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 SER'S 
 
 E OF KING ALFRED
 
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 LIBRARY 
 
 UNIVERSITY OF 
 CALIFORNIA 
 
 SAN DIEGO
 
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 ASSER'S 
 
 LIFE OF KING ALFRED 
 
 TRANSLATED FROM THE TEXT OF 
 STEVENSON'S EDITION 
 
 BY 
 
 ALBERT S. COOK 
 
 PROFESSOR OF THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE AND LITERATURE IN 
 YALE UNIVERSITY 
 
 GINN & COMPANY 
 
 BOSTON NEW YORK CHICAGO LONDON
 
 COPYRIGHT, 1906 
 BY ALBERT S. COOK 
 
 ALL RIGHTS RESERVED 
 
 66.1 
 
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 GINN & COMPANY PRO- 
 PRIETORS BOSTON U.S.A.
 
 TO THE FRIENDS 
 
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 IN AMERICA
 
 PREFACE 
 
 The issue of Stevenson's long and eagerly expected 
 edition of Asser's Life of King Alfred has provided an 
 opportunity to supply the ever increasing number of the 
 great king's admirers with a more satisfactory rendering 
 into English of this, perhaps the most precious document, 
 notwithstanding all its faults, for the comprehension of his 
 life and character. 
 
 The authenticity of the Life was impugned by Thomas 
 Wright in 1841, by Sir Henry Howorth in 1876-77, and 
 by an unknown writer in 1898, and it had become somewhat 
 the fashion to regard it as a production of a later period, 
 and therefore entitled to but little credence. The doubts 
 as to its authenticity have been satisfactorily dispelled by 
 the two eminent scholars who have most recently discussed 
 the difficulties, Plummer and Stevenson. 
 
 The former, in his Life and Times of Alfred the Great, 
 Oxford, 1902, says (p. 52): ' The work which bears 
 Asser's name cannot be later than 974, and the attempt to 
 treat it as a forgery of the eleventh or twelfth century 
 must be regarded as having broken down. I may add that 
 I started with a strong prejudice against the authenticity 
 of Asser, so that my conclusions have at any rate been 
 impartially arrived at.' The latter, in his noble edition 
 (Oxford, 1904), remarks (p. vii) : 'In discussing the work 
 I have attempted to approach it without any bias for or 
 against it, and throughout my endeavor has been to subject 
 every portion of it to as searching an examination as
 
 vi PREFACE 
 
 my knowledge and critical powers would permit. The net 
 result has been to convince me that, although there may be 
 no very definite proof that the work was written by Bishop 
 Asser in the lifetime of King Alfred, there is no anach- 
 ronism or other proof that it is a spurious compilation 
 of later date. The serious charges brought against its 
 authenticity break down altogether under examination, 
 while there remain several features that point with vary- 
 ing strength to the conclusion that it is, despite its difficul- 
 ties and corruptions, really a work of the time it purports 
 to be. This result is confirmed by the important corrobo- 
 ration of some of its statements by contemporary Frankish 
 chroniclers. Thus the profession of belief in its authen- 
 ticity by such eminent historians as Kemble, Pauli, Stubbs, 
 and Freeman agrees with my own conclusion.' 
 
 Notwithstanding their general rehabilitation of the work, 
 however, neither critic is prepared to trust it implicitly. 
 Plummer says (p. 52) : ' On the whole, then, Asser is an 
 authority to be used with criticism and caution ; partly 
 because we have always to be alive to the possibility of 
 interpolation, partly because the writer's Celtic imagination 
 is apt to run away with him.' And thus Stevenson (p. cxxx) : 
 < The work still presents some difficulties. Carelessness of 
 transcription may possibly explain those that are merely 
 verbal, but there still remain certain passages that lay the 
 author open to the charge of exaggeration, such as his men- 
 tion of gold-covered and silver-covered buildings, if that be 
 the literal meaning of the passage, and his statement that 
 Alfred might, if he had chosen, have been king before his 
 elder brother JEthelred, with whom, it is clear, he was on 
 most intimate terms.' 
 
 The style of the book is not uniform. The passages 
 translated from the Chronicle are simpler, while in the 
 more original parts the author displays an unfortunate 
 tendency to a turgid and at times bombastic manner of
 
 PREFACE vii 
 
 writing. Indeed, it displays, in many passages, the traits of 
 that Hesperic Latinity which, invented or made fashion- 
 able in the sixth century, probably by a British monk in 
 the southwestern part of England, was more or less current 
 in England from the time of Aldhelm until the Norman 
 Conquest. This Hesperic, or Celtic, Latinity has been com- 
 pared to the mock euphuism of Sir Piercie Shafton in 
 Scott's Monastery (Professor H. A. Strong, in American 
 Journal of Philology 26. 205), and may be illustrated by 
 Professor Strong's translation into English of certain sen- 
 tences from the Hisperica Famina, the production, as it is 
 believed, of the monk referred to above : ' This precious 
 shower of words glitters, by no awkward barriers confining 
 the diction, and husbands its strength by an exquisite bal- 
 ance and by equable device, trilling sweet descant of 
 Ausonian speech through the speaker's throat by this 
 shower of words passing through Latin throats ; just as 
 countless swarms of bees go here and there in their hollow 
 hives, and sip the honey-streams in their homes, and set in 
 order, as they are wont, their combs with their beaks.' 
 
 With the passage just quoted may be compared an extract 
 from chapter 88 of Asser, the translation of which is given 
 below (pp. 49, 50) : ' Ac deinde cotidie inter nos sermo- 
 cinando, ad hsec investigando aliis inventis seque placabi- 
 libus testimoniis, quaternio ille refertus succrevit, nee 
 immerito, sicut scriptum est, "super modicum fundamen- 
 tum aedificat Justus et paulatim ad majora defluit," velut 
 apis fertilissima longe lateque gronnios interrogando dis- 
 currens, multimodos divinse scripturae flosculos inhianter 
 et incessabiliter congregavit, quis prsecordii sui cellulas 
 densatim replevit.' Such Latin as this is difficult to trans- 
 late into satisfactory English. If one renders it literally, 
 the result is apt to look rather absurd ; and beyond a cer- 
 tain point condensation is impracticable, or else misrepre- 
 sents the original, faults and merits alike.
 
 Vlll PREFACE 
 
 Hitherto there have been three translations of Asser into 
 English that by J. A. Giles in Bohn's Six Old English 
 Chronicles, London, 1848; that by Joseph Stevenson in 
 Church Historians of England, Vol. 2, London, 1854 ; and 
 that by Edward Conybeare, Alfred in the Chroniclers, 
 London, 1900. As the basis of my work I have taken the 
 translation of Giles, sometimes following it rather closely, 
 and at other times departing from it more or less widely. 
 
 The reader familiar with the traditional Asser will miss 
 some matter with which he is familiar, such as the story of 
 Alfred and the cakes, that of the raven-banner of the Danes, 
 etc. These are derived from interpolations made in the 
 manuscript by Archbishop Parker, which modern critical 
 scholarship has at length excised. For all matters regard- 
 ing the manuscript, the earlier editions, etc., as well as for 
 copious illustrative notes on the text, the reader is referred 
 to Stevenson's edition. 
 
 Insertions made in the text by Stevenson, on what he 
 considers sufficient grounds, are indicated by < >. The 
 chapter-divisions and -numbering are Stevenson's ; the 
 chapter-headings mine. Where modern forms of proper 
 names exist, I have not hesitated to adopt them, and in 
 general have tended rather to normalize them than scrupu- 
 lously to follow the sometimes various spellings of the text. 
 The notes have almost always been derived from Steven- 
 son's edition, whether or not explicit acknowledgment has 
 been made, but now and then, as in the case of the long 
 note on chapter 56, are my own. 
 
 YALE UNIVERSITY 
 
 July 4, 1905
 
 CONTENTS 
 
 PAGE 
 
 1. Alfred's Birth and Genealogy ..... 1 
 
 2. Genealogy of Alfred's Mother ..... 2 
 
 3. The Danes at Wicganbeorg and Sheppey ... 3 
 
 4. The Danes sack Canterbury ..... 3 
 
 5. Battle of Aclea ........ 4 
 
 6. Defeat of the Danes at Sandwich .... 4 
 
 7. .ZEthelwulf assists Burgred ...... 4 
 
 8. Alfred at Rome ........ 5 
 
 9. Other Events of 853 5 
 
 10. The Heathen winter in Sheppey .... 6 
 
 11. ^Ethelwnlf journeys to Rome ..... 6 
 
 12. Rebellion of ^Ethelbald . .... 6 
 
 13. Judith's Position in Wessex ...... 7 
 
 14. Offa and Eadburh . 8 
 
 15. Eadburh's Further Life 9 
 
 16. JEthelwulf's Will 10 
 
 17. JEthelbald marries Judith 11 
 
 18. JEthelbert's Reign 12 
 
 19. ^Ethelbert's Death 12 
 
 20. The Danes in Kent 12 
 
 21. .^Ethelred's Accession ....... 13 
 
 22. Alfred's Rearing . . . . . . 13 
 
 23. Alfred and the Book of Saxon Poems . . . .14 
 
 24. Alfred's Handbook 14 
 
 25. Alfred's Love of Learning . . . . . .15 
 
 26. The Danes occupy York 16 
 
 27. Defeat of the Northumbrians 16 
 
 28. Death of Ealhstan 17 
 
 ix
 
 x CONTENTS 
 
 29. Alfred marries ........ 17 
 
 30. The Danes at Nottingham 17 
 
 31. The Danes at York 18 
 
 32. The Danes at Thetford 18 
 
 33. The Danes triumph 18 
 
 34. Ceolnoth dies 18 
 
 35. The Danes defeated at Englefield 19 
 
 36. Battle of Reading 19 
 
 37. Battle of Ashdown 20 
 
 38. Alfred begins the Attack . . . . . . 20 
 
 39. The Heathen Rout and Loss 21 
 
 40. Battle of Basing 22 
 
 41. ^Ethelred's Death 22 
 
 42. Alfred comes to the Throne ; Battle of Wilton . . 22 
 
 43. Peace made ......... 24 
 
 44. The Heathen winter in London .... 24 
 
 45. The Heathen winter in Lindsey . . . . .24 
 
 46. The Danes in Mercia ...... 24 
 
 47. The Danes in North umbria and Cambridge . . .25 
 
 48. Alfred's Battle at Sea 25 
 
 49. Movements of the Danes . . . . . .25 
 
 50. Halfdene partitions Northumbria .... 26 
 
 51. Division of Mercia ....... 26 
 
 52. The Danes at Chippenham ..... 26 
 
 53. Alfred in Somersetshire ...... 27 
 
 54. The Danes defeated at Cynwit 27 
 
 55. Alfred at Athelney 28 
 
 56. Battle of Edington, and Treaty with Guthrum . . 28 
 
 57. The Danes go to Cirencester ...... 30 
 
 58. Danes at Fulham 31 
 
 59. An Eclipse 31 
 
 60. The Danes in East Anglia 31 
 
 61. The Smaller Army leaves England . . . .31 
 
 62. The Danes fight with the Franks .... 31 
 
 63. The Danes on the Meuse 31 
 
 64. Alfred's Naval Battle with the Danes 31
 
 CONTENTS 
 
 XI 
 
 65. The Danes at Conde" . .32 
 
 66. Deliverance of Rochester ...... 32 
 
 67. Alfred's Naval Battle at the Mouth of the Stour . . 32 
 
 68. Death of Carloman, of Louis II, and of Louis III . 33 
 
 69. The Danes in Old Saxony 33 
 
 70. Charles, King of the Alemanni . . . . . 34 
 
 71. Death of Pope Marinus 34 
 
 72. The Danes break their Treaty 34 
 
 73. Asser makes a New Beginning ..... 34 
 
 74. Alfred's Maladies 35 
 
 75. Alfred's Children and their Education . . . .37 
 
 76. Alfred's Varied Pursuits 38 
 
 77. Alfred's Scholarly Associates : Werfrith, Plegmund, 
 
 JEthelstan, and Werwulf ...... 41 
 
 78. Grimbald and John, the Old Saxon .... 42 
 
 79. Asser's Negotiations with King Alfred . . . .42 
 
 80. The Welsh Princes who submit to Alfred ... 44 
 
 81. How Alfred rewards Submission . . . . .45 
 
 82. The Siege of Paris 46 
 
 83. Alfred rebuilds London 47 
 
 84. The Danes leave Paris 47 
 
 85. Division of the Empire ....... 47 
 
 86. Alfred sends Alms to Rome . . . . . 48 
 
 87. Alfred begins to translate from Latin . . . .48 
 
 88. Alfred's Manual 48 
 
 89. Alfred's Handbook 50 
 
 90. Illustration from the Penitent Thief . . . 51 
 
 91. Alfred's Troubles 51 
 
 92. Alfred builds Two Monasteries .... 54 
 
 93. Monasticism was decayed ...... 55 
 
 94. Monks brought from beyond Sea .... 55 
 
 95. A Crime committed at Athelney . . . . .55 
 
 96. The Plot of a Priest and a Deacon .... 56 
 
 97. The Execution of the Plot 57 
 
 98. The Convent at Shaftesbury 58 
 
 99. Alfred divides his Time and his Revenues . 58
 
 xii CONTENTS 
 
 100. The Threefold Division of Officers at Court . . 59 
 
 101. The Distribution for Secular Purposes . . .59 
 
 102. The Distribution for Religious Purposes . . 60 
 
 103. Alfred's Dedication of Personal Service . . .01 
 
 104. Alfred's Measure of Time . . . . . . 61 
 
 105. Alfred judges the Poor with Equity . . . .63 
 
 106. His Correction of Unjust and Incompetent Judges . 63 
 
 APPENDIXES 67 
 
 Appendix I : Alfred's Preface to his Translation of 
 Gregory's Pastoral Care ..... 69 
 
 Appendix II : Letter from Fulco, Archbishop of Rheims, 
 to Alfred 72 
 
 INDEX 79
 
 ASSER'S LIFE OF KING ALFRED 
 
 To my lord Alfred, king of the Anglo-Saxons, the worshipful and 
 pious ruler of all Christians in the island of Britain, Asser, least 
 of all the servants of God, wisheth thousandfold prosperity for 
 loth lives, according to the desires of his heart. 
 
 1. Alfred's Birth and Genealogy. 1 In the year of our 
 Lord's incarnation 849, Alfred, King of the Anglo-Saxons, 
 was born at the royal vill of Wantage, in Berkshire (which 
 receives its name from Berroc Wood, where the box- 
 tree grows very abundantly). His genealogy is traced in 
 the following order : King Alfred was the son of King 
 ^Ethelwulf ; he of Egbert ; he of Ealhmund ; he of Eafa ; 
 he of Eoppa; he of Ingild. Ingild and Ine, the famous 
 king of the West Saxons, were two brothers. Ine went to 
 Eome, and there ending the present life honorably, entered 
 into the heavenly fatherland to reign with Christ. Ingild 
 and Ine were the sons of Coenred ; he of Ceolwald ; he of 
 Cutha 2 ; he of Cuthwine ; he of Ceawlin ; he of Cynric ; he 
 of Creoda ; he of Cerdic ; he of Elesa ; <he of Esla ;> he of 
 Gewis, from whom the Welsh name all that people Ge- 
 gwis 8 ; <he of Wig ; he of Freawine ; he of Freothegar ;> he 
 
 1 Based on the Chronicle under 855. 
 
 2 MS. Cudam. So always, but see the Chronicle. 
 
 8 Bede, Eccl. Hist. 3. 7 : ' The West Saxons, formerly called 
 Gewissae.' Plummer comments in his edition, 2. 89 : ' It is probably 
 connected with the "visi" of "Visigoths," meaning "west," and 
 hence would indicate the western confederation of Saxon tribes ; 
 . . . " Gewis " is probably an eponymous hero manufactured out of 
 the tribe-name.' The gw of Gegivis is a Welsh peculiarity (Stevenson). 
 
 1
 
 2 GENEALOGY OF ALFRED'S MOTHER 
 
 of Brond ; lie of Beldeag ; he of Woden ; he of Frithowald ; 
 he of Frealaf ; he of Frithuwulf ; he of Finn<; he of> God- 
 wulf ; he of Geata, which Geta the heathen long worshiped 
 as a god. Sedulius makes mention of him in his metrical 
 Paschal Poem, as follows : 
 
 If heathen poets rave o'er fancied woe, 
 
 While in a turgid stream their numbers flow 
 
 Whether the tragic buskin tread the stage, 
 
 Or waggish Geta all our thoughts engage ; 
 
 If by the art of song they still revive 
 
 The taint of ill, and bid old vices live ; 
 
 If monumental guilt they sing, and lies 
 
 Commit to books in magisterial wise ; 
 
 Why may not I, who list to David's lyre, 
 
 And reverent stand amid the hallowed choir, 
 
 Hymn heavenly things in words of tranquil tone, 
 
 And tell the deeds of Christ in accents all my own? 
 
 This Geata was the son of Tsetwa ; he of Beaw ; he of 
 Sceldwea ; he of Heremod ; he of Itermod ; he of Hathra ; 
 he of Hwala ; he of Bedwig ; he of Sceaf 1 ; he of Noah ; he 
 of Lamech ; he of Methuselah ; he of Enoch ; <he of Jared> ; 
 he of Mahalalel ; he of Kenan 2 ; he of Enosh ; he of Seth ; 
 he of Adam. 
 
 2. Genealogy of Alfred's Mother. 3 The mother of Alfred 
 was named Osburh, an extremely devout woman, noble 
 in mind, noble also by descent ; she was daughter to Oslac, 
 the famous cupbearer of King .^Ethelwulf. This Oslac 
 
 1 MS., Stev. Seth (but Stevenson suggests Sceaf in his variants, 
 referring to the Chronicle under 856). 
 
 2 MS. Cainan, but see Gen. 5. 12 in R. V. 
 
 8 Partly from the Chronicle, but the whole account of Alfred's father 
 and mother is original.
 
 THE DANES SACK CANTERBURY 3 
 
 was a Goth by nation, descended from the Goths and 
 Jutes of the seed, namely, of Stuf and Wihtgar, two 
 brothers and ealdormen. They, having received possession 
 of the Isle of Wight from their uncle, King Cerdic, and 
 his son Cynric their cousin, 1 slew the few British inhabi- 
 tants whom they could find in that island, at a place called 
 Wihtgaraburg 2 ; for the other inhabitants of the island had 
 either been slain or had escaped into exile. 
 
 3. The Danes at Wicganbeorg and Sheppey. 8 In the year 
 of our Lord's incarnation 851, which was the third of King 
 Alfred's life, Ceorl, Ealdorman of Devon, fought with the 
 men of Devon against the heathen at a place called Wicgan- 
 beorg, 4 and the Christians gained the victory. In that same 
 year the heathen first wintered in the island called Sheppey, 
 which means < Sheep-island,' situated in the river Thames 
 between Essex and Kent, though nearer to Kent than to 
 Essex, and containing a fair monastery. 5 
 
 4. The Danes sack Canterbury. 6 The same year a great 
 army of heathen came with three hundred and fifty ships 
 to the mouth of the river Thames, and sacked Dorubernia, 
 or Canterbury, 7 <and also London) (which lies on the north 
 bank of the river Thames, on the confines of Essex and 
 Middlesex, though in truth that city belongs to Essex) ; 
 and they put to flight Beorhtwulf, King of Mercia, with all 
 the army which he had led out to oppose them. 
 
 1 From the Chronicle under 530 and 634. 
 
 2 Unidentified. 
 
 8 From the Chronicle. 
 
 4 Possibly Wigborough, in the parish of South Petherton in Somer- 
 setshire (Stevenson). 
 
 5 Minster in Sheppey, founded by St. Sexburh in the seventh 
 century ; it disappeared during the Danish ravages (Stevenson). 
 
 6 From the Chronicle. 
 
 7 MS. Cantwariorum civitatem ; Chron. Cantwaraburg.
 
 4 ,THELWULF ASSISTS BURGRED 
 
 5. Battle of Aclea. 1 Having done these things there, the 
 aforesaid heathen host went into Surrey, which is a shire 
 situated on the south shore of the river Thames, and to the 
 west of Kent. And JSthelwulf, King of the Saxons, and his 
 son ^Ethelbald, with the whole army, fought a long time 
 against them at a place called Aclea, 2 that is, ' Oak-plain ' ; 
 there, after a lengthy battle, which was fought with much 
 bravery on both sides, the most part of the heathen horde 
 was utterly destroyed and slain, so that we never heard of 
 their being so smitten, either before or since, in any region, 
 in one day 8 ; and the Christians gained an honorable victory, 
 and kept possession of the battle-field. 
 
 6. Defeat of the Danes at Sandwich. 4 In that same year 
 JUthelstan and Ealdorman Ealhere slew a large army of 
 the heathen in Kent, at a place called Sandwich, and took 
 nine ships of their fleet, the others escaping by flight 
 
 7. TEthelwulf assists Burgred. 5 In the year of our Lord's 
 incarnation 853, which was the fifth of King Alfred's life, 
 Burgred, King of the Mercians, sent messengers to beseech 
 JSthelwulf, King of the West Saxons, to come and help 
 him in reducing to his sway the inhabitants of Mid-Wales, 
 who dwell between Mercia and the western sea, and who 
 were struggling against him beyond measure. So without 
 delay King ^Ethelwulf, on receipt of the embassy, moved 
 his army, and advanced with King Burgred against Wales G ; 
 
 1 Based upon the Chronicle. 
 
 2 Stevenson is inclined to reject this customary identification with 
 Oakley, in Surrey. 
 
 3 The source the Chronicle says : ' And there made the greatest 
 slaughter among the heathen army that we have heard reported to the 
 present day.' 
 
 * From the Chronicle. 
 
 5 Mainly from the Chronicle. 
 
 6 The ' North "Welsh ' of the Chronicle.
 
 OTHER EVENTS OF 853 6 
 
 and immediately upon his entrance he ravaged it, and 
 reduced it under subjection to Burgred. This being done, 
 he returned home. 
 
 8. Alfred at Rome. 1 In that same year King ^Ethelwulf 
 sent his above-named son Alfred to Home, with an honor- 
 able escort both of nobles and commoners. Pope Leo at 
 that time presided over the apostolic see, and he anointed 
 as king 2 the aforesaid child 8 Alfred in the town, and, adopt- 
 ing him as his son, confirmed him.* 
 
 9. Other Events of 853. 5 That same year also, Ealdorman 
 Ealhere with the men of Kent, and Huda with the men of 
 Surrey, fought bravely and resolutely against an army of the 
 heathen in the island which is called Tenet 6 in the Saxon 
 tongue, but Kuim in the Welsh language. At first the 
 Christians were victorious. The battle lasted a long time ; 
 many fell on both sides, and were drowned in the water ; 
 and both the ealdormen were there slain. In the same year 
 also, after Easter, ^Ethelwulf, King of the West Saxons, 
 gave his daughter to Burgred, King of the Mercians, as his 
 queen, and the marriage was celebrated in princely wise at 
 the royal vill of Chippenham. 
 
 1 Based upon the Chronicle. 
 
 2 MS. in regem. 8 MS. infantem. 
 
 4 ' A letter from the pope to Alfred's father, regarding the ceremony 
 at Rome, has been fortunately preserved for us in a twelfth-century 
 collection of papal letters, now in the British Museum. . . . The letter 
 is as follows : "Edeluulfo, regi Anglorum [marginal direction for rubri- 
 cator]. <F> ilium vestrum Erf red, quern hoc in tempore ad Sanctorum 
 Apostolorum limina destinare curastis, benigne suscepimus, et, quasi 
 spiritalem filium consulatus cingulo (cinguli emend. Ewald) honore 
 vestimentisque, ut mos est Romanis consulibus, decoravimus, eo quod in 
 nostris se tradidit manibus" ' (Stevenson). The Chronicle has: '. . . 
 consecrated him as king, and took him as bishop-son.' See p. 29. 
 
 5 Based upon the Chronicle. 6 Thanet.
 
 6 REBELLION OF ^THELBALD 
 
 10. The Heathen winter in Sheppey. 1 In the year of our 
 Lord's incarnation 855, which was the seventh of the afore- 
 said king's life, a great army of the heathen spent the whole 
 winter in the aforesaid island of Sheppey. 
 
 11. vEthelwulf journeys to Rome. 2 In that same year the 
 aforesaid worshipful King JEthelwulf freed the tenth part 
 of all his kingdom from every royal service and tribute, 
 and offered it up as an everlasting grant to God the One and 
 Three, on the cross of Christ, for the redemption of his 
 own soul and those of his predecessors. In the same year 
 he went to Home with much honor ; and taking with him 
 his son, the aforesaid King Alfred, a second time on the 
 same journey, because he loved him more than his other 
 sons, he remained there a whole year. After this he re- 
 turned to his own country, bringing with him Judith, 
 daughter of Charles, King of the Franks. 8 
 
 12. Rebellion of >Ethelbald. 4 In the meantime, however, 
 whilst King .ZEthelwulf was residing this short time beyond 
 sea, a base deed was done in the western part of Selwood, 5 
 repugnant to the morals of all Christians. For King ^Ethel- 
 bald, Ealhstan, Bishop of the church of Sherborne, and 
 Eanwulf, Ealdorman of Somerset, are said to have formed 
 a conspiracy to the end that King ^thelwulf, on his return 
 from Kome, should not again be received in his kingdom. 
 This unfortunate occurrence, unheard-of in all previous ages, 
 is ascribed by many to the bishop and ealdorman alone, 
 since, say they, it resulted from their counsels. Many also 
 ascribe it solely to the insolence of the king, because he 
 was headstrong in this matter and in many other perversi- 
 ties, as I have heard related by certain persons, and as was 
 
 1 From the Chronicle. 2 Based upon the Chronicle. 
 
 8 Charles the Bald. 4 Original. 
 
 5 Comprising Somerset, Devon, and Cornwall.
 
 JUDITH'S POSITION IX WESSEX 7 
 
 proved by the result of that which followed. For on his 
 return from Rome, ^Ethelwulf's son aforesaid, with all his 
 counselors, or rather waylayers, attempted to perpetrate 
 the crime of repulsing the king from his own kingdom ; 
 but neither did God suffer it, nor did the nobles of all 
 Wessex consent thereto. For to prevent this irremediable 
 danger to Wessex of a war between father and son, or 
 rather of the whole nation waging civil war more fiercely 
 and cruelly from day to day, as they espoused the cause of 
 the one or the other, -7- by the extraordinary clemency of the 
 father, seconded by the consent of all the nobles, the king- 
 dom which had hitherto been undivided was parted between 
 the two, the eastern districts being given to the father, and 
 the western to the son. Thus where the father ought by 
 just right to have reigned, there did his unjust and obsti- 
 nate son bear rule ; for the western part of Wessex is 
 always superior to the eastern. 
 
 13. Judith's Position in Wessex. 1 When^Ethelwulf, there- 
 fore, returned from Home, the whole nation, as was fitting, 
 so rejoiced 2 in the arrival of the ruler that, if he had allowed 
 them, they would have expelled his unruly son ^Ethelbald, 
 with all his counselors, from the kingdom. But he, as I 
 have said, acting with great clemency and prudent counsel, 
 would not act in this way, lest the kingdom should be 
 exposed to peril. He likewise bade Judith, daughter of 
 King Charles, whom he had received from her father, take 
 her seat by his own side on the royal throne, without any 
 dispute or enmity from his nobles even to the end of his 
 life, though contrary to the perverse custom of that nation. 3 
 
 1 Chiefly original. 2 From the Chronicle. 
 
 8 Prudentius of Troyes (in Annales Bertiniani, an. 856,, ed. Waitz, 
 p. 47), says of Bishop Hincmar : ' Earn . . . reginse nomine insignit, 
 quod sibi suseque genti eatenus fuerat insuetum.'
 
 8 OFF A AND EADBUKH 
 
 For the nation of the West Saxons does not allow the 
 queen to sit beside the king, nor to be called queen, but 
 only the king's wife ; which refusal, or rather reproach, 
 the chief persons of that land say arose from a certain 
 headstrong and malevolent queen of the nation, who did 
 all things so contrary to her lord and to the whole people 
 that not only did the hatred which she brought upon her- 
 self bring to pass her exclusion from the queenly throne, 
 but also entailed the same corruption upon those who came 
 after her, since, in consequence of the extreme malignity of 
 that queen, all the inhabitants of the land banded them- 
 selves together by an oath never in their lives to let any 
 king reign over them who should bid his queen take her seat 
 on the royal throne by his side. And because, as I think, 
 it is not known to many whence this perverse and detest- 
 able custom first arose in Wessex, contrary to the custom 
 of all the Germanic peoples, it seems to me right to explain 
 it a little more fully, as I have heard it from my lord Alfred 
 the truth-teller, King of the Anglo-Saxons, who often told 
 me about it, as he also had heard it from many men 
 of truth who related the fact, or, I should rather say, 
 expressly preserved the remembrance of it. 
 
 14. Offa and Eadburh. 1 There was in Mercia in recent 
 times a certain valiant king, who was dreaded by all the 
 neighboring kings and states. His name was Offa, and it 
 was he who had the great dike made from sea to sea 
 between Wales and Mercia. 2 His daughter, named Eadburh, 
 was married to Beorhtric, King of the West Saxons. The 
 moment she had possessed herself of the king's good will, 
 and practically the whole power of the realm, she began to 
 
 1 Original. 
 
 2 Offa's Dike ; it extended from the mouth of the Dee to that of the 
 Severn.
 
 EADBURH'S FURTHER LIFE 9 
 
 live tyrannically, after the manner of her father. Every 
 man whom Beorhtric loved she would execrate, and would 
 do all things hateful to God and man, accusing to the king 
 all whom she could, thus depriving them insidiously either 
 of life or of power. And if she could not obtain the king's 
 consent, she used to take them off by poison, as is ascertained 
 to have been the case with a certain young man beloved by 
 the king, whom she poisoned, seeing that she could not 
 accuse him to the king. It is said, moreover, that King 
 Beorhtric unwittingly tasted of the poison, though the queen 
 had intended to give it, not to him, but to the young man ; 
 the king, however, was beforehand with him, and so both 
 perished. 
 
 15. Eadburh's Further Life. 1 King Beorhtric therefore 
 being dead, the queen, since she could no longer remain 
 among the Saxons, sailed beyond sea with countless treas- 
 ures, and came to Charles, 2 King of the Franks. As she 
 stood before the dais, bringing many gifts to the king, Charles 
 said to her : ' Choose, Eadburh, between me and my son, who 
 stands with me on this dais.' She, without deliberation, fool- 
 ishly replied : ' If I am to have my choice, I choose your son, 
 because he is younger than you.' At which Charles smiled 
 and answered : ' If you had chosen me, you should have had 
 my son ; but since you have chosen him, you shall have 
 neither me nor him.' However, he gave her a large convent 
 of nuns, in which, having laid aside her secular habit, and 
 assumed the dress worn by the nuns, she discharged the 
 office of abbess for a few years. As she is said to have 
 lived irrationally in her own country, so she appears to 
 have acted much more so among a foreign people ; for, being 
 finally caught in illicit intercourse with a man of her own 
 nation, she was expelled from the monastery by order of 
 1 Original. 2 Charlemagne.
 
 10 BETHEL WULF'S WILL 
 
 King Charles. Henceforward she lived a life of shame in 
 poverty and misery until her death ; so that at last, accom- 
 panied only by one slave, as I have heard from many who 
 saw her, she begged her bread daily at Pavia, 1 and so 
 wretchedly died. 
 
 16. JEthelwulf's Will. 2 Now King ^Ethelwulf lived two 
 years after his return from Rome ; during which, among 
 many other good deeds of this present life, reflecting on his 
 departure .according to the way of all flesh, that his sons 
 might not quarrel unreasonably after their father's death, 
 he ordered a will or letter of instructions to be written, 8 
 in which he commanded that his kingdom should be duly 
 divided between his two eldest sons ; his private heritage 
 between his sons, his daughter, and his relatives; and the 
 money which he should leave behind him between his 
 soul * and his sons and nobles. Of this prudent policy I 
 have thought fit to record a few instances out of many for 
 posterity to imitate, namely, such as are understood to 
 belong principally to the needs of the soul ; for the others, 
 which relate only to human stewardship, it is not necessary 
 
 1 ' Pavia was on the road to Rome, and was hence frequented by 
 English pilgrims on their journey to the latter' (Stevenson). The 
 Chronicle says under 888 : ' Queen ^Ethelswith, who was King Alfred's 
 sister, died ; and her body lies at Pavia. ' ' With this story of Eadburh's 
 begging in that city we may compare the statement of St. Boniface, 
 written about 747, as to the presence of English prostitutes or adulter- 
 esses in the cities of Lombardy, Frankland, or Gaul (Diimmler, Epis- 
 tol(K Karolini Mm 1. 355 ; Haddan and Stubbs, Councils 3. 381). At 
 the date of this letter the Lombards still spoke their native Germanic 
 tongue, and it is probable that as late as Eadburh's time it was still 
 the predominant speech in Lombardy ' (Stevenson). 
 
 2 Mostly original. 
 
 8 In Alfred's will (Cart. Sax. 2. 177. 9) he refers to this as ' AJmlfes 
 cinges yrfegewrit ' (Stevenson). 
 4 That is, for the good of his soul.
 
 ^ETHELBALD MARRIES JUDITH 11 
 
 to insert in this little work, lest prolixity should create 
 disgust in those who read or wish to hear. For the bene- 
 fit of his soul, then, which he studied to promote in all 
 things from the first flower of his youth, he directed that, 
 through all his hereditary land, one poor man to every ten 
 hides, 1 either native or foreigner, should be supplied with 
 food, drink, and clothing by his successors unto the final 
 Day of Judgment ; on condition, however, that that land 
 should still be inhabited both by men and cattle, and should 
 not become deserted. He commanded also a large sum 
 of money, namely, three hundred mancuses, 2 to be carried 
 annually to Home for the good of his soul, to be there 
 distributed in the following manner : a hundred man- 
 cuses in honor of St. Peter, especially to buy oil for the 
 lights of that apostolic church on Easter Eve, and also at 
 cockcrow; a hundred mancuses in honor of St. Paul, for 
 the same purpose of buying oil for the church of St. Paul 
 the apostle, to fill the lamps for Easter Eve and cock- 
 crow ; and a hundred mancuses for the universal apostolic 
 Pope. 
 
 17. JEthelbald marries Judith. 3 But when King ^Ethel- 
 wulf was dead <and buried at Winchester), 4 his son ^Ethel- 
 bald, contrary to God's prohibition and the dignity of a 
 Christian, contrary also to the custom of all the heathen, 5 
 ascended his father's bed, and married Judith, daughter 
 of Charles, King of the Franks, incurring much infamy 
 from all who heard of it. During two years and a half of 
 
 1 Lat. manentibus. 
 
 2 A mancus was thirty pence, one-eighth of a pound. 
 
 3 Original. 
 
 4 From Florence of Worcester. The Annals of St. Neots have: ' and 
 buried at Steyning ' (Stemrugam). 
 
 6 This last statement is incorrect.
 
 12 THE DANES IN KENT 
 
 lawlessness he held after his father the government of the 
 West Saxons. 
 
 18. JEthelbert's Reign. 1 In the year of our Lord's incar- 
 nation 860, which was the twelfth of King Alfred's life, 
 <King> JSthelbald <died, and) was buried at Sherborne. 
 His brother ./Ethelbert, as was right, added Kent, Surrey, 
 and Sussex to his realm. In his days a great army of 
 heathen came from the sea, and attacked and laid waste 
 the city of Winchester. As they were returning laden 
 with booty to their ships, Osric, Ealdorman of Hampshire, 
 with his men, and Ealdorman ^Ethelwulf, with the men of 
 Berkshire, faced them bravely. Battle was then joined in 
 the town, and the heathen were slain on every side ; and 
 rinding themselves unable to resist, they took to flight like 
 women, and the Christians held the battle-field. 
 
 19. ^thelbert's Death. 2 So JEthelbert governed his 
 kingdom five years in peace and love and honor; and 
 went the way of all flesh, to the great grief of his subjects. 
 He rests interred in honorable wise at Sherborne. by the 
 side of his brother. 
 
 20. The Danes in Kent. 3 In the year of our Lord's in- 
 carnation 864 the heathen wintered in the isle of Thanet, 
 and made a firm treaty with the men of Kent, who prom- 
 ised them money for observing their agreement. In the 
 meantime, however, the heathen, after the manner of foxes, 
 burst forth with all secrecy from their camp by night, and 
 setting at naught their engagements, and spurning the 
 promised money which they knew was less than they 
 
 1 From the Chronicle under 860. As ^thelbert was already in pos- 
 session of Kent, Surrey, and Sussex, it should rather be said that he 
 added Wessex. 
 
 2 From the Chronicle under 860. 
 
 8 Chiefly from the Chronicle under 865 and 866.
 
 ALFRED'S REARING 13 
 
 could get by plunder they ravaged all the eastern coast 
 of Kent. 
 
 21. ^thelred's Accession. 1 In the year of our Lord's in- 
 carnation 866, which was the eighteenth of King Alfred's 
 life, .(Ethelred, brother of King ^Ethelbert, undertook the 
 government of the West Saxon realm. The same year a 
 great fleet of heathen came to Britain from the Danube, 2 
 and wintered in the kingdom of the East Saxons, which 
 is called in Saxon East Anglia ; and there they became in 
 the main an army of cavalry. But, to speak in nautical 
 phrase, I will no longer commit my vessel to wave and 
 sail, or steer my roundabout course at a distance from land 
 through so many calamities of wars and series of years, but 
 rather return to that which first prompted me to this task : 
 that is to say, I think it right briefly to insert in this place 
 the little that has come to my knowledge about the char- 
 acter of my revered lord Alfred, King of the Anglo-Saxons, 
 during the years of infancy and boyhood. 
 
 22. Alfred's Rearing. 3 He was extraordinarily beloved 
 by both his father and mother, and indeed by all the peo- 
 ple, beyond all his brothers ; in inseparable companionship 
 with them he was reared at the royal court. 4 As he ad- 
 vanced through the years of infancy and youth, he appeared 
 more comely in person than his brothers, as in counte- 
 nance, speech, and manners he was more pleasing than 
 they. His noble birth and noble nature implanted in him 
 from his cradle a love of wisdom above all things, even 
 amid all the occupations of this present life ; but with 
 shame be it spoken ! by the unworthy neglect of his 
 
 1 The earlier part from the Chronicle. 
 
 2 Probably meaning the mouths of the Rhine (Stevenson). 
 
 3 Original. 
 
 * Curto, a word showing Frankish influence.
 
 14 ALFRED'S HANDBOOK 
 
 parents and governors he remained illiterate till he was 
 twelve years old or more, though by day and night he was 
 an attentive listener to the Saxon poems which he often 
 heard recited, and, being apt at learning, kept them in his 
 memory. He was a zealous practiser of hunting in all its 
 branches, and followed the chase with great assiduity and 
 success ; for his skill and good fortune in this art, and in 
 all the other gifts of God, were beyond those of every one 
 else, as I have often witnessed. 
 
 23. Alfred and the Book of Saxon Poems. 1 Now on a cer- 
 tain day his mother was showing him and his brothers a 
 book of Saxon poetry, which she held in her hand, and 
 finally said : 'Whichever of you can soonest learn this vol- 
 ume, to him will I give it.' Stimulated by these words, or 
 rather by divine inspiration, and allured by the beautifully 
 illuminated letter at the beginning of the volume, < Alfred) 2 
 spoke before all his brothers, who, though his seniors in 
 age, were not so in grace, and answered his mother : l Will 
 you really give that book to that one of us who can first 
 understand and repeat it to you ? ' At this his mother 
 smiled with satisfaction, and confirmed what she had 
 before said : ' Yes/ said she, < that I will.' Upon this the 
 boy took the book out of her hand, and went to his master 
 and learned it by heart, 8 whereupon he brought it back to 
 his mother and recited it. 
 
 24. Alfred's Handbook. 4 After this <he learned) 2 the 
 daily course, that is, the celebration of the hours, and 
 afterwards certain Psalms, and many prayers, contained 
 in a book 6 which he kept day and night in his bosom, as 
 
 1 Original. Stevenson would refer this event to a date earlier than 
 855. 2 From Florence of Worcester. 
 
 8 So Pauli and Stevenson interpret legit. 
 * Original. 5 Cf. chap. 88.
 
 ALFRED'S LOVE OF LEARNING 15 
 
 I myself have seen, and always carried about with him, 
 for the sake of prayer, through all the bustle and business 
 of this present life. But, sad to relate, he could not gratify 
 his ardent wish to acquire liberal art, 1 because, as he was 
 wont to say, there were at that time no good teachers in 
 all the kingdom of the West Saxons. 2 
 
 25. Alfred's Love of Learning. 8 This he would confess, 
 with many lamentations and with sighs from the bottom 
 of his heart, to have been one of his greatest difficulties 
 and impediments in this present life, that when he was 
 young and had leisure and capacity for learning, he had no 
 masters; but when he was more advanced in years, he was 
 continually occupied, not to say harassed, day and night, 
 by so many diseases unknown to all the physicians of this 
 island, as well as by internal and external anxieties of 
 sovereignty, and by invasions of the heathen by sea and 
 land, that though he then had some store of teachers and 
 writers, 4 it was quite impossible for him to study. But yet 
 among the impediments of this present life, from child- 
 hood to the present day [and, as I believe, even until his 
 death], 5 he has continued to feel the same insatiable desire. 
 
 1 The liberal arts were seven, consisting of the trivium grammar, 
 logic, and rhetoric and the quadrivium arithmetic, geometry, 
 music, and astronomy. This course of study was introduced in the 
 sixth century. Asser here employs the singular, artem, which might 
 be translated by 'education.' 
 
 2 See Alfred's own statement in Appendix I, p. 69. 
 8 Original. 
 
 * Alfred says (Preface to the Pastoral Care) : 'Thanks be to 
 Almighty God that we have any teachers among us now.' In this 
 same Preface he mentions, among those who aided him in the trans- 
 lation, Archbishop Plegmund, Bishop Asser, our author, and the two 
 priests Grimbold and John. Cf. chaps. 77, 78, 79, 81, 88, and 
 Appendix I, p. 71. 6 Stevenson brackets this clause.
 
 16 DEFEAT OF THE NORTHUMBRIANS 
 
 26. The Danes occupy York. 1 In the year of our Lord's 
 incarnation 867, which was the nineteenth of the aforesaid 
 King Alfred's life, the army of heathen before mentioned 
 removed from East Anglia to the city of York, which is 
 situated on the north bank of the river Humber. 
 
 27. Defeat of the Northumbrians. 1 At that time a vio- 
 lent discord arose, by the instigation of the devil, among 
 the Northumbrians, as always is wont to happen to 
 a people who have incurred the wrath of God. For the 
 Northumbrians at that time, as I have said, 2 had expelled 
 their lawful king Osbert from his realm, and appointed a 
 certain tyrant named ^Ella, not of royal birth, over the 
 affairs of the kingdom. But when the heathen approached, 
 by divine providence, and the furtherance of the common 
 weal by the nobles, that discord was a little appeased, and 
 Osbert and ^Ella uniting their resources, and assembling 
 an army, marched to the town of York. The heathen fled 
 at their approach, and attempted to defend themselves 
 within the walls of the city. The Christians, perceiving 
 their flight and the terror they were in, determined to fol- 
 low them within the very ramparts of the town, and to 
 demolish the wall ; and this they succeeded in doing, since 
 the city at that time was not surrounded by firm or strong 
 walls. When the Christians had made a breach, as they 
 had purposed, and many of them had entered into the city 
 along with the heathen, the latter, impelled by grief and 
 necessity, made a fierce sally upon them, slew them, routed 
 them, and cut them down, both within and without the 
 walls. In that battle fell almost all the Northumbrian 
 
 1 Mostly from the Chronicle. 
 
 2 This clause must refer to the first line of the chapter, as there is 
 no previous mention of the Northumbrians.
 
 THE DANES AT NOTTINGHAM 17 
 
 troops, and both the kings were slain ; the remainder, who 
 escaped, made peace with the heathen. 
 
 28. Death of Ealhstan. 1 In the same year, Ealhstan, 
 Bishop of the church of Sherborne, went the way of all 
 flesh, after he had honorably ruled his see fifty years ; and 
 in peace he was buried at Sherborne. 
 
 29. Alfred marries. 2 In the year of our Lord's incarna- 
 tion 868, which was the twentieth of King Alfred's life, 
 the aforesaid revered King Alfred, then occupying only 
 the rank of viceroy (secundarify, betrothed 3 and espoused 
 a noble Mercian lady, 4 daughter of J5thelred, surnamed 
 Mucill, Ealdorman of the Gaini. 5 The mother of this 
 lady was named Eadburh, of the royal line of Mercia, 
 whom I often saw with my own eyes a few years before 
 her death. She was a venerable lady, and after the decease 
 of her husband remained many years a chaste widow, even 
 till her own death. 
 
 30. The Danes at Nottingham. 6 In that same year the 
 above-named army of heathen, leavingNorthumbria, invaded 
 Mercia, and advanced to Nottingham, which is called in 
 Welsh Tigguocobauc, 7 but in Latin ' The House of Caves,' 
 
 1 From the Chronicle. 2 Original. 
 
 8 'Subarravit, formed from sub and arrha, represents literally the 
 English verb wed, which refers to the giving of security upon the 
 engagement of marriage. . . . [It] is glossed by beweddian in Napier's 
 Old English Glosses' (Stevenson). 
 
 4 William of Malmesbury calls her ^Ethelswith. 
 
 6 Of the Gaini nothing is known. 
 
 6 Largely from the Chronicle. 
 
 7 'A compound of tig (Modern Welsh ty, "house"), and guocobauc 
 (Modern Welsh gogofawg), an adjective derived f rom gogof, "cave." 
 . . . The name ... is certainly applicable to Nottingham, which has 
 long been famous for the houses excavated out of the soft sandstone 
 upon which it stands' (Stevenson). The word Nottingham itself, how- 
 ever, has not this meaning.
 
 18 THE DANES TRIUMPH 
 
 and wintered there that same year. Immediately on their 
 approach, Burgred, King of the Mercians, and all the 
 nobles of that nation, sent messengers to ^Ethelred, 1 King 
 of the West Saxons, and his brother Alfred, entreating 
 them to come and aid them in fighting against the afore- 
 said army. Their request was readily granted; for the 
 brothers, as soon as promised, assembled an immense army 
 from every part of their <realm>, and, entering Mercia, came 
 to Nottingham, all eager for battle. When now the heathen, 
 defended by the castle, refused to fight, and the Christians 
 were unable to destroy the wall, peace was made between 
 the Mercians and the heathen, and the two brothers, 
 JEthelred and Alfred, returned home with their troops. 
 
 31. The Danes at York. 2 In the year of our Lord's incar- 
 nation 869, which was the twenty -first of King -Alfred's life, 
 the aforesaid army of heathen, riding back to Northumbria, 
 went to the city of York, and there passed the whole winter. 
 
 32. The Danes at Thetford. 2 In the year of our Lord's 
 incarnation 870, which was the twenty-second of King 
 Alfred's life, the above-mentioned army of heathen passed 
 through Mercia into East Anglia, and wintered at Thetford. 3 
 
 33. The Danes triumph. 2 That same year Edmund, 
 King of the East Angles, fought most fiercely against that 
 army ; but, lamentable to say, the heathen triumphed, 
 for he and most of his men were there slain, while the 
 enemy held the battle-field, and reduced all that region to 
 subjection. 
 
 34. Ceolnoth dies. 4 That same year Ceolnoth, Arch- 
 bishop of Canterbury, went the way of all flesh, and was 
 buried in peace in that city. 
 
 1 Here and elsewhere in the text often spelled ^thered. 
 
 2 From the Chronicle. 8 In Norfolk. 
 4 Mostly from the Chronicle.
 
 BATTLE OF READING 19 
 
 35. The Danes defeated at Englefield. 1 In the year of 
 our Lord's incarnation 871, which was the twenty-third of 
 King Alfred's life, the heathen army, of hateful memory, 
 left East Anglia, and, entering the kingdom of the West 
 Saxons, came to the royal vill called Heading, situated on 
 the south bank of the Thames, in the district called Berk- 
 shire ; and there, on the third day after their arrival, their 
 <two> ealdormen, with great part of the army, rode forth 
 for plunder, while the others made an entrenchment be- 
 tween the rivers Thames and Kennet, on the southern 
 side of the same royal vill. They were encountered by 
 ^Ethelwulf, Ealdorman of Berkshire, with his men, at a 
 place called Englefield 2 <in English, and in Latin ' The 
 Field of the Angles'). 8 Both sides fought bravely, and 
 made long resistance to each other. At length one of the 
 heathen ealdormen was slain, and the greater part of the 
 army destroyed; upon which the rest saved themselves 
 by flight, and the Christians gained the victory and held 
 the battle-field. 
 
 36. Battle of Reading. 1 Four days afterwards, King 
 ^Ethelred and his brother Alfred, uniting their forces and 
 assembling an army, marched to Reading, where, on their 
 arrival at the castle gate, they cut to pieces and overthrew 
 the heathen whom they found outside the fortifications. 
 But the heathen fought no less valiantly and, rushing like 
 wolves out of every gate, waged battle with all their 
 might. Both sides fought long and fiercely, but at last, 
 sad to say, the Christians turned their backs, the heathen 
 obtained the victory and held the battle-field, the aforesaid 
 Ealdorman ^Ethelwulf being among the slain. 
 
 1 Chiefly from the Chronicle. 
 
 2 Five and one-half miles southwest of Reading. 
 
 3 Added from Florence of Worcester by Stevenson.
 
 20 ALFRED BEGINS THE ATTACK 
 
 37. Battle of Ashdown. 1 Boused by this grief and 
 shame, the Christians, after four days, with all their forces 
 and much spirit advanced to battle against the aforesaid 
 army, at a place called Ashdown, 2 which in Latin signi- 
 fies ' Ash's 8 Hill.' The heathen, forming in two divisions, 
 arranged two shield- walls of similar size ; and since they 
 had two kings and many ealdormen, they gave the middle 4 
 part of the army to the two kings, and the other part to 
 all the ealdormen. The Christians, perceiving this, divided 
 their army also into two troops, and with no less zeal 
 formed shield-walls. 6 But Alfred, as I have been told by 
 truthful eye-witnesses, marched up swiftly with his men to 
 the battle-field ; for King ^Ethelred had remained a long 
 time in his tent in prayer, hearing mass, and declaring that 
 he would not depart thence alive till the priest had done, 
 and that he was not disposed to abandon the service of God 
 for that of men ; and according to these sentiments he acted. 
 This faith of the Christian king availed much with the 
 Lord, as I shall show more fully in the sequel. 
 
 38. Alfred begins the Attack. 6 Now the Christians had 
 determined that King ^Ethelred, with his men, should 
 attack the two heathen kings, and that his brother Alfred, 
 with his troops, should take the chance of war against all 
 the leaders of the heathen. Things being so arranged on 
 
 1 Chiefly from the Chronicle. 
 
 2 The Berkshire Downs (Stevenson). 
 
 3 Stevenson is convinced that ^Escesdun, though interpreted as 
 'mons fraxini,' cannot mean 'the hill of the ash,' but that Ash is 
 here a man's name. 
 
 4 Perhaps mediam is a scribal error for unam or primam (Steven- 
 son). 
 
 5 There is a note on the Germanic shield-wall in my edition of 
 Judith (305 a ), in the Belles Lettres Series. 
 
 6 All original except final clause.
 
 21 
 
 both, sides, the king still continued a long time in prayer, 
 and the heathen, prepared for battle, had hastened to the 
 field. Then Alfred, though only second in command, could 
 no longer support the advance of the enemy, unless he 
 either retreated or charged upon them without waiting for 
 his brother. At length, with the rush of a wild boar, he 
 courageously led the Christian troops against the hostile 
 army, as he had already designed, for, although the king 
 had not yet arrived, he relied upon God's counsel and 
 trusted to His aid. Hence, having closed up his shield- 
 wall in due order, he straightway advanced his standards 
 against the foe. <At length King ^Ethelred, having fin- 
 ished the prayers in which he was engaged, came up, and, 
 having invoked the King of the universe, entered upon the 
 engagement.) 1 
 
 39. The Heathen Rout and Loss. 2 But here I must inform 
 those who are ignorant of the fact that the field of battle 
 was not equally advantageous to both parties, since the 
 heathen had seized the higher ground, and the Christian 
 array was advancing up-hill. In that place there was a 
 solitary low thorn-tree, which I have seen with my own 
 eyes, and round this the opposing forces met in strife with 
 deafening uproar from all, the one side bent on evil, the 
 other on fighting for life, and dear ones, and fatherland. 
 When both armies had fought bravely and fiercely for a 
 long while, the heathen, being unable by God's decree 
 longer to endure the onset of the Christians, the larger 
 part of their force being slain, betook themselves to shame- 
 ful flight. There fell one of the two heathen kings and 
 five ealdormen ; many thousand of their men were either 
 slain at this spot or lay scattered far and wide over the 
 
 1 Supplied by Stevenson from Florence of Worcester. 
 
 2 Mostly original.
 
 22 ALFRED COMES TO THE THRONE 
 
 whole field of Ashdown. Thus there fell King Bagsecg, 
 Ealdorman Sidroc the Elder and Ealdorman Sidroc the 
 Younger, Ealdorman Osbern, Ealdorman Fraena, and Eal- 
 dorman Harold ; and the whole heathen army pursued its 
 flight, not only until night, but until the next day, even 
 until they reached the stronghold 1 from which they had 
 sallied. The Christians followed, slaying all they could 
 reach, until it became dark. 
 
 40. Battle of Basing. 2 After 8 fourteen days had elapsed 
 King ^Ethelred and his brother Alfred joined their forces, 
 and marched to Basing 4 to fight with the heathen. Having 
 thus assembled, battle was joined, and they held their own 
 for a long time, but the heathen gained the victory, and 
 held possession of the battle-field. After this fight, another 
 army of heathen came from beyond sea, and joined them. 
 
 41. ^Ethelred's Death. 5 That same year, after Easter, the 
 aforesaid King ^Ethelred, having bravely, honorably, and 
 with good repute governed his kingdom five years through 
 many tribulations, went the way of all flesh, and was bur- 
 ied in Wirnborne Minster, 6 where he awaits the coming of 
 the Lord and the first resurrection with the just. 
 
 42. Alfred comes to the Throne; Battle of Wilton. 7 
 That same year the aforesaid Alfred, who had been up 
 to that time, during the lifetime of his brothers, only 
 of secondary rank, now, on the death of his brother, by 
 God's permission undertook the government of the whole 
 
 1 Probably Reading. 2 From the Chronicle. 
 
 8 Before this sentence occurs the following in the Latin : Quibus 
 cum talia prcesentis vitce dispendia alienigenis perperam qucerentibus 
 non svfficerent. This may represent a sentence in the author's draft 
 that was intended, owing to change of construction, to be omitted 
 (Stevenson). * In Hampshire. 
 
 6 Mostly from the Chronicle. 6 In Dorsetshire. 
 
 7 Paraphrased and amplified from the Chronicle.
 
 BATTLE OF WILTON 23 
 
 kingdom, amid the acclamations of all the people; and 
 indeed, if he had chosen, he might easily have done so with 
 the general consent whilst his brother above named was 
 still alive, since in wisdom and every other good quality he 
 surpassed all his brothers, and especially because he was 
 brave and victorious in nearly every battle. And when he 
 had reigned a month almost against his will for he did not 
 think that he alone, without divine aid, could sustain the 
 ferocity of the heathen, though even during his brothers' 
 lifetimes he had borne the calamities of many he fought 
 a fierce battle with a few men, and on very unequal terms, 
 against all the army of the heathen, at a hill called Wilton, 
 on the south bank of the river Wiley, 1 from which river 
 the whole of that shire is named ; and after a severe 
 engagement, lasting a considerable part of the day, the 
 heathen, seeing the whole extent of the danger they were 
 in, and no longer able to bear the attack of their enemies, 
 turned their backs and fled. But, shame to say, they 
 took advantage of their pursuers' rashness, 2 and, again 
 rallying, gained the victory and kept the battle-field. Let 
 no one be surprised that the Christians had but a small 
 number of men, for the Saxons as a people had been all 
 but worn out by eight battles in this selfsame year against 
 the heathen, in which there died one king, nine chieftains, 
 and innumerable troops of soldiers, not to speak of count- 
 less skirmishes both by night and by day, in which the oft- 
 named <King> Alfred, and all the leaders of that people, with 
 their men, and many of the king's thanes, had been engaged 
 in unwearied strife against the heathen. How many thou- 
 sand heathen fell in these numberless skirmishes God alone 
 
 1 A tributary of the Nadder, which it joins near Wilton. 
 
 2 Or, perhaps, ' fewness,' reading paucitatem for peraudacitatem 
 (Stevenson).
 
 24 THE ,DANES IN MERCIA 
 
 knows, over and above those who were slain in the eight 
 battles above mentioned. 
 
 43. Peace made. 1 In that same year the Saxons made 
 peace with the heathen, on condition that they should take 
 their departure ; and this they did. 
 
 44. The Heathen winter in London. 2 In the year of our 
 Lord's incarnation 872, being the twenty-fourth of King 
 Alfred's life, the aforesaid army of heathen went to London, 
 and there wintered; and the Mercians made peace with 
 them. 
 
 45. The Heathen winter in Lindsey. 2 In the year of our 
 Lord's incarnation 873, being the twenty-fifth of King 
 Alfred's life, the oft-named army, leaving London, went into 
 Northumbria, and there wintered in the shire of Lindsey ; 
 and the Mercians again made peace with them. 
 
 46. The Danes in Mercia. 3 In the year of our Lord's 
 incarnation 874, being the twenty-sixth of King Alfred's 
 life, the above-named army left Lindsey and marched to Mer- 
 cia, where they wintered at Kepton. 4 Also they compelled 
 Burgred, King of Mercia, against his will to leave his king- 
 dom and go beyond sea to Kome, in the twenty-second year 
 of his reign. He did not live long after his arrival at Rome, 
 but died there, and was honorably buried in the Colony of 
 the Saxons, 6 in St. Mary's church, 6 where he awaits the 
 Lord's coming and the first resurrection with the just. The 
 heathen also, after his expulsion, subjected the whole king- 
 dom of Mercia to their dominion ; but, by a miserable 
 arrangement, gave it into the custody of a certain foolish 
 
 1 Mostly from the Chronicle. 2 From the Chronicle. 
 
 8 Chiefly from the Chronicle. * In Derbyshire. 
 
 6 Among the Germans there were Colonies (Scholae) of the Frisians, 
 Franks, and Lombards, as well as of the Saxons. 
 6 Now Santo Spirito in Sassia, near the Vatican.
 
 MOVEMENTS OF THE DANES 25 
 
 man, named Ceolwulf, one of the <king's> thanes, on con- 
 dition that he should peaceably restore it to them on what- 
 soever day they should wish to have it again ; and to bind 
 this agreement he gave them hostages, and swore that he 
 would not oppose their will in any way, but be obedient to 
 them in every respect. 
 
 47. The Danes in Northumbria and Cambridge. 1 In the year 
 of our Lord's incarnation 875, being the twenty-seventh of 
 King Alfred's life, the above-mentioned army, leaving 
 Repton, separated into two bodies, one of which went with 
 Halfdene into Northumbria, and having wintered there 
 near the Tyne, and reduced all Northumbria to subjection, 
 also ravaged the Picts and the people of Strathclyde. 2 
 The other division, with Guthrum, 8 Oscytel, and Anwind, 
 three kings of the heathen, went to Cambridge, and there 
 wintered. 
 
 48. Alfred's Battle at Sea. 4 In that same year King 
 Alfred fought a battle at sea against six ships of the heathen, 
 and took one of them, the rest escaping by flight. 
 
 49. Movements of the Danes. 5 In the year of our Lord's 
 incarnation 876, being the twenty-eighth year of King 
 Alfred's life, the oft-mentioned army of the heathen, leav- 
 ing Cambridge by night, entered a fortress called Wareham, 6 
 where there is a monastery of nuns between the two rivers 
 Froom <and Tarrant), in the district which is called in Welsh 
 Durngueir, 7 but in Saxon Thornsseta, 8 placed in a most 
 secure location, except on the western side, where there was 
 a territory adjacent. With this army Alfred made a solemn 
 treaty to the effect that they should depart from him, and 
 
 1 From the Chronicle. 6 Chiefly from the Chronicle. 
 
 2 The valley of the Clyde. 6 In Dorsetshire. 
 
 3 Here spelled Gothrum. 7 Dorchester. 
 
 * From the Chronicle. 8 For the usual Dornsaete.
 
 26 THE DANES AT CHIPPENHAM 
 
 they made no hesitation to give him as many picked hos- 
 tages as he named ; also they swore an oath on all the relics 
 in which King Alfred trusted next to God, 1 and on which 
 they had never before sworn to any people, that they would 
 speedily depart from his kingdom. But they again practised 
 their usual treachery, and caring nothing for either hostages 
 or oath, they broke the treaty, and, sallying forth by night, 
 slew all the horsemen [horses ?] that they had, 2 and, turn- 
 ing off, started without warning for another place called in 
 Saxon Exanceastre, and in Welsh Cairwisc, which means 
 in Latin < The City <of Exe>,' situated on the eastern bank 
 of the river Wise, 3 near the southern sea which divides 
 Britain from Gaul, and there passed the winter. 
 
 50. Halfdene partitions Northumbria. In that same year 
 Halfdene, king of that part of Northumbria, divided up the 
 whole .region between himself and his men, and settled 
 there with his army. 
 
 51. Division of Mercia. 4 The same year, in the month of 
 August, that army went into Mercia, and gave part of the 
 district of the Mercians to one Ceolwulf, 5 a weak-minded 
 thane of the king ; the rest they divided among themselves. 
 
 52. The Danes at Chippenham. 6 In the year of our Lord's 
 incarnation 878, being the thirtieth of King Alfred's life, 
 the oft-mentioned army left Exeter, and went to Chippen- 
 ham, a royal vill, situated in the north of Wiltshire, on the 
 east bank of the river which is called Avon in Welsh, and 
 
 1 Here the Chronicle has 'on the holy arm-ring,' on which the 
 Danes, it would seem, were accustomed to swear. 
 
 2 Here the Chronicle has : ' They, the mounted army, stole away 
 from thefierd [the English forces] in the night into Exeter.' This, of 
 course, is the true account, while the statement in Asser is incredible. 
 
 8 Exe. 5 See chap. 46. 
 
 * From the Chronicle. 6 Largely from the Chronicle.
 
 THE DANES DEFEATED AT CYNWIT 27 
 
 there wintered. And they drove many of that people by 
 their arms, by poverty, and by fear, to voyage beyond sea, 
 and reduced almost all the inhabitants of that district to 
 subjection. 
 
 53. Alfred in Somersetshire. At that same time the 
 above-mentioned King Alfred, with a few of his nobles, and 
 certain soldiers and vassals, was leading in great tribula- 
 tion an unquiet life among the woodlands and swamps of 
 Somersetshire ; for he had nothing that he needed except 
 what by frequent sallies he could forage openly or stealthily 
 from the heathen or from the Christians who had submitted 
 to the rule of the heathen. 1 
 
 54. The Danes defeated at Cynwit. 2 In that same year 
 the brother 3 of Inwar 4 and Halfdene, with twenty-three 
 ships, came, after many massacres of the Christians, from 
 Dyfed, 5 where he 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 
 thanes, before the fortress of Cynwit, 6 in which many of 
 the king's thanes, with their followers, had shut themselves 
 up for safety. The heathen, seeing that the fortress was 
 unprepared and altogether unfortified, except that it merely 
 had fortifications after our manner, determined not to 
 assault it, because that place is rendered secure by its posi- 
 tion on all sides except the eastern, as I myself have seen, 
 but began to besiege it, thinking that those men would 
 soon surrender from famine, thirst, and the blockade, since 
 
 1 At this point Archbishop Parker interpolated, from the Annals 
 of St. Neots, the story of Alfred and the cakes. This story, however, 
 cannot be proved to antedate the Norman Conquest. 
 
 2 The first clause from the Chronicle; the rest original. 
 
 3 Name unknown. 6 Qr South Wales. See chap. 80. 
 
 4 Hingwar. e site unknown.
 
 28 BATTLE OF EDINGTON 
 
 there is no water close to the fortress. But the result did 
 not fall out as they expected; for the Christians, before 
 they began at all to suffer from such want, being inspired 
 by Heaven, and judging it much better to gain either victory 
 or death, sallied out suddenly upon the heathen at day- 
 break, and from the first cut them down in great numbers, 
 slaying also their king, so that few escaped to their ships. 
 
 55. Alfred at Athelney. 1 The same year, after Easter, 
 King Alfred, with a few men, made a stronghold in a place 
 called Athelney,' 2 and from thence sallied with his vassals 
 of Somerset to make frequent and unwearied assaults upon 
 the heathen. And again, the seventh week after Easter, he 
 rode to Egbert's Stone, 8 which is in the eastern part of 
 Selwood Forest (in Latin ' Great Forest,' and in Welsh 
 Coit Maur). Here he was met by all the neighboring folk 
 of Somersetshire and Wiltshire, and such of Hampshire 
 as had not sailed beyond sea for fear of the heathen ; and 
 when they saw the king restored alive, as it were, after 
 such great tribulation, they were filled, as was meet, with 
 immeasurable joy, and encamped there for one night. At 
 daybreak of the following morning, the king struck his 
 camp, and came to .^Eglea, 4 where he encamped for one 
 night. 
 
 56. Battle of Edington, and Treaty with Guthrum. 5 The 
 next morning at dawn he moved his standards to Edington, 6 
 and there fought bravely and perseveringly by means of a 
 close shield-wall against the whole army of the heathen, 
 
 1 Mostly from the Chronicle. 
 
 2 In Somersetshire. 8 Unknown. 
 
 4 Or perhaps better, Iglea ; see Stevenson's note on the word, p. 270 
 of his edition. He says : ' It is probably an older name of Southleigh 
 Wood, or of part of it.' 
 
 6 Based upon the Chronicle. 6 In Wiltshire.
 
 TREATY WITH GUTHRUM 29 
 
 whom at length, with the divine help, he defeated with 
 great slaughter, and pursued them flying to their strong- 
 hold. Immediately he slew all the men and carried off all 
 the horses and cattle that he could find without the fortress, 
 and thereupon pitched his camp, with all his army, before 
 the gates of the heathen stronghold. And when he had 
 remained there fourteen days, the heathen, terrified by 
 hunger, cold, fear, and last of all by despair, begged for 
 peace, engaging to give the king as many designated hos- 
 tages as he pleased, and to receive none from him in return 
 in which manner they had never before made peace 
 with any one. The king, hearing this embassage, of his 
 own motion took pity upon them, and received from them 
 the designated hostages, as many as he would. Thereupon 
 the heathen swore, besides, that they would straightway 
 leave his 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 after (three) 1 weeks Guthrum, king 
 of the heathen, with thirty 2 men chosen from his army, 
 came to Alfred at a place called Aller, near Athelney, and 
 there King Alfred, receiving him as a son by adoption, 
 raised him up from the holy font of baptism. On the eighth 
 day, at a royal vill named Wedmore, his chrism-loosing 8 
 
 1 Supplied by Stevenson from the Chronicle. 
 
 2 Properly, as one of thirty, according to the Chronicle. 
 
 8 Chrism is the term employed for the mixture of oil and balsam 
 employed in the rite of confirmation, and sometimes for the ceremony 
 of confirmation itself. In the early church, this ceremony immediately 
 followed baptism, and was performed by the laying on of hands. In 
 the Roman church it is obligatory on all Catholics, and no baptism is 
 theoretically complete without it. It is performed by a bishop (only 
 exceptionally by a priest). The ceremony begins with the bishop's ris- 
 ing and facing the person or persons to be confirmed, his pastoral staff
 
 30 THE DANES GO TO CLRENCESTER 
 
 took place. After his baptism he remained 'twelve days 
 with the king, who, together with all his companions, gave 
 him many rich gifts. 1 
 
 57. The Danes go to Cirencester. 2 In the year of our 
 Lord's incarnation 879, which was the thirty-first of King 
 Alfred's life, the aforesaid army of heathen, leaving Chip- 
 penham, as they had promised, went to Cirencester, which 
 is called in Welsh Cairceri, and is situated in the southern 
 
 in his hand, and saying : ' May the Holy Ghost come upon you, and 
 the power of the Holy Ghost keep you from sins ' (Handbook to Chris- 
 tian and Ecclesiastical Rome: Liturgy in Borne, London, 1897, pp. 169- 
 171). The rite is described in Egbert's Pontifical, which may be taken 
 as representing the custom in the church of Alfred's time. Lingard 
 says (Anglo-Saxon Church, London, 1858, 1. 297): 'According to that 
 pontifical, the bishop prayed thus: "Almighty and Everlasting God, 
 who hast granted to this thy servant to be born again of water and the 
 Holy Ghost, and hast given to him remission of his sins, send down 
 upon him thy sevenfold Holy Spirit, the Paraclete from heaven, 
 Amen. Give to him the spirit of wisdom and understanding, Amen 
 the spirit of counsel and fortitude, Amen the spirit of knowledge 
 and piety, Amen. Fill him with the spirit of the fear of God and our 
 Lord Jesus Christ, and mercifully sign him with the sign of the holy 
 cross for life eternal." The bishop then marked his forehead with 
 chrism, and proceeded thus: "Receive this sign of the holy cross 
 with the chrism of salvation in Christ Jesus unto life eternal." The 
 head was then bound with a fillet of new linen to be worn seven days, 
 and the bishop resumed: " O God, who didst give thy Holy Spirit to 
 thine apostles, that by them and their successors he might be given to 
 the rest of the faithful, look down on the ministry of our lowliness, 
 and grant that into the heart of him whose forehead we have this day 
 anointed, and confirmed with the sign of the cross, thy Holy Spirit 
 may descend ; and that, dwelling therein, he may make it the temple 
 of his glory, through Christ our Lord." The confirmed then received 
 the episcopal blessing, and communicated during the mass.' 
 
 The chrism-loosing was the ceremony of unbinding the fillet, appar- 
 ently. 
 
 1 MS. cedificia ; Stevenson, beneftcia. 2 Chiefly from the Chronicle.
 
 ALFRED'S NAVAL BATTLE WITH THE DANES 31 
 
 part of the kingdom of the Hwicce, 1 and there they remained 
 one year. 
 
 58. Danes at Fulham. 2 In that same year a large army 
 of heathen sailed from beyond sea into the river Thames, 
 and joined the greater army. However, they wintered at 
 Fulham, near the river Thames. 
 
 59. An Eclipse. 8 In that same year an eclipse 4 of the sun 
 took place between nones and vespers, but nearer to nones. 
 
 60. The Danes in East Anglia. 5 In the year of our Lord's 
 incarnation 880, which was the thirty-second of King 
 Alfred's life, the oft-mentioned army of heathen left Ciren- 
 cester, and went to East Anglia, where they divided up the 
 country and began to settle. 
 
 61. The Smaller Army leaves England. 6 That same year 
 the army of heathen, which had wintered at Fulham, left 
 the island of Britain, and sailed over sea to East Frankland, 
 where they remained for a year at a place called Ghent. 
 
 62. The Danes fight with the Franks. In the year of our 
 Lord's incarnation 881, which was the thirty-third of King 
 Alfred's life, the army went further on into Frankland, and 
 the Franks fought against them ; and after the battle the 
 heathen, obtaining horses, became an army of cavalry. 
 
 63. The Danes on the Meuse. 7 In the year of our Lord's 
 incarnation 882, which was the thirty-fourth of King 
 Alfred's life, the aforesaid army sailed their ships up into 
 Frankland by a river called the Meuse, and there wintered 
 one year. 
 
 64. Alfred's Naval Battle with the Danes. 8 In that same 
 year Alfred, King of the Anglo-Saxons, fought a battle at 
 
 1 Gloucester, Worcester, etc. 6 From the Chronicle. 
 
 2 Mostly from the Chronicle. 6 Ibid. 
 
 3 Mostly from the Chronicle. 7 Ibid. 
 
 4 See Stevenson's interesting note. 8 Ibid.
 
 32 NAVAL BATTLE AT MOUTH OF THE STOUR 
 
 sea against the heathen fleet, of which he captured two 
 ships, and slew all who were on board. Two commanders 
 of the other ships, with all their crews, worn out by the 
 fight and their wounds, laid down their arms, and submitted 
 to the king on bended knees with many entreaties. 
 
 65. The Danes at Conde. 1 In the year of our Lord's 
 incarnation 883, which was the thirty-fifth of King Alfred's 
 life, the aforesaid army sailed their ships up the river called 
 Scheldt to a convent of nuns called Conde, and there 
 remained one year. 
 
 66. Deliverance of Rochester. 2 In the year of our Lord's 
 incarnation 884, which was the thirty-sixth of King Alfred's 
 life, the aforesaid army divided into two parts : one body 
 of them went into East Frankland, and the other, coming 
 to Britain, entered Kent, where they besieged a city called 
 in Saxon Eochester, situated on the east bank of the river 
 Medway. Before the gate of the town the heathen 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 heathen abandoned their fortress and all the 
 horses which they had brought with them out of Frank- 
 land, and, leaving behind them in the fortress the greater 
 part of their prisoners on the sudden arrival of the king, 
 fled in haste to their ships ; the Saxons immediately seized 
 upon the prisoners and horses left by the heathen ; and so 
 the latter, compelled by dire necessity, returned the same 
 summer to Frankland. 
 
 67. Alfred's Naval Battle at the Mouth of the Stour. 8 
 In that same year Alfred, King of the Anglo-Saxons, 
 shifted his fleet, full of fighting men, from Kent to East 
 
 1 Mostly from the Chronicle. 2 Largely from the Chronicle. 
 
 3 Mostly from the Chronicle.
 
 THE DANES IN OLD SAXONY 33 
 
 Anglia, 1 for the sake of spoil. No sooner had they arrived 
 at the mouth of the river Stour than thirteen ships of 
 the heathen met them, prepared for battle ; a fierce naval 
 combat ensued, and the heathen were all slain ; all the 
 ships, with all their money, were taken. After this, while 
 the victorious royal fleet was reposing, 2 the heathen who 
 occupied East Anglia assembled their ships from every 
 quarter, met the same royal fleet at sea in the mouth of the 
 same river, and, after a naval engagement, gained the 
 victory. 
 
 68. Death of Carloman, of Louis II, and of Louis III. 8 
 In that same year also, Carloman, King of the West 
 Franks, while engaged in a boar-hunt, was miserably slain 
 by a boar, which inflicted a dreadful wound on him with 
 its tusk. His brother Louis, who had also been King of the 
 Franks, had died the year before. Both these were sons of 
 Louis, 4 King of the Franks, who also had died in the year 
 above mentioned, in which the eclipse of the sun took 
 place. 5 This Louis was the son of Charles, 6 King of the 
 Franks, whose daughter Judith 7 .ZEthelwulf, King of the 
 West Saxons, took to queen with her father's consent. 
 
 69. The Danes in Old Saxony. 8 In that same year a 
 great army of the heathen came from Germany 9 into the 
 country of the Old Saxons, which is called in Saxon Eald- 
 Seaxum. To oppose them the same Saxons and Frisians 
 joined their forces, and fought bravely twice in that same 
 
 1 Cf. chap. 60. 
 
 2 The MS. has dormiret, but perhaps for domum irei, since the 
 Chronicle has hamweard wendon (Stevenson); so perhaps we should 
 read ' was on its way home. ' 
 
 8 Chiefly from the Chronicle. 6 Charles the Bald. 
 
 4 Louis the Stammerer. 7 Cf. chaps. 11 and 13. 
 
 6 Cf. chap. 59. 8 From the Chronicle. 
 
 9 From Duisburg, about January, 884 (Stevenson).
 
 34 ASSER MAKES A NEW BEGINNING 
 
 year. 1 In both these battles the Christians, by God's mer- 
 ciful aid, gained the victory. 
 
 70. Charles, King of the Alemanni. 2 In that same year 
 also, Charles, King of the Alemanni, received .with uni- 
 versal consent the kingdom of the West Franks, and all 
 the kingdoms which lie between the Tyrrhene Sea and that 
 gulf 8 situated between the Old Saxons and the Gauls, with 
 the exception of the kingdom of Armorica. 4 This Charles 
 was the son of King Louis, 5 who was brother of Charles, 
 King of the Franks, father of Judith, the aforesaid queen ; 
 these two brothers were sons of Louis, 6 Louis being the son 
 of Charlemagne, son of Pepin. 
 
 71. Death of Pope Marinus. 7 In that same year Pope 
 Marinus, of blessed memory, went the way. of all flesh ; it 
 was he who, for the love of Alfred, King of the Anglo- 
 Saxons, and at his request, generously freed the Saxon 
 Colony in Rome from all tribute and tax. He also sent to 
 the aforesaid king many gifts on that occasion, among 
 which was no small portion of the most holy and venerable 
 cross on which our Lord Jesus Christ hung for the salva- 
 tion of all mankind. 
 
 72. The Danes break their Treaty. 8 In that same year 
 also the army of heathen which dwelt in East Anglia dis- 
 gracefully broke the peace which they had concluded with 
 King Alfred. 
 
 73. Asser makes a New Beginning. 9 And now, to return 
 to that from which I digressed, lest I be compelled by my 
 
 1 There was a battle in Frisia, about December, 884, and a later one 
 in Saxony (Stevenson). 6 Louis the German. 
 
 2 Mainly from the Chronicle. 6 Louis the Pious. 
 
 8 The North Sea. 7 Mainly from the Chronicle. 
 4 Brittany. 8 From the Chronicle. 
 
 9 Based upon the preface to Eginhard's Life of Charlemagne.
 
 ALFRED'S MALADIES 35 
 
 long navigation to abandon the haven, of desired rest, 1 I 
 propose, as far as my knowledge will enable me, to speak 
 somewhat concerning the life, character, and just conduct, 
 and in no small degree concerning the deeds, of my lord 
 Alfred, King of the Anglo-Saxons, after he married the 
 said respected wife of noble Mercian race ; and, with God's 
 blessing, I will despatch it concisely and briefly, as I prom- 
 ised, that I may not, by prolixity in relating each new 
 event, offend the minds of those who may be somewhat 
 hard to please. 
 
 74. Alfred's Maladies. 2 While his nuptials were being 
 honorably celebrated in Mercia, among innumerable multi- 
 tudes of both sexes, and after long feasts by night and by day, 
 he was suddenly seized, in the presence of all the people, by 
 instant and overwhelming pain, unknown to any physician. 
 No one there knew, nor even those who daily see him up 
 to the present time and this, sad to say, is the worst of 
 all, that it should have continued uninterruptedly through 
 the revolutions of so many years, from the twentieth to the 
 fortieth year of his life and more whence such a malady 
 arose. Many thought that it was occasioned by the favor 
 and fascination of the people who surrounded him ; others, 
 by some spite of the devil, who is ever jealous of good men ; 
 others, from an unusual kind of fever ; while still others 
 thought it was the ficus* which species of severe disease 
 he had had from his childhood. On a certain occasion it 
 had come to pass by the divine will that when he had 
 gone to Cornwall on a hunting expedition, and had turned 
 out of the road to pray in a certain church in which rests 
 Saint Gueriir [and now also St. Neot reposes there], 4 he 
 had of his own accord prostrated himself for a long time 
 
 1 See chap. 21. 2 Original. 8 Perhaps the hemorrhoids. 
 
 4 Interpolated some time between 893 and 1000 A.D.
 
 36 ALFRED'S MALADIES 
 
 in silent prayer since from childhood he had been a fre- 
 quent visitor of holy places for prayer and the giving of 
 alms and there he besought the mercy of the Lord that, 
 in his boundless clemency, Almighty God would exchange 
 the torments of the malady which then afflicted him for 
 some other lighter disease, provided that such disease 
 should not show itself outwardly in his body, lest he should 
 be useless and despised for he had great dread of leprosy 
 or blindness, or any such complaint as instantly makes 
 men useless and despised at its coming. When he had 
 finished his praying, he proceeded on his journey, and not 
 long after felt within himself that he had been divinely 
 healed, according to his request, of that disorder, and that 
 it was entirely eradicated, although he had obtained even 
 this complaint in the first flower of his youth by his devout 
 and frequent prayers and supplications to God. For if I 
 may be allowed to speak concisely, though in a somewhat 
 inverted order, of his zealous piety to God in his earliest 
 youth, before he married his wife, he wished to establish 
 his mind in God's commandments, for he perceived that he 
 could not abstain from carnal desires a ; and because he 
 saw that he should incur the anger of God if he did any- 
 thing contrary to His will, he used often to rise at cock- 
 crow and at the matin hours, and go to pray in churches 
 and at the relics of the saints. There he would prostrate 
 himself, and pray that Almighty God in His mercy would 
 strengthen his mind still more in the love of His service, 
 converting it fully to Himself by some infirmity such as he 
 might bear, but not such as would render him contempt- 
 ible and useless in worldly affairs. Now when he had 
 
 1 In Alfred's prayer at the end of his translation of Boethius, one 
 of the petitions is : ' Deliver me from foul lust and from all unright- 
 eousness.'
 
 ALFRED'S CHILDREN 37 
 
 often prayed with much devotion to this effect, after an 
 interval of some time he incurred as a gift from God the 
 before-named disease of the ficus, which he bore long and 
 painfully for many years, even despairing of life, until he 
 entirely got rid of it by prayer. But, sad to say, though 
 it had been removed, a worse one seized him, as I have 
 said, at his marriage, and this incessantly tormented him, 
 night and day, from the twentieth to the forty -fifth year of 
 his life. But if ever, by God's mercy, he was relieved from 
 this infirmity for a single day or night, or even for the 
 space of one hour, yet the fear and dread of that terrible 
 malady never left him, but rendered him almost useless, as 
 he thought, in every affair, whether human or divine. 
 
 75. Alfred's Children and their Education. 1 The sons and 
 daughters whom he had by his wife above-mentioned were 
 ^thelflsed, the eldest, after whom came Edward, then 
 ^Ethelgivu, then JSlfthryth, and -finally ^Ethelward 
 besides those who died in childhood. The number of ... 2 
 jEthelflsed, when she arrived at a marriageable age, was 
 united to ^Ethelred, 8 Ealdorman of Mercia. ^Ethelgivu, 
 having dedicated her maidenhood to God, entered His serv- 
 ice, and submitted to the rules of the monastic life, to 
 which she was consecrate. ^Ethelward, the youngest, by 
 the divine counsel and by the admirable foresight of the 
 king, was intrusted to the schools of literary training, 
 where, with the children of almost all the nobility of the 
 country, and many also who were not noble, he was under 
 the diligent care of the teachers. Books in both languages, 
 namely, Latin and Saxon, were diligently read in the 
 school. 4 They also learned to write ; so that before they 
 
 1 Original. 
 
 2 This is the beginning of a corrupt sentence, of which nothing has 
 been made. 3 MS. Eadredo. * See Appendix I, p. 70.
 
 38 ALFRED'S VARIED PURSUITS 
 
 were of an age to practise human arts, namely, hunting 
 and other pursuits which befit noblemen, they became 
 studious and clever in the liberal arts. Edward and Mlf- 
 thryth were always bred up in the king's court, and received 
 great attention from their tutors and nurses ; nay, they 
 continue to this day, with much love from every one, to 
 show humbleness, affability, and gentleness towards all, 
 both natives and foreigners, while remaining in complete 
 subjection to their father. Nor, among the other pursuits 
 which appertain to this life and are fit for noble youths, 
 are they suffered to pass their time idly and unprofitably 
 withoiit liberal training ; for they have carefully learned 
 the Psalms * and Saxon books, especially Saxon poems, and 
 are in the habit of making frequent use of books. 
 
 76. Alfred's Varied Pursuits. 2 In the meantime, the king, 
 during the wars and frequent trammels of this present 
 life, the invasions of the heathen, and his own daily infir- 
 mities of body, continued to carry on the government, and 
 to practise hunting in all its branches ; to teach his gold- 
 smiths 3 and all his artificers, his falconers, hawkers, and 
 dog-keepers ; to build houses, majestic and rich beyond all 
 custom of his predecessors, after his own new designs ; to 
 recite the Saxon books, and especially to learn by heart 
 Saxon poems, 4 and to make others learn them, he alone 
 never ceasing from studying most diligently to the best of 
 his ability. He daily attended mass and the other services 
 of religion ; recited certain psalms, together with prayers, 
 and the daily and nightly hour-service ; and frequented the 
 churches at night, as I have said, that he might pray in 
 
 1 See chaps. 24 and 88. 
 
 2 Original. 
 
 8 Cf . Alfred's jewel, and the book upon it by Professor Earle. 
 4 See chaps. 23 and 75.
 
 ALFRED'S VARIED PURSUITS 39 
 
 secret, apart from others. He bestowed alms and largesses 
 both on natives and on foreigners of all countries ; was 
 most affable and agreeable to all ; and was skilful in the 
 investigation of things unknown. 1 Many Franks, Frisians, 2 
 Gauls, heathen, 8 Welsh, Irish, 4 and Bretons, 6 noble and 
 simple, submitted voluntarily to his dominion ; and all of 
 them, according to their worthiness, 6 he ruled, loved, 
 honored, and enriched with money and power, as if they 
 had been his own people. 7 Moreover, he was sedulous and 
 zealous in the habit of hearing the divine Scriptures read 
 by his own countrymen, or if, by any chance it so hap- 
 pened that any one arrived from abroad, to hear prayers 
 in company with foreigners. His bishops, too, and all the 
 clergy, his ealdormen and nobles, his personal attendants 
 and friends, he loved with wonderful affection. Their sons, 
 too, who were bred up in the royal household, were no less 
 dear to him than his own ; he never ceased to instruct them 
 in all kinds of good morals, and, among other things, him- 
 self to teach them literature night and day. But as if 
 he had no consolation in all these things, and suffered no 
 other annoyance either from within or without, he was so 
 
 1 Our first accounts of Arctic exploration are from his pen. For his 
 interest in geographical discovery see the narratives of Ohthere and 
 Wulfstan, in his translation of Orosius. In 897, according to the 
 Chronicle, he was experimenting with new war-galleys : ' They were 
 almost twice as long as the others. Some had sixty oars, some more. 
 They were swifter, steadier, and higher than the others, and were 
 built, not on a Frisian or Danish model, but according to his personal 
 notions of their utility.' 
 
 2 There were Frisians in his fleet in 897 (Chronicle). 
 
 8 Northmen ; such were Ohthere and Wulfstan (see note 1, above). 
 
 * Three such came to him in 891 (Chronicle). 
 
 6 MS. Armorici. See chap. 102. 
 
 6 Or, ' degrees ' ; cf . p. 60. 7 See chap. 101.
 
 40 ALFRED'S VARIED PURSUITS 
 
 harassed by daily and nightly sadness that he complained 
 and made moan to the Lord, and to all who were admitted 
 to his familiarity and affection, that Almighty God had 
 made him ignorant of divine wisdom and of the liberal 
 arts ; in this emulating the pious, famous, and wealthy 
 Solomon, King of the Hebrews, who at the outset, despis- 
 ing all present glory and riches, asked wisdom of God, and 
 yet found both, namely, wisdom and present glory ; as it 
 is written, < Seek first the kingdom of God and his righteous- 
 ness, and all these things shall be added unto you.' l But 
 God, who is always the observer of the thoughts of the 
 inward mind, the instigator of meditations and of all good 
 purposes, and a plentiful aider in the formation of good 
 desires for He would never inspire a man to aim at the 
 good unless He also amply supplied that which the man 
 justly and properly wished to have stirred up the king's 
 mind from within, not from without ; as it is written, ' I 
 will hearken what the Lord God will say concerning me.' 2 
 He would avail himself of every opportunity to procure 
 assistants in his good designs, to aid him in his strivings 
 after wisdom, that he might attain to what he aimed at ; 
 and, like a prudent bee, 3 which, rising in summer at early 
 morning from her beloved cells, steers her course with 
 rapid flight along the uncertain paths of the air, and 
 descends on the manifold and varied flowers of grasses, 
 herbs, and shrubs, essaying that which most pleases her, 
 and bearing it home, he directed the eyes of his mind afar, 
 and sought that without which he had not within, that is, 
 in his own kingdom. 4 
 
 1 Matt. 6. 33. 2 pg. g5. 8. 
 
 8 Cf . chap. 88 ; Stevenson gives a number of parallels from ancient 
 and mediaeval authors, beginning with Lucretius (3. 9) and Seneca 
 (Epist. 84.3). * Cf. chap. 24.
 
 ALFRED'S SCHOLARLY ASSOCIATES 41 
 
 77. Alfred's Scholarly Associates : Werfrith, Plegmund, 
 .ffithelstan, and Werwulf. 1 But God at that time, as some 
 consolation to the king's benevolence, enduring no longer 
 his kindly and just complaint, sent as it were certain 
 luminaries, namely, Werfrith, 2 Bishop of the church of 
 Worcester, a man well versed in divine Scripture, who, by 
 the king's command, was the first to interpret with clear- 
 ness and elegance the books of the Dialogues of Pope 
 Gregory and Peter, his disciple, from Latin into Saxon, 
 sometimes putting sense for sense ; then Plegmund, 3 a 
 Mercian by birth, Archbishop of the church of Canterbury, 
 a venerable man, endowed with wisdom; besides ^Ethel- 
 stan 4 and Werwulf, learned priests and clerks, 5 Mercians 
 by birth. These four King Alfred had called to him from 
 Mercia, and he exalted them with many honors and powers 
 in the kingdom of the West Saxons, not to speak of those 
 which Archbishop Plegmund and Bishop Werfrith had in 
 Mercia. By the teaching and wisdom of all these the king's 
 desire increased continually, and was gratified. Night and 
 day, whenever he had any leisure, he commanded such 
 men as these to read books to him for he never suffered 
 himself to be without one of them so that he came to 
 possess a knowledge of almost every book, though of him- 
 self he could not yet understand anything of books, since 
 he had not yet learned to read anything. 
 
 1 Original. 
 
 2 See Appendix I, p. 69. In Alfred's will he gives Werfrith (Wser- 
 ferth) a hundred marks. 
 
 3 See Appendix I, p. 71. 
 
 * Perhaps Bishop of Ramsbury (909 A.D.). The later MSS. of the 
 Chronicle say, under the year 883 : ' And in the same year Sighelm 
 and ^Ethelstan took to Konie the alms that King Alfred sent, and also 
 to India to St. Thomas' and St. Bartholomew's.' 
 
 5 Or, 'chaplains.' See p. 61, note 6.
 
 42 ASSER'S NEGOTIATIONS WITH KING ALFRED 
 
 78. Grimbald and John, the Old Saxon. 1 But since the 
 king's commendable avarice could not be gratified even in 
 this, he sent messengers beyond sea to Gaul, to procure 
 teachers, and invited from thence Grimbald, 2 priest and 
 monk, a venerable man and excellent singer, learned in 
 every kind of ecclesiastical discipline and in holy Scripture, 
 and adorned with all virtues. He also obtained from thence 
 John, 3 both priest and monk, a man of the keenest intellect, 
 learned in all branches of literature, and skilled in many 
 other arts. By the teaching of these men the king's mind 
 was greatly enlarged, and he enriched and honored them 
 with much power. 
 
 79. Asser's Negotiations with King Alfred. 4 At that time 
 I also came to Wessex, out of the furthest coasts of West- 
 ern Wales ; and when I had proposed to go to him through 
 many intervening provinces, I arrived in the country of the 
 South Saxons, which in Saxon is called Sussex, under the 
 guidance of some of that nation ; and there I first saw him 
 in the royal vill which is called Dene. 5 He received me 
 with kindness, and, among other conversation, besought me 
 eagerly to devote myself to his service and become his 
 friend, and to leave for his sake everything which I pos- 
 sessed on the northern and western side of the Severn, 
 promising he would give me more than an equivalent for 
 it, as in fact he did. 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 
 
 1 Original. 
 
 2 Probably from the monastery of St. Bertin, at St. Omer (Pas-de- 
 Calais). See Appendix I, p. 71, and Appendix II, pp. 75 ff. 
 
 3 Cf. chap. 94, and Appendix I, p. 71. 
 
 4 Original. 
 
 5 Perhaps Dean, near Eastbourne, in Sussex.
 
 ASSER'S NEGOTIATIONS WITH KING ALFRED 43 
 
 bred and educated, where I had received the tonsure, and 
 had at length been ordained, for the sake of any earthly 
 honor and power, unless by force and compulsion. Upon 
 this he said : ' If you cannot accede to this, at least grant 
 me half your service : spend six months with me here, and 
 six in Wales.' To this I replied : ' I could not easily or 
 rashly promise even that without the approval of my 
 friends.' At length, however, when I perceived that he 
 was really anxious for my services, though I knew not 
 why, I promised him that, if my life were 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 appointed time, on the 
 fourth day we rode away from him, and returned to my 
 own country. After our departure, a violent fever seized 
 me in the city of Cserwent, 1 where I lay for twelve months 
 and one week, night and day, without hope of recovery. 
 When at the appointed time, therefore, I had not fulfilled 
 my promise of visiting him, he sent letters to hasten my 
 journey on horseback to him, and to inquire the cause of 
 my delay. As I was unable to ride to him, I sent a reply 
 to make known to him the cause of my delay, and assure 
 him that, if I recovered from my illness, I would fulfil what 
 I had promised. My disease finally left me, and accord- 
 ingly, by the advice and consent of all my friends, for the 
 benefit of that holy place and of all who dwelt therein, 
 I devoted myself to the king's service as I had promised, the 
 condition being that I should remain with him six months 
 
 1 Five miles southwest of Chepstow. ' There was an abbey there, 
 where a traveling ecclesiastic would be likely to stay, and it was on 
 the great Roman road to South Wales, by which a traveler from Wes- 
 sex to St. Davids would proceed ' (Stevenson).
 
 44 WELSH PRINCES WHO SUBMIT TO ALFRED 
 
 every year, either continuously, if I could spend six months 
 with him at once, or alternately, three months in Wales 
 and three in Wessex. It was also understood that he 
 should in all ways be helpful to St. Davids, as far as his 
 power extended. 1 For my friends hoped by this means to 
 sustain less tribulation and harm from King Hemeid who 
 often plundered that monastery and the parish of St. Davids, 
 and sometimes expelled the bishops who ruled over it, as 
 he did Archbishop Nobis, my relative, and on occasion 
 myself, their subordinate if in any way I could secure 
 the notice and friendship of the king. 
 
 80. The Welsh Princes who submit to Alfred. 2 At that 
 time, and long before, all the countries in South Wales 
 belonged to King Alfred, and still belong to him. For 
 instance, King Hemeid, with all the inhabitants of the 
 region of Dyfed, 8 restrained by the violence of the six sons 
 of Rhodri, 4 had submitted to the dominion of the king. 
 Howel also, son of Eis, King of Glywyssing, 6 and Broch- 
 mail and Fernmail, sons of Mouric, kings of Gwent, 6 com- 
 pelled by the violence and tyranny of Ealdorman ^Ethelred 
 and of the Mercians, of their own accord sought out the same 
 king, 7 that they might enjoy rule and protection from him 
 against their enemies. Helised, also, son of Teudubr, King 
 of Brecknock, compelled by the violence of the same sons 
 of Rhodri, of his own accord sought the lordship of the 
 
 1 The MS. seems to be corrupt at this point, so that what I have 
 given is a loose conjectural rendering of the Latin : . . . et ilia adjuva- 
 retur per rudimenta Sancti Dequi in omni causa, tamen pro viribus. 
 
 2 Original. 
 
 8 Pembrokeshire and part of Carmarthenshire. 
 
 4 ' Rhodri Mawr (the Great), King of Gwyneth, who acquired the 
 rule of the whole of North and Mid- Wales and Cardigan' (Stevenson). 
 
 6 Old name of Glamorgan and part of Monmouthshire. 
 
 6 In Monmouthshire. 7 Alfred.
 
 HOW ALFRED REWARDS SUBMISSION 45 
 
 aforesaid king ; and Anarawd, son of Rhodri, with his 
 brothers, at length abandoning the friendship of the North- 
 umbrians, from whom he had received no good, but rather 
 harm, came into King Alfred's presence, and eagerly 
 sought his friendship. The king received him with honor, 
 adopted him as his son by confirmation from the bishop's 
 hand, 1 and bestowed many gifts upon him. Thus he became 
 subject to the king with all his people, on condition that 
 he should be obedient to the king's will in all respects, in 
 the same way as ^Ethelred and the Mercians. 
 
 81. How Alfred rewards Submission. 2 Nor was it in vain 
 that they all gained the friendship of the king. For those 
 who desired to augment their worldly power obtained power; 
 those who desired money gained money ; those who desired 
 his friendship acquired his friendship ; those who wished 
 more than one secured more than one. But all of them 
 had his love and guardianship and defense from every 
 quarter, so far as the king, with all his men, could defend 
 himself. When therefore I had come to him at the royal 
 vill called Leonaford, 8 I was honorably received by him, 
 and remained that time with him at his court eight months ; 
 during which I read to him whatever books he liked, of 
 such as he had at hand ; for this is his peculiar and most 
 confirmed habit, both night and day, amid all his other 
 occupations of mind and body, 4 either himself to read books, 
 or to listen to the reading of others. And when I fre- 
 quently had sought his permission to return, and had in no 
 
 1 See chaps. 8 and 56. 2 Original. 
 
 8 Perhaps Landlord in Wiltshire. 
 
 * In Alfred's Preface to his translation of Boethius we are told : 
 ' [He made this translation as well as he could], considering the various 
 and manifold worldly cares that oft troubled him both in mind and 
 body.' The similarity of phrase is striking.
 
 46 THE SIEGE OF PARIS 
 
 way been able to obtain it, at length, when I had made up 
 my mind by all means to demand it, he called me to him at 
 twilight on Christmas Eve, and gave me two letters in which 
 was a manifold list of all the things which were in the two 
 monasteries which are called in Saxon Congresbury and 
 Banwell 1 ; and on that same day he delivered to me those 
 two monasteries with everything in them, together with a 
 silken pallium of great value, and of incense a load for a 
 strong man, adding these words, that he did not give me 
 these trilling presents because he was unwilling hereafter 
 to give me greater. For in the course of time he unexpect- 
 edly gave me Exeter, with the whole diocese which belonged 
 to him in Wessex and in Cornwall, besides gifts every day 
 without number of every kind of worldly wealth ; these it 
 would be too long to enumerate here, lest it should weary 
 my readers. But let no one suppose that I have mentioned 
 these presents in this place for the sake of glory or flattery, 
 or to obtain greater honor ; I call God to witness that I 
 have not done so, but that I might certify to those who are 
 ignorant how profuse he was in giving. He then at once 
 gave me permission to ride to those two monasteries, so full 
 of all good things, and afterwards to return to my own. 
 
 82. The Siege of Paris. 2 In the year of our Lord's incar- 
 nation 886, which was the thirty-eighth of King Alfred's 
 life, the army so often mentioned again fled the country, 
 and went into that of the West Franks. Entering the 
 river Seine with their vessels, they sailed up it as far as the 
 city of Paris ; there they wintered, pitching their camp on 
 both sides of the river almost to the bridge, in order that 
 they might prevent the citizens from crossing the bridge 
 since the city occupies a small island in the middle of the 
 
 1 Both in Somersetshire ; these monasteries are otherwise unknown. 
 
 2 Largely from the Chronicle.
 
 DIVISION OF THE EMPIRE 47 
 
 stream. They besieged the city for a whole year, but, by 
 the merciful favor of God, and by reason of the brave 
 defense of the citizens, they could not force their way inside 
 the walls. 
 
 83. Alfred rebuilds London. 1 In that same year Alfred, 
 King of the Anglo-Saxons, after the burning of cities and 
 massacres of the people, honorably rebuilt the city of 
 London, made it habitable, and gave it into the custody of 
 ^Ethelred, Ealdorman of Mercia. To this king 2 all the 
 Angles and Saxons who hitherto had been dispersed every- 
 where, or were in captivity with the heathen, 8 voluntarily 
 turned, and submitted themselves to his rule. 4 
 
 84. The Danes leave Paris. 5 In the year of our Lord's 
 incarnation 887, which was the thirty-ninth of King Alfred's 
 life, the above-mentioned army of the heathen, leaving the 
 city of Paris uninjured, since otherwise they could get no 
 advantage, passed under the bridge and rowed their fleet 
 up the river Seine for a long distance, until they reached 
 the mouth of the river Marne ; here they left the Seine, 
 entered the mouth of the Marne, and, sailing up it for a 
 good distance and a good while, at length, not without 
 labor, arrived at a place called Chezy, a royal vill, where 
 they wintered a whole year. In the following year they 
 entered the mouth of the river Yonne, not without doing 
 much damage to the country, and there remained one year. 
 
 85. Division of the Empire. 6 In that same year Charles, 7 
 King of the Franks, went the way of all flesh ; but Arnolf, 
 
 1 Largely from the Chronicle. 2 Namely, Alfred. 
 
 8 A mistranslation from the Chronicle; it should read, ' were not in 
 captivity,' etc. 
 
 4 Here follows Camden's famous (forged ?) interpolation about 
 Grimbald and Oxford. 6 From the Chronicle. 
 
 6 Much expanded from the Chronicle. 7 Charles the Fat.
 
 48 ALFRED'S MANUAL 
 
 his brother's son, six weeks before he died, had expelled 
 him from the kingdom. Immediately after his death five 
 kings were ordained, and the kingdom was split into five 
 parts ; but the principal seat of the kingdom justly and 
 deservedly fell to Arnolf, were it not that he had shame- 
 fully sinned against his uncle. The other four kings prom- 
 ised fidelity and obedience to Arnolf, as was meet; for 
 none of these four kings was heir to the kingdom on his 
 father's side, as was Arnolf; therefore, though the five 
 kings were ordained immediately upon the death of Charles, 
 yet the Empire remained to Arnolf. Such, then, was the 
 division of that realm ; Arnolf received the countries to 
 the east of the river Khine ; Rudolf the inner part of the 
 kingdom l ; Odo the western part ; Berengar and Wido, 
 Lombardy, and those countries which are on that side of 
 the mountain. But they did not keep such and so great 
 dominions in peace among themselves, for they twice 
 fought a pitched battle, and often mutually ravaged those 
 kingdoms, and drove one another out of their dominions. 
 
 86. Alfred sends Alms to Rome. 2 In the same year in 
 which that army left Paris and went to Chezy, 8 ^Ethel- 
 helm, Ealdorman of Wiltshire, carried to Rome the alms 
 of King Alfred and of the Saxons. 
 
 87. Alfred begins to translate from Latin. 4 In that same 
 year also the oft-mentioned Alfred, King of the Anglo- 
 Saxons, by divine inspiration first began, on one and the 
 same day, to read and to translate ; but that this may be 
 clearer to those who are ignorant, I will relate the cause of 
 this long delay in beginning. 
 
 88. Alfred's Manual. 5 On a certain day we were both of 
 us sitting in the king's chamber, talking on all kinds of 
 
 1 Burgundy. 2 Chiefly from the Chronicle. 
 
 3 Cf. chap. 84. 4 Original. 6 Original.
 
 ALFRED'S MANUAL 49 
 
 subjects, as usual, and it happened that I read to him a 
 quotation out of a certain book. While he was listening to 
 it attentively with both ears, and pondering it deeply with 
 his inmost mind, he suddenly showed me a little book 1 
 which he carried in his bosom, wherein were written the 
 daily course, together with certain Psalms and prayers 
 which he had read in his youth, and thereupon bade me 
 write the quotation in that book. Hearing this, and per- 
 ceiving in part his active intelligence and goodness of 
 heart, together with his devout resolution of studying 
 divine wisdom, I gave, though in secret, yet with hands 
 uplifted to heaven, boundless thanks to Almighty God, who 
 had implanted such devotion to the study of wisdom in the 
 king's heart. But since I could find no blank space in that 
 book wherein to write the quotation, it being all full of 
 various matters, I delayed a little, chiefly that I might stir 
 up the choice understanding of the king to a higher knowl- 
 edge of 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 quotation on some separate 
 leaf ? Perhaps we shall find one or more other such which 
 will please you ; and if that should happen, we shall be glad 
 that we have kept this by itself.' 'Your plan is good,' 
 said he ; so I gladly made haste to get ready a pamphlet 
 of four leaves, at the head of which I wrote what he had 
 bidden me ; and that same day I wrote in it, at his request, 
 and as I had predicted, no less than three other quotations 
 which pleased him. From that time we daily talked 
 together, and investigated the same subject by the help of 
 other quotations which we found and which pleased him, 
 so that the pamphlet gradually became full, and deservedly 
 so, for it is written, 'The righteous man builds upon a 
 1 Cf . chap. 24.
 
 50 ALFRED'S HANDBOOK 
 
 moderate foundation, and by degrees passes to greater 
 things.' l Thus, like a most productive bee, flying far and 
 wide, and scrutinizing the fenlands, he eagerly and unceas- 
 ingly collected various flowers of Holy Scripture, with 
 which he copiously stored the cells of his mind. 2 
 
 89. Alfred's Handbook. 8 When that first quotation had 
 been copied, he was eager at once to read, and to translate 
 into Saxon, and then to teach many others even as we 
 are assured concerning that happy thief who recognized 
 the Lord Jesus Christ, his Lord, aye, the Lord of all men, 
 as he was hanging on the venerable gallows of the holy 
 cross, and, with trustful petition, casting down of his body no 
 more than his eyes, since he was so entirely fastened with 
 nails that he could do nothing else, cried with humble 
 voice, ' Christ, remember me when thou comest into thy 
 kingdom ! ' 4 since it was only on the cross that he began to 
 learn the elements of the Christian faith. 5 Inspired by God, 
 he began the rudiments of Holy Scripture on the sacred feast 
 of St. Martin. 6 Then he went on, as far as he was able, to 
 learn the flowers 7 collected from various quarters by any 
 and all of his teachers, and to reduce them into the form of 
 one book, although jumbled together, until it became almost 
 as large as a psalter. This book he called his Enchiridion 8 
 
 1 Author unknown. 8 Original. 
 
 2 Cf. chap. 76. ' 4 Luke 2 3. 42. 
 
 6 The following phrases, introduced at this point, seem to be cor- 
 rupt : Hie aut aliter, quamvis dissimili modo, in regia potestate. 
 
 6 November 11. 
 
 7 Alfred calls the passages which he translated from St. Augustine's 
 Soliloquies by the name of 'flowers' or 'blossoms' (blostmari). See 
 Hargrove's edition (Yale Studies in English XIII), and his version into 
 modern English (Yale Studies in English XXII). 
 
 8 The application of the word to a work of St. Augustine's gave it 
 great currency in the Frankish Latin of the period.
 
 ALFRED'S TROUBLES 51 
 
 or Handbook, 1 because he carefully kept it at hand day 
 and night, and found, as he then used to say, no small 
 consolation therein. 
 
 90. Illustration from the Penitent Thief. 2 But, as it was 
 written by a wise man, 8 
 
 Of watchful minds are they whose pious care 
 It is to govern well, 
 
 I see that I must be especially watchful, in that I just now 
 drew a kind of comparison, though in dissimilar manner, 4 
 between the happy thief and the king ; for the cross is 
 hateful to every one in distress. 8 But what can he do, if he 
 cannot dislodge himself or escape thence ? or in what way 
 can he improve his condition by remaining there? He 
 must, therefore, whether he will or no, endure with pain 
 and sorrow that which he is suffering. 
 
 91. Alfred's Troubles. 6 Now the king was pierced with 
 many nails of tribulation, though established in the royal 
 sway ; for from the twentieth year of his age to the present 
 year, which is his forty-fifth, 7 he has been constantly afflicted 
 with most severe attacks of an unknown disease, so that 
 there is not a single hour in which he is not either suffer- 
 ing from that malady, or nigh to despair by reason of 
 the gloom which is occasioned by his fear of it. Moreover 
 the constant invasions of foreign nations, by which he was 
 continually harassed by land and sea, without any interval 
 of quiet, constituted a sufficient cause of disturbance. 
 
 What shall I say of his repeated expeditions against 
 the heathen, his wars, and the incessant occupations of 
 
 1 The Handbook seems to have been known to William of Malmes- 
 bury (d. 1143); cf. his Gesta Pontificum, pp. 333, 336. 
 
 2 Original. 8 Unknown. 4 Cf. note 5, chap. 89. 
 
 6 ... unicuique ubicumque male habet. 6 Original. 7 Cf. chap. 74.
 
 52 ALFRED'S TROUBLES 
 
 government ? Of the daily ... of the l nations which dwell 
 on 2 the Tyrrhene 3 Sea to the farthest end of Ireland ? For 
 we have seen and read letters, accompanied with presents, 
 which were sent to him from Jerusalem by the patriarch 
 Elias. 4 What shall I say of his restoration of cities and 
 towns, and of others which he built where none had been 
 before ? of golden and silver buildings/ built in incompa- 
 rable style under his direction? of the royal halls and 
 chambers, wonderfully erected of stone and wood at his 
 command ? of the royal vills constructed of stones removed 
 from their old site, and finely rebuilt by the king's com- 
 mand in more fitting places? 
 
 Not to speak of the disease above mentioned, he was 
 disturbed by the quarrels of his subjects, 6 who would of 
 their own choice endure little or no toil for the common 
 need of the kingdom. He alone, sustained by the divine 
 
 1 MS. corrupt : De cotidiana nationum. 
 
 2 This makes no sense ; yet the Latin is : quce in Tyrreno mari usque 
 ultimum Hiberniae finem habitant. 
 
 8 Cf. chap. 70. 
 
 4 Perhaps Elias III, patriarch from about 879 to 907 ; the MS. reads 
 Abel. Stevenson's emendation is supported by the fact that certain 
 medical recipes are related to have been sent to Alfred by the patriarch 
 Elias (Cockayne, Leechdoms 2. 290). 
 
 6 Stevenson says : ' Possibly he intended to refer to the use of the pre- 
 cious metals in sacred edifices. We are told, on the doubtful authority 
 of William of Malmesbury, that King Ine built a chapel of gold and 
 silver at Glastonbury. A ninth-century writer records that Ansegis, 
 abbot of Fontenelle, 806-833, partly decorated a spire of the abbey with 
 gilt metal, and another writer of that period mentions the golden doors 
 of the " basilica" of St. Alban in his description of the imperial palace 
 at Ingelheim. Giraldus Cambrensis ascribes the use of golden roofs or 
 roof-crests to the Romans at Caerleon-on 7 Usk. The idea that a king's 
 palace ought to be decorated with the precious metals is probably an 
 outcome of the late Roman rhetoric and Byzantine magnificence.' 
 
 6 The early part of the sentence is corrupt in the MS.
 
 ALFRED'S TROUBLES 53 
 
 aid, once he had assumed the helm of government, strove 
 in every way, like a skilful pilot, to steer l his ship, laden 
 with much wealth, into the safe and longed-for harbor of 
 his country, though almost all his crew were weary, suffer- 
 ing them not to faint or hesitate, even amid the waves 
 and manifold whirlpools of this present life. Thus his 
 bishops, earls, nobles, favorite thanes, and prefects, who, 
 next to God and the king, had the whole government of 
 the kingdom, as was fitting, continually received from him 
 instruction, compliment, exhortation, and command; nay, 
 at last, if they were disobedient, and his long patience was 
 exhausted, he would reprove them severely, and censure 
 in every way their vulgar folly and obstinacy ; and thus 
 he wisely gained and bound them to his own wishes and 
 the common interests of the whole kingdom. But if, 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, because they were not carried 
 through, did not redound to the advantage of those who 
 put them in execution take as an example the fortresses 
 which he ordered, but which are not yet begun or, begun 
 late, have not yet been completely finished when hostile 
 forces have made invasions by sea, or land, or both, then 
 those who had set themselves against the imperial orders 
 have been put to shame and overwhelmed with vain repent- 
 ance. I speak of vain repentance on the authority of 
 Scripture, whereby numberless persons have had cause for 
 sorrow when they have been smitten by great harm through 
 the perpetration of deceit. But though by this means, sad 
 to say, they may be bitterly afflicted, and roused to grief by 
 the loss of fathers, wives, children, thanes, man servants, 
 maid servants, products, and all their household stuff, 
 1 The figure ia found as early as Sophocles and Aristophanes.
 
 54 ALFRED BUILDS TWO MONASTERIES 
 
 what is the use of hateful repentance when their kinsmen 
 are dead, and they cannot aid them, or redeem from dire 
 captivity those who are captive ? for they cannot even help 
 themselves when they have escaped, since they have not 
 wherewithal to sustain their own lives. Sorely exhausted 
 by a tardy repentance, they grieve over their carelessness 
 in despising the king's commands ; they unite in praising 
 his wisdom, promising to fulfil with all their might what 
 before they had declined to do, namely, in the construction 
 of fortresses, and other things useful to the whole kingdom. 
 92. Alfred builds two Monasteries. 1 Concerning his desire 
 and intent of excellent meditation, which, in the midst 
 both of prosperity and adversity, he never in any way 
 neglected, I cannot in this place with advantage forbear to 
 speak. For, when he was reflecting, according to his wont, 
 upon the need of his soul, 2 he ordered, among the other 
 good deeds to which his thoughts were by night and day 8 
 especially turned, that two monasteries should be built, 
 one of them being for monks at Athelney. 4 This is a place 
 surrounded by impassable fens and waters on every hand, 
 where no one can enter but by boats, or by a bridge labo- 
 riously constructed between two fortresses, at the western 
 end of which bridge was erected a strong citadel, of beauti- 
 ful work, by command of the aforesaid king. In this mon- 
 astery he collected monks of all kinds from every quarter, 
 and there settled them. 
 
 1 Original. 
 
 2 This corresponds to the OE. sawle J>earf. 
 
 8 The Latin has : inter cetera diuturna et nocturna bona. Stevenson 
 does not emend, but it seems as though we should read diurna. Com- 
 pare, for example, in Stevenson's edition, 78. 14, 35, 39; 99. 10; 
 100. 11; 103. 9. 
 
 4 Cf . chap. 55. The second monastery was for nuns, and at Shaftes- 
 bury ; see chap. 98.
 
 A CRIME COMMITTED AT ATHELNEY 55 
 
 93. Monasticism was decayed. 1 At first he had no one of 
 his own nation, noble and free by birth, who was willing 
 to enter the monastic life, except children, who as yet could 
 neither choose good nor reject evil by reason of their tender 
 years. This was the case because for many years previous 
 the love of a monastic life had utterly decayed in that as 
 well as in many other nations; for, though many monas- 
 teries still remain in that country, yet no one kept the rule 
 of that kind of life in an orderly way, whether because of 
 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. On this account it was that King Alfred 
 sought to gather monks of different kinds in the same 
 monastery. 
 
 94. Monks brought from beyond Sea. 2 First he placed 
 there John 8 the priest and monk, an Old Saxon by birth, 
 making him abbot ; and then certain priests and deacons 
 from beyond sea. Finding that he had not so large a num- 
 ber of these as he wished, he procured as many as possible 
 of the same Gallic race 4 ; 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 there in monastic dress a young man of heathen 
 birth who was educated in that monastery, and by no 
 means the hindmost of them all. 
 
 95. A Crime committed at Athelney. 5 There was a crime 
 committed once in that monastery, which I would <not>, 6 
 by my silence, utterly consign to oblivion, although it is 
 an atrocious villainy, for throughout the whole of Scripture 
 
 1 Original. 4 Cf. chap. 78. 
 
 2 Original. 5 Original. 
 
 8 Cf. chap. 78. 6 Supplied by Stevenson.
 
 56 THE PLOT OF A PRIEST AND A DEACON 
 
 the base deeds of the wicked are interspersed among the 
 reverend actions of the righteous, like tares and cockle 
 among the wheat. Good deeds are recorded that they may 
 be praised, imitated, and emulated, and that those who pur- 
 sue them may be held worthy of all honor ; and wicked 
 deeds, that they may be censured, execrated, and avoided, 
 and their imitators be reproved with all odium, contempt, 
 and vengeance. 
 
 96. The Plot of a Priest and a Deacon. 1 Once upon a time, 
 a certain priest and a deacon, Gauls by birth, of the num- 
 ber of the aforesaid monks, by the instigation of the devil, 
 and roused by jealousy, became so embittered in secret 
 against their abbot, the above-mentioned John, that, after 
 the manner of the Jews, they circumvented and betrayed 
 their master. For they so wrought upon two hired servants 
 of the same Gallic race 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 there, and wait till 
 the abbot should enter the church alone. At length, when, 
 as was his wont, he should secretly enter the church by 
 himself to pray, and, bending his knees, bow before the 
 holy altar, the men should fall upon him, and slay him on 
 the spot. They should then 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 device, adding crime to crime, as it is 
 said, ' The last error shall be worse than the first.' 2 But 
 the divine mercy, which is always wont to aid the inno- 
 cent, frustrated in great part the evil design of those evil 
 men, so that it did not turn out in all respects as they had 
 planned. 
 
 1 Original. 2 Matt. 27. 64.
 
 THE EXECUTION OF THE PLOT 57 
 
 97. The Execution of the Plot. 1 When, therefore, the 
 whole of the evil teaching had been explained by those 
 wicked teachers to their wicked hearers, and enforced upon 
 them, the night having come and being favorable, the two 
 armed ruffians, furnished with a promise of impunity, shut 
 themselves up in the church to await the arrival of the 
 abbot. In the middle of the night John, as usual, entered 
 the church to pray, without any one's knowledge, and 
 knelt before the altar. Thereupon the two ruffians rushed 
 upon him suddenly with drawn swords, and wounded him 
 severely. But he, being ever a man of keen mind, and, as 
 I have heard say, not unacquainted with the art of fighting, 
 if he had not been proficient in better lore, no sooner heard 
 the noise of the robbers, even before he saw them, than he 
 rose up against them before he was wounded, and, shouting 
 at the top of his voice, struggled against them with all 
 his might, crying out that they were devils and not met 
 and indeed he knew no better, as he thought that no men 
 would dare to attempt such a deed. He was, however, 
 wounded before any of his monks could come up. They, 
 roused by the noise, were frightened when they heard the 
 word 'devils' ; being likewise unfamiliar with such struggles, 
 they, and the two who, after the manner of the Jews, were 
 traitors to their lord, rushed toward the doors of the church ; 
 but before they got there those ruffians escaped with all 
 speed, and secreted themselves in the fens near by, leaving 
 the abbot half dead. The monks raised their nearly lifeless 
 superior, and bore him home with grief and lamentations ; 
 nor did those two knaves shed tears less than the innocent. 
 But God's mercy did not allow so horrible a crime to pass 
 unpunished : the desperadoes who perpetrated it, and all 
 who urged them to it, were seized and bound ; then, by 
 1 Original.
 
 58 ALFRED DIVIDES HIS TIME AND REVENUES 
 
 various tortures, they died a shameful death. Let us now 
 return to our main narrative. 
 
 98. The Convent at Shaftesbury. 1 Another 2 monastery 
 also was built by the aforesaid king as a residence for 
 nuns, near the eastern gate of Shaftesbury ; and over it he 
 placed as abbess his own daughter ^Ethelgivu, a virgin 
 dedicated to God. With her many other noble ladies, serv- 
 ing God in the monastic life, dwell in that convent. These 
 two edifices were enriched by the king with much land, 
 and with all sorts of wealth. 
 
 99. Alfred divides his Time and his Revenues. 8 These 
 things being thus disposed of, the king considered within 
 himself, as was his practice, what more would conduce to 
 religious meditation. What he had wisely begun and use- 
 fully conceived was adhered to with even more beneficial 
 result ; for he had long before heard out of the" book of the 
 law that the Lord 4 had promised to restore to him the 
 tenth many times over; and he knew that the Lord had 
 faithfully kept His promise, and had actually restored to 
 him the tithe manyfold. Encouraged by this precedent, 
 and wishing to surpass the practice of his predecessors, he 
 vowed humbly and faithfully to devote to God half his 
 services, by day and by night, and also half of all the 
 wealth which lawfully and justly came every year into his 
 possession ; and this vow, as far as human discretion can 
 perceive and keep, he skilfully and wisely endeavored to 
 fulfil. But that he might, with his usual caution, avoid 
 that which Scripture warns us against, 'If thou offerest 
 aright, but dost not divide aright, thou sinnest,' 6 he con- 
 sidered how he might divide aright that which he had 
 
 1 Original. 3 Original. 
 
 2 Cf . chap. 92. 4 This passage is somewhat corrupt. 
 6 Gen. 4. 7, in the old Latin version, following the Septuagint.
 
 DISTRIBUTION FOR SECULAR PURPOSES 59 
 
 joyfully vowed to God; and as Solomon had said, 'The 
 king's heart is in the hand of the Lord ' 1 that is, his 
 counsel he ordered with a divinely inspired policy, which 
 could come only from above, that his officers should first 
 divide into two parts the revenues of every year. 
 
 100. The Threefold Division of Officers at Court. 2 After 
 this division had been made, he assigned the first part to 
 worldly uses, and ordered that one third of it should be 
 paid to his soldiers and to his officers, the nobles who dwelt 
 by turns at court, where they discharged various duties, for 
 thus it was that the king's household was arranged at all 
 times in three shifts, 3 in the following manner. The king's 
 attendants being wisely distributed into three companies, 
 the first company was on duty at court for one month, 
 night and day, at the end of which they were relieved by 
 the second company, and returned to their homes for two 
 months, where they attended to their own affairs. At the 
 end of the second month, the third company relieved the 
 second, who returned to their homes, where they spent 
 two months. The third company then gave place to the 
 first, and in their turn spent two months at home. And in 
 this order the rotation of service at the king's court was 
 at all times carried on. 
 
 101. The Distribution for Secular Purposes. 4 To these, 
 therefore, was paid the first of the three portions aforesaid, 
 to each according to his standing and peculiar service ; the 
 second to the workmen whom he had collected from many 
 nations and had about him in large numbers, men skilled 
 in every kind of building; the third portion was assigned 
 
 1 Prov. 21. 1. 2 Original. 
 
 8 Cf . the Chronicle under 894 : ' The King had divided his forces 
 into two, so that one half was constantly at home, the other half in the 
 field.' * Original.
 
 60 DISTRIBUTION FOR RELIGIOUS PURPOSES 
 
 to foreigners who came to him out of every nation far and 
 near ; whether they asked money of him or not, he cheer- 
 fully gave to each with wonderful munificence according 
 to their respective worthiness, 1 exemplifying what is 
 written, ' God loveth a cheerful giver.' 2 
 
 102. The Distribution for Religious Purposes. 8 But the 
 second part of all his revenues, which came yearly into his 
 possession, and was included in the receipts of the excheq- 
 uer, as I mentioned just above, he with full devotion dedi- 
 cated to God, ordering his officers to divide it carefully into 
 four equal parts with the provision that the first part 
 should be discreetly bestowed on the poor of every nation 
 who came to him , on this subject he said that, as far as 
 human discretion could guarantee, the remark of Pope 
 Gregory on the proper division of alms should be followed, 
 ' Give not little to whom you should give much, nor much 
 to whom little, nor nothing to whom something, nor some- 
 thing to whom nothing.' 4 The second share to the two 
 monasteries which he had built, and to those who were 
 serving God in them, as I have described more at length 
 above. The third to the school 5 which he had studiously 
 formed from many of the nobility of his own nation, but also 
 from boys of mean condition. The fourth to the neighbor- 
 ing monasteries in all Wessex and Mercia, and also during 
 some years, in turn, to the churches and servants of God 
 dwelling in Wales, Cornwall, 6 Gaul, 7 Brittany, Northumbria, 
 
 1 Or, ' rank' (dignitatem), as in line 3 of the chapter. 
 
 2 2 Cor. 9. 7. 8 Original. 
 
 * Incorrectly quoted from the Pastoral Care 3. 20 : ' Ne qusedam 
 quibus nulla, ne nulla quibus qusedam, ne inulta quibus pauca, ne pauca 
 praebeant quibus impendere multa debuerunt.' 
 
 6 See chaps. 75 and 76. 7 See chaps. 78 and 94. 
 
 6 See chaps. 74 and' 81.
 
 ALFRED'S MEASURE OF TIME 61 
 
 and sometimes, too, in Ireland; according to his means, 
 he either distributed to them beforehand, or agreed to 
 contribute afterwards, if life and prosperity did not 
 fail him. 
 
 103. Alfred's Dedication of Personal Service. 1 When the 
 king had arranged all these matters in due order, he remem- 
 bered the text of holy Scripture which says, ' Whosoever 
 will give alms, ought to begin from himself,' 2 and prudently 
 began to reflect what he could offer to God from the service 
 of his body and mind; for he proposed to offer to God 
 no less out of this than he had done of external riches. 3 
 Accordingly, he promised, as far as his infirmity and his 
 means would allow, to render to God the half of his serv- 
 ices, bodily and mental, by night and by day, 4 voluntarily, 
 and with all his might. Inasmuch, however, as he could 
 not distinguish with accuracy the lengths of the night 
 hours in any way, on account of the darkness, nor fre- 
 quently those of the day, on account of the thick clouds 
 and rains, he began to consider by what regular means, 
 free from uncertainty, relying on the mercy of God, he 
 might discharge the promised tenor of his vow undeviat- 
 ingly until his death. 
 
 104. Alfred's Measure of Time. 5 After long reflection on 
 these things, he at length, by a useful and shrewd invention, 
 commanded his clerks 6 to supply wax in sufficient quantity, 
 and to weigh it in a balance against pennies. When enough 
 wax was measured out to equal the weight of seventy-two 
 
 1 Original. 
 
 2 Not from the Bible, but from St. Augustine's Enchiridion de Fide, 
 chap. 20 : ' Qui enim vult ordinate dare eleemosynam, a se ipso debet 
 incipere.' 
 
 3 Reading divitiis for the divinis of the text. 
 
 4 Cf. chap. 99. 5 Original. 6 Or, ' chaplains. 1 See p. 41, note 5.
 
 62 ALFRED'S MEASURE OF TIME 
 
 pence, he caused the clerks to make six candles thereof, all 
 of equal weight, and to mark off twelve inches as the 
 length of each candle. 1 By this plan, therefore, those six 
 candles burned for twenty-four hours, a night and a day, 
 without fail, before the sacred relics of many of God's 
 elect, which always accompanied him wherever he went. 
 Sometimes, however, the candles could not continue burn- 
 ing a whole day and night, till the same hour when they 
 were lighted the preceding evening, by reason of the vio- 
 lence of the winds, which at times blew day and night 
 without intermission through the doors and windows 2 of 
 the churches, the sheathing, and the wainscot, 8 the numer- 
 ous chinks in the walls, or the thin material of the tents ; 
 on such occasions it was unavoidable that they should burn 
 out and finish their course before the appointed hour. The 
 king, therefore, set himself to consider by what means he 
 might shut out the wind, and by a skilful and cunning 
 invention ordered a lantern to be beautifully constructed 
 of wood and ox-horn, since white ox-horns, when shaved 
 thin, are as transparent as a vessel of glass. Into this 
 
 1 'As these six candles weighed 72 pennyweights, each one was of 
 the weight of 12d. The weight of the OE. penny was 22| Troy grains, 
 so that each candle would weigh roughly f oz. avoirdupois. As the 
 candles were twelve inches long, they would be very thin in proportion 
 to their length. A modern beeswax candle burns at a considerably 
 quicker rate than is here assumed, but we do not think this condemns 
 the figures given in this chapter as imaginary. The candle of Alfred's 
 time was probably not moulded, and the wick would not be made of 
 cotton, as in the modern ones. Rushes, tow, and the hards of flax were 
 used for wicks. Aldhelm refers to the use of linen or flax wicks, but 
 also to those made of rushes. It is therefore hardly possible to repro- 
 duce the candles used by Alfred for the purpose of testing this chap- 
 ter' (Stevenson). 
 
 2 Reading fenestras for the fenestrarum of the text. 
 
 3 Meanings doubtful.
 
 HIS CORRECTION OF UNJUST JUDGES 63 
 
 lantern, then, wonderfully made of wood and horn, as I 
 before said, a candle was put at night, which shone as 
 brightly without as within, and was not disturbed by the 
 wind, since he had also ordered a door of horn to be made 
 for the opening of the lantern. 1 By this contrivance, then, 
 six candles, lighted in succession, lasted twenty-four hours, 
 neither more nor less. When these were burned out, others 
 were lighted. 
 
 105. Alfred judges the Poor with Equity. 2 When all these 
 things were properly arranged, the king, eager to hold to 
 the half of his daily service, as he had vowed to God, and 
 more also, if his ability on the one hand, and his malady 
 on the other, would allow him, showed 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 was ever 
 wonderfully attentive. For in the whole kingdom the poor, 
 besides him, had few or no helpers ; for almost all the 
 powerful and noble of that country had turned their 
 thoughts rather to secular than to divine things : each was 
 more bent on worldly business, to his own profit, than on 
 the common weal. 
 
 106. His Correction of Unjust and Incompetent Judges. 2 
 He strove also, in his judgments, for the benefit of both 
 
 1 ' Ducange objected that horn lanterns were known to the Greeks 
 and Romans long before Alfred's time. But the passages adduced by 
 Salmasius, to whom he refers, and such others as we have been able 
 to gather, do not clearly describe a horn lantern lit by a candle, but 
 rather screens formed of horn to place round oil lamps. It is possible, 
 therefore, that Alfred may really be the inventor of the horn lantern 
 as we know it. The door in the side, which would be rendered neces- 
 sary by the change of the candles every four hours, is here described, 
 and seems to be a new feature' (Stevenson). 
 
 2 Original.
 
 64 HIS CORRECTION OF UNJUST JUDGES 
 
 his nobles and commons, who often quarreled fiercely 
 among themselves at the meetings of the ealdormen and 
 sheriffs, so that hardly one of them admitted the justice 
 of what had been decided by these ealdormen and sheriffs. 
 In consequence of this pertinacious and obstinate dissen- 
 sion, all felt constrained to give sureties to abide by the 
 decision of the king, and both parties hastened to carry 
 out their engagements. But if any one was conscious of 
 injustice on his side in the suit, though by law and agree- 
 ment he was compelled, however reluctant, to come for 
 judgment before a judge like this, yet with his own good 
 will he never would consent to come. For he knew that in 
 that place no part of his evil practice would remain hidden; 
 and no wonder, for the king was a most acute investigator 
 in executing his judgments, as he was in all other things. 
 He inquired into almost all the judgments which were 
 given in his absence, throughout all his dominion, whether 
 they were just or unjust. If he perceived there was iniquity 
 in those judgments, he would, of his own accord, mildly 
 ask those judges, either in his own person, or through 
 others who were in trust with him, why they had judged 
 so unjustly, whether through ignorance or malevolence 
 that is, whether for the love or fear of any one, the hatred 
 of another, or the desire of some one's money. At length, 
 if the judges acknowledged they had given such judgment 
 because they knew no better, he discreetly and moderately 
 reproved their inexperience and folly in such terms as 
 these : ' I greatly wonder at your assurance, that whereas, 
 by God's favor and mine, you have taken upon you the 
 rank and office of the wise, you have neglected the studies 
 and labors of the wise. Either, therefore, at once give up 
 the administration of the earthly powers which you possess, 
 or endeavor more zealously to study the lessons of wisdom.
 
 HIS CORRECTION OF UNJUST JUDGES 65 
 
 Such are my commands.' At these words the ealdormen 
 and sheriffs would be rilled with terror at being thus severely 
 corrected, and would endeavor to turn with all their might 
 to the study of justice, so that, wonderful to say, almost all 
 his ealdormen, sheriffs, and officers, though unlearned from 
 childhood, gave themselves up to the study of letters, choos- 
 ing rather to acquire laboriously an unfamiliar discipline 
 than to resign their functions. But if any one, from old age 
 or the sluggishness of an untrained mind, was unable to 
 make progress in literary studies, he would order his son, 
 if he had one, or one of his kinsmen, or, if he had no one 
 else, his own freedman or servant, whom he had long before 
 advanced to the office of reading, to read Saxon books 
 before him night and day, whenever he had any leisure. 
 And then they would lament with deep sighs from their 
 inmost souls that in their youth they had never attended to 
 such studies. They counted happy the youth of the present 
 day, who could be delightfully instructed in the liberal 
 arts, while they considered themselves wretched in that 
 they had neither learned these things in their youth, nor, 
 now they were old, were able to do so. This skill of young 
 and old in acquiring letters, I have set forth as a means of 
 characterizing the aforesaid king.
 
 APPENDIXES
 
 APPENDIX I 
 
 ALFRED'S PREFACE TO HIS TRANSLATION OF GREGORY'S 
 PASTORAL CARE 
 
 THIS BOOK IS FOR WORCESTER* 
 
 King Alfred bids greet Bishop Wserferth with his words lov- 
 ingly and with friendship ; and I let it be known to thee that it 
 has very often come into my mind what wise men there formerly 
 were throughout England, both of sacred and secular orders ; 
 and what happy times there were then throughout England ; and 
 how the kings who had power over the nation in those days 
 obeyed God and His ministers ; how they preserved peace, morality, 
 and order at home, and at the same time enlarged their terri- 
 tory abroad ; and how they prospered both with war and with 
 wisdom; and also how zealous the sacred orders were both in 
 teaching and learning, and in all the services they owed to God ; 
 and how foreigners came to this land in search of wisdom and 
 instruction, and how we should now have to get them from 
 abroad if we were to have them. So general was its decay in 
 England that there were very few on this side of the Humber 
 who could understand their rituals in English, or translate a letter 
 from Latin into English ; and I believe that there were not many 
 beyond the Humber. There were so few of them that I cannot 
 remember a single one south of the Thames when I came to the 
 throne. Thanks be to Almighty God that we have any teachers 
 among us now. And therefore I command thee to do as I believe 
 thou art willing, to disengage thyself from worldly matters as often 
 as thou canst, that thou mayest apply the wisdom which God has 
 given thee wherever thou canst. Consider what punishments would 
 come upon us on account of this world, if we neither loved it [wis- 
 dom] ourselves nor suffered other men to obtain it: we should love 
 
 1 The name of the diocese and of the bishop of course varied in 
 the different copies. 
 
 69
 
 70 APPENDIX I 
 
 the name only of Christian, and very few the virtues. When I 
 considered all this, I remembered also that I saw, before it had been 
 all ravaged and burned, how the churches throughout the whole of 
 England stood filled with treasures and books; and there was also a 
 great multitude of God's servants, but they had very little knowl- 
 edge of the books, for they could not understand anything of them, 
 because they were not written in their own language. As if they 
 had said: ' Our forefathers, who formerly held these places, loved 
 wisdom, and through it they obtained wealth and bequeathed it to 
 us. In this we can still see their tracks, but we cannot follow 
 them, and therefore we have lost both the wealth and the wisdom, 
 because we would not incline our hearts after their example.' 
 When I remembered all this, I wondered extremely that the good 
 and wise men who were formerly all over England, and had per- 
 fectly learned all the books, had not wished to translate them into 
 their own language. But again I soon answered myself and said : 
 ' They did not think that men would ever be so careless, and that 
 learning would so decay; through that desire they abstained from 
 it, since they wished that the wisdom in this land might increase 
 with our knowledge of languages.' Then I remembered how the 
 law was first known in Hebrew, and again, when the Greeks 
 had learned it, they translated the whole of it into their own lan- 
 guage, and all other books besides. And again the Romans, when 
 they had learned them, translated the whole of them by learned 
 interpreters into their own language. And also all other Christ- 
 ian nations translated a part of them into their own language. 
 Therefore it seems better to me, if you think so, for us also 
 to translate some books which are most needful for all men to 
 know into the language which we can all understand, and for 
 you to do as we very easily can if we have tranquillity enough, 
 that is, that all the youth now in England of free men, who are 
 rich enough to be able to devote themselves to it, be set to 
 learn as long as they are not fit for any other occupation, until 
 they are able to read English writing well: and let those be 
 afterwards taught more in the Latin language who are to con- 
 tinue in learning, and be promoted to a higher rank. When I 
 remembered how the knowledge of Latin had formerly decayed 
 throughout England, and yet many could read English writing, 
 I began, among other various and manifold troubles of this
 
 APPENDIX I 71 
 
 kingdom, to translate into English the book which is called in 
 Latin Pastoralis, and in English Shepherd's Book, sometimes word 
 by word, and sometimes according to the sense, as I had learned it 
 from Plegmund my archbishop, and Asser my bishop, and Grim- 
 bald my mass-priest, and John my mass-priest. And when I had 
 learned it as I could best understand it, and as I could most clearly 
 interpret it, I translated it into English; and I will send a copy 
 to every bishopric in my kingdom ; and in each there is a book- 
 mark worth fifty mancuses. 1 And I command in God's name that 
 no man take the book-mark from the book, or the book from the 
 monastery. It is uncertain how long there may be such learned 
 bishops as now, thanks be to God, there are nearly everywhere; 
 therefore I wish them 2 always to remain in their places, unless the 
 bishop wish to take them with him, or they be lent out anywhere, 
 or any one be making a copy from them. 
 
 !Cf. p. 11, note 2. 2 The books.
 
 APPENDIX II 
 
 LETTER FROM FULCO, ARCHBISHOP OF RHEIMS AND PRIMATE 
 OF THE FRANKS, AND LRGATUS XATUS OF THE APOSTOLIC 
 SEE, TO ALFRED, THE MOST CHRISTIAN KING OF THE 
 
 ANGLES 1 
 
 To Alfred, the most glorious and most Christian King of the 
 Angles, Fulco, by the grace of God Archbishop of Rheims, and 
 servant of the servants of God, wisheth both the sceptre of tem- 
 poral dominion, ever triumphant, and the eternal joys of the king- 
 dom of heaven. 
 
 And first of all we give thanks to our Lord God, the Father 
 of lights, and the Author of all good, from whom is every good 
 gift and every perfect gift, who by the grace of His Holy Spirit 
 hath not only been pleased to cause the light of His knowledge 
 to shine in your heart, but also even now hath vouchsafed to 
 kindle the fire of His love, by which at once enlightened and 
 warmed, you earnestly tender the weal of the kingdom committed 
 to you from above, by warlike achievements, with divine assist- 
 ance attaining or securing peace for it, and desiring to extend 
 the excellency of the ecclesiastical order, which is the army of 
 God. Wherefore we implore the divine mercy with unwearied 
 prayers that He who hath moved and warmed your heart to this 
 
 1 From Kev. Joseph Stevenson's translation of The Book of Hyde, in 
 Church Historians of England (London, 1854), Vol. 2, Part 2, pp. 499- 
 603. The translator states that the text of the letter printed by Wise 
 in his edition of Asser (see Stevenson's edition of Asser, p. 308) ' has 
 been employed in correcting the many obscurities and errors of the 
 copy inserted in the Liber de Hida.' 1 Of the letter our editor says : ' It 
 . . . seems to be genuine. There is no conceivable motive for forging 
 such a letter. We can discover no grounds for Pauli's condemnation 
 of it. ... As Malmesbury, Gesta Regum, c. 122 (p. 130), states that 
 Grimbald was sent to Alfred at his request by the Archbishop of 
 Rheirns, he would seem to have been acquainted with this letter.' 
 
 72
 
 APPENDIX II 73 
 
 would give effect to your wishes, by replenishing your desire with 
 good things, that in your days both peace may be multiplied to 
 your kingdom and people, and that ecclesiastical order, which as 
 you say hath been disturbed in many ways, either by the con- 
 tinued irruptions and attacks of the pagans, or by lapse of years, 
 or by the negligence of prelates, or by the ignorance of subjects, 
 may by your diligence and industry be speedily reestablished, 
 exalted, and diffused. 
 
 And since you wish this to be effected chiefly through our 
 assistance, and since from our see, over which St. Remigius, the 
 apostle of the Franks, presides, you ask for counsel and protec- 
 tion, we think that this is not done without divine impulse. And 
 as formerly the nation of the Franks obtained by the same St. 
 Remigius deliverance from manifold error, and the knowledge of 
 the worship of the only true God, so doth the nation of the Angles 
 request that it may obtain from his see and doctrine one by whom 
 they may be taught to avoid superstition, to cut off superfluities, 
 and to extirpate all such noxious things as bud forth from vio- 
 lated custom or rude habits, and may learn, while they walk 
 through the field of the Lord, to pluck the flowers, and to be upon 
 their guard against the adder. 
 
 For St. Augustine, the first bishop of your nation, sent to us 
 'by your apostle St. Gregory, could not in a short time set forth 
 all the decrees of the holy apostles, nor did he think proper sud- 
 denly to burden a rude and barbarous nation with new and 
 strange enactments ; for he knew how to adapt himself to their 
 infirmities, and to say with the Apostle, ' I have given milk to you 
 to drink, who are babes in Christ, and not meat ' (1 Cor. 3. 2). And 
 as Peter and James, who were looked upon as pillars (Gal. 2. 9), 
 with Barnabas and Paul, and the rest who were met together, did 
 not wish to oppress the primitive Church, which was flowing in 
 from the Gentiles to the faith of Christ, with a heavier burden 
 than to command them to abstain from things offered to idols, 
 and from fornication, and from things strangled, and from blood 
 (Acts 15. 29), so also do we know how matters were managed 
 with you at the beginning. For they required only this for train- 
 ing up the people in the knowledge of God, and turning them from 
 their former barbarous fierceness, namely, that faithful and pru- 
 dent servants should be placed over the Lord's household, who
 
 74 APPENDIX II 
 
 should be competent to give out to each of their fellow-servants 
 his dole of food in due season, that is, according to the capacity 
 of each of the hearers. But in process of time, as the Christian 
 religion gained strength, the holy Church felt it neither to be her 
 inclination nor her duty to be satisfied with this, but to take 
 example from the apostles themselves, their masters and founders, 
 who, after the doctrines of the Gospel had been set forth and 
 spread abroad by their heavenly Master Himself, did not deem it 
 superfluous and needless, but convenient and salutary, to estab- 
 lish the perfect believers by frequent epistolary exhortations, and 
 to build them more firmly upon the solid foundation, and to 
 impart to them more abundantly the rule as well of manners as 
 of faith. 
 
 Nevertheless, she too, whether excited by adverse circum- 
 stances, or nourished by prosperous ones, never ceased to aim at 
 the good of her children, whom she is daily bringing forth to Christ, 
 and, inflamed by the fire of the Holy Spirit, to promote their 
 advancement, both privately and publicly. Hence the frequent 
 calling of councils, not only from the neighboring cities and 
 provinces, but also, in these days, from regions beyond seas ; hence 
 synodal decrees so often published ; hence sacred canons, framed 
 and consecrated by the Holy Spirit, by which both the Catholic 
 faith is powerfully strengthened, and the unity of the Church's* 
 peace is inviolably guarded, and its order is decently regulated: 
 which canons, as it is unlawful for any Christian to transgress, 
 so it is altogether wicked, in clerk and priest especially, to be 
 ignorant of them ; the wholesome observance and the religious 
 handing down of which are things ever to be embraced. Seeing 
 that, for the reasons above stated, all these matters have either 
 not been fully made known to your nation, or have now for the 
 most part failed, it hath appeared fit and proper to your Majesty 
 and to your royal wisdom, by a most excellent counsel inspired, 
 as we believe, from above both to consult us, insignificant as 
 we are, on this matter, and to repair to the see of St. Remigius, 
 by whose virtues and doctrine the same see or church hath always 
 flourished and excelled all the churches of Gaul since his time 
 in all piety and doctrine. 
 
 And since you are unwilling to appear before us, when you 
 present these your requests, without a gift and empty-handed,
 
 APPENDIX II 75 
 
 your Majesty hath deigned to honor us with a present that is both 
 very necessary for the time and well suited to the matter in hand ; 
 concerning which we have both praised heavenly Providence with 
 admiration, and have returned no slender thanks to your royal 
 munificence. For you have sent unto us a present of dogs, which, 
 of good and excellent breed, are yet only in the body and mortal ; 
 and this you do that they may drive away the fury of visible 
 wolves, with which, among other scourges, wielded against us by 
 the righteous judgment of God, our country abounds; and you 
 ask us, in return, that we should send to you certain watch- 
 dogs, not corporeal, that is to say, not such as those with whom 
 the prophet finds fault, saying, ' Dumb dogs, not able to bark ' 
 (Isa. 56. 10), but such as the Psalmist speaks of, 'That the 
 tongue of thy dogs may be red through the same ' (Ps. 68. 23), 
 who know how and are qualified to make loud barkings for 
 their Lord, and constantly to guard His flock with most wakeful 
 and most careful watchings, and to drive away to a distance 
 those most cruel wolves of unclean spirits who lie in wait to 
 devour souls. 
 
 Of which number you specially demand one from us, namely, 
 Grimbald, priest and monk, to be sent for this office, and to pre- 
 side over the government of the pastoral charge. To whom the 
 whole Church, which hath nourished him, gives her testimony 
 from his childhood, with true faith and holy religion, and which 
 hath advanced him by regular steps, according to ecclesiastical 
 custom, to the dignity of the priesthood. We affirm openly that 
 he is most deserving of the honor of the episcopate, and that he 
 is fit to teach others also. But indeed we wished that this might 
 rather take place in our kingdom, and we intended some time 
 ago, with Christ's permission, to accomplish it in due time, namely, 
 that he whom we had as a faithful son we might have as an 
 associate in our office, and a most trustworthy assistant in every- 
 thing that pertained to the advantage of the Church. It is not 
 without deep sorrow forgive us for saying so that we suf- 
 fer him to be torn from us, and be removed from our eyes by so 
 vast an extent of land and sea. But as love has no perception 
 of loss, nor faith of injury, and no remoteness of regions can 
 part those whom the tie of unfeigned affection joins together, 
 we have most willingly assented to your request for to you we
 
 76 APPENDIX II 
 
 have no power to refuse anything nor do we grudge him to 
 you, whose advantage we rejoice in as much as if it were our 
 own, and whose profit we count as ours : for we know that in 
 every place one only God is served, and that the Catholic and 
 Apostolic Church is one, whether it be at Rome or in the parts 
 beyond the sea. 
 
 It is our duty, then, to make him over to you canonically ; and 
 it is your duty to receive him reverentially, that is to say, in 
 such way and mode as may best conduce to the glory of your 
 kingdom, to the honor of the Church and our prelacy ; and to 
 send him to you along with his electors, and with certain nobles 
 and great personages of your kingdom, as well bishops, presbyters, 
 deacons, as religious laymen also, who with their own lips promise 
 and declare to us in the presence of our whole church that they 
 will treat him with fitting respect during the whole course of his 
 life, and that they will inviolably keep with the strictest care the 
 canonical decrees and the rules of the Church, handed down to 
 the Church by the apostles and by apostolic men, such as they 
 could then hear from us, and afterwards learn from him their 
 pastor and teacher, according to the form delivered by us to him. 
 Which when they shall have done, with the divine blessing and the 
 authority of St. Remigius, by our ministry and the laying on of 
 hands, according to the custom of the Church, receiving him prop- 
 erly ordained, and in all things fully instructed, let them conduct 
 him with due honor to his own seat, glad and cheerful themselves 
 that they are always to enjoy his protection, and constantly to be 
 instructed by his teaching and example. 
 
 And as the members feel a concern for each other, and when 
 even one rejoices they rejoice with it, or if even one suffer all the 
 other members sympathize with it, we again earnestly and spe- 
 cially commend him to your Royal Highness and to your most 
 provident goodness, that he may be always permitted, with unfet- 
 tered authority, without any gainsaying, to teach and to carry 
 into effect whatever he may discover to be fit and useful for the 
 honor of the Church and the instruction of your people, according 
 to the authority of the canons and the custom of our Church, lest, 
 haply which God forbid ! any one, under the instigation of 
 the devil, being moved by the impulse of spite and malevolence, 
 should excite controversy or raise sedition against him. But
 
 APPENDIX II 77 
 
 should this happen, it will be your duty then to make special pro- 
 vision against this, and by all means to discourage by your royal 
 censure all such persons, if they should chance to show themselves, 
 and check barbaric rudeness by the curb of your authority ; and 
 it will be his duty always to consult for the salvation of the people 
 committed to his pastoral skill, and rather to draw all men after 
 him by love than to drive them by fear. 
 
 May you, most illustrious, most religious, and most invincible 
 king, ever rejoice and flourish in Christ the Lord of lords.
 
 INDEX 
 
 [The numbers refer to pages.] 
 
 Aclea, 4 
 
 Adam, 2 
 
 JEglea, 78 
 
 ^Elfthryth, 37, 38 
 
 ^Ella, 16 
 
 ^thelbald, 4, 6, 7, 11, 12 
 
 .Ethelbert, 12, 13 
 
 jEthelflaed, 37 
 
 ^Ethelgivu, 37, 58 
 
 JEthelhelm, 48 
 
 ^Ethelred (King of Wessex), 13, 
 18, 19, 20, 21, 22 
 
 ^Ethelred (Alfred's father-in-law), 
 17. 
 
 ^Ethelred (Alfred's son-in-law), 
 37, 44, 45, 47 
 
 JEthelstan (under-king of Kent), 4 
 
 jEthelstan (priest), 41 
 
 ^Ethelward, 37 
 
 ^thelwulf (King of Wessex), 1, 2, 
 4, 5, 6, 7, 10, 11, 33 
 
 ^Ethelwulf (Ealdorman of Berk- 
 shire), 12, 19 
 
 Alemanni, 34 
 
 Alfred, 1, and passim 
 
 Aller, 29 
 
 Anarawd, 45 
 
 Angles, 19, 47, 72. See also East 
 Angles 
 
 Anglo-Saxons, 1, 8, 13, 31, 32, 34, 
 35,47,48. See also East Saxons, 
 Saxons, South Saxons, West 
 Saxons 
 
 Anwind, 25 
 
 Armorica, 34. See also Brittany 
 
 Arnolf, 47, 48 
 
 Ashdown, 20, 22 
 
 Ash's Hill, 20 
 
 Asser, 1, [8, 10, 13-15, 17, 20, 21, 
 
 27, 34, 35, 42-46, 48, 49, 51, 
 
 52], 71 
 
 Athelney, 28, 29, 54 
 Augustine, 73 
 Avon, 26 
 
 Bagsecg, 22 
 
 Ban well, 46 
 
 Barnabas, 73 
 
 Basing, 22 
 
 Beaw, 2 
 
 Bedwig, 2 
 
 Beldeag, 2 
 
 Beorhtric, 8, 9 
 
 Beorhtwulf, 3 
 
 Berengar, 48 
 
 Berkshire, 1, 12, 19 
 
 Berroc Wood, 1 
 
 Brecknock, 44 
 
 Bretons, 39 
 
 Britain, 1, 13, 26, 31, 32 
 
 British, 3 
 
 Brittany, 60. See also Armorica 
 
 Brockmail, 44 
 
 Brond, 2 
 
 Burgred, 4, 5, 18, 24 
 
 Cserwent, 43 
 Cairceri, 30 
 
 79
 
 80 
 
 INDEX 
 
 Cairwisc, 26 
 
 Cambridge, 25 
 
 Canterbury, 3, 18, 41 
 
 Carlo man, 33 
 
 Ceawlin, 1 
 
 Ceolnoth, 18 
 
 Ceolwald, 1 
 
 Ceolwulf, 25, 26 
 
 Ceorl, 3 
 
 Cerdic, 1, 3 
 
 Charlemagne, Charles (the Great), 
 9, 34 
 
 Charles (the Bald), 6, 11, 33, 34, 
 67 
 
 Charles (the Fat), 47, 48 
 
 Charles (son of Louis the Ger- 
 man), 34 
 
 Ch^zy, 47, 48 
 
 Chippenham, 5, 26, 30 
 
 Cirencester, 30, 31 
 
 Ccenred, 1 
 
 Coit Maur, 28 
 
 Conde", 32 
 
 Congresbury, 46 
 
 Cornwall, 35, 46, 60 
 
 Creoda, 1 
 
 Cutha, 1 
 
 Cuthwine, 1 
 
 Cynric, 1, 3 
 
 Cynwit, 27 
 
 Danes, [3-5, 12, 13, 16-34, 39, 
 
 46, 47, 55] 
 Danube, 13 
 David, 2 
 Dene, 42, 62 
 Devon, 3, 27 
 Dorubernia, 3 
 Durugueir, 25 
 Dyfed, 27, 44 
 
 Eadburh, 8, 9, 17 
 Eafa, 1 
 
 Eald-Seaxum, 33 
 
 Ealhere, 4, 5 
 
 Ealhmund, 1 
 
 Ealhstan, 6, 17 
 
 Eanwulf, 6 
 
 East Angles, 18 
 
 East Anglia, 13, 16, 18, 19, 31, 32, 
 33, 34 
 
 East Frankland, 31, 32. See also 
 Frankland 
 
 East Saxons, 13. See also Anglo- 
 Saxons, Saxons, South Saxons, 
 West Saxons 
 
 Edington, 28 
 
 Edmund, 18 
 
 Edward, 37, 38 
 
 Egbert, 1 
 
 Egbert's Stone, 28 
 
 Elesa, 1 
 
 Elias, 52 
 
 England, 69, 70 
 
 Englefield, 19 
 
 English, 19, 69, 70, 71 
 
 Enoch, 2 
 
 Enosh, 2 
 
 Eoppa, 1 
 
 Esla, 1 
 
 Essex, 3 
 
 Exanceastre, 26 
 
 Exeter, 26, 46 
 
 Fernmail, 44 
 
 Finn, 2 
 
 Frsena, 22 
 
 Frankland, 31, 32, 60. See also 
 
 East Frankland 
 Franks, 6, 7, 9, 11, 31, 33, 34, 39, 
 
 47, 68, 72, 73, 77. See also 
 
 West Franks 
 Frealaf, 2 
 Freawine, 1 
 Freothegar, 1 
 Frisians, 33, 39
 
 INDEX 
 
 81 
 
 Frithowald, 2 
 
 Ine, 1 
 
 
 Frithuwulf, 2 
 
 Ingild, 1 
 
 
 Froom, 25 
 
 Inwar, 27 
 
 
 Fulco, 72 
 
 Ireland, 52, 61 
 
 
 Fulham, 31 
 
 Irish, 39 
 
 
 
 Itermod, 2 
 
 
 Gaini, 17 
 
 
 
 Gallic, 55, 56 
 
 James (the apostle), 73 
 
 
 Gaul, 26, 28, 42, 60, 74 
 
 Jared, 2 
 
 
 Gauls, 34, 39, 56 
 
 Jerusalem, 52 
 
 
 Geata, 2 
 
 Jews, 56, 57 
 
 
 Germanic, 8 
 
 John (the Old Saxon), 42, I 
 
 >5, 56, 
 
 Germany, 33 
 
 57, 71 
 
 
 Geta, 2 
 
 Judith, 6, 7, 11, 33, 34, 35 
 
 
 Gewis, 1 
 
 Jutes, 3 
 
 
 Ghent, 31 
 
 
 
 Glywyssing, 44 
 
 Kenan, 2 
 
 
 Godwulf, 2 
 
 Kennet, 19 
 
 
 Goths, 3 
 
 Kent, 3, 4, 5, 12, 13, 32 
 
 
 Great Forest, 28 
 
 
 
 Greeks, 70 
 
 Lamech, 2 
 
 
 Gregory (the Great), 41, 60, 
 
 Latin, 17, 19, 26, 28, 37, 69, 
 
 70,71 
 
 73 
 
 Leo (IV), 5 
 
 
 Grimbald, 42, 71, 75 
 
 Leonaford, 45 
 
 
 Gueriir, 35 
 
 Lindsey, 24 
 
 
 Guthrum, 25 
 
 Lombardy, 48 
 
 
 Gwent, 44 
 
 London, 3, 24, 47 
 
 
 
 Louis (the Pious), 34 
 
 
 Halfdene, 25, 26, 27 
 
 Louis (the German), 34 
 
 
 Hampshire, 12, 28 
 
 Louis (the Stammerer), 33 
 
 
 Harold, 22 
 
 Louis (III), 33 
 
 
 Hathra, 2 
 
 
 
 Hebrew, 70 
 
 Mahalalel, 2 
 
 
 Hebrews, 40 
 
 Marinus, 34 
 
 
 Helised, 44 
 
 Marne, 47 
 
 
 Hemeid, 44 
 
 Martin, 50 
 
 
 Heremod, 2 
 
 Medway, 32 
 
 
 King war. See In war 
 
 Mercia, 3, 4, 8, 17, 18, 24, 
 
 96 36, 
 
 Howel, 44 
 
 37, 41, 47, 60 
 
 
 Huda, 5 
 
 Mercian, 17, 36, 41 
 
 
 Humber, 16, 69 
 
 Mercians, 4, 5, 18, 24, 26, 41 
 
 ,44,45 
 
 Hwala, 2 
 
 Methuselah, 2 
 
 
 Hwicce, 31 
 
 Meuse, 31 

 
 82 
 
 INDEX 
 
 Middlesex, 3 
 Mid- Wales, 4 
 Mouric, 44 
 Mucill, 17 
 
 Neot, 35 
 Noah, 2 
 Nobis, 44 
 .Northumbria, 17, 18, 24, 25, 26, 
 
 61 
 
 Northumbrian, 16 
 Northumbrians, 16, 45 
 Nottingham, 17, 18 
 
 Odo, 48 
 Offa, 8 
 
 Old Saxon, 55 
 Old Saxons, 33, 34 
 Osbern, 22 
 Osbert, 16 
 Osburh, 2 
 Oscytel, 25 
 Oslac, 2 
 Osric, 12 
 
 Paris, 46, 47, 48 
 Paul, 11, 73 
 Pavia, 10 
 Pepin, 34 
 Peter, 11, 41, 73 
 Picts, 25 
 Plegmund, 41, 71 
 
 Reading, 19 
 
 Remigius, 73, 74, 76 
 
 Repton, 24, 25 
 
 Rheims, 72 
 
 Rhine, 48 
 
 Rhodri, 44, 45 
 
 Ris, 44 
 
 Rochester, 32 
 
 Romans, 70 
 
 Rome, 1, 5, 6, 7, 10, 11, 24, 48, 76 
 
 Rudolf, 48 
 Ruim, 5 
 
 St. Davids, 44 
 
 Sandwich, 4 
 
 Saxon, 5, 7, 13, 14, 25, 26, 32, 33, 
 37, 38, 41, 42, 46 
 
 Saxon Colony, 24, 34 
 
 Saxons, 4, 9, 23, 24, 32, 33, 47, 48. 
 See also Anglo-Saxons, East 
 Saxons, Old Saxons, South 
 Saxons, West Saxous 
 
 Sceaf, 2 
 
 Sceldwea, 2 
 
 Scheldt, 32 
 
 Sedulius, 2 
 
 Seine, 46, 47 
 
 Selwood (Forest), 6, 28 
 
 Seth, 2 
 
 Severn, 42 
 
 Shaftesbury, 58 
 
 Sheppey, 3, 6 
 
 Sherborne, 6, 12, 17 
 
 Sidroc the Elder, 22 
 
 Sidroc the Younger, 22 
 
 Solomon, 40, 59 
 
 Somerset(shire), 6, 27, 28 
 
 South Saxons, 42. See also Anglo- 
 Saxons, East Saxons, Saxons, 
 West Saxons 
 
 South Wales, 44 
 
 Stour, 33 
 
 Strathclyde, 25 
 
 Stuf, 3 
 
 Surrey, 4, 5, 12 
 
 Sussex, 12, 42 
 
 Tsetwa, 2 
 
 Tarrant, 25 
 
 Tenet, 5. See also Thanet 
 
 Teudubr, 44 
 
 Thames, 3, 4, 19, 31, 69 
 
 Thanet, 12. See also Tenet
 
 INDEX 
 
 83 
 
 Thetford, 18 
 Thornsseta, 25 
 Tigguocobauc, 17 
 Tyne, 25 
 Tyrrhene Sea, 34, 52 
 
 Wserferth, 69. See also Werfrith 
 
 Wales, 4, 8, 43, 44, 60. See also 
 Mid- Wales, South Wales, West- 
 ern Wales 
 
 Wantage, 1 
 
 Wareham, 25 
 
 Wedmore, 29 
 
 Welsh, 1, 5, 17, 25, 26, 28, 30, 39 
 
 Werfrith, 41. See also Wserferth 
 
 Werwulf, 41 
 
 Wessex, 7, 8, 42, 44, 46, 60. See 
 also West Saxon (s) 
 
 Western Wales, 42 
 
 West Franks, 33, 34, 46 
 
 West Saxon, 13 
 
 West Saxons, 1, 4, 5, 8, 12, 13, 
 15, 18, 19, 33, 41. See also 
 Anglo-Saxons, East Saxons, 
 Saxons, South Saxons, Wessex 
 
 Wicganbeorg, 3 
 
 Wido, 48 
 
 Wig, 1 
 
 Wight, Isle of, 3 
 
 Wihtgar, 3 
 
 Wihtgaraburg, 3 
 
 Wiley, 23 
 
 Wilton, 23 
 
 Wiltshire, 26, 28, 48 
 
 Wimborne Minster, 22 
 
 Winchester, 11, 12 
 
 Wise, 26 
 
 Woden, 2 
 
 Worcester, 41 
 
 Yonne, 47 
 York, 16, 18
 
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