169. Battle of Chippen-
ham. p. 186. Retreat of Alfred to Athelney. p. 211.
Battle of Ethandune. p. 234.
878-893. Peace for fifteen years. p. 252, 3.
893—897. Four years' campaign of Hasting.
901. Alfred dies on the 26th of October.
INDEX.
ABBO FLORIACENSIS, his life of St. Edmund, 110.
Abel, patriarch of Jerusalem, his correspondence with Alfred, 327.
Abingdon, battle of, 187.
Adam of Bremen, quoted, 35.
Adrian III. in 884, succeeds to the Fopedom, 329.
Ecglea, now Lea, Higley, or Clay Hill, 234.
Ælla, first Bretwalda, 6.
Esceng, Eashing, App. 11.
Esctune, Ashton, App. 11.
Agamund, a monk of Peterborough, 107.
Alchere, Alderman, 47, slain by the Danes, 49.
Alcuin, in France, 86.
Alcuin, an Anglo-Saxon, 17.
Alderman or Earl, dignity of, 341.
Alfred, born in 849 at Wantage, 51. his first visit to Rome, 51.
anointed and crowned by Pope Leo, 63. his genealogy, 80. his
second visit to Rome, 80. his juvenile years, 81. learns a Saxon
book of poems, 82. his mother's care of her children, 83. afflicted
with a continual disease, 88. never in Ireland, 89. his boldness
in the chase, 89. cured of his complaint in Cornwall, 90.
marries Elswitha, 98. accompanies his brother Ethelred to
Nottingham, 98. with his brother Ethelred in the battles of
Reading, 121. Ashdown, 122. Basing, 125. Merton, 125. elected
king after Ethelred's death, 131. defeated by the Danes at Wilton,
135. takes one Danish ship, 160. besieges the Danes in Wareham,
162. makes peace with them, 162. hangs his hostages, 163. follows
the Danes to Exeter, 163. turns his attention to maritime affairs,
164. makes another treaty with the Danes, who leave Wessex,
166. his dominions still entire in 876, 167. an exile in 878, and
statement of historical difficulties concerning the same, 170—192.
defeated at Chippenham, 186. his disease, 193. his alleged faults,
195. St. Neot reproves him, 197. escapes to the marshes in
{
38
INDEX.
Somersetshire, 210, &c. anecdote of the cakes, 215-217. Sallies
from Athelney against the Danes, 223. Anecdote of the poor man
and St. Cuthbert, 227. Goes as a gleeman to reconnoitre the
Danish army, 232. defeats the Danes at Ethandune, and takes their
camp, 235. Alfred's Gem found at Athelney, 237. his treaty with
Guthrum, 243. his son Edward joins in the treaty with Guthrum, 253.
minor skirmishes with the Danes, 255. relieves Rochester, 257. sur-
named the Great, 263. commands Werfrith to translate Gregory's Pas-
toral Care, 269. receives Asser at Dene, 271. again at Leonaford, 273.
improves the art of ship-building, 277. rebuilds London, 285. his
devotion, 289. builds a monastery at Athelney, 288. places John
of Corbey there as its first abbat, 290. builds a monastery for his
sister Ethelgiva at Shaftesbury, 293. builds the new Minster at
Winchester, 294. his children, 296. his mind too enlightened for
the Church of Rome, 302. his translations from Latin into Saxon,
303. his avocations enumerated and reviewed, 309. begins to
learn Latin, 316. his Enchiridion, Hand-book, or Manual, 318.
his preface to Gregory's Pastoral Care, 320. his translation of
Boethius, 321. his translation of Orosius, 322. supposed translations
of the Bible, Psalms, &c. 325. sends various embassies to Rome, 329.
his laws, 333. his impartiality, 337. he teaches the earls and
judges, 339. his severity against unjust judges, 339. his division of
income, 344. his division of his time, 346. he forms a camp in Kent,
353. his courage against the enemy, 356. relieves Exeter, 357. his
death in 901, on the 26th of October, 367.
Algar, alderman of Hoiland, resists the Danes, 101.
Alhune, bishop of Worcester, 295.
Aller, near Athelney, 235.
Alstan, bishop of Sherborne, 27, 44. defeats the Danes in Somerset-
shire, 47. conspires with Ethelbald, 63. his death, 97.
Ambresbury, monastery of, 274, App. 10.
Amund, a Danish king, 139.
Anarawd, son of Rotri, 267.
Anderida, or Andred, forest of, 4, 350.
Angles, or English, their.origin, 38.
Angmæring, Angmering, App. 3, 12.
Ankaring, wood near Croyland, 104.
Appledore, Danish camp at, 352.
Ardwolf, king of Northumberland, expelled, 21, 29.
Armoricans, in Alfred's service, 279.
Ashdown, battle of, 121.
Ashmolean Museum at Oxford, 236.
Asker, prior of Croyland, 105.
Assandune, same as Ethandune, 238.
B
Asser, quoted, 50, &c. his first introduction to Alfred, 271.
Athelney, isle of, 211. described, 212. monastery at, built by Alfred,
289.
Avon, river at Chippenham, 170.
Aweltune, Aulton, App. 9.
Axanmouth, Exmouth, App. 10.
INDEX.
39
Bagseg, a Danish king, 102. slain at Ashdown, 124.
Baldwin I. surnamed Bras de fer, count of Flanders, 84.
Banwell, monastery of, 274.
Bardney, abbey of, burnt by the Danes, 101.
Basing, battle of, 125.
Beadinghamine, Bedingham, App. 11.
Beading, Beden, App. 11.
Beaduherd, officer of Bertric, slain by the Danes, 15.
Beccanlea, Beckley, App. 12.
Bede, kindled a great love of learning in England, 287. his history,
translated by Alfred, 322.
Bedewind, Beduin, App. 9.
Bedrigsworth, or Bedricscourt, in East Anglia, 116.
Bemfleet, Danish camp at, 355.
Bensington, battle of, 9.
Berne, the huntsman, 76.
Berneich, or Bernicia, 7.
Bernhelm, abbat, in 890. carries Alfred's gifts to Rome, 329.
Bernwolf, king of Mercia, 17.
Bernwolf invades East Anglia, 27. is slain, 27.
Bernwolf, governor of Winchester, 366.
Bertwolf, earl or alderman of Essex, 281, 366.
Bertric, king of Wessex, 12. his death, 15. poisoned by Edburga, 20.
Beocca, the alderman, in 888, carries Alfred's gifts to Rome, 329.
Bible, said to have been translated by Alfred, 323.
Bilfrid, a hermit, 151.
Boethius, his Consolations of Philosophy, translated by Alfred, 320.
Bocland, i. e. land held by deed or writings, 335.
Boston, town in Lincolnshire, 101.
Brancescumbe, Branscomb, App. 10.
Bratton castle, a Danish camp in Wiltshire, 239.
Bretwaldas, the eight, 6.
Bridgenorth, 361.
Britain, Wales so called, 273.
Britain, a peculiar appanage of the Apostolic See, 23.
Britons of Cornwall rebel, 26.
Brixton Deverill, formerly Egbert's stone, 237.
Brocmail, son of Mouric, 267.
Brompton, quoted, 25, 73. &c. his errors in chronology, 188.
Bruern Brocard, insult offered to his wife, 73.
Brunne, in Lincolnshire, 101.
Burnhamme, Burnham, App. 9, 11.
Burrhed, king of Mercia, reduces North Wales, 49. marries Ethels-
witha, daughter of Ethelwolf, 72. asks Ethelred's assistance against
the Danes, 97. a charter of, 99. makes terms with the Danes,
abdicates the throne, and goes to Rome, 137. his wife dies at
Ticino, 137.
Buttington, occupied by the Danes, 358.
Cadwine, hanged for injustice, 339,
40
INDEX.
Cæsar, first conqueror of Britain, 2.
Camelford, [Gavelford,] battle of, 27.
Canterbury, ravages of the Danes at; 46. sacked by the Danes,
48.
Cantüctune, Quantock, App. 9.
Carlisle destroyed by the Danes, and rebuilt by William the Con-
queror, 141.
Carumtune, Carhampton, App. 8.
Ceaulin, second Bretwalda, 6.
Cendefer, Preston Candever, or Chilton Candever, App. 11.
Cent, Kent, App. 9.
Ceolmund, alderman of Kent, 366.
Ceorl, alderman of Devonshire, 47.
Ceodre, Cheddar, App. 9.
Ceolmund, earl in Kent, 281. præfect of London, 295.
Ceolwolf made king of Mercia by the Danes, 137. oppressed the
people, 138. is deposed by the Danes, 139.
Charles the Bald, 59, 274.
Charmouth, Ethelwolf defeated at, 46.
Charlemagne, king of France, 13. his death, 22.
Chester, occupied by the Danes, 359.
Chippenham, in 878, surprised by the Danes, 169. battle at, recorded
by J. Brompton, 184, App. 11.
Chronicle, Saxon, quoted, 19, 21, 25, 26, et passim.
Cilfantune, Chilhampton, App. 9.
Ciseldene, Chiseldon, App. 9.
Ciwtune, Chewton, App. 9.
Clay Hill, same as Ecglea? 238.
Cleare, King's Clere, App. 11.
Codrin, a corruption for Guthrum, 74.
Coit-Mawr, British name of Selwood, 233.
Coldingham, conduct of the Nuns of, 100.
Columtune, Columbton, App. 10.
Cornwall, bishopric of, 303.
Cornwall, long occupied by the Britons, 3.
Counties, formed or arranged by Alfred, 341.
Creca, a village and monastery, 152.
Cridda, bishopric of, 303.
Croyland abbey sacked, 104.
Cruærn, Crewkerne, App. 10.
Crundell, Crundal, App. 11.
Cumberland, long in occupation of the Britons, 3.
Cumbra, or Cumbran, murdered by Sigebert, 8.
Cumtune, Compton, App. 11.
Cuthbert, St. legend of the translation of his body, 143. privileges of
his Church, 155. legend of his helping Alfred, 225.
Cutbred, king of Wessex, his death, 8.
Cuthred, king of Kent, 16. his death, 21.
Cyneard, brother of Sigebert, 9. slain at Merton, 12.
Cynewolf, king of Wessex, 8. slain at Merton, 11.
INDEX.
41
Danelagh, 266.
Danes first appear in England, 14. description of the, 31. their
ravages on the continent, 32. land in Sheppey in 832, 40. and
at Charmouth in 833, 40. land, in 835, in Cornwall, 41. in 865,
land in Thanet, 70. in 860, storm Winchester, 69. defeated by
Osric and Ethelwolf, 70. seize Nottingham, 97. march from
Nottingham to York, 99. their cruelties at York, 99. march to
London, 136. in 880, encamp at Fulham, 246. their ravages and
adventures in France, 249. attack Rochester, 257.
Danish Burghs, Five, or Seven, 158.
Deeping, town in Lincolnshire, 101.
Deguus, a Welsh Saint, 273.
Dena-lagu, or Danelagh, 266.
Dene, a royal villa in Sussex, 271.
Dene, (uncertain,) App. 10.
Denulf the peasant of Somersetshire, entertains King Alfred, 218.
made bishop of Winchester, ib.
Deone, Down, App. 10.
Deoraby, or Derby, a Danish name, 158.
Derwent, river on the western coast of England, 146.
Deur, or Deira, 7.
Dicceling, Dickling, App. 12.
Dionysius the Areopagite, 274.
Dogs of Britain famous, 310.
Dubslane, a Scot, 330.
Dungal, an Irish scholar, 86.
During, unjustly condemned, 340.
Eaderingtune, Adrington, App. 10.
Eadfrid, bishop of Lindisfarne, 151.
Ealdingburn, Aldingbourn, App. 11.
Eardull, bishop of Lindisfarne, 144.
Earl or Alderman, dignity of, 341.
East Anglia separated from the rest of England, 4.
Ebb, the Frisian, 365.
Edbert Pren, king of Kent, 16.
Edburga, daughter of Offa, her history, 12.
Edburga, wife of Ethelred, alderman of the Gaini, 98.
Edda, abbat of Peterborough, 106.
•
1
Eddington, formerly Ethandune, 238.
Edgith, daughter of Egbert, 43.
Edindon or Edington, 238.
Edmund, king of East-Anglia, 75, 108, 110. his legend, 108. sum-
mons his soldiers to battle, 111. fights with the Danes, 112. is
shot to death by the Danes, 113.
Edmund, bishop of Salisbury, 126.
Edmund, a follower of St. Cuthbert's body, 148.
Edmund, a son of Alfred, who died in infancy, 297.
Edred, abbat in the diocese of Lindisfarne, 145.
Edred, duke of Devonshire, 281.
42
INDEX.
Edric, king of Kent, his laws, 332.
Edward, the Elder, Alfred's eldest son, 296, 253.
Edwin, fifth Bretwalda, 6.
Edwold, brother of St. Edmund, 117.
Edwolf, king's minister or thane in Sussex, 281, 366.
Edwolf, king's horsethane, 366.
Egbert, invades Wales, 30. defeated by the Danes, 41. defeats the
Danes at Hengstone Hill, ib. his death, 42.
Egbert's or Egbricht's Stone, now Brixton, 233.
Egbert, an obscure man, made king of Northumberland, 96. his
death, 140.
Egbert II, king of Northumberland, 142.
Egbert, king of Wessex, the eighth Bretwalda, 6, 15. his birth and
family, 15. son of Almund, 17. an exile at the court of Charle-
magne, ib. conquers the Britons in Cornwall, 21. defeats Bernwolf
at Ellandune, 26.
Egelred and Ulric, two boys of Croyland, 104.
Egfrid, king of Mercia, 16.
Elfget, the deacon, of Croyland, 104.
Elfrida, dau. of Alfred, marries Baldwin II, count of Flanders, 68.
Elhard, bishop of Dorchester, 366.
Ella, king of Northumberland, 75.
Ella and Osbert combine against the Danes, 95. slain by the Danes,
96.
Ellandune, battle of, 25.
Elswitha, wife of Alfred, 98, 296.
Ely monastery, destroyed by the Danes, 107. spoiled by Burrhed, 119.
Enfrid, king of Northumberland, 29.
English School at Rome, 23, 137.
Englefield, battle of, 120.
Enwolf, alderman of Somerset, 46. conspires with Ethelbald against
his father, 63.
Eohric or Eric, king of East Anglia, 264.
Erigena, John, said to have come to England in Alfred's reign, 274.
Essex, subdued by Ethelwolf, 27.
Ethandune, now Eddington, (or, as some say, Yatton,) battle of,
234, 235. App. 12.
Ethelbald, made king of Wessex, 63. marries Judith his father's
widow, 65. his death, 67.
Ethelbald, king of Mercia, 104.
Ethelbert, becomes king of Wessex, 69. his death, 71.
Ethelbert, king of Kent, his Laws, 332.
Ethelbert, Alfred's elder brother, king of Kent, 63.
Ethelbert, third Bretwalda, 6.
Etheldrida, Offa's daughter, a nun, 29.
Ethelelm, alderman, defeated and slain by the Danes in 837, 41.
earl or alderman of Berkshire, 281.
Ethelfleda, Alfred's eldest daughter, 296.
Ethelgiva, first abbess of Shaftesbury, 293. Alfred's second daughter,
296.
INDEX.
43
Ethelhere, the Frisian, 365.
Ethelingeye, Athelney, or the " isle of Princes," 217.
Ethelmund, alderman, defeated by Alderman Wexstan, 20.
Ethelnoth, duke of Somerset, with Alfred at Athelney, 213.
Ethelred, king of Wessex, 72, 91. his death, April 23, 871.
Ethelred, alderman of the Gaini, 98.
Ethelstan, brother of Ethelwolf, 42, 45. defeats the Danes in Kent,
47.
Ethelstan, a priest, 270.
Ethelstan, sent by Alfred to India, 329.
Ethelswitha, sister of Alfred, 50.
Ethelswitha, Alfred's third daughter, 297.
Ethelwald, bishop of Lindisfarne, 151.
Ethelwerd, Alfred's second son, 296.
Ethelwerd, quoted, 14, 16, 21, 25, 26.
Ethelwolf, subdues Essex, 27. subdues Kent, ib. subdues Sussex, ib.
said to have been in Orders, 45. assists Burrhed against the Welsh,
49. gives a tenth of the land to the Church, 54. carries his son
Alfred to Rome, 58. marries Judith, 59. divides the kingdom with
his son, 63. alderman of Berkshire, 70. defeats the Danes at
Englefield, 120. is slain at Reading, 121.
Exanminster, Axminster, App. 10.
Exeter, surprised by the Danes, 163. besieged by the East Anglian
and Northumbrian Danes, and relieved by Alfred, 357.
Fables, by Alfred, 324.
Felphamme, Felphame, App. 3, 12.
Fernmail, son of Mouric, 267.
Florence of Worcester, quoted, 21, 25, 26, 27, &c.
Fortresses repaired and restored by Alfred, 282. nobles remiss in
erecting them till it was too late, 283.
France, Danish adventurers in, 249.
Franco, follower of Hunred's body, 148.
Frankpledge, instituted by Alfred, 342.
Freberne, hanged for injustice, 340.
Frena, a Danish earl, slain at Ashdown, 124.
Frisians or Frisons, ships of the, 278. in Alfred's service, 279.
Frome, town of, in Selwood forest, 210.
Fulk, archbishop of Rheims, his letter to Alfred, 271.
Gaini, inhabitants of the modern Gainsborough, 98.
Gedney, village in Lincolnshire, 103.
German, Saint, said to have been at Oxford, 299.
Geve, abbat of Creca, 152.
Gifle, Gidley, App. 10.
Gildas, Saint, 299.
Gildeford, Guildford, App. 12..
Glastonbury abbey, 295.
Godelming, Godalming, App. 12.
Gospels, a copy of the, lost in the sea, 147. and recovered, 150.
44
INDEX.
Gregory's Pastoral Care translated by Alfred's command, 320.
Grimbald, Provost of St. Omer's, 271.
Grimketyl, a monk of Peterborough, 107.
Guerir, a saint in Cornwall, 90.
Guthlac, St. his body, 104.
Guthred, son of Hardecnute, made king of Northumberland, 152.
died A.D. 894 at York, 265.
Guthrum, 102. king of East Anglia, 117. his treaty, as king thereof,
with Alfred, 236. with Osketyl and Amund at Cambridge, 139.
in 876, invades Wessex for the third time, and surprises the town
of Wareham, 161. baptized at Aller, 235. dies in 890, 264.
Gytro, a Danish king, perhaps the same as Guthrum, 114.
Hachwy unjustly condemned, 339.
Hakon, a Norwegian earl, 36.
Halfdene and Bagseg, in 871, invade Wessex, 120. Halfdene's death,
151.
Harad Harfragra, his long ship, 36.
Harald Bluetooth, king of Denmark, 36.
Harald, a Danish earl, 122. slain at Ashdown, 124.
Harpin, unjustly condemned, 340.
Hasting at Argove in France, 349. invades England, 351. sup-
posed to have led the Danes encamped at Fulham, 247. sues for
peace, and allows his children to be baptized, 355. forms a camp
at Bemfleet, 355.
Heglesdune or Heglesdon, a royal village in East Anglia, 109. wood
of, 113.
Helised, king of Brecon, 267.
Henry of Huntingdon, quoted, 21, 25, 26, 27, &c.
Hengist and Horsa, 3.
Hengstone Hill, battle of, 41.
Heortigtune, Hardington, App. 8.
Herbert, alderman, slain by the Danes in 838, 42.
Herbert, a monk of Peterborough, 107.
Heptarchy, not durable, 4, 5.
Higley, same as Ecglea? 238.
Hinguar, son of Regner Lodbrog, 78. Hinguar and Hubba, in 861,
invade England, 93. they attack Northumberland, 95. Hinguar,
king of Northumberland, 97.
Hollaud or Hoiland, a district in Lincolnshire, 101.
Horne, Andrew, author of Miroir des Justices, 205, 339.
Howel, king of Glenuising, 267.
Hoxon, in East Anglia, 115.
Hubba, said to have been slain at Chippenham, 186.
Hubbelowe, query, near Chippenham or in Devonshire? 186.
Huda, alderman, slain in the isle of Thanet, 49.
Humbert, bishop of Helmham, 109.
Hundreds owe their origin to Alfred, 341.
Hunred, follower of St. Cuthbert's body, 148.
Hyde abbey at Winchester, 295.
INDEX.
45
1
Hysseburn, Hussebourne, App. 9.
Hwiccas, western part of Mercia, 265.
Hritheranfeld, Rotherfield, App. 12.
Ina, king of Wessex, his Laws, 333.
Ingulf, quoted, 25, &c.
Kenric, son of Cerdic, 50.
Kent, subdued by Egbert's son Ethelwolf, 27.
Jarrow, destroyed by the Danes, 100.
John of Carvey, 270, 271. first abbat of Athelney, 290. his life
attempted in the Church, 291.
John of Tinmuth, 203.
Judith, dau. of Charles the Bald, 59. crowned queen of Wessex, 61.
returns to France, 68. marries Count Baldwin, 68.
Jutes, their origin, 38.
Kenwulf, king of Mercia, 16. his death, 25.
Keolwolf, king of Mercia, 17.
Keynsham in Wiltshire, 126.
Kynwith, or Cynuit, castle, 221.
Kentigern, 299.
Kenelm, king of Mercia, murdered by Ascebert, 25. miracles at his
'tomb, 25.
Lamburn, Lambourne, App. 3, 12.
Langdene, App. 7.
Langtoft, town in Lincolnshire, 101.
Laundon, afterwards called Trekyngham, 102.
Learning at a low ebb in England, 85.
Lefrington, i. e. Leofric's town in Lincolnshire, 101.
Leigh or Ley, same as Ecglea, 238.
Leo the Third, Pope, 45.
Leodride, Leatherhead, App. 9.
Leonaford, a royal vill, 273.
Lethwin, prior of Croyland, 105.
Limene, or the Rother, 351.
Lea, Danish encampment on the river, 360. its navigation obstructed
by Alfred, 361.
Lindisfarne destroyed by the Danes, 100. plundered by the Scots, 154.
Lindsay ravaged by the Danes, 101.
Liwtune, Litten, App. 10.
Lodbrog, Regner, legend of, 76. his daughters wove a flag for Hinguar
and Hubba their brothers, 222.
Lucumon, the king's reeve, 365.
Ludecan, king of Mercia, 27. invades East Anglia, 28.
London, ravages of the Danes at, 46. occupied by the Danes, 136.
rebuilt by Alfred, and given to Ethelred, earl of Mercia, 285.
Lothaire, king of Kent, his Laws, 332.
Lubba, a Dane, brother to Hubba, 106.
46
INDEX.
Lullingminster, Lullington, App. 12.
Macbeth, a Scot, 330.
Maclinmum, a Scot, 330.
Malmesbury, quoted, 12, 15, 16. &c.
Markes hanged for injustice, 340.
Marlin, Pope, sends a piece of the Holy Cross to Alfred, 304. dies,
A.D. 884, ibid.
Matthew of Westminster quoted, 76, &c.
Medeshamsted, afterwards called Peterborough, 105.
Melkinus, Saint, 299.
Melrose, Chronicle of, 204.
Meone, East-Meon and West-Meon, App. 10.
Mercena-lagu, 266.
Mercia, a central kingdom, 5.
Mersey, Danes in, 356.
Merton, affray at, 9-12.
Merton, battle of, 125.
Migrations impeded by the ocean, 1.
Milenburn, Milbourne, App. 10.
Military art said to have been improved by Alfred, 279.
Milton, or Midiltun, in Kent, 352.
Miroir des Justices, 205.
Morcar, lord of Brunne, 101.
Mouric, king of Gwent, 267.
Nemesian, quoted, 310.
Nene, a river in Mercia, 106.
Nennius, 299.
Neot, St. his life quoted, 45, 170, 200, 201. buried in Cornwall, 90.
Neot's, Chronicle of St. 215.
Nether-Hisseburn, Nether-Hussebourne, App. 9, 10.
New Minster, or the New Monastery, built at Winchester, 294.
Northumberland or Northumbria, a remote kingdom, 5.
Northumbria, submits to Egbert, 29.
Northweorthig, the Saxon name of Derby, 158.
Novis, archbishop of St. David's, 273.
Ockley, Danes defeated at, 48.
Odun, earl of Devonshire, defeats Hubba at Kynwith castle, 224.
probably joined Alfred in Selwood forest, 225.
Offa, king of Mercia, 7. defeats Cynewolf at Bensington, 9. his
dike, 4. his grant to the Church, 57. his Laws, 333. his death, 16.
Olaf Tryggvason, his ship, 36.
Oppian, quoted, 310.
Orosius, translated by Alfred, 322.
Osbern, a Danish earl, slain at Ashdown, 124.
Osbert, king of Northumberland, 73. insults the wife of Bruern Bro-
card, 73. is expelled, 75.
Osbert and Ella slain by the Danes, 96.
INDEX.
47
Osburga, queen of Ethelwolf, 49.
Osgot, sheriff of Lincolnshire, 101.
Osketyl, a Danish king, slays the abbat of Croyland, 105, 139.
Oslac, butler of Ethelwolf, 49.
Oslaf, king of Mercia, 104.
Osric, alderman of Hampshire, 70.
Oswald, sixth Bretwalda, 6.
Oswy, seventh Bretwalda, 7.
Oswen, her care of St. Edmund's body, 116.
Oswiesdune, i. e. Oswy's Mount, 152.
Oththere, his voyage to the North, 322.
Oxford, controversy about the University, spurious passage in Asser,
298.
Parables by Alfred, 325.
Parret or Perrot, river in Somersetshire, 179.
Paulinus, a monk of Peterborough, 107.
Pefesigge, Pevensey, App. 9.
Perrot, or Parrot, Danes land in the river, 46.
Peterborough, spoiled by Burrhed, 119. sacked by the Danes, 105.
Plegmund, archbishop of Canterbury, author of part of the Saxon
Chronicle, 200, 270.
Pollisworth, abbey of, 43.
Præfect, called Vicedominus, 342.
Proverbs, by Alfred, 325.
Psalms, a translation of the, left unfinished by Alfred, 323.
Quatbridge, or Quatford, occupied by the Danes, 361.
Queen of Wessex, authority of the, 60.
Quendreda, princess of Mercia, 25.
Ramsay, wrote Life of St. Neot, 202.
Reading, battle of, 121.
Redburg, queen of Egbert, 43.
Redham, village of Norfolk, 76.
Redwald, fourth Bretwalda, 6.
Repton, destroyed by the Danes, 137.
Rigsig, king of Northumberland, 140. his death in 876, 141.
Ris, king of Glenuising, 267.
Robert of Gloucester, quoted, 53.
Rotri, a king in South Wales, 267.
Rochester, ravages of the Danes at, 46. attacked by the Danes, and
relieved by Alfred, 257.
Rollo, lands in England, 159. is repulsed, 160.
Rudborne, quoted, 66.
Savin, the subdeacon of Croyland, 104.
Saxons, their origin, 38.
Saxons and Britons, perhaps kindred nations, 3. their first coming
to Britain unknown,
3.
48
INDEX.
Saxony, England or more properly Wessex, so called, 273.
Schools, established by Alfred, 297.
Scots, repulsed by the Danes, 140. plunder the monastery of Lindis-
farne, 154. in Alfred's service, 279. three, come to England in an
open boat, 330.
Selden, quoted, 56.
Selwood forest, 210.
Shaftesbury, monastery at, built by Alfred, 293.
Sheppey, Danes winter in, 49.
Sherborne, Cathedral Church at, 295. App. 4, 12.
Sheriffs, origin of, 342.
Shobury, Danish camp, 358.
Sidroc, slain at Englefield, 121.
Sidroc, the younger, slain at Ashdown, 124.
Sifford, Shifford, App. 16.
Sighelm, sent by Alfred to India, 329.
Sigebert, king of Wessex, 8. slain at Privett's flood, 9.
Simeon of Durham, quoted, 13, 71, &c.
Stour, river between Essex and Suffolk, 258.
Spelman, quoted, 50, 52, 93, &c.
Stæning, Steyning, App. 12.
Stithard, follower of St. Cuthbert's body, 148.
Strathclyde Britons ravaged by the Danes, 141.
Strætneat, probably Stratton, App. 8.
Streaneshalch, otherwise called Whitby, 100.
Stuph, Earl, nephew of Cerdic, 50.
Stureminster, Sturminster, App. 10.
Sussex, subdued by Ethelwolf, Egbert's son, 27.
Sutheswerthe, (unknown,) App. 10.
Suthtune or Sutton, village in Lincolnshire, 103. App. 9, 12.
Swale, an arm of the sea, 352.
Swanage, shipwreck and defeat of the Danes at, 165.
Swinburg, App. 7.
Swithin, bishop of Winchester, 44. his death in 861, 70.
Swithulf, bishop of Rochester, 366.
Thanet, battle with the Danes in, 49.
Theodore, abbat of Croyland, 104.
Thetford, battle of, 107.
Thomas, Saint, Alfred sends gifts to, in India, 328.
Thone, river in Somersetshire, 179.
Thunresfeld, Thunderfield, App. 11.
Tiggo-Cobauc, British name of Nottingham, 97.
Tinmouth, John of, 203.
Tithes, their supposed origin, 54.
Toly, a monk who had been a soldier, 101.
Trekyngham, once called Laundon in Lincolnshire, 102.
Triconshire, Cornwall, App. 8.
Turgar, a beautiful boy of Croyland abbey, 105. escapes from the
Danes, 106.
INDEX.
49
Turner, Sharon, quoted, 93.
Twyford, Twyford, App. 10.
Tynemouth, destroyed by the Danes, 101.
Ubba, or Hubba, son of Regner Lodbrog, 78.
Vicedominus, or Præfectus, 342.
Wales, invaded by Egbert, 30. ravaged by the Danes, 359.
Wallingford's Chronicle, 203.
Walton, [should be Wilton,] battle at, 185.
Waneting, Wantage, App. 4, 12.
Wareham, surprised by the Danes, 161.
Weal-district, (uncertain,) App. 10.
Wedmore, in Somersetshire, 235, App. 9.
Welewe, Wellow, App. 11.
Welig, Willey, App. 11.
Wenbury, battle of, 47.
Wendover, Roger de, quoted, 71, &c.
Werfrith, bishop of Worcester, 269.
Weremouth, destroyed by the Danes, 100.
Werwolf, a priest, 270.
Wessex, in 875, alone survives the Danish ravages, 157.
Westbury, in Wiltshire, 177.
West-Saxena-lagu, 266.
Whitby, destroyed by the Danes, 100.
Whitchurch, Whitchurch, App. 10.
Whitherne, or White-House, 150.
Wibberton, i. e. Wibert's town in Lincolnshire, 101.
Wight, sea-fight on the coast of the isle of, 365.
Wiglaf, or Witlaf, king of Mercia, 98, 104, 139.
Wilton, battle of, 134. church at, 295.
Wintanceastre, Winchester, App. 9.
Withgar, earl, nephew of Cerdic, 50.
Withred, king of Kent, his Laws, 332.
Wolfherd, alderman, 27. defeats the Danes in 837, 41.
Wolfred, alderman of Hampshire, 366.
Worcester, church of, 295.
Wulfheard, the Frisian, 365.
Wulfstan, his voyage to the Baltic, 322.
Yatton, same as Ethandune? 238.
THE END.
BAXTER, PRINTER, OXFORD.
28299
Page 16. line 14. for eight read ten
four
six.
17. for their invasions read the invasions of their enemies
1. ETHELBERT
ETHELRED
1300
72.
J
73.
16.
1200
126. notet.
I have since observed, that Lappenberg makes two reinforce-
ments to have reached the Danish army; one after the battle of Basing,
[Thorpe's Lappenberg, vol. ii. p. 41.] the other after that of Merton,
[p. 45.]
126. last line. Since writing this note, I have lighted on the following pas-
sage in Brompton, [p. 809.] "After two months they again met in
battle at Merton, and the English were defeated. Then a certain
Danish tyrant, named Somerled, marching to Reading, destroyed the
town, and all he found in it. After this, King Ethelred engaged with
him in battle, and received a mortal wound, of which he died after
much suffering on the 23d of April, in the 5th year of his reign, and
was buried at Wimbourne."
CORRIGENDA.
69.
188. line 18. for life read reign
237. line 18. for Monty House read Montys Court
HISTORICAL WORKS
BY THE REV. DR. GILES.
1. HISTORY OF THE ANCIENT BRITONS, with an Appendix of all the
original documents in which the Britons are mentioned. 2 vols.
8vo. Bell, London, 1847.
2
LIFE AND LETTERS OF THOMAS à BECKET, 2 vols. 8vo. Whittaker,
London, 1846.
3. THE LIFE AND TIMES OF ALFRED THE GREAT, 8vo. London,
1849.
4. PATRES ECCLESIÆ ANGLICANÆ, containing the complete works of
Aldhelm, Bede, Boniface, Lanfranc, Arnulf of LISIEUX,
BECKET, EDWARD GRIM, ROGER DE PONTIGNY, WILLIAM
FITZ-STEPHEN, GILBERT FOLIOT, HERBERT DE BOSHAM,
JOHN OF SALISBURY, and PETER OF BLOIS. 35 vols. 8vo.
Whittaker, London, 1837 to 1848.
5. SCRIPTORES MONASTICI, a series of MONASTIC CHRONICLES now in
progress, containing the Works of GEOFFREY of MONMOUTH,
HERBERT DE LOSINGA, ALAN of TEWKESBURY, &c.
UNIV
N
10.
RSITY
BEANS
MIC
H
WARE
HIG
30
ERSITY.
UNIV
GAN
N
UNI
MI
MICHI
UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN
DIMO!
BA
Y.
AN
UNIVERS
M.
317
AN
UNIV
MA
UND
ITY
3 9015 07479 8532
MIL
ERS
ER
"H
HIG
SITY
IV
412
已
​すると​浮
​AIN
ERSIT
As
Val
CHIG
UNIV
Sna
MI
無​現
​VERS
ERS
MINGS
RSITY
MI
CHIG
Mi
UN!
AN
ܐ
UNI
HIG
ERSITY
"
UNI
**
•MISM/
IN
AN
NY
MI
TA
UNIV
RST
HIG
ESTER
AN
ERS
UNIVE
RE
MI
}
UNI
1.
ERS
HIG
ܐ ܘ ܕ ܐ ܐ ܝ
HIO
[A]
{}}}
SIT
UNIV
VE
OND
NIVER
AN
ACA
.
ERS
MIC
CHIC
SEMUAN
AN
UNIV
N
RSITY
K
UN
ERS
M
Rela
UNIVE
MI
ACHIS
RS
NY
MIC
UNIV
CHIG
RSITY
HIG
UNIV
UNI
UM
MI
MARY
ERSI
AN
R.
ERS
HIG
GAN
UNIV
ما
F
SM
--
HIG
UNIV
ORIC
BA!!
UG
RSITY
UNI
HIG
NIVERS
NY
Mi
03
M/
HIG
UNID
U
S
MI
Q
UNI
W
BC3
MI
AN
[= "{\"\"}}
ERSIT
HIG
Y.
RS
UNIT
91
0226
UNIV
HAARER
The
ERSI
UNIV
Nd
-
CHIG
N
OF
MIC
SF).
HIG
UNI
ERSITY
GA
HEJ
GAN
ONID
UNIV
マイ
​ERS
C
ER
M
ERSIT
HIG
AN
ak
M
UNIV
M
ERS
سبا
GROVERS
Mi
UNIV
GAN
116
UNIT
ARKA
MI
NY
S
Gay
UNI
W
UN!!
***
VERS
36
TOTALARI
UN
The
AN
Bro
MICHIG
MIC
AA1
UNIV
AN
G
UNIV
WEWE
THE THREAD
MIS
AIN
10
M
ERSIT
UNIV
CAN
HIVE
MI
UNT
Y.
GAN
HIG
CARNA
NA
N
ASITIO
DO NOT CIRCULATE
AN
CHIG
Mathem
:.
U His
UNIVER
t
EBRAR
NW
HIG
mont blanc pa
..:::
⠀⠀⠀⠀