.org/details/anglosaxonsagaseOOhaigrich &rm* &$*&«*. THE ANGLO-SAXON SAGAS. ^Ss~fiS^ THE ANGLO-SAXON SAGAS*; AN EXAMINATION OF THEIR VALUE AS AIDS TO HISTORY; A SEQUEL TO THE " HISTORY OF THE CONQUEST OF BRITAIN BY THE SAXONS." BY DANIEL H. HAIGH. (f* " Hie reges populosque vides, quos alea fati " Extulit et pressit, sed ab his metire futura. " Aspice quo devenere potentes : " Aspice quam nihili sit honor, lux, gloria mundi." Henry of Huntingdon. LONDON: JOHN RUSSELL SMITH, 36, SOHO SQUARE. 1861. 7/a a GENERAL H?7t>o TO JOSEPH MAYER, My dear Sir, [TRANGE as the theory which is advocated in the following pages may appear, it is advanced with an entire conviction of its truth. In part, — as far as it relates to the Scyldings and their settlements in Northumbria, — it has been already submitted to the Society of Antiquaries of Newcastle-on-Tyne, and an ab- stract from my papers, accompanied by illustrative notes from the pen of their able secretary, Mr. LongstafFe, has ap- peared in their Transactions. These notes are incorporated in the present work, together with other valuable informa- tion kindly furnished by him to me. Under any circumstances, we have reason to be proud of these noble remains of the poetry of our forefathers; but our interest in them must be greatly increased, when we discover that they are based, not on mythological superstitions, but on historical facts ; that they relate to a period, not of inde- 119760 VI DEDICATION. finite antiquity, but of the occupation of Britain by the Teu- tonic race ; that they are not borrowed from any foreign source, but are entirely our own. With the hope, that you will find this little book, as a key to these sagas, worthy of your acceptance, I remain, my dear Sir, Very faithfully yours, Daniel H. Haigii. Erdington, July 27th, 1861. CONTENTS. CHAPTER I. Page I HE chronicled history of the fifth century is imper- fect 1 The Anglo-Saxon sagas partly supply what is wanting 2 The poem of Beowulf. Opinions with regard to its origin, and subject-matter ib. Its internal evidence proves, that it was originally composed in Northumbria, about the middle of the sixth century . . 3 The Lament of Deor, the Traveller's Tale, and the Saga of Wald- here, also belong to England, and enable us to understand the later Teutonic sagas 4 The latter appear to have been founded on traditions, which passed from England to the continent in the sixth century . . 5 A parallel to this theory in the circumstances of the Heliand . . 6 In the Nibelungen series, old sagas have been designedly transformed into mere romances 7 The historic value of Beowulf supported, in one instance, by Gregory of Tours 8 CHAPTER II. The story of Scyld Scefing . . 10 This story appropriated by iEthelweard, William of Malmsbury, and Simeon of Durham, to Sceaf, the head of the Anglo-Saxon genealogy 11 Scyld Scefing and Beowulf of the poem, have nothing to do with Sceaf, Sceldwa, and Beawa, of the genealogy . . . .13 Beowulf, Healfdene, and his sons, a continuous descent . . .15 Vlll CONTENTS. Page The story of Scyld, purely Anglo-Saxon 15 Scyld, Beowulf, and Healfdene, probably reigned in Northumbria . 16 Heremod, (apparently a son 'of Healfdene), and Sigemund . .18 Heorogar and Hrothgar 20 Hrothgar's residence, at Hart in Durham ib. Feud with the Beards 22 Grendel 23 The court of Hrothgar, at the time of Beowulf's visit . . .24 Later fortunes of this family 26 CHAPTER III. The fight at Finnesham 29 CHAPTER IV. Hrethel, king of the Geats, probably one of the associates of Henc- gest, resided for a time in Yorkshire, and then went to Suffolk 37 His children, Herebeald, Hasthcyn and Hygelac . . . .39 Haethcyn and Hygelac succeeded him. Their feud with Ongen- theow and the Sweos 40 Hygelac' s fall in battle with the Franks 45 CHAPTER V. Waermund, king of the West- Angles, reigned at Warwick . . 50 Two of his nobles endeavoured to set aside the succession of his son Offa, on the ground of physical incapacity, were defeated in council, appealed to arms, and perished in battle . . .51 The result of this battle was an extension of Waermund's territory. Its scene identified on the borders of Gloucestershire and Ox- fordshire 52,53 Waermund resigned the government in favour of Offa, died, and was buried at Gloucester 56 The story of Offa's queen ib. CHAPTER VI. Three versions of the story of Horn 62 Heatholaf, his father, reigned in Yorkshire 63 His death 64 The fortunes of Horn 68 CONTENTS. IX CHAPTER VII. Beowulf adopted by Hrethel ; his aquatic contest with Brecca Accompanied Hygelac in his expedition against the Sweos . His voyage to Heort, conflict with Grendel, and return l Was admitted by Hygelac to partnership in the kingdom Took part in Hygelac's expedition against the Franks . Refused to take the kingdom into his own hand, to the prejudice of his cousin Heardred, after Hygelac's death Became sole ruler of the Geats, after Heardred's death At feud with the Wiwings Called to reign over the Scyldings, after the fall of Hrothgar's race. The arrival of Eoppa and Ida .... Ida's reign in Bernicia Beowulf's adventure with a dragon ; his death The scene of this adventure identified The death of Beowulf immediately preceded the accession of JElle he was probably of the same race Wiglaf, the son of Weohstan Wulf and Eofer, the sons of Wonred Wlph, the adversary of Urien of Rheged .... Connection of the heroes of the poem of Beowulf with the ancestors of five of the Anglo-Saxon royal dynasties The succession of the first sovereigns of Deira and Bernicia . Page 71 72 ib. 75 76 77 78 79 80 81 82 84 86 88 89 90 ib. 91 1 (Note to page 75) : — I have said that the speed at which the cobles, used on the Yorkshire coast, can sail, with a fair wind, is about eight miles an hour. " Eight or nine," was the answer to a query on this head, addressed to a friend resident on the coast, who derived his information from the fishermen themselves ; but a sailor, to whom I put the same, and who was less likely than the fishermen to give a favourable esti- mate of the sailing powers of their craft, said " seven ;" and this I think is rather under the mark. However, since the note to page 75 was printed, I have met with something which I had previously overlooked, and which will enable us to form a more precise judgment as to the speed of Beowulf's vessel. In the tenth century, the discoverer of America, Biorn Heriulfsson, favoured by a brisk S. W. wind, made the voyage from Newfoundland to Greenland in four days. The distance is 565 miles in a direct course, and this gives over 140 miles a day — about six miles an hour. Now a voyage of about 160 miles would bring Beowulf s vessel, after coasting Norfolk as far as Cromer, and then steering direct for Hart, within sight of Flamborough Head, the first high cliff on the Yorkshire coast. This, at six miles an hour, would require twenty-seven hours. The time stated in the poem seems to refer to the hour when Beowulf and his companions first saw land ; and from this point they would be able to prosecute their voyage, and reach the court of Hrothgar in the evening (for the evening meal immediately followed their arrival). b CONTENTS. APPENDIX. Page Remarks by Mr. Howitt, Mrs. Jameson, Mr. Walbran, and Mr. Longstaffe, on dragon-stories generally . . . .95 Series of these stories from the tenth to the fifteenth century . 97 CHAPTER VIII. The Lament of Deor. Weland and Beadohild . . . .101 Geat and Maethhild 103 Theodric and Eormanric. Deor and Heorrenda .... 104 The Traveller's Tale 105 The time of the Traveller's journey 106 All the princes he names, except Alexandreas, were of Barbaric race ib. He certainly travelled in this island 107 Traces remain, in this country, of the presence of most of the tribes whom he visited . . 108 In some instances these are accompanied by other traces, of the princes whom he mentions as ruling these tribes . . .114 Other traces again, of princes whom he visited . . . .118 His Eormanric was the father of iEthelberht, king of Kent . . 121 His iEtla, a king of Huns, who reigned, first in Warwickshire, and afterwards in Norfolk . .122 His Gifica, Guthhere, and Gislhere, kings of a part of the Burgun- dian nation, who were settled in England . . . .124 The fragments, lately discovered, of Waldhere's saga . . .125 Gerald of Fleury's Latin version of the same . . . .128 The story of Eormanric and Theodric, as collected from the sagas 131 Traces of the connections of Eormanric, in the districts of which Oxford is the centre 133 The story of JEtla 138 Traces of his connections in Warwickshire and Leicestershire, and in Norfolk 139 The Burgundian princes . , . . . . .140 Their course traced from Middlesex, through Essex, to iEtla's kingdom 141 Irminfrid of Thuringia ; his war with Theoderic, king of the Franks 142 Hadugot, the ally of Theoderic 143 Irminfrid's flight to iEtla 144 His death * 145 CONTENTS. XI Page The Traveller's journey was made early in the reign of Eormanric, and of Theoderic the Frank . 146 His home was in Cheshire or North Staffordshire ; he traversed the midland districts, and spent some time in the territories of Eormanric . 147 Deor lived within the territories of Eormanric, but after his death 148 The Traveller was probably Hama ib. The Lay of Hildibrand 149 CHAPTER IX. Cyneric, king of the West Saxons. Death of Wihtgar. Ida, king ofBernicia. The battle of Salisbury 156 The battles of Barbury and Hardenhuish 157 iElle, king of Deira. Dutigirn, the antagonist of Ida. Maelgwn, king of Gwynedd 158 Urien of Rheged, and other British princes ; their conflicts with the Angles ; Wlph and Flamdwyn 159 Adda, king of Bernicia ; Ceawlin, king of the West Saxons ; ^thelberht, king of Kent 160 Clappa and Theodwulf, kings of Bernicia ; the battles of Wembdon and Bedford 161 Frithuwulf, king of Bernicia ; the battle of Derham . . .162 Theodric, king ofBernicia ; the battle of Arderydd . . . 163 The siege of Medcaut (Lindisfarne) ; death of Urien . . .164 The battles of Mondrum and Fadley 167 iEthelric, king of Bernicia ; the battle of Cattraeth ; JEthelric and Frithuwald, kings of Deira ; the battle of Wanborough . 168 iEthelfrith, king of Bernicia ; the arrival of S. Augustine ; Ceolric and Ceolwulf, kings of the West Saxons . . . .170 Hussa, king of Deira ; the battle of Dalston ... . . 171 ^thelfrith's conquest of Deira ; the family of JEUe . . .173 Cynegils and Cwichelm, kings of the West Saxons ; the battle of Bampton 174 The battle of Chester 175 British tradition relative to the early years of Eadwine, the son of JEUe 177 His accession to the throne of the united kingdoms of Deira and Bernicia. Conclusion .178 E ANGLO-SAXON SAGAS v-C B 3T or THE CHAPTEK I. Their Historic lvalue. or. ITY HE system of chronology, which has been maintained in the " History of the Con- " quest of Britain," enables us to recognize a groundwork of historic truth, in stories which have hitherto been regarded as mere romances. To have dis- cussed, in that work, such of these stories as belong to the fifth century, would not only have broken the chain of our history, but would have been premature, whilst the chronology itself was in question ; but now that we have established our system as a framework wherein to place them, we are in a position to enter upon this, the most interesting department of our inquiry. The history of the fifth century, although it presents us with an unbroken chain of events, is necessarily imperfect with regard to the gradual establishment of the Saxon king- doms, because its notices of the Saxons are most entirely 2 THE ANGLO-SAXON SAGAS. confined to those who came into conflict with the Britons. The kings of Kent appear at intervals until A. D. 487 ; the kingdom, founded in Northumbria by Octa, ceases with the fall of Colgrim in a.d. 471 ; a kingdom rises in Sussex, holds for a time the supremacy over the other Saxons in Britain, and yields it in A.D. 498 to Wessex. The ances- tors of the Bernician, Deiran, East Anglian, Mercian, and East Saxon dynasties, accompanied or followed Horsa and Hencgest to Britain, and probably founded principalities ; but the history says nothing about them or their children, because they either were not engaged in the wars of their time, or, if they were, appeared only as followers of Octa, Colgrim, JElle, or Garmund. To the Cambrian genealogist we are indebted for the facts, that Seomel was the first, of the ancestry of JElle of Deira, who conquered that province and Bernicia, and that Wiwa was the first of his line, who reigned in Britain over the East Angles ; and the existing remains of the epic poetry of our forefathers, whilst they relate chiefly to events of the sixth century, tell us something of the second Hencgest, of Offa, of Seomel's son Swerting, and of others who reigned in Britain during the fifth century, whilst the great conflict was going on, and before the establishment of the kingdoms, which figure in the history of a later time. Of these remains the poem of Beowulf is the grandest ; it has deservedly engaged the attention of the most eminent scholars of Germany, Sweden, and Denmark, as well as of our own country ; but unfortunately it has been very much misunderstood. Its origin has been referred to the Scandi- navian kingdoms, and to a period antecedent to the immigra- tion into Britain of the Teutonic race ; and its subject to the THEIR HISTORIC VALUE. 3 misty regions of mythology. One eminent scholar, Mr. Thorpe, has expressed his conviction that the heroes of this poem are real kings and princes of the North, whilst he assigns to them a home in Sweden. 1 I claim for it an English origin, and, (although in a different sense from that in which he puts them), adopt his queries, and the answer to them : — (< What interest could an Anglo- Saxon feel in the valorous " feats of his deadly foes the Northmen ? in the encounter of " a Sweo-Gothic hero with a monster in Denmark ? or with " a fire-drake in his own country ? The answer, I think, is " obvious — none whatever." And, I think, the same answer must be given to the query, " What interest could an Anglo-Saxon feel in translating " such a poem for his countrymen ? " I regard it as the composition of a Northumbrian scop, familiar with the scenes he describes, and acquainted with persons who had been cotemporary with some of his heroes ; I believe that all the events he records, 2 with two exceptions, occurred in this island, and most of them in Northumbria, during the fifth and sixth centuries. In its present form, the poem is not older than the tenth century, but it bears the marks of having been transcribed from a much older original, in the retention of many forms of words, which we may regard as early Northumbrian, from their correspondence with those with which the Northumbrian 1 He considers it a " metrical paraphrase of an heroic saga composed " in the south-west of Sweden, in the old common language of the North, " and probably brought to this country during the sway of the Danish " dynasty." Preface to Beowulf, vin. 2 Not including, of course, the giant and dragon stories. 4 THE ANGLO-SAXON SAGAS. monuments and the Durham Ritual have made us acquainted ; and thus we obtain the first indication of the author's father- land. His fidelity in descriptions of scenes, which we can identify beyond all doubt, even after the lapse of thirteen hundred years, supplies the second. A curious passage, in which he quotes the authority of persons who had been her cotemporaries, for the character of a certain princess, in such a way as to warrant the inference that he had conversed with them, shows that he must have composed his saga not very long after the events of which it treats. On the other hand, there is no allusion whatever to events later than the time of -ZElle's accession to the throne of Deira; and with the ex- ception of a few passages, which may have been added after the conversion of Northumbria to Christianity, and some allowance for embellishments, we may believe that it comes to us in substance as it was originally delivered by its author. The Lament of Deor, the Traveller's Tale, and the re- cently discovered fragments of a saga of Waldhere, are in- valuable relics of the same class of literature. For these also I claim an English origin, and with their aid I shall be enabled to show, that Eormenric, Theodric, ,/Etla, and others who figure in the grand cycle of Teutonic romance, were kings and chieftains who flourished in England, in the first half of the sixth century. Identified with Hermanaric and Theodoric, kings of the Ostrogoths, and with Attila, king of the Huns, their story presents the grossest anachronisms ; the process is inconceivable, by which the great Attila of history could be cotemporized with Hermanaric, who died about a quarter of a century before he was born, with Theodoric, who was born two years after he died, and with Irminfrid of THEIR HISTORIC VALUE. 5 Thuringia, who survived Theodoric some years ; identified, on the other hand, with Eormenric of Kent, the cotemporary of Irminfrid, with Theodoric his nephew, and with an JEtla who certainly reigned in Norfolk, all these anachronisms dis- appear ; and, however great may be the corruptions which have crept into the story which the cycle presents to us, — a story so popular that it was reproduced and embellished from age to age, for several centuries, and in different countries, — whatever details of the true history of Hermanaric, Theodoric, and Attila, may eventually have been incorporated with it, these sagas enable us to accept it as founded on fact, as sub- stantially true. In its earliest form we find it in an English dress, and it is easy to account for its appearance on the continent at a later time. The epoch, in which these heroes flourished, was also one of a great emigration to the continent ; the conquest of Britain was complete, and large bodies of the Anglo-Saxons, by feuds and other causes, were forced to seek settlements abroad. They carried with them, of course, the traditions of their island home, and songs originally composed in England, recounting the exploits of their heroes, were sung at their feasts in France 3 and Thuringia. Traditions of the events which were connected with their expatriation, would be pre- served from generation to generation ; and these would be the groundwork of the German romances, which are all of com- paratively modern date, abound in names of places and countries, bring together their heroes from all parts of Europe, and contain anachronisms even more startling than those 3 When, for instance, the Hocings from Kent settled at Hocquinghem, they would not forget their hero Hnaef. 6 THE ANGLO-SAXON SAGAS. above noticed. One fragment alone of these songs remains in something like its original form, — the Lay of Hildebrand ; it is referred with great probability to the eighth century, and almost equals Beowulf in its simplicity. The theory that sagas, originally English, were carried to the continent, and formed the basis of a very popular cycle of romances, will be found to be borne out by facts which will be adduced in the following pages, and has its exact parallel in the circumstances of the Heliand. We know that the poetical works of our Caedmon 4 embraced the whole series of Scripture history, yet only a part thereof, relating the principal events of Genesis and Exodus, and a fragment treating of one of the events of the Captivity in Babylon, remain to us. The Heliand contains the Gospel story ; and not only is it perfectly Caedmonian in its style, but there is a tradition which evidently relates to it, that in the reign of Louis the Pious, a herdsman received poetical inspiration in his slumbers, and on awaking turned the whole Scripture narrative, of the Old and New Testament, into excellent verse. Here is undeniably Baeda's story of Caedmon, localised in Germany ; and it is very pro- bable that the Heliand is one of the volumes of Caedmon's paraphrase, carried to Germany by an Anglo-Saxon mis- sionary, and translated into the old Saxon dialect. So the sagas of Theodric and iEtla, of which we possess a fragment 4 Sir F. Palgrave, Archaeologia, xxiv. 342, has called in question the story, and the name of Caedmon. With regard to the story, we must re- mark that the subject of it must have been living in Baeda's childhood, in a monastery which had intimate relations with his own ; and with re- gard to the name, that it has remained amongst us to this day (Cadman), and that in each of its elements it has its correspondents in other Anglo- Saxon names, Casdwealh, Caedbaed, Tilmon, Tytmon. THEIR HISTORIC VALUE. 7 in their earliest form, and to which we have references in Beowulf, the Lament of Deor, and the Traveller's Tale, were conveyed by their cotemporaries to the continent, were trans- lated into other dialects, as in the Lay of Hildebrand, and in later times amplified and corrupted, as in the Wilkina Saga and the Nibelungen Lied. The embellishments of the stories in the Edda and Wilkina Saga are such as may have been made in good faith, by scalds whose object was to combine separate traditions, and to illustrate their subject with matter derived from other sources; but in the poems of the Nibelungen series, the old sagas, on which they are founded, have been designedly transformed into mere romances. This we learn from the poems them- selves, and M. Thierry 5 has clearly explained the object with which this was done. When the Emperor Otho the Great, at the battle of Augs- burg, A. D. 955, conquered the Hungarians, he granted them peace, on condition of their receiving amongst them mis- sionaries of the Christian faith. Pilegrin, one of the most eminent ecclesiastics of his time, superintended the Hungarian mission, and was made Bishop of Passau in a.d. 971. Sarolt, a sort of Amazon, a fit representative of Brunhild and Chrim- hild, who rode, fought, and drank like a warrior, received the faith, and was the means of the conversion of her husband Geiza, who became chief of the Hungarian nation in a.d. 972, and was baptized in the following year. Under their auspices, the Hungarians became Christians, and although they apostatized some years later, and drove Pilegrin from his diocese, he had the consolation before his death, in A. D. 5 Attila et ses successeifrs, n. 349. 8 THE ANGLO-SAXON SAGAS. 991, of seeing S. Stephen, the son of Geiza and Sarolt, seated on the Hungarian throne. The Lament of the Nibelungen tells us that this Pilegrin wrote the story of Attila in Latin, and actually presents him to us as a cotemporary of Attila, receiving at Passau the news of the slaughter of the Nibelungen, resolving to put it on record, and engaging one of Attila's bards to assist him. The Nibelungen Lied introduces him in his palace at Passau, entertaining his niece Chrimhild on her way to Attila's court, and speaks of Attila's court as the centre of the propagation of the Christian faith, of a Christian church at Etzelburg, and of the baptism of Ortlieb, the son of Attila and Chrimhild. It is evident that the good bishop had in view the work in which he was himself engaged ; his Attila, Chrimhild, and Ortlieb are no others than Geiza, Sarolt, and S. Stephen; the character of Attila, as he presents it, is that which he proposed for an example to Geiza ; and ancient historic sagas have become a mere romance in his hands. We fortunately possess them, although but in a fragmentary condition, in their purest, their original form. The exact accordance between the poem of Beowulf, and Gregory of Tours' History of the Franks, with regard to the circumstances of Hygelac's last expedition and death ; and the general correspondence between this poem, the Traveller's Tale, and the S. Albans' tradition, with regard to the history and character of OfFa ; warrant us in considering these poems as historic, (every allowance, of course, being made, in the marvellous stories of Sigemund's and Beowulf's adventures with dragons, for the genius of a people who were disposed to regard everything extraordinary as supernatural). These and other marvels we put out of the question ; they may or THEIR HISTORIC VALUE. \) may not be later embellishments ; our object will be, to en- deavour to ascertain how much of the poem relates to the history of our country in the fifth and sixth centuries ; the notices it contains of Hrothgar's family, of Hencgest, of Heatholaf and Horn, of Hygelac, of Beowulf, and of Offa, will be the subjects of the following chapters ; and we shall then examine the Lament of Deor, and the Traveller's Tale, before we resume the history of the establishment of the Anglo- Saxon kingdoms. CHAPTER II. The Ancestors and Family of ' Hrothyar. HE poem of Beowulf commences with the story of Scyld Scefing. * Lo ! We have heard of the Gar-Danes " in days of yore, the power of mighty kings, how the aethelings achieved valour. Oft did Scyld Scef- ing tear away the mead-settles from the hosts of his foes, from many tribes; the warrior dismayed them, after he was first found destitute. Therefore he abode in com- fort, waxed under the welkin, throve in dignities, until every one of those sitting around, over the whale path, should obey him, pay him tribute. That was a good king. A son was afterwards born to him, young in the courts, whom God sent for comfort to the people. He knew the 1 Following Mr. Kemble's prose translation for the most part, I have occasionally made use of Mr. Thorpe's, in the following series of quota- tions. The references are to the pages of the original MS., given in the margin of Mr. Kemble's edition of the text. I think it unnecessary to swell the bulk of this volume by citations of the text, as the poem is easily accessible, through the labours of these eminent scholars, and others on the continent. THE ANCESTORS OF HROTHGAR. 1 1 " evil need they had suffered a long while, princeless. There- " fore the Lord of life, the ruler of glory, gave him worldly " honour. Beowulf, Scyld's son, was famous, his glory " sprang widely in the divided lands." 2 " Then, at the appointed time, Scyld, very decrepid, be- " took him to go into the Lord's enclosure. His dear com- " rades then bare him out, to the shore of the sea, as he * himself, the friend of the Scyldings, the dear land chief, * bade them, whilst he ruled his words ; long he held it. " The ringed ship, the aetheling's vehicle, icy and outward- " bound, stood then at the hithe. Then they laid down the " dear prince, the giver of rings, in the bosom of the ship, " the great one by the mast. There were many treasures " of ornaments, brought from far- ways. I have not heard " of comelier keel, decked with war-weapons and battle- " weeds, bills and byrnies. Many treasures lay on his bosom, " that should depart with him far into the possession of the u flood. They furnished him with offerings, princely trea- * sures, not less than they had done, who sent him forth at " the beginning, when a child, alone over the waves. More- u over they set for him, high over head, a golden sign. They " let the sea bear him, gave him to ocean. Sad was their " spirit, mourning their mood. Men, hall-counsellors, heroes " under heavens, knew not to say forsooth who received that " freight." 3 The tradition, of Scyld's exposure when a child, was known to some of our mediaeval chroniclers, ^Ethelweard, William of Malmsbury, and Simeon of Durham ; but they have erro- neously connected it with Sceaf, the head of the Anglo- Saxon genealogy. I say erroneously, for I cannot but re- 2 F. 129. a F. 129, 130. 12 THE ANGLO-SAXON SAGAS. gard as a purer form of the legend, that which this poem presents to us ; since its author must have lived some cen- turies nearer to the times of which he speaks, than iEthel- weard, and tells us more of the history of this Scyld, than, (as far at least as appears), these later writers knew. His authority appears to be supported by other circumstances. iEthelweard says, 4 that Scef, an infant, was found by the inhabitants of the isle of Scani, in a boat, which had drifted to their shore, laden with armour; that they adopted and educated him, and eventually elected him their king. This tradition is evidently what is alluded to in the passage above cited ; the only variation is in the name ; and this is easily accounted for by the supposition, that ^Ethelweard, (or the authority whence he derived it), mistook Scefing for Sceaf, and attributed it to the only Sceaf of whom he had any knowledge, the head of the Anglo-Saxon genealogy. Having done this, he omits the whole series of generations between Sceaf and Sceldwa. About a century and a-half later, William of Malmsbury 5 gives us another version, in which the circumstance of the armour is omitted, but another is introduced, — that of a sheaf of corn placed at the head of the child, — which can only be regarded as an addition to the story, suggested by the sup- 4 ** Ipse Scef cum uno dromone advectus est in insula Oceani, qua? *' dicitur Scani, armis circumdatus, eratque valde recens puer, et ab in- " colis illius terra? ignotus ; attamen ab eis suscipitur, et ut familiarem " diligenti animo eum custodierunt, et post in regem eligunt." 6 " Iste Sceaf, ut ferunt, in quandam insulam Germanise Scandzam " appulsus, navi sine remige puerulus, posito ad caput frumenti mani- " pulo, dormiens, ideoque Sceaf nuncupatus, ab hominibus regionis illius " pro miraculo exceptus, et sedulo nutritus ; adulta aetate regnavit in " oppido, quod tunc Slaswic nunc vero Haithebi appellatur." THE ANCESTORS OF HROTHGAK. 13 posed meaning of the name. In the genealogy which accom- panies it, he inserts the name of Sceaf between those of Heremod and Sceldwa. This shows that he was borrowing from sources independent of the genealogy, at the head of which he places Streph, saying of him, (what the Saxon Chronicle relates of Sceaf), that he was the son of Noe, born in the ark. The truth is, that Scyld Scefing and Beowulf of this poem have nothing to do with Sceaf, Sceldwa, and Beawa of the genealogy. Misled by the similarity of the names, ^Ethel- weard has attempted to identify them, and consequently has cut off from the genealogy the ancestry of Sceldwa; and "William of Malmsbury, foisting Sceaf into a place which does not belong to him, has invented another name to take that which really does. What has been stated in the " History of the Conquest of " Britain" with regard to Geat and Woden, applies equally to Sceaf, and the rest of his descendants; the names in the genealogy are the names of men, borne, not by these alone, but by others. Sceaf is one of those names which seem to have descended from age to age, from the earliest post-diluvian times. Shebas are mentioned amongst the posterity of Ham and Shem ; the Traveller speaks of a Sceafa as king of the Longobards ; and we have found several traces in this country, either of this individual, or of a namesake. Heremod is a name of great antiquity. It is ascribed in the Scandinavian mythology to a son of the first Woden ; it was borne, in the sixth century before the Christian aera, by the Athenian citizen, who deli- vered his country from the yoke of tyrants, (in honour of whom it was decreed that it should be given to no other) ; 14 THE ANGLO-SAXON SAGAS. it was also the name of one of the personages who are celebrated in this poem, and of others. The Scandinavian genealogy has not only Skiold, corresponding to our Sceldwa, but a second, one of the sons of Woden, and the first king of Hleidre ; and another, king of Varna, is mentioned in the Ynglinga Saga, cotemporary with Eystein king of Upsal ; all perhaps, as well as the Scyld of our poem, namesakes of an original Scyld, of whom the statement 6 might be true, that he was the first colonist of Germany. Beowa occurs as the name of a witness to a charter 7 of Nunna, king of the South Saxons ; and, as that of an earlier chieftain, one of the first colonists of Britain, in several local names. 8 Tsetwa was the name of one of the kings of the Longobards. 9 Beowulf, a name which has never occurred but in this poem (in which two persons in no way related bear it), is certainly distinct from Beowa ; but even were it the same, (as other instances show that the same person might have a short as well as a long name), the coincidence of Sceldwa and Beowa in the genealogy, with Scyld and Beowulf in the poem, would not be more remarkable, than that of the two cotemporary Ead- berhts in the eighth century, each the son of an Eata. I see no reason then for identifying Scyld and Beowulf with Sceldwa and Beowa, the ancestors of Woden, nor for supposing that the poet has omitted a long succession be- tween Beowulf and Healfdene ; on the contrary, I am con- vinced that they are distinct persons, who lived at different 8 In a MS. at the Bibliotheque Imperiale, 6055. 7 Cod. Diplom. 1001. 8 Beowanhain, C. D. 353, for example. 9 So also, when, lower in the genealogies, we find the names of Ossa, Eoppa, Ingwi, Offa and others, occurring in different lines of descent, we may well believe, that those who bore them were so named after heroes of earlier times, well remembered then, though now forgotten. THE ANCESTORS OF HROTHGAR. 15 epochs. The poet clearly speaks of Healfdene as the son of Beowulf, in the same sense as Beowulf was the son of Scyld. u Then was in the towns, a long time, Beowulf of the " Scyldings, the dear king of the people, famous among na- " tions ; (his father had passed away, the prince from his " dwelling) ; until from him in turn sprang high Healf- " dene." 10 And he uses precisely the same expression, immediately afterwards, in speaking of Healfdene's offspring : — " Four sons, chiefs of hosts, numbered forth to him, sprang " into the world, Heorogar and Heothgar, and good Halga." 11 It is clear that he speaks of a continuous succession, Scyld, Beowulf, Healfdene, Heorogar and his brothers. The story of Scyld and the boat is purely Anglo-Saxon. The Danes knew nothing of it ; their second Skiold was the son of Woden, and received the kingdom from his father ; and he was the first, according to their tradition, who bore amongst them the title of king. Yet if Woden came to Den- mark at the time we have supposed, his son Skiold may well have been living during the infancy of our Scyld, and his name have been bestowed by the people of Skane on the child so mysteriously drifted to their shores, with the addi- tion of the distinctive name Scefing, i. e. u the son of the « boat." 12 10 F. 130. 11 There is a defect in the MS., and the fourth son of Healfdene is not mentioned here. 12 For although our glossaries do not give see/ as a name for a boat, the modern skiff proves that they had such a word, equivalent to the O. H. G. scef, Welsh ysgaff, Breton scaff, Erse sgaffa, Gr. u*n ; and the word sceofel, shavell (Tusser), " shovel," indicates the existence of a verb sceafan, sceqf, sceafen, from which it was derived, as L. 41, 42. s7 L. 153-158. 58 L. 59. 116 THE ANGLO-SAXON SAGAS. north of Hocing-maed 59 (" the field of Hoce") in Hampshire, was Hnaefleah 60 in Berkshire, and in the same district of Hamp- shire, Hnagfes scylf 61 near Crondall. The Hocings appear to have been amongst the families who emigrated to Gaul in the reign of Theodric, and Nebi and Huocingus are mentioned amongst the ancestors of one of the wives of Charlemagne. « Helm ruled the Wulfings." 62 The charter which supplies Wolfinges hew, gives us also Helmestreow in its neighbourhood. " Wald ruled the Woings." 63 Waltham in Hampshire, and Upwaltham in Sussex, are in the neighbourhood of " Wuhinga landaes hyrn ; " in Kent we have a Waltham not far from Wingham; and in Essex, Wingford bridge connects the parishes of Great and Little Waltham. " Holen ruled the Wrosns." 64 Holen's name occurs at Hollin in Kossendale, and Hollins- head to the west of it, and at Hollins on the borders of York- shire, Lancashire, and Derbyshire. ({ Hringweald was called king of the Herefaras." 65 Four charters mention Hringwoldes beorg. 66 It was near Otterford, on the borders of Somersetshire and Devonshire, and in the latter county we have Harberton near Totness. Hringweald's name occurs also at Ringwold in Kent, perhaps atBingwood in Hampshire, and at Hringwoldes treow 67 near Burcombe in Wiltshire, so that perhaps he was one of Henc- gest's allies. 59 Cod. Diplom. 1091. ■» Ibid. 430. 6 « Ibid. 595. 62 L. 60. ■ L. 61. 64 L. 68. 65 L. 69, 70. w Cod. Diplom. 1051, 1052, 1117, 1140. 87 Ibid. 1115. THE TRAVELLER'S TALE. 117 " Mearchealf ruled the Hundings." 68 There are two parishes named Marcle, a possible abbrevia- tion of Mearchealf, about twelve miles from one of the Hunt- ingtons, in Herefordshire. " Thyle ruled the Bondings." 69 There are three Tilburys, two to the south, and one to the north, of the district in Essex, in which we have noticed the Rodings. "Billing ruled the Waerns." 70 I have noticed this chieftain, as probably one of Hencgest's associates. " Sceafthere ruled the Ymbras." 71 The name of Shaftesbury, about eighteen miles from Imber, may be an abbreviation of Sceaftheresbyrig. " Sceafa ruled the Longbeards." 72 He also has been noticed, as probably a follower of Henc- gest. " Hagena ruled the Holm-kingdoms." 73 This name occurs in Lincolnshire, at Hagnaby near Alford, and Hagnaby near Spilsby, both on the borders of the fen- country, which may well have been called Holm-rice ; Hain- ton near Wragby, in the same county, may also have been named from him. "Meaca ruled the Myrgings." 74 We find the name of this prince at Mackley, close to Mar- chington, in Staffordshire, at Mackworth, near Markeaton, in Derbyshire, and again at Maxtoke in Warwickshire. The Myrgings are probably the same as the Myrcas, 75 who gave 68 L. 48. • L. 50. 70 L. 52. 7l L. 66. 73 L. 67. 73 L. 43. 74 L. 47. 75 So the Gothic royal race are called Amalas and Amalingas, and Hrothgar's subjects Denas and Deningas. 118 THE ANGLO-SAXON SAGAS. name to the kingdom of Mercia. Under the patronymic form of their name they have left few traces, but Mearcyncgs- eol, abbreviated to Markshall, suggests that a similar abbreviation may have taken place in other names. The Traveller distinguishes the Myrgings from the With-Myrg- ings. He was himself of a noble family among the former, and he says that he visited the latter/ 6 and includes them among the subjects of Offa. 77 His feudal lord was Eadgils, whose name we find at Etchells in Cheshire ; and if this prince were the same as Eadgils, who is mentioned in Beowulf, and who certainly was living at the same time, the presence of the Myrgings in Yorkshire would be accounted for. In most of these instances, there can be little doubt, that the identity of the princes whom the Traveller mentions, is established, by the occurrence of their names in the same dis- tricts as those of the tribes, whom he represents as subject to them. His notices of them are, therefore, equally with those of Hrothgar and of Offa, already referred to, allusions to traditions current in England, for two only of them were visited by him ; the rest probably lived before his time, and some of them as early as the days of Hencgest. Besides these, Whalley in Northumberland, Whalley in Lancashire, and Whaley in Cheshire, bear the name of " Hwala once the best," 78 and Sigeres ac, 79 on the Ouse in Yorkshire, that of Sige- here, of whom he says: — " Sigehere longest ruled the Sea-Danes." 80 Many of the princes, too, whom he visited, may be shown 76 L. 238. 77 L. 86. 78 L. 29, 30. 79 Cod. Diplom. 480. " L. 57, 58. 119 to have reigned in England. Thus Beadeca, 81 whose name we have found in Hampshire, Bedfordshire, and Derbyshire, the sixth descendant of Woden in the line of the East Saxons, might very well have survived until his days. As he was with the Englas, 82 Incgentheow, 83 whom he visited, was perhaps the son of Offa, whom the Cambrian genealogist calls Ongen, the Saxon Chronicle Angeltheow, and Florence, (apparently confounding him with a person who is named in the Bernician genealogy), Angengeat. Secca's 84 name occurs at Seccandun, now Seckington, in Warwickshire; Sifeca's 85 at Seofecandene, 86 near Burford, in Oxfordshire, (called Sewkedene in a document of a.d. 1300, which also mentions Sewkeford near it), at Seofecan wyrth, 87 now Seacourt, also in Oxfordshire, and at Seovechesham, now Abingdon, in Berkshire ; Seafola's 88 probably at Sible Hedingham, and Sibleys, not far from it, in Essex; Hlithe's 89 at Lidbury camp on Salisbury plain, and at Liddington, in the same county, where there is a large fortress ; Gislhere's 90 at Gisl- hereswyrth, 91 now Isleworth, in Middlesex; Hungar's 92 at Hungarton in Leicestershire, and Hungerford in Berkshire ; Raedhere's 93 at Battery in Devonshire ; Elsa's 94 at Elsenham in Essex. He gives us a particular notice of one of the princes who entertained him : — w I was also in Eatule with JElfwine, the son of Eadwine, " who had, in my opinion, of mankind the lightest hand to 81 L. 235. 82 L. 123. M L. 234. 84 L. 231. 85 L. 233. 86 Cod. Diplora. 570. 87 Cod. Diplom.1216. 88 L. 232. ■ L. 234. 90 L. 248. 91 Cod. Diplom. 38. 9i L. 236. 93 L. 247. 94 L. 235. 120 THE ANGLO-SAXON SAGAS. " win praise, the most generous heart in the distribution of " rings, bright circlets." 95 Eatule, I believe, is Yateley in Hampshire, in which dis- trict a prince named iElfwine appears to have lived, whose territory extended about sixteen miles to the west, since JElfwines mearc 96 was in the neighbourhood of Hannington. Idstone, near Ashbury in the adjoining county of Berkshire, was anciently Edwinestone. 97 Thus it is certain that the Traveller was in England, and probable that a very large proportion, of those whose names he enumerates, were settled in the districts, which now form the counties of Cheshire, Derbyshire, Staffordshire, Warwick- shire, Worcestershire, Gloucestershire, Oxfordshire, Wilt- shire, Hampshire, and Berkshire. England, then, being ascertained to have been the scene of great part of his wanderings, and the period being indicated by his notice of Theodric, we are in a position to identify more of the personages whose names occur in his highly interesting nar- rative. He says he was with Eadwine. 98 He, therefore, visited him in the course of his journey, and, as it would appear, conducted his daughter Ealhhild to the court of Eormanric, whose dominions were eastward of Ongle, the kingdom of Offa, (which, as we have seen, comprised Gloucestershire at this time). This Eadwine, whether the same person as the father of ^Elfwine or not, (though it is more probable that he was not, since JElfwine seems to have been an independent prince), may have been the chieftain, whose name is borne by 95 L. 141-150. 96 Cod. Diplom. 939. 97 Domesday. 9S L. 235. 121 two parishes, the Edwins in Herefordshire. If so, his terri- tory would actually come within the compass of the Tra- veller's journey, since he was with the Hundings, traces of whom, with their prince Mearchealf, we have found in this county. He thus describes his visit to Eormanric : — " I was with Eormanric. There all the time the king " of the Goths treated me well. He, the chieftain of his " citizens, gave me a ring, whereon were marked six hundred " sceats of beaten gold, in shilling-reckoning. That, when I " came home, I gave to Eadgils, the prince of the Myrgings, " my patron-lord, for a possession, for a recompense to my " beloved, because he gave me land, my patrimony. And " then Ealhhild, the noble lady-queen, the daughter of Ead- " wine, gave me another (ring). I lengthened her praise " through many lands, when I should say by song, where I " knew under heaven the best gold-decked queen, dispensing "gifts; when I and Skilling raised the song, with clear * voice, for our victor-lord, our voice resounded loud to the "harp. Then many men, proud in spirit, they who knew " well, spake in words, that they had never heard better song. " Thence I traversed all the country of the Goths. I always " sought the best of journeys; that was the household band of "Eormanric." 99 This Eormanric, the cotemporary of Theodric the Frank, can be no other than the father of the first Christian king of Kent, JEthelberht. iEsc-Octa died in a.d. 491, and if twenty years are rightly assigned to the reign of Ossa, that of Eormanric would commence in a.d. 511, and he died pro- » L. 177-224. R 122 THE ANGLO-SAXON SAGAS. bably in a.d. 560. His dominions were eastward of Offa's. He is called king of the Goths, and rightly so ; for the gene- alogies have shown us, that the royal dynasties of the Angles, Jutes, and Saxons, were of the same blood as those who ruled the Goths ; and they enable us to understand how Oslac, the father-in-law of iElfrsed, was a Goth, 100 as descended from Stuf and Wihtgar, who were nephews of Cerdic king of the West Saxons, and whose followers, equally with the colonists of Kent, were Jutes ; and what Belisarius meant, when he said, (as represented by Procopius), " we permit the Goths " to occupy Britain." 101 We even find in this country, in the name of Amalburn, 102 a trace of that which was the noblest race amongst the Goths, the family to which all the Ostro- gothic kings belonged. This is, of course, the Eormanric, to whom one of Deor's stanzas refers. In connection with the Hreadas,and their princes Wulfhere and Wyrmhere, the Traveller mentions an ^Etla, apparently the same person as he who is said, in the beginning of the poem, to have ruled the Huns : — " I sought Wulfhere and Wyrmhere full often. There war " ceased not, when the army of the Hrgedas should defend with " hard swords, about the wood of the Wistlas, their old patri- " monial seat, from the folks of JEtla." 103 Like other chieftains of the time, engaged in the innumer- able wars of which Henry of Huntingdon speaks, Wulfhere and Wyrmhere appear to have moved from place to place. We find traces of their names, in connection with that of the ioo it Q s i ac Goth us erat natione, ortus enim erat de Gothis et Jutis, de " semine scilicet Stuf et Wihtgar." Assek. 101 De Bello Gothico, n. ,02 Cod. Diplom. 685. 103 L. 239-246. THE TRAVELLER'S TALE. 123 Hrasdas, repeatedly in different districts. In Warwickshire the names of Wulfhere and -ZEtla occur close together at Wolverheath, Wolvershill, and Attleborough, the former in- dicating perhaps no more than a temporary presence, the latter a fixed residence. In Cambridgeshire, Radfield hun- dred ; in Suffolk, Westley, Westleton, and Woolverstone ; and, north of these, in Norfolk, Wolverton and Wormegay ; present traces of the Hreadas, Wistlas, Wulfhere and Wyrm- here. This may have been their proper country, and the scene of the war of which the Traveller speaks; for in Norfolk we have two places named after ^Etla, Attlebridge and Attleborough, indicating perhaps that he settled there, after the expulsion of these people. In Buckinghamshire we have Wolverton, and Radcliffe ; in Oxfordshire, Wolvercote, Radford, and Radcote ; in Somersetshire, Wolverton, and Radstock ; in Herefordshire, Wolverlow, Wormelow, Worm- bridge, Wormsley, and Radlow. This JEtla was the Traveller's cotemporary, and that he was, like his namesake, the historic Attila, a king of the Huns, is not impossible ; for we have Hundon in Suffolk, and Hunworth in Norfolk, in the same district as Attlebridge, and Attleborough ; and Huncote in Leicestershire, not far from the other Attleborough ; and, four miles from this Hun- cote, we have a trace of another Hunnish name, Froila, at Frowlesworth. The sequel will confirm this. The Traveller also speaks of having visited the Burgen- das: — " And I was with the Burgends ; there I received a " ring, there Guthhere gave me a welcome present, in reward " of song ; that was no sluggish king." 104 104 L. 131-136. 124 THE ANGLO-SAXON SAGAS. Now the kings of the Burgundians proper, at this time, were Sigismund, a.d. 516 to 524, and Godemar, a.d. 524 to 534, with whom their monarchy ceased. 105 They had no king whose name will answer to Guthhere, but Gundahari, who established their kingdom in Gaul, and was slain A. D. 436 ; and as Gundebald, promulgating his laws, in A. D. 502, makes mention of " our ancestors of royal memory, Gibica, Godo- " mar, Gislahari, and Gundahari : " — it is evident that the three former must have preceded Gundahari, his grandfather, in the ancient seats of their nation. The first, Gibica, has been identified with the individual of whom the Traveller speaks, 106 as having ruled the Burgends; but there was a Gifica once in England, who gave his name to Gifican cumb, 107 near Tisbury in Wiltshire, Indeed I am satisfied that a de- tachment of this nation effected settlements in this island ; — perhaps immediately after that great revolution, which seated Gundebald on the throne, and in which Arthur appears to 405 The succession of the Burgundian kings was as follows : — a. d. 407, Gundahari passed the Rhine. 413, was elected King by the whole nation. Slain by the Huns in 436, Gundevech, his son, succeeding. He was followed by, 473, Chilperic, his son, whose brothers Gundebald, Godemar, and Godegisl had principalities under him. 490, Gundebald slew his three brothers, and the sons of Chilperic. In .516, Sigismund, his son, succeeded him. In .523, he was defeated by the Franks, and in 524, was slain by them, with his sons Gislahari and Gundebald. Godemar, his brother, reigned after him ten years. In 534, he was put to flight by the Franks, and it never was known what became of him. Did he find an asylum in England, and give name to Godmersham in Kent ? m L. 40. ,07 Cod. Diplom. 641. waldheke's saga. 125 have taken part. Of this band of refugees, or allies of Modred, Gifica may have been the leader ; his relation to Guthhere and Gislhere will shortly appear. The opportune discovery, and publication, by Mr. George Stephens of Copenhagen, of two leaves of an Anglo-Saxon saga, has supplied most important illustrations of this part of my subject. The first leaf contains the following passage : — -" hyrde hyne georne. " Hiiru Welandes wore " ne geswiceth monna senigum, " thara the Mimming can " hearne gehealdan. " Oft aet hilde gedreas, " swat-fag and sweord-wiind, l " sec aefter othrum. " iEtlan ord-wyga, " ne last thin ellen nii gyt " gedreosan to daege, " dryhtscipe (feallan). " Ac is se dag cumen, " thaat thii scealt aninga other- " twega " lif for-ledsan, " oththe lange " dora agan mid eldum, " ^Sllfheres sunu. " Nalles ic the, wine mi'n, " wordum cithe thy, " ic the gesawe, " aet tham sweord-plegan, " thurh edwitscype, " aeniges monnes " wig for-biigan, " oththe on weal fleon " lice beorgan ; " theah the lathra fela " thinne byrn-homon " billum heowun. — " heard him gladly. " At least Weland's work " fails not any man, " who can Mimming " shining hold. " Oft in battle fell, " blood - stained and sword- " wounded, " one warrior after another. " iEtla's van-warrior ! " let not thy courage now yet " fail to-day, " thy lordship fall. " For the day is come, " that thou shalt wholly either " lose thy life, " or long " have power among men, " ^Elfhere's son ! " Never, I to thee, my friend, " say it in words, " saw I thee, " at the sword-play, " through cowardice, " of any man " the combat decline, " or flee to fortress " thy body to defend ; " although many foes " thy mail-shirt u hewed with bills. 126 THE ANGLO-SAXON SAGAS. Ac thii symle furthor feohtan sohtest, mael ofer raearce ; tha, ic the, metod, on-dred, thaet thii to fyrenlice feohtan sohtest, aet tham aet-stealle, othres monnes wig-raedenne. Weortha the selfne godum daedum, thenden thin god recce. Ne murn thii for thi mece, the wearth mathma cyst, gifede to eoce unc. Thy thii Giithhere scealt beot for bigan, thass the he thas beaduwe ongan, mid unryhte, aerest secan. Forsoc he tham swurde, and tham sync-fatum, beaga maenigo ; mi sceal, beaga-leas, hworfan from thisse hilde hlafurd, secan ealdne ethel, oththe her aer swefan. Gifhetha"— " But thou ever further " soughtest to fight, " mark over border ; 108 " when I feared for thee, prince, " that thou too fiercely " soughtest to fight, " at the battle-field, 109 " another man's " war-counsellors. " Honour thyself " with good deeds, " whilst thy good lasts. " Mourn not thou for the sword, " which was choicest of treasures, " given us for aid. " For thou to Guthhere " shalt his threat repel, " for that he these quarrels " began, with injustice, " first to seek. " He forsook the sword, " and the treasure-chests, " many rings ; " now shall, ring-less, " turn from this fight " the lord, to seek " his old patrimony, " or here first sleep. " If he then"— The second leaf contains the following, belonging to the 108 This seems to be a proverbial expression, — " the landmark removed M beyond the boundary," — applied to Waldhere's aggressive conflicts. 109 Mr. Thorpe, Codex Exoniensis, translates cet-stealle "refection- " place ;" but the context, speaking of S. Guthlac's warfare with the powers of darkness, shows that it means rather the standard, or the spot where the standard was planted for battle : — " him to aet-stealle M for his standard " aerest araerde " first reared " Cristes rode." " Christ's rood." WALDHERE'S SAGA. 127 sequel of the story, bat not immediately connected with the above : — " (beado-me)ce baeteran, — " battlesword better, " biiton tham anum, " save that one, " tha ic eac hafa on stan-fate " which I eke in the stone-chest " have " stille gehided. " stilly hidden. " Ic wat thaet ic thohte, " I knew that I thought, " Theodric Widian " Theodric with Widia " selfum on-stodon, " himself stood forward, " and eac sine micel " and eke much treasure " raathma mid thi mece, " of ornaments with the sword, " monig othres mid him " many another with them " golde gegirwan. " to grace with gold. " Iu lean genam, " Of old he received reward M thaes the hine of nearwum " because that him out of prison " Nithhades maeg, " Nithhad's kinsman, " Welandes beam, " Weland's son, u Widia ut-for-let ; " Widia delivered ; " thurh fifela gefeald " through the monster's territory " forth onette. " forth proceeded. " Waldere mathelode, " Waldere spake, " wiga ellen-rof " (the mighty warrior u haefde him on handa " had in his hand " Hilde frore, M Hild's icicle, " giith-billa gripe, " the gripe of war-bills), " gyddode wordum. " spake in words. " Hwaet, thii huru wendest, " Lo ! thou at least thoughtest, " wine Burgenda, " friend of the Burgends, thaet me Hagenan hand hilde gefremede, and getwaemde fethe Wigges feta. 110 Gyf thii dyrre, aet thus 111 " heatho, werigan hare byrnan, " that me the hand of Hagena " finished in conflict, " and divided the path " of Wig's feet. " If thou dare, in such combat, " wear thy white byrnie, 110 Mr. Stephens suggests that feta is an archaic form of the dative singular. I regard it as the genitive plural, for fota. 111 Mr. Stephens reads I'hurs heatho, " Thor's conflict." 128 THE ANGLO-SAXON SAGAS. " standath me her on eaxelum " here rests on my shoulder " JElfheres laf, " iElfhere's legacy, " god and geap neb, " good and curve-pointed, " golde geweorthod, " adorned with gold, " ealles unscende, " altogether unshent, " aethelinges reaf, " the spoil of the aetheling, " (halwend) to habbanne " wholesome to have, " thonne had wereth " when the hood defendeth " feorh-hord feondum. " the life-hoard from foes. " He bith fah with me, " He shares feud with me " thonne unmaegas " when strangers " eft onginnath, " again begin, " mecum gemetath, " meet me with swords, M swa ge me dydon. " as ye did me. " Theah mseg sige syllan, " Yet may victory give, " se the symle byth " He who is always " recon and raed-fest " just and constant " ryhta gehwilces. " of each one's rights. " Se the him to tham Halgan " He who himself to the Holy " helpe gelifeth, " trusteth for help, " to Gode gioce, " to God for aid, " he thaer gearo findeth. " he there readily findeth it. " Gif tha earnunga " If then of retribution " . 605, and have formed an intimacy, as related, with Cadwallo ; and the hostility, to which he fell a victim, may have originated in jealousy of the imperial state he affected, of which Baeda makes particular mention. These matters, however, must always remain involved in uncertainty. All that we really know of Eadwine's early years is, that at some period of his A A 178 THE ANNALS OF THE SIXTH CENTURY. exile he must have taken refuge with Ceorl king of the Mercians, whose daughter he married ; that the hostility of ^Ethelfrith pursued him from kingdom to kingdom; that Rsedwald, king of the East Angles, eventually espoused his cause, and placed him on the throne of the united kingdoms of Deira and Bernicia, by his victory over JEthelfrith, in a.d. 617. At the beginning of the seventh century, Anglo-Saxon history begins to assume a more distinct character. Eight kingdoms are established, and six of these, — Kent, Sussex, Wessex, and Mercia, founded in the fifth century, and Ber- nicia and Deira, in the sixth, — have a history more or less complete. The foundation of the kingdom of the East- Angles must have been about the beginning of the sixth century, and Wiwa was its first king, but his great grandson, Raed- wald, is the first who figures in our annals ; and Sleda, who married the sister of ^Ethelberht, is the first king of the East-Saxons whose name is recorded, although there is reason to believe that his great grandfather Bedca reigned in Eng- land. Henceforth, for more than a century, Venerable Baeda is our great historian, and although his immortal work leaves much to be desired with regard to the other kingdoms, the history of Northumbria, at least, (of which, during the fifth and sixth centuries, we already know more, than of the rest), is almost complete. THE END. or the Y UNIVERSITY ■o*. CHISWICK PBESS I-S^^ giffg^NB^ ^ITTrNGHAM AND WILKINS, TOOKS COURT, CHANCERY LANE. • _.. . ' ?jfe .. . - _,■ u * Hfo^ THIS BOOK IS DUE ON THE LAST DATE ( STAMPED BELOW sk of any Library RY FACILITY tlon AN INITIAL FINE OF 25 CENTS WILL BE ASSESSED FOR FAILURE TO RETURN THIS BOOK ON THE DATE DUE. THE PENALTY WILL INCREASE TO SO CENTS ON THE FOURTH DAY AND TO $1.00 ON THE SEVENTH DAY OVERDUE. APR JMHWI MAY 15 ^ 6 AFTER 7 DAYS y calling Jftf. ■; - f bringing books f^^49Rl e made 4 days IOW .«•■, LOW 23May52HL • JUN 1 9 1952 ! LD 21-100m-8,'34 if 1 9 UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LIBRARY